Pandora altered course and headed north at a more leisurely pace than she’d flown down to Rome. First, she wanted to make sure her Wizard Orbs could keep up but more importantly she wanted to see if she could get a handle on the color coding that accompanied the mana events. When she saw a grey light flare from a sewer grate and watched a swarm of giant rat-like creatures burst out onto the street in a city called Milan, she’d seen the sign on the road, she’d sent her Wizard Orbs after them while she flew nearby and watched her combat log. To make it easier to follow she played with the log a bit and rearranged how it presented the information to her.
(14) Level 1 Common Giant Rats // 8 Damage // Killed // 350 XP
(7) Level 2 Common Giant Rats // 8 Damage // Killed // 350 XP
(2) Level 3 Common Giant Rats // 8 Damage // Killed // 150 XP
(1) Level 4 Common Giant Rat // 8 Damage // Killed // 133 XP
Total XP Gained: 983 XP
Pandora looked over the new Combat Log and liked how it was streamlined. Of course, it had taken two combat rounds or turns, she wasn’t really sure which term The SYSTEM preferred because both terms meant the same thing, approximately 1 second. Of course, the concise nature of the information didn’t break down that she’d only received one-fourth of the experience for the rats that were levels 1 through 3. For the one level 4 giant rat, she’d received one-third of the XP. It seemed that there was a serious experience penalty for creatures with levels significantly lower than her. As she’d already seen with the Storm Giant, it looked like there was a significant bonus when creatures were higher level than her too.
Over the next eight hours, Pandora made her way north. When she was able she destroyed any monsters that spawned in populated areas. All the creatures she killed that weren’t easily identifiable were labeled as Level, then the level number, and finally ‘Monster’ if it didn’t have an easily identifiable name. As she flew into Scarborough she reviewed her Experience Log
(4) Level 7 Soldiers
(10) Level 7 Soldiers
(5) Level 5 Soldiers
(1) Level 8 Guard
(1) Level 600 Storm Giant
(14) Level 1 Giant Rats
(7) Level 2 Giant Rats
(3) Level 3 Giant Rats
(1) Giant Rat
It looked like her Experience Log was still listing everything by encounter. Pandora changed the settings to only display the number of creatures killed and the level
Level 1 - 49
Level 2 – 17
Level 3 – 17
Level 4 - 5
Level 5 – 11
Level 6 - 3
Level 7 - 17
Level 8 - 1
Level 9 – 1
Level 10 - 1
Level 600 – 1
The numbers didn’t describe the claws, pincers, or teeth that the monsters she’d killed had. Of course, those numbers also included the soldiers she’d killed, though it didn’t include the two men she’d absorbed. In fact, she hadn’t received any XP for either kill. Pandora checked her level and Experience. Currently, both Caspa and her were Level 15. Each of them had 132,242 XP. They were getting closer and closer to Level 16 which required 136,000 XP. Although she really didn’t know what higher levels did for her yet. Then again, The SYSTEM had just come back online. Maybe the full functionality of Class and levels hadn’t been initialized yet?”
For now, she put that out of her mind and flew in to land at her Scarborough Estate. As she came in for a landing she saw the soldiers that had taken a vow to her shooting a swarm of monsters that seemed to be coming in from the east. Since the sea was only a mile in that direction it could mean monsters were coming up out of the water or it could mean that they’d spawned between the ocean and her estate. Pandora altered direction and used her breath weapon in succession 3 times to reduce the horde of monsters by at least 80%. As she turned and came back for another pass and watched a majority of the monsters die in a bunch of timed explosions. Those that didn’t were soon gunned down by machine gun emplacements behind sandbags. It looked like the soldiers she’d acquired had been busy fortifying the estate, at least on the side closest to the primary entrance to her underground facility.
Since the soldiers had taken care of the rest of the monsters and the ones she’d banished to the Shadow Realm weren’t coming back, Pandora came in for a landing and shifted to her human form right before she landed.
“Hold Fire!” the captain called out as Pandora walked toward him.
“Captain,” Pandora said and nodded slightly.
“Pandora, what can I do for you?”
“Just a simple question before I head below, You don’t happen to know where the 25 main branches of the Empire are do you?”
“There are more than 25. The world is a big place,” The Captain said. “Though there have been 25 reports of major monster outbreaks unlike anything else that has been seen anywhere else.”
“Twenty-five, you’re sure?” Pandora asked.
