“Is there anything else you forgot to tell us? Any other important facts that might get us killed?” Max said with his arms folded.
Ebba bobbed her head in embarrassment. “I apologize. I should have remembered that guns were loud. To answer your question, mana does strange things to technology from your world. Mana heats up the innards and destroys them. Your talking rectangles will fail in a few days. Sturdier gadgets will fail a few days later. Anything with copper in it is at risk,” She said, ticking off things with her fingers. “I assume your guns have copper in them because humans talk about how powerful they are, but none of them have kept them.”
“Guns don’t have copper in them, it’s all steel,” Gus said, slightly confused.
Max shook his head, “It’s not the guns, it’s the bullets. Brass is mostly copper with a little zinc.”
“Ah. So the mana makes the brass cartridges heat up and cook off the ammo,” Gus said. “Well, that sucks.”
Max was disappointed too. He didn’t particularly care that guns would be useless and his phone would soon be bricked. But his exoskeleton legs were the only way he could carry his heavy pack. He would have to ditch the heavier stuff. He had prepared for that possibility, but it hurt to consider ditching all of the hard work he had put into preparing.
Ebba said, “You will have to abandon your armaments dependent on metal casing if you wish to travel with me. This is good for you long term, eventually your armaments would attract titans impervious to your weapons. We were lucky that the titan you killed was young and susceptible to your explosions. The adults are much tougher to kill.”
“That was a baby titan?” Max said in surprise. It had been almost as tall as the trees.
“Yes, and slow as well. Most titans are much faster. Even infant titans are usually a death sentence. As you said, you got lucky.”
They sat there quietly for a few moments. A slow baby almost wiped them out. Even their best weapons couldn’t take out an infant titan. This world was deadly.
Max shook himself. “Alright, fine. No more guns. Tell us about leveling up.”
Ebba pointed to their pile of orbs, “As some of you have already guessed, you swallow orbs to ‘level up’ your cards. Although some of you have already started, I would recommend not leveling up your body. The decisions made when advancing your system are permanent and you don’t have the knowledge to make informed decisions yet.” She held up a finger. “Back to the cards. Eating those now would be a waste of orbs. They come in grades. The small white ones are good for hatchlings like yourselves. Once you have grown, they will no longer help you. The bounty in front of you is better suited for hunters two stages above you. It would be a terrible waste to consume them now. If you want, you can use your white orbs now, save the others. You can exchange the large orbs for many small ones at the City of Wild Plums.”
Max pulled out one of the small white orbs from earlier and popped it in his mouth. It dissolved like cotton candy. It felt invigorating and fresh. Some of the group followed suit, the others having already done this. A few moments later the orb was gone and he checked his hammer card to see what changed.
Advanced
Hammer
Citadel
Transmutes mana neutral matter within aura into a crafting hammer based on the cardholder.
Mana Cost: 24
Refresh: 1.2 Hours
Card Level: 1
Not much. The refresh went from 1.3 hours to 1.2. The description was shorter too. That was a bit disappointing. He would have to eat a lot of orbs to get that number down to a reasonable amount. He almost missed the other change the level up gave him. Instead of saying claw hammer, now it said crafting hammer. That probably meant he could make different kinds of hammers now. He was excited to try it out.
Matteo shook his head and refocused on the conversation. “You glossed over leveling up. All of us have enough exp to level up now. Tell us about it.”
“As you wish. There should be a tiny black hexagon on the upper right of your vision. Focus on it for several seconds and your system will expand. Select yes to the question it asks.”
Essence sufficient to level up to six. Accept change now?
Yes
No
Max selected yes and a wave of tingles passed through him. Once it stopped, another wave washed through him, stronger this time. Then another, and another. After six waves of pins and needles, he was feeling really good. It wasn’t a high, more like he had just completed a year long project and the customer decided to pay him double.
“What is this system shit?” Gus said angrily. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Max refocused and read his screen. He had to agree with Gus. This version of the system was weird.
