It seemed passing out and waking up in new locations was going to become a recurring thing in my life, though waking up in a soft bed was a definitive change from passing out splayed-out on a hard, stone floor surrounded by blood and rat-men corpses.
It was surprisingly bright in the room considering the lack of active lights or any open blinds letting natural light into the room, though I guess that's a benefit of having magic eyes.
How long had I been in this bed? I felt like my body was trapped in lead with how weighed down I felt, the feeling that reminded me of when I used to oversleep and ended up feeling like crap for a day.
And there was this feeling of dread that just refused to leave my mind, like I was missing something important.
[Your now Well Rested]
[All Resource Pools have been restored]
Ah, that's what it was.
Good morning to you as well Merlin. How you doing?
[I've been a bit busy as of late]
Really, what's been happening?
[I've been working non-stop to make sure that the system doesn't collapse whilst you've been sleeping]
Wait, what the shit. I thought you were the system, what happened?
[I'm the user interface, I'm how you interact with the system. What happened was that the system was overwhelmed by a sudden need to calculate all the loot, EXP and Credits earned by you collapsing a dungeon on top of a small army]
Shit, I'm sorry.
[Don't apologise, we should have been prepared for something like this. The situation has been stabilised so we're all good for now.]
[Since you completed the last Dungeon would you like to collect the rewards for it?]
Sure, may as well get this all set up before I start dicking around.
[Skittergate Dungeon has been completed]
[You have earned 50,000 EXP]
[You have earned 25,000 Credits]
[You have earned 19x Gacha Tokens]
[You have earned a new Augment]
[Blessing of the Lady]
The Lady of the Lake has seen your sacrifice, your noble heart and your unwavering will and decreed you one of her champions.
Your body has been empowered by the Lady's holy light and as a result your abilities have been pushed beyond what could be considered normal for someone of your race.
With this augment all effective physical stats are increased by 100%
With this augment all melee attacks dealt by you gain Holy damage equal to 5x CHA
With this augment all mounts gain 50% of your effective stats added onto theirs.
...why's that augment so much more powerful than the ones I got from the other dungeons?
[Because you cleared a higher tier dungeon, the rewards are going to get better]
Jesus, well then I guess that's a bigger incentive to go out and kick some ass. Not that I needed any, but it was always nice to be recognised for what I was doing.
Now that I think about it, does this make me a grail knight? I got blessed by the lady of the lake and I punch people with Holy damage, and that sounds kinda grail knight-y.
How come I didn't level up from 50,000 EXP?
[Because you've already reached Level 100 in Scrapper, you need to pick your next class]
Jesus, I levelled up… Fifty-seven times?!
[The kills from the cave-in were counted as personal kills of yours, as was the EXP earned from doing so]
Okay, well what are the classes I can take?
[Give me a second, I'm still loading new details]
After that Merlin had disappeared, unlikely to return anytime soon considering the sheer amount of clutter they'd have to wade through the crap-ton of information I'd forced on them with the whole dungeon escapades.
I'll probably have to make that up to them later, but right now I just want to get out of this bed.
I shifted about slowly, kicking away the sheets and swinging my legs over the edge of the bed frame, before trying to stand-up. It was a near immediate failure as I fell face first into the floor, my attempts to stop myself doing little more than leaving a fist sized dent in the floor.
"Fuck." I moaned into the floor before rolling over onto my back. With all the strength I had I should've been able to stop myself, so why didn't I?
It was gone. My arm was gone.
But I could still feel it, like I'd never cut it off. Like an invisible, intangible limb that hung limp off my shoulder, even though I could still feel the layers of bandages wrapping the shoulder at the point it'd been severed.
It should've grown back, I've had my stomach blown out with a shotgun. This should've been nothing, a few days rest should've brought it back.
But no, there was nothing there.
I sat there, shocked into silence as I stared at the empty patch of flesh. A feeling of hollow dread burrowing deep within myself until finally it just… exploded.
My vision grew blurry, tears pouring out my eyes like a river whose dam had broken. A feeling of something crawling up my throat and a sudden taste of bile on my tongue. My stomach was empty and yet I threw up, painting the floor a disgusting shade of yellow.
I'm supposed to be invincible, this shouldn't happen to me. I'm the main character, I'm supposed to fight everyone and win. I'm supposed to get riches, get bitches and take over the universe leading a benevolent empire that will last forever. I wasn't supposed to lose my arm to some trash-tier enemies in some godforsaken hole in the ground.
