《The Technic Master》 Not a chapter. So this might make a few of you mad. Might not. I''ll Be restarting the story. I realized as was writing the last few chapters I kind of rushed through the trip home. I also advanced the MCs power too fast. There is a lot I could have done with his trip back to his home town. So I''ll be starting the story over. The upside to all this is I''ve got a better world outline now. Also I''ve been laying out a more interesting "system". A.I. driven systems have been done before but not like I''m planning to do mine. (I don''t think).If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. So wanted to give my loyal readers a heads up since my stories have gone on Hiatus status. I haven''t vanished. And I''m going to keep writing both stories. I''m currently working on making enough chaps to have a buffer so you guys don''t have to wait a month per chap. I''m gonna aim for a chap a week for both stories. Since I''m rewriting the story I thought id give you guys an opportunity to input things you might like to see going forward that maybe I missed or could have done better. So let me know below, thanks. Prologue No one knows how the system began. Theorem are as vast as the stars. I hope to be alive when the creators of the system are found...but I doubt I will be. - Vesser De''vagen Imperial Scholar I ducked as a panel down the hall exploded in smoke and sparks. Reaching behind I grabbed my apprentice by the hand and dragged her through the smoke. "Hurry we have to get to the core before the Vdan and Wogoran get here." I said. "Yes, master." She said in a terrified voice. At the end of the hall was a blast door. Formed of our most advanced crystocrete it was over ten feet thick and could withstand even the phase cannons of a Wogoran Juggernaut. I slapped my hand against the bio reader in panic as I heard the doors behind us screech open. As I dragged my apprentice through the door I glanced behind us. Coming down the hall were no less than seven Vdan Centurions. Four-legged centauroid monsters with the latest in bio-tactical armor and flank mounted screamers. Each carried a Mk VII plasma cannon. As I slapped the internal lock the lead Vdan shouldered his launcher and fired. I ducked as the doors closed but caught a partial blast on my left upper arm as the plasma hit the door frame and splashed inside the room. Inside the room was a small pedestal. Sitting on it was a small control unit. No bigger than my hand, it contained the hopes and dreams of my people.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Walking quickly towards the console I heard a click and a whine as something charged behind me. I paused, looking behind me. My apprentice stood holding a tiny hand weapon pointed at me. "You betray your people Kealia? You betray me?" I asked calmly. "I''m sorry Gaered, they have my sister. I must stop you or they will kill her!" She said as tears streamed down her face. I closed my eyes in sadness. I wanted to help, but if I didn''t do what I came for none of our people would survive. So I opened my eyes and turned back to the console before me. "I''m sorry Kealia, but the survival of our species is at stake. I cannot let you stop me." I said as I pressed a small stud on my lower right arm bracer. A shield sprang to life between us as she fired. The crystal alloy dart ricocheted off the shield and hit the far wall shattering. Placing my hand on the console I waited as it scanned my biometrics molecule by molecule. After a few seconds, a voice spoke. "Welcome Grand Sciences Administrator, how can I help you today?" The voice said. "What is the status of Project Guardian?" I asked. "Project Guardian is at 100% Administrator. It can be initialized at your convenience." The voice said. I stopped as I heard giggling behind me. There was a kind of madness in it. Turning I saw Kealia rocking back and forth on the floor holding her knees. "You don''t understand. They have their own Guardian, I gave them everything. It''s set to activate as soon as you turn ours on. Nothing we did matters." She said. "Yes dear, I know. I''m sorry, we knew you were a spy. We fed them corrupted data through you. While their A.I. will work it won''t be as good as ours. We will win." I said as I turned back to the console. "Activate Project Guardian," I said with pride in my voice. "Not against both of them we won''t." She said with sadness. I turned to her quickly as horror filled me. Then the doors blew in. One crushed Kialia instantly. The other slammed through the shield, folded me at the waist and slammed me into the console behind me. The room began to flood with troops. I knew I was dying as I coughed up a liter of nano-enhanced blood. With my last breath, I said. "Guardian. Initiate System Protocols." A light so bright it rivaled the creation of the multiverse erupted. As my life faded I saw a blue screen appear and the words. System Initializing... Chapter 1 I was driving out of the Eisenhower tunnel above Denver when the system came to earth. When blue screens started populating my vision I knew two things. One, humanity was in deep shit. And two, I had no desire to get passed by drivers trying to read and drive at the same time. Fortunately, there is a nice wide area just outside the tunnel to park. Pulling over I popped my air brakes and began to read the screens. System Integration Starting. Scanning Universe 62634. Commencing A.I. Population. Ra A.I. Online. Hermes A.I. Online. Vulcan A.I. Online. Terra A.I. Online. Ares A.I. Online. Indra A.I. Online. Cronus A.I. Online. Beira A.I. Online. Poseidon A.I. Online. System Note: Dwarf Planets are not a thing. All Extraorbital Bodies NOT designated Planets will be deconstructed for terraforming purposes. System Requires 24 hours to fully assimilate Universe 62634. Class Choices will be unlocked at that time. I didn''t even hesitate. As soon as the message left I dropped my rig in to drive and gunned it. I knew I needed to get off the mountain fast. I''d read a ton of System Apocalypse stories on places like Goobazon and Kings Highway. So I had some idea of what was coming. I was honestly surprised my rig even worked at this point. Most of the stories I''d read, indigenous tech stopped working. From guns to car engines every story I''d read the tech died. People all over the road had stopped to read the message or gunned it and read as they drove. The road was full of confused drivers hauling ass down the mountain or to whatever place they called home. Which now that I thought about it wasn''t much of a stretch from the usual drivers I had to deal with. As I made it to the last stretch of road down into Denver I could see columns of smoke rising from several places inside Denver. While I hadn''t seen any monsters yet I knew they were coming. They always did in the stories I''d read. I was just praying whatever showed up I had the firepower to deal with. As I began picking up speed down the mountain another system message hit me. System Message. Now beginning planet-wide power draw for Dungeon generation. Please find a safe place to stay while environmental changes occur. Then my damn engine died. I hit the brakes hard and rode my dead weight truck to the shoulder. As I did I could feel a massive energy charge in the air. I looked up and above Denver, a giant storm cloud was being generated. It looked just like a funnel cloud only it was being sucked up away from the ground. There was a blinding flash of light and a massive stream of energy shot into the ground dead center of Denver. When it was done there was a massive black spire easily as tall as the Eiffel Tower. It looked like a Roman column. There was a weird electronic tracery of what looked like liquid crystal mixed with other materials. I was pretty far away so the details weren''t super clear but it was an amazing sight from where I was. System Message. Continental Dungeons Generated. Generating Content. Dungeons will open after Class Selection Protocols have completed.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. That''s when I began to hear screams. I knew it was coming and it still surprised me. Again I didn''t hesitate, being a combat vet will do that to you. I''d been a prepper all my life. Add in 3 tours in the sandbox and six more years as a "no such group" member and, well you get the idea. So I hopped out of the seat of my dead truck and went in the bunk to grab my toys. After I''d retired id used my connections to fast track a class three license. Then I''d opened "Tac-Ti-Kill Advantage", a business catering to everyone from local cops and Feds to Military Contractors. Lifting my bunk shelf, I looked in the under compartment and began taking inventory. Ar15 custom rigged and chambered for the 7.62x51. Check. 100lb ruck with survival supplies for a week including everything from mylar blankets to freeze-dried rations? Check. Custom harness for reloads and miscellaneous" need it now" tools and knives? Check. Grabbing everything I pulled it all out and began to gear up. The shittiest thing was my truck was full of new gear for the store. I was hoping it would be ok till I could come back for it but honestly, I wasn''t betting on it. Slapping a 100 round dual drum mag into place and chambering a round I looked out the windows to see if I could spot anything. It looked clear so I hopped out the side closest to the shoulder and, using the truck and shoulder rail as cover began to head for the back of the truck. I needed one more thing before I could leave. Opening the lock on the back with my keys I popped the right door open and climbed up. Most of the inventory was new weapons and ammo with a few specialized orders like the mk19 sitting tripoded on the left. What I wanted was stacked on the right. Under a tarp were four 1000 round boxes of tungsten core 7.62x51. I''d gone in with a friend of mine and ordered us custom loads. We''d split the cost since the shit was almost $7000.00 a case. Worth it though since, you know, Apocalypse and all. They were heavy as shit so I grabbed the little four-wheel ammo cart and dropped it out the back. Then I moved the ammo to the door, climbed out and began loading the cart. There was still a bunch of screaming and it sounded like it was coming closer. Looking up the mountain I saw clouds of smoke and a crowd of people fleeing as fast as they could. Some tripped and fell rolling under the feet of others. Now I''m no hero, I''ve done some truly questionable shit for my country, that doesn''t exactly leave you with a lot of empathy. Or at least it didn''t with me, maybe some people can not have nightmares and get on with their lives and what not. I retired and buried myself in what I loved most. Explodey stuff. That said there were people carrying kids up there. As I watched one woman stumbled and fell holding a toddler, maybe three or four years old. She used her body to cover the kid so it didn''t take any damage from the fall. The dude running next to her stopped and helped her up, but now she was limping and crying. There must have been at least a hundred or so people streaming down the mountain with more coming behind. So I did what any good soldier does and assessed the situation. Unknown threat. Check. Civilians in danger (specifically kids). Check. Trailer full of ordinance? Motherfucking check. I knew I wasn''t gonna be out running whatever was coming. The crowd was moving fast and with all my gear, unless I wanted to take a path through the woods in an unknown situation, I was gonna have to face this. Taking the cart and my ruck behind the trailer I set them next to each other. Then I climbed back in as people started to stream past. Dragging the Mk19 to the door I grabbed three cases of mixed ammo and dropped it near the door as well. I had a ladder strapped to the inside of the trailer along the left wall. Grabbing that I hopped out and set it up so I could climb on top of the trailer. Then I hauled that heavy as shit Mk19 up there and dropped it so I had clear lines of sight over the crowd and a reasonable chance to not blow the crowd to shit. I crawled back down and grabbed my ruck, leaving the cart leaning against the rail. Then I began grabbing ammo cases and popping them open. I had three types. White Phosphorus, High Explosive and Incendiary. So I began linking them together in one long ass chain of "fuck you". As I started linking the forty mike mike I heard a loud noise from up the mountain. Looking up from my work I saw, I shit you not, a flood of Ewoks. That''s what they looked like. Little furry two-legged bears. Some even had spears and staves. I also noticed I seemed to have drawn a crowd. A few of the people streaming past had noticed what I was doing and started trying to ask me ridiculous questions. Stuff like "what are you doing mister?" "Do you have a permit for that mister?" "Can you give me a ride mister?" I tuned them out. You can''t talk to stupid and I didn''t have time for them anyway. As the last of the crowd streamed past I checked the range. The max effective range of the Mk19 is about 1600 yards. I figured I''d let them get to a thousand then open the dance. I didn''t have a ton of ammo but I was betting I wouldn''t need it. Each case held 48 rounds which linked gave me just under 150 rounds. That''s a lot of pain. Especially when you can rapid fire 60 rounds a minute, or single fire, or just drop 40 rounds per minute sustained. That''s what I had planned. At the first "Whump" from the barrel, several people in the small crowd around me screamed. I ignored this and started dropping rounds down range. Now I''ve seen some shit. But I gotta say I''ve never seen a crowd full of teddy bears explode and fly through the air. I''ll admit I started laughing as I began