Chapter 167

PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh - 2:54 PM

“That’s so gross!” Mercury exclaimed as he watched my foot slowly grow back. “You’re like a Troll or something!”

After settling down, I discovered that I had lost my left foot, shoe and all, to one of the snapping cables. My brain hadn’t registered it at the time, several others had struck me and left gouges on my body, until I tried to stand up. I didn’t fall, but I nearly did. Mercury was kind enough to find where it landed, though he had been understandably squeamish about removing the extremity. I had done so without hesitation, tossing it into my inventory to be disposed of properly.

Thankfully, I wasn’t going to be maimed for very long. In fact, my entire body was pulling itself back to prime condition thanks to the tip I got from my girlfriend. Using a Synthesis Page on Eldritch Regeneration and Storied Hero had been very good for me.

[[Passive]]

Heavenly Hero

Heroes are known for surviving no matter how difficult the task, and those heralded by the Heavens are even tougher than most. Your body knows the form it needs to take, and is resistant to wounds and effects that try to change it.

Your recovery speed increases to 50% of your Constitution stat per minute, and missing body parts will regrow slowly. Once per day, if you would die, survive with 1 hit point instead. You become invulnerable to everything except damage from Demonic sources for 5 seconds, and you regain 4% of your hit points per second during this time. Angelic skills cost 10% less to activate or sustain.

“Yeah, I’ve been enjoying accelerated healing for a while now,” I finally said to my new companion.

“In hindsight, though, you probably should have blasted those cables with your mouth beam thing,” he said. “Probably would have been a lot safer.”

“Can’t argue with that logic,” I said with a chuckle.

In truth, I hadn’t wanted to resort to that again. The first few times had been to show off, but it was such a resource heavy attack that I didn’t want to keep spamming it. If the Accumulator had managed to escape somehow and dodge the brunt of the damage, then I wanted to stay fighting fit.

If I had come for Mercury under my normal timeline, which was a week in the future, I would have had Distant Slice from the auction house. That would have made cutting those wires so much safer. The way I had done it wasn’t going to kill me, especially with Heavenly Hero’s caveat of surviving with 1 hit point, but there were definitely better ways to do it.

A thought stayed in the back of my mind, as if Sara, Kayla, and Jeff were all yelling at me not to treat my hit points like a resource. I shoved it back down. My girlfriend, at least, didn’t think it was unnecessary.

While thinking about my deputy guild master, I pulled up the guild notices now that Mercury wasn’t asking about how much pain I had to be in.

[[Guild Notice]]

Guildmaster [Anthony Franklin] and Member [Leonard Langston] have liberated [PPG Paints Arena].

Sol Ligatus has gained 75 Guild Points. You may rank up the guild in the guildhall.

[[Guild Rank Up!]]

Deputy Guildmaster [Kayla Mills] has ranked up the guild in your stead. Sol Ligatus is now at rank 6!

Rewards: additions to the guildhall are now 10% cheaper, craft workers with the appropriate guild extensions take 25% less time when crafting.

Collect 500 Guild Points to increase your rank and gain more rewards. Sol Ligatus currently has 61 Guild Points.

We still had a long way to go until we hit rank 10 before we left Pittsburgh, but we were coming along nicely. Unless something drastic happened, I wasn’t anticipating missing the goal even if I did undergo the trial.

Gingerly placing my foot on the ground, I stood up. It was a little tender, but nothing to write home about. My clothes were more beat up than I was at this point, though I wasn’t about to spend time to get them fixed up at the train. I pulled out the Canned Armorfix and patched up where I needed to, but didn’t use much of it at all.

“You’re already ready?” Mercury asked, standing up. He stretched as he looked around the arena. Everything was back to normal, with even the monster trucks back in pristine position.

“Almost. You left the loot for me, remember?” I asked as I started heading down to the arena.

“Of course I do, I’ve been waiting to figure out what it was!” he said excitedly, following me down.

