Sam continued to practice with his sword form with Mr. Black, the name Mr. Black had chosen to give him. When they finally took a break, Sam sat on the edge of the plateau he was on. Below him was the main area where the slaves were processed before being separated and either used to fuel soul crystals or sent off through portals to locations unknown. The peoples of Earth were being farmed as resources, even him.
As he drank water and munched on a piece of bread and cheese, Mr. Black walked over to talk with someone at the edge of the plateau. Sam looked back down onto the salve pens and saw one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen being wheeled in on a cart with six large panthers behind her. There was a seventh Panther that didn’t look to be much larger than a house cat held by the scruff of its neck by an armored man. The small cat was obviously unconscious.
“Get them out here now!” the armored bellowed.
Within a minute, seven young people, in finer attire than Sam had seen thus far emerged from one of the side tunnels. None of them could have been older than 12 or 13. The children rushed out and took positions next to each of the panthers as the slaves were led or dragged away. The oldest stood by the biggest cat, while the youngest stood in front of the man holding the kitten.
“Before you are seven uncommon beasts that your families paid for us to procure,” he said as he put the kitten down before the young girl in front of him, “Pull out the crystal you were given, touch it to the panther in front of you and say the incantation you were taught the armed man said.
Each teen pulled out their crystal, touched it to their panther, and as one, the children recited something that sounded a lot like Latin,
“Per hoc sacrificium mihi datum est”
The crystals flashed and began to brighten as the panthers withered and turned to dust as Sam watched. Just as the panthers vanished, an inhuman scream came from the slave pens where the woman had been taken just before one of the cages exploded.
***
Mistress Morena looked into the image projected from her Communication Crystal as one of her contacts and old friends in the Sect spoke to her.
“How are the acquisitions coming?” the Zanthen women asked through the communication device.
“You know exactly how they are coming, Kess; also, Still jealous,” Morena said.
“It is not my fault that the planet I come from makes a variation of humans with golden skin and aquamarine eyes as the standard evolutionary expression of our species. Besides, if memory serves, you know all my secrets?” Kess said with the hint of a smile.
Morena smiled at their shared memories of a beach and the vacation they’d shared when they were younger. “While I would love to catch up on old times and even take you up on the offer, I called for an update.”
Kess returned Morena’s smile before she grew more serious, “You should consider yourself lucky.”
“Why is that?”
“90 percent of everyone at the primary staging area was killed?”
“What!” Morena exclaimed.
“You heard me. One of the mortal stabilizers was destroyed by something which also created a shockwave that translated up through the open portal into the staging area.”
“Wait, the ships were supposed to be shielded, and spread out?” Morena asked.
“They were, yes. Maxim’s grandson wanted everyone close together to be able to coordinate across the globe more easily.”
“The planet should have been hit with an EMP to knock out whatever technology they had. Our reports don’t show them having magic…How?”
“The report I’ve received from a few of the ships that were able to survive in five of the six locations indicates that a ship outside of the field that disabled all the technology fired a kinetic weapon from orbit. The captain of that ship was able to report that they were able to destroy one of the craft that initiated the attack, but the damage was done. Some of our initial attack ships made it through their portals at the other five array points, but the primary fleet was crowded together, and the explosion from the Soul Catcher Array and the Earthling's weapon in North America killed most of our ships.”
Morena tapped her finger on her desk, “Well, that explains why our timetable for the Tutorials was moved up. You do know that we were never meant to pick up people from tutorials that were full of actual threats. We expected to find the dregs that we missed during the initial invasion.”
“Morena, what are you getting at? All of your forces are Tier II or Uncommon if you use the old naming convention. They should be able to handle anyone from this new world with no issue?”
“Really? Then explain to me why I’ve lost three Tier III Mages, twelve Tier II hunters, and three skimmers to one member of the tutorial?”
“Truly?” Kess asked.
“Truly.” Morena
Just then, Morena received a notification that another Mage had died. She didn’t recognize the name, but Elaine Daverack had been another one of their Rare Mages she’d sent after the last Tutorial member in the first Tutorial Dimension they’d raided.
