“How long was I out, C.H.A.D.D.?” Kyle asked, his voice shaking.

[ONLY A MOMENT, DR. MAYHEW. WAS THIS CONSISTENT WITH YOUR OTHER EXPERIENCES?]

Kyle nodded slowly, looking down at his hand. “Not exactly. Every other time I’ve touched these orbs I’ve absorbed them, and then I’ve had a series of visions. Once I heard the voice of… something… while I’ve been in the vision. This time the visions felt much more specific, and the voice talked a lot more. The other thing I noticed was that the mana…”

Kyle trailed off, not sure if he should put it to words. C.H.A.D.D. didn’t give him the option.

[THE MANA FROM THE PRESENCE WAS CONSISTENT WITH THE MANA EMITTED BY THE CREATURES WE’VE ENCOUNTERED, AND THE MANA PERVADING THE ATMOSPHERE.]

That was consistent with what Kyle thought, but accepting that as fact had big implications. “How can you be sure, C.H.A.D.D.?”

[BECAUSE ALL THERE WAS FOR ME WAS THE PRESENCE, AND THE MANA. DR. MAYHEW, WE PERCEIVE THE WORLD QUITE DIFFERENTLY, YOU THROUGH YOUR ORGANS AND SENSES, AND ME THROUGH MY INSTRUMENTS. EXPERIENCING THIS WAS UNIQUE TO ME, BUT BOTH THE PRESENCE AND MANA WERE UNMISTAKEABLE. SCANNING NOW, I CAN CONFIRM THE IMPRESSION WAS CORRECT.]

“Okay. Thank you, C.H.A.D.D.” Kyle didn’t want to say more, though if he was correct in his understanding the monstrous presence in their visions was likely involved in what had happened to their world. If that was the case, there wasn’t much that could be done. He’d heard that when upper-level D Grades fought, areas the size of city blocks around them would often be completely destroyed. Stories told that the Originators, the only seven humans to achieve C Grade, were able to wipe entire cities off the map in their skirmishes prior to joining forces and establishing the Central Authority. And the gap between destroying a city and wiping out a planet was night and day. If this thing was responsible, it was at a level of power beyond the scope of anything Kyle had heard of. Still, for now all he had was conjecture, and he put it in the back of his mind. There were two important matters yet to take care of.

“C.H.A.D.D., I’m not able to absorb anything more from the monsters we killed. Do you want any of this… essence?” Kyle said, struggling to find a word that wouldn’t prompt a snarky rebuttal from the drone.

[IF POSSIBLE, THAT WOULD BE APPRECIATED, DR. MAYHEW. THIS MAY PROVIDE FURTHER ANSWERS AND CONJECTURE.] Nodding, Kyle walked around the dispersing cloud of gas, making his way towards the body of the ladybug on the far side. He took off his pack, setting it next to the essence on the ground. He was about to remove C.H.A.D.D. from it, when he saw the essence break apart and begin to be absorbed through the side of the pack. “What did you do?” Kyle asked with genuine confusion. He received no answer, however, as C.H.A.D.D. was embarking on its second vision. With a shrug, Kyle settled down next to the drone and entered meditation. It was time for him to learn about the changes he had experienced since slaying the Wall. Looking at his status, he was shocked.

KYLE MAYHEW. ARTHRO-HUMAN CHIMERA (AWAKENED), HEALER. LEVEL 67

ADAPTIVE ANATOMY – 3/? – ENHANCED CARAPACE, AURIC PERCEPTION, EXOSKELETAL STRENGTH

VITALITY: 239

ENDURANCE: 239

STRENGTH: 75

DEXTERITY: 159

WILLPOWER: 184

INTELLIGENCE: 242

PERCEPTION: 241

FREE ATTRIBUTES: 28

The first thing that stuck out to him was the sheer number of levels he’d gained. He suspected that the breakthroughs with RESONANCE had been the largest contributing factor, but it was still far beyond his expectations. Beyond that, he saw a third node filled, this time representing his Strength attribute. Exoskeletal Strength… I have no idea what that means. It was likely tied in to his hunger, but he’d need to have C.H.A.D.D. run a thorough scan to help detect the differences. Whatever it was, he was hopeful it would prove as useful as his other two Adaptive Anatomy enhancements. That left four attributes yet to evolve: Vitality, Dexterity, Willpower, and Intelligence. Four attributes, four monsters to slay. His mind drifted to the other reality confronting him; he was getting closer to the terminus of E Grade.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

There wasn’t a lot he knew about D Grade, other than that it came with upgrades to his skills, as well as offering a slew of new ones. Clark had been in the earlier stages of D Grade, and even that put him a head and shoulders above the strongest E Grade fighters. What would it do for him? Deciding not to dwell too long on that, Kyle turned his attention to his remaining free attribute points.