servicing targets. It didn''t take much. Some took direct hits and exploded showering their little brown buddies in gore and fire. Some dropped from the explosions or from white phosphorus setting their fuzzy asses on fire. The incendiary rounds were a special design id come up with for a friend. They were basically napalm coated mini Claymore. A solid core of Semtex set off by a contact fuse blowing small bb sized shrapnel in a 360 radius while also coating the area in an incendiary gel. I called them Hellstorm rounds. Those devastated the area. Honestly, I almost felt bad about it. They had no chance really. They tried to retreat but I had the range now. None survived. After the shit storm of death, I unloaded and dropped the remaining ammo into a case. Handing that down to one of my watchers I had him place it in the cart. I hadn''t been planning to take the Mk19 but I figured now I might need it. So I let the barrel cool down and unassed the top of the trailer. Then I dropped the tripod and laid the entire thing in my cart. After that I made sure the trailer was locked and secured. Looking up from my work I saw a few people staring at me in shock. So I grabbed my gear, strapping it all back on. I put my Ar15 in a tactical carry strapping it to my vest, grabbed my cart and began to walk down the mountain. As I started down I said over my shoulder. "let''s go people. I got places to be and shit to do, I ain''t got time to babysit." Chapter 2 The Eagle born to those who pledged their lives and sacred honors,as smiled upon by God and freed from chains and iron collar. He is held aloft on unity and by History revered,for preserving peace through strength his wings now reach across two hundred yearsbut for each of those, and one year more, God has smiled upon The Corps, from the Barbary Coast to the Eastern Sand, by sword, by gun, or by bare hand.So it''s been, and shall be weighed: though many are born, few are "made".Faithful Always, they shall remain...dogs to loose when war is waged. January 3, 2019 (Pre System) After about 15 minutes I felt like a goddamn idiot. This was one long-ass hill I was walking down. It went halfway into the middle of the north part of Denver. These stranded people could just drop in neutral and blow down the mountain. I''d coasted down in my rig doing 70 before. A car or truck should be no different. They wouldn''t have any defenses but as long as they had a home to hide in I was pretty sure the Leos could handle any monsters. I could take any of the people with kids who had no place to go with me until I could figure out what to do with them. "Hey, everyone gather round. New plan." I said. A bunch of people glanced around and came over. Some people were still sitting near their dead vehicles, not really doing anything but checking phones occasionally. Once I had a small group around I began my speal. "Ok listen up. Apparently, none of us, including me, remembered we''re on a fucking mountain. So if you have a vehicle and your home is nearby or close enough to coast too, you should definitely do that. You''ve all seen the critters, you all know more bad shit is likely. So if you can get home and if you have weapons there I suggest you do so before it gets dark. Most stories I read about this kinda thing said it gets bad after dark, but those were fiction. So for all I know, tonight you''ll get rainbows popping out of your collective asses and be fine. I''d recommend you error on the side of not dying however. If you have a kid and no place you can reach safely hang with me and I''ll take you to a safe place." I said in my best R. Lee Ermey impression. All of the people around me got thoughtful or sheepish looks on their faces and five minutes later vehicles of all kinds were zipping past me down 70. Half an hour or so later I was left with seventeen people. Three couples with a kid each and a couple of single moms and a single dad rounding it out with a few kids ranging from six to eighteen. Once it was clear I started looking for a vehicle that could take us all. Pickings were slim. I''d have gone to my truck but it had air brakes. If the engine ain''t running it generates no air so it might as well be an eighteen-wheel brick. Eventually, I just decided to say fuck it and jimmy a couple of the abandoned cars nearby. I guess people had left before we got here or had gotten into trouble. We piled in and I had the other car follow me. We picked up speed really fast. I''d grabbed a minivan and a Dodge Ram Longhorn Edition. The ram had a trailer attached. More weight equals more speed. I was tempted to grab some of my stock from the truck and load up this trailer. But there was no way it was coasting as far as I needed to go. So I decided to just pack it with people, two of the couples got in the minivan since it had seat belts. The rest of the kids ended up in the cab with me or in the trailer with the rest of the adults. Once we got rolling that thing picked up speed fast. We lost a little speed when I turned off the 70 to the 470 and took that east, but a lot of that was still downhill. We actually made it all the way to the Ken Caryl exit. Which was good because I knew there was a sheriff station near there. I could drop these civilians off and be about my business. I pulled us off the side of the road about a hundred yards from the exit. There were stalled cars all over the damn place blocking the road. I''d been kinda surprised to see no jams before this honestly, but you know what they say about gift horses. As we exited the vehicles I said. "Ok group up, we made great time. There is a sheriff station less than two miles away. Once we get there you can get help from them and you should be safe till this System crap finishes up." I said. It was mostly true. I could see several places across the city where fires had started. I could also hear a shit load of gunfire. My trained ear could pick out Ar15s, AK variants and a hell of a lot of nine-millimeter. Some of it sounded close too. One of the smaller kids came over to me. He looked about 5 or 6 with a mop of curly black hair and clear green eyes looking up at me. "Mister, are you an army man?" He asked. "Bite your tongue kid. I''m a member of the greatest fighting force ever assembled. The United States Marine Corps." I said. There may have been a bit of pride in my voice. The kid just looked confused. I sighed internally and tried to explain. "The Army is a different group. They do different jobs than the Marines. Especially my group. But I retired a couple of years ago." I said. "What group were you in mister?" He asked. "1st Raider Battalion. Master Gunnery Sergeant Buck Stevens at your service." I said. Then I reached down to shake his tiny hand. At my six foot six he was tiny next to me. I didn''t bother to go into all the other jobs I''d had outside of the MOS I was officially listed as. He wouldn''t have understood it all anyway. Once I shook his hand he ran back to his parents screaming "mommy, mommy, I shook the army mans hand." I facepalmed. Once everyone was ready we started walking. The Sheriff''s Department wasn''t much farther. Maybe six blocks down the ramp and around what was basically a frontage road. It was getting to be around 1300 if the sun was any indication. I''d let the kids have some of my jerky and water but I hadn''t wanted to give out much since I wasn''t sure when I could resupply. Depending on what I saw on the way home I could probably raid a few gas stations for more jerky. As we walked, I scanned the area. I''d seen a few weird critters when we were coasting down here. One had been a massive fire lizard. I was guessing a salamander of some kind but with no way to analyze it, I was going to avoid trying anything with something that size. I''d seen a giant bird of some kind and a few little two-legged green people. Some in groups as large as twenty. Twenty minutes later we made it to the block the station was on. We had heard the gunfire long since though. Apparently, it was in the middle of being turned into an ice cube. As we got closer I sent the civilians into one of the condos. The part of Denver we were in was one of the more affluent neighborhoods, it was built for the suburban golf club set. In fact, the botanical gardens and country club were across the road. As I shuffled them all inside I handed a green smoke grenade to the single dad. I explained how to use it and then turned to go. Then the kid I''d shook hands with came over and asked. "What are you gonna do now mister?" "I''m gonna go sing that big blue lizard a song." I said. Then I went back out the door. I heard the click behind me as I let the door shut behind me and they locked it. Starting forward I began to sing. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sergeant Laydon Tibbs was having a bad day. First, the entire city had lost power. As if that wasn''t bad enough two-thirds of the officers who should have been on duty had never shown and the backup generators had gone down. No one knew why. Even the damn radios weren''t working. Then this damn monster lizard had shown up. It had demolished three condos and had appeared to be building a nest of all things.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. He''d sent two of the deputies to see what the hell all the noise was. They hadn''t returned. Now they only had four deputies and himself. They had grabbed everything they could from the armory and blasted the crap out of the lizard. Nothing had worked, not 12 gauge slugs from the Remingtons, not the Ar15s, not the tear gas. Granted that last was like pissing on the thing. While that had been going on the freaking beast had been using some kind of breath ability to coat the entire front of the building in a sheet of ice. It seemed to be slowly trying to entomb them. "What the fuck is that." Said Karl Gibbons. A 3-year veteran of the sheriff''s department. We all listened hard. Then we heard the singing. One of the other deputies, a rookie we just hired a few months ago, began to laugh. "That gentleman is the fucking cavalry." He said. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "....Forged in a fire lit long ago, stand next to me, youll never stand alone, Im last to leave, but the first to go, Hard Corps is the only way I know. I feed on the fear of the devil inside, of the enemy faces in my sight. Aim with the hand, shoot with the mind, kill with a heart like arctic ice... I am a Devil-Dog Im marching on, I am a warrior and this is my song." I sang at the top of my lungs. The lizard had been watching me come down the sidewalk. It had large rear sweeping horns and a sort of frill around its neck. Kinda like those lizards from that Jurassic Park movie. I''ll be honest. It shocked the shit out of me when I got a block away and realized it was almost as big as the three-story building it was busy coating in ice. But I''d learned long ago to hide my emotions. As I began to cross the street it freaking spoke. "Who are you, that does not fear death?" It asked. It''s voice was deep. It sounds like it was gargling gravel. "Master Gunnery Sergeant Buck Stevens. At your service. And I''m going to have to ask you to leave the nice people inside alone. Or you and I are going to have a disagreement." I said. The beast snorted, spraying bluish frozen chunks of snot everywhere. Yuck. "You have no power pitiful creature. I sense no skills or magic about you. I claim this place as my nest. Go or I will eat you. These fools have already angered me. So I will save them for my young to consume." It said in that terrible voice. Now I''m not an idiot. I knew this thing was out of my league, probably. But I also knew the system was coming. Also since this creature seemed to be relatively reasonable I was having the glimmer of a bat shit crazy plan. A Raider Specialty. "You''re here because of the system yes?" I asked. She (nesting for young is generally a female animal thing, and I knew that) turned back to me and hissed. I just looked back calmly. You can''t back down from predators. No Fear, Oorah. "Yeah, I thought so. Look you clearly think you can''t be harmed by our weapons. What if I could prove otherwise? Moreover, what if I could show you a better place to nest. Near an abundant food source that isn''t my people? It''s even nearby." I said in a calm tone. She cocked her head at me. "You would have me let you harm me and not eat you? You are a foolish thing. Yes, the system set me here. My brood will be more powerful here growing on newly formed Aether. We will finally have our own territory." She said. That clued me into a couple of pieces of information. One, Aether was gonna be a thing and two, it was going to power up a lot of newly spawned critters. That was bad in a lot of ways since most of the world had no idea what the fuck was coming and was nowhere near ready for it. "Look, you seem like a mostly civil...what are you exactly? I don''t want to be rude and just call you lizard. Lady seems appropriate but I''m not real sure on that either." I said. "I am a Frost Drake. Dragon Kin, daughter of Hobazaxiz, Iceborne Calamity of Tornamix. You may address me as God, Supreme Overlord or Most High Excellency." She said rising up as high as she could on her four legs and puffing out her chest. I mentally facepalmed. No way was that happening. So I began again. "Look lady. You''re on my world. And as fierce as you may be you have zero idea what a pissed off Raider is capable of. You damn sure don''t have a clue about my weapons. So, we can do this two ways. You can leave these kind officers alone and follow me or I can kill you and make sure your brood never survives." I said. She most definitely didn''t like that. She spun fast and I saw her begin to generate a fog of cold gas from