Jonny woke up feeling refreshed and more awake then he had in a long time. He noticed the sun had set and Drew was looking over the gray book clearly confused.
"finally awake huh? You can actually read this shit?" Drew asked waving the book.
"well no its more like the magic downloaded the book for me." Jonny said sitting up.
"Really? Is that why you've been asleep for the last 8 hours?" Drew asked tossing the book onto his desk then lighting a cigarette.
"Honestly I don't think so. I told you I was tired." Jonny said stretching. "i even managed to fall asleep on this shitty couch. But I did have a dream i'm pretty sure was a pre-recorded message."
Drew rased an eyebrow taking a drag on his cigarette. "say anything interesting?"
Jonny told him what little the dream had said.
"so nothing new from what iv ben reading." Drew said waving his cigarette at the computer screen. "iv bought some of those books, ben reading over them. Some are pretty good that one guys funny, and that Korean one seams less like a book and more like a guid book that just keeps saying put points into intelligence."
"yeah? ...to bad I don't have base stats." Jonny said thinking what to do with his 3 modification points.
"Yeah... would've been useful from what I can tell." Drew said closing out a window. "I gotta say we have got to explore that hole in the that bomb shelter."
A box appeared in front of Jonny
"qwest explore the Portal underneath the abandoned house. rewards unknown rewards +4 modification points."
Jonny grimace. "ok that is the first fucking thing iv got to fix. These little blue boxes are going to make me lose my mind."
"hang on a minute." drew said. "one of these fucken comic books that I was reading was about a guy who was sent to a video game world and was able to take his phone with him. Why don't you see if you cant use any of those points of yours for something like that?"
"It would be less anoying thats for fucking sure" Jonny said and patted his pockets. "but I fucking forgot it on the charger god damn it."
Drew taped at the desk with his finger tips. "maybe do it the other way around? try and tern those little blue boxes into a cell phone?"
Jonny frowned at that. "really think that would work? I mean would it help anything?"
"well if this book is anything to go by then yeah itl be pritty fucking good to have." Drew said seriously. "hell at the least maybe you wont have to pay your phone bill no more."
Jonny did see the value in that. "alright lets see if this works."
Jonny focused on spending his points into turning his blue boxes into a cell phone.
a new blue box appeared.
"you do have enough points but not enough information on "cell phone" to compleat the request. please provide a "cell phone" for a template."
"its saying it dosnt know what the fuck a cell phone is so I need to give it one so itl understand." Jonny said looking up at Drew "think it'd update all my contacts too?"
"no fucken clue... dose it say how menny points itl take?" Drew asked sending out a txt of his own.
Jonny looked and couldn't find it "no I think thats cus it does not really know what one is its waiting to tell me when it gets one."
"alright in that case lets see if we cant trick it." Drew said and a light nock came at the door. Drew got up to open it and muttered a few things to the person behind the door then closed it.
"what do you mean trick it?" Jonny asked waiting on his uncle who came back and handed him what could be called a cell phone but one that seamed half fused with a lap top.
Jonny looked it over in confusion. "and what the hell is this?"
"its a cell phone... but healy modified and of corse illegally modified. Its battery life is a month, it can track anyone it makes a call to, if you want it to it can clone any cell phone it gets hooked up to in 30 seconds, it can hack cell phones credit cards email, block other people from making calls, and its got a 32 terabyte hard drive attached to it. plus it has so many of those useful apps on it I lost count ages ago. My teck guy said just knowing this thing exists and not smashing it to peaices would count you as an acomplice to data terrorism."
Jonny just stared at his uncle holding the thing. "...and how the hell am I supposed to put it up to my head?"
"comes with a blue tooth." Drew said with a smile.
Jonny shook his head and looked at the monster in his hand.
"is this a cell phone?" the blue box asked him.
"yes?" Jonny said unsure if the blue boxes would realize he was lying.
"scanning now."
The brick of technology glowed softy with golden light then the light faded and a second one appeared floating in the air.
Jonny set down the one in his hand and picked up the one floating in the air. It had one new message on the screen.
the txt was from "the system." and it read "2 modification points have ben spent on this "cell phone" and its attachments. would you like to spend one point to customize this "cell phone"?
Jonny didn't hesitate and hit yes spending his last point.
A golden glow lit the phone and a blue box appeared.
