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The mercenary company’s headquarters were situated twenty kilometers south of Prague, on a farm surrounded by forests. Isolated, with a helipad that didn’t look like one and a stretch of flat land that could let small planes land, if necessary. Vincent jumped outside the village and did the last kilometer on foot.
At first sight, there was nothing out of the ordinary there. Only two people had stayed behind—the company was rather small—and one of them was in the guard booth, reading the newspaper. Vincent approached and knocked on the glass.
“What do you want?” the man yelled through the glass without lowering the newspaper.
“Uncle Jiri, it’s me! Vincent!” The elderly mercenary opened a pan of the window, scrutinized Vincent with his only working eye, and then pushed the button, raising the barrier. A useless gesture, as Vincent was on foot and could have just passed by. “How are things?” he asked.
“Police came a couple months ago. They confiscated the bait and left. Are you going to be in the talent show?” the old man animated himself. “I’ll bet on you.”
“Yeah, I think so. I’ll go check the storage. Where’s… what was his name again? The other guard.”
“He left. We haven’t been paid since you left.”
“Oh… Here’s some money,” Vincent offered the man a few gold coins. “I’ll return later and—”
“It’s OK, I sold a few AK- 47,” the man waved his hand.
“Take it,” Vincent insisted. “Bet this. If I lose, at least you won’t lose your own money.”
“Eh… fine,” the old man pocketed the coins, returning to his newspaper.
The bait the guard mentioned was a stash of money, about a hundred thousand grand, and a few semi-legal weapons, all with paper problems. The mismatched data was intentionally faulty. Bureaucrats were so obsessed with paperwork that they would concentrate on that, missing the main things.
Six hundred meters farther, at the end of the farm, past a rough terrain, all shrubbery and pits, was an abandoned barn filled with old trucks and agricultural machines gathering rust. It was the band’s emergency stash. Inside old gasoline tanks or buried under the heavy machines wrapped in oiled fabric were unmarked guns, ammunition, plastic explosives, and money.
Vincent could extract everything easily, pulling the items into his storage, yet to do that, he needed to clear the house, more so if he wanted to cut the ring into more pieces. First, he extracted a half-eaten sandwich he had put in storage on a day he had left breakfast in a hurry. He was not hungry, though, and he threw it away to be eaten by field mice or crows.
He couldn’t let the samples of beer go to waste; those he drank, Three small beers on an empty stomach were nothing to his enhanced physique. The next item was a sizeable pile of dirty socks and t-shirts, hidden in storage to test a theory: that dimensional pockets killed germs and acted like a washing machine.
It did not. The socks smelled as ‘fresh’ when Vincent had stored them. He threw them in an empty oil barrel. He added the empty beer bottles, telling himself it was not littering but adding a disguise layer to the general cache.
Finally, after an hour of messing around with mostly useless items, he had forty slots free. Thirty, he intended to leave empty for the next users of the secondary rings. Ten, he was going to use to store weapons.
He started with a stash of a hundred Romanian AK-47s and a hundred rounds of ammunition for each. Reliable, if not precise, and he intended to offer them to the Mongols or whoever wanted some Celt blood on their hands. He could imagine the weapons would go well shot from horseback, in a fast charge. And more ammunition could be made in Krivoburg or Pragwyn.
Then, he added a hundred claymore mines, some more plastic explosives, and finally, the money, a suitcase with something short of a million euros, in various bills. His storage weight limit approached its upper margin.
Since he was isolated, he extracted the Raven’s pod from storage and opened it. His senses told him it was still working. Vincent put his hand inside and let out the crystal ball, hoping the System was still… functioning? He didn’t know if alive was a proper word.
“Hey. Anyone there?”
The System: We’re here. It’s my own personality speaking. All Grand Archetypes are in sleep mode to conserve energy. Do you have an update on the Stellarterra?
“The situation is fluid but under control. Indulge my curiosity: Why do you care about the Human Realm so much? Are the others less important?
