Emily knocked on the door, waiting only a second before it was ripped open by a smiling Jason.
“Emily!” Jason’s face split into a brilliant smile. “Just the girl I was looking for. Come in, come in. We don’t have much time.”
Emily looked up at the abandoned townhouse and then back at New Ashland’s walls, several streets away. She frowned, and her hand fell to the hilt of her sword, but she stepped in after Jason anyway.
“Why are you here? There was a new sighting of a Broodmother near the coast. They’re calling in our team to deal with it. We need your help,” Emily said.
“What? Oh. I guess. Sure. Let me show you what I’ve been working on first. It’s time-sensitive.”
Jason insistently pulled Emily into the kitchen of the commandeered townhouse. It was a modern affair, with steel appliances and a large internal island. On the island sat three mugs with amber-colored liquid inside. Two of the three were steaming, and the third was half empty.
Emily frowned at the frivolity.
“Right this way, don’t be shy. Oh! Right...Tea?” Jason paused, gesturing to the mugs frenetically. “We’ve got Mirkroot, Fresamp and Citruna. Good, gross, and poisons the shit out of you. Ok, well, not gross. Fresamp just kinda tastes like sour dirt. Though now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure a Fresamp is a monster, so is it technically tea?”
Jason snapped his fingers rapidly in frustration.
“Broth! That’s the word! Actually, that doesn’t sound right either. Whatever. Oh! And watch out for the petals in Mirkroot. They’re pretty, and man, do they carry the flavor, but don’t let them touch your tongue. It’s like licking jalapeno paste.”
“I’ll pass,” Emily’s frown deepened. “Don’t tell me I had to track you down here because you were brewing...tea.”
“No...this is just a side project to help me think,” Jason’s manic grin dimmed. Then, his watch beeped twice, and the grin returned in full force. “Ohp! Thirty-second timer. Trust me, I’ve been working on something way better! Come on, or we’ll miss it. Let’s go, go, go!”
Jason urged Emily down a set of stairs to the basement. The sound of a monster clicking sounded from below. Emily paused, but she resumed when Jason shot her an impatient look.
“Alright, so I’ve been working on figuring this thing out. You know creation abilities? Like sand, or venom or Broodmother spawn? So, you know how their duration is all over the place? Well! I think I’ve figured out the formula!”
Emily paused again as they burst into a well-lit, carpeted basement. In the center of the room sat three large plastic bins on a cheap plastic foldout table. The left two were empty and mostly melted, with splotchy burnt holes covering them. The rightmost one was full of a familiar pale yellow venom that was sizzling slightly.
The Saphleer Burrower, the source of the venom, hung suspended and angry on the far side of the room. The monster looked like a megascalled roly-poly. Its heavy dark gray armor shielded its back, and eighteen multi-jointed legs waved uselessly in the air.
“Ok, any second now.” Jason dragged Emily’s attention back to the bins. “Three...two... Bam!”
Suddenly, the venom started shrinking. It melted away into glowing motes of flickering dust that faded after a second. The gradual process had barely begun when Jason turned to Emily with a shit-eating grin.
“Right on the money!” Jason burst out in a full belly laugh. Emily blinked, startled by the rare sound. It had felt like forever since she heard anything but complaining and grumbling. It was nice, though Emily had no idea what there was to get so excited about. This was just how abilities worked.
“...What am I looking at?” Emily asked, interrupting Jason’s impromptu celebratory dance.
“Right,” Jason straightened. “So check this out.”
Jason reached for a notepad lying on the table and held it up to her. She glanced at it, but it just seemed to list an endless series of numbers. The top row was underlined with a hashtag on the left column and a triple underlined squiggly t above the right.
“I started recording the duration of the burrower's spitting venom attack. Here: 66.3 seconds, 79.5, 59 and a half, then back to 66 seconds. And on and on. It looks random, but you can kinda get a feel for how long it will last. It’s like...a zitzyness in the air.” Jason smacked his lips. “Like when you creme brulee orange zest, you know?”
Emily felt a headache begin around her temples. Jason frowned, oblivious, and lowered the notebook.
“That’s shit though! I want precision, dammit. Not vague cooking metaphors. The observed durations don’t follow any sequence I know of.”
Jason slapped the notepad onto the desk and pointed wildly at the staircase.
