Enter system, p.8
Enter System, page 8
part #1 of Natural Laws Apocalypse Series
Jeff just kept snickering.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” he said. “You'd need at least one person working full time to fix it if there are as many help files as were suggested.”
“I'm sure it's a computer type of thing, maybe an AI or something like that, that's in charge of everything. So they could do it easily with the proper databases,” Marc said.
“Well, we can hope, but I wouldn't count on it,” Jeff said. “Hey, looks like they're about ready.”
Rob and Felicia were following the conversation now, when Jeff and Marc turned to them Rob cleared his throat.
“Guys, I'm getting a point each in my main stats with each level. Where do I want to use the others?”
“Are any of your stats lower than the rest?” Jeff asked. “Ones that you wouldn't want to use as a dump stat?”
“Umm, I don't know. My physical are all pretty good, especially now after leveling some. My mental stats are kinda low though, four intelligence, four aptitude, six in willpower though.”
“Aptitude,” Marc said. “That controls how many skills you'll be able to learn and I think it also controls how quickly they advance. I'd put at least one point in there for now and another point every couple of levels.”
“So, should I bring intelligence and aptitude both up to five then?”
“You might not have a use for mana, I don't know if your class gets anything that needs it, but having your intelligence at average, which I think is a five, is not a bad idea,” Marc said.
“Hey, does this mean I'm dumb?” Rob asked.
“Well, just because the most common intelligence attribute is five doesn't mean you're dumb,” Marc said quickly. “I bet there's a range and a four would just put you on the low end of average intelligence, not dumb.”
Jeff had been about to say something when Marc had cut him off. Now he clamped his mouth shut and glared at Marc.
Don't tease the tank, Jeff, Marc thought. That's just a bad plan all around. If he gets distracted in this next fight all of us could suffer for it.
He didn't say anything out loud, just returning the glare. After a few moments Jeff kind of reddened, then dropped his head.
“There, now I've got a five and I'm right at average instead of the low end of average. I put the other one in aptitude like you said. I also chose the Shield Bash skill because it looked handy when you used it,” Rob said.
“Felicia, are you set?”
She nodded.
“I picked up a couple new spells, too. I already have a healing spell, but it's cheaper to use the staff so I've been doing that. Now I've got a single person attack buff. It doesn't last long, only about the same as you said your Phantom Shield does, but it's only five mana to cast, so I can put it on all of us before we go into a fight.”
“So, what are we waiting for?” Jeff said. “Let's go kick some hobgoblin ass.”
“Whoa,” Felicia replied. “My mana is still regenerating.”
Marc checked his, it was almost full, but he hadn't used all of his in the last fight, so that wasn't surprising.
I've got to remember to use my Mana Dart more, I bet it gets better as its skill level increases, he thought. That could explain why they're getting three darts, but I only get one.
“As soon as Felicia's mana is full, we'll go,” Marc said. “I'm probably going to need to refresh my Arcane Armor again before then also, so I'll do it now and hopefully have my mana back to full by then too.”
He cast Arcane Armor. Once again the duration didn't stack, but it did reset itself to the full twenty minutes. As long as they were moving within ten minutes, he thought it would last through the fight.
Felicia slumped into a sitting position against the wall, closing her eyes. About three minutes later she stood up.
“Okay, let's go. I'll be full in another minute, so we'll stop and I'll buff everyone before we head in.”
“Rob, you're tanking the three hobgoblins for the start. Just try to not get hurt as much as you can. Jeff, Stealth in for back attacks on the casters?”
Jeff nodded.
“I'll take the three little guys down first. Felicia—”
She cut him off.
“I'll be keeping an eye on Rob and healing. I've got a feeling he'll need it.”
“Good, then let's go,” Marc said.
* * *
Chapter Six
When they paused to buff up before the doors, Marc felt as though he were forgetting something. Checking his inventory, he quickly pulled out his rifle.
“Hey guys, game changer here. Well, maybe at least. I don't know how well it's going to work without being System adapted.”
“It sounded like they should still work some, just deteriorate faster,” Felicia said, pulling out her shotgun. “I think you're right though and they can be a game changer for this fight at least. It's only been less than a day, they can't have deteriorated much yet, right?”
Marc took a moment to look over the rifle and it didn't appear any different than he thought it should.
“Well, let's give it a shot. Really, they're fairly simple machines. The most complex thing is the chemical reaction when the gunpowder ignites. That worries me a bit,” he said, flashing back to the chemical mix Jeff had planned for the cafeteria.
“Only one way to find out,” Felicia said. “So, let's plan on leading with the firearms, then toss them aside if they aren't working correctly.”
“Okay, then the only change to the plan for now is that Felicia and I will lead off. Rob, you're right behind us. If the guns don't work right, then you'll need to step in front of us right away and we'll drop back to the old plan.”
Jeff rolled his eyes and pointed to the door.
“Okay, we're going,” Marc said.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside, leveling the rifle at the hobgoblin he thought was an offensive caster and sighting through the scope. When he squeezed the trigger gently, the shot came as a surprise, just the way it should.
