The Update, as many are calling it, has a wide impact. So wide in fact, that not many people have yet to witness, truly, what has differed. Everyone is focused on the new threats, new enemies, unknowns. But, The System is constant all throughout Aerae. We forget that it is like mana, like air! We breathe it and use it like a moth is attracted to a magic lamp! It is mostly the Adventurer's that have begun to note the changes, as they are often the most traveled and thus have much of The System's features unlocked. Titles and Feats for one. There are others, more common, less common. It does not matter. They have changed. The System is fundamental to our life. And it has changed. It is changed and we are too busy cowering in fear at the unknown to marvel at it!
-Craddus Faul, on The Update
Harrowing blue-black shadows screamed lightning as Luck impaled the creature in tandem with the sound of thunder. It, like some twisted sculpture, died on its spiked pedestal as another, smoking, flew past and struck the wall. Another was thrown hard onto the ground, stunned, before a figure was instantly beside it, slitting its throat.
Maxworth rose up. "These I do not recognize." He said, dagger painted red. He knelt down, noting the short creature.
They were at a slope, steadily descending deeper in the Tunnels of Arach. Maxworth had so far been their encyclopedia on the various enemies they encountered. Spirit, it seemed, was not so well versed on the lesser known inhabitants of the Tunnels of Arach. Although, that wasn't to discredit Spirit's speculations which were increasingly helpful.
Blind humanoids, gaping ears, both nod to echolocation. Sharp claws and dull hard pads under their hands and feet are likely used to produce sharp noise to both communicate and see. Hypothesized ancestry with Cave Goblins and Dire Bats.
"They're blind. The clicking we've been hearing is coming from their feet and hands to see us with echolocation. I hate to imagine how we'd fare without a light down here." Luck spoke aloud for the group's benefit.
Rick flicked his sword out, spraying blood across the floor. Luck's father, not surprisingly, turned out to be expertly wielding the new weapon. "They're somewhat similar to something I've faced before." He said, nodding subtly to his impartation. The fact that they were rebirthees was one not yet known to Maxworth.
Tate's omnitanium, as Luck had guessed, was proving immensely effective against anything they had so far come across. That included large aggressive beetles, dire bats, and some of the camouflaged rock crawlers. By its freeflowing nature, it remained pristine, despite the carnage Luck saw it reap.
Ace wiped his brow as he approached. He was covered in less blood and goop than Rick or Tate but the fatigue was there. He smelled like ozone, and frost rather than smoke came from his hands. Had he been trying to utilize Rever's gift? "And the pendant, Rick?" He asked, only slightly out of breath.
By now, these encounters with the cave dwellers were somewhat mundane. Between their group, they had a lot of leeway in these battles as long as no one did anything overtly stupid. But, the parting words of the Acid Spiders still chilled him. Aside from the rock crawlers, basically crab-like crustaceans that fell from above to latch onto their victims, nothing they had encountered was more than a kind of cave-augmented version of something mundane. The rock crawlers were an exception only because it seemed they had some kind of paralytic venom and normal crabs didn't stick to the ceiling and ambush prey.
"It's still pointing forward. No changes." Rick replied. His sword's tip was always just above the ground, navigating the grooves and divots of the ground with precision. The strength in his dad's sword arm and control was much more than Luck could've hoped to achieve. He seemed to be holding a weapon made of air, with how easily he controlled the weapon. Luck thought he noticed Maxworth observing Rick's swordplay on more than one occasion.
"It's getting colder." Ace replied. "These little - what did you call them? Blind goblins? They'd be a danger to us if we were alone."
Luck nudged body of one of them. They weren't exactly pitch black, or camouflaged with the environment at all. He gathered they were simply reliant on the darkness of their habitat. Their ears were flared outward and gaping, even in death, as if to catch every ambient sound. The eyes, if Luck had to describe them, were both unseeing and unsettling. They didn't reflect the light. They could scamper around silently by shifting onto the soft pads of their feet, sending out noisy clicks when they needed vision.
"I imagine without light and alone, they'd a pesky foe." Luck shivered. "Alone in the dark and all you hear is the sound of sharp tapping before you're swarmed."
"They barely reflect the light too." Tate noted, a small flame coming from her omnitanium weapon. It shone on the bodies but they were still barely revealed. She was referring to the skin, rather than their eyes which Luck had initially noticed. She was right.
There was a flash of colors as Paint leaned over the things, observing their color. His body changed slightly, and in the light, he was nearly gone. He shifted colors in a thoughtful way. If not for the colors, we would not have seen them. He communicated.
Their numbers likely represented their success in these caves-
One suddenly shot off the ground, claws lunging for Luck's neck. It's muted eyes sharpened in focus and anger. Faster than that, an earthen shackle planted the little thing down, jerking it violently to the ground. And before anyone could say anything Luck had an earthen spike through the thing's eye. All this without moving. "They've got some intelligence too." He said. "But I doubt they're the worst thing to come across down here. I just wonder how Mom survived down here."
Absently, the rest of the group double-tapped the rest of the bodies.
Their path - a downwards sloped cavern - eventually narrowed into another tunnel. The problem became apparent when these tunnels branched out, becoming more complicated. Luck couldn't sense the magnitude and length of these paths, otherwise, navigation would be easy. As it was, they simply chose the one that most closely lined up with the pendant. They found themselves crossing slim bridges across deep fathomless trenches. The depth of these occasional caverns was unimaginable, the only safe way deeper were the sloping tunnels.