“But we know from Tyler’s complaining that his sand lasts longer if he really focuses. Which means, that these skill durations I recorded? They are random, in a way. As in, Squishy over there is just a lazy—”
“You named the burrower?” Emily cut in.
“Yes, yes. Not relevant to the story.” Jason waved her off. “So I was scratching my ass, wondering what the hell all this meant when suddenly, Squishy poops out a blob that only lasts for six seconds. 6.63 seconds precisely.”
Jason straightened, his grin growing triumphant.
“That’s when it hit me. If we divide all the other times by 6.63, we get...drumroll, please...Integers!”
Jason held his arms out expectantly.
Emily crossed her arms. “Which means, what, exactly?”
“Gah!” Jason dragged his hand through his buzz cut. “It means that skill duration is discrete and is limited by an upper maximum! A maximum, by the way, that I bet my left buttcheek is correlated with a person’s Saf. It means that we can mentally limit the duration and maybe even the power of our skills up to a—”
“Hold on,” Emily interrupted. “Are you telling me you want to make our abilities weaker?”
“...Well,” Jason blinked, his train of thought railroaded. He seemed to register her expression for the first time since she walked in. “I guess the correct answer here is...no?”
“No.” Emily repeated flatly.
“Okay, maybe, but hear me out—”
“No, Jason. There is a time and place for...this!” Emily gestured grandly to the basement. “But this is not the time. You are one of the most powerful tanks we have. Do you realize that every time you don't deal with a broodmother, half a dozen people spend days in the infirmary? You are the only one we have that takes zero damage from Broodmothers. Think about that. Do you realize how much chaos you cause every time someone has to track you down when one spawns? Huh?”
Jason’s cheerfulness melted away. Replaced by a sullen glower that robbed all emotion from his steel gray eyes.
“I do my part, Emily,” Jason said softly. “I’m not slacking off to do this. I’ve killed just as many monsters as anyone else.”
“That’s the point! You shouldn’t do ‘just as much’. You should do more. With great power, literally comes great responsibility.”
“You did not just make a Spiderman reference,” Jason smirked.
“Shut up, you get what I mean,” Emily scowled through a blush. “People are relying—”
Just then, a pulse washed over the house’s foundations, rocking the structure. Jason and Emily staggered, momentarily stunned by the sudden shift. The Burrower was yanked up, and its flailing legs latched onto the ceiling. A second later, its vicious claws shredded the ropes containing it, and it crashed to the floor with an infuriated hiss.
Emily didn’t waste a second. She dashed into the creature’s space, her sword torn from its scabbard and impaled lengthwise through the creature in the blink of an eye. It screeched, thrashing at her. She sidestepped the wild flailing and ripped her blade out. It arced beautifully, splattering the far wall in ichor before slamming hilt deep in the Burrower.
‘ding!’ ‘Your party has slain a lvl 11 Saphleer Burrower. Experience awarded’
“What did you do?” Emily turned on Jason.
“What did I do? You stabbed Squishy!”
A ringing siren sounded in the distance. It was so loud that they could hear it even through the thick walls of the basement.
“And...that’s the alarm.” Emily’s frown deepened. “Come on!”
They burst out of the house and were greeted by a massive column of black smoke in the distance. It hung like a dark god over the waterfront. Darkness fell over the port area, blocking out the midday sun as a host of tiny figures swarmed out of the shade. Even as they watched, the clouds slowly spread out in a radial ring.
“Ahh,” Jason stopped beside her. His eyes had lost their humor. “I did not do that.”
Emily growled and sprinted away, leaving Jason to catch up. A battle broke out in front of the western wall. They ran toward the veritable light show illuminating the side of the buildings as a series of detonations rocked the air. The ground shook as dozens of explosions, projectiles, and various other skills barraged what must have been an army. Beneath it all, there was a distant rumbling of hundreds of marching feet and rumbling metal.
“Might I suggest we don’t run face-first into the meat grinder?” Jason said conversationally. “Ya know, I just feel like our melee talents would be better served elsewhere.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed, trying to gauge the battle. In principle, Jason was correct. The ACPD seemed to be holding, though that could change in a moment, and then Jason and Emily’s talents would be vital.
