7/17
Pathbreakers HQ, conference room
9:45 AM
“We ever gettin’ back to it then?” asks Quins. He's been itching to try out his new arrows on real targets.
“Yup,” Jose says, and uses a tablet to start playing video from an arena.
The video shows a team of five leveled enter the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball stadium, which looks like there's now five stadiums on top of each other. The video, apparently coming from a 6th member of the team, shows the inside of the arena. It looks like a baseball themed casino, with a prize desk and big entryway. There's a cacophony of noise as robotic staff vie for the attention of the leveled. They travel through the straight ahead doorway and find another door, this one with a giant slot machine next to it. They go up to the big slot machine and the leader, a guy in a red track suit, pulls the big lever. The reels spin and come to a stop on 616. The one flashes and turns into a two, making it now 626. There's yelling, anger, fear. The camera turns around but the first door they came through is now closed, barred with a glowing red iron gate. The leader tries to get his team back together. He whips them up into a frenzy with generic we can do this shouts. The slot machine door opens and the leveled rush out.
Past the door is a flat, square battleground covered in blood red grass. It must be the size of a baseball field. The leveled draw their weapons. A gate across the arena from them opens. Nothing comes out. Then the camera shakes. No, judging from the reactions of the leveled, it's the ground that's shaking. The ground explodes upward and a massive worm bursts up, then opens a mouth filled with rings of teeth, and rushes down to the leveled below. The video cuts there.
Jose explains. “This was recovered from a body that got dumped out of the Dodgers stadium arena yesterday. Seems that on the slot machine the first reel is the monster's tier. Next two numbers are monster level.”
Mercy asks a good question. “I thought Dracosys arenas were supposed to let you choose what level of foe you fought. What's with the random chance?”
Jose gives a good answer. “It wasn't like that before the latest update. The Dodgers stadium arena was actually being farmed. People found it easy to go in, risk a little, kill some monsters and make some cash. We think that the system is trying to work around humans using it for fun and profit.”
“So Los Angeles wants it cleared.” I clarify. “A murder box isn't any fun when it's an unpredictable murder box.”
“Right,” Jose confirms. “Most you should have to deal with is a tier 6, level 76 monster. You guys should be okay.”
“The fuck we are!” claims Ivy, who's still behind us in levels. “That's like, 76 times more powerful than a regular tier 6 monster? You for real, dude?”
Quins speaks. “While I do hate to agree with miss Metallica, I do agree. Somethin’ seventy times tougher than the Capitol building robot which we couldn't actually damage at all? Come on mate, you're joshing us.”
I wait for Jose to give us a solid plan, a way for us to win. He just shrugs and says, “Jun will kill it.”
I narrow my eyes at him. Mercy says, “Jun is not a plan, Jose.” I nod in agreement.
“You haven't broken the system in some new way yet?” he asks.
“Well, of course I have,” I answer. “But you could at least ask me, and not assume it.” He waves his hand, beckoning me to explain. “It's like this...”
My new spell gun lets me store spells. Because I can now purchase extra subclasses, I got the Tower subclass from Archmage.
Tower Archmage - You can spend additional time casting spells to empower them, spending up to 10x longer for 5x effect.
That stacks with the Charge Caster subclass.
Charge Caster - You can hold spells before completing the cast to empower them.
The downside is that Charge caster increases charge time by x3, and that stacks with Tower Archmage for a total of x13 if I use both. Totally unusable during a fight, but when I'm stocking magic bullets? Sure, why not?
I've also got the ability to use Ki techniques and subclass effects with spells.
Mystic Crack Shot - Ranged attack spells now count as ranged weapon attacks, letting them take advantage of active and passive techniques.
Before, my Hedge Rake subclass let me use active techniques with spells, but Mystic Crack Shot applies passive stuff too. Which includes:
---Subclasses---
Up Close With A Knife Killer - Melee weapons (all weapons) you wield deal 10% more damage. Knives (all weapons) you wield deal 15% more damage.
Frost Burn Chimerablood Sorcerer - Your fire and ice spell damage increases by 25%. While in negative AP your body takes on aspects of the elemental magic you use.
Hidden Blade Assassin - Light blades (all weapons) you wield deal 25% more damage.
Devastating Dragon Style. +25% damage. +20% area of effect.
