"Talking"
Thoughts
'Mental Communication or using a magic item'
[Debuffs]
Skills/Systems
Chapter 14 – Into the Ruins Pt.2
A chamber deep within the ruins
Two men were in a chamber deep underground. They had managed to go much farther than the scouting team had been able to. Mostly due to the green-haired one's versatility in magic and the black-haired one's skill at obliterating anything that moved with his sword. Even physical damage resistance only went so far when a single swing could deal over five figures of damage if the slimes were lucky.
Doctor Green Egg was busy at a computer terminal trying to figure out what exactly this place was supposed to be while 4-Leaft assisted (read: stayed out of his way and did not touch anything).
4-Leaf had busied himself by carving images into the walls of the room he and his friend had been in for the last hour and a half!
The images ranged from his standard "777" to drawings of his emblem, the emblems of his friends and family. He briefly attempted to draw a short-skirted Mistralian barmaid he knew but as it turned out, swords were not the best tools for drawing.
Now that he stepped back and thought about it, it kind of looked like Port in a dress if he ever shaved that damn giant caterpillar off of his face.
Supposedly the old storyteller was in Dendro, he wondered what he was up to.
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Granvalao, Northern Fleet
A massive explosion erupts in the seemingly calm water as the front half of what appeared to be an Ancient Vacuan brig pirate ship with red sails began to sink into the ocean.
As if already smelling the potential blood in the water, a giant four-legged two-headed shark UBM began clawing its way up to the destroyed front of the ship.
"Why would you blow a hole in the ship!" The Embryo's owner, Pan Hook, yelled at a man with an impossibly large handlebar mustache. He was shirtless and muscular to the point of being more a parody of steroid abuse than physical fitness. In his hand was a cartoonish-looking musket with a barrel that looked more like the large end of a funnel making his shots incredibly inaccurate.
"You said I needed to lure it in so your Embryo could weaken it!" the mustached man, Great Huntsman Portobello, shot back. "It's smart enough to know we're in danger like this."
"The ship IS my Embryo!"
"Oh"
"Oooohhhh," he said finally realizing what he had done. "Errors have been made."
"You think?!" Pan Hook cried as one of the UBM's heads clamped down on his arm pulling him towards it.
A blue-haired man screamed as he held onto the mast for dear life, "This is why I hate the water!"
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Back in the ruins
"Eh" 4-Leaf shrugged; he was probably taking it easy somewhere.
"So, you figure out what this place was for yet?" he asked for the sixth time in the last ten minutes.
"Actually, yes I have." The green-haired man replied, adjusting his glasses.
Part of 4-Leaf wondered why he even bothered having glasses, he could have just made his avatar have good eyesight. However, part of him suspected it had something to do with looking smart.
"It seems this facility was designed as a way to collect, filter, and store water before depositing out through several tubes made of a strong, but flexible corrosion-proof material that was intended to connect to underground settlements in case of emergencies."
"Tubes?"
"Those tunnels everyone has been walking through to get here." He explained, "It seems some type of massive geographical shift not only uprooted the tubes but also flipped the building along its axis before burying everything along with the main facility."
"Okay, then what about those slimes?"
"The factory employed a myriad of different ways to preserve the water from heating it to eliminate bacteria before flash freezing it to a near permafrost-like state to using advanced self-replicating bacteria to break down any substances that got into the water that couldn't be removed by boiling it."
"However, it would seem that the bacteria eventually mutated into the slimes we have thus far encountered. Previously, it seems their numbers were limited to the main aquafer, but became able to increase in number thanks in part to the original discovery of these ruins opening up room for them."
"If nothing is done, they will continue to spawn infinitely, and should they find a way to escape the ruins themselves, it could be a potential global catastrophe."
The two shared a look as 4-Leaf plucked his sword from its resting place in the wall. Infinite Dendrogram might have just been a realistic game to him, heck it was almost creepy how real it could be – prostitutes and alcohol poisoning included - but that didn't mean he was okay with leaving something like this by itself didn't sit right with him.
He might have been part of a Mistralian bandit tribe in his youth, but Oz giving him a second chance at life had given him more than his supposed family ever could. Namely his real family.
As he thought about that, the images of a blonde tomboy with pigtails and a little girl, barely knee-high in a red cape holding her favorite stuffed dog who used to call him "Super Unkle Qwow!".
Smiling he knew they were already grown and on their own, but he would always see them as those adorable munchkins.
How could he smile at them and still be their super cool uncle if he didn't help out?
Without so much as a word or thought, having sensed his Master's intentions, 4-Leaf's Embryo, Phouka manifested.
