Book 2 Cover [https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/101964131/491f5f7cbba248889567e5ea3993f55f/eyJ3Ijo2MjB9/1.jpg?token-time=1718150400&token-hash=c0WCo1mVvmlKT2H-9ziTHdbuGME3hK37lz6JHPNJDFY%3D]

Travis’s stat sheet at the beginning of book two

Travis Mullins

Level: 24

Race: Human

Class: Path of the Pole Arm

Experience needed to next Level: 133,360/134,220 XP till next Level.

Stat points per level up: +3 free

Titles:

Lucky Bastard: (+2 to luck)

Explorer: 1 (+3 to all stats)

Settlement Defense level (3): (Plus 7 to all stats)

Cold Hands: (plus 10 to luck)

Gluten for Punishment: (plus 15 points to con)

Stand Tall: (all stats plus 5)

Self Taught: (+5% to all stats)

First in world to:

Complete a dungeon run: (+8 to all stats)

First Settlement Defiance: (+5% to all stats )

Sector leader. You are among the top million newly

integrated life forms in your sector of the Milkyway galaxy to achieve a level two

class: (+50 to all stats, extra +10 first on your planet)

War Bounces:

War Machine: +8 to all stats for the next 90 days. (64) days left

Blood drenched: +15 to all stats for the next 90 days. (64) days left

Follow Me (2): 30% boost toward the influence my words had on others for the

next 90 days. (64) days remaining

Resistances:

Element of Fire: 11%

Element of Corruption: 15%

Element of Lighting 2%

Stats:

Strength: *166 WB: (+23)

Dexterity: *165 WB (+23)

Intelligence: *145 WB (+23)

Wisdom: *146 (WB (+23)

Constitution: *159 WB (+23)

Luck: *135 WB (+23)

* = modified

(+) = Amount modified by

Class Sheet

Path of the pole Arm

Level 2:

Plus two stat points to Strength each level up.

Plus three stat points to Dexterity each level up.

Step Lightly:

When activated, it gives you the ability to move up to ten feet so fast that it may appear as if you have teleported to people with a dexterity of less than twenty-five and an intelligence of less than twenty. Anyone with a dexterity over twenty-five and an intelligence over twenty will see you move, but you will move at 300% of your normal movement speed. Step Lightly, coasting fifty Mana and twenty stamina to activate.

Pinpoint:

Pinpoint:

Pinpoint increases your accuracy by 125%. This ability can be activated at the cost of ten Mana and five stamina per second, allowing you to land critical hits more often and deal more damage with each strike.

Quick Strike:

When activated, Quick Strike at the cost of one hundred Mana energizes your arms into almost a seizure-type state. This causes you to strike out with your polearm many times in rapid succession.

Spear Shadow:

When activated, Spear Shadow conjures a mana shadow over your weapon. This mana shadow will then extend past your weapon at a distance, dependent on the amount of Mana you have invested into the ability, with a minimum range of five feet and an undefined maximum range. This ability is truly what you make it. At an initial cost of eighty Mana, this ability can be augmented, and the distance the Mana shadow travels is determined at a ratio of ten Mana and five stamina per foot.

Mana Manipulation:

The ability to alter and control the movement of Mana. (20% efficiency)

General Identify: (1)

When activated, gives you general information about a target you intended to discover more about. Only give basic information at level one and on targets. Results may veer with some targets.

Chapter 1

The Wonders

“Fuck me! I swear, Travis, we should have never gotten off the interstate. If we have to walk through one more swamp. I fucking swear to god, Travis. I’m over it. Im fucking over it.” Janet said. Janet and I had been on the road for about two weeks, and this was the third swamp we had been forced to trek through. Needless to say, Janet was not happy about it. We had been headed north, and when we found the remnants of the I-5, we figured it was as good a route to take as any and decided to follow it north. Following the I-5 had been a good plan for the most part. We had dealt with a few attacks here and there, but most of our time on the road was easygoing. Well, except for the swamps, and these swamps weren’t normal. They were magic swamps.

