by Dakota Krout
“Oh, I don’t like the sound of that.” Joe rushed over to the next plinth, destroying the prism entirely. Then the next. They were going down, but the effort was hard and draining. The light was pulsing harder, and the beams were growing thicker with each crystal destroyed, but it wasn’t enough yet.
Capture field activated!
“What does that mean?” Joe’s answer was a burst of mana shooting into the corner where he had activated the ritual. In the next instant, the ritual ring under his feet vanished. The ritual had been deactivated, at the least, in an instant. “Oh snap-”
In the next moment, he was flying across the room, a mana-made hand having slapped him harder than a train could have. Joe impacted a plinth at speed, his Exquisite Shell fracturing into nothing as blood splattered from his mouth. Joe’s fuzzy thoughts reminded him that this was a good indication that his internal organs were damaged.
Damage taken: 4,308
Exquisite Shell: 0/3,586
Health: 920/1,642
“A human? Of course it was a human; a Dwarf would have been too obvious.” The voice reaching Joe’s ears was sharp and hateful. There was very little trace of an accent or strange dialect, making Joe nervous about the rank or power level of this particular individual. He turned his head and watched her as she walked toward him. “I am Lady Elfreeda, known as the Lady of Light, and you-”
A Dark Lightning Strike bounced off her, dealing no damage but managing to interrupt her train of thought. Elfreeda stared at the human in astonishment, and Joe let out a wet chuckle. “Mandatory quest. Need to try to kill you whenever I see you.”
“A follower of Havoc. I should have known it from the start.” Lady Elfreeda actually took a step away from Joe, for whatever reason. “Was this your great plan, human? An unguarded ritual? Breaking a few toys and diminishing the stability of the grand illusion an insignificant amount? What are you, a child? Let me explain to you what happens now. You go onto a small island surrounded by magma, unable to escape and tell anyone of the impending attack. Daily, you will be… pressed for information. Information that I know you’ll have, as a follower of that animal.”
Joe tried to use Dark Lightning strike on her again, but the spell failed. She smirked at him, “You think I can’t lock down magic in my area once I’ve seen you use it? You poor, simple-”
A stream of acid sloshed over her, doing nothing but making her flinch. Anger colored her features as much as the strobing light did. “Enough of this. Take him, and we’ll see how long he can last-”
As soon as she started giving orders, Joe reached up to the prism on the plinth that he had slammed into, reducing it and activating Essence Cycle at the same time. He stared at his uplifted arms and the ritual engraved upon them… and his head exploded, showering the area in gore.
Lady Elfreeda stared at the bloody mess left behind for a long moment, then shook her head and sighed. “Fool. All you did was save me a trip.”
She was about to go find the island that he had been placed upon and begin the interrogation herself, but the sound of a crystal shattering drew her attention. One of the plinths she had been standing near had gotten a full dose of Joe’s acid, as well as being greatly weakened beforehand. Another shattered on its own, the beam coming from the ceiling too intense for it to handle. A few more broke over the next few seconds, and the Lady paled as she whirled into action, attempting to stabilize the spell on her own. “Chain reaction of destruction? Follower of Havoc indeed. Get someone out to him, and get the Shapers growing new foci, now!”
Joe didn’t open his eyes to the respawn room like he had expected. Instead, he found himself on a large rock surrounded by molten… Joe still hadn’t decided for sure if it were magma or lava, no matter what the Elf had said. He checked his notifications, trying to learn where he had gone wrong.
You have been caught in a capture field! All major forts have the option of respawning a small number of the enemies killed into a ‘jail’ area instead of allowing them to actually die. Escape, be released, or be rescued if you want to get away!
Joe stood, almost gagging when he realized that his entire body hurt. Checking his health, he saw that it was only at one hundred, and an attempt to heal himself only resulted in a loss of mana. “Looks like I can still cast spells, at least. I didn't lose experience… so they must be paying the cost of my death instead of me? That must be one of the faults of something like this.”
