Connor noticed the glowing jewel, and a spell from one of the Tabletop games he played came to mind: Delayed Blast Fireball. Except that the spell he was thinking about didn’t require a gem, which meant it was an enchantment. While he didn’t understand enchantments, he was pretty damn sure they could be more powerful than a cast spell and left or presented as traps.
Connor wasn’t even close to fully recovering from the blast underground when he activated Force Barrier and yelled, “Hold On!” as he grabbed both Sam and Liza and started flying up and away from the clearing. With a thought, Connor expanded the Force Barrier Sphere he’d created as he invested 1,000 mana to beef up its ability to soak damage. He’d regenerated 1,000 mana in the last two minutes, so he still had just over 1,300 mana in reserve. While he beefed up the outer shell of the bubble so that it could take more damage, he solidified the inside of the bubble around each of their bodies so they became stuck like bugs in resin.
The thing about having an intelligence that was at least 65 times higher than the maximum human normal of 20, if that was normal, was that placing the three of them inside a force bubble and then launching at three times the speed of sound before he knew about magic would have been bad. Maybe not as bad as the Enterprise going into warp without inertial dampeners bad, but pretty damn close. He was sure he’d be fine because it was his flight power, and it seemed like things that should create enough G force to turn him to past didn’t affect him but the other two. If they weren’t supported, they were going to slam into the back of the force bubble at approximately 2,400 miles per hour.
The placement of that glowing opal outside what they expected his detection range to be if he only had Eyes of Eris to Uncommon Rank, as well as how close to the center of the clearing it was, presented only two logical possibilities. First, they were going to wipe the clearing clean. Or the second possibility was that the detonation from that opal was going to wipe out the clearing, the mesa, and a large portion of the surrounding area.
While the force bubble was solidifying, Connor shot off at approximately 800 miles per hour. This generated 30 ‘g’s, which would have caused most humans to black out. After one second, they were over 1,000 feet above the clearing and flying away. The next second, he increased his speed by 1,000 feet per second again, which brought him up to 3,000 feet away from the clearing. During the third second, Connor increased the speed yet again by 1,000 feet per second…
Connor’s thoughts were interrupted when the world exploded around him.
***
Liza felt immobilized as every part of the front of her body tried to join every part of the back of her body as she accelerated forward at 30 ’g’s. She was just barely able to hold onto consciousness as she felt her bones creak. She couldn’t move her arms or legs, and her lungs felt like they were being flattened against her back on the inside, which made it hard for her to breathe. This went on for almost three seconds before the world turned white, and the hair on the back of her neck rose a split second before searing heat began to burn her. Her new Shadow Panther Evolution kicked in, and instinct took over as she activated Shadow Step to try to get away.
***
Unlike Connor or Liza, Sam was just along for the ride, or so he thought. He felt something solidify around him as the ‘g’ forces crushed him almost to the point of unconsciousness as they launched into the air away from the clearing. He fought for as long as he could, but just as he saw a bright light that seemed to flash from everywhere around him and felt the searing heat hit his back, Sam lost consciousness.
***
Connor was the only one of the three still conscious when the Notifications appeared.
Warning! Mana Saturation has reached 5,966.587112%
Interconnected Dimensional Travel Activated within Spell Matrix…Absorbed
Interconnected Personal Shroud active…Absorbed
Unfettered Status active…Absorbed.
“Three as One” Title Gained.
Three as one
Due to an extreme influx of energy during a magical accident, active and passive powers have been imprinted upon you from adjacent and interconnected sources of mana.
The class Unfettered has unlocked the ability Unfettered within you.
Ability: Unfettered – Temporal and Dimensional origin designations have been removed. You are unfettered within the SYSTEM. What this means exactly is for you to discover. Additionally, the class unfettered is now available at each rank to those who do not have the class, though it does not need to be chosen during class selection.
You have gained the ability Personal Shroud.
Ability: Personal Shroud
Personal Shroud is a passive ability and is always active. When actively concealing yourself or using Stealth, it is much harder to detect you. Anyone trying to detect you must be at least two ranks higher than you. Also, you do not appear on mapping skills or spells. Additionally, for spells that scry, They must be at least two ranks higher than the rank of your Core to detect you.
You have gained the Perk “Shadow Affinity, Common” gain it.
You have an affinity to Shadow Magic. All Darkness Based Magic (Including Shadow Magic) Damage is reduced by 10. Additionally, Any spells or perks may be used as if they were one rank lower than they are. For example, the skill Shadow Step at Uncommon Rank normally costs 100 mana to move 100 feet. Someone with this Rank of Shadow Affinity can Step 100 feet for a cost of 10 mana.
