《Broken - There is only Vengeance[LitRPG, Villain lead]》 1 - The Hands of Death The System crossed paths with Marcus Grey in both an extremely convenient¡­ and inconvenient¡­ situation. He was driving down the interstate, crossing the great wastelands of western texas, intent on reaching a home he¡¯d just inherited on the coast. He¡¯d quit his job; abandoned his life¡­ and was heading off for a new start. Marcus himself wasn¡¯t anything particularly special; late thirties, reasonably fit but no athlete, dark hair starting to spot with grey. He was twice divorced, no kids; and considered himself lucky that this had happened after the divorce; if his father had passed two years ago, his ex would¡¯ve ended up with half the property value. He had everything he needed for his life in the back of the truck; a bed, a few pieces of furniture, his books, his collection; and had just left the hotel an hour before, cruising down the highway¡­ when the notice appeared over his vision, and he slammed on the brakes; slowing down on the side of the road, not a single other person in sight.
Hello, Marcus Grey, and welcome to the system!
Your world is currently a level 1 zone, and will be steadily increasing as time goes on; certain areas will increase faster than others.
This means that you, as a level zero entity, will slowly grow stronger until you reach level one.
This is both good news, as that it means, once you reach level 5, you will have reached galactic baseline, and be able to choose a class, and/or alter your race.
This is also bad news, as all living things on your world, both plant and animal, will be undergoing the same process.
The System Initiation Committee has chosen eight hundred and four individuals to serve as Chosen. They will be offered a chance to leave your world, gain significant power, and return to help the rest of your species deal with the comic crisis. Should you meet one, they have been given information and assistance to help guide your world through the future awaiting it.
Arm yourself. Prepare your defenses. We will help as best we can, and should you survive to exceed level 5, can expect to no longer suffer the effects of ordinary aging or disease. But while yourself becoming stronger is a good thing; the species you share a world with will mutate greatly as they grow stronger. Use great caution. Survive.
He stared at the blue box for a few minutes, reading it over, carefully¡­ and then looked out at the desert. This¡­ was a particularly harsh, unforgiving place. There wasn¡¯t much life in any given direction he could see, aside from the cacti. He wondered¡­ had everyone seen that? Was he imagining things? There was no-one else to ask¡­ but the next gas station was only twenty miles ahead. He thought for a moment, about the contents of his truck. Did he have anything that he could use to defend himself? A machete. A baseball bat. His great-grandfather¡¯s revolver¡­ well, revolvers, but one had actually been fired during the civil war, and the other was most likely a reproduction. Did he have bullets? Technically, some of the states he was driving through, it was illegal to carry a loaded firearm in the cabin. Which was why the revolvers were unloaded, locked in a box, and secure. Despite this¡­ and despite them being antiques¡­ it might be best to pull them out. Have them ready. He looked both ways on the highway, checking for oncoming cars; nothing. Sand. Cacti. A few old, abandoned buildings from back when this was still part of Mexico¡­and nodded, popping the door, settling his shoes on the concrete¡­ good, solid work-boots. Steel toe, about the best that could be worn if things went bad. The jeans were as good as anything, and the Metallica T-shirt wouldn¡¯t be the best option if some bug suddenly turned giant; but he didn¡¯t carry armor. Who did? He sidled around to the back of the truck, and gave a grunt as he shouldered the mattress over; exposing the lockbox buried beneath some couch cushions, pinned in place by the ropes holding it all down. After a few seconds, he had the box unlocked, and slid both revolvers out, and the sole box of bullets he had¡­ Only to blink, as he settled the revolvers down, and another pair of boxes appeared.
Congratulations! You have touched your first weapon since encountering the System
You have been granted a single boon; this weapon may be upgraded by the system, rendering it unusually durable and effective. Swords will become almost unbreakable, firearms will never jam, and the general damage dealt can be expected to improve. You may retain this boon for one hour, and expend it on a different weapon. Any weapon whatsoever can be upgraded to, at minimum, ¡®Uncommon¡¯, in this way.
Congratulations! You have encountered a ¡®Relic¡¯ item.
¡®Relic¡¯ items are items that have a significant background or history behind them, having been touched by the emotions and souls of many, or been passed down over generations. Storied items vary in quality, but will have unusual effects if upgraded by the system, generally positive. These items will typically be upgraded on their own with sufficient exposure to mana.
He looked at the two revolvers for a moment¡­ and then at the box. This¡­ still seemed a bit silly. He looked at the interstate again, before turning to the revolver that had belonged to his great-grandfather.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°How do I put a boon on an object, or upgrade it?¡± He lifted the weapon¡­ and blinked, as a brief flash of golden light appeared.
Right Hand of Death (Relic) (Legendary) (Bound)
This Legendary Bound revolver was carried and wielded in battle by three generations of the Grey family, in the civil war, the first world war, and the vietnam war. It has never failed the man who wielded it, and has now been upgraded, becoming invested with power by the system. As a legendary weapon, it has four augmentations. As a bound weapon, when wielded by anyone outside the Grey family it acts as an ordinary revolver.
Unbreakable: This weapon is virtually impossible to break, and cannot jam or misfire. Spiritual Ammunition: When fired without a bullet in the cylinder, this weapon will consume a tiny amount of ambient mana, or if there is no ambient mana, that of the user, to generate a temporary magical bullet. Empowered: When firing normal bullets, this weapon augments their force of impact significantly, increasing damage by 200% and adding this adjustment to any enchanted bullets. Bane: This weapon can be named bane of a particular species or organization that it has been used to kill at least ten members of. This can only be reset once per month, and continues until changed. Available options at present are(Confederates, Nazis, Viet-Cong, Humans, Horses, Snakes). As a Bane weapon, it will deal additional damage, penetrate armor more effectively, and cause wounds which are substantially more difficult to heal.
At first, it was a touch of irritation that it had triggered without him wanting it to¡­ but then he started reading what it showed. ¡°....If¡­ If it can be set to Bane of humans, why would I bother with an organization that is only humans?¡± He was confused, and grateful. If this thing worked as advertised, that meant he didn¡¯t even need to load it. Only¡­ how much ambient mana was there? Would it hurt him to drain it? Wait. Why had it been used to kill ten horses? With no answers forthcoming, he raised the revolver, and looked around¡­ spotting a cactus about fifty yards from the road, he centered his aim¡­ and pulled the trigger. A loud, familiar pop of the weapon firing¡­ and a hole appeared¡­ not where he was aiming, but at least in the cactus. He checked the revolver again; no bullets. That¡­ was useful. And the first proof that the blue boxes had some sort of connection with reality. Removing the other revolver seemed useless; it was, after all, not going to have unlimited ammo like the first. But might as well; perhaps he¡¯d run out of this.. ¡®Mana¡¯, and need it. Setting the revolver through his belt, he took the other, and re-secured the straps, making sure the whole load was good and settled¡­ before getting back into the driver¡¯s seat, and tucking the extra revolver into the glove compartment. Time to get moving. If his revolver could have infinite ammo, and the world was turning into some sort of game, best to get to the station before the ants started turning into goblins. *** When he reached ¡®Sam¡¯s Pit-stop¡¯ less than 20 minutes later, things still seemed fairly normal¡­ he pressed his card into the pump, started it running¡­ and glanced in at the clerk behind the counter; who was avidly staring at a TV inside. He whistled to himself, watching the pump running¡­ and once the truck was filled, considered for a moment pulling away from the pump, to be polite¡­ but couldn¡¯t see a single other vehicle; only a beat-up old yellow ford taurus that likely belonged to the man behind the counter. He stepped up to the door; the automated door sliding open unusually quickly¡­ and glanced at the clerk, a nice-looking teenager with long brown hair and a nametag reading ¡®Nathan¡¯, walking up beside him. ¡°Hey. This might sound crazy, but have you seen any..¡± ¡°Blue boxes? Yeah, and they¡¯re all over the news! Everybody¡¯s seen em! And animals¡­ starting to get weird. I¡¯m thinking about heading into town¡­ some places, its starting to get¡­ here, look.¡± He turned the monitor¡­ A news report was playing; he couldn¡¯t hear the woman, but he could see the video, of¡­ a praying mantis, the size of a dog, snatching up a child before the sound of gunshots went off. ¡°I dunno why¡­ but most of em are getting bigger slow. But some do it really fast.¡± Marcus stared at the screen, frowning. ¡°...A praying mantis is a predator. It kills, and eats people. If this is like a game¡­ does it get bigger, faster, by killing things?¡± The man behind the counter glanced at Marcus¡­ and shrugged. ¡°I guess it might. That¡¯d be really good for like¡­ exterminators and so forth. Wonder if I get anything for swatting flies and killing ants? Hah.¡± He could suddenly hear¡­ a noise. Something strange, clattering behind the store. Something¡­ big. The man looked back at the wall, then at the TV¡­ and reached under the counter, grabbing a baseball bat. ¡°Fuck! What the hell do we have here?¡± Marcus frowned. ¡°Not a damn clue. Maybe some eagle¡¯s been gobbling up rats or something and got to be really big?¡± The man rose to his feet, nodding. ¡°Just a second. I¡¯ve got cameras.¡± He hit a button beside the TV. After a few seconds¡­ an image of a massive, 4-foot long lizard, holding what was left of some unknown animal in its jaws, was rifling through the dumpster. The creature looked to be bigger than the teen. ¡°Fuck it, maybe we need to deal with it. Not sure if I want to do it with a bat, but¡­ I¡¯ll¡­ Upgrade weapon? Huh.¡± Marcus blinked. ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t! Do you¡­ have a gun with you?¡± He gestured at his hip, and the revolver. ¡°I upgraded my revolver, and it got unlimited ammo. Damn useful. Doesn¡¯t need bullets anymore.¡± ¡°...No¡­. I wanted to keep a shotgun under here, but the boss-man only lets me keep the bat. Says if the other guy has a gun, just let him take what he wants. Do you have an extra?¡± Marcus glanced back at his truck, then at the man. ¡°....Yeah. Look¡­¡± He glanced at the nametag. ¡°Nathan. That lizard might be dangerous. We might have to do this together. But that¡¯s my gun. You can do it, we can make sure the place is safe¡­ and after, either you buy the gun off me for a few hundred bucks, or you give it back. Deal?¡± Nathan looked at the bat, then at the truck outside. ¡°....Fuck that. If you¡¯ve got a gun, I¡¯ll give you three hundred for it. I¡¯ll pull it out of the ATM after. Deal?¡± ¡°Deal. My name¡¯s Marcus, I¡¯ve got the extra in the glove compartment, already loaded. And I¡¯ll watch your back¡­ Lets hope the damn thing isn¡¯t bulletproof.¡± *** The two moved quietly as they stepped out to the truck¡­ and as they reached it, Marcus glanced back at the gas station. ¡°Alright. Just take it out of the glove compartment and think you want to upgrade it, and it should work, just like it did on this one.¡± He could hear an engine running; someone was approaching, off in the distance, from the same direction Marcus had come. He glanced at what looked to be a semi; still a ways off; and turned back to Nathan¡­ who was closely examining the revolver he¡¯d taken out. ¡°Whats it say?¡± Marcus was interested in whether this was also counted as a ¡®Relic¡¯, or if would just become some other, lesser sort. ¡°It says¡­ its the Left Hand of Death. Epic. Sturdy, infinite ammo, and it makes regular bullets hit harder. Crazy. Also says its bound, and only me and the Grey family can use it.¡± Marcus chuckled. ¡°Well then. Only thing mine has it doesn¡¯t is something called ¡®Bane¡¯. I¡¯d think I should make it ¡®Lizard¡¯ bane, but its not an option, and I don¡¯t think snake is close enough.¡± Nathan held the revolver up, and took a deep breath. ¡°We do this together?¡± ¡°Hell yes. We just go around there, and¡­¡± The semi was pulling off, dragging up a cloud of dust; and the two men heard a sudden shriek¡­. As the lizard came running around the building, skipping from leg to leg like it didn¡¯t want either to touch the ground, its thick brown scales seeming tougher than they did moments before¡­ and leapt into the air, slamming into the side of the truck. The driver abruptly swerved; Marcus could make out a black cowboy hat, a look of panic¡­ and the truck turned, its load flipping over on its side as it slammed into both Marcus¡¯s own truck and the fuel pumps¡­ They barely had time to realize what was going on before the world was filled with the sound of breaking glass, the air filled with fire¡­. And the world went black. 2 - First Blood Consciousness was pain¡­. And noise. Some sort of terrible, awful, noise. He blearily opened his eyes, taking in the desert sun¡­ it was almost straight above him, forcing him to squint, and realize he¡¯d been out for at least an hour. That¡­ was bad. He needed a hospital. That could be brain damage, or anything, really. He slowly shifted, looking around¡­. And saw¡­. The Semi-truck on its side. The man trapped in it¡­ and the lizard.. At least another foot longer now, five or six feet long¡­ buried most of the way in the truck. There was a loud, crunching, tearing sound¡­ and he realized that the driver was being eaten, even as he watched. Not ten feet from the truck was¡­ the partial remains of what had to be Nathan. The poor gas station attendant was clearly partially eaten; his arms and legs both largely stripped of flesh, exposed bone visible¡­ and if the creature had already eaten what it wanted of him, and was now working on the driver¡­. He¡¯d probably be going after Marcus, soon. He looked around for a moment¡­ spotting the Right Hand of Death, lying on the pavement not ten feet away¡­ and started crawling towards it. Feeling more confident, more comfortable, with each passing moment¡­ until he reached it¡­ and lifted it into the air¡­ giving a nod. There we go. Monster, magic gun. He looked at Nathan¡¯s body¡­ and saw the other revolver lying beside him¡­. And slowly, gingerly, got to his feet¡­ his heart practically stopping when he heard the noise in the truck stop. The creature lifted its head out of the windshield, turning to look at Marcus; the face was a horrific sight, covered with blood that was clearly not its own, a loop of intestine danging out trailing back to the mostly-intact truck driver¡­. Who actually seemed to still be alive, and in terrible pain. He raised the revolver, hand shaking, trying to center it on the lizard¡¯s head¡­ and pulled the trigger; and just kept pulling the trigger, as quickly as he could, having no idea how many times he shot as the lizard first screeched in pain, as the first bullet hit its shoulder¡­ then started to charge Marcus¡­ as a second¡­ third¡­ fourth round hit it. At the fifth, it was crawling¡­ the abrupt sprint turning into a slow, wounded shamble. Moving so slowly that Marcus was able to calm down, focus¡­. And place a bullet directly between the beast¡¯s eyes. New blue screens popped in front of his face, immediately.
Congratulations! You have killed your first enemy!
Killing enemies awards you some of their inherent energy, dramatically accelerating your progress at leveling. The smaller and weaker you are, the less energy it takes to improve; as a human only recently initiated, you are below the average; depending on what sort of enemy you killed, you may have just given yourself some solid progress towards your first level!
Try killing many enemies of the same type, or enemies of higher level than you, for additional rewards! When the fight is over, you can either harvest the enemy for its meat, or touch it and think ¡®Loot¡¯ to acquire less valuable but neatly packaged rewards! If you have an extradimensional space, it will automatically be stored there!
Congratulations! You have gained your first level!
As you gain levels, you will increase in power over time; until you acquire a class, this will simply mean you improve in all respects at a steady pace. Think ¡®Display status¡¯, or focus on yourself and think ¡®Examine¡¯ to learn more.
He stared at the blue boxes¡­. Just like the previous times, they seemed to vanish as soon as he clearly understood them¡­ and while that could be important, what was more important¡­ was the trucker. Half of his torso had been hollowed out. His left arm was gone. He was still, somehow, clearly alive, and suffering, which¡­ didn¡¯t seem possible. He should¡¯ve been unconscious long before this, and dead from blood loss as well. Did the lizard-thing have some sort of power to keep its victims alive til it was done eating? Regardless. He looked at the revolver. The reason why it had ¡®Horse¡¯ available as a bane option was suddenly extremely clear. Shooting wasn¡¯t always a hostile act; sometimes, it was a mercy. He leveled the revolver on the driver¡¯s forehead. ¡°I¡­. wish I had other options. Better options. I know this hurts. I¡¯m sorry.¡± He closed his eyes, holding the weapon steady¡­ and one last pull of the trigger. An audible snap¡­ the man went limp, eyes shut.
Oh no! You¡¯ve killed a fellow sentient being!
While circumstances might sometimes force this, and we can¡¯t punish you for your actions, we highly recommend cooperating with your fellow sentients; for the first few weeks, any you meet, regardless of appearance, are either of your species, or chose to change races at level five.
Marcus gave a low sigh¡­ and looked at the tangled mess that was once the pumps¡­ his truck, and all his worldly belongings. He was gonna have to call the cops, and hope the cameras caught enough of what just went down that he didn¡¯t go to prison for the rest of his life. Assuming prison was still a thing. He walked up to Nathan, and looked at the revolver lying beside his hand¡­ and sighed, reaching down to pick it up..tucking it into his belt, on the opposite hip from the first. He really needed to get a couple of holsters, cowboy style, if he ended up using these regularly. He checked it; the gun had five bullets in it; Nathan had gotten off a single shot before the lizard killed him. A slow shake of the head¡­ as he patted his pockets¡­ finding his old flip-phone. He¡¯d cancelled his old plan, returned his iphone; and got a cheap ¡®burner¡¯ phone for the trip; wanting to get rid of as much old baggage as possible. He tapped it out¡­ 911. And got about the response he expected. ~¡¯We¡¯re sorry, all circuits are busy. Please wait, and try again.~You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Great. Hopefully that just meant it was an emergency, and not that the world had collapsed. He looked around for a minute, then at the yellow ford taurus; and at Nathan¡¯s corpse; mostly eaten, the keys nowhere to be found. Well. Fuck. He walked up to the monster, wondering. If he ¡®Looted¡¯ it, would he get the keys? Or would they vanish? Did he have to cut open its belly and pray he could find them inside it, somehow? He didn¡¯t even have a good knife handy. There didn¡¯t really seem to be a good option here. He knelt down, laying a hand on the body, and thought ¡®Loot¡¯. The body started to glow softly.
Congratulations, you have looted your first monster!
Most of its body is being converted to ambient mana, empowering yourself and the world around you. The rest is converting the creature into appropriate materials.
Looted: 6x Lizard Hide; 1x Wallet; 1x Keychain; 1x Expended bullet; 20 pounds Lizard Meat
It all just appeared, neatly laid out where the corpse once was. Six squares of scaly hide, each a bit over a foot to a side. A mostly intact wallet and keychain¡­ a bullet which had clearly been mushroomed into uselessness by the victim¡¯s flesh; and ten neatly cut, almost rectangular, lumps of meat. So. He didn¡¯t have an extradimensional storage. Hopefully he didn¡¯t need that meat later. He glanced at the gas station, then at the lizard corpse. Well, hell. If he was borrowing poor Nathan¡¯s car¡­.. There was more than one form of looting. *** The gas station had a small section for alcohol; and a stack of coolers, heavily overpriced ones, both of the cheap disposable styrofoam sort, as well as of the more expensive plastic variety. The beer was a bit tempting¡­ but this was not the time to be buzzed. He needed to keep heading west, and find the authorities, or a safe place otherwise. Maybe¡­.. Should he take out the tapes? No¡­. He shook his head, and took three of the coolers; loading them down with juices, sodas, and pre-packaged sandwiches from the cooler, before dragging the lot out to the car¡­ finding the backseat empty, and the passenger seat completely filled with wrappers from various fast-food places. He shoved the lot of it out onto the pavement, and set one of the coolers on the seat¡­ alongside a case of bottled water. Deciding he was about as ready as he was going to be, and all that was left was to get some clothes from the wreckage of his truck, if he could, he looked at his hand, and took a deep breath. Examine or check status? Was Examine something that would work on anything, and Check Status just on himself? He closed his eyes. Check status.
Marcus Jonah Grey
Unclassified Human 1
Strength 6
Endurance 11
Stamina 21
Agility 8
Mind 9
Power 5
Abilities None
Skills Minor(Ranged Weapons, Melee Weapons, Persuasion, Automotive Repair) Moderate(Survival, Sales)
Titles None
Boons Armor Upgrade x1, Tool Upgrade x1
He blinked. That didn¡¯t seem particularly right. He would guess he was above-average, strength-wise, and his endurance and stamina shouldn¡¯t be much better than anyone else. He didn¡¯t exactly run marathons. ¡°...I don¡¯t suppose there¡¯s any chance of questions being answered by whoever is doing this? Like why my Stamina is so high, how to use the boons, any of that?¡±
Administrator Message
We¡¯re sorry, Marcus, but we can¡¯t answer individual questions very often; even this answer is derived from a template. There aren¡¯t many of us, and billions of your people, we¡¯re doing our absolute best to provide boons and benefits tailored to preserve your species as a whole, but we didn¡¯t create this situation, and what we can do is limited. A handful of automated answers will populate from here. Stats are measured on a galactic scale, not a human one. You will discover, once you are able to change race or encounter other species, that humans are one of the most enduring and adaptable species out there; albeit not the most agile or physically strong. At a point when humans are still going strong, an Elf or Demon will have long collapsed from exhaustion. Boons are used by picking an appropriate item, and thinking about activating it. When you first pick up a piece of armor, you will be notified, and given the option to upgrade it; simply think that you want to, and it will happen. While the ¡®Tool¡¯ boon can be used for a variety of things, including making a vehicle more durable and consuming less or no fuel, or doing something similar to a power tool, it is recommended to use the ¡®Tool¡¯ option on the largest piece of portable storage you can locate; this will allow you to turn it into an extradimensional space you can access from anywhere.
Well. That answered some questions, but left more. He had some luggage in his truck he could use, of course. But¡­ how big could the space be? He glanced at the truck, laying on its side. If the power could upgrade an entire vehicle¡­. That massive storage container the Semi had been pulling was still fairly intact. He could just pick his biggest piece of luggage if it didn¡¯t work, but if it did¡­. He walked over to the truck¡­ trying not to look at the man whose life he had recently ended.. And laid a hand on the cargo container on wheels currently laying on its side, thinking¡­ ¡®Tool Upgrade.¡¯
Using boon: ¡®Tool Upgrade¡¯
You have selected a storage container of some sort for your upgrade. This container will begin to fade from existence in the real world, taking longer the larger the container is. When it has fully faded, you will be able to place and retrieve items from inside it at any time, and if it is sufficiently large, enter and exit it. Time does not pass inside the container while you are not accessing it.
He gave a nod, and a smile. Well, that was useful, at least. He glanced at the container¡­ which was slowly starting to grow. It might take a while¡­ but when it finished, he should have all the storage he could ever need. If his stuff hadn¡¯t been ruined by the impact, he might even wait around, load it all up, too. But¡­. Any second now, some giant eagle might swoop in, or a swarm of giant ants, or god knew what. He needed to get somewhere more populated, and fast. He turned to the yellow Taurus; and took a deep breath. Hopefully, things wouldn''t be too bad once he got on the road. 3 - The Chosen As two interstates merged, the road suddenly went from completely barren to slightly crowded; mostly with people leaving the small town, however, rather than those like himself coming in. The first exit outside Fort Tazewell was mostly just an RV park; which appeared to currently be on fire, with at least a dozen cop cars there. Marcus considered stopping to find out what was going on¡­ but he was hungry, and hoped he could get both a bit of info as well as a meal here in town; but¡­ should he stop by the police station, first? Looking down at the steering wheel of the car he was driving, he came to a decision¡­ there might be someone else this Nathan was planning to give a ride after work, or god knew what sort of situation. The cops should be able to track down Nathan¡¯s family, get that sorted out. The cops would be the perfect people to talk to about that. He nodded to himself¡­ and pulled off, heading towards the RV park¡­ and came to a stop not far away from it. There were gunshots; screams; even the sound of explosions. He started to re-think being there¡­ only to realize¡­ they might need help. That legendary revolver of his might be able to make a difference in killing some monster, though god knew how one could get strong enough to be dangerous in only a few hours. He parked the car, and headed towards the line of police cars blocking off the park; there was a crowd, right by the entrance. An older woman was yelling at the officer, wearing a bathrobe over an ancient nightie and waving a cane. ¡°This is my home! I live here! You can¡¯t keep me out of my own home!¡± The officer signed. ¡°Look, lady. Until the incident is contained, nobody is going in there. That thing has already killed at least seventeen people.¡± Marcus stepped closer, and looked at his uniform for a moment. ¡°Excuse me¡­ Officer White?¡± The man glanced at Marcus. ¡°That goes for you too, sir. Its deputy, but its fine.¡± ¡°Whatever¡¯s going on¡­ I got lucky with this whole ¡®system¡¯ thing, and the weapon it upgraded for me is a Legendary. It might be useful for killing whatever that is.¡± He looked at Marcus for a moment. ¡°Let me see it.¡± Marcus slid the revolver free, extending it handle-first to the deputy; who took a step closer, looking it over.. And gave a nod. ¡°It might be at that. Go ahead. Supposedly one of those ¡®Chosen¡¯ is going to show up, but he¡¯s dealing with an incident in Dallas right now, so nobody knows how long that¡¯ll take.¡± White glanced at the crowd, then back at Marcus. ¡°Just be careful. Its a dog¡­. They were running dog-fights like a mile from here, and the beast killed some bait animals, the other dogs, the guys who were there to bet on the fights, everybody, some livestock that were trapped in their pens, then started on the neighbors. Normal bullets barely hurt the thing now and its almost as big as a damned horse.¡± He gave a slow nod. That sounded way scarier than a 5-foot lizard, and explained a few things. ¡°Damn! I¡¯ll be careful, sir.¡± As he started walking into the RV park, he could hear White calling it in on the radio¡­ and he could see one of the RVs suddenly flipped over on its side. There were at least a dozen deputies, with shotguns, rifles; most of it clearly not standard police issue; shouting, opening fire¡­ and then he could see the¡­ ¡®dog¡¯. It was at least several hundred pounds, its thick grey rhino-like hide covered with old scars and fresh bullet wounds, and as it hopped atop the RV, it looked at the sky, letting out a loud howl¡­. Whatever it was, something in that howl damn near made Marcus wet himself. It felt like¡­ just pure fear. He could barely hold the revolver steady as he raised it to aim at the beast¡­ which wasn¡¯t looking at him at all, instead turning to face a man who¡¯d just opened up with a double-barreled shotgun, causing a nasty wound in the beast¡¯s torso. He held his breath, trying to control the shaking¡­ and after the dog pounced on the deputy with his shotgun, grabbing the arm holding it and tearing it right off of his body in a trail of blood¡­ he pulled the trigger. An empowered bullet arced out with a visible glow; not one of the fake spirit rounds it made with magic, but real gunpowder somehow augmented by whatever made the gun work¡­ and it slammed into the dog¡¯s shoulder, leaving a fist the size of a hole¡­ and causing it to cry out again in anger¡­ now turning to look at Marcus. As he kept pulling the trigger in a panic, backing away, the next three shots all missing, he finally hit it again with the fourth one, causing the thing to stumble, a massive, drooling mug slamming into the dirt¡­ and then a sudden loud crunch; as a cop car slammed into the animal¡¯s side, crushing it against one of the other RVs. With it suddenly immobilized, and clearly badly hurt, Marcus fired the sixth and final bullet; any more would just be the weaker conjured rounds¡­. And this time, pegged the beast between the eyes¡­he watched the eyes glaze over¡­. And its struggle to escape ended.
Congratulations! You have gained your second level!
He looked down at the revolver¡­ and dropped to his knees, staring at the corpse of some poor, abused dog. He felt terrible; it had gone through hell at the hands of its owners, forced to fight and suffer for their amusement. If not for the system, it would still be doing exactly that; but all the arrival of this magic meant was that it suffered a shorter, more violent life, and took a few innocents out with it. One of the deputies stepped up, and clapped him on the shoulder; he accidentally dropped the revolver. The man smiled down at him; he was older, perhaps his fifties, with an immaculate white mustache with a few flecks of blood in it. His uniform read¡­ ¡®Mayhew¡¯. ¡°Well then, son. That was handy. You looking for a job? I hate to say it, but we¡¯re gonna have to hire a bunch of deputies after this¡­¡± He looked around. ¡°Maybe more, later.¡± He shook his head. ¡°Anyways. What brings you out here? Just trying to help?¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°....I came to talk to the cops. After a monster attack out on the interstate, my truck got destroyed, so I¡­ borrowed¡­ the car of a man it killed. I was just trying to hit the coast, figured I should report it, didn¡¯t want anyone to think I stole it, and I needed to get a new ride, a legal one. I¡­. my dad died. Gotta get to Oregon.¡± The deputy sighed. ¡°Well. We¡¯re currently in a state of emergency. Credit cards are finicky, cell phones, too. This whole system thing can be used for messaging, but its unreliable.¡± He glanced at the dead dog. ¡°You¡¯ve done us a solid. You should get some food and stay at Charlottes for the night¡­ the motel off the next exit. If I can work something out with one of our impounded cars, I will. Definitely not gonna leave you hanging either way; absolute least I¡¯ll do is get you a ride to the airport tomorrow.¡± Marcus sighed¡­ and nodded. ¡°That sounds¡­¡± There was a vivid white flash¡­ and two figures appeared in midair. One of them a man; but at least seven feet tall, wearing some sort of golden plate armor, with a musket strapped to his back, and a massive hammer in hand¡­ The other¡­ a woman in a long black robe, etched with glowing flames; her face covered by a black mask, similarly etched with flames, only showing long black hair¡­ as the two settled to the ground. He blinked, looking at the man in gold¡­ and tried ¡®Examine¡¯ for the first time.
Unknown(Chosen) Level: 20
The target is too much higher level than you to get any details they don¡¯t wish to reveal. Continue using Examine to acquire the skill; once it has reached Mastery, it can identify any person or object.
Ahhh. The Chosen that was supposed to be coming to help. The man in golden armor had stepped up, and was looking at the dog¡­ talking to the deputies around the corpse. The other, in the black robes, glanced his way¡­ and then grabbed the man¡¯s shoulder, giving him a firm tug¡­ and pointing at Marcus¡­ or rather, the revolver, laying on the dirt. The man focused on the weapon¡­ Marcus picked it up, tucking it into his belt, concerned¡­ as the man stepped closer, looking down at him. ¡°Well hello there, mister Grey. Myself and Nightfire just finished handling a¡­ problem¡­ at the Dallas zoo. We¡¯re going to be heading to another destination shortly. The deputies mentioned you took Cujo over there out with that revolver. Mind if I take a look at it?¡± Marcus looked down at the revolver¡­ and lifted it up, letting the man look at it. ¡°Been in my family for generations. Its been used to shoot Confederates, Nazis, and Vietcong¡­ and now, apparently, monsters.¡± The golden figure glanced around behind him. The black-robed woman was talking to the deputies now. ¡°Well. I¡¯ve got a musket, used in the revolutionary war; but its only a Rare. That revolver there¡­ is Legendary. Means that it¡¯ll get stronger over time, to match the user, even unlock new powers. With Uncommons, rares¡­ we have to swap out items now and again or they fall behind.¡± ¡°Huh. Sounds like I lucked out on this. What about Epics?¡± He patted the other revolver¡­ which drew a stare from the man. ¡°Tha¡­. well. Epics¡­ are the next step down. They still get stronger over time. But don¡¯t have as many powers. Anyways! I would like to make an offer. The system uses a currency called ¡®Credits¡¯, which are basically just distilled mana. You can spend it to level faster if you¡¯re below the level for your area.. And if not, you can use it to buy gear, or special abilities. Me and Nightfire are going to be teleporting to another hotspot as soon as her teleport cools down, but¡­. That revolver¡­¡± He looked at it again. ¡°It would make a huge difference for me. Having a legendary gun might let me take out the sort of monster that poses a threat to a city. If you¡¯d be willing to part with it, I¡¯d give you six thousand credits; and teleport you to a level five zone. You could come with us¡­ bump up to level five immediately¡­ and have enough credits left over to buy a whole set of rare gear, or uncommon gear and a few cool powers, like regeneration, or teleporting.¡± He patted the gun on his back. ¡°I¡¯ll even leave you my musket; shoots slower, but does crazy damage, so you won¡¯t be defenseless.¡± The revolvers were bound to the Grey family; which was just him, right now. And, well. Nathan for the Left, but Nathan was dead. Even if there was some way to unbind them, he wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to do so; if this golden man was so big about them, they must be really valuable¡­ so he¡¯d be best holding onto them. ¡°..I appreciate the offer. But these guns have been in my family for over a hundred years. If I ever have kids, I¡¯ll pass them on to them. Otherwise, I¡¯ll hang onto them.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Figures. Maybe someday I¡¯ll see you beside me on the front line, saving humanity from the monsters.¡± The golden figure gave him a nod¡­ and turned back to talk to the woman¡­ who glanced back at Marcus again, before checking to make sure the dog was dead. A few seconds later, the duo vanished; undoubtedly off to save some other town. He shook his head, watching them go¡­. And then turned to head back to the entrance of the RV park. He needed to get something to eat. And maybe check out that motel¡­ he felt tired as hell for some reason. *** The hotel room was clean, calm, dark; Charlotte hadn¡¯t cared that his card hadn¡¯t worked; the deputy had put in a good word for him, that he¡¯d shot the dog that was causing so much havoc; and the room was his for the night; or the next few, if he needed it. The world was in chaos. Ordinary creatures were growing, mutating; the worst places were the zoos, but everything from ants to cockroaches was growing at an alarming pace; but so far, nothing humanity couldn¡¯t deal with. Everyone figured the Chosen were a bit overly concerned; they¡¯d been taken away, allowed to train for a full year in a place where time ran faster, and then returned to earth merely hours after they left; and were claiming that everyone needed to prepare, this was going to be the end of the world if people didn¡¯t change. The government, of course, said it was all in hand; and the military was being stood up and sent out to help. Marcus¡­ wasn¡¯t too sure. Just the two monsters he¡¯d seen had been damn nasty, but he couldn¡¯t imagine one facing a tank. The owner, Charlotte, was a bit old for him, but had very definitely been flirting. She was still good-looking for her age, so he was almost tempted¡­. But no. He was just getting ready to settle down for a much-needed nap when he heard¡­ a knocking at the door. He frowned¡­. He¡¯d just gotten out of the shower, just had his boxers on¡­ wasn¡¯t planning to get re-dressed til morning. But¡­ fine. He slipped on a pair of slacks, and another T-shirt; this one the Grateful Dead; and stuffed the revolvers in his pockets, before heading to the door, peeking through¡­ to see the woman in black outside; the glowing red fire emblems making her stand out in the darkness. He opened the door, glancing out at her. ¡°Ehh? Nightfire, was it? What did you need?¡± The night air was cool; uncomfortably so; and he wanted to keep this as brief as possible. She tilted her head. ¡°I¡¯d like to give you another chance to reconsider Greg¡¯s offer. The Golden Boy could make a tremendous difference with that gun. Far more than you could. You¡¯re not just only level 2; you have no titles. No gifts.¡± ¡°I appreciate that. Maybe I¡¯ll be as good as he is someday. Maybe not. But the answer is no.¡± ¡°Maybe you aren¡¯t understanding me.¡± Suddenly, he felt¡­ intense heat. As if his skin were on fire, his body being lifted up into the air. ¡°You¡¯re only level 2. I just hit 21. If you have no idea what that means in terms of power, let me be clear¡­ I can crush you, like a cockroach. So. Last chance.¡± He focused on the revolver. He had zero chance here. At best, he could hurt her. This was no hero. Could he set the ¡®Bane¡¯ to human¡­. Ahh. Yes. He grabbed the revolver, yanking it from its holster, pointing at her and pulling the trigger¡­ in a feat of speed and reflexes he would have marveled at mere days before. And¡­ she gestured. A brilliant flash of red light; what appeared to be a whip formed out of pure fire lashed out, wrapping around his body¡­ and when the tip of it smacked into his forehead, the world went black. 4 - Broken Things were going to be close. Nightfire had been following Golden Boy for about a year now her time; it still felt incredibly weird that all of her adventures had taken place, on earth, the same day that the system arrived to begin with. They¡¯d been warned by the Committee in no uncertain terms that the primary issue was ¡®snowballing¡¯; once a nest of some given swarm, or a single particular predator, reached a certain threshold, it would tend to grow out of control, getting stronger and stronger until the locals couldn¡¯t deal with it. Nothing on Earth would be able to grow past level 21 for the first few days; it would scale up over time, and visitors above that level would feel their power drain out of them if they dared to invade; so by getting all of the Chosen to level 20 before sending them back, they ensured that, so long as they kept going, stayed at whatever the new level cap was, there would always be humans strong enough to deal with threats. However. If they didn¡¯t convince humans to start scaling up in power as well¡­ eventually the threats would grow beyond what the Chosen could control. They needed to both make sure humanity¡¯s leaders understood the importance of working together¡­ and stay at the peak themselves. So far, the highest-level threat any Chosen had encountered was in Africa; a Lion pride which had slaughtered its way through multiple herds of prey, a few rival lions, and then a few local villages; the Lionesses had been level 15, and the Lion himself at level 14, a bit bigger, but slower. And that¡­ was after only one day. Fortunately, there couldn¡¯t be too many of those; each predator that did that would reach level 20 in a few days, and then be stuck following the growth rate of the earth. And if the Chosen caught them fast enough¡­ Well. The Committee gave humanity a 50/50 shot of either making it out with moderate losses, or collapsing into a handful of well-defended enclaves. Every new world posed its own unique challenges, and they speculated that the biggest threat after the first week would be insects; but it was impossible to be sure. She looked down at the poor man she¡¯d just used her Fire Whip on. ¡®Marcus Grey¡¯, where he lay dying in the sand half a mile from the spot where he¡¯d shot that dog. Level 7; not the biggest threat they¡¯d killed that day, but nasty. The fact that he had two almost identical upgraded items was telling; he must have used someone else to upgrade the second, then killed them, or got them killed. Who knew what he¡¯d become if left alone. Warlord? Monster? It didn¡¯t matter. Humanity and its Chosen needed every advantage they could get. She lifted the Legendary weapon from the ground, studying it. Golden Boy would get so much use out of¡­. She stared for a moment. Bound. She looked down at the man¡­ and dropped the revolver to the dirt. Well, fuck. This had been a waste of effort. Right now, Legendary weapons were rare, priceless; there were less of them than there were Chosen. They wouldn¡¯t be able to unbind this thing without enough credits to buy another Legendary; half the point of Bound items was that it was pointless to try to steal them. She gave a low sigh. Well. That would have improved the odds slightly. But not that much. She looked at the dying, helpless figure in the sand, and shook her head. Better luck in the next life, Marcus. She focused; and started her spell to teleport back to where she camped out for the night; it only took five minutes to cool down now that she¡¯d reached Expert; they likely thought she was still using the bathroom. *** The only thing Marcus knew when he woke up was pain. Everything, every part of him, hurt; mostly the face, but¡­ when he opened his eyes, he saw a white ceiling, bright lights¡­ this¡­. Was a hospital? He looked around, then down at himself¡­ cheap paper surgical gown. Green and white. What could he remember, about how he got here? What¡­. The Chosen. Golden Boy and Nightfire. Callsigns, obviously. They wanted the revolvers. He didn¡¯t want to give them up. They¡­ yanked him out of his motel room in the middle of the night and tried to kill him. He looked around at the hospital room. Maybe they had managed¡­ but he was alive now. He tried to remember what had come before¡­. But¡­ nothing. He reached up¡­ and felt his face. The pain grew even worse; he had some sort of nasty burns covering it, and¡­ ¡°Ahh, I wouldn¡¯t do that if I were you.¡± He looked up. There was a young woman in green scrubs; pale, blond, pretty enough¡­ he might have tried flirting with her before. But¡­ why? Who cared? ¡°Doing what?¡± She stepped up close, and set a hand on his arm. ¡°Whatever got you, the burns were nasty. They ate through the skin and muscle all the way to the bone in several spots, and even reached your brain; the doctors weren¡¯t sure you¡¯d wake up. Honestly, another couple days and they¡¯d have let you die; we¡¯ve been getting regular pass-throughs every day.¡± Marcus leaned back in the bed, sighing. ¡°Ahh. I suppose it would be too much to hope for that healing magic would come along with all this.¡± ¡°Oh, it did! But¡­. it doesn¡¯t do any good for brain damage, restoring tissue without making you¡­ think.. again¡­ and considering how only two of us have reached level five and picked up a healer class so far, what little energy we have is used where it will do some good. Until you woke up and spoke¡­ we weren¡¯t sure you were part of that list.¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. She inhaled deeply. ¡°Speaking of which.¡± She stepped to the end of his bed.. And picked up a clipboard. ¡°Could you please tell me your name, home address, and identify¡­¡± What followed was a cognition test. Nothing complicated. Nothing strange. An elementary student could handle it; the whole point was, apparently, to make sure he was still a thinking, sentient being. The pain was a distraction; but not much of one. And when he finished with the questions¡­ She laid a hand on him¡­ and suddenly¡­ the pain dulled dramatically. It wasn¡¯t completely gone¡­ but he felt much, much better. ¡°...Thanks. How long was I out?¡± He didn¡¯t actually feel gratitude. He thought that he should, instead of just the mild irritation at her waiting to make sure his brain was working before healing him. Was that something he¡¯d lost, due to the brain damage? He needed to pretend as if he were thankful, might look odd otherwise. ¡°Two days. You spent one just lying in the sand, you¡¯d been there at least that before we found you.¡± He glanced around. ¡°Is my¡­ stuff still here?¡± He blinked. He had a dimensional storage space. If he¡¯d put the guns in there¡­ of course not. But¡­ it had the current contents of what had been in the truck before he¡¯d turned it into his own storage space. He should check that out later. ¡°You had your clothes¡­ no shoes.. And a wallet. Was there anything you were supposed to have?¡± ¡°...My guns. A pair of revolvers. They attacked me for them.¡± She sighed. ¡°Damn. That¡¯s awful. Upgraded weapons and armor have been selling for quite a bit; lots of that going around. I don¡¯t plan on doing any fighting, so I just upgraded a pistol and sold it for ten grand. Anyways, you should be up on your feet shortly¡­ I can have someone bring you a spare change of clothes from the lost and found if you¡¯d like, and your wallet.¡± He didn¡¯t really care about being exposed; but he¡¯d look out of place, walking the streets in a hospital gown. ¡°...Yes, please.¡± ¡°Well then. You sit up, stretch out a bit¡­ it¡¯ll be a few days before you¡¯re at a hundred percent, but the underlying muscle and bone damage should be gone, and you can get back to it, just¡­ be careful.¡± She smiled at him¡­ and then stepped out. He looked over his body. The burn scars. The flesh. He could feel pain. He could feel the paper gown sliding against his skin. But¡­ there was something wrong. Something deeper. Something¡­ broken¡­ about the way he was thinking, and seeing the world. The only thing he still seemed to be able to feel¡­ was anger. Rage at the what had happened to him. His fists¡­ clenched without thinking¡­ had started to shake. Golden Boy. Nightfire. Two names burned into his mind. He didn¡¯t even know their real names, or faces. Just these.. Aliases. Callsigns. But..they were the ones who did this to him. They had to die. He had to kill them. Petty thieves pretending to be heroes. Leaving him for dead, lying in the sand. They were stronger than he was. Far stronger. He¡¯d need to find a way to match them. Get the revolvers back, if he could. They would help. He closed his eyes¡­ and waited for his clothes to be delivered. His bank accounts still had a decent amount of cash in them. For however much longer that still mattered, he¡¯d take advantage. *** He felt a bit odd, stepping out of the hospital. A pair of flip-flops were all they had to fit, shoe-wise, but he had a nice button-up black shirt to go with his jeans; which had thankfully survived intact. His cell phone¡­ was back at the motel. It had been plugged in and set to serve as an alarm clock, despite the motel already having an alarm clock. He had money. He needed a weapon. Some armor, of some sort. And the coast¡­ didn¡¯t matter. The only thing that mattered was finding a way to kill those two Chosen. His father¡¯s home could wait. He¡¯d go there after¡­ if at all. The most logical place to start, for weapons, was a pawn shop. This being texas, there were undoubtedly at least two or three. He should check them all out, see which one had the best options¡­ and go from there. He would need to hit the motel, hope his phone was still there, and the car¡­ but first things first. He¡¯d been told the closest pawn shop was only a block away; he should stop there first. His burns were already feeling better by the time he reached the shop; working, getting the blood pumping¡­ he felt as if the nurse¡¯s estimate was short. He might have scars¡­ but he felt like he should be fine with just a good night¡¯s sleep. The pawn shop¡­ ¡®Fort Tazewell Pawn and Title¡¯.. Was familiar. The same pattern all throughout the south; a long gun-rack surrounding the central aisles; neatly organized, a long row of tools on this aisle¡­ electronics and video games on this one¡­ various oddball trinkets on that one¡­ Oddly enough, there was a whole stack of bulletproof vests; simple, black and grey affairs, clearly brand new, sitting on the counter; and all absolutely tiny, child-sized. He looked them over for a moment, as he stepped up to the counter. ¡°...Whats the story with the vests?¡± The owner¡­ a heavyset, balding man who was himself wearing one of the vests, grinned. ¡°That¡¯s the trick, there. When you ¡®upgrade¡¯ an item¡­ it adjusts to fit you. I had like a hundred vests of sizes nobody could wear stuck in storage¡­ and now¡­ everybody wants armor of some sort, and you can just touch it, and poof. Uncommon, and sized perfect for you.¡± He stared at them for a few seconds¡­ and looked back at the owner. ¡°How much?¡± ¡°Five hundred.¡± Marcus tilted his head for a moment. ¡°...I¡¯m assuming prices have gone up dramatically since a couple days ago.¡± ¡°You got it. I sold most of what I had at the regular prices, but now, unless you¡¯re paying in gold or silver, its two hundred and fifty percent. And I¡¯m not selling anything gold or silver anymore¡­ I think we¡¯re either gonna just be using system ¡®credits¡¯, or precious metals, by the end of the year, I¡¯m working on getting out of cash as much as possible.. And you should do the same.¡± He thought for a moment. He had plenty for this, even if he overpaid¡­ and the man was right. Cash would likely be worthless, soon. ¡°I¡¯ll take a look at your guns, and the guy next door¡­ probably any other pawn shops, as well, before I buy. But the armor¡­ I¡¯ll go ahead and take.¡± He extended his credit card¡­ as he laid hands on the top vest on the stack.
Tactimax Concealed Armored Vest(Uncommon)
This common armored vest is mass-produced by Tactimax, and was originally rated strictly for small-arms fire. It is made of simple kevlar with thin ceramic plate inserts.
Concealed: This armor is built to hide under existing clothing, and can be combined with other clothing or armor effects. This ability does not stack infinitely, and if this armor provides magical benefits, some may cease function with other armors or clothing. Resistant: This armor is extremely difficult to damage, and can be repaired by expending mana or credits. It will significantly reduce damage taken to the torso while worn.
He nodded at the owner¡­ and stepped into the bathroom to change. It hurt, putting it on over the burns¡­ but not nearly as much as it had when he woke up. He considered what he was looking for in a gun¡­ but knew it needed to be high-power¡­ and as much as he liked the revolvers, if he couldn¡¯t find them, he¡¯d probably go for a rifle. 5 - Off the Rails The second pawn shop in Fort Tazewell was named ¡®Murphy¡¯s Pawn¡¯; and the nurse had warned him to be careful about the place; they kept getting investigated by the cops for dealing with stolen goods, but on the other hand, it had never been proven; so they were still in operation¡­ so far. He wasn¡¯t planning on staying in Tazewell for that long, so it wasn¡¯t as if he cared¡­ Marcus simply walked in and started looking around; there were two other customers, one checking out a shotgun, and the other looking over the TVs; as he kept glancing them over. He wanted a rifle. Anything specific? He could always go with an AR-15; those were ridiculously common nowadays, he could easily get one and tons of ammo for it. Would¡¯ve been much better if he could¡­. He stopped, standing at the counter. There was a three-foot walkway between the glass display counter, where shelves of jewelry, small electronics, and a handful of handguns lay on display¡­ and the back shelf where various objects, repair tools, a speaker system¡­ lay. Among them¡­ a pair of extremely familiar revolvers. They¡­ had stolen his guns. Left him for dead. And then¡­ just sold them at a goddamned pawn shop? The owner was still occupied with the customer he was already helping with the shotgun, and didn¡¯t notice when Marcus simply stepped around the counter, picked up his guns¡­ and then stepped back, staring down at them. He stuffed the Legendary one in his belt, and ¡®Examined¡¯ the Epic one for the first time.
Left Hand of Death (Relic) (Epic) (Bound)
This Epic Bound revolver was wielded in battle by one Alistair Booth, and passed into the Grey family, where it was handed down from father to son for the next century. Much how it was given to the Greys, it was given in time of need to a stranger at a moment of great danger. It has now been upgraded, invested with power by the system. As an Epic weapon, it has three augmentation. As a bound weapon, when wielded by anyone but Nathan Davis outside the Grey family it acts as an ordinary revolver.
Unbreakable: This weapon is virtually impossible to break, and cannot jam or misfire. Spiritual Ammunition: When fired without a bullet in the cylinder, this weapon will consume a tiny amount of ambient mana, or if there is no ambient mana, that of the user, to generate a temporary magical bullet. Empowered: When firing normal bullets, this weapon augments their force of impact significantly, increasing damage by 150% and adding this adjustment to any enchanted bullets.
He stared at the display. He¡¯d never known Nathan¡¯s last name. He should feel a bit of sorrow. Instead¡­ he simply grew even more angry. The owner; Murphy, undoubtedly; turned to look at him¡­ and shouted, starting to stalk forward angrily away from the man still holding the shotgun. Marcus got his first good look at him; overweight, shoulder-length grey mullet, camo jacket and pants; he¡¯d seen this sort before¡­ ¡°Hey! Hands off the merchandise! Those aren¡¯t for sale!¡± The anger grew more intense. ¡°Of course they aren¡¯t. They belong to me, and I¡¯m not selling them. Where did you get them?¡± He glowered at Marcus, hands gripping his belt. ¡°You¡¯d best put those down, before I put you down. I¡¯d hate to tell the cops I had to shoot an armed intruder, trying to steal guns from my shop. Right, Floyd?¡± The other man¡­ a bit younger, and slimmer, but also dressed in camo; chuckled. ¡°Didn¡¯t that happen once before, Murph?¡± ¡°That it did, Floyd. Is it gonna happen again?¡± Marcus glowered at the man. Both guns were empty. If the man didn¡¯t believe Marcus, or hadn¡¯t read the description, he might think that meant they weren¡¯t dangerous right now. Of course, it didn¡¯t matter for either of them. ¡°These are my guns. Passed down to me from my great-grandfather. They¡¯ve been used to kill Traitors, Nazis, and Commies. And if you try to keep me from leaving your store with them, they will add the first ever Pawn shop owner to the list; probably not the first Texan, though. I will not give them back, nor pay you a dime for them. You feel free to call the Sheriff, I don¡¯t mind waiting; I can prove I own them. Or you can pull that piece and die like a dog.¡± He glanced behind the counter. ¡°I will, however, buy some bullets from you, if you¡¯ve got the right caliber, and perhaps a Holster.¡± ¡®Murph¡¯ focused on him for a moment, then looked at his friend, Floyd¡­ and then suddenly reached down, yanking a gun from the holster¡­ and made a surprised sound when the empty revolver fired¡­ the bullet going right through his torso, revealing the man had been wearing armor, as well, from the jagged edges visible through the hole; as he slid nervelessly to the ground, blood pooling below him. For his part, Floyd dropped the shotgun, and ran; sprinting for the door¡­ while the other customer rapidly followed in the not-lamented Murphy''s footsteps, drawing a weapon and ending up a corpse on the floor. Marcus watched Floyd go; ideally, he¡¯d fetch the Sheriff. They could talk things out¡­ and he could prove the guns were his; after all, the deputy had seen him use one on the dog. He walked up to ¡®Murph¡¯, and frowned. It was odd that the man had drawn on him, instead of calling the Sheriff. Even more odd the other man had. Was there a reason? He didn¡¯t care. ¡°How much for the bullets?¡± ¡°T¡­twenty¡­ a box¡­¡± The man stared down at his chest. ¡°...Fuck. They really were¡­ yours¡­ huh¡­.¡± He died against his own counter, eyes still open, staring at nothing. ¡°Yup.¡± He pulled out his wallet¡­ making sure he had cash, before turning towards the stacks of ammo boxes behind the counter. So many different kinds. These kinds of revolvers had used paper cartridges, once. But thankfully, they had¡­ hmm. He didn¡¯t find anything. Perhaps the caliber was rare. Fortunately, he still had a box of his own¡­ though he¡¯d need to get more later. He¡¯d check the other pawn shop when he was done. He considered stealing the holsters he¡¯d need; that would be actually breaking the law, though. Did he care about that? Not really. Only what the Sheriff would do if they caught him. It¡¯d make it harder to explain the situation. He leaned against the counter, waiting. Any second now, one of the deputies would come in, and¡­ huh. There were three sheriff¡¯s department vehicles outside¡­ he could just barely make them out from where he stood behind the counter. One of them was talking to Floyd, who was animatedly pointing at the building¡­ and all three of them were loading weapons. Great. He was lying to them about the whole situation, to instigate a shoot-out. He looked at the door for a moment, considering. He didn¡¯t really care if they lived or died. Only if he got to kill that Nightfire lady. If they came charging in shooting, he¡¯d kill them without a second thought.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. He studied the counter¡­ and stepped behind it, picking a good spot that might actually survive a few stray bullets; the jewelry case appeared to actually be made of metal.. And watched the door¡­ guns ready¡­ but not pointed at anyone. If they came in talking, he¡¯d talk. The door was kicked open, and a bullet hit the ceiling, before he finished the thought. He ducked down; and returned fire, a single spiritual bullet slamming into the deputy¡­ and through, leaving an almost perfect hole. As he fell to the ground face-first, three more charged in behind him¡­ and Marcus simply ducked behind the jewelry counter, continued to fire¡­ the first three died trying to get inside¡­ while Marcus missed two shots at the fourth, who managed to duck behind a rack of electronics. He fired at the rack a few times¡­ but the metal shelving seemed to deflect the bullets enough so as not to hit the deputy. Clearly, the bullets were just too low-caliber for much penetration if they weren¡¯t augmenting a real thing¡­ or directly striking something they were Bane against. Those deputies should¡¯ve been wearing armor much tougher than any shelf. As the fourth deputy sidled along the counter, and Marcus could hear him moving to try and slip behind it, a display popped up.