Rifle and scope are kind of overkill for an area this small, but I didn't bring a pistol, he thought, squeezing the trigger a second time as he stepped to the side for Felicia to join him.
His ears were ringing from the sound of the shots in the enclosed area, so he hoped no-one was trying to say anything as he continued to fire.
The caster he'd been aiming at began to gesticulate and move its mouth as he fired again. Just as he got a fourth round off, the caster finished his spell and three shimmering darts raced towards him. The fourth round dropped the caster, but the three bolts hit him hard, leaving him out of breath and in pain for a moment.
He faintly heard the roar of the shotgun firing over the ringing in his ears. Felicia, loaded with buckshot, had chosen to fire at the three goblins.
She's probably hoping to remove them with a shot, or two at most, so we can focus on the others, he thought.
He was positive that the offensive caster was down for good then. The healer beside him had been casting when the last round dropped the hobgoblin caster, and when the heal went off, the body glowed green for a moment, but stayed still.
Aiming at the healer next, he lost his sight line when Rob pushed past him. His eyes flickered over and he realized that with his ears ringing as badly as they were, he hadn't heard the boss hobgoblin roar and begin to charge. Rob had been watching though, and now he set himself to receive the charge, bracing one of the long spears against his foot as he crouched and kept his shield in front of him.
Reacquiring his target, Marc squeezed the trigger again. The round raced out, but something felt wrong about the recoil. He looked down to see that the casing the rifle was ejecting had stovepiped, jamming in the mechanism as it was ejected.
Damn, is that just a normal stovepipe or is it something to do with the deterioration? I don't think I should try to figure it out now. I'll just clear this later and check things then.
He willed the rifle back into his inventory, removing his pilum in its place. Holding the pilum in the hand that held his shield, he started casting instead, still aiming for the healer.
The healer was healing itself at this point and just before Marc's Mana Dart went off, a green light shimmered over the healer's body, starting to close the wound the bullet had left in it. As the Mana Dart raced out of his hand to strike the healer, text flashed across the lowest portion of his sight.
Your spell, Mana Dart, has increased in skill level (2->3).
He began to cast it again since the healer was also still casting. This time the green shimmer of healing silhouetted the boss that was fighting Rob. It had taken the braced spear in the stomach before snapping the shaft of it off. Now the portion of the spear trapped in its stomach was ejected as the wound it had created began to heal.
None of that, Marc thought. Come on Jeff, take down the healer.
His Mana Dart spell raced out, striking the healer, and he was mildly surprised to see that there were two of them now.
So that's what controls the number of darts, the skill in the spell itself does it, he thought.
Jeff shimmered into being behind the healer as his gladius sank into the healer's back. Marc spun and moved over to Rob to assist him with the boss. Felicia had fired a second time at the goblins and they were all down.
Rob was doing a fairly good job with the boss. Not damaging it much after the initial strike with the braced spear that it ran onto, but keeping himself from getting hit. Now, with Marc beside him, they started to do some damage. There was no more healing coming in on the boss. Although the healer was still up, it was more concerned with defending itself from Jeff than anything else. Felicia had already used a heal on their rogue, and now she did so again. The staff of healing disintegrated from her off hand, where she'd been carrying it along with her shield, and she looked disconcerted.
“Crap, my healing staff is dead,” she yelled.
Marc barely heard her over the ringing in his ears.
“You have a regular healing spell though, right?” he yelled back.
She nodded, evidently realizing that there was some trouble with his hearing and probably having the same with her own.
Mental note, if we get back to my house, we need to grab some of the hearing protection if we're going to use the guns. I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier, Marc thought.
He was thrusting with his pilum right along, but even with the skill he'd gotten from the System to use it, he was only damaging it with about one in five of his attacks, the boss either ignoring or blocking the rest.
Your skill, Short Spear, has increased in skill level (1->2).
With that message in his sight, he started attacking with a renewed vigor, hoping the added skill level would help him land more strikes.
Sure enough, with the higher skill he was damaging it more frequently, probably two out of five strikes now. The boss seemed only mildly irritated though, the stabs drawing blood but closing quickly.
Well, I've got enough for another Mana Dart, let's see if that helps, Marc thought.
He cast the spell, the two darts flying forward to strike the hobgoblin boss' neck. Then, the boss turned slightly and started focusing his strikes on Marc instead of Rob.
“Shit!” Marc called, backpedaling as he caught a strike on his shield and it almost knocked him over. He braced himself and got his shield in front of him and ready to move. Being ready made a difference, but now he understood the problem Rob had been experiencing. You had to brace against these attacks, and the position for that didn't lend itself to an easy return strike, at least not one hard enough to do much damage. Even with all his efforts, the boss managed to land a couple of hits that had him breathing hard and hurting.
“Yeah baby! Critical hit,” Rob called out from behind the boss.
The boss started to turn again, but instead of focusing on Rob, it took a step back away from them so it could keep an eye on both of them at the same time.
“Rob, Marc, get down,” Felicia called from behind them.
