Seras Streams
patreon
Chapter 71 – The Dungeon Run concludes
🕑 Added 2024-11-02 16:03:33 +0000 UTCIn front of the two were hundreds of Aspirants. They were all in various states of ‘ready to guard’ or ‘on watch’. Eyes were piercing the environment, and Jace could see over a thousand distinct sparkles of Skills that were active thanks to his All-Seeing Dragon’s Eyes.
They were also in a state of preparation. Shouts and commands went out – which were promptly ignored, as the Aspirants were all of equal Tier and only a few actually coordinated. We could use that to our advantage. They are disorganized, Jace thought. They’re panicking because their plant wall disappeared. I’d panic, too.
“What do we do? There’s no way we can fight them all!” Priam exclaimed – which thankfully was not audible to their foes.
Jace racked his brain. He had to distract people before to make openings for his allies – back on Earth when he was doing breaking-and-entering jobs with other street folk. Normally, he would draw attention and then just run to pull some of the corpo-mercs away.
But here? He grinned. “We don’t need to fight them. We just have to get past them.” It’s only five hundred feet to the wall. “Ollie, the ‘no Aspirant-on-Aspirant’ violence rule – is that inside the wall’s limits?”
“Yes,” Ollie replied.
Jace looked back at the tree line, “Then we just go up and over them.” He looked up to scan the skies and saw the shimmer of Skills up there as well. That’s easy enough to deal with. He threw his sword up into the sky, and thanks to Swordmage Stance (Rank 3) [Astral Annihilator], the moment the sword struck the Skills, they faded.
This elicited more panic, more shouting, and more screams. “Hang on,” he told Priam as he sprinted to the East along the clearing in front of the city. As soon as his blade sundered a Skill, he recalled it and threw it again – further back along where he had been running. Each throw, another Skill faded.
Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) [Distant], he thought as he focused on an Aspirant with glimmering, golden chain armor. The invisible-to-everyone-else black dot appeared on his chest. He re-used the Skill, over and over again, feeling his energy drain even more as he started to falter in his sprint. That’s easily twenty. Okay…detonate.
With a dull, silent thump the invisible shockwaves echoed out, and people screamed and shouted in panic as in a thirty foot radius around each person he had ‘tagged’ with the Dark Energy Mine were affected with a total removal of gravity.
This resulted in even more panic, as Aspirants shouted overlapping commands and indications as to where the hidden assault was coming from. Jace saw blasts of various energies cascading across the clearing – all behind him a good distance. This was, naturally, drawing people away. Plus, the people who had instinctively tried to walk forward and instead kicked off the ground and were slowly floating skyward was adding to the tumult.
“Great use of Skills,” Ollie said with a cheerful demeanor. “Now just gotta get clear of the commotion.”
“Nope,” Jace replied with a grin. He eyed one of the people who was floating. “Hang on tighter,” he told Priam. Once he felt his ally grip around his shoulders even tighter, Jace raised his Ghostlight Grapnel, latched it onto the floating figure, and retracted the cable. The person was pulled down to Jace, and he sliced cleanly through them. Immediately, he turned and sprinted to the far side of the clearing – back to the East.
The first actual death amongst the defenders caused an even greater uproar, and except for the ones floating above, the group almost as a whole rushed to the other side. Jace targeted a handful of the floating individuals, dragging them down and dispatching them with rapid thrusts through exposed, vital areas.
Once he reached the far Eastern end, he got into the edge of the tree line and sprinted to the West – the larger amount of bloodshed on the Eastern side drawing the defenders that way in even greater numbers.
And there he saw it – an opening in the defensive line. He sprinted as fast as he could down the temporary opening between the defenders – making it to the wall of the city. Firing the grapnel at the top, he pulled himself up and over. “Made it!” he shouted triumphantly.
Ollie nodded and interfaced with The Cosmic System. “Yup. Looks like we are in the safe zone.”
“Did you have to kill that many?” Priam asked. “Kind of brutal, and I didn’t take you for a killer like that.”
Jace frowned as he used the grapnel to descend to the city streets below, “They were all being paid in some way to kill me. If its me or them? I’m choosing me. And you’d be on the chopping block with me, I’m sure.”
