Chapter 84: Restrictions.

Clover stopped his rant in order to catch his breath and found that the rest of us were fixated on him.

Now, what he said was completely right. Any old idiot could have told you that. It was the way he said it that caught our attention.

In that small window of time, Clover had gone from a relatively well-adjusted individual, to someone as intense as Dusty or Slab. His eyes losing most of their light as his mind went back a few months. To a time where he and Helga had been running from witch hunters.

‘How interesting.’ I thought belatedly. ‘That Espers can find themselves cornered and almost killed by normal people, if the numbers are overwhelming enough.’

Granted, the two of them hadn’t been powerful by any estimate. Yet, the point stood.

Even before meeting Granny Golden and remembering what had happened, I don’t think a group of normal people would have been an issue. Certainly not one that was lacking guns and other modern weapons. I wouldn’t even have had to kill them. [Fever] had been devastating. Even back then.

‘Though I suppose not everyone had less-than-lethal options before they came to the Labyrinth. Certainly not at range. Helga and Clover had been nervous when we’d first met too. They hadn’t wanted to kill me, just as I hadn’t wanted to kill them.’

Clover looked troubled by being in the center of attention, so I threw him a bone.

“He’s completely right you know. I was out there as long as anyone else without being captured and I can tell you that stealth is most certainly the way to go. Nothing else come close if you want to stay alive. Why, I was surrounded by monsters in all directions most of the time and any one of them could have ripped me to shreds if they actually found me. The smart application of [Hide] and [Faint Presence] may be the only reason I’m here now. Not to mention how powerful the combinations are. In fact, remember those memories of me being trapped by Anezka in the alternate timeline?”

“Yes?”

“Well, you’ll recall that I managed to escape while Anezka and Randall and a whole bunch of other guys unlucky enough to be pressed into her service were fighting the Boss. That red beetle thing. The Hidden Boss, the Spider, actually lives in that same boss chamber. Only it stays up above the arena during the fight and isn’t supposed to move unless it is attacked. It was running [Stealth III] the whole time Anezka was blasting the beetle with her plasma rifles. Minding its own business.”

I forced a smile then.

“Sarcophagus Solomon saw his chance and took it. He sent a bolt up there and then ran his own [Stealth III] throughout the ensuing carnage, since Anezka had used her remote to keep him from moving or from using [Domination]. Thing is, those controllers only work if they’re attached to a registered living user. Funny that. By the time the screams died down, Anezka was too dead to use her remote and the Spider was too wounded and distracted to resist [Domination]. Think about that. The other me was in a situation where all the cards were stacked against them and still managed to turn things around.”

I closed my eyes and wagged a finger in the air.

“The lesson here is twofold. One, stealth is always advantageous. If it is possible, you should try to go for it. And two, never underestimate those weaker than you. I might seem overwhelmingly strong, but I am still mortal. I am still fallible. Keep an open mind and try to think about what each power does and how they could be useful in different situations. It might just save your life.”

The others were nodding along in silence.

Helga’s mind sweating bullets as she considered how dangerous Sarcophagus Solomon had been in the glimpses she’d caught. That, and how much more dangerous I would be, if provoked.

Meanwhile, Dusty was fuming inside. Her mind throwing curses at Anezka’s shade.

On the other hand, Kaito was thinking of her weapons. Of the kind of technology that could bring even someone of my power to their knees.

Finally, Clover was thinking of the Spider. Of the kind of creature that stood above all the other monsters down here.

I nodded along, consciously moving my head up and down as I took in their musings.

Then, for whatever reason, I found my own thoughts drifting towards the Boss. My attention dancing on the lines of the cobweb, that new method of sensing thoughts that had become so familiar to me, despite its alien nature.

I felt my brain expanding. Motes of power running up and down the strings to find all the lesser and greater monsters within this enclosed dimension. From the lesser centipedes dripping venom from their mandibles, to the towering leviathans still swimming in the pitch blackness of the sea beyond the walls. From the fire-breathing seahorses floating up and down the gold-line chasm and the confines of the lava chamber, to the man-fly hybrids buzzing around the poison swamp where Randall was training even now.

I felt the Spider, in its den. Its own mind…

System Notice: Action has been blocked pending further review.

I twitched.

Suddenly reeling from a combination of pain and surprise.

It didn’t last long. Maybe half a second in the real world, but it was more than enough to shock me to my core.

“Sully?” Dusty asked. “Is everything all right? You went really quiet for a second there.”

“Uh.” I said. Not quite grasping what was going on.

I used [Omniscience] in a different way then. Trying to hunt glimpses of the many futures I had envisioned.

Only to find them missing. Obscured.

