It turned out his newest ability was far more temperamental than he thought. Ray quickly learned that his ability to command the System was more akin to a kind of alchemy than everything else. Every action he performed took its toll on his body and his Power reserves. While creating Power Cubes was far cheaper, he could only make a few before it put him down for the count. Literally.
It exhausted him on a level that he could hardly fathom. Trying to make another five cubes was both impossible and laid him out flat on his back, to both Josephine and Nyx’s amusement. Nonetheless, it was a huge boon to be sure. He didn’t have a lot of time to experiment, but the results spoke for themselves.
He would be able to achieve the impossible with far less effort.
Derrick was the first to understand that this ability would not be limited to just creating Power Cubes, although they were by far the most valuable of the things that he could craft. The list that they discussed was as long as it was important, the foremost items being weapons. It had been quite a while since Ray had considered using his pistol, in fact, there had been so much need for stealth that he had nearly forgotten about it entirely. It sure would have been useful against that furry fuck of a {FOREST LORD}.
During the short experimentation period, Ray also found out just what a rejection looked like. Upon trying to generate a handful of guns, the System screen went red and shattered. Pain exploded through his body like liquid lead had been injected into his veins. It had taken him nearly an hour to recover, certainly not something he wanted to do in the middle of combat. He had either pushed for something that wasn’t possible, or attempted too much within a single day. Power rest at midnight, so he was certain this new ability had similar limitations.
After catching his breath, and letting the world stop spinning, the group prepared the small airship for the trip. Derrick began working with a few other engineers to get the Power Cubes hooked in the flying machine. Josephine and Nyx spoke intensely off to the side, probably trading stories or discussing tactics. Ray sat with Rivea and watched the bustling groups do their thing.
“You think we may run into more of those bats?” Rivea asked, breaking their observational silence.
Ray shook his head, “No. At least, not during the day. I think they are more nocturnal. And as we haven’t seen them for a good while now they may be extinct, or at least none may be left in our area. I wouldn’t put it past the System to throw something else at us though. It seems to enjoy mucking up my plans to move forward.”
“Nah. Most of the issues were there already,” Rivea countered with a grin. “We just didn’t deal with them as quickly or ably as we probably should have. Don’t worry Boss, we can overcome anything that comes our way as long as it isn’t another one of these fucking ridiculous world events.”
He could only shake his head. “Gods, legions of undead, monsters of legend, and everything from the cracks between. Not to mention that Lich.”
“I heard Derrick mention something about that, but I don’t think we ran into one. Care to share?” the Drake asked with a curious drawl.
Ray nodded, “A while back, pre-Integration, we retreated to an island from the mainland. When we got there, a Lich had set up a little kingdom. More of an arena really, and we had to fight him. The odd thing was he pulled back and fled, saying something about us meeting again in the future. I can’t remember exactly, it's been a while and a lot has happened.”
“Sounds like a fun time. I am going to guess there were a lot of undead types along with him?” Rivea guessed. Ray nodded in confirmation. “Right, I bet an event like this would be heaven for a creature like that. Able to control the dead in huge masses, alter them, mold them into basically anything it wants.”
Ray eyed her, “You seem to know a lot about Liches,” he deadpanned.
“Not really. I’ve fought them before though. They are annoying, hard to permanently kill, and damn near impossible to get to if you can’t cut down their hordes fast enough. Anything on your side that dies just adds to their numbers as well. They are a frustrating opponent at best, and in a world like this, I am sure the one you encountered is downright deadly.”
Ray grunted. If Rivea was saying that then that undead asshole was going to be a serious problem. Hopefully, he was far enough away not to be an immediate problem, although he wouldn’t hold his breath. So far it seemed that everything that could become an obstacle had done so. Between the event and their material scouting trip, they were already on a tight leash.
Derrick interrupted his thoughts as he walked up and cheerfully said, “Alright Ray, we got three Cubes installed. That is more than enough to power and operate the airship. You are good to go!”
“Good stuff. I forgot to ask, how are the controls set up?” Ray asked, curious as Derrick led him across the open tarmac and into the airship.
