Pandora looked at the Giant Kraken she’d just killed out of the corner of her eye and then directed her full attention at her Mom and Dad, “Dad, this world isn’t safe, this place isn’t safe. I need to get them from here all the way back up near Scarborough England,” Pandora said as Abi and Amanda stepped through the portal.
“Fair enough,” her Dad said as the flow of a liquid-type substance which she recognized as nanites from her mother’s memories came into the world and then started taking on the shape of a modified VTOL aircraft that could carry everyone. “Everyone in the aircraft after it’s finished forming,” Her Dad called out through the portal.
Pandora looked on as the nanites built the aircraft and everyone started moving toward the back of the vehicle and then asked, “Aren’t you coming too?”
“We can’t honey,” her Mom said. “Your dad has sent a message to you through his little friends. Once you are safe, drop into your Mindspace, the message should be accessible there.”
“A trick I learned from Abi,” her Dad said.
“How will I find you? How will I get back to you?” Pandora asked as unshed tears filled her eyes.
Her father smiled and said, “Sweetheart, it is my understanding that you are doing a fantastic job cleaning up the mess in that world. Everyone heading over is coming to help. I can’t because if I do…Let’s just say I have things to take care of before all of us are as safe as we could be. So, do what you were going to do anyway. Your mom and me will be along eventually.”
“That’s a promise dear. We will be along as soon as we’re able,” her Mom said.
A look of strain crossed her father's face as he winced and then said, “Running out of juice to hold the door open. Desirae and Clarence, your turn. All of you, don’t have too much fun.”
“There’s no such thing…“ Desirae said.
“As too much fun,” Abi finished.
“And Desirae…Stop corrupting Abi.”
Everyone laughed, even Pandora. Her father looked at her through the dimensional portal and smiled as he said “We’ll see you soon.” Simultaneously her mom reached through, quickly hugged her tightly, and let go just as quickly already stepping back. Pandora was left with the feeling of a hug that felt like the tickle of a breeze.
As Pandora thought about crossing through the barrier her father called out in a voice that left no room to be disobeyed, “Don’t even think about it Pandora, if you do, you might strand everyone already over there and if I do I’ll lose track of this timeline. We cannot hug here. Get to a safe place and access your Mindspace. My mana is down to 20% and falling faster. Have to end this now.”
Pandora called out, “Love you, Mom, Love you, Dad,” as the portal shrunk and closed. Pandora was left stunned for a moment as she tried to process what had just happened.
Pandora walked over to the Kraken while the others waited by the VTOL and called out, “One second,” as she reached and touched the Kraken and thought Loot.
SYSTEM Message
Looting Update. Values used are used for conversion at all SHOP locations:
100 Copper Pieces = 1 Silver Piece or 1 Credit
100 Silver Pieces or 100 Credits = 1 Gold Piece
100 Gold Pieces = 1 Platinum Piece
Most Transactions in the SHOP are conducted using Credits. The Conversion rate is provided for informational purposes.
Credits are tracked by The SYSTEM. Copper, Silver, Gold, and Platinum may be converted to Credits in any SHOP Location.
Treasure Looted will be as follows by Rarity Category.
Common, Uncommon, Unusual, and Advanced will provide 1/100th credit, or 1 copper piece equivalent value, per level of creature looted, or equivalent item(s) within 10% of that value.
Scarce, Master, and Rare will provide 1 credit per level of creature looted, or equivalent item(s) within 10% of that value.
Epic and Mythic will provide 100 credits per level of creature looted, or equivalent item(s) within 10% of that value.
Legendary Creatures and Relics, Artifacts, or “Unique” challenges will provide 10,000 credits per level of creature looted, or equivalent item(s) within 10% of that value.
Loot is affected by difficulty modifier, ? Level ? loot, X4 current level x4 loot
You have “Looted” a level 558 Giant Kraken. Current Level 15
Base Treasure 558 Credits.
Difficulty Level x4.
Total Credits received, 2,232
Pandora read over the informational updates concerning loot and then made a mental note to find and visit a SYSTEM SHOP as soon as possible so she could see what the value of a credit was. Except for the really big monsters everything she’d seen until now had been common and levels 1 – 10. If she was only going to get 1 copper piece -per level, she hadn’t missed on much loot from what her orbs had killed. The Kraken was listed at Master rarity and had been level 558 which gave her 1 credit per level. Since she’d been less than four times its level she had earned 4 times as much XP and 4 times as much loot. With that thought another notification popped up.
Congratulations you have reached levels 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21. You have earned 24 attribute points to be distributed…ERROR
Current Attributes all read as 100,000 each. All Attributes have reached the SYSTEM maximum.
ERROR! Debugging started.
