Chapter 33. Do I look cool?
While Tiff and the rest of the crew decided to get down to business and start training like a team back on Earth, I had unknowingly been doing the same thing in the dungeon tower, with Kaj and Sherlock helping move me forward in my path.
It had been a few days for me now in the extensive mountain range that served as the tower's second level. The revelation that my armor could create constructs using its mass as building materials proved to be something that would take some time to master. The possibilities were nearly endless, but there were some drawbacks. I could create basic constructs already, as I had proven with my legion of tiny drones still actively surveying the mountain range. The difficulty would come in when I tried to create something that wasn’t necessarily native to my armor's materials.
“So, I can make any type of melee weapons that I can think of,” I said as I stabbed the giant wolf standing before me with a 6-foot-long spear created from my armor.
“That is correct,” Sherlock replied. “If you want to create weapons with alternate abilities, you will need to absorb something that allows the armor to break down and synthesize the properties of said ability.”
The Wolf, now bleeding from a wound on its side growled. I took a second to identify it, as it was quite a bit larger than the 4 smaller wolves I had already downed.
Frost Wolf Alpha
Level - 39
– These large wolves often hunt in packs and can be found in most frigid climates. While most smaller members of the pack will utilize strictly physical means of attack, the Frost Wolf Alpha does possess some alternative forms of attack, including but not limited to telekinetic attacks.
“It seems this beast may have some surprises left to show yet,” Kaj said, as he stood to the side with his arms crossed quietly judging my technique.
Kaj couldn’t physically assist me outside of the safe room. We did find out quickly that his ability to teach and correct was turning out to be just as, if not more, important to my progression, though. He would watch me fight and give me pointers as the fight progressed. His knowledge of fighting styles and techniques was honestly mind-blowing. Whether my foe was humanoid, a beast, or some insectoid monster, Kaj was able to coach me throughout the fight on ways I could improve both offensively and defensively.
“I think you should kill it quickly before it decides to show its more powerful attacks,” Kaj said.
“Kill it quickly? That is the sum of your infinite wisdom for this particular fight?” I said through gritted teeth as I slowly circled the injured Frost Wolf, spear in hand.
The Frost Wolf circled in response as it growled menacingly, large teeth bared, its tongue darting from its mouth between menacing chomps. Then, without warning, the beast stopped. Its ears shot back, and its hackles raised as it howled loudly in my direction. The sound was ear-splitting. I was sure my eardrums would have burst if it weren’t for my helmet.
The sound shot from the wolf's mouth in visible circular waves that expanded as they traveled, slamming into me with significant force.
“I’ve seen that trick before. You are gonna have to do better than that mutt!” I said as I held my arms in front of myself, bracing against the impact.
I remembered the Red-necked Swamp Donkey from the first floor and the sonic attack it had used. If I had to be honest, I was more than a little disappointed at the dungeon's lack of diversity.
Kaj grinned knowingly as he looked at me, “I fear you have underestimated the beast, Captain.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked in response.
“Attack the beast and find out,” Kaj replied with a chuckle.
I tensed in preparation to jump at the wolf, but nothing happened. I stood locked in the defensive position I had taken before being hit with the wolf’s howling attack. The wolf stopped circling and looked at me knowingly. It lowered it’s head and growled, once again baring its teeth as drool dripped from its snout.
“This is going to hurt,” I said as the wolf attacked.
What I had mistaken for a simple sonic attack was actually a telekinetic attack disguised as a sonic attack. The howl had managed to paralyze me completely, and in the face of the attacking wolf, all I could do was prepare for the pain, and the wolf was happy to dish it out. The wolf jumped at me, latching onto my left forearm with a crunch. Once it had hold of my arm, it began thrashing its head back and forth, lifting me entirely off of my feet and swinging me back and forth like a rag doll. The wolf didn’t stop until it ripped my arm off below the elbow.
I hit the ground with a thud, the air leaving my lungs temporarily. On the plus side I had gained mobility back and could move again. On the downside I was missing half of my left arm.
“Why is it always my arms?! Don’t any of you fuckers ever go after other limbs!” I shouted at the wolf as I rolled back to my feet and found my breath.
I focused on my armor, forcing energy into the end of my arm. Liquid began to leak from my elbow as my arm quickly reformed. I wiggled my fingers and looked at the wolf, who promptly spat out the piece of arm it had ripped from my body. The arm disintegrated as a small black liquid trail returned to my body and reabsorbed into my armor.
“Huh, isn’t that nifty,” I said as I curiously watched the severed arm reintegrate into my body. “You’re a bad dog! No more treats for you!”
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Sherlock turned a deadpan gaze on Kaj, “This man,” He said pointing a finger at me, “This man is who we have chosen to follow. I regret few things in my short life, but I am wondering if this should be one of them.”
Kaj just smiled, “Let the boy show why we follow him.”
I began circling the wolf again, knees slightly bent and arms held low to each side. Without a word, my daggers in each hand point down.
Black Hole Daggers – there exists no force more powerful in the universe than the dreaded Black Hole: a place void of matter and the peril of countless starships. The black hole will aid you in your quest.
Kaj had been drilling me on technique over the last few days. It would take time for me to master hand-to-hand combat, much less weapons techniques. What we had been focused on was using my abilities to my advantage instead of using them as a last resort. The abilities were meant to be incorporated into my fighting style, and according to Kaj, this would be the first step in truly creating a style that was mine.
“Now, Captain!” Kaj shouted from behind.
My hands and forearms began glowing. The wolf had ripped off half of my arm, causing a pretty serious injury. Although it hurt like hell, I wasn’t concerned. The reason was twofold: first, I knew I could regrow the arm, and second, the more damage I took, the more the Shield of Solaris ability charged.
