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Max sat on a mat in the rest area trying to meditate. His new power jumper cable was attached to his left sleeve. To all appearances, he was using it in the same manner as it had been employed for Xavier...to top off his energy reserves. It was actually not hooked to him, but rather the Tesseract's anchoring marble that was secured against his inner arms contact pads.
Charlie's resistance training vest was actively burning his left side while freezing his right. He forced himself to ignore the pain. The vest’s setting had a scale that he had set high enough to be effective above his growing resistance to heat and cold.
[Heat Resistance +1, Heat Resistance reaches level 10, Skill cap reached +100 XP, new skill unlocked]
[New Body Skill: Heat Grasp 1, Augmentation provides induction heating through contact surfaces. Utilize this skill in combat to improve. Burn all the things!]
[Cold Resistance +1, Cold Resistance reaches level 9]
Max had upped the vest setting for the Cold attack another point higher. He switched the Heat attack over to Shock. He already had capped this skill and gained its evolution attack skill, but some Shock damage could still get through. He wondered if there was another level of resistance.
He sank back into meditation. The struggle to ignore the physical stimulus was helping him advance his meditation training greatly. Max’s training was very much to his SkillZ ability’s liking, his meditation a unique blend of Musashi’s training and using his augmentation to help get his brain in the right level between conscious and dream state.
Max wasn't idle from it though. Partitioned in the back of his mind, he analyzed the designs of both Leah’s new spear and Charlie’s polymorphic weapon. His [Multitasking] skill was fully engaged with multiple tasks.
- -
Max’s secondary consciousness stream was hard at work. Max intended to upgrade his acquired swords and he needed to learn some of the tricks that his friends had applied. Charlie’s weapon could reshape itself into a walking stick, Bo staff, sword, long pole, or wearable bandolier. It had a dense battery that could store enough for an impressive discharge of shocking damage.
Leah’s new spear weapon was the current target of his attention. It duplicated his, and her, augmentation to enhance their claws with an ultra-sharp edge…a vorpal edge, as it was termed. He was peeling back the design in a virtual space with Tesla's advice. Both of them had avatars running to discuss the 3-D design.
“See right there! You have three layers of diamond lattice arranged in a fractal edge only eleven carbon atoms thick in total. Each oscillates in a counter-cutting cycle at just over 100 hertz. Fabulous!” Tesla exclaimed. He always got very excited about the technology that came after his time.
“But what is this over here? See this channel? It extends over the entire perimeter back too…” Max asked as he expanded and shifted the atomic-scale representation.
“That's the best part! Look at the base of the blade. It incorporates an ionized plasma jet, guided by the groove. It vaporizes and pushes away any encountered materials that might foul the reciprocating blades. Coincidentally, this provides yet another deadly cutting method which further improves the weapon’s effectiveness.” Tesla gushed.
“Ok, That answers my question as to why it has such a huge energy draw. I didn't understand how a really sharp edge would be such a battery hog.” Max said. He was looking closer at the plasma generator when Mal’s excited avatar appeared.
“Max! Good news. I've maxed out the draw through the jumpers to the Tesseract. I don't know what the Labyrinth is using for power generation, but we're getting twice as much as the full 10MW fusion generator that your father was using. It looks like, with this feed rate, every hour you're hooked up; the pocket space grows by 30 millimeters.” Mal said.
“That's good. The whole darn world sounds like it was going crazy outside. We need to make the most of every second down here in the maze, to improve ourselves.” Max said. Mal seemed to freeze. Max stopped his inspection of the plasma mechanism with a curious look up at her.
“Oh… that's strange. Look at your augmentation energy status.” Mal said.
Max called up his status screen. Both electricity and cold were delivering tissue and system damage, forcing his augs to try and keep up with regeneration and pain suppression. His energy should have been dropping at a steady pace but instead, it was oscillating. Curious he opened the vest access and toggled off the electricity for full cold.
The energy levels dropped slowly and steadily. He toggled to full electricity…and the energy levels increased! He held it for a bit, then toggled to poison and heat. The energy levels dropped again.
