《The Unforgettables - A ZeroYear LitRPG》 Chapter 1 - Perfectly Smooth Chapter 1 - Perfectly Smooth - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG "Silas Cade and Liora Gorgath, counter two..." A weak, broken voice called the unusual couple to a small cubicle that Silas had to squeeze into. Inside the room, with its rusty walls, only a terminal, whose display was no longer readable, ejected two cards with difficulty. Silas spoke, trying to hide his fear. "Incredible... We may never hear our names again in public. From now on, we''ll be Archon and Stardust against the world!" Liora "Stardust" snatched the cards from the terminal, glanced at the codes, and replied, "Arch, I just put the money into our new account. It''ll only be enough to bring back two more people at most. I''ve already paid for our transport from Citta Paradiso to Rocatrista Chispa. Strange names!" Arch checked his communicator and said, "Well, let''s check it. Our contact there will be a guy named Gran Cordero Ramirez. If he finds out we came from Metropolis, it''ll be a problem." "Yeah, I''ll handle him alone. If anyone gives you trouble because you''re an ebex, just say you''re my bodyguard. There are no passenger transports to the North of Rocatrista. It''s the end of the world out there. Only cargo transport after that. While I''m settling things with our magic man, you need to find a way for us to get on a cargo aerolito." ¡°I¡¯ll pretend I¡¯m strong and social. Where could that go wrong? Look, if we take a cargo aerolito, we¡¯ll turn into popsicles. Better to buy survival kits here in Paradiso.¡± Star seemed to gaze at the horizon for a moment. A faint green light emanated from her eyes. ¡°Good point. I just bought them from the station store. We could only afford kits with shelter and food. And that¡¯s all our money gone.¡± The two left Paradiso in a hurry. Upon reaching the store, they noticed the four kits lying by the door. They didn¡¯t even bother to speak to the salespeople. Star showed her credentials when an attendant approached. Without exchanging a word, they were inside the aerolito in a matter of minutes. A collection of floating stones arranged like a passenger train, they entered without hesitation and found their seats in an empty carriage. There were hardly any people in Paradiso, and even fewer seemed interested in going to Rocatrista. "Star, do you have any news about our classmates?" He asked as they laid out their things all over the carriage. "Since our accounts were banned from the open network, it''s hard to be sure. Nothing new. On the private list, the rumors are that they''re going to kill everyone in Seneca 1335, but no one has decided anything yet. It could take forever now that it''s become classified information." "Everyone in Seneca died long ago. We''re going to try to save two out of billions, and we haven''t even been able to save ourselves..." "You understand what I mean, Arch. They''re going to prevent them from ever being revived. I don''t know how they''re going to do it. We don''t have much time. If you want to back out, stay here in Paradiso. I''ll leave you with half of what''s left. You had already decided, hadn''t you? The plan was yours, after all." "It''s a terrible plan. Are you sure you want to go through with this, Star? I will. The other options are even worse. I wouldn''t be able to sleep if I went back now." "Well, yes, saving people and giving a response to this absurdity. Fair enough. But what I''m really interested in is knowing what the hell happened in Seneca that caused such a reaction." Alone in the aerolito and without more words, the two wasted no time. They set up what they needed to continue with their combat training in the vast corridors of an empty carriage, a workout that had once seemed so useless when they were just engineering students. No conductors or guards came to check what the passengers were doing, only some very crude AI that they had easily befriended. Everything there was programmatic. Amidst the eternal night, at hypersonic speed, the two figures sparred, casting silhouettes in the yellowish light of a single illuminated carriage¡ªhours, days, and finally, Rocatrista. "We''re here, or almost. It''s impossible to be discreet since it''s just us on this aerolito, but we can be quick. I''ve already passed the complete file on the two humans to Ramirez a couple of days ago since the network connection returned. We''re going to revive the two brothers. Their names are Peter and Frank Somerson, both from the 18th-century London. The information we have is very detailed, so we can already get the nominal tickets for the four of us. I''m going to run to the meeting point." And even before the aerolito came to a complete stop, Star jumped out and walked quickly, as if she always knew where she was going. Arch noticed that she had company. It was a figure roughly the same size as Arch, wearing a cloak that obscured any clear view. The figure started chasing Star, being more than twice her height and almost twice as fast. It will reach her in a few minutes. Through the communicator, Arch said, "Careful, Star. We have company. There''s a big guy behind you." "I saw him. I can only run a little further. Watch out, there''s another one coming your way, Arch." The communication was interrupted, and Arch realized that a figure very similar to the other one was growing in front of him. It said, "Welcome!" Arch replied, "Oh, hello there, friend. I need to buy some tickets to..." Arch was interrupted by something that sounded like laughter and grunts. "What the hell is this?" Four arms armed with knives lunged toward Arch. It was impossible to dodge or block all the attacks. If it weren''t for the high-tech armor cloth that Arch had managed to bring with him from Metropolis, he wouldn''t be alive to tell the tale. The attacks were powerful, and Arch knew he was in trouble. Even with his intensive training and the help of the martial arts he had downloaded before the trip, he knew his chances were slim; he needed to think fast. "I''ll take this, buddy!" Arch managed to stay calm enough. He realized his opponent was surprised by the ineffectiveness of his blows and began to attack frantically in a panic. Unbalanced slashes gave Arch an opening to disarm him, which he managed to do twice while parrying with their cloth. Now, there were only two more left. Arch remembered combat stances from his training and performed a kata with the knives he had just stolen, which happened to be his size. Taking a half step back to get away from the direct hits, Arch shows his adversary that he knows what he is doing as he shouts in a menacing stance: "I don''t want to waste time here! How''s it going to be?" This threat worked. The figure raised both upper hands, holding the knives as if to ask for a pause. It took a few steps away without turning around and then broke into a run. Arch whispered through his communicator, "What was that... Star, I''m on my way. Where are you?" "Did you take care of yours? I also have a plan to solve my problem here. Don''t come. Get our transport ready. I found out from the station''s database that the aerolito we came in on is going to split in two. The passenger one goes back, and the cargo one goes forward. We''ll take the cargo one." "Incredible, Star. Some people might be calling the guards. That could be a problem. There is no one here checking the cargo. I''m going to do the following: I''ll grab our stuff from the aerolito and hide in the cargo section." With that, Arch immediately went back to his carriage. He gathered his belongings and looked for a control terminal. He found it by the external door and observed that the composition would indeed be separated within minutes. Arch used this time to obtain an access credential, which was simple given the aerolito''s meager security system. When Arch left the passenger carriage, he discovered, to his astonishment, that some doors to the cargo carriage were broken open, and several huge figures with four arms, wearing clothes very similar to those of his previous adversary, were carrying boxes of goods. Arch grumbled internally but remained silent, observing the action. To his surprise, absolutely no guards appeared. After the system programmatically began to separate the carriages, the supposed thieves left the scene. Arch seized the opportunity to enter the cargo carriages and hide in one that he could open and, more importantly, close the doors with his credentials. He imagined that the guards were on their way, but minutes passed, and no one else showed up. Meanwhile, Star ran toward Ramirez. She was relatively fast but slower than her pursuer. However, she had access to the city''s information system. Without wasting time, she split her personality in two and instructed her copy to find a safe place on the map. After a few seconds, the copy informs her of the directions, and her pursuer stops following her. Mentally, Star was happy and proud of her copy. She had a brief internal monologue. "Wow! What a marvel. How fantastic I am," she said proudly to her copy. "We solved all of that in just a few seconds." "So..." said the copy inside her head. "Better not waste too much time celebrating because I brought you to an area controlled by, let¡äs say, a group. Luckily, these guys here seem to be different from the ones who were after us." Desperate, Star ran faster than ever, trying to escape the potential control area of a mafia and reach Ramirez. She no longer said the most beautiful things to herself in the process. But luck was on her side this time, and she didn''t encounter any more problems along the way. After a few minutes, she arrived at the meeting point with Ramirez: an old bar in the central part of the city with a sticky floor that held onto your shoes like an old friend. Inside, she found her magic man, hungover and slumped on a velvet bench, along with a couple of humans, also in bad shape, and dumped beside him. Ramirez, with one eye closed, noticed Star''s approach. As if nothing was happening, he immediately stood up, adjusting his clothes and saying, "Oh, I thought you were coming yesterday. When you didn''t show up, I figured you guys would be a couple of days late. I went ahead and did the job. These two are the ones from Seneca 1335, but they made a lot of trouble!" "My God, Ramirez. Are these Peter and Frank Somerson? They don''t look anything like the description I sent you. They should be 18th-century war veterans from England, not a young human couple. They should have a lot in common to be able to have some peace in this world." "So, Star, this is what we have for today. I got to know them better last night. This one is Petra Somerson, and the other is Frank Summers. It seems they came from a place called America, but they didn''t know each other. I am not sure if they lived close by. They both were young in the 90s, and they even spoke the same language and knew the same songs." "You brought them back, and the first thing you did was take them to a bar? You didn''t explain anything? Are they the only humans here?" "Of course they are. They were gone for thousands of years, or who knows how long, without going to a bar. They got excited and ended up arguing. I was already asleep when it happened. It all went down too quickly." Star put her hands on her head. "Are they really from Seneca 1335? I mean, what the hell, man? Can you try to revive the two I asked for? I''ll take care of all four and pretend nothing went wrong." Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "I''d love to, Star, but I need more preparation to regain my strength. But it''s not just that. When I tried to revive the first one, there was some kind of mysterious interference. I''ve never seen anything like it. It''s like someone was watching what I was doing. I can try to bring back two more in a week, but the ones you asked for might not be available anymore. I don''t know. I see you''ve already paid me for two. Since it didn''t go entirely right, I''ll do the next two for half the price. What do you think?" Star was worried about Ramirez''s excuses, unsure how much truth was in his words. She decided, "Let''s leave today. Does your half-price offer apply to these two?" "No. Payment in advance, and the client bears any potential errors. No one has insurance in this city, as you should know from the contract. If you change your mind, you know where to find me. Take care, Star!" "Take care, too, Ramirez." Star looked into the magic man''s eyes for a moment, trying to guess if there were real problems. She thought to herself, "Ramirez earned his life doing this for a long time, and the information was precise enough for him to do it before. There must have been a problem. They may have already done something to the people we had detailed information on, but not everyone yet. What''s going on that makes the people from Metropolis act so quickly? It''s better to get out of here. At least we saved these two." And so, Star ran back to the aerolito, carrying the two still completely unconscious humans with some difficulty. She spoke through the communicator to Arch. "So, I''m coming, slowly. They''re both out cold, and I can''t move fast to the carriage. I should arrive in 18 minutes, with great difficulty. When does the aerolito leave?" "Hello, Star. I was about to talk to you, but I''m still trying to find a safe place. I just got into a cargo carriage that wasn''t broken into. I got the access credentials and will send them to you via encrypted communicator. The aerolito leaves in about an hour, more or less, if it gets on time. Our four-armed colleagues robbed it." "We have time. Don''t leave. It must be full of guards. I''ll figure out how to get in with these two. They''re not likely to wake up now. I don''t know what to do. Maybe I''ll call you when I get close." "There are no guards and no operators..." Arch confirmed, checking again through the tiny window of his cargo aerolito. "I''m not sure what''s going on in this city, but it seems this aerolito is going to leave on time. Everything is programmatic. If you want, I can go to you and help bring the two inside. The doors of half of the carriages are completely broken, and no one seems to care." "Okay, I''ll send you my location. Be careful, and try not to be seen. Bring your big blanket to wrap the two of them up here. We''ll take them as if they were cargo. From what I can see from here, we''re in a region controlled by crime. In Metropolis, they mentioned problems, but nothing like this. We''re not going to assume too much right now. Let''s be cautious. The process of bringing people back to life didn''t go so well either..." "I''m on my way. We''ll take care of the details later. I''ll have to disconnect to try not to be seen. Very carefully. I can''t do as many things at once as you can." "Thanks for the compliment. My copies are really exceptional. Don''t worry. We have two people from Seneca, but not exactly the ones we wanted. I''ll explain later. I''ll send you the visual of my location on your communicator, and we''ll get out of here." Arch left the aerolito in plain sight, wearing a cloak that made him look like the other big guys. He is using the blanket from the survival kit as a mantle, and no one has stopped him to ask him anything. Only a few sideways glances, but everything was fine. Arch found Star in an empty alley, and they immediately took care of the humans, placing them on Arch''s shoulders under the cloak. Within a short time, the four of them were back on the cargo aerolito without drawing any attention. They remained silent until departure, taking care of the unconscious humans and exchanging messages on the communicator to explain what had happened to each other. And so, without delay, they set off northwards in a cargo carriage towards an unknown destination.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 4 / 1
Powers
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 1
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9116
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
2x Crude mafia knives (d6), melee, hit: Dex
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 3 / 1
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Video gaming (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Traveling (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8561
Equipment
Still empty hands :-)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra Somerson Species: Human XP: 2 / 2
Powers
???
???
Skills
??? ??? ???
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5230
Equipment
Empty hands :-)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank Summers Species: Human XP: 2 / 2
Powers
???
???
Skills
??? ??? ???
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 4950
Equipment
Empty hands :-)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Chapter 2 - Not Dead, nor Hurt, Still Kicking. Chapter 2 - Not dead, nor hurt, still kicking. - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG "They¡¯re going to wake up before I can fix the nano-translators for them. It looks like they¡¯ll have to use these mechanical translators from Ramirez for a while. At least I updated them to understand our language. You better stay a bit away, Arch..." Star broke the silence, finding Arch already prepared to sleep in a corner. Frank, in fact, had one eye open, listening to his mechanical translator working, translating the conversation between the two. Wisely, he remained quiet, listening. A figure, reasonably human and feminine except for her slightly larger-than-normal size and the obvious devices and connectors scattered across her body, and a giant with what seemed to be bones and plates emerging from his body, emitting a draconian roar that would have awakened an entire city, but the translator insisted on interpreting it as a peaceful, metallic little voice. Somehow, Petra was still asleep, as evidenced by her heavy breathing. Finally, Frank convinced himself that there was no other way out. "Ramirez thought you guys would only arrive tomorrow..." Frank speaks in a hoarse, calm voice, muffled by the fact that he is still lying down. He is a man in his mid-30s, thin and small, with abundant, untidy black hair, an uncut, black, curly beard, and wearing a thick fabric, uncomfortable dark-red jumpsuit provided by Ramirez. He remains in the shadows, clears his throat, and continues to speak, now sitting on his improvised bed. "Why did you bring us back? Sorry, thank you for that. Seriously, Ramirez told me that it was our friends who brought us back from the dead, and I immediately thought there was something strange about it. Maybe Petra''s friends, but they''re not. I never thought they were aliens..." "My name is Silas Archon, and this is Liora Stardust. No aliens here. I''m glad you¡¯re calm about all of this. We¡¯re the ones who should apologize because we couldn¡¯t get the resources to bring you back to life in a proper situation. The thing is, your world, which we call Seneca 1335, is in trouble. We couldn''t fix the situation, but we managed to try and help someone, at least." Petra suddenly woke up at the sound of Silas''s voice. She recognized Frank and still ignored the others. "Now, where are we, Frank? What was that loud noise?" Slowly, getting up from her oversized, improvised bed, a tired, almost childish female voice, ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like the bar¡­¡± Petra puts her hand over her mouth when she locks eyes with Silas, and no more words come out. She is a mature woman with a robust physique, and she has dark brown hair and black eyes that express a mixture of surprise and nervousness as she realizes what awaits her now that she woke up. Petra is also wearing an even more uncomfortable dark-red jumpsuit, just the same size as Frank¡¯s, and being taller than he does not help, a gift from Ramirez, which is just one more thing that contributed to Petra having another terrible night¡¯s sleep. "As we were saying, this is Silas, and I''m Liora. We were the ones who paid to have you brought back from the dead, as Frank was just saying. Let''s talk, and we''ll explain the situation. For now, don''t worry. You''re not in danger, and we''ll protect you as best we can." "So, to clarify," Silas continues to speak quickly and excitedly, failing to notice the humans'' reaction growing tense. "the place where you came from, we call Seneca 1335, and you call it Earth. Here, it''s a place where it''s possible to bring back to life all rational beings who once lived in our entire universe. This place, we call Gate. There are many humans here in Gate, but not humans from Seneca 1335. The thing is, the place where you came from isn''t exactly the original Earth. It''s a replica created by a human named Seneca, based on a snapshot from the year 1335. It''s currently against the law, but it was legal when it was done. To summarize the story, they only discovered the existence of Seneca 1335 very recently. But instead of bringing people back in an orderly fashion, they decided to permanently prevent any attempts to revive everyone, not asking for the people''s consent if they want to come back to life or not. We were engineers collecting data from this version of Earth when the project was canceled and classified without any apparent reason. We opposed this arbitrary decision, which cost us our future. Even though we were protecting the rights of all rational beings, we were punished and banned from Metropolis, which was the city where we studied and had our lives." "What? No..." Petra, uncomfortable with Silas''s presence and too much information, put her hand to her head again. She continued, now with a more aggressive tone. "This is hell. And we might still be illegal, from what I understand. Why would I want to bring anyone back in this situation? I would never have chosen to come back to life to any place except for paradise!" "Well then," Liora interrupted. "The idea behind canceling the project wasn''t to let people in Seneca 1335 rest in peace but to prevent them from ever being revived. And the way they''re going to do it, as far as we know, is to bring people back against their will and..." "Against their will? You are the ones that did it? Not the others! I never chose this! The others who canceled the project may be doing the right thing. How am I supposed to know?" "Because there''s a law that guarantees choice, and it also guarantees that anyone who doesn''t want to be bothered will never be," Silas said to Petra. "And when we took a stand on this, as professionals, we were punished without any explanation. We didn''t try to revive any of you. We were going to revive two brothers who we knew wanted to come back, but they got to them before we did. And Ramirez ended up bringing you back. We apologize for that. As soon as we''re sure we can secure your right, you can go back to rest with your loved ones forever if you wish." "I won''t! I want to stay alive, no matter where. But I understand that it should be each person''s choice, certainly," Frank burst out, to Petra''s obvious disapproval. "From what I understand, we have to act to ensure this right for our acquaintances and understand why the law was ignored in the case of our Earth, right?" This idea made Petra think. "Silas and I were engineering students. Specifically, we organized the database of people based on a technique where we talked to a copy of the person before they were revived or left to rest. It''s always been done this way. But Seneca 1335 had never been cataloged before, and without any justification, everything started to be done wrong. We had the complete data on these two people, but someone got to them first and took them; we don''t know where. It''s hard for you to understand, but try to grasp what''s going on." "And why are you helping us?" Petra asked. "You don''t even know us. You''re not even human, or not all of you, it seems..." "I do this because I want to sleep peacefully," Silas said. "And because I want to stay alive for many more years..." He turned to the side, already tired of explaining after a long day. "Everyone who was studying this had their activities suspended without any compensation," Liora continued, who never needed to rest. "This means that people without resources in Metropolis, like us two, had their life plans ruined and their future stalled. Those who had resources stayed silent out of fear. And the ones who caused all this mess are covering something up. We don''t intend to ask anything of you two. What would you do in our place?" "Well, I don''t know if I can be useful in any way. I think in your place, I''d try to survive and stay out of trouble. But I''ll join you, yes!" Frank affirmed. "I''ll join you, but with conditions. I need to understand what''s going on here before forming my opinion. And I''ll be with you only until I have autonomy. I''ll let you know before I leave. And also, let it be clear that I won''t be legally responsible for any of this." Petra stated, visibly distressed. She turned back to sleep but continued to listen as Frank and Liora continued their conversation. "I just woke up and would like to ask a few more questions, Liora, before I go back to rest some more, but if you''re tired, we can continue tomorrow," Frank asked politely, as it seemed the others were exhausted. "I never sleep, Frank. You can continue." Liora said, and she continued. "The information I have is based on what we managed to understand about Seneca 1335 until the end of the project. I downloaded all the material and can give you access via communicator as soon as we have time to set up one for you. For now, we''re going to modify what Ramirez fixed and replicate the nano-translators we have with us so we can share them with you. That way, you won''t need external devices to understand different languages." "Wait a minute. Are you some kind of robot?" "Not the kind that existed where you came from. Humans only started to get close to autonomous intelligence, in fact, more than 50 years after you lived. Unfortunately, Seneca ceased to have any rational life a little before that..." "What do you mean? The project was finished, and they destroyed Earth in the process?" Frank exclaimed while Petra opened her eyes in her corner and began to pay more attention to Liora. "No, Frank. Our project only started more than 9 millennia after Seneca 1335 ceased to have any record of rational life. One hypothesis is that humans destroyed themselves in the first three decades of the 21st century, but I wouldn''t be so sure. The fact is, according to the data we collected, there are no records of surviving humans in your world in the 22nd century. But we don''t know if it was the wars between humans or something else that we don''t understand. It happens that, approximately in the same period when Seneca''s rational life was extinguished, here, in a similar way, the old Metropolis was also destroyed by still mysterious causes. We went through a catastrophe that wiped out more than 99% of Gate''s lives, and that was 9,612 years ago, the official date of the fall of Metropolis. After these catastrophic events in both our worlds, your world doesn''t seem to have housed any humans or anything rational that we''ve detected during our research project." "Ah, so maybe that''s why the powerful people in the New Metropolis classified the project and are reviving people from that time to understand what happened..." Frank concluded aloud. "It wouldn''t be necessary, nor would it be easier, to revive people to understand what happened. I hypothesize that they found something they don''t want to be made public." "So, it seems like it''s just us two from Seneca. The rest died a long time ago and are still dead?" "There are more people from Seneca out there without knowing it. It''s not so simple to understand the differences. The creators of these simulated worlds generally controlled things in a way that paralleled the recorded history of the original Earth, at least to a certain extent. We would have to find Seneca, the person, and understand what happened." "That sounds like a good plan. Is Seneca alive? Wouldn''t he be a wanted criminal by now?" "Precisely. But it''s a bit more complicated. Seneca exiled himself after the fall of Metropolis, and we think it has nothing to do with his particular world. For some reason, the powerful people of Metropolis, to use your curiously precise term, weren''t very interested in Seneca. One day, while I was working in a lab, one of my copies overheard a conversation where it seemed Seneca was only hired to create the dimensional space for the replica of Earth that now bears his name, but not the people from the 1335 snapshot. The one who took responsibility for the people was a human named Bassolis, who, along with a group called the Conimbrigenses, convinced Seneca to join their endeavor long before the fall of Metropolis. And it seems that all of this has nothing to do with any of the cataclysms. They were all caught by surprise. But that''s as far as we''ve been able to find out." "Well, if Seneca or these other people you mentioned are alive, maybe it''s a plan to go after them, wouldn''t you say?" Frank continued, now willing to elaborate on a plan. "It would be hard, but yes. We only know that Seneca went North almost 10,000 Gates years ago, and we haven''t heard from him since. Well, we''re in the far North now..." "Ah, so that''s why we''re here. But are you really sure no one else is looking for Seneca right now?" "As far as we know, no one is after Seneca or us as long as we stay discreet. Millennia have passed since Seneca exiled himself; we bet that they already got what they wanted from Seneca. When they banned us from Metropolis, we were effectively discarded and abandoned to our fate; we were nothing else but students. The choices were to spend what we had trying to understand what was going on or try our luck surviving in one of the peripheral cities. But that''s my point of view; Silas seems more concerned about the other people." "Right. But you were telling Petra that you were looking for two British military brothers who had spoken to you somehow during your project. How was that done? Why the British military? I''m saying this because my parents were military and died in action in the Dominican Republic in 1965." "Well, as I said, we''re engineers. Some other friends of ours on the project can talk with the dead, and we just recorded the data in the base and then analyzed it with the team. In fact, we were beginners, and most of the team had been operating for a few years. When we chose the brothers, we thought it would be easier to get along because, as you can see, there aren''t many humans living in this region, much less humans from Seneca. Also, we''re now venturing to the edges of civilization. This region is inhospitable, and having people with a profile more prepared for adversity would be less impactful for them. In the conversation in the world of the dead, everything was already agreed upon in general terms. They agreed to be revived here in Gate, even knowing they would spend a few years away from comfort. But you''re not them, and you didn''t agree to any of this. Therefore, if you decide to opt-out, we understand. We just need to get to a minimally safe place, and it seems Rocatrista isn''t a good one." Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Hmm... No good. This means that more people knew part of your plan, your friend who speaks with the dead, and the brothers..." Frank thought. "Seeing it this way, I know I''ll be pretty useless to you. Maybe it''s a good idea for me to stay behind so I don''t get in your way. From what I talked to Ramirez about, the place has its problems, but it''s interesting..." Petra got up and whispered so as not to wake Silas. "If you want to leave this useless guy behind, it''s his problem." She looked at Frank with disdain. "I have some training. Now your plan makes more sense to me. I''m going to propose an interpretation of my contract with you. I''ll help until I have autonomy, as I said, but autonomy includes training to survive in this place. Okay?" "Contract, Petra? If you prefer to see things in those terms, that''s fine." "Exactly. Let''s get things straight from the start. Now, I''m going to try to go back to sleep. We''ll continue tomorrow." "Good night, Petra," Frank said, somewhat perplexed by the unexpected aggression. In the silence of the response, he and Liora exchanged a more compliant look, but they didn''t say anything else. Frank lay down, looking at the high, dark ceiling amidst the crates. He would let his mind drift in thoughts, in a waking dream. Liora returned to work on the communicators and spoke internally to her replica after some time. "Everyone''s asleep, and I keep working on this. Silas would know how to fix this mess. Can''t you help me with this? No, you won''t help, right? What bad luck for me. This will take just as long." Meanwhile, in a distant past, Silas woke up to a rumbling sound, like a continuous thunder that never stopped. The volume increased, and Silas knew he was, once again, dreaming in the past. He left a wooden house in a makeshift village and, as always before, looked at the horizon of a dark red sky and a pale moon close to the skyline. A giant Y-shaped structure silhouetted against the dawn. Silas remembered the dream and how it had ended badly when he returned to his cabin. This time, he decided to run toward the Y instead. And it worked! Without time to celebrate his morphetic freedom, he ran toward the silhouette. He was fast, after all, faster than he had ever imagined. And he realized now that the moon was actually falling, already eclipsing the dawn behind the Y and towards him, and he was going towards the moon. He hesitated, with the moon now growing so large on the horizon that it began to eclipse everything. The noise was caused by the atmosphere of Gate rubbing against the atmosphere of the moon, and it lit in bright white. Silas stopped, panicked. Despite the slow fall, maybe there wouldn''t be time. Reflexively, he started to run away from the moon. He passed by the village and saw shadows of people panicking. Everything started to become blurry and confusing again, but he ran like never before. It was useless. The moon slowly fell, and after minutes, or maybe hours, who knows, running in despair, almost out of strength, the impact wave arrived, and Silas woke up with a start. Awake, he looked to the side and saw Liora muttering and looking at him suddenly. "Is everything okay? Are you dreaming again?" Liora carried with her the old communicators connected to a series of wires. I''m finishing training the language models for the fourth time. I think this time it will work, but we''ll have a lot to do. Maybe you should go back to sleep." She whispered, "They just went to sleep a little while ago." "I won''t be able to get any sleep. What were you saying we need to do?" "So, there''s no ambient lighting here at all. I''m using the monitors as a light source. Also, for some reason, we''re going at the aerolitos¡ä maximum speed. That means more than four times the usual limit, and it seems like this is normal here. And also, I haven''t found any information to know where we''re going, and the connection to any city has been down for a while now." "It''ll be more than 40 days of travel, according to what I saw on the Rocatrista terminal. The end is a spiral sinkhole very close to the surface. Programmatically, the aerolitos will descend and dump the cargo and windshield on the ground and then return empty. It will be important that there''s nothing on its surface because, as I understand it, they will pass under other aerolitos on the return trip through the same path. In other words, it''s a dead end, and the return trip will be very difficult. There''s also no record of what we''ll find at the destination, but there is information about the cargo. It''s basic technology materials to keep some cities running. Nothing valuable or advanced. Therefore, I think we''ll have company at our destination." Silas began to help Liora with the wires, and he continued to speak. "It reminds me of our lab classes. We won''t waste much time improvising what''s almost broken and exhausted. The people from the city left the carriage half open. If the boxes haven''t fallen and if the aerolito''s speed is stable, I''ll see if there''s anything left, and we''ll leave from there tomorrow. Let''s focus on the language models and on the train itself. We''ll wait for them to wake up because opening the door at the speed we''re going could be a problem, and we need to prepare a plan B." So, both of them worked on the scarce material available throughout the night. Frank listened, awake, but didn''t say anything, processing the new information. Petra seemed still to need rest from the night at the bar and went back to sleep. Both engineers complemented each other in their tasks, and the result was evident. Now, almost everything was working in the carriage.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 5 / 1
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 1
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9117
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
2x Crude mafia knives (d6), melee, hit: Dex
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 4 / 1
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 1
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Video gaming (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4 (refocus)
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8562
Equipment
Still empty hands :-)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra Somerson Species: Human XP: 3 / 1
Powers
??? Magnitude 1
??? Magnitude 1
Skills
Cycling (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5231
Equipment
Empty hands :-)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank Summers Species: Human XP: 3 / 1
Powers
??? Magnitude 1
??? Magnitude 1
Skills
Snooker (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power drinking (Res) +4
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 4951
Equipment
Empty hands :-)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Chapter 3 - No Return Express Chapter 3 - No Return Express - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG "There''s beauty in engineers grumbling." Silas thought to himself. And this was a particularly rich night in terms of non-directed swearing, even a few neologisms. It was to be expected that the technology used in the outskirts of Metropolis would have some problems, but nothing in these conditions. However, things are what they are, and Silas and Liora have already resigned themselves to it. "Good morning, Petra!" Silas said, noticing her movement. Responding with a nod, Petra stood up and began to stretch. Finally, she said, "Morning! We need to eat something. What we brought with us from the city was almost nothing. It''s gone. And I need a bathroom." "Yes, sorry, I forgot to tell you yesterday. Inside your luggage, there is a shelter cube and a food cube. Just touch them, or now that your nano-translators and communicator links are correctly installed, you can activate them through the mental interface. It takes a while, but you''ll see how it works. For those connected devices, all you have to do is think about the specific interaction, and it will activate the functionality. So, if you think about what you want, coffee, for example, the food cube will eventually create it for you. If you''re having trouble, touching any of the cubes will open the full interface. The shelter cube can expand to create a private room, and it works like an enhanced Rocatrista bathroom; you can also get some clothing with it, but nothing too fancy.¡± "Nano-translators huh? That''s why I started to understand your language without needing my old communicator in the middle of the night. Interesting," Frank said, who seemed to be in a permanent light sleep. "I woke up a little while ago. Actually, I didn''t sleep. I''m taking a while to get used to this situation. Morning all! Let me check those cubes." Petra immediately enters the shelter cube, and in almost no time, everyone can hear a shower sound coming from the inside. Frank barely starts to navigate through the full interface. After a couple of minutes, the shower noise stops, and everyone hears Petra''s voice: ¡°Thank God!¡± as she exits the cube wearing comfy cotton clothes. "Well, let''s go over our situation," Liora said. "We''re traveling at a speed much higher than the usual maximum, even for a cargo train. And it''s headed to a place with no recent information. We''re carrying basically scrap and waste. In principle, they could be used to supply a few villages, and that''s what we think we''ll find at our destination, despite the fact that there isn''t any city listed on the itinerary from Rocatrista." "How is it possible to go beyond a maximum speed?" Petra asks Liora. "We are at maximum engine speed, not the maximum safe speed. The design of this composition has 4 cargo carriages plus a front, huge windshield made of solid metal with a camera system that allows us to see through it. The first cargo carriage is substantially larger than the others. This one we''re in is the second. As we were far above the safe speed, the turbulent air current blew away the upper part of the third and fourth carriages, leaving only their aerolitos with us. According to our calculations, we''re safe inside this one. But we''ll have to be careful if we open doors to the outside. When they looted the carriages on Rocatrista and left the doors broken open, it certainly did not help the aerodynamics." "I''m not sure if they were looting the carriages, Liora," Frank interrupted. "Ramirez talked about that when he explained to me that you might be delayed. That night at the bar, we were drinking with the big guys who worked at the station. It turns out the passenger and cargo trains split, and when this happens, the routes often get delayed, or they need to make do to deliver the train on time.¡± "Oops. But why, for heaven¡¯s sake...?" Silas scratched his head, recalling the incident, but he tried to recover. "The thing is, during the time of the old Metropolis, there were many small villages in the North, but they weren¡¯t even cataloged. Recently, at the time of the new Metropolis, from what I''ve seen in the records, they only sent reconnaissance drones a long time ago. They found many isolated villages in the region, but without knowing their conditions. That may explain why they keep some resource lines running.¡± Frank nods while Silas, seeming a bit preoccupied, continues speaking: ¡°This liner is quite substantial and doesn''t have absolutely anything in the middle. We¡¯re at about Mach 20 and will take over 40 days in a straight line." Silas pauses and mutters something as if he were calculating something. He continues, "Which means we''ll be traveling about 16 million miles. Just on this trip, it would be enough to make over 600 laps around your Earth..." "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Petra realized. "Wait a minute. What do you mean?" "What? And how many laps will we make in Gate then?" Frank asked. ¡°Well, according to my approximate calculations, and if I haven''t made any mistakes, we''ll be making 0.000045% of a lap on average in Gate, at most, if it''s a straight line. And that''s what should be happening because at this speed if it''s not a straight line, we''ll have serious problems,¡± Liora interrupted and explained promptly. "Okay, let''s sit down for a bit and talk more calmly. Where exactly are we? What kind of place is this? How is this even possible?" Petra asked, observing Silas, visibly restless and away from the discussion. She stared at him for a moment in silence, then asked. "Hey, big guy, what¡¯s the problem?" Silas picked up the two giant knives from Rocatrista, placed them on the ground in the middle of everyone, and said, "Yesterday, I almost did something I would regret for the rest of my life because I didn''t realize that someone didn''t understand what I was saying. We accepted the information we had about Rocatrista as truth, and the Metropolitans gathered it with a huge bias, and we did not see the obvious. Most of yesterday''s problems were in our heads, not in the city. " After a brief pause, Silas concluded, "On this trip, we''ll be forced to learn things that will make us dangerous. Now, I think maybe it would have been wiser to stay in Rocatrista a few days before leaving." ¡°It¡¯s not the first time I¡¯ve heard something about what¡¯s bothering you. Strangely, it brings back old memories. It seems, after all, that you¡¯re on the right path,¡± Petra responded. ¡°No one got hurt, right? So we¡¯re good!¡± ¡°No, it was very close. If I were stronger yesterday, maybe things wouldn¡¯t have ended well¡­" Silas retorted. "What¡¯s done is done. If it served to learn something from this, then great." Petra leaned back, looked up, and seemed lost in thought. "Years ago, when I was newly married, I heard something similar... My husband is in the Navy, and when we were younger, we would talk about things like those after the missions back home. Sometimes, it was tough. In your case, big guy, everyone is fine, and the objective was fulfilled." Without a pause, Petra returned to the subject, looking with some curiosity at the weapons on the ground but without losing her focus. "I was an average student in science classes, but what you''ve just told us doesn''t seem to make any sense. Let''s talk about something you''re experts on, gentlemen engineers. Please explain to me what kind of place this is that we''re in, but please, use a language normal people on Earth could understand." "All right, Petra," Silas continued, a little more relaxed. "Thank you for sharing your perspective. I''ll try to draw some parallels with human knowledge from the 20th century. But I warn you that not all the phenomena we observe in Gate have a formal and consensual explanation. I¡¯ll explain what we understand reasonably well. Do you happen to know what a Dyson sphere is?¡± ¡°He! The name is familiar, but¡­¡± Petra said, smiling at Silas'' failure to grasp the concept of simple language. Frank smiled too, and shook his head, getting absorbed in the discussion that followed. "Okay," Silas said, winking at Liora for help, "a Dyson sphere is an imaginary structure built around a star to capture energy from it. It was imagined by physicists from where you came from. When the first people arrived at Gate, they thought that''s what it was. But the gravity was strange for its size. It was much larger than expected, so they thought that Gate was a Dyson sphere built around a black hole, not a star. In fact, Gate, seen from the outside, is a flattened sphere with a radius of around..." He looked at Liora, pausing for a while. "7 trillion miles, which is equivalent to 1.2 years the time it takes for light to travel through space. Or 76,000 times the distance of your Earth to the Sun. In short, it¡¯s as if something larger than the Oort cloud formed a thin, continuous spherical surface.¡± ¡°Oort cloud?¡± Frank asked, still trying to make sense of the numbers. ¡°I think that''s the name. The outer layer of your solar system, made of rock and ice, that lies at the limits of the gravity generated by your Sun.¡± Silas concluded. "The names are right, Silas," Liora confirmed. "In Seneca, they must be the same as on Earth. To add to what Silas said, now I will talk about things that are less easily explained, such as Gate¡¯s surface being like an eggshell. The gravity is slightly greater than Earth''s outside the shell and varies from zero to values similar to the surface on the inside. It¡¯s believed there¡¯s some kind of spatial distortion around Gate because, in the center, we don¡¯t have a black hole, but rather a kind of structure that also absorbs light, but it seems to be a distortion of space, and not matter as we know it.¡± ¡°Oh God!¡± Petra whispered to herself, trying to focus. "So, is that what we call dark matter?" Frank asked, remembering the term. "It''s not that. From what we understand so far, it''s a structure formed by spatial distortions in a fractal pattern, which means that no atoms are making the structure but rather potential atoms of normal matter within the structure. The structure is formed of smaller spatial distortions, equal in shape but smaller in scale, until an infinitesimal size. The outer layer, the initial layer, is always constant, which defines its shape, and if it¡¯s broken, it will generate smaller pieces, but always in the exact same shape. The humans who came here first gave it the name Monolith because they looked like geometric shapes, a dark stone when observed without knowing what it was. But in fact, they are not stones.¡± "So, they are a place in the space that looks like a stone? There''s one of those giant Monoliths in the middle of Gate?" Frank concluded. "Are there more of them out there? Can we see one?" ¡°In a general way, you are correct¡­¡± Liora continued. ¡°There are many types of Monoliths. I¡¯ll explain the main types quickly..." Silas sat down in his corner, and Petra was also paying attention. Liora continued, ¡°The one called the Primordial Monolith is the type of Monolith that forms a colossal spherical structure, larger than a star, in the center of Gate. From this primordial structure, radial pillars emerge that reach and pierce the internal and external surfaces of Gate." "So they scratch the surface all the time? Because everything spins, right?" Petra observed. "No," Liora retorted. "They always seem to rotate with the surface of Gate without offering any resistance. So, in the place where they break through the ground, they always stay in the same relative location, not presenting any significant resistance against Gate¡¯s rotational movement. We call those radial pillars Structural Monoliths because they form what seem to be large structures on the surface. Since we only see their very ends.¡± ¡°So we have mountains made of monoliths here?" Frank asked. ¡°No, not generally,¡± Liora continued. ¡°Because the structures actually look like enormous buildings with a colossal architecture. We have three main clusters of these structural monoliths. In the North Pole, there is the Tempus cluster. No one goes there very much, but apparently, it¡¯s the only way to reassemble a Monolith that has been broken into many pieces, which is why we also gave it the name Tempus Forge. Very close to here, north of the Metropolis, we have the Academy Cluster, which is the largest, with eight structures we called ¡°Houses of the Academy¡± in the Old Metropolis because it was possible to enter them. And in the South Pole, we have the Entry Cluster. It¡¯s believed that it¡¯s possible to enter the Primordial Monolith through this Entry Cluster. But if it¡¯s really possible, little is known about it. Some have gone in, but I have no information about anyone who has come back.¡± ¡°So we¡¯re on the side of the Metropolis monoliths. Do the people in the city enter these structures? What''s inside them?" Frank asked. "Yes, in the Old Metropolis, they entered, and they could learn things inside. That¡¯s why they called the place Academy. There was a large number of ¡°Didactic Monoliths¡± there, which I¡¯ll explain in a little bit later. Five moons orbited the external surface of Gate during the time of the Old Metropolis. One of these moons was even large enough to ignite like a small brown dwarf star. During the catastrophe that destroyed the Old Metropolis, all these moons were thrown on top of the Academy Cluster, turning it into a huge mountain range. You can even see its pinnacle on the southern horizon of Rocatrista today if something illuminates the background enough." "Something knocked five moons, one the size of the Sun, on top of a city?" Petra asked, perplexed, while Frank threw his arms up in disbelief. "And even worse things¡­" Liora responded. "But whatever did that, it¡¯s in the past. Shall we continue?¡± "Sure. Please. I¡¯m now trying to figure out how big of a mess we got ourselves into right now." Frank evaluated. Liora continued calmly. "Another interesting type of Monolith is the Venal. It radiates from the pillars and forms megastructures similar to the veins of an organism, scattered across almost all of Gate¡¯s internal and external surfaces, supposedly preventing matter from collapsing into planets with gravity. We are flying over one of them right now, covered in eternal snow since we no longer have any stars close enough to Gate. Because of these Venal Monoliths, along with some engineering, we can reach high speeds over the surface. This North vein we¡¯re on is atypical because it¡¯s very straight, allowing us to reach higher speeds, as we can see right now. When we get to the end of it, we''ll find a spiral structure that descends close to the rocky surface, where there should be a village. But sometimes, the veins form huge plates above the surface. Both Metropolises were built on top of one of these monolith plates." This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°So they don''t build cities directly on the surface?¡± Petra asked. ¡°Sometimes, yes, but it¡¯s perilous,¡± Liora responded in a more analytical tone. ¡°Rocatrista was practically built on the rocky surface. It¡¯s on a slope where the North vein cuts through a natural mountain and allows for the construction of things around the pathway." She continued, ¡°It¡äs dangerous because creatures are roaming around Gate, ones that are not rational nor communicative, which have enough strength to annihilate civilizations. They don''t seem to notice our cities when they are built right next to the monoliths, maybe because the energy radiating from the monoliths grabs all the attention. That''s why we travel close to the venal monoliths and also why we use aerolitos to build vehicles like the one we are traveling in. The aerolitos are a kind of artificial small monolith made with magic. But no one knows for sure why those creatures tend to ignore the monoliths, but it works.¡± Frank put his hand over his eyes, lowered his head, and attempted to laugh at something, but when he noticed the pause, he gestured for Liora to continue. Liora returned to her neutral, explanatory tone. ¡°We don¡¯t want to encounter these creatures along the way. Not all of them destroy civilizations, but some have already done so. Rocatrista has stood longer than most of the human civilizations on your Earth, and it¡¯s not built on top of any Monolith.¡± ¡°Thanks, Liora. I feel a lot calmer now," Frank retorted, with no one, maybe not even himself, knowing how much sarcasm was delivered there. "Well, as I was saying," Liora continued to a now attentive Petra and a dejected Frank. "On top of everything else, we have the Didactic Monoliths, as I mentioned before. Generally, they were discovered in concentric circles with the purpose of teaching a rational being to use certain kinds of powers. They emit a sound that we call the Ancestral Tongue of Gate. Beyond teaching, they seem to be some type of memory record, though nobody knows for sure if there was an ancestral civilization. It appears so, but it no longer exists and has left no explicit record of itself." "Okay, those are particularly interesting to me, Liora. Can we access them?" Petra asked. "Of course we can, but not directly at this moment. I have a record of several of those Didactic Monoliths stored locally in my database. You can access them from your terminal whenever you want. Actually, some of these simpler powers are supposed to be developing subconsciously by us right now. Others, however, will require specialized training." "Wonderful, Liora. Now, that sounds more fun. I''m going to start looking at this today. I¡¯ll make a plan for what I want to learn, and I ask everyone to share what they want to do so that we can organize a coordinated strategy..." Petra continued, now excited. "Fun? Do you think we¡¯re going to train to go toe-to-toe with creatures that play snooker with moons and stars?" Frank asked ironically. "Well, I already know how to play snooker!" "We have to start somewhere, or are you going to give up again?" Petra teased. "The idea of planning what we¡¯re going to train for as a team is a good one because there are many options, but let¡¯s first try to stay alive and not go looking for new problems. We have the issue of Seneca that we need to try to advance. It seems quite urgent since we just learned that people are already prevented from being resurrected." Liora interrupted. "Gate was a place where all the rational beings who once lived in the universe could return and live together. That was also the proposal for the Old Metropolis,¡± Silas concluded, listening to everything and looking out the small window, his mind already drifting. "The Old Metropolis was a place of harmony that managed to survive for eons against the dangers of this world. And now, in the New Metropolis, we can barely survive ourselves..." ¡°The Old Metropolis is gone! Unfortunately. But does anyone know for sure what destroyed the city? At least, know for sure if it was something external?¡± Petra said, holding back a little. "Because from what I''ve understood so far, that supposed utopia of the past, what you and Ramirez told us about, smells really bad. But maybe it¡¯s because I still don¡¯t know enough¡­" ¡°I think, for the first time, I really agree with you!¡± Frank exclaimed, jumping up in catharsis. "Well, about Old Metropolis, there are several hypotheses, and no one is sure these days. I am more concerned about New Metropolis. So you can check your comlink and review the list of monoliths and the possibilities of what to train here in Gate," Liora advised after finishing uploading the files to everyone. "I''m taking advantage of this opportunity to allow you to upload some Earth martial arts from my local database right away. Before I lost my connection with Metropolis, I kept a copy of many things from Earth, so you can use it to eventually supplement what you know. In this case, it¡¯s a bit different than simple data because these are memories you can upload to your minds as if they were your own, kind of similar to the nano-translators. There''s a certain limit, but despite that, it¡¯s quite helpful in the situation we¡¯re in." Frank and Petra stood close to Liora, accessing the material through their communicators as they intended to spend a lot of time exploring these possibilities. Silas took charge of fixing the remaining devices, with help from Liora''s less famous copy on a terminal. Before, he looked at the knives from Rocatrista, now forgotten on the floor, and then turned to look again at the small window facing the complete darkness outside. He mumbled to himself, "Finding culprits won¡¯t always solve the problem. I''ll be happy if I can manage to make sense of my own actions." Liora''s copy listened but didn¡¯t respond, and both returned to work on some device without saying anything more.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 6 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 1
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9118
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
2x Crude mafia knives (d6), melee, hit: Dex
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 5 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 1
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Video gaming (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4 (refocus)
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8563
Equipment
Still empty hands :-)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra Somerson Species: Human XP: 4 / 2
Powers
??? Magnitude 1
??? Magnitude 1
Skills
Cycling (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5232
Equipment
Empty hands :-)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank Summers Species: Human XP: 4 / 2
Powers
??? Magnitude 1
??? Magnitude 1
Skills
Snooker (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 4952
Equipment
Empty hands :-)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Chapter 4 - Stones in the Way Chapter 4 - Stones in the Way - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG "Time passes like a runaway avalanche, always descending," Frank muses while indulging himself in a cube-made breakfast. "No day, no night to give us our bearings." Life aboard the aerolito continued on an unusual path throughout the eternal night, made possible only by ingenuity and a touch of Gate magic. The day had just begun, and three figures prepared to put into practice a night of imported memories, memories of a lifetime of training as if they had been experienced in a dream. But it wasn''t just the memories¡ªthe bodies of this peculiar group of adventurers were visibly healthy, perhaps from being brushed against a vein of Gate''s strange energies, no one knew for sure. Liora, Frank, and Petra were ready to learn. All dressed in cube-made light-colored cloaks, the trio freed a space inside the carriage, preparing for the training. "We have to direct our training," Liora began, "Because as we go further, the more we come into contact with Gate¡¯s environment, the more likely we¡¯ll be altered by it, and quickly.¡± "But how does it work, Liora?" Frank asked, "I don¡¯t feel any different, apart from this sense of physical well-being that I can''t remember having felt since I was 18.¡± "At first, your body is now adapting and using spatial distortions," Liora explained. "If you push your muscles, they''ll develop as they used to, but in an ever-increasing number of places simultaneously. It''s as if you''re reflexively learning to use more than three spatial dimensions. In the same way, if you do aerobic training, you¡¯ll realize there¡¯s no limit to improvement. The same will happen as you train impact on bones with the falls we do in martial arts. But that¡¯s not all. Think of this same equivalent for your potential mental capacity in every sense, such as social intelligence and mental integrity. Your biological bodies adapt, and even after being away from Gate, it will keep generating its distortions once the process has started." "Liora, does this work for our biological bodies and for yours too? Because I understand that you have a mechanical body, am I right?" Frank continued with his warm-up. Petra listened, her mind a bit detached from the conversation, focused on trying to figure out if there was something different about herself. "In my case, the process is more controlled because my body was designed for this. In practice, it doesn¡¯t make much difference in the speed of learning. The improvements we can train, with time, are a well-known process. For example, if you want to train to get stronger, you''ll do muscle-building activities as usual, but now you''ll realize the gains are exponential and unlimited. I can do any physical movement to trigger the dimensional replications for strength. In short, while you guys have to work out your bodies, I could do gentle and graceful movements, and at the end of the day, we would all have the same effect. What we don''t understand is that, for some Gate-specific reason, this type of development is strongly linked to rationality. We call it essence, which makes possible the modifications and improvements resulting from the activities that a rational being chooses to do with its time. It''s not impossible to improve non-rational things. Still, it''s a quite different process and much slower since essence is what sticks all those spatial replications together, so we say that non-rational things don''t end up having essence." Liora responded, turning towards Silas, who was in a corner, organizing parts of the carriage into makeshift tables with one eye on what was happening with the group. "That''s a different way to define work with technology. It takes time, and without essence," Silas replied, dividing his attention between a device that emitted a glow and seemed to be very hot. "By the way, be careful with what I''m doing here now. This is an energy cell I''m preparing to connect to a prototype. It could blow us all up if I¡¯m not careful." "Right. I was thinking about preparing the two aerolitos with no carriages outside as a training area for us, as long as we get a configuration that is safe enough because of the wind. According to my calculations, we¡¯ll have 3 to 4 meters of secure height above the aerolitos..." Liora calculated. "For today, we''ll start here inside." "Okay, I¡¯m done with my warm-up. It gives us a height of 10 to 13 feet, so it''s a no-go for the big one. Silas could join us inside today!" Petra interrupted while finishing a series of stretches. Silas just nodded and smiled, wholly absorbed in his technology workbench. Petra turns to Liora and asks, "Where do we start?¡± "I was thinking," Liora said, "that maybe we¡¯re not going to be starting from scratch. Let¡¯s see how we are now. Petra, try lifting that crate over there. There¡¯s almost a ton inside." She pointed at a pile of debris with vehicle carcasses. Petra looked at Liora incredulously, ¡°You must be joking.¡± She tried to lift the crate, or at least push it, but it didn¡¯t move at all. "Okay, you were just joking." ¡°My God!¡± Frank interrupted out of the blue, lifting an even bigger crate with ease. "Look at this. It feels like foam.¡± The edge of the crate shattered under the force of Frank¡¯s tiny hands, grasping something much larger, and the debris inside threatened to fall on him. ¡°Watch out, Frank!¡± Liora yelled without much time to react. The crate broke, and several pieces of scrap metal, some pointy, rained down on Frank. But he easily dodged all of them. Then he asked, ¡°Liora, why is everything falling in slow motion?¡± "I noticed that too," Liora confirmed, "We''re the ones moving faster. Are you alright?" She continued speaking to a no-problem Frank. "It seems like I''m even faster than I expected. Let¡¯s test it, Frank. Try hitting me, but control your strength." With that, they exchanged blows at an incredible speed. Liora seemed to be even faster than Frank. ¡°That''s crazy!¡± Frank exclaimed, "Is this because of the martial arts upload from yesterday?" ¡°That''s not the only thing, Frank,¡± Liora continued, ¡°It¡¯s our bodies adapting to Gate. We need to channel this with training. Do you get it? The more we train, the better we''ll become. There are no limits now.¡± "What about me?" Petra asked, attempting to follow the two without much success. ¡°I¡¯m still the same. What a pain!¡± she grumbled. With that, Silas wisely put himself between his workbench and the energized troupe, which had already destroyed one crate and spread scrap metal across the entire carriage. "Well, sometimes it takes longer," Liora observed, thinking about what to do. ¡°Or maybe we still haven¡¯t figured out exactly what¡¯s changed in you, Petra. We¡¯ll try to train all together, but Frank, be careful with your strength!" The three of them started performing a variety of martial arts exercises. Petra realized that Frank was holding back too much when training with her, and she said, "Frank, you¡¯re taking it easy. I need you to crank it up a notch. Otherwise, I''m not going to progress and catch up with you. Let¡¯s go, you lazy bum! Get with it!¡± "Okay, Petra,¡± Frank said, smiling. "We''ll crank it up then!¡± He got ready to execute a quick takedown, a bit stronger. The move came out perfectly, as Petra barely saw Frank performing it. CRACK! ¡°Ouch, my foot!" A stunned Frank went to the floor, his foot now apparently broken. Petra hadn¡¯t moved an inch. She quickly realized this wouldn''t be normal. "What... Are you alright, Frank?" Petra had mixed feelings, "I¡¯m starting to like this again." she said, relieved and holding a smile. "Wow, you¡¯re tough, huh, Petra!¡± Frank exclaimed on the floor, still excited, fueled by adrenaline. "But it''s hurting. Did I break it?¡± He looked at his foot, still moving. "Let me see your foot,¡± Liora said, approaching Frank and Petra. She put her hand behind Frank''s foot, and a light emanated from her eyes. ¡°It''s not broken, but it should be sore. Your body distributed the impact damage and assimilated it faster than normal. It¡¯ll be painful, but I think we can continue. However, be careful, and we''ll follow the training protocols from the memories you downloaded yesterday." The three spent hours having fun with their new capabilities. But after a long time, they remembered they were hungry and gathered around an ebex feast prepared by Silas and his cube. The conversation, after a day of exercises, was very animated. ¡°Silas,¡± Liora asked her friend. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to train with us?" "Thanks for the invite," Silas said. "Reminds me of my childhood. They used to teach us ebex-training back then. But someone has to clean up the place. And I''m working on some rudimentary weapons in case we have problems when we arrive. I''ve adapted the daggers from Rocatrista because those were schrogae-sized. Although, now it seems like Frank could play with those without having any size issues. Anyway, I''ve also added a few gadgets to them. Now, you guys can even chat with those daggers if you get lonely." Liora laughed at Silas while she took the knives for herself, but then something suddenly occurred to her. "Silas, do you remember your childhood?" she asked, impressed. "Yeah, in my village," Silas replied. "Many years ago, when I was a kid. Why?" "It''s kind of rare among ebex, isn¡¯t it?" Liora asked casually. "But let¡¯s talk later if you prefer." She seemed to be discovering something new about her old friend. "Oh, man, almost forgot." Silas laughed as well. "We can talk about it, no problem. It''s quite peculiar for the ebex.¡± Several curious eyes turned toward Silas. Seemingly, even Liora had no information about this peculiar detail. "Well¡­¡± Silas continued. ¡°People tend to be afraid of ebex because of it. Our culture has a very unique habit." He leaned back in his chair and paused before continuing. "Let''s see how I''m going to explain this. I never remember having talked about it before because nobody''s crazy enough to ask this to an ebex directly." Liora suddenly looked pale, the best pale she could. Silas saw her embarrassment and gave a kind chuckle. "Don''t worry," he said. "I was just joking with you guys." He continued. ¡°The ebex have always been biologically immortal. It happened long before Gate. The same happens with a few creatures from our homeland on the inhabited planets of my galaxy, the Opoje galaxy cluster, which in ebex language means a kind of river. In our culture, we developed a very different perspective on the cycles of life and death. See, when we get old and decide that life has been good enough for us, we can choose to forget everything and live a new life in the same body. But by doing this, we became different individuals. And for that, we have a way to wipe our minds almost permanently. So, the ebex lives many lives in the same body. Or, you can say, what defines the identity of an ebex is the moment they live and their relationship with others, not their physical body alone." "But, big guy," Petra interrupted the silence, "I''m still trying to picture this. Why would anyone want to reset their own mind?" "Ha, ha!" Silas continued, "Eternity is a very long time, and in our culture, we don¡¯t see this forgetting as a point of ending. It¡¯s a fresh start. Also, because ebex children are scarce due to our metabolism, we have very few children, and many non-ebex think we might not even be able to reproduce. But that¡¯s nonsense. There''s very little public information about us. It¡¯s all out of fear and taboo." ¡°Big guy¡­" Petra teased, "I¡¯m not afraid of you. I''m sorry. Now, with my invulnerability superpowers, nothing can stop me. Come on, you can come at me! " She started swaying a little in place, always happy. ¡°So, Petra," Silas continued, with a mischievous laugh, "The only thing missing was my mentioning that this ability to reset minds¡ªas you called it, and which every ebex has¡ª can be done with anyone or anything that has memories, almost instantly. It doesn¡¯t just work on ebex, and there¡¯s nothing in this world that can prevent or reverse this process.¡± Now, the two humans suddenly understand what¡¯s going on. They joined the group of pale beings, standing quietly. "Ha, ha, ha, but don''t worry," Silas said, his tone playful. "I¡¯d never done that to anyone, in fact, even to myself." He continued. ¡°But a few of my ancestors, without knowing other cultures, almost unintentionally, used this ability, and in Gate, as with every ability, it¡¯s become even more potent somehow. Now it seems to work even through audio-visual calls." Silas concluded. Then he turned to Liora''s copy in his communicator, ¡°Hey, Enhanced Version Liora! Can you hear me? Could you grab a picture of them for me? The fear on their faces is going to be legendary. I¡¯d never erase a moment as priceless as this one from someone''s memory.¡± ¡°But, yeah, those humans do deserve it! They''re playing heroes while I work all day." Silas punchlined. Liora, the original, responded instantly. ¡°But how did you even call it ''enhanced version''? I was playing with them too!" She laughed as well, "Seriously, though, the ebex sometimes face prejudice because of this, even though no one has been reset in thousands of years. Now, let''s take care of this feast!" Frank just laughed, remaining quiet. His mind began to drift into another daydream. Dinner went by animatedly. Finally, they exchanged ideas on what they should do during the trip. ¡°Oh, yes, before we forget,¡± Silas remembered after the meal, ¡°When we encounter other people in the villages, we¡¯ll use codenames to avoid them identifying us as coming from Metropolis or revealing information about Seneca. There are a lot of problems and conflicts on the edge of civilization." "Codenames?" Petra asked. ¡°Like in movies?¡± She was now considerably more animated about their environment. "What kind of names should we choose?¡± "Well," Silas said, "I am Silas Archon, and she''s Liora Stardust. We even have a formal record with those names in Paradiso." Frank, his mind still wandering, said. "I¡¯ll think about it until we get to the village. We¡¯ve got more than a month left, right? I was about to ask. How do you count days here since there is no Sun?¡± "Well, the days here were always artificial. By the time of the Old Metropolis, the big moon was hot as a star and warmed the land it passed over. It did this only near the Gate Equator. And it took a long time to make a full rotation. But in larger cities, where it''s necessary, we''ve built towers of light and heat and controlled the cycles with those towers so that the vegetation we''re able to grow adapts to this rhythm. For example, the official day in Gate is slightly longer than 20 hours on Earth." Liora replied. ¡°I¡¯ve decided!¡± Petra exclaimed suddenly, interrupting Liora. "I thought about something like ''Goddess of Metal,'' but that might be a bit off-theme with the other names. So, I want you to call me ¡®Warden¡¯. That way, my enemies will try to take me out first!" Silas chuckled. "Ha, ha, ha! It¡¯s a good name. I just hope that our opponents understand us next time. But, okay, then you''ll be Petra ''Warden,'' " He then looked silently at Frank. ¡°What? I was still thinking about growing vegetables here. It''s my turn?¡± Frank attempted to avoid this. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s see. Today, I broke things. Boards, crates..." ¡°Your foot,¡± Petra interrupted, her voice soft, "Never mind,¡± Frank laughed at himself, ¡°Back then, I¡¯d break things, and everyone would get mad, but today I¡¯m a pro, and everyone is happy. So, it will be ¡®Firebreaker.¡¯¡± ¡°Frank ¡®Firebreaker.¡¯ It has a good rhythm, at least,¡± Petra said. ¡°Now we need to come up with a name for our group!¡± Liora observed, "Well, we don''t need one. We only need to be able to reference each other in a potentially hostile situation." ¡°Don¡¯t spoil the fun, ¡®Star,¡¯ ¡± Petra replied immediately. "Since we¡¯re chasing the memories of our friends from Earth, we''ll call our group: ''The Unforgettables''. That way, it¡¯s also a reminder to the big guy not to wake up in a bad mood one day and reset us all. " Everyone laughed, especially Silas, realizing that they were all becoming comfortable together. Liora, laughing, added, ¡°Yeah, yeah. The name makes sense. We almost left Ramirez hanging in Rocatrista¡ª it would have been truly unforgettable for him." They all slept through an animated night of light conversations and easy thoughts, which was a temporary escape from the less pleasant situation they found themselves in. Their laughter and voices cut through the eternal night of Gate, muffled by the windshield of the aerolito composition. A weak light emanated from the window of the carriage. Outside, only a snow-covered land was discernible against an almost dark sky. It was cut by a sea of hills well below the path where the aerolitos traveled. The horizon, stretching as far as the eye could see, was dimly lit by the reddish glow of the few surviving stars in the sky of Gate. On that night, there was no one to hear the unusual little party, yet after the supersonic echoes tore through the atmosphere for brief moments, absolute silence returned. The days were passing faster and faster. They were happy to accept what fate, or their subconscious, had reserved for them as superpowers and were focused on training to make those powers even stronger. Only Silas remained reserved about the training. He''d retreat into his virtual world, but he spent much of those first days repairing the two outside aerolitos so they could use it as an open training arena. Silas even used some scraps to assemble something that looked like a flying motorcycle and reactivated a couple of aerial drones. He managed to activate everything quickly, in only a few days¡ªall using the discarded material he found in the carriage. Silas also spread cameras along the exterior of the train so that the interior was now equipped with large screens displaying the outer environment, making them effectively like big windows for the crew. He even created an ingenious setup to block all internal lights from the outside view. He did all of this so quickly, along with another even more extensive project that consumed most of his time. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. After a little over 20 days since leaving Rocatrista, the aerolito began to slow down smoothly. Silas went to investigate what was happening. Upon discovering the reason, he called everyone to talk through the communicator. "So, it doesn''t seem you guys noticed, but we''re slowing down,¡± Silas began, noting his companions were completely drenched in sweat, except for Liora, of course. "I''m going to warn you ahead of time. Nothing seems to be wrong. " Liora was so absorbed in her training that she hadn''t even noticed anything. ¡°I didn''t expect that. It¡¯s not possible. Have we already reached a place?¡± ¡°Calm down, calm down,¡± Silas continued. "It seems there''s an empty aerolito composition returning to Rocatrista, and it will pass beneath ours. However, to avoid problems, the compositions get slower in the process. It takes a long time to change speed, which helps avoid any disruptions.¡± "Ah, yes. I almost forgot," Liora chimed in. So, let¡¯s get back to training. Maybe we¡¯ll go inside here for a while. The external environment is nice, but any abrupt changes could be dangerous, despite the security fences we installed. You never know¡­¡± "That''s also why¡­ " Silas said, sounding oddly excited. "But I wanted to let you guys know that I finally finished my prototype. I even had time to produce a final, functional model! By the time we get to our destination, I will make at least one for each of us!¡± Everyone was intrigued, anxious to see what Silas had spent so long working on. He got up and went to grab something from his workbench, then started to explain enthusiastically, "Look at this! This is a modified Flexoclava.¡± He pulled out a metal club with an incorporated ring on the end of the handle. ¡°This might look like an ancient club, but in fact, it is a high-tech instrument. It¡¯s almost unbreakable, and the handle is gradually flexible. You can use it like a traditional club, holding the handle like this.¡± Silas demonstrated. He swung the club as anyone would. ¡°But we can also use the flexible section like this." Silas showed that the flexible edge allowed for a wider arc from whoever was holding the club. This way, the opposite end had more power to deliver an incredibly swift swing. When the end didn''t hit anything, it could preserve the momentum, alternating circular movements left and right. ¡°Whoa. It looks brutal, but I''m getting a feeling there¡¯s more to this. You made the train, the motorbike, the drones, and everything else in a few days. This one took twenty? ¡± Petra said, clearly impressed. "Exactly," Silas confirmed, "And there''s an energy cell inside each one. You activate it by holding the Flexoclava right here. Nothing happens until you hit something¡ª Watch!¡± He activated his Flexoclava, grasping a place that made it buzz, and took a swing, aiming at an empty box. With a bang, the crate was pulverized, reduced to splinters, like a pi?ata! Silas, in a relatively gentle way, turned off the weapon as everyone noticed that his physical build didn''t have that much impact force to do that with the box. Liora put her hand on her face as if trying to adjust glasses that weren¡¯t there. She rolled her eyes as if annoyed by the demonstration. ¡°That almost seems effective. But I don¡¯t think I''m going to get used to that ebex design. It¡¯s all so primitive!¡± She whispered to her copy, and in response, her copy just posted some laughing and blinking emojis on the display. Frank and Petra stood and started cheering, carrying Silas in their arms. They were utterly captivated by the demonstration of his work. He had managed to achieve incredible technological feats in just a few days. That club was impressive in its simplicity. They were getting into a state of frenzy with those creations. For the rest of the day, they decided to celebrate Silas with a cube-made barbecue. Then Frank started testing Silas¡¯ prototype¡ªan ebex-sized "Flexoclava" prototype that was almost 8 feet long! And then Petra took the finished human-sized one, planning to start her training with this new tool. Liora leaned back into a chair after others¡ä exceptionally long meals with animated conversation. She said in a soft voice. "We''ll be slowing down this train for two or three hours more. Soon, we should see those other empty aerolitos coming from the front; they¡¯re on their way now. They had tiny lights that could be seen on the front screen any time soon. It will be very subtle since there is no windshield on then.¡± Everyone turned their eyes towards the front monitor to see them, except for Petra, who had been overeating. She had crossed her arms above her head and was looking at the ceiling through the other screen." After a while, watching the sky, Petra said. ¡°Oh! Looks like it¡¯s going to rain!¡± Most of the group did not pay much attention to her comment. Liora¡¯s copy voiced a question from a terminal in a very unusual turn. Her usual self seemed to be the one who talked. "What did you say, Petra?¡± asked Liora''s copy in a metallic voice from the terminal. "When?" Petra asked. ¡°I mean... Can you talk now?¡± she added, still digesting the banquet. "About the rain?¡± continued the copy while the original Liora sat up in a jump, realizing what was going on. "Yeah, it looks like it¡¯s going to rain,¡± Petra said, unaware and pointing to the ceiling. ¡°I saw lightning in the sky a while ago, way off in the distance¡­" Silas immediately jumped out of his seat. "I''m going to see what''s on the recording here," he said, rushing toward the terminal. "There is no rain in Gate." Liora headed toward the door that led to the open training arena, saying, ¡°Check what you find, Silas. I¡¯m going to check out what¡¯s outside.¡± She flung the door open and left for the outside of the aerolito. Silas managed to isolate a flash of blue light from the ceiling camera and sent the coordinates to Liora. He couldn''t zoom in on the recording, which looked like an unclear, bluish dot of light. After a brief moment of tension, Liora came rushing back to the carriage. Her voice was high-pitched and distraught. ¡°I don''t know what it is, but it''s not good. There are thousands of things flying on the horizon following the empty aerolito that is coming toward us. Also, next to the path where we are right now, there are some destroyed aerolitos far below, scattered on the ground. Most of them still have their cargo remains attached, lying there inside small impact craters in the middle of the snow. Silas tried to be clear as he called for everyone to get organized. ¡°Alright. Everyone, let¡äs go to the first car since it is closer to the windshield and has a better chance not to fall with turbulence. We''re going to grab what we can since we still have some time. Then, we''ll shut off all the lights and wait to see what this is all about. Petra and Frank keep the clubs, and Liora keeps the daggers. Let¡¯s go!¡±
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 8 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 1
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 2
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9140
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
(to Frank) Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (2x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 7 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 3
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 (refocus) Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8585
Equipment
2x Tech-modified schrogae throwing knives (d6), melee, Hit: Dex, low-range comlink, locator
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 6 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Resistance Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 (refocus) Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5254
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 6 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 2
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 (refocus) Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 4974
Equipment
(temporary) Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 2 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 3 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 4 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 1x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 25 Research
Chapter 5 - Thunderbolt and Frightening Chapter 5 - Thunderbolt and Frightening - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG "We have only minutes to clear the carriages!" Liora said as she hurried, moving fast and clearing a path to pass Frank the materials that needed to be taken. Silas and Petra were in charge of the laboratory equipment, which was lighter. They couldn''t see anything outside, as if it were a calm before the storm. Tension was evident on everyone''s faces. For a couple of minutes, they all helped in moving things from one carriage to the other. Frank was the most requested, and time seemed to be flying by. ¡°We¡¯re not going to have time to dismantle the entire lab,¡± Silas pondered. ¡°We¡¯ll have to leave the production materials in the second car. Liora, we¡¯re almost done. We three will go to the first carriage, and then you cut the power of the training area and join us,¡± He hurried to take one last look at his disassembled laboratory, sighed, and then went to the first carriage. ¡°Guys! They are too close!¡± Liora whispered frantically into the communicator, still outside. "There¡¯s no way to turn back now. I¡¯ll cut off the power..." They could see the other carriages'' lights turning out. On the first carriage, there were no lights, but they could still observe some of the outside cameras linked to their communicators. After a short while, Liora said, "I''m coming back, Silas. Get in the aerolito system and initiate the protocol to speed it up.¡± Silas listened and hesitated for a few seconds before jumping into the controls. He initiated the acceleration process before the other aerolitos passed underneath them, a risky move. "We''ll have to control the altitude manually when the others pass below us." He mumbled to himself. With a door slamming, Liora came back in faster than ever. Her usually calm voice had disappeared. ¡°As I¡¯ve seen, there are more than two thousand flying creatures accompanying the other composition. They already noticed us! A few are coming already, and I don¡¯t have any records of what they might be.¡± Liora stepped next to a chair, but she didn¡¯t sit. She continued. "Eventually, they collide with each other in the air, and when that happens, they seem to release a kind of lightning. I¡¯ve captured three pictures...¡± Liora sent the pictures to the comlink. All three watched, horrified. The images were like something that barely remembered a stone-made gargoyle from the worst of the nightmares: bat wings, dark-gray pale skin without any features, except for an extremely long beak almost the size of their bodies, and nothing like eyes or ears on their empty faces. They are destroying one another in a macabre air dance snapshotted on the pictures, illuminated only by the lightning they produce. Liora speaks, terrified by the vision of those creatures approaching. "They¡¯re one-shot killing each other. There are so many of them! And amongst them, there are at least three colossal figures, nearly triple the size of the others. I have no clear visual information of the big ones besides its silhouette against an almost dark sky.¡± "Let¡¯s try to stay calm, everyone,¡± Petra suggested. She could not hide the fear in her voice, ¡°I understand that our chances are slim, but we might be able to pass by without being seen. But if they come, we need to have an action plan." "You¡¯re right, Petra!" Silas agreed as he worked at a terminal where Liora''s copy was. Together, they piloted the aerolito and two drones that had been set out. ¡°I have to stay here to control the aerolito, but I¡¯m going to say ahead of time, it''s almost impossible to maneuver this thing. Any sudden move that I can''t control and we¡¯ll be stuck down there¡­¡± He continued, "About the plan, if they come to us, I¡¯ll stay right here at that terminal," He pointed to a table with a few devices laid out, "and I¡¯ll see what I can do to help. I¡¯ve positioned this desk facing the only entry door. That will be our last stand if things get bad, and from here, I might be able to do something as I try to maneuver." Frank took a deep breath. "Okay,¡± he said. ¡°Petra and I will be on the front lines." He glanced at Petra with unprecedented seriousness. She confirmed with a quick nod and a half smile. "I''ll be between Silas and the two of you,¡± Liora explained. ¡°That way, I¡¯ll have two chances to do something¡­" She moved with purpose, preparing the two modified knives from Rocatrista, ¡°But we¡¯d better do everything to avoid that! " Liora added, very concerned. "These creatures are almost as tall as Silas. They tear each other apart within seconds. If they hit us like that, that will be the end.¡± ¡°We realized that," Petra said, ¡°We have about half an hour left. That''s it?¡± "No!" Silas informed them. "I''ve been accelerating for a while now. And, as far as I can tell from the drones outside, they''re coming toward us. We¡¯ve got 10 minutes, maybe even less. And, from what Liora saw, there were several crashed aerolitos on the ground. This sort of thing probably happens pretty frequently, but that aerolito made it to its destination since it is heading back." He took a breath. "So, we¡¯re going to try to disguise ourselves as cargo. I will turn off all energy sources that I can." Silas returned his reconnaissance drones inside and shut off all the unnecessary systems. Only the front camera, the aerolito control interface, and the personal comlinks remained on. Everyone waited in silence in almost total darkness. You could only hear everyone''s rapid breathing, waiting for a miracle to pass unseen. After fifteen or twenty minutes of absolute tension with only dark screens, everyone could see the approaching dim lights through the front camera, connected directly to their personal headset communicators. Silas remained focused. He''d have to make a risky maneuver when he saw that the aerolitos were in the correct position since they were going faster, but despite that, everyone seemed relieved. Nothing out of the ordinary appeared to be going on. Their prayers were not answered. An enormous explosion suddenly hit the windshield, lighting the front camera with brilliant sparks before exploding. The sound echoed like hell within the carriage¡ªa thunderous and deafening sound. A shock wave hit them hard and sent them flying forward inside the carriage. Then it trembled like an earthquake! Silas, already braced for the worst, managed to control the turbulence within seconds. Everyone was thrown around inside the carriage. Petra and Silas cushioned the blow, helping to keep the others steady. ¡°Liora," Petra said, realizing she could hardly hear her own voice. "Are you alright?" BONK! Liora was about to tell them all to grab the walls, but before she could say anything, something slammed into the aerolito¡¯s windshield even more violently than the first time. The aerolito slowed, and Petra was able to catch Liora and Frank as she¡¯d felt something coming. Silas was thrown against a wall, but he remained focused on his controls, managing to maintain the aerolito on course again. It was clear that he¡¯d been heavily injured this time. "Now! We¡¯re going up! ¡± Silas yelled, ignoring the pain in his back, lifting the front section of the aerolito. Everyone felt heavier as he maneuvered upward. When they reached their highest point, he said. "I¡¯ve done it! Now, down!" Everyone felt their stomachs churn as the gravity disappeared. They were hurtling downwards, a sharp descent, like plummeting down a long tunnel. BOOMMMKRrrr! A sound like scraping and dragging metal could be heard, caused by another impact that seemed less severe. The group couldn¡¯t see what was happening as all the cameras had gone on the first impact. Everything was dark except for Silas'' comlink and terminal, which he protected with his own body to control the aerolito. They could only guess from the inside. "I think one of them caught the aerolito," Liora said in a rambling voice, still trying to adjust her earpieces. Frank glanced at her and nodded to show that he wasn¡¯t hearing anything either. They could see blood coming out of both his ears, illuminated by the comlink device on his head, but he seemed undeterred. Petra and Silas appeared to be in slightly better condition, suddenly: CHINK... CHINK¡­ CHINK... Everyone but Frank heard the loud clang and the sound of metallic impacts coming from the front, but this time, there was no trajectory interference. ¡°I¡¯ve managed to control this thing, and we''re getting out of here at top speed,¡± Silas said as he thought fast. ¡°It looks like one of those monsters is still there with us, trying to open a hole in our windshield.¡± He gave a stern warning to the team. "Hold on tight!" Petra grabbed Frank immediately. The aerolito dipped sideways, slightly swaying like a bucking bronco, and then quickly climbed upward. Then, it began a swift descent. It worked because the noise stopped. The air quickly became silent, creating a moment of unnerving quiet. Silas checked his cameras. Everything was broken! Liora and Petra turned towards Frank to check his ears. But before they could do anything, they were caught by another long, explosive sound¡ª this time coming from behind the train. "What the..." Silas grumbled. ¡°That bastard managed to get on the back of the train!" He quickly scanned the controls. "I think we lost the cargo in the second car. We need to act now!¡± He started to check the devices they¡¯d prepared earlier and turn on the lights that he could. Most of the things inside were broken. Petra threw the door open, and Frank was beside her. He was trying hard to ignore the unavoidable pain in his ear and concentrate on capturing what was happening using only his vision. The scene before them was terrifying: the second composition was ravaged. Pieces of it were still burning on top of the aerolito, lighting up the area with an ominous orange and red flaming glow. In the rear of the destroyed carriage, they saw a winged figure greater than Silas, one wing open and the other torn off. The monster didn''t seem to mind its heavy injuries. When the abomination realized that it had company, it turned its featureless head and opened a beak that was torn to shreds, screaming an abyssal sound with no meaning, only hate. Petra and Frank locked eyes, searching for strength in each other, and they both rushed towards the danger. Liora followed immediately behind. The silhouette, born from nightmares, illuminated by the flames of the wreckage, a contrast against a backdrop of smoke, darkness, and snow, advanced inexorably toward Petra and Frank. The creature moved with alternating pulses¡ª an incredible speed followed by almost complete stillness¡ª and it crossed the second carriage almost instantly. Liora got as far away from it as she could, to the edge of the second carriage, near the entrance to the first one. Immediately, she threw one of her daggers upward at the beast, and she hit the target dead on! But to everyone''s despair, the creature caught the dagger by its handle before it could do any harm. Wasting no time, it threw the dagger away from the train, now falling along with the ash and slag, into the eternal snow below. Petra realized the creature was going for Liora. With all her strength, she swung her powerful Flexoclava, striking the creature''s beak. It didn''t even make a scratch. But Petra¡¯s blow had drawn the creature¡¯s attention. With a thunderous sound, the beak opened wide. Sparks pulsed and raced throughout the creature¡¯s body as the creature delivered its lethal attack. One, two, and then three precise strikes hit Petra. The first two claw strikes raked her arms, tearing at them. The third strike was a bite with lightning. Its fangs pierced her shoulder, and electricity lit the flesh and cloth with scorching flames. She managed to use her flexoclava to parry some of those attacks. But even so, she could not avoid heavy injury. She fell to her knees with a cry of pain and blood. She tried desperately to seal her wounds and put out the fire. Feeling the chaos, Frank''s heart filled with a mixture of fear and fury. He grabbed his flexoclava and swung a mighty blow directly toward the creature''s head, using all of his incredible super-strength, a sure hit. The head jerked sideways. If it were possible, Frank would have heard the sound of something breaking as he connected his blow, but to Frank¡¯s utter bewilderment, his opponent was still standing. It simply shook its head and released a ferocious roar in his direction. Frank, unable to be intimidated by roars, took a few steps back, anticipating his inevitable end. "Try hitting its stomach!" Silas''s voice cracked over the communicators; only Liora seemed able to listen. Before anyone could react, the creature leaped at Frank, aiming for a deadly strike. "Not this time!¡± Petra said, her voice strained as she struggled to rise to her feet. Petra was almost defeated and still on fire, but she swung her club just as the creature¡¯s beak met its target, protecting Frank. This time, Petra''s counterstrike wounded the opponent, causing a sound of pain. Immediately, a dagger shot forth from Liora¡¯s hand and speared into the creature¡¯s abdomen. ¡°Now!¡± Liora shouted. Frank, unable to hear anything, realized what was happening and lunged at the creature with his flexoclava again. But with the injuries it had received, the creature seemed to be a little more cautious, completely dodging Frank''s attack. ¡°Liora, get down!¡± Silas cried out over muffled electronic sounds. Then, a white and blue light emerged from the doorway of the first carriage where Silas stood, followed by a solid beam of light. This light hit the creature''s abdomen again, ripped it out of the carriage, and sent it flying. As the creature continued to be pushed, tearing through the aerolitos, its claws scratched the floor of three carriages, leaving gouges, until finally, it disappeared into the darkness behind the train''s last car. Frank turned to see Petra, burning, wounded. He rushed towards her to try and help. They were both still trying to recover from their terrifying experience. But it''s far from over. ¡°Liora, get back inside now! NOW!¡± Silas yelled in a desperate plea¡ªno need for a communicator to hear his scream. Almost immediately, everyone realized that the creature had grabbed the carriage and moved underneath the train to emerge on the other side, behind Liora. Without any time to react, with Petra and Frank shrieking in horror, the creature ripped Liora in half with its claws. It tossed her dismembered pieces to the ground in front of the two surviving humans. Their eyes were already filled with tears. The creature remained standing, with Liora¡¯s dagger embedded in its abdomen, now advancing toward those who were still alive. Frank had already resigned himself to his fate. The silence forced upon him by his injuries made him hear voices from his past¡ª memories from childhood. He recalled his parents and their proud faces before they were taken from him. He¡¯d forgotten about this for so long... Without making a sound, he launched himself into a leap towards his opponent. Frank threw his entire body into that strike, his flexoclava striking the creature hard. He injured the creature badly, sending it reeling. Both Frank and the creature vanished from the aerolito as they plunged down from the train. Silas was now racing to reach Liora¡¯s body as Petra ran toward where Frank had fallen. To her surprise, she found him still clung to the aerolito with one arm. He was unharmed¡ª except for his ear. He immediately leaped back onto the train, hurrying towards Petra. "Liora!" Frank cried out. "Quick, everyone back into the car," Silas ordered, carrying Liora into the single car that remained. The ebex placed her body on his workbench, quickly attaching devices to her connectors. Liora¡¯s copy was gone. She didn¡¯t appear in the terminal that Silas had been using. Tears streaming down his face, Silas cried out, ¡°Petra, shut that door and stay on guard. We could still have company. I am going to try to do something...¡± Frank understood what was happening and moved to a corner, watching everything closely. All the lights were dim except the light emanating from Silas¡¯ table, where he was trying to revive Liora. He disassembled all of the energy cells he could find. Frank recognized what to do. He disassembled his flexoclava, handing it to Silas, who replied promptly. Frank could just see Silas'' lips moving: ¡°Good idea! ¡± Silas was now in a state of desperation. Knowing that his friend was gone, Petra did the same, saying: ¡°If more of them come, this won¡¯t save us." She removed the battery from her weapon, flinging it towards Silas. The door¡¯s been broken open! I will stay here pressed against it to keep it closed.¡± Petra propped the carriage door closed, damaged by the energy beam. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Silas thanked her with a nod. He was still trying to channel the energy. He muttered almost to himself, ¡°Liora could repair herself using energy, but it seems like it¡¯s too late¡­ Unless... ¡° Suddenly, Silas rose to his feet. He removed a makeshift bandage from around his hand, revealing a still-burning implant that had been grafted to his skin. He pressed it against an opening in Liora¡¯s neck, then fired his energy ray again. The carriage suddenly lit up as Liora''s body shook with the energy. Then, everything went dark. The silence was absolute. Petra, sitting near the door, could no longer contain her tears. She started to pray in a whisper, reciting a psalm to herself as she remembered doing in times of trouble back on Earth. Frank sat, his eyes wide, in the darkness. He tried to ease the pain in his ears, which were completely numb, and then, bearing the muffled sound of his deafened hearing, he saw a faint flicker on Silas''s terminal left behind, which was now showing signs of life. He promptly says: ¡°Silas, something¡¯s happening in the terminal!¡° Silas opened his eyes, tearful, and said in shock. ¡°She¡¯s alive!¡± He turned to the message on the terminal. "Are you praying for our death? I¡¯m sorry to disappoint you. But you¡¯ll have to put up with Less-Good-Version Liora for a very long time.¡± Liora, or her copy, typed in response, seeming to be resurrected. Slowly, Liora¡¯s body seemed to respond. It was possible to see her mechanical insides slowly moving. All three exchanged glances and embraced together, weeping in relief. They held each other in a moment of hope, which would eventually turn into happiness. "We survived," Petra said. "We all survived!" And the group fell into a deep sleep, exhausted, except for Silas. He stood vigil beside Liora, helping to prop up the door to the first carriage in Petra¡¯s place. The train moved forward once again at full speed. The now almost empty aerolito cut through the silent night, leaving its memory across a sea of eternal snow. And in its wake, the ashes of last night lingered for a brief moment, painting a faint, darkened trace across the path.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 12 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 2
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 2
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9141
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech) (lost one)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 11 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 5
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8586
Equipment
2x Tech-modified schrogae throwing knives (d6), melee, Hit: Dex, low-range comlink, locator (lost weapons)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 10 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Resistance Magnitude 4
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5255
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 10 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 3
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 4975
Equipment
Empty hands again :-)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 2 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 3 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 4 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 1x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 20 research (lost 5 research)
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 1/1)
Maneuver: +7 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: +3 (condition: Stardust on perception range)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 20 / 20 4 0 0+4
War - melee 0+4 1
War - parry 4+4 4(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Firebreaker 10 / 10 WP 1/1 0 0 1+4
Fir - melee 1+4 3(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Stardust 10 / 10 0 0 5+4
Star - ranged 5+4 5(d6) ammo: 2
Archon 10 / 10 TP 1/1 5 0 0+2