"please input your preset shapes. use your hands to change it into your desired shape and starting placement on your body."
Jonny spent a few minutes playing with the thing it worked like a 3d model in a VR program letting him move and stretch the phone and thankfully even toss aside most of the brick to have just enough for a good wait in his hand.
He took a small pleasure in being able to adjust the screen to exactly as big and as long as he liked it making sure to hold it up to his head to get a feel for it.
Then he realized the little blue box had said presets plural.
He set up a preset for every time he got a message either txt or "system" that would make a smallish phone appear in his pocket and vibrate he also gave it a real button keyboard. Jonny had kind of missed those with the new phones.
He then set up something like a really thin blue tooth for phone calls.
He then made 2 smaller round speakers just above his ears and a small square of a phone to control it to be put in his pocket. called music option.
He then make the screen as big as possible and added a key board attached and called it computer mode.
noticing that when it came to the presets gravity didn't matter he also set up a work out mode where the screen would be practically right in front of his face while the speakers were in his ears. he then adjusted the screen so that it would be half see through so that he could still see enough to work out safely but watch something els at the same time.
While he was at it he went ahead and made a watch mode that could also receive emergency txts and messages.
"well fuck I realy am loving this." Jonny muttered sounding more defeated then excited.
"Good I haven't ben waisting all my time with this stuff after all." Drew said waving taking a deep breath. "cus I got to tell you im to old for this manga shit."
"you say that but you called it by its name. you got a hobby your not telling me about?" Jonny asked with a smile.
"none you want to know about kid." drew said taking a large drag then putting out his cigarette.
his arm vibrated and Jonny looked at his watch mode a notification scrolled by on his watch screen.
"quest received . Take Drew into the the tunnel. rewards 2 modification points.
quest received make sure Drew is safe for his change while staying inside the tunnel 4 modification points."
"i thinking of changing the modification points into an emoji and maybe one for the quest received as well. other wise im going to be seeing it 100 times." Jonny said wondering if he really wanted to accept those quests.
"Jeez you ben getting that many of them?" Drew asked in surprise.
"Seams like it" Jonny said thinking and changed the words quest received into '^' and the modification points into '+'.
"...You know Jonny I bought that house." Drew said softly. "And unless you change into some sort of super fucked up monster im going into that tunnel, the things iv allready seen you do and the things you say you keep being told. ...Its to good to pass up."
Jonny sighed feeling afraid for his uncle. "Figures. I just got a quest to help you down there and another to help keep you safe while you spend your 4 days asleep in the tunnel."
Drew rased his eyebrows. "Really? thats... good."
"yeah maybe... but we need a plan I don't know if the rats were the only things in there." Jonny said trying to remember all he could about those tunnels.
"you said you couldn't have ben in there, what 5 minutes?" Drew asked thoughtfully.
"yeah if that. Just long enough to grab the dog and kick the rat." Jonny said wondering what his uncle was getting at.
"Then what if I get you a couple guys? People we trust to help you clear those rats out?" Drew asked tapping his fingers on the desk eyes distant.
"...I don't know. Would you really want other people to just gain powers like this?" Jonny asked.
" Jonny im going to have to tell you something... this is going to be hard for me." drew said looking seriously at Jonny . "you are not that god damned special. the wold is not ripping its self apart just to give you magic powers. If your getting magic and even dogs are turning into beasts then that means there has to be more people and places all over the world having the exact. same. thing.
And im sure there is at least one government that are poring people into there own magic holes trying to breed new super soldiers, or pet monsters.
Now if I could bring myself to trust the government then I would be turning over the portal to the army to help fight back, but I don't so I wont. The best we can do is bring in our own people and try to rase some sort of army to try and fight back or at the very least get our own patch of land when the dust settles.
I know you want to see the best in people but even the best of us wants power of some sort or another and the bad ones want it more then you can know.
So now your only choice is do you want to be apart of this? ...Or do you want to just tuck your tail between your legs and go hide your head in the sand and let the adults make the choices for you?"
Jonny sat there after the speech looking at the coffee table before him remembering all the times he was told to go away while Drew and his Father talked about "business" learning after a while that they were both criminals and the few times after his father had died Drew offering to show him the "business" and Jonny turning him down or faining ignorance.
