“This isn’t exactly the high-speed car chase I had in mind.” Kaleb grumbled, disappointed.
Shaggy chuckled as he maneuvered the large dumpster truck down the dark tunnel. “Dude, we are in a dumpster truck. How far do you think we would get? No, it’s better for us to lie low in the underground tunnels and find another exit.”
Kaleb scanned the map of the tunnels he had bought. “Maybe, but if any of the other gangs are as territorial as the Quinica, then we will have a problem.”
“You mean more problems.” Shaggy quipped. “Have you found us another exit.”
“Kind of.” Kaleb said hesitant. “But it’s not new. It’s the first exit I wanted to use, but it let out a little too close to my hideout.”
“Wait, there’s an exit closer to where we are going? Why didn’t we take that one in the first place?”
“Well, I still need to get my car and another gang controls the tunnel. Chances are small that we would run into them, but still…” Kaleb explained before trailing off.
Shaggy nodded in understanding. “Well then, what's the plan?”
“For now, lets go get my car.” Kaleb said pointing to a spot on his map that should be a few blocks away from his car.
It was hard to gauge exactly on a paper map, but they had a general idea of where they were. Kaleb gave Shaggy the directions, and they traveled in silence for several minutes. As they drove Kaleb looked over the notifications he had gotten from the fight with Blutschläger’s. The golden exclamation point was flashing in the corner of his vision. Clicking on it, Kaleb gasped in surprise.
*Conditioning Skill level up*
Health increased by 13%
Stamina increased by 13%
Incoming physical damage decreased by 7%
*Toughness Skill level up*
Health increased by 8%
Incoming physical damage decreased by 4%
*Endurance Skill level up*
Stamina increased by 13%
*Gadget Mastery Skill Level up*
Current Gadget Failure Rate decreased by 3%
Current Blueprint Drop Rate Increased by 5%
*Dodge Skill Level Maxed*
Movement speed while dodging increased 5%
*Shield Mastery Skill level maxed*
Defense while wielding shields +5
Kaleb smiled wide at his status page. Endurance and Toughness were one level away from being maxed out for the beginner level. Soon he could push them up into Intermediate. Also Shield Mastery and Dodge had both leveled to max. Dodge was a combinable skill but Shield mastery wasn’t so he mentally clicked on Shield Mastery.
*Notice*
Shield Mastery is at Max Beginner level.
Upgrade to Intermediate level 1?
[Yes/No]?
Kaleb clicked yes and immediately got another notification.
*Shield Mastery Skill raised to Intermediate*
Defense while wielding shields +7
Speed while shield equipped raised by 2%
Kaleb blew out of breath as he finished looking over his skills. The fight against Blutschläger had been a pain in the ass, but you got to love the gains. Shaggy glanced over at Kaleb a question clear in his eyes. Kaleb grinned and said.
“My skills got a huge bump from our fight with Blutschläger.”
“Really? My hand-to-hand skill got a bump, But mostly I just got a fantastic amount of Evolution Points. I even got the chance to evolve my claws into bone claws.”
Kaleb squinted in thought at the idea of bone claws. “What are the advantages of that?”
“They would be denser and tougher to break. But the damage would go down slightly.” Shaggy explained.
Kaleb nodded and looked at Shaggy’s human hands. Shaggy laughed at his gaze. “HA! I didn’t do it. I just evolved sharpness again.” He raised one hand off the steering wheel and concentrated on it. The hand twisted and shivered before becoming a larger and furrier werewolf's hand with five large claws.
“When I’m done with these babies, they’ll cut through titanium. Plus those bone claws would be heavy.”
“Even with werewolf strength?” Kaleb asked.
Shaggy nodded. “I gave that a little boost too. Strengthened my muscles, but that and werewolf speed aren’t cheap in points.”
Kaleb nodded as he looked back at his long list of skills. He shook his head at the difference between a Mundane and the other archetypes. Here he was: happy at raising six skills, but Shaggy had been adjusting his Super-Strength and evolving his claws to cut through metal. He quickly pushed those thoughts out of his head. He was still kicking ass and taking names. Plus, he had a decent library of genetic material to work with back at his base.
“Now what?” Shaggy asked looking at Kaleb’s face.
“Huh?” Kaleb said confused.
“You look like I just took your Popsicle.”
Kaleb snorted. “I was just marveling at the difference between the archetypes. I only raised six skills and you-”
“SIX?!” Shaggy shouted surprised. “What the hell man?! I’ve never had six skills level at once.”
Kaleb laughed. “Hehehe, Yeah. Mundane’s raise skills faster than the others. It’s not Super-Strength or bone claws, but it works for me.”
“Not to mention you can make your own claws, anyway.” Shaggy said.
Kaleb nodded his head in agreement and they both fell back into silence again.
A short while later as they hovered down the tunnel a small clattering came from the hole Daivor had made between the cab and the dumpster. The Gnome was using his time to look over all the junk they had gathered.
