I felt another surge of power enter me as I sent my old armor into my P.D.S. and equipped the Obsidian Spiked-Plate Shroud over my linen shirt. Just as I was about to open the final Obsidian rank chest my unpacking spree was interrupted by a rumbling in the earth. I remembered the underground worm that had taken off Darren’s arm, this was likely it. Scanning around, my Sense Life revealed no sign of it, but the ability didn’t allow me to see underground. The rumblin’ grew stronger. A glance at our group’s formation and it was clear an attack from the worm would be disastrous. We were packed together like canned sardines. Focusin’ on my Sense Life with all my power, I sensed it below us, risin’ through the earth like a fish through water. The worm was huge, prolly fifty to sixty feet long. Its aura brimmin’ with a dark and oppressive hunger, a hunger that could not be satiated. The beastie would eat and eat until it either exploded, fell unconscious or ran out of food.
Judgin’ where the creature would surface I shouted with all my might and pointed at the general area, “Yall over there! It’s surfacing! Scatter!”
It seemed my higher stats increased my volume because they heard me all right. They started runnin’, some in a better direction, others in a worse one.
I spun the drake and troll in the direction of the danger, activatin’ Reaper Form and Dragon’s Pounce hopin’ to intercept it as it surfaced and not a moment too soon. The worm’s bulk emerged from the earth at about ten feet-per-second without displacin’ the earth at all, as if the earth was phased into another dimension or somethin’. The worm had no eyes that I could see. Its thick, stony spiked-plates looked more befittin’ of a tank or a castle wall.
My troll struggled to get through the crowd without killing anyone and failed to arrive in time to land an attack. Dragon’s Pouce allowed me to soar over people and glide to the worm. The beastie caught two people in its odd mouth as it emerged, a mouth that looked like an extendable and prehensile anal prolapse with four beak-like teeth spread out around the opening that clamped down on the two people, pulling them into its gullet. The worm was archin’ back down to reenter the earth when my drake’s talons latched onto it somewhere about its middle, clingin’ on, slowin’ its’ momentum and knockin’ it off course.
I activated Battle Form and time seemed to slow. I jumped off my drake and analyzed the situation. We’d have little hope if the worm was allowed to dive in and out of the ground, snatching up a person or two every time. I aimed to prevent it by holdin’ it above ground with my drake’s bulk. Luckily it wasn’t an issue as I heard someone yell ‘Spatial Freeze!’ and the worm’s head smacked hard into the ground. Maybe some of these people were more competent and useful than I’d been thinkin’.
With a third of its tail spatially locked in the ground, the beastie whipped its torso around like an escaped firehose. Every time it slammed into the ground a small earthquake went off, knockin’ people off their feet, breakin’ up the ground and makin’ footing trickier. Others weren’t as lucky, turnin’ into meat-paste beneath the worm’s bulk.
When my troll arrived, along with Wiesner and many other brave souls, the worm was still thrashin’ about in a maddened frenzy, makin’ attackin’ it up close a challenge.
My troll had so much regen I didn’t need to worry much about its safety so I went on a rampage usin’ the huge tree-club with Troll-Smash every time it popped off cooldown.
Ranged attackers began their assault, pickin’ their shots carefully to avoid friendly fire; arrows and elemental spells rained down on the beastie like a firework show.
After about ten seconds the fireworks slowed and I knew we were in for a rough fight. An immense aura flared out from the worm, grippin’ at me like fist tightenin’ around my heart. From the pained grunts and winces of others around me, they felt it too.
My stored life was being slowly drained away, maybe 1% per second or so. The worm’s aura was drainin’ everyone near it over time and while the amount wasn’t a lot from one person, tapping hundreds of people would net the creature a massive amount of regeneration.
If we didn’t kill this thing fast there was a chance its regeneration would outpace the damage we inflicted upon it. And currently even my blood clones weren’t even scratchin’ the damned thing.
The wurm paused its erratic movement long enough to emit a cone of shimmerin’ energy from its mouth. To my horror those caught in the effect seemed to age decades a second until their flesh turned to dust, leavin’ skeletons fallin’ to the ground. Time acceleration?
Perhaps with some levels under their belt they might’ve had a long enough lifespan to endure the boss’s ability, as it was… they were holdin’ up like cotton candy in the rain. Wonderin’ why the beastie was so damned strong I used Inspect on it.
[Peak Rank C Boss: Trojanus: Aeon Wurm of Endless Hunger.]
Shit! A boss. And possibly stronger than both my clones combined. I ordered my drake to quit uselessly biting the boss and use Drake’s Breath, but for all the boss seemed affected it must take its baths in lava.
Judgin’ the fight so far, the boss had insanely high physical and elemental resistances. We needed another damage type. Rememberin’ my new sword’s death and gravity based proc I unsheathed it, readying for an attack.