Max Kraft (Level 6)
Sight or Insight
Flow or Resistance
Presence or Paranoria
Quicken or Broaden
Weight or Levitate
Specialize or Generalize
⬣(12 Free Points)⬣
Ebba said this was their way of leveling up, but these choices made no sense. Where was the option for leveling up strength or intelligence? Why was it giving them either/or choices in the first place?
"You are probably looking at the simplified version. If you focus on the little hexagon on the bottom, it will expand,” Ebba explained to Gus.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Max did as she instructed and jerked back at the sudden influx of information. This was too much. He blinked and slowly read through it.
The System of Max Kraft (Level 6)
Enhance your physical senses, be aware of the world around you.
Sight or Insight
Fathom the world of magic, see the words of mana.
Increase the flow of mana and blood. Grants faster control of magic and greater bodily flexibility.
Flow or Resistance
Resist outside influences. Grants greater resistance to magic, poisons, and the elements.
Enforce your presence on the world, show your true self and force others to acknowledge you.
Presence or Paranoia
See them before they see you. Hide from perception and avoid traps.
Increase your regeneration. Faster recovery of mana and health.
Quicken or Broaden
Increase your capacity. Larger pools of mana and health.
Add density to your body and momentum to your strikes. Be not moved.
Weight or Levitate
Break the shackles of gravity and leap into the sky. Never stop moving.
Merge cards within the heart deck to create stronger cards with modified effects.
Specialize or Generalize
Gain the ability to hold more cards at once and choose their interactions.
Mana 36/36
Free Points: 12
Health 10/10
“This still doesn’t make any sense,” Gus slowly said as he stared off into the distance. “Where are all the normal choices?”
“You should be seeing the normal six choices, starting with Sight or Insight. Do you have your system fully expanded?” Ebba asked.
“Yes, I have it fully expanded, dammit. I don’t want to make these stupid choices. I want to get faster and stronger,” Gus spat. He gestured down to his small beer gut and flabby arms.
“I don’t ...” Ebba trailed off.
Max saw what was happening and jumped in. “What he’s talking about is that we have hundreds of stories from our world about leveling up. Each one is slightly different, but they generally agree that you can upgrade your strength, dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom. These choices in the system aren’t the ones we were expecting."
Ebba curled her hands in a frown. “I don’t know what to tell you. This is the only system that has ever existed. The cards have changed over the years, but the system has only ever been these six choices. You will get stronger and faster as mana absorbs into your body. Not smarter though. Maybe something got lost in translation?”
“Why is it a choice at all?” James asked. When everyone turned to him he shrunk back. He continued quieter. “Why can’t we choose better eyesight and seeing magic?”
“Because choosing one precludes the other. Your eyes can be changed to see farther or see mana, not both. You can either get resistance to magic, or get better with mana. The adjustments are antithetical to each other. You must choose. Although, to reiterate, I recommend you choose nothing at the moment. Any changes you make to your body will mean mana flowing through it. That will speed up your chances of cancer. Once you have arrived at your destination, it will cause no harm to make the choices you want.”
“What choices did you make? What’s your build like?” Max asked.
“I have built myself with my cards in mind. Telling you all the specifics would put me at your mercy, so I won’t do that. What I can tell you is something everyone has guessed about me. I have chosen Paranoia and heavily invested in it. Despite the name, it helps me avoid notice. Combined with my Disregard card, I can walk through the wilds untouched,” Ebba said and looked down at the wound on her side. “Usually. Anyway, it’s a choice that I have made because I spend most of my time in the wilds. If you choose to spend any time in a city or work as the team lead, you would want to choose Presence instead.”
“Is it rude to ask about people’s system?” Lily asked.
“Rude? Not necessarily. It’s intimate. It’s the kind you share with your mate or your clan leader. Often people will share some facts with their party, but not go into details. Humans are sometimes the exception to that rule, but that is just another reason they are hated,” answered Ebba.
“Hated? Humans are hated in this world?” Max said, surprised.
