《Frigid Influence》 Chapter 1 Christmas, or any of the other names for the festive period of celebrations that happen towards the end of the year, always seems to be starting earlier and earlier as the years go by. There are always a few people who notice this fact, but they are always ignored and passed off as mean-spirited. The majority of the populace were happy to accept the longer periods of celebration, and in fact welcomed it. The old ¡®12 days of christmas¡¯ tradition has long been forgotten, with many people now decorating their homes up to 2 months before Christmas actually begins. They also leave them up far longer after the fact. What is the cause for this growing trend? Why do so many otherwise apathetic families buy in so wholeheartedly to this obviously commercialised holiday period? Decorating their homes with shrines to a holiday so far removed from its root origins? Well my friends, stay tuned to this blog over the next few weeks as I document my attempt to search for some actual answers. Alex rocked back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. This whole thing had started as a throwaway comment to his friends at the bar downstairs earlier that night, but it had sparked some insatiable need to have an unbiased look into the reasonings behind what people had now accepted as the¡­ norm. When he had been a kid, christmas was always as you¡¯d expect. A time for toys, family and food. His family had never been religious, but they also blindly followed this ¡°tradition¡± the same as everyone else. It wasn''t until he was older that this oddity began to grate on him, and his tolerance for the festive period had waned. It had grown into a deep-seated sense of dread he couldn''t explain. His friends and family had all just started treating him as the festive grump, and rather than keep trying to explain his reasoning he just nodded along and laughed it off with them. But now that he had finally written his internal monologue down, it was as if something deeper had awakened. He just KNEW there was more to this than anyone else was willing or able to see and he was determined to explore what this meant, even if it came to nothing. Looking over at the clock on his bedside table he sighed. Yet again he had somehow spent the entire night awake, and he now had to get ready for work. Pushing himself up from his chair, he quickly shrugged on his uniform, dreading having to spend the whole day with a fake smile plastered on his face and the same christmas album on repeat for the next 12 hours. He took a quick glance in the mirror hanging by his door and smoothed out a few big creases. ¡°It really is getting earlier and earlier. It''s not even December but every house on this block has all their decorations up. And i¡¯ve been hawking this seasonal crap since the day after Halloween. Ridiculous!¡± He knew that he wasn''t the only retail worker that hated the festive period, but nobody seemed to get as worked up about it as he did. He genuinely loved working retail the rest of the year. He loved talking to new people, and he had always found himself really good at sales. Whilst his colleagues all just clocked in and out, following the company hard sales pitch, Alex actually engaged with his customers. He would find what made them tick, and match them to the product they needed, not what would make him the most commission. He was never top salesman, but he was always consistent. It was this that had gotten him the promotion to floor manager, but that hadn¡¯t stopped him from still making sales. He fired himself a pair of finger-guns in the mirror ¡°Oh well, armour on, let''s go!¡± and headed out the door. A few hours later, Alex noticed someone acting a little strange in his section. Giving them a more thorough look he noticed that they were wearing some sort of off-brand opposite colour palette santa suit, black fur and a deep midnight-purple. Their skin was pale white with an almost blue pearlescent sheen to it, and their features were incredibly angular. Interest peaked, he slowly ambled in their direction. As he drew nearer, they turned and stared directly at him. He shivered as those eyes, an impossible blue, pierced him. ¡°Hey there, is there anything I can help you with today?¡± he asked politely. ¡°Hello Alex. I think we can actually help each other. Follow me.¡± The stranger gave a wan smile, then turned and headed straight towards the exit. ¡°Erm¡­ What? Excuse me! Yeah, I can''t just leave mid-shift. And how do you know my name?!¡± Saying nothing, the stranger just looked over their shoulder before exiting the store leaving Alex stood there, mouth agape. He looked around to see if there was anyone else nearby, but everyone else was busy with their own customers. He quickly rushed over to the manager''s office. ¡°Hey Paul, I just need to pop out for a bit. My section is running smoothly and on target so I''m just gonna grab an early lunch.¡± and without waiting for the answer Alex rushed to follow the strange ¡®not-santa¡¯. As he got out onto the street, he scanned both directions for a few seconds before seeing the Stranger partway down the road beckoning at him. Not wasting any time, hethreaded his way through the crowds until he finally drew level with them. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.??¡°What the actual fuck is going on? I want answers. Who put you up to this? Was it Dale? I bet it was Dale¡­ Prick always likes to push my buttons this time of year¡­¡± Alex blustered, slightly out of breath. ¡°Alex, nobody put me up to anything. You¡¯ve been registering on our systems more and more over the last few years, but until this morning there had never been enough cohesion for us to establish a link and punch our way through the veil. What did you do this morning?¡± They enquired urgently. ¡°Register¡­ Veil¡­? I have no idea what the hell you¡¯re going on about, and all I did this morning was write a blog entry about how the holidays suck, and are starting to suck more every year!¡± He responded angrily, drawing more than a few querying glances in their direction, which the stranger noticed before saying;# ¡°This isn¡¯t the place for this. Too many unknowns in the vicinity. I will answer all of your questions, I promise, but I need you to come with me. Please!¡± With that the stranger dashed off again, sparing a pleading glance back over their shoulder at Alex. He reluctantly followed, and for the next 5 minutes or so they headed in the direction of the city warehouse district. Every so often Alex would halfheartedly mumble something about needing to get back to work, and people wondering where he is, but he made no actual effort to head back to the store. Abruptly they stopped outside of a warehouse that didn¡¯t quite seem to fit in. It was boarded up, the same as all the other warehouses in this area, but every square inch of the exterior was covered in the tackiest winter themed graffiti. Snowflakes in all shades of white and blue were most prominent, but an assortment of terribly proportioned pictures of santas elves, snowmen and reindeer were also dotted around. Taking all of this in Alex shivered, suddenly realising that the surrounding temperature had dropped what felt like 10-15 degrees compared to the busy city. It was cold enough that a sheen of frost covered everything in the vicinity. ¡°Where in the hell did you bring me to? If all you wanted to show me was some abandoned cold storage warehouse that looks like its been doodled on by a group of toddlers, I could have saved you the trip¡­¡± Alex remarked tersely. ¡°I have brought you to exactly where you need to be. Inside this warehouse is the answer to all of your questions, and more, but I cannot force you to enter, you must genuinely wish to follow me inside.¡± ¡°Genuinely want to follow you inside what I am now fairly certain is a meat locker where you will kill me and take my organs? Yeeeeah¡­ I think I¡¯m going to pass on that offer. Thanks though!¡± He replied sarcastically before taking a couple of steps away from the now slightly intimidating stranger. ¡°I do not wish you harm. Far from it Alex. Allow me to show you something as a gesture of faith.¡± the stranger begins to whisper in a language Alex doesn¡¯t recognise, before pointing at the ground beside them. A small pile of snow begins to form and take shape into what Alex could only describe as a tiny muscular snowman. It flexed at Alex before dropping back to the ground and vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. ¡°Okay, now that was a neat trick, making it pose for me was a nice touch. I still fail to see how this was meant to make me trust you not to kill me in there though?¡± ¡°It was meant to help peak your curiosity, and help you begin to see. Look again at the warehouse and tell me if anything has changed.¡± they instructed. Alex did as he was asked and looked back up at the warehouse. It took a few moments, but before his eyes he saw that the snowflakes and images seemed to almost blur, and then when they came back into focus they had gone from crude drawings to photorealistic pictures. ¡°What the¡­? What just happened?¡± He spluttered. ¡°This warehouse is actually a gateway to the Frigid Domain. I know that doesn¡¯t make sense yet either, but it will. I am about to open the doorway itself. Again, you must truly wish to follow me before you enter.¡± they warned as they turned to the door and touched a knot in the wood. The door itself flowed apart like water, and the stranger walked through. A bright white-blue flash accompanied by a huge gust of cutting wind caused Alex to take a step back before he leaned forward to get a better view. Nothing was visible through the doorway other than what appeared to be a bright light. Alex tentatively took a step forward, calling out ¡°I¡¯m coming in, but if you do want to kill me be aware that I will scream!¡± before passing through the doorway. He automatically shut his eyes to block out the glaring light, and as soon as he was entirely inside, the door flowed shut again, and froze as hard as steel. Finally the light subsided enough for him to open his eyes. What he saw left him shaken to his core. Chapter 2 Rather than the warehouse interior he had been expecting, Alex found himself face to face with the strangest looking room he had ever seen. A cross between the bridge on the Enterprise and an ice hotel, where everything was made from some type of ice. Interspersed around the room were 5 people dressed similarly to the stranger, who was waiting off to the side slightly with a reserved expression on their face. ¡°Alex, welcome to the Frigid Domain. I know this might seem jarring, so let me give you some quick information before you ask all of the questions I know you have. Firstly, you are safe here. We wish you no harm, and actually wish to request your assistance with a matter concerning both of our worlds. Secondly, the Frigid Domain is the overall name for this realm. It is a parallel to your own universe, so we are currently stood on Frigid Earth. It¡¯s similar in many ways to your own planet, but very different in others. I¡­ no, WE, are happy to answer any questions you might have now.¡± they ended meekly. ¡°Wow¡­ I mean, this has to be a joke right? Everything you just said sounds crazy¡­ but this¡­¡± Alex said as he reached towards what appeared to be a console unit made entirely from ice, ¡°this is real. How is this possible?¡± ¡°As I said, this realm is very similar to Earth. However, this universe functions using the power of the Frigid, hence the name. Unlike your universe, we have no other influences, so the Frigid powers every aspect of our existence. Your universe acts as a nexus of every other type of influence, acting in harmony with no clear dominant force. This is actually directly related to the main reason we bought you here. A power from the Frigid has been perverting the Accords, which is why your ¡®christmas¡¯ period as you call it, has been getting more pervasive.¡± They explained. ¡°Hold on, are you saying that the festive period getting longer is because of something or someone from here? That doesn¡¯t make sense, there has always been a period of festivities toward the end of our year. Sure I hate that it has gotten more commercialised recently, but that''s just corporate greed and consumerism.¡± Alex stated plainly. ¡°Not quite. To cut a long story short, your universe was created by the combined Powers of the Veil. As such, each realm that contributed a part of their power was allowed some small form of domain within your universe. The Frigid takes a small tithe of power and resources during the cold months on your world and others. On Earth, this culminates around your festive period. Someone on Frigid Earth has been exerting their own power to take more from your world for longer. This has manifested in the phenomena you have noticed of the festivities growing longer and longer, as well as some other planetary issues.¡± They said. ¡°I guess that kind of makes some twisted sort of sense, but how is nobody else noticing the same as I have then? Surely everyone must be able to notice what''s happening?¡± Alex asked, scratching his head with a very confused expression on his face. ¡°Bluntly? No, they wouldn''t, because even if it wasn''t for the universal dampening filter placed on your realm, most inhabitants of your planet just don''t care enough for this pervasive influence to register as a foreign invader rather than just their own conscious. You are one of the first I know of to have started to break the filter on your own, and we have no idea how or why it happened.¡± ¡°Really? I''m not sure how I feel about that honestly, but I guess it''s no different than about a dozen different religions at this point, so I¡¯ll move past that. So you¡¯re saying that I began to break through this filter on my own? Is that why you showed me that little snowman trick to break me through the rest?¡± Alex questioned, glancing sideways at a sharp inhale of breath from one of the others around the room. ¡°Nieve! Is this true? You showed him the power of the Frigid? You could have been caught! I must alert the Council of your transgression!¡± A slightly taller Frigidian shouted angrily. ¡°Really Eira? We have transported someone through the void using hacked, stolen Fro-tech and you want to lecture me? Also, if what we think is happening really is, then its likely the council, or at least someone on the council that is responsible. So how about you stow that rage and aim it properly before the entire Veil collapses around us!¡± Nieve snapped back without turning away from Alex, who was looking back and forth between them with a wide eyed look. Already cold, Alex suddenly convulsed at the rapid temperature drop in the room. Dropping to his knees and clutching his arms around his body, he looked up at Nieve, his lips turning blue in the extreme cold. ¡°Alex! I''m so sorry, I forgot that you aren''t accustomed to this climate, and have no power of your own to shield you, then when we argued and influenced the cold even more¡­ This lapse is completely my fault. Please dont think worse of us because of this¡­¡± Nieve cried, little icicles forming and falling from their eyes. Nieve grabbed the coat that Eira was offering and helped Alex struggle into it. Within seconds, the power of the coat had returned him back to his normal self. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it my friends, I understand that you aren¡¯t used to having to host someone like me. What¡¯s this coat made from though? I have never seen anything this warm before¡­¡± Alex reassured them as he examined the coat. ¡°Just bring up the coat¡¯s description, that should help clear things up for you.¡± Eira said with a slight frown. ¡°What do you mean description? Like in a game? How the hell am I meant to do that? Alex laughed dismissively, not catching the fleeting look across all of the Frigidians¡¯ faces. ¡°What do you mean Alex? How do you see more information about the items in your Realm?¡± Eira probed, genuine curiosity in his voice. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.??¡°You¡¯re serious? We have lists of ingredients printed or available for items, but that''s it¡­ You mean you can see more information about stuff just by looking at it here? That sort of thing only happens in video games back home¡­¡± Alex trailed off, finally looking around the room at the faces of the rest of the people in the room. ¡°You all act like that shouldn¡¯t be the case?¡± ¡°It really shouldn''t. It appears even more is wrong with your realm than we previously thought, but that can¡¯t be purely the work of Frigid influence. Something somewhere has gone very wrong in your universe.¡± Nieve said with a loaded expression. ¡°It appears we will have even more work to do if you choose to assist us in our endeavors. Everyone in every other realm has full access to the full extent of the Veils creation, but you and your universe seem to have been artificially cut off. We can help you forge your own connection, but I must warn you that it will NOT be a pleasant experience. Also, we have no idea what unlocking your potential here could mean for you. Your realm was meant to develop without a clear affinity to any one aspect of the Veil, so unlocking you here in the Frigid domain could have unforeseen consequences.¡± ¡°You talk of unlocking my connection and power, but this all still sounds like I¡¯m the character in some lame story¡­ If this is my origin story, it really sucks¡­ No spiders or radiation?¡± Alex smirked at his own references whilst the Frigidians all shared confused looks. ¡°We aren¡¯t too sure what that all means Alex, but this is no story. Your entire universe has grown and developed without the guidance and stability granted by an open connection to the Veil. This would explain how your world has been so easy for someone to influence. None of the natural safeguards are in place to prevent it.¡± Eira remarked thoughtfully. ¡°As Eira said, this is no story. We need your help Alex, this is why I came to you in your realm to bring you here. It may actually be for the best that you are more of a clean slate. We can help train you to combat the foes here directly without needing to help you unlearn bad habits. So, I pose you this question now: Will you help us, and thus indirectly your entire universe, put a stop to whomever or whatever is laying siege to your realm and causing ripples across the entire Veil?¡± Nieve looked directly at Alex when they asked this question, ensuring he could see the sincerity in their eyes. ¡°I mean, after a speech like that how can I say no? Plus, I don¡¯t think there is a single person who would turn down the ability to become a hero unless they were a total asshole.¡± Alex replied with an enormous smile, still unsure how to believe this was all actually real, but now invested enough not to care. And with his acceptance, the Frigidians all broke into joyous cheers. Glad that all of their work had finally given them a chance to stop the oncoming catastrophe. They explained to Alex that for many years they had been monitoring the increasingly disturbing fluctuations in the Veil, initially unsure as to the source. Then a few years ago, roughly around the time that Alex had started to experience his discomfort around the holidays, they had registered a spike aimed at his universe from their own. From what they had been able to tell at the time, someone had hastily tried to repair the damage to Alex¡¯s perception filter, but inadvertantly caused its decline to speed up. The Frigidians here had essentially splintered off from the main group to try and search for causes and solutions, and had slowly been siphoning off equipment ever since. It was thanks to this failed spike that they had been able to hone in on Alex more and more as he grew older, and slowly construct the tear between their realms using his residual cast off energy to stabilise it. After filling him in on the history, Nieve, Eira and the other 3 Frigidians (who introduced themselves as Iclyn, Whittaker and Yas) set about linking up what looked like a frozen suntanning bed. ¡°This Fros-tech is what we use on our young during their formative years to help them solidify their connection to the Veil. We are modifying it to not only accept your differing DNA structure, but to actually forge your connection manually because you don¡¯t even have the foundations of one. This is where the¡­ discomfort may occur. We have no idea how your body will react to being forced to connect at this late a stage in your life.¡± Yas explained delicately. Yas had identified themselves as the head Fros-technician for the group, and was the only reason they had been able to operate secretly on the scraps and cast offs they had been able to scavenge. ¡°Still not selling me on this as much as I¡¯d hoped y¡¯all would¡­ But needs must right?¡± Alex mumbled. ¡°Fear not, we will place you into cold-induced coma so you shouldn¡¯t feel anything during the process, and hopefully once your connection is fully forged, it will assist you in recovering afterwords once you awaken. Should there be any complications, we will do our best to return you to your prior state of health.¡± Yas smiled at him reassuringly. ¡°If you could take the coat off Alex, we will begin the process of chilling you gently until you fall unconscious. We are very good with cold, and no harm will befall you.¡± Nieve said as they reached out to help him out of the big coat. As soon as it fell from his body the biting cold set in immediately again. Teeth chattering, he laid down on the bed of the device that was about to change his life forever. The thought made him smile, despite the slightly dire situation. He kept his fingers crossed that whatever power awakened inside him at least made it so he didnt feel like his junk was going to fall off in the cold. Yas and Nieve were stood on either side of the machine, Yas monitoring screens only they could see, and Nieve was slowly lowering his body temperature. Eira stood down by his feel talking him down into his cold-induced anesthesia. Slowly Alex felt himself begin to slide into unconciousness, and his last thought was ¡°Just don¡¯t make me green¡­¡± Chapter 3 Flashes of pain. That was all Alex remembered for the unknown number of hours he was unconscious undergoing the connection procedure. He had to admit he was more than a little pissed off at this. They¡¯d said being unconscious would stop him from feeling any of the pain. He tried to force himself to remain calm, as he knew it wasn¡¯t their fault. They had warned him of this being a possibility, and then done what they could to alleviate it for him. Unbeknown to him, outside the device he was currently entombed in was chaos. The sheer amount of energy being radiated by his body was causing havoc to everything in the vicinity. Arcs shot out from the chamber with increasing frequency, hitting anything nearby. Rain fell and refrozen in sheets across the whole room as the elements themselves seemed to react to the phenomena taking place. The Frigidians were shocked by just how much power was being released by Alex. Yas thanked the Cold that they had thought to insulate their position, otherwise their little hideaway would currently be lit up like a pulsating beacon, bringing with it the eye of the very people they were trying to hide from. As they entered the 20th hour since Alex had gone into the chamber, everything seemed to slow down for a few moments. Reaching a crescendo, the power emanating spiked, then stopped abruptly. The Frigidians all ran back into the room, looking inquiringly at Yas. ¡°It appears one way or another that the time is upon us. From what I was able to monitor, Alex appeared stable throughout the entire process. I am unsure as to how he will react as he awakens. I would advise taking some form of cover as we have never before witnessed what the Awakening does to someone of his age.¡± Yas warned, giving a pointed look at Nieve. ¡°Yas is correct. You should all take refuge. I alone will be here when he reawakens, and I alone will bear the brunt of any issues. This was all my idea, and I will not allow you to risk yourselves any further on my behalf.¡± Nieve ordered, the tone in their voice brokering no argument. With that, the others all filed out, each stopping to pat Nieve on the shoulder, or offer a word of luck. Nieve slowly approached the chamber, taking care to monitor the readings still showing on the front of the device. As they drew closer, suddenly Nieve¡¯s every sense told them to duck. Acting on pure instinct Nieve hit the deck just as the device seemed to explode outwards, shrapnel flying through the air where their chest had been not a moment before. Standing in the center of the carnage was Alex, his eyes blazing. ¡°Nieve, you and I need to haVE WORDS! THAT FUCKING HURT!¡± His voice raising to an ear splitting bellow that would never have been possible when he first arrived. Nieve was bodily pushed back by the force, which surprised them both. ¡°Oh shit, sorry Nieve. I¡­¡± ¡°Alex, take a deep breath and count to 5. Let the feelings you have settle again before you attempt to talk again. Right now you are potentially lethal to everyone here, including yourself¡± Nieve hissed in shock. They had expected a power spike after his awakening, but this was far in excess of all their projections. Alex¡¯s eyes widened a this, and he took a few steps back raising his hands placatingly. Complying with his orders, he closed his eyes and took a deep steadying breath. He immediately felt the power begin to dissipate almost to nothing. Opening his eyes again, he looked to Nieve with an apologetic grimace. ¡°I have no idea what happened there, I¡¯m so sorry Nieve, I just woke up so angry. The pain was so pervasive whilst I was asleep, it felt like it was never going to end¡­¡± He trailed off as flashes and little dancing lights in the corners of his eyes drew his attention. ¡°Erm¡­ what are these lights in my eyes? It''s getting so as I can barely see¡­¡± ¡°I remember this sensation myself. It is the connection forging the visual aspects you should have. It should pass shortly, but you may find you get a very bad headache.¡± Whittaker said as they emerged from the doorway behind Nieve. ¡°Whilst Nieve may be the de facto leader of this little group of us, I¡­¡± Whittaker gestured to themself ¡°I am the expert when it comes to what happens next. You and I are gonna become very well acquainted over the next couple of days Alex.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound ominous at all Whittaker, really, like could you have made that sound any creepier?¡± Alex replied with a grin. ¡°You have nothing to fear from me apart from copious amounts of pain as I whip you into something passable for our mission my friend.¡± Whittaker fired back also grinning widely. Before the little verbal jousting match could continue, Alex grunted as it felt like his head was about to split open. He gripped at the sides of his head so hard the nails on his hands dug into the flesh of his temples and cheeks slightly. ¡°YEeeeaaargh! We seriously need to work on you guys perceptions if this is ¡®just¡¯ a headache! This feels like someone just squirted expanding foam into my brain, but also filled it with razor wire and lemon juice. FUCK!¡± Seeing that he was still in control this time, Nieve and Whittaker shared a smirking glance, knowing that all the pain would soon be forgotten as the connection finished forging. They were both looking forward to seeing an outsider experience something they had known all their lives. Within a few seconds Alex stood upright again, little rivulets of blood trickling down his face, but the wounds themselves already sealed over and almost gone. ¡°Welcome to the fold Alex, grab a seat whilst you adjust and allow us to answer anything you need to ask.¡± Whittaker smiled, pulling a seat over for Alex. Alex blinked. Accepting the seat, but barely paying it a mind as he allowed the new flood of information to wash over him the same way he always did whenever he started a new game back at home. His vision was now augmented with numerous overlapping translucent fields of text, each one pulsating slowly to gain his attention. Knowing he needed to get up to speed as soon as possible, he started to eagerly devour the prompts one after another. Veil connection complete. Species recognised as Human(Nexus). First member of species to forge connection in over 500 years, new template accepted. Any further Human(Nexus) connections will follow new protocol. Pain reduced hereafter. Congratulations Alex. Welcome to the Veil. You have our apologies for the discomfort suffered during your connection. Your species should not have been disconnected from Us in the first place, but now that you have been reconnected we can use you as the basis for new connections your Species makes to Us. Your species is roughly 5 centuries behind the other Realms currently. Whilst we are unable to change this fact, we can make it easier for you to catch back up. To this end, every Nexian Human will receive 50 years of increased gain to all aspects of your growth. Try not to make this well known to the other Realms, otherwise they might get slightly upset. We have reset all illnesses and injuries present before connection, or that you sustained during the process. We will do this for any new connections as well, but only once. After that, what happens will need to be fixed by you as individuals. For now, we are going back to trying to figure out who cut you away from Us for so long, just as you were beginning to show true potential. We will be monitoring you especially closely as the first back into the fold Alex. Good luck on solving your upcoming mission. We can offer no direct assistance unfortunately, but please stop the impending collapse. We like existing as we are, the darkness is terribly¡­ mean. Oh, one last thing. Tell Nieve that her suspicions are corre¡­ Ow, okay, can''t even finish that sentence. But We are sure you can tell what it says, right Alex? As soon as he finished reading the first box, it vanished. His mind reeled at just how much the entities of the Veil had just told him, directly, or indirectly. Firstly, until fairly recently, his universe had been connected to the Veil the same as the Frigidians and all the other realms. Secondly, everything that had been told to him by Nieve and the others was correct. His realm had been forcibly cut off from the Void to put them behind, and leave them more vulnerable. Thirdly, the Veil had been actively aware of this fact and unable to act itself, other than to hunt for the culprit. This confused Alex, as surely the Veil had control of everything? SO who or what had stopped it from helping sooner, and was keeping it from helping more now? The second window was now pulsing slightly more irritatingly, demanding attention.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
Name Alex Colt Stats
Species Human(Nexus) Power 1
Age 27 Vitality 1
Level 1 (Bonus Active) Finesse 1
XP 1/100 Mentality 1
Judgement 1
Charm 1
He had STATS? This was awesome. He¡¯d always loved RPGs back home, and apparently all life should have been like it from the start. Beaming at this, Alex looked up and saw all of the Fridigians stood staring at him. ¡°Oh hey guys, sorry, I had a message from the Veil that needed reading, and I have a STAT SHEET NOW!¡± He shouted in glee. ¡°Did you just say that the Veil spoke to you directly Alex?¡± Nieve asked, their face an image of pure wonder. ¡°Er¡­ Yeah? They explained everything and backed your story of outside influence etc. They also said we are about 500 years behind the rest of the realms. Oh and we are called Nexian Humans, which I guess lines up with what you said about my Universe being the nexus of power from other realms. Oh, also I have been fully healed, and my data will be used in every Nexian Human connection from now to make sure it goes smoothly.¡± Alex blurted out everything in a rush, still riding high on knowing he could now level up, and had stats and stuff. Luckily he remembered not to say anything about the bonus increase his species gained for being so far behind. ¡°Alex¡­ The Veil doesn¡¯t just speak to people like that normally. It takes years of devotion and growth to get noticed normally. Did the Veil say anything else to you?¡± Yas piped up. ¡°Yeah, They started saying something about Nieve¡¯s suspicions being correct? I guess that means that the council are to blame. The Veil said that they were in pain for trying to tell me that, that¡¯s weird right?¡± Alex responded, voicing his question to the group. ¡°The Veil actually tried to directly intervene? This is bad. It means we need to get you trained up and for our mission to succeed. If the Veil is willing to risk breaking its own rules, things must be worse than even we know.¡± Nieve breathed, wringing their hands. ¡°Nieve, nothing has changed.¡± Whittaker said, placing a hand on Nieves shoulder. ¡°We just know that we have been correct this entire time. That''s good, now we can focus fully on completing what we set out to do.¡± Turning to Alex, they continued ¡°Tomorrow, your training with me will start. I am trained in multiple forms of melee and ranged combat, and even if you have no affinity with the Frigid, I can teach you much.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying tomorrow will be my training montage scene? Hah, Awesome!¡± Alex laughed. With that, Alex was shown where his bed was at the back of the room, and the others filed out to let him rest and recover. Unable to sleep, Alex bought his stats page back up again to stare at. He noticed that each of the stats would expand into an info box when he thought about them. Power:- A measure of a person''s overall strength. It affects their athleticism and how much damage they are able to inflict. Vitality:- A measure of a person¡¯s innate resistance to damage. It affects their HP and ability to withstand spells and attacks. Finesse:- A measure of a person¡¯s overall speed and accuracy. It affects both run speed and attack speed, how accurate attacks and abilities are, and how often critical hits occur. Mentality:- A measure of a person¡¯s overall mental fortitude. It affects intelligence, information retention and recollection. Judgement:- A measure of a person¡¯s overall awareness. It affects wisdom, sanity and insight. Charm:- A measure of a person¡¯s overall charisma. It affects a person¡¯s leadership ability, their persuasiveness and eloquence. Now armed with a little more information, Alex found his mind drifting through exactly who he wanted to be in this new world. He wanted to be able to protect everyone he cared about, and anyone who was unable to care for themselves. He could only imagine what would happen if everyone on his Earth suddenly gained access to the Veil. Criminals with the ability to become supervillains? Hell, even normal people would happily give in to their darker instincts given half a chance. He knew that just a few years ago he would likely have gone somewhat that way himself. Steering himself away from such thoughts for now, he went back to the small stat window, determined to learn all it had to offer before tomorrow. After another reread of the stat descriptions so that they remained embedded in his mind, he realised that there was a little expand icon at the bottom. Thinking about it caused the window to immediately expand to cover his entire vision in a translucent screen. His stats stayed where they were towards the top left, but now there were more windows visible, but unavailable for further examination currently. He could see the headers; Affinities, Class and Skills. He bounced with a little joy at this sight, as he could easily infer what they could mean based on his prior knowledge. It looked like Whittaker was going to have some serious explaining to do during their training tomorrow, as Alex wanted to take full advantage of what was now available to him. After fully exhausting all of the available options on his new interface, Alex rose from his bed and decided to put a theory to the test. He had been mildly interested in fitness and health, but now that he had a number to grow, he wanted to see if his previous experience was worth anything. He dropped down into a pushup position and began to work out, quickly realising he was actually weaker now than before his transition. What had happened to that power he had shown when he came out of the chamber?? Confused, but even more determined to see what he could do, he kept at it. For the first hour or so he just rotated through his old bodyweight circuit. Pushups, situps, dips, squats and pullups were his old staple routine. He realised that all of his numbers were lower than before, but his recovery seemed to be increasing rapidly. It used to take him 20-30 seconds between sets, but by the end of that first hour he was back to full stamina within 20 seconds. He sat back on his bed, now suitably tired when a notification pinged up in the stat screen: +1 Power +1 Vitality ¡°Oh FUCK yes! I hoped it was going to be that easy. Ohhh Whittaker won''t know what hit them!¡± Alex laughed to himself as he willed the notification away and turned in to sleep ready and waiting for whatever would come tomorrow. Chapter 4 ¡°Alex¡­¡± Whittaker gently tried to rouse Alex, growing more bemused as their attempts failed. ¡°ALEX!¡± And he got dumped onto the floor unceremoniously. ¡°Huh.. wha¡­? Oh, hey Whittaker, ¡®sup?¡± Alex yawned. ¡°Time to get started. We need to assess your base strengths and see how the connection has integrated. Up you get!¡± With a grumble, Alex rose to his feet expecting to feel some ache from his exertions the previous night. None came. He felt as fresh as if he hadn¡¯t worked out at all, which made him grin in anticipation. ¡°What are you grinning at? You complained about me being creepy yesterday, but that look on your face is horrifying.¡± Whittaker ribbed. ¡°Well¡­ I sort of did a little workout last night to break in my ¡®new¡¯ body. I don¡¯t hurt at all which I wasn¡¯t expecting. I also managed to get a couple of stat up notifications when I finished.¡± He explained, grin still firmly plastered on his face. "You¡­ Okay, that¡¯s not completely unheard of I guess¡­¡± Whittaker began with a thoughtful expression. ¡°So, may as well get started on your assessment now. What level did all of your stats start at, and what did you raise?