He limped around the rock, searching for anything he could use to help himself. The surface which had not actively melted was only about five feet in diameter, and the entire area was surrounded by a light illusion, creating a shifting wall that completely blocked his vision. He could be right next to more land, or surrounded by lava for hundreds of feet. There was no way to know without testing. Not giving himself a second option, he jumped as hard as he could, going higher and higher… then blinked, finding himself on the island once again. “Can’t go through the illusion, then? Or… did I even jump? That makes things difficult.”
Joe sat down and tried to think of a plan, but found that he could only groan and close his eyes. He was exhausted. He wanted a nap… he could plot his escape later. It would be better to just wait until—he jolted himself into motion as he realized that something was impacting his way of thinking. “That’s not good. That illusion was insidious. I need to do something at all times, or I’m gonna give up.”
There was only one thing that he could think to do while stuck on a rock with nothing else on it. He needed tools, and to prepare himself. When he escaped, Joe fully planned to be ready. “So… what should I make? Should I… can I reduce magma? I give up; it’s magma. I can’t exactly touch it, but maybe…”
Joe activated Field Array, the lines of mana arching out and dipping into the magma. He let his hand get close to the lava, but jerked it away with a hiss. An idea sparked to life as he activated Exquisite Shell, and he put his hand directly into the molten stuff.
-4 damage per second. (Bonus resistance to elemental effects.)
Joe flooded the small patch of magma with mana, finding that it was all rated as ‘Common’. With the array active, he started reducing the boiling earth; content to just pull in aspects until his mana ran out. The magma poured back into position as it was reduced, slower than water, but it was so hot that it was fully liquid. Joe checked his aspects after the third time his mana ran out, seeing only one thing that he hadn’t expected.
Special Aspect, Molten: 400.
“Molten?” Joe looked for more information, but just like with the other aspects, it seemed he was destined to use them to learn of their effects. “I want more of this… should I make a special aspect jar?”
After looking at his inventory, Joe found only a single Uncommon Core, four regular Common ones, one Synthetic Common Core, and a small sack of Damaged versions. “Let’s see… I have over eleven thousand Trash aspects. No real point in making a great container for them, since they’re… literally trash. Common is really the only type where it starts to matter, so how about we start with that? Common aspect jar, here we come.”
Using the Field Array that he still had active, Joe pushed the first Common Core into it and began the process of creating an aspect jar. It only took a few seconds and the low cost of two hundred and thirty Common aspects, and he was holding:
Natural Common Aspect Jar: 0/1,820 Common aspects. This jar can be used to store and retrieve Common aspects. As it is a naturally formed aspect jar, it will collect Common aspects from its surroundings over time. Current rate of collection: 3 Common aspects per hour.
Reductionist class experience gained: 50
“Wait.” Joe stared at the information. “Wait. This means I can create self-generating aspects? How many per hour would a Mythical Core generate? How would I even get one, though? Wait. Let’s say I get a Mythical Core, somehow. Then I get the bare minimum of aspects I would need, because I certainly wouldn’t waste that on Common… bare minimum would be two thousand.
There would be a lot that goes right down the drain because I don’t currently have a Mythical aspect jar…”
Joe grabbed his head with both hands. “I miss having spreadsheets! I never thought I’d say that. Initial investment, bare minimum, probably three thousand Mythical aspects. However… let’s say I get just one extra aspect per hour per rarity level. The maximum would be… ten per hour? Two-forty per day, twenty-four hundred in ten days. Investment returned in two weeks, then a long-term supply after that. Still… I can’t imagine the effort that would need to go into getting a Core like that. Let alone how many Mythical things I would need to reduce? Best I even have right now is Artifact, but there’s no way I have enough to convert this Core into a Jar. Not a good one, at least. Unique, it is; let’s try that with my best Core.”
Joe set the Uncommon Core into the Field Array, then began pouring out every last Unique aspect he had into it. One hundred, two, two-fifty, two-ninety… and the Jar was complete.
Natural Unique Aspect (Uncommon) Jar: 0/2,150 Unique aspects. This jar can be used to store and retrieve Unique aspects. As it is a naturally formed aspect jar, it will collect Unique aspects from its surroundings over time. Current rate of collection: 4 Unique aspects per hour.