Wiesner jumped forward just as I did and we both landed solid hits. Weisner darted back to safety, waitin’ for safe opportunities to attack. I waded in, unleashin’ a series of attacks. My first proc went off on the third strike, causin’ a void-like line of energy to explode out of the blade, hittin’ the worm’s, (or wurm’s, as the system message said), neck where I’d struck it. The upper third of the wurm’s long body was blasted away from me by the gravity portion of the proc, makin’ it difficult to judge any damage the death portion might’ve caused.
The wurm crushed some people before its momentum ceased. Wiesner’s leapt forward, his next strike summonin’ a Phantom Dragon Skull that appeared above the wurm, racin’ towards it with jaws wide, lined with clear, crystalline teeth long as my forearm. The phantom managed to bite a few spiked-plates off the wurm, causin’ the boss to bleed a bit and its movement slowed due to the proc debuff. The damage wasn’t life threatenin’ but it was an openin’ for other attacks to get through. I searched again for any damage my Darkened Strike proc inflicted and noticed a row of cracked spiked-plates seeping with darkened blood.
“Thirty seconds left on Spatial Lock!” a female shouted.
"Damnit!" I cursed under my breath, adrenaline coursin’ through my veins. We were on borrowed time, the spell's duration dwindlin’ with each passing second. There was no room for hesitation. With a roar, I charged forward, unleashin’ a whirlwind of attacks, my blade a blur of steel against the monstrous wurm’s stoney exterior.
I paused only when the boss focused on me, dodgin’ back to avoid its massive beak-teeth snappin’ shut with a deafenin’ clang just inches from my face. Sensin’ I was the greatest danger to its survival, it focused its attacks on me, aiming to crush me under its immense weight and/or catch me in its puckered mouth. I continued dodgin’ it until its frustration boiled over. Focusin’ its eyeless gaze on me, a wave of energy, cold and chillin’, washed over me. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, the world around me distorted into a blurry canvas. I could see, I could hear, but I was frozen, unable to move or even breathe. My heart stopped hammerin’ against my ribs. The wurm followed up with a different ability crackling with an ominous, ancient power, it formed in its mouth, building in moments, aimed directly at me; the death, or aging beam. Unable to dodge, my mind raced, desperately searching for a solution. And then, a flicker of hope; the Whispering Shadow Blade’s passive effect Shadow’s Grace came to mind, I used my P.D.S. to swap my greatsword for it just before the death beam struck me. The weapon's passive effect failed to protect me. Darkness blotted out my vision, dense and suffocating. In moments I felt my body age and die, then watched as my flesh shriveled, cracked and fell in dusty chunks. My obsidian skeleton collapsed to the ground as whatever ability that had frozen me finally released me.
[Your health has been reduced to zero. Bone Walk Activated.]
I felt a significant portion of my stored life exit my Bone Vault and infuse my bones. It took awhile for me to get to my feet, locomotion in Bone Walk felt different, more like puppeteerin’ my body than controllin’ it from within. Lookin’ down, I was all gleamin’ black bones.
The boss’s ability had zeroed out my health pool. Perhaps someone of equal or greater tier could survive it but on someone much below its rank it was no doubt an insta-kill. I’d be dead without my racial abilities.
Spottin’ my sword lying nearby, I retrieved it to continue the battle. Oddly, I could feel the sword handle through the bones of my hands, but I didn’t have time for idle musings. If my understandin’ of the Bone Walk ability was accurate I had five hours until my stored life zeroed out, permanently killin’ me unless I went into a Predatory Slumber before that point.
The boss hissed when it saw me rise to my feet. Aimin’ to end the fight, it rose up like a cobra and struck at me. Its grotesque mouth gaped open, beak-teeth ready to latch onto me and haul me into its foul depths. Activation’ Furious Dash, I darted to the side moments before the boss cratered the ground behind me. I jumped to avoid the shockwaves cascadin’ out around the crater and continued attackin’ as soon as I landed. Nearly every fifth attack of mine procced Blackened Strike. Every now and then I’d get lucky and two or three strikes in a row unleashed the passive effect, makin’ me chase the boss’s torso as it was flung about.
The wurm roared in pain, its protections weakened, body crisscrossed with blackened wounds leakin’ dark ooze. Its attacks became more frantic, desperate. It snatched up several of our allies in its maw, swallowing them whole. With each human consumed, the wurm's wounds seemed to heal slightly, a cruel twist of fate.
Even so, the damage was mountin’, Wiesner, my troll in its Reaper Form and the others attacked the damaged areas. The missin’ armor plates allowed Wiesner’s phantom procs to inflict massive damage, tearing chunks out of the wurm's body. The death energy from my Blackened Strike procs spread out from the wounds, seepin’ into the wurm's flesh, darkenin’ it with a sickly hue. I thought about divin’ into the wurm's mouth, porcupinin’ it to death from within like I’d done with the drake, but I had no idea where a wurm's brain was located. It was a gamble I couldn't afford to take.