Priam nodded, but Jace could tell that his ruthlessness had scared the younger man. Jace knelt to be closer to his eye level, “Survive. That’s what I do. That’s what we will do. We survive. We get to Tier 10. We bring back your dad and my sister. Right?”
Priam’s face hardened into a determined grimace. He nodded, “You’re right.”
Ollie waved at Jace, “Turn off your Skills. We are safe in here from any Aspirant and The Archmage Ascendant.” Jace did so and followed Ollie’s directions to the center of town. The blue-colored portal was still open – but there were a series of flaming, golden and silver chains crossing it. “Set up the tent here.”
Jace nodded and followed along, crawling inside the tent with Priam. The two ate some rations, and Jace went to sleep feeling safe for the first time since arriving on this world.
>>>---<<<
“No!” Yholl screamed as he broke yet another desk by flipping it over. “He got inside the city limits?!”
He was watching on the weakest form of divination sensors he had access to. They were so weak that he could only see the small clearing outside the walls, and the inside of the city itself. He witnessed the precise, surgical strikes upon those who were floating. He could see the way that the Aspirants were disorganized, ignoring his orders in their System messages, and just chasing a ghost.
And that had made several openings in the lines. Enough for this ‘Flicker’ to slip through. And now? He was in a tent, in the town center, right in front of the portal.
Yholl sank into his chair. It was too late. The Aspirant had arrived.
Options. What are my options? I can’t harm him until the Dungeon Run concludes, which is going to be after the day-long feast.
He had a few options available to him. There was nothing stopping this Aspirant from getting close to him, destroying the phylactery within the 5-foot required distance to do so, and then attacking him.
I could also just…not attend the event.
He stopped thinking for a moment and stared at a tapestry on the wall. One that depicted a peaceful exchange of power when the old kingdom and its ruler surrendered their powers to the representatives of the people. A peace offering, perhaps? I could…bribe him to keep away?
“It is worth a shot. Minor Message.”
>>>---<<<
Jace was woken up by an odd ping noise in his ear. What is that? He thought as he sat up.
Ollie appeared with his pop, and Jace looked over to see Priam still asleep. “You have a message request from Yholl.”
“Did I get my hour in?” Jace asked as he noticed the loud noises outside the tent. Poking his head out for just a brief moment, he saw hundreds of Aspirants had set up their own tents, or had taken over some of the nearby buildings. But there was a clearly defined circle around Jace’s tent.
“You have been sleeping for a bit over three hours to the world outside the tent.”
24 hours of sleep in here? Damn, we must’ve been really backlogged on sleep. He glanced over at Priam who was still snoozing calmly. “Sure, open up the message. Let’s see what he’s on about.”
<<<<<>>>>>
[This is Yholl Tristrus, the Archmage Ascendant, also known as Double-A. You would be Flicker, I presume.]
[I know you have both halves of my phylactery. That only leads me to one conclusion – that you intend to destroy it and then kill me.]
[I can only guess at your motives. But I wanted to offer another option. Instead of killing me – I’ll give you two Legendary rarity Boons, right now, and let you leave.]
[Interested?]
<<<<<>>>>>
Jace frowned. “He’s trying to bribe us to just…leave?”
Ollie nodded, “It is not a bad offer. Two Legendary Boons is a grand reward.”
“We’ve already got one coming our way from having more dungeon cores than anyone else.” Jace looked down at his Anathema Arm’s palm and clenched it into a fist. “I…he’s just like the elite, corpo scum back on Earth. He took over this world and is trying to use his wealth to buy his way out of consequences.” Jace looked at Ollie, “I’m not going to take his offer. This fucker dies. Then, the people who should be able to live here can once more.”
Ollie smiled softly, “Violent means for a peaceful end. I approve. Want me to send a response?”
“No,” Jace muttered as he looked back to his fist. “Let’s keep him guessing. There’s nothing more annoying that seeing that someone has read your message and is not responding.” He smiled mischievously, “Back on Earth, if someone was busy composing a message on their sliverscreen, it would show three dots moving…can we do the same thing? Keep him thinking that we’re constantly composing a response?”
Ollie clapped his paws together and cackled, “That is a devilish idea.
>>>---<<<
Yholl had been waiting for five hours. Five hours of seeing the System message box.
