by Kyle Johnson
“Of course,” she smiled, “anyone can learn common martial Abilities, and anyone with SP can learn the most basic Spells. However, since they cannot use them to great effect, lacking a significant energy source to power them, there is not much for them to be gained by pursuing them. This is one reason why gifting you the Archery Skill was less of a benefit than you might imagine: with your Stamina below 100, you could not use the Abilities very much or very long in combat, so while they seemed potent, you could only gain real utility from them by taking focus from your Class development.
“To enforce this,” she explained in a tired voice, “we deliberately created Stamina and mana as opposing energies by shifting their polarizations according to some very involved equations. If they are used together, they will interfere with one another and release heat and electromagnetic energies that are perceived as pain. What we did not foresee was that your Mental Resistance Skill would dull the effects of that pain enough for you to remain focused; that your Indomitable Perk would stop the pain from forcing you to cease your attempts; and that you would unscramble the math behind the shift and guide them back into alignment. However, that is exactly what happened, and we were forced to create a new energy type, new Perk, and new Skill to accommodate your alterations to the system. It was both exhilarating and, quite frankly, rather bothersome.”
“I’m sorry,” he began to say, then halted. “Actually, I guess I’m not sorry,” he corrected. “In fact, you’re welcome.”
Veronica gazed at him quizzically. “And for what am I supposed to be thanking you, if you don’t mind explaining?” she asked.
“It’s a beta test, right?” he pointed out. “We’re supposed to be trying everything, seeing if there are ways to break the system, so that you can solve those problems before the game goes public. You can bet that if I figured it out, someone else will eventually, too, and now you’re prepared.”
Veronica blinked, silent for a moment. “That is quite true,” she admitted at last. “You are performing your function within the game admirably. In fact, I withdraw my request in your Perk description: it you would, attempt to break the game as much as you’d like, and we will follow along behind you, fixing it and, hopefully, making it better.”
“It’s a deal,” Jeff grinned, holding out his hand, which Veronica shook firmly. “Oh, hey, question: I see my Archery Skill changed and can only be used with Enchanted and mana-infused weapons. I take it to mean that I’ll have to use Mana Transfer on bows and arrows and such if I want to use my new abilities with them?”
“Your assumption is accurate,” she confirmed. “This was our way of returning the gifted Skill to a semblance of balance. You have an extraordinarily large SP pool for your level, and this way, you will need to spend SP not just the Abilities – which, you may have noticed, have doubled or more in cost – but also on each weapon with which you use those Abilities. That does mean, by the way, that you must infuse both the bow and the arrow being fired in order to use an Ability successfully.”
“That’s fine,” he waved. “I figured it was something like that after you explained why I got that Skill in the first place. I just wanted to make sure I was figuring it correctly.”
“Good luck to you in this place,” she informed him. “Not that I believe you will need it.” As she spoke, she faded from view, and Jeff glanced again at his notifications.
That skeleton thing was worth a butt-load of XP! he thought excitedly. Wait…it was more than 10 levels higher than me? Holy crap, no wonder it was worth that much. Also kind of explains the ‘A’ ranking for the Quest, I guess. Although, it doesn’t really make sense that I was required to beat something like that just to get into the city. That thing was almost boss-level! Maybe I was just supposed to run, and I decided to stick around and duke it out?
That kind of made sense, really. If this thing was that much more powerful than him, it might have been put there to chase him through the city. Heck, it might have been there to herd him where he was supposed to go; that sort of thing was pretty common in games, although it felt kind of heavy-handed for Singularity. So far, the AI’s had kind of let him do his own thing. Maybe the creature would have just waited here and been an obstacle he had to defeat to leave?
Wondering didn’t help much, he realized. He had chosen to stay and fight, and in the end, that choice had given him some great XP, two new Skills, and an awesome Perk, so he didn’t regret it. Well, not much: that Empowerment Spell was insidious. The euphoria he had felt was intoxicating: even now, part of him was whispering how easy it would be to feel that again. Just a little mana, and… He quickly shoved those thoughts aside. That Spell would absolutely have to be a last resort measure; it was too dangerous to use otherwise. It had cost him a large chunk of his SP and most of his LP just to use it for about a minute!
