The ragtag group that Lightforge was leading into the depths of a laboratory dungeon had found a small room to rest in for a few moments before continuing their descent. They didn’t walk so much as stumble inside, minds and bodies tired from all the fighting that they’d done so far. They were getting low on resources when they found this room that offered them refuge and respite.

The room was simple: a few chairs around a card table and a mini fridge in the corner that held a couple of energy drinks. To one extent or another, they were all gamers, so they knew what a room like this meant: they were close to the final encounter of the dungeon. This was meant as the final opportunity to recuperate before the big fight.

For the moment they were all just sitting on the hard chairs, waiting for their HP and AP to slowly regenerate. Mostly AP, really. While the opponents that they’d faced so far had been dangerous, they had a healer with them. Of course, that had come at the cost of a lot of AP. They were all running low, but particularly Gray Guardian. Everyone else had gotten at least one round of a regeneration buff, but they couldn’t give it to themselves.

With the healer low on energy, they had no choice but to wait. Gray had drunk the available energy drinks to make the process move more quickly, but it would still be a while before they were able to continue.

Lightforge sat quietly next to Gray Guardian until a thought occurred to him. He said, “Hey, Gray, back with that weird gas, did you unlock a synergy skill?”

The healer jerked their head to face the gadgeteer in obvious surprise. They nodded and said, “Yeah, I did. But how do you know about synergy skills?”

“I have one too. The trick I pulled to take out the turret outside was one.”

“Really? I haven’t run into anyone else with synergy skills before.”

“Me neither. At least, not that I know of.”

The conversation piqued the interest of Cannoneer, who turned to face them and said, “Synergy skills? What are you guys talking about?”

“Come on,” Lightforge said, “You must have heard about them before. Special skills that use both your power sets.”

“Oh, those. Most were never very useful in combat, so I didn’t pay much attention to them.”

“Don’t be so sure about that. Mine can take out just about anything mechanical unless it has special defenses. How does yours work, Gray?”

“Uhm, let me check. It’s called ‘Zone of Blessing.’ It lets me turn my buffs from single target to area of effect. Anyone within my barrier gets them.”

“See? Sounds pretty useful to me.”

"Surface level," Cannoneer said, "Spreading it out makes it weaker overall. And Gray's just lucky that both their power sets depend on INT and AURA."

"Yeah, that's fair. My skills require everything except DEX."

"Just wait," Circe said, joining the conversation, "High level Gadgeteer skills have a minimum DEX threshold. Without it you'll start getting penalties."

"Seriously? Ok, I guess I have to level all my stats."

"That's what I mean," said Cannoneer, "All the good synergies spread your stat or skill focus too thin. All the actually good power set combinations got joke synergies."

"That's bull-[BLEEP]."

The statement marked Sunbird's introduction to the conversation. All eyes turned to her, and Lightforge nearly recoiled at the look on her face. Her wild grin was missing, and she looked positively furious. She was glaring at all of them, but at Cannoneer in particular. Golden energy crackled and sparked along her body as if she had to physically restrain herself.

"[BLEEP]-heads like you are the worst. You spend all damn day arguing over which combination of sets and skills will get you a 2% boost in power."

"It's not nice, but it's a fact: some powers are better than others. That's just how it is."

"Bull-[BLEEP]. If you want to minmax, that's your own damn business. But some of us want to have fun in a world like this."

"We're here for real now. We need as much power as we can get."

"There's more to power than DPS. Lightforge and Guardian both saved us with their powers. Hell, my own synergy lets me use my blasts like afterburners. It's the only reason that I've gotten most of my XP."

"Sure, maybe some have a little utility. Some are pointless; Enhanced Durability reduces damage from my own attacks. Great, I can shoot a bazooka at close range. That’s definitely the best way to use it.”

“You just used it to take out that crazy lizard wolf thing! You flew on explosions.”

“That was an act of desperation. If we had high-tier power sets it wouldn’t have been necessary.”

"Shut up!" Lightforge had to shout to be heard over the argument. The yell came out as more of a roar, and everyone in the room was suddenly reminded that the helpful Gadgeteer was a nearly seven foot mountain of muscle. He loomed over the group and took a deep breath to process everything that he'd just heard.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He took a few more slow breaths before he spoke. Quietly, he said, "I think we're talking about two different things. There are synergy skills, which exist between just about every possible combination. But it sounds like you two have power sets that synergize. Energy Blaster makes Flight faster. Enhanced Durability shortens the safe distance for your RPG. Is that right?”

“Yeah,” Sunbird said, “that’s right.”

“Well, it’s the same for me. Hard Light Construct increases the effectiveness of Gadgeteer. Circe and Gray Guardian, what about you?”

The remaining two shared a quick look and both nodded. Gray spoke first, “Empower increases the effectiveness of Energy Barrier against status effects.”

Circe said, “Transmogrify makes it harder to overcome my illusions. After all, some of the things I make are real.”

Lightforge sat back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. All five of them. Each and every member of their team had a set of abilities that the game recognized as synergistic. Power sets that complemented one another but which weren’t particularly popular. What were the odds of that?

He voiced his question aloud, and the others adopted similarly thoughtful expressions. Silence fell over the group as they considered the possibilities. It was a painful reminder that they really didn’t know much about the world that they’d been dropped into. Why them? And why had they been assigned the power sets that they’d gotten?