Reductionist class experience gained: 100.
Aspects gathered
Trash: 11,967
Damaged: 11,421
Common: 9,636
Uncommon: 6,789
Rare: 1,909
Special: 100 (Zombified). 100 (Anima). 400 (Molten).
Unique: 280
Artifact: 112
Legendary: 0
Mythical: 0
Core energy: 1,755.5/1,958 (Common)
Joe stared at the jar in his hand that had just given him hundreds of experience, trying to figure out how he could make fifty more of them. He needed Cores. Lots of Cores. Pondering the data, he nodded; he was going to raid a storehouse when he got back to the city.
“I was right, at least with this one. Looks like only one additional per hour. Four per hour means almost exactly three days until I have a return on aspects.” Joe looked at his other Cores greedily, “Hello my little investments. I can’t wait to—ow!”
Health: 64/1,652
Joe yanked his hand out of the magma it had been submerged in, hissing as he cast Mend on himself. His health topped out at one hundred, and Joe glared at the molten rock that his… hand had been… submerged in.
“Mate. Hey, Mate, I need someone to talk to here. I think I may have thought of an escape plan.” All he needed to do now was wait for his mana to return to full, and he was going to make a break for it. Mate bubbled up onto his arm and gurgled cheerfully; clearly, it agreed that diving into the magma was a good idea.
Chapter Forty-Four
“A coffee elemental? Adorable.” Joe whipped around at the unexpected voice, finding that he was suddenly not alone on the tiny island. The chubbiest Elf Joe had ever seen was standing there with him, a half-mask hiding his features. “Ayy, how fun. Let’s start the process, shall we, brudda?”
Two more Elves were suddenly clamping thick manacles onto Joe’s arms, and he hadn’t even seen them approaching. The chubby Elf stepped close and touched both manacles, a spark of mana jumping into them. Right away, Joe felt his control over his mana falter and fade. The Elf kept speaking as if he were unaware of Joe’s shock and outrage. “I can’t believe them bigwigs would just send youze out here without applying prisoner cuffs. What a strange oversight.”
Joe clamped his mouth shut, worried that if he started speaking, he would never be able to stop. Something about this guy… Joe just wanted to trust him. Then there was the fact that these Elves were appearing out of nothing. He had no idea what sort of illusion he was trapped in, and there was the chance that nothing here was real.
The chubby Elf got right in Joe’s face. “So, let’s start by doing this here the polite way, yeah? Show me some face here, an’ take off your gear. Rings, armor, anything like that. Then change inta this prisoner garb, yeah?”
The compulsion to do as he was asked struck Joe, but he tamped it down as hard as he could. This Elf must have an utterly insane charisma characteristic.
“No? You don’t wanna be my friend?” There was a momentary pause, and the Elf let out what sounded like a truly saddened sigh. “You know how long it takes to get every item off someone? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over here!”
Seeing the stricken expression on the Elven face, Joe couldn’t manage to keep his mouth closed anymore. “Why do you even need me to take the gear off?”
“Hey, look at us, building bonds of trust and stuff!” The Elf crowed, giving Joe a hearty slap on the arm. “You musta always been an upstanding member of society if you’ve never realized that someone can’t take gear off you without permission.”
Joe shook his head slightly, hating himself for speaking further. He couldn’t not speak; and he was trying everything he could think of to keep his mouth shut. Words still forced themselves out through his gritted teeth, even as he snarled at himself to stop. “I… don’t… understand. I lost a robe to a creature once, and I’ve seen tons of gear get destroyed.”
“C’mon, round-ear, do I look like a boss monster with a rare skill? You think gear-breaking skills won’t do damage to you, too? How many times wouldja pop back onto the island here before I managed ta’ bust even just those shiny shoes you got on?” The Elf shook his head. “Howzabout just taking ‘em off, yeah?”
“Bite me.”
