by Tao Wong
“Blah blah blah, random thug posturing.” I shake my head at the anger that crosses their body language. Tightened grips and shifts in positioning are universal, no matter what alien society you come from. “You have one chance to get out of this alive. Take your friends and leave BC now and return all the humans you’ve enslaved.”
There’s a long pause before a hissing, cackling, and grunting series of laughs erupts from the group.
Since they obviously aren’t going to take my generous offer, I follow up with the stick, launching all my high explosive mini-missiles and screaming, “Now!”
The sentry towers open up, lances of red fire striking even before my missiles. A second later, flames erupt from Anna’s body, a tightly wrapped beam of fire pulled from the creature’s aura. Lana opens fire with her shotgun as Mikito rushes the group, her Hasted body covering the ground within seconds.
The beams reach them first, fracturing ineffectively against an invisible shield. The beam turrets cut off after a second. The mini-missiles land next, creating rippling explosions that throw sand and dirt into the air and a pressure wave of force that hammers into us. A second later, the follow-up shots from the towers and the rest of the attacks land, the shield flickering under the assault.
It holds though, long enough for our enemies to take action themselves. Charging forward, the Bladesinger clashes with Mikito, his greater weight spinning her around as she blocks the strike. The pair blur, flashing across the ground perpendicular to us, their forms barely visible. A spell in the shape of a flaming bird rips through the air and slams into the beam towers, bypassing the settlement’s shield, which has dropped to allow the beam towers to fire. The other sentry tower goes down as the Rock Thrower, living up to its name, projects a series of car-sized stone spears.
“Hey. I’m going to have to fix those!” I snap as I open fire with the Inlin mounted on my arm.
The flashing projectiles get cut apart in mid-air by the Blood Warrior. The explosions of the projectiles around him seem to be doing nothing, and even when I shift my target, he’s always there, blocking my attacks.
The puppies move forward the moment their shield drops, but they never reach their prey, the shield popping up within seconds. They howl in anger, battering the invisible protection, but there’s nothing they can do. Behind the shield, their Elemental Mage waves his hands around, Mana gathering for another spell. The Blood Warrior is outside the shield though, rushing toward us.
“Lana, yours,” I shout over the radio, trusting that she can hold the Blood Warrior.
With a slight mental exertion, I trigger Blink Step, teleporting through time and space into the shield. It’s a gamble, since there’s no guarantee this shield won’t bounce me off. I appear next to the Rock Thrower, the Inlin firing into his side even as I summon my sword into my other hand and cut upward. He’s fast and trained, throwing himself to the side and backward, my attack only managing to lop off part of his foot. Green blood spurts outward, coating Sabre even as the monster rolls away from me in trained reflex. Spikes erupt from the ground, shattering Sabre’s shielding and making it flicker and disappear.
Even as I spin to target the Stitcher, Ingrid makes her appearance finally. Her dagger erupts from his neck, the enchanted weapon, along with her Skills and the surprise attack, cutting through his health and armor. Still, the Stitcher falls to the ground, fingers waggling, and a glow surrounds him. Ingrid’s next attack slows down as it enters the white glow, giving the Stitcher time to twist and roll with the damage.
I don’t have time to pay any further attention since I’ve crossed the ground toward the Mage, weathering the sudden Lightning Bolt it throws at me, the arc of electricity jumping through the air and striking Ingrid and the Stitcher as well. I grunt, hair and teeth on edge, but the bleed through is low and nothing Sabre and I can’t handle. I butcher the Elemental Mage in seconds, even with his momentary teleport away from me. As I attack, spikes of rock slam into Sabre’s armor, but the harassing fire from the Rock Thrower isn’t enough to dissuade my attacks. Personally, I think the Rock Thrower made the wrong decision in focusing on me. As I yank my sword out of the Mage’s corpse, I’m grateful that Mages are so damn squishy.
A particularly large spike knocks me off my feet, alarms flashing as Sabre reports the increasing amount of damage the monster’s attacks are having on me. I roll and bounce back to my feet, ducking to the side as I assess the rest of the battlefield.
