~~~Stanley~~~
"Caffeine!" Stanley bolted upright with a shout at the sound of a child screaming... and felt the pug twitching against his legs. Caffeine was dreaming, his little feet kicking while he made soft noises. "Caff..." His pounding heart slowed while he caught his breath. Caffeine was okay.
Nightmares involving Caffeine were always the worst... so much worse than getting eaten alive. The latest one was the new worst... with Caffeine turning into a zombie...
The door was half-open when he calmed down and looked around, the top hinge torn off, and the pile of furniture no longer making an effective barricade. Caffeine slept on despite the sounds of children screaming coming through the gap. Oh yeah, they were laughing, too.
He must be so tired. But at least the food was gone. That was a good sign that Caffeine must have woken during the night. Or someone stole it...
Stanley moved the stuff and floated out the door, trying to decide if he should yell at the damn screamers... and stopped at the sight before him.
A massive gray pit bull was lying on the floor while a horde of small children climbed all over it. The dog was easily the size of a horse, with scars of varying sizes and severity covering it from nose to stubby tail, it seemed unbothered by the climbers as it stared intently at the tiny girl sitting in front of its nose.
Both the screaming and playtime ended when Stanley emerged.
The dog glanced his way and stiffened. It stood slowly, almost slinking as it moved in front of the girl, never taking its eyes from Stanley while its lips pulled back to expose massive teeth. The low rumbles from its throat felt like a subwoofer shaking the building, and it silenced the protesting children.
"Good boy," Stanley said, almost reflexively. Meanwhile, his fingers curled in Caffeine's fur as he looked in horror at all the scars. What would Caffeine look like if all his injuries left scars? Like this, or worse? "Good boy," he whispered. They were both good dogs.
Unfortunately, the pit bull still didn't like him, and it was herding the girl away while growling in his direction.
I need to get out of here. Stanley checked his debuff and cursed silently. Still a few hours... and now he was hungry again. I shouldn't have given away the food. Except... hadn't Nate promised whatever he wanted? He just needed to get past the dog.
Stanley was all for leaving it in peace before it crushed the child into a wall, but it was closer to the stairs than he was. He flew slowly, trying to hug the wall and encourage it to move the other way... "Chill out. No one's after your human."
The dog flipped out, either at his words or at his angling approach, and it lunged toward him with a snarl.
Caffeine twitched in his sleep and let out a small whimper from Stanley's lap.
The pit bull froze at the sound, its gaze locked on Caffeine. Then it practically flew back to the girl and stood defiantly in front of her while visibly trembling.
"Can you lead him away from the stairs?" Stanley asked in the silent room. No one moved.
"Come, Barbie," a small voice said as the girl walked out from behind him. The pit bull had to lower his head to lick her face, which he did before moving quickly back in front of her.
Stanley escaped while she distracted... Barbie?
Downstairs they'd set up a cafeteria of sorts and people were moving in a line. Stanley joined them, floating along as they shuffled toward the food.
The man in front of him eventually noticed the flying person behind him and turned with anger in his eyes. And his voice. "You run out of food and come begging..."
Stanley wrapped his will around the man's throat and squeezed, cutting off his air and voice. "Do you want to di..." He choked on his words when he saw Samantha's pleading face flash through his mind, when he heard her voice telling him to be the bigger man... saw her head fly...
That's... she...
Stanley put the man down, only behind him. "Thanks for the cuts." That was fine, right?
"You idiot," someone whispered from the line. "Nate warned you."
Jerry emerged from the kitchen to dump more meat into the trays and saw him. "Why are you in line? Here, take this." He tapped the tray. "They've been bringing monsters in all night and we're preparing most of it for the road. But I'll make sure more comes out here."
Stanley frowned. Why was he waiting in line? Old habits, maybe... He scooped the meat into the air and flew over to a table. Wait, the road? Were they leaving? He supposed the restaurant was a bit small for the numbers here...
Caffeine didn't wake up. Not even when hot, steaming meat hovered before his nose. Stanley let him sleep. He still didn't understand how Caffeine's whole class, attributes, and skills even worked. But that fight had been beyond anything the pug had done before... He'd fought so hard for so long at the end there.
Nate found him after the first bite. "Mind if I sit?"
Stanley eyed the man standing well back from him. He didn't have Caffeine in any shape to fight if Nate tried something... but he had the spear. He'd infused it and now the thing practically followed him on its own. Samantha's spear... "Fine."
