Chapter 130 - Progress

The pack of Lupus was upon him, chains of aether restricting his movement. Just before the lead level three monster ripped out his throat, Blake completed Hastened Gale’s spell form, and it was flung backward, along with the rest of its small pack. 

The Slow which bound him immediately faded as four wolf-like creatures tumbled along the shaded forest floor until their momentum was finally arrested, almost fifty feet away.

There we go. Finally, some breathing room.

He slammed the butt of his spear into the moist soil, rapidly unhooked his bow from his shoulder, and retrieved an arrow from his quiver. At times, the bulky ranged weapon and quiver on his back hindered his ability to fight when he fought with his spear. However, the current situation was exactly why he put up with the annoyance.

Once the arrow was charged, he released his draw, and the projectile raced forward. It pierced deep into the chest of the right-most Lupus, the aether user, but failed to kill it. The sound of its yelp echoed off the trees, but it powered through its pain and channeled its favored spell. He felt the Slow once again take partial effect on him, and his movement was once again restrained. 

Despite the annoyance, Blake grinned. A moment later, the chi charged arrow exploded from within the Lupus’ chest. Its heart was obliterated, and the chains of aether which restricted him dissolved.

Thank God. That shit was annoying.

Blake’s Magic Resistance was high enough that it was a rare occurrence for a level three monsters' spells to directly affect him. This was especially true of Lupus. While they generally focused on either aether or chi, they rarely increased their magic based attributes. 

I guess they don’t see the need.

While a few aether abilities could be used to directly attack a person, most were utilized for utility or to disrupt an opponent. His Magic Resistance was dramatically higher than the average Lupus’ Magic Power, and most of their spells were fully resisted. 

It must have exclusively enhanced its Magic Power or something.

Before the three remaining monsters could launch a counter-attack, Blake swiftly and efficiently executed them. Arrows pierced deep into their bodies and blood fountained from the subsequent chi explosions. 

Unfortunately, the third Lupus’ fur glowed from Hardened Shell.

His last projectile failed to penetrate its protected hide, and the chi explosion barely staggered it. Despite the failure, Blake had already readied another arrow and now patiently waited for the ability to expire. 

What’re you gonna to do now?

While Hardened Shell remained active, the Lupus might as well be invulnerable. While he could chip away at the spell’s integrity with his spear, or pepper it with arrows until it failed, there was an easier way.

Just wait until the ability expired.

The Lupus must have come to the same conclusion, as it immediately rushed toward him. Unfortunately for it, its movement was heavily slowed while its protection remained active. Before the wolf-like monster even closed half the distance between them, its fur lost its shimmer, and Hardened Shell was cancelled.

Blake released the arrow he had readied and quickly ended the last monster’s life. 

How close am I now?

He resisted the urge to immediately open his status. Instead, he quickly fired off an Oblate Mind Sense to scan the vicinity for threats. The Psi ability stretched outward two hundred feet horizontally, but revealed no sentient life. Satisfied that he would not be ambushed again, he quickly opened his abbreviated status.

• Viscount Blake Summers, Scion of Humanity, Ambassador to the Architect

• Combat Classification - Level 2

• General Skills -

  • Summon Companion

  • Spatial Storage III - 33%

  • Analyze III - 41%

  • Request Audience

  • Unarmed Combat Mastery IV - 100%

  • Sword Mastery VI - 82%

  • Spear Mastery VI - 100%

  • Bow Mastery II - 48%

  • Shield Mastery III - 57%

  • Axe Mastery IV - 1%

  • Knife Mastery II - 34%

  • Tracking IV - 38%

• Spells - 

  • Chi - 

    • Transferable Focused Regeneration - 39%

    • Sustained Alacrity - 62%

  • Mana -

    • Shared Improved Flame Shield - 27%

    • Hastened Gale - 45%

  • Psi - 

    • Improved Directed Mind Blast - 44%

    • Oblate Mind Sense - 72%

  • Aether - 

    • Charged Guided Spatial Step - 100%

    • Adjustable Dampen Sound - 100%

• Nano - 1,672m

Only thirty-eight percent Bow Mastery? 