Arch - Blast(art) 2+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 2+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 6 - Remnant of a Day Chapter 6 - Remnant of a Day - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG Petra woke up to an artificial, orange glow of dawn. Her body felt completely healed, and she couldn''t tell if the previous day had been only a nightmare. In the far corner of the last carriage that now was their home, she noticed that Silas was still awake, working on a multitude of panels and wires connected to Liora. No, it definitely wasn''t just a bad dream. Petra''s sleep had been profound. Her mind processed yesterday''s scenes one at a time as if carefully dosing itself with painful but valuable information. As she ran a hand over her head, beginning her morning stretches, a tiny new patch of hair caught her fingers. Suddenly, she remembered being burned and slashed. Without a word, tears streaming down her face, she ran towards a turned-off monitor hastily left in a corner, using it as a makeshift mirror. She hesitated. Silas noticed her distress and stopped working. Silence enveloped the carriage. Petra fought back her tears to look at her reflection in the improvised mirror, bracing herself for the worst. With a mix of sadness and relief, she realized her skin was flawless. There wasn''t even a scratch or bruise on her shoulder, which had been torn to shreds before she went to sleep. Just some poorly tied bandages, now stained with her blood. She barely remembered Silas hurriedly applying them. However, her hair was gone. She stared at her reflection, her silent tears refusing to subside. There were many things to think about, some not so pleasant. Her hand brushed against her scalp for a long time, lost in distant thoughts. Petra noticed Silas approaching. He looked visibly weary from the sleepless night. A piece of the same bandage that was now on Petra could be seen, ripped, in Silas'' hand, protecting the energy cell he had placed there. His injuries, however, were still open. Silas looked at Petra, almost as if asking how she was. But before he could speak, she said: "Thank you for the bandages!" she said in a sad voice, discarding a roll of cloth stained with dark, clotted red. "I''m fine!" Petra insisted, running her hand over her head. "I don''t know how, but I''m really fine!" she insisted. Silas sat down on the floor and revealed that a red bandana with intricate, metallic rococo patterns sat atop his head. No one had noticed the details before, as it had always been hidden above everyone''s eyes. Silas took off the bandana, revealing a bald skull with thick, calloused skin covered in bone asymmetries. He said, "Ebex don''t have hair. That''s almost exclusively a human thing throughout the universe. But our heads are very sensitive, so we use something to cover them." With that, Silas showed Petra a box containing three multicolored bandanas, all beautiful in vibrant colors and shining metals. He continued, "Choose one for yourself, Petra. It''s a bit large, but they''ll look good on you while your hair grows back." Petra smiled sincerely, still weeping. She was touched by the kindness amidst this world of chaos. She said, "Thank you, Silas. They are beautiful. Can I keep this one, the black, green, and gold?" Petra unfurled the bandana, which was almost as large as a towel for her. Silas nodded and smiled. Petra continued, "I''m sorry if I was a bit rude to you, big guy. There''s just so much going on at the same time. And Liora, how is she doing after all?¡± Petra put on her new bandana, which was a strange combination of a bandana and a cape, almost reaching her feet. She tested it like a dance in front of the mirror, visibly enjoying what she saw. It looked strangely fabulous. "I''m glad you liked them, Petra!" Silas said, getting up and returning to the back of the carriage, which was completely cluttered with lab equipment strewn everywhere. Petra followed and listened. "Liora''s physically fine, but I''m worried about her mind. Since we have no external network connection here, she''s relying entirely on her local structures, which were severely damaged yesterday. It seems alright, but I''m no oioi doctor," Silas said, placing the red bandana back on his head. "Oi what?" Petra asked, puzzled. "But she''s not a robot. Is she an oioi?" Silas sighed, "That''s what people like Liora call themselves. She''s a machine, but not in the way you''re thinking. I''m an engineer, and I can fix some things, but..." He pondered for a moment, visibly exhausted but still sharp. "Let''s make a parallel. Imagine you were badly hurt. Would you go to a doctor or a chemical engineer who happens to be knowledgeable about human biochemistry?" Petra smiled at Silas'' explanation, but before she could respond, Frank interrupted. "She''s a living robot!" Frank just woke up, unaware of what he was saying. He rose from his corner, his hair tousled from sleep. Silas closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "More or less. Liora never sleeps, so she''s listening to everything we say. When all her systems are back online, I''ll have to talk to her for a while to make sure she is alright." They reached the terminal, and indeed, there were a few messages written by Liora, the last one read: "Silas, you need to get some sleep, you stubborn, thick-headed fool. I''m perfectly fine! It''s just that I''ve been using these crappy language models for so long that it takes a while to get everything back up and running. And my raw language is very clumsy. I can put some sound in here if that makes you happier, but it won''t improve things much..." wrote Liora, the original. Silas explained, "So, Liora is writing with a lot of errors in the terminal. You guys don''t notice it because your nano-translators are configured to translate almost every type of literary language that reaches your auditory and visual senses. I''ll teach you to calibrate the filters later." And immediately, Liora responded via the terminal: "Please tell Silas to go to sleep because he can barely handle the energy level that this crazy ebex pumped into his own body yesterday. Stay here with me, guys. Just chat about anything I''m supposedly good at. Just to test my memories." wrote Liora. Petra looked at Silas and nodded. "It does seem pretty simple. If anything happens, I''ll call you!" Frank joined in. "You guys could have woken me up earlier..." Now Frank noticed Petra''s bandana. "Where did you get that thing on your head? It¡¯s epically badass!" "I''ll take that as a compliment!" Petra rolled her eyes at Frank, but she could see some sincerity. She continued, "Well, let''s focus here on what to do. Chat with Liora for a while about something she knows. It''ll be easy. She seems to know everything!" Liora sat up on her bed, put on her headset, and tried to speak. Her voice noticeably altered. "I''m still putting together my language systems. It''s going to take some time, but if you guys don''t mind hearing my voice like this, we can continue. It¡¯s because I have models that help me express myself better. If you weren''t using active nano-translators, you''d hear only static noise right now." Liora continued, moving slowly. "Silas is much worse than I am. He really needs to rest. If we have any problems right now, our chances will be greatly diminished.¡± Silas stands up and slowly moves to his corner, reinforcing Liora''s concern reflected in his nearly exhausted voice: "Okay, I guess I''ll lie down for a bit. Please, Petra, Frank, wake me up at the slightest sign of trouble!" A reluctant Silas sat down in his bed, intending to still listen to what was going on, but it was clear his body couldn''t handle it. Within minutes, he fell asleep sitting up. Petra and Frank went to cover him up and adjust his makeshift bed as best they could. He slept soundly. Frank quickly helped Petra get Silas settled into the bed, seeming stronger and more in control than ever. He started speaking, "Well, let''s see what to ask. Maybe we should talk about her, herself." Petra nodded in agreement. They both approached Liora, who was sitting at the table, almost motionless. "What exactly is an oioi, Liora?" asked Petra, settling herself into a chair. Frank stood leaning against a wall, searching for a pocket, but couldn''t find one, so he crossed his arms restlessly but listened attentively. "Well, the name oioioi was given here in Gate, in the Old Metropolis time, and you don''t say the last ''oi.'' The name can be interpreted as a connection between matter and intellect along the three axes: identity, autonomy, and reason. I am a rational being constructed, but instead of having a living organism like most rational beings in Gate, I possess a technologically structured body," began Liora''s explanation. "But how are oiois born then?" Petra continued. "In two usual ways, the most common is for a family of at least two oiois to create a baby, which involves constructing the physical body in a lab. However, more importantly, the baby oioi is taught how to live in society¡­" Liora was interrupted by Frank. "Wait a minute. But we downloaded some memories a few days ago. Wouldn''t it be simpler to just upload all the memories into the babies?" asked a restless Frank. "But downloaded memories are something else. They have their uses, but sensations, the passage of time, and experiences are important for a baby''s identity. These imported memories won''t take responsibility for the decisions made or reflect the choices of people. Think about yourself, Frank. They''re separate in your mind. You didn''t stop being Frank after that. The same happens to us," Liora continued, with a peculiar intonation due to her raw voice. "But they''re martial arts, and it seems like they''re from different people. Now that I think about it, I don''t even know anything about who those memories belonged to¡­" Frank mused. "I think you''re calling something a bit different ''memories.'' The process of importing memories occurs by giving access to a set of knowledge or training that, in practice, lets you access a fixed block. It doesn''t change over time like a usual human memory. In the case of the oioi, they have access to this kind of thing while they are in the process of becoming adults. Another point is that these imported memories are external, but it is possible to create blocks of imported memories to deceive someone and make them think they''re their legitimate memories. That is considered unethical and illegal because you could easily suggest anything to a person in this way," explained Liora. "Right..." Petra realized the conversation was straying from the point. "But you were saying that there''s another way for oioi to be born?" "Yes, Petra. And it''s the way I was born myself. My copies only have a reduced level of autonomy today. It would be possible to keep them active but break the links between us for some reason. If that separation happens, the copy would have very few of my memories and a very small amount of resources. They''d have to grow up like someone else, in a way similar to a baby. In my case, my original version died during the fall of the Old Metropolis. I don¡¯t even know her name. But that was a common thing that happened back then. And I was a copy that managed to survive. I remained dormant for a very long time until a family of oiois adopted me. But I don''t remember anything from the Old Metropolis. After it became clear that I didn¡¯t have any memories of that time, my connection with my adoptive parents practically disappeared..." No models were needed to refine the language to understand the bewilderment in Liora''s words. "I''m sorry, Liora. I didn''t know we were going to talk about this," Petra realized why this subject might not have come up in conversations before. "I understand your concern, Petra, but please, let¡¯s keep testing my memory on this general subject because there were no beings similar to me in your time on Earth. In many societies that live here in Gate, this kind of question was already commonplace. Most civilizations ended up trying to create artificial intelligence very similar to themselves because that was the model of rationality they had. Only a few things about rationality are truly universal. The logic behind reason is one of them." "But then you were created by humans? Because you look so much like one of us!" observed Frank. "Good question, Frank!" Liora recalled. "Now I remember something more recent. When I joined the Seneca project, which was a human world, I ended up replacing some of my parts with a human-like version. Previously, I had a nailia design, which is another species in Gate, meaning my mental model is still substantially different from humans.¡± "But how is your mental design different? How is that exactly done?" Frank prodded. "Most designs aim to replicate a rational being of a type that already exists. We separate all the elements into layers, which is why, by the way, I''m in this situation. The critical layers have already been restored, and now the peripheral ones are coming online," explained Liora. "I''m listening. What layers are those? I guess that''s something Gate Engineering is very good at, right?" asked Frank, entering into the spirit of testing the boundaries. "You thought correctly. The layers are meant to separate the elements of rationality. Generally, we classify them as bottom-up when we have a premise and build from it to reach a goal. In other words, if a human brain has neurons as its basic element, a neural network would be an attempt to replicate this basic element from the bottom up to reach a more complex goal, like some type of intelligence above it in complexity, okay?" Liora asked, and Frank nodded and gestured for her to continue. Still leaning against the wall and paying attention, "Analogously, top-down strategies are those that start from a complex goal and try to replicate the desired effect, dividing it into simpler parts. For example, suppose the goal at the top is natural languages. In that case, we have nano-translators and language models as the products of this splitting strategy, as they deal with specific parts related to natural language, translation for the nano-translators, and context for the language models. Eventually, both these strategies may complement or converge, as in this case, where we could have language models using neural networks. In the end, various such elements are orchestrated to compose an individual rational being. We also classify the layers in relation to each of these elements. The main ones I''ve already listed are identity, autonomy, and reason. Another element is language, which is necessary for all three main elements but not sufficient for any of them." explained Liora. "Interesting. Could you tell me which of these big groups of elements is the most complex, and could you explain in detail how it''s possible to architect that?" Frank continued. Liora, realizing this was indeed a test designed to push her limits, speaks: "You''re being Socratic, Frank. It seems like a good idea to test. Soon, I''ll reach a point where I won''t have complete answers, but it¡¯s not because I''ve forgotten. It''s probably because I missed a class or because it''s truly the limit of what¡¯s known, but let¡¯s continue, yes!" Liora agreed to the challenge. "The most complex of these elements is rationality because the models of rationality are diverse. We have two major groups of models: the logical ones, which are more or less similar among all rational beings, and the psychological ones, which are completely different between species and sometimes even they differs on individual level. This difference explains why part of my design is nailia, inherited from my old body, and part is human because that''s what I ended up replacing. Those elements don¡¯t fit together perfectly. So I kept some nailia elements to preserve my identity." Liora paused briefly to think, not needing to take a breath. She continued, ¡°In the case of humans specifically, the Kantian logical rationality model was the most similar to nailia, and the main psychological ones are Jungian, then the two Lacanian ones, and also the Freudian. When more than one model works well, we build a graph with these elements and implement all of them in parallel. The models are the vertices, and a variable weight is assigned to each edge for each model according to the situation. So instead of using just a simple model, we use all of them in parallel, traversing this graph representation to get the paths and their weights according to each case of input.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Liora noticed the tension in the humans'' necks, so she tried another approach: "A recent example. A few days ago, Petra asked why we were helping you. I think that Silas was more concerned with the laws that were violated and ethical issues, while I was more curious. In this particular case, let¡äs see how my thinking worked. My logical element of rationality must have analyzed that. At the same time, my psychological models also did so. Even though, logically, I am obligated to agree with Silas, the importance I placed on this was less than my curiosity. So, my psychological elements ended up being stronger in this case. But both were present. And in a different situation, I could change my mind, eventually. Perhaps, as an oioi, I would have more access to this type of self-referential information about processes and elements, and biological organisms would need to ponder this for a longer period. In any case, for each of these elements, there are implemented solutions, some programmatic¡ªwhich was my area and Silas¡¯s¡ªbut there are probabilistic, sensorial, heuristic, and some others very specific to Gate that don¡¯t even have human names. The nailia, for example, that I know a little about has solutions based on a tradition of theirs that is strongly linked to the magic of Gate. Humans don¡¯t have anything like that. It would be a parallel to dogmatic thinking among humans, but it¡¯s a time-bound dogma in a cycle with moments of free-willed revision. I''m reaching the limit of what I can explain. However, in my area of specialization, I can use some human programming language to show you how to implement some of these programmatic elements." "In short, humans and these nailia were able to create other people with technology. You''re one of them, so we are very similar because you chose a design closer to human because of the project," said Petra, who was concentrating on understanding. "I couldn¡¯t have summarized it better, Petra. That is right, but there is much more. We just talked about the main layer of rationality, and..." Liora continued when Frank interrupted. "Wait! Wait! That¡¯s enough explanations for today. Only Liora would explain it like that. I¡¯m even proud because I think I understood more than half of what you just said. But what I really want right now is to go back to that certain bar in Rocatrista to help me understand some of these points better," Frank laughed. Liora joined in with Frank and tried to laugh, in a bizarre way, because her models weren''t all ready yet. Petra joined the two, and then they talked about lighter topics, recalling the training days they¡¯d had together, which they all planned to resume as soon as Liora recovered.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 14 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 2
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 3
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 4
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9142
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 13 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 9
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8587
Equipment
Here we go again, empty hands :-)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 12 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Resistance Magnitude 6
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5256
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 12 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 4
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 3
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all)
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 4976
Equipment
Empty hands again :-)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 4 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 6 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 7 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 1x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 20 Research
Chapter 7 - Where the Cities Have no Name Chapter 7- Where the Cities Have No Name - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG Silas slept deeply for a long time. That same day, Liora had already recovered. She was having a lively conversation about fighting strategies with Petra and Frank when Silas woke up to give a belated, almost nocturnal good morning. "Are you okay?" Petra asked, scribbling notes on a terminal modified to resemble a notebook. "We''re planning how to handle stressful situations so we won''t be caught off guard again. We didn''t wake you because Liora seems fine. Anyway, I jotted down what I remembered from the conversation and sent you a copy." Silas, still waking up, instinctively held his right hand, which was bandaged. He connected his various terminals while reading Petra''s report, all at the same time. He said, "I¡¯ve had better days, but I''m fine now. I really needed to rest. Interesting!" Silas, visibly surprised. "In your report, did you use any kind of voice-to-text tool?" "No, I don''t think so, at least. I wrote it from memory with some comments, but Liora is fine! Are there any problems?" asked Petra, who continued to jot down notes. She spoke, now dividing her attention: "I''m listing each of our abilities and what we plan to improve in the next few days. We''ll have at least 20 more days of travel, right?" "No problem, Petra. I was impressed by the richness of detail in your text. Share those notes with me later. Yes, 20 more days. I plan on making some personalized gifts for you guys!" Silas said, smiling, relieved that everything had gone well. He continued to watch Liora for a while to make sure she was okay, and he noticed that the copy had continued working from where she had left off before yesterday''s incident. Liora, seeing Silas staring at her, said, "My systems are almost all up and running. I''m not going to train today, but I¡¯ll fully recover tomorrow. You¡¯d have a bright future as an oioi doctor, Silas. You should consider that option when we get back to civilization!" Liora joked. "But seriously, thank you all. I would have become scrap if it weren¡¯t for you guys!" Frank, still in his corner, felt a joy that was very rare to him on Earth. But he couldn¡¯t find the words for the moment, which was both strange and pleasant to him. "I''m sure that if we weren¡¯t all there yesterday, none of us would have made it out alive!" Petra added, "And that¡¯s why we need to plan our strategy. Since we left Rocatrista, we¡¯ve trained every day, amazed by our powers as superheroes, but we need to coordinate better from now on." Silas looked at everyone and decided to break the silence. "I have some traditional ebex training that takes advantage of my physique, but for the dangers we''re exposed to, that''s not enough. Petra is probably way better than me in that area right now, so I''m focusing on technology. Before we reach our destination, I plan on making everyone at least minimally prepared." The burning sensation in his hand reminded him, "Ah, yes, I was just about to forget about this!" He waved his bandaged right arm. "It¡¯s not something terribly powerful like the Flexoclava, but I can release an energy beam that pushes things away. I can control how explosive this energy is, so it can be an option to damage something or just push it away. In an emergency, I could use it to push myself and fly away. The reach of this beam is amazing, a few dozen miles or even more." Frank shook his head, impressed. Silas continued, "And there''s more. If I release all the energy at once, I can blow up a large area near me. But in that case, I have no control over targets. It would catch everyone!¡± Frank chimed in from his corner, "That''s a very interesting maneuverability option because I''ve realized I can run and move things with great ease. I can get into any position if I notice in time, but I have to try to stay near the front line. Yesterday, if I had known that our enemy was going to go after Liora, I think I would have been able to get there before it. So, I feel kind of guilty for not noticing in time." Frank lamented. "You almost threw yourself off the aerolito with it. I don''t even know how you managed to do that!" Petra reminded him of the incident. "In my case, I''m focusing on physical defense training, regeneration, and everything that seemed interesting to me in terms of being able to defend everyone. I read in Liora¡¯s material that there¡¯s a training for non-physical defenses that I think I¡¯m going to check out. After having taken that bolt to the head..." Petra pondered, still looking at Frank. "I''ve been thinking about that too since I¡¯ll be next to you, Petra. But my best bet is to use my speed so I don''t get hit," Frank responded, and continued, "As for my desperate act yesterday, I trained something that caught my attention about mental focus and resolution. It allows me to focus my will on a goal to do my best. It seemed like a very limited power, but given my history of low self-confidence, it seemed useful for crises. I just didn''t think it would be so useful. But I feel like I won''t be able to do that again any time soon. I just don¡¯t know how it works exactly." He finished with a certain perplexity. "Ah, yes, that mental focus power is also useful for bringing someone back to life. Ramirez must have the same training or some magical equivalent. It¡¯s amazing, but from what I know, it takes quite a long time to reactivate," responded Liora, who continued to speak. "In my case, I¡¯m putting all my chips to dodge things as Frank. I''m specializing in my physical dexterity. Soon, I''ll be able to maintain my super speed full-time if I want to. At least, that¡¯s the plan!" "Really? Mages use that kind of thing, too? So they need mental focus?" Frank said, already reflecting on how this new world worked. "When you¡¯re bringing back someone who¡¯s been gone for a long time, it''s hard to be sure who to bring back among an almost infinite number of options. The mage seems to have a few seconds to coordinate all the information they have about their targets and identify who to bring back. When we get back to Rocatrista, you can try asking Ramirez how it works, but mages don¡¯t always discuss that kind of thing, although he, hmm¡­" Liora pondered if she was talking nonsense. After all, she didn¡¯t know much about magic. "Now that you¡¯ve brought that up, if I remember correctly, the brothers¡¯ names were similar to ours. They were English, and we speak English. Instead of the 18th century, we were born in the 80s, and we have some family history with the military. Liora, are you sure Ramirez wasn¡¯t just drunk?" Petra asked, attempting a laugh. Frank hadn¡¯t noticed this before. He couldn¡¯t control himself. "That rascal¡­ If it weren¡¯t for the gods of booze, whose temples I was a devout patron of, we wouldn¡¯t be here to tell the story," Frank exclaimed, impressed by the similarities that Petra pointed out. Liora put her hand over her eyes and attempted a laugh but said, "Maybe, but there may have also been a real problem with the two brothers. When something happens and the targets do not come back to life, other people show up. They may be similar, but it depends a lot on the mage''s personality and what they decide to do in a matter of seconds. Someone would certainly return. They have to choose who, somehow." Silas commented, "Petra, I think you''ve already noticed that your ability to perceive and remember things has increased considerably. Those are effects of the mental endurance power you just talked about." Petra nodded, still entertained by the uncertainties of all those new powers. Silas continued, "It''s a great idea that you all update me on what you intend to do so I can direct my efforts using the time we have.¡± "That¡äs right, Silas! So, I think that''s all for now, guys. Tomorrow, we''ll get back to training if Liora is 100%." Petra concluded. Silas got up to tidy things up in the new carriage. Liora went to rest and started another battery of consistency tests while Petra and Frank reminisced about what life was like in America in the 90s before going to sleep. Petra shows Frank that now she can ask for much better cocktails for her cube to create. She found out that the better the user''s memory, the better the quality of food, so they enjoyed themselves that day and even managed to hear some 80s songs from the Seneca project backup. The smooth days seem to have returned. The next morning, everyone was more relaxed and woke up early to begin training. Silas, who was on a different schedule, took advantage of the time to fix another training aerolito, the third one destroyed so far on this trip. The trio''s abilities were visibly progressing, seemingly without limit. One day, Frank managed to adjust the windshield of the first carriage, which had been scratched in the attack a few days earlier, as if it were the lid of a pickle jar. Frank was able to play with an object that exerted a force of over 50 tons, but even if he landed a full blow on Petra, she wouldn''t budge. As both of them had developed some degree of regeneration, broken hands or feet would return to perfection in a matter of seconds. And no matter how hard they tried, neither of them could hit Liora with her speed. The training was exciting, and each day became more absorbing for the enthusiastic students, interrupted only by Silas, almost at the planned end of the trip. On that day, Silas woke up before everyone else except Liora. Shortly after the cube coffee, he called everyone together. Petra and Liora sat down at the table while Frank stood, arms crossed, in his favorite corner. Silas began, "I managed to finish twice as many projects this time! First, let¡¯s start with this simple lab coat here. It looks normal at first glance, right?¡± Everyone looked on without any surprise. ¡°It¡¯s very comfortable and can enhance Petra¡¯s defenses. Please¡­" Petra got up and put on the lab coat. It was comfortable and had a shirt and pants in one piece. She immediately realized that the ensemble formed an armor to protect her whole body, but it was completely discreet. "Frank, I''m not going to block your punches. Let''s see how this works!" Petra stood still as Frank prepared some practice strikes. He muttered under his breath, "Looks like I¡¯m going to break my foot again..." With that, he unleashed a combination of punches and kicks. Petra didn¡¯t get a scratch. She put her hands in the pockets of her lab coat and remained unscathed. The same couldn¡¯t be said for Frank, who backed away with swollen hands and feet, saying, ¡°You guys are abusing me. I shouldn''t have trained regeneration!¡± Petra said, "Thank you so much, Silas. This coat will be incredibly useful. During training, when I missed a defense, I would start getting hurt. I was worried when I imagined situations where I couldn¡¯t protect myself from everything, but with this, it¡¯ll be amazing!" Silas continued, "I focused on defense with this lab coat. It adapts and improves with your training, and it also regenerates itself almost immediately. I tried to make it protect a little bit against magical attacks, but I don''t know if it worked. We can¡¯t test that right now..." Petra became increasingly impressed, returning to Liora¡¯s side, trying to understand how the armor formed in a fabric that felt so soft. Silas then went behind his workbench and brought with him two large volumes. He said, "These are for Liora and Frank. They took quite a long time to make. I had to put double the energy cells into each..." With that, Silas revealed two artifacts similar to riles, each two meters tall, with a spiked arch at the tip, pointed forward in a ¡°U¡± shape. The design was completely different. Liora was even more impressed. ¡°Silas, these two are quite different from what I was expecting today,¡± said Liora, but without hiding her approval. Frank began to think about strategies that hadn¡¯t crossed his mind before. "Like them? I asked your copy to suggest the design, and I did the engineering. I also tried to replicate something more familiar from Earth." Silas pondered, seeing that Petra was also interested. He continued, "This isn''t a rifle, although it works similarly. It''s powerful, dangerous, and pretty hard to operate. I wouldn''t be able to use it properly, but I think Liora and Frank can. Those devices produce a directed antimatter beam guided and powered by a high-precision LASER. It has a long range. I made it in advance as I think we¡¯ll probably encounter our winged opponents sometime on the way back. These weapons can fire up to twice before automatically reloading, which takes seconds. I think maybe Liora can shoot them that fast at the moment. According to my calculations, each shot would be more than enough to eliminate one of those abominations at a safe distance of a couple of miles. Still, you need to keep the target locked for a while to prevent the antimatter from dispersing in the air. It''s a difficult task, but if done correctly, it''s devastating. I put safety locks linked to our location links to prevent friendly fire and accidents, but even so, be very careful with them.¡± Petra leaped from her spot, thrilled by Silas'' results. Frank said hesitantly, "Silas, I am still unable to conceive of a weapon capable of taking down those creatures. I mean, it''s incredible but also scary. "Yes, Frank. Do you remember what I said when we started our trip about dangerous powers?" Silas recalled his words after his fight in Rocatrista. "And I could say more. Your current physical strength, as far as I can measure, is already many times greater than it was a few weeks ago. With a Flexoclava, you could even exceed the damage caused by this antimatter weapon, but with much more control." Petra was still euphoric, but she restrained herself when she realized that the others were more serious this time. Frank asked, "Silas, I''m having a hard time understanding how strong we''re talking about. Can you give me an example of something on Earth that would be equivalent to this weapon or what I could do with a Flexoclava now?" Silas thought for a moment. Finally, he said, ¡°So, the weapon is a thin, directed, point-blank beam. At its maximum, it would open a small hole in almost anything. But if the energy was spread out, a simple shot from Liora''s, under perfect conditions, could bring down a small hill or building. And in your case right now, Frank, a truck. The longer you can keep the beam aligned with the point of impact, the greater the destructive power, so this means this weapon will become even more powerful as you guys keep training. The same goes for your Flexoclava, but in terms of brute force, you could already move mountains with that. But beware, avoid doing those things here in Gate. You can never be sure. One day, the mountains from Gate might retaliate." Frank stroked his beard and began to speak, ¡°We''ve been here for less than 2 months. This is insane. And I think some people are already there¡­¡± He was interrupted by an alarm and the mechanized voice of Liora¡¯s copy. "Attention, everyone! I¡¯ve made the first visual contact with the destination. The deceleration starts just before the spiral, and it looks like we''ll have company!" The voice came from Liora¡äs copy on the front terminal, framing a distant point on the screen. "This time, we''ll have enough time to train with the weapons if necessary. The second rifle is a modified prototype. It¡¯ll be finished by the end of the day," Silas warned. "Visual contact indicates that we still have one day of travel, plus the spiral descent¡­ Why do you say we¡¯ll have company?" "Each composition on land has a faint, continuous glow after they¡¯ve been unloaded, indicating that the energy batteries are active. According to my calculations, some of them are missing," the copy continued. "But there doesn''t seem to be any sign of a village here. Perhaps people are collecting the cargo to take somewhere. For now, we can only detect points of light at the limit of our sensors." With that, Silas began to operate at the terminals. He worked quickly and with focus, but he was much calmer than last time. He said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to monitor the arrival point now that we¡¯re closer. Tomorrow, we¡¯ll get a clearer view of what¡¯s going on.¡± While Silas concentrated on the monitoring, the other three got up from the table and returned to their usual training. They had a mixture of tension. Outside the carriage, they began stretching, and Liora observed the new weapon, visibly impressed. ¡°Arch forgot to remind us that we should use our codenames when we arrive at a village," Petra said excitedly. "Star, do you think we¡¯ll have problems upon arrival?" Liora took a few seconds to respond. She was completely absorbed in her thoughts. She said, "That¡¯s true. I¡¯ve forgotten, too. We¡¯ll have to wait and see what awaits us. For now, they are just points of light. At least the light of the cargo at the destination is a good sign, I think." "Something feels wrong with all this cargo. And how is it possible that there¡¯s no communication from the cities here to the outside?" Frank asked. "Before the fall of the Old Metropolis, this was a region in expansion and of great interest. But those leading these initiatives were the leaders of the Eighth House of the Academy, along with the Order of Tempus mages. They intended to create a safe route from Old Metropolis to the North Pole. But the project never took off. Unfortunately, they all perished in the fall of Metropolis. However, we don¡¯t know much about the people who live here now. There isn¡¯t much information about that in the databases we have access to,¡± said Liora. "Right, but whoever is here should have ways of communicating. Now that we are at close range, shouldn¡ät we detect something?" Frank asked. "Certainly, even though it¡¯s not trivial, there are technological or magical means of keeping in touch, as long as people here want to do it¡­¡± Liora said, with some insecurity. ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure, either. From what I understand, in Rocatrista and Paradiso, the cities we passed through, There is nothing about these villages, and no one answers anything. I think people are curious, but maybe the relation to the old houses of the Academy is troublesome. No one is going to talk openly about it with outsiders, especially with the current Metropolis government¡­¡± Liora, visibly uncomfortable as she remembered Metropolis politics, concluded, ¡°It¡¯s been several years since an isolationist proposal was elected in Metropolis, and in the coming decades, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they cut these supply lines without warning. That is, if anyone remembers them. What they¡¯re sending today is just technological waste.¡± "Well, we''ll find out soon enough what''s going on," Petra interrupted. "Now, let¡¯s go about testing these weapons before we get closer to the village. From where we are now, it¡¯ll be difficult for anyone to notice us, but we only have today to do this¡­" Along that day, the three became engrossed in testing the new weapon. Petra even tried using it out of curiosity, having some practice with weapons on Earth. She managed to hit a target, but it was almost impossible to have enough precision to keep the beam aligned. In Liora''s hands, however, the effect was brutal. They threw a few targets into the turbulent air current above and tried to hit them with the beam. Frank almost always hit, and Liora never missed. After a long day, just before dinner, everyone gathered at the table. Silas was more tense. He began, ¡°The news isn¡¯t the best. I couldn¡¯t see any city. The cargo is accumulating in the tens of thousands. According to my calculations, almost none of it has been used since the cataclysm. There are a few dozen compositions left open, and it looks like the remains of both the carriage container and the cargo have been destroyed. We still haven¡¯t gotten perfect visual confirmation as everything is illuminated with the cargo dim lights. Probably, we will deal with Northern Rats here." Silas looked at Liora with concern. After a short pause, Liora began to speak, "It¡¯s one of the oioi''s nightmares, a creature common to the North of Gate that feeds on technology and energy. There are reports of oiois that have been devoured by these creatures when one hides inside an aerolito and infiltrates a city¡­¡± Liora continued, resigned. "We were expecting to find this type of creature, especially in an abandoned cargo depot in the middle of nowhere. But there¡¯s a good side to it. They are less bad than our winged old enemies. In the cities we passed through, a detachment of a few guards, without any power training, can get rid of a couple of them. So I think we can solve this if we plan ahead." "Those rats are not robots, but they act almost programmatically. They¡¯ll respond if they¡¯re attacked. But if they perceive energy cells nearby or Liora, they might give in to instinct and attack the source. The problem is that if they hit, they can drain energy from devices uncontrollably and, in doing so, disable them." Silas spoke as he had reviewed the rat reports last night. ¡°So, the idea is to shoot them from a distance before that happens,¡± concluded Petra. ¡°Exactly. If we stay hidden upon arrival, Frank and I will shoot them before they notice,¡± said Liora. Petra liked what she was hearing, nodding and saying: "And I¡¯ll position myself further forward alone in case you two can¡¯t hit them all. I think we¡¯re good!¡± "Seems good to me, but there¡¯s a flaw in this plan," Frank commented. "If I¡¯m too far from you, Petra, it won¡¯t be simple to intercept them if they go after both Liora and Silas." Petra responded, "Okay, then we¡¯ll do it this way. I¡¯ll start isolated in front, and Frank will stay halfway between me and Liora. If there¡¯s a problem, Frank will join me." Silas thought for a moment and added, ¡°Good, but let''s make an emergency escape plan. I''ll stay in the air, riding the airbike. I''ll let Liora¡¯s copy pilot it if necessary. I¡¯ll also interrupt the aerolito¡¯s unloading procedure, leaving everything ready to go back. If things go wrong, I''ll bring everyone into the aerolito, and we¡¯ll get out of here. The windshield will be on the wrong side, which will prevent high speeds, but it should be enough to escape the rats¡­" "Well, you guys better get some rest tonight. I''ll be monitoring our destination. Initially, we''ll follow the cargo loading and unloading protocols. Based on the amount of cargo on the ground, it¡¯s been done countless times without problems. This way, we¡¯ll stay hidden to preserve the element of surprise, and we¡¯ll also have the option to stop or even turn back, given that the next aerolito should arrive in about 40 days," said Liora, already making her way to the terminals where Silas was. Liora stayed awake while the others went to sleep, but it was a light sleep, full of worries. Petra and Frank reviewed the information that Liora had in her database about the so-called Northern Rats. And in their minds, they reconstructed their plan of action. The next day, everyone woke up earlier than usual, fueled by anxiety. Over breakfast, they shared the news from the night. Liora reported, "In a few hours, we¡¯ll start the descent through the spiral. I identified Northern Rats last night, as expected. There are three of them, and they¡¯re much fatter than usual. We have visuals of them here." On the front screen, parts of the night¡¯s footage began to appear. The footage revealed creatures wandering among the train carriages without aerolitos dumped on the ground, like containers, each one of them with small, dim bluish lights on the upper corner. On a surface of hard snow and earth, they were arranged in an orderly pattern resembling city streets, which allowed for a very precise size reference of the rats. The creatures didn¡¯t look much like Earth rats. They were about 10 feet tall when upright, but they could move on all fours if their large bellies allowed. They had long tails, reminiscent of a rat¡¯s, but instead of fur, they had some kind of liquid oozing along their entire gray and dark blue skin. Sometimes, this liquid seemed to evaporate, making them appear hot. They had massive skulls with no apparent necks, forcing them to look up when standing upright. Their enormous mouths were full of sharp, misaligned teeth, ripping through the front part of their skulls. They also had completely black eyes, but they lacked a visible nose and ears. The liquid present on their entire bodies was even more abundant in their eyes, making them seem to cry constantly. Inside their mouths, and reflecting off their teeth, was a blue light and a lot of vapor. They didn¡¯t seem to interact with each other, nor did they appear to react to anything except their food. They didn¡¯t notice the aerolito¡¯s approach in the mantle of the eternal night, or if they did, they didn¡¯t react. "Those rats shouldn''t react like a creature from Earth. Although they don¡¯t seem to communicate, there are reports that they have some strategy and collective reaction when threatened. So, when the first one notices us, all the others will attack. We need to coordinate the first attack very well or opt not to attack at all." explains Liora. "Is there any danger in staying relatively close to them?" Petra asked. "Because we could simply stop the aerolito here and go to a nearby village to find out what¡¯s going on..." "Villages generally eliminate them when they find them because, as long as they''re not feeding, they can hide in the city structures or even underground. And in a village without defenses, many could die. They¡¯re quite strong and fast compared to an untrained person." Liora reflected for a moment. "But it''s an option. We can leave the aerolito ready to return, and we''ll all explore the region. We¡¯ll leave my copy here to guard the place¡­¡± At that moment, a text message appeared from the copy on the terminal. "That doesn''t seem like a good idea to me..." Silas interrupted, ¡°The rats concentrate on the most recent compositions near the spiral, and they seem to have far more food than they need. After all, we have a dozen compositions open compared to tens of thousands that are closed. I think it took them a while to get here, and they¡¯re still ignoring the oldest part of the stock. Some of the furthest carriages have already sunk a little, indicating that they¡¯ve been abandoned for a long time. It doesn¡¯t rain or snow here. The dust accumulates with the wind, slowly." After a brief pause, he continued to speculate, "We don''t know how rat reproduction works exactly, but this invasion may be compromising the nearby villages. If people come to get materials here, they must do so in extended time windows because they must open and then close the compositions. The only open compositions are the same ones attacked by rats." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°So, we¡¯ll act. The plan is for Frank and me to be in the front. We¡¯ll move half a mile from the end of the spiral towards the rats. Liora will stay near the foot of the track where the spiral meets the ground, in a higher position. If the rats start to climb the spiral to get close to Liora, she¡¯ll have some time to get back to the aerolito. And Silas will stay on the airbike, further away, high above Liora,¡± Petra defined the line of action. "Good idea for me to be at the edge of the spiral," Liora countered. "I was thinking about staying on top of one of the carriages down there, but your idea is much better!" After a brief contemplative silence, everyone agreed on the line of action and positioned themselves outside the aerolito, checking all the details. Petra had made a checklist for everyone to review. Time passed tensely but in a controlled manner. Finally, the aerolito stopped near the end of the spiral. Silas departed with his airbike still hidden behind the windshield while the others positioned themselves. Liora was the first to reach her spot. She prepared her weapon and identified one of the rats. She let everyone know she was ready. Frank and Petra cautiously crossed the streets between the carriages. They could already hear the noise of the rats scratching and chewing metal in the distance. Petra pointed for Frank to stay on a corner of an open street where he¡¯d have a clear line of sight. He also prepared his weapon while Petra continued to advance. When she was just a few steps from the rats, she silently alerted everyone on her communicator that she was in position. They were all set. Liora typed to Frank¡¯s comlink, "We¡¯re going to shoot together. I''ll share my aim with you. I¡¯ll try to get two, and you¡¯ll take the third. On 3¡­" Liora waited a few seconds¡­ "1, 2¡­" Three silent shots tore through the eternal night in a city of containers. A flash, followed by a hole, pierced the first rat, causing it to explode immediately. The second rat turned reflexively, but it didn¡¯t have time to react. A flash illuminated its belly, and it met the same fate as the first. The third and final rat managed to move but was hit by Frank''s shot. It barely managed to survive until Petra revealed herself. She activated her Flexoclava, which caught the attention of her wounded opponent. Without thinking, it leaped toward Petra, intending to bite her, but that turned out to be a terrible idea. The creature¡¯s massive skull shattered upon meeting a perfectly delivered counterstrike. Before anyone could celebrate, Silas warned over the communicators. "Attention! We have more of them coming from under the ground, and they¡¯re coming out all over the place. There are seven in total, and they¡¯re all headed toward Petra. They¡¯ll be here in a moment!" With that, Frank tucked away his weapon and grabbed his Flexoclava. "I''m on my way. If any escape that I don''t see, let me know, and I''ll jump toward Liora!" Liora fired four shots before the rats reached Petra. Now that all the rats were alert, she only managed to hit two, but once she hit, there was no chance for the rat. With that, five rats got close to Petra. The first one met Petra''s Flexoclava, which delivered another fatal, one-hit counterstrike. Petras parried the second rat attack, but it wasn''t injured. The rat started chewing on Petra''s weapon, fighting with her like a dog after a twig. Its teeth, full of a blue liquid, now completely covered its prey. With that, the three remaining rats attacked Petra. An energy bolt from above struck just before it hit Petra. It was Silas¡ä ray, surfing upon his airbike with his right hand open while the copy was probably in control. The rat did not get hurt but was sent flying away. Another was hit by Frank, who flew over it like a battering ram, practically exploding it upon contact with his Flexoclava. The third hit Petra in the back and tried to chew on her protective clothing, which kept regenerating. Despite the complicated situation, Petra yelled, "I¡¯m fine! But they destroyed my Flexoclava, and they¡¯re trying to do the same to my armor! It''s that blue crap that seems to interfere with the energy cells!" Petra was visibly injured from the attack from behind, but she didn''t seem too worried about it. Liora tried to fire two shots at the rats near Petra, but she missed both. It was difficult to lock onto a target in the middle of the chaos. She calmly stopped and thought about changing her strategy. Silas said over the communicators, ¡°Petra, drop your Flexoclava. I¡¯ll send you another!¡± Reflexively, Petra dropped her broken weapon and saw the rat in front of her immediately spit to the side. With that, Frank grabbed the other rat on Petra''s back by the head and threw it to the ground in an acrobatic arc, placing himself back-to-back with Petra. He then followed with a lightning-fast blow to the rat as soon as it fell in front of him; the impact was so brutal that the rat exploded. One more down! Silas energized his own Flexoclava with his ray and beam-fired toward Petra, who realized what was happening and grabbed a weapon that fell perfectly at her side. It''s almost twice the size of the previous one, but she managed to use it anyway with two hands. The rat that had been chewing on the first club was planning to do the same to the new one, but this time, Petra¡¯s counterstrike hit it squarely, immediately knocking it down. Silas warned, ¡°Careful!¡± Petra and Frank only had time to see the rat that had been dragged away by Silas¡¯s energy beam charge back at them like a beast. Petra instinctively tried to place herself in front, already thinking she was going to lose another weapon, but at the moment the rat jumped to attack, a single, accurate shot from Liora put an end to the brutal combat. Both Silas and Liora said in the comlink, "It¡äs over!" Now euphoric with their total victory, Frank let out a shout of relief, followed by Petra, who lifted him to celebrate. Silas, relieved, spoke, "Excellent, everyone! There were 10 in total. I don''t think there are any more. But let¡äs be cautious."
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 18 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 2
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 4
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 5
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9162
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 17 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 11
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8607
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 16 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Resistance Magnitude 7
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5276
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 16 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 6
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 3
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 4996
Equipment
Dual-ray trigger happy rifle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 5 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 9 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 10 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy rifle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy rifle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 2/2)
Maneuver: +7 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: +3 (condition: Stardust on perception range)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 30 / 30 21 2 0+4
War - melee 0+4 1
War - parry 7+4 7(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Firebreaker 10 / 10 WP 1/0 0 0 3+4
Fir - melee 3+4 6(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - ranged 3+4 15 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 10 / 10 0 0 11+4
Star - ranged 11+4 55 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 1+7 55 X-2 X hit/t
Archon 10 / 10 TP 2/2 5 0 0+2
Arch - melee 0+5 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 4+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 4+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 8 - Nowhere Wellcome Chapter 8 - Nowhere Wellcome - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG "This is all so strange..." Silas muttered to himself after he and Liora''s copy accessed the central terminal of the Container Village. Whoever designed the terminal wisely placed it several miles above the spiral in a small cabin hidden in a side cleft of the gigantic spiraling structure. This location had remained secure for millennia. Silas sent a message to everyone so they could gather inside the aerolito, which remained motionless and ready to depart. While Silas worked on the terminal, the others thoroughly searched the entire area to see if they could find any more rats. They didn''t find any, just countless sealed containers and a few bits of partially digested technological material. As they walked through the streets, they noticed rat paw prints, almost always in the same paths. They also found three sets of rat footprints leading into the city, all coming from the north. The accumulated dust almost erased one, and the other two were more recent. They saw a few signs of people ¨C rare and much older marks ¨C near the older containers and leading north. "We''re on our way, Silas," Liora said through the communicator upon receiving the message to return to the aerolito. "We didn''t find any danger here, but no recent sign of people either. The old signs are in the northern part." Cautiously, everyone returned to the aerolito. "Guys, if it''s not urgent before we talk, I need to stop by the cube to take a quick shower. I''m still covered in that blue goo!" Petra warned. "Oh, right! Sorry for the lack of foresight, Petra. You could have come in sooner!" Liora realized. Frank placed his gear in his cube, changed his clothes, and went to his favorite corner, thoughtful and silent. Petra, from inside the small bathroom created by the cube, with the sound of a strong shower in the background, announced in a loud voice: "Silas, Liora, please, I put my Flexoclava and my coat nearby. They''re next to the side table. Could you take a look at their condition?" "That''s what I was thinking about doing!" Silas shouted back. The weapon appeared corroded at the tip, like a decayed tooth, but the armor was perfect, only very dirty. Silas and Liora spent a few minutes analyzing the equipment while Petra got ready. Then Silas spoke aloud again: "The lab coat is okay. The Flexoclava will be ready tomorrow!" At that, the sound of the shower ceased. Petra said, "You''re the man, Silas! I''m coming out in a minute." Petra emerged from the cube shower wearing training clothes, her bandana in hand. She dried her short, uncut hair, which was growing back. Her voice was now refreshed: "Can I wash this here in the cube? I mean, this blue gunk seems to be inactive, but you never know..." Silas responded, "Yes, you can. According to Liora, the exact composition of this is Diethyl Phthalate, Water, traces of Ethanol, Carbopol, and lots of dust. Based on the data we have on the rats, this goo housed technology parasites that helped the rats assimilate the material. However, these parasites only survive a few seconds away from the rat, so it''s completely harmless now." "I understood the ''harmless'' part..." Petra retorted, placing her bandana on the side of the cube. "It''s some organic but synthetic compounds. Ethanol may indicate leftovers from some reaction that is used to produce the oil. It seems to serve as a medium for parasites in symbiosis with rats. Although they''re not exactly living beings, these terms explain them well, and knowing this can be useful for creating countermeasures in the future," Liora explained. "But if they''re not living beings, then were they created by someone? Where do these things come from?" Frank asked, leaning against his corner. "No one knows for sure, and there are many hypotheses..." Silas interjected before Liora could respond, and he continued: "A popular hypothesis is that they are a reflection of people''s suffering in the past and that Gate took it upon itself to transform them into abominations. According to this explanation, they would be a consequence of everything bad that happened to rational beings throughout our civilizations, mostly caused by ourselves. Paraphrasing the Monster of Malmesbury, from Earth, ''That Man to Man is a kind of God; and that Man to Man is a thorough Wolf,'' and now we''re paying for it..." "Monster from where? From Earth?" Frank was astonished. "It''s the nickname of a 17th-century English philosopher, Hobbes," Liora explained. "We know about some curious things about your planet because of the Seneca Project." "What a badass nickname! Now I know what I''m going to read next." Frank smiled. "If you''ve never read it before, I suggest starting with the last part of Leviathan, the fourth part. It''ll be fun..." Liora teased while Silas raised one eyebrow at his friend. "If we are paying for everything bad our civilizations have done in the past, I''m sorry to say, but we are completely doomed! And it seems to be a vicious cycle because it is causing more suffering," Realizing that the group was once again rambling on about various subjects, Petra refocused her attention: "But remembering the problems we have at hand right now, Silas, what did you discover about this place?" "Don''t be so pessimistic about humanity, Petra. In the ranking of bad things, Earth is far from being the worst. But let''s get back to our world. No city or village in this region from the time of the Old Metropolis survived. Any ruins from that time must be buried deep. The venal monoliths spread the debris of the cataclysm to the point where we are now, where the spiral route ends. This northern vein was the one that carried the most debris due to its size and proximity to the impact. That''s why we traveled through a sea of mountains almost the entire journey," Silas explained. "If there are no more cities, then what in the world are all those containers here?" Petra asked. "There were new cities. Only the old ones are gone," Silas continued, "from the data I just got here, starting from the year 1173 after the fall of Old Metropolis, the sending of materials and people to this area began. The Northern cities backed this initiative. Metropolis contributed only some devices and materials, given the critical state of rebuilding the New Metropolis at that time. This contribution explains the sending and accumulation of this cargo here, and it will continue like this until the year 11172, as I saw in the schedule. Between the years 1200 and 1900, people from the North lived here for sure. Paradiso already existed, and it was around the same time that Rocatrista was consolidated as a city, which was previously just a way station in the middle of the Northern vein." Frank nodded, and Silas continued: "The last record of manual entry into the aerolito control system was on 03/23/1911, in the Gate calendar. After that, nothing more. And today is 04/37/9612. More than seven thousand years have passed since then..." "Okay, but no one else came here? The manual record only says that someone operated from this terminal." Liora asked. "Yes, but since this terminal started operating in 1219, until 1911, we have daily records of manual monitoring activity, even when it wasn''t the arrival day for any aerolito. Therefore, people were operating at this station every single day," Silas continued. "There are other details about activities since then. There are automatic records of at least three passenger compositions arriving here after the manual recording stopped in the years 1911, 1912, and 1915. There¡äs no other record, and none of those three seem to have returned. And also, I didn''t see any record of any of this in Rocatrista''s data system." "Are we stuck here? Why does no one return?" Petra asked with concern. "They probably returned through teleporting magic or some similar power, but calm down. It doesn''t mean there''s no way back for us," Silas reassured. "Normal passenger compositions would take at least 220 days to go or return, while cargo compositions take an average of 46 days. Any composition returning to Rocatrista loaded needs to interrupt the outgoing line unless I do the trick of jumping with the aerolito. That''s risky, considering two compositions with windshields in opposite directions because the aerolitos are created by magic, and they follow very specific rules. They always tend to float in the center of the lanes, with little height variation. Everything else is controlled by technology, like the compositions on top of the aerolitos, windshields, and engines to accelerate. In most cases, the veins are quite branched, and we have many cycles, but the Northern vein is not. It''s a huge straight line with no branches at all." "Okay, so to return, we will have to train this jump maneuver. Maybe we can program some device to make the process safer," Petra suggested. "That''s a good idea!" Silas concluded, "But there are other ways to return. We could hire a transport mage and convince them to get on a cargo aerolito to fetch us. It''s a bit expensive, and we need to contact Rocatrista first, or, once we have contact, we can ask Rocatrista to hold a composition for 46 days. This way, we could return without worries. But the question is, are we returning immediately?" "I''d sure be glad to return right now, but first, let''s find out what happened to the people here. Are there more cities nearby?" Frank asked. "There are records of three more destinations from before 1911. One of them is very close to here. It''s a few minutes'' trip to the north on an airbike in a valley just behind that hill." Silas pauses briefly to point to the spot. "Materials were sent from here via atmospheric ships to two other destinations. I have records of the cargo ships in the system, without aerolitos, that collected materials in this area and took them to a point. Both of them are less than an hour away, probably outposts..." Silas said, scratching his head. "I was going to ask why no one uses planes here in Gate..." Petra commented. "Well, we have several types of aerial vehicles, divided between atmospheric and space, but there''s a problem. It''s common for them to be intercepted when they travel far from the veins or the monolith plates. On average, at least one incident every 7.4 days of travel, as the Metropolis data shows. This rate increases the further away from a vein or plate you are, and that''s for atmospheric transport at speeds similar to those of aerolitos without any route underneath. For spaceships or spatial fold technology, it''s practically guaranteed to attract problems. Some crazies operate this type of ship even though it''s forbidden in the New Metropolis because the unwanted company that comes along with travelers falls upon the destination city. We could try our luck with some freelance pilot or build our own ship, but that''s not for now because it would really take a long time, and no city would welcome us with a hug if we arrived on a ship. The aerolitos work very well as a way to disguise and make safe transportation, as we can see here where we are. Almost all of them reached their destination, and this has been the case for a long time." "My God! We''re in a world full of monsters, but after all this time, why no one has taken action?" Petra rebelled. "The people who trained in the houses of the Academy thought the same way, Petra. In the last years of the Old Metropolis, whole cities were on solid ground, far from any plate. They even managed to thaw a sea to the east of Metropolis. They spent decades with zero problems registered across Gate. Everything was running perfectly until one day it wasn''t..." Liora interrupted. "We can make a small ship and fly close to the veins!" Frank suggested. "Yes, Frank, that''s what the pilots do with their ships, but even so, it considerably increases the danger, and the cities still aren''t willing to risk it. But we have to decide whether we go ahead with the plan to go after Seneca or delay it and return to Rocatrista right now." "What a big mess of a plan!" Petra commented. "I also think so because we had no access to this kind of information," Silas replied. "What I thought was this: as long as we don''t draw attention, we can try to find Seneca. It would be best to stay in one of the villages here. Seneca passed through here around the year 1800. We need to figure out what to do. I propose we try to understand what happened here before deciding." "It doesn''t sound like a good idea to me..." Frank countered. "We managed to handle the rats, but this place makes me uneasy. Something bothers me. If transportation by ship is so dangerous, why did the people here have two?" "The outposts are close by. The ships were only used twice each. Maybe they were temporary settlements to explore the area. And this spiral continues beneath the earth, in a large area, as the data from this terminal suggests. It seems like there are plans to build a huge city here." Silas answered. "Considering that there is a spiral beneath the earth, it would make sense to assume that it''s safer to build and travel here. But we still have unanswered questions: where are the people that leave tracks near the older containers?" Liora pondered. "Silas, you said there is a city five minutes away?" "Yes, there are only general notes on this terminal. The people who operated here occasionally wrote their activities as reminders. In those notes, they mention another outpost on the way to the city, on top of that hill right there. If we go to the city, we''ll certainly pass by this outpost." Silas concluded. "And that''s all the data I could extract from here." "Okay..." Petra reflected, "If we are going to check the area, we can start with this outpost, then the city in the valley, and then the other two points furthest away. I think that if there were people here, they should contact us soon." "Yes, it makes sense," Liora responded, also reflecting. "In that case, we keep our aerolito assembled here as a base of operations and walk around the area on the airbike. We''ll spend a considerable amount of time in the city nearby, so let''s prepare well before starting our exploration. "We have a little over 40 days before the next aerolito arrives and also before the people in Rocatrista realize that the previous aerolito didn''t return. I don''t think they''ll mind because we found some of them crashed in the middle of the snow. Eventually, there are problems, and I think they''ll consider that was the case," Silas paused thoughtfully, then continued, "I''ll need two more days to modify the airbike. I''ll put in some probing devices, and it''s also good to take our cubes with us. I don''t think we''ll find food or adequate infrastructure if the city is gone." Frank was visibly uncomfortable in his corner. He didn''t say anything. Petra concluded, "In those two days, we''ll only explore the containers from here, starting right now!" "Right, I''ll get some exploration equipment, and we''ll return to the Container City immediately. We still have a few hours today!" Liora said while she moved to pack her things. "I have some passwords to open and close containers that I''m going to pass on to everyone through the communicator. I''ll stay in our aerolito preparing the airbike!" Silas said as he stood up to get his gear. Frank remained silent. He put on his equipment again and stayed at the door waiting. For the next few days, the group finds a few things different from the technological scraps they had on the aerolito they arrived in. Silas becomes excited in his makeshift laboratory, guiding the search for parts. They find an aircar in one of the older containers. The group decided to turn the two days into four so they would have two vehicles to use and a nice contingency. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Liora identifies the mountain to the north and the guard outpost location using a dim spotlight source and a sensible camera. It seems like a cabin in the middle of a small natural recess. They only advance once they''re prepared. One day before, they send the reconnaissance drone upward, up to its maximum range, to obtain a further visual return. But since there''s no light coming from the valley, they can''t anticipate much. After four days of preparation, everyone is ready. Silas places the aerolito next to the inner side of the spiral and turns it towards Rocatrista, closes the door, and covers the entire composition with a durable cloth. Finally, he deactivates the energy cells inside to avoid attracting rats. He prepares it to reactivate everything in a few seconds when they need to depart. Silas climbs into the airbike while the others are already waiting in the aircar. Petra comments, easing the tension, "This reminds me of family trips!" Both vehicles are modified and full of monitoring devices. Silas does a final check and says, "Everything''s ready! Let''s go! The sooner we leave, the sooner we''ll be back!" Frank nods. Liora starts the engine, and they all head up the hill towards the outpost.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 20 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 3
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 6
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 6
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9167
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 19 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 15
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8612
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 18 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance Magnitude 10
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5281
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 18 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 7
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5001
Equipment
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 6 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 12 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 13 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Chapter 9 - Those Who are Left for the Time - part 1 Chapter 9 - Those Who are Left for the Time - part 1 - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG The aircar was packed with technological equipment - so many sensors that it got slower than the airbike. As a result, the trip up the small mountain to the guard post took a few extra minutes. It was still possible to make out the remnants of a road going up the mountain with a very gentle incline. There were no signs of activity or power sources in the whole area. Cautiously, the group approached the guard post, almost at the top of the mountain, partially concealed by a lateral recess. Before entering the post, they could barely make out the valley among the silhouettes of mountains. Down there, everything remained utterly dark. Even using night vision and heat sensors, nothing could be seen, and the silence seemed to reign there for a long time. "Well, if there''s a city in that valley, it''s completely empty," Liora concluded, attempting to pierce the darkness. She continued, "We can illuminate the city from here to obtain more information, but it''s best to take things one step at a time. We start by exploring the post here, and then we may go down hidden. At least there are no signs of rats or anything else." Petra took the lead towards the post; advancing toward the entrance, she whispered: "There''s a lot of dust accumulating against the door. Let''s try to open this. It looks like a purely mechanical door. It''s going to take force." Each of them carried a headset with night vision and a small portable lighting device. But even the four of them lit up a minimal area together. It was impossible to see anything else in the surroundings, and the place was freezing, making the thermal clothes generated by the shelter cube turn on almost at maximum power. Despite the little light, they saw two smaller airbikes in a corner outside. ¡°Let me try to open it, Petra, just a moment¡­ Careful,¡± Frank warned. He kicked some dust away and tried to move a sliding door. To his surprise, it wasn''t even locked. Even opening it carefully, the door made a noise of old metal scraping. Frank stopped immediately. He looked at the others with surprise and whispered, "I haven''t even used any force... It was already open!" Liora took her fuel cube from the aircar. She immediately created a generous amount of lubricating fluid and poured it liberally through the small opening Frank had made. Then, the door opened almost silently. Petra carefully went in first. On the other side of the door was a room that was part of a set of three small rectangular rooms. Silas had to bend to enter. The smell coming from inside was stale and metallic. The walls had lost almost all their paint, and the metal was quite deteriorated in some places, but the structure remained firm. From the first room, it was possible to see the other two because a straight, open corridor ran through the middle. There were three smaller containers arranged in a row. The connection between the rooms was worn, and it was possible to see some cracks in the ceiling, already giving a view inside the stone cave in the mountain. "This place rusted from the inside out..." Liora said before entering. "From the smell I''m getting from here, it seems the survival support managed to keep the interior environment heated and humid for a long time before it was exhausted." The group slowly entered the outpost while Silas stayed at the door to observe any reactions. After realizing that there was no movement inside, Liora increased the lighting, allowing everyone to see the environment. The first room had a breakfast table set with plates, cups, and jugs, everything filled with a lot of dust that had accumulated. One of the chairs was knocked over, and the other two were turned sideways as if the people had left in the middle of breakfast. The food was gone, but all the utensils were arranged as if they were being used. In the same room with the small breakfast table was a closet with armor and weapons, all with the symbol of the city. The symbol consisted of the silhouette of this mountain against a silver sky, with the name "Northern Valley" in the Nailia language written below in a handwritten style. Two sets of equipment were missing, but the rest were arranged to be equipped without wasting time. "That name, Northern Valley, is mentioned in the entry terminal, but only in the last few years of records," Silas commented from the doorway. "I see deactivated terminals here. I''m going to grab some repair material and another energy cell from the car. I''ll put all of this together, and we''ll see what kind of records we have here." And he began to organize things in the aircar while the others continued to explore. While Liora tried her luck with readings from the probing devices, Petra moved to the second room and said, "We''ve got a bunch of closets here..." Petra advanced while a beeping sound from Liora''s probes could be heard. Petra continued, "They''re closed. Frank, your turn!" Before Frank could open it, Liora warned, "Just a minute, everyone. There''s an energy reading, very faint, coming from the second room..." Liora went in to see where the energy reading was coming from. The room had a central corridor and a bunch of closed cabinets. One of them was twice the size of the others and stood out for its perfectly preserved doors and a kind of metallic padlock. Liora said, "Well, the energy reading is coming from inside this larger cabinet. From what I can see now, it''s a Nailia design, and I think it''s magical. Otherwise, I have no idea what it is..." Despite the tension, Frank couldn''t resist his curiosity. He stroked his beard. "Hmm... Looks like a padlock!" But he controlled himself, "Better try to find some keys for this. Interesting!" Petra gave Frank a sideways glance, "Pay attention, everyone. Let''s stay focused here! I''m going to enter the last room." Everyone was attentive to details. The place seemed well organized and slightly less dusty. Most of the dust formed small piles beneath the holes in the ceiling between the rooms. But other than that, it seemed like the people who lived there had used it yesterday. The third room was a bedroom initially divided by interior walls made of some light material that had already been entirely degraded by time. What remained of the decomposed walls was a pile of debris on the floor, following the lines of what once was the walls. On the left side of the corridor was a double bed made up inside a larger and more comfortable partition, and on the right were two smaller partitions with two small beds each, very cramped. Inside the large room were various cabinets, mirrors, tables, and clothes that, at first glance, were similar to those of humans. But the height was a little taller than average. The proportions of the arms and legs were clearly longer. Some of these clothes were thrown into a basket in a corner as if they were waiting to be washed. "They''re typical of nailia culture. They have peculiar customs of forming homes integrated into their activity. There was a workplace, and a family must have lived here in the larger room. The other rooms seem temporary," Liora said, starting to take readings with the devices again, but this time, nothing seemed different. Frank went directly to the big room and looked at a shelf with a large mirror covered in dust. There was a set of instruments that he judged to be for beauty and hygiene. He was able to identify a thick comb and a framed portrait of a couple who were clearly not human. Frank carefully brushed away the dust and showed the others, impressed, "They''re not humans, but they look happy. Look at the vibrant colors in this photo here!" The photo depicted two skinny figures with long arms, slim faces, and sharp and elongated ears and noses. They had enormous multicolored eyes with no apparent iris. Both figures were holding hands and posing for the photo. In the background, there were party decorations and a lot of food. They both wore full cloaks, highly decorated with metal and greenish stones. There were things written on the photo and the frame, which the nano-translators took some time to translate because of the dust. Frank concentrated and read aloud, "Long and sublime life to the Buklises!" He paused to read further down on the frame. "Hmm¡­ Head of the Guard Akandra Buklise and Grand Maga Olanna Buklise, 15th day of the 2nd month of 1281!" Petra looked at the photo with interest. She said, "The nailia have hair! But it looks like metal strands in this photo!" Liora responded, "Some have metallic colors. They are quite strong strands and serve to protect their sensitive backs. It reminds me that I still keep nailia-style hair. It''s very similar to human hair, just a little thicker and longer," she explained without resisting the urge to provide details. "It seems like there is no immediate danger here. Let''s explore this place better while Silas finishes putting the systems up," Petra concluded. With that, the three of them began to scan the rooms. Frank concentrated on the compartments in the closet and the double bed. He found two small cabinets with drawers next to the bed. ¡°Aha, here they are!¡± Frank said upon finding what appeared to be a bunch of keys covered in dust on top of one of the cabinets next to the bed. He continued: "This means two things. As I suspected, it looks like the Grand Maga disappeared without having time to leave the house normally," Frank said, shaking the keys. "And second, we''ll soon find out the source of the energy in the room next door." "Liora, but what could have made the people disappear?" Petra asked, less excited and more worried. "Nothing that I know of. We''ll have to see if Silas finds anything else..." Liora continued to search the room. After reviewing the readings, she said, "There''s nothing else here. I think we''ve covered everything. Let''s see what''s inside the cabinet." With that, Frank went towards the locked cabinet. He hesitated and asked, "Liora, do you think there''s any protection or traps here?" "Well, the nailia are very careful about their privacy, particularly when it comes to magic," Liora responded. "But given the situation we''re in, it certainly justifies trying to find out what happened here. I don''t think there will be any security contingency other than the keys because most magic would hardly go unnoticed by the sensors. However, if Olanna is alive, she certainly knows we''re here." Petra watched Silas come in and out with equipment and realized that it would still take a long time. Even though there was no immediate danger, the people''s disappearance left her restless. She observed Frank and Liora trying to open the beautiful cabinet with the key while she imagined what they would find in the city just below. Frank took a while but finally figured out how to open it. ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa! But what is all this stuff here?¡± Frank exclaimed upon seeing that everything inside was in perfect condition and the open cabinet emanated a mix of flower and wood perfumes. The interior view was full of colors, metal, stones, and fabric. He could identify clothes folded on the top shelf, identical to the ones in the photo. In the middle part was a huge box, taking up the entire shelf, emanating its own light. It had a stone bottom and a paper top. When Frank looked at the box with his hands, writing appeared in an ethereal light that translated as "Vabala 1902 NM open." And on the line below, the name "Olanna Buklise of the Northern Valley." On the bottom of the cabinet, a bunch of letters written on paper were organized in files divided by years. Each file read "Restricted Access: Akandra Buklise." Liora put her hands on her headset and said, "Silas, bring the particle scanner. We might have some answers, but I want to avoid having to open some files. They''re on paper..." Silas mumbled loudly from the other room, "Paper! Seriously, they used that?" With that, Liora responded in a low voice, as she was visibly amazed by what was in front of her, speaking in a distant tone. "They used that when they didn''t want to spread the information¡­ I never thought I would see one of those in person! Wow!" Even Petra relaxed her tension a little bit. She asked, "Liora, are you okay? What is this, anyway?" Frank was visibly excited. "Excuse me, Petra, not everything here is urgent, but we should keep all of this and return it to the nailia as soon as possible; I mean, after we use it, probably," Liora replied, refreshing her oldest memories. "Of the things that I think are urgent, and I asked Silas to scan, is the bottom of the cabinet. There may be contingencies to prevent someone who doesn''t have clearance from reading what''s written there. I''m not noticing any protection, but they are restricted access documents..." Frank turned to Liora with open palms and a questioning expression, but before he could speak, Liora continued, "In the middle, we have here an open Vabala. 1902 is the year it was made, and NM refers to the New Metropolis calendar. The Vabalas are a set of three magic schools: "Va," which is transport; "Ba," is creation; and "La," is communication. Nailia society subsidizes access to three magic schools for all nailia, but almost none of them own a Vabala like this one. And I''ve never seen any of them keep a Vabala open. I bet that the couple planned to have and raise children here in this city. And since they were far from a nailia community, they managed to get this set together. This Vabala is something very rare, and it can be incredibly useful to us because they are used to allow a mage alone to learn how to create and maintain entire cities. If they''re a strong enough mage, it allows them to create small, private universes. It was this knowledge that Seneca probably used to create your Earth." Frank didn''t stop walking around the room, completely euphoric. Petra continued, "Are you telling me that this is a DIY manual for creating universes?" "Precisely, Petra. But creating universes is something that''s divided into three or four chapters of the Vabala. And in total, there are fifteen. So, there''s much more to it than that, but we must take advantage of this opportunity with caution and wisdom." "But how so? This opportunity will turn us into gods!" Frank exclaimed. "Let''s enter a hole and only come out after we''ve read this Valhalla line by line!" he concluded. Liora was about to correct the name, but Silas spoke up, hearing it from the other room. "So, Frank, I understand your excitement," Silas said as he entered the room carrying a pile of devices, "But let''s take it easy. Magic takes much longer to learn than technology, and it draws much more attention. Look at my case; I''m the only one here who is, physically, almost the same as when I left Metropolis. If something from Gate breathes a little stronger next to me, I''m toast! Now imagine a specialist mage. They will spend a huge amount of time and effort learning everything about creating universes, and there won''t be time for anything else. Do you understand? Obviously, it''s fascinating, and you can be sure we will use it. Yes, but we have to do this strategically." "Silas, Seneca has been around for a long time, and he can wait a bit longer. What do you think about us doing the following: We go into that aerolito and go back to Rocatrista immediately. There, you open an engineering business that will certainly be very useful to the city. Meanwhile, we use whatever time there is to learn magic. Then we return here well-prepared!" Frank requested, gesturing with his hands in a pleading voice. Silas answered without delay while still arranging the devices. "Well¡­ I think it''s a good idea, Frank. I was thinking just about that. The Seneca plan was made based on the information we had before, and now we have better options. And it''s not just me who decides what to do. What do you guys think, Liora, Petra?" "There are a few things we still don''t know. It bothers me that no information was available in Rocatrista''s systems; I''m referring to the three aerolitos with passengers that came here after the people disappeared, whose data was only captured by the automatic records there at the entrance." Liora considered. "Let''s do the following: We finish collecting the data here at the outpost, and then we''ll see. This place makes me nervous..." "Well, everyone, I was trying to avoid saying this, but I have a bad feeling about all of this. I just can''t explain why..." Frank confided, "I would like to leave this place right now!" "I think we all feel the same, Frank!" Petra confirmed. "Common sense tells me it''s best to come back to this place when we understand what happened. It doesn''t seem like the rats are responsible for the disappearance of the people from here. I also don''t feel good about snooping around other people''s things. Silas, how much time do we need?" "To finish the reading, a little over an hour, if I and Liora feed a model with this data. As soon as the reading is done, we''ll pack everything up and get out of here," Silas said. Everyone started to help accelerate the process. Frank took charge of taking the Vabala to the aircar along with some of the guard''s weapons. Petra stood guard outside. In less than half an hour, everything was ready for them to leave. All that was left was to wait for the devices to finish reading the bottom part. "Well... I asked my copy to help, and we can already share partial information about what''s here," Liora said, realizing the aircar was ready. "The main things are guard reports from the city and something about the old politics of this region. We''ll start with the most recent, dated 03/23/1911. That''s the same day as the last manual record in the outpost near the containers. They usually did a weekly report, but on days 23 and 22, there were extraordinary and disturbing daily reports. Starting with day 23..." Liora paused and rested her forehead in her hand, quite hesitant. She spoke as if she were reading: "One, Two and One. Two and One. Two and One. Two and Turn. You must wait to make me happy. You must understand to make me happy. You must win to make me happy. Everything is perfect. Forever. And I am happy! Am I? I?" The report from day 23 is identical to the one from day 22, with only this phrase written and repeated ad nauseam in place of the others, without making any sense of paragraphs or divisions..." Everyone, with a cold stare, was waiting in silence. Liora continued, "I thought maybe it was coded to hide information, but that wouldn''t make sense. That was written in nailia in Akandra''s handwriting. Day 22 is very different. At the beginning of the report, she explains that it will be an extraordinary report. Throughout that day, several people in the city say they saw a short figure, resembling a child, who was jumping as if they were playing hopscotch and then disappearing when someone approached. That night, there were reports of random people coming out on the street, speaking nonsense in an unknown language, and when confronted, they couldn''t remember anything, not even why they were there. On that same day, Olanna stayed up late trying to understand something but found nothing..." "Well, everyone," Liora continued, visibly worried. "Other than that, it doesn''t seem like the older documents will have anything interesting for now. I went ahead and found the arrival and departure dates of Seneca in this city. He stayed here from 1803 to 1809, and then he left for the North alone. But I think that can wait. What do you think about getting out of here immediately?" "You don''t have to say it twice!" Frank rushed. In less than a minute, they interrupted the reading process, which was almost finished, and put all the remaining equipment back in the car. They started the engines and descended the mountain back to the aerolito. After 15 minutes of descending the mountain, they realized something was entirely wrong. They were going full-speed downhill, but the mountain didn''t seem to end. Liora and Silas turned on several probes, but they returned errors or nothing unusual. "Okay, we''re not going anywhere..." Silas said, stopping the aircar. They realized they were just a few meters from the entrance to the guard outpost. "Look! Right there!" Petra shouted, noticing something on the road. Everyone watched in bewilderment as a copy of their aircar, with them inside, moved away at high speed and continued down the road. After a few seconds, the image slowly faded until it completely disappeared. "There are some powers that I think could do something similar to this, but nothing on this scale. It breaks the rules. And I can''t detect anything on the sensors..." Liora said. "This looks like some kind of spatial distortion. Let''s put the airbike on the automatic drive and test it to try to find an alternative route," Silas concluded. The others nodded, pondering. Silas prepared the airbike to travel autonomously and sent it off the road. After a while, it appeared behind them out of nowhere, a little higher up on the mountain, while a copy of the airbike seemed to continue down the path until it disappeared. Silas said, "The airbike stopped receiving signals from down there as soon as it appeared up here. I don''t know what the image we see of it going down is because I immediately disconnected the airbike here, but the copy continued independently. I also changed the route slightly from our previous course, and the result was the same. We can continue testing here to find a gap or try another approach..." "Guys, maybe the text from day 23 gives us a clue. I''m chewing over the words but without much success. Should we stop and wait for something?" Petra asked. "No, no!" Liora responded, "I think it''s the opposite. The repeated phrase has a mix of verb tenses and voices. The sentences in the middle of the text that start with ''you must'' have a mode of the nailia language different from the other parts. They are orders given by someone, and maybe I don''t want to let whoever that is be happy. I suggest we act immediately." "If we can''t waste time, we need to find more information somehow. The people who came here after everyone else disappeared, if there are no records of them, it¡¯s possible they ignored the guard outpost and went directly to the valley..." Frank commented, not very convinced that he should suggest going down to the valley on the other side. "I don¡¯t know. No one returned, and the problems here haven¡¯t been solved. If we do the same thing as them, we could have the same fate," Petra said. "Maybe go around the valley in another direction..." "The three groups that came here all did so very close to the date when everyone disappeared. Many of the city''s sensors likely recorded what happened to them. If we go down into the valley, we''ll have to decide this now to have time to check the city data," Silas said. "It¡¯s a risk¡­ Let''s try!" Liora said without much certainty. Petra was thinking while Frank was still looking in the direction of the containers and the spiral, trying to think of a way to go back. ¡°Okay, we''ll go directly to the aircar. When we reach the city, Silas, go straight to any terminals you find while we three explore the place, always keeping a close distance between us. If there¡¯s any sign of problems, we¡¯ll be able to react in an organized manner. Liora, look at the partial material you took from the guard and try to build a map of the city along the way. Try to find points of interest and locations where the terminals are. We''ll try to organize a search strategy in the few minutes we have until we reach the valley!" Petra tried to organize the actions as best she could. With that, the group moved forward in the aircar at full speed. They realized that the distortion didn¡¯t prevent them from continuing towards the valley. Silas, reaching the edge of the mountain, asked, "Guys, it seems impossible to be discreet now. Can I turn our lights to the maximum and activate the sensors from up here? We''ll still need about ten minutes to reach the center of the valley. What do you think?" "Hmm... It seems like we''ve fallen into a trap. Silas, you can move with your hand beams, right? Wait until a terminal that Liora has mapped is within your flight range. Then turn on all the lights we have and go to the terminal. If anything gets bothered by the lights, it will come after us and not you!" Petra said. And so they continued. When the car was already at the entrance of the city, Silas jumped out of the car and flew towards a large warehouse. At the same time, the city was lit up by the lights of the vehicles and the devices. They could see several dozen streets in the city and small houses. There was space for trees and abandoned gardens, but no plants seemed to have survived over time. Silas said over the communicator, "In a few minutes, I''m going to turn on the city''s power to access the terminals. I''ll also try to connect an energy cell to a light and heat tower here." "Okay, Silas, we haven¡¯t found anything yet, just the empty city. The visual sensors can see a big dark circle drawn on the ground, right in the middle of a garden square in front of a big building. Otherwise, there are only closed buildings. We¡¯re going there," said Liora. Silas first turned on the city''s power source. A small portion of the devices started working again, and he connected to the public camera databases. Silas fed his visual AI models at the same time as he looked at specific recordings until he spoke through the comlink, shocked by what he found. "It seems Liora was right about not waiting. Even though I still haven''t found any records of strange entities as described in the guard logs, on day 23, people lost their sanity; they bore a panicked expression, and they didn¡ät speak anything to each other. They just left, walking, without taking anything, never to return. And the same thing happened to the first two groups that came here shortly after. However, in the third group, one of the people was quick and managed to get to the north. That same person wore a cloak with a symbol that I recognized. He was an archmage from Metropolis. He entered and left the central square without any problems, and he seems to have repeated this route many times for more than a year, as I can see¡­" Silas said just before the others reached the center of the city. "So, let''s hurry up. Let''s head north following the archmage''s footsteps." Petra said through the communicator. "Okay, in five minutes, I¡¯ll be there. I¡¯m going to leave an energy cell here and also some remote connectors to transfer all the data. I will connect both the records and some of the cameras that are still active to our system. You have a few minutes to see if you can find anything there in the center." The sound of Silas loading things and muttering can still be heard through the comlink, in a rush to get everything ready. Petra and Frank entered the dark circle area without ceremony and investigated what was once a city square. Liora stayed on the edge, analyzing the ground, and warned with concern, ¡°I don¡¯t see any sign of energy. But this black material forming a circle is organic - nailia blood and frozen remains. If there¡¯s nothing there, we¡¯d better leave." When Frank heard Liora, he hesitated, "Petra! Let¡¯s get out of here!" "Yes, Frank, I noticed something right there in front of us," Petra said, checking if Silas had the channel open. "Silas, at the edge of that circle, there¡¯s a trail of the same material as if something was dragged, and it¡¯s heading north. Can you confirm if that¡¯s the direction the archmage traveled?" After a few moments of silence, Silas answered. "That''s the direction he passed through almost every day. But there were no tracks at that time. There''s no data on when he stopped coming or of anything on the ground. Some of the city sensors stopped working before this circle or the tracks appeared." Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Petra found footprints near where the trail to the north began. They seemed to be from a small human but with large nail marks on the ground, also pointing north, and a partially buried translucent red pebble in the dust. After a few seconds, Petra bent down and picked up the stone. Frank looked at Petra incredulously. She said over the communicator, ¡°Silas, I found two footprints and a red stone on the ground right in front of them. I took the stone, and nothing happened, so I''ll take it for Liora to investigate. We''re going to follow this trail north, right?¡± Liora approached the two of them, avoiding entering the circle. When they all met at the point where the line to the north cut the circle, she observed the stone and said, "There''s something strange about it. It''s not magic, and it doesn''t emanate any kind of energy, but it is a monolith." "Any idea if I should leave this here or take it? The place where it was seemed important to me..." Petra asked. "I wouldn''t keep it in any other situation. But I have no idea what to do..." Liora concluded. "We better take this stone!" Silas warned, reaching them while flying with his energy beam. "This is something the archmage carried with him." Everyone rushed to get into the aircar and departed immediately, following the straight path marked on the ground by a dark line. Due to the tension of the moment, they barely had time to notice the abandoned city around them. The trail to the north ended at a small tent in the middle of an avenue. This shelter wasn''t part of the city. "Well, everyone, this is the place where the archmage lived. I don''t know what happened to them or if they stayed in the city longer," Silas said. "The last visual records I have show nothing beyond this mage walking around, back and forth, with great tranquility. They seemed to be exploring this region until the day these cameras ran out of power..." Everyone entered the small tent, nailia-sized. Silas remained at the doorway, observing. Frank announced himself upon entering, "We''re coming in. We''re friends!" But there was no response. The place was tiny and only had a chair and a table with some things scattered on top. Silas noticed some circular holes in the canvas that served as the tent door. "Interesting. I''m seeing a recording cube right next to it. I think the mage sent audio-visual recordings to somewhere from this cube. It¡¯s an old Metropolis model for private use. It won¡¯t have much on it now, but we can check the cache," Silas advised. ¡°Of course, let''s see what the last record is," Liora said, picking up the cube and connecting it to everyone''s communicators. She realized that on the table, there was only another shelter cube and nothing else. After activating the cube, an audio-visual recording of a nailia with multicolored eyes that literally emanated light appeared. There was an aura of energy around his body, and beams traveled across his cloak, emitting a constant static charge noise without apparent reason. He was far less discreet than Ramirez. The figure spoke in a deep and powerful voice, utterly unexpected given his slender figure. ¡°Charri Dukliasse, Day 976, Metropolis Bureau of Special Investigations, Mission Code 45086. Today, I pierced the target with moderately powered stone pillars. A little more force and I could have easily killed her. Like the other times, she doesn''t seem to have gotten any more resistant. I feel sorry for that creature. She can''t get out of her confinement, no matter how hard she tries, and I¡¯m starting to get bored. She needs the shard, and she doesn''t seem to realize it. And even if she had, if it weren''t for my provocations, she wouldn¡¯t even think about getting out." Charri stood up and placed the red stone Petra was now holding on the table, rotating it as if making a visual record. He continued, ¡°The target is not getting any stronger over time. But she seems to react and even learn things related to what¡¯s happening. When I left her alone a short while ago, after attacking her with the stone pillars, she curled up and began to build two little stone men. Anyway¡­¡± The mage turned his back to the camera and sat back down in his chair. He continued recording, "Three more weeks and I''m out of this end of the world. Before this place drives me crazy, I need to speak with Director Mose between today and tomorrow. After I finish sending the data, I will shut down for today¡­" But before the archmage could realize or react, four stone pillars invaded his tent, piercing the canvas entrance without any resistance. A kind of protective energy aura deflected the first three. The last pillar penetrated and hit the archmage in the head, opening a hole in his skull and knocking him to the ground, dead. Two flying stone golems with sharp and retractable arms entered the tent. They transformed the stone spikes into arms. One of them picked up the red stone, and the other delivered consecutive blows to the fallen mage''s body. In moments, they dragged Charri''s body out of his tent by the legs, creating a trail of blood all the way to the center of the city. After the file finished sending to Metropolis, the cube stopped transmitting. Everyone agreed that the right thing to do was to disappear from there immediately. All of them got out of the tent and saw, in the distance, down there in the square, in the exact spot where the footprints were, a figure almost like a human girl. Liora and Petra clearly noticed her completely red eyes and pale, injured skin. She was wearing dirty, torn cloaks. She raised her arms, and two stone golems began to emerge from the ground, slowly awakening to kill again. ¡°Silas! Silas!¡± Everyone shouted, already heading toward their vehicles, noticing he was frozen, looking at the figure in the distance. There was no answer. The ebex was paralyzed. ¡°Frank, get Silas inside the car. Let¡¯s get out of here!¡± Liora said. And with that, they all crammed into the aircar and left the city towards the north. While accelerating the vehicle, Liora asked, ¡°Silas, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡± She looked back and realized they¡¯d soon have the company of flying golems. ¡°It¡¯s her, Liora. She¡¯s in my nightmares¡­¡± Silas answered, still in shock.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 23+1 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 6
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 8
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9167
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 22+1 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 1
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 17
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8612
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 21+1 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 4
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 11
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 2
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5281
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 21+1/ 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 9
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 5
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5001
Equipment
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 4x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 8 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 14 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 15 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 2/1)
Maneuver: 9+4 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 0+3 (condition: Stardust on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 1+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 40 / 40 33 4 0+4 regen 1/t
War - melee 1+4 1(d12)
War - parry 11+4 11(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Firebreaker 20 / 20 WP 1/1 0 0 5+4 regen 1/t
Fir - melee 5+4 9(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - ranged 5+4 25 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 10 / 10 TP 1/1 0 0 17+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 17+4 85 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 7+7 85 X-2 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 17+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 TP 4/4 5 0 0+2