“The portal,” Emily said. “There was an Iron rift halfway down Madison Shore Road. That’s, like, right under that black cloud. We need to scout it out and destroy it if we can.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
----------------------------------------
Jason glanced around the bend toward the rumble of stomping metal on asphalt coupled with the background hiss of steam. The four strange monsters emitting the sounds were obvious. They stalked blatantly down the center of the street in formation.
‘ding!’ ‘Ironforged Shocktrooper lvl 15’
...
‘ding!’ ‘Ironforged Shocktrooper lvl 15’
Each one stood on six sharpened legs spread out beneath it like a spider. The legs were attached to a flat, spindly body supporting a blazing engine. Dark smoke belched out of three inline valves that spun various gears and rods. The smoke vanished into glittering motes of light above the Ironforged Shocktroopers. A skill creation of some sort. A semi-humanoid upper body with a vertical glowing slit for an eye formed the front of the creatures. It had two stubby arms holding a black iron shield and a long spear.
Jason grinned, already cataloging potential weak points, as he stepped out onto the main street. The new creatures paused briefly, then charged. He charged them right back, roaring at the top of his lungs to aggro them and give Emily the space she needed to deal damage.
When the first creature approached, Jason activated [Callous Hide]. The skill zinged across his skin, buzzing unhappily and struggling against his attempt to restrict its duration. The effect succeeded but not completely, and he felt a tiny amount of gray stamina accrue in his chest.
He mentally tsked but let it go. He hadn’t mastered the process yet, but it was still leagues better than autocasting.
The monster was on him. The spear grazed past his ear as he dodged under it. The stabbing legs nearly impaled his shoe as he let the large metal mass knock him into its brethren. He slipped smoothly under the second's legs, taking a hit to the helmet by a spinning axle as he emerged right in front of the third.
Its spear tore through his bicep as he vaulted over its shield to land on its back. His face received a blast of smoke, but his hands were already on target. They wrapped around a fragile-looking metal guide rod as he rolled off the monster’s back.
The rod tore, ripping out something that looked important. The monster let out a warbling hiss of escaped steam, but Jason barely had time to register it as he frantically jumped aside just as the fourth creature’s spear smashed into his chest.
His leather chestplate dimpled around the spear tip. He grunted, struggling not to lose his breath as the attack launched him onto the sidewalk. He rolled, smoothly rising to his feet.
All four creatures turned to face him.
Perfect. Operation Aggro was a success.
Jason grinned as he pulled up his status.
Health : 90% |██████████████████████▁▁▁| 210/234
Stamina : 94% |███████████████████████▁▒| 122/130
Good enough. He hadn’t gained any levels recently, but he had invested his remaining 30 points into constitution. That alone had doubled his health and increased his stamina by a fair margin. The multiplicative improvement granted by the second Saf further magnified the effect.
And also.
‘ding!’ ‘[Flesh Reconstruction] has reached level 31’
There was that too.
Then, the creatures were on him again. He barely had time to think as spears, shields, and stabbing legs thrust in from all sides. He dodged back, giving ground easily. Now that the monsters were focused on him, there was no need to employ aggressive tactics. Even still, attacks inevitably sneaked through. He ignored them, trusting in his massive health pool and [Flesh Reconstruction] to soak up the hits.
His world narrowed to a tight blur. Thoughts escaped from his mind as the perfect calm of focus settled over him. He dodged and weaved. Threw a kick at a delicate joint. Tore out a fragile component.
He danced.
The first Shocktrooper died with a tortured scream of twisted iron that finally clued him into Emily’s efforts. His grin grew wider and the fight devolved. His style immediately became more aggressive, forcing the monsters to focus on him whenever they turned toward his DPS. More superficial injuries appeared before melting away under the power of [Flesh Reconstruction].
In no time, the second Shocktrooper fell. Then the third, and finally, the fourth.
Jason staggered, gasping for air as the last monstrosity creaked into a broken heap. Emily’s sword stood proud out of the creature’s abdomen, piercing right through its chest and deep into the furnace on its back. He opened his status and let the notifications blur by.
‘ding!’ ‘Your party has slain a lvl 15 Ironforged Shocktrooper. Experience awarded’
...