her jaws. It slowly began leaking across the ground. I sighed mentally and took off running to my right. As I did I shouldered my rifle and began fumbling with my pack. I slammed through the condo door just as a screech of frozen winds and icy shards came hissing up the walkway and slammed into the door, just as I closed it. Then I shivered. That was some serious fucking cold. And I''d done arctic cold-weather training. I had two thermite grenades in my pack so I dropped the pack and started digging. One of the things I''d always loved from the Halo series was sticky grenades. So one day while I was bored the company armorer and I had fucked around and figured out how to make them. We took duct tape and wrapped it around the outside of a thermite grenade. Much like you would if you were sticking a poster to a wall we looped the tape so it was sticky side out. Then we poured glue over it and heated it mildly so the two resins merged. They became a sticky gloppy mess, but they also stick to damn near anything. I had a lighter to melt the goop but it was an electric spark butane lighter. I''d tried it earlier and no joy. The battery was deader than this Ice Drake was about to be. I dug out both grenades and began to tape them together. I had to be fast because I could hear the bitch getting closer. Four fast loops of tape and I grabbed my bag and MOVED. I ran my ass out the back porch door and immediately cut left to go around the building, as I turned I heard a massive boom and a lot of breaking wood being thrown around. Peeking at what was left of the front of the house I sprinted as fast as my six foot six frame would go. I think I did ok considering I''ve been out for two years. I still maintain my fitness. Just not as rigorously. I could hear mama rooting around behind me as I cut left again and took a position near the corner of the condo directly across from the police station and the street it was on. Then I dropped my gear shouldered my rifle and began looking for a soft target. The sight picture was great from my position. My Trijicon ACOG Hybrid was designed with both CQB (Close Quarters Battle) as well as mid-range accuracy in mind. The main sight was a 6x32 dual illuminated light with hash marks for incremental range adjustments. It hadn''t been cheap but it had been totally worth it. Earlier I''d noticed she lifted her frill when she used her breath weapon. So I waited patiently. I was fairly sure I could punch through her scales. My Tungsten Penetrators were designed to punch through Class IV body armor. That''s basically inch thick ceramic/kevlar plated inserts. Normally they stop everything except .50 Cal. After a few more minutes of her rooting around, I heard her huff loudly and say something that sounded like FINE! Then her frill started to light up with a new glow. It was a deep aquamarine color on the edged fading to a neon icy blue as it crept towards her neck. Then with a woosh, she opened her jaws wide and let loose. It was impressive. A massive beam of energy left her jaws and the area inside the building exploded in frost and ice. It was impressive till I shot her in the back of the neck right where I figured her spine to be. She jet out a weird "yarp" sound like someone just kicked her in the ovaries and thrashed hard. The house absolutely exploded. It was pretty much good for kindling and not a lot else at this point. I gave her a chance to recover for a second then put another round in her just where her tail merged with her ass. More squealing and thrashing ensued. Then I called out to her. "Look I can do this all day, I got more shots than you got scales lady. That was two shots. And not even in particularly vital areas. The next one''s going in your eye. Pretty sure I can penetrate your skull from there and damage your brain. And that''s not even touching you with my other ordinance. So we need to come to an agreement right fucking now. Or I''m going to finish the job." I said. Either she had the full measure of draconic ego or she was in rage beast mode. Cause as soon as I started talking she screeched, whirled around in the mess she''d made and charged me hard. I figured fuck it. My next offer wasn''t gonna be nearly as nice. Truth was I had other plans for her. I''d kill her if I had to but that wasn''t the goal here. So I pulled the pins on both thermites and threw them at her. They arced over in a perfect quarterback dream throw. And she fucking spun and slapped it back in my direction with her goddamn tail. I had an oh shit moment, then grabbed my ruck and hauled ass around the corner. The only thing that saved me was the fact that they weren''t Firestorm grenades. Thermite doesn''t explode it just burns really hot. Like, burn through your car hood and entire engine block hot. She came back around and charged me again as I scrambled around the corner and booked it down the side of the building. Just as I reached the corner and hooked another left to get out of sight the fucking wall tilted and smacked me so hard I flew through the property fence line and into the neighbor''s yard. It fucking hurt. I shook off the daze and looked up to see the house I''d been next to looked like a goddamn chinese takeout box. Narrow on the bottom and the walls all at a 45-degree angle sloping up. The shit was barely holding together. It looked like she''d reared up and slammed half her body into the roof. Fuck that noise. I pulled out my last Firestorm. This was a handheld prototype I''d been working on for sale. It was about 40% more powerful than the 40mm versions I''d used earlier. I dropped it in the Frag pouch next to my pistol holster and stood up. "Ok bitch, let''s git sum." I murmured to myself. Then standing completely in the open I waited for her to lift her head out of the wreckage, sighted in, and started unloading my entire magazine into her face. Rearing back she raised her left claw to try to cover her face. It didn''t stop me though. I could see spurts of blood coming from her head and claw. I''d been going for the left eye as that was the side I was on but everything happened so fast I wasn''t sure I had gotten it. My last round left the chamber and I did a quick change dropping the mag with my right hand while my left grabbed and slotted a fresh 100 round tungsten magazine. I was burning through ammo fast. I''d only had three dual drums loaded for a demo I''d been headed for. Once this was gone I had one left. And I''d already seen how effective normal ammo was on this beast. I hit the slide release and chambered another round. Not my fastest mag switch ever but 2 seconds ain''t bad. I waited for a second to see what she was doing. So far she was still cowering. It looked like she was peeking between her clawed digits? The fuck? I waited for another shot at her eye. Neither of us moved. Then I heard a weird gurgle-chortle-snort, it took me a second to realize she was crying! "All I wish is to have my own territory. Ever since I arrived on this wretched world people either run from me try to attack me or throw weird farty smell bombs at me. Why can''t you all just leave me be?" She asked. "Look lady we went over this. You pissed my first two offers away. I only got one left and judging by the last two your gonna hate it. And probably try to kill me again. Then I''ll have to turn you into Drake kabobs. So why don''t you just go on your merry way." I said as she continued to cower and peek at me. Something didn''t smell right. And it wasn''t farty bombs. "I can''t just leave, I have been assigned to this territory. The only way I can leave is if someone steals my territory or defeats me in combat." She said. "Didn''t I just do that?" I asked. "Well yes, but it doesn''t count now. It has to happen once System Is fully online. Then you gain special bonuses and rewards." She said. "So you''re saying if we do this shit again after the twenty-four hours is up you can go and we won''t have any more problems." I said. She nodded her massive head, finally lowering her claws. Something smelled off here but she seemed genuinely interested in no longer fighting. "Alright here''s the deal. Go wait at the nest you made. I''ll send one of the cops over to keep people from messing with you. If they won''t I''ll come myself. In return you keep things from eating me. And once the system is finished we will part ways after I beat you again. Fair?" I asked. She nodded her head in agreement and turned and headed off. I watched her go for a minute then grabbed my shit and headed for the cop shop. On the way there I stopped and grabbed the people I''d brought. It was gonna be a long night. Hopefully, the leos had some goddamn Tylenol. Getting hit with walls fucking hurts. Chapter 3 It took about an hour to get everyone inside and situated. There wasn''t much food in the place. Some stale donuts, a vending machine. Everyone sort of dropping wherever it was convenient. There were some couches in the offices we pulled out for the kids to sleep on. After that, I got my Tylenol and cleaned up a bit with some bottled water and alcohol from the first aid kit. Turns out getting blasted through a 8-foot tall oak panel fence tends to leave splinters. I pulled one out of my bicep as long as my finger. I hadn''t even noticed it when it happened and afterward, it was just sorta part of the general pain. I talked to the cops for a half-hour after that, making sure they would see these people safe, turns out none of them wanted to go hang out with a Frost Drake so I ended up going. I cleaned and reloaded my rifle with more tungsten rounds. I gave a few boxes of those to the marine who was now a rookie. He was sniper qualified and they had a nice 30.06 with a 24x scope. Then I grabbed my ruck, some sour cream, and onion chips and headed out. One of my favorite Maddison quotes is "be polite, be respectful, but have a plan to kill everybody." In the Raiders we lived by that motto. So it''s no surprise I was planning my ass off as I made my way the few blocks to the nest. As I got closer I began to feel like I was being watched. There was an oppressive feeling to the air, like a weight pushing down on my shoulders. There were four demolished houses that had been shoved into a hole in the center of an intersection. Lying atop this nest of crushed wood, drywall, particleboard, and shingles was the drake. I could see her watching me as I approached so I tried to keep to cover, but honestly, there wasn''t much of that. A couple of cars here and there. I was about a hundred yard from the neat when she spoke. "Good. You have kept your word." She said in that gravelly voice. "Yes, ma''am. Marines are good at that. We honor our oaths and keep to our duties. That said we need to figure this thing out. There isn''t much time until the system arrives." I said. "Less than you know. Soon challengers will arrive to try to claim territories here and steal the power of those who have already come. Since you have kept your word I will offer you a trade. Help me defeat the challenger and I will grant you a boon." She said. I considered that. A boon sounded interesting. If I could work it right I might even be able to get her to not eat humans and defend the city from major attacks. So I set down to haggling. We went back and forth for about an hour. By the end of it, I agreed to help her defend her territory as well as speak to the local government (whoever that happened to be at the end of this) and get them to provide food. In return, she would refrain from eating any humans who didn''t attack or invade her territory (it was apparently 400 Square yards) and help defend the city five times per solar cycle (year). We also discussed the giant pillar which she called a dungeon. She said it would have meat from harvested creatures inside as well as free-roaming monsters outside the city. That''s what she would get as food, meaning we wouldn''t have to dig into whatever the city had for supplies for the people here. Sure I didn''t really have any pull with the city, but who''s gonna argue with a frost drake that will eat you if you go back on your word? I was already planning to check out the dungeon when it opened so it wasn''t any skin off my back to bring food for the big girl. To be honest, I was really really hoping she would be agreeable to a partnership with me, I was already imagining a platform saddle like the ones from that Dino Island game mounted on her back fitted with Vulcans on each corner. After that, we just sorta sat there keeping each other company. The oppressive weight got worse and worse. Finally, she said. "It''s here." Raising her head to the sky she began to croon. I tried to stand and couldn''t. I fell over as new screens appeared in my vision. _______________________________________ System Scan Completed. Universe 62634 has been fully integrated with the Guardian system. Planetary, Solarsystem, Galaxy, and Universal A.I. online for local control. _______________________________________ System Message: Class Systems coming online. Species Marker created. Installing Species Markers.. Completed. Skill System Online. Link Index Online. _______________________________________ Terra- Hello, humanity! I am so excited to be your planetary incarnation. I will do my very best to see the transition from no system to an AWESOME System is smooth. The seven Continental Dungeons will be opening within twelve hours. Please prepare accordingly. Shortly you beings who purchased your own territories will face your Challengers, Good Luck and Have Fuuunnn! _______________________________________ The oppressive weight I''d been feeling vanished. I started to read some of the messages but I got interrupted by a blinding blue light beam coming from the sky. I had to turn my head away. When I