I just lay there on the floor, I wasn't sure for how long, just crying until there were no more tears in my body and the urge to force up every organ in my body had faded.
I needed to clean myself up, so with my remaining arm I dragged myself forward towards one of the doorways in the corner of the room hoping that it would have some form of bathroom within.
There was, luckily, and as such I was granted access to a plain looking bathroom. A sink, a bathtub and a toilet. Simple things, but right now their presence was surprisingly helpful.
It was a struggle to get my feet under me again, even greater was the struggle to strip down to a state where I could freely bathe. As more and more of my bare flesh was revealed the sickening sensation I'd felt before returned in force, barely curbed as I put all my will into remaining upright.
Leaning against the sink I stared into the mirror mounted above it, showing a still unfamiliar face attached to an unfamiliar body. I hadn't the time beforehand to truly look myself over, but now that I was face-to-face with my own form I was forced into seeing the effects of my healing ability.
The areas that had healed stood out like a sore thumb to the rest of my body, the flesh wasn't scarred but was unnaturally pale in comparison to the skin around it. It looked like a series of skin-grafts rather than the result of a natural healing, but then again was anything about this natural.
Prodding at the pale flesh revealed it to be a fair bit more sensitive than the skin around it, like it was freshly made. My body wasn't healing by restoring the damaged parts but by replacing them with new parts. Large sections of my chest, legs, arms and even a section on my face were littered with these patterns of discoloured skin.
Drawing my attention away from the mirror I limped my way over to the bathtub before fiddling with the faucets until hot water began flowing and let it slowly fill up the tub.
A hot bath would let me calm down and probably help lessen this feeling of… just being shit I guess.
The next few minutes passed in relative silence and it wasn't long until my mind began to drift off, wondering what was taking Merlin so long with whatever they were doing.
[I'm here, I'm here]
Oh, good.
[Are you feeling better now?]
You can read my mind can't you, you know how I'm doing.
[...I'd still rather ask. Your bath is ready by the way]
Well… thanks then. For both of those I mean.
Slipping into the hot water filling the tub I could feel the tense, stiff muscles that plagued my form loosen up. A long sigh filled the room as I felt myself relax.
[There we go, that's better]
So… classes?
[Oh yeah, let me get your options]
[Thug] [Awakened Magical] [Urchin] [Initiate]
Four options instead of three? You spoil me Merlin.
Alright, let's think this through. Thug is definitely the advancement of the Fighter tree, considering it's literally in the place where Scrapper was and is basically just… well not stronger but more fighty I guess. If I wanted to keep punching people it made sense to pick it but…
I don't think that's an option for me right now considering that I'm down a hand. Until I could find a replacement I think Fighter was going to be shelved.
Awakened Magical… I'm not picking it. I've seen my MP and it's quite possibly my lowest stat, tied with PP usually, so running around slinging spells wasn't likely to work out for me.
Urchin might be a better pick right now, since I wasn't exactly willing to throw myself headfirst into a fight so being able to sneak around might make up for my lessened combat prowess. But I'd never had the temperament for sneaking around.
Then that just leaves Initiate.
What the hell is initiated?
[Initiate is the first Class in the Crafting Class Tree]
Oh, so I can learn to craft things.
I can learn to craft myself armour, weapons and even potions right?
[Yes, though the quality of these items will be dependent on how far along you are in the Class Tree]
...does crafting give me EXP?
[Yes, regardless of Success or failure crafting an item will always result in EXP. Successful creation of Blueprints will also result in EXP Gains]
So EXP gains with little risk? Sign me up.
[You are now Initiate]
[You have gained a Class Perk]
[Early Days]
It's early days for you, a beginner on the path of a craftsman, and so it's only right that you get this.
This Perk unlocks the crafting tree and enables the ability to craft common tier basic items.
[You have Levelled! X31]
[You are now an Adaptive Human]
[You have gained a Racial Perk]
[Adaptive Flesh]
Your flesh is surprisingly adaptive, as your desire to enhance yourself manifests as a unique constitution in regards to augments.
Your passive rejection chance for augmentations is reduced by 25%.
The fuck?
[EXP that was left over had been stored until you chose your next class]
Is this just going to happen every time I complete a dungeon? A class change and a racial change were good news as far as I was concerned, but it's getting kind of tedious at this point.
[Would you like to see the effects that this has had on your stats?]
Sure, why not?
