“You know, I haven’t seen your mother this enthusiastic in years,” Peter beamed as he dodged a particularly large pothole on the county road. Blake relaxed in the passenger seat as he listened to his father talk. “Not since she got laid off and started helping out at the restaurant, at least.”
“Mom always did like organizing things,” Blake agreed.
His father nodded. “Yeah. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I didn’t realize she was depressed before this. Any time I asked if something was wrong, she kept saying she was fine. You know, your mom, always wanting to be helpful and not bother anyone. But, with how much energy and effort she’s putting into this faction stuff…” Peter shook his head. “The difference is like night and day.”
“She always said you only pay attention when it comes to cooking.” Blake teased. “What about you? How are you doing since the restaurant closed?”
“Oh, I’m fine.”
He stared deadpan at his father.
After Peter glanced over and saw his son’s silent disbelief, he insisted, “No, no, no. I really am fine. I’m actually kind of excited to see what it’s like cooking with nanomachines. Your mother said the cookhouse will be finished this afternoon. As soon as it’s done, I’m going to make a big meal. I want everyone in the faction to eat dinner together tonight!” He then glanced over at Blake. “That includes you.”
He nodded. “Sure, sounds good.” After a moment, he smiled. “Does that mean you’re inviting Mister Grayburn?”
“Well….. I’m sure he’s busy…” his father trailed off.
“A retired widower is busy, huh?” Blake added dryly. “You know you’ll be working closely with him, him being in charge of farming and all.”
Peter sighed, and then changed the subject. “So, your brother wants to know when he can start working on his cure.”
“It might be a couple of weeks or so. Metal says that we can build the alchemist workshop after we upgrade the faction hall to level three and build the glassblower shop.”
“It takes that long to upgrade the faction hall?”
Blake shrugged. “Actually, I have no clue how long it’ll take. But, I’m more concerned with the materials required. He said we can’t just get them from anywhere, only certain scenarios will work. And, we won’t even know what we’ll need until we upgrade the quarry and the metal and wood shops. Oliver just needs to be a bit more patient. I know it's difficult, but this really will cure him.”
Peter turned onto the gravel road and frowned. “Are you sure you can trust Metal? Doesn’t that thing have a conflict of interest?”
“We came to an agreement,” Blake replied. “And everything he’s said about the faction town has been true.”
“It just seems so weird to go from wanting you dead to helping you.”
“Why? He just wants to spend time with his family. Every time I summon him, I pull him away from them. I promised not to summon him for combat, and rarely for advice. As long as I keep my side of the deal, he’ll keep his. Also, if I die, he has to go to another ‘master’, per his contract. If I’m the lesser of the evils, he’ll want to stick with me.”
“You HAVE heard of white lies, haven’t you?”
“Of course I have. That’s one of the reasons I made the deal in the first place. He can’t lie to me directly, but he can definitely mislead me.”
“Okay, okay. I just wanted to make sure you’re being careful, is all.”
“Oh, I am. I know how much is riding on our success.” After the car turned the corner, he said, “We’re here.”
His father slowed to a stop and searched the area. “I don’t see anything.”
Blake opened the door and then pointed. “It’s down that canyon under an overhang. Don’t bother trying to find it, the portal’s still invisible.”
“Can I watch you enter it?” Peter asked.
Blake opened the back seat and retrieved the duffel bag of supplies. “Sure, knock yourself out. But, whatever you do, don’t follow me.”
His father exited the vehicle. “Don’t worry, I remember. Unlike our newest recruits, I can recognize that I’m just a cook.”
They traveled down the small gorge until they reached his destination, a little over a hundred feet in. Blake dropped the pack and glanced back at his father. “Well, this is it.”
“Where?”
“Right there,” he pointed and then threw out his arm. “No! Don’t get closer!”
Peter froze, eyes wide and nostrils flared.
Blake shook his head. “It’s over a hundred and thirty degrees in the Mander caves, dad. Even hotter if you get near the edges. And, that ignores the Manders themselves.”
“If it’s that hot, how do you survive?”
“Well, I have a spell to help, but my body is literally superhuman now. Another level or two and I’ll be bulletproof. Well, at least to pistols,” he qualified. “Not that I want to test it.”
His father shook his head. “It’s all so unbelievable.”
“It’s our new life.” After he answered pragmatically, he began to cast Flame Shield. His father watched as he made strange gestures with his hands for a full ten seconds before the spell was completed. When he was done, he said, “I’ll see ya tonight, dad.”
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“See ya,” he waved and slowly backed away from the portal. “And, be safe.”
Blake confirmed his father was beyond the portal and then stepped inside. Everything went black. He entered the void and chose to fight against level one Manders.
Since the scenario was the same level as himself, he would only receive around ten million nano for completing it, just as he had in the Ursa scenario the day prior. However, he decided to continue his caution and wanted to test the new spells against the monsters. He needed to ensure they worked exactly as planned before he attempted a higher difficulty.
Suddenly, the void disappeared, and he was spat out onto the cave floor. Immediately, he unsheathed his longsword as he searched for immediate threats. As expected, the area was safe, but he did not lower his guard.
Blake’s Flame Shield emitted a dull orange glow as it siphoned the environmental heat away from him. The shield’s stored heat would normally harm any creatures that came near him. However, the Manders were almost immune and would not be affected. He retrieved his buckler shield from the loop on his back and began to scout along the tunnels while he flexed his left hand.