“How about that? It looks like the Shock resistance skill is shunting the power into the augmentation energy reserves. It's not good for a regulated power draw, but in a desperate situation, taking a shock might actually help if someone's out of juice. I'll bet this is only because I’ve already capped my resistance to shock. I’ll share this with the team. Good one, Mal.”
As Mal’s avatar faded, Max turned to Tesla. “You know, that might be an interesting thing. Imagine using this as a weapon. If I could tap into an enemy's power lines and pull their power for myself. Now, here’s what I’m thinking….”
- - -
Max’s third alternate conscious stream was playing with his improved swarm of nano motes. His control was improving. Leah was out, taking a nap after her rough trial. Charlie was stretching, an old habit that really wasn't needed with his augmentations enhancing both strength and flexibility. He reviewed his latest notices.
[Swarm +1, Swarm reaches level 4]
[Multitask +1, Multitask reaches level 5]
[Analyze +1, Analyze reaches level 9]
[WorldMap +1, WorldMap reaches level 6]
[Daemon +1, Daemon reaches level 5]
[Daemon list: Miyamoto Musashi, Sherlock Holmes, Nikola Tesla, Captain Cypher,
[SkillZ +1, SkillZ reaches level 5]
[Mind Skills - SkillZ: 5 In: Swim, NanoCraft, Brachiate, Meditate 0.85*, searching.]
[Mind Skills - SkillZ: Out: Katana, Kempo, Kunai: 0.88, pending, pending]
It was getting late. He held a full picture of the Gauntlet Trial in his head. His swarm circulated through the opened passages to refine his map. Only Xavier’s path was still shut off from him. Max had filled the image in with his best guess of the area Xavier was still in. Xavier’s nano tracker showed his progress. He was in his final challenge.
Max kept his review of the design alter ego going as well as the one monitoring the swarm. He launched yet another to keep a constant eye on his augmentations...and Mal's activities. He had noticed that she was spending a lot more time inspecting the Tesseract and his kernel of encrypted code that linked him to it. Occasionally, she would spout that gibberish mumbling when she thought he was distracted. He was worried about her mental state. He had tried to talk about it with her but she refused to discuss it.
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Max’s eyes opened as he stopped meditation with his primary consciousness and stood up. He quietly disconnected the power jumper from his wrist. With some hand gestures, he let Charlie know he was going to collect Xavier. Charlie indicated he would stay with the sleeping Leah.
Max soundlessly padded from the rest area to meet their lagging teammate.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[Stealth +1, Stealth reaches level 5]
Max jogged lightly down the corridor. His shoulder blades itched. Mal had started the [Transform] skills growth of his extra arms. He reached back and pulled a Supplement Bar from his new backpack as he moved. The slow transformation would take extra energy but also needed the extra inorganics the tasty food bar would provide.
Max entered Xavier’s now open hall. The first room was bare, so Max picked up the pace to a light run. He was curious if any of the broken robots might yield weapons or designs worth inspecting. As he ran, Max could see the gap between him and Xavier was closing fast. Xavier must be running too.
Max slid to a halt as the large four-armed monstrosity came barreling down the hall with a wide grin stretching from tusk to tusk. Xavier yelled out waving his…very functional and deadly-looking lightsabers.
“Max! I did it! I wish you could have seen it. I was super patient and used the bare minimum and switched only when I had to just like you said. I did it!” Xavier said slowing down.
“Wow, Xavier. Congratulations. You look like you stepped right out of a Star Wars VRARP game. Are those things legit lightsabers?” Max asked.
“As close as the Guild of Jedi Knights could make them. I can’t take credit for them, I bought’em off the MakerNet. I was holding off on showing them so I could surprise everyone, but that last fight was too tough.” Xavier said breathlessly. Max stepped back as two mean-looking drones flew up over Xavier’s shoulders and a dense cloud of foglets pushed his mote swarm away.
“Heh. Careful there, kid. You’re crowding my personal space with your foglets.” Max cautioned.
“Sorry. I’m still a little amped from the fight. I had to pop open a few of my gadgets to take down the baddies.” Xavier said. He deactivated his sabers and hooked all four on his utility belt's loops. His dorsal arms bent backward and opened his backpack. The drones and foglets swiftly gathered tight and crowded into the pack.
“Thanks. You got an exit key and reward token right?” Max asked. Xavier patted the mailbag strapped tightly to his side.
