CHAPTER 153
They looked at each other.
“Controlled evolution, three classes and a bloodline.” Everlyn mused. “That could be problematic.”
“Show how to use bloodlines points.” Tom ordered.
The screen changed again, and they both examined it with interest.
The following skills can be acquired with bloodline points.
* Enhance energy manipulation to improve magic use and enable the user to disguise their energy signature.
* Acquisition of a significant number of camouflage and stealth related skills.
* Body modifications to increase efficiency of strength, agility, or vitality. Each modification will improve a single physical attribute by one percent. Points required increases by one each time this is used.
* Raise earth affinity by 1%. Note: Cost increases substantially as the affinity approaches 100%.
* Purchase earth spells and traits.
* Gain mental magic abilities.
“I wonder how many bloodline points they get per kill?” Everlyn mused.
Tom shrugged. There was no actual way to answer that unless they asked the killers. “I’m trying to work out what this setup of power represents. It’s sort of like a vampire. Feeds on people and possesses stealth and mental skills along with body enhancements to let them be both faster and stronger than everyone else.”
“All that’s very vampirary but don’t forget the earth manipulation overlay. That doesn’t fit any stereotype I know from earth.”
“Yeah, that one is totally incompatible.”
“It doesn’t matter. The question is whether there is anything in here that we can use to find them.”
“Show distinguishing physical features.” Tom said, hoping that would reveal something.
In the majority of species, there are no physical tells to enable identification of cursed bloodline carriers.
Non-physical trends that can be tracked are anyone who shows abnormal growth in the areas of strength, speed, coordination, stealth, earth or mental magic.
“Useless.” Everlyn snarled in sudden anger.
Tom was attempting to link the new clues about the class with everything they had discovered so far.
“I expected it to deliver something worthwhile.” Everlyn continued. “It’s like your skill isn’t even trying to find out who did this.”
“I figured it would be solved by now, too.” Tom agreed. “That tier six anti divination skill, the one attached to the ritual trap spell, is the problem. That theoretically costs more than anyone should have been able to purchase with contribution points. If True Dreaming wasn’t specialised in getting past wards, I would have got nothing. I tried to catch them in the act of killing people. It doesn’t take much hindsight to conclude my approach was terrible.”
“Yeah, it was.” She agreed readily.
“It was a mistake attempting to capture them like that.” Tom said quietly. “The bloodline protects against divination skills more generally but when the ritual is going…” Tom shook his head. “Tier six defence. I imagine there are some generic tier ten skills which would struggle against that.”
This simple relativity was the same reason that his title granted him perfect protection against lower tier divination spells. Blocking such abilities was easy.
“Easy to see with the value of hindsight.”
“Yes, it is. My skill will not catch them in the act.”
“If at all.”
He looked at her sharply. The emotional toil of yesterday was mirrored on her face. Her emotions were oscillating between despair, helplessness, and a terrible fury. “Evie, you understand that’s not the case. We’re closer and the skill I’m using was picked out by fate to represent the faster way of finding the killer.”
“I don’t know anything.” She cried out in frustration. “These bastards are killing good people and they’re hidden from us. As you said, your tier nine spell is not getting past a tier six skill dedicated to stopping it.”
“No.” Tom finger pointed at the dot points in front of them. “We’ve got suspects now. People who are advanced more in these areas are true suspects. Not like the stupid alibi idea. We can monitor everyone’s advancement. Catch them with good old-fashioned detective work.”
“Not before the fight.”
“No, but tomorrow afternoon. What’s stopping us.”
“Well, the battle might still be happening but practically we’ve got tonight and the next morning to act. I’m sure the wave event will finish well before then.” Everlyn said quietly. “And you said you would use your questions if it wasn’t cracked by then.”
“And I will.” Tom promised. “But the answer might be simpler.” He pointed at a word on the display. “Sven, Keikain or both.”
Everlyn hissed in a breath at that accusation.
“Keikain’s extraordinary with his earth magic. Better than me.”
“Tom, you’ve just learned earth magic. Of course, someone who has specialised for years is going to be superior. And we can’t launch accusations if that’s our evidence.”
“Why not?”
“Because if they’re clever enough to set up alibi’s then they’ll be smart enough to hide distinguishing powers. The fact Keikain and Sven are so obviously and openly earth magic aligned makes me suspect them less.”
“We should still catalogue people who fit that identification pattern. Anyone who seems to have improved in any of these fields.”
“We will.”