According to Spirit, who could easily track their three-dimensional position, they were still under Snake's Way. But it was cold enough that Luck wondered if they were under the Frozen Zones. In some kind of soon-to-be ice cavern. He imagined the temperature drop was due to the depth. The cavern was so vast such that there was a chilling wind blowing at their faces, pressing them against the cliff walls.
He pulled on the heatblind. "Why did the temperature drop so fast?" He asked quietly, a constant tone as opposed to a sharp whisper - a mistake many made when attempting silence. It had definitely dropped a few degrees, and suddenly too.
"Could be anything. We don't know the geography around here. There's a handful of formations that might cause a change in temperature across the entire cavern. There might be a source of water below we can't see cooling down the whole cavern the deeper we go." Ace said.
"Take a peek over the ledge for me." Luck smirked. "Maybe there is."
"No thanks, I'd rather not." The former mercenary waved, his focus on his balance.
They stepped across a ledge. Small stones crumbled and fell away from Luck's feet, but his balance was absolute. Luck didn't flinch as he corrected himself. The rest were ahead of him with Paint behind him, as they were the two that seemed to have the best balance. This way too, Luck could catch anyone would fall. Their movements were much smoother once they learned that tidbit.
Rick paused slightly. He was both rounding a corner of their ledge and stepping onto more stable ground. "Snake." He said, his voice carrying easily to everyone.
Luck focused on his sense of the earth and he felt quiet breathing, a small shuffle of a sinuous body at rest. Rick, despite calling the warning, did not stop moving. Luck's dad was the first to step onto a wider path away from the steep drop.
The snake was large enough to warrant a warning from Rick, meaning it was quite large. It was as wide as Luck was tall, and perhaps ten times the length. By no means was it a small threat. But it was sleeping. On the surface, they had fought similar serpents, and although those were much smaller they did come in number. This wasn't a blind fight to pick, and if they were going to cross this particular stretch of plateau the serpent had to go. That was Luck's conclusion, and it was apparent the rest understood so as well. Even if they could sneak past the serpent, it wouldn't do to have that threat at their backs.
Almost like some inherent battle sense flowed out from the group, the moment everyone stepped onto more stable ground, everyone spread out.
Luck made eye contact with Ace as Rick approached the snake's head silently, sword at the ready. The snake was coiled up like a spring, its head like the end of a rolled up rope. Scales flared out, more weapon than armor. And it's head and face was piercing, like some kind of snake that relied on brute power than any poison.
A frost coiled off the creature's body like smoke. Cold emanated from its mouth when its tongue would periodically taste the air in its sleep.
Rick raised his sword slowly.
Maybe it was the way he raised it, or the movement of air as he did. Perhaps it was the way its tongue flicked out the second he did, or the fact Ace's left hand was leaking frost and this particular snake seemed attuned to such things. Maybe it was the fact that Maxworth's daggers did the same thing as the gentleman moved into position.
Whatever it was, the serpent opened its eye. Unfocused, its eye locked onto Rick as it sharpened into a sudden slit.
Bands of earth slammed around the things head. This didn't stop its scales from flaring out and nearly freezing over in an instant. It struggled against Luck's bonds for an intense moment before a bright steady arc of buzzing electricity connected to the neck of the serpent, paralyzing the entire body. Rick's sword came down and only bit a third of the way through. There was a pained panicked keening, but Luck predicted as much from experience, a muffler of rock covered the snake's mouth - any loose dirt for the construct wasn't available.
Two more hacks and the thing was dead.
Their trek continued in a similar fashion. A mix of perilous drops, cautious footwork, and threatening beasts. It happened that those snakes attuned to the element of ice were inclined to the depths of these caves as well. After speaking with Spirit, and subsequently updating his mental map, it made sense given that they were still under Snake's Way. The Frozen Zones to the North, Hydr Dunes to the West, Krukon's Forest to the East, and finally Snake's Way to the South. They covered all directions of a two-dimensional compass.
To put things in perspective, it would've taken weeks to traverse any of those lands if Luck and the rest hadn't had help. The Tunnels of Arach, they stretched under all of these.
Luck suppressed a shiver as Spirit outlined the map in his augmented reality viewing. A hologram, visible only to him floated a comfortable distance in front of him, a sharp green line denoting their path deeper and deeper into the surrounding caverns. The map wasn't complete either, as many of the side tunnels they never ventured far enough for Spirit to fill out, and still, the thing was still impressive.
"You're saying these tunnels are under all the zones?" Ace exclaimed. Luck had given him a sword too. That utility of Earth magic was probably the most useful of them all seeing as how much more efficient it made them. He, not for the first time, was wiping the cold blood of an Ice Snake off of the blade.
"Yeah, all of them." Luck responded. The section of the cavern they were in felt like it was open air. He couldn't see the ceiling or sense it and the walls were too far apart to notice in the dark. "It explains their vastness. If all of the zones encompass one direction of relative to Ardun, The Tunnels of Arach are just that - down."
"That explains the cold then, and all these bitingly cold serpents." He said more to himself.
They all silently began to move, following Rick. As he held the pendant, he led the way, and unless Luck or anyone else noted something out of the ordinary their method of moving was straightforward. Follow the motes of light.
"How do you mean?"
"If the Frozen Zones are connected, all that cold air is crashing down the tunnels and forcing all the warm air up." Ace said as another breeze whipped Luck's hair. It was cold, and Ace noticed. "And if this is the temperature of said warm air, it's only going to get colder." He explained, a small frown on his face, the former mercenary shivered.