‘ding!’ ‘Your party has slain a lvl 15 Ironforged Shocktrooper. Experience awarded’
‘ding!’ ‘Congratulations! Your level has increased to 13. 5 stat points awarded’
‘ding!’ ‘Congratulations! Your level has increased to 14. 5 stat points awarded’
‘ding!’ ‘[Callous Hide] has reached level 4’
‘ding!’ ‘Congratulations! You have learned the skill [Iron Resistance]’
‘ding!’ ‘[Iron Resistance] has reached level 1’
‘ding!’ ‘[Iron Resistance] has reached level 2’
Jason raised his eyebrows at the strange resistance. What did Iron Resistance even mean? Why not stab? After all, they were using spears.
“Good tanking,” Emily said as she pulled off her helmet and shot Jason a rare smile. Sweat soaked her bangs, and she’d acquired that vaguely haggard look that Jason had started associating with high amounts of gray stamina. “I need a minute.”
Jason nodded as Emily slumped to the sidewalk. He was also winded, though he felt his stamina slowly recover with every second. He’d gained a small chunk of gray stamina, but not nearly enough to cripple him.
Jason’s eyes shifted to the black cloud above the waterfront. It seeped outward like a contagion, darkening more land with every passing minute. They had just reached the edge of it, and Jason still could not believe its effect on the land beneath.
The asphalt roads and concrete sidewalks buckled as metal girders burst from underneath. Buildings groaned as rusted catwalks ripped through them to connect them to other buildings.
Jason could only stare in awe as the city before him glacially transformed into a hellish factory straight out of a dystopian nightmare. It was fascinating, though he supposed it wasn’t the time to gape in wonder.
The battle raging before the western wall was still going strong. Lights and detonations rumbled through the city as what seemed like an endless stream of robotic automata milled toward the noise. In principle, the ACPD could cycle fighters in order to avoid crippling skill exhaustion. The only issue was that just because the Ironforged appeared didn’t mean that the other monsters had despawned.
They seemed to be drawn by the noise.
“Incoming,” Jason called Emily’s attention. A Saphleer Broodmother rolled laboriously out of an alley. A wave of stinging insects preceded it, blurring the air with their chaotic movement.
Emily struggled to her feet. She managed but swayed drunkenly as she raised her blade toward the Broodmother. Her face drained of color as she shakily slipped on her helmet.
“Let me handle this,” Jason said conversationally.
Jason stepped past her and approached the Broodmother. The wave of stinging insects enveloped him, but he didn’t even bother activating [Callous Hide]. His skin prickled as hundreds of stingers stabbed and were subsequently spit out by [Flesh Reconstruction].
He’d long since lost interest in the immobile swarm host. There really was only one thing it had left to give him.
‘ding!’ ‘[Venom Resistance] has reached level 10’
‘ding!’ ‘[Venom Resistance] has reached the limit of the first Saf. Choose another skill to guide its evolution’
And...done. Jason rolled his shoulders as his health flickered with every sting. The cloud of insects buzzed angrily as he casually jumped up on top of the blubbery beast. He set his dagger against its hide and pulled out his hammer.
Then he started pounding.
The Saphleer Broodmother waved its four heads in distress. With ponderous difficulty, it started rolling away. Jason just tsked under his breath and shifted positions. The dagger slammed hilt deep into the beast, and he started sawing. The serrated teeth of the knife caught and tore the thick flesh, though not without difficulty.
It was brutal and gross, but Jason simply didn’t have the strength or skills to kill the creature more humanely. In due time, he dug his way to the creature’s core, and it died.
‘ding!’ ‘Your party has slain a lvl 21 Saphleer Broodmother. Experience awarded’
‘ding!’ ‘Congratulations! Your level has increased to 15. 5 stat points awarded’
“Mission accomplished!” Jason quirked a cheeky grin at Emily. She walked up, her face hidden by her helmet.
“How do you still have so much stamina?” She said.
“I mean, I do have a lot more constitution than you,” Jason shrugged. “But it's like I told you before. I can restrict the duration of [Callous Hide]. I have to time it well, but it takes a lot less stamina that way.”
The silence dragged, and Jason was starting to feel sticky.
“Okay,” Jason broke the silence. “We’re close to the waterfront. Want me to go ahead, or...”
Emily just shook her head, and they set off together. Progress was slow, but they’d nearly arrived already. They rounded the final corner and looked down the transformed street. The pillar of black smoke erupted from a cruel-looking black iron factory that most definitely hadn’t been there previously.
