“Huh. Probably should’ve done this from the beginning…”
“Mm.”
“Or, well, it’s not like we’d have ever found Underflow if we were flying to begin with…”
“Mmm, mhm.”
“Alrighty Screech, adjust left just… a smidgen…”
“Like this?”
“That’s a bit more than a smidgen, a SMIDGEN, right, and we’re on course… there you go.”
With a sigh, I run a hand through my hair as the breeze does much the same. Well, it’s not much of a breeze, moreso air resistance? That tends to happen when you’re flying through the sky. Oh yeah, forgot to mention! Walking? Officially, that’s for plebs. Who needs boots on the ground when you have a giant flying bird that can be ridden?
Especially when you don’t need to actually look around the ground for anything, because you already have every single location marked on your map.
Now, while Screech makes this trip…
Just put this overlay in place, activate a mod, coolio hoolio… sick! I love you, Homepage Override 1.28! Despite being called an “Override”, it is actually a legitimate extension of the software. Officially published and everything. I was getting a little tired of having to log out for every little thing, so I just set the plugin up for Omniscient!
You want it done right, do it yourself, yeah? They didn’t have a built-in interface, so I’ve done what’s necessary. Now, open the menu… yada yada, ah, right there cool. Now-oh, wait a minute, I’ve got me a few messages here…
Cassie
“I’m doing fine. Haven’t had much time to play UB so I’m not on leaderboard, mostly been studying for college. Hbu?”
Hm, alright, fair enough, it is her first year after all.
“Doing pretty good actually. omniscient is kind of a banger? Its got smooth movement good graphics and thats all i really need. you should get on and try it some time tbh. if rither gets on as well we could make a guild or smth. not actually sure how to do that yet though. anyways glad college is going well for you.”
Rither responded as well…
“You and Casslock haven’t really been on, so I went for a solo meta this season. Ice mage kind of slaps tbh??? I didn’t expect much but this is pretty fire 💯🔥🔥🥶”
“Ice mage? Well youd better hope me and Casslock stay off this season then, your bum ass aint getting NO team assistance running that trogdar the burninator ahh class. miss me with that aoe bruh.”
Ice mage, bleck. Such a no skill class what the hell man? The whole thing is just aoe spam and it hard counters like half the classes in game.
And… Onesy responded! Wowza! Only took him like, half a damn week!
“My apologies for not responding earlier. I was so focused on finishing something that I didn’t even read my messages. I’d say we’re doing pretty well on Omniscient so far. We’ve been doing quests, trying to figure out how to make a guild, but no luck so far on that front. So far we’ve managed to reach an average level of nine I believe. I don’t have everybody off the top of my head, but our highest level is twelve right now. As for stuff? Well, it’d be hard to list all the things we’ve gotten in one message, but we’ve gotten a few rare items and an epic, and we’ve also gotten a few rare classes.”
…Huh, not bad.
“So what are we looking for again?” Screech chirps as I read through the response, drawing my attention outwards, back towards the great blue sky.
“I was given a map of dungeons, so… whaddya think we’re looking for?”
“Dungeons?”
“Ding ding ding! As for your information, we’re… just about on top of one to be honest? You see that pathway up down there?” I gesture to the ground beneath us, despite Screech’s complete inability to actually see my hand as of the moment. What with, you know, me being on her back?
“Uhhhh I think I do! It’s like a really rough staircase of rocks right?”
“Yeah, that one. You wanna drop-POOR choice of words do not drop us, you wanna take us down there?”
“Sure!”
…And then suddenly we get shot down by an anti air artillery cannon and take a million damage and die, the end.
Nah… nothing happens, we just settle down on the rock formation.
“Alrighty…” I begin as I hop off of Screech’s back, touching down on the pale stone beneath her talons. “You can cancel that transformation now…” I continue whilst opening up my map again, comparing the open mouth of a cave before me to the marked red dot. “Twould seem we’ve arrived.”
“Soooooooo…” Screech drawls, turning her focus to somebody other than I as she cancels her [Morrigala Metamorphose]. “I know you said three questions.”
“Mm.”
“But-”
“Mmm.”
“Oh come on please? I stayed quiet the whole flight after I got my answers! You said you don’t mind questions you just don’t like a lot of them! Promise I’ll only ask one or two more?”