"Hmm." Luck hummed thoughtfully, eyeing the group.
Luck was always aware of everyone's clothes. Not that he was trying to actively monitor how prepared everyone was for sudden shifts in temperature or anything. It was just one of his hobbies. Not so much fashion as it was wearing something that looked good, felt good and functioned well. It was why he was dressed so comfortably, wearing a loose shirt and fitting pants with many pockets. It was why his shoes were fit to his soles and supported him nicely.
It was also why he noticed Ace's slight shiver even in his hoodie. It was why some time ago he noticed Tate's omnitanium wrapped around her - presumably warming her up. And it was why he noticed his dad's lack of shirt and perhaps more interestingly his lack of reaction. It was definitely cold, nothing that Maxworth was probably aware of - so he thought. One of the things he did notice, was Maxworth's complete indifference to the upwind of cold air. And it was cold. He could quite literally feel Paint's shivering from here. Luck's teeth started chattering a while ago before he called on the aspect of the heatblind, the small animal that altered its temperature to match the environment to avoid heat-seeking predators. Its ability to regulate its temperature and maintain homeostasis was a blessing.
And one that he could impart.
The thing about Nature magic, at least so far as Luck learned, was that it centered around connections. It's in the way a budding plant can take in sunlight, and somehow at the end of the month, that same energy could be found in the most powerful predator. It's the way rain can come down from the sky to be soaked up by quiet trees. The way a waterfall splashing against mossy rocks can invite life between the clear ripples.
There were many heatblinds in his Grove, and as he closed his eyes a part of him briefly left the cave and floated among of tapestry of threads. In those threads, he could see his entire Grove, some parts mysterious and glowing, others mundane and thin, some fraying some taut. And although he thought of it as "seeing", it was really something he felt, then imagined in his mind. He found one of the threads he often used and pulled at its energy, leaving the thread no worse for wear, but allowing him some of its strength. He could sense the thread become aware, then relax as something like pride filled it. The magic came to him, a direct thread to himself.
He held that ball of green-white energy within himself, a package - a gift of the heatblind. He went for another, and another, until he had many of these gifts. He took one of them into his own self, immediately warmth filled his limbs and extremities - a perfectly comfortable temperature. He had three of these gifts, an act of mental fortitude, even with Spirit helping him concentrate.
"Lucky... you're kind of glowing." Ace's slow voice came to him.
Briefly, Luck looked at his hands and found them subtly glowing green. He considered remarking on the fact."You cold Ace?" He asked instead.
"What? Yeah, not as badly as the Zones but after you- " The former mercenary began. Luck laid a hand on his shoulder and let the magic flow into his friend. A rush of gentle green flowed between them. "did the Nature magic...I was fine. That's what that was?" He said, having stilled his slight shiver. He seemed less surprised than grateful. "Thanks, Lucky."
"What's going on?" Tate asked. She was ahead of them walking. She didn't look cold at all but Luck doubted the drain on her mana was worth keeping her warm through her omnitanium.
"Here you go, Tate." Luck laid a hand on her forearm, moving past her to his dad. The shine of the green magic was brief. "And Dad, I'm not even sure if you're cold but here you go." He put his hand on the back of his shoulder as Rick looked back from the pendant. A gentle rush of green spread between them.
Both blinked. Rick at the change of his body's temperature and Tate likely from the feeling of the magic.
"Well, that's nice," Rick said first, a small smile of wonderment of his face.
Omnitanium slid up her arms and legs, centering on her torso. "I'm... warm." She said. "Is this how magic feels?"
Before the colohue could even consider how Luck could see him. He walked up and placed a hand on the camouflaged individual's chest. This time, Luck watched. A vibrant green infused his arm, flowing from all over his body and coming to his fingertips. It a subtle light, as if his arm was shining from the inside. From his hand, the color permeated Paint, overpowering the colohues natural hues and coloring him green, spreading like tree roots and veins, until the magic seemed to suffuse itself into him. Paint's heavy shivering stopped instantly.
Once he could alter his color again. Thank you, Druid. He flashed. Luck gave him a curious look but nodded all the same.
"That's amazing," Rick exclaimed. He stared at his hands, seeming to wonder where the magic went. Now that he was closer, he could see his Dad's goosebumps recede. "What is this?"
"That is the aspect of the heatblind." Luck responded. "A creature able to regulate its body temperature without repercussion. It should keep you all warm for a while. Four to six hours at least. As aspects go, the heatblind is not as mana intensive to use, but I still gave the magic some juice."
"We should be able to have a sense for when the magic is wearing off anyway. At least I did the last time Lucky gave it to me." Ace added. That was interesting since Luck thought he was the only one who could sense it. Although, given the type of magic, it made sense.
"Luck did that take much out of you?" Tate asked, her omnitanium seemed more flowing now that it wasn't being used to warm her body.
"Nothing I won't recover given time. I'm not anywhere as low as I was before." He responded. And, in that split second, he had everyone's attention, "Pretty cool, right?" He grinned, breaking the wonder of the moment to brag.
Ace laughed at that while Tate and Rick both chuckled. Maxworth seemed to take the question seriously and nodded his head although he hadn't been given the aspect and Paint flashed something like gratitude in color.
"Yeah, it's damn cool," Tate said. "I wish I had something like that."
"Uh, you do sis." Luck pointed at the flowing metal.
