Pandora sat in the webbing and dropped into her Mindspace where Caspa had created a beach house overlooking the sea while seagulls floated on the currents above the various hills that rose from the shoreline.
“What is this?” Pandora asked.
“Everything has been so crazy and clinical lately. You were having fun, I figured I’d liven up your Mindspace and relax a little bit. Tea?” Caspa asked as she held out a glass of iced tea.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Pandora said as she noted that fangs were trying to pierce her skin from various locations along the webbing.
“It would seem that something is trying to turn you into a meal,” Caspa noted with interest as her eyes glazed over and she reviewed what was happening to Pandora’s body also.
“They’re just drones of some sort. Even after taking out a significant portion of the city's population, I would venture that all of the recently hatched spiders are lower level. They shouldn’t be able to get past our Minimum Damage Threshold. The only creature we’ll need to worry about is the queen bee and that shouldn’t be an issue either. I’m just waiting for Abi to get us sensor coverage over the city so we can see what’s around us.”
“Well, then, please enjoy the sunset, it’s going to be a while before that happens,” Caspa said.
They sat and watched the artificial sunset as Pandora felt the spiders continue to try to feed on her. When she finished her tea, which had been quite refreshing, even if it wasn’t real, Pandora had set her glass down, leaned her head back, and fell asleep. The constant jabs at her scales had felt quite good as she concentrated on them. It felt like someone was working on the various muscles of her body, almost like a massage.
Pandora was rocked back to wakefulness as Abi’s voice called into her earpiece, “Pandora, you there?”
“Yep, what’s the word?”
“The word is that you have more than 1,000 spider-like creatures crawling all over your body sinking their fangs into the webbing that you're surrounded in,” Abi said with a hint of disgust in her voice, “Pandora, how can you stand that, being confined, knowing that….just yuck.”
Pandora laughed, “It’s not so bad, actually put me to sleep. I feel like I’ve been having one constant massage for…hey, how long was I out?”
“Well, I waited until I had coverage over the entire Dallas – Fort Worth area so about six hours.
“Six hours!” Pandora exclaimed, “You should be over Scarborough by now.”
“We are, I dropped some nanites over the city and they’ve been searching for your complex. Once they find it I’ll have them make us a landing area.”
“Are you all okay up there?” Pandora asked.
“Of course. The aircraft is fully equipped with anything any of us might want, pressurized and invisible to the pathetic scanning technologies the military has, though from the chatter we’re picking up it looks like they are all quite busy trying to keep from being run over by monsters, especially the big ones,” Abi explained.
“Okay, and me?” Pandora asked hoping for some information on her current location.
“As far as we can tell any humans in the Dallas Fort Worth area are dead, have fled, or are currently cocooned, like you.”
“Where’s the queen?”
“The Queen, which is almost as big as a tank is in the sewers under the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant about 4 miles south and just a little east of you.”
“Any idea where the closest SYSTEM Shop to me is?” Pandora asked.
“There is an orb creating spatial distortions near the Dallas Museum of Art. When you get out of the cocoon just head Southeast along North Harwood St. It’s on the other side of the highway to your southeast that you crashed near.”
“Hey, I landed gently,” Pandora argued back.
“No, you didn’t. I have nanites in that whole area. There is a furrow where you slid along the ground for at least 50 feet. I can give you an exact measurement if you want,” Abi said with a hint of mirth in her voice.
“I’m good, thanks. Well, I guess I should get out of here.”
“Before you do that, have you listened to that message from your Mom and Dad?” Abi asked.
“Oh damn, I forgot about that. Give me a couple of minutes, I’ll be back,” Pandora said as she dropped her mental focus back into her Mindspace and searched for the message.
Caspa appeared next to Pandora and gave her a sad but encouraging smile as she offered, “I felt the messages get planted into your mind and shunted them to a memory location to wait for you. If you wish to view them simply go through this door,” Caspa said as a door appeared before her. It wasn’t a special door, just an ordinary-looking door with a round silver handle that turned.
“Thanks, Caspa,” Pandora said as she reached out turned the handle and stepped into a replica of the first park her mother and she had strolled through.
The image of her father looked up from where he’d been sitting on a bench next to her mother as they watched some pigeons eat breadcrumbs they threw to them. Unlike her father, Pandora’s mom was not moving. She just sat still as if waiting for something.
“Hi Dad, what’s up with Mom,” Pandora asked as she walked over to stand in front of the image of her father warily.
“You know that neither of us is real, right?” Her father asked.
“Of course,” Pandora affirmed.