He briefly considered splitting them between his highest four attributes, but paused. He knew that his specialization was important, but equally he knew that each point allocated to his weaker attributes made a larger relative difference. Kyle stopped second-guessing, and split the points evenly, four in each of his attributes. D Grade brought with it a lot of mysteries, and Kyle didn’t want to end up in a position where he was held back by too much specialization too early.

Other than the admittedly low Strength attribute, the biggest issue he was running into was his lack of powerful skills to make use of the attributes he had at his disposal. HASTE and RESONANCE both had applications in a fight, but neither were true combat abilities. Kyle had accepted that his hope of not needing to fight was long gone. Whether he was against the Central Authority, Liberation, or the world itself, it was important that he knew how to handle himself. That brought him to his next item of business. “C.H.A.D.D., you up yet?” The silence that followed was confirmation that his friend was not, and he walked over to the still body of the Wall.

As he walked up close, Kyle couldn’t help but marvel at the sheer size of the creature. If it had better control over its internal mana, their battle could have ended quite differently. Still, he came out on top, and felt true gratitude for all the growth their conflict had inspired. He rested his hand on the creature’s majestic horn. He felt his connection to the material form, and began to get to work shaping it. His first craft was clear in his mind’s eye: I’ve been without a weapon for way too long. The material was incredibly strong, but to his surprise also relatively easy to move.

It was better than he’d dreamed for the plans he’d been developing. His first order of business would be to get a baton like the ones he’d borrowed from Frank, though his goal was to just use one for now. That would give him the flexibility to use a free hand as necessary, which he knew would be his primary method of dealing with strong enemies like the one before him. Still, that didn’t mean he would be satisfied with a mediocre weapon. The first thing he did was use mana to separate out strands of the chitin and infuse them with flexibility. The horn split into twenty-one such strands, each roughly a millimeter in thickness. From there, he pushed his mana to separate the strands into seven clusters, with three strands per group.

Focus intensifying, he slowly rotated each group, braiding them in seven cords of three. He could feel the sweat beading on his brow as he worked, approaching the hardest part of his craft. He’d theorized that he could use RESONANCE to not only shape, but also compress the material he was working with. That’s what he attempted now as he rotated each tightly wound cord with each other, willing them to weave together tightly. Individuals with specialized crafting classes would likely have been able to make this work much easier, but Kyle was undeterred. Slowly, moment by moment, Kyle infused his mana as he continued to focus on rotation and compression. Soon, the whole horn was woven down to only about a meter in length, with a fit comfortable in his right hand.

With a thought, he broke off the connection of his work, leaving him with a tightly compressed baton made of the chitin. The work he’d done weaving it together left it with a magnificent shine in the late afternoon sun, and he fell on his back on the ground in exhaustion with a broad smile on his face. The baton was heavy, but well within what he could handle, even with his meager Strength. It was perfect. While there was plenty more to get done, he was satisfied with the first step. Opening his pack to get some meat and a drink from his canteen, he called out to his drone companion.

“You done in there?”

The reply came, snarky as ever.

[DR. MAYHEW, I CALLED TO YOU TWICE WHILE YOU WERE WORKING. CLEARLY THE STICK IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN I AM, I DIDN’T WANT TO OVERSTEP.]

Kyle chuckled in response. He didn’t want to lose focus while he was working, which is why he hadn’t replied.

“Well then, how about I try to make it up for you?” Kyle said between mouthfuls of meat. “I think that we can work on some enhancements for your pack.”

[THAT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE, DR. MAYHEW. I ALSO HAVE A COUPLE OF IDEAS WITH THE MORE UNIQUE PIECES FROM THE INFERNAL WHEN WE GET BACK TO ALBAUM.]

That took the Kyle by surprise; he certainly didn’t expect C.H.A.D.D. to have crafting suggestions. Still, he was willing to work with what the drone had.

“Sounds like a plan. For now, let’s get to work.”