A pack of four monsters marched out of the factory and moved toward New Ashland’s western wall.
After a moment, “Rift’s gone,” Jason said.
He refrained from remarking on what that meant. Did the rift explode? Were they seeing the result of a pocket dimension fusing with the natural world? Did that confirm or deny the existence of higher dimensions? They were all fascinating questions, though he doubted Emily would appreciate such speculation at the moment.
Nothing more needed to be said. The both of them had achieved their self-ordained mission, so they headed back to New Ashland. Leaving took significantly longer than coming in, even though they didn’t fight nearly as much. While Jason could easily solo an isolated Broodmother, he didn’t have the resistances or the damage to do the same with a pack of Ironforged Stormtroopers.
Emily’s gray stamina would take at least 24 hours to recover, so they avoided as many fights as possible. They raced against the strange biome-shifting effect behind them, losing a step to the biome’s advance for every two they took.
Eventually, they arrived at the outskirts of New Ashland but had to travel some more as the biome had consumed parts of the sanctuary. A rotating army of survivors blasted any monster brazen enough to approach, but the biome simply didn’t care. It encroached, and the darkness forced the people back.
Jason and Emily headed for the ACPD, which was thankfully not yet subsumed. Chaos reigned as messengers rushed in and out of the doors. Jason tuned out the shouted communications. He was utterly exhausted, even with his excessive skill limiting. It imparted a separate mental strain that seemed determined to pull his eyelids down.
“Emily! Jason!” Corinne’s voice broke Jason out of his reverie. “I’m so glad you’re safe!”
“Corinne,” Emily gave a wane smile. Then, she chuckled. “Sorry, stamina exhaustion. We’ve just come back from scouting the heart of whatever this thing is.”
“Right,” Corinne said seriously, grasping Emily by her shoulders. “We’ve deduced that the smoke is hovering right above the location of the Iron rift. Which is corroborated by the presence of all the Ironforged creatures.”
“Yeah, so. The rift is gone. There is nothing there when we checked. Just a big factory building spewing smoke.”
“Ahh,” Corinne nodded slowly, a grim frown marring her smooth features. After a moment, she said simply. “There are two other rifts in the area.”
What was left unsaid was that there was no telling when those two rifts would collapse. New Ashland had been pushed hard, losing nearly half of its territory. If another rift collapsed, there may not have been a New Ashland by the following week.
“Hey! Rebecca!” Corinne flagged down an older woman dressed as a secretary. “Could you tell the Chief that the Iron Rift has vanished? Confirmed just now.”
The woman, presumably Rebecca, nodded and rushed deeper into the ACPD.
“They are going to ask you two for a more complete report later,” Corinne sighed, then forced a smile. “But that’s for later. And you, Jason, how are you doing? Are you eating well?”
“Here and there,” Jason shrugged noncommittally. “I’m not much use against the Ironforged. At least the Saphleer were biological, so I could...you know.” He gestured vaguely to his hammer and knife.
“Well, I’m sure everything will be alright,” Corinne laughed. “By the way, where were you this morning? We were looking everywhere, some people even thought you jumped ship and drove to Chicago.”
“Uh,” Jason started, but Emily elbowed him in the gut.
“He was out on patrol,” she interrupted. “Something about trying to figure out a way to avoid stamina exhaustion, though the details kinda went over my head. Right, Jason?”
“Uh, yeah...” Jason met Emily’s expectant eyes with a slight frown of his own.
“Oh?” Corinne smiled warmly. “I hope the method doesn’t involve letting a monster attack you like your last idea, eh?”
“Eh. Not as much, no.”
“Well,” Corinne paused. A large group of citizens burst out of the station. “Oh, I’ve got to go. I’d love to hear about your discovery later, Jason, but my mana is back to full. You know how it is.”
“Sure,” Jason agreed amiably as the blond girl dashed to join the departing group. She vanished in the chaos around them. For his part, Jason turned to locate a bed he could crash in. Before he could, a passing group drafted him to help with assisting in moving an injured man on a stretcher to the healers.
Emily, with her haggard, shadowed eyes, was naturally urged to those same healers to rest and recuperate.
It was bloody unfair.