While normally he roamed around without clothing on, now he was dressed in a set of armor with what looked like a broad sword when compared to his small stature.
Grinning, Phouka showed far more teeth than a normal cat should have.
"Then let's get to work." 4-Leaf said as they exited the chamber.
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Elsewhere in the ruins
"RUN!" Nebula shouted.
"Run faster!"
"We could if you got off!" Wotan shouted in her energy cape form.
They had just managed to create an opening in the mass of slimes and decided to flee. Due to neither of her party members having jobs or Embryos that boosted their AGI, Crescent, in her Magingear power suit, was carrying them.
The passageway was too narrow for Kelly to use her Embryo's third form, so Crescent was their best bet for escape.
The original plan had been to simply kill all of the slimes…until they realized they were absorbing the surrounding dirt to reproduce faster than they could kill them. None of them possessed an AOE skills and JAnz was the only one able to definitively take out multiple slimes in her exploding or dividing bullets.
However, she had those in limited supply.
So, they ran.
While Kelly was holding onto Crescent's waist for dear life, with her Embryo, Punga, in its mechanical chameleon form doing the same to her scalp, JAnz was being held over her shoulder like a bag so she could shoot at the pursuing slimes.
"We could really use a plan", Crescent shouted as she took another left, "I don't know where I'm going."
"Take a left," Kelly shouted while wearing a strange steampunk-like headset.
There were those with jobs like Cartographer or Embryos with mapping skills, but when they had heard that all paths led to the same destination, they hadn't bothered looking into getting a map.
As a result, Crescent was unsure if they were even heading towards the surface or further into the ruins.
The fact they were traveling in the dark and none of them, save for Punga who had night vision.
"Keep running," JAnz shouted as her Embryo allowed her to aim at the wall of slimes that was chasing them in the brief light of her exploding bullets.
Yet no matter how much she shot at them, their numbers did not seem to thin much. Crescent could hear the sounds of their rippling bodies sliding on the ground like water balloons rolling down a slide.
This made her giggle a little. Her uncle Qrow had wanted to make it fun for her and Yang, but their mom and dad had been so mad when they came home soaked to the bone.
"Take a right…now!" Kelly shouted snapping Crescent out of her reverie. Still unable to see, trusted her party member.
Flying through the darkness they suddenly noticed a golden light at the end of the tunnel.
"What is that?" Crescent asked unable to see anything other than the light and a vague silhouette.
As they rapidly neared, she could eventually see something.
Standing at the end of an intersection was a young man in a white petticoat with blue shorts. The most noticeable things about him were that he had a white helmet with rabbit ears which added to his avatar's rabbit motif alongside his white hair and red eyes. The other was that he was wearing something that looked like large ice skates.
Before any of them could fully comprehend what exactly they were seeing the young boy…vanished.
In the time it took them to realize the light the boy had been holding was gone and so was the boy.
Before she could even consider looking behind her, she felt something disrupt her flight path, like the slipstream that comes from a jet breaking the sound barrier, but not as severe followed by a sound she couldn't place.
It was like the sound of a deli slicer from her dad's favorite sandwich shop, but thousands of them at once.
Just as she managed to find her equilibrium again, "You can stop now." Someone said from behind them.
Crescent came to a hard stop, hovering in the middle of the tunnel.
She couldn't hear the slimes.
Rotating herself, she saw the young boy behind her, standing on a small mound of drop items that would have been up to his knees if he wasn't standing on top of it.
Setting her party members down, they approached the young boy who was placing all of the drop items into an inventory.
Suddenly, JAnz gasped as she pointed her pistol at the boy who seemed to see her, but still kept on collecting his drops like nothing was wrong.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The boy said examining what seemed to be a rare drop.
"Both of you stay away from him," JAnz warned as she drew her second pistol and pointed at the still unperturbed boy.
Kelly and Crescent for their part simply looked confused both at how the seemingly young boy could eradicate so many slimes so quickly and as to who exactly he was.
"Do you know him or something JAnz-y," Kelly asked.
Despite the look of cold terror on her face, the dark blue-haired girl turned to look at them with abject confusion.
"How do you two NOT know him?" she all but shouted.
"Who is he?" the resident power suit wearer reiterated.
"Chrono Crown!"
""Who?"" they asked in unison. This time even the boy stopped and looked surprised.
"They're new, aren't they?" He asked in genuine confusion.
"The Imperium's Fastest!" she shouted again trying to get a proper response from them…only to fail a second time.
