Chapter Nine
Zenith and Crux
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Michael turned off his car when they pulled up to the stables. Simon walked out of the house to welcome his recruits, “It’s good to see y’all. Are you guys all packed and ready to go?” He asked and everyone shook hands. “We are ready sir,” Adam said. “I want to start nuking goblins as soon as we can. Ima one shot everyone,” Damien said enthusiastically. Simon tilted his head curiously, “How did you know about the goblins?” Damien and Michael shared a look of shock and missed the wink Simon gave to Adam.
They walked through the moonlit yard over to the shed and went through one by one, spacing it out so they didn’t create a traffic jam with the protective effects of the shed pouring out on them. The shed was pretty snug with a portal and four grown men inside of it. “After me,” Adam said as he went through the portal. “I think Adam had a rough evening,” Michael said. “Yeah, he tends to shut down till he works through his issues,” Damien added, “It’s normal. He will be back joking and cutting up soon enough. Ima go next. I’m not going to be the brother left behind.” With that, Damien went through the portal.
Michael stared at Simon for a moment before speaking, “Have you met God?” Simon pondered his question for only a long minute, “No. His messenger is who I report to. My understanding is you don’t meet your maker until you die permanently.” “Wait. Permanently?” Michael asked but his answer disappeared into the portal. “Well phooey.” He said to the empty room and joined the rest in the Tree House.
Adam took a few deep breaths to center himself. He had fully committed to doing this but it didn’t make it easier. He pulled out his cellphone and looked at the background picture of his wife, daughter, and himself from a few hours ago. He began to sing to himself and lost track of time. He stopped when Damien came through moments later, “Chyoooo, you good?” Adam clasped his bosom buddy in a hug, “I’m just glad I got you guys here, brother. Wait. Where is Michael?”
They found a spot to sit down, “he was right behind me,” Damien said. “Huh, I reckon we can unwind till they come through. What all did you bring?” Adam asked as he browsed over his inventory using his WHIP. Once he found it, he placed a thermos on the table and poured a cup of coffee. Damien pulled a small cup out and Adam poured his friend one. “Oh, you know. Lots of stuff for food and cooking. I figured if this was anything like WOW we can have professions or something like that. I got a few high dollar camping stuff, survival gear, and a lot of knives. Bro, I even got a small solar panel so I could charge my phone. I want to be able to listen to my jams and take pictures of this place.”
“That is a great idea,” Adam said, “ I treated this like a mix of a sandbox game and WOW. I am really glad the inventory is only worried about physical dimensions and not weight. I got my anvil and a bunch of hammer heads. I figured we could make handles for them with all the wood available.” Damien almost choked on his coffee before laughing, “You brought an anvil?” and he continued to laugh, “That is too much.” Adam grinned, the first smile since leaving the house, “That isn’t even the most wild thing I got.” Adam stood up and pulled his M18 Milwaukee battery powered chainsaw out of his inventory.
This was the point where both Damien and Adam lost it. The two shared a hearty laugh and returned to their coffee after stowing the chainsaw away. “I got to say, that was some good thinking,” Damien said. Adam gestured out the window, “I figured we got a whole woods full of trees. We can’t come back here. Even if we get super strength we need to still work smarter.” “No, you got that right,” Damien said, “You gotta show me how to use that thing. I got an axe with me but that looks dope.”
Damien pulled out the axe he got and hefted it over to Adam. Adam pulled out a sharpening stone out of his inventory and started to finely sharpen the axe. Don’t count this thing out just yet,” Adam said, “You already look like a lumberjack. I bet with some enhanced strength you could fell a tree in no time.” He handed the axe over to Damien and he thought that over, stowing it back in his inventory, “Is enhanced strength a thing? Man, I can’t wait. Where the flip is your boy Michael? I’m trying to get this going.”
Adam pulled up the list with all of the available Zeniths and Cruxes to choose from. “One thing we didn’t consider much was if we have overlapping choices. What are you going to roll?” Damien did likewise, “That is a really good point. I’m leaning on two builds really. With what he has available I could go either way really.” “You have to take into consideration that we can't reroll if we are unhappy with our choices,” Adam said, “He did say ‘in general’ when we asked if they were permanent. I take ‘in general’ as we shouldn’t mess with this. I’m going to go with what I will like permanently.”
