27 – Non-satisfaction

WARNING: DIGITALIZED MIND BACKUPS DETERIORATION HAS REACHED 50%

Cal saw Julian freeze just as he was about to test the improved device.

“Something’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” the answer took a few seconds, “just thought that I better Appraise this before I use it. You never know. I’m waiting for one last tick of mana, using Precision Morphing drained me.” he said, blowing some air to his face with his free hand.

“Yeah, good idea.” Cal said distractedly. In his head he was trying to recall when Julian had last used the skill, and even though he hadn’t been watching closely because he was keeping an eye on the surroundings, he was pretty sure that Julian did have the MP to Appraise right now.

The forest was silent. Through the now withered plants, Cal could see far in the distance, but all he could see were dying plants moved only by a soft hot breeze. It amazed him how fast everything had died here, in a matter of just days the forest went from lush and green and full of life to a wasteland of death.

“Alright, here.”

A screen with the results of the Appraisal appeared in Cal’s vision.

>Resonating Spectrophotonic Oscillator. One-of-a-kind Rarity. A small portable radio, made of minuscule copper mechanical pieces of exquisite complexity, encased in a vacuum glass container and enhanced with pieces of Crystal Cores. Used to communicate with the Controller of the Alpha 3 Phoebi Habitat.

By the time he was done reading, the light of the habitat was already dimming. An early, artificially induced dusk preceded a night that lasted only a few seconds, before the light of day returned.

“Okay. It works.”

***

“Is it them?” Julian asked.

“It’s them.”

“Good.”

Julian walked until he was almost within range of the team. Their Scout had spotted him and Cal approaching, and the five people had all trained their weapons at the incoming duo, shooting deadly looks. They were intimidating, the three Tharlaxians with their impressive stature, and both the human and the Torian commanded respect with their powerful aura. Their power was palpable, and the tension grew.

“Oy dipshits.” Julian yelled.

Cal felt his heart beat like crazy. It was almost painful. He gripped his Staff, the sole semblance of power he had, no matter how illusory. Julian was holding the Oscillator radio behind his back with one hand, while the other was waving at the opposing team. It had taken them five days to go back to the village, gather information and eventually chase the team all the way to the foot of the Ring of mountains. They had not gone too far, having wasted time chasing Cal back to the village, they had probably decided to take it easy on the way to the mountains. All this time Cal had spent in a mix of fear and anticipation, and he couldn’t believe that soon it was all going to be over.

“You the dickheads who almost merc’d my friend here? I’m going to show you the meaning of unsatisfactory resolution of conflict. Here.”

The enemy leader, the fearful commander who almost singlehandedly killed Cal only a few days ago, was barely able to open his mouth before the sky went dark. From a bright point in the firmament an incinerating ray materialized in a moment, photons traveling at the speed of light focusing the entire output of a sun in a single localized point on the asteroid. The beam tore through the stone, penetrating layer after layer until it emerged on the other side without it even dimming slightly, and when it ceased not five seconds later, only a huge circular hole was left. It was dozens of meters in radius.

An long list of rune gains appeared before their eyes.

+1 Rune.
+1 Rune.
…
+2500 Runes.
+2500 Runes.
+182.933 Runes.
+284.274 Runes.
+124.534 Runes.

“Ho-lee shit.”

Julian stammered, surprised by the power of the weapon, choosing to say nothing as he walked towards the edge of the hole and looked down. Space, actual outer space and a field of stars was visible on the other side of the perforated asteroid for a few moments before the water that had filled the central cavern rushed in to fill the space. For a moment Cal feared that the Core of the asteroid and the control machine were gone, but Julian reassured him that since the asteroid was elliptical all he hit was rock and water. A couple of Elves too, worth the two 2500 Rune kills.

“And only three of them? Where are the other two?”

Cal was faster than Julian in realizing that something was wrong with the Runes, having already fallen in a battle stance while Julian was still looking down into the hole. He looked around, spinning in a circle to cover all directions as the dust settled. A plume of superheated steam was coming out of the hole and making a long line of new clouds that quickly raced towards the horizon, pushed by anomalous currents.

“I don’t see them!” Julian cried out. “Where did they go?”

“I don’t see them either.” Cal said.

“Could they have escaped?”

“Maybe.” He kept looking around.

“They might ambush us. I don’t think they will try a direct approach.” Julian too was looking in every direction, and the two found themselves with their backs touching to cover all 360 degrees of space around them.

After a while Cal felt Julian relax. “No, I don’t think they are anywhere close to here anymore.”

He allowed himself to relax too. “You think?”

“If they are smart.”

“They are smart.” Cal said.

“Well,” Julian joked, “we just earned ourselves our first two real enemies. Speaking of which, who the fuck did we just try to murder, and failed?”

“Assuming it’s their leader who got away, his name is Bel’Oor. He’s from a rival family to mine. The only other one strong enough to have made it out alive must be Trex’Oor, his younger brother. They are savages, young heirs of a family powerful enough that not even my father managed to get rid of them. They were a constant threat, and have many allies both in the multiverse and in the Tower.”

Julian exhaled loudly. “Aww man, this not ideal.”

Cal straightened up from his fearful stance he had unconsciously adopted. “They won’t come back.”

“You think?”

“You have smacked them real hard. They were level 60 at the very least, and yet you almost killed them in one single move. If I were them, I would move to floor 4 as soon as possible and regroup. Maybe set up an ambush there with their other allies.”

“Okay,” Julian said, “this gives us time to search for the Renegade Core in peace. We stock up on supplies however we can here, and then we try and see what’s up on the next floor. Since I can respawn, I might even try to Blitzkrieg their asses and see how it goes. For now, let’s focus on getting stronger. I don’t know about you, but I earned a shitload of runes and I need to assign my levels.”

“Yeah, me too. This was a very nice boost.”

Even though to get the boost, Cal thought without saying anything, innocent Elves were killed and the Habitat was damaged beyond repair. It hurt him to think that, but less than he expected.

“Good!” Julian pat him on the shoulder. “I like this new you. Let’s make a fire.”