CHAPTER 152
The spell form that expanded through the previous inert stone was perfect. For a moment, it shone through the solid rock with a beautiful light that, like an x-ray revealed the internal structure he had imparted to allow the golem. The control orb took over, and the rock shifted and settled. It was a subtle movement, a slight splaying of its legs to give it a wider base to attack from.
Golly was back.
“It looks beautiful.”
Tom startled, surprised to not be alone and have Everlyn next to him. “What?” He thought she had gone to bed, as she hadn’t said anything for over half an hour.
“It looks magnificent. And…” She stretched a hand out to the golem. “I get a stronger sense of permanency with this than I did with Golly. It might not be physically tougher, but it’s more.” She glanced around, embarrassed. “That sounded like trite. What I meant is that it’s more powerful now.”
“I did the best I could.” Looking at his construction, Tom swept his mind throughout it and found nothing out of place. He couldn’t help but to feel disappointed. The golem had been created from scratch and he had spent literally hours of extra time enhancing it, but a component hadn’t upgraded like his title supported. He had been hoping to trigger the effect of the Golem Prodigy for the first time and there had been a thirty percent chance of success, but then again he hadn’t invested any fate into the outcome.
That was a lesson for his next golem.
“The spell form is exquisite.” Everlyn continued. “I’m proud of you bubs, as I saw how much you struggled.”
Tom stared at what he’d created again and he could see what Everlyn was saying. The components may not have upgraded and it the intricate detailed adjustments apparently had no noticeable impact on the construction’s attribute rating, but there were benefits in taking the time to construct it properly. This golem would be harder to disrupt with magic than Golly had been. Michael, for example wouldn’t be able to interrupt his signal with Golly two like he had done with the original. Offensive spells that might have unpowered Golly would fail against this enhanced version.
That was an important bonus, but would be unlikely to aid him tomorrow, because their opponent would be low ranked monsters, not thinking creatures capable of directing weaknesses. If Golly was going to be used against living breathing sapients then yes, the improvements he had wrought today would protect the construction, but the benefit would have no impact against a flock of hummingbirds, though the slow spell he had encoded would do well against such a foe.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to stay.”
She shrugged. “What you were doing was pretty. Plus, I thought I would support you.” She stood. “Bed?”
He realised how exhausted he was. “Absolutely. What time is it?”
“If we hurry now, we might get you your full six hours of sleep before you have to prepare for the next event.”
“I’m sorry. I was engrossed in the casting. I didn’t realise.”
“It’s ok. The others will wake before us, but we have sound cancelling to protect us.” She grabbed his hand, and they walked together to the bunker.
The instant his head hit the rolled up cheap clothes he used as a pillow he prepared to fall asleep.
While he knew it would leave him under slept for the fight Tom was not going to waste an opportunity to get the killers. They had killed Gita. He needed to find them.
Tom engaged the dream with a single focused thought. He wanted to know what skill, ability, trait, bloodline or curse enabled the killer to create the ritual. All that he required was the name and the experience store would let him discover the rest. He concentrated his mind on the feel, the resonance of the contribution store to direct the search.
The place wouldn’t let him get clues about the identity of the person he was certain of that. However, a glimpse of the ability on the display wall… that should be possible and it would be the key to unravelling the mystery. Once he understood exactly what they were dealing with, then tomorrow’s True Dreaming session could be focused on whatever weakness they had identified.
If he knew his enemy, he could work out how to counter them.
Sleep took him and it was a strange state.
True Dreaming had kicked in.
He was in a dream, but in a limbo state. Time did not appear to pass, but nor did any guiding dreams reach him. He could almost feel the powers of the oracle ability churn away as it tried to find a way to get the information he needed. To pierce the nearly impenetrable defenses of the contribution store.
The tier nine skill forcing against the casual construction of a GOD.
Time flowed once more, and then there was vision and sensation.
The eyes, not Tom’s own blinked and then focused on a menu that he knew was one from the contribution store.
‘This was it,’ the mind that he possessed thought.
‘This was what he had to purchase.’ A single acquisition that his oracle question had already confirmed was the best he could make. If only the choice didn’t chill him as completely as it did, but he had worded the question three times and received an identical confirmation each time. For the second time, he read the title.
Ruoinctac’s Cursed Bloodline of the Devolving Battle Fiend.
Tom came out of the dream with a start.