Arch - melee 0+5 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 6+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 6+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 10 - Those Who are Left for the Time - part 2 Chapter 10 - Those Who are Left for the Time - part 2 - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG Liora piloted the aircar at a low altitude, trying to gain more speed. Silas was still in shock, trembling, desperately trying to regain his sanity. Frank tried to help, firmly holding his friend''s hands and looking into his eyes, saying: "Silas, listen! We¡¯re all here for you. It doesn¡¯t matter if that thing was in your dreams. We''ll figure this out!" Silas seemed to notice everyone around him and started to calm down. ¡°They¡¯re a little faster than the aircar. Either we try, all four of us, to climb into the airbike and leave everything in the aircar behind, or we¡¯ll have to act quickly¡­¡± Liora warned, noticing the two golems getting closer. "And right now, we¡¯re going straight north. We''ll aimlessly wander if we don¡¯t change our course soon.¡± The aircar had just left the city, and the lights that Silas managed to fix were left behind, forcing Liora to climb up a little to avoid the rugged ground, which made things worse by lowering the speed. Petra turned around and saw the valley retreating in the distance. It was possible to see two figures that looked like small, floating pebbles against the background dim light. Petra seemed to be straining her vision. She said, ¡°They are following us. They¡¯re getting closer, even though they seem to be lying down and motionless. There''s something strange. I can see parts of the city square behind them instead of the horizon. It¡¯s like there¡¯s a tunnel connecting the two with the city.¡± ¡°Liora, they¡¯ll be within shooting range soon,¡± Frank said, having a hard time aiming and watching the figures through his weapon¡¯s scope. It then occurred to him that Petra, without any equipment, was able to perceive everything in detail. Before he could say anything, Liora interrupted. ¡°Frank, I¡¯m going to put my copy on the wheel, and we¡¯ll see if they¡¯re really tough!¡± Liora said, grabbing her weapon and leaning out the front window of the aircar. She aimed at their pursuers. "We¡¯ll coordinate our shots, Frank. They''ll be in range in a few seconds. I¡¯ll take the one on my right." With that, Frank leaned out the car¡äs rear window with his weapon and prepared his aim. They both focused for a few moments. When Liora gave the order, "Ready... Now!" Two shots tore through the air and seemed to hit their targets. However, as soon as the beams began to pierce them, the golems changed their trajectory to the side almost immediately, ignoring inertia and dodging the shots. ¡°Oh, crap! I swore I had hit them!" Frank said incredulously. ¡°It¡¯s like they teleported at the last second. I didn¡¯t see anything," Petra lamented. "I managed to see them move, but it was so fast that I didn''t have time to redirect the beam. We''re going to have serious problems hitting those two," Liora concluded. ¡°Alright, these things must be after the stone. What do you think about this idea? We grab the stone and put it in the airbike. Then we send the airbike in another direction¡­" Frank suggested. ¡°No!¡± Silas intervened, still quite stunned. ¡°That stone is what protected the archmage from madness. He knew it, but..." Silas couldn¡¯t finish the thought. He put his hand to his head, trying to recover. Petra, realizing the critical situation, said, ¡°Guys, they¡¯re going to reach us in a matter of minutes. Let¡¯s all climb into the airbike and send the car the other way!¡± "Wait! I have an idea!¡± Silas said, with difficulty, "I¡¯m getting better, but it¡¯s still hard to concentrate, so I''m going to need your help. Frank, hold me inside the car. I¡¯m going to put my arm out and turn on my energy beam to launch the car with me!" Everyone looked at each other, worried if Silas was really up to it. Time ran out, so they decided to take a risk. Without delay, Liora picked up her rifle and returned to the driver''s seat, ¡°Silas, are you sure you want to try this? If you¡¯re going to do it, you have to do it now. I''ll try to control the vehicle. If it doesn¡¯t work immediately, we¡¯ll try the airbike.¡± Silas and Frank switched places at the rear window. Silas managed to put only one arm out while Petra and Frank prepared for the launch. Silas warned, "Frank, Petra. When I start, try to distribute the force on the underside of the car, as that¡¯s where the center of mass is. I¡¯ll try to start at a lower power and gradually increase it." Petra let out a half-smile of relief, muffled by tension, recognizing her friend''s sharp mind again. Frank said, ¡°Whenever you¡¯re ready, Silas!¡± Silas turned on his energy beam at minimal power, and the car shot off like a bullet, even breaking the sound barrier with a terrifying sonic boom. Liora instinctively entered the highest time frame she could to avoid the aircar crashing. Silas¡ä energy beam enveloped the entire aircar, but it could not control the trajectory. She shouted, trying to be heard, ¡°Don¡¯t accelerate anymore than that. The aircar''s aerodynamics aren''t enough. Try to keep it steady!¡± Frank, however, managed to steer, using the car like a skateboard, capable of both directing the force of the thrust and being agile enough to coordinate its movements. After a few minutes of traveling at super speed, Silas stopped the energy ray, and Petra warned, "Okay, I can¡¯t see them anymore. I think they¡¯re still behind us. After we got some distance, I realized that their movements perfectly replicated our chaotic trajectory, but they were at the same speed as before. If they were following a straight line, they would be faster..." Petra thought for a few moments and concluded, "I think they can sense where we¡¯ve been, but they can¡¯t sense where we are right now." Silas, relieved to see that things worked, or simply because he had gotten away from that place, seemed to have ultimately come back to his senses. He said, "Guys, I¡¯m sorry about my meltdown a little while ago. I¡¯m better now. That thing that looks like a girl is a kind of ghost, and we call her the Hell Star. She doesn¡¯t follow the rules of powers we know in Gate. She seems to have some kind of power to manipulate time, space, and people¡¯s minds. What I know about this is based on legends about her, from the village where I was born¡­" "I am not sure about her powers. Getting away from that place makes me feel like a weight was lifted from my shoulders, but we¡¯re still in a critical situation. We¡¯re going north, and I imagine the Golems are still following us. We need to find a route to get to our aerolito, and we left our airbike flying on automatic back there," Petra remembered. "I sped up the airbike a while ago and turned on the camera on a terminal left inside," Liora said, operating several devices in the aircar at the same time. "I¡¯m going to open a video channel for everyone through our comlink. As we can see, the airbike is a bit faster than the Golems. Despite the poor viewing angle, I managed to see that the golems were still following us. They¡¯re ignoring the airbike," Liora paused while the others tried to track the Golems with the camera left behind on the airbike; she continued: "I can ask my copy to transfer herself to the airbike while we¡¯re within network range, but not now because she''s helping me monitor the aircar while we stay flying low. Our escape damaged several systems. This vehicle wasn''t designed for ultrasonic speed, and we''ll need to accelerate again very soon!" ¡°Let me try to fix it! I was thinking about modifying two of those guards'' armors from the outpost and making an improvised aerodynamic windshield for the aircar, Frank, Petra. I¡¯m going to need your help again!" Silas said, already trying to find materials in the back, which was now cluttered with all sorts of things. Frank responded with a smile and helped Petra gather the parts. Silas continued, ¡°Liora, maybe it''s a good idea to send your copy to the airbike and try to find a route before we get too far from the city." ¡°Okay, just a moment, keep your focus on the shield while I make do with the aircar,¡± Liora responded as she took the aircar up a little. After a short while concentrating, she spoke: ¡°My copy has already gone to the airbike and accelerated it at top speed. She''s going to try to make a 10-mile arc east of the mountain. The Golems noticed, but they seemed to be ignoring it. She should take about a minute to reach a point east of our aerolito and then the same amount of time to reach the aerolito in a straight line. Silas, some of our transmitters are already having difficulty maintaining contact if we¡¯re too close to the ground." Before Silas could speak, Petra interrupted, ¡°Silas, I happen to remember you saying you were going to leave some cameras and transmitters in the city when you were putting the energy cells there. Wouldn¡¯t it be a good idea to check on that now before we go out of network range?¡± ¡°Good catch, Petra. Fortunately, the transmitters I placed in the city have a much greater range. We can see what¡¯s happening over there now. The city is going to remain illuminated for years if nothing happens. However, none of the active cameras are near the central square. Just a moment, I¡¯m going to start transferring the recordings and opening live visual channels. Wow! Liora, tell your copy she¡¯s going to have company!¡± Silas hesitated for a while, checking something mentally, and muttered aloud while doing many things at the same time, ¡°It¡¯s horrible operating solely on the comlink; I should have brought more terminals... Liora! The ghost just created two more Golems and sent them east. I was checking the videos from the last minute. They left the city moments after the airbike got away from the first Golems.¡± After a few minutes with Silas rushing to make a windshield, Liora said: ¡°My copy just reached the point east of the aerolito. She said that when she tried to go around the south, she went back in time and space in exactly the same way as what happened to us at the foot of the mountain. I directed the airbike to go back to accompany the first Golems, which were behind us. It''s not possible to go around from here. My copy is coming back here through the network." "So we can''t go south of the valley? What are we going to do now?" Petra asked. Liora waited for a few moments for her copy to come back, then started to lower the aircar¡¯s altitude. She said, "It seems the temporal barrier preventing us from going back south is specific against us, like some kind of curse, because if it blocked everything from passing, it would be easy to perceive its limits. My copy tested various sensors before returning. Light, heat, air, and even atmospheric dust normally pass to the south as if nothing is happening. But neither the airbike nor the air and dust displaced by the airbike managed to pass. I''m making assumptions. It seems that this power marked us in time at the moment we crossed a spatial limit to the south. Anything we do in the next few seconds goes back in time and space. But everything else continues normally." ¡°We¡¯re being hunted. Even if we could go south in these conditions, those Golems would follow our steps, and it would be the end of Rocatrista right after we pass through it..." Frank concluded, still helping Silas build a makeshift windshield for the car. ¡°You¡¯re right, Frank. We''ll have to resolve this before we go back to any place..." Silas paused his work for a while, letting the welds cool down and thinking, ¡°But we won¡¯t last very long traveling in an aircar. There are two advanced outposts. There must be a cargo airship at them since we have that record on the entry terminal in the spiral. The points are about an hour¡¯s journey from here, maybe less. After we finish this shield, I think it¡¯s our best chance.¡± ¡°But isn''t it dangerous to travel far from veins and without aerolitos?¡± Petra asked. ¡°Another option is to face the ghost. According to the archmage, he could destroy her. Or was it just his ego talking? In any case, we¡¯re not even capable of hitting the Golems. We''d have to train a lot more..." Liora suggested, focusing on lowering the altitude again. ¡°That¡¯s right. In the video, the archmage said the ghost didn¡¯t get stronger over time. He was sure that she just learned some unimportant things. Then she learned how to make golems. Underestimating the ghost¡¯s learning ability cost the archmage his life. We¡¯re not going to make the same mistake!¡± Petra stated, ¡°Something bothers me about this story. If people can bring others back to life, why didn''t the archmage return and solve this himself?¡± "I don¡¯t know, Petra," Liora said. "The powers and rules I know don''t apply to this case. Maybe people are not just dead, but trapped in time¡­" "Like us?" Frank asked, followed by moments of silence. He continued, "But we''re not dead yet! Right?" Frank¡¯s question sparked existential panic. They remembered the moment they watched themselves go down the mountain in the aircar when they tried to return to the aerolito for the first time. Their fundamental certainties seemed to slip out of their grasp like grains of sand. ¡°It¡¯s not easy to answer that, Frank.¡± Silas interrupted the silence. ¡°But at least we can try. The shield is ready. Let¡¯s accelerate immediately. The sooner we get to the advanced outpost, the more time we¡¯ll have to repair the cargo ship.¡± While Frank installed the new shield in the car, Silas grabbed four bracelets that remained from the disassembled armor, put on two, and handed the other two to Petra. He warned, "These could be good protection complements. I just modified their size." Petra smiled, nodded, and went to help Frank install the shield. With great urgency, Frank and Petra put the shield in place. Then they returned to the back seat to hold Silas and his rays while Liora stayed behind the wheel. This time, the aircar was much easier to control, and it was even faster. Liora warned, ¡°At this speed, we¡¯ll reach the advanced outpost in less than half an hour. We¡¯ll have about 15 minutes to make the ship operational before the golems reach us. We need to be fast!¡± "Liora, when we get closer, go higher a little so we can see the area," Petra said. ¡°Do we have any details about what we''re going to find? In the data from the city and the mountain guard post?" Silas spoke as Liora shook her head, "Nop, maybe we¡¯ll have more details after the data is processed, as it is still not completely downloaded. For now, these airships were the usual means of transportation in this region. There were never even any records of problems. However, it seems they didn''t use those ships much. The people planned to build a huge city here. From the scarce data that already came, the two outposts plus the valley outlined a safe area, so I hope to find a port and some kind of structure." "Okay, I¡¯ll start going up," Liora warned after a few minutes at top speed and checking for any maps on the data. "I¡¯ve turned on some sensors that we¡¯re carrying, but no sign of communication channels or any energy readings. I suggest the strategy of illuminating the entire region with the aircar''s lights, and when we find the airship, Silas will go straight there.¡± After ascending for a while, they reached the aircar''s maximum altitude and focused the lights to pierce the darkness in the direction they had just mapped. Petra and Liora tried to see anything while the aircar continued at full speed north. The area was much less mountainous than the south, but it was still challenging to make out anything. After moments of anxious silence, Petra and Liora almost simultaneously saw something. Petra said, ¡°I found the ship!" She pointed to the right. "But it¡¯s a little far from the point of reference..." ¡°I noticed that. Something is wrong with the maps we just downloaded. Maybe the ground has shifted over the years. There are records of some seismic activity at the end of the Northern vein,¡± Liora warned. ¡°We¡¯ll get there in a matter of minutes.¡± Petra and Frank prepared to take the lead while Silas shut off his beams to slow down the aircar. Taking a better look at the airship¡¯s condition from above, Silas spoke, ¡°It¡¯s a larger ship than I expected. It seems like it was being loaded on an airbase. I''ll have to take a risk and go ahead. There might not be time.¡± The airship looked like a four-winged plane with a sharp backward curve. It had five turbines: the larger one in the back and four smaller ones almost at the tips of the wings. The airship was parked near an area with containers and had an open cargo compartment on the lower side. ¡°Okay, Silas, you go ahead to the ship. Frank and I will be between the ship and the other structures. From what I can see from here, we have the ship and a small runway right in front of us. Further ahead are some containers and a big building, and besides that, there are just a dozen small houses around,¡± Petra observed, putting her head outside the aircar. ¡°I¡¯m going to pass the piloting to my copy and stay in the aircar window to provide support from above. If we find any problems or time runs out, we¡¯ll leave this outpost and continue with the aircar only," Liora said while the others were concentrating, trying to perceive any movement in the area. The aircar approached the outpost, and Frank jumped, carrying Petra with him while Silas beamed out to the ship like a bullet. The aircar rocked with the force, but Liora had no problem controlling it. Silas was the first to arrive. He saw the ship completely open, and some of the cargo was still outside. It was almost filled with many kinds of boxes. He entered the cargo sector and continued to search for terminals and engines. Meanwhile, Silas''s voice on the communicator is tangled with the sound of stuff being shuffled. "So, everyone, it seems no one has been here for a long time. It''s a schrogae-designed ship. That¡¯s good because I''m familiar with this technology. I''m going to focus on this here while you guys stay alert.¡± "Our airbike is with the golems. I calculate we have 17 minutes before they get too close. I¡¯ve set a timer on our comlinks. If it hits zero, we get into the aircar and leave!" Liora said, maneuvering the aircar closer to the airbase and getting within Petra and Frank''s range. The aircar''s lights stretched the city''s shadows into looming silhouettes, keeping everyone on edge, bracing for any sign of trouble. Liora was already thinking of joining Silas, as nothing unusual happened. Suddenly, Petra spoke over the communicator. ¡°Attention! Someone is leaving the city and coming slowly in our direction. From here, it seems to be a schrogae like the ones I remember from Rocatrista. I¡¯m going to go ahead and speak with it.¡± ¡°Be careful. It might be a survivor, but there are no signs of energy in the city. I don¡¯t know how they could have survived so long. Just to cover our bases, I went ahead and configured your nano translators to modify your voice. This will translate your speech into their language.¡± Silas warned through the comlink, thinking to himself not to repeat the same mistake of assuming that everyone had nanotranslators. ¡°Understood, Arch. I''m going to talk to them now.¡± Petra Warden responded on the comlink. She spoke loudly to the slowly approaching figure, ¡°Hello, friend! We''re passing through. We need to talk to you. We can take the survivors out of here, but we have to do it immediately!¡± The figure continued to advance toward Petra slowly, but it lifted its head and shouted back. Its voice was so altered and raspy that the nano translators struggled to understand. "It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve heard anyone¡­ Neither you nor I are going anywhere out. We are all servants of the Lady of Tempus, and you must know your place!" Everyone exchanged messages via the comlink. Petra: ¡°Any ideas, everyone?¡± Silas: ¡°He seems out of it. We¡¯ll have to take him with us. If the Golems get here, there will be trouble for him¡­¡± Liora: ¡°Be careful, Petra. Although he''s a schrogae, I¡¯m not detecting any vital signs. It seems to be an animated body. If it were magic, it would be easily detectable.¡± Petra: ¡°Dead or alive, I''ll try to buy some time while Silas prepares our departure." As the figure drew closer, Petra saw part of its skull decomposing and its completely pale-white eyes. He wore a long, thick cloak and the remains of armor, both dirty and in poor condition. Petra, struggling with the tension, continued the conversation: ¡°My name is Warden. What¡¯s your name? Could you explain more about the Lady of Tempus?" The figure continued to advance toward Petra, but it responded calmly, ¡°Where we¡äre going, we don''t need names to call. Come with me to my place, and let¡¯s wait for the Lady of Tempus to guide us.¡± ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll follow you!" Frank interrupted. "We only came here to be guided by the Lady of Tempus!" Petra looked at Frank in surprise at his risky lie, but it seemed to have worked. The schrogae stopped approaching, looked at them both for a few moments, and without saying anything else, raised one of its lower arms with the palm facing upwards, pointing in a direction to their right. It turned and began to stroll towards it. Petra and Frank exchanged glances. And even more slowly, they followed him. Over the comlink, Petra: "I can''t believe that worked. Silas, I don''t know how far it¡äs taking us, but it¡¯s about five minutes from here to the smaller structures." Silas: "Great, but I need about ten minutes. If it¡äs distancing itself from the ship, that¡¯s ideal." Frank: ¡°Tempus is the name of the forge to the north that repairs monoliths. Any idea what the Lady of that place would be?¡± Liora: "As far as I know, there is no one there. There wasn¡¯t anything even in the Old Metropolis.¡± Silas: ¡°Assuming it¡¯s the ghost. The name I knew in my village was the Hell Star, but no one ever asked her what she wanted to be called. At least no one survived to tell the tale." As Petra had predicted, they approached a secluded corner between two houses after a few minutes. Liora had to move to follow the group from above. The place was permeated by a very red and black mass, similar to the circle on the ground of the city square, but this time covering the walls of the houses and the alley around them. Right in the middle of the alley, there was a concentration of that liquid red mass. Liora: ¡°You¡¯d better get out of there. We¡¯ve seen this before in the valley. But this time, it¡¯s in greater quantity. I¡¯m starting to get an energy and heat reading from the red mass in the center. Wait, it just disappeared¡­" Petra: Okay, let''s get out of here. Frank, can you reach the ship in one jump?¡± Frank: ¡°Yes, but he¡¯s not looking at us anymore!" The schrogae seemed to be staring at the aircar, with one of his upper arms raised in the direction of Liora as if he were touching something in the air. With that, Liora warned over the comlink, "The energy reading is now coming from over here, on my side. The stone we brought from the valley is moving on its own! I just locked it inside a particle shield in a probe." ¡°That belongs to the Lady!" the figure shouted with a guttural sound, drawing a large glaive from the cloak on their back, made of one piece of blackened metal, preparing to jump towards the aircar. Frank didn''t wait for another second. He drew his flexoclava and, with a long arc from bottom to top, hit the schrogae''s jaw like an uppercut. The impact was so violent that part of the stone floor beneath Frank shattered. However, his target didn''t seem to feel anything. Frank knew his hit was at the limit of his strength. He said, "Alright... Change of plans! Let¡¯s run!" The schrogae picked up its glaive and advanced towards Frank with an expression of disdain and rage. Petra stood between them and managed to parry the blow perfectly. However, the strength of their opponent was colossal. Even absorbing some of the impact with her flexoclava, she was thrown horizontally to the ground in the direction of the city''s central building, a structure that had survived the time, made of stone and metal, over 40 feet tall. The impact of her body on the stairs opened a crater in the ground. Petra flew through the entire building, coming out the other side as everyone watched in astonishment, the building collapsing into the crater. On the other side, inside the trench she had created from the impact, Petra remained standing; her body was covered in heavy wounds, and her right arm, which had absorbed most of the effects, was completely shattered. She knelt and held her flexoclava with her left arm. She spoke with difficulty. "I¡¯m not going to survive another one of these..." With that, Liora connected her energy support to one of her rifle''s inputs and warned Frank, "Jump away!" Liora entered the maximum time frame and fired three shots simultaneously, using her own energy to power the weapon. Two hit the schrogae, and the third hit right in the middle of the red mass. As Frank jumped, he realized his opponent wasn¡¯t dodging the shot. The antimatter exploded everything around him, opening a crater even bigger than Petra''s. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The entire upper part of the schrogae had been disintegrated. It was still possible to identify its legs and part of its torso, thrown into the middle of the snow by the impact. It was no longer moving. Everyone went towards Petra, who was in critical condition. But fortunately, her regeneration was starting to take effect. It was possible to see the muscle fibers and bones in her arm rebuilding in a few seconds. "We¡¯re going to get out of here, everyone. I need a few minutes to recover," Petra warned. ¡°I''m starting the departure protocol; two more minutes¡­¡± Silas warned through the comlink. There wasn¡¯t time to say anything else. "Crap! He¡¯s coming back! He¡¯s going back in time!" Liora shouted over the comlink while Frank and Petra watched time rewind just for the schrogae. The part of his body that was annihilated by the antimatter reappears in an implosion that puts him back on his feet. After a few seconds, he was fully reconstructed and glared at his restored right hand while saying. "Now you¡¯ve learned. No one escapes the Lady of Tempus!" Silas suddenly arrived, flying and landing right in front of his opponent. Over the comlink, Liora asked, "Silas, have you gone crazy?" Silas answered via text, "I have an idea. I need to concentrate to speak to him." Frank and Petra exchanged glances, ready to advance and protect their friend. ¡°My name is Archon. Pay close attention to what I have to say to you. It¡¯s information of great interest to your Lady. It happens that the inevitability about Tempus was never a priori!¡± The Schrogae calmly spoke to Silas. "You fool, you will learn that nothing can avoid the Lady of Tempus!" ¡°I¡¯m not a fool. You didn¡¯t understand what I said because I didn¡¯t disagree. I¡¯ll give you an example. It¡¯s not the case of remembering right now, but I ask you: May you have the power to remember your childhood if your Lady asks you? You should be able to do it; after all, your Lady manipulates time like no one else, right?¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense. If my Lady asks me about my memories...¡± The schrogae''s white eyes closed. His mouth stopped moving in the middle of the sentence and remained open. His legs went limp, and he fell, sitting on the ground. Then, he lay down on his side, and it even looked like he was smiling, as if the vicissitudes of his entire life had disappeared. He swayed gently in place on the ground.¡± Silas slowly stepped back from the sleeping schrogae undead and joined the others. He spoke, "Let''s go inside the ship. He hasn¡¯t lost any of his powers. He just forgot.¡± "You reset him? Awesome!¡± Petra exclaimed with a smile, still regenerating. Frank put his finger in front of his lips in disapproval. Petra whispered, "Sorry, I got carried away. Let¡¯s go!¡± The four of them still had a few minutes to put everything back in order before the Golems arrived. There was enough time to connect some devices from the aircar to the new airship and leave the outpost at high speed, once again escaping the inevitable. They left behind a smiling zombie on a snow bed, having a happy dream after millennia of nightmares.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 28+1 / 5
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 7
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 10
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9167
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 27+1 / 5
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 1
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 20
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8612
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 26+1 / 5
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 4
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 12
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 4
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5281
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 26+1/ 5
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 11
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 6
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5001
Equipment
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 4x 2x (transformed into aircar windshield)
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 10 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 16 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 17 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 3/2)
Maneuver: 11+4 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 4+0 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 1+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 40 / 40 36 8 0+4 regen 1/t
War - melee 1+4 1(d12)
War - parry 12+4 12(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Firebreaker 20 / 20 WP 1/1 0 0 6+4 regen 1/t
Fir - melee 6+4 11(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - brawl 11+4 11(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 6+4 30 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 10 / 10 TP 1/1 0 0 20+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 20+4 100 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 10+7 100 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 0+4 100 X-2 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 20+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 TP 4/4 5 0 0+2
Arch - melee 0+5 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 7+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 7+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 11 - Hope on the Run Chapter 11 - Hope on the Run - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG A schrogae ship emerges from the outpost, its cargo hold still open. The inside is even more cluttered than the cargo aerolito the group used as a home, a jumble of disparate items tossed in seemingly at random. Silas leads the way, pushing aside boxes and squeezing through the mess to a hidden door. "No time to fix much. Liora, head to the command bridge; your copy''s struggling to pilot by itself. The cargo hold door won''t close, which means we can''t accelerate or climb too high," he informs. Liora nods and streaks through the door like a lightning bolt. Almost instantly, she responds over the comlink, "Team, I''m at the flight controls, connecting now to the universal interface. I''m going to lower the altitude and maintain speed. Silas, I''ll launch the reconnaissance drone; I can''t see anything from here. The sensors are busted and covered in grime." "Hold on, Liora, I have a better idea," says Silas. "There''s a gun turret on the lower deck with a transparent dome in better conditions. I''ll have Petra take the aircar''s sensors there while Frank and I try to seal the cargo hold door and isolate the inside." "Let''s go get the sensors; just point me which ones they are," Petra says as she collects the devices from the aircar. ¡°Silas, are you sure you want to close that door? Wouldn''t it be wise to have the aircar ready in case this ship goes down?" "We''ll have to take the risk. We need to isolate the compartments to increase our speed and save some time if we have to descend and repair the ship, but don''t worry about falling - this isn''t really a plane; it''s an airship. A plane has to stay aloft by maintaining speed, and an airship floats because of a special kind of distortion. We have a pocket dimension device connected to this ship¡¯s structure that creates a huge toroidal-shaped bubble of distorted space around the ship. It counteracts over 1200 tons of cargo in the lower atmosphere because of the buoyant force of the air against the near vacuum spatial bubble. We will be floating unless something blows up the engine from inside, but if that happens, a closed door will be our least concern." Silas replies. Petra nods and heads off with a hefty load of sensors. Despite the challenge, she can sense that she''s far more muscular now than when she first started training in Gate. Petra quickly passes through the passenger area, a hall dominated by oversized couches and tables covered by a protective tarp emblazoned with the Northern Valley symbol - identical to the one at the outpost as if it were brand new and never used. Reaching the open doorway to the command bridge, she finds Liora rushing around at super speed, desperately trying to patch things up. ¡°Hello Petra, today''s training will be despair-based airship mechanics! There¡¯s a tube staircase down at the bridge entrance. Watch out; the steps are quite spaced. Go ahead and set up the sensors as I just sent you on the comlink. My copy will help you," Liora hurries to explain while frantically running back and forth across the bridge, repairing a myriad of things simultaneously. "I''m on my way!" Petra replies, halfway down the staircase, carefully placing the sensors as she goes. "That lounge back there looks like it''s never been used." "Right, this was a brand new ship. I think most of the stuff here is unused. Shame, this ship seems really good to me," Liora pauses to pay attention to a gizmo that''s sputtering out smoke. "Well, no matter, it''s a miracle anything works after seven thousand years without maintenance." "This ship must be tough. Machines on Earth would have rusted through in far less time," Petra comments while assembling the devices. "This ship on Earth would''ve oxidized a lot faster. The temperature is a lot lower in Gate. There''s oxygen but hardly any water vapor. Most of the ship was sealed; anyway, the electronics were either broken or needed recharging. From what I can see, Silas managed to get at least one gravity engine running with a thrust booster, plus enough basic support to keep the structure aloft. We''re basically in a hot air balloon with a jet stuck in the end," Liora explains. Petra focuses on finishing assembling the parts and following Liora''s copy''s instructions. Meanwhile, they hear Frank talking to Silas over the comlink: ¡°OK Silas, can''t hear anything over the wind. I''ve managed to hold the hatch, but it''s jammed." "Perfect. Once I clear the jam, pull it up to the yellow mark, and then I''ll try to reposition the latch. Got it?" Silas replies, and after a while, "Now!" They all hear a clanging metal sound echoing inside, followed by an immediate shift from the ship''s background noise to a chilling silence. Liora notices several devices coming back online on the bridge. "Everything good there, Silas, Frank?" Petra asks. ¡°Well, that went smoothly!¡± Frank answers. ¡°All clear. Frank and I will grab a few things from the aircar and join you on the bridge.¡± Silas concludes. "Wonderful. I''m almost done with the sensors. Just need to get down to the bottom of the turret and set up the camera." Petra says, descending the staircase and taking a seat in the chair. Petra is now in an almost entirely transparent gun turret on the ship''s lower deck. The glass is heavily soiled in parts, but she can make out Gate''s endless darkness pierced by a faint light emanating from the ship''s nose just above. Petra could hardly see the darkened horizon against the dark red sky. She turns on the last sensors and raises her arms, stretching in the turret''s chair for a few moments, enjoying this unexpectedly lovely place and astonishing view before climbing back. After a few minutes, Silas and Frank arrive on the command bridge. Petra climbs the stairs and joins the others. A sense of relief hangs in the air as Liora gives a status update: ¡°Alright, team, we¡¯ve got some system stability. We can maintain a significant constant speed; we''re gaining a lot of time on the Golems. Plus, I found this ship''s flight records about this region; the news is great. At our current speed, we have just two and a half days of travel north before we completely exit the spiral, which continues far beneath the earth. We could wait at the edge of this safe zone for another two days until the Golems get close. I never realized this place was so big! It¡¯s almost as large as the Metropolis plate - people could build a giant city here!" Liora informs. "Good! Our priority will be fixing this ship before leaving the spiral, but we have to remember I¡¯m still downloading audio-visual records from the Northern Valley. And from what I''ve seen, there''s some alarming stuff about the Lady of Tempus, as well as the deceased archmage, Dukliasse. I just found out he was an old politician from the same guild of extermination mages as the current mayor of Metropolis, the one who humans fondly call Emperor Biggus." Silas says, already turning to look at Liora. Liora paces back and forth, visibly shocked. Her super-speedness makes everything more disturbing. Silas shakes his head silently while Frank and Petra barely recognize their friend. "I always had a bitterness about all of this, Silas. We''re far from Metropolis, but maybe it''s time to discuss these things openly with everyone. Because I understand that information about Dukliasse¡¯s motivations when he was here could be crucial to solving our problem. But it won¡¯t be easy, and it makes me feel sick just thinking about it,¡± Liora says, her speech rapid. ¡°Let¡¯s take it slow. Who are these extermination mages?" Frank asks. Liora continues to pace the command bridge, her words tumbling over each other: "They drive me crazy. In short, they''re a cabal of segregationists who used the cataclysm as justification to gain power during the early years of New Metropolis. Seven thousand years after that, they changed, but they didn''t get any better; they just became more powerful and dangerous. Shit hit the fan when Biggus became head of the MBSI, the Metropolis'' Bureau of Special Investigations, turning that agency into a stronghold of his guild. A year after he made the department a bootlickers puppet house, a series of attacks penetrated the city¡¯s defenses. A couple of years after that, he ¡®won¡¯ the mayoral election based on fear. Mayors in Metropolis have 20-year terms. There''s a senate that can call for new elections after 5 years, and there¡¯s also a limit of 3 elections and a total of 40 years per millennium for the mayoral position. Since he was elected during a crisis, he sold the idea of an imminent new cataclysm, which never happened, but in his speech, it was always him saving the city. As a result, he staged a coup, stripping the senate of the power to call new elections. And by now, it''s been 58 years since Metropolis''s last election. He maintains power with a self-made title of ¡®Interim Regent,¡¯ but the regime has become increasingly authoritarian year after year, and that explains why humans call him emperor. As you might imagine, in Gate, a dictator never dies." Frank throws his arms up and exclaims, "But they''re a guild of political mages? We don''t need more enemies right now." Liora tries to calm herself down, but her mind is racing too fast. She says, ¡°You''re right, Frank. The pieces of a puzzle are still falling into place in my mind, and I wouldn''t say I like the image forming. Extermination magic school is used to kill in a way that prevents anything from being revived. If these guys are after Seneca, they may be doing this to people on your Earth¡­" "Maybe so. But let¡¯s be cautious before drawing any conclusions. Banning people from being revived would still be completely against the law, no matter the reason. And Dukliasse didn¡¯t seem to come here after Seneca. I think we¡¯ll find out more soon. The archmage''s network connections were completely secure. Still, he set up his shelter in the middle of the street, not even bothering about the city cameras recording everything, if he even knew they were working,¡± says Silas. ¡°Silas, the law also says that we should have had a mayoral election¡­ but I agree with you. We need to be sure what happened. It turns out that this school of magic was restricted in Metropolis. The extermination mages guild of Metropolis didn''t just oppose the control; they advocated for its indiscriminate use, including against people in Metropolis convicted of certain crimes. And it gets worse. According to their ideology, doing so would make society stronger." "So, that would be a kind of death penalty, then? So a condemned person could never be revived?" Petra asks, drawing a parallel. "During the time of Old Metropolis, there were rules to control the process of bringing people back to life and to monitor critical cases, with various protocols for the particular situations of each culture and period. We also have to consider the chaotic process of reviving people; even so, the problems were sporadic and easy to resolve. Back then, people had the option of socializing or living alone inside their cubes, and all basic resources were provided on a large scale. The economy was important, but it was complementary to people''s lives; everyone had the freedom to do what they wanted with their time. The highest penalty back then was a type of ostracism, precisely to prevent the emergence of tyrants, so this idea of bringing in a radical proposal for punishment also served to divert attention. If the extermination mages guild had implemented their proposals before the cataclysm, the law of ostracism would likely have been applied against them. Their idea was to replace the law that bothered them with one that would be quite useful to them." ¡°Liora, can you give me a clear example of this guild''s proposal? From what I understand, things work differently here from Earth, and I don''t want to jump to conclusions. Could someone be punished by ostracism for making a radical political proposal?" Petra asks, trying to balance the positions. Liora ponders a moment before continuing, "No one was punished for making criticisms or proposals, but that doesn''t mean people weren''t punished for their actions. You couldn''t commit a deliberate crime and claim it was a political proposal as a justification. If I remember correctly, a logician from Earth called G?del already pointed out similar inconsistencies. I remember some hypocritical speeches from the extermination guild accusing their political opponents of being criminals, which in practice was a veiled threat. Along that same line of thought, early on, the guild defended a psychopathic idea right after the cataclysm without respecting mourning while fear was still unbearable. According to them, for each galaxy, only the strongest species should be revived and maintained in Gate, and the rest should be exterminated through magic. Biggus belongs to a species called bo that also came from the Milky Way. Obviously, he considered himself superior to all humans. Consequently, the guild defended the extermination of all humans, as well as many other Gate species. It served to bring fanatics into their fold, but it wasn''t popular outside their ranks. When they needed to, they modified this proposal but kept the ideology. They simply swapped species for criminals in their arguments to gain votes and then generalized it to individuals who, according to their criteria, made society weaker. Now, let¡¯s think about what was happening back then, long before they came to power. What Dukliasse came to do in the city hardly has any connection with Seneca because it was only recently, through our project, that the possibility of bringing people from your Earth back to life was discovered ." Liora continues, still at breakneck speed, letting her adjectives run free. "Or maybe they knew by that time, but they did nothing. They waited until Biggus became mayor. That way, instead of reviving people and letting them live, they could do the opposite." Frank theorizes. "That could be it, Frank..." Liora reflects. "I''m not so sure anyone knew. The people who died in the cataclysm couldn¡¯t be revived, and that includes people in other personal dimensions. Nobody knows why Seneca was different. We still have a lot of missing pieces to this puzzle." They all fall silent for a few moments. ¡°Right now, it¡¯s best to concentrate on surviving. Or our efforts will be in vain. We still don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s feasible to travel on this ship. We need to organize a plan of action for the next two days," Petra concludes. ¡°I agree, Petra. Let¡¯s sort this out and then get your beds ready," Liora replies, calmer now. "Silas, do you have any idea what to do with this ship?¡± ¡°Well, I barely had time to check the list of the devices, much less the cargo. Based on what I''ve observed so far, which I find impressive, I can say that this ship is a pinnacle of advanced technology and would be only slightly below what''s expected of the best commercial ships being marketed today. There¡¯s a self-repair system that could help us a lot. I intend to get it up and running tomorrow. It consumes a lot of energy, but it¡¯ll be far more efficient than trying to fix things one at a time. Apart from that, it¡¯s a balanced ship, a bit focused on cargo but also capable of defense and transport. On the downside, we only have local communication systems and scanning equipment, which is worse than ours. But on the upside, we have an impressive camouflage device, a very robust defense structure for its size, and two heavy military-grade weapons I¡¯d only seen in pictures before. There''s also something strange, but..." Silas says, reviewing his notes on a terminal. His face has a question mark on it. "Some kind of problem, Silas?" Frank asks. "First the Vabala and now this ship. It seems like people here were investing heavily." ¡°Well spotted, Frank. The people here spent a lot of money, and there seemed to be a great deal of political interest in developing this region. Regarding the ship''s technology, on the list of devices, there are four separate ones for which I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re for. I just checked the self-repair list, and none of these are included. I¡¯m not sure if these devices are actually on this ship or if they were only in the original design. The only one I can identify is an optional liquid atmosphere tank. As for the others, one seems to be a weapon, another is some kind of AI, and I have no idea about the third. Anyway, tomorrow, I¡¯ll try to activate the auto-repair system, and then I¡¯ll focus on the camouflage.¡± ¡°OK, there''s a passenger area that apparently was never used. What about fixing up our cubes there?" Petra suggests. ¡°Yes, the passenger area has a large lounge we all passed through to get here. But there are also two levels above; on them, there¡¯s a restaurant with a bar,¡± Silas says, while Frank throws his arms up, looks upward with a smile, and moves his lips, saying, "Thank you!" Silas continues, ¡°And on the top level, there are 12 crew and passenger rooms with exterior windows and full life support. All are still deactivated. For tonight, we¡¯ll stay on the first level on the couches near the bridge. I need to hit the pillow." "You gave us some really badass expectations! I haven''t seen a decent bed to sleep in for billions of years, so I could wait another day," Petra says with a smile. Liora says, ¡°I''ll stay on the bridge piloting, and I plan to look at the city¡¯s records. I¡¯ll try to extract some useful information and build a knowledge database from it,¡± The others wave goodnight and go make their beds; they are pretty exhausted from the hectic day and still haven''t rested from the stress of the escape or the fight with the schrogae undead. Despite the chaos and uncertainty, the airship carried them sailing toward the future. For now, however, they could breathe. Hope was protecting them like a cloak in the cold, eternal night of Gate, which they had now learned to enjoy a little bit.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 30+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 10
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 12
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9167
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship, This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. life support +4, capacity +1/+7, maneuver +7, speed up +1/+7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +1/+7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+) Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 1/2000 HP, 2000/2000), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), long-range scan +2(superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 29+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 2
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 24
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8612
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 28+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 5
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 15
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 4
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5281
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 28+1/ 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 12
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 8
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 2
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5001
Equipment
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 12 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 22 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 23 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Chapter 12 - If You Give This Mage a Ride… Chapter 12 - If you give this mage a ride¡­ - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG On their first night in their new home, Liora remained on the bridge while the others went to retrieve their belongings from the aircar and prepare to sleep in the passenger section. Silas and Petra were exhausted and brought only their cubes. They peeled off a protective film from the never-used, schrogae-sized couches made of a dark navy blue velvet that felt incredibly comfortable. Even after millennia, one could still feel the lingering trace of a gentle, minty fragrance as they lay down. Frank, meanwhile, practically carried everything from the car up to the room. By the time he finished, Silas and Petra were already competing to see who snored louder. Frank, unable to sleep and wrestling with his anxieties, decided to visit Liora on the bridge. Opening the door, he found her energized and focused on operating several video terminals simultaneously. Frank watched for a few seconds before saying, "That''s the archmage''s dirty stuff, right? I''m a nervous wreck and not going to get any sleep. If I can help¡­" Liora replied, ¡°Hey, Frank! Thank you. Actually, you can help. I need some of my devices from the aircar. I''m sorting everything out here. It¡¯s a bomb!¡± Frank smiled, exited the bridge, and reappeared a few seconds later with what Liora had requested. "Wow, you''re faster than I am," Liora commented. ¡°Thanks!¡± ¡°I''d already brought everything from the cargo compartment up, just in case the door we closed yesterday wouldn''t survive the night," Frank confessed, noticing Liora pause. "Am I bothering you? Please don''t mind me!" "Of course not. You had a great idea at the right time. Silas is going to take a while to recover, and I''ve just found something important that makes everything we''ve been through so far worthwhile," Liora explained. ¡°I was expecting something like this, but it''s so disturbing. I would really appreciate an outsider''s view." "If I can help, yes. I''m even a little envious of your drive, Liora. I lost that desire that motivates people a long time ago, and this emptiness bothers me. But I don''t even understand how your world works properly to make plans. When all this is over, and we get back to the city, this will be the world where I will live out the rest of my days," Frank said with a degree of perplexity. "I can tell you about the situation in this world, but you''ll have to listen with a grain of salt because what I''ve seen in these videos right now is biasing my thoughts. What''s troubling me is that I can''t understand what went on in Dukliasse''s mind. I don¡¯t know what motivated him. It''s straightforward to assume that he has psychopathic tendencies and is simply after power, but it can''t be just that. Anyway, what do you think if we start talking about the Old Metropolis?" Liora suggests. "I''m all ears, but are you sure I won''t be a bother?" Frank asked, getting ready for a long night. Liora smiled as she finished connecting a device to the video material. "Don''t worry, Frank, it''ll be about 20 minutes. I''ve just prepared the upload of an image-to-text model for an agent system that we used in the Seneca project, and it''ll take roughly that long to train with the new data." Frank let a bemused smile slip. "Ramirez summarized the Old Metropolis. He said it was a place where we could do anything we wanted or do just nothing and enjoy life, and then he said that was before, and now it''s the opposite." Liora smirked. "At least it''s a consensus that things have gotten worse. The Old Metropolis was never free from problems. Thinking it was a detached utopia is the easiest narrative because they sell us the idea that we''re paying for what they did wrong, but that''s a fallacy. What existed was a great appreciation for every rational individual. Every person was celebrated as equally important, and the power to decide what to do was much greater than it is now, respecting the laws of society, mainly to guarantee the freedom of others and equal opportunities. But nowadays, that''s become empty phrases. People are classified as allies and enemies; only the freedom of allies is respected, and the opportunities that arise depend on the stereotype that society has chosen for you, whether you like it or not." "But what you describe about Old Metropolis was practically a utopia, or maybe a dystopia. How many problems weren''t swept under the rug? Let''s start with something simple. This ship here is a luxury and should be used by half a dozen privileged individuals. And that was right after the cataclysm, while months ago, we were living in the middle of trash like everyone else in Rocatrista. It''s hard to blame all that difference on the cataclysm." "Society before the cataclysm was never perfected. Luckily, it was in constant change. With great effort and time, people managed to reach a level of development sufficient to guarantee a fabulous quality of life. After that, there was no significant cost or effort for society to keep everyone living well in places that were much more structured than our ship here in terms of resources and technology. And that was really for everyone. So, the issue of inequality was addressed. Thus, resource availability hasn¡¯t changed at all today because people haven¡¯t forgotten the solutions. After a few years, everything that was destroyed in the cataclysm was put back on its feet. Despite that, your observation is obviously true. Today, everyone can live in a resource paradise, but that''s not happening. Why?¡± ¡°Wait a minute, you''re telling me that for the Old Metropolis society, it didn''t matter if one person lived a completely alienated life and another worked their butt off to work and produce? It¡¯s impossible!" Frank exclaimed in astonishment. ¡°It did make a difference, of course. If a person exerted themselves and contributed to society, they would be amply rewarded. But if they decided not to do anything and take care of their own life, they would still have more than enough resources. Frank, no one dies in Gate. Resources are more than enough to put every rational individual who once set foot in the multiverse into luxury cubes, millions of times the necessary amount, actually. They stopped counting when that per capita resource index exceeded a billion times, and that was long before the cataclysm. Even so, resources are not infinite but infinitely renewable both with magic and technology." ¡°So I don''t know what the problem is. Was it capitalism? Or laziness? People who are able to do whatever they want with no impediment don¡¯t have the motivation to strive; they''re going to live forever in a paradise of entertainment, is that it?¡± Frank ventured. "Capitalism isn¡¯t the culprit. In the Old Metropolis, the concepts of property and private rights were similar to those of your time. What changed are the more robust means of production that only make sense in Gate because, in a society where production has infinite potential, it becomes easy to maintain businesses as effective economic agents. The rules of the market and competition were clear in Metropolis. Everyone was inserted into the consumer market. The labor market was very different from your time. If a person dedicated time to economic activity, commercial or not, they were rewarded without surprise with resources allocated by the private sector but weighed by the public sphere on rare cases where the private alone could not suffice. This liberal approach was feasible because the economy worked differently for each niche according to optimized data, goals, and indexes, reinforcing the guarantees of rights and property. This open economy allows all agents a high degree of freedom of consumption and consciousness while simultaneously delivering some benefits of a planned economy. However, this system will never be perfect because it¡¯s dynamic by its premises and requires continuous effort, both in sociopolitical orientation and in heuristic optimizations within each niche; those are the main concepts that keep changing. But perhaps you¡¯re referring to a peculiarity of your time, an idiosyncrasy about some concepts of Earth capitalism. Let me try to make a parallel with a particular example from your era. During your time on Earth, people maintained the illusion that resources were infinite when it came to the environment. At the same time, the owners of the means of production remembered that the resource was not infinite when it came time to distribute it to those who transformed or produced it. Result: While Earth¡¯s resources were being exhausted, the majority of the people who contributed to society didn¡¯t have guaranteed minimal resources to survive. On a larger scale, the same is true for companies whose activities would be important for the economy but were made unviable. This supposed behavior is a type of information asymmetry that corroborates with crisis scenarios because that doesn¡¯t always force people and companies to produce more to survive. Instead, it forces people and companies to do anything to get the minimum needed to survive, no matter if it includes spoiling the people or the resources. Unfortunately, the people of Seneca were all gone before they solved those issues; at least on the original Earth, humans found a solution, but It took a very long time." "I was thinking in simpler terms, greed or laziness." Frank summarized. ¡°In the Old Metropolis, there were only rules for control when the accumulation of resources put other people or groups at risk, but effectively that was never used. The city had a contingency plan in case the inaction of people was one day a threat to the necessary volume of resources. There were some periods of uncontrolled resources right at the beginning of the city, but then the reserves never dropped. In the first case, greed-related issues are always discussed in Metropolis. Much of the political debate revolves around control and the size of the state, businesses, and individuals. As for laziness, that''s a curious question. It was a controlled risk, but there is an area between sociology and psychology exclusive to Gate that studies this. Things change because of a much longer lifespan than the biological one and the enormous mixture of cultures and species with very diverse experiences. There''s a pattern, however. When people are revived, they think exactly about this: taking full advantage of life, to which they''ve given the name "infancy of rebirth" or "re-infancy." After that period, which lasts between two and three biological lifespans, people tend to question their place in the world. Sometimes, it takes a little longer, but on average, that¡¯s the case. What''s curious is that this average time relation is observed in almost all cultures, with no one entirely sure why. Maybe it¡¯s some phenomenon of reason or some effect of magic or Gate. Whatever it is, from that age onward, individuals become much more productive. And that¡¯s far more effective than other pragmatic forms of persuasion. In the last millennium before the cataclysm, the percentage of individuals with no economic activity in Gate was around 0.0021 to 0.0022%. What might be a surprise to you is the proportion between the niches of activity when compared with Earth''s economy of your time. In the same period, the economy linked to cultural activities was around 71%, and for academic research, it was around 26%." ¡°Liora, what you¡¯re telling me is that a minimal number of people with powers or professions that were usual on Earth can keep Gate functioning? I need to think better about all of this, but first, answer one thing: how long ago did people live on the original Earth? And how long has it been since people began to be revived in Gate?¡± Frank asked, trying to process the information. "I''m talking about economic activity, Frank, not exactly professions. Only some mages or engineers actively participate in economic activities outside these two main niches. The Seneca Project is set up as academic research, for example. But training powers isn¡¯t common. I mean, almost everyone trains something, but the average rarely reaches ten years of training per person and at a much slower pace than our training. In two or three weeks, we were already more powerful than the Gate average. But that obviously doesn''t mean that there isn¡¯t anyone stronger than us in Gate. We¡¯re not even close to that. As for your question of time, it¡¯s not easy to answer because we''re not sure about the location of the ancient Milky Way, and it seems it¡¯s no longer in the observable universe of Gate. So, it''s necessary to use a space-warp telescope to try to find it. They believe that the time elapsed for Earth''s year zero is between 110 and 130 trillion years, based on cross-referencing data from different civilizations. Considering the first species to set foot in Gate, the Nailia, Gate¡¯s year zero is almost 18 million years old. But this place was maintained as an isolated reserve without cities for most of the time. Now, if we consider the founding of the Old Metropolis as year zero, then we''d be in the year 6,981,055 of Gate, which means that civilization lived in the Old Metropolis for less than 7 million years.¡± "Interesting! Thanks, Liora, for your patience. I didn''t find these things in the Seneca database," Frank said, looking at the blinking terminal. ¡°I think your model has finished training, hasn''t it?" "Yes, it''s finished right now. But let''s keep going a little longer!" Liora suggested. "We¡¯ve strayed a little from our focus, haven¡¯t we?" Frank scratched his head, realizing the path of their conversation had gone wild. "We started trying to understand this." Liora pointed at the reports on the terminal, being generated by the models from the videos. "You were questioning why our economic conditions were so unfavorable in a world where resources are practically infinite, but do you really think we''re so far off? With what we''ve discussed now, how do you think a tyrant would prepare a coup d¡¯etat after a crisis?" Liora provoked. "Well, a confrontation would be a huge risk in Gate. Initially, I thought that the utopia fell entirely on its own, but if I rule that out, then divide and conquer seems like a second option, to weaken a society before you overthrow it," Frank pondered. ¡°Exactly, in the Old Metropolis, society was united, and there was space for differences. It didn''t matter where you came from, what your species was, not even your political choices or social conditions. Because of fear, society was convinced that it was an enemy of itself. At the same time, society faces a crisis of political identity regarding the old solutions, which were not able to predict nor prevent the cataclysm. And this was long before Biggus became Emperor. It was a slow power project that¡¯s culminating now. Silas and I were born into this era, already inside the crisis. He came from a village where everyone literally fought to survive, and he always had a vocation to be an engineer and study. And I was discarded because I was useless, and the only proposition that remained for me was to take an engineering course exclusively because I¡¯m an oioi. This need to point fingers at someone and to find a culprit to blame for the cataclysm has no factual basis since no one may be truly responsible. The social and economic abyss between regions of Gate has grown more and more since the cataclysm because we practically have an all-out, veiled war against ourselves. And I still have some difficulty in understanding the real motivations of the people who carried out this proposal." ¡°For the proposal they had long before about selecting the strongest, as you told me, Liora, I don¡¯t doubt it¡¯s a lust for political power. I think they intended to become tyrants before. They were waiting, and this was the opportunity.¡± "Then, Frank, I thought the same thing at first. But right now, I think Dukliasse lost his sanity in that place. This sanity loss is so strong that his actions cruelty makes no sense at all. The most extreme example occurred just a few months before his death. The Buklise couple¡¯s parents were all nailia, just like Dukliasse. Apparently, only after much insistence they managed to get a private video call with him. All four of the Buklise parents were on the call, and we have the complete audio. Dukliasse even started the call by apologizing and justifying that he was serving the MBSI and didn¡¯t have the schedule to speak to them before. The parents were desperate because they had no information about their children and couldn¡¯t even revive anyone from the city. They had sent people there, but none of them had returned. They just wanted Dukliasse to go to their house at the guard post and get some information.¡± Liora commented, pausing often and troubled. ¡°Right, given that Dukliasse had political ambitions, if he solved this, it would be great propaganda for him, or am I wrong? But wait a minute, did he already have a position in the MBSI at that time?¡± Frank asked, already noticing something wrong. "Both Dukliasse and Biggus were small fish in the MBSI back then. There was a third person from the extermination mage group, Mose, who was a director of the MBSI during the cataclysm. The three of them participated in a very long mission in Southern Gate. They returned alive a few years later after the cataclysm and quickly climbed the ranks because they were among the few survivors. Even so, it took a very long time for Biggus to take the lead in the MBSI. And when he became mayor of New Metropolis, Mose became the new head of the agency. Resolving this issue with the Buklises would be an excellent move. At that time, the extermination mage guild¡¯s plebiscites didn¡¯t even reach a 0.1% margin of error on our democracy. He talked to the Buklise parents diplomatically and promised to personally go to the couple¡äs house immediately. He said he was going to switch cameras to a private one, and they could accompany him to his children''s home." ¡°Makes sense¡­¡± Frank mused. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Liora said, looking down. ¡°What happened next is inferred only from the audio. There''s the sound of him getting up from his chair, and you can hear the beep of his camera and microphone turning off. Immediately, he vocalizes four times a syllable of the extermination magic and then shouts at the top of his lungs in an altered voice, ''I will, sure! Nailia always helps each other, don¡¯t they? I''ll help you like you helped me in my plebiscite.'' After a few moments, panting, he recovers and turns his camera and microphone back on. He ignores the panic on the other end, calmly speaking as if he didn''t notice anything, ''Everything okay there? I¡¯m ready. Can we start? What¡¯s going on?¡¯. After that, someone on the other end says they''re going to disconnect because the Buklises have just been attacked.¡± Frank put his trembling hands to his mouth. ¡°My God, Liora! I remember what Silas said about that ghost having some mental power. Could it be that?" ¡°I don¡¯t know, Frank, and now I¡¯m thinking about what to do with this information. I think we have to pass this on and try to ask for help, but I still don¡¯t know how to do that or who the right person to contact might be,¡± Liora said, sharing her distress. "I imagine that''s difficult. You and Silas have ties to this world, but if you involve your friends, it could be dangerous for them. It would be better to contact someone from this region. The Buklises weren''t the only ones who tried to help their families. The people that lost their lives in the valley came from Paradiso and Rocatrista." Liora leaned back, pulling away from the terminals. Looking up, she said, ¡°That¡¯s it, Frank. We''re thrown into this crap world, and we''re groping in the dark. Maybe send this material to the public contacts of the Seneca Project and let the circus begin¡­¡± She closed her eyes, distant. Frank thought for a few moments and said in an uneasy voice: ¡°I disagree with your idea that we¡¯re thrown into the world, and we have to accept things because of that. It seems to me that this line of thinking will lead us down a dangerous path. Let''s think carefully about what to do. We''re part of this world now, and throwing in the towel wouldn¡¯t be lowering our heads to Biggus''s ideas after all?¡± Liora woke up and stared at Frank, thinking for a long time. Her super-speed could not help. Finally, she smiled and said, ¡°How sharp! You may be right, Frank, but I didn''t even realize it. Now, I owe you much. Thank you!¡± ¡°Liora, I wasn¡¯t planning on sleeping early tonight anyway, and now I couldn''t even if I tried. I was thinking about reading the introduction to the Vabala. Is that a good idea?¡± Frank remembered after another brief pause to think. "We''re going to need it sooner than later. It''s a good idea, but you must consider the consequences. Take it easy because I won¡¯t be able to help you much with magic. However, if you want to bring it here, maybe that''s best," Liora said as she returned to work on her terminals. ¡°Okay, I''m going to get it, and we''ll hang out here for a while if you don''t mind." Frank and Liora exchanged smiles, and almost immediately, he returned with the enormous nailia tome in stone and paper. The rest of the night went well. Liora was able to stay calmer with a friend¡¯s presence, while Frank occasionally raised questions about the nailia and their magic. Liora was able to help more than she thought she could. Both of them passed the night in a blink of an eye. When they realized it, they heard Petra open the door. As always, she stretched in the morning and looked at Frank with a funny smile. "Hi, I stayed up all night with Liora. I didn''t even realize it was dawn! Good morning, Petra!" Frank said excitedly. ¡°Good morning, Frank! What did you do to your hair? It looks much better!" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "..."
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 32+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 11
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 12
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9167
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship, life support +4, capacity +1/+7, maneuver +7, speed up +1/+7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +1/+7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+) Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 1/2000 HP, 2000/2000), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), long-range scan +2(superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 31+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 3
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 25
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8612
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 30+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 5
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 15
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 3
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5281
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 30+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 12
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 8
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 3
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +0 0/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5001
Equipment
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
-
Spell Complements
-
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 12 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 23 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 24 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Chapter 13 - The Life is Alive Chapter 13 - The Life is Alive - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG Frank immediately ran his hand through his hair and felt a static shock. Looking at himself in the camera on his headset, he realized his hair was longer. The few gray hairs had disappeared, and his strands were now standing on end. "It must be an effect of the magical energy," Liora commented as she continued to work at her terminal. The more you train, the more effects will appear. It''s not anything that I remember the mages complaining about, but it doesn''t seem possible to predict these changes." "I didn''t really appreciate a comb anyway," Frank confessed. "So, you¡¯re already reading the Vabala," Petra said as she noticed the books and monoliths scattered around the chairs on the bridge. ¡°So, what can you do with it?" "Well, so far, I read a long introduction warning about how to train the basics. Liora helped me understand some concepts better," Frank said, sliding his hand on the back of his neck. "I don''t know almost anything about magic. Frank already knows more than I do by now," Liora warned. At that moment, Silas entered the bridge and went straight to his terminal, which he had left empty the previous night. He said, putting on his headset, "I forgot to run a routine check yesterday. I''ll connect quickly, and it''ll take 15 minutes to run. Should we have coffee while we wait? Today is going to be a long day. Good morning, all!¡± Everybody agreed on coffee. Silas noticed something different about Frank besides his smiling more than usual. He looked at the mess on the bridge and imagined what had happened. He only half smiled as he finished what he was doing at his terminal. On their way to the coffee, Petra insisted, looking at Frank: "So, when are you ready to make fireballs or dragons?¡± Frank blinked and shrugged, shaking his head and replying, ¡°I read the introduction, talking a lot about the authors and the method of learning with the monoliths. I know that there are three sets that they call schools, as Liora mentioned before when we found the Vabala. I took the communication school, the only one that I had what it takes to learn, according to the tests I just did last night. If I want to learn the other two someday, I''ll need to do the mental training like you did, Petra," Frank said as he walked. They all reached the first floor of the passenger sector and began to prepare their coffee right there, a convenient location right next to the bridge to set up a small kitchen. "Ah, I see. Communication, is it?" Petra asked. "Yeah, but I don''t know how to do anything yet. It takes time to open and close each school, but not as much as Silas thought. In a matter of days, I''ll be able to do something. I just need to choose what to do first," Frank reflected. "Really, Frank? Some of my mage friends said that each school takes about 30 years to learn properly. And that''s for the basics only. After that, you have to train in the power of magic and the mage¡¯s mental abilities, as well as how to use mana properly. But that''s just me talking," Silas smiled. "That¡¯s what it takes to close a school, but the beginning is pretty fast. In a matter of weeks, I¡¯ll be able to do one or two pretty interesting things,¡± Frank smiled back. "And what are your options exactly?" Petra asked. "Well, I¡¯m going to learn specific ways to direct magical energy. And it seems that each effect is going to be linked to my mind in some way. In general, the first option seems to be group telepathy, then communicating with people in distant locations. There¡¯s also the magic of talking to the dead, which I think the Seneca Project people used. Beyond that, there is a bizarre technique to make social offenses actually hurt. Please don''t ask me how. I don¡¯t understand it yet. And the last magic is complex. It seems that I could enter people''s dreams and communicate with them while they¡¯re sleeping," Frank said, still not entirely sure, with only a few hours of study. "That¡¯s pretty cool,¡± Silas said as he took a sip of coffee. ¡°Another piece of advice I heard from friends is that you have to carefully choose the order in which you learn the magics because the last ones take a long time. Once you¡¯ve learned them, you refine and keep increasing its power as long as you like.¡± ¡°Your friends were right. The introduction to the Vabala explains this too. It¡¯s pretty fast to learn the first two magics of a school, so, in an emergency, you need to think carefully before choosing. There is also a limit to how much different stuff you can learn at the same time. It¡¯s strongly recommended that you keep only three schools open at a time per person. If you want to open a fourth, you have to close another before. And that does take time," Frank enthusiastically stated. "You said before that there are also requirements. You wouldn''t be able to open some schools without preparing yourself mentally," Petra commented, reticent. ¡°Is all this effort worth it?¡± Liora and Frank started to respond at the same time, but Frank smiled and waited. Liora commented, ¡°It¡¯s worth it. There are things that can only be done by magic right now. The communication school is already necessary for us to know what¡¯s going on in the rest of the world. Even if Silas prepares a long-range communicator, we''re going to have to connect to the Metropolis Public Network. Despite encrypting our messages, the MBSI would have access to the data packets and metadata, which means they will know approximately where we are transmitting. Since there''s nothing else out near us and we could not directly hack into the retransmitter station on Paradiso, opening a transmission could draw attention.¡± ¡°So, Petra, beyond the utility Liora just spoke about, the requirements make sense because they prepare the person mentally. The problem I see is that this tends to spread out what you train because these magics use different concepts of mental abilities. Most of the communication magics are related to the intelligence training that I had already started a long time ago. For example, the bizarre social offense magic needs social intelligence to be used correctly. That¡¯s something completely different to train. The other two schools in Vabala need memory capacity and perception, which you are already training in. And if Silas ever decides to learn magic, the same mental capacity that he uses for technology will work for entering an accelerated mental timeframe and doing a bunch of magic at the same time." Frank concluded. ¡°But then a mage is going to end up training all kinds of different mental abilities. That''s interesting in a way, but in our case, that''s going to compromise our martial training, isn''t it?¡± Petra asked. "It will probably do that,¡± Liora responded. ¡°I¡¯ve never been particularly interested in magic, maybe because it was something of everyday life,¡± Liora reflected. ¡°No! Thinking about what I just said, the worst mages were the role models in my life. It must have been a prejudice of mine, staying away from magic. But if I need to learn something, no problem, even if it¡¯s not my cup of tea." After a brief silence with their coffee, Frank continued: "I was thinking about continuing my martial training and using my light sleep to learn the magics at night as a complement. The Vabala directs the student to become an all-round wizard, and there''s just a little note pointing to options for specialists. It seems to me that the magic schools are divided more or less into two large groups according to the main mental ability that''s required. So, what I thought is to stick only with the communication school.¡± "If that''s the case, I''ll take the other two," Petra offered. "But before learning magic, I¡¯m going to see how you do as a guinea pig, Frank." "They''re just communication magics. What could go wrong, Petra?" Frank provoked. Silas held back laughter and said: "So, the first colonists of Gate only had the small didactic monoliths and nothing else. There are amazing stories of what can go wrong. So, if you manage to do it on your own, that¡¯ll be a big feat!" "They didn¡¯t have the Vabala manual. And I have Liora''s help!¡± Frank retorted. ¡°Look, I may be good at explaining things, but there''s a big difference between me explaining and me being right. And when it comes to magic, that difference is an abyss!" Liora smiled. "If it weren''t for Liora, I wouldn¡¯t even have gotten past the first page of the Vabala,¡± Frank confessed. ¡°I see that the night was productive. Liora, before we start training today, was there any progress in the analysis of the Northern Valley city videos? Yesterday, you were trying to save the world from an evil emperor. Today, you''re surprisingly mellow," Petra recalled. ¡°Yeah, that''s because I said all the nonsense I wanted to Frank yesterday. But in a nutshell, Dukliasse and the ghost were competing to see who was worse. And Dukliasse ended up completely losing his sanity in that city. Still, with respect to our situation, it doesn''t seem to me that we will be able to get rid of the Golems without getting rid of the ghost. So, we have a few options on the table. The most direct one is to buy some time to train and become stronger than the ghost and solve the problem ourselves. We can also get in touch with someone from outside and ask for help, or we can go ahead with the plan to find Seneca. Remember, he was a knight of the first house of the academy. He should at least know what to do." Liora concluded. ¡°Well, first, I''m going to fix this ship¡¯s auto-repair today. Otherwise, we''re not going anywhere,¡± Silas concluded, already getting ready for a busy day. ¡°But I think we can try all these options at the same time, right? We also need to remember that time is passing, and the people of Seneca can''t wait." "Seems good to me. We''re going to continue training. And I''m going to try to use communication magic in a few weeks. So, Silas, wait before you build a long-range communicator." After a brief pause, Frank continued speaking, "Concerning the people on our Earth, we need to act fast, and maybe we can use what we found out about Dukliasse to buy time for them. But let me ask you this, Silas, how are you so sure that Seneca will actually help us if we find him?¡± ¡°No certainty at all, Frank. We''re assuming that he would help because of what he said publicly at the time of the Old Metropolis. We know things have changed a lot with the cataclysm, but we¡¯re betting that he hasn''t changed that much." Silas warned. ¡°Well, everyone, I think we can go ahead with our training. We have today and tomorrow until we get to the supposedly safe edge. After that, we¡¯ll either wait for the Golems or continue forward, trying our luck with Gate¡äs surprises,¡± Petra concluded. Everyone finished their coffee, and Silas went to the bridge to continue the repairs. On their first training day on the ship, the martial trio decided to visit the second floor of the passenger section. They found a large hall with a vast archway window the size of an entire wall. On the other windowless corner, there was a bar with what appeared to be a kitchen next to a small stage for performances. The rest of the hall was empty. At the top of the kitchen was a small room with technological devices. "Look at that. It is an industrial DIY store cube," Liora said as she stretched to get a better look at the appliance hidden at the top. "It''s capable of creating, repairing, cleaning, and even recycling almost any type of furniture. Excellent.¡± ¡°I imagine them using this to set up the bar, maybe even a games room. But we can use this space for our training. We''ll just have to be careful." Frank commented. "Well, but it all seems to be off. Let''s set up the mats with our cubes like we did before on the aerolito.¡± Petra observed. And with that, they spent a few hours putting together their makeshift space. Still in the morning, they returned to their training routine. Frank felt that something was different during his workout. In terms of effectiveness, it seemed the same, but at the end of the day, Frank¡¯s body, as if by magic, had become much more muscular than before. Impressed by his new look, Frank asked, ¡°I don¡¯t feel incredibly stronger than yesterday, but now my thigh is bigger than my waist from all this muscle. Is this an effect of the magic, Liora?" ¡°Probably, your body must be responding to both essences: the previous one that worked with the additional spatial dimensions and the new magical one. I have no idea how the magical one works, but hopefully, the result will be the same.¡± Liora responded. ¡°The Vabala doesn¡¯t say anything about mages training their physiques, but it does say something about using mana wildly to enchant any physical activities of any person. It gives explicit examples of physical activities like running, punching, or even throwing a stone.¡± Frank commented. "I have no idea. I¡¯ve never seen any nailia using mana wildly. And there must be a good reason why I''ve never seen it." Liora concluded. ¡°We could test if this wild mana of yours does anything and check the modification Silas made to my protective jacket to see if it works against magic! But thinking about it, maybe that''s not a good idea to test it here inside. I don''t think this ship has any specific protection against magic." Petra said as her curiosity battled her common sense. ¡°Well, everyone, best to save those tests for later. This room doesn¡¯t have adequate protection for our strongest blows even without magic additives, and, also, unnecessarily doing magic could attract unwanted attention.¡± Liora concluded. They all went back to the lower level, and as they left, they immediately noticed that everything was spotless and had a pleasant cleaning smell. They also noticed that all the ambient lights were now working, along with the door devices and terminals in the corridors. As soon as they arrived on the lower level, they realized that the couches were arranged, but their stuff was no longer where they had slept the previous night. They opened the door to go to the bridge to try to figure out what had happened. When they arrived on the bridge, still wearing their workout clothes, they found Silas completely engrossed in a pile of energy cells scattered across the bridge, messing up even more space than the Vabala. He said, ¡°You finished for today? I''m in a critical moment. I''ve had the auto-repair fixed for a while now, and I''ve discovered that it works by consuming energy, so I''m feeding it dozens of energy cells at the same time and trying to put some order into this chaos. Practically every system needs repairs. Once I¡¯m finished with the basics, I¡¯ll have to repair some of the complex systems myself." Liora realized that the material from the Northern Valley and the Vabala were still on the bridge. She asked: "Silas, our things here on the bridge are still where we left them, but the things in the passenger lounge have disappeared." Silas paused for a moment to think. Placing his hand on his forehead, he said, ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m still learning how everything works here. When I set up the repair system, it followed a standard protocol without me noticing, so it moved things. All of this is part of the ship¡¯s integrated life support system and can be configured later. The things that were on the first floor are all in the entry hall on the third floor." "So there are robots that clean and organize things inside this ship?" Petra asked. ¡°The furniture itself does the cleaning. But service robots transport things. While the auto-repair is active, they tend to follow a standard protocol, but they are usually only activated by the user," Silas responded. "So, we''re going to have entire rooms for each of us now?¡± Frank observed. ¡°Yes, there are 12 rooms on the third floor, as I said before; four of them are reserved for crew, and eight are reserved for passengers. They are all identical. The crew ones are just closer to the bridge. You can choose any of them if you want,¡± Silas responded, returning to operate next to the energy cells. ¡°Do you need help, Silas?" Liora asked. ¡°I didn''t ask before because we were preparing the training area and ended up spending the rest of the day training." ¡°It¡¯s OK. I have two or three more hours left here until the auto-repair system is finished. After that, it¡¯s just maintenance, and it''ll stay on automatic all night. I passed some of the ship¡¯s routines to your copy, who¡¯s piloting now. As we''re traveling in a straight line north, there''s not much to decide. I think you guys should focus on training. It might be a problem finding a more appropriate space. I was thinking about this today, but before doing anything, it¡¯s more important for me to repair the camouflage system while we have time.¡± Silas concluded. "I agree, Silas," Liora started. "As for the training location, I don''t know how to solve it either. But the place we improvised will become inadequate, so I''d rather not test the internal defenses of this ship.¡± ¡°Liora, do you think the Vabala could help with that?¡± Frank asked. "From what I read in the introduction, there''s nothing in the creation school, but in the transportation school, there''s a magic that can open portals to private mini universes. Could we use that in some way?" Liora took a while to process what Frank was suggesting, then smiled. "In principle, nothing prevents that. I don''t know any mages who have opened a portal to a private universe for martial arts training, but I don''t see why it wouldn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°Well, everyone, we¡¯ll figure that out later when the time comes. Now, let¡¯s let Silas focus while we go get our new rooms and take a bath." Petra said, already looking forward to her new room. Silas returned to focus while the others left. A staircase connected all the floors with the weapon tower below. But they realized that in addition to the stairs, there was a small elevator in the passenger area that was now working again. They went inside and were welcomed with a long and smooth metal horn sound, and everything was already integrated with their respective comlinks. Reaching the third floor, they found a corridor with curved walls and faint, orange lighting with six numbered doors on either side. The four rooms closest to the passages below had silver doors. The others had blue velvet doors. They found everything that was downstairs organized in an entry hall. It was a circular side room with a few benches and tables right in front of the elevator. A message appeared on everyone¡¯s comlinks asking them to define their rooms. Each of them chose one of the first four. Liora allocated the last one for Silas, and then they all entered their respective rooms. The accommodations were huge. Each room was, in fact, a complete apartment. They had a spacious hallway with closets and a desk with mirrors at the entrance, reminding them of luxury hotel rooms on Earth. There was a bathroom near the entrance and two bedrooms with separate bathrooms each. A colossal window served as one of the walls, probably an extension of the bar downstairs, so they could see everything happening outside, in front, and on one side of the ship. There was also a large room connecting the bedrooms and the entrance corridor. Frank stood looking out the window, recalling how long it had been since he saw a hotel room on Earth. Maybe it was since he was a kid. Petra organized her things and spoke via comlink, ¡°This place is incredible. You''re not going to have to listen to me snoring anymore. Silas, I''m putting your things in room 3. It''s the first one to the left of the elevator.¡± Silas thanked her and continued to focus on his work while the others spent the rest of the afternoon tidying up their rooms. After a while, Frank spoke through the comlink: "Everyone, it''s possible to restructure the entire room in the style you want using the interface in the entry mirror! It¡¯s as if we¡¯re inside a giant cube.¡± "I saw it. I cube-made a bathtub and took a bath, and I¡¯m thinking about what to prepare for dinner. The options here are even more complete than those of our previous cubes," Petra responded. "That''s great. It will greatly increase our comfort, but, actually, I''ve already returned to the bridge to finish cataloging the videos." Liora said, more accustomed to Gate accommodations. "And I can¡¯t wait to finish up here and get some rest," Silas commented, still focused on his work that demanded his full attention. Frank ended up returning to the bridge to read the Vabala, something he preferred to do with Liora. Petra accompanied him early in the evening to start studying as well but went to sleep when Silas finished getting the systems up and running. The next day, their training routine continued as usual. Frank left a message on the comlink that he had already started studying group telepathy and that it would take him a little over a week to start learning magic to communicate with people in distant places. Silas followed his schedule and spent the day inside the ship. He finished repairing the cloaking device, tested it immediately, and realized that it worked perfectly, rendering the ship practically invisible from the outside. They all agreed to meet in the afternoon when they were supposedly leaving the safe region. Shortly after lunch, the group gathered on the bridge. Frank and Liora took their usual spots, where they had spent the last nights. Silas was in his corner filled with terminals while Petra sat in the middle of everyone. Silas began speaking: "So everyone, good news and bad news, as usual. The good news is that almost everything on the ship has been repaired except for the military weapons system and the unknown devices. They''re real but deactivated. Which means I¡¯m going to spend a good amount of time trying to fix them before moving on to new projects. The bad part is that I''ve slowed down the ship because we''re about to leave the safe region, and we have to decide what to do. I don¡¯t think that camouflage will solve all the problems. We¡¯re likely to have company every week, so the idea is always to try to get away from problems. In an emergency or when something atypical is detected, I¡¯ll trigger an alert, and everyone should come to the bridge, which is the safest place and where we can control everything together. As we have no way to guess the level of danger, the yellow alert will be for something detected in the distance, the orange for something close or indicating that it¡¯s noticed us. And the red one when we''re already being attacked or pursued." ¡°Maybe it would be a good idea to try to define what each person will do in case of emergencies. I don¡¯t know what I could be helpful with inside a ship." Petra questioned. "Try to use the sensor interface to take advantage of your mental training, Petra," Liora suggested. "Wow, good idea, Liora! Would you be in charge of piloting or weapons?" ¡°I can do both, but we¡¯ll be weaponless for a while. Repairing military weapons without access to the projects will not be trivial, even for Silas. In any case, Frank could be a co-pilot and also operate the weapons.¡± Liora concluded. "So, engineering is what¡äs left for me. What a surprise!¡± Silas laughed. "But seriously, we¡¯re minimally prepared. I suggest trying some stress simulations that I found in the ship''s systems to see how we do. The question is, do we stay here at the edge or accelerate to gain more time from the Golems?" Liora: "I''ve been thinking about this. If the ship is almost fully OK, and what''s left is going to take much longer than two days, there¡¯s no point in letting the Golems get closer. I¡¯d rather trust the camouflage than have four headlights on our tail." "Four? Weren¡¯t there two? Did they reproduce?¡± Frank asked. "Don''t you remember? When we sent the airbike to try and get around, the ghost made two more, and now all four are together behind us. We can see exactly where they are because the airbike stays beside them," Liora remembered. ¡°I agree with Liora. Let¡¯s move forward. However, I suggest I spend some of my time here on the bridge using the sensors from now on," Petra said, getting ready for more stressful times. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Silas starts talking: ¡°Well, Petra, maybe you should train rather than be on permanent watch. We¡¯ll have to manage the risk and trust the sensors. We¡¯re going to raise the speed a little bit and keep the altitude. The ship can handle incredible speeds, but the acceleration isn¡¯t as good in the lower atmosphere. At its limit, this ship could get into space and then accelerate quite a bit to a maximum speed of half the speed of light. If we¡¯re going after Seneca and assuming that he¡¯s gone to Tempus Forge, at the pace we¡¯re at now, it will take us more than 24,000 years." Frank choked on his words. Silas continued: ¡°Even so, I wouldn¡¯t risk going into space at this time. There have been reports in the past. A lot of strange things seem to have stayed in Gate¡¯s orbit since the cataclysm, to the point that today, we no longer have a satellite network. Anything we send up there gets destroyed. But I know some people say they make space travel. We¡¯d need to know the secret before we try that.¡± Silas warned. ¡°Just out of curiosity, how long would it take if we went through space?¡± Frank asked. ¡°Well, through space, it¡¯s at least 12 years. But, Frank, we¡¯re thinking wrong. If we decide to go through space instead of heading out directly with this ship, I will take a few months to make a space-folding warp engine. And in the meantime, we¡¯d have help from the transport magic as a contingency.¡± Silas concluded. "Right, but let us focus on our situation right now; we''re distancing ourselves from the spiral. At least for today, I think it¡¯s a good idea for us to stay together on the bridge," Petra suggested, a bit afraid. "Of course. We¡¯ll take advantage of this and train in our positions on the bridge, how to use the interfaces, and everything else in case of emergencies,¡± Silas concluded. They all spent the rest of the day on the bridge, learning how to use the crew''s devices. Day and night passed without any problems, only the usual eternal cold and darkness of Gate. Nothing extraordinary happened, and their routine continued; thankfully, this remained true for several days, with absolutely no need even to trigger a yellow alert. Their training became animated again, and Frank had already spent a reasonable amount of time reading the Vabala, as did Petra, who had also begun reading the basics but was still devoting less time to it than Frank. When they were about 20 days fleeing from the Golems, Frank took the opportunity to speak after lunch with everyone gathered. ¡°Everyone, I''m done learning group telepathy and would like to test it. And I also think that I can already establish contact with Rocatrista. I¡¯m avoiding testing anything because it could attract attention. But we need to decide what to do. What do you guys think?¡± Frank asked, realizing that time was passing. "Well, everything from the Northern Valley that needed to be organized is ready. I''ve been spending my nights piloting these last few days,¡± Liora said. ¡°And I''m dividing my time between reading the Vabala and accompanying Liora on the bridge with the sensors. In this region, there''s a different landscape. It''s small hills and what look like ancient frozen rivers. This place would be even more amazing if it were lit,¡± Petra commented. "Every day that passes, I doubt whether we¡¯re lucky, and camouflage actually works well, or if something is really wrong with the Metropolis data," Silas concluded. "From what I heard about New Metropolis, I guess it''s no problem for them to have inflated this kind of data to raise the paranoia level of the population. About the ship, Silas, is it worth waiting any longer to prepare it to test my magic?" Frank asked. ¡°Well, good question. I think we can test it now. Everything¡¯s ready on the ship, and I¡¯m fixing contingencies. If I''m going to repair the military weapons, that¡¯s another 20 days for each, and I am not sure if I really can do it without the blueprints. The cargo that was on this ship had ancient parts for assembling the outpost from which we came, and I used almost everything for the repairs. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll have enough material to fix the weapons, so it would be good to think about learning the creation school in the next month,¡± Silas responded, already planning far in advance. "I¡¯m learning quite slowly, but it''s been 20 days since I''ve been stuck doing only magic theory. I''ve read the introduction to the Vabala and trained the power to control magical energy as well. In my case, I didn¡¯t even get a new hair color like you, Frank. Nothing has changed," Petra lamented. Liora observed Petra with a greenish gleam in her eyes, turned on her sensors, and commented: "Hmmmm, that¡¯s rather peculiar¡­¡± ¡°But that¡¯s not possible! What happened to me this time?¡± Petra cursed her bad luck. "Well, it seems that you''re gaining mass, but just your density is increasing a little," Liora warned as she finished with the sensors. "Gaining mass? It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve weighed myself. The gravity here is a bit higher than on Earth. To have a reference, how much would I weigh now if I were on Earth?" Petra asked as she looked at herself and verified that she hadn¡¯t apparently gained any fat. ¡°Well, you would be a little more than 400 pounds," Liora calculated. "Wow, fantastic¡­¡± Petra said sarcastically, while Liora¡¯s expression said it all. They all got up from their chairs on the bridge and went to the training hall for their first magic test. Silas double-checked that the damage containment system in the bar was in order. Liora and Petra repositioned the sensors, and Liora¡¯s copy turned on the internal video of the bar on her terminal on the bridge to observe what was going on from a safe distance.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 34+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 12
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 13
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9188 (21)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship, life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+) Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), long-range scan +1/+2(superior tech, 240/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 33+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 3
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 27
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8633 (+21)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 32+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 5
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 16
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 3
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5302 (+21)
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 32+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 12
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 10
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 3
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 20/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5022 (+21)
Equipment
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) ???
(lo) ???
Spell Complements
(lu) ???
(lo) ???
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 12 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 23 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 24 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Chapter 14 - Who Wants to Fly Away? Chapter 14 - Who Wants to Fly Away? - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG "Okay, everyone. Let''s try to understand together how this magic works,¡± Frank announced, entering the small stage next to the bar. The others grabbed chairs from the cube and sat around. ¡°Petra and I are going to observe and record all kinds of energy. Maybe that will help,¡± Liora said, already sitting and with several devices next to her. Petra sat by her side, taking the opportunity to learn more about using the sensors. ¡°Go for it, Frank!¡± Silas said, sitting down with a smile, genuinely excited. ¡°Right, I want to test three things, so let us slow it down. From what I understand, after using my energy, I¡¯ll have to rest for a long time.¡± Frank prepared on the stage, taking a lectern from the cube and placing the part of the Vabala he was going to use on it. He plucked the Vabala monolith as if tuning a musical instrument, and they could all hear a deep, pleasant sound emanating from the environment around Frank. "First, let''s test group telepathy. I¡¯ve already tested on myself last week, and I¡¯m still alive. I thought I''d start with Liora, as her mind must be most different from mine.¡± ¡°Wait a minute,¡± Liora interrupted. "Are we going to share our memories? How does this work?¡± Frank promptly responded, ¡°From what I read in the Vabala, it''s not that at all, really. This magic is a type of enchantment that every enchanted person can turn off, on, or filter freely. There¡¯s an example in the explanatory text that caught my attention. It draws a parallel with the imported skills with technology that we used a while back. Magic shares all the skills of all enchanted people. And it also works in combination with whatever we have imported via technology." ¡°What? But how is that possible? If that¡¯s really it, it¡¯ll be excellent!¡± Liora was impressed and wary, as she had never seen magic work in her favor before. ¡°Well, from what I read, this magic makes it possible to share our senses as if we were one person. It allows us to talk mentally as if our minds were one. But we completely preserve our individuality and memories. It''s as if magic opened a new door to communicate directly inside our minds. And each person decides what passes through that door, in the same way that we decide what we¡¯re going to say,¡± Frank explained based on what he read but still unsure. "Right, and what do we need to do to make this work?" Liora asked. ¡°I have to enchant you, Liora. And to do that, I need to perceive you in person and replicate the steps that I¡¯ve trained. After that, you''ll be able to use that mental door to share senses, communicate, or use skills as if they were imported memories. However, there is a limit. It¡¯s not possible to use any of the other''s powers," Frank said. After a few seconds of thinking, Liora stood up and said: "Okay, I¡¯m ready. Let¡¯s get on with it, Frank!¡± ¡°Lu¡­¡± Frank said. He made a funny face as everyone waited in silence. Petra started to get some readings on the sensors but scratched her head and pointed the sensors at herself without saying anything. After a few seconds, Liora said: "So, Frank, when are you going to do your magic?" "I¡¯ve already done it, Liora. I¡¯m trying to talk to you mentally, but it seems like you''re blocking everything," Frank suggested. "I¡¯m not noticing anything different,¡± Liora said, still very tense. Petra interrupts: ¡°Okay, everyone. Two things: Frank and Liora have a slight increase in the humidity of the air around them, and the temperature drops a little bit. Frank already had that effect, and now Liora also does. That must be the enchantment. Other than that, the magical energy sensor returns a positive value for Frank and me. This same sensor was zeroed for about ten seconds for Frank only but now returned to the previous level. I imagine this is the mana being used by Frank to do the magic. ¡±Should I try to think about talking to you, Frank?¡± Liora said mentally to Frank after getting curious about Petra¡¯s report. Frank smiled, followed by a few seconds of strange silence. "1 2 3 testing. Hello, Frank, this is Liora! This crap isn''t working!¡± Liora thought silently. "Liora, I¡¯m hearing you grumbling that it''s not working, but you''re blocking all of my replies," Frank said. "Oh, at least I discovered how to send things!" Liora responded, happy with her progress. ¡°Frank, stop fooling around and do that magic on me already,¡± Petra insisted. "It''s not possible, according to the Vabala. I have to rest for eight hours," Frank responded, perplexed. ¡°And since when have you been tired? We regenerate, Frank. Don''t you remember the fine print in the power database side notes Liora sent us when we started training?" Petra taunted. "I don''t remember any of those side notes, Petra," Frank confessed. "But you''re right, I''ve never felt tired." "Refreshing your empty head, Frank. The regeneration we trained for is physical and mental. The description also says that it''s strongly recommended that mages train some regeneration if they plan to use magic in stressful situations," Petra recalled. ¡°Lu¡­" Frank said, and then he spoke mentally to Petra. "It''s better to have an open, empty mind than a mind locked up like Fort Knox." "The only one thinking about mind bricks is you! By the way, is Liora listening to all of this, or can we keep cursing each other freely?" Petra smirked, thinking and smiling silently. ¡°I''m glad that a thick skull like yours is lucky enough to have learned how to use telepathy so quickly. But Liora only listens if I or you put her in the conversation. Look, we can share our senses." said Frank, immediately pausing in astonishment, "Wow! But your vision and hearing are really impressive. It¡¯s like the world is a tuned home theatre,¡± ¡°Lucky? Of course, Frank. Let¡¯s see what you have to share. Your vast experience of discussions inside a bar and the ability to get drunk without losing your senses, while I, on the other hand, have military training and shooting¡­" Petra mused with disdain. ¡°Never forget, if it weren¡¯t for a bar, we¡¯d still be dead. But let¡¯s get back to serious business and try to bring Silas into the magic. I thought the limit was three people at a time, but I feel like I can add another.¡± Frank waited for a while in silence while Liora slowly tried to understand the magic before using it. "Right, Frank, by the way, do you need to speak or make noise to do magic?" Petra asked, refocusing and breaking the silence. "No, I can just think. The Vabala, in a little note, recommends that the mage try to vocalize the sound during the learning process, but it seems to me that wizards don¡¯t care much about being discreet." Frank concludes. At that moment, Frank looked at Silas, who was silently waiting for something to happen and only thought of the magic syllable "Lu." without speaking or making any sound. Immediately, they all heard Silas¡¯ voice in their minds. "This is test number eight. Tok tok, give me a little kiss, two little turns, and then three little jumps. This is test number nine. Tok tok¡­¡± Silas sings mentally as if he were trying to speak to them all. "What the hell is that, Silas?¡± Frank asked mentally. "Ah, it¡¯s working now? I was testing with an ebex lullaby. We sing this to children while we hit our bone plates together. I thought of something you''d never know unless I¡¯d told you beforehand." Silas responded mentally. ¡°Ha ha ha! Brilliant! I really like how your mind works, Silas!¡± Petra complimented. "Okay, everyone. I think now I¡¯m reaching my group size limit for this magic. The only thing left is for Liora to learn how to use this," Frank said. Everyone looked at Liora, who was distant and thinking to herself. ¡°What¡¯s going on? I''m running my test routines to try to configure this power as a communication portal, but it¡¯s not easy.¡± Liora said in the real world. ¡°Liora, maybe you should test everything you can do with the magic first, then use a top-down strategy to create a mental interface model for this. I¡¯ll help you program it, but first, you¡¯d need to test it and understand the potential." Silas proposed. "Okay, I''ll try then, Silas," Liora said. And immediately, she thought: "I¡¯m going to try to open a two-way communication now, everyone. Can you hear me?¡± Liora said mentally. ¡°Now we can hear you, Liora. You missed Silas singing ebex lullabies!" Petra responded. "What? Crap! My prejudice against magic made me miss the best moments!" Liora lamented. ¡°Hey, can I use this too? Actually, I heard Silas singing. Very funny!" said Liora¡¯s copy. ¡°Wow! Two for the price of one. Is this what the Vabala means by perfectly combining with technology?¡± Frank commented mentally. ¡°Hey, I wasn''t expecting this!" Liora commented. "Interesting. We¡¯ll still take some time to use this to its maximum potential, but I realize that it will give us a huge advantage during dangerous situations." Silas commented. ¡°That''s it, and in the Vabala, they mention that this magic is the most powerful to combine with the others. We¡¯ll see how this will work in the future. Now, let¡¯s move forward. I want to test more things today. Now we¡¯re going to see how to use mana in a wild way." Frank planned. "Before moving forward. In the Seneca Project, we had a friend named Fabiula, who I think actually used this telepathic magic with me in combination with the talking-to-the-dead spell. On the days I had to replace my supervisor, I was feeding the database directly with the conversation data from both spells, but something was different about her magic.¡± Silas commented. ¡°Yeah, in the Vabala, there¡¯s a huge note warning that these magics are techniques to train the mage''s particular powers and that, despite being similar, each spell ends up having slightly different effects depending on each mage''s personality. Should we continue with the tests?¡± Frank asked. "I¡¯m ready for it!¡± Petra responded. While Silas stood up to prepare the ship''s security devices, Petra and Frank went to the training area nearby. "Petra, let''s try simple unarmed attacks. First, I''m going to enchant my attack, and you¡¯ll defend. Then we¡¯ll do the opposite, and in the end, we both enchant our attacks. I think you can already use your wild mana, right?" Frank asked. "Yes, Frank, I¡¯m past that part in the Vabala. Let''s get on with it. It probably won¡¯t make much difference," Petra said. Frank prepared a kata. Rays of energy coursed through his body, causing his fist to ignite. The visual effect was impressive. He delivered a relatively light blow, and Petra tried to block it. The effect was somewhat unexpected. Petra struggled to the best of her ability to block the blow. Frank''s punch goes through her defenses as if passing through Petra''s arms, but Petra''s counterattack hits Frank''s body squarely. Petra suffered a slight burn, but her magical resistance, enhanced by her protective jacket, managed to mitigate the blow. On the other hand, Frank hurt himself far more than he imagined, needing a few seconds to remain motionless while his regeneration kicked in. "Sorry, Frank, I didn¡¯t mean to hit you with the counterattack. When I couldn¡¯t block it initially, I instinctively increased the force," Petra lamented sincerely and with a bit of concern. They all realized that the ground beneath Petra had sunk, and the mat had been damaged a bit. Silas immediately activated the ship''s auto-repair using an energy cell. The floor regenerated, and Liora realized that the ship had changed its trajectory slightly because its mass increased significantly¡ªa few dozen tons more for a few moments. All of this information was mentally shared among them. "Wow, the ship moved?" Frank commented, receiving the thoughts of everyone at the same time. "I think I understand what happened. At the same time that it''s more difficult to block magical blows, the entire force of the physical counterattack passes without any impediment. It¡¯s a double-edged sword. That''s why maybe the mages don¡¯t use this type of strategy in close combat.¡± ¡°Should we continue testing? Now I''ll try to block blows with magic?" Petra asked. ¡°Sure, I¡¯m ready for another. But, go slow, Petra." Frank warned. After a few seconds, Frank prepared the same attack without magic, but this time, it was Petra who used her mana in a wild way. Her body seemed to transform into dark stone, and the floor started to sink even before she prepared the counterattack. Seeing this, Silas kept the energy cell engaged, muttering mentally: "And there goes the floor again,¡± while Liora¡¯s copy on the bridge, piloting, thought: ¡°Earthquake!¡± The ship swayed again. Petra blocked the blow as usual, and Frank ended up with only a small bruise on his fist that immediately regenerated. ¡°Curious," Frank said, looking at his regenerating hand. "The part of the blow that I suffered apparently was only the magical part that Petra used.¡± "If I want to scare someone using magic, it works better than the effect in the end," Petra concluded as she returned to her usual human form, letting the mana dissipate from her body. ¡°Okay, now we¡¯re going to test both of us using mana in a wild way!¡± Frank enthusiastically exclaimed. "Let¡¯s go for it!" Petra said. Immediately, she returned to her stone form while Frank set his fists ablaze. The ship rocked again as a light show took place in the arena, with fire scattered everywhere and the floor consuming more energy from Silas to regenerate. Liora¡¯s copy was already cursing words that didn¡¯t even exist in her thoughts. The result was a Frank sprawled on the floor with the same injuries as before, plus a bruise on his hand. Petra¡¯s jacket had a little tiny fire that soon went out. ¡°Well, Silas, it looks like your jacket does work against magic!¡± Petra concluded, realizing Frank was fine. She continued to ponder. ¡°I couldn¡¯t block Frank¡¯s attack again, but now I think if I practice, I might even be able to do something. The first time, it was really impossible because Frank¡¯s arm had passed through my counterattack, but this time, it seems like I was able to parry a bit." Petra commented. ¡°Interesting!¡± Liora said, suddenly remembering things she¡¯d read about kicking wizard asses. ¡°That reminds me of the Toroem, which is one of the many species from the Daboulam galaxy. They developed a combat technique to defend against magic that is very similar to what you¡¯re trying to do, Petra. Maybe we can talk to one of them when we have the chance." "Well, everyone, I still want to test one thing to close out the day,¡± Frank said, still lying on the ground, resting for a moment while his regeneration took effect. "It''s something I¡¯m still learning to do. So, I¡¯ll need to use the Vabala monolith during the process. About enchanting locations, I¡¯m going to try to enchant this bar here on the ship. Then I¡¯ll do the same thing to the bar in Rocatrista." "Wow! Can we already do that? If it works, it¡¯ll be wonderful!¡± Liora exclaimed, recalling their plan to do something with the information they¡¯d gathered in the Northern Valley city. Frank recovered but remained on the floor, his arms open. He thought aloud to everyone: ¡°That''s it. But the Vabala says the student might have trouble setting a reference point the first few times. Do any of you have any idea what that could mean?¡± ¡°I don''t know, maybe you¡¯ll have to set a reference point in space to enchant," Liora suggested. Frank stood up, jumped, and spoke usually. ¡°Well, before using the new spells, let us set up the telepathy channels properly; the Vabala suggests that you should always keep the enchantment communication channels switched off to avoid getting your senses hooked for long periods and to leave only one sense open for emergencies, like hearing. This telepathic magic can also function in some extreme cases. If something terrible happens to any of us, or we start taking physical damage, the others will sense something is wrong. And if one of us dies, the telepathy will stay active even after death, according to what¡¯s written. It becomes easier to bring us back to life as long as at least one of us survives and can find a mage to revive the others.¡± "It¡¯s always best not to die. I think," Petra replied. "But let¡¯s test this other magic of yours. What do we need to do?" Frank thought for a moment and said, "Well, I¡¯m going to share my senses with you, Petra, while Silas and Liora stay outside to see if I¡¯m alright because I''m going to pass out. This magic causes all my senses to be transported to the enchanted place while I really don¡¯t leave my spot. As far as I understand, only with a lot of practice can mages use this magic without becoming unconscious, blending their real and expanded senses. But that''s not the case for me.¡± ¡°Right, and how are you going to enchant Rocatrista, Frank?" Petra asked. "I just need to know the place. If I''ve been there personally before, it helps, but I didn¡¯t understand how this works exactly. So I¡¯ll test it here in the bar. I can only maintain one enchanted location for now, but I can disenchant whenever I want," Frank explained. "Okay, Frank, I¡¯m ready. Start whenever you want." Petra warned. Frank returned to the stage, now carrying a chair. He sat down next to the Vabala and leaned against it as if playing a musical instrument. He imitated the sound it produced, saying: "Lo." Immediately after speaking, Frank passed out. Liora notices a ghostly image of Frank in the bar for a few moments. Then, the ghost is immediately launched into the back wall. Petra loses her balance and falls to the ground, cursing, ¡°What the hell was that!¡± Frank felt the impact of the ship¡¯s wall coming towards him. He continued to be rubbed against the ship¡¯s compartments, going through the engine where he felt he was being burned and flung outside. After a while, yelling in pain, Frank realized he was in the sky, in freefall, outside the ship, and experiencing an almost unbearable cold. He continued to scream in panic from the pain and the freefall. "Frank, you idiot! You enchanted the space, not the bar. But it seems like you¡¯re in a bubble because you¡¯ve stopped falling for a while now, and you¡¯re floating in the air,¡± Petra said mentally. After calming down and realizing that the pain was gone and he could only feel cold, he focused on interrupting the magic and returned to himself, sitting in the chair. He noticed Silas and Liora using probes to determine if he was really okay. "Ah, you''re back! But what happened? You were yelling, but you¡¯re not injured," Silas asked. ¡°I think I enchanted space somehow, and my senses passed through the entire ship before I was floating out there. I didn¡¯t get hurt, but I felt the pain, the heat, the cold, and everything else.¡± Frank reported. Petra stood up from the ground. "Well, I didn¡¯t pass out like Frank, but the sharing of senses through telepathy was so intense that it took me a while to realize what was going on." ¡°You''re both really okay?¡± Liora worried. "I¡¯m ready to test again. What about you, Petra?" Frank asked, now excited, realizing he hadn¡¯t been in any real danger. "Everything is fine, but this time, try to do the magic first and then connect with me through telepathy. As far as I understand, you can stop whenever you want, right?" Petra asked. ¡°Yes, I wasn¡¯t expecting this, but I need to concentrate a bit to stop the magic. If I take too long, the magic is interrupted if I¡¯m physically injured. So I think if someone pinches me hard, I should wake up." Frank warned. ¡°Well, you could¡¯ve mentioned this before!¡± Petra revolted. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°The way it¡¯s written in the Vabala, it doesn¡¯t seem to me like the idea is to injure yourself to escape the magic¡¯s effect. So, let¡¯s try to avoid that," Frank explained. "Okay, second try, then. This time, start solo mode, and let¡¯s see what happens." Petra suggested. "Frank, before you try again, I saw your translucent image being thrown against the bar wall, but it was too fast," Liora commented. "Yeah, when it works, I appear like a ghost. From what I understand, that¡¯s how people can see and communicate with me. But you can''t do much as an image. Just pass messages,¡± Frank explained. After a couple more tries, a few of which Frank revisited the engine, he finally managed to anchor himself to the ship''s bar. In ghost form near the door, he celebrated his victory: "Finally got it! This is really strange. I¡¯m seeing myself sitting there on the chair." ¡°Good, Frank! Do you think you can try to enchant Rocatrista from here? It was really hard to enchant the place right in front of you,¡± Liora asked. "This might take a while. As I understand, it has more to do with how accustomed you are. But, I''ll try." Frank took a deep breath, focused, and tried. "No, it¡¯s all dark, and I ended up in the middle of the snow. There was not a sign of any city," Frank became discouraged. Well, I''ll keep trying. If I manage, I¡¯ll let you all know." "Take it easy, Frank. If it depends on knowing the city, maybe a good option is to search for more stuff about Rocatrista in the database, right?" Silas said. "Gate is too big to depend on trial and error." "It must be the same as trying to revive people with magic, Frank. That''s why sometimes the wrong person shows up, I guess,¡± Petra commented. ¡°Petra, you''re a genius!" Frank jumped from his chair. ¡°That¡¯s it. I¡¯m going to try something!" Frank seemed to do ample movements as if concentrating on a complex kata. "Thank you! I think..." Petra replied, wondering what Frank was doing. After a few seconds, Frank did the magic again, shouting out loud, with no noticeable changes, but the result apparently changed. "Aha! Bingo, everyone. I''m at the Rocatrista bar!" Frank informed them mentally. "I used my willpower trick. Tonight¡¯s going to be good!"