You have gained the racial Skill “Shadow Step.”
Racial skills automatically level with the Core of the individual and do not require skill slots.
Shadow Step...
Error!
Shadow Step attempt includes the entire connected Matrix
Energy Influx has destabilized Matrix
Unfettered Status has decoupled Temporal and Dimensional Location
Unfettered Status reset to starting point
Three as One has Decoupled. Individual entities reset to their origin point.
Personal Shroud has taken effect.
SYSTEM Connection Lost
SYSTEM Connection Lost
SYSTEM Connection Lost
Connor felt the Force Barrier vanish around him, and Liza and Sam both vanished from his perception just before everything went black.
Reality reconfigured around Connor. He was on a tiled floor when a man nearby called out, “One more Push!”
Another man called out, “Who is that?”
The woman who had first screamed called out, “Security!”
Connor had no idea what was going on, was still quite confused by what had happened, and had no idea where he was. What he did know was that until he figured this shit out, he didn’t want to be detained.
Connor activated Stealth, Flight, and Shadow Stepped straight up 1,000 feet where he found himself floating in the air above a hospital. He looked around and recognized the mountains around Tucson. Was this?
Connor flew down to street level, where he could see the sign for the hospital, “St. Mary’s Hospital,” where he’d been born. As that thought entered his mind, Connor heard someone call out, “Congratulations to the Nash Family!” which automatically drew Connor’s attention to an RV with two people sitting on top drinking a soda next to a third empty chair with a white robe laid over it. When he looked back at the two people, he recognized Sam and Liza. They were dressed differently, but it was them.
Connor flew down, landed, and deactivated Stealth
“Thought that would get your attention,” Sam said.
“Welcome back!” Liza said with a smirk. Then she said, “Nice Ass!”
“Wait, what?” Connor said as he realized that almost the entire backside of his clothes was missing.
“What the hell is going on?” Connor asked as he grabbed the robe and put it on before hastily sitting in the third chair.
“Long version or short version?” Sam asked.
“Short version, long later,” Connor said.
“Okay, short version. Whatever you did with that Force Bubble intermingled our powers, and we gained from one another. When the energy wave hit us, we all got shot back to the point where we were born. You’re the last to arrive. That about it, Liza?”
“Well, except that you’ve been here for more than a year and only picked me up a month ago,” Liza said
“Yeah, that also,” Sam agreed.
“How did you know where I’d be?” Connor asked. “Forget that; Liza knew where I was from and my last name. Sam, how did you know where to find Liza?”
Sam smiled before he answered, “I didn’t. But, like she said, I’ve had a year to acclimate to this time period. Do you want to know how hard it is to walk away with money and anything else you want when you have inventory skills and stealth? I may or may not be wanted in California, Nevada, and Arizona for grand theft…No, I definitely wanted it if they knew it was me,” Sam said with a grin.
“Besides, I didn’t make it very hard to find me, did I, Sam?” Liza asked with a smile.
“At least you had the Stealth skill; if you hadn’t, it would have been a bigger mess.”
Sam looked at Connor, “As I was about to say, when I arrived, my sudden arrival made the news. It took me a little while to figure out that I’d been sent back to this time and place, so I escaped and tried to blend in. Sure, I took a few liberties and took a few items, but for the most part, I just hung out and waited. I didn’t think I was older than you two, but now I know that I am because it was a year before Liza showed up. I was in Las Vegas, living off the strip, when there was a story of a woman appearing and disappearing in a hospital maternity ward here.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Yeah, it was a real shit show for me. I was naked, too. With Shadow Step and Stealth, I was able to stay off the radar while picking up some clothes and spending money for basic things from various convenience stores. I thought about going into a bank, but Sam arrived and found me before I tried,” Liza said.
“How did you find her? I saw the Notifications right before I passed out and appeared here. We should all have a Personal Shroud active, but with Stealth, we shouldn’t be able to see each other. Well, I can see you two, but you shouldn’t be able to see me or each other.
“Party Chat,” Sam said.
“Party Chat?” Connor asked.
“Party Chat” There’s a tab in our status title, “Three as One.” We can message each other through it,” Liza explained.
“Connor opened his Status to a large pulsating Notification.
SYSTEM Connection re-established during Pre-Integration. Some functionality may be unavailable. Please wait until SYSTEM Integration has been completed.
Unfettered Status Recognized. Limited SYSTEM Link established.
Mana Regeneration in Mana Deprived World is currently at 5%
“What the hell?” Connor exclaimed
“Oh yeah, those first Notifications sucked. Also, count yourself lucky; when I arrived, the Mana saturation was at .1%. It increased by 5% over the last year, so at least now we will get some mana back,” Sam explained.