I smiled at Mercury’s enthusiasm. He was the nervous sort when it came to certain situations, sometimes to the point where he reminded me of Howard Cooper, my Chaos Cup manager, but once he decided something like loyalty then he was ride or die. Life was very black and white for him in that way, and I respected him for it.

We made our way to the hill in the center of the arena where two items laid in the center. One was a white skill book, and the other was a sinister crown made of broken bones. They were strung together with a white string, and two small horns emerged from the front. I immediately removed the Circlet of Wasps from my head, tossed it into my inventory, and replaced it with the new headgear.

While I looked it over, I sent the details to Mercury.

[[Item]]

Crown of Broken Bones

(+12 Wisdom, +12 Willpower, Boneshake spell acquired, Boneshatter spell acquired)

[[Spell]]

Boneshake

Target one creature with a bone structure when you activate this spell. All of the bones in its body vibrate violently, causing damage equal to your Willpower stat and debuffing Strength and Dexterity for Wisdom*0.5 seconds. The duration of this effect will be lowered by enemies with a sufficiently high Constitution stat. Cost: 150 Mental Points.

[[Spell]]

Boneshatter

Target one bone within sight and shatter it. The efficacy of this spell is based on the difference between your Willpower stat and their Constitution stat. Some bones will be harder to break than others. Cost: 80 Mental Points.

Both spells were good in their own way. Boneshake was an absolute unit for single target debuffs and shaving health off even if the Mental Point cost was high. Boneshatter was a little more niche, mostly to be used on undead enemies that showed off the bones inside, but could still come in handy when the right conditions were met.

As he read through it, I picked up the white skill book. It had a picture of a skeleton superimposed over a body striking a pose with its hands on its hips. Instead of activating it and learning the passive, I pulled out a Synthesis Page.

[[Notice]]

You are about to merge the Strong Bones passive (skill book) with the Thick Skull passive (skill book) to create the passive Bones of Steel.

Would you like to learn the passive Bones of Steel?

Yes

No

The Thick Skull passive was one of the first I had picked up after fighting with Banzi and Danzi, the Abomination Clowns, back in the tutorial. It decreased damage to my head by 20% while increasing damage caused by my headbutts by an additional 20%. It had become a go-to move, but with Willpower now far outstripping my Strength, it was time to upgrade it for something even more defensive.

I hit yes.

[[Notice]]

You have learned the passive Bones of Steel.

 

[[Passive]]

Bones of Steel

Your bones have been altered to be several times stronger than the average person’s.

And that was it. I gave the screen a somewhat lopsided smile as I read it. While the passive wasn’t very informative on what it actually did, I knew that it would take me a lot of effort to actually break a bone now. I wasn’t getting the same damage increase from Thick Skull, but I knew that I could stop bullets with my forehead from a gunner of a similar level to my own.

Not that I would recommend it, though.

With a jerk of my head, I gestured for Mercury to follow me, and he did. “You should have more than enough points now to jumpstart pretty much every stat and ability you have.”

“Yes,” he confirmed, drawing out the word. “Already did while you were regrowing your foot. I can do so much more stuff now! Oh, but, how’s that feel, by the way? The foot, I mean. Like are all the nerves still connected or does it just feel like a lump of dead meat?”

“Nah, it’s a fully functioning foot,” I said, wiggling my toes even as I walked. “It would be pretty bad if I lost a limb and I had trouble with it, don’t you think?”

“I guess that’s fair, though not everything here is fair,” Mercury said, prompting a nod from me. We stepped out onto the street and were met with a light flurry of snow falling from the sky. “So, we’re heading back to the guild hall?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. You may have gotten enough points to boost yourself up to our level, but-“

“Hold up, are you saying that everyone in your crew is completely maxed out?” he asked dubiously. I noticed that the snowflakes were sticking to his black outfit. Not only that, but they seem to swerve into positions that others weren’t occupying, and his clothes were slowly becoming camouflaged.

“Not sure about our Monstersmith, but I assume she is. The other three fighters in the guild definitely are,” I answered. “I’m not, but I have special circumstances.”