<<<<<>>>>>
[…]
<<<<<>>>>>
The dots were constantly moving, meaning that the person was composing an enormous response – or were indecisive. Glancing at the map of Nihilethelea, he felt a pit in his stomach as the last light indicating a dungeon was wiped off the map. And now…I have to recall them to get the dungeon cores.
“Grand Summoning (Rank 10),” he whispered as he waved his hand and the Skill went off. Any Aspirant upon Nihilethelea who was outside the city’s limits would find themselves instantly transported to an open space. He pulled out his small wand – not really necessary, but a keepsake from his childhood when he first started magic and needed it to direct the spells and cleared his throat.
Voice of the Realm (Rank 1).
>>>---<<<
Jace had finished packing up the tent and bedrolls as Priam stood outside. Everyone was seemingly staring at the duo from the cleared-out space.
Then, thousands of shimmering sparkles appeared in the air, and various people appeared in the space. Some were in a combat-ready stance; a few were mid-swing of various weapons, and some had Skills that were being manifested.
A voice echoed out all around them. “This is the Ascendant Archmage. The Dungeon Run has come to its conclusion. Congratulations! Please, head to the main castle. Once inside, follow the signs to the banquet hall.”
Jace looked at Priam, “Thoughts?”
Priam looked up at Bloopa, “He can’t hurt us. And neither can other Aspirants, right?” The Wayfinder nodded, but Priam still looked concerned and looked at Jace. “I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I,” Jace replied. “Do you want to stay out here next to the portal? Just to run through as soon as it opens?”
Priam shook his head, “I’m going to stick with you to the end. I promise. But I would feel safer under the effects of my Pulsar Ward (Rank 20) [Multi-Target], and Pulsar Physic (Rank 2) [Contingent].” The two Skills went off, and Jace saw the honeycomb structure around him, and saw a glowing, golden symbol over Priam’s head – assuming one was over his as well. Priam grinned, “Much better.”
Jace nodded, “Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3),” he whispered as the barrier popped into place around him. “And none of these Skills are harming other people, so it should be good anywhere in the capital. Right, Ollie?”
“Yup!” The otter scratched the top of Jace’s head with his little back feet as he got to the top of his skull, his head peeking out just above Jace’s. “Mask up,” he instructed, and Jace complied as he pulled up the built-in mask leaving only his eyes visible.
Priam pulled up the collar of his cloak and took off the hat for a moment. Bloopa popped inside, and he pulled it firmly back atop his head. “Lead the way.”
Jace did so and joined the throng of other Aspirants who were making their way into the enormous palace. And a palace it was completely blowing Jace away with its opulence. The entire building was almost equal in size to the megacorp high rises in terms of height, and it was as wide as the enormous shipping vessels that came and went from the dockyards.
The inside was ostentatious and made Jace angry. There was such wealth on display that it made him feel sick to his stomach. Valuable metal statues, gemstones encrusting the outfits, drew a variety of stares of wonder from the assembled crowd – leaving no doubt in Jace’s mind as to how valuable they must be.
The ceiling was covered with gold – which he had only seen once in his life back on Earth when he found a gold tooth on a corpo that had been thrown into the river that he happened to be diving in to find valuables. But the stares from the other Aspirants who were following the floating, green arrows made him fully aware as to how expensive everything was.
Priam even commented on it, “This guy must be extremely rich. This is…ostentatious, to say the least.”
Jace clenched his fist and shook his head as he moved along with the rest of them. I wouldn’t use wealth this way, he thought. Just enough to get Chroma and I into the modules in space, or off world to one of the colonies on Mars. These greedy fucks think that they can hoard all the wealth? Make people like me suffer?
He wouldn’t be like them. Even when he got to Tier 10 and – presumably – had thousands upon thousands Stardust saved up, he wouldn’t be stingy. He’d be charitable. He’d help others out of the gutters and get on their feet. None of this…concentrated wealth. I really want to go back to Earth now and just wreck the megacorps with my Cosmic Power. His (Terrifying) Augmentation to his eyes would mean that anyone he looked at would be incapable of harming him.
It would make taking down a megacorp easy, since according to Ollie, every person on a world is rated at Tier 0. But, just to confirm. “Ollie, if I go back to Earth, is every person there going to be Tier 0?”