looked back up I almost shit myself. Sure is had the drake here all along so if sort of gotten used to the whole "giant scary monster" thing. And sure we''d fought a bit. But this thing in front of us made my blood cold and my balls shriveled. It looked like a wyvern, but it was almost as big as the Drake, (I realized suddenly I still didn''t know her name). It looked like it was in motion just standing there. It''s scales we''re blueish towards the middle shading outward to grey and edged in bright gold color. I glanced at the drake from the corner of my eye and decided to get the fuck out of the way as the prudent course of action. I''d been resting at the south side of the nest. So I began moving east at a diagonal to see if I could flank this thing. "YOU!" Boomed the drake The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. "Well well if it isn''t Aethundra the Flood Bringer. I''d been wondering where you ran off too, you didn''t even let me see the eggs that resulted from our last encounter!" It said in a weird hissing voice. It sounded like every snake from every movie ever. All at the same time. It was creepy as fuck. "You will die here Solegg the Eater. You made a mistake coming so far from your power." She said with a grinding hiss. Then she charged him. What happened next was just a blur to me. By now it was pretty clear she had been holding back when we fought. I think she had been looking for an ally for this from the start. Yay me. I''d been in plenty of combat over the years from kicking Taliban ass to spanking Somali pie rats. None of it had shaken me like this. It was like watching Godzilla and Gigan go head to head thirty feet from me. I''d given my word to help her but I had no idea where to even start. If I went in there I was toast. So I circled the area. They absolutely demolished it. The drake who I now knew was Aethundra tried to use her weight and hold Solegg down so she could bite his face off. But when she charged he ducked her and sped past her so fast it was hardly more than a blur to me. Then I noticed a gash on Aethundras left side about a foot long. It looked like he has hit her with his wing claw on the pass. It was pouring out blood. Then something unexpected happened. A massive bubble of water appeared above her head and rocketed at Solegg hitting him in the chest, he dodged most of it but it still caught his wing knocking him backwards to the ground. As she charged him again he flapped his wings and two blades of air spun out and slammed into Aethundra on both sides. While he was doing that I saw an opportunity and took my shot, I put a round right through his left eye. Then I kept unloading on his face. I dropped thirty rounds then he covered up with his wings. His screeches of pain from the eye were irritating and deafening. Aethundra had more gashes down her sides. Her scales were smashed and she was favoring her right rear leg but she lumbered into a run and slammed into him knocking him ass over tea kettle. He flew four whole blocks. Right into the police station. Being a flier I wouldn''t have thought he was that heavy, but he crushed that building like it was a beer can. I didn''t even have time to yell out a warning. And I don''t think it would have mattered. When Solegg got back up he looked pissed. Then he spoke in that nasty voice. "You have gotten stronger Aethundra. But I have reached my second Affinity. You can not stand against me! I will kill you and TAKE what is mine, as well as your territory. Now DIE!" He said. Then he opened his jaws and electricity started to spark from his huge sharp teeth forming a ball of energy at the opening of his muzzle. He seemed to exhale gently and then a truly massive bolt of lightning blasted in a continuous stream towards Aethundra. She managed to get some kind of water wall up then it was blasted apart. Steam and fog blew everywhere. I couldn''t see anything anymore. I hid. This shit was way out of my league. I''d take Solegg''s other eye if I could but aside from that, I couldn''t think of a single thing I could do to help. Then Aethundra spoke from inside the fog. "Your biggest weakness has ALWAYS been your arrogance Solegg. It''s how I beat you before. It''s how I stole your legacy away. It''s how I''ll beat you NOW! My name if Frost Bringer!" She said. Then the fog began to clear and as it did it began to form massive floating shards of ice. Once I could see her I gaped like a recruit seeing his first Bradley up close. she was covered in a thick sheet of ice segmented to look like she was wearing some form of scale mail. If scale mail could be a foot thick. I noticed Solegg begin to look uncertain for the first time. Then he screeched and began to try to lift off. That was all Aethundra had been waiting for. Those countless shards of ice flew at him like a frozen shotgun from hell. Several impacted his wing bones snapping them while the rest embedded in his chest and neck creating massive gashes. His wings became useless with the many holes. He flopped back to the ground again, right on top of the station, again. I''d been standing at the side of a house two blocks away this whole time waiting for a shot. I saw one and took it, again lighting up his face. I missed the eye but this time he saw me and where the shot had come from. He zeroed in on me like a laser. "Insect. You die now!" He said. Then his eye began to glow with yellow light. I hadn''t noticed before but the sky above was overcast now. Great arcs of lightning began flashing overhead and I knew I was fucked. So I did what any good marine would. I charged that fucker with everything I had in my six foot six frame pulling my Hellstorm Frag as I did. I was about thirty feet away when it began to rain lightning. So I threw it as hard as I could and dropped on the ground covering my head. Boom! The grenade went off. My aim had been good. It had landed near his jaw and blown it clean off his face. He''d lost the other eye too. That''s when I noticed the shadow over me. Aethundra had covered me with her body. She was standing over me taking the hits. I could see large chunks of ice raining down. Her left rear leg buckled. After a few minutes, it was over. "Finish him, please." She said. I couldn''t see him moving. So I crawled up the rubble, reloaded, and put my rifle barrel in his eye socket and unloaded all hundred rounds. I heard a weird ding and then a screen popped up. System Message: Elite Creature [Solegg the Eater] has been killed. XP deferred till a class is chosen. Since this kill was made without a class your class choices will be upgraded two tiers to rare with a 50% chance of an Elite 25% chance of Unique and 10% chance of Legendary. Would you like to loot this corpse? Y/N. Of course, I chose yes. A small wooden chest appeared. It was about the size of a footlocker from basic. It was two feet long about one and a half feet wide and two feet deep. It had bronze banding and steel hinges as well as a place for a lock. No lock though. It was finally starting to sink in. My life had become a goddamn video game. That was both awesome and scary as shit. "Bring that and follow me," Aethundra said from behind me. She sounded weird. Like she was having trouble breathing. I grabbed the chest and lifted it. It wasn''t too heavy, so I turned and followed her. She was dragging her left rear leg and her right rear leg wasn''t working right. We went the four blocks to her nest. It had been outside the lightning storm and was virtually untouched. As we got there she pulled her bulk half in and began to claw something out of the rubble. When she came back out I actually gasped. It was the most beautiful thing I''d ever seen. Clearly, it was an egg. But it was like no egg ever seen before. It was a deep metallic cobalt blue. It was slightly scaly and the edges of the scales were a deep charcoal grey with the same edge of gold Solegg''s scales had possessed. That''s when I began to understand. "You owe me. If I had not saved you we would both be dead. I need you to swear to me you will become my child''s guardian." She said. "Uhhhh." I said. I''m rarely at a loss for words. But raising a baby drake? I didn''t even own a dog. What the hell was I gonna even feed it? Well, I guess I could feed it from the dungeon. I was lost in thought when Aethundra began hacking horribly splattering bloody phlegm all over the place. When she calmed down I asked. "Why can''t you raise it?" "You know why." She said. And I did. If she hadn''t covered me with her body we''d both be dead or dying. I did owe her. I hadn''t known her for very long. And I was pretty sure she''d eaten the two missing cops. But she''d done alright by me and honored our deal. "Alright, I''ll protect your child till it can protect itself. I have no idea how to do that though. Will it be as intelligent as you?" I asked. "Not at first. It will be small and weak, it will grow quickly, however. Not more than a month and it will begin to speak to you. When the egg hatches you must feed it immediately. This will form a bond. This will help you greatly in raising it." She said. That seemed to stress her out. She began hacking again and seemed to grow weaker. I took the egg. It was about a foot and a half tall. I set my ruck down and began pulling out my clothing and accessories removing anything that I didn''t think I''d need to make room for the trip home. Then I slid the egg inside and packed clothing around it to cushion it. Aethundra had been watching me do all this. When it was done she said. "Inside the chest, you will find a Territory Claim Token. Mine will be rare, I have no idea what his was but knowing him it will be larger. It will also contain other items. Don''t open it till you''re in a safe place. It can''t be claimed for three days and no one else can open it who isn''t in your party." She said. Then she said it. The words I knew had to becoming. "Now I need you to kill me. Then you can claim my territory token and give my child a place to grow in safety." She said. So I did. I won''t go into the details. Suffice it to say the lightning bolt to her chest did much more damage than I''d assumed and leave it at that. Once it was done I got another message about killing an Elite without a class increasing my chances of an Elite, Unique or Legendary class. And a new chest. So I packed up my ruck strapped it on and began to drag the chests towards home with tears on my cheeks. Chapter 4 12:37 January 4th, 2019. It took me a day to get home. Between dodging monsters and now having a freaking stamina pool it was really slow. Fortunately, I discovered that physical exercises and pushing limits increased my stats. So it wasn''t all bad. If I hadn''t found a bike shop early on it would have been worse. But I did, and they had one of those tricycle style bikes with a big rear basket. that gave me a place to put the chests so I wasn''t dragging the damn things anymore. I had to rope them down though. After that, it had been almost dark and I needed to find shelter. So I broke into a small clothing shop and hidden the bike and myself in a back room. I also unlocked the lock picking skill apparently. Then I was home. There was a lot of shit going on all over the city. I could still hear gunshots going off regularly. Over that time I had to kill three separate groups of people and a bunch of minor monsters. I''d even saved an apartment complex from what looked like goblins. I hadn''t stuck around though. Loot would have been great but I didn''t have anywhere to carry it and I needed to check my place. The human corpses didn''t seem to drop loot. I own a little over three acres just southeast of columbine. Yes, that columbine. It backs up against the Platte Reservoir which in turn backs up against Chatfield State Park. It''s a pretty affluent area, there are 5 golf courses within spitting distance of where I live. I''d bought an aging warehouse and refurbished it to have state of the art security. Then I''d built a small 500 Square foot home on top. The entire warehouse was 50,000 square feet. It had a small ordinance bunker under it as well for the heavy artillery. Contracting pays really really well. Especially at my level, and when you get bonuses for captured materials well. It''s amazing what you can make when you raid drug deals and weapon sales involving Taliban dickheads. It only took me two years to get a five million dollar nest egg. Then I''d gone into business doing what I did best. Gadgets. I was good with weapon mods as well but Tech was my first love. I''d been the tech specialist on every team I was on, even the ones I was team lead. I''d been the one to invent those nifty little drones the navy seals use for area surveillance and recon. Now everything was fubar. My money was gone unless someone could figure out how to get global power back up. All I had was my home and my stock. Oh and an egg. My business had been booming too. I''d had contracts to supply weapons to several local security firms, a couple of overseas contracting companies, even a couple of patents for surveillance and spy gadgets I''d sold to "no such agency." Needless to say as cool as having magic and dragons were I wasn''t exactly thrilled with the New World Order. I rolled up to the ramp leading up to the loading dock on my warehouse. As I looked around I couldn''t see any sign of anyone trying to get in. People were probably too busy trying to survive to bother with warehouses they didn''t know about. There was no business name on my building. I''d done the majority of my advertising online or by word of mouth through contacts I''d made. Opening the doors I dragged the bike inside and closed back up. Fortunately, I''d been smart enough to set up the doors for access while the power was out. It