Not wanting to get his hands dirty or knowing just how dirty his Uncle's hands were. But if Drew was right then the world was changing and if he said no now with all this at stake then he would truly just be a child asking for his Uncle to protect him. And at that point Drew would be smarter to say no than to accept his weakness.
"...okay." Jonny said "Im in. Call who you need to. If it takes 4 days for them to wake up and get ready then il use that time to read the book and figure out what I can from it to help out."
Drew nodded slowly. "Good. its about time you grew up. Il get Luke, and Jason. You've always got along with them good guys and I know I can count on them not to get crazy when they get there powers... But I think we also need to bring in Mike. Hes the one who I talked to who send us all these books iv ben reading and if he already knows this shit then we can hope to be in 4 days."
Drew looked pained as he started sending out txts"i just hope you guys can put up with him."
Jonny frowned at that. "he really that bad?"
"from what I can tell there's more then one reason he still lives at home." Drew muttered. "go get some food il tell them to meet you there. I'll have privet room 3 reserved for your group and il head down as soon as I can..."
"...Is my job going to change?" Jonny asked thinking about his gold suit and how much he enjoyed prancing around in it.
Drew looked up at him in disbelief "you really like that gold suit that much huh? Yeah when you got time you can dance around like a show girl and don't worry about money im getting you one of my Gold Coin Cards."
Jonny was a little pleased about that the Gold Coin Cards were offered to the people who won big as an option for there payments.
"I hand them out to all the top dogs, how do you think that phone got made?" Drew asked typing away on his computer.
"hmm. good point." Jonny said standing "...How many of those guys do you have on call?"
"what "Craftsmen?" Drew said looking up eyes narrowed.
"sure whatever. people who can make things or get me a lot of coper or chalk? or already have workshops?" Jonny asked
"yeah...?" Drew looked like he was getting annoyed.
"good cus that book was saying im going to need a lot of crazy shit to get some of these spells working." Jonny said.
Drew nodded slowly. "Actually trying to save me money? wow its ben a while... Thanks kid."
Jonny was taken aback.
"Most guys would take one of my Gold Coins and just go on a spending spree building whole labs or work shops." Drew continued. "But I know a guy who can be accommodating... for a while at least."
"good" Jonny said feeling the hunger in his belly making the buffet down stairs seam so inviting.
He accepted the invitation heading down the elevator and wishing he already had music on his new "phone" or at least he had time to go home, but then again home is were they where headed anyway.
Jonny couldn't help be wonder what the hell it was his Uncle really did for a living that he seamed to have unlimited money to hand out to the people who worked for him especially how they lived outside of the major city for gambling instead of inside it like the rest of them. Or maybe that is exactly why it was, just north of a gold mine could have plenty of gold in it as well.
Jonny headed to the buffet considering putting his "phone" in work out mode to try and read while he ate, but thought it would do as much good as blinding himself and it would look odd with the screen floating in front of his face.
So he just piled up a plate full of chicken wings and grabbed a pitcher to fill with tea. Moving to Private room 3 to eat and read.
Setting up his "phone" on computer mode he tried to search on it for how to start with magic.
This cut out of the jernal all the parts that were about the mans life and just left him with the magic notes, and even better it organized the magic notes so things beginners should learn are at the front instead of scattered through out.
The first parts of magic are the Mana stones and how they mostly come from monsters who feed off of other monsters, the most common types being Fire, Water, Air, and Life. Every stone found in places with mana counts as an earth mana stone.
Other mana stones exist and indeed it was said that there was a manna stone for every typ of energy and even for things that clearly should not have stones.
The frist things every mage must learn is how to make mana stones in case you find yourself in a world with low mana.
This unfortunately needs you to either meditate for weeks, or to spend a point into mana manipulation.
Most people have neutral mana witch is most helpful in making the mana stones. You started by directing the flow of your mana into the element you wanted to capture then putting your mana into quartz crystal, or other stones that have ben found in or around the element in question, such as.
A lava rock, granet, molten metals =fire.
A river rock, pearl, sandstone =water
Rock from a cliff side, mountain top, or standing stone. =air.
Bones, antlers, horns, shells, Bezoar =life
Those that argue that Bones, hornes, ext. are not stones can feel free to find a better readily available stone that is found in living animals.
It is also noted that stones are the best for long term storage of elemental mana but anything that has a strong enough affinity will work, but only in limited terms such as.