“Kess, I need to cut this short; I just lost another Skimmer team led by Elaine Daverack,”
“Daverack? Shit!”
“I don’t recognize the name. Was she Important?” Morena asked
“You wouldn’t know who her dad is, but you could say that she is important. Her father is one of Maxim’s major supporters in the council,” Kess explained.
“Shit,” Morena agreed.
“I won’t be able to keep a lid on this. You do know that the major families have a way to track their progenies' welfare?”
“I do. Let me let you go so I can handle this personally,” Morena said.
“Good luck,” Kess said as her image vanished.
Morena stood from her desk and headed to her information-gathering section. A short walk down the hall within their base led her to a room with the conveniences of a 20th-century office on Earth, except that electrical wiring wasn’t a thing, the light and air conditioning were provided by magic, and the terminals that people were viewing weren’t actually terminals. The images displayed were projected from a simple flat base with an embedded crystal that was linked to another crystal in another location. The receiver could receive multiple inputs from various recording crystals, which were embedded in the skimmers. The mages also had hand-held versions that they could use to contact them. A different operator off to the side and behind some sound-dampening spells took those calls.
As she walked into the room, one of the images caught her attention, A man could be seen flying away as the skimmer chased him in a downward spiral. Off to the side, she could see a curtain of water falling beside the skimmer. She’d seen that location before. A conduit between two levels of the Tutorial Domain, The Uncommon and the Rare levels.
“What is the Skimmer doing there?”
The elven communications mage started and then answered, “Mistress. This specific skimmer followed the target down the vertical shaft in the tutorial domain with the final tutorial participant. We’re not sure what happened; it’s coming up.”
Morena watched the image that suddenly ended. The mage rewound the playback back by 10 seconds, and they watched it again.
“Did you check the other five skimmers with that one?”
“Yes, Mistress,” the male elf said as he sent a mental command to the display base. The image changed and showed an image of a vehicle slightly off to the right of the center of the image. They watched as they continued down the shaft in a spiral until suddenly, the skimmer just stopped and turned into scrap.
“It looks like the skimmer slammed into something it couldn’t see; a force wall, perhaps?” Morena offered.
“That was my thought as well, but the pieces of the skimmer dropped immediately,” the elf said.
“That’s easy enough to explain. The collision did enough damage to break the barrier. If it had been a Tier I barrier, the skimmer could have survived, even a Tier II. So, whatever the skimmer hit was at least Tier III,” Morena mused.
“My thoughts as well, Mistress.”
“And the other five skimmers?”
“They are emerging from the vertical shaft now; the target has fled toward the mainland; they should have him back in their sights within the next couple of minutes.”
“Very well, let me know when they get him.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Morena turned and started back toward the area. She needed to check in on the seven noble children. They’d been lucky enough to capture seven Shadow Panthers in a different Tutorial Dimension. No one knew what they were doing in the common area, but one of her requirements would be met. Anything to offset the loss of four hunting parties would only help her when she had to make her report to Maxim.
As she came out of the tunnel into the main slave area, one of the cages exploded. Morena went back into the tunnel, activated Stealth, and then double-checked that all of her defensive measures were still active. While she did that, something streaked from the cage, and in the time it took her to activate Stealth and check her defenses, the seven noble children were slaughtered. No, they were ripped apart.
She’d watched as a whirlwind went into their midst and, with a single swipe, ripped heads from shoulders, arms from sockets, and legs from torsos. Morena was barely able to keep up with the movements, and she was a Tier III warrior, thief, and mage. Morena cast another spell to beef up her defenses and then a spell she really didn’t like to use because it sapped her life force. In that time, the devil of a woman had killed eight more of her personnel that had reacted and were trying to stop her. One had done a little better, but she’d ripped him apart with two swipes of claws that extended from her hands and feet.
Morena drew Soul Drinker, one of her unique treasures that absorbed the energy of her enemies. Before she stepped out, she verified that the thief they’d captured earlier, Sam, was it. She made sure he was in the upper training area, and then she moved. Within 20 seconds, this woman had made her life tenuous. The only way forward for her now that might appease Maxim would be to capture this calamity or kill it. Her mind set on her new course, Morena moved.