Shield of Solaris was my newest ability and other than not allowing me to heal or take stims for 10 minutes; there wasn’t a ton of downside to using it. It hurt, but the pain was starting to be a constant friend, and if it brought me victory, I would embrace that friend.
I rushed the wolf, daggers still at my side. The wolf jumped toward me, aiming to hit me in the chest and stop my sudden advance. The wolf was strong, fast, and ferocious. Unfortunately, it wasn’t any smarter than an average monster. As it jumped, I rolled forward coming up directly under the belly of the giant wolf. I shot my fists into the air, still gripping my daggers and used the command to activate the ability.
“Shield of Solaris!”
As the ability activated a brightly glowing orange shield of heat and power materialized over my fists. I knelt under the shield as it seared into my hands and arms. As the shield appeared I mentally chose to expel the immense power upward creating a blast of solar infused power that shot the wolf directly into the air above me. The wolf reached its crescendo at nearly 25 feet in the air as it twisted erratically and yelped in pain. As the wolf fell, the shield, now having exhausted its power disappeared and I summoned my daggers once more. I held the daggers aloft, directly over my head as the wolf fell onto them with another yelp.
I stood holding the giant wolf above my head as blood from the wounds leaked down and covered my arms and upper body. The wolf continued to twist, trying to free itself from the daggers that were buried in its gut to no avail.
Ability Activated
Black Hole Drain - unique weapon skill - Black Hole Implosion – upon cutting an enemy, this dagger will drain vital energy with each slice. Upon successfully piercing an enemy with both daggers simultaneously, the Black Hole Implosion will activate, imploding the enemy completely after three seconds embedded in the body of the enemy.
3…2…1…
The text scrolled across my interface as I watched the wolf break and twist in on itself, quickly consumed by the black hole ability of my daggers.
“Do I look cool?” I asked, still holding the pose as I turned toward Kaj and Sherlock.
Sherlock gave a proper English slow clap, “Oh yes, you are definitely giving Jason Momoa vibes right now. Well except for the overwhelming manliness, the perfect hair, the beard, the ability to attract most members of the opposite sex without even trying, the…”
“I get it. No need to continue, I am the absolute pinnacle of manliness. Thanks, Sherlock!”
“The subtle art of sarcasm is utterly lost on you, Captain,” Sherlock replied.
“You are improving, Captain. It is good to see you starting to employ your abilities in new ways. I do believe we need to continue working on your defense. It is lucky that you were only facing the one wolf when you lost your arm. You may not have time to regenerate a limb if you are outnumbered and you would be at a severe disadvantage. We still have much work to do,” Kaj said as he rubbed his chin with one hand, obviously deep in thought about future training sessions.
“Damn, I would complain about the lack of encouragement but I got a level so that is reward enough,” I said as the text scrolled across my interface.
Level Up!
Human - Andrew Dawes
Level 40 – Havok Bringer - P
Strength – 1591
Intelligence – 1591
Dexterity – 2502
Stamina – 1592
Vigor – 1985
“Gotta love those sweet, sweet levels. I haven't allocated my free points since level 36, but I think I will sit on those for a while and decide where to put them. My Dex is starting to pull ahead of my other stats by a wide margin again, but I can’t reset until level 70, so I will deal with it until then.”
I tilted my head as I read through the description one more time. There was something new in the descriptives.
“Sherlock,” I said.
“Yes, Captain, what is it?” Sherlock replied.
“Why is there a P beside my class now?” I asked.
“That is quite curious. Has it not been there the whole time?” Sherlock asked.
“I think I would have noticed it before now. What do you think it means?” I asked.
“Haaaa…well, Captain. See the funny thing is that I have been working on the internal systems of the armor. I haven't been able to make any headway on the file caches yet. I won’t be able to start that process until we perform the hard reset, which you have been dodging quite aggressively by the way.”
“Ohhhh, excuse the fuck out of me for not wanting to let you temporarily kill me just to unlock some files,” I replied.
“Semantics, Captain. I assure you that you are completely safe and that there is minimal long-term risk to you,” Sherlock replied with a wave of his hand.
“We can do the hard reset tomorrow, and I just wanted to work on clearing this floor before then. Now that we have cleared the rest of the Wolf pack, all we have left is the boss. According to my drones, it is located to the north on the other side of the mountain range. I haven't gotten an ID on it yet, but based on the thermal imaging, it is damn big,” I said, “Now back to what you were saying about messing around with the guts on my armor.”
“Well, as I said, I am still unable to access the file caches secured behind the firewalls, but I can access some of the other functions of the armor that were disabled. The descriptions of the features are frustratingly enough tied to the files that are not accessible. Even so, I wanted to test what would happen if I activated one of the features,” Sherlock replied.
“Wait, are you saying that you have been playing around with the internal operating systems of the armor and are just flipping switches all willy-nilly, hoping for a good outcome?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t use such vulgar terminology. I… I was just testing a theory,” Sherlock said
“A theory? A fucking theory?! Sherlock! What if you had damaged the armor or damaged me for crying out loud?”
“Captain, please calm yourself. My theory is that the power of the armor was being limited. Call it a governor of sorts. I believe I was able to remove that governor and open up the full potential of you and your armor,” Sherlock said, holding his hands out in a defensive posture.
“Captain, I believe you will now be able to surpass any being on the universal power scale with time,” Sherlock said.
“So, what is the P then?” I asked.
“It means Planetary, Captain. Your class is now labeled Planetary, which means that you have the potential to attain dimensional levels of power, a feat that heretofore has never been seen. Ever.”