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 36+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 12
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 15
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9188
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +1/+2(superior tech, 240/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 35+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 3
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 29
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8633
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 34+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 5
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 17
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 3
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5302
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 34+1 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 13
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 11
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 3
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 20/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5022
Equipment
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +3, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4
(lo) Rokatrista Bar, Gate, Northern Edge Region
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 15 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 27 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 28 research/day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Chapter 15 - It′s As If As Playing With Fire Chapter 15 - It¡äs As If As Playing With Fire - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG At a bar table on the edges of civilization, four figures lay sprawled in a deplorable state on filthy couches made from what had once been velvet. Half a dozen bottles and a few half-empty glasses lay on the table. A phantom emerged to accompany this unusual, hungover group. Frank looked around and noticed the surprised bartender looking at him. He was a schrogae nicknamed Tommy because his name translated to other languages, according to himself, would scare customers away. Frank waved to the bartender with a half smile, looking into his face and simply saying: ¡°Tommy!¡± The bartender recognized him and returned the smile. Frank noticed that Ramirez was wearing the same purple robe he¡¯d worn when he¡¯d revived him, but this time, it was incredibly cleaner. The magic man was also wearing more metal chains around his neck and wrists. Frank thought, "Ramirez must have gotten a job to revive someone important." To which Petra retorted telepathically, "Only if it¡¯s more important than you. Haven''t you noticed anything different about this place yet?" Frank looked around and noticed over a dozen humans scattered among the tables of the bar. Some were asleep on the floor. The few who were awake didn''t take their eyes off Frank, perhaps trying to figure out if the hallucination was the result of the drinks from the previous night. Petra commented, ¡°Are they from our Earth? I don¡¯t recognize any of them. But why the hell does Ramirez bring people back to life in such a place?¡± Liora: "I was thinking the same when I came here the first time. It was very hard to find a mage to revive you two back then. Biggus made it almost impossible on Metropolis, and even those who are in other cities nearby are very afraid, so maybe this is the way Ramirez finds out to keep a low profile." Frank realized, from the reflection he saw in the glass of drink he was trying to grasp while telepathically talking to the others, that he was attracting a lot of attention by wearing his white training robe and emanating pale light like a phantom. Then he stood up and spoke softly, in a drawn-out falsetto, but in a way that could be heard, extending his arm toward the magic man in his sleep. ¡°Help us, Ramirez! You''re our only hope!" The mage, of course, continued to sleep. But some of the humans, seeing the scene, couldn¡¯t contain their laughter. Petra also laughed and asked, ¡°Maybe you need to make more noise instead of trying to use The Force to wake Ramirez!" "Let him sleep a little longer. Let¡¯s try to talk to the humans who should be from our time.¡± Frank looked around, smiling with his head down, and walked toward the group of three humans who were laughing, saying, "Hello, friends! I''m from Corpus Christi, Texas. I got this way after drinking Pik Polum grog!" That sent Tommy into fits of laughter. ¡°Easy there, friend, the three of us came from the city of Porto, in Portugal! I¡¯m Jo?o Pedro, nice to meet you!" said one of them as he moved a chair away so that Frank could sit. Frank thought fast and replied, "Nice to meet you, Francisco F. B., but Tommy calls me Frank. Isn''t your city where they make that robust wine? Tastes like heaven, kicks like a mule! I had some during a snooker showdown right by my turf. But I think it was called Oporto. Am I wrong?¡± ¡°Snooker? Frank must have had that wine with the English. They have a different name for our city," interrupted a girl sitting at the table. "Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Maria Jos¨¦. And this is Santiago next to me." The third member of the group, holding his head, only nodded with a half-smile. ¡°Great. I¡¯ve been an old Ramirez customer. I thought about talking to him, but I ended up arriving late. I''ll wait for him to wake up. Did you also get brought back by him?¡± Frank asked. "Not by him personally. But by the people who work with him.¡± Jo?o answered as he pointed to the group at the table where Ramirez lay. ¡°Let me ask you, Frank, are you okay? I mean, what¡¯s going on with you?¡± he asked, unable to contain himself because of Frank¡¯s unusual appearance. ¡°Oh? I¡¯m perfectly healthy. It¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just a different way for mages to communicate,¡± Frank explained. ¡°Oh, wow! That¡¯s what I was wondering. So, your revived group chose to learn magic. Is it worth to choose this option in Metropolis, then?¡± Maria asked. "In my case, it''s worth it, but I was revived in a different situation. Explain your situation to me so I don''t give you wrong recommendations," Frank responded. Maria looked at Jo?o, and he began speaking. "Well, we applied for the Human Immigrant process in Metropolis for groups of up to four people. Smaller groups have priority. In groups of three like ours, the process is taking months. They say it used to be faster. In total, we will receive 900 credits to make a life for ourselves here in this world. Of those, 150 would go to pay Ramirez, leaving 250 for each of us three. After that, in Metropolis, at the end of the immigration process, we can choose to pay 100 credits to learn a magic school or spend the same to live in a permanent cube-house subsidized by the Human District Association, leaving us with 150 credits each, but not both. We were inclined to choose the cube, like most people, but it seems that Frank chose differently.¡± "Yes, in our case, they paid to revive us, and we didn''t end up going to Metropolis. Is the Human Immigrant process working well?¡± Frank asked as his mind was flooded with thoughts from his friends through telepathy. Liora said, ¡°Frank, Biggus restricted this process with quotas. It was among the first measures he took after his inauguration. I don''t know how these people managed to get this done?¡± Petra said at the same time, ¡°Smart move. Ramirez is making a lot of money off this.¡± Maria took over. ¡°Right, they say that the president of Metropolis doesn''t like humans. Ramirez made us an offer himself. We apply on the Human District and leave the money set aside to postpone the choice. Then we all go back to Rocatrista to work as mages here while we wait for a couple of years to see if the political situation in Metropolis is resolved. They say that everything used to be a lot easier because the city subsidized it. Now, it¡¯s the district organizations that do everything." Frank was impressed and asked: "But, Maria, does Biggus allow new humans into Metropolis? Did he just cut municipal subsidies?" "Curious question, Frank,¡± Maria said excitedly. ¡°I''ve been studying the laws of this place for over a month. When Metropolis was founded, there was a law guaranteeing that all humans and other revived founders had the right to live there, as this was a premise during the constitution of the city itself. After more species appeared in Gate, this law was expanded to everyone in the Old Metropolis, and it continued like that in the New Metropolis until Biggus managed to revoke the expansion of the law, along with the subsidy. But he can''t do anything against the city¡¯s founding law. To circumvent that, he established annual quotas. But they¡¯re a joke. The quota is one new human per year for the entire city.¡± Frank raised his eyebrows and gave a bitter smile before speaking: "I¡¯m starting to get it. But is it really worth living in Metropolis without a guaranteed legislation?" Maria replied promptly, "The law exists. The problem is the quotas. The neighborhood associations have found a way to circumvent this by reserving quotas from people who disappeared during the cataclysm and passing them on, but this takes time.¡± ¡°How interesting! Let me ask you something. How did you get this information? Because Ramirez didn¡¯t know any of this a few months ago,¡± Frank asked. "He didn''t know. This is recent information because it was only last month that someone was able to get inside the psynet to find this out. Frank, you can ask Ramirez that when he wakes up,¡± said Maria after Jo?o nudged her with his foot. At that point, Frank mentally asked everyone, "Psynet, any idea what that is, guys?" But after a long silence, Silas said, "We know what it¡¯s not. If it were magic, Liora would know. And it doesn''t look like technology to me, but Gate is really huge." "Well, Maria, then let me explain my situation better. This ghost form of mine is magic that I learned to communicate with Ramirez. I''m far away dealing with urgent matters and have no other way to communicate. But thank you very much for talking. In the future, I know a few people who might enjoy living a few years in Metropolis." Frank said, getting up from his chair. Despite Jo?o¡¯s nudges, Maria also stood up and showed Frank a card. He couldn''t hold it but managed to read it. She said, ¡°This is my contact. I was a lawyer on Earth and intend to offer a service here in Gate as soon as possible. If you can pass my contact on to your acquaintances, I¡¯d appreciate it.¡± Frank registered it on his real comlink through the mental interface and said, ¡°It¡¯s noted, Dr. Maria. I¡¯d give you my contact information, but at the moment, I only have access to Phantom Net. But we¡¯ll meet here at the bar many times. I¡¯m going to see if Ramirez is awake. Thank you for the conversation." Frank got up and said goodbye to the others, saying: ¡°Jo?o, Santiago, let us talk another day." Frank went back to sit at Ramirez¡¯s table and tried to find a way to drink from a half-full glass, but he still had a lot to learn about being a ghost. One of Ramirez''s colleagues woke up and noticed Frank sitting there. He made a strange face but said nothing. He just rubbed his eyes, and when Frank didn''t disappear, he pulled the glass away from him, grumbling, "This stuff¡¯s way too strong!" Then the others woke up, but it took them a while to notice Frank sitting there. When Ramirez locked eyes with the phantom, he stopped for a moment, stood up, and chirped, "Frank! Long time no see, buddy! I thought you were dead! They told me that those crazy guys took you up north.¡± Now, he noticed that Frank was translucent and emanating his own light. ¡°Even though you look kinda dead now that I¡¯m getting a better look.¡± "It¡¯s magic, Ramirez, communication. I¡¯m still learning,¡± Frank replied. ¡°Of course, I know this is magic, but it¡¯s impossible! What do you mean you¡¯re learning? It''s been only months since you were here,¡± Ramirez laughed. "It¡¯s a new magic method I learned on the way. It¡¯s called the Desperate Mages School, and it¡¯s pretty efficient." Frank also laughed. "But seriously, I just started learning this two weeks ago, and I had to try it a bunch of times until I could get it right." "Okay, so you¡¯ve chosen to learn the Communication School in Metropolis. You¡¯re a smart guy! But what are you doing here? Decided to spend some quality time with old friends from Rocatrista?" the magic man asked. ¡°Actually, that¡¯s exactly what I came here to talk to you about," Frank said as he saw Ramirez sit at the table while his friends said goodbye and headed out of the bar. Frank said goodbye to them and then continued speaking more softly. ¡°Ramirez, we really went north. We almost died several times. And now, we''re running from a real phantom that we encountered in Northern Valley, headed to God Knows Where." Ramirez frowned. "You must be out of your damn mind. Hardly anyone comes back breathing from that hellhole. If anyone from here¡¯s unlucky enough to work the road, they don¡¯t go near that valley. Only the rats scrape by down there, if even that." Frank continued. ¡°Yeah, we discovered that the hard way. The people who lived in the valley are all dead, and something is preventing them from being revived. We managed to escape by the skin of our teeth, but we couldn¡¯t return to the south. The phantom in the valley killed everyone who tried to reach that place. And this was more than 7,000 years ago.¡± Ramirez looked more serious, staring upwards as if he were remembering something. ¡°You¡¯re in trouble, buddy. I lost a few good friends in that cursed place. But it¡¯s been a long time. How did you manage to escape? They even sent a douchebag archmage from Metropolis there, and he never came back.¡± Frank sank into the chair and said, "Yeah, that douchebag also ended up with the same fate as the others. We managed to find out a little bit about what happened, and we were very lucky to escape, but things aren¡¯t good now. The phantom is trapped in the valley, but she¡¯s sent Golems after us, and they can easily destroy us. And there''s a trap that prevents anyone from going back south after passing a point along the way. So, that''s why I¡¯m using this to communicate.¡± ¡°Right, but who taught you magic? Did you encounter any wizard on your way?¡± Ramirez asked. "Not exactly. We found mages that the phantom had killed, and I¡¯m learning on my own with the things we found from them,¡± Frank responded. Ramirez glanced at him. ¡°Since when has anyone learned magic by reading the gibberish that mages write?" Frank tried to explain. ¡°Stardust said that¡¯s called a didactic monolith, dude. I put my finger on them to make a little sound and follow the manual. The rest is trial and error.¡± Ramirez, the great expert in half-truths, says, "Sure, and I put my little finger in Santa''s sack every year to learn new magics!¡± Frank, no longer finding any excuses, spoke all at once. ¡°Shit, Ramirez, it¡¯s true. We found an open Vabala, and we¡¯re trying to use it in desperation." Ramirez paused to process the information. "An open Vabala? That wasn¡¯t common even in the Old Metropolis! What the hell was one of those doing out in the middle of nowhere?" Frank, now more animated: ¡°Exactly, Ramirez. It¡¯s not in the middle of nowhere! It was supposed to be a city the size of Metropolis. You could help us understand what happened and how that phantom showed up.¡± ¡°Well, son, if that Vabala is the real deal, we¡¯ll find a way to get you all there because, with it, we can solve Rocatrista''s problem forever,¡± Ramirez concluded. ¡°You and what army, Ramirez? Are you listening to what I¡¯m saying? That phantom ate an archmage for breakfast! After we use it, we''ll send the Vabala to you. I don''t give a damn about the Vabala or the money now. But I would really love to get out of this alive.¡± "I''m always concerned about the money part. But it¡¯s not just that, Frank. You saw Rocatrista¡¯s conditions yourself. This can change the game for everyone here,¡± Ramirez responded, realizing that Frank was serious. ¡°But why is the Vabala so important? Isn¡¯t it simpler to teach magic? Or to send people to Metropolis to learn?¡± Frank asked. ¡°Only if that was back in the old days when anyone could enter the houses of the Academy. Today, Metropolis politics controls the economy with restricted knowledge and scarce resources. I''ve had several apprentices over the years. Half a dozen of them remain today, and most of those who are still active you saw a little while ago here at the table,¡± Ramirez commented. "Ah, I see. If I managed to learn magic in a few weeks just with the Vabala, I imagine it¡¯s possible to teach many more people in an appropriate environment.¡± Frank reflected. ¡°Exactly. Today, if someone has learned anything in Metropolis, they can¡¯t teach it, work with it, or market it to any city in the northern region. So, of the people we¡¯re reviving here, once the process is finished, they may have problems if they want to go back to Rocatrista.¡± Ramirez said, to everyone¡¯s surprise. Frank mentally asked: ¡°Liora, Silas, is this what Ramirez is saying an exaggeration, right?¡± Liora: ¡±Yeah, but it¡¯s not totally untrue. If we¡¯d finished our engineering courses, it would have been much more challenging to leave. Even though nobody paid attention to students, we ended up changing our names when we arrived in the region just to be sure." Silas: "The decisions we made in a hurry because we were afraid maybe weren¡¯t the best. Let''s take it easy. Ramirez¡¯s idea of socializing the Vabala is great, but it needs to be done with caution. If Biggus¡¯s people find out about it, it¡¯ll be a problem.¡± Petra: "Although it''s a bar at the end of the world, be careful what you and Ramirez are talking about. The bar is not empty, and most people have a price." "Okay, Ramirez. I see you''ve made some connections in Metropolis, and you have a reasonable way to obtain information. But we have to be careful with the Vabala. There''s something else we found in the valley that I think will be even more interesting,¡± Frank said, turning his head to look around to see who else was still at the bar and realizing only Tommy and the Porto group were left. "What a great haul! I''m even regretting that I was afraid to go to the valley myself after all these years. What exactly did you steal this time that''s worth more than an open Vabala?" Ramirez laughed. Frank responded immediately: ¡±Ramirez, your mercantile mindset is going to be your downfall! We¡¯re trying to stay alive! We haven''t stolen a single thing. Is it really so difficult to put it in your head that we have much more important information than anything else? I didn''t come here to sell you the Vabala. I came here to pass on what we¡¯ve discovered because, on our journey, we could die at any moment and lose everything.¡± ¡°My mindset is what¡¯s kept me alive in this world until now.¡± Ramirez cast two spells, which caused his head to glow for a few moments before continuing. He continued in a shallow tone, barely a whisper. ¡°Go ahead and tell me what¡¯s so important now. If someone else is listening, I¡¯ll know, besides your three friends who are obviously listening to our conversation." Frank, impressed, smiled. "You have to teach me that! But to sum it all up, the dead archmage was named Dukliasse. He was from the same guild and party as Biggus. The archmage went crazy and murdered the Buklises'' parents. We have audio recordings of everything from the Northern Valley public system. The Buklise couple, on the other hand, were taken by the phantom. Furthermore, we have over a year of disturbing communications between Dukliasse and the MBSI people from that time.¡± Ramirez sat up and unfocused his gaze as if he were remembering something. He said, ¡°I know perfectly well who Olanna is. We studied magic together. So long ago, it seems like another lifetime. She was stubborn as a mule, and we spent years arguing more about politics than magic. But that doesn¡¯t matter now. Can you prove these things you¡¯re telling me?¡± ¡°Of course! We have a copy of everything cataloged. And after we resolve the problem with the phantom, anyone can go to the valley and check it out for themselves.¡± Frank said. Ramirez pondered for a while and then spoke in an even more serious tone, ¡°You¡¯re right. If Biggus discovers this, we''ll all be dead. Things in Metropolis are getting worse. Several parties are still trying to organize a general election, but so far, four opposition leaders have been assassinated with extermination magic. Even though it''s obvious who¡¯s behind it, Biggus always manages to come up with an excuse. About the Buklise family, I was there the day the parents were killed, along with more than half of my magic classmates. We''d spent years trying to find out something about Olanna and her wife, who was going to have a child shortly before disappearing." Frank leaned toward Ramirez. "This information is a double-edged sword. If it¡¯s released now, I don¡¯t doubt that Biggus will try to erase the entire north region from the map.¡± Ramirez leaned back in his chair again, restless. "Probably. The situation in Metropolis has been unsustainable for a long time. I think the mages would have the power to kick Biggus''s ass if they worked together. But the ego and stubbornness of mages have always spoken louder. However, I think that this type of bomb could mobilize a lot of people.¡± Frank paused for a long time to think in silence as he tried, in vain, to lift a glass without success. Finally, he spoke: "Can we trust the people here, Ramirez?¡± ¡°Tommy is okay. And your human colleagues are even more trustworthy. I think Maria might even be able to help us a lot. But this information would put them at risk," Ramirez concluded. Frank stopped trying to lift a glass, which was proving futile, and he said: "Well, Ramirez, I plan to be back here. We won¡¯t use technology to communicate because it''s too risky to attract attention in Metropolis.¡± ¡°See you around, Frank! Before you leave, thanks for trusting me! Things must be pretty bad for you, right?" Ramirez said as he drank the rest of the glass in front of him as if it were nothing. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Frank looked at him, bewildered. ¡°We don''t even know if we¡¯re still alive¡­¡± He shut down the magic, making him disappear from Rocatrista and return to the ship''s bar. Silas said with a concerned look, ¡°Maybe we''ve taken too big a risk this time. We don¡¯t depend only on ourselves now.¡± Liora, sitting in her chair with her arms crossed, commented, "It could be, Silas, but maybe we¡¯ve waited too long, and it¡¯s too late. If nothing changes in Metropolis, the chances for Seneca are nil.¡± Petra shrugged. ¡°Well, Ramirez seems to be taking care of his own business, but so far, he¡¯s managed to save a lot more people from Earth than us. Ultimately, contacting him seemed like our best option. Don''t you think?" They all smiled and silently agreed. Frank went to the ship''s bar and finally managed to drink something. He said, choked, "This is going to take some time, but I have a feeling it will work out. We¡¯ll sleep on it tonight. Tomorrow¡¯s another day!"
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 39+1 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 13
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 16
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9189 (1)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +1/+2(superior tech, 540/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 38+1 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 3
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 31
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8634 (1)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 37+1 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 5
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 19
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 3
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5303 (1)
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 37+1 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 14
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 11
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 3
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 21/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5023 (1)
Equipment
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +3, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 16 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 29 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 30 research/day
Repair rate 300 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Chapter 16 - Let′s Raise Our Cups to the Stars Chapter 16 - Let¡äs Raise Our Cups to the Stars - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG The sands of time continue sinking inexorably into the void. However, now, with everyone sleeping in their own rooms, the group kept a routine of having breakfast together on the first floor to chat and coordinate their activities for the day. They reserved the time after dinner to rest and cool off. But today, Silas slept poorly, and when he arrived to have coffee, he didn¡¯t find anyone. A little worried, he headed straight to the bridge next door. When he opened the door, he saw Petra sitting in the central chair, bent over the largest monolith of the Vabala. Several sheets were scattered on the bridge, forming a mosaic, with Frank and Liora sitting on the floor, some of the drawings in their hands, discussing. They were surprised by Silas¡¯s sudden entry with a worried look on his face. "Hi, Silas. I woke up early and came to ask Liora and Frank for help. Is everything alright?" Petra asked. "Oh, yes, good morning everyone!" Silas said, relieved but with a crumpled look. ¡°I had a bad night, and I just woke up. When I didn¡¯t find anyone, I got worried, but it was my mind playing tricks. Everything is fine." "Nightmare again, Silas?" Liora asked. "Hey! Silas, now we can use this to find each other." Frank reminded telepathically. "Thanks, Frank," Silas responded promptly and continued speaking. "Yes, Liora, but this time, I couldn''t change anything about the nightmare¡¯s script while I was sleeping. Anyway, shall we have coffee?¡± As everyone got up for coffee, Petra commented, looking at the bridge floor: "Can I leave this mess here? I was even thinking of having coffee on the bridge so I wouldn''t lose the thread. But I¡¯m going to stick with the routine pauses. Otherwise, we¡¯ll end up going crazy with the eternal night." "Of course, you can leave it,¡± Silas said as he rubbed his neck. "It¡äs wise to stick to our pauses. Even though you''re able to sleep less because of the regeneration power, it¡¯s healthier to divide our time.¡± "Silas, about your recurring nightmare, can I ask you some things? I¡¯m saying this because there¡¯s a communication magic that works in dreams," Frank suggested. Silas didn¡¯t seem very enthusiastic, but he responded, ¡°About magic, maybe we''ll prepare something later because I don''t know when the next nightmare is going to occur. It seems very random." Silas pressed his eyes closed with his fingers and continued. ¡°Well, I dream about the day of the cataclysm when the moon fell upon the first house of the Academy. The dream ends with everyone dying, including me. However, in that dream, I seem to be a different person. When I was a kid, it was worse because the Hell Star always appeared in the nightmare, but after I grew up, that never happened again." The lively crew reached the coffee room and began preparing their morning feast. Petra suggested, ¡°Silas, wouldn¡¯t you like to take a day off to rest?¡± ¡°Nah, if I stay still, things get worse. I need to distract my mind with some engineering problems; after lunch, I¡¯ll be good as new." Silas made himself a double shot of black coffee and said, as he smelled the aroma of smoke loosen his face, ¡°It¡¯s impressive how almost the entire universe ended up liking coffee. I think only bo biology prevents them from appreciating this Earthly delicacy.¡± ¡°Ah! That explains Biggus¡¯s gripe about humans.¡± Frank commented as everyone¡¯s faces lit up with a smile. ¡°Okay, changing the subject. You all woke up early today. Any problems with the Vabala?¡± Silas asked, somewhat recovered. "The first two parts are written in ancient Nailia, and they are written in prose and poetry, so a lot of the answers come when you study the metrics and the rhymes between the verses. While Frank was trying to organize the drafts creatively. I was testing the most probable combinations and seeing what makes sense.¡± Liora explained as she continued to ponder the puzzle. Silas put his hand over his mouth in a mix of perplexity and disbelief. "Hmmm, which school are you going to learn first, Petra?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to try transportation. But I took a look at the creation school, and it¡¯s in the same crap format. It¡¯s supposed to be an incredible pedagogical experience for the students when they know what they¡¯re doing." Petra paused for a moment to take a sip of coffee and continued. ¡°We need to learn this urgently because every time we train harder, we change the ship¡¯s trajectory. In a month, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to continue like this. And as if we didn¡¯t have enough difficulties, there¡¯s another restriction to opening more than one school at a time to study, meaning that if I took the creation school first, I¡¯d have to wait three months to start the transportation one,¡± Petra lamented. "But, it''s not all bad. We know generally what the transportation magics do from the introduction to the Vabala, and we already have some idea of how to organize the verses. Petra is going to learn the most complex magic in the school right away. It¡¯s for opening a portal to a private universe, but it¡¯s random.¡± Frank commented, summarizing the results from the previous night. Silas took his hand away from his mouth and placed it over his eyes, shaking his head and laughing so as not to cry. ¡°Let me see if I understood correctly. You''re going to learn the magic of opening a portal to a random universe with instructions described as riddles between the lines of verses in an ancient language?" ¡°It sounds crazy, Silas, but what really matters are the didactic monoliths. In this case, I think it''s worth having a chat with Ramirez before we go testing this sort of thing,¡± Frank responded. "So far, my bad luck with magic has never let me down. I hope all this is really worth it." Petra grumbled. "That universe-scale portal magic would be something we¡¯d have to stop our trip for a whole day just for testing. To the best of our understanding of how it works, there¡¯s no way to know what¡¯s inside each private universe before opening the portal for the first time. Opening and closing each such portal takes several hours. Also, it¡¯s essentially chaotic magic, and almost nothing helps to control the portal¡¯s destination except for the mage¡¯s luck. At least, that¡¯s what I¡¯ve understood so far about this magic." Frank said as he paused several times, scratching his ear, very unsure. ¡°There¡¯s that experimental training for luck that I remember reading in the appendix to the material that you sent me a long time ago, Liora. Do you think it¡¯s worth training before doing the magic?¡± Petra recalled looking it over long ago but ignoring it the first time. ¡°I don¡¯t think that training luck will fix anything, Petra. This power is very unstable and rarely seems to work. But how would I know? Maybe it works for this magic. I can¡¯t help you very much in this situation. This is one more reason why I don¡¯t like magic. We¡¯re now talking about spending time and effort on an experimental power with a low success rate to maybe help with magic that we¡¯re not even entirely sure how it works," Liora warned. ¡°Experimental training for luck? How does this thing work?" asked a curious Frank. ¡°Well, instead of physical training or studying, for this power, you¡¯re going to spend time playing games with some random component, and the so-called student must play the games with great enthusiasm. Doing this for long periods, maybe some essence in Gate will improve something. But, different from all the other powers, whose effects are pretty obvious, this power is a leap of faith. It¡¯s tough to test because it has to be double-blind. If the person with the power knows, the test doesn¡¯t work. And, even then, the effects show up sporadically.¡± Silas explained. ¡°Games with random components? Well, could it be an arcade game? But the old ones with real metal balls. I think that¡¯d be possible to build one with the cube on top of the kitchen.¡± Petra suggested. ¡°Wait a minute! Are you actually considering training for this sort of thing?" Liora rebelled. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. When I''m bored in the pilot cabin fixing the trajectory, I play the classic video games from the Seneca database. I¡¯m almost finished with my Javazon level 97. Do you think I¡¯m increasing our luck?" Liora¡¯s copy commented on the comlink. "Pray that this doesn¡¯t happen. If you deflect our training, I¡¯ll create a second copy to keep an eye on what you¡¯re doing in your free time.¡± Liora, the original, replied. Everyone ended up laughing while finishing their coffee. Silas continued speaking: "But everyone, thinking about all this better, if we have to stop the ship for hours, every day, to open and close a portal, wouldn''t it be better just to stop the ship to train every day in the middle of the snow? I think a magic to open portals to new universes would attract a little more attention than your martial arts training, right?¡± ¡°Finally, common sense! Even though our training is getting more extreme, too," Liora applauded. ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re going to end up doing if the magic doesn¡¯t work. But that means we¡¯ll be stopped for half the time while traveling. That''s why, along with the complex magic of exploring new universes, I''m planning to learn a second magic to create instant portals. That simpler magic can be done in the middle of the trip without stopping the ship, which would be the same as building a door on the ship that leads to another universe that came from the first magic. But I¡¯d have to do one magic inside another. I don¡¯t know if it would cause any problems. As far as I¡¯ve understood, nothing is stopping me from trying." Petra reasoned. "Well, but then what are we going to do? We¡¯re a long way from the Golems and now almost 100 times faster. If we stay put, we have an advantage of more than 2,000 days until they get close. So, the strategies can vary quite a bit. We can, for example, look for a smaller monolith plate and set up a base for a few years.¡± Silas commented. "It¡¯s possible, but if we stay put, our chances of finding Seneca will be reduced. And it¡¯s not going to be easy to find plates around here. The few maps that we have of this region make no sense whatsoever. There¡¯s something very wrong. Gravity here continues to be between 10 and 15% higher than the map¡¯s readings, even far away from the spot where the moons fell on the Old Metropolis. And the curvature slope between our point and the airbike should be almost double what we¡¯re recording, even being far away from the large North vein where the slope was zero right up to the spiral,¡± Liora said. "Do you think this is just another spatial distortion of the phantom?¡± Frank suggested. "That''s a possibility. But I think it¡¯s hard to be that because the Golems continue to follow us exactly the same way, and we¡¯re getting farther and farther from the Northern Vale.¡± Silas concluded. Petra stood up, stretching her arms as she got ready to head to her room and put on her workout clothes. She said in the elevator door, "Well, for now, we¡¯re going to continue training as usual because it¡¯s going to take a while until we start making holes in the ship. After daily workouts, I¡¯m going to try to focus on magics and forget about that experimental power of luck. But I''m going to start learning the simpler magic to make instant portals. And leave the complex portal to other universes as the second one." "Well, Silas, what do you think about raising the altitude to the limit of the scanning device and starting to make a sinusoidal trajectory to search for veins and plates along our route?¡± Liora asked, now more inclined to the solution of finding a safe place. ¡°Okay, Liora. Let¡¯s do that. I¡¯m going to try to fix at least one of the weapons on the firing tower. So, if you want to find me these days, I¡¯ll be down there.¡± Silas planned as he finished his coffee and headed to the bridge to pack up his stuff. Frank and Liora, already wearing their workout clothes, went to the second floor and talked animatedly about the puzzles of the Vabala that they had been working on the previous night. Even though Liora didn¡¯t feel comfortable with magic, she¡¯d enjoyed those logical and linguistic challenges. Over a dozen days passed, and training got more and more intense, as expected, but the ship resisted without significant problems. The most bothered person was Liora¡¯s copy, who had to constantly pilot following a new sinusoidal trajectory, compromising her goal to maximize her character to level 99 that week. In the meantime, Frank also returned almost daily to the Rocatrista bar while Petra continued to try to advance with her magics. One afternoon, similar to all the others, while Silas was in the firing tower and the rest of them were in the midst of their animated training, Liora¡¯s copy triggered a yellow alert, saying ahead of time through the telepathic audio emergency channel, "Someone is sending messages on an open communication channel nearby!" They immediately opened their telepathic senses and spoke among themselves. Petra: "What message is coming in?¡± Liora''s copy: ¡°It''s a short audio in a Suma-Dzaobudine dialect. I''m going to relay the message now." Liora¡¯s copy opened access to her memory, and a few seconds later, they all heard, ¡°Mayday. We are two astrophysicists from a Suma advanced research outpost, a project funded by the City of the Dead. We are isolated at position 007.782.072,661204625019N : 011.340.562,552433301910E : 810.855+. We need help on-site or transportation. Day-incident 21090.¡± Liora, the original, explained: ¡°Well, the message had timestamp metadata from a signature a few hours ago, and it seems an accident occurred more than 50 years ago. The coordinates they sent are in a universal format, with three extra decimal places of precision, but they don''t match any of our maps. We can go after the signal because they¡¯re still transmitting an active SOS signal through the open channel. Going after the signal, we know the direction but not the exact distance; I guess at most 10 minutes of travel, which is the range of our receiving devices.¡± "Let''s move towards the signal. In the meantime, we can discuss what to do for a few minutes," Silas commented. ¡°Silas, if we save whoever they are, they will have to deal with the Golems on their own. Although that will be a few years from now," Frank observed. ¡°A 50-year-old SOS signal? They must have resolved this. Or died and left the channel open," Petra thought telepathically. "It¡¯s possible, Petra. But there are a few curious things about this message. The Suma aren''t really a species. Humans called them spirits, but that¡¯s not a good name. It''s like this: Some people, when they die, decide to stay in the world of the dead. But, instead of sleeping, they live their lives, or their non-lives, in a city built in that world, the City of the Dead," Liora said. ¡°This is all new to us! Never saw any of those, not in Rocatrista nor on your records.¡± Frank was surprised. Liora tried to sum it up. "There¡¯s a lot in this world that none of us know. But anyway, the Suma weren''t that common after the cataclysm because they were afraid of coming back to the world of the living. They''ve always had strong commercial relationships with Metropolis, and they still maintain them. But Biggus isn¡¯t their biggest fan, either. In his speeches, he made up some crap about defaulting on a large debt Metropolis owes to the City of the Dead, questioning how it¡¯s very strange that they didn¡¯t suffer from the cataclysm.¡± Silas spoke via telepathy, ¡°The signal is from today and came on normal technology channels. They are a research group. We know that the Suma can hibernate while in our world or return to the Umbra if they want to. If they¡¯d returned to the Umbra, they shouldn¡¯t have kept the channel open. And if they¡¯re around, it¡¯s for a good reason. We should reach the signal¡¯s source in a matter of minutes." Frank: "Okay! Can we know more about what''s going on before we get there?" Liora: "They are Suma astrophysicists. They must have been Dzaobudine when they were alive due to the dialect of the message. I don''t know anything about Suma technologists, but the Dzaobudine have some impressive technology.¡± Silas: ¡°The Dzaobudine are more numerous than humans in Gate. They are part of one of the great clusters of rational species in the Daboulan galaxy. Most of them are bipedal and short in stature, even though they come from different star systems of that galaxy.¡± Petra: ¡°But, are they undead? Like that schrogae zombie before?¡± Silas: ¡°Almost. They are undead but very different from zombies. And, if they¡¯re in Gate, they probably don''t differ at all from a living Dzaobudine, except that their physiology might need mana to continue here, along with normal foods.¡± Liora: "The biggest difference is cultural. The City of the Dead has always been very liberal, but it never had a good relationship with Metropolis, even back then before the cataclysm. They are often considered unscrupulous capitalists." Petra: ¡°Huh? What do they trade?" Liora: "They''re very good at bringing people back to life, but they charge a minimum price that''s far beyond the other options. They also offer some resurrection insurance services. Besides that, they trade things related to magic, like materials and services. They rarely are interested in buying anything unless it''s in the financial sector and the capital market. They''re famous for having enormous reserves of credit. The biggest Gate banks are in their hands, and that¡¯s the case even now in the New Metropolis. They are also the main shareholders in many open capital companies in a few different sectors. They are seen to favor businesses that produce the highest long-term profits. They also have a few closed-capital law and accounting firms.¡± Frank: "That¡¯s bizarre!¡± Silas: "Frank, Petra, don¡¯t think all the suma are alike or think in the same way; this information Liora just spoke is quantitative and situational. We don¡¯t know much about suma science projects, but they clearly exist, which makes me curious to know what they¡¯re doing here.¡± Frank: ¡°Understood. But, like I said, are we going to help? And what about the Golems?" Liora: "The Golems will be passing nearby anyway. If we say nothing, it will be worse for them. Because, in a few years, they''ll still be transmitting from somewhere here. What they should do is change locations away from here when the Golems pass.¡± Petra: "We can make the situation worse than it already is. Before we get there, I suggest we try to talk to them first through the open channel. The Golems don¡¯t have communicators, and if they¡¯ve been here for 50 years, I think they can wait another few minutes.¡± Silas: ¡°It''s a good idea, of course. We¡¯ll try to send a signal more or less in the direction they¡¯re transmitting from. The closer we are, the better. The message will be this: We received your request for help, and we''re nearby. We need to communicate before we arrive." They all reached the bridge and assumed their previously agreed-upon positions. Silas prepared the transmitters to send the message. Petra said through the sensors, "Everyone, I''m getting a lot of readings. Five minutes away is the transmission point of the request, at the foot of a mountain, and at the top of that same mountain, there is a tower with several high-power energy sources, including magical energy.¡± Frank, serving as co-pilot: "I¡¯m receiving an audiovisual response on a private channel. I¡¯m going to put it on the main screen. Liora, you should talk to them while I take over piloting, and we help each other mentally." Liora responded mentally to everyone before turning on the screen, "Are you sure I should do this? Frank is better than me at this stuff." Frank responded immediately: ¡°Even with our telepathic link, there¡¯s a high chance that we will discuss things I don''t know about, which would compromise my fluidity of speech." When Liora settled into the central captain''s chair, the communication channel opened. On the other end, they could see two humanoid figures with large heads and wrinkled features. Their pale skin contrasted with their lively, brilliant eyes. They wore what appeared to be light brown overcoats filled with pockets. Everything around them seemed to be made of wood, as did the many technological devices they held against their bodies. One of them, with a huge, round nose, stepped forward. His features were so different that it would have been difficult for humans to identify that both of them were the same species, except for their typical style of devices and clothing. The second, with a pointed nose as large as the first, stood further back, practically hiding when the monitor turned on. The one in front seemed to try to say something but stammered and kept watching the monitor, impressed by what he saw. Liora took the initiative and configured the nano-translators to the appropriate dialect, which made simple phrases take minutes. ¡°Hello! My name is Stardust. Don''t worry, we''re friends. We can help, but we¡¯ve got a big problem on our hands right now, so we''d like to talk to you to explain the situation. Some of us are also scientists and engineers." With that, the two suma seemed to become much more relaxed than before, even giving a relieved smile. The one in front said as the one behind moved to the side to get a better view, "Hello, friends, you can call me Vaud, and this is Mosh beside me. It¡¯s great to find colleagues after being dormant for so long. We have major problems that we need to talk about as well. If you¡¯re interested, you can come and visit us. You¡¯ll be welcome in our improvised lab!" Liora summarizes, ¡°That¡¯s right. We intend to help, but it¡¯s just that we¡¯re being pursued by violent creatures that follow us wherever we go. They inevitably pass through the same places where we go. And we don¡¯t want to put you in danger. So, if we meet you in person in your laboratory, you''re going to need to relocate in a few years when those creatures pass by here." Vaud and Mosh conversed quietly among themselves, but without closing the channel, about how impressed they were by the visit of other scientists. They liked the concern of explaining the danger, even before knowing what it was. They let slip that they were happy that they didn¡¯t seem like people from Metropolis. After a few minutes, given how verbose their dialect was, Vaud returned to speaking with a broader smile, "Don''t worry. Our laboratory is a spaceship. After we finish, we park somewhere else. But, maybe it¡¯s interesting to meet up on another mountain away from this one, where are you? We''ll go to you!¡± With that, Liora turned off the cloaking device. They were impressed by the technology, and recognizing the schrogae design and lack of a Metropolis flag, they jumped for joy. Their lab looked like a tree. Its roots sprouted from the ground and began to float. They arrived within a few minutes and paired up their ships. Mosh warned over the communicator, "We''re coming in to talk to you, and we¡¯re bringing a lot of stuff. Do you have a cargo hold?" Silas took over, remembering that the auto-repair must have fixed the door. "Yes, of course. I¡¯m opening the door. You can come in!¡± Petra, via telepathy: "Are these guys the suspicious, capitalistic undead? I confess I had a different idea of what we''d encounter. But, can we trust them coming onto our ship?" Liora: "Well, I¡¯m just as impressed as you are, Petra. But they seem genuine. They were scared of something, and they seemed to have something against the people from Metropolis. But we¡¯ll find out soon." Frank: ¡°Their ship is a tree, and they jumped for joy when they saw us. They don¡¯t seem like bad people to me." Petra: ¡°Frank¡­ The best idea you¡¯ve had so far was letting Liora talk to them. We need to be careful.¡± Liora: "I met some Dzaobudine who were our professors. I recognize their skill in working with organic technology, which they preserved and improved on Gate uniquely. Let¡¯s see what awaits us.¡± They exited their tree ship in a vehicle that looked like a translucent bubble, carrying a bunch of things made of wood. Silas observed it and mentally thought: "Interesting.¡± As he tried to guess what they were bringing aboard. When they arrived at the ship, Frank helped to carry the things. And everyone introduced themselves properly. Petra remained more distant, still suspicious. When they discovered that Silas was the head of engineering, they hugged him and celebrated, saying, "We really needed to talk to some engineers! The gods have met us. We have incredible data about the cosmos, but it¡¯s all messed up. Before you guys, a knight appeared here and told us that we could have surprises in this place. He was right. Now, we have to find a way to grab our results on the mountain." When Liora heard this, she asked, "Let''s talk about our problems. But, before, by chance, did this knight you mentioned happen to be called Seneca? By the way, I¡¯m also an engineer. You can tell me what you discovered.¡± Vaud spoke with ecstasy, "Two engineers! And they know our friend Seneca! Did he send you here?¡± Liora said smiling: "No. But we''re actually looking for him. How long ago was he here? By the way, can you summarize what you discovered and what¡¯s going on here? I''m rather curious!" "Well, I think it''s been 3 or 4 thousand years. I''ll look in my records to be sure of the date Seneca left. Since I think you guys don''t have anything to do with Metropolis, I think I can talk. I¡¯m just thinking about how to summarize this. In my language, we never summarize. Asking someone to summarize is almost an insult!" Vaud said provocatively but already opening a complacent smile. Liora retorted. "Oh, I¡¯m sorry about my manners. I had a Dzaobudine professor a long time ago, and now I remember him mentioning something like that. We¡¯re not exactly welcome in Metropolis. Not that we have anything against the place or the people. But, the political environment isn''t pleasant at all." Vaud stepped closer and shook Liora''s hand vigorously. ¡°We think very similarly in that respect. Don''t worry about the summary thing. I was kidding. We just love the details.¡± Telepathically, to the dismay of Petra and Frank, who commented almost simultaneously: "My God, it¡¯s been over 15 minutes, and we¡¯ve exchanged just a few phrases with them!" Liora: ¡°I''m impressed too. I think they¡¯re euphoric from being saved. But, we¡¯ll see what they are all about." Silas: "Mosh is giving me a wooden data bank device. It comes with a manual and, luckily, a universal connector. It seems that what they brought with them in the bubble are chunks of the data bank that were literally torn out in a hurry." If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Frank stepped forward. "Vaud, Liora also loves long conversations. I think you¡¯re going to get along pretty well!" Petra also spoke, ¡°But, let¡¯s not stay here in the cargo hold. Let¡¯s go to the coffee room and talk from there!¡± They all agreed and cheerfully went through the cargo hold. It was now almost empty after Silas used most of the material to repair some things on the ship. Mosh began a conversation about the astrophysics work that they¡¯d been doing in that location. They used space-folding telescopes. And that wouldn''t be possible from the City of the Dead where they lived. Vaud stood quiet for a while, thinking. When he finally spoke, as they entered the coffee room, he said, ¡°I think I managed to summarize our results. I don''t know if it¡¯s good, but here¡¯s what it is: The cataclysm never happened! What occurred was a Big Bang!"
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 41+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 17
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 16
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9200 (11)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (1/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 2700/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 40+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 3
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 35
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8645 (11)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 39+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 7
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 21
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 3
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 11/100 -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5314 (11)
Equipment
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) ???
(va) ???
Spell Complements
-
-
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 39+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 17
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 11
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 3
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 32/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5034 (11)
Equipment
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 16 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 33 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 34 research/day
Repair rate 340 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 4/2)
Maneuver: 17+5 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 5+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 3+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 70 / 70 63 10 0+4 regen 3/t
War - melee 0+4 1(d12)
War - parry 21+4 21(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Firebreaker 20 / 20 WP 2/2 0 0 11+4 regen 1/t
Fir - melee 11+4 17(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - brawl 17+4 17(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 11+4 55 X-2 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 1+4 55 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 10 / 10 TP 3/3 0 0 35+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 35+4 175 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 25+7 175 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 15+4 175 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 5+4 175 X-2 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 35+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 TP 4/4 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 17+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 17+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 17 - The Dojo of the Mountain King Chapter 17 - The Dojo of the Mountain King - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG "What do you mean with Big Bang? If that were the case, we''d all be dead, wouldn''t we?¡± Liora asked, somewhat perplexed by Vaud''s hypothesis. Mosh stepped forward and responded, "Yes. What''s strange is not why some disappeared in what Vaud called the Big Bang, which other people call a cataclysm, but rather why some survived it.¡± Vaud spoke at the same time: ¡°With our space folding telescopes, we were able to observe a light show. I just want to see how they will hide the entire sky in Metropolis. In a couple of years, those lights will arrive all over Gate.¡± ¡°But, how is that possible? Shouldn¡¯t we be noticing something already?¡± Silas asked. "It seems that Gate is close to one center of the universe¡¯s expansion. For now, we can perceive a slight infrared to red background light rising day by day. That''s one of the things we were researching to understand it better. Maybe a phenomenon similar to the cosmic inflation period explains why the light of the universe¡¯s creation event takes a while to arrive at one of its centers or inside the bubble of space-time that we are. We still need to understand better how Gate works. Seneca would help in times like this." Vaud concluded. ¡°Vaud, let''s focus on archiving our data with them. And, after that, we¡¯re going to solve our little problem with the King. Then we could properly spend a few days sharing our cosmological hypotheses with everyone." Mosh reminded them, already taking a seat on a counter in the coffee room. "Perfect, Mosh, let''s start by trying to understand what happened here on the mountain. Is Biggus after you?" Petra asked. "Vaud, Mosh, I opened a universal connector on your comlink to the database on our ship. You can transfer whatever you want there while we¡¯re talking,¡± Silas said alongside Petra as he finished configuring a secure connection. Mosh nods at Silas while he begins to transfer the data, as Vaud continues speaking: "Petra, I think that Biggus doesn¡¯t know about us. If he were looking for us, we would have already been sent back to the City of the Dead. Our problem is with the King. He''s a shard of an ancestral who came directly from the Underworld through a Tempus portal a few years ago. Seneca had warned us that something like this could happen because the mountain upon which we built our observatory is actually a structural monolith." "So this mountain is like the houses of the Academy?¡± Frank asked, remembering what he had learned about Gate. "In a way, yes. Inside the mountain, there are spacious halls and a huge source of magical energy that we use to power our experiments. Only a few years ago, a permanent two-way portal opened at the heart of the mountain, and this ancestral shard emerged, calling himself the King, and took over the place. The King isn''t exactly aggressive, but he¡¯s a difficult person who is out of time. He lives in a world of his own,¡± Mosh explained. "We can try to talk to this King, but as we mentioned before, we¡¯re being chased by Golems that are strong but not very fast. They''ll take a few years to pass here, and when that happens, the King would probably have to leave the mountain while they¡¯re passing,¡± Liora warned. "What exactly are those Golems? Our mountain is the only thing in this region that stands out. Maybe they¡¯ll be passing through here anyway,¡± Mosh asked. ¡°We¡¯re not sure. We were cursed after falling into a space-time trap by a phantom that calls herself the Lady of Tempus. The phantom can¡¯t leave where she is. But she can send those Golems wherever she wants. While analyzing the video data of the city where this happened, we saw two of these Golems killing a Metropolis archmage in a few seconds, and there are four of them chasing us right now. With great difficulty, we managed to escape and are still escaping now. As far as we know, they only sense the location we go through. Therefore, if we enter the mountain, they will do the same,¡± Silas said as he sat down on the counter while serving everyone coffee. ¡°Well, we need to access the rest of our material on the mountain, anyway. It¡¯s critical research for understanding what¡¯s going on in our world. And, based on what I¡¯ve heard from you now, there''s a high chance that those Golems will come directly to the mountain because the structural monolith carries the symbol of Tempus. This place is one of the 12 monoliths in the Tempus route, also called the Phoenix route in Suma tradition. That route begins at the South Pole and ends at the North Pole, passing close to Metropolis.¡± Mosh said, a little more nervous than before. Frank thought telepathically to everyone, ¡°I think both of them are trying to convince us. I don¡¯t like the idea of deliberately putting someone else at risk with the Golems." Petra: ¡°Frank, this King invaded their lab. These two have been waiting for help this entire time because their project is important. Are you worried about the King? Well, let¡¯s tell him what¡¯s going on. If he doesn¡¯t want to leave when the Golems pass through, that¡¯s his problem!¡± Frank: ¡±I know, but I still don''t like doing it," Liora: ¡°Biggus was trying to hide what these guys discovered. If it¡¯s not really a cataclysm like they say, his argument to maintain his position as regent will be completely blown. Let''s help these two." Silas: "Mosh''s fear is valid. If we go away and leave things as they are, their situation will get even worse. Because the Golems are going to arrive, and the chance is that they will interact with that mountain or the King even if we do not enter the place, compromising both the King and their project. I suggest we go talk to this King and see if we can rationally resolve everything.¡± Frank: "Well put, Silas, let''s try it then.¡± After a brief mental conference, Frank answered Mosh and Vaud, who were starting to feel anxious about the pause. "We''re going to try to work this out with the King, but I don''t want to create more problems than you already have. You mentioned that this King is a shard of an ancestral? And that he emerged from somewhere?¡± Vaud smiled again and said, "Yes. When a multiverse ends, parts of the rational beings that existed there are eternalized in fragments within the primordial monolith. We call them shards because they are parts of a personality or memories of someone. And we call them ancestral because they are from a multiverse prior to ours. These shards become objects or locations in the Underworld. Rarely do they become sentient beings, as shadows of what they once were. That¡¯s the case with the King.¡± Vaud paused to take a sip of coffee, now cold due to the time it took to utter each phrase, and continued. ¡°We call the world inside the primordial monolith the Underworld, and it''s divided into floors, one floor for each multiverse. Before the Big Bang a little while ago, there were eight floors, and now there are nine. But, anyway, we don¡¯t know much about who the King was. Mosh wasted some time trying to study the King''s past. He can explain better what he¡¯s discovered." Petra interrupted. ¡°Mosh, let us align our goals before you start explaining. We¡¯re thinking of trying to convince the King to let you continue your research on the mountain without being bothered. Do you think that¡¯s a good idea?" Mosh thought about this for a moment, and then he spoke in a more relaxed tone. "It would be one of the best scenarios. In the rare cases when a shard of an ancestral comes to the surface, Gate takes charge of making them physically and mentally complete, but it takes a long time for the shard to realize this. So, there¡¯s a possibility of persuading the King. When we tried to talk to the King, he suggested that we test our worth in combat first. We obviously refused. Despite his not being physically violent, there was no room for more constructive conversations since our refusal.¡± Mosh now paused to take a sip of his cold coffee. "So, I think that the King might have been a leader of some prehistoric civilization on one of the previous multiverses. His culture valued warriors'' ideals, and this is what really matters to them. We, as suma, have extremely fragile bodies in the world of living. Even if we tried to improve our chances with technology or magic to accept the King''s terms, the most likely scenario is that we would be destroyed and return to the City of the Dead without our material." Vaud noticed the tension in the air and said, ¡°We¡¯re not asking for you guys to accept the King''s challenge because we think it¡¯s too dangerous. In any case, perhaps you¡¯ll be able to talk to the King and make him realize that he¡¯s no longer stuck in his own past." Petra stepped forward. ¡°Let¡¯s suppose we agree to this warrior¡¯s challenge. Do you have any information that could help us?¡± Vaud thought for a while, looked at Mosh, who shook his head no, and finally turned to Petra, saying, "Neither Mosh nor I know anything else about the King''s test, but it seemed like he was very physically strong. What I¡¯m going to suggest is this. We can open a bank account in the City of the Dead for each of you, place funds there, and obtain one resurrection insurance linked to each of those accounts, which means that if anything goes wrong, one of our people will take care of receiving you at a hotel in our city while you¡¯re in the Umbra. And then, we¡¯ll bring you back to life when it¡¯s most convenient. And that''s independent of whether things go well or poorly with the King." Frank interrupted, "Vaud, I appreciate your offer, but we can¡¯t accept it. If things go wrong here, and we go to the City of the Dead, there¡¯s a chance that the Golems will go after us there. Because no one in the Northern Valley can be revived, and that¡¯d be a problem for your city,¡± Listening to this, Petra started losing patience and grumbled mentally to Frank. Vaud noticed the impasse and said: ¡°Ok, sorry if Suma customs seems a bit strange to you. Anyway, Frank''s observation makes sense. Here¡¯s what we can do. We will add a clause to the insurance policy. Instead of hosting you all in hotels, the professionals will go directly to the Dormant Spirit Field so that you¡¯ll be revived back to Gate from there, which means you guys will never have to go to the City of the Dead if you don¡¯t want to. Is that better?¡± "Well, in that case, it seems fine,¡± Frank replied immediately, as Petra spoke telepathically to everyone, ¡°They actually seem well-intentioned, despite this being the most bizarre life insurance proposal I''ve ever heard of. In any case, the day is ending, and I¡¯d like to go speak to this King today.¡± Liora, a bit disconcerted, expressed her concern to Vaud and Mosh: ¡°I know that this magic of resurrecting the dead also works with Oioi, but let''s try to work this out without anyone needing to take a walk in the world of the dead. Let¡¯s leave right now for the mountain and see what will happen. Silas is not going to the mountain and is going to stay with you two to protect the ship and the data you brought with you. And if we don''t return, then we will need to be resurrected; I want you both to commit to accompanying Silas until we manage to come back. What do you say?" Vaud and Mosh looked at each other. Mosh answered: ¡°Actually, it sounds like a good idea. I think you can try to talk to the King now." Vaud added, ¡°I¡¯m using your ship¡¯s universal connector, and I have a direct connection to our city. I¡¯ll send you the policies and the bank account joining contract with the Phoenix Credit Union. Everything will be ready in one or two minutes. Once your accounts are activated, they will materialize an Aethernet connector from the Umbra for you, and you¡¯ll be able to access your accounts from the ship, create profiles, and access our IT public network. I imagine you¡¯re disconnected from the Metropolis network.¡± Petra and Silas were quite excited to hear this. Silas spoke mentally, ¡°Wow, this connection could be even more helpful to us than the bank accounts. It will potentially allow us to access Metropolis¡¯s network in an incredibly secure way." Petra commented mentally, ¡°We''ve been talking for hours, but everything is sorted in minutes on the business contract.¡± Liora replied, ¡°The contracts are in suma, which is a rather concise language. And our friends here speak a Dzaobudine dialect, a rather peculiar combination." Silas: "I would never have the head to think about insurance at a time like this. But, it seems to be something routine for the suma. Thinking coolly about it, it''s a good solution. The two scientists feed on mana but don¡¯t seem to know much about magic, so they cannot revive us themselves. If anything bad happens, this insurance will bring us back to life.¡± Liora remembered, "Silas, like I said earlier, it would be a great idea for you to stay inside the ship until we''re sure it¡¯s safe. We¡¯ll talk to each other via telepathy. And staying on the ship gives you the option of using that military weapon you¡¯ve been fixing.¡± Silas concluded, ¡°The weapon¡¯s partially operational, and it will draw attention to the ship. We¡¯ll try not to need it. Anyway, let us follow your plan; I¡¯ll stay here for support.¡± Less than five minutes later, a skull-shaped device that must have been that Aethernet connector appeared in front of Silas. He activated it and connected it to the ship¡¯s network. After a scan and security configurations on their respective comlinks, they realized that each of them had an account at the PCU of 12,501 credits, which was deducted in 12,500 credits within a few seconds. Still, then their accounts were topped up to 11,375, and there was a message from a credit assistant that read, "Congratulations! Thank you for trusting the Phoenix Group! Investing in your future and far beyond! I am your credit assistant. The cost of resurrection insurance was 12,500 spirit credits. We did a risk assessment and detected the Lu magic active. This magic guarantees you a 91% reimbursement for risk control.¡± Frank commented, ¡°Vaud, we received our insurance. And we got a substantial refund after the risk assessment." Vaud replied, "Great! You can keep that reimbursement as a token of our gratitude.¡± Mentally, Petra noticed something wrong with the values. She asked: ¡°Ok, Liora, spirit credit shouldn¡¯t be worth nearly nothing, right?" Liora took a while to process what had just happened but returned to focus. ¡°We''d better calmly talk about that later. We need to focus on what we¡¯re going to do. But it''s actually a lot of money." Petra smiled at Frank with gratitude but followed Liora¡¯s suggestion. The group divided. The martial trio prepared to descend to the mountain in the aircar while Silas allocated the two guests to a passenger room and prepared for action in the firing tower. Liora¡¯s copy stayed at the ship''s controls. Liora, Frank, and Petra focused before setting off. They got into the aircar, a long-time companion of their adventures. They felt a mix of happiness and anxiety as they saw their handprints imprinted on the backseat''s fuselage, where they''d held Silas during their escape from the valley. They took a deep breath and left to find the King. Approaching the mountain peak, they saw the abandoned astronomy tower with two guards at the door. In front of a large metal gate closing off a cave inside the mountain, two other guards near those gates kept observing them coming. These guards were titans three meters tall, wearing clothes made from what seemed to be primitive red cotton cloth. They were wearing nothing else nor apparent weapons of any kind. Frank asked: "Where¡¯d they get those clothes?" and Liora answered, ¡°Not entirely sure, but if they came through a portal, they must have brought some things with them. I¡¯m saying that because they¡¯re not wearing anything technological. Their clothes are simple and organic. And I don¡¯t see anything that would survive out here in these conditions to make those clothes. Even them. To be OK in this cold without anything to help, they must have trained in Gate powers.¡± Mosh said via comlink: "They speak a very modified dialect of Gate¡¯s ancient language. When the King arrived, we were isolated outside, and it took some time for us to discover how to communicate with them properly. I¡¯ve passed the language models to your nano-translators. But you¡¯re going to have to configure it to translate your voices cause those guys have no translators whatsoever. About the clothes, Frank, they all lived together in a room in the Underworld with an environment similar to their time of living, and the portal at the heart of the mountain is two-way." Liora commented, "I was hoping they¡¯d speak some oioi dialect. If they lived in the multiverse right before the cataclysm, I don''t recall any oioi speaking that dialect, and even less of oiois who have shunned technology as seems to be the case here." Petra answered, impressed, ¡°What? Are those guards oioi? I thought they were just tall humans.¡± Mosh commented, "They are none of those things. I think they are a primitive species of the N?¡ªone of the several species of the Aba Oj galaxy. Similar to us, they can feed on mana. Even though they don¡¯t need to, maybe that¡¯s why they¡¯ve seen to adapt well to the mountain. Anyway, their species effectively use that mana to look like whoever observes them; that¡äs why Liora sees them as oioi, and Petra sees them as giant humans. Their actual bodies are humanoid and about the height you all see, which is quite different from the peculiar abilities of the modern age N?." Frank got curious. ¡°N?? Is this a species with powers of illusion?¡± Liora maneuvered to land the aircar near the guards at the mountain entrance. She realized that they kept watching but were not moving. She responded to Frank: ¡°No, Frank, the n? really take on the form of whoever is observing them, not an illusion. They¡¯re usually quite social." Frank, exiting the car, ¡°Ah, so, they''re metamorphs?" "Not exactly. It''s more complicated," Liora replied, "But I think the modern N?s are not that similar to their ancestors because those guards have a fixed physical form and a kind of magical illusion to make them appear differently." ¡°That¡¯s what I was about to say," Mosh replied in Suma language. "Please don¡¯t assume they''re that social when dealing with them. But remember what I said about their warrior¡¯s ideal," he said, trying to communicate quickly since the group was now at the gates of the mountain. Liora went ahead. She waved to the guards in front of them. There was no response. She said, in the dialect that Mosh provided, "Hello! We¡¯ve come to see the King under the mountain.¡± The guards didn''t say anything. They opened the metal gates that sealed the mountain, never taking their eyes off the three visitors. After they passed through the gates, the guards gently closed the metal doors behind them. They noticed a black stone corridor adorned with rustic, handmade, red tapestries. Many cauldrons with some kind of charcoal lit up the environment. Liora touched the walls and said, "Impressive! We¡¯re inside a monolith!¡± Petra mentally warned, ¡°Everyone, be careful. I think it is the King¡¯s in a hall at the end of this corridor, sitting on a metal throne. He is observing everything we¡¯re doing." When she realized this, Liora moved forward without losing time, saying nothing more. The group reached a hall that opened naturally at the end of the corridor without a clear division of the spaces. The hall had sand spread across the floor, swept to create a wavelike pattern. Near the wall opposing the entrance, entirely surrounded by the sand, was a throne with the King sitting in an inquisitive pose. He was a figure that looked very similar to the other titans at the gate, wearing exactly the same clothes. If it hadn''t been for him sitting on the throne, a visitor wouldn''t know that he was the King. Before the others could speak, the King nodded his head and spoke in a thunderous voice: ¡°So, who are you, and what business do you have here with me?" Liora said, "We came to ask the King to allow those who lived in the tower next door to return to their home." The King replied furiously, "Home is for those who defend it, not those who flee. They are not worthy." Liora rebelled. "They''re doing work to overthrow a tyrant who kills his own people. And they''re going back to finish their mission. And I''m not going to bow down to another tyrant. They''re returning to their home, whether you want to or not!¡± Frank and Petra looked at their friend, impressed. The King raised his head and narrowed his eyes but didn''t move. He said, more calmly, ¡°You have courage. We shall see if they deserve a place among us. It will be a fair fight. I see more eyes watching me than the three of you. Therefore, you will need to defeat six of my warriors. If you win, you can stay out there to finish this mission, but I warn you. My warriors have trained for more days than you can count, and one of them would be enough to defeat all of you. They will show no mercy. Do you accept this challenge?" Frank mentally: "He knows how many of us there are in total. But he¡¯s forgotten your copy, Liora." Liora: ¡°If they¡¯re taking on a form based on who observes them, I think they can at least count how many there are. I and my copy probably share the same perception in that case.¡± Petra: "It¡¯s two against each of us. I don¡¯t recommend Silas getting involved in a fight like this. If they¡¯re really strong, the best thing to do is run away with the ship.¡± Frank: "Their power is weird. If I focus on my ability to share senses, I can perceive the different forms. Should we try to defeat them?" Liora said, "I accept your challenge, King. But I don¡¯t want to kill anyone today. It¡¯ll be a combat without casualties.¡± The King observed the three of them without answering anything. Six warriors came down a side corridor and greeted the King. They were carrying metal and stone weapons and armor. Half of them carried nunchakus with a small chain of four rings, while the rest carried staves. All weapons seemed to be made of material very similar to the local walls. Liora said mentally, ¡°Their equipment is simple, but it could be a problem. I don¡¯t know how they did it, but they are really monolith weapons.¡± The King asked: ¡°It''s just going to be the three of you, right?¡± Liora nodded, and the King pointed at his warriors¡¯ staves. Promptly, they handed them to their leader. The King gathered the three monolithic staves and snapped them as if they were twigs, saying, ¡°Now it¡¯ll be a fair fight. You can start!" The six warriors bowed to the King and their opponents. The three returned the bow and observed the movements. The warriors began their martial dance, with basic movements that repeated but increased in grace and cadence as if inviting them to fight. Frank and Petra made their katas while Liora stood motionless, watching and thinking. Liora: ¡°They¡¯re naturally flowing between different timeframes. It¡¯s not easily perceivable. Even though they appear primitive, their technique is unbelievable. I¡¯ve never seen anything like it." Frank: ¡°Let¡¯s not lose the battle before it begins. They have very similar techniques but are acting separately. We have complementary techniques, and our advantage will be acting together.¡± Petra: "They don¡¯t seem to have weaknesses highlighted by their movements, but they don¡¯t appear to have long-range weapons. The key to victory, perhaps, will be mobility. Let¡¯s try isolating Liora while she¡¯s firing." The distance between the warriors decreased with each movement. The group, stationary in the center, didn''t need to look around because of the shared senses. That kept them calm and focused, which made the King rub his chin, impressed by what he saw. Petra: "Ok, everyone, they¡¯re getting closer and closer, and they¡¯re inviting us to make the first attack. I''m going to make a gambit move as if I were rushing ahead. I''m going to try to counterattack one of them who aren¡¯t armed. At the same time, Liora will take on two of them who are armed, and Frank will take the other armed one. Ok?" Liora and Frank: "Got it!" Petra swung her Flexoclava, turning her body into granite and increasing the momentum of her blow. The unarmed warrior had no problem dodging her attack and, letting out a smile, in an acrobatic movement, leaned on his arms and one leg to the ground as he delivered a perfect arc kick with his other leg; Petra returned the smile. She managed to parry the blow, defending herself from the powerful onslaught. Still, she could not cause any damage to her enemy, who, continuing with his fluid kick, as in a dance, stood back up, already assuming another defensive posture in a more forceful style. Petra''s gambit distracted the others just enough for Liora to fire twice without having to turn her head or aim. Using Frank¡¯s and Petra''s focused vision, she hit two of her armed opponents directly. But even surprised, those warriors were formidable, managing to interpose their weapons right on top of the point where the antimatter began to penetrate, significantly reducing the damage of Liora¡¯s lethal shot. However, the explosion reached them and wounded them severely, opening a hole in their abdomen and launching their bodies into radial spokes from the explosion¡¯s points of impact. Their weapons survived the shot perfectly, ignoring the attack, which would have sunk an ordinary mountain. Wounded, the two kept a step backward while throwing their weapons to their partners as part of a kata, assuming a totally defensive posture and changing their movements while whispering something to themselves. To Petra''s bewilderment, she realized that their bodies were healing at a much faster rate than her; in a few seconds, they¡¯d be perfect. Four of the six warriors now revolved around the group to gain precious seconds while the other two, further away, recovered. Even after taking a nearly lethal blow, they remained calm and seemed to communicate with each other with their martial dance, combining a plan of action to reach victory. Liora: ¡°They¡¯re studying us; I''m going to change my strategy.¡± Frank: ¡°No, they defended your shots with their weapons, but they couldn''t dodge it. If you have none of them next, you should keep shooting. Petra and I will enchant your shots with mana to make it hard to block. We need to reduce the numerical disadvantage now.¡± Petra: ¡°Let''s try that, Frank!¡± With that, before the warriors could close their circle around the group''s triangular formation, Liora fired two more shots toward the two armed warriors closest to her. She intended to create a breaking point. This time, Petra and Frank allowed their mana to flow wildly over Liora, and her shots were enchanted with a trail of fire and earth. As expected, the counterattacks from their weapons were ineffective, allowing the antimatter to hit them directly this time. When their loss was imminent due to the ensuing explosion, at the last gasp of life, the warriors turned into two monolithic statues melding with the mountain under the sands, thereby making their last fight eternal as they became a part of the mountain that served as their arena as statues. The four survivors bowed to their fallen comrades and continued the combat. Immediately, the two who were previously injured advanced to take the place of those who¡¯d turned into stone, taking up the weapons in their hands to use in the battle to come. The four moved inexorably, now in a full attack kata. Three of the opponents, armed, created a percussive sound that fell into perfect harmony, providing a musical beat similar to a power metal drummer. The effect was devastating. Frank had great difficulty controlling the frenetic positioning of his opponents. Even sharing their senses, Frank managed to hold on to only one and dodge all of its blows against him. Petra only managed to put herself in front of another one of them, parrying his blows. And two warriors descended on Liora. One was armed, participating in the symphony of blows against Liora. The other positioned himself behind Liora, prepared to vocalize the song of death. He widened his eyes in primal fury and yelled, ¡°Iiiii!" as he completed the kata, Liora saw her magic energy sensor skyrocket near the unarmed, screaming warrior behind her. Her magically energized opponent performed a wide roundhouse kick, striking empty air behind himself while looking back at Liora; magically, all the power of his kick was transferred in some way to a point in the back of Liora¡¯s head. She immediately unloaded all of her energy cells to form a defensive energy barrier, mitigating the blow that would have easily knocked her down. Liora was heavily wounded, but she managed to hide this, turning off her oioi pain receptors. It was only by a hair''s breadth that she didn¡¯t fall. Liora: ¡°I can''t stand the next one. It will be over for me." Frank: ¡°Petra, I¡¯m going to jump behind you and throw you on top of the energized guy. Hold him while I hit him. I can land a few blows on them if they are stopped parrying with their weapons." Petra: "Ok, Liora. You¡¯ll have to dodge those with weapons." Liora: ¡°No problem, let¡¯s go!" Frank hit the opponent in front of him on a faint; in the middle of his attack sequence, he jumped behind Petra, grabbed her, and launched her at the unarmed opponent behind Liora. In the air, she increased her mass before making contact. At the precise moment that Petra fell upon the unarmed warrior immobilizing him, Frank used his Flexoclava to launch himself like a bullet against the same grappled target. Frank delivered a mighty blow that brought him down, transforming him into a third statue. The King, impressed, struggled to understand how that formidable team was able to act as if they were a single opponent. His warriors noticed the same thing, and they all took advantage of the opening to try to take out Liora with their weapons. But, she managed to dodge all their chaku strikes while focusing on dodging at her maximum speed, as in a dangerous ballet, distancing herself from all of the warriors. Their battle plan worked, and they all survived, eliminating the numerical disadvantage. The warriors thought that their frenzied attacks had been ineffective, but they didn''t get discouraged. They changed their strategy again, using a fixed position kata, staying motionless, and taking on a defensive, reactive posture. They exchanged looks between each other and their opponents as if looking for another opening. Liora: "We can¡¯t give them time to think. With none of them near us, we¡¯re going to use enchanted shots again." Petra and Frank: ¡°Roger!¡± Immediately, Liora jumped and stopped in a crouched position, switched her weapon between her hands as she shifted far from the center, and fired two shots, nearly aligning two of her opponents. Frank and Petra unleashed their mana again, which their regeneration had already replenished. This time, one of Liora''s strikes missed its target because the warrior managed to dodge it in their new stance, but the second one, who¡¯d tried to parry the blow, met the same fate as the others and turned into a fourth statue. Before they could celebrate, the warrior that Liora does not target faked out Petra by leaping toward the new statue, taking a second nunchaku from its hands while jumping, and changing his kata to a highly aggressive form. He took a risk focusing against Frank, who managed to dodge some attacks, while Petra managed to keep close to Frank and parried some strikes. The other opponent that just dodged Liora''s shoot, seeing an opening as no one was near him, jumped on top of Frank as he perceived Petra¡äs effort to parry all blows against Frank, reaching his back and managing to land one single blow against Frank¡¯s head, enough to knock him unconscious. Petra: "Frank! Frank!¡± Liora: ¡°Frank¡¯s unconscious, but he¡¯s slowly regenerating. Focus on our opponents. We need to buy some time now.¡± With that, the two remaining warriors noticed that, without Frank, they had complete dominance of the arena positioning. One of the warriors grabbed his chaku with both hands and, instead of delivering a strike, positioned himself behind Petra, strangling her neck. Effectively immobilizing her and preventing her from defending herself or Liora, while the other with two nunchakus keeps charging toward Liora, leaving no space for shots. Petra: ¡°I can¡¯t get out of here, but I can still stay alive for a while.¡± Liora: ¡°If I fire now, he¡¯ll hit me.¡± Petra: ¡°Focus on not being hit.¡± The King was about to raise his hand, ending the battle with the victory of his warriors. However, he noticed that his opponents were still fighting and refusing to concede defeat. He waited a few more moments but remained with one arm raised, satisfied by what he¡¯d seen until now. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Frank: "I¡¯m waking up. Damn, I almost bite the dust, but I think I can try something.¡± Petra: ¡°I¡¯m about to pass out even in stone form. I can''t get this bastard off my neck.¡± Liora: ¡°And I¡¯m about to recharge my energy to defend myself. Wait a few more seconds laying down the floor, Frank, and when I give you the signal, you jump on top of the guy who¡¯s holding Petra while I fire at mine." Frank: "Let¡¯s do it!" Just before Petra lost consciousness, Frank returned to the battle as Liora gave the signal that her energy had fully restored, leaping over the titan who was immobilizing Petra. The warrior expected it and managed to land a swift, light counterattack, bringing Frank down once more but releasing the grapple. Petra, meanwhile, free of her imprisonment and without losing a moment, took advantage of her opponent¡¯s divided attention and grabbed his neck, reversing the situation. However, Petra assumed her densest form, at maximum potency, inexorably locking her opponent''s neck with her stone arms. He still tried to strike blows and kicks against her but to no effect. At the same time, Liora fired two shots from her weapon against the opponent in front of her. He launched a decisive counterattack at the same time. Liora managed to discharge all her energy cells again, parrying some of the impact, but she was still wounded from the previous attack. She couldn''t regenerate like her friends, and she fell to her knees while her opponent, who had taken two shots point-blank, transformed into a fifth statue in the arena. Petra, meanwhile, continued to regenerate. Her opponent, completely grappled, realized the fight was over. He clapped his hands on the ground, kicking up sand in a sign of defeat. With that, Petra released him from his prison. She was the only one able to stand in the center of the arena, with Frank and Liora both unconscious and the last of the warriors kneeling, surrendered. The King, still with his arms still outstretched, was surprised once again. With a brief nod, he greeted the champion, saying, "Worthy warrior, you may return to the tower with your people,¡± When he finished speaking, the two guards opened the gates at the end of the corridor. Petra stood up, carrying Frank on her shoulders, and Liora leaned on Petra¡¯s other shoulder. Slowly, they all walked out of the mountain. Silas: "The guards in front of the observatory were gone. It seems the King kept his word.¡± Liora: "In the end, it worked out. But I still don¡¯t like the King.¡± Vaud: ¡°It''s complicated dealing with these anachronisms. But, we¡¯ll be in debt to you for taking such a risk." Petra: "We need to rest and talk. The situation¡¯s resolved, but I don¡¯t think the King will cooperate with anything else. At least he''s not our enemy." It took Frank several minutes to regain consciousness. His regeneration powers were still very weak compared with Petra, but at least they¡¯d guaranteed that he''d survive the combat. When he woke, he could barely speak. Even his telepathic thoughts hurt. Still, he asked, ¡°Did we win?¡± Liora answered, "Yes. Petra was the only one standing at the end. And I¡¯m going to need some time to recover.¡± Liora''s copy moved the ship further away from the mountain while Silas, Mosh, and Vaud used the bubble to go to the entrance of the observatory. Vaud commented, ¡°We¡¯ll place our tree next to the observatory. When the Golems get here, we¡¯ll put everything inside and hide until they leave. Now we¡¯re going to go in and see the condition of our things after all this time.¡± Silas commented through the comlink, "You guys need to rest. Go back to the ship while I stay here to get the observatory up and running.¡± Petra agreed with Silas via comlink while she helped Frank and Liora into the aircar¡¯s backseat and drove them to the ship. It was already the end of the afternoon. They went to their rooms to receive life support care. Of the three, only Liora was in a more critical condition and needed medical devices.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 45+2 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 19
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 16
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9200 (0)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (1/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 2700/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 44+2 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 3
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 37
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8645 (0)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 43+2 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 7
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 21
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 3
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 11/100 -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5314 (0)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) ???
(va) ???
Spell Complements
-
-
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 43+2 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 19
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 11
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 3
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 32/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5034 (11)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 16 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 35 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 36 research/day
Repair rate 360 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 4/2)
Maneuver: 19+5 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 5+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 3+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 70 / 70 63 10 0+4 regen 3/t
War - melee 0+4 1(d12)
War - parry 21+4 21(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Firebreaker 20 / 20 WP 2/2 0 0 11+4 regen 1/t
Fir - melee 11+4 19(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - brawl 19+4 19(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 11+4 55 X-2 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 1+4 55 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 10 / 10 TP 3/3 0 0 35+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 37+4 185 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 27+7 185 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 17+4 185 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 7+4 185 X-2 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 37+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 TP 4/4 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 19+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 19+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 18 - Moonless Sonata Chapter 18 - Moonless Sonata - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG Vaud and Mosh were so thrilled with the organization of years of astronomical observations that they dived into data analysis before checking the devices that had been left running alone for years. Silas took charge of getting everything working again, while Petra woke up early, concerned about Liora, and went to the bridge to find the copy managing the ship. "Good morning! How is Liora? She didn''t look well yesterday." Petra asked, relieved to see the copy managing the ship as usual. "Hello, Petra! Did you fall out of bed? Liora is fine; she put energy cells in her body like Silas did, but in the case of oioi, we can burn energy in our structures to try to mitigate damage. It doesn''t work as well as it looks. Anyway, now she¡¯s replacing some parts, and in a moment, she''ll be brand new!" while the copy was talking, Petra noticed an audio channel open with Silas giving voice commands. "Did Silas wake up too?" Petra asked. "I''m anxious to know what we''ll do now, and I would also like to test one of the magics I¡¯ve been learning for a long time." "Silas didn''t even sleep. None of the three in the observatory closed their eyes last night. They''re interpreting and cataloging data from a few years back, and Silas is helping with the analysis. It looks like the two researchers didn¡¯t have time to convert the research data into a universal format or document anything. I''m actually helping Silas solve that pickle more than taking care of the ship," the copy said, strangely grumbling less than usual, almost happy about something. "They must have found something exciting; Silas seems very happy after a long night, " Petra said, getting quite curious. "Well, they should be talking about what they found out in a boring way this morning. I like to see things with my eyes. I''ve been putting together the visual data from the so-called fold telescopes. If you want, I can show you what I''ve assembled so far of the puzzle!" the copy smiled in response to Petra, who responded with a nod. The interior lights of the bridge shut off, and all the monitors were turned on, transforming the room into a dome cinema. The copy said, "Well, I''ve assembled what we will see in the Gate sky in a few years when the light of all this reaches us!" Petra, already accustomed to the near-complete darkness, was about to comment on anything when she was interrupted by an explosion of lights and colors. First, Petra saw the dark sky through the bridge monitors, as always, then an inundation of red lights in ethereal currents, like colossal auroras borealis, floods the entire firmament, like currents of celestial rivers. Darkness gives way to various shades of a deep red. Some points of brighter light become orange, yellow, and even white. It is possible to see a half-dozen flashes of light pulsating with white lights, almost blinding, similar to strobe lights in a disco, and the entire sky doesn''t stop moving and pulsing. Petra forgets for a moment about her magic spells and asks, "But what is this?" "I don''t know. The sky is going to be like this in a few years. Maybe Liora can explain it better. I heard the name of things. The darker red is the scorching background radiation, the lighter-red waves of light are the first concentrations of gas closer to Gate, and the farther ones move more slowly behind it. That¡¯s why everything seems to move at the same time. The blinking white dots are massive protostars in formation. There are still no names for those little, super shiny blinking dots. They said that they oscillate without reaching equilibrium because of a lot of mass arriving near them, and those light spots probably will not last long; what a shame, they are so beautiful.¡± The copy attempts to explain. ¡°Holy Cow!¡± Frank exclaims, having just woken up. He is still holding his milk mug as he enters the bridge transformed into a disco. ¡°So, Gate¡¯s sky will be like this in a few years, apparently." Petra comments. The three stayed for a good while observing the monitors covering all the walls and the ceiling. Frank asked, not quite believing what he saw, ¡°Is this some kind of simulation generated by a computer?¡± "No computer did any of this. I just put together some of the more colorful videos of the fold telescope that they''ve been broadcasting this night. I have about two hours of it already ready," the copy explains. "Fascinating! Is Silas still down there? We should go down and talk to them!" suggests Frank, finishing his milk. "Liora is going, too. Meet her in the aircar," the copy says, grumbling again. ¡°I will keep trying to trick the Golems by staying distant with the ship and the little cursed red stone." "The little stone that I got in Northern Valley? I hardly remember it.¡± Petra comments. ¡°It¡¯s been inside a probe since it reacted abruptly to that schrogae zombie, but since then, nothing else happened. Several sensors keep monitoring it in real time. Well, Liora is already in the aircar waiting for you." the copy warns. "She''s already ready? Ok, we''re on our way!" Petra responds, leaving the bridge with Frank. Arriving at the car, everyone realizes that Liora is visibly different. She¡¯s greener. "So? Let¡¯s go?" she asks, in a good mood. "I see that this ship¡¯s spa did a lot for you, Liora. A new look?¡± Frank asks. ¡°Ah, yes, this ship has everything you need to make an oioi happy!¡± Liora smiles back. ¡°But part of my external devices were all crumpled up, and I ended up swapping for older versions. Don¡¯t worry. It only changes my look a little bit, like these nailia arms here. See how funny!¡± Liora shakes her new long arms clumsily, now thin and delicate. They¡¯re so big that they almost drag on the ground. ¡°I''m seeing. I noticed that your skin and hair are greener, but the Nailia in the photos were kind of pale.¡± Frank observes, shaking his head as he and Petra get into the backseat of the aircar. "Nailia have several skin and hair colors. The most common are shades of white and brown, and the rarest are green and blue. I have 3 or 4 versions of green Nailia hair. The one I''m wearing now has a much more metallic shade than the last one.¡± Liora responds as she departs with the aircar towards the observatory. "Are you sure you can use these arms, right, Liora?" Petra asks. "Of course! ¡± Liora says, smiling, making the aircar hover in suspense to finish the movement in a loop. "These parts bring back good memories of my student days.¡± Frank laughs while Petra holds onto the seat. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s not memories from your childhood but that you¡¯ve forgotten to tighten some of your screws.¡° Petra says to Liora, ironically pointing at her head. "In the current situation with our training, if the aircar fell, we¡¯d break the ground!¡± Frank says with conviction. ¡°Probably¡­¡± Petra gets lost in her thoughts, remembering the day¡¯s affairs, "But now that you brought that up, we¡¯re on our way to an astronomy class, but it would be good to stay a while here on this mountain. If we go hard on training, our ship won¡¯t last.¡± ¡°That''s true. On the other hand, we can''t stay here too long, either. Maybe the idea of stopping from time to time is the solution." Liora comments. ¡°Wait! We can¡¯t forget about the spells that Petra¡¯s learning; she''s been training intensively these last few days.¡± Frank remembers. ¡°Yeah. And I even made these." Petra takes three colorful little stones out of her pockets. "I made these a few days ago, following the Vabala manual. I haven¡¯t even tested it yet. The magic is much more complex than I imagined. I don''t want to get stuck in another universe just because I did something wrong.¡± ¡°Wise decision!¡± Liora concludes as she parks the aircar next to the observatory. ¡°We''ve arrived, folks!" The observation tower''s door is completely open. From inside the tower, there are only the sounds of machines operating. Next to the observatory, at some distance, two guards stand with their arms crossed next to the King''s metal gate. They observe with curiosity what is happening with their newly reconnected former neighbors. Frank looked at Petra¡äs little stones with a mix of curiosity and lack of faith but asked nothing now. He jumped out of the car and headed inside the observatory, quickly speaking at full volume as no one was near the open door: "Good morning, folks! We''ve arrived! We''re going in!¡± Silas responded via comlink, ¡°You can come in. I¡¯m still on the top floor fixing the space warper. Take the spiral stairs close to the interior walls and ignore the mess.¡± When the three entered the observatory, they found a tangle of massive instruments occupying almost all the space. They took care to push things aside, opening a passage without breaking anything. Liora observed the instruments with a mixture of strangeness and surprise. When Frank and Petra''s curiosity gaze turned to her, Liora said, ¡°I have no idea!¡± And the three continued to climb the stairs. There are five floors in total, with an internal ceiling height of at least 30 feet each. The upper floors are even more crowded with stuff. These things are clustered in the central area, leaving the stairs slightly more accessible. They are covered with dust that indicates that they were left there for many years. The top floor is different. The ceiling is entirely transparent, and there is a set of telescopes and lenses, as well as a central device that Silas literally has to get inside to repair. Vaud and Mosh are standing next to a small table full of maps and terminals. They are having black coffee and heatedly discussing something with each other. Behind them, there are scribbled whiteboards and four small shelter cubes thrown in a corner with downright messy beds. Two of these beds are thrown together to form a larger bed. Liora, observing this, telepathically comments, "Silas, you could have gone to sleep in the ship.¡± Silas replies, ¡°They were frantic with their hypotheses, and I preferred to stay with them. We didn¡ät even take a nap. They''re still in a mess with the data. It¡¯s not every day you can observe a universe emerging.¡± When Vaud notices everyone''s arrival, he says at a relatively fast pace, already dragging an enormous monitor to serve as an exhibition board. "Hello, folks! I''ll put you in the loop of our results. Mosh and I have some differences of interpretation. But we¡¯ll begin without beating around the bush.¡± Mosh is standing with his arms crossed, making a face and shaking his head. There are few places to sit in this room, so everyone is standing except for Silas, who is inside the machinery observing everything while he works. Vaud speaks hurriedly, also changing to the suma language sometimes: ¡°It will be great to consolidate our points now. Well, let''s start from the beginning. You should have noticed that since year 9611, the red background luminosity of Gate has visibly been increasing at an exponential rate." Liora replies: ¡°Actually, I noticed it some time ago while outside the ship. But I thought it was within the margins of error or an atmospheric change as we were getting far from the Metropolis area.¡± Vaud continues, ¡°Nop! This is already the effect of the Big Bang, and the rate at which the background luminosity increases per time unit is going to go up until a maximum point about two years from now. The luminosity will continue to increase for at least another 10 thousand years, but its second derivative with respect to time will decrease. At the point where it''s maximum, it''ll be the peak of the Big Bang. We''ll be the only civilization ever to observe such a marvel, I suppose!¡± Mosh interrupts, ¡°Everything my colleague said is going to happen, except for the fact that he insists on calling it all the Big Bang.¡± Vaud glances sideways at Mosh, puffing out his cheeks, while Mosh contains himself and makes a hand signal for him to continue, with his hand still crossed. Vaud takes back the word, ¡°The Big Bang occurred from a spherical surface space with a radius of almost 10 thousand light-years, forming a bubble. That''s why when we look at the sky now, we still see the ancient constellations; we are inside this bubble the whole time, still receiving information about the past universe before the Big Bang. The current old galaxies will be pushed beyond our observable universe when we start to perceive the effects of the expanded space." Mosh can contain himself no more, "But there was no real explosion. The energy reaching our warping lenses is immense, but it is almost all luminous, with only a small fraction of extremely heated particles. The magnetic field and gravitational distortion of Gate will be more than enough to protect all of us from those things!¡± Vaud: ¡°But I never said the Big Bang would be dangerous to us, just that it¡¯s an explosion of space that pushes everything away almost immediately.¡± Mosh: ¡°Well, according to your hypothesis, the few old galaxies will be pushed out of our observable universe. In a few millennia, we will be able to test if this is really true. But I think that, unfortunately, you won''t find anything because, in my hypothesis, the entire old universe will cease to exist because time will no longer flow through there. The existence of the new universe is infinite, as it always has been with all universes, and the expansion is apparent because light and other forms of radiation take time to reach us. Particularly, background radiation is going to be pretty interesting to observe in the young universe!¡± Via telepathy, Silas tries to help, ¡°Vaud thinks that the Big Bang just creates space, pushing the old out, and Mosh thinks there is a rupture in the space timeline, effectively erasing the old from existence." Petra: ¡°But when I look at the sky now, I still see the red dots that are ancient agonizing galaxies very far away, right?¡± Liora: ¡°Right, but that''s the imagery of the past. According to Mosh, they no longer exist, and according to Vaud they do, but their information is lost unless it¡¯s accessed by space fold telescopes,¡± and Silas adds: ¡°In any case, a space folding telescope that could target through a whole universe would need much more power than this one here, which is already absurdly powerful, and hunting anything at that distance with a small fold cone is almost impossible.¡± Vaud continues, utterly unaware of the group''s shared thoughts: "As for background radiation, my colleague is right. It¡¯s going to be a night show for years and years! But we¡¯ll find out that he¡¯s talking nonsense about the ancient distant galaxies disappearing in time." Mosh responds excitedly: ¡°Maybe in a parallel universe without Gate, things work more like Vaud says. Our ancestral colleagues here next door came from the universe that just ceased to exist in time¡ªprobably from the same planet as the N?s but in a prehistoric time, long forgotten by everyone. If Vaud''s hypothesis were right, those guys would be people much like us, but no! They are shards from the U-9, and that¡äs because their home galaxy exists no more, not because it is just far away from us somewhere.¡± Vaud adds, "Certain things are the same throughout the multiverse. The Big Bang that we observed in Gate had the same impact everywhere. What was bizarre is that something occurred from U-8 to U-9, which explains why we''re here alive witnessing these marvels! Maybe that explains why those shards from U-9 are here, because there are some N?s that are no shards and are people just like us, and they came from the same place but from a different time; we need more information about this before jumping to conclusions.¡± Silas, in a mental note, ¡°U-8 and U-9 are how they call the number of layers of the Underworld in Gate. We are in the tenth universe after this Big Bang, which means that we have nine layers inside the primordial monolith, so U-9 refers to our Underworld with nine layers, and U-8 to the Underworld before the Big Bang, and there is also a copy of the U-8 inside the U-9, as there is one Underworld for each past multiverse as well.¡± Mosh responds more calmly, "Well, I agree with my colleague that we are living inside a singular bubble right now, a providential space-time bubble that could be the making of someone, I suppose. I agree that some things should be similar in all corners of the multiverse, but I''m afraid I have to disagree with the Big Bang and that implied space-time continuity in all the universes of the same multiverse. I also can''t entirely agree with a pretentious continuity between different multiverses. The event that occurred 10 millennia ago made an infinite space-time rupture. If we get into a space folding ship now and if it is possible to pass the edge of the bubble, we''re going to fall into a known universe with a radius of around 10 thousand light Gate-years plus the inflation, not into another universe with information of the last multiverse, if this universe we are living right now is infinite as I suppose we unlikely meet any empty space bubble, but even if it is finite and we found a real matter border and beyond that there is empty space, there will be no information about U-8 there, everything in the last multiverse is gone, except the light information what was inside that singular bubble we are living.¡± Vaud adds: "Finding a real matter border only implies that U-8 and the other old universes don''t have their cadavers of matter scattered across the same observable space, but beyond the matter horizon of U-9, there is no reason for those cadavers cease to exist." Mosh replies, again more animated, ¡°I disagree! I could think twice about my statements if we really find a matter border, but I think we will never find such things. I think that the old universe cadavers of matter are gone forever, not exactly destroyed, but time just ceases to flow for them. Let us consider this: in addition to having data beyond Gate¡¯s observable universe with our space-folding telescopes, we''ve always found continuity within all the observable universes no matter how we reach them. The size of every observable universe is identical to ours at the same point in time but shifted in position. If my colleague¡¯s hypothesis were true, by jumping to an observable universe near a supposed matter edge, the observable universe on the edge of matter would be heterogeneous. This is not the case. It''s never been the case in any place that we''ve tested. Be it the original Earth, in Seneca, where you came from, or any planet from any species that ever stepped into Gate, they are all homogeneous. Also, if that were the case of a Big Bang - as you like to call it, when we calculate the displacement vectors of many objects in any observable universe, we would likely find a bias in the same direction as the original center of mass of the universe, given that in your hypothesis, every universe has finite mass cluster, defined by those supposed matter borders, and, because of that, it would always have a center of mass.¡± Silas mentally comments, ¡°They¡¯ve been stuck in some variations of that discussion all night. It¡äs like music playing the same theme again and again. No matter how many times I hear that, I still have some trouble perceiving some of what they''re discussing, but it seems that for Mosh, we live inside one among several infinite universes, all of them composing a multiverse. At the same time, for Vaud, there¡¯s just a single space, and there¡¯s only a division of information between them. This division of information forms a cluster, which is called a universe; the collection of such clusters forms a multiverse, and matter interaction is finite within each cluster.¡± Vaud replies over Mosh, ¡°As for the displacement vector not being detected, that¡¯s a non sequitur to refute the Big Bang. It''s at least insufficient. In the case of always finding spherical homogeneous observable universes, that¡¯s explained by the locality bias of the Umbra, which explains how people pass through the world of the dead and come to live in Gate after being revived. If there were no locality bias, we''d certainly find species living on the material edges of the universe; maybe our ancient neighbors lived in such a place; maybe that explains why the King¡äs people are shards after all, while the more recent N? are people like us.¡± Liora mentally: ¡°What the hell is this, Silas?¡± Silas: ¡°I¡¯m not entirely sure, but as far as I understand, people before being revived here have their reflections in the world of the dead from where the two came from. It''s not everyone that passes through the world of the dead. Just those who were once inside Gate''s observable universe or connected to that observable universe in some way. In the case of Seneca world, which is a particular universe, that would obviously include Seneca Earth and all of its observable universe. Anything rational that was supposedly outside could never be directly revived in Gate, but it could be found in the Underworld, at least preserved in some form of registry.¡± Frank: "My head is hurting. Tonight, I¡¯m going to take a quick trip to Rocatrista to decompress." Petra: ¡°I find this fascinating. I confess I¡¯m having trouble understanding all this. I''m better off interrupting Vaud and asking him." Liora: "Yes, good idea. All this is fun. But it¡¯s going to be even more fun using this information to mess up Biggus¡¯s doomsday speech.¡± Petra takes advantage of Vaud''s pause for questions. "Vaud, Mosh, you have my comlink, and I would like you to send me the material with your hypotheses. I¡¯ll need some time to assimilate these concepts better, but I¡¯d like to know what you guys think is going to happen when Biggus can¡¯t hide the sky from people in a few years.¡± Mosh and Vaud look at each other with a smile, remembering in Petra¡¯s words their friendship despite their different opinions. Vaud responds: ¡°Ah yes, you don¡¯t have much time if you want to save people in Seneca. I think things are going to heat up in Metropolis very soon because Biggus is going to react violently, as he always does. We need to pass this information about the Big Bang to all Gate''s scientific community to analyze, but without attracting too much attention, to avoid being literally hunted, and that¡¯s before the sky turns into a light show.¡± Frank interrupts: ¡°Yeah. We also have other information to pass along, but I don''t think it can be done through the same channels. We''ll have to find some other alternative. Any personal ideas?" There is a long silence. Petra finally speaks: "Well, let''s think calmly and continue gathering information here. We need to resolve those issues with Seneca soon. Do you think your people can help in some way, Vaud? I mean, could you guys revive our people?" Vaud lowers his head and replies, "I''m not very proud of the suma mages. If they were paid a true fortune to revive a whole planet, they probably wouldn¡¯t have any objections. But it¡¯s all very complicated with them. Maybe if it were against a common enemy, but even so, it never happened before; they''re just too pragmatic.¡± Liora comments, "Ah, yes. Always the mages. Why I¡¯m not surprised?¡± Frank interrupts, "Wait a minute, Liora. Ramirez thought the same thing, but maybe what happened to Dukliasse in Northern Valley will wake them up to reality." Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Liora looks at Frank and says. ¡°I hope I''m wrong, Frank. It would be great to have a little more peace of mind to take action.¡± Mosh, already with open arms, gestures and says, ¡°We¡¯ll try, yes. Silas told me a bit about what happened in the valley, but only now that we¡¯re talking did I realize that this information you have is more important than I initially thought. My mind gets stuck in the stars. Anyway, the mages in our city work in a very different way from Metropolis, and it¡¯s always been that way. I wouldn''t plan on relying on their deliberate help. They¡¯ll surely help revive all of you once, according to the contract. But I think it will be complicated to get them to revive more people from Seneca." Petra seizes the opportunity: ¡°So folks, I was about to ask something about magic, precisely this.¡± Petra holds out her hand, showing three colored little stones. ¡°I ended up doing this here." Everyone stares at the stones with some curiosity.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 48+2 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 21
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 18
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9200(0)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (1/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 2700/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 47+2 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 3
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 41
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8645 (0)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 46+2 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 7
Super-Mana Magnitude 3
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 23
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 3
Spellcasting Magnitude 3
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 11/100 -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5304 (0)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) ???