With less than ten-seconds left on the lady’s spell I realized we wouldn’t lop it in two before it ended. Just then, the boss activated an ability, possibly two: energy shimmered like a mirage in the air around it and all of a sudden the boss seemed to speed up while I felt as if I was movin’ through molasses. Another time based ability? From beneath the boss's spiked plates, foot-long, writhin’ maggots emerged. Their bodies wriggled and pulsed, segmented bodies oozing with a sickenin’, pulsatin’ life. How they could jump, I had no idea, but jump they did, launching themselves towards our ranks with a horrifying, almost mechanical precision. Everytime they damaged someone from our group the boss healed a bit more. Some of the larvae burrowed into the bodies of our wounded and killed them from the inside, with each death, the boss wurm was healed by a greater amount. Luckily the parasitic larva were easy to dispatch. Less than a dozen of our cluster lost their lives to ‘em.
Thinkin’ furiously on how I could increase my damage, an image of Wolverine popped into my head, giving me an idea. I focused on growin’ claws as thin as possible to increase cuttin’ power; my bones were ‘nigh’ indestructible accordin’ to the ability description so the claws shouldn’t need thickness to be durable. Bones in my hands extended from between the knuckles of my closed fists, creating footlong claws that were thinner than paper, tens or hundreds of nanometers thick. The transformation lacked any pain, mirrorin’ my lack of flesh. From the side the claws were pitch black, from the top they were near invisible. Pleased with my work, I bolted towards the boss and started carvin’ into a weakened section.
Chunks of boss meat went flyin’ all around me. As long as I kept the cuttin’ angle right the claws cut the boss’s unarmored flesh like it was a particularly hardened chunk of cheese. I was half way through its body when ‘Spatial Lock’ ran out and the boss started tryin’ to flee underground. I sent bone spikes out from my body, rammin’ them into the flesh of the boss, lockin’ myself into the cavity I’d carved and continuin’ my assault. The boss unleashed an earth-rendin’ shriek, crackin’ and upheavin’ the ground around us for twenty-meters, sendin’ huge chunks of earth, rocks and nearby humans into the air. Through my link with my drake clone I knew it’d lost its grip on the wurm as the boss started headin’ underground. Somehow the boss’s earth phase ability had included me within the field and we started movin’ down through the earth. I sliced and diced like a pro prep chef, with thirty-seconds left on Battle Form I made my final cut and the front third of the boss was severed from the rest of its body. Unfortunately, the wurm didn’t die. I was dislodged from it as it escaped into the earth at greater speed. I found myself still pinned to the still phased and twitchin’ rear section by my bone spines.
I almost instinctively pulled the boss’s left behind section into my Bone Vault, but a scary thought stopped me… Was me being pinned to its body was the only thing keepin’ me phased? What would happen if I got locked in the soil? Would my bones fuse to the dirt and rock around me? Rememberin’ my breastplate’s Shadow Retreat ability, I figured it was worth a shot. Decidin’ that now wasn’t a good time to hold back, I renewed Battle Form for another five minutes. The boss’s left behind section occasionally twitched and I could sense it regeneratin’ slowly. I didn't sense any mind behind it though, perhaps it needed to grow a new head first and then two identical bosses would exist? I couldn't let that happen. Reachin’ out with my life force, I wrapped the mindless boss up and pulled on its life with all of my will. An ancient and stubborn subconscious willpower fought against me but to no avail. I ripped it out and shoved the life into my Bone Vault.
[You have successfully drained 100% of the life force from Trojanus’s Doppelganger. Life gained: 3012 years. Current life force: 4816 years.]
I simultaneously pulled the corpse into my Bone Vault and cast Shadow Retreat, teleportin’ to the spot I'd been sittin’ on my drake clone when the wurm emerged. I saw blackness like a void for an instant before appearin’ fifteen feet in the air and fallin’ to the ground. I felt like an overstuffed pillow as energy spread out in my body, my bones grew, slowly raising my height to nearly seven-feet and increasin’ all my body’s parameters by twenty base stat points. Two new facets bloomed in my mind; four facets would make me a multitaskin’ freak. Checking the boss’s remains in my Bone Vault, I sensed that it could be used as a clone, but I would need a vast quantity of biomass to restore it to wholeness; its body had been huge and its density was higher due to it being a C Rank. Unsure if it was worth it, I checked the notification of Harvestable abilities and holy shit there was a lot.
[Earth Affinity: Peak.
Time Affinity: Moderate.
Space Affinity: Low.
Seismic Roar: Trojanus lets out a powerful roar that causes the ground and everything around it to shake violently, dealing area-of-effect damage and potentially stunning enemies caught in the tremors.
Harmonic Passage: Trojanus phases into harmony with the earth around it, allowing it to burrow underground with minimal disturbance to the ground.
