GRIFFIN TUCKER VASILIAS, GREAT HOUSE SCION, REBORN LVL 5
MT DISCOVERY, PROVINCE OF ARAGONIA
“Well, we don’t have the time to be hanging around,” Jessaline said. She’d started pacing impatiently. “If you have harvesting abilities, then use them, and let’s get out of here. None of us have a harvesting ability, though I’ve begun learning how to harvest monsters without a graft.” She grimaced in remembered disgust, “It’s messy though, and I’m already filthy enough. If everyone else is okay with it, what say we give Griffin here the harvest?”
Xander nodded slowly, “I don’t have a problem with that, though this was no walk in the park. This fight was rougher than it should have been; we’ll have to review the drone footage to see opportunities for improvement.”
“I feel that my efforts were worth a share of the harvested materials,” Tolochi said. “I would not normally insist, but there was great damage done to the forest below and I will need resources to restore it.”
“I agree,” Salyyb said. “And if Griffin is to truly be a Scion of House Vasilias, then it’s only proper that an equal share be provided for everyone.”
“What do you say, Griffin?” Culvis asked. “I imagine there’s a good argument for either, but I’m interested in what you think.”
“Guys, I killed one monster centipede,” Griffin replied. “You all can see how Dread Consumption works and uh, Kismet—?” He turned to Kismet, gesturing vaguely at the floating text box for Dread Consumption, “Would you pop up the Monster Rendering thing? I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen what it does either.”
Kismet rolled her eyes and said, “You can do this just as easily on your own.” But she put his racial gift up in his HUD.
Monster Rendering – Human Racial Gift
Description: Touch a dead monster and scan it with your anima in the Hunter’s Bounty configuration. The monster will be broken down into its constituent parts and materials, including any ethershards or infused items. If you have an Inventory, the harvested items will be placed in your Inventory.
Passive: Hunter’s Bounty anima configuration.
He read over it and then realized he’d just stopped talking to read in the middle of a thought. “Anyway,” he continued awkwardly, “the point is this: I’m good with splitsies. Everyone here kicked so much ass, it’s like you do it for a living, which I realize you do! Anyway. Yeah.”
Xander laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, “Good man! You’re going to be a fine addition to the House.”
Griffin wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that. He had no idea if he even wanted to join this House, whatever it was—not that he had a choice. He’d been stuck in their creepy ancient weapons development facility for weeks and had seen records of what weaponry designed by these people could do. He had no desire at all to get wrapped up in anyone’s plots or politics.
Hell, politics back on Earth is fraught enough without knowing what the sides even are, he thought.
“At this point, we’re out of choices. You’ll need to go with these people willingly or, trust me, they will attempt to make you. But don’t be alarmed,” Kismet said softly, flying close to his ear, “As a Scion of the Vasilias House there is a load of cultural and political weight that should shield you somewhat from danger. Though it brings its own kind of danger.”
Kismet had given him lots to think about with her quiet advice, but he trusted her even if that wasn’t always easy. Besides, they came for me. If they hadn’t, I’d still be locked up in that room. Or maybe monster food. Most likely, I’d be monster food. And once I get out of here, I’ll be able to start searching for Sarah, Griffin thought.
He didn’t say anything aloud but simply walked over to one of the dead Plasma Cybercentipede Mothers. I’ve never even used the Hunter’s Bounty configuration before. If it’s a racial gift, does that mean I just know how to use it? I sure hope so, or it’s all gonna be Dread Consumption, and that tensa cost is nuts. He picked his way through the rough and rocky terrain until he stood right in front of the mostly crushed remains of the Plasma Cybercentipede Mother.
Nervously, he held out a hand and touched the carapace, closing his eyes to block out any distractions. He tried sending his anima into the dead thing and as soon as he did, he felt a strange echo come from the corpse. The echo sounded strangely like words, though he couldn’t make out what the words were. He felt like he had one of those old analog radio dials in his hand and he just had to turn it…ever…so…slightly. A message popped up in his HUD:
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Synchronization attained; beginning rendering process—synchrony bonus: DEEP Suit +10% efficiency, On-Board Sensor Suite +5% yield.
At the same time, a small hatch popped up on his right shoulder, and a small, ten to twelve-centimeter device made of neatly managed wires, a metallic framework, and a series of lenses started shining a bright light over the corpse. Wherever the light shone, the corpse broke down and disappeared, looking as if it were simply being disintegrated with the sci-fi flashlight on his shoulder.
It took about five minutes for him to disintegrate the entire monster, When he was done, Kismet flew a quick circuit, making sure he hadn’t missed anything. “That was an unexpected benefit! It’s a good thing you absorbed the ethershards that you did when you did because they’re synergizing amazingly for you.” She flew back to her customary perch on his shoulder and said, “I’m bringing up your Inventory so you can see what you harvested from the monster.”