“Some of this stuff could actually be useful.” Daivor’s voice said from within the dark hole.
“Oh yeah? What are the highlights?” Kaleb asked.
A small clamor came from the dumpster. “Uh, we have several PCB’s and motherboards that seem like they are in good shape, large pieces of non-terrestrial metal, different scanners, few old-fashioned screen monitors, a broken radio dish, and a boatload of other stuff.”
Kaleb nodded. “That’s not bad at all. Any ideas for the metal?”
“We will have to melt it down and see. It looks like steel but it’s got an outer coating. Like plastic or something.”
“Any weapons?”
“Other than what you gathered from the security team? Not much, a couple of broken stun batons, two canister-type weapons without canisters, two Cybar pistols, and a grappling-hook without the hook,” A short shuffling noise came from the hole as Daivor moved something. “or a line.”
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“Wow, we really did well. What’s wrong with the Cybar pistols?” Kaleb asked.
Daivor grumbled. “Can’t really tell. I’m working by repulsor light here. But they look bulkier than the one you have. I think they are K-Techs discarded prototypes.”
Kaleb unconsciously rubbed his hands together as he thought about what he could build. He saw Shaggy glance over at him worriedly. The Werewolf had remained quiet as he conversed with Daivor. But now it seemed like he had something to ask.
Clearing his throat Shaggy said. “Ahem, you know it's weird only hearing half of a conversation. How the hell do you understand that thing?”
“THING?!” Daivor screeched from inside the dumpster followed by the sound of shifting junk.
“You shouldn’t of said that.” Kaleb winced as Daivor’s chariot came flying out of the hole in the dumpster.
Daivor angled his vehicle to be just within eyesight of Shaggy. Shaggy looked unimpressed, but he spared a glance toward Kaleb who just shrugged at him. Daivor took a long drag off his pipe before he spoke. Quietly at first but growing in volume and anger as he went along.
“Listen,” Said Daivor. “I am not an it, or a thing, or an elf, or any other damn blasted thing your tiny little doggy brain can come up with. I AM A GNOME! IT’S NOT THAT HARD, DAMN IT! POINTY HAT! BEARD! GREEN TUNIC! RED PANTS! A GNOME!”
Shaggy looked over at Kaleb who was staring fixedly out the window. Daivor didn’t seem concerned that Shaggy couldn’t understand him and continued to berate and curse at the werewolf. Shaggy looked equal parts nonplussed and annoyed. The Gnome was floating just inside his line of sight and blabbering at him in an unknown language. Eventually Daivor finished his tirade which had devolved into just swearing at the man in creative ways.
Floating back into the dumpster, Daivor looked up at Kaleb. “You tell him what I said, you got it?”
Kaleb just sighed and looked back at Shaggy who still had a confused look on his face. Several seconds of silence passed between them before Kaleb answered his original question.
“Magic dust. He sprayed me with magic dust and now I can understand him.”
Shaggy nodded absently. “I feel like I was just cursed at. What was that about?”
“Daivor is a Gnome, and you just called him a thing. So he reprimanded you… at length.”
“That’s not what I said.” Daivor’s voice echoed from the dumpster.
“Oh, come on! I don’t even know some of those words.” Kaleb complained.
“Not my fault, you people don’t know how to swear!”
“You people?” Kaleb asked in mock outrage.
“Oh, shut up and tell him already!”
Kaleb sighed and looked back to Shaggy. “He is a Gnome, and he is touchy about people not getting that right. Please don’t do it again or he’ll won’t help me build stuff for you.”
“How essential is he?” Shaggy asked.
“Dude, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he is the brains of this operation. He jury-rigged a flash bang in like 3 minutes. Just stay on his good side the stronger he grows, the better stuff he can make.”
“How does he grow?” Shaggy asked.
Kaleb thought about for a few seconds until he realized that he still hadn’t worked on his summoning magic. If he remembered right that was the only way to increase Daivor’s abilities as a familiar. Thinking about all the time he had wasted, Kaleb leaned forward and bashed his head against his side of the dashboard.
Shaggy watched him for almost a full minute until he asked. “Now what happened?”
Kaleb stopped and shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just an idiot.”
Kaleb remembered seeing Daivor’s status page in his Spell Book tab. But he wasn’t sure if that meant he could level the Gnome up. He quickly brought up his menus and looked at his Spell Book tab. He had fireball, ice spear, electricity, all the spells he had cast through his gun and several pages over was Daivor’s page. But his level up buttons were still gray.
Kaleb was about to go back to bashing his head against the dashboard when Shaggy spoke up. “Ok so his is a Gnome that helps you build things that can level up. How did you get him?”
“A lot of luck.” Kaleb said, shaking his head.
