There was supposed to be a Bronze level den between the roof I had left Hydramental on and my apartment.

As I was speeding back, Jon pointed out that the map had one directly in my path so it made sense to clear it out instead of circling back. It wasn’t like my level up was going anywhere, nor did I really need it to clear what now felt like painfully easy bases at Bronze level. But as I landed on a roof opposite the marked location, nothing got highlighted. I even entered the building from the top floor only for a system message to open that read:

“Alert. This Viper Den has been abandoned. Updated total: 7 of 11 Viper Dens cleared.”

While it sucked that I couldn’t collect Phase Points for clearing it out, I searched through the building and discovered another journal. Well, at least it looked like a journal; it only had a single page filled with what looked like a random assortment of timetables. I wasn’t quite sure what it meant but I pulled it into my B.E.L.T. to investigate later. I had a theory and had Jon point me to the closest Silver level den.

Sure enough, it was the exact same story. The building refused to be highlighted and once I stepped inside, the total updated once again, dropping down to 10 remaining dens. The place looked like it had been abandoned in a hurry and while I rummaged around hoping for more clues, I managed to scoop up an extra 1500 credits and a Resuscitation Injector which I happily stowed away.

This led to me checking the rest of the locations, discovering one by one that each of the Silver dens had been abandoned in a similarly hurried manner. I had wondered just where all the Vipers had come from when they burst out of the sewer, but I hadn’t thought that they would be scavenged from most of my remaining dens. I would have been upset about the loss of potential Phase Points if I hadn’t just gained nearly 4000 points. I’d never know just how many I would have gotten if I had taken them on one at a time, but I was over the 10k requirement with two days still left to go, so I couldn't complain too much. Between the last 3 Silver dens, there were 3000 credits and a third journal. This one was even less helpful than the random timetables, with what looked like a random assortment of dots, slashes, and lines dotting the first few pages.

If I hadn’t been fully aware that Axio was up to something in the background, I’d have thought it was almost too easy to get past the now seemingly low point threshold. Even then, I would have assumed it was just because he had been toying with me if Jon hadn’t confirmed that 6 of the 10 people on the Top Ten list had crossed the barrier as well. He couldn't check the longer version of the list to see the total remaining players, nor could he see how many people weren't on track to cross the threshold, but it still felt like it was easier than I had initially anticipated. Jon on the other hand was seemingly disappointed in the wave as a whole. Something about "real gamers would have crossed that 10k line before the first day had even ended" that he muttered while I flew back across the neighborhood.

By the time I had checked all of my remaining den locations, only the Gold one had been left for me to tackle. I had expected this one to be in some grand location, and while it wasn’t necessarily shabby, I wasn’t expecting it to be an actual jazz club nestled on the first floor of a building. Unlike the other dens, this one still let me highlight it and after some deliberation, Jon and I agreed it might be better to circle back to it after leveling and taking a look at the bigger picture.

While the Silver and Bronze dens had been relatively easy for me to take down, the last and only Gold den I had faced had been the one I had faced with Hydramental. I didn’t think I could count on that one being indicative of just how difficult Gold dens would actually be. Even if I hadn’t had Hydramental’s help, my talk with Axio had made it clear that he had tinkered with just how things went down.

So, I flew back home, with a pocket full of credits and more than a few things to take care of.

“The rising star is back!” Jon whooped from the Command Room as I closed the front door behind me, having opted to come in through the roof. “Number 2 on the top ten and the news has been showing footage of your fight down on 9th for the last hour.”

I looked over at the television and saw a shot from what must have been the fourth or fifth floor of a building. There was a swarm of snake-men with many of them looking like they were trying to run away but getting absolutely nowhere before I suddenly went shooting toward the sky. Jon hadn’t been kidding, the cameraman had kept a perfectly steady hand and tracked my entire trip up into the air, catching as I backflipped and went rocketing back to the ground.

“Damn you weren’t kidding… that was a great shot… Wait, did you say I was number 2?” I asked as I pulled my eyes off the television and opened the leaderboard in my interface.