Mikito is racing back, the Bladesinger lying still behind her, her PAV scored with damage even through her ghostly armor. A quick review shows she’s down nearly half her health, which is surprising. Roland and Shadow are squaring off against the Blood Warrior and a second, blood covered clone. God damn it. I hate Skills, especially ones that we don’t have access to.
Anna and Howard are caught in blood tendrils, forced to twist and struggle while Lana hacks away with a machete in her left hand, her right hanging limp beside her. Ali floats next to her, keeping watch on the attackers, a small ball of lightning in his hand. It’s a surprising development, one that shows his willingness, if not ability, to do damage.
“Go. I’ve got these guys!” Ingrid snaps at me over the radio as she pulls her dagger out of the Stitcher’s side, which continues to bathe itself in white light.
With a twist of my hand, I toss an insta-cement grenade at the Rock Thrower, holding it in place and buying Ingrid time. Once the grenade has left my hand, I Blink Step toward the Blood Warrior. My attack is anticipated, a pair of tendrils spearing from the blood clone to strike at me the instant I appear. They knock my attack aside, my blades missing the Blood Warrior. With a shiver, the green-skinned humanoid rolls forward, leaving another blood clone to fight me as it engages Roland. I duck and weave as tendrils of blood that acts like acid erupt from the clone and fly through the air as I attempt to cut my way in close to the true body.
Roland howls in pain, the impact of the Blood Warrior’s club tossing the tiger away. Even as Roland spins away, its back feet lash out and claws rend wounds along the Blood Warrior’s shoulder, displaying grey bones beneath green flesh. Even then, the Blood Warrior twists, another clone appearing as he continues to bleed.
“No!” comes a loud, grating shout from behind us.
Then the explosion hits us all, dust and dirt obscuring our vision as we stumble and fall. Even System-enhanced Agility is insufficient to compensate for the force of the explosion. When the cloud finally clears, the Blood Warrior is gone and so is the Rock Thrower and the Stitcher.
“What happened?” I ask, standing and looking around. Sabre’s running diagnostics, nano-armor already fixing itself.
Ingrid limps toward us, quaffing healing potions. I watch as her broken fingers pop back into place, bloody wounds disappear, and her body straightens up as pain goes away. “Rocky triggered a Skill. Blew his body apart when I was about to finally kill that damn healer.”
Ali floats down. “He’s not dead, by the way. Just weakened. His race adds layers of rock and stone as they increase in Level. Blowing up layers of his body destroys his Levels. He must have sacrificed a ton…”
“How did they escape?” I say, frowning. I get the explosion, but we were only knocked down for seconds. Even now, I can’t spot them in my minimap, which is disturbing. While I wouldn’t say we pulled out all the stops, we certainly weren’t holding back. Letting them get away after we’ve shown them a significant chunk of our abilities is not great.
“Localized teleport,” Ali says, grimacing. “Very, very expensive and requires them to have pre-purchased the option in the Shop.”
“Do we know where they went?” I say, letting my gaze track over my team. Between a bunch of health potions and the System’s healing, we’re mostly back to fighting shape, except for the pets. Lana’s feeding some of the most damaged pets health potions, though their enhanced healing is already seeing gaping wounds slowly close.
“No idea, boy-o,” Ali says with a shrug.
&
nbsp; I curse silently, discarding the idea of attacking Kelowna now. There’s no way they completely emptied the city of high-level characters just for an assault on us. Add in their local guards and fixed defenses and I’m not looking forward to a direct attack. There’s also no guarantee they don’t have another of those localized teleports saved up, though I’d be surprised if they did. Unfortunately, even I’m not so irresponsible that I’d gamble with the lives of others.
“We’re not going to Kelowna, are we?” Ingrid says, glancing down the road, and I shake my head. “Right then, drinks it is!”
Ingrid flashes me a smile, and I make myself return it. She’s right. We might not have wiped them out, but we weathered the first attack. A success is a success.