Temporal Domain: Trojanus surrounds itself with a domain of time, slowing down the movement and perception of time of all enemies within its radius while negating any detrimental time-based effects on itself.
Chrono Shift: Trojanus can momentarily shift its position in time and space, allowing it to dodge incoming attacks or reposition itself strategically in battle.
Time Lock: Trojanus can lock a single enemy in a time stasis, rendering them immobile and unable to act for a few seconds. When the stasis ends, the enemy takes additional damage based on the duration of the lock.
Aeon Pulse: Trojanus releases a pulse of temporal energy, dealing time damage to all enemies in a narrow cone in front of it and causing a time dilation effect that slows their actions.
Eternal Hunger: Trojanus taps into its endless hunger, draining the life force of nearby enemies over time and converting it into health for itself. This ability also has a chance to reset the cooldowns of its other abilities.
Parasitic Larvae: Trojanus periodically releases parasitic larvae in combat that seek out enemies, burrowing into them and feasting on their health, draining a small amount to grow stronger and sending the vast majority back to Trojanus to replenish the behemoth's health.
Mana to Flesh: Trojanus fuels its body's regeneration by converting its own earth mana and the earth mana around it into flesh.
Doppelganger Ascendency: Trojanus has tremendous regenerative properties, when sliced in two, both halves will regrow using Mana to Flesh and whichever half is strongest at the end of a month will survive. The weaker is absorbed by the dominant half via soul-link as there can only be one Aeon of Endless Hunger.
Stone-Spiked Carapace, Passive: Trojanus scales are hardened by mana into a nearly impenetrable stone-like armor, significantly reducing incoming elemental and physical damage, inflicting a large portion of the damage on the boss’s vast stores of earth mana instead.
Earthquake, Passive: By slamming its massive body into the ground, Trojanus creates a devastating localized earthquake that fractures the terrain, causing damage and creating difficult footing for enemies.]
So, Mana to Flesh allowed the boss to regenerate its own flesh using Earth mana, hopefully alleviatin’ the need for me to farm biomass. Although my blood clones were supposed to consume life force for their abilities, mana to flesh specifically stated it could draw on the earth Mana around it to fuel the ability, so that is what I would need to experiment with if I chose to make it a blood clone, makin’ sure it wasn't going to drain me dry of life force while trying to heal itself. On the flipside, I could gut the boss and take two of the abilities I wanted, five in particular interested me: Temporal Domain, Aeon Pulse, Eternal Hunger, Mana to Flesh, and Chrono Shift, but it would be a tyrannical powerhouse of a blood clone if I left it with all its abilities. One thing worried me though; the Doppelganger Ascendancy mentioned that only one of the two halves could survive after a month. I was fairly sure I’d killed this half by suckin’ the life out of it, but what if makin’ it a blood clone somehow registered as it still being alive to its other half? Would it still share a soul-link and if so would the strongest absorb the weakest at the end of a month? It was worth it even if I only got a month of insane life-farmin’ out of it, but if it disappeared I’d lose a clone and all those OP abilities.
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I'd have to do my best to make sure it was stronger than the other half by the end of that time. If I wasn’t confident that was the case I’d gut it of the abilities I wanted before it was time for one of the halves to absorb the other. Decision made, I started the one hour infusion process to make it my clone. Once that was finished I could summon it and it's Mana to Flesh ability would return it to its full form in time. Looking again at the boss's skills, I realized just how lucky we were that the lady had the spatial freeze ability; two of the skills, Chrono Shift and Harmonic Passage would have been difficult to deal with and must have been grayed out and unusable during that time.
I’d been so caught up in my own thoughts I'd ignored the chaos of our cluster. People were panickin’, terrified the wurm would return. Thinkin’ I’d calm them down, I tried to use my loudest voice and shout, letting them know the boss was gone for now and they could calm down. No words came out… I had no lungs to push air, no trachea to channel it, no vocal cords, tongue or lips to help form the words. On top of that, I was slowly bleedin’ life from my bones. In another fifty minutes or so another huge chunk of life would be gone. I needed to regenerate my body, fast.
Closin’ my eyes, I focused of the biomass in my Bone Vault and and drew it forth. It oozed out of my obsidian bones like a living mass, wigglin’ and squirmin’ as it spread out to cover me in a cocoon with a hardened shell. Within this cocoon, muscle, tendons, nerves, veins and skin formed and connected. My awareness of the outside world faded as the entirety of my mind focused on what was occurrin’ with my body. The last thing to form was my guts and organs as they needed a framework to hold them in place. That done, the excess biomass retreated to my Bone Vault. The hardened shell of the cocoon crumbled and fell and I exited the trance-like state. Openin’ my eyes I found myself surrounded by a crowd of gawkin’, stupefied onlookers, Wallace, Sally and Wiesner were amongst them.