"I wanted to make you an offer..."
"Nate!" A woman rushed up to the table, ignoring Stanley. "Can't you do something about the dog? It's not safe to be around the..." She finally noticed Stanley and her face paled as her voice squeaked to a stop. "Not your dog! I'm sure he... she... is..."
"Amanda," Nate said, taking her hand in his with a gentle smile. "I know it's frightening to be around something so much more powerful than you, but trust me on this. Your children are safe. They've literally never been more safe than they are right now."
She tore her gaze from Stanley. "But what if there's an accident? I'm afraid one of them might... hurt him! What if he gets... angry?"
Stanley doubted that was even possible with those weaklings. Nate must have agreed, because he laughed. "This is a good thing, Amanda. Let them play. It is perfectly safe."
It didn't look like she liked his answer, but Amanda left with only a last quick glance at Stanley.
"You know the dog? Barbie?"
"I don't really, yet I sort of do," Nate said to Stanley, once she was gone.
His answer clarified nothing, and it must have shown on Stanley's face, because he continued, "Let me lay it out for you. I unlocked a so-called hidden attribute as soon as the system appeared, called Intuition. It gives me hunches and feelings that have helped me save more lives than I ever could have without it. I believe it's what led me here, and not only that... but I think those hunches are the reason you ended up fighting the monster on our tail."
Stanley stared at him, unmoving. That was a lot to take in... mostly the part about him being responsible for...
"I see that look, and I didn't lead it to you or anything like that. I didn't even know you existed. It was only a feeling telling me that this route gave us the best chance to survive. That's all."
"Why are you telling me this?" It sounded like more magic bullshit.
"Because I had a new feeling the moment I saw you this morning..."
"What?" Stanley growled.
"You need to return to where it started."
"Where what started?" Was he talking about the mountains? Where he'd lost his memory? Did Nate think he was some kind of prophet? Now he was handing out quests... was he trying to get rid of him?
"That's all I got," Nate said. "Return to where it started. Don't know what it means. Don't know where it means. That was just the thought that popped into my head."
"Why do you think I need to do this?"
Nate finally lost his cool composure, his expression looking haunted. "Because it's the only way any of us survive."
Now he was really laying it on thick. "That's some bullshit!"
"I don't know how it works any better than you." Nate shrugged. "Following my hunches has kept me alive through a lot of shit. They help me fight. Helped me save hundreds of people that otherwise would have died. I can't turn my back on it now."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"You don't have to do anything. I just had to tell you. Honestly, it feels like a weight off my chest now." He was smiling again, the bastard. "Now, since I'm willing to tell you anything and everything, what do you want to know?"
"Where are the invaders, and are they humans?"
"In the city somewhere, likely underground, but possibly in a skyscraper. There is also a slim chance they are in the ocean, though I doubt that. I don't think they're human, but they are recruiting humans to their ranks."
That was straightforward enough... if not exactly actionable. "So, it's the undead, then?"
Nate nodded. "I've found a few undead humans trying to recruit from my people. They always clam up once I catch them, and I bet it's some magic spell on them because they never utter a peep no matter what I do."
"Torture?" Stanley asked, a smile crawling onto his face involuntarily. Was he that petty? Yes. Yes, he was. He wanted to hear them scream and beg and...
"Yes. Some are zombies and not much different from what we've run into already, but others are something else. I don't know, maybe vampires or ghouls? We got theories, but nothing nailed down."
"What are your stats and skills?" Stanley wanted to see how far Nate would go.
"Seventy across the board with only strength above that at seventy-five. My class is Martial Artist. Epic, and it gave me four percent to all physical attributes for every level. Six percent now at Intermediate rank. I have a skill that started as 'Power Fist' and evolved into 'Lightning Blows'. It only works for punching. I have a similar one for kicking, but it hasn't evolved yet. I have a boosting skill that bumps all my stats for a short time, including amping up my perception so I can see in slow motion. Really helps with the lightning blows. I also... what?"
Stanley just stared at him in surprise. This was dangerous information... maybe. He'd already guessed the guy had a melee fighting class simply from watching him fight. So maybe it wasn't actually new information. "I'm not telling you mine."
"No need. You asked what I had, so I'm telling you. I don't need any kind of reciprocity."
"Why?" It made little sense. Was the guy just bullshitting him? Trying to throw him off with a bunch of nonsense? Or was he trying to sell something... "What do you really want?"