System Notice: Action has been blocked pending further review.

System Notice: Student has been reported for misconduct by Hidden Boss: New Moon Spider, acting in its secondary role of Tutorial referee.

Incongruencies have been found with several System Enforcers.

Incongruencies have been found with System-approved Store Representatives in current instance.

Incongruencies have been found with System-approved Store Representatives in Novice Difficulty.

Incongruencies have been found with System-approved Store Representatives in Adept Difficulty.

Please await further deliberation.

‘Oh (Gnome) me.’

“Sully? Sully are you okay? You went all quiet and dead-faced again.”

“I think I might be in trouble.” I whispered. My voice flat and devoid of emotion as my body reverted to its ever-stable norm.

“What do you mean you might be in trouble?”

“Uh, remember when I said I wasn’t invincible? And that other time when I said things would be all right so long as the System didn’t catch on that its enforcers weren’t doing their job?”

“Yeah?” Dusty spoke, her face tensing a little as she put the pieces together.

“Uh yeah. I think my powers can’t pick up on futures involving System Admins. At least, not when those System Admins act in their roles as System Admins.”

“You’re not making sense.” Prudence quibbled. Though she too seemed to feel the tension.

“It’s like this. I did not know that something was considered a System Admin because they never acted as a System Admin in any of my visions. And they never acted like that in my visions because those vision were automatically blocked. Maybe because the System needed a backup for impartiality. One that only acts after a certain degree of… messing around, has been detected.”

“Oh. Like a game master.” Kaito offered.

“More or less.”

Kaito nodded. A nervous smile taking over his face. His mind going back to all the enforcers I had… mishandled.

“We’re about to get (Gnome)d aren’t we?”

“It probably isn’t a big deal.” I told him truthfully. “At least, not for you guys. Its just… I might be in for a bit of beating by someone who can actually beat me is all.”

“I’ll help you beat them.” Dusty said, clearly not understanding that this might not be as simple as that.

“It’s fine.” I lied. “I’m sure whatever comes, it won’t be as bad as all that. I’ll just, have to tell Monique that her kids won’t be coming over. Since I won’t be able to bend the rules any further. It’ll be fine. I’ll tell her to leave Cherub with them and he’ll keep them safe. The Tall Man can pop in and out of destabilized zones so he can give them powers. It wouldn’t be against the rules per se and it would accomplish more or less the same thing. We’ll manage.”

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The others looked unconvinced.

“We’ll manage.” I repeated. “Placing more assuring tones in my voice this time.

“Let’s just forget about it for now and keep discussing powers.”

“Okay.” Kaito backed me up. Though he didn’t say anything further.

So, we sat there. Staring at the boards in silence as I kept trying to determine which areas of the cobweb I still had access to.

Not that many, as it turned out.

Quite a lot of futures that had been previously been crystal clear were now blurry. As if they had all of the sudden developed uncertainties that I wasn’t privy to.

“Speaking of which, do you two have any input?” Prudence asked, turning to Helga and Clover. Her mind eager to change the topic of conversation.

“Why would we?”

“Because you are two of the only four people in the Warehouse that managed to combine abilities. Five, now that Monique got her new powers. Sully and Dusty have been pretty open about how they got theirs, just like Monique. In Sully’s case, I even saw and felt it happening since he’s been sharing memories. I don’t know what yours are though. No one does. I think, in light of upcoming events, that you might want to share.”

Helga squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, glancing back and forth between Prudence, Kaito and myself.

“I, don’t feel comfortable sharing. Sorry.”

Prudence turned to me. Raising an eyebrow.

“I’m not going to violate someone’s privacy. I get that its for the good of everyone else. I do. It won’t change my stance on this. If I start telling secrets, it’ll slowly tear the group apart.”

“Almost half of us are mind-readers.” Prudence deadpanned.

“That only makes my point more important. There has to be a standard of etiquette or we’re going to see a lot of fights springing up. I am not going to go around spreading gossip.”

“Are you talking about that whole thing with the showers?”

“Yes.”

“Literally everybody knows. Like, ten people saw Mr. Park and Agnes coming out together and they’re not the only ones. We all know what goes on in there.”

“Nobody heard it from me.” I assured her. “Nor will you hear what Helga’s abilities are or what she can do. Not without her consent.”

Helga let out a sigh of relief. Clover put a comforting arm around her, immediately after.

“Thank you, Sully.” He spoke. “If it helps, I don’t mind sharing.”

“That would help. We Shifters have to stick together.” Prudence said, with a smug smile.