“You good there buddy?” Wiesner said, with more than a hint of worry in his voice. He pointed at my head, grinnin’, “I think you forgot to grow your hair back. Also, you have horns now.’”
I reached up instinctively to feel my head. Yep. Bald. And my horns had grown; instead of nubs hidin’ within my hair, they rose an inch and a half out of my skin, curvin’ to point straight up from a point above my temples. Behind these horns, I felt the nubs of another set under my skin, too small to be visible but big enough to feel.
“All good now,” I replied. “The Wurm isn’t dead, but it took off with its tail between its legs. It shouldn’t be back anytime soon.” I made sure to speak loud enough for my word to spread.
A collective sigh of relief washed over the crowd. Cheers of joy erupted, the sound of hope replacing fearful whispers. Wiesner came ove, givin’ me a hearty slap on the shoulder. “Had me worried there for a bit when I saw the boss drag you underground. Should’ve known you wouldn't go down that easy.”
“Eh, had myself worried too, haha!" I responded, a nervous laugh escaping my lips. The shock of the battle was still coursin’ through my mind and I needed to be doin’ somethin’ as a distraction. “We should recover the dead and move on. We’re burnin’ daylight and I’m definitely not sleepin’ here.”
I collected the dead through my troll clone, nearly two-hundred in all. Another loot chest appeared, somehow delayed. This chest was different, constructed of a silver or platinum metal and some sort of dark wood that looked as if it’d been seared by fire.
[Platinum Ranked loot-chest.]
I had notifications waiting but I ignored them for now, choosin’ to open’ the chest first. Scannin’ the loot coins, one in particular caught my eye as only I could use it.
[A.I. Blood Fairy: (Titan Race Only):
Item Tags: Mythical, Peak Rank C. Evolving. Soulbindable. Familiar.
Item Description: A sentient A.I. in the form of a mischievous blood fairy, capable of enhancing the Titan’s abilities. The Blood Fairy can commandeer one of the Titan’s Blood Clones allowing it to autonomously battle alongside the Titan. The Blood Fairy is summoned with 50% of the Titan’s base stats. If the Blood Fairy’s body is dispersed it will reassemble over time.
Item stats: +15% to all stats. +15% to all resistances. Health Regeneration: +20% total health over 10 minutes. Mana Regeneration: +30% total mana over 10 minutes.
Activatable Abilities:
Fairy Frenzy: Temporarily boosts the Titan’s Perception and action speed by 50% and boosts item proc chance by +20% for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Blood Pact: The Titan can call upon the Blood Fairy to cast a Blood Pact on them, sacrificing 30% of the Titan’s maximum health to create a shield that absorbs 50% of incoming damage for 15 seconds. No cooldown.
Crimson Binding Aura: The Blood Fairy binds the blood of enemies within a 5-meter radius, reducing their attack speed by 30% and movement speed by 25% for 15 seconds. Cooldown: 45 seconds.
Life Drain: The Blood Fairy channels a beam of dark energy at a target, draining 5% of their health per second for 5 seconds and sharing the health between itself and the Titan. Cooldown: 3 minutes
Fairy Guardian: Summons an ethereal protective fairy for 1 minute that follows the Titan, providing a 10% damage reduction aura and healing allies for 10% of their maximum health every 10 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Passive Abilities:
Blood Bond: Transfers 10% of damage taken by the Titan to the Blood Fairy, the Fairy heals by withdrawing biomass from the Titan’s Bone Vault.
Vampiric Aura: Allies within a 10-meter radius of the Blood Fairy gain +2% lifesteal.
Flesh Melding: The Blood Fairy can mold flesh to its will, allowing it to freely alter its appearance and to a lesser extent any Blood Clone it controls.]
Upackin’ the loot-coin for the A.I. Blood Fairy, I received a small idol in the shape of a typical fantasy female fairy, it was nearly a foot tall and the color of dried blood, its feel and heft was that of metal. Battle Form had faded so I reactivated it heedless of the cost. Extendin’ a bone blade out of the tip of my pointin’ finger, I let a drop of blood flow out of the wound and drip onto the idol. Now bound to me, I watched the idol appear to come to life on my palm.
The little fairy turned to me, stompin’ her foot angrily. “Master! I’ve been waiting forever for you! Not you specifically, anyone would do, but it turned out to be you and you made me wait! Do you know what it’s like to be stuck in partial hibernation? Stuck with nothing except your own thoughts for what felt like ages?”
If the fairy had a human-sized body her beauty would rival that Angel with the mermaid tits I’d seen before arrivin’ here. “Sorry to make ya wait little lady. Name’s McLain and my buddy here is Weisner. What should I call you?”
The fairy blinked, her scowl turning contemplative. “I… I don’t have a name.” Suddenly she perked up, “Master, I want you to name me!”
“First off, don’t call me Master. McLain will do.”
“Got it Master McLain!” the fairy chirped happily. “Now, what’s my name?”