With that, Damien shook his head with his brow creased in deep compilation. He opened his mouth to follow up on his thoughts when Simon popped through the portal, followed up a moment later by Michael. “Gentlemen, I am beyond ecstatic that you are here today,” Simon said walking over to the table and summoning some food and drinks. Michael sat down between Damien and the fireplace after grabbing some water and bread. Simon continued, “I hope you have prepared for an extended stay here. I’ll give you the exact breakdown of what will happen here, but first.”
Simon materialized a gnarled staff with a blue crystal on the top and slammed the bottom end on the ground, causing a wooden chest to appear out of the ground. He took a seat on top of the chest, the wood creaking under the considerable bulk of the man. He beamed with excitement at the three recruits, “We will go through each of you to assign your Zenith Crystals. Adam will be the first since he was the original recruit. Simon, you will be second since you were the quickest to agree to this journey. Once Michael finishes and you absorb the crystals, you all may rest here tonight. At first light, we will venture out of the safety of the Tree House. Your objective will be to grow stronger in the coming months, train together to be a well oiled team, discover what is out there in the valley and stay alive.”
Simon paused for any questions. When none came, he continued, “Your first quest is to establish a base. There needs to be a safe place for all of you to rest. Bonus points if you are able to make it defensible and with a second building within the first week. I recommend making your location choice semi close to the Tree House since the portal is in here. The end goal is to make the enemy’s ability to invade this world very difficult when the time comes. At the dawn of the eighth day, I will return and you will be evaluated to determine if you have what it takes to move on. Further instructions will be given then.”
"If we are found unworthy to continue on, what happens with the gear we absorbed? Is there a process of taking them off?" Adam asked. "Good question," Simon said, "There have been zero recruits that have survived the first week that give up. The ones who would have given up tend to die. Technically, yes. There is a process but I would have to read the manual they sent with the suits and I would spend more time than I would like scanning through my wrist com." "WHIP," Damien interrupted. Simon gave him a flat look and continued, "My WHIP and find the manual."
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Damien raised his hand, “So what kind of dangers are out there?” He asked. Simon shrugged non plus, “All sorts. You are going from regular folks to heroes. After years of training and fighting evil, are you going to balk at not knowing all the information? This first week I am literally kicking you out and hoping you stay alive. Show me you can complete these two tasks and we can talk about more specifics,” Simon said, crossing his arms. Michael raised his hand slowly, waiting to be called on. Simon nodded and he began, "So, if quest one is to build a shelter, what is quest two?” Simon spoke very slowly, “Do. Not. Die,” he laughed, breaking the tension slightly. "Does anyone else get the feeling that we are all going to die here?" Adam asked. Damien and Michael both raised their hands.
Simon stood up and opened the chest. Inside shimmered a pile of multi-colored gems. There were two types inside, one was a spherical orb about the size of a baseball. The others were longer and faceted . All three of them walked over and were impressed at the large collection Simon had amassed. “Before you start digging through here,” Simon started, “you can go into your scan options and turn on Passive Scan. Anything that has sufficient amounts of magical density will automatically pop up with a HUD display. You can use scan to get the specific details. It can be disorienting if you are not used to it, but it will help you as you advance. I recommend during your down time to fiddle around with the options and customize to your liking. Also, please don’t select ‘Yes’ when your HUD asks you to absorb the Zenith Crystals.”
Adam and Damien were well ahead of Michael in the customization of their HUD, considering their background in gaming together. Adam had swiftly tweaked the majority of his filters by the time Michael figured out where the options were, Adam found the party interface and invited Damien and Michael to a party. Once accepted, he laid out his HUD to his liking. Damien was doing the same before Simon cleared his throat, “Fellas, this is not the time to be going that far in depth with your system settings.” Damien raised an eyebrow, “It’s the WHIP settings. Wrist Holographic Information Processor if you were going to ask what it meant again.” “Nerd,” Adam muttered under his breath. Damien followed up, “Bro, there is nothing wrong with being clear and concise with acronyms and saving time. Plus, I think the name is dope.”
Adam raised his hands in surrender. Adam started pulling out the Zenith Crystals one at a time, glancing as he did at the names and putting aside the ones he didn’t need. Once he found the three he was looking for he set them out for everyone to see.
Hammer Zenith Crystal. Shield Zenith Crystal. Holy Zenith Crystal.