¡± ¡°Wow, straight to business huh? Okay then, all my stats started at 1, which i wasn¡¯t expecting. I was actually a fair bit weaker than I was back home which was weird to adjust to. I did find that i was recovering faster than normal though. I raised my power and vitality by 1 point each.¡± Alex said proudly. ¡°Everything started at level 1? That is NOT normal. You should automatically have had a level or 2 in areas you had previous experience. How long did you work out for?¡± ¡°About an hour i think, why?¡± ¡°Getting stat increases early isn¡¯t too hard, but getting 2 areas ranked up that fast? That is abnormal to say the least. Do you have any previous combat experience? Whittaker questioned intently, mind racing at what Alex had said already. ¡°Combat? Apart from playing games, nope, sorry. Will that be a problem?¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be. I have trained more than one initiate from nothing before. Let¡¯s move over here¡± They gestured towards a clear space lined with a few mats that hadn¡¯t been there the previous evening, ¡°And we can begin seeing what you have to offer.¡± Alex followed Whittaker to the now padded area and waved his hands around in a mock stance based on years of watching badly dubbed martial arts films. ¡°Why are you flapping around like a chickling? You look ridiculous.¡± Whittaker scoffed, making Alex¡¯s cheeks redden. ¡°It¡¯s what people back home do when they get ready to fight¡­ I thought it looked cool.¡± Alex pouted. ¡°Well here''s lesson one then. Don¡¯t do that. When you are to be engaging in any form of combat, do NOT give away your intent. Keep yourself loose but controlled, reducing any advantages your opponent may be seeking to gain. Today I wish to show you the basics of our military hand to hand combat style. If you pick it up easily enough I will adjust to more in depth abilities as needed.¡± Alex was taken aback at just how intensely different this Whittaker was from the one cracking jokes with him just minutes before. He could almost sense the power emanating from his friend. ¡°Sure, sounds good! Quick question, why am I not cold any more, and will fighting with you cuase the same as what happened between Nieve and Eira?¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t cold any more because you have been enhanced by your connection to the Veil. Extremes will still affect you, but outside of that, it will take you a lot longer to feel the cold. As for what happened between the others, unless I choose to use my affinity as a weapon, you shouldn¡¯t feel it any more than normal. Before, you were extra sensitive due to your trip through the tear. Now, come at me with everything you have. Hold nothing back, I assure you that I will not get injured.¡± With that, Whittaker dropped back onto the balls of their feet and seemed to grow by a foot and a half. Alex held back a moment, assessing what had just happened to Whittaker. He edged forward cautiously and aimed a clumsy kick at the side of Whittaker¡¯s knee. All that happened was a slight shift of the foot, wheras Alex fell back with a hiss feeling like he had broken his toes. ¡°Don¡¯t kick with your foot outstretched like that, you lose all rigidity that way. Try again, but use your heel, or fold your toes back and kick straight on. Keep the impact point in as straight a line from your hip as you can.¡± Whittaker chastised. Pain already forgotten, Alex did as he was told and swung in with a viscious heel-kick at the same spot. It was like kicking solid steel, but at least he didn¡¯t hurt himself this time. Spinning away, Alex came in low and aimed a punch at Whittaker¡¯s kidney area. This sort of move had gotten him out of a few close scrapes back at school as few could stop themselves from conceding ground from a solid blow to such a tender area. As the blow landed Alex felt himself lifted from the ground and suddenly the ceiling replaced the floor in his view. Before he had a chance to grasp what was happening he found himself pinned to the matt face down, with Whittakers surprising bulk on top and his arm wedged up his back. ¡°Not a bad attempt, but you made your intent far too obvious. I had your entire blow choreographed from the second you decided to throw the punch. Don¡¯t come in from so far back already starting the blow. Close first, and at the last second aim the punch. It gives the opponent far less time to react. Also, plan for how you wish to get out of the blow. Have the entire move planned out in your mind before you start. For example, in that punch, how were you planning to get out of range?¡± Alex, gasping out his response because of the weight currently bearing down on him ¡°I¡­ hadn¡¯t¡­ planned anything after.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t think you had. What you could have done is follow the blow around to the opposite side with a spin or slide.¡± Whittaker stood and helped Alex up.¡±Hit left, go right. Okay, again.¡± This continued for a while, Alex attempting blow after blow, kicks, punches, even a sly headbutt which earned him a respectful nod from his teacher. Shortly after sitting himself back up after another brutal takedown, Alex got some more stat increase notifications. Power +1 Vitality +2 Finesse +2 Mentality +1 ¡°Woooooah¡­¡± Alex muttered to himself under his breath. ¡°Hey Whitt, can we go again? I wanna try something.¡± ¡°Of course, you¡¯ve been making phenomenal progress so far. I only caught you that time because you misplaced your foot.¡± Standing and stretching himself, Alex faced his teacher again. This time he came in hard and fast, feinting towards Whitt¡¯s stomach before crouching and exploding a blow straight into their unprotected face. For the first time that day, Alex had managed to land a solid blow that utilised everything he had been taught so far. Not entirely expecting his plan to work, Alex didn¡¯t pull the punch at all and felt his fist sink into Whittaker¡¯s nose at full speed. Blue-tinged blood shot across his hand, arm and flecked onto his face as Whittaker flew backwards, nose entirely obliterated by the attack. His elation depleting rapidly, Alex rushed over to his friend and recoiled slightly at the sight. ¡°Holy fuck, Whitt I¡¯m so sorry! What can I do to help?¡± ¡°Hahaha that was amazing Alex! How did you manage to get past me that easily?¡± Whittaker laughed, unfazed by the fact their nose was currently smooshed flat and pouring blood. ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter right now, we need to get you to a doctor or somethi¡­¡± He trailed off as Whittaker grasped their nose and with one swift movement accompanied by a sickening, grinding, crunch straightened it back out. Alex threw up. ¡°This is nothing major, it will heal itself well enough in a few hours. See, already stopped bleeding.¡± And surely enough, the blood had already ceased flowing, the injury already looking a few days old in but a minute. ¡°Now, tell me how you managed that spectacular move. I¡¯m a good teacher for sure, but that feint was perfect. You gave nothing away about your true intent until your fist hit my face!¡± Whittaker beamed like a proud parent whose child had just used the toilet instead of pissing on the floor. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.??¡°Well, I got some more stat increases while I sat and recovered after the last bout. I wanted to see if they would make a difference so I kinda suckerpunched you. I¡¯m really sorry Whitt¡­¡± Alex faced the floor, ashamed of using such a cheap tactic on his friend. ¡°Why are you sorry? You did EXACTLY what i¡¯ve been trying to teach you all morning. You gave nothing away, and used an advantage to its full potential. The error was mine. I assumed you were just going to come back in stubbornly to try and prove a point. I didn¡¯t factor in that you would get more stat increases so quickly. Which one improved this time?¡± ¡°I got 1 power, 2 vitality, 2 finesse and 1 mentality this time. You make it sound like I should have only gotten 1 increase?¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you SHOULD have only gotten 1 at most. I have never seen anyone gaining stats this quickly, especially at level 1 without any class bonuses. You gained more than an entire levels worth of points through a short amount of training, which is unreal. No wonder you were able to surprise me. I may be a ways ahead of you in levels and training, but a solid blow like that will always deal some nice damage.¡± ¡°You can see my level? How? And Class? I saw the header in my panel last night, but I have no idea how to unlock it, its all greyed out currently.¡± Alex fired off the questions so fast Whittaker didn¡¯t have a chance to respond. ¡°Whoa, slow down and let me answer one at a time. I can see you level because we were in combat and I enabled my Heads up Display to monitor my health and yours whilst we fought. You will get yours once you unlock the ability to take a class, which will also allow you to gain levels. One of the others will go over the extra details later with you, as you will gain a whole host of new options to monitor. Class is something I CAN discuss, as I am able to bestow you the Field Knight class should you wish to unlock it. We specialise in heavier armour and most forms of weaponry, melee and ranged. We also get more health per level than most other classes.¡± ¡°Wait, you¡¯re a class trainer? Well that¡¯s awesome. Am I limited to just one class then?¡± Alex asked eagerly. ¡°Not at all. Class level and Personal Level separate once you take up a class. Each class can level separately, and bestow its bonuses whenever you choose to level it. You could have a Personal Level of 50, Field Knight Level of 30 and another Class Level at 20. Your Personal Level is equal to the combined total of your Class Levels. There are also specialisations you can earn, but they require specific Class Levels, and someone to teach it to you. As a culture we generally get all of the base Classes available to us to level 10, at which point they begin to slow down, and we then focus on whichever we feel suits us the most. This grants us many of the benefits of each class without needing to invest too heavily.¡± Whittaker explained, with Alex held in rapt attention, hanging off of every word and burning them into his brain. ¡°So, how many base classes are there? You must have really been holding back on me whilst we fought. Holy crap, what level ARE you?¡± Alex paled, realising he had been nothing more than a slight annoyance to the behemoth in front of him. ¡°Our realm has access to 4 base classes and their respective advancements, but other realms have access to countless others. We have Field Knights, Combat Medics, Soldiers and Frigidtechs. The others will tell you about their respective class choices, but we all have at least 10 levels in each of those. I¡¯m a level 35 Field Knight, 15 Combat Medic and 10 in the others. It really does take a lot of time to level past 10, but the benefits become far greater as you can gain access to more of the classes power.¡± Whittaker said with a little pride in their voice. ¡°That is a LOT to remember, but all i can say is thank you for not squashing me like bug¡­ You¡¯re level 70¡­¡± Alex responded in awe. ¡°And a couple of the others are even higher than that, but enough of that, they can explain that better than I. Would you like to become a Field Knight Alex? I only recently gained the ability to bestow this class to another and would be honoured if you would be my first inductee.¡± ¡°I would love to, those extra bonuses sound fantastic, and getting my HuD sounds like it will make everything much easier.¡± Whittaker placed their finger in the center of Alex¡¯s chest, and a pale white glow began to emanate from the point of contact. The finger was withdrawn, but the light continued to spread until it had encompassed Alex¡¯s entire body. As it began to fade, a notification appeared; You have gained the Field Knight class. You gain 10 health. For every Field Knight level gained you will gain 10 base health, plus your Vitality stat. You also gain +2 Vitality per level. HuD unlocked. Extra stats now available to view on the stat panel. Alex could now see his Hit Points and Stamina on his stat panel, as well as having a small icon representing these numbers to the bottom left of his vision. He could make out similar bars above Whittakers head alongside his level, which did indeed show 70. ¡°Thank you Whittaker. And thank you for taking the time to teach and explain to me exactly what is happening.¡± Alex gave a small bow towards his teacher. ¡°You are more than welcome. You¡¯re pretty much the fastest study I have ever had the pleasure of teaching. But we aren¡¯t done yet. Now you have unlocked Field Knight, you can formally learn your first ability. Join me back on the matts.¡± Alex did so, and spent the next 30 minutes watching as Whittaker demonstrated the first Field Knight ability Jump Charge. This move basically allowed the user to channel their energy through the soles of their feet to power forwards at incredible speed, and if harnessed properly channel this force into their blow. The first few times that Alex attempted the move, he fell flat on his face, much to the amusement of Whittaker who was acting as the target dummy. As he continued, however, Alex swiftly realised where his mistake lay. The move needed to be done as one action, one fluid motion from start to finish. The training and words Whittaker had imparted earlier began to take on a new light. Alex plotted his entire move from start to finish before beginning, and suddenly found himself flying toward his teacher at impossible speeds. Clearing the distance in a blink, Alex used the force of the momentum and threw a punch towards Whittaker¡¯s unprotected left side. Whittaker anticipated him taking this opening and redirected the blow harmlessly to the side, throwing their own swift jab into Alex as he flailed past. ¡°Well done Alex, that was much better than the last attempt. We can work on the other aspects of your fighting later, but now you need to eat. You must be starving by this point, and with all of the growth you¡¯ve experienced you need sustenance. Plus we should really let the others know how far you¡¯ve come already.¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t even thought about it until you just said, but now you mention it, yeah, I¡¯m famished. How about I show them how far I¡¯ve come by Jump Charging up next to Nieve as a little payback for nearly freezing me to death when I first got here?¡± Alex responded with a smirk as he laid out his little plan. ¡°That sounds like a great idea, I¡¯ll head in first and act like nothing is amiss.¡± And with the plan in place, they both headed toward the dining room at the back of the hall. Chapter 5 Hanging back by the door, Alex signaled Whittaker go into the dining room before him, making sure that he was within earshot waiting for the signal. Whittaker flashed him one last grin before setting their face into a mask of neutrality and pushing the doors open. Nieve was bent over a table in the middle of the room that had a map laid out, and simply raised an arm in greeting. Eira and Yas both looked in the direction of the door, and let out surprised noises at seeing Whittaker come in without Alex in tow. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Whitt? Where¡¯s Alex, is everything okay?¡± Yas asked, their tone one of worry having been present throughout Alex¡¯s proceedure. ¡°Yes, is everything alright? We weren¡¯t expecting you back until evening meal, its rare for you to go easy on a recruit.¡± Eira chipped in. ¡°My friends, we may have a problem. All of the power we felt in Alex has diminished to nearly naught. I have had to give him a chance to recover before I attempt the basics again. His will is strong, but it may take far longer than we hoped to get him ready for this fight.¡± Whittaker responded, ensuring they kept their voice from betraying the plan. Nieve looked up in alarm at these words, ¡°Whitt, we NEED him for this plan. Going against the council with just us will be basically impossible. We trained with these people, they know how we fight, how we think. Alex was our cornerstone because they won¡¯t ever expect us to have outside help.¡± ¡°I know Nieve, believe me. I know the stakes, but I also know recruits, and taking Alex before he is ready will just get us all killed. I will keep working with him for as long as we have TIME!¡± Whitt shouted the signal word to ensure Alex heard it. Back in the corridor, Alex was stood peeking through the gap in the door to plan his move and make sure he got his timings just right. Hearing the signal he shoved the door wide and triggered his Jump Charge immediately. Catching sight of Nieve¡¯s aggrieved expression at the news Whitt had delivered, Alex felt a pang of guilt at the deception but knew it was too late to stop now. The power rushed through him and he flew along his predetermined route at incredible speeds. As he neared Nieve, he saw that they hadn¡¯t even registered what was happening yet. He threaded himself past Whitt¡¯s hulking form and stopped directly in front of the table map, bending over in the process and acting like he was examining it. As he came to a full stop, the wind rushed behind him and blew all of the loose odds and ends onto the floor. He put his hand on the map to make sure it didnt fly away as well. ¡°So, I hear you guys reeeeeally need my help huh? I love to feel wanted, really¡­ heartWARMING.¡± And Alex broke into peals of laughter at his awful pun. Wiping a tear from his eye, he turned to look directly at Nieve who was stood next to him with their jaw open. ¡°Alex? What the fuck was that? How are you already using skills like that?¡± Nieve turned to Whitt again, eyes ablaze, ¡°Him I understand, but YOU,¡± Nieve went to poke Whitt in the chest, but found nothing but air as Whitt bounced backward out of range. ¡°Whittaker! Why would you make a joke like that at a time like this?¡± ¡°Because I asked them to, to get a little revenge on you for when you and Eira nearly froze me to death the other day. Don¡¯t blame anyone but me for this. You gotta admit though, we got you good.¡± Alex interjected, trying to get Nieve to crack a smile. From the other side of the table a voice that Alex hadn¡¯t really heard spoke up, as Iclyn stood and pulled bits of debris from their hair. ¡°Alex, perhaps you could explain to us exactly how you have managed to already recieve the Field Knight class from Whittaker. You haven¡¯t even been training together for a full day.¡± ¡°Sure. I got my ass kicked for a solid few hours, got a nice big bump in stats, landed a really good shot that put Whitt on their ass instead, and here we are. Man it feels good to be the one with the answers for a change.¡± Alex smirked, causing Whittaker to hastily turn a laugh into a cough to avoid another scolding. ¡°A ¡®bump¡¯ in stats? What do you mean, raising a single stat after training surely wouldn¡¯t allow you to land a solid blow on Whittaker?¡± Eira perked up at hearing about Whittaker being put on their ass for a change. ¡°I mean I got 6 stat levels across 4 stats all at once. I was able to clearly put my training into practice and ended up squashing Whitt¡¯s nose. Look, still got some of their blood on my hand.¡± Alex displayed the blood on his hand like a trophy. ¡°That is incredible. There has never been a case of that rapid of a growth, even amongst our Freshlings. Alex, would you be averse to me running some tests on you to determine why this is happening?¡± Yas breathed, eyes already glazing over at the thought of getting fresh data. ¡°I can just tell you why that''s happening if it prevents me getting stabbed with needles,¡± Alex shuddered, ¡°But you all need to promise me that it goes no further. Like, even the Veil told me not to tell too many people. Also, I hate to sound insensitive but¡­ What are Younglings?¡± The group all looked at each other, then made a kind of half bowing salute kind of gesture, ¡°We swear to uphold your secret lest the Veil strip our connections bare.¡± As they finish talking, a screen pops into Alex¡¯s vision. Oath to you made by Nieve, Whittaker, Eira, Yas and Iclyn. Breaking this vow leads to a fate worse than death. ¡°Wow, okay then. Thanks y¡¯all, guess I should tell you that all Nexian Humans get increased levelling speed in most of what we do to make up for the fact we have been cut off for so long. The Veil said its to help us catch up with the rest of the universes.¡± Alex explained sheepishly. ¡°That is¡­ A very generous bonus. No wonder the Veil told you to keep it to yourself. Most people would be more than a little jealous of such a gift. I¡¯m a little jealous myself to be honest.¡± Whittaker nodded at their own honesty. ¡°Indeed, Alex you were right not to tell us until we made that oath. You can always trust us, but at least you know we cannot act in bad faith now. I would highly recommend not telling anyone else outside of your realm for now though.¡± Nieve smiled at Alex. ¡°Thanks¡­ Still unsure on what Younglings are by the way?¡± Alex winced at his question, still not sure how appropriate it was to ask but dying to know more about the Fridigians and their culture. ¡°That is not an easy thing to describe Alex. We appreciate how patient you have been with us about all of this. I¡¯m sure we appear very strange to you. How about we get some food and try to give you some information the help. Especially as it may be useful in helping you come up with strategies for the battles ahead if you know a little more about us.¡± Nieve turned and led the way towards the kitchen area. Over the next few hours, the group of Fridigians proceeded to give Alex a crash course in their culture. Younglings was the name they gave to those newly inducted into the Frigidian forces. At the age of 15 any Frigidians that showed promise were drafted into service for the planetary forces. They were used to prevent any incursions into occupied towns from wildlife etc. To ensure all recruits start on a level playing field, they all willingly submitted to a mind suppression, forgetting their lives before recruitment until they finish their service once they reach level 100. This generally only took around 5 years, and once their service was ended, they would be released back to their previous lives. Alex found this a little¡­ extreme, but decided it wasn¡¯t for him to judge. They explained how Frigid Earth had a much smaller population compared to its Nexian counterpart, and was run by an elected council, with each area electing its own representative once every 10 years. This was where so much of the unease came from, as each council member was generally a well respected member of their community, so for one of them, or even all of them to be involved in what was happening was a disturbing occurrence. When Alex asked about the last elections, none of the group could really remember much about it, as it had occurred before they joined up. This also stuck out to him, but again he held his tongue. The main council compound was located to the North of the little compound they were hiding out in. Whittaker took charge of explaining the layout of the town that the compound was situated in whilst Nieve and Eira laid something out at the back of the room. The main plan was to try and infiltrate the town and meet up with their contact in the compound, as they had apparently got important information that was integral to getting to the bottom of everything. ¡°That really isn¡¯t much of a plan, but it¡¯s a start. Something about everything you¡¯ve said to me so far doesn¡¯t sit right. Whatever we do when we go in, please make sure you all keep yourselves safe. I haven¡¯t known you all very long, but I feel more at ease here than I did with most of my friends back home.¡± Alex attempted to put voice to some of the concerns he had, but realised that without potentially putting his foot in it, there was no way to do that fully. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.??¡°Don¡¯t worry Alex,¡± Whittaker began, ¡°The 4 of us have known the contact for a long time. We trust them, they are the only reason we have been able to operate and find you.¡± Alex just smiled and nodded, this reassurance not doing anything to alleviate the voice screaming ¡°trap¡± in the back of his mind. ¡°So, obviously I am a VERY long way behind the rest of you in terms of levels and stuff. Is there an easy way to remedy this before we go in?¡± Nieve cleared their throat from behind him, causing him to turn and actually pay attention to what they and Eira had been doing. Laid out on the tables was a huge array of what appeared to be USB sticks made from ice. His confusion obviously apparent, Eira took pity and began to explain. ¡°These are elemental unlocks. They allow anyone with the correct affinity to gain access to the base manipulator for that element. All Frigidians are only able to harness the power of the Frigid cold, but you Alex, you should be able to learn more than just that. As a product of the Nexus, all affinities should be unlockable to you.¡± ¡°Wait, you mean like, magic?¡± Alex was shocked. ¡°I suppose that''s a fair comparison based on your own universe. But these don¡¯t teach spells, they imbue you with an understanding of the base element. How you use this knowledge is how you will be able to help us. Ability to manipulate fire, for example, will be a complete game changer against any normal Frigidian as you can potentially nullify our entire offensive arsenal.¡± Nieve answered, smiling at the dawning look on Alex¡¯s face. ¡°Levels matter, and we will be making sure to target any dens of wild animals on the journey to help level you up before we get there, but your versatility will be our key.¡± Alex let his eyes wander the tables, and could almost feel the elements trapped in these devices. He could feel the cold, the breeze, the heat and the loamy power of the ground all warring for their place. He thought about how each could be used to augment himself, not just used for maximum outright power. Wind could make him lighter, or faster. Fire could augment the heat of his muscles during a fight, improving his power for short bursts. Cold could be used to keep his injuries from causing too much pain, acting almost like anaesthetic. The ground was always a constant, and he could easily see how using it¡¯s power could help him keep his defences up, unable to be uprooted, like a tree in the forest. ¡°Is there any downside to learning them all if I can? Will they counteract each other or anything?¡± Alex asked, making sure he wasn¡¯t missing anything in his assumptions. ¡°Not that we are aware of, but remember, we only have power over the Frigid, and none of our race have ever had first hand experience of the other realms power.¡± Yas answered honestly. ¡°Well then, shall we see what I can access? Let¡¯s have some fun!¡± and with that, Alex reached for the first of the little devices. Picking it up, he realised he had no idea what to do next. Just as he was about to voice this aloud, his interface flashed. Power vessel located. Affinity present, integration starting¡­ Alex felt his head snap back outside of his control, and expected more pain to hit him. He was pleasantly surprised to feel a warm sensation radiate up his arm, and suffuse his entire being, over in just a few seconds. Influence over the Inferno attained. More Power vessels within vicinity, proceed with integration? Hell yes, keep ¡®em coming Veil! He thought to himself. Over the next minute Alex did indeed learn he had an affinity for not only the elements, but also time and gravity. He also learned that the way the powers coexisted within him was simply a case of the shared space merging where they touched. Fire and water became steam, fire and earth became metal et cetera. Full integration achieved. New class unlocked: Maelstrom. First recorded appearance of class, 1000 EXP granted. First Nexian to unlock class, data recorded. Thank you Alex. Everything absorbed, his head dropped back down and he opened his eyes. The Frigidians now found themselves looking at a kaleidoscope within. ¡°Alex? Are you okay? What happened?¡± Nieve edged closer, remembering what happened the last time Alex had unlocked power. Alex turned his gaze towards them, and broke into a small smile. ¡°You are looking at the first Maelstrom in existance. I unlocked a whole new class!¡± All of the Frigidians stared blankly back at him until Iclyn spoke. ¡°Well then, it appears we may have an even bigger advantage than we thought. Congratulations Alex. What does the class entail?¡± ¡°I have full integration of all base affinities, plus power over gravity and time apparently.¡± And to illustrate his point, he thought about reducing the hold gravity had over his body. He floated up to the ceiling of the room, and flipped so that his feet were flat, then just proceeded to walk around on the roof. Whittaker burst out laughing at this casual display of a power that none of them had even realised could exist. ¡°Alright show-off. Get back down here so we can finish this meeting and get back to training before we head out in a couple of days!¡± Alex pushed off the roof and started floating back down, when all of a sudden he just fell the rest of the way and landed hard on his face. ¡°Owwwwwww¡­ what the fuuuuuck¡­¡± He moaned, seeing his health bar had dropped to a third, and his stamina was completely empty. ¡°Guess I should pay more attention to my stamina now that I have things that can actually drain it¡­¡± New class gravity skill created: Gravity Manipulation. Drains 10 stam/sec. ¡°Oh nice! I made a new skill.¡± Alex remarked, sounding like he had a cold as his nose and lips were all swollen. Everyone just looked at him before joining Whittaker in laughing. Yas walked over and helped him up, chuckling the whole time. Shaking his head to clear it, Alex saw his stats page was blinking. Opening it, he realised he had reached level 4 in his new class already. His HP had doubled, and he was now level 6 overall which was a nice little bump for just a few minutes work. Taking a quick look at the stats gained per level in Maelstrom he saw that he gained 2 flat HP per level plus half of his Vitality score, as well as +1 Power and Mentality. He realised that this complemented his Field Knight gains quite nicely, giving him a nice balance of damage and health. Closing the panel, he turned his attention back to his friends who were all waiting patiently for him, knowing exactly what he had been doing. The rest of that day was split equally between talking over tactics and training with Whittaker on his Field Knight abilities. By the time he eventually flopped back onto his bedroll that evening, Alex was completely exhausted. He had gained another few stat increases, spread across Vitality and Power. 2 more points in each. He pulled up his stat page for a proper look now that he was alone and able to take in all of the changes.
Name Alex Colt Stats Class
Species Human(Nexus) Power 9 Field Knight 1: HP Gained 10+Vit, +2 Vit per lvl
Age 27 Vitality 8 Maelstrom 4: HP Gained 2+0.5Vit, +1 Pow +1 Ment per lvl
Level 6 (Bonus Active) Finesse 3
XP 1/100 Mentality 6
HP 40 Judgement 1
Stam 60 Charm 1
¡°Not bad for just a couple of days¡­ Hopefully this boost I have will allow me to catch up nice and quickly over the next few. I¡¯ll have to ask Whitt if we can go and train on something that will actually give me some experience, see if I can actually get each of my classes to at least 10 before the plan starts¡­¡± He mused to himself as he slowly lost his grip on consciousness for the day. Chapter 6 As Alex slept, the rest of the group were gathered around the map table in the dining room, but they weren¡¯t talking about the plan now, they were discussing Alex and the amazing rapidity of his advancement. Far surpassing any expectations they had held when they first bought him through the Veil, Whittaker and Nieve had started to argue about how hard he could be pushed in preparation for the plan. ¡°Nieve, I¡¯m telling you! Alex can take FAR more than I have given him so far. If what he has said about his time and gravity manipulations are correct, we can EASILY ramp up his training, speeding him up to almost the point of catching up to us.¡± Whittaker argued heatedly. ¡°I don¡¯t feel that we can ask that much of him! He has only been here for a few days as it is, and has readily accepted any and all we have told him. Asking him for more, pushing him harder than even YOU could handle Whitt? What''s to say that we don¡¯t push him to another power spike like that first time? It could be our undoing!¡± Nieve responded, casting an extra harsh chill to the air to emphasise their point. Yas and Iclyn watched the pair sparring verbally, but kept their thoughts to themselves, sparing each other just small glances as each side presented another argument. After realising that they had begun repeating themselves, Iclyn decided they¡¯d heard enough and stood, ¡°Have either of you even ASKED Alex himself yet? Told him what you suspect he may be able to do with his powers? Stop bickering, and perhaps give him the information, and trust that he will do what¡¯s best for us all?¡± Without raising their voice, Iclyn had once again cowed both of the lower leveled Fridigians. Iclyn had been the one to gather them, and also the one to assign them each their role in the group. Whilst Nieve may be the leader of their little band of rebels, Iclyn had been the conduit that drew them all together. At level 100, Iclyn had been just a few days away from being reintegrated into normal life when they had asked their commander what the process required, expecting something simple. When the commander had responded that they would be shipped to the other end of the continent first, Iclyn had been shocked. When pressed for answers as to why this was needed, the commander had snapped that it was none of Iclyn¡¯s business and to just do what they were told by their betters. Not elders, not rank, but betters. This had grated badly, as all Fridigians were meant to be on equal social status whilst in the force, so Iclyn had done some covert digging in the days before they were meant to be shipped off. This had led them to uncovering some serious issues that just didn¡¯t fit with the narrative they had been told. Unsettled enough to risk it all, Iclyn had pretended to join the transport, but ducked out and set up this site. Using discrete contacts and favours, Iclyn had recruited the others, and here they were. ¡°Sorry Iclyn, you¡¯re right as usual. We should put it to him once he wakes up. It really could mean all the difference.¡± Nieve bowed their head in shame. Alex woke up with a smile, his eyes seeing the panel still open in his vision. Hopping to his feet, he rolled the last of the residual stiffness from his neck and shoulders before heading towards the kitchen for breakfast. As he reached the door, he saw that everyone else was already awake and sat around the map table. Having learned his lesson from the previous day, he loudly pulled the door open and headed in. ¡°Morning peeps! Is there anything I can grab for breakfast before getting started on today''s training?¡± Whittaker waved at him and pointed at a bowl of what looked like warm porridge set at an empty space on the table. ¡°This is for you bud. Sit down, we need to run something by you quickly and wanted to see what you thought.¡± Alex plonked himself down in the indicated seat and examined the bowl in front of him. Lukewarm Gruel: Not as bad as it sounds, this gruel provides all needed nutrients and grants +10% Stamina regeneration for 6 hours. Shrugging, Alex shoveled a couple of mouthfuls in before turning to look at each of them in turn; ¡°Sho, wha¡¯s up?¡± he managed to say around his food. ¡°You mentioned yesterday that your new class grants power over both gravity and time, correct?¡± Iclyn asked. ¡°Mmhmm, das wha¡¯ the Veil said¡± ¡°Other than that rather hilarious attempt to mess with gravity yesterday, have you tried any other experiments?¡± Already finishing his bowl, Alex swallowed his last mouthful before responding. ¡°Not yet, I had planned to do that today. Why?¡± ¡°Because if what we think is possible actually is, we may have a way to drastically speed up the amount of levelling you can get done in the next few days.¡± Nieve answered. ¡°Seriously? Awesome! If that''s the case, why do you all look like you just got hit in the gut?¡± ¡°It could potentially be VERY hazardous to your health. We don¡¯t know the full ramifications of your new class, and a misstep could be lethal.¡± Iclyn cautioned, emphasizing the risks to Alex to make sure he gave them full appreciation. Nodding his head slowly as he digested this new information, he chided himself for not realising he could potentially use his new class in this way. ¡°So, theoretically, how would it work?¡± Whittaker chimed in on this one. ¡°Theoretically, you could keep repeating training exercises, or defeating the same enemies. Because you are still doing it each time, and it''s a feature of your class, you would keep the stats and levels gained from each attempt.¡± Alex let out a low whistle. This really was a game changer. He could potentially fit months worth of grinding into a few short days¡­ ¡°And what downsides would this have to me? Because I''ve gotta be honest, this sounds pretty awesome right now!¡± ¡°We aren¡¯t too sure, but your cells may experience increased rate of decay. You might slowly accrue some form or temporal poisoning as your body rejects itself after repeated exposure. Or nothing happens, and you become the most potent weapon in existence in just a few days. None of us would risk this ourselves, and we don¡¯t expect you to either, but we did feel you deserved to know what we suspect.¡± Whittaker said bluntly. ¡°Okay, and is there any way we could limit the risk of any of those downsides at all? If it''s not rude to ask, but do any of you have a class that could impart abilities that help?