Nate smiled. "Same thing I wanted last night. I'm deadly serious about being your ally. I'm on your side. What's mine is yours."
"In exchange for what?"
"Mutual defense. We protect each other. When I tell you that an attack is coming..." He tapped the side of his head. "Then you stand beside me to defend my people and my home. And..." He held up a hand before Stanley could say anything. "When you need help, me and mine will stand beside you as well."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"Why?"
Nate finally broke his excessive eye contact to stare at the table while running a hand over his nearly shaved head. Stanley finally noticed the buzzed hair for the first time, and briefly wondered how he kept it so short. Magic, obviously. The guy probably had a damn hair dresser class in this mob.
"I started with nine Intuition, Stanley. I gained one when I followed a hunch and saved James on the first day. Yesterday I gained one point when I chose the correct tunnel to send everyone down, and then last night I gained one from wondering what your dog was hiding to be considered the Beast Lord."
Stanley bristled. "Don't fucking mess with..."
"I almost saw something," Nate interrupted him. "But my intuition... well, I gained ten points when I stopped prying." Nate said, holding up both hands defensively now. "I don't know how much you know about Caffeine, or about Beast Lords, but whatever is in there... it terrifies me."
"That..." Stanley didn't know what to say. Though this was the one claim, he had the least trouble believing. He knew Caffeine was special. He just didn't know exactly how. Or what exactly intuition was supposed to be, or what it meant to get more.
Nate leaned forward, lowering his voice. "I don't know how my ability works. Not really. Am I seeing the future? Or something else... I almost saw through, or around... past... something. I think Caffeine shut me out in the end."
"Do you have a soul stat?"
Nate shook his head. "Hidden attribute?"
Stanley nodded. "Not sure why or how I got it." He had theories. Like the Soul-Bonded with Caffeine thing, or possibly the whole Twin-Soul bit. Not that he would mention any of that.
"I've found out about one other," Nate said. "Guy named Byron has Constitution. Not only is he huge, but he's the toughest man we have. He can actually partially resist the Miasma this far from the city."
"I've always... resisted it." Stanley only hesitated a moment before divulging that. This wasn't information that could hurt him, not on its own at least. Unless this guy's intuition told him something...
"You don't have to share anything you don't want to, Stanley. But what I know, I share. We got a couple of research classes, and I'm willing to support them as long as it takes to figure this shit out. Information is power, something I think you understand, and I'm willing to share everything I have with you if you will lend your strength to us."
"I'll think about it," Stanley said. Something about the guy was... straightforward. Suspiciously so. Maybe he'd have Caffeine take another look at him... was that why he was talking to him now? Because Caffeine was asleep?
"Take your time," Nate said. "My first offer is that you help me transport everyone out to the edge of the map, and in return, I give you free food for life. No other strings attached. A one time job."
"What? Edge of the map?"
"You've seen the walls of our prison, right?"
Stanley nodded. "You mean the glowing blue one?"
"I guess you wouldn't notice, but the Miasma is getting worse every day. We need time to get set up. Time to train more fighters. Time to find more survivors. The further we get from the epicenter of this corruption, which I think is in the city somewhere, the longer we have to prepare for the coming war."
"Free food?"
"I know food is important to you. This deal means I will always have a stockpile of prepared and ready to go food whenever you drop by."
"The lairs are full of free food. I want more."
Nate smiled and Stanley felt like he'd walked into a trap. Though he couldn't see how... "Name it."
"I want one hundred cores of each attribute. Up front." Stanley didn't like the smile on Nate's face, so he made a ridiculous demand that they couldn't possibly...
"Deal," Nate said, and dropped a bag on the table.
Stanley stared at him. Then the bag. "Is that really..."
"Six hundred total attribute cores, one hundred of each."
"How... why do you have this?"
Nate's smile widened. "I told you. I have hunches." His smile dimmed. "I assume you know about the diminishing returns? No one can get past ninety-nine with cores, though a few have pushed strength up that last step naturally."
Stanley nodded glumly. He'd assumed some kind of bullshit like that, though knowing he could likely push some attributes past the limit was good news. Still, he should have asked for E-grade cores... "Have you seen any E-grades?"
Nate stilled. "I haven't. Was that one yesterday?"
"Yea... the cores are better. No reduction." For normal people, at least.
"Also, I have a debuff for a couple more hours," Stanley said. "Cuts my power in... well, it weakens me." He didn't want to tell the man he was vulnerable, but... "I'm not doing shit until it's gone." He grabbed the bag of cores. Despite everything, it was still free cores for dragging a bunch of people across the city. How much trouble could it be?