Morena blocked the next strike swipe and the next as she looked over her opponent. Her eyes had changed to those of a Panther’s. Had this woman been bound to the Panthers? Then, her focus changed to prevent this woman from killing her. Each attack was bone-shattering and unique. She used her arms and legs as weapons with solid shadow claws projecting from the ends of her hands and feet. Additionally, Morena noticed that she was attacking more like a Panther or a lycanthrope in their hybrid form, even though she appeared to be a human woman, except for the claws.
Morena took a chance and activated Identity.
Elizabeth Henley
Class: Claw Mother, Common
Level: 20
Hit Points: 211
Stamina: 155
Mana: 97
Psychic Energy: 52
Active Powers: Cat Reflexes, Shadow Claws, Wrath of the Claw Mother.
Active Defenses: None
Physical Damage Resistance: 1
Every member of the tutorial was analyzed, and their information was recorded before they were brought to the staging area. The power her current opponent displayed had not been present in any report she’d seen. Still, her class was only Tier I, so she should be able to be detained without needing to be killed. What Morena was seeing looked a lot like a berserker power, and like all berserker powers, it probably had a duration. How had she picked up the power, though? Had she been bonded to the Panthers? Had their death caused a spontaneous evolution? Whatever this Wrath of the Claw Mother was, it was a devastating power that no one wanted to be the target of. Morena’s stamina was getting low, so she pulled out a Stamina Potion and downed it.
Morena's use of the stamina potion and inattention caught up to her as a swipe bypassed her armor and struck her magical defenses for 81 points of damage. Since the Armor spell she’d cast on herself only stopped 100 points of damage, she knew she’d been lucky. What was more worrying was the fact that her armor had done nothing to protect her. Even the parts of her armor that were magical. The Shadow Claws she was using were bypassing her armor and shredding her flesh here and there.
Morena refocused on the battle before her and remained completely defensive as she parried each attack. A minute later, as her stamina started becoming scarce, she noticed that the girl's eyes had come back into focus, and the number of attacks she was making slowed down considerably.
“And your back with us. Cease attacking now, and I may let you serve in my ranks.”
“FUCK YOU, BITCH, You killed my…
Morena cut her off with a feint that forced the girl to dodge toward her left. Morena shifted to the girl's right as she brought the blade of Soul Drinker against her neck and poked the dagger in her left hand into her back. Elizabeth Froze.
Once frozen, Morena casually asked, “You were say….
Just then, a loud crack filled the air as one of the skimmers appeared 100 feet above the clearing. Morena kept her hold on Elizabeth while she looked up to see that one of the skimmers had used the emergency recall rune. Morena looked up to see the man her reports said they were hunting in the first Tutorial Dimension she’d raided. Her eyes met his from over 100 feet away. She recognized the look. It was the one she gave someone just before she killed them.
***
Connor teleported with the Skimmer and appeared above a clearing filled with cages and people below him. As he quickly looked around, his eyes were drawn to a woman holding a dagger to a woman’s back and a short sword up and across her throat. Two daggers would have been better. Then his mind caught up with what he was seeing, and he recognized Elizabeth Henley from College. Her eyes looked like she’d been crying, and her clothes were splattered with blood. That’s when he received his second shock. There were at least sixteen bodies scattered all around her on the ground.
Connor’s Eyes came back to Elizabeth, and the woman holding her then used Identity on her.
Morena Darkspear
Class Fighter, Rogue, Mage
Level: 85
Hit Points: 1,179
Stamina: 1,482
Mana: 1,098
Psychic Energy: 998
Active Powers: ???
Active Defenses: ???
Physical Damage Resistance: ???
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Well shit! Connor thought as he activated Stealth and flashed down within 10 feet of Elizabeth. He formed a Force Barrier around Elizabeth’s body. The only places that weren’t covered were the soles of her feet and where the two blades touched Elizabeth’s body. Where the blade rested against her back and her neck, he wedged the Force Barrier right up against the blades as he invested 1,000 mana into the Force Barrier to ensure that the blades couldn’t be pushed into her. Technically, the blades still touched Elizabeth’s neck and back, but Morena shouldn’t be able to push the dagger into her back or slice the sword across her neck.