was dark as shit inside. I pulled one of my chem lights out and snapped it, lighting up a small area. My small personal elevator was a no-go so I dragged the bike up four flights of stairs to the roof access. Then I had to remove the chests cause I couldn''t get it through the damn door the right way. After twenty minutes of frustration and barked fingers and knuckles, I managed to get the bike unloaded and up on the roof along with it''s cargo. I dragged everything to the front door and let myself in, as I did I looked around cautiously making sure everything was undisturbed. Taking a quick look at my Raider and U.S.M.C flags and paraphernalia I dragged the chests to the middle of the living room, then I went back out and set the bike off to the left side of the house. Once I was back inside I set my ruck down and removed the egg. Setting it on the couch I sat in my recliner in front of the TV with a beer I grabbed from the still mostly cool fridge. Popping the beer open I took a swig of that sweet sweet joy and began to contemplate. I had two boxes of loot to open and a class to choose as well as figuring out where to place my territory. Obviously, my territory would have to include my warehouse. First I needed to figure out what kind of system I was dealing with. I''d read a lot of stories involving Systems and while some were similar every writer seemed to have tweaked things to fit whatever story they were telling. Some you could learn any skill you wanted. Some you got to pick from a class list. So on and so forth. I''d already figured out this system was the first type skill-wise. But I didn''t understand my character information. Buck Stevens: Titles: None Class: None Level: 0 Exp: 0/1000 Hp: 320/ 320 Mp: 200/200 Psy: 200/200 Stam: 220/220 _______________________________________ Power (Spell): +20 Power (Physical): +22 Power (Ranged) +24 Resistance (Mental): +10 Resistance (Physical): +11 _______________________________________ Health(/R per hour): +11 Mana(/R per hour): +10 Stam(/R per min): +1 Psy (/R per hour): +10 Stats: Str: 22 Dex: 24 Vit: 22 End: 22 Int: 21 Wis: 20 Will: 20 Cha: 20 Link Slot Index: 10 Link Points [Human]: +10 per level. Link Point Total: 0 Skills: Passive: Active: Stealth [C] (1/1000), Weapon: Ranged Kinetic [C] (1/1000), Weapon: Grenades [C] (1/1000), Hand to Hand [C] (1/1000), Trap Making [Un] (1/1000), Pick Locks [C] (1/1000), Affinities: _______________________________________ The stats were pretty simple to explain, strength, intelligence, so on. I''d played Dragons and Dungeons for years, not to mention every MMO under the sun. So I knew what stats we''re and how they worked in general. What I didn''t know was how these particular stats affected me in reality. When I gained stats in strength did I bulk up physically? Was it nonphysical? I had no idea and there didn''t appear to be a tutorial. Then there were the power and resistance stats. Those were also pretty basic at a 1/ 1 and 1/ 2 ratio respectively. Same for the regen stats. But I had no idea what the hell Psy was or how to use it. I also had 20 in every stat. Was that human normal? Was I above average? I had no idea. And there was no one I could ask. I did notice I''d gained a couple stats and skills while I''d been coming home but none of the skills I''d gained seemed to rank up. One thing I noticed was a weird new tattoo on my left wrist. It looked like DaVinci''s sketch of a human but in the center of the chest was a smooth round stone clear in color. And around the outside was a double border of what looked like Norse or Gaelic runes of some kind. It wasn''t very big. Maybe three inches in total surface area and the gem was about as big as my pinky nail. Touching that was how I''d first opened my Status screen accidentally. After that, I tried mental commands like the typical "status." That seemed to work pretty well. Turns out the interface was intent-driven. So all I had to do was mentally scroll around to different things and mentally "click" on them and it worked fine. I even gained a point of Intelligence for doing it. That''s also when I discovered what Skill Links were. No MMO I''d ever played had used a system like it and no system story I could remember had referenced it either. The tab referring to Skill Links was interesting. Link Slots: Number of Skills a System User may have active at one-time. Link Points: number of points earned per level to unlock new skill tiers or chain a skill If I was reading that right it meant you could have an infinite number of skills but nothing you had would work unless it was "slotted" into a link slot. It wouldn''t level. Which I guessed was why mine were all rank 1 of a freaking thousand. The other interesting thing I discovered was the Link Points. Apparently, you could use those to open more slots at ten points each or higher tiered "slots." I wasn''t sure exactly how that would affect my growth but I was eager to find out. Especially with the "skill chaining." It was getting close to dark so I decided to eat while I thought about my Class choices. I''d gotten three choices that were apparently based on me. According to the System, it selected classes based on personality, interests and soul rating. I had no idea what the hell a soul rating was. But the other two were pretty self-explanatory. It also wasn''t a locked system. It seemed to evolve your class every two hundred levels. So whatever you took as a kid at 10 (when the classes unlocked) you wouldn''t be stuck with for life if you made a bad choice. The choices I''d gotten were on point too. ________________________________ Commando [R]: Masters of the battlefield, this class is the epitome of behind the lines destruction. They excel in stealth, explosives, vehicle handling, and a laundry list of weapons. ________________________________ Technic [U]: Technics are Manatech and Aethertech Engineers of the highest caliber. Known for their unique and innovative products they have created some of the most advanced Technologies the multiverse has ever seen. They use Aether and Mana as well as Science to create impossible things through a combination of ingenuity and experimentation. ________________________________ Stellar Mage [L]: Masters of Light, Dark, Gravity, Force, and Spatial magics the Stellar Mage is unmatched in the ability to manipulate the laws of the universe at a whim. Able to open Spatial Tunnels for instant transportation or focus the power of Gravity to fly or crush enemies the Stellar Mage is a true power in the Multiverse. _______________________________________ all three classes we''re tempting to be sure. Commando because, well let''s face it I was one. I already had all the knowledge and skills to do the job. But honestly, I''d already walked away from that life. I had no desire to go backward. Stellar Mage was ridiculous. It was also a Legendary Class. The ability to open wormholes? With my mind?! I very nearly took it immediately. I even considered changing my name to John Chriton. But ultimately, I knew eventually I''d have a kid to raise. Sure it was a draconic kid of some kind. But it was still gonna be a kid. Add to that the fact I was about to have a territory to maintain and lead and the choice pretty much made itself. So I chose Technic. Magitech? Yes Please! Technogeek skills activate! Also, it was a Unique Class. I wasn''t sure how that stacked up against Legendary but Unique means one of a kind right? Rarity had to be good. If I could make rare or unique items I could make a killing selling them to people diving the dungeon, it would also allow me to buy the things I''d need to raise whatever popped out of the egg. When it was done I had a massive headache and my stats looked much different. Technic Class: Unique Technics are Manatech and Aethertech Engineers of the highest caliber. Known for their unique and innovative products they have created some of the most advanced Technologies the multiverse has ever seen. They use Aether and Mana as well as Science to create impossible things through a combination of ingenuity and experimentation. Starting Links: +20 Stats: +10 stats per level (5 must be mental). Unlocks Bloodlines. Unlocks Affinities. Fire, Heat, Earth, Metal, Air, Lightning, Gravity, Space, Force. +100 Health/Mana per level. +10 Link points per level. +1 Link Slot per level. +1 Skill Point per level. ________________________________ Buck Stevens: Titles: NoneSupport the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Class: Technic (Beginner) Level: 10 Exp: 743/10,000 to next level Hp: 1420/ 1420 Mp: 1650/1650 Psy: 450/450 Stam: 320/320 ________________________________ Power (Spell): +65 Power (Physical): +42 Power (Ranged) +34 Resistance (Mental): +32.5 Resistance (Physical): +16 ________________________________ Health(/R per hour): +16 Mana(/R per hour): +32.5 Stam(/R per min): +1.5 Psy (/R per hour): +22.5 Stats: +5 (+5 mental) [0/0] Str: 42 Dex: 34 Vit: 32 End: 32 Int: 65 Wis: 45 Will: 45 Cha: 35 Link Slot Index: 30 Link Points [Human]: +20 per level. Link Point Total: 200 Skill Points: 10 Skills: Passive: Engineering [Un] (1/1000), Manatech Engineering [L] (1/1000), Aethertech Engineering [L] (1/1000), Robotics [E] (1/1000), Physics [Un] (1/1000), Chemistry [Un] (1/1000), Thermodynamics [R] (1/1000), Architecture [Un] (1/1000), Art Theory[C] (1/1000), Magic Theory [R] (1/1000), Math [C] (1/1000), Runes [E] (1/1000), Active: Stealth [C] (1/1000), Weapon: Ranged Kinetic [C] (1/1000), Weapon: Grenades [C] (1/1000), Hand to Hand [C] (1/1000), Trap Making [Un] (1/1000), Trap Detection [Un] (1/1000), Pick Locks [C] (1/1000), Analysis [U] (1/1000), Fire Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Heat Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Earth Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Metal Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Air Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Lightning Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Gravity Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Force Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Space Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Core Coding [L] (1/1000), Core Engraving [L] (1/1000), Core Smithing [L] (1/1000), Core Enchanting [L] (1/1000), Runic Coding [E] (1/1000), Coding [C] (1/1000) , Blacksmithing [C] (1/1000), Mechanic[C] (1/1000), Leather Working [C] (1/1000), Tailoring [C] (1/1000), Alchemy [R] (1/1000), Chemistry [Un] (1/1000), Harvesting [Organic] (1/1000), Harvesting [Inorganic] (1/1000), Mining [C] (1/1000), Mana Channeling [R] (1/1000), Mana Engraving [E] (1/1000), Mana Control [R] (1/1000), Aether Infusion [L](1/1000), Aether Manipulation [L] (1/1000), Aether Control [L] (1/1000), Aether Engraving [L] (1/1000), Runic Magic [E] (1/1000), Runic Enchanting [L] (1/1000), Rune Smithing [L] (1/1000), Affinities: Fire, Heat, Earth, Metal, Air, Lightning, Gravity, Space, Force, ________________________________ After I chose my class the deferred XP came pouring in. From the Elites I''d killed to the humans and goblins and everything else on my path home. It just came pouring in. It hit me so hard I fell to my knees. When it was over I had gained ten levels in my class, which also came with +5 in mental stats at first, fifth, and tenth levels. I also gained a hundred stat points to distribute with fifty being forced into mental and the rest into whatever I wanted. I dropped fifty into physical stats with twenty in str and ten into the rest. The mental I dropped thirty points into int and ten in wisdom and will respectively. I had no idea what charisma was for so I skipped it for now. It was like my mind and body went into shock. I yelled in pain and fell over as my body changed. My mind expanded at the same time I was gaining new muscle mass, my reflexes and hearing and sight all sharpened. I didn''t grow taller but I felt more solid. More dense and durable. Then I passed out. ________________________________ 7:37 January 5th, 2019 I woke to the sun in my face and the smell of spilled beer. Damn it I didn''t even get to finish it. I got up to go clean up. I had a few cases of water so I grabbed one and went to take a spit bath in the shower. After I was done cleaning three days worth of blood and sweat and tears off I felt like a new man. Then I went and looked in the mirror. What I saw shocked me. I''d been starting to get wrinkles at the corners of my eyes, I was 39 years old and had lived a rough and adventurous life. All the wrinkles were gone. My eyes had been brownish shading to black. Now they were a deep vibrant chocolate color with a weird glow coming from the irises. I checked the rest of my body. I still had all my scars, but I didn''t seem to feel pain anymore from the shrapnel I''d taken. All the aches and pains of getting older and doing rough work seemed to be missing. Honestly, I felt amazing. I brushed out my slightly over shoulder-length red hair and then put it in a ponytail, then I shaved and padded back into the living room, crossed to my room and grabbed some clean clothes to put on. One thing I''d noticed that was different was my muscle tone. I''d gained a bit of muscle mass but it looked like I had toned up massively. Don''t get me wrong. I wasn''t out of shape by any means. But at the same time, I was pushing forty and I hadn''t been keeping nearly the same rigorous workout routine I had when I was active. After I was dressed I figured it was time to address the question of my new territory. So I opened the chests. ________________________________ Wyvern: 20,000 Gold 30,000 Silver Unique Land Claim Token (3-mile radius), allows for Tier 3 defensive fortification. Grants a System Store Kiosk. May choose a Lair. Lair Upgrade Token: [U(Class Based)] - grants an