I tap the button on the side of the lens which causes half of it to slide over and turn the mono-eyepiece into binocs. My heat vision is flooded with red splotches signifying chameleonians. Because the binocs give me Predator vision, I can't make out much more than general shapes. Despite this, Jose and Quins seem to have no trouble at all making head shot after head shot.
Scarlett Fletcher's magic falcon Jeff is circling above, shooting thin white lasers from his eyes. Jeff looks just like a normal falcon, except he's pure white and has a blue gem in his chest. Jeff's lasers are pretty spot on. I'm assuming Scarlett has some sort of shared vision with him since her eyes are glowing.
A dozen chameleonians are shot apart and dozens more leap over the dead bodies of their comrades. Mercy targets a cluster of them and twenty lizards are ripped apart by thin green streams of data. Her White Hat Warlock costume has some incredible firepower.
Thirty more reptiles come in from the right and Rutger Waltz fires off a massive chain lightning spell that leaves crispy, blackened lizards behind. The rest of us open fire and dozens more chameleon's die to bullets. The lizards are tough. They take multiple head shots or a lot of body shots to take down. Parker McCall, Cappy Williams, Henry Gallup and Kailani Haku are all using regular guns. Parker seems to have some Ki techniques like Quins and Jose, letting her rifle shots hit harder.
Madeline Diaz and I are on defense. Aside from my void traps, I'm standing in the back so I can see the whole fight. Madeline has her axe and shield, and is front and center.
Five lizards punch through our collective fire and promptly get stabbed by purple void blades as they pass over my traps. This doesn't faze the other reptiles in the slightest. More chameleonians charge our line and Madeline dashes over, cleaving one in half with a horizontal chop and then turns it into a spinning strike. She spins and adds centrifugal force to her next strike, cutting the top of another lizard away. Green blood sprays, covering her and Scarlett, who Madeline rushed to defend. In the moment after her second strike, a lizard leaps at Madeline only to be pierced through the head by a Void Blade. I quickly send three more blades into the two reptiles behind those.
Void Blades
Exotic
Conjure blades of void energy in your hands, or stab from any surface at range. Targets who survive your strike are afflicted with Entropy.
Range: 61 ft
Duration: Instant or 10 minutes
Cost: 2.5 Arcana Points
Proficiency: 245%
The Void Blades spell counts as a knife, which means my plethora of knife buffs apply to them. The net result is blades that pierce through the tough hides of the chameleonians like butter, and they form in a split second. Giving these creatures no time to react. My proficiency was carried over from Shadow Stab, which this replaced, and grants me extra range on the spell. With 61 feet of range I can cover our entire group.
Cappy leaps 20 feet straight up and her FN P90 glows gold with a Ki technique. She fires a literal wall of bullets down on a group of five lizards and they're beaten down by the barrage. Rutger and Mercy are both charged again and Mercy fires on a group to the left and Rutger takes out a cluster of foes to the right. Jose and Quins have taken to firing only at the furthest away foes, letting others take out the closer threats.
The cave smells like gunpowder and stinking dead lizards. The air is full of the sounds of battle, our side putting out the rattle of guns, the twang of a bow, the shimmering chimes of spells and the meaty chop of an axe. The chameleonians cry out in barking howls. They cry in pain as they die. They cry in rage as their brethren are killed by the score. Hundreds of bodies are piled up around us.
There seems to be no end to them. Guns are reloaded. Ki and AP are starting to run dry. Our offense wanes and I step up my defense. Void Blades puncture lizards, I send two blades to cover each foe. I cut down a dozen reptiles before I realize there's just too many. I cut down another group of ten chameleonians with Void Blades when I realize my mistake. I can be more proactive with these.
I summon five blades and have my left sub-mind control them with telekinesis. They fly out and rip and stab away at mid range foes while I continue to use the instant stab version of the spell to counter foes who come close to my team.