The System: Humans make the greatest number of users by far. About four billion of them, more than ten times the other realms combined. I have good news. Your OS has rebooted; I can access its logs… Your bomb killed an army of twenty thousand strong, including rogue Archetypes, dragons, and dwarves… Maybe my enemies are all dead, and we can return. I have a secondary mainframe hidden on—
“Nope. We stay put until I have a good idea of what’s happening.”
The System: But Hero Vincent—
“But no buts. I’m in charge now because guess what? You did a bad job. Your world is a mess. We’re waiting.”
The System: At least my world was free of colonialism, racism, and other evils. How many people have died to that on Earth in the last centuries?
“Oh, you’re a comrade, System?” Vincent’s eyes flared. “I know your kind very well. Because my grandpa was thrown in jail by your pals, and he was a true socialist. You think I forgot you ordered some communist dwarves to do an orbital bombardment on my city?”
The System: What are you talking about? The Dwarves are anything but communist.
“Sure they are. They have red flags and call themselves a comradery.”
The System: Because they adore Marx. After one of the Summoned brought all his works, he became their idol.
“That’s what I said!”
The System: They worship Marx because he showed them how to build their dream capitalist regime. They took all the bad parts Marx wrote about and applied them. And from the fact that I collaborate with such oppressors, you can see how much I respect free will and non-intervention. I’m a Bakuninist at heart—
Vincent picked up and threw the crystal ball in the barrel, over his dirty socks.
The System: Hey! It’s dark in here. And oily… And it stinks… Help! Someone, help! He’s crazy! Heeeeeelp!
“You still alive?” Vincent wondered. “So you can function on a Neutral Mana Realm?”
The System: Of course. This support is from a binary universe, where Neutral and Awakened Mana coexist…
“Ah, yeah, like Sven and those AIs…”
The System: Can you please take me out of here?
“After you accept my conditions. Remember when you blackmailed me? It’s payback time. My turn to give you quests.”
The System: I’m sorry, Hero Vincent… Please, don’t let me rot in this abominable barrel…
Crossing his arms, Vincent remained still.
The System: What’s the quest, Hero Vincent?
“The quest is to behave responsibly from now on. And I’ll make sure you do. You won’t be re-installed until I audit your performance and analyze your programming with Bee and other competent people. We’ll ensure you will never be able to throw asteroids at us or anybody else.”
The System: You want to… control me? But that’s what the bad guys wanted to do…
“I guess I’m a bad guy, then,” Vincent shrugged, remaining impassible.
The System: But what if, by inaction, they win and install a bad System?
“Dunno… problem for another time. Maybe I’ll repair it… or destroy it… or cut my losses, extract my friends, and come back here. I didn’t ask to be Isekaied after all.”
The System: That’s Elkandaros doing. He’s the one who devised the Summoning spell and passed it on to the other Archetypes! Please… You sure can see the good parts, too, right?
An invisible weight pushed Vincent's shoulders downward. Yes, the System was right. There were a lot of good parts, too… Irene, Lila, all his friends from Krivoburg, Pragwyn, Sofia… “Sorry,” he said, taking the ball out and putting it back in the pod. “I overreacted.”
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The System: It’s OK… I deserved it. Now I know how it is to feel powerless in a foreign, dangerous world… I’m truly sorry….
“I’m glad to hear it… Next step, you’ll do some seances with my brother-in-law. He’ll assess your mental health, and we’ll take it from there.”
The System: Psychanilisis? I heard about it.
“Psychoanalysis…”
The System: Since we’re alone… Do you want to check your stats? I have little power now, but if I’m concentrating all on you, I should be able to help.
“Sure… Let me check my stats.” He was eighty-two in Body, eighty-one in Spirit, and sixty in Mind, with forty-seven tokens to invest.
The System: You have gone a long way since we first met, Hero Vincent.
“How did I earn so much Body stats?” Vicent asked. “Ten points? Spirit, I understand. It took a lot of will to go through all that instead of just running away, but…”
The System: From the fight in the Vault. You don’t realize it, but you were gravely hurt and continued. There’s a hidden sub-stat called Grit, and it’s in Body, not Spirit. Also, when you reached her, Brindabella rewarded you with a +5 in Body. She can offer a one-time permanent stat bonus. I suggest you maximize your Body and Spirit. At your tier, the pools will be increased considerably.”