Just then, Uncanny Perception detected the person who had been on the plateau above the clearing who had looked to be watching that kid he’d run into in the Tutorial. The kid, Sam was it, had activated Stealth and was hiding up there while it looked like the person that had been next to him had used some form of teleport or dimension door power to appear behind Connor and try for a backstab.
Connor utilized one of the free dodges he received from his Dodge Skill to sidestep the attack while simultaneously grabbing the teleporter's wrist and crushing it. Connor caught the blade with his left hand and guided it into the shocked throat of Morena at an upward angle. Yes, Morena had a lot of hit points, but a lesson that Connor was going to learn at that moment was that hit points were a gauge, not an absolute.
Unknown to Connor, at least in that moment, Mr. Black had a very special dagger. While not an artifact, the blade was Tier III and had a few very special qualities. First, as a Tier III Weapon III, its durability was 300. Second, an enchantment had been placed on the blade to make it completely immune to magic. Just the blade. So, a strike up to the hilt could be made through any magical barrier, though it would be stopped at the hilt. The third and final thing about the dagger was that Mister Black kept one of the most toxic poisons ever discovered applied to the blade and only pulled it out when he absolutely wanted to kill someone.
The blades in Morena’s hands went slack, but Connor didn’t trust it. With a yank, the dagger he’d buried into the back of her throat exploded out through the front of her face.
Mister Black, whose right wrist was being crushed and held by the man who killed Morena, only had a moment to realize what had happened before the man pivoted, dropped, and hurled him at a nearby wall with such force and surprise that he didn’t have a chance to blink away. Mr. Black’s head slammed into the rock wall, and he dropped to the ground unconscious.
Connor watched dispassionately as the target of his quest started to fall forward dead. He reached out with his left hand and touched her as he dropped her body into his inventory, along with her sword, dagger, and the dagger he’d taken from the man he’d just tossed into a wall. While he did that, he expanded the force Barrier around Elizabeth and sealed it off so she’d be safe for a few moments while he took in the surroundings. Connor was sure there had to be other members of these slavers here somewhere.
As for the Notifications, he left them minimized for now; he wasn’t in a safe location. On that note, Connor activated Stealth and flew up to the Plateau, where Sam was watching.
“Sam?” Conner asked from beside the kid.
“What? Where are you? I can’t see you.”
“Don’t sweat it; when you upgrade your core, you’ll be able to do the same thing, probably even to me with that Personal Shroud you have. For now, Did you take an Oath or anything like that that will require you to go after me or the woman down in the clearing I just helped?”
“What are you?” Sam asked with a bit of fear in his voice.
“Answer the question please.”
“No. No!. I tried to escape and they caught me. Mister Black, the guy you threw into the wall. He was testing me to see where I’d fit in.”
“Okay then. Do you want to get back to Earth?”
“Of course,” Sam said indignantly.
“Okay, we’ll talk more later. Now, I want you to help. Take this,” Connor said as he pulled out Morena’s shortsword and set it on the ground between them, where it became visible to Sam, “Now pick up the sword and then use your Stealth to your advantage, strike and kill a single target, then move on.” Do not engage more than one target at a time. Your Stealth is strong, and only someone like me would be able to see through it.
“You want me to kill people?”
“Sam, we met because you tried, no, you did shoot me in the head. Kill every one of these slaver fuckers you see. Use that bitch’s sword to do it. If you can bind it to you, Do so. I don’t need it, or if I do, I can live without it. I’m going to get Elizabeth, the girl downstairs, somewhere safe, and then I’m going to help you. We are going to kill every slaver fuck int his camp. Every single one of them.”
“Oh…Okay,” Sam said with a little bit of fright in his voice as he picked up the blade before his eyes lit up.