ERROR Located. Chaos Attribute currently outside of set parameters for The SYSTEM
Error Chaos has no Set Parameters, see Nature of Chaos
Current Chaos Attribute 3.11E+43
Chaos Attribute modified other Primary Attributes. Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Endurance, Constitution, Perception, Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower Charisma, and Luck increased by 96,925 Chaos
SYSTEM Note. Attributes are gained and distributed as normal with each level increase, however, no Attribute may be raised above a base value of 100,000. This is true for all creatures, including symbiotes.
Combination Forms may utilize attribute values that exceed the 100,000-point limit so long as the base value for each creature does not exceed 100,000 attribute points.
What the hell, her attributes were 100,000. She did a quick check of her Personal Information and Status Screen just to double check, there didn’t seem to be any changes in her abilities so she focused on her attributes and secondary attributes.
Attributes
Strength 100,000
Agility 100,000
Dexterity 100,000
Endurance 100,000
Constitution 100,000
Perception 100,000
Intelligence 100,000
Wisdom 100,000
Willpower 100,000
Charisma 100,000
Luck 100,000
Chaos 3.11E+43
Karmic Luck 0
Primary Stats
Carrying Capacity 39,988 lbs (18,138 kg)
Hit Points: 30,000
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Base Health Regeneration
10 per Minute
Stamina 1,000,000
Base Stamina Regeneration
1,000,000 per second
Mana: 1,000,000
Base Mana Regeneration
1,000,000 per second
Movement
Normal Running Speed: 1,008 mph, 1,478 fps
Standing high Jump: 85 feet
Note. Falling Damage is not mitigated by maximum jumping Distance.
Base Attack
Unarmed Base Attack: 49,996
Max Damage: 99,998
Critical Damage Maximum Damage x2
Skills
Maximum Number of Skills Slots (User Level + ((Wisdom – 10)/2)) // 21 + ((100,000 – 10) / 2) // 21 + 49,995 // 50,016
Pandora looked over all the information and then realized she was looking at her personal tab. She switched up to her combined tab with Caspa which showed all her attributes at 200,000. A couple of the secondary attributes were slightly different but nothing she needed to worry about now. The one thing she noticed immediately was that she’d been struggling to reach 2,100 Miles per hour before. Now she could fly just over 6,000 miles per hour. If she turned on her Absorb ability she could go even faster or at least take no damage. Wow, that would be fast.
Pandora was pulled out of her thoughts as Cedrik walked over, “Everything Okay Pandora, Abi says we’re about ready to go?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Hey, do me a favor when you all get into the aircraft have everyone check their status screen to see if anything changed when you came through the portal?” Pandora asked.
“Will do,” Cedrik said.
“Common Cedrik,” Abi called. “Also, Pandora, after you shift back to your Dragon form could you touch a part of the plane gently? I’ll have the nanites set up a communication device in your ear so we can stay in touch.”
“Sounds good Abi,” Pandora called as Cedrick rushed over to the VTOL and jumped inside after everyone had gone in and taken a seat.
Pandora transformed into her Umbral Dragon form and moved over to the VTOL. She reached out and gently touched the wing and then lifted it into the air and hovered while she waited for it to take off. She felt the nanites that had broken off from the VTOL crawl across her skin until they made it to her ear and then made their way inside and solidified.
“Pandora, can you hear me?” Abi asked.
Pandora activated her ability, Telepathy and linked her mind directly to Abi’s
Pandora: It’ll probably be a little easier if I talk to you this way, at least when we’re close.
Abi continued to talk through the headset as she answered, “It will. We’ll all talk to you this way though. It’ll be easier for us.
Pandora: Sound’s good.
“Pandora, is this Earth pretty much identical to the Earth we knew?” Abi asked.
Pandora: It is. I wasn’t there long but my mom’s memories let me know that the place we need to go is in what you call Great Britain. If we get separated or lost, make your way to Cambridge, and we’ll meet up over the city.
“Sounds like a plan,” Abi said.
Pandora: We are going to a little city north of Cambridge called Scarborough. There’s an Estate there with an underground complex. While I didn’t have nanites, I was able to use a couple of my abilities to set up something nice and I have a group of people there that some soldiers I’ve “hired” to keep them all safe.
“Sounds good,” Abi said as the VTOL lifted into the air and started flying up and to the Northeast.
Pandora: Is that aircraft going to have any problems with fuel?
“Pandora asked if the plane is going to have any problems with fuel,” Abi said.
A new voice spoke up as Amanda Sifford said, “That’s the beautiful thing about Adam’s nanites. As the fuel is used the nanites convert the very air around us into the fuel we need to continue flying.”
Pandora: That’s pretty nifty
“It is. Pandora, can you keep up with us if we increase our speed up to about 1,300 miles per hour?” Abi asked.
