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DMA - B2 - Chapter 23 – One night in Tokyo
🕑 Added 2024-11-21 14:55:39 +0000 UTC[23 Days remain until the Earth portal lock ends.]
Jace woke up and for a moment felt a sense of panic as he was surrounded by water. Sucking in a breath instinctively, he remembered the changes from the day prior, and glanced sideways. Shhiv was floating in the water cube, still asleep, and he gently shook her awake.
“Hmm?” she muttered sleepily, her voice slightly garbled due to the water.
Jace leaned in, gave her a kiss, and then got out of the cube. As soon as his feet touched the square plate on the ground outside the bedroom, his body was instantly dried off. “I’ve gotta get ready for the next mission,” Jace said as he stepped aside to stretch.
Shhiv came out of the water-pod as well and grinned, “Last night was fun,” she said with her sharp teeth pulled back into a wide smile. “I am a big fan of the doctor’s changes.”
Jace chuckled and began putting on his gear and armor, “Yeah, it definitely makes things between us a lot more convenient,” he said with a sheepish grin.
She walked past him and into her fitness studio, slipping on some workout clothing before stretching out. Jace admired the way her body curved and bent as she limbered up. “I have morning workouts with Missy in-” She reached over to the counter and grabbed her cosmopanel, “-One hour. Want to have breakfast?”
“Sure,” Jace replied. “My place?”
“Yeah,” she replied as they made their way out of the apartment and across the hall into Jace’s. A few minutes later they were both devouring a sumptuous breakfast feast.
Ollie popped into existence, “Hey, the group is gearing up and getting ready to depart. You still need to level up.”
Jace swallowed down a mouthful of bacon, “Right. I’ve gotta be level 76 to be Tier 4, right?”
“Yup!”
“Do we have enough Stardust?”
“Also yup! 13,500 to hit level 75, and then you have enough for 3 more levels to reach 78. 12 levels total.”
“Because Stardust goes up to 2,000 per level after 75,” Jace stated to confirm. Ollie nodded and Jace leaned back in the chair slightly.
“I also looked into Troxanir’s manifestation. Apparently its something that he can do called a Pact, where he forges a temporary alliance with a person to gift them some of his power, and he can also take over their body if he chooses to.”
“And nothing hurt him except for Dark Energy.”
“Correct! And Dark Matter, but not as effectively.”
Jace nodded, “Alright. Have I maxed out every Skill so far?”
“Yup! Except for Dark Energy Beam which is unlimited in advancement.”
Jace looked over at Shhiv, “Thoughts?”
She finished ripping a piece of ham away from the bone with her teeth before swallowing and staring at him with her predatory eyes. “Well…I don’t know what all you can choose.”
Ollie floated in front of her, “He just gets to state what he wants to be able to do, and The Cosmic System will try and create it.”
“That’s intuitive,” she replied as she tapped the tabletop. “Hmm…I think maybe something that lets you mark people so you can track them down.”
“Good idea,” Jace said with a smile. “Something that lets me track, since I can already hide and travel well enough. Maybe something that lets me restrain or lock someone down? No, I already have that kind of with Dark Energy Mine.” Jace scratched his head, “Honestly, I’m drawing blanks for anything else.”
“Well, a marking Skill can’t have many Ranks,” Ollie replied. “And you’ve got 12 Skill Ranks total to distribute either into new Skills, or into Dark Energy Beam.”
Think, Jace. What would be useful? Maybe making myself lighter? Flight would be cool but I can’t think of how Dark Matter would let me do that, and I can kind of do a fake-flight already, so it seems like a waste. He snapped his fingers, “Got it! Okay, I want something that marks enemies, but I also want some type of Skill that I can use during Wrath’s Embrace that lets me do area attacks when I swing my sword.” I need an area-of-effect option.
“Alright, here we go!”