Skill increase: Mental Manipulation Resistance (Beginner I)
“I…” This was clearly not the answer the Elf had been expecting, and he didn’t know how to handle the rejection. “I assume that was an insult, but it’s a new one for me. Let’s play it that way, then, yeah? Try and bust his armor till our resident thief gets here, boys.”
Joe’s arms were forced behind him until he felt like they were about to break, then the back of his head was grabbed and he was slammed face-first into the ground.
Damage: 40 terrain.
“Come on, now; I know he was being rude an’ all, but he’s not even wearing a basic hat.” The chubby Elf sighed in frustration at the antics of his helpers. “I was being serious, bust his gear. Oh, the mask. I see.”
The Elf got a grunt of acknowledgement from the thugs, and a spray of acid covered Joe’s front.
You have been caught in a capture field! All major forts have the option of respawning a small number of the enemies killed in a ‘jail’ area instead of allowing them to actually die. Escape, be released, or be rescued if you want to get away!
After a long moment of darkness, Joe was back on the island. He looked at his wrists, but the manacles were still there. The Elf shrugged at him, “See? Barely any damage to the gear; you just can’t survive long enough for us to make the spell count. Hurts though, don’t it? Ha! Hurts donut? You hungry, human? Oh, you don’t need to worry about the shackles. Those are bound to me, not you. We won’t hurt them.”
Another blast of acid hit Joe.
You have been caught in-
Joe slapped the message out of his field of vision, trying to orient himself before his captors could get a hold of him again. No luck. There simply wasn’t enough room on this tiny island to make any kind of headway. This time, they didn’t bother getting close, simply giving him an acid shower from a distance. Each time the corrosive liquid bit into him, Joe didn’t even have time to scream before the message reappeared.
You have been caught in-
You have been caught in-
You have been caught in-
“Hold on, hold on. So enthusiastic!” The chubby Elf laughed warmly, making Joe smile for a moment before he came back to himself. “See, human? It just takes so much pain and effort to do it that way. Why don’t you just let us work with you here, huh? All we really want is information. Tell you what… my name is Eli; can I ask the favor of getting your name?”
Joe bit his tongue as hard as
he could, instantly making it swell and bleed. Just in time. “Mahnamtheo.”
“You’re… Theo? Hello, Theo. I’m so glad we’re getting ta know each othah betta’.” Eli’s accent was slipping more heavily, showcasing his excitement. Joe saw something shimmering, probably an outpouring of mana. It gently washed over him, and Joe felt pulled toward the Elf. “Theo, let’s be good friends, eh? Let’s just talk for a minute here. How’d you get here? Who sent you? Who knows where you are?”
Joe tried to answer everything, but his tongue hurt for some reason, and it was making his words unclear. Eli seemed disappointed, and that made Joe panic slightly. Eli was trying to help him understand what position he was in, and Joe wasn’t able to answer! “Theo… why did you bite yourself, man? Now you need ta-”
You have been caught in-
Another respawn, but the bite of acid had been a wakeup call. Eli tried to captivate him again, but Joe simply refused to look at him. Every time he was called ‘Theo’, Joe drove the idea that he was a captive being interrogated deeper into his mind. Eventually, Eli sighed and brokenheartedly informed him, “Well, our resident thief is here. I guess we’ll need to continue this conversation after we take everything away from you. Let’s get to work, huh?”
A hand appeared over Joe’s shoulder, holding up a Core. Eli took it and grunted. “Eh, pretty basic bauble, but experience is experience, right?”
The Core dimmed, and Eli tossed it to the side. “Keep it comin’; we don’t have all day. Theo, this can all end if ya just take the gear off. We just need to make sure you’re not protected from our work here, or have something dangerous ta spring on us.”
Joe’s head whipped around, trying to find the thief. If he could see the thief, there was a chance that every attempted theft would fail from that point onward. That was pretty much all he knew about the rogue classes, but he vowed to brush up on his studies if he ever got the chance. In the meantime, items were dropping in front of Joe like a shower, with Eli catching anything shiny and holding it in front of Joe as soon as it appeared. “Who carries this much copper around? Why? Why are you taking them out one at a time? Oh… didn’t realize that was one of the restrictions, my bad.”