“Yes, There was one down in London, A giant serpent appeared in the Thames river. Luckily it didn’t do too much damage before it followed the river downstream and exited into the North Sea,” The Captain said.
“I took care of the one in Rome. What about the other 23?” Pandora asked.
Their big but overwhelming military firepower seems to take care of them. Also, we’re hearing reports from the survivors of anyone who helps in those fights. They’re earning enough XP to level quite a few times. Some have even reached level 20. One soldier who happened to have a nuke took one of the creatures down by herself. She reached level 21. It’s not like fighting these smaller creatures. Sure, we get XP but we’re leveling a lot slower.”
“Where I was, levels were a relatively good indicator of what you could and could NOT mess with,” Pandora said as she smiled and then walked inside.
Pandora made her way into the vault and then back to the elevators and stairway that led much deeper into the complex. This was the backup set of stairs that could allow up to two people side by side to make their way all the way to the entrance. It also acted as a primary air duct because there was a 10-foot open area in the middle which she was using as a shortcut to get to the bottom. Pandora could ride the elevator all the way to the bottom but that would take almost 5 minutes. This way was much faster and also earned her some Magic Levels Absorbed (MLAs). Even so, it was still going to take almost two minutes to make it down to the very bottom level where Mistress Carpenter should be.
Pandora landed and walked through the door into a large room. The elevators were off to her left and further along the wall was the other entryway into the underground complex which was basically an underground road that went all the way up to the surface over 25 miles west of their current position. It had cost a little bit to get all of this done but it was worth it. While she wasn’t worried about being buried alive she’d wanted to make sure that anyone down here always felt like they would be able to get out no matter what. Also, the tunnel acted as another air intake if needed and could be opened and lit to allow people to run along it to exercise. Nothing like running uphill for 25 miles to get a hell of a workout after all. The Tunnel opened into an underground parking garage near Hemsley. The tunnel also had two water channels running along both sides of the tunnel covered by simple grates that carried any water that made Its way into the tunnel down to the bunker where it was added to the water reservoir. Of course, all the water was thoroughly filtered before it was used for anything.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
As Pandora stepped into the huge room she noticed that it was bustling with activity. There were a couple of guards strolling about with weapons but for the most part everyone else seemed to be busy working on projects or running stalls. The mezzanine in the room had been turned into a makeshift market where everyone was trading and selling goods.
Pandora made her way to the stairs in this room and then walked up to the mezzanine, past the clinic where she saw Doctor Broyles treating a young boy that had scrapped his knee and went up to the floor directly above the mezzanine. As she came to the door one of her soldiers opened the door for her and she stepped into the main office which Mistress Carpenter had set up in.
“Pandora, your back. What can I do for you?”
“I just wanted to check in with all of you to make sure the monster summonings hadn’t been randomly spawning down here,” Pandora said.
“They have, why?”
“Could be an issue. They seem to be getting stronger and stronger as the day goes by. I ran into a level 10 crab-like thing earlier. While it wasn’t anything worrisome for me or even our soldiers. There will come a point when conventional weapons will be ineffective.”
“What are we going to do then?”
“For now, I would suggest that all soldiers take turns handling the monsters up at the estate. They’re just going to keep spawning and coming. They should give everyone a good leveling opportunity. Then as soon as you can start having people pick up classes and specialize. When I was in the other world I was taught about party roles. Normally a party should not be more than five people but it can have six. You need a Tank, healer, and various damage types.”
“That sounds like gaming jargon?”
“Gaming jargon?” Pandora asked.
“Jargon refers to words that a specific type of person uses. For instance, lawyers talk with a whole bunch of words that seem to mean one thing but really mean another. It’s their jargon. We also refer to how they say things as talking in legalize,” Mistress Carpenter explained.
“Okay, well whatever this gaming jargon is, that’s what people need to do, split into 5 or 6-person groups and get out there and start leveling,” Pandora said.
“I’ll get with the Captain and see what we can do.”
“Also, you need to include everyone. And remind them to loot the corpses. It’s a quick way to get treasure and materials for crafting.”
Mistress Carpenter made a few notes on her scratch pad and then looked to Pandora, “Okay Pandora, now I have to ask, have you seen the news recently?”
“Define recently.”
“Within the last eight hours,” Mistress Carpenter said.
“Can’t say that I have. I’ve been flying north and taking care of monster outbreaks.
“Well, Cambridge is lying in runes. Something happened right around eight hours ago when the mana events started happening more frequently. In twenty-five locations around the globe monsters of significantly higher than anything anyone had seen before. Where military bases were nearby some were dealt with but the creature in Cambridge was some kind of slime that receded into sewers. It’s going to be a pain to get to now.”