Congratulations! You have gained your third level!
As it faded away, he considered¡­ he never had looked at what he¡¯d gotten for the second. Now he¡¯d never know. He didn¡¯t have much time before the deputy slid his way into a good position¡­ he reached into the extradimensional storage space, into the box of bullets¡­ and grabbed a handful. He started loading them, one by one, as he listened to the man move¡­ and sirens sound, of more vehicles approaching. ¡°Look, deputy. If you people hadn¡¯t come in trying to kill me, I wouldn¡¯t have killed them. Murphy tried to rob me, and when he pulled a gun, I shot him. I won¡¯t lose any sleep if I have to kill you, but it¡¯d be less risky for all of us if you stopped right there.¡± The deputy seemed to pause, considering. The second revolver was loaded. The extra bullets dumped into his pocket, where his car keys would be¡­ if he had any. ¡°Throw your weapon down and surrender, right the fuck now, and you¡¯ll live to see a trial!¡± The deputy was¡­ right there. Legally, he should surrender. It was the right thing to do. But even if he might have gotten away with shooting Murph for pulling a gun on him¡­ which wasn¡¯t a certainty¡­ he definitely wouldn¡¯t get away with shooting the three deputies. If there were any witnesses. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll throw you the gun.¡± He didn¡¯t really care about these people, or their lives. He didn¡¯t have to kill him¡­ but they could stop Marcus from killing her. He slid one of the two revolvers forward¡­ The deputy took a relieved breath, and rose to his feet. ¡°Hands in the¡­¡± And dropped, as the Right Hand of Death fired, the bullet augmented by the handgun¡¯s power, passing through the deputies head¡­ and the wall, leaving itself buried in one of the cars outside. He looked outside, and saw Floyd talking to another deputy, taking cover behind the car¡­ and nodded. He raised both revolvers; if that power was enough to go through the wall¡­ He pulled both triggers. Floyd¡­ was gone. Part of his head, at least. The other deputy, he¡¯d missed. He grumbled, and ducked low, stepping up to the door; and glancing around. There were other people. Other witnesses, inside the bar across the street. Some of whom had already drawn weapons. Fine. If thats how it had to be, that was how it had to be. He leveled the two revolvers on the police car, and fired until both were empty; the rounds penetrating through the car in at least six places; and he could see a splatter of blood from one of those shots. A hit; but no way to be sure if it was fatal. He turned to the bar across the street, visible through the glass windows of both structures¡­ and started shooting, sweeping across. He didn¡¯t know who he hit¡­ but if he didn¡¯t want to be pursued across the desert, he couldn¡¯t leave anyone hunting for him. It felt strange¡­ firing round after round, dozens of them, from a pair of revolvers, with no stopping, no reloading¡­ When he didn¡¯t see any movement, he stopped firing¡­ and dropped down behind the counter, looking around the store. They sold all sorts of things here¡­ including some accessories for guns. He grabbed a pair of classic, cowboy-style holsters; if he was going to use revolvers, he might as well¡­grabbing a leather jacket hanging from the rack, before quietly sliding into the back of the store, looking around. There were lockboxes. A counter covered with binders, each with a label like ¡®Firearms¡¯ ¡®Watches¡¯... apparently guides to help determine prices. Probably irrelevant now that everything had rarities. An office¡­ He could see an old-fashioned security system¡­ complete with cameras recording everything inside. He stepped into the office¡­ ignored the cash¡­ and disconnected the power, before pulling the tape; an actual old-fashioned VHS. Strange. Perhaps there was a newer, more up-to-date, system hidden away? It didn¡¯t matter. By the time he reached the backdoor, he realized¡­ those cop cars probably had recording devices in them. Had they seen his face, from the street? He settled the holsters in place on his hips¡­ put the revolvers away¡­ and put the jacket on. Just different enough that a casual glance wouldn¡¯t peg him as the shooter. He opened the door, stepping out into an alleyway; seeing the back entrances of several other stores, with cars parked¡­ probably the owners¡­ he nodded¡­ and started walking. He needed to get back to that motel. Get the keys. The car. It would be a long walk. Perhaps he¡¯d need to kill more people. Maybe not. As he walked around the corner, seeing three more sheriff¡¯s department cars driving up, none of them seemed to be paying attention to him as he started walking away, slowly, heading east, towards the motel. He thought for a moment. Might as well see what two levels got him.
Marcus Jonah Grey
Unclassified Human 3
Strength 10
Endurance 15
Stamina 25
Agility 12
Mind 13
Power 9
Abilities None
Skills Minor(Melee Weapons, Persuasion, Automotive Repair, Examine) Moderate(Survival, Sales, Ranged Weapons)
Titles None
Boons None
Huh. So he¡¯d gotten better with guns that quickly? And each stat had increased by two with each level. Useful information¡­ if he knew exactly what each stat did. Hopefully he¡¯d get more information when he hit level five, or¡­ he hadn¡¯t been on the internet since he¡¯d left home. There was almost definitely going to be someone compiling data on this online. Hopefully he could nab a laptop, or tablet, and use the motel¡¯s wifi¡­ assuming the internet was still a thing. He didn''t give another thought to the pile of bodies he''d left behind; and had no idea how horrified the old Marcus would have been at what he''d just done. 6 - Leaving Tazewell If the witnesses had pointed back to him, they hadn¡¯t caught up by the time he reached Walmart; where his guns drew almost as little notice as the traces of blood on the black shirt; in fact, he only saw four customers who weren¡¯t armed, with even the cashiers packing, something that would¡¯ve been unheard of even in texas. He had considered stealing what he wanted; after all, he could just shove an entire rack into his dimensional storage space; but decided not to, for now. In the vent the cops weren¡¯t coming after him for murder, he wouldn¡¯t want something as petty as shoplifting attracting attention; and when he left, with a shopping cart full of vitamins, a variety of tools, a generator, several gas cans, an O2 bottle¡­ that itself might attract attention. The tablet, while the most important thing he bought, was probably the least noteworthy; and when his long walk finally ended at Charlotte¡¯s motel, he stopped at the front desk¡­ and the old woman smiled as he entered. ¡°Well hello there, young man! I was worried about you, they told me you ended up in the hospital. Everything going alright? That burn looks nasty.¡± ¡°Got mugged¡­ had my revolvers stolen, and the mugger burned me up pretty bad. Just now got em back.¡± He glanced behind him. ¡°I¡¯m worried the thief might have lied to the cops, told em I was a thief myself. It shouldn¡¯t work¡­ a few deputies saw me with the revolver when we killed that dog¡­ but if you wouldn¡¯t mind, I¡¯d appreciate a new key¡­ and a warning if the cops come looking.¡± She chuckled. ¡°This is probably the first time I¡¯ve heard that from someone a deputy asked me to put up for the night¡­ but not the first time I¡¯ve been asked, by a longshot. If they come asking, I¡¯ll tell em you¡¯re in room 213, and I¡¯ll send your room a wake-up call. If they bug me about it later, I¡¯ll just say it slipped my mind.¡± She looked under her desk¡­ and slid out a small plastic card. He was in room 313. ¡°Much appreciated. Got word from the deputy, by the way¡­ Nathan didn¡¯t have any local family, just some folks out in California who we can¡¯t get ahold of, so they were gonna be impounding his car anyway. If you wanted to take the car to his sister¡¯s place, they left an address; and if you could pass on that he passed, and how.¡± She handed him another card; this one with an address in California. California was a big state; but if it was in the northern part, it might not be too far from his original destination. He gave a slow nod. ¡°With the phones being all finicky, and the credit cards going on and off¡­. How¡¯s the internet?¡± ¡°Actually pretty damn good. A few of those Chosen went around and did something to the servers, they been kicking ever since. Password for the wifi is on the table. Cards have been working ever since, too.¡± ¡°Ahh. Then I¡¯d like to pay you for the last couple nights¡­ and I¡¯ll probably head west in a few hours.¡± ¡°Nah. That fuckin dog killed some of my friends at the RV park. You drive safe. Leave the key in the box if I¡¯m not here.¡± *** His only purpose in life at this point might be to kill those fuckers who tried to rob him¡­ but while those particular Chosen were going to die, the others seemed¡­ to have done a decent job. The news had a link directly to a website one of the Chosen had created; ¡®Systempedia¡¯; which detailed what they knew, what they were doing, and how best to deal with things. There was an ETA on their project to ¡®Upgrade¡¯ the cell phone towers, and a mark of which ones already had been; with a warning that animals would be attracted to the enchantment, so if you wanted phones to work in your area¡­ best defend the towers. He saved as much as he could to the tablet, so that he could read it later; there was a database link for exactly that purpose, even android and apple apps¡­ and then headed out to the car he¡¯d be borrowing for the immediate future. Maybe he¡¯d taken out all the witnesses who saw him. Maybe he got the tapes; but maybe not. He didn¡¯t really care if he had to kill everyone in the town, but doubted he could do it and get out alive; and if he died here, Nightfire wouldn¡¯t be punished. *** As he drove west, the first chapter of the tablet was playing like an audi-book, plugged into the lighter on the car to charge as it started on the basics. ~Everyone has a certain amount of mana in them; every living thing. Plant, animal, person, whatever. If it dies, things nearby absorb it¡­ and get better at whatever they do. As the planet gets higher level, people start just absorbing it from the air. Not much, at first, when its only level 1. But in a month, the planet will be level 5; and people can just kick back and do nothing for a year and hit level 5, just breathing. After that, different parts of the world will start having higher concentrations, and things can get bad.~ Easy enough. He was already level 3. He¡¯d be 5 soon enough, he was sure. The interstate was pretty dead; but undoubtedly he¡¯d see some monster or the like he could handle, just driving by. ~What¡¯s gonna get nasty fast are collective organisms, like ants, and bees. At first, the ants will kill other bugs; and its gonna make the whole nest bigger. This has happened to other worlds before, and places that didn¡¯t evolve with magic usually end up the same way; in the first few days, they won¡¯t be too big, and they¡¯ll be killing other bugs. Then normal ants will be so big they start taking out livestock and kids¡­ then they start taking out people. We¡¯ll have momentary crisis at first from a rogue wolf, or badger. Maybe a lion, or some serial killer. But the true armageddon we have to deal with is the ants. If you¡¯re hearing this message; kill every ant nest you fine, down to the queen. They¡¯ll be easier to find, because they aren¡¯t used to being so big. Kill them. Fast. They¡¯ll kill each other, too; but that just means the resulting nests will have bigger, meaner, ants.~This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Huh. That was a problem. But potentially useful, if he had infinite ammo, and could just use an elevated position to harvest ants for levels¡­ ~Just remember. You need to be close to what you kill to get mana from it, and level up. Fighter pilots, snipers¡­ no good. We¡¯re going to be using the abilities the magic grants to start rapidly escalating space development, so we can get a survivable population offworld, just in case. But if you do your part, and go crush an ant queen? We can make it through this.~ Thoughtful of them. Didn¡¯t matter, for his purposes. He skipped to the next chapter. ~Your strength is a pretty basic one; it grows more as it goes higher, but think, at about a 4, you can pick up a hundred kilos, and at a ten, a five hundred.It sounds crazy¡­ but its true. By the time you hit 20, you¡¯ll be tossing cars around. If you swap races, The Orcs and the Minoans are the two with the most of it.~ Well. That was nice. He should swap races, just in case. Might help avoid any¡­ entanglements. ~Endurance is how tough you are. Your average level 5 person has about a 15 on the galactic stage; which is enough that small arms won¡¯t break your bones, but will break the skin. 20 will keep most pistol rounds out of you¡­ and once you get past 30, you¡¯ll need high-caliber rounds, or enchanted ones, to hurt them. If you see any level 20 monsters, don¡¯t go after them with anything but enchanted weapons, or a tank. You need big guns~ The Hands of Death should handle that just fine. And he should be at 19 even if he stayed a human when he hit level 5¡­ so bullet-resistant, not bullet-proof. ~Stamina is how long you can keep running, moving, staying in the fight. If you switch races, this is what you need to be careful of; we average about 15. Most people out there, closer to 5. When it comes to a drawn-out fight or a long pursuit, the other species are astounded at what we¡¯re capable of. All of us set records in distance running at the Chosen academy. If you turn into an Orc, you can hit harder¡­ but you¡¯re gonna be out of the fight pretty damn fast by human standards.~ Well. He¡¯d heard that part before. Nice to know humans were good at something. ~Agility and Mind are fairly interlinked. Agility is how well you control movements, and your instincts, while Mind is how fast you think. These two together make up your reflexes; and while they lag behind us in most respects, Elves have us beat in both of these. The Catfolk do, too, but don¡¯t choose that race. It has complications you don¡¯t want.~ So. An Elf would make for an ideal gunslinger. He should find out why the Catfolk were so maligned. Hopefully the database had an entry for that. ~Power is your ability to use mana-based powers and traits. We suck at that, to be simple, because our species didn¡¯t evolve with the system. If you want to be a wielder of magic, swapping races is a good idea; but please.. We do want there to still be a human race. Think it through carefully before you switch.~ So a base of¡­ 3¡­ was what he had for Power. And that sucked? Good to know. ~If you¡¯ve been looking at your Stats while listening, now you¡¯re wondering about Skills, Abilities, Titles, and Boons. We¡¯ll start off with titles. Chosen have been earning titles and the like from our training. Killing a bunch of creatures of a certain race? Title, usually something like Slayer. Actually makes your weapons and powers better at killing them. Come back from the brink of death a few times? Title, makes you harder to kill. Most of them require repeated application; very few are one-offs, and, I¡¯m sorry, but the Committee has deliberately stacked the deck for us Chosen; of the 10,000 ¡®First X of the planet¡¯ titles, the overwhelming majority of all of them went to us. They all give a benefit, and there¡¯ll be a guide to collecting them if you want.~ He blinked. Well now. That sounded useful. He bookmarked that spot¡­ and skipped ahead. ~Many things give titles when done ten times. Almost die ten times? Harder to kill. The ¡®Slayer¡¯ title ranks up at ten, one hundred, a thousand, a million, and a billion; if you get Slayer V, you do triple damage to members of that species. You also earn credits for titles, though not many. You get similar titles for melee and ranged weapon attacks; though those are a higher threshold.~ He cut it off. Sounded like he needed to kill more humans, to make sure he got the titles, and benefits, for when he dealt with the Chosen. He could also focus on killing plenty of ants, get whatever the ranged weapon titles were; even if he did it from far enough away not to get energy from it, the simple fact that he still got a benefit was worth doing it. If he didn¡¯t kill the queen, he could probably camp out at a nest, kill them for days. He pulled off on the side of the road, thinking. How exactly would you find an ant nest, or any other monsters, in the deserts of west texas? Was he still in texas? He stepped out of the car, stretching, and casually grabbed a protein bar out of the dimensional storage, looking around¡­ and then blinked. He had a whole grocery store delivery in that external storage. He could just grab a case of something he didn¡¯t like¡­ and dump it out as bait. Take out whatever showed up. That would be just perfect. *** He knew he could enter his storage space and look around. He also knew that it was the trailer once pulled by a Semi, bound for a grocery store. What he hadn¡¯t remembered¡­ was that it was laying on its side when he¡¯d done it. When he appeared inside the space, he fell face-first into a giant mess; there was a massive divider near the front of the vehicle, and on one side neatly packaged containers of ice-cream and frozen food were strapped in place; while the rest¡­ piles of boxes all on one side, only with the objects he¡¯d added stacked atop it. He wondered, for a moment, if he could turn it upright¡­ only for it to do so immediately, and abruptly cover himself with the giant pile of food¡­ and for the moment, just lie there beneath it all. Wasn¡¯t this supposed to be some sort of perfectly organized, magical thing? He grumbled¡­ and started sorting through it, case by case; most of them were actually fairly intact; and because the dimensional space only existed while he was interacting with it, fresh. The stuff that had been crushed by the flip¡­ and by the re-flip¡­ he simply pushed out, letting it pile up in the hill he had chosen to pile bait on. By the time he had it organized, he still had a pile of partially crushed containers; and left them be, in case he needed more bait, later. He shook his head, glaring at it. This would¡¯ve been very useful if he¡¯d headed into the wilderness; just grabbing a gallon of orange juice any time he was thirsty, having steak right on hand to grill at a moment¡¯s notice¡­ Ugh. Still. Could come in handy someday. He emerged from the dimensional space, letting out a grunt as he slid down the pile of loose food, smacking into a rock at the bottom¡­ and looked up¡­ with a moment of shock. He¡¯d been hoping for ants. Expecting a monster of some description. What he got¡­ was a raccoon the size of a polar bear¡­ and its friends. They¡¯d been inspecting the pile while he¡¯d been dumping things onto it¡­ and were now all staring at him¡­ and as one, all four of the creatures let out an angry hiss. 7- Ants One of the positive sides of being the size of a polar bear was that it was difficult to miss; and while Marcus backed away, drawing both pistols; accidentally tossing one of them away like a projectile, not even sure if he was holding the Left or Right; five of the first six shots struck the target head-on, leaving nasty gouges in the giant beast¡¯s head and torso. One of the negative sides of such a creature, if its charging you, is that when it dies, its still moving; and the beast slammed into Marcus like a train, driving him back several feet and collapsing atop him; letting him know that, however much a polar bear might weigh, and however much a ¡®strength of 10¡¯ might get him¡­ he couldn¡¯t pick up a giant raccoon. For a moment, he lay there, confused, angry, feeling the weight of the beast atop him¡­ and then he remembered. He thought¡­ ¡®Loot¡¯... at the creature.
Looted: 10x Raccoon Hide, 1x Glock(Uncommon) 9mm, 3x Glock magazines(full), 1x Nike shoe, 3x Ring(Gold)
The creature simply vanished, the looted bits transported into his extradimensional space; he needed to get some shelves to put in there¡­ and leaving the other beasts glaring at him, as he raised his revolver and started firing again. This time, none of them managed to get close; the fourth actually started to run, the instincts that should¡¯ve kicked in when a gun went off apparently only now registering; and the beast made it about a dozen yards before collapsing from a shot through its own body. He sat on the ground, groaning¡­ looking at the other raccoons. On the one hand, he could loot these bastards. They¡¯d apparently eaten at least one person, so they might provide other loot when killed. And if upgraded weapons were selling for ten grand¡­ On the other¡­ he could back off to a safe distance. Use these guys as a much larger, stronger-smelling sort of bait¡­ and wait to see what came. Preferably from far enough away he didn¡¯t have to worry about one running him over. *** He had a set of headphones in, listening to the tablet rattle on, learning about how ¡®Magical Crafting¡¯ worked, when he finally got a taker, hours later. He¡¯d seen a few cars pass by in the distance; dozens, really, this was the interstate after all, so he¡¯d see one every few minutes, at least. None had stopped to bother him, though; another sign in favor of the cops not being after him. He didn¡¯t see them coming; had no idea what was going on¡­ until he saw one of the corpses moving. At first, just wiggling back and forth a bit¡­ and then¡­ starting to get dragged away, off towards, seemingly, nothing; the only thing he saw in that direction was an old, abandoned house that had collapsed at least a century ago. Jackpot? He stepped up, watching the body move; and sure enough, there were dozens of ants¡­ each at least as big as his hand¡­ grabbing and pulling the body, forming a living chain and starting to move it. He looked down the length of the chain¡­ there were¡­ hundreds of them. Obviously, they were small, weak, compared to something his size. He could kill one, maybe even more than one, with each shot, or even just stomp on them. But¡­ if they swarmed¡­ he¡¯d have to run. And just hope he got away quickly enough to survive. He had the handgun raised, about to start shooting spirit bullets into the mass, when he saw it. A Warrior ant. About the size of a dog, maybe three and a half feet long¡­ with an armored head ending in what looked like a pair of butcher knives. He looked around for others¡­ even as the first one started heading his way¡­ and nodded. Don¡¯t let it get to close; some of those things could spit acid. He fired; a quick, calm shot slamming into the head, breaking the creature; and sending the rest of them into a swarm, a panic¡­ for a few seconds. Then¡­ more warriors started coming his way. Dozens of them¡­ exactly what he needed. He started firing; aiming at the Warriors as they closed, aiming at the swarm of workers; chitin shattered, divots were dug into the dirt, drips of acid splattered, bringing up hissing shrieks from other ants.
Congratulations! First title gained!
Insect-Slayer: +10% damage against insects.
Congratulations! Legendary Weapon: Right Hand of Death: can now become ¡®Bane¡¯ to Insects.
He chuckled. Not enough to make much of a difference, for now. But considering they thought it was going to be an ¡®Insect Apocalypse¡¯.... He just kept shooting. At first, it was easy enough; only the Warriors were trying to close in, the workers were bunched up, trying to grab the corpses while running¡­ Eventually, however, their behavior changed. Right around the time he got the next two titles, close enough together he didn¡¯t even resolve the prompt for the next two.
Congratulations! Title gained! Congratulations! Title Upgraded!
Insect-Slayer II: +25% damage against insects. Ranged Slayer: +10% range for ranged weapons, +25% collection range for Mana acquired while using a ranged weapon.
That¡­ made sense. Did he get that at a hundred ranged kills? It didn¡¯t matter. Not long after that happened, the whole mass of them started to move towards him¡­ and he had to start backing away. At first, he just kept firing back into the swarm, leaving a handful of ant corpses with each shot¡­ then he had to jog back a few dozen yards, before slowing to keep firing¡­ but they kept coming. Faster than any ant should be.
Congratulations! You have gained your fourth level!This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Suddenly, it was just a bit easier to aim at them¡­ and to move away. He started back towards his car at a fast walk, keeping a decent distance away from them¡­ and when he reached it, he hopped in, starting the car. He thought, for a moment, about just driving away¡­ but he stopped¡­ and instead just started to head off on the interstate just fast enough to keep away¡­ and leaned out the window, firing a few shots into the swarm to encourage them to keep chasing. He didn¡¯t have to use the gun to kill them to level up; or even kill them himself. Just kill them nearby. He kept driving for about a mile¡­ realizing he was going the wrong way only when a car suddenly came at him head-on, horn held down¡­ and he swerved onto the shoulder, watching the car swerve violently back and forth a few times¡­ before rolling, tumbling¡­ and landing on its roof amidst the swarm of ants, killing dozens of them. He frowned. That didn¡¯t just cost him a few kills, but messed with his plan. He slowed, turning around¡­ He centered the Taurus on the swarm; which was now starting to gather on the crashed car; and started to accelerate. The creatures didn¡¯t seem to know, or care, about the car; even as he started to splatter and crush them beneath it, running right through, leaving a long trail of broken and crushed bugs behind him. He swerved narrowly, just enough to miss the car, crushing about half of the ones swarming it¡­ and just kept right on going, swerving just a bit back and forth to hit as many of the ones on the road as possible¡­ until¡­ A loud hiss¡­. And he saw the temperature on the car suddenly start to spike. Well. Fuck. The engine was sounding worse by the moment, and by the time he reached the end of the swarm on the road¡­ and the next notifications popped up¡­
Congratulations! Title Upgraded!
Insect-Slayer III: +50% damage against insects. You have acquired the ability ¡®Intimidating Shout¡¯. Any creature which you have a ¡®Slayer¡¯ title towards will tend to flee from you when this ability is triggered. Effectiveness based on the power of the creature, and situational; an insect will almost never fleet from its nest. For each ¡®Slayer¡¯ title you bring to rank III, this ability will be marginally more effective.
Congratulations! You have gained your fifth level!
You may now choose a new race, class, or both. Should you choose a new race, your attributes and abilities will change significantly. Should you choose a class, you will cease gaining 2 points in each stat with each level, and will instead gain class abilities, and a more focused distribution of stats.
The next time you sleep, you will be allowed to make the choice. Note that class and species options will vary per individual.
The car was well and truly fucked, not just covered with bug guts; but the engine was practically filled with them, the radiator was shot, it would be overheating and dead within minutes. If he didn¡¯t want to walk back to civilization¡­. He¡¯d need to make it back to that car that had flipped, and hope it would still run. He slowed, turning around¡­ and started accelerating back. There were bugs he¡¯d missed the first time; he made sure to nail as many of them as he could, even as one of the tires punctured, and controlling the car became¡­ difficult.
Congratulations! Title Gained!
Vehicle Slayer: -25% speed reduction and damage taken by vehicles used as a weapon. A portion of ambient mana will be used to augment vehicles used in this manner.
You are one of the first 10,000 people on your world to gain this title! Your title has been modified to (Frontrunner) Vehicle Slayer, its effects increased by 50%, and you have received a Boon; Upgrade Vehicle.
Wait. Weren¡¯t vehicles just equipment? Marcus thought he¡¯d heard the Tool boon could be used on a car. And¡­ if so, why had he been one of the first? Surely that should¡¯ve been taken up by¡­ well. It didn¡¯t matter. This thing was about to die. And if he upgraded it, it¡¯d probably stay just as shitty as it already was, just¡­ not break further. He should wait to get a different car to use it on. When he got back to the flipped vehicle, one of the doors was open; and a woman was viciously crushing ants with a tire-iron, screaming. He deliberately missed; crushing more of the bugs just in front of her¡­ and swerved off the road, barely controlling the stop. He settled himself for a moment¡­ and climbed out of the car, looking at it for a moment¡­ firing a single shot at a still-living Worker bug on the hood¡­ and turned, heading towards the woman now rising to her feet, glaring at him, waving a tire iron angrily as she stomped her feet; she was wearing sneakers, sweatpants, and a sports-bra, which seemed like an odd mix, but he wasn¡¯t going to judge. It was a comfortable enough outfit, and the red pony-tail was a good choice to keep it all out of her face while driving¡­ or killing. ¡°Do you have any idea what the fuck you¡¯ve done!? I¡¯m supposed to be in California for my sister¡¯s wedding tomorrow! Now there¡¯s all this system bullshit, my car is ruined¡­¡± She watched as he seemed to ignore her, just walking right by; and started firing into the stragglers. There weren¡¯t many; but some of the ants were still following. It didn¡¯t take long before that was done¡­seemingly there was some threshold of distance, or number of casualties, that the ants finally gave up at, and he glanced at her, then the car. ¡°You the only one here?¡± He¡¯d be transforming as soon as he found a safe place to take a nap. So long as she didn¡¯t see him both before and after, she wouldn¡¯t be another witness he¡¯d need to kill. ¡°Uhm¡­ yess?¡± She looked at him, all the dead ants¡­ and looked a bit shocked as he grabbed the car¡­. And flipped it back upright with a sudden jerk. The windows were broken, the windshield cracked¡­ but it looked mostly intact. ¡°Check to see if she¡¯ll start. There¡¯s definitely more of them, but they probably won¡¯t be coming after us for a few.¡± She stared at him, at the busted yellow taurus, the mass of dead ants¡­ and then grunted¡­ struggling, but managing to open the car door after a few seconds. Climbing in, she had to slouch under the dented roof¡­ and tried starting it. After a few seconds¡­ it started. She gave a loud exhale. ¡°Oh, thank god.¡± She looked at him, then back at the ants. ¡°...You ruined your car to kill them¡­. If you hadn¡¯t, I¡¯d be dead. But¡­ well. If you hadn¡¯t, I would never have crashed in the first place¡­. Do you¡­ need a ride to the next town?¡± He glanced at her for a moment; then back at the car. ¡°...I need to tell someone in California her brother died when a monster attacked his gas station. I was going to bring her his car, as well. You¡¯re going west?¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ yes?¡± ¡°Next town with a bus station, please. I saw a greyhound pass an hour ago, so those still seem to be running.¡± ¡°Of¡­ of course.¡± He nodded. ¡°Thanks.¡± Convenient. He wouldn¡¯t have to kill her and steal the car. Getting the Human-Slayer achievement would be useful towards his ends, and he definitely planned to get it, but whenever it happened, it might make things¡­ irritating if someone could see his status and titles. As he checked the car, making sure there wasn¡¯t anything else he needed, he contemplated whether he really needed to head west, as he opened the car, climbing in¡­ and the woman looked at him. ¡°Uhh¡­. my name''s Janice.¡± She extended a hand awkwardly. Marcus nodded. ¡°Marcus.¡± He would assume a new name, with his new face, come morning. He shut the door¡­ and then again, slamming it, when the warped frame refused to catch the first time. ¡°We¡¯re lucky she starts. I didn¡¯t fancy the next¡­. Twenty miles? Of walking.¡± She was looking him up and down. He noticed the faint blush as she took him in; his torn jeans and shirt revealing firm, lean muscles that belonged on someone just leaving the military, not a mechanic, apparently doing something for her; but wasn¡¯t too concerned. He wasn¡¯t looking for a date; he had someone that needed killing, and a fury that was aiming him like a bullet at its target. 8 - Race/Class Selection For the next several miles, the interstate ran along the border between Texas and Mexico; and while there was a small town not far ahead, not half an hour past that was El Paso; which would bring him, finally, to the edge of Texas. They¡¯d passed the first town with a bus station due largely to the fact it was on fire; dozens of buildings visibly burning, sirens everywhere, the sounds of gunshots in the distance¡­ But when the next town seemed fairly peaceful, Marcus gave a nod. ¡°If you wouldn¡¯t mind stopping here, please. You can head on. I¡¯m gonna go get some food, and then I¡¯ll catch a bus, or something else, to California whenever one arrives.¡± She looked at him again, then out her window. ¡°I¡­ need to stop at a mechanic. The car¡¯s sounding a bit funny. If I¡­ end up staying the night, would you like to meet for dinner?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got a wedding to get to tomorrow. If it takes that long, you should take the bus, like me¡­ or hit the airport in El Paso. You could make it there by dinnertime, if the planes are still flying.¡± Would flying insects be as dangerous as ants? Was a jet going to get pounced on by a giant mosquito looking to drink its occupants? She gave a slow nod¡­ and pulled off the interstate into town¡­ and into the first gas station she saw. ¡°I¡¯ll see if they can give me directions to a mechanic. Good luck!¡± He nodded, smiling¡­ and looked around. After he swapped, he wouldn¡¯t want to use his powers any further. Part of him wanted to empty out his bank account before he kept going; but¡­ he had other options. Dumping his revolvers into his storage space, he looked at the nearest hotel; not a fancy one, just a Best Western; and walked into the lobby, heading up to the counter, smiling at the man behind the desk; who looked at his bedraggled, bloody form for a moment. ¡°Hello¡­. Sir. How may I help you?¡± He looked at the man, and gave a low sigh. ¡°Look. I just had to fight about a thousand mutant ants, my car got totaled, and I just want to take a shower and relax for a few, then catch the next bus out of town in the morning. I don¡¯t have a wallet, or any cards, or any ID; they literally got eaten. I¡¯ve got cash, jewelry. I¡¯ve got one of those extradimensional space things, hell, I could pay you in buckets of ice cream. What would it take to get me a room?¡± The man behind the counter looked him over for a few more seconds. ¡°...If you don¡¯t mind that you¡¯re on video, and the cops will come looking for you? Pay the 60$ for the room and the 250$ extra cleaning deposit up front. If the room¡¯s in decent shape when you leave and you didn¡¯t steal anything, I¡¯ll give you the 250 back after. Gotta warn you, though¡­ I gotta report anybody who shows up here without a US ID or Visa. I doubt anyone is listening, but ICE might stop by in the morning.¡± Marcus shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t really care. I¡¯m an american. Have a house in Oregon I¡¯m trying to get to. If I give you my address, can you just mail me a check after? Assuming the mail is still running.¡± The man blinked, looking confused. ¡°I¡­ suppose so.¡± He was looking at the money, and Marcus, oddly as he accepted the neat stack of 20s; and handed him a room key. ¡°Room 214. Elevator is down the hall, it¡¯ll be on your right.¡± *** He didn¡¯t think getting cleaned up would matter, or wearing clothes for that matter. But he wanted to take a shower before he changed; and figured if he swapped into his boxers, worst case scenario, he lost a pair of boxers. The ¡®new him¡¯ could go shopping at Wal-mart tomorrow. As he stepped out of the shower, looking at the two queen-sized beds¡­ he thought for a bit, in a moment of paranoia¡­ and used both the bar and chain for the lock on the door¡­ before pushing one of the two beds in front of it; the entryway of the room wasn¡¯t as wide as the bed, so he had to lift up one side, and slide it in at an angle. It wouldn¡¯t stop them from breaking in. But it would make it an absolute pain in the ass; they¡¯d need to practically destroy the door, and crawl through. He should definitely be awake by then. He lay back on the bed, closing his eyes¡­ and tried to focus. Wondering if, just maybe, he could trigger the effect, instead of having to wait to fall asleep naturally. ***
Welcome to level 5, Marcus Jonah Grey!
Congratulations, you are in the first 10 million humans to reach level 5!
You will now be guided through a three-step process; choosing your new race, choosing your new class, and choosing your new Alias. This can be your name, but most take a new title or callsign as their name going forward.
He blinked. He seemed to be floating in a grey void, the box appearing before him¡­ and when it vanished, he was surrounded by a circle of figures; most at least vaguely humanoid; and with some basic details above each. One of them, amusingly, was a clone of himself, and most of them were wearing his boxers.
Race
Serine(Elves) Tall and slender, these beings are weaker and more fragile than humans, but faster.
Brakkinar(Orc) With grey skin and bulging muscles, these beings are stronger but slower than humans.
Yarran(Squids) Massive, lightweight, and betentacled, Yarran are a floating species who are not humanoid but fully sentient, and while slow and weak, quite durable and magically powerful.
Minoan Massive bull-like humanoids, slow but strong, one of the few species whose durability exceeds humans.
Catfolk Swift, agile, but weak and fragile, Catfolk are both better and worse than elves in various ways.
Serpentfolk Swift but weak, Serpentfolk make up for their low striking power in melee with their venomous fangs and claws.
Arkoth(Birdfolk) These winged humanoids are unusually fragile and lightweight, the only known flying sentient species.
Dire A race of centauroid insects; fast and strong but fragile.
Certaen A crab-like species of exceptional durability but low speed.
Human Humans are not quite as strong or magically powerful as some other species, but have boundless stamina and excellent durability.
He was immediately able to ignore most of the races; the only ones that looked like good options were the serpents, the cats, and the elves. Whatever else he was, he wanted to be fast; with his weapons, quite often attacking first was all he needed to win. He selected the Elves to start off.
Serine(Elves)
Elves are the founders of the system, generally considered the baseline to which other species are compared. They and Brakkinar are both reasonably close to human in appearance, and can pass without a mask. Their senses are, by default, more keen than a human. Becoming an Elf will apply the following adjustments:This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Strength: -1, Endurance: -3, Stamina: -13, Agility: +4, Mind: +3, Power: +9; Keen Senses. Natural spellcasting talent.
He blinked. 13 less points of Stamina? That¡­ was crazy. And if his math was right, elves had one less stat point than humans. Was that a big deal? He checked Catfolk and Serpentfolk next.
Catfolk
A deliberate creation blending Serine with feline characteristics, Catfolk are an even more agile version of their naturally evolved kin, but much of their innate magical power has gone to augment their bodies. They naturally have side-effects from being part-feline, including claws for climbing and combat, and have even more keen senses than their natural elven cousins. Becoming a Catfolk will apply the following adjustments:
Strength: -1, Endurance: -2, Stamina: -11, Agility: +5, Mind: +5, Power: +3. Exceptional senses. Claws. Lesser natural spellcasting talents; Movement, Stealth.
That looked better. Less of a Stamina and Endurance loss, but even more agility. It seemed like a strong contender.
SerpentFolk
A deliberate creation blending Serine with the characteristics of their native reptilians, Serpentfolk are slightly weaker than elves, but faster; and have both innate scales to provide protection, as well as venomous fangs and teeth, among other side-effects of being part-serpent. Becoming a Serpentfolk will apply the following adjustments:
Strength: -2, Endurance -1, Stamina: -11, Agility: +5, Mind: +4, Power: +4. Thermal vision. Venomous fangs/claws. Vulnerability to Cold. Lesser natural spellcasting talents; Venom, Scales.
Less strength. More endurance¡­ but still not as much as a human. From what he¡¯d been reading, ¡®reflexes¡¯ were a blend of both Agility and Mind, so catfolk would be better natural gunslingers. And spellcasting talent for movement and stealth? That might be exceptionally useful. Maybe he could be a focused gunslinger or sniper class, and still be able to climb walls, turn invisible? Sounded good. Should probably check? Would it give him any additional details about the whole ¡®¡¯side-effects¡¯ bit?
Catfolk are known for both their extreme malleability to members of the opposite gender during their seasons, as well as, for the males, barbed..
He cut if off there, not bothering to read the rest. Nightfire was a woman. God forbid some hormonal imbalance prevent him from killing her at the appropriate time. He wouldn¡¯t accept only killing the Golden Boy. Serpentfolk it was. Now just to look at classes. Would it tell him what the best classes for killing people were?
Class Selection:
Welcome to class selection! This is not irreversible; but the longer you stay with a given class, the more focused you¡¯ll be on that class, and thus, the weaker you¡¯ll be compared to others of your level. All classes follow one of three types;
Warrior: Typically focuses on improvements to Strength and Agility; possibly Endurance/Stamina as well. Flat-out the most powerful subtype in a one-on-one duel.
Caster: Typically focuses on improvements to Mind and Power; possibly Stamina/Agility as well. Less effective in a direct fight, but has a variety of special abilities to manipulate the battlefield, heal or augment allies, or handle large numbers of weak enemies.
Hybrid: Rather than focusing on one category, continues the trend from levels 1-5 of increasing all or almost all attributes. Either a specific ¡®Hybrid¡¯ class or a blend of a Warrior and Caster class. Never as capable as either Warriors or Casters; cannot defeat an equal-level Warrior in an even fight, nor wield magic as well as a Caster.
That¡­ well. While Hybrid sounded like a good choice, in that being okay at everything was nice, it seemed as if ¡®Warrior would be the best option. Some kind of Hitman, or Assassin, perhaps?
Administrator note: As per request, the top four classes in terms of ability to kill a single target have been chosen by the AI. Note that this template was not applied by the admin, and the admin does not recommend specific classes.
Class Subtype Description
Assassin Warrior Focusing on stealth and poison, the Assassin is skilled at getting into position and killing a target with a single devastating attack, whether ranged or melee, then vanishing to strike again later.
Hunter Warrior Focusing on precision ranged attacks, traps, and stalking, the Hunter is skilled at pursuing a victim and bringing them down, often after slowly wearing them down over time.
Necromancer Caster The Necromancer has the ability to control and summon an arsenal of Undead servants, bestow curses that drain the life from its enemies, and create sentient undead which are only relatively under the master¡¯s control. It requires significant time investment and a lack of morality, but has the potential to create countless numbers of servants, at the cost of only being able to directly control a handful. While ¡®Contagious¡¯ undead capable of spreading their condition exist, and can be created, this practice is illegal in virtually every established nation of the Committee.
Summoner Caster The Summoner has the ability to control and summon a variety of magical creatures, through either creating bargains with creatures, subduing and controlling them, or manifesting energy constructs. He is also able to buff himself and his allies. This is one of the few casters capable of directly defeating an equivalent Warrior in single combat once the right skills are acquired, but is generally able to be crushed by the Warrior if allowed to get close; this is a delicate, precise skill to master.
Interesting. So. If he went Necromancer, he could build up an army of undead¡­ create some catastrophe to draw in Nightfire and her friend. Then when they arrived to what they thought was a trivial effort, call down a horde. Even if he couldn¡¯t control them, it wasn¡¯t like he was trying to conquer the world; he would simply be unleashing them on some Chosen. Assassin, on the other hand, seemed as if it were also an excellent idea; if Serpentfolk already had poison abilities, would the Assassin¡¯s class abilities augment them? Or make them irrelevant? Could he make a hybrid class, out of Assassin/Necromancer; or even something entirely unique, a hybrid class focused on animating undead and supporting them by attacking at range with poisoned bullets?
Administrator note: Abilities from multiple sources combine and magnify. Combining two classes into a Hybrid class will result in a reduced progression; instead of acquiring one ability or upgrade each level for a given class progression, you will alternate, gaining one for each class at alternating levels. As abilities grow dramatically better with each of the first four upgrades, this means that you will either only have a tiny number of effective skills, or be significantly weaker than either a Warrior or Caster of your level. Such a Hybrid can be created, but is not recommended.
Hand of Death Hybrid A class combining elements of the Necromancer and the Assassin, this spellcaster is modestly effective at creating and using poisons and curses on his ranged and melee attacks, and also moderately capable of animating and controlling Undead. He is neither as effective in a fight as an Assassin, nor as capable at commanding Undead as a Necromancer; but with appropriate preparation can still be dramatically dangerous.
Perfect. How would that make him improve with levels?
Progression:
  • Note; Some specific classes, such as ¡®Tank¡¯ classes, may focus on Endurance rather than Agility, or other such options, such as a more speed-focused Warrior receiving ''Mind''.
Classless +2 Strength, +2 Endurance, +2 Stamina, +2 Agility, +2 Mind, +2 Power
Default Warrior +3 Strength, +1 Endurance, +3 Agility, +1 Stamina; +1 Free Point, +1 Class Ability per level.
Default Caster +1 Agility, +1 Stamina, +3 Power, +3 Mind, +1 Free Point, +1 Class Ability per level
Default Hybrid +1 Strength, +1 Endurance, +1 Stamina, +1 Agility, +1 Mind, +1 Power, +3 Free Points, +1 Class Ability per level.
Well then. A Serpentfolk Hand of Death. He¡¯d kill enough humans to get the Slayer bonus, make sure to match up to them in levels¡­ and build up an army of undead. He could stuff some into his storage unit for use in the field, if it worked that way, and then¡­ just start preparing a trap. From here, today, square one¡­ he¡¯d prepare. He¡¯d get them bogged down fighting zombie ants or something, get them tired and weak¡­ and then take them down with a few precision poisoned rounds from the Right Hand of Death. First, though¡­ they¡¯d already been level 20, and fully decked out in rare gear. If this was anything like games, leveling would get slower with time, and he¡¯d need to work hard. Focus that hate. Let it drive him to do whatever it took. He might never catch up... but he needed to get close enough, and learn enough about them to lure them into a trap. If there was a bit of collateral damage, well. So be it. Those ''Committee'' assholes should have been more careful when picking their ¡®Chosen¡¯. 9 - Awakening Marcus was starting to get a better feel for how the system worked, how to read it, how to manipulate it. If all of his stats went up by 1 as a Hybrid, that meant if he put 1 ¡®Free Point¡¯ in Endurance, the only stat that would actually go down was ¡®Stamina¡¯. He didn¡¯t know just how that would feel¡­ he might want to dedicate more points to that, going forward. So. First step; 1 point in Endurance, so it didn¡¯t go down, just stayed the same. 2 for Stamina, so he only lost 9, instead of 11; make it less of a precipitous drop. In fact¡­ it¡¯d make it so, considering he got 9 from the four levels before 5, and 1 from a level of Hybrid, he had the same stamina he did naturally, and could go up from there if he thought he needed it. He apparently didn¡¯t get any choice, at level 5, for his ¡®Hand of Death¡¯ class, so he¡¯d have to hope whatever base abilities it came with were useful.
Marcus Jonah Grey
Serpentfolk(Human) Hand of Death(Hybrid) 5
Strength 12
Endurance 16
Stamina 17
Agility 21
Mind 20
Power 16
Abilities Intimidating Shout(Insects), Undead Animation 0.5, Undead Control 0.5, Curse 0.5, Venom Magic 1, Stealth 0.5, Assassin¡¯s Strike 0.5
Skills Minor(Melee Weapons, Persuasion, Automotive Repair, Examine, Mana Manipulation) Moderate(Survival, Sales, Ranged Weapons)
Titles Insect Slayer III, Ranged Slayer, Vehicle Slayer(Front-Runner)
Boons 1 x Vehicle Upgrade
He blinked. ¡®0.5¡¯? That¡­ was interesting. It didn¡¯t sound good. He queried his new Abilities.
Intimidating Shout Create an aura of fear that impacts anyone you have a ¡®Slayer¡¯ title for. Consumes ambient Mana, then that of the user.
Undead Animation Ability to take a corpse and shape it into an Undead form of at most 1/3rd the user¡¯s level(Current: 2). Extremely mana intensive. Permanent until destroyed. Can also, temporarily animate a corpse far more cheaply; which will collapse as soon as energy is no longer fed into it.
Undead Control Ability to control Undead, whose total level cannot exceed the user¡¯s whether those created by the Hand of Death, by others, or formed naturally by Mana infesting corpses. Intelligent undead can resist this power. Low mana cost unless resisted.(Max 5 levels)
Curse Ability to curse a single victim with Weakness for several minutes, reducing their Strength and Agility by 10%(Maximum 5). Low mana cost.
Venom Magic Expend personal mana to generate venom from the claws or mouth. Can be injected directly into a victim, spat or flung as a ranged attack, dealing minor acid damage and significant venom damage, or coated onto bullets, blades, arrows, or other weapons to augment them. Serpentfolk venom will paralyze unaugmented victims within seconds, leading to inability to move or breathe and resulting in suffocation shortly thereafter. The higher the ¡®Endurance¡¯ or ¡®Poison Resistance¡¯ of the victim, the more reduced the effect is. Some victims are immune to a given poison; higher levels of this skill can open up access to more intense varieties of poison and/or new means of delivery.
Stealth For a minor Mana cost, become very difficult to perceive while standing still, or somewhat less difficult to perceive while moving slowly.
Assassin¡¯s Strike For a minor Mana cost, imbue a weapon or unarmed strike with additional power, causing it to deal +50% damage when delivered. Takes a few seconds to place, discharged with the first attack that connects.
Some of these were useful, albeit others being underwhelming. Most likely, combining two classes had just given him weakened versions of powers from both¡­ and he¡¯d need to upgrade them to par with time. He looked over the image of himself; he was able to alter it a bit, and there was no longer a burn scar; he looked¡­ like a cousin of his, bald, hairless, with¡­ a tail. And patches of greyish scales; the tail being entirely scaled, alongside his arms, his legs, and shoulders. He sensed that it wasn¡¯t too late to back out; to stay human and become just an Assassin, or Necromancer. But¡­ this felt like the right choice. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Your body is being largely rebuilt from the ground up at this stage. Among the various races of the Committee, this transition is generally considered adulthood, and where children are allowed to choose their adult name. Your transition will be complete when you choose the name that will appear on your status sheet going forward. You are not required to actually use this name, but those who ¡®Examine¡¯ you will see it if they have sufficient skill.
Made sense. He didn¡¯t particularly care what his name was, so long as ¡®Marcus Grey¡¯ didn¡¯t show up. Swapping faces and names should make sure that nothing he¡¯d done would come back to haunt him; and his victims would have no idea why he was killing them until they saw the revolver pointed at them. He almost made up an entirely new, random, name¡­ but considering the wording of the revolvers, it might be best to keep ¡®Grey¡¯ in his name. If he were trying to inspire fear in others, he might have followed the route some of the Chosen apparently did, and created a ¡®handle¡¯, or ¡®Callsign¡¯. ¡®Grey Death¡¯ would be amusing. Dorian Grey would be equally amusing, for different reasons. Hmm. He had a wallet, taken from the belly of that lizard, that should have Nathan¡¯s ID in it. Considering he¡¯d just transformed, he could go by Nathan, easily enough. Nathan Grey. He just realized he had no idea if that wallet was Nathan¡¯s, or the truck driver¡¯s. He¡­ should have checked. Still. Nathan Grey it was. He¡¯d just go by Grey, but if anyone picked his status, they¡¯d be looking for the wrong man. He might want to start using that Glock when around others.. Build a new identity. *** When Grey awoke, it didn¡¯t seem as if much time had passed; he was laying on the bed, still wearing his boxers¡­ and just felt a slight chill in the air. He looked down at himself, studying the very faint claws; they weren¡¯t retractable, but they didn¡¯t stick out any further than fingernails; and then rose to his feet¡­ heading into the bathroom to check himself out in the mirror. He felt¡­ different. The air felt cooler, he felt lighter on his feet, faster¡­ and he could actually see, and feel, the mana in the air around him. The abilities he¡¯d acquired¡­ they¡¯d become part of him. He could just feel the ability to ¡®stealth¡¯.... And when he tried it in front of the mirror, he could see the wall behind him, just a hazy grey outline of a person. If it were dark, or he wasn¡¯t looking for himself, he might not have noticed; undoubtedly, the level 1 ability, or perhaps 2, would make him invisible while standing still. He could feel the ritual he¡¯d need to perform to animate an undead¡­ and that there wasn¡¯t some sort of divide between skeletons or zombies in process or type; simply that more intact corpses would take more to disable, and ones with missing bits of flesh would weigh less, and move more quickly; but dealing enough brute-force trauma would break apart the magic binding them. This¡­. All worked out well. Between his revolver, the Assassin¡¯s Strike, and his venom, he had a nasty combo that would be excellent for taking out or crippling a target with a swift strike. And while he would be perfectly fine with just killing the Golden Boy¡­ he would be far more satisfied if he could make sure Nightfire suffered before she passed. He checked through his storage space, his old clothes, and started getting dressed; starting, of course, with that simple black concealed vest¡­ and this time, only putting on one of the holsters¡­ and the Uncommon Glock he¡¯d looted off that giant raccoon. He was still warm-blooded¡­ but the complete lack of body hair made everything feel slightly colder¡­ so he went with a long-sleeved shirt¡­ and, after a moment¡¯s consideration, he added on a hoodie, planning on disposing of it later. He finally checked the wallet from his storage.. It was¡­ damp. He¡¯d actually unintentionally ruptured a bottle of something on it in the storage space. Ooof. Smelled like¡­.. Apple juice. Lovely. Sorting through its contents, while it had credit cards and cash, the ID¡­ was not Nathan Davis, or a Nathan at all. It was the truck driver; a Martin Collinson. The whole wallet was filled with business cards for different companies, it had pictures of a house, with a woman and a dog¡­ Hmm. He could pretend to be Martin easily enough¡­ nobody had likely found Martin¡¯s corpse. But he had no idea what Martin¡¯s PIN was for his debit card, or anything of the sort. He could probably guess a few times; most people used some variant of their date of birth or their social, and¡­ he thought for a moment. He nodded.. And pulled the hoodie over his head¡­ awkwardly tucking the tail down the front of his pants, and making some awkward discoveries about Serpentfolk anatomy¡­ and then slipped out of the hotel in stealth. It took him some time, walking carefully¡­ the cameras shouldn¡¯t be able to make out much detail, but if he moved too fast, the effect vanished. Once he was outside¡­ and out of view of the cameras¡­ he tossed the hoodie in a trash-can, slid his tail free of his pants¡­ it was awkward, and pushed the waistline down. Alright. He had his objectives. In order to accomplish them, he needed more levels. More power. To kill more humans to get a title that would help kill the Chosen. And of course, a good supply of corpses to turn into undead. These things would all work together. On the one hand, simply wandering around killing people would get the job done. That could, however, attract the attention of a Chosen, or the police, too early, and lead to him getting arrested, imprisoned; all sorts of unfortunate possibilities. That sort of approach wouldn¡¯t be viable until social order broke down. ¡­On the other hand, once social order breaks down completely, some small town in trouble wouldn¡¯t be enough to lure in the Chosen. This¡­ was problematic. He needed to murder enough people to get the title without getting noticed, and also level up. Fortunately, the world he now found himself in presented easy options, and even ones the locals would encourage; back to Ant-killing. Or monster-killing, whatever he found in the wilds; so far, all he¡¯d found were giant versions of normal animals. It would be interesting to see what else he might find. He leaned against the wall of a nearby gas station, checking his tablet to see if it had wifi; and if these oh-so-helpful Chosen had managed to fit any guides on locating monsters into their apps. *** The ¡®Guild¡¯ app was surprisingly useful for his purpose. It was made to help people looking to level together organize and find nearby monsters that needed slaying; and contained nice, simple places to put in data of monsters you found but couldn¡¯t handle, monsters you killed¡­ The El Paso region had hundreds of people who were out hunting, as well as looking for allies for the hunt¡­ complete with requested level ranges and skills of the hunters. Completely unsurprisingly, the overwhelming majority of people had chosen some sort of spellcasting, damage-dealing class; but they would still take anyone they could find. It was less than thirty seconds after registering for the app that he got a notification. ~Got a giant Ant nest on a farm outside town, looking for a few to help clear it and kill the queen. Interested?~ He nodded to himself. ~Yup, though I need a ride; currently at the¡­ 7-11 by the Best Western. Lost my car to another ant nest by the interstate; but I did get the Title for killing over a thousand ants, so I can make them run away for a bit if I get backed into a corner.~ ~That sounds incredibly useful; none of us have killed more than a few dozen ourselves. We¡¯ll be by to pick you up.~ He examined the app, looking at its function, how it was clearly well-planned and designed. The Chosen were simultaneously trying to get humans to level up as much as possible, and deal with threats before they got out of hand. ~Just look for the grey-scaled lizardman with the long-sleeved Nirvana shirt, a red print.~ ~Armor is generally recommended for this stuff; I don''t know what this sort will have, but most shoot darts, or acid, or even explode.~ ~I''m wearing armor, just under the shirt. The scales count as armor too, just... not amazing armor.~ He considered whether it would be a good idea to take advantage of this situation to kill off whoever came with him, get a bit of extra mana, and some progress on his Human-Slayer title¡­. But no. They might track that sort of thing. He could only get away with it, at best, once or twice. He considered for a moment. This wasn¡¯t a normal way to think about possible allies. Was he now a psychopath? He had no idea what he would do once the job was done. Perhaps he¡¯d take advantage of apps like this and just keep getting stronger. But that didn¡¯t matter. Right now, he had a purpose. A drive. Perhaps it was because everything else, anything that might have normally stood in the way of that goal, had died off? Was he brain-damaged? He certainly didn¡¯t think this way before. Well. Whatever it was, it would keep. If need be, he could get himself fixed once the job was done. Being a psychopath was likely a benefit for what he needed to accomplish. 10 - Team-up When a green Dodge grand Caravan arrived to pick him up, Grey was faintly amused; and when a man stepped out wearing what was clearly riot gear, well over six feet tall, it appeared as if he¡¯d had difficulty fitting in the driver¡¯s seat to begin with. He looked him over for a moment. ¡°Grey scales, Grey callsign. Simple enough.¡± ¡°I¡¯m assuming you¡¯ve got a sledgehammer somewhere, hence the name Sledge?¡± The massive figure shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m a Warrior; berserker class, just hit level 6.. It seemed to fit. What did you go for?¡± No reason to be dishonest. This wasn¡¯t an enemy. ¡°Assassin and necromancer. Burst damage, curses, and minions.¡± Sledge clapped his hands. ¡°Well then! That could be useful, on top of scaring the buggers off. The app said this is your first time. You good with taking the oath?¡± Grey blinked. ¡°The oath?¡± The app had mentioned something about that. ¡°Ahh. Well. You can create a group, permanent or temporary, easily enough, or even a Kingdom. And swear an oath not to deliberately attack any member of that group. The oath is binding; if you break it, all the mana bleeds right out of you, and you turn all the way back to level zero. And, well. You¡¯re no longer part of the group, so there¡¯s no penalty if someone else hits you.¡± He smiled. ¡°You can swear an oath to not attack anyone else whose sworn the oath and uses the app, and poof. Everyone knows you¡¯re safe to work with, and someone who already swore can flag your account. The system even gives a little dot over their head so you know they¡¯re a member too.¡± He looked at the tablet, then at Sledge. ¡°On the one hand, that sounds like an excellent idea. On the other, there¡¯s some folks who tried to kill me¡­ and I aim to settle the matter. If they joined this guild¡­.¡± Sledge looked at him for a moment. ¡°If you¡¯ll swear it just for the group in this car, I won¡¯t put the tag on your account, but I¡¯ll still bring you along.¡± Being in the group could be useful. If he could get them to make him a member, and he could somehow exclude the duo, it would give him an enormous advantage in the final battle. ¡°Fair enough. Unless one of them is hiding in the van, take a solemn oath not to deliberately harm you, or anyone in the van, for the rest of the day, on pain of losing everything I¡¯ve gained from the system. That work?¡±
Oath Taken!
