Lightforge was exhausted. That was to be expected after fighting a pair of murderous robotic spiders, each of which was higher level than he was. But he had won, and he’d even taken the robotic remains as trophies. The fight had made him realize that he didn’t have as much of a grasp on his Gadgeteer powers as he’d previously thought.
To be fair, it was probably more accurate to say that he’d underestimated the powers completely. He’d assumed that there were no combat applications outside of building weapons or other pieces of equipment. That was obviously not the case, at the very least against mechanical enemies.
He made it back to his base without incident, opening it up and immediately going to the refrigerator. It had come stocked with protein bars and bottled water, neither of which he’d touched much. Too bland for his taste. But they were perfect for occasions such as this where he just needed the fuel to keep going.
Sitting down on the couch, he finally settled in to check the notifications that had come from the fight with the robots. There were more than he’d been expecting.
You have defeated 2 Junk Spiders!
You have defeated enemies above your level.
You have defeated multiple enemies alone.
You have minimized damage to your surroundings.
Total Experience Earned: 126
You have reached level 3!
Stat points available: 4
New Skills available
He paused mid-bite. Just like that, he’d leveled up again. Of course, it had taken a pair of murderous machines appearing out of nowhere for it to happen, but he’d done it. It was exciting, but it wasn’t the end of the notifications.
You have earned a new skill for Hard Light Construct
Option 1: Shining Darts
* Launch volleys of darts from your hands at a rapid rate
* Each dart moves at high speed but deals low damage
* Darts have a limited ability to track and follow a target
Option 2: Prism Hammer
* Conjure a war hammer designed to deliver high damage
* High damage, but slow attack speed
* Hammer can parry and block attacks
You have earned a new skill for Gadgeteer
Scavenge (Passive)
* Use your mechanical aptitude to find useful materials in the field
* When you defeat an enemy, there is a low likelihood of recovering crafting materials from them
* Types and rarity of materials received limited by current level
He’d been expecting Scavenge; all of the power sets that prioritized equipment got a skill like it at a low level. But having options for Hard Light Construct was a surprise. It seemed to be asking if he wanted to fight primarily at range or up close and personal.
The darts were tempting. He liked the idea of standing back as a stream of tiny, glowing knives eviscerated anything that tried to come close. Then again, would it really work like that?
In his last fight, ranged attacks hadn’t been particularly effective. In fact, the only thing that saved him was the ability to get in close and embed a weapon into his enemies. Given that his upgrade trick had saved him once, he would like to keep it in his back pocket for the next time he needed it.
As far as close combat was concerned, his daggers were quite limited. Fine against people, at least at this level, but against something with armor? The robots he'd fought were made from literal junk, but it had still taken a lot of effort and luck to do any real damage to them up close.
While they weren’t perfect, his knives provided a decent ranged option. The darts would be nice, but they wouldn’t increase his versatility as much as the hammer. He made up his mind and chose the close range option.
He had expected that to be the end of the updates, but there was one more left for him to review. This one, it turned out, was easily the most surprising.
Synergy Skills Unlocked
By using your synergistic power sets in unison, you have unlocked new skills which combine both. Combine your powers creatively to discover new skills.
New Synergy Skill: Sabotage
* Use your specialized tools and skills to deal massive damage to enemy machines
* A hard light weapon must be in contact with the target to activate this skill
* Amount of damage dealt is reduced if the target is higher level than you
Huh. Apparently his trick wasn’t anything new. And now he would be able to use it without going through all the other skill screens. That was interesting. Combination skills weren’t unheard of; the devs tried to add easter eggs for just about every possible combination of power sets. Many were more showy than they were useful, but they were there.
The surprising part was the implication that this wasn’t the only one. In fact, the description seemed to imply that there was almost an entire other skill tree to discover if he could just be clever enough with the powers that he already had.
While that would certainly provide some interesting things to explore, there were more pressing concerns for him to consider. The first of which was, of course, the new stats from gaining a level.
Given what he’d just learned about using his powers in combination, it was more important than ever that he get his three important stats into alignment so that all of his skills could grow stronger together.
With that in mind, he decided not to think too hard about it. He put two points into Strength and two points into Intelligence. He couldn’t help himself but grin as he looked at the progress that he’d made.
Name: Lightforge
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Alignment: Neutral
Level: 3
Power Set 1: Hard Light Construct
Power Set 2: Gadgeteer
Stats:
Health Points (HP): 528/528
Ability Points (AP): 301/301
Strength: 16
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 15
Aura: 17
It was a good start. Slightly annoying that he was still neutral, but there wasn’t much he could do about that. He'd handled every threat set in front of him in the most heroic manner he could manage. He had to be getting close to the threshold; with a little patience he’d be an official hero in no time.
With that out of the way, it was time to get back to setting up his shop. He had a place set aside now and a deal struck. What he didn’t have was the cash to pay for it. Taking down criminals did come with rewards, but those were pretty small in the grand scheme of things. Quickly checking his wallet, he saw that he had 208 Hero Bux. Not even half of the already low asking price.
Circe had promised to help finance the store, but he had no way of contacting her. Even if he did, he was having second thoughts about that particular deal. Regardless of circumstance, becoming allies with a villain wasn't a good idea. Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of better options available to him. Maybe he could ask Cannoneer or Sunbird? They would probably love the idea of a gadget shop for them to use.