“The Storm Giant that appeared in Rome was level 600.”
“Level 600, you’re sure?”
“Oh yes. I even received the message and Master level loot,” Pandora said.
“What does master-level loot mean?”
Pandora willed the orbs orbiting her to become visible and pointed, “These are master-level loot.”
“What are they?”
“They’re called Wizard Orbs. It seems that they were locked away when I was transferred to this world.”
“Not to seem, unimpressed, but what can a couple of orbs do?” Mistress Carpenter asked.
Pandora shared the full list of monsters and soldiers that she’d killed so that Mistress Carpenter could see it. Then she pointed at the ones near the top and then to the many entries below, “So you see the soldiers and the Storm Giant kills. While I was flying back from Rome, the orbs did everything else.”
Mistress Carpenter looked over the list and then back to the orbs which were still orbiting around the room lazily, “Their killer drones?”
“Not exactly. I’ll tell you what. One of these times I’ll take you up to the surface and I’ll show you what they can do. Right now, I’m more interested in what happened to the 25 monster spawns of really high level?”
“Well, it looks like every city that had one of these spawns all received a huge flash of energy right around the same time eight hours ago, maybe less. We saw the footage of you taking on the storm giant. There’s the giant slime creature in Cambridge. The serpent in London destroyed some property but then just followed the river out to the sea. Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Denver, Mexico City and pretty much every regional officer’s city was hit by these monsters.”
“Would those be cities with major Empire bureaucratic infrastructure in them?” Pandora asked.
Mistress Carpenter paused for a moment in thought and then said, “Actually, yes. Well, close enough anyway. All 25 sightings were within 50 miles of one of the regional director’s offices or someone like Mr. Carpenter who had a special product that he acquired for members of the Empire.”
“How many are left?” Pandora asked.
“The creature causing the most havoc right now is on the coast east of Mexico City near Playa Azul, a small town there. It’s killed thousands. There are others but that one is killing a lot of people right now,” Mistress Carpenter said and then looked thoughtful for a moment before she said, “Also, reports have come in of magical doors in areas that had large populations. They have a sign over them that says ‘The Shop’. People have gone in and come out but most have been unable to purchase anything though they say almost anything is for sale there.
“The closest one to here?” Pandora asked.
“There’s one in London and another is in Paris as well as every other major city around the globe, including Mexico City,”
“Sounds like I’m going to Mexico City then. By the way, feel free to let everyone know that the Empire tried to detonate 25 nuclear devices near where the large monsters appeared. I might as well start sowing the descent while I’m gone. Also, Augustus Ceasar is most definitely dead,” Pandora said.
“You killed him?”
“Yes, and I know all of his dirty little secrets which we can talk about once I take care of these larger monsters. The world will have to adjust to monsters spawning but I think the large ones were a fluke of something that happened when the nukes were detonated. That energy was redirected and that’s why we're seeing the big monsters and surge in monster spawning right now,” Pandora said.
“Good Luck, I guess,” Mistress Carpenter said as Pandora turned and headed toward the elevators. She could run up the stairs, but she had a long flight ahead of her. As she entered the elevator and pushed the button for ground level, Pandora pulled out the Wizard Orbs box and stored all 21 orbs. Then a thought crossed her mind, where had she stored the box before? She’d taken the orbs out of the box after she’d looted the storm giant and then she’d shifted to dragon form to continue on her way…
Pandora dove into her Personal Information and Status Screens and eventually found something in the description of her Shadow Dragon ability that she could have sworn wasn’t there before.
Additionally, you have been given access to a small shadow vault of sorts. All equipment and items are stored within this vault when shifting forms. Items can be stored and removed from the Shadow Vault at will for 10 mana per use. Storage of items during transformation is automatic and does not cost additional mana. The Shadow Vault can hold up to 10 cubic feet of items.