Before Connor could say anything else, he noticed that Elizabeth had vanished from the Force Barrier he’d placed her in. She appeared ten feet behind someone who had been moving up with a sword to poke at the bubble. Connor watched as she appeared, and black claws extended from her hands like the blades of Wolverine from the X-Men right before a double swipe lopped off his head.
Just as Sam turned to leave, Connor said, “Stay away from the woman I helped. She seems to be working something out right now in the form of…yep, there goes the second one. Just stay away from her until she calms down.”
“No issue there, Sam said as a grin appeared on his face. I saw what she did to the kids that killed those Panthers and the others that were nearby. I’ll make sure to stay clear of her.”
Connor watched Elizabeth for a full minute as she teleported and attacked guards who came for her. While he saw a bit of rage in her movements, he also realized that every attack was tactically sound. There was just something about her movements and the placement of her feet as she vanished and reappeared. It was absolutely impressive how easily she was killing people.
He even took a moment to Identify her before and after an attack and noted that her mana regeneration must be at least ten because her Mana dropped to 87 whenever she blink-stepped but was back to 97 before she tried to blink step again. If she could get her mana regeneration higher or improve that skill or spell to Tier II she’d probably be able to increase its range. Of course, the mana cost would probably go up, but that would give her versatility like he had. Unlike her, he was able to move so quickly and so far because his attributes were so high at this point.
With Uncanny Perception and Eyes of Eris, Connor followed Sam’s progress down into the base below him. Sam was systematic and brutal if just a little slower. In the same amount of time that Elizabeth killed six slavers, Sam only killed two. Now that he was sure they were both doing okay, he could take care of his needs.
Connor checked to make sure Stealth was active and then toggled his Notifications.
Congratulations! You have killed Morena Darkspear, a Level 85 Rare Mage.
You Have Earn 285,000 XP
Congratulations! You have reached, Level 57.
Congratulations! You have found one Rare Ranked Tutorial Skill Crystals.
Tutorial Skill Crystals may be utilized to teach you one of the following Skills or upgrade a Common or Uncommon version of the Skill to Rare Rank provided you have three Skill Slots available and your Core has been upgraded to Rare Rank.
Skills Available:
Identify (Rare):
You may learn general information about any creatures within your range up to Rare Rank by focusing on them. Only one creature may be targeted at a time.
Information Provided increases with Skill Rank:
Common: Race, Rarity, and Level
Uncommon: Hit Points
Rare: Mana, Stamina, and Psychic Energy.
Range:
1 - 10 feet – 10 Mana.
11 – 100 feet – 100 Mana
101 – 1,000 feet – 1,000 Mana
Regardless of distance, information gained is based on the Rank of the Skill.
Analyze (Rare) – You may learn general information about any spells, runes or magical items within your range up to Rare Rank by focusing on them. Only one creature may be targeted at a time.
Information Provided increases with Skill Rank:
Common: Name of Item or Spell and Rarity
Uncommon: Type of Magic and Damage or Healing capability.
Rare: Resource Pool Cost to use, regardless of type: Hit Points, Stamina, Mana or Psychic Energy. If used on an item, how many charges are left within the item.
Range / Cost
1 - 10 feet – 10 Mana.
11 – 100 feet – 100 Mana
101 – 1,000 feet – 1,000 Mana
Regardless of distance, information gained is based on the Rank of the Skill.
Dodge (Rare) – Once per hour per rank (3 Times) at No cost, you can dodge any attack of equal or less Rank. Additionally, your normal chance to dodge is increased by one for every rank in this skill.
Inventory (Rare) - You have been granted a dimensional storage area that may hold up to 1,000 slots worth of equipment.
Each slot may hold up to 5 pounds of a single hand-sized item. Multiple Slots may be required for larger items. The number of slots required for any specific item is based on its weight.
Items summoned from your Inventory will appear either in your hand or on the ground in front of you, as you desire.
Regardless of the weight of the items you carry, they do not increase your weight.
Eye of Eris, Rare – Range: 1,000 Feet. This is a 360-degree spherical perception skill. You may now perceive everything within 10 feet of you. This Skill Negates all Levels of Stealth, though Incorporeal Opponents that are also invisible may not be detected.