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Name: Jace Seren (Aspirant, Tier 4)
Power [Class Level]: Dark Matter [Swordmage <Wrathblade> 78]
Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3) [Reflecting], Swordmage Stance (Rank 3) [Astral Annihilator], Dark Matter Dart [Exploding] (Rank 4), Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group], Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) [Distant], Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10) [Innervating], Dark Energy Beam (Rank 12) [Limited Range], Dark Matter Mending (Rank 4) [Vampiric], Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 10), Wrath's Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused], Ruination Razor (Rank 3) [Wrecking], Mage's Mark (Rank 3), Raging Cleave (Rank 9) Steel Gale Stride (1/day), Arbiter's Anathema (3/day), Shadow Nebula Smokescreen (1/day), Hope's Edge (1/day), Archmage Geomancy (1/day), Archmage Hydromancy (1/day), Archmage Pyromancy (1/day)
Stardust: 251
Equipment: (Returning) Nethaldrim, (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard) Aegisleather, Ghostlight Grapnel Arm, (Thrice Judged) Anathema Arm, (Overclocked / Lightfoot) Steelstalker Sabatons, (Terrifying) All-Seeing Dragon's Eyes, Leviathan's Skin, Adamantine Skeleton, Mind's Eye Amulet, Thellor's Everguard, (Heavy) Venture Pack, survival meals (x40), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, flint bar, flashlight, Omnitech prosthetic repair module (x2 charges), (Restful) Wildercloth tent, Devilsram wool bedroll, 28,000 creds, 38x throwing knife, x2 micro-EMP charge, traditional lockpick set, e-pick
Boons: x4 Uncommon (Variable)
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Mage’s Mark (Rank 1) – The user can mark any creature they touch with their body or blade. The mark lasts for 1 hour. While marked, the user knows the distance and direction to the creature (if on the same world), or is notified of the world's name they are presently on.
Mage’s Mark (Rank 2) – As Rank 1, but the mark makes the target incapable of targeting any creature except for the Swordmage who applied Mage's Mark with hostile actions. Area-of-effect Skills or attacks must include the Swordmage.
Mage’s Mark (Rank 3) – As Rank 2, and the Swordmage reduces damage suffered from the marked creature by 1/2.
Raging Cleave (Rank 1) – The user's next strike will hit all targets within the blade's normal reach.
Raging Cleave – (Rank 2) As Rank 1, but the strike range is x2 the blade's normal reach.
Raging Cleave – (Rank 3) As Rank 1, but the strike range is x3 the blade's normal reach.
Raging Cleave – (Rank 4) As Rank 1, but the strike range is x4 the blade's normal reach.
Raging Cleave – (Rank 5) As Rank 1, but the strike range is x5 the blade's normal reach.
Raging Cleave – (Rank 6) As Rank 1, but the strike range is x6 the blade's normal reach.
Raging Cleave – (Rank 7) As Rank 1, but the strike range is x7 the blade's normal reach.
Raging Cleave – (Rank 8) As Rank 1, but the strike range is x8 the blade's normal reach.
Raging Cleave – (Rank 9) As Rank 1, but the strike range is x9 the blade's normal reach.
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Almost halfway there, Jace thought with a grin as the information of his most recent level up raced across his vision. It’ll slow down a lot, though, since it costs so much Stardust per level, now. He caught Shhiv’s eyes across the table, and the hunger in them left no doubt as to what she desired in that moment.
She cracked a smile, “Hey, we’ve got thirty minutes.”
>>>---<<<
Jace once more left the apartment building alongside Greg and Priam. The trio were under the effects of Jace’s Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group], and traveled to the portal leading to Earth with no difficulty. “Alright, we decided on Toyko?”
“Yes,” Quinn said over the comms. She was upbeat and perky, her voice filled with a vibrance and enthusiasm that had begun to slowly show itself in person but was on full display through the audio feed. “Cybronics Research, according to Xera, is the second easiest target. The Nebula Alliance has Signers and faction members on Earth, still. 6 Ascendants and 22 Aspirants. From her tracking alongside the Star Council’s efforts to keep tabs on activities; Cybronics Research has only one Ascendant and 4 Aspirants defending it.”
“What about Godhearts?” Priam asked. “Any news on those?”
Quinn clicked her tongue, “Not that’s come up. I’ll ask with the Star Council and see if they got ahold of any more. But Earth’s Webnet lists thousands of gods from all different religions. I’m not sure how you’d sort the real ones that could have left behind such a component, from the ones that were not actual deities.”
Jace shook his head, gods were once real and on Earth. Crazy stuff. He walked into the pastel blue portal and walked up to the console. “We’re going to drop right in on Tokyo, yes?”