Shaggy seemed to realize that Kaleb would not say any more, and the two fell into silence again. The hover dumpster floated down the tunnel and Kaleb occasionally checked the map. He gave directions to Shaggy, and they made a sharp turn into a tunnel that seemed to be a dead end. As they approached, though a large section of the ceiling bent downward creating a ramp leading up.
Following the ramp up to the city streets, Kaleb and Shaggy drove up into an abandoned car wash. But before they left the car wash’s tunnel, Shaggy put the car in park and turned to look at Kaleb. Kaleb just stared back.
“What?” Kaleb asked.
“We are in a dumpster painted in a known gang’s colors.” Shaggy stated. “Do you WANT me to drive through downtown Austin like that? If the people don’t call the cops, the overhead drones will spot us and call it in as suspicious for sure.”
Kaleb sat back in his seat and thought. “You have any ideas?”
Shaggy shrugged his shoulders. “A couple.”
When he didn’t elaborate Kaleb sighed loudly. “Well?”
“Number 1: you make multiple trips in your car. It may seem suspicious but less so than a dumpster in gang color.”
“That would take to long. The sun is already rising as it is.”
Shaggy nodded. “Number 2: We steal another dumpster and then transfer things over. We’d have to be quick about it though.”
“Same problem as number 1, plus we’d be drawing more attention to ourselves.” Kaleb said shaking his head.
“Then number 3: we steal some paint and go over this monstrosity.”
Kaleb wobbled his head. He didn’t like the idea of stealing paint. But then he thought about it. What difference would it make if he stole paint to cover his stolen dump truck full of stolen junk? He was ready to agree with Shaggy’s proposal when Daivor spoke up from the back of the truck again.
“There is a fourth option.”
Kaleb twisted in his seat as Daivor flew his chariot out of the hole. “And what is that?”
“Your magic, you daft lizard. Cast a glamor over the truck. You would have to use a rune seeing as how you don’t know the actually spell though.”
“Or the Glamor Rune.” Kaleb said helplessly.
Daivor picked up the pen laser that had been on the seat and floated over to the dashboard. As soon as he was floating over the black dashboard, he held the pen in both hands and pointed it downward.
“Wait! Don’t-” Shaggy said as Daivor used the pen laser to draw a shape on the dashboard.
Leaning forward Kaleb saw that it was a rune. Smiling at his Gnome friend Kaleb studied the rune as Daivor drew over it a couple more times. Probably more than he needed to judging from the looks he threw back at Shaggy. Shaggy covered his nose and lowered his window, trying to escape the smell of burning plastic while staring back angrily at Daivor.
Kaleb studied the rune for a few minutes after Daivor finished. Once he thought he had it memorized, he grabbed his pen laser and got out of his side of the truck looking for a good place for the rune. Deciding on a spot on the large body of the dump truck Kaleb drew as Shaggy’s voice came from inside the truck.
“So what did YOU decide on?” He asked emphasizing the ‘you.’
Kaleb shook off the werewolf’s tone and answered. “A magical glamor. It should keep you well hidden while you follow me back to my base.”
“Magical glamor.” Shaggy said sounding dubious.
But he allowed Kaleb to finish his work. Once done Kaleb placed his hand on the rune and imagined a large standard green dump truck. He felt his magic flow into the vehicle and he could see the Rune light up as it accepted his magic. Kaleb turned to smile at Daivor who was watching from the truck’s cab. But soon Kaleb’s temples throbbed, and he felt a stabbing pain behind his eyelids. He maintained his focus and tried to push back the pain, but he felt like it was getting to be too much.
As thoughts of giving up floated through his head, the pain and the magic suddenly stopped. Kaleb squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples as he leaned his forehead against the truck. Checking his Mana he saw that he was down to 3 MP left. Almost knocked myself out again. Kaleb thought as he stepped away from the truck and looked at it.
Thankfully, the Rune worked. A brand new dark green version had replaced graffiti, and the old faded color. Shaggy drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he called out.
“Did it work?”
“Yeah, it worked we should be ready to go.” Kaleb said as he climbed slowly back into the truck.
Shaggy didn’t seem to believe him as he stuck his head out his window. “Well, son of a bitch, it worked. What else can that little symbol do?”
Kaleb was in no shape to answer the werewolf so he just waved him off. “I’ll explain later. Let’s just get to my car and get out of here. It’s been a long day.”
“Ha!” Shaggy cackled. “Dude, the day has just started.”
Kaleb just shook his head and closed his eyes as he slowly felt his Mana come back to him. Shaggy asked Kaleb the occasional direction and eventual they arrived at the block where the cemetery was and where Kaleb had parked.
“Well, shit.” Shaggy said.
“What?” Kaleb asked sitting up and taking his head away from the coolness of his window.
Looking ahead of them along the same street Kaleb saw his car and across the road from his car was a black sedan. Leaning against the sedan drinking something from a small paper cup were two men dressed all in black with black sunglasses. Kaleb looked away from the main road and smacked his head back into his window.
“Great….” He moaned.