Michael was the first to comment, “If I remember correctly, you are going for a Paladin Paragon Class with those choices. Am I right?” Adam nodded, “Yes sir. You are right.” Damien scoffed, “Figures. Mr. Goodie Goodie wants to roll a warrior of light? Same ol’ same ol’ thing. I’m surprised you didn’t pick Priest.”
Adam clapped his hands excitedly, “That’s it! You are going Shadow Priest aren’t you?” Damien looked away, “Naw man. You don’t know what you are talking about.” Simon raised his hands and halted the two, “Before you two go down a rabbit hole, let’s focus. Hammer, Shield and Holy are a sure way for the Paladin Core. Since y’all have figured out how to join a party, we can do all three at the same time. Damien, you are next.”
Damien stared at Adam for a long minute before picking through and grabbing his three crystals. “Don’t worry about it,” He said, looking at Adam still. “Let me guess,” Adam said, “Drain, Restore and Staff?” Simon opened his hands for them to see.
Drain Zenith Crystal. Restore Zenith Crystal. Ritual Zenith Crystal.
“Ah. I was close. You are still a tool.” They all shared a laugh before Michael got up and pilfered through the rest. “You know, I don’t know much about all this stuff, but how does a Shadow Priest fight for good?” Simon provided the answer, “The abilities we have do not define what we are. I have heard of evil Paladins and we are about to witness a righteous Shadow Priest. The powers they offer are excellent when battling the forces of darkness.” Michael sat down and laid out what he picked out, “That is good to know. I was not sure how this would go.”
Might Zenith Crystal. Swift Zenith Crystal. Absorb Zenith Crystal.
“What is that?” Damien asked. Adam looked at his friend with concern knowing the combination, “Void Warrior? That seems out of character for you brother?” “Not everyone is as predictable and self righteous as you are,” Damien scoffed at Adam. Adam went to rebuttal, but just shrugged, “Yeah. You're not wrong.” Simon explained, “A Void Warrior is one who is able to negate spells and attacks. They are also able to deal massive damage too if they are methodical with what Crux Cores they choose. Before we do this, you should know this first part is going to hurt a bit. It will be over quickly, though.” Adam smiled ear to ear, “I bet Damien will flat out pee himself before it’s done with.” Michael laughed so hard his eyes started tearing up before he stopped. Simon gave Adam a flat look. “Sir, we are about to become Earth's mightiest warriors. I’m flat out giddy to get this over with. Pain or not,” Adam said. Damien held his three Zenith Crystals in his hands, “Fighters, on my count.” Simon shook his head in defeat, “You are by far the most unorthodox recruits I’ve had. Have at it then.” Adam and Michael gathered their Zeniths and waited on Damien.
You have the Zenith Crystals Hammer, Shield, and Holy. This will create the Paragon Class of Paladin. Would you like to absorb these Zenith Crystals?
Yes/No
“Three, two, one,” Damien said as the trio all accepted their prompts. The result was a chorus of painful screams, followed by all three of them falling to their knees. Steam started bellowing off of each of them, as if they were about to combust at any moment. Michael did the best of the three and only hunched over. Damien and Adam ended up on the ground by the time the pain had passed. Once the steam had dissipated, Adam struggled to his feet with sweat covering his whole body. Michael helped him the rest of the way easily. “I feel amazing,” He told Adam before moving incredibly swiftly to help Damien to his feet also. Adam got a notification and opened it.
You have absorbed a Paragon Core.
The Hammer Zenith is assigned to your Strength Attribute. Your Strength Attribute is increased to : Iron Rank 1.
The Shield Zenith is assigned to your Speed Attribute. Your Speed Attribute is increased to : Iron Rank 1.
The Holy Zenith is assigned to your Recovery Attribute. Your Recovery attribute is increased to : Iron Rank 1.
The Paladin Paragon is assigned to your Spirit Attribute. Your Spirit attribute is increased to : Iron Rank 1.
You are now Iron Rank 1. Increase the four Core Attributes to advance your Rank.
Adam flexed his hand open and closed for a moment before looking around. He could feel his senses were heightened. “This does feel amazing,” he heard Damien mutter. He could see their [Health] and [Mana] bars ticking back up about twenty percent towards full in his HUD. The process of becoming Iron Rank had drained his being, both physically and mentally. Damien and Adam took a moment to get to their feet. Simon interrupted their reverie, “Line up you three. There is one more thing before we turn in for the night.”