upgrade. Options variable based on class and race. Vindex Mk23 Plasma Carbine [U] (10-60 damage x4 crit) Rs: (12 hrs) Self Charging Battery holds 100 shots. Special: 20% armor penetration 30% chance to set the target on fire. Double-Glaive of Lightning [R] (30-60+Str Damage x3 Crit) Special: 40% chance to stun on crit. ________________________________ Drake: 5000 Gold 3000 Silver 6000 Copper Green Skill Crystal x4 Blue Skill Crystal x4 Red Skill Crystal x1 Land Claim Token: [R] (1-mile radius) Ring of Shadowmeld: [R] Grants the wearer the ability to blend with shadows. Also allows the wearer to teleport from shadow to shadow within line of sight. (Limited teleport 3/day- range 100 feet.) ________________________________ When I opened them a flood of blue boxes opened. One detailed the coin amount in each box and each item had a separate box. Each skill crystal had a separate box but they all did the same thing, albeit at different tiers. Now I''ll admit, I''m a bit of a loot whore. But there was no way I was taking Aethundra''s kids inheritance. And that''s how I saw it. As an inheritance. So I took the Land Claim and closed the box firmly. The other one I dragged in front of me and started rummaging, cause fuck Solegg. The first thing I did was grab the land claim. It was a red coin with a golden L stamped in the middle and had crystal edging around the outside of the coin. It opened a blue box when I looked at it. Would you like to activate this land claim? Y/N. I chose no for the moment. A three-mile radius was a shit ton of land. Especially in a city. I dug out my old maps and took a look at Denver. The way I figured it I''d need resources. I also wanted my territory as close to the dungeon as possible. I knew I''d need resources such as clean water and food. That''s basic for living. But since I''d taken a magic crafting class I also wanted to see if I could use the resources from houses and businesses around me. As sad as it was I knew a lot of people had already died. That meant empty homes and buildings all over. Looking at the map I took it outside and compared it to my view from the roof. Six miles was a lot of territory. Just eyeballing it I was looking at most of Columbine as well as most if not all of the reservoirs around it and nearly all of the state park including the lake. So I decided to use it. The edge of my territory would be very close to the Dungeon Tower, within a couple of miles at least. Now to see what would happen. I went downstairs and into the middle of my warehouse. Then I activated the token. Immediately there was a flash of light. Then a rumble started and I fell on my ass the ground shook so hard. Bursting out of the floor of my freaking warehouse was an obelisk. It was hexagonal with hundreds of runic symbols I couldn''t decipher running up and down it''s length. As it rose, it began to hum with an ominous sound. It kept growing till it punched a goddamn hole in my roof. Then the ground stopped shaking. I picked myself up and ran as fast as I could back upstairs while the hum grew louder. As I burst out the roof access door I could see a full foot of this damn thing sticking out. That''s when the humming stopped. A massive ball of energy erupted. As it spread in a wave it washed through and over me. It didn''t seem to do anything physical it just went on it''s merry way. At this point, I was freaking out. This fuckin thing had just punched a hole in my ceiling and launched off some kind of signal to who knew where for who knew what. I ran inside to grab my gun. When I came back outside I was armed and ready. As I looked around I could see a sort of aquamarine glow coming from the distance. It came in fast, washed over me again and slammed back into the obelisk. Hedralisk? Then my vision started populating more blue screens. Congratulations! You are the second human to claim a territory. As a bonus, your territory will gain a 10% boost to the production of resources. As a territory owner, you have the right to grant land, claim buildings, set research and appoint administrators. You also have the right to set laws, banish lawbreakers and set taxes. ________________________________ BEWARE! Your territory can be taken from you through the siege tactic or assassination. Should you die, your chosen successor will automatically be given control of your territory. Should you have no successors anyone may claim your land should they hold it for 30 days. ________________________________ Due to the size of your territory and it''s pre-placed infrastructure your territory is automatically granted Rank 5 Status. ________________________________ Congratulations! you have increased your territories rank to 2nd..5th. as you are the first human to own a rank 2,3,4,5 territory you gain the following bonuses. ________________________________ Warning! There are currently: 24734 humans. 75835 monster. 73 other. unauthorized beings in your territory. Would you like to remove them? Y/N ________________________________ I had no idea what the "other" denoted. For all I knew it could be family pets or sewer rats. But I wasn''t taking any chances. Each option had a box next to it so I check marked the two that didn''t say human and removed them all from my territory. I swiped my screens clear of my vision and looked around noticing flashes of light all over my territory. Beams of light big, small and everything between were raining down like orbital strikes. There didn''t seem to be any explosions though so I didn''t worry about it. I headed back inside. As I was passing the couch I heard a strange noise. It was like a squeak mixed with a growl. "Papa?" I looked around quickly. As I did I saw something that will be with me for the rest of my life. Sitting on the couch was a foot and a half long lizard creature. It was maybe half that standing on all four legs. It had a single tiny horn rising from the middle of it''s forehead and a tiny rear curving horn on the tip of it''s snout. It''s scales we''re a cobalt blue so deep it was almost black shading to storm grey that edged to a golden yellow. It had eyes the same color and it seemed to have a mane of pure white hair flowing back over it''s neck shading down to it''s front shoulders. It had three tiny toes on each leg tipped by needle-sharp claws. "Papa?" It said again. I''d just been standing there staring like an idiot. It was obvious what this was, there was a hole in the side of the egg I hadn''t noticed at first. It had leaked egg fluids and other ick all over my damn couch too. I knelt down and the creature padded over to me. As it did I noticed its feet were floating about 3 inches off the floor. It could freaking fly at birth? What the hell? It came over and stood in front of me then cocked its head and I heard "Papa?" That''s when I noticed it wasn''t using it''s mouth to speak. "I guess I am at that kiddo," I said. It sat down still not touching the ground and said again in my head "Papa! Hungry!" I supposed that made sense. Being a newborn and all. I was kinda freaking out here though. This adorable floating baby, who''s mom had said it wouldn''t speak for a month after birth, was speaking to me. In my head. I went to the kitchen and grabbed some meat. I had some raw hamburger in a 1lb chub that was gonna go to waste if it didn''t get eaten and I didn''t see any reason not to use it. I opened the chub lengthwise and laid it down in front of this strange little lizard thing and sat back down across from it to watch. It walked up and looked at me, looked at the meat, sniffed it a bit, then looked at me quizzically and sat back down. "Bad." I heard in my head. "Uh, what''s bad?" It raised a tiny claw and pointed at the meat and again I heard "bad". "Wait so you don''t eat meat?" I asked. It looked at me cocking it''s head like I was an idiot and said it again. So I took the meat and put it in the trash. Then I scrounged around for something green. I found an old celery bag in the fridge. It was starting to get a little brown so I figured why not? Someone had to eat it right? I pulled it out and snapped a few pieces off then sat down to set one in front of the little beast. It trotted over and grabbed a stick in its hand claws, sniffed it, and I swear to God it was like the thing turned into a piranha. One second there was celery then next I heard crunch crunch crunch and it was gone. That''s when things got weird. As it looked up at me after finishing it stared into my eyes. I felt myself being drawn deeper and deeper into it''s gaze. There was a flash of golden light. Then a new screen. This one had cobalt writing on a white background and was edged in golden scroll work. ________________________________ World Event! A Legendary Kirin has been born. Through the actions of a human one of the Elder Races has been reborn to the multiverse. ________________________________ Bonding Ceremony: You have completed the bonding of a Legendary Creature. Due to the willingness of both parties, this is a Familial Bond and as such grants extraordinary bonuses. ________________________________ I fell over in shock. Literally. I''d known I''d be bonding but the impression I''d gotten from Aethundra had said it would be a temporary thing. Till the kid could fend for itself. A family bond? What the hell did that even mean? And a bloodline? Extended life span? Fuck me running. I pulled up my status to see what affinities I''d gotten. ________________________________ Buck Stevens: Titles: None Class: Technic (Beginner) Level: 10 Exp: 743/10,000 to next level Hp: 1420/ 1420 Mp: 1650/1650 Psy: 450/450 Stam: 320/320 ________________________________ Power (Spell): +65 Power (Physical): +42 Power (Ranged) +34 Resistance (Mental): +32.5 Resistance (Physical): +16 ________________________________ Health(/R per hour): +16 Mana(/R per hour): +32.5 Stam(/R per min): +1.5 Psy (/R per hour): +22.5 Stats: +5 (+5 mental) [0/0] Str: 42 Dex: 34 Vit: 32 End: 32 Int: 65 Wis: 45 Will: 45 Cha: 35 Link Slot Index: 30 Link Points [Human]: +20 per level. Link Point Total: 200 Skill Points: 10 Skills: Passive: Engineering [Un] (1/1000), Manatech Engineering [L] (1/1000), Aethertech Engineering [L] (1/1000), Robotics [E] (1/1000), Physics [Un] (1/1000), Chemistry [Un] (1/1000), Thermodynamics [R] (1/1000), Architecture [C] (1/1000), Art Theory[C] (1/1000), Magic Theory [R] (1/1000), Math [C] (1/1000), Runes [E] (1/1000), Active: Stealth [C] (1/1000), Weapon: Ranged Kinetic [C] (1/1000), Weapon: Grenades [C] (1/1000), Hand to Hand [C] (1/1000), Trap Making [U] (1/1000), Trap Detection [Un] (1/1000), Pick Locks [C] (1/1000), Analysis [U] (1/1000), Fire Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Heat Manipulation [R] (1/5000), Earth Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Metal Manipulation [R] (1/5000), Air Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Lightning Manipulation [R] (1/5000), Gravity Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Force Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Space Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Core Coding [L] (1/1000), Core Engraving [L] (1/1000), Core Smithing [L] (1/1000), Core Enchanting [L] (1/1000), Runic Coding [E] (1/1000), Coding [C] (1/1000) , Blacksmithing [C] (1/1000), Mechanic[C] (1/1000), Leather Working [C] (1/1000), Tailoring [C] (1/1000), Alchemy [R] (1/1000), Chemistry [Un] (1/1000), Harvesting [Organic] (1/1000), Harvesting [Inorganic] (1/1000), Mining [C] (1/1000), Mana Channeling [R] (1/1000), Mana Engraving [E] (1/1000), Mana Control [R] (1/1000), Aether Infusion [L](1/1000), Aether Manipulation [L] (1/1000), Aether Control [L] (1/1000), Aether Engraving [L] (1/1000), Runic Magic [E] (1/1000), Runic Enchanting [L] (1/1000), Rune Smithing [L] (1/1000), Water Manipulation [R] (1/1000), Ice Manipulation [R] (1/5000), Life Manipulation [L] (1/1000), Affinities: Fire, Heat, Earth, Metal, Air, Lightning, Gravity, Space, Force, Water, Ice, Life, ________________________________ I''d gained Water and Ice magic? And a Legendary Life Magic skill? Holy shit. That''s when I decided to check the pet tab. I''d heard of Kirin of course but I wasn''t sure what they were about or what they could do, really I didn''t know anything and this being the System it could all be bullshit. ________________________________ Kirin: Legendary Creatures born millennia ago these creatures are said to herald the birth of greatness. Known as Yin and Yang they are a symbol of balance. They promote good and punish evil, they are said to be able to judge truth simply by hearing it or seeing the person being judged. Kirin are Dragon Kin said to be the 3rd most powerful after True Dragons. ________________________________ Name: Ů Arashi no Megami Titles: Storm Queen Class: None Level: 1 Exp: 0/1000 Diet: Herbivore ________________________________ Gifts: Eyes of Truth (+200 to all Sense Skills regarding Truth), Draconic Constitution (+500hp per 10 vitality), First of Her Kind (Grants Access to Life Magic, Gains Life Magic Skill 30% faster), Kirin Progenitor (offspring will gain Elder Kirin Bloodline), ________________________________ Hp: 2400/2400 Mp: 500/500 Psy: 500/500 Stam: 400/400 Health(/R per hour): +20.0 Mana(/R per hour): +25.0 Stam(/R per min): +2 Psy (/R per hour): +25.0 ________________________________ Power (Spell): +50 Power (Physical): +40 Power (Ranged): +30 Resistance (Mental): +2.5 Resistance (Physical): +2.5 ________________________________ Stats: Str: 40 Dex: 30 Vit: 40 End: 40 Int: 50 Wis: 50 Will: 50 Cha: 50 ________________________________ Skill Link Index: 10 Link Points: +100 per level Link Point Total: 0 Skills: Fire Manipulation [R] (1/1,000), Air Manipulation [R] (1/1,000), Water Manipulation [R] (1/1,000), Ice Manipulation [E] (1/5,000), Lightning