Chapter 34. Sack up.
I couldn’t understand what Sherlock was trying to tell me. A while back, I noticed that my abilities had started showing descriptives denoting class levels. I spoke with Tiff briefly about this, but she had limited knowledge regarding the class levels. The power scale for individuals who had access to abilities in the universe was reasonably straightforward. It was widely believed that level 100 was the power cap. This made sense because, as far as anyone in the universe was aware, no individual had yet reached this power cap. Kaj was on the upper end of the power scale in the universe, currently at level 63.
“Sherlock, what you are telling me doesn’t make any sense. How can there be multiple levels of power for ability holders? Why has nobody discovered this before now? There has to be some other explanation, right?” I asked, “Kaj, are you aware of anyone reaching level 100? Or passing it?”
“No, Captain. I am near the high end of power in the universe. I have heard rumors of individuals exceeding level 90 but never met one. I once encountered a level 85 Lycoan brawler on the battlefield. That class is focused on hand-to-hand combat and is heavily focused on strength and dexterity. He managed to wipe out an entire battalion of our soldiers in less than an hour. We had to retreat and lost the planet entirely. The Lycoans have held that planet since, and no other species has threatened to invade. I cannot imagine what power an individual would wield if they were at or surpass level 100.”
Sherlock was pacing back and forth as we spoke, seemingly trying to work something out to himself.
“Sherlock, do you have anything to add here?” I asked.
“We need to proceed with the reset as soon as possible, Captain. I have my suspicions, but I cannot confirm them without accessing the files that have been quarantined. What I can say is that I fear there is more to your armor than you first assumed.”
“What do you mean? Can you at least give me a little insight?” I asked.
“Captain, your class is unique. That is not surprising on its own. Unique classes are often given by the system from reaping to reaping. The Coeus have often used cultural stereotypes or myths of individual worlds to build classes that make sense to those who have been recruited. The issue with your class is that it doesn’t fit into any pre-defined classification. Most classes, even unique ones, will still fit into the basic structure of one of the five master classes. Your Class does not. It seems to be able to utilize the benefits of most classes and has very few of the drawbacks of any class because of this.”
“I feel like I should already know this, but what are the five master classes?” I asked.
Kaj spoke up. “The five master classes are the basis for all subclasses or unique classes offered by the system.” Kaj held up a finger as he began to list the classes.
First, there is the brawler class. This class, as I said earlier, is focused on melee combat, and anyone employing this class will skew their stats heavily in favor of strength and dexterity. They will often have abilities that allow them to dish out massive amounts of damage in a short amount of time.
Second is the Guardian class. This class is focused on defense and stamina. They will skew their stats heavily toward Vigor, Stamina, and strength. They can take a ton of damage, and while they generally possess adequate skills in combat, they will more than likely be used to allow the rest of their allies to set up long-range or wide-area attacks.”
“So, they are tanks,” I said.
“No, Captain. They are living beings. Why would you say this?”Kaj asked, confusion on his face.
“No, tank is a term from my world. It doesn’t mean the actual machine; it is used in games to describe a player who takes a lot of damage.” I realized how silly it sounded as the words left my mouth.
“This is no game, Captain. I do understand the comparison in terminology now, though. Now, as I was saying.”
The third class is Healer. The name is pretty self-explanatory, but anyone in this class will have stats focused on intelligence and stamina. These stats will allow them to create wide-area healing abilities. They have limited combat abilities, and you rarely see them operating without the aid of a larger group.
The fourth class are known as Mancers. This class should be familiar to you as Tiffantrimore is an Electro-Mancer. Mancers have the ability to manipulate the elements and use them as weapons. Tiffantrimore also has a duplication ability, though her main master class is Mancer. I assume that she also has a unique class. This would explain her ability to duplicate.
The Fifth class is the Warrior class. This is the most common class given and the most commonly selected. It can include anything from short-range weapons and melee combat mastery to long-range weapons like those used by Matty and Jax. The master class is Warrior , but the subclass may differ and lead the individual on a different path. This class is mostly balanced, and as one progresses, free points can be allocated to give one an edge based on their subclass.
Captain, your class is different. Your stats all started at the basic level for humans, but you have grown them significantly. Tell me, what is your stat cap?”
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“Stat cap?” I asked, obviously confused.
“Yes, as I just explained all master classes have stats that will heavily outweigh others. For example, the stat cap for the intelligence stat of a healer will sometimes be double the cap of their strength stat. The classes are designed this way to ensure that the individual will not overfeed a stat that has a negative impact on their progression. Surely this has been explained to you,” Kaj replied.
“As far as I know, I don’t have any stat caps. I don’t see anything on my interface showing a cap level, and I can put my free points anywhere I want. I was able to redistribute at level 35, and as far as I could tell, there was nothing stopping me from putting every single point into dexterity or strength,” I replied.
Kaj shot Sherlock a concerned look before returning to the conversation.
“You must keep this information to yourself, Captain. You must swear to me that you will not discuss this, not even with Tiffantrimore.”
“Yeah, I can do that but is someone going to tell me what is going on here Kaj? Why is this a big deal?” I asked.