“Special how?”

“I already completed a second scenario back in Atlanta,” I said with a smirk. “But I haven’t increased my stats up to 40 yet. Saving that for a rainy day.”

Mercury looked like he was arching an eyebrow, but it was hard to tell with his face covered like that. “How rainy a day do you need?”

“I’ll need something to force me to upgrade or die,” I told him honestly. “It needs to be either a challenge or a really good cause. Because, otherwise, things are too boring.”

“Boring?” he repeated incredulously. “You just fought a stadium sized centipede bone monster and you don’t want to increase your stats because you’ll be bored?”

A smile played on my lips. I could only admit that because of Sara’s accusation back in Atlanta. She had asked me if I was bored because I needed handicaps in the Chaos Cup. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but the Angel had been absolutely right.

One hundred attempts, centuries of life, and I was bored. Less so than normal now that I had Sara and the Mills, but still. These were all tests that I had already passed before.

Instead of answering with all that, I merely shrugged. “Sometimes it’s hard knowing what’ll happen before it does.”

“Yeah, alright, I’ll give you that. Like playing the same game over and over again,” Mercury said with a nod. “Okay, then if we’re not going to the guildhall, where are we going?”

“Back into the Pitt. As I was saying before you interrupted-“

“Sorry about that.”

I snorted. “As I was saying, we need to get you up to the same standards as the rest of the team,” I explained as I gestured towards him. He was almost completely covered in snow now, which made him harder to see if I didn’t know what to look for already. “Your armor’s decent, but we need to get you a good weapon and points.”

“I have a good weapon,” he said defensively. Reaching behind him, Mercury pulled out a plain, slightly curved dagger. I recognized it as the one he threw at the Accumulator not once, but twice. The first time to end one of the rounds, and the second time when he attempted to destroy its essence and end the dungeon. “It’s returning, and the stats are good. See?”

Its description appeared in front of me.

[[Item]]

Self-Sheathing Dagger

(+3 Strength, +3 Dexterity, Returning Blade passive acquired)

[[Passive]]

Returning Blade

If this dagger leaves your hands, then 3 seconds after it comes to a stop it will be teleported back to its sheathe.

Mercury puffed himself up as if he expected me to agree that his weapon was actually really great. It had utility, for sure, but a +6 total boost to stats wasn’t exactly anything to write home about this late in the game. This was average gear at best that would really only work as a secondary method of striking and as a ranged option.

I ignored him, only going so far as to snap away the item screen. “When I say we need to get you points, it’s so we can open a bank account at Rexxel’s,” I explained. “Once you have the minimum amount, then you can deposit it and start accumulating interest upon doing quests. It’ll make a hefty chunk unavailable to you, but it’ll pay itself off well in the future.”

“Yeah, I guess,” he said, sheathing his dagger.

“You also need points to boost your sister up,” I continued. “She’ll get points for making tea potions with that class, and gain even more when we use them, but the higher her stats right off the bat the more potent her works will be.”

Mercury crossed his arms. “I’m still not completely convinced about bringing her on board, you know.”

“I know,” I said with a nod. “You can have your reservations if you want, but she’ll be safe with us. There’s two of us who can communicate with her, actually. Myself and someone who was a librarian before the system dropped.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, your sister’s in good hands,” I answered honestly.

Bethany Langston, also introduced as Belladonna Nightshade by her brother, was a ten year old girl who had been born deaf. She spent her entire life without hearing a sound until the system came and “fixed” everyone back into perfect condition. It had been a life-changing experience for her more than most others.  While she was still learning what most spoken words meant, her first language was American Sign Language by necessity.

It wasn’t an easy transition by any means, but Bethany had an indomitable spirit despite her shyness. That wouldn’t show this early on with everything happening in the world, though it wouldn’t be long until she became a Tea Witch well worth putting time and effort into. A lot of trial and error had been done in order to come to this conclusion as she was a package deal with Mercury, and I considered it a necessity to get where I was today.

