S00P tried to gather his thoughts. Another drone was destroyed. Then a third. This pretty much eliminated any real effect they were having. He turned off the remaining drone and recalled it to him.
He could see some of the Shins spreading out in groups of 2 or 3. He was admittedly paralyzed with fear. He turned with his back to the tree as he considered his options. He was a terrible shot. He wasn’t strong. He wasn’t fast. “Shit!”
A Shin came into view and S00P recoiled. The movement was caught in the peripheral vision of the warrior. They turned and snarled. S00P closed his eyes and fired. And he kept firing until his magazine was empty. Then he opened his eyes to see the prone smoking body of the Shin that had been standing over him.
There was a flash to his right. S00P rolled by instinct and an arm spike buried itself in the tree where his chest had been a second ago. Another snarling Shin was there trying to wrench their spike out of the tree.
S00P raised his rifle to fire. It was empty. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” He quickly flipped over the magazine and loaded the one attached to the empty. As it clicked into place, the Shin finally released their spike from the tree and pulled back to throw a spear.
He held up his rifle and fired. Click. Click. Click. The autoprimer loaded the first round from the magazine.
The Shin’s neck exploded. The spear went wide and buried itself in the dirt next to him. Another spear from behind him grazed his head. S00P rolled over and fired almost blindly. He didn’t hit anything, but the 3 Shins scattered for cover.
He jumped to his feet with grace that was unusual for him. One of the Shins stood out from behind a tree to throw another spear. He triggered the drone to shine a light in the direction. It was enough to distract them. A shot clipped the Shin’s shoulder and the spear dropped to the ground. Another ran from behind a tree and charged at S00P. The Shin suddenly appeared in front of him.
He would never ever reveal this to anyone, but he screamed. Not a yelp or a cry. This was like a horror vid scream. He fired his weapon repeatedly and he was pushed back, falling to the ground again.
He opened his eyes to see blood speckling his visor. He sat up and saw that he was surrounded. Blood droplets ran down his hydrophobic visor. Then he noticed the pain in his left shoulder. Something had stabbed him.
He assumed this was it. The Shins gathered around him as if they were gloating. They looked down at him with impassive or snarling faces. One of them was missing the outside part of their shoulder.
Another one picked up his rifle. It, of course, wouldn’t work without his cybernetic authorization. But it did have a trigger which the Shin was trying to use. And not paying attention to where it was pointing.
One of the Shins stood over S00P straddling him. They snarled and jammed a spear into his injured shoulder and through. He screamed in pain. He was pretty sure that it just passed through his shoulder blade.
"You guys are such assholes." he moaned.
Those motherfuckers laughed. He didn’t pay attention to what they said, but they were laughing at his pain and his scream. Fine.
The idiot with the rifle was pointing at the back of the one standing over him. He authorized a grenade.
“See you soon, buddy.”
White light and a crushing pain hit him.
A second later...he was still in pain. Well, he thought it was a second.
“Fuuuuuuck. What’s it take for a guy to die and get a drink?”
He went to push the Shin off of him and realized that it was really just parts of the Shin.
“Ugh. Fucking gross.”
Then he grabbed the spear. It took a couple minutes and a lot of foul language but then he finally got it pulled out. He threw it away and it actually lodged point first in a tree. He frowned at the incongruity of that but didn't have time to dwell on it.
The smoke was mostly gone now. The Shins around him were dead or nearly so. One that had been a bit farther away was rolling around on the ground in pain.
He pulled out his sidearm and pointed it at the Shin. It took him 6 shots. The first 4 hit dirt. The last 2 apparently hit something important and they stopped moving. S00P tried to take a step and realized that his right foot was not going to help.
He wanted to cry. He did weep a little. Tears rolled down his cheeks even if he wasn’t sobbing. The adrenaline had fled, and the pain and fatigue were flooding his consciousness.
A notification popped up.
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Quest Updated!
Release The Kraken - Acquire sufficient experience to surpass the threshold to fully engage the PHENO system. (100% Complete)
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Congratulations!
You have acquired sufficient irragen to unlock the PHENOsystem!
You are now Tier 1 Level 1.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
You have 1 attribute point to distribute
You will receive 1 attribute point per level each level.
At Tier 1, Level 18 you will be offered at least 3 PHENOTYPE options to choose from.
The options will change based on what you have accomplished, the way you accomplished it and some options may be available depending on attribute points and/or the decision made in distributing them.