Pandora: Easily
“Okay, here we go,” Abi said as the VTOL morphed as the bladed engines retracted into the fuselage and then converted into turbo jet engines while the fuselage streamlined and the vehicle they were in accelerated.
Pandora easily kept pace as they traveled northeast. Amanda suggested that everyone get some shuteye while they were flying because it was going to take just over four hours to get from where they were near Mexico City back to England. Pandora also noticed that while they were flying a fine dust was being left behind and seemed to be expanding and dropping to the Earth.
Pandora: Abi, are you dropping nanites behind you or is the plane falling apart?
“I’m letting a very small amount of nanites go that are spreading throughout all inorganic matter on the planet. After we get settled I’ll probably go fly around the whole planet if it’s safe enough to speed up the process otherwise it could take up to a month before the whole world has nanites everywhere.”
Pandora: I wouldn’t worry about going around the world just yet. There was a man here that tried to detonate 25 nuclear weapons. That energy was redirected and there are, well I don’t know how many monsters are out there that are way higher level than anything else that has appeared.
“That makes sense,” Abi said.
Pandora: How so?
“Adam, your Dad, has memories of being in a world when magic was first introduced. When that happened the monster levels increased slowly over time until the planet was completely saturated with mana. This was a process that seemed to take weeks and then months,” Abi explained.
Pandora: I don’t think it’s going to take that long. The nukes were converted into mana which then created mana events that created the 25 or more high-level monsters that showed up around the globe. Some have been taken out by military forces around the world and I have taken out two now, but there are many others. Also, the lower-level monsters seem to be increasing at an exponential rate which I believe is because when the huge monsters die, even more mana gets dropped into the world and the process seems to be accelerating.
“That’s kind of what Adam saw as well?” Abi said.
They continued to discuss the various things Pandora had seen as they continued over the Gulf of Mexico. The only issue they had was when they were closing in on the south border of what would be Texas and a couple of fighters had scrambled to intercept them. Abi had Pandora do a quick flyby while dropping off nanites, which Pandora hadn’t even known she was doing. Abi had explained that the nanites that were on her were converting some of the air into more nanites which were being left behind as she flew by. When she’d come near the planes Abi had infiltrated the aircraft in short order, tied into their communication channels, and in no time at all, had the weapons of the fighters disintegrate while she informed the pilots that it would be in their best interest to get back to base before the planes fell apart.
“Of course, the planes not going to fall apart before they land but Adam said this world is full of misogynistic pricks so I’m having a little fun,” Abi had declared to everyone in the VTOL and Pandora.
Pandora: Okay. Hey, when you all came through the portal there was a chaos leakage from Adam that came through to me. Were any of you affected?
Pandora listened as there was some muttering then Callum exclaimed, “My levels, they’re all back!”
“Me too,” Asling said.
Pandora listened as Robert, not her grandpa but her half-dark-elf friend Robert. Also, Cedrik and Pythias confirmed that their levels were back as well.
“What levels are all of you?” Abi asked.
Callum, Asling, and Robert replied immediately, “130.”
“Okay, it looks like you have the levels Adam had from your memories. My level is set at 1,000 which is 4,000 less than it was previously, though all my attributes are the same,” Abi said.
“Me too,” Desirae said, “I had made it quite a bit higher than level 5,000 using the rings, but my level is set to 1,000 though my attributes are higher than they should be if I was only level 1,000.”
“I think this SYSTEM has a level limit of sorts, even if it doesn’t say that it does,” Robert Bennard said.
Pandora sent Abi a quick telepathic message to share with everyone. “Pandora doesn’t think it’s that. The Chaos is flowing to a form that either it or you know. There is an attribute limit but there’s not supposed to be a level limit. She thinks it’s more likely that the Chaos modified each of you to a known state. It probably could have gone higher but remember that the portal was only open for a little bit.” Abi explained to Pandora.
“That would make sense. We’d all been reset when Adam brought us back. That his Chaos could give us back our levels is kind of amazing,” Amanda said.
Pandora sent another message to Abi, “Pandora says that in either case, whether we’re level 130 or level 1,000 we’re all higher level than anyone on the planet, including her. She thinks we’ll be able to help everyone once we get settled,” Abi said.
“If I’m looking at this navigation screen right we have just over 3 hours before we arrive. Let's all take a nap because we don’t know how long we’ll have before we get to rest again,” Amanda said.
Pandora: Abi, I’ll keep an eye on you but we’re coming up on the South Coast of the United States. I’m going to drop lower and try to help out where I can. Don’t worry I’ll catch up before you head back out over the Atlantic.
Abi: Sounds good Pandora, I’m going to try to get everyone else settled down. Also, I’m going to convert the plane into a turbojet configuration. We should be able to go to a higher altitude and go a little faster.
Pandora: Sound’s good. Just make your way to Scarborough and go into a holding pattern above the ground.