The Magic Bulletsmith looked like she wanted to scream…which she did. "He's Dryfe's number one PK'er!"
That got a reaction out of them.
Crescent had heard Bun-Bun was a pretty serious PK'er- mainly due to some players that tried toescape paying the bill- but if he was an even bigger PK'er than Bun-Bun, did that mean he was at least as dangerous as even the Endless Armory.
As that thought crossed her mind, the image of a cat faunus with long galaxy-colored hair flashed into her mind.
She felt herself shivering as she remembered that helplessness. That overwhelming power which she couldn't even oppose with all of her might.
"Superior…" she let slip from her lips just loud enough to be heard.
"He's not a Superior, but he's hunted down every sixth-form Embryo in Dryfe at one point or another and PK'd almost all of them," JAnz said, sweat dripping down her face.
That was something of a relief, but if he was still dangerous enough to hunt sixth-form Embryo Masters successfully, then he was probably still very dangerous.
Crescent withdrew her rifle from her inventory. She wasn't sure what good it would do, but if his Embryo focused on speed, then this narrow space was to their advantage and JAnz's Embryo helped with accuracy so they should at least have a chance since AGI-focused builds tended to be fragile from what she had learned browsing the wiki.
After collecting all of his drops, he finally started walking towards them. His ice skates having turned back into shoes.
His pace was even and measured. The complete contrast of the three nervous women he was approaching.
Before he was within ten metels of them, he raised his hands in surrender, "I'm not here for PK'ing today. I'm just exploring the ruins like you are."
"A likely story," JAnz shouted. "I'm not going to let you PK me like last time." She said unleashing a full spray volley upon the young boy.
Chrono Crown lived up to his reputation by sticking his hands in his pockets before dodging every single shot.
"Like I said" a voice sounded from behind them.
All three of them were frozen. None of them had even seen him get behind them.
There was no denying he was fast. If anything it explained how he managed to PK so many Masters with strong Embryos. No matter how powerful an Embryo was, if you were given the death penalty before you could even think to activate it, then it didn't matter.
"I am here for the ruins today." He finished before beginning to walk away…only for Wotan to suddenly shift into her Maiden form and grab the small boy.
In that very strange instance, the Imperium's Fastest and number one PK'er looked more like a child squirming in his mother's arms…if said mother dressed as a black wolf with an eye patch and raven wings.
Wotan then began to rock him like he was her baby.
"Let me go!"
"Let me go."
"Let…me…go."
"Let…me…."
And he was out like a light. Wrapped in the soft comfy embrace of Wotan.
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Earlier that day
Chrono Clow, true identity 12th Control A.I. Rabbit, real name Infinite World Embryo Infinite Time Chronos Kairos Aion was looking down at the three bodies that were evaporating into particles of light.
He took a water bottle out of his inventory and took a seat watching as the King of Scratch, Brazen Brawler, King of Alchemist, LtG, and the most brutal in the Duel Rankings, Dahlia Decoy disappeared as they took the death penalty.
While the King of Scratch was the only one in his technical striking range, the other two had made the fight so much more interesting. If his hunch was right one of the latter two either made it to their sixth form or were close.
He smiled. He had been acting as a PK'er to force more Embryos to try and evolve into Superior Embryos faster.
At least that is the rationale he had given the other Control A.I.s.
In his mind, the image of a young boy who simply wanted the time to live a good life flashed before his eyes.
He would live enough for him and his late Master, the real Chrono Crown.
No matter what.
He made the vow in his heart, something he hadn't had before his avatar was created by the 1st Control A.I., Alice.
It was still strange for him to go from time-controlling pocket watches to having a personality and that made regulating his emotions rather difficult.
This was why some Masters believed he was bipolar or perhaps mentally unstable…such as the three he had just given the death penalty.
Laugh at him for enjoying a peanut butter sandwich on a picnic in the middle of a field on a cool slightly windy day will they?
Before he could get riled up again, he received a message from the Control A.I. charged with managing the graphics and translations for all Masters, Duchess, as well as the control A.I. in charge of dangerous existences, Dormouse.
Those two calling him together was neither common nor a sign of good things. So, he answered immediately.
[A dangerous…entity…has appeared…in ruins…Northwest of…location]. Duchess said. Due to the massive strain on her processing power, she had trouble speaking at a normal pace.
[Can't Dormouse handle it. Dangerous existences are his job.] Chrono replied.
This time the message was from Dormouse himself, [I am afraid I cannot. We just got a potential lead on the next iteration of you know who. Chesire and I are already looking into it. I'm sending the data now.]
