Calvin made his way to the shores of the lake. His short journey there was surreal. Just hours ago, this same walk would have taken him through bustling workshops, past groups of citizens working to make Olympus better. Children would have been running through the streets, playing some new game they made up to keep themselves entertained. They would have selectively ignored their parent’s calls to slow down or stay out of the way.
Now, those same shops lay in ruins. The citizens were huddled around by the shore, waiting for the all-clear from the soldiers who were roaming the streets to ensure no more beetles were lying in wait. The children were no longer playing, instead they were crying.
Calvin approached the families and wondered just what he was going to say to them. He searched his brain for any series of words he could put together to ease their concerns. Several families stood up and walked forward to meet him.
“Thank you.” one of the men approaching him said.
“We’re in your debt. We saw what happened to Ian. We’ll do anything we can to help.” another woman said as she grabbed Calvin in a tight hug.
He was in shock. This was not the reaction he’d expected. Looking around, he saw respect and admiration amongst the citizens. The soldiers who were there keeping everyone calm, stood as they saw him and saluted.
He steeled himself and spoke, “I know things are tough right now. I’m truly sorry this has happened to you. We had a plan to reduce the risk to Olympus and its citizens and it backfired. We made a promise to give you a home and to keep you safe, and today we didn’t deliver on that.”
“That’s nonsense!” shouted a man from the rear of the crowd. Murmurs of agreement followed suit. “Those monsters were coming sooner or later. If it wasn’t for you, we’d have no walls. We’d have been taken in the first wave. That monster broke through the walls and you stopped it.”
“I appreciate that,” Calvin said, “regardless, I want to reiterate to you now that we are committed to your safety and protection. I can’t always promise things will go as expected… but I can promise that we’re always going to do our best. I haven’t had a chance to check in with the various efforts to locate any missing or wounded defenders, which I will do now. I do know we’ve lost some brave people during the attack. We will take time to grieve, we’ll repair the town and then we will get back to getting all of us through this tutorial.”
Several people approached Calvin to offer their support and reaffirm their trust in his group. The burden was still there within him, but spending time with these people and hearing them put their faith in him, strengthened his resolve. He did feel responsible for what happened, they might not feel that way, but he certainly did. He knew he didn’t need to make amends for it, but he was going to use this to fuel his future actions. He would not let something like this happen again if he could stop it.
Calvin spent the next hour checking in on the various efforts around town. There had been five casualties, most of them from the collapsing wall. They would gather the bodies and prepare them for their final rest.
The others had already instructed Andy to begin the cleanup and repairs. Nanites were already going to work breaking down the debris and reconstructing the destroyed structures.
The walls were being rebuilt as well, and Calvin made a note to consult the others about reinforcing them even further. His team can’t always be here, and they needed to turn Olympus into an impenetrable fortress.
After an hour, the group had gathered in Ian’s cabin for a debrief. They had new citizens to get settled in, quests looming on the horizon, fortification efforts to plan, and the issue of Knox. Everyone in the main group had reached or surpassed level 20 as well and would spend some time getting their upgrades. Calvin, Ian, and Seth were all at 24 now. Amy and Freya had both reached 23. Crash’s team was also over 20 with Reaper at 22. None besides Calvin had gotten their level 20 skills, this meant the group was about to get a serious upgrade in power.
After their debrief, Marshall left with Tank’s crew to go get the newcomers settled in. They would get housing situated for them and identify any particular areas of expertise they might have to support Olympus. Ian was in better spirits now but asked to have some time alone while he went through his skill upgrades. Calvin, Amy, and Freya made their way to the shore. Calvin would wait quietly with them while they went through their upgrades.
And upgrades they were. Level 20 had been incredibly generous with the power for the two of them, just as it had been for Calvin.
Amy’s upgrade was just insane. She was already extremely deadly on the battlefield, however, she lacked a strong movement skill. The system saw fit to shore up that particular weakness.
Death’s Door: The Glitch Blade can freely walk through death’s door. Reappearing behind a target, enabling a deadly strike. This skill can be activated twice within 10 seconds, either selecting a new target or reappearing at the original location. This skill replaces Phase Shift and is a continuously evolving skill, having many options to evolve and grow with the wielder.
While she lost Phase Shift, she’d only found it truly useful once so far. Ideally, she wouldn’t find herself in direct face-to-face combat, leaving the skill’s primary usefulness in escaping bonds. Death’s Door should allow for her to escape just as effectively as long as she had a target. She’d also gained her first evolving skill. The potential for this one was endless and Amy’s imagination surged with possibilities.
Freya’s skill was no exception, and could possibly be the most powerful one yet.
Titanic Guardian: The Lupine Guardian calls upon pure primal essence, tripling their size and stats. This effect lasts for 1 minute. While transformed, all of the lupine guardian's skills are enhanced, either gaining additional power or effects.
The description was a little vague regarding what enhancements her other skills could receive, but hot damn, the primary effect of the skill was powerful enough.
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The fun didn’t stop there either for Freya. She’d evolved Afterimage.
Afterimage has evolved to Pack Hunter
Pack Hunter: The Lupine Guardian phases through space reappearing a short distance away, creating three identical duplicates. These duplicates can move independently and even simulate attacks. They are visual illusions and can not deal or receive any damage. They will expire after a short duration. This is a continuously evolving skill, having many options to evolve and grow with the wielder.
Now that skill upgrades were out of the way, they had a few more items to attend to. Not the least of which was checking out the missive rewards. With everything going on, they’d nearly forgotten about them.
Upon opening the Missive menu and completing them, Calvin saw he was essentially rich. At least he thought so. Based on his contributions to the missives, he’d obtained just over 300,000 credits. Since that was triple the starting amount of the town treasury, it had to be quite a bit. They couldn’t buy anything with them yet, besides trading them between each other, so it remained to be seen just how useful they would be.