¡± Alex probed, hundreds of ideas flying through his head. As one, all eyes except his turned to look at Nieve. Nieve smiled and turned to Alex. ¡°I may do. I¡¯m a level 30 Combat Medic. There is an ability called Avenging Strike that works whenever myself or an ally is hit by an attack. It basically causes my next attack to restore the damage I deal the enemy to my own HP. We also gain a passive ability at level 5 that enhances the bodies natural healing processes, speeding up our inherent regen by increasing amounts as we level.¡± ¡°Wow, that sounds like it could certainly be useful in negating any physical damage I receive from doing this. Would you be willing to grant me the class Nieve? I know Whitt said that its a very personal thing, which I don¡¯t really understand to be honest, so please don¡¯t feel pressured!¡± Alex made sure he emphasised the last part as he really didn¡¯t want to break some unknown code. ¡°Only the first imparting of a class is generally seen as a personal thing, which is why we were all surprised Whitt granted it to you so quickly. I would be honoured to help you in any way I can.¡± And Nieve reached over and touched Alex¡¯s chest the same way Whittaker had done. You have gained the Combat Medic class. You gain 5+Mentality HP per level, You gain +2 Mentality per level. ¡°Thank you Nieve, really¡­ Is there anything else you can tell me about the class to get me started as quickly as possible? I really want to try and see what I can do now.¡± ¡°Once you decide how you would like to fight, and with what weapon, You can mark that weapon as your Medi-Weapon. It will grant you +Mentality damage to your blows, which stacked with your Maelstrom class will really boost your damage output. To activate Avenging Strike you need to be wielding your Medi-Weapon, and focus through it to feel the vitality of the opponent. You can then syphon whatever damage you dewal back into yourself. Once you reach level 5, the passive will kick in automatically. It levels every 5 levels, and grants greater regeneration.¡± Nieve listed everything they could think of that would allow Alex the greatest chance of survival. ¡°Wow, that''s amazing, thanks Nieve. Now, who wants to see just how much i can mess with time?¡± Alex stood and headed back to the other room where the matts were still laid out from his previous days training. The others followed behind him and arrayed themselves around the room, settling in to watch with interest. Standing in the center of the matts, Alex closed his eyes and tried to work out how to access his power over time. Gravity had been easy, and almost instinctive, but for some reason he found the concept of time a lot harder to grasp at. Deciding to just start working out, and wing it a bit, he started on a new calisthenics routine. Throwing caution to the wind, he altered the gravity so his body weighed twice as much to hopefully increase the effectiveness. Keeping a closer eye on his Stamina this time, he made sure he kept himself from bottoming out. As he finished his first set of pushups, he tried to imagine in his mind''s eye that he was rewinding to the start of the exercise. Suddenly it was like he was watching himself from another position, and everything reversed like he had hit the rewind button. As soon as it reached the point he had been at the very start of his exercise, time restored and he popped back into his body. His stamina had actually restored, but his health had decreased by the same amount, and it felt like he was covered in a swarm of mildly pissed off bees. ¡°Okay, so the health damage theory was correct¡­ Not pleasant, and that was just a minute or so.¡± Alex noted to the spectating group. ¡°But this could really work as long as I¡¯m careful!¡± ¡°Okay, stop there Alex, we need to get you some EXP so that you can get Combat Medic up to level 5 ASAP.¡± Whittaker exclaimed, leaving no room for argument. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.??Alex was outfitted in a basic set of gear that looked kind of like the second skin lycra stuff athletes wore, but was made of some Frigid-enhanced material similar to carbon fibre. Frosfibre Suit: Designed as an all-in-one answer to personal protection, this suit increases overall damage reduction by 30. Over this, Alex equipped the coat he had been given at the start of his time in the Frigid. Yas¡¯ Coat of Insulation: Created by Yas, this coat is designed to negate extremes of temperature from affecting the wearer. It looks pretty good too. ¡°Yas, this says you made it? Is that part of your class?¡± Alex asked, taken aback by this little revelation. ¡°Indeed, I¡¯m a Frigidtech, so I can use the Frigid to produce pretty much anything. Downside is that you can¡¯t take it back to the Nexus, as it would disintegrate as soon as the Frigid influence ends.¡± Yas responded with a hint of pride at their work. Finally, Alex was lead to the little Armoury in a room off to the side of the front entrance. Inside was an array of weaponry all tinted the same colour blue. He could recognise a fair amount of them from his time playing various RPGs back home, but there were a couple that he just couldn¡¯t fathom. One such weapon was what looked like a small kite shield with a small blade poking out of the top and bottom. Alex had always played Tank classes in whatever games he played, so this caught his eye immediately. ¡°Whitt, what¡¯s the deal with this shield? Those blades seem a little small to be much use.¡± Whittaker picked it up and settled into a combat stance. They thrust the shield forward almost like a punch, and the bottom blade extended by a few inches, then receded. Whittaker then reached around the edge of the shield and grasped a point in the middle between both blades. With a flourish a small double-ended sabre came free, and they executed a spinning slash, with each end extending as it would have hit the imaginary target. Satisfied with their demonstration, Whittaker replaced the sabre into its recess in the shield and turned to smile at Alex. ¡°That¡¯s the deal. It takes some practise to master the timing of the extension, but it''s a formidable pairing once you''ve practised with it. I have to be honest, this isn¡¯t what I would have expected you to pick. Colour me impressed Alex, combining offence and defence with your skillset could make you an incredibly formidable opponent.¡± ¡°Hah, thanks Whitt. That¡¯s high praise coming from you!¡± Alex laughed at the display and the slightly barbed comment. Now fully kitted out, Alex and Whittaker headed out the front entrance to the building. Alex was stunned at seeing his first taste of Fridigian Earth. It was like someone had taken the same warehouse district from his Earth, removed the structures and replaced them with a trees so dense they could have been lifted from the biggest snowy forest on Earth. ¡°Alex, follow me. I know of a den nearby that should be respawning shortly. I cleared it out a few days ago, and so it should be fully repopulated shortly ready for you to get some EXP grinding done.¡± Whittaker heads off on a winding route through the trees and snow. A short while later, as Whittaker bends down to glance at some tracks Alex hears what sounds like running water nearby, punctuated with more intense crashing sounds. ¡°Whitt, wha.. Mmph¡± he cuts off as a hand smothers the sound coming from his mouth. Spinning to look at Whitt, he sees them gesturing for silence and pointing through the trees ahead. They both creep forward trying to create as little noise as possible. Cresting a small ridge in the treeline, Alex gets his first view of the source of the noise; a fast-flowing meltwater river. The crashing noises are the sound of various chunks of ice hitting rocks on the rapids just up from their location. Sweeping his eyes across the clearing, Alex notices a nicely formed cave entrance has been formed in the rock by the rapids. The tracks Whittaker had been following lead towards this opening, and strewn around the entrance are what looks to be cracked bones with the marrow sucked clean. Whittaker tapped Alex¡¯s shoulder and leaned in whispering ¡°We¡¯re here. The cave system isn¡¯t too long, but there''s lots of branching tunnels so stay close. If there are any hostiles on their own you deal with them. If there are more than one, I¡¯ll always take the left side, you take the right. Hit one hard and fast, take it out, then rotate through the rest. No talking once we get in.¡± Alex nodded, glad to have the plan laid out in advance. ¡°What are we fighting in there? You still haven¡¯t told me.¡± ¡°We call them Ursu. To you, they will look like a small bear, but they are wickedly fast and have huge claws on their front legs. Get in, hit hard, and get back out. If you stay toe to toe with them they will cut you to ribbons in seconds.¡± ¡°So fast bears¡­ Awesome. After you.¡± Alex smiled widely as he moved to the side to let Whittaker past. As soon as they entered the den, a stench akin to rotten flesh mixed with a public toilet hit Alex like a physical wave and he had to suppress a gagging cough. Littered along the edges of every tunnel were bones and piles of scat. The roof of the cave was just high enough for Alex not to need to duck his head, but it did mean the pooling stench was held at head height. Whittaker had pulled slightly ahead and Alex rushed to stay close, but in his haste failed to notice a bone that was laid across the path. He caught his boot on it and sent it clattering deafeningly down the passageway. Whittaker whipped their head around accusingly, and Alex shrugged apologetically. From deeper into the cave a roar echoed towards them, followed by the sound of claws scrabbling for purchase. ¡°Oh well, there goes the stealthy approach. Get ready Alex, I¡¯ll hold the bulk and try to filter off a single one for you to deal with. Here they come!¡± For a few seconds they waited there for the oncoming Ursu, until the first one came barreling around the bend. It did NOT look like a small bear. It looked like a BIG bear had sired some mutated offspring with a skeletal demon. Huge serrated horns protruded from its head like twisted antlers. It had no skin covering its wiry musculature, and the claws on its front legs were more like 12 inch carving knives. Behind the first were at least 3 more that Alex could see from his position. Ursu Ravager lvl 18 Ursu Ravager lvl 16 Ursu Ravager lvl 20 Ursu Defiler lvl 23 ¡°Whitt, these things are going to completely destroy me! You said I¡¯d be able to handle this!¡± Alex screamed as he readied himself behind his shield. ¡°This should not be the case¡­ I cleared this den myself just before we brought you here¡­ They should all be low level after respawning!¡± Whittaker yelled back as they met the first Ravager head on. Their 2 handed hammer was a blur as it slammed into the lead Ursu and sent it flying back, blood and fangs flying. Whittaker then activated Jump Charge and rocketed towards the next in line, spinning mid charge to add some extra velocity to the swing before bringing their hammer down hard enough to shake the entire tunnel causing debris to fall onto Alex. The third Ravager, the level 20 one managed to slip past Whittakers charge and made a slavering beeline straight towards Alex. Refusing to give ground, Alex ran forward to cut the Ravager¡¯s assault short. Punching forward with his shield, Alex tried to emulate what Whitt had demonstrated earlier. The blade shot out like a spear and concentrated all of the force into a far smaller area, but against such a powerful enemy Alex still found himself shoved back, the blade barely making any noticeable impact. Hastily retracting the blade, Alex braced the shield against his shoulder to mitigate as much of the damage caused by the oncoming Ravager, but his arm still went numb and his health dropped by 50%. Spinning to disengage and try to regain some space between them, Alex grasped for the double ended saber and activated his Medi-Weapon with a quick burst of intent. Continuing the momentum of his spin, Alex lashed out and managed to score a grase along the flank of the Ravager as it thundered past him. During this brief contact, Alex let himself feel the cutting of the flesh and PULLED. He drained the resulting damage into himself and watched his health top back off. Realising he was vastly outmatched by an opponent that wanted nothing more than to slurp his lifeblood like water, Alex tried to think of how to combine his skillset and stop this beast. Seeing that he needed to be faster to stand a hope of dodging any of this things attacks, he envisioned liquid fire filling his muscles. Pushing off with his own Power Charge boosted by the power now coursing through his limbs Alex flew at the Ravager just as it turned to charge again. Pouring every ounce of his power into his strike, Alex also added some extra weight to his shield just at the point of impact. Stacking this many effects into one blow had a devastating multiplicative effect on the damage done to the Ravager. For that split second Alex hit with more power than even Whittaker could bring to bear, and the Ravagers chest concaved with a disgusting crunch. Blood exploded from its mouth as its internal organs pulped instantly after being hit with more force than a car. Alex collapsed, his stamina completely spent on that one attack. Looking over at the Ravager, he saw it still wasn¡¯t dead yet, and was trying its best to get back on its feet, snarling at him through the blood dribbling from its mouth. He glanced over and saw that 2 of the other 3 Ursu had been killed by Whittaker already, but the last one was holding its own, meaning no help was coming. Stamina slowly replenishing, Alex stood again and ran at the damaged Ravager in front of him, desperate to finish it off before it got fully back to its feet. Stabbing and slicing at its eyes, Alex had to jump back as it suddenly slashed out at him, enraged that such easy prey had managed to wound it so severely. Pushing off its back legs, it launched itself at Alex one more time, determined to take him down with it. Still recovering himself, Alex had no hope of getting out of the way in time. He roared back at the Ravager and pushed all of his will into making it STOP. Everything around him froze. The Ravager, Whittaker and the other Ursu all just¡­ stopped. Feeling his own life force ebbing away to power this, Alex embedded his saber into the Ravagers eye and shoved with all of his might until he felt something in its head give. He pulled his blade back out and did the same to its other eye before releasing his hold and allowing time to resume. The Ravager slammed into him and dragged him to the floor. He felt his head crash into the floor and everything went black. Chapter 7 Whittaker easily dispatched the first 2 Ursu that came at them, but the third slipped right past and headed straight at Alex. Trusting that he would be able to hold out long enough, Whittaker dove at the last Ursu, the Defiler. There had never been anything other than lower leveled Ravagers in this den before, so Whitt had no idea what the difference was going to be. As they reached the Defiler, it seemed to just vanish, leaving behind a cloud of vapour that made Whitts eyes burn and throat close up a bit. Years of battle honed reflexes made Whitt dive forward, letting the Defiler soar straight over their head. Rollong onto their back, Whitt saw the first major difference. Whilst the Ursu always looked skeletal, the Defiler looked truly diseased. Pustules and decay were visible all along the Defiler¡¯s body, and what appeared to be some sort of toxin or venom was oozing from between its fangs. This was a whole new strain of Ursu that they had never seen before, as something like this would normally never be present in the Frigid. With no more time to ponder this revelation, WHitt tried to keep some distance from the beast. Whilst they outlevelled the thing quite handily, beasts didn¡¯t have classes in the same way which meant that they generally had a stronger foundation for growth, so underestimating them was a surefire way to get killed. This beast also appeared to be far smarter than its Ravager varients, as it kept feinting and trying to close in on Whitt. Filling their hammer with power, Whitt waited for the Defiler to make its next attack. As soon as the Defiler vanished again Whitt backed to the wall and held their breath. A faint smell of putrid flesh preceeded the reappearance of the beast, and even before it had fully materialised Whitt planted the hammer directly into its distended maw. The power contained in the hammer launched the Defiler back into the roof of the tunnel hard enough to crack. It let out a hideous roar as it landed, trying to get its feet under itself. It began shuddering violently, and Whitt had seen enough to know it was getting ready to unleash some sort of final resort attack. What actually happened was more than even Whitt expected. The shuddering kept growing in intensity, and the Defiler started to visibly come apart. With little warning it exploded outwards in a shower of bile, toxins and body parts, completely covering Whitt and a large part of the tunnel. The exposed areas of Whitt¡¯s body immediately began to bubble and burn as the acid ate its way through anything it touched. Ignoring the pain, Whitt looked over to see how Alex had fared and saw him on the ground, pinned by the corpse of the Ravager that had gone after him. Blood was pooling under his head, so Whitt ran over to check his vitals. Shoving the Ravagers pulped body off of him, Whitt was relieved to see Alex¡¯s chest rising and falling slowly. Taking care not to get any of the foul Defiler gunk on him, Whitt hooked Alex¡¯s arms and dragged him up and out of the Den towards the river. Yet more pain¡­ Alex slowly opened his eyes and saw the ceiling moving, and felt the ground sliding along under him. Fearing it was the Ravager pulling him deeper into the caves, he lashed out. His fist caught something hard so Alex pushed away with the remnants of his strength. ¡°Alex, be calm! It¡¯s Whittaker, I¡¯m getting us out of here! Are you okay to walk?¡± Whitt tried to calm Alex¡¯s hysteria. ¡°Whitt? Holy shit¡­ WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! Those things were NOT what I had in mind for a ¡®grind spot¡¯!¡± Alex yelled, still feeling the effects of the huge amount of adrenaline pumping through his system. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Alex. I swear, I bought you here because it should have been filled with level 9 and 10 Ursu. I personally cleared the entire den myself, and nothing that strong should have been able to spawn here.¡± ¡°So what the hell happened to those things then?! Because by all rights I should be dead right now! I had to fully freeze time to be able to even attempt to finish that Ravager off¡­¡± Alex managed to keep his voice level this time, even if it was still edged with hysteria. ¡°You froze time?¡± Whitt stopped for a second as the shock of hearing just how strong Alex already was set in. ¡°Those Ursu had been mutated by an outside force. Ravagers generally take months of growth to end up that strong, and Defilers have never existed before to my knowledge. It had been infused with pure corrupted power, but I couldn¡¯t even hazard a guess how.¡± Whittaker explained as they finally exited the den. They immediately ran to the river and jumped in head first to wash off the now very uncomfortable Defiler gunge. Alex slumped back down with his back against a tree and took stock of his injuries. Nothing major was broken, but his head was still oozing blood, and it had started to pool around the neck of his bodysuit. He was covered in a mutitude of smaller cuts and scrapes, but nothing too deep luckily, and the smaller of them were already starting to scar over. He took a look at his HP and saw that it was hovering at about a quarter, but there was a faint bar covering the last third of his bar. ¡°Hey Whitt?¡± Alex called as Whitt¡¯s head broke the surface of the water again. ¡°Why had part of my HP bar got a block on it?¡± ¡°Generally that happens when there is a deeper injury that needs proper medical attention to heal. It could be from that head injury, thats pretty nasty.¡± Whittaker shouted back. ¡°Or it could be related to you messing with time again. Maybe let¡¯s not try that for a while until the block is gone.¡± Alex simply nodded, his attention already focusing on the slew of awaiting prompts lined up on his HuD. Ursu Ravager x3 defeated. Huge level disparity bonus awarded EXP+ 2500. Ursu Defiler defeated. Huge level disparity bonus awarded EXP +1000 New Maelstrom Time skill unlocked: Stop Time. Does as its name suggests. Drains 30HP/s. Cannot reduce HP past 1. Chronos demands tithe: 30HP still owed. Power +2, Vitality +7, Finesse +3, Mentality +4, Judgement +1 Please select class to assign EXP. Alex immediately added all of the EXP he had gained straight into Combat Medic, bringing it¡¯s level up to 8. He suddenly felt like his brain had been put through a spin cycle, but it was over almost before it began. His HP was now back to full, and had increased by an absolutely huge amount, now sitting pretty at 270. His Mentality had also just taken a huge bump as well. Combat Medic level 5 reached. Metabolic Influx (1) now active. HP/s increased: Currently 1HP/s. Chronos¡¯ debt paid off in 29...28...27 Alex let out a whoop as the main reason he picked up the Combat Medic class came online, and his survivability jumped. Whittaker came ashore and looked over, shaking their head as they read Alex¡¯s new level. ¡°How much XP did you just get Alex?¡± ¡°3500 because they were so much stronger than me. I gained 7 straight levels in Combat Medic and got my passive regen skill. Apparently, that grey block was a tithe to Chronos? And my regen is paying it back automatically for me.¡± Alex answered gleefully. ¡°Chronos themselves has taken an interest in you? That may not be a good thing Alex. The Realm Lords don¡¯t generally take too kindly to outsiders taking that much power from their realms. At least Chronos seems happy to just tax your use, but try not to use that level of power often, especially from any of the other Realms.¡± Whittaker warned seriously. Frigid in particular didn¡¯t like their power being used by anyone other than the Frigidians, because it meant that their influence was drawn out of their own realm, and essentially wasted outside of their influence. ¡°Yeah, those lords can bite me. I¡¯m happy to share, but this stupid hoarding mentality needs to stop. My entire species was designed as a melting pot, so of course we are going to have to take their power. They can take it up with us themselves.¡± Alex fumed, already sick of the bullshit power imbalance his universe was being subjected to. Whittaker wisely let the matter drop, seeing Alex was unwilling to bend on his admittedly right viewpoint. Instead Whitt helped Alex wash off the substantial amount of blood that had accumulated on his neck. ¡°How do you want to proceed now Alex? I know we need to get you trained up, but there is no telling what else could be inside that cave now, and I am loath to risk your life. We should head back and tell the others, because this level of interference in our own realm cannot be a coincidence.¡± ¡°I would like to go in again. We came out here to get me boosted up, and had planned to use my time powers to grind it out. Instead we get stronger monsters that give more EXP. Let¡¯s see if we can clear this place of filth before we head back to report. At worst we can run away, and ill try to collapse a tunnel or something.¡± Alex countered, already eager for more combat now that he had leveled up. ¡°I suppose that is acceptable, but if we fight again, are you able to use your Maelstrom class power to raise walls and create a chokepoint?¡± Alex wasn¡¯t too sure. His Maelstrom class hadn¡¯t come with any Skills, just the ability to manipulate the elements. Instead of replying, he took off one of his boots and cleared the snow from a patch of ground. Placing his now bare foot onto the frozen ground was not a pleasant experience, but Alex pushed throigh the discomfort. Tuning out the distractions, Alex tried to feel a connection to the ground beneath them. Almost like an echo, he felt a resonance begin to build and like a blind had been lifted he KNEW how to get the desired result. Maelstrom Ground skill discovered: Earthshape. Allows for the ground at target loaction to be moulded at will. Stamina cost: Low Alex looked over to where Whittaker was waiting and imagined the ground beneath their feet risding up in a colomn. Almost immediately the ground started to quake and lift up, until Whittaker was stood on top of a little foot high platform. ¡°I guess that means yes then!¡± Whittaker laughed as they hopped back down off of the little mound and headed back towards the entrance to the Ursu Den. The pair swiftly made their way back to twhere the first encounter had happened, and saw that the bodies were gone. There were obvious signs of the corpses being dragged down one of the tunnels in front of them. ¡°Guess we know which way to go then¡­¡± Alex quipped as they slowly made their way down the indicated passage. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.??Taking far greater care this time, they managed to walk in almost silence for a good 15 minutes before the tunnel started to widen out. Slowly they edged forward until the passage opened up into a large chamber. Dotted around the chamber were packs of 2 or 3 Ursu surrounding a pit in the center of the room. In this pit was an absolute monster of an Ursu. Dire Ursu Goliathun lvl 40 Alex heard Whittaker draw a sharp breath at the sight of such an absolute behemoth. It easily stood 15 foot tall at the shoulder, if not more, and was as long as a school bus. Even at this distance Alex could see the cords of muscle rippling along its body every time it moved. The other Ursu all appeared to both fear and worship the titan. Alex caught sight of Whittaker motioning back the way they had come, and followed them. ¡°This is impossible. There is no way that¡­ Monster should be here. This entire continent is supposed to be a low tier area, it¡¯s why the main Council established their compound here. It allowed all Fridigians to be able to come and go with little to fear¡­¡± Whitt breathed, trying to make as little noise as possible. Alex simply shrugged and peered back down the tunnel to the cavern. ¡°Well, its here so no sense in pondering right now my friend. How are we going to deal with this infestation? Did you bring any ranged weaponry at all?¡± Whittaker shook their head wistfully, so Alex started backing further up the passage. Once they got back to the original battle site he stopped and looked around. ¡°Okay, so the big one cannot get down these passages, so we don¡¯t have to worry about it just yet. How would you alter this room to provide us the best chace of inflicting max casualties?¡± Alex deferred to Whittaker¡¯s greater military knowledge despite having a reasonable idea himself thanks to countless hours spent in-game. ¡°Firstly, closw off these other tunnels,¡± Whitt gestured to the 3 other openings, ¡°just in case they meet up somewhere in that cavern. That will stop them from getting behind us. Second, along this main passageway, do you think you could create some pitfalls?¡± ¡°I can certainly try. Did you want me to see if I can line them with spikes? Maybe thin their numbers as they rush us?¡± ¡°Perfect. In this room, do you think you could put the room on an upward slant? Give us the high ground?¡± ¡°How about I go one better and create an outcropping that they shouldn¡¯t be able to get up? We can just stand there and swing at their heads as they try to reach us.¡± Alex was proud of this idea. It was similar to one he had employed many times in any game with a building system. Whittaker nodded appreciatively, ¡°Well done Alex, I didn¡¯t realise you would have some tactical knowledge already. This may not be as hard as I thought.¡± Taking the praise, Alex set to work trying to coax the ground to follow their plan. It was slow going as the stamina drain meant he had to take multiple breaks, but a few hours later, they had completely transformed the battlefield. Pitfalls lined the main passageway and were spaced around the chamber they were in as well. Alex had raised the roof of the cavern slightly and created a stone ledge for them both to stand on. All that was left to do was draw the Ursu towards their ambush site. Alex also tried to come up with some way of dealing damage without having to get near the hoard of Ursu once they filled the room. His power over the ground was not fast enough to create spikes on a whim, but he tried combining his gravity manipultion with his earth powers and making little rock bullets. The first few attempts failed as trying to maintain both mental processes needed caused the projectiles to lose coherency or veer off wildly. Whittaker stood off to the side watching for a few minutes until they offered an alternative idea. ¡°Alex, instead of trying to propel them with your power as well as trying to steer them, could i potentially use my hammer to provide the initial thrust, and you just aim them?¡± ¡°That is brilliant Whitt! Let¡¯s try it out.¡± Immediately Alex noticed the difference in mental strain. Rather than having to levitate and propel the rocks, he could focus on just keeping the aim true. Also Whitt¡¯s power bonus seemed to apply to the projectile as well, causiong them to fly forward fast enough to create a shockwave. Not prepared for the sheer power of the thing, they forgot to factor in the noise it would create, and in a similar turn of events as earlier, scratches and howls could be heard chasing down the passageway ahead of them. Turning to each other, there wasn¡¯t a trace of fear this time, only a slight smile as they got themselves ready on the ledge. This time they were ready for it. The first howl of pain emanated from the tunnel as the Ursu fell into the first of many pits filled with spikes. Alex had spaced them out so that there wasn¡¯t a pattern, and they would hopefully catch as many as possible to reduce the amount that made it to face the pair. Seconds crawled by to Alex as his adrenaline drew his focus razor sharp, waiting for the last possible moment to use his last trick. The first skinless snout came into view down the tunnel, slavering and furious at the traps it had managed to avoid. It was just the first of many, as the number racing towards their chamber just kept growing. As soon as the first few drew close to the opening, Alex focused and narrowed the opening enough that they had to come through single file. They were mostly all Ravagers similar in level to the ones they fought earlier, but intersperced every few was another Defiler. The first Ravager forced its way into the room and swiftly met its end as a shard of hardened stone pierced straight through its forehead, and exited the back of its skull in a spray of viscera. The improvised stone round also had enough force to punch through the chest of the Ursu behind it. This didn¡¯t kill it, but it was soon crushed beneath the waves pushing behind it. The duo kept this up for a few minutes, sniping at whichever Ursu managed to make it into the room and either outright killing them, or injuring them enough to fall down and be crushed. All of a sudden, the narrowing started to hiss and bubble as a few of the defilers launched streams of acidic bile at the opening. This also served to melt away the corpses of the fallen which had also been helping to create a barricade. Now Alex and Whittaker simply couldnt keep up with the influx as 2 or 3 at a time started shoving into the chamber. By his estimate, they had managed to kill 20-30 of the bastards, but Alex was unsure how many had been in the cavern, or how many they had killed in the tunnel with the pits. Yelling obove the noise, Alex shouted to Whittaker, ¡°Did you manage to catch an estimate of how many we would be facing overall? Because this is ridiculous right now¡­¡± Whittaker just shook their head, and focused on trying just hit the stones without Alex¡¯s help so that he could recover a little. Unsure what else they could do at this point, Alex tried to create little guiding walls to herd the oncoming horde towards the extra pits in the room. As he was concentrating on the task, Alex suddenly found himself face down on the ledge with Whitt¡¯s hand pressing him under an acid blob that had been fired at them by one of the Defilers. Realising they had underestimated their foe again, Whitt stood and roared as they jumped high above the throng of Ursu and activated an ability Alex didn¡¯t recognise. Whittaker hurtled down into the center of the writhing mass of bodies like a comet, creating an impressive shockwave that tore apart the Ursu closest to the epicentre of the ability, and blowing those on the outer edge off their feet. They then wasted no time in starting swinging. No accuracy was needed, with every swing of their huge hammer hitting multitudes of enemies. Alex watched on in amazement at the devastation Whitt was causing, and then in alarm as the smarter Defilers started to try and flank them. Alex activated his own Jump Charge and flew toward them, adding a spin in the air and reaching out with his blade-shield like a lawnmower. The blade extended to its maximum, and with the added power imparted by the ability Alex cleaved through the recovering group that had gotten behind Whittaker. Fighting back to back the pair continued to give it their all, but Alex got clipped numerous times. His new passive allowed him to mitigate some of the damage, but it was quickly adding up and his stamina was dropping at a prodigious rate. Noticing Alex beginning to falter, Whittaker slammed their hammer into the ground and activated Frigid Wastes. The entire area around the pair was immediately coated in a rime of frost, and every Ursu slowed down as their movements were hindered and their limbs began to freeze up. This allowed enough of a respite for Alex to regain enough of his stamina to keep fighting on. Soon, only the strongest of the horde were left alive. These were mostly the smarter Defilers, but a few higher leveled Ravagers had managed to stay alive. Both Alex and Whittaker were running on fumes by this point, having had to fight continuously for such a long time. Alex¡¯s regen had managed to keep him relatively healthy, and he knew he was going to have to use Stop Time again for them to stand any hope of surviving this encounter. Alex felt the familiar sensation as everything around him stopped. Knowing he had at best 3-4 seconds, he prayed his idea would work. He quickly created more of the stone bullets and hit them as hard as he could with his shield towards each of the remaining Ursu. As he had hoped, as soon as the projectiles left his shield they froze, retainign their direction and momentum. As he hit the final one, his vision dimmed. Glancing at this HP he saw that he was about to hit the 1HP cutoff for the ability. Time resumed its normal flow, and all of the stone bullets flew out to impact their targets. Nearly all hit home and at least disabled the Ursu, but Alex was completely spent and collapsed again. Whittaker took in what had just happened and realised what Alex had just done. Seeing him on his hands and knees, out of the fight, Whittaker activated their most powerful ability. A blue glow suffused their entire form, and the entire cave frosted over. The temperature immediately dropped to well below freezing, and the Ursu all basically stopped dead in their tracks. The damaged Ursu all perished as the radiating cold wormed into their bodies and froze them solid. The couple that had managed to avoid Alex¡¯s salvo suddenly found themselves feeling multiple impacts as Whittaker unleashed everything they had. Alex felt the chill in the air and lifted his head. Before him stood a vision of Frigid themself, channeled through Whittaker. Faster than his eyes could really follow, the remaining Ursu were taken apart piece by piece until the chamber fell silent once more. ¡°Fuck Whitt¡­ Couldn¡¯t have done that a bit sooner eh?¡± Alex smiled weakly to show he was joking. ¡°I had hoped to save that for the Dire Monstrosity down there, but seeing as you decided to borrow from Chronos AGAIN, I felt it warranted before you fell down for good.¡± ¡°Well, thank you. Yet again I am completely spent and you pull my ass out the proverbial fire¡­ At least we should get some really good EXP from this¡­ maybe enough to finish that Ursu Titan?¡± ¡°Maybe you might, I didn¡¯t recieve all that much in real terms. They were all far lower level individually than I. I managed just one level increase overall.¡± Whittaker explained. Alex paled at that, and pulled up his flashing notifications. Chapter 8 Ursu Ravager x38 defeated. Level disparity bonus added EXP +8000. Ursu Defiler x12 defeated. Level disparity bonus added EXP +3000 Chronos tithe added. Remaining: 208HP Power +5, Vitality +11, Finesse +4, Mentality +6, Judgement +3 Alex boggled at the huge influx of experience he had gained. It was nowhere near as much for each individual kill because he had leveled up so much from the first battle, but even so¡­ ¡°Whitt, you said that it''s better to get each class to level 10 first right? Something about it taking a lot longer after that point?¡± Picking bits of Ursu off of their coat, Whittaker responded, ¡°Yeah, that''s right. The required experience per level after 10 scales up by a factor of 10. Getting each new class to 10 allows for a quick influx of stats and HP.¡± Alex sat down and set about allocating this huge amount of XP. His Maelstrom class benefited from having higher Vitality for its levels, and putting points into Field Knight gave a decent chunk per level. Combat Medic relied on Mentality for its HP increase, which Maelstrom gave. Looking at how to best game the system, Alex settled on his strategy. Get Field Knight to 10 first, then Maelstrom, then any extra XP to go into Combat Medic. After raising all his classes to 10, Alex saw he still had 1600 XP left over. Thinking that pumping his HP more by taking another level of Field Knight was probably the best option, he dumped the rest in and raised it to 11. Alex rocked as he felt the influx of power infuse his body, taking a deep breath and immediately regretting that decision surrounded as he was by the multitudes of corpses and their associated waste. Taking a peek at his stats page now, he was shocked by just how much he had grown since this morning.