“The first is a combination of [Produce Acid] and [Blades] with another being a combination of [Chitin] and [Acclimation]. The first is called [Corrosive Blade] and it automatically applies the effect of the acid on my scythes. The second is called [Reactive Chitin]. It makes follow-up attacks less effective. They’re both Tier II and I didn’t get any upgrades.”

“That’s very impressive.” Dusty asserted.

“That’s complete and utter garbage.” Prudence rebutted.

“It sounds useful to me.” Kaito interjected.

“That’s because you have nothing between your ears.” She snapped back. “None of those were keystone abilities. They don’t change much.”

“I beg to differ. From where I’m standing, it looks like he can improve his most used abilities for half the cost. Taking any one to five would have set him back 15 points. That’s 5 whole levels worth. Multiply that by two and you get 10 whole levels worth of points. Clover doesn’t have a second Type so for him, saving those points matters even more. By merging his most useful powers, he can spend those points somewhere else and shore up other weaknesses.”

“I have been doing that.” Clover confirmed.

Prudence rolled her eyes.

“I understand basic math, Kai. Thank you very much. What I meant was that he could have multiplied his capabilities exponentially by mixing up keystone abilities and raising those past 5. Imagine what a level 10 [Regeneration] would do. We know merged abilities get their limits raised when normally you’d have had to enter the next Tier completely. Dusty has two abilities past 10, despite being in the second Tier. She doesn’t spread around the extra points. They specialize because their powers get exponentially more powerful after every Tier. What’s the result? They’re the strongest folks here. That’s what I want for myself. I want to be next to the strongest. Actually, forget that. I want to be the strongest. Anything else is falling short.”

“Oh? And how’s that coming along?”

“Very nicely. I already have all the Shifter keystones. Every single one. [Predator’s Instincts] for the inherent morale boost, improved fighting sense and the aptness for judging relative levels of people and monsters. [Regeneration] and [Regenerate Other], for obvious reasons. [Mitosis], because its completely effing broken. It stores charges for instantaneous self-regeneration that doesn’t use Psy, making it so that you can literally get extra lives. [Acclimation], lets me reduce damage of all kinds after being exposed to them once. [Adrenaline], gives me all the perks of the starting Enhancer abilities for a short time. [Muscular System] lets me increase my own strength and durability at once. [Grow] does the same and it also increases my reach and multiplies all the previous abilities’ effectiveness. [Harden], makes all my body parts tougher. [Incorporate Mineral], takes it a step further and lets me absorb iron and stones from the effing walls into myself, giving me an extra layer of armor, whose damage doesn’t bother me in the slightest. [Venom Glands] and [Poison Glands] are there to supplement [Claws] and [Scales]. You’ll notice that not a single point is being wasted.”

She paused and began to grow those scales for dramatic effect.

“Imagine the centipedes fighting me. First, they need to get through my Symbiote. Then, they need to get through the stones and metals I strapped to myself. At this point, the poison will start kicking in by the way. Then they need to get through hardened scales that get even harder to bite through as they attack, all while the poison’s effect eats away at them. At the same time, I’m using [Mitosis] to grow back the layer of minerals faster than they can tear it away and I’m actively sweating toxins. Also, keep in mind that [Grow] increases the thickness of the armor and the thickness of the scales on top of everything else. If they, somehow, make it through, that still leaves thick cords of muscle that are also hardened and get harder to bite through as they chew and are filled with even more poison. None of this even takes my own attacks into account by the way. This whole time, I would have been attacking with envenomed claws and a massive adrenaline rush. All my options working in perfect harmony.”

“I seem to recall you got caught next to me when the gnomes were still making rounds though. I also recall you getting shot a bunch of times by that one officer who mistook you for a monster.”

“Yes, Kaito. Thank you for the reminder. Those, mishaps, happened because I didn’t have any ranged options. Things are different now”

“So, you got [Excretory System]? Like Raj or Mr. Park?”

“No, Kai. I do not want to grow a damn sphincter on my arm, thank you very much.”

“Seems to working for them.”

“I should also point out that they aren’t…those kinds of holes. The ability lets you make organs to propel bodily fluids and matter outside, yes, but Mr. Park is out there shooting poisoned spines and Raj turned himself into a human flamethrower. It has nothing to do with going to the washroom.”

“I’m aware, Sully. I’m not one of those idiots making fun of them. That said, that style isn’t for me. Instead, I went with Telepath abilities. [Static Illusion] and [Hide] are a given, and I also topped that off with [Fever], [Fear] and [Drunkenness]. I figured I might as well try to get [Delirium] like you did. It’s been working out great so far. I can take on groups of centipedes and eels without breaking a sweat and the snails get scared and run instead of attacking.”

“And yet you got your butt handed to you. Like the rest of us.” Kaito pointed out.

Prudence sneered derisively.