“Right,” Greg said as he loaded magazines into his weapons and racked the various slides. “Priam, you got your pistol still?”
“I don’t,” Priam said as he handed the pistol he was borrowing back to Greg. “I’m good just being support.” He smiled, “I don’t want to shoot Jace in the back again.”
“Reviewing the plan,” Quinn began, “Cybronics Research is the most advanced producer of cybernetics, even more so now that the Nebula Alliance has given them schematics and plans. Other megacorps will have heard of Pheracorp’s fall, and the Webnet destabilizing from the lack of their servers.”
“Right, we’re going in hot,” Greg stated bluntly.
“Pretty much. Taking down the power network is not viable, as they rely on geothermal power deep under Mount Fuji. The power cables are deep underground, as well, so cutting those will not be feasible. And they are earthquake-proofed due to tectonic activity in the region.”
So no Archmage Geomancy, Jace thought. We can’t do this the easy way.
Quinn continued, “They are not as spread out as Pheracorp was, so if you take too long or make too much noise, it’ll bring down the whole megacorp on your heads. Once you get into the main building, have Ollie, Darrin, or Bloopa interface with one of the network hubs or panels and I can get into their system and locate the server.”
“I’m good at speed,” Priam said with a grin. “Should we get ready with Skills?”
Jace nodded. Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3), Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending]. Jace’s foot-knives ignited with the same hue as the still-sheathed blade on his hip.
Greg’s body hardened over as he used Planetary Defenses, and he used Protector’s Vow on Priam; the light, brown symbol appearing over the Priest’s head. “Ready here,” he said.
Priam shut his eyes as he held up his small, metal cylinder. There was a flash of light as the trio were covered in a much-thicker honeycomb barrier of his Pulsar Ward. “I upgraded that Skill a lot,” he said. A moment later, the trio were under the [Conditional] mark of Pulsar Physic. “And that’s for lethal injuries. I’m ready!”
Jace turned back to the panel and let out a breath. Ollie curled up around his neck, wriggled around inside his hood, and popped his head out atop Jace’s. Here we go. Time for Tokyo. He punched the key for the portal in that city.
The pastel-blue portal opened in front of him, and Jace led the way into the aperture. They emerged in the middle of a downtown intersection; the roads having been shut down and closed off entirely. A map appeared in the corner of Jace’s vision – sent by Quinn, with a route highlighted.
He began moving away from the portal. All around the blue gateway, automated turrets scanned the surroundings. They were all angled in towards the path to The Cosmic Corridor. They are really keen on security, Jace thought as he continued down the road.
The city was alive. Incredibly so, unlike the cities Jace had been in up until this point. There were Civilians walking around all over the place seemingly living their best lives. The streets were clean, and the whole city felt lived-in. From the map, he knew they were in the heart of the Shibuya district. Aside from the cleared-out and well-protected portal to The Cosmic Corridor, the rest of the street was full of people.
And, Jace also spotted Cybronics employees and security. They were heavily augmented with cybernetics, and the more that he looked around, the more he realized just how heavily augmented these people were. Even the Civilians who looked like they were shopping or socializing were sporting at least two prosthetics – mostly limbs, but a few eyes, ears, and even noses.
The Cybronics employees were more heavily augmented, and the security was so heavily changed that Jace doubted they were even really human anymore. As if confirming this, Ollie whispered in his ear, “The security forces are the equivalent of Tier 4. The average Civilian is around Tier 2, and most of the employees I can see are Tier 3.”
“So my (Terrifying) Augmentation should be able to affect people here.”
“Yup.”
Jace kept moving until he rounded a city corner and stopped, waiting for Greg and Priam to catch up who were just slightly further behind him. The Cybronics Research facility was an enormous, singular, square skyscraper that shot up high into the sky before the spire at the top brought it to a singular point, almost piercing the sky.
“That is the headquarters,” Quinn stated. “I’d anticipate Nebula Alliance Aspirants or maybe even that Ascendant being on watch outside here. So, stay frosty.”
“But I’m not cold,” Priam replied.
“It means to be ready,” Greg quickly informed. “Stay on your toes.”
“Oh, I can do that easily enough.”
Jace cracked a smile as he crossed the street towards the facility.