Marc realized that his ears weren't ringing as much any more, then realized that he ought to listen to her. Rob was all the way down on the floor, kneeling behind his shield, by the time Marc moved. He did the same and a moment later his ears started ringing again as Felicia fired a load of double ought buckshot into the boss from nearly point blank range.
He leapt to his feet and interposed himself between the boss and Felicia as it tried to advance on her again.
“Failure to feed,” she called out. “No more firearms this fight.”
Rob stepped over and the two of them formed a tiny shield wall as Marc felt a warmth wash over him. There was a golden glow accompanying it this time instead of a green one and he started feeling much better in the couple of spots that the boss had hit him earlier on.
“We're screwed, aren't we?” Rob asked.
Marc realized that the healing had also removed the ringing from his ears.
“Hell no, we aren't. We're missing someone here, but their healer is down.”
Rob looked around and almost got hit for his trouble.
“He'll be here,” Rob said. “We've just got to keep this big guy distracted.”
“Well, that's what we're doing.”
It was getting harder to talk now. Even without looking at Rob it took a little bit of effort to talk to him and the boss looked like it was working up to something, its strikes coming quicker and a little harder.
Finally the boss roared and raised its arms in the air. It glowed red for a moment before it started to slam its hands down towards the two shieldmen.
“Brace spear and move,” Marc yelled, standing his own pilum up under the descending fist and backing as far away as he could while holding it in position.
He hoped Rob understood what he was saying this time because Rob's normal habit of watching something first could get him seriously hurt this time.
Then the boss roared its displeasure and arched its back. The hands coming down slammed into the pilums, tagging both Rob and Marc lightly before sending them spinning. The boss tried to reach behind itself but between the pilums stuck in its fists and the rogue with a sword driven deep into its back, it didn't manage it.
Do I have the mana for it? Marc wondered. Mana.
Mana: 27/140
Knowing he had the mana for it, Marc hurled a Mana Dart spell at the boss again, the two bolts taking it in the face this time. It started swaying to and fro, then began to fall forward.
“Watch out, Rob,” Marc called, leaping back away from the boss.
Rob threw himself to one side of the falling hobgoblin, then just stayed laying on the floor as he looked around the gymnasium.
“Is that all of them? I'm wiped,” Rob said. “Stamina's almost out.”
“I think it is, Rob. Awesome job there holding the boss while we took out the others,” Marc said.
“Thank Felicia too, she had to heal me a couple of times until I got the hang of it,” Rob said.
Marc turned to Felicia, who had also sat down on the floor. She was trying to clear the chamber of the shotgun though.
“Thanks, Felicia. Did I hear you say that you lost the staff of healing?”
“Yeah, it kept getting flimsier each time I used it. I guess they aren't designed for the amount of usage I gave it, or the hobgoblin had already used most of it.”
“Well, I think Jeff had one, and another might drop here, so we should be able to replace it.”
“We'll want to, but I think I'll stick to my own heals. The very first time I used my own, I leveled it up one,” she said. “It takes more mana per point than the staff right now, but the description says it'll get better than that as it increases in level. Even numbered increases raise the healing by a point and every fifth level it increases, the mana cost decreases by one, down to a cost of only ten mana anyhow and that's how much it takes to use the staff.”
“Sounds like a good one then. I got a second dart on my Mana Dart spell for getting to level three in it.”
“So it looks like the system takes the skill level in a skill or spell to see how powerful it is as opposed to the level of the person using it?” she said.
“Well, in some cases at least. We can't be sure, but it's a working theory.”
“Hey, research geeks, how about we loot?” Jeff asked.
“Jeff, knowing how the system works is important,” Felicia said.
“Yeah, it might be, but no-one told me how good a job I did, so I'm a little irked,” Jeff replied.
“Awesome job on the healer and that backstab on the boss, Jeff,” Marc said.
“A little late with that, aren't you?”
“Hey, I didn't see you until just now. What, you want me to call it out to the whole room?”
“Sure, letting the world know just how awesome I am is never a bad idea,” Jeff said. “But, pro tip? Seriously, go loot the boss. I know you'll want what you get, assuming you get some of the same stuff I did.”
* * *
Marc went over to the boss, which was still lying on its front. He touched it and thought loot. Then he blinked, staring at what he'd received.
Holy shit, a core? he thought. Did Jeff get one too? That might have been what had him so eager for us to loot it too.
Then he continued looking down the list. A handful of silver coins, a larger handful of copper coins, and another System token.
Wait, it might've been the token, too. I guess I have to ask him, but we definitely all need to loot this one.
“Rob, Felicia, he's right. Come loot this corpse. I bet you get a System token too.”
On hearing what it was that they might get, Felicia was over in a moment, Rob took a bit longer since he took his time standing up.
Marc was checking his inventory now, the new System token showed up in its own slot, so he focused more closely.
“Hey, evidently that first one we got was a lesser System token and this one is a common,” Marc said. “I wonder why the different types?”
“Obviously the common ones are going to be more valuable. I just wish I knew what we could use them for,” Jeff said. “I know, you said Safe Zones can use them, but I bet that's not all they're good for.”