“OK then. Let’s head back. It’s pretty late and Leah might still be napping. If we can get her up, we should open the gate and check out how these reward tokens work.” Max said.
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The pair returned to find both Leah and Charlie already awake and waiting eagerly for them. They had prepared a huge meal which was laid out on the common area table. After a round of congratulations all around, everyone sat down for a meal. Their augments used a lot of energy making even the most calorie-dense foods not only acceptable, but highly necessary.
After three plates Max leaned back in his chair, burping. Xavier was still working on his fourth plate. Leah was debating another dessert from the assortment on the tray in the center of the table, while Charlie sipped his beer.
“So, what do you say, guys? Wanna open that door to the next level and get our level rewards? No celebration is complete without presents.” Charlie drawled.
“HoooBoy! Let’s go!” Xavier jumped up and ran to the exit door. He found a panel next to the door to the next level. There were slots for each of their key cards.
“Hey! You already put yours in?!” Xavier exclaimed. Three of the four exit card slots were already occupied.
“Hah hah. Come on. Finish it and let's see what's next.” Charlie said.
Xavier, with a mix of eagerness and anticipation, slid his key card into the last slot. A soft mechanical hum echoed through the chamber as the door's locking mechanisms disengaged, and then, with a rumble of heavy motors, the large door began to slide open.
The room beyond was small with a kiosk against the wall with a big sign over it that showed a bag with coins falling out of it. Beyond the kiosk was a door with a big “2” on it.
“Subtle. I expect the kiosk will take our reward tokens and give us our reward.” Leah said dryly. Xavier rushed over to it. A quick inspection showed only a pair of contact pads and a small impression that matched the token in size. Xavier put his in and put his hands on the contacts. After a moment, he grabbed his token and stepped back with a glum look.
“We’ve got to go in order of completion. I guess you're first Charlie.” Xavier said with a sour look. Charlie stepped up to the kiosk with a wink and pressed his chit into the receiver's depression. Charlie was viewing the results in his Overlay. After a moment, he said.
“Ok, Y'all look here. I'll share my access screen with you. Let's make sure we maximize our rewards to best benefit the team, okay?” Charlie said. The teams shared OverLayer lit up with a blue screen.
[The Gauntlet - Reward pool: Select one reward from the limited list in order of completion - Charlie Hawkins, Max Mitchell, Leah Choi, Xavier Bermatti. 1 Reward per challenger, quantity removed upon choice, not redeemable later.]
[Reward 1: Skill advancement: +3 Levels for any skill, Qty 2]
[Reward 2: Activation of Tier 3 Skill “Skinwalker” - Smart matter epithelial layering with internal modeling of capture images and replicate appearances quickly, Qty 1]
[Reward 3: Free Stat Points +20, Qty 2]
[Reward 4: Daemon emulation of Alan Turing with modernized skills in encryption, cognitive science, and math theory. This selection will force open a slot or activate a skill if needed. Qty 1]
[Reward 5: Rambler Board - A Longboard which hovers upon a rolling cloud of dedicated/restrained EMP resistance utility fog. Specifications: Power - 50 MW Speed- 50 KPH Cost- up to 1MWh at max speed Size- 1.5 x .5 meter. Qty 1]
[Reward 6: Bolo Drones - detain and restrain limbs, no skill required. Bolo ends are agile drones designed for one purpose - to entangle your designated target. Specifications: Power- 5MW Speed- 80 KPH Cost- 0.5 MW /throw Range: 1 KM. Qty 1]
[Reward 7: Daemon emulation of Genghis Khan with modernized skills in crowd melee tactics, animal husbandry, and riding, intimidation. This selection will open a slot or activate a skill if needed. Qty 1]
[Reward 8: Strange Cloak - limited hover/levitation like the classic VR hero Dr. Strange. Specifications: Power- 5 MW Speed- 10 MPH Cost- 1 MW/min. Qty 1]
[Reward 9: Activations of Tier 3 Skill - Laser. Beyond the disorientation of Strobe is the damaging high power Laser skill. Instant line of sight damage of escalating power with training. Qty 1]
[Reward 10: Conduit Blade. Extendible concealed bracer blade with additional shocking damage variable by user skill level. Specification: Power- n/a, user-powered Damage: blade plus shock at double user skill level. Qty 1]
“Thoughts?” Charlie asked as his kiosk interface was shared with the whole group.