Shakin’ my head, I wondered how I ended up with an idiot for an A.I.. Hopefully she'll get smarter over time, or perhaps her ditziness will grow on me. “I’ll have to get to know you and then I’ll name you. Right now we have bigger fish to fry. We’re headed to the Millenium Tower of Ascension and we’re gettin’ attacked left and right.”
“You can count on me to protect you Master! Just let me use a blood clone and I’ll sweep these forests clean of vermin!” The little fairy’s eyes gleamed with a zealous light as she shook her fist vehemently at the sky as if she was about to summon Divine Judgement down upon these ‘vermin’.
Thinking it wasn’t such a bad idea, I told her she could use the Troll clone. She scowled, complainin’ that it was ugly and smelly, but she zipped over to it, meldin’ into its torso and then takin’ off into the surroundings runnin’ like an oversized and pissed off gorilla carrying a tree-club. Too late, I realized I’d forgotten to tell her to loot everything, but it hadn't been necessary. Minutes later I received two system notifications and the corpse of a new beastie, a storm wolf, entered my Bone Vault. One notification was a life-gain message, the second was a list of abilities I could absorb with Harvest Potential, none immediately useful to me besides a short range lightning teleport with basically no cooldown.
[Lightning Rail: Instantly transform into a bolt of lightning, teleporting through enemies or electrically conductive objects in a straight line to a target location, causing electrifying damage to each enemy passed through. Heals Allies in path for a minor amount. Cost: 50 mana or life units. Distance: 50 yards unless overcharged; every 10 yards over 50 adds 15 units of energy cost. Enemies shocked by the lightning decrease distance traveled by 2 yards per enemy unless ability is overcharged. 1 second cooldown.]
Seeing as I had three open ability slots I went ahead and slotted it. Eager to try it, I targeted a shroom-cap thirty-yards away and activated the ability. It was louder than expected, like firin’ off an AR15 only with a fizzlin’, electric pop. One second I was standin’ by Weisner, the next I was on the cap. I turned around wearin’ a big goofy grin and teleported back.
“Nifty,” Wiesner said. “Got 6 levels off the wurm. Level 15 now.”
“Hell yeah!” I said, grinnin’ like a shark. “Let’s see what else we have here.” I grabbed the remaining four loot coins. The items were extremely nice, and even though me and Wiesner did the majority of the damage to the wurm and there wouldn’t even be any loot without us I felt it might be best for me to spread the love to others that had proved instrumental to our partial victory. Besides the Blood Fairy A.I., the only item I kept was a badass circlet that boosted summoned minions by a substantial amount among other things.
[Crown of Aeonic Dominion:
Item Tags: Legendary. Peak Rank C. Evolving. Head Slot. Soulbindable.
Item Stats: +30 to all stats excluding Fantasy. Fantasy +20. +10% to all resistances.
Active Abilities:
Void Command: Summons 1 random void creature of equal rank to the caster to fight for you, +1 void creature per 100 Fantasy stat. Duration: 60 seconds, +1 second per 2 Fantasy stat. Energy Cost: 50 units. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Dominion Pulse: Unleashes a burst of psychic energy that damages and confuses all nearby enemies. Duration: 10 seconds. Energy Cost: 40 units. Cooldown: 3 minutes.
Phantom Doppelganger: Creates a spectral copy of yourself that mimics your actions, confusing enemies and doubling your offensive capabilities. Duration: 30 seconds. +1 Doppelganger summoned per 100 Fantasy. +1 second to duration per 5 Fantasy stat. Energy Cost: 100 units. Cooldown: 10 minutes.
Passive Abilities:
Psychic Dominance: Increases control over summoned minions and enhances their physical and magical damage. +10% minion Physical and Magical damage. Grants minions a flat 10% damage reduction that stacks with all other forms of mitigation.
Mind Shield: Grants a passive shield that negates 20% of incoming psychic damage. Grants a 5% chance to completely resist psychic damage that increases as reality loosens its hold on you, +1% resist chance per 10 Fantasy stat.
Aura of Subjugation: Weakens the will of nearby enemies, reducing their statistics and defenses by 10% while boosting you and your allies by the same amount. Aura Range: 10 meter radius. +1 meter radius per 5 Fantasy.]
“Who cast the Spatial Freeze ability?” I yelled.
“I saw her during the battle. She’s right over there,” Wiesner stated, pointin’ to a lady appearin’ to be in her early twenties. Her looks were on the cuter side of average, with captivating light-blue eyes and wavy brown hair hangin’ just past her shoulders. Of course, she wore the same basic leather armor we all had spawned here with. She flinched as she noticed me approaching her. A crowd gathered as I reached out my hand to shake hers, she returned the gesture. “Hey, I’m McLain. Just wanted to let you know we would’ve been in a rough spot without you. We wounded the critter, but I got a feelin’ it's not done with us yet, so we need you to be strong if that happens. Gonna give you two items from the boss and some other gear once I figure out what ya need.”