“Standard turn-of-the-century yacht settings,” the engineer explained. “I know you mentioned you had experience flying one of those, so I kept the controls as standard as I could.”
“Thanks, that works perfectly. Being able to fly this thing was a small concern, and knowing how is one more item off the list,” Ray said, eying the familiar controls. Turning to Derrick he handed over the remaining two Power Cubes. “Sell one and use the other as needed.”
Nodding, his friend took them and passed them off to a nearby person from the engineering team. “You got it. Now, the ship is loaded with supplies, has samples from what we could gather for the dungeon, and has enough space left to transport back a decent amount of goods. What I recommend is that you fill your inventory space with mass raw materials, concrete, and such, and place any valuables on the ship. Makes sorting it easier.”
“Makes sense to me. Anything else?” Ray asked.
Derrick shook his head, “No. Just a reminder though that the Zeppelin Mark One is not armed. You are Rivea will have to do all the ariel fighting should there be any.”
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Ray was about to say it wouldn’t be a problem but snapped his mouth shut with an audible clack of his teeth. Every time he voiced how easy something was aloud the System kicked his ass. Hard. He may be stubborn and still learning about a vast myriad of things, but he was far from stupid.
“We will be alert and aware,” he said at last, garnering an odd look from his friend. “Regardless, we will try to be quick. I don’t want to be away for very long. We need those materials and we need to deliver the goods to Nadia and the dungeon.”
Derrick agreed and headed out of the Zeppelin. Switching places with him, Josephine and her girls, Rivea, and Nyx boarded. The door behind them clanked shut and Rivea gave the door handle on the inside a jerk to the right. Turning she caught his stare. “What? Derrick taught me a lot of stuff. It's amazing what you can pick up from such a nerdy little human,” she explained, dismissing his concerns.
Once everyone was seated, Ray toggled the main drive switch. With a hum that could be felt within the main cabin, the thruster nozzles on the outside were brought to life. Searching the console Ray found the control to release the docking clamps. Tapping it, they let go with a light thunking noise. With both those items out of the way, he checked the pressure gauges, nozzle icons, and engine output. Everything seemed to be good to go.
With a dry swallow, he placed his hand on the thrust lever and eased it forward while pulling back on the yolk. With a slow growl as the nozzles began their work, the Zeppelin began to move forward. As he increased the power they began to move faster, the pressure mounting until it was just below what he would have experienced on a commercial terrestrial aircraft back before he had died.
Turning, he eyed his passengers. Josephine and her ladies seemed nonchalant, nodding at him as they made eye contact. Nyx had her head buried in her paws while Rivea looked like she was about to vomit. Her green face made him laugh as he turned back, earning a glare from the Drake. He was sure she would have voiced her displeasure had she not been trying to keep her lunch inside.
Looking at the controls Ray saw several that he didn’t recognize. One, labeled ‘Cockpit Opacity’, caught his attention in particular. The dial was set at zero, so he slowly turned it. To his amazement the cockpit around him turned see-through, all except the controls themselves. With this he could see around him in nearly every direction, allowing him to maneuver or land while knowing exactly how far down he had to go. A brilliant innovation on the designer’s part.
Everyone was on edge for the first half hour, waiting for something to hit them, attack them, or strike them out of the sky entirely. This vigilance faded within the second half-hour as the only worry those in the back had was not being vomited on my Rivea. The last thirty minutes of their journey were just as calm as the first hour, with no attacks, undead, or System shenanigans.
It was too easy and made Ray incredibly uncomfortable.
Sighting the dock area just on the other side of the dungeon through the opaque floor, Ray guided the Zeppelin in for a landing. Smoothly setting it down on the wide plaza near the dungeon's exit, he powered off the thruster nozzles and locked the landing gear. After checking everything he finally turned off the main power.
Coming out of the cockpit he opened the side door, before he could say anything Rivea shot outside where he could hear her emptying her stomach.
“I, uh, guess that flying in this thing doesn’t agree with her?” Ray figured, scratching his head. “Odd as she literally has the ability to fly, but whatever. I’ve seen stranger things.”