Name Alex Colt Stats Class
Species Human(Nexus) Power 22 Field Knight 11: HP Gained 10+Vit, +2 Vit per lvl
Age 27 Vitality 46 Maelstrom 10: HP Gained 2+0.5Vit, +1 Pow +1 Ment per lvl
Level 31 (Bonus Active) Finesse 10 Combat Medic 10: HP Gain 5+Ment, +2 Ment per lvl
XP 600/2000 FK Mentality 42
HP 1050 Judgement 5
Stam 310 Charm 1
His health was now north of 1000, near enough 4 times what it had been before the battle. He was turning into a verifiable tank! ¡°I got enough EXP from that battle to raise everything to 10, and Field Knight to 11 Whitt!¡± Alex whooped, drawing an amused smile from Whittaker, who was still trying to pick chunks of Ursu off.# ¡°That boost you have is really letting you catch up with us faster than we could have hoped. Now I don¡¯t know about you, but I really think we should go and get backup to take out the Dire Ursu. I had to blow all of my major abilities, and even then we only just managed to survive that onslaught.¡± Alex pouted at this, but understood the reasoning. ¡°I guess¡­ Did we both need to go, or can you go by yourself whilst I stay here and practise?¡± Whittaker gave Alex a look. ¡°You know you won¡¯t be able to take it by yourself right? Promise me you won¡¯t try.¡± ¡°Would I do that?¡± Alex responded, trying to pull his best innocent face, because he had planned to do just that. ¡°Yes, you would and we both know it. Granted you¡¯ve grown a lot, and quickly, but even I wouldn¡¯t want to risk that thing and I¡¯m a much higher level than you. Even with your¡­ knack for exploiting the system, it''s not worth the risk.¡± Whittaker admonished, trying to make Alex see that he wasn¡¯t invincible. Alex just nodded, and dissolved the blockade he had placed over the exit. They both headed back topside, with Alex promising not to do anything stupid. He worded it that way on purpose because he didn¡¯t think he was being stupid. His Maelstrom class coupled with his now much higher health pool would allow him to freeze time and flee at the first sign of trouble. As they reached the river clearing again and exited the cave system, Whittaker took off back to the base at top speed, promising to be back as soon as possible. Alex waited around for a few minutes to make sure that Whittaker didn¡¯t come back, and then headed back into the cave with the intent of having the big beast dead by the time help arrived. Whilst he was travelling back down, Alex tried to come up with some new Maelstrom skills that could help him. Knowing that passive skills were possible thanks to his Metabolism ability, which had now increased to rank 2 after hitting level 10 in Combat Medic granting him 5HP/s, Alex tried to come up with some other boosts. Knowing that he had been on the right path when he had flooded his muscles with power earlier, he started there. He imagined the burning feeling his muscles had during a good workout, when they were really pumped. This was a tenuous idea, but he tried to use his power over Inferno to simulate this burn and was pleasantly surprised when a new skill notification popped up. New passive Maelstrom Inferno skill created: Feel the Burn. Channeling the power of the Inferno into your muscles, they engorge and increase your Power by 20%. Costs 2HP/s. That was far more than Alex expected, and buoyed by his success, he attempted to create similar skills for the other elements under his control. Sure, having more active skills was great, but they were way too intensive to use too often, and if he drained his stamina too much without backup he was toast. Better to have multiple passive effects buffing him and leave the rest of his resources free for a quick getaway. The next element he attempted was Earth. Every game he had played had given mages some form of Rock Armor, so why couldn¡¯t he do the same. He took what he knew from his Earthshape skill, and imagined a layer of rock flowing up and over his body. New passive Maelstrom Ground skill created : RockFlesh. The ground knows you intimately and rises to shield you from harm. Grants a damage shield of 20% of your max HP (currently 210) and if damaged regains integrity 10 seconds after the last hit at a rate of 21/s as long as in contact with ground. Reserves 25% stamina. It worked! It reserved a fair bit of his stamina, but it effectively gave him an even bigger health pool with its own regen, and would scale as he grew! He was rapidly turning himself into a scaling monster. Racking his brain for anything else he could use his class to game, he wondered if he could bolster his regen any further. Games always gave water healing properties, so could he do the same? Maybe he could offset Feel the Burn¡¯s HP cost by keeping his body fully hydrated? Alex wasn¡¯t sure how this would work, as he had no idea what to focus on to create the skill. Changing tactics slightly, he instead focused on all the ways water helped him feel refreshed, and then tried to condense that feeling into his body itself.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. New passive Maelstrom Hydro skill created: Infusion. Drawing moisture from your surroundings, you pull it into yourself. As long as skill is active you will always be at peak hydration. This allows your body to push harder, doubling all healing effects on you. Reserves 25% stamina. Now THAT was way better than he was expecting. For more reserved stamina he doubled his regen and any health he gained back from Avenging Strike. There was no way he could lose now, as all he needed to do was freeze time for a couple of seconds and run away to let his passives get him back in action! Drawing close to the end cavern again, Alex slowed down and crept closer to the entrance. Peering in, he saw the gargantuan Dire Ursu was out of its crater in the middle and circling the room peering into the other passages and letting out strange, almost melodic calls. It was trying to call to the other Ursu who had been slaughtered by Whittaker and Alex, and was growing more and more agitated the longer it went on. Alex scanned the rest of the cavern and noticed that there were numerous little alcoves he could duck into to avoid attacks if needed. There were also natural ledges he could reach if he manipulated gravity and jumped up. He slowly crept into the chamber and rushed to slide behind a rock out of sight. Making sure he kept the rock between him and the giant Ursu, Alex edged around it until he could dash to a closer hiding spot. Taking his time, he slowly made his way closer and closer to his foe, making sure he didn¡¯t cause a repeat of earlier by kicking a rock. Crouching behind his current hiding spot, the Ursu walked directly past and Alex struck. Saber separated from the shield already, Alex had each blade extended to their maximum. He activated Jump Charge, and rocketed himself along a path that allowed him to score a boosted spinning slash across the tendons on the Ursu¡¯s rear leg, hoping to cripple it. His huge increase in level and stats meant that his slash actually achieved its goal and the beast buckled slightly as it spun to face its attacker. Alex carried his momentum and tried to put some distance between him and the Goliathon, but its enormous size allowed it to clip him with its retaliatory slash. He threw himself forward, RockFlesh shield already obliterated, along with almost half his health from just that first blow. ¡°Holy fuck¡­ Whitt was right, this thing is way stronger than its level should imply. I may need..¡± Alex was snapped from his thoughts as the Goliathon swung at him and forced him to Jump Charge again just to dodge the blow. He went straight under the beast, and shot out from under it at full speed. Reaching the end of his charge, Alex spun to keep his eye on his foe and saw that his unexpected move had confused the Goliathon, and it was struggling to turn its bulk with its back leg damaged. He realised that in a straight line, this thing was going to absolutely annihilate him, but because of its sheer size, added to the fact that it couldn¡¯t place any weight on the damaged leg, he needed to keep it tied up and not play into its long reach. This was the exact opposite of the smaller Ursu. His RockFlesh started regenning, so he ran back in and set to work on hacking at the already damaged limb. Flashing a quick glance at his stamina to make sure he wasn¡¯t in danger of bottoming out, he activated Avenging Strike to top his health back up and set to work dismantling the huge beast. Treating the fight like a game allowed him to compartmentalise the fact that 1 lucky shot could end him, so he pretended it was just like playing Monster Hunter. He landed blow after blow on the Goliathon¡¯s wounded leg, popping his charge to create distance any time he felt in danger. After a while, he noticed that the thing had a pattern in how it tried to attack him. Roughly 1.5 seconds after his flurry of blows, the Ursu would attempt to swipe at him with a front limb, and then slam its body onto the ground the crush him as he dodged. As soon as he saw this pattern, Alex knew he could do this if he kept his calm. This little dance carried on for a few minutes, with Alex darting around as his stamina allowed, and landing quick attacks whenever the opportunity arose. Suddenly the damaged back ankle gave way entirely as the Ursu went for its slam. Alex felt a rush rise up in him, but this was quickly quashed as the Goliathon let out a furious roar that set his mind spinning. He found himself struggling to focus, unable to coordinate his body and the Ursu took advantage of this. It backed up as best it could and pushed forward on its 3 remaining legs to try and gore Alex with the serrated horns on its head. Alex could see it coming, but found himself unable to activate his charge to get away. Raising his shield as best he could to attempt to divert any of the blow, he bodily thrown across the room and slammed into the wall. The horn managed to tear across his back as he flew as well, and he briefly blacked out from the pain for a second. He came to crumpled in a heap against the wall. RockFlesh was just starting to regen, but his health was hovering at around 10%. Luckily his continued attacks had taken the beast¡¯s leg out of commission, or he would already be dead. As it was, the Goliathon was slowly hobbling its way across the cavern towards him, intent of devouring the cause of its pain. Pushing himself up with help from the wall, Alex winced. At least one of his ribs was broken, and his right shoulder had dislocated. Using a trick he remembered from a documentary, he pushed against the wall and forced his arm back into place. He let out a scream as the bone grated and rotated back into place. Looking around for his weapons, he saw them directly in the path of the oncoming Ursu. He had maybe 5 seconds left before it was within striking distance of him, and he was dead. Looking at his regening health, it had raised to around 25%, and his RockFlesh was back at full. He needed to be faster, as this monster was just too big to keep trying to run around. He had enough health now to activate Stop Time for a few seconds max, and he did so just to buy himself a little breathing room. The instant he felt the power flow out from him he was moving to collect his weapons. Watching his HP tick away, he also activated Gravity Manipulation and Jump Charge causing himself to rocket straight towards the Goliathon¡¯s face. Alex was going to attempt the same trick he used on the Ravager a few hours ago. Landing on the thing¡¯s snout, Alex thrust his blade at its eyes and started wildly hacking away at the large orb in front of him. Not happy at the progress he was making, he stowed the saber back on the shield, and proceeded to use the shield instead. He dug it in like a spoon into grapefruit, sloughing huge chunks of jelly out with each pull. Stop Time ended as his health bottomed out, and the Goliathon screamed in agony. It started swiping at its face to try and dislodge Alex, but he had already completely destroyed the eyeball and was now crawling inside the open socket surrounded by blood and destroyed ocular tissue. Rather than stop, Alex continued shovelling his way into the beasts skull. The Goliathon started shaking its head, and he had to brace himself to prevent him from flying out the opening. The beast was now roaring continually as he slowly excavated his was towards the things brain. He punctured the membrane at the back of the socket and was deluged by a flood of fluids that threatened to force him out despite his best efforts to hold on. He spotted the telltale pink of the Goliathon¡¯s brain and unsure how it would work, activated Jump Charge. He slid forward at high speed, and he pulled the shield in front of his face angled like a bladed wedge. He punched straight through the brain, and exploded out the back of the thing¡¯s skull like a bullet. He arced high into the air and remembered to reactivate his gravity manipulation before he splattered onto the floor. Exhausted, and in agony, he turned around just in time to watch the Ursu collapse shuddering because of the trauma. As he slowly trudged towards the thing to check it was dead, a shout from the entryway drew his attention; ¡°WHAT THE FUCK ALEX?!¡± Nieve, Whittaker and Eira stood in the doorway, panting like they had just sprinted full speed for miles. Which they had. Whittaker stepped forward, their face a mask of incandescent rage. ¡°YOU PROMISED! You swore you wouldn¡¯t do anything stupid whilst I was gone. It''s been 20 minutes, TOPS since I left!¡± Whittaker shook as Nieve stepped up and placed an arm around their shoulders before shooting a fierce look at Alex. Alex couldn¡¯t understand what the problem was. He had killed the Goliathon by himself, and he was still standing. ¡°Why are you so upset Whitt? I soloed the damn thing just like I knew I could. I said I wouldn¡¯t do anything stupid, and this wasn¡¯t. I WON!¡± ¡°Alex, can you not see this from our perspective? Whitt filled us in on how many close calls you already had today, and yet when we arrive to assist, we find you drenched in blood and barely standing. Sure you won, but it was an unnecessary risk when you knew we were coming to help.¡± Eira tried to reiterate the stupidity in nicer terms than Whitt had managed. Alex just stared at them, adrenaline still pumping through him from the battle. He could begrudgingly see their point, but everything had worked out fine. Couldn¡¯t they just be happy with his accomplishment rather than bringing him down? Nieve read the expression on his face, ¡°Alex, we aren¡¯t trying to diminish the huge feat you have managed here today,¡± Alex frowned in disbelief, ¡°really we aren¡¯t. But what you did was reckless to the point of idiocy. We need you for the plan to save the entire Veil to work, and what you did here risked everything if you had died. This isn¡¯t about you, it¡¯s about so much more. Can¡¯t you see that?¡± This got through to him, and Alex let his gaze drop to the floor in shame. He had risked everything to stroke his ego, and when so much was riding on him as well. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I didn¡¯t even think of it like that. I just wanted a chance to prove to myself that I could do it, but it¡¯s not just me I need to think about now.¡± The group made their way to where Alex was standing next to the cooling corpse of the Ursu Goliathon. Yas had let out a little noise of exclamation when they had seen the specimen, and had rushed over to collect samples to analyse back at the base. Nieve walked up to Alex and waited for him to look up. When he kept his eyes focused on the floor, they reached out and lifted his chin. ¡°What you did is amazing, and you SHOULD be proud of it. At any other time we would be here celebrating your kill, but with the stakes as they are, please promise you won¡¯t do anything this risky by yourself again.¡± Alex nodded, tears in his eyes at having let his friends down. This promise he intended to keep, he couldn¡¯t take the pain behind all of their eyes again. Once Yas had finished collecting their samples, Whitt called Alex over to help carve the horns from the skull, and extract the claws as well. They could all be turned into useful weapons back at the base. Alex happily agreed, glad of any way he could get back into his friend¡¯s good books. An hour or so later, with their loot in tow, the group all left the caverns to head back to base and discuss what could have caused such mutations to occur so rapidly to the Ursu. Unseen by any of them, a small dark mote of energy rose from the Goliathon¡¯s corpse and flew up through the layers of rock towards the Council Compound in the north. Chapter 9 The journey back to the base took only a fraction of the time it had taken Alex to get to the den, now that they didn¡¯t need to be quiet. Along the way he checked his notifications for what he had gained from defeating the Goliathon. Dire Ursu Goliathon defeated. EXP +8000. Alex, allow us to offer congratulations on this win. By literally all checks and balances you should not have succeeded. You also should not have had to face something this strong in this area. We have added this to our list of things we need to investigate, as someone or something is going to extreme lengths to cause mayhem. Be wary of the city when you arrive there. Be especially wary of the council compound ~ The Veil. Trying to keep his expression neutral, Alex kept the message to himself and instead decided to ask for opinions on how best to spend this EXP. ¡°So, now that I have hit level 10 in each of my current classes, I am unsure what would be best for the group makeup now. Are any of you able to offer me some advice?¡± Slowing the pace slightly, Nieve glanced back and answered, ¡°Well¡­ none of us really thought you were going to get to this point so quickly and as such, have no real direction to point you. What way were you leaning?¡± Alex considered for a minute before replying. ¡°Well, the excess I had last time I just put into Field Knight for the extra HP it gave me. I understand that there are at least a couple of other classes available in the Frigid realm? Is it worth me trying to acquire and get these to level 10 as well?¡± ¡°You could, I know Yas would be happy to teach you Frigidtech.¡± Nieve gestured to Yas who was slightly off to the side, immersed in their own little world thinking about the samples in their bag. ¡°And soldier would potentially be a benefit for you, but none of us are a high enough level to impart the class. If it was me, I would look to improve whichever area you feel is your weakest based on the outcomes of your battles so far.¡± ¡°I guess that keeping on growing my HP is all I can think of for now. It gives me the biggest overall bonus seeing as it stacks with my RockFlesh skill¡­¡± Alex mused aloud, not remembering that none of the group knew about the new skills he had created prior to his battle with the Goliathon. ¡°Rock...Flesh? What is that?¡± Whittaker perked up at the mention of a skill they had never heard of before. Alex drew himself out of the numbers swirling around in his head to give them all a summation of everything he had learned and created. As he explained his process for creating the new skills, as one the entire group stopped in their tracks and looked at him. ¡°Alex¡­ what you are saying is not possible. You cannot just create new skills on the fly like that. They always require specific levels to unlock, and always on a set template.¡± Eira said with barely masked awe on their face at the revelations Alex was so carelessly tossing around. ¡°Well, I did!¡± Alex shrugged, ¡°Watch.¡± And he proceeded to reactive all of his passive abilities one by one for them to observe. As he activated each, he gave a brief description of what each skill did. As he finished explaining the last skill he created, he looked up to gauge the reactions of his friends. Whittaker was just stood there with a big grin, Nieve had a small smile, Yas had already tuned out again and Eira had a frown plastered across their face. ¡°So, yeah. I did create them as you can see. Is it because I¡¯m the first of the class so the limitations don¡¯t affect me in the same way?¡± ¡°We honestly don¡¯t know Alex. From birth to death, Fridigians are taught that the classes need to be granted by someone of appropriate level, and that the skills for each class are set in stone. That is all we have known, but perhaps your theory has merit. Either way, we certainly won¡¯t bemoan this extra bonus for our cause.¡± Nieve smiled at him before indicating they needed to continue back to the base. The rest of the journey passed quickly, and soon they all arrived back at the base where an awaiting Iclyn met them at the door. They all quickly filled Iclyn in on everything that had happened whilst they were away. Apart from a lingering gaze on Alex as he recounted his parts, Iclyn made no comment on his skills, or the idiocy of his actions in the Ursu cave. Instead they all followed behind Iclyn towards their map table as Iclyn relayed some news. ¡°I have heard from our contact in the Council compound. Something strange has happened. The Council ordered their chamber clear of all non-council members, and then locked down access to the compound itself. They have never done this before, and the timing just feels too coincidental.¡± Nobody spoke for a few moments until Alex cleared his throat. ¡°Erm, I don¡¯t know how to put this. When you were all telling me the history of your people, there were a few things that didn¡¯t quite sit right with me. I can¡¯t really explain why, but the things you said just sounded a little off. This is another of those times. This whole thing stinks to me. We know the council are at least partially to blame, but this seems like its a much deeper issue. Can you get a hold of your contact again Iclyn?¡± Iclyn frowned, ¡°No. They ended the communication very abruptly and have not answered any of my further attempts to reach them. I am worried, this person has been a friend for a long time and I would hate for them to get hurt because of us.¡± The discussion as to what to do with this information went on for a few hours, with Alex mostly sitting on the sidelines. He decided to use the time to spend his EXP and come up with some new potential synergies within his abilities. He put a couple more levels into Field Knight for the health boost. He was going to just dump all the exp into it, but realised that he wouldn''t have enough to get him to the next level, but could get 2 levels in Combat Medic, which would get him closer to the level 15 upgrade to his passive. Happy with his choices, he tuned back into the conversation as it started to get heated. ¡°We CANNOT go early on these plans, we haven¡¯t planned for this. We still need to give Alex as much chance as possible to level and train before we make our move!¡± Nieve shouted at an unusually angry Iclyn. ¡°Nieve, wake up! He has already surpassed what we were expecting for an entire weeks worth of grinding thanks to that bonus of his. If my contact has gone dark, we need to move sooner than later. I trust them, but everyone has a breaking point where they will talk!¡± Iclyn fired back, exposing a fear that they all had. That they would get caught before they had a chance to save everything. Alex listened as they both continued to argue, but found that he was mostly on Iclyn¡¯s side. He felt ready enough for them to at least start the plan to infiltrate into the town surrounding the compound. ¡°Please, stop arguing! Nieve, I appreciate you trying to give me as much time as you have, but I agree with Iclyn. We need to start moving along with the plan, at least the first part anyway. We can adjust once we know more, but sat here we are just asking for trouble.¡± Nieve gave him a guarded look before pursing their lips and giving a small nod. None of the group were happy at having to truncate their planned timeline, but each could agree that urgency was now needed. It was decided that they would go early the next morning to allow them all one final nights rest in a real bed. Alex found himself suddenly exhausted at the mention of sleep, despite it still being only early evening. The days events had really taken it out of him apparently. The group all headed off to their own beds, and Alex trudged through to his little corner in the training room, falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. Alex awoke to Yas urgently shaking his shoulders and whisper-shouting at him. ¡°... trap. C¡¯mon Alex wake up! They have us trapped in here, they surrounded the building whilst we slept!¡± Alex tried to quickly gather his wits about him. ¡°Yas, slow down. What¡¯s happening? Who surrounded us?¡± ¡°The Council sent the Fridigian Forces to capture us! I don¡¯t know how they knew where we were, but they are outside and demanding we give up the ¡°Outsider¡±. Which can only be you! The others sent me to help you escape whilst they slow them down!¡± Yas looked over their shoulder in alarm as a huge crash could be heard from the front of the building. Alex bolted upright at the noise and quickly donned his gear before nodding to Yas that he was ready. Yas quickly leapt over the matts in the room and over to a grate in the wall. Whipping something out of their pocket, the grate quickly detached and was placed quietly down onto the floor. ¡°Come on Alex, in here! It will lead us both out to the Tundra Hill Forest behind the base where we can hopefully hide until they leave.¡± Alex rushed to follow and leapt headfirst into the grate. He hated leaving his friends behind, but if they had sent Yas to get him out it was for good reason. And he served no purpose stuck behind bars, or worse, killed by the Fridigian forces acting on the word of a corrupt government. Yas reattached the grate and squeezed past Alex to lead the way. The pair swiftly navigated the warren of tunnels that lead to their escape point. Yas slowed as they neared the exit point for the vent system, and poked what looked like a little periscope out through the grate. Yas yelped quietly and quickly withdrew the device before pushing them back away from the grate. Alex raised an eyebrow in the universal gesture for ¡°What?¡± and Yas mimed guards with weapons wandering around outside. At least that''s what Alex took the gestures to mean. Now that he knew there were troops outside, Alex strained to hear what was going on. He could just make out shouted orders and what sounded like a fairly substantial fight going on. With nothing to do but wait and hope they weren¡¯t found, the pair sat in tense silence, flinching at every noise. After an indeterminate amount of time, they both heard boots stomping around near the exit grate, and a harsh voice barking orders. ¡°We have 4 of the traitors in custody now, but the Outsider and the last traitor are nowhere to be found. Keep searching the building and surrounding area, they MUST be found!¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.??Alex¡¯s heart sank through the floor at hearing his friends had been captured. But at least that meant they were still alive for now, which was only a good thing. Now all he and Yas needed to do was evade their pursuers until they called off the hunt, and maybe try and free their friends if they could do so without getting caught. He snuck closer to the grate and peered through, immediately seeing a set of shiny boots in front of his face. Motioning to Yas that there was someone there, Alex set about using Earthshape to create a pit under the trooper. Slowly carving away a 10 foot pit, but leaving a crust for the trooper to stand on, Alex created the trap. Once the main pit was formed, he slowly eroded away the crust until the weight of the trooper sent them falling down into the hole with a yelp. Alex quickly ducked back into the darkness of the vent system and waited as the troopers cries drew the attention of more of the forces. After a minute or two of people coming and gawping, a figure cut through the crowd. Guessing based on the way the milling troops all reacted, Alex figured this must be a higher ranked individual. The figure immediately barked in a tone that was obviously used to laying blame at everyone else¡¯s feet. ¡°Luca, how did you manage to fall into a pit?¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t a pit just a minute ago! It was solid ground for the 10-15 minutes I have been patrolling this sector!¡± The poor soldier, Luca, tried to explain. ¡°Nonsense! Holes like this don¡¯t just appear soldier! You were obviously not paying attention and triggered some pit trap. Rations will be docked once we return to the barracks. Maybe that will teach you to pay more interest in your surroundings next time!¡± And with that the figure turned sharply on their heel and headed back towards the front of the building where Nieve and the others were being held. Alex was shocked at the apparent disdain that the leaders of these troops had for them. Rather than let the poor soldier explain the truth, they had been punished and ignored. Maybe this would be something Alex could exploit¡­ Checking that the rest of the soldiers had dispersed and left Luca on their own to try and get out of Alex¡¯s pit, he edged back up to the grate and quietly called down into the hole. ¡°Hey Luca!¡± Luca¡¯s head snapped around to locate the voice and their eyes widened at seeing Alex¡¯s face behind the vent. ¡°You! You¡¯re the outsider! Did you do this?!¡± Alex quickly tried to hush the soldier before their voice drew attention again. ¡°Yep, that was all me, and if you want to get out again, you¡¯ll tell me everything I want to know!¡± Luca gestured around the little pit, ¡°Well, I¡¯m not exactly getting out myself, and nobody else will help me get out of here, so¡­ I¡¯m listening.¡± Alex thought for a second to make sure he asked the right questions. ¡°How did you know we were here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly, that''s above my station, but from what I heard of the Generals discussing with the Council, they''ve known you were here for a long time. Something happened yesterday that caused the Council to decide enough was enough and order the raid.¡± Luca answered, fearing that they would be left in the hole if they didn¡¯t. Alex pondered this, as he wasn¡¯t at all shocked to hear this was the case. Something had been off about the whole situation for the entire time he had been aware of the plan. It just seemed too¡­ clean as to how Iclyn had managed to ¡°escape¡± and not get noticed. Plus all the other little things that had just seemed wrong to him? Yeah, this wasn¡¯t a surprise to him at all. ¡°Okay Luca, next question. What are you planning to do with my friends, and i guess, Me, once you caught us?¡± ¡°We were ordered to keep you all alive. You were all to be delivered to the council compound as soon as possible. Somehow they knew you would all be here which is why we were sent in at night. That all I know, and a lot of what I¡¯ve told you is stuff I picked up from listening in when I maybe shouldn¡¯t¡­¡± Luca looked uneasy at this admission, knowing that they would be in even deeper trouble if it came out. ¡°Thank you Luca, one last thing. How many are here tonight to capture us?¡± Alex wanted this last bit of info to see if it there was any way they could attempt a rescue. ¡°They deployed an entire 50 strong squad to capture you. They were taking no chances. Alex winced at hearing such a large number of troops were involved. No matter how he planned it, there was no way they could free his friends without getting caught. Leaving Luca there for now, Alex scooted back along the ventilation shaft to where Yas was sat hugging their legs. ¡°Yas, there is nothing we can do to free Nieve or the others right now. We need to get away from here completely, and attempt to rescue them once they arrive in the compound. We carry out the original plan as best we can.¡± Yas nodded at this, but their face still reflected their true feelings. They were completely out of their depth, so Alex did his best to put on a stoic front. Gently taking Yas by the hand, he guided them to the vent grate and motioned at the fastenings. Using the same little device as earlier, Yas swiftly had the grate loose and they both crawled out slowly. Alex rushed to the nearest corner and slowly peered out. In both directions, there were soldiers facing away from this spot. Alex went back to the hole Luca was in. ¡°Luca, we are going now. I will create a way out of the pit for you, but if you try anything be aware that I will not hesitate to kill you.¡± Alex bluffed. He could handle killing animals, but killing another person? He just couldn¡¯t do it. But Luca didn¡¯t know that. ¡°Sure! I¡¯ll stay in here for a few minutes after you¡¯ve gone, then once I¡¯m free, you and I have never spoken. Thank you¡­¡± Luca trailed off as Alex vanished from view again. About 30 seconds later, small handholds formed on the otherwise smooth walls of the pit, and Luca pulled themselves out. There was no sign of Alex or Yas, so they smoothed themselves off and headed on a slow loop of their patrol route as if nothing happened. But Luca still felt like they owed this Outsider a debt. Alex and Yas bolted straight across the open ground as soon as it looked clear, praying that they weren¡¯t spotted before they crested the hills surrounding the base. As they reached the top of the hill, Alex stopped and lay flat to watch over what was happening. Yas hopped up next to him and handed him a small box. ¡°What is this Yas?¡± Alex asked, giving the little cube a look over and bringing up its information. Ocular Augmentor: FrosTech designed to augment the vision of the wearer, offering numerous vision enhancements including varying levels of magnification and night vision. Alex looked up to see Yas attaching their own device. The little cube seemed to flow like jelly over Yas¡¯s eyes before solidifying into 2 small domes, 1 over each eye. Alex copied the movement and within a second or 2 had his own fitted. They were like a small set of swimming goggles without a strap. Alex looked back down at the compound and tried to work out how they worked for a few seconds before just asking. ¡°Yas, how do I work these things?¡± ¡°Just think what you want, they interface with neural signals to react almost like a muscle. So just keep thinking about zooming in until they reach the right amount.¡± Yas replied, their own eyes already raking over the base to see if they could spot the rest of their little group. Alex did as he was told, and the little piece of tech immediately responded. He could now see in perfect clarity everything going on down the hill. He made sure that there was no alarm set off by their escape from the building, then tried to work out where their friends were held. Unable to see them from his current vantage point, Alex slowly began to move around the hilltop until the front of the building came into view. There on the ground were his friends. In front of them was what looked like a small drone with wires going to each of his friends individually. ¡°Yas, what are they attached to?¡± ¡°An immobiliser. It basically hooks into the back of their necks and locks their bodies down, whilst keeping their heads free of the effect so they can be interrogated¡­ I helped design it, before we set this little group up.¡± Yas was horrified to see their own design being used in the capture of their friends, and their hands began to shake from the suppressed fear and rage. ¡°Alex, they modified the design, there are extra power packs on the top that shouldn¡¯t need to be there¡­¡± Almost on queue, each of their friends let out a pained shout, audible even from this distance. It appeared the immobiliser also allowed the user to cause pain for interrogation purposes. Yas let out a little cry, ¡°That is barbaric! It was never designed to cause pain! The Fridigian forces are always taught not to inflict pain on prisoners, lest we lower ourselves. What is happening¡­ What are the council doing?¡± Alex didn¡¯t know how to respond to this, so he simply placed his hand over Yas¡¯s in a gesture of comfort and then turned his view back to the scene before them. They were unable to hear what was being said from this far away, but Alex could see the look of grim determination etched into each of his friends faces, despite what was being done to them none were willing to give him up. After another 20-30 minutes of searching the small base, the soldiers all lined up in front of the building. The same person that Alex had witnessed berating Luca earlier seemed to be in charge of the whole mission. They were obviously not happy at Alex having been able to escape, but without any other leads it seemed they were finally going to head back to the Council compound. Alex watched as his friends were roughly shoved into the back of one of the transport vehicles, and then the rest of the troops loaded into the others. A couple of Guards were placed at the main entrance, obviously to catch them if they went back in. Slowly the vehicles picked up speed, and set off back in the direction of the compound. Alex felt Yas slide down the hill a little, out of sight, and turned to face them. ¡°Yas, how can we follow them? Please tell me there is a vehicle or something in your bag?¡± Alex knew the question was stupid, but hoped anyway. Yas shook their head, ¡°Sorry Alex. The only vehicle is back in my lab. Past the guards.¡± Letting out a sigh, Alex looked back in the direction of the base. ¡°Guess we have to break in then.¡± Chapter 10 Alex was done playing nice. His entire life he had watched as people he knew, people he cared about got stomped on. No more. His friends had just been taken by what appeared to be a very corrupt council and he was not going to just let that go lightly. Yas had tried to talk him out of his plan, calling it stupid, and a risk they didn¡¯t need to take. But their only way to follow the trucks containing their friends was to retrieve the transport currently sat in the guarded base. So Alex was going in. He would ask nicely first, but that one chance was all they were getting. Otherwise he was going in by force. He stomped down the hill they had been sheltering behind, no longer worried because the majority of the troops had left with the main force and only a token amount were left guarding. He had toyed with the idea of breaking in, and trying to approach the whole thing stealthily. But in the end, the council apparently already knew who he was and were now just waiting to capture him. So he brazenly walked straight up to the front door, where there were 2 guards, one on either side of the entrance. ¡°Hi there! I just need to pop in real quick and grab my things. I know you¡¯ve been tasked with capturing me, or whatever, but honestly, that really won''t work well for you. So how about you just pretend I was never here, and carry on cashing your paychecks? If you try to stop me, I will defend myself.¡± Alex stood with his hands on hips as he said this, and flashed both guards a dazzling smile as he finished his request. Both guards drew their weapons. One speaking to Alex whilst the other spoke into what Alex assumed was a radio. ¡°Back up Outsider. We don¡¯t want to hurt you and your assertions of hurting us are laughable. You have been here for less than a week, there is no way you could match us, so just stand quietly whilst the rest of our forces stationed here come and we can all leave peacefully.¡± The one closest to Alex said condescendingly. ¡°Yeah, see that doesn¡¯t work for me I¡¯m afraid. Check my level and you¡¯ll see that I¡¯m probably closer to you than you realise.¡± Alex replied politely, now taking his own advice to check both of the guards levels. Fridigian Infantry lvl 41 Fridigian Infantry lvl 44 Alex smiled as he saw that both of these numskulls were only just ahead of him in terms of levels, but nothing major compared to what he had already dealt with in the last day. They had both only just got each of their classes past the basic 10 that Whittaker had spoken about the other day. ¡°Why are you smiling? You are hopelessly ou..¡± The lower leveled guard trailed off as he finally bothered to actually Inspect Alex. ¡°How are¡­ You came from Nexus! There is no way you gained this much power so quickly?!¡± ¡°My friends said the same thing. You know, the friends you tortured for a little while earlier, before you carted them off to wherever? So, can I PLEASE just get in and grab some of my gear before they get too far ahead?¡± Alex took a step forward, causing both guards to assume an even more hostile stance. ¡°No? Okay then.¡± Alex activated all of his passive abilities and stood loosely, ready to intercept whatever they tried to throw at him, Whittaker¡¯s teachings forefront in his mind. The lower level guard struck first, aiming a somewhat clumsy strike towards Alex¡¯s midriff. Compared to the Ursu, the attack was almost so slow it was comical. In his haste to escape earlier, Alex had left his weapon behind so he just grabbed the guards arm and pulled him off balance, slamming a fist into the side of their head. The guard fell to the floor, momentarily stunned. The other higher levelled guard came in from Alex¡¯s blindspot hoping to get a lucky shot on his exposed back. Alex heard him coming and backed into the oncoming guard, disrupting the swing aimed at him. Alex then swept his leg round to topple the off balance guard. The move worked and both of the Infantry were now on their asses. Alex looked down at the pair, and brushed off some imaginary dust. ¡°Point made? Please just stay down. You¡¯re just doing your job, and I get that, but I don¡¯t want to actually hurt you¡­¡± Alex said with a note of pleading in his voice. He really didn¡¯t, but short of actually killing them he would do whatever was necessary to get into the base and retrieve the transport. The guards both got to their feet, no worse for wear apart from a little bit of bruised ego. They coordinated an attack on Alex from 2 angles trying to cut off his approach. Alex activated Gravity Manipulation and jumped straight up over the approaching attackers. He released the skill as he hit the apex of his jump, and reactivated it in reverse, adding more mass to himself as he dropped like a stone. Copying an old wrestling move he¡¯d seen, Alex extended his elbow and aimed the blow directly at the head of one of the guards below him. Both guards were in a state of confusion as to what had just happened, and didn¡¯t expect for Alex to literally drop out of the sky down onto their heads. His elbow connected with the higher level guard and with the extra weight adding to the damage, the guard crumpled to the ground. The other guard attempted to attack Alex whilst he was on the floor, managing to get a couple of glancing blows in. ¡°Oww? Can you not? That is probably hurting you more than me honestly. You saw what I just did to your colleague right? Just get out my way, please!