A lizard gets through and I can't react fast enough because I'm attacking other foes. It leaps towards Rutger but Madeline throws herself into its path. The creature's claws and fangs bite into her, but not deeply. She's one tough woman. She shoves it off and then cleaves it down the middle, two bloody chunks sliding apart. Kailani starts an invocation and iridescent motes of healing fly out from Kailani's hand into Madeline's shoulder, healing the shallow wound and even repairing her uniform. Now that's some magic!
I notice Mercy hasn't cast a spell in a few minutes and when I look at her she's got this cloud of green 1's and 0's surrounding her, and she looks ready to go. She strides forward and taps Madeline on the shoulder. Madeline takes the hint and swaps places with Mercy, letting my girlfriend take her front-and-center spot.
Mercy holds both hands in front of her and the cloud of data condenses into a ball in front of her splayed fingers. Then she shouts, “Data Threads!” and hundreds of thin lines of green energy fire off ahead of her, each one turning in sharp angles, finding a home in a different chameleonian. For three seconds the entire cave is bathed in this green light as each lizard is immediately stunned by the beam hitting it. Then Mercy, still holding the ball of data, calmly says “overload.” The ball copies itself into hundreds of replicas, each one following one of the data threads. Each ball shoots down a thread and hits the connected chameleonian like a shotgun blast, sending gore in every direction.
The glowing threads fade and the room is once again coated in harsh floodlights. All that's left is hundreds of bodies of the lizards. I cut my void wall traps off and tell everyone to fan out. Mercy falls onto her butt and looks exhausted. Madeline is with her and puts a hand on the Warlock's shoulder. My ears are ringing from the gunfire, despite the now silence of the cave, so I can't hear the words Madeline says to Mercy, but I can imagine them. Probably something good.
The team sweeps the area and finds a handful of stragglers which are swiftly taken out. I call for a break and everyone seems very into the idea.
I sit down next to my awesome girlfriend and offer her a diet Dr. Pepper. She thanks me and accepts it.
I am deeply curious, but also want to flatter her. “So, that was kinda, sort of, possibly the most powerful spell I've ever seen or heard of.” She takes off her floppy wizard hat so she can rest her head on my shoulder. “Ah, so how and what was that?”
“Hrmmm,” she mumbles in an almost dreamlike state. Oh she is very tired after that. “So you know how I got the Hexer class?”
“Yeah,” I confirm. Hexer is the 3rd step class that follows her Costumed Witch class, the one that empowers her cosplay.
“So my subclass for it, Self-Sealing, gives me curses I can put on myself. That lets me...” She trails off and I have to nudge her to keep her eyes open.
I politely chide her. “Keep talking, don't fall asleep in the super dangerous dungeon, please.”
“Hrmmm. Okay then, meanie. Basically those curses let me lower some stats to boost others? I figured out I can stack the curses.” The sugar and caffeine seem to be working and she lifts her head up. “So I stacked like 50 curses on myself to boost my power on that attack.”
“And the downside, aside from heavy fatigue?”
“Oh,” she says casually. “My Toughness was like negative 100 so even a paper cut could have killed me then.”
Even though I'm sitting down, I feel like I'm about to collapse. “Haaa what the fuck now?”
“Oh, I'm kidding,” she says, like someone who wasn't kidding and now is pretending they were.
Man, Wisdom is pretty good, actually! I can read people's emotions better. Wait just a damn minute!
In a concerned and trying not to panic voice I say, “hey, Mercy, so don't do that again please.”
She rubs my knee affectionately. “I knew you had my back.” There's a level of trust in her voice that usually only shows up in the voices of soldiers you serve with. She's become a warrior and I hadn't even noticed.
We look into each other's eyes then. Her deep, dark brown eyes show me strength, resolve, trust, love. This girl just keeps amazing me, every day. And every day I feel lucky to be with her. This is it, isn't it? That thing people search for and never find. True, passionate, deep love.
Keeping her gaze I say, “I need you to live for like another hundred years or so, just so I can spend all that time with you.”