“Did this affect anything else about us, attributes, skills, and such? Connor asked.
“Not as far as I can tell. I tested most of my other powers, and they all seem to work just fine,” Liza said.
“Shit, so we really are before the SYSTEM Integration, and this is my literal Birthday. If that’s all true, it’ll be 22 years before the integration happens,” Connor said.
“Looks that way. First things first, though. We need to get you inside and out of here, and then we need to discuss what we’re going to do to get back,” Sam said as he stood and dropped down into the RV through a hatch in the roof. Liza handed him the lawn chairs and the cooler and then followed Sam down. Connor followed last.
“Some sweats and a T-shirt should fit on the back bed,” Liza said. We’ll need to go shopping for you soon.
Connor went to bed, transferred the remains of the clothing he wore into his Inventory, put on the sweats and T-shirts, and stored the robe in his inventory.
“So, is this our true timeline or an alternate one?” Connor asked.
“What do you mean?” Liza asked.
“He’s asking if what we do will affect our past and, therefore, our future,” Sam answered.
“You mean like that Grandfather Paradox idea they talked about in physics?” Liza asked.
“Exactly,” Connor agreed. “Have either of you noticed your memories changing or being changed?”
“It wouldn’t work like that, no matter how much Marvel wants it to,” Sam said.
“Yeah, Bruce’s explanation of time travel was pretty pointless.” Connor agreed. “Besides, if we are in the true past, all that’s going to happen is that we’re going to fuck something up. One or more of us won’t be trying to get away from a huge explosion that forces me to wrap us in a bubble of force that links us all together somehow and then, because of my class and Sam’s ability, decouple us from the timeline, to which the SYSTEM reset us. Then, because it didn’t happen, the original timeline continues, and since our new selves don’t go back in time when we did, None of the stuff we did to fuck up the timeline happens, and it continues as normal. There might be minor variations the second time through because, well, quantum theory, but we should travel back in time again, and we get a do-over as we start the cycle over.” Connor looked at the other two, “I don’t know about you, but being caught in a time loop is not something I really want to do for all of eternity, not that I’d know I was in a time loop, of course.”
“I don’t know; if we are unfettered, wouldn’t we know when something wonky is going on with time around us,” Sam asked.
“That’s neither here nor there,” Liza said, interrupting. “Right now, a version of myself that is less than two months old is on the other side of town; Connor is in the hospital, and you’re somewhere as a one-year-old. What are we going to do for the next 22 years until the integration. Because we know it’s going to happen. In fact, it looks like it started right when Sam first appeared. Does anyone else see that as a coincidence, or like me, do you all think maybe we caused it?
“Well, there are a couple of things we can do. The first thing, though, is to limit our interactions with anything that’s happening near where we lived in the past, I mean now, or around any events that we could accidentally change. Of course, I could try to create a skill or Spell that would allow us to get back to our time frame…”Connor started to say….”
Sam interrupted, “Okay, I’m completely on board with not changing anything. We’ve all gained too much to want to go back to the way we were. If you can create skills and spells, how about a skill or spell that gets us back to the planet we were just on? Not in the future, right now?”
“What? Why?”
“It seems to me that the three of us now have a unique possibility to learn about the people that invaded Earth, which, as you explained, the SYSTEM didn’t like. Well, they just tried to kill us. We’re still around. Maybe we should use this as a chance to get some intelligence on our enemy and then strike right after whatever threw us into the past happened.
“What do we do about the people on Earth?” Liza asked.
“There isn’t too much we can do. Though…Connor, why are you handling all of these changes so easily. Aliens, the ability to fly, time travel,” Liza said as she moved her hands around expressively. “I mean, when I figured out I was in the past, I felt so far out of my depth that if Sam hadn’t been around, I’m pretty sure I would have lost it.”
Connor looked thoughtful for a moment, then he smiled, “You remember how I was always reading online or listening to books?”
“Sure, you always had an earpiece in.”
“Well, we can’t do any web novels; that didn’t come around until 2014, I think. But Audible exists. It was founded in 1995. We could write short stories, like the LitRPG novels that were out, just a different story so that we don’t affect those stories. Anyway, those stories helped me keep the mindset that anything is possible. If that’s true, then I need to accept what is and move on. Remember that one phrase from that book I showed you back in college, “What is, is.” Damn, the author won’t even publish that until 2017, I think. I always loved that story. Mom didn’t like me reading it; she said I was too young, but I liked it.
“What, you were ten when you read that?” Liza asked.
