Chapter 61
Ryker
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*STATUS*
NAME: Ryker
RACE: Human
LEVEL: 18
VITAL ENERGY TO NEXT LEVEL: 7240/9852
STATS
HEALTH: 2020/2020
STAMINA: 1340/1340
MANA: 180/180
STRENGTH: 128
AGILITY: 87
CONSTITUTION: 192
ENDURANCE: 126
VITALITY: 258
PERCEPTION: 5
INTELLIGENCE: 2
MANA: 18
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*NOTIFICATION*
Blunt Force Trauma Resistance Ability Max Level +75% Blunt Force Resistance
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*NOTIFICATION*
Heat Resistance Max Level +75% Heat Resistance
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*NOTIFICATION*
Penetrating Trauma Resistance Max Level +75% Penetration Resistance
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*NOTIFICATION*
Psychic Resistance Ability Max Level +75% Psychic Damage Resistance.
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*NOTIFICATION*
Ability Level Increases:
Rejuvenating Nano Swarm Level Up! +10% Healing Speed/Efficiency
Rejuvenating Nano Swarm Now Level 50
New Effect +500% Healing Speed/Efficiency
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*NOTIFICATION*
Ability Level Increases:
Sacrificial Might Level Up! +0.5 Strength -0.25 Constitution
Sacrificial Might Now Level 35
New Effect +87.5 Strength -61.25 Constitution
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Tetra and I were sprinting side by side through the obstacle course, two blurs of motion coming together in a flurry of attacks then breaking apart and rushing over, under, and in some instances through the barriers that were being generated by the not-so-talkative Jeeves. We had gotten into the routine of racing to see who could clear the course the fastest, but it always devolved into a running melee, and we rarely actually finished the course. Over the many months of training, we both had grown by leaps and bounds. My body had been beaten, bloodied, burned, crushed, cut, and pulverized so many times that I had become incredibly tough.
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With each level I gained, I was able to increase my mana pool that much more. For some reason, each time I leveled up, Silvar would disappear for longer intervals, his only response being that I was an idiot and I should focus more on my cultivation and less on his comings and goings. I shrugged off his dismissal and settled back into training.
With every point of mana I gained, I became much harder to kill. I now could heal through almost anything Tetra could dish out and keep fighting without pause. We did this for days at a time, my entire existence nothing more than violence and a steady stream of pain that I no longer perceived the same. I used to dread the feeling, but now… I welcome it. My body learned that with every spike of pain there always followed that sweet dopamine dump that accompanies my healing. I find myself chasing the dragon and longing for my next round of resistance training.
Lost in my contemplations, Tetra took the lead and was scrambling up a 3-foot-thick wooden pole with a flag affixed to its top. I knew I had no chance of beating her, so I changed the game plan. I braced my feet, reached inward and activated my ability. My body was consumed by power and a deep crimson glow. I twisted my body, and with a Herculean amount of effort, I sent my fist through the pole, breaking it in two. I deactivated Sacrificial Might and felt the bones in my hand instantly reset by my suit. The splinters of bone and mangled flesh beneath began knitting back together. I let out a shudder of euphoria, then sprinted towards Tetra, still mid-air. She had seen and apparently felt my intentions with her empathic ability and had prepared a leap just as I broke the pole. She was now spinning through the air in a tight ball directly towards where the flag would land when the pole finished its fall. I scooped up a loose piece of rubble and threw it with all my might. The projectile whistled through the air before it found its target and was sent hurtling back in my direction by the impossibly skilled Tetra. Luckily, I was able to catch the rocky projectile with my face and was sent tumbling across the ground, coming to rest in a bloody heap.
After retrieving the flag, Tetra made a show of waving the cursed artifact around in front of my face as I pulled the flap of skin down to cover my maxilla. She let slip a hiss of sympathetic pain and said, “Eesh, you would think after seeing you do something like that for the five thousandth time I would get used to it.”
After my eye regrew, I looked up at the face of the woman that was the source of all my pain and suffering. Every broken bone, avulsed skin, or ripped muscle I could trace back to her. For this, I was eternally grateful. She had taught me countless lessons using the most powerful tool in her toolbox, pain. I had grown quite fond of the woman who technically was my wife. As the days blurred by, we had gotten much closer. Every time we paused to recover, we would trade stories of our home worlds and experiences on them. I would tell her a story about learning to ride my bicycle, then she would recount her experience in taming a creature that sounded a lot like a raptor from Jurassic Park. We laughed, we cried, but above all else, we shared a deep, visceral hatred for Viltrix.
Now fully healed, I flipped off the ground into a fighting stance and was surprised to see both Red and Ruby appear between us with their hands raised in front of them. Ruby leaned forward and gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead, then said, "Ryker, I need you and Tetra in the war room now."
I shot Tetra a worried glance, then nodded and said, "Okay, we are on our way."
Tetra was already turning the corner and was out of sight a second later. I took off sprinting, and ten seconds later, I was standing next to Tetra in front of a large flat surface with a holographic image depicting the fleet slowly maneuvering inside a solar system that was alien to me. Upon further investigation, I noticed a massive structure that looked completely out of place. At my realization, my jaw hit the floor. It was the Pyramid.
Ruby, noticing my surprise, gestured towards the image, and a dotted line indicating our course popped into existence. Then she said, "As you have deduced, we just entered the Pyramid’s solar system and have slowed the fleets to safe interplanetary speeds."
Recovering faster than me, Tetra addressed the A.I. saying, "Good, what is our ETA to the slave distribution satellite?"
Jeeves appeared, bowed his head, then said in a thickly British accent, "Em, yes, mum, we are approximately 12 hours out from the rendezvous point."
Standing stock-still, I had a hard time believing we were finally going to the Pyramid. My destiny awaits me there, but something else caught my ear, and I asked, "What do you mean slave distribution satellite? What the hell is that?!?"
Jeeves politely smiled, then with a gesture towards the fleet, said, "The slave distribution satellite is the destination for most of your species. We will dock with the satellite one ship at a time and unload all of humanity minus those of you entering the Pyramid. From there, humanity will be further sorted for job suitability then auctioned off to planetary corporations across the galaxy. Your species will be scattered to the wind, as your people say."
It took every shred of control I had gained over the months of training with Silvar to manage my anger. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. After recentering myself, I drew a little harder on the surrounding vital energy to comfort me, then said, "I have spent many a night thinking about what I was going to say or do when this day came. I had thought I would either rage out or get all upset, but the reality I think is worse. I know what we have to do."
Ruby immediately stiffened as if she had been struck by lightning, then spluttered quickly, "Ryker, we talked about this. That is not a good idea! We don't know exactly what will happen…"
I raised my hand in a gesture for silence, interrupting the anxious A.I., then said, "I don't care, I refuse to stand by as my kind is sold off to the highest bidder for cheap labor or God knows what else. All I know is I have to do something. What are your estimates on casualties?"
Red and Ruby exchanged an uncomfortable look, then said, "Conservatively, we estimate at least one billion will die if we follow through with your plan."
I tamped down on my rage again as I felt myself slipping and asked, "Let me ask you this, how many humans will die over the next decade if we do nothing?"
Jeeves interjected abruptly, saying, "Mean estimates place the average death toll of newly integrated slave populations at 50%."
Having heard enough, I turned away from the display and yelled over my shoulder, "Set a course for the Pyramid."