Hello, TKOP here with yet another chapter. It's both late and weird so i hope you forgive me for that. I know i'm a lot too late (Cheesus crust almost 2 months) and i know this isn't a extra long chapter to justify it but hear me out. First of all... i um... yeah... i have no excuses... none at all... like... i was sick for a week but that doesn't justify almost two months of procrastination. I am so sorry. After this i'll begin another story, i know, i know, i probably can't balance 3 stories and real life... so i'll just become entirely fictional :D... but honestly i really feel like i need to do that. ANYWAY ON WITH THE STORY!
Chapter 14: Introducing Skye Blu and... Beeswax?
WELCOME TO THE GAME, PLAYER 2
PLAYER 1 HAS A MAJOR HEAD START, TO COMPENSATE THIS YOUR XP GAIN HAS BEEN TRIPLED UNTIL YOU REACH PLAYER 1'S LEVEL
You look at the text box in front of you. You stare at it. You study it closely, determined to find out how it exists. You reach you hand out and clench your hand around one of its sides. Surprisingly you get a grip of it. You examine it intently.
BY INTENTLY EXAMINING THE REALITY DEFYING TEXT BOX THE SKILL [OBSERVE] HAS BEEN CREATED
[OBSERVE] LV.1 (PASSIVE/ACTIVE)
THE ABILITY TO NOTICE DETAILS AND HIDDEN THINGS
BASIC INFORMATION GATHERED WHEN USING [OBSERVE]
2% MORE LIKELY TO NOTICE DETAILS
Your attention quickly shifts to the newest reality offender. You grip it with your other hand. You put the both of them into your backpack and hurry downstairs, outside and into the outskirts of the forest. You quickly make your way through the forest with no real destination in mind. As suddenly as anything today you stop, looking to your left at a structure where you specifically remember nothing. The structure looks like a large temple of sorts. Before you enter out of curiosity, a person bursts out the main entrance.
The black haired, black eyed and black clothed individual sprints toward you for no apparent reason. Then just as you decide to sidestep the person they open a portal in front of themselves. They disappear without a trace. Your attention shifts to the creature that you notice chasing the mysterious stranger and now you. You quickly identify the creature as a Cerberus, a creature of myth, another thing that should not exist. As the creature does not seem to slow down you pull out Sol Grandinem and ready yourself for battle. The creature however, does not seem fazed by the massive lance, as expected of a mindless beast.
You charge at the Cerberus as it continues at full speed. As it lunges at you, you ready your weapon. At the last possible moment you thrust forward with the lance, impaling the Cerberus' center head through the eye. Your momentum carries you for a few moments before you finally slow to a halt, the corpse of the canine monster hanging limply from your mighty weapon. As you stand there, breathing heavily from the surprise encounter, the corpse slowly slides to the ground, vaporizing as soon as it hits the dirt.
"Congratulations kid, you did a number on that thing" You hear a voice say from somewhere above you. You turn to face the individual and as you do, the person from before drops down from a tree. "You've got some nerve calling me "kid" after what I just did" you say defensively as you strike a victorious yet not overconfident pose. The individual looks at you in slack-jawed awe for several moments before falling onto their back and then rolling around, laughing loudly. "What're you laughing at?" you ask in surprise at the spontaneous actions of the individual.
The stranger does a fancy flip to get to their feet. "To be honest with you your accent is so audible that if you were a book character the author would actively misspell multiple words to make it clear how much you sound like someone from the Apple family" they explain with a surprisingly serious face. "Who in tarnation is that?" you ask at their confusing answer. "Don't worry about that, they are just some of my old pals" they answer simply.
"Anyway, enough of that, I'm Raven Darke, player 1, way higher level than you and master necromancer" the now identified stranger says. "Well my name is Skye, Skye Blu" you introduce yourself. "The Cerberus dropped some stuff why don't you take a look at that" Raven says whilst pointing to where the Cerberus had lied before. "I'll get right on it" You answer before walking to the pile of stuff and picking up the first thing you see.