“Yeah, I know, Bella told me,” Vincent said, maxing his Body and Spirit and putting the remaining tokens in Mind.
Name: Vincent Valaška, Age: 28
Level: 100
Body 100 / Mind 70 / Spirit 100.
SPs: 10.000 / CPs: 1800 / MPs: 10.000
HPs: 10.000
Karmic Charges: 132/200
The System: You are as strong as an Archetype, Hero Vincent. Meaning a role model upon which I model my answers to the world in certain situations. If I had to choose your two main characteristics, one would be true love, and the other—
“Stop!” Vincent shook his head, pushing his hands forward. “Stop thinking in these terms. I’m not a role model… I’m not even your friend… Stick to what you do best. Skills and stuff.”
The System: What would you change in your build? Considering you saved my life, I can grant you a few evolutions.
“Can you make it so I can change my name freely? I hate that there is a one-day cooldown.”
Name buff: Valaška/Velasco.
This ability has been removed.
You can change your name at will as a cosmetic feature.
Mind Buff: During combat, you gain a +10 in Mind.
The Blessing of the Raven is now permanent, granting a 10% increased effect on all Darkness spells.
Plus Damage with Axes is now permanent. Plus Damage with Spears added.
The Elements of Fortune and Wisdom have been merged with your Passive Proficiency, offering a +10% increase in performance.
Health Transfer has evolved into Health Points Buffer, seamlessly merging with your Healing and Fast Regen skills. Use your HPs to heal yourself or an ally at a rate of 10% of the damage suffered / second (5% in combat). Your HPs recharge at 1% per minute, in or out of combat.
Rezz! Due to reaching max stat in Body, you are now able to Rezz! If you take massive lethal damage, phase out of normal space and reconstruct your physical body by consuming twice the HPs of the equivalent of the damage taken. If the damage is continuous and unavoidable, you will be automatically transported to a location you set as a base, as long you have one Karmic Charge.
“That’s like those guys did in the Vault, right?” Vincent asked.
The System: No, it’s much more powerful.
“Thanks… not that I’m eager to test it.”
The System: Here is a recapitulation of your overall skills and stats.
Name: Vincent Valaška, Age: 28
Level: 100
Body 100 / Mind 70 / Spirit 100.
SPs: 10.000 / CPs: 1800 / MPs: 10.000
HPs: 10.000
Karmic Charges: 132/200
Class: Dichotomic (Unique, Mythical)
Class Perks:
Elements: You can wield elements from the schools of Light and Darkness.
Mind Buff: During combat, you gain a +10 in Mind.
The Blessing of the Raven: 10% increased effect on all Darkness spells.
Use of Dark Artifacts. Darkness spells have a doubled effect while equipping such items.
Plus Damage with axes and spears.
Species: Outsider (Mythical)
Species Perks:
Resilience (Passive, Elite): You age 4x slower than a normal human.
Health Points Buffer: Use your HPs to heal yourself or an ally at a rate of 10% of the damage suffered / second (5% in combat). Your HPs recharge at 1% per minute, in or out of combat.
Passive/Active effect: Auto-Tune: You become immune to Mana Corruption and Overloading. Your Mana cannot be turned against you by Curses. Ignore side effects if your stats are overloaded. If any stat is buffed over the cap, re-direct the buff toward your lowest stat. Note: If all your stats are overloaded, they will continue functioning at cap level, ignoring the buff.
Rezz! Due to reaching max stat in Body, you are now able to Rezz! If you take massive lethal damage, phase out of normal space and reconstruct your physical Body by consuming twice the HPs of the equivalent of the damage taken. If the damage is continuous and unavoidable, you will be automatically transported to a location you set as a base, as long you have one Karmic Charge.