Chapter 9
Later that evening—or was it technically morning by now?—we’re mostly alone, seated around heaping plates of food and beer. Even the curious and interested long ago gave up on overhearing anything interesting. Truth be told, after giving everyone who asked brief assurances, we had little more to say. Thankfully, unlike a “real” town, there was little enough in terms of paperwork that I needed to handle—at least, right away. That allowed me and the team to settle down for a few hours.
“But if I upgrade the Ghost Armor again, I’ll add nearly 50% to its hit points,” Mikito says to Lana and Ali, waving a fork to punctuate her point.
“And move away from your main advantages,” Ali stresses. “You’re fast and you hit hard. Better for you to focus on what you’re good at. You’ve got a decent amount of hit points anyway, and can dodge everything else if you pick up Enhanced Reflexes.”
“Except if they use an area effect spell. Can’t dodge those,” Lana points out, shaking her head. “I’m with Mikito. She’s plenty fast as it stands. More defense is a good thing. I’m thinking I should get something too.”
“Feeling a little vulnerable out there?” Ali says with a glance toward her arm.
“Just a little. The boys are great at keeping most people busy, but if Hondo or someone like Ingrid came along…”
“I wouldn’t stab you in the back, Lana. We’re friends. I’d look you in the eyes as I did it,” Ingrid says with a smile, making all of us roll our eyes.
Sam watches our banter, mostly silent, before he taps the table to get our attention. The seriousness on his face colors his next question. “So what now? Are you going to try to attack Kelowna next?”
“Missed our chance,” I say, shaking my head. “If we’d wiped them out, I’d be willing to risk it. Now, there’s no guarantee they won’t hit us when we leave. Better to stay and consolidate our strength here.”
“About that…” Sam says, grimacing and looking around. “You guys. Well, you’re tough. But there’s a lot of concern about what happens if they send more. If you fall…”
“The city doesn’t have much in terms of defense,” I finish for him and sigh.
Sam’s not wrong. The problem is, I’m not entirely sure what we can do about it. Setting up a training program like we did in Whitehorse will benefit the combat Classers, but it takes time. Bumping up Levels by grinding monsters is easy—there’s even a convenient dungeon to run. But real combat experience requires time. Time to make mistakes. Time to repeat those mistakes and learn from them. Until then, we need more than just a couple of easily destroyed sentry towers.
“For that matter, are we staying?” Ingrid says, staring around the table. “I don’t recall there being a discussion before we started all this.”
“Didn’t mind sticking your knife in earlier,” Lana says.
“I’m not saying we should leave. But we’re discussing sitting still and being a target while our enemies gather their forces. Not smart,” Ingrid replies, letting her eyes roam over the group as if she’s testing everyone.
“You suggesting we run?” Lana says softly.
“No. I’m making sure we’re all in,” Ingrid replies.
I cut in, waving in apology. “You’re right. We didn’t discuss this. I’m sorry, I should have…”
I stop because Mikito is smiling and Lana’s laughing softly. Even Ingrid snorts slightly, shaking her head after a moment.
Sam looks between the three before he finally asks, “What?”
“John’s being cute. And idiotic again,” Lana says with a chuckle.
“Baka.” Mikito nods firmly. “We knew you were going to do it.”
“I didn’t,” Ingrid says. “But I should have.”
“What?” I exclaim.
“Boy-o, you’re a bit predictable,” Ali says.
“Oh, come on!”
“You’re very predictable, Redeemer of the Dead,” Ingrid says, naming one of my titles. I twitch, ducking my head slightly, and she smiles again. “As I said, I should have realized it the moment we saw the Serfs. You weren’t ever going to leave this alone. You’re just not good at doing the smart thing.”
“Welcome to Team John,” Lana says, raising her mostly empty pint in mocking salute. “We don’t do the smart thing. Or the right thing. Just the necessary.”
“You’re okay with this?” Ingrid says then shakes her head, chiding herself for wasting words. “Never mind. Of course you are. Mikito, Sam?”
“Where John goes, I go,” Mikito says simply.
