Chapter 11

Objection! Ooh, what's that?

The guy took in my words and looked relieved. To his credit, he pulled himself together quickly.

“Fuck man, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to… fuck, I thought you were going to kill me, man. You looked pissed at me.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. Like I said, I thought you were someone else. I’m Travis, and this is Janet. We just got to the city a few days ago.”

“All good. Nice to meet you two. It’s Michael. I haven’t been in the city long, but longer than you guys. It’s been a month now, I think. Well, where are you guys from? There are not many humans around here, ya know. So when I saw you guys, I figured I should say hi.”

“Yeah, we noticed that too.”

“I heard more people survived the integration on the East Coast. The West got hit pretty hard. I used to work nights, so, you know, I made it, but even then, I think the Americas got hit pretty hard in general.” Michael had stopped talking and stared off into space for a second. Then he snapped back.

“anyways, where did you guys come from? I think we’re somewhere in Wyoming now. Im originally from Utah.” I looked at Janet but figured it couldn’t hurt to tell him.

“We’re from the San Francisco Bay Area.” The guy’s mouth dropped, and he looked shocked.

“Damn, that’s crazy. I heard that almost no one made it out of California. That must have been insane. I bet you guys are pretty strong now.” I looked at Janet again, then back at Michael. This conversation was entering territory I didn’t want to talk about in the open like this or, for that matter, with some random guy we had just met.

“Listen, Michael, was it.”

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t we meet up after we register for the Coliseum? Maybe you, Janet, and I can all grab a drink and talk more. That sounds good?”

“Oh, shit. I almost forgot about my friend there waiting for me right now. Maybe tomorrow we can all meet up. I’m staying here with a group of other people, all humans. We all made it out of Utah together. Would that be cool? We could meet at the Dancing Donkey in the Waning Crescent district. It’s a tavern. I hope I see you there. Does noon work?” I had no idea where that was, but the guy looked like he was eager to run off and meet his friend, so I just told him,

“Yeah, that works. Tomorrow, noon, got it. Now go meet up with your friends. Well, see you tomorrow.” The dude smiled and shot us a thumbs-up before he ran off into the crowd.

“That was fucking weird. Don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. The guy seemed harmless. Maybe he just saw us and hadn’t seen many humans around, as he said, and he felt he should say hi. Damn, Travis, chill out. Not everyone is trying to kill us all the time.” I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding and chuckled. Janet was right. I had seen enemies in every shadow since the integration hit, and it allowed me to survive when many didn’t. The thing was, it wasn’t really healthy. I shook my head a little and let out a sigh. Janet was right, and It might be nice to meet some fellow humans in this fucked cool as shit magical city.

We had finally made it to the front of the line. Oh my god, I was so fucking happy to be done with this line. I never wanted to stand in a line again, which sucked because I saw a lot of lines standing in my future if we stayed in the city. For now, we were at the end of this line and stood before a small wooden table with a football-sized black stone sitting on it. The stone had neon veins of a green rock spiderwebbing through it, and I could feel Mana infusing it. An attendant was standing behind the table with a computer tablet-type device held in its hand.

`The attended looked human in his mid-forties with no obvious signs he was an alien except for its eyes. They opened the wrong way. There were eyelashes and everything. It was fucking creepy, but I tried not to focus on it as we walked up to the table.

“Present your G.I.C. and then place your hand on the stone.” The attendant said in a broad tone. Janet and I looked at each other before Janet stepped forward, handed over her G.I.C., and placed her hand on the football-sized stone. The stone shone a bright green momentarily, and Janet shivered, and then it was over. That was it. The woman handed Janet a slip of paper with a time, date, and location on it and then said,

“Next.” I stepped up, and a few moments later, it was over. Other than a shiver that ran down my spine when the stone activated, it was a painless experience. I got a slip of paper of my own with a time, date, and location, and we left.

“What does your say? Mine is tomorrow at two training yard D11.”

“Mine says tomorrow at three training yard D11. So, at least we’re both going to the same place. Do you think we should try to find it today? Or maybe we can ask Michael and his friends tomorrow. Oh shit, Michael. You think we will still have time to meet up with them?”