“Well, because of my nature, I was able to pack a little more into the message than your mom. Most of the information that you might need has been passed on to Abi, but I used that connection to create this limited copy of myself that can interact and answer some, not all, but some of the questions you may have.”
Pandora interrupted her Dad and said, “Okay then, why didn’t you come here?”
“The simple answer is I have something to do where I am. The long answer is A lot happened to everyone and in the process of fixing that I discovered something that I need to address,” her dad said.
“And mom, why isn’t mom here?”
“She chose to stay with me for now. With everyone wanting to come to your Earth I think she felt that I’d lose my way if at least one them didn’t keep an eye on me,” her dad explained.
“You are always getting into trouble,” Pandora quipped back.
“So are you,” her father said gently.
For a few long moments, Pandora just sat there and looked at her father. When they started talking again, they didn’t stop for a while. Pandora sat and talked with her Mom and Dad for what seemed like forever but was far too short. The copy of her mother explained how everyone, including her dad, had been killed and only her dad’s nature had allowed him to salvage the catastrophe and bring everyone back. In doing so he had been reborn as an Adamantium Dragon, and his new family was trying to put their world back together. Adam could find her wherever she was now but because of the way she’d been placed here, if he came across he’d lose access to the time when his new mother needed him. Something about time becoming untethered or something. Mom let her know how much she meant to her and that she hoped she was doing well. Dad finished up with, “The non-emotional part of my memories that might help have been downloaded into Abi. They contain my memories of the various Earths I’ve come across and all the major players within those alternate timelines I visited. Abi should be able to help you get things under control there, even if magic is coming into the world for the first time. No promises but we will try to get to you or at least send messages once in a while. Good luck sweetheart and stay safe, We Love you.”
With that final statement, the images of her mother and father disappeared and Pandora was left in her Mindspace with Caspa.
“At least you have a better idea of what happened to everyone after you all were separated,” Caspa said.
“Yep, I hope dad kicks their asses, whoever they are,” Pandora said.
“Well, I guess it’s time to get out of this cocoon and visit the SYSTEM Shop and see if they have anything that can help with a butt load of spiders,” Caspa said, “Playtime is over, and all that.”
“Yeah,” Pandora agreed as she allowed her focus to shift from her Mindspace back into her body. Getting out of the webs wasn’t even an issue. Shadows enveloped her dragon form, and she stepped out into the center of a cavity inside the Cocoon in her human form. She heard frenzied skittering outside the web and was about to step into the Shadow Plane when Abi interrupted her.
“Pandora, I see that you’re back in human form,” Abi said from the air around Pandora, “I’m using the nanites, you’ll get used to it. Are you going to head to the SYSTEM SHOP next?”
“Yeah.”
“How many credits, or how much money do you have that you can use there?”
“I have a little over 2,000 credits,” Pandora said.
“Pick up the bar at your feet and then get out of there. It looks like the spiders are about to break through,” Abi said.
Pandora looked down and watched as a metal ingot solidified out of nothing at her feet. She reached down and picked it up. It wasn’t light, but it wasn’t that heavy either. Pandora shifted it to her Shadow Vault and then stepped into Shadows into the perpetual darkness of the Shadow Realm. As this plane mirrored her own, she stepped into an empty street. As with the Plane of Shadows in England, the plane felt desolate though she could feel that it was coming back to life as the mana levels rose back on Earth. The shadows felt like they were coming to life.
Pandora got her bearings and headed under the underpass until she was about where Abi said the Museum and looked around. As she peered through the barrier into the real world she saw that the streets were covered in webbing everywhere except for a ten-foot section around a floating orb near the entrance to the Museum. Either she was going to step out and then be whisked away into the SYSTEM Shop or she was going to be fighting a lot of spider-like creatures. She steeled herself and stepped through the barrier into the area next to the Orb. As she appeared in the clear area, Pandora reached out and touched the Orb.
You have found The Dallas Fort Worth SYSTEM Shop. Would you like to enter, Yes or No?
Pandora chose “Yes” and felt herself get teleported into a clean technological-looking room with monitors and display cases everywhere around her. She’d appeared at the entrance to a showroom that had display cases and monitors displaying weapons, armor, vehicles, and even lists of various potions and miscellaneous items that anyone would want or need.
A pleasant feminine voice issued from speakers located throughout the room, “Welcome to the Dallas Fort Worth SYSTEM Shop on Earth -967A. Please step up to a terminal to Sell or Buy from the SYSTEM Shop.”
Pandora stepped up to the Monitor and placed her hand on the hand-shaped image on the screen. The outline of a hand disappeared, and new text appeared.