I’m so glad I waited.
When he woke, two hours before, his fingers were finally healed. Now, he had complete mobility in the digits and was confident he would perform at full efficiency.
Blake slowly rounded the corner and a group of five Manders hissed in alarm. Their long tongues began to gyrate through spell forms, and Blake activated Spatial Step to appear among them.
His first thrust of the sword pierced the back of the closest throat, while his shield bashed into the monster beside it. He withdrew his blade from the now dead first Mander, ignored the stunned monster his shield impacted, and charged the next creature in line.
As he passed, he swung his sword sideways and cut deep into the exposed scales on its neck. The wound was not immediately fatal, but it still screamed in agony. Its spell was interrupted, so he ignored the injured creature to attack the last two Manders.
While his longsword still trailed behind from the brief engagement, he slammed the buckler into the next Mander’s snout. It flew backward, into the glowing hot wall.
Before he could move his sword in position, the last monster finished its cast. Flames erupted from its mouth. Blake immediately used Mind Blast to disrupt the monster’s channeled spell, and ignored the heat which licked against his Flame Shield.
The creature reeled from his psionic attack. Blake followed through with his sweeping strike and ended the monster’s life. He whirled around and searched for the next greatest threat.
Two were dead, one was heavily injured, and two had yet to recover from his shield bashes.
The injured one.
Blake pushed off the ground before it could finish its spell. Just as he reached his prey, the monster finished, and a glow surrounded it.
Blake bared his teeth in victory.
You picked the wrong spell.
His blade pierced through the unprepared Mander’s throat. The two Flame Shields slammed into each other, and immediately began to absorb the other’s heat. They were quickly overwhelmed by the feedback loop and both spells dropped.
Stifling heat once again washed over him, yet he ignored the sensation to finish off the last two monsters. The first Mander he bashed finally recovered. Rather than cast a spell, it launched itself toward him, mouth wide open and fangs extended.
Thanks, saves me the trouble.
To an unenhanced human, the move would be too fast to follow. Blake, however, had his Physical Power over twenty-five. The creature sailed through the air, and left itself open to his counter-attack. He readied his blade and braced himself, to use its own momentum against it.
His weapon disappeared as the creature seemed to swallow it whole. Its momentum was only halted when its long fangs slammed into the crossguard of his sword.
By the time it dropped to the ground, it was already dead.
Just one left.
The final Mander finally recovered from its stunned state and began to cast a spell.
Blake never let it finish.
The edge of his blade sliced cleanly through its neck, and severed its head. When the battle was finally over, Blake observed the surrounding carnage, barely winded.
“That was easy,” he said aloud.
Even though he faced five enemies, he was completely unharmed.
Although, this heat is uncomfortable.
He began to weave his hands through the spell form to conjure a new Flame Shield. Ten seconds later, it slid into place and the heat no longer bothered him.
Much better.
He checked the cooldown on his Spatial Step and was surprised it was still not available. His aether spell required a full sixty seconds between uses, which meant the battle took only twenty.
Just think how much faster it’ll be once I upgrade my attributes to the max.
He considered the issue as he waited for the cooldown to end. Unfortunately, at level one, it cost twenty million nano per attribute rather than ten. That meant he would need to gain two hundred and forty million nano before he reached his limit. At level two, which he hoped to reach in the next month or so, it would cost thirty million.
Just as every level raised the nano required to enhance attributes by ten million, each new level required eight hundred million additional nano to unlock. Blake would need to gain one point six billion nano to reach level two.
At level one, he will only receive around ten million nano for completing his current scenario. If he wanted to reach his goal before Invasion day, he would need to increase the difficulty and fight higher level monsters. The higher difficulty would grant him five times the nano and allow him to gain power at a frenetic pace.
Blake rubbed his hands together in glee at the prospect before he set off down the corridor to find his next victims.
----------------------------------------
You have successfully completed the Combat Scenario. Would you like to choose your reward now?
Yes.
Four pieces of equipment were suddenly presented to him by the Collective. As each of the objects were copies of equipment he already owned, he selected the smallest. The chosen reward was a ring which granted increased Magical Power, and would only take a few minutes to assemble.
While he waited, he checked his status and saw that he held just over twenty million nano.
Time to upgrade.
His current attributes filled his vision, and he admired his progress.
Attributes - Increased by 42%
Physical Power - 22.7[2]
Physical Stamina - 15.6
Physical Resistance - 12.8[2]
Magic Power - 12.8
Magic Stamina - 12.8
Magic Resistance - 14.2[2]
Each piece of jewelry he wore raised their respective attributes by two. Unfortunately, he was unable to focus on a single attribute and raise it by six.
Every attribute could only be augmented by equipment a single time. If both his ring and necklace raised his Magic Resistance by two, one of the enhancements would be ignored.
Because of this, he had focused on his Physical Power, Physical Resistance, and Magic Resistance, through his necklace, ring, and gaudy earring, respectively.
Since he had already decided to counter the Manders, he did not hesitate to increase his Magical Resistance. As long as he was careful, the level ones he just defeated were no threat to him. At seventeen, his Magic Resistance was significantly higher than their Magic Power. Even if they used a non-fire based attack, the majority of the damage would be resisted.
However, once he increased the difficulty of the scenario, that may no longer hold true. It was why he had already decided that his first four attribute enhancements would increase his resistance to their spells.