She smirks. “Is that a proposal?” she asks without a hint of seriousness.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“Nope,” I say confidently. “It's a promise.”
I focus on the other conversations happening around us as Mercy once again slumps over onto my shoulder. Jose and Quins are arguing over a chameleonian that they both shot and who should get the credit. Madeline is talking to Cappy and Parker about how to best spend their level ups. Henry and Scarlett are being regaled with stories of Kailani's 4 kids. And Rutger...
I look over at Rutger, who's standing by a big stalactite, phone out, taking pictures of the stone formation. In the quiet of the cave my natural voice volume carries over to them. “Hey, Rutger. You like geology or something?”
They're crouched and taking a shot angled up at the ceiling. They get the shot and then come over to me. “Check it. The stone is different on the floor and on the stalactite.” They say this like it's an important clue.
My +250 Intelligence does not help me understand the relevance. Being really smart doesn't help you know things you don't know. “Alright then,” I say with a verbal shrug. “Dungeons are weird.”
Rutger rolls their heavily shadowed eyes at me. “It means it's not connected. Like it could just be shoved off there.”
It's at this point I notice that actually all of their jewelry is Dracosys scannable. Woah.
Small Gold Earring. Intelligence +3. A simple earring that looks good with most outfits.
Dangling Gothic Cross Earring. Charisma +5. Okay so you're super religious or super goth. Got it.
Fake Emerald Earring. Arcana Points +5%. Despite being fake it shines better than the real thing. Value is subjective, after all.
Charm Bracelet. Currently holding 5 charms, +2% Luck per charm. Looked cool when you were 10. You're not 10 anymore.
Simple Black Steel Bracelet. +5 Toughness. Depending on your outfit this makes you either classy, fashionable or emo.
Skull Ring. Charisma -2, Arcana Point regeneration +10%. Is it tacky? Yes. Does it make you feel like a badass? Also yes.
Silver Ring. +10% resistance to infection, poisons and diseases. Silver is naturally antibacterial, that's why silverware was made of silver. This does the same thing, but with NANOMACHINES. Also, now that you know about the nanomachines, we can reference them in your mind.
“Do you have a keen sense for treasure, by any chance?” I ask, now that I know they're loaded down with more magic items than anyone else in the Pathbreakers.
Rutger looks at the drowsy Mercy on my shoulder. “Just knock a few pillars over when you get a chance and we'll see.” They've got confidence in their voice. Interesting.
I don't know much about Phoenix Team aside from their bios. Madeline handled the hiring for her team, while I handled it for team Lupus Rex. According to their bio, Rutger Waltz worked retail at the Mall Of America when the Dracosys hit. They lead dozens of people out while fighting off some apparently fierce foes.
“What's your deal, Rutger?” I ask, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.
Rutger answers on the edge of annoyance. “You mean my pronouns?”
“Oh I don't care about that. I mean, why are you here? Why'd you want to do this? You weren't military before, and don't have a background of fighting, far as I know.”
Rutger gets a faraway look. “Let's say that I hate bullies, and the Dracosys being made by humans really pisses me off.” There's a certain weight behind those words.
“Who did you lose?” I ask, knowing that there has to be more than just that.
Rutger is quiet for a moment and then turns away from me. “My little sister. She was seventeen. Died right in front of me.” Their words are bitter. The Dracosys has taken too much from us.
Franco is dead. Deacon is dead. Rutger's sister is dead.
They walk off and flatly say, “I got some levels. I'm gonna go allocate.” That's all any of us can do. Keep moving forward.
For my part, I've once again hit the maximum of 10 stored level ups, so I head into my menus to see what I can grab. Something I've had my eye on for a while now is the Weapon Master class.
Weapon Master
Become a god with one weapon or a demigod with all weapons. The choice is yours.
A fourth step class. Two subclasses. Unknown class evolutions.
Gain 5 Strength, 5 Dexterity, and 5 Ki upon choosing this class.
