by Tao Wong
I coat my sword with Frost Blade, hoping to slow the monsters down. That forces me to trade a cut across my body, which shatters the last of my shields, for the time taken to cast the spell. It also means I can’t dismiss the blade anymore, not without the spell losing its effect, but slowing these guys down is important. I fall back again and again.
“Down!” Sam snaps.
I duck, almost impaling myself on a sword before realizing the command wasn’t for me. A moment later, criss-crossing beams of fire light up behind me, baking my back even through Sabre. The resulting secondary explosion punches me deeper into the floor, jarring the Bodyguards and Boss above me.
“What the hell was that?” Lana shouts over the radio.
“Tier III Skill, All Hell Breaks Loose. I’m out of drones!” Sam says.
“Explain later. Kill now!” Mikito snarls.
As much as I want to look behind me, I’m busy batting aside swords, slamming my blade into any visible body part. Which, in most cases, is a hand or arm. Within four strikes, I can see the Bodyguards slowing, their hands frozen as the spell takes effect. But I pay for it. Sabre’s working overtime to deal with cuts and stabs, applying bandages and patching worn armor. A pale blue cloud reaches me, and a new notification appears.
Antidote applied! Poison Debuff Removed
“Urrrkk…” the Boss gurgles, Ingrid finally making her presence known.
Blades shoved into his kidneys and then withdrawn to cut the Boss’s throat, she saws away as she attempts to end this. Backstab and other Skill multipliers notwithstanding, this is a Boss and his health is unnaturally bolstered.
Antidote applied! Perception debuff removed
A Bodyguard teleports beside Ingrid and swings his sword down while she’s got her arms full. Before it can connect, Roland appears from the shadows, jaws clamping around the arm, the skill Massive Bite triggering. How something so big and terrifying can hide in this starkly illuminated space is terrifying and puzzling. I’m just glad he’s on our side.
Without a distraction, Ingrid focuses her attacks on the Boss, disrupting his ability to create more potions. Even a last-minute explosion which throws her backward doesn’t save him, the poison her blade’s coated in slowly ripping him apart.
After that, it’s mop up time. Carlos continues to throw out potions, some actively destroying the clouds, others just removing debuffs or buffing us in the other direction. With only one Bodyguard to fight, I kill him quickly and return to the fight with the Enforcers, all of whom are suffering from burns and reeling from the damage. Even then, I can tell that Mikito and Lana are the worse for wear.
Congratulations! Dungeon Cleared
+5,000 XP
First Clear Bonus
Having cleared the bonus for the first time, you have been rewarded an additional +5,000XP +1,000 Credits.
“Well, that was fun.” I grunt, sitting on the floor.
With the Boss defeated, the formerly volatile mixtures seem to have stabilized, letting Carlos and Sam join us as we sprawl on the floor.
“Jesus Christ,” Carlos says, shaking his head. “What are your pain resistances? That must have hurt!”
“Pretty high,” I say, not wanting to point out my Class came with an innate resistance to pain.
Mikito nods while Lana snorts as she adjusts her clothing futilely. After a moment, she mutters something about going to get changed, her pets following her out the door. Mikito turns bright red, realizing the state of her clothes and the amount of skin she’s showing, and Hastes out of the room after Lana.
“I’ve seen high. Worked with someone with resistances over 40% and he still didn’t want to tank. Said it still sucked,” Carlos says.
“Ah…” I frown, considering how to answer that.
“Well, boy-o’s insane,” Ali answers with a knowing grin.
“And I try not to get hurt,” Ingrid says with a smirk.
“Never mind all that, what have we got for loot?” Sam interjects, pointing at the Boss’s body.
We all pause then grin, spreading out to loot our kills. A few minutes later, with Lana and Mikito back, we share the information on our murder-happy gains.
+28,385 Credits
Tier III Hallucinogenic Recipe Gained
Tier II Potion of Strength Recipe Gained
Those are the interesting items. I’m particularly impressed we got Credits, since that almost never happens. One of the few advantages of fighting something sentient. Of course, the recipes go to Carlos while the miscellaneous monster parts and mildly interesting weapons get packed away for sale. Neither Mikito nor I need their melee weapons and the others don’t fight in close quarters, so they’re Shop fodder.
“Now what?” Carlos says, looking around.
I shrug. “Now we do it again in a few days when the dungeon resets. And we write up a guide for our people so that they can do it too. Once we clear it enough, the System should have dispersed enough Mana that the dungeon will stop coming back.” I mentally send a request to Ali to get an estimate on how many times. “In the meantime, the UBC dungeon needs more checking, which I’m going to leave to you guys.”
“Oh…” Carlos frowns, looking about as everyone else nods, Sam looking sad as he picks up the pieces of his drones. I guess that last Skill destroyed his drones. “And you?”
“I’ve got a trip to plan.”
Chapter 6
As much as I’d love to get on Sabre and go, there are things I need to settle. Perhaps most importantly, I need to speak with the Guilds. The first meeting—a video call, aided by the System since we still don’t have our communication array up—is to Labashi.
“Major,” I say when he finally appears.
“Redeemer. I hope this call is good news,” Labashi says.