Thoughts were whirling around in his head as he tried to identify any approach that would let him find the killers. They knew each other. There must be something there that he could exploit. Were they friends? Was he looking for a trio? or… “I have an idea!” he proclaimed with sudden excitement. “The murders are matters of convenience.” Tom concluded it had to be true. “They couldn’t plan Tiny’s murder when Jeffrey was killed because they didn’t know the trial would be coming. It’s the same with all the sacrifices. They have to be communicating with each other outside of when they are actually killing stuff. They don’t have tier six protection then.” Tom concluded triumphally. “I’ll get the skill to target them while they’re planning the next ritual. It’s the answer. It’ll work. I know it!”
Everlyn surprising didn’t look impressed. Instead, she seemed disappointed with him. “That’s convenient epiphany to have right after you get your ambition met to resolve this after the event eaves end.”
Tom rounded on her with a flare of anger. “What are you saying?”
Stolen story; please report.
She had the grace to flinch away embarrassed. “I…”
“I’m not holding back Evie.”
“Your skill might be.”
“If it is, then it’s because it was necessary. And you’d really blame me for that?”
“No, yes, maybe… I don’t know. I feel you’re almost on the killers’ sides sometimes.”
“What?”
She was glaring at him. “I feel I’m probably being unfair. But I also know you. I know how focused on the ranking point you are. You want to make sure the rest of humanity gets the best chance… and I understand that is the right attitude. I have kids. I understand where you’re coming from.” Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “But there are lines.”
Tom said nothing after all with what he was planning. He suspected he was over one of her lines even if she had agreed to help him. As for sacrificing humans. He would like to say no… But his logic said what was one life against a billion… logically at least.
But would he take the choice from someone? Tom wasn’t sure. He was definitely willing to sacrifice his own.
“Say something. Defend yourself.”
“I don’t know. It’s hard when you’ve been in their heads.”
“It’s not. Tom.” She threw her hands up in the air. “It’s easy. There are lines. They crossed and justice needs to be served.”
“And what if that means Em and Billy end up dropped on Existentia with nothing?”
“No.” Everlyn’s eyes glowed with anger. “No. You’re not that important. The killers aren’t that consequential. All of our ranking points are just a drop in the ocean.”
Tom hesitated. He knew tears of frustration, sadness, anger, emotions he hadn’t had to worry about for years, were expressed in his eyes. “You don’t understand the state I was in when I was in the contribution shop.”
Some of the anger left Everlyn.
“I just keep thinking that it could have been me.”
“And I keep telling you it wouldn’t have been. The people who chose that bloodline had something wrong with them. Not a temporary crushing sadness like you, but were fundamentally broken, which I suspect originated on Earth. Don’t empathise with them.” Her fists were clinched tight. She was looking up at the roof above them. Fury making the veins on a temple throb. “They’re not people, they’re animals and you should have made your skill find them quicker.”
“I couldn’t just.”
“Couldn’t you?” she sniffed.
“Evie. I haven’t been holding back.”
She hesitated.
“You keep bringing up that accusation, but it’s not true.”
“Maybe I’m wrong. It’s the vibe I’m getting.”
“Evie. They had a tier six anti-divination skill in play. This wasn’t my fault.”
“I know that now and I accept there was no way this would have been solved before Gita, but what’s the chance that tomorrow night you find out who the killers are?”
“High.” Tom said with exasperation. “We have a lot more information now. I know where to focus on, for one.” Tom pointed at the description of the bloodline to remind Everlyn of the extra stuff they had discovered. “And we now know they were creating artificial alibis. That allows us to target a smaller group and frees me to use the questions without the risk of completely wasting them. My strategy to find them was wrong. I made mistakes but I don’t think it’s my fault. I didn’t know what questions to be asking and Evie, before you blame me for that you weren’t aware either. I asked you for help. If targeting them outside rituals is the solution, then neither of us suggested that three days ago.”
She laughed sadly. “At the time, we didn’t know it was them.”
“I want to find them.” Tom promised. “I wanted to do it tonight, event wave or not.
She sighed and clearly needed a hug, but in here there was nothing he could do and their conversation was not finished.
“I know. It’s just. It sucks!”
“I hate the restrictions placed on us in here?” Tom volunteered.
“So do I.” She brushed away her tears angrily. “The prison.” Everlyn said abruptly. “Fuck. We screwed up badly.”
Tom froze as he understood what she was suggesting. “You mean their boost to earth?”
“Yes!”
She started sobbing.
“It’s like we served them on a platter.”
“The council didn’t know.” Then Tom stopped talking. It was irrelevant that they were unaware. The arrangements they had made to protect the suspects were about the worst they could have. That was suspicious and put the spotlight on someone in the council. “Who pushed for the prison?”
Everlyn shook her head. “I don’t know. But if it’s a council member or one or a person pretending to be shellshocked, we’re going to get them.”