“I thought we agreed that sparring is different from actual fighting. If it was, Sully would have killed us all. Or worse.”

“Hey! You know I wouldn’t do that!” I protested. Even as I kept getting messages from the System complaining that I did exactly that to the enforcers it sent.

System Notice:

Student: Solomon Carter, has been banned from receiving System Rewards for their performance in the Tutorial.

Student: Solomon Carter, has been banned from appearing on the Leaderboards.

Student: Solomon Carter, will be flagged on the forums once they activate for all other Students.

Further measures are under consideration.

‘Well, that isn’t so bad, I guess.’

She ignored me and kept going.

“Charlie won’t give me the time to activate all my powers one after the other and I can’t get access to metals that I can absorb out there on the ring. Out there, I’m as strong as someone with my level could possibly be. Every one of these choices I’ve made synergizes well with the rest, so that I end up being exponentially stronger than someone like, say Ahmed or Raj.”

“Raj is doing very well for himself. His gamble on a strange ability paid off. His bio-grenades are very impressive. He doesn’t even need to be in a room to wipe out scores of monsters.”

“He also ran out of steam mid-hunt from being over aggressive. Expending too much Psy per kill, when crushing them via size and metal armor would have been quicker and more efficient.”

That’s when I had to intervene. Her being confident was great, but not if it led to hubris.

“That might not always be true though. Remember that I was taking down lobster-moles and tiger-moles several times my size before merging my own abilities. Being big and strong is good, but there are cases where you need game changers. I only had [Inspiration] due to Sarcophagus Solomon and that turned into a goldmine when I got drunk and created [Insight]. Speaking of which, take it Kaito. I have a feeling it might come in useful. It may or may not give you a boost to levelling speed.”

I tried to distract myself form the System messages then and decided to follow up on a topic that had become far more important to me as of late.

“Anyway, [Predator’s Instincts]. What’s up with that?”

“What do you mean?”

“I noticed that people started taking the ranking list seriously about the time investing in it became popular. There was talk of it being able to let you know a person’s relative level and skill, like how I used [Psychometry] and later, Insight. I caught some wayward thoughts but couldn’t make sense of them.”

“Its awkward.” Prudence admitted. “I’d compare it more to vibes than anything more concrete. Your deal gives you a whole Status screen to work with. Mine is like a danger sense. A little vague sometimes. Accurate, more often than not. It works better with monsters.”

“How so?”

Prudence looked my way and shrugged.

“Out there, I could more or less tell what my chances of winning were against a single enemy or groups of enemies. The more dangerous something or someone is, the more my hairs stand on end. There’s this conviction inside me that I could either win or lose. Mr. Park thinks it might be a sixth sense that detects total Psy. Borislav thinks the name is a good descriptor. That its an instinct judging how bad or good a scenario looks from the standpoint of a predator.”

“And what do you think?”

“I personally side with Borislav. Mr. Park prefers a more grounded, scientific theory, but it has one major flaw.”

“And that is?”

She went quiet for a long time. Looking to me and then to Dusty in turn.

When she finally spoke up, her voice was quiet as a mouse; with no trace of her usual bravado.

“When I stand next to Dolce, I feel ill. Like I’m paralyzed and helpless, right when a living nightmare is present. I feel flushed and struggle to breathe. The pressure hurts me. It actually hurts more than Charlie’s punches. Like repeated kicks to all my organs at once, going on and on and on. The world slows down and my heart feels like its ready to explode. My mouth feels dry and my legs wobble. Looking at it, I feel like a little girl again. Back in what used to be old Miami. Back with the wolf-snakes that ripped people out of cars and chomped down on kids in front of their parents.”

She looked ill, even while describing it.

“Dusty and Slab make me feel that way too. To a lesser extent. I think of making fun of you guys and how you’re so awkward together, and I have to remind myself that she isn’t going to murder me in a heartbeat. I have to do that because I see flashes of her doing it in my head. That’s not the real scary part though.”

“Its not? I mean, damn. That sounded heavy.”

“No. Its not. The real scary part is you.”

“Me?” I asked, feeling my curiosity rising. “What do I feel like?”

“Nothing. You feel like the weakest, most normal person in the Warehouse.”

I sighed in relief.

“Thank goodness. I was getting ready for some heavy stuff.”

“It is more worrying than you know.” Clover stated. “You are…not like the others. The issue is that the ability is somehow broken around you. It says you are harmless when in reality, you are…”

“Capital F. (Gnome)ing Terrifying.” Prudence finished. “The fact that we get no signals back is what scares me the most. To me, it means that I cannot even begin to conceptualize how dangerous you are. I hope I never have to find out.”