The System cannot compel action, but if you take an oath without duress, it can bind you to that oath. Deliberately attempting to harm Sledge, Shockwave, Star, or Stacktopus will result in a reversion to level zero, with all gained attributes and levels lost; you will, however, remain your new species and titles, and gain the ¡®Oathbreaker¡¯ title.
The man nodded. ¡°Sounds good to me. Hop on.¡± He slid open the side door¡­ revealing a surprisingly spacious, comfortable interior. Something that looked more like a limo, with three others seated inside; all of them wearing armored vests gauntlets, boots; fully decked out over ordinary clothing. A girl with blue hair and pointed elf-ears, a¡­ floating bulbous figure with tentacles dangling down, and a man wearing a black duster over his own armored vest. ¡°Siddown and buckle up; this thing is faster than it looks.¡± Grey blinked, as he shit the door, and sat down, snapping the belt on. ¡°This¡­. Is pretty damned big. Someone used a Tool upgrade on it?¡± ¡°Two of em! First one made it get five hundred miles per gallon and regenerate from damage while running! Second one Shockwave used, made it bigger on the inside.¡± The van pulled out onto the street¡­. And then rapidly accelerated at a pace he would have expected from a sportscar rather than a minivan. He shook his head. ¡°Useful. Interesting.¡± He glanced at the others. ¡°So. Whats the plan here?¡± The woman; Star, apparently; leaned forward. ¡°Well. Stacktopus is a manipulator; he can throw things with his brain, and reshape earth. So far, we¡¯ve been dealing with packs of wild dogs, spiders, and rats¡­. So. Ants are now. We figured, we go to the nest¡­ Stack makes a channel to guide the Ants in a certain path. Me and Shockwave blast em with lightning and fire¡­ You and Sledge hold them back with gun and hammer. Stack keeps the trench deep and clear, and helps where he can. When it looks like you¡¯ll get overwhelmed¡­ you can scare the ants back, right?¡± ¡°Right. By the time we clear the nest, all of us should be able to; it kicks in at a thousand kills of a given type. I can make them run for a few seconds, and¡­¡± He looked around the group. ¡°My venom hurts and paralyzes on contact; I can add it to Sledge¡¯s weapons, spit it, or put it on bullets. Once I have some corpses to work with, I can send em in, one or two at a time, to help keep them off Sledge¡­ and maybe drip venom into the nest entrance to screw with the others. And, well. I¡¯ve got a gun with infinite ammo, so I can keep firing all day. Hopefully we can make Sledge¡¯s job easy today; Ants kinda suck.¡± ¡°Damn right they do. But if the Chosen are right, we need to stay on top of things, or this whole damn place is gonna become Ant World and we¡¯ll be watching them run things from the damned moon.¡± *** As they drove down the road, the others were staring at Grey¡­ as he poured a glass jar of mayonnaise out the window, letting the contents splatter onto the highway¡­ and then started to drool into the still mostly white container; a noxious smell filling the back as he seeped venom into the container. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. When he had it about a third full, it vanished¡­ and another jar of mayo appeared. Star blinked. Shockwave laughed, shaking his head. ¡°On the one hand; dimensional storage. Solid choice. And¡­ I can get why you want to prep some venom as a..grenade, I guess. Good idea. But¡­ where the hell did you get the jars?¡± This time, after dumping out the contents, he simple left his right fingertips in the bottle; and, a bit slower, the liquid started to seep from his claws into the jar. ¡°I looted a grocery truck that crashed into a gas station, maybe an hour or two after the crash. I got cases of condiments, ice cream, milk, juice¡­ all sorts of nonsense. Even a bunch of bottled water¡­ but the venom has an acidic component, and will melt right through the plastic.¡± He nodded, as the next jar appeared, replacing the recently partially filled one. ¡°Nice. Wait. And it stays fresh?¡± ¡°As far as the contents of the space go, only a few minutes have passed; time only passes for the fractions of a second I take stuff in or out. So¡­ yeah.¡± He watched as Grey kept going¡­ and by the time he had the sixth jar ready to store, the van was pulling off the interstate, and Sledge was calling back¡­ ¡°Time to go, folks! Stack, take the sky and scout out, please. And be careful.¡± The strange, bulbous, squid-like creature floated out of the van, into the sky, as the others filed out¡­ and looked out into the desert at a pileup. At least a dozen cars had crashed together, mostly with skeletal remains still inside; and not from decay. From the remaining fluid, splatters of blood and even spilled drinks in the vehicles¡­ sometime in the past day, some of these people had still been alive. Grey studied the vehicles. Well. No need to wait for the ants to die to animate a skeleton. He¡¯d probably get titles for animating ten, a hundred, so forth undead anyway; no time like the present to start. Stopping by a brown Ford Expedition currently crushed between two smaller vehicles, there was a body in the front, and three children in the back; at his current grade, he could likely only animate the adult, or the two children. He glanced at his allies; the squid floating up into the sky to spot for the nest, the others mostly just looking at the horizon, scanning for signs themselves. They might get weird about animate children. He should stick with the adult. He¡¯d never done it before¡­ but the system had imprinted the knowledge of how to put together the ritual as if it were a wiring diagram he¡¯d gone over a thousand times. He carved the circle into the shoulder of the interstate with his claws¡­ and when he had it right¡­ or close enough¡­ he took the skeleton sitting in the driver¡¯s seat; mostly just a loose pile of bones held together by clothing¡­ and set it in the circle. By now, the others were watching with a grim fascination, as he placed a hand on the ribcage¡­ and there was an audible pop, faint white light glowing in the circle¡¯s carving¡­. And the skeleton rose to its feet. He glanced at the others. ¡°This one is a little stronger than a typical adult human. I¡¯m gonna give it a machete I bought at wal-mart, and it can be the first to go down to the ants. For the rest¡­ I¡¯ll be carving another one near the sight, and I can animate ants as well kill them to send in to fight their friends.¡± Star looked at the figure, shaking her head. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a bit disturbing. Useful¡­. But disturbing.¡± Up above them, there was a hiss; somehow, he knew that the squid had just said ¡®This way¡¯.... As it started to float off away from the road. Sledge nodded, looking at the others. ¡°Well. I¡¯ll take point.¡± He reached to his back; and a massive sledgehammer, glowing faintly blue, appeared in his grip. ¡°If the ants aren¡¯t shooting something at him, Stack will go ahead and start making the path¡­ most of the ants stay in the nest, unless its disturbed.¡± ¡°Well then. What are we waiting for?¡± Grey reached into thin air, taking hold of a machete¡­ and a sealed jar with a horrific-looking blend of green soupy liquid with white globs floating in it¡­ handing them both the the skeleton¡­ before starting to march forward. How many ants were in a nest? Would he be able to hit Insect-Slayer IV today? Oh. No, that one was like a million ants. No way there could be that many unless they were tiny. *** They could see the nest, now. A hill, perhaps nine feet tall¡­. With the squid floating perhaps thirty feet in the air. Dozens of ants¡­ ranging from about a foot long to as much as three¡­ were all standing, watching the squid, as he slowly circled the nest; seemingly alert, but not doing anything¡­ yet¡­ either not knowing, or not caring about the way a growing ditch was steadily being formed around the nest¡­. Leading to a trench heading towards the group, with solid, sheer, walls. ¡°So. I¡¯ve been giving it some thought. I think¡­. When the trench is how we want it¡­ I should send the skeleton in to chuck the jar of venom down the hole. Not sure how they¡¯ll react to him, since he doesn¡¯t smell like food¡­ but if there¡¯s a whole miasma of envenomed, vile-smelling air at the entrance, it has to be bad for the ants that are escaping. And if it dies¡­ we don¡¯t care.¡± Sledge chuckled. ¡°The recommendations to deal with the ants are to dump a firebomb down the hole to fill it with smoke or nerve gas, smoke the monsters out. The venom might be useful; but the smoke would get further. I was gonna kick things off by throwing an armload of smoke-bombs down the hole. The ones that don¡¯t come pouring out to escape¡­ die.¡± ¡°Well hell. Why not both? Give the skeleton the smokebombs. It can just go as deep as it can before they kill it. Skeleton, here.¡± The thing stopped. It was wearing the ragged remains of a shirt, and nothing else¡­ and Grey pulled one of his backpacks out of storage; dumping the clothes that were inside into a loose pile inside his storage, before putting the jars of venom in. ¡°How do you set the bombs off?¡± ¡°Pull the pin, and they go off after ten seconds.¡± ¡°...Got any string?¡± *** The speed with which Stack worked was impressive; whatever powers his species had, building walls and primitive structures would have been trivial for them, as with less than half an hour of work, he¡¯d formed a deep trench, pointed at the party, over a hundred yards long; ending at an equally deep trench surrounding the nest. The skeleton was floating through the air, lifted by Stack¡­ and gently set down beside the nest entrance, as the host of ants watched¡­ immediately starting to charge forward the moment it neared the ground. Stack hurtled upwards as fast as he could, as a few streams of acid spurted up from warrior ants at him; Grey couldn¡¯t tell from his position, but it didn¡¯t look like they all missed. Perhaps twelve seconds later, buried deep within the nest¡­. The smokebombs nested in the bagfull of venom all detonated¡­.and the whole thing started to fill with the fumes. The response was immediate. Ants started pouring out of the nest by the hundred; a carpet of them so numerous it was impossible to count. At the end of the trench, the group all looked at each other, then at the oncoming horde. Sledge stepped up to the exit of the trench, and grunted. ¡°....Well. This looks like it¡¯ll be fun.¡± Grey stepped up beside him¡­ the two revolvers suddenly snapping into view in his hands. Sledge blinked in surprise for a moment; his Examine likely telling him they were Epic and Legendary weapons; before giving a grin¡­ and turning back to face them. ¡°Alright, people! Don¡¯t exhaust yourselves. There¡¯s enough ants for everybody.¡± 11 - Enemy Swarm Tactics The plan wasn¡¯t bad; and it actually worked quite well, at first. As smoke slowly rose from the hole in a thin wisp, it was hard to tell just what was causing it; the venom, the smoke, just the general confusion¡­ but the horde was advancing¡­ slowly. Much more slowly than the ants could normally move, with many of its members barely crawling, while others were forced to push them aside, or crawl over them¡­. As the spells started to fly. The two spellcasters; Shockwave and Star; were taking turns, dropping a blast of lightning that electrocuted a mass of bugs, leaving mostly intact corpses¡­ then when the next mass crossed onto them, Star would let loose a bolt of fire, washing over them; igniting the corpses and the living ones as well. The bugs were dying by the hundreds, and even though he was merely using Spiritual bullets instead of enhanced ones, each shot was crushing part of an ant and usually going into another¡­ and another. He wasn¡¯t sure what the limit on the revolvers was; and he could always switch to the glock if need be; but if it was based on the mana in the air¡­ all these dying ants should be releasing tons of it. It took over a minute¡­ and thousands of the ants were dead¡­ before they finally started to reach Grey and Sledge¡­ and even then, it was only a handful at a time; Grey picking off individual ants here, there¡­ Sledge sweeping his hammer, crushing or knocking back a whole pack at once. Grey finally got to grab a few ants, and put them in the ritual circle he¡¯d made while the squid was carving out the trenches; but he only had the power to animate two of the three-foot long ants at a time. He definitely needed to invest more in that. Still; they stepped forward, guarding Sledge¡¯s ankles, ensuring the powerhouse didn¡¯t have some errant bug crawl up his body. Ultimately, they ran into two problems; the first¡­ even as sheer as the walls were made, the ants were excellent climbers.. And started to spread out, reducing the effectiveness of the blasts¡­ and forcing the whole group to start retreating towards the interstate. And then¡­ the Queen showed up. At least eight feet long and several hundred pounds, the monstrosity burst up from the soil just outside the trench¡­ and with her, a sudden outpouring of more ants, and an abrupt cloud of smoke¡­ though these ants were sluggish, barely alive. The group was forced together, back at the entrance of the trench, about to be overwhelmed¡­ and Grey stepped forward. ¡°Back the fuck off!¡± He focused on activating the ¡®Intimidating Shout¡¯ power¡­ and as a collective, the ants started running in every direction, directly away from him¡­ Sledge glanced at him, and nodded. ¡°How are we on energy?¡± Star grimaced. ¡°Not much left. If this keeps up for more than another two minutes, I¡¯m out. I can use¡­ maybe six. Seven more fireballs at most.¡± Shockwave shook his head. ¡°Same. I almost regret swapping to Elf, I¡¯d be able to keep going another hour if I hadn¡¯t, but¡­ my blasts wouldn¡¯t be nearly as big, or dangerous.¡± Grey hadn¡¯t even realized the man was an elf. This¡­ was problematic. What if Nightfire was an elf? Should he kill enough elves to get an Elf bane, and Elf-Slayer title, just in case? Sledge looked at the retreating swarm¡­ which was only temporarily retreating, he knew full well. ¡°Alright, we need to regroup, back at the van. Let them settle back down¡­ we had to have made a dent in their numbers. We can come back, do this again once they¡¯ve clumped up.¡± Grey gave a slow nod. ¡°True enough. Honestly, the smoke bombs probably killed as many as we did. The ones that just broke free are in rough shape¡­ as is the Queen. Which means¡­¡± He reached into his storage; he didn¡¯t have many actual bullets left for these revolvers. He dropped six into his hand, and spat; splattering venom over them; before loading them into the Right Hand of Death. ¡°I think the shout loses effectiveness every time I do it in a short period of time¡­ and if we all start running away, it stops working entirely. You guys head back to the van, but steady¡­ keep facing them. I¡¯m gonna try an Assassin¡¯s Strike on the queen while she¡¯s exposed, and then probably shout again and go stealth. See how well that works.¡± Sledge glanced at him for a moment¡­ then the others. They all nodded, after a few seconds. ¡°Lets go. I¡¯ll stay at the back and keep facing them, Star, lead the way.¡± They started an awkward withdrawal back towards the interstate, while Grey started stalking forward, headed for the Queen; the scattered hundreds of ants seemed to be slowing down. However long the Fear lasted, it wasn¡¯t that big; and it didn¡¯t seem to work on the ones around the Queen. As he approached, they lined up before him in a phalanx, defending the much larger insect. He pointed at them again. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? I said fuck off!¡± He tried it again. They withdrew¡­ slightly. The other ants that had started to return went running again¡­ but the Queen and her defenders, mostly the larger Soldiers¡­ stood firm. They didn¡¯t charge him; but they didn¡¯t run, either. Perhaps a different fear response? Workers ran when afraid; Soldiers fell back to defend? Regardless¡­. He raised the Right Hand of Death, focusing on using his Assassin¡¯s Strike. If the ants were charging, he couldn¡¯t have done this, but forming a defense? After a few seconds, he felt it was ready¡­ and aimed at the Ant queen. The creature¡¯s head was the size of his torso¡­ And when he pulled the trigger, there was a hole through it the size of his fist. The remaining five bullets might not have been needed¡­ but he used them anyway, just to be sure, sending the Queen falling limp to the ground, clearly extremely dead¡­ and the Soldiers charging at him, massive sword-like pincers clacking together in rage.
Congratulations! You have gained your sixth level!
You have 3 Free Points available to spend. If you do not use them by the time you gain your next level, they will be spent for you.
You have gained One Ability upgrade. If you do not use it by the time you gain your next level, it will be spent for you.
You have Six(6) Abilities which are at reduced effectiveness due to your class blend. You may use that ability to upgrade three of them to full effectiveness. If done on the following level as well, all six will be at full effectiveness for a starter of each class.
He blinked. Wait, what? Only five of his¡­ He¡¯d figured it out later. He could tell there were too many for him to handle on his own; and while at first he backed away steadily, firing into them¡­. After a few parting shots, he turned, and started to sprint¡­ making much better time than the ants, better than he ever had before, even¡­If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. But he could feel it¡­ the loss of stamina. He couldn¡¯t keep this up forever. And when he turned to take a few more shots at the now safely distant Ants¡­ he could feel it even more. He must¡¯ve used up enough ambient mana that the gun was taking it out of him, now. When he reached the van, the Ants were no longer following; just watching, from the top of a hill about a quarter-mile away. Sledge was standing outside, hammer over his shoulder, while the others were already sitting down, the engine running. ¡°There you are. Level six? Not bad! I take it you killed the Queen?¡± Grey nodded. ¡°Yup. She¡¯s gone. And if the smoke killed out all the larvae¡­.¡± Sledge shook his head. ¡°Nah. There¡¯ll be eggs. So long as there¡¯s an adult to feed them when they hatch, they can turn one into a Queen and get back to it. If we leave em be for a few hours, they should pile all the bodies up, clean out all the poisoned dirt, and start gathering food for a new, baby Queen. Or¡­ they might gather all the eggs and leave.¡± Star leaned out of the van. ¡°So we¡¯ve got a couple hours to chill. Stacktopus doesn¡¯t get tired from flying, so he¡¯s gonna just float, keep an eye out¡­ and whether they swarm back into the next, or start moving, he¡¯ll let us know.¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°Exactly.¡± He glanced at Grey. ¡°Star and Shockwave both got the Intimidating Shout bit, and the Insect-Slayer Three title. I¡¯m still only at two. That was a real life-saver back there¡­ but now that we know how it works, and have it, you don¡¯t have to hang around.¡± Grey tilted his head for a moment. Allies abandoning him at this stage? Made sense. His abilities were no longer all that useful, considering. ¡°Ahh. You don¡¯t need me anymore. If you want me gone, can I have a ride back to town? I should probably look at selling a few things and buying a vehicle of my own of some sort.¡± Sledge blinked. ¡°No, no. You¡¯re an Assassin. You leveled up from killing the Queen. I¡¯m sure if you go hunting, you can find bigger, more dangerous, monsters you can kill solo, level faster. We don¡¯t mind having you here at all, safety in numbers and all that, I just figured you might want to move on if we¡¯re going to be just hanging for a few hours.¡± Logical. On the other hand, helping them clear the rest of these ants would help him make progress towards level 7; and if he stuck with them, he could ensure that Sledge was between him and danger, and if things got too bad, he could still survive by abandoning him. Not that he should unless it were needed; Sledge was still useful, for now. ¡°No. I¡¯ll level up, see if my new skills are any more useful for this; when you¡¯re ready, we can get back to it.¡± He stepped into the van¡­ and sat down in one of the comfortable chairs, closing his eyes, focusing¡­ the others started talking about the fight, and tactics they could use next time, as he willed the system to show him his options.
Ability Upgrade Available!
The following Abilities are at reduced effectiveness due to your class split, and a single Ability upgrade can improve three of them:
Undead Animation 0.5, Undead Control 0.5, Curse 0.5, Venom Magic 1, Stealth 0.5, Assassin¡¯s Strike 0.5
You may also select a new ability, unrelated to your class, at reduced effectiveness. Warning; while versatility is often beneficial, each ability gets dramatically more effective with each upgrade, and an individual with 4 grade-5 powers will have an enormous advantage over an individual with 20 grade-1 powers.
¡­Venom was already at 1. Why did it have that listed as reduced effectiveness? Ahh. He was a Serpentfolk. Even if he weren¡¯t an Assassin, he would have had a weak version of Venom magic; and a Serpentfolk Assassin should normally have an augmented version. While the Assassin¡¯s Strike and Venom Magic were what he¡¯d used on the Ant Queen, a pack of Undead would be much more useful for the mopping up action to come; and he hadn¡¯t even bothered to use Curse yet. For now¡­
Ability Upgrade Used!
Undead Animation 1: Ability to take a corpse and shape it into an Undead form of at most the user¡¯s level(Current: 6). Extremely mana intensive. Permanent until destroyed. Can also, temporarily animate a corpse far more cheaply; which will collapse as soon as energy is no longer fed into it. Can animate multiple corpses at once which total below the level threshold.
Undead Control 1: Ability to control Undead, whose total level cannot exceed double the user¡¯s whether those created by the Hand of Death, by others, or formed naturally by Mana infesting corpses. Intelligent undead can resist this power. Low mana cost unless resisted. Undead not actively under control will tend to continue to obey the last order given if control is released, but are mindless and hostile; caution must be used if attempting to manage a ¡®horde¡¯ by selectively controlling groups. (Max 12 levels)
Stealth 1: For a minor mana cost, become invisible while standing perfectly still, very difficult to perceive while moving, or somewhat less difficult to perceive while moving swiftly.
He blinked. That¡­. Was potentially extremely useful. This was what he¡¯d wanted the Undead ability for; creating an essentially endless swarm to overwhelm someone, even if he wasn¡¯t still in control of all of them¡­ and it might be a bit dangerous, both for himself and anyone else in the area. He could animate a pack of ants, send them after the living ones¡­and then just keep going. If the undead ants lasted long enough, they might reach a point where they could overwhelm the regular ones. And going from 2 worker ants at a time to 12? Or maybe even a handful of the larger Soldier ants? Part of it was from going from level 5 to level 6, yes, but the way powers improved with each upgrade was phenomenal. ¡­He would need to be extremely, thoroughly ready before engaging Nightfire. She likely had at least one ability at grade 5. And if each upgrade was at least twice as good as the first one¡­ He shook his head. He still had a ways to go. Now that he knew Stamina also impacted how much mana you could hold onto, he was even more committed to getting it back to its previous heights, and invested the free points back into it; before he checked his status, not expecting much difference.
Nathan Grey
Serpentfolk(Human) Hand of Death(Hybrid) 6
Strength 13
Endurance 17
Stamina 21
Agility 22
Mind 21
Power 17
Abilities Intimidating Shout(Insects), Undead Animation 1, Undead Control 1, Curse 0.5, Venom Magic 1, Stealth 1, Assassin¡¯s Strike 0.5
Skills Minor(Melee Weapons, Persuasion, Automotive Repair, Examine, Mana Manipulation) Moderate(Survival, Sales, Ranged Weapons)
Titles Insect Slayer III, Ranged Slayer, Vehicle Slayer(Front-Runner)
Boons 1 x Vehicle Upgrade
There we go. He could help these people cleanse the rest of the Ants¡­ and then go get himself a car to upgrade. If an item could be upgraded twice, he could actually kill someone else and take their vehicle, then upgrade that to be even better; though it wasn¡¯t the same sort of upgrade, of course. He¡¯d need to keep an eye out for good targets of opportunity on that score. 12 - Empty Nest He glanced at the ritual circle he¡¯d carved into the pavement, and at the line of cars involved in the pile-up¡­ and then to Sledge. It would be easy enough to grab a pile of bones while they were working; unless he was making a sentient undead, he didn¡¯t think they even had to all be from the same skeleton; but he didn¡¯t want to alienate them. ¡°Leveled up, got the undead thing at the basic level now instead of just halfsies. I can make about a dozen undead now of the worker-ant size¡­ or half a dozen of the soldier ant¡­ or a human¡­ size. I wouldn¡¯t mind pulling some skeletons out of the wreckage, but if our telekinetic friend can grab some bodies for me to work with¡­.¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯d be fine. They¡¯re gathering up all their dead in one spot to bury, and working on reshaping the mound¡­¡± ¡°...Huh.¡± Sledge glanced at him. ¡°Something cross your mind?¡± If he just piled hundreds of ant corpses into a tomb, he could probably animate them, a dozen at a time, spending hours to recover mana so that he can do it multiple times, order them to kill, and just keep the whole mess trapped¡­ and then poof. As soon as someone opens it, killer undead ant swarm. Wherever he set the trap for Nightfire, that should definitely be part of it. Figure out a way to make them more resistant to fire, too. Maybe soak them in some sort of flame retardant? ¡°...I can actually handle this myself. I¡¯ve got Stealth good enough that I can probably reach the pile, so long as I don¡¯t get too close to the ants. I can just dump a bunch of dead ones into my extradimensional space¡­ and get back.¡± He nodded. ¡°Cool, cool. And you¡¯ve got the same shout thing if you need to break and run, so even if they spot you it should be fine. Just try not to use it, so we can get them bunched back up again.¡± Grey gave a short nod; and closed his eyes, focusing. At first, he went completely invisible, sitting on the seat of the van.. And then turned into a vague blur of movement as he stepped out; it was obvious something was there from up close, but just what it was¡­ hard to make out. So long as he didn¡¯t run too fast, he should be fine¡­ and as he casually jogged through the battlefield, the ants didn¡¯t seem to pay him any mind; grabbing food and carrying it down into the nest; and grabbing dead ants, dragging them¡­ over to an enormous hole. There were dozens of ants, working together to fill the grave, and he wasn¡¯t sure if there were as many living ants as dead ones at this point; and what was extremely clear was that none of the Soldier ants were still alive, as he didn¡¯t see a single one of them still moving. When a group of ants left to grab another pile of bodies, he stepped in close¡­ and started adding Ants en masse to his storage, grabbing all the Soldiers he could, then filling the rest in with workers¡­ he didn¡¯t want to completely fill it with ants, He looked at the pile. The Queen ant was too big; he couldn¡¯t bring her back as an undead, so best leave her be. Did Ants.. loot anything valuable? If the pile was all together, could he loot them all at once, He laid a hand on one of them, and thought the word ¡®Loot¡¯.
Looted: 4,352 Chitin Plates, 142 Acid Bladders, 125 Soldier Ant Mandibles(Medium), 2x Queen Ant Mandibles(Large)
Congratulations! Title Gained!
Looter: If you or your allies assisted with a kill with a system-connected weapon or ability, you may loot them from 25ft. Away. Looting enemies you did not assist in killing requires direct contact as normal.
He blinked. The Soldier Ant mandibles, he could somehow see in the storage space; each about the size of a shortsword, or a long dagger, a good, solid, chitin blade, extremely sharp on the tip and one side. While the Queen ant mandibles¡­ pretty much a sword blade. He didn¡¯t know how crafting worked with all this, but was fairly certain that you could pretty easily turn all of those into Uncommon-grade weapons. And the Chitin? Could probably be turned into armor in a similar fashion. He needed to check. The ¡®Looter¡¯ title was interesting. He hadn¡¯t read that in the guide; how many things had associated titles? Would he get titles for his Undead? For using Stealth? With him just standing there on the edge, not moving at all, he remained invisible, worker ants dragging corpses past him¡­.. Though they seemed disturbed. Antenna flicking in his direction. Could they¡­ smell him? Sense him somehow? He started heading back to the van. He had all that he needed; and judging by how few workers he could see, and the floating squid already working on adjusting his trenches¡­ it should be time to get to work, soon. *** As he laid the six most intact soldier ant corpses by the circle, Sledge was talking to a State Trooper standing by the highway; the lights weren¡¯t on, there didn¡¯t seem to be a disturbance¡­ but he immediately thought of the fact that he¡¯d used the revolver to kill ants. He was unidentifiable at this point¡­ but¡­ Something to be concerned about. This was actually the first time he saw Sledge¡¯s face; skin almost as grey as Grey¡¯s own scales, the man was clearly an Orc; not a bad choice, for his profession; and he towered over the smaller, scrawnier human policeman. The trooper watched Grey lay them out, and walked over, beside Sledge. ¡°Hello there, sir. Don¡¯t mean to interfere; there¡¯s definitely no law regarding handling ant corpses, and even if there were, I wouldn¡¯t be enforcing it these days. Mind if I ask what you¡¯re doing?¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Grey studied the policeman¡­ and nodded. ¡°I¡¯m going to take these ants.. Bring them back¡­ and use them as a shield to help fight the others when we go back for round two. By the way, Sledge¡­¡± He studied the Orc a bit closer. Larger, heavier, jaw. The head a bit bigger, the eyes a bit smaller. Pronounced differences from a human, but not that bad. ¡°I got a good look up-close at the nest. We cleared all the Soldiers, and most of the Workers, out with the first batch. The spot where the Queen burst up out of the ground is probably gonna be where the eggs are. I dunno how you talk to Stacktopus while he¡¯s up there, but I¡¯d bet if he were to dig down into that chamber¡­. The whole nest would come swarming in to re-bury it and try to attack him. And all thats left¡­ is the workers. Hundreds of them; maybe even a couple thousand; but not nearly as many as we already killed.¡± Sledge nodded, and grinned. ¡°Yeah. The guide actually suggests finding the queen¡¯s chamber if possible; if you can get it exposed to the air, the ants will ignore everything else and rush it to protect that. So¡­. perfect environment for area of effect attacks. Good thought.¡± The trooper chuckled. ¡°You know¡­ I thought this was going to be the end of the world. But we just might manage to pull this off. There¡¯s another few nests down the highway; some smaller, some bigger¡­ and a bunch of groups just like you working at cleaning them out.¡± He glanced around at them. ¡°Now, just to be clear¡­ if any of you folks aren¡¯t from the US, I don¡¯t care. I¡¯m not ICE, and this won¡¯t effect you, you can just head home or keep doin what you¡¯re doin. But they¡¯re asking anybody who decided to change their race or gender when they hit level 5 to get a new ID issued as early as possible. They¡¯re gonna be asking us to stop anybody who aint human and check going forward, and, well¡­ we¡¯ll have to detain you while they get a new one made out for you, or longer if you can¡¯t prove who you are.¡± Grey glanced at the others; two elves, an orc, a serpentfolk¡­ and a flying squid. None of them matched their original IDs at all. Serving a warrant on somebody was going to become extremely difficult¡­ and anybody who had one was undoubtedly going to change and try to hide it. His own plan to avoid attention for issues in Fort Tazewell was both completely predictable and likely to fail if he didn¡¯t procure a good fake identity. He needed to check out that trucker, Martin, to make sure it would work in a pinch. Or find another. ¡°Understood. Though it may be a bit difficult getting home for a while.¡± The trooper glanced at the pile-up of cars, and grimaced. ¡°Well. That¡¯s true enough. But we¡¯re getting better. Things will be back to normal soon.¡± He slowly trailed his gaze along the wreckage. Normally a pile-up like this would be cleaned up that day. Here¡­ they¡¯d shoved it off the road onto the shoulder and left. Probably taken IDs of the dead, too, but¡­ ¡°Soon¡­¡± He seemed to be talking to himself as he headed back to the patrol car. Sledge shook his head, and turned back to the others. ¡°Well then. Once Grey there has his pets in order¡­ we can go finish this. If you folks don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like to start with the trench from before¡­ and you guys can hold off a bit, take it easy, until I get the tier three Ant-Slayer achievement, so I can do the shout too¡­ as soon as I get it¡­ we have Stack breach the egg chamber. And when the swarm gathers¡­¡± He punched his palm with his fist. ¡°Bring down the hammer.¡± *** In many respects, this attempt worked much like it had a few hours before. One of the undead soldier ants walked to the nest, carrying a plastic walmart bag filled with a bundle of smoke-bombs and an emptied-out olive jar filled with venom; and when the smoke burst out of the nest.. The ants swarmed out. With five of the soldier-ants guarding his sides, his spellcaster allies only blasting the most heavily gathered swarms¡­ Sledge got to swing his hammer for a good solid ten minutes, crushing dozens of ants at a time¡­ and when the moment arrived, he let out a loud whoop of celebration, backing off a bit, and gesturing at the squid with his hammer. All the while, Grey had simply been shooting into the mass of ants, wondering if he was going to get the next Ranged slayer title¡­ or how many kills that took.. And when the squid burrowed into the former queen¡¯s chamber, on call¡­ it was like a siren call. Somehow; perhaps the scent? All of the ants knew when the chamber was breached¡­ and ignored Sledge or the others¡­ swarming towards it¡­ literally forming a protective barrier over the hole with their bodies as they prepared to re-bury it, even as the smoke from the bombs was released into the air through this new chimney. And now¡­ when Star blasted them with a fireball, over a hundred of them died at once, bodies crackling and popping as the moisture inside them vaporized¡­ and within another few minutes¡­ it was over. The zombie ants finished the last of their living cousins as the group gathered around the egg-chamber; now clearly visible and exposed to the air, thousands of glistening white eggs and hundreds of helpless, pale white larvae. These eggs; normally so small you could only see them when clustered together; were each the size of a fist; and the smell of rotting food filled the air, alongside some other, sweeter, smell. Grey looked around the chamber, then at the two spellcasters. He examined one of them for a moment.
Star(Insect-Slayer III) Level: 7; Spellcaster, Moderate threat
He blinked. Only one title visible? Was only the highest-tier, most rare title a person had visible? He glanced over at Sledge;
Sledge(Insect-Slayer III) Level: 7, Warrior, Extreme threat
And decided to simply ask. ¡°Hey, Sledge. Do you know what decides what gets shown when you examine somebody?¡± He chuckled. ¡°Yours shows Vehicle-Slayer, and mentions its a Front-Runner. It shows whatever title you¡¯ve got the fewest other people have, unless you pick a title you want to show off.¡± He was looking around the chamber at all the eggs. ¡°It won¡¯t show somebody¡¯s other titles or stats or anything¡­ but its supposed to say whether you can take the person in a fight, and any weaknesses you can detect, or strengths, if you level it up more, so examine new stuff as much as you can. Star, care to do the honors?¡± The elf-woman nodded; and reached out with one hand; a much lower-intensity heat this time, just spreading as a wave, as she swept it across the chamber below them¡­ the eggs popping, the larvae shriveling.. And after what must be to her a trivial effort¡­ it was over. Sledge sighed¡­ and looked out at the desert heading off to the east. ¡°Well. That was¡­ an experience. Everybody hit seven?¡± The two elves both nodded; the squid gave a gentle bob up and down of assent. ¡°Lets loot the corpses, then, and we¡¯ll grab dinner to celebrate¡­ and figure out which one we¡¯ll hit tomorrow.¡± He glanced at Grey. ¡°You¡¯re welcome to join. Both for food, and the next hunt, unless you plan to move on.¡± Shockwave slid his smartphone out of his pocket. ¡°That is a good idea¡­ but there¡¯s actually an alert on. Swarm of wasps the size of a car, nobody knows where they¡¯re based out of, one of them was spotted a few minutes ago carrying a few people off. The Chosen covering central texas are already here, hunting, but they can only be one place.¡± Grey blinked. ¡°Chosen covering central texas?¡± Did that mean¡­ ¡°Yep. Golden Boy and Nightfire. Have you met them?¡± ¡°...Yes, actually. I thought they were just passing through though, dealing with emergencies. ¡®Covering¡¯ central texas?¡± Sledge chuckled. ¡°Yeah, the Chosen paired up.. Not sure if thats literal spouse sort of thing, or just made teams¡­ and split the world up. They form big groups if need be, but if there¡¯s an emergency in texas and they only need one or two¡­ those are the ones that show up.¡± 13 - Homicide It was, unfortunately, too early. He was getting a growing sense of just how much power a level 20 individual could have; and while he may have come enormous strides since meeting them¡­ he didn¡¯t want to encounter them as he was. In fact... she was probably past level 20 by now, if such a thing were possible. Still. To know that if he created an emergency in this region, Nightfire would be called in to show up? If there were any joy left in his heart, it would be filled with it. He could simply pick any random small town in the area to instigate an emergency, and that would be it. Poof. Done. So. He needed to avoid encountering them, for now. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, folks¡­ I wouldn¡¯t mind helping you deal with the wasps, or some other, future, crisis. But I need to get home and take care of a few things, then get a new ID card issued¡­ among other things. If you could please drop me off back in town while you¡¯re on the way?¡± In reality¡­ he might be best assuming a local identity. Find someone with Grey in their name; first or last name, didn¡¯t matter. Kill them. Learn enough about them to convince anyone who didn¡¯t know them¡­ ehh. Probably best to find a loner. How to find them, though? Wait. He had the internet. Just needed a place with wifi he could use. ¡°Back at the 7-11 would be great, or at a library. I need to do a bit of research before I head home¡­ I don¡¯t know as much about Serpentfolk as I should. I also need to get more bullets for my revolver; they don¡¯t work nearly as well when I¡¯m relying on the spirit ones made by mana.¡± Sledge looked at him, and grimaced. ¡°...You sure, man? We could use you against wasps. Can¡¯t exactly kill one with a hammer until its already right there on you, so I¡¯d be out of the fight.¡± He looked Sledge over for a moment¡­ and nodded¡­ sliding the Glock out of the holster. ¡°I don¡¯t like people knowing I have a legendary revolver¡­ someone might try to rob me again¡­ so I keep this around for show, looted it out of the belly of a giant raccoon. If you need a system-integrated gun, you can borrow it¡­. But its only uncommon.¡± Sledge looked at the glock, then at him. ¡°Thats¡­ you know even at Uncommon, it deals more damage than a regular gun, can¡¯t jam¡­ this would be at least ten grand on the market. More likely fifteen.¡± He glanced down at it, and actually examined it for the first time.
Glock 9mm(Uncommon)
This standard-issue mass-produced firearm was upgraded to ¡®Uncommon¡¯ by the system, making it both more effective and more durable.
Unbreakable: This weapon is unusually difficult to damage, and will not jam or misfire. Empowered: This weapon augments the force of impacts on bullets it fires by 25%.
Huh. He¡¯d figured if Epic was 150, and Legendary was 200, then Uncommon should be 50, and rare 100. Was there a reason this one was only 25? ¡°...I really need to do more research on items. And probably crafting, too. But that can wait. Yes, I knew it was probably worth ten grand. If you don¡¯t have anything equal or better, you can borrow it for now. I¡¯ve only got¡­ three magazines for it¡­¡± Sledge just looked at him as he handed the three over¡­ and pocketed the glock. ¡°I appreciate that. Sincerely. It might make the difference between life and death. Of course we¡¯ll drop you off at the library. And if you need a ride after, send me a message. I¡¯ll friend you on the Guild app.¡± *** He got a few odd looks as he entered the library; they likely hadn¡¯t seen too many Serpentfolk yet, if any; but they gave him the Wifi password, and he settled in at a desk without an issue. So. He wanted to assume the identity of someone with the last name Grey. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could change his callsign, but if he could, he¡¯d just make it Grey, going forward. As far as anyone was concerned, the first place Serpentfolk Grey had appeared was here, in El Paso, by the 7-11. Before that, he had never existed. So; to start with, people with the last name Grey, in El Paso. There were numerous ways to search, and he actually found a Nathan Grey; but the man was a firefighter. Undoubtedly tons of people knew him, and there¡¯s no way he could pass. After a few minutes of searching, he stopped¡­ and stared at an entry. There was a Joshua Grey, now 75 years old, mentioned in a news article from a couple years back because he¡¯d been in a car accident; made it out alive, but was paralyzed from the waist down, stuck in a wheelchair. The important bit; he was the only survivor of the accident; his wife had passed, and he had no children. The system changed races. Made age irrelevant. If he could assume this man¡¯s identity, he could just claim memory lapse for any questions he couldn¡¯t answer, and have a built-in address and identity here in El Paso. Just an old man, a bit confused. Possibly even, considering the last name, a distant relative of Grey himself. He ran a few more searches¡­ and found the man¡¯s address. Perfect. *** The lawn was dead, stained green-yellow, when Grey walked up in stealth; there was quite a bit of damage to surrounding homes, broken windows, and it looked as if he might be getting lucky here; one of the second floor windows of the house was broken. Some beast might already have gotten in and done the job for him, possibly even the days ago, at this point. Or had it been days? He was losing track of time. He barely felt the hunger of meals anymore, just knew he needed to eat so as not to die. The man¡¯s ¡®Car¡¯ was a large van; a Toyata Sienna, in dark blue; clearly built to allow a wheelchair to roll in and out, and relatively new¡­. And after a quick hop from its roof onto a nearby tree¡­ Grey easily slipped in through the same window that had already been broken.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The first room he entered was a bedroom; one that was clearly a mess, completely destroyed¡­ there was even traces of dried blood on the floor. As he stepped out into the hallway, as quietly as possible, stepping carefully beside a broken wheelchair to make as little noise as possible, following the scratch-marks in the hardwood floor¡­ leading to¡­ another bedroom. A man was sitting on the floor; Joshua Grey. Still alive. Still breathing, though he had a few nasty scratches on his face. A shotgun clutched in his hands, pump-action¡­ and what looked like a four-foot long rat lying dead on the floor beside him. Not dead. Not even dying; if the man were conscious, and able to reach a phone, he would probably live. Which, of course, meant that nobody had reported him dead. He was probably quite hungry, though; he looked as if he were unable to move. He couldn¡¯t store living things in his extradimensional space, only dead bodies. And his story, going forward, would be that he was Joshua Grey¡­ preferably going by just Grey, or Mr. Grey¡­ and had regained his youth and vigor, but not his memories, after an unfortunate encounter with a mob of vicious rats. Perhaps, to those he considered trustworthy, he¡¯d claim that Nightfire had saved him¡­ but tried to rob him of the revolver after, and left him for dead, unaware that her actions had gained him enough energy to reach level 5. He stepped up to the man, looking him over more closely¡­ and gently shook him. He gave a low groan¡­ and blinked, looking up at Grey. ¡°Joshua. Can you hear me?¡± ¡°....Hungry. Food?¡± Grey reached into his storage¡­ and brought out a granola bar. ¡°I¡¯ve got some. But things have broken down. The police aren¡¯t coming when people call. Everything¡¯s shutting down. Its like the end of the world out there. Do you have anyone I can call for you, any friends, family, who can take care of you? I¡¯ll gladly find them and get you some help.¡± He handed him the granola bar¡­ Joshua started eagerly eating it, barely getting the wrapper off before shoving it into his mouth; his old hands surprisingly strong. Likely he¡¯d gained a level himself from killing the rat. When he finished, he leaned back, sighing.. ¡°No. Not anymore. All my friends¡­ either they died in the war¡­ or I outlived them. Ever since the accident¡­ I¡¯ve been alone. Patty¡­¡± He closed his eyes. ¡°I sometimes wish the lord had taken me, too.¡± Grey gave a slow nod, and stepped closer, setting a hand on Joshua¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I''m sure you''ll be with her again.¡±
Congratulations! Title Gained!
Human-Slayer: +10% damage against humans;
  • As you already have a ¡®Slayer¡¯ title at rank 3, your existing ¡®Intimidating Shout¡¯ has now been upgraded, and can work on human targets if you choose.
At the soft crack of his spine snapping, and the title appearing, Grey considered the next step. He gently laid Joshua out on the floor.. And after a moment, held a hand down, no longer having to touch the man to do it, thinking¡­ Loot.
Looted: Keychain x1, From my Cold Dead Hands(Rare) 2x Shells
Well then. He¡¯d wanted a rifle; a shotgun would work. With the difference between a 12 gauge shotgun and the tiny caliber of the Hand of Death, the shotgun might actually be better against unarmored targets, even if it was only Rare. He didn¡¯t intend on killing too many more humans, now that he¡¯d realized his target might not even be one. Interested in what might be special about it, and if it would explain why the ridiculous name, he examined the gun.
From my Cold Dead Hands(Rare)
One of a small number of 12-gauge remington pump-action shotguns signed by then-NRA president Charlton Heston in 1997, this weapon was used to defend the Grey household once, and for hunting purposes dozens of times, and was the pride and joy of its owner, Joshua Grey, since its purchase at auction over twenty years ago.
Unbreakable: This weapon is virtually impossible to break, and cannot jam or misfire. Empowered: Shells fired by this weapon strike with an additional +100% of their usual impact force. From my Cold Dead Hands: This weapon cannot be disarmed or removed from the wielder involuntarily unless the wearer dies, and if either thrown or placed on a surface or handed over willingly without being sold or gifted, can be summoned back to its owner¡¯s hands at any time within ten miles, even if inside an extradimensional storage space.
That¡­ was an odd ability. He looked it over; the signature was actually covered with some sort of lacquer to keep it from wearing off, and the words ¡®From my Cold Dead Hands¡¯ were carved into the wood above the signature. Odd, but useful. Did a weapon just need some sort of emotional attachment or rarity to get upgraded like that? Would covering the label remove the power? And considering the caliber and power of the bullets¡­ a 100% bonus on a 12-gauge slug should hit much harder than a 200% bonus from a bullet from a revolver. This thing would probably be the better option, period, so long as he had shells. He started searching the house for anything else of interest¡­ finding a wallet, with an expired driver¡¯s license, a debit card, and plenty of cash, almost immediately¡­ and also finding a gun safe, roughly chest-high, in the closet. He studied it. He¡¯d never had cause to break into a safe before, but knew they were fairly resistant to such things as guns, even ones that could shoot as hard as¡­ Cold, he could call it. He¡¯d leave it be, for now¡­ and kept searching. After finding a few cases of actual silver silverware, a box of valuable coins, and a variety of other valuable collectibles he tossed into the dimensional storage, he checked in the next room¡­ finding a desktop computer¡­. With a notebook beside it, and sticky-notes attached to the monitor. With all of his passwords¡­ and the combination for the safe¡­ written in bold black marker. He stared for a moment¡­. Shaking his head. That¡­ was that normal? He didn¡¯t think people actually did that. He even had his social security number written on a sticky-note! He looked at it all¡­ and resolved to go to the DMV. However absurd it might be, once he showed people an ID with his face on it, they¡¯d likely go along. They''d likely even have a lineup of people in his situation, if the deputies, or the news, were passing that info around. It would be unfortunate if society collapsed, and all this effort ended up being pointless. The only way this was contributing to his goal, after all, was that it helped prevent the police from arresting him; he could level up and set the trap without having to use any of Joshua''s resources... probably. When he went back to the safe with the combination in hand, and started opening it, he noticed a dusty photograph sitting atop it; a collection of dozens of people of various ages, some sort of family reunion. He started to ignore it and just get back to opening the safe, when something caught his eye¡­ and he picked it up, looking closer. Huh. That was his parents. He''d seen his father wearing that exact shirt when they''d gone fishing together. He glanced at the spot where the man had been minutes ago. So. He was related in some fashion? This must have been one of his grandfather¡¯s siblings, or cousins. It wasn¡¯t too surprising, since the last name was Grey, but at the same time¡­ it seemed as if he should feel something about that. No matter. He ignored the photo, and turned to the safe.. He wouldn¡¯t find any upgraded weapons inside, but should undoubtedly find some he could sell; and some ammo for that shotgun, which might make things easier going forward. 14 - The Colony His gathering of goods for sale¡­ and documents to ensure he was able to handle the DMV properly¡­ was interrupted by something¡­ irritating. The sound of scurrying feet; larger, dog-sized ones, at least¡­ moving through the basement beneath him. Grey grumbled to himself; he might want to turn this place into a base of operations in the future, and would claim it as his home; god forbid he let it be infested with rats. A newer, more subtle anger filled his mind as he found the basement door; and readied his new weapon; it might not have infinite ammunition, but it was highly unlikely there were more than ten rats in the basement. After all.. Rats weren¡¯t communal, like the ants were. He slid open the basement door, looking down into the darkness¡­ surprised that, despite the absolute lack of light, he could still make out the heated forms¡­ dozens of them. All of them at least the size of a man. He grumbled¡­ and shut the door¡­ looking at the floor of his new kitchen. He could call for backup; or he could just make it himself. He could hear shrieking noises and chittering on the other side of the door as he used a knife to start carving a ritual circle into the hardwood floor; he liked hardwood as much as anyone, but for a kitchen? Something waterproof, please¡­. By the time he¡¯d finished carving it, the rats were starting to scratch at the door, and he glowered at it with irritation¡­. Before placing the first Soldier ant corpse on the circle. When it rose from the floor, he tasked it with holding the door shut¡­ as he proceeded to the next¡­ and the next¡­ until the kitchen was veritably crowded with giant insectoids¡­ and the door into the basement was more gap than wood, having been broken apart both by the rats trying to reach him¡­ and by the ants holding it in place. He shook his head, leveling the shotgun at one of the gaps¡­ and fired a round of buckshot down the stairs; he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d need the slugs for such light work¡­ and as it turned out, he was right¡­ the creature he hit directly practically exploded; most of the pellets boring straight through it and sinking into the rat behind it. As he kept the gun leveled on the stairs down, he kept pumping the shotgun, pulling the trigger¡­ what was left of the door breaking apart, and bits of rat splattering everywhere as he kept firing, over and over¡­ a vicious melee as two of the rats tried to fight their way past the blade-faced soldiers.
Congratulations! Title gained!
Rat-Slayer: +10% damage against rats.
  • As you already have a ¡®Slayer¡¯ title at rank 3, your existing ¡®Intimidating Shout¡¯ has now been upgraded, and can work on rats if you choose.