WARNING: Each rank of this skill multiplies the current range by 10. If any of the following attributes: Perception, Wisdom, and Intelligence are lower than the current range, you will suffer information overload and receive the debuff – Distracted
If any of the following attributes, Perception, Wisdom, or Intelligence, are lower than the current range by more than half, you will suffer information overload and receive both the debuffs: Distracted and Pain-Racked.
To utilize the Tutorial Skill Crystals, you must have three Skill Slots available.
Congratulations! You have found a Rare Tutorial Spell Book Crystal.
Tutorial Spell Books may be utilized to teach you one of the following Rare Spells, provided you have three unused Spell Slots.
Spells Available:
Shield (Rare) – Spend 1,000 mana to create an opaque shield in front of yourself that can take 1,000 points of damage. This shield can be placed anywhere within 10 feet of yourself, so it can be used to stop other attacks as well. The Shield does not move. A shield may be cast multiple times and will persist for one minute after casting. This skill will allow you to identify monsters and their levels.
Force Dagger (Rare) – Spend 1,000 mana and create a dagger of force that will last for three full minutes. Base damage: 3. Durability is 300. The Force Dagger will persist until durability reaches zero or three minutes have passed. The Dagger can be thrown but must be retrieved.
Magical Bolt (Rare)– Spend 1,000 mana and create an Arcane bolt of energy that inflicts 600 points of damage on any target within 1,000 feet. The spell “Shield” will not block this attack. The spell “Armor” reduces the damage caused by this attack. This spell does not miss its intended target.
Light (Rare) – Spend 10 mana and create an orb of light within 1,000 feet. The Orb of light will generate illumination equivalent to a 100-watt light bulb. This orb of light will persist for 1,000 hours.
Armor (Rare) – Spend 1,000 mana and create magical armor on yourself or someone else within 10 feet. This armor reduces all physical damage directed at you by 1,000 for 1 minute. The armor moves with the caster. Additionally, this spell may only be cast once on any target. Recasting before the spell expires resets the duration to 1 minute.
Congratulations! You have Completed the Quest, Destroy Mistress Morena
Rewards:
Congratulations! You have unlocked One Bonus Ability Slot.
Congratulations! You have received the New Master Rank Skill Crystal – Malleable Spells.
This is a skill; It may not be taught, transferred, or acquired by another. Spells created by this skill can not be inscribed into a spell book or learned by another. The unique way this skill creates spells precludes their use by anyone else save yourself or a Creature of Chaos.
Spells are typically acquired through discovery or training.
Not for you.
With this skill, you may focus on their intent and modify their skills as needed. To acquire a new spell, you must rest and focus on the outcome you desire for one minute. If the outcome you desire is possible, the SYSTEM will assign a Rank to the spell and attempt to add it to your Grimoire.
If Spell Slots are unavailable or the SYSTEM determines that the desired effect is impossible, The attempt fails.
If Spell Slots are available, the Spell Slots are allocated, and the Spell is added to your Grimoire.
The Mana Cost for this skill is based on the rank of the Spell sought.
Common: 10 Mana
Uncommon: 100 Mana
Rare: 1,000 Mana
Advanced: 10,000 Mana
Master: 100,000 Mana.
This Skill cannot create spells above Master Rank.
Note: If the Spell sought is known to the individual and already exists within the SYSTEM, the Mana cost is reduced to 10% of the listed cost.
Amount of rest required to use skill: 1 Minute
Amount of time to create a new Spell: 1 Minute
Congratulations, you have discovered the Master Rank Spell Book Crystal “Force Daggers of Throwing.”
Cost: 1,000 Mana
At will, the caster can draw 100 Rare Ranked Force Daggers and throw them one at a time. The Spell creates the dagger as desired. The ability to call forth the force daggers will last 100,000 minutes (69.44 days), until 100 daggers have been drawn and thrown, the spell is dispelled, or the spell is canceled.
Each Dagger has a durability of 300.
Once Thrown, a dagger dissipates at the end of the next Combat Turn.