Tenth Wave

Guardians: 325 Miscreants: 471

1. Tempest’s Wrath - Level 11 Thunder God - Miscreant - 15420 Points

2. Loophole - Level 8 Perfect Planner - Guardian - 12675 Points

3. Freakenstein - Level 9 Patchwork Armorer - Miscreant - 11765 Points

4. Swansong - Level 8 Healing Voice - Guardian- 10670 Points

5. Duke Juke’em- Level 8 Highschool Athlete - Miscreant - 10525 Points

6. Quizmaster - Level 7 Gameshow Host - Miscreant - 10050 Points

7. Pretty Pink Warthog - Level 7 Berserking Boar - Guardian - 9240 Points

8. Vice Grip - Level 7 Toolbox Mechanic - Guardian - 9125 Points

9. Pigeon - Level 7 Pigeon - Miscreant - 8615 Points

10. Hydramental - Level 7 Elemental Everyman - Guardian - 8125 Points

I had almost been surprised to see Hydramental at the bottom of the list, but whether I wanted to admit it or not, he had taken down a good chunk of the horde on his own, even if he had been trying to attack me at the same time. If he had gotten enough of them and gotten the same Crowdpleaser boost that I had gotten then it only made sense that he had jumped up the board.

My level up stat screen wasn’t going to wait any longer as it forced its way into my vision. Jon didn't vocalize any objection to following what we had already discussed, so I quickly dropped two points into Luck and two into Intelligence, effectively allowing me to finally absorb the Quantum Shenanigans book. Before I could do that, my Level 8 Ability Augmentation opened and my countdown was on. It hadn’t come up again, so I decided to go with Gravity Punch and selected it, letting the window populate before the timer began to tick down.

“Gravity Punch. Level 2 Activated Ability. Rapidly compress gravity directly around your fist before you throw a punch. For every 5% of your stamina deal an additional 60% damage from your base attack up to a maximum of 600% increased damage. If you have spent at least 25% of your stamina, knock the opponent backwards 15 feet and an additional 5 feet for every added 5% of your stamina spent. This ability has a 5 second cooldown.”

“First Modification Option! Group Up! Gravity Punch’s knockback effect now happens at all levels, 3 feet for every 5% of your Stamina. Additionally, enemies within 10 feet of the impact point are pulled in at a speed of 20 meters per second and are hit for 50% of your initial damage. For every 10% of your stamina spent, increase the range of affected enemies by 3 feet. All factors of this ability cap at 50%.”

“Second Modification Option! Limit Breaker! This augmentation removes the cap for Stamina cost, allowing you to further increase the amount of damage dealt with each blow. Damage dealt with attacks over 50% increases at a rate of 120% additional damage for every 5% of stamina spent. ”

“Third Modification Option! ” Momentum Surge! After delivering a Gravity Punch, grant yourself a Speed Up buff, increasing your Movement Speed and Agility by 25% for 10 seconds. Your speed is increased by 5% for every 10% of your Stamina spent, capping at 50%. Movement Speed does not stack over subsequent uses of this ability, however subsequent attacks will refresh any current buff at the higher of the two movement increases.”

“Damn, I was really hoping for something with more fine tune control,” I said as I wandered toward the Command Room.

“They’re not bad options though, Group Up is a bit like throwing Center of the Universe on an enemy and Limit Breaker could let you throw some crazy strong attacks, but 50% of 2000 stamina and 50% of 3000 is the same thing at the end of the day, at least as far as the ability cares, so the only real bonus is the increased damage you get when throwing attacks stronger than 50% which... well I don't know how often you'd actually do that,” Jon said as I watched the timer tick down. “I think I’d go with Momentum Surge, the speed up starts on a 5% attack and even if it doesn’t stack the buff, that base 25% boost is pretty damn good.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Tick tock Loophoooooole,” Angie said as the timer ticked down past 10 seconds. “I mean, I’ll be happy to select for you if you won’t do it.”

I thought about it for just a few more seconds before I resolved myself and selected the Limit Breaker modification.

“Damn really? And here I thought you valued my opinion,” Jon said with mock outrage. He turned around in his chair, his legs crisscrossed and a bowl of popcorn in his lap. “What’s the thought?”

“With most of the snakes back at the swarm, strong enough attacks were able to overpower or maybe bypass their defenses. I might be wrong, but if I come across Sal, the NPC one that is, and can deliver one punch at, what 1800% increased damage? I feel like that alone would be able to seriously injure him. Although I can’t imagine a scenario where I’d actually throw a 100% Gravity Punch, but still, I saw how much a 40% did to Sal back there. Throwing something at 60% might just do the trick if I could get lucky."