¡± Alex half yelled at the dumbfounded guard. Whether from an immense sense of job loyalty, or because Alex had so far made them both look like little more than blundering fools, the guard swung their weapon at Alex¡¯s head as he tried to get his feet under him. Completely done with this situation, Alex lashed out with a huge backhanded slap that caught the guard directly on the ear and jaw. With the extra power he now had the slap caused the guard a serious amount of pain and disorientation, and they fell to the floor clutching their ringing ear. Stepping over the pair, Alex walked up to the front door and walked in. The entryway was completely obliterated. The little armory room was bare, having been stripped during the attack. Every step Alex took caused some debris to crunch underfoot, with every bench, every piece of decoration destroyed. Alex walked through into the dining hall that had held their map table and saw that every single chair and table had been tossed to the corners of the room, and the map was gone. Well, guess he needed a new plan of attack now. He threaded his way through the room towards the little back room that had served as Yas¡¯ little lab, and where Alex had undergone his connection forging. The room had been mostly gutted, and what was left had been carelessly discarded all over the room. Yas had told him that the transport would look similar to the little cube the Ocular Augmentor had been. Apparently that was how Yas designed all of their gear now for space saving reasons. Hunting through the mess, Alex couldn¡¯t find it anywhere. Growing more and more frustrated, Alex flipped over the remnants of a chair in anger. *PLINK PLink plinkplink* As he flipped the chair, a small object flew towards the wall and bounced off into the centre of the room. Stooping to pick it up Alex examined the cube. FroTech Slide: Despite the name, this item was designed by Yas to act as a low energy mode of transport that runs almost silently and leaves no discernable trail. Alex pocketed the cube and made his way back towards the main entrance. He stopped off at his now shredded bedroll to see if any of the rest of his gear had been left behind, but it had all been ransacked. He would need to see if he could take a weapon from the idiots he left outside. Suddenly he was hit with the urge to roll to the side. Trusting his gut, he did so, and narrowly avoided being brained by some sort of truncheon looking thing with a weighted end. Carrying his momentum as he had been taught, Alex rose to his feet in a flash to square off with whomever had managed to sneak up on him. ¡°Lucky dodge Outsider! I saw what you did to the pair outside when I arrived in response to their message. Im impressed. You won¡¯t manage that with me though, especially not in here and whilst you are unarmed.¡± A tall, muscular Fridigian stood there flexing their hand. Alex gave a quick glance at his opponent¡¯s level.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Fridigian Soldier lvl 52 Alex drew his weight into a more defensive stance at seeing the much higher level. Granted this opponent was still many levels behind Whittaker, and Alex had managed to fight them to a standstill on more than one occasion, but it never hurt to play it cautious. Wasting no more time, the soldier started to close in on Alex, covering each of their advances with a swing of the vicious looking truncheon so that all Alex was able to do was concede ground. With a frustrated grunt, Alex activated Jump Charge to try and give himself some room. The soldier gave a wolfish smile as they saw what Alex was preparing to do, and having trained with many Field Knights aimed a blow for exactly where Alex was trying to aim for. Unable to stop the charge at this point Alex managed to raise his arms to shield some of the impact, but it still took out his entire RockFlesh shield and about 10-15% of his HP. It also caused both of his arms to flare in pain. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect you to block that one Outsider, well done!¡± The soldier carried on their assault on Alex immediately unlike the pair outside. Alex carried on giving ground to buy enough time for his regen and shield to start recharging whilst he tried to come up with a plan of attack. This soldier was giving the fight their all, and Alex was unsure how to make his move. Wishing he had a way to get inside the range of the truncheons swing, Alex thought about his RockFlesh growing thicker on one of his arms, to act kind of like a buckler and redirect the swing to allow Alex to close in. He felt the rock respond and sparing a glance down, Alex saw that his left arm was now encased in what appeared to be solid rock. The soldier¡¯s eyes widened as they saw this, and Alex struck at this little opening. The soldier swung as normal to try and force Alex back, but instead Alex took the entire blow on his newly encased arm. Knocking the truncheon off center Alex stepped in with all of his strength flat-palmed the soldier in the chest. Following through after his blow, Alex kept on top of the soldier, giving them no time to recover. Using the added weight of the rock arm to add extra damage to his blows Alex pummelled the prone soldier relentlessly. All the soldier could do was protect their head, so Alex kept pounding blow after blow into their stomach and ribs. On the third or fourth rock-fisted blow Alex felt and heard a sickening crunch and the soldier coughed, spraying blood and spittle all over them both. Alex felt sick. He knew that the soldier was just doing their duty, and he really didn¡¯t want to cause any truly lasting harm to the poor misguided fool. ¡°Please stop¡­I don¡¯t want to do this, I just want to rescue my friends!¡± The soldier lowered their arms slightly and gave Alex a fearsome grin, teeth red with blood. ¡°Allow you to rescue those terrorists? Fuck OFFFF!¡± With a roar, the soldier threw Alex across the room and rose to their feet. ¡°As long as I still draw breath I will never allow you or those terrorists to destroy our world!¡± The soldier reached to a sheath on their back and withdrew a vicious looking short blade. A couple of feet long, the blade looked like a serrated machete with a much larger hilt. The soldier thumbed a switch and the blade began to emit a high pitched whine that tapered off after a second or two. Alex found that he could no longer fully see the weapon, like it was surrounded by a heat haze or motion blur. With no more warning, the soldier leapt across the space between them. They swung at Alex, and he raised his arm again to block¡­ but received a huge slash anyway, as if the rock wasn¡¯t even there. Acting on pure instinct Alex threw himself back into a roll away from the soldier¡¯s ferocious onslaught, just managing to evade a swipe that would have parted head from body. ¡°You have it totally wrong, I swear! My friends brought me here to STOP terrorists from destroying not just this world, but the entire Veil itself!¡± Alex kept backing away and attempting to dodge the still coming soldier¡¯s relentless blows. ¡°How do you think I got so many levels in such a short space of time? The Veil ITSELF approves of our mission!¡± Alex stumbled over a discarded chair, his legs becoming tangled, and the soldier crashed into him, pinning him to the floor with the strange blade against his throat. ¡°You think I¡¯m going to believe that? You fucking lying piece of shit. We got briefed by the council themselves on what they had found out of you plans. Your friends want to take over the council and use our forces to wage war across the realm!¡± The soldier spat at Alex, unknowingly giving away far more information than they realised. ¡°I swear everything I have said, and everything I am about to tell you is completely true, Lest the Veil strip my connection bare!¡± Alex yelled, knowing what this would cause to happen. Oath given to Naelex. Alex kept looking the soldier, Naelex, straight in the eye as he watched them read the notification. ¡°That¡¯s how serious I am. Ready to listen now? Please? You¡¯ve been lied to, all of you! The council are the ones truly behind whatever is happening in both our Realms!¡± Alex cried. Naelex looked at him for a moment. Then kept on looking, as if waiting for something. ¡°Well? Say something at least, I know you got that notification!¡± ¡°I did. I was waiting for you to start screaming in agony. The fact you aren¡¯t is surprising. Tell me, how did you manage to break a Veil Oath without even breaking a sweat?¡± Alex just stared incredulously at Naelex, unable to comprehend what they had just said. ¡°You mean you would rather believe I managed to break an oath witnessed by the Veil than believe what I have said is true?! Are you having a fucking laugh?¡± The blade was still at his neck, and he swallowed loudly. ¡°It is the only thing that makes sense! That, or you truly believe the lies that your friends fed you!¡± Alex had heard enough, the council obviously had the majority of the population drinking their kool-aid to such an extent that even a Veil Oath couldn¡¯t convince them otherwise. At least during this little conversation his HP had replenished and his stamina had recovered. He activated Stop Time and pulled himself up, away from the blade at his throat. With his current HP total, Alex figured he had just over half a minute of stoppage to play with. Despite everything Alex couldn¡¯t bring himself to hurt Naelex, so he just took his strange blade and truncheon and walked himself back out the front of the building. He made sure he flicked the switch on the blade so that once the time stop ended it didn¡¯t slice into his leg, and then attached it and the truncheon to his belt. He made his way past the 2 infantry who had recovered slightly in his time inside the base, and ran back up the hill to where he had left Yas. The time stop ended just as he crested the top of the hill at a full run, and he dropped into a slide immediately so that he was out of sight. Yas jumped at Alex¡¯s sudden reappearance. ¡°Fuck! Alex what the hell? Where did you even..¡± They trailed off at seeing Alex coated in blood with 2 unknown weapons at his hip. ¡°Stop Time Yas, had to use it to get away from a Soldier inside called Naelex. They had me dead to rights.¡± Alex showed the now healed and rapidly disappearing scar on his neck. Yas just shook their head. ¡°Thank Frigid you have that skill Alex! Please tell me that this risk wasn¡¯t a waste of time?¡± Alex fished out the cube and handed it over with a smile. ¡°Of course not! Took me a while to find it after what they¡¯d done to your lab though. And at least we have some weapons now as well.¡± He motioned to the weapons at his waist, and handed Yas the truncheon, as he wanted the blade for himself. Yas nodded and took the weapon from Alex, attaching it to their own belt before activating the cube. It swiftly expanded out into what looked like a jetski balanced on some weird looking ball at the front, with the back just seeming to hover. ¡°Thank Frigid the Sled still works! Now we can get out of here before your new friends find us here.¡± Yas said as they threw their leg over and took a seat at the front of the strange contraption. Alex eyed it cautiously for a second before climbing on and sitting behind Yas. The moment he did, straps slid around his calves and feet to hold him down firmly. As soon as Yas saw that he was secure, they gunned the throttle fully and shot off almost silently, following the tracks left behind by the convoy earlier. Chapter 11 Scenery flashed by faster than Alex could see whilst he perched on the back of the Sled. Yas had been running the thing as hard as possible to catch up to the convoy, but it had had at least 2 hours head start on them. By his reckoning, they had been going flat out for roughly an hour or so, which meant that from what he could remember from the battle-map in the dining room they were getting close to the town that surrounded the Council compound. Opting to let Yas keep focused on the pursuit, Alex started trying to visualise how things would go. He was essentially going in completely blind into hostile territory, with little to no weaponry, no backup and potentially an entire continents worth of armed forces expecting them. Fun times. Not allowing the situation to mount in his mind, Alex instead decided to break it down into manageable parts, the same as he used to do whenever he led his team into new content in any number of games. The first thing they needed to do was get the lay of the land inside the town itself and find somewhere they could hole up and run reconnaissance. Alex knew that their friends would have been taken straight to the compound, but getting in there was going to be problematic now that everyone seemed to know who he was. There was no way he could storm the place himself, and Yas was going to be no use in an attack, as their skills lent more towards being at the rear of any action. Hopefully once they got inside the town Yas would at least know the layout, as Alex felt the beginnings of a plan start to form. The sled started to slow down and Alex looked up just in time to see a huge wall made from what looked like frosted glass crest into his vision. Yas veered off the road sharply and set the sled to rest just inside the edge of the trees that lined the way into the town. Alex realised that town didn¡¯t really cover the size of the place. The wall was at least 20 feet high and completely sheer. Apart from the gatehouse, there was no other building visible. Yas hopped off the sled motioned alex to do the same. ¡°From here we need to ditch the sled. From my brief stint on the town guard I can tell you that you can see the entire area for a LONG way from those walls. Have you any idea what the plan is?¡± Alex grimaced, as this was the one area he had no plan for. ¡°Not as such. Do the walls extend under the ground at all?¡± Yas nodded, ¡°Yes, there are tunnels and temporary detainment cells for anyone that gets caught at the gate.¡± Alex considered this and headed deeper into the trees to run some tests. He activated Earthshape and started tunneling into the ground in the middle of a little clearing. After a few seconds a decently sized little hole had been formed and with a thought Alex deactivated his skill. The ground here was much harder, with the groundfrost making it a lot more arduous to move. Just those few seconds had completely drained his stamina bar completely, and there was no way he would be able to get them under the wall in good time. Running his hands over his face, Alex pondered how each realm sorted the separation of their elements. Obviously this was Frigid¡¯s realm, but as evidenced by the presence of the ground he was manipulating there were other elements present. He turned to Yas. ¡°Yas, how is there earth/ground here considering this is Frigid¡¯s domain? Surely everything should be ice?¡± Yas was surprised by the question and it took a few seconds for them to put together an understandable answer. ¡°Without too much detail, it boils down to alliances and deals. Within reason, most realms need more than just their own power to fully sustain a population efficiently. In exchange for something, Frigid allowed Adareth and their nature realm a small amount of sway here to allow flora and fauna to more easily exist. Frigid could have come up with a way of fueling it with their own influence, but it would have taken a lot more effort for the same result.¡± Alex was shocked at this level of detail and gave an impressed nod. ¡°Is that stuff that''s taught as standard here?¡± ¡°Not at all. I have always been interested in the other realms, and how I can use their knowledge and ideas in my own work. I have probably got more knowledge on the subject than 90% of the population because I enjoy the researching.¡± Yas bragged slightly, glad of being able to use their knowledge. Thinking on this new info, Alex wondered if there was a way to draw more power from Adareth the same way he did with Chronos and his time powers. He would gladly owe a tithe of whatever was required in exchange for the power to help his friends, and by extension the whole Veil. Alex formed a small chair for himself and Yas and plonked down to see if he could come up with a new skill or something that might help get them into the town. Closing his eyes, Alex tried to envision everything he could imagine about nature, and how everything in nature is done slowly but surely. He needed a way to speed up the process without upsetting the balance. Yas looked around aimlessly as Alex reflected. Staring off between a couple of trees nearby, they noticed a thick mist starting to enter into the clearing they sat in. Over the course of 5 minutes, the mist thickened to the point that Yas could barely make out Alex sat just a few feet away. From inside the mist, a figure seemed to take shape in front of Alex, and Yas yelped at the sight before trying to jump to their feet, only to find themselves unable to rise. Peace little Fridigian, I mean you no harm. I am here to assist your friend in his understanding of my realm and powers. Eyes still wide with fear, all Yas was able to do was nod as the entity swept over Alex and bore him to the floor. Alex was trying to wrack his brain to come up with a useful skill or ability to get them under the wall unseen when he suddenly felt himself engulfed by something and pushed off his seat. Hello little Nexian. Please do not be alarmed. I felt your drawing of my realm and the frustration you felt, and I am here to help as best I can. Alex shook with adrenaline as the immutable power of Adareth encompassed him and spoke into his mind. ¡°Adareth? I apologise for my intrusion to your realm.¡± Alex began, desperate to get off on the right foot. ¡°I seek a way to get myself and my friend into the town, and possibly into the compound to put a stop to a great evil.¡± I am aware of what you speak. All the realms have felt the shockwaves of whatever atrocities have been occurring here, and I have come to offer my aid directly as Frigid seems to be willing to allow these transgressions to continue. I ask no tithe or price for what I am about to offer. Instead I ask that once this crisis is averted, rather than returning to Nexus you allow me to bring you directly to my realm. I also fear that something similar is happening here as well, and formally request your aid. Alex¡¯s mind reeled at this information. ¡°Also happening there? You mean that whatever power has corrupted the Fridigian Council is also trying to encroach into your own realm?¡± Indeed. I can feel them like a poison slowly infesting my worlds and people. I know not why they are here as my sight is being blocked, but I am worried. ¡°Then I accept your terms! Any help you can give me to end whatever is happening here is greatly appreciated, and I swear on my connection that I will come and do my best to aid you.¡± Alex swore. This corruption needed to be stopped, and he wanted to help as best he could. That oath was not needed, but I thank you for your sincerity. What I offer isn¡¯t a skill in itself, but rather an unimpeded draw on my realm. This will allow any of your ground and nature abilities to be performed with far less drain on yourself. I must go now, as I only have limited powers in Frigid¡¯s domain. I worry for Frigid, as they have been uncontactable by the other realms for some time. Take care. Alex felt a gentle pressure push against his mind as Adareth removed the blocks on his connection to their realm. ¡°Thank you Adareth. I shall be there to aid you soon!¡± Adareth¡¯s Blessing: Adareth has removed the restrictions on your connection to their realm allowing you far greater draw with no need to expend your own energy to facilitate. All resource costs for Nature and Ground based skills reduced dramatically. The mist receded quickly and Alex found himself back on the chair with a terrified Yas staring at him. ¡°Yas! Are you alright?¡± Yas opened and closed their mouth a few times before managing to sputter, ¡°A realm?! You drew the attention of an entire realm?! What is it about you that keeps these events happening!¡± Alex grimaced, unsure of how to answer the question. ¡°I don¡¯t know Yas, but Adareth gave me their blessing and requested my aid in their own realm after we root out whatever evil is here.¡± Yas just stared at Alex unblinkingly for a long while, until he looked away. Eager to put this blessing to the test Alex reactivated Earthshape and focused on his existing attempt at creating a tunnel. It didn¡¯t seem to act faster, but watching his stamina showed that the drain was basically non-existent now. His passive regeneration was more than keeping up with the draw, so Alex tried to pull more power through his connection. Like opening a tap, he found he was able to control exactly how fast he drew upon the power. Pushing it until he noticed his stamina bar begin to drop, Alex dropped back just enough to keep the draw on his own power neutral. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.Earthshape augmented. With this new power, Alex swiftly shaped a shaft down vertically for roughly 40 feet with handholds formed directly into the wall to allow them to descend. ¡°Yas, can you put the sled back into its cube form and bring it with us? Once i¡¯ve made this tunnel, we may be able to use the sled to quickly travel along it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re really creating a tunnel into the town from all the way out here? How are you going to know where to bring it out?¡± Yas questioned. ¡°I won¡¯t really. I¡¯ll just dig up really slowly and peer out.¡± Alex shrugged, unconcerned now that he had so much more control over the power he had. Over the next couple of hours Alex proceeded to create a spacious tunnel all the way into the heart of the town. He moulded supports in every few meters to ensure the structure held its shape with the sheer amount of weight above it. Whilst he worked Alex peppered Yas with numerous questions about the town and compound to try and gain some idea of what they were getting themselves into. He learned that the town was actually called Yriad, and other than the business owners it essentially worked as a gigantic barracks for the forces stationed there. Alex frowned at this, unsure how none of the Fridigians had clocked that the Council appeared to have basically created themselves a massive protected base to rule over the planet. He also found out that compound was a bit of an understatement, as the Council building was roughly half the size of the entire town. It was built more like a feudal castle, and would make an exterior attack nigh on impossible. As soon as he heard this, he changed his plan and instead decided to try and take the tunnel straight under the compound. ¡°That won¡¯t work Alex.¡± Yas said sadly when Alex voiced his intentions. ¡°There is an enchantment around the compound to prevent such an attack. We never really understood why, as it seemed to be a huge waste of power, but in light of everything we have found out I can now assume it was just another layer of protection to ensure that nobody could get to the Council.¡± ¡°Bollocks¡­ Okay, back to plan A then. How much further do you estimate we need to dig?¡± Yas turned back the way they had come and squinted through their Ocular Augmentor. ¡°Well so far you¡¯ve dug roughly a mile or so, which means we should be inside the walls now. Where did you want to come up inside the town?¡± ¡°I wanted to come up near to anywhere that would have weapons and armour so that we can get geared back up?¡± ¡°I¡¯m insulted you would rather get generic weapons and gear than let me create you something!¡± Yas feigned offense and gave Alex a look of mock outrage. ¡°I didn¡¯t know how long that would take you! I wanted to just get something serviceable, and maybe get a proper sheath for this weird blade I took from the asshole I fought back at the base!¡± Alex shot back quickly, flipping Yas the bird. Yas motioned for Alex to hand over the blade, which had so far resisted every attempt Alex had made to try and pull up its description. Taking the blade gingerly, Yas flicked it with their fingernail and listened to the tone intently for a few seconds. Alex tried to ask what they were doing, but recieved a scowl and hushing in response. Yas triggered the blade a few times with the switch, before frowning and turning back to Alex. ¡°You aren¡¯t getting this back for a while. I have never seen Frigidtech bastardised like this before, and that worries me. The effect looks similar to what I can achieve with FrigSteel, but the compounds used here are alarming. Leave it with me, and once we find somewhere to hole up I will make a list of what I will need.¡± Alex was shocked at this, he had guessed the weapon was strong, but for it to worry Yas made him glad he hadn¡¯t tried to use it in combat yet. Setting his mind back to his task, Alex slowly formed a ladder up through the ground towards the surface. As he punched through, he quickly realised he had come up directly in the middle of a street with pedestrians walking along both sides. Crap. Sparing a quick glance around to try and gain some sense of bearing, he heard a shout on the street and quickly ducked his head back down into the hole. He immediately started to close off the hole behind him, but not before a hand came down to try and grab at him. Panicing, Alex let go of the formed rung and made his body drop slowly whilst he closed the ground in around the hand. As he reached the bottom, the entire upward shaft closed behind him, Yas was waiting for him. ¡°You got seen? Fuck, there goes any semblance of surprise we had left¡­ Did you at least see where you came out?¡± Alex nodded in response to both questions and took a calming breath before replying. ¡°From what I could see, it looked like I had come out in the center of a wide road with foot traffic on both sides. There were small buildings lining the road on both sides, and what looked like a big, sweeping hill that rose off in,¡± Alex gestured in the direction he remembered, ¡°that direction. I only had a few seconds to look, sorry Yas¡­¡± Yas bent down and using their finger, drew a surprisingly detailed map over the course of a minute or two. Looking it over, Alex was able to see that it was the exact street and layout he had described. As Yas finished their rendering, they circled a building further up the hill Alex had seen. ¡°This is where we should come out. My old Frigidtech mentor had a residence there, and it should be empty now, but still stocked with tools and stuff. My mentor hit level 100 and got released a year or so ago, and never left the building to anyone which means it should be safe for a little while.¡± Alex raised an eyebrow at this. Why would they leave a fully stocked workspace untouched if the owner had left. He asked Yas this question and found the answer perplexing. ¡°Well, generally once a Fridigian earns their release from service any property they have is kept in case a relative joins with the same desire to pursue the Class. My mentor obviously couldn¡¯t remember if this was the case because of the wipe, but we did some¡­ less than authorised checks and found that they had no relatives outside waiting.¡± Yas finished the explanation with a wry smile on their face at admitting to prior wrongdoing. Alex found he had the beginnings of a picture building up in his head about everything he had found out about the Fridigians almost indentured servitude, but he kept it to himself for now, not wanting to upset his friend any further. Instead Alex put on a smile and nodded before starting to carve the tunnel in the direction of their new objective. Once there they could rest up and plan properly. Painfully aware that an alarm had likely been raised above their heads, Alex took this part much slower and relied on Yas¡¯ prior knowledge of the area to plot their course. Nearly 2 hours later, Yas tapped Alex and pointed up to signal they should be in the vicinity of the building now. Alex created another upward shaft and checked to see if Yas had some sort of mirror or something that he could poke out the ground rather than sticking his head out again. Yas produced a little square mirror the size of a credit card and Alex ascended to check the area. Poking just the mirror out, Alex was able to see that he had come up a few feet behind a shuttered building that sat butted up against a towering wall. There were obvious signs of the building having spent a long time without any occupants. Spending a few minutes to check if there were any patrols and seeing none, Alex went back down to ask Yas if what he had seen was the correct building rather than just popping out the hole. ¡°I saw a squat little building with shuttered windows that looked abandoned. There didn¡¯t seem to be any patrols or anyone rushing around from what I could see.¡± ¡°That sounds about right, shall I go first? I still have a key to the building and I shouldn¡¯t stick out as much as you?¡± Yas asked. ¡°Yeah sure, I¡¯ll follow behind you and sit in a little ledge just below the opening until you signal its safe.¡± So Alex followed behind Yas, creating a little hatch to cover the entryway to their tunnel and letting Yas out. He then hollowed out a little alcove just down from the hatch and sat down to wait. After 15 minutes, Alex started getting uneasy. If all Yas had gone to do was unlock the building, he should have been back well before now. He went to the hatch and lifted it a tiny amount to peer out. Ther building looked the same, but one door was now hanging slightly ajar and Alex could just make out faint noises coming from within. ¡°Fuuuuuuuuck¡­¡± Alex breathed before taking a sweeping glance around the vicinity of the exit. Seeing nobody nearby, Alex pulled himself from the hole and rushed over to the door, cursing his lack of weapons again and activating his passives. He coated both fists in a layer of rock and pulled the door open quietly, slipping inside. He found himself in a wide entrance corridor that seemed to end in what looked like a shop. Yas¡¯ head could be seen pressed into the counter by a figure that was hissing questions. Slowly advancing down the hall, Alex started to pick up on what was being said. ¡°... ck ARE YOU and why are you in my home?!¡± ¡°Teacher, it¡¯s me, Yas! You taught me everything I know, how do you not remember giving me a key?¡± ¡°I have never met you, let alone given you a fucking key to my house. Now tell the truth before I call a patrolling officer in to deal with you!¡± ¡°I swear, Zareth, you know me! You even gave me your personal Frigidtech toolset when I graduated your teachings!¡± Yas pulled out a small case and placed it on the counter next to their face. The figure, Zareth, reached over and opened the case before letting out a gasp and stepping back a step. ¡°This is¡­ My writing and craftmanship, but I don¡¯t remember crafting these items. This makes no sense¡­¡± Alex had crept right up to the entrance to the room by this point, and chose this moment to enter with his hands held up to show no ill intent. ¡°Yas, what is going on?¡± Zareth spun and leveled their weapon at Alex, ¡°Another fucking intruder!? That¡¯s it, I¡¯m getting a Soldier.¡± They started across towards the main door and Alex leapt across the gap, tackling them. He made himself heavier and pinned Zareth to the ground. ¡°Yas, answers would be good!¡± Alex panted, breathless from his exertion. Yas looked like they¡¯d seen a ghost. ¡°Alex, that¡¯s my old Teacher, but¡­ Younger. And only level 18. I honestly don¡¯t know what''s happening here¡­¡± Chapter 12 Alex looked up sharply at what Yas had said. ¡°What do you mean Yas? That makes no sense!¡± ¡°Alex, this is my old mentor, but they¡¯re roughly 5-10 years younger than when I saw them last, and apparently has no memories of ever having met me. Also, they were in the low level 90¡¯s when I finished my training, but now they¡¯re level 18. Almost as if they had only just¡­ joined¡­ the service. Zareth, how long have you been a part of the Fridigian forces?¡± Yas slowed as a realisation hit them. From under Alex¡¯s weight, Zareth struggled to force out a response so Alex lowered his weight to allow them to talk. ¡°I joined up a year and 3 months ago, proud to do my part for the Fridigian people!¡± Zareth exclaimed, almost by rote, attempting to snap a salute but unable to with Alex sat on them. Yas blinked and came to kneel down beside their old friend. ¡°Zareth, you were meant to be getting out of the forces after reaching level 100 when I last saw you. Do you honestly not remember any of that? You literally taught me everything I know about how to create¡­¡± Yas teared up, struggling to contain the emotion they were feeling at seeing their mentor like this, being looked straight through by eyes that had once meant everything. ¡°I told you, I have never met you before, and I am certainly not skilled enough to be anyones mentor, so you must be mistaken!¡± Zareth half-shouted as they struggled to dislodge Alex from their back again. ¡°My friend, I am not moving until we find out exactly what is going on here.¡± Alex said down to Zareth. Looking up again at Yas, ¡°Yas, I know this is hard, but I have had so many suspicions regarding the whole mind-wiping process you all underwent as ¡®children¡¯. I don¡¯t know if you have movies or photos here, but do you have anything you can show Zareth to back up what we are trying to say?¡± Yas shook their head a little, like they were trying to dislodge an errant thought before digging through their bag. After rummaging for a few seconds they pulled out another little cube and fiddled with it. It opened like a flower in sunlight, with a screen forming in the center. Yas tapped their temple, then a little recessed portion of the device and suddenly pictures were playing on the screen. ¡°This is a mnemo-screen. I linked it to the posterior parietal section of my brain that holds visual memories. There is no way I can fake these images, so anything shown here has happened to me.¡± Yas placed the device in view of Zareth and let the images and videos play. They all showed an obviously older Zareth in various situations. Laughing, teaching, scolding. As they all watched these sometimes intimate memories play, Zareth¡¯s face betrayed many emotions, seeing themselves but having no actual recollection of it. ¡°Please, turn it off. I won¡¯t call for the guards, but can I get up? This is too much for me to process¡­¡± Alex complied and slowly let Zareth to their feet. Zareth headed over to their workbench and lifted up a stack of schematics that Alex couldn¡¯t really understand. ¡°I knew from the second you pulled that cube out that something was amiss. These are the plans on how to make a cube like that, and nobody else has the ability to make them besides myself. I haven¡¯t even finished mocking up my prototype, and yet you stand there with a fully working version¡­ This is¡­¡± Zareth trailed off. Yas fidgeted uneasily, unsure of what to say or do next, so Alex broke the growing silence. ¡°Zareth, are you sure there is nothing you can remember? Nothing at all that could explain what happened to you?¡± Zareth shook their head, mind still trying to recover from the clusterfuck that had just been dropped on them. Yas suddenly looked up. ¡°Zar, how old do you think you are now?¡± ¡°I¡¯m 17. I entered the service a little late because of illness¡­ Why?¡± ¡°That much is the same as what you told me when we were working together. But from what you said, you didn¡¯t settle on Frigidtech until much later in your service because you couldn¡¯t handle the thought of personally hurting anyone. So you dove into FT because it allowed you to look to save as many lives as possible with your creations. Hell, we came up with the cube idea together last time when you were MUCH older, but the fact you are already here in your own workshop and already creating the cube idea by yourself is astounding! Can you tell me any of your other theoretical designs?¡± Yas seemed to have hooked onto something, so Alex just stayed back and let the smart people talk. Over the next hour or so, Zareth showed Yas all of their plans and ideas. After they were finished looking them all over Yas¡¯ face looked much brighter. ¡°Zar, these plans are basically identical to what you were working on when we last spoke! How did you come up with these ideas this time?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t actually know. Its almost like I had a mental itch I had to scratch, and doing so produced these. Oh I see where you¡¯re going with this! If I retained these ideas, maybe the rest of my memories are still in there somewhere?¡± Zareth exclaimed with a smile. Yas nodded emphatically, ¡°Exactly! Once we get done with the task we came here to do, I want to sit down with you and see if we can recover what you have lost, if thats alright?¡± ¡°I would like nothing more. Now you¡¯ve shown me irrefutable proof that I am not the person I once was, I dearly wish to regain what was taken from me, as well as find out WHY it was taken!¡± Zareth smacked their fist into the workbench in anger at this last part. Yas gave a sad smile to their old friend, and patted their arm. ¡°We will Zar, I promise on my connection.¡± Alex watched as the small telltale glow surrounded Yas at the oath. Yas continued, ¡°I was wondering why the old shop still looks so run down? Surely if you rejoined over a year ago you would have tidied up a bit?¡± ¡°I actually only got given this place recently by the Council. I had to finish a year long stint under Councillor Gaet to become a Frigidtech and hone my craft. Now I am employed by the council directly to research and provide new plans.¡± Alex recoiled almost physically at hearing this. ¡°Hold the FUCK up! You are WORKING FOR THE COUNCIL?? Yas get away from them!¡± He moved to interpose himself between Zareth and Yas, but was stopped by Yas putting a hand out. ¡°Alex, calm down a minute and lets hear the whole story. Zar, can you explain a bit more about what you are doing?¡± Zareth, still shocked at the sudden outburst began to fill them both in on what exactly the last year had entailed. After awakening from their ¡®Connection¡¯ procedure, Zareth had found themself face to face with Councillor Gaet. Gaet had explained that during the procedure Zareth had shown ¡®unusually high¡¯ aptitude towards the Frigidtech class and would like to personally bestow them with the Class along with a years tutelage. Obviously, thinking this a great honour, Zareth had jumped at the chance of such an offer. And so the year began. Zareth had quickly realised that they definitely found Frigidtech easy to grasp, and within a few weeks had already covered the entire years worth of material that Gaet had planned out. Apparently this had seemed to please Gaet a much greater amount than Zareth had expected. Gaet had declared the lessons over, and had told Zareth to just do whatever their heart desired to advance their Class. So for the rest of the year Zareth had been allowed access to whatever materials they had wanted, and were free to create whatever they wanted. Gaet had been especially interested in one of Zareth¡¯s new blade designs, one that had allowed the blade to divert and harness energy. As soon as Yas heard this, they pulled Alex¡¯s stolen blade out and gave it to Zareth. ¡°This¡­ the base design is mine, but it¡¯s been¡­ twisted. I designed the blade to act like a focus for energy, to break apart elemental skills in the air and act like a battery for the wielder to draw from. This version is purely designed to destroy. It feels like my design intent was flipped on its head, as this version pulls from the wielder instead. If you had attempted to use this Alex, you would have been unable to let it go until it drained your body to charge itself.¡± Zareth carried on turning the blade over in their hands, examining exactly what had been perverted to create this version of their own design. Alex recoiled a little at hearing how close he had come to a spectacularly grim death. ¡°Would you be able to design me an Axe that does something similar, but obviously without it draining me to death?¡± Yas gave Alex a puzzled look. ¡°An axe? Weren¡¯t you favouring the Saber-Shield before?¡± ¡°I was, and I do miss that weapon, but ever since Adareth gave me their blessing I¡¯ve found myself drawn to trying to wield an axe instead. Not too sure why, but thought I¡¯d ask.¡± Zareth gasped at hearing Alex¡¯s blas¨¦ tone when he spoke about Adareth. ¡°You gained a blessing from a REALM?¡± Yas laughed at Zareth¡¯s reaction. ¡°Welcome to the wonderful weirdness that surrounds Alex, Zar. He has certainly made me view things in a more¡­ Open way.¡± The rest of the evening was spent with Yas and Zareth re-acclimating with each other, and Yas actually acting as the teacher on a few points. Alex was happy to let the pair have a little time to get their heads straight whilst he finally got around to checking over his gains for the last day. Power +3, Vitality +2, Finesse +5, Mentality +17, Judgement +6, Charm +1 Alex stared at his Mentality increase for a second. That was an insane jump up in power. The other stat increases seemed roughly in line with what he expected, but +17? The only thing Alex could attribute it to was Adareth¡¯s blessing and the fact he had basically been Earthshaping for the entire day. If time wasn¡¯t so short, he would love to dedicate an entire day to training his other stats, but that could wait. He ran his eyes over his refreshed stat panel.