“Perhaps hate is too strong. Dismissed, maybe? It’s well known that humans are addicts. Your kind gets a taste of leveling up and never stops chasing that high. My people know when they have found their place, but humans get themselves killed all the time,” Ebba said.
“I just leveled up my sight, it didn’t seem that addictive,” Gus said. “It was nice, sure. But I don’t think I’m jonesing for another hit.”
Ebba shrugged. “I don’t know humans well. I’m just telling you what everyone thinks.”
Max wondered if leveling up was really addictive, or if most humans that portaled here were trying to be the hero of their own story. Almost every main character took insane risks all the time. In real life you died when you took one too many risks.
Gus grumbled and was about to retort when Max jumped in. “You told us we shouldn’t use these cores, do you have any advice about the magic cards?”
“Don’t leave them out where they could get lost or broken. You should give them to me for safekeeping,” Ebba said. When the entire group frowned at her, she continued, “But of course you don’t have to. If you want to absorb them, you will have to make a choice to Specialize or Generalize. Specialization involves merging cards together, and Generalizing means you can hold more cards at once. Those that specialize are usually stronger, but die young. I recommend you all follow my example and generalize.”
Max nodded as he thought about it. Power or utility, vulnerability or safety. It was an important decision. Every choice on his system was difficult. He would have to give it a lot of thought. He said, “Thank you, Ebba. We have things to discuss. Will you please scout out the area and make sure no monsters are on their way back?”
“I doubt any monster that hears a titan’s scream would return, but I will scout for us anyway,” Ebba said and sat down with a grunt. After she closed her eyes, a blue botfly appeared and buzzed away.
“Aright, let’s take a look at the cards,” Max said and leaned forward.
A quick count revealed there were fourteen cards. Seven of them were blue like the ones they already had. They must have belonged to the humans that died. That meant they were missing two. Max suspected that someone took them for themselves when no one was looking. It was basically stealing from the group. He should call them out on it, but he didn’t want division when there were so few humans left.
The remaining cards were silver, with varying brightness. The brightest one had the quality of Exceptional, two had Advanced, and the rest were Common. Someone had arranged them in a line from best to worst. All of them were whole, so they must have combined the fragment cards.
“I think we should go by who contributed the most,” Gus said. “Cowards shouldn’t be rewarded.”
A rail-thin girl stood up and put a finger in Gus’s bearded face. “You have the nerve? The nerve? You got my best friend killed with those guns of yours and now you say no one else should get a card? No one would have died if you didn’t shoot off your loud-ass guns!”
Gus slapped the hand out of his face and said, “I lost two of my friends to those monsters. You should apologize for hiding and not fighting for them!”
“Enough!” Max yelled over them. “You all agreed to follow my lead when you didn’t want the job. We are going to do this my way. Everyone is getting a card and some orbs. We will each take a turn picking a single card. Then we will move on to orbs. We’ll start with the ones that contributed the most and work our way down. I’ll decide who goes when. I’ll go last.”
Everyone looked unhappy with that so Max knew that was as fair as he could make it. “Everyone say your names again so we all know each other. I’m Max in case you forgot.” He pointed to his right and moved around the circle.
First was Lily, then Yang, and James. The Chinese guy with the bun was Xing Kezhi and his buddy was Wang Feng. Next was Gus and his friend (girlfriend?) Fern. The last survivor was the rail-thin Ashley.
“Alright. We'll pick cards in this order. Gus, Fern, Yang, Lily, Kezhi, Feng, James, Ashley, and then me. No complaining,” Max added when it looked like Ashley wanted to say something.
Gus grinned maliciously at Ashley and reached for the brightest glowing card. He paused with his hand in the air. “You really should go first, Max. None of us would be here without you. You did the impossible when you killed godzilla over there.”
Max just shook his head. He didn't feel like he deserved it. He had been their leader and so many had died. Killing the titan had been an accident, not some brilliant strategy. Besides, things would even out when it was time to pick orbs. There were twenty orbs, but some of them were bigger than others. Those that didn’t get a good card would get a better monster orb.