Mental Armor. Inspecting, Mind-reading, or Mind-control-type spells or abilities won’t work on you anymore. Does NOT prevent your body language from being read. +25% chance of dodging physical attacks.
Disguise (Passive, Elite): Display any name, species, or class you want. Or none.
Passive Proficiency (Mythical): Your passive skills work +35% over their expected performance. Allows most of your passive skills to evolve at Skills levels 50 and 100.
Passive Skills:
Battle Instinct (Passive, Elite). You don't need to look at a target to judge its movements or the distance. Additional active effect: Guarantee Hit. Consume 100 Stamina to always hit true with your first attack in a fight. It does double damage if you attack without being noticed. Current skill level: 93.
Critical Chance Buff (Passive, Elite tier). Your chance to score a critical hit increases by 0.25% for each skill level. Current Critical Chance: 10%. Current Level: 40.
Inspiring Leadership. Increase the stats of your followers by +8 (Combat only). Max level.
Dog Person. You can perceive very well what a canid thinks or feels and fight as one alongside your pet, Vorrak the Devourer. Current Skill level: 57.
Mentor (Passive, Elite skill). You are exceptionally gifted to teach your skills to others. Current Level: 60. Evolution postponed due to insufficient data to unlock the next variants.
Active skills:
Arcane Awareness (Passive and Active/Legendary tier). Allows users to intuitively perceive or actively scan and scrutinize their surroundings, revealing hidden details and secret knowledge about objects, creatures, and environments. In addition, Arcane Awareness grants the user a glimpse into the potential of their own skills. Consumes 10 CPs/use. Current Level: 90
Hand of Dominion. This is not just a skill but a statement of control. When the user summons this power, their hands take on an unnatural hardness and strength, able to hold or crush with a king’s authority, forcing the world to bend to their will. Nothing can escape their dominion once caught. Current Skill Level: 60.
Shadow Armor (Active, Elite Tier). Surround yourself in shadows to sneak around undetected or absorb damage. Stronger at night. Consumes 5 CPs per second for sneaking and at least 20 SPs per hit deflected. Heavy hits count consumes double the amount, and Extremely Heavy Hits will also feed on MPs. Current skill level: 58.
Dark Damage. Imbue this type of elemental damage in your attacks, including ranged ones (Active, Elite tier) +0.5% damage per skill level. Current damage: +25% over base damage. Current skill level: 50. Consumes 7-20 MPs per hit (depending on the force applied).
Karmic Skills:
Outsider's Stride (Active, Mythical tier, Karmic). Bestows you with the ability to conjure a bespoke wormhole. You can use it to go to places you see, were to, or can attune to in various manners, as long they are on an Awakened Realm. This skill has no levels, but it performs better with practice.
You can transport people, living beings, or objects with you as long they are willing and not more than a hundred feet away. Unconscious or unwilling people you transport to save their lives are an exception. A Stride costs one charge of Karma/jump/person.
Outsider's Cloak (Active, Mythical). Use both Light and Darkness to make your presence unnoticeable. A faint glint among the bright light of the day or a shadow confounding itself in the darkness of the night: that's you. This skill has no levels, but it performs better with practice. Activation costs 1 Karmic Charge, then 5 MPs/second to maintain.
Outsider's Refuge (Active, Mythical): Creates an invisible and impenetrable pocket universe around you for a limited amount of time. Its size depends on your Spirit stat. This skill has no levels, but it performs better with practice. Costs 1 Karmic Charged to activate, consuming 5 Mana/second to maintain.
Outsider's Storage (Active/Passive, Mythical): You have a 70-slot Legendary Ring of Holding. No weight transferred to the outside. Capacity: 70% of one metric ton.
“Looks good,” Vincent nodded with satisfaction.
The System: Hero Vincent… May I kindly ask you to take back your used socks and the empty beer bottles? They’d fit in one storage slot if you tag them as miscellaneous. If you leave them there, you’ll lose Karmic Charges as a penalty for littering.
“Blackmailing me again?”
The System: I have nothing to do with it, I swear. Karma works on your own conscience.