---Abilities---
Spiral Thrust
Stab forward while twisting your weapon, adding drill-like spiral energy to your attack.
Cost: 15 Ki Points
Iai Strike
Draw and strike. The draw is 30% faster and the strike deals 30% more damage.
Cost: 30 Ki Points
Lancing Stride
When on foot, running and even walking attacks have more force behind them. 28% more force, to be exact.
Passive
Bloody Blades
You deal 14.5% more damage to enemies in the 5 seconds after you deal damage. This effect doesn't stack but gets refreshed if you keep attacking.
Passive
Headshot
This ability increases the damage if you hit their head. If the target doesn't have a head you're out of luck.
Passive
Peerless Knives
Your knives (all weapons) deal 46.1% more damage. Get straight to the point.
Passive
Injury To Insult
You deal 33% more damage to foes under a status effect that you dealt to them. This effect doesn't stack if you apply multiple effects to a foe, but honestly being a dick to monsters is fine, so why not?
Passive
Dagger Duelist
+30% dmg when fighting a single foe.
Passive
Dagger Destruction
+40% damage the first time you strike a foe with a dagger (any weapon).
Passive
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Unstoppable Unarmed
Your unarmed attacks (all attacks) deliver 20% more force.
Passive
Devastating Dagger
Your light blades (all weapons) ignore 25% of a target's Toughness.
Passive
Spell Sniper
Double the range of a spell when you cast it.
Cost: 10 Ki Points
Piercing Shots
Your ranged weapon attacks ignore 10% of the target's Toughness.
Passive
Cannon Fire
Charge up a powerful shot. The maximum increase is 5x power for a 30 second charge. Cost 20 Ki Points.
Over Aim
Track your target, increasing the damage of your next weapon strike by 5% for each second your aim is true.
Passive.
Magnum Fire
Your next round deals 50% more damage. Cost: 30 Ki points
Just stacking the passives boosts my spells to around 400% damage. The charge effects add to that for a total of...
I finish by saying, “uh, I think if I stack everything I get a 1,700% boost. Roughly.”
“Wot's that even look like?” Quins wisely asks.
I just shrug. “We can go to the roof and find out.”
A few minutes later we're all on the roof, and I'm charging my bullet, then charging my gun, then firing a 1,700% Tempest Buster Rifle straight up.
There are three key things that happen.
One, the force pushes me back, which is straight down, through the fucking roof. Two, a ring of energy spreads out from the barrel, which knocks over everyone on the roof. Three, the neon pink beam, which is usually about 5 feet wide, is now about 50 feet wide, and travels for about a mile straight up.
Mercy is looking down the 30 foot hole in the roof at me. “Jun! You okay?”
I look over at my left arm, which I fired with. It is thoroughly broken from fingers to shoulder, and looks like a crumpled up straw wrapper. It hurts a fuck ton. “I don't think I'm supposed to stack that many things!” I shout up at her from the 1st floor.
-----
Turns out a tarp big enough to cover a 30 foot hole is available at several nearby stores. Also, when creating a hole from the outside to the inside, the extra space is ignored, so the magical 3rd floor of our building is unscathed, while the ceiling of the 1st floor warehouse area needs to be fixed. I... Don't understand the how of that scenario.
The last thing I do to prep for the impending arena fights is visit the new system store. It just looks like an ATM, and you tap the screen to make choices. The screen is a CRT and only has four colors, red, yellow, green and black. The menus look straight out of early 80s computing.
It has a very definite downside: it runs on equivalent exchange. Basically if you want a cool magic item, you need to give the machine a cool magic item. Or system-generated money. It's got a scanning robot eye which scans whatever you've got, then offers you options for what you can trade it in for.
I, unfortunately, have been passing most of my loot to my friends, who need it more than me. That said, I do have buckets of coins to trade in. For 450 NYC subway tokens from the Ellis Island ruins, I get offered:
Carbide Nanoblade. A very, very sharp longsword.
Wilson Rapier. A world class fencing rapier.
Ring Of Solar Might. Enhances Light and Fire abilities.
Abjuration Staff. Enhances defensive spells and chants.
Healer's Gloves. Enhances touch-based healing abilities.