He returned his focus to his notifications, reading through the Perk and new Skill information more carefully. The Perk was great, but after a bit of thought, Jeff realized it was more complex and had bigger potential downsides than he thought. His Stamina was gone, replaced by his SP, which had grown by about 100 points. That seemed like a great thing, at first – more SP meant more Spells, better armor, etc – but it also meant that anything that used Stamina was going to drain his SP, instead. That meant that any kind of physical exertion – running, climbing, dodging, even just walking quickly – would slowly drain his SP. That meant that he’d need to basically try to avoid melee combat as much as possible: he could find himself using his staff so much that he couldn’t cast any Spells or power his armor. He’d probably still find some time to grind his staff Skill, but honestly, it would now be a lot less important.
The same limitation applied to his new Skill upgrade, in fact. Sure, he could be some cool magical archer, but it would cost him a lot of his spell-casting ability. Rapid Shot, something of a staple for ranged classes, would cost him something like 10% of his max SP per second to use. Sure, during that time, he could cast spells almost 3 times faster than normal, but then, he’d be burning through that SP 3 times faster, as well. He did a rough estimation and figured that if he activated Rapid Shot and used his Mana Barrage, he’d use up the stored SP in a bit less than 4 seconds and fire 12 shots off during that time…and burn through 60% of his SP in the process! The only way it would be useful is for an ambush attack or to end combat quickly: if he could unload all that damage into a group of enemies and end the battle immediately, it would be a sound use of his SP. Otherwise, it would just be massively wasteful and leave him dangerously low on SP. Veronica was right: they had balanced the Skill upgrade with his abilities fairly well.
The good news was that he had leveled up twice! Obviously, taking the risk of fighting a monster over 10 levels higher than you and nearly dying in the process paid big rewards – not that he intended to make a habit of it, or anything. He knew he had gotten several lucky breaks – hitting the creature’s knee early on, getting grabbed by the same arm he’d weakened previously, and combining his Stamina and Mana to allow him to use Precise Shot with his Mana Arrow, to name a few – and even so, he’d nearly died. Had any of those things not occurred, he’d have been sent for respawn and failed the quest.
So, no more taking on massively powerful creatures solo for him. In this case, though, it had worked out, so now he had 7 Stat Points to spend. His Int and Wis had gone up 2 points each with his new levels, so he wasn’t too worried about increasing them, although now that his Stamina was going to drain his SP, maybe a point into it wouldn’t be so bad. His LP were still low, though, and that last fight made him realize that he really needed some extra Agility. He tossed 2 points into End, 3 into Agil, and 1 more into Wis, saving a point for later. Satisfied, he took a look at his status:
I seem to be coming along nicely, Jeff thought with a hint of pride. His Stats were somewhat balanced, although Int and especially Wis were always going to end up way out ahead. There was just no way for him to keep his Physical Stats up…well, not unless it
was possible to grind out Stats. In some games, you could increase your Stats by doing things related to the Stat: lifting heavy things for Str, for example, or studying for Int. He’d have to check and see if that was possible here; maybe Veronica would tell him.
The level-up had topped off his LP, so he summoned his armor, waited for his SP to regenerate, and set off to explore the city. He quickly realized that much of it was a shattered ruin and nearly impassable; he found himself scrambling over collapsed walls, picking his way through destroyed buildings, and using his Forge Mana ability to cross gaps where the branch-roads had collapsed. At first, he combed through the abandoned structures, hoping to find some ancient loot, but it was obvious the entire place had been picked clean. He supposed it was possible that there were secret treasures hidden away securely, but he realized that if they had existed this long without being found by the city’s inhabitants, they were probably beyond his ability to discover.