The top leaves on a tree, can hold air mana but the drying leaf can be prone to breaking releasing the mana stored with in.
Ice filled with water mana when melted will produce more water then intended.
Charcoal filled with fire can cause recombustion or explosive results if over filled.
Seeds filled with life will try to grow not absorbing but using the mana infused into them.
These things have there uses but not when the main point is merely to store mana for future use. And of corse latter you will learn how to weave mana into clothing or solidify it all together. But for now symply making the stones is needed.
'Holy shit...' Jonny thought 'My power is just a short cut thew the first chapter... hell it seems like a cheat for half of these spells.'
He kept reading feeling mildly pleased that he didn't have to spend extra time on figuring out his power as well.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The next part was talking about how to use mana manipulation to take the mana from the stones and amplify them taking a lot of little stones to make one more powerful stone, or to be combined in different amounts to add up to new elemental stones.
With training or another point into advanced mana manipulation you can take just parts of the mana in each stone to separate aspects that you wish to see.
Such as a stone's solidity and waters ability to change, together making a mana stone capable of turning water into ice or even terning fire or air solid.
Another such combo that is very common is air's movement with fires active nature allowing spells to be cast at grater distance.
Some found making stones into ink, sand, paint, or laying stones out into mosaics can help make a short cut in the mana manipulation process.
These can vary as much as the types of stones themselves and are more to help the mage keep there thoughts in order while manipulation is happening.
Some grow out of these with training while others grow strong leaning into these props accepting them as apart of there own minds. This will of corse be up to the mage in question.
'this shit feels like math but with only 4 numbers' Jonny thought taking a little break from the reading to take a large drink of his tea and to wipe his hands clean. 'but at the same time once he learned the basics then figuring out new things on his own mite even be fun. Like the one game he shamefully played on some of his days off, MeinArt.
A game about gathering different cubes that represent real things, like sand, wood, dirt, stone. then using those to build and make things but mostly it was about finding more and more different cubes.
Jonny licked his lips then wiped the sauce he found there off with a napkin.
'Is that what my power is meant to be? Just to tern the world into one big game of MeinArt for me? ...I cinda like that idea.' Jonny thought with a smile.
The door opened and a brick of a man came into the privet room, he wore the standard security suit mostly black but with a golden tie.
"Jason, you going to get something to eat? Drew made it seam like this was going to be a dinner meeting." Jonny called out to him.
"Couldn't have said something before I got in could ya?" Jason said turning around to go get some food.
"Well at least I got to you before you sat down." Jonny said watching him go.
He put his phone back into watch mode and decided to go ahead and grab a little bit of salad from the buffet if nothing els to make it so that Jason wouldn't be eating alone.
He noticed Jason loading up on ribs and had a second plate with 2 stakes on it and nearly offered to help him bring it all back to the table when he saw a man heading to the buffet that had to have ben some one trying to sneak in for free food.
He was unwashed, long oily hair knotted on his head as if he tried to braid it into a pillow, he also wore a ripped up leather duster that dragged the ground as he walked making it seam like it was some sort of tent he failed to get out of the right way. Under the duster Jonny could see old work boots and baggy sweat pants.
He wasn't sure if he was on or off of work now but figured if he was getting a gold card he could think of himself as always on the clock to get rid of these types.
"Excuse me sir." Jonny said as politely as he could and nearly cringed as he remembered what he himself was wearing.
The man turned dirty glasses magnifying dark eyes witch lit up as he saw Jonny .
"Low, fellow Adventurer. I was shown your photo Jonny the Golden." the man said trying to sound noble. "i am Micheal of the wondering sword."
Jonny faltered. "ah... so your our... expert?"
"yes I am well versed in these matters and will happily lead you on our adventures together." Micheal said proudly sticking out his large chest.
"ah... I see. Well our dinning room is over there." Jonny said pointing at door 3 "im just getting a little more food as well. itl be safer to talk in there."
"yes. don't want the muggles to intrude." Micheal nodded. "and you may also call me Mike the shorter name will help so you can call for my aid in combat."
"..well thank you...Mike" Jonny said taking a bowl and retreating to the one place he was sure Mike would not be headed.
Jonny saw Luke at the salad bar rubbing his temples clearly fighting off a head ake.