YOU HAVE FOUND A MYSTERIOUS SKILL BOOK
DO YOU WANT TO USE IT? [YES] [NO]
You take a look at the new reality offender before giving Raven an odd look. As Raven simply nods you decide to press the [Yes] button. Your vision fills with a bright midnight blue light.
BY READING A MYSTERIOUS SKILL BOOK THE SKILL [ASTROMANCY] HAS BEEN CREATED
[ASTROMANCY] LV.1 (ACTIVE)
THE ABILITY TO CONTROL THE HEAVENLY BODIES
MANA COST: VARIED
{SKILL SUBTYPE} [SOLAR LANCE]
THE ABILITY TO CHANNEL SUNSHINE INTO A RAY OF FIERY DEATH
MANA COST: 300
DEAL 100 DAMAGE TO A TARGET AND SET THEM ON FIRE FOR 10DPS FOR 10 SECONDS
"Oh for the love of cowbell, that's just ridiculous, your first major skill is that overpowered, I call hacks" Raven says from the sidelines. You look at the mysterious individual in confusion. "Cowbell?" you ask in a confused tone. "Yeah, you know, cowbell… wait have you seriously never seen that video?" Raven asks incredulously. "I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about" you say as you wonder whether Raven is sane or not.
-Raven-
"Follow me, you need to be introduced to the routine" you say as you turn and slowly walk in the general direction of your future general's grave. "What routine?" asks the new gamer in confusion whilst follow behind you. "Every time one of us die, the world resets to a specific point in time, and because of this we can know or at least predict future events if we do approximately the same thing after each reset" you explain as you walk, slowly increasing you speed until Skye has to jog behind you. "Wait, so we remember the previous tries or what?" the blue colored newbie asks. "Exactly, but why I haven't seen you before I have no idea, I have done nothing special to prompt a second player joining right now" you say as you yourself begin to jog.
"But then where are we going?" asks Skye from somewhere behind you. "Do you know Ruby Rose?" you ask, not even looking back at Skye who you can hear is trouble keeping up with you. "Uh yeah, I think I met her at a party at Signal last year" is the answer. "Red hair, socially awkward and kind of a dork, right?" Skye continues. "Correct" you state, slowing down at the audible relief of your companion. "When you talked with her did she mention her family at any point?" you ask, looking over your shoulder at the slightly breathless astromancer.
"Very briefly, mostly about her older sister, Yang, then Yang actually came over to where we were and she started telling tales of young Ruby's misadventures and how their dad started getting really overprotective every time she did something rash, Ruby was really embarrassed at that point and dragged her sister of somewhere, most likely to scold her, never really saw either of them much after that" Skye monologues. "But no mention of a mother" you state, slightly increasing your pace as you near your goal. "Yeah, I guess you're right… wait, hold on, are you implying what I think you're implying?" Skye asks hurriedly, whilst almost running to keep up with your increased pace.
As you reach the clearing you slow down, looking at the shape of the tombstone on the edge of the cliff. "Summer Rose, thus kindly I scatter" you say, breaking the eerie silence that has filled the air. "Every time I reset I come here" you continue giving a small smile to your blue eyed companion. "But why, I mean it would make sense if she was your mother" Skye says slowly. Your eyes light up suddenly. Your smile grows to mad proportions. "I never told you what my main skill is, did I?" you ask whilst smiling widely. "Uh, no, I don't think so" Skye asks in confusion.
"You have astromancy, the ability to control the celestial bodies" you say, walking toward the grave with a mad grin. "I, however have something else" you say as you near the tombstone. "I have necromancy, the ability to raise the dead" you say as you raise your hands. You activate the skill and a green and purple light erupts from the ground for a moment, shortly followed by a few thumps and cracks. As a hand emerges from the ground you grab it and pull the newly resurrected Summer Rose from her grave. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Summer Rose" you say as she tries to get used to the feeling of standing up.