And, despite being ruined, the city absolutely was inhabited. He realized this when his Tracking Skill kicked in, drawing his attention to a series of scuff marks in the dust of what looked like a destroyed inn or tavern – he was never really sure what the difference between them was. He would have completely ignored the tracks normally, but his Skill told him that some small, bipedal creatures had been through there recently…4 of them had, in fact. Afterward, he saw multiple signs of their passage, and he had begun moving only in Stealth and using the Camouflage skill where possible.
He considered his options as he sat cloaked in Stealth, having coated himself in dust to trigger his Camouflage Skill. He had a feeling that seeking out the creatures’ lair would be the next step of the quest, but he couldn’t be sure. He had spotted enough tracks and even caught their scent a few times, enough signs that his Tracking Skill was telling him where a large gathering of the creatures could be found, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to go find it. The battle with the skeleton had taught him caution as well as reminding him that not every challenge could be won through combat. Besides, he had no idea how powerful these creatures even were, and he didn’t think finding that out when he was facing a horde of them was a great idea.
Besides, he couldn’t really even be certain where the creatures were gathering. The city was stacked in layers, with him standing on what looked like the lowest one, and his Tracking Skill wasn’t giving him any indicators of whether his quarry was at an elevation or not. The tracks suggested that they were on this level, but for all Jeff knew, the creatures might have some way to move between the layers of the city. Maybe there were more teleporters around, and they could power them; or, perhaps, they had some ability to fly that they chose not to use all the time. Or, maybe, there’s stairs, Jeff thought with a chuckle. That’d make the most sense.
Instead, Jeff began seeking out a small group, using his Tracking Skill to follow them cautiously. It took him most of an hour to find a group of four of the creatures moving through the ruins with an eerie quiet. The beings didn’t speak to one another or communicate in any way he could see, but they worked with coordination and, he guessed, were probably intelligent. He didn’t know if the creatures were seeking him or not – his battle with the skeleton had made plenty of noise -- but they didn’t seem to be making a concerted effort to sweep for intruders. In fact, if he had to guess, he would say they were moving through the ruins seeking something: they were constantly moving debris, climbing into shattered buildings, and digging through piles of decaying wood.
He decided that he needed to know how powerful these beings were and whether combat was even a viable option for dealing with them, but to do that, he needed to make sure he had as many advantages as possible. He watched the group for a minute or so before slipping away, seeking a likely ambush site. The creatures were moving in a fairly straight line, moving from structure to structure in a sort of regular pattern, so he moved out ahead of them looking for an appropriate place to lie in wait.
He found a few decent-looking spots where he could wait in elevation for the group, but at all of them, the creatures could easily scramble up to him if he didn’t take them out with his first attack. He didn’t think assuming he’d kill them all with one attack was a smart move, so he started looking for a spot where he wouldn’t have elevation but could give himself a better advantage.
A destroyed home gave him what he felt was the best hope for success. The ruined house had three floors, but every one above the ground floor was unstable and looked like they would collapse under his weight. However, one wall near the back was partially collapsed, giving him decent cover and, hopefully, keeping the short creatures from simply charging at him. Even better, the ceiling in the area behind the wall had collapsed already, giving him plenty of debris to pile up as extra camouflage and making his plan for the building at least feasible.
Jeff hunkered down, waiting for the creatures to arrive. As the minutes passed, worries started to build in his mind. What if I guessed their pattern incorrectly? he silently fretted. What if they found what they were looking for and are headed back? What if… The silent concerns piled up in his head, urging him to leave his cover and go seek the creatures. His Tracking Skill was all that kept him in place: through it, he could sense that the group was still moving in his general direction, if not how close they were.
It took several more minutes before his eyes caught the first flicker of movement. Jeff froze and watched as the creatures came clearly into view for the first time. They stood about 3 feet tall, although that was mostly because their backs hunched so terribly as to make them look deformed; if they were able to straighten, he guessed they’d be closer to 5 feet. Their skin was a deep, almost midnight blue, smooth and perfectly hairless, with sharply pointed ears. Their long fingers sifted through the building as they entered slowly, their long, bony legs carrying them easily over the debris. They were skinny to the point of being emaciated, with protruding ribs, shoulders, and elbows.