Ring Of Solar Might and Healer's Gloves both sound good. This ATM doesn't give more information so I can't see exactly how potent each effect is. But, sigh, keeping my team alive is more important than doing damage. I pick the gloves and a drawer beneath the screen slides open, granting me my new hand wear. They're black leather gloves with a red cross stitched across each palm.
Healer's Gloves. Enhances touch-based healing abilities by 25%.
Okay, okay, that's not too shabby! I pull out a pile of mohars from the R-32 dungeon and see what those can get me.
Rifle Of Ill Repute. Attacks decrease the target's Charisma.
Dorchester Sandwich. Permanently increases your Toughness by 10.
Wilting Whip. Attacks decrease the target's Agility.
Spell-Absorbing Boots. Enhancement spells cast on these boots last 24 hours.
Pen. When used to parry any sword attack, the pen is indestructible and deals x10 damage to the offending sword.
Without knowing what kind of rifle that is, I'm not taking the first option. And I'm not a whip guy. The pen is funny but that's it. An extra ten Toughness isn't horrible, but the boots give me pause. Specifically, I need to know if my Squall Steps spell counts as an enhancement spell.
Squall Steps
Walk, run and fly in the air. Create a cloak of storms.
Cost: 5 Arcana Points/1 minute
Proficiency: 414%
I try concentrating on different key words and come up with this:
Proficiency (Squall Steps) increases the enhancement’s speed bonus. At 414% the bonus is +41 effective Agility.
So Squall Steps is an enhancement! It doesn't say the speed bonus is an enhancement, it calls the entire effect an enhancement! Noice! Also, I just now figured out how to find what Proficiency does for each spell and technique? Sigh. I pick the boots. This time the bottom of the machine slides open to reveal a compartment with my new foot wear.
Spell-Absorbing Boots. Enhancement spells (yes, like Squall Steps) cast on these boots last 24 hours.
The boots themselves are black leather, combat-style boots, but with diamond-shaped, clear gemstones right above the ankles. I slip them on and at first they're too big, but then they magically resize to my feet. Their comfort level is acceptable, but not stellar. I'll need some good insoles.
To test them out, I switch to Atmos mind, cast Squall Steps on myself and look down to see the gems have become neon pink colored, just like Atmos energy. I then switch to Solar mind. Aaaaand, “look Jose, I'm flying!”
Jose looks unimpressed. “You could already fly.”
“Yeah, but, like now I'm flying using the same powers while switched to a different power set!”
He starts walking away, saying, “your powers are weird.”
I, however, am totally stoked that I can fly without being in Atmos mind. That opens up a LOT of combat options for me.
Stoked. Franco liked being stoked. Franco is dead. Damn.
Sigh. Promise to do better. Embrace the victories. Keep going.
On to the next bucket of coins, this one a pile of Sacagaweas from the Capitol Building dungeon. It's about 1500 bucks in gold-ish coins.
Bracer Of Bracing. This bracer reduces knock back.
Fine Dining Card. Use this one-time item to create a five-star restaurant's level of food.
Meh Scroll. A scroll that teaches you a “just okay” ability.
Vocal Axe. A talking axe.
Quilt Of Coziness. Increases Etheric energy recovery while you sleep.
So this is the kind of crap you get for 1500 bucks? I think maybe the scroll would be kind of possibly useful? Let's hope it's alright.
Scroll Of The Dog Whisperer. Whoever reads this scroll gains the ability to understand what dogs are saying.
The scroll turns to ash as I finish reading the gothic font on yellowed parchment. I am not disappointed at all. That's awesome! Man, I totally want to get a doggo now! ...I'm gone half the week and that wouldn't be fair to the dog. Maybe I'll talk it over with Mercy and see if I can arrange dog sitting with Jose's kids.
I look around and make sure nobody is looking, then slide the pile of scroll ash to the side, where someone else can clean it up later. I hate sweeping.
I've still got some gold coins from the dragon's hoard, and offer some of those. About 1 million's worth.
Necklace Of Absolute Intelligence. Increases Intelligence.
Wand Of Blazing Meteors. Casts Blazing Meteors once every hour.
Pauldrons Of Gravity. Alters your personal gravity.
Duck Soup, Ambrosiatic. Permanently increases your Constitution by +50.