“Sally,” the lady said shyly. “It was no problem.”
“Good to meet ya. Which stats benefit your class the most?” I asked.
Sally didn’t require any time to process my question. “Intelligence. Willpower is a close second, the boss almost broke my hold on Spatial Freeze due to our rank and Willpower differences. And Fantasy of course, every class needs it from what I gather.”
I passed her all the loot-coins I’d gathered for single stat gear with Intelligence and Soul on them, a person could only wear two rings per hand and one earring per ear with stats, the item names weren’t very imaginative: two Rings of Intellect(the only two I’d received from the loot-chests), two Earrings of Willpower, Gloves of Intellect, Slippers of Willpower and Linen Breeches of Intellect. And two loot-coins from the boss.
[Tome of Eternal Hunger:
Item Tags: Epic. Peak Rank C. Evolving. Soulbindable. Primary or Offhand Slot.
Item Stats: Constitution +25, Perception +30, Willpower +40, Intelligence +50, Soul +40, Fantasy +15. +10% to all elemental resistances.
Active Abilities:
Forbidden Knowledge: Tap into the memory of the cosmos, unleashing a random powerful spell that is a tier above the caster’s tier, that will either aid you and your allies or hurt your enemies. Caster will gain a glimpse of the spell before casting it and they have a chance to retain a fraction of the gifted knowledge, potentially allowing them to reconstruct the spell and learn it. Energy cost: 100 units. Charges: 2. Item gains 1 charge per 10 minutes. Once the caster activates the ability and gains a glimpse of the spell they have 15 seconds to cast it or the spell charge is lost.
Arcane Surge: Temporarily boosts all spellcasting abilities, reducing mana cost and increasing spell power for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Passive Ability:
Arcane Mastery: Enhances all spellcasting abilities, reducing mana cost, increasing spell damage and increasing mana regeneration rate. Caster gains -1% mana cost and +3% spell damage per 3 Fantasy stat. Increases mana regeneration rate by 1% per 2 Fantasy stat. Mana cost reduction caps at -50%. Increased spell damage caps at +200%. Increased mana regeneration caps at +100%.]
Sally’s eyes widened as she inspected the item. She unpacked the Tome and pricked her finger on a hairpin to bind the item to her soul. Her cheeks flushed as her stats soared and her lips opened with a wide smile showing perfect teeth. Giddy with joy, she unpacked the second loot-coin containing an item I’d been tempted to keep for myself, but then again, like a dragon I wanted to hoard the shinies.
[Amulet of the Starry Void:
Item Tags: Legendary. Peak C Rank. Evolving. Soulbindable. Amulet.
Item Stats: +25 to all stats excluding Fantasy, +15 to Fantasy. +10% to all resistances.
Active Abilities:
Nullification Sphere: Absorbs and negates all magical attacks up to one tier above the item's current rank within 3 yards of the caster for 10 seconds, converting a portion of the magical energies into mana for the user. Energy cost: 75 units. Cooldown: 1 minute.
Abyssal Grasp: Creates a gravity vortex of void energy that pulls enemies in, dealing continuous damage over 15 seconds. Energy cost: 50 units. Cooldown: 2 minutes.
Void Eruption: Unleashes a burst of void energy in all directions at a location of the wearer's choosing, damaging and pushing back enemies. Energy cost: 50 units. Cooldown: 2 minutes.
Passive Abilities:
Dimensional Drift: Grants a chance to phase out of reality when struck by an attack, avoiding all damage for a brief moment. +10% base phase chance. +2% chance per 5 Fantasy stat, capped at 50% chance. You will remain phased but able to move if an enemy’s body or weapon occupies the user's bodily space at a 1% cost of your lowest energy resource per second: mana, health or life.
Dark Empowerment: Increases all void and spatial-based damage by 20% and reduces the cooldown of void and spatial abilities by 10%. +2% void and spatial-based damage per 5 Fantasy stat, capped at +100% damage. +1% cooldown reduction per 5 Fantasy stat, capped at +50% reduction.
Eternal Hunger: Converts a portion of damage dealt to enemies into health, providing sustained healing during combat. +1% lifesteal per 20 Fantasy stat. Capped at 10% lifesteal.]
The silver amulet clasped a dark crystal glitterin’ with tiny pinpricks of light. Sally bound the item and slipped the dark metal chain it hung from over her head. Smiling broadly, she stepped closer to me and pulled me into a brief hug, quietly saying, “Thank you McLain! I feel a bit more hopeful about seeing my little sister again.”
Startled by the unexpected closeness, I awkwardly patted her shoulders and nodded sagely. The top of her head only came up to my lower chest, the minty scent of her hair wafted up, smellin’ real nice. I fully understood her pain; I’d been missin’ Rufus awful bad, the aliens, system or whatever had him held hostage as well. Hopefully the system message about kids and pets being held in stasis was true and he wouldn’t even remember being away from me.