One of the creatures turned in his direction, and he understood why they were silent. The being’s face was dominated by large eyes the same sickly yellow as the skeleton’s, although they didn’t glow or pulse the way the undead’s had. It had a pair of slits that Jeff guessed functioned as a nose, but below that, its face was totally featureless, lacking even a hint of a mouth. He held still as its unblinking gaze swept over his hiding place and continued in a scan of the room. His Stealth and Camouflage were apparently holding, to his great relief.
Slowly, he began to summon the energy for a Mana Barrage. He watched the creatures closely, trying to see if his casting disturbed them – if the monsters were sensitive to mana, he was in trouble and would have to retreat – but they simply moved farther into the room, seemingly nonplussed. He took his time, packing the mana slowly into his arms, compressing it until his arms trembled with the power they were holding. He slowly shifted into position and formed a shining, white globe of energy. The light broke his Stealth, but before the creatures could react, he leaped to his feet, shoved his hands at his target, and unleashed the first blast.
The ceiling shook as the orb of power slammed into it with a rumble. Chunks of wood exploded from the impact as large pieces of the ceiling crashed down upon the creatures below. Jeff sent two more blasts at other sections of roof, collapsing the entire second floor upon the hapless beings, crushing them beneath a ton of rotting, gutted wood.
He lowered his aim and directed the next blast at the chest of one beast that was managing to pull itself free from the rubble, the explosion whipping it backward and snapping the leg that was still pinned. The next several blasts rocketed into the creatures, until at last the Spell was exhausted. One of the monsters was clearly dead, its skull blasted open, while the others were writhing, injured, struggling to free themselves from the crushing debris. Jeff activated Precise Shot and methodically shot Mana Arrows into the monsters’ skulls, each arrow snuffing the life of a creature.
When the last one perished, Jeff deactivated his Ability and le
aned against the wall, examining the corpses. His arms were still shaking from the Mana Barrage debuff, but he knew he needed to move: the noise might have attracted more of the creatures, and while his ambush had shown that he could defeat them, they had also managed to survive a collapsed ceiling and 9 blasts from his Mana Barrage before succumbing to a Mana Arrow. He wasn’t completely sure that, had he not had the advantage of the ambush, he would have been able to defeat the monsters.
He scrambled over the wall as best he could with his trembling arms and started climbing across the rubble to the nearest creature, thinking to examine it and, maybe, use his Harvesting Skill. Before he got near, though, the body of the monster shivered and began to swirl into a dark blue mist. The cloud whirled overhead for a moment before arrowing out of the building, racing out into the city, followed by three identical streamers of black vapor. Damn, that can’t be good, Jeff swore silently, scrambling out of the building. I don’t know what that was, but if those things are going back to respawn or something, they’re all gonna know I’m here. I gotta get moving!
He rushed out of the building and jogged down a ruined branch-street, trying to get some distance between him and the site of his ambush, but after a minute, he slowed and finally halted. Wait, where am I going? he puzzled silently. I’ve found one interesting thing in this city – that place where all the creatures are gathering – and I’m running away from it? He quickly moved into a nearby building to get out of sight and sat down to reason out his next step.
I’ve got to move forward with the Quest, he reminded himself, checking the Quest notification to confirm that, no, it hadn’t changed. So, I need to investigate that place where they’re congregating. That’s really my only lead at this point. I’ve gotta assume, though, that those things know I’m here now and are gonna come looking for me. So, what do I do? He stopped and let his thoughts drift, trying not to focus too hard on the problem. He suspected that, even though the creatures likely knew he was in the city now, they wouldn’t be able to just come hunt for him. That was part of his Trackless Ability: they couldn’t find him unless he gave himself away. That meant that, if he was careful, he should be able to slip up on them.