“We’ll see,” he said, though he was obviously up for trying. “And you have some kind of problem with my Self-Sheathing Dagger?”

“I’m just saying that you can do better. A lot better,” I answered, glancing in his direction. As we got closer to Gateway Station, the crowds started becoming more substantial, and I lowered my voice. “How do you feel about intelligent weapons?”

Mercury’s head snapped my way. “I’m interested.”

“Good. There’s a place not too far from the top layer, less than a half hour walk. It’s well hidden and considered a puzzle dungeon,” I said. “The whole thing is dedicated to The Princess.”

He gestured for me to continue. “Even more interested.”

“She’s an intelligent sword spirit,” I explained. “Transforms into the ideal blade for the one who manages to find her. But, well, you’ll see what the puzzle’s all about when we get there.”

“For real? You’re just going to leave me dangling like that?” he asked, exasperated.

“Yup. You’ll get more information then,” I responded, though I was no longer paying attention to the conversation. “Hold up a minute.”

The area around Gateway Station was full of people, which wasn’t unexpected. Teams consisting of a few people to entire guilds were preparing to descend into the Pitt, merchants were loudly hawking their wares, and there were two booths covered in maps right next to the entrance where the Cartographers were selling to everyone. I slowed to a halt.

“What, you want a map?” Mercury asked, but stopped when I did.

“No, I already know where we’re going,” I said absently. It was a sight I had seen hundreds of times before, but something about it felt off today. I glanced around, trying to pinpoint the source of my instinctual discomfort, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. With a gesture to my companion, I continued walking.

Once I was in the middle of a large crowd, I closed my eyes and activated Aura Sense. A cacophony of colors erupted around me as my sight changed from one of vision to something more spiritual. Blues, reds, yellows, greens, and more all mingled together as people interacted. It was more natural during conversation, showing off their feelings as they interacted with others, though it also happened when two auras collided due to a lack of space.

I shifted through them quickly, easily dismissing ones that I felt were mundane. Beside me, Mercury’s aura became more stressed out as he noticed the change in my demeanor, but there was nothing I could do about that.

As we walked into Gateway Station, I noticed a small group peel off and follow after us. All in all, still not something unexpected, but I focused on them. If something was really wrong, then anyone following us would be prime suspects.

To my surprise, they felt hollow inside. Their auras were all uniform in power, thickness, and color to an eerie degree. I quickly counted them and opened my eyes.

“Mercury, I’m going to talk to my Patron real quick,” I whispered as we started descending into the Pitt.

“You have a Patron, too?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’ll explain things here soon enough,” I answered before looking up. “Sara. The six people that came in behind us, anything strange about them?” The reply came quickly.

[[Patron Message]]

No, Ant, they seem like regular people. They’re moving pretty stiffly and seem nervous, but other than that there’s nothing special about them.

What are you seeing that I’m not?

Sincerely,

Sara

“Your Patron’s name is Sara?” Mercury asked.

“Yes, and she’s a delight,” I quickly responded before answering Sara’s question. “Their aura is rigid, uniform, not at all natural. I almost didn’t pick it up in the crowd, probably wouldn’t have if they hadn’t started walking after us.”

“We’re being fo-“ I stopped Mercury before he could turn around and look back up the stairs, pulling him down. “Right, good call, good call.”

“They might be the ones we’re looking for, but I don’t want to make a scene here,” I said before sighing. “But if you can’t see anything wrong with them, then we have a bigger problem on our hands.”

“What kind of problem?” Mercury whispered. “What am I getting into joining up with you?”

Scowling, I waved my hand. “I’ll tell you about Pustibule and Jeremiah on the way,” I said as I snapped open my menu. “Hopefully, I’m wrong, and they’ll trail off somewhere else. It’s just suspicious, is all, and I didn’t survive this long by disregarding things like that.”

We hit the bottom of the stairs and entered the Pitt proper, and I started a long, quiet conversation about he Demons we were expecting on our way. Every so often I would flash out an Aura Sense, confirming that we were, in fact, being followed.