These PHENOTYPES may offer bonus attributes per level, an attribute focus, and/or specific abilities.
The Power attribute will be unlocked by some PHENOTYPES or irragenic abilities
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You have acquired sufficient irragen to increase your level multiple times!
You are now Tier 1 Level 18.
You have 18 attribute points to distribute
Note: You have a total of 18 undistributed attribute points.
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Current stats:
Name: SparklePrincess (S00P) Variant Class: 3 Tier: 1 Level: 18 Phenotype: N/A Attributes Stat Score Modified Durability: 3 7 Utility: 4 6 Vigor: 5 8 Control: 4 11 Power: N/A N/A AP to Distribute: 18
You have earned 3 Honormarks!
-You meaningfully participated in a battle with an enemy force that vastly out leveled your war party and survived. The Dark Horse Honormark will reduce damage taken by 20% when in a war party.
-You struck down more than 10 enemies that out leveled you by more than 300 levels while in a war party at once. The Mass Destruction Honormark will increase the damage of a weapon by 10% for every enemy that is affected up to 100%.
-You unlocked 2 war party Honormarks before unlocking the PHENOsystem. The War Hero Honormark once per day will extend an area of effect spell by repeating the AOE on 4 allies. Allies must be within the User’s AOE. Effect lasts for 10 minutes or as long as the AOE lasts, whichever is less.
Would you like to accept these changes?
Y/N
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S00P glowed white as he accepted the changes. He noted that all of his were healed. He took a deep breath in relief as he looked at the next message. It told him that he should distribute the AP he currently had. He did so, if not reluctantly. He really wanted to know if he needed Control or not.
His understanding was that a score of 5 was an average baseline human. Most adult baseline humans floated between 3 and 7. 10 would be peak baseline human. It was the highest theoretical score that could be achieved without chemical, cybernetic, or genetic aid. Some might never achieve a 10 in some scores and some might achieve slightly more in other areas. This meant that peak baseline humans might have scores that ranged between 8 and 12.
S00P didn’t have any specific desires in any area here. Although, with the little knowledge he had gleaned from others, he felt that control would be something he would want. He increased that to 20 and had enough left over to make the other score a modified 10.
He accepted and glowed once more while he reflected that it was a waste of a perfectly good heal.
Then, he received the information on selecting his Phenotype. And it showed him the options. After seeing the first one, he almost didn’t even read the others. Fine. He read the others and selected the first one. There was a grenadier class that was a distant second place. He bounced up and down in excitement.
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Battlefield Diva – Superior (+4 AP/level)
Command Performance – User emits soundwaves that buff allied forces and debuff enemy forces. Allies' Durability will increase by 5%. Morale will be boosted by increasing focus and reaction times. Enemy forces may be subject to any or all of the following: nausea, deafness, confusion, the inability to focus on a target, and possibly fear. Area of effect is determined by the Control Score (2 meters/point). The potency of the buffs and debuffs are determined by the Power score.
Starlight - Chaotic bright and colorful, flashing lights around the User and their allies along with a cloudy mist that will obscure their numbers and position from the enemy, ruin their nightvision (if applicable), and occasionally blind them for several seconds. Lights only negatively affect those with hostile intent toward the User and their allies. Enemy stealth abilities will be less effective. Mist is less visible for allied forces. Any blindness lasts for 3 seconds. Area of effect is determined by the Control Score (2 meters/point). The number of current lights and density of the Cloud mist are determined by the Power score.
Influencer – Any enemy ranged attack entering the User's area of influence are 50% less likely to hit their target and will do 50% less damage if the attack does hit. Area of effect is determined by the Control Score (2 meters/point). The potency of the buffs and debuffs are determined by the Power score.
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Congratulations!
You have chosen the Phenotype: Battlefield Diva!
Note: AP gains per level from Tier 1 level 19-36 will be increased by 3 to account for Phenotype AP gains not given in level 1-18.
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You have acquired sufficient irragen to increase your level multiple times!
You are now Tier 1 Level 26.
You have 56 attribute points to distribute
Note: You have a total of 56 undistributed attribute points
Do you accept these changes? Y/N
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S00P accepted the changes and was surrounded by white light. He applied his AP by increasing all of his physical skills to 15. When Power became active it had a score of 4 with a modified score of 5. With the points he had left he increased Control and Power to 30 each.
Satisfied, he started running toward the Lander with energy, agility, and endurance he'd never experienced before. Music began to play around him. He needed to pick out a theme song.