“Nah, I listened to it as an audiobook in 2018, but that’s 11 years from now,” Connor said.
Sam attempted to get the conversation back on track: “So, how are we going to do this, then?”
“ I think we are going to go to the other side of the world and make life very hard from some very bad men. While we're doing that, we hone our combat skills, maybe see if we can find Liza more large cats to hang out with,” Connor offered.
“Pointless,” Liza interjected. I’ve had about a month to get over the loss of the Claw sisters. That said, I can bring large cats into my Claw, but Shadow Panthers are my best choice.”
“Maybe I could summon one or teleport us to them?” Connor offered.
Liza looked thoughtful, “If you could do that, that would be great!” Liza said happily.
“If you can summon Shadow Panthers for her, can you find a way back to that planet? Maybe I can hook up with the enemy?” Sam offered.
Connor clapped his hands. “Definitely on the ‘We will try list.’ First, though, we have a few things we need to do. Sam, get us on the road to Vegas. We’re going to need money. I am going to try to create some spells, which could take a while. Therefore, we need money to purchase a place where we can stay with minimal interruptions and distractions. For that, we need money.
Sam moved into the driver's seat while Liza sat in the passenger seat. Connor went to sit at the dining table and settled down. He quickly checked his resource pools. He was only regenerating eight mana every 10 seconds, which meant that if he needed to create a Master level spell, it would take him 35 hours to generate enough mana to do so. He needed something he could store mana in and then call on it later without needing to rely on his regeneration rate.
Or, he needed to find the source of the SYSTEM Integration….Connor froze and then said, “Change of Plans! Head to Mount Kimball, which is the mountain over to the east on the north side of town from here. Right there,” Connor said, pointing out of the front window of the RV.
“Why?” Sam asked.
“I think one of the locations where mana is being fed into the planet to fuel the integration is over there. I think it will have more mana from us.”
“We can’t stop it?”
“No, we can’t stop it, but I bet the ambient mana in the area is higher.”
“How do you know about that place?” Sam asked.
“In 22 years, that is where one of the soul-catching devices is going to be,” Connor said.
“So, you’re not sure, but it’s the best guess you have.
Yes.”
“I can respect that.”
“Keep heading that way along this road. I’ll be right back,” Connor said as he activated Stealth and Flight and jumped up through the open hatch in the roof as Sam drove out of the hospital parking lot. Connor flew toward the mountain. It was about 10 miles from where he was to Mount Kimball. Also, this was the first time Eye’s of Eris had been used in such a cluttered space, but he handled it fine. When he came with 10,000 feet of the mountain, however, things changed.
Uncanny Perception has been activated.
Directly in front of him on the mountaintop was the structure he’d seen so long ago. Also, his mana regeneration shot right back to normal, almost two miles away from the mountain. Even more worrying, he could see creatures walking around a catwalk on the side of the structure that he was sure he hadn’t seen before. Something that looked like a cross between a lizard and a human. He was also sure that he saw gnomes floating around the structure working on it. Gnomes? None of them had been there when he’d seen the structure the first time back in the future.
Connor slowed and pulled up his Status Screen. Then he backed up and watched his Mana Regeneration rates to see when they dropped off. Right when his ability to see the structure fell away, his Mana Regeneration fell off. Connor looked around and noticed that there were no houses in the area—just the path up to the top of the mountain.
Connor made his way back to Liza and Sam. He landed inside the RV and deactivated his skills, “Back.”
“How’d it go?” Sam asked.
“Well, the structure is up there. It looks like it’s still under construction.
“I don’t see anything up there,” Liza said
“It’s under a Concealment or Stealth field of some kind. It’s there, and it has guards. We could probably go up there and do some damage, but I think that’s a bad idea. Let’s leave it alone and head to Las Vegas. We’ll get some funds. Also, it’ll give me an opportunity to find us a way back to that slaver planet. Some portals in the underground area led to other places. If we can get there, maybe we can get somewhere that will tell us how to get access to the Shadow Panther, just in case I can’t. “Sounds good to me, “ Liza said with a smile, “More money means I can go shopping!”
“You know you're playing into the stereotype,” Connor said
Black claws extended from her right hand as she looked back at Connor, “Would you like to see my claws up close and personal,” Liza said.
“Are you flirting with me?” Connor asked as he clutched his heart. “Hell must truly have frozen over.”
“Your such an ass,” Liza said with a smile.
“Yes, I can be. On a more serious note, at some point, I would like to take a look at your claws to see if I can copy them or create something to mimic them.
“Is that part of your Unfettered Class, “Sam asked.