“...”
“Please?”
I feel it’s not really my place to intrude on the conversation here. Screech is making an effort to get what she wants without being a little shit about it, so I don’t see a need for me to mediate.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
All I have to worry about it is this here cave, so here I g-ACK
Taking a step forward, I just straight up walk into a wall. Invisible thinga type majig you know?
Jagged Ascent
Reccomended LVL 14
Stumbling back, I catch my balance after wobbling for a second, before planting my foot back on the ground.
Would you like to enter this dungeon?
Y/N
Well, the levels a little bit above mine, but it shouldn’t be an issue. There’s me, Jasper, and Screech to go through it, and frankly we as a group are probably pretty damn nasty to fight. I know that Jasper and Screech both get super boosted stats because of [Fable Bearer], so that probably puts them on par with somebody around the level of this dungeon. Then I’ve just gotta do my part of getting my backside out of the direct conflict.
So, long story short, yes.
The barrier dissipates, and I take a step inside.
Huh, kind of expected an instant attack that ti-
“SCREEE!”
Hm?
Despite the makings of the screech, that was in fact not THE Screech. And on top of that, it came from above. So… I look up.
Huh.
That’s a dozen birds, all circling around near the top of this place.
Karst Ascenters-LVL 12
Their screeches and calls echo throughout the dungeon, the dungeon being a very narrow passageway all the way up. You know like, a traditional spiral staircase? Imagine that, but the staircase is crumbling and broken and there are holes everywhere and it goes a hundred meters up, and it’s also not a staircase and is actually a bunch of different platforms broken up and separated. That’s the spiral staircase here. And where does it lead? Well, insofar from what I've seen of it, up to an opening in the ceiling. Sun's shining down through it, illuminating everything in a golden light.
‘Jagged Ascent’? Yeah, that’s a, uh… fairly accurate descriptor for what this dungeon is to be honest. Cause I only see one way up, and I don’t imagine Screech would have a good time flying us up. In fact, I’d wager she’d probably get knocked out of her transformation in record time!
“Hmmm… Screech?”
“So how does th-yes?” She snaps to attention at my notice, which… I do feel kind of bad about cause she was very clearly just about to get her way, but…
“I don’t imagine you’ll be of too much use on offense this time around…”
All the enemies which, thankfully, haven’t divebombed us yet, seem to be highly mobile attackers that could likely avoid Screech’s magic without too much issue, and they’d easily shut down an attempt to fly us up to the top. So…
“So I’m gonna have you activate [Featherguard] instead, kay?”
“Ooo alrighty!”
“...Try to keep whatever tests you want to run to a minimum whilst I’m in the middle of a fight, kay? I’m not trying to have my speed get gutted in a critical moment.”
“Aww alrighty.”
…Just had to make sure.
“Well?”
“Oh you mean right now?”
“Yes, we’re going up, chop chop now.”
Hopping towards me from her previous locale just outside of the dungeon, Screech once again activates her [Morrigala Metamorphose], and just out of curiosity I take a peek at her stamina…
She was doing some flying, and she had extra weight on her back, so I imagine she’s taken at least some amount out…
60/120
Ah, exactly half of her meter. Alright, lemme just… boop!
80/120
“Thank you!”
“You’re welcome. Now…”
I see a little gap up near the top, little cave in the cave, sunlight streaming down lighting it up… and I will be making it inside. You stupid birds up there? You can let it happen the easy way, or the hard way. The choice is yours.
Stretch for a moment, hop up and down, adjust to my freshly multiplied agility… ALRIGHT! I’m the KING of speed baby! Love you [Featherguard]. Say, what were the exact bonuses again?
Featherguard-Each point of agility is 1.4x more effective, each point of strength is 1.2x more effective. Gain 42 max HP, gain 24 max MP. Featherguard is lost upon taking 10% or more of your HP in a single hit, or when dismissed.
What a lovely skill.
“Jasper, if I see the chance, I’ll summon you to take out one of the monsters hovering around up there. If they get too close, then it’s go time, alright?”
“Mm.”
I’m sure I don’t need to tell her how to take care of them. Hell, she’s already trigger happy with that nuke of a skill she has.
Now… what did I tell Jasper, go time? It’s go time.