These swamps were no joke. They would flood across the interstate, giving us no choice but to pass through them, and when I say they were magic, I mean crazy shit went down in magic swamps. Logicless and just plain freaky shit. Janet had quickly come to hate them. I couldn’t blame her. They tripped me out, and I wasn’t a fan myself. Most of the time we were in the swamps, it felt like I was on acid or mushrooms. The air would distort almost like a heat haze but without the heat. The air would bubble and warp as if I were looking at the world through a soap bubble. Then, every now and then, from the distorted air, a creature would appear, or the landscape in front of us would suddenly change. The experience put me on edge the whole time we were in the swamp. It hadn’t been just a non-aggressive creature that appeared or a change in tree placement but angry creatures that seemed to be held fast in the thralls of madness or deep water, waiting to pull you down.

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Those encounters sucked and were slightly terrifying. It was just nerve-racking to get attacked out of nowhere, and by the time we got out of the swamp, adrenaline had been coursing through me for so long that I could feel the wear on my mental state. Janet didn’t look much better than me, but being free of the swamp put her in a better mood. Janet stretched and let out a gasp as she did.

“Damn, I’m so happy to be out of there. I swear this time, I’m serious, no more swamps! I’m done. It fucking sucks, you hear me? Fuck! Oh! And I had a fucking leach on me. A huge, nasty, slimy, disgusting leach. Done, I’m done.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at Janet, which I don’t think she appreciated cause she punched me in the arm pretty hard after that.

“Okay. Okay, haha, my bad. No more magic swamps. I hear you loud and clear. I then crossed my eyes, stuck out my tongue, and gave her a silly salute. I got another punch in the shoulder for that one, but it was worth it. Once we had cleaned up after leaving the swamp, we returned to the I-5 and kept pushing north. I had an aunt who lived in Seattle, Washington, pre-integration, and with no better heading in mind when I was kicked out of the Town of Treehouse. Janet and I had just started heading north. There was probably no chance she was still alive, but it was better than nothing. I was sure of it. If nothing else, it would be fun to explore this new world. Part of me loved the idea that the world was once more full of adventure and the unknown. It always felt like we had explored everywhere, but now, the world is once more untamed and wild. It was invigorating and slightly scary as well.

After leaving the swamp, we had been moving at a leisurely pace. It was a gorgeous day, and we hadn’t been attacked by anything for a few hours. Overall, it was a great day in this new world. We had stopped for a lunch break by the side of the road. A large tree had fallen across the road, and it looked like a great spot to sit down and relax for a moment. We still had a good stock of supplies. Janet and I had made it a habit of carrying extra supplies since we had started looking for survivors back at Treehouse. So when lunchtime came, we put out a good spread. We had bread that was still warm, held in stasis from moments after they were baked from our bags of holding, as well as fruits, nuts, and a big block of cheese. We also had a bunch of sandwiches, and I pulled out a tuna salad sandwich for myself and handed one with turkey to Janet.

We were maybe thirty minutes into a peaceful and fulfilling meal. I had just taken a big sip of lemonade when Janet flicked a cracker at my head. The cracker shot at me so fast that when it hit the tip of my ear, I let out a little yelp and grabbed my ear as it started to sting. I turned to Janet and opened my mouth to ask her what the fuck that was for when I caught her eye. She looked at me and then flicked her eyes over to the left. My words of frustration died on my lips, and I casually looked over in the direction Janet had indicated. About fifty yards away, there was a tumble of fallen trees, and between the branches and leaves, I could pick up a flash of metal here and there. Someone was there, and it looked like they were watching us.

I looked back at Janet, and she looked at me.

“You see it, right? So what do you think?” Janet asked me.

“Yeah, I see it. You want to go check it out?” I asked. Janet nodded and then took a big bite of her sandwich.

“Just a few more bites,” Janet mumbled as she chomped down on her sandwich. I laughed, and I finished off my sandwich as well.