Sam pauses, his face obviously conflicted before he finally huffs. “My family is in Vancouver. Where the Sect is. I’d rather go there in force than try to beg my way in.”
Ingrid stares at the group of us before she throws her hands up dramatically. “Gods! How did I end up with a bunch of heroes?”
“Your asshole team got killed,” Ali says bluntly.
Ingrid freezes, all levity drained from her face. For a moment, we can all feel it, the killing intent that rises at Ali’s crass words before Ingrid takes control of herself, dampening it. She stands silently and walks out. It’s only when she’s gone that we dare take our eyes off her.
“Not cool, man,” I say, smacking the Spirit. Of course, my hand goes through him, but it’s the thought that counts.
“That was very much uncalled for,” Lana says. “I’m disappointed in you, Ali.”
“Whatever,” Ali says, though he hunches his shoulders a bit under our combined disapproval. “She’s been bitching about being with us for months now. She was literally telling John to stay a short while ago. It’s time for her to choose her Class or let the System do it.”
I frown slightly at his non-sequitur then realize it’s the Spirit equivalent of shit or get off the pot.
After the silence stretches on for too long, Sam clears his throat, drawing attention back to himself and our original question. “So we’re staying. And you’re the boss of this town. What do you plan to do?”
“Funny you should ask…” I say, leaning forward and taking the change in topic. Rather than join most of the conversations this evening, I’ve been thinking. Planning. Time to get to work.
***
The next morning, the team splits up to tackle their respective tasks. Sam’s on crafter duty, working with the various crafters to upgrade their talents. His main focus is on the Mechanics in the hope that we can upgrade them enough to build some better defenses and offensive weaponry. Mikito’s still on combat duty, continuing her initial work with the combat Classers yesterday. Lana’s working with Torg and his crew of resource gatherers to account for and divert what they have to the respective Classes in town and the Shop. For once, everyone’s going to get paid.
Lana’s job is probably the most important in the group since I’ve managed to drain the funds for the entire town. Without additional Credits, we can’t upgrade the Town—not without physically upgrading the buildings and roads. At least, I don’t think so. But assumptions just make an ass of u and me, so that’s why I’m seated in the control room with Ali this morning.
“This is a bit ridiculous. It all came in overnight?” I say, staring at the hundreds of open System windows. The vast majority are messages—requests, demands
, complaints, suggestions, and even a few threats. They range from issues about education for children to real estate queries, pleas for help with regard to those taken and even noise complaints. Noise complaints!
“Overnight and they keep coming in. The joy of being the owner of a settlement,” Ali says.
“Never knew you could do this. How come I never got Roxley’s message box?” I say, staring at the growing number of windows as Ali populates them one behind the other.
“You just walked in when you wanted to talk to him,” Ali says.
Oh, right. I guess I never did consider there might be other ways of reporting to him. “This only for the owner? Or can we create a system like this for everyone?”
“Anything’s possible. But we don’t have the Credits. I do have a recommendation though.” Ali’s hand twitches.
K’myn Artificial Intelligence Tier III
This specialised AI is designed to take on the administrative processes of new and developing settlements including the legal and bureaucratic processes of the Galactic Council.
Cost: 145,000 Credits
“An AI?” I frown, staring at the information, then tilt my head to the side as I stare at Ali. “Can’t you do this?”
“I’m a Spirit. I deal with magic and spells and the System. I don’t do bureaucratic paperwork. Not unless you want an audit,” Ali says, shaking his head. “Buy it. We can tie it to the town for now so you don’t have to use any processing power in your Neurolink if you’re that worried.”
“What’s the difference in Tiers for an AI anyway? I get guns, but AIs?”
“Sophistication, processing power, and restrictions. Higher tiers have fewer restrictions, better coding, and the ability to utilize more resources. Most are restricted to some extent by what you download them into, which is why I recommend tying it to the town,” Ali said. “In this case, we’re also buying a bunch of knowledge packs so it can hit the ground running.”
“Doesn’t Lana have one?” I say after a moment, recalling that Ali once recommended she purchase an AI.