“Maybe we can get a map of the city somewhere. I am tired of not knowing where I am anymore.” We couldn’t find a map, so we just walked back to the inn, people-watching as we took our time. As we began to leave the area where the merchants were set up, I stopped walking, and Janet, who had been holding my hand, stopped and turned to look at me.

“What’s wrong? You okay, Travis?”

“Well, I was thinking. Do you know how I was able to buy the ability to identify from the show back in Treehouse? There had been an ability that Braxin had in the shop back in Treehouse that I wanted but could never afford. It was an ability called Chatty Cathy. In short, it translates languages for you. I was just thinking maybe we could get something like that here.”

“Damn, that would be fucking nice to have.” Then Janet’s eyes lit up. “Oh, and then we could understand what the announcers were saying during the arena fights! Do you really think we could find something like that here?”

“Fuck, I don’t see why not. Braxin’s shop was pretty small, and we’re in a big city now. They should have everything Braxin had and then some. Before we leave the merchant area, do you want to look around and see what they have available?”

“Fuck yeah, let’s go get literate!” I just face-palmed as Janet led me off into the bazaar of varying shops.

It took us maybe an hour to find a shop that dealt in abilities. The bazaar was distracting. Janet got caught up and almost bought an axe she saw at one merchant’s shop. I understand why. The thing was beautiful, and I almost bought a dagger from the same shop. We eventually moved on, with Janet looking over her shoulder at the expensive weapon as we walked away. The shop where we finally found abilities for sale was a gorgeous stone building with an intricately carved sense of what looked like beings using extraordinary abilities carved everywhere. When we walked in, a bell chimed, and a small older woman looked up from what she was doing.

The shop’s castellan looked like a halfling or dwarf of some kind. I wasn’t going to ask because she looked like that grandma who would smack you over the head for asking a stupid question. We greeted the woman and walked over to the counter she was sitting behind.

“How can I help you two young people today? Oh my, are you locals as well? We don’t get many of your type in here. In fact, you are the first ones I’ve seen. What might you be looking for?”

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“We’re looking for somewhere to buy abilities, one in particular or something similar. It was called Chatty Cathy, and it translated…” I got cut off as the small woman waved her hand in front of her face as if trying to dismiss a bad smell.

“Those damn scoundrels. The Slag created that ability, and they try to sell it to as many locals as fast as they can before they realize it’s a shit ability. I spare you from my rant, but I’ll just say this. It’s the Slag’s way of trying to get every last copper they can out of every new venture. They’re pigs, and so, with that said, follow me.”

“Wait, I also bought an ability from the same shop called General Identify One.

The small woman had turned around when I mentioned I had bought another ability from the Slag, but when she heard the ability’s name, she visibly relaxed.

“You’re fine with that one. That is a pretty common ability. Now come on, what you’ll want is… aw, right here. Yes. This one. This is called Million Tongues. This is the good stuff, not that Slag trash, but you didn’t hear that from me.” I smiled at the little old lady and received one in return.

“sounds good to me. We’ll take two.” Yeah, so fuck abilities are fucking experience, shit, man. It was each ability stone. Apparently, abilities were sold as stones magically imbued, so they would stay that way until you wanted to use them to gain the ability. Each ability stone we were looking at would cost us 100 fucking gold, but we were told that the cost for particular abilities could go much higher. It was fucking ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, we bought them, but that didn’t mean I liked it.

“Is there anything else I can help you with? Maybe a herbalism ability or General literacy?” The General literacy ability would allow you to write almost any language. We were told that many bought the ability in tandem with Million Tongues. It was an additional fifty gold each, but we inevitably thought it was worth it. With the amount of gold we would be spending, I thought it was best to try to get a deal. The little old lady was a tough negotiator, but we ended up getting a ten-gold discount. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

We bought our new abilities and asked old lady Witlow if she would let us use the stones before we left.