Chimera's Bracelet. Has various effects based on your classes.
Okay, okay, these all sound pretty cool. I can always use extra Intelligence. And Blazing Meteors sounds like a high level spell. Pauldrons Of Gravity I think are made to increase the weight of your blows. Plus 50 Constitution is very nice. But that bracelet... Yeah, one of the first subclasses I took was Chimerablood Sorcerer. Chimera. A multi-headed monster. A symbol of change, multiplicity, evolution. I need to know what this thing can offer me.
I press the button and the side of the ATM pops out, then slides back. A robot arm with articulated fingers comes out, offering me to take the bracelet from the robot's palm. The bracelet itself is half an inch thick, two inches wide and made of a black, shiny metal with an inner band of white. I grasp it and scan.
Chimera's Bracelet. Increases Stren-
Then, as I'm reading the system scan info, it suddenly changes.
Chimerablood Rise Bracelet. Chimerablood can be activated at will, but doing so drains Arcana Points. The effects of Chimerablood are greatly enhanced, depending on your stats. While Star Swarm is active, Chimerablood affects your stars.
I slide it onto my right hand and it shrinks down to exactly the size of my wrist. I think about Chimerablood. No? Chimerablood Rise. I...
Oh! It’s working! Things are HAPPENING. Oh shit, that's rad! Man, I gotta save this and reveal it later. This will definitely impress Mercy.
I check my stats and they're pretty buffed. I swap to Lunar Mind and the buffs change. Interesting. Solar is made for heavy melee weapon attacks. Lunar is made for rapid weapon strikes. Atmos is made for speed, evasion and fighting fast foes. Void seems set up for wide spread damage.
I might as well try the last effect, right? I use Star Swarm and... Nothing happens. I think about the power and I feel something holding me back. Something that feels safe. Like I'm too safe. Not in actual danger. I can't use Star Swarm unless I need it? I didn't know that! Well poop on that, then.
I come out of Chimerablood and think to ask a question from my favorite enchanted items expert, Rutger. I give them a call.
Rutger: Yeah.
Me: Hey Rutger! How's it going?
Rutger: Just about to head into the dungeon. What's up?
Me: Question about enchanted items. You said we slowly absorb their effects, right? But what about temporary effects? I just got a bracelet that gives me extra stats, but only sometimes.
Rutger: Yeah, I got one like that. The absorption only happens while the effect is active, so keep the effect up as long as possible. Also, you know absorption is based on Memory, right? What's yours at?
Me: Fifty eight.
Rutger: I got a double absorb speed ability at 100 Mem. You should go for that. The increased absorb rate makes it way easier to get that done.
Me: Good tip. Also, when are you joining my team?
Rutger: Eh, I'm still rocking it with Maddie. Maybe if she goes on vacay or something.
We say our goodbyes and I feel like Rutger has changed. They're not nearly as emo as they used to be. My high Wisdom tells me that I'm not the cause of that change, but also I haven't been in the way of it either. Maybe I helped a little, maybe. Either way it makes me glad. Rutger deserves to not be emo. They have every right to be emo, but they don't deserve it.
At any rate, I've got enough free stat points to push my Memory to 102, and I do so.
Notice! You have reached 100 Memory, and are offered the following choice: Eidetic or Magical.
Eidetic - You gain an Eidetic memory, otherwise known as a photographic memory.
Magical - Your enchanted item effect absorption rate is increased by 100%.
I grab that Magical Memory power and try poking my menus to find any info on absorption rates. It only shows up when I scan the M3 Mongoose and I think about the word absorbed.
M3 Combat Knife With Mongoose enchantment. +5 Dexterity, Agility and Reflexes. (62% absorbed) Known for their ability to fight snakes, the Mongoose is basically a very angry squirrel.
Absorption rate: 0.1999 points per day.
I do some math on the much more potent Chimerablood Rise Bracelet. I'd have to keep Chimerablood Rise active for years to absorb just the effects of one of these new forms. Absorbing 1 point per 5 days from other stuff is fine, I guess. Hey, free points, right?
Absorbed points cannot exceed your base stats.
You know, I'm beginning to think this system is a huge dick. You know what Dracosys? Imma fuck you up, then we'll see who's putting downer messages in my brain! It'll just be me! ...Wait.