The brief glimpses in the other person’s mind told him a lot. He hated the killers for what they had done to Gita and Reilly in particular. But if the consciousness he shared had been the same each time, then Tom sort of respected the person.
Especially with this new bit of information. The curse had been chosen because of an oracle question! And selected despite the man’s misgivings.
Not maybe, not possibly, but definitely, the killer had not wanted to take the ability.
His mind worried about that nugget of insight.
The killer might be sort of like him. Perhaps they were killing only because the cursed blood line forced them. It was possible they had made a mistake in the contribution shop and were not the terrible humans that Evie thought of them as.
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What if he, Tom, had purchased it… If it was the best way to help humanity, he knew what he would have done…
Tom cracked his eyes open, on the edge of panic, and Everlyn was asleep next to him.
Energy coursed through him, adrenaline pumping in his veins. He wanted to explode into action. To flee a nameless terror or fight it. Instead, he exercised his will and shut his eyes and appeared in his system room.
This way, he could…
“Damn it!” he howled at the roof.
… Not disturb Everlyn.
He put his hands over his face. Why couldn’t things be simple. Find an evil man, then kill him with righteous vengeance. Why did there have to be shades of grey? His heart was beating, and he acknowledged the truth. He would have taken, done anything to have improved humanity’s chances when he was in the contribution room.
Hopefully, the murders were not driven by the cursed bloodline. With any luck, it was just the person’s own depravity because that would make things so much simpler.
“Display the Ruoinctac’s Cursed Bloodline.”
Information flowed on the screen, and internally he shuddered. There was no solace to be found there. The bloodline actively forced those who possessed it to kill sapients, at least if they wanted to stay sane.
What if the answer to one of his questions had directed him to buy that curse?
“It’s not right!”
He leapt to his feet and hit a wall.
His fist smarted.
What if his question had told him to buy that? What would he have done? Would he have accepted it blindly?
At the time… Definitely. He had been a mess when he had died. After all, it was the only reason he had made the mistake he had.
Now?
Would he choose the choice now?
Maybe not. The woman beside him, in reality, had balanced some measure of his self-destructive instincts, the willingness to sacrifice everything about him for the greater good. He was enjoying life as opposed to enjoying getting closer to making a difference. But when the tutorial had finished he had been in a different mindset. At the time, the readiness to surrender and cross any lines or taboo boundaries necessary had been very much a reality.
The killer could have been him!
He shuddered and forced himself not to descend into an emotional spiral.
What did he know?
The purchase of the curse was endorsed by an oracle question. But that did not mean it was the same one that Tom had asked. The man’s question might have been flawed. It may have been purely self serving like give me as much power as possible.
In which case, the man would be as evil as his killings suggested. Unfortunately, all those other glimpses he had received implied something else.
The mark that the killer possessed had been a strategic buy and not one for immediate personal power. Tom slowed his breathing and reminded himself he did not need to do this alone. He was no longer in the tutorial.
Not everything was balanced on his decisions.
He returned to his body and looked at the woman next to him. During the night, she had shifted. Her legs were still entwined with his, but he could look at her without disturbing her. She looked like she was at peace. The alternating sadness and fury that had inflicted her all day was no longer there. She lay there content and at ease and while it was tempting to let her sleep; he knew that wasn’t what she wanted.
He reached out and pushed some of the hair away from her head. Like a striking snake, her hand grabbed his wrist and her other yanked out her knife.
Tom’s instinct took over, and he pinned the dangerous knife hand with his superior leverage.
Clarity took only an instant to fill her eyes and the wild animal ready to lash out at whatever had disturbed her vanished.
Her face softened. ‘Sorry,’ she mouthed.
Then all the life fled from her body as she became little more than an exquisite doll.
Tom took the mental step into the system room and accepted her waiting invitation.
They stood in front of the wall where the screen would display the details.
Everlyn glanced at him. Even here her eyes were bloodshot by tears and tiredness. “And?”
“It’s a cursed bloodline.”
“And? Wait Tom… What?” Her full focus was on him, as she had spotted the look in his eyes. “What’s up with your you? Why so despondent?”
Tom breathed heavily once more. “The bloodline was purchased after an oracle question.”
She shrugged. “So were all my skills. Most of us selected abilities at least partially based on answers.”
Everlyn didn’t understand why that revelation was cutting him so deeply. “What happens if this purchase was made because it was the best for humanity?”