You must choose a Subclass upon choosing this class.
Two subclass specific techniques will be granted to you upon choosing this class.
Uses Ki, Dexterity and Strength.
Upon level up an additional basic, advanced, expert or master weapon technique will be granted until all master and lower weapon techniques are granted. A subclass specific technique will be granted every 5 levels. Each level you gain 2 Dexterity, 2 Strength, 3 Ki and 8 free points.
Subclasses
One For All - Choose a weapon type. Any bonuses you have to that weapon type now apply to all weapon types.
All For One - Choose a weapon type. Any bonuses you have for any other weapon type now apply to that weapon type.
I decide that now's the time, and take five levels of the class. I look at the starter techniques.
Chosen Speed
Master
Choose 1 weapon type. Your Dexterity is increased by 25% when attacking with that weapon type.
Passive
Proficiency: 0%
Chosen Might
Master
Choose 1 weapon type. Your Strength is increased by 25% when attacking with that weapon type.
Passive
Proficiency: 0%
I set those up to affect knives, then select the One For All subclass so those bonuses affect every weapon I carry. The level ups get me a few more knife power ups which now apply to any swords, spears or baseball bats I use. Nice.
So far I've been able to get through short battles without much trouble, but by the end of the chameleonian horde I was down to 21 AP. Telekinetic weapons are almost free to use, so I need to intersperse my attacks with those more next time. With all my buffs my melee weapon attacks and the equivalent of 503 Strength and 306 Dexterity. Uh, wow. I hadn't done the math before now. That's kind of insane how much the passive techniques can stack up. I should probably be wrecking face with melee weapons more often.
The other thing I have from those levels is 32 free attribute points, and I think it's finally time to put them where people have been bugging me to for a while: Wisdom. I'd been avoiding the stat since it governs Spirit regeneration and unlocks classes that give you invocations. And seriously, I don't want to do invocations! They're useful but so lame!
Anyways, I raise my Wisdom up to 45. Yay. Now people can stop yelling at me about it. I have all my core stats above 40, making me thoroughly superhuman.
We take an hour break after the 6th and 7th floors. I smash open the odd stalactites and stalagmites that Rutger points out and inside them we find some old, pre-civil war money, some Ki recovery potions and three Amendment Proposals.
Amendment Proposal. This allows the user to propose adding a rule to the Dracosys's functions. Voting will take place during the next system update, with all Dracosys users getting to vote.
Holy. Crappenfest.
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Jun's Void (Dark/Poison/Psychic) Spells
Void Blades
Exotic
Conjure blades of void energy in your hands, or stab from any surface at range. Targets who survive your strike are afflicted with Entropy.
Range: 61 ft
Duration: 10 minutes
Cost: 2.5 Arcana Points
Proficiency: 245% (Range)
Dark Mote Grenade
Exotic
Throw a ball of void that explodes into smaller motes of void, that then home in on nearby targets.
Range: As far as you can throw a grenade
Area: 10 ft radius
Cost: 10 Arcana Points
Proficiency: 110%
Void Rift
Exotic
Create a line on a surface that emits void energy. You can refresh the duration for 1/2 the cost of the spell.
Range: 30 feet
Area: 10 feet long
Duration: 1 minute
Cost: 5 Arcana Points
Proficiency: 15%
Vortex Grenade
Exotic
Throw a ball of void that creates a void well on impact, sucking in nearby foes and damaging them with tendrils of void.
Range: As far as you can throw a grenade
Area: 10 ft radius
Duration: 10 seconds
Cost: 25 Arcana Points
Proficiency: 41%
Entropy Dart
Exotic
Fire a homing dart that inflicts severe Entropy on its target.
Range: 200 ft
Cost: 12.5 Arcana Points
Proficiency: 37%
Mind Scraper
Exotic
Damage an enemy's psyche while also reading their thoughts.
Range: 50 ft
Cost: 10 Arcana Points
Proficiency: 7%