He made up his mind. He’d go to the heroes first. If that still wasn’t enough money, then he’d try to track down Circe and see how generous she was feeling. But all of that would have to wait. After the fight he’d had earlier that day, he deserved some rest and relaxation. He stretched out on the couch and turned on the tv on the opposite wall. There weren’t any actual shows; it was all ads and clips made for background decoration. But for now it would have to do.
----------------------------------------
Lightforge was up and ready bright and early the next day. Now that the only thing standing between him and his shop was money, he was excited to get moving. And even if he couldn’t get all of the money right away, he would still have things to do. Like trying to make sense of the broken robots still sitting in his inventory.
He stepped out of his base and into its newest location: an alley similar to the one where he’d first landed. They were absolutely everywhere in all of Paramount City, mostly for cases just like this. That was when he saw the first issue of the day: it was raining.
More than a mist, less than a downpour, the rain fell quietly as it washed away the outer layers of grime that large cities accumulate. It made the city feel quiet, as if nothing and no one was willing to be out in the rain unless they had to. And, if he were being particularly honest, Lightforge agreed with them. He looked back longingly at the still-open gate to his base.
It would be so easy to just go back inside and take the day off. After all the success of the day before, he’d probably be in for disappointment. Just a long, wet day trudging through the city with nothing to show for it. That was almost certainly what would happen.
He half turned to go back inside before letting out a heavy sigh and closing the portal. He’d faced down killer robots, he could certainly face down the rain.
“Good choice. We have work to do.”
He turned to face the voice, and he found Circe sitting on a dumpster, smirk set firmly in place already. He opened his mouth to respond but froze when he took a closer look at her. Despite sitting out in the open, she seemed to be completely dry. The rain was still falling on her, it just didn’t seem to affect her.
He cocked his head to the side and stared for a moment. How was she doing that? Then her body seemed to flicker, and she was wet. Soaked, honestly. No inbetween, just dry one moment and soaked through the next.
Right. Her whole thing was illusions. He rolled his eyes, which must have clued her in to what had happened. Her shoulders slumped and she said, “Well, I am a mysterious villain. Image matters.”
“Right. I guess it’s good to see you again, Circe. Looks like I kept you waiting.”
“You did.”
“I think this is the part where the mysterious villain threatens me if I ever do such a thing again.”
“No need. If the need arises I’ll just send a few more spider bots after you. And not the little ones.”
“I’m sorry, what? Because that sounded like you were the one who attacked me yesterday.”
“The only people at fault are you, for being bad at negotiating, and a backyard inventor with very lax security protocols.”
“You’ve got to be joking! I almost died. Again.”
“A calculated risk. And seeing as I’m the one footing most of the bill for your store, it only makes sense to get the best possible deal out of the situation.”
"And what if I'd died? What would you do then?"
"You didn't, so it doesn't matter."
"Like hell it doesn't! You expect me to trust someone who just tried to [BLEEPING] kill me? News flash! That ain't going to happen."
She was sitting on a dumpster, soaked from head to toe. But in that moment, she may as well have been a queen sitting on her throne. Her gaze pierced through him, quashing the anger that tried to continue overflowing. It was a cool glare, full of the absolute certainty that she was in the right.
The angry words sputtered to a halt and Lightforge found himself awkwardly trying to look away from Circe. Her smirk returned and she nodded to herself.
"Done?" she asked, "Good. Now we can get something clear between us. I don't expect you to like me. We made a deal, and I expect you to trust that."
"Attacking me wasn't part of the deal."
"It worked."
He grit his teeth and turned away. She wasn't going to budge; that much was obvious. He tried to stay angry, but it was harder than he would have expected. Between her utter lack of remorse and the fact that he'd actually gotten a lot of rewards for that fight, he couldn't really argue with her point. It had been a dick move, but it had yielded impressive results.
He gave a frustrated shrug and turned to walk away toward the street. As expected, she followed and came up beside him. He couldn’t accept what she’d done, and he couldn’t argue with her point, so he stayed silent.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, he said, “Now what?”
“You open your shop, and we get to work stocking it up.”
“Fair enough. A Gadgeteer service shop is good; a one-stop shop for items, equipment, and upgrades is better.”
“That’s right. And we’ll need help gathering the raw materials for you to build from. Met anyone trustworthy yet?”
“Maybe a couple. I’ll have to reach out and see if they’re willing to help.”
“Perfect. And I’ll be in touch with suppliers of a shadier sort.”
“Why do you even need me? Why not get a villain Gadgeteer to work with you?”
“Those are excellent questions. Short answer: I have a theory I’m testing.”
“And what’s the long answer?”
“Too long to get into right now. I’m entitled to a few secrets.”
It was an opening, one that he’d been waiting for. He stopped walking and turned to face the smaller woman. He glared down at her, not that she seemed to notice.
“Fine,” he said, “You have your secrets. But let’s get something clear. While it’s hard to argue with your results, I’m not going to put up with getting jumped anytime you think I need a little push. Do it again and my first priority becomes bringing you in. Is that clear?”
“Fair enough. No more surprise attacks.”
It was still a dumb idea. Working with Circe would almost certainly end badly for Lightforge. No matter what assurances she might provide, she had already made her position perfectly clear. She would do whatever brought her closer to her goals, and she wasn’t planning to share whatever those goals might be.
Frankly, it was a recipe for betrayal and disaster. His only advantage was that he was aware of the danger and could be cautious in how he approached it. He could be prepared for the inevitable and have plans in place. Of course, the same could be said about her. One day, it would probably come down to who pulled the trigger first.
But luckily, it wasn’t that day yet.