"i see you met Mike." Jonny said getting some raw carrots and celery.
"i had to drive him here." Luke said taking a deep breath "I got to say if this whole thing terns out to be some sort of bullshit or your just having a breake down then im ganna drive him out to the lake and kick that guy in to make sure he gets a shower before he gets back inside my car."
Jonny chuckled at that. "is it that bad?"
"you said you talked to him didn't you? I can still smell him form here" luke said picking up an orange to cut it open mostly to smell it before eating a slice.
"...yeah must be one of my perks." Jonny said frowning. "i didn't smell anything."
"lets hope we can get down that rat hole quick then." luke said grabbing an apple off the buffet and heading back to the room with Jonny .
"So how much did Drew tell you?" Jonny asked him.
"Honestly all of it. He typed up a file with a battle plan and notes on what you said and what he thought you mite be making up." Luke said taking a bite of the apple.
"damn... I think i'm going to try and get a copy of that." Jonny said sitting down at his table
"Probably best you dont." Luke said enjoying his apple as Jonny started munching on his carrots like chips.
Jason came back and finally sat down at his own table next to the one Jonny had ben sitting at, and to do him credit he looked like he needed the room.
He ended up with a total of 6 plates and 3 bowls. Mostly meat and baked potatoes but he also had some bowls of vegetables.
Luke shook his head watching the mountain of a man eat. "i want to eat like that but I don't want to work out every second of the rest of my day to make up for it."
"thats why your muscles are so tinny" Jason said in between mouth fulls not bothering to flex as his muscles were pulling at his suit just sitting there eating.
Luke just shook his head "all that muscle wouldn't do me any good you get to much of that shit and then you cant even scratch your own ass."
Luke of corse was also in security but was sleekly muscled having ben on the track team in high school then got into ufc when it started getting big. Apparently being a runner wasn't good for bulking up.
Jonny was athletic looking then an athlete he just liked to look good and try to stay healthy.
There was a thump as Mike kicked the at the door to open it hands full of plates it was all carbs and grease.
Jonny wished he could txt the others in the room to ask the others if they wanted to bet how long this guy would last before quitting due to being so out of shape.
His watch buzzed with a massage. "contacts updated."
'sweet. that is going to save so much time.' he thought pulling his txt mode phone out of his pocket to txt the others what his number was.
Jason ignored it to focus on eating and Luke pulled it out and frowned. "well thats odd il give you that."
Luke showed Jonny the phone witch already had Jonny in its contacts and the number from Jonny 's phone showed as JONNY with out a single number in it.
"That is odd... cinda wish it wasn't so blatant." Jonny said.
Drew came in at that point, growing at Mike and then at Jason. "well im glad to see you've already started were not exactly on a time crunch but id like to get started as soon as possible. I belive everyone is up to speed on what is going on?"
Luke and Jason nodded, Mike chewing his pasta mouth full as fast as possible then said "eye eye sir"
"Mike... I know you think this is just some sort of larp thing your mom set up for your birth day that is in 3 months but im telling you its not." Drew said sternly. "this is more like your new job so please take it seriously."
Mike's eyes grew dark as he clearly wasn't sure how to act or what to do at those words. And Jonny had to admit a 3 month early surprise party seamed more real then the casino paying him to play pretend with some of the guys in it.
In the end it seamed like he told himself he was bing tested to see if he was worthy of trying to bring larping as a part of the casino games.
"ah... yes sorry." he said and seamed to stuff his face to make sure not to say anything els foolish.
Drew seamed to think that was as good as they were going to get so he went on. "now Jonny has already ben into the tunnel and has ben changed by it. Im not going to waist time proving anything to you. The boss is paying you all well to do whatever he said no matter how foolish it seams and WE all know that the boss is nearly always right so why bother arguing."
He seamed to direct that last part at Mike who clearly didn't know who the boss was or what he could do.
"So the 3 of you are going to get in the RV iv got parked on level 2 and fight over who gets sto sleep where on your way to the Bunker. Allso tell anyone who needs to know that you will be out of contact for 4 days. The first thing you all need to do when you wake up is txt me anything you can remember and what Power you have ben given.
Mike this is actually were you’ll come in I need you to use your years of... study to help us put them to good use.
Luke, Jason, I don't need to tell you that both of you are there to do most of the fighting and protecting."