A big burly fellow lookin’ to be in his early twenties sauntered over to us lookin’ mighty pissed. “Who the hell do you think you are?” he shouted at me. “You can’t take all the loot and hand it out as you please. We need a fair system.”
I stared at him for a while, figurin’ how I should handle this. Wallace had wandered over, observin’ the situation. I hadn’t seen this young man join in on the battle with the wurm. Inspection’ him showed he’d been fightin’, his leather armor was scraped up and he was missing a leather sleeve. “Level 11 berserker. Looks like you been pullin’ yer weight. I got some things for you too. Let me guess, you need Strength, Constitution, Dexterity and Agility?”
He seemed taken aback, “Uh, yeah.”
I passed him the loot-coins for basically a full set of melee armor(minus a bracer and a few jewelry slots), a two-handed battle-hammer, overall boosting each stat by 10 to 20 points. He stripped to his briefs, tossin’ his stat-less leather armor to the ground before unpacking the gear and equippin’ each piece. I looted the old gear as someone might need it at some point. The man was smiling, obviously mollified.
“Name’s Brett Till. Seems I was wrong about you. Sorry for being a dick.”
“McLain. And no worries. We all need to be stronger if we’re goin’ to get the town built with the rest of our cluster intact. I’ll spread the remainder of the gear I have out as well. Actually, I’ll let you do it. When we stop for the night, bring me two or three people that you’ve seen givin’ it their all and I’ll gear them up with what I have left.”
Brett nodded and headed off to the disorganized right flank he’d come from as if he knew just the right people. The last two loot-coins from the wurm boss were for epic items and I slipped them to Wiesner.
[Gauntlets of the Abyssal Wurm:
Item Tags: Epic. Peak C Rank. Evolving. Soulbindable. Gauntlets.
Item Stats: Strength, +20. Constitution, +40. Agility: +15. Dexterity, +15. Willpower, +20. Fantasy, +10. +5% to all resistances.
Active Abilities:
Earthen Dome: Raises a protective dome of earth 5 yards in diameter that blocks attacks and provides cover. Base energy Cost is 60 energy units. Ability can be overcharged to increase the dome size with a compounding increased energy cost that doubles for every 5 extra yards.
Passive Abilities:
Seismic Life Tap: Unarmed attacks have a chance to unleash incredible vibrational force, creating shockwaves that damage and disorient an enemy, shaking loose the enemies hold on its health and converting 10% of the damage into health regeneration for the wearer over 5 seconds. Regen effect stacks up to 5 times. 5% base proc chance. +1% proc chance per 10 Fantasy stat. Damage is calculated by the wearer’s Luck multiplied by their Fantasy.
Temporal Surge: Provides a 5% chance to instantly reset the cooldown of an active ability after use and sets the skill’s next activation cost to zero. +1% chance to reset per 10 Fantasy stat.
Earth's Embrace: Increases the wearer's Constitution by 15% and mitigates physical, disease and poison damage by 20% when standing on natural ground.
Life Leech: Grants a 1% lifesteal on all melee attacks.
Rock Solid: Reduces the duration of stuns and knockdowns by 50%.
Armor of Infinite Resolve:
Item Tags: Epic. Peak C Rank. Evolving. Soulbindable. Scalemail.
Item Stats: Strength: +35. Constitution +40. Willpower +45. Soul +50. Fantasy +10. +15% to all resistances.
Passive Abilities:
Stalwart Fortress: Gradually restores 5% of maximum health every 15 seconds and provides a 30% mitigation to physical attacks.
Titan's Power: Increases the wearer's strength by an additional 20% during combat.
Resolute Will: Reduces debilitating effects by 30% and grants immunity to stun effects.
Unyielding Spirit: When health drops below 30%, instantly heals 50% of maximum health and grants invulnerability for 3 seconds (can trigger once every 3 minutes).
Earthbound Endurance: Infuses the wielder with earth essence, reducing fatigue effects by 20%.
Guardian’s Aura: Provides a passive shield to you and allies within 10 yards that absorbs damage equal to the sum total of the wearer’s stats, renewing every 15 seconds. Allies receive a third of the shielding. Killing anything that grants experience refreshes the aura’s shield.]
Wiesner slapped my shoulder good-naturedly, “Thanks Bud. You know I got your back.”
I nodded and turned to Sally and said, “Follow me if you want to live.” Channeling my inner nerd, and usin’ my best Terminator accent. Cringin’ on the inside, I couldn’t help chuckling, Sally rolled her eyes, grinnin’, then nodded and followed me towards the front of the cluster. Wallace was tryin’ to get everyone movin’ again. I placed a shroom-cap behind me on my drake, looking at Sally standing below me on the ground, I patted the seat behind me. She hesitantly clambered up and joined me.