That would come in handy. Pandora spent 10 mana and willed the box of Wizard Orbs into her Shadow Vault. Shadows enveloped the box of Wizard Orbs and it was gone. Pandora opened her Personal Information and found a new tab next to her inventory breakdown, “Shadow Vault.” She mentally focused on the Shadow Vault Tab and found herself looking at the list which simply said Contents and Volume
Shadow Vault Contents // Volume (10’ x 10’ x 10’) 1000 feet(3)
Wizard Orbs Box // Volume (12”x 8” x 8” // .444889 feet(3)
Volume Remaining: 999.555111 feet(3)
Of course, she’d had something similar before, and she’d had the bracers but she didn’t think the bracers were coming back. The Wizard Orbs had been an Artifact of sorts. Technically, it wasn’t a master level item so why had it been unlocked…Difficulty! It probably had to do with the fact that the Storm Giant was more than four times her current level so while the Storm Giant had only been what was considered a Master Level monster in this Universe the difficulty had been ramped up because she was still such a low level.
The elevator came to a stop. Pandora exited the elevator and walked outside where the soldiers were making easy work of the low-level monsters that were still coming from the east. She jumped into the air, shifted to Umbral Dragon, and headed southwest. Pandora didn’t have her dad's memory so she stuck to what she knew. She flew west and crossed over Ireland. From Ireland, she flew over the Atlantic until she found Newfoundland. She was high enough that nothing bothered her but she could see that the sea below was teeming with monsters and normal sea life. There was also a lot of blood in the water. Was that a forecast of what was to come as the monsters kept spawning into this world? Probably.
The flight across the sea was relatively quick. Utilizing her Absorb ability to reduce friction allowed her to go faster than was normally possible. Also, she was able to fly up to a higher altitude which allowed her to use less energy as she gradually made her way back toward the surface. Not that her Endurance was a problem. Flying cost her stamina each second she was actively moving but her stamina was regenerated completely each second, all 61,520 of it.
If she wasn’t mistaken she could increase her stamina pool by at least 400 percent before her stamina regeneration would not replenish in a single second. Gliding only cost 20 Stamina per second, flying normally which was her maximum normal speed of 209 mph, or climbing at about half that cost her 50 stamina per second. If she sprinted she could double her speed and even maintain her normal speed for 100 stamina per second. Of course, if she was diving she could double that but still had to fight wind resistance because her normal speed was higher than something her mother’s memories referred to as “terminal velocity.”
When she removed the kinetic energy from the air that was trying to slow her down she could triple that number again. If she climbed went into a dive and then leveled out with a very slight down angle she could easily break the speed of sound twice.
The only problem with using her Absorb ability to kill the kinetic energy from the air trying to slow her down was that if she wasn’t careful the wind would act as if she wasn’t even there and she’d drop out of the sky like a rock. That’s why she had to concentrate to only absorb the kinetic energy along the initial surface strike point of the air. Because the air still affected the rest of her wings and body, it created both lift and drag which meant that she still slowed down, though at a much slower rate.
Caspa: Pandora something is…
Pandora: Caspa is everything okay?
Caspa: I think so…for a moment it felt like chaos touched us.
Pandora: Chaos touched us? What do you mean
Caspa: I’ll get back to you, I feel like we’ve been looked through, I need to look at a few things.
Pandora: Okay, just let me know what you find.
Caspa: I always do.
Pandora let Caspa do her thing while she crossed the Atlantic and followed North America’s eastern coastline south before she headed west and then south along the Texas coastline. This route added about 400 miles onto her trip which she was still able to complete in only five and a half hours. As she was making her way south she noticed a trail of destruction north of the city she was headed to and turned to investigate. As she came in close she noticed a trail of destruction that led south until she lost sight of what had been destroyed over the horizon. She knew the city she was looking for should only be about 34 miles away though so it was possible that whatever this was could have originated where she was heading.
As she turned and flew closer to a building a tentacle that looked like an octopus tentacle but was much larger and stronger shot out of the nearest two-story building and attempted to grab her out of the air and draw her toward a maw that was also rising out of the building. That little fucker had been hiding.
Pandora allowed her Absorb Kinetic Energy ability to absorb and sluff off the attack as she returned the damage to the Giant Kraken with a tail slap. Two more turns and the Kraken was destroyed as she felt the flare of an incredibly strong aura from behind her. As she turned to look for the source of the aura she felt it move toward the ground until she was looking through a portal at the smiling faces of Callum, Asling, Robert, Cedrik, and Pythias as they started to step through the portal. While the reappearance of her party was surprising, what stopped her heart and caused her to almost drop out of the sky was the two people who did not step through.
Pandora recovered quickly and flashed toward the portal swapping to her human form and using Absorb Kinetic Energy to absorb her landing. As she made her way toward the portal her father held up his hand and shook his head as he indicated that she should not come through the portal. Pandora stopped just shy of stepping through the portal and instead asked her Mom and Dad, “What, how?”