Jason nodded not bothering to say "of corse."
Luke just tilted his chin slightly in acknowledgement.
"Good. According to Jonny theres at least 2 flights of stairs that you need to climb to get back to the R.V. and after exposure you will begin to feel sleepy so get in and out as fast as you can." Drew went on to say. "any questions ...well you can help me answer some of mine. Eat up it'll be the last food you see for half a week."
Drew then left already pulling out his phone to answer some txts he received while talking with them.
"well in that case I guess i'm going to get a slice of pie." Luke said dryly and headed out presumably to get said pie.
Mike was chewing looking at Jonny clearly wanting to ask questions but with his mouth bing full to prevent him talking he had doomed himself.
Jonny thought about sending a txt to Mike and then to Drew so they could have each others numbers.
Grabbing his soda to wash down the food Mike seamed to nearly choke before gasping and finally asking Jonny . "can I ask you questions about our quest?"
Jonny frowned. "il be honest with you I don't know much."
"ok... but somebody said something about rats?" Mike asked anyway gathering up a fork full of food.
"Yeah there was a lot of them down there just before I left." Jonny said.
"how big were they? did they have spikes or armor? did you think they mite be working together?" Mike asked seriously oddly Jason seamed to be listening slowing down cutting at his steak.
"umm..." Jonny breathed out. "they were furry not standing on end like cartoons or anything and id say about this big?" Jonny held out his hands about 2ft apart.
Mike nodded. "and about how many?"
"not sure really I just kicked one then saw a lot of eyes light up in my flash light." Jonny said taking a sip of tea.
Mike nodded "sound like a rat swarm. Pretty basic, but dangerous if they get the drop on you. Can pick a man clean in under 20 minutes."
He put a large bite of food into his mouth and chewed in satisfaction.
"...sounds about right actually... hey what the hell is a die corgi?" Jonny asked him suddenly remembering the name of the dog thing he fought.
Mike gave him a confused look chewing while trying to think. "you mean Dire corgi?"
"..could be." Jonny admitted.
"Dire is a term used for animals who have grown too powerful or have gotten blessings from miner gods. typically there bigger stronger and have armor and spikes on them." Mike said waving a fork. "witch is why I asked if the rats where spikey Dire rats are a lot harder to kill then just a swarm"
Jonny nodded slowly. "yeah that makes sense... thanks."
Luke came back in with a large slice of apple pie with ice cream on his plate.
Jason called out to him "you just missed it. Jonny just told us that there are big ass rats down there and Mike thinks they can pick apart a guy in 10 munites."
Luke scowled sitting down next to Jonny . "your going to make me waist this pie you keep talking so much crap."
Tho he did start digging into the pie after a chuckle from Jason.
"so who can actually drive an RV?" asked Jonny
"Its part of security training." Jason said taking a bite of stake.
Jonny frowned but it was Mike who asked. "why?"
Luke and Jason exchanged a look and Luke finally said. "in case some one has one parked and the toe truck cant get at it."
Mike seamed to accept this answer digging back into his food.
They ate in silence Jonny wishing he had waited so at least he would have something to do while the rest ate.
The rest ate quickly Jonny thinking about trying to read more but didn't want to distract the others with questions about it and soon plates were cleaned and everyone was ready to go.
"il drive" Luke said as they headed out to the second floor of the parking garage the large green RV was parked in a way that it took up 6 spaces near the exit.
Luke headed to the front to drive and when they saw that there was 4 bunks in on the way to the much larger main bedroom. Mike volunteered to take one of the lower bunks so that Jason could sleep in the big bed.
Jason seamed a little surprised but pleased that he could take the big bed he seamed to think they were going to make him sleep on the floor.
Jonny was eager to get home after all with the cleaning crew coming he didn't lock the door and he didnt think Drew would have people just sitting and watching it.
It seamed to take longer to get there in the large RV especially with Luke making sure to drive as carefully as possible around any areas still damaged by that storm.
Jonny also wasn't sure if the driveway was even big enough for the monster of a buss, and stepping off of the RV steps into grass had proved him right.
"OK since everyone was told to txt Drew it'd probably be best if you eather plugged your phones in now or shut them off to save the batteries." Jonny said as they started to get off the RV.
Luke and Jason plugged there phones in but not having the right cords on the RV Mike had to tern his off and left it in the bunk he claimed.