His inventory had a lot of highly personal but mostly useless stuff he’d managed to conjure with his Adaptive Conjuration graft. Now, there were a few things he hadn’t seen before:
398 kg junk cybernetic parts (Rare quality)
542 kg carapace (Damaged quality)
1 ethershard Common [Plasma]
1 ethershard Common [Darkness]
1 ethershard Common [Cybernetics]
1 ethershard Common [Giants]
1 x Potion of Enlarge
25,000 IC - [250 (Price derived from Current Market Value) x 1 Class II x 100 Boss Credit Bonus (BCB)]
He pulled out some of the carapace, noting that it was packaged into neat little 5 kg bundles, already cut and cleaned. Same with the junk cybernetics: they were all packaged in 50 kg crates, each one taking a spot in his Inventory. Griffin pulled out the ethershards, noting that each one looked similar to the ones he’d absorbed earlier, though these were Common instead of Legendary. They were hand-length shards of crystal that looked—and were—sharp enough to shave with, all of different colors.
“These things gave me a ton of junk cybernetic parts and carapace; an honest-to-God-potion which I just can’t wait to try. Oh, and a few Common ethershards,” Griffin held them out. “You guys can have ‘em. I just remembered I got a bunch from completing a Quest—to kill the Mother. And 25,000 IC, whatever that is.”
Jessaline stepped forward and took the shards out of his hand, holding them up to the light of a glowdisc Culvis had supplied not long after the monsters had died, “Not bad! Lemme see here… plasma, giants, darkness, and cybernetics. Nothing that we’re looking for, but they’ll go on the market for anywhere from four to ten thousand: four for the darkness ethershard and ten for Plasma. Oh, and IC is…do they have the concept of money where you’re from?”
Griffin laughed, “Uh, yeah, you could say that.”
“IC stands for Imperial Credits, they’re a digital currency managed by the System. IC is the most stable currency in the world since it’s all run by the System, and it’s awarded when you destroy monsters based on current market demand and monster population culling needs,” Jessaline handed the crystals back to Griffin. “You can hang onto those and we’ll put them up on the Vasilias market in a loot-share arrangement. Xander here has some of the best contract Lexicrafters credits can buy so you can be sure we’ll set up something equitable.”
“Uh, thanks. Well, I’d better um, y’know…do the rest,” he chuckled nervously and made his way over to the next giant centipede monster corpse. This one had been hit by his desiccant and then smashed to pieces by Xander’s hammer. Some of the fist-sized bees were swarming over the corpse, scissoring away chunks of monster and flying away.
He used his racial gift of Monster Rendering once more, marveling at the way the giant insect monster melted away in no time under the light of the strange scanner that popped out of the DEEP Suit’s shoulder plate. Once it was gone, he checked his Inventory and reported, “Oh hey, there were more ethershards! Not quite as many—just two. But one says it’s Uncommon; uh, it’s the ethershard of Doors? And the Common one is an ethershard of Oil. Really? Oil?”
Kismet said, “Griffin, tag the ethershard of Doors. That’ll mean you want to keep it and its cost will be deducted from your share—that’s the most common loot division method in the field without a pre-existing contract, anyway. We want that ethershard!”
“Okay,” Griffin said, looking at the item in his Inventory, “though it’d be nice to know why we want that ethershard and not the one about oil. What’s so much better about doors than oil?”
“I’ll explain later,” Kismet said. “Just make sure you do it. We’re going to need to move more quickly to get the other corpses before the rest of their babies come back.”
Griffin nodded and picked up the pace. He had to refill his tensa, so he reconfigured his anima into the Ten Star Vortex technique. As tensa flooded into him he sighed in satisfaction; it was just like drinking an ice-cold lemonade on a hot summer day. He harvested the rest of the corpses, finding more ethershards of Giant, Inset, and Cybernetics; all Common shards that were better for selling than absorption.
As he worked, the rest of the team packed up and got ready to move out. Finally, Griffin finished the last corpse and joined the rest of the group, feeling nervous and out of place.
Xander spoke up, obviously the leader of the little team. “Is everything accounted for?” There were nods all around. “Then we’re going up and out. Tolochi and Jessaline, would you mind leading us out of this disgusting hole?”
Jessaline grinned and nodded, “It’d be my pleasure!”
“With the greatest satisfaction,” Tolochi agreed.
“Then lead the way!” Xander said. Jessaline and Tolochi gave a quick salute and then left the cavern at high speed. “Griffin, we’re heading into Heldon, the town at the base of the mountain, so it’d be best to stay close and do exactly what we tell you to do.”
Well that doesn’t sound ominous and manipulative, Griffin thought, but he’s right. I need to just try to lay low. He smiled and nodded saying, “Yeah, okay that’s probably a good idea. I can’t wait to get out of here.”
“Then let’s not waste another moment!” Xander gathered the others and led them out of the cavern and towards the surface.