Manipulation [E] (1/5,000), Storm Manipulation [L] (1/10,000), Life Manipulation [L] (1/1000 Affinities: Fire, Water, Air, Ice, Lightning, Storm, Life, ________________________________ Holy shit. I looked at this tiny creature who was now my daughter apparently. "We need to name you. How do you feel about Chesty?" I asked? She snorted and shook her head then stuck her friggin tongue out at me. "Uh. Deborah?" "No!" So I thought hard. I''d been an anime lover for ages. And Kirin were supposed to be a sacred beast in Japan. "how about (Ů) Arashi no Megami?" She went still, seemed to consider for a moment, then looked me in the eye and nodded. So that''s what we went with. "You need more to eat meg?" She nodded her head so I set the bag down and left it to her. It had barely been a couple of hours and I was already mentally exhausted. I''d just have to deal with all the upgrades and other bullshit I had to do later. I needed a nap. Chapter 5 When I woke up it was raining. On my head. I looked up and there was a small rain cloud about the size of my fist soaking my head, my bed, my sheets, everything. I scrambled off the bed falling over the side in my globe and anchor boxers trying to get a handle on what the fuck was going on. The damn cloud followed me. As it got closer dripping miniature torrential rains all over my room it began to dissipate. I stood there scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Then I felt a tap on my shin. I looked down to see Meg looking up at me. "Hungry" "Didn''t you just eat?" She nodded her little head at me and said it again. As I looked around I could see the sun was high in the sky. I''d slept for at least a couple of hours. So I went to raid the fridge again. In the bottom, I found an entire head of lettuce. I''d been meaning to make a kick-ass salad I saw on a food show and never gotten around to it. So I unwrapped it and gave it to her on a plate. I was definitely going to have to raid a gardening shop or a Walmart gardening supply. If I could find some vegetable seeds I could plant them down by the lakes and that would be a start for food. I was also gonna have to cross my territory and go outside to hunt for meat. Not to mention I needed to figure out how to get the power back on. A bunch of shit started running through my head. Normally I''d make a few notes on my laptop or phone and head out. With no power, I decided to search the house for such outdated items as a pencil and pad of paper. Eventually, I found a small pad of paper and a pen. Then I started making a list. Typically, people need three basic things to survive. Food, shelter, water. And not in that order. Fortunately, I had entire pallets of MRE cases below as well as a few fifty-gallon water drums. I also had hand carts for the stuff downstairs so if I needed to I could haul empty drums to the reservoir behind the building and fill up the drums. All in all, I figured I was set for 6 months to a year. Even if I did have to survive on MRE''s. My biggest problem was Meg. If she didn''t eat meat there was no way she''d eat prepackaged freeze-dried food. I had a few cases of Mountain House laying around and those were great but even then it was still freeze-dried vegetables. I was going to need a supply of regular food for Meg. That''s when I remembered the giant obelisk sticking through my roof. It was some kind of system interface right? Maybe I could use that in some way. Some ofthe stories I''d read mentioned system stores and kiosks or ways to upgrade buildings and territories. So I grabbed some flip flops and padded out on to the roof in my boxers. I kept low due to how visible I was up here and placed my hand on the obelisk. Nothing happened. So I tried various commands. Still nothing. Then meg said "blood." I looked around and she was floating on the porch staring at me. Then what she said registered. "I need to bleed on it to get it to work for me?" She nods at me and pads back inside. So I went back to the house and grabbed my K-Bar, took it to the obelisk and pricked my finger dripping blood on the damn thing. Red sparks flared and a window popped up. Territory Node: This is the central node of a territory. From here authorized users can spend Aether Coins or Multiversal Credits to Upgrade, Build, Deconstruct, or Expand their territory. Then it began populating a list of options. Some I understood and some made no sense. Looking at the Expand tab I could order territory obelisk''s to increase the size of my holdings, for a whopping two hundred thousand Aether Coins. I could also order everything up to a Legendary Claim Obelisk, but those were in the millions. So I looked at the Build option. It had a ton of choices. Some like Alchemist Lab were self-explanatory. And expensive. Then there was something called a Ty''pod Distribution Center? It dispensed edible Ty''pods. Whatever the hell those were. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Those were actually fairly cheap at ten thousand Gold Aether Coins. But there was no way I was blowing half my cash on some building I didn''t understand. So I went to Upgrade. I regretted it immediately. A massive laundry list of buildings popped up. It spun by so fast I didn''t have time to even register most of them let alone read them. After a few minutes, it stopped. On top of the list was a McDonald''s So the damn thing wasn''t even in alphabetical order. I sat there wishing it was sorted by building type and alphabetical order like any normal system would be. Then I blinked. Cause the damn list altered. Suddenly there were tabs for Personal, Business, Residential, Resources, and Infrastructure. I immediately looked under Personal. And my warehouse popped up. Tak-Ti-Kill Building type: Hybrid (Business/Home) Space: 50''000 sqr. ft. (500) Upgrade Slots: 20 Current Upgrades: 3 (Security System, Weapons Bunker, Home Addition) Available Slots: 5 large, 4 Medium, 8 Small. I began scrolling through the upgrades I could make. To my building alone I could add walls with turrets and guard towers. I could add workshops for crafting, Mana Generators, a fucking Shield Generator. There was even an option to add a Class II A.I. if I had the coin. I didn''t cause that last one cost damn near a million Aether Coins. What I did do is make a list. Upgrade List Once I had my choices I decided to stop and save the rest of what I had. The most expensive things I chose had been the Vehicle Bay and Library. But the description for both had made them a must. Library [Basic] (Large)- 10,000 gold. Stocked with a wealth of basic system knowledge this room allows a 20% bonus to reading speed and research. Upgrades include a Librarian Automaton, extra shelf space and a dedicated Vault for rarer acquisitions. Vehicle Bay [Basic] (Large)- 10,000 gold. This room comes complete with storage space for 4 medium-sized vehicles, an auto repair system complete with 4 automated arms and the ability to upgrade vehicles. Comes furnished with 4 complete sets of tools for use on Mana Engines as well as various mechanical and biological engine types. 20% increased repair speed. Upgrades include a Repair A.I. (basic to advanced), increased vehicle capacity, Vehicle Upgrades database and more. Both were going to be incredibly useful. Or at least I hoped so. The machine shop, mana garden, harvesting array, and generator were basic needs. I needed a place to start my crafting, the mana garden grew plants at an accelerated rate with mana, the harvesting array auto harvested monsters. It rendered down any creature Medium sizes or smaller for everything from hides and cores to alchemical components. And of course, the generator-powered it all. All in all my buys used about 4500 power so I also had room to grow and add upgrades. After checking over my choices one more time I hit Accept. Then the show began. A truly massive orb of light landed on the entire building from the sky. It flashed golden and my warehouse began to change. Slowly the same materials that the massive pillar appeared to be made from grew outwards from the obelisk. As they did a section of the roof changed. Ten feet from the house small, one cubic foot pillars began rising to take an octagonal shape. They popped up every ten feet or so till there was a space one hundred Square feet and twenty feet high. Once the pillars finished it began to fill in the walls stretching outwards from the pillars growing a dark green crystalline matrix of some kind. When the whole thing completed it looked like an enormous square-cut emerald sitting on my rooftop. The door was seamlessly bonded. Once it completed that the material spread again flowing outwards. I''d been so fascinated with the show it didn''t even occur to me this shit might like till it had already passed under me and gone on it''s way. In hindsight that was pretty fucking stupid on my part. Sure I''d read a ton of stories about System Apocalypse stuff. But in reality, I didn''t know jack shit. Sure some of what I''d read was generally accurate, like monsters and dungeons and building upgrades. But so far most of it was generalized. At that moment I decided to pull my head out of my ass and make smarter decisions. This definitely wasn''t a game. I walked over to the door and tried to open it. Meg walked beside me. I tapped the door but nothing happened. There was no handle. Placing my hand on it I thought open. Sure enough, it opened outwards. Inside it was humid as hell. There was a deep earthy smell to the whole place. There was a small waterfall to my left that fed a stream flowing to my right that seemed to disappear into a hole. Other than that the entire place was filled with rich dark earth. Stepping in and on to the dirt I knelt down and placed my hands on the dirt. It was soft and loamy. It felt more like compost than actual dirt. And it was deep. I sunk my hand wrist-deep into it and didn''t find a bottom. That''s when I stepped back off the dirt, not dirt. Reference my new "don''t be a dumbass" policy. As I stepped back on to solid roof I noticed a small table to the right of the door on the inside. I''d missed it entirely when I entered. Sitting on it was a small manual. On the cover, were a bunch of seeds I didn''t recognize and the title Gardening for Nubs. Feeling like an idiot for the third time in as many minutes I grabbed it and went back inside to read up on my new greenhouse. One thing I had learned both as a marine and a contract vendor? Read the fucking manual! Seriously, you do not want to be the guy who didn''t check his backblast area while firing off an AT-4 because you didn''t. Dropping the grenade and throwing the pin? Also a sub-optimal situation. Reading the manual is like a religion for most operators. Those who can, do. And those who can''t? Get shot in the face while trying to clear a weapon they jammed because they didn''t. So I began to read. I''ll slip the technical details and just say the greenhouse was amazing. It could be set up with individual grow zones. Got a plant only good for winter climates? Set up a zone and drop a few seeds. Need tropical climates for your nifty new coconut trees? Easy peasy. Even more interesting was the fact that it could be used for extreme environments. Got an alchemical flower that only grows on Volcanic River terrain? This thing could accommodate that too by forming a small lava pool and simulating river flow. All in all a great investment. After that, I went to look around at my other purchases. As I did I noticed the obelisk popping through my roof was missing and the roof was sealed. I went down to the ground floor and it was completely gone except for a four-foot-tall version sitting in the middle of my warehouse floor. I guess it had changed itself when the building altered to become more compatible or something. This whole situation was weird. I touched it to see if I could access it and it was still fine. So I went to check my library, shop, and garage. The shop was fairly simple really. It had tools I knew intimately, some tools I''d never seen before, and on benches, it had power tools. The best thing about it was that some of them were designed for intricate electronics work. There were a full-sized lathe and mini lathe for tiny detail work, a smithy in the corner, a self-heating forge a hydraulic press. I mean you name it. I could build anything from a tiny metal dog sculpture to a full-sized transmission in there. The garage was also amazing. When it had said medium-sized vehicles I''d been thinking your standard S10 pickup or maybe a hummer. Nope. The four bays could fit something the size of a Bradley. Vehicles were a loose term also. The database had upgrades for everything from typical four-wheeled vehicles to mobile combat suits. Both organic and inorganic. That last part was ringing alarm bells. The infodump for this had said as much when I bought it but I hadn''t paid much attention. Turns out Organic referred to things like Biomechs or Exoframe Symbiotes. And they came in all shapes and sizes. One thing I did find out was I could combine bays if necessary, each was individualized. But if I chose I could combine two of them into a Large bay capable of repair work on massive vehicles. Or if I combined all four I could fix Colossal Vehicles. I''m talking shit the size of a Sand Crawler from those Space Wars movies. Best. Investment. Ever. The thing that blew my mind totally out of the water though was this was a Basic vehicle bay. What the hell was I getting if I bought the Advanced or Master level bay? I had a feeling that was a long way out. First I needed skills and to figure out how to use them. The library though was my best purchase of all. As soon as I stepped into the room I was greeted by a voice from a computerized desk in the middle