(va) ???
Spell Complements
-
-
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 46+2 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 21
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 12
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 3
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 32/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5034 (0)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 18 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 39 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 40 research/day
Repair rate 400 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Chapter 19 - Eclipsed Chapter 19 - Eclipsed - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG After the discussion about the stars, everyone came back to Gate to look at the Petra stones with curiosity. Liora detects a strange magical energy source on them, and she can tell that they are not monoliths. Frank mentally asks Petra, "Are they for eating? Wasn''t this supposed to be transportation magic?" Petra replies ironically, "Yes, Frank, you can eat them, but only once; after that, you''re going to end up in a place where no one will ever hear your nonsense.¡± Petra continues, "It seems that I can put these stones in a fixed place, and then I can always open portals from where the stones stayed to where I am in the future.¡± Vaud, "Ah, wow! I know that magic! But I''ve never seen the little stone version of it. Do this: Put one of those stones out there in the door of our tree-ship. We''re going to keep a copy of all the materials inside the ship and only use this observatory to gather new information.¡± Petra puts her hand on the back of her neck and responds, "Well, I''ve never tested that magic before.¡± Vaud responds immediately, "Why not? It seems super simple and helpful! " Petra warns, "Well... According to the manual, it is quite complex, and there are dozens of things that can be done with it." ¡°Well, I don''t know that because I never learned magic. But you can test it right now. No problem. If something goes wrong, we''ll make another door." Vaud replies as he leads outside the observatory, saying, "Let¡äs go, folks!". While all of the six are descending the long observatory staircase, Frank asks, "Mosh, you said that King¡äs people lived in a previous universe. Wouldn''t it be a good idea to go there and talk to them?¡± Mosh responds to Frank: "They aren''t exactly rational beings like us, not because they are from an ancient civilization. Gate preserves only fragments of the past existences. Rarely do these fragments have free will. They are destined to act like a script in the Underworld. Upon reaching the surface, they are no longer obliged to follow this script, but it takes them a long time to find this out. It will be hard to talk to them. Seneca or some other knight would be able to help with this." Frank stops descending the stairs now that some disturbing thoughts have occurred to him. Mosh stops, too, and waits with Frank while the others continue to descend. Frank asks, "Mosh, does that mean that one day, all of us will be shards inside an Underworld like them?" Mosh is surprised by the question, "Probably Frank, or not even that. If extermination magic is successfully cast upon us, our whole existence will be wiped off all the universes forever. And this includes the Underworld. Probably the same thing happened to the people on the Northern Valley as they could not be brought back to life.¡± Frank and Mosh continue on the way down without saying anything more. Frank doesn''t stop thinking to himself. Mosh senses Frank¡¯s anxiety and says, when they arrive on the ground floor, "Don''t worry too much about this. People and universes are infinite, but only while they last.¡° Mosh gives a rare smile, noticing Frank widening his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s a line from a popular and paradoxical suma poem. We live in the world of the dead, after all. We have a lot of time to think about this stuff." As the six of them exit the tower and go to test Petra''s magic on the tree-ship planted nearby outside, Petra says, arriving at the front door of the tree, ¡°As I understand it, all I have to do is activate these stones with mana, and they¡¯re going to be melded in this door forever, or until I decide to end the magic. Anyone with mana could do this to put these stones anywhere, right, Frank?¡± Frank, still shocked by a daydream, is caught off guard and replies automatically, "Yes, Petra, I think I could use my mana on those stones. I was distracted, thinking about our friends just next door," pointing to the guards at the metal gate. Petra smiles as she notices that Frank is in a trance, but she focuses on her magic. Telepathically, she warns, ¡°Frank, is everything ok with you? I may need some help with these spells!¡± Frank telepathically: ¡°Yes. Sorry, I really was drifting off thinking about the Underworld, but one thing at a time. Do you want me to try to enchant the portal?" Petra replies, "Not this time. But keep watching how I do it. I''m going to leave a stone with Liora and another with Silas now. When I get stronger, I¡¯ll leave one with you and keep others in reserve. You can put them in an object with your mana in an emergency. That means that I can open a portal where you can place them. On Vabala, it says I could open a portal near any stone, even without melding it with something with mana. However, doing so would make it harder to target and control the portals properly, so I will only test the default and safe procedure.¡± Frank mentally asks, "This seems pretty interesting. Does this portal need a lot of energy to open?" Petra: "No. You can spend any minimal amount of mana to put these stones in any place, and opening or closing a portal only takes a little time and no mana. The magic energy that I spent was on the making of these stones, and it was a lot." After their mental dialogue, Petra and Frank nod their heads at each other. Subtly, Petra activates the magic with her mana as if using it wildly upon the stone, making it translucent; after that, she presses the stone against the surface, and it enters inside the door as if it were made of jelly. She finally says, "Done!¡± Liora comments, "What a thing, I didn¡¯t feel any energy now, what discreet magic!¡± Petra smiles at Liora, "So, let''s see how opening the portal works now.¡± She starts to gesticulate and focus magical energy from her enchantment, like weaving a small disk of light in the air. Liora remains impressed, "I see. Despite emitting light, I¡¯m not detecting any significant energy." After the small disc of light is ready, Petra positions it in front of her while an identical disc appears on the outer side of the now enchanted tree-ship door. Petra says excitedly, "Ok. Now, we¡¯re going to open the portal!¡± In a gesture, she mentalizes the sound "vo." Then, a myriad of green and blue lights form two circular portals, and both grow at the same astonishing speed. In just a few seconds, they grow to illuminate dozens of kilometers in the region, and the portals are a kilometer in size, almost more extensive than the mountain. They all are wholly astonished, and then gravity pulls part of the ground from one portal to the other slightly below, causing an avalanche. Petra says, ¡°Oops. We¡¯re going to close this thing! Oh God!¡± Petra desperately begins to try to close the portals quickly. They diminish in size at the same speed that they grew. The damage to the mountain has already been done. Silas carries Vaud and Mosh with his energy ray while Liora does the same to Frank but in a slightly more awkward way since her energy cells are designed for closer distances. Liora grumbles while she sees part of the mountain crumbling. ¡°I praised the magic too early!¡± Petra remains on solid ground near her portal at the border. The guards at the metal gate observe the light show of their neighbors, taking a few steps back after the mountain remodeling, thinking that it may be a good idea to go inside their halls for a while. Luckily, the magical portals caused the other side of the mountain to collapse, and the tree-ship was now on the edge of a new precipice cut perfectly vertically, a new face of the mountain. In the end, there¡¯s no damage. There was only a geographical mess up as the mountain gained a new alternative design. Mosh asks: ¡°Maybe it would be better to open 2-meter portals. Can''t you prevent it from growing?¡± Petra responds shyly, "Sorry, guys, I could not stop the growth fast enough! ¡± Vaud gets animated, ¡°Well, no one was hurt. Try that again, but this time with more time! ¡± Despite her reluctance, Petra eventually accepts the proposal, and Frank mentally says, ¡°Try to think about one element at a time, Petra. First, make the portals and test them without thinking about expanding them." Petra tries to do her magic again, following Frank''s suggestion. She creates the same green portals, but she keeps them less than a meter in size as they first appear. She says, "Well, there they are. These are two-way and two-sided and are already on. What arrives in one goes to the other, and vice versa.¡± Frank readily agrees to the test and puts his arm through one side, then the other. His arm appears on the outside of the tree-ship entrance, and he comments, "It seems perfect. It gives a funny sensation to see my arm way over there!" Petra increases the size of both portals and then diminishes them. She realizes that they grow too quickly. She spends a few minutes training on how to scale the magic properly, then she smiles and says, "Aha! Now I think I''ve figured out how to do it right. ¡± Finally, she leaves the portal a little bigger than her size and passes through it several times. Silas and Frank do the same. After a while, Petra closes both portals. Everyone decides to return to the schrogae ship to get the rest of the Vaud and Mosh material left there the day before, and all of them are happier with Petra''s success in magics. Silas prepares a Suma-Ebex fusion banquet and suggests that they stay for a few days so that he can finish repairing the observatory. He plans to use Petra¡¯s portal if he needs to go or return while traveling. They decide to spend another two or three weeks on the mountain before leaving to search for Seneca. Vaud and Mosh are going to continue their studies and help out as much as they can in the spirit world. From now on, the group has total access to the computer network of the Spirit City, and they can study and communicate with people who live on the other side. Before returning to the observatory, Vaud comments, avoiding going into details, that he met Seneca even before the cataclysm on a mission for the First House of the Academy in the Spirit City. He says, just before leaving the ship, still reluctant, ¡°Unfortunately, there are no means to know more about the whereabouts of any of the knights due to them being constantly pursued by the New Metropolis. I think Seneca has something to resolve at Tempus Forge. Probably, he''ll follow the Tempus trail until he reaches his destination.¡± Vaud updates the points on the new Gate map they¡¯ve been creating throughout the astronomical project to ensure that the ancient map converters are in order. Although the position is now perfect, he can''t help providing further details about what they will encounter on the path. As can be seen on the new map, there are two more points on the Tempus route before reaching the Forge. Over the following weeks, Silas continued to help Vaud and Mosh, who spent more and more time deep into their research. Mosh remembers to send copies of everything to Petra, but he doesn''t have time to organize anything. He only connects Petra¡äs comlink to the list of active materials they use every day and leaves the channels open. The rest of the group spends their days intensely training at the foot of the mountain, causing even more noise and confusion than Petra¡¯s giant portals. Despite this, they are not bothered by anything. Frank spends some time observing the guards changing their shifts. He notices that one of the guards has some difficulty getting around with one of his legs. This guard tends to be the only one to hum, very rarely. On the last night before departure, he waits for a guard''s shift where the humming guard is and heads to the metal gates to have a word with them. Frank introduces himself: ¡°Hello, everyone. My name is Firebreaker. Do you guys have names?¡± He waits with little hope of getting a response. In the interim, the guards act as if they are going to open the doors for him. Frank continues, ¡°You don¡¯t have to open the door. Thank you. My business today is with you, not the King.¡± The guards continue to ignore Frank and look toward the horizon as they always do. Frank continues his monologue as the guards continue to look up at the sky, "In a few years, the sky is going to be filled with lights. It will be a wonderful show to watch this every day." With no reaction, he insists, ¡°What was the sky like in your world? You surely remember happy days and the people you knew who are no longer here.¡± Frank waits and looks at the sky in the same direction they do. ¡°On Earth, I lived in a Buick in a coastal city; it¡äs a car. Always wandering from bar to bar at night and occasionally going to La... ¡± Frank suddenly stops and lets out a brief laugh, realizing the guards can¡¯t know anything about Earth. But he insists, ¡°It was a library. I spent three years of college in history before dropping out. But I¡¯ve always enjoyed reading." After a long wait, he continues, "How did history pass from one generation to the next in your time? Was there any writing? Drawings, maybe?¡± The guards are not bothered and start to look at Frank with curiosity. They understand what he is saying because the nano translator is set to their dialect, but they don¡¯t do anything beyond looking at him. Frank continues, ¡°I don''t even know if I died on Earth, but I assume that¡¯s the case. The last thing I remember is a freezing winter with snow. I think it was December 2004, but those memories will disappear forever someday. I¡¯ll become like you two. Probably, I won¡¯t have the opportunity to live in future universes as you have. So, I think it would be a good idea for me to enjoy the time I have left here, and I think you should do the same." The guard with leg problems stares into Frank''s eye but says nothing. ¡°I was told you guys are not complete but only parts of people who lived in another world, like characters in a book fated to follow some script, but somehow, now you¡¯re able to live here. Someday, you¡¯ll be completely free-willed, like me, whatever that means or how it''s possible.¡± Frank stands, getting ready to leave as he is beeped in his comlink. ¡°We already warned you, but I felt it¡¯s better to explain things more clearly. I really don''t think you are an incomplete part of people right now. Maybe I feel that way selfishly because your condition could be mine in the future. But what matters is that we are all in great danger. In a few years, those Golems will be here chasing after us. I don''t know what they are. But I know what they can do, and chances are they''ll destroy everything along the way. When they come, don''t confront them. Save your lives. Because, if they kill you, you will be stuck in time, and both your past and future will be erased.¡± Frank waits a few moments, lowers his head, and says, "Please excuse us." Then he leaves toward the aircar. ¡°Stanwund,¡± replies the limping guard, to Frank¡¯s surprise. Frank was not expecting any response. He stays inside the aircar and waits a bit. But there¡¯s no reply. He is interrupted by Petra¡¯s mental message: ¡°Where¡¯d you end up, Frank? We''re leaving already." Frank mentally answers Petra, "On my way, hold your horses!" and nods to the guard while leaving, saying, "We¡äll be back." Frank asks Petra to open her portal at the tree to the cargo bay inside the ship as he enters with the aircar through the portal. Petra is waiting for him in her training clothes, stretching. Frank just finds out that he spent the whole night waiting for the right guard¡äs turn. On that same day, the martial trio eats breakfast and tries to train inside the ship as usual, but they end up losing their time, making no progress while severely deviating from the ship''s trajectory. Liora sends a message to all by the comlink: "It''s hopeless to train here in these conditions; we are gaining nothing." Her copy answers: "Well, I am gaining piloting skills." and Silas answers, "I am also stuck at military weapons repairs. I will finish it tomorrow, but I doubt it will function properly. It is far beyond my knowledge, and I used all the wrong materials, but somehow, I managed to make it through, and somehow, it passed all the system tests. Even so, I think it¡äs wise to refrain from using those weapons as long as we can." Frank concludes, "No good! Let us meet at the first-floor cafe tonight and change our plans. I also need to update Ramirez about our situation soon, both for the Big Bang information and the Petra magics. And I still have no information about that psynet he used as a way to communicate with his contacts on Metropolis." They all gather for dinner together and discuss, and Frank prepares a cube pizza this time. Silas immensely enjoyed the pizza for the first time. Very happy, he began talking, "Hey guys, I thought I would stop the repairing process until you got the creation magics running. It''s too risky, and the chances are that I will need to do it all over again. So, I plan to revisit all your weapons blueprints and make some improvements. I learned a lot last month, and I think I could do something much better now. What do you guys think? Is there something specific I could improve?" Frank and Petra think almost at the same time and almost the same thing; Petra takes the word: "Yes! Silas, could you please put more energy cells on the Flexoclava? Frank now could reach higher speeds than before, and sometimes I think I could deliver more counterattacks, but we need to wait for the energy cells to replenish." Silas smiled, "Nice catch; I sure will do it, and it will try to improve the Flexoclava performance by a little." Liora starts talking: "For mine, it would be cool to make unlimited shots, but it is not a priority since I knew this kind of thing would be hard to develop, and I managed to use my body''s energy cells to do the same effect if I need to. But for the training issues we just had, is a technological pocket dimension viable?" Silas thinks: "Well, it is possible, but it would take time. For a basic pocket dimension that is safe for training, I think it would take about 80 days or more." Petra remembers: "Guys, I already could open a portal to another universe, but it will take a full day to open and close such portals, and it is wise to do it in a fixed location without distractions. Actually, I did study this heavily. I think I can try to open such portals for up to three different random universes, but only one try each day." Liora warns, "This couldn''t be safe. We''d better land our ship and train on a mountain or something. Why did we not test this before while near Mosh and Vaud?" Petra smiles, "We can do both of those things at any time, Liora. Instead of landing our ship, we could enter the portal and train near Kings Mountain every day while the ship keeps traveling. I just need to put another of those stones on this ship, and it¡äs done." Silas scratches his head, saying, "Vaud said nothing, but he was unhappy; drawing attention to their observatory is no good. Also, I am not sure what the King thinks about all this." Silas straight up and concludes, "On the other hand, we could not lose our precious time. Let¡äs do this. Let us stop our ship tomorrow to try your new magics, Petra. If it does not work, you guys use the portal to train near the mountains every day until we find a better solution." After a brief moment of silence, Petra says, "Well, that seems good to me. Let¡äs do this! In the worst-case scenario, Frank and Liora can still train their dexterity inside the ship." Frank stands up, saying, "Nice. I will visit Ramirez tonight for some guidance. My magic works fine but is not good for everyday communication. Silas, could we already use the network link to contact Rokatrsita somehow?" Silas, also standing up, says, "Yes and no. We could contact anyone bridging through the Spirit City network to the Metropolis network and then Rokatrista, but safety will depend solely on Ramirez''s security. It will take me a little time to develop a better secure device; it would be fast, a couple of days, but it is just another thing to do on my list." Everyone goes to their rooms to rest except for Frank, who goes to the bridge to cast his spell near Lioras''s copy, while the others can see what happens using the telepathic link. Then, using his magic, he goes to Rokatrista bar as a phantom. After appearing in his usual chair after a hiatus, he perceives that the bar is almost empty that night. The patrons there give him a cold sideways glance; there is no sign of Ramirez and his crew. Frank immediately perceives that something is wrong. He sits down for some minutes at his empty table, hopelessly trying to draw minimal attention. When he is sure no outsider is inside the bar, he goes to Tommy and asks, "Hey buddy, is something wrong? I need to reach Ramirez." Tommy answers nothing. He fills a cup for Frank, even though he knows he cannot drink as a phantom, and shakes his head and glares at Frank with one eyebrow raised. "Gotcha, thanks, but I better not drink today. I just remembered something I need to do for a couple of days..." Frank pauses and phantom-grasps the glass on the table, showing three fingers to Tommy, who smiles and says, "Sorry, already spoil that grog, shame. It''s your favorite Daybreaker Liquor; it¡äs five bucks, mate." "Just transferred to your account, buddy. I better get going!" Frank interrupts the spell as Tommy nods to him. Back to the ship, by telepathy, Frank says: "You guys saw all this? We¡äre screwed! Someone fuck up with Ramirez already. I will return in five days in the morning". Petra answers, "Yeah, pretty bad. But what do you think? Is your spell safe? May it be a trap?" Frank comments, "The Vabala says it''s very safe for the mage, but you never know..." Liora answers, "I''m not sure about the trap. Tommy is refraining from talking about anything directly as if someone could be observing. Can you move outside the bar with this magic?" Frank thinks for a while, "I could burn some mana to do it and move around, but it is not very effective, and I am not that powerful. Besides, I think Tommy knew what he was doing." Petra concludes after a brief pause, "We better sleep a night over it. Tomorrow, we will be on our own. Good night, everyone!" Silas answers before sleep, "Good Night!" deciding to prioritize the safe communication device on his list. It would be an excellent complement before Frank ventures onto Rokatrista again.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 52+2 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 21
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 20
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9221(21)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (1/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 51+2 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 43
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8666 (21)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 50+2 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 8
Super-Mana Magnitude 3
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 25
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 3
Spellcasting Magnitude 3
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 32/100 -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5335 (21)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone and spends actions to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portals at will), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between portals is infinite. Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those, but only the mage can modify them. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) ???
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus Mountain. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - with Petra
-
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 50+2 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 24
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 12
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 3
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 53/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5050 (21)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 18 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 39 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 40 research/day
Repair rate 400 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Chapter 20 - The Verse On Me Depends Chapter 20 - The Verse On Me Depends - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG That night, Petra tossed and turned, her mind racing. In the middle of the night, she woke and went to the firing tower under the ship to cool off, sitting in the chair and enjoying the frozen landscapes flashing by as the ship sped along its course, illuminated by the red light of Gate''s sky, which supposedly intensifies daily, a harbinger of a celestial spectacle and a catastrophe on that land. Petra pondered for over an hour, gazing at the thin line of sky defined by the virgin land horizon and the underside of her ship with its faint lights invisible to outside bystanders. Finding no answers to her silent questions, Petra decided not to return to her room and went to talk to Liora on the bridge; if it were a night on Earth, it would be as late as 4 a.m. "Hello, Petra! Can''t sleep? Today will be a busy day!" asked Liora, who, with her copy on a terminal, was exploring something on several terminals filled with colorful images, piquing Petra''s curiosity. "It''s impossible to sleep! I wanted to exchange some ideas with you about magic, but what are you doing?" Petra asked, noticing a series of screens displaying videos and text that, judging by their design, looked like artistic or commercial websites. "We can always chat! Ah yes, about those things," Liora replied, pointing at the terminals, "we''re exploring the open networks of the City of the Dead; in a few days, Silas should re-establish a secure connection to the Metropolis network. We''ll be using new credentials associated with our spiritual bank account," Liora remembers, having recently served as a magic guide for Frank. She asked herself, among all the people in Gate, if she wouldn''t be the worst for this role, and she noticed her copy silently laughing at the situation and rolling her eyes at her with an emoji. "That''s what occurred to me. I understand we have some money, and I thought of using it intelligently. I concluded that it would be a mistake to try to use this complex magic today without any external support. I say this because with the previous magic portals, we all inferred it would be completely safe, and we almost destroyed a mountain in the process. This new magic seems far more dangerous. There are observations in the final annexes about talking to a professor before learning this magic and some additional notes about it being chaotic magic; none of that appears in the other magics of the transportation school," Petra said, pacing from one side to another in the bridge. "That sounds like a wise decision, but what exactly are you thinking?" Liora asked, observing Petra''s troubled expression. "I just sent a message to Mosh through the link to his research material, asking for a reference for a magic guide. I''ve also been using this new City of the Dead network to look for things related to what I''m learning. I found some universities that teach transport magic, but only after a selection process, and all of them are exclusively in person. Even though it¡¯s not possible to go there to learn formally, nothing prevents me from hiring a remote study guide," Petra commented. "Interesting idea, just be careful with the costs of all this. I''ve been looking today for something I''ve always dreamed of having in Suma technology, but it''s ridiculously expensive¡ªmore than 10 times everything I have!" Liora grumbled. "My idea of mapping the new Gate along our path could make us a lot of money!" Liora''s copy interrupted. "Without satellites or adequate scans, we''ll only gain anything if we''re incredibly lucky!" Liora responded to her copy. "Well, I''ve been trying to train our luck for a while now, but somebody never cooperates¡­" the copy mumbled. "That again? It takes less luck to invest in the spirit financial market, especially with Metropolis''s uncontrolled inflation. We can bet on Biggus''s people being incompetent!" Liora grumbled back. "Liora, a spiritual guide for magic would cost about 10 credits per month; it''s a service for students!" Petra commented with a relieved expression. "But what kind of technology are you buying that costs all that money? And what''s this story about inflation?" "I want a technobiological structure device, one of the few cosmotech devices sold on the open market, but the Sumas are joking; I could buy an entire neighborhood in the City of the Dead with that money," Liora commented. "It''s the price of your paranoia!" her copy grumbled. "Yeah! When I save our butts, you''ll thank me! Basically, there are devastating things that affect only technological structures, and this same junk affects oioi. Using this Suma device, when some unfortunate mage uses that kind of thing, it won''t work as it should!" Liora responded to her copy. "But why is it so expensive? Is it made of gold or something?" Petra asked, sitting in the armchair in the middle of the bridge. "If only, but it''s much worse than rarity; it takes a long time to make because it modifies essence and is at the limit of what can be done with technology," Liora replied, already losing hope. "Anyway, I need to figure out how to get one of these before things get really ugly in Metropolis." "So, back to business, Liora, there''s another reason I''m hesitant to learn this magic alone. It seems there''s something wrong with it that we''re not noticing. Through the comlink, I discovered that the City of the Dead subsidizes mages who learn this particular magic, and I need to know why. Seneca was one of the collaborators of the city, from what I read in the records, but after the knights were hunted, he disappeared from the lists; only two people are active today who have this magic on their list of services, and neither of them are accepting apprentices," Petra commented. "There''s definitely something wrong with it; I''d put that aside," Liora concluded, hoping Petra would change her plans. "So, depending on the parameters of the accessed universe, and if the mage grants access to the city, the city hall pays between 2 and 5 million credits, plus a percentage on all services coming from there, whatever this means. If it works out, that would be enough to pay for your device," Petra replied. "Hmmm¡­" Liora mused, her eyes widening. "The idea of millions is obviously sexy, but if that''s the case, it''s certain to cause problems. Speaking of your magic, it reminded me of something; I noticed Vaud was uncomfortable talking about a job Seneca did for the City of the Dead back when they knew each other. I thought it was a bit strange but didn''t ask anything at the time. Perhaps the magic didn''t work as it should have." "Well, I don''t know about that, but I found public manuals and Suma news to try to understand better how everything works. This magic is considered a potential market expansion for them; the terms they use are all very strange. From what I understood, they only pay if the magic''s result meets certain objectives, and it seems to me that this magic is quite random. The chance of connecting to a universe with the parameters of interest is low, so that would explain the price of the payment," Petra recalled from her recent research. "Ah, I guess I''m connecting some pieces. At the beginning of the Seneca Project, it was imagined that your Earth already existed before and was only connected to Gate through this transport magic you''re learning. But we were wrong because we discovered that your Earth was a particular universe accessed with this magic indeed, and Seneca is the mage who cast it. Still, Seneca only created a portal to an empty universe. Your civilization was created with another magic, probably from the creation school. The incorrect hypothesis we considered at the beginning of the project implies that there is a possibility that this transport magic could connect with a new civilization," Liora said, getting excited. "Maybe, Liora, that''s why I''d like to talk to someone before," Petra concluded, getting up from the central chair and going to sit in the scanning chair. "But I don''t think we can wait for Ramirez." "The idea of looking for a guide seems better and better; let''s wait for Mosh to respond to the message you sent early," Liora concluded, looking back at her terminals. "Regarding your question about inflation in Metropolis, that''s not news; Metropolis credits and spirit credits were almost worth the same since always. But Biggus, upon taking office, broke the monetary agreements and had a short period of deflation, followed by uncontrolled and endless inflation. Today, a Metropolis credit is worth less than 10% of what it was before he took office as mayor. I just don''t know if he did this on purpose to worsen the crisis or if he simply doesn''t care." "So, when we re-establish contact with Metropolis, we''ll have a large amount of money when we convert the currencies; that could be interesting!" Petra thought. "Converting the currencies won''t be that simple, and even if we manage to sell the spirit credits while Biggus''s monetary policy is in effect, it would be like throwing money away. In any case, the Paradiso banks could handle the exchange if it''s indispensable," Liora replied, continuing to search her terminals as she spoke. "The way you put it, Liora, it seems like Biggus is always the only culprit. Why did the people of Metropolis stand by and do nothing?" Petra questioned. Liora, startled and a little irritated, stepped away from the terminal again and said, "There''s no way for you to know, but yes, the big mistake the Metropolitans made was giving power to this doomsday ideology; Biggus is just a catalyst for all this." Liora thought for a moment and, with some irony, continued: "And there goes another one of my sweet teenage memories that I''ll share with you. When I was a school student, Biggus was already in power; this was before they discovered that I knew nothing about the old Metropolis, so my life was worth something to the establishment. Back then, I socialized with people who defended various points of view, and most of them were already quite dissatisfied with Biggus, even those who had voted for him. I actively participated in the protests for the return of elections in my last year of science school. It was a massive social movement that managed to get people out of their cubes and had broad support from the municipal guard and even the Metropolitan army. Everything indicated that the time for Biggus to fall had come, or it would be a civil war." "I apologize if I said something stupid. But if it''s as you say, it seems like a rather intense reaction from the people. How did he stay in power?" Petra asked, sinking into the sensor chair. Liora took one of the terminals and sent some video references to Petra. "Well, I''ll send you some sources from that time in case you''re curious to understand other points of view that are different from mine. I was very lucky to get out of those protests alive. When things heated up for Biggus, he received support from a so-called Shadow Militia. People thought they were mostly Shaufi, one of the least numerous species in Gate. Still, the Shaufi themselves knew nothing about this militia, and most of them positioned themselves radically against any association. The militia itself refused all the nicknames attributed to them; they self-identified as Jufei species, which, as far as anyone knows, is an invention of theirs. According to them, they were an evolution of the Shaufi, and the militia self-declared its official name; they became known as the Alphas. All this is a bunch of made-up nonsense; nobody knows who they really were, where they came from, or where they went afterward, but those Alphas were extremely powerful and completely brutal. Many people died during those days of protest. The Alphas supposedly infiltrated and killed all the leaders of the revolution who could represent a danger in only two or three days. Then, they started killing people who continued protesting in the streets at random. The protests ended; otherwise, it would have been an even bigger bloodbath." Petra thought for a moment before asking, "A Shadow Militia from out of nowhere that named themselves Alphas? How is it possible for an army of supporters stronger than the people of Metropolis to appear out of nowhere?" "I have no idea, but they didn''t appear out of nowhere because they were a very well-trained army, and they were probably already operating in the shadows; that''s why they were called a Shadow Militia by the media when they emerged, but it remains a great mystery. Today, it''s rare to find one of the Alphas anywhere; the MBSI, which should protect Metropolis from this kind of thing, has also never commented on it; it''s as if they never existed. Who are these forces that emerge to support Biggus''s ideology? What would their real intentions be? I''ve never had an answer to these questions," Liora lamented. Petra pondered the situation and asked, "But were the Alphas also extermination mages? Because since it''s possible to revive everyone, what was their motive for killing? And aren''t there laws against this?" "Yes, the public prosecutor''s office, family, and friends of those who perished filed lawsuits against the Alphas, but none of them ever went forward," Liora lamented, shrugging. She continued, "It happens that reviving someone doesn''t always work, and only some of the people who were prominent opponents couldn''t be brought back; for the people who could be revived, the city hall explained that the magic had failed and that there was nothing more to be done about it. After Biggus, magic can only be used to revive someone with the city hall''s permission, so what they did was find a way to circumvent the laws and rights of the Old Metropolis. If the protesters were judged solely because of the protests, they would have been acquitted because they had every right to protest. Still, by sending many of them to the Umbra, they managed to silence their voices, and even today, many people are waiting to be revived with no expectation of returning anytime soon." "What an absurdity! But why did things happen this way? Wouldn''t it be simpler for Biggus to dissolve the other powers of Metropolis at once?" Petra conjectured. "By doing it this way, he manages to keep some supporters on a completely fabricated argumentative line; for example, he can say that all the lawsuits against the Alphas were resolved, claiming that it was an efficient and definitive solution to the crisis," Liora could almost not contain her disgust when remembering the incident but continued speaking. "When any injured party comes out publicly to complain, Biggus government machine creates a story that the victim was an important person from the radical opposition and turns everything into an issue of political radicalism, saying that the Alphas didn''t actually kill anyone but rather was the extremists that killed the victim, on their actions to radicalize the society against Biggus." Liora paused briefly to recall, "There are more extreme cases; for example, when someone cannot be revived because they were the target of extermination magic, they invent the story that some radical mage did something to prevent bringing the victim back. Usually, they argue that someone managed to revive the victim beforehand in some hidden place. However, independent investigations by the City of the Dead in the spirits'' field have already refuted all these stories as false¡ªone more reason for the animosity between both cities. In short, Petra, Biggus always reacts more extremely and violently than expected when he''s contradicted, even when confronted with undeniable facts. The number of people who support him falls every year; he wouldn''t win any more elections today, and he knows that very well." "So, is that why Vaud and Mosh supposed that things would get ugly in Metropolis when the Big Bang appears in the sky?" Petra reflected. "Yes, it''ll probably be a problem. On top of everything else, protests are expected again in a few years when Biggus completes another decade in power," Liora said listlessly. "I''m feeling your perplexity, but this time, are there elements that increase the chances of a revolution working?" Petra asked. "More support from the mages, perhaps?" Liora said, winking at Petra with disdain. "Or maybe from other economic sectors of society tired of wasting money. But I have little hope because nobody knows for sure who''s supporting Biggus, nor if there''s any motivation beyond maintaining political power. Everything remains shrouded in mystery," Liora replied, finishing sending the media references to Petra and returning to seek happier topics in the City of the Dead. After a brief silence on the bridge, Petra''s comlink beeped with a new message. "Look! Mosh already replied!" Petra said, reading aloud. "Hello, Petra! I know the ideal person, Amanda. She''s a young professor who guides students from various magic schools; it''s a fairly common and simple service. She just can''t have students from Metropolis after the agreements fell apart a few years ago, but that''s not a problem for you. Your magic teacher can''t be associated with Metropolis either; if that''s the case with your teacher, you''ll have to find another." "Darn! It doesn''t seem there''s an option without a teacher," Liora noted. "Let''s see if there really isn''t, but if I say I''m learning on my own, the same thing might happen as with Frank and Ramirez," Petra thought. "When Frank visited Rocatrista a few days ago, wasn''t Ramirez with some apprentices?" Liora recalled. Petra widened her eyes and nodded affirmatively. "That''s right, and that lawyer, Maria, mentioned a proposal to spend time learning magic in Rocatrista instead of going to Metropolis, but without further details. Hmmm. If I need to name a teacher, could I name Ramirez? Maybe after Silas fixes the secure communicators, I should send a message directly to Maria. I''ll take the opportunity to ask if there aren''t any laws preventing anything." "That sounds like a plan. If you intend to avoid depending on Ramirez, it''s better to check with Amanda before involving more people. From what I understood, the guidance service is just support classes, so you can talk about magic without major commitments," Liora thought, looking at the various screens open in front of her. Petra picked up a terminal and started typing as she spoke. "I''m going to send a message to Amanda and see what happens. I''m just asking what I need to do to hire the services. I''ll say that I learned the first transport magic, and now I''m in a hurry to learn the most complex one, but I''m having trouble contacting my teacher." After a few seconds, the reply arrived, and Petra shared it with Liora. Amanda: "Hello Petra, Mosh just sent me a message explaining that you''re on a trip, but without going into further details. It''s simple, actually; I provide direct support to the students, answering the most common questions. I charge monthly¡ª10 credits for 20 hours per month¡ªand if you need more time, I charge 15 credits for up to 40 hours for the busier months, generally before exams. You said your teacher is having problems, but that doesn''t matter; guarantee that neither you nor your teacher has ties to Metropolis; any other scenario is OK." Liora shook her head, raising her eyebrows. "See! Simple is beautiful." Petra replied, "She sent me the payment link and a small contract referencing a law that prevents having students or teachers from Metropolis. It seems perfectly fine; I can sign it via my comlink, and it''s done. The bank assistant will handle all the payments." Petra typed the message, copying Liora: "Hello Amanda, I''m sending you the signed contract; since we''re in a hurry, I''d like to schedule the first session with you as soon as possible." Amanda immediately replied: "Hello Petra! I''ve already received the notification of your payment. If you like, we can start our first conversation in five minutes, which is just enough time for me to prepare the initial material. It''ll be about the transport school, right?" Petra replied, commenting to Liora and getting up while answering Amanda on the comlink. "Wow! This is the best service in Gate so far! Maybe I should go to my room, but I''ll keep the telepathic connection open." "The City of the Dead is famous for its efficiency. If you need anything, call. Good luck in your first class!" Liora replied, immediately returning to explore the spirits'' internet with her copy.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 54+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 21
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 22
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9222(1)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (1/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 53+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 4
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 45
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8667 (1)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 52+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 8
Super-Mana Magnitude 3
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 26
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 4
Spellcasting Magnitude 3
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 33/100 -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5336 (1)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) ???
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus Mountain. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - with Petra
(va) ???
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 52+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Mana Magnitude 1
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 24
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 12
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Spellcasting Magnitude 1
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 54/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5051 (1)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 24 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 45 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 46 research/day
Repair rate 460 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 9 / 20 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 0 / 20 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Chapter 21 - The Spirits, That I Have Summoned Chapter 21 - The Spirits, That I Have Summoned - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG An excited Petra ran to her room while activating the ambient communicators. Petra''s room resembled a late 19th-century American farmhouse, with replicas of Thomas Cole and Asher Durand illuminating the space with their vibrant colors, in stark contrast to the wall that was an open window, showcasing colossal but darkened landscapes of Gate. Amanda was already on the other end, waiting for the connection. "Hello, Amanda! I''m Petra!" Petra said, still activating the holograms with one hand while waving hello with the other. "Wow! Wonderful images!" Amanda exclaimed, impressed by what she saw. "Did you like them? It''s from the place I was born." Petra finally activated her room communicator, allowing the Amanda hologram to interact with the environment entirely. Amanda had a translucent humanoid form with peculiar, clearly non-human proportions¡ªshorter arms and legs relative to the rest of her body. Her hands had only two tiny, nailless index fingers and a bulbous half-thumb. Her pale, translucent body emanated a soft luminescence. Her face showed many lines, suggesting age, but she had no hair, fur, eyebrows, or any marks indicating she had ever had them. Her hollow eyes radiated a little more light than the rest of her body. Amanda wore a long white coat with elaborate geometric details on the edges and, underneath, loose-fitting trousers. She didn''t appear to be wearing any shoes, and her toeless feet hovered slightly above the ground. "Yes, beautiful colors and lights!" Amanda responded with what seemed like a smile. She continued. "But wow! You have excellent infrastructure in your place! It''ll be quite simple to exchange the teaching materials. So, explain your situation and what you want with the tutoring sessions, and if you can give me a schedule and calendar, I''d appreciate it!" Amanda said, already picking up a terminal on the other side. "Great! I''m learning my second magic from the transport school, and I''ve only been in Gate for a short time; I was revived in Rocatrista and am in the middle of a trip North, and that''s where I met Mosh. Currently, I''m having trouble communicating with someone who could teach me. I need to perform complex magic as soon as possible, so I thought it was better to ask for help. Please excuse me if my questions are too basic," Petra said. "Um? That''s quite atypical. Usually, students have tests and exams before doing anything serious, but no problem. Technically, anyone can perform one or two magics in the first few weeks of intensive study. Which magics do you have in mind?" Amanda asked. "Well, I first learned the Vo magic, and it worked out, but I''ve had a few incidents along the way." Petra smiled bitterly, pressing her shoulder with her hands. "That''s normal; did you end up going somewhere uninvited? These things happen all the time!" Amanda replied calmly. "Not exactly," Petra said, pausing. "Look, I almost brought down a mountain with the portals. I didn''t know they grew so fast and cut through the floor, and when I realized it, it took too long to control the speed. It was my fault; I should have tested it step by step¡­" "Actually, your teacher is responsible," Amanda mused. "But that would be the case in my city! I don''t even know where you are. Is your teacher from that city you mentioned?" "Not a formal teacher. Everything I know about magic comes from Rocatrista and the Northern region. I have excellent material and have proceeded without delay so far. Something happened with my magic contacts from that city who could teach me, but I can''t wait for that to be resolved because I need to use new magic urgently. Is there a problem?" Petra lowered her head, uncomfortable with the situation. "I''ll help as much as I can; don''t worry about that; there''s no problem," Amanda said, realizing the situation might be more complex. "But at least you could tell me what you intend to do with these magics, in general terms?" "Of course. It''s like this: I thought of using the Vo magic to take me and my friends to a safe place to train during the trip to avoid drawing unnecessary attention," Petra paused, noticing Amanda nodding and smiling. Petra then continued, "But we''re being pursued by creatures we don''t fully understand, so I can''t simply teleport near Mosh or another city without putting the people around me at risk, and we''re in a hurry to continue our training. Do you understand the situation?" Amanda was impressed but responded calmly. "Yes, I understand. I suppose you''re traveling in a dangerous place, but regarding the magic you''re learning now, what''s the problem?" "Well, I thought of using the Va magic to open a portal to a new universe, put my Vo magic inside this new universe, and use this combination to get a safe and private place so we can train without drawing attention," Petra said, watching Amanda''s reaction. Amanda frowned, trying to think about the whole idea. She looked at Petra for a while and just blinked. Petra continued, anxious. "I know the Va magic is dangerous, but I''d like to know what I could do. Amanda, for us, time is key, and I don''t want to put other people at risk because of our situation, but if we keep training while traveling inside this ship, then we''ll be the ones running a great risk." "I understand; it''s typical for us to use Vo magic everywhere. I even have a few scattered around the world of the living that I''ll need to relocate someday. But accessing new universes is rather radical. However, the idea is quite valid, and I did something similar with my magic. I''m wondering if there aren''t any flaws in your plan. How exactly do your pursuers manage to find you?" Amanda asked. "They seem to perceive us and travel through the same places where we passed in the past, but they''re a bit slow, so we have a good head start. We know they''re following the exact same path we took, and I''ll assume they can reach all the places we''ve been," Petra reflected. "Okay, in that case, even if you enter a particular universe, after it''s opened with a portal, it becomes part of Gate''s universe, meaning that when your pursuers reach the point where you first entered through the portal, they could potentially enter there if they have the power to do so," Amanda said, massaging her chin. "Wow, I hadn''t thought of that, so my idea is useless?" Petra considered. "Not necessarily. Particular universes can be immense, even larger than Gate. If your pursuers are having trouble reaching you here, they''ll have the same problems in the other universe," Amanda conjectured, continuing after a brief pause. "What you can do is change the enchanted location of the Vo magic inside your particular universe from time to time, but never enchant locations near the entry point of the Va magic. This way, your pursuers will also have to move around inside the particular universe. Because if you stay in the same place inside your universe, they''ll immediately find you, but if you are far enough from any Va or Vo entry points, they''ll also have to move around in the other universe and thus be forced to keep entering and exiting." "Look at that, what an interesting idea! Perhaps we can find a way to move ourselves within the particular universe to complicate our pursuers'' lives further. Or maybe set up traps," Petra thought, getting excited again about the possibilities. Amanda chuckled but reminded her, "There are several things to try out, but as you said, Va magic has many risks. I know only a few mages who actually use it for anything today. I''ve used it myself two or three times since ever, and only for didactic purposes; in my case, my universes are boring. They all came up practically empty." "Yes, I''d like to understand this magic better, so let''s take it step by step. What exactly does it mean to be chaotic magic?" Petra asked. Amanda stopped and pondered for a while before saying, "Ah, I think you''re using Nailia terms, right? That''s not formally chaotic magic, at least not as we Suma name them. It happens that this magic has some mixed components, and its effects cannot be completely controlled, nor do they follow the usual parameters. In specific terms of Va magic, the greater the magnitude of your magic, the more powerful the effects, but that doesn''t help at all in controlling what you''re doing." "That''s right! We use materials from Nailia sources during learning! That means there''s no point in spending more time trying to control the magic''s result better," Petra said, noticing Amanda nodding affirmatively. "Continuing with my questions, does that experimental luck power serve any purpose?" Amanda replied, very impressed, "It''s curious you ask that because it''s not something usual, but it can help reduce the chances that you suffer catastrophic consequences when using this magic. I wouldn''t recommend depending on it; if you have the time and resources to train that power, it''s an option; it won''t hurt. The best precaution is to always perform this magic in the company of helpers and friends because, after finishing opening the portal, someone has to get you out of there if things go wrong. The portal always opens on top of the mage who performed the magic, and nobody knows what could come out of it. To make things worse, the mages used to lose consciousness after performing the magic because of exhaustion." "Understood! Are there any other dangers associated with this magic? Are there any problems with testing? Because there are many observations I read about its limits," Petra asked, remembering the notes in the Vabala. "Ah yes, there are several factors to consider. Each universe you access with this magic becomes part of Gate, and the consequences of this fall upon the mage who performed this magic. The mage must also be responsible for closing the portal once it''s open, and that''s not always trivial. The portal is a colossal circle aligned in the same direction as the local gravity vector, but it''s much larger than other portals from the same school. On one side of this circle is the mage leaning against the hot side of the portal, which is where things enter and exit between the two universes. The cold side of the portal is inert and is on the other face of the circle; if something pushes very hard through the cold side, it simply passes through the portal without changing universes. To open the portal, the mage needs to stay leaning against the hot side for several hours, and there''s no way of knowing what''s in the other universe until the magic is finished; or almost¡ªa few seconds before the portal opens in an explosion of energy, the mage will have some idea of what will come out, but in most cases, common sense prevails¡ªhaving assistants to get the mage out of there as soon as the portal opens because only the mage can close this portal. To do so, the mage will need to touch the cold side for the same amount of time it took to open," Amanda commented. "But then I''d be putting everyone in Gate at risk!" Petra worried. Amanda couldn''t contain a laugh but shook her head. "Don''t exaggerate! At least nothing like that has ever happened, but it''s not advisable to open these portals near a city. And there''s more: unlike almost all other magics that exist, this one gets stronger according to how many times the mage uses it. One theory is that parts of the mage''s subconscious interfere in some way in the selection of universes, always linking it to the person, and this implies that, whether you like the result or not, once a portal to a universe is opened, this universe will be associated with you forever, even if it has nothing inside when you opened the connection," Amanda commented. "Ah, so that''s why they named the universe Seneca 1335," Petra commented, to Amanda''s surprise. "Yes, I imagine you know Seneca; he became famous helping the City of the Dead a long time ago, back in the days of the Old Metropolis. But yes, your example is quite precise. When Seneca was hunted during the New Metropolis era, they found him relatively easily because he was a specialist in this Va magic; he even made some of his universes completely public, never imagining he''d be hunted someday. Whenever Biggus''s people want, they can use one of the many portals to one of his universes and track him from there," Amanda mused, now more pragmatic. "Therefore, Petra, if you start connecting new universes, I advise restricting access to those you trust; you never know what awaits us in the future. In the same way that you can place a Vo portal to your particular universe, any mage can do the same, and the connection that links this new universe to Gate will always be linked to you; it will be part of your essence, meaning that if someone malicious enters your universe and finds the connection point, which is the first place where you performed the Va magic there, this person could reach you through certain powers." "I''m understanding this better now!" Petra looked at her room''s window, pondering the risks and realizing that perhaps they could try to find Seneca in other ways. "Anyway, I also understand that if I''m going to open several universes, the first ones will be weaker, right?" "More or less, Petra. It''s only potentially stronger each time you use it. What matters is that it will never be possible to abandon the connection with a universe, and that''s why there''s a limit on uses according to your current capacity as a mage. The more times you use this magic, the stronger you''ll need to be to do it again, but the components of the universe you''re connecting to won''t necessarily be more potent. Another thing: the random component of this magic is strong, even in the first few times, so you always have to be careful," Amanda advised, already preparing some material on her side. "Okay, I have one last question. I read about an option for the City of the Dead to pay for universes with rational beings; what''s that about? I don''t even know if it''s a rumor," Petra asked uncertainly. "I wouldn''t worry about that; it would be like winning the lottery, but currently, that''s impossible. But yes, if there are rational beings in your universe, as soon as you perform the magic, the spirits'' field near the City of the Dead will be flooded with all the rational beings who once lived and died inside, but currently, the chances of this happening are null," Amanda pulled two volumes from somewhere on her side. The devices didn''t allow Petra to observe the surroundings, but she noticed Amanda brushing dust off the volumes. She continued speaking. "If you stumble upon a universe with rational life, it will be impossible to keep your universe to yourself, so the City of the Dead tries to give some financial support to the mage in this vulnerable situation, but it''s been thousands of years since this happened, and that''s why almost nobody is studying this magic. After the cataclysm, I doubt there''s any universe with rational life left because the timeline is almost always the same. But there is investment in this area. I will give you a sample of what we are talking about right now, and that could draw your attention in the long run. The most substantial part of the money for Mosh''s project comes from trying to understand and explain precisely this¡ªwhy there hasn''t been enough time in the multiverses for life to appear and try to make some projections for the future." "I understand; I''m quite inclined to perform this magic today!" Petra concluded, nodding affirmatively and smiling again. "I noticed you''re in a hurry, so I suggest you rest for a few hours beforehand because you might need to open and close the portal in sequence. I have two volumes of magical theory here to simulate this magic. Let''s use the remaining time from our two weekly hours to do an intensive session and check if you''re really ready; that way, you''ll know what to expect from this magic, as well as what you should coordinate with your assistants¡ªsome tricks on positioning, among other things. Shall we?" "Certainly! Let''s do it!" Petra responded enthusiastically, even after a long night. Petra and Amanda spent a little over an hour simulating the magic. Amanda corrected several details in Petra''s style, but nothing very critical; mostly compliments on how advanced she already was. She sent Petra some notes via the comlink and two complete simulations with over 18 hours of videos of mages performing this magic to demonstrate the entire process¡ªhalf the time to open portals and half to close them. When the time limit was reached, Amanda said goodbye and wished Petra good luck, letting her know she had another class immediately afterward. Now alone, Petra reviewed the new material before resting. To Petra''s surprise, about two hours later, Amanda sent another message via comlink, saying that if she was going to perform the magic today, Amanda would be happy to accompany her remotely, along with one of Petra''s assistants, and wouldn''t charge any extra for this accompaniment. Petra responded affirmatively but insisted on paying for the extra hours. Before going to sleep in the morning, Petra notified everyone that she would be opening the portal at the end of the day after resting and sent Liora information about the most appropriate type of terrain for effect¡ªa ravine with a steep slope so it would be easier for the mage to touch the cold side of the portal to close it afterward without having to be close to the ground. Excited, Petra prepared to sleep and rest. Even before the others woke up, she sent Liora a copy of all the support material and said she would need helpers for the critical moment when the portal opened for the first time. Liora exchanged a few messages with Petra so she could pass on Amanda''s explanations while grumbling to herself, realizing they would be stuck for an entire day for Petra to perform this magic. The day passed atypically, with great anxiety and curiosity, as everyone discovered what Petra had done the previous night to prepare. They read Amanda''s material while Petra slept soundly during the day. A few hours before Petra woke, Liora found the perfect ravine. The ship hovered over the perimeter while Silas and Frank scouted the terrain with the aircar to ensure there was nothing within a few-mile radius. They reviewed the instructions for the assistants, which were actually simple: quickly remove Petra from the location when the portal opened and ensure a safe route if things went wrong. When Petra woke, she was very excited and gathered all the necessary material that had been left next to her bed. When she left her room to have coffee, already carrying a backpack full of things, she found everyone waiting for her. Frank asked, "Petra, are you sure everything''s okay? Aren''t we being hasty? I mean, I liked the idea of contacting Amanda, but wouldn''t it be better to wait a little longer?" "Well, actually, I could have performed this magic a few days ago; maybe I got carried away with the idea of asking Mosh and Amanda for help. I thought the following: it seems that the ship''s camouflage has worked so far, but either we sacrifice it or we stop training for a while. And some other things came to mind last night¡­" Petra replied. "I also think that the idea of contacting Amanda was good, but why such a rush? We could stop here and train on the ground!" Silas commented. "It won''t make any difference performing this magic now or waiting longer, so it''s better to do it now once and for all," Petra concluded. "Silas, from what I talked about yesterday, it seemed that the benefits outweigh the risks; in any case, we''ll stop in this region for a while. I can perform the magic a few times until it works; if it doesn''t work out in the end, we''ll train and then continue our journey." Liora and Frank exchanged worried glances. Frank said, "If it makes no difference to prepare better, then performing your magic beforehand gives us the possibility to train in a safe place and continue our journey immediately with the ship, whereas waiting to do it later doesn''t reduce any risk and will delay us a bit. But that''s not the only issue; opening a passage to a completely unknown universe and knowing that this connection will be permanently linked to you, are you okay with that?" "Yes!" Petra replied resolutely. "The most complicated thing would be an already inhabited universe, but I understand that''s out of the question; otherwise, it would be a portal to a place we couldn''t use. But on the other hand, if it works, we''ll have a safe place; we can even use the new universe as an operation base while the ship continues its journey." After a few moments of reflection, Frank broke the silence, "She''s right! Let''s get on with this!" Everyone followed the meticulous preparation instructions Petra had drawn up. Frank would stay by Petra''s side to take her away if she fell unconscious; Silas would provide support a little further away to move her with his rays in an emergency. Silas would also be the assistant chosen to maintain direct contact with Amanda. Liora would stay in the aircar, observing everything from a distance, on the cold side of the portal, at an intermediate distance between the rest of the group and the ship. As all of them took their positions in the middle of Gate''s eternal and freezing night, an array of sensor and lighting devices spread its light throughout the region. When Amanda contacted Petra shortly before the scheduled time to begin the magic, Petra explained the plan and details to Amanda and introduced her to the others using a group video call. Silas immediately linked the region''s sensors to Amanda''s connection so she could observe in detail what was happening. Petra rested the Vabala monolith on a stone beside her for reference and began the movements as she had practiced, entirely focused. Frank said sarcastically, "For me, it was just a small bar stage, and you''re using a Hollywood super-production. What a sight!" as he observed all the equipment assembled for the magic. "If anything goes wrong, it''s your fault for talking nonsense!" Petra grumbled back. There are several versions of footage for this magic event, recorded from various angles and using different sensors, as Amanda''s unexpected student performs such complex magic. The procedure took hours and required an immense amount of memory for the mage to perform it. Besides the difficulty, everything seemed to work perfectly. Petra even asked Liora to move the Vabala monolith away as she is not using it for anything, as her memory is perfect. After several hours, she sat on the stone floor while maintaining the magic with only one hand and holding her head with the other. Amanda needed to give no help and only offered praise to Petra on how everything was proceeding as planned. Frank commented, observing Petra''s ease with the magic, "Now that''s a professional!" Petra gave Frank a cynical smile and showed him the middle finger before returning to hold her head. Time passed tediously for Silas and Liora, who were observing nothing happening on their sensors. Suddenly, Petra stood up from her makeshift seat and gestured with her hands over an invisible plane. A huge amount of mana threads appeared, rising into the sky in a coordinated mosaic; the portal took shape in front of her in a sinister manner as Petra began to build a colossus eating half of the horizon. The circle of threads emanated a faint light that reached as far as her eyes could see, its lower point touching the ground just above her feet. In a few moments, everything in front of her would become a passage to a universe hitherto unknown. Liora observed from further away the network of faint red and yellow threads growing in size, reaching altitudes tens of times beyond the ravine. She commented via comlink, "It''s been almost eight hours, and so far, we''re fine as nothing on our perimeter reacts to us, but because of the size of this thing, we''ll attract attention across a much greater area." Amanda replied, "Perhaps. The magic creates a mana explosion in the end. These threads will all break at the same time, indicating that both universes have been inexorably linked. We should pay special attention to the after-effects because closing it will take as long as opening it so that it will remain open for hours at that same size." "Team, I''ve initiated the final part of the magic; there''s no turning back now. In a matter of minutes, we''ll know if it worked," Petra warned, still full of energy, to everyone¡¯s surprise. Amanda exchanged messages with Silas, asking about the training they were doing and saying that everything had been going smoothly so far. Silas mentally warned, "Amanda says everything''s okay, and Frank needs to get ready because, in a few seconds, he''ll have to remove Petra from the portal entrance. There could be a violent reaction depending on the environment on the other side; in the videos we saw, that''s what happened¡ªa spatial vacuum in the middle of nowhere sucking everything inside." The final minutes seemed to take longer to pass than the many hours Petra had spent performing the magic. Liora, already uncomfortable, felt a growing fear as she perceived the light becoming more and more intense, in an almost flaming red, and suddenly the heat and energy sensors went off. Liora mentally asked Silas, disguising the fear in her voice, "Silas, is this normal?" to which he replied after a few seconds, "Amanda''s worried! Attention!" When the magic reached its peak, Silas and Petra spoke via telepathic link simultaneously, Petra with a mental voice that somehow came out muffled: "Something went wrong; I feel my blood boiling; let''s get out of here!" Silas said in a hurry over Petra, "Frank, get Petra out of there! Liora, get them both with the aircar! We don''t know what''s coming, but it doesn''t look good!" Petra was wide awake and full of adrenaline; she turned red and instinctively assumed her stone form. Frank grabbed her, and they jumped to the side of the portal just moments before it exploded in an intense red. From inside the portal, a pillar of metal gushed out at an enormous speed, almost horizontal to the ground, part molten and part vapor, at temperatures similar to the interior of a star. The pillar illuminated and devastated all the frozen ground of Gate, spreading into a lake of fire hundreds of miles ahead when the flow lost speed due to turbulence. Liora, seeing this, analyzed the data and was incredulous at the results. Before saying anything, she checked if Frank and Petra were really safe. Even jumping beforehand, both were hit by the metallic vapor that expanded sideways. The metallic lava started exploding in some places like bubbles, spreading around the tube coming from the portal. The explosion of these bubbles hit both of them in the air before they reached a safer distance. Although this hot material had melted the ground near the ravine as if it were made of butter, Petra managed to shield Frank during the jump by deflecting the metallic vapor with part of her stone body. Falling to the ground out of the hot metal reach and at great speed, mentally cursing her bad luck. Petra didn''t seem to be hurt by the molten metal, as she just started peeling off the crust that solidified, covering the left side of her body and ruining her protective clothes. Soon after the metal was removed, her lab coat began to regenerate as if it were nothing. Now, moving at a safe distance from the explosions, both seemed safe. Liora reported the events, dumbfounded: "So, team, uh¡­ what''s coming out of the portal is a high-pressure jet of iron vapor and a liquid alloy of tungsten, osmium, and iridium with a lot of iron still liquefying as it cools. The explosions we observed near the portal that caught you both are the liquid iridium oxidizing in the atmosphere. I don''t know exactly how because the reaction is highly catalyzed; maybe it''s the effect of the strong magical energy emanating from all this material. And the explosions we''re now hearing throughout the region are¡­" Liora paused, forced to observe a cataclysm in front of her. After the sound subsided, she continued. "The distant explosions are the iron reacting with the air. We can also perceive an orange-red lightning and a pyroclastic flow sweeping the horizon a few miles ahead. We also have a huge mass of water vapor evaporating along the entire path of the metal; when this vapor mass moves at high speeds, it also produces lightning, but those flashes are bluer." Everyone listened to Liora while observing what was happening from a safe distance, and they realized that half the sensors had been destroyed. The things on the cold side of the portal suffered much less damage compared to everything else. They were constantly surprised by the ominous sounds of thunder and explosions. Night had turned into day in the entire region, illuminated by various sources of light as the molten metal radiates light and the iron vapor liquefying kept exploding into fireballs. There were also reddish lightning bolts closer to the metal, along with the intense blue lightning of the evaporating snow further away, complementing the apocalyptic scene with a plethora of colors. The group gathered on top of the aircar, hovering beside the ravine. The portal only opened in one direction, making the ravine a safer location. Petra mentally broke the bewilderment, speaking, "What the¡­ Okay, I''m going to start closing this thing, but I can do it alone. I already took a metal bath today¡ªnot pleasant, but nothing I can''t handle!" The day''s surprises were far from over. A roar even louder than all the chaos caused by the portal was suddenly heard before Petra had time to do anything as if coming from space¡ªa sound of such power that moved the wind and made the snow tremble on almost all the mountains in the region, those that weren''t being consumed by the metal gushing from the portal. Tension reigned as the group searched for explanations for that ominous noise. Petra looked at the horizon and perceived something resembling a dragon, already illuminated by the end-of-the-world lights that had spread through the land. Like a missile, the creature berserks toward them. Frank and Petra grab their Flexoclavas and look at each other once again, already knowing what awaits them. Frank says before the storm, "Look on the bright side! After all, your magic really did make a dragon appear!"
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 56+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 21
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 24
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9222(0)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100),You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (1/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 55+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 45
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8667 (0)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 54+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 10
Super-Mana Magnitude 3
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 26
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 4
Spellcasting Magnitude 3
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 33/100 -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5336 (0)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus Mountain. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - with Petra
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage).
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 54+2 / 2
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 24
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 12
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 54/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5051 (0)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 24 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 45 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 46 research/day
Repair rate 460 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 9 / 20 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 0 / 20 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 5/3)
Maneuver: 24+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 5+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 21 + 7
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 100 / 100 78 10 0+4 regen 4/t
War - melee 0+4 1(d12)
War - parry 26+4 26(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Firebreaker 30 / 30 WP 2/2 0 0 12+4 regen 1/t
Fir - melee 12+4 24(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - melee TF2 2+4 24(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - brawl 24+4 24(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 14+4 24(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 12+4 60 X-2 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 2+4 60 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 20 / 20 TP 5/5 0 0 45+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 45+4 225 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 35+7 225 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 25+4 225 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 15+4 225 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 5+4 225 X-2 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 45+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 TP 5/5 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 21+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 21+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 22 - Through The Fire And Metals Chapter 22 - Through The Fire And Metals - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG The Dragon, inexorably flying in its path, approached the vanguard for a definitive attack. Meanwhile, oblivious to what was happening, the portal continued to spew superheated metal, permanently impacting the frozen landscape as a window bleeding a star hearth. At super speed, Liora flooded the communication channels, trying to organize some reaction. In a fraction of a second, before the apocalyptical beast reached Petra and Frank, who bravely tried to position themselves at the front line, Liora, in an overlapped voice, telepathically spoke: "This is far worse than a dragon! It''s an ancient wyrm and a big one. They usually hibernate beneath Gate''s eternal ice, and this one seems to be sleeping since before the cataclysm. We''d better think about how we''re going to escape because one of these alone once brought down an Old Metropolis destroyer. I''ll try to hit it before it gets here." Liora, with no time to think better, immediately fired half a dozen accurate shots at the flying serpent, which didn''t even bother trying to dodge. The antimatter exploded, causing visible damage to its skin, which seemed to be made of stone scales. The creature''s defenses were brutal; any injury it sustained began to regenerate promptly. The serpent, accepting the invitation to a dance of death, changed its trajectory toward Liora. Petra, who had jumped from the aircar to the ravine with Frank, saw this situation and mentally said, "Frank, let''s jump again, but on top of this beast. I''m going to need a little push!" Frank, also using his super speed, replied, "Right, Petra. I''ll try using mana in my blow, and you test without. Let''s jump!" He leaped, carrying Petra to intercept the creature in its trajectory. They jumped with such violence that it caused an avalanche on the other side of the ravine. Like a bullet, Petra and Frank, acting together, intercepted the wyrm in an incredible counterattack. It was as if the creature''s colossal force encountered an insurmountable wall concentrated at the tip of Petra''s Flexoclava, which shattered the serpent''s head, immediately interrupting its trajectory. Frank used Petra''s impact against the enemy to gain even more momentum, positioning himself above the creature, completing a trajectory in a blazing arc, and striking it again on the back of what remained of its head with his Flexoclava¡ªa top-down blow that sent the flying colossus toward the ground, opening a massive crater as if it were a meteor. Those were perfect blows that connected without the creature even attempting to defend itself. Petra and Frank watched incredulously as their opponent on the ground continued to move wildly while they fell toward it. The wyrm, in its impact crater, realized it had received devastating blows; it survived because of its fabulous defenses while its head regenerated in a tangle of bone, stone, and blood that resembled the molten metal continuing to pour from the portal. The creature was visibly injured and had difficulty standing. Reaching a critical situation, the serpent didn''t cower but let out a long scream in a crescendo of fury that shook Petra''s and Frank''s hearts as they fell. There were no signs of fear or restraint from the enemy, even after the heavy blows. On the contrary, the wyrm entered a state of frenzy and didn''t even wait for its opponents to fall. It opened its wings again and charged at Frank and Petra with even more resolve, with no time to worry about its completely shattered head. Silas and Liora watched, surprised by the effectiveness of Frank and Petra''s combined moves and even more impressed that the serpent had resisted and survived. Amanda appeared beside Silas without him noticing how it happened. She said in a very high-pitched voice, "I came here to help Petra, but it seems she doesn''t need help. How is she managing to enter such brutal combat after spending hours performing her magic? She should be exhausted!" Silas now noticed that Amanda was really beside him¡ªa fragile and small-looking figure. He asked, "Did you use magic to teleport here? Maybe we should prepare to escape!" Amanda replied quickly, without taking her eyes off the serpent, "No, no basic transport magic could bring me here. I had to resurrect myself in Gate directly from the City of the Dead, but that doesn''t matter now. I can get all of you out of here if things get complicated, but maybe I was hasty." Frank perceived Amanda through Silas''s eyes and, without wasting time, enchanted her with the telepathy enchantment. She noticed the type of magic being used and thanked him, immediately using the ease of communication. Frank mentally said, "Welcome to the team, Amanda! The situation''s a bit complicated for proper introductions!" Petra: "Thank you for coming to help, Amanda! We hit that beast hard, but this thing is still alive." Liora, her eyes emitting a green light: "Attention, team! The serpent has become much more nervous, faster, and stronger. Careful!" Amanda: "Petra and Frank, I''m going to teleport you to the enemy''s back, using the speed of the fall to your advantage! Get ready!" The wyrm soared at high speed and prepared to receive the two falling prey with its claws. Fire tongues could also be seen gushing from its still-regenerating jaw. But at the moment of the attack that was going to consume Petra and Frank, both disappeared and reappeared immediately on the serpent''s back. Frank landed another blow at maximum power. The serpent reflexively contorted itself; feeling Frank''s impact, it responded with its claws without even seeing what had hit it. But Petra positioned herself in front, deflecting the blow and assimilating all the impact. Everything worked perfectly. However, the creature had colossal strength, and Petra was shot against the ground, opening a long trench in the middle of the rock. Amanda still managed to teleport Petra back to the surface in a horizontal momentum vector, canceling out part of the impact as Petra bounced off the ground. Even so, Petra was injured because the serpent''s immense claws managed to tear her skin. Petra, mentally: "Team, I can take a few more hits from this beast; if things stay like this, I think we''re good!" Liora frantically fired more shots at the creature at her maximum speed, hitting it at various points and causing considerable damage, yet it remained alive. "I''m giving it all! It''s no wonder this destroyed an elite ship. My goodness!" Liora considered changing her strategy; she interrupted her cadence of opportunistic shots and prepared her aim to fire in combination with the other attacks from Frank and Petra. The wounded creature, instead of retreating, continued its blind fury; it let out another scream that echoed throughout the region and charged at Frank, who had just landed near the base of the ravine. The serpent wasted no time on complex strategies and attacked whoever was closest. Frank: "Team, help!" Amanda: "Jump! Quick!" Frank saw the colossal creature grow on all sides; if he jumped, he wouldn''t escape. But Frank took a leap of faith and crouched in preparation for a mighty leap. As soon as his feet left the ground, another crater opened behind him as he jumped. Amanda immediately teleported him some distance above the creature in a diagonal trajectory of impact. In his brief flight, he saw that the ground resembled a Swiss cheese with so many holes, illuminated by the light and heat of the molten metal cataclysm that continued to gush freely from Petra''s portal in the background, producing ominous gigantic shadows as the light sources are near the ground. Petra mentally said, "Amanda, put me between the beast and Frank on the underside!" With no time for a response, Petra disappeared and reappeared in the exact position she had thought of. Silas observed Amanda sweating profusely, completely exhausted from the magic; around her, an immense quantity of lights formed like ethereal fabrics dancing around her. He realizes real physical injuries upon her as Amanda exhausts her fragile body doing her magic. Silas mentally: "Everything okay, Amanda? Did you get hurt?" Amanda: "In short, when we''re in the world of the living, our bodies and mana are the same thing; if I continue like this for much longer, I could kill myself, but I''m still fine. Let''s go!" At that moment, Frank lands another direct hit on the back of the serpent. The enemy is madly furious with its targets popping up from one place to another. As soon as Frank connected his Flexoclava to the monster''s back, ending his diagonal trajectory, the serpent turned against Frank once again, already prepared, with claws and jaws thirsty for blood. Instead of Frank, however, the serpent found only Petra, appearing out of nowhere to deliver an unexpected uppercut as a counterstrike. Liora took advantage of the open guard to fire several shots at the serpent''s chest in sync with Frank and Petra''s blows, making the combination attack even more devastating this time. The wyrm finally fell on its back to the ground, suffering from the coordinated attack of the entire group. But the battle wasn''t over. Due to the massive number of injuries, everyone expected the enemy to be dead, but it wasn''t. Fury ended up consuming the creature completely. The serpent rose from the ground with a sudden start. It exploded as if it were a phoenix, spreading its stone skin throughout the region and rising to the sky again as if it were another creature carrying an expression of insanity. It grew in flames, becoming a skinless silhouette of the once-before wyrm but now composed only of fire and fury. Liora: "It¡äs insane! This thing is much stronger and faster than before. It seems its skin contained its true strength; I only hope that without its armor, it''s also more vulnerable." It was difficult to contain the fear in the face of the fire wyrm''s brutal movements, now increasing in speed. The combat continued at a frenetic pace, hoping that the fire that burned brightest would also extinguish the fastest. Frank considered teleporting to the transfigured creature''s back again, and Amanda made Frank''s wish come true. However, his blow, once accurate, missed the creature, which, despite its colossal size, could now move much more freely and was prepared to answer this trick. It not only dodged but also attacked Frank at the same time. Petra, who was paying attention, managed to interpose herself to deflect the blow, but this time, she could barely defend herself, with the creature''s claws connecting with Petra''s body. Immediately, a blast of fire breath followed before there was any time to react; the blast created a spiral tube of fire that enveloped Petra and hurled her back downward, her body carving a path through solid rock as it dragged her across the ground. If it weren''t for Amanda''s providential teleport to remove her from the inferno of flames created by the monster, she would be dead. Petra appeared beside Amanda and Silas, unconscious, the fire that was burning her now-motionless body extinguished in the snow. Even in critical conditions after that brutal attack, she was still breathing and regenerating. The creature was so fast that it still managed to attack Frank before he hit the ground. Realizing that if Petra weren''t beside him, he wouldn''t withstand any attack like that, Frank tried to deliver a final blow in complete desperation, using his extraordinary willpower to focus on a final strike. He managed to connect his perfect Flexoclava blow to the serpent''s right arm at the same time that a claw of fire ripped him apart. Amanda teleported him before the beast could hit him again and placed him next to Petra. Even receiving only one of the claw blows, Frank is even closer to death than Petra; he is completely knocked out but still alive. The creature suffered Frank''s blow, completely shattering one of its sides. The arm of fire fell to the ground like a lizard''s tail, thrashing wildly and then extinguishing into ashes. Then, another claw emerged from a bubble of fire in its place, regenerating quickly. Still in blind fury, the serpent now turned to Liora in her aircar, the last bastion. "Let''s get out of here, Amanda!" Liora said desperately, realizing the fire wyrm was almost as fast as she was while she continued to fire, hitting her target with shot after shot and causing considerable damage as the beast came closer and closer. Even so, Liora, now alone, couldn''t bring down her opponent but tried to distance herself as much as possible. The serpent, in its fury, accelerated toward Liora, preparing one final blast. Silas: "Amanda, teleport me near Liora so I''m between the serpent and Petra''s portal!" Amanda, realizing Silas''s idea, teleported him close to the combat while she prepared a second portal magic to a safe place, which would take a matter of seconds to open fully. Amanda said, "I''m opening the last portals; you have one more chance before I get everyone out of here!" The wyrm continued to advance toward Liora, keeping its jaws open in fire and fury. Liora used all her speed to buy some distance while continuing to shoot in despair, seeing her end drawing near. Silas took advantage of the fact that the serpent was completely ignoring him as he was out of the combat so far to use all his energy cells at the same time and, with one opportunistic shot, moved the serpent slightly to the side¡ªjust enough to push it inside Petra''s portal against the metal flow, making the danger disappear, at least momentarily. Without wasting any time, Amanda interrupted her portal magic. Instead, she teleported to the cold side of the portal near the ravine, a location relatively safe against the river of molten metal that incessantly gushed. She then opened her fast portal magic on top of Petra''s open portal. Amanda, calmer now, mentally said: "Good idea sending the serpent inside, Silas. This portal I''m making now is one-way; I don''t know if the creature will survive, but assuming it does, it should take some time to figure out how to return here¡ªenough for me to finish opening the portal to an empty place upon Petra¡äs portal." Now relieved, Liora went to where Petra and Frank were to take care of them while mentally asking Amanda, "But doesn''t your portal to other universes take hours?" Amanda: "Yes, but I also have a fast portal inside my universes, as Petra thought of doing. It won''t be the perfect size as it is smaller, but let us see what I can do." Amanda opened the largest Vo portal she could; even without using energy in this magic, her body was already covered with her blood from using several magics in sequence. Even so, her portal was much smaller than Petra''s, covering less than half of the hot side, which continued to pour molten metal, only slightly reducing the ongoing flow. She spoke telepathically, exhausted. It''s 50/50. If the wyrm survives inside and manages to cross the portal back, it might stop here in front of us or enter my portal trap and end up in the middle of nowhere. I made my smaller portal upon Petra¡äs portal in a way that things can only enter it, and nothing leaves." When Liora reached Petra and Frank, she found Petra waking up with a start, trying to figure out where the danger was. Liora said quickly, "Calm down, Petra! The serpent''s gone! Or almost." Petra perceived the situation around her¡ªwith Frank fallen and Liora beside her. Still breathless, she tried to calm herself while her regeneration continued to act on her numerous wounds. She asked, "Did we manage to kill it?" By telepathy, Silas''s reassuring voice: "We don''t know for sure; I threw the thing inside your portal. If it survives this, it will be enjoying a bath of molten metal." Petra smiled in relief while helping Liora take care of Frank, who was in much worse condition, still lying in the snow. After looking at him with her sensors, Liora said, "Frank''s going to need medical attention; let''s take him to the ship!" Petra snapped her fingers, and a small blue portal appeared beside her. She said, "I placed one of my stones on the ship''s cargo door before coming here. You guys can go back with Frank; I''ll stay here to clean up this mess as quickly as possible!" Amanda spoke telepathically, "I''ll stay with you, Petra! But you should rest tonight." Petra: "I appreciate the help, Amanda, but the wyrm could reappear at any moment! I see that you need medical attention, too!" Amanda shook her head. "Petra, don''t forget that I''m not alive like you; my physical body won''t recover on its own, not even with medical devices. A few more magics, and I''ll return to the World of the Dead. I can take care of my wounds to improve my appearance, but it will only be a palliative." While Petra and Amanda went to the ravine with the intention of closing the portal immediately, Silas and Liora put Frank in the aircar. They entered Petra''s portal, which transported them to the ship''s cargo hold. Liora''s copy was already waiting for them with the medical devices prepared. Silas telepathically said: "Well, Amanda, thank you so much for coming. If it weren''t for your help, the result would have been catastrophic! Let''s put the ship in a safer location. Petra, can you keep your portal open while closing the other one?" Petra replied, "Yes, Silas. I''ll leave it open. All these portals open and close like doors that only I can change. If something happens to me now, for example, they would remain open forever; that''s why I enchanted the ship''s cargo door. In an emergency, if you need to get rid of the portal, just rip the door off." Silas responded telepathically while his mind handled several things simultaneously on the ship. "Okay, Frank''s receiving care, and it seems his regeneration has stabilized him. In a matter of minutes, he should regain consciousness. The ship is moving away with camouflage always active, and I''ll send the drone through your blue portal to scan the region while you close your lava river." At that moment, the ship''s drone passed through Petra''s portal and began to hover around the sea of metal that was forming and illuminating the region. Liora interrupted the conversation, returning through the portal with the aircar as fast as she could after leaving Frank on the ship: "Guys, the area affected by the lava is too large for the drone alone; I''ll try to help with the aircar and my sensors." Amanda said, returning to her usual soft voice: "Liora, I''m going to use transport magic to increase your speed substantially. I''ll do the same with the aircar and the drone. It will last about a day, and I won''t be using any additional energy in these magics, so it won''t worsen my physical condition. See if that helps!" Before any response, the speed and maneuverability of all the vehicles increased tens of times. Now, all the devices also responded via the group telepathic link, allowing Silas to control all the movements with extreme precision. Liora realized she was floating inside the aircar. She put her copy on the wheels while testing her new flight capacity outside. After a few seconds, she said, "Wow, Amanda, this is wonderful! At this speed and with this level of control, we''ll be able to cover a much larger perimeter than necessary!" And Amanda responded promptly: "Excellent. Petra will learn all these things someday, and from what I''ve seen, she''ll be much more powerful than I am when that day comes." "I just hope I don''t put anyone else at risk in the process," Petra lamented. She continued. "Silas, take the ship far away. The biggest danger is the wyrm managing to return before I close this thing, and it will remain open for a long time. If that happens, we''ll have to leave here immediately." Teacher and apprentice sat on makeshift stone benches in the ravine, closing the portal¡ªprobably the hottest and most illuminated place in all of Gate at that moment. After long minutes of tension with no sign of the wyrm, Liora and Silas finished mapping the entire expanded affected region and identified no more dangers. Despite the underlying anxiety, the four regrouped in the ravine to plan what to do. Frank is still recovering inside the ship in a restless, marginally rational sleep. He is desperate, trying to wake up, as he still doesn''t fully know what has happened.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 62+2 / 6
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 24
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 25
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9222(0)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (2/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 61+2 / 6
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 49
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8667 (0)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 60+2 / 6
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 10
Super-Mana Magnitude 4
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 28
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 4
Spellcasting Magnitude 4
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 33/100 -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5336 (0)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus Mountain. (vo) Fire-red - Heavy Metal Infinity Universe, near the entry point. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - cargo door of The Unforgettables schrogae ship.
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage).