As much as he wanted to complain. If what Dormouse said was true, then they had every reason to investigate it.
As for his assignment, it couldn't be helped. It was a threat that could affect the entire world…meaning his time to experience new things.
He was the only one free. Cheshire was handling all of the miscellaneous jobs on top of running the tutorial for new Masters while Caterpillar was still trying to fix up Legendaria's environment after so many wide-scale annihilation types fought in that coup.
There was absolutely no way they would let Jabberwock get involved less they ended up with some gargantuan monstrosity that threatened the annihilation of the world.
As it was since they were only a species of monster that replicated quickly, the Control A.I. charged with UBMs was not interested, but the second one of them mutated into a unique existence…yeah probably best not to think about it.
One of these days, they would need to sit their UBM-obsessed colleague down to discuss taking things too far.
Yeah, he realized the irony of him of all Embryos saying that but what could he do? Emotions were still new to him.
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Back to the Present
Chrono Crown was new to things like sleeping. How he ever got by without it he couldn't remember. Maybe because he had no need for it given his real form was a couple of pocket watches.
But while he had a body, he enjoyed the sensation. It was so calming and refreshing…and soft…soft(?)
Why did he feel like he was floating?
What was he doing before he went to sleep again?
The monsters! His mind reeled as he jerked himself awake…only to find himself in a baby harness(?)
"What?" was the only thing he could say as he realized he was dangling off the ground…in an actual baby harness…strapped to a Type: Maiden Embryo…in a wolf costume(?)
He wanted to live and experience new things, but this was not one of the things he expected he would ever experience.
"So, like why does Wotan have a baby harness?" he heard a woman ask. She had purple hair and a teal outfit.
They had started a fire and were taking a break to eat.
"She asked me to get it since it would help her carry and cuddle more Embryos." A second woman explained seeming a tad embarrassed by the admission.
"Aren't you worried he's like some super old man pretending to be a lil kid?" the first Master.
This time a third one answered, "No, I've met him before. Honestly, it feels more like his personality matches his appearance. Honestly, I've seen some younger brats more behaved."
If not for the warm soothing softness enveloping him, he would have sliced her head open. The Maiden Embryo was hugging him.
"I still can't believe a lil kid is Dryfe's top PK." The embers of his anger turned towards the purple-haired girl again. He was not a little kid. He was a man…well a pair of pocket watches, but they were fully evolved pocket watches.
"It's not that hard to believe." The dark blue-haired one with the pistols said, "Rumor has it there is a Superior who's in elementary school."
"No way."
"It's true."
"' World of infinite possibilities'" the purple-haired woman seemed to quote.
"Do you want something to eat?" the one behind him asked causing Chrono to look up and the others around the campfire to turn towards them.
Her soft fur and rhythmic rocking made it hard for him to refuse her. "Sure."
As she lowered them to the ground, he could have escaped – and eviscerated them all in the time it took them to blink – but something about the blonde Embryo soothed him.
As he took the sandwich she offered him, he ate it in silence as the other three stared at them.
"Soooo…" the dark blue-haired one eventually ventured to ask, "You're not going to PK us?"
"Do you have more sandwiches?" he asked having quickly finished his sandwich. As he finished asking the Embryo he was strapped to him and held up two sandwiches.
"Ham or chicken?"
"Both." He said taking the two sandwiches and started eating them.
They were really good. If he recalled correctly, these three are from the Clock Tower which has a member with a cooking Superior Job.
"If you're not here for PK'ing, then why are you here?" the dark blue-haired one asked.
Before he could ask for a drink, the Embryo he was connected to handed him an orange soda.
How did she know I liked orange soda?
Finishing off the ham sandwich he took the soda and downed half of it.
"A buddy of mine told me that there was some good grinding here." He lied. Normally he would have told them it was none of their business, but whatever the Type: Maiden that was still holding onto him was doing was making him act and feel weird.
Just to be sure he double-checked his status, but there were no debuffs listed.
"Do you want to party up with us?" the second Master, the one with silver eyes, asked.
It wouldn't be the first time someone had asked him that. though most who did so weren't very polite, and several were just plain trying to use him.
Both cases typically ended with an ice skate to the neck.
However, this one was different.
He remembered something Cheshire had told him about a certain Master who had glomped onto him during her tutorial and how she had gone on to have an interesting Maiden Embryo.
But there was still one question he had to ask.
Looking up, he met the Maiden's eye as one of them was covered by an eye patch, "Are you going to let me go?"
The wolf/raven Maiden smiled, "I know you like it, but I will let you out if we have to fight."