"Yeah, and Dad can create objects out of thin air." She replied sarcastically. "And Ace can shoot lightning."
"I don't think I can make that metal. " Rick replied, his voice deep and thoughtful. "Something instinctual in my magic says something about that, what did you call it? Omnitanium? Something about it is special. It'd be a feat of master of my magic to get that done."
"Maybe the fact it can turn into anything? Both weapon and armor?" Ace replied, just a little sarcastic, which is to say, very. "Hell, why aren't you tying your hair up with it? The first thing I would with something like that is use it to make my life easier."
Tate blinked. "Huh." Then a small band of the metal formed, instantly tying her hair up into a neat ponytail. "I didn't- "
Luck interrupted sensing something ahead. "Careful what you wish for Tate. You might get to see some more magic." Because that was what he felt, unmistakably. Before Ace or anyone else noticed thanks to Spirit's warning.
They weaved like a stream of water through the pillars of pointed stone, inching closer and closer in dim light. A breeze blew across their faces stifling the noise of quiet breath and footstep. Luck crouched, ready to throw himself or pull the trigger and pause time. His hand rested steadily on his magitech pistol, something they hadn't used for fear of alerting unseen enemies.
They had been repeating odd cycles of this. A warning shouted out, and then silence until the danger had passed. And so on, as was the manner that they had been traversing the depths.
Now, however, it wasn't so much danger as simple unknown magic, which, Luck thought, arguably might hint at something more perilous. He could sense the mana in the air, the same way he felt the element of Ice permeating the Frozen Zones, only here he was unfamiliar with the magic.
As they rounded corner... the cavern became uniform.
"What the hell?" Someone said.
Something screeched and scrabbled in the distance. It was one of the blind goblins, if Luck's hearing was correct in identifying the sound. With Spirit's help, the little figure was highlighted in the distance, further down the cavern. Ace and Maxworth both moved quietly and tested the floor of the cavern - suspiciously smooth.
"You can see it, son?" Rick looked surprised, no doubt having heard the same thing, although his eyes couldn't focus on anything.
"Yeah, one of the small guys. It's running on a short ridge... from something." Luck kept watching as it leapt, ducking and rolling. The movements were familiar. Desperate attempts to survive, Luck had killed a few doing the same thing earlier. After a slow blink, what was once a short humanoid, was a pile of shredded meat, splattering on the cave floor.
"Uhh..." Tate intoned drawing Luck's notice. She was peering through a pair of silver binoculars, the wind coming from the cavern whipping her hair back and forth.
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Luck squinted at the mess of the little thing. The whistling of the wind, here in this dark place, made the scene even more unsettling. Not to mention that whatever killed it was invisible as far as Luck could tell. "Gods and Goddesses." He cursed, the unearthly curse rolling ever easier off his tongue.
"It-it just ripped apart," Tate muttered, she probably had a much more detailed view of the happenings with those binoculars of hers. They were tilting left and right, scanning the rest of the cavern. "Thermal imaging shows nothing either. Kinetic imaging... nothing."
"Maybe it left?" Luck doubted the words even as he said them. He had more or less seen the event between his blinks.
"It could've been some kind of weapon. A ranged attack from a creature we haven't seen yet perhaps? I doubt we're the only things with projectiles in this cave, I've seen creatures with similar."
"To wrought that much destruction in one shot?" His daughter asked dubiously.
Paint appeared and flashed a few colors, unsettled. Apparently, as Luck might've guessed, the eyes of the colohue were accustomed to long distances too. I could not see what killed the creature either.
Maxworth stood up from his scrutiny of the surroundings, having listened to their conversation. "A type of magic then." He said with quiet confidence.
"That would explain the mana we're feeling Lucky." Ace replied. "It's lethal, whatever it is. There are bloody marks all over this floor too, faded until you could barely even see it."
"The floor may be enchanted to dissolve such fluids, sir." Maxworth whirred, his hands rested lightly on his daggers' pommels.
"Then we turn around." Luck shrugged, his eyes scanning the floor for any markings. He couldn't make out anything out of place other than his sense of the magic. But that sense of his was severely unpolished, he wouldn't rely on it in any capacity, especially not here. "There must be another way past this section. "
"Luck." Said an apologetic voice. There was a jangling of chain Luck recognized and he turned. His dad was holding up the pendant. He sighed in slight defeat as the lights pointed straight into the invisible slaughter. Rick grimaced, shrugging. "Maybe we can find some kind of safer detour?"
Paint's scales rippled, a pattern coming from them. That would be wisest. An unseen enemy is a dangerous one. The colohue communicated.
It took the better part of an hour and backtracking a few tunnels upwards and backward. Every branch eventually, one way or another, led to the same section of smooth, clean stone. Like a section was cut out or excavated, it was artificial. Aside from its material one could easily make out where the natural tunnels ended and this one began. They did figure out though, that there were many other similar sections that some other tunnels led to that, while not identical, were essentially the same thing.
It was at one of those that they finally gave up.
"We have to go through it." Luck said plainly, despite the cold he looked perfectly comfortable, if not a little irritated at the turn of events.
They had witnessed a handful of the blind goblins die to whatever lay in this odd section of the tunnel. It was always the same, some desperate scrabbling and screaming until finally, it blew apart by whatever power that lay here. They had even found the remains of an ice snake, some of their frozen scales melting on the ground.
"Can we send something through?" Ace asked after a pause. Luck, likewise, paused at the idea.