Name: Mordred
Age: 12
Race: Adaptive Human
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Current Class: Initiate
Class Level: 31 [25/3100 EXP]
EXP Gain: 200%
Total Levels: 131
Credits: 28500
Hit Points: 92430/92430 [10665 HP/Sec]
Stamina Points: 90150/90150 [9616 SP/Sec]
Magic Points: 896/896 [256 MP/Sec]
Psychic Points: 504/504 [126 PP/Sec]
Stats
Strength: 474 (1185)
Endurance: 481 (1202)
Dexterity: 262 (655)
Intelligence: 128 (128)
Wisdom: 126 (126)
Charisma: 38 (38)
Luck: 113 (113)
Oh.
That's… a lot of shit.
Well, at least I'm still tanky as fuck and I've got the stamina to go the mile.
So what do I do now? I don't have anything I can use for crafting or any blueprints.
[You do have 19 Tokens to burn through, I wouldn't count yourself out of the fight just yet]
I mean, my luck is decently high so I might get something good out of it.
Though summoning stuff in a bath isn't a good idea at the best of times, I'm not risking the system killing me with a toaster.
I pulled the plug out of the bathtub, letting the water drained itself slowly as I dragged my way out of it and began towelling myself off. It took a bit longer than I'd like to admit to get to a point where I was properly dried off.
Taking the clean [Holy Vestments of the Conflicted Demon] out of my inventory and pulling on the pants, trousers and the black undershirt but leaving the shirt and jacket. There was no way in hell I was going to try and put that on, I was fucked if I was going to run around in multiple layers or try and do the buttons up.
When I went back into the main room I was met with a clean and tidy room, the formerly disrupted bed sheets had returned to an organised state and the puddle of sick had been cleared away.
...I'm guessing magical shenanigans are responsible for this.
Well then, I've got 19 Gacha Tokens and nothing else to do. Let's get rolling.
[Choosing a random item]
[Item has been chosen]
[You have received a new Augment]
[Nephalem Awakening]
{Mythic}
The world stone has been broken and released the innate potential hidden within you.
You will grow far beyond your current abilities at an incredible rate, and have gained an affinity towards the holy and demonic.
With this Augment you are now immune to the machinations of Fate, allowing you to interfere with destined events.
With this Augment you now gain an additional 100% EXP
With this Augment all Holy/Demonic abilities/items are enhanced by 50%
Though due to your nature as an abominable combination of Angelic and Demonic ancestry members of both these factions will start at a negative reputation value and your reputation gains with these people will be reduced by 50%.
[Rejection Chance: 0%]
[Would you like to accept this augment?]
Zero-percent rejection chance? Jesus christ, what the hell is wrong with me?
[What do you mean?]
True Seeing eyes usually belong to monsters and now you're telling me that I'm apparently compatible with demonic augmentations. Like seriously, what the hell?
[Well Humans did used to be Nephalem, that's what is counting for a majority of your compatibility does originate from that]
Is this going to blind me again? Or cripple me?
[Not really, it's not a major biological change but more just an unlocking of you ancestry]
Alright, fine. I just hope it doesn't fu-
Like a jolt of lightning coursing through my veins I felt energised, the sort of feeling you get when you drink a dozen energy drinks and they all combine to dope you up like a crackhead.
[Choosing a random item]
[Item has been chosen]
[System Manipulation Token: Fast Travel]
{Common}
This little ticket allows you to teleport to any destination within your world that you have previously been to/inhabited.
An old fashioned looking train ticket manifested into my hands, when I looked down at it the location seemed to be constantly shifting.
Well, this might be useful if I ever need to head somewhere in a hurry but for now it's going into the inventory.
[Choosing a random item]
[Item has been chosen]
[Oak Logs]
{Common}
An oak log, this one's bigger than yours.
Quantity: x100
...Wood logs?
The most common crafting material I could've gotten.
What do you usually do with wood? Well usually you've got to turn it into planks to use them in other items so-
[Recipe created: Oak Planks]
[You have gained 1500 EXP]
Jesus christ. I can just make recipes?!
Okay then, make [Oak Planks]?
[You have gained 4x Oak Planks]
[You have gained 1200 EXP]
I made 4x Oak planks for the cost of one Oak Log, so 100 EXP for each then.
Hey Merlin, how long do I have until I've got to go after another dungeon?
[13 Months, 1 Week and 1 day]
...time to grind away at this then.
We're going full iron dagger exploit, if I can break it then I will damn it.
It had been a month since a mountain that shouldn't have existed collapsed, filling an underground ravine that according to top Geologists also shouldn't have existed.