Welcome Pandora
Current Inventory Includes:
2,232 Credit
One Full Set of Wizard Orbs // Rarity: Artifact // Value: Priceless
One Ingot of Adamantium, 99.99% Pure // Rarity: Master // Value: 100,000
The System Shop cannot offer credits for the Wizard Orbs. We can however offer to purchase the Adamantium Ingot.
Would you like to sell the Ingot of Adamantium? Yes or No?
Pandora chose “Yes.”
Ingot of Adamantium sold for 100,000 Credits. New Credit Balance 102,232.
Pandora scrolled through the various options until she came to the section she was looking for, Spells. The first thing she bought was a Magic Primer for Dummies for 100 credits. For an extra 1,000 credits, she downloaded the information directly into her mind. Within a few seconds, she had a good idea of how learning spells worked in this SYSTEM.
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In this SYSTEM it looked like common level 1 spells did 6 points of damage and sold for 100 credits a piece. Each spell only took up one spell slot.
Spell Slots?
Pandora looked up Spell Slots and found that everyone had a maximum number of spells they could learn and the Spell Slot secondary attribute determined that number. It looked like a person’s Class awarded Spell Slots and made it easier or harder to learn specific types of spells. Everyone received a number of Spell Slots equal to 10 plus 1 per 2 points of Intelligence over 10 though.
As Pandora continued reading she realized that everyone could trade out magic spells. Those who took certain classes received bonuses when learning spells and leveling them. One example that was given was the Class Fire Mage. Fire Mages received 10 free spell slots per Class level for any fire-based spell. Additionally, each Class level reduced the number of Spell Slots a specific spell would take up by 10%
Something else Pandora learned was that Spell Slots could be emptied. Doing so removed the mage's access to that spell and all associated XP spent on the spell was also lost. There was a note that certain classes could reduce this loss if the new spell was from the same sphere of magic and the caster class focused on that sphere of magic. That note led to Pandora looking up how spells gained levels which was of course by using the spell or by purchasing spell levels at the shop.
How a spell was leveled by use depended on a lot of factors which didn’t make a lot of sense to Pandora. In some cases, like combat spells, it was pretty straightforward, kill things with it. In other cases, like support spells, not so much. Purchasing Spell levels increased damage, range, area of effect, and mana cost. To purchase a level 1 common spell cost 100 credits. To purchase level 2 in the same spell would cost 300 credits and level 3 would cost 600 credits. Pandora pulled up a fire bolt spell to see what the differences were between the levels.
Firebolt
Level 1
Base Range: 10 feet
Bonus Range: + 1 foot per 2 points of Intelligence above 10.
Maximum Range: 1000 feet
Area of Effect: 1 Target.
Maximum Area of Effect: N/A
Damage 6 fire damage
Mana cost 10
Description: Cause a bolt of Fire to erupt from the caster's hand and strike a target within range.
Note: Targets susceptible to fire may be ignited.
At Level 2, Firebolt increased its mana cost to 20. It also increased the Base Range to 20 feet and did 12 points of damage. The Level 3 version increased the cost to cast Firebolt to 30 mana. The Base Range increased to 40 feet, and it did 18 points of damage. Neither the Bonus Range nor the Maximum Range changed. After Level 3 it looked like the mana cost increased by 10 per level while the range doubled, and the damage increased by 6 per level.
If the spell was increased to Unusual Rarity the cost for a level 1 version was 1,000 credits and the cost for a level 2 version was 3,000 credits. Pandora looked over the spells and knew that she could buy two Uncommon-level 9 spells for 90,000 credits at 45,000 credits a piece. The mana cost would be well within her mana regeneration so she could utilize the spells repeatedly. Now all she needed to do was find something that damaged a lot of creatures but didn’t damage the surroundings. Of course, when she started looking for spells with a bigger area of effect the cost of each spell doubled so it looked like she’d have to reduce the level of her area of effect spell.
Pandora fed the criteria she was looking for into the SYSTEM; Range: LOS and Area of Effect: targeted. The Spell the SYSTEM showed her… she’d never run across before.
Mana Burn
Rarity: Common
Level: 1
Base Range: 10 Feet
Bonus Range: + 1 foot per 2 points of Intelligence above 10.
Maximum Range: 1,000 Feet
Area of Effect 10 Foot Radius +1 foot per 2 points of intelligence above 10.
Maximum Area of Effect: 1000 Foot Radius from Caster.
Base Damage: 6
Mana Cost: 20 per cast.