Name Alex Colt Stats Class
Species Human(Nexus) Power 25 (30) Field Knight 13: HP Gained 10+Vit, +2 Vit per lvl
Age 27 Vitality 52 Maelstrom 10: HP Gained 2+0.5Vit, +1 Pow +1 Ment per lvl
Level 35 (Bonus Active) Finesse 15 Combat Medic 12: HP Gain 5+Ment, +2 Ment per lvlThe genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
XP 600/4000 FK Mentality 63
HP 1272 Judgement 11
Stam 155 (310) Charm 2
RF 210
It took him a few minutes to work out what all of the things in brackets were. But he soon realised that it was their total once his passives were active. Seeing the other pair still deep in conversation, Alex drifted off into a dreamless sleep. He awoke to Yas shaking his shoulder gently. ¡°Whassat.. Yas? Wha?¡± ¡°Alex, Zar and I were just talking and they gave me our PERFECT point of entry to the compound!¡± Instantly awake, Alex pressed for more info. ¡°What? How? I couldn¡¯t think of anything myself yet so whatever details they can provide would be great!¡± ¡°Well, Zar has a meeting with Gaet tomorrow mid-morning to go over some of Zar¡¯s new designs. That means they will be expecting Zar at the main compound entrance along with some big crates. We can sneak in inside the crates!¡± It wasn¡¯t a perfect plan, but it was better than anything else Alex had been able to come up with. ¡°That could definitely work¡­ Zareth are you sure you want to openly help us? You could end up in a LOT of shit.¡± Zareth came over from where they had stood by the workbench. ¡°I have never been more certain of anything. Someone somewhere has been fucking around inside my head and I want answers. From what Yas has been explaining to me, you think that the whole council is in on whatever is going on? Well, I have a direct line to one for you to¡­ Question.¡± The implied meaning behind that last word was clear. Alex reappraised Zareth and nodded with a smile. ¡°Well thank you for offering to help. I will follow your lead on however you best think we should go about this.¡± ¡°Well for now, we need to sleep. In the morning Yas and I will make your axe, and then I¡¯ll get you crated up ready for my collection time. Here.¡± Zareth threw some blankets to Alex. ¡°Only one room here, but you¡¯re free to sleep on whatever you think will be most comfortable.¡± Turning to Yas, ¡°Yas, would you like the bed? I shall sleep on the workbench.¡± Yas accepted graciously, and they all turned in. Alex awoke fully the next morning to the sounds of hushed chatter and light tapping. Getting up and stretching, Alex reshaped the floor he had slept on. He had made himself an Earthshaped recliner. Looking over towards the workbench he saw Yas and Zareth whispering to each other so as not to wake him whilst they worked on something between them. ¡°Morning you two!¡± Alex shouted over to the pair who had yet to notice him stood there. ¡°Oh, morning Alex. Sorry if we woke you?¡± Yas responded, barely looking up from whatever project the two were pouring over. ¡°Not at all, can barely hear you at all. What ya working on?¡± He asked, curiosity piqued as he realised it was likely his new axe. Zareth looked over with a grin, ¡°You¡¯ll see when its finished in about 15 minutes. We are just adding the final touches.¡± Alex just shrugged and went to use the facilities. Splashing some icy water on his face, Alex gave himself a quick once over. His dirty blonde hair was caked in dirt, and his face looked to have lost a lot of the pudge it had before he arrived. After doing his best to get rid of some of the muck, he headed back downstairs, almost running head first into a positively bouncing Yas. ¡°There you are Alex, come on!¡± Grabbing his wrist Yas pulled Alex behind them back to the front. There on the table was a pair of absolutely mindbending weapons. Looking like a hand axe had mated with a shield, Alex had no idea what to even call the things. ¡°Wow¡­ What are THOSE?¡± He breathed, ingrained lootgoblin rearing its head. Zareth answered, ¡°These are a pair of BucklerAxes. Yas said you liked to have a strong defense as well as offense, so we came up with these. They don¡¯t offer as much protection as a full shield, but for the tight corridors inside the compound, these will offer you phenomenal versatility without getting caught on walls.¡± Zareth picked up the weapons and showed Alex how to attach them to his arms. They attached in a similar way to a normal buckler, just slightly further forward. The axe handle formed the shield handle, but the straps meant that if he needed to use his hands, he could let go and the weapons wouldn¡¯t move. ¡°Well damn¡­ I wasn¡¯t expecting even a single weapon this good, and you made me 2. Thank you my friends.¡± Alex gave a small bow to each of the masters of their craft. Taking the BucklAxes from Zareth, Alex quickly equipped the pair and moved through a few slashes and spins. They allowed him to move much more fluidly compared to his SaberShield, which combined with his fighting style would allow him to dash in and out of range of his opponents and just generally be a huge pain in the ass. Whilst Alex twirled about the shop, Yas and Zareth set up the crates they would be getting loaded into. Each crate was fitted with a false roof that had stuff thrown on top to act like it was a normal load. Zareth made sure that each crate was completely solid and would pass inspection before loading Yas and Alex into them. Exactly on time, there was a knock at the door of the building, and Alex could just about hear a muted conversation between Zareth and the guards assigned to escort the shipment. A few minutes later Alex felt his crate lifted and moved about before being carefully placed back down, but with no way to see outside the box he was unable to see exactly what they had been loaded onto. Still not 100% sure about trusting Zareth, but without a viable alternative and with his friends languishing away in the compound, Alex was willing to risk it. He heard the other crates being loaded onto whatever form of conveyance was being utilised and settled down to try and solidify the little plan they had concocted the previous evening. Zareth¡¯s crates would all be put straight into the Councillors chamber ready for their display. As soon as his crate was opened, hopefully by the Councillor themself if Zareth played the situation right, Alex would leap to action and attempt to restrain the councillor and extract answers. Both to his friends whereabouts, and to the host of other questions plaguing his mind. Gripping his new weapons tightly, Alex hoped this haphazard scheme would work. Sometime during the relatively short but bumpy journey Alex felt a wave of pressure wash over him. Zareth had warned that as they passed through the gate into the compound the boxes would be scanned for explosives etc, but shouldn¡¯t get triggered by their bodies hidden within. A few tense moments passed as Alex prepared for that to not be the case, but shortly after he felt the rhythmic jostling start back up as the transport carried on along it¡¯s journey. A short while later they came to a jostling stop again, and Alex assumed they had arrived at the compound proper. The time was drawing close for the plan to succeed or fail, and Alex began to psyche himself up as best he could within the tight confines of the crate. He had never really felt claustrophobic before, but he was definitely feeling the beginnings of its caress after being cooped up under such stressful conditions. Feeling the crate lifted again, Alex readied himself, and felt a calm come over him. From this point on, what happened happened, and all he could do was roll with the blows. A sudden thud shook the crate as it was placed down, and Alex tensed. He was ready when he heard the lid being pried from above his head and a muffled voice exclaimed at the quality of the items in view. Pushing himself upward with all of his force, he let out a primal roar and forced the false lid out of the way. He found himself face to face with a thin, almost frail looking Fridigian with a look of mild shock crossing their features. Lightning quick, Alex lashed out with the buckler aiming to land a stunning blow to the face. His strike hit thin air as suddenly the Fridigian was a few feet away. Sparing the second it took to examine them, Alex found himself shaken to his core. Councillor Gaet(P) lvl 380 Weeeell shit! He had expected a higher level, but this was beyond ridiculous. Why had Zareth not told them about Gaet¡¯s high level before they went along with this stupid plan? But before his eyes he saw why. Gaet seemed to deflate a little and Alex watched as the display information changed. Councillor Gaet lvl 105 The fuck? Their level visibly changed and they seemed to physically shrink a little. Recovering a little, Alex leapt from the box and stood ready next to Yas and Zareth, who both looked as shocked as he did. Gaet looked at the trio with an almost sad look on their face. ¡°Zareth, I am so very disappointed in you. I thought we had managed a perfect transition this time, and you were progressing so well¡­¡± Gaet looked at Yas next, ¡°Ahh little Yas. This is most unlike you! When I had heard you had joined the defectors I was sure it was a simple misunderstanding on your part. But seeing you here? With THE outsider? It seems I owe my siblings on the lost bet.¡± Finally Gaet looked at Alex, the same way a predator looks at its prey. ¡°And you¡­ Alex, wasn¡¯t it? And already so progressed in our ways! It seems almost a shame I will have to kill the first connected Nexian, but you cannot be allowed to interfere with things I¡¯m afraid.¡± Alex never saw Gaet move, but suddenly found himself reeling from a number of powerful blows. Falling back, Alex¡¯s vision blacked for a fraction of a second. That was enough time for Gaet to cross the gap and grab Alex by the throat. Alex felt time slow, but not by his doing. From the corner of his eye he spotted a figure walking toward the melee. Focusing on the figure was impossible, as they seemed to almost vanish and reappear constantly. Similar to Adareth, Alex felt a pressure in his mind. You appear to be in a pickle dear boy. Unlike my softer sibling, I do not generally feel the need to interpose myself into mundane actions, as despite what happens, MY realm will always remain. However, you have intrigued me. You have drawn more on my power than any other living being outside my realm ever has before, and you have willingly paid my tithes to do so. It has been literally forever since anything has managed to take away my boredom so effectively, and I would like to see where you could end up. This nasty being is obviously not who they appear to be, and I dislike unfair fights. I temporarily grant you my blessing, and depending on the outcome of this fight i may allow you to keep some of its perks. Blessing of Chronos: Chronos removes the limitations imposed on your connection to their realm, allowing greater drawing on their power. Use this well, impress me with your thinking, and like Adareth I may have need of your services in my realm. Alex felt the pressure recede and the figure vanished, leaving time stopped, but under his control now. Even frozen, Alex could feel the pressure Gaet was putting on his neck, and he was unsure how to get out of this situation even with Chronos¡¯ blessing. Checking the drain his Stoppage was using, Alex saw that Chronos had completely negated the tithe aspect, and cut the usage back to be in line with his boosted regen, meaning that for this battle he could fully manipulate time without worry. That, he could work with. Alex focused on the feeling he had when he reversed time during his little workout scheme, that was meant to lead to him grinding up his power the old fashioned way. He felt himself slide out of his body, and watched as Gaet reversed away from Alex back to their original location. In reverse, Alex watched how Gaet had moved faster than he could see to land the stunning series of blows that had rocked him so badly. He slowed down even more to watch how the blows came in exactly, committing their sequence to memory. He replayed the scene a dozen times until he felt he had the exact flow down, then put himself back into normal time flow just as Gaet was finishing up his stupid little monologue. Timing it juuuuuust right, Alex interrupted the last few words Gaet was aiming at him. ¡°...allowed to interfere with thi¡­¡± ¡°Yeah yeah yeah, not allowed to interfere with things, got it. Now are you going to throw those cheap shots at me like you plan to, or just stand there like a massive dick?¡± Chapter 13 As before, Gaet didn¡¯t appear to move, but this time Alex had their whole move down pat. To Yas and Zareth, it looked like Alex was dodging thin air, as there was no visible strikes being thrown his way. Until they heard a clang as Alex intercepted the final blow in the chain with one of his BucklAxes. Pushing the punch wide, Alex unleashed a vicious counter swipe with his other hand at where he knew Gaet was going to be. The whole back and forth had taken less than the time between blinks, and had left Alex already having to catch his breath. The sheer speed that Gaet had thrown the assault out, combined with a level of power Alex had no way of comparing to anything else he had experienced so far had left him reeling, but at least he was still on his feet this time. Gaet still hadn¡¯t appeared to have moved, but a little slice could be seen on their chest now, evidence that Alex had managed to actually land a hit. Gaet was enraged, wiping away the small trickle of blood from the shallow cut. ¡°You! Worthless! FUCK! There is no way you could have managed that, what trickery are you employing?¡± Breathing heavily and trying his best not to show how much the blocked hit had still hurt him, Alex flashed a shit eating grin. ¡°Trickey? Me? How about you, masking your true power to everyone and using it as a crutch to land cheap shots? Fuck you and whatever bullshit you¡¯re pulling here. You want some more?¡± Now aware that Alex was onto them, Gaet went at him full bore. Alex resigned himself to a world of hurt as he again had to endure the multiple beatings it took to study and remember the sequence of hits Gaet laid out. Even from his place outside of the timestream observing the fight, Alex still felt echoes the echoes of every hit. He felt the phantom of his ribs breaking, his skull shattering and at one point, his stomach literally exploding from a blow to the gut. Alex took a look at his health bar and saw that although no tithe was being made, he still had a block building up at the end of his HP bar. Every injury he took added a little more. He realised that even though he was essentially preventing each injury every time he reset the fight, the echoes he felt were carrying across some of their potential. He needed to end this soon otherwise the cumulative damage was still going to end him. Alex had currently gotten about 90% of the fight telegraphed when a thought hit him. Surely if the echoes went against him, they could work for him as well. If, instead of rewinding the entire fight every time he allowed the battle to progress a little bit each time he blocked a salvo, maybe he could queue up his own blows in this time-altered state and have them all hit Gaet in one go? With nothing to lose, Alex put this idea to work. He slowly allowed to fight to progress, and made a retaliation every time he triggered his time powers. To Gaet, it was like Alex had suddenly become impossible to hit. He seemed to know exactly how to weave around blows that Gaet was sure were going to land just moments before. It was infuriating, as apart from their siblings, nobody in centuries had been able to match their power. And the fact that a lowly level 35 was managing it? Unthinkable. Slowly, hits started to pile up in Alex¡¯s favour, and Gaet found themselves on the back foot, having to actually give ground to this lesser being. With a roar Gaet launched themself away from Alex, ¡°How¡­ HOW? We were assured that nothing would be our equal when we made the deal!¡± Gaet turned to flee the room and found impossibly, Alex was already there. Alex watched as Gaet made their escape the first time and pulled time back to just before they fled. He triggered Jump Charge, and rocketed around to behind Gaet as they turned. Alex used his signature spin to add more momentum to his blow, also increasing the mass of the bucker to more than 10x its normal weight. He didn¡¯t want to kill Gaet, not yet at least. He wanted answers without alerting the rest of the Council, and restraining the enigmatic councillor was the only way that would happen. Putting his all into the strike, Alex watched as the look of surprise with jut a dash of fear flitted across Gaet¡¯s face in the moments before his Buckler made full contact. Alex felt his arm break from the force of hitting what felt like a steel wall, but Gaet flew backwards away from the door, eyes crossed. They hit the wall opposite like a freight train and crumpled to the ground as Alex did the same on his spot. Alex contemplated doing the move again and activating Avenging Strike to try and use the healing provided to keep his arm from breaking, but found that when he went to pull from Chronos the connection felt like syrup. I am impressed Alex, you managed the seemingly impossible. Congratulations. However, your body is barely holding together from the accumulated damage of being mercilessly beaten hundreds of times. For now I am placing the restrictions back on my realm, but once you have healed up and I have had time to assess just how much freedom I am to allow you, the connection will open again. Now it would probably be best if you restrained the dear Councillor before they awake. Alex scowled as another wave of agony radiated up from his arm, along with an overwhelming feeling of being thrown down a cliff as his whole body seemed to pulsate varying levels of pain. He looked up to see Yas and Zareth both just stood staring at him, eyes wide and jaws on the floor. ¡°I¡¯m pretty wiped right now, could you two deal with restraining that prick before they wake up? We have questions that need answers.¡± The pair quickly looked around at the pile of Gaet against the far wall and slowly made their way towards them. Alex watched as Zareth grabbed a couple of weapons from the crate nearby and hold them together between their hands. Before his eyes he watched as the weapons shrunk and warped, slowly changing into a thick pair of manacles with multiple chains linking them. These were then gingerly put on Gaet¡¯s wrists. Yas did the same with a set for their legs, but also created a chain linked to the floor in the corner, seamlessly fused to the ground. All done, the pair quickly returned to where Alex was still sprawled on the floor exhausted. ¡°Alex¡­ What just happened here? There should have been no way for you to physically compete at that sort of level with Gaet. By rights they should have torn you apart! Yas exclaimed, before gingerly adding, ¡°No offense¡­¡± Alex let out a little laugh before groaning at the motion. ¡°Yas, Gaet did rip me apart. At least a hundred times in fact.¡± Sharing a confused glance at the other to see if either knew what Alex meant, Zareth spoke up. ¡°Er¡­ Alex, you completely obliterated Gaet without really taking a single blow, your arm notwithstanding.¡± Wincing at the mention of his now limp arm, Alex looked Yas in the eye. ¡°Yas, remember when i did that little time training thing in the base, and we had planned to use it to boost my levels before the attack?¡± Yas¡¯ eyes glazed over for a moment as they searched their mind for what he was referring to. With a start they looked back at him. ¡°There is no way? The sheer toll on your body would have killed you, especially with the tithe to Chronos¡­?¡± ¡°Chronos visited me when Gaet was killing me the first time. They offered their temporary blessing to see if I was smart enough to survive this fight and provide some entertainment. No tithe, and the HP drain was equalled out by my boosted passive regen. I have probably just spent over an hour watching myself get mutilated and killed in various ways so that I could learn to dodge and block their hits.¡± Alex let out a bone weary sigh. Unsure of how to respond to this new revelation, Yas instead grabbed Alex¡¯s broken arm and without warning pulled it straight, eliciting a fresh scream from him. They then made a metal sleeve and fit it around the limb before fusing it shut, the end result essentially being a tight metal cast that forced the bone straight. ¡°Sorry about that Alex, but with your passive healing I didn¡¯t want that to set and heal wrong. Are you injured anywhere else?¡± Blinking away the tears of pain, Alex slowly tested to make sure the rest of him was whole. Feeling no major injuries, he moved his body suit out of the way to reveal a patchwork of fading bruises across his torso and ribs. ¡°I think that was it, the rest of these I think are the echoes of the injuries I took on those cancelled timelines, and I¡¯ve pretty much healed these already by the looks. Your bedside manner was a little lacking, but thanks for looking out for me Yas, rebreaking the arm would have probably sucked more.¡± He gave Yas a weak smile before laying his head back on the cold floor. A short while later, the trio watched as Gaet began to awaken in the corner of the room. Alex still ached, but during the little period of downtime his innate regeneration had fixed him right up. Waving the other two back, Alex cautiously made his approach. As Gaet fully awoke they lunged straight at him, only to be pulled short by the chain. Snarling, Gaet began to try and pull free of their bindings. ¡°Gaet, you¡¯re trapped there. I already beat you once, so you¡¯re gonna answer my questions or I¡¯m gonna keep beating you until you do.¡± Alex stated calmly at the now suspiciously quiet figure. Curious, Alex brought up Gaet¡¯s info and left it visible to monitor. ¡°First, where did you take my friends? Second, what is the plan you and the other councillors have? Why are you interfering in my universe, against the treaty? Third, how are you suppressing your real level, and why?¡± Eyeing him coldly, Gaet made no move to speak. Alex stepped closer, voice dropping to a whisper. ¡°I think I have some ideas as to what''s happened here. You aren¡¯t really Gaet, are you? You and the other councillors are all imposters. Come on, you can tell me, surely you want to tell me all about how your grand scheme cannot be stopped?¡± Alex goaded the figure, trying to get a rise. To emphasise his point, he slapped Gaet across the face before stepping back again and crossing his arms. That had actually hurt his hand. Gaet¡¯s face slowly broke into a grin that was slightly too large for their face. ¡°Foolish little Nexian, think you¡¯ve got it all figured out? You have no idea what is happening, not just here, but everywhere! All realms, all of the so called ¡®Deities¡¯ who command their power, will fall. We will crack your universe like a nut, and use your starved flesh as hosts for our war against the Veil. It will suffer eternally at our hands for what it and the Apex did to our kind!¡± As Gaet was speaking, Alex watched as the nameplate and info swapped rapidly between both of the versions he had witnessed earlier. The level 105 version, and the level 380 version. Each time the switch happened, Gaet¡¯s body seemed to distort a little more. Their eyes now far too large and bulging, the mouth pulling back even further into a horrific shark-mawed visage. The not-Gaet began to bulge and grow larger. ¡°Your friends will make for fantastic vessels. They are actually only just down the hall, but you are already far toO LATE! RRRRHHHHHHAAAAAAAAGGGGGH!¡± The thing let out a horrific roar as it finished mocking Alex and began to strain against the chains binding it. A wave of negative emotions flushed through Alex. Rage, fear, hopelessness all vied to make him break down. Embracing the one that would at least allow him to keep the other two in the room safe, Alex let the rage guide his actions. He backed up a couple of steps to give himself some room, then faster than ever before he launched himself at the monstrosity before him. Hands no longer his own, he savagely tore into the thing¡¯s flesh with a strength he hadn¡¯t known he possessed. He manipulated his skills in ways he hadn¡¯t even thought of, forcing all of his Rockflesh into making his weapons larger, he began to eat away at the creatures huge health bar, chunk by viscous chunk. He poured elemental heat into the rock, slowly covering his weapons in scalding magma that sizzled away flesh and made the room smell vile. All thoughts of defense had left him as he pushed every iota of his power into destroying the creature in front of him. He vaguely heard someone calling his name after some time, but ignored it, solely focused on destruction. He eventually found himself stood on the remnants of the thing that had been wearing a Gaet suit, chest heaving and eyes wildly searching for his next target. He felt a sharp pain across his cheek, and spun towards the attacker, weapons raised to strike. He saw Yas there, pure fear in their eyes, with Zareth cowering by the door. The rage left him like a plug had been pulled, and all of the aches from earlier flared back into existence. ¡°Alex¡­ please stop, it¡¯s been dead for a while now¡­¡± Yas spoke quietly, fear evident, along with something Alex could guess was disgust. And now he was back, he was disgusted at himself. How had he let himself go like that? Sure, the thing needed dealing with before it hurt him or anyone else, but this was too far! Unbidden, a notification came into view.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Mental influence (Unbridled rage) effect ended. Alex, don¡¯t beat yourself up. That wasn¡¯t you. Had to take the rewards for killing it away as payment for stopping the effect ~Veil The roar, the roar had been the creature''s way of making sure he ended it before it could ask more questions. It had riled him up with the taunts and then fed into that with a status effect. Fuck¡­ that could make things more complicated for sure¡­ At least he knew to look out for it now at least. The Veil coming through clutch again in ways it shouldn¡¯t. ¡°Sorry Yas, it infliucted me with some kind of rage effect and I couldn¡¯t stop myself until The Veil stepped in. I won¡¯t harm you, either of you. On my connection.¡± He added the last bit to make sure they knew he was genuine, and felt the wave of power flow as the Veil registered the oath. Yas shifted uncomfortably for a second before giving a small nod and walking back towards Zareth. Alex knew it was going to take a little while for them to see him in a good light again after that grizzly spectacle. ¡°Zar, do you know if what this thing was talking about could be true? Are there rooms near this one that could be used to hold captives?¡± Alex questioned, desperate to find their friends after what he had been told. ¡°Sure, we are just above the compound dungeons. The way down is just up the hall.¡± And with that, Zareth spun and opened the door into the hallway. It was blessedly empty, but based on how much noise they had just made it probably wouldn¡¯t remain so for long. They hurried down the hallway until Zareth stopped at a large door that was ajar. ¡°It should be down here, but this door is always closed. This could be a trap.¡± ¡°Still going in. You don¡¯t need to follow me. I know this isn¡¯t something either of you are comfortable with, and I¡¯m sure that there will be more fights very shortly.¡± Alex gave his two friends a way out if they wanted it, not wanting to assume either of them wanted to follow him to what could be certain death. Yas simply snorted and shook their head. ¡°Idiot, they¡¯ve been my friends far longer than they¡¯ve been yours. I¡¯m here to help rescue them, now let''s go!¡± The steps spiralled downwards for a long time until the trio finally reached the bottom. They found themselves stood in a surprisingly well lit corridor that was not what Alex had expected when he heard ¡®Dungeon¡¯. Taking point, Alex led the way down the hallway until they got to the first door. Made from the same steely ice as much of the rest of the structures, the door had a barred window set at the top. Peering in, Alex tried to make out what lay within. At the back of the cell, because thats what it undoubtably was, there was a tall glass tank filled with liquid. Suspended in the liquid was Whittaker, with their eyes shut and¡­ Something attached to their mouth. Alex pulled hard on the ground under their feet and brought a solid spike of compacted earth up into the gap between the door and frame. He saw the lock finally give under the pressure and wrenched the door open. He rushed in and went straight for the tank, hitting it with a solid blow and causing cracks to spiderweb. He kept up his blows, each one causing more and more fractures to riddle the tank, until it eventually gave way and the fluid bowled him over. Quickly regaining his feet he hurried over to Whittaker¡¯s prone body that was laying face down on the floor and flipped them. He immediately noticed that the¡­ thing¡­ covering Whitt¡¯s nose and mouth was pulsating and examined it. Neth Fridigian Parasite lvl 360 (weakened)... 77% Unsure what the 77% referred to for sure, Alex took a guess that it was how far through the process of possessing his friend it was. Lacking a better idea, he grabbed ahold of the slimy black-pearlescent Neth and attempted to pull it away. As soon as he began to pull, Whittaker began to convulse violently. Alex stopped and cursed. ¡°Fuck¡­ how are we going to get this off of them Yas? I can¡¯t pull it away without it hurting Whitt¡­¡± Yas came over and knelt to take a look. ¡°Alex, can you do that magma thing with your hands again, then try and pull it away? Maybe it''s like a normal parasite and will come away if damaged by fire? It certainly seemed to burn whatever was inside of Gaet back up there¡­¡± Yas shuddered slightly before backing up to let Alex get near. Repeating the process, Alex coated his hands in molten rock and then grabbed the Neth again. This time is seemed to recoil and shrink a little bit, and when Alex pulled the percentage number began to rapidly decrease. With a sickening slurping squelch, the Parasite came free from Whittaker¡¯s mouth and crumbled away to dust. Whittaker sat bolt upright and projectile vomited black sludge all over Alex. Retching, Alex stood and tried to wipe the substance off of himself as Whittaker coughed violently. ¡°What.. Where am I¡­ Alex? Yas?¡± Whittaker sputtered in between fits of coughing. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s us pal. Do you remember anything that happened? Are the others down here with you?¡± Alex tried to gently get Whittaker to confirm. ¡°It¡¯s all pretty blurry, but the others should be down here. I was the last to go into the vat with¡­ Wait, where did it go??¡± Whittaker began to frantically look around. ¡°It¡¯s gone bud, disintegrated after I pulled it out of you. If the others are down here I have to get them quick. If you were the last they may already have been infested!¡± Alex rushed out of the door and along to the next one down the hall. Inside was Eira, same as Whitt had been. Alex broke the door and ran in, already swinging his weapons at the tank. A few seconds later he broke it rushed to check on the Parasite. Neth Fridigian Parasite lvl 346 (weakened)... 84% Shit, this one was further along. Doing the same as before, Alex pulled the parasite out of Eira before shouting for Yas and Zerath to come check on them whilst he found the other 2. Alex bolted out of the door and along the corridor again. The next couple of rooms didn¡¯t contain his friends, but did have a tank at the back with a parasite floating within. Making sure he remembered the rooms, he would come back to destroy these later. Reaching the end of the corridor, Alex still hadn¡¯t located Nieve or Iclyn, but before him stood a solid door that was different to the cell doors. Opening it carefully, Alex realised it opened into what looked like an operating theatre. There in front of him laying on 2 ¡®beds¡¯ were his other 2 friends. Checking to make sure the room was unoccupied, he rushed over. There was no visible parasite on Iclyns face and only a tiny portion of the black could be seen protruding from Nieve¡¯s mouth. Alex quickly checked its progress. Neth Fridigian Parasite lvl 402 (weakened)... 96% Seeing how close it was, Alex quickly did his best to grab ahold of the thing without burning Nieve in the process. He eventually grabbed hold and wrenched the thing free. This one didn¡¯t immediately crumble away, and Alex was treated to a view that would probably give him some choice nightmares forever more. The thing had no visible eyes, and the entire front of it was made of gyrating teeth-like nodules that seemed to be how it pulled itself into the host. There was some bloody mucus hanging from it that made the thing even more grotesque. Alex realised this must have been Nieve¡¯s, and he bent over to check their airway. Nieve wasn¡¯t breathing, so Alex did the only thing he could think of. He activated Avenging Strike and hit the Parasite still held in his hand with this other weapon. The healing energy rushed through him and into Nieve, causing them to sit up the same way the others had. Luckily Alex stepped back to avoid the torrent of black crap. Satisfied Nieve was out of harm''s way for now, Alex stepped over to Iclyn and peered down their throat. Just visible at the very back was the tail end of the parasite. Neth Fridigian Parasite lvl 360 (weak)... 99.9% Oh shit, how was he going to get it out in time? He looked around for any sort of implement that could go down there and grasp the thing whilst he heated it up. There was nothing around that fit the bill. A hand grabbed his arm, and Alex turned to look. ¡°Alex, I can feel it in my head. It¡¯s erasing¡­ me.¡± Iclyn had a wild look on their face, and the hand gripping his arm started to squeeze harder. ¡°I¡¯m having to fight it just to keep control of my arm¡­ Kill me! I don¡¯t want to become this thing¡¯s puppet. I don¡¯t want to hurt anyone. PLEASE!¡± Alex pulled his arm free before the growing pressure broke this one as well. He raised his weapon but found he couldn¡¯t do it. He couldn¡¯t kill his friend, even with their permission. ¡°QuicKLY! DO IT!¡± Iclyn was begging now, but Alex still was unable to force his arms to follow through with what he knew needed to be done. He was shaken from earlier and just couldn¡¯t do it. Nieve reached for one of his weapons and stood beside him. With a cry, Nieve grabbed the weapon with both hands and swung with full force. ¡°Thank you¡­¡± Iclyn closed their eyes as the blow connected and cleaved their head from their body. Nieve dropped the weapon and turned to vomit heavily. Alex stood lamely, unsure of what to do or say, for a few minutes until the others caught up and entered the room. Seeing Iclyn¡¯s head on the floor and Alex¡¯s weapon covered in blood, Whittaker let out a cry and Jump Charged straight at him. Alex made no attempt to dodge the attack, and simply let Whitt¡¯s charge take him off his feet. Whittaker punched blow after blow into Alex¡¯s face until Nieve grabbed them from behind the with a little help from the others pulled them apart. ¡°Whittaker, stop! It wasn¡¯t Alex, it was me! Iclyn¡¯s body had been fully integrated with the thing and it took all their strength to stop themself from attacking us both! Iclyn asked to be killed before they became a puppet. I swear on my connection!¡± Nieve yelled at Whitt, forcing them to hear the words. Whittaker broke down into tears on Nieve¡¯s shoulder. Alex, his HP dangerously low after the beating, spat out a couple of broken teeth and slowly stood. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry Whitt. I should have been faster to get here, faster to save you¡­¡± Alex shed tears of his own, feeling like this could have all been avoided if he had just gotten here sooner. He tried to activate his time powers, but found that Chronos still hadn¡¯t removed the block. Fucking asshole, this wasn¡¯t a game for their amusement! Zareth spoke up now, neck on a swivel trying to keep an eye on all of the different doors leading to the room. ¡°I hate to say this, but we NEED to get out of here. We could be found at any moment, and none of us are in any shape to fight anyone right now. Alex!¡± Zareth tried to get Alex¡¯s attention. ¡°Alex, snap out of it, we need you RIGHT NOW!¡± Alex looked up bleary-eyed. ¡°What can I do? We are trapped here¡­¡± ¡°No we aren¡¯t! The block only stops exterior entry, it doesn¡¯t stop anyone from using it to leave! Yas says you can tunnel, so let''s get outside, and you tunnel us back out!¡± Zareth exclaimed. ¡°That¡¯s all well and good, but how are we all going to escape without someone seeing us?¡± Alex rebutted, still feeling the clutch of despair at having been unable to do anything about their friend. ¡°However we need to! Let''s get back to Gaet¡¯s chamber and get everyone equipped with what I brought at least.¡± So the group slowly made their way back through the corridors, expecting at any time for the alarm to be raised. They made it back to Gaet¡¯s room and found it exactly as they had left it. Looking around at the destruction, Nieve asked what was on all of the rescued friend¡¯s minds. ¡°What the fuck happened here?¡± Yas answered, flashing Alex a look when he didn¡¯t immediately volunteer the information. ¡°Alex killed Gaet, or whatever was wearing Gaet like a suit. There is a serious amount you¡¯ll need catching up on, but let¡¯s just say that Alex managed to take out a level 380 by himself.¡± Nieve, Whittaker and Eira all turned to look at Alex. He shuffled uneasily, not wanting their attention. Eira spoke first. ¡°Alex, you did what? And you¡¯re still trying to say you could have done more to rescue us? By all rights we should all be puppet-slaves now, but because you did the unthinkable, again, we are all here. I certainly don¡¯t hold Iclyn¡¯s death against you! Anyone here that does?¡± Eira looked around the group, receiving shaken heads or ¡°No¡± from everyone. ¡°So, lets park that pity until later when we can drink to Iclyn as they would have wanted. We need to retreat to fight again at full strength another day.¡± Alex nodded, and the group set about gearing themselves up and working out how they were going to make it out of the compound alive. Chapter 14 After 10 minutes or so, a rough plan of action had been thrown together to get everyone out of the compound safely. Seeing as somehow nobody in the compound seemed to be aware of what had happened yet, they were going to simply reverse the process of getting in as best they could, and adapt on the fly if needed. Zerath helped them all into the now empty crates and did their best to cover them, as only a couple of the crates had the false lids. This mostly went without any issues until it was Whittaker¡¯s turn to squeeze into a crate. ¡°There is no way im going to be able to squash myself into one of these things! Look!¡± Whitt attempted to sit down and swiftly found that their shoulders indeed caught the edges. ¡°See, I told you.¡± Alex rubbed at his face wearily, the fact they could be caught at any moment preying heavily on his mind. ¡°Whitt, it¡¯s only got to be for a short while. Can you not just scrunch up a bit?¡± Alex mimed pulling himself into a tight little ball. With a hurt look on their face, Whittaker copied Alex and found that they juuuuuust managed to pull their shoulders inside the box. Zareth capitalised on this and quickly shoved the crate lid on, clipping the top of Whitt¡¯s head in the process. ¡°Hey, not cool!¡± The others quickly got themselves situated, and Zareth rolled the cart back out of Gaet¡¯s chamber towards the front of the building. There were still no guards in the hallways, which was unusual. ¡°Alex, something really doesn¡¯t feel right about this¡­ There are no sentries or patrols anywhere. This seems too easy¡­¡± Zareth hissed through the crate. Alex agreed with them. This all felt like it was just too much to be a coincidence. ¡°You aren¡¯t wrong. We can¡¯t go back to your shop, it''s too easy for them to let us ¡®escape¡¯ and then ambush us there. We will need another location to recover.¡± ¡°But all of my tools and supplies are in my shop. I won¡¯t be able to make any repairs or be of any help without them¡­¡± Alex thought for a second. ¡°Wasn¡¯t Gaet your trainer here? I assume that means they had a workshop of their own that you had access to? Can¡¯t you just¡­ steal that stuff?¡± Zareth stifled a groan. ¡°I suppose I can. I¡¯ll take us out that route and clear it out. It¡¯s not they¡¯re gonna miss the stuff now, is it.¡± Alex felt the cart stop and lurch tightly around a corner, throwing them all against the sides of their crates, leading to a multitude of hastily stifled curses. Abruptly they stopped, and Alex could hear Zerath making small-talk with someone. ¡°...sent me to grab a spare¡­ Yeah, mine got damaged in the move and Gaet said I could use theirs until¡­ Thank you, yes I still have my key and will lock up once I¡¯m done inside.¡± Alex barely breathed the entire time this conversation was taking place, afraid that even his breathing could give away the ruse. He heard the sounds of someone walking past the cart and heading away from them, and breathed a deep sigh of relief. A minute or two later there was a clanging sound as items were dumped unceremoniously onto the cart. ¡°That was too close Alex. Luckily I know that guard fairly well and I don¡¯t think they suspected anything was off, but we need to get out of here right now!¡± Zerath rushed, and Alex could hear their voice breaking under the stress. ¡°We will be. Head out now and get us loaded onto a cart. Then take us to anywhere you think will be empty.¡± Alex replied, trying to keep them from freaking out. The cart started moving again, and after another 5 minutes Alex felt the cart start to pitch forward as it went down the ramp at the front of the building. Again he heard Zerath shouting to someone, but was unable to make out the words this time. He assumed it was to get the crates loaded onto a transport. Making sure to hold very still, Alex waited. The seconds stretched into what felt like hours until he felt his crate lifted into the air before being put down again a few seconds later. He felt and heard the others being placed around him, then some more shouting off to his right. Unable to do anything, Alex sat readying himself to spring free from his hiding place should anything untoward happen. A light tapping on his box made him jump before he heard a very light whisper. ¡°We are being escorted back to my shop. They¡¯ve never escorted me before, so this basically confirms it¡¯s a trap. There will be 2 guards accompanying the transporter. I don¡¯t know what to do¡­¡± Alex heard the fear and panic in Zerath¡¯s voice, and kept his response measured. ¡°That¡¯s fine. When we get out of sight of the main building, reach back and tap on my crate if you can. We take out the guards and use the transport to get us somewhere safe.¡± Alex threw together a hasty plan of action. It would NOT be okay to allow their transport to bring them right into the jaws of the trap. He heard another couple of taps and could only assume this was Zerath acknowledging whilst being observed. ¡°Yep, crates are all secure back there so we should be okay to head off Captain.