Could his father conjure something up? Maybe Tate's omnitanium?
Rick shook his head. "I don't think I can manage something like that. Besides the fact your new weapons took most of my - mana did you call it? That." He interjected.
Tate's was a similar answer in different wrapping. "I can send something through but I won't be able to maintain far enough for our purposes. And a ball of metal is hardly representative of us actually passing through." She had her binoculars out again, talking over her shoulder.
A quick glance at Paint and Maxworth yielding nothing. Idly, Luck thought if Nayah was here she was the most likely magically inclined to deduce what was killing the passerby or to have an arcane solution to test it. If Erok was here, he would've been the safest to send through.
Again, he peered at the smooth cut tunnel. One of many that they came across, and stared. Blue lines of data sprang forth of their own accord, seemingly reacting to Luck's desire and curiosity. They flit across his eyes and through his mind and still, they were few. Spirit - and Luck for that matter - could make out nothing unusual that would be suspect.
He rubbed his chin before an idea came to him, one that he had tried how long ago? Days? A month or two? He had lost count of the days since the last time he was in his Grove. His days had been so packed and eventful it had felt like weeks had passed. One of the first times, when he received his Greater Boon of the collective knowledge of the Druids of Old. He remembered an experiment he had tried back then.
A slow, molding intent. Something he did not truly grasp back then. Faster, more confident. Earth came together in front of him. That layer of potential across his body, barely drained by the expenditure, whereby in the past he would've had a headache. A stone block, morphing with sudden dull shifts in the rock, smoothly. Two legs, balanced under a torso. Arms. A head, finally.
"A mannequin." Ace said flatly. Luck's eye twitched.
"A test dummy, with any luck." He replied. He closed his eyes and reached for something in nature to imbue the construct with until he simply settled... on himself.
He pulled on the aspect of a human, something... somehow he knew was not normally possible. The Druids of Old had hypothesized that Humans and most Sentients had diverged from the natural order of things, and were governed by something more complex than Mother Nature, thus they were out of the cycle of nature.
But Luck was One with Nature. And so, when he pulled on himself, it was something like asking himself to give a piece of his nature to the asking magic.
Warning: Proceed with extreme caution, the creation of thinking beings can have severe backlash. The Mk3 had once approached this level of free thinking before The Company had to shut it down. This warning comes as courtesy of The Company. You have been warned. Spirit's voice came urgently and suddenly.
Luck responded internally, with a bit of curious pause. I'm not ready to be a father anyways. Curious though that The Company has warnings implemented into your directive Spirit. I'm not trying to create something alive.
Understood. Some actions, while not judged by The Company, come with warnings if detected. This is simply The Company looking out for its users. Less than .001% of hosts have even attempted these actions to even warrant the warning. 2 individuals have ignored said warning.
I don't doubt it. How many people go around trying to create thinking things? But, don't worry Spirit, that's not what I'm going for here. Just a dummy to walk through the tunnel for us.
Understood. Luck realized Spirit didn't have to reply, as the Mk3 had no emotions, nonetheless.
Something about the construct of Earth magic and the linking of Nature magic made the entity his. "Just walking then. Only that." He muttered to himself as he let something of him go.
The magic followed the tether to his earthen mannequin absorbed from a distance rather than requiring Luck's touch. Mana fatigue settled into the center of his head as he worked to reinforce the stone of the construct. They wanted to see whatever attacked it, a half second, before it exploded, wouldn't do.
"Damn, you can make puppets too?" Ace joked. But the mercenary didn't seem too surprised. "I'm guessing you gave it something to move? An aspect of something?"
"Yeah. Hold on I need to take a seat. That... drained me more than I thought it would." His mind throbbed, he had previously been something like three-fifths of his full mana. "God, this headache is something."
"Alright, fair enough. Rest a bit then, maybe we'll catch something." The mercenary said. "Tate?"
"I'm on it already." She replied, handing Ace a pair of binoculars as well. Rick and Maxworth were both passed a pair. "Luck?"
Wordlessly, the man of stone began to walk down the tunnel.
It walked naturally if ever something was said about a dummy. Luck barely had the mental capacity to really observe the magic but he had felt he had done something fairly advanced. Perhaps the most complicated piece of magic aside from his usage of Time magic.
It wasn't long before it came across obstacles. The group watched as it traversed easily along the small ridges and short inclines that the blind goblins were slaughtered upon. Its legs didn't fail it.
The second it came across these ridges, however, an impact shocked it.
"There," Tate said. "See the dust coming off it? Something just hit it."
Admittedly, it seemed their binoculars were far superior to Luck's enhanced eyesight.
"Yeah, there's cracks over its body now." Ace remarked. The stone man walked forward unbothered, its structural integrity not threatened. Again, a blast of dust, an indicator of the force upon its stone body. If not that, then the staggering of the model, despite Luck's efforts to make it dense. "Again, there." The former mercenary commented idly, his focus was through the binoculars.
"What is it?" Rick asked, observing quietly as well.
"It's definitely something physical." Luck reasoned. "If there are cracks along its body." He could feel his magic weakening, the combination of his Nature and Earth magic, it seemed, had some type of half-life.
"This tells us nothing, we still cannot see it." Maxworth added, seeming to forgo the use of binoculars and simply stare at the stone man as if it wasn't as far away as it was. He raised the omnitanium pair to Tate and the metal liquified, reverting back to Tate's arm wordlessly.