“By default? Yes. Obviously, Aspirants or Ascendants will be their allocated Tier. But some people might be considered the ‘equivalent’ of Tier 1, 2, or 3 depending on their training, skills, equipment – and in Earth’s case, cybernetic augmentation.”
Jace continued following the green arrows, “But those were just getting started up when I left a bit over a month ago.”
“The Nebula Alliance in its efforts to try and woo the world to its side has…accelerated advancement. I would anticipate cybernetics to be extremely prevalent when you return.”
Priam raised his hand, “Hey, Jace?”
“Hmm?”
“What exactly is the plan on Earth?”
“I don’t quite know,” he replied. “We talked about it a while ago, Ollie and I, but it’s been a hectic week.”
Ollie tapped Jace’s temple, “All good, I will remind you. We will be working with Quinn and Greg on behalf of the Star Council to take down the megacorporations that are quite prevalent in your home world. This will cripple the Nebula Alliance’s chances of taking over the world, and the various world governments can take control once more with the guidance of the Star Council.”
Jace nodded, “Good. The Star Council is all about helping people, right?”
“Yup! They want to help civilizations achieve their greatest potential. Street folk would be a thing of the past under their guidance,” Ollie stated as he swept his paws through spectral nebula in a grand flourish to emphasize his point.
The duo arrived in an enormous banquet hall. There were hundreds of tables set up with plates, utensils, and drinking vessels aplenty. Along one wall was an enormous kitchen window with platters of food placed out, and inside the kitchen animated objects were performing the task of cooking and serving to the buffet line.
Enormous casks lined one wall, with labels for the various liquids within. Aspirants were primarily mingling around the casks, getting drunk on the various beverages and sharing stories of their adventures in the dungeons of Nihilethelea. Since combat was banned, even different factions were intermingling without issue – save for the few with glowing, black fingertips marking them as Black Hole Conclave members, and the ones with glowing blue fingertips marking them as Pulsar Coalition members. Those two groups stayed far away from each other.
At the far end of the hall was an enormous throne, and Jace saw the Archmage Ascendant, Yholl Tristrus, for the first time in the flesh – or rather, not in the flesh, as his All-Seeing Dragon’s Eyes let him see through the illusory Skill. He was a Nethal and looked very human minus the enormous, pointed ears that were easily a foot long apiece. His robes were flowing and gaudy, covered with gemstones and spun from the purest white fabric. A small stick was in a holster on his belt. It looked quite similar to that cat-man’s wand, so Jace assumed that is what it was.
In front of him was an enormous receptacle. Aspirants were walking up to it and dropping their dungeon cores in. Floating above the black and silver basin was a person’s name.
<<<<<>>>>>
[Rickard the Redeemed]
[Core count – 7]
<<<<<>>>>>
Another Aspirant came up with a larger dungeon core, and Jace saw the name shift.
<<<<<>>>>>
[Tristana Twinblade]
[Core count – 9]
<<<<<>>>>>
There was a loud “Damnit!” that echoed through the space – probably this Rickard fellow. Jace looked down at Priam, “Want to find a seat?”
“Sure.”
Jace nodded and walked up to the basin. The eyes of the illusory Archmage followed him, and Jace dropped his dungeon core in.
<<<<<>>>>>
[Flicker]
[Core count – 42]
<<<<<>>>>>
This caused the whole feast hall to grow silent.
“He cheated!”
“How’d he get so many?!”
“Who gave him their dungeon cores?”
“Quick, give me yours. Combined, we can beat him!”
The overlapping voices were not important to Jace as he focused wholly on the Archmage’s illusion. “I know you’re not really here,” he stated as he crossed his arms.
“Astute observation,” the man replied. His voice was calm but there was an undercurrent of fear that Jace picked up on. He put his elbow on the armrest of the seat and propped his head up on his palm, “What I want to know is why you seek my death.”
Jace frowned, “Because you killed your best friend. You took over an entire world and kicked your people out.” He felt anger stirring in his chest, and it festered like an ember of heat that slowly surged. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his Cosmic Power symbol flare with a dull, crimson light just like his [Rending] Evolution.
“So what if I did? It is not like I am depriving them of anything-”
Jace whispered to Ollie, “How many years does his species live?”
“The Nethal live approximately 2,500 years,” Ollie responded.
