by Drew Cordell
Coilmatter Cell (Relic)
True Power. Strexian. Archaic. Great Relic.
Weight: 1.0 Kg.
Attributes
Great Relic
- This cell can fuel machines of unworldly power.
“Wow,” Brandon said, appraising the treasures one by one. He seemed to fixate on Obsidian’s Edge, admiring the powerful bladed weapon.
“Wow is right. These legendaries have to be worth a fortune, especially so early in the war,” Gwen added. “If you’ll give me a minute, I need to check my character sheet after all of that.”
“They probably are worth a fortune, and I’d imagine the Coilmatter Cell is too,” I said, realizing I still had my notifications suppressed. I released the block, preparing for a flood of information.
Level Up!
Congratulations! You have reached character level six and now have one attribute point to spend.
Current XP progression to level 7: 260/260 (0% XP remaining until next level.)
Level Up!
Congratulations! You have reached character level seven and now have two attribute points to spend.
Current XP progression to level 8: 43/400 (89% XP remaining until next level.)
Next, I condensed my skill and ability progression notifications to a single window, pleased to see I had leveled up almost everything on my character sheet. The passive XP bonus to my spells from my class selection was really paying off.
Skill and Ability Progression:
Progression Update:
- Mana Ball Level 3 (level up!) + 8%
- Mana Shield Level 3 (level up!) + 39%
- Light Armor: Level 2 (level up!) + 7%
- Piloting: Level 2
- Interceptor Piloting: Level 2
- Light Blaster Pistols Level 4 (Level up!) + 21%
- Blasters Level 4 (Level up!) + 21%
Class Quest Updated: Savant II
Expected Difficulty: Hard
Quest Type: Variable
Known Rewards: ???
Now that you have defeated the Purveyor of Ortonan and claimed its Scrollbind, use your new tome and learn its power. 0/100 to class quest breakthrough.
Your Chronicler has generated nine basic encodings! 0/10 bonus encodings remaining for the day.
Finally, I opened my character sheet to see how my skills and abilities had progressed.
Kyle Gennan
Level 7 Human Savant
- XP: 43/400 (89% XP remaining until next level.)
Resource(s)
- 30/35 HP (10 base + 25 from attributes)
- Mana (active): 26/55 (5 base + 50 from attributes)
Defenses
- Armor: 25
- Evasion: 15
- Shield: 0
Primary Attributes (2 Attribute Points available!)
- Body: 0 (10 HP and 5 active resource per point invested in Body.)
- Mind: 4 (10 active resource and 5 HP per point invested in Mind.)
- Tech: 1 (10 active resource and 5 HP per point invested in Tech.)
- Artisan: 0 (Artisan points are accrued for every 10 levels acquired in a primary crafting profession. Points cannot be invested in Artisan manually.)
Active Skills and Spells
Overload Level 2
- Tech. Blaster. Physical.
- Requires equipped blaster. Requires at least 20% charge remaining in equipped charge pack.
The character overloads their blaster, irreversibly destroying their current charge pack and dealing 5x weapon damage with their next shot.
The overloaded projectile has a chance to behave unpredictably (reduced by higher proficiency in the Tech attribute and relevant blaster skills).
Failure to perform a cooling flush after using this ability may result in additional durability loss or the destruction of the equipped weapon.
Overload has a chance to cause durability damage to the character’s weapon (reduced by higher proficiency in the Tech attribute and relevant blaster skills).
- 89% progression XP remaining until next level.
Mana Shield Level 3
- Mind. Strexian Spell. Magical. Channeled.
- Cost: Variable.
- 30-second cooldown.
- Requires one available spell slot to bind.
- Range: 50M
The character creates a protective barrier of mana, protecting up to two targets while channeling. Mana Shield can be cast at Rank 1/2/3/4/5/6 giving each target a temporary shield protecting them for 80%/90%/100%/110%/140%/175% of their maximum health while channeled. Mana Shield consumes 1/2/3/4/6/10 mana every 2 seconds. While channeling Mana Shield on two targets, this spell consumes double mana.
- 61% progression XP remaining until next level.
Mana Ball Level 3
- Mind. Strexian Spell. Magical. Channeled.
- Cost: 15 mana.
- 5-minute cooldown.
- Mana Ball can be passively channeled.
- Requires one available spell slot to bind.
The character channels a ball of ethereal mana from their reserve. While channeling, the character’s mana recharges as normal and they can spend mana from Mana Ball instead of their main reserve. While not on cooldown, Mana Ball can be recast to trigger Unstable Power.
- 91% progression XP remaining until next level.
Unstable Power
- Mind. Linked Strexian Spell. Magical. Channeled.
- Cost: 8 mana.
- 15-minute cooldown.
- Does not require an active spell slot to bind. Requires actively channeled Mana Ball.
The character channels additional mana into their active Mana Ball, causing it to compound and become unstable. While channeling, Unstable Power grants a temporary 90 mana for the character to spend from instead of their personal reserve. After 5 seconds, the unstable Mana Ball explodes, dealing 200% of its remaining mana total as magic damage in a 3-meter radius.
My spells were getting more powerful. Mana Shield had a new rank I could cast it at, offering even more protection for me and my friends. Mana Ball and Unstable Power were even more potent now, providing more mana to draw upon and use as a powerful destructive force to shell out massive damage if needed.
I closed my character sheet as Brandon and Gwen did the same, unable to stop thinking about what had happened to Fen. I couldn’t protect her—we couldn’t protect her when she had fought so selflessly to protect us. I knew we would do whatever we could to help her and get her back—to make this situation right and make her contributions to this group matter. Her share of the treasure, whatever we decided to sell, would make it into her hands one way or another.