“Yeah but he was also Weakened and the debuff was down to 25% effectiveness... there’s always the chance that weakness no longer applies to him,” Jon shot back before grabbing a handful of popcorn and shoving it into his mouth with a crunch. His next words didn't come out garbled, but he certainly didn't wait to swallow completely before he started to talk. “Not trying to say you didn’t think it through, cause obviously Sal ain’t the only person you’re gonna be fighting moving forward, just pointing out your plan might not do the trick on him at this point.”

I shrugged as I walked forward and grabbed some of his popcorn. “Well speed hasn’t really been a problem so far and honestly I was kinda stuck between the two just based on my own fights. If I didn’t grab something I think Angie probably would have stuck me with Group Up, which isn’t necessarily bad cause of the AoE factor, but it lowers the maximum knockback range.”

“Hey, I do technically have to randomize it,” Angie interjected.

“Well how about I just blame the stupidly short time frame for making these decisions and we just move on, how's that sound?” I asked and when neither of them responded, I materialized Quantum Shenanigans for Beginners. Quantum Mechanics felt like an incredibly nebulous knowledge base to have, but I was ridiculously eager to see what I might be able to do with it. I absorbed the book, gaining the Level 3 stat as a sudden burst of information flooded my mind.

Quantum Entanglement, Quantum Tunneling, Superposition, hell even Quantum Probabilities. These were all concepts that I was suddenly able to comprehend as I focused on the knowledge base and I found myself immediately enthralled and overwhelmed.

“You ok bud? You look like you’re seeing nirvana,” Jon laughed and I shook myself from the daze.

“Yeah sorry, still weird to just have a bunch of knowledge uploaded into my head,” I said as I rubbed my temples trying to cure a non-existent headache. There were a few possibilities that immediately came to mind but no abilities seemed to generate off of them. “It’s interesting stuff but I might need to think for a bit on how I can actually use this. You might want to Google some things on Quantum Tunneling and Superposition at least, and I think knowing how to at least tinker with Quantum Probabilities is actually going to help me lean in on my Super Luck a bit more than I already have.”

“Hmmm, okay let me see what I can look up, though this one might be really far out of my wheelhouse which was why I didn't really jump at it the way you did. I'm a computer nerd, not a physicist,” He said as he swiveled back toward his station.

While Jon’s ability to reroll was available, I had only gained 5 new loot boxes, ranging the gamut from D to A:Tier with two of them being C:Tiers. Generally speaking, his reroll was probably going to best be saved for F:Tiers or something A+:Tier or higher. I walked over to the dining room table and materialized the boxes, opening them from lowest to highest.

The D:Tiers were definitely the least valuable to get and this one was no exception as it only contained 100 credits and 5 Basic Stamina Injectors. Between the two C:Tiers, I gained 1500 Credits, a Targeted Ability Level Up Scroll, and an Infrared Lens crafting ingredient. I pulled the small red ovals from my inventory and highlighted them, confirming what was an easy assumption to make.

“Infrared Lens. This is an Advanced Crafting Item. When attached to a compatible Mask item, provide the user with the option to toggle Infrared vision. This item must be brought to a gadget specialist to attach to compatible items.”

The B:Tier came with 500 credits and a pair of bracers that were going to be the first item I ended up selling at the resale shop. They weren’t necessarily bad, but the Stylish Dance Bracers only offered +1 to Toughness and +3 to Style, which was a terrible tradeoff when my current bracers gave me +5 to Strength. I might have considered them if they had come with a feature that would have offset that, but it just went to show that not every item was going to be a perfect fit for me.

Last but not least I opened the A:Tier and found a single item that I was more than happy to see.

“Steel Wrappers. Equippable Gloves. Color: Metallic Silver. These silver hand wraps will help stabilize and strengthen those scrawny wrists of yours! There’s really not a whole lot more to say about them, other than just how shiny they are when the light shines on them, they’re pretty basic looking. Just like you! +8 to Strength and +2 to Dexterity. These gloves grant the Metallic Momentum feature!”

“Metallic Momentum. Consecutive punches in rapid succession build up your momentum, increasing your attack speed by 2% for every landed blow. This has a maximum Attack Speed increase of 20% which will be sustained until you fail to attack for 3 consecutive seconds.”