THE SKILL [NECROMANCY] HAS GONE UP A LEVEL
You casually tap away the text box and another one opens. This one is considerably larger.
BY REACHING LEVEL 25 WITH A SKILL WITH THE SKILLTYPE {DARK} YOU HAVE UNLOCKED A NEW SKILL
[VOID EYE] (PASSIVE/ACTIVE)
THE ABILITY TO SEE GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE AND LIMITED TELEKINESIS
MP COST: 50 PER SECOND
TELEKINESIS ON ANY OBJECT WITHIN 10 METERS OF YOU WEIGHING 1 KG OR LESS
RANDOMLY RECEIVE GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE
BY REACHING LEVEL 25 WITH A SKILL WITH THE SKILLTYPE {LIFE} YOU HAVE UNLOCKED A NEW SKILL
[GOLEMCRAFT] LV.1 (ACTIVE)
THE ABILITY TO CONSTRUCT GOLEMS (EVERY MATERIAL HAS UNIQUE PROPERTIES AND ABILITIES)
MP COST: 1000
CREATE A 2 METER TALL HUMANOID GOLEM FROM ANY ONE MATERIAL WITHIN 2 METER OF YOU
You stare at the text box for who knows how long, mouth widely agape. A mad cackle banishes the silence as you audibly express your current emotions. "Is your friend okay?" you hear Summer whisper to Skye. "Oh I am more than okay, I'm just really happy" you say as you turn and look them in the eyes. "And why is that exactly?" asks Skye. "Watch and learn" you say as you walk up to a specific tree. You focus on the beehive that you see on a branch. Within moments a tiny piece of the hive breaks away from the hive itself and floats next to you.
The hive fragment grows quickly and within a minute it has taken the form of a large bulky humanoid, however the hexagonal holes found in beehives seem to be only on the upper part of its back and on its palms. Soon, bees emerge aplenty and start swarming the golem like a spiky force field. You mentally command the golem to follow you as you walk back to your companions, your crazed grin ever present. "Did you just make a golem, out of beeswax?" Summer asks incredulously. "It would seem so" you answer, your ever present grin slowly fading into an actually serious expression.
The next couple of minutes is spent explaining everything to your sadly clueless companions. "I must say I've always been surprised by how lightly you take it being undead" you casually remark as you look towards Summer. "I just don't think about it that much I guess, it doesn't feel that different to be honest, just the whole no pain, no need to breathe and no sleep thing being the main difference" Summer answers. "That kind of sounds like it would be a major, noticeable difference" Skye comments. "I'm going to have to side with Summer on this one, I really don't see the problem in any of those things, if anything I think it would be advantageous" you comment.
"On another note, look at this stuff" you continue as you use observe on the beeswax golem and pass the opened tab to your companions. You find yourself to be curious too and take a peek at the tabs contents.
BEESWAX GOLEM – SUMMONED GUARDIAN
LV. 1
STATUS: ANIMATED
250 HP
0 AP
20 MP
STRENGTH 15 (LV X 15)
PERCEPTION 5 (LV X 5)
ENDURANCE 20 (LV X 20)
CHARISMA 2 (LV X 2)
INTELLIGENCE 2 (LV X 2)
AGILITY 5 (LV X 5)
LUCK 1 (LV X 1)
AURA 0 (LV X 0)
A BEESWAX GOLEM IS CREATED FROM BEESWAX AND UTILIZES A SWARM OF BEES AS BOTH A SHIELD AND A WEAPON
SKILLS:
[BEE SWARM] (PASSIVE)
REDUCE INCOMING RANGED DAMAGE BY 10%
DEAL 5 DAMAGE PER SECOND TO ENEMIES WITHIN 5 METERS OF THIS GOLEM
"Cheesus Crust! This is going to be fun" you exclaim, a large smile present on your face.