Connor stopped for a moment, took the time to use the Master Rank Spell Book Crystal, and then Cast Force Daggers of Throwing. This spell was a game-changer for him. He checked the clearing below really quickly; Elizabeth was still going at it. It had only been about five minutes, but she was still going strong. At the edge of his perception, he saw a couple of groups that she might have some problems with, but it would be at least another couple of minutes before he needed to help out. Sam had taken out 15 people in the facility below and was going strong. Connor went back to his notifications.
Congratulations! You have earned the Perk “Intellect of Eris.” This perk allows you to utilize Eyes of Eris as if it were one rank lower than it is.
Congratulations! You have earned the title “Karma Collector I.” You have completed a quest given by the SYSTEM for the death of an individual who had earned more than one hundred thousand negative Karmic Luck. Let this serve as a warning that, eventually, debts will be collected—+10 to all Attributes and all resource pool regeneration. This bonus includes +10 for both your Order and Chaos Attribute.
Congratulations! You have earned the Title “Sect Assassin I.”
You have accepted a quest from the SYSTEM to assassinate a high-ranking member of a SYSTEM Recognized Sect. +10 to all Attributes. The SYSTEM guarantees that you’ll need them once people learn of this title: Good Hunting!
Finally, for defeating Mistress Morena, you will automatically be transported to your Planet of Origin at the End of the Tutorial.
Time Remaining: 27 Days,12 Hours, 15 Minutes, 34 Seconds
Connor finished reading the Notifications as he added another Skill Slot to Eyes of Eris and increased it to Advanced Rank, which increased the sphere of Perception to 10,000 feet. That was about 500 feet shy of two miles. The headache he expected never appeared. Intelligence of Eris was a hell of a perk!
Still, it took Connor a moment to sort through all of the information he was receiving. When he came back to himself, Mr. Black had moved deeper into the facility below him to a large cave that was just over 1,000 feet down. It was just a bit further than someone with the Rare version of Eyes of Eris could detect.
Shit! Mr. Black was trying to make his way to a portal where crates, cages, and skimmers were driving through to another place. If he made it back and reported, that could be very bad for Connor. It was a simple matter for him to find the person controlling the portal. He had no idea how it was powered or how to turn it off, but he did see one man sitting there with a look of concentration near a glowing crystal that the man was touching. Connor pulled the dagger he’d killed Morena with from his inventory and then rushed into the complex and down into the depths of the facility until he reached the shaft that dropped into the cavern. Three Seconds later, he shoved the dagger into the back of the mage’s head and stabbed him twice more before he fled back toward the shaft.
Connor had reached the mage before the person he’d taken the dagger from made it to the portal, though he’d been really close to the portal when Connor killed the mage controlling it. Though he wasn’t dead yet, Connor watched as the mage began to glow, and the portal flickered like a TV changing its channels randomly. Ironically, the first flicker happened just as Mr. Black stepped up to the portal. Through the portal, a red-orange landscape of mountains and lava with creatures that Connor could only describe as demons appeared.
Knowing the throw wouldn’t kill the rare, classed warrior, Connor willed one of the daggers into his hand and tossed it with his full strength. Mr. Black had a shield; it blocked the damage, and instinct ground into Mr. Black's psyche took over as he rolled forward through the portal into the landscape just before the image flicked away.
Next, Connor created a Force Barrier around himself for 1,000 mana as the intensity of the magic bursting through the mage he’d stabbed brightened until he was blinded. He blew 1,000 mana to place one more Force Barrier within the one he’d just created as he was blinded.
The Mage exploded.
Everything within the cavern was destroyed. Luckily, the shaft wasn’t directly over where the mage had died. The facility above only received minor damage on the lowest floor. Sam and the other above were fine.
Connor, on the other hand, had been very lucky. If he’d only had one barrier up, he’d have died for sure. As it was, the blast destroyed the first barrier and two-thirds of the second barrier.
Eyes of Eris allowed him to see that the Cavern was now empty, except for him. Since it looked like he needed to let his eyes heal, he toggled his notifications and paused.
You have received 10,453 new notifications. Would you like to sort and prioritize them before viewing them? Yes or No?