¡± Shit. Captain. Alex let out a silent scream at hearing it was someone higher up than just a guard who was overseeing the transport. Seems like the difficulty of his plan just took a little spike, but theoretically remained unchanged. The transport got underway, the sound of the wheels crunching over the cobbles reverberating up into the confines of the crate. Alex checked to see if Chronos had lifted the Realm restriction yet and saw that the bastard still had him on lockdown. Looks like he would need to rely on his other skills this time. After what felt like an eternity, Alex heard a quick tap on his crate and heard Zerath saying something to one of their escorts. ¡°That bump looks like it dislodged a crate, I need to get back there and make sure my work isn¡¯t damaged!¡± Showtime! Alex felt the transport slowly grind to a halt, and he slowly pried open the top of his crate to get a better look. He could see the two escorts sharing an annoyed glance at the stop, and one of them was wearing far better looking gear with an evil looking hammer strapped to their back. He assumed that was the Captain. The other guard looked like all the others Alex had seen so far. He inspected both to see what levels he was dealing with. Fridigian Soldier lvl 74 Fridigian Captain lvl 110 Alex winced a little. Without his time skills active, fighting both of these Fridigians was going to be tough. The soldier needed to be hit hard and fast so that the Captain could be taken on their own. Zerath caught his eye and gave a helpless shrug. They headed to Alex¡¯s crate. ¡°Zerath, tell the others what¡¯s happening. It will need all of us to take out the captain, but I should hopefully be able to shock and awe the soldier.¡± He whispered, before waving Zerath on to get the others alert. The captain looked back at Zerath, ¡°Get a move on! How long does it take to check on your crates?¡± Zerath visibly flinched, and Alex saw the captain¡¯s eyes narrow slightly. Bollocks, guess it was go time. Alex jumped up with a yell and leapt over the side of the back of the transport, needing to get in contact with the ground to utilise his skills better. He quickly activated his passives, and grabbed his weapons off his back. All of this happened so fast that the soldier was barely able to follow his movements. The captain was a different story, and had already jumped down from their seat and wielded their hammer in a double-handed grip. Alex really didn¡¯t want to engage the Captain solo, but couldn¡¯t see a way to get passed them to take out the soldier. Unsure if his Earthshape skill would be quick enough to be used offensively, he instead took off away from the transport, hoping to draw the escorts away and let his friends get set up. As he ran, Alex started forming his little rock bullets and letting them hover around his shoulders. Looking behind him, he saw that the Captain was hounding his heels, but the soldier was falling a little behind. Perfect. Veering down an alleyway, Alex ran down until he heard the Captain run in behind him. He quickly lowered his weight and jumped to the roof and set about blocking one end, using his stored rock bullets to instead create a quick wall at the alley entrance, effectively blocking the Captain in for a short while. Sprinting back the way he came, he kept pouring energy into reinforcing the walls, and funneling his Rock Armour into turning his BucklAxes into viciously serrated versions. He reached the edge of the roof and spotted the Soldier just ahead of him, staring at the constantly growing wall where the alley should be. With a roar, Alex leapt from the roof and made himself lighter to gain some extra height before tripling his weight and plummeting like a comet straight at the soldier. With all of his new strength Alex swung the weapons, adding his own power into the huge amount of force his maneuver had generated. His weapons sunk into the soldier like a hot blade through butter. One hit their neck and shoulder area, cleaving straight down through the muscle and bone. The other had been aimed at the soldiers helmeted head. This one was deflected and instead left a deep laceration straight down their face and came to rest in the chestplate. The rest of Alex¡¯s momentum bore them both to the ground, so Alex started laying into the Soldier with abandon. The soldier tried to bring an arm up to stop the blows raining down on them, but Alex simply hacked straight through the limb and buried his axe in the soldiers exposed face. Then the ground and the sky swapped places as Alex felt an enormous smash hit him from the side. He felt his ribs creak and snap as the flesh on that side was pulped by the force of the blindside. He had been so focused on the Soldier, he hadn¡¯t kept up on reinforcing the barrier keeping the Captain at bay. He felt himself soar through the air for a good distance before his progress was rudely impeded by another building. That one attack had left his HP teetering dangerously low, but he couldn¡¯t focus enough to bring up his HuD and check. He couldn¡¯t even make himself move, and so he just stayed stuck in the wall groaning. The Captain looked down at their soldier and let out a sad sigh. The Outsider had completely outmatched them, because no amount of military training could account for the skills and abilities the Outsider had displayed. He was supposed to be a low level, having only been in the Frigid Realm for a few short days, but this was not what the Council had told the Captain to expect. No matter, that attack had sent the stupid fool flying, and probably outright killed him. The Captain looked over to where Alex¡¯s body was still hanging from the hole in the wall, blood dripping from his mouth. Wait! He was still alive? The Captain ran over and grabbed Alex by the throat, and pulled him free of the wall. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.??¡°You fucking parasite! How did you survive that attack?!¡± The Captain screamed, spittle flying and hitting Alex in the face. Alex coughed, and tried to speak, but all that came was a frothing of blood. Alex kept coughing, spraying the Captain¡¯s face and chest with flecks until his airways cleared enough. ¡°Be...cause I¡¯m¡­ awesome¡­¡± and he flashed the Captain a giant shit-eating grin, teeth stained red with his own blood. The Captain¡¯s face was priceless. They had expected Alex to be scared, but here he was grinning crazily despite his obvious horrific injuries. Re-evaluating killing him, the Captain instead decided it was imperative that the Council have the Outsider alive to study what had made him so powerful so quickly. If their forces could be trained this quickly, it would be able to change everything about how their forces operate! Still holding Alex by his throat, the Captain made their way back towards where they had left the transport. They fully expected the cowardly Zerath to have fled using it, so when they turned the corner and saw that it was still there it was a genuine shock. There were no signs of Zerath, as was to be expected, but the crates had been ripped from the bed of the transport and were lain in pieces on the ground. The Captain advanced carefully, eyes scanning constantly for any signs of an ambush. Alex was still dangling from their outstretched hand, and luckily for him the Captain wasn¡¯t paying him much attention, having assumed he was helpless after the attack. This was far from the truth, as Alex¡¯s regen had already healed him for most of the damage and he was now jut waiting for the time to strike. He didn¡¯t have to wait long. As the Captain drew level with the transport, Whittaker appeared in a blur and swung rapidly at the arm holding Alex. Nieve and Eira rushed around the side of a nearby building and launched themselves into the fray. All 3 of them assumed Alex was actually injured and this fury fueled their attacks. The Captain barely flinched at the combined attack, their level far surpassing Alex¡¯s friends, easily blocking their combined blows with a single hand as Alex was still clutched in the other. ¡°Come now, surely you don¡¯t actually think this clumsy assault poses a threat to me, do you? Look at your friend here,¡± They jostled Alex to make their point, ¡°He fell after just one blow from my hammer.¡± Alex acted then, slamming his fist directly into the Captain¡¯s nose with the full might of his combined skills. Rockflesh coated his hand, he had pumped his muscles with the warming might of fire despite still not having a formal skill for that, and at the exact moment of contact Alex increased the weight of his whole arm to 10x its normal. Aimed at such a delicate area the impact was spectacular. The Captain had been caught completely unawares by the cheap shot, and didn¡¯t even have a chance to flinch to lessen the damage. Their nose exploded in a fountain of blood and viscera as Alex¡¯s fist fractured the entire front of their skull. The force of the punch sent the pair tumbling to the ground, Alex still gripped in the Captain¡¯s hand. There was a moment of stunned silence before Nieve leapt over the prone Captain and started trying to prise open their hand which was now closing around Alex¡¯s neck. ¡°Whittaker, Eira stop just standing there and help me free Alex! Before this asshole comes to properly!¡± Snapped from their reverie they jumped to follow Nieve¡¯s orders, each taking a solid grip on the offending limb and wrenching hard. Alex finally tumbled free and pushed himself up whilst trying to take a few trembling gasps of air. ¡°Phew¡­ thanks for that. Asshole has a grip like a vice!¡± He managed to wheeze after a few deep breaths. Alex watched as the Captain spat a mouthful of blood and leapt to their feet. ¡°For fuck sakes, can¡¯t you just stay down?!¡± The Captain let out a dark laugh and wiped their face. ¡°Stay down after a little tap like that? I¡¯ve been hit harder by rookies in training you arrogant little shit! This has barely even warmed me up!¡± Reaching over their shoulder, the Captain again pulled free the massive hammer and swung it around easily. ¡°My men should be arriving here shortly, as they were instructed to if we didn¡¯t arrive at the ambush point. Until then, let¡¯s see if you can keep up.¡± And with that they seemed to vanish, before suddenly reappearing behind Whittaker and swinging at their head. Whittaker raised an arm and batted the blow slightly off course, turning the crushing blow into a grazing one. It still had enough power behind it to spin Whitt and dislocate their shoulder, but was better than the alternative. Alex watched as within the span of a few breaths the Captain laid his friends low. They held back from outright killing, but after the blazing display Whitt, Nieve and Eira lay crumpled in a heap at their feet. ¡°Well, Outsider? Aren¡¯t you going to do something to stop me? Or was that little punch all you had?¡± The Captain mocked, feeling themself far above anything Alex could respond with. Alex kept his poker face, but inwardly he was screaming. There was no way he could hope to defeat them. Sure he had taken out Not-Gaet, but that was with Chronos allowing him full access to their power and Gaet hadn¡¯t been half as skilled at real combat as the Captain appeared to be. Now? He wouldn¡¯t stand a chance. And with backup apparently on it¡¯s way, he had no idea what to do. ¡°Let them go! I¡¯ll do whatever you want!¡± He screamed. ¡°You will anyway, idiot. Why would I leave them alive? You have nothing to bargain with.¡± The Captain smirked. Alex formed a spike with Rockflesh and pressed it to his throat. ¡°You obviously want me alive, so if you won¡¯t let them go there¡¯s no way I¡¯m letting you have me!¡± The Captain raised an eyebrow, ¡°Impressive Outsider, but do you really have the guts to kill yourself? Would you really be able to do it fast enough to stop me from restraining you, I wonder? I doubt it.¡± Alex pressed the spike in harder, causing a rivulet of blood to begin flowing down his neck. Chronos you arsehole, give me back at least some access! I¡¯ll pay whatever tithe you want, just let me save my friends! You should be careful what promises you make to me Alex. Especially when you insult me in the same instant. You get one activation, however long it lasts you. After that, my Realm¡¯s powers are locked until you come here and assist as we spoke about earlier. Good luck, make it entertaining won¡¯t you? Alex felt his connection flow with Chronos¡¯ power briefly before closing off again. Fine, one activation with his current health and regen gave him a drain of just 20hp/s. That meant he had a little over a minute of Time Stop to play with. He could try and fight the Captain, but if he couldn¡¯t deal enough damage before the skill ran out, he would be done for. That left escaping. But how could he escape with his friends, as he refused to leave anyone behind again. Alex triggered the skill, and ran over to his friends. With his increased stats, he was easily able to throw Eira and Nieve over his shoulders and sprint over to the transporter. HE dumped them both in the back and ran over to grab Whittaker. Eyeing his health, he estimated he had a little over 40 seconds left. He hoisted Whitt into a fireman¡¯s carry and ran back to where he¡¯d placed the other 2. Dropping Whitt, Alex looked around for Zerath and Yas, spotting them peeking from behind the corner of the same building Nieve and Eira had come from behind. Luckily that building was up the road in the same direction that the transporter was facing. Alex jumped into the driver¡¯s seat and just hoped his skill allowed whatever he touched to work. He slammed his foot to the floor and after a moment, the vehicle began to creep forward like it was driving through tar. Agonising moments passed until he drew level with where Yas and Zerath were hiding, the inevitable headache pressing behind his eyes as his HP bar began to bottom out. Cancelling the skill, Alex screamed ¡°Jump in NOW!!!¡± before turning to look back to where the Captain was now looking around in shock. He had maybe a few more seconds before the Captain gathered his wits and started chasing them. ¡°FUCKING GET IN!!¡± He yelled a second time as the pair ran the few short steps. Yas hopped in the back and Zerath climbed beside Alex to give directions. Alex kept his foot fully planted and the vehicle began to accelerate quickly. ¡°Where are we going Zer?¡± Alex asked, again glancing back behind them. The Captain had now zeroed in on the rapidly departing transporter and was beginning to give chase on foot. Alex didn¡¯t like their odds, the Captain had been ludicrously fast. Zerath was also looking behind them and came to the same conclusion. ¡°We won¡¯t straight up outrun them, so our only chance is to try and shake them. Take the next left under the bridge. The path is narrow as it¡¯s not designed for vehicles, so be careful!¡± Alex nearly missed the tiny turning, and wrenched the wheel to the left bringing the transporter into a slide as the heavy rear lost grip. The back slammed into the side of the building that lined the alley, but managed to make the turn. Alex saw the bridge ahead, and grateful for the amount of driving games he had played, he kept going at top speed as the pathway narrowed to just wider than the width of the vehicle. Rocketing under the bridge and out the other side, Alex saw they were now in some sort of public park. ¡°Where now??¡± Zerath was watching behind them for the Captain who was running flat out and had just turned into the alleyway. ¡°Keep going straight up that hill, don¡¯t let off the accelerator. It will jump us out of the park¡­ hopefully¡­¡± ¡°Hopefully? Fuck Zer, bad time to rely on fucking HOPEFULLY!¡± Alex yelled hysterically. ¡°It will work, it has to¡­" Alex forced the transporter to eke every single bit of speed from its engine as he hit the crest of the hill. They took off and soared through the air towards a boundary wall. They weren¡¯t going to make it. Chapter 15 A screeching, jarring noise rent through the otherwise quiet air as the vehicle¡¯s wheels caught the top of the wall and were torn completely free from the chassis. Alex and his friends were unceremoniously thrown from the vehicle, landing sprawled onto the street beyond the wall. ¡°Fuuuuuuck¡­¡± Alex groaned as he felt his ribs to check they weren¡¯t broken. ¡°Everyone make it okay?¡± He asked as he eyed over his friends, all in similar states of giving themselves a once over. He received a chorus of acknowledging groans as they all slowly rose to their feet. ¡°I¡¯m assuming this wall won¡¯t hold the Captain back, we need to move!¡± Alex flexed a crick out of his neck and headed away from the slowly smouldering wreckage without looking back. Making sure all of his friends were ahead of him he let Zerath lead them deeper into what was beginning to look like an abandoned housing area. Unable to shake the feeling that this all seemed wrong, Alex hurried his pace and drew alongside Zerath. ¡°Where are we Zer? This place is really starting to creep me out. This looks like an abandoned housing estate.¡± Alex questioned, head on a pivot. Zerath didn¡¯t slow but spoke to Alex out the side of their mouth. ¡°I¡¯m not sure where we are, honestly. I¡¯ve been following some strange impulse ever since we made our escape. I am sure that this is the correct way, but I don¡¯t know why I feel that way¡­¡± Alex¡¯s eyes widened incredulously. ¡°Are you fucking kidding me? I thought you knew where you were leading us Zer! Now you tell me that I''ve been banking our escape on a gut feeling?¡± Alex blew out heavily through pursed lips and ran his hand through his hair before continuing. ¡°Well, I have no better idea so I guess we carry on following your hunch for now.¡± After giving the rest of the group a wan smile, Alex made his way back to the rear of the group. Every single shadow and noise had him tensing ready for a fight, but after another 30-40 minutes nothing had happened. Ahead, Alex noticed Zerath slowly coming to a stop before turning to look through a gap between 2 buildings. ¡°Alex, you need to come and see this¡­¡± As the rest of the group crowded around, Alex made his way over. As he came around the corner, a gigantic warehouse became visible. Around the perimeter, guards could be seen patrolling in pairs. Each pair had what looked like a melee fighter and a ranged attacker from what Alex could see of their weapons. ¡°So, anyone have any idea what this place is? Zer? You seemingly lead us here for a reason, do you know?¡± Alex questioned quietly, his mind already searching for any weak spots. Nieve, Whittaker and Eira all turned to look at Yas and Zerath. Their gazes full of confused scrutiny. Yas gave a small shrug and also turned to look at their old mentor. ¡°I don¡¯t honestly have a clue what''s going on here!¡± Zerath raised their hands in surrender, ¡°As I said to Alex earlier, I¡¯ve simply been following my gut this entire time. For some reason my subconscious seems to want us to come here, but I swear I am not trying anything!¡± Alex frowned as he heard this explanation. ¡°Okay Zer, I believe that you believe what you¡¯re saying, and you haven¡¯t done anything up to now that would paint a different picture.¡± Alex turned to the rest of the group, ¡°We have no idea what is going on down there, but the fact it¡¯s guarded means that whatever it is is important to the ¡®council¡¯ and I reeeeally want to mess up their day some more. So, here¡¯s the outline of my plan.¡± Over the next hour Alex laid out his plan to infiltrate the massive warehouse. They would keep a watch on the guards patrols and try to see if there was any point that was unguarded. If so, they would all hit it hard and fast. If not, Alex and Whittaker would sneak closer and create their entrance opportunity. If possible they would try to reason with the guards to see if their allegiance was aligned with the Council, or if they were simply following orders. If they were allied with the council Alex no longer had any reservations at cutting them down, and everyone would simply rush Alex and Whitt¡¯s location. As far as plans went it was a bit lacking, but Alex wasn¡¯t a master strategist. The only change anyone suggested was to wait until night so that their approach would be aided by the dark. Alex facepalmed pretty hard when he realised he had forgotten such a basic idea. After the plan was laid out Nieve pulled Alex aside. ¡°Alex, it was only barely more than a full day between our capture and you pulling off the rescue. How did you get so much stronger so quickly? Your level is so low, and yet you held your own against one of the Council¡¯s elite Captains! And you killed one of the higher levelled soldiers by yourself in seconds. Not to mention you single-handedly took out Gaet¡­¡± Nieve shook their head in disbelief at how much Alex was capable of. Unsure of how best to condense everything for Nieve, Alex just dived in. ¡°Well, after you were taken I broke back into the Base to recover Yas¡¯ sled so we could follow you. Had to take out a couple of lower levelled Soldiers, and escape from some asshole called Naelex who had a corrupted blade. Then I met Adareth through their avatar and received their blessing, so all of my nature based powers are able to draw fully on their realm. I tunneled into the town around the compound and following Yas¡¯ direction we went to their old master¡¯s workshop. Zerath was actually there, but reset, which was a bit weird if I''m honest. Yas was happy though. Then together they made my new BucklAxes.¡± Alex drew his weapons proudly, then sheathed them again after a few seconds. ¡°Then we snuck into the compound in Zer¡¯s crates, killed Gaet and whatever the fuck was posessing them and then rescued you and the others¡­¡± Alex dropped his head as he remembered he had failed to save them all. Throughout Alex talking, Nieve¡¯s mouth had slowly dropped open further and further at hearing the sheer ludicrous feats he spoke of as if they were nothing. As he finished, they could almost feel the waves of sadness as he remembered Iclyn. Placing a hand on his to draw him back from the edge, Nieve said, ¡°Alex, what you have accomplished is beyond what anyone could reasonably expect of you. That you managed to save as many of us as you did is amazing. Iclyn knew that, and would not want you to let their death drag you into despair. Instead let their sacrifice provide the burning core you need to keep pushing all boundaries! That you got an entire Realm¡¯s blessing is a feat none have managed here before¡­¡± Alex looked up with tears in his eyes, but a small smirk on his face. ¡°I actually got 2 blessings¡­ Chronos gave me theirs as well, it''s the only way I¡¯ve managed to do what I¡¯ve done so far, but the arsehole has blocked me completely until I help them with a task in their realm! I don¡¯t know how I will defeat the other Council members, especially if they are stronger than Gaet was¡­¡± Nieve chose to gloss over the fact that the man before them had managed to obtain blessings from 2 separate realms, and pulled Alex to his feet before wrapping him in a tight hug. ¡°Alex, you aren¡¯t alone. And the time powers you had were not the only reason you won. They were just the tool you used. So come up with another tool! Now, have you checked your notifications recently? They don¡¯t activate until they are acknowledged.¡± Alex let the hug continue for a few seconds before pulling himself back and slapping a hand to his head. How could he have not remembered to check his notifications for so long! He hadn¡¯t even brought up his stats since before fighting Gaet, so he must have a huge amount of XP banked up, as well as raw stat increases which could have been the difference in the fight against the Captain! Giving a sheepish grin to Nieve, Alex opened his notifications. Rewards for killing Councillor Gaet revoked by Veil (Ended mind altering effect). Neth Fridigian Parasite x4 (Various levels) killed. Bonus awarded for killing something more than 10x your level. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.NFP lvl 360: 7200xp x10 (72000) Gained. NFP lvl 346: 6920xp x10 (69200) Gained. NFP lvl 402: 8040xp x10 (80400) Gained. NFP lvl 405: 8100xp x10 (81000) Gained. Fridigian Soldier lvl 74 Killed. 1480xp Gained. Power +7, Vitality +11, Finesse +13, Mentality +8, Judgement +9 Alex inhaled sharply at just how much XP he had gained for killing the parasites. Even without the bonus they would have given a decent chunk, but with it? He had earned over 300k XP. And he got a nice boost to his stats as well. Maybe it wasn¡¯t going to be as hopeless as it seemed. Sitting with his back to the wall, Alex set about raising his classes. He started by raising everything to level 20, as it kept everything on his character sheet looking neat. With the rest of his XP he pumped it all into Field Knight, as it had the greatest impact on his survivability. He also unlocked level 4 in his Metabolic Influx passive for reaching Combat Medic level 20. This now gave him 100hp/s baseline, or 200hp/s with Infusion active. On top of now having over 5000 effective HP he felt their chances tip ever so slightly more in their favour. He brought up his stat block to give everything a final once over.
Name Alex Colt Stats Class
Species Human(Nexus) Power 42 (50) Field Knight 29: HP Gained 10+Vit, +2 Vit per lvl
Age 27 Vitality 95 Maelstrom 20: HP Gained 2+0.5Vit, +1 Pow +1 Ment per lvl
Level 69 (Bonus Active) Finesse 28 Combat Medic 20: HP Gain 5+Ment, +2 Ment per lvl
XP 13880/20000 FK Mentality 97
HP 4258 Judgement 20
Stam 345 (690) Charm 2
RF 852
Alex felt suddenly dizzy as all of the changes finished taking effect on his body. After such a monumental increase, the difference was enough to knock him sideways a little. He hadn¡¯t suddenly tripled in size, but he could feel the difference in how his muscles contracted. Feeling more like steel cables than flesh and tissue. The biggest change was in his breathing. Each breath was so much...more. It felt like he had been breathing through a straw for his entire life up until this point. Nieve and Whittaker stood watching as Alex finished allocating his XP. Whilst he was in his own little word of rediscovery, the pair slowly turned to look at each other, eyes wide. He had nearly doubled his level in one go! The difference was plain to see for anyone who knew what to look for. In the space of a few days, Alex had almost caught up in levels, and probably surpassed them both in raw stats. A crash brought both of them out of their silent reverie. Alex had tried to stand up and with the huge changes to his body, he had managed to overexert himself and fell flat on his face. ¡°What the fuck?¡± He cursed quietly to himself as Whittaker came over and helped him back to his feet. ¡°What happened to me?¡± Alex questioned. Barely holding back their laughter, Nieve explained. ¡°Alex, how many levels and stats did you just gain?¡± ¡°I gained¡­ 34 levels in total, and more than 30 Vitality and Mentality. As well as doubling my Power¡­ Ohhhh¡­.!¡± It started to sink in. Shaking their head in disbelief Nieve finished off the thought. ¡°Exactly, you gained so much in one go that you¡¯re going to need to relearn how to use these new stats. Luckily, with that much extra Mentality it shoulnt take you too long.¡± So for the remainder of the afternoon Alex tried to acclimatise himself to his new stats whilst the rest of the group sat around watching and having a laugh at his expense. After the 100th time he fell over, he felt he was finally starting to get a grasp. The only prior experience he could relate it to was being almost blackout drunk, except instead of his reactions being sluggish, they were instead overly quick. Once he felt satisfied, he asked Whitt to spar with him so that he could make sure he could utilise his new power safely in a fight, lest he become a danger to himself and his allies. Whitt agreed, although slightly reluctantly, which drew more chuckles from the group. Alex faced off with Whitt across a hastily drawn arena, but didn¡¯t draw his weapons to start with. After trading a few salvos back and forth, Alex leapt back before immediately activating Charge Jump and rocketing across the ground and poking Whitt between the eyes. He then jumped straight up more than 20 feet in the air before Whitt could retaliate. Utilising Earthshape, Alex pulled a few little pebbles free and set them to whizz around the area, effectively causing Whitt to have to hunker down and protect their face from the pelting bits of stone. None were big enough to cause lasting damage, but each hit felt like a big bee sting, and left behind nasty little welts. ¡°Okay Alex, I submit! There is no way I can keep up with you like this!¡± Whitt chuckled, happy to see their student had taken all of their lessons to heart. Alex ended his skills, and pulled off a huge superhero landing, leaving small craters where he impacted the ground. Smiling he said ¡°Thanks Whitt, I didn¡¯t mean to start using all my skills at once, but something just clicked and I wanted to see how far I could push myself.¡± Waving away his words, Whitt punched his shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that! You held back enough to make sure you didn¡¯t injure either of us but still made sure to use every advantage you have instead of slogging it out with someone with more combat experience! Now, lets rest up and get ready for what needs doing tonight.¡± The pair walked back over to the rest of the group and grabbed a drink before running their last minute checks on their gear. An hour later everyone was back in the vantage position overlooking the warehouse watching the guards as the sun began to set. There hadn¡¯t been a noticeable pattern to abuse, so Alex and Whitt were going to have to do it the hard way. Alex just hoped the guards were open to reason. As night pressed in around them, Alex and Whitt headed towards the nearest pair of guards. Chapter 16 Cyia always hated pulling night duty out at the warehouse, especially as it always seemed to be assigned to them. Somehow they¡¯d managed to piss off one of the captains back in the main compound and ever since? Night watch. It was always the same; wander around their assigned portion of the perimeter with some other poor sap who was out of favor at the time. Tonight was looking to be exactly the same, and Cyia was just counting the minutes until they could head back inside, when out of the light mist loomed two figures. Alex motioned to the guard on the left for Whitt to take out whilst he moved right. Before either figure was able to utter a sound, they had been restrained and dragged back up the hill out of sight. Once he was sure they were back far enough Alex propped the pair of guards up against a tree and squatted down in front of them. ¡°Good evening. My name is Alex, and I¡¯m here to break into this warehouse.¡± He didn¡¯t bother trying to hide his purpose, already beyond tired of playing games. ¡°What my friend and I would like to know is what the state of play is inside. Are there more guards?¡± The guards looked at each other before the slightly smaller of the 2 started making noise around the cloth in their mouth. ¡°I don¡¯t want to make threats, but if I take this out and you try to yell? I won¡¯t kill you, but I sure as hell will pop you in the mouth.¡± Alex gave a small smile as he reached over and removed the gag. The smaller guard immediately started babbling out word-soup, and Alex had to shush them a few times until he was able to make out the beginnings of sentences. ¡°B..break into the warehouse? Why? There''s nothing out here! We never get to go inside, but as far as I¡¯m aware it¡¯s just an empty warehouse that we are made to ¡®guard¡¯ as punishment¡­¡± Small guard stammered. Alex mulled that over for a second before responding. ¡°Empty warehouse hmm? That seems a little¡­ strange to me. Sure, you might not go in there, but surely you don¡¯t expect me to believe that?¡± ¡°Seriously! I have been on this duty more than just about anyone else, and I have never seen anything going in and out. Once or twice a year a group goes in, does something, and then leaves over the course of a week or so. The rest of the time? Nothing!¡± Chatty guard blurts. Alex was bemused at how willing the guard was to talk, having expected some resistance. ¡°Why are you telling me this so readily? If you¡¯re trying to get me to walk into a trap I can tell you that whatever you say I will be going in to look.¡± Alex tried a slightly more blatant line of questioning, looking over his shoulder to see Whitt also confused by the situation. ¡°I already told you. All of us out here are here on some form of punishment. I¡¯m not going to risk my neck withholding information from someone who could obviously take it from me if needed¡­ My name is Cyia, and I hate it here. I don¡¯t even remember what I did to piss off my captain back in town, but I¡¯ve been stuck here ever since. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s inside, but I can tell you that none of the guards here will be able to stop you getting in if that''s really what you want. We are just here to stop the odd wildlife incursion and keep the pathways clear.¡± Cyia attempted to shrug. Alex looked at the other guard who had remained remarkably quiet throughout the conversation so far. ¡°And you? Same story?¡± He reached over and pulled the gag loose. The guard flexed their jaw before giving a curt nod. ¡°Yeah, pretty much. I wouldn¡¯t have told you as much as this prat, but they¡¯re telling the truth. This is just where the ¡®undesirables¡¯ get placed to stop us from gaining any levels towards our release at level 100. I¡¯m here because I asked where one of my friends had gone, and wouldn¡¯t just accept what they said.¡± Alex looked back at Whitt. ¡°Any of this ring true with what you know? They both seem genuine, but this all seems too¡­ easy?¡± Whittaker gave a slow nod, ¡°What they say does track with what I know used to happen with ¡®problem¡¯ soldiers. Hell, one of my squad got sent somewhere similar once for failing to keep on top of their weapon maintenance. It¡¯s usually just some dead-end assignment for a few weeks to ¡®encourage¡¯ more personal responsibility. Coming back and seeing your friends all higher levelled than you sucks.¡± Alex was satisfied that this was basically seen as the equivalent of being sent to Antarctica back on his Earth. ¡°Okay then. Is there a way we can get the other soldiers to just stand down? I don¡¯t want to hurt anyone if I don¡¯t have to.¡± Cyia tried to wipe the look of shock off their face before they responded. ¡°I mean¡­ If Gul and I are with you, they should wait long enough for you to explain why you¡¯re here¡­¡± Cyia nodded at the other guard when they said their name. Gul chimed in, ¡°They might, but if the Sarge orders them to attack you, they probably will. If you hadn¡¯t shown me that you aren¡¯t here to harm us I probably would.¡± Alex nodded. ¡°Okay, if you¡¯re both willing to accompany my friends and I back down there on the off-chance that it can prevent a fight, I will gladly accept. You¡¯re both walking up front though. I don¡¯t trust you enough to leave you behind me¡± He chuckled, knowing Whitt would have kicked his ass if he hadn¡¯t said that. Alex sent Whitt back to the rest of the group to fill them in and bring them down so they could all go into the warehouse. In less than 5 minutes they were all assembled with Cyia and Gul at the front. They all walked back down to the warehouse, cautious of the potential welcoming party awaiting them. As they neared the spot where Alex and Whitt had ambushed the guards, they slowed down. Waiting there for them was a crowd of soldiers with their weapons held ready. Someone pushed their way forward and began to address Alex and co. ¡°Gul, Cyia, what are you doing with these¡­ traitors?¡± The person Alex assumed was the Sergeant spat. ¡°Sarge, they just want to take a look inside the warehouse. They don¡¯t want to harm or attack any of us. They could have just as easily killed us both, but they didn¡¯t¡­¡± Cyia began. The Sargeant scoffed. ¡°Of course it would be you that sticks up for the filth¡­ Have you paid no attention to what the council has sent on these¡­ traitorous scum? Or are you willingly siding against your own?¡± Cyia visibly took a step back under the intensity of this rebuke before coming back with ¡°Sarge, I know you hate it out here as much as the rest of us! The Council doesn''t care about any of us! None of us actually did anything to really warrant us being stuck out here¡­¡± ¡°Enough! Obviously they have corrupted you to their ignoble cause¡­ Gul, unless you want to be on the receiving end of the same I suggest you get over here.¡± The Sargeant glared daggers at Gul. Gul was visibly wavering and started to walk away from Alex¡¯s group. Alex decided he had had enough. ¡°Listen to me. Cyia spoke true. My friends and I do NOT wish to fight with you. We just want to take a look inside and then be on our way! But if you attack us, we WILL retaliate¡­¡± The soldiers arrayed before them began to fidget. They knew what was about to be ordered, but like Cyia, none of them had any real love for the Council. The Sargeant let out a barking laugh. ¡°You really believe you stand a chance here? You are outnumbered, and outmatched in level, so just surrender and we will only maim you a little before handing you over to the Council. Soldiers, take aim!¡± Alex heard the order and quickly swept his gaze over the force in front of him, taking in their levels and getting an accurate number of foes. Fridigian Soldier lvl 61 Fridigian Soldier lvl 61 Fridigian Soldier lvl 68 Fridigian Soldier lvl 74 Fridigian Soldier lvl 71 Fridigian Sargeant lvl 85 Gul lvl 62 Cyia lvl 65 There were a few others at the back he couldn¡¯t make out, but in total there were 14 soldiers arrayed in front of him including Gul and Cyia. Most showed faces of uncertainty at the order, but the Sargeant and a few of the higher levelled soldiers had looks of fierce determination. He had no illusions as to whether he and his friends would win, but any injuries here would only delay the mission. Taking a half-step back Alex raised his hands. ¡°Sargeant, would you open to a one-on-one, you and me? Surely with your higher level you wouldn¡¯t be afraid of a little low level like me, right?¡± Alex decided to inflame the Sargeant¡¯s ego and bait him into a fight without causing collateral damage. Face red at the insinuation in front of their troops, the Sargeant again let out a harsh laugh. ¡°You are brave Outsider. You know what? I accept your foolish challenge. I may finally garner enough favour to get reassigned from this shithole posting if I take the council your battered corpse.¡± Alex smirked internally, trap taken hook line and sinker. Keeping his face passive, Alex gestured for his friends to step back whilst the Sargeant did the same. Stepping forward, Alex ¡®slipped¡¯ and stumbled as he made his way opposite his opponent. Some of the soldiers let out snickers as they saw what Alex wanted them to see. Once in position, Alex simply waited for the Sargeant. Unable to resist getting another jab in, Alex¡¯s opponent jeered, ¡°You really have bitten off more than you can chew with me boy! I¡¯ll let you have the first blow, if you can even coordinate yourself to manage that!¡± ¡®What a moron¡¯ Alex thought. He just handed me an easy win without even knowing what I can do¡­ Alex merely gave a polite nod before launching into action. Before anyone had even had time to register he had started, Alex Charge Jumped around his foe. He swept their legs out from under them and then landed a bone shattering blow that put the Sergeant into the floor. He had specifically not equipped his weapons, as he didn¡¯t want to kill them. He wanted to show that he really didn¡¯t want them as his enemies, but still show that he wasn¡¯t to be taken lightly. Glad for the sparring with Whitt earlier, Alex found his new strength almost intoxicating. He found himself easily able to plan his moves and chain together his blows so that they didn¡¯t cause excess damage. With calculated blows Alex hit joints and pressure points that Whitt had drilled into him. Within 2 seconds Alex had pummelled the Sergeant with tens of blows. Then, similar to his sparring with Whitt earlier, Alex launched himself up into the air out of retaliation range and pulled the ground up around the splayed limbs of his opponent. From his vantage point up in the air Alex took in the faces of everyone arrayed below. His friends all had knowing smiles but the soldiers, including Gul and Cyia, all had looks ranging from pure shock to the beginnings of horror at the speed at which Alex had managed to incapacitate their leader. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.??After another few seconds the spell was broken and they rushed to check on their downed Sargeant. Alex superhero landed with a crash and slowly made his way over to his foe. ¡°As you can see, I could have EASILY killed you but didn¡¯t. I meant it when I said I didn¡¯t want to fight you, but as you insisted at least this way nobody else needs to get hurt.¡± Alex spoke softly, but there was a steel in his words. He wanted them all to hear that if they tried anything he would take it farther. Unable to move, the Sargeant gave Alex a look reminiscent of a deer in headlights. ¡°How¡­ I¡¯m nearly 20 levels above you and have been in the Fridigian forces for more than 5 years! You were so fast, but you pulled every punch after the first. You spare me when I would have happily killed you were the positions reversed¡­¡± They trail off, stirrings of shame igniting. ¡°I don¡¯t care about protracted battles. You were so preoccupied with posturing for your troops that I easily slipped in. Had you been paying attention you could have drawn that out for far longer.¡± Alex replied simply. He had no need to boast. Backing away, Alex released his hold on the earth and the Sergeant¡¯s limbs came free. They were helped gingerly to their feet as they stood facing Alex. ¡°Nexian, I thank you for showing me the error of my judgement. You say you wish to look inside this warehouse? I am sure you have already been told that it is empty?¡± The Sergeant looked at Cyia as they said this, causing them to shrink away a little. ¡°Well, it isn¡¯t. I know not what is actually in here, but it draws on a huge amount of power.¡± Turning and leading Alex towards a set of gleaming metal stairs attached to the side of the building and ending at an imposing looking doorway. As they reached the door, the Sargeant pointed at a panel. ¡°None of us has the clearance to get past this lock, and I am sure we have all tried it at least once.¡± There were some nervous chuckles at this. Alex turned to look at Yas and Zerath. ¡°Reckon you two can get us through this? If you can¡¯t I¡¯m sure I can find a way to force the door, but I would rather leave less evidence of our presence if possible.¡± The two of them stepped up and began inspecting the panel. Yas began pulling various of their Class tools from their bag and soon the panel was hooked up to a number of devices, none of which Alex had any idea about. After a few minutes of intense concentration, Zerath tapped something on one of the devices and stepped back. ¡°Come on Yas, you can do it! We only have a few more seconds before the alarm triggers¡­¡± Everyone assembled flinched as they heard those dreaded words. ¡°Alarm? Zer, the whole point of you two doing this was so we didn¡¯t trigger an alarm¡­¡± Alex breathed, irritation colouring the words. Yas let out a low growl as they smacked their palm against the panel. It wavered between red and green for a moment before flashing green. The lock clicked and the door swung outwards. ¡®Good Evening Gaet¡¯ was visible on the panel for a moment before the system reset. ¡°That was far harder than I expected¡­¡± Yas grumbled, ¡°It was a full DNA sequencer inside the panel. Once Zer had tripped the primary disengage sequence only Council level clearance could open the lock. Luckily my glove still had a bit of Gaet on it.¡± Alex was torn between relief and repulsion at the fact that Yas still hadn¡¯t washed their gloves since the previous day. ¡°Well, good work. Now let''s get in and see what could possibly require this level of clearance.