"You have two hours to get ready, and I'll give you one hour of my time. That's about how long it would take to gather these cores myself. If you aren't ready to go, then I'm not wasting my hunting time waiting for a bunch of morons. Stuff 'em into crates if you have to."
"We'll be ready," Nate said, with an assurance that Stanley was coming to learn meant he'd seen this coming... somehow. That ability was some bullshit. How did Nate get to see so far into the future with a measly attribute while his own Premonition skill gave him less than a second? Pure bullshit.
Stanley grumbled to himself while he filled up on mystery meat and absorbed cores. It was sad. No more than plus five to any of his attributes, with some only getting up to four while his willpower gained one.
Status
Name: Stanley Cascade
Race: [Psychomancer](F-Grade Human)
Titles: [Titan Slayer]
Traits: [Adaptable](67%) [Energetic Resilience] [Psycho]
Class: Psionic (Rare) - Level 32 (Intermediate)
Class Skills: Psychokinesis (Uncommon) - Level 40 (Intermediate) | Premonition (Epic) - Level 18 (Basic) | Accelerated Thought (Rare) - Level 8 (Novice)
Attributes:
Strength: 84(-10%)75
Vitality: 88(-9%)80
Dexterity 85(-1%)84
Wisdom 85(+179%)237
Intelligence 85(+178%)236
Willpower 95(+683%)743
Twin-Soul ???
Non-Class Skills 1/3: Psionic Weapon (Rare) - Level 18 (Basic)
Buff:
Debuff: [Cerebral Fatigue]
He was getting closer. Of course, he couldn't hit E-grade without hunting actual E-grades. It was some kind of fucked up bullshit. To get stronger, fight something that already is stronger than you. Only... how did the undead get to E-grade? How did anyone?
The monsters had to be leveling another way... maybe from the lairs? It was probably the first time he'd really sat down and thought about the issue. The lairs had to be doing something for the monsters aside from helping them breed faster... just the food requirements alone...
Stanley flew outside, spear tagging along, and looked for something to kill. He didn't need to wonder how lairs worked. Nate's research people could do that. He only needed to keep getting stronger. Even if he couldn't reach E-grade yet, might as well keep fighting in preparation for the next E-grade monster.
He just really hoped they didn't all have that insane regeneration... Sure, the zombie had been ridiculously strong, but he would have killed it after the first headshot, even if it was a grade higher. Wouldn't he? They still had to have weaknesses, right? Or did things like brains and hearts stop mattering when you got to higher grades?
Unfortunately, there were too many people outside the restaurant. They were killing everything before it even got close. Stanley closed his eyes against the sunlight, letting it shine on the sleeping pug while he drifted toward the outskirts. His head still ached, but it was getting better as the debuff timer ticked down. Some light spear throwing might be just what...
A human shaped figure appeared in his mind's eye. It didn't run or fly in; it appeared abruptly out of nowhere. Like a teleporter...
Stanley opened his eyes. Below him, the newcomer was facing away, talking to someone else. He had a crutch under his arm, holding him upright in place of the missing foot on his right leg. His left hand wasn't visible from Stanley's vantage, but his mind could feel the stump.
You!
The bastard vanished an instant before the spear touched him, just like last time. Definitely some kind of premonition ability.
Stanley felt the person sized shape appear where nothing had been before, and his spear blasted from the ground, flipping to fly point first...
He vanished before it arrived... and Nate caught the spear with a heavy, crushing grip.
So it begins. Stanley prepared himself, reaching out to touch on everything that wasn't nailed down. Nate was too fast. He had to take him down instantly before the man reached him.
Caffeine was still asleep... Stanley was on his own... and still had the debuff. He could push through it. The timer would go up... but he could...
"Wait!" Nate let go of the spear...
Stanley snatched it back to himself, keeping it poised like a scorpion tail over his head. As soon as Nate attacked... or that teleporter popped in...
"Everyone stand down, now!" Nate yelled. And the suddenly erupting commotion... stopped. "Stanley, talk to me. Why are you attacking Maurice?"
The spear shifted to point at Nate as he stepped slowly closer, and he stopped approaching. Stanley focused as hard as he could on his premonition skill. The moment he felt anything, he needed to strike...
"Maurice, get over here now!"