"I think I've got it." Ace spoke after a minute. "I'm not sure if it'll do anything but it's worth a try." His face was in some type of thought. "How long can your punching bag last there?"
"Not long, maybe three minutes." Luck spoke, not even realizing he knew. If Ace had an idea it was worth a shot for sure.
"That's all it needs to do." He said.
Then, he took a few steps forward, and Luck could see Ace's breath. He should've been warm from the heatblind, but his breath was visible nonetheless. Frost fell from his hands, dripping like liquid, absent of the normal lightning. Luck wondered what he was doing until he realized the ground was covered in mist. His hair whipped forward from the breeze and the fog rolled into the tunnel. White-blue frost, swirling whorls, suddenly the tunnel was covered in white twirling mist.
Slowly, Luck stood up. His headache had dissipated slightly, but this frost wasn't going anywhere. Peering into the twirling motions of the frost, Spirit picked up on something. A shape. Bigger than any of them. It was disturbing the frost, prowling, circling the stone man. Highlighted in red, a contrast against the white-blue motions of the frost.
"I see it." He said quietly. "It's right there. Circling."
"I see it too now," Tate whispered. "I can't detect its motion at all, it's eerie like it doesn't make any. But the frost, my lens can pick that up easily. Dad, you should be able to get a reading on it too." She told Rick.
There was a sudden shift in the frost and the stone man was forced to its knees. Luck spoke. "The earth-guy is done for." The frost parted around it and the stone man was pulverized. After a moment, Luck commented idly. "I don't think it can sense the frost." The thing moved silently, patrolling the tunnel as soon as its prey was destroyed.
"It's the only one," Rick stated, ever calm. "No other movement through the tunnel."
Luck lined up his shot. taking aim without prompt. A headache had never interfered with where he wanted his bullet. Perfect precision and control on a target he couldn't see. The swirling disturbances of air flow were hinting at a four-legged creature. Spirit's display was a red amorphous blob that changed with the mist. The second he shot though, he knew his projectile would throw all that out the window. The force of the bullet would spread the mist and their only way of tracking the thing disappeared. This shot had to count.
"You're sure Lucky?" Ace warned, eyebrow raised. "You'll alert the whole cavern. Rick said the things were loud." Even though his statement was a warning the mercenary quietly unholstered his own magitech pistol, training the sights on the whereabouts of the red enemy highlight. Better two shots than one. Spirit tracked his trajectory and found it sufficient. Two greens lines shifted like laser pointers through the fog until a third joined. Tate's. Or three.
The pistol felt good in his hand. Its grip was tailor fit to his hold, the sleek design was modern and ubiquitous but original in implementation. The barrel was slender, as was coherent with the design, and yet Luck found it left the impression of power as much as accuracy. It was an unsuspecting black - what he assumed most of this world would consider some strange artifact before a weapon. Beautiful. Attractive and functional. A fine gun if Luck ever handled one.
His response was short. "It's been a while since I shot something, Ace."
Ace grinned and shook his head, taking no time at all to center himself. Tate gave a smile too, doing the same. So three of them stood, training their weapons on an invisible target.
A breath. A single breath of unison between the three. A moment of perfect understanding. Each with the knowledge; the instinctual certainty, that the other two would be firing with milliseconds of each other. A breath. Together.
Then they fired.
Three loud concussive and successive snaps filled the air so closely spaced in timing and volume that they seemed as one. Luck's ears rang and vision blurred momentarily. Three cylindrical paths pierced the fog, enlarging and dispersing the frost. Everything happened in less than a second. Burning blue bullets. A scream. An explosion. The heavy sounds of a charging mass.
"Where is it? Gah-" Ace grunted, air knocked out. Luck whipped his neck backward.
He was sent to the floor. Pinned. He shot point black, ripping chunks through something with burning blue. Immediately, he electrified, sparks sprouting like a tesla coil. Before Luck could get a shot off, a corpse formed, black and charred.
"What the hell- " Ace gasped. He grasped at his chest, only to find it bruised. Heavily. No wounds though. His binoculars had disappeared, and what was left in place was a smattering of metal scattered in a pattern that could only have been a flurry of attacks. A precise defense activated immediately. Omnitanium transforming and moving to defend.
Ace took Luck's hand and he hauled him up. "You good, Ace?" Luck gave checked for any blood or damage allowing Spirit a small diagnosis. Bruises, to put it shortly. "Goddes of Fortune, that was close." He whistled, not convinced the man was entirely okay.
"Yeah, I'm good." He said only slightly shaky. Luck assumed more from adrenaline than nerves. Ace wasn't the type to linger on near-death experience, he had had too many to justify the amount of time it would've taken for such an undertaking. "That's like the second time in as many days."
Tate kicked at something with a thud. "Creepy as hell." It was charred black. Three holes still burning bright blue. One in the arm, two in the torso. The skin surrounding the wounds looked cracked, some effect of the magitech Luck reckoned. One of the initial shots had missed then because Luck was sure Ace hit his second bullet. It was eyeless.
"It looks like a bear." Magic properties detected. Spirit added to his thoughts. Luck had picked up a few things having analyzed so many animals, especially when given his Grove, that he could identify a few things off the bat. "More muscle than fat. Overkill on the fangs and claws, along with the brute strength to go with it. And size to go with it. More killing machine than predator, unless its natural prey necessitated these things. I... don't see any eyes on it either."
