37 War of Worlds (2/2)
As I got within Oppression's range, I pointed at the zombies. I tossed a bottle of lighter fluid towards them, the bottle landing in the brown filled fridge the spawn's ate from. I tossed another bottle,
”Shoot it.”
Althea raised her rifle, landing a harpoon dead center of the bottle, detonating the bottle in a fiery flash. The explosion chained with the bottle in the fridge, setting all four spawns on fire. I moved forward at the same time as the detonation, putting the spawns within the range of Oppression. They died over the next five minutes from a few harpoons and the residual damage from the fire and my aura.
Skill gained! Resourceful(lvl 1) - You use what's at hand for whatever you need. +1% to damage from environmental objects or traps.
With the new skill and five more levels under my belt, we walked out of the store no worse for wear. I shut off Oppression before walking up to Althea and saying, ”How much more hunting should we do?”
She glanced around, making sure no other zombies were present, ”We kill them until we need to sleep.”
I shrugged, ”Alright. Whenever you get tired then.”
That's how we spent the rest of the day and even a few hours into the night. Althea could see in the dark, surprisingly enough. That let us set traps or just brute force our way through the enemies. When all was said and done, I gained sixty one levels and Althea gained seventy two. It made a night and day difference for both of us.
We retraced our steps, finding our way out of the barricade with Kessiah's help. She tailed us the entire day, making sure no one or no thing could just kill us before we could fight back. She actually killed several named ones, yet we never found any sign of a fight having taken place. In my mind, there hadn't been a fight. Kessiah probably had stabbed her arm through the named one's skull before throwing the body somewhere. I wish she had let me turn them to mana instead.
Still, plenty of progress on that front as well. I was getting close towards my next evolution, and I had enough points in intelligence for the perk point if I wanted it. I needed to make sure before I put points into it though. As we walked through the forest and towards our current base, Althea and I discussed our layouts.
”But how is strength supposed to help with my cannon?”
I rolled my eyes, ”You have a perk that doubles your effective strength already, and you put most of your points today into strength. That makes the perk for it required at this point. Your melee attacks will become devastating. You won't have a weakness, and in a world where you could die at any moment, weaknesses are what kills you.”
”Then why don't you work on some ranged attack? That's a pretty glaring weakness.”
I nodded, ”I've got a few plans for it already. I just have to see if they're at all feasible.”
”Like what?”
With a burst of effort, a blob of writhing, black mana spawned above my hand. A set of red, translucent spirals kept the tendrils of energy from shooting out too far. It shook in my hand, ”This is my affinity for dominion. It's got more than a few uses, ranged combat being one of them.”
The mana blipped out. I sighed, ”But I can't work with it yet. It should help round out my style of fighting quite a bit.”
Althea pursed her lips, ”Well...fine.”
She clicked the screen in front of her before her muscles rippled. She stared at her hands for a moment before smashing a hand into a nearby tree. The wood exploded outwards like she'd struck it with a grenade. The tree's trunk bent away from her strike, long wedges split up and down the bark and wood. The tree fell over as Althea grinned,
”Yeah...This was a good idea.”
I shrugged, ”What can I say. I'm full of them. Speaking of which-”
I opened my own status screen. After watching how right I was about Althea's investments, I put some faith into my own judgment. Intelligence would give me the most bang for my buck. Investing directly into intelligence wouldn't though. Endurance gave me a 50% attribute bonus, as did willpower. With the way my perks worked, investing into endurance fed into willpower which fed into intelligence. If I just kept increasing endurance, I'd unlock the intelligence perk eventually.
It helped that I could move the attributes back and forth on the status screen, letting me try out different combinations of stats. With all my multipliers from my trees, endurance was still my best bet for making the most out of my attribute points. Once I invested all my points, I'd need about fifty more levels for the level 100 perk.
Level 221 Attribute Totals
Strength - Increases carrying weight, maximum speed, and physical power 44.2
Constitution - Increases hardness, density, and weight of your body 36.3
Endurance - Increases regeneration of stamina, health, and their totals 384
Dexterity - Increases ease of movement, flexibility, and reflexes 32.8
Willpower - Increases internal motivation, mana regen, and Mental Res 187.8
Intelligence - Increases memory, critical thinking, and total mana pool 80.3
Charisma - Increases likeability, persuasion, and decreases prices at shops 36.7
Luck - Increases money found, odds in your favor, and chance of rare events 40
Perception - Increases comprehension, the five senses, and awareness 30.5
Daniel Hillside Totals Regen Buffs/Debuffs
Health 12,800/12,800 2169/min Oppression Damage- 8000+25%hp/min
Stamina 7825/7825 89/sec Elemental Res - 97%
Harbinger of Cataclysm 14,963,456/16,000,000 0/per min Plasma Res - 97%
Phys Dam Reduction - 97% Rad Res - 97%
Phys Dam Bonus - 542% Mental Res - 97%
At this point, my health was probably comparable with Torix. Curious of my new potential, I jogged in front of Althea,
”Hey, mind shooting me through the arm? I want to test something.”
She didn't even hesitate. Althea raised her rifle, unloading a shell into my forearm. The shell lodged a few inches deep, but didn't pierce enough for any meaningful damage. With all the leveling perks adding up, the shell hadn't even slung me back either. I was too heavy and too dense. I stood my ground before ripping the bone spear out of my arm.
I grinned, ”Thanks. That was all I needed to know.”
Althea's jaw dropped before she frowned, outrage spread all over her face, ”How did you block my harpoon?”
I waved behind me as I jogged forward, ”With health. Fuckloads of it.”
Charging my runes, I dashed forward before she followed behind me. At this point, I was genuinely durable in my mind. I still had a ways to go before I could just ignore any damage, but low level enemies couldn't touch me anymore. Enhancing my regeneration enhanced the bonuses from augmentation too, making me faster and stronger. With a bit more practice with the runes, I'd be a damn fine destroyer.
With that in mind, I headed back for some more practice with the runes. Before we reached the cave, the ground in front of the entrance exploded. Kessiah had appeared in an instant and said,
”Someone's in there besides Torix. Be ready.”
Althea and I set ourselves up for a fight as we headed back into the cave. As we entered, Torix's voice came into focus,
”I take it we'll reap the benefits of your trading as well.”
An electronic voice replied, ”Yes. Indeed you will. Schema and the legion will be pleased with your cooperation.”
We reached the bottom of the stairs before a faceless, robotic humanoid turned its gaze towards us. Smooth, futuristic, and intimidating, it looked like a normal, lightly armored skin suit up until you reached the shoulders and arms. A giant platform was bolted onto the torso of it, making a flat line of black armor at its head and shoulders. It was a giant block of smooth machinery with two giant, over-sized arms hanging from the sides of it.
The arms hung straight down as the robot's massive knuckles pressed against the ground even as it stood up. Black cables hung from the back of that platform. Tubes ran through the colossal, hydraulic arms and torso. Several moving bolts were locked in at strategic points, giving the arms and shoulders excellent range of motion. On the black plate covering its head, six silver bolts created a hexagonal pattern.
The entire living suit was black, besides for the white, polished steel of the bolts and the glowing blue resonating from several of the joints. Just looking at the thing let me know it wasn't something you fought. You had to listen to whatever it said, otherwise it would tear you limb from limb.
Kessiah reaffirmed my suspicions as she lowered her guard. Althea and I followed suit. As we stepped up, I tilted my head,
”Who the fuck is this?”
The faceless armor looked at me. With a robotic edge to its voice, it said,
”I am the overseer sent by Schema. It is good to meet you, Harbinger.”