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 60+2 / 6
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 27
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 12
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 54/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5051 (0)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 25 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 49 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 50 research/day
Repair rate 500 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 9 / 20 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 0 / 20 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 5/3)
Maneuver: 27+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 5+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 24 + 7
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 100 / 100 Umbra: -40 MP 4/4 84 10 0+4 regen 4/t
War - melee 0+4 1(d12)
War - parry 28+4 28(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Firebreaker 30 / 30 Umbra: -20 WP 2/2 MP 2/2 0 0 12+4 regen 2/t
Fir - melee 12+4 27(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - melee TF2 2+4 27(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - brawl 27+4 27(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 17+4 27(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 12+4 60 X-2 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 2+4 60 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 20 / 20 Umbra: -1 TP 5/5 0 0 45+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 49+4 245 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 39+7 245 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 29+4 245 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 19+4 245 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 9+4 245 X-2 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 49+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 Umbra: -1 TP 5/5 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 24+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 24+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 23 - Dreaded Fortune, Irrational and Devoid, Flowing Alway: Part 1 Chapter 23 - Dreaded Fortune, Irrational and Devoid, Flowing Alway: Part 1 - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG "I managed to find where the wyrm came from! It was buried in the middle of a lone mountain a few dozen miles southwest of here. Now there''s nothing left there except a huge hole," Liora commented, continuing to speak as she flew over the region from afar. "There''s a good thing about this: those serpents are territorial creatures, and since the portal is inside the region it controlled, chances are there''s absolutely nothing else around here." Petra and Amanda concentrated on the critical initial moments of the magic to start closing the portal. At the same time, Liora completed a second, even broader, scan of the region before rejoining Petra and Amanda in the ravine. Meanwhile, Frank woke up in a medical bed in his room and received good news via comlink that they had finally managed to get rid of the wyrm. When his body was minimally restored due to his regeneration, he went down to the cargo hold and returned through the portal to join the others; Silas remained on the ship''s bridge, piloting and helping Liora to organize the sensor data. "Hello, team! I just had nightmares about this wyrm while hearing you guys talking telepathically in my dreams. Is there any way for us to find out if it''s really dead inside Petra¡äs universe?" Frank asked, still walking crookedly. "That sounds like a good thing to find out, but we''d need perception school magics to know," Amanda commented, noticing that Frank was still injured. "Frank, are you sure you''re really okay?" Amanda commented while Petra just shook her head, focused on closing the portal. Frank winced in pain, his bones cracking loudly as he was regenerating. "Thank you for your concern, Amanda. I''m just a little tired of almost dying every time I enter a fight." Frank leaned on his legs, unable to breathe enough to speak. He shrugged off the wounds and insisted on talking, "The wyrm, guys¡­ focus..." "Leave the part of perceiving the wyrm to me!" Liora said, landing back from her patrol and striking a hero pose with her temporary flight power. "For now, I haven''t found anything else in the entire region. I discovered that this flying magic immensely enhanced my super speed. I covered an area almost one hundred times larger than planned. But going back to our problem with the wyrm, Frank''s rush makes sense. I had an idea to use the scanning devices pointed inside the portal. Let''s see what I can do." "Liora, I''m going to bring some things from the ship and join you down there; I also have some creative ideas to test. The ship is almost reaching a safe position," Silas said, leaving the bridge and giving instructions to Liora''s copy. While Silas and Liora mentally discussed what to do with their devices, Frank responded to Amanda, who was still looking at him with concern: "I''m fine! I''ve been training my regeneration these past few days, and it''ll be a matter of minutes until I''m brand new. But it''s you who seems to be in terrible condition. Surely some magic could improve that, right Amanda?" Frank stretched again, cracking his shoulders, apparently putting the bones back in place. "Well, most healing magics kill the undead. There are, however, magics from the pollution school that could theoretically drain mana from people or drain life from the environment and convert it into mana, but I haven''t learned that school; I don''t really think it''s very cool to use that kind of thing," Amanda commented, tilting her head back. "There''s a pollution magic school?" Frank asked, impressed. "I didn''t see anything like that on the school lists!" "It''s a naming problem. If you learned under the Nailia tradition, they used the verb ''to wither,'' and in the ancestral tradition, the term is ''defile school.'' Just incredible names for the same thing," Amanda grumbled. "And then they say I get too worked up about mages. Why is that?" Liora said while helping to prepare the devices along with Silas. "Okay, but Amanda, what exactly would that magic do to heal you?" Frank asked curiously. "Despite the name, this magic is quite simple; it drains mana from anything to the mage who casts it. It can drain mana from another mage, for example, but it''s not the most common thing to learn anywhere, much less in the world of the dead, because if used against the Suma, this magic could actually kill us. It''s a controlled teaching school in my city, and it used to be in Metropolis as well," Amanda commented. "I see, but then, theoretically, if something pumps you up with mana, then everything would be okay, right?" Frank asked, having creative ideas. "Uh¡­ yes, I think. Among the Suma, in an emergency, we sometimes share our mana; it would be similar to a blood transfusion among the living," Amanda said while Silas and Liora were utterly focused on their devices. Petra telepathically: "Team, let''s focus on our problem here. If this wyrm is territorial, as Liora said, and assuming it survived inside, it must be trying to come back." Silas: "Yes, the good news is that I managed to get practically all the sensors working with readings from inside the portal; the bad news is that the readings don''t make the slightest sense." Liora: "Amanda, from the sensor readings we have, the gravitational force on the other side of the portal seems a little weaker, and thermodynamics seem quite altered by the magic. Is that possible?" Amanda: "It''s not common, but it is possible. From what I''m observing, all this metallic material coming out of the portal is magical; some effect probably accompanies this magic. I suggest analyzing the metal that''s coming out as well!" Silas said as he began connecting other types of sensors: "Good idea, this will only take a few minutes!" Frank, after reflecting for a moment, said, "Petra''s right about the wyrm; if it returns, Amanda will be our best bet for escaping, but under these conditions, it won''t be possible. I thought of using my mana like we enchanted each other in combat with Amanda to see if it would work. What do you think?" "I appreciate your concern. I could only perform one more magic at maximum power before returning to the World of the Dead in my current condition. If you want to test your idea, I wouldn''t mind. What I do know is that your regeneration power doesn''t work very well if a Suma trains it, but mana transfer doesn''t seem to be a problem." Amanda mused, happy with Frank''s empathy. Without delay, Frank enchanted Amanda one time after another in the same way it was described in the Vabala about how to use mana wildly but repeated times in sequence. This worked sufficiently well; in a matter of minutes, Amanda was completely healed and full of life, as much as an undead could be. "Wow! Thank you so much, Frank; I''m much better now!" Amanda said, genuinely happy with the result. Petra commented, "I have to admit, Frank, your ideas work much better than mine when it comes to magic. And we still have to decide what to do after I close this portal." "Well, team, Silas and I finished the preliminary analyses. It''s all bizarre, but the news seems good. The most important thing is that there''s no sign of the wyrm on the other side!" Liora said mentally. "The flow of molten metal is completely chaotic and moves at an extreme speed; even if the wyrm is alive on the other side, I don''t think it can see anything inside using normal senses." "Well, then we can be a little more at ease, at least!" Petra said, relieved, preparing for a long night in the ravine. Silas said calmly, "And the material coming out of the portal is fascinating. I''m going to take some samples to make technology with it. It happens that this metal will stay hot for a long time; the mana inside decays and transforms into heat, and it''s possible to restore this effect using an electric current. It works like a mana-to-heat battery. According to my calculations, if left scattered around the environment as it is now, the temperature should stabilize slightly below the boiling point of water, with a half-life of mana, let''s say, on the order of tens of trillions of Gate years for half of the magical material to become normal metal." ¡°It''s a good idea to try throwing a Vo portal into this universe to collect this material more easily, right?¡± Petra suggested. "We can do the same as we did with the wyrm," Frank added. "I activate one of your stones with mana, Petra, and Silas throws it inside with his ray!" "Let''s do it!" Silas said, already preparing to send another one of his rays into the portal, now aiming at the edges around the plug that Amanda had created as a contingency with her other portal. "There are still more interesting things about this universe that we''re trying to discover now from the data," Silas said, looking at Liora when Petra interrupted him. "Frank! I remembered something important! Put the dark red pebble inside this portal, not the pink one! Okay?" Petra warned. "Yes, Petra. This one?" Frank asked, holding up the pebble and showing it to Petra before sending it to Silas. Petra nodded affirmatively. "Opening a portal to this universe by mistake would be an unforgettable moment!" Frank thought, laughing to himself telepathically. Petra agreed, smiling. While Silas sent the enchanted pebble into the metal inferno with his ray, Liora continued to speak. "Well, gravity works differently inside, and if I''m not mistaken in my calculations, everything indicates that this new universe is very large, maybe infinite." Petra paused to think and asked, "How in the world did you realize that, Liora? Does any light get through the metal?" To which Liora replied, "Not light. It happens that the immense flows of metal inside never collapse into black holes due to the different gravity, which makes space more rigid in relation to the mass of matter; at least, I think so. But even with this different gravity, all this matter moving in colossal blocks creates gravitational waves with local maxima and minima. In addition to the largest peaks, smaller noises were detected, with smaller gravitational wave crests moving in all directions, as well as a granularity as small as I could detect with my devices. I''m assuming that the smaller crests are a reflection of more distant metal flows in other directions; this pattern suggests a vast universe, or even infinite if the crests are truly infinitesimal." "Wow! So we have an infinite source of molten magical metal; is that right?" Petra exclaimed. "It seems that''s right!" Silas commented after successfully throwing the pebble into the portal. "Now, let''s decide what to do." "Well, I''m going to close this portal, and we''ll get out of here!" Petra concluded. "Or maybe not. Without the wyrm, even with the light and heat spreading, for Gate''s proportions, this effect is encapsulated in this location. We can take advantage of this and stay here for a few days for training. I don''t think anything coexisted with that wyrm; if there had been, with all this activity, it would have certainly already appeared," Liora suggested. After a short silence for thoughts, Amanda spoke. "It''s a risk because, in the middle of Gate''s eternal night, this will attract attention from things far away, so the time we''ll have without visitors will be proportional to the speed of whatever is supposedly arriving. I suggest considering Petra''s idea and trying to access another universe as soon as possible." Everyone was impressed by Amanda''s proposal. Petra said, "I don''t know if it''s a good idea to try this magic again now; I must have the opposite of that luck power for magic." "Let''s do this differently, Petra. I can take you to one of my empty private universes, and you perform your Va magic from inside. I don''t offer my universe for you to train inside for a long time because you''re being pursued, and I use it for my classes," Amanda suggested. "Are you sure about this, Amanda? You''ve already helped us a lot, and if I go in, the Golems could also follow me into your private universe when they get here!" Petra commented. "I know, but I''ll move the entry point later. If the Golems do enter, I''ll stay outside waiting, and from what I understood, this will still take quite a while, right?" Amanda asked. "More than 2000 days. We have a vehicle tracking them," Liora replied. "If you''re going to do this with Petra, I''ll share the Golems'' estimated arrival time via network; we update it automatically." "Well, I''d be comfortable following this plan as soon as possible after Petra finishes closing the portal and rests tonight!" Amanda suggested. "That sounds like a good plan!" Silas replied thoughtfully. "I still need a day to finish the network security device, and then I''ll start other projects, maybe already using this new material." "In four days, I''m going to Rocatrista, and it would be great to use that time to prepare ourselves," Frank commented. "If this place is safe, even if only for a few days, it will be enough until Petra gets access to a more friendly universe." Petra, restless, focused on her magic while listening to the terrain''s devastation from the other side of the portal increase whenever the flow jammed as a larger part solidified along the way. She used telepathy to avoid competing with the noise of the metal storms and explosions: "Team, I agree with this plan, but right now, I''m feeling guilty about putting everyone''s lives at risk. If I had trained better, maybe the result would have been different¡­" "Don''t beat yourself up about it, Petra," Liora replied immediately. "The decisions were collective, and we''re doing everything in a far-from-ideal situation." "We have to learn to play with the cards we have, Petra. I can''t say whether other options wouldn''t have had even worse results," Silas added calmly. "Besides, this metal universe of yours seems like it will be far more useful than it appears right now." Amanda also said mentally, "Things will work out; you need to be patient. As I tell my students, magic isn''t hard science for some reason; not all the elements are under our control." "We''re doing the right thing, and this is far from over," Frank commented, better understanding what it meant to be a mage''s apprentice. Time passes in mental silence, contrasting with the end-of-the-world sounds that insist on altering Gate''s landscape for long hours. Silas, Liora, and Frank went to the top of a nearby taller mountain to better observe the region in case something approached and set up a mobile control post inside the aircar to coordinate the various sensors that had been spread throughout the region. Meanwhile, Petra and Amanda remained beside the portal, chatting animatedly and planning how to make the next portal. From the top of the nearby mountain, Silas and Frank barely needed to use the life support devices to maintain a pleasant temperature. However, from time to time, they smelled a pungent odor of what seemed to be chlorine, and at these moments, the life support devices in their clothing beeped and created an isolated atmosphere around them. Liora noticed what was happening and, with her shiny green eyes, explained: "These are sporadic concentrations of osmium tetroxide. It has a pungent smell and is quite toxic to humans and ebex. However, the reactions with this magical osmium that emits heat aren''t very stable; they only concentrate due to the large quantities of material coming out of the portal. Our devices filter this easily; nothing to worry about." "Nothing to worry about¡­" Frank said, smiling. "This is crazy; a novice mage causing such an impact on the world." "We''re under constant pressure, and in Gate, that means our potential grows much faster, but not necessarily the control," Silas commented, rolling his eyes at Frank. "But even so, Petra''s magic was extraordinary; Amanda even considered helping Petra further with those portal magics." "Do you think this will be a problem?" Frank scratched his head. "I mean, especially a problem for Amanda herself." "Generally, it''s Petra who''s the most paranoid about outsiders. Amanda took a while to perceive the situation; perhaps Mosh spoke well of us or of our idea of finding Seneca. But anyway, she seems to have good motivations, at least. As for it being a problem for her, that will depend on how things heat up in Metropolis," Liora commented, remembering the previous night. "Well, perhaps Amanda has other business here, but I wouldn''t mind if she decided to stay with us for a while," Silas said, stretching his arms to feel the warm air of the environment better. "That would be great!" Frank smiled, feeling the same ambient warmth enveloping him like the heat of a beach¡ªa sensation he was already beginning to forget. The molten metal illuminated the entire region like a sunset. Frank continued, "If this metal comes from an infinite universe, it could be used to transform all of Gate into a much more pleasant place." "Ha, ha! That''s a nice dream. Among many other things that could be done with it, that would be a quick, cheap, and almost permanent way to improve the light and heat city towers," Silas commented with some perplexity. "Sometimes I think about returning to my village and disappearing to some remote place, living a simpler life. But that''s just an illusion¡ªa dangerous illusion." "We could go to a place far from the Golems and build our own city on top of an isolated monolithic plate or maybe even inside one of Petra''s universes. Let''s forget Biggus and Seneca and live peacefully for a few years until the rest of the world catches fire; with a little luck, we''ll stay alive for a long time¡­" Liora provoked, without any conviction in what she was saying. "Maybe, Liora. Since I came here, I''ve started to think that I didn''t live my life on Earth. I burned my time running away from ghosts in conflicts that haunted me but weren''t mine. I took too long, and when I realized it, it was too late," Frank replied, kicking a pebble down the mountain. "What a mess! It''s like sticking your head in a hole and leaving what''s left of the world I was born in at the mercy of a madman like Biggus; it would be fair revenge for the treatment I always had when I was alive." Silas looked at Frank with one eye narrowed, better perceiving Frank''s hesitation to speak more about his past on Earth. He said, "Most of the people revived in Gate, after a while, have a similar feeling. Frank, the ''escape from everything'' card will soon be on the table. If you want to play it, nobody will criticize you." Frank laughed, "Nobody except myself." Frank crossed his arms. "I''ve already played that card, Silas; maybe someone played it for me. But now, that hardly matters. I can make new mistakes, but at least I''ll try not to make the same old ones." "On the day we found the Vabala, maybe you thought a little differently, Frank. What made you change your mind?" Liora asked. Frank paused to remember and shrugged. "I don''t know, Liora. But you''re right; maybe I am finding my place in this crazy world. Or just a less bad place, or maybe, after all, I still have some patriotism left that moves me to try to help my fellow earthlings who have no way of defending themselves. Anyway, I''m with you guys until the end of this." Liora said determinedly, "Today, I would miss you if you left, Frank. But now that the subject has come up, the end of all this means preventing your Earth from disappearing from existence, and that will already be almost impossible. If we succeed, I''ll go after Biggus, but I''ll go alone, and Silas will return to his village to try to help those who survived." "Well, we''ll see when the time comes, but yes, Seneca first," Frank replied, returning to look at the explosions on the horizon. "I don''t even know what''s left of my past, Liora; maybe there''s no place for me to go back to," Silas replied. "But to act against Biggus, let''s proceed with caution; we certainly won''t be alone against a tyrant. In Metropolis, we lived in a bubble; we don''t even understand how he managed to get so many allies." "One thing at a time, but why don''t we all help Silas''s village after we solve Seneca''s problem?" Frank suggested. Silas lowered his eyes and placed a hand on his forehead, saying, "I appreciate the concern, but it''s like this, Frank. We were nomads, and when things got terrible in the village, they sent me and my uncle to one of the Eastern capitals, and then we managed to spend the resources to try our luck in Metropolis. A short time after arriving in Metropolis, we broke all contact with our village, and as soon as I got settled in the city, my uncle returned to the East alone, making me promise that I would never go after him; I should wait for him to find me when it was safe. That was almost five years ago, and nothing so far." "There are no communicators to find out what happened?" Frank asked. "Or magic? I mean, how is this possible?" Silas sat on a stone and began to speak. "So, Frank, after the cataclysm, a large part of the younger population was marginalized, and this wasn''t something that only occurred in New Metropolis." Frank and Liora turned to Silas and listened silently as he continued. "Amidst the chaos, everything began to matter in deciding each person''s role in society, and the ebex were among the first to be set aside from any societal role other than practically that of slaves. The taboo already existed for a long time but was previously veiled. The nomadic ebex villages in the East were formed like this, from ostracized refugees who competed among themselves to get some work in the border regions, but always with insufficient resources for mere subsistence. Thus, we were forced to try to survive with practically nothing. My village had about 20 people and received food from the capital only when it managed to fight some Gate creatures in the big city perimeter." Silas looked up at the sky as if he remembered some pain and continued to talk about his past: "I had an elder sister named Jorgia who managed to leave the village to work as security on a mission paid directly by Metropolis. She wasn''t my blood sister, but she decided to forget her past and live again around the same time I was born, so we effectively grew up together. Jorgia disappeared on a mission after a few months; we never knew what happened." Silas stopped speaking, and everyone felt a profound mental pain through the telepathic magic. Silas closed his eyes as his past came back to haunt him. But this time, he was awake. Liora, noticing something was wrong, asked, "Everything okay, Silas? You don''t need to say anything more." Silas interrupted Liora with a hand gesture, asking them to wait while he lifted his head and began to look at the sky with eyes that seemed like mirrors. He remained silent, listening to the metal sounds for a long time, Liora and Frank joining him.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 65+3 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 26
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 30
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9223(1)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (2/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 64+3 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 2
Super-Energy Magnitude 6
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 55
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8668 (1)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
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Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 63+3 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 12
Super-Mana Magnitude 5
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 30
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 5
Spellcasting Magnitude 5
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 34/100 -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5337 (1)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus Mountain. (vo) Fire-red - Heavy Metal Infinity Universe, near the entry point. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - cargo door of The Unforgettables schrogae ship. (vo) Pale-white - with Petra
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage). (va) - (va) - (va) -
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 63+3 / 3
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 31
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 15
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 56/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5052 (1)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4 (lu) (lu)
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 30 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 60 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 61 research/day
Repair rate 600 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 20 / 20 Research
1st modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 1st circle, +3x internal energy generator 5 / 30 Research
2nd modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 2nd circle, +3x internal energy generator 0 / 50 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 20 / 20 Research
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Petra can free-parry one extra blow against herself every turn, totaling 2 free parries for attacks against her, and one parry against any target committing her action as usual) 10 / 30 Research
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: 2d6+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Frank has a +9 fix damage modifier if he ignites it using mana wildly) 0 / 50 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 5/2)
Maneuver: 31+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 5+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 26 + 10
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 120 / 120 Umbra: -50 MP 5/5 90 10 0+4 regen 5/t
War - melee 0+4 1(d12+1)+5
War - parry 30+4 30(d12+2)+5 X-3 X hit/t
Firebreaker 30 / 30 Umbra: -20 WP 2/2 MP 2/2 0 0 15+4 regen 2/t
Fir - melee 15+4 31(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - melee TF2 5+4 31(d12) X-1 X hit/t
Fir - brawl 31+4 31(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 21+4 31(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 15+4 75 X-2 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 5+4 75 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 20 / 20 Umbra: -1 TP 6/6 0 0 55+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 55+4 275 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 45+7 275 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 35+4 275 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 25+4 275 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 15+4 275 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF6 5+4 275 X-2 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 55+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 Umbra: -1 TP 5/5 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 26+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 26+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 24 - Dreaded Fortune, Irrational and Devoid, Flowing Alway: Part 2 Chapter 24 - Dreaded Fortune, Irrational and Devoid, Flowing Alway: Part 2 - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG Silas watched the lights on the skyline long enough for Frank and Liora to become lost in their own thoughts. Then he spoke again: "The process of controlling people in the Far East involves preventing any knowledge or technology from being taught or commercialized. Before the cataclysm, almost all production was concentrated in the Eastern capitals. In the first years, with everything destroyed, there was a reconstruction effort, whose initial plan was to quickly re-establish production in the centers and then distribute the resources. However, the strategic and political direction of the New Metropolis changed radically as society began to fragment, creating a constant crisis. As soon as it was possible to restructure the productive system, they decided not to distribute any of the resources. Instead, the decision was to rebuild a contingency first and for the New Metropolis only. Like a domino effect, the Eastern capitals also began to replicate this type of policy so that the small villages far from the capitals also ran out of options while the capitals gathered resources. In Gate, it''s insane to try to survive without resources, as you can imagine. Everyone in my village practically only did physical training, and even then, they used primitive and limited techniques, far inferior to what you three train nowadays. On the rare occasions when someone among us proved strong enough, that one was hired to move to some distant place or even invited on a suicide mission to prevent us from getting stronger¡ªsomething I think was my sister''s fate." "I''m sorry about your sister, Silas, but are you sure we shouldn''t be trying to do something right now?" Frank commented. "No, Frank. My uncle and I used the resources my sister sent to the village to escape, but for ebex, trips outside the region are completely forbidden, as is having bank accounts. We can''t have technological credit devices or even use money without permission from the local authorities. Because we used the money on our own in the parallel market, we will have to be careful when returning to the East. My uncle asked me to stay away because he knows that if we''re caught, and if anyone from our village is still alive, upon discovering that we fled to Metropolis, they would probably hunt and freeze not only us but all the survivors as a means of coercion¡ªsomething that commonly happens where I come from." Silas lamented. "You would be hunted just for returning? There''s border control? There are no rights for people? How does this work?" Frank asked. "It''s not possible to register any ebex as citizens in the Eastern cities, much less those who came from nomadic villages. Control works through rewards; they pay mercenaries and militiamen to keep track of the enslaved people and enforce these laws against anyone who tries to escape. There would be a reward if any of them suspected my origin; in fact, there''s no need to prove anything. The mercenaries use cameras and sensors that record their actions, and they''re rewarded after a local police delegate evaluates the material. The militiamen don''t need to use cameras and receive a salary, military training, and some combat equipment; they can do whatever they want, but they''re paid additionally to perform actions previously agreed upon between the local government and the militia leaders. But whatever the case, when they capture a fugitive, there''s no trial with the right to a defense, as would be minimally expected in a civilization, because only those considered citizens have that kind of right. The most incredible thing is that Metropolis subsidizes these rewards for mercenaries, and Biggus''s government considers this as an investment in security. Anyway, in my case, I had a temporary registration in Metropolis without it stating anywhere that I was born in the East; I was registered as if I were a reborn ebex who had forgotten the past, and this registration would expire after my course ended. If I graduated as an engineer, I would be obliged to stay in Metropolis and thus have a permanent record; this was my uncle''s original plan to keep me safe. I ended up leaving the city on my own before I was expelled when the deadline ended because my course was compromised, along with the cancellation of the Seneca Project. Currently, my situation is peculiar because, in addition to the new registration in the City of the Dead, I also have a permanent registration in Paradiso. In that city, they only check fundamental information and register anyone who appears there in person," Silas said in a neutral tone but with almost dried tears falling down his tired face from revisiting his path until now. "That''s unacceptable, Silas. We should be trying to solve your problem before Seneca''s. How is it possible that nobody has done anything!" Frank rebelled, now understanding more about what was happening. He continued, "But why didn''t you say this before, Silas?" Silas replies while shaking his head. "Well... According to the extermination mages'' doctrine, in the Opoje galaxy, the Fthaones are considered superior to the Ebex, and this was used as an ideological justification to separate us from society. Regarding your question about nobody having done anything, the reaction was quite similar to other cases against atrocities of this kind. When this information about subsidizing mercenaries in the East leaked in Metropolis, the Fthaones mobilized against it. They created an association called Flama, which, in addition to positioning itself against the Ebex ostracism in the Far East, raised funds to mobilize people to go to my region to help. Their ultimate goal was to unfreeze all the unconvicted prisoners, which many analysts believed would lead to a revolution across the region. But I never got to know anyone from this organization because, long before I was born, in the first years of Biggus in power, Flama was annihilated; all its members in the field were killed in such a way that they could not be revived. Metropolis publicized that the barbarian tribes of the East never accepted external help and killed everyone who tried to approach¡ªa great and cruel joke. Eastern nomad villages barely had resources to survive, much less access to magics or powers that could prevent someone from being revived. Even in the regional capitals, they freeze people instead of killing to prevent someone from being revived, as it was cheaper than extermination magic and avoided power conflicts with Metropolis. That excuse of barbarian tribes exterminating the Flama members was widely proven false by the Suma and was evidently taken in Metropolis media as just another political controversy between the City of the Spirits and the New Metropolis. What actually happened was that they sent some extermination guildmembers, and probably some Alphas, to do the dirty work along with the local militias to cover up their actions." "So we can''t do anything about this situation? If organizing a revolt would be unfeasible, why don''t we just secretly remove people from there?" Frank rebelled. "We''re doing something, Frank," Liora interrupted. "Frank, unlike the tyrants of our past civilizations, Biggus has been more successful in hiding his intentions and capabilities, and attempts at direct confrontation against him have so far failed. However, something that happened in Seneca bothered him deeply, and I think discovering that will be more effective than attempting any other action. Despite having interesting new resources now, we''ll have to choose only one thing to do because a trip to the Far East would take a very long time," Silas said again in his serene voice. "But it revolts me to know that a lot of innocent people in your region are being hunted." Frank worried. "I think about that all the time, Frank, and also about the people in your world who are being systematically exterminated to hide something. It''s not just a question of who was or wasn''t innocent. Is this the time to judge who we''re trying to help?" Silas questioned. Frank looked at Silas and shook his head in agreement. After a while, he said, "I understand your logic, Silas, and it also seems to me that your uncle''s long silence convinced you that, for now, it''s better to stay away. I either agree that it''s not the time to judge whether the people on Earth were good, but we can''t waste time; it would be great if Petra''s magic worked." Frank turned his eyes to observe Petra and Amanda, far away in the ravine, talking while the portal closing was already advancing to its final stages. Liora interrupted: "I don''t completely agree with the idea of helping random people we did not know, especially in our situation. But I agree that Seneca is the priority now." Before Frank could reply, Petra''s portal stopped gushing metal and suddenly became a tangle of mana threads again. This brought silence back to the severely altered region. Then, after a few seconds, the remains of the portal disintegrated into a shower of illuminated mana threads that fell slowly like snowflakes, exhausting before reaching the ground. The group gathered in the ravine with shared relief, putting aside the discussions on the mountaintop to make way for urgent matters. Petra was exhausted, but she said excitedly: "Wonderful, team! I managed to fix this mess; now I''m ready to try again!" Amanda, who had been talking to Petra and convincing her that she should continue her studies, was clearly satisfied. She said in a measured tone: "That''s the spirit, Petra, but you need a well-rested night''s sleep. Tomorrow, we''ll go to one of my universes to try again, and don''t forget to relax tonight and not think about too many things." "Good, Petra, let''s all go to the ship to hit some pillows!" Frank said, lightheartedly masking the mountain troubles and looking at the colorful and quieter scene around him. "You will definitely leave your mark on Gate. What are we going to call this place? Petra''s Heat Cliffs?" "We''ll call it Here Lies Frank¡äs Valley: The One Who Didn''t Know When to Shut Up!" Petra replied. After a brief exchange of warm greetings, the animated group returned to the ship through Petra''s portal and slept a peaceful night, already prepared for another day of potential surprises. After many hours of sleep, Petra woke up near lunchtime. She followed Amanda''s recommendations to try to rest as much as possible and keep her mind clear. When she left her room, she did her stretches and went straight to the coffee room to have a light snack and prepare for the day. Frank and Amanda also entered the room together, talking animatedly about magic, and found Petra already awake, finishing her meal. "Good morning, Petra! Is everything okay for your new attempt? I''m always eager to see my students'' universes!" Amanda said. "Yes, I did everything exactly as suggested; I''ll just finish this snack here, and in 15 minutes, we will be good to go! Let''s notify the others!" Petra said, already sending a telepathic message for everyone to meet on the bridge. Frank made coffee and offered it to Amanda, reviewing the exact instructions for the assistants with her since he would be beside Petra as before. When the three opened the bridge door, they found Silas and Liora inside, already prepared to leave. Without generating distractions, since it was important for Petra to be totally focused, they departed silently into a portal that Amanda opened to her particular dimension. She warned: "My dimension is a bit boring; the air is a little thin but sufficiently adequate for humans, and gravity is much lower. It''s a planet about half the size of Earth, floating in the middle of nothing." The group entered the portal and noticed some luminous points coming from Amanda''s technology devices that had been left there, already with heavy dust on top. Otherwise, a completely dark gray plain without stars could be perceived. There are active network connectors in this universe to the City of the Spirits, which excites Silas upon realizing the potential of a particular universe of that type. Without further ado, Petra reviewed the steps with Amanda and began to perform her magic again. Time passed with much less stress until the moment when the mana thread portal formed, but this time, the threads were all white and light blue. Just before the portal opened, Petra felt a chill, and immediately afterward, the threads broke but without exploding. This time, a light gust of cold air came out of Petra''s portal for a few moments while Frank was already prepared to jump to the side. But the wind gradually lost intensity while the portal remained open, making a sound similar to a deflating balloon. Frank looked at Petra almost disappointedly, shrugging his shoulders. He said, "This time, instead of dragons, we have a deflating balloon." Petra just rolled her eyes and ignored him. Silas and Liora, using the sensors, announced: "Team! Our sensors are getting a visual return from inside the new universe. There''s a distant ultraviolet light source; it looks like a giant granite plane on the ground. The air is breathable but has too much oxygen, so things could catch fire more easily inside. And gravity is higher than on Earth. The temperature varies a bit but is always above the water''s freezing point. It seems to be a relatively safe place to enter." With great excitement, Petra entered the gigantic portal, followed by Amanda and Frank, and then the others followed with the sensors. Petra and Frank felt fine inside, but everyone else had great difficulty moving around because of the gravity, though nothing extreme enough to injure them. After some time analyzing the data from the various sensors, Silas said, visibly animated: "This reminds me of my ebex resistance training; it''s difficult to walk in here, but I have good news: we''re relatively near one of this universe''s edges. It''s an ellipsoid cut by a stone plane whose major diameter is about 40 light-years and whose minor diameter is about 25. The closer to its centers, the greater the gravity. Therefore, if we move toward the edges, we''ll eventually reach a gravity more similar to Gate''s. And the air in here is abundant but quite concentrated near the ground; mixing with the air from Amanda''s universe ended up creating an air bubble similar to Gate''s near the portal." Amanda cast some magic that made her sweat quite a bit due to the high mana consumption and commented: "I''ve just activated an enchantment to identify magic effects with my senses. This is an excellent universe! The edges of your universe, Petra, are what we call ejectors; when something approaches one of the edges with considerable force, it''s ejected out of this universe and will appear near the last open connection point¡ªthat is, the location where you performed your Va magic. So, in the future, I ask that you cast that magic again in Gate to prevent anything from falling into my universe unintentionally." "Ah, yes, I''m sorry about that. If I understand correctly, anything that breaks one of the edges in here will end up in your particular universe," Petra replied, still marveling at the purple luminosity throughout the environment. "I''ll make another portal from Gate tomorrow, Amanda!" "No, no! Don''t rush! You can do that in a few years, Petra, when you find a suitable place, maybe even inside another of your universes. I was just saying this to avoid any accidents in case something falls into my universe unintentionally," Amanda warned, her voice full of experience. "By the way, can I stay with you on the ship for a few days? I intend to relocate three of my Vo portals in the world of the living before returning to my city." "Of course, Amanda! You can stay as long as you want. If you need any help with transportation, you can let us know; if we can, we''ll help!" Liora replied promptly. "Thank you, Liora, but it won''t be necessary. I''ll enter through my Vo portals. I intend to relocate them, and I will do everything directly from the destination. I don''t want to interrupt your objectives, which are quite urgent. What I need is access to the City of the Dead''s internet while I''m on the ship because I''ll be back with my teachings tomorrow," Amanda explained, still observing with her active magic if there was anything else in Petra''s new universe that was different from usual. "You can use it as much as you want, Amanda; the network''s security level is quite high already," Silas interrupted. "Amanda, you''ll always be welcome on our ship!" Frank said. "I''d actually be delighted to have a magic teacher with us." Amanda thanked them with a strange Suma smile and warned: "I also found your ship quite interesting. I''m grateful, but I intend to return to the World of the Dead soon and stay there for a good while. However, get my contact information with Petra, and I can give you some extra tutoring remote sessions if you need them." "Certainly, I''ll do that, Amanda. Thank you!" Frank replied politely. Meanwhile, Petra took one of her stones and handed it to Frank, asking him to run closer to one of the edges where the gravity was lower. Amanda also enchanted him with her flight magic so he could move more quickly. Without delay, Frank took the stone and set off at an incredible speed toward one of the edges, saying, "Wow, I''ve never felt so fast; I''m going to take advantage of this to test this ground!" He then took leaps forward that functioned like explosions, lifting parts of the ground in a cadence of colossal explosions. "He''s fast, but he won''t go far; he''s much slower than the speed of light. Gravity is now at 1.620 G, and if he continues his little jumps at maximum speed, he should reach a gravity of 1.618 G," Liora informed. She added, "Even so, it will be far enough from our current entry point." "This place is quite interesting; I think I''ll assemble a simple structure that is more solid than the ground to serve as support when I have time," Silas said, already thinking about what to do. It would be another idea to set up a technology lab here; that way, if something happens to the ship, we''ll have a nice contingency. The group was thrilled with the various possibilities of Petra''s new universe. After the long hours needed for the portal to close, everyone returned to the ship in the middle of the night. Frank, this time, returned particularly tired but quite excited about the day''s exercise. Three days passed on the ship with Amanda working on her classes almost non-stop, sporadically appearing in the caf¨¦ and on the bridge to stretch her tiny legs and grumble about how they ached in the world of the living after spending the whole day floating, giving classes. Despite the woes of a physical body, she still hadn''t decided when she would return to her city, and then the day arrived when Frank was to return to Rocatrista. This time, he asked everyone to accompany him on the bridge since it wasn''t known what could happen, and if necessary, someone could wake him up and interrupt the magic in an emergency. At the time Frank scheduled, Amanda was the only one in her room because she was in the middle of a class, but she asked to be called in case of emergencies. She calmed Frank, saying that the communication magic was relatively safe, and warned that few magics could be performed remotely. She suggested that if something strange was detected, all they needed to do was interrupt the Lo magic by waking him up with a slap, and Frank would be safe on the ship. Frank spent an anxious morning not knowing what had happened with Ramirez. At the scheduled time, everyone waited in their places on the bridge. Finally, Frank said, "Okay, team, it''s time to return to Rocatrista. Let''s resolve this once and for all!" as he cast his magic once again, prepared to return to his captive spot at Tommy''s Bar, but this time at an unusual hour.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 69+4 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 30
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 30
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9227(4)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (2/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 68+4 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Energy Magnitude 8
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 56
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8672 (4)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 67+4 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 13
Super-Mana Magnitude 6
Super-Strength Magnitude 2
Super-Resistance Magnitude 30
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 5
Super-Constitution Magnitude 6
Spellcasting Magnitude 5
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 38/100 -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5341 (4)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus Mountain. (vo) Fire-red - Heavy Metal Infinity Universe, near the entry point. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - cargo door of The Unforgettables schrogae ship. (vo) Pale-white - Ellipsoid Dojo, 250.000 miles from the entry point, near the closest border.
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage). (va) Ellipsoid Dojo, Magnitude 2: An ellipsoid with 42 light-years primary diameter (x 35 x 35 light-years minor diameters) composed of solid stone and air, temperatures near water freezing, and a respirable air atmosphere rich in Oxygen. The gravity varies between ~30g at the central axis and near zero at the extreme borders. The universe is closed and has expelling walls, which means that anything that causes 2 or more damage at its borders is expelled to the outside of the universe at a random location near the last entry point. The floor is made of a solid granite layer over solid compressed graffiti, with a solid structural lower border under the stone that supports up to 20.000 damage to expel things like the surface air border. 1st roll: 12: "Stone, simple shapes and solid universe." 2nd roll result: +4 "single success, no extraordinary effect." 3rd roll: 11 "Universe is larger than usual, has a few security improvements and only small quirks." (va) - (va) - (va) -
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 67+4 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 35
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 15
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 60/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5056 (4)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4 (lu) (lu)
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 30 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 60 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 61 research/day
Repair rate 600 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 20 / 20 Research
1st modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 1st circle, +3x internal energy generator 30 / 30 Research
2nd modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 2nd circle, +3x internal energy generator 50 / 50 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 20 / 20 Research
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Petra can free-parry one extra blow against herself every turn, totaling 2 free parries for attacks against her, and one parry against any target committing her action as usual) 30 / 30 Research
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: 2d6+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Frank has a +9 fix damage modifier if he ignites it using mana wildly) 50 / 50 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 5/2)
Maneuver: 35+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 5+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 30 + 10
Feats of strength: lift ~34 billion tons on Earth''s gravity, could easily bare-hand redirect a 100 miles-wide mineral asteroid (condition: Firebreaker and a solid anchor point to apply the force)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 130 / 130 Umbra: -60 MP 6/6 90 10 0+4 regen 6/t
War - melee 0+4 2(d12+1)+5
War - parry 30+4 30(d12+2)+5 X-3 X hit/t
Firebreaker 30 / 30 Umbra: -20 WP 2/2 MP 2/2 0 0 15+4 regen 2/t
Fir - melee 15+4 35(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - melee TF2 5+4 35(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - brawl 35+4 35(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 25+4 35(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 15+4 75 X-2 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 5+4 75 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 30 / 30 Umbra: -1 TP 8/8 0 0 56+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 56+4 280 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 46+7 280 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 36+4 280 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 26+4 280 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 16+4 280 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF6 6+4 280 X-2 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 56+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 Umbra: -1 TP 5/5 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 26+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 26+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 25 - Gazeless Stare Chapter 25 - Gazeless Stare - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG Frank revisited Rocatrista''s bar early in the morning, appearing in his usual chair. He noticed that the bar was closed and without customers. A few rays of light from the city heat tower struggled to pass through the grimy glass behind the old, torn curtains. It was possible to hear the urban noises of a lively city outside. Inside the bar, Frank observed Ramirez sleeping soundly in the chair in front of him while Tommy cleaned and organized the remnants of the previous night; he didn''t take his eyes off Frank while smiling silently, noticing Frank''s unease. "Ramirez!" Frank said in a powerful voice, but without any effect. The magic man snored deeply. Frank stood up and approached Ramirez''s ear in a sung voice, almost shouting, "Good morning!" At that moment, Ramirez''s voice seemed to speak from behind Frank. "Frank, you''re such a fiasco. Do you really think I ever sleep at a bar table? I bet on you and just lost 10 Paradiso credits; what crap!" At that moment, Tommy pocketed two cash cards that were lying on the counter. Frank jumped and turned around, irritated. "You ain¡¯t worth the spit on a hot skillet! I was worried about you, and you gave me a scare; I even thought it would be some kind of trap!" However, he saw nothing where the sound came from. "Who''s going to care about an ugly drunkard and a failed ghost in a city at the end of the world, Frank? If it''s a trap, even I don''t know about that. But we have some cans of worms to open if you want to help," Ramirez''s voice said, echoing along the sounds of the day. Frank could hear a breathing sound coming from nowhere, right in front of him. "Very clever, Ramirez. You become invisible, watching people curse you behind your back. Your magic illusion even snores; it''s impressive!" Frank commented. "And if some asshole messes with sleepy Ramirez, he simply disappears while the real one escapes invisibly," Ramirez laughed, while Tommy shook his head in agreement. "Okay, let''s get down to business. What kind of help are you talking about? Does it have anything to do with you teaching magic to humans, circumventing Biggus''s rules, by any chance?" Frank asked. "Frank, better than the magic power of invisibility is the power of social invisibility; it would never occur to Biggus''s people that someone from here could learn or teach magic. They''re so bogged down in their arrogance that they can''t breathe outside their bubble, and my people in Metropolis are very relaxed about us teaching magics. Actually, I''m expecting one of them today; they''ll appear soon," Ramirez commented. "Great to know because in addition to the dirt we uncovered in Northern Valley, now we also know that the cataclysm was actually a Big Bang, and in a few years, Gate''s sky will become a permanent Fourth of July," Frank commented, uneasily looking at the void where the sound was coming from. "What the hell are you saying, kid?" Ramirez exclaimed. "Where have you guys been wandering in Gate''s Disneyland? I''ve never seen anyone so lucky¡ªthe Vabala, then Biggus''s dirty secrets out in the open, and now this bizarre information. And what exactly is going to happen in the sky? This smells like trouble!" "That''s right, Ramirez. You have no idea how lucky we are!" Frank said ironically. "But actually, I didn''t quite understand the Big Bang stuff; we encountered astronomers along the way, and they explained that a new multiverse was born, and we''ll perceive this soon enough. In the sky, it will be only light. The danger will come from Biggus''s reaction because his doomsday story will fall apart," Frank said, shrugging. "Exactly!" Frank heard the steps of an invisible Ramirez walking quickly in front of him, impatient. "Just what we needed ¡ª keep stacking problems like pancakes!" "You''re not really in the mood to appear for real, are you?" Frank asked, a little uncomfortable. "But no problem; anyway, we have all the data ready to send. Let''s transfer it using a secure connection through the City of the Spirits¡¯ technology network; it''s better not to use your professional contact that Liora already has, right?" "My beauty would blind you, Frank!" Ramirez laughed in an entirely different and feminine voice that confused the nano-translator; it was impossible to know if he was joking or not. And then he returned to his usual tone. "After things cool down, I''ll appear, but yes. Tommy! Please send Liora a safe contact so they can send the data." Ramirez paused to think while Tommy stopped cleaning the bar to access the terminal near the cash register. Ramirez continued speaking. "Wait a minute; did I hear correctly? City of the Spirits network? How the hell did you manage that?" Liora received a message from Ramirez''s old contact almost immediately; she telepathically warned Frank about it while continuing to listen attentively to what was happening. "We helped the astronomers, and they helped us back; simple as that!" Frank replied. "But what happened the last time I was here?" Tommy, who had been silent until then, said while typing messages with Liora, "There was a large Metropolis delegation passing through here with some Alphas questioning people and using strange powers; they were in a big hurry and had already left." "Strange powers? Even stranger than the ones I''ve already seen?" Frank asked, lost. "Yes, mental powers," Ramirez said, his invisible voice now approaching the chair where his image was sleeping soundly and immediately waking up with a start. "Or psionic powers, also called shadow powers; choose the name you like best. They are super discreet¡ªimpossible to detect¡ªand if you''re not careful, they can be quite inconvenient. That''s why Tommy avoided talking to you last time. With these powers, it''s possible to follow people without them noticing for a while, and they could have been using that kind of thing on the people here." Frank mentally asked, "Any ideas, team?" Liora: "Almost nothing. I''d heard about this a long time ago, but without paying much attention, I thought they were just rumors." Silas: "I heard about someone from one of the neighboring villages who knew how to use that kind of thing. By that time, I taught it to be some kind of physical ability." "But what the hell did they come here to do? And why would they follow people from here in this way?" Frank asked. "One of Biggus''s sons is the leader of the delegation; his name is Kuj''Ememet. Those bastards came here to hunt knights. They comb the region to ensure security and also try to gather information about where the knights they''re looking for might be," Ramirez commented, now apparently materialized, going to the bar to open a bottle of wine. "Great! So Biggus''s son is coming after Seneca now?" Frank commented with irony and perplexity. "Maybe; that would be something to ask my contact in Metropolis, who should be arriving any minute," Ramirez said, settling into a table. "We¡¯ve got some time, so let¡¯s cut to it, Frank. What else do you want to talk about?" Frank sat down at the table and said, "There are several things. I was going to ask you what the best channels would be to eventually disseminate the Big Bang data and also to know if you could help us learn magic properly." Ramirez interrupted. "For the data, the best thing is to use the psynet. About magic, you guys seem to be doing well; I can share my infinite wisdom through the same contact that Tommy sent. My first classes with your Earth people are going to start heating up in 3, maybe 4 years, and then you guys can join us. People learn magic enjoying a little more time than you guys; it seems that it''s good for health not to rush so much." "Yeah, as if we had options," Frank grumbled, changing the subject. "Psynet? Does it have anything to do with the psionics you mentioned a little while ago, by any chance? We didn''t find much about it besides information noise because the name is quite common. So, what the hell is it?" Ramirez laughed while replying, "This time, you got it right! One way to keep something hidden is to use relatively common names. The psynet I''m referring to is a mental internet used only by psionics. However, it doesn''t use technology; it''s rare and complicated to enter, and the people who use it don''t share any information. It''s also kind of dangerous; you actually enter the psynet, and if someone kills you in the psynet, you die for real in Gate, among many other unfortunate things that can happen." "But how do you have access to this? You just told me that the Alphas use that kind of thing. How can this crap be a good idea?" Frank scratched his head. "I don''t use it, but I have a friend in Paradiso who knows how," Ramirez smiled. "Because this friend of mine is an Alpha who died on a mission, and by playing dead, he managed to outsmart Biggus''s people; I even accompanied him disguised at his own wake. Anyway, it''s a type of power almost opposite to what you learn by rubbing yourselves against Gate''s strange things like you guys are doing. In terms of essence, it must be impossible to learn that kind of thing if you''re near a monolith, and almost nobody around here knows how to use it," Ramirez explained calmly, taking the first glass of wine. "You''re friends with a traitorous Alpha? And you''re using these rare powers against Biggus himself? Where could this go wrong?" Frank asked with a mix of sarcasm and surprise. "Biggus is a specialist in extermination magics; what do you think he would do with traitors? This friend of mine has been living peacefully in Paradiso for years. If the information leaked in any way, I think we''d know very quickly," Ramirez said, turning the glass. "But let''s speak a little lower about this stuff. This contact of mine who''s about to arrive doesn''t know anything about this, and I think he''d never forgive an Alpha, even if it''s a traitor." Frank mentally said, "So, team? Every time I talk to Ramirez, more people get involved in this mess." Petra: "If you go out in the rain, you get wet, Frank." Liora: "For Ramirez to get his business going in Rocatrista, he needs to know a lot of not-so-nice people." Silas: "Frank, despite the risk, I think Ramirez is right. Let''s see what happens." Liora: "Frank, about the data, it''s organized into two repositories. I''ve released access to it and noticed that Tommy just downloaded a local copy of everything. I''m going to close the connections now." "Ramirez, all our data is now with you. If you think the psynet is a good idea, then let''s go ahead," Frank said, literally sinking a little into the chair. "Can you tell me a little more about your contact before he arrives? So I don''t say anything stupid." Ramirez relived his memories of a happier past; his voice and style changed so much that it almost seemed like another person when he spoke. "Certainly, Frank. His name is famous: Chester Desdalla; he''s a cultural polymath and a public figure; he was born in Old Metropolis and escaped the cataclysm with his entire creative team, as well as some of his viewers, because when the tragedy struck Gate, they were all performing inside a monolith south of Metropolis," Ramirez observed Frank leaning in with interest. He continued. "Chester''s father was human, and his name is Salvador. If I remember correctly, he lived in the United States for a few years. Here in Gate, Salvador was one of the early Paradiso mayors, but he''s retired from politics for more than a millennium. It was he who gave human names to all the things here in the Northern region that are used by the nano-translators, and this includes this legendary bar." Tommy smiled from behind the counter at the reference, now entertained with the data that Liora had just sent. "Look at that! I wondered if it was the nano-translators inventing these names to make me remember Texas, but now I''m realizing what happened," Frank smiled, excited. "Continue, Ramirez, please!" Ramirez continued, hastily speaking: "That''s right. Chester creates plays, dance performances, and paintings with free and mind-blowing themes beyond the senses and the line that separates reality from dreams¡ªa thin line in Gate. He subtly challenges the system with creative beauty. Unsurprisingly, Biggus considers Chester''s art degenerate, trying in his speeches to prove the inferiority of humans, always failing and falling into contradictions and embarrassing himself before the public. When he realized it would be useless to try to prove his point with flawed arguments, Biggus stepped away from the subject and isolated Chester in a ghetto in the human district of New Metropolis. This way, he avoided disappearing with what many people see as a hero." "But Ramirez, from what I heard about Biggus, it''s impressive that this Chester stayed alive in Metropolis! How did he manage it?" Frank exclaimed. "Chester''s been on the road for a long time and has admirers within society, even among Biggus''s supporters. He continues producing, but none of his creations are released to the public except in a closed underground circuit. He lives in Metropolis under Enforced Silence, meaning he''s forbidden from expressing himself at the risk of being expelled from the city. There were several artists under this regime a few years ago; currently, there are only half a dozen of them still fighting; the others were either killed or left the city," Ramirez commented. "Interesting. So Chester is your contact in the human district of Metropolis?" Frank asked. "That''s one of my contacts! When I mentioned your situation, he wanted to come here and talk to you in person," Ramirez replied, interrupted by the old bar door being pushed open. A bizarre figure, barely human, over eight feet tall, entered the bar, wearing what looked like a wool t-shirt and bell-bottom jeans, cowboy boots, and a slender waist. The rest of his body, otherwise, was a powerhouse of overwhelming muscular bulk. He had a youthful face, beardless, with an enormous square jaw, black circular eyebrows adorning his wide, lively eyes, and hair parted in the middle, slicked sideways with gel, forming two tufts that looked more like long, thick black strands that didn''t drag on the ground because the tips were slightly curled. "Speaking of the devil¡­" Ramirez said, standing up to greet his friend with a mighty hug. Frank stood up and remained slightly behind. "I''ve missed seeing your ugly mug!" Chester replied, lifting the magic man in the air. "But let''s get down to business; I have admirers on my tail; we have about 15 minutes or less." Ramirez settled on the floor, looking at Frank. "So, this is the ghost who you told me about?" He extended a hand to greet Frank. Frank answers Chester with an ethereal greeting. Ramirez made the introductions: "Yes, this is Frank, and the other human is listening to us via magic. Let''s sit down at the table and talk quickly; I''ll activate the security." Ramirez cast some magic, his eyes emitting multicolored light. He immediately said in a more serious voice, "I''m sensing two people behind you, Chester, probably Alphas. They''ll be here in a couple of minutes." Chester sat down in a chair, cracking his neck and leaning towards Frank. "Being a star is hard. Frank, I actually want to ask you a favor. Ramirez told me you''re after Seneca. He might be in a place called Cernutos Tower; it''s a horn-shaped structural monolith. Only its tip should break the surface; it should appear as an isolated mountain with extremely steep sides." Liora mentally sent Mosh''s updated map to Frank and said, "That name is listed as the next monolith on the Tempus route after the King''s Mountain." Liora estimated they were about 80 days away if they maintained their current speed. Frank, after a brief pause for a mental conference, said, "Yes, Chester, it''s one of the monoliths on the Tempus route. What''s the favor?" "First, I''ll explain what we know. These monoliths on the Tempus route have some relation to bringing people back to life. If they''re open, it''s possible to enter and find interesting things. I simply want to know if it''s open or not. I can''t go myself, or my Alphaparazis would come along," Chester said hurriedly. "Okay, and how do we know if it''s open? We get there and see if we could enter?" Frank asked. "Almost. You have to climb to the top and dig through the dust that''s accumulated there until you reach the solid monolith. You''ll find a circular hole about the size of this bar. If it''s open, there will be a side passage to enter inside the wall of this hole; if it''s closed, you''ll find a door that looks like vines made of monolithic stone." "Okay, sounds good! Do you want me to use communication magic or secure connections to talk directly, Chester?" Frank asked. "No, that would be risky for all of us. Ramirez''s advanced magic makes it much safer to talk, so use it when you get the info. There''s a Metropolis delegation in the Northern region that could be a problem for you, and I also need to warn you about something important regarding Seneca," Chester said hurriedly. "Understood!" Frank said quickly, bowing slightly to Chester. "Biggus is seriously considering holding elections soon. He removed Kuj from the city to prevent issues in the campaign, as his son is the iron fist leading the Alphas behind the scenes. If Kuj successfully decapitates some knights, it will help him gain votes. The delegation is after a Vood''Gum couple from the Sixth House who''ve been holed up in a mountain northwest of here since the cataclysm, and it seems they''re also after Beni." "Okay, they''re not after Seneca?" Frank asked. "That¡äs the thing I want to talk to you about, Seneca. They might send someone to pressure him, but it''s unlikely they''ll kill him now; they probably want to check if he has recent information about the other three. When the delegation passed through Rocatrista, it split into three; two larger groups went northwest¡ªKuj was in one¡ª they also sent a smaller group of one Alpha and its apprentice to the Northern Valley. Those are the ones that could be a problem for you," Chester said. "Yes, they''ll probably encounter the Lady of Tempus there. We have access to some active city cameras to monitor what happens there," Frank said. Chester chuckled. "Interesting that you used the old city cameras, but I''m not sure what they''re planning there." Frank nodded, and Chester continued. "Regarding Seneca''s situation, Biggus sold the idea that Seneca''s a traitor, using him as bait to kill some of my knight colleagues while keeping him alive. But that no longer seems to matter. However, there might be some influence on Seneca, so be cautious when you find him. Seneca tends to be solitary; we don''t know if he''s being probed like me, is being mentally controlled, or perhaps made a pact with Biggus." Chester said, massaging his neck and moving away from the table. "What the hell!" Frank exclaimed, along with mental curses from Silas and Liora. "On a brighter note, if Biggus sold the idea of Seneca being a traitor, it might be a lie¡ªa way to divide his enemies. No one is sure about Seneca''s endeavors after his exile." Chester warned. Frank mentally spoke with the group: "Just what we needed¡­ What do you guys think?" Liora: "Biggus is enjoying blaming Seneca, that''s it." Silas: "Our situation is more uncertain, but it is better to know this now. We need to think calmly." Petra: "That Chester sounds like a knight." Frank: "How so? A knight?" Liora: "From his speech and how he obtained this information, it seems that''s the case." Ramirez interrupted: "Guys! Chester''s fan club is arriving. Paranoia mode: engaged. Tommy! Shut down all network connections and destroy your terminal; I''ll pay for another one later. My magic protects us, but it makes no miracles; I''ll disappear, and Frank should, too. I''ll contact you via network in a few days." Tommy smashed the terminal with his hands as Chester said urgently, "Crap, sooner than I thought. Those Alphas are getting stronger. Vanish! I''ll normally leave by the door; my father''s in town, and I''ll see him right now; goodbye, Frank!" Frank said before disappearing. "Leaving¡­ Any other info about what the Alphas near us may be seeking?" Chester thought quickly: "Maybe Beni; he was once a human named Benedito. He''s a muemam now. He is not a fully trained knight; he joined the First House as Seneca''s apprentice but abandoned it for ideological reasons. Goodbye, Frank!" When Frank ended his magic and returned to the bridge, he saw Silas and Liora pale; Petra was oblivious. Frank said, "Team, did I say something stupid?" Liora replied, "No, Frank, it''s just that¡­" She paused, processing the information. After a while, Silas said, "Besides everything else, this Beni is trouble. A muemam is someone whose essence is completely consumed, becoming a being of pure chaos. The stories about that are all bad. And about Seneca¡­ I am not sure what to think." At that moment, Amanda entered the bridge, stopped by the group''s expressions of fear. She asked, "Have you seen a ghost? I think I arrived at a bad time. These doors just open themselves¡­" Petra attempted a smile. "We''re just processing a lot of information and need to breathe. Don''t worry, Amanda; let''s have coffee!" Petra left with Amanda for the cafe, but the others remained on the bridge, disconnected, silently staring into space outside.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 73+4 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 32
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 32
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9227(0)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (2/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 72+4 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Energy Magnitude 8
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 60
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8672 (0)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
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Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 71+4 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 13
Super-Mana Magnitude 6
Super-Strength Magnitude 2
Super-Resistance Magnitude 32
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 6
Super-Constitution Magnitude 6
Spellcasting Magnitude 6
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 38/100 -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 5341 (0)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus Mountain. (vo) Fire-red - Heavy Metal Infinity Universe, near the entry point. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - cargo door of The Unforgettables schrogae ship. (vo) Pale-white - Ellipsoid Dojo, 250.000 miles from the entry point, near the closest border.
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage). (va) Ellipsoid Dojo, Magnitude 2: An ellipsoid with 42 light-years primary diameter (x 35 x 35 light-years minor diameters) composed of solid stone and air, temperatures near water freezing, and a respirable air atmosphere rich in Oxygen. The gravity varies between ~30g at the central axis and near zero at the extreme borders. The universe is closed and has expelling walls, which means that anything that causes 2 or more damage at its borders is expelled to the outside of the universe at a random location near the last entry point. The floor is made of a solid granite layer over solid compressed graffiti, with a solid structural lower border under the stone that supports up to 20.000 damage to expel things like the surface air border. 1st roll: 12: "Stone, simple shapes and solid universe." 2nd roll result: +4 "single success, no extraordinary effect." 3rd roll: 11 "Universe is larger than usual, has a few security improvements and only small quirks." (va) - (va) - (va) -
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 71+4 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 39
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 15
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 60/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5056 (0)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4 (lu) (lu)
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 30 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 60 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 61 research/day
Repair rate 600 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 20 / 20 Research
1st modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 1st circle, +3x internal energy generator 30 / 30 Research
2nd modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 2nd circle, +3x internal energy generator 50 / 50 Research
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 20 / 20 Research
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Petra can free-parry one extra blow against herself every turn, totaling 2 free parries for attacks against her, and one parry against any target committing her action as usual) 30 / 30 Research
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: 2d6+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Frank has a +9 fix damage modifier if he ignites it using mana wildly) 50 / 50 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 7/4)
Maneuver: 39+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 6+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 32+10
Feats of strength: lift around half a trillion tons on Earth''s gravity. If you were a giant, you could break Everest in half and use it as a club (condition: Firebreaker and a solid anchor point to apply the force)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 130 / 130 Umbra: -60 MP 6/6 96 10 0+4 regen 6/t
War - melee 0+4 2(d12+1)+5
War - parry 32+4 32(d12+2)+5 X-3 X hit/t
Firebreaker 30 / 30 Umbra: -20 WP 2/2 MP 2/2 0 0 15+4 regen 2/t
Fir - melee 15+4 39(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - melee TF2 5+4 39(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - brawl 39+4 39(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 29+4 39(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 15+4 75 X-2 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 5+4 75 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 30 / 30 Umbra: -1 TP 8/8 0 0 56+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 60+4 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 50+7 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 40+4 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 30+4 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 20+4 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF6 10+4 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 60+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 Umbra: -1 TP 6/6 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 32+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 32+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 26 - Such a Lovely Place, such a Lonely Face Chapter 26 - Such a Lovely Place, such a Lonely Face - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG "So, Amanda," Petra said, preparing a snack for both of them in the caf¨¦. "About what just happened, Frank just returned from Rocatrista. It''s only problems around knights and Alphas¡ªthings that seem dangerous, and we don''t know what''s going on." "Well, I''m not an expert on none of that either; I only have some students who ended up training those abilities because, at least in my city, they didn''t make the knights scapegoats. Maybe that''s because we are trying to preserve the old Gate culture and philosophy. Anyway, that''s become rare since we lost the Academy in Gate. Seneca remains famous because he helped the city several times, even after the cataclysm," Amanda replied, swinging her legs as she floated. "Regarding Seneca, the good news is that we''ll have a chance to find him in a few days, but we still don''t know much about the particular universe where Frank and I came from, and to make things worse, he always travels alone, and nobody seems to know what happened to him after he went into exile," Petra tried to summarize. "I don''t think this will help much, but I have a former student who works as a special information broker¡ªa service usually requested by knights during their missions. I asked him about Seneca just before leaving my city, and according to him, after the cataclysm, Seneca only requested one single service; he was looking for artifacts that could eliminate someone''s corruption. Unfortunately, that kind of thing doesn''t seem to exist," Amanda commented. "Corruption of what?" Petra asked, lost. "Hmmm¡­ How am I going to explain this?" Amanda asked herself. "There''s a magic school that''s quite rare but not restricted because it''s difficult for someone to dedicate time to learning something almost exclusively theoretical. It''s a peculiar school; instead of syllables, it represents silence. The speaker only thinks about the sounds without saying anything when used, and this magic school has various names. In the ancestral tradition, they call it ethics; among the spirits, it''s common to call them philosophical magics, and the Nailia call it darkness. It''s funny that they don''t seem to do much things after casting it. But according to legends, these magics are capable of destroying corrupted things. I''ve never seen anyone use this for anything; actually, I haven''t even faced anyone corrupted in my existence. Supposedly, there are ways to exchange your soul, or essence, as they say in the Nailia tradition, for power. But this compromises both the freedom to learn new things and the free will. The first time I heard about it, it sounded like a rather stupid thing to do. Anyway, I know there''s no way for this type of corruption to happen with the use of magic alone¡ªbe it defiler magic, chaotic effects, or even extermination magics, which are all terrible things¡ªthey have no relation to this kind of crap." Amanda reflected. "And you think Seneca did this kind of corruption thing?" Petra exclaimed. "No! Absolutely not! If he had, it would be quite evident, I think. And when Mosh last met him, there was none of this," Amanda replied. Petra looked at Amanda with a questioning expression while biting a slice of toast. Amanda continued in a thoughtful posture. "Well, I warned you it wouldn''t be very useful information. Anyway, I also asked my student if he had any other ideas about why he was looking for such artifacts, and to my surprise, I learned that there are rumors that some Alphas might become corrupted. Assuming this is true, eliminating the corruption could mean nullifying some of their powers. I am still at a loss. If it were to eliminate corrupted things, it would be much easier to use the magic from the ethics school." "Well, the others on the bridge are still thinking about what to do. The problem is we don''t know anything about what Seneca intends, and after Rocatrista''s visit, it becomes clear that not even his old colleagues are certain¡­ So, at least knowing what he was looking for a while ago helps us." Petra concluded. "Maybe. Seneca isn''t well-liked by many people in the world of the living because he somehow avoided Biggus''s hunters, and people currently distrust everything. But aside from the fact that he was looking for artifacts of that kind, everything else is supposition," Amanda warned. Petra finished her snack while mentally updating the others, who were still immersed in their thoughts. Silas: "Thank you, Petra and Amanda; this eases some of the weight of our doubts, but there''s still a lot that we''ll only discover when we meet Seneca." Liora: "It bothers me not knowing exactly what''s going on; now we''re getting into knight business, and we don''t even know if Seneca can help us." Silas: "Well, at least Biggus wouldn''t approve of messing with knights; none of us were alive long enough to have personally encountered knights until a few minutes ago." Frank: "Right! But I wouldn''t say it was literally a personal meeting." Amanda: "I''ve encountered dozens of them; just don''t assume they''re all saints, and you''ll be fine. I like Seneca for his ideas and actions; whether he was or wasn''t a knight doesn''t matter to me." Frank: "Sounds good! Now let''s eat something and plan what to do with the new Petra¡¯s universes; there''s no point in digesting what happened today with an empty stomach." Petra: "I already ate something just now, but I''m still hungry because these days have been quite tiring!" Silas: "Good idea! Let''s meet and prepare a decent lunch; we really have a lot to plan in terms of technology projects; time will help us better assimilate the news." Now all gathered for a late lunch, Silas went to the cube to prepare one of his recipes from the Earth database. He considered a Bolognese lasagna to raise their spirits. Meanwhile, Liora, less inclined to culinary pleasures, leaned beside Frank, who was already leaning against the wall with his arms crossed at his spot, trying to organize the day''s information. "Let''s see then what we discovered today," Liora began. "It seems that, after all, there will be elections in Metropolis very soon, and Biggus is preparing to run. Why would he do that now?" "That doesn''t seem to make any sense; how did you guys find this out?" Amanda asked, still not up to date on the morning''s conversation. "According to our contact in Rocatrista, Biggus removed Kuj from Metropolis before calling elections," Silas replied, preparing the ingredients provided by the cube to customize the dishes. "Kuj? Biggus''s clone son? That guy''s a genocidal maniac like his father. Many people in the world of the dead were killed because of him and are afraid of returning to life; that''s account only for those who died and didn''t have their essences exterminated by magic, so they remain in the Spirits City." Amanda grumbled. "That''s the same Kuj, but I didn''t know he was a clone of Biggus," Frank commented. "The Bo can perform asexual reproduction naturally; being a clone wouldn''t be a problem, but the way Kuj was raised is monstrous," Amanda commented. "We didn''t know anything about those Kuj information when we lived in Metropolis. Did this information come from the world of the dead?" Liora questioned. "Yes, the dead knew their executioners, first the extermination mages'' guild, and then the Alphas; when they grew inside the society, they followed brutal practices that killed many other people; that''s when they didn''t kill themselves. Over time and with the accumulation of power, those brutal practices continued, but they realized it was more effective to exterminate their victims rather than just sending them to the world of the dead," Amanda commented. "I imagine. Is there more about Kuj?" Liora asked. "There were eight brothers generated at the same time, all Biggus clones and all called Kuj either. Biggus made them kill each other, and the last one to survive is the one the public in Metropolis came to know. I know this because one of the dead Kuj brothers is a spirit prison inmate; being a mage, this dead Kuj escaped being exterminated and eventually was revived among the Suma. And when he was freed in the City of Spirits, saying that he has no memories, he plotted to get revenge on his brother, but we managed to find this out and stopped him before he could make any mess." Amanda said. "And how do you keep him imprisoned? Because I imagine Biggus or the current Kuj would have already tried something," Silas interjected, preparing to gratinate the dish. "Biggus tried a few times, but the Kuj who went to the world of the dead is in a Cartesian dream prison, as humans call it; it''s a location between the sixth and seventh layers of Gate''s Underworld, with a portal to the world of the dead where the person who falls asleep inside never wakes up and lives in a perpetual, perfect dream where everything they desire becomes reality but without knowing they are actually dreaming," Amanda commented. This was new to everyone. Silas stopped preparing the food and raised an eyebrow for a moment to process the information. Petra broke the silence: "My God, Amanda, I never want to be imprisoned in your city; that''s worse than hell." Frank''s curiosity spoke, "But Amanda, there''s no way for the prisoner to know they''re dreaming?" Amanda replied, without giving it much importance: "Don''t worry; almost all condemned won''t end up in that prison. Only two prisoners have been placed there to date because the location is completely isolated, and their presence would be a threat to the City of the Spirits. When the crisis with Metropolis ends, we''ll remove Kuj from there. And, Frank, the prisoner has no way of knowing for sure, only that they live a fortunate life where all desires end up coming true." "From now on, I''ll complain less about my bad luck with magics; at least, it''s certain that I''m not dreaming," Petra said with an ironic smile. "Are you sure nobody can enter or leave that type of prison, Amanda?" Liora asked in disbelief. "Hypothetically, someone might be unlucky enough to stumble upon an entrance if they''re wandering through the Underworld, but even after entering, it would be difficult to leave and even more difficult to find anything inside because it''s practically an infinite space, let me think how to explain¡­" Amanda paused and looked at Liora for a moment. After a brief private telepathic discussion between the two, she finally continued: "The human name for it would be a collection of multi-connected spaces, where some of them would be Riemann manifolds with positive Ricci Curvatures. And in the case of the manifold we use for the prison, all the edges are periodically connected only when the connection with the world of the dead is open. What we do is send an Oioi-Suma to put inmates in and take them out because the oioi don''t need to sleep or dream, depending on their mental models, and this guarantees that they won''t get trapped and also that the people inside won''t get lost before the door is closed again; therefore, when we open the door again, they will be dreaming in the same place we left them." "There''s a human name for that? I only understood that while the door is closed, space is infinite, but nobody enters or leaves, and the people are trapped sleeping in an eternal dream. I''m imagining how this place was discovered," Frank concluded. Amanda gave a little jump in the air as she turned, saying, "Yes, Frank, that''s one way of understanding this place. A Suma scientist, who happened to be a knight, studied this a long time ago. Before the study, it was just a strange portal in the middle of the Spirits'' Field that was kept closed because the ones who entered never returned. This knight''s hypothesis is still the most accepted today; it says that some event that occurred during the sixth and seventh multiverses generated this distortion; after this space was created, it could never be encapsulated within Gate''s cyclical processes of multiverse creation and destruction, and this implies that there may be people from past multiverses today dreaming inside some of these manifolds without knowing anything." "So, would it be possible to try to rescue other people from previous multiverses trapped dreaming inside?" Frank became interested. Uncomfortable with some information that could be troublesome, Amanda realized she should stop trying to avoid Frank. She said it all: "The Suma knight''s name was Kan Rnak, a member of the Academy''s Eighth House; he disappeared inside that place trying to do exactly that, Frank. Despite good intentions, he took with him the only Tempus Ring in the City of Spirits and was never heard from again. It''s a well-known story; many Suma remember this event as Kanrnak''s Dilemma and use it to ponder the difficult balance between ideology and pragmatism. I don''t like making judgments solely based on this example because my opinion is that there''s enough pragmatism within Suma culture, but that might be a conversation for another day." Silas interrupted while using his abilities to prepare a divinely flavored recipe: "I find it fascinating that I''ve never heard of any of this in Metropolis; it makes me think how much we lost culturally after the cataclysm. But yes, returning to the order of the day, Biggus removed Kuj from Metropolis to avoid problems in the supposed elections. From what we know, Kuj went West with a delegation to hunt a Vood''Gum knight couple from the Sixth House, and perhaps he''s coming after one of Seneca''s failed apprentices named Beni. But nothing indicates they''re hunting Seneca; any ideas, Amanda? We were searching both the networks a while ago inside the bridge but found nothing." Amanda paused to think. "Wait a minute, guys! Based on this description, maybe they''re the Rajotine parents!" Liora and Silas exchanged wide glances and nodded affirmatively. Frank and Petra exchanged clueless glances and shrugged. Frank said, "Let''s take it easy, gang; lunch will be long. Let us deal with one thing at a time. What is a Tempus Ring? And what is a Vood''Gum, exactly? And what''s with those nice numbers in the Academy House names?" Liora smiled and explained: "Excuse our manners; we''ve been through so much together that sometimes we forget you''re new to Gate. Humans call Vood''Gum dragons, but they''re different from the wyrm we encountered a while ago. They came from the Aba En galaxy, which was in the process of merging with the Aba Oj galaxy, from which the Nailia and N? you already knew came. If you prefer the human name, Gate''s dragons were considered by the extermination mages to be the superior race of Aba En, just as the Nailia were supposed to be superior in Aba Oj. But unlike the Nailia, a considerable number of dragons supported Biggus''s ideology." "So these Vood''Gum ended up making different decisions from the other groups we knew before. In their original world, does this ideology of the extermination mages make sense? What explains this? Would it be like an election pool where the population is divided into groups, and the differences in choices became apparent?" Petra asked Liora, trying to make a parallel. Liora tries one answer, closing her eyes: "Hmmm¡­" She paused to think for a moment, showing some difficulty. "I might be saying something stupid because I don''t have great knowledge of Vood''Gum society, but I don''t think they''re like the political choices of humans on Earth. Vood''Gum psychology is very different from any other; they have a century-long childhood and take a long time to change their minds; during childhood, they''re marginally rational at best. However, physically, they are destruction machines to cope with their brutal home planet''s environment. Because of that, they have difficulty understanding other societies, particularly when they are young. In Gate, this wouldn''t be such a relevant issue since everyone is immortal; however, after the cataclysm, this began to matter because most of the Vood''Gum hatched from their eggs right after the cataclysm in response to a significant drop in their population. Therefore, at the time Biggus ideology grew up, they were still living in a partially rational childhood. This is a sociological theory about which I have more doubts than certainties." Silas began to arrange everyone''s cutlery around the table. He said, "In five minutes, the lasagna will be ready! Regarding the rings and the knights, I think Amanda will know much better than we do." Petra commented in a light and animated voice: "But that dish of yours must be spectacular, Silas! My stomach is starting to think for itself! And also explain who this Rajotini is; the name makes me think of an Italian pasta, or perhaps it''s interference from that wonderful smell coming from the cube." "That''s true; this food perfume is making even me excited," Amanda said, floating a little higher than usual. "Regarding the ring, there are various of them in Gate''s legends; it''s a monolith that resembles a B?sium ribbon, but if manipulated, it can divide into two intertwined rings; it''s an extremely dangerous artifact and allows its user to manipulate time and space without boundaries. However, infinite knowledge is also necessary to use those rings properly. Therefore, a finite rational being who uses it will always be making a mistake; what matters is if the mistake will, for example, teleport you a few meters from where you wanted to go or if it will take you to a future multiverse where everyone is already dead." "Various Tempus Rings? And what''s the relationship to the ghost we encountered in Northern Valley that''s after us? The Lady of Tempus?" Frank asked. Amanda sat down at the table and began to speak: "Well, I don''t know what the thing that''s after you is, but I know what it isn''t; it''s not a ghost, at least certainly not a Suma." Amanda paused while fiddling with the cutlery on the table. She continued: "And it''s not the Lady of Tempus because we understand the Lady of Tempus as the name of the person who possesses the Armor of Tempus. This armor is an infinite power monolith, and when broken, instead of generating a copy of itself, it regenerates and generates a Tempus Ring; therefore, it''s possible to have an unlimited number of Tempus Rings as the Lady of Tempus could break some bits of her armor." "So, the Lady of Tempus is a type of position of a woman who possesses an armor? But why does it have to be a woman?" Petra asked. "No, no!" Amanda replied, realizing what she was saying. "Those are Gate legends found in monoliths in the ancestral language, and the words don''t say anything about being masculine or feminine, not even if the person who possesses the armor is human or not. The original terms only designate it as a rational being. Personifying the Lady of Tempus as a female figure is a human interpretation of the legend, and the nano-translators make the adaptations. The reason behind this interpretation escapes me." "So, I imagine that when we call the creature we encountered in Northern Valley a ghost, we''re not specifically referring to the Suma ghost," Frank retorted, uncrossing his arms and settling into the table. "Exactly! That''s why many people prefer to learn all the languages and not just depend on the nano-translators," Amanda confirmed. Silas took his Bolognese lasagna from the cube, filling the environment with smoke and perfume, and while cutting pieces to distribute, said: "Stop grumbling about the nano-translators; they do a decent job. If they were perfect, that would also take away some of the fun." After a brief pause for everyone to begin enjoying the glorious meal, Amanda continued with the subject: "Well, about the Tempus Rings, I think there''s nothing more to say because they''re just fuel for legends; we don''t know of any more of them in Gate. The current Lady of Tempus has been dead for a long time and cannot be revived, and the Armor of Tempus is lost somewhere within the three innermost circles of the Underworld." "And what''s inside the Underworld?" Frank asked, leaning toward Amanda. "Are there also numbers like the Academy Houses?" Amanda spoke during pauses in the meal: "Yes, but the Underworld''s layer numbers are circumstantial because they''re concentric spheres; the first is the innermost," Amanda said, lifting a fork with layers of lasagna, showing Frank and smiling as she ate. "Each layer is a past multiverse; you''d have to talk to a knight for more details, but knowing those things would cause you problems in Metropolis." "That sounds like an interesting place to visit someday¡­" Frank let his thoughts escape. Petra almost lasagna choked with laughter. She said, "Brilliant, Frank! What do you think of the idea of getting life insurance with me as a beneficiary?" Amanda responded casually, "We can make insurance proposals at a Suma bank, but perhaps the terms of the policies won''t be advantageous if they know you intend to stroll through the Underworld." After eating another slice, she returned to the subject. "But the Academy House numbers are different¡ªa type of didactic sequence for the art of Gate''s Knights. The eight houses are also ordered as a reference to concepts of places, and if I remember correctly, they are: school, hospital, temple, library, port, arena, studio, and labyrinth." "These are aspects of human activities?" Frank ventured. Amanda agreed, extending her palm to Frank to slow down while saying, "Yes, but above all, concepts of actions by any intelligent creature. This list I mentioned makes sense for humans of your time, but for other species, or even for prehistoric humans, the terms would be very different. The Academy isn''t just a place where the art of knights is learned but a place where many different kinds of knowledge are organized and available for learning. When the first colonists arrived in Gate, it was from the Academy that they managed to understand this place and make use of the various powers we use. If nobody had survived after the cataclysm and the Academy were inaccessible as it is now, it would be much more difficult to learn anything." "But wouldn''t it be possible to unearth the Academy?" Petra asked, thinking about the things she could already do with a couple of magics. "It would be! The Academy''s second house was the only one unearthed. Still, something prevents it from regenerating as usual for a structural monolith, and even the tree of life remains dead¡ªa colossal artifact planted in the center of its structure and larger than the house itself. Despite the direct relationship of the location with knights, even Biggus''s people agreed to try to restore the houses of healing right after the cataclysm to accelerate the reconstruction. Unfortunately, without any success," Amanda replied, a little hurried so the food wouldn''t get too cold. "For the first time, I heard someone say something about Biggus that''s not entirely bad," Petra observed, raising her glass of water. "Don''t get used to it, Petra. I don''t think that will happen very often!" Liora observed. She is the only one not eating anything, and now she is thinking about buying a human palate device when she returns to civilization. "Right," Frank said, already satisfied, finishing his plate. "So, Kuj is after a knight dragon couple who would be from House 6¡­ the arena?" Frank mentally recounted. "And what about Rigatoni? Was he the son of those dragons?" Petra remembered. "Rijotini!" Amanda corrected. "Yes, the dragon couple was both darkness high knights of the sixth house, specialists in performing high-risk missions for Old Metropolis, and by doing so, they accumulated a lot of money, political influence, and combat power throughout their lives. They survived the cataclysm because they were watching an artistic performance inside a monolith, and when they returned to the ruined city Metropolis was turned into, they spent more than half of their resources helping to rebuild the place; during this period, they had a son, Rijotini." "Was it a Chester performance, by any chance?" Frank asked, to Amanda''s surprise. "Yes, how the hell do you know about that but not the other things?" Amanda asked, surprised and still with half a plate full. "I learned about Chester this morning in Rocatrista, but there wasn''t time to ask almost anything," Frank lamented, already using his napkin. "Curious, but moving on," Amanda continued, holding onto the chair to avoid floating. "Regarding Rijotini, when things started heating up for the knights in Metropolis, his parents abandoned the city and left behind a real fortune. By that time, Rijotini himself openly supported Biggus against the knights, which generated unanimous criticism from all of society¡ªmostly because a son betrayed his parents and, to a lesser extent, for hunting people just for having learned something." "What do you guys think about turning around the ship and helping those dragons kick Kuj''s ass?" Frank suggested, to everyone''s surprise. Liora smiled broadly and gave Frank a thumbs-up, but Silas spoke up: "Maybe it''s a good idea to keep seeking Seneca. Not that our help is worthless, but they''re two knight dragons with millennia of intensive training. If I make a list of the most dangerous things in Gate right now, if this couple isn''t at the top, they''d be very close, and I don¡ät even know what a darkness high knight is, but it sounds like trouble." "Another reason to go help them!" Frank smiled, to Liora''s delight. "That''s not it at all, people!" Amanda cooled things down. "It happens that Rijotini stopped supporting Biggus some years after the elections were canceled, but he didn''t become a declared enemy of the new system. The thing is, Rijotini disappeared 6 or 7 years ago; the MBSI couldn''t discover anything, nor could the people I know in the City of Spirits, and it doesn''t seem to me that it was Biggus''s doing." Everyone looked at Amanda. Silas said, "I didn''t know details about this, but I confess I didn''t follow the draconian political columns in the newspapers." "This information wasn''t popular in Metropolis, I think, but it was in my city," Amanda commented. "Rijotini''s disappearance doesn''t exactly help Biggus. People still associated him with a supporter of the extermination mages'' ideology, and I know the MBSI even hired our city to help with the investigations; commercial relations between the two cities are rare nowadays, but this thing was such a mess that even Biggus tried to understand what had happened." Liora opened her arms, also unaware of the subject; Petra ventured, "What Kuj have to do with this? Why did he decide to come after these dragons now?" "I think I¡¯ve figured something out," Amanda suggests, animated. "Do you think Kuj killed them all and is now justifying it as a hunt?" Frank asked. "I don''t think so; Kuj couldn''t do much against them," Amanda reflected. "Then what''s going on?" Frank questioned. "Well, Rijotini''s parents were also trying to find out what happened to their son on their own. If Biggus knew it, maybe there wouldn''t be any dragons where Kuj is going, but he could return to Metropolis saying he defeated them all. Even if those dragons return after the elections, it would be too late." Amanda suggested. "That''s a risk, but if we discover something about this, it would be useful," Liora interrupted, quite interested. "Certainly! At least in the City of Spirits, there would be people interested in knowing," Amanda paused, finishing her plate, and concluded. "However, Silas''s suggestion to focus on Seneca makes sense. I''m afraid we won''t be able to get near them in time without a space-warping ship." Silas, also satisfied with the banquet, sank into his chair as he spoke: "And we still haven''t decided anything about some practical issues; I''m thinking of moving my laboratory to Petra''s cold universe while I gather material from the hot one for the projects. I''ll set up accommodations, a training dojo, and advanced support structures for us to live inside. I''m also thinking of setting up an automated factory." "A factory? What are you thinking of producing, Silas?" Frank asked. "Energy cells and batteries for now. I plan on renewing all our equipment, and it will also be useful if we encounter people who need technology along the way," Silas concluded. Everyone agreed in comfortable silence, resting at the table for a few minutes. Amanda broke the silence: "Well, team, on my part, I''d like to stay with you until you''ve learned the third magic of each school, but I need to reposition my portals and return to the City of Spirits before any new trouble breaks out in Metropolis, so I think I''ll stay here for two more weeks at most." "Don''t feel confined by us, Amanda; you can stay as long as you want. I only have gratitude towards you!" Petra concluded. The days passed on the schrogae ship without any surprises. After a few days, everyone spent most of their time inside Petra''s new universe¡ªAmanda giving classes, Silas building enormous metal structures, and the others training in a new and immense dojo. After the first week, they started sleeping in expanded luxury rooms inside Petra''s universe. Silas repositioned the cubes of the respective rooms from the ship to the new universe, and now only Liora''s copy spent increasingly solitary days in Gate inside a lone ship. In the middle of the second week, while everyone was going about their routines, a yellow alert was triggered. Liora''s copy said through the communicator, "Attention, team! The yellow alert is not dangerous, but it is happening just now; I''m receiving images from Northern Valley. A small ship entered the city perimeter a few seconds ago. Two cloaked figures literally jumped out of it, close enough to the central square for the ghost to have already seen them."
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 77+5 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 34
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 35
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9237(10)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (2/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 76+5 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Energy Magnitude 8
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 65
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8682 (10)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 75+5 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 13
Super-Mana Magnitude 7
Super-Strength Magnitude 2
Super-Resistance Magnitude 35
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 6
Super-Constitution Magnitude 7
Spellcasting Magnitude 6
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 48/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5351 (10)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus Mountain. (vo) Fire-red - Heavy Metal Infinity Universe, near the entry point. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - cargo door of The Unforgettables schrogae ship. (vo) Pale-white - Ellipsoid Dojo, 250.000 miles from the entry point, near the closest border.
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage). (va) Ellipsoid Dojo, Magnitude 2: An ellipsoid with 42 light-years primary diameter (x 35 x 35 light-years minor diameters) composed of solid stone and air, temperatures near water freezing, and a respirable air atmosphere rich in Oxygen. The gravity varies between ~30g at the central axis and near zero at the extreme borders. The universe is closed and has expelling walls, which means that anything that causes 2 or more damage at its borders is expelled to the outside of the universe at a random location near the last entry point. The floor is made of a solid granite layer over solid compressed graffiti, with a solid structural lower border under the stone that supports up to 20.000 damage to expel things like the surface air border. 1st roll: 12: "Stone, simple shapes and solid universe." 2nd roll result: +4 "single success, no extraordinary effect." 3rd roll: 11 "Universe is larger than usual, has a few security improvements and only small quirks." (va) - (va) - (va) -
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 75+5 / 4
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 44
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 15
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 70/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5066 (10)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4 (lu) (lu)
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 35 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 70 research/day
People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 71 research/day
Repair rate 700 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 20 / 20 Research
1st modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 1st circle, +3x internal energy generator 30 / 30 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
2nd modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 2nd circle, +3x internal energy generator 50 / 50 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
Penta-gun 1st Missile Massacre Shoot weapon of 1st gen, + 5x internal energy generator 110 / 110 Research (+40 research for batteries on production)
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 20 / 20 Research
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Petra can free-parry one extra blow against herself every turn, totaling 2 free parries for attacks against her, and one parry against any target committing her action as usual) 30 / 30 Research
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: 2d6+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Frank has a +9 fix damage modifier if he ignites it using mana wildly) 50 / 50 Research
The Pentagon Damage: 6, ranged, Hit:Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 5TP / turn (quirk: up to 10 safe targets, identified with a network key device, that could not be mistarget by friendly fire, the shoots completely bypass those targets ignoring any cover as if they does not exist, adding a +17 surprise hit bonus for all attacks and mobility rolls for one turn, but only in the first time it was used against an antagonist) 110 / 110 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 40 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Superior Technology Factory It does not need a blueprint; it requires a material source and 1TP energy for each other''s projects. It allows mass production projects. 10 / 10 Research
Mass-produced structure (complete: 120 = 1200 HP) It needs no blueprint, protects other structures or devices, and has 10 HP each. (plugged: all on training dojo) 120 / 1 Research
Mass-produced auto repair system (complete: 8 = regen 80/t) It needs no blueprints, regenerates a structure at 10HP/turn, and consumes 1TP/turn. (plugged: all on training dojo) 80 / 10 Research
Mass-produced energy cell (complete: 38/40x) Need no blueprint, 1 act. = 1TP one-shot, recharge as repair 40 / 1 Research
Mass-produced energy battery (complete:12x ) Need no blueprint, 1TP/turn on a plugged device (plugged: 4 for Liora, 2 for Frank, 2 for Petra, 4 for the factory) 120 / 10 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 5/7)
Maneuver: 39+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 6+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 32+10
Feats of strength: lift around half a trillion tons on Earth''s gravity. If you were a giant, you could break Everest in half and use it as a club (condition: Firebreaker and a solid anchor point to apply the force)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 130 / 130 Umbra: -70 MP 7/7 105 10 0+4 regen 7/t
War - melee 0+4 2(d12+1)+5
War - parry 35+4 35(d12+2)+5 X-3 X hit/t
Firebreaker 30 / 30 Umbra: -20 WP 2/2 MP 2/2 0 0 15+4 regen 2/t
Fir - melee 15+4 39(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - melee TF2 5+4 39(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - brawl 39+4 39(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 29+4 39(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 15+4 75 X-2 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 5+4 75 X-2 X hit/t
Stardust 30 / 30 Umbra: -1 TP 8/8 0 0 56+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 60+4 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 50+7 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 40+4 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 30+4 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 20+4 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF6 10+4 300 X-2 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 60+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 Umbra: -1 TP 6/6 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 32+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 32+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 27 - Children Chapter 27 - Children - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG Northern Valley''s few remaining active cameras captured images of two humanoids falling from the sky in the middle of an empty avenue. The city lights, hastily restored by Silas, remained heroically aglow, providing sharp images for Liora''s copy analysis, who knew she was seeing events from the past because she was operating from a terminal inside the ship, distant enough to cause a delay of a few hours¡ªthe time it takes for light-speed information to travel the distance the schrogae ship had already covered on its journey North. The two falling figures wore long cloaks that billowed like capes. They were two Bo with physiques far more muscular than the stereotype, yet both had ashen-blue skin and slender builds. Their heads were large, and their limbs were long and slender. Their muscles stretch with the fall, defining the contours of their bodies from what could be observed beneath their cloaks pressing against the tight-fitting clothes they wore underneath, of an almost black-gray lifeless and matte fabric. Their faces were rectangular, with very prominent chins and foreheads breaking the supposed round harmony of their features, making them appear brutalized. Their eyes, however, remain enormous and wholly black, with no hair covering their bodies, only their taut, homogenous skin. They did not attempt to hide, and they immediately began shouting at each other with great aggressiveness, needing no translators to feel the tension. The figure that fell first yelled without looking away from his companion, who fell right after: "We''re wasting our time in this crappy place because some idiot got curious about the lights being on. Unbelievable! Now, we''ll have to solve the problem here because the same idiot fell into a Tempus Shard trap that was already documented millennia ago. I should have let you solve it alone! I''m sure you''d be incompetent enough to die at this nowhere, and I would end up getting a bad evaluation as your tutor if you failed before the minimum deadline. But don''t worry; if your incompetence doesn''t kill you in a few months, I will!" The second figure fell with some difficulty maintaining his footing upon impact but, without averting his gaze from his irritated partner, responded with his head held high: "Dear master, contrary to the fabulous little picture you''re trying to paint with your compliments, I read Dukliasse''s latest reports, and he lived in an isolated tent because the infrastructure was deactivated. Therefore, it would be wise to understand what''s going on here. Or do you happen to think that the Shard fixed things around?" The furious master drew a staff about three feet long. He activated his device and turned his staff into a blade of gray shadows that released black rays and flames, emitting a constant, terrifying, low-pitched static, creating a lick of intermittent light that made all the forms nearby shift with an unsettling menace. He immediately pointed the weapon at his apprentice''s head, yelling, "You don''t know how much I look forward to the day you challenge me for the graduation duel! Don''t provoke me further; I''m getting increasingly comfortable about receiving my first bad evaluation in my curriculum. Since when was our mission to explore this place?" The apprentice, unafraid of the blade brushing his face, replied with a half-challenging smile: "Go ahead; as far as you''re concerned, nothing really matters to me anymore. Our mission is to reach Cernutos Tower and discover something about our target; if he had passed through here, we should try to find out. And then, absolutely nothing prevents us from continuing North. You''re the one who decided to waste time coming down here." The master responded immediately, pressing the blade against his apprentice''s face: "And how are we going to return to Metropolis afterward? You imbecile! We''re cursed and trapped in this shit place! It is obvious that our target is not here; we are here only to set us free!" To which the apprentice replied, "Interesting; where in our mission does it say how we''re going to return? Isn''t it you who''s blaming your apprentice for wasting time here? My dear master, you are the absolute head of this mission; I only obey your orders." The master sheathed his weapon with a precise kata. He smiled: "If making others angry were a virtue among us, you¡¯d have a bright future, dear apprentice, but unfortunately, your destiny will be another." The master finished the kata, showing the weapon to his apprentice; he continued speaking in a slightly less furious tone: "I''ve already signed a contract with my next apprentice, and this time it will be someone worthy of my person." The apprentice observed something in the distance with a technological device that functioned as a virtual monocular. He said: "Master, we do have company! I don''t think it''s our target; it must be the Shard. She''s awake and looking in our direction; she''s right there in the middle of the city square, in the distance!" He pointed in the direction behind his master. "I already said it¡äs not our target; a muemam cohabiting a city with one of our experiments? The Shard is trapped in the city square and can''t reach us! We just need to go there and put her back to sleep with a beating!" The master replied confidently, smiling with the expectation of a combat. "Interesting theory; do you think the curse that binds us would be nullified by defeating the Shard in combat? Dukliasse died here; wouldn''t it be better for us to prepare beforehand?" the apprentice observed. "Dukliasse was weak, very weak. I even feel sorry for the poor fellow; he made his first pact even younger than you, and when he came here, he wasn''t right in the head," the master replied, pointing to his head with his hand in circular movements. "People who make pacts very early can''t learn properly; they''re destined to be useless until they die; that just fits you perfectly, my dear apprentice." "Master! The Shard is sending something toward us!" The apprentice said, pressing a virtual button on his monocular and taking a step back, assuming a defensive posture and preparing some power that seemed to form an almost invisible energy bubble around him. "There are two stone¡­" The apprentice stopped speaking, with no time to process what he was seeing before his master interrupted him. "I know it''s difficult for you, but try not to be an even bigger idiot. If you read the reports, you know the Shard is trapped and can''t do anything beyond a few meters!" the master replied confidently, turning with reluctant mockery to see what was happening. Before completing his movement, four stone pillars hit his body with enormous violence, knocking him to the ground, almost dead. They were two new Golems that the ghost had created while listening to the two figures breaking the city''s silence. The master immediately managed to react to one of the Golems and destroyed it with a single blow from his shadow blade. Still, immediately, the other Golem delivered two precise blows to his opponent''s hands, disarming him and throwing his formidable weapon into the air. While the impact of these powerful blows almost made him succumb, his body twisted toward his apprentice; he only had time to call him by name: "Adarian, you¡­" The apprentice did not doubt what to do; without hesitating upon hearing his name being called, he caught the weapon in the air. He immediately turned his gaze to his master with a smile of pleasure, with time for only one word: "Mission." He leaped in a manner similar to Frank''s, opening a crater in the ground. But instead of helping his master by eliminating the other opponent with the weapon, he leaped far upward and ordered the ship to pick him up. Then, the ship snatched him and flew in a vertical trajectory toward space at high speed, leaving its master alone and disarmed. The Golem had no mercy; it delivered two more precise blows to the head of its betrayed victim, definitively ending the combat and dragging another decapitated body to the center of the city. On the command bridge, the audiovisual arriving from the city shook everyone. The image continued to be transmitted, and while Liora''s copy continued to analyze the incoming data, the others looked at each other. Even Amanda was present this time. She was carrying a pile of students'' exams she''d been correcting, but she dropped the papers when she saw the Golems easily defeat a veteran Alpha with such brutality. Liora was the first to speak: "Okay, team; their ship, I think, is Phorakine class¡ªmuch faster and with more autonomy than ours, but much smaller and generally without weapons or defense. Since he ascended so high, I think he''ll attempt a flight above Gate''s atmosphere. That will be quite risky. If he does it, he''ll reach close to where we are in a matter of weeks or less. We should double-check his ship''s specs later." Petra, helping Amanda gather the fallen tests, commented, "We don''t need more problems. How about we detour from Cernutos Tower and follow the Tempus route North? We don''t know if Seneca is really there!" Amanda nodded in agreement. "If we do that, we''ll leave Chester in the lurch, and it seems their mission also involves this Beni guy," Frank reflected. "Chester asked us to go into a hot hole that could be our end. Apparently, a lot of people are going to this tower. What''s there, anyway?" Petra asked, looking at Amanda. "I don''t know for sure. I know they''re related to bringing people back to life, based on a legend about mages who managed to do this in a past multiverse¡ªa legend told in the form of a poem carved in a monolith inside the first house. But in the case of these Alphas, perhaps they''re just hunting knights," Amanda suggested. "And do we happen to have access to that poem in the original language?" Frank asked. Silas and Liora glanced at each other and replied, "No one has access to such things." "But of course we have! Why wouldn''t we?" Amanda interrupted, somewhat surprised, her voice roughening to speak in the proper intonation in the ancestral language while sharing the original with everyone via comlink: ¡°Ure-chire bi uree Ga T¨°-chire mi jopeja Gerre Gerre wo xim¨ºnu Zij¨¢ g¨² lae-f¨´ Ess¨¦ (D¨¤) Efarre V?poe ¨¢rraemiri Rrege Rrige lougoxu wo D¨º Chire Zouze (a) Toko i himema e Gua¡± "No nano-translator dared to try translating this, Amanda," Silas said with some perplexity. He continued. "I''ve never seen anything like it!" "This was in a monolith inside the Academy and is study material among knights; I can imagine few ways such things could be more forbidden in Metropolis today. But let''s take it easy with interpretations. Supposedly, this refers to Cernutos Tower. What I know is very little. ''Chire'' seems to designate an idea of rebirth similar to a phoenix or firebird in human mythologies; the end of the first and last lines had a ¡®ga¡¯ or ¡®gua¡¯ sound that can be interpreted as bringing back to life¡ªthe first restricted to a rebirth in the world of ideas and the second a complete rebirth. As for the format, the parentheses indicate the silent syllables that should only be thought; the capitals indicate intonation in the pronunciation of the words; each line has nine syllables; the poem has nine lines; the empty lines represent the position of five groups of lines arranged in the original monolith; and we can observe a large number of symmetries. Seneca once wrote a personal interpretation of what this means; according to him, it would be a memory of someone being brought back to life after being banished from the universe, but it doesn''t refer to a particular way of doing this," Amanda said. "But Amanda, how exactly does this help us?" Petra asked after unsuccessfully trying to decipher something. Amanda responded with an uncertain voice, "Trying to discover details about this tower might not be useful right now, but it''s worth knowing that the symmetries in this poem indicate that the activity at Cernutos Tower is cyclical, and from what I understand, it might open soon, and that could attract knights to the region. Therefore, you have to be very careful if you decide to approach that location." "On the other hand, if we go North ignoring the tower, and Seneca is waiting for some cycle to occur, we run the risk of losing everything we''re looking for," Liora suggested. "I agree, Liora; you''re right about that. I don''t know if I could help with any more information," Amanda added. "Regarding extermination magic, it''s practically the opposite of bringing someone back to life, right?" Frank asked, groping in the darkness. "More or less, Frank, but something caught my attention in the Alphas'' speech. Simple extermination magics wouldn''t easily banish someone from the universe; they could banish them to Limbo. And Cernutos Tower specifically refers to banishment from the universe; for that, advanced or superior magics would be necessary," Amanda pondered. Frank put his hand to his head and asked, "My God, Amanda, are the magics we''re learning the simple ones?" Amanda sat in one of the bridge''s chairs, placing her tests in a pile on another chair. She began to speak: "Of course, Frank. The vast majority of mages stick to simple magics¡ªme included. When mages go beyond the simple ones, they receive nice names like archmages, but that takes an immense amount of time. Dukliasse received that title because his extermination magic easily banished his targets. But from what the Alphas just commented on, it seems that the so-called pact allowed Dukliasse to achieve this feat, not the normal route through study time." "Just to get an idea, how much time are we talking about to learn advanced magics?" Petra asked. "The first advanced magic in one school would take about 300 Gate years, and the superior ones 30 to 40 million years for a single initial magic, that is, considering you have a perfect source of learning," Amanda calculated. "So, the superior ones would be the limit?" Frank asked. Amanda shrugged. "I don''t know. Theoretically, there should be two more cycles of magic that start in the trillions of years range; there aren''t even names for those. Universes last far longer than that, potentially, but no civilization has come close to it." Petra looked at Amanda, remembering the conversation with her after the last meeting with Ramirez. "But then Dukliasse managed to find a shortcut? Would it have something to do with the corruption you mentioned before?" "I am not sure, probably yes, because they mention having difficulties learning things after that," Amanda concluded. Liora''s copy suddenly interrupted everyone: "Team, bad news!" Silas immediately connected to his terminals while the copy warned: "Calm down! It''s not an emergency because we can''t do anything; the new Golem that remained went up after Adarian. But it happens that this Golem''s speed is more than double the previous ones. But the worst isn''t that; all the other Golems that are after us started flying at that same increased speed. I ended up altering the airbike''s positioning further from the Golems'' probable trajectory and accelerating it at the top speed, which won''t help at all because, with the communication delays, we''re watching the past happen. At this moment, the Golems have already passed. Even if we''re lucky enough for them to ignore our improvised probe as they pass by it, we''ll lose track of the Golems in a matter of days because the airbike at full speed will lag further and further behind." "Okay, I didn''t expect the Golems to get better over time; now we''ll have to plan what to do," Silas grumbled. "Well, we could try sending a drone from Rocatrista or maybe buy one in the City of Spirits and send it to where Mosh is by a portal," Liora reflected. "Is it possible to use transport magics to teleport things near where the Golems are?" Petra asked. "Not directly, nor without risks, but there are some ways to try something; in the same way that we managed to revive people near places we know, it''s possible to send some things from the world of the dead if we know who the persons are to anchor the position; for example, the aethernet connectors that they sent you," Amanda commented. "So, if I transfer my copy to the airbike and order components from the world of the dead, they''ll send them to her wherever she is? How does this work? Wouldn''t it be possible to buy and send a new Suma engine to the airbike''s position?" Liora asked. Amanda replied, "It''s simple; the magic of reviving people works on anything in the world of the dead. When I used resurrection magic to come here, I brought some terminals, my clothes, and a shelter travel cube without problems. So, it would be possible to order a whole new vehicle, in principle. The problem is that we need to anchor the arrival point somehow since it is resurrection magic." "Well, we can use my copy as an anchor," Liora promptly responded. "I think I''m going to found a union for oioi copies; I don''t have much of a vocation for serving as an anchor," the copy grumbled through the bridge terminal. "It depends, Liora; what exactly is your copy?" Amanda asked, curious about this for some time now. "I ask this because the oioi copies I know are only temporary parts of their personalities without any autonomy, but yours seems quite different. For a usual copy, it wouldn''t be possible because the anchors of resurrection magics need to have some essence of their own." "Ah yes, as I myself was once a copy of my mother, I try to keep the same copy active and give it some independence so it can learn things about the world on its own, but it still doesn''t have complete autonomy, and I also can''t say for sure about essence. It doesn''t yet have a fixed physical body and can be transferred through the information networks to any terminals or networks with sufficient capacity. On the other hand, if the idea is to transfer myself, that would also be a possibility, but there would be a high risk involved, and it would certainly take a long time. When things get less chaotic, I plan on making her completely independent and raising her as a daughter, but doing that in our current situation would be irresponsible," Liora commented, to everyone''s surprise, including her copy. Silas suggests, "Okay, then we''ll do the following: since we don''t have time to create our own, I''ll buy a high-speed Suma reconnaissance drone with hyper-spatial communication, and we''ll get it through the portal we have with Mosh and Vaud. Then we''ll send this drone along the return path; by my calculations, the best we can buy on the improved Suma market with Amanda''s speed-boosting magic would take about 40 days to reach the Golems unless we buy a droid with aerospace capabilities, in which case the time would drop to 15 or 20 days at most," Silas calculated, already consulting the list of Suma autonomous vehicles. "There are problems with your idea, Silas," Petra observed. "I operate the ship''s probes, and I''m assuming that this new drone will function more or less the same, knowing that the probe''s precision drops according to the speed between the ship and the observed object and remembering that the Golems are not the easiest things to detect, we''ll have to cover a large part of the route with the probes active, even knowing the trajectory precisely, because if something changes again in the meantime and the Golems escape our first attempt, we won''t know they''ve already passed the drone until it''s too late. I think we have to try to follow them if our airbike is still in working order. Also, the magic to boost the speed has a limited duration." Silas smiled back and nodded at Petra, appreciating her proficiency with the sensors. "Petra. The airbike is intact; the Golems completely ignored it," Liora''s copy observed laconically, deeply absorbed by what Liora had said. "I have a theory; I think the ghost improved her abilities after taking the dead Alpha to the center of the city, and if they send more people after him and the same thing happens, she''ll become even stronger," Frank reflected. "Amanda, can we send things to the world of the dead? Like a portal pebble, for example?" Petra asked, having ideas. "Not easily; if you try to revive a stone into the world of the living using resurrection magic upon anything that already is inside the World of the Dead, it will work perfectly. The problem is the other way: if you send a pebble to the world of the dead via magic, it will first pass through Limbo, and only if it has essence will it accumulate mana and hatch in the Spirits'' Field as happens with everyone. But, as the stone has no essence, it will never hatch; it will remain lost in Limbo," Amanda commented naturally. "There''s an alternative way to do this, by any chance?" Frank observed, thinking of alternatives. Amanda replied, "Ah yes, there are ways to remove things from Limbo with advanced magic or a colossal quantity of resources performing a magic ritual that would involve dozens of mages to have a chance of getting something out of there. These mages would have a few seconds to try to find that stone in all of Limbo, and if they don''t find it, they''ll bring back something else at random that somehow answers to the concept of ¡¯pebble¡¯ that the mages had in the calling." "People! I want to suggest something!" the copy interrupted. "Are you thinking of transferring yourself to the airbike? We already knew that it won''t help at all!" Liora revolted. "Let me speak! I want to help, and I''m not being very useful on the ship anymore; at least listen to my idea," the copy pleaded. "Okay, but I won''t let you destroy yourself for nothing; this story about not being useful is nonsense, and even if it were true, it doesn''t matter," Liora commented, realizing her copy was in conflict. "I can be transferred to the airbike. Right after, we activate an oioi identity module, and I turn it on; everything should be ready in a matter of hours. I become independent but dormant inside the airbike. Then you can use me as an anchor to send the drone and the components of an Oioi-Suma body for me to awaken from dormancy as an independent and complete person," the copy suggested. Liora became tense while Silas and Amanda couldn''t hide their surprise. "I spent years in dormancy; I wouldn''t wish that on you. If you really want independence now, we order your body calmly right here and resolve this issue. And there''s another question: how do you think you would return after becoming independent, after that any transfer would be too risky?" Liora asked hesitantly. "I shared your dormant memories and know how bad that is, but it would be completely different; in minutes, I''d be conscious. As for returning here, I¡­" Liora''s copy didn''t continue with the thought since the internal conflict caused by the situation was so deep. "You don''t intend to return¡­" Liora completed. The copy tried to respond via the terminal but deleted the beginning of the same message as if it were typing incorrectly two or three times until it finally wrote: "More or less¡­ I don''t think the Golems are after me, and I hope the curse doesn''t work on me from the moment I become independent; I''d be a new person. But I wouldn''t abandon any of you. I thought of going to Rocatrista to learn useful things and then help you from there." Liora tried to overcome her deep sadness with a resigned smile. "This isn''t anything I had planned. In one thing, you''re right; without the curse and considering what we know by now, your chances in Rocatrista are greater than here with us. However, I don''t think you''re ready to be abandoned in the world right now; I won''t choose to sacrifice a person for convenience, not even if it means increasing our chances against Biggus." The copy responded with conviction: "Hey! What do you mean by sacrifice? I plan on staying alive for a long time; the airbike is in the middle of nowhere, and the Golems won''t even know what''s going on. If I try to go to Rocatrista, I''ll do it from a safe distance and with a guaranteed contingency. Even if everything goes wrong as it did the first time, plan B is to outrun the Golems to the portal on King''s Mountain, and then I''ll return here. So, when you order the droid with the Suma, also order components for the airbike. I''ll be gone for a while, but with an aethernet connector, communication will be real-time, and we can plan everything on the run." Liora responded, remembering her own past: "Sacrificing your infancy, which would be far from ideal." The copy retorted: "The situation will remain far from ideal for a long time, Liora. Even if you find Seneca soon and everything is resolved, I know you''ll go after Biggus, and I won''t stop you from doing that because I would do the same. But if I can choose, I don''t want to wait; it would be better to be by your side when the time comes than wait." Liora responded, looking at Silas: "We still haven''t decided if we''re really going toward the tower or deviating, and we''ll talk calmly later about Biggus. Independence means your choices and motivations won''t be mine anymore, and revenge isn''t something I want to leave you as a legacy." Amidst the chaos of events, Silas laced his fingers together, both patient and scrutinizing, as if piecing together an unexpected puzzle, saying: "Liora, you need to talk to your copy these days. I support whatever you two decide; they seem like valid options. Regarding the tower, if we''re going to pass by there, I suggest we ascend with the ship and accelerate to the maximum; it''s a risk, but we don''t know how long Adarian will take to get there, and if he arrives before us, that would be awful." Amanda interrupted: "I have a bad feeling about going to that tower. Despite that, if we find Seneca, I''d be delighted to exchange a few words with him, and Silas''s proposal makes sense. I was planning on leaving tomorrow, but if you decide to go to the tower, I''ll go along because I can enchant this ship with my speed magic, but I''ll need a hand from Frank." Frank responded politely, absorbed by Liora''s conflict: "Of course, Amanda! Also, I agree to go to that tower immediately." Silas concluded, looking at Petra and Liora, who only nodded in agreement: "Okay, then it''s decided about the tower. Now, the Golems are more urgent. Liora''s copy idea is valid but needs to be carried out immediately, or we will lose track. On the other hand, I don''t think that''s a decision to be made hastily, but I maintain what I said; I support whatever the two of you decide." Liora and her copy looked at each other using telepathy to converse in a very accelerated timeframe. After a few seconds, Liora said: "We both still need to talk in private; tonight, we''ll stay on the bridge. Silas, prepare everything for her to leave in the morning, and I''m going to start sending only a deactivated identity module to the airbike right now, but nothing is completely decided; we''ll know tomorrow." Everyone stood up and started to leave the bridge. "Goodnight, Liora!" Frank said after the others left for Petra''s universe. He stopped, turned to the terminal where the copy was, and said, "Goodnight¡­" Liora noticed the silence created by Frank; she replied: "Laetilia Gorgath." Frank waved goodbye with a smile and left the two alone on the bridge.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 82+5 / 5
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 6
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 35
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 37
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9238(1)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.01c normal tech), space flight (.5c sub-light, normal tech), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (2/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (10000/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 81+5 / 5
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Energy Magnitude 8
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 69
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8683 (1)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP/turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
The Pentagon (6), ranged, hit: Dex, 5TP/turn, prototype (quirk: no chance of friendly fire when used on any range)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
9000 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
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Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 80+5 / 5
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 15
Super-Mana Magnitude 7
Super-Strength Magnitude 2
Super-Resistance Magnitude 35
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 7
Super-Constitution Magnitude 7
Spellcasting Magnitude 7
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 49/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5352 (1)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 3TP / turn, prototype (quirk: +1 free action for parry each turn)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus King¡äs Mountain. (vo) Fire-red - Heavy Metal Infinity Universe, near the entry point. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - cargo door of The Unforgettables schrogae ship. (vo) Pale-white - Ellipsoid Dojo Universe, Petra''s luxury room. (repositioned) (vo) Light-yellow - with Petra. (vo) Dark-grey - with Petra.