Even so, it was an oddity. Bigger than any one of them in size, it was large for an animal, a match for any of them. Ace was positioned slightly farther from the rest of them initially. The creature had gone for the isolated member of the group, even if it wasn't by much. Even if they couldn't see it. He had learned a thing or two from Saga, something he had known in a past life, but never would've thought to apply to combat here. Covering your escape route. Behind Ace was a steep cliff, but given the slender muscled body of the body, it might've been able to escape that way.
And it was still breathing Luck realized.
Ever practical, Maxworth approached stabbing it through its eye. It jerked and let out a final breath. Rick, in the process of moving to do the same, relaxed. Maxworth commented. "'I've not seen anything like this before."
And then the oddest thing happened. The corpse dissipated, into a cloud of translucent dust.
Maxworth's eyes went wide. It was the first time Luck had ever seen them go wide. He spoke hurriedly. "It can't be. But that would explain this odd tunnel." He muttered to himself in thought, his eyes roved the peculiar tunnel.
"What is it Max?" Ace asked slowly. "Is everything okay?"
Maxworth looked back at them from his scrutiny, making eye-contact. His mouth opened and he tried again. "A dungeon." He said hesitantly. "We've found a dungeon."
First Discovery! Dungeon: The Blind Maze of Arach (Venerable) (Mythic)
Long ago before the Titans descended into Arach's home the Lord of the Caves sheltered children and strays. The weakest of the surface had their chance to become the strongest of the depths below. This was their home, their training ground, their life. When Arach died, defending and entangling the Titans, when Arach's Web had long been taken over by the rocks and drips of minerals, the Blind of Arach waited. They too were entombed, to linger in the darkness until found.
Note: As a First Discovery, all creatures inside The Blind Maze of Arach will be enhanced and variable. Equipment and Items, as gifted by Ethodthem, will be enhanced in Rarity. Additional Hidden Rooms and Secrets will be available.
Everyone seemed to pause, reading. "What's a dungeon?" Luck asked as he read. His eyes were naturally drawn to the colored words but quickly passed over them, noting them down.
"Check the System," Rick responded, sounding like he already was. Perhaps his father had gotten more use out of the System during his impartation than Luck did. The man seemed much more familiar with it than him.
He turned his attention back to himself.
Almost as if something became available to him, he realized some part of him already knew. He willed the question towards Ethodthem, The System. It was the first time he questioned the all-encompassing force that permeates all of Aerae rather than the little database in his head. In his mind, a blue box appeared, detailing the subject. He found that the information only became available to him when the topic came up.
Dungeons
Dungeons are formed naturally throughout Aerae and are concentrations of both mana and treasure which are often formed by the events of the area. This can be due to a number of factors from simple location to internal mana sources to the types of monsters habituating. These dungeons range in rarity and age. Age determines the difficulty of the monsters. The longer a dungeon has been present the more lethal and dangerous the monsters inside. The more dangerous the dungeon the more rewarding it is. Rarity is representative of uniqueness and resource value. This can mean anything from mana wells to gifted rewards.
Luck's first thought was to figure out what The Blind Maze of Arach was described as. He brought up the past notification, scanning the blue before realizing the information he wanted was promptly at the top. It was Venerable and Mythical. Yellow and Red. One of the first times he had ever seen something color coded in these windows. He gathered it was Mythical in Rarity and Venerable in Age.
Exactly what those were, he didn't know. It took him only a moment to realize he might as well see if Ethodthem knew. And, of course, it did. Luck shook his head at himself as he read up.
New System: Age
Age is a new system implemented through the Update. Age is applicable to a handful of locations of interest but primarily refer to Dungeons. Ages are color coded. Ages range from New, Young, Old, Aged, Venerable, Prehistoric, Legendary. Dungeons described as New are less than 50 years old. Young dungeons are below 150 years old. Old dungeons are between 150 to 500 years old. Aged dungeons have been around anywhere from 500 to 1000 years. Venerable dungeons range from 1000 and 500,000 years old. Prehistoric dungeons range from 500,000 to 10,000,000 years old. Legendary dungeons are anything above that. Age affects the lethality and danger and consequently rarity and rewards of dungeons.
"It's old." Luck said quietly. "Venerable; meaning anywhere from 1000 and 500,000 years old." His voice echoed out among the cavern walls. It sounded like someone in the far distance had called back, but it was just the echo. It was hard to imagine with the way that noise traveled in these tunnels that a majority of inhabitants relied on sound rather than sight. "Honestly, didn't think these things would come in any other color than blue and white."
"Yeah. The age would explain why the thing that just tried to kill me looked like it was bred for it." Ace cracked his knuckles absently. By now the corpse had dissipated but it looked like Ace was remembering the eyeless face. He was staring at where it was. "Years guarding the dungeon entrance."
"And this other thing? What's rarity?" Tate asked, directing her question to Maxworth.
The gentleman's eyes focused on her a moment before he answered. "These systems are new to me. Erok and I have entered only two dungeons in our travels, always with multiple people behind and beside us. Have no doubts that they are extremely dangerous. I have never heard of Age or Rarity described by The System like this." He turned towards the dungeon, for that was what it was, before continuing. "These must be a result of the Update by my guess. The System as well describes these changes as new. I have not ever seen color in The System's windows before either."
New System: Rarity
Rarity reflects the difficulty of obtaining an item and the utility of the said item. It is representative of an item's particular value and adeptness of function. Rarity is based on a number of factors. These include natural occurrence, existing amount, interest of said item, value, quality, uniqueness, and a number of additional factors. The levels of Rarity are denoted with a color code. Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Exotic, Mythic, Legendary.