Cannoneer spoke up, “Let’s take a step back here. As unlikely as it seems, it could be a coincidence that all five of us have synergies. Does anyone know about any other players?”

“I’m pretty sure I met one,” Sunbird said, “Super Speed and Earth Manipulation.”

“Those don’t sound like a good match.”

“That’s what I would have said before I saw the guy. But the ground pushed him along, adding to his speed. I didn’t get a look at his stats, but I’d put money on it.”

“I know another one,” Lightforge said, “Archer with Wind Manipulation. Brought his bow in for an upgrade the other day. Even that was tailored to take advantage of the synergy.”

“Alright. That’s at least seven, and probably more by the sound of it. Does anyone know any players who don’t have synergy?”

Silence. They all sat and thought, considering every other player that they’d run into so far. Evaluating every power set they’d seen in action to consider what its synergies might be.

The silence stretched out for one minute, and then for five. No one spoke; they all knew what it meant. In all likelihood, every single player who’d been dropped into this world had a set of abilities that had in-game synergy. Which meant power set combinations that were almost all at the bottom of tier lists and popularity rankings.

It was one more mystery to put on the pile. Why did the automatic censorship work? Why didn’t missions respawn?

Gray Guardian finally broke the silence and said, “Um, has anyone else noticed that skills don’t seem to work like they used to?”

“What do you mean?” Lightforge asked.

“Well, in the game they just worked. Press a button, watch an animation. But now? There’s a lot more work that goes into them.”

Lightforge thought back to all the time he’d spent working on equipment over the last few weeks. While his skills always provided him with the information that he needed, the task was never done for him. It was fully possible to make mistakes, even on jobs that were supposed to have a 100% chance of success.

Cannoneer nodded thoughtfully and said, “Yeah, I have. Aim wasn’t really a thing back in the game. You just picked your target and the system decided whether or not you got a hit.”

“Right,” Gray Guardian said, “but now aiming is up to you. Same with other skills. It’s less like the system gives you a new power, and more like a download that explains how to use the power yourself.”

Circe interrupted at that point. She yawned openly and waved her hands about in the air. She looked at the others and said, “Yipee, very fascinating. What’s the point for us here and now? Skills as knowledge dumps aren’t all that helpful inside a dungeon.”

“Maybe, but maybe not,” Cannoneer said, “If the skills are just knowledge, then it’s possible that there are a lot more possibilities than before. Chances to be creative.”

“Uh huh. Odds are, we’re going to walk out of this room and straight into a boss fight. Got any creative ways to win a fight like that?”

“Not off the top of my head, no. Not until I see the dungeon boss, at least.”

“So we’re in agreement. Let’s get moving and save the fascinating philosophy for another time.”

“No.”

All heads turned to Sunbird, who’d been unusually quiet for some time. She was staring around the room, eyes wide in realization. Her golden glow surrounded her, flickering and dancing in time with her excitement.

She grinned widely and said, “No, we’ve got to stay here and think. We’re not just using unpopular combinations; we’re developing new synergy skills. New ways to mix and match powers!”

Circe paused with her mouth half open in what would have doubtlessly been a sarcastic remark. Her eyes darted about as well for a moment before she said, “Woah. I think you’re right. I’m obsessed with all aspects of this game, but I’ve never heard of Gray’s new skill. This might sound a little nuts, but I think this world might be applying the ACS to skills.”

“Exactly! As we find new ways to combine our skills, the system is creating new skills for us to use. With a little thought and effort, I bet we could leave this room with a dozen new skills between us.”

“If that’s true, it might just be worth the wait.”

Sunbird’s excitement was infectious. The team was now buzzing with excitement, possibilities swirling through their minds. If Circe was right, then this could potentially change everything. With a private dungeon that they could use to test out ideas, they would be able to truly plumb the depths of their abilities and find out what sort of crazy ideas they could come up with.

That excitement grew and bubbled over as they began to all talk over one another with the overflowing ideas that began to spring to mind.

The team was so excited now that they didn’t notice when part of the hallway outside silently slid away into the floor. What had been a dead end now opened into a massive expanse. An expanse that wasn’t empty. Slithering shapes twisted in the darkness, and red pinpoints of light turned to face the newly revealed section of the maze.

A high-pitched hum echoed softly through the room. It started quietly, but steadily grew louder and louder. It was followed by a large red dot appearing on the back wall of the room, shining through the open door. There couldn’t have been a more obvious warning. Unfortunately, the team had fallen victim to one of the more devious traps: the illusion of safety. Not one of them looked up from their conversation to see the danger before it struck.

The laser that struck the room was thicker than a person’s arm. If anyone in the team had had super senses, they would have heard the sizzle of water particles in the air turning to steam as the beam passed. It crashed into the wall and shattered the concrete with a concussive blow that made the room explode all around the group.

The team was sent flying along with the rest of the debris. As they spun through the air, some caught a glimpse of something enormous and metallic, but they were moving too fast to catch the details. It was enough. They’d thought that they were safe, protected for as long as they were willing to wait. They’d been wrong. The dungeon had gotten impatient.

So the boss had come for them.