Abi: Don’t you worry about us. I’m going to use a few tricks your dad taught me to modify your base and also create a place where we can touch down and store the VTOL for future use. It sounds like you and the people you’ve garnered might need it and a few extra for that matter.
Pandora: Definitely not saying no to the help.
Abi: All right, off with you, increasing altitude and activating stealth camouflage now.
Pandora watched as the plane morphed and then started to rise higher as it seemed to become harder to see. Pandora did the opposite. She transformed into her human form in a puff of shadows and tried to will the orbs out of the box from her Shadow Inventory. The orbs appeared around her and started orbiting her as she felt the headpiece of nanites convert and modify to her new body. That was definitely neat.
Pandora swapped back to dragon form and headed toward Dallas Texas where something that resembled a giant arachnid had spawned. Before she’d left England the reports had said the military was engaging the beasts, but Pandora was worried they might not be able to handle something so far outside of their experience. If she was being honest, it was outside of her experience as well but she had the best ability to deal with a monster like this.
As Pandora came into the city she noticed that almost the entire town had been covered in a silky white canopy of threads. She made sure to set her Wizard Orbs to full defense as she slowed down to take a closer look. As she flew in toward the buildings she made sure to stay above the tallest buildings just in case there were some web threads she couldn’t see and slowed down further so she could look into the buildings she was flying by. Where corpses weren’t obviously drained and strewn about others were cocooned and looked to have been fed on and discarded throughout the buildings, on the ground, in the cars and buses. Whatever these spiders were, they were spreading fast.
Pandora’s senses were overloaded with a sense of danger as hundreds of web projectiles erupted from the city below her. She had thought herself invincible from below and moved to escape by going straight up only to notice at the last minute that invisible threads were falling from the sky all around her. While she was strong the strands of webbing gummed up her body and arrested some of her wizard orbs just long enough that she lost all of her speed and began falling from the sky. She lost track of the ground and failed to activate Absorb Kinetic Energy before she plowed into the ground. Another factor that prevented her from slowing her descent was that whatever was shooting at her kept shooting at her. As she’d free herself from some webs new strands would take their place. Until she slammed into the ground. As she tried to shake her head free of the debris she found herself in she noticed that she was having a hard time moving as notification populated her vision.
WARNING! You have taken 11,550 TRUE damage from Falling.
NOTE: DAMAGE THRESHOLD does NOT mitigate TRUE damage.
YOU HAVE BEEN WEBBED, STACKS ACCRUED 151
YOU HAVE BEEN WEBBED, STACKS ACCRUED 1,026
YOU HAVE BEEN WEBBED, STACKS ACCRUED 3,046
YOU HAVE BEEN WEBBED, STACKS ACCRUED 8,099
Pandora turned off notifications. There were a lot of angry spiders shooting their webs at her. Of course, she had a way out of this predicament. A rather easy one. She’d let them web her up until the outer web hardened a bit and would hold its shape then she’d swap forms and step into the shadow plane. Of course, she could activate one of her elemental orb's intrinsic abilities. One of her Wizard Orbs was based on the element of fire after all. Of course, if the webs were as widespread as she thought, she could take out a good portion of the city before the fires were put out and she’d be responsible for killing anyone trapped in the cocoons.
Pandora used her mouth and subvocalized a call, “Abi, can you hear me?”
“A little guttural but I can hear you, what’s up?”
“How long do you think it would take for the nanites to spread through a city the size of Dallas?”
“Are you there now?” Abi asked and then paused before she continued, “Why are you covered in webs?”
“There are spiders…obviously,” Pandora said
“Smartass! Just like your father,” Abi said with a sigh before she answered Pandora’s original question, “If I start with the nanites in your ear and have them start the conversion process it should happen pretty quickly, half a day maybe. Why?
“I need to know how many people are still alive here,” Pandora said.
“That is a much easier question to answer. I just need to have the nanites spread out to a communication hub and then I can start infiltrating the network. I’m not Adam but the nanites have all of his protocols. They should be able to make short work of checking the infrastructure. I can get you preliminary information in about 30 minutes and a full breakdown in 6 hours,” Abi said.
“Do it, I’m safe enough here. Also, if you could let me know how many monsters and what types that would be great.”
“Okay, the earpiece will dissolve after I’m done talking. It’ll make its way to the ground or webbing and start duplicating. Once there’s enough some will make their way back to your ear and I’ll reestablish contact. Talk to you soon,” Abi said.
Pandora would have looked around but she was immobilized. It would be a little while before the webs holding her hardened enough for her to leave, though once the nanites had spread, Abi could break down the webbing with a thought. Nope, right now she was safe, for the most part, and the nanites that her dad did amazing things with were working to get her the information she needed. All she had to do now was wait.