She looked at him blankly still not understanding what he was saying.
“That’s exactly how I chose my purchases. ‘Will spending my contribution points on this ability be the best choice for humanity?’ That’s how I selected everything. It might have been me buying this bloodline, a selection that turns you into a murderer.”
“I know you. You wouldn’t have done it and DEUS would have known you weren’t a killer. She would never have told you to get this.”
“But I would have gone to any length for humanity.”
“So would’ve I?”
“It’s a cursed blood line. If I had found it and the answer was yes… I would have done it. I might have ended up being a murderer.”
“You wouldn’t have.” She assured him. “Now what was it called?”
“Show the details of Ruoinctac’s Cursed Bloodline of the Devolving Battle Fiend.”
“Have you already checked it?”
“Skimmed it.” Tom answered as they looked at the wall of text that had appeared.
“Then let’s find out what it does before we speculate too much.”
Ruoinctac’s Cursed Bloodline of the Devolving Battle Fiend
The Ruoictac’s cursed bloodline is a fusion of three classes, a Ruoinctac’s bloodline and balancing modifiers to create a dangerous battlefield warrior.
The power of the bloodline is fuelled by energy extracted from the sacrifice of sapients. With each victim, there is a random chance of obtaining a skill or spell from the associated classes or upgrading the bloodline. The energy of the sacrifice can also be converted to bloodline points which would allow active direction of the upgrade path, as opposed to random progression that will occur otherwise. Alternatively, the power can be directed to hold the curse of sapience decay at bay. If there is insufficient energy to resist the curse, most species are reduced to partial sapient monsters within a matter of days and unable to exert instinct control.
Everlyn snorted when she read the description. “I wonder how many upgrades five murders got them?”
“The better question is whether they directed the evolution. They had to kill to stop the curse.”
“Maybe.” She’s not sounding at all impressed. “I still don’t understand after seeing this how you can deem anyone who took this as anything but evil. They might justify it as they thought they were going to be killing aliens. But subconsciously, maybe even consciously, I’m sure they wanted to kill humans.” Her face scrunched up in disgust. “Animals.”
“Ten, twenty years by yourself. We both know what that does to someone.”
“I know,” she agreed, patting him on the back. “But you wouldn’t have chosen this path.”
“I don’t.”
“You wouldn’t have Tom. Now, let’s see what else the enemy has.” She glanced at the screen and it flickered and changed to show the next page.
Starting bloodline traits are as follows.
* Affinity to Earth boosted by 10.
* Effectiveness of physical attributes improved by 10%.
* Skill: Battle Fate. Every second in the battle has a 0.5% chance to produce a fate pulse of between 5% to 10% of the user’s total fate pool. This pulse does not deplete available fate.
* Spell: Ritual trap. Streamlines and protects the process of sacrificing to the bloodline.
Spell: Ritual Trap–Tier NA.
Ritual Trap automates the sacrifice and immobilises the sacrifice victim for the duration. It also conveys the following benefits versus direct feeding. A 20% improvement in efficiency, completely isolates the victim, provides a tier 4 defence against being noticed by any observers and a tier 6 ward against divination magic.
Cost: 200 mana but can be channelled.
Note: Ritual Trap immobilises a victim perfectly and usually requires the person to be fully immobilised first. If used on an unconscious or sleeping body, it will immobilise the target, providing the people carrying out the ritual have sufficient strength to subdue them if they would have been awake. This is irrespective of the time it would usually take.
They both read the benefits and interpreted what they meant.
“That Battle Fate skills seems pretty useful.” Everlyn said finally.
“Useful if you’re in combat for long stretches of time.” He agreed. “But what does that percentage mean. Two hundred seconds adds up to a hundred percent chance, so you’re sort of looking at a spike every three minutes on average. If you’re fighting all day. It’s a massive improvement, but with the sort of sporadic quick battles we’ve been having it doesn’t really add value. Even against the longjoules when I nearly died I don’t think I was in a battle for a sufficient amount of time for the skill to trigger.
Everlyn shrugged. “You’re right. The starting bloodline benefits are not that great. Ten percent attribute increase is nice… I guess and the earth affinity boost but despite that I don’t really see the point. Especially when it can send you mad.”
“Maybe there’s something special about the upgrade paths? You know when you murder extra sapients to direct the evolution.”