The real treasure were those mysterious ??? rewards that had been listed for the bosses. Calvin could see now why they were hidden.
Missive Reward - Nightclaw Queen - Your exceptional contribution to the completion of this missive has earned you a Platinum Grade reward.
Nightclaw Lance (Platinum): This lance is tipped with a claw of the Nightclaw queen. Spikes from the Nightclaw Queen’s mane decorate the end of the haft. Once per recharge, with a long recharge period, the wielder can launch the spikes into the air, turning them into deadly, piercing projectiles focusing a single target. The latent wind attunement of the claw grants the weapon the Windblade enchantment. (Speed+3, Power +3)
Windblade (Enchantment) - The blade of this weapon is highly attuned with wind energy. Slashes with this weapon will concentrate this energy at the tip, generating a crescent shaped wind blade. The distance this blade travels is based upon the speed of the swing.
Calvin placed his obsidian spear into his pouch and accepted the Nightclaw lance. The weapon felt entirely different in his hands. He faced the lake and slashed his weapon in a slow arc. It cut effortlessly through the air. He could feel the thrumming of power as a crescent of air shot out from the blade. The windblade only traveled a few feet. He swung again, much faster this time, sending a blade of air rocketing across the surface of the lake. Spray kicked up from the water as the blade skimmed over it, this time traveling nearly 30 feet. Oh, this is going to come in real handy. He thought.
Missive Reward - Herculean Spinecharge Beetle - Your exceptional contribution to the completion of this missive has earned you a Gold grade reward.
Boots of Herculean Momentum (Gold) - These boots are crafted using the chitinous shell and metallic armor of the Herculean Spinecharge Beetle. They are infused with the essence of momentum itself. The wearer of these boots will gain greater control over their own momentum, allowing them to increase or decrease it at will. Altering momentum will have an energy cost that grows with the amount of change. (Toughness +2, Speed +1)
Calvin was a little confused by these boots. They didn’t say he could change his speed, but his momentum. He would need to get these boots on and try out this feature. He set them on the ground beside him and moved on to the final reward.
Missive Reward - Glintscale Alpha - Your exceptional contribution to the completion of this missive has earned you a Platinum Grade reward.
Inscription of Primal Rage (Platinum) - This inscription can be applied to any piece of equipment, granting it the Primal Rage enchantment.
Primal Rage (Enchantment) - Draw upon pure primal essence, greatly enhancing your speed and power. This ability drains stamina at an increasing rate for every second this ability is active.
Now this is new. Inscriptions are something they hadn’t heard of yet. He’d likely want to use it on a piece of equipment that would be with him for some time, as it sounded like it was a one time use thing. Being able to adjust his speed and power on command synergized well with the new spear he got and he’d wondered if maybe he should apply it to that. He quickly discarded that idea though. If he replaced his spear in the future, he would lose access to multiple enchantments which would weaken him significantly if he wasn’t able to replace them. He would think on this some and talk with Seth. Maybe he would have some suggestions for how to use this.
Amy and Freya had both made out with some fantastic upgrades as well. Freya had only landed a Silver reward for the Herculean Beetle, which was understandable, its armor was just too much of an obstacle for her teeth and claws. Somewhat comically, her reward from that fight was a brand new set of doggie armor, made from the same material. It had no special enchantments, but it did look extremely durable. She’d also received an inscription from the Nightclaw Queen reward.
Inscription of Primal Roar (Gold) - This inscription can be applied to any piece of jewelry granting the Primal Roar enchantment.
Primal Roar (Enchantment) - Empower your voice with pure primal essence. Your voice sends shock waves or raw power through the space in front of you. This ability has a long recharge.
Calvin had seen the Nightclaw Queen use this ability on Tank and Crash. When it had happened, it tore large fissures in the earth as it traveled. Calvin didn’t know if the power level on this would be the same as when the Queen used it, but this was certainly an upgrade to Freya’s combat potential.
Amy’s upgrades were substantial… like, unbelievably so. Her rewards from the Nightclaw Queen and the beetle were both platinum and damn, they didn’t hold anything back.
Nightclaw Mane Bracers (Platinum): These bracers are crafted from the hide of the Nightclaw Queen and generate Nightclaw mane spikes. These spikes are dagger class items and can receive any effects that apply to daggers. These spikes fly true when thrown and have exceptional armor piercing capabilities. The spikes on the bracers regenerate over time, providing the wearer a consistent supply. (Speed +3, Power +1)
Of course, if that wasn’t powerful enough, the reward from the Herculean Spinecharge beetle was just icing on the ass kicking cake.
Corrosive Spatial Bandolier of Blades (Platinum): This bandolier is a spatially attuned item allowing for the storage of up to six dagger class weapons. Daggers stored within this bandolier are enchanted with the corrosive acid of the Herculean Spinecharge beetle and retain the enchantment for a short duration. Daggers can be stored and withdrawn directly into the user’s hands.
From the Glintscale, she’d received something that spoke more of utility than power.
Nanoweave Bola (Gold): This durable bola is crafted from nanoweave fibers that can alter their length and weight to suit their target. This tool is designed to snare a target, inhibiting its movements. If destroyed, the bola can be infused with nanite energy to regenerate it.
All in all, every single upgrade they’d received would be massively impactful. Calvin imagined having access to all of these upgrades for the fights they’d just been through and the balance of power would have been shifted entirely in their favor. Now he and Amy were itching to check on the others and see what upgrades they’d gotten.
Calvin and Amy made to head back into town but were interrupted by several frantic yips from Freya.
They turned to see what had the pup causing such a ruckus. There she was, tail wagging as fiercely as could be, standing over her new set of armor. She needed Calvin to help her put it on.