Luck read up on rarity as well. From the looks of it, the higher it was the better whatever it described was too. And given the descriptors of both Venerable and Mythic, Luck felt that they had just come across something absurdly dangerous. A real risk. His healing couldn't get him out of any wounds. He couldn't regenerate limbs, and the thing that attacked Ace definitely had the muscles to rip an arm or leg off. As for the rest, neither of them had protection aside from Tate.
"She's down there." Rick clenched at the pendant. Veins popped out on his hand. His face, despite that, was an unnatural calm.
Luck only had to picture his mother's smiling face and his decision was made. "Maxworth could you find your way back out tunnels if you needed to?"
"I have the path memorized. You are not considering entering, are you?" His eyes widened slightly in surprise. "It is suicide. You'll never make it."
"And it's also the reason why I'm hoping you'll leave. You've been nothing but help to us Maxworth and for that we're grateful. We can't ask you, Paint, or Ace-"
"Don't you dare, Luck. She's as much a mom as I'll ever have." Ace's voice cut sharp, jagged emotion hidden under a passive mask. "I'm going." He said with finality. Tate rested a hand on Ace's shoulder, giving Luck a meaningful look.
Luck gave his best friend a single, filled glance, he turned back to Maxworth. "We can't ask you or Paint to join us." Luck repeated.
Paint appeared beside Maxworth. Rick spoke. "Thanks for accompanying us, Paint. Even if it was more for necessity than any bond between us. You can be sure once we return I'll find you." Paint flashed a somber mood, acceptance, and goodwill that Luck thought only he picked up on. Contrary to his thoughts, Rick nodded to the colohue. "And you too Maxworth. I have known you for little, but if my son considers you a friend that you are mine as well."
Maxworth hesitated with a small jerk. It was so out of place Luck immediately caught it, so atypical of the smooth movements and calm nature of the man. Metal eyes gently scoped out the dungeon beyond, meeting Luck's family's eyes the same way.
Luck barely realized he counted Ace among family before Maxworth gave a short painful nod. "I will find Nayah and Erok. If you do not return in time, we will come for you ourselves." He said. "A note. Once you return, speak of this dungeon to no one unless it threatens the lives of Ardun. Good luck finding her, friends. Please convey my greetings."
Ace replied. "Careful with the Source above Max. Keep your head down, you two will make it."
"Here, Paint." Luck produced some a small bag of flarefruit and soaked apples. "Flarefruit," He pointed to the bright fruit. "when you want a snack. The soaked apples, when you're dehydrated. These should last you a while." Two of Paint's hands reached out and took the sack.
He flashed gentle colors. Thank you, Druid. Luck nodded. The colohue appeared, to some extent, attuned to nature.
With a short nod, Maxworth glanced at Paint and gestured. They made good time at a casual walk between them.
"Careful Maxworth, check up on Nayah for me!" Tate called at their backs.
It wasn't five minutes before they rounded a bend and broke line of sight. The group wasted no time and turned around. The fog of Ace's frost had cleared out completely. The biting wind, isolated as the dungeon was, had found an angle to push the frost out.
Luck, idly noticed everyone yawning. His body had not tired in the least, but his mind... his mind was another story. "We have to rest." He said as a matter of fact.
"We have no time." Rick looked at Luck. His eyes were hard, but worried. "Your mother is down there. You saw those things son."
"And you know Mom. You think she'd let something like that get her?" Luck shot back. "Who knows what she got from the impartation, but Jerxos let it slip that most of us surprised him. And surprising the God of Rebirth isn't a small feat, she likely got something useful Dad."
"Still son." He turned his worried eyes down the tunnel.
"He's right Dad." Tate's soft voice was always more convincing. Luck didn't fault his father for her being his favorite. Luck smirked to himself, sometimes Rick was just that see through. "You need rest, Dad. We need to rest. We can't help her like this." Tate always knew how to leverage her daughterly charm. Understandably, Luck's skill in the said department was much lower.
"I've functioned on less before." Rick yawned, already looking convinced. Having lived with the man his entire life, he knew his moods. And now, if ever, was the time to push, while the iron was hot so to speak. He wondered if Tate-
"Rick, you stubborn bastard, listen to your kids." Ace shot. Leave it to Ace to insult the former most powerful man in the Underground and get a simple smile in return. "We need to rest or by the time we find Laura we'll be rocks tied around her neck."
"Besides Dad, remember how you've always wanted one of those big dogs?" Luck smirked, laughing internally.
"Huh?" Rick blinked.
"Well I got a shar, but still, you guys haven't met yet." Luck smiled, contracting a yawn like a disease. "I think you'll like him."
And there, in the cave, a portal opened, fathoms below the surface. A glowing oval portal connecting dimensions. Sunlight, in a place as dark as The Tunnels of Arach. Tate blinked. Rick blinked.
Ace yawned. "Finally, those custom leather chairs won't sit in themselves. Or maybe I should use the healing pools? I'm still feeling kind of bruised." He walked through, not a care in the world.
Luck's sister and father stared at him dumbfounded. He only smirked, gesturing with his hand. "Go on." He urged everyone through.
They stepped through the portal and Luck followed. The portal closed the instant Luck was clear.
"Ah, Master Luck, you've returned. " Evodim's voice came unintrusively as if he had happened to stumble across him and was not, in fact, omnipresent in the Grove. "Oh, and you've brought guests."