“It’s a common practice. Please sit if you wish. I think I'm going to make some tea if you would like some.” Old lady Witlow gestured at a few seats, then wandered off into the back of the shop. I was assuming to go make tea as she had said. I looked at Janet, and then I shrugged and lifted one of the two stones until I held it in front of my face. I focused on the stone like I was trying to activate a bag of holding, and in a few seconds, a system window popped up.

Would you like to learn the ability, Million Tongues? Yes/No.

I selected yes, and the next second, a whoosh of power rushed through my body.

Stat Sheet

Travis Mullins

Level: 24

Race: Human

Class: Path of the Pole Arm

Experience needed to next Level: 133,960/134,220 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. (0) days left

Blood drenched: +15 to all stats for the next 90 days. (0) days left

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

next 90 days. (0) days remaining

Resistances:

Element of Fire: 11%

Element of Corruption: 15%

Element of Lighting 2%

Stats:

Strength: 143 WB: (+0)

Dexterity: 142 WB (+0)

Intelligence: 122 WB (+0)

Wisdom: 123 (WB (+0)

Constitution: 136 WB (+0)

Luck: 112 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.

Million Tongues:

This passive ability allows you to speak and understand most languages you are exposed to.

General Literacy:

This passive ability allows you to read and write most languages you are exposed to.

You learned the ability Million Tongues and the ability General Literacy. Congratulations

“Whoa! That was intense. Shit, but it did feel good.”

“Dman, glad I let you go first. “Janet laughed at me and then activated her stone. I chuckled when her eyes went wide, and then she audibly exhaled.

“Right?”

“Damn. You were right. That did feel good.” We both activated our other stones and by then, old lady Witlow had returned.

“Good seams, you’ve just finished absorbing your stones. How do you feel?”

“Good,” I told her.

“Yeah, really fucking good. Oh, sorry, granny, my bad.”

“It’s fine, child. Im glad you both are happy with your purchase. Would you like a cup of tea before you head off?” I looked at Janet, and I got the feeling she wanted a cup, so I shrugged, and we had one. The cups were small, and in a few moments, we were both finished and headed out the door, waving goodbye to old lady Witlow. It was still early when we left the shop, but I wanted a nap, and Janet agreed, so we headed for the inn. Once we got there, we passed out and only woke when we heard the knock that meant our dinner had just been dropped off.

We ate our dinner, and it was terrific, as always. Then Janet and I, um… did some laundry, wink wink, and went to bed. The following day started like any other, but with our usual breakfast delivery was a letter and a small coin purse. It struck me as odd, but I had to go to the bathroom after I had brought in the breakfast, so I hadn’t read it right away. When I left the bathroom, Janet was up and had a piece of bacon sticking out of her mouth. She was frozen mid-chew. However, a confused look on her face as she held the letter in her hand.

“Hey, I saw that but didn’t have time to read it before nature called. What’s up? Is something wrong.”

“Yeah, you could say that. We were being kicked out.

“What!”

“Yeah, looks like they’re saying something about needing the rooms for some bullshit, but all they’re really saying is get the fuck out. It’s fucking bullshit. They reimbursed us. Well, not for the night we stayed but the money for the rest of the nights we had paid for. They’re telling us to be gone by noon.”

“Well fuck. It’s nine now. We could just go find that tavern Michael wants us to meet him at and figure out our next moves while we wait there.” Janet agreed, but she was still pissed, as was I. We finished our breakfast, packed up our shit, headed downstairs, where we were avoided by the innkeeper, and headed out to find this damn tavern.

Maybe it was some heavenly being taking pity on us, or perhaps it was just good luck after the shit this morning, but we found an information booth. Apparently, these booths were scattered around the city, offering general information and things like maps. For ten coppers, we had a map of the whole city. The city was divided into eight districts, with the Coliseum in the center of it all. Each district was named after a different phase of the moon. The district that the inn we had just been kicked out of was called the Third Quarter district. It was one of the nicer districts close, just two districts away from the district where the viceroy’s mansion was located. That was the full moon district. The Dancing Donkey was located in the waning crescent district. We were lucky it was actually only one district away.