Description: Designate up to 2 targets + 1 target per 2 points of Intelligence above 10 additional targets within the Area of Effect on which the Caster has Line Of Sight (LOS). If the target has Mana this spell reduces the number of mana by the Base Damage done while inflicting that amount of damage as the mana burns the target from the inside. This spell bypasses all resistances.
Note: This spell does not work on creatures without mana
Note: This spell cannot do more damage to a target than the target has mana in their body. Example: If the Target has 4 points of mana left and the spell does 6 points of damage the spell will reduce the target’s mana by 4 and inflict 4 points of damage, not 6.
Pandora quickly looked over the various rarities and versions and decided on the Uncommon Rarity version for 42,000 credits.
Mana Burn
Rarity: Uncommon
Level: 6
Base Range: 352 Feet
Bonus Range: + 1 foot per 2 points of Intelligence above 10.
Maximum Range: 1,000 Feet
Area of Effect 10 Foot Radius +1 foot per 2 points of intelligence above 10.
Maximum Area of Effect 1,000 Foot Radius from Caster.
Base Damage: 40
Mana Cost: 132 per cast.
The mana cost wasn’t bad either at 132 per use, which was well within her ability to regenerate each second. Next, she looked for a single target spell based on either of her innate elements, Shadow or Chaos. There was nothing available for Chaos, but there was a Shadow Bolt spell that looked promising.
Shadow Bolt
Rarity: Uncommon
Level: 10
Base Range: 1 Mile
Bonus Range: + 1 foot per 2 points of Intelligence above 10.
Maximum Range: 2 Miles
Area of Effect None
Maximum Area of Effect: 1 Target
Base Damage: 66
Mana Cost: 110
Description: Cause a bolt of Shadow to erupt from a shadow within range, Caster’s choice that strikes a target within range.
Note: If Shadow Bolt Strikes in darkness it is automatically considered a critical hit.
The Unusual Rarity Level 1 version of the spell cost 100,000 credits which put it out of her current credit limit. Which was fine. If she wanted to, she could purchase the Unusual Rarity Level 10 version and then choose to upgrade it. The Uncommon level 10 version cost 55,000 Credits which was 45,000 credits cheaper. Of course, the Level 10 Uncommon version of the spell did 66 points of damage while the Unusual Rarity Level 1 version only did 7 points of damage. After she leveled the spell back up to level 10 it would do 72 points of damage instead of 66.
As Pandora looked over the spell Rarity and Level comparison chart, if she had the money Purchasing a spell at Master Rarity Level 1 would be the way to go. It might cost 10 million credits, but its base range started at 41 Feet, and it did 25 points of damage. By the time the spell reached level 10, it had a range of up to 5 miles and did 248 points of damage.
So, she had a plan. She’d just purchase the spells and not worry about upgrading and leveling with XP until her spells reached Master rank. It would be easier and less time-consuming to use credits. Spell slot-wise she didn’t need to worry for now. With her attribute of 100,000 in Intelligence she had 49,995 Spell Slots available.
Slot usage was a little bit more involved. A Common Rarity level 10 spell would take up 10 Spell Slots while an Uncommon Level 10 Spell would take up 20 slots. For individuals with Attributes lower than 100, their spells would be very limited. Also, it was very unlikely that she’d run into someone with a Legendary Spell, they wouldn’t have the spell slots to be able to slot the spell unless they had a Class that granted them such a spell, which wasn’t unheard of.
Pandora purchased both spells for 97,000 Credits which left her with 4,132 credits. She minimized the notifications for a moment. It looked like the best way to get new spells would be to find them as loot. Well, it would be the cheapest way to find them anyway. Of course, she’d still lose XP if she had to trade out spells but she had a lot of empty spell slots right now. With the two spells she’d just purchased, she should be able to take care of any small or large problems, like a bunch of spiders and their queen, if her fists or claws couldn’t take care of the problem first of course.
Pandora checked her Notifications.
You have Learned the Uncommon Spell Mana Burn, Level 6. Spell Slots used 16.
You have learned the Uncommon Spell Shadow Bolt, Level 10. Spell Slots used 20
Spell Slots Remaining: 49,959 of 49,995
The Notifications included the information she’d already read so she dismissed them and decided it was time to test out her new toys. Pandora stepped back from the Monitor and looked back to where she’d entered the showroom and saw a duplicate of the Orb that was floating outside. She pulled her box that held her wizard orbs out of her Shadow Vault and held it in her left hand as she touched the Orb and exited The SYSTEM Shop.
Pandora appeared on the street and looked around.