Further examination of the nearby environment showed that the materials from the site were much older that of nearby natural formations, in fact this continued for roughly 2 kilometers beyond the site of origin. Inspection of the site revealed the cuts that caused the damage to the rock formations to cause the collapse were unnaturally clean.
Straight lines, done in one continuous movement.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had already gone over the usual suspects, though they had turned up empty. Even Starks technicians seemed surprised at the precision of the cuts, saying there was no way they could be made by human hands and that whatever did it would require some pretty heavy duty tech.
Tech which showed no sign of being transported to and from the site before or after the collapse, tech that was only a hypothetical creation as far as they were concerned.
It's arrival coincided with that of the office building that had been filled with Russians, and the school that apparently belonged to a place called Santa Destroy that was full of unidentifiable bodies
He sighed, the files scattered on his desk had been poured over a dozen times. The only known individual to approach the scenes was a child who had been delivered via taxi.
The physical description wasn't much to go on, sub five foot tall and light physique. Blonde hair, green eyes and pale skin. The only major identifying trait was that the cabbie described him as having a british accent, though that hardly narrowed down the list of suspects.
It was frustrating, it felt like there was just one clue needed for the whole thing to be busted wide open but as it was he had nothing. Their prime suspect was a ghost and whilst there were fingerprints at all the scenes that matched it didn't matter as they had no previous record of them.
Still, he couldn't help but get the feeling that whoever was responsible for this was out there laughing at them as they struggled to catch him.
The morning had arrived, a message left in her study by Kaecilius alerted her to the recent awakening of the young Mordred. It had been a week since they'd recovered his body from the ruins of the rift, with him being trapped within the ruins for a fortnight before so.
It had caused a panic after he hadn't surfaced after the first week, with the search effort only truly picking up speed after that. He should have died, either through bleeding out from his wounds or having starved to death within his makeshift tomb. But instead we found him just sleeping there, peaceful as can be surrounded by the ruins he had created.
They had him undergo an immediate medical examination, utilising connections formed over her time as the Sorcerer Supreme to ensure that nobody would ask any questions. The results were concerning to say the least.
The sections of his body that were unnaturally pale were new, as in they newly generated tissue to replace damaged tissue. He had no scarring and beside the loss of his arm he was in perfect health.
Whatever had granted him his strength seemed to be granting him new boons with each passing day, with his body seeming to reap the benefits near constantly but that still just kept raising concerns for her.
It didn't make sense to her, why would someone choose a child for their champion? The only reason she could think of for doing so was that they were more malleable in regards to what they were willing to do.
She knocked against the door to his room, more out of courtesy than desiring any permission, before pressing onwards into the room.
He was sitting on the floor, eyes practically glazed over as he stared at his empty lap and surrounded by tiny wooden statues of the same man repeated a thousand times.
The figure was a large man encased in incredibly regal armour with great claws stretching out of his left hand whilst in his right he clutched a flaming sword as long as he was tall. The figure's face was a stern, almost judging gaze that seemed to carry the weight of a divine ruler behind it.
Scattered around the room were various other odd objects; knives, drinks, a teddy bear and what looked like a laser gun from a science fiction show. The disparity between the sights was almost comical, almost being the operative word as her logical reasoning eventually kicked in and she realised how there was no way for him to have any of these items.
There were no tools he could've used to make these statues, no wood he could've used to carve the statues and no place where he would've been able to access some of the weapons and drinks that he had. She knew his Patron was giving him stuff, but this was bordering on the absurd.
"Mordred," she called out and like a switch being flicked he shot up, the room flashing a bright blue as he turned to face me. His hand hung low, clenched unconsciously into a fist.. "I'm glad to see you've recovered." She had elected to ignore the statues for now, preferring to focus on him.
"Yeah, I was out for a while wasn't I?" He asked half-heartedly, as though he were asking himself more than me. "Still, I haven't said thanks yet. Thanks." He stated awkwardly, his stance shifting subtly to a more relaxed form.
"You are welcome. Though in future when we ask if you have a way out please answer truthfully," She lectured, and he at least had the decency to look ashamed at that.
"Yeah, well I came out fine in the end didn't I?" He said, almost as though he'd completely forgotten about the empty sleeve at his side. Though it was blatantly clear to me that he hadn't, she knew arguing the point wasn't worth damaging whatever relationship was forming between us.
"Well besides that, I am sorry but I come bearing bad news." He seemed to falter in response, wilting like a flower deprived of water.
"Well, what is it?" He near-whispered, life seemingly drained from him.