As her smile bloomed bigger, "Until then I'll cuddle you as much as you want."
For some reason, he felt his face heat up.
Normally he should have refused her, yet for some unknown reason, he couldn't find it in himself to.
"Deal. Send me the party request."
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Magic Bulletsmith, JAnz
Since she began playing ID, JAnz had seen many strange Masters with unusual ways of fighting; a Mage who dragged opponents into giant mud banks with a giant crab, a man who fought using the spray cans fused to his back, a Lancer who used a pool stick and giant billiard balls to fight, a man wrapped in golden strings that could manipulate explosions, but despite all that, she still felt surprised seeing a young boy cute enough to rival her beloved Cheshire moving faster than her eye or even her Embryo could track destroying monsters with a pair of shoes that could shift between normal footwear and ice skates.
She also knew the slimes had resistance to physical attacks which meant each slime was attacked multiple times before disappearing, but because of his speed, it appeared as a single attack that she could not follow.
What was even stranger was that he only took a few drop items and was giving them the rest.
No, what was weird was that he kept hopping back into the baby harness Wotan was still wearing. She was cuddling a vicious player killer who spent most of his time hunting down sixth-form Embryo users for fun like he was her adorable – which she would admit he was – little brother.
No, what was weird was that the one doing all of this was the Chrono Crown, the most dangerous PK in Dryfe. Someone famed for hating joining parties and doing anything other than PK.
The weirdest thing was that Crescent, Wotan, Chrono, and even Kelly were chatting and sharing cookies like it was completely normal.
Okay, just this whole situation was completely and utterly WEIRD!
Sighing and mentally wondering if Wotan's suit could inflict some type of debuff that got past the player protection system, she fired her pistol into a crowd of slimes causing them to explode into flames upon impact.
She didn't even bother trying to avoid Chrono when he was out front. He was so fast he seemed to be able to easily dodge any shot she or Crescent fired.
Truthfully, it was a blessing as he gave the trio some breathing room, and with the buffs from Kelly, Chrono seemed to be even faster.
However, it wasn't like she was letting herself get caught up in the comradery. She had already been PK'd by the pint-sized terror before. She had even readjusted her build for the sole purpose of becoming able to better combat The Rabbit.
Part of her wanted to simply shoot him in the back, but she knew it wouldn't mean anything against the pint-sized terror.
Her previous clan had destroyed itself trying to take him down. Despite all their efforts, Dryfe's PK had only lost to Superiors or those strong enough to rival Superiors.
She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, it was large and metallic, but still somehow gentle.
Turning she locked eyes with Crescent who's face guard was open.
When had the others walked past her?
"I know you have a history with Chrono," Crescent said softly enough that no one else could hear her.
"Are you going to tell me I should let my grudge go?"
"What?" she blinked, "No, pay him back, just do it when you think you can win. He's max level with a Superior Job, so you need to at least be max level to do it. Use this to learn about how he fights."
JAnz blinked at her response.
That was a very good plan.
"It's gaming etiquette after all." Crescent smiled at her.
JAnz smiled back, "Have you always been this devious?"
"No, just something my uncle taught me whenever I or my sister beat him in video games. 'Turnaround is fair play.'"
At that, JAnz chuckled.
She would make the most of this time together to better observe her target.
Suddenly both of them shivered. "Did it just get colder?"
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Center of the Ruins
It was starting to awaken. But it was so cold.
So very cold.
It wanted warmth.
It desired warmth.
It NEEDED warmth.
It could sense warmth.
Several bits of warmth all above it.
Moving, but never coming close enough to it.
It NEEDED warmth.
It couldn't stand the cold.
It HATED the cold.
It NEEDED warmth.
Why do they hoard the warmth?
They keep warmth from it.
It must steal the warmth or it would die.
It moved.
And that is where we're gonna leave it for today. Despite being an Infinite Embryo, even if limited to his sixth form, Chrono is no match for the soft cuddliness of Wotan.
I know some of you are probably thinking 'but Ruby isn't a devious person' or something similar and to that, I say that to her this is a game, a realistic game, but still a game. Since no one actually died, but instead just had a 24-hour login ban, it's a different story.
Doctor Green Egg = Bartholomew Oobleck
4-Leaf = Qrow Branwen
Great Huntsman Portobello = Peter Port
Pan Hook = Scarlet David
Crescent Rose = Ruby Rose
Kelly Hawks = Reese Chloris
JAnz = Nebula Violette
Brazen Brawler = Brawnz Ni
LtG = Henry Marigold
Dahlia Decoy = Vernal
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