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage). (va) Ellipsoid Dojo, Magnitude 2: An ellipsoid with 42 light-years primary diameter (x 35 x 35 light-years minor diameters) composed of solid stone and air, temperatures near water freezing, and a respirable air atmosphere rich in Oxygen. The gravity varies between ~30g at the central axis and near zero at the extreme borders. The universe is closed and has expelling walls, which means that anything that causes 2 or more damage at its borders is expelled to the outside of the universe at a random location near the last entry point. The floor is made of a solid granite layer over solid compressed graffiti, with a solid structural lower border under the stone that supports up to 20.000 damage to expel things like the surface air border. 1st roll: 12: "Stone, simple shapes and solid universe." 2nd roll result: +4 "single success, no extraordinary effect." 3rd roll: 11 "Universe is larger than usual, has a few security improvements and only small quirks." (va) - (va) - (va) - (va) - (va) -
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 80+5 / 5
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 4
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 47
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 15
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 71/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5067 (1)
Equipment
11375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire: (2d6+1), melee, hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 3TP / turn, prototype (quirk: +9 fire damage when using mana wildly)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4 (lu) Laetilia: (lu) -
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Name: Laetilia Gorgath (out) Species: Oioioi XP: 53+5 / 29
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Luck Magnitude 27
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Videogaming (Dex) +2 Piloting (Tech) +2 -
Survival (Wis) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +3
Days: 122(1)
Equipment
Bare hands
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (suma fuel cube, suma shelter cube)
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas 37 research/day
People on prototyping Silas 74 research/day
People on production Silas 74 research/day
Repair rate 740 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 20 / 20 Research
1st modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 1st circle, +3x internal energy generator 30 / 30 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
2nd modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 2nd circle, +3x internal energy generator 50 / 50 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
Penta-gun 1st Missile Massacre Shoot weapon of 1st gen, + 5x internal energy generator 110 / 110 Research (+40 research for batteries on production)
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 20 / 20 Research
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Petra can free-parry one extra blow against herself every turn, totaling 2 free parries for attacks against her, and one parry against any target committing her action as usual) 30 / 30 Research
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: 2d6+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Frank has a +9 fix damage modifier if he ignites it using mana wildly) 50 / 50 Research
The Pentagon Damage: 6, ranged, Hit:Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 5TP / turn (quirk: up to 10 safe targets, identified with a network key device, that could not be mistarget by friendly fire, the shoots completely bypass those targets ignoring any cover as if they does not exist, adding a +17 surprise hit bonus for all attacks and mobility rolls for one turn, but only in the first time it was used against an antagonist) 110 / 110 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 40 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Superior Technology Factory It does not need a blueprint; it requires a material source and 1TP energy for each other''s projects. It allows mass production projects. 10 / 10 Research
Mass-produced structure (complete: 120 = 1200 HP) It needs no blueprint, protects other structures or devices, and has 10 HP each. (plugged: all on training dojo) 120 / 1 Research
Mass-produced auto repair system (complete: 8 = regen 80/t) It needs no blueprints, regenerates a structure at 10HP/turn, and consumes 1TP/turn. (plugged: all on training dojo) 80 / 10 Research
Mass-produced energy cell (complete: 38/40x) Need no blueprint, 1 act. = 1TP one-shot, recharge as repair 40 / 1 Research
Mass-produced energy battery (complete:12x ) Need no blueprint, 1TP/turn on a plugged device (plugged: 4 for Liora, 2 for Frank, 2 for Petra, 4 for the factory) 120 / 10 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 5/7)
Maneuver: 47+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 7+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 35+10
Feats of strength: Put on a gigantic Santa''s sac, easily lift and distribute everything humans ever produced over history up to the year 2050 on Earth (condition: Firebreaker and a solid anchor point to apply the force)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 150 / 150 Umbra: -70 MP 7/7 105 10 0+4 regen 7/t
War - melee 0+4 2(d12+1)+5
War - parry 35+4 35(d12+2)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 1TF free
Firebreaker 40 / 40 Umbra: -20 WP 2/2 MP 2/2 0 0 15+4 regen 2/t
Fir - melee 15+4 47(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - melee TF2 5+4 47(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - brawl 47+4 47(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 37+4 47(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 15+4 75 X-3 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 5+4 75 X-3 X hit/t
Stardust 30 / 30 Umbra: -1 TP 8/8 0 0 69+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 69+4 414 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 59+7 414 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 49+4 414 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 39+4 414 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 29+4 414 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF6 19+4 414 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF7 9+4 414 X-5 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 69+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 Umbra: -1 TP 6/6 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 35+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 35+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 28 - Bless your Hearth Chapter 28 - Bless your Hearth - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG Frank was the last to leave the ship. When he passed through the portal, he found Silas and Amanda talking while Petra, away from the conversation, walked restlessly back and forth. Silas started walking among what could soon be a metal city inside Petras Universe as he spoke, "So, Amanda, I did this following your idea that everything in here should be movable. I''ve already laid the foundations for three separate structures: one for the training dojo, another for our residences, and the last one for the factory with my laboratory." Silas continues speaking as he points to the basin of each building. "All these structures are already built and prepared to receive an atmospheric flight gravity engine. I was going to build them next, but now that we''ve realized the Golems are accelerating, this has become a priority. I''m thinking of buying these three components from the City of Spirits¡ªand also a high-speed reconnaissance drone, some improved engines for the airbike, and probably base components for an oioi." Amanda gave her strange Suma smile. "Perfect; I can mediate this sale for you if you allow me. I think I can get a discount on the catalog prices, and it would be possible to register Liora''s daughter in the City of Spirits. Doing so, they will send an aethernet connector to her free of charge along with the bank account." Frank, perceiving Silas''s urgency that absorbed him, interrupted: "Wait a minute, team; I understand our hurry, but am I the only one who''s a bit surprised that Liora''s copy became independent overnight? It''s almost like another person was just born!" Petra immediately stopped pacing and joined the others, saying: "Exactly, Frank, and now that I''ve stopped to think, I feel a bit guilty because I am afraid that I didn''t treat the copy as I should have." Frank added, still lost in thought: "Laetilia, you can call the copy by her name." Silas smiled, but his eyes couldn''t completely hide some worry. "Well, team, it''s better to talk to Liora about this; I''ve known her longer, and I also know that most oioi don''t even consider giving any freedom to their copies except when they intend to have children, but these are completely different things. However, Liora was once a copy without autonomy who became independent under extreme conditions. Since her university days, she has chosen to have an alternative approach with her copies because she thought that would be fairer, a decision based solely on her personal experience, even knowing that this kind of thing could happen someday. Now, about what happened today¡ªand these are my hypotheses¡ªthings ended up happening much faster than she imagined, perhaps because of the super-accelerated powers she developed with her training, or perhaps because we forgot her copy alone for a few weeks.¡± Silas paused to think. Surrounded by the metal structures being constantly built with the help of the factory automatas, he concluded, ¡°We''re spending all our time inside this universe." Frank thought aloud, "But then, shouldn''t we all be together right now to support her?" Silas, with some perplexity: "Certainly, Frank, but she asked for a private conversation tonight. I''m also apprehensive because I consider Liora more than a friend or adventure colleague. But let''s take it easy, and we''ll see tomorrow. In any case, tonight, I''ll stay up a good while with Amanda, preparing our response to the increase in the Golems'' speed. We need to warn Mosh and Vaud, change the order of the projects, and mainly prepare the ship for high altitude super speed in the coming days. We should rest because, by my preliminary calculations, if we ascend above the external layers of the atmosphere, go full throttle and without air resistance, and use Amanda''s magic, our speed will be more than 20 times higher than it is now; therefore, instead of 80 days to reach the tower, we''ll only have four days to prepare ourselves." Petra exclaimed, "Four days? We''ll barely have time to train! If Liora''s copy, I mean, Laetilia, goes after the Golems, we might not even know if things went well before we get to the tower." Silas opened an auxiliary terminal while speaking. "Precisely! Also, doing this, we''ll almost certainly draw problems, and I was just finishing preparing your renewed weapons to present to you. In the case of the Flexoclavas, I used the material from your molten metal universe, and they turned out better than expected. I had to modify Liora''s weapon radically. They''re ready, and tomorrow you''ll start training with them." Frank asked, already preparing to return to his room in the new structure: "Let us summarize the plan, Silas. We''ll see if we can find Seneca in the region, then check whether the tower is open. If we find nothing, we''ll leave as quickly as possible for the North. Is that right?" "Yes, and after leaving the tower region, we won''t need to risk the ship flying high unless the Golems accelerate even more, and then we''ll return to our previous travel routine," Silas planned, already operating on his terminal while speaking, with Amanda concentrating beside him, preparing lists of devices to be purchased. Petra and Frank went to their rooms. Frank took a while to fall asleep, while Petra couldn''t close her eyes; she gave up trying to sleep in the middle of the night, haunted by her past. Petra remembered her family and especially her children, brooding on the idea of one day living in a safer situation in a world that she understands so little, unable to decide whether or not she would bring them back to life. She feels an empathic anxiety upon realizing that Liora might be experiencing a similar dilemma. Petra decided to leave her room to clear her head and noticed it was almost morning. Silas and Amanda had already gone, and only the automatic machinery kept working, building metallic leviathans. Petra decided to return to the ship alone, opened the portal, and went to the empty ship caf¨¦. There, she realized Liora was still talking to Laetilia. Petra didn''t enter the bridge and started preparing her coffee alone. She did her stretches like she did every day. Petra lingered in the coffee room, gazing at the ceiling, letting her breakfast grow cold until she finally remembered to eat. Midway through her toast, the bridge door opened, and she overheard snippets of Liora and Laetilia''s conversation. Laetilia, playfully: "But that''s still a lie!" Liora, more seriously: "Of course not! It''s the kind of thing best left out of memory." Petra realized Laetilia now possessed her own body¡ª smaller than Liora, closer in size to a human than a nailia. She wore brightly colored clothes and had black, slightly curly human hair. Petra stood up. "Good morning! I woke up a bit early, and I was anxious! I just got here, and I was preparing my breakfast," she said, showing the half-eaten, cold toast. Liora responded immediately, "Hello, Petra! Don''t worry; everything''s fine with us!" Petra pressed the back of her neck. "Good to know. I wanted to apologize for not giving Laetilia proper attention before." Laetilia seizing the opportunity: "No problem, Petra. I''m not as vengeful as my mother; you''ll have several chances to save me in combat." Liora responded anxiously, "Combat?" "I''m talking about the distant future; I''ll be leaving in a few hours and will be away for a while. We''ll only communicate via comlinks," Laetilia replied casually. "I understand. Meanwhile, you must stay out of trouble." after a brief pause, Petra continued, smiling, "I like your style." The primary colors and geometric patterns in Laetilia''s clothing evoked childhood memories in Petra. "Good eyes, Petra; I made it in the cube inspired by things I liked in the Seneca database; it''s De Stijl!" Laetilia replied, always happy. "Too bad I''ll be changing bodies so soon." "Don''t worry; choose a room on the ship, and we''ll keep everything there waiting for your return!" Liora said enthusiastically, while Petra remained a bit lost, trying to understand the situation. Laetilia smiled and headed toward the elevator. "Exactly what I''ll do now! I''ll take all my things to my new room, lucky number seven, and then I''ll get ready to leave. See you later!" When Liora and Petra were left alone in the room, Petra noticed Liora''s tension easing as she sat down at the table. She said, "I think everything will be alright, Petra, but I''m worried; none of this was supposed to happen now." Petra replied, "That''s what I came to talk about. Is there a way I can help you? Forgive me if I''m thinking foolishly or interfering where I shouldn''t, but I perceive she''s your daughter, and I feel you''re feeling something similar to what I am." Liora responded directly, "You''re not wrong; I still blame myself for doing something that might have a worse outcome than with me. But perhaps that''s not the case; Laetilia sincerely told me yesterday that she prefers us all as a family, compared to the past I had with my nailia guardians because, at least, we try to help each other. And even with the crises we endured, we treat each other as people, not as positions or according to each one usefulness." Petra agreed, "I was blaming myself, too. Maybe we made mistakes because we didn''t know how to act. Then, with the new universe stuff, we ended up leaving her alone for too long." Liora spoke in a more melancholic tone, remembering the past, "That too, but it''s too late for regrets. When I was very young, I dreamed of having a family¡ªof marrying an oioi or nailia and having children in a world that was a fantasy sold to me by the wrong people. When they abandoned me, that dream was over, and I started questioning everything and everyone; perhaps I questioned too many rules, or perhaps I forgot to question my own rules." Petra asked, "Liora, are you sure it''s a good idea to let her go today? We don''t need to monitor those Golems, especially if the idea of ascending with this ship and going faster works well." "What idea exactly?" Liora asked, absent from the previous night''s discussion. "Silas did the calculations last night, so you''ll have to check with him, but if we use Amanda''s magic and ascend like a satellite, we will reach the tower in four days, and by doing so, I think we will be far ahead of the Golems so it wouldn''t be such a problem to lose track of them," Petra replied. Liora rested her head against the chair. "Ascending will be a great risk, but maybe I agree. However, there''s another issue; you saw how easily the Golems destroyed a veteran Alpha yesterday and what they did to an archmage years ago, and that''s before they got stronger. If there''s a chance for Laetilia to get away from them, I think it''s worth trying. Because she''ll be a different person, and I hope the curse we have doesn''t fall on our children." Petra froze, realizing the implication; she could barely speak, "And my children, Liora, if they''re ever brought back to life?" Liora understood the situation; she thought and said, "I still don''t have that answer, Petra. I talked about our situation with Laetilia for hours yesterday, trying to convince her to stay longer, but we didn''t reach a consensus; she chose to go anyway. At least we''ll know soon." Petra recalled, "She already tried once with the airbike right before we decided to go to the outpost where we found this schrogae ship, and the result was that the ghost created two more golems." Liora explained, "Back then, she and I were the same person, and that won''t be true anymore as soon as she activates the identity module that''s already on the airbike. But whether this will actually work, I don''t know." Petra said, uncomfortable, "I think I understand the motivations and feelings, and the attempt to get rid of the Golems seems great, but it''s still as if a person were to exist in parts, and that causes me strangeness." Liora thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps part of this strangeness is because you''re trying to understand us as two humans. Despite having a great influence because of the Seneca Project, we''re bound to an oioi interpretation of the human culture. And about the fragmented parts of a being, my biggest concern today isn''t about the order in which the identity module will be activated because I discovered that Laetilia did exactly as I did, probably based on my memories; she ended up using alternative modules that weren''t specifically designed for identity to function more or less as one. When she gets to the airbike and activates all the modules, that shouldn''t be so relevant. However¡­" Liora paused, placing her hand on her face, mentally exhausted from the previous night. Petra stood up and hugged Liora, noticing the stress. "We''re here to help, Liora. Let''s try to make this all work out!" Liora, more consoled, continued, "What worries me is that we''re not in the right conditions to raise a child. Regardless of how good the aethernet connector or communication magic may be. If she doesn''t manage to get rid of the Golems, she''ll return here, and part of me will even be calmer, but I''ll need your help to try to keep the environment here less tense, if that''s even possible." Petra tried to help: "Let''s try to stay hopeful. Who knows, in a few years, we''ll all be in Rocatrista, and Laetilia could enter the school that Ramirez''s people are preparing. I sometimes think about whether I might have grandchildren. I died too young on Earth and don''t know what my children did with their lives. Perhaps one day, they''ll all be classmates." Liora was happy with Petra''s attempt to help; she choked back a laugh. "Petra, I appreciate the perspective that in a few years, this will all be resolved and that a school in Rocatrista with other children would be much healthier. But thinking about it, I''m not entirely sure I''d be delighted with Laetilia becoming a mage apprentice." Petra thought quickly, "Well, we just need to convince Silas to retire from adventures and start teaching engineering and science to the children." Liora smiled, "Now that sounds like a good plan!" The two fell silent for a few minutes in lighter dreams until Frank woke up and entered the room for breakfast through the portal. Frank immediately asked, "How are things going, Liora?" Liora responded while reopening the communication channels to update everyone, "Everything''s fine, Frank! Laetilia''s going to the airbike today, and we''ll proceed with the plan. First, we will send a more appropriate reconnaissance drone to follow the Golems. Then Laetilia will try to reach Rocatrista without being pursued by the ghost." Silas noticed the open channels and spoke through the comlinks: "Good morning, team! I''m awake, preparing to integrate the new suma technology devices we''ll be using with Amanda. We¡¯re going to the ship right now!" While waiting for everyone to gather, Liora accessed the extensive list of devices prepared. She found that the price was substantially lower than expected. Using the comlink, she commented, "I''m seeing the list here, Amanda; remind me to talk to you about a particular device later." Silas entered the room with several terminals connected. Amanda followed, floating behind, while Frank was already in his usual corner, arms crossed. Amanda responded to Liora as she landed on a seat at the table, "Of course! As you''re seeing now, there are two sets of devices for Laetilia when she reaches the airbike besides the oioi body components. The first set came ready to use and just needs to be activated; those are devices that came mounted inside the reconnaissance drone to make it reach a maximum speed of more than 200 times that of the current airbike and a second embedded aethernet connection. The second set of devices are improvements for the airbike; in this case, Laetilia will have to stop for a few days to install them. Silas and I were preparing the instructions this morning." Silas said while operating his terminals, "In addition to all this, since we still don''t know how much time we have without golems, in the next three days, I''ll install gravitational engines in all the structures inside Petra''s universe, and we''ll keep everything moving." Liora said, somewhat impressed, "It seems you guys already imagined what our response would be. I''m not criticizing, but I see that the plan is already well-elaborated." Silas responded, "Negative. If Laetilia doesn''t go¡ªexcept for the oioi body components¡ªthese same devices will be sent through the portal on King''s Mountain and placed inside the drone heading toward the airbike at full speed. The idea would be to improve the airbike and then pursue the drones with both vehicles, using the airbike only to do a wide-area scan. This would take around 20 days and would require borrowing a suma maintenance droid from Mosh to send along with the drone to set up the airbike. But if Laetilia goes today, we won''t need to search for the golems since they are still detectable with the airbike''s basic sensors, and we may be able to maintain tracking without interruptions." Liora nods. "I''m seeing it. Petra also told me that we could reach the tower in four days. Is it really worth risking it?" Silas sat down at the table and prepared the coffee: "That''s right; we got some problems. I finished identifying Adarian''s ship specs based on the complete audiovisual data from Northern Valley. It has a warp 8 space-fold engine if he hasn''t modified anything. So, at top speed, it''s likely that he will already be at the tower, but if he stays sub-light, we''ll arrive well before him because the acceleration takes time. We should be prepared for both scenarios." "Or ignore the tower with our ship and continue our journey North at a safe speed, sending only a drone to that damned tower," Frank commented, until then silent, "I also haven''t received a response from Ramirez''s people yet; in the previous prediction we sent them, we would only arrive at the tower in 80 days, so they must be waiting for things to cool down." "Hmmm¡­ That''s not a bad idea, Frank!" Silas exclaimed. "But there are two problems: the drone would take longer than four days, and maybe it would be too late. And in case the drone finds Seneca, we''d have to figure out something other than just watching." Frank thought for a moment and said, "Well, if we put one of Petra''s portal stones in the drone, that would solve the problem nicely; we could even make Seneca disappear from there if necessary. And if the drone takes too long, we can think of a mixed solution: go with the ship to a certain point, and then send the drone with Amanda''s speed enchantment." "That sounds great; let''s do it!" Petra became enthusiastic. "The mixed solution would be feasible on time, but we''ll have to get very close with the ship. This way, we''ll still risk traveling above the atmosphere, but it seems like a good idea." Liora concluded. "Well, we can stay inside Petra''s universe and only appear on the ship when it''s necessary to send the drone. That way, if something happens to the ship, we''ll be safe," Frank suggested. Everyone looked at each other, pondering the idea for a while. Silas was the first to speak: "As far as I can see, it seems like a nice plan; upon reaching the drone''s travel autonomy, the ship sends it and deviates to the North, and we get out of there while the drone explores the tower for us with one of Petra''s portals embedded. Shall we do this?" Liora and Petra nodded while Amanda commented, "It seems great; only to cast the magic on the drone, we need to be present. If the ship gets to within a few minutes of the tower, for example, we''d still have more than enough time to prepare everything and return to Petra''s universe. The drone would be super-accelerated for up to a day after investigating the tower." Laetilia, who had only been listening via comlink, said, "Team, I''m ready; I''m going down there." The others greeted her via comlink while waiting in the room. Before she arrived by elevator, Frank told everyone, "We should prepare a welcome party for her, or maybe a birthday party." Liora, excited about the proposal, says, "That''s a good idea! But today, we''ll have a few hours, and it''s important to be fast. But let''s prepare that party for when she returns!" Laetilia entered the room, animated with her improvised body from the previous night. Frank said, impressed, "Wow! I wasn''t expecting to see you physically already. Welcome, now formally!" Silas finished noting the plan''s modifications on his terminal and said, "Hello, Laetilia. I''m a little sad because I''m going to lose my best intern for a while." Laetilia said, a little lost, still adapting to the senses of a physical body instead of using only the ship''s sensors, "So, people, everything okay? I''m already learning what it''s like to feel anxious; let''s get on with this trip!" Silas replied, standing up, "Ha! Just the preparation will take at least two hours, but we can start right now." "Wonderful, then let''s get started; I want to resolve this annoyance with the Golems as quickly as possible!" Laetilia planned. "No need to rush! We ended up improving our planning quite a bit after a night of thinking. The coming days will be quite hectic, and we need to be prepared," Liora commented, also standing up. "It will be OK! We''ll be full-time communicating, using both Amanda''s gizmo and Frank''s magic; what could go wrong?" Laetilia grumbled, full of confidence. "What could go wrong?" Petra grumbled back. "It doesn''t seem to me that you''re prepared to learn how to use magic, for example." Laetilia pointed her index finger at Petra and shook her head in agreement with a smile. Silas interrupted, "So, Laetilia, I''ve prepared a set of instructions to improve the airbike after you activate your suma-oioi components. After sending the drone with the probe to go after the Golems, you''ll need to distance yourself from them with the airbike and stop for a good while to put everything in place. Then let''s go to the docks here and pay close attention to what I''m going to explain; I''ve already sent you all the data and am going to start preparing the connectors for your travel." Laetilia turns on a green light from her eyes while following Silas, absorbing all the information via comlink. As both of them left for the docks, Liora accompanied them, sending a telepathic message to the others: "We''ll go over all the mission breakpoints while preparing the long-distance communicators for her transfer. It will take hours because Laetilia''s models are already substantially larger than the last time we did it. It would be good for Petra to stay on the sensors, tracking potential signal interference, and Frank to pilot in case something happens because Silas and I will both be performing a critical procedure, okay?" Frank and Petra nodded to each other and took their positions on the bridge, inviting Amanda to join them; everyone shared their anxiety. Despite the tension caused by the delay¡ªafter four hours had passed¡ªeverything seemed to have gone well as Silas shared the log procedure channel; Frank commented after a few hours of a tense silence: ¡°This reminds me of a birth on Earth.¡± Liora and Silas finally joined the others on the bridge, visibly tired. Liora said, "It all went well, but Laetilia''s models were even larger than we predicted. She probably had already developed a good deal of autonomy with the base models a long time ago." Silas added, "She might stay in a dormant state now, initiating the other models on the airbike for a little while. However, we can already send the aethernet connector to the airbike. Shall we do that, Amanda?" Amanda nodded, and after minutes that seemed hours, she said, "Laetilia already ACK, a single message back saying everything is fine; both the aethernet connector and the oioi-suma components have arrived. And she predicted it would take another eight hours to finish initializing all her personal systems. I also created her account in the City of Spirits yesterday, transferred some of Liora''s credits, and signed a post-life insurance identical to yours for her. Now we wait!" With some relief, everyone relaxed a bit in the bridge''s ample armchairs. Silas sat with his eyes closed for 15 minutes, then stood up, massaging his neck, and said, "Okay, team; now I need to prepare the ship for our ascent. Liora should be piloting during acceleration. After stabilizing the route, we''ll all go to Petra''s universe and leave everything on automatic; we''ll return in four days. If all goes well, we''ll decelerate to enter the atmosphere and finally release our drone, which will travel and arrive at the tower in two hours. Then, we''ll ascend and accelerate again with the ship; when the drone reaches the tower, we''ll be safe and far away." Petra and Liora left a terminal open with the video data received by the airbike''s old sensors, which were still transmitting but hours delayed behind when the transfer procedure was in the middle. They observed that the airbike had slowed down, and then Laetilia''s new body arrived from the World of the Dead through a raise-dead magical vortex, and all modules started the initialization process. It was a customized humanoid form with features very similar to Laetilia''s prior version but with dark blue and green colors; translucent parts were visible on her arms and legs, and numerous neon light lines illuminated her body as if part of an integrated armor. She remained motionless, sitting on the airbike, with wires and connectors spread across her body while a tiny service android checked if everything was fine. Silas finished preparing the ship to ascend long before Laetilia was ready. They ascended above the atmospheric upper layers and activated all the ship''s engines at full power for the first time. Amanda and Frank prepared the speed magic, which allowed Liora to both reach higher speeds and control the acceleration process perfectly. Amanda commented, "Frank, Silas, the plan to stay in the other universe will work, but Frank and I will have to return to the ship twice a day and stay here for a few minutes to reinforce the enchantment." Frank nodded. "That''s right, Amanda. Thanks! I forgot that not everything can be done remotely." After the speed stabilized, Amanda and Frank were scheduled to repeat the enchantment twice a day until they reached their destination. Despite the complexity, everything proceeded smoothly. At high altitudes, they even managed to see a much more significant portion of the sky, with deep red light cutting through the darkness more evidently than on the surface; the Big Bang¡äs show was arriving. Petra and Frank remembered the night they shared with Laetilia when she made her montage of the sky using Vaud and Mosh''s material; it would still be years before the light show they saw on that occasion. It was night when Laetilia began transmitting a high-quality audiovisual of herself. It was as if an iterative hologram of her were present inside Petra''s universe, similar to Amanda''s classes when she was in the World of the Dead. Laetilia said, "Wonderful, people! I''ve never felt so good with these suma devices, and I have good news: I activated my drone as quickly as possible and still managed to keep the Golems under surveillance. Now that this sassy drone is locked onto them, good luck shaking it off." Liora celebrated, relieved and happy: "What great news! One day, I''ll test some suma devices too! Now, you need to stop for a while to install the airbike improvements. Everything is calm there?" Laetilia responded with some annoyance, remembering her days piloting the ship: "There''s absolutely nothing here that I''m not already tired of seeing; it''s just much colder than inside the ship, and the options on the suma cubes are weird. It won''t be necessary to get close to the ground; I''ll keep the airbike floating while I install everything, but that''s from tomorrow afternoon when the other parts start arriving from the world of the dead; they come little by little because of their size. The only drawback is that it won''t be possible to go very far from here for a few days, and the airbike will just be floating during the hours I spend installing; I''ll need to concentrate fully while I assemble everything. If you want to talk to me, use the comlink; I''ll also leave the emergency telepathic channel open, as Frank taught us." Despite the tension in both locations and the extensive to-do list, Liora and Laetilia constantly exchanged numerous messages and calls. Before going to sleep, Silas delivered a package with everyone''s renewed weapons: two Flexoclavas for Frank and Petra, made from Petra''s flaming metal universe and with various auxiliary batteries. For Liora, he presented an entirely different weapon¡ªa type of bazooka. Silas opened a compartment on the side of the weapon and distributed a brooch with a blue light to each of them. He said, "Ah yes, Liora''s weapon is extremely precise, and the trajectory of the shots is controlled. These little devices I''m giving to each of you serve to prevent this weapon from hitting targets using this brooch. That way, even if you''re in the middle of a confused combat with many opponents nearby, Liora can use her weapon at close range or far away without the danger of hitting any of you." Frank and Petra were impressed and tested the power of their new Flexoclavas that same night, while Liora took the opportunity to test the new creation. Upon activating what appeared to be the bazooka, the device changed shape and opened, forming a cone that resembled a luminous bouquet. From the inner tips, the weapon fired minuscule, guided missiles filled with antimatter¡ªat least five projectiles simultaneously, without external energy consumption, propelled and powered by the antimatter reaction. The weapon was capable of firing more projectiles at the same time, as many as Liora could aim and load with her own energy; the final effect was substantially superior to the previous ray rifle. After a night to rest and collect her thoughts, Petra stretched in the new spacious caf¨¦ in her universe, lost in thought and alone. Then Amanda silently floated into the room, grumbling about her aching knees. She noticed Petra quietly contemplating while performing her moves in a corner. Amanda approached. "Good morning, Petra! What''s troubling my student this morning?" Petra emerged from her reverie with a smile. "Good morning! Nothing important, I think. So many things happened at once that I don''t know; sometimes I think my memory is playing tricks on me." Amanda landed beside Petra and watched her stretch. "Ask anything, but why this strange ritual of your every morning? Is it customary where you''re from?" Petra, somewhat impressed, replied, "No, it''s a series of stretches, and then I''ll also do a warm-up. Everyone should do this before physical exercise to avoid injuring their bodies. You should try too; maybe your legs will improve." Amanda clumsily attempted to imitate Petra''s stretches with her short arms and legs. She smiled and waited for Petra to speak. Petra, relaxed by the scene, nodded. "That''s right, Amanda. Very good, keep going! Now, what''s bothering me¡ªsomething about those Alphas in Northern Valley." Amanda responded, still stretching, "Well, I don''t know much about them either; what ''s the matter?" Petra looked upward, trying to relive her memories. "When I spoke to Liora about magics, right before you arrived, she mentioned something about the Alphas being Jufei or Shaufi, but those we saw were Bo, like Biggus, right?" Amanda replied, "Interesting. The first Alphas who were part of the Shadow Militia were Jufei, not the new ones. There''s a rare species in Gate called Shaufi, which has a controversial origin and is identical to the Jufei. I know something about the Shaufi, but I don''t know if that would help. It''s best to ask your contacts in Rocatrista for Jufei information; it would be specific on how the Alphas organize themselves." Petra nodded. "Good idea; I''ll send a message to Ramirez. Anyway, while we stretch, tell me about those Shaufi." Amanda began to speak slowly and somewhat breathlessly; her body tired quickly, even with light activity. "Well¡­ The Shaufi are very rare both here and in the world of the dead; they appear like shady humanoids. It seems they came from an old galaxy where most of the stars have died; they call it the Dead Galaxy. The Shaufi emerged as a civilization at just over a dozen points practically at the same time; all these points were rogue planets scattered throughout this same Dead Galaxy¡ªa mystery how a living civilization could have emerged without a star''s energy. The most accepted theory is that they are a naturally transactional species. Therefore, the Shaufi would have appeared at the same time on planets that were inhabited by other species before being ejected from their original star systems. So, the phenomenon of transacting the original planet¡äs species into Shaufi was replicated at several isolated points. However, the Jufei claim another origin, and I don''t know anything about them." Petra made a funny face. "Naturally transactional species?" Amanda commented, "Yes, I don''t love that name because it''s quite vague. In Gate, it makes little sense because, through technology, it''s possible to transform the body of any individual into any other body. However, this process can occur in ways that are alternative to technology. We Suma, for example, can transact from any other species that decides to stay in the City of Spirits¡ªlike Mosh, who was Dzaobudine when alive¡ªor be born in the World of the Dead, like me." Petra, pleased and surprised, thanked Amanda for the explanation and continued teaching her about stretching. Meanwhile, she mentally prepared a comlink message to send to Ramirez without much hope of getting a reply before reaching the tower. The following couple of days passed with great tranquility, allowing everyone to get used to the new routine. The last time Frank and Amanda went to the ship to renew the enchantment, it was possible to detect Cernutos Tower in the far distance¡ªan imposing structure, even from afar¡ªon what seemed to be a bulge with narrow monolithic veins, giving the surrounding terrain an organic and vegetal appearance. Beside each of these tiny veins, a few people wide, small lateral hills of dust and snow rose. Inside the sinuous veins that seemed like roads inside valleys, the wind formed an almost linear streak of dust alongside the way. Both Frank and Amanda returned one last time to the safe universe and prepared with the others for the action that would begin shortly. Everyone waited a few moments to return to the ship when the position was exact; Amanda and Frank would enchant the drone with speed magic. The drone was already prepared in the docks to receive an active portal stone; this way, it would have maximum autonomy to pass through the tower and explore the place for a few hours before the speed magic was exhausted and it slowed down. Petra could then open the portal to retrieve it or leave it somewhere near the tower, and then they could have a teleportation portal in the tower region, depending on what they would find there. At the exact time and with excellent coordination, everyone passed through the portal and followed the plan. Silas and Liora went to the bridge while the other three went to the docks. As soon as Petra opened the dock door, she warned via telepathy: "Team! Something strange is happening here; it seems we have very thin mana threads spread inside the ship''s walls, but they don''t seem to do anything. Are you detecting anything out there?" Liora and Silas ran to check the ship''s sensors and direction. The automated records showed nothing, only a weak background energy reading on the sensors without a defined source. They started to hear a noise as if it were high-pitched static or something stretching. Suddenly, everyone''s mind was invaded by a scream that sounded like a shattering "wi" that made everyone dizzy. Silas only had time to think of activating the red alert; he used telepathy before being interrupted, saying, "A spider appea¡­" While Liora used the comlink, her message also interrupted: "Electromagnetic pulse¡­" After the disconcerting mental noise came total darkness. The mana threads that Petra could perceive suddenly stretched at the same time and pierced everything and everyone like blades, but they didn''t feel any pain except for Amanda, who let out a very brief, interrupted cry of pain before disappearing. Not only did all the ship''s lights go out, but all the devices were exhausted, and all of Petra and Frank''s mana was utterly drained. But the nightmare was still to come because the mana continued to be drained faster than any regeneration; this made the mana-consuming enchantments dissipate, which meant Frank''s telepathic communication and Amanda''s speed were gone. Petra''s portals remained, but they stayed closed as they were before, and the unused stones that Petra carried with her were also gone. All the ship''s active electricity was drained, including the energy cells of all the weapons and inside Liora''s and Silas''s bodies; the ship was floating adrift since part of its gravity engine was unaffected. Liora unexpectedly shouted from inside the bridge, "Frank, I''m alive and functioning, but my weapons and defenses are gone. Break down the bridge door!" Silas shouted at the same time, "We need to do something quickly; a giant spider is approaching!" Frank broke down the door like nothing and at high speed, and Petra followed right behind. Frank said, "I''m going to jump against this spider. You guys try to stay on the ship because we have no way to fly; all the magic is gone." Frank saw the spider approaching through the bridge window; he calculated it to be more than 10 feet tall. It was a mixture of insect and blue luminous energy, projecting itself through a colossal single thread still attached to the ship. Frank wielded his Flexoclava, not caring that it was deactivated, and launched himself toward the giant, breaking part of the bridge floor and the front glass windshield in his movement. Petra, desperate: "Amanda''s gone, Silas!" Silas, thinking quickly, said, while he and Liora held onto the bridge seats, "The ship is caught in a web thread at the very tip of the upper right wing." Silas pointed. "Petra! See if you can get there! If necessary, break the structure from the inside. There''s a red metal shaft under the fuselage near the tip that can be loosened. The entrance is right after the engine tube." Liora released herself from the chairs and said, accelerating in the maximum timeframe, "I''m without weapons, defenses, or even the energy ray to fly, but my speed is okay; I''ll go outside with Petra!" Petra wasted no time and went through Frank''s new hole-made window. She''d also trained some super strength, but nothing beyond lifting a few tons; she only hoped it would be enough as she balanced herself outside with Liora''s help. Frank''s impact on the spider was devastating. When he left the ship with a jump, he accelerated the spider toward his direction. He then interrupted the beast''s trajectory down and considerably injured his opponent, as his deactivated Flexoclava now resided inside the spider''s abdomen through a new hole. While both of them start falling, Frank begins a frantic fight with the severely injured creature; he finds out that the spider is super dense and heavy. Otherwise, his mountain-opening blows could have immediately annihilated his opponent. The brutal dance is pulling the ship toward the ground like an air balloon caught by a thread, spinning it wildly. Silas had time to fasten his seatbelt before everything started spinning; he saw various devices and parts break and be ejected through the hole made by Frank, but fortunately, he managed to stay strapped in. If it weren''t for Liora''s superspeed, Petra would have been thrown from the ship by the spins. Clinging to Petra''s back, Liora managed to throw them both into a gap between the wing and the ship''s body as soon as she realized that the composition would start spinning after Frank''s impact. Liora also realized that if Petra jumped from her position, they would be thrown tangentially to the ship''s rotation with a slight deviation. She approached Petra''s ear and said, "On three, jump, and let''s try to grab that blue thread!" They would only have one chance. Liora calculated the timing and counted when she shouted in cadence, "One, two, three!" Petra released the fuselage in a jump, and both of them shot toward the spider¡¯s thread, which seemed to be made of smooth fabric. They reached the point where the thread united with the ship perfectly, and Petra managed to grab herself there. Petra tried to tear the thread to release the ship with her bare hands, but it was impossible, and she perceived that Frank was trying to do the same near the spider, also without any success. Liora pointed to a small hatch on the ship''s wing, and Petra struggled to reach it. As soon as they got close enough, Liora shouted, amidst the chaos and cold, sharp wind of Gate''s eternal night, illuminated only by a faded blue glow from the unbreakable spider''s thread, "Try to hold onto the ship! Afar from this blue thing!" She jumped from Petra''s back and entered the completely dark passage inside the ship wing through the path Silas had mentioned. The ship starts to accelerate down as the engine on standby is incapable of sustaining the hyperheavy spider. Liora spent a lot of time struggling to release the parts without the help of magic, external energy, or even super strength. After minutes, she managed to remove the internal latch from the fuselage, and all the force of the trapped spider applied at the point of contact of the thread caused the wingtip to come loose. Petra held onto the outside while the ship remained floating in the air, still spinning and descending with inertia but now being decelerated by the air and the gravity engine. However, neither energy nor magic gave any sign of returning, and the floor seemed too near for the ship to stop falling. Frank and the spider, meanwhile, didn''t float; they began to move away from the ship, reaching terminal speed. The ship had already descended substantially into the atmosphere when it was drained, being only a couple miles high when the thread came loose from the wing. Inside the ship, Silas unfastened his seatbelt when the rotation slowed down enough. He tried to think about what to do while mentally calculating if the neutral-state gravity engine buoyance thrust would be enough to overcome the moment of inertia and attenuate the fall before they all hit the ground. Outside the ship, the brutal combat between Frak and the spider beast continued, oblivious to the ground inexorably approaching.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 90+6 / 8
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 6
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 41
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 37
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9242(4)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
3375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Speed Flight Surveillance drones (1x, suma superior tech, +7 speed modified)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens (*modified, with Laetilia)
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Suma gravity engine, speed +6 (x3)
Pocket aethernet connectors, backup (x2)
City of Spirits cloud service ("The Unforgettables" technology repositories hub project) (total paid: 400.000.000 cloud credits, consumption: 0,3 cloud credits/day)
City of Spirits material marketplace (net income: 3,2 SC$/day, operational costs: 0,3 SC$/day, buy/sell: bare suma components/metal from Petra''s Heavy Metal Universe)
City of Spirits energy marketplace (net income: 19,8 SC$/day, operational costs: 19,7 SC$/day, buy/sell: suma battery components/charged suma batteries)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.05c superior suma tech 50/50), space flight (.5c sub-light, superior suma tech 500/500), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100),If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (2/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (1600/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 89+6 / 8
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 3
Super-Energy Magnitude 8
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 74
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 2 / 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8687 (4)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP/turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
The Pentagon (6), ranged, hit: Dex, 5TP/turn, prototype (quirk: no chance of friendly fire when used on any range)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
1000 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 88+6 / 8
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 15
Super-Mana Magnitude 7
Super-Strength Magnitude 2
Super-Resistance Magnitude 40
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 7
Super-Constitution Magnitude 8
Spellcasting Magnitude 7
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 53/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5356 (4)
Equipment
4375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 3TP / turn, prototype (quirk: +1 free action for parry each turn)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus King¡äs Mountain. (vo) Fire-red - Heavy Metal Infinity Universe, near the entry point. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - cargo door of The Unforgettables schrogae ship. (vo) Pale-white - Ellipsoid Dojo Universe, Petra''s luxury room. (vo) Light-yellow - with Petra. (vo) Dark-grey - with Petra.
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage). (va) Ellipsoid Dojo, Magnitude 2: An ellipsoid with 42 light-years primary diameter (x 35 x 35 light-years minor diameters) composed of solid stone and air, temperatures near water freezing, and a respirable air atmosphere rich in Oxygen. The gravity varies between ~30g at the central axis and near zero at the extreme borders. The universe is closed and has expelling walls, which means that anything that causes 2 or more damage at its borders is expelled to the outside of the universe at a random location near the last entry point. The floor is made of a solid granite layer over solid compressed graffiti, with a solid structural lower border under the stone that supports up to 20.000 damage to expel things like the surface air border. 1st roll: 12: "Stone, simple shapes and solid universe." 2nd roll result: +4 "single success, no extraordinary effect." 3rd roll: 11 "Universe is larger than usual, has a few security improvements and only small quirks." (va) - (va) - (va) - (va) - (va) -
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 88+6 / 8
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 5
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 50
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 17
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 75/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5071 (4)
Equipment
4375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire: (2d6+1), melee, hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 3TP / turn, prototype (quirk: +9 fire damage when using mana wildly)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4 (lu) Laetilia: (lu) Amanda: ???
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Name: Laetilia Gorgath (out) Species: Oioioi XP: 61+6 / 29
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 5
Super-Energy Magnitude 3
Super-Strength Magnitude 1
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 1
Super-Resistance Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 2
Super-Luck Magnitude 27
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Superior Technology (architect) Magnitude 2
Skills
Videogaming (Dex) +2 Piloting (Tech) +2 -
Survival (Wis) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +3
Days: 126(4)
Equipment
Bare hands
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2375 spirit credits on PCU
City of Spirits revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (suma fuel cube, suma shelter cube)
Access to "The Unforgettables" technology repositories hub
Personal aethernet connector (embedded on suma-oioi parts)
Suma superior body parts (+27 bonus on any rolls to be raised from the dead, prototype (???) quirk: +3 temporary MMP when in Umbra)
Superior airbike, space flight, +9 speed, +9 scanning, +9 dodge, +9 stealth, +9 communication, +3 hacking, pocket servo-droids (x2), +12 survival, embedded suma-oioi hypercube (shelter/fuel/cultural), +12 security, tech-meld interface (1000/1000), stat: +100 HP (base 10)
Advanced seeker drone, +13 speed, +12 scanning, +12 stealth, umbral-shift (consumes 1 TP each shift), stat: +100 HP (Base 1), +2 MP, +2 TP (seeking the Golems)
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas, Laetilia 39 research/day
People on prototyping (creative mod, may use Tech) Silas, Laetilia 82 research/day
People on production (creative mod, may use Tech) Silas, Laetilia, Liora copy (1x), Laetilia copy (1x) 84 research/day
Repair rate 840 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 20 / 20 Research
1st modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 1st circle, +3x internal energy generator 30 / 30 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
2nd modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 2nd circle, +3x internal energy generator 50 / 50 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
Penta-gun 1st Missile Massacre Shoot weapon of 1st gen, + 5x internal energy generator 110 / 110 Research (+40 research for batteries on production)
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 20 / 20 Research
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Petra can free-parry one extra blow against herself every turn, totaling 2 free parries for attacks against her, and one parry against any target committing her action as usual) 30 / 30 Research
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: 2d6+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Frank has a +9 fix damage modifier if he ignites it using mana wildly) 50 / 50 Research
The Pentagon Damage: 6, ranged, Hit:Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 5TP / turn (quirk: up to 10 safe targets, identified with a network key device, that could not be mistarget by friendly fire, the shoots completely bypass those targets ignoring any cover as if they does not exist, adding a +17 surprise hit bonus for all attacks and mobility rolls for one turn, but only in the first time it was used against an antagonist) 110 / 110 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 40 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Superior Technology Factory It does not need a blueprint; it requires a material source and 1TP energy for each other''s projects. It allows mass production projects. 10 / 10 Research
Mass-produced structure (complete: 120 = 1200 HP) It needs no blueprint, protects other structures or devices, and has 10 HP each. (plugged: all on training dojo) 120 / 1 Research
Mass-produced auto repair system (complete: 8 = regen 80/t) It needs no blueprints, regenerates a structure at 10HP/turn, and consumes 1TP/turn. (plugged: all on training dojo) 80 / 10 Research
Mass-produced energy cell (complete: 38/40x) Need no blueprint, 1 act. = 1TP one-shot, recharge as repair 40 / 1 Research
Mass-produced energy battery (complete:12x ) Need no blueprint, 1TP/turn on a plugged device (plugged: 4 for Liora, 2 for Frank, 2 for Petra, 4 for the factory) 120 / 10 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 6/7)
Maneuver: 50+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 7+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 41+10
Feats of strength: Play Hula Hoop with any Saturn''s ring (condition: Firebreaker and a solid anchor point to apply the force)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 150 / 150 Umbra: -80 MP 7/7 120 10 0+4 regen 8/t
War - melee 0+4 2(d12+1)+5
War - parry 40+4 40(d12+2)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 1TF free
Exausted Flexoclava (d12+1) to (d6+1) (d12+2) to (d6+2) Change damage dice to d6
Firebreaker 50 / 50 Umbra: -20 WP 2/2 MP 2/2 0 0 17+4 regen 2/t
Fir - melee 17+4 50(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - melee TF2 7+4 50(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - brawl 50+4 50(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 40+4 50(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 17+4 85 X-3 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 7+4 85 X-3 X hit/t
Exausted Flexoclava (2d6+1) to (d6+1) Change damage dice to d6
Stardust 30 / 30 Umbra: -1 TP 8/8 0 0 74+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 74+4 444 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 64+4 444 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 54+4 444 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 44+4 444 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 34+4 444 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF6 24+4 444 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF7 14+4 444 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF8 4+4 444 X-5 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 74+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 Umbra: -1 TP 6/6 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 41+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 41+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 29 - Forevermore Song Chapter 29 - Forevermore Song - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG In freefall, the spider attempted to push Frank away with its massive front legs, but without success. Frank easily dodged the blows while grabbing the spider''s leg tips in a double arm lock. Grasping the spider tightly, he stretched his body in a rush, delivering a brutal blow with both his legs like a battering ram against the spider''s head. After the impact, he kept the spider''s legs locked under his grasp and increased the pressure, pulling the spider''s trapped limbs with such violence that they were amputated, causing a flow of blue energy to gush from both sides of the spider''s body. High above, Silas noticed that despite all the ship''s devices being drained of energy, including the auto-repair, the wingtip that Liora had ejected began to move by itself and regenerate somehow¡ªalmost organically. It seemed as if a kind of clot was forming due to the leak from one of the ship''s inactive devices that had broken and leaked. This curious effect might improve maneuverability somewhat but wouldn''t prevent the damage from the imminent fall. What Silas managed to do was try to maneuver the few flaps he controlled that didn''t solely depend on energy to position the ship to maximize friction with the air and buy precious time. Petra observed Frank''s combat, clinging to the ship''s wing. Liora, on her way to exit from the open compartment inside the ship, became puzzled by the strange liquid leaking from an old broken pipe that was coagulating in front of her; she barely could read a name written with grease upon the broken tube before it melts, Agelmore, a name in Nailia language; despite her curiosity, she left the analysis for the aftermath as she noticed the ship''s auxiliary flaps operating in an alternating pattern, and she knew what it meant. Liora immediately accelerated outside toward Petra, knowing that both communicators and telepathic magic were gone, but not the nano-translators. "I''m going to help Silas!" Liora shouted to Petra. "Okay! I''ll jump to help Frank!" Petra responded, trying to concentrate on aiming her jump. Liora nodded affirmatively and immediately set off, doing superspeed parkour along the outside of the still-spinning ship until she managed to return to the hole opened in the bridge window. Immediately upon entering the bridge, Liora took over piloting, doing a much more effective job than Silas''s. But despite controlling the spinning, there would be no time to avoid the fall. Silas said, "I''m going to see if I can activate the aircar''s gravity engine; something is actively draining our energy from every device that was susceptible to the previous EMP attack!" He stood up and rushed through the bridge door that Frank had broken, crossed the coffee room, and went directly to the messed up docks where the aircar and the drone now sat stacked against one of the walls. Outside, Petra noticed Frank riding the spider and looking upward at the ship, trying to figure out what was happening; she jumped from the wing, trying to reach Frank and propel the ship upward a bit, activating her stone form with the certainty that the fall wouldn''t injure her. Her jump, however, wasn''t strong or precise enough to direct her on a trajectory that would reach Frank. With the loss of telepathic coordination and the shared abilities offered by the communication magic, everyone''s movements became prone to error. Frank noticed Petra jumping from the ship and decided it was time to act. With one hand, he grabbed one of the remaining spider legs. With his other hand, he made an acrobatic arc and collected his still-deactivated Flexoclava from inside the spider. At the end of the arc, he returned to the top of the spider and prepared for a final jump upward. Moments before hitting the ground, he power-jumped from the top of the spider with all his might, mitigating his fall while targeting the spider with immense brutality toward the monolithic vein below. The effects were immediate. The spider accelerated like a meteor, hitting a lateral corner of a solid monolithic vein and exploding while opening a half-circular crater in the snow and dirt close to one side of the vein, spreading blue energy with a consistency between liquid and gas everywhere. Frank was able to deviate slightly from his trajectory, reaching the snowy ground, but suffered a considerable impact, falling on the same side but away from the vein where the spider had just hit. He fell diagonally, opening a sinuous trench. Despite the damage and pain of the impact, this time, Frank smiled as he lay regenerating on the icy ground, aware that his training had finally prevented him from losing consciousness during combat. As soon as the spider exploded, the effect that was draining all energy¡ªboth magical and from technological devices¡ªceased, causing some things to start working again; however, almost everything that was damaged by the EMP attack remains broken and will need repair. The weapons and batteries inside Silas''s and Liora''s bodies were the first to be restored, but it still took a few seconds; roughly the same time was needed for Frank''s and Petra''s mana to return because of their regeneration. Even with the mana flow restored, all the magic that had been dissipated did not return. Petra felt her magical energy replenished a few seconds before hitting the ground. She opened a deep crater in the snow and dust, but she landed on her feet and didn''t even injure herself with the brutal impact. She immediately began scaling her deep crater as if nothing had happened, observing the ship still falling and spinning. Silas was inside the aircar, trying to improvise a solution, when he noticed that all the energy was returning. He immediately jumped to the dock terminal, which was now active, and directed all the remaining energy to the ship''s gravity engine inertial stabilizer. When Liora realized her personal energy had returned but not the ship''s, she went out again through the hole in the bridge and tried to fire her energy ray, similar to what Silas had done from inside the aircar the first time they fled from the Golems. She positioned herself under the ship and activated her energy beam; however, she didn''t have the strength to hold the ship nor the resistance to avoid being crushed in the process. What she did was let herself be crushed by the fuselage while dividing her energy to partially thrust the ship and partially raise a barrier to prevent her from destroying herself in the process. While Liora almost sacrificed herself to prevent the fall, she was horrified to realize that the combat hadn''t ended yet; looking at the ground from above, Liora figured out that she was the only one aware of what was happening. Inside the half-crater where the spider had exploded, a type of translucent energy egg with something in the shape of a giant blue fetus was growing at immense speed. Beside this monstrosity were Petra and Frank, still emerging from their snow holes, utterly oblivious to the danger growing near them. As soon as Liora realized what was happening and calculated that she wouldn''t arrive at the ground on time, she flew back inside the ship and, with her super-speed, immediately appeared beside Silas, saying, "Something''s coming out of the spider''s crater, and it''s going to attack the two down there; we need to warn them now!" Silas noticed the fall had been mitigated shortly before Liora appeared in front of him. With no time to ask questions, he promptly modified the ship''s auto-repair order to prioritize the local communication device. Using his own energy, he accelerated the repair process for this single device to less than a second. As soon as he finished, he sent the message over the re-established local network to the comlinks: "Frank, Petra! There''s an enemy in the hole where the spider fell!" Frank''s comlink was damaged in the fall, but Petra''s was in perfect condition. She heard Silas and perceived with her super senses that Frank hadn''t heard any message on the crater near her; she then shouted as loud as she could, "Frank, the spider''s alive! It''s coming after us! Frank!" Petra awkwardly accelerated her climb while continuing to shout. Frank, still dazed, reasonably injured, and regenerating, slowly made his way through his long trench. When he perceived a distant and familiar voice shouting his name, he instantly smelled the danger, accelerated his pace, and got his Flexoclava ready, now working at full power. When he reached the edge of his trench, he noticed a type of cylindrical blue tentacle emerging from the hole where the spider had fallen. The tentacle ends in an oval bulb; he observed it with a grimace while muttering, "What? Oh shit¡­" Frank''s speech was interrupted by the oval bulb opening, forming an eye that now observed him back. Immediately, seven more tentacles with eyes on the tips emerged from the hole and formed two rows of parallel eyes, all blinking and looking at him. After a few moments, a ninth tentacle rose from the hole and opened a ninth eye, identical to the others except for being completely misaligned with the other eight, but also looking at Frank. In a desperate rush, Frank trusted his Flexoclava and jumped at full speed toward the tentacles, shouting, "Spotted it! I''m going to attack!" When Frank jumped and passed above the ground line, he managed to perceive his opponent fully. It was a nearly 100-foot-tall blue humanoid giant, faceless and featureless, except for these tentacles emerging from its head as if they were thick strands of hair. Reflexively to Frank''s jump, which exploded the ground and launched him like a bullet, the giant leaned back, and a type of energy field made concentric hexagonal shields appear, mitigating Frank''s speed in the air. Perceiving this energy barrier preventing him from advancing, he delivered a full-force blow that shattered the giant''s protective energy halo; this caused Frank to fall backward toward the ground slowly. Petra managed to get out of her hole and saw Frank still in the air, falling back. She also perceived the giant emerging from its hole. Before any reaction, eight spider legs sprouted from the giant''s back, connected by energy membranes to form two web wings. The giant now began to fly out of the hole without taking its eyes off Frank. Silas refocused the auto-repair on the gravity engine and realized that the ship''s fall would be avoided. Liora activated her new weapon and flew down through the hole in the bridge to join the combat below. Silas noticed that Liora''s back was crushed and severely injured as he figured out what she had done to mitigate the ship''s fall. He also activated his energy ray and followed Liora into the combat, saying via comlink, "The ship is safe, but it will take a good while for everything to start working again." Petra responded, "Frank''s comlink is gone! I''m going to the front line to try to protect him from the attacks. Silas, I''ll need you to position me. The teleportation stones I was carrying disappeared, and it would take precious time to make another one. This thing is huge, and I am not strong enough to catch it with a jump." Liora added, "My weapon is ready, and I''m going to fire. Petra, I''m detecting a large concentration of energy in the form of a spiraling spear coming from the giant and pointing at Frank." Hearing this, Silas launched himself toward the ground at full speed to arrive quickly, saying, "Petra, get ready to be thrown; as soon as I have a vector, I''ll send you against the tip of that spear." Like a ballet, everything happened in sync. Frank was a few meters from hitting the ground when an energy spear appeared in the giant''s hands and solidified as if by magic. With phenomenal speed for its stature, the giant delivered a surgical blow against Frank. However, Silas had already thrown himself toward the ground, firing a precise ray that sent Petra flying toward the giant. When the spear''s tip was a few meters from Frank''s head, Petra appeared turbocharged by Sila¡äs ray already in stone form, blocking the spear''s tip with her Flexoclava, disarming the giant and causing the other tipless end of its weapon to pierce a hole through the attacker''s own head. To close the dance, an apotheotic rain of mini-missiles perfectly dodged Petra, who was still in the air. Every single missile hit the giant, opening several antimatter holes that exploded in sequence, burying the colossus in a cloud of explosions and smoke. Frank finally reached the ground, already prepared for the impact, which was mitigated by his strength, while observing his opponent being massacred by his partners'' attacks. Petra landed comparatively softly, while Silas, who had descended at full speed to give himself time to push Petra into the correct position, didn''t have the same fate and fell hard, unable to sufficiently mitigate his fall. "Silas!" Liora shouted upon noticing the problem. Silas fell and stopped responding via his comlink; Liora immediately flew toward him as fast as she could. Upon landing near Silas, she realized he was still alive but heavily injured. His old ebex training, combined with his protective lab coat and a lot of luck in falling on a snow slope, caused him to slide. She immediately activated her sensors and attempted to provide first aid for her friend. Petra was paying attention to what was happening with Silas, but she also didn''t take her eyes off the smoke and explosions where the giant had been flying. She noticed some movement in the midst of the smoke while Frank jumped to her side. With the communication channels open for Liora to hear, she said aloud, "I think the giant hasn''t fallen yet. I''m seeing some shades flying in the middle of the cloud, but it seems to be much smaller. Liora, how''s Silas?" Liora responded while treating Silas, who was starting to move and cursing, reacting to the pain. At the same time, she turned her head to observe the cloud with her luminous ocular sensors and said via comlink, "I''m detecting a weak energy reading; be careful! As for Silas, I''ve put some bones back in place, and he''s waking up. There were many dislocations, and it would be good for him to go to life support and rest for a while." "Attention!" Frank warned, noticing a much smaller figure¡ªless than 10 feet tall¡ªemerging from the cloud where Petra had been staring fixedly. It had the same form as the giant but with a hole through its head, big enough to see the sky behind. As soon as the metamorphosed figure exited the cloud, it flew at high speed toward Petra and Frank. The monster advanced to within a few meters of Petra, stopping abruptly while a loud, guttural sound that seemed to come from inside it echoed through the environment. The winged beast slightly opened its arms toward Petra, who assumed an apprehensive posture. Frank decided to take advantage of the opening to attack; he leaped over the enemy, striking it from above and sending it crashing to the ground at Petra''s feet. The morphing spider-giant seemed to have been defeated; it now moved with great difficulty, and its size decreased considerably again, now becoming a little larger than Petra but wholly broken and unable to coordinate its movements. Frank landed from his jump and went to Petra, ready for a final blow. But Petra noticed something strange and said, "Wait, Frank! It seems to have given up attacking us." She strained to hear a much fainter sound emanating from the shattered blue body, which was contorting on the ground in a disorganized manner and decreasing in size even more. While Silas woke up in pain and updated himself on what had happened, Liora recorded the sound Petra heard using the comlink. After a fast analysis, Liora commented, "Petra, that sound reminds me of the Gate''s ancestral language we heard a while ago in the poetry Amanda showed us." Frank, now with less adrenaline, approached his head very close to Petra to share her comlink and said with some remorse, "These things speak?" Liora heard Frank''s voice and responded, "Not that I knew of. The nanotranslators will also have great difficulty interpreting this, but I''ll try to see what I can do here." Silas, realizing what was happening, said with difficulty, "Let me try to help. I was curious about the ancestral Gate¡äs language, so I updated my nanotranslators with some Suma experimental models." Liora commented, "Silas, return to the ship; you''re not in minimal condition." Silas grumbled, "I''m fine; some work deciphering these messages will make me forget the pain." The giant stopped emitting light and decreased to a minimal size, becoming what seemed to be an egg. The sound coming from it ceased, but Petra managed to transmit everything for Silas to try to decode. After a little over a minute, Silas said, "Okay, team, I''m going to put the result that makes the most sense on the audio channel; the verbs seem quite displaced." Through the comlinks, a synthetic voice could be heard, translating what might have been the giant''s words: "Fools prevent me; I managed to save one." Silas explained, "That''s what it said when it approached you, Petra, before Frank''s blow that brought it down." Frank and Petra looked at each other. Petra said aloud, "Save one what?" Silas interrupted, "And now what it said when it was on the ground, withering. All translation attempts seem to indicate that it was talking to itself this time." Again, the synthetic voice was heard via Petra''s comlink: "I am Messenger. My ninth eye emits destiny, now lost in time. Time to born." Petra lamented, "It seems we shot the messenger." Frank retorted, "Messenger? It killed Amanda before saying anything and would have done the same to us." Petra cracked her neck. "I just hope Amanda''s on her way to the City of Spirits; we need to talk to Mosh!" Silas checked the repair list and commented, "For now, we only have local communication. The ship''s Aethernet connector is drained and should be operational by the end of the day. After we get our batteries from the factory, it will take about three days to repair everything. Is your portal okay, Petra?" Petra concentrated and responded, "Yes, only the three stones I was carrying disappeared; the rest remain normal. We should leave now, and I will make a new stone in a few moments or leave the ship''s door behind to return because I''m out of reserve stones to enchant this place. Let''s take the rest of the ship inside and repair it in my universe." At that moment, the egg that had once been the blue giant, which had been ignored until now, hatched, and nine spiders emerged¡ªidentical in shape to the energy spider that had captured the ship and drained all the energy but miniature in size. They jumped from the egg and burrowed a hole, disappearing under the snow. Liora and Petra became apprehensive, preparing for what could be another trap. With her illuminated eyes, Liora looked down and warned, "I''m a bit distant; from there, it seems those spiders fled very quickly and left a thin trail of energy in the shape of a thread. Team, under the snow, I''m perceiving more of these threads all around." Frank observed, "Are these monsters immortal?" Hearing Frank¡äs low voice from the comlink, Liora thought aloud, "Perhaps these creatures have a different idea of how life and death work; this reminds me of what Amanda said about that tower around here." Petra prepared to open her portal, saying, "How about we get out of here? Silas, can you move the ship through my portal?" Silas turned on another terminal and said, "The thrust engines are still off, but Liora could easily push the ship inside. I could, too, but it still hurts a lot when I move." Frank and Petra, standing near the egg''s remains, looked toward the ship, already thinking about where to place the portal. Silas and Liora were a little further away, upon one of the monolithic veins, next to the slope marked by Silas''s body sliding on the snow. Silas noticed Liora''s delay in responding; he asked: "Liora?" After a brief silence, Frank and Petra realized something was wrong; they turned to Silas and Liora and observed. Petra refrained from opening her portal and commented to Frank, "I''m not seeing anything there." Silas asked again, standing next to Liora, "Liora? Everything okay?" Liora responded via comlink, her voice full of glitches, difficult to perceive, and with abrupt pauses: "The bastard¡­ is here! Inside my mind¡­ Adarian!" A few meters from Silas and Liora, a figure of black shadows revealed itself. It appeared in the middle of the vein, and Cernutos Tower rose ominously behind him in the path. Adarian appeared as if shedding a cloak of invisibility. It was clearly the same Bo that everyone had seen a few days earlier via the Northern Valley city cameras, but now wearing lighter clothes. He didn''t approach; he merely lowered the cloak covering his head, revealing his bald head, and said, smiling, "There''s no more reason for me to hide; you even know my name; I''m almost flattered by that!" Silas realized he needed to buy time for Frank and Petra to position themselves. He also knew that Frank was still regenerating from his fall. He calmly said to Adarian, "Actually, our business isn''t with you, Adarian, nor with the knights we know you''re looking for. We were heading North and ended up having some trouble with the spider. Release my friend so we can continue on our way." Silas was surprised to notice that Adarian wasn''t listening directly to him. He was waiting for a virtual servant to interpret and relay the message using a comlink with a complex modded virtual interface. After a while, Adarian responded slowly, "And since when does a slave give orders? I participated in the Eastern campaigns and already know that talking to your kind can be dangerous to memory; obviously, there are no knights with you. But the way that weapon you call a friend defeated the giant impressed me; it will be useful in my mission. That seems like a fair price for pretending I didn''t see all of you here. I''m not interested in any deal because you''re useless; I need an apprentice, but a slave is out of the question, and I''d be the laughingstock if I had a human as an apprentice. So, leave!" Petra and Frank realized Silas was buying time. Frank wasn''t in perfect condition but considered himself regenerated enough. He nodded at Petra as they quickly approached Silas and Liora, positioning themselves closer to Adarian. Frank spoke, "Adarian, you don''t seem like the type who worries much about what others are laughing at. The idea of passing through here without losing time with a confrontation sounds good, but we''re taking our friend with us, so how''s it going to be?" Adarian cracked his knuckles, blinking his eyes with disdain. "Seems you guys are out of things to offer me, but if you insist on ending your lives like this, the space in our freezer is infinite. I will give you a little time to get ready and healthy; at least, I''ll try to use you as training." Frank feels a sense of warrior pride in Adarian as he waits for him to regenerate. He tries to buy more time warming up for combat while Silas tries to see if he can help Liora. On Petra''s comlink terminal, Silas silently typed, "Adarian is using some kind of mind domination power on Liora; this isn''t technological hacking." Frank said, remembering the conversation with Silas after defeating the Dragon, "Training? In a combat where the loser will be forever frozen? Can''t you make me a more intelligent offer in exchange for our friend?" Adarian raised a protective energy bubble while taking off his cloak, throwing it to the side in the snow, revealing a muscular physique as he said, "Well, I don''t know how you survived this long without the protection of an aura. And I wonder where you stole those weapons, but they don''t seem like much; it will be an easy combat. However, if there''s something I learned from my old master, it''s not to underestimate any enemy." Saying this, Adarian used another power on himself, making his already large physique improve visibly, turning him into a mountain of muscles that almost ripped off the shirt he wore under his cloak. He waved his hand, inviting the group to engage. Petra wrote to Silas via comlink, "Silas, Adarian isn''t even using his master''s weapon. If things get messy, be ready to fire your ray at him while we all go through my portal. I need a few seconds to close it after we pass, but if he enters, it''ll be a big problem because everything we have so far is inside." Silas responded via text, "Don''t open the portal until we''re sure we can keep him out. He analyzed our brief combat with the spider; it seems he calculated that neutralizing Liora right at the beginning could mean an easy win." As Petra and Frank studied the fight, slowly walking toward Adarian, he seemed to lose his patience. He said, "I''ve seen enough; let''s end this quickly!" and accelerated into a slightly higher timeframe than Frank''s. He jumped in an almost horizontal trajectory across the monolithic vein directly toward Frank with a direct punch ready to deliver. Petra got in the way, noticing the feint, and prepared a decisive counterattack. To Adarian''s surprise, before he could reach Frank, Petra''s Flexoclava hit his protective energy aura squarely, shattering it immediately. Without wasting time, Frank accelerated himself and delivered a low kick that Adarian easily parried, but that allowed Frank to get close and land an uppercut with his Flexoclava, considerably injuring his opponent. With a rapid answer and enduring the pain, Adarian took advantage of Frank''s opening to attempt a punch to Frank''s exposed side. But again, with the hum of Petra¡¯s Flexoclava burning its energy cells, she quickly interposed herself, completely dominating her opponent at the mercy of a decisive counterattack. Petra smiled. "Then let''s end this quickly!" she said as her stone body tore into Adarian, sending him crashing to the monolithic ground and crushing him with the Flesxoclava right after. Realizing his critical situation, Adarian raised another protective aura before anything else, but now he was deeply injured and close to death. Adarian said as he partially rose, kneeling; he looked at Petra with his head down and eyes half closed, smiling, "Great! This is going to be more fun than I expected!"
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 100+7 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 6
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 47
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 2
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 40
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9242(0)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
3375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Speed Flight Surveillance drones (1x, suma superior tech, +7 speed modified)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens (*modified, with Laetilia)
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Suma gravity engine, speed +6 (x3)
Pocket aethernet connectors, backup (x2)
City of Spirits cloud service ("The Unforgettables" technology repositories hub project) (total paid: 400.000.000 cloud credits, consumption: 0,3 cloud credits/day)
City of Spirits material marketplace (net income: 3,2 SC$/day, operational costs: 0,3 SC$/day, buy/sell: bare suma components/metal from Petra''s Heavy Metal Universe)
City of Spirits energy marketplace (net income: 19,8 SC$/day, operational costs: 19,7 SC$/day, buy/sell: suma battery components/charged suma batteries)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.05c superior suma tech 50/50), space flight (.5c sub-light, superior suma tech 500/500), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (2/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (1600/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 99+7 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 4
Super-Energy Magnitude 9
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 81
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 2 / 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8687 (0)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP/turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
The Pentagon (6), ranged, hit: Dex, 5TP/turn, prototype (quirk: no chance of friendly fire when used on any range)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
1000 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 98+7 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 15
Super-Mana Magnitude 7
Super-Strength Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance Magnitude 45
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 7
Super-Constitution Magnitude 9
Spellcasting Magnitude 7
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 53/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5356 (0)
Equipment
4375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 3TP / turn, prototype (quirk: +1 free action for parry each turn)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus King¡äs Mountain. (vo) Fire-red - Heavy Metal Infinity Universe, near the entry point. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - cargo door of The Unforgettables schrogae ship. (vo) Pale-white - Ellipsoid Dojo Universe, Petra''s luxury room. (vo) Light-yellow - with Petra. (vo) Dark-grey - with Petra.
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage). (va) Ellipsoid Dojo, Magnitude 2: An ellipsoid with 42 light-years primary diameter (x 35 x 35 light-years minor diameters) composed of solid stone and air, temperatures near water freezing, and a respirable air atmosphere rich in Oxygen. The gravity varies between ~30g at the central axis and near zero at the extreme borders. The universe is closed and has expelling walls, which means that anything that causes 2 or more damage at its borders is expelled to the outside of the universe at a random location near the last entry point. The floor is made of a solid granite layer over solid compressed graffiti, with a solid structural lower border under the stone that supports up to 20.000 damage to expel things like the surface air border. 1st roll: 12: "Stone, simple shapes and solid universe." 2nd roll result: +4 "single success, no extraordinary effect." 3rd roll: 11 "Universe is larger than usual, has a few security improvements and only small quirks." (va) - (va) - (va) - (va) - (va) -
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 98+6 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 6
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 58
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 17
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 75/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5071 (0)
Equipment
4375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire: (2d6+1), melee, hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 3TP / turn, prototype (quirk: +9 fire damage when using mana wildly)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4 (lu) Laetilia: (lu) Amanda: ???