“It is. I’m willing to offer your Mercenary Company a base. It won’t be in Vancouver, but in Burnaby,” I say.
“Really. I do not believe that location is able to host our base,” Labashi says.
“Not yet. But the ownership requirements aren’t too far away. There’s a university where a dungeon is formed. We just cleared it; it’s easily doable. From what Ali says, we’ve got about three clears left before it dissipates,” I say. “We’re willing to let you purchase the land in its entirety.”
“Purchase?” Labashi says slowly, rubbing his chin.
It’s a much better offer than normal—most contracts are only set up to be leased for a specific number of years. It’s one of the important parts about the System now that we’re fully integrated—by keeping everything on a lease basis, the chances of a settlement being taken over is reduced. That we were able to purchase land outright during the set up period was one of the few advantages that we, being on Earth, had.
“That is reasonable. After all, we are putting the Credits down for it. And it is a significant amount of land.”
I snort, and Labashi flashes me a grin, knowing that his attempt at negotiation isn’t getting him anywhere. While he has a point that picking up all that land will help the city, it’s still not worth the permanent removal of the land from our control. With the initial probing done, we get down to the brass tacks and negotiating.
We’re working on broad strokes of course. Katherine, Lana, Kim, and the rest of them will get the details hammered down later. But at the end, we have an agreement of sorts.
Labashi nods, scanning the notification in front of him as he summarizes our long discussion. “Our headquarters will be in your university, this SFU. In return, we provide a permanent guard for the city and will, on attack of the Lower Mainland, deploy all available forces from our base. In addition, we will provide a company’s worth of help twice in assaults. Or an equivalent number of aid split across multiple assaults or defenses. These assaults or additional defenses will take no longer than a month in total of deployment. We do, of course, reserve the right to refuse such attacks as per our usual agreements.” Which, from what I recall, mostly amount to “we don’t do suic
idal attacks.” “In return, we will have the land in perpetuity and two years’ worth of rent waived.”
“And miscellaneous additions about training, resale of your equipment, and on-going use of your engineering division for upgrade,” I add. “But that’s for the eggheads.”
“Egg. Heads?” Labashi raises an eyebrow.
“Never mind. Human terminology. Don’t worry about it.”
“IT IS DEMEANING TO BE COMPARED TO A NASCENT ORGANIC LIFEFORM.”
“Sorry, Kim. Does it help that I’m technically an egghead?”
“NO.”
“Redeemer?” Labashi says as I have my quick side conversation.
“If we’re agreed, I’ve got another call,” I say, well aware of how expensive this entire conversation is.
“We will let the eggheads finish this agreement. In the meantime, I will begin the process of arranging our presence in your city,” Labashi says with a smile. “I look forward to working with you once again.”
“Thanks.” I watch Labashi fade away before I glance at Katherine. “Who’s next?”
“The Crystal Clans,” Katherine says with a smile. “Their representative is waiting.”
“Sorry, took longer than I expected.”
“It is fine. I arranged for a crafting station to be moved in.”
“Umm…” I consider then shrug. Ah hell, it worked, didn’t it? “Send them in.”
This negotiation, thankfully, is a lot simpler. The Crystal Clans are mostly an Artisan Guild, so beyond getting a small force added to the rotation for safeguarding the city of Kelowna, we just need to work out their rent, training, and the percentage discount for purchases from the settlement. They aren’t looking for anything special and we don’t need anything special—just help and a place that’s willing to farm out quests on a regular basis. With a transportation system in place and Kim handling the administration, we could even extend some of their quests to people in other settlements.
“Next,” I say to Katherine when the door closes.
“That, I believe, would be me,” a voice calls from the door.
I look up, blinking as I see a very pretty elf. Long blond hair is swept backward to uncover pointed ears, startlingly blue eyes, and an easy smile. Lean and thin, he lounges against the door in a relaxed manner. Boy next door charm crossed with male model looks.
“And who are you?” As if I couldn’t guess.
“Wynn a Maro. I represent the Burning Leaves,” Wynn says with a bow, smiling slightly. “I hope I’m not intruding by entering.”
“No.” I wave him forward. I could get grumpy about him coming in before we asked for it, but that kind of pettiness isn’t my thing. Anyway, I’ve got enough reasons to be grumpy with the Burning Leaves, including the use of an aura the last time round.
Wynn a Maro, Spider Slayer (Level 38 Fell Ranger)
HP: 2110/2110
MP: 2080/2080
Conditions: None
“That’s an Advanced Class, isn’t it?” I send to Ali.
“Yup. Be careful, boy-o. I don’t think he’s here to kill you, but he hasn’t talked to you yet.”
“Funny.”
“Good. Otherwise I’d have to get another present as an apology,” Wynn says as he walks forward then stops, a hand twitching as he pulls something from his inventory.
A moment later, he’s holding a simple, silver-looking box with a crest made of stylized glyphs I can’t read. The glyphs are closer to Egyptian hierographics than Arabic letters, which makes it all kinds of pretty and unintelligible. The sudden, indrawn breath from Ali, on the other hand, is quite interesting.
“What’s that?” I say, eyes narrow. Automatic manners have me standing up since he’s neared me, which also means I’m more mobile in case that case is something dangerous.