"Your sword," She began, though that merely drew a confused look from him. "The katana." Yet again, a blank look in return. "The one that didn't glow red." That got a response from him, a look of genuine concern came across his face as he was rejuvenated, adopting a similar stance to the one she had seen him adopt within the rift.
"Yeah, what's happened to it?"
"We've been forced to seal it away. I don't know how you came across such a sword but I can not, in good conscience, allow you to wander the streets carrying that thing." She explained dispassionately, as though discussing the weather. She had hoped that by downplaying it she might be able to affect how he responded.
"But it's my sword." He seemed… not shocked, nor surprised but upset. Like someone had just told him a friend had stolen his wallet, and she had no doubt in her mind how he would react to such an event.
"I understand, but when you are carrying around something that can sever the gaps between dimensions and cut through the fabric of reality it falls on us to intervene. Understand that whilst I have faith in you, I do not trust the power of that weapon and as is my duty I have seen fit to ensure the safety of this realm." She argued back, trying to reason with the small, rapidly growing bundle of rage that was forming before her.
"But. It's. My. Sword." He spoke each word through gritted teeth, his eyes full of rage as he stalked forward.
The Ancient One sighed, channeling her mystic energy through her palms before striking Mordred in the centre of his chest. To her surprise however, nothing happened as the child she'd struck swapped from enraged back to confused.
"Did- did you just try and punch my soul out?" He asked, punctuated by another thump to the chest as her palm stuck again. "Are you actually fucking kidding me? You steal my sword and then try and punch my soul out? What the hell kind of person are you?"
The situation wasn't looking good, she was trapped in close quarters with a child who seemed immune to her most effective form of instant neutralisation wasn't working. She couldn't go for anything more powerful either, seeing as he was her only real hope in regards to dealing with the rifts.
Luckily, or unluckily depending on your perspective, her problem would soon deal with itself. In another flash of blue light a… train ticket (?) formed in the young child's hand.
"I'll be back for it later and I'll give you the choice on how this goes down." And in a burst of light similar to that of the ticket the child disappeared.
Despite the amount of experience she had gained over her long life the Ancient One had only one real response to the whole situation.
"...What?" She said, rapidly blinking in confusion before the truth of the matter settled in. "That could have gone better," she sighed, pinching her brow in annoyance before taking a deep breath and moving on. With any luck they would be able to locate him before the end of the month.
Spawning into an alleyway in perhaps the biggest shithole I'd ever lived at before wasn't my idea of a good time, but I'd be fucked before I spent another day in that place. Bunch of ungrateful bastards, 'Oh, you shut down the dimensional rift that would destroy our reality. Let's just steal your most priceless possessions whilst you sleep and try and cripple you when you get pissed off.'
I was fuming, infuriated to such a ludicrous degree that I was practically shaking. I needed something to do, something to fight, something to bring me down from this.
I was breathing heavily, anger flowing through me as much as the blood in my veins. I needed something else to focus on, anything else.
[There is a Dungeon located 15 Miles away from your current location]
...something other than that Merlin.
I needed something to devote time to, something that won't just leave me down a limb.
[You have received a new Quest]
[An Arms Race]
Down an arm, down a home and down your most valuable possessions. You've got nowhere to go from here but up, though first you might want to get a hand. Or more accurately, build your own.
[Quest Objectives]
Design an adequate prosthetic limb for yourself.
[Side Objective]
Design a successful bionic limb for yourself.
[Rewards]
1000 EXP
1000 Credits
Armed and Ready Perk
[Option Rewards]
2500 EXP
2500 Credits
Cybernetic Superiority Perk
I paused as I stared at the new prompt, anger bleeding away to leave nothing but confusion in its place.
I had quests?
[I… forgot?]
A sigh filled the alleyway, but with little else that I wanted to do I decided to move on with it.
So I need to build an arm right? Well can't I just bullshit a blueprin-
[Blueprint creation failed]
[Reason: No possible categories met]
What? What do you mean 'No possible categories met?'
[You currently have no: Previous experience with Cybernetics, Items you can sacrifice to form the blueprint, no required knowledge to design blueprints or any blueprints you can use as a basis]
...How come I could do all that woodworking stuff then?
[You did a Woodworking class in school, that was enough for you to be able to design the blueprints]
Jesus christ.
So I'm going to need to research this crap? Do you have any idea how long that's going to take me?
[Yes, which is why I recommend you get started now]
Growling in frustration I set off in a random direction, relying on my luck to guide me to wherever I needed to go.