Nyx just whined and crawled out the door. Apparently flying didn’t agree with her in any way, regardless of the mode of transportation. Ray turned to Josephine, “How did you handle it?”
She shrugged and got up out of her seat. “It was smooth, easy to bear, and a short flight My Lord. Nothing that I or my apprentices could not handle,” she said before exiting.
Shaking his head he followed his people out. Stepping out of the Zeppelin and onto the cracked asphalt of the plaza he had landed in, he quickly noticed that everything around them was silent. There was no movement of undead or monsters, no echoing sounds of roving bandits, not even the lapping of water against the nearby piers. It was as if someone had dropped a heavy wool blanket over the world.
“This… isn’t creepy or worrisome at all,” Ray muttered, getting a quick nod from Josephine. Turning to the group he saw Rivea wipe her mouth and stand up. Grinning, he waved at her. The rude gesture she responded with could only be classified as highly offensive. When she added more impromptu acting he had to turn away for a moment or risk laughing.
Stalking over to him the Drake growled, “I am never taking that thing again. I would rather fly myself or sit on top of the damn thing. That was downright miserable!”
Ray patted the shaking Drake on the back, “Alright then, we can discuss it when we get ready to leave.” His face hardened as he turned towards the dark exit of the dungeon just up the plaza from them. “For now, we have more pressing matters to focus on. Namely why Nadia isn’t out here meeting with us. According to her the dungeon's influence should stretch to the banks of the river. Something doesn’t smell right.”
Rivea sniffed the air before turning to Ray with worry etched onto her face. “I don’t smell anything. No undead, no monsters, not even the water, and even you should be able to smell that shit hole from here. This isn’t good or natural.”
Ray walked around the back of the Zeppelin and opened the loading bay. Taking the boxes that had been conveniently labeled ‘dungeon’ in large black letters, he stuffed half a dozen crates in his inventory before sealing up the airship.
“OK people, let's go. Keep your eyes open, stay alert, and if you see anything at all that seems out of place make sure to call it out,” Ray said sharply, getting nods from everyone. Nyx posted up by his side. “None of this seems quite right, I don’t want us getting jumped by some nasty beastie.”
The group moved towards the dungeon exit, their footsteps echoing off the concrete walls of the plaza. Nothing moved or stirred, not even the wind. It was, without a doubt, the creepiest thing that Ray had experienced to date under the System. There was always a reason for something to happen, a purpose for each event and action. This, however… this was different. As much as he was loath to use the word with everything he had seen up to this point…
It was unnatural.
As they closed in on the dungeon exit a single solitary figure stepped out from the darkness within, causing them all to stop. Josephine hissed and Ray bared his teeth in a grimace. They both recognized the thing in front of them, robes, crown, and all. The rest of their group readied themselves, not quite sure what had triggered their leaders but fully understanding that what had appeared was a threat.
“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Ray muttered under his breath. For the first time in a long time, he drew his pistol instead of his blade. He had much more leeway in using it, and he had a strong feeling he was going to need it.
Rivea leaned forward as the undead in front of them grinned a bony smile. “What is it, Ray? That just looks like a fancy skeleton. And there is only one of him, why are we so on guard?”
“That’s not some simple fucking skeleton. That’s the Lich,” Ray growled back. “The. Fucking. Lich.”
Ray focused on the Lich, trying to gain some measure of information on the creature. After a moment he got nothing and decided to force the issue, triggering {SYSTEM STATEMENT}. To his surprise, he got something resembling results.
DUCES
{RACE}
GREATER UNDEAD
{CLASS}
GRAND LICH
{CLASS GRADE}
MYTHIC
{STAGE}
?
{LEVEL}
??
{STRENGTH}
??
{AGILITY}
??
{POWER}
????
{WISDOM}
???
{LUCK}
?
{ABILITIES}
???
???
???
???
???
???
“I told you we would meet again Ray,” said Duces the Lich brightly before his voice dropped into a hiss that made the blood in the veins of the living present turn to ice. “But why did you have to do and do that?”