“Damn those are slick!” Jon yelled as I added them to my empty hand slot on my gear loadout and materialized my entire outfit. Jon looked over his shoulder at me with a raised brow, “What’s the plan, gonna go tackle that Gold den?”

“Eh, not yet. It’s not going anywhere… I think,” I said and walked back over to the Command Room. I materialized the three journals and the burner phone I had found between all of the dens and held them out. “Think you can take a look at these and see if there’s anything in here that might help me track down where this key I have goes.”

“I’ll see what I can dig up,” He said as he turned and grabbed the stack from me, setting them on his table and opening the page with the timetables. He stared at them for a few moments before turning to his computer, “These might be train timetables. I’ll have to see if they line up with any of the stations. Is this all? A couple of notebooks and a pay as you go phone?”

“Pretty much, yeah. I found the notebooks randomly, though that first one I did find inside of a safe when I first fought Sal,” I said thinking back to it.

“Hmmm, what was the code?” He asked.

“The code? What’s that matter?” I said as I tried to remember what it was. I remembered it had been written on a post-it note and I wasn’t able to pull it into my B.E.L.T. but the memory still stuck out as weird that they had made a point to write it down in the first place.

“In most puzzle games every detail matters. If they gave you a code, it probably matters,” Jon explained and I nodded, having just come to that realization myself.

“I think it was 1-0-0-1-7, but I might be misremembering,” I said and I could see as he tapped at his chin.

“That might be a zip code actually… hell, ours is 10019,” He said and his fingers darted across one of the many keyboards in his space before he let out a satisfied grunt. “Yup, Midtown East. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“Damn… how’d I miss that,” I muttered and he just laughed.

“Eh don’t feel too bad about it, it was only staring you in the face. Now why don’t you go do whatever you’re gonna do so your brilliant tech support can put these clues together. It is sorta my job after all.”

I shoved his chair forward slightly and he laughed again as I turned to walk back toward my bedroom. “Fine, I think I’m gonna head to the Square for a bit. I have over 35,000 credits, I want to check out the resale shop and see if I can’t fill out the rest of my equipment slots, or at least the ones that really matter. Plus on top of the lens I just got, I still have some Viper Skin that I’ve been sitting on, I think it’s time I get it added on to my jacket and tank top just for that increased Toughness.”

Jon turned around and held his hands together as he gave me a big cheesy smile. “Look at you, actually thinking about how to better improve your build. Who knew all it would take to get you actually into video games was… well actually putting you into a video game.”

“Yeah, life or death will do that to you,” I said and rolled my eyes, though I found myself looking back at the news, playing yet another shot of my fight on the street, this time a shot of that final strike I made against Sal that had sent him flying. “Though still, I hate how much fun I am actually starting to have with it… even with all the insanity with Hydramental and Sal...”

“You always have been a bit of a worrier, that Matrix of yours really has kept you focused pretty damn hard,” Jon admitted and I felt myself tighten at the thought of the emotional controls. “I’m still glad I don’t have one of those attached to me but I get why you guys have them.”

“You should have seen the Augment walking around with a bag on his head that Loophole saw on his first trip into the Square. He was freaking out about everything because his P.A.I. hadn’t activated it, or that was my assumption at least. It really is a quick way to mentally break an Augment on accident, it’s why the Matrix was implemented in the first place,” Angie explained and I found myself stopping at the door to my room.

“When was it implemented anyway? Was it a recent thing?” I asked.

“Not recently, no,” She chirped quickly. Knowing that she had to actually answer if I asked the question directly really did make it easier getting actual answers out of her. “The Acceptance Matrix was patched into the system before the Second Wave of the game, and members of the First Wave were given the option to integrate the Matrix into their interfaces.”

“And how many of them did?”

“I’m sorry Loophole, I don’t have access to that information for the First Wave,” She replied almost robotically. I hadn’t expected her to know of course, she had long proven that there was more than plenty that Axio kept hidden from the P.A.I.s, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking either. “I’d assume most of them did though, to date, the records I can view indicate that 95% of the Augments that are still Alive have kept their Acceptance Matrix activated. Is this something you would like to reconsider?”

I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head and opening the door to my room. The queasiness in my stomach dissipated as I walked forward. “Nah, Jon’s right, I’m staying focused on the job at hand. Maybe we can revisit it eventually, but not now.”

“Perfect! You just let me know if you want to make that decision. After all, I am here to assist you!”