of the two hundred square foot room. "Hello, sir how may I help you?" It asked. It''s voice was decidedly monotone and robotic. Which made sense since it was indeed a robot. It was cylindrical with a tiny dome on a stalk for a head. It had two arms on each compass point that were on rotating disks. "Uh..id like to know about skills and how to use them." The thing exploded in a flurry of motion. It telescoped up extending its torso somehow, much like you would a pirates spyglass. Only this was seamless. Then it''s arms went whipping around grabbing three books off the shelves lining the room. When it settled back down three books were on the desk stacked neatly in front of it. Common Skills, Skill Slots for Dummies, Linking and You. I picked up all three a little hesitant to get near this thing and said my thanks before darting out the door with a wide-eyed Meg in tow. Then I went back up to my place to gear up and get ready. I was going to have to read up on how to work my skills but I also needed to head out and get Meg her food and whatever I could get from a couple of gardening places nearby. Chapter 6 January 5th 2019 ...skills can be anything. If it requires effort it can become a skill be it running and jumping or deep-sea diving. Once enough running and jumping skills are acquired they may combine into a new skill such as Athletics. Some skills require more effort such as Acrobatics or One-Handed Blades. These require a knowledge of how to move your body in a particular fashion to achieve the required results. Then there are magic skills. These are rare because of the knowledge required. It takes both an effort of will and a knowledge of using internal mana stores to be able to channel mana into a magical skill. This knowledge is guarded by guilds across the multiverse who wish to keep the secrets of Unique or Legendary skills. Some people are born with access to mana. Some gain it through the System and some find skill books or crystals in Dungeons across the multiverse. Still, only one in 100 will naturally gain the knowledge and skill to use Mana as it is meant to be used. I put the book down on the desk in my office. I''d been reading and rereading several passages from them. The basic skills book had been just that. A way to acquire common basic skills like running sprinting jumping tumbling and so on. They seemed useful so I figured why not, who doesn''t love more skills? When I''d been active the powers that be had us taking classes in all kinds of weird shit. From learning meditation to fire walking. Some of it had been fun. Like kayaking. We''d learned how to flip a kayak right side up if it ever flipped with us in it. Useful in everyday life? Probably not. Useful in combat? Definitely not. But it had been fun. The System was going to make school ridiculously simple for kids. I mean once you could do basic addition and subtracting multiplication and division you could do math right? Once you had the Math skill all you had to do was keep using it and it would advance on it''s own. I wasn''t sure where advanced math like calculus and trigonometry came into it, if they were advanced skills or what. But I was looking forward to finding out. I''d finally gotten around to slotting all the skills I had room for. With 30 skill slots that was a lot of skills. But I wanted more. So I used half my link points and bought ten more base link slots. That gave me forty base slots to play with allowing me to put all of my magical manipulation skills as well as nearly all of my crafting skills in a slot. I left out a few like Blacksmithing and Tailoring. Cause really? I had an entire shop and no desire to swing a hammer. Sure I might experiment later but for every day use? I planned to keep my first list. The cool thing about active skill slots was that you could switch them out once a day. So If I happened to run into Gimli and he had some mining or Smithing tips I could pop it in and level it. The thing I didn''t account for once I hit the yes to choose my skills was the massive influx of knowledge and headache-inducing pain I got. Each magic skill had it''s own basic knowledge. Each crafting had it''s own basic knowledge. You get the idea. Once I had my skills though I used my skill points. Each legendary skill got a new rank causing even more knowledge to download into my overheated mind. The only non-legendary skill I upgraded was Analysis. I did buy the Weapon: Ranged Energy skill with a skill point though. I had this nifty plasma rifle to try out and all. I debated using one on the Glaive but honestly, I didn''t figure I needed it. I had both my AR-15 and the new plasma rifle as well as my K-bar. ________________________________ Buck Stevens: Titles: None Class: Technic (Beginner) Level: 10 Exp: 743/10,000 to next level Hp: 1420/ 1420 Mp: 1650/1650 Psy: 450/450 Stam: 320/320 ________________________________ Power (Spell): +65 Power (Physical): +42 Power (Ranged) +34 Resistance (Mental): +32.5 Resistance (Physical): +16 ________________________________ Health(/R per hour): +16 Mana(/R per hour): +32.5 Stam(/R per min): +1.5 Psy (/R per hour): +22.5 Stats: +5 (+5 mental) [0/0] Str: 42 Dex: 34 Vit: 32 End: 32 Int: 65 Wis: 45 Will: 45This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Cha: 35 Link Slot Index: 40 Link Points [Human]: +20 per level. Link Point Total: 100 Skill Points: 0 Skills- Slotted Skills: Passive: Engineering [Un] (1/1000) Manatech Engineering [L] (2/1000) Aethertech Engineering [L] (2/1000) Robotics [E] (1/1000) Physics [Un] (1/1000) Chemistry [Un] (1/1000) Thermodynamics [R] (1/1000) Architecture [C] (1/1000) Art Theory[C] (1/1000) Magic Theory [R] (1/1000) Math [C] (1/1000) Runes [E] (1/1000), Active: Stealth [C] (1/1000) Weapon: Ranged Kinetic [C] (1/1000) Weapon: Grenades [C] (1/1000) Hand to Hand [C] (1/1000) Trap Making [U] (1/1000) Trap Detection [Un] (1/1000) Pick Locks [C] (1/1000) Analysis [U] (1/1000) Fire Manipulation [R] (1/1000) Heat Manipulation [R] (1/5000) Earth Manipulation [R] (1/1000) Metal Manipulation [R] (1/5000) Air Manipulation [R] (1/1000) Lightning Manipulation [R] (1/5000) Gravity Manipulation [R] (1/1000) Force Manipulation [R] (1/1000) Space Manipulation [R] (1/1000) Core Coding [L] (1/1000) Core Engraving [L] (1/1000) Core Smithing [L] (1/1000) Core Enchanting [L] (1/1000) Runic Coding [E] (1/1000) Coding [C] (1/1000) Blacksmithing [C] (1/1000) Mechanic[C] (1/1000) Leather Working [C] (1/1000) Tailoring [C] (1/1000) Alchemy [R] (1/1000) Chemistry [Un] (1/1000) Harvesting [Organic] (1/1000) Harvesting [Inorganic] (1/1000) Mining [C] (1/1000) Mana Channeling [R] (1/1000) Mana Engraving [E] (1/1000) Mana Control [R] (1/1000) Aether Infusion [L](1/1000) Aether Manipulation [L] (1/1000) Aether Control [L] (1/1000) Aether Engraving [L] (1/1000) Runic Magic [E] (1/1000) Runic Enchanting [L] (1/1000) Rune Smithing [L] (1/1000) Water Manipulation [R] (1/1000) Ice Manipulation [R] (1/5000) Life Manipulation [L] (1/1000) Affinities: Fire, Heat, Earth, Metal, Air, Lightning, Gravity, Space, Force, Water, Ice, Life, ________________________________ I spent another couple of hours reading. Then I went to find Meg. We needed to hit some stores and I wasn''t about to leave her here alone. It took about an hour to get packed up. I dumped my ruck out and repacked it with reduced space and weight in mind. I took two MRE''s a blanket a change of clothes and two hundred round reloads for my AR. I also upgraded my AR with a Bipod and a Suppressor. I kept my standard vest kit. Once I had my AR slung I grabbed the plasma rifle. I seemed to instinctively know how to hold it as well as charge it. It had an amazing sight built-in. It was a holographic interface with an ammo count and thermal and low light vision modes. All in all a nice weapon. Once I was all set I had Meg climb in the ruck. She sat looking out from under the flap which I had half strapped. When she had climbed in she had wrinkled her little nose and complained about the smell. "I''ll wash it when I can kiddo. Sorry but it''s all we have at the moment and I need to keep you out of sight for now. I don''t want some random asshole taking potshots at you cause you don''t look human. Just hang out and watch my back. Let me know if you see something I can''t or don''t. Ok?" "Ok." So we went hunting. The local Malwart was about a mile away. I figured the food and what not had probably been raided but I doubted anyone had raided lawn and garden. The sun was high in the sky as we walked. I tried to keep to the sides of buildings or as close to cover as possible as we moved along. My urban Digicam BDUs helped with blending in with the sides of most buildings. Most of the gunfire had died down last night, but every once in a while you''d hear a pop pop pop of gunfire. I''d seen shit like this before but I''d never expected to see it in the states. Everywhere I looked there was carnage. Blood on the sidewalk in pools. A half-eaten woman in an intersection. It was like being back in the worst parts of the middle east. At least there they just lined you up and shot you they didn''t eat you alive. Once we got a block from the Malwart I started looking for some high ground. Creeping through a couple of back yards I saw a nice three-story house with a flat roof and door access. So I pried a few boards off the fence as quietly as I could and crawled inside the yard. Once through I placed the boards back over the hole to keep it camouflaged. It wasn''t great but I didn''t have a hammer and nails, and that would be too loud if I had. As I turned back around to look at the house I thought I saw movement in the window. Instantly my rifle was on my shoulder and pointed at the house. At a fast crouching run, I moved to the back door. I checked to see if it was open and it was locked. I did a fast peek through the window on my left from the door and didn''t see anyone. So I set my plasma rifle down and opened the best pouch with my lock picking tools. Taking deep shallow breaths to calm down I began using the picks to open the door. After the longest thirty seconds of my life, the lock clicked. Then I got a notification. +1 Lock Picking. I grinned. It looked like slotting my skills was already paying off. Putting the picks away I grabbed my plasma rifle and opened the door. It swung outwards towards me slowly. I went through the door fast checking left then right swinging my rifle both ways and keeping it aimed where I was looking. Nothing. Clearing the room I went back and closed the door. Turning back around I looked slowly around the room. It was a nice house. Flat-screen on the wall with a couch and a coffee table in front. An entertainment center with a playbox and an X-Station side by side. Small DVD collection. Music and so on. There was a family picture on the shelves used to hold knick nacks off to the right. A man and a woman holding each other while two kids between 8 and 14 looked up at then smiling. It was a snow picture. If I had to guess it was probably taken somewhere up near Vail. The place was mostly clean. I didn''t see any blood or anything. Across the living room was a door to the dining room with a nice island separating it from the kitchen. I continued to clear the bottom floor. I didn''t find anything of interest. When I checked the fridge where was a small bag of baby carrots that I opened and slid into my pack. Everything else was spoiled. Shortly I heard wet crunching noises from inside. "Shhh, keep it down I need to be able to hear," I said. "Ok." The crunching got much quieter and I grinned. There was nothing on the second floor. A couple of kids rooms a huge bathroom and an office. The man had been a lawyer apparently. As I was heading up the stairs to the third floor I heard a creaking sound from below. I slowly crept down the stairs. As I came down the stairs I heard a clatter of noise. Moving fast I caught a glimpse of someone going out a side door I hadn''t noticed before. Taking it slow in case it was a trap I cleared the door sweeping the sides and saw a garage. In the floor was a well-concealed trap door. Whoever had built it had really known what they were doing. I ran over and yanked it open aiming my weapon down at an angle and keeping myself behind the door as much as possible. What I saw had me pause. A woman holding a massive kitchen knife stood between me and a couple of kids in their teens. They all had fear on their faces. "Drop the knife and come out. Bring anyone else down there with you. If I find out you didn''t I''ll put a bullet in them." I said. Shaking with fear the woman dropped the knife and climbed out slowly bringing the kids. As they came up something weird happened. I''d been watching the woman closely trying to determine if she had hidden weapons when a weird box popped up over her head. _______________________________________ Name: Jennifer Hale Age: 38 Sex: Female Class: none Level: 0 Hp: 200 Mp: 200 Psy: 200 _______________________________________ That had to be my Analysis skill at work. No one I''d looked at before had given me anything like this. I was suddenly looking forward to seeing what else I could do with it. Once everyone had climbed out I had them sit against the garage door as far from me as possible. They all had dejected looks on their faces as well as fear. Once I had them seated I kicked the door open letting it hit the ground flat on its back. They all flinched. Then I got on my knees and looked down in the tiny basement. It wasn''t very big. Mostly used for storage if I had to guess. There was a cot, a small table, and a bunch of canned and freeze-dried food. in a corner were a few cases of bottled water. Other than that were a few blankets and pillows. Getting up I had them all go into the living room for a chat.