“And if it’s a friend?” This question, along with whether Tom could have ended up as a murderer were the two questions that troubled him the most.
“It doesn’t matter.” Everlyn said grimly. “We kill them. Both Reilly and Gita didn’t deserve to die.”
Tom remembered the mind that he had touched on three different occasions now. Tom knew he was killing because the bloodline was forcing him to. He was not doing it because he wanted to like a typical serial killer would. He bit his tongue before he expressed those sentiments out loud. It would not be appreciated.
“And none of your fake sympathy.” Everlyn continued pretty much reading his mind. “These assholes knew what the fuck they were getting into. They were ready to kill people. Don’t you think about supporting the degenerates.”
He raised his hands defensively.
“Get all that justice crap out of your head. All those attempts to justify what they’ve done. The idea of a rule of law, justice, trial and the chance of redemption. None of them apply here. When we find them, we kill them.”
“Do you think you can do that?” Tom asked softly. “Execute someone in cold blood.”
She glared at him. “I’ll do what I have to.”
“Evie. They’re still human.”
“No, they’re monsters.” Her anger was not calming down at all.
“Fine. When we know who they are, we’ll decide how to deal with them.”
“Kill.”
“That’s what I said.”
She said nothing. They both knew he hadn’t explicitly said kill, but he had liked the two women who had died and hadn’t got to know the other three. He was not opposed to ending the people who did this if there were no better solutions and here on Existentia it was not like they had resources to maintain a prison system.
Tears of frustration ran down her cheeks and she maintained even breaths with a sense of furious helplessness. “They killed Gita.”
“I know, and now we understand a bit more about how their skills work. We’ll find them. We’ll talk more after the event tomorrow. Plan it out. Make sure I target them in the right way. Validate the approach and ensure it’s the appropriate one.”
Everlyn nodded and then he was kicked out into the real world.
He gathered her up, so she lay on top of him. Her breathing went even quickly, but he didn’t think she had gone back to sleep.
Something, however, was troubling him. He stepped back into the system room.
The boring grey walls greeted him and once more Tom considered changing them. Create a design that reflects him being in Existentia as opposed to still being the tutorial. Maybe wooden walls, windows and artwork. An environment that was a little more pleasant than having this greet him every time he stepped in.
“Is there a way to stop the bearers of Ruoictac Cursed Bloodline from feeding on humans?”
Three options immediately popped up on the wall
* Ritual: Fate Feed Protection
* Reagent: Letorda root
* Artefact: Block Fate Feeding tattoo or amulet forms available
The amulet was just a more convenient version of the first ritual. Which was not designed specifically for the bloodline curse that the serial killer had willingly infected themselves with but it would protect against anyone using a fate feeding technique upon you that lasted for at least a year.
Even if they never found out who the killer was, Tom was certain that with Harry’s help, assuming he was innocent, they could work their way through everyone and protect themselves from whoever was hiding amongst them.
Before exploring the ritual further, he focused on the letorda root
Letorda root - tier 0
On consumption, this noxious poison infects the user’s fate pool. It reduces the effectiveness of all fate use by 50% but also means that any creature that drains your fate will in turn be infected with a lethal poison. It is used extensively by sapient races in areas where various fate feeding creatures exist.
Protects up to 3 days.
Tom was not too surprised to see the downsides. The root was only tier zero and if it was effective at stopping a monster from feeding on you, then it wasn’t surprising that it had such a significant downside.
“Check auction house.”
The root was listed under alchemical ingredients and was not in the GOD’s store. A single dose would cost a hundred and fifty credits, but if that guaranteed survival against the serial killers, then Tom could see everyone paying that price. Especially if it was only to buy time for Harry to work his magic.
“Show details of the ritual of Fate Feed Protection.”
A wave of information was displayed. The ritual, surprisingly, was only a tier one ritual, but it made up with its cheapness to purchase by requiring an extensive list of reagents.
“Display availability of reagents and cost.”
The wall changed once more and he once more reminded of the advantage that the competition races had. If he was a native, then gathering these ingredients would have taken weeks if not months and probably at a significant monetary cost once travel distances were factored in. Tom, however, as a member of a competitor race could source them immediately via the convenient auction house.
Tom read the information with a sinking feeling. It had everything he needed, but not to the volume that he required.
Fourteen! That was the number of complete reagent sets available.
For thirteen thousand credits per dose, plus a one-off ritual purchase of ten thousand Tom and Harry could protect up to fourteen people against the serial killer.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about it and he would talk to Everlyn in the morning to get her view.
He returned to the real world, and Everlyn was now asleep. She was snoring quietly, not that he would ever tell her that. After that it he fell into an uneasy sleep.