“I see your back,” Abi’s voice said from the air in front of her. “None too soon either. The spiders should be incoming momentarily.”
“Could you clear all the webs please?” Pandora asked.
“Clear all the webs?” Abi asked to clarify she’d heard her right, “They’ll be able to see you?”
“Yep, clear all the webs around me I need a clear sightline out to 1,000 feet so I can see all of them.”
“That means they’re just going to come after you harder,” Abi said.
“I hope so,” Pandora said as she walked to the intersection of Flora Street and North Harwood Street. It was only about 50 feet from where she was to the center of the intersection. As she moved into the intersection she noticed that is was only a three-way intersection which allowed her to see Southeast, Northeast, and Northwest. There was also a small area with a fountain to her Southwest. It looked like this was a nice quaint area that people could come to and rest in the middle of the city.
As she looked around and watched she could see movement as the webbing that was everywhere rippled as the webs suddenly evaporated which caused a lot of spiders to fall and tumble to the ground. With her enhanced perception she noted and targeted as many as she could. Her spell said she could target 2 + 1 per 2 points of intelligence over 10. That meant that she could target up to 49,997 different creatures if she could see them as long as they were all within a 1,000-foot radius.
“Abi, that’s a lot of Spiders,” Pandora said as she saw spiders on all three streets and behind her rushing toward her.
“A little over 1,600 that I can see through the nanites. I don’t know how many are within your LOS.
“Let’s find out!” Pandora said as she cast Mana Burn and her vision was flooded with notification after notification.
396 Level 31 Araknis Soldier’s Killed // 1,227,600 XP awarded
275 Level 32 Araknis Soldier’s Killed // 880,000 XP Awarded
195 Level 33 Araknis Soldier’s Killed // 643,500 XP Awarded
154 Level 34 Araknis Soldier’s Killed // 523,600 XP Awarded
128 Level 35 Araknis Soldier’s Killed // 448,00 XP Awarded
118 Level 36 Araknis Soldier’s Killed // 424,800 XP Awarded
96 Level 37 Araknis Soldier’s Killed // 355,200 XP Awarded
81 Level 38 Araknis Soldier’s Killed // 307,800 XP Awarded
70 Level 39 Araknis Soldier’s Killed // 273,000 XP Awarded
50 level 40 Araknis Soldier’s Killed // 200,000 XP Awarded.
You have earned 5,283,500 XP.
You have earned 528,351 XP toward the Spell Mana Burn
Mana Burn has increased from Uncommon Level 6 to Uncommon Level 7. 248,351 XP of 360,000 XP banked toward Uncommon Level 8. New Spell Attributes are as follows:
Mana Burn
Rarity: Uncommon
Level: 7
Base Range: 704 Feet
Bonus Range: + 1 foot per 2 points of Intelligence above 10.
Maximum Range: 1,000 Feet
Area of Effect 10 Foot Radius +1 foot per 2 points of intelligence above 10.
Maximum Area of Effect 1,000 Foot Radius from Caster.
Base Damage: 46
Mana Cost: 154 per cast.
Congratulations!
You have earned Levels 22 through 75.
You have earned 212 Attribute Points
NOTE: All Primary Attributes are at Maximum Threshold. Attribute Points Banked.
Pandora watched as a blue flame erupted from every spider she could see within visual range. The flames seemed to burst from within and then consumed the spiders as if they never existed. Up to 1,000 feet away in all three directions she could see more spiders rushing her way as the light from the flames faded. There were a couple of spiders that had been outside of her LOS that were a little closer, but she had a few seconds to consider what to do next.
“Abi, How many spiders are in this city?”
“496,376, which doesn’t include the 1,563 that you just killed,” Abi said.
“Pandora just killed how many spiders,” Pandora heard Cedrik say in the background.
“I think this would be a good place to bring a team back to and farm some XP. Though I think I’m going to take out that queen first.”
“The Queen is still at the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant which is about 3.6 miles south of you,” Abi said.
“Okay then, that’s where I’m heading, I’ll be out of contact for a minute, I’m going to use the Shadow Plane,” Pandora said as she looked to her south, stepped into a shadow, and crossed over into the Shadow Plane. Once there she shifted to her dragon form and took to the sky as she headed south. The Plane of Shadow had felt so empty when she first crossed over back to the Northern Territories, what was Great Britain in her father’s Earth. Now it seemed that life was beginning to populate the shadows. Magic was coming back, and this place was beginning to live again. While she wanted to explore and find out what that meant she continued to head South because she had an Araknis Queen to kill before she could head back to England and get everyone settled in.