Since he returned to The Dome four days ago, he had consistently completed two level three scenarios each day. A single level four scenario would have netted the same amount of nano, but efficiency was not his current goal. 

He wanted his Bow Mastery to reach level three before he leveled. 

Despite the ten percent tax to his faction, nano flowed into his coffers at a pace that made others drool. While they could gain at most two to three meganano per day, Blake was different.

Not only were his attributes massively inflated from his titles and feats, he also received eight abilities from his omniclass at level two. When that was combined with his extensive combat experience, he was able to tackle scenarios above his level solo. 

That alone would have greatly accelerated his leveling speed. However, he also possessed the title, Scion of Humanity, which doubled all his nano gains. With everything combined, he was able to maintain a steady income of close to one hundred million nano per day before taxes.

Still not as fast as Jennifer…

Blake shook his head.

It’s utterly ridiculous.

He risked his life on a daily basis and earned his nano through blood, sweat, and tears. Meanwhile, people just threw money at her on the off chance that she would respond to their posts.

Before he could work himself into another rage at the injustice, he forcibly calmed himself down.

Remember Blake, you did this to yourself.

In his previous life, her money-making scheme would have been almost impossible. Not only was there no social media section of the interface, but nano could only be transferred through touch. His chat with the Architect two and a half weeks ago, however, had changed that and many other things.

Rather than focus on what he could not control, he redirected his energy somewhere more helpful, his own progress.

Okay, so at this rate, I’ll reach level three in nine more days. Over the last four, my Bow Mastery went up from twenty-four percent to forty-eight. If I can keep up the same speed, in eight days, I should be at ninety-six percent mastery.

If Blake’s math was correct, he should reach Bow Mastery III just before he gained enough nano to level. His aether abilities were already maxed out for his level, but if he were lucky, he might master Oblate Mind Sense in that time.  

Well, probably not. But, that’s fine.

Eventually, he would no longer evolve all of his abilities each level. Once he had dozens of abilities to upgrade, the cost would quickly become prohibitive, despite his Combat Connoisseur feat, which halved upgrade costs. He could siphon funds from the treasury to pay for them, as Corwin suggested, but honestly, the money would be best spent elsewhere.

Ability evolutions did not make a spell stronger, only changed them. There was always a price to pay for that customization, either in energy, increased time between use, or some other cost.

Wait a minute! Of course! Why didn’t I think of that before?

For the last couple of weeks, Blake had regularly attempted to activate an ability without the Collective’s assistance. Then, a few days ago, Jeff advised him to start small and only modify an existing spell. He had repeatedly attempted to extend the distance of his Charged Guided Spatial Step ability. 

Unfortunately he had yet to make any progress.

It didn’t work because I never paid for the modification!

Blake’s lips stretched wide in a manic grin. If his theory were correct, all he needed to do was manually feed the ability additional aetheric energy for the change to be accepted.

He quickly visualized his Charged Guided Spatial Step ability and its intended results, but did not activate it. Then, he imagined himself being teleported a few feet farther. Simultaneously, he focused on his aetheric energy reservoir, and how much of the fuel would be consumed to power the ability. 

More!

Blake force-fed the ability extra energy and mentally activated it. Suddenly, his whole body burned, while his brain felt like it was about to explode. His vision went dark, and he felt a sudden sense of vertigo as he lost his balance.

When his vision returned a few moments later, he found himself on the ground, sprawled among the leaves.

Oww! I guess that didn’t work either.

Blake rubbed his temples before he climbed to his feet with a sigh. He turned to stomp back to his spear in defeat when he suddenly froze.

Where is it?

He had stood directly next to his spear, still lodged into the ground, when he made his attempt. The