The teleporter appeared directly behind Nate, using him as a shield. He came in screaming, too. "That psycho is the one who took my hand and foot! Kill him!"
Nate slumped as he looked over his shoulder at the other man. Then he turned back to Stanley. "That true?"
So the betrayal came sooner than expected. Nate was working with the teleporter, and it was unlikely he would believe Stanley over one of his own. He could fly away... Nate couldn't fly; assuming he hadn't lied about his skills... The teleporter would be dangerous in the sky, but his new Psionic Weapon skill might even the odds even with Caffeine out of the fight.
Stanley still smiled grimly as he prepared for Nate's inevitable attack. "Caffeine took a couple of bites out of him after he attacked me. I'm going to finish what he started."
"He's lying!" Maurice yelled, cowering behind Nate. "He's obviously insane!"
"It's okay, Maurice. I've heard enough," Nate said, hands coming up as he settled into a fighting stance. "You ready?"
"Let's kill the..." Maurice said with his stupid little grin, right as Nate... twitched.
Maurice vanished... only to reappear a few feet ahead of Nate, blood spraying from where his hands clutched at his throat. He teleported a few more times, each one only a few feet from the last, before collapsing into an expanding pool of blood and lying still.
Nate straightened from his crouch and gently tossed something on the ground closer to Stanley. It hit with a wet splat.
A bloody splat.
It took Stanley a long moment to even figure out what he was looking at. He only understood when he saw the ragged hole where Maurice's neck used to be...
"I told you, Stanley," Nate said, not moving closer as he wiped his hand on a rag. "I'm on your side. Your enemies are my enemies as well." He looked around at the large number of silent observers. "You all get that?"
A few people nodded fearfully, but more only looked curiously at Stanley, seemingly unperturbed by the abrupt death before them.
"If any of you are still unaware, then know this. Stanley here saved everyone of our lives yesterday. He is on our side, and if you act against him, then you act against all of us. Anyone has beef with him, come to me first or I will assume you've turned against us and humanity as a whole. Understood?"
Stanley was still trying to process the sudden turn of events. Nate... hadn't betrayed him. Instead, he'd helped kill the teleporter... and that attack... Lightning blows, my ass!
Fancy words of loyalty aside, Stanley would keep his distance... he remembered every time Nate had been close to him… close to Caffeine…
Still, actions spoke louder than words. Stanley looked for long moments at the dead teleporter. Maybe having a powerful ally wouldn't be so bad... though it might be stressful.
How did Samantha or any of the others stand being around him, knowing he could end their lives in a heartbeat? Stanley had only just realized how dangerous Nate was, and he already hated it.
A core appeared, and Stanley snatched it up.
Nate made no movement or sound that might be a protest. Instead, he turned away. "Back to it! We aren't home yet!"
People dispersed while Stanley stared greedily at the core in his hand.
Skill Shard[F-grade]
Teleport (Epic)
Here to there.
User may instantly teleport to a chosen location within range regardless of any physical obstacles. Range and mana cost dependent on intelligence and skill level.
Skill Level Effects: (Novice)
+1% Intelligence
+1% Teleport Range
-1% Mana Cost
Requirements:
Mana Core/Channels [N/A](Adaptable)
Space Aspect Mana [N/A](Adaptable)
Adapting to this Skill will require 75% Adaptation and may alter your Class. (Insufficient Adaptability)
Adapting this Skill to your Class will require 1% Adaptation but may drastically alter the Skill.
Adapt Yourself and Learn Skill: (Unavailable)
Learn Adapted Skill: Y/N?
Consume and Destroy Skill Shard to gain +4 All Base Attributes: Y/N?
Stanley paused his perusal when he saw something he hadn't before. Adapting to the skill required more adaptation than he actually had. Maybe it was the Space Aspect Mana? Something had apparently added an extra twenty-five percent...
The main issue with adapting the skill to himself was what it would become. If he needed Space Aspect to teleport, did that mean it would have to adapt into something worse? Though, it could still be good... or better?
He doubted it. Teleportation! What could possibly be better than that? Combined with Premonition, he might be as unstoppable as that fucking Maurice. If it didn't change too much... he also noticed the mention of ignoring physical objects. It didn't mention ignoring magic...
Stanley glanced at Nate, the man still where he'd been after the fight and looking back at him.
"He dropped the skill, didn't he?" Nate stated more than asked.
Was that more of his bullshit intuition? Or had Stanley given himself away while looking at the core? He was excited about it... "What if he did?"