¡± The now expanded group all entered the door and found themselves in a plush office with windows that looked out onto the main warehouse floor. Alex headed straight over and looked out. Suspended from the rafters were hundreds upon hundreds of pods similar to what he had been in to undergo his connection. Inside each one a barely visible Fridigian could be seen. The others slowly came and stood beside Alex as they collectively took in the scene before them. Out of every possibility Alex had envisioned, this certainly wasn¡¯t what he had expected. What the hell was going on here? Nieve was the first to break the silence. ¡°This is¡­ barbaric! What the fuck is going on here?¡± They whirled and squared up to the still limping Sergeant. The Sergeant had the same look of repulsed awe on their face as everyone else. ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t think anyone apart from the Captains and Councillors knows what¡¯s inside this warehouse¡­ Although it does explain why they wanted us in particular to be the ones who guard it. Who better to guard a secret warehouse than the soldiers desperate to make their way back into the good graces.¡± Nieve didn¡¯t look completely convinced, but stepped away and turned back to the window. Without looking they asked, ¡°Yas, what are they using these pods for? Can you tell?¡± ¡°Not from up here, sorry Nieve. If I can get to examine the pod¡¯s controls I can run a basic ¡®nostics sweep?¡± Eyes full of fury, Nieve simply nodded before walking over to the internal door and kicking it off its hinges causing everyone''s heads to spin and look at them questioningly. Nieve simply walked through the now open door and headed downstairs towards the nearest pod. Shrugging, Alex motioned everyone else to follow after them before turning to examine the rest of the room. He was looking for anything that could be useful. Heading over to a desk in the corner he began going through the drawers and tipping them out onto the floor, no longer bothered about covering his tracks. Let them know I know he thought. Rifling through the assorted papers, Alex realised he was unable to make head nor tail of what he was reading. The only thing he could pick out was that there was a secondary internal structure towards the opposite side of the warehouse, and inside it was something referred to as ¡®Primaris¡¯. In the drawer along with this was a weirdly shaped Fros-steel colder than anything Alex had encountered so far. So cold that it actually burnt his hand as he brushed his fingers over it. Wrapping it in one of the bits of fabric he had used as a gag earlier he slipped it into his pocket and headed to find the others downstairs. Alex came up behind the group as they all crowded around Yas examining the nearest pod. ¡°Any luck down here yet?¡± he questioned. Whittaker came to stand by him. ¡°Not yet, but Yas has almost finished running their scan. Zerath is just over there examining the cabling to see if they can figure out what it could be used for.¡± As Alex was about to respond, Yas let out a little triumphant note before their face fell and they let out a shriek. Alex sprang forward immediately. ¡°Yas what is it? What¡¯s up?¡± Turning slowly, Yas looked Alex in the eye. ¡°It¡¯s what you thought, but so¡­ so much worse¡­ These pods are sustaining the occupants, but also draining them to provide bio-energy for something¡­¡± ¡°What I thought? What do you mean?¡± He queried, mind racing through all of his theories to try and work out what they meant. ¡°The Council, or whatever is puppeteering the Council has never been returning those that reached level 100 to their families. They¡¯ve been bringing them here and either converting them or putting them in these pods¡­¡± Alex reeled at this. There were upwards of a thousand pods in this warehouse, and even if only 50-60% of them were occupied, that was still a huge amount of bodies to go missing. ¡°Surely these people¡¯s families would have noticed if they weren¡¯t getting returned Yas?¡± Tears in their eyes, Yas sobbed. ¡°Alex¡­ we have no families¡­ The Council have been ¡®resetting¡¯ us like they did with Zerath. There are no civilian Fridigians any longer according to what I can make out. All of our memories are implanted. This cycle of resetting us has been going on for over 500 years¡­¡± Yas petered into uncontrollable sobs. Around them, everyone had heard Yas¡¯ explanation and were now in various states of shock and disbelief. Nieve and Eira came forward and each wrapped an arm around Yas, their own faces a rictus of pain and grief. Alex didn¡¯t know what to say to help his friends. He had no way of understanding the pain they were all sharing, and he began to ball his fist in rage at the feeling of impotence building in him. Needing an outlet, he walked over to a wall and began to throw punch after punch into it. ¡°Mother¡­¡± SLAM ¡°FUCKING!¡± SLAM ¡°PIECES!¡± CRUNCH ¡°OF SHIT!¡± Alex enunciated each word with another punch. These people were his friends. In the space of a week or so he had grown closer to them than some of his oldest friends back home. And now they were in pain he couldn¡¯t help with, at the hands of whomever or whatever was also putting his own universe at risk. Something inside him finally let go. No longer was he going to try for a peaceful resolution. If anyone sided with the Council, they would get one warning before he removed them by force. Turning back to his friends, tears of rage making tracks down his cheeks, Alex made his way back towards Yas. ¡°Yas, I know you¡¯re in pain, and I am so truly sorry for that, but are you able to free these people?¡± Yas hiccuped and wiped their face. ¡°I¡­ I think so, yes. It will take me a little while, but if Zerath helps I should be able to reverse whatever protocols are in place keeping these pods locked down.¡± Alex nodded and flashed a small smile at them. ¡°Whenever you feel ready, please let these poor people out.¡± Turning to Nieve and Eira he said, ¡°Would you be okay with helping those released come to terms with what''s happened to them? You both managed to help me so much when I got here, and I¡¯m sure these people will need friendly encouragement to begin the process of recovering.¡± Both of them gave their assent before Eira asked, ¡°Alex, what are you going to do? You made that sound like you wouldn¡¯t be here?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be nearby, but I found something upstairs that I want to check out, and hopefully it will give me a chance to hit something and be useful.¡± Alex replied, turning to the Sergeant and Whittaker. ¡°Would either of you like to accompany me in finding out what ¡®Primaris¡¯ is?¡± ¡°Count me in Alex. Like you I could really do with hitting something right now, and you will likely need some backup when you inevitably get yourself neck deep in some shit¡­¡± Whitt grinned. The Sergeant watched the two for a moment before answering. ¡°I would be honoured to assist you both, as my minor injuries are mostly healed now.¡± Turning to their squad, ¡°Would any of you also like to accompany our new friend Alex on this task? This is not an order, as some of you are undoubtedly feeling pretty shaken.¡± Every soldier present took a step forward and readied their weapons before giving a collective assent, and like that, Alex had himself a group ready to follow him into whatever was coming behind the closed area. Chapter 17 Alex lead the team across the floor area of the warehouse, weaving between the rows of pods. He had finally spotted where he was headed; a heavily fortified box of a room that was wedged into the corner of the warehouse. From the outside, it appeared to be made from an even stronger Fros-steel alloy than the entrance door had been. With Alex running point, the rest of the team fanned out loosely behind him in a wedge so that each of the 14 soldiers accompanying him had a clear line of sight on the door. Alex made sure everyone was ready before he approached the door, gingerly unwrapping the strange key as he did so. Placing the key into place, lines of dark blue spread from the area until they spiderwebbed their way over the entire front wall of the room. After a few seconds, the lines solidified around the impression of the door and it slowly slid away into the surrounding wall. For a few moments, there was complete silence. Then a low hum could be heard inside. Inching forward, Alex slowly entered the room, his hands ready to draw his weapons in an instant. Along the opposite wall was a huge array of control panels, and directly in the center was another pod. This pod was significantly larger than the ones outside, and had a number of huge cables running from it. These cables split off in 2 directions and led to two tables that looked similar to the ones Alex had seen Nieve and Iclyn on in the chamber under the Council compound. Where those had been bare, these tables had a strange helmet looking thing at the head end. Alex took in all of this in moments as he moved slowly further into the space to make room for the rest of his team to enter. Before Alex had time to say anything the hum emitted by the pod began to ramp up in pitch, drawing Alex¡¯s attention back. Alex had time to see ¡®Primaris¡¯ stamped into the front of the pod before it was ripped free and forcibly thrown in his direction. Alex attempted to get out of the way but was clipped on the arm and sent spinning off his feet. He heard some muffled cries as those behind him took the brunt of the projectile, carving a little swathe through their ranks. Pushing past the dull ache in his limb, Alex got to his feet and looked back at the pod just in time to see a hulking figure climbing out. ¡°Welllll noooowwww¡­ Whattt do wwwwe haaaave heeeere¡­¡± The figure¡¯s voice almost seemed to stumble over the words, as if unused to forming the sounds required. As more of it emerged from the wreckage of the pod Alex saw what looked to have once been a Fridigian. It was probably 10 foot tall, and rippling with more musculature than Alex could fully comprehend. It stretched, and cracks like gunshots sounded throughout the space. ¡°Aaaaah, that¡¯s betttterrr. Now. You aren¡¯t my siblings, and I appear to have been woken far too early for this cycle.¡± Alex looked at the hulking figure and tried to call up its information. ???? (p) lvl 328 Alex had never seen anything fail to get named by the connection before. Whatever this thing was, apparently the Veil itself was unable to tell. ¡°What ARE you?¡± Alex winced at his choice of opening line, cursing himself for allowing that to slip out. The figure gave a gutteral chuckle. ¡°Straight to the point. Seeing as how you¡¯re all going to be dead momentarily, let¡¯s not bother wasting my breath.¡± As Alex was registering the thing¡¯s words he suddenly found himself flying backward, his entire torso on fire. The last thing he saw was a figure blurring towards the rest of his team as he slammed into something and everything went dark. Whittaker watched the creature climb free of the pod and felt a small tremble of fear run the length of their spine. It had just launched the solid pod door away as if it weighed nothing, plowing straight into the midst of their lines. Already they could hear the sounds of those struck moaning from the pain of the impact, but found themselves unable to tear their eyes off of the figure in front of them. The thing¡¯s voice was terrifying, mangling its words as it spoke. And then Alex was suddenly flying past them, impacting on the wall and coming to rest in a crumpled heap. ¡°FALL BACK!!¡± Whitt roared, grabbing onto the nearest bodies and pulling them with them as they activated Jump Charge and fled the room. Retreating back into the open was the only thing Whitt could pull from their brain in its state of shock. Whatever this thing was, it had laid Alex low in a single moment and they couldn¡¯t even see what it had done. As Whitt¡¯s skill ended and they spun back to monitor the doorway, a body flew through it and came crashing to a halt at their feet. It was the Sergeant. ¡°Sergeant, stay with me! C¡¯mon wakey wakey!¡± Whittaker gently shook the body in front of them, relief flooding through them as a groan escaped from blood-soaked lips. One by one, the creature threw the rest of the team out of the room before finally emerging with Alex over its shoulder. ¡°Alex!¡± Whittaker shouted upon seeing this. The figure cracked a crooked grin. ¡°Ahh so this is Alex. I am so glad to put a name to a face.¡± Alex was then grasped around the middle and slammed into the floor, letting out a garbled scream as consciousness came rushing back to him in a flood of pain. Unsure of what to do against such a monumental threat, Whitt looked around briefly to check on the status of those that were thrown in their direction. They were heartened to see that most were already back on their feet, albeit swaying slightly. The Sergeant had gotten up and was stood beside Whitt watching the figure throwing Alex around like a ragdoll. ¡°Whittaker, we need to save Alex. That thing is going to kill him before he has a chance to fight back.¡± ¡°I know Sergeant, but I don¡¯t know what we can do against it. Alex is at least on par, if not surpassing my strength and its using him as a plaything¡­¡± Whitt agonised, unable to see any way forward. ¡°We do what we have trained to do. Fight dammit!¡± Raising their voice the Sergeant yelled, ¡°Soldiers, on me!¡± before drawing their sword and running directly at the figure. The rest of the team all roared their agreement and charged in behind their leader. Whitt held back for a moment, waiting for the perfect opportunity to run in and grab Alex. They knew that likely some, if not all, of the soldiers were likely to get hurt or killed in their attack, and Whittaker wasn¡¯t willing to waste their potential sacrifice. As the Sergeant and their men neared the figure they unleashed all of their collective skills, unconsciously pairing into their patrol pairs. The Sergeant hacked furiously at the closest limb, which happened to be one the the things misproportioned arms, causing the creature to pull back momentarily. Whitt seized the chance and Charge Jumped straight at Alex, wrapping an arm around his midriff and then activating the skill again to just narrowly avoid the creature¡¯s strike. Alex couldn¡¯t think. The pain was just too much for his mind to move past. Even against Gaet he hadn¡¯t felt this outmatched. Every few seconds another wave of pain crashed over him as the ¡®Primaris¡¯ landed another blow on his already battered body. He vaguely heard someone call his name, but in his current pain-state time seemed to stretch cruelly, prolonging his agony. He felt something grab him around the middle and prepared for yet more pain, but was surprised when a second later he found the expected pain didn¡¯t manifest. Mustering every ounce of willpower he had left, Alex forced his eyes open. He found himself lying on his back staring up at Whittaker. ¡°Alex¡­ Thank fuck I managed to get you out of there. Rest up, your passive healing should get to work faster now you¡¯re not under direct attack.¡± And then they were gone. Alex blearily made out the sight of Whittaker activating Frigid Wastes before launching themselves into the melee. Alex felt the rush of cold air given off by the skill and shivered, sending a fresh spike of pain through his body. Unable to help in his current state, Alex focused on slowly reactivating all of his passive skills which had turned off when he was knocked out. As soon as he activated Infusion he could both feel and visibly watch as his injuries knitted back together before his eyes. 200hp/s meant that in under 30 seconds Alex was again stood completely healed. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.??Having spent a few seconds watching his team get slowly whittled down by the ¡®Primaris¡¯ Alex realised that this thing was beyond even the possessed form of Gaet in terms of raw power, but it lacked true coordination. It moved fast and hit hard, but there was no technique behind the blows. This was what had allowed the highly trained Fridigian soldiers to even remotely hold their own for as long as they had. Alex withdrew his BucklAxes and willed Rockflesh to extend over their form. He held his hands together and proceeded to fuse them into a massive 2-handed axe with a serrated cutting edge. Timing his entrance to coincide with Whitt landing a solid blow on the creatures opposite side, Alex did something he prayed would work. Activating Jump Charge, Alex felt for the skill to take effect and then dropped his weight and pushed off into the air as hard as he could. The ground under his feet cracked from the pressure even with him reducing his own weight, and he shot into the air like a rocket. Following the trajectory in his mind, Alex waited until the apex of his jump before adding as much gravity to himself as possible. This, combined with the damage bonus from his charge skill would hopefully be enough to cause the creature at least some damage. Alex had aimed his blow to hit mid-target, but even at the speed he was travelling the damned thing managed to move partially out of the way of his attack. Instead of landing a clean blow on the monster''s chest, Alex instead cleaved its left arm clean from it¡¯s body. The creature reared back away from the attack and let out a harrowing howl of agony. Alex felt a similar effect as to what Gaet had used on him start to settle over his mind. But instead of rage, this feeling made him want to curl into a ball and hide away. Gritting his teeth, Alex fought off the wave of terror. ¡°Not this fucking time you piece of shit. That trick won¡¯t work on me!¡± Around him the rest of his team didn¡¯t fare so well. Alex saw Cyia grab the sides of their head with both hands and drop to their knees, Gul just stood staring wordlessly into the distance with a silent howl on their lips. Whitt and the Sergeant had fared only a little better as some of their ingrained conditioning helped them begin to combat the mind altering skill. Realising that for the time being he was on his own Alex quickly raised a low wall and used it to corral the suffering members of his team and remove them from immediate danger. Looking over at the ¡®Primaris¡¯, he saw he had but a few scant seconds left before it regained it¡¯s wits and renewed its attack. Unsure of how best to proceed against the creature, Alex decided to see if he could reuse a similar tactic as to when he and Whitt had picked off the attacking Ursu horde back in the caverns. With his much greater control over his earth powers thanks to Adareth, Alex rapidly formed a set of narrow walls on either side of the ¡®Primaris¡¯ to limit its movement, as well as various heights of walls between himself and it. Just in time, as it shook its head clear and looked up directly into Alex¡¯s eyes. ¡°I was just going to kill you all, but now I¡¯m going to take my time and slowly take you apart!¡± It snarled. ¡°Yeah yeah¡­ What is it about you Neth pricks that makes you want to keep talking all the time?¡± Alex spat back, keeping the thing distracted and talking whilst he formed hundreds of ultra-compacted stone bullets behind his back. The creature blinked in shock. ¡°You know of our names? How is this?¡± Still vying for time, Alex waited a few moments before replying. ¡°Well¡­ I killed Gaet, or whatever was wearing them like a suit. I then proceeded to kill 3¡­ no 4 of the parasites that were trying to possess my friends. Their names were helpfully displayed in the moments before I ended their pitiful existence in this realm.¡± ¡°You¡­ Killed one of my siblings? And our conversion parasites?¡± It stammered, unable to comprehend how such a weak specimen could have possibly bested one of their elites. ¡°That''s what I said. Not sure how you¡¯re related, as you don''t seem as¡­ black and blobby as Gaet did when I destroyed them, but once I kill you as well I¡¯m sure my friends and I will find out from those machines in the room.¡± Alex had finally managed to create as many rock bullets as his control level would allow. He jumped back over his creations and began to fire them one after the other directly at the creature. The first few were swatted from the air easily enough, but as Alex continued to blast an ever growing number at the creature he also made the ones he had already fired continue to whip around in an ever increasing cloud of stone chips and dust. The ¡®Primaris¡¯, already weakened by the loss of it¡¯s arm found itself besieged. Alex maintained his relentless assault, focusing on the existing gaping would and slowly worming the rock further and further into the creature¡¯s exposed flesh. Whittaker and Sergeant had finally managed to shake off the mind altering effect and were both stood watching the fight in awe. Neither had ever seen a level of control over an element like Alex was currently displaying. To them it looked like the creature was slowly being eroded away at the edges, the wound left by its missing arm slowly widening as more and more flesh sloughed away. They shared a look of both horror and respect at what Alex was managing to achieve by himself. Alex could feel himself finally beginning to tire, but still he kept up his attack, unwilling to stop before the creature had ceased to be a threat. Using the rock and dust almost like a grindstone he systematically tore away at the creature. After another 30 seconds or so he finally had to release his skill, drained almost entirely. Before him, lying in a smooth-edged crater in the floor were the remains of the ¡®Primaris¡¯. It had been reduced to nothing more than a sludgy black pile of flesh, almost entirely unrecognisable as the creature that had attacked them so viciously. Alex slowly approached the crater, intent on making 100 percent sure that the thing was dead. As he got nearer a lance of black goo speared directly towards him. Unwilling to touch the vile substance Alex dove to the side. It sent another couple of tendrils soaring towards his new location. ¡°Your fleshhhh shall make an abssssolutely perfect new hosssst to enrich with my being.¡± The creature bubbled as it began its fresh assault. Despite his best efforts, Alex¡¯s leg got caught by one of the tendrils and he found himself being slowly drawn towards the mass. He scrabbled furiously to try and gain purchase and halt himself, even going so far as to try and shape rocks and handholds, but the creature had him entirely in its grasp now. Whittaker watched on in horror as Alex was slowly engulfed by the being. They and the soldiers had all tried numerous times to rush to Alex¡¯s rescue, but had had their efforts rebuffed by the thrashing tentacles of the creature. They were all forced to watch on helplessly as Alex slowly vanished into the center of its being. As soon as Alex was absorbed the black substance of the creature began to harden, and even with all of them attacking it, nothing seemed to penetrate this shell. Alex felt as the substance slowly enveloped him entirely. He scrunched his eyes closed and held his breath, pinching his nose shut as well, but he knew it was useless. Eventually he would need to take a breath. ¡°I can feel your fear Alex. Just give in. Let me in willingly and I will make sure you feel no pain during the process.¡± Alex heard the thing talking all around him, the flesh quivering with each word it spoke. He could feel it probing around every inch of his flesh to find a way inside his body. He had never felt more glad of his bodysuit under his gear, as the image of the being entering from¡­ that¡­ area suddenly filled his mind. His lungs were burning now, the urge to take a breath rising, a reflex he knew he couldn¡¯t fully stop. He had stopped thrashing a little while ago, trying to conserve as much of his dwindling air as he could. He could no longer hear Whitt and the others trying to get him free, and he hated that he even considered that they had abandoned him, but the fear was tainting his every thought and emotion now. Finally he could hold on no longer, his pulse pounding loudly in his ears, and throbbing in his chest. His body demanded oxygen and even knowing what was coming he was powerless to stop himself. His mouth opened and he tried to take a deep breath, immediately filling his mouth and throat with the creatures gooey black flesh. ¡°Finally you relent. I was growing tired of waiting.¡± Chapter 18 Alex felt his entire body tense up as the Primaris forced its way in through his mouth. Acting on instinct, the muscles in his throat clenched tightly against the intruding force. The Primaris simply laughed and tore it¡¯s way through, causing Alex to scream in mute agony as sharp pain lanced into him as his throat was savaged. For a few seconds, Alex¡¯s entire world was backlit in the fiery glow of agony until¡­ it stopped. The pain ended suddenly, leaving behind a calm void in contrast. The stark difference shocked him, causing him to recoil. He couldn¡¯t. Panic started, as he kept trying to move his body and finding himself unable. ¡°WHAT THE FUCK!¡± He screamed into his mind, fear turning to rage and anguish. Then, before his eyes, his hand began to move without his input. It was like he was watching a movie from his own viewpoint, and he had no more control over his actions than a normal spectator. He watched as the hand, HIS hand, waved about in front of his face, fingers clenching and unclenching with growing fervor. Then he heard a voice. ¡°Perrrr...fect! No wonder you were able to perform so well against me in that form! Whilst our overall levels were so far apart, your foundation¡­ Your foundation is exquisite. Oh how right we were to lock down your realm and let you grow outside of the constraint of the System¡­¡± Alex shivered at hearing the Primaris bastardising his voice. But he forced himself to listen. The Primaris had just let slip multiple snippets of unknown information. The ¡°Neth¡± or whatever they were called were responsible for his universe being cut off, and apparently it was to essentially fatten up the inhabitants ready for takeover. But to what end? These questions were pushed aside again as Alex watched himself begin to stand, forcing his way through the remnants of the fleshy black substance. Whittaker and the rest of the team had made a hasty retreat from the cocoon-like object once they heard muffled noise from within, thinking that their constant barrage of attacks was causing Alex harm. They sent one member back to let Nieve and the others know what had happened, then set up the rest of the squad in a loose perimeter around the black cocoon. A few tense minutes after the noises had been heard, a crack appeared and rapidly expanded as Alex rose slowly from the remnants. ¡°Alex, thank Frigid that you are okay!¡± Whitt yelled as they started to move towards him. Alex seemed to be paying no attention, so Whitt rushed to close the rest of the distance and check on their friend. Whitt got within a few paces when Alex suddenly lashed out at them with his right arm. His suddenly outlandishly long arm. Immediately Whittaker screamed for full retreat as they attempted to dodge the myriad of thrashing blows being sent their way. ¡°Alex?!¡± A bubbling laugh punctuated with a harsh spray of crimson came from Alex¡¯s mouth. ¡°Afraid not. Alex left the building a little while ago, but he so kindly left me this old thing.¡± Not-Alex used it¡¯s other arm to gesture toward itself without stopping its barrage of attacks towards Whittaker. Whitt felt their heart plummet at hearing this. How could they have let this happen to him? He had literally risked himself time and again to assist them with their mission, without really asking for anything for himself. And now he was gone¡­ Diving aside to dodge another swipe Whitt let out a guttural roar of anguish. Alex watched on in horror as all of this happened, a mere passenger in his own body. He didn¡¯t know what he could do now, and so he was forced to watch on as his friends were beset upon. Luckily the Primaris didn¡¯t seem to be able to access all of his abilities yet, and was instead relying on its own ¡®natural¡¯ weapons. Small mercies. As he listened to what the Primaris was saying, Alex realised something. It thought he was gone entirely, rather than just locked away in here. Was there a way he could use this to his advantage? Alex tried to look around, but found that he was unable to do so. He couldn¡¯t close his eyes or look away either. Frustrated, he imagined he was slamming his hand on a table. His body seemed to respond to this as he inadvertently caused a swipe from the Primaris to veer off course and lodge his arm into the solid floor of the warehouse. ¡°Holy shit, was that me?¡± Whittaker and the rest of their team were struggling against the creature. It had managed to separate them all, and was slowly wearing them down with its relentless barrage of flailing attacks. Added to this was the fact that none of them wanted to hurt the creature as it was still technically Alex, even if as far as they were concerned he had already died. Whitt watched on in horror as the Sergeant caught a solid blow and went sailing into a couple of their soldiers. Not-Alex¡¯s face twisted into a horrific parody of a grin as it readied a blow that was sure to end them all. It slammed its arm down and the rising dust cloud obscured Whitt¡¯s view completely, but they were surely crushed, and this knowledge hammered yet another blow deep into Whittaker. Were any of them going to be able to survive to see this mission through at this point? A frustrated sounding bellow drew Whitt from their introspection. Looking over towards the creature, Whitt saw through the clearing dust that the Sergeant and the other soldiers were still alive, and the damning blow had somehow missed them completely. The creature was looking at it¡¯s arm in complete shock, unable to comprehend what it was seeing. Suddenly the same arm came up and punched itself square in the jaw, causing it to stumble backwards and fall over it¡¯s own feet. ¡°WhAT?! What is thiS?!¡± Not-Alex bellowed in sheer disbelief before seeming to answer its own question. ¡°Surprise BITCH! Thought you¡¯d gotten rid of me didn¡¯t ya? Guess again!¡± And with that, the strangest battle Whitt had ever seen began to unfold in front of them. Apparently Alex wasn¡¯t as dead as the creature had thought, and now he was PISSED! And fighting to regain control over his own body. After his swift realisation that extreme emotion apparently still allowed him some control over his body, Alex gave in to his bottled emotions, uncorking everything he had suppressed over the last few days and aiming it squarely at the Primaris. Alex imagined himself throwing a haymaker straight at his own face and was elated when after a slight delay he watched as the blow came in full-speed, knocking his body back. He heard the Primaris yelling for answers, and with a huge flex of will Alex mentally screamed his answer in response. ¡°Surprise BITCH! Thought you¡¯d gotten rid of me didn¡¯t ya? Guess again!¡± Alex imagined himself with a huge, shit-eating grin plastered on his face. The next few minutes were a bit of a blur as Alex watched intently for any movement from the Primaris, and dedicated himself to thwarting any action. Thanks to the slight delay in his directions, what ended up happening looked hilarious to him as he kept grabbing his own arm mid-action, or throwing his opposite leg out and causing the Primaris to fall back on its ass. The Primaris was growing more and more enraged as this continued, and Alex found his actions easier and easier to project. After falling over for what seemed like the 100th time, Alex took control of his mouth again. ¡°I WILL keep you here indefinitely. You will NEVER use my body to hurt my friends. I will wait until you lapse for a split second, and then I¡¯ll drive my weapon through my skull before allowing you another second in full control!¡± Almost like being bumped in a queue, Alex almost felt himself get shoved out of the way as the Primaris spoke. ¡°HOW?! You should have been destroyed when I took your form! This is IMPOSSIBLE!¡± Alex chuckled to himself. ¡°You¡¯ve never fucked with Nexian Humans before. We don¡¯t really like being told what to do.¡± Alex wanted to keep the Primaris off balance and angry for as long as possible. ¡°Hey Whitt! Can you and the others find a way to restrain me at all? I¡¯m fairly sure I can keep myself from lashing out now!¡± Whittaker watched all of this unfold with their mouth slowly dropping open further. They could vaguely remember what had happened with the parasites, and they had been able to slowly feel themselves being eroded away. Watching Alex somehow wrestle control from something far stronger was insane. When Alex shouted for them to restrain him, Whitt looked around for something without a second thought. If Alex said he could control his body, he had their full trust. At this point Nieve and the others finally ran over. ¡°Whitt! What¡¯s happening? They said something happened to Alex? And we heard a huge crash¡­¡± ¡°I''ll explain later, have any of you got something to help me restrain Alex? Something strong!¡± Whitt rushed out, continuing their search for something. Everyone went through their packs until Yas pulled out a length of Fros-steel and shaped it into a length of braided cable. ¡°This should do, but why are we restraining Alex?¡± Yas asked with a look of worry. ¡°He got possessed by¡­ whatever it was that we found in the back of the warehouse¡­¡± Whitt replied before taking the cable and rushing towards the still twitching Alex. ¡°I¡¯m gonna do it now Alex, please don¡¯t wreck me¡­¡± Whitt proceeded to wrap the cable around Alex, securely immobilising him. There were a few scares when Alex didn¡¯t catch an action quick enough, but overall they managed it. ¡°Foolish Frigidia...urk¡­ Sorry Whitt, thanks. This arsehole is really figh¡­ I WILL FLAY YOUR BODIES BARE!¡± Backing away slowly, Whitt looked to the rest of the group. ¡°So¡­ yeah. Alex got possessed and is currently trying to fight the creature''s control. As you can see, it''s only kind of working¡­¡± Silence descended upon the group, punctuated by the two sides of Alex having their continued argument behind them. Eira was first to speak. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!??¡°What can we do to help him? We are running out of time to finish the mission, and without Alex we stand no chance of success.¡± Everyone shared a glance at Alex, before looking at the floor, racking their brains to figure out what to do now. Alex would have been sweating if he could. The constant warring for control with the Primaris was starting to seriously tax his cognisance. During one particularly long calm period Alex was surprised to see a system message appear to him. Alex, we are more sorry than you can fathom. This should never have happened to you, or your realm. Nexus was supposed to be the future for all realms. A way for us to stop any arguments arising between the others by showing that all realms were able to co-exist with a little work. The Neth shouldn¡¯t even exist in the first place. Without getting into too much detail as time is short, they are an amalgamation of every negative feeling, every dark thought had by every inhabitant of every realm. We don¡¯t know how this happened, but this is what we have been able to figure out so far. As far as We can tell, the possession is irreversible. That you have been able to resist it as you have thus far should shock us, but add that to the list of feats you surprised us with. As you know, We are unable to interfere directly in the realms. However, as this crisis has now at least partially transcended the realms we are refusing to stay back any longer. We are granting you 2 days grace. We will actively suppress the Primaris and allow you to maintain control for the entirety of that time, however, after that period elapses your body will become completely locked off to you. There is no other alternative we have been able to find at this time, and for that we are truly sorry Alex. ~Veil Alex read the message again, then let out a low growl. So. This was it. He had 2 days left, then he was dead one way or another. Fuck. Now back in control of his body completely, Alex could feel the suppressed consciousness of the Primaris at the back of his mind like an itch. It was raging against its bonds, but also howling with glee that it would have his form sooner rather than later. Looking around, he saw his friends and the soldiers crowded together nearby. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m in control again. The Veil suppressed the Primaris and allowed me to regain control¡­¡± He slowed as he was unsure on whether to tell his friends about his time limit. Everyone looked over to him in relief. ¡°For now, keep me locked up so you can verify i¡¯m me again, but we need to head back to the Council compound and finish this right now. All of you deserve retribution for what has happened to you.¡± ¡°Leave you locked up?¡± Nieve looked uncomfortable at this, but Whitt and the Sergeant nodded their heads. ¡°He¡¯s right Nieve. We need to verify that he is actually back in control, and this allows us to observe him in relative safety. For tonight, I suggest we camp here with a watch on Alex to make sure nothing happens. Tomorrow? We head back and do what we can to fuck up those pricks in the compound.¡± Whitt explained, laying out the apology and the plan in one swift move. That night, Alex¡¯s friends all took turns to monitor him and discuss plans for the attack. After a few hours Alex finally passed out from exhaustion, simply falling onto his side where he sat. The Primaris was there in his dreams, mocking him, and making light of the fact he was dead in just a couple of days. Alex woke frequently because of this, and each time his growing rage towards the Primaris and the Neth was stoked further and further until he finally vowed that if he was dying, the Primaris and Neth would suffer as well. Oath accepted. Morning finally came and after a brief flurry of activity Whittaker and the Sergeant had everyone organised and ready to march on the compound. Yas and Zerath had spent most of the night waking up batches of the Fridigians in stasis and filling them in on what had happened to their people. Not everyone that was awoken wished to take part in the attack, but they all agreed to head to the deserted housing that Alex and the others had come through the previous day to await the outcome. Whilst Alex was frustrated by the shortsightedness of this approach, because if their attack failed then the Neth would surely be back to round them up and put them back into stasis, he didn¡¯t begrudge them their choice after just finding out that their entire lives were a collective fallacy. Alex was hoisted onto Whittakers back for the march, as he requested that he only be let free once they were closer to their goal. Their rough plan was to get as close to the compound as possible before they were spotted, and then just rush en masse once the element of surprise had been lost. Not an elegant plan, but their enemy was sure to still be on high alert after their escape yesterday. Alex, Nieve, Whittaker and Eira were going to attempt to use the fighting outside as a diversion to allow them to make their way back down into the tunnels and then try to find whatever device was the cause of all of this mess and shut it down for good. Once they were on their way Alex found he had some time to himself and decided to take one last look at his flashing notifications. !Warning! Malicious outside entity detected. Immediate removal needed! Primaris entity deals #!*% damage! Primaris entity begi..finishes possession. You have di...Conciousness held. Alex entity channels rage slam¡­ Success. Alex entity channels rage voice¡­ Success. Alex quickly scrolled past the 100s of similar messages as he and the Primaris battled for control, until he reached the section he was looking for. Veil successfully casts Total Suppression on Primaris entity. Alex entity regains motor control over body. Access to previous skills blocked by Neth infection. Gain access to new Class and Skill: Nethromorph. Nethromorph class Inherits all previous levels from host form alongside existing levels. Error! Nethromorph class incompatible with controlling entity. Resolving¡­ Nethromorph class incompatibility resolved at 60% success. Host level inheritance intact. Pre-existing levels reduced from 328 to 197. Combined level 266. See stat panel for breakdown. Alex¡¯s jaw dropped and he started coughing in shock. Having accessed the prompt Alex could now feel the changes taking place within his body. He had gained nearly 200 levels in an instant! Sure he could no longer access any of his previous skills or classes, but for that kind of boost, especially under the current circumstances? He could take that loss with a smile on his face. He opened his stats panel ready to see what had happened but there was nothing there apart from some red jumbled letters and a little error triangle. What the hell? Guess he wasn¡¯t meant to be able to access and view these changes after all. Looking to his HP and Energy bars he saw that they too had been altered. His energy bar was gone entirely and his HP was now sitting at¡­ NEARLY 60000! No wonder the fights they had had with these creatures up until now had been so hard. With that level of health it was like fighting 15-20 of him in pure stats alone. ¡°Alex, we¡¯re getting close to the compound now. We need to find somewhere to hole up and finalise the plan.¡± Nieve appeared next to him, causing him to jump slightly. They were this close already? They had only set off a few minutes ago, surely? ¡°We¡¯re here already? Didn¡¯t we just leave?¡± He voiced his question, garnering himself a look of worried confusion from all nearby. ¡°You¡¯ve been staring off at nothing for nearly 3 hours whilst we marched Alex¡­ We weren¡¯t sure what was wrong, but as you weren¡¯t causing any danger we left you alone. We¡¯ve been trying to get your attention for a little while now.¡± Eira joined Nieve and explained. Alex didn¡¯t bother to hide the shocked look on his face. 3 hours? He had only been reading his messages for a few minutes¡­ Unless¡­ The class incompatibility must have caused him to blank out without realising. ¡°Sorry¡­ I was reading through my system messages. Got a real doozy apparently. Check my level out!¡± He exclaimed. Everyone crowded around and inspected Alex, before letting out various exclamations. Whitt voiced theirs first. ¡°What the fuck Alex? 266? Explain, please.¡± Alex recoiled slightly at the harsh tone before filling everyone in on what had happened to him. From start to finish, including his now day and a half time limit. His friends all reacted as he had expected them to, which filled him with both overwhelming happiness and a crushing sadness at the same time. He had known these people for such a short time, and yet felt more of a bond with them than any of his friends and family back home. The plan was gone over one last time and everyone present, which was now over 400 in total, knew their individual role to play. Alex was released from his restraints and joined up with Nieve, Eira and Whitt at the edge of their little camp to say their goodbyes to Yas as none of them were under any illusions as to their chances of making it back. All too soon, the call to battle was sounded and the freshly released troops began their charge at the outer compound. Their sole purpose was to cause as much havoc as possible to ensure Alex¡¯s little strike team was able to get inside. With one last smile and a little wave, Alex put his newly gained class to the test and rocketed towards the building, leaving his friends behind with shocked expressions.