“You fucker,” Jace whispered as he looked up at the Archmage who had a curious expression – still with the undercurrent of uncertainty. Jace raised his voice to a near-shout, “Your species is dying in The Eternal City. Civilians die after the 150-year limit!” He felt that kernel of heat in his chest expand and fill him up with a rage he hadn’t felt before. “You are fucking dead. You hear me?!” he shouted, filled with righteous fury.
The whole room was focused on Jace, and it was only then that he noticed his purple Dark Matter Shield was flickering with the crimson nebula. The hell is happening? Glancing up at Ollie above him, he saw his Wayfinder also flashing crimson like the deep red nebula that Jace had seen in videos before.
The Archmage laughed, a cackling laugh that was laced with either madness or terror – or both. “You could never get to me. Now, step aside so that others may deposit their dungeon cores.”
Jace turned around and saw that every eye was fixed on him and the whole room was silent. So silent that a person could hear a pin drop. He spotted Priam and walked over to his ally, taking a seat next to him. The festering heat stayed in his chest.
Priam put a hand on his forearm as the room slowly returned to its prior state of camaraderie – but it was muted and many eyes were cast Jace’s direction. “Hey,” Priam muttered. “Its okay. Go get some food, some drink, and relax a little. We’ll deal with him after you get your reward.”
Jace nodded and stood up, grabbing his plate and cup as he went to the buffet and loaded up on food – not really caring what he grabbed as he was still stewing over the outrage he felt. Yholl…I’m going to kill you.
The Archmage had effectively genocided his own people. Restricting them from living their full lifespan on their home world. Explains Xera is okay with me taking him out. It’ll fix a huge issue. He was given a wide berth by the different people around him. Jace could see the crackling, ominous red clouds around his normally purple Dark Matter Shield.
But they can’t see the shield, he thought. “Ollie, can other people see my shield?”
Ollie shook his head, and his voice was filled with an anxiety Jace had only heard once before. “They can see the red. You’re on the verge of a Class Expansion.”
“A what now?”
“Class Expansion. When a person meets a condition – like completing a faction-specific or Cosmic System Quest or feels an overwhelming emotion…it can unlock a variant of your base Class.”
“I’m guessing I fit the overwhelming emotion category?”
Ollie nodded, “Yes…but I have no clue; not even she knows what it would be. She only designed Swordmage…To be frank, I fear what may happen.”
Jace had made it to the other side of the room, found the container with water, and refilled his canteen. He then filled up his cup and took both that and his plate back to sit next to Priam. “How do I activate it?” Jace whispered to Ollie.
“You must fully give into that emotional state to unlock the Class Expansion. It will give you an alternate path of progression. You will keep your Skills from Swordmage and could even keep taking Skills in that Class – but this alternate path will be more focused. Swordmage is the perfect blend of weapon use and magic-style Skills. But this new one? It may entirely focus on one or the other…or even be something completely unrelated. I just…I do not know.”
Priam looked over at him, “What are you talking about?”
Jace looked up at Ollie, “Fill him in.” He began eating the notably delicious food, and that flame of hatred in his chest reduced to a simmer. Still there, he felt the fury within – but he pushed it aside as he focused on the meal in front of him.
Ollie did explain to Priam, and about ten minutes later both had eaten their fill. The Aspirants had finished depositing the various dungeon cores – and none pushed Jace from the top spot.
The Archmage’s illusory copy clapped his hands and a silence settled over the room. “Thank you for participating in The Dungeon Run. The winner is Flicker, with a dungeon core score of 42. Please approach and claim your prize.”
Jace stood up and walked over to the basin. There was a shining, green orb. “Grab it,” Ollie instructed. “That’s a Boon in raw form. There’s no way that Yholl could have trapped it, or done something weird.”
Jace grabbed it, and a message appeared in his vision as the orb disintegrated and was absorbed by Ollie.
<<<<<>>>>>
[Gift Received: Legendary (Variable) Boon]
<<<<<>>>>>
“Thank you for participating once more, everyone! I hope that The Cosmic System rewards you received are a good enough reward. Now, there’s 22 hours of festivities left! Eat, drink, be merry!” The illusion vanished.
Jace walked over to Priam, “Ready to track down and kill an Archmage?”
Priam got up and nodded, “Let’s go get him and give the Nethal their world back.”