By the time he ran out of shells, most of the rats in the basement itself were gone, he¡¯d received a new title popup¡­ but he could see that his new home¡¯s basement was connected to some larger tunnel, some underground cavern¡­ from which he could hear even more chittering and screeching. More rats. Lovely. He looked at the soldiers¡­ ¡°You. Go guard the entryway from that cave into the basement.¡± and of course, they trundled along¡­ forming a phalanx much like they would in life, armored, bladed heads forming a wall at the entrance¡­ even as he could hear chittering rats moving in. He reloaded the shotgun, and considered his options. If he called for backup, its quite possible the Chosen might arrive. But from the sound of things, there might be a hundred rats, or even more in there¡­ how had they gotten so high level so quickly? Who were they killing and eating? He could likely hit level 7 fighting them, if he played it smart. He backed into the kitchen¡­ and started dumping out piles of the more intact worker ant corpses. He couldn¡¯t keep them under his control; but they¡¯d tend to obey whatever his last order, right? And preferred killing living things over other undead? So¡­ easy enough. He laid a pile of six of them; the most he could do at once of the smaller, level 1 ants; and glanced down at the Soldiers. He couldn¡¯t command any others while they were still under his sway. ¡°Back up. Let them into the basement¡­ and then kill any who come in.¡± He waited¡­ and after the first handful of Ants entered the room below him, and started fighting his pets¡­ he brought the first batch of workers out. ¡°Join the soldiers. Kill any rats you can, and keep going.¡± He had plenty of stamina; the free points hadn¡¯t brought him back to a level 6 human level, but he had less power.. And more ability to re-use his spells¡­ than a normal Serpentkin. Still¡­ summoning undead was taxing. He¡¯d either need to take it slow, doing one at a time, or give it a break for a good while before doing the next. And so¡­ he decided to take it slow. Keep pace with his recovery¡­ summoning one ant at a time, sending it down¡­ and while he was recovering, he could use the shotgun. Take out any large concentrations of rats. *** He received a new pair of notifications as he kept working; the Rat-Slayer II upgrade was convenient; his shells would be even more effective. What was more interesting was the other upgrade;
Congratulations! Title Upgraded!
Ranged Slayer II: +15% range for ranged weapons, +10% damage for ranged weapons, +50% collection range for Mana acquired while using a ranged weapon.
By then, the basement was absolutely filled with both rat and ant corpses.. not much later, when he was considering what he might need to do to handle things with so few shells left, he was rudely interrupted¡­ by what, at first, he was worried was even more rats coming in from behind. Instead¡­ two El Paso police department officers, with AR-15s, were standing in his kitchen, looking first at him¡­ and then into the basement, one of them shining a flashlight into the mass of bloodshed downstairs. They were wearing tactical vests, full body-armor¡­ and seemed half frozen as he emptied the shotgun once again; beating back another pack of rats that had overcome the mass of undead ants in the basement. ¡°Good day, gentlemen. Welcome to my home. I¡¯d offer something more welcoming, but I seem to have a rat problem. At first, I¡¯d thought the first one came through the window¡­ but I suppose not. No clue what got the window at this point.¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. As the ants pushed the pile of corpses, forming an improvised wall, he started to reload, pressing another handful of shells into the shotgun. One of the cops stared at it for a moment, then at him. ¡°...Mister Grey? Is that¡­ is that you?¡± He looked at the man, pausing in mid-reload. ¡°...I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t remember you. The past couple of days have been a bit stressful. But yes, I¡¯m mister Grey. There appears to be a rather significant rat infestation beneath my neighborhood. I¡¯ve been able to get these ants to slow them down, and kill a handful at a time¡­ but they keep coming. I don¡¯t want to just run away, or they might flood the place and eat everyone.¡± And he would stop making progress towards level 7. ¡°I know most of you are out hunting the giant wasps. If you wouldn¡¯t mind helping, I¡¯d appreciate it.¡± He was getting close, now. Even with the reward split three ways, he should still hit level 7 by the time this infestation was cleared out. The second cop looked at the first. ¡°I thought Mister Grey was¡­ old. Like¡­ world war two vet, maybe?¡± Grey thought of what he¡¯d seen in the man¡¯s effects. ¡°Korean. Though¡­ I can¡¯t remember it all too well. I can remember everything since I got all scaly perfectly. But the time before that¡­ not so much. Is that an answer?¡± The first one nodded. ¡°Hell yes. Greg, hang here and help out. I¡¯m gonna grab all of the ammo out of the trunk. You good on shells, sir?¡± ¡°I kept a couple hundred in the safe, but I¡¯m down to¡­ maybe sixty.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got a shotgun¡­ not as good as yours¡­ in there. I¡¯ll bring you some more, just in case.¡± As the man who apparently once knew Joshua ran off, Greg took up a position beside him; and Grey let the last of the ants fall¡­ the two of them simply opening fire in single shots; Grey now firing slugs, while the cop seemed to be firing some sort of enchanted rounds; or otherwise augmented; that set the rats on fire. There was a pause in the firing¡­ Grey checked; all he had left were slugs, which was fine. The birdshot had been the worst; it could only kill a single giant rat. He fed the tube until it was full once again. ¡°So, Greg. I seem to be able to¡­ feel¡­ heat, so I don¡¯t really need light. But if you¡¯ve got something other than that flashlight¡­ I¡¯d recommend it. If we want to save the neighborhood, we¡¯ll need to go in there, drive out the last of them.¡± Greg patted his chest. ¡°There¡¯s another light attached to my body cam, but they use the same battery. I¡¯ll flip it on once we head down.¡± The first man re-entered the kitchen, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder; and handed Grey a box of shells. ¡°We¡¯ll need to talk when this is over, sir. You should¡¯ve called us when you saw the first one.¡± He looked at the cop thoughtfully. ¡°I figured if ya¡¯ll were able to come, you¡¯d come when you heard the shots. Took¡­ a bit longer than I thought it would, honestly.¡± ¡°Well. There¡¯s quite a bit of shooting going on right now. Wasps, scorpions, a giant gorilla¡­ but this is pretty damn nasty right here.¡± ¡°A giant gorilla. King Kong is attacking my town?¡± ¡°Not quite, sir. Maybe twenty feet tall, which is bad enough. He¡¯s throwing cars at people.¡± A twenty foot gorilla. Good lord. ¡°Well then. Shall we?¡± Greg snapped on the light on his vest; as did the other cop. ¡°We should tell you to hang back, let us deal with this¡­ but really, you seem to have a handle on things, and we can use the help.¡± ¡°Good. Not like I was gonna sit on the sidelines anyway; these things are trying to take my house!¡± The cop chuckled. ¡°Well, at least some things never change. Come on. Lets see how many more of these bastards there are.¡± *** The colony of rats turned out to have already expended most of its adult members. By the time the trio worked their way to the end of the cavern; and they could see multiple spots where it attached to neighboring basements, meaning the occupants of other homes were likely also dead; there had only been three times that Grey had used his Intimidating Shout to avoid the trio being overwhelmed; and the officers both looked a bit amused at him shouting ¡®Get the fuck away from my property!¡¯ at the rats, and the way they scurried away. There were a few dozen females¡­ and hundreds of babies¡­ left in the colony. ¡°Best not let any escape¡­ or they¡¯ll just setup another one somewhere else.¡± The two officers both nodded; falling in on either side of the man they thought was an old war veteran; as they stepped forward; the slaughter of the giant rats absolutely merciless, as the tiny infants; some newborn, blind, and yet already the size of a housecat. Once the last of the adults were dead, Grey started using Cold as a club, crushing the babies; working methodically, not wasting ammunition. The two cops both seemed a bit startled at his brutal efficiency¡­ but soon started up the same; taking out batons and getting to work, cracking the skulls, one by one. He received the notification he¡¯d been waiting for long before they finished clearing up the last of the rats.
Congratulations! You have gained your seventh level!
You have 3 Free Points available to spend. If you do not use them by the time you gain your next level, they will be spent for you.
You have gained One ability upgrade. If you do not use it by the time you gain your next level, it will be spent for you.
You have Three(3) Abilities which are at reduced effectiveness due to your class blend. You may use that ability to upgrade all of them to full effectiveness, giving you the full skillset of a starter member of both classes.
He ignored it, for now. He¡¯d consider which way to go after this was all over; and after a nice, hot shower. Either Undead Animation or Control seemed like the best bet; with Animation as a strong contender; if he could control¡­ 14¡­ levels worth of undead at level 7, it would certainly be kickass if he could create something that big. There must be some sort of limit, though; surely he couldn¡¯t reach level 10 and make a level 20, or even higher, undead? If he could, that¡¯d certainly make killing Nightfire easier. When the last rat was crushed beneath Cold¡¯s wooden stock, the three looked at each other; all covered with splatters of blood, and from the smell of things, a bit of sewage as well.¡­ They were standing in an enormous, mostly natural cave, which seemed to have been burrowed into the rock, attached to any pipes or basements that were convenient as the colony expanded. Grey sighed. ¡°Well, gentlemen. If you¡¯ve got fresh uniforms to change into¡­ and no emergencies to rush to¡­ you can feel free to use my shower before you go.¡± The one who seemed to know Joshua chuckled. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m not sure if your water still works. I think some of the water pipes got busted by what the rats did down here. How about if we reverse that¡­ and offer you a ride to the station, you can get cleaned up there.¡± He glanced at greg. ¡°And in the officer¡¯s showers, not in the one for prisoners, just to be clear.¡± Grey looked at the two, thoughtfully. ¡°Tell you what. You promise to help me get my ID sorted out, and I¡¯ll come along. I was planning on heading to the DMV after I heard that announcement about folks who changed, but when I got home¡­. I got sidetracked.¡± The three climbed upstairs¡­ Grey locking the front door, pocketing the keys after they stepped out¡­ and headed out to the patrol car parked on the street. Half a dozen neighbors were standing outside, watching the trio, murmuring, as they headed out. Grey thought for a moment. So many of them¡­ and none of them reacted to the one gunshot, of Joshua killing the rat that killed him? Did none of them care until it sounded like it was a warzone? On the one hand, they were clearly assholes. He almost regretted wiping out the ants. On the other¡­ if they¡¯d been decent human beings, it would¡¯ve been much harder to steal the man¡¯s identity. It all balanced out, it seemed. 15 - Stable As they rode back to the police station¡­ the squad car smelling absolutely awful¡­ Grey relaxed. He could actually break out of the car now; he had a level of strength that, previously, was limited to power-lifters. He had a few minutes spare to level up; so he might as well do so. While it might be nice to get everything evened out and fully effective, and he was interested in seeing what effects he got out of higher-level Venom especially, the Undead Creation thing was the real kicker. He just had to see what it was capable of when upgraded. He wasn¡¯t quite there to the level of Stamina he¡¯d achieved as a human¡­ and that was important for constantly using magic¡­ so of course he dumped the three free points into it, and chose to improve Undead Animation.
Ability Upgrade used! Options available, choose from the following!
Ranged Animation: While standing on a ritual circle, you can animate corpses at a distance, allowing for effective use mid-combat.
Sentient Animation: Given time you can create permanent, sentient, undead. These creatures will tend to have some loyalty to their creator, and can be forced into control using Undead Control, but are their own, thinking beings, and almost always rebel if treated as simple minions. This ability is banned in most Committee territories, as it is believed a soul is forcibly trapped in the body, unable to reincarnate, while the creature persists. No additional powers are granted, but they can gain levels like any other sentient being, choosing powers of their own.
Infectious Animation: You can create Infectious zombies out of somewhat intact corpses, and Infectious ghouls out of corpses with are almost perfectly intact. When a victim is slain by such an undead, it will eventually, typically within two hours, rise as another infectious undead. This ability is banned in most Committee territories for obvious reasons.
Empowered Animation: You have the ability to imbue an undead of lower level than yourself while being created with additional necromantic energy, granting it other powers. The abilities you grant must be related to those you already possess; at this time you would be capable of creating Undead with venomous, curse, or stealth abilities, as well as basic weapon skills; Undead Creation or Control cannot be gifted to a nonsentient undead. These Undead are effectively higher level for the purpose of both Control and Animation abilities depending on the powers granted..
  • Additional options will become available as these upgrades are combined; with all upgrades, it would be possible to, at a distance, create a sentient, infectious, empowered undead, whose victims would also arise as empowered undead.
He had been expecting a buff to the level of Undead he could make. This¡­ was both better, and worse. Maybe he couldn¡¯t make an undead higher level than himself. Fine. He still needed all of these. A handful of Infectious undead in a town he could isolate would create a crisis that the Chosen would be called for¡­ and he could have a host of empowered undead, oozing with curses and venom, ready to swarm over them when they arrived. For the moment, the most useful option would be either Ranged or Empowered. After a moment¡¯s consideration, knowing that the undead themselves would be immune to venom, he chose Empowered; a pack of worker ant zombies that dripped paralytic venom into their victims, or even go into stealth? Could be absolutely nasty. Though maybe upgrading Venom would be good next, see what kind of fun he could get added. He almost regretted taking the Assassin options at all; by now, he could already have had both the next Animation and Control upgrades. But no¡­ he might need the ability to deal some significant damage on his own in the future. He checked his status as they approached the police station.
Nathan Grey
Serpentfolk(Human) Hand of Death(Hybrid) 7
Strength 14
Endurance 18
Stamina 25
Agility 23
Mind 22
Power 18
Abilities Intimidating Shout(Insects, Rats, Humans), Undead Animation 2(Empowered Undead), Undead Control 1, Curse 0.5, Venom Magic 1, Stealth 1, Assassin¡¯s Strike 0.5
Skills Minor(Melee Weapons, Persuasion, Automotive Repair, Examine, Mana Manipulation) Moderate(Survival, Sales, Ranged Weapons)
Titles Insect Slayer III, Rat Slayer II, Human Slayer, Ranged Slayer II, Vehicle Slayer(Front-Runner), Looter
Boons 1 x Vehicle Upgrade
He was accumulating titles fairly well now. Hopefully there were some related to Necromancy he could pick up; buffing the creatures he called in further would be useful. When they arrived at the station, there were a few other cops there; looking just as exhausted as the two Grey had been dealing with¡­ albeit not as bloody. One of them standing at the door looked them over¡­ and nodded. ¡°Hell yeah, Alvarez. Level 5. Kickass. Need more of those. Gonna stay human?¡± The one Grey hadn¡¯t learned the name of¡­ apparently Alvarez.. Nodded. ¡°Of course. Gonna go Peacekeeper, too.¡± The other man nodded appreciatively.. As they passed through the door. ¡°Come on. Showers are this way. Clean up and we¡¯ll help you get the paperwork sorted.. Then the boss is gonna want to talk to you.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. As they passed through a locker room, there were at least a dozen men and women sitting on benches, chatting; they looked tired¡­ but hopeful. And all of them looked to be in absolutely perfect physical shape; several of them even looking like elves, even. As he entered one of the shower stalls, turning on the hot water, thankful for the fact that a police force of both genders mandated a certain level of privacy, he directly dumped his clothes into the storage space; he couldn¡¯t put them on that way, they just appeared in his hands, but¡­. The hot water felt incredibly relaxing. His body wanted to just melt into it and exist there¡­ he had to pull himself away. For a Serpentfolk, apparently they were warm-blooded¡­ but still loved the heat. He shut it off, having to force himself not to just turn the hot water back on; normal cool air feeling like a shock afterwards. After drying off, he put on a set of clothes from Joshua¡¯s closet; a long-sleeved red flannel that would be more appropriate for winter, but he just felt cold; and a simple pair of jeans¡­ the boots, though¡­ too small. Again. He could either put on another ill-fitting pair of shoes, or go back to flip-flops¡­ so he suck with the flip-flops. As he stepped out, drawing a few odd looks, he stepped back into the locker room¡­ he couldn¡¯t quite decide where to go, but fortunately Alvarez stepped in; wearing a fresh, clean uniform; and smiled. ¡°Well, mister Grey. Come on. The boss can help get your paperwork sorted.¡± *** When thinking ¡®boss¡¯ in police terms, Grey had always imagined a heavyset, older man. Grey hair. Gut. When the ¡®boss¡¯ hits level 5, though, even if they stay human¡­ apparently that meant they got reset in age. The man sitting behind the desk didn¡¯t look a day over 20, with dark skin, shaved-short hair, and a muscled frame that filled out the uniform; and a label of ¡®Simonson¡¯ on his shirt. As he stepped in, the boss held up a hand before Alvarez could leave. ¡°Hold up. You knew mister Grey before, correct?¡± ¡°Yessir. He complained about the neighbors a few times, we met¡­ a few months ago, last. Used to be in a wheelchair, and, well. Not the most clear in the head.¡± He gestured at the chairs. ¡°Well then. If you could both sit down. You¡¯re Joshua Grey?¡± Could the man have a lie-detecting spell? Best to stick to the truth. ¡°I¡¯m Mister Grey, but not really the one Alvarez here knows. I don¡¯t remember him¡­ and when I looked at the faces on the family photo¡­ I recognized some of the faces. I knew they were my family. But¡­ I could only name two or three of them.¡± He inhaled deeply¡­ and then exhaled more slowly. ¡°I have probably suffered some form of brain damage. I am not the same as I used to be, even before I turned into a snake.¡± He nodded. ¡°Have you killed anyone, since this started? I understand you were a Korean war vet, and I¡¯m not gonna judge anything from your past. But since this¡­ system kicked in?¡± ¡°Yessir. The day of the event, I shot a gentleman named Martin; he had been partially eaten by a giant animal, and it had done something to keep him alive while it was eating him¡­ half of his body had been chewed off.¡± ¡°I was also forced to defend myself from humans once¡­ but since the system came the only times I¡¯ve used a weapon¡­ on a human¡­ since this started were because someone drew a weapon on me¡­ trying to steal a weapon of mine because of its rarity¡­ or they were lying there helpless and wounded after a monster attack.¡± The ¡®boss¡¯ gave a nod. ¡°Gonna give it to you straight, here. I¡¯m a Peacekeeper. I¡¯ve got a power that lets me prevent lying in a room I¡¯m in, and it lets me know if someone lies. So¡­ I can sign off on your paperwork, and we can get you a new ID.. We¡¯ve only got a handful so far, but we¡¯ll get more, with time. The politicians wanting us to get everyone¡¯s faces and IDs to match is playing hell on us, since they gotta be at least level 5 for that¡­ and its hard to get someone at the DMV to that point while they¡¯re behind a desk.¡± He slid a signed document over. ¡°That should cover you on that side, just bring it to the desk there. So. Now that I¡¯ve got the hard questions out of the way, and we know you¡¯ll get an ID¡­. and not arrest you¡­.¡± ¡°..How would you like a job? A man with combat experience and a healthy young body could be useful to the El Paso Police Department at a time like this, and I hate to say it¡­ but your social security is going to end as soon as they discover you¡¯re no longer physically that old.¡± If he became a cop, he¡¯d be stuck doing so many things that didn¡¯t contribute to his primary mission. On the other hand, they would definitely get into fights that would help him gain levels¡­and perhaps help get him the Elf-slayer title, just in case Nightfire was an elf? ¡°... Not sure I want to be a cop, sir. But if the shit hits the fan, I¡¯m willing to get my hands dirty. Maybe a contractor or something.. I know you¡¯re not a sheriff, but if we could do something where you only ¡®deputize¡¯ me¡­ and pay me¡­ if an emergency pops up?¡± ¡°You do realize, if the Chosen are right about half of things¡­ and they¡¯ve played us straight so far¡­ its gonna be constant emergencies for the next decade.¡± ¡°I understand. But my feelings towards extensive paperwork and after-action reports are about the same as my feelings towards rats, at this point.¡± Simonson shook his head. ¡°We can probably arrange something. In fact, there¡¯ve already been suggestions¡­. Alright. I¡¯m sorry, but you can¡¯t head home right now; we¡¯re putting the whole neighborhood up in the Motel 6 for tonight, and somebody with an ¡®Ability¡¯ is patching up the damage overnight¡­ somehow. Would you like a ride there?¡± ¡°Back home, actually. I don¡¯t need a wheelchair anymore¡­ so I want to trade in my van. Get something a little more fuel-efficient. So¡­ need to get my documents sorted at the DMV, pickup my van, and then go car shopping.¡± ¡°Ooof. Sounds like a busy day. I¡¯ll have Alvarez take you home then, and you can get to it. Just remember to stop at the Motel 6 tonight, they¡¯ll have a room waiting for you.¡± *** The DMV was remarkably easy with a signed note from the police asserting his identity, alongside all the required documents; he left with a temporary ID immediately, and promises of a mailed one¡­ assuming the mail kept running.. In a few weeks. It was interesting, as he drove into the car dealership; everyone was simultaneously trying to act like it was business as usual, and as if the world was about to end. As he drove up to the lot, it was hard to remember that, not that long ago, he himself had been a salesman¡­. He shook his head, looking at the vehicles¡­ From what he¡¯d seen, upgrading a vehicle would improve its gas mileage, make it more durable, self-repairing even, and otherwise be fine¡­ and if it was already upgraded for that, it could also have its capacity increased. Which¡­ was nice. Unfortunately, he wouldn¡¯t likely be able to get any vehicles that were already upgraded. On the other hand, this wasn¡¯t a ¡®tool¡¯ upgrade, that could be used for anything. It was vehicle-specific. Would it be special, because of that? He wanted something high gas-mileage. Small. Manueverable. But he also wanted something he could use for mass-murdering ants if the event came again. After thinking for a bit, he decided the best option would be an electric truck; if upgraded, it might be able to just run on a solar panel or something. He spent the next half-hour driving around the dealerships, checking; before concluding that the only option available was at the ford dealership; a Lightning¡­ and when he got out at the ford dealership¡­ a salesman immediately started approaching¡­ following him as he headed to the Lightning. ¡°Ahh¡­ hello, sir! Unfortunately, we¡¯re not able to do loans at present, we¡¯ve been having issues getting things approved. If you want..¡± He held up a hand¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll trade you the van and¡­ a third of a pound of gold coins for that truck.¡± The salesman blinked. ¡°........ Let me get my manager.¡± He was driving out of the dealership within minutes¡­ and came to a stop at a Dennys across the street, holding onto the steering wheel, focusing. Thinking about using the upgrade.
Lightning(Uncommon)
This is a simple mass-produced electric truck by the Ford motor company; excellent cost effectiveness for driving was marred by limited range and towing capacity compared to the diesel versions of the truck.
Recovering: This vehicle is both unusually durable for one of its build, as well as having the ability to slowly self-repair so long as it is not completely destroyed. This process will continue so long as the vehicle remains running. Efficient: The electric systems are augmented by Mana, allowing the truck to run for in excess of three thousand miles between charges, as well as improving its power and top speed.
Nice. He was definitely going to get a solar panel and bolt it to the roof.. Might just be trickle-charging, but he could run it forever at that rate. Or at least, til the panel died. Now¡­ time to get some mediocre food¡­ catch some sleep at the Motel 6¡­ and then check the Guild app again. See how Sledge and crew were doing, maybe. 16 - Another day, another Swarm Getting the mundanities of life handled were irritating, but needed. A new phone. Email address. Contacting the police, in case the contract became a thing. It was almost dark when he had everything he needed handled, the console of the Lightning setup the way he wanted it¡­ he wanted to head to the hotel. But¡­. there was one more thing he needed to do before checking in. He headed into a hardware store, picking up a handful of shelving units¡­ and then headed back behind the dumpster, vanishing from reality¡­ appearing in his own personal storage container. The place was crowded; and messy. So much food, so many dead ants, his supplies just laying around¡­. He needed to organize. First, all the destroyed and damaged food. He only wanted jars if they were intact enough to replace with venom; and he didn¡¯t care about the contents. He spent the next hour building shelves, organizing¡­ and by the time he was done¡­ he was starting to feel sleepy. Lightheaded. At first, he wondered what was going on¡­. Until he emerged into reality to dump a pile of garbage in the dumpster behind the store¡­ and immediately started feeling better. He¡­ was getting CO2 poisoning. The container was a small, confined space¡­ he thought for a moment. Could he¡­ empty the air in there out of inventory¡­ and then add more, fresh air? He tried it¡­ and when he went back, everything felt much better¡­ except for the little fact that the abrupt shifts in air pressure had sent all the lighter objects bouncing around. He spent another ten minutes putting everything back on the shelves, getting it sorted¡­ and then took another load of trash; mostly melting ice cream; out, tossing it into the dumpster. Finally¡­ time to head out for the night. He¡­ could probably just take part of the air out next time? Whatever, he had a solution. When he stopped at the motel 6, and showed his ID, the woman behind the counter gave him a nod, and handed him a keycard; without even asking for a credit card. Which¡­ was nice. He could just lay back, get some rest, watch the news, or maybe a movie¡­ and spend however long until he fell asleep filling jars with venom. Just¡­ just so relaxing. When he settled in, turning the TV on, and popped the rest of the case of Olive jars into his hand, starting to dump them into a garbage bag¡­ the news started playing¡­ and it was a bit troubling. ~Project Moonshot is officially underway! As yesterday¡¯s viewers will know¡­~ An image of a space shuttle lifting off into the sky appeared¡­ and then of the inside of the shuttle, showing hundreds of people strapped into seats, holding up thumbs. ~The planned launch of the Enterprise came and went without a hitch; and landing on the moon has begun. With humans and the crops we introduce as the only living things, the Chosen tell us that the lunar colony should become a healthy, thriving place, where no monsters can attack; and in the event civilization should fall on earth, we will live on! Speaking of the fall of civilization¡­~ A new video popped up¡­ showing a mass of ants; looking to be thousands of them in every direction, taken above, from a helicopter. As the helicopter flew over the swarm, it suddenly started to shake¡­ and there was a momentary view of an ant with wings, seizing the cameraman and yanking him out, before it went black. ~Iran, which notably ruled that anyone who accepted the gifts of the ¡®System¡¯ was to be executed on sight, has fallen, and it is hoped that its mistakes will be a beacon for the rest of the world, to understand, to learn¡­ and not make the same mistakes. Refugees have been minimal, and hundreds of Chosen are currently working to contain the massive swarm of ¡®Dorylus¡¯ type ants that are overwhelming the locals. It is believed that there are somewhere around one hundred million of the creatures, growing more numerous by the hour, and arguments for and against nuclear weapons use have been passed around for the past hour in an increasingly heated meeting of the UN.~ ~Speaking at the UN, the head of the People¡¯s Republic of China branch of the Chosen Committee had these words.~ A new image pops up. A man wearing a long red robe, appearing to be of Chinese descent, was standing behind the podium. ~Nuclear weapons would be a terrible solution. Without a group of sentient beings nearby to absorb the excess mana, the death of so many millions at once would lead to funnels of energy into the void¡­ and not only accelerate the growth of the planet as a whole, but open portals to places holding things far, far worse than ants. If they are used at all, nuclear weapons must be used on a very small scale. Another solution must be found, or we will merely trade one apocalypse for another.~ He turned off the TV. So. The first country to fall was Iran. He would have bet on North Korea. He lay there, staring at the ceiling, hand dangling into the olive jar, steadily dripping. The first of how many? Iran might have forbidden its people from using the magic... but they still had guns. Technology. And the people would''ve been gaining levels and getting stronger whether they wanted to or not. How long could one of the weaker, less-armed, nations hold out, especially ones with more territory than people? *** When he woke up the next morning, he¡¯d accidentally made a bit of a mess; leaving a puddle of venom on the carpet. Not wanting to cause himself problems¡­ or get his new ID in trouble; he poured a mass of shampoo from one of the disposable bottles, scrubbing it up with a towel¡­ and sealed the jar, adding it to the pile he¡¯d created. After getting ready for the day with a casual outfit; the same concealed body-armor, a nice button-up grey shirt with the NRA logo on it from Joshua¡¯s closet, and of course some ill-fitting jeans; he put on his new boots; appreciating the feel of properly fitting shoes, and feet not covered in rat-guts. He sighed¡­ and laid the tablet out on the bed, checking the Guild app; and seeing a string of messages from Sledge. ~We¡¯ve been hunting wasps for two hours, no sight. Glad you didn¡¯t waste your time. I¡¯ll bring the gun back later.~ Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ~Jesus fuck was I wrong, we¡¯ve killed three of the damned things and they all suck! Thank you so much for the gun! The cops are paying us a bounty for all the wasps, and I feel like I should give you a cut, I¡¯d have been useless without you.~ ~The Chosen just left. They cleared the nest, the wasps are done. Apparently there were a few other incidents in town; a giant rat nest, and the zoo got bad again. We¡¯re heading to the zoo, if you want to tag along.~ ~You dead?~ He nodded and tapped out a reply. ~The giant rat nest was my basement. Got it dealt with, and got a new truck, upgraded it. If you¡¯ve got any new missions, I¡¯d be interested in tagging along, if you need help.~ He closed the message, and opened the map. When someone called in a monster sighting, it was added to the map; and a system-augmented AI swept through it, updating it once an hour. It showed both ones that had already been dealt with; as well as ones that needed dealing with. He blinked. He¡¯d never looted the damned rats. He shook his head, wondering if the person sealing the cavern would be doing it¡­ they were probably an earth-shaper, maybe even a squid. Who knows what a bunch of man-eating rats would have in their bellies¡­ If the cops hadn¡¯t shown up, it might have taken him hours longer to deal with¡­ but he¡¯d probably have been able to loot a few of the dead people¡¯s homes, and the rats. Who knows what he might have ended up with. The cops had his phone number, now. Not just his, either; and apparently the Guild app was built to sync up with local law enforcement¡­ and to keep working if it stopped existing. He suddenly got a response. ~Ouch! Well, that explains why we didn¡¯t hear from you. We¡¯re clearing another ant nest in a couple hours. Two, if we can; they keep popping up like crazy anywhere there aren¡¯t people, from what I can see.~ ~Well, wouldn¡¯t want Texas to turn into Iran, would we? Give me an address, I¡¯ll meet you.~ Ants shouldn¡¯t really be a problem for them, right? They¡¯d handled one yesterday; the new nest should be trivial; they were better prepared, this time. *** The arrival at the nest was fairly normal. They¡¯d stopped off on a backwoods road, parking the van roughly a mile from the nest; and gathered together as Stacktopus took to the air¡­ and started his usual routine, first digging a deep trench with his powers; it seemed to be working even faster now than it had yesterday; then starting the long process of shaping a ring of them to guide the ants into narrow channels. The foursome were standing at the end of the trench, admiring the massive earthworks, when Sledge glanced over. ¡°So. You hit level 7. Get anything fun? More undead? Stronger ones? More Assassin stuff?¡± Grey shrugged. ¡°I can give the zombies some of my powers now. I don¡¯t have many of the Soldier ants left¡­ hopefully today will fix that¡­ but I can make a Soldier and with my Stealth and Venom powers. I was thinking of making a pack of six of them, telling them to go in and bite ants til they die¡­ and repeating. With venom and surprise on their side, each of them might be able to kill a bunch before it dies. Or maybe even telling them to hunt for the queen first; could probably take her, if they can get there and all bite at once.¡± ¡°Huh. Well, its an idea, at least. Honestly¡­ Ants have senses other than just sight. I¡¯d think they¡¯d be caught fast, inside the tunnel, and swarmed¡­ though maybe killing whatever takes them.¡± ¡°True enough. They didn¡¯t know exactly where I was, but some figured something was there last time. Oh yeah. Speaking of last time¡­ I looted some Ant chitin last time, and some acid globules; these fat organic orbs that explode into acid when I throw them. You know anything we can do with that?¡± Sledge looked up; Stacktopus was still busily working. ¡°Well. Anyone with skills making clothes can still do it, and you can learn it the old fashioned way, too. Either way¡­ anything you make with enhanced materials, like from a monster, ends up enhanced, too. So a jacket made of Ant chitin would be Uncommon armor. The only trouble is, not that many people had the skills to do it without a machine and make good leather armor¡­ so they¡¯re charging pretty heavily for their time. And the Upgrade thing usually only works for one piece, not the whole body¡­ so most folks just have normal armor, and maybe a protective chestplate.¡± ¡°...I bet there¡¯s comms for those in the Guild app, right?¡± ¡°Yup! All of them busy as hell, and usually getting dragged around by groups so they can level up while they work; we could probably get one to give us a discount if we let him work on stuff in the van while we did this, but¡­ still expensive.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± He lifted his tablet from storage, and opened the Guild app¡­ and after a moment, found the right spot.. And a ¡®Leatherworker¡¯ who advertised¡­. Five thousand dollars per piece of Uncommon leather armor. Fifty thousand per piece of Rare. He had Rare stuff? Nice. A bit out of his price range. He sent a message. ~I¡¯ve got over 4,000 Chitin Plates from giant ants. Any chance I could get any sort of discount, or trade them for some work?~ The response came before Stacktopus gave the response. ~A little? But not really much. I¡¯m overflowing with Chitin plates right now. Me and some of my friends are making armor for the EPPD first, and we¡¯ve got all we need for that. If you get anything special or rare, though, we could have words. Otherwise, I give a 10% discount for supplying your own materials. 4500 a piece for Uncommon. With two boots, two gauntlets, a helmet, and a chest, thats 30,000 without materials, 27,000 with. And to be clear, I have a friend who does the shoes while I do the rest.~ Ooof. Something to consider later, if the EPPD gave good money. He ignored his earlier idea of summoning stealthy, evenomed ants; for the most part. The single Soldier he summoned, he gave the venom to; he somehow knew that, while it might not have the acid-spitting glands anymore¡­ being dead¡­ if he gave it the Venom power, it could spray that every thirty seconds or so. He could also take one of the acid globules out of storage, and maybe it could use that¡­ but for now¡­ He just summoned up one of the bigger ants¡­ and nine of the smaller ones, forming them into a line between him, Sledge, and the open face of the trench¡­ The Soldier was already as hard to summon as two of the workers; making it Envenomed made it worse. Setting the backpack on one of the small ones, and rigging the fuses, alongside the usual jars of venom, the group went back to watching Stacktopus¡­. Until he gave the signal. As the little ant ran forward, sprinting towards the nest as fast as the five legs it had left could carry it, Sledge stretched, flexing, Grey double-checked the buckshot he¡¯d decided to load this time¡­ and the figure leapt down the hole. Only a few seconds later, they saw the abrupt puff of smoke¡­. And out of the nest rose a swarm of ants¡­. All of them a deep red in color¡­ and interspersed among them, about as expected, were a handful of Soldiers¡­ who had visible trails of fire running from their jaws. ¡°....Fuck. Literal fire-ants. Star¡­ a bit worried about this one. See how bad fire hurts them, please.¡± A moment later, a fireball slammed into the leading edge of the swarm¡­ which emerged completely unscathed. A few seconds later, Shockwave called down a blast of lightning on the same group; and the Soldiers literally exploded, bits of Chitin flying in every direction. Sledge looked around at his allies, then at the swarm, as Shockwave kept blasting, holding them back; but they all knew that if he were doing it alone, he could only do it half as long, or even less, as he and Star working together. ¡°...I don¡¯t think we can handle this. We may need to back off¡­¡± 17 - Quenched Fire Sledge seemed just about on the verge of panic¡­ Grey looked at him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry so much. All of us have the Intimidating Shout feature now. We can get out alive regardless¡­ and if need be, just keep coming back, whittling them down. Besides¡­. Even if fire doesn¡¯t hurt them, I bet they still need to breathe. Could Stacktopus carry her over the nest, so she could pump more fire down into it, smoke em out faster?¡± He glanced at the onrushing swarm. ¡°Plus¡­. I spent hours last night filling more jars with venom. It¡¯d be a shame not to give them a shot.¡± Holding his shotgun in one hand, Grey took one of his jars out of storage; the vile concoction a mix of oil left behind when dumping out the olives and at least a pint of hideous green-black liquid¡­ and hurled it forward like a grenade; it shattered on the face of one of the workers¡­ and then splattered across the others. Seeing what he was doing, Shockwave targeted ones closer to the nest with his next blast¡­ and over the next few seconds, most of the ants around the one he¡¯d struck started to slow¡­ and then stop, going practically immobile, just twitching slightly. Only a handful were still moving, and the ones that were, were moving sluggishly. Emboldened by the success, he tossed another jar¡­ and another. As the stragglers kept coming in, Sledge started casually crushing them¡­ and soon, there was a veritable wall of paralyzed ants coming down the trench. Sledge nodded¡­ and looked up. ¡°Stack, Star! Did you hear Grey? What do you think?¡± Star had abandoned her place on the left side of the trench, approaching them¡­. Watching Grey toss another jar; this one another mayo one. ¡°Not the best idea. My magic fire will ignite anything flammable¡­ but doesn¡¯t make smoke on its own. I want to focus on getting all five ranks of fire blast, so I can be absolutely kick-ass by level ten¡­ but I might need to branch out. Get lightning. Or Ice. None of the upgrades for Fire blast let it kill things that are fireproof.¡± Grey looked at her thoughtfully. ¡°So if I took some skeletons, covered them in asbestos, they could survive you?¡± He tossed yet another jar. Stacktopus dropped down low, shoving the mass of dead ants that was forming, as they¡¯d started to climb out of the trench towards Shockwave; scattering them along the trench length, instead of in one big pile. ¡°Up to a point. One of the upgrades lets me cook the insides of things if only the outside is fireproof. So it would work right now, but not in a few levels.¡± Nightfire definitely had her own fire magic maxed out. Maybe if he threaded whatever it was with asbestos, all the way through? Honestly¡­ these fire ants might be great, depending on how fire resistant their guts were. Working with these people might have additional fringe benefits. As he carefully weighed the next jar in his hand, he glanced at her. ¡°I¡¯d like to make my undead as fireproof as possible, if I can find a way. When we¡¯re fighting something more¡­ normal¡­ it¡¯d be good to have something that can delay the enemy and make them build up into a big pack¡­¡± He lobbed it over the swarm. ¡°And you blast it with a fireball, leaving only our side intact. I doubt all the nests are gonna be fire. Some might be¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± He pointed at the sky¡­. A swarm of flying ants was almost on them. He raised his shotgun, opening fire; two of them slamming into the ground as their wings were shredded, Star slammed a fireball into them¡­ actually frying the wings, apparently the fliers weren¡¯t fireproof¡­ And the envenomed Soldier ant zombie spat a stream of venom at them¡­ getting some on Grey¡­ as well as Star¡­ who quickly rubbed as much of it off of her side as she could¡­ only to collapse to her knees. ¡°Damnit. Whats your Endurance?¡± Star held herself up, bracing herself, focusing on breathing¡­ as Sledge and Grey looked on, concerned. ¡°Its¡­. enough. I¡­ will make it. But¡­. Its¡­. bad. I¡­¡± She inhaled deeply, steadily. ¡°Just.. just.. Get me¡­ out of here.¡± He looked at her, then at Sledge. ¡°Take her back to the van, let her rest. We¡¯ll handle this as long as we can¡­ then just shout at them and back off.¡± He looked at the soldier ant zombie¡­ he¡¯d mentally commanded it to attack any ants that came in range. He hadn¡¯t expect this. ¡°...I apologize. This is my fault. I¡¯ll need to find something to help with venom before we work together¡­ if we do.¡± Sledge nodded¡­ and looked up. There didn¡¯t seem to be any more fliers. ¡°No way you could¡¯ve known. Comes with the territory. We¡¯re not backing off just yet. I¡­think this will help.¡± He opened a pouch at his belt, revealing a syringe. ¡°Sorry, Star.¡± He stepped up¡­ and jammed it into her shoulder, as Shockwave called down another burst of lightning on the encroaching swarm. She suddenly went wide-eyed¡­ her breath became rapid, she jerked upright¡­. And focused on Sledge. ¡°Fuuuuuck! I gotta do something! I need to do something! Now! Now!¡± She was flushed, hyped up¡­ and turned to the swarm of ants¡­ and started blasting at the nest itself, shrieking¡­ sending fireballs at it, each smacking into the mix of sand and dirt¡­ at first, with little effect, the ants just running by. Sometime after the tenth blast¡­ or perhaps the fifteenth¡­ the sand making up part of the nest had begun to melt¡­ and the ants were starting to get trapped. She kept right on firing, even after the swarm had stopped coming, the main entrance of the nest filled with molten glass¡­ Finally, she seemed to run out of juice¡­ and just dropped, unconscious¡­ her breathing still fast¡­ but otherwise, okay. Grey stared¡­ as the last big clump of ants outside the nest was taken out by another lightning burst. ¡°...Okay. Its gonna take em some time to dig out of that¡­ assuming the smoke doesn¡¯t kill them. Why don¡¯t you take her back¡­. And we¡¯ll just keep watch.¡± Sledge stared at her for a moment, then at Grey. ¡°...Yeah. I think I might just do that.¡± He glanced over at Shockwave¡­ and the lightning mage started walking their way. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°This¡­ was crazy. These ones are bigger than the last batch. Not much, but a little. And fire? Shit. Honestly, Grey¡­ there might¡¯ve been the whole venom slip-up¡­ but I don¡¯t think we can afford to lose you for the next one. We might run into some lightning ants, next time. Or god knows what.¡± *** The next hour was fairly boring. He could feel the energy entering his body as the ants beneath them suffocated and died; and Shockwave hit level 8, which was a good sign¡­ there was even a moment of excitement when a sudden bulge appeared in the earth; Shockwave readied a lightning bolt, Grey leveled the shotgun¡­. It was most likely the queen trying to break out. But¡­ she didn¡¯t make it. Instead, suffocating, trapped beneath the earth. He tasked his undead ants with gathering the fire-ants into a pile¡­ and dumped the existing ant corpses into the same pile; aside from the Soldier Ants that were left. He could feel, somehow, that if he empowered these ¡®Fire-Ant¡¯ soldiers with venom, they¡¯d get a shorter range¡­ somehow poisonous fire blast¡­ instead of the long splatter of acidic venom the originals got. For the workers, though? A little bit bigger, heavily fire resistant, almost immune¡­ and he felt like they were still only level 1, so he could control twelve at once in a pinch. He stored a couple dozen of the Fire Ant soldiers for later use, and a pile of the regular fire ant workers¡­ Eventually, after all the corpses were gathered together, Star had recovered¡­ and while she seemed a bit¡­ out of it¡­ she came back out to the pile with the others, for the pivotal moment; when Stacktopus floated down¡­. And bored a hole with his magic into the chamber where that bulge had appeared. A sudden burst of smoke revealed the hatchery; the queen¡¯s chamber, the eggs, the larvae; the queen was, of course, enormous. Not built for war, but for laying eggs, but still¡­ each of those mandibles was at least four feet long, and came to a jagged point. This time, Star stayed back; the adults were fireproof, so the eggs might be as well; as Sledge and Shockwave started crushing the eggs¡­ the zombie ants just walking right past them, collecting corpses, dragging them to the pile¡­ four of them working together as if by instinct, dragging the Queen without being ordered. When it was finally done, Sledge looked around at all of the ants, then at the group. ¡°Well, folks.That¡¯s another nest cleared out. Two of us hit eight, two of us are almost there. One more fight¡­ anything really.. Will push me and Star over the edge.¡± Grey nodded¡­ and pointed at the enormous pile of dead ants. After a few moments, he was able to loot the giant mass.
Looted: 5,176 Fire Chitin plates, 207 Liquid Fire Sacs, 25 Fire Soldier Ant Mandibles, 2x Fire Queen Mandibles(Large)
This time, instead of placing it all in storage, he let it form in the real world; a massive pile of neat red squares, of a tough, flexible material, another pile of red, practically glowing orbs, and of course the blade-like mandibles. He looked at the Queen mandibles for a moment, then at Sledge. ¡°I strongly suspect a little work would turn these into weapons¡± Sledge studied the two for a moment¡­ and nodded. ¡°...Same. I bet it¡¯d even become a flaming greatsword. And the regular soldier ones could probably be¡­ hmm. Sabers, maybe?¡± He glanced around, then at Grey. ¡°We normally split things four ways, after everybody takes what would actually be useful for them. Not sure if we can actually carry this much¡­¡± ¡°Five ways works.. And I can store most of it myself... Apparently there¡¯s a glut of regular Ant Chitin on the market; but maybe this Fire Chitin will have some demand? I think I can use the liquid fire sacs to make a zombie fire ant still spit fire¡­ or we could probably make an incendiary grenade out of them¡­ or flamethrower ammo¡­. All sorts of possibilities.¡± He could store all of it himself; but if he did, there¡¯d be no place to stand in the storage unit. Not that it was that important, but it was handy; he could use that as a place to work on things, if he actually learned how. Which¡­. He probably should. Sledge looked thoughtful. ¡°Hmm. We sell or trade the Chitin for armor, sell all the mandibles, I keep the Queen ones to try to make swords, and we let Grey have the fire sacs?¡± None of the others seemed to care too much. Stacktopus floated closer. ¡°I could use some grenades; I can throw them further¡­ and more accurately¡­ than any of you can. It¡¯d be a better way for me to contribute to fights.¡± Sledge glanced at him. ¡°You¡­ realize you do most of the work, right? The trenches, the barriers¡­ if it weren¡¯t for you, we¡¯d be standing in the middle of an open field with ants charging from every direction¡­ or trying to fight them right at the nest entrance.¡± The squid bobbed up and down a bit; Grey had no idea what it meant. ¡°Still. The more we can contribute, the better it¡¯ll go next time. I don¡¯t see these getting any easier. The whole world¡¯s getting stronger with time.¡± *** As they headed back into town, Sledge looking for more nests, or beasties, that needed to be slain, Grey messaged the same leatherworker again. ~Would it matter if it was Fire Chitin? My team wiped a nest of fire-breathing ants, and their stuff should be, if not more durable overall, at the very least extremely fire resistant.~ This time, the response was much faster. ~How much you got? I¡¯ll pay you a hundred bucks a square.~ That was some easy math. Over 500,000$. ¡°Hey guys. Apparently the fire ant chitin is actually worth something. Got an offer of 100$ a square.¡± Sledge gave a nod¡­ and looked at the others. ¡°Maybe ask for them to make us some armor¡­ Hmm. How much does it take to make armor?¡± Grey frowned. ¡°There¡¯s more material in one of those squares than most pieces of armor, but you gotta cut it into so many tiny shapes and put it all together for gauntlets, chestplates, so forth¡­ I think its probably only one per, just a bunch of time and effort.¡± Sledged looked around at the group. ¡°...Offer the whole lot for¡­ four hundred thousand and armor for the five of us?¡± ¡°Hmm. He usually charges thirty K for a full suit of armor. Can Stacktopus wear armor?¡± The squid bobbed up and down again. ¡°Yes. Just a torso, though; can¡¯t armor the tentacles. Its easier to make armor for us, but only magic stuff can protect anything but the body.¡± He turned back to the tablet. ~Five thousand, one hundred, and seventy-size pieces. If you¡¯ll make me four suits of person-sized armor, and one torso protector for a squid, half a mil for the lot.~ ~I won¡¯t have the time myself, I¡¯m still doing the EPPD stuff. But I¡¯m training some apprentices right now to do the work. I can¡¯t promise Rare, but I can promise Uncommon¡­ but deal, if that works.~ ¡°You guys good with a full suit of fireproof, Uncommon, armor, and a hundred grand apiece?¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°Hell yes. It¡¯ll be great to have something other than the chest-plate fix itself.¡± None of the others seemed inclined to argue¡­ so Grey put in the address, setting the GPS coordinates; even if he didn¡¯t use it as much while adventuring, since he was certain they¡¯d meet enemies with other sorts of attacks, this would be exactly what he needed while fighting someone like Nightfire. Unless he found better fire-resistant gear later¡­. The armor they were, hopefully, about to get would be of significant use in achieving his objectives. 18 - Pet Store The place smelled absolutely awful when Grey emerged from the van, looking around. There were at least eight men and women standing, watching a man making tiny, precise cuts on a sheet of leather, explaining what he was doing each step of the way¡­ and glancing up at the group who arrived. This looked to have once been a farm; there were animal pens in every direction, a massive barn¡­ now¡­ there was what seemed to be an oversized carport attached to the barn, and a long row of steel tubs and plastic drums, all of them giving off some of the most terrible fumes¡­. And none of the people working seemed to care. The man backed up a step after a few minutes¡­and gave some directions. The others.. Apprentices, apparently.. Started cutting at their own sheets of leather, as he stepped close. He was wearing a heavy black apron of some unknown, glossy material, had burn marks across his face, and a complete lack of hair¡­ and apparently cared enough that he wore some sort of mask, though it currently hung loose on his neck. He looked the group over as they stepped out¡­ and shook Sledge¡¯s hand when he stepped up first. ¡°You the folks with the Fire Chitin?¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°Over five thousand pieces. Can put it where you¡¯d like. Got some regular stuff, too, but apparently its not needed.¡± The man sighed. ¡°Yeah, no. Overflowing with regular ant chitin. Could make a circus tent out of what I already got. Fire stuff, though? Both the cops and the firefighters would have great use for it. I¡¯m gonna prioritize the fire-fighter stuff myself¡­ you wouldn¡¯t believe how much they¡¯ve been working lately, and some lightweight fireproof stuff will make a huge difference for them¡­ but we should have yours within a couple days. If you could come here?¡± He nodded at the barn; there were stalls which had clearly once held horses, now piled high with raw materials, mostly in neat stacks and bundles. ¡°I¡¯ll need to make sure its actually fire resistant before I give you the total. If you want to drop it off, I can pay fifty grand now, make a suit, test it, and give you the rest this evening?¡± Sledge looked back at the others¡­ then nodded. ¡°Of course. Know anybody good with weapons?¡± ¡°Blacksmiths yes, gunsmiths yes. Both of em making Uncommon-grade first time, every time, with harvested materials. Probably already in the Guild app, but I can pass you a phone number or address, too.¡± The group started emptying out their extradimensional storage; dull piles of orange-red squares, varying in texture but all exactly the same size, forming up in the stall¡­ in enormous numbers. The stall was almost filled by the time they¡¯d finished¡­ and the man looked it over¡­ picking up a square and examining it more closely. ¡°Oh? Very nice. Uncommon material type, slightly tougher than the regular stuff¡­ substantially improves fire resistance¡­ perfect.¡± He looked around¡­ and snapped his fingers. ¡°Sometimes I forget about this system stuff. It flat-out tells me anything I make with it will be extremely fire resistant. I¡¯ll get you the half-mil now¡­¡± He closed his eyes¡­ and reached into nothingness. For a moment, it was as if his arm ended at the elbow. Then¡­ He pulled it out. A small silver briefcase appeared in-hand¡­ and he snapped it open. ¡°One¡­ two¡­ three¡­.¡± He nodded, and extended five thick bundles of 100s to Sledge¡­ who took one look at them¡­ and passed them out to the others. Grey accepted his bundle¡­ and immediately placed it in storage. ¡°Well, folks. I¡¯ve got people to teach, and shit to do. I can¡¯t promise tomorrow, but I can promise two days. Uncommon minimum.¡± They nodded¡­ and the group headed back to the van. Sledge looked at the others. ¡°We¡¯ll check for more jobs, so as not to waste the day; maybe grab lunch first, if thats good with you folks?¡± Star nodded. ¡°Hell yes, bro.¡± The others nodded as well. Grey blinked. They were siblings? Was this¡­ a family? Or perhaps a group of childhood friends? ¡°Lead the way. I¡¯ll follow in the truck.¡± *** Grey had never been a fan of chain restaurants, for the most part. Some of the steak-houses, he was fine with, even some of the fast-food. But the chains where there were TVs everywhere, blaring noise to the point you could barely hear yourself think, much less talk to whoever was across the table¡­ It wasn¡¯t the best. The seething rage that was all he could still feel seemed to spike a bit at the constant noise¡­ though it wasn¡¯t as if anyone planned to talk. He didn¡¯t know which one they were in; only that it had green and red neon lights outside¡­ and he would never come back unless he had to. The news was¡­. Unpleasant. In the middle east, the ¡®Antpocalypse¡¯ was in full swing, and Australia had it even worse; most of its population was on the coast, and while it was busily eradicating the growing swarm of Bulldog ants, its coasts had been seized by a variety of Kraken; which appeared to be descended from the blue-ring octopus. The monsters weren¡¯t willing to go too far inland; only perhaps half a mile from a body of water; but the problems it caused the nation were enormous. Shipping had ground to a halt, homes had been abandoned; and millions had died. The worst part? They were now able to spray out a gaseous cloud of their poison; anyone even coming close to them without a full bodysuit and respirator would die shortly unless their Endurance was over 25 or they were a Serpentfolk; and the moment the mask slipped¡­ paralysis and death. It ended with an open call; Australia was seeking serpentfolk, individuals with enough durability, and those willing to become serpentfolk, for a ¡®Retake Australia¡¯ campaign. Unfortunately most of Australia¡¯s airports had been struck by either an ant swarm, or one of the Kraken; so the ability to get in was limited. It was a bit depressing. Some of the Americans had celebrated as Iran fell; as if it were some sort of divinely ordained punishment. Australia¡­ dimmed some of that joy. He studied it thoughtfully. Should he go to Australia? Merely having picked Serpentfolk should buy him a flight over there; and the level opportunities would be enormous, should he join some military unit hunting Kraken. The others watched him as he stared at the TV¡­ Sledge was the first to speak up. ¡°...You have family in Australia?¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°...No.¡± He considered for a moment. ¡°I might well be the last of my family left here, in Texas. And this¡­.¡± How effective would he be against a Kraken? Not very. He¡¯d need to level up in skills to get the job done, wasting upgrades on things that weren¡¯t useful against a Fire-wielder, things to help kill squids. He could level up Curse, a bit. That would be useful; weakening his enemy as the swarm of Undead poured over them would be a useful thing¡­ and would be equally useful against a Kraken. And poison didn¡¯t work on undead, so if he made some zombies big enough to hack off a tentacle¡­ ¡°I¡¯m considering volunteering to go help.¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°It would be an important job. There¡¯s a bunch of Chosen over there helping, including from other countries, but¡­ well. There¡¯s outbreaks everywhere.¡± Sledge¡¯s phone buzzed¡­ and he slid it out. ¡°..Ahh. Speaking of which. Care to come check out a pet shop? Not even a mile away, they just evacuated it. Not sure what was going on, but there¡¯s at least one big, dangerous critter in there.¡± *** The journey to the petshop was fairly swift; it took longer to pay the check and get to the vehicles than to drive to ¡®El Paso Rare and Exotic¡¯.... A mid-sized building which currently had at least three people outside, staring at it and talking to each other; wearing red shirts, khaki pants¡­ undoubtedly employees¡­ but about a dozen parked vehicles. Not the best sigh. As they climbed out of the van¡­ and truck; Sledge took the lead, stepping up to the employees.. And looking at the shop. ¡°So. What do we have here?¡± The first employee; his hair was short, dark, curly, and from the pimples and general demeanor, he was most likely a teenager; jumped¡­ and looked back at the store. ¡°Well. For the past few days, everything¡¯s been getting bigger. Especially the lizards, the bugs¡­ the stuff we usually give live food. Last night, while we were out, one of the aquariums was broken. We opened three hours late because we spent the whole time cleaning up after it¡­ and looking for a centipede that was missing. When we finally gave up and opened¡­¡± He pointed at the store. ¡°Thats when we realized there were missing animals all over. There was a giant centipede¡­ and not like¡­ normal pet giant, I mean like¡­ seven feet long, that burst out when some kid was looking at a gerbil. It¡­ it ate the kid. The kids parents when they tried to save her¡­ and we ran. Locked the door behind us.¡± Sledge blinked. ¡°....Were¡­ there any other customers in there?¡± ¡°If there were, there aren¡¯t anymore! The screaming stopped while we were on the phone with the cops, and from the sound of things¡­ I think its eating the other animals.¡± They¡¯d run, and locked the other people in there. Sledge, and the others, were horrified. For his part, Grey just shrugged. ¡°Just one giant centipede? Easy enough.¡± He drew the shotgun; made sure it was loaded with buckshot, just in case¡­ and stalked forward. When he kicked open the door; he might not be able to pick up a car with a 14 strength¡­ but he could flip one. And the metal frame of the door broke with an audible crack, the door swinging inward¡­ Revealing a horrible, grisly mess. A massive creature; perhaps a centipede, once, but now with stray limbs coming out of the top and bottom of its body, and a massive, multi-toothed maw at the front, covered with blood, feathers, and bits of cloth¡­ gave out an unholy shriek as it charged the door¡­ Grey leveled the shotgun on the beast¡­ and fired, from less than ten feet away¡­ the shell taking the beast in the torso as it leapt, grabbing him by the arm, leaving a pair of nasty gashes, as it hurled him into the air¡­ the shotgun flying as he landed on the rooftop with a painful crack. The creature made it a few steps closer to the group¡­ before it just started twitching, writhing about¡­ the shotgun slug must have hit something vital, as it was no longer able to advance at all. Most of them continued to stare in horror¡­ Sledge, however, simply lifted his hammer¡­ and stepped forward, crushing the beast¡¯s twitching skull with an audible, horrific, sound, a combination of crunch and splatter. The twitching stopped. He glanced up at Grey¡­ who had crawled to the edge of the roof, looking over. ¡°...Should probably let me lead, next time.¡± Grey shrugged. ¡°Sorry. Figured it wouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± He looked down at his torn shirt-sleeve, and the nasty gashes. ¡°...Might need a few stitches. Toss me a bandage?¡± He sat on the edge of the roof¡­ he didn¡¯t even see who tossed him the white roll, as he started wrapping his arm;the first few layers immediately turned red as the blood soaked through¡­ but by the time he¡¯d finished the roll, it appeared contained; staying white, as he tied it off. When he grabbed the roof¡¯s edge with his good arm, and dangled down¡­ before dropping off, Sledge frowned. ¡°...Thats¡­ while cool under pressure is good, Grey, a little fear can keep you alive.¡± Fear¡­ wasn¡¯t a thing, anymore. But he did need to stay alive to kill the bitch. ¡°...I¡¯ll let you take the lead next time. We should sweep the place. The centipede might not be the only thing that mutated.¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°Alright. We¡¯ll check for survivors, and for any other threats.¡± One of the other employees, an older woman; gently nudged the centipede with her foot. It twitched again, and she backed off with a yelp. ¡°... If this place opens up again, I¡¯m not here. I quite. I¡¯m going¡­ the hell out of here. Maybe I¡¯ll move in with my daughter for a while.¡± As the group entered the pet store¡­ it looked terrible, and smelled worse. Broken aquariums. Torn-open cages. On its rampage, the centipede had eaten rabbits, lizards, hamsters, and a truly abundant amount of fish. But it wasn¡¯t just the killer that grew bigger, stronger; everything in the area did. There might be¡­ Sledge raised his hammer, about to crush a giant vibrant purple spider perched atop a shelf; it was at least a foot across¡­ but it raised its forelimbs, and backed away a few steps. He blinked. ¡°...Are you¡­ surrendering?¡± It let out a low chittering sound¡­ and stepped forward¡­ the fuzzy purple and white arachnid looking at Sledge with its four eyes. It raised a single limb, then lowered it¡­ backing up a bit further. Star let out a shriek, raising a hand¡­ only for Shockwave to knock her hand aside. ¡°Its a jumping spider. Not venomous. Friendly enough. Just because its big, doesn¡¯t mean it has to be hostile. Its a pet.¡± Star glowered at him¡­ and stomped her way out of the pet store, as Shockwave rolled his eyes. ¡°Ugh. You¡¯d think it was a demon, the way she acts.¡± Sledge shrugged. ¡°To be fair, most of the giant critters we¡¯ve met have been hostile predators. I think this guy is only gonna be hostile to things smaller than him. But¡­ if he were to be human-sized, that might include kids. Or dogs. Even at his current size he might nab a cat.¡± Grey studied the creature, curious about what examine would say.