“Wowie!” Xavier exclaimed. “Some good loot!”
“Huh. Don’t pick the Conduit Blade. If you really want it, Mira will give you a copy when we get out. It’s a flawed design though, you saw how I took advantage of it with Tyler at the tournament.” Max said.
“Interesting. I think I’m getting close to leveling my daemon skill, but without access to the MakerIndex down here, I’ll be stuck without new choices. Good to see the Labyrinth will give us some options. Still, I don’t need a fighting or coding advisor right now.” Leah said.
“Well, shit! I do; coding skill that is, not fighting. If nobody contests it, I’ll take the Alan Turing emulation and finally get on the daemon train. I haven’t been able to activate the damn skill, so this is a pretty good pick for me.” Charlie said.
The team all shrugged, so Charlie made his choice. Charlie's chip slid into the kiosk. Max accessed the kiosk and shared it with the team OverLayer. The Turing daemon was removed from the list.
“Hmm. The [Skinwalker] skill would have been super useful topside, but I'm not sure about how useful it is down here in the maze. I guess I need a distance attack, my grappler only reaches so far. Unless someone’s desperate for it, I’ll take the [Laser] skill activation.” Max said. Leah and Xavier were silent considering the rest of the list.
“You sure about that Max? If you start spamming your [Strobe] skill, you’ll get there eventually.” Charlie said.
“Yeah, I get it. But my strobe skill is only 3. It’s going to take too long and I need more options right now.” Max said and dropped his chip in with his selection. Leah stepped up.
“Hell. Tough choices. I’m really tempted by the 3 skill levels choice. That could cap either my [Neural Scaffold] or [Unbreakable] skills. Those skills suck so hard to level. You masochists might not mind broken bones and concussions, but I do. Damn. I think I need to take that levitation cloak. It's too useful to pass up. I’m pretty good at dodging but if these fights escalate to multiple opponents, it’ll be a lot harder. If I can stay out of contact range, I can dominate a fight with my spetsdods.”
“Aww! I wanted to add that to my collection. I’ve got like 15 of the top 20 VR Heroes of the Century. I didn’t have a good Dr. Strange item. Never mind, that’s fine. It sounds like you might be able to use it.” Xavier pouted but blushed when Leah raised an eyebrow and nodded to encourage her to take it.
She selected the option and dropped her chip into the kiosk. A hidden drawer popped out of the side of the kiosk, revealing a folded red cloak within. Leah hissed as she pulled it out.
“Damn. I hope I can change the color. This is a bit much.” Leah groused. Xavier bounced up and down and accessed the kiosk for his turn.
“I want the Rambler board if you guys think that’s ok. You all are so much faster than me and it sounds pretty cool.” Xavier said.
“You sure that’s a good idea, Xavier? It’s pretty big to lug around when you're not using it.
“Ah, that’s no problemo, big guy. I’ll make some mag snaps to hang it off my backpack. I’ve been working on building up my strength just like you said and I’m getting super strong now. Oo-oh! This might be cool to use as a shield if I can add a strap and mod it with armor plating. “Xavier’s four arms were waving about mimicking blocking and fighting.
“Ha. Go nuts, Xavier. You know what works for you. Maybe next floor, you’ll show us some of those mystery gadgets you've got in that pack.”
Xavier made his pick and dropped his chip in. Another drawer opened with the long board and Xavier hurried to grab it. The screen visible to the team changed as the drawer stayed open.
[Exit Toll required - Submit a novel crafted item with a maximum of 85% similarity to existing licensed products on the Maker indexes. Deposit submission in the kiosk drawer for evaluation.]
“Hah! Don't you worry guys! I got this one. Plenty of gear in my bag of tricks.” Xavier said. He dropped his backpack on the ground and then took out a small drone and put it in the drawer.
[Assessment disassembly commencing - time estimate for novelty scoring based on weight is 6hrs 30min.]
“Ttutong, gaejasig!” Leah exclaimed in Korean. “I’m going back to bed. See you in the morning.”
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