“An apology for my predecessor’s actions,” Wynn says, bowing his head slightly.
“Take it.”
I use both hands to take hold of the gift, flip it open with a thumb, and am surprised to see a simple chain necklace inside. On closer inspection, each ring on the chain seems to be inscribed with many of the same glyphs as the box. Frowning, I pick up the necklace and wait for Ali to provide me the information.
Brumwell Necklace of Shadow Intent
The Brumwell necklace of shadow intent is the hallmark item of the Brumwell Clan. Enchanted by a Master Crafter, this necklace layers shadowy intents over your actions, ensuring that information about your actions is more difficult to ascertain. Ownership of such an item is both a necessity and a mark of prestige among settlement owners and other individuals of power.
Effect: Persistent effect of Shadow Intent (Level 4) results in significantly increased cost of purchasing information from the System about wearer. Effect is persistent for all actions taken while necklace is worn.
“Those things are rare. We’re talking tens of millions of Credits to purchase one, and this is a Level 4 enchantment. Not the rarest, but not cheap.”
“Thank you,” I say. Even if Wynn says this is a gift of apology, I know there are strings attached to such an expensive and overt gift. But like the elf—sorry, the Movana—probably knew, this is a gift I can’t turn down.
“Not at all. My predecessor’s actions were unaccountably rude. To use his abilities in a negotiation is not how our Guild would want this matter handled,” Wynn says.
“True. Why was he allowed to conduct such discussions anyway?” I ask.
“Ah. Politics. His family has certain pull in our Guild.”
“Har. And you?”
“I’m one too. But I’m competent,” Wynn says, eyes dancing with humor.
“Even so. This is an expensive gift,” I say as I close the box. As much as I want to put it on now, I can wait till I have it properly identified by the Shop. He might seem nice, but I won’t trust him off the bat just because he’s tall and pretty. Also, I’d like to see if I can get it altered so that I don’t have to wear a necklace. I hate having things around my neck. “Seems a little much for a Guild building in a small town.”
“How much do you know of my Guild?” Wynn asks instead of answering my unasked question.
“Not much.”
“Well then, perhaps I can be allowed to enlighten you a bit,” Wynn says whilst inclining his head toward the chairs.
I take the hint and sit down, gesturing for him to do so. Once we’re comfortably seated, he continues while Katherine goes to get us a fresh pot of tea.
“The Burning Leaves are a Tier II guild. While we accept most applications to join the Guild, we started and are mainly based in Movana territory. In fact, many of our members are closely related to members within the Movana royalty,” Wynn says.
“Good for you,” I mutter, still unsure what’s the point of this discussion.
“At the same time, your previous dealings and relationship with the Truinnar are known. Few have fought the Weapon Master and lived to tell the tale,” Wynn continues. “But it is in consideration of those matters that we are interested in yourself.”
“Like your stories, the Truinnar and Movana are differing portions of the same race, split when the groups left for the stars. The actual shade of skin of the Truinnar is due to a genetic modification to separate themselves from their cousins. Earth itself is in Truinnar space, which is the larger of the pair of empires,” Ali fills in for me.
“Let me get this straight. You gave me a really nice gift because you want to establish relations with me. Because you’re jealous of Roxley?” I frown. Such a line of reasoning seems just short of insane to me. Which is why I’m probably missing the point.
“Not jealousy. A maneuver to curtail Truinnar influence on this world. Your lands are the closest to the Duchess’s, which makes them strategically important. And then there’s you, Redeemer. Or is it Monster Bane? Or Duelist?” I frown again, and Wynn smiles. “Few have managed to gain so many titles without a higher Class. Even fewer are thrice-titled, especially in such a short timeframe
.”
I grunt, shaking my head. A lot of my titles—Monster Bane and Duelist—are cheats. Since I was still progressing from one tier to the next, the System registered me as only having forty-three Levels, instead of what should be about double that. It means that those titles, while earned through blood, are nowhere as “true” as someone else’s. But I’m sure Wynn knows that, which makes his interest puzzling in a way.
“If you’re looking at hindering the Truinnar, won’t owning settlements be better?” I ask.
“Ugh, you’re embarrassing me, boy-o.”
“THERE ARE CURRENTLY TWENTY-THREE MOVANA SETTLEMENTS IN AFRICA, CENTERED AROUND EAST AFRICA. A MAP OF SUCH SETTLEMENTS HAS BEEN UPLOADED TO YOUR DATA FILES.”
“Well, the Guild is not part of the Kingdom,” Wynn says. “And as you know, we are not allowed to own settlements.”
“But you’re allowed to have Guild Buildings in other settlements,” I say slowly, realizing what he is alluding to. The Guild is as “independent” as a twenty-year-old who still lives at home and doesn’t pay rent to his parents. They’re still going to dictate a portion of his life, whether he likes it or not. So accepting the Guild into my settlements is a double-edged sword. It’ll piss off Roxley and the Truinnar, but potentially put me in the good graces of the Movanna. Or at the least, give them a direct and obvious way to spy on me. I tap the box after a second. “I take it your Guild didn’t pay for this then.”