"I cinda haven't ben home all day sense the cleaners were in so im going to run across the street real quick and lock up my house." Jonny said then did just that checking to make sure all the blood was gone and that nothing seamed to be missing.
It seamed that not only did they clean up all the blood but they also cleaned the few dishes Jonny had in the sink and made his bed.
He wasn't sure how to feel about that as he grabbed his phone from his bedside table along with his house keys.
He noticed on the coffee table was the blue collar of MR. Binklesly he reached for it to throw it away when his watch buzzed.
"collar of MR. Binklesly. when worn will make wild animals under level 3 run away from its owner.
the quest received symbols appeared '^' kill 5 rats above level 3 rewards 2'+' modification point symbols."
Jonny frownd and put the collor in his pocket hoping most of the rats down there were below level 3 otherwise things could get tricky for the others.
Jogging back across the street Jonny saw the others had already started heading down into the bunker.
He quickly caught up with them and they descended the stairs together. Jason nearly blocked the stairway all by himself and Mike would have to struggle to let anyone by.
Jonny wasn't trying to be rude in thinking that just trying to make sure he knew his options if they needed to run.
Luke being a natural runner was ahead of the group already at the bottom of the stairs by the time the rest of them were at the first landing.
"FUCKING HELL." Luke cried out and was quickly standing back by Mike.
"what? what is it?" Mike asked nervous about what could make Him freak out like that.
"there are a fuck ton of rats down there." Luke said not wanting to go back down.
Jonny in the back of the group called out. "well fuck. any way I can try and squeeze by Jason?"
"good luck." Jason said and they took a moment or 2 on the landing to figure out how to get Jonny down past him with out just jumping over the large man.
"hold this for a second." Jonny said handing Jason the collar from his pocket.
Jason gave him a look holding it up.
"just don't lose it... or drop it." Jonny said as he pushed passed Mike shinning his flashlight down into the dark and saw that the rats had moved into the rest of the bunker nearly filling the space wall to wall with small fury bodys.
"fuck..." Jonny muttered looking over the rats then felt vaguely angry that he just so happen to get and find the collar that would repel most of these rats right before he came down here.
"you got a weapon?" Jonny asked Luke next to him.
"nothing that would help against all of these fuckers." Luke said
"what about just a few of them?" Jonny asked.
Luke looked at him for a moment then brought out a collapsible batton and handed it to Jonny . "you know how to use one of these?"
"you hit things with it right?" Jonny asked sarcastically.
"yeah but when you want to put it away you got to stab it onto something soild like the ground and make sure to clean it off first if your going to smash a bunch of rats with it... on second thought keep it." Luke said realizing that he probably didn't want it back if Jonny was going to use it to smash rats to death.
"right." Jonny muttered then turned and called out. "Jason give me that dog's collar."
Jason handed it up frowning. "what good is that going to do?"
Jonny didn't want to bother saying anything as he put the collar on his wrist hoping no one would make a joke. Then took the baton in his other hand and rased his wrist like a sheild turning on the flashlight on his watch so it would shine as he brandished the collar at the rats.
Some of the rats turned away from him and Jonny took a step down to the final step in the bunker. Rats ran from him scurrying over them selves to get out of his way.
Feeling bolder Jonny took another step watching all the rats flee back not wanting to get with in 5' of him.
"holy fuck" Luke wispered behind Jonny and Jonny terned with a smile at the shocked faces of the 3 behind him.
Mike was staring eyes wide. "I didn't belive it... I thought this was just some sort of game that you guys were to ashamed to play. But hell how can you fake that?"
"it gets worse." Jonny said turning back gripping his baton tightly as he walked forward trying to keep the collar in the center of the tunnel so that none of the rats would try and sneak behind him. He pushed them back moving slowly when one rat larger then the others jumped out at him. instead of using the baton like he thought he would Jonny kicked the rat back into the pile where it struggled before fighting back out but it was clearly wounded.
Jonny just stomped it noticing the way it popped and saw a silver coin fly out and roll across the ground bouncing off of a wall. His watched buzzed counting his first kill.
He wanted to go after the coin but was sure as soon as he turned his back the rats would come back. So he pressed on slowly to give the higher level rats a chance to try and jump out at him.