Jumping Spider; Level 1 Minimal threat.
Nothing useful. The ability to leap and climb would be handy in an undead. But if you could train a spider as a pet it might also be useful. Especially since they¡¯d get smarter, as well as bigger and stronger, with level. ¡°It could be useful, eventually. If you take care of it, it should be loyal; might help kill some other beastie.¡± ¡°Ehh. No way. Sis hates spiders. She¡¯d move out in a heartbeat. And, well. If you keep it¡­ I don¡¯t think she could work with you.¡± ¡°Hmm. They should have my house ready by now. I¡¯ll take him home¡­ if he wants to go?¡± Grey extended his arm to the spider; which studied him closely for a moment¡­ before backing up, and tapping some glass. There was a glass case that the creature had apparently picked up and moved behind another, broken case; possibly the one the spider itself had been staying in. Grey looked closer. There was an egg sack in it, attached to a branch; of unusually large, glistening eggs. ¡°Ahhh. She¡¯s protecting her babies. So I should take them as well?¡± He reached out¡­ and carefully slid the glass case out. The creature chittered¡­ and leapt onto Grey¡¯s shoulder, watching each movement closely. Sledge took an involuntary step back at the spider suddenly less than a foot from his face¡­ and the giant fangs right beside Grey¡¯s. ¡°I¡¯ll give them a place to live, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve even got an enormous amount of dead ant to feed them¡­ nice and fresh¡­ when the time comes.¡± 19 - Quiet Evening When he got back home after a day spent handling minor crises; with Star absolutely refusing to go anywhere near his truck, with the spider watching events from the dashboard¡­ or to Joshua¡¯s home, rather¡­ he wondered for a moment¡­ if Marcus Grey were ruled missing, would Joshua Grey inherit his father¡¯s home? Or did he have other relatives left out there? It didn¡¯t matter. He wasn¡¯t heading for California any time soon. Not til Nightfire and Golden Boy were dead, at least. The spider hopped off of his shoulder, and started inspecting the house, as Grey headed to the kitchen; and opened the basement door. The place where the rat cavern had been was now a perfectly smooth stone wall; whoever the cops had working on it had done an excellent job. He nodded¡­ and after determining this place was the best to put his new spider colony¡­ carefully set the glass case down¡­ and started dumping Fire Ant worker carcasses out; forming a nice pile in the corner¡­ and set the egg-sac nestled inside an open wound of one carcass. The mother spider examined the work, chittering something, and hopped down to inspect it. It hopped down¡­ and grabbed a corpse; even the workers were bigger than the spider itself¡­ and climbed up to the ceiling¡­ starting to extrude a web¡­. Binding it. After a minute or so of work, it carefully dangled the body from the ceiling¡­ and then placed some of the eggs into it. This one had died from venom, and had no wounds; the spider carefully cracked a hole in the carapace, and placed them inside. It then¡­ proceeded to the next corpse. He studied it. Interesting. During the initial stages after birth, it would probably keep the babies from eating each other; and result in a much higher number of surviving juvenile spiders. He just needed to ensure they saw humans as a food source, and not an enemy¡­ or, if need be, he could simply wait for them to grow into hostile adults, and figure out a way to pump venomous gas into the basement for a quick level boost. On the one hand¡­ he was almost completely certain a skill upgrade would do it. On the other¡­ it would likely be true just a common pesticide sprayer could do the job, or perhaps a liquid fertilizer applier. Something similar might be used to turn the acid globules into an acid sprayer, or the fire sacks into a flamethrower. He¡­ should experiment. Find out. Did spiders like to be touched? A certain level of bonding helped with dogs. Would it with spiders? He gently extended one hand towards the purple-white creature as it was moving to the third corpse. It raised a single forelimb; giving him a sort-of ¡®fist-bump¡¯ and then went right back to work, preparing its children. If he didn¡¯t feed it regularly; if something happened and he died without coming back; when they got hungry, they¡¯d break out of the house, and likely start eating the neighbors, the cops, and become a plague even worse than a spider nest, since they were so much more mobile, and able to make webs. He thought for a moment¡­ and shrugged, heading upstairs. That would only make it more likely Nightfire would die in the event he failed. Not a problem for the objective. *** After a quick trip to the hardware store.. Where every single bottle of insecticide and many flammable chemicals were completely sold out¡­ he came home with a variety of sprayers, and several jugs of kerosene. Examining the sprayers closely, he immediately checked the ones with plastic components, adding just a bit of his venom to them to see if they could handle the more mild acidic properties of it, before moving to the more intense stuff; leaving him with mixes of steel, glass, and ceramics. Sacrificing a single acid globule, he split it among the sprayers¡­ sprayed just a bit of acid from each on an old crate of mulch in Joshua¡¯s shed to get the acid all the way through their works; and then set them down. He¡¯d try them again in a few hours; and any that worked, he¡¯d try them as flamethrowers with the fire sacks next¡­. And then stick both into storage, and have options for the next nest, or other swarm they handled. All that prepped¡­ he went back inside, opened the fridge¡­ locating a whole pile of spoiled food¡­ and bagged it all up, taking the only things that hadn¡¯t gone bad; a few packages of sausage in the freezer; and cooking them up. His body might have been improved, and made hyper-efficient by the magic¡­ but all the substance for that venom had to come from somewhere. With a glass of water and a plate of dozens of breakfast sausages¡­ he started to eat.. Relaxing¡­ and getting back to his usual downtime activity¡­ filling jars¡­ this time a case of gallon pickle jars¡­ with venom. After a few minutes, he decided to head to the living room with his jars, his food, and his water¡­ and watch some news. The first thing that popped up¡­ was CSPAN. But instead of congressional hearings, it showed a global map¡­ labeled the ¡®Crisis¡¯ map¡­ and alternated between that and showing issues in the United States, evacuation routes, numbers to call to get a Chosen¡­ A film crew¡¯s last moments were shown, as they were consumed by a giant alligator in Florida. An oil platform was awaiting rescue, as a swarm of giant mosquitoes was nabbing anyone who went outside; they were waiting for a Navy ship to arrive and ¡®clean¡¯ the area so they could either get back to work¡­ or just escape. A swarm of giant hornets were shown over China, being taken out by automatic weapons, with tanks and helicopters coming in to assist, as they swept the wilderness for hostiles¡­. And then a clearly civilian video was shown of a chinese village being decimated by a bipedal, 20-ft. Tall grey reptilian; it might have been an alligator, a crocodile, who knew what; but now it was spitting out globs of poison to take out helicopters and crushing houses with its tail. Central texas, the most heavily populated areas, seemed to be fine¡­ for the most part. None of it really seemed to matter, or be useful, for Grey¡¯s plan¡­ so he brought up the tablet¡­ wondered if, maybe, there was any information on Nightfire¡­ and found, to his surprise¡­ a ¡®Goldnight¡¯ fan website. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Some lunatic had created a fan website for Golden Boy and Nightfire; and had a wide array of details about the duo. Apparently, they¡¯d last been seen in texas earlier that day, dealing with a shark which had reached monumental size and tried to eat a boat¡­ and were believed to be home for the night¡­ with no real idea, but plenty of speculation, about where ¡®Home¡¯ was. The duo had apparently known each other before being Chosen, and were from Dallas; and there was a full run-down on the powers they¡¯d been shown using, and most up-to-date details. He brought up Nightfire, first.
Nightfire, AKA, Sarah Evans
Nightfire is the deadliest hero in America, and has broken through into the low twenties, upgrading her deadly tier 5 fire blast to a tier 6! Not only does her shadow magic let her teleport herself and her friend into any shadow within 50 miles, but she can get there within seconds and melt a monster the size of an oil tanker to slag! She recently reached level 22! She decided to become an Elf when she changed, and is as elegant as she is beautiful!
Fire Powers: Nightfire has been observed using both blasts and constructs made of fire; most commonly a whip made out of fire to wrap around monsters and hurl them or kill them, or making armor of fire for herself or her boyfriend. She has also made swords of fire, and seems to be able to make more than just two; during the Dallas Zoo incident she provided seventeen members of the Dallas police department with fire swords. So cool! Her fire blasts are both huge and unstoppable; and now that she¡¯s reached tier six, even things that should be fireproof seem to be hurt by them!
Shadow Powers: She has a form of shadow teleportation that lets her rescue her friends and rapidly get around; and even has the ability to conjure up tentacles made of pure shadow energy to entrap her enemies! They don¡¯t seem to be able to work at the same time as her Fire magic; but she can switch between the two instantly!
Style: Not only does..
He skipped the rest. He didn¡¯t particularly care what teenages girls had to say about his target¡¯s style choice, but knowing that the Elf-Slayer choice would actually be useful was pivotal. He switched to Golden Boy.
Golden Boy, Name Unknown
Golden Boy is a bit of an enigma; we know he knew Sarah before they became Chosen, but unlike his partner, he¡¯s kept his face and name a secret; all we know of his looks is that he¡¯s big, strong, and wears a full suit of golden armor! He can be seen all over texas, using his magic flintlock rifle or his various golden weapons to bring down the forces of evil! He¡¯s level 21, only one level behind his boo, but striving to catch up!
Golden Powers: The Golden Boy is the true pinnacle of heroism; his golden touch heals the sick and wounded, everyone seems to slowly start feeling better around him, and he makes golden copies of his weapons, letting him strike five foes at once; or the same foe five times!
Unknown: As a level 21 hero, he must have at least 4 skills; you can¡¯t get to tier 6 until after level 21, so he had to have maxed out four; but the only ones we know are the copies and the healing. Considering just how fast and awesome he is at fighting, they must be some sort of boost or upgrade skill!
He knew the next entry was style again; and didn¡¯t care for it. This was potentially useful information. Only able to use either fire or shadow magic, not both at once. Was there a way he could take advantage of that, to keep her from escaping? Perhaps the ambient light had to be below a certain level for her to teleport; and keeping her lit up would stop it? He watched a video of Nightfire wrapping her infernal whip around an enraged bull, hurling the beast into the air¡­ the seething rage deep in his heart starting to boil over. He glared at the tablet, heart pumping faster¡­ the cool, emotionless focus he¡¯d been able to keep for so long shattered¡­ alongside the tablet screen. He grunted¡­ and leaned back in his chair. Fuck. He¡¯d need to get a new one. Or a smartphone. That was how he kept contact with Sledge¡¯s team, and they¡¯d proven useful so far. He popped a lid onto the venom jar, and checked the basement; baby spiders had emerged, and were beginning to eat their way through the ant corpses. Unlike their mother, who was watching them all over cautiously, they were pale white, almost transparent, and about the size of his hand¡­ but her mother was about a foot and a half long now. Still level 1¡­ but bigger than when he¡¯d met her. He nodded with interest¡­ and walked into the basement¡­ giving the same extended fist as before. The spider hesitated, watching him closely as he walked by her babies¡­ but patted it with her limb again¡­ and he nodded¡­ before dropping another pile of ants from his storage. Wouldn¡¯t do for the babies to go hungry. Until he had someone he wanted them to eat. She seemed¡­ extremely intelligent. She might be getting bored of the basement. He headed back upstairs¡­ and before heading off to buy a new tablet¡­ left the TV playing on some educational channel; loud enough for the spiders to hear it; and the door open. Perhaps with enough repetition, she could understand basic english? No matter. He needed to get a tablet. And to restock on some food items; he¡¯d tossed too many things when he¡¯d been cleaning out the truck earlier¡­ and destroyed too many with his air pressure and re-orienting shenanigans. Only the more durable of the cases were left¡­ and plenty of dried foods and cereals. As he stepped outside into the street, he heard something¡­ surprising. Gunfire. Plenty of it, from not more than a few blocks away. There might be some emergency he¡¯d already know about if he¡¯d had his tablet still on¡­ he shook his head, and hopped into the truck¡­ leaving the windows rolled down as he turned right at the end of the street, heading for the sound of fighting¡­ thankful for how quiet the electric engine was. Not a quarter mile later, he saw it. A group of EPPD officers; mostly human, though one of them was clearly an Orc; using cars as barricades¡­ exchanging fire with a group of men inside a building. He stopped the truck¡­ and quietly headed over to the deputies, engaging stealth¡­ and not emerging until he was behind cover. One of them¡­ the Orc¡­ almost shot him¡­ before spotting his hands raised. ¡°The fuck are you doing here? We¡¯ve got a bunch of Cartel thugs in there, with goddamned superpowers! They¡¯re stealing, murdering, grabbing hostages¡­ We¡¯ve got this group pinned, but there¡¯s more out there. You should head home. Hunker down.¡± ¡°Name¡¯s Grey. Can show you my ID and you can call your boss if you want to be sure¡­ but I¡¯m friendly, and I live here. I can also go into stealth¡­ and kill those Cartel people for you, if you¡¯d like.¡± This would be a prime opportunity to level up a bit; and if he ¡®accidentally¡¯ killed a few innocent bystanders, it could easily be blamed on the cartel. The cop looked him over a bit. ¡°...You¡¯re only two levels higher than me. They run anywhere from four to eight¡­ and there¡¯s ten of them in there.¡± ¡°If you can just keep them focused on you¡­ there¡¯ll be alot less than ten in a few minutes.¡± He faded from vision, becoming completely invisible¡­ and the orc grumbled. ¡°...Fine. Make it fast. And remember to stick behind cover¡­ we have no way to know we might hit you if you¡¯re fucking invisible.¡± 20 - Mistakes Fighting the Cartel members was an extremely different prospect from fighting the ants. For one thing¡­ there were only ten of them. His stealth skill might only be at the most basic level¡­ but it was trivial to slide through a broken window; one of the Cartel men was watching the backdoor, holding a submachinegun in his hand¡­ and Grey quietly stepped right up to him¡­ avoiding crunching the broken glass¡­ and smashed a glass jar of venom directly into his face. The man didn¡¯t immediately go down. He struggled. Cried out¡­ drawing the attention of others¡­ but when two of the men rose to come back and see what was going on¡­ the cops on the other side of the building opened fire, forcing them back into cover. At this point¡­ it was fairly trivial. It took some time for the venom to kick in¡­ but when it did¡­ He dropped a circle of metal out of storage; actually a manhole cover, carved with the necromantic rune;carefully setting it down so that it didn¡¯t make too much noise¡­ and then stepped onto it, standing perfectly still¡­. As he reanimated the fallen criminal. He was level 6; almost as high as Grey himself; so all he could imbue the new undead with was Stealth¡­ but he did exactly that¡­ sending his new pet in¡­ and watching as he entered a room where four of his former companions were¡­ and emptied the magazine of his submachinegun into the two crouched beneath a window. The other two, staring back in shock, returned fire; one with a shotgun, the other an assault rifle¡­ and after several rounds impacted him¡­ and he started to just shamble forward, unable to muster the strength to reload the gun with his arms now damaged¡­ and collapse to the floor. They seemed shocked. Uncertain what to do. After seeing the ¡®Ranged Animation¡¯ ability, he¡¯d wondered just how far he could reach while animating them without that upgrade; and he felt¡­ it was close. Just a few feet, literally within arm¡¯s reach. He dragged the manhole cover along the hallway, setting it by the wall¡­ and focused¡­ the men seemed a bit confused by the sound. And when one of their other companions, slain by the submachinegun, lifted his own assault rifle; and emptied the magazine into his wounded companion, ahd the two healthy ones¡­ they were caught off guard¡­ and all left dying. Five down, five to go. He ordered his surviving zombie to run into the other room¡­ as he started animating the first of his remaining victims¡­ the zombie running in, swinging his empty assault rifle at his companions as he was seemingly uselessly gunned down¡­ Though one of the Cartel men was shortly gunned down by a cop from across the street as he got a bit too high up, a clearly augmented round impacting the back of his head. Four left. An assist. Good. One of the remaining four, however¡­ was holding a glowing red orb in his hand, one that seemed to be steadily growing in size¡­ and hurled it back into the room that had once contained his companions. A sudden burst of flame spread through the room, igniting both corpses and zombies¡­ as well as the building itself. The man blinked¡­ seeming to realize his mistake¡­ and shouted something in spanish to his companions. As they started heading for the back door, crouching down; one of them firing a few shots over his head to occupy the police¡­ Grey took out another bottle of venom, holding it in his left hand¡­ and the Right Hand of Death in his right¡­ but, for now¡­ did nothing. Watching the men inspect the room full of their dead brethren. See nothing¡­ they didn¡¯t even notice the manhole cover lying on the floor in the hallway¡­ and after a brief discussion¡­ they started to quietly creep out the still-open back door. Only for another thrown bottle of venom to slam into the second one from the back; splattering shards of olive-oil and venom soaked glass across the group. None of them went down immediately; they all ran out the back door, opening fire on the building itself¡­ and then¡­. Another fireball slammed into it. Grey didn¡¯t have much time for recrimination about his poor choices in the matter, as the orb slammed into the roof over his head¡­ and the whole structure collapsed, pinning him beneath the burning debris. As a wooden support beam crushing his legs into the ground started to heat up, he glared at the retreating forms of two Cartel men¡­. While three had made it a few dozen yards, then collapsed, the last of them seemed perfectly fine¡­ and were sprinting away, heading south. After another, further collapse, he grunted¡­ and tried to call out for help¡­ but his chest was too badly pinned now. And the fire was growing hotter. This¡­ was a mistake. He¡¯d underestimated them. Failed. And would likely be dead soon, unable to even beg for aid. He closed his eyes¡­ the bottomless fury he¡¯d felt since Nightfire had injured him directed at a new target as darkness claimed him¡­ himself. This was stupid. So, so damned stupid. *** There was a notice floating in his face when he next awoke. Sore. Miserable. Lying on a gurney, a paramedic standing over him¡­ a cool, soothing warmth spreading through his body. He could feel burned scales falling off, replaced by fresh, new ones, and broken bones mending¡­ before the man gave him a pat on the shoulder, and left.
Congratulations! You have gained your eighth level!
You have 3 Free Points available to spend. If you do not use them by the time you gain your next level, they will be spent for you.
You have gained One ability upgrade. If you do not use it by the time you gain your next level, it will be spent for you.
You have Three(3) Abilities which are at reduced effectiveness due to your class blend. You may use that ability to upgrade all of them to full effectiveness, giving you the full skillset of a starter member of both classes.
One of the cops stepped over¡­ he recognized the man from the shoot-out. ¡°...On the one hand¡­ thanks. We caught the two runners, thanks to you, and stopped that particular band. There¡¯s others being subdued all around the city, and the army actually got called in¡­ but¡­. Be careful next time. That was stupid. We shouldn¡¯t have let you go in alone.¡± Grey nodded, as much as he could while lying on the gurney. ¡°Yeah¡­. I got too used to dealing with animals. Unthinking creatures, that would be predictable, easily dealt with. Should¡¯ve done something¡­ smarter.¡± He had ants in storage, still, plenty of them. He could summon a few, imbue them with stealth, and have them carry some fire sacks, or venom, or whatever. Pop them like suicide drones. Any number of approaches better suited than the hybrid he was, rather than acting like a warrior-assassin. The officer patted him gently on the shoulder. ¡°Just relax for a bit. These guys killed dozens of people just to gain levels and get stronger, both in Mexico and here. Maybe you were stupid, but you did a good thing. Saved lives.¡± As the officer started walking away, Grey considered his words. Killing dozens of people¡­ just to gain levels and get stronger. On the whole, most people were fairly weak. And if he picked the right place, weaker still. He could easily, say, sneak into a retirement community¡­ or even around his own neighborhood¡­ and quietly act as an angel of death, leaving not even corpses behind¡­ and vanishing off into Stealth. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He could definitely do it. But¡­ the rewards would be pitiful. Not even as much as five minutes worth of ant-slaying work. And to dramatically increase the potential problems with the law? No. Pointless. These Cartel people would¡¯ve been better off killing monsters; the system just didn¡¯t seem to reward murdering civilians as¡­ He stopped. ¡°...Officer.¡± The man was talking to one of the paramedics; who, apparently, had reached level 5, and was now healing one of the other officers¡­ and stepped back, looking a bit confused. ¡°Yes? Did you need something?¡± ¡°...Killing people, especially low-level civilians, doesn¡¯t reward nearly as much as killing monsters. This wasn¡¯t about getting levels and power. I thought it through. These people have some other objective.¡± He blinked. ¡°Thats¡­ what? Instill terror in the locals?¡± ¡°No idea. Make a distraction from something more important? Blame the cartels while actually being local gangs? Impossible to say. Perhaps they have allies going in more quietly, breaking in and looting places while they splash about and make noise.¡± He sighed. ¡°...Yeah. All of that seems more likely.¡± He studied Grey for a moment, then shook his head, returning to the paramedic¡­ as Grey slowly stretched, and rose from the stretcher. There wasn¡¯t much that needed doing. He should get back to what he was doing¡­ go buy a tablet. Maybe a stack of them; he was much stronger now, and might accidentally break the next one, as well. *** When he returned home after buying a load of groceries and three new tablets, with protective cases for the lot of course, he was partially through getting it setup; his new truck had some limited self-driving ability, probably thanks to its augmentation, since he didn¡¯t believe the normal ones did; and he smelled¡­ something absolutely terrible. He frowned¡­ and checked the door. The knob was broken. Inside¡­ there was a trail of blood, leading from the doorstep to the basement, and a pack of spiders; all of them about nine inches long; perched on the sofa, watching TV. They all turned to look at him, before turning back to avidly watch¡­ a cartoon frog singing about which letters make what sound. He grumbled, knowing what he was going to find before he reached the door¡­ and of course, as he opened the basement door, there was a whimpering, bleeding thug wrapped up in spiderwebs, dangling from the ceiling. He walked up to the man, looking him over for a moment. While he was a handy food supply, the spiders really shouldn¡¯t be eating human. If they got a taste for it, they might start eating other sentients, and causing him problems. He looked around for the mother¡­ and when he spotted her, perched on an old card table, he nodded. ¡°Thanks for the capture. But. Just to be clear¡­ we don¡¯t eat people.¡± He walked up to the thug¡­ who stared at him for a few seconds. ¡°Oh, thank god! I was gonna rob the place, yes. But I don¡¯t want to hurt anybody, just steal some stuff! I¡¯ve got a van with stuff I robbed from other places, parked down the street. You let me go, I¡¯ll cut you in!¡± Grey studied the man. In the dim light of the basement, and with so much blood on him, it was hard to tell his skin tone, but he could make out at least one tattoo. He tapped the skin. ¡°Gang signs?¡± ¡°Well¡­ yeah?¡± He nodded, and glanced at the mother spider. ¡°He kill any of your babies?¡± This would be a good test. If she could understand, hopefully she¡­ The spider nodded. A clear, distinct movement¡­ and then pointed at three crushed spider carcasses; purple and white, about six inches across. He nodded back. ¡°If they kill your babies, kill them. But don¡¯t eat them. We don¡¯t eat people. Thank you for protecting the home; and I¡¯m sorry about your babies.¡± Of course he wasn¡¯t. But sympathy was appropriate when someone lost children. He pressed his claws into the man¡¯s throat; tearing at the tender flesh, injecting venom into the veins¡­ he could feel the warmth, the sensation of blood pulsing around his scales¡­and the thief started to writhe and twitch, trying to escape, as the blood pooled on the floor beneath him. ¡°If you bring prey back here, and kill it without getting caught, it makes you, and all your babies, just slightly stronger. If you¡¯re the only one there when you kill it, it makes just you stronger. Understand?¡± The mother nodded again. ¡°The next time I go out without my team, I¡¯ll bring you and your babies if you want. If we kill enemies, even if the babies don¡¯t help, just being nearby makes them stronger¡­ though the closer they are, the better. Could they be trusted to hide under a tarp, in the back of the truck?¡± A slow side to side. That would be a no then. ¡°Probably not til they¡¯re ready then. Do you need more food?¡± Another head-shake. ¡°Alright then. I¡¯ll be catching some sleep. I¡¯ll be heading out to get more food in the morning. Try to keep the kids from being seen by the neighbors.¡± The arachnid leapt atop an odd sort-of shelter made from ant bits held together by web, and chittered at him¡­ before he reached out, touching the man. He focused.
Looted: 1 x Wallet, 1 x Keychain, 1 x AZTK 9mm(Uncommon), 1 x AZTK Magazine(Full), Combat Boots(Uncommon)
For just a moment, he stared at the box. Uncommon boots. Armored boots. That was¡­ that was amazing! If he could still feel joy, it would¡¯ve flooded him. He immediately pulled the boots out of inventory; and set them on the floor¡­ trying them on. At first, they were a bit loose¡­ but after a few moments.. They grew tight. Fitting perfectly. He had roughly zero confidence in handmade shoots made from Ant chitin. But if he could just use them as shoe covers or something¡­ very nice. He still had a level-up to handle, and as he headed upstairs to what would now be his bedroom.. And where someone had done a mediocre job of mopping up a bloodstain¡­ he shut and locked the door, lay down¡­ and consulted his options. He wanted to upgrade ¡®Undead Control¡¯. If it was like ¡®Undead Animation¡¯, there should be four options. He focused on what they were.
Ability Upgrade used! Options available, choose from the following!
Extended Control: You can maintain control of your Undead, and continue issuing it orders, up to 1 mile away per level, improved by ¡®Power¡¯.
Horde Control: Double the maximum number of levels worth of Undead controlled. (Max levels 32)
Control Awareness: Able to fully sense and animate controlled undead; perceive what they perceive, and operate limbs of a single undead with fine motor control.
Dominance: Substantially easier and cheaper control of hostile undead and sentient undead.
There we go. Thirty-two worker ants, or a couple dozen and a few Soldiers, would be enough to make a huge difference in most fights, whether they were against ants or not. He selected Horde control immediately, and studied his stats for a moment¡­ Agility and Mind enhanced reflexes and quick-thinking. Power and Stamina would dictate how many times he could animate zombies, how fast he could create venom, the potency of it, so forth. He also figured his Power would translate into stronger abilities for his undead¡­ so. He slapped two of his Free points into Power; and one into Mind, to even it out with Agility.
Nathan Grey
Serpentfolk(Human) Hand of Death(Hybrid) 8
Strength 15
Endurance 19
Stamina 26
Agility 24
Mind 24
Power 21
Abilities Intimidating Shout(Insects, Rats, Humans), Undead Animation 2(Empowered Undead), Undead Control 2(Horde Control), Curse 0.5, Venom Magic 1, Stealth 1, Assassin¡¯s Strike 0.5
Skills Minor(Melee Weapons, Persuasion, Automotive Repair, Examine, Mana Manipulation) Moderate(Survival, Sales, Ranged Weapons)
Titles Insect Slayer III, Rat Slayer II, Human Slayer, Ranged Slayer II, Vehicle Slayer(Front-Runner), Looter
Boons None
If he had the information right, that meant he should have better reflexes than any human pre-system; and also, hopefully, than most of the people he ran across. He settled in to sleep, tablet set on the table beside him; ready to notify him if something important came up. 21 - Zombies When Grey awoke the next morning, it was to a dull buzz sound; a message on the Guild App from Sledge; and also from the App itself, at almost the same time. The National Guard was organizing for something big; and was requesting every volunteer with a weapon over level 5; in groups, preferably. This was an emergency, of some sort.. And they wanted everyone to meet at the closest of a dozen provided checkpoints; each of which would also have a Guard unit waiting. It promised to be massive, and was supposed to be incredibly important; which also meant it would be a good opportunity to gain levels. Grey checked on the spiders; ensuring they had plenty of dead ants to last them a few days; before hopping in his truck¡­ only for Sledge to show up at his house, honking, waving. He studied it for a moment; an operation this big, it made sense to use fewer vehicles, he might end up inside an APC; and hopped in.. getting strapped in as Sledge started back down the road. ¡°Hey, grey. Been hearing some radio chatter. Shit¡¯s getting bad, down south. Might want to avoid making human zombies for right now and stick with the ants¡­ someone figured out a way to make a zombie that spreads itself with a bite¡­. And they¡¯ve been spreading through Mexico like crazy, starting in Chihuahua¡± He blinked. ¡°... Someone noticed we were undergoing some sort of a magical, system-related apocalypse. And decided they wanted to turn it into a Zombie one?¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°Yup. They¡¯ll probably not want you anywhere near the front, out of an unreasonable suspicion of Necromancers, but it would..¡± Grey raised a hand. ¡°Hold up. Necromancers can¡¯t just control undead they make. Its just easier. If there¡¯s a contagious sort of undead¡­. A necromancer can grab a bunch of them and make them fight the others. If there isn¡¯t another Necromancer on the other side, and they aren¡¯t sentient¡­ its actually really easy. Can keep doing it for hours and just grind the enemy against itself.¡± Sledge blinked. ¡°...Really.¡± He glanced out at the checkpoint¡­ and then back at Grey. ¡°Necromancer isn¡¯t exactly a common class, but there¡¯s gotta be dozens of them in this area; there¡¯s thousands of people over level five around El Paso. Being able to just make the front rank of the zombies hold back the others¡­¡± Grey nodded. ¡°Could be of extreme value. We don¡¯t want to get the necromancers out of this¡­ we want them with the squads on the front lines. Though¡­ with the Chosen out there able to melt a whole building, I¡¯m not sure how needed it is.¡± ¡°Well. How about we just ask and find out?¡± *** At this particular checkpoint, a Colonel Parsons; who appeared to be the first Cat-folk Grey had seen in person; was going over the teams as they arrived; and sending them around, issuing orders. A vehicle would stop; and then either go park, the riders moving on to some spot or squad; or for others, they simply turned right back onto the road. By the time they reached the Colonel, Grey had already decided the best way to play this in order to actually get some useful combat time out of it. When Sledge pulled up, Grey leaned forward and gave Parsons a salute¡­ the man looked at him for a moment; he was wearing the armored vest over a long-sleeved button-up shirt, slacks, and combat boots¡­ and then simply turned to Sledge. ¡°Levels and capabilities.¡± ¡°All level 8. One barely, the others close to nine. Melee tank, fire blast, lightning blast, telekinetics, and necromancy.¡± ¡°Ugh. Alright. Ya¡¯ll can get back to clearing monsters, that¡¯s still important even with this. We don¡¯t want..¡± ¡°Sir.¡± Grey leaned forward. ¡°You really want every necromancer you can get on the front lines of this. And tell them to leave their own undead home, bury em or get rid of them.¡± He stared at Grey for a moment. ¡°...And who am I speaking with?¡± ¡°You can call me Sergeant Grey, retired, former army, and with some necromantic ability.¡± He nodded. ¡°Well. Congratulations, welcome back to the service for the duration of the crisis. We don¡¯t want anyone using Necromancy here, but every former¡­¡± ¡°Sir, apologies for interrupting. But every Necromancer can both create¡­ and control¡­ undead. And if there¡¯s contagious undead out there¡­ we can mentally grab the closest row and order them to attack, or just restrain, the next row. Just a handful of Necromancers could team up with a group of riflemen and handle an entire horde. Your usual human-sized zombie is only level 2 or 3. I can probably take the closest dozen, make them attack their buddies¡­ and then do it again. And again, as we chew them apart, thirty-two levels worth of them at a time, making it much safer.¡± ¡°....I¡¯ve sent seventeen Necromancers back so far. Why haven¡¯t any of them mentioned that?¡± Grey shrugged. ¡°Maybe they¡¯re trying to avoid a fight. Or just feel too afraid to speak up.¡± Or hadn¡¯t even thought about controlling undead they hadn¡¯t themselves made, since, til now, such things didn¡¯t exist. He shook his head. ¡°Well, Sergeant Grey. Congratulations. You¡¯re now in charge of my Necromancers. The rest of you, head to the checkpoint. Grey, stay right here. I¡¯ll be bringing in some others and our intel people will be briefing you.¡± Grey nodded. His fake identity¡¯s history could be useful; but it might also be problematic. Hopefully this didn¡¯t keep him far enough from the front line to keep earning levels. *** ¡°Lets be blunt here. There¡¯s thousands of people involved in this operation, only twelve of us. The Army and Guard have never dealt with mindless undead before, because they¡¯ve never existed before.We¡¯re going to practice for a bit, make sure all of us get the idea¡­. And then move out. How many undead can each of you control?¡± He looked at the line of Necromancers; no less than seven self-styled witches, classic ¡®goth girls¡¯, every one of which had chosen a particularly pale-skinned elf form; apparently he could¡¯ve chosen varying scale colors as a serpentfolk, among other things, but he just hadn¡¯t cared enough. One of them was an actual armored man who looked ready to fight, and had a massive hammer with a 4-foot handle¡­ while the other four men wore black robes and carried Scythes or Sickles; ridiculously inappropriate weapons for regular fighting, much less killing undead. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. They started reading off the numbers. Three were only level 5 still, and could only control 12 levels worth of zombies. The rest ranged from a level 9 man; the one in armor; who could control 40, to several in the 20s. Hearing that he could control 40 at level 9, and the others 12 and 5, meant that there was something other than just level and the ¡®Horde¡¯ ability changing things. When they reached the end, he nodded¡­ and gestured at a pit in the ground, where he¡¯d animated 32 worker ants. It would be a shame to destroy them; but he had over a hundred of them left in storage, and he had never hot-swapped control of undead like this himself. This would be good practice. ¡°Here¡¯s what we¡¯re going to do. These things are only level 1. I¡¯m going to release control of them, and they, as undead, are going to try to attack the nearest living things they can see, or wander randomly if they can¡¯t see any. We¡¯re going to take turns grabbing hold of as many as we can, and using them to hold back the others, stop them from climbing out of the pit. The Guard already has units engaged holding zombies back in Mexico alongside Mexican police and armed forces, and would like us ready to go when we start entering one of the infected cities. You¡¯ll be gaining levels fast, improving how many you can command¡­ but right now, do the best with what you¡¯ve got.¡± He looked at the group¡­ some of whom looked arrogant, unconcerned. Several of the witches; and the one armored man; looked more serious¡­. As he released the zombies, and pointed at the first witch. ¡°Ma¡¯am. You¡¯re up.¡± The ants had started to swarm over each other, crawling towards the wall of the pit¡­ and almost immediately, a random scattering started grabbing the limbs of others, pulling them back¡­ it took a few seconds, and which ants she had control of visibly swapped a few times¡­ but soon, the ten ants she could control were essentially crippling the whole swarm. He nodded. ¡°Excellent. Once we get out there, keep an eye on doors and choke-points; a single zombie might be able to hold a door, or a pack of five an alleyway.¡± Over the next ten minutes, the necromancers cycled through it, one by one; a few of the ants were destroyed, but by the time they reached the end, all twelve had demonstrated that if no-one else was controlling an undead¡­ using them against each other was trivial. ¡°Good work. I¡¯ll speak with the Colonel, we¡¯ll all get assigned to teams.¡± He glanced at the zombies¡­. And reassumed control. After a few seconds thought, he had the fire-ants start burying themselves. As the other Necromancers watched, they confined most of the undead into a single, tightly-packed grave¡­ the four outside the grave rolled a boulder on top of it¡­ and then finally tore each other apart. ¡°There. If we need to train someone else, those should be trapped¡­ but only partially intact.¡± He picked up the radio the Colonel had assigned him¡­ ¡°Relay Colonel Parsons. Skulls are go, Over.¡± After a few seconds, there was a response. ~Understood, Grey. Your rides are on the way.~ *** Over the next few minutes, Humvees started stopping by; an officer would ask Grey a question, he¡¯d point out one of the Necromancers¡­ and they¡¯d take off. He himself, was last¡­ and was paired up with a Sergeant Watkins, climbing into the backseat of the Humvee as a Corporal started driving them out into the desert. He glanced at Grey. ¡°So. Colonel tells me you¡¯re a Sergeant yourself?¡± ¡°Yessir. I¡­ probably have a few years on you in rank, but I¡¯m retired, and can barely remember any of it. Don¡¯t worry about me trying to give your orders, just tell me where to go so I can help our people kill zombies, and I¡¯ll make it as safe and fast as I can.¡± Watkins nodded, as they started to approach a small village, just a few miles from the border. As they arrived¡­ a pack of zombies emerged; all fairly fresh¡­ and as they drew in closer, Grey seized control; they simply stood in place, and pointed a hand at their head. Watkins glanced at the zombies¡­ his gunner firing; single, precise shots; surprised that a head-shot didn¡¯t kill them every time. ¡°..Huh. Handy.¡± ¡°All of these were level 2. I can control¡­ 16 of those.¡± He looked at the zombies on the ground. ¡°...Why two shots? Doesn¡¯t destroying the brain kill them?¡± ¡°No brains to destroy. Nonsentient undead are just constructs of death magic; just do enough sheer damage to them and they break apart. Usually they stop working if you blow off half the limbs, or break the spine.¡± A steady nod¡­ more Humvees pulled in beside them as they did a slow sweep of the town¡­ but when Watkins ordered a squad to start sweeping buildings, Grey raised a hand. ¡°Sir¡­ I can sense, and control them, if they¡¯re close enough, even through a wall. Just make a slow drive down each block. If they¡¯re there, I¡¯ll ask you to stop, and they¡¯ll walk right out¡­ or we can go in after them.¡± The Sergeant stared at him for a moment¡­. ¡°Gentlemen. Back on the rigs. We¡¯re going to be cruising through this place one street at a time, at¡­ ten miles per hour?¡± Grey nodded. ¡°Should be slow enough. I can point out buildings with ones trapped, and we can either dispatch a squad if its just one, or if its a mob we can stop while I hold them in place.¡± ¡°...This¡­ is much easier than I thought it was going to be going in.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Some people think the best person to help you fight zombies would be some sort of holy warrior type. But really¡­ the best one you want is someone who can tell them what to do.¡± *** The next several hours became boring; the Mexican military already had its own Necromancers working with their people, and considered it a bit absurd when the Guard suggested the idea; but the Army forces operating further west seemed to have ignored the concept even when suggested; until hearing the Guard was already deploying it, successfully, and clearing towns and villages far more effectively than they were. Quite a few paranoid lunatics, believing a bite would lead to a fatal infection, caused rampant murder and suicide issues; which did somewhat make the problem worse, as while a bite wasn¡¯t fatal, if you died soon enough after a bite, you would come back as a zombie, so long as you were mostly intact¡­ even if your brain was gone. Despite this nonsense, the whole spread was contained by the end of the day; and all that was left was the hard part¡­ an actual city, filled with hundreds of thousands of zombies. Quick reactions, competent leadership, and the presence of the Chosen meant that the outbreak was mostly handled, the spread contained¡­ Except for one place. Chihuahua. For whatever reason; whether it was the start of the outbreak or just poorly timed decisions, the city was estimated to have between one hundred thousand and half a million zombies in it¡­ and while it was contained¡­ cleaning it out was going to be a nightmare. The Chosen had warned that using nukes, or any weapons of mass destruction, would create terrible problems; an otherworldly rift which would use the sudden surge in ambient mana to spawn terrible, horrific, monsters, some of them created by the human psyche, others actually summoned from other worlds. They needed to do this the hard way, one street at a time; which, for Grey, was excellent news. He was going to be going in with a few fire-teams of soldiers, clearing building by building¡­ and have excellent opportunities both to pack his extradimensional space with useful loot¡­ and to earn some levels. Should he take the Contagious Undead ability himself? If he Empowered them with venom, or Curse, he could make a much more dangerous strain, to others, rather than to him, and by seeding it in the right place, make a situation elsewhere that would create another excellent leveling opportunity. It might also cause millions of casualties; but that was immaterial. It would help him accomplish his goal; perhaps even kill her by accident, if she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Definitely something worth thinking about. 22 - Chihuahua He¡¯d seen the images from above. A few dozen Chosen had swept through Chihuahua; blasting any large concentrations of zombies from the sky, clearing out whole crowds; and of course, absorbing excess mana to help progress their own levels. It was hoped¡­ not really believed, but hoped¡­ that most of the zombies were gone. But Grey, Watkins, and the fire-teams with them were going to be among hundreds of teams, both Mexican and American, sweeping the city in a grid pattern, block by block, clearing out every car, building, vehicle, and marking them off on the map. Grey was wearing an actual uniform, with no rank insignia, and felt somewhat uncomfortable. This likely wouldn¡¯t be too odd; Joshua Grey hadn¡¯t worn one for over fifty years. What was less uncomfortable¡­ was the steady walk through the suburbs. He stopped¡­ pointing at a house. ¡°Three zombies inside. Two adults and a kid, by levels. Currently walking to the front door.¡± Watkins nodded. They had this figured out, after the smaller villages; one of his men simply waited, rifle aimed at the front door¡­ and when it opened, fired three rounds. With the zombies neatly lined up, a bullet would pass through one to damage the ones behind it; sending all three tumbling. The shooter stepped up to loot the bodies; all three vanishing into the void; before stepping back to rejoin his fireteam. Grey hadn¡¯t even stopped walking; his hopes of this particular infestation dragging out and giving him a bunch of levels had quickly been crushed by the sheer efficiency of the two governments and locals at handling the outbreak. Both the cartels and the texan militias and law enforcement had cleaned their own areas so rapidly it never even became a problem. They steadily walked through the suburbs; just eleven men out of thousands currently working their way through the outskirts of the city.. Stopping at a house here, there¡­ until they reached the point where things would get complicated. To the right was a low ravine; mostly just gravel and rock. But on the left¡­ a block of three warehouses and an office building. He glanced at Watkins. ¡°Got hundreds of them inside that warehouse. We can handle it, but we¡¯ll want to take it slow. Open one entrance, get them to start rushing us¡­ and I¡¯ll start clogging them up at the entrance. We¡¯ll probably need to go inside, after.¡± The team looked at Watkins¡­ who nodded. By now, they¡¯d come to respect Grey, but he wasn¡¯t their commanding officer. He looked around. ¡°Alpha. You three on top of that truck, and keep an eye on our flanks. Bravo, set the big gun right there if we need it. Charlie, your turn on door duty. Hit it, and we¡¯ll lure them out.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for the three fire-teams to be ready; two of the three men of Charlie waiting, crouched, weapons braced as the third stepped forward, yanked open the door, then ran back to his comrades¡­ Grey focused. There were quite a few in there, scattered through various rooms. He picked one near the door¡­ and made it smack the wall, making a loud noise¡­ and start heading for the chosen doorway. Only¡­ he couldn¡¯t see what the zombie did, so it hit a wall. It was in an adjacent hallway. He let it go¡­ and picked another. This one did the same¡­ and he could feel it, and then see it, as it reached the door. . All the undead in the building were now active, moving¡­ and when Charlie team opened fire on the one in the doorway, the rest started running for the door. ¡°Hold fire for the next¡­ ten!¡± He called out. Some of these zombies were bigger, bulkier people, and would count as level three; so he seized control of the closest ten¡­ and when they got outside¡­ they all crouched down¡­ and he ordered two of them to crawl forward at waist level¡­ and grab hold of the next zombies to pass through. There was an immediate backup; zombies struggling against each other to push through the doorway, weapons firing¡­ Off to the right, the windows of an upper floor office suddenly broke, and a handful of zombies fell through¡­ there was an audible crack as they hit the ground, and when they started to rise¡­ Grey ordered them to clump together, then stay still. A gunman from Alpha carefully nailed the group from the office, the cracks of rapid gunfire sounding from atop the truck, even as Charlie team kept firing single shots through the growing mass Grey¡¯s zombies were holding back; the two he first chose were eventually so broken they couldn¡¯t do the job, and joined by two others. Each rifle round; and fired by Uncommon or Rare-grade rifles; passed right through the first zombie into the ones behind it as well. Eventually, there was such a clog of corpses at the door that the soldiers could no longer hit anything but already broken zombies¡­ and Grey got back to work. The zombies under his control started hauling bodies away, one at a time, as the soldiers took the time to replace magazines¡­ until, after they¡¯d gotten enough cleared out, there was another surge¡­ and once again the steady fire into the group. With expendable undead at the door controlling the flow¡­ and the rare straggler simply being seized and standing still¡­ they emptied the building of free zombies in rapid order¡­ and then proceeded through, looting the bodies. Grey glanced at the building, then Watkins. ¡°I can¡¯t see what they see, but there¡¯s about thirty still stuck in there. If I had to guess, they either dumped the bodies of people who died into a room and locked it, or¡­ honestly, can¡¯t be sure.¡± This was the only even vaguely dangerous part of the operation. Once all the bodies had faded, with Alpha still providing overwatch from atop their truck, Bravo took point¡­ with Grey sandwiched between Bravo and Charlie, feeling the building out, trying to find the rest. The inside of the warehouse¡­ had apparently been used for packing boxes for shipping purposes. There were a few corpses scattered around¡­. ¡°Hold.¡± Watkins glanced at Grey. ¡°Problems?¡± ¡°It can take up to a few hours after a zombie kills you to turn. Faster with more attacks. I thought we were clear that all bodies needed to be removed or looted?¡± Watkins glanced out. ¡°Charlie. Loot all the bodies, zombie or not. Good call, Grey.¡± He frowned. ¡°...Don¡¯t like that. Nobody¡¯s gonna be able to identify bodies, or bury the dead.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Better that than coming back to eat their families.¡± One of the soldiers in Bravo chuckled. ¡°I hear that.¡± They all watched as the bodies vanished, one by one¡­ often with the contents of their pockets appearing on the floor as the only sign they were there¡­ as the troops resumed their former formation¡­ and continued sweeping the building. Grey quietly looted a few of them himself as they walked, since he could do so from a distance.