Kaj put his hand on my shoulder. “Captain, what you have told me shouldn’t be possible. I agree with Sherlock. We need some answers, and I believe it is time to get those answers. As much as you are concerned about the possible ramifications of the reset, I believe it is imperative to do it as soon as possible. There are answers, there is information that we need before we can decide exactly what that armor of yours is capable of.”
“Okay, let’s head back to the safe room and get it done. You guys are freaking me out a little bit and I would be happy to get a few of those answers as well,” I replied.
We made our way back to the safe room. It took about an hour, as we had been working to clear monsters in a radius around the safe room over the last few days. At this point, we had cleared everything that would provide a reasonable amount of experience, and our final push would be toward the boss. The boss would have to wait for now. I had committed to allowing Sherlock to perform his reset, and honestly, I was curious about what he would find as well.
When we finally arrived back at the safe room, it was dusk, and it was starting to get damn cold. I chuckled to myself, thinking back on my time on that river bank in Texas. It was hot every day; I longed for winter and the chill of an evening sitting by a fire and watching the sun go down. I didn’t think I would get to experience those chilly evenings while being stuck in an alternate dimension and fighting monsters every day to try and get stronger so I could face the next batch of stronger monsters.
As we passed through the door of the safe room Kaj shifted from an incorporeal being to one that once more had natural physical substance.
Kaj shivered as he entered the common area, “I still cannot get used to that feeling. This dungeon does some strange things, I must say.”
I slapped him on the back between his massive wings, “I gotta say, it does seem pretty weird. I am glad you are here, though, Kaj. I don’t think I could’ve done this on my own. I mean that.”
“I guess I am just chopped liver then,” Sherlock said, rolling his eyes in disgust.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Sherlock. You have been a ton of help in your own right. Of course, you do have a tendency to go digging around in the guts of my armor and flipping switches at random to see what happens. Doesn’t exactly instill confidence in your decision-making skills…” I replied.
“Enough small talk. Let’s get this done. I need to get some food after you are done playing mad scientist.”
I cleared the main table in the common room and lay down. My armor was dismissed, and the only evidence of it was the lower half of my arms, which were now entirely made up of the substance my armor was made from. I felt a chill on the left side of my body as Sherlock commandeered a small amount of the mass of my armor to allow him to have a physical form.
“The entire process will take seconds, Captain. I would tell you that it is not going to hurt, but you and I both know it will. What I will say is a phrase commonly used in your country to encourage someone in need of encouragement.” Sherlock said as he stood over me beside the table.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” I asked.
“Sack up. Bitches get stitches,” Sherlock replied with a wry smile.
Kaj cocked his head in confusion, “What is this…sack? And is a bitch easily harmed? Why would they receive medical care?”
“Just let it go, Kaj. Sherlock was attempting to make a joke,” I smiled and closed my eyes. “Honestly, not bad, Sherlock. It is exactly what CJ would tell me.”
Sherlock reached down and grabbed what looked like a long metal probe. It was approximately 6 inches long and tubular, coming to a point on the end. It was connected to something, but I couldn’t see what. It was time to trust the super-advanced AI again.
“Are you ready, Captain?” Sherlock asked.
“Let’s do this shit,” I said as I closed my eyes and tensed my body.
“Kaj, I must ask you to hold the Captain down to prevent him from injuring himself. This will not be a pleasant experience,” Sherlock said.
Standing on my right side, Kaj placed one hand on my right shoulder and one on my right thigh. He flexed and the strength I felt him exert seemed impossible.
“Okay, I’m not going anywhere; let’s get this done,” I said.
“One last thing, Captain,” Sherlock said as he reached over and put a mouthguard in my mouth.
“Now I’m getting nervous, Sherlock. What the hell do I need a mouthguard for….”
Before I could finish the sentence, Sherlock shoved the probe directly into my chest. I felt it dig into my flesh, stabbing through muscle. I closed my eyes and tried to relax. This was painful, but I could handle it. Sherlock was just being a drama queen as usual I was sure of it.
Sherlock looked at Kaj and nodded. Kaj doubled his grip on me, making me almost feel that he was going to break something. Just as I began to scream, Sherlock pressed a button on the probe, and a massive electrical pulse shot out of the instrument, hitting me directly in the heart, not once but six times. I hadn’t considered that my enhanced physiology meant it took something much more powerful to kill me. Sherlock didn’t take any chances and hit me with enough voltage to kill an elephant.
My body convulsed as Sherlock shocked my heart. Every muscle in my body tensed, and if not for the mouth guard, I would have broken teeth or bit my tongue off. After a few seconds, I began to foam at the mouth before, finally, my heart stopped. My body relaxed, and to Sherlock and Kaj’s surprise, my armored forearms melted away. I was dead; my armor was gone.
Sherlock looked up at Kaj, who stood transfixed, finally relaxing his grip on me. Kaj watched as the portion of my armor Sherlock had taken also melted away. Sherlock stumbled to the side before flickering a few times.
“I believe I might have miscalculated,” Sherlock said, disappearing, the probe falling and clanging against the tile floor.