“All right. Let’s get out of here,” Gwen said, hefting the bulky crossbow and Coilmatter Cell while Brandon kept the bladed weapon and I carried the tome. There was still a lot to do and decide before we could safely log out, and I had the feeling our journey in Eternity Online had only just begun.
EPILOGUE
Cadan felt the pressure bleeding through his stasis pod in the real world, piercing through the powerful painkillers with tendrils of agony. The pain distorted his surroundings, splintering through the connection to Eternity Online with harsh static and instability. Even the best technology his credits could buy couldn’t remove him from the pain of his devastated nervous system—not completely. It was a constant reminder of why Dalthaxia and Salgon had to fade away—why he had to kill them. He would rebuild something beautiful in the wake of their destruction.
Neris Romero would be pleased. Everything had gone perfectly, and Dark Eternity would be positioned for an early victory in the Eternity War if Kyle and his group did well. The relic from Kyle’s group was the missing piece they needed, and everything seemed to be falling into place. Cadan would have his revenge. He would save humanity.
You’ve done well for us, Cadan, a ghostly and familiar voice in his head encouraged. It was the voice that kept him alive, the voice that saved him in that alleyway that night when the Dalthaxian
assassin had put three bullets through him. He heard it in the real world, and it followed him into Eternity Online. By all accounts, he shouldn’t have survived. But he did. And now he would rise stronger than ever to accomplish his mandate from the Beyond.
Cadan was almost certain the ghostly voice was imagined— some kind of mental instability fabricated from the extensive nerve damage he had suffered. Either way, he was scared of the voice and its implications. He either had to acknowledge that it was real and otherworldly—a righteous proponent of his mandate—or that he was crazy and needed to give everything up and accept what had happened to him in exchange for his lifelong devotion. The choice was simple.
“He can do this. But I’ll step in if I have to,” Cadan told the voice.
I know you will. Was there ever any doubt?
“No.” Cadan waited in silence for a moment, giving the voice a chance to speak again, but it didn't. He felt its presence drain away like a fading wave, but something else was there in its place now.
“Why didn’t you tell Kyle the truth?” Stacy asked. She was standing right behind Cadan and he hadn't noticed.
“How long have you been there?” he asked, turning to face her and dodging the question.
“I’m always here, and that’s your decision. You let Kyle leave without telling him. Why?”
“Because I don't know if I can tell him.” That was the truth, hard and simple. He was too scared to tell Kyle, either because he would think Stacy deserved what had happened, or because Cadan would have to relive the pain all over again. Maybe he was scared of both.
Stacy stared at him with those sad eyes. “You owe it to me. Neither one of you deserves the pain of seeing me all the time. Why do you keep me around?”
Cadan felt his composure cave in like a collapsing superstructure. He broke all over again, feeling the weight of loss—of not being enough for someone he loved. The physical pain from the real world suddenly wasn't so excruciating as this emotional rift crashed through him. His voice wavered and tears spilled down his cheeks, all too real. “I loved you like a daughter. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry you died because I wasn't good enough.”
“It’s not your fault. If we can have a better future because of my death, then isn't it worth it?” she asked him.
She's not asking me anything, not anymore, Cadan thought bitterly. He remembered the way the assassin’s bullet tore through her throat like a sheet of paper in the alleyway that night. She tried to speak while she bled out in his arms. It was a horrible burbling sound he would carry with him until his dying breath. Then the bullets tore through him too. But he didn't die. Why did she have to?
This wasn’t the first time he’d felt the crushing pain of such devastating loss, no. But somehow, it was just as bad now as when it had been his real daughter all those distant years ago, separated by an impossible distance of time, alcoholism, and constant work. But now that Stacy was gone too, it didn’t seem that long ago when he’d watched his own daughter die in that understaffed hospital. Both times he’d shouldered the weight of loss—bearing the cross because there was no one else to. Cancer the first time, a bullet the second. Both were entirely preventable, but he hadn’t been enough.
Stacy was gone the next moment, no longer by his side. The spell that created this replication of her could manifest itself as anyone he knew, rebuilt painstakingly through the weight of his memories—the good and the bad. It was good he chose to replicate Stacy. It was good to remember. Even if it hurt like hell. He had failed her. And he couldn't fail anyone like that ever again.
Cadan watched as long as he could manage through the hangar docking bay, observing Ether Rogue jump through the stars toward the Strexian temple before logging out and returning to the hellscape of pain waiting for him in the remnants of his real life. He was doing a good job, and he told himself that he had earned whatever rest he could salvage. Nothing would stand in the way of his mandate—the Eternity System would be made whole again.
GET THE SEQUEL FOR FREE
THE STORY CONTINUES IN…
Star Exile: Dark Zenith
(Coming 2019)
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(Reg. $4.99)
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OTHER BOOKS by Drew Cordell
Links are to US Kindle store. For other Amazon marketplaces, search your store.
Suggested reading order
Star Exile
Star Exile: Singularity
Star Exile: Dark Zenith (Coming 2019)
Stratus Online
Stratus Online: Awakening
Stratus Online: Godsworn (Coming 2019)
Absolute Knowledge
Absolute Knowledge (Book 1)
Absolute Zero (Book 2)
Absolute Infinite (Book 3)
Absolute Knowledge Box Set (Books 1-3)
Absolute Chaos (Book 4) (Coming 2019/early 2020)
Paragon.EXE (standalone novella)
Exiles of Ascension (standalone novella)
Standalone Stories
Krample Co: A Galaxmas Story
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Drew Cordell is a recent college graduate working as a marketing specialist at an IT consulting company. In addition to writing, he enjoys reading, PC Gaming, board games, and biking.
Drew enjoys writing immersive, character-driven science fiction and action-packed LitRPG.
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