Looted: Wallet, Multitool(Uncommon)
Looted: Wallet, Keychain, Safety Glasses(Uncommon)
Looted: Wallet
What would an uncommon Multitool do? He should check that later. The safety glasses¡­ also weird. Were they just unusually durable, or was it like a converted storage unit, gained special properties? He kept feeling around¡­ and as they stepped forward, he looked up. ¡°Alright. All of the ones I can see are inside a room above us, right there. There¡¯s¡­ yeah, twenty-six left¡­. Twenty-five¡­ Fuck, there¡¯s a survivor up there fighting them. Hurry, I¡¯ll delay them as best I can.¡± He focused¡­ and reached out, seizing control of a dozen zombies¡­ ordering them to grab the nearest uncontrolled zombie. The soldiers started stepping up rapidly, and when they came to a locked door, leading into some sort of offices¡­ and a member of Bravo team body-checked the door, slamming it open. There was a man standing there, bleeding from numerous small cuts and bite-marks, holding a tire iron in his hand, staring at the mass of zombies that were suddenly tackling and seeming to fight each other¡­ and looking with a mix of relief and fear as the three soldiers stepped in¡­ and started calmly taking them out. Watkins and Grey joined in; Grey with Cold, Watkins with his own rifle; and they rapidly swept through the undead. The man looked at the soldiers, then at his arm¡­ and pointed at a bite mark. He made a shaking his head gesture¡­ and then pointed at Grey¡¯s shotgun. One of the men stepped forward, and started speaking in broken spanish¡­ making it clear to the poor man that no, a bite was not a death sentence; they had to kill you to turn you; while his companions started clearing the other bodies. Grey looked around the office, focusing for a moment¡­ and nodded. ¡°Building is clear. No more undead. If we¡¯ve got all the bodies, this place should be fine.¡± This would be systematic, bloody, work¡­ but there were thousands doing it, closing in on the city center from all directions.. It was good that he¡¯d fed the spiders before he left; if the neighborhood got eaten by a swarm while he was gone, they might trace it back to him. *** The outer regions of the city had been cleaned out, and dubbed safe. But what remained¡­ was solid blocks of densely packed housing, businesses, and apartment buildings. On a busy day, there would be half a million people inside that perimeter; and according to the Chosen, at least a hundred thousand had been alternately burned, frozen, or shocked apart out in the various open spaces. Which meant¡­ there would still be a crazy amount of work. While there were only a handful of towers over twenty stories, each of them would be a real slog to work through; and considering each might have hundreds of zombies and rooms, some of the shorter five-story apartment complexes could be almost as bad. As they arrived at the front door of one of the buildings; painted a dull rust red, with a taller, white building immediately behind it; they¡¯d been joined by another several groups of guardsmen¡­ and across the street, units of the Mexican military were outside another building, nodding¡­ as local police were moving through the bodies, triggering the ¡®Loot¡¯ function, leaving their belongings in the street¡­ but collecting wallets, supposedly for identification purposes. Grey looked up at the building; he now had Watkins and another Sergeant, and nine fire-teams for backup¡­. And grimaced. ¡°There¡¯s¡­ over a hundred zombies in there, scattered all over the place. It¡¯s gonna be a real rat¡¯s nest¡­ I can point out the big concentrations easy, there¡¯s one on the fourth floor with over thirty¡­ but¡­ this is gonna be a pain.¡± The new Sergeant to the scene, apparently named Davidson, nodded. ¡°Glad to be on one of the Necromancer teams. It true you had zero casualties?¡± Grey nodded. ¡°Not even a sprain. I¡¯d like to keep it that way.¡± While pretending was important, he wouldn¡¯t really mind losing a soldier¡­ or all of them, if they were close enough for him to get a boost off of it. He was about to hit level 9, and the heaviest fighting had yet to come. So long as he didn¡¯t do something stupid, he might be able to hit 10 today; likely would have already, if his gains hadn¡¯t been spread across so many people. He focused for a moment on the new title he¡¯d gained; he hadn¡¯t checked to see if it had benefits.
New skill gained: Command(Minor)
Field Commander: Your command of troops in the field is enhanced, buffing both soldiers and pets under your command.
  • Necromancer: You command +10% more Undead, and have a better understanding of issuing commands your minions can understand.
  • Commander: Soldiers and minions beneath your command receive a +5% buff to most attributes. Only the highest such buff in the chain of command applies
He blinked. So¡­ a title and a skill? Eh. He¡¯d worry about it later. Especially since he wasn¡¯t actually in command here, so it shouldn¡¯t even count. As one of the new fireteams led the way into the building, they entered a long hallway, with apartments on both sides¡­ he felt around. Seven on this side¡­ six on that. Total¡­ below the levels he could command. He ordered the Undead to step closer to the hallway¡­ getting as far from the window as possible¡­ and knock on the door, otherwise remaining motionless. ¡°Alright, there¡¯s only a handful on the ground floor. All of them are frozen, and will be knocking on the door. Either kick down the door or shoot through it.¡± The men moved forward; listening; as one by one, a steady knock sounded at several of the doorways. They started firing¡­ the sound even louder in the closely confined apartment hallway¡­ and worked their way through¡­ until he felt no more on this floor, leaving a long series of doors with bullet holes. Sergeant Watkins sighed. ¡°Alright. Hate to say it¡­ but we need to open all of them. Check them all for corpses, clear them all out, so we don¡¯t have any zombies coming up the stairs behind us.¡± Relatively assured there were no active undead on the floor, the men split¡­ using the buts of their weapons to smash off doorknobs, using feet to kick in doors, body-slamming them; they all had their own ways. For Grey, he decided to pull out the multi-tool he¡¯d found earlier and see if it had become anything special.
Multi-Tool(Uncommon)
This multi-tool was one of a variety of common tools similar to the Swiss army knife, but is now a true Multi-Tool.
Unbreakable: This tool is unusually difficult to break. Multifunction: This tool can become any common hand tool, from pliers to hammer to screwdriver to shovel. If supplied with outside power, can become a powered variant of most.
He blinked¡­ and shrugged. Useful enough. A bit odd, but useful enough. He focused on it for a moment¡­. And it became a hammer. Nothing special; just a decent solid metal hammer with a rubber handle. He looked at the door for a moment, at the frame, at its simple wooden construction¡­ considering hammering off the handle and using the hammer to pry things open¡­ and shook his head. The tool became a hatchet¡­ and a few moments later, he had whacked a hole in the door, and was reaching through to unlock it¡­. Before returning it to its handle form and pocketing it. This was going to be a long process; this was only the first floor. He would probably be at this for the rest of the day. 23 - School Cleansed Progress was clean, cold, methodical. He knew how many zombies were in each area; there might be hundreds in the building, but by the time they reached the fifth floor, all of the ones not trapped in a single apartment had managed to find their way down the stairs; and into the sights of Guard weaponry.
Congratulations! You have gained your Ninth level!
You have 3 Free Points available to spend. If you do not use them by the time you gain your next level, they will be spent for you.
You have gained One ability upgrade. If you do not use it by the time you gain your next level, it will be spent for you.
You have Three(3) Abilities which are at reduced effectiveness due to your class blend. You may use that ability to upgrade all of them to full effectiveness, giving you the full skillset of a starter member of both classes.
He received the next level-up notice on the top floor; they had less than a dozen zombies to go, but he decided to leave it be, for now. If a crisis came up and he was about to level up, it would auto-assign the points, but he was starting to doubt he¡¯d hit ten before going home; there might be millions of undead, but there were over ten thousand troops working this from north and south. He closed his eyes, focusing, as he stood at the end of the last stairwell¡­ and nodded. ¡°There¡¯s a few on the roof. Do we want to go up there, or I can just tell them to jump.¡± Sergeant Watkins thought for a moment. ¡°Might be some of our people¡­ or survivors¡­ on the street. Just tell them to freeze in place.¡± He looked around¡­ and picked one of the soldiers. ¡°Manning. Take Alpha to the roof. There¡¯s a few dead walking up there still; Grey has them immobilized, should just be shoot and scoot.¡± He nodded. ¡°Yessir¡­¡± The three men immediately sprinting down the hallway to the stairwell; and what was hopefully an easy access to the rooftop. He glanced back at Watkins. ¡°We¡¯re finished here. Whats the next building in line?¡± The sergeant sighed. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ well. Its¡­ a school.¡± Grey gave a slow nod. ¡°...That¡¯ll be bad for morale. But at the same time¡­ not that difficult. Kids, I can likely handle thirty at a time. So long as they aren¡¯t all out in an open field surrounding me, I could probably deal with a few hundred on my own.¡± ¡°..You think you can handle that? I¡­ think we could stand some of the men down, give them a break for a few., let them eat, rest. You seem to have your head together, but I¡¯m not sure some of my people could take it, gunning down a couple hundred kids.¡± ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, there¡¯ll be some survivors, maybe locked in a classroom somewhere. I¡¯d want one fireteam, and with grenades, of course, in case we get overwhelmed, and plenty of ammo. But we don¡¯t need to put everyone through that.¡± And it would help him level up a bit faster. Watkins thought for a moment ¡°Head downstairs, Grab an MRE and take a break yourself. Ahh¡­.Did they have them the same when you were in the service?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll figure it out.¡± Watkins looked up at the roof, then at Grey. ¡°And yeah. I¡¯ll pick whoever seems the most mentally together and send them with you. Definitely nobody who has kids themselves.¡± Grey gave a quick nod.. And headed for the stairs himself, walking at a steady pace. He could eat real quick, level up, and be ready. It seemed clear that, aside from providing an upgrade, each ability upgrade you used on the same power also improved its core traits. So he¡¯d likely be able to summon more undead with every upgrade, and Horde was just the biggest jump. The ¡®Power¡¯ trait also clearly had an impact; making your abilities stronger¡­ though he wasn¡¯t sure exactly what that did with his undead. So. His three best options at this point¡­ Control Awareness. Let him get a much more fine-tuned control of the undead he couldn¡¯t actually see; and be just incredibly useful in general. The second best option would be to take Infectious animation, but that would be for a future use case; creating another outbreak like this one, so that he could gain some rapid-fire levels without attracting unwanted anger from people around him. If he did it right, he could even con others into helping him do it. And of course the third option. Finally get Curse, Assassin¡¯s Strike, and Venom up to their proper level. For right now, Awareness was just too useful. He selected that¡­ and decided to pump three more into Stamina. There was still quite a bit of work ahead, and he couldn¡¯t be falling asleep or running out of mana.
Nathan Grey
Serpentfolk(Human) Hand of Death(Hybrid) 9
Strength 16
Endurance 20
Stamina 29
Agility 25
Mind 25
Power 22
Abilities If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Intimidating Shout(Insects, Rats, Humans), Undead Animation 2(Empowered Undead), Undead Control 3(Horde, Awareness), Curse 0.5, Venom Magic 1, Stealth 1, Assassin¡¯s Strike 0.5
Skills Minor(Melee Weapons, Persuasion, Automotive Repair, Examine, Command) Moderate(Survival, Sales, Mana Manipulation), Expert( Ranged Weapons)
Titles Insect Slayer III, Rat Slayer II, Human Slayer, Ranged Slayer II, Vehicle Slayer(Front-Runner), Looter, Field Commander
Boons None
Oh. He¡¯d gone up to Expert in ranged weapons? Did that mean anything particular?
Ranged Weapons: You are unusually skilled with ranged weapons. You gain better aim with these weapons, knowledge of how to use them, and a scaling boost to damage that improves with both the level of the user and rarity of the weapon. Expert: +3% Bonus to Ranged attack damage for Common, +5% for Uncommon, +7% for Rare, +10% for Epic, and +15% for Legendary per level
That¡­ so. Level 9. 15%. His revolvers would get¡­ +135% damage? And the shotgun¡­ +90%. No wonder Golden Boy had wanted the Legendary revolvers. If it scaled with both rarity and skill level, a Legendary would help enormously at higher levels, even if it was a smaller caliber weapon. He inhaled. Not that it would matter, for now. He didn''t want those revolvers to be seen publicly in use too much; he''d stick with Cold Dead Hands. Were all of his weapons going to be hand-themed? He leaned against the wall, eating the MRE; something that claimed to be chicken and rice. He assumed whoever labeled it either had never tasted a chicken, or had some sort of brain damage. Or perhaps his sense of taste had been impacted, alongside his emotions? *** As they walked through the playground, Grey studied the front doors of the school¡­ they were made of glass, and he could see a pair of tiny zombies¡­ no more than three feet tall, wearing bright, colorful outfits¡­ smacking uselessly at it; they must have been trying for hours, and either lacked the strength, or the glass was reinforced somehow. The three soldiers following him all slowed down¡­ and when Grey reached the door, they¡¯d all stopped about fifteen feet back. One of them coughed. ¡°....They¡­. Still just look like kids¡­¡± While the other two had their weapons raised, but looked a bit conflicted, that one looked¡­ confused. Uncertain. Grey looked at him for a moment. The man would be a liability for this, if he was already having problems. There were over a hundred zombies inside¡­ mostly children. ¡°Martinez. Head back to Sergeant Watkins. Tell him there¡¯s over a hundred undead in the school, but they¡¯re split into a fair number of small packs. This should take us an hour or two, but be trivial. If they want to move on to join the other group at the mall, we¡¯re fine here.¡± There was a mall a couple blocks down. Over a thousand zombies trapped inside. The units in neighboring lanes were going to converge at that location when they reached it, and tackle it together. The man looked at Grey¡­ then the kids¡­ and nodded. ¡°Yessir.¡± He turned, running back to the apartment building¡­ as Grey looked at the others. The darker-skinned man.. Corporal Johnson.. Seemed angry. Eager to shoot. The other, Private Rogers, more hesitant¡­ but he had his weapon forward, ready to go. ¡°You two ready for this?¡± Both men nodded. ¡°They should only take about one shot to kill. Smaller. More fragile. If I find any rooms with an adult zombie in it, I can make it destroy the smaller ones, save ammo¡­ and save you from having to pull the trigger. Remember¡­ head doesn¡¯t matter. Spine. Center of mass. You ready?¡± When there was another nod¡­ he seized control of the two¡­ and they lined up, one in front of the other, before Grey opened the door. Johnson and Rogers each put a single bullet into them, quick cracks of gunfire¡­ and they both fell. Grey held the door as they walked in¡­ and the bodies vanished, as he looted them¡­ deliberately dropping the loot on the spot, rather than storing it. He didn¡¯t want to have any odd questions should he produce a pink unicorn backpack later. The first classroom on his left contained about forty undead¡­ all but two of them level 1. Two adults; probably a teacher and an assistant¡­ and the rest children. ¡°...Just stand there at the door. I can handle this one.¡± He focused¡­ And assumed control of the two adults, and most of the children. He could see inside the classroom, from multiple perspectives now. It was a scene of vibrant colors and disturbing bloodshed. And with the latest control upgrade¡­ Starting with the Undead he wasn¡¯t controlling, he had the two adults start destroying the child undead; each lifting the nearest weapon; a broken piece of a desk for one, a speaker for the other¡­ and methodically crushing the tiny bodies. Johnson seemed a bit less eager, as he heard the snarls of the zombies, and cracking of bones¡­. But after a few minutes, all that was left was a single adult zombie¡­ and it was too broken to kill itself. ¡°I¡¯m letting one out. You might not want to look through the door.¡± He used his Loot title granted power to start making the children¡¯s bodies vanish¡­. As a single undead, one arm missing, the other broken in half, wearing a pretty floral dress¡­ walked up to the door; and simply stepped out, standing still, after Grey opened it. Both men fired a single shot¡­ and Rogers couldn¡¯t help but look into the classroom. There were more backpacks. Lunchboxes. Toys. Notebooks. Blood everywhere¡­ and a handful of scattered limbs the loot had left behind for some reason. He was clearly shaken.. But kept his rifle raised. ¡°Next one then, sir?¡± ¡°Next one.¡± As he approached the next class along that wall, and focused¡­ he found something surprising. Only two undead¡­ and when he seized them¡­ there were at least ten living, but extremely frightened, children. The two zombies were both locked inside a closet. ¡°...You two speak spanish?¡± Johnson gave a short nod. Grey nodded back. ¡°There¡¯s two trapped zombies, and¡­ a dozen kids. Survivors. They¡¯re safe enough where they are, but scared shitless. We should kill the zombies, and tell them to stay put¡­ but also get some of the locals here. Mind making the call?¡± He exhaled¡­ and Rogers looked relieved. When they opened the door, there were frightened shrieks¡­ that quickly quieted down as Johnson stepped forward, saying something in a low, friendly tone¡­. Even as Grey and Rogers approached the closet door. Grey glanced at the kids, then Rogers. ¡°I¡¯ll hold them still. Use the knife, and I¡¯ll stand between you and the kids.¡± Rogers gave a nod¡­ inhaled¡­ and dangled his rifle over his neck by the strap, pulling out his combat knife. ¡°Got it, sir.¡± When the closet door opened, the zombies, still under Grey¡¯s control, didn¡¯t make a sound¡­ until a series of rapid jabs managed to sever the spine of first one, then the other¡­ and they collapsed. Grey looted both them¡­ and a third adult, one which was clearly killed by the other two but had not yet turned¡­ and shut the door back. The kids didn¡¯t want to stay in the classroom, even with the zombies gone; but listened when Johnson told them to¡­ and watched, still afraid, as the three stepped out¡­. One little boy stepping up to lock the classroom door, and watch them step away through a tiny glass window. Grey looked at the two. ¡°Alright. Only kids in the next one. I can get them to stand still and line up, but it¡¯d take too long to get them to destroy each other. I can control all of them, so no danger.¡± He quietly looted the bodies of the children who hadn¡¯t arisen, and the teacher¡­. And the two men braced themselves, as Grey lifted out Cold, and opened the door. *** For Grey, the next half-hour was steady progress towards level ten; a surprising amount of it, considering how weak the enemies were. For the two soldiers who accompanied him; it was a harrowing, horrific experience, punctuated by a few moments of joy as they rescued a few dozen children who had either been lucky, or shielded by adults who had died to save them; not a single one of the teachers, or even the janitors, had survived. The moment Rogers had almost lost it was finding the last batch of surviving children; in a janitor¡¯s closet that only locked from the outside. What had clearly once been a young woman was against the outside, having been turned into a zombie, but too badly broken to get up and fight¡­ incredibly evident the woman had slipped outside just to lock the door, knowing she couldn¡¯t get back inside after. When the trio finished clearing the school, and reached the front door¡­ a hispanic man in a black uniform; Grey didn¡¯t recognize it, but it must have been Mexican law enforcement of some sort¡­ was looking at the rescued children as they were loaded onto a bus, clearly on the verge of tears. He turned to the three, and walked up to them¡­ grabbing the closest two, Grey and Johnson, in a hug¡­ and burst out, crying, saying something Grey didn¡¯t understand; though it sounded vaguely like ¡®Hero¡¯. The only thing that came to mind at the word was the young woman who¡¯d died outside the closet; he knew he should¡¯ve felt something about it. But for right now¡­ there was still work to do. 24 - Cleanup From every direction, soldiers had pushed. Casualties had been minimal. To Grey, everything seemed to be just fine. All that was left¡­ was a few square blocks. Blocks which, unfortunately, had been the busiest, most crowded, in the city¡­ and despite the earlier fly-bys by the Chosen, blocks which still housed thousands of undead. His hopes of using this whole series of events to get to level ten or even beyond were dashed; the rate of growth shriveled as the number of people involved grew higher, and there were hundreds of soldiers¡­ and nine of the necromancers he¡¯d spoken to what now seemed days ago rather than mere hours. All of the Zombies left were confined to a handful of large, crowded buildings; and apparently the effort to eradicate them across the countryside had of course been handled before this operation started. As they focused on the mall, Grey¡¯s radio crackled. ¡°Sergeant Grey, this is Colonel Parsons. We¡¯ve got a rendezvous point where the two flags are side-by-side. Your presence is requested.¡± Grey glanced at Watkins. From what he could recall, in the military, ¡®Requested¡¯ meant ¡®get the hell there right now¡¯. ¡°Might be back, might not. See you on the other side, Sergeant.¡± Watkins gave a nod¡­ and a salute, which Grey returned¡­ before Grey turned, looking for a moment¡­ and spotting it. A Humvee and some sort of small tank, side by side in the mall parking lot, with a flag of Mexico and an American flag. As he approached, a private guided him to Parsons himself¡­ who was watching soldiers gather around the door, standing next to a man in camouflage who was apparently his Mexican equivalent. After a quick exchange of salutes, Grey stepped closer, studying the two men; both of them had clearly passed level 5, as he doubted someone who looked to be early twenties at the oldest would be at their respective ranks; and the grey in the hispanic man¡¯s mustache was at odds with his smooth skin. ¡°Reporting, Colonel.¡± He glanced back at Grey, and nodded. ¡°So. I understand your unit had zero fatalities, only some minor injuries. Rescued at least forty survivors¡­ mostly children. Despite having one of the worst paths into the city.¡± ¡°Yessir. However, we bypassed complete searches of some of the suburbs we stopped, just making sure they were secure and had no active undead inside. Its unlikely but possible there¡¯s a corpse or two back there that was just waiting to turn; should do one last sweep, just in case, after the maximum time it would take to rise.¡± A firm nod. ¡°And Most of the rescues were from a school?¡± People didn¡¯t like braggarts. It would probably be best to downplay accomplishments. ¡°Myself, Corporal Johnson, and Private Rogers cleared the school. While it would be accurate to say we saved a few dozen kids, there wouldn¡¯t have been any alive to save if it weren¡¯t for some of the teachers.¡± Both officers paid more attention now. Parsons spoke up. ¡°Care to elaborate on that?¡± ¡°There was a woman, a teacher. She was, apparently, in a hallway with a class when the zombies showed up. She pushed the kids into a supply closet, locked it from the outside, and then got killed. An adult human can generally outrun a zombie. She had a choice, to run or save the kids. She chose the kids.¡± The hispanic man gave a nod, and turned to face Grey. The name on his uniform read ¡®Martinez¡¯. Handy thing, the military. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose she carried any sort of identification? This is a hard time for our country. We can use heroes, even dead ones.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, she carried no identification on her. Most likely she was a teacher, left her purse in her classroom. If you showed me a picture, I¡¯d recognize her, most likely.¡± Martinez nodded¡­ and glanced at Parsons. ¡°Mind if I borrow him for a bit after this?¡± Parsons chuckled. ¡°He¡¯s not actually active duty. He¡¯s a retired vet. Korean war, came in because he picked a necromancer-adjacent class. Once this is over, he does as he wants.¡± ¡°I certainly wouldn¡¯t mind going through a few pictures, sir. If they grabbed a yearbook, I could point her out. Or¡­ do mexican schools have yearbooks?¡± ¡°Some do. Not all. I¡¯ll have someone check.¡± Parsons shook his head. ¡°Regardless. We¡¯ve got thousands of zombies in these buildings, roaming as mobs.. There used to be over ten thousand in that mall, but they burned out the central areas earlier, now its just the scattered stores. We¡¯ve got a couple of his experts on the way, you¡¯re the only Necromancer on our side with military experience. We¡¯ve got two priorities here¡­ finding whoever did this, and clearing out this infestation with minimal casualties.¡± ¡°Hmmm. Well. Have we got any records of lone, unusually focused zombies, or small packs, acting to spread the infection?¡± Martinez rubbed his mustache between his fingers for a few seconds. ¡°...Yes. Outlying villages, mostly. At least a dozen of them.¡± ¡°Well. He would need to be fairly close to actually raise them, even with upgrades; same town, at worst. But controlling them¡­ one of the upgrades would let a level ten necromancer control them from a bit over ten miles away. If he were twenty, it might be as many as thirty.¡± ¡°Most of our initial swarm here in Chihuahua were centered on the hospital. A bunch of people were hit by an explosion of some sort¡­ and came back as zombies after they died, in beds, or in the ambulances. It¡­ was problematic. Did they perhaps send a zombie in to just¡­ poke everyone who was dying already to infect them?¡± Grey thought for a moment. ¡°An explosion. I suspect an infectious zombie with a claymore, pipe bomb, or other IED shoved down inside them could infect a whole crowd at once¡­ little bits of zombie flesh getting stuck in you could cause nasty wounds, and kill you from a normal infection if you don¡¯t have a high enough Endurance. You could even use poisons, toxins, or the like to make it worse. So that might have been the initiating factor. Did we track the explosion, whoever caused it?¡± Colonel Parsons studied Grey with horror. ¡°... A living zombie suicide bomb that turns a whole crowd into zombies¡­¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°And, unfortunately, a zombie wearing a complete body covering would appear human, albeit clumsy, right up until it went off.¡± ¡°This might not be over. This might not even be close to over.¡± *** Clearing out the mall was¡­ an unimpressive slog, initially. There were dozens of necromancers there, focusing on the various entrances; and the undead only hated the living, not their fellow undead, and wouldn¡¯t attack them until they were, themselves, attacked. With hundreds of weapons at the ready, Grey focused on his own section; and with his new Awareness ability, the zombies he seized control of were able to open doors, letting the ones trapped in various spaces in the mall flow out into open spaces where they could be easily gunned down. As he reached out to a group he could feel beneath the mall, he paused¡­trying to take control, to command them to move to the nearest entrance¡­ He stopped. He activated the radio for a moment. ¡°Urgent. Got an enemy controlling some of the zombies, command, trying to get them down low, hide them. Whoever our enemy is, they¡¯ve got an active interest in the mall right now. Over.¡± There was a few moments of silence. Then a response. ~Not the first report on that. We¡¯ve consulted one of the Chosen. If you, or one of the undead you control, can grab them¡­ or even just try to seize control of one and he fights you over it¡­ you should be able to get a vague idea of where he is. We¡¯ve had other reports. Check it, and pass up anything you find.~ Grey zeroed in, ignoring the others for now; focusing on one of the Undead moving with purpose beneath the mall¡­ and stretched out, trying to grasp hold of it. He could feel it. A power¡­ something far beyond his. Whoever it was, there was no way in hell he could seize one of their creations. To the north¡­ in the desert. Whoever it was, they were in¡­ a walled compound. ¡°...I¡¯m feeling someone¡­ either higher level than me by a good bit, or just a much higher Power stat¡­ to the north¡­ walled compound. In a basement. That¡¯s about all I could get. Its an active strain to keep trying to take control. I can keep doing that, and fighting him, but its much more difficult to do so than to keep the zombies still.¡± ~Acknowledged. One of the Necromancers on the mexican side is actually stronger than whoever he is, and working to shut him down. Focus on clearance efforts for now¡­ we¡¯ve got a strike team headed his way.~ A nod¡­. And Grey returned focus to the creatures inside the mall; opening doors, and setting up nice, clean mobs for them to run into. None of these Undead had any powers to them. If they had Stealth, this would¡¯ve been an incredibly difficult task, impossible without Necromancer support. Whoever did this either didn¡¯t have the Empowered ability, or failed to use it. If he were to use his Empowered undead ability on the fire-ants as well as taking Infectious, and give them Stealth, and Venom¡­ they could sneak up on people, inject them with venom, and when it killed them¡­ they¡¯d come back as another stealthy, venomous, undead. He could, quite possibly, wipe out human civilization if he just picked that at level ten, and that might get the job done. There was a problem, however. Nightfire could teleport. If human civilization ended.. She might just move to the moon colony, and render the whole idea a wasted effort. As he directed another mass of undead directly into the firing lines, he mentally shelved that idea; it would be something to pursue later, if his ambush idea failed. He really needed to go hunting¡­ find a fire-ant nest¡­ and build up a nice big cache of dead fire-ants. *** It took hours for the mall to be fully cleared; with the aggressor trying to hide zombies in mid-battle, there was a suspicion that perhaps bodies had been hidden as well, like time-bombs; and this was still possible. But when sunset hit¡­ The operation was declared over. There might be a few undead scattered here and there¡­ but the Guard and the Army were no longer needed in Mexico; and could get back to ensuring the United States held things together. As the troops mounted humvees, buses, and APCs for the drive north, Grey was invited on a ride alongside Colonel Parsons¡­ and settled in. He was hungry, and would certainly have enjoyed stopping somewhere for some genuine Mexican food¡­ but he¡¯d settle for whatever was open back in El Paso. The Humvee was unusually smooth for one of its sort; and Parsons was watching Grey thoughtfully for the first few minutes, clearly having something in mind. ¡°...Sergeant Grey. Or Mister Grey, if you don¡¯t want to re-enlist. My superiors want to create a task force for training Necromancers and handling Undead, and increase the number the US can call on. We¡¯ve established such groups for various classes, and tapped some of the Chosen to help with this process¡­ We¡¯d initially planned on avoiding having any such group for Necromancers¡­ for some very good, logical, reasons.¡± He inhaled deeply before continuing. ¡°Not only did none of the Chosen choose Necromancy, but several of the abilities were given stringent warnings by the Chosen; that they are illegal in some of the nations forming the Committee, but not all. In the event humans had to take refuge should earth fall, or ask for help from them, they¡¯re one of the classes which would cause friction.¡± Taking refuge should earth fall? ¡°..I wasn¡¯t aware taking refuge was an option, sir.¡± ¡°...We don¡¯t put this out too much. But most planets fall. They think Earth is doomed, and that the best we can do is make sure its a slow, steady fall, so that we don¡¯t have a wave of extradimensional horrors, and we can both evacuate a few billion civilians near the end, and setup space habitats so that, eventually, we can retake the earth once its all stable.¡± He focused on Grey. ¡°They take in people as refugees, not governments. If any necromancers with prohibited abilities move out to the Elven nation that¡¯s currently helping us the most, either they have to start over from square one¡­ or move somewhere else. If you take this job, I can offer you a slot on the moon instead, where some remnant of Earth¡¯s governments will exist, no matter how bad it gets on earth itself.¡± Grey considered. This would likely interfere with his plans. ¡°...I can appreciate the offer. But I¡¯m not the highest level necromancer on your side; or even a specialist necromancer. I¡¯m also an Assassin. At least one of the men you sent to work with me would be more qualified; the one who actually had good body-armor wasn''t just a pure Necromancer, but higher level than me. And there are undoubtedly others as well.¡± Parsons chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re former military. Cool under pressure; the men who worked with you said you were like a machine. Smart enough to get things done, but not afraid of getting your hands dirty. And the only soldier who has the right abilities. So. If this sort of bullshit happens in the US, I want a team ready to deal with it. Can you help me put that together? We could use you in a leadership role.¡± Could he take advantage of this to help get her killed, instead of interfering? ¡°...I¡¯ve got two problems with this, sir. If I¡¯m going to accomplish this sort of objective, it might cause issues if I were lower level than my subordinates, and if I''m leading, I won''t be other there killing swarms.¡± ¡°We can undoubtedly help with that. We¡¯ve got hotspots around the country, and are already flying VIPs out every day with teams of soldiers to get them to level 5 so they can reset the aging process. We''ve already got five teams of SEALs who are at level 20, and are focusing on getting more there every day. As a fringe benefit, it takes some of the heat off the more stressed parts of the country.¡± He nodded. ¡°Well. The second problem is a bit more personal.¡± He focused on Parson, meeting his gaze. ¡°The reason I''m so cool under pressure, as they said. I¡¯ve got brain damage. I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s a paper with an alzheimer¡¯s diagnosis or what sitting in a hospital somewhere, but while I can think clearly now, I couldn¡¯t tell you which unit I was in, can only name a couple of people off of my family photos, and don¡¯t even think of myself as Joshua anymore¡­ just mister Grey.¡± He inhaled. ¡°I believe that, now that I¡¯ve swapped species, I¡¯m fine; except that I clearly don''t have the same emotional range I used to. But I can¡¯t guarantee it, and that should be kept in mind before making a decision of this magnitude. ¡± 25 - Hidden Apparently honesty, of a sort, had been the best policy. Sometime in the next week, Grey would be receiving a call, then a visit from someone at the Pentagon; and in the meantime, staff was actively hunting for and recruiting necromancers and others for the group. There was no official name as of yet; but apparently they were naming most of the groups the Bureau of whatever; and already had them for Elementalists and Healers, with every other class category getting its own Bureau, under an over-arching ¡®Department of Magic¡¯. So¡­ he would probably be the head of a ¡®Bureau of Necromancy¡¯ and have at least a dozen necromancers, among others, working for him. He could see a variety of ways that he could use a position to forward his objective; so long as he wasn¡¯t observed at all times. He could likely convince them to construct all sorts of traps and weapons for use against a hypothetical enemy necromancer or undead¡­. And then use them against Nightfire. Obviously he couldn¡¯t specifically tailor them against the fire mage. But¡­. there were possibilities. For now, however¡­ he sat against his truck, considering options. It had been a long, irritating day. He didn¡¯t feel as tired as he should, probably because of the Stamina, but knew he¡¯d still need to get to sleep at some point¡­ and if he were going to work with the Pentagon, he should do something with the spiders. Both to get them some food, and to avoid some soldiers coming by to visit and asking odd questions regarding them. On the one hand, he was going to acquire some human minions. He could just use a blend of acid and poison, and wipe out the whole nest, get himself a bit more progress towards level 10. On the other¡­. It could definitely be useful to have minions not associated with the government. For now¡­ they should have enough food. It might be best to relocate them outside the city in the truck, get them safely out of government overwatch¡­ but how to prevent some random band from killing them? He¡¯d figure that out after he got home. *** It was well past the time he¡¯d normally get to sleep when he arrived home. And what he saw.. Was simultaneously disturbing and promising. There were letters and words carved into the walls all over the place; papers with various words and letters in some sort of black fluid that wasn¡¯t quite ink; and the mother spider seemed to have reached level 2, and about two and a half feet across; and was currently sitting on the couch, going over writing with the other spiders; which themselves were all roughly a foot across. There¡­ seemed to be less of them? He watched them for a minute, shutting the door behind him; and the mother looked at him¡­ and made a bit of a chittering sound, before patting two of the smaller ones on the head, and hopping directly to his feet in a ten-foot jump. She lifted up a piece of paper. ~Home too small. Need bigger place. More room. Creatures to eat.~ was written on it in fairly precise words, clearly done with a pen rather than whatever fluid the others used. He gave a slow nod. ¡°Try not to be spotted by the neighbors, but look at my truck outside. Between the cab and the back, see if you think all of your kids could fit.¡± He brought up the guide the Chosen had created on the tablet.. Was there an entry for ¡®Sentient Animals¡¯ in there? It took only a few seconds of searching, as the mother spider quietly slipped out the door to study the truck, to find the right entry.
Pets adapted to live with the native species, as well as other sentient creatures living on a given world, will often acquire a limited form of sapience during the adaptation process; while most creatures will only become more physically capable, those who actively think and interact with sapient beings regularly are more likely to show improved intelligence; without the interference of the system, Magic only invests in things that are actively used, or causes random mutations. Cultivating multiple such species is often pivotal for the survival of such worlds, and these will often, within a handful of generations, reach a point where they can begin acquiring class levels and becoming a truly sapient and independent species of their own. Based on previous worlds, we will very likely see fully sapient cats and dogs, among other pet animals, and possibly wild, but sapient, groupings of dolphins, orcas, and various apes. If you encounter sapient animals which are non-hostile, it is highly recommended to form alliances, especially with races that breed faster than humans, as this can have an enormous positive impact on our chances to keep earth stable and intact. If you¡¯ve encountered such a species, please contact the Chosen responsible for your area for assistance in development.
Huh. So this was a known phenomenon, with the only surprise being that it was jumping spiders rather than dogs. So¡­. if he found some abandoned property and set them up, they could make signs, build houses, hunt nearby monsters for food, gain levels¡­. But what would stop some group like Sledge¡¯s from killing them? They might not even realize sentient spiders might be a thing. If he notified the police, or the Chosen the idea of using the spiders collectively as an asset against Nightfire in the future would largely vanish; the government would step in, and likely help cultivate them for use in killing monsters, and Nightfire herself would likely work with them regularly. If he didn¡¯t, unless he picked a particularly good hiding spot, they would inevitably be discovered. He stared at the spiders¡­ the Government probably didn¡¯t trust the Chosen. If he presented the spiders as a possible anti-Chosen asset, without telling the Chosen, then his new organization could work on their development, while not notifying Nightfire. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. So¡­ He needed to find a good-sized abandoned ranch or farmhouse, something overrun by monsters. He could help the spiders claim it, and then pretend as if he discovered them, later. He could even start setting that ranch up as the ambush point for when he inevitably killed Nightfire and Golden Boy. This¡­ might be workable. First, though, he needed to find a good place to set them up. By the time he¡¯d worked through ideas, mentally, the mother spider had returned, chittered¡­ and started writing, directly on his wall. ~Enough room yes. Where going?~ ¡°We need to find you and yours a new home, you won¡¯t fit in here for long. And¡­ you need to take steps to look smart, to avoid humans thinking you¡¯re monsters. Tools and clothes would be the best options, if you can manage them. Building yourself a home. Signs.¡± He glanced around. ¡°If you could ask the kids to help clean-up¡­ and take anything they want to bring with them and load up in the truck after. I think I know a few good places.¡± *** When last he¡¯d been by this ranch, it was abandoned; there was a bit of blood, dried, and there was a certain level of concern that someone else might be coming to claim it¡­ but sure enough, while there was a light that had been left on since, most likely, the day this whole System thing had started, there were no living people; and likely wouldn¡¯t be for some time. As he stepped out of the truck, heading up, the mother spider, and a few dozen of her babies, hopped out; and started to investigate, looking around, checking the place out; even as he headed up to the door. Still locked, and bolted¡­ while the window was broken in. He hadn¡¯t looked closely when he drove by it on the highway; had in fact passed dozens of similar ranches. Grey lifted the shotgun, using the barrel more like a club as he scraped shards of broken glass away from the frame, half crawling half stepping inside¡­ and looking around the dark insides of the place. The power still worked. He should make sure there wasn¡¯t a survivor hiding away in the ranch¡­ and if so, handle them. Or let the spiders, so he could still be honest about things in the future. He could hear the chittering as some of the spiders followed him inside, as he started down the hallway¡­ following the vile smell of death until he reached¡­ a bedroom. Two bodies; not much left of them. A handgun beside the bed. Had this been monsters, or a murder¡­ or suicide? They¡¯d been eaten, but that might not be what killed them¡­ He checked the pistol¡­. Un-upgraded. Common. Perfectly normal. Didn¡¯t necessarily mean anything; whatever killed the man might simply have been¡­. Huh. He couldn¡¯t loot him. That¡­ was more telling. These bodies had been here before the System. Everything that had died since, animal, human, whatever, he could loot. As far as the system was concerned¡­ these were just objects. He flicked the lights on, and looked around for a moment, before turning to the mother spider. ¡°Make this place your own. Right now, food is going to be plentiful out there; you and your kids can go out and gather a whole mess of monsters and giant bugs and bring back the meat. Soon enough, that¡¯s going to be difficult. I¡¯ll help if possible; But you¡¯ll need a way to get a steady food supply, and from what I recall, your people can¡¯t survive on just fruits and vegetables.¡± He looked out the window into the darkness, at the lights of El Paso. ¡°If you try to eat humans, they¡¯re going to come here with fire and poison, and wipe you all out. You need to secure a food-source. Something long-term. Until then¡­¡± He raised a limb¡­ and the mother returned, chittering. He could hear the TV turning on in another room¡­ and the channels flipping. They were already looking for the educational channels again. ¡°I¡¯ll be back. Just¡­. Make sure to have your kids carry a sign they¡¯re smart, not just animals. Clothes. Signs. Tools. Weapons. Otherwise¡­ it¡¯ll be over.¡± He turned, heading back to the truck; unlocking and opening the door, this time. It was possible he¡¯d just helped a hostile species of spider gain enough awareness to start taking over the world. It was also possible that a grateful race of spiders would be useful in killing Nightfire someday; or even, in the unlikely event they came to dominate the world, they¡¯d kill Nightfire without his intervention. Net positive, overall. *** When he awoke the next morning, Grey was miserable; he¡¯d barely managed to get to sleep the night before. A bit of coffee helped him understand the immediately illegible notices on his tablet; both from Colonel Parsons, and from Sledge. From Parsons, an invite to head up to DC in two days for both a meeting with the other departments; and then a trip out on a helicopter to help him get a few levels From Sledge, a notice that the Fire-Ant Chitin armor was done, and they had a few new spots to hit today, if he had time. He checked the tablet for just what Sledge was talking about; as clearly, the meeting with Parsons wasn¡¯t an immediate priority¡­. A map came up. A suggested path through the desert, over a mile from any highway¡­ showing another ant nest. A giant lizard nest. And¡­ an unknown. Apparently something had happened; some mass-killing or other traumatic event, or even a deliberate summon; and something from another world had appeared in a valley. Whatever it was, it was less than level 15, so Sledge felt they could handle it. He tapped a few keys on the tablet to bring up the guide once again, to see if there were any details.
When enough creatures die in one place and there are no survivors to absorb the mana; such as from a natural disaster or sufficiently long-ranged attack; one of two events can happen, all of which can be extremely dangerous if left unchecked. The scale of the incident is determined by the level and number of deaths; a nuclear bomb on a major city would likely lead to an almost unstoppable, Godzilla-like Kaiju, while the sinking of a passenger ship might merely lead to an unusually large sea monster. Manifestation: A manifestation only occurs near settlements of sentient beings; or where one is destroyed. It is a being of pure mana, formed from the dreams; or nightmares; of the living. Rift: A rift can form temporarily to another place, typically one of those worlds which failed system integration and became the domains purely of monsters, allowing ancient horrors to enter. The level of power of these horrors is based on that of the incident, still; so it might just be a strange snake, or it might be an earth-shaking demigod.
So. If it was genuinely from another world, this would be the first truly alien life he¡¯d encountered since this began. Its abilities, traits, capabilities, all complete unknowns. Definitely worth investigating. 26 - Twin Nests Grey had thought, initially, that an Ant nest would be boring, a long span sitting there working alongside the two blast-oriented allies as they worked through legions of ants, pouring them into a hole like a meatgrinder. Instead¡­. When he parked the truck atop a nearby hill, looking down at the target nest a quarter mile away¡­. He felt a bit¡­ excited. There were two of them; towering edifices of ant nests, each of them about ten yards tall, and maybe half a mile apart¡­. And a constant, ongoing fight somewhere in the middle. To his left was a nest covered with more fire-ants; and from the smoke and bright flashes, more genuine fire once again. He focused on one of the Soldier ants amidst the mass.
Fire Ant Soldier, Level 3. Minimal threat. Extremely resistant to fire, capable of creating short sprays of burning liquid roughly two meters long once every few minutes.
More detail? Was his Examine skill getting better, or was it because he¡¯d killed so many ants? He focused on one of the Soldiers on the other side.
Soldier Ant, Level 4. Minor threat. Extremely resistant to acid, capable of creating a long spray of acid up to five meters away; this acid can spray onto enemies near the target, and can only be used once in an hour, and twice before the Soldier must feed itself or otherwise restock on its acid.
That¡­ was nasty. Five meters? It might only be level 4, but there were hundreds of them¡­ and they were bigger than the last batch. There were scattered piles of corpses; some on fire, some torn apart; across the open desert between the two nests. He could feel a slow but steady build-up of mana just being there¡­. And then heard the engine behind him¡­. Sledge had arrived. He looked at the van as the crew emerged; Sledge¡¯s riot gear replaced by a suit of heavy red-black leather, though he still held the shield¡­ and the hammer. Shockwave and Star wearing the same red-black leather; though Shockwave had somehow emblazoned his own with blue lightning bolts down the arms and legs¡­Stacktopus seemed almost as if he were wearing a bag of the stuff, all of his tentacles poking through. For Grey, he¡¯d forgone the boots; retaining the Uncommon-grade combat-boots he already had; and still wore the armored vest¡­ over the leather, at the moment¡­ and just bore a suit of dull red-black. Fire resistant. Exactly what he needed. He glanced his allies over, and nodded. ¡°The Fire ants are here again. Weaker than the regular ones, though. I suspect we would have been better off with Acid-proof armor today.¡± Sledge looked down over the carnage thoughtfully, as did his allies¡­ and slowly nodded. ¡°Well then. What are we thinking?¡± Grey looked at each nest, then at Sledge. ¡°We don¡¯t have to kill things ourselves to get levels from them¡­ just be close enough. If Stacktopus digs a trench between the two nests, and we rile them up a bit¡­ we can just stand near the fighting until one side wins¡­ then finish off the winner. All hit level ten before we go check out whatever it is out there.¡± Sledge gave a slow nod. ¡°That works. Though¡­.if there¡¯s enough of them, the nests themselves might level up. And if we¡¯ve got hundred-pound ants now, imagine what the Queen is gonna look like.¡± After a few seconds, Stack floated up off the ground¡­. And started a very different version of his usual routine. He was faster than before; must have upgraded his earth-shaping abilities; and made a 3-foot deep trench between the two nests at a steady rate, pushing up walls on either side that made it effectively deeper¡­.. Before turning around and starting it over, adding another couple feet¡­. Then again. It took about ten minutes¡­ but there was a fifteen-foot deep trench between the two ant nests, and rather than hundreds of scattered battles¡­ there were now two solid armies, converging on one spot. As the group gathered near the trench edge, they could feel their own gains¡­ Grey looked them over thoughtfully. ¡°I¡¯m going to be taking a new job. They want someone to run a new government department, one helping to understand and deal with Necromancers, and Undead. You folks might not be Necromancers, but I strongly suspect you might be of use; especially Stacktopus, for helping setup some nice inescapable tombs for masses of Undead.¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°Well. Depending on the pay, and the work, I¡¯d be down. I want to keep gaining levels, and once we¡¯ve got the desert cleared, handing rogue necromancers sounds like fun.¡± A severed ant-limb flew over the edge and dropped atop them. Grey shook his head. At this rate, he¡¯d have to piece the fire ants back together before animating them; the body needed to be reasonably intact to make a zombie. Most of the ones he¡¯d animated before were either killed by his venom, or Shockwave¡¯s lightning blasts, which cooked the internal organs but left the exoskeleton mostly intact. He started looting them as they piled up; getting nothing but more Chitin and the rare mandible; to ensure the mound of corpses didn¡¯t overcome the sides of the trench. These weren¡¯t going to be worth saving to re-animate, unfortunately. Still. He could feel himself on the cusp of level ten¡­ and none of them but Stacktopus had put in much real effort. It was¡­. There we go. The Fire Ant Soldiers had started to grow in size¡­ just a bit bigger¡­ and now matched up to the opposition.
Fire Ant Soldier, Level 4. Minor threat. Extremely resistant to fire, capable of creating short sprays of burning liquid roughly three meters long once every few minutes.
All of them, leveling up at once. The real reason swarms were a problem; they weren¡¯t really individuals; just the feelers and mandibles of a single massive organism. The group¡¯s presence was slowing the process down, but every ant nest that had to fight others would slowly grow stronger¡­ they¡¯d just been lucky, or unlucky, enough to witness the process. As a jet of flame burned through the front ranks of the Acid-ants, Grey gave a slow nod¡­ the trench was starting to move, advancing from the Fire-ant side; it appeared they weren¡¯t just longer, but more intense, and the black-chitin ants were starting catch aflame more easily. ¡°Should we help the regular ones?¡± Sledge looked carefully at the two onrushing mobs of ants, and the steady fighting¡­ then at the others. ¡°Well. We know the black ants were winning. The fire ants are winning now. Any way to know how many are left?¡± A stray band of the Fire-ants started in towards the group; Stack visibly shifted, twisting the earth; forming a wall, redirecting them back into the trench, and the ongoing melee. Shockwave shrugged. ¡°Does it matter? Whichever one wins, we kill the survivor.¡± Grey glanced at him, then at Star. ¡°The Fire-ants are resistant to Star. If they win, it¡¯ll be harder for us to wipe them out. Also¡­. I could use the fire-ant bodies for my future work. Flame-resistant undead could have a use. So long as we let them wipe out a good number of the black ants first, I think it¡¯d be a good idea for Stack to start dropping venom jars down into the fire-ant nest. Push the odds a bit, and leave more intact corpses.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Sledge smiled. ¡°Well then.¡± He looked up at the sky¡­ and at the tentacled ally. ¡°Hey, Stack!¡± The betentacled hero started floating their way¡­ as Grey started setting out stacks of jars, putting them in a cheap backpack; he produced it a bit faster, and in slightly more intense dosages, as he gained levels; but he should seriously consider upgrading the remaining three half-point skills, see what upgraded venom got him. ¡°Got a delivery for the mouth of the fire-ant nest, mind dropping it off for us?¡± The floating squid-like creature gave a burbling laugh. ¡°Not at all.¡± And started floating up into the sky¡­ and then over the red nest¡­ and started taking the bottles out, dropping them in, one by one. *** Killing giant ants; even if they were bigger than what they were used to; had become an old familiar process. Thanks to the two massive nests, Grey had received the notification for his tenth level before they¡¯d finished off the surviving Fire-Ant queen¡­ and the group stood over the enormous mound of corpses, most of them broken apart.
Congratulations! You have gained your Tenth level!
You have 3 Free Points available to spend. If you do not use them by the time you gain your next level, they will be spent for you.
You have gained One ability upgrade. If you do not use it by the time you gain your next level, it will be spent for you.
You have Three(3) Abilities which are at reduced effectiveness due to your class blend. You may use that ability to upgrade all of them to full effectiveness, giving you the full skillset of a starter member of both classes.
Grey looked them over, giving a slow nod. He hadn¡¯t needed to bring any of the ones he had out of storage, just started animating the broken ants scattered across the field¡­ this was truly the easiest thing he¡¯d been involved with short of handling the school full of zombies. ¡°Well then. Stack¡­ would you mind helping me dig a hole¡­ or even just use one of these nests¡­ and bury the intact fire-ant and the black soldier corpses? I could really use these later.¡± Stacktopus bobbed up and down in a nod. ¡°Not at all. Are we concerned at all about the split of loot? The fire ant chitin is actually still worth something.¡± Grey looked at the pile of bodies for a few seconds. ¡°Less than a third of them are intact enough to be a useful zombie. If its missing more than two legs, or the head, its going to be almost helpless. I¡¯ll sort through and loot them, and pass on all of the chitin, mandibles, fire sacks, everything from these fire-ants?¡± Sledge chuckled. ¡°We always agreed that whoever actually had a use for the stuff had first dibs. Lets rest for a bit¡­ I think all of us hit level ten there, so we can level up, too¡­. And then sure.¡± Stacktopus floated over the fire ant nest¡­ and started to burrow a hole straight down. Grey watched for a moment¡­ and then started looting. There were hundreds of the things. Having to pick out the intact ones would make it slow; but it was less than a second per ant once he got into the swing of things; and when it came to the final battle, a swarm of fire-resistant ants would be of untold value against Nightfire. He¡¯d been using the venom so incredibly often, gathering jars of it for the most part¡­ that it was silly he hadn¡¯t upgraded it yet. Especially since he could Empower his zombies with whatever venom he had. It was finally time to actually upgrade the rest of the way; and get all of the base abilities of both classes. He sent the mental command to upgrade; interested in what Venom magic -should- have been for a level one member of a poison-using class.
Ability Upgrade Used!
Assassin¡¯s Strike 1: For a minor Mana cost, imbue a weapon or unarmed strike with additional power, causing it to deal +100% damage when delivered. Takes a few seconds to place, discharged with the first attack that connects. Has a high chance to cripple limbs or cause other secondary effects if aimed properly.
Venom Magic 1(S): Expend personal mana to generate venom from the claws or mouth. Can be injected directly into a victim, spat or flung as a ranged attack, dealing minor acid damage and significant venom damage, or coated onto bullets, blades, arrows, or other weapons to augment them. Can also be spat as a projectile attack with a maximum range of 3 meters from a standing start; possibly splattering at lesser effect on nearby victims. Serpentfolk venom will paralyze unaugmented victims within seconds, leading to inability to move or breathe and resulting in suffocation shortly thereafter. The higher the ¡®Endurance¡¯ or ¡®Poison Resistance¡¯ of the victim, the more reduced the effect is. Standard venom will cause intense pain and damage over time to victims over an extended period of time, making regeneration more difficult and killing weaker opponents. Even the most basic level is sufficient to eventually kill any victim without augmented Endurance. Some victims are immune to a given poison; higher levels of this skill can open up access to more intense varieties of poison and/or new means of delivery.
Curse 1: Ability to curse a single victim with Weakness for several minutes, reducing their Strength and Agility by 30%(Maximum 10). Can also be used to curse a group of enemies, either targeting a ten meter radius and cursing any that enter while within, or cursing anyone within ten meters of a specific target, reducing their Strength and Agility by 15%(Maximum 5). Low mana cost.
¡­Ahh. So. Default level 1 Venom Magic was what he already had¡­ but with a damage-over-time venom. Could he mix the two together? Most likely more tiers of Venom Magic would unlock more potent venom, or new varieties. That could be useful. Especially in an Empowered Undead. He slapped the free points into Agility, Mind, and Power, as they¡¯d likely be the most useful going forward, and checked his stats as he kept working through the dead, leaving Chitin plates on the ground rather than sending them to his storage.