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Name: Laetilia Gorgath (out) Species: Oioioi XP: 71+7 / 30
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 5
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Strength Magnitude 2
Super-Resistance Magnitude 2
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 2
Super-Technique Magnitude 3
Super-Beauty Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Super-Luck Magnitude 27
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Superior Technology (architect) Magnitude 3
Skills
Videogaming (Dex) +2 Piloting (Tech) +2 -
Survival (Wis) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +3
Days: 126(0)
Equipment
Bare hands
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2375 spirit credits on PCU
City of Spirits revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (suma fuel cube, suma shelter cube)
Access to "The Unforgettables" technology repositories hub
Personal aethernet connector (embedded on suma-oioi parts)
Suma superior body parts (+27 bonus on any rolls to be raised from the dead, prototype (???) quirk: +3 temporary MMP when in Umbra)
Superior airbike, space flight, +9 speed, +9 scanning, +9 dodge, +9 stealth, +9 communication, +3 hacking, pocket servo-droids (x2), +12 survival, embedded suma-oioi hypercube (shelter/fuel/cultural), +12 security, tech-meld interface (1000/1000), stat: +100 HP (base 10)
Advanced seeker drone, +13 speed, +12 scanning, +12 stealth, umbral-shift (consumes 1 TP each shift), stat: +100 HP (Base 1), +2 MP, +2 TP (seeking the Golems)
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas, Laetilia 43 research/day
People on prototyping (creative mod, may use Tech) Silas, Laetilia 93 research/day
People on production (creative mod, may use Tech) Silas, Laetilia, Liora copy (1x), Laetilia copy (1x) 95 research/day
Repair rate 950 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 20 / 20 Research
1st modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 1st circle, +3x internal energy generator 30 / 30 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
2nd modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 2nd circle, +3x internal energy generator 50 / 50 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
Penta-gun 1st Missile Massacre Shoot weapon of 1st gen, + 5x internal energy generator 110 / 110 Research (+40 research for batteries on production)
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 20 / 20 Research
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Petra can free-parry one extra blow against herself every turn, totaling 2 free parries for attacks against her, and one parry against any target committing her action as usual) 30 / 30 Research
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: 2d6+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Frank has a +9 fix damage modifier if he ignites it using mana wildly) 50 / 50 Research
The Pentagon Damage: 6, ranged, Hit:Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 5TP / turn (quirk: up to 10 safe targets, identified with a network key device, that could not be mistarget by friendly fire, the shoots completely bypass those targets ignoring any cover as if they does not exist, adding a +17 surprise hit bonus for all attacks and mobility rolls for one turn, but only in the first time it was used against an antagonist) 110 / 110 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 40 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Superior Technology Factory It does not need a blueprint; it requires a material source and 1TP energy for each other''s projects. It allows mass production projects. 10 / 10 Research
Mass-produced structure (complete: 120 = 1200 HP) It needs no blueprint, protects other structures or devices, and has 10 HP each. (plugged: all on training dojo) 120 / 1 Research
Mass-produced auto repair system (complete: 8 = regen 80/t) It needs no blueprints, regenerates a structure at 10HP/turn, and consumes 1TP/turn. (plugged: all on training dojo) 80 / 10 Research
Mass-produced energy cell (complete: 38/40x) Need no blueprint, 1 act. = 1TP one-shot, recharge as repair 40 / 1 Research
Mass-produced energy battery (complete:12x ) Need no blueprint, 1TP/turn on a plugged device (plugged: 4 for Liora, 2 for Frank, 2 for Petra, 4 for the factory) 120 / 10 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 7/7)
Maneuver: 58+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 7+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 47+10
Feats of strength: Use any asteroid in the Solar System as a ball to play bowling (condition: Firebreaker and a solid anchor point to apply the force)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 150 / 150 Umbra: -90 MP 7/7 135 10 0+4 regen 9/t
War - melee 0+4 5(d12+1)+5
War - parry 45+4 45(d12+2)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 1TF free
Exausted Flexoclava (d12+1) to (d6+1) (d12+2) to (d6+2) Change damage dice to d6
Firebreaker 60 / 60 Umbra: -20 WP 2/2 MP 2/2 0 0 17+4 regen 2/t
Fir - melee 17+4 58(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - melee TF2 7+4 58(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - brawl 58+4 58(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 48+4 58(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 17+4 85 X-3 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 7+4 85 X-3 X hit/t
Exausted Flexoclava (2d6+1) to (d6+1) Change damage dice to d6
Stardust 40 / 40 Umbra: -1 TP 9/9 0 0 81+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 81+4 486 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 71+4 486 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 61+4 486 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 51+4 486 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 41+4 486 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF6 31+4 486 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF7 21+4 486 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF8 11+4 486 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF9 1+4 486
Star - Blast (rng) 81+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 Umbra: -1 TP 6/6 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 47+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 47+4 2X X all targets
Chapter 30 - Bow Down to the Neon God! Chapter 30 - Bow Down to the Neon God! - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG (end of 1st volume) Before Adarian had a chance to rise, Frank leaped over him, delivering a powerful blow that was utterly mitigated by Adarian''s potent energy dome. The aura seemed to crack under Frank''s brutal onslaught¡ªpowerful enough to cleave mountains in half¡ªbut it survived, still offering some protection. Frank fell back to the ground upon the monolithic vein, circling Adarian and delivering another precise lateral blow as fast as he could, this time completely shattering the remaining aura around his foe but still without reaching him. Immediately after perceiving his protection being breached, an aware Adarian, still on his knees but slightly faster than Frank, raised another energy aura with a subtle hand gesture and calmly stood up, taking the time and tranquility to brush the snow and dust from his already heavily injured body. He pressed his hands together, forming a triangle with his fingers while closing his eyes and concentrating. Frank and Petra felt a static energy rising in the environment. Adarian smiled, secure within his protective halo, saying, "So, are you tired? Is that all you have to show me?" Frank realized Adarian was buying time to recover his energy despite his powers being almost imperceptible to any senses. Frank concentrated on delivering powerful blows as quickly as possible with his weapon, maintaining simplicity to achieve a paired cadence. The moment a blow managed to break Adarian''s energy aura, Frank spun his body, using the momentum of the first blow to deliver another accurate strike. However, Adarian was attentive, and as soon as his aura fell, he raised another to replace it, canceling the second blow and demonstrating that unless Frank could be faster, he wouldn''t get an opening in his defenses alone, no matter how strong his blows were. Petra perceived Adarian''s defensive strategy and tried to hit him from behind with her Flexoclava; however, the protective aura enveloped him completely. There were no weak points on his back, and Petra''s strength wasn''t enough for her to penetrate her opponent''s defenses. Adarian didn''t attack but concentrated on restoring his energy and used a technology device on his waist to heal some of his injuries. After the attack attempts slowed down, Adarian renewed his protective aura even before it was broken by Frank while saying in a threatening tone, "Don''t worry; this combat won''t last long!" Adarian was interrupted by a flash of light that was also deflected by his aura. Silas landed a direct hit with one of his energy rays; however, Adarian''s protective aura not only canceled the ray but prevented its target from being thrown away. Adarian completely ignored Silas and Petra with a contemptuous side smile; without turning, he continued talking to Frank, "What is there in the North that interests you so much that you risk your lives?" He tilted his head toward Liora, completely paralyzed, and continued, "And especially, why do you need my new weapon over there so much?" Frank thought quickly and responded, "We don''t leave anyone behind," looking at Petra. He continued, "Warden, let''s do it like in the King''s arena." Frank then spun his Flexoclava rhythmically; Petra perceived the synchronization and prepared herself. Frank delivered two blows against Adarian¡ªthe first to weaken the aura and the second to bring it down. Immediately, along with the second blow, Petra advanced and grabbed Adarian by the neck, already in stone form, immobilizing him before he could raise another aura. Frank wasted no time and took advantage of his opponent''s surprise to deliver a blow that hit him squarely, with Petra holding him from behind. The blow brought Adarian to death''s door again, and Petra''s defenses were more than sufficient to cancel any collateral damage that Frank''s brutal movement might cause her. But Adarian also thought quickly and raised an energy aura around Frank, but in the opposite direction, causing Frank to be confined within an energy cell. Petra tried to suffocate her already heavily injured opponent while Frank spent precious time freeing himself from his cell with two blows at maximum power. Adarian resisted Petra¡äs choke but remained stone-grappled; he whispered to the wind, "Kill them!" Liora, who had until then been paralyzed, merely observing, took her weapon and entered the maximum timeframe. She said with great difficulty to Silas, "I can''t control myself!" Silas shook his head and said, "Do as he ordered, using your best weapon, Stardust!" Then, he sent a message to Petra via comlink: "When the missiles arrive, distance yourself from Adarian and position yourself between him and Liora!" Liora fired almost a dozen missiles toward Petra. When the weapon''s trigger was activated, Silas reacted, "Now!" While the missiles traveled the short trajectory toward Petra, she released Adarian, who raised his energy aura almost reflexively. Petra jumped back, and all the missiles that had her as a target deflected at the last moment, hitting everything around except Petra and Frank, who emerged unscathed from this massive attack. Amidst the curtain of dust and smoke that had risen throughout the region, Silas realized that Liora was still under mental domination and immediately warned via comlink, "This isn''t over; let''s take advantage of this and escape with a portal!" Frank jumped toward Petra to carry her near Silas and Liora; however, as soon as he left the ground, he realized his movement was suddenly interrupted; he was hanging in the air and felt pressure around his neck as if he were being strangled, the enemy senses pierced the fog somehow. Suddenly, all the smoke in the air dissipated as if it were being pushed away radially. Adarian was floating with one arm raised toward Frank as if holding him from a distance. Adarian''s eyes emanated a grayish energy; this same energy also emanated from the various wounds spread across his body. With his other arm, Adarian pointed to his cloak, lying nearby on the ground, as if he was dragging something, and took a small staff via telekinesis, which flew toward him. As soon as he grasped the staff, it transformed into his deceased master''s shadow energy blade. The weapon¡äs energy also pierced the wielder''s hands when turned on, causing him to bleed violently and painting the snow around him with dark red droplets. He said in a deep voice, facing his blade, "Everything in the world has a price, except for dreams. And yours has come to an end!" Frank choked out, "That little stick didn''t save your master; it won''t save you either!" Petra, meanwhile, began to work on a magic spell. Adarian couldn''t hide his laughter. "That''s something I would have said years ago!" After pausing to tighten his grip, he continued, "Stardust, you know so much about me and my master. Tell me what you''re after." Liora, unable to control her speech devices, struggled unsuccessfully for a few seconds and then said, "Seneca." Adarian looked surprised and shook his head. Turning back to Frank, who was being choked, he said, "That doesn''t matter to me. How unfortunate! You could have left instead of dying. Regarding that weapon, let''s see how long you survive her bite." Adarian retracted his raised arm and brandished his blade with both hands, pointing it at Frank. Frank''s clung body was pulled toward the blade''s point. Seizing the distraction, Petra created and activated a new portal stone, opening a two-way portal in front of her and another one between Frank and Adarian. She stepped through her portal to intercept Adarian''s telekinetic pull against his blade, allowing Frank to pass through the other side and immediately free himself from his phantom grasp. Petra''s Flexoclava completely nullified Adarian''s blade, pulling him forward when his telekinetic target unexpectedly changed. Both weapons crossed as Petra remained in the air, above her opponent, pressing down with her weight. The shadow blade slowly began to penetrate Petra¡äs Flexoclava. Noticing this, she used her stone body mass to gain momentum to one side before landing. Her Flexoclava remained functional, but the cut made by the blade on the weapon remained. Adarian also regained his balance, standing near Petra and saying with a smile, "Well, well! Do you also know how to use magic? What a coincidence! I inherited the extermination tomes my master stole and just started learning myself." A furious Frank wasted no time listening and jumped into the fray again, unleashing a flurry of blows with his Flexoclava. Adarian changed tactics, dodging Frank''s attacks. He kept his eyes on Petra, slowing down his time frame and drawing his blade backward, holding it horizontally with both hands. He focused, dodging Frank''s attacks at the limit of his abilities, while Petra studied him, trying to decipher his new combat strategy. Adarian shouted at Petra, "Begone!" moments after unleashed a powerful strike as if unsheathing his blade. Petra, attentive and prepared, managed a perfect block, but not enough to cancel the blow, merely deflecting it upward. The shadow blade tore a deep wound in her left shoulder, even in stone form; she recoiled, experiencing excruciating pain; to her growing despair, her new wound did not regenerate. Seeing this, Frank realized his frantic attacks were ineffective and went to Petra. "Get out of here; I''ll hold him!" Adarian retorted, "Don''t be ridiculous!" But he turned his gaze to Petra, who was groaning in pain. "A human who survived the Shadow Omen''s bite? Most impressive! Perhaps I made a mistake thinking about inviting the wrong human to be my apprentice; it''s a shame I spoiled you; this wound will never heal, and now you''re useless! So, Goodbye!" Adarian immediately increased his timeframe a bit and raised his weapon diagonally. Frank used his willpower to land a perfect blow, but no matter how hard the hit, it was only able to break the protective aura, not injuring its target. Adarian wasted no time delivering two precise blows against Petra''s sides, which she partially blocked again. Those lethal bites were sufficient, however, to wound her until she fell to her knees, nearly unconscious and completely exhausted. The pain was so intense that she could no longer lift her Flexoclava, dropping it and lowering her head. Despairing, furious, and with berserking tears, Frank missed several Flexoclava strikes but landed a powerful, accurate kick to Adarian''s abdomen before Adarian changed to a full defensive posture and raised its protective aura again. Nearby, realizing the critical situation, Silas flew with his ray toward the ship, which was still floating above. Adarian turned to Petra, kneeling, gently nudging her head sideways toward the snow as he spoke. "Don''t worry; I''ll be merciful to those who provide me good training. When I put you in the freezer, the pain will cease." Frank didn''t give up the fight, realizing he could land some kicks if his opponent depended solely on dodging. Frank paused the attacks, trying to calm down, noticing Adarian wasn''t reacting to Silas; he circled his opponent carefully, silently waiting for a final chance to achieve victory. Adarian retrieved his weapon and transformed it into a staff. He said, "Finally realized you never had a chance? Or not? It seems your friend just betrayed you." Frank raised his Flexoclava. "He didn''t take me this, at least!" Adarian grew enraged, continuing the dialogue. "You want to die so badly? Thinking of staying behind to protect that slave''s escape? He was never your friend! If you knew what I saw¡­" Frank smiled. "Lies? Is that your pitch for an apprentice? The problem is, you believe everyone¡¯s as rotten as you are¡ªthat no decent people exist anymore." Adarian smiled back. "How I wish I were lying," Adarian made a pained expression that didn''t seem feigned. "I once thought like you, but that young Bo full of dreams died a long time ago; I don''t care about anything anymore. If you had a little more strength right now, I would have fallen dead in this fight; I never cared." Adarian looked at Frank, pausing briefly before continuing, "Is it different for you? You''re not afraid of dying? Or worse, of ending up in eternal suffering like your friend lying beside you in the snow?" Frank looked at Petra, terrified. She was now unconscious, breathing with difficulty, her face lying on its side, half dug in the snow, bearing a mask of indescribable pain. Frank struggled to look back into Adarian''s eyes without showing his inner fear; Frank tried to seek help in reason. "I lost hope in the world once, and in myself too, but I didn''t choose to make other people''s lives as miserable as mine." Adarian laughed loudly and spoke in an aggressive tone, "You''re weak! This childish thinking will lead you to the same fate as your friend. Come with me, and I''ll train you to become something extraordinary. If you want to keep that inconsequential dream, I don''t care; if you don''t want to follow the fast path to power that I chose," Adarian said, showing his sheathed weapon and bleeding arms. He continued, "I also don''t care; the only rule is to obey me when we''re on a mission." Frank perceived the proposal and noticed the ship maneuvering. Slowly, it moved away to the South, moving backward as if seeking a vector of aim. He continued the conversation, "Okay, Adarian. And what would that make us? Two happy puppets for Biggus to play?" Adarian continued, now stopping laughing, "No, my dear, I intend to kill Biggus and take his place. And you can be sure I''m not lying to you." He paused, noticing Frank thinking, "What should I call you?" Frank paused and walked around Adarian as if in conflict. Finally, he turned to Adarian and said, "Firebreaker! Remember this name, Adarian." Frank waved one arm while firmly holding his Flexoclava with the other. Two colossal lightning balls emerged from the ship''s lower tower. Frank continued speaking when he realized there was no way for Adarian to escape: "Because it will be the last thing you hear!" Prepared as always, Adarian let his protective aura absorb the first blast while raising his left arm toward the ship using his telekinesis. At a tremendous speed, he grasped the ship and threw it to the ground with ease. However, the second blast scorched him brutally. Frank used his willpower to take advantage of the opening in Adarian''s energy aura and deliver his final blow with his Flexoclava. Frank jumped and made a short, precise, and lethal vertical arc. The schrogae ship fell to the ground, onto a slope aside to a vein, and partially exploded. The light of the explosion illuminated the scene further ahead on the monolithic vein; two warriors stood still, with their weapons raised, drawing a picture of their final blow; time seemed to stop. Adarian didn''t turn around; with his back to Frank, he activated his blade, pointing backward, while Frank raised his Flexoclava above his head with both hands and advanced. Frank looked at his abdomen; the shadow blade pierced him while his Flexoclava flew toward Adarian. But it was too late; his strength was exhausted, and his weapon slipped from his hands. Victorious and furious, Adarian, almost scorched to death, said, "I told you I was once like you, and I still keep some of my willpower for moments like this; you would have been my only apprentice! Why? From what Stardust said a while ago, we would walk together on the same path that Seneca''s son forged to become perfect Jufeis; that''s what you were seeking, right? But your glorious future isn''t going to happen; you were also wasted, consumed by the Shadow Omen, and while she exists, you two will be useless." Adarian let a tear escape, unsure if it was for having lost a potential apprentice or for having lost some hope that his past dreams might somehow be resurrected. Adarian retrieved the shadow blade and let Frank fall to the ground; he continued talking, unsure if Frank was still hearing anything. "Firebreaker, I expected your attack; your hopeful eyes revealed that to me when you saw the ship. I didn''t expect that slave to really sacrifice himself. Now I''m going to see if he''s really dead, and then I''ll be back there to put you two in the freezer." Adarian moved away from Frank, lying unconscious in the snow, calmly walking toward the burning ship, noticing lots of scattered debris while the ship slowly tried to regenerate itself. He ignored what was happening around him and searched for signs of life with his virtual monocular; when he found Silas amidst the debris, he lifted him with his telekinesis, squeezing his neck to prevent him from speaking but trying to avoid killing him since he already seemed mortally wounded. Adarian brought Silas within inches of his face, looking intently at him in the eyes. He said, "I didn''t understand anything about you, but I''m not even going to ask you; I sense the smell of the Lady of Tempus on you; you are her property, and I don''t want to interfere any further with that." Silas shook his head in denial, trying to think with his remaining strength about what his executioner was saying. It made no sense, and he realized that Adarian might already be delirious, like Dukliasse. Adarian continued, "I''m going to do the following. This is going to take a while and will give me some work, but I will not bring you with me." Adarian landed himself on the ground. He then concentrated a ball of dark blue energy in the palm of his other hand while speaking, "I''m going to freeze you in time because you only have a few minutes to live now, so technically, I''m saving your life." Silas continued to shake his head in denial, but he began to concentrate to avoid falling unconscious. Adarian noticed Silas''s faltering eyes; he manipulated his body via telekinesis, jolting him awake briefly, then releasing the pressure and positioning him on the ground facing South, next to a long vein near where the ship had fallen. While continuing to concentrate energy in his other hand, he said, "I just need you not to die for a few more seconds. Time will start passing slowly for you, almost stopping, to the point that you''ll have difficulty perceiving what''s happening around you soon; your mind will become lethargic, and the pain you feel now will lessen. But I think you''ll perceive the Golems of your mistress when they arrive from the South¡ªin a few years for me and a few seconds for you. I also ended up gaining one of these Golems on my tail; it should still be behind me, but at least I didn''t make a pact with that thing. I only hope it was worth it for you." Adarian touched Silas with his deep blue energized hand, and Silas became rigid as a statue as time stopped flowing for him. Adarian left Silas alone, slowly walking back to grab his mantle while he ordered Liora, "Stardust! Bring the two to my ship and place them carefully in my cryogenic device; be careful not to injure them. After that, remove all your energy cells and enter dormancy inside my ship until further orders." Liora, furious, perceived her body compelled to obey Adarian''s orders; in despair, she created a new, extremely simplified copy of herself, placing it inside her comlink''s memory cache and loading only two video-to-text and audio-to-text models, with orders to record everything the comlink captured in text and maintain the record also inside the cache. The last thing Liora remembered was turning herself off, already inside Adarian''s small ship, after having put Petra and Frank into cryogenic sleep. Meanwhile, far away in the South, Laetilia finished repairing the airbike with the speed-up devices and took a break from a day of work that had absorbed her entirely. She still had the active telepathy enchantment as if nothing had happened, but she hadn''t noticed the others for some time. She tried to open a communication channel and managed to enter into Petra''s universe''s network but noticed that nobody was there and that the ship was incommunicable. She even sent a message to Mosh that same day asking if he knew anything, but the response didn''t arrive. Laetilia remembered Liora making her promise that if she weren''t cursed with the Golems, she would return to Rocatrista and help from there because, according to Liora, her destiny would be much better. She kicked her modded airbike into gear, the bad feeling in her chest burning like fuel. Whatever mess was going down, she¡¯d pretend to find it out soon enough. After a few minutes of flying South, still far from Rocatrista, it became clear to Laetilia that the silence in all communication meant trouble. She thought to herself, "Well, now I''m the one who decides my destiny. Technically, when I promised, I was another person. Sorry, Mom, but I''m going to disappoint you already." Laetilia skidded her airbike to a halt, flipped it around, and gunned for a higher altitude. Ignoring the risks, she pushed the throttle to the max, tearing northward. ¡°Alright, show me what you¡¯ve got!¡± She said with a wicked grin while reaching top speed and heading to the distant tower.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 110+7 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 7
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 50
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 3
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 45
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9242(0)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
3375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Speed Flight Surveillance drones (1x, suma superior tech, +7 speed modified)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens (*modified, with Laetilia)
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Suma gravity engine, speed +6 (x3)
Pocket aethernet connectors, backup (x2)
City of Spirits cloud service ("The Unforgettables" technology repositories hub project) (total paid: 400.000.000 cloud credits, consumption: 0,3 cloud credits/day)
City of Spirits material marketplace (net income: 3,2 SC$/day, operational costs: 0,3 SC$/day, buy/sell: bare suma components/metal from Petra''s Heavy Metal Universe)
City of Spirits energy marketplace (net income: 19,8 SC$/day, operational costs: 19,7 SC$/day, buy/sell: suma battery components/charged suma batteries)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.05c superior suma tech 50/50), space flight (.5c sub-light, superior suma tech 500/500), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (2/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (1600/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 109+7 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 4
Super-Energy Magnitude 10
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 90
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 2 / 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8687 (0)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP/turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
The Pentagon (6), ranged, hit: Dex, 5TP/turn, prototype (quirk: no chance of friendly fire when used on any range)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
1000 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 108+7 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 19
Super-Mana Magnitude 7
Super-Strength Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance Magnitude 50
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 7
Super-Constitution Magnitude 10
Spellcasting Magnitude 7
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 53/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5356 (0)
Equipment
4375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 3TP / turn, prototype (quirk: +1 free action for parry each turn)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus King¡äs Mountain. (vo) Fire-red - Heavy Metal Infinity Universe, near the entry point. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - cargo door of The Unforgettables schrogae ship. (vo) Pale-white - Ellipsoid Dojo Universe, Petra''s luxury room. (vo) Light-yellow - with Petra. (vo) Dark-grey - with Petra.
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage). (va) Ellipsoid Dojo, Magnitude 2: An ellipsoid with 42 light-years primary diameter (x 35 x 35 light-years minor diameters) composed of solid stone and air, temperatures near water freezing, and a respirable air atmosphere rich in Oxygen. The gravity varies between ~30g at the central axis and near zero at the extreme borders. The universe is closed and has expelling walls, which means that anything that causes 2 or more damage at its borders is expelled to the outside of the universe at a random location near the last entry point. The floor is made of a solid granite layer over solid compressed graffiti, with a solid structural lower border under the stone that supports up to 20.000 damage to expel things like the surface air border. 1st roll: 12: "Stone, simple shapes and solid universe." 2nd roll result: +4 "single success, no extraordinary effect." 3rd roll: 11 "Universe is larger than usual, has a few security improvements and only small quirks." (va) - (va) - (va) - (va) - (va) -
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 108+6 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 6
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 68
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 17
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 75/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5071 (0)
Equipment
4375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire: (2d6+1), melee, hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 3TP / turn, prototype (quirk: +9 fire damage when using mana wildly)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4 (lu) Laetilia: (lu) Amanda: ???
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Name: Laetilia "DestinyTILT" Gorgath (out) Species: Oioioi XP: 81+7 / 27
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 7
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Strength Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance Magnitude 2
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 2
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 1
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 3
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Beauty Magnitude 1
Super-Morale Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Super-Luck Magnitude 27
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Superior Technology (architect) Magnitude 3
Skills
Videogaming (Dex) +2 Piloting (Tech) +2 -
Survival (Wis) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +3
Days: 126(0)
Equipment
Bare hands
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2375 spirit credits on PCU
City of Spirits revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (suma fuel cube, suma shelter cube)
Access to "The Unforgettables" technology repositories hub
Personal aethernet connector (embedded on suma-oioi parts)
Suma superior body parts (+27 bonus on any rolls to be raised from the dead, prototype (???) quirk: +3 temporary MMP when in Umbra)
Superior airbike, space flight, +9 speed, +9 scanning, +9 dodge, +9 stealth, +9 communication, +3 hacking, pocket servo-droids (x2), +12 survival, embedded suma-oioi hypercube (shelter/fuel/cultural), +12 security, tech-meld interface (1000/1000), stat: +100 HP (base 10)
Advanced seeker drone, +13 speed, +12 scanning, +12 stealth, umbral-shift (consumes 1 TP each shift), stat: +100 HP (Base 1), +2 MP, +2 TP (seeking the Golems)
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas, Laetilia 48 research/day
People on prototyping (creative mod, may use Tech) Silas, Laetilia 101 research/day
People on production (creative mod, may use Tech) Silas, Laetilia, Liora copy (1x), Laetilia copy (1x) 103 research/day
Repair rate 1030 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 20 / 20 Research
1st modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 1st circle, +3x internal energy generator 30 / 30 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
2nd modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 2nd circle, +3x internal energy generator 50 / 50 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
Penta-gun 1st Missile Massacre Shoot weapon of 1st gen, + 5x internal energy generator 110 / 110 Research (+40 research for batteries on production)
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 20 / 20 Research
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Petra can free-parry one extra blow against herself every turn, totaling 2 free parries for attacks against her, and one parry against any target committing her action as usual) 30 / 30 Research
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: 2d6+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Frank has a +9 fix damage modifier if he ignites it using mana wildly) 50 / 50 Research
The Pentagon Damage: 6, ranged, Hit:Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 5TP / turn (quirk: up to 10 safe targets, identified with a network key device, that could not be mistarget by friendly fire, the shoots completely bypass those targets ignoring any cover as if they does not exist, adding a +17 surprise hit bonus for all attacks and mobility rolls for one turn, but only in the first time it was used against an antagonist) 110 / 110 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 40 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Superior Technology Factory It does not need a blueprint; it requires a material source and 1TP energy for each other''s projects. It allows mass production projects. 10 / 10 Research
Mass-produced structure (complete: 120 = 1200 HP) It needs no blueprint, protects other structures or devices, and has 10 HP each. (plugged: all on training dojo) 120 / 1 Research
Mass-produced auto repair system (complete: 8 = regen 80/t) It needs no blueprints, regenerates a structure at 10HP/turn, and consumes 1TP/turn. (plugged: all on training dojo) 80 / 10 Research
Mass-produced energy cell (complete: 38/40x) Need no blueprint, 1 act. = 1TP one-shot, recharge as repair 40 / 1 Research
Mass-produced energy battery (complete:12x ) Need no blueprint, 1TP/turn on a plugged device (plugged: 4 for Liora, 2 for Frank, 2 for Petra, 4 for the factory) 120 / 10 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 7/7)
Maneuver: 68+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 7+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 50+10
Feats of strength: Use a colossal Flexoclava to finally play snooker using planet Mercury as the white ball (condition: Firebreaker and a solid anchor point to apply the force)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 190 / 190 Umbra: -100 MP 7/7 150 10 0+4 regen 10/t
War - melee 0+4 5(d12+1)+5
War - parry 45+4 50(d12+2)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 1TF free
Exausted Flexoclava (d12+1) to (d6+1) (d12+2) to (d6+2) Change damage dice to d6
Firebreaker 60 / 60 Umbra: -20 WP 2/2 MP 2/2 0 0 17+4 regen 2/t
Fir - melee 17+4 68(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - melee TF2 7+4 68(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - brawl 68+4 68(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 58+4 68(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 17+4 85 X-3 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 7+4 85 X-3 X hit/t
Exausted Flexoclava (2d6+1) to (d6+1) Change damage dice to d6
Stardust 40 / 40 Umbra: -1 TP 10/10 0 0 90+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 90+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 80+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 70+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 60+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 50+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF6 40+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF7 30+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF8 20+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF9 10+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 90+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 Umbra: -1 TP 7/7 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 50+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 50+4 2X X all targets
Interlude: A Song for the Laughter and a Song for the Tear, part 1. Interlude: Making Of ¡°The Unforgettables¡± - A Song for the Laughter and a Song for the Tear, part 1. Ramirez tried unsuccessfully to sleep on a restless night in his captive hotel room in Rocatrista. The night at the bar had been long, but even though he was tired to the bone, something prevented the magic man from shutting down his eyes. He checked the thousands of messages from his contacts, stopping at one from Petra a few days earlier¡ªsome nonsense about Jufei and Alphas. He thought to himself, "Yeah, it''s another two months until they arrive somewhere; these questions can wait." Ramirez made a pained expression, grumbling, "This crap is really fucking me up today!" as he undressed and went to the bathroom to check his back in the mirror. He looked like a middle-aged man with a well-preserved physique. After smiling at his alternative appearance, the magic man let part of his illusion fall, revealing a body that was hardly human¡ªslender, weakened, and full of open wounds on his back. However, he didn''t dare to let the illusion fall entirely to avoid gazing at his own face, at least not today. He thought to himself that he didn''t need more nightmares for that night. Ramirez grimaced, whispering to himself, his hands trembling as he perceived his precarious condition. "Argh, hell no, this is really bad¡ªI screwed up and forgot to take..." Ramirez picked up a dirty glass left on the sink full of pills. In despair, his hands dropped some down the drain; he continued grumbling, "Crap!" as he managed with difficulty to push two huge pills into his mouth. He tried to swallow them dry but choked; he then turned on the tap and, with his hand, took a few sips of water to send all the medicine down. After swallowing the pills, he raised his whole illusion again and spent some time looking at his own reflection in the mirror, waiting, slowly relaxing his body until his hands stopped trembling. He said to his reflection, "Alright, it worked wonderfully this time... but taking two at once? Probably a dumb move." Ramirez prepared the bathtub and stopped the water flow early, allowing only his tired legs to soak in the hot water. He leaned against the bathtub with his arms open, looking at the opaque light from the ceiling. His body relaxed so much that his mind started spinning, and he seemed to lose consciousness right there as he heard the beep of his mini medbot turning on. In his dreams, a semi-omniscient Ramirez was in Petra''s homeworld, working as an interviewer for a fiction website and sitting at a terminal waiting to start an online interview with some random author. In his hand, he had a paper review of an incomplete book called ¡°The Unforgettables.¡± He flipped through it, and it seemed to be the story of Petra and Frank after coming to Gate. He grumbled, "Unwise... Now my mind is having fun playing tricks on me." before fully entering his character within his delirium. Suddenly, the author appeared on the other side of the call at the scheduled time. He was a guy who looked like he had styled his hair with a live wire, sitting in a small, poorly lit room with a yellow side light. They greeted each other and made cordial introductions. The author, always smiling, thanked him for the opportunity to talk about his work as the interview began. Ramirez improvised a first question while checking if his pile of oneiric paper notes could help him in some way. "Well, let''s start by talking a little about you," he proposed, only having time to check the author''s profile. "I see that this is your first work, and you don''t seem very young, so what did you do before writing?" The author replied almost reflexively, "I work as a data analyst; I''ve done a bit of everything, from medical to social sciences; I even participated in teams that published academic papers before starting to venture into fiction." Ramirez smiled in agreement, remembering himself working with data early in life and figuring out that maybe it was his memories messing up with his unconsciousness. "Ah, I see. It makes sense... I noted that some parts of your book are a bit weird. But before talking about the work, tell me why the hell you decided to write fiction?" The author, always smiling, said, "Well, I plan on getting very rich¡­" Ramirez burst into laughter and interrupted, "Are you pulling my leg? Seriously, where did the idea of writing this come from?" The author apologized and continued, "Okay, I created a tabletop RPG system and an alternative world that I have been writing about since I was a child. I played it with my friends during university, but life took me on other adventures. Now I decided to put something on paper, and that''s been 30 years¡­" Ramirez realized that humans'' lifespans might not be as long as in Gate and continued, "Do you have a date for all this?" "More or less," the author reflected. "I started creating the game system and world between 1989 and 1990, and the really playable version only came about in the mid-1995s. But the story I tell in my book is much more recent; I started thinking about it during the pandemic." Ramirez checked the date, 2025, and did the math. "Ah, so that''s why you chose to set some of the characters on Earth during that time?" "Not exactly!" the author replied, reflecting. "I have some baggage from that time, and it helps, roughly between 1970 and 2010, but also because things in the world are getting so crazy these days that I thought of an odyssey adventure placed in a previous period, embedded in the culture I lived in.¡± The author paused for a while, then resumed, ¡°the name ''Western Culture'' is a bit crude to define it; I''d rather call that time a ¡®Cultural Symphony,¡¯ making a parallel with ancient Greece''s Classical Period." Ramirez sank a little into the chair. "So the theme of your work is an elevation of everyday life from that time? Don''t you find this comparison with Greece a bit over the top?" "Regarding the story''s overall theme, this elevation you mentioned is one way to look at it. The smaller themes are quite diverse, sometimes more critical and rational, but also tied to aspects of that time," the author reflected. "For instance, the ability of people with differing views to not only work toward a common goal but also form genuine friendships." After a brief pause, "As for the exaggerated parallel with ancient Greece, I agree with you there. We can''t push anachronisms beyond conceptual comparisons, as the historical distance is far too great. The parallel I¡¯m referring to is about the name itself, the concept we use to describe those cultural elements." "Got it! Let us move on. Is your idea to reproduce more elements of an odyssey? I mean, during the adventures, you make references to cultural elements from the time and place of the characters'' home, a place where they might one day return to? Is that right?" Ramirez guessed. "You nailed it! But in this case, it''s their homeland that might return to the characters, not the other way around," the author smiled.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. "Ah¡­ I see! And I''m working toward that!" Ramirez blurted out. "What?" the author asked, puzzled. "I agree with you about the state of the world today," Ramirez thought quickly. "There¡¯s so much anger, and by showing these themes in your work, it feels like you''re honoring the positive aspects of that time that we may be losing since we are living in a time of turmoil." "Ah, yes! It''s a form of reverence, of love, of communicating and discussing ideas in a dance with the readers." the author responded. "That''s right; we need more love in the world today," Ramirez responded, relieved, returning to his role as interviewer. ¡°But your work has elements of adventure and even horror, besides characters outside what would be expected for the role of heroes; why is that?" "Regarding both the hero role and the horror of the unknown, we can think about modern-world dilemmas, the human condition, and consciousness of this condition, the incompleteness that presents itself as a double-edged blade of freedom and fear," after a brief pause. "The hero isn''t necessarily born a hero, but their actions and intentions matter, both internally when referring to what each person thinks and collectively in their interactions and dialogues. Thus, the hero is not perfect or omniscient, and even the narrator doesn''t know everything. But the hero changes throughout the adventure, and that''s also why the style is a progression fantasy, intertwining the writing style with the theme." "How so? Explain a little more about the moments of horror and the enemies because they seem completely alien to me!" Ramirez lied. "They''re quite strange and nightmarish material, in many cases utterly unknown, breeding fear just with the uncertainty of what might come," the author agreed. "But look at the nine confrontations that occurred during this first volume; they can be viewed as relatively simple symbolic images, not exactly an accurate description of the creatures encountered, but their figures function as complements to the description; they could be animals carrying some symbolism, such as rats, serpents, and spiders; or concepts of people, such as thieves, warriors, and traitors; or mythological figures, such as golems, zombies, and gargoyles." "Nine?" Ramirez disguised the fact that he didn''t remember reading everything. "I mean, is there a reason for that?" "Ah, yes, sorry. I think there are only 7 in the unfinished material I sent you before. But for the reasons I did it, It''s a limitation I set myself, given that I''m not writing poetry. " The author paused to think, "Er... In most cases, no." "Unless a poem appears in a language that doesn''t exist¡­" Ramirez commented. Remembering his attention was grabbed when his nano-translators were unable to deal with some of the annotations related to the last chapter that had been sent to him. "Except for that part, at least it''s easy to do the metrics when you can invent the entire language," the author joked. Ramirez nodded, smiling back. The author continued, "I was inspired by some creative strategies from authors I like a lot, but we may discuss the work''s format later." "So let us talk a little more about those enemies and their representations. These simple figures function as complements to the description as if they were the characters'' interpretation of what they''re experiencing?" Ramirez asked. "Yes, it''s a layer complementary to the narrative; sometimes the characters use these names to refer to what they''re seeing, other times the image is implicit as a reference from the narrator''s voice. That layered writing style works as a literary strategy," the author agreed. "Right. What type of strategy exactly is that you''re referring to? Bakhtin''s polyphony? Or some intertextuality? If the game elements are relevant, would it be something like metafiction? And regarding that layer of figures, is it closer to the allegorical, as in Dante, or the liminal, as in Kafka?" Ramirez asked, now more comfortable with a topic he had studied more deeply in his distant past in Gate, remembering the time he first met Chester when he worked in an editorial department and revised human literature. "Wow, calm down!" the author replied, impressed. "The authors you mentioned are giants, and I only know something about them as a reader and a fan. My work is more of a game¡ªexcessively experimental, perhaps¡ªbut trying to give you an answer; the polyphony is a powerful idea. I have an exclusive layer for the character voices, in contrast with the narrator, that is almost neutral, and there''s another subtle layer only for him, which will be one of the surprises I''ve planned for later in the second volume. So, I could say that polyphony combines very well with the work''s idea since each character complements their worldview and shows the reader what is happening through dialogue. Therefore, each character has its own voice, and each one progresses throughout the narrative following a personal path. As for allegorical or liminal, that depends on the context in which the figures are used; for a more grounded description, the allegorical is stronger, but when we go up the mountain and ask ourselves why things are being shown in that way, it becomes more liminal. As for metafiction, that''s a weaker element; I kept the game elements separate to maintain a fluid reading experience, and I think it''s something fun and should remain complementary to the narrative." "And about those layers? And how does your writing process work?" Ramirez continued, shaking his head and writing something on one of his papers, noticing that his hypnopompic pen seemed to work fine. The author lifted his head to try to settle his ideas and continued to speak, "Yes, regarding the writing process, first, I use a versioning strategy where I start with brainstorming in preliminary versions, then I go through the layers until I am satisfied with the result. In most cases, each chapter has 10 to 15 versions, but some have had more than 20. In terms of time, each version takes about four hours, more or less; at the end of each day, I save the modifications. Therefore, I need about two weeks of real-time per chapter, meaning that I need a backlog to be able to publish weekly." Ramirez nodded but continued to listen. The author continued, "As for the specific layers, well, that''s complex. For each writing strategy, I have a separate layer, and the strength of each one varies quite a bit for each chapter. Some layers are structural¡ªfor example, the narrator''s, the characters'' voices, the main and peripheral themes, and the plot." "Plot?" Ramirez interrupted. "Yes, in my world, the trees fall in the forests even if nobody is watching. But this only sometimes appears to the reader," the author responded, continuing after perceiving Ramirez''s waiting. "Well, but there are other layers, such as antagonists and combat; genres layers, such as humor, horror, and fantasy; there''s a sci-fi layer that is generally soft because it''s very much tied to fantasy; and there are bizarre things like the layer of strange loops and another one for artistic references." "Cool; give me an example of one of these strange layers?" Ramirez asked, showing some curiosity. "Well, that last one¡ªartistic references. It often appears as a musical reference from the homeland period on Earth. It''s powerful in the ideation of chapter titles, but not only that; I also like to make cross-references between lyrics and parts of the plot, generally intertwining things from previous chapters; this often occurs in the narrator''s voice or even when characters remember something," the author said, smiling as he remembered something as well. "But how does this work? Is the reference just a citation of the theme as a composition game? Or does it have direct relations to the narrative and the plot being shown?" Ramirez asked. "It depends on the strength of the artistic reference layer and the chapter. In chapters where this layer is very weak, it''s just a simple and fun reference to some music that the characters certainly listened to when they were alive on Earth. But there are chapters where these references are deeper, and there are few chapters where when the reader realizes which song is being referenced, it''s worth reading the lyrics and hearing the song because the narrative can change substantially," the author thought. "Hmmm¡­" Ramirez thought, remembering he hadn''t read any entire chapters yet and that he was not a specialist in the music of that time. "Let''s take a short break for coffee, and we''ll return to this topic in ten, fifteen minutes, okay?" "Okay, let''s grab a bite. " The author cleared his throat and said goodbye momentarily, raising a glass of some strange-colored juice before pausing the video. Interlude: The RPG system Interlude: Making of ¡°The Unforgettables¡± - The RPG system Throughout the story of "The Unforgettables," there are RPG elements that complement the narrative, which have never been detailed until now. The game system actually exists as a complete tabletop RPG, serving as the primary source for the game layer. I will now describe in more detail some of the elements that appeared during Volume 1. The game layer is only a fun complement to the narrative, and it appears under the other layers. Next, I will show all the game tables from the last chapter (chapter 30) and comment on each one when new elements appear, making the first table comments more verbose.
Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 110+7 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 7
Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 50
Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 3
Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 45
Natural Combined Armor (ebex) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 9242(0)
Equipment
Superior safety clothes (AC 3)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry), resized
Silas¡ä Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it)
Other
3 credits on Paradiso account
3375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Speed Flight Surveillance drones (1x, suma superior tech, +7 speed modified)
Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech): Following 4 Golens (*modified, with Laetilia)
Aircar, perception +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Suma gravity engine, speed +6 (x3)
Pocket aethernet connectors, backup (x2)
City of Spirits cloud service ("The Unforgettables" technology repositories hub project) (total paid: 400.000.000 cloud credits, consumption: 0,3 cloud credits/day)
City of Spirits material marketplace (net income: 3,2 SC$/day, operational costs: 0,3 SC$/day, buy/sell: bare suma components/metal from Petra''s Heavy Metal Universe)
City of Spirits energy marketplace (net income: 19,8 SC$/day, operational costs: 19,7 SC$/day, buy/sell: suma battery components/charged suma batteries)
Schrogae 5-engine cargo airship: life support +4, capacity +7, maneuver +7, speed up +7, flight (.05c superior suma tech 50/50), space flight (.5c sub-light, superior suma tech 500/500), stealth +3(superior tech 1000/1000), inertial stabilizer +4, gravity engine +7, Energy cells battery x10 (superior tech, 10 TP charge, 100/100), Advanced Auto-Repair (superior tech, prototype bonus+, 20/20, consume 2 TP to regen 20 HP, or make 2 rolls to repair devices except for berserker mode+), Double-layered full armor (superior tech, AC 4, 200/200), 2x Energy positional shields (superior tech, 2 parry, 500/500), Structures (superior tech, 2000/2000 HP, 2000/2000), long-range scan +2 (superior tech, 1000/1000), short-range communicators +2(superior tech, 100/100), 2x turret 9th sentinel artillery/ranged (2/2) (superior tech, 120 fixed, Art.Rng., Hit: Dex/Tech, infinite ammo, 5000/5000), Main gun - plasma cannon 5th generation shooter x4 (1/4) (superior tech, 10, Rng., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 6400/6400), *berserker mode[*non-newtonian liquid atmosphere +4 (1600/10000), *tech meld interface 4x Tech/Dex/Str/Res (160000/160000), *8th circle retro-plasma saber x4 (2d12+1, Mle., Hit: Dex, infinite ammo, 10000/10000), *Avatar AI (superior tech, all Atts+4, 90000/90000)]
This table is an RPG "character sheet" about Silas. At the beginning of the table, there''s his species, Ebex, which indicates a sentient species that was brought back to life in Gate. Some of his powers are directly related to this, which will be explained in detail soon. Another thing that appears on Silas''s table is XP: 110+7 / 10. These are Silas''s experience points, which measure his potency and dedication to his powers. On the character sheet, there are 117 XP points in total, where 110 come from adventures and training, plus 7 from milestones (explained later). Of these 117 points, 10 are still to be used, meaning that only 107 points are effectively used in his powers, and 10 points remain only as a potential. In the next chapter, the first of volume 2, Silas is expected to have 117 points effectively used in his powers, plus some value of potential referring to what was learned during the new chapter, and eventually complemented if some milestone of the story is met. Moving forward in the table, there is a section for the powers. Each power has a magnitude that represents its potency. Each 1 XP is capable of increasing any power by 1 magnitude. Roughly speaking, each magnitude doubles the power''s effect or potential, thus being an exponential progression for a linear cost. Among Silas¡¯ powers, we have some super-attributes, which are powers that amplify one aspect of the character to supernatural levels. Silas possesses Super-Technique, Super-Energy, and Super-Life. Explaining each: Technique is the mental ability to apply knowledge and to react promptly to any intellectual activity. It is also an essential attribute for developing technology projects and, to some extent, using devices that depend on fast and efficient mental processes. This is also the attribute used for mental precision, whether in the composition and assertiveness of ideas as well as in the clarity of logical or argumentative thinking. In stressful situations, Technique is an attribute that allows the character to maintain several active lines of thought at the same time, allowing the character to have much more time to think about what is happening than usual, as his brain is working much faster. Super-Energy is a power that allows the characters to integrate technological energy devices within their bodies. This causes them to produce energy to power up other devices when they need to rush things up. The power also allows the characters to release energy for direct effects such as rays, explosions, or even pushing things at high speed. With practice, it is also possible to push oneself and even fly. Super-Life is a power that Silas learned before leaving Metropolis and never trained again. When he found out he was going to venture out. This power increases the amount of physical damage that can be received before Silas¡ä body collapses. It is one of the things that could be learned at basic levels without the need for training, simply by venturing into Gate in places near monoliths. However, without specific training, this power remains only residual, and Silas never bothered to train this kind of thing, focusing entirely on technology. Silas also has the power of Super-Resistance, which came from his childhood in his nomadic tribe. This power grants him marginal physical resistance, and most Ebex in the time of the New Metropolis have at least basic training in it. Silas, however, has never enhanced this kind of thing. Similarly, Silas has the power named ¡°Natural Combined Armor,¡± which has no magnitudes and only represents the ability of the Ebex to combine their bony exoskeletons with any armor they use, something that Silas forgot to do a couple of times. The power of "Unknowledge," from the Ebex tradition, allows for the "resetting" of someone''s mind through social interaction. In Gate, this power can be trained further to facilitate its use and raise the chance for it to hit, given that social interactions amid stressful situations can be very complex. Finally, Silas has heavily trained the power ¡°Superior Technology: Architect,¡± which represents the ability to architect superior technology projects using Gate''s advanced science. This power is typical of trained engineers, and in his case, he chose to follow this path from the beginning of the adventure. Liora could also develop this power due to her years studying engineering in Metropolis, but she never invested in this ability. However, her daughter Laetilia, who actually helped Silas in his projects and had access to Liora¡äs memories, ended up developing this power, but on a much smaller scale. The more you train this power, the faster you can develop any activity related to technology, such as projects, prototypes, and mass production. The power "Know it all" is a gift from Liora to the group. It has no magnitude and only registers that the group has access to the vast database of Oioi memories to eventually complement their abilities. After the power section, Silas''s table has a section on skills. These represent specializations that the characters can train throughout their lives, indicating both their personal tastes and the time dedicated to each thing. Each skill can be linked to an attribute, and in terms of the game, it facilitates the use of this attribute in general. New skills can be developed or realigned over time, always keeping a maximum of 3 effective specializations (characters could have more, but only 3 will give game bonuses). Thus, Silas maintained his focus on his village''s traditional dance, which resembles a martial dance, until the end of the first volume, keeping this skill more as a personal memory that was rarely used in the adventures, except in the first chapter when he managed to disarm his four-armed opponent partially, and in the last chapter when he managed to mitigate a bit of his fall using the snow bank as a slide. Silas''s other skills represent his years of engineering studies and what he likes to do. Finally, he downloaded some combat memories from Liora''s database. She, however, filtered only human knowledge for his trip, preparing for a long time without access to the Metropolis computer network and considering that they would have humans in the group. That is why Silas chose a Kung-fu technique that, combined with the resistance training he already had from his village, facilitated the adaptation of the memories. After the skills, we have the Essence section. This only reflects the primary origin of Gate¡¯s powers. Everyone started with Reality essence, which implies that the powers are primarily based on the science and technology of Gate, which is advanced enough to seem like magic. Only Petra and Frank changed their essence after they began to learn true magic. This does not have a direct impact on the game except for how much attention each character attracts. Magic causes Frank to manifest flaming fists and Petra a granite form, while Silas and Liora seem relatively normal. Essence increases in potency over time without any effort or training, but very slowly, and has no apparent direct effect; this could matter if some of the characters start to learn knight¡äs skills. Finally, Silas''s table has space to record the number of days he has lived, as well as his equipment and other possessions.
Name: Liora ¡°Stardust¡± Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 109+7 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 4
Super-Energy Magnitude 10
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 90
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 2 / 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +4 Streetwise (Cha) +4
Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +4
Days: 8687 (0)
Equipment
Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP/turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn)
The Pentagon (6), ranged, hit: Dex, 5TP/turn, prototype (quirk: no chance of friendly fire when used on any range)
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2 credits on Paradiso account
1000 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Liora is a specialist character; she concentrates most of her effort on her physical dexterity, so her super-dexterity power is incredibly potent, actually the highest magnitude power when compared with everyone else. This allows her to experience time in an expanded way. In game terms, this grants Liora phenomenal accuracy, or the option to sacrifice some of that precision to perform several physical actions at the same time, achieving a vast array of strategies to balance precision and super speed. Furthermore, the weapons that Silas makes for Liora use her phenomenal precision to increase their effectiveness and damage output, making her extremely effective in combat. Her super dexterity also makes Liora a character almost impossible to hit with physical attacks. Still, in the chaos of combat, there is always a small risk of something hitting her. Because of this, Liora trained a bit of Super-Life to survive extreme events, as well as a bit of Super-Energy. Liora also possesses several powers linked to the Oioi. The first of them is ¡°Structural,¡± which has no magnitudes and only indicates that she has a structural, not biological, body. This is a double-edged sword: While it allows Liora to use her internal Super-Energy to erect a barrier that mitigates damage, it also allows her to be targeted by some effects and magics that are specific to affect things that are not biologically alive. Another of Liora¡¯s powers is ¡°Shardify,¡± which allows her to divide her mind into several parts and make her copies act more or less independently. Her copies do not possess her powers but retain some of her memories, and in the case of an independent copy, they can even become new, complete characters. The magnitude of this power indicates how many concurrent copies Liora can maintain, and the number of independent copies is always added to this total. Finally, the "Superior Technology Network" power only registers access to Oioi''s technology network. Liora used this network to enroll in the engineering course. When she left Metropolis, she exhausted her access quotas to obtain project blueprints and sell them in the Paradiso market, thus obtaining the initial credits that were used to pay Ramirez and revive Petra and Frank. In terms of skills, Liora created a unique martial training style to use with Petra and Frank, initially designed to train on an aerolito. She also maintained her initial varied knowledge, both of informatics from her engineering course and some urban social skills, to be able to negotiate with people and try to stay out of trouble in the cities where she eventually passed.
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 108+7 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 19
Super-Mana Magnitude 7
Super-Strength Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance Magnitude 50
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 7
Super-Constitution Magnitude 10
Spellcasting Magnitude 7
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4
Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Transport(v_) (Wis) +2 53/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5356 (0)
Equipment
4375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense)
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry)
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 3TP / turn, prototype (quirk: +1 free action for parry each turn)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Trained Magic
(vo) The Door of Returning: Enchant a stone to serve as an anchor; a mage can have up to Mag stones enchanted at the same time. After being enchanted, at any time, the mage can open or close a flat circular immobile portal of up to Mag Km in radius at a distance of ~10 meters from this stone; the mage chooses, for each portal entry, if the portal is one-way, two-ways, one-side, or both-sides at will, need 1 action to change those parameters. When the portal near the stone opens, at the same time, this spell also opens an identical-sized portal at a distance of ~10 meters from the mage who cast this; those portals are spatial distortions and connect the two places; this effect ignores everything. The portal takes approximately 1 minute to open or close entirely for each Km in radius (minimum of 5 seconds or 1 action); the spell consumes mana (Mag MP) only to enchant the stone, and only actions are spent to open or close each of the portals. For 1 MP cost, the mage can make the stone ethereal and meld it with any inanimate object or terrain, permanently placing the stone anchor on its melded target. Each portal pair can have different colors, chosen by the mage at the casting time. If the mage tries to force a closing door upon an object/target crossing the portals to damage it (the mage can always bring some stones already enchanted and open/close local portal pairs at will, both at ~10 meters from the mage, on melee range), it must roll Wis(or Tech) vs. Dex to hit the target; on a successful hit, the portal grapples the target (Str vs. Wis roll to break free, grappled targets must expend one action for each try to fight the portal). The portal does Mag+Wis, crushing magical damage each turn until it breaks the grappled target and closes. If the mage uses any number of portals at the same time, puts one portal inside another, opens portals crossing entry and exit points, or makes any creative combination of portals to split or smash targets, the result may change, but hit rolls and damage totals caused solely by the portals apply the same way and do not stack. Range: You must touch the stone to enchant it; after that, ~10 meters to open/close portals. The distance between paired portals is infinite (the distance between the mage and the anchor). Target: One stone, or at an extra 1MP cost, any inanimate object or location melding the stone into it. Duration: Infinite on every instance, even in extreme cases where the mage dies, the portals remain in the last state forever since no mana is needed to maintain those (the portals may remain opened forever), but only the mage can modify them (including opening/closing). Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (Mag MP, must touch the stone or place)
(va) Fiat Lux: Every time this magic spell is cast, one pocket universe is accessed by the mage over an infinite range of options. One and only one mage may first access each of those pocket universes using this spell, and any other power could not first access those universes in any other way nor even gather any information about them. Still, after the link is made, other forms of contact could be implemented using any other power or tool available for such things, but only after the first contact (after the spell is cast successfully). All rational beings, dead or alive, that ever existed in that pocket universe are linked to Gate and Umbra after the first contact and could be brought back to life as usual. This means that if the pocket universe once supported rational life, access to this pocket universe could leak in spite of the mage that first opens a portal to it. To define the overall parameters of each universe, 3 rolls will be made: the first roll is entirely random, a chaos roll (d20) that modifies the rolled entry every time this spell is cast. The second roll is a Luck roll for control (the mage''s overall intention with that spell), and usually, this is the most crucial roll for this spell. The third and last roll is another chaos roll (d20) that modifies the entry when it is cast, but this time, it improves or modifies the universe parameters based on Magnitude. As this magic nature is a mix of balance and chaos essences, the effects could never be controlled the way most of the other spells are. A mage can only open such portals up to Wisdom''s different universes, and once the connection is made the first time, it is perpetual and permanent; this effect ignores everything, so if the mage wants to open portals to new universes and is already at its limits, the mage needs to train Wisdom before doing so. To open a single portal, the mage needs to spend the total mana cost (Mag) at the casting start, and it takes at least 8 hours to finish casting it. During all this time, the mage can do nothing else and must always be touching the portal; failing to do so makes the spell fail, and the mage must restart it all over again; the mage may need a Constitution roll vs. Mag to not fall unconscious after each casting. The portal is a perfect circle of (Magnitude + Wisdom) Kilometers radius that the mage positions at the start of the casting (usually, the mage sits on a wide-open area, and the portal starts to grow in size upwards, it reaches maximum size in minutes, shortly afterward wild magic effects and visuals start to react with the portal during the entire process making an ominous view, giving faint hints of what the results may be when it is finished). It is always a one-side portal (hot face always facing the mage to open, and the cold face to close) and a two-way (mage universe and pocket universe in-out connection). Besides the fantastic visual effects, the portal does not interact with reality in both universes until the casting ends. The cold side of the portal is inert on both openings (mages universe and new universe openings). Suppose a strong force starts to do significant damage to the cold side (more than 10 x Mag damage). In that case, it starts to bend the portal, making bubbles of space that, when collapsed, lead to the other side of the portal, but inside the same universe, any universe travel may be done only through the hot side. When the spellcasting finishes, it opens on both universes on an explosion of magic (and maybe an explosion of something else). If the mage remains conscious, it has 1 turn (5~6 seconds) after the casting ends to do something before it takes effect and the portal opens on an explosion. The mage has only this time to figure out what happens (Wis roll vs. Mag) and react somehow, but the mage may not undo this spell at that point. To close the portal, the mage must spend mana and time and do the same ritual, touching the portal from the other inactive side to close it. While this spell is being cast to close the portal (at least 8 hours), the portal remains fully open, connecting the two universes; even after closing the portal, the Umbra and any other kind of interaction cannot be undone. Every time the mage casts this magic, it needs to choose to open the portal to any previous universe he opened before or open it to a new universe, if it is possible. The minimum space size of each universe accessed with this spell is ~(Mag + Wis) Light-Gate-Years. Range: Melee, the mage must touch the portal all the time. Duration: Infinite (can be closed and opened again to the same universe). Tags: Permanent effect, chaos magic, ignore all.
Spell Complements
(vo) Light Green - Space observatory near the Tempus King¡äs Mountain. (vo) Fire-red - Heavy Metal Infinity Universe, near the entry point. (vo) Pinky-red - with Petra (vo) Deep-blue - cargo door of The Unforgettables schrogae ship. (vo) Pale-white - Ellipsoid Dojo Universe, Petra''s luxury room. (vo) Light-yellow - with Petra. (vo) Dark-grey - with Petra.
(va) Heavy Metal Infinity, Magnitude 1: An utterly inhabitable universe with tilted physics and very weak gravity force, it is filled with an infinite quantity of heavy metal(primarily liquid and vapor steel, but very rich in Tungsten, Osmiun, and Iridium) lava and vapor at 2100K..4200K temperature range. When the portal is open, a constant flow of hot lava jets out of the portal in a dozen-kilometers-long gush until it eventually jams, which may take years and may make the process of closing it complex because the jam could disrupt the other side if the mage remains near the ground. The lava deals (1d12+1)x3 physical damage on everything it touches in a wide area, raising the damage dice by "1" every turn up to the maximum damage (39 damage every turn). Anyone caught by the lava needs to roll Str vs. 3 to take any physical action (swimming is possible for Str 6+, if solidified digging is possible at Str 21+). 1st roll: "6": Fire, heat and metal, wild elemental universe, thermodynamics, and gravity may differ. 2nd roll: "roll result -17": (double critical failure, a mage could not control anything, the effect is dangerous, extra dangerous side effects at first time casting). 3rd roll: "19" The universe is infinite in size. Any effects related to this universe cause +1(Mag) base damage (weapons done with this metal have this extraordinary bonus and the weapon uses heat to cause damage). And any physical, earth, fire, or heat effects deal an additional +30 Damage only when inside the Heavy Metal Infinity universe (base: 30 x Mag damage). (va) Ellipsoid Dojo, Magnitude 2: An ellipsoid with 42 light-years primary diameter (x 35 x 35 light-years minor diameters) composed of solid stone and air, temperatures near water freezing, and a respirable air atmosphere rich in Oxygen. The gravity varies between ~30g at the central axis and near zero at the extreme borders. The universe is closed and has expelling walls, which means that anything that causes 2 or more damage at its borders is expelled to the outside of the universe at a random location near the last entry point. The floor is made of a solid granite layer over solid compressed graffiti, with a solid structural lower border under the stone that supports up to 20.000 damage to expel things like the surface air border. 1st roll: 12: "Stone, simple shapes and solid universe." 2nd roll result: +4 "single success, no extraordinary effect." 3rd roll: 11 "Universe is larger than usual, has a few security improvements and only small quirks." You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.(va) - (va) - (va) - (va) - (va) -
Petra possesses a wide range of powers, primarily focused on defense strategies and, later, some specific magic abilities. Petra''s main power is "Super-Resistance." She quickly surpassed Silas due to her training and focus. In the later chapters, this power granted her epic survival abilities, as well as a capacity to deliver brutal counterattacks. Petra also possesses substantial training in super-life and super-constitution, which grants her fantastic survivability against damage from any source. She also has a formidable capacity for physical and mental regeneration, complementing her potential with magic. Petra also has reasonable training in Super-Mana, which allows her to cast spells at maximum power almost without needing time to rest, as well as some training in the "Spellcasting" power. In game terms, the greater the potential of this power, the greater the potency of her spells, and the greater the mana consumption. Petra also has moderate amounts of Super-Strength and Super-Wisdom, which give her supernatural physical strength and mental capacity. In game terms, strength allows Petra to move more effectively, as well as cause some damage in direct attacks, not just counterattacks, and wisdom gives her an extended memory capacity, as well as the ability to perceive things and relationships between any source of information. Her mental capacity also helps her enhance her teleportation spells, as well as giving her some degree of resistance to magical attacks that might eventually bypass her physical defenses. In terms of skills, Petra helped Liora develop her unique martial art to be trained on top of aerolites. She also preserved some military training from her past on Earth. When she was given the option to choose a martial art from the Oioi database to complement her training, she remembered Chuck Norris and chose his same fighting style in his honor. Petra did not use the signature roundhouse kick, but instead, she used some Tang Soo Do grabs that perfectly matched her style and powers. In Petra''s and Frank''s tables, there is a well-detailed list of how each of the spells they have learned works, as well as space to record the active uses of these spells.
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 108+6 / 10
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 6
Super-Mana Magnitude 2
Super-Willpower Magnitude 2
Super-Strength Magnitude 68
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 17
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 5
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 2
Spellcasting Magnitude 2
Skills
Aerolito¡äs Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4
Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) School of Communication (l_) (Int) +2 75/100 -
Essence: Balance +4
Days: 5071 (0)
Equipment
4375 spirit credits on PCU
City of the Dead revival service insurance 1x
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn
Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire: (2d6+1), melee, hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 3TP / turn, prototype (quirk: +9 fire damage when using mana wildly)
Other
Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Vabala, complete, open
Northern Valley Shielded Bracers (1 parry) 2x
Northern Valley Guard Armor (AC 2) 2x
Northern Valley Stun Rifle (2), hit: Dex, dam: Dex, ranged, non-lethal option, unlimited ammo 4x
Trained Magic
(lu) Unforgettables, Assemble! Enchant with telepathy and sharing perception up to Int targets (Int+1 for the Unforgettables party only) simultaneously, enchanted beings opt to turn on and off this power at will at no cost or to filter it as desired. Grants a circumstantial bonus of +Mag on mobility rolls and can share skills to make rolls using the highest within the group. Targets: Mag targets each casting. Range: Indirect perception (only for enchanting or disenchanting; after that, the range is infinite and ignores all). Duration: infinite. Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
(lo) Pub Proxy Projection: Enchant one location so that you can hear/see/taste and speak/be seen as if you were present. You can keep enchanted up to Mag locations simultaneously. You make an Int roll for accuracy (with a +3 bonus for any pub). Range: Knowledge. Targets: A point in relative space and maximum radius of (Int + Mag) meters, expend mana to cast and expand radius if needed. Duration: infinite Tags: Enchantment, Disenchant (no cost, at will)
Spell Complements
(lu) Self (Frank): Str +4, Res + 4, Dex + 4, Int +4 (lu) Liora: Wis +4, Cha +4 (lu) Silas: Tech +4 (lu) Petra: Mor +4 (lu) Laetilia: (lu) Amanda: ???
(lo) Rokatrista Bar "Taco¡äBout Trouble Tavern" aka "Triple Ts," Gate, Northern Edge Region (lo) Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs, still have no Bars, Gate, North region of the Kings Mountain
Frank possesses a diverse set of powers, primarily focused on Super-Strength and secondarily on Super-Dexterity, so he has phenomenal mobility as well as the most potent blows in the group in terms of brute physical strength. This combination of strength and some dexterity makes him a highly effective combat machine, though not so efficient in terms of defenses, being far from Liora¡¯s speed and Petra¡¯s regenerative capabilities. Despite this, Frank possesses the power of Super-Intelligence, which offers him phenomenal creative potential and superior mental capacity, allowing him to rebuild relations with his past on Earth, revisit what he knew, and learn better from his life experiences. This power also gives him greater potency in his communication spells. Frank also has a marginal amount of Super-Willpower, a power that, in game terms, allows him to give his maximum capacity in a few moments. However, the maximum of his capabilities is not always enough to solve everything. Frank also possesses the power of Super-Charisma, which gives him improved social potential. He decided to experiment with this type of alternative training after learning magic to return to Rocatrista in ghost form, realizing that his time would be pretty limited. He would need his communication to be as effective as possible, especially living in a wholly different world. Regarding his skills, Frank helped the group develop their signature fighting style to be trained on top of aerolites. Frank also preserved his life skills, which are tied to his rather intricate past as a frequent patron of Earth¡¯s bar scene. This knowledge allowed him to better adapt to the bars of Gate, as well as nurture a more amicable relationship with more complex characters like Ramirez and his contacts. Finally, when Frank could choose from the martial arts, he chose Drunken Fighting in homage to Jackie Chan; it was also a strategic choice in case he needed to make others think that he was drunk. In combat, he used this style to land some creative unarmed hits to surprise his enemies.
Name: Laetilia "DestinyTILT" Gorgath (out) Species: Oioioi XP: 81+7 / 27
Powers
Super-Life Magnitude 7
Super-Willpower Magnitude 1
Super-Energy Magnitude 5
Super-Strength Magnitude 5
Super-Resistance Magnitude 2
Super-Dexterity Magnitude 2
Super-Intelligence Magnitude 1
Super-Wisdom Magnitude 1
Super-Technique Magnitude 3
Super-Charisma Magnitude 1
Super-Beauty Magnitude 1
Super-Morale Magnitude 1
Super-Constitution Magnitude 1
Super-Luck Magnitude 27
Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1
Superior Technology Network (oioioi) -
Structural (oioioi) -
Know it all (party) -
Superior Technology (architect) Magnitude 3
Skills
Videogaming (Dex) +2 Piloting (Tech) +2 -
Survival (Wis) +4 (fixed - know it all) - -
Essence: Reality +3
Days: 126(0)
Equipment
Bare hands
Other
Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety
2375 spirit credits on PCU
City of Spirits revival service insurance 1x
Survival kit (suma fuel cube, suma shelter cube)
Access to "The Unforgettables" technology repositories hub
Personal aethernet connector (embedded on suma-oioi parts)
Suma superior body parts (+27 bonus on any rolls to be raised from the dead, prototype (???) quirk: +3 temporary MMP when in Umbra)
Superior airbike, space flight, +9 speed, +9 scanning, +9 dodge, +9 stealth, +9 communication, +3 hacking, pocket servo-droids (x2), +12 survival, embedded suma-oioi hypercube (shelter/fuel/cultural), +12 security, tech-meld interface (1000/1000), stat: +100 HP (base 10)
Advanced seeker drone, +13 speed, +12 scanning, +12 stealth, umbral-shift (consumes 1 TP each shift), stat: +100 HP (Base 1), +2 MP, +2 TP (seeking the Golems)
Laetilia is a rather unconventional character. As Liora''s prodigy daughter, she ended up focusing solely on the experimental power of "Super-Luck," which she did not entirely understand, even as she was not fully aware of what she was doing. She loved spending her free time playing games from Seneca''s database while, in Ramirez''s words, she traveled inside the ship that was "rubbing itself on strange things in Gate." Despite this, Ramirez often grumbled to Frank about what was happening during the trip, amazed at how incredibly lucky they were, at least until Laetilia became completely independent and transported away from the group. Additionally, Laetilia has a large amount of unused XP since she didn''t have time to train appropriately, always doing something that Liora or Silas asked. When she had the opportunity, she trained a bit of everything available at Liora''s database in an innocent strategy, reflecting her still very childish personality during the first volume. In terms of skills, Laetilia has minimal life experience and only has piloting skills, something she has always done and will be very useful in her solo journey. She also preserved her skill with video games. Laetilia also decided to download survival skills rather than combat skills from the Oioi database right before leaving. This is because she will be alone for a while. If things get complicated, she intends to know what to do to stay alive in a potentially hostile environment, a slightly more mature choice, already indicating the significant internal changes she is undergoing at the end of the first volume. Another curious note is that part of the material she ordered from Sumas arrived with something strange. They sent her some experimental versions of devices that the engineers used as prototypes, which means that part of the material she bought had significant random improvements that may not be very specific to her needs.
Superior Technology projects
People on development Silas, Laetilia 48 research/day
People on prototyping (creative mod, may use Tech) Silas, Laetilia 101 research/day
People on production (creative mod, may use Tech) Silas, Laetilia, Liora copy (1x), Laetilia copy (1x) 103 research/day
Repair rate 1030 / day
Blueprints
Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Network sentinel of 1st anti-horror 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Network sentinel of 2nd anti-horror 20 / 20 Research
1st modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 1st circle, +3x internal energy generator 30 / 30 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
2nd modified Flexoclava +5Fire Melee weapon of 2nd circle, +3x internal energy generator 50 / 50 Research (+20 research for batteries on production)
Penta-gun 1st Missile Massacre Shoot weapon of 1st gen, + 5x internal energy generator 110 / 110 Research (+40 research for batteries on production)
Prototype
Silas¡ä Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research
Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research
Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 1st Nullify: hacking mag 1, bonus roll: +3 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 10 / 10 Research
Mister Snoop-Sentry, the 2nd Nullify: hacking mag 2, bonus roll: +6 (quirk: on single failure, delay hacking in 1 turn and warns on comlink) 20 / 20 Research
Stone Bastion Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: d12+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Petra can free-parry one extra blow against herself every turn, totaling 2 free parries for attacks against her, and one parry against any target committing her action as usual) 30 / 30 Research
Flametongue Flexoclava +5Fire Damage: 2d6+1, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 3TP / turn (quirk: Frank has a +9 fix damage modifier if he ignites it using mana wildly) 50 / 50 Research
The Pentagon Damage: 6, ranged, Hit:Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 5TP / turn (quirk: up to 10 safe targets, identified with a network key device, that could not be mistarget by friendly fire, the shoots completely bypass those targets ignoring any cover as if they does not exist, adding a +17 surprise hit bonus for all attacks and mobility rolls for one turn, but only in the first time it was used against an antagonist) 110 / 110 Research
Production
Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 40 / 20 Research
Dual-ray trigger happy riffle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
Superior Technology Factory It does not need a blueprint; it requires a material source and 1TP energy for each other''s projects. It allows mass production projects. 10 / 10 Research
Mass-produced structure (complete: 120 = 1200 HP) It needs no blueprint, protects other structures or devices, and has 10 HP each. (plugged: all on training dojo) 120 / 1 Research
Mass-produced auto repair system (complete: 8 = regen 80/t) It needs no blueprints, regenerates a structure at 10HP/turn, and consumes 1TP/turn. (plugged: all on training dojo) 80 / 10 Research
Mass-produced energy cell (complete: 38/40x) Need no blueprint, 1 act. = 1TP one-shot, recharge as repair 40 / 1 Research
Mass-produced energy battery (complete:12x ) Need no blueprint, 1TP/turn on a plugged device (plugged: 4 for Liora, 2 for Frank, 2 for Petra, 4 for the factory) 120 / 10 Research
This table summarizes the powers related to superior technology. It lists the people who are potentially part of the development teams, their potential contributions, and a list of projects in their shared repository. Every technology project starts in the blueprint development phase, where only the "Superior Technology: Architect" power of each person is considered. Then comes the prototyping phase, which always produces one test device with some quirk. In this phase, both the architectural potential and the mental attributes of its participants are considered. Finally, in the production phase, devices are made on a larger scale, and anyone can contribute a little by working on the projects, even using a factory to mass-produce some devices. This table also includes a total for repairs, as this became important because the Schrogae ship they found at the Northern Valley outpost was experimental and had many inactive components, as well as some undocumented devices, as they were restricted defense weapons that the city was supposedly assembling, probably to respond to the winged creatures that the group encountered in the middle of the north vein at the beginning of their journey.
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 7/7)
Maneuver: 68+6 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard)
Perception: 7+4 (condition: Warden on perception range)
Tactical Insight: 5+4 (condition: Firebreaker on perception range)
Hacking defense: 50+10
Feats of strength: Use a colossal Flexoclava to finally play snooker using planet Mercury as the white ball (condition: Firebreaker and a solid anchor point to apply the force)
Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden
Ranged: Stardust
Artillery: Archon
Combat Totals
Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra
Warden 190 / 190 Umbra: -100 MP 7/7 150 10 0+4 regen 10/t
War - melee 0+4 5(d12+1)+5
War - parry 45+4 50(d12+2)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 1TF free
Exausted Flexoclava (d12+1) to (d6+1) (d12+2) to (d6+2) Change damage dice to d6
Firebreaker 60 / 60 Umbra: -20 WP 2/2 MP 2/2 0 0 17+4 regen 2/t
Fir - melee 17+4 68(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - melee TF2 7+4 68(2d6+1)+5 X-3 X hit/t, 9 fire
Fir - brawl 68+4 68(d4) bare hands
Fir - brawl TF2 58+4 68(d4) bare hands
Fir - ranged 17+4 85 X-3 X hit/t
Fir - ranged TF2 7+4 85 X-3 X hit/t
Exausted Flexoclava (2d6+1) to (d6+1) Change damage dice to d6
Stardust 40 / 40 Umbra: -1 TP 10/10 0 0 90+4
Stardust (self) +10X X reaction
Star - ranged 90+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF2 80+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF3 70+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF4 60+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF5 50+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF6 40+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF7 30+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF8 20+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - ranged TF9 10+4 540 X-5 X hit/t
Star - Blast (rng) 90+4 X(d6) X push
Archon 10 / 10 Umbra: -1 TP 7/7 5 0 0+4
Arch - melee 0+7 1 X-1 X hit/t
Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12+1) X-1 X hit/t
Arch - Blast(art) 50+4 X(d6) X push
Arch - Nova(mle) 50+4 2X X all targets
This table summarizes the game totals and temporary notes used by the storyteller in a tabletop RPG as quick references. It includes a record of the Milestones, which are extra points awarded when the group advances in the plot. Milestones work in various ways: when used, the whole group gains 1 additional XP beyond what was planned, and it fully restores everyone''s WillPower (it¡¯s the only way to restore it). The maneuver is a total relative to the greatest strength of the group''s individuals in the front line of combat, usually Frank, plus a combined modifier of the skills plus a specific communication magic bonus. In the RPG game, the group that wins the mobility roll defines the positioning and order of actions when it matters, as well as any combined attacks and the positioning of each character relative to the others. It is possible to partially protect some members of the group (such as Silas and Liora) via positioning if this total is high enough. In general, the group has this advantage in combat as long as Frank doesn''t fall and keeps himself in the front line, except by the time they encountered the King¡¯s fighters when there was an even match between the protagonists'' and antagonists'' physical strength potencies. Perception is a vital game total in stressful situations because you can only dodge and protect others from minimally perceptible things. It is also essential in various other situations that define how much of the environment the characters are able to perceive. Tactical Insight is an essential mental tool for combat tactics. It involves deciding how and when to act, in addition to a pre-defined strategy. This insight can provide general guidance in the chaos of combat and modify actions to improve a planned strategy. It is directly linked to the group''s greatest intelligence total. Hacking Defense is a total that only matters from the moment the group regains access to the Metropolis network. It represents the active defense potential that Silas can achieve by using his defense device designed in the last chapters. In the first chapter, Liora preserved a simplified personal device that she bought only for communications made in Paradiso, but it was never needed again. After having these devices active, Silas realized and categorically stated in the last chapter that the Adarian¡äs power that controlled Liora was not technological. Feats of Strength is a description of what Frank''s strength can do. As each magnitude doubles the strength potential, when Frank had 1 of Super-Strength, he could easily lift about 2 tons. In the last chapter, he could easily lift something equivalent to 295 quintillion tons if it were possible to apply such force from a solid enough point. It serves more to describe to the reader what kind of things Frank could do in each chapter, given the superior magnitudes that the powers eventually reach. The space for Vanguard, Ranged, and Artillery describes the group''s ideal positioning in combat. In game terms, when mobility is successfully checked, the characters can preserve this relative positioning without having to spend time or effort moving, but they can eventually change positions. In situations where an attack is not perceived, this ideal positioning may not be preserved, causing the group to lose precious initial time. The end of the table displays specific game combat totals, where the maximum and current life totals are indicated (since most characters regenerate, the current total is rarely used). The term Umbra designates the amount of damage below zero required to actually kill a character¡ªif the damage doesn''t meet the Umbra threshold, the character falls unconscious and eventually regenerates. The "aural" term is used for other attributes such as Mana, Energy for technological devices, and WillPower. Totals for Hit and Damage may also be registered, representing bonuses for hit rolls and associated damage rolls or totals for marginal hit successes. "Def" denotes the amount of physical damage absorbed by a character¡¯s defenses, while "MDef" applies to non-physical damage absorption. A dodge column is included to indicate how difficult it is to hit a character when they attempt to evade. TP cost and other extras are also listed, detailing specific costs and notes for each character and action. The lines in the combat totals table refer to common actions available during combat, though specific actions in-game scenarios may vary slightly while still using these totals as a base. In short, as already mentioned, the chapter descriptions are much more elaborate than the overall game system and what would happen in a typical tabletop RPG game where things are all decided in real-time. The rules appear here to complement the narrative, showing what would be possible to do with these characters in a campaign. The concepts of character and power construction strategies are intended to help the reader understand what is happening with the characters within the story using a game strategy layer that is particular to this style. Interlude: Maps and Timetable. Interlude: Maps and Timetable - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG Below is a timetable divided into chapters. The journey depicted in this table starts at the ruins of the North Gate of Old Metropolis, which is utterly abandoned. From here, Silas and Liora depart for Citta Paradiso. Chapter 1 begins in Paradiso at the end of the Metropolis-Paradiso trip.
Timetable.
Chapter Date first published In-game date (in days) Location short description XP Milestones Km in chapter Miles in chapter Average speed (m/s) Golems ETA (days)
Metropolis, north gate - -126 Metropolis-Paradiso 1 0 -4536000 -2818540 400 -
1 11-Jul-2024 3 Paradiso-Rocatrista 2 0 113400 70463 420 -
2 11-Jul-2024 1 Rocatrista-Northern Valley 3 0 151200 93951 1680 -
3 12-Jul-2024 1 Rocatrista-Northern Valley 4 0 151200 93951 1680 -
4 19-Jul-2024 22 Rocatrista-Northern Valley 6 0 3326400 2066929 1680 -
5 26-Jul-2024 1 Rocatrista-Northern Valley 8 1 151200 93951 1680 -
6 2-Aug-2024 1 Rocatrista-Northern Valley 12 1 151200 93951 1680 -
7 9-Aug-2024 20 Container District 14 2 3024000 1879026 1680 -
8 16-Aug-2024 5 Container District 18 2 0 0 0 -
9 23-Aug-2024 0 Northern Valley 20+1 2 8 5 20 -
10 30-Aug-2024 0 Northern Valley Outpost 23+1 3 144 89 80 0
11 6-Sep-2024 0 Wilderness, beyond North Vein 28+1 3 4000 2485 100 0
12 13-Sep-2024 1 Wilderness, beyond North Vein 30+1 3 11250 6990 125 0
13 20-Sep-2024 20 Wilderness, beyond North Vein 32+1 3 11520000 7158196 6400 1004
14 27-Sep-2024 0 Wilderness, beyond North Vein 34+1 3 0 0 6400 1004
15 4-Oct-2024 1 Wilderness, beyond North Vein 36+1 3 576000 357910 6400 1054
16 11-Oct-2024 11 Near King¡äs Mountain 39+2 4 6336000 3937008 6400 1606
17 18-Oct-2024 0 King¡äs Mountain 41+2 4 0 0 0 1606
18 25-Oct-2024 1 King¡äs Mountain Observatory 45+2 4 0 0 0 1605
19 1-Nov-2024 20 King¡äs Mountain 48+2 4 0 0 0 1585
20 8-Nov-2024 1 Wilderness, North of King¡äs Mt. 52+2 4 576000 357910 6400 1635
21 15-Nov-2024 0 Petra¡äs Portal Entry Point 54+2 5 0 0 0 1635
22 22-Nov-2024 0 Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs 56+2 5 0 0 0 1635
23 29-Nov-2024 1 Petra¡äs Heat Cliffs 62+3 5 0 0 0 1634
24 6-Dec-2024 4 Wilderness, North of King¡äs Mt. 65+4 5 1728000 1073729 4800 1783
25 13-Dec-2024 0 Wilderness, North of King¡äs Mt. 69+4 7 0 0 6400 1783
26 20-Dec-2024 10 Wilderness, North of King¡äs Mt. 73+5 7 5760000 3579098 6400 2285
27 27-Dec-2024 1 Wilderness, North of King¡äs Mt. 77+5 7 576000 357910 6400 1061
28 3-Jan-2025 4 Wilderness, North of King¡äs Mt. 82+6 7 45000000 27961704 125000 2833
29 10-Jan-2025 0 South of Cernutos Tower 90+7 7 0 0 0 2833
30 17-Jan-2025 0 South of Cernutos Tower 100+7 7 0 0 0 2833
This table also shows the (real) publication date of each chapter and the "adventure" days that passed during each chapter. These serve as a basis for Silas''s projects, some of the character''s skills, and Frank and Petra''s learning of spells. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. The table also includes the main setting where each chapter''s action takes place and the amount of XP/Milestones that indicate the group''s power level. Also on that table are the amount of space covered, the average speed during each chapter, and finally, the expected time the group has before the Golems reach them if they stop moving, and assuming that entering and exiting Petra''s portals does not interfere with this estimation.
Maps. Following is a preliminary map of the entire route taken by the group, with annotations of the names of the main points and their geographical positioning. The map has a scale and includes only a few elements. This map represents all the settings the group has passed through and includes some references. The meridian line is an approximation of the Tempus Route; to the South, it passes between the Metropolis and the Academy, supposedly ending at the entrance to the Underworld near the South Pole, and to the North end, it should reach the Tempus Forge. As far as the group knows, Seneca should be somewhere along the northern part of this route. This map is already the updated version by Vaud and Mosh. Many of the distances and positions were expanded after the "Big Bang," compared with the previous versions they had from Metropolis. The streaks in the lower part of this map are the monolithic veins, where people can supposedly travel via Aeroliths, as well as the large North vein that passes through Rocatrista and ends in Northern Valley. When Petra opened her "hot" portal in the Heat Cliffs, the leftmost part of the place, which is roughly North of King''s Mountain, was the ravine where the portal magic was performed. The entire area to the left represents the effect of molten metal, creating a lake of thermal waters and a sea of hot hills resulting from the molten metal covering the snow and the mountains of the region. As the metal would remain hot for millennia, the region was altered, providing heat, a reddish light from the points where the melted metal still concentrates, and a vast boiling water lake that ended near the mountain hole where the fiery serpent emerged. The Cernutos Tower indicates the entire region of mountains and winding monolithic veins around it, from which the spider trapped the party at the end part of volume one. It also includes some of the remnant structural veins beneath the tower, which Chester briefly mentioned when Frank met him in Rocatrista.
EXTRA: Brainstorm. In response to a request, I will complement the support material with some raw material. I am including here the two pages of the creative brainstorming process. In this sketch, we have the same previous map on a scale expanded by five times. The exact points where each chapter''s action takes place were noted on this map, and many elements are organized with some logic. Er... I apologize for the handwriting and any eventual mistakes, given that I wrote them down in a rush while listening to the music references. Part 1 Part 2 In this brainstorm, in addition to other elements, we have: Names without quotes are the names of the places the group has passed through. Regular numbers followed by a dot to the right indicate the chapters, from 1 to 30. Phrases within quotes are citations from the lyrics of songs that the group listened to during their journey. The lyrics could be heard breaking the silence of Gate. The lyrics refer to an event that happened to the group in that area or relate to something happening in the same timeline. Most of those lines are also used as references in the chapter¡äs text and title. Names in parentheses with a number in the ancestral language nearby refer to the 9 battles the group had during their journey. The exception is Frank''s name in parentheses, which has an ''x'' and ''14'' beside it, referring to chapter 14. These markers represent the points where Frank randomly ended up while testing his communication magic before finally reaching Tommy''s bar in Rocatrista. The Cernutos Tower isn''t marked on these brainstorming maps; however, there''s an arrow pointing toward the direction and distance of where the tower would be located at the top of the second page.
QUEST: Volume 1 contains 36 primary references, mostly to songs. Most of them are present on these two brainstorming sheets. Amidst the chaos presented here, it''s possible to find some of them, but not all. Interlude: A Song for the Laughter and a Song for the Tear, part 2. Interlude: Making Of ¡°The Unforgettables¡± - A Song for the Laughter and a Song for the Tear, part 2. Alone in his room, Ramirez keeps the call paused while he frantically searches news websites to try to understand what''s going on. His magical hallucination makes him shuffle his memories of Metropolis with his apparent human existence. He recalls being a journalism student living solo in a small studio, but those are just fragments that seem to belong to someone else. Curious about how complex his imaginative mind can be in his delirium, the mage opens a room window covered with opaque black vinyl, which completely seals his small home from the external environment. He is immediately shocked by the hot, humid, and polluted breath of a chaotic city. His studio wall is less than a meter from an elevated road, a four-lane highway completely crammed with cars stuck in endless traffic, so close to his face that the dirty car tires were within his grasp, a cacophony of honks blended with the tense rumble of idling engines. People are shouting everywhere, so aggressively and stressed that the mage steps back inside. Satisfied with the chaos, Ramirez closes the window and returns to the comfort of his room''s silence and air conditioning. He goes to the tiny doorless bathroom to look in the mirror. He realizes his illusion is still active under his human clothes. He thinks to himself, ¡°This must be an uncontrolled effect of my advanced perception magic. Maybe they are memories from the past of someone from Frank''s world,¡± Ramirez smiles, ¡±Good! Let''s see what happens if I do magic right now...¡± He casts another of his advanced perception magic to perceive who is observing him, which works perfectly, and he realizes that only the medibot is watching him, besides an absolute, disturbing silence. Usually, when he uses this magic in Gate, he hears a humming background noise, but now there is nothing. ¡°OK, everything I''m seeing here must be ghosts created by my mind, which means I''m still passed out in my bathtub with the medibot next to me,¡± Ramirez concludes mentally. He picks up the crumpled wad of papers and returns to the last chapter delivered to him. He thinks, "Let¡äs see this... Chapter 27, it seems that Liora had a daughter named Laetilia, and this passage in the ancestral language seems quite real to me. crazy stuff, is this barely true?" Ramirez returns to the terminal and tries to access the website with the latest chapters. He realizes that the author is already back waiting in the virtual room. ¡°Well, let''s enjoy the ride!¡± says the magic man to himself as he turns on the camera and sound. ¡°Hi, er...¡± Says the author, surprised, ¡°Cool video effect in your eyes!¡± ¡°Nice, isn''t it? It''s a custom filter.¡± Ramirez notices the rainbow light show emanating from his eyes in his camera feed. Despite that, he does not intend to interrupt his magic and immediately continues the conversation: ¡°We stopped at the layer of artistic references, right?¡± ¡°That''s right! As I was saying, I divide the creative process into layers, and after reviewing each of the layers, I create a new version of each chapter,¡± continues the author. ¡°So I imagine there are several versions for each chapter...¡± While Ramirez talks to the author, he digs the news and social media websites to find a topic. He continues, "Artificial Intelligence is all the rage. So, is it part of your game when creating these layers?" ¡°I use it to review grammar and within the versioning process but not in the creative process, which usually starts with a brainstorm on paper,¡± replies the author, adjusting his glasses. ¡°And there are indeed several versions. Even the AI ??grammar checker is not automatic. I need to instruct the model, divide and review the context, maintain a dictionary of terms, and sometimes the grammar AI makes a mess.¡± ¡°Alright, but break it down for me and give me a solid example of how this actually works,¡± Ramirez asks while he buys time to read an interesting part about Adarian, as he begins to notice the richness in details that he would have no way of knowing a prior, so this must be his magic running wild. These visions provided by magic, untethered by time, reveal glimpses of possible futures, concealed pasts, or distant events unfolding elsewhere. Whether fate, memory, or mere chance, the only certainty is that it would be unwise to ignore this information, as it may prove helpful in the future, so Ramirez carefully plans his next question. ¡°Let''s see...¡± the author thinks for a few moments, "The titles of chapters 23 and 24 are based on a deliberate translation of a Latin song that became famous during the period portrayed in my story. This song was notably used in a Tarantino film and in an Arthurian fantasy movie from the 80s. Since the original lyrics were in Latin, I chose to use the archaic word ''alway.'' Interestingly, this same word appears in a remarkable medieval poem by Spenser, where a sacred fountain¡¯s water is described as having ''welled forth alway.'' I wanted to mirror this imagery, as the original Latin term, ''volubilis,'' conveys both the flowing nature of water and the fluidity of fortune. While the word choice was not incorrect, the AI corrector persistently suggested changing it." ¡°That''s very strange...¡± says Ramirez, understanding the logic but without having the slightest idea of the references. The magic man, however, notices that his Medbot''s light and temperature sensor have just been triggered. Something wrong is happening in the real world, which makes him lose track of what the author is saying for a few moments. ¡°Yes, curiously enough, this fiction itself could be used to test language models and make the AI agents better, to ask the AI to interpret those layers just by reading the chapters and measure how much they perceive about what was going on behind the curtains, was somewhat funny actually." responded the author perceiving something wrong with his interviewer. "Well, well... But perhaps your disorientation stems from the strange loops layer, a spiraling cadence where themes echo through different chapters, shifting their guise, altering their melody, yet never ceasing their dance. It is recursions within recursions, each tune familiar yet ungraspable. You chase meaning, but reason steps aside, always a half-turn out of reach.¡± replies the author, speaking through his hands, oblivious to what is going on inside Ramirez¡ä head. ¡°For example, in this same poem by Spencer, we have knights as protagonists, and the main theme is virtue seeking, long before the modern age and Kant.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Hell! That''s not an error...¡± Ramirez mutters, worried about the readings from his medibot. He seems to be quite unconscious inside his bathtub, but his body is as fine as it could be, given his condition. Something else must be happening around him. ¡°Indeed, it''s not an error. Funny... the monster in that particular Spencer''s poem happens to be called Errour,¡± the author laughs, thinking wrong but maybe saying the right things. ¡°Maybe this is a glitch in the matrix,¡± Ramirez replies, realizing that it may be a good idea to try to wake up from his dream, as he uses some of the few references he has from Earth. ¡°Who knows...¡± continues the author. ¡°Let''s move on. We don''t have much time, actually,¡± Ramirez apologizes, now more focused and willing to try to end his hallucination. "Let''s continue along these lines. Would these cross-references be strange bridges between different fantastic realities? Like dreams within dreams?" ¡°Yes, the figure of dreams is interesting. This idea is recurrent in several points...¡± replies the author, drawing Ramirez''s attention, who interrupts him immediately. ¡°Okay! Let''s suppose the following now: if you discovered at this moment that you don''t actually exist and are just a dream inside my head, and when I wake up, you and the whole world you know would disappear, what would you do?¡± Ramirez risks being in a hurry to break his delirium. ¡°It''s a somewhat disturbing idea, but perhaps there is a good Cartesian answer. Regardless of the knowledge I have of reality, as long as I am in possession of my mental capacities, I have some basis to maintain my free will, so I don''t think I would do things much differently from what I am doing now...¡± reflects the author. ¡°Hmmm, wait a bit,¡± Ramirez thinks a little calmer and changes the strategy. "You told me that the trees fall in your world even if no one sees them. Will something important happen right after the end of volume 1?¡± ¡°Of course, but I can''t give you spoilers!¡± the author replies immediately. ¡°Give some hint of something that will happen with some secondary character like Ramirez, for example. Or something that is happening near Rocatrista,¡± the mage challenges. ¡°Ramirez will actually be essential in the second volume. Let''s see, a hint¡­ Do you like Hendrix''s tunes? Or Dylan''s?¡± the author smiles with a certain strangeness. "At least it seems I''m going to stay alive!¡± Ramirez whispers, seeking about the references on the internet. ¡°Sorry, what did you say?¡± the author asks, perplexed. ¡°Let''s finish with this,¡± Ramirez says in a different voice but halts suddenly and thinks for a while, saying. "But first, let''s talk a little more about politics," looking at the author sideways while fast-reading some websites he left open about current political news. "I guess it¡äs what everyone is talking about these days. I mean, you always are talking about politics no matter what the subject is, even when you say that it is not about politics at all." starts the author. "Yeah, may the politics avoidance talking usually be the worst politics. But let us talk about that Biggus character a little." Ramirez suggests, trying to find out if he could dig for some answers about Metropolis operations nearby; he continues. "Could you summarize the real politics of today and make some parallels with what is happening in Metropolis and Rocatrista?" ¡°Summarize?¡± says the author with a suma-like face. "Well, let me try to start saying something about technology, but since we are in the middle of a storm, things may change pretty fast. I guess that, at the beginning of the millennium, a crisis of political representation started to crack. It was barely noticeable when Frank and Petra died, but it was already taking shape. This crisis grew inside the political discourse, both personal and partisan, but information technology is what set it ablaze. I could propose three key factors as hypotheses for this shift. First, technological media are far more scalable and precise than traditional media, delivering information directly and efficiently to individuals. Second, it lacks editorial oversight, and there are no filters, no gatekeepers, and no clear way to verify an author''s intent beyond analyzing the content itself. Third, and perhaps most significantly, digital networks have made targeted advertising remarkably effective, not just for selling products but for selling ideas and shaping beliefs. Over time, this has led to the rise of reality silos, where people share self-contained cosmologies built on perceptions and narratives instead of methods and criticism. This shift marks a profound disruption of the logical, rational, and scientific worldview that had been the consensus from the dawn of the modern era until recently." "So, is this what Biggus is up to, a way to control the reality?" asks Ramirez directly. "I don''t think this is a case of a perfect parallel. Biggus'' method to gain power does share some similarities with today''s powerplay; specifically, his approach outright rejects rationality, and therefore, it lacks ethics outside its siloed worldview. He offers a simple solution to replace the old way of life, which failed to safeguard people in the cataclysm¡¯s aftermath. Yet, the similarities end there because Gates'' society has long since moved past the challenges posed by technology; the disruptive elements in the fiction are different from reality. As for Biggus'' true intentions, they''re a complete mystery; he never reveals them. All we see is his attempt to become the one and only Neon God; if myths arise after a crisis as an escape from a traumatic reality, then he''s positioning himself as that escape one-way door." thinks the author. "I totally disagree with your parallel, actually," laments Ramirez. "Since when were technology and unbounded communication problems and not solutions? Since when do people need safeguards for information? People make choices, and consequences follow; if things go wrong, they change their choices. The trouble with Biggus is that there was no choice at all." says Ramirez, trying to figure out if any of this about Biggus is useful. "But let''s move on. I have one last question." "Yeah, It usually happens when people discuss politics; we have completely different backgrounds. I was not talking only about the people''s choices but about the capability to perceive if things go wrong or not." complements the author "Well, real consequences are giving a shit about the capabilities of people to perceive if things go wrong, so I still disagree with you on that one, but time is running short, and I need an elaborate answer this time; we may discuss more about those topics on another session" spoke Ramirez in a rush. "OK, fire away!" asks the curious author. "About Liora, what happened to her before the cataclysm? As I understood from what I just read, this information was completely lost to everyone living in Gate." strategically asks the magic man. "This is kind of funny for a last question. Anyway, you are right about this information being completely lost. Let us begin with the old Liora because the old one and the new one are not the same person," thinks the author. "I¡äm all ears!" Ramirez says as he stretches out in his chair, watching the author wet his mouth with coffee before he begins to speak.