“It is, but it’s not cheap,” Connor said. “Hey will you two be alright if I go try to create a spell really quick?”
“Sure, I’ll drive. Liza has the map,” Sam said.
“Okay then, I’m going to try to meditate in the back and create something to help us. I’ll check on you two in a bit. Give me about five minutes.”
“Sure thing,” Sam said.
“You got it,” Liza said as she pulled out a map and opened it.
Connor went back to the bedroom, activated Force Barrier, and molded the barrier to strap him to the bed as he lay down, just in case Sam got them into an accident. He dropped into a meditative state relatively quickly and then activated Malleable Spells. He focused on something that would allow him to store mana with a specific focus on items like what he thought a mana battery would work like.
When he was done, a minute later, Notifications appeared in his vision.
Unfettered Status Noted
SYSTEM Link established.
Searching Spell Database
Only spells of Core Rank or lower will be noted.
Ritual: Mana Battery Creation, Common
Ritual: Mana Battery Creation, Uncommon. Does not possess Prerequisite Spell
Ritual: Mana Battery Creation, Rare. Does not possess Prerequisite Spell
Ritual: Mana Battery Creation, Advanced. Does not possess Prerequisite Spell
Ritual: Mana Battery Creation, Master. Does not possess Prerequisite Spell
Ritual: Mana Battery Creation, Common
Requirements to learn ritual.
10 Mana
One free Spell Slot.
Congratulations! You have learned the Ritual: Mana Battery Creation, Common.
Required Material: Chalk, salt, or blood, and any small-sized gem or quartz is acceptable.
This ritual imparts the knowledge required to create a SYSTEM Linked Ritual Circle that is utilized to transform any small gem into a common Mana Battery.
The Ritual requires 100 Mana, which is used to empower the ritual circle. Once complete, the gem is transformed into a Common Mana Battery, which can hold and discharge up to 10 Mana. There is a 10% chance per use that Mana drawn from the battery will cause the Mana Battery to turn to ash.
Connor read the description, immediately meditated for another minute, and recast the Malleable Spell with the same focus. However, this time, he wanted an Uncommon Mana Battery ritual. When he was finished, he learned his second ritual in less than five minutes.
Ritual: Mana Battery Creation, Uncommon
Requirements to learn ritual.
100 Mana
Two free Spell Slots.
Congratulations! You have learned the Ritual: Mana Battery Creation, Uncommon.
Required Material: Chalk or blood and any medium-sized gem or quartz is acceptable.
This ritual imparts the knowledge required to create a SYSTEM Linked Ritual Circle that is utilized to transform any small gem into a common Mana Battery.
The Ritual requires 1,000 Mana, which may transfer into the ritual circle at any rate. Once complete, the gem is transformed into an Uncommon Mana Battery, which can hold and discharge up to 100 Mana. There is a 9% chance per use that Mana drawn from the battery will cause the Mana Battery to turn to ash.
Connor released the Force Barrier, holding him down, and made his way back to the front of the RV just as they were getting onto the highway to head north toward Phoenix.
Liza looked over at him as he walked up to the seat behind the driver’s seat. “How’d it go?”
Connor smiled, “Just as I thought, I can now create mana batteries, though I’ll need to find some gems.”
“That’s easy enough; we can hit up the pawn shops on the strip once we get there after we acquire some money,” Sam said.
“What does a mana battery do?” Liza asked.
“They’ll allow me to store mana for later use, so I don’t have to wait on mana regeneration to complete skills, spells, or rituals that take a lot of mana to cast.”
“Those sound really useful; how big can you make one?”
Right now, I can make uncommon mana batteries that can hold up to 100 mana. I want to get the rare version, which will take 10,000 mana to learn. That one is going to take a while, 3.4 hours to be exact, with the slow mana regeneration we have going on,” Connor said.
“And that will hold?” Sam asked.
“It’ll hold 1,000 mana.”
“That size sounds like it would be extremely useful.”
“Extremely useful and highly deadly if it explodes while charged.
“How deadly?” Liza asked.
“Can you take 1,000 points of damage?” Connor asked.
“I have just over 500 hit points,” Liza said, “So, no.”
“I have fewer hit points than Liza,” Sam said.
“So deadly,” Connor restated. I’ll be working on learning that ritual for the next three and a half hours. If we stop, grab me a drink and some chips or something. If I get really hungry, I’ll fly off and get something when I’m done.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Sam said.
“Anyway, I’m going to head back to the back of the RV, lay down on the bed; see you in a few.”
Connor made his way onto the bed, strapped himself down with Force Barrier again, and started working on learning the next Rare Rank of the Mana Battery ritual.