Nathan Grey
Serpentfolk(Human) Hand of Death(Hybrid) 10
Strength 17
Endurance 21
Stamina 30
Agility 27
Mind 27
Power 24
Abilities Intimidating Shout(Insects, Rats, Humans), Undead Animation 2(Empowered Undead), Undead Control 3(Horde, Awareness), Curse 1, Venom Magic 1(S), Stealth 1, Assassin¡¯s Strike 1
Skills Minor(Melee Weapons, Persuasion, Automotive Repair, Command) Moderate(Survival, Sales, Mana Manipulation, Examine), Expert( Ranged Weapons)
Titles Insect Slayer III, Rat Slayer II, Human Slayer, Ranged Slayer II, Vehicle Slayer(Front-Runner), Looter, Field Commander
Boons None
He thought about his abilities, his upgrades, as he worked. It seemed a bit odd the way it was all organized and setup. If these were upgrades of himself, why didn¡¯t he have more control of the way it worked? Why couldn¡¯t he forego the attribute upgrades and upgrade his Abilities more? Or vice versa, the way he¡¯d gained more attribute points before hitting level five? He had some more reading to do. It took over an hour to get everything organized and cleaned up; the intact Fire Ant corpses all neatly packed in a mass grave that was once their own nest, a pack of Level 4 Soldier Ant corpses stuffed into his storage for later use; with everyone sorted out and ready, it was time to go hunt the first genuine mystery he would encounter; he was curious. Would it be a human nightmare? A monster from another world? Only one way to find out. 27 - Outsiders Their final target for the day was over an hour¡¯s drive away from El Paso; the city was, day by day, getting further and further from danger, aside from the occasional random incident like the pet store. Grey was driving a hundred yards behind Sledge¡¯s van, watching the rocks and the sand going past¡­ wondering just what it could be that died so far in the middle of nowhere to trigger an event like this. Supposedly, big ones required something like a whole city dying with no survivors to soak up the Mana. This wasn¡¯t that big¡­ but still. As they started riding closer to the spot, they could see smoke rising into the sky, mountains rising to the sides¡­ and see, in the distance¡­. A sign for a rest area, one mile ahead. Grey frowned. A rest area. What could possibly happen at a rest area that would involve that much death? The van slowed down ahead of him, and Grey was forced to slow down as well; he had yet to charge the Lightning, but it was still over 90%, which¡­ was a good sign¡­ and wished, for a moment, he was in the van, that he could see whatever they saw. And changed his mind moments later. There was a sudden flash of light¡­ and the van swerved, slamming into a mile-marker, rolling onto its side¡­ and skidding a dozen feet. Grey slammed on the breaks, leaving a squealing trail of rubber¡­ and hit the reverse, driving back a few seconds¡­ but there was no second flash. Whatever it was¡­ perhaps it had a limited range? He pulled to the side of the road, opening up the truck door, studying the wreck¡­ and nodded. Best be ready. On the one hand, they might be badly hurt, in need of immediate help. On the other¡­ he didn¡¯t wish to join them. He tossed the manhole cover he¡¯d inscribed with the Necromancy circle on it onto the dirt beside the road, stepping onto it¡­ and pulled free five Soldier Ant corpses¡­ laying the first one down in front of him, focusing on it¡­ keeping an eye on the smoke in the distance as he did. Empowered Undead. Venom. Stealth. Assassin¡¯s Strike. Curse. He threw everything he had into it. It started off as a level 4 bug; but by the time he finished Empowering it, it counted as a level 8 for purposes of creation¡­. And he studied the results for a moment.
Ambush Ant: This stealthy level 8 undead abomination was crafted from a Level 4 Soldier Ant. The Acid it spit in life has been augmented by both venomous and curse energy; once each two minutes, it can spit a volley of dire venom ten meters long which applies both venom and curse effects to those struck; typically a single target at ten meters, while shorter-range volleys tend to splatter onto other, nearby victims. If the undead has sufficient time to prepare before striking, its attack, whether a venom launch or melee, is half again as effective.
There we go. Whether it was the venom, the curse, or the acid, that spit should do -something- to whatever had hit the van. The ant had a sinister vibe to it before it entered stealth; a dark green aura seemed to permeate it, its mandibles dripping with ooze, its carapace mottled and vile¡­ it looked as menacing as it was. Thanks to his stamina, he had enough juice to step right on to making a second ant without pause¡­. But by the time he reached the third, he was at his limits, and had to stop, resting¡­ sending the first two to inspect the crash site. He could see through the Bug¡¯s¡­ ¡®antenna¡¯ as it were¡­ Sledge was already up, and had opened the door of the van¡­ but another flash of light had narrowly missed his head when he emerged, so he ducked right back down. He couldn¡¯t see what was going on inside the van, but it was shaking a bit¡­ and looked mostly intact. The blast had moved it, more than it had actually hurt it. He glanced down at his flip-phone¡­ and placed a call. After a few seconds¡­ Sledge answered. ¡°Grey. They hit you?¡± ¡°Negative. What was it?¡± An exasperated grunt. ¡°Just some guy in armor, with a rifle, inside the building. No clue if it can pierce my armor¡­ but I fucking fell on Stacks when the van rolled. He¡¯s mostly focused on Power, Mind, and all that to augment his TK and earth-shaping¡­ which means it really hurt.¡± The squid was extremely useful. It would be unfortunate if he died. His species were supposed to be durable. Was it perhaps simply that Stacks had never upgraded his species innate Endurance? ¡°I¡¯ve got a couple of Soldier ants in stealth. Give me a few minutes¡­ once I¡¯ve got four, I¡¯ll have them ambush whoever it is. If they head for the van, I¡¯ll have them attack first, then warn you.¡± He kept focusing¡­ taking it slower this time, letting his reserves build up slowly¡­ and over the next few minutes, carefully formed the next two ants¡­. Before sending them out in Stealth. He didn¡¯t stop there; he could control, at most, six ants of this level of power after his most recent upgrades; his cap was 48 levels worth, which was a dramatic improvement over just a few levels before. So, of course¡­ he started working on two more, as the first four crawled their way forward¡­. And after a few minutes of walking, by the time the last two he could command were finished¡­ he had eyes on the enemy. There were two figures; both appearing to be furry, humanoid, and¡­ with horns. Minoans. The unusually strong, durable, and large sub-type from the class options. So. At least level 5. Well-armed. And¡­. They two were wearing some sort of uniform. It was a dull blue in color, with some sort of red insignia. Stolen story; please report. He blinked. Were these¡­ some sort of local militia who had both chosen the Minotaur-like species? Invaders from another world? Nutjobs? It didn¡¯t matter. They were enemies, who had attacked his allies. The two were whispering something quietly to themselves as the four ants prepared¡­. And, uncertain of the effectiveness of the attacks, he had all four of them attack the larger of the two from the hallway, about five meters away from the window they were crouched behind. The smaller one was acting as a spotter, apparently; the larger one laying on the floor a half-meter away, examining his rifle. And both completely shocked at the sudden gout of vile black-green fluid splattering across them¡­ The one struck directly simply started writhing in pain on the ground helplessly, screaming, twitching, tossing his rifle away in his spasms¡­ while the other, who¡¯d mostly just gotten a bit splattered onto his left arm and back, started shaking the arm violently and backing away, removing some sort of side-arm from his waist, aiming at the ants¡­ As the four charged at him, he opened fire; some sort of vivid white energy slamming into the center one, splattering its head across the floor¡­ even as the other three pounced; filling the creature with both venom and curse magic even as they tore it apart. The one with the missing head started slowly crawling to the prone one; with no sharp mandibles to fight with, it simply pressed the oozing stump of its torso against the screaming victim, digging its far less sharp feet into the flesh¡­. Smothering the dying being. Once both of them were gone, Grey simply retrieved another Soldier ant; and worked on getting back to six, having the other three destroy the cripple. ¡°Alright, Sledge. Sniper¡¯s out. Recommend you flip the van upright and we pick a good spot to button up¡­ and I¡¯ll use the ants to scout.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Sledge stuck his head up out of the van for a moment¡­. And this time, when there was no flash of light, he hopped out¡­ and after calling out a warning, started to pull on the edge¡­. And a few seconds later, rocked the van back upright. The enhanced vehicle had a few scrapes and dents; but otherwise seemed just fine. Sledge watched the faint blur of another Ant, clearly visible¡­ as a blur, at least¡­ but unidentifiable as it crawled on towards the rest stop. ¡°Ugh. Getting shot at by people wasn¡¯t what I was expecting today. I figured some sort of nightmare, an eldritch horror¡­ maybe a dragon.¡± Grey popped the manhole cover back into storage, and walked over to the van, the two spiders he held back shadowing him¡­ as he directed the undead to keep searching, inspecting. He quickly reached the limit of his range; it felt like, maybe, a few hundred yards¡­ but it was enough, for the moment. He studied what his ants were showing him; a rectangular metal box, similar to a cargo container, a vivid blue in color. There were more of the blue-armored Minoans nearby, several of them looking at the rest stop and the sound of gunfire with obvious worry¡­ and at least a few dozen younger ones. Mostly unarmed; children and teenagers judging by the size and appearance. He assessed what he was looking at. Forty to fifty children. Maybe twenty adults. All of the adults in light armor; Uncommon at best; and with weapons that, while flashy-looking, didn¡¯t seem better than what was carried on earth. These weren¡¯t quite invaders. More like¡­ settlers. Or refugees.This would likely be something more worthwhile to report in that merely kill, though the weapons they bore might have some value. If they were from another world, they might have valuable intelligence about their origin the military would appreciate.
Unauthorized Colonists!
System updating¡­¡­. You have encountered a group of unauthorized Minoan invaders, criminals fleeing the Minoan authorities and attempting to establish a beachhead on Earth.
The Committee¡¯s Minoan member has authorized a bounty of 250 credits per invader for the first ten individual kills, and 50 credits per invader for each one slain afterwards. Clearing the entire group will grant access to a System Store power to whomever kills the most of them, allowing you to summon a kiosk once per day at which users may purchase and sell items for system credits .
You have earned 500 credits for fulfilling two bounties!
System Credits. That¡­ was interesting. Hadn¡¯t Golden Boy offered him credits for his revolver? Said he could use them to buy weapons¡­ or powers? Definitely not an opportunity to pass up. This sort of reward dramatically reshaped what the best option was; the military could use survivors from some other group, or learn what they needed to from what was left behind. A bit less than Fifty kids. Twenty adults. The other members of the group likely wouldn¡¯t want to deal with the kids; while the message would probably be enough to get them to kill the adults, especially after the first two had opened fire, if they saw the children they might hesitate, or even refuse; it would be best if Grey could arrange to handle the children without witnesses. If these people were predictable, they¡¯d keep the kids in a ¡®safe¡¯ place¡­ and the adults would move forward to attack if provoked, perhaps leaving a guard or two behind. So. Best option. He and two of the ants could lure the adults into a place where Star and Shockwave could blast them, all together. While that was going on, he could have four of the ants kill the children; loot them before his allies saw. Definitely workable. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t examine the adults through the Ant¡¯s vision; but they hadn¡¯t seemed too impressive, so far. He glanced at Sledge. ¡°Alright. We¡¯ve got a fair number of them; Minoan invaders from another world, dropped here somehow; a good number of lower level ones, and about twenty higher level. And we get a bounty for each we kill. So¡­¡± Sledge had been looking into nothing; reading the same prompt Grey himself had seen seconds before¡­ and then gave a start, turning to Grey. ¡°You can see them. What¡¯s the best play?¡± He studied the area for a moment. ¡°I¡¯ll have four of my ants stay in stealth.. And these two spray some of the higher-level ones from a distance. When the high-level folks come charging¡­ the ants run in our direction. I lay down a curse on them, and focus on killing the low-level ones¡­ and the three of you¡­ four if Stacktopus is up for it¡­ handle the higher level ones. The bounty gets lower if you kill more than ten, and I¡¯ve already got credit for two.¡± He heard a soft burble from the van. Stacktopus wasn¡¯t floating at the moment, just lying there. ¡°I can set a trap. Hollow out the earth under an area, so when anyone heavy steps on it, it collapses into a pit. Not enough to hurt them¡­ but enough to let a single fireball hit a few dozen of them at once.¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°Workable plan. They¡¯ll have to come around the area between the rocks and the rest stop to reach us, unless they can leap over the buildings.¡± Grey lifted Cold Dead Hands up, and looked it over¡­ before nodding. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll use stealth, and move around. When its time to start, the ants will kick off the attack by splattering the area they¡¯re standing in¡­ and run your way. Or are the ants heavy enough to set it off?¡± ¡°Judging by the size of these guys¡­ one I make to collapse under one shouldn¡¯t collapse under the ants. At least¡­ Not unless they do it more than three at a time.¡± ¡°Excellent. Lets get this done.¡± 28 - Casualties As Grey climbed atop a nearby rock, settling in in stealth, virtually invisible, in a good position where he could see both the party and the Minoans¡­ he blinked. His plans hadn¡¯t even lasted seconds. The invaders had split up; six of them were remaining with the children, while the others¡­ seventeen by his count¡­ were all heading towards the rest stop, carefully, rifles raised¡­ He focused on the first one for a moment.
Minoan level 6, Drakh-slayer II, Moderate Threat
He nodded. And turned, focusing on another.
Minoan level 7, Drakh-slayer II, Moderate threat
Not much detail. He whispered into the phone. ¡°You¡¯ve got seventeen headed your way, level six and seven looks like the norm for them. All uncommon armor, most without headgear, all with rifles. Mind if I put all six ants on this side? They left six of the medium-level and the all of the lower-levels behind.¡± After a few moments, he heard Sledge on the phone. ~Can you drop that Curse patch thing on the trap right before you attack the rest? If they average out at that stage, we shouldn¡¯t have a problem, but every bit helps.~ ¡°Got it. Diverting the ants.¡± He carefully, slowly, slid down from the rocks. He knew the slower he moved, the less obvious he would be in Stealth¡­ and as the war party of invaders approached the ambush point, he glanced their way¡­ and focused. Right as the ground began to collapse, he laid out the Curse spell¡­. And as the first half of the group started to fall into the pit, he diverted his attention¡­ drawing the Left and Right hands, trusting Sledge to handle business there. Sure enough, even as he commanded the Ants to attack; the six remaining guards looking in the direction of the ambush¡­ he could hear the familiar crack of lightning striking down¡­ and the ¡®fwoosh¡¯ of a burst of flame. The defenders looked¡­ frightened. And then¡­ the venom blasts struck¡­ and all six of them looked¡­ just awful. None of them were killed¡­ but one of them dropped his rifle¡­ and all five clawed at the places where the venom had struck, letting out shrieks. Inside the container, the younger Minoans were screaming out in fear¡­ as Grey raised both revolvers, aiming, center of mass, at two of them¡­ pulling both triggers. One of them was taken, center of mass; a clean hole the size of his fist burst through¡­ while the second¡­ was a complete miss. Grey shook his head as he focused both guns on the next target; the movies made two-gunning look so much easier; and as they realized their predicament, four of them leveling guns on the ants while the fifth struggled to pick up his rifle, seemingly blinded¡­ He fired again. The ants pounced, biting down on them; with only three left armed, they were able to double up on their enemies¡­ but the Minoans didn¡¯t go down without a fight. One of them smashed an ant with the rifle he held; shattering its carapace and instantly destroying the undead, sending its corpse flying¡­ and stomped on the other, letting out a cry of rage¡­ While his companions fared far worse; collapsing, missing hands, missing arms, injected with venom¡­ being actively shredded by their own enemies. The cry of rage, of course, drew Grey¡¯s attention; and this time, one of the two rounds fired went cleanly through the Minoan¡¯s head¡­ sending him tumbling, limp, to the ground. Soon, the only one left standing was the blind one; lashing out with his gun, swinging at random¡­ not coming close to the Ants, which held back, watching¡­ as Grey calmly leveled Right Hand of Death on the Minoan¡¯s chest¡­ and with a final gunshot, the last of the adult defenders was gone. Inside the container, the older children; teenagers; had grabbed clubs. Wrenches. One even had a handgun of some sort. They looked afraid, desperate¡­ but willing to fight, to try to survive. But while the cargo container meant that they could only be fired on from one direction¡­ it also meant they were all in a confined space. Grey reached into storage, grabbing hold of one of his improvised venom sprayers; one that had survived his testing; and squeezed it, before rolling it into the container¡­ and stepping out of view. It was a bit late; the sole handgun was fired, and the youth had fairly good aim¡­ Grey stumbling as he felt an intense heat and pressure on his left side¡­ but the fire resistance of his armor apparently did some good. It hurt¡­. But he was okay. He could hear it. At first, shouts of fear. Then, confusion. Then¡­ silence. This was some of his earlier stuff; pure Serpentfolk venom. It would paralyze the victims¡­ entirely. Arms, legs.. Lungs¡­ heart¡­ and shortly after it worked¡­ they¡¯d be dead.
Congratulations! Title Gained!
Minoan-Slayer: +10% damage against Minoans;
  • As you already have a ¡®Slayer¡¯ title at rank 3, your existing ¡®Intimidating Shout¡¯ has now been upgraded, and can work on Minoan targets if you choose.
Clearly, most of them had already died. But he could still hear, for a few, the moans of pain, desperate struggles for breath. Once the noise stopped, he ordered the four Ants that survived into the container; he could see through their senses as they finished off the surviving Minoan teenagers, and gave a nod, before turning to check on the other battle; only to stumble in pain, holding his chest. That¡­ was probably broken ribs. Just turning was agony, and his vision turned a bit red as he focused back that way¡­. And blinked. He¡¯d expected to see the enemy buried in a pit; a dozen corpses, fried and electrocuted, his allies either starting to loot or mopping up the stragglers. Instead¡­ while there were some corpses in the pit, yes¡­ his allies also seemed to have suffered. Star and Shockwave were nowhere to be seen, only Sledge still standing; and him in a brutal struggle with a pair of Minoans, clearly injured. Dismissing the two revolvers back to storage, Grey called Cold Dead Hands into his arms¡­ and started to jog towards the skirmish. Sledge smashed one of the two Minoans over the head, screaming with fury.. Even as the other stabbed him in the gut, a strange, almost perfectly triangular blade skewering right through his armor; and judging by the blood, it wasn¡¯t the first, he kept beating on the now-injured man¡­ not stopping until Grey arrived¡­ and with a single shot at the unsuspecting Minoan¡­ ended the bull-man¡¯s life. He looked around for a moment, frowning. ¡°...Star and Shockwave?¡± A display popped up.
Bounty Rewards Earned!
58 invaders slain! Incursion ended! You have earned 4500 additional Credits, for a total of 5,000 from this incursion!
You have also gained the ability: Summon Store Kiosk, 1/day
Sledge was on his knees, gripping the injuries. ¡°...Fuck! They¡¯re both out! Shockwave¡¯s dead. Star¡­ probably will be, soon.¡± Grey frowned. This was¡­ unfortunate This¡­ Ah. ¡°The System Store¡­. There might be an item¡­¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Sledge blinked. ¡°That¡¯s right! I got about two thousand credits, but¡­ did you get¡­¡± A quick nod. Ensuring Sledge¡¯s good-will would be worth the delay in opening it up at home for a proper perusal. He focused on the words¡­ and a sudden silver spire appeared, bursting up from the ground as if it had always been there.
Welcome to the System Store!
This temporary Kiosk will last for twenty minutes, and will allow the purchase and sale of various items, from common food and clothing to exotic weapons and armor, even to mutagens which can grant permanent new abilities or adjustments!
Any sentient being within 11.73 meters can access the store simply by thinking ¡®System Store¡¯.
Sledge was staring at nothing for the moment¡­ then called out. ¡°Healing items! Regeneration! Restore severed limbs!¡± He stared into the void a bit longer¡­ and then two vials appeared in his hands. One of them a dull, glowing green¡­ the other a vibrant red. ¡°Sorry, sis, I meant to do this the other way, but¡­¡± He drank the red vial¡­ and quickly ran to a nearby rock¡­ Grey leaned over a bit¡­ and could clearly see a severed arm¡­ and quite a bit of blood. That¡­ didn¡¯t seem survivable. He stepped a bit further to get a better look¡­ she had a nasty wound in her torso, the black-red leather completely breached¡­ but as he watched, Sledge said something¡­ And began to glow intensely¡­ as did Star. Before¡­ he poured the green vial down her throat. Grey took in the scene¡­ and nodded. Either system items could save Star, or not. Either way¡­ He¡¯d give the siblings some privacy. He walked the short distance back to the fight at the cargo container, and lifted his arm, waving it over the enemies he¡¯d slain, one by one; starting with the children to avoid notice, and finishing with the first two snipers. He¡¯d let Sledge and Star loot the ones that group had handled.
Looted: Light Armored Bodysuit(Uncommon)(x7) Light Armored Helmet(Uncommon)(x2) TK Mana Rifle(Uncommon) x5, TK Mana Pistol x1(Uncommon), Minoan-variety Ration Pack x119, Credits x235
He studied the loot altogether for a moment, and then removed one of the Mana Rifles¡­ trying not to pay too much attention to the sound of Sledge fervently praying in the background over his sister.
TK Mana Rifle(Uncommon)
This mass-produced weapon is built for a single purpose; to condense mana from the user and their environment, then fire it in the form of a sphere of heat and kinetic force at significant velocity. This is the ¡®Uncommon¡¯ variety, having no special functions or options whatsoever.
Durable: This weapon is somewhat harder to damage than its material composition should suggest but can still be broken by a determined user. Spirit Gun: This weapon solely uses Mana to fire. It cannot operate in no-mana environments, and does nothing to subjects immune to magic. ThermoKinetic: This weapon deals a mix of kinetic and fire damage. The dial on its handle varies from maximum thermal to maximum kinetic; when all the way red, it has no kinetic impact but is excellent at igniting targets; when all the way black, it generates no heat but is excellent at breaking targets.
Interesting. Some of the rifles may have been rendered nonfunctional in the fight; most of the weapons he¡¯d seen here on earth were more durable than that¡­ something to consider. He stored the rifle back away, and looked at the various equipment the Minoans had left inside their storage container, checking for anything of interest.
Pre-Fab Shelter(Common)
This simple but durable structure is capable of unfolding into a shelter, simple, basic, resistant to the elements, or folding back into a small but heavy carrying case. Excellent for survival purposes or long camping trips. No locking door makes this shelter work poorly for long-term habitation.
The container itself showed up on examination? What about the rest? There had been several boxes that the Minoan teenagers had been sitting on, though one of them had been damaged by the Ants.
Morokan Settlement Kit(Common)
This crate contains a mix of seeds designed for feeding Minoan biology, alongside tools and fertilizers to help get a colony started, and a single Pre-Fab greenhouse designed to assist in maintaining temperature and humidity for the crops in less than ideal conditions. Requires adequate water, soil, sunlight, and of course work to be useful.
Definitely not what you brought with you for an invasion. These people looked less like genuine invaders, and more like refugees in need of a new home, with everything he examined. He added the crates to his storage; starting to get a bit crowded again. There only remained one real question¡­ whatever portal that these people had taken advantage of to come here. It would only have formed if something had happened here¡­ something that wiped out all living things at once, releasing their mana into the environment, rather than building up in whoever was responsible. The amount killed¡­ should also need to be more than a rest stop would have. He focused on the Ants; he hadn¡¯t bothered to create more after the fight, but the four that were left were plenty for scouting purposes. He sent them around, scouting, investigating¡­. And could see, in the distance¡­ a group of buses, parked next to¡­ some sort of scenic overlook? He hadn¡¯t driven this highway before. But from what he could tell, there were a series of telescopes mounted on poles, pointed at something, not a mile from the rest stop¡­ Whatever had happened there must have been what created these. Though¡­ if only four buses full of people could create one¡­. There might be more than he¡¯d initially thought. That couldn¡¯t be more than what¡­ a few hundred people? *** When Grey returned to Sledge; the kiosk having long since vanished; the man was still there, kneeling beside Star; whose missing arm had now become a stump¡­ which had a strange, bulbous protrusion growing out of it. He glanced down at it, then at Sledge. ¡°I¡­ take it you got what you needed?¡± Sledge looked up¡­ and chuckled. ¡°If we ever got enough credits¡­ I was gonna head to the kiosk in Dallas and get a regeneration mutagen, so I could regrow lost limbs and organs¡­ and Stacks was going to get one that would give him an off-class Healing spell without having to waste an Ability point, with Star doing the same. But¡­ with Stacks and Shock dead¡­ and Star out of it.. And missing a limb¡­ I had to get the Healing ability¡­ and make Star drink the one to give her Regeneration.¡± He dropped down, just laying on the paved parking lot space, staring into the sky. ¡°...You finished them off, then. If you hadn¡¯t, then you couldn¡¯t have summoned the kiosk.¡± ¡°Yep. All gone. Though¡­ something had to happen here to let them arrive. Something nasty. We need to check it out.¡± Sledge closed his eyes. ¡°I lost alot of blood. But I¡¯m healing¡­ you can wait for us¡­¡± He reached over, eyes still closed, and set an arm on his sister¡¯s shoulder¡­ ¡°Or go check it out on your own.¡± Grey looked at them for a moment¡­ then at the ants. ¡°...I¡¯ll wait. I could leave an ant to protect you, but if something killed me, it¡¯d suddenly want to kill you. Best go together.¡± More importantly, Sledge could fulfill the all-important job of attracting enemy fire. Judging by the group here, and their equipment; some of them actually had something better than light armor; Sledge and his friends had done the lion¡¯s share of the fighting here, leaving Grey to handle the second-stringers and a bunch of practically helpless children. One of the guns actually looked interesting; it was mostly the same as the others, but had an attachment below the top; a second, thicker, barrel, almost like a grenade launcher, and¡­ what looked like an earth magazine attached to it from a handgun. He examined it as it lay on the ground beside the dead Minoan.
Multi-Rifle(Rare)
This Mana Rifle was customized and upgraded with a built-in capacitor to allow it to operate in low and no-mana areas, and to fire projectiles, thus allowing it to damage magic-resistant and immune targets. It can adapt to fire either single shells or magazines less than 67mm in diameter.
Unbreakable: This weapon is highly resistant to damage, and very unlikely to break. Spirit Gun: This weapon¡¯s primary fire solely uses Mana, creating bolts of kinetic, thermal, or mixedenergy, which are ineffective against magic-resistant or immune targets. ThermoKinetic: This weapon¡¯s primary fire deals a mix of kinetic and fire damage. The dial on its handle varies from maximum thermal to maximum kinetic; when all the way red, it has no kinetic impact but is excellent at igniting targets; when all the way black, it generates no heat but is excellent at breaking targets. Multi: This weapon has a secondary attachment that allows it to fire any sort of projectile, from simple arrows, pebbles, and rocks to more elaborate weapons such as standard gunpowder munitions. For munitions with a means of launching themselves, the detonation is used to increase the force of impact.
That was¡­ both absurd and potentially useful. Could use it to feed a grenade, or a jar of poison¡­ if he used a smaller jar. He glanced down at Sledge¡­ the man was still conscious, and likely saw the gun¡­ it might even have been used on him. ¡°Mind if I take this Multi-rifle? It might be useful for, say¡­ launching venom at people. I¡¯ll trade you the five regular ones I got from the others.¡± Sledge didn¡¯t really seem concerned. ¡°Sure. Whatever. We¡¯d probably all be dead if not for you, take what you want.¡± He weighed the explicit permission against the likelihood of causing irritation, and Sledge being useful going forward¡­ and decided to do exactly as he suggested, leaving the five rifles on the ground beside Sledge¡­ he¡¯d loot the rest, and leave everything but the Multi-Rifle for the others. After they got a bit of rest¡­ they could check out the buses. See what sort of problem that was. 29 - Earnings By the time Star had awoken, she had most of an arm; albeit a small one; but still shrieked in terror when she saw it, rolling on her side, staring at it¡­ and startling Sledge, who blinked, shaking himself¡­ and picked her up, sliding an arm beneath the tiny, fragile new limb and wrapping her in a hug. ¡°I thought you were dead, Star..¡± Grey watched for a moment as she seemed shocked, wrapping one intact, armored arm around him, the new one just feebly swinging around¡­ and then looked at herself¡­ and around. ¡°Is¡­ is Shockwave really dead?¡± Sledge squeezed her a bit more tightly. ¡°...Yes. Stacks, too. He¡­.¡± She burst into tears, pressing against his chest. If he were a friend, what would he do at this moment? Probably hug them. Cry with them. He wasn¡¯t certain he could make himself cry. Grey considered¡­. And after a few more seconds, taking care not to touch her arm, stepped in close, closing his eyes and hugged them both; letting the four ants keep watch. It seemed to have been the proper response; the two leaned against him a bit, and just stood there for now¡­ before finally breaking it up. Star looked at Sledge, then at her arm. ¡°So¡­ what happened to my arm?¡± He sighed. ¡°Well. They had all these guns, and they used them¡­ both as clubs and as they shot at us. One of them shot you in the arm, and¡­. Well. Your arm went somewhere off into the parking lot.¡± He looked around. ¡°I could hear Grey fighting, and screaming, and you and Shockwave were both blasting¡­ They hit you first. Took off your arm, you fell unconscious. Then they got Shockwave. By the time they got Stacks, I was right there in the middle of them, and most of them were dead.¡± He looked at the corpses. ¡°...and I killed the ones who were left. If Grey hadn¡¯t come back, I¡¯d probably have finished them all off¡­ but I¡¯d be dead.¡± Star nodded. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ really shitty. And I¡¯m really sorry about Shockwave. And a little less sorry about Stacks. But¡­ that doesn¡¯t explain the arm.¡± ¡°We got credits for killing them. Two-fifty each for the first ten¡­ and I killed eight. You probably got some, so did Shock and Stacks. And¡­. Grey got the ability to summon a system store kiosk, once a day. He called it. I bought the two mutagens we¡¯d talked about getting first¡­¡± He grimaced. ¡°And drank the healer one. And gave you the regeneration one. So I could keep you alive.¡± ¡°....You used two power mutagens to keep me alive!? Why!? There are like¡­ potions of rejuvenation and that sort of shit! Like¡­ a fifth of the cost, and would¡¯ve worked so long as I was still alive!¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t thinking! You¡¯re the one who researched all this, you just told me what mutagens we should get, and why, when we got enough credits!¡± She stared at him¡­ then at her arm. ¡°...Thanks for saving my life, you big doofus. You too, Grey.¡± She sighed. ¡°Well. There¡¯s only so many mutagens you can use. This¡¯ll change my plans. Having Stacks and Shockwave gone will change them even more.¡± Grey nodded. ¡°I¡¯m going to be taking a new job with the military. We¡¯ll be recruiting¡­ and obviously you¡¯re welcome to come along. Competent, experienced people are worth their weight in gold right now.¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll think about it.¡± ¡°In the meantime¡­ you two should loot these guys. And then¡­ we should find out why they were even able to come here. I¡­ think¡­ its related to the buses by the cliffs over there.¡± *** At first, it looked as if everyone had simply vanished. Not people. No belongings. The buses were parked together in a parking area not far from the cliff-side¡­ Grey might not have ever realized what had happened¡­ if he hadn¡¯t noticed that there was a railing¡­ part of a railing¡­ along the cliffside. But none next to the telescopes. He stared for a few seconds¡­ and started stalking towards the cliff face, as Sledge and Star stood looking at one of the buses, chatting. ¡°Its strange! I wonder how long these have been here.¡± ¡°At least a couple days. With all the chaos a few more missing persons here and there¡­where did they all go?¡± Grey arrived at the cliff edge, what he was certain some might call a beautiful desert view¡­ and looked down for what he expected at the bottom. Corpses. Men. Women. Children. All dead. Looking mostly intact, aside from broken arms, limbs, and all the blood. They¡¯d fallen off the cliff. Died. And with no-one there to gain levels from it¡­.. Created an ambient surge of mana that caused the breakthrough. The question¡­. Why did they fall? One or two could be understood. But the whole mass, at once? He looked back towards the rest stop, then at the siblings inspecting the bus. ¡°Found the people. They all jumped¡­ or were pushed, more likely.¡± He examined the ground, and where the railing was¡­. Then looked back down. Both the railing, and several feet of rock, had been seamlessly broken and tossed down there¡­ with the people atop it. Either the rail went first, or they all went at the same time. Sledge and Star reached the edge, looking down as well, looking down at the pile of bodies¡­ and Grey looked at the surroundings¡­ the sky¡­ then back down. He started backing away from the edge. ¡°Hold up. Something¡¯s not right here. Get away from the edge.¡± Star glanced at him¡­ and stepped back quickly, while Sledge lingered a bit longer¡­ before nodding, and turning back. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Grey?¡± ¡°The bodies. They aren¡¯t being eaten. There¡¯s no vultures, or scavengers. How many nests of giant ants have we run into that would just love to eat this many bodies?¡± Star glanced toward the cliff face, then back to Grey. ¡°...What if the scavengers aren¡¯t working right, now that the system is here? Magic in the corpses or something?¡± Grey shook his head. ¡°No¡­ I¡¯ve seen vultures. Bigger than usual, even¡­ there was one at least twenty feet across watching us destroy zombies in Chihuahua. I don¡¯t think they get levels from eating corpses, but everything¡¯s getting bigger¡­ even the cows, just from existing in a high-mana world.¡± He looked back at the bodies, then at the cliff. ¡°....Intact, if broken, bodies. Nothing willing to eat them¡­ or whatever¡¯s eating them died. This smells like a chemical weapon attack, or something radioactive¡­ or magical.¡± He turned away, looking out at the desert. Nothing but rocks. Cacti. The rest stop. Off in the far distance, barely visible, a gas station by the interstate. ¡°...I might be wrong. But this doesn¡¯t feel like a monster attack. If it were, this invasion wouldn¡¯t have happened, and we¡¯d be looking at some giant beastie the Chosen would be hunting. And combining a mysterious method of death with the arrival of a bunch of invaders¡­¡± Sledge blinked. ¡°...Are you thinking they somehow killed these people to trigger the portal that took them here?¡± ¡°Them, or allies of theirs?....Its the most likely possibility. These people weren¡¯t ready for a fight¡­ but they were ready to settle on a new world. Either they were involved in planning this¡­ or expected something like it to happen, and took advantage.¡± He considered for a moment. The police¡­ and more importantly the military¡­ would want to know about this. *** When Colonel Parsons picked up the phone, the response was immediate. ~Sergeant Grey. Not quite time yet, but you should be hearing from Washington shortly; probably tomorrow..~ ¡°Apologies, Colonel. Just ran into something and I felt it best to call someone. Have there been any reports of alien invasions; as-in, organized groups of armed sentients, not monsters?¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Silence on the other for a few seconds. ~...Affirmative. Nothing in this region, though. They seem to be targeting extremely remote areas, as far from civilization as possible. I¡¯m assuming you¡¯ve encountered some?¡± ¡°Minoans, the bull-people. Less than seventy, mostly lightly armed and armored, a solid chunk of them barely armed at all. The System gave us a quest to clean them out, and they were shooting at us, so we did. However¡­ only about a third of them had rifles, and only four had good armor. Average level either six or seven.¡± ~The invasions fit one of two patterns. Most of them are Minoan, exactly like you described; various ramshackle bands of refugees and criminals. We¡¯ve also been getting more organized, competent invasions of a different alien species that wasn¡¯t one of the racial options; we¡¯re dubbing them Cyclops for the moment, since they have only one eye. Both of them appear to be avoiding notice by the locals, though the Cyclops are all level ten or above, armed, and armored, while the Minoans¡­ seem random.~ Grey nodded. ¡°So if we see Minoans, investigate. If we see Cyclops, call in the cavalry and back off.¡± ~You got it. Text me the coordinates and those details, when you can. One of the Chosen is surveying all of them, looking for a pattern.~ ¡°There was an unusual mass-death event that seemed to precipitate this one; several greyhound buses full of tourists who all inexplicably fell off a cliff at once, leaving bodies that aren¡¯t attracting predators.¡± Silence again. ~...We believe one or more of the Chosen might be either sympathetic to these factions, or bribed by them. But¡­ we have yet to see any cases of a mass-murder. Herds of cattle, forests, yes¡­ but if the one you¡¯re seeing is a mass sacrifice to deliberately summon one¡­ it¡¯d be the first. I¡¯ll pass it up the chain.~ The phone disconnected¡­ and Grey immediately texted Parsons his current coordinates, before turning back to Sledge. ¡°Well then. I see at least three medium-duty armor suits out of all these. I recommend the three of us take one each. If you two plan to continuing the hunt the way you are, I¡¯d also recommend joining another team¡­ not sure how much I¡¯ll be able to help if not, I¡¯ll probably be tied up after tomorrow.¡± Sledge sighed. ¡°Me and Star will just relax for now. Level ten is two levels above the average for the adventurers around here, so we¡¯ll do fine. Maybe help out a group, I''ll start putting out feelers tomorrow¡­ but when you¡¯ve got your little organization setup¡­ give us a call.¡± Grey nodded. ¡°If you need help, let me know. I can¡¯t promise I¡¯ll be right there, but if I can¡­¡± Sledge stepped up to Grey, and extended a hand; the taller, powerfully built Orc overshadowing the tiny serpentfolk. ¡°You helped us, and if not for you we¡¯d be dead. I owe you one. Two, really; you saved Star too. Whatever you need, I¡¯m on it.¡± Grey nodded one last time, and turned, heading for the Lightning; they¡¯d done all the hunting they were going to today. He had some work to do; finding jars small enough to fit things in for the Multi-rifle to fire, and doing a bit of research on the System Store for when he could access it himself tomorrow; ideally before his trip to Washington. *** When Grey arrived home, he set an alarm for two hours, to remind himself to get dinner; and to go make a delivery of food for the spiders. He had the lizard corpses, and the lower-level worker ant corpses; he¡¯d feed them the lot, and only retain the ones that were at least level 4. Then¡­. He set out the tablet. He had credits to spend. Two thousand of them, at least; but they didn¡¯t just show up on his status, so he didn¡¯t know if he had more. So¡­. He opened up the Guild app, and went to the database¡­. And a search for System Credits.
System Credits
A universal currency invested with value by the system itself, each individual credit is a tiny bit of mana invested by the system. While not officially recognized by the system, many local currencies exist, and often are used for things, such as a meal, which are not worth as much as even a single credit, and exchanges are sometimes available. The values of credits are set by the ability to convert them into an item using the System Store, and as such do not tend to fluctuate.
Credits are earned by actions favored by the system or sacrificing created or spawned items at a system kiosk. Otherwise, they may be exchanged, gifted, or issued as quest rewards. Your current Credit total will be visible by accessing a Kiosk, or simply by focusing on ¡®Current Credit Total¡¯.
He nodded; and focused for a moment. Current Credit total.
Current Credit Total: 5745 credits.
That¡­ was a bit confusing. He had 5,000 from killing the Minoans, and a couple hundred from what they themselves had on them. What were the rest for? He needed a bit more information about the store, and how much things were worth.
System Store
Accessed via kiosks that appear in every major city on a planet, or spawned by unique abilities granted for completing tasks that earn a user over one thousand system credits at a time, the System Store is a means by which either items can be sold to anyone else using the system, or items can be created by the system itself. The Kiosk will open up both a catalog of items the system can generate, as well as a searchable database of items offered up for sale or auction by other users.
Any user can offer up to one item per level for sale or auction, and it will persist until the auction ends or the item is sold or removed. Rules of auctions can be set by the seller, and transactions are instantaneous.
Values
Objects invested with mana can be sacrificed at a system kiosk for a return of a portion(25%) of their value or sold, either at auction or a list price, with part of that price lost for transport(25%)
Objects created directly by the system have a cost as follows:
Common-grade Weapons and Armors: 10-20 credits
These are weapons and armors with no augmentation, made of common iron, steel, and wood.
Uncommon-grade Weapons and Armors: 100-200 credits
These are weapons and armors with unusual durability and damage output, deadlier and harder to break than any mundane weapon or tool
Rare-Grade Weapons and Armors: 1000-2500 credits
These tools have not only unusual durability and damage, but a better ability to scale with the level of the wielder, and often special abilities or traits that make them more potent.
Potions:
Single-use potions range from 1-1000 credits, and can either apply temporary but significant buffs or restore harm done; a 400-credit Rejuvenation potion can restore any harm short of death.
Mutagens:
Single-use Mutagen extracts range from 1000-10,000 credits, and imbue the drinker with a new Ability, permanently, or permanently increase a trait. Users can only have a limited number of Mutagens before they begin to corrupt or remove the effects of others.
That¡­ was a massive variation. He might not be able to get a single mutagen that worked for him, or he might get five. Was there a list of the available Mutagens?
Availability:
There are certain extremely popular Mutagens which are generated by the system, and always available. Others are only available if created and sold by someone else.
Common Mutagens(1,000 Credits) Minor Regeneration, Healing, Acceleration, Extradimensional Space, Life Support, Stat Increase(+1)
Uncommon Mutagens(5,000 Credits) Class Skill, Stat Increase(+3), Extradimensional Home, Mana Siphon
Rare Mutagens(10,000 Credits) Racial Transformation, Extradimensional Shard, Stat Increase(+5)
He blinked. So. Limited number of mutagens each person could use. So a stat boost was more expensive the better it was. Made sense. But¡­ if he¡¯d been able to use that simple Tool boon on turning the cargo container into an Extradimensional space, why was this a mutagen? Did it duplicate the boon?
Extradimensional Space Mutagens
Extremely recommended for merchants and bodyguards, these mutagens give the user the ability to create substantially larger spaces. For the Common mutagens, a cube roughly eleven meters to a side. For the Uncommon mutagens, roughly fifty meters to a side; while the Shard is a massive thing, over three hundred meters across. Most higher-level individuals eventually purchase one such mutagen, allowing them to build a home they can access anywhere, at any time; and unlike the common equipment boon, it lets you bring living things or summoned monsters there, and eject them at will. Just a friendly warning; you need to periodically refresh the air. We highly recommend putting some sort of ventilation system in to make it easier to cycle air, or getting the Life Support mutagen so you no longer need to breathe. Just like the lesser storage spaces, time runs so long as something alive is interacting with them. Some individuals plant crops and raise animals inside a shard, and effectively retire there, never returning to their homeworld; an unknown but significant number of such individuals exist. Another friendly warning; you can have one such ability, and an Equipment one, it just forms a separate space that can, in theory, be taken with sufficient magic. But two Mutagens of this ability waste whichever the weaker one is; albeit very slightly increasing the size of the larger one.
He stared. He¡­ could store an entire army of undead in the Shard version. Use the regular storage for his common needs, and just keep animating and stuffing Empowered undead in there until it was full¡­ Undead weren¡¯t hostile to each other, just the living. So¡­ when the time came¡­ he could just kick them all out. A perfect ambush, instantly turning a serene area into a horde. He would get the 5,000 credit one if need be. But he absolutely needed to find a way to get the remaining credits for that shard. He''d be perfectly willing to kill Sledge and his sister for that, if he could somehow get back the credits from those Mutagens. He could practically taste it. Even without hitting level 20 himself, that might be enough to let him overwhelm her¡­ he just needed a way to stop her from teleporting away. If the government was going to help him level up... well. He''d need to figure out how to get more credits. He''d see how much what he had would sell for, when the cooldown expired on that kiosk. 30 - Dimensional Curiosities It had become a routine, of sorts. Sitting on Joshua¡¯s couch, eating breakfast, watching the news, preparing for the day¡­ and watching the end of the world slowly unfold. Sure enough, someone else had the ¡®Zombie Apocalypse¡¯ idea, in South America this time. They were having a bit more of an issue containing it than Mexico had; not from any lack of competence, but because apparently a 100-ft. Jaguar, level 28, was a challenge to kill even for the Chosen; and the worst part? The video showed seventeen Chosen, all between level 25 and 27, struggling to kill the behemoth¡­ and mere moments after it was finally slain, before it could be looted¡­ it rose as part of the Undead horde. The revitalized creature put out a curse aura that afflicted any non-Undead nearby¡­ and the chosen had been forced to withdraw. The helicopter that was taking a video of the whole thing crashed when the beast got too close. This was the first time Grey could remember the Chosen being unable to kill a monster¡­ and it was likely not because of how tough the beast was¡­ but because until then, the beast itself had been fighting the Undead as well. And when it was suddenly working with them¡­ every attacker was being overwhelmed by accursed undead. A long list of Chosen; dozens of them, including a pair of familiar faces; had agreed to join together to put an end to the beast¡­ Grey¡¯s calm shattered when he saw her helmeted face again. Nightfire¡¯s voice etched in his mind. It was only for seconds¡­ But he could hear it. ¡°Myself and Golden Boy will be stepping in as well. Thankfully our region has been getting more and more quiet as time goes by; I anticipate that unless something changes most of our action will be in South America going forward.¡± She was listed as level 27. She¡¯d gained seven levels since she¡¯d left him for dead. He¡¯d reached level 10¡­. But what good did that do? It got harder and harder to level as you got higher¡­ she must be constantly leaping and teleporting around, spending hours every day mass-destroying monsters. He shook his head¡­ and checked to see whether the kiosk would open for him. After the silver spire appeared in his living room, he nodded¡­. And rather than jumping to the purchase menu¡­ switched to ¡®sell¡¯. This was¡­ surprisingly functional. He could sacrifice an item¡­ earning back 25% of its credit value instantly. Or place an item up for sale¡­ earning 75% of whatever value he chose. He sorted through a few of his items quickly, to get a good idea of how much he could get if need be.
Item Sacrifice Value Recommended Sale Value
TK Mana Pistol 40 160
Multi-Rifle 625 2500
Right Hand of Death 25000 100000
Left Hand of Death 10000 40000
Cold Dead Hands 800 3200
Light Armored Bodysuit 30 120
Light Armored Helmet 25 100
Morokan Settlement Kit 10 40
Liquid Fire Sac 1 4
Acid Bladder 1 4
Ant Chitin 0.11 0.44
He stared at it for a few seconds. Parting with Right Hand of Death or its partner would instantly get him enough credits to get the mutagen he wanted, even if he just sacrificed them rather than putting them up for sale. He almost sold Left Hand of Death right there, remembering his inability to hit two targets at once while fighting the Minoans; but shook his head. The most interesting things to tell¡­ the Multi-Rifle seemed to be the most expensive Rare-grade rifle the system could just create on its own. You could simply trade 2500 credits for one and the system would make you one on the spot. And while the return-to-owner feature was nice¡­. The unlimited ammo, and the ability to launch vials of fire, acid, or venom were far more useful for his purposes. He set all of the Ant Chitin, Cold Dead Hands, all but one of the Settlement kits, and all of the light armor for sale at the listed price; he still had the one Medium armor bodysuit. He¡¯d get it customized a bit so it didn¡¯t look like an Invader item, and wear it. Maybe see if a leatherworker could plate it with Fire-Ant Chitin to make it fireproof. He then swapped over, checking the items for sale. The list was constantly changing and updating; a new item appearing, then vanishing.. And it appeared to fill three categories. Items that were roughly equivalent to a system-made item, only priced just slightly cheaper to attract a buyer. Items that were just flat-out superior, and priced significantly more¡­. And items that were inferior in some fashion, and thus more significantly cheaper. He checked to see if there were any cheaper versions of the Extradimensional Shard mutagen¡­ and found some immediately.
Village Shard Harvested from a slain Minoan invader, this mutagen provides a connection to an existing shard; one which cannot be reshaped by its user except by physical brute force, and which contains a small island consisting of a farming village and a variety of quaint albeit worthless homes. Its existing inhabitants have been removed, but the shard has been inherently attuned to match the day-night conditions of the Minoan homeworld, and is permanently running at normal speed. While unusually large for a Shard, it also has a variety of limitations thanks to these traits. 8500 Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Frozen Shard Harvested from a Winter King, this mutagen provides a connection to an existing shard; one permanently in a state of icy cold, containing a mansion made out of ice. While useful for food storage purposes, or to use as a form of improvised ice attack until emptied, anyone not immune to cold will eventually be killed by this shard, and anything that can be damaged by the cold will be. 7900
Infernal Shard Harvested from a Volcanic Lord, this mutagen provides a connection to an existing shard; one that is filled with molten rock, with a handful of spires projecting out of it. While useful as a form of improvised magma attack until emptied, even when emptied its temperature is so high that almost anything placed inside will eventually melt. 7900
Dread Shard Harvested first from a Lich, and subsequently a Slayer, this mutagen provides a connection to an existing shard; one formerly owned by a dangerous Lich. Anything of value has already been looted from the shard, all that is left is an empty castle whose accursed aura will kill any living thing placed inside and render any weapon or armor left there worse than useless. The former owner used it to curse projectiles and liquids for offensive purposes, but the shard appeared to eventually lay such a powerful curse on him that it killed him. 7500
Annihilation Shard Harvested from an eldritch horror, this mutagen provides a connection to an existing shard; one which appears to completely annihilate anything placed inside for more than a few minutes. Individuals stored within even briefly go mad and lose all connection with reality. 2100
Grey stared at the descriptions for a few seconds, and gave a short nod. That Village shard. Who cared if it was always running, or he couldn¡¯t shape it into some exquisite mansion? Unusually large? That just meant he could stuff even more undead in it. It would be some time before he had enough¡­ He blinked
Item sold! ¡®Cold Dead Hands¡¯ has sold for 3200 credits! You have earned 2400 credits! Items sold! Ant Chitin (x 7852) has sold for 3454 credits! You have earned 2591 credits!
He stared for a few seconds¡­ and nodded. That was¡­ fast. He immediately purchased the Village shard mutagen off of the kiosk. He was running low on time¡­. Only four minutes left. He started up three searches at once; asking for lists of magazines he could fill with liquids and use with the Multi-Rifle¡­ Mutagens that would stop someone from teleporting¡­ and Fire Resistance mutagens. The vials came up immediately; he could purchase ¡®Common¡¯ ceramic vials designed to fire through the Multi-Rifle for 15 per credit; and immediately bought 36 units worth, dropping his remaining credits to 2200, and only three minutes. The listings for his searches popped up even as he finished that purchase.
Minor Fire Resistance Mutagen Provides some resistant to fire or heat based damage; no longer impacted by extreme natural heat, and low-level fire spells have minimal effect. Body will not persist in burning after exposure to flame. 1000
Moderate Fire Resistance Mutagen As Minor, but provides a blanket 50% reduction in all fire damage. 10560
Major Fire Resistance Mutagen As Minor, but provides a blanket 75% reduction in all fire damage 41700
Fire Immunity Mutagen Immune to fire/heat effects. Unavailable*Err*
Dimension Lock Mutagen Grants the Level 21+ class skill from the ¡®Assassin¡¯ class; the victim is unable to utilize abilities that access alternate dimensions or relocate their body through any means other than direct travel. 15900
Challenge Mutagen Grants the core class skill from the ¡®Duelist¡¯ class; The victim suffers a psychic compulsion, and is enraged, and unable to leave the area until either they or the user have died. 3750
Shit. As he reviewed the data¡­. The time ran out¡­ and the Kiosk vanished. Still. He¡¯d learned plenty. The ¡®Fire Immunity¡¯ had appeared and disappeared multiple times even as he read it, and when it was there, it had sold for millions of credits. He should get the ¡®Minor¡¯ or ¡®Moderate¡¯ fire resistance power¡­ and empower all of his undead with it before dumping them into the village. More importantly; he was already an Assassin, partially. If he could get past level 20, he¡¯d actually get exactly the ability he needed. Which¡­ made sense. He thought for a moment. He¡¯d never explored the possible upgrades for Curse, or Assassin¡¯s Strike. One of those might have something to limit the victim¡¯s mobility; Dimension Lock might be an upgrade for something else, even. He¡¯d have to check into that. But for now¡­. The kiosk had directly transferred both a tiny glowing purple vial¡­. And 36 cases of ceramic jars, in simple plastic boxes¡­ directly to his storage. He popped one box out¡­. Exactly as ordered. Three ¡®Magazines¡¯ of five jars, designed to feed into the bottom of the Multi-rifle. Each jar¡­ a ceramic bottle, with a ceramic screw-on lid, and a pointed tip. Undoubtedly 67mm in diameter, exactly what the rifle needed. He studied the magazines; really simple plastic sleeves; for a moment. He could easily take those acid bladders and empty one out into a few of these; and do the same with his venom. The ceramic bottle itself would do some damage to the victim¡­. And then the contents would make it so much worse. Cold had been a good gun. But the Multi-Rifle was just so much better for his purposes. And the credits let him get¡­.. The glowing purple vial popped into existence in his hand. It was tiny¡­ had a screw-on metal cap¡­. And¡­. when he drank it down, it tasted¡­. Absolutely horrible. He grimaced.
Power Gained: Extradimensional Shard(Village)
This extradimensional shard was custom-crafted to the specifications of a Minoan. Forming a disk 973 meters across and 23 meters tall, this shard cannot contain the sort of enormous many-leveled mansion some users prefer, but is perfect for a protected modest farming community. It is larger than most shards by some small amount, but cannot be reshaped and adjusted at will, and time within it continues running even when not being interacted with. When the owner dies, like most shards, the kernel can be withdrawn from the owner¡¯s body and turned into a mutagen. Without this process, the shard can only be accessed via powerful dimensional magic. This shard currently contains a series of abandoned farms surrounding a small village. The original owner had a modest home at the center of the shard, and kept his own and several other families within for protection. These, as well as all valuables, were removed when the shard was harvested and sold. The shard retains enough plant and animal life to continue supplying air indefinitely without outside intervention.
Grey nodded. Perfect. He could even feel the space, as if he could just reach out and step into it at any moment. After a few seconds of focus¡­ he did just that. One moment, he was standing in his apartment; it was early morning in El Paso. The next¡­ He was in a very different, larger, more open house. A simple, wooden structure, with oversized furniture¡­ and gaps in the wall where electronic fixtures had once been, and even blank openings where there had once been glass windows. Outside¡­. It was noon. A beautiful summer day, bright and warm¡­. And the small house was in the middle of a small village, of other wooden structures. Most of them were primarily roof; roughly triangular structures. He could see a simple gravel road outside,,, and when he stepped out of the gap that had once been a door, he got a better view of his new property¡­ it seemed there were open fields of some sort of green-brown plant completely surrounding the village¡­ and then a ring of trees perhaps a few hundred meters away. So¡­. trees grew here, that they used to build houses. They grew crops. Probably raised animals, if Minoans ate meat. And¡­ all told, someone had shaped it into a secure, albeit boring, farming village. As he studied the village, nodding quietly to himself, he noticed something odd, at the center of the town¡­ a simple stone arch, a few meters tall¡­. With a series of runes carved into it¡­ and another, on the other side of the street. The only paved portion of the town¡¯s roads was between the two arches. He studied the first one, triggering ¡®Examine¡¯.