He killed 2 more on his way to the pantry stomping on them this time able to keep the coins from rolling off. He could hear Mike picking them up for him as they followed behind.
"how much further is this thing?" Luke asked in a mutter watching the small sea of rats bing held back by what seamed like the light of a dog collar.
"well you tell me. Anybody got a head ake? or want to go to sleep?" Jonny asked not turning around.
Confused nos came from behind him and Jonny replied. "then a bit farther wel know when we get there by you guys getting a head ake and wanting to sleep. Its the process starting."
They grew quiet at that waiting for Jonny to lead on and he did so taking it slow expecting a whole wall of high level rats to come at him at any time.
He made it all the way into the dirt tunnel at the end of the pantry with out encountering any more strong rats.
Mike only took one step pasted the dirt and staggered grabbing hold of the wall with a low moan of pain.
Luke grabbed his arm and winced himself but helped Mike go further in so that Jason would be able to get into the dirt tunnel.
Jason just stuck his head in and that seamed to be enough for him to grimace. "got it."
Jonny nodded then felt a heavy wait in his gut as he watched the swarming rats. "I'll hold them back while you guys get out."
He could tell Luke wanted to argue but was already looking unsteady on his feet. "you sure?"
"yeah... iv got a quest to kill 3 more of the big ones before I leave." Jonny said with a smile he didn't feel.
Mike patted him on the shoulder. "you sir are a true hero."
This time Luke seamed to agree and Jason nodded as he turned to lead the retreat.
Jonny waited hearing there footsteps fade as he stood alone with the army of rats.
Jonny opened the hand he held up with the collar on it and focused on trying to use his power to tern the air soild.
Golden specks of light spread into the air by Jonny 's hand only spreading out to a 1' cube then forming the outline of the cube.
Jonny frownd moving his hand away from the cube witch floated in the air. Jonny reached out and pushed on the cube it moved were he put it but didn't drift or fall.
'that's interesting as fuck.' Jonny thought then moved the cube to the ground and held out his hand next to it making another. It only took 3 of the cubes to go across the tunnel floor.
Jonny then made another 2 layers up building a wall of air between him and the rats. He didn't know how high rats could jump but 3 feet felt high enough to be mostly safe from surprise attacks.
Jonny slammed the baton down onto a cube of air to test how hard it was and it left a sting in his hand and a loud thwack filled his ears.
He nodded in satisfaction then did as Luke had said slamming down the baton onto the the cube of solid air to collapse it and put it into his pocket.
He tried holding out both his hands and seeing if he couldn't make an even bigger cube. It worked and the 1' cube grew into a 2' cube. He pushed that cube into one side of the wall he was building.
He then tried to make the Golden dust that flew out of his hand change from just a cube into a ball. It worked of corse, the golden dust starting at the center and swelling out into the 1' ball as Jonny was just using the one hand.
Jonny tried to throw the ball into the pile of rats half willing it to act as a normal ball. Gravity actually took the ball and it hit into the swarm bouncing off into the distance.
Jonny smiled and started to make a cube but a little smaller shaping the gold dust into spikes at the bottom of it then pushed it out over the rats and willed it to fall watching it drop like a stone onto the rats with a splat.
His watch vibrated counting one more above level 3 rat. He only needed one more rat to compleat the quest.
But Jonny wanted to see how far he could push things. He held up his hands making the spiked cubes 2 at a time then pushing them out against each other so that a line of golden boxes floated out over the swarm of rats then willed them all to slam down upon them.
They all fell at once smashing the rats witch all dropped coins as Jonny 's watch buzzed 4 more times. Jonny frowned checking the watch.
"quest compleat. '*' you have gone above what the quest called for you will be awarded bonus exp."
Jonny smiled this time as he felt the warm tingle fill his body as his level rose.
Jonny smiled and finished building the wall wondering how long it would last as he headed out of the tunnel trusting the collar on his wrist as he walked back to the real world.
When he got back to the surface he was surprised to see the sunrise and also that there was cars parked in the street next to the RV.
Men in hard hats were walking around looking at the main house as well as measuring the door that he came out of.
"you don't want to go down there." Jonny said to the guy as he walked by heading home to copy his old phone onto his new "phone" and also see how much music and videos he could get onto it.
He also made sure to put 2 of his 3 points into mana manipulation and advanced mana manipulation. Hoping to think of something fun to put his last point into.