Once we had finished our lunch, we packed everything away. Then we acted super nonchalant, just stretching and checking our gear once more before heading out. After a minute of acting as nonchalant as possible, I ducked behind the fallen tree where we had eaten lunch. When I was sure I was entirely out of sight of our watchers, I activated Step Lightly and disappeared. One thing I learned while traveling with Janet was that if I channeled Mana to my abilities, not just paying the initial fee but continuously investing Mana, I could keep my skills going beyond their standard activation time. So when I activated Step Lightly this time, I channeled the ability, and in moments, I was standing ten feet behind a group of three people hiding behind a tangle of fallen trees.

“Where did he go? The man? I don’t see him anymore. I just see the woman now.” A man who looked like the leader of this small group said.

“He’s behind the log. He must be tying his shoes or something,” a woman answered the man.

“Do you think they saw us? What’s our next move here, Tarry?” the third and final member of their party chimed in. He was also a man. So, in total, the small group consisted of two men and a woman. It looked like the man called Tarry was thinking about something, and after only a few moments, he spoke.

“I think it’s time we make our move. Harriet, You move out to the left along the side of the freeway while Dick and I will make our approach from the right. Sound good? Let’s move.”

Before they could do anything further, I decided it was time to introduce myself. If I was being honest, I kind of figured they would have just noticed me on their own by now. As Tarry began to rise from his crouched position to start moving, I chose that as my moment to let my presence be known.

“Hey guys, what are we looking at?” I asked the group. In hindsight, there was probably a better way to do what I did, but as it was, I think I almost gave Tarry a heart attack, I’m pretty sure, and Dick started sputtering and then coughing. As I stood there and let them gather themselves, we all ended up waiting for the coughing man, Dick, to pull it together. When he finally stopped coughing, Tarry, Harriet, and I were all looking at the man. He turned slightly red-faced, clearly a bit embarrassed, but then the reality of their situation hit them once again.

Tarry was the first to snap back to reality. In one fluid movement, he spun the shotgun around his arm, pointed it at me, and fired. I took a blast point blank in the chest, but in the next moment, I grabbed the gun with one hand and pulled the weapon from his grip. Tarry looked utterly shocked at the whole series of events. Then the man promptly fell back onto his ass. The entire group looked stunned, and after only a few more moments, Dick put his hands in the air as if surrendering. When Harriet and Tarry looked over at the man, he said,

“What? I give up. Isn’t that clear now? The guy just took a shotgun blast to the chest and then ripped the gun from Terry’s hands like it was nothing. I’m not fucking with this guy, so yeah, I give up.”

“Guys got the right idea,” I told them, and the next second, they all had their hands raised to the sky. I couldn’t help it. I laughed. That seemed to relieve some of the tension. However, Tarry understood this situation still had the potential to end very poorly for them. I was clearly much stronger than them, and that fact seemed to be stuck in Terry’s head.

“Look, we were never gonna do nothing, man. We were just…”

I cut Dick off. “Let me stop you there. I was standing here for a little bit now, so I know you were planning to attack us. I just don’t know why you would. Are you bandits who attack unsuspecting travelers or opportunists just trying to survive?” I finished and waited for an answer. Dick looked embarrassed, having almost been caught in a lie, and Harriet looked wary of me, almost as if she couldn’t quite figure out if she should run or give up. Tarry, on the other hand, looked worried and tense. He felt like a spring just waiting to pop. Before something stupid could happen, I called Janet over. I told Tarry to take it easy and that we weren’t interested in hurting them or stealing their shit.

That seemed to take the edge off Tarry, but I still didn’t feel like he totally believed me. Dick, on the other hand, let out a heavy sigh and started laughing. I think more because he was uncomfortable and didn’t know how to react anymore. Harriet, on the other hand, kind of hugged the middle of the road and was neither super relieved like Dick but wasn’t as tense as Tarry. Dick and Harriet looked like they were together in some capacity, but Harriet seemed to look to Tarry when she was trying to take our measure.

We waited for Janet to come over, and when she did, I made introductions.

“Janet, this is Tarry, Dick, and Harriet. I think they still think we’re going to kill them or rob them or something. I tried telling them that’s not our game, but they still seem pretty freaked out.” I told her, not caring, that I was addressing her like our new friends couldn’t hear us.

Janet just shook her head at me. Then, I addressed the group.

“Okay, so I’m going to have to apologize for Travis over there. He’s kind of thick-headed, and I’m not sure he fully understands how he came off. He’s more of a blunt weapon. There is no real finesse there. Sorry,” Janet finished. Tarry laughed tentatively at Janet’s words a bit awkwardly while Dick let out another nervous chuckle. Harriet didn’t react much at all. He just glanced at Tarry every now and again, trying to feel his reaction. I tried to think of a way to break the ice as we were all just standing around now awkwardly. I had one thing I thought might work.

“Hey, y’all hungry? You watched us eat. Just wondering if you need any food or water. We have some to share. Right, Janet?” I said, and Janet laughed and nodded her head.

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Janet said in response.

“Well, what do you guys say? Food, water, yeah?”

Dick was happy to agree, which garnished a stern look from Tarry. Still, even Tarry nodded and agreed that some food and water would be much appreciated.

We spent the next hour handing out food and water and talking with our new friends. They were an odd group, for sure. Harriet was a mousey young woman, maybe in her early twenties. She was a slender but fit Asian woman. She had a short haircut and a scar running down her cheek. That was strange. I hadn’t seen a scare since the integration. Every per-integration injury was healed with the integration of the greater system. Well, I guess not immediately. It was really when you reached level one that, with a good meal, water, and time, most injuries and illnesses would heal with time without a trace they were ever there. So, seeing someone with a scar was odd.

Dick looked like he was about the same age as Harriet. He was a skinny white kid, about five foot ten, with short brown hair. Dick looked fit, but it was not like the guy actively worked out. It was more like he was just an active person. Their leader looked to be a forty-something black guy with a bold head and an athletic build. Tarry looked like a capable guy. They were all wearing old army fatigues, combat boots, and bulletproof vests, which I found odd. Maybe military?

“Hey, quick question, Tarry, were you all in the army or something before the shit hit the fan? Like, US army or something?” Terry blinked, then let out a bark of laughter. “No, man, we found these in a house we were scavenging some stuff from. Our clothes were shit compared to these, so we took what we could and have been using them ever since.” Terry said, then chuckled a bit more.

“Nice grab. The bulletproof vest is sick, I said. It’s not like the vests would do much now, but I guess anything helps, and something better than nothing.

“How long have you guys been on the road? Are you living nearby or headed anywhere in particular?” I asked them. Tarry let out a chuckle when I motioned the bulletproof vest, but when I asked where they were headed or if they lived nearby, I could see the man tense up a bit. Okay, it was time to put this tension to bed. Tarry looked like he was thinking about how much he wanted to tell me when I snapped him from his thoughts with a wave.

“Hey man, like I said before, we’re not gonna hurt you guys. We shared our food and water, and if we wanted you dead, believe me, you would be.” I finished what I was saying, then promptly turned around, picked up one of the fallen trees about fifty feet long, and threw it across the I-5 and into the woods. Tarry, Dick, and Harriet all looked at where the tree had disappeared into the forest with mouths agape. Surprisingly, Tarry was the first to return to us, but it wasn’t the reaction I expected. Tarry laughed. He laughed so hard that he started choking at one point. As for Harriet and Dick, they were just staring at the man like he had lost it. Tarry managed to pull himself together and then looked at Harriet and Dick, that were still just staring at the man.

“What? Why are you two looking at me like that? I’m not crazy. It’s just that he’s fucking right. Travis right? Fuck. Harriet, Dick, you saw what he just did. Hell, they could have killed us any time they wanted. Yet they shared their rations and have not shown any real hostility.” Dick still looked a little confused, so Tarry spelled it out for him. We’re not dying today, Dick.” Tarry said, then looked at me once more. “Right?” He asked me. I let out a chuckle at the whole interaction, then nodded.

“Yeah, friends?” I asked the man, and I stuck out my hand to him. With a big grin on his face, Tarry took my hand and then shook it.