Portal Arch: This portal is currently inert and powerless. A skilled portal-user or the right artifact can form a connection between this portal and another.
This Portal was once used to connect this village to a long series of other, similar, shards.
The more he saw, the more questions he had. Were the Minoans a refugee people overall? Or perhaps large groups of them formed clusters of Shards like this to evade their government? Why colonize a new world instead of making one of these? The equipment the Minoans had brought with them, between all the armor and weapons, would¡¯ve been most of the price of a shard like that. It didn¡¯t matter. Whatever the reason¡­. This was perfect. It might have been able to house a modest population of Minoans. But it could fit thousands of Undead in here. And if he figured out which plants were best for the purpose, he might even be able to use some of them to keep the air in his smaller cargo container from going stale. But¡­. that was something to worry about later. For now, he had some corpses which were already resistant to fire, and needed no augmentation. He wouldn¡¯t be worried about controlling them; just dumping them out to attack Nightfire and then going into Stealth; so he could just give them every boost he could, drop them in the village, and let them go¡­ moving on to the next one. He had the minimum assets he would need for the plan; next, he just needed a way to keep Nightfire from fleeing the trap. He pondered his options¡­ as he typed in the GPS of the fire-ant nest where they¡¯d buried all the corpses. The military would help him overcome the level disadvantage. They wouldn¡¯t get him all the way there¡­. But if he played his cards right, they wouldn¡¯t need to. 31 - Desert Shenanigans Curse magic. Stealth magic. Venom magic. Assassin¡¯s strike. He had a template to apply to every single ant, now. It was steady. Every time he completed another Ant, and the corpse rose from its lifeless state, acquiring the same dark, malevolent aura as the rest¡­ he imagined it sinking its mandibles into Nightfire¡­. And then sent it to the village. He could see it in the background now. As soon as he abandoned control of the undead, they started wandering the village; malevolent undead with a thirst to destroy life. There were no people there¡­ but there were insects. Plants. Some form of lesser life; rats? Gophers? Whatever the Minoan equivalent was. He¡¯d inspect it later, see if their corpses were worth turning into undead. And whatever it was, the ants he released into the village were digging at the ground, tearing apart walls, trying to find it, to kill it; turning the quaint village into a ruin. Shredding the crops. The pleasant place becoming a dark, toxic horror, which only grew worse with each ant he released. It would take hours to get through the pile. But he had time. And the hundreds of moderately intact Fire-Ants would make a good start. By the time he was halfway through, exhausted, having had to slow down dramatically, he was eating a sandwich while making the next ant¡­ and his phone started ringing. He glanced at it¡­. And hit accept. Sledge was calling? Might as well find out why. ¡°This is Grey.¡± ~Hey, Grey. Me and my sister are gonna be meeting up with a new group. Probably not fighting or doing anything serious; the mission is just a nest of some sort of animals, Armadillos I think. I know you¡¯re doing the whole military thing soon, but mind coming with for a bit? These guys are a bit like you; they didn¡¯t swear the general oath, just swore not to hurt each other. And as silly as it sounds¡­ I¡¯d prefer a bit more backup until we all make that promise.~ Grey thought for a moment. ¡°Sure. No problem. I¡¯m actually out at the spot where we wiped that fire-ant nest collecting corpses now that I got more storage. Give me a time and location. I¡¯ll wrap up here, and head out.¡± ~Nice. Text incoming. See you there.~ Grey looked at the piles of corpses that were left¡­ and then at the GPS. He nodded¡­ he had an hour and a half. He could make more of them¡­ at least a dozen¡­ and then head out. *** The new armor was a bit¡­. Off. It had re-sized to fit him, as he¡¯d expected; all the magic stuff did. But he¡¯d never worn armor that heavy before¡­ and it still smelled of the dye he¡¯d used to change the color. It was a simple, dark grey, with the ceramic chest-plate more black, alongside the gauntlets¡­ and he was still wearing the combat boots. And¡­ it felt heavy. Constricting. It didn¡¯t really cause a problem, but it made it clear that Medium armor was truly different; and he hoped the protection offered was worth the hassle. He looked out the windshield as his GPS told him the coordinates were up ahead; he could see a vehicle already parked; one he didn¡¯t recognize. When he pulled off on the side of the road, he gave it a quick look; a simple red Ford Explorer. Nothing special; though undoubtedly upgraded, and they¡¯d even attached armor plates to it. Grey wasn¡¯t sure if that would do any good; but trying certainly wasn¡¯t a bad idea. The men standing outside the vehicle; five of them; were all wearing almost identical gear. AR-15s. Body-armor vests. Classic khaki desert camo. Black masks, looked like some cheap version of gas-masks. Three of them were leaning against it, talking to each other, one of them was standing off to the side, looking offroad at what was undoubtedly the Armadillo den¡­ The fifth¡­ wasn¡¯t even there anymore. One of them had vanished as he approached¡­. Undoubtedly a stealth ability like his own. Huh. Going into stealth to scout the nest? Possible threat. Grey considered possible reasons why he would do such a thing. First thought¡­. Ambush. If he hung back, he could take Grey and his allies by surprise. Possibly even wait until after they made an oath¡­ and then attack while they thought they were safe. Grey thought for a moment¡­. Looking at the four. He typed out a text message¡­ ~Supposed new team planning ambush. One of them went into Stealth and is seeking a sniper position. May need backup.~ He didn¡¯t hit send¡­ and held the phone in his pocket, as he climbed out of the truck. At the moment, he likely seemed harmless, despite the armor. Simple blue hoodie so that he actually had pockets, over grey and black armor; no apparent weapons. The four men all looked at Grey as he approached; all human. Some sort of oddball flag on their shoulder; probably one of the militias. ¡°Just the four of you, and all decided to focus on using rifles?¡± One of the men spat on the ground. ¡°Yup. Why go with something new? The rifle is what let man conquer the world. No reason not to use it to conquer the galaxy.¡± Grey nodded, and pressed the send button, withdrawing his hand from his pocket, extending it out towards the stranger. The man took it, giving Grey a firm handshake. Grey held onto his hand for the moment. ¡°Name¡¯s Grey. So you¡¯re wanting to conquer the galaxy?¡± The man seemed a bit confused. ¡°Johnson, myself, and...Yes? Its human destiny to expand across every world.¡± ¡°Seems like a good enough idea. Though I¡¯d say America, rather than humanity, right?¡± The man shrugged. ¡°Both. But really¡­ human destiny, american destiny¡­ spread across every world out there. Not just shore to shore this time. Across every world.¡± He started to release Grey¡¯s hand¡­ but Grey held firm. ¡°If you¡¯re genuinely thinking we should expand out there, take either worlds¡­.Would you like to see another world? I can take¡­ or send¡­ you directly to a village of those Minoan people. Not a single gun in sight, just mostly defenseless farms.¡± Grey could store living beings in the Shard. But they had to go willingly. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. He blinked. ¡°You¡­. can access other worlds?¡± ¡°If you people wanted, I could send all of you straight to one, and take you back, too. Only from this one specific village, though; you¡¯d have to find your own way from there. There¡¯s a portal there¡­ never figured out how to activate it.¡± If he could trick these idiots into going willingly, the ants would kill them. Then he could loot their corpses, at minimal risk to himself. The man looked at his friends. ¡°.....That¡¯s a talent our organization would find extremely useful, though we¡¯d need to figure out how to make a permanent portal so we could really effectively exploit it. Just to be clear though¡­ if you wanted to become a member, you¡¯d need to change back to human. When I said human destiny, I meant human destiny.¡± Grey had no idea if that was even possible. ¡°Sure. The venom is handy, but I spent a few levels recovering from the lost stamina when I switched; regular serpentfolk have abysmal stamina. Most races do, it seems.¡± Sledge and Star had both swapped species. No way these idiots were genuinely wanting to work with them. He nodded, seeming to accept the admission of human superiority. ¡°...So how do you do it? The leaders of our militia would be¡­ intensely interested in this.¡± All four of them seemed much more interested now. ¡°I killed this band of invaders; Minoans¡­ its where I got this armor, and¡­.¡± he snapped the Multi-rifle into existence, pointed off to his left. ¡°This rifle. Can shoot bolts of force, bolts of fire, or even launch grenades. Really kick-ass.¡± He lowered it to point at the ground; all of them were watching it intently, clearly curious about the alien technology. ¡°But anyways. After I wiped them out, I got access to, maybe, the spot they came from. If we had enough like-minded Americans we could launch a counter-invasion. I can just hop there myself, or send people, or items, close enough there. Gotta be willing people, though, and I can only reach this one, specific place outside a Minoan village.¡± Grey glanced around. ¡°Obviously I don¡¯t expect you to take it on faith. I can send one¡­ or more¡­ of you, and go there with you so you know its safe¡­ to land, at least. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll want to defend the place, so wandering around likely wouldn¡¯t be safe.¡± He could feel the village. The fields of crops were currently devoid of ants; they were currently all chasing a single gopher-like creature, hundreds of the giant ants tearing apart a single house to try to reach a living thing no bigger than his foot. Johnson studied Grey for a few moments thoughtfully. ¡°... Your friends aren¡¯t here yet¡­. Are they close friends of yours?¡± ¡°Helped me kill the Minoan invaders, and some ants. Otherwise¡­.¡± Grey shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m an American, and a vet. The country comes first. They¡¯re American citizens, and useful.¡± The small group looked at each other for a few seconds¡­ and leaned closer, having a short, soft, conversation. After a few seconds, they broke back up, and the leader made some sort of gesture¡­ A man seemingly appeared from nothingness about fifty yards away, laying amidst a pile of brush; even without Stealth, he would¡¯ve been hard to spot; and started to approach. Johnson continued to take the lead among them. ¡°Well. Honestly, I¡¯m interested in seeing this Minoan village of yours. But we should probably send someone who can sneak around, check things out.¡± Grey nodded. ¡°Seems fine.¡± He glanced at his men, then back at Grey. ¡°Now. I¡¯m gonna need an oath from you not to attack me or my men. You give me that, I¡¯ll go with you and see what this place is like.¡± Grey thought for a moment. ¡°I swear by the system that I will not directly harm any of your people who themselves have sworn not to harm me or my allies, but make no promises regarding our destination; the creatures on the other side are definitely going to be hostile to both you and me.¡± Johnson blinked¡­ and frowned. Clearly he¡¯d wanted to get an oath without giving one back¡­ but he glanced at the man who¡¯d emerged from stealth. ¡°Bob. Swear not to hurt him or his allies¡­. Word it the same way, so if his buddies attack us, you can still hurt them. And I also swear not to harm you, nor your allies if they make the same oath.¡± A few seconds after Bob finished speaking, Grey could see a visible indicator of the oath between them, and himself¡­ and he nodded. ¡°Well then. Take my hands. I¡¯ll show you the village.¡± One moment, they stood in the desert. Brush, desert, rocks¡­. The Armadillos they were supposedly there to clear out nowhere in sight. The next¡­ they were standing in a desolate field; clearly torn apart by the ants, uprooting every plant, crushing every animal¡­. And could see the ruins of the Minoan village. The space was designed to trick the eyes; make it seem as if the village was inside a forest, with a clear-cut region around it planted with crops; which helped his deception. He could hear movement, from the village, and see the buildings themselves¡­ but otherwise it seemed fine. The time of day¡­ appeared to be noon. It was later than it was in Texas, and a bit cooler, more humid. It felt different in so many subtle ways¡­ and Johnson smiled. ¡°This¡­. Is amazing. Seriously, if we can figure out a way to make a portal, being able to invade these fuckers back¡­ it¡¯ll be a total gamechanger.¡± He looked at Grey. ¡°I wish you were human. But we¡¯ll get that fixed, somehow. Do we have to be here, like, this spot, to go back?¡± Grey nodded. ¡°Yup. I can feel this spot right here, even when I¡¯m in the other world.¡± He looked around at the village, and there was an audible click as he checked the Multi-Rifle; there were five venom containers hooked to the bottom in the ¡®Magazine¡¯. Johnson chuckled. ¡°Well then. Bob, go take a look around. If you run into trouble, come right back to this spot and go back into stealth.¡± He drew an X in the debris. The other militia member gave a salute¡­ and faded into nothingness. Grey considered. If the other men had taken the oath, they¡¯d be a non-threat. If they hadn¡¯t¡­ he could simply shoot them. He couldn¡¯t order the ants to attack these gentlemen. The oath would prevent that, or reset him to square one. Leaving them here, trapped? He took a step away from Johnson¡­ and then returned to the real world, Multi-rifle already raised, aimed at the hip level where he knew the men weren¡¯t wearing armor¡­. And pulled the trigger less than a second after he reappeared, as soon as he noticed the lack of the ¡®Oath¡¯ designation on them. From the perspective of the three men, one moment there had been nothing; they¡¯d been listening for the approach of an oncoming vehicle, and heard one in the distance¡­ the next¡­ A ceramic shell had burst through one man¡¯s thigh, shattering and sending fragments of envenomed ceramic bursting through his veins¡­ as Grey swept the rifle to the left¡­ firing a second shot, the shell bursting on an armored chest¡­ a third on the same man hitting another unarmored leg¡­ and his fourth shot, once more, hit leg. It had been bare seconds, and he¡¯d fired four times¡­ and he tried to return to the shard, or his storage space¡­ only to find that he couldn¡¯t. It seemed that for whatever reason that wasn¡¯t allowed during a fight¡­ so instead, he ran around the other side of the ford explorer. All three of the men had started to fall¡­ but none were dead yet, and all of them were still armed. There was screaming¡­ cries of pain, of rage¡­ And then a sudden vibrant burst of light¡­. And silence. Grey looked over the hood to see Sledge and Star in the distance; Sledge looking a bit troubled, while Star was smiling, waving back and forth cheerfully, clearly unconcerned about the dying men she¡¯d just finished off. The van was nowhere to be seen, and Grey would be curious about how they''d arrived... if he weren''t more focused on the antics of the two men imprisoned in the Village shard. 32 - Ruthless He could just vaguely sense the location of ¡®Bob¡¯ as he moved through the area; his Stealth skill was higher than Grey¡¯s own, and if it weren¡¯t for the fact he was inside a shard Grey himself owned¡­ he¡¯d likely be clueless. He tracked him as best he could, even as Johnson was just looking around confused¡­.. And the ants¡­ seemed to have become aware something was going on. Grey frowned. These two men were both clearly at least vaguely competent, and had rifles. They might kill a fair number of ants. He wanted to stack the deck against them¡­. But he¡¯d made an oath. And if he worked too directly, he¡¯d be forced to start over. Might lose the opportunity with the military. He closed his eyes¡­ and ignored it, trying not to think about it as he stepped out from behind the explorer. ¡°Well hello there. I¡¯d say I waited for you to show up¡­ but the timing was mostly a coincidence. I¡¯d just tricked the one who had stealth into a deathtrap and figured I¡¯d clean up the others real quick before they realized I knew.¡± Sledge looked at the three bodies, then at Grey. ¡°... What the hell happened, anyway?¡± ¡°As I was driving up, one of them went into stealth and got into a good firing position to take me out, thought I didn¡¯t notice. The other four pretended like he didn¡¯t exist¡­ and were just distracting me til you showed up.¡± He looked down at the bodies. ¡°So¡­. I handled it. Apparently they¡¯re part of some ¡®Human Supremacist Militia¡¯ that just formed against people like us who swapped races¡­ as well as genuine invaders.¡± Sledge looked thoughtful. ¡°Well, hell. Should we do something about them?¡± Grey shrugged. ¡°These guys planned to ambush you two. So I had no problems taking them out. No way to know if the whole group is that bad, though. Hesitant to just go in and wipe out a whole militia without being sure, even assuming we could.¡± Obviously he didn¡¯t really care. But he needed something valid to say to the cops, or the military. Sledge looked at the bodies, then at the Explorer. ¡°...So what do we do with them?¡± Grey looked them over for a moment. ¡°The two I trapped are still alive, so far. I¡¯ll loot them whenever they finally kick it. You two can loot these, and we split whatever¡¯s in the SUV?¡± Sledge blinked. ¡°Is¡­ that legal? I mean, these aren¡¯t monsters, and they aren¡¯t alien invaders. Maybe they wanted to kill us, but they are people.¡± Grey shrugged. ¡°If you want to call the cops, you can. Frankly, I don¡¯t want anything to do with my name and these people, in case the rest of the Militia decides it wants a pound of flesh. Best case scenario, they never figure out who we are.¡± Star shook her head. ¡°We¡­. already accepted the invite on the Guild app. It¡¯ll be clear we were headed this way.¡± A slow nod. If the Militia came after Sledge and Star, its likely they¡¯d torture Grey¡¯s identity out of them, or even just find messages to him in the cell; or a previous association in the Guild app. ¡°Well then. I guess we need to clear out the rest of the Militia so they don¡¯t try to kill you. I¡¯ll need one of their corpses, and a new pair of pants to dress it in.¡± The siblings stared at Grey for a moment. ¡°You¡­. just changed your mind, and are going to wipe them out, just like that?¡± ¡°Well, if its a choice between you two and them? Its easy enough.¡± Star sighed. ¡°There has to be some third option. Its not just ignore them and have them track us down, or kill them all.¡± Sledge nodded. ¡°We drop out of the Guild app. Swap handles, maybe and sign back on¡­ or we just go work with you and the military.¡± Grey looked at them thoughtfully¡­ and nodded. ¡°Fine then. Should work out. I¡¯m expecting to get called up to head east any time now. Know of any fire ant nests? I¡¯ve got one of those cheap extradimensional storage spaces, and I¡¯d like to completely pack it with cheap fire-resistant undead that can mix in with the enemy while Star blasts them with fireballs.¡± He¡¯d handle the militia himself. He needed a willing target to put them in storage, but not to take them out¡­ he could easily dump an hour¡¯s worth of animate fire-ant zombies inside their base if he could find it. A bit bothersome if one got out, but likely enough to burn their base down and them with it. Star blinked. ¡°Huh! That¡¯d actually be really handy. Sure! Ants are getting fewer and further between as time goes on, but there¡¯s a big fire-ant nest a group is clearing out. Maybe they could use some help. Here¡­¡± She sent Grey a text with the coordinates. ¡°Good luck!¡± *** It took over an hour to arrive at the nest, where Grey got to see a very different group¡¯s means of handling a nest; and unfortunately a failed one. There was a heavy armored truck, clearly one formerly used by a bank, but now modified, armored plates and heavy-duty spikes mounted to it; and stuck in an enormous hole¡­ behind a long, circling trail where it had been used to drive in circles around the nest. Crushed corpses of ants were everywhere. And even as he slowed to a stop, he could tell that, while there were hundreds¡­ maybe even thousands¡­ of crushed fire-ants, they were both lower-level than the ones he already had¡­ and mostly too damaged to be useful. Maybe one out of every six or seven could be used as a zombie if he was lucky; likely less. There were a set of four poles mounted to the top of the truck, and each of them had an armored figure wearing black-red chitin armor, and some sort of pole-arm standing beside it; and rifles hanging uselessly at their side, undoubtedly out of ammo. The ants were swarming around them; clearly they¡¯d been using the armored truck to maximum effect, crushing the ants en masse¡­. And either the ants had dug a pit trap for them¡­ or one of their existing tunnels had collapsed under the weight. They were holding their own, but struggling; constantly working to hack at the swarm, dripping with sweat. Grey studied them for a few seconds, then the nest. The swarm¡­ wasn¡¯t as thick as it should be. There must not be too many ants left. He studied the people. They weren¡¯t militia; but they wore identical armor to each other, and had the same weapons. Some sort of team from beforehand. He looked around¡­ he couldn¡¯t spot anyone else in the area. No witnesses. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. He nodded to himself¡­ and entered stealth, moving closer¡­ and finding a rock perhaps a hundred meters away from the ongoing battle; he could feel he was close enough to start getting Mana from the kills; this might get him to the next level if he did it right. He could see injuries; their armor was fire-resistant, but not fire-proof, and not only was there a bit of blood dripping down, but two of them were using their pole-arm with one hand¡­ and the movements were rote. Sluggish. Without some sort of outside intervention, he gave it a fifty-fifty shot whether they¡¯d die out before they wiped out the last couple hundred ants. He checked the multi-rifle¡­ setting two magazines of the Venom shells on the sand; the Serpentfolk venom, so he¡¯d be resistant when he came in after; and took aim. He started firing, as quickly as the rifle would launch; sending all five shells at the truck, rather than aiming at any single person. If they had gas-masks under those black-red helmets this would be of tremendous help. If not¡­ he would be finishing off both them and the rest of the ants. The liquid sprayed into the air, and when he emptied the earlier, partial magazine, it only got worse; a faint pale mist surrounding the truck, as the shards of venom-coated ceramic splattered across human and ant alike. At first, they kept fighting; using their pole-arms to slash at the encroaching swarm¡­. But then, one by one, they went limp¡­ and while the first few dozen ants did the same¡­ the others started crawling over them. Biting. Attacking their paralyzed forms. Grey swapped in another magazine, and kept firing; the ants didn¡¯t seem to have noticed the source yet, still swarming in on the truck¡­ and when he emptied that one, leaving the truck covered with paralyzed, dying ants and the people there to kill them¡­. He grabbed one of the chemical sprayers from his storage; hooking the tank up on his back, checking to ensure it was still full of venom¡­. And started stalking forward; casually calling out and seizing control of a pair of fire-ants he¡¯d already controlled¡­ and letting them serve as a vanguard, as he approached the truck, spraying any living ant groups as he walked. It took another few minutes; and he had to completely empty the tank; but all the active ants¡­ and the four people on the truck; were dead.
Congratulations! You have gained your Eleventh level!
You have 3 Free Points available to spend. If you do not use them by the time you gain your next level, they will be spent for you.
You have gained One ability upgrade. If you do not use it by the time you gain your next level, it will be spent for you.
He ignored the level-up notice for now. He wanted to review what-all Stealth and Assassin¡¯s Strike offered as options before making that choice. Which left one more possible issue. These four were on the roof; was there a driver? Without getting into sight of the driver¡¯s seat, he sent one of the zombie ants around the front to take a look.. And see a person still inside the driver¡¯s seat, a phone in hand¡­. Just lying there, still. The ant stepped up, rapping on the windshield at Grey¡¯s command¡­. They didn¡¯t move. Grey thought for a moment. Had something already killed them¡­. Or had his paralytic venom done the job? Either way¡­. He called out four of the smaller worker-ants¡­. But still bigger than the local variety¡­ and had them start digging around the truck, as the Soldier ones kept watch. It took them a few minutes to get far enough down to try opening one of the doors¡­. And amazingly enough, it was unlocked. Then again, why bother to lock it when fighting animals? The limp form of the sole occupant, holding their phone¡­. But while they¡¯d been doing something with it, Ant-vision wasn¡¯t good enough to read a phone screen, it seemed. He pondered for a moment. If it were recording a video, it might show him if he walked within view. Best have the ant crush it. Considering the zombies he was using were ants, there was no proof whatsoever that he hadn¡¯t shown up after they¡¯d all died. He gave it a minute for the cloud of venom in the air to settle down, and headed in¡­ he could feel the Warrior zombies still crushing stray undead. He snapped a picture of the scene; just in case he were questioned, this would look like a group who had died fighting an army of giant ants; and then focused on Looting them; just the people, not the ants.
Looted: 4x Armored Vest(Uncommon) 4x AR-15(Uncommon), 5x Wallet, 1x Casull Revolver(Uncommon), 4x Queen Mandible Halberd(Uncommon), 1x Queen Mandible Machete(Uncommon)
He blinked. He hadn¡¯t looked at the weapons that closely¡­ but they¡¯d clearly taken larger ant mandibles and used them to make blades for the Halberd, attaching them to a long steel pole. And considering they had five of them, they must have killed at least three larger queens. Speaking of Queens¡­ he sent one of his zombies patrolling down the tunnel once the workers had it accessible.. And then climbed into the armored truck. There was a door from the passenger cab to the back; one that looked¡­ odd, as if it hadn¡¯t always been there¡­ and the back looked¡­ substantially bigger than it should. He looked into it, then at the much smaller cab. There were bunk beds. A refrigerator. Even a microwave and a stove. They¡¯d clearly used multiple upgrades on it, and turned it into a mobile headquarters. And it was already an armored truck. He focused on the truck itself, using Examine.
Crusher(Rare)
This retired armored truck spent years mostly driving in steady laps between various banks in the El Paso region. While old, Crusher was both reliable and durable, protecting the occupants from two attempted robberies over its long years of service. Every part of it is designed to resist common bullets and attacks, from the tires to the windows; effective attacks against the vehicle either needed overwhelming force, to come from the inside, or to come from below the cab.
Recovering: This vehicle is both unusually durable for one of its build, which, as an armored truck, makes it extremely rugged, as well as having the ability to slowly self-repair so long as it is not completely destroyed. This process will continue so long as the vehicle remains running. Efficient: The Fuel systems of this vehicle are augmented by Mana, allowing the motor to consume less than 5% the usual fuel supply and generate equally limited emissions. Storage: This vehicle has been given a ¡®Storage¡¯ upgrade. The rear of the vehicle is now roughly triple its original size in width and length, allowing far greater capacity.
He wondered just who these people were¡­ and then shrugged. They had a good setup. They¡¯d undoubtedly used Crusher to kill thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of Ants. And now they were dead. When the Soldier Ant zombie made its way through the tunnel to the Queen, he could feel the general location; roughly a half kilometer away, and a few meters below the surface. And¡­ the queen wasn¡¯t much bigger than the zombie was. He waited until the second soldier arrived to provide backup¡­ and walked along the surface until he was standing above, before ordering them to attack¡­ the empowered creatures splattering venom over the queen, the surviving defenders, the eggs¡­ And when they died, moving in, starting to crush the eggs, one by one, ensuring nothing else would emerge from this nest. There we go. Done. Time to decide what to do with ¡®Crusher¡¯ if he could get it dug out¡­ as well as what to do with his eleventh level. He should already have the tools he needed to kill the Militia, depending on its size, and besides... it was more important to focus on what he needed to kill Nightfire. 33 - LARPers He¡¯d gone through the Necromancy skills before, when he upgraded. But not the others; in fact, he hadn¡¯t even known what the options were until he chose which power to upgrade. He focused. The system should tell him what upgrade options the other four class abilities had.
Curse Upgrade
Mass Curse The radius of a curse is expanded threefold, gaining full intensity in a three-meter radius and reduced intensity in a thirty-meter radius that scales with Power.
Slow Curse In addition to reducing agility, the Curse slows the victim¡¯s perception and movement by 20%, significantly hampering their combat ability.
Infectious Curse Curses created with this power spread to those touched by the subject, and if the subject dies while cursed a new burst of curse energy spreads from the body to afflict those nearby.
Extended Curse The Curse can now last roughly two hours, extended by Power.
Transformative Curse The curse can alter the victim in some manner; the more extreme the alteration and stronger the victim, the shorter the duration. Fingers might merge together, eyes might seal shut, hair might fall out; this curse can be used in a variety of creative ways, but the more dramatic uses might not work at all unless the victim is substantially weaker than the user.
Stealth Upgrade
Swift Stealth Reduce the level of blur while moving.
Group Stealth Extend your Stealth to up to four allies within ten meters.
Reflective Stealth Your stealth field can be made reflective; this increases visibility dramatically but provides some protection from pure mana and light-based attacks
Passive You can simply leave ¡®Stealth¡¯ on, remaining invisible as you sleep or remain perfectly still, consuming no mana.
Assassin¡¯s Strike Upgrade
Lethal +200% damage rather than +100% for the initial Assassin¡¯s Strike
Charged Gain additional charges based on level of Assassin¡¯s Strike, allowing it to be used more than once during the initial few seconds of combat
Crippling Virtually always significantly hinders the victim in some fashion so long as it does at least modest damage.
Swift Gain a temporary boost to movement speed and reflexes while making the initial attack, +30% for up to three seconds.
Bullet(Bolt) with a Name Charge a single projectile with a bonus to target a specific named enemy, gaining +25% damage against that opponent. Can be used with the same name only once per day, and the projectile can be charged up to 20 times, for a total of 500% improved damage. The bullet has a modest ability, which improves with each charge, to seek the target, and a vital area on the target.
Analysis Your ¡®Examine¡¯ ability is much better at designating weaknesses in a victim, both to damage types and in terms of the best places to attack.
Dissolution Victim¡¯s struck by your Assassin¡¯s Strike take the same amount of damage over the one minute following the initial strike.
Agonizing The Assassin¡¯s Strike fills the target with an unusually intense amount of pain until the injury it causes is healed; weaker-willed targets may be debilitated and helpless.
Pinning When used with a melee weapon, the Assassin¡¯s Strike can bind a victim to the spot where they stand, rendering them immobile unless they remove it, taking significantly more damage if not done slowly and carefully. Useless against flying targets or while using ranged weapons.
Tracking Victims struck by a Tracking strike are visible by the user at a distance of up to ten miles for the next 24 hours.
Venom Upgrade
Blinding The venom renders victims unable to see with at least moderate exposure, permanently until healed.
Bleeding The venom causes the victim¡¯s wounds to bleed excessively and dramatically; injuries not rapidly healed or bandaged can cause bleedouts on most victims.
Confusing The venom causes mental issues, rendering victims unable to think clearly or use most magical abilities.
Mist The user can naturally emit a mist of his venom with a short radius, afflicting anyone who draws close, or slowly filling a room over time. Note that for venoms he is not immune to, this can cause dramatic problems.
Spraying The range and area of effect of using Venom as a projectile is dramatically increased, to a 20 meter range cone.
Immunity The user is immune to any type of venom they can create, even if wielded by someone else of greater level.
Grey stared at the options for a moment. Necromancy had him thinking that each power only had four upgrades, and then new ones unlocked at tier 5. But¡­ it was pretty clear that most powers had more than that. Was there a reason for that? And some of these abilities were¡­ interesting. Fairly unique. Bullet with a Name seemed perfect for him; he could take a couple of bullets and name Golden Boy and Nightfire each morning, and when he finally ran into them, have an absolutely devastating alpha strike. Who exactly came up with these powers? Was it¡­ the system itself? The Committee? Were there actually an infinite, or much larger, variety, and he was only seeing some of the most common options? He thought for a moment. He knew he could take powers from other classes. Was the real thing that the system could give him any power he could imagine¡­ but he¡¯d gain the most strength from taking similar ones, that meshed together? What if he wanted to take a Fire Resistance power now?
Elemental Resistance This ability grants the user a minor resistance to most forms of elemental damage that scales with the user¡¯s Endurance.
Fire Resistance This ability grants the user a moderate resistance to heat and fire that scales with the user¡¯s Endurance.
Okay. So he could do that. But there were mutagens that could do that for cheap; he might get enough Credits to do it after cleaning out the Militia. What if he wanted to use Necromancy to create a defensive power. Would it let him do that? Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Undead Control(Skeletal Reinforcement) A properly cleaned and prepared skeleton which has already been animated can be shaped and formed into animate armor that will assist in protecting the user and attacking his enemies, boosting the strength of his attacks if stronger than him, or possibly serving as additional arms to make extra attacks, hold shields or tools, or parry blows.
Undead Control(Soul Barrier) The Necromancer has mastered using his control powers to ward away enemy Undead, either from himself or a designated area of his choice so long as he expends mana. Undead below his level cannot approach within 15 meters, and if already that close, will be forced to withdraw. Higher-level undead, especially sentient ones, will be able to resist this power, but will still feel compelled to try to leave.
Undead Animation(Death Wall) A mass of corpses is bound together in an immobile wall of skeletons or flesh, forming a new Undead barricade that will attack anything that comes close, and block attacks, but is rooted to the spot. May be Empowered with ranged attack abilities, or Controlled to direct those attacks.
¡­So what the system had showed him so far were just options. The most potent possible options, but the possibilities were almost as vast as he could imagine. The key was to balance what would be easiest to get by spending credits, versus what he could upgrade more easily, and line it all up with either surviving long enough to kill Nightfire, keeping her from escaping a horde of undead, or killing her. So, the next though; could he get a version of that Dimension Lock ability at this point? That one required level 21+ normally without an expensive mutagen; was there something else he could get now?
Curse(Dimension Trap) Create a cursed area in which dimensional travel does not function. Has the usual duration of curses, and will cease working the moment the victim leaves the area, and does not carry any of the other, normal, effects of a curse.
¡­So. Vastly more limited. Best wait, especially if the military would help him level up rapidly. A ¡®Tier 6¡¯ curse might be far worse, or he could get that Assassin mutagen, or¡­ yes. For now, he should focus on improving the things he had. Was there any other sort of ¡®Empower Undead¡¯ ability, that would let him¡­ copy abilities? Or enhance ones that were there? He had tons of Fire-Ant bodies. There had to be some way for him to augment their fire resistance, or give it to something else.
Advanced Empower Undead(Unavailable; Tier 6+, Lvl 21+) The user is able to ¡®learn¡¯ unique traits of Undead they create, and pass them on to new Undead, allowing them to create steadily more capable and versatile undead. Creating an undead Ice Wraith, for example, will allow the user to create Undead with Frost Resistance, Flight, and Icy Touch abilities going forward, so long as the new creature is compatible; fire and ice, abilities, for example, generally are not.
Animation Merge The user can take two corpses and merge them together into a single Undead during the animation process, giving the resulting creature both strengths and weaknesses of the two; generally somewhat improving each such trait. The result is usually higher-level than either corpse, but typically not directly additive; a level 4 Spider and a level 2 Rat might create a level 5 Abomination, and two level 10 Spiders might create a level 12 Abomination. Since both entities had unusual climbing abilities, the Abomination would then have somewhat better climbing abilities than either.
Well then. That would be¡­ interesting. He could merge multiple Fire-Ants into a single abomination. Which¡­ would in theory then have better fire resistance than one would on its own. And even after he got high enough level to get the better version of Empower Undead, he could easily see uses for merging multiple smaller Undead together. Animation Merge was a winner. And if it was going to keep escalating how many Undead he could control, and how strong they were? So was Power. Time to focus on it for a bit.
Nathan Grey
Serpentfolk(Human) Hand of Death(Hybrid) 11
Strength 18
Endurance 22
Stamina 31
Agility 28
Mind 28
Power 28
Abilities Intimidating Shout(Insects, Rats, Humans, Minoans), Undead Animation 3(Empowered Undead, Merge), Undead Control 3(Horde, Awareness), Curse 1, Venom Magic 1(S), Stealth 1, Assassin¡¯s Strike 1, Store Kiosk, Extradimensional Shard(Village)
Skills Minor(Melee Weapons, Persuasion, Automotive Repair, Command) Moderate(Survival, Sales, Mana Manipulation, Examine), Expert( Ranged Weapons)
Titles Insect Slayer III, Rat Slayer II, Human Slayer, Minoan Slayer, Ranged Slayer II, Vehicle Slayer(Front-Runner), Looter, Field Commander, Bounty Hunter
Boons None
After checking his status, he blinked. Bounty Hunter? What was that? He hadn¡¯t recalled getting that notification.
Bounty Hunter: Access to the local Bounty Board acquired. You will receive notifications if a subject with a Bounty enters your area, or a new Bounty is issued.
That was¡­ information, at least. He decided to ignore it for now. He had an enormous pile of Ants to loot, more to animate, two Militia members who may or may not still be alive inside the extradimensional shard¡­. And one more tool in the arsenal to use against Nightfire and Golden Boy when the time came. Perhaps the best way to go would be to take human zombies, merge them with fire-ants to make them fire resistant, and give them a rifle? Certainly seemed like a good option. Or¡­. he could even soak the whole mess in a flame retardant chemical! Cover them in asbestos foam, or¡­. Well. That was for later. For now¡­ more work to do. *** Roughly half an hour into his sorting, his work was interrupted as strangers arrived; possibly another group from the same club, judging by the fact that two of them had identical halberds, and they were wearing heavier ant-chitin armor. There were four of them; all armored, all with rifles or shotguns at the ready, slowly approaching¡­ as Grey clambered back out of the tunnel, and looked out at them. They¡¯d only seen one of his undead so far, that he could tell¡­ he ordered the others to remain in the tunnel where they¡¯d been digging for corpses to add to the pile, and had the one active one start approaching him, in what looked to be an aggressive manner¡­ and then shot it with the Kinetic setting of the Multi-rifle; twice. As the group approached the armored truck, and the enormous pile of dead ants which¡­ he¡¯d now removed over a thousand bodies which were intact enough to be re-animated¡­. He waved the rifle in the air¡­. And then pointed it at the ground. ¡°G¡¯day there, gentlemen. Were you friends of this group?¡± The group surveyed the scene¡­. None of them pointed weapons at him, though they certainly felt tense. One of them stepped closer to the edge, looking around¡­ ¡°....Yes. They were part of the Burning Rivers. We were all in the same¡­ LARP group¡­ before this.¡± From the voice, this one sounded feminine; though with the armor, and the helmet, he couldn¡¯t be sure. They seem to have made some decent fake medieval-style plate mail out of pieces of black ant chitin. She hefted the halberd she bore over her shoulder and stared at Grey through the slits of her helmet. ¡°What happened here?¡± Grey glanced around. ¡°When I arrived, they were being killed by ants. Looked like they were using this armored truck to crush them, and they fell in one of the holes. They shot them til they ran out of ammo, then switched to pole-arms and got rushed. By the time I showed up, it was already over. I used my Multi-Rifle¡­¡± He patted the alien weapon. ¡°Cleared out the ones around the truck. Found five dead, four on top of the truck, one inside. Don¡¯t actually need the weapons, and definitely not the wallets; if you¡¯re willing to take an oath you¡¯ll give them to next-of-kin, I¡¯ll hand those over.¡± He grimaced and looked up at her. ¡°One of them was still swinging as I showed up¡­ only had one good arm left, but doing his best. They fought til the end.¡± She focused on Grey, after surveying the scene¡­ and nodded. ¡°They called us when the truck fell into the pit. We told them we were an hour out¡­ they said they didn¡¯t have the ammo to make it that long. They said one of them was still inside the truck, though. Any idea how they got in?¡± He thought about it for a moment. ¡°...Doesn¡¯t make much sense, actually. The driver¡¯s-side door was already open when I got into the hole, but the passenger-side door was unlocked. These things are damn sturdy even without being upgraded, not sure how the ants got it open without chewing the whole thing apart.¡± One of the others stepped up, set his hand on the first woman¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Jane. They said they had to break the door lock on the driver¡¯s side to get into it at the junkyard. They didn¡¯t have the door key, just the ignition key.¡± Jane, apparently, sighed. ¡°Well, fuck. Would¡¯ve felt better if I had someone to blame and kill, instead of just some scavenger picking over the corpses. Fine. I swear on the System that if you give me their wallets I will do my best to ensure they get to the families involved, if any survive.¡± Grey nodded; and after a moment, laid out five mostly identical wallets; one labeled ¡®BAMF¡¯ in hot pink, while the others were generic black leather. She looked at them¡­ hesitating over one of the four identical ones¡­ and picked them up, letting them all vanish into her own storage. ¡°Not the guns? Honestly, I¡¯ve got one with infinite ammo, if you don¡¯t have some next-of-kin who want them, I¡¯d just sell them at the system kiosk. I¡¯m not really interested in their stuff, just the ants.¡± Obviously he was interested in selling their stuff for credits. But appearing to have as little greed as possible would be beneficial. Jane sighed. ¡°No, no. You go ahead and keep them. Any problems with us taking the truck?¡± Grey studied it. ¡°Not my truck, not my problems. You have a way to get it out?¡± One of the others stepped up to the edge; and raised his arms. After a few seconds, the dirt formed a neat, smooth ramp¡­. And started to condense. Visibly packing itself down. ¡°Well, thats a yes. Would you be willing to use that to open a path to the Queen¡¯s chamber? Crawling back and forth is an absolute pain.¡± And would¡¯ve been suicide. He hadn¡¯t actually been in there; only the zombies had. The earthshaping man gave a nod. ¡°Sure. You already killed her?¡± ¡°Yup. Finished off the whole nest. Used poison and a Mana Rifle. Your friends had already done most of the work, though. I had¡­ maybe a couple hundred left, at most, and the Queen herself.¡± He guided the man over to where the Queen¡¯s nest was; he couldn¡¯t loot through his Undead, so it would save him a trip crawling through the tunnels; and showed them the picture of their friends at the end, of the mass pile of ant corpses covering them before he¡¯d gotten started. When they were gone, he took the last mostly intact corpse¡­ the Fire Ant Queen¡­ and dumped it into the Village. He paused for a moment, observing the shard to see if he could spot¡­ Ahh. Two Militia men. One of them still alive, missing a leg, hiding atop a rooftop; asleep. The other, in pieces. The survivor appeared to have tied his pants leg into a knot around the stump that ended mid-thigh, and had managed to avoid being torn apart by the ants¡­ so far. Perfect. He could kill the man with something that didn¡¯t leave much of a mark, and use him as a trojan horse against his allies. One crutch, or perhaps reattach the severed leg, and however big a bomb he could improvise. 34 - Prisoners Grey surveyed the corpse where it lay in his storage; it looked perfectly fresh, and would remain so, until he removed it. It might be missing a leg; and he might have no idea where that leg was; but that merely presented an opportunity. Militia compound of unknown size. Most likely containing a collection of competent people, who are likely at least level 6, probably a few of ten or even higher. Organized, and all of them following a pattern; upgrading an AR-15 and a body-armor plate. Likely not So. What could he pack onto the corpse that would allow it to handle things? A bomb? A poison gas? Some sort of toxin? He was vaguely familiar with how to make some of the various forms of toxic gas by combining cleaning chemicals, and knew you could use fertilizer to make a bomb. He could always just flood the place with Undead, but he had a specific purpose for them. Each abomination he was making now; horrific monsters with odd-numbered limbs and four-mandibled heads; had a destiny to die while trying to kill Nightfire. He¡¯d sacrificed his non-fire-resistant corpses, for the most part, to sell parts for credits and get the Village; each chitin wasn¡¯t even worth a single credit, but thousands of them added up rapidly. The region around El Paso was getting to be remarkably safer as time went on; more and more of the groups looking to level up were departing for more rural areas, with more plentiful wildlife, every day. So unless he just started killing random civilians, he wasn¡¯t going to have a ready source of corpses to make more minions. On the other hand¡­. Why just use one zombie with an explosive? If one could do the job¡­.. *** Grey had never made a pipe-bomb before, or any other sort of improvised explosive. He sold cars. He knew a little bit about fixing them. He used to make a solid attempt to be a bit less of an asshole than a typical used car salesman; but none of that was really important, at present. The web-searches he was making probably put him on a watch-list. But at the same time, whether it was the anarchist¡¯s cookbook or the pages of 4chan, he was able to find extensive directions on putting together improvised explosives and toxins. When he stopped by the hardware store, pushing the cart along, he was stopped at the entrance by a man in a blue apron. ¡°Sir. Just to warn you¡­ we don¡¯t take cards anymore.¡± He tilted his head a moment, studying the young man; the nametag read ¡®Aaron¡¯, and Examine said he was level 4. ¡°Still take cash? Got¡­ a few hundred in cash still.¡± He nodded. ¡°Yessir. But¡­. maybe not much longer. Honestly, I¡¯ve been taking home a carload of merchandise every day. Most of the other employees, too; we figure its all gonna be on the barter system by the end of the week.¡± Grey blinked. ¡°...Why is that? I thought things were going okay.¡± ¡°...Must not keep up with the news. Its okay here. But up north, where there¡¯s more birds, animals, stuff? Its¡­. bad. Really bad. Cities running out of food, towns getting overrun¡­. some dude with magic went in and erased everybody¡¯s credit card debt, so the banks are refusing to honor any of it¡­ stock market¡¯s done¡­.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve been stocking up on lighters, tools, fertilizer, anything I think will sell, when it gets worse. Dry food and goods are probably gonna be worth more than gold in a month.¡± That hadn¡¯t been on the news yesterday. Either he was watching the wrong news, it was being cherry-picked, or things were going downhill swiftly. ¡°Well then. Are you even gonna really check me out when I leave?¡± ¡°Right now, boss-man says yes. We¡¯re ringing people up, taking cash. Might change tomorrow.¡± He nodded thoughtfully. ¡°.... am I gonna find any fertilizer on the shelves? Or ant-killer? Cleaning supplies?¡± ¡°Not much, no.¡± ¡°..I¡¯ll buy what I can with cash. But if you¡¯ve got a private stock at home¡­ if you¡¯ve got enough to be worth my time, I¡¯ll trade you an Uncommon-upgraded AR-15.¡± The clerk studied him a moment. ¡°...Looking to make some improvised explosives?¡± ¡°That can kill a giant raccoon, or be dropped down a hole to kill a whole bunch of ants. Poison, explosive, whatever. Could also use bait animals. Like rats or the like. Don¡¯t have to be alive, just fresh enough for something to want to eat them.¡± The clerk grinned. ¡°..... Those upgraded guns are worth quite a bit right now. Less because so many people died after upgrading one, but¡­. Come around back. I¡¯ve got a stash, if you¡¯ve got the gun.¡± *** One dead rat. One pipe bomb. One old abandoned house; and time for a test. The zombie rat was only level 1; and without any sort of Empowerment, he could control a veritable swarm of them¡­ and thanks to his Awareness upgrade, see what it saw, and better control it. Which, hopefully, meant that he could command the thing to crawl into position, flick a lighter, and then charge forward and explode. It looked absurd; a tiny animal with a length of metal pipe strapped to it; and he could feel it, sense what it sensed, as it ran down the driveway to the house. He considered, as it ran. Should he strap bombs to the ants, for the work against Nightfire? No¡­. she¡¯d just detonate them all before they got close. When it was about ten feet away, he ordered it to light the fuse; focusing on the tiny paws, flicking the cheap Bic lighter¡­. It couldn¡¯t do it. He grumbled¡­ and considered his options. The zombie rat was still struggling to light the fuse, but he wasn¡¯t having any luck; and no reason to think a different rat would do better, or worse. That left three options. Electronic detonation; which he had no clue how to do and was much more difficult. Matches¡­ which might also not work¡­. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Or he lit the fuse himself and sent the rat on its way, with a timer til it went off. He wasn¡¯t going to trust a rat with a match, after it failed with the lighter. And he had plenty of fuse. So. One box of zombie rats. One box of pipe-bombs. Time to see what that was worth. *** Tracking down the militia compound was easy. Trivial, even. They had a website, though they¡¯d changed it up a bit; it used to be a white supremacist organization. Now? Human supremacist. He couldn¡¯t tell what the old name was; but now it was the Humanity First ¡®Club¡¯, or the HFC. Unfortunately, there were a few problems. The approach was wide open; no way he was going to get in unnoticed. And considering he needed to be reasonably close to control his zombies, that meant he needed a distraction. As he drove up the half-mile driveway towards the compound, he glanced at his distraction; a one-legged zombie, with a pipe-bomb peg-leg stuffed into a boot¡­ and as he approached the front gate, he slowed down to a halt, rolling down the passenger window¡­. And made the zombie lean out, waving an arm, mask missing. It looked¡­ bad. Beaten. But still recognizable. Hopefully they would recognize their friend and let him just drop him off and go. The gate slid open¡­ and two men with rifles stepped out; masks, camo, body-armor¡­ they could be copies of the ones he killed earlier. The first stepped up to his window, while the second hung back, watching. He looked at the zombie in the passenger seat, then at Grey¡­. And shook his head. Grey smiled; he was pretending to be friendly. And not very good at it. ¡°Just making a drop-off.¡± The man glared at Grey through his mask. ¡°The fuck you are.¡± And raised something in his left hand. Grey felt¡­ something. Terrible pain running through his body. The world faded to black. *** When he could see again¡­. His arms were twisted behind his back, over his head, in a position so that if he did somehow summon a weapon, he couldn¡¯t use it¡­. And strapped to the ceiling. His feet were just barely on the floor¡­ And he was in what looked like an old-fashioned prison cell, clearly underground. He wasn¡¯t alone, either¡­ there were at least eight of the cells¡­ and he could see women in the others. Barely clothed; either wearing rags or lingerie; most of them wearing collars, leashed to the wall inside their cells. He was alone, at the moment. Undoubtedly someone would be coming soon to question him about their friend¡­ Grey noticed footsteps¡­ a man¡­ massive, well-muscled, with a long series of tattoos; at least one a swastika, though he didn¡¯t recognize the others; heading towards him down the dusty hallway. He closed his eyes, focused. The one-legged human zombie was lying on a table in a room¡­ he¡¯d gone completely inert the moment Grey had been knocked out. They must have assumed he was truly dead now. Either way¡­. They hadn¡¯t removed his leg, or found the bomb. There were four of them around the body, talking about something¡­ standing in what looked like an infirmary. One of the four people the Zombie could see was also wearing a collar, like the women; undoubtedly a doctor, probably with a healer class, they¡¯d taken prisoner. So, their healer and three of their people, likely including a leader? All of them looked startled as the zombie sat up¡­ and started removing the boot. One of them stared, and when a soft hiss sounded as the fuse was ignited, even started for the door¡­. The compound shook. He lost vision of the zombie, and the man approaching him suddenly stopped¡­ and scrambled back for the stairs, running back up to investigate. He felt around¡­ the Rats. There were dozens of them in the box, but no way to set their fuses. He ordered them all to crawl out of the box¡­ the tiny zombies surprisingly fast and limber compared to their human equivalents¡­ and scattered most of them into the darkness¡­ aside from two. Keeping his eyes closed, he ordered those two towards himself¡­ and when he found a vent cover, the two chewed through it. One got stuck; the pipe-bomb leaving it trapped at the entrance; while the other¡­ rapidly crawled through the darkness. He could hear a few of the women shriek, backing away¡­ as the rat crawled up his body, to his arm¡­. And started chewing on his bindings. It didn¡¯t take long for his hands to be free¡­ and he grunted as he leaned against the bar, working his fingers to get the blood flowing. If he called something from his extradimensional space, it would appear in his hands. So they likely had dealt with folks with that power before. One of the women was standing against her bars, watching him intently¡­ as he summoned just what he needed for this particular moment¡­ an old kerosene camp torch. He ignited it, and set it into the vent¡­. Before sitting down on the rusty old bed sitting in the cell. He leaned against the wall, closing his eyes¡­ and started directing the rats. The first one, which had been waiting, used one tiny paw to light its fuse¡­ and then sprinted off across the compound¡­ running up to the window of what appeared to be a kitchen, where two armed men were arguing¡­ one of them raised his rifle, pointing and opening fire as soon as he saw the rat outside the window; which was pointless. Shortly after the zombie was crushed¡­ the pipe-bomb exploded, catching the building aflame, and sending shards of envenomed shrapnel through the window. More of them came scurrying through the darkness. Lighting their fuses. Running off to find victims, targets. Some of them found nothing. Exploding uselessly in the darkness, just adding to the chaos. One found the armory; Grey had mixed feelings about the results; a chain reaction detonation of the ammo would have been good for clearing out the Militia members, but he might be able to sell those bullets later. Not many guns, though; he¡¯d only seen a handful when the rat had gone off, trying to crawl up the pant-leg of a screaming militiaman. The reactions were heavily varied. Some of them ran. Some immediately drew weapons and fired. But over the next few minutes, thirty-two rat zombies exploded in a series of detonations scattered across the complex¡­ and taking most of the Militia with them. He nodded to himself¡­. And called the Abomination out of the shard. The massive, envenomed monster was a patchwork of multiple ant corpses forming a single hideous blend; and while one of the women just passively stared, the others backed away in their cells, shrieking further as the undead started shaking the cell door¡­ and snapped it open. It appeared to have damaged one of its limbs in the process; but the results were what mattered. He sent it upstairs; it was tougher than the regular ants, and could spit accursed venom from both mouths, but these Militiamen had fought swarms of ants before. He had to hope the chaos would help; he didn¡¯t want to have to unleash dozens of them. He studied the women, frowning. They were a problem. Law and order was falling apart, yes. But until it did, what he was doing here was technically illegal, and they¡¯d seen him use the Abomination, and might tell others about it. On the other hand¡­ Sledge and Star would undoubtedly know it was he who did this. If they found out the Militia was gone, they likely wouldn¡¯t do anything about it; but a basement full of dead prisoners? This was one of those problems that, if he solved with violence, it would likely spiral into an endless string of corpses. As the abomination upstairs started to stalk the Militiamen through the ruins¡­ he could see as it crept up behind one of them and spat a stream of horrific fluid onto him, leaving the man shrieking in pain before his muscles seized up and he collapsed¡­. And then crawled into the rubble to wait. Gunshots were going off all over the compound; but since he hadn¡¯t released anything but the one abomination, he wasn¡¯t certain what they were shooting at. He looked at the women in their cells¡­ and when one of them started to softly glow, closing her eyes, apparently undergoing a racial transformation for hitting level 5 from absorbing mana from all the dying Militiamen¡­ he made up his mind. He dropped the manhole cover to the floor, stepping onto it¡­ and called up a few ant corpses; this time the smaller, less valuable, worker ones. He¡¯d use five of them at once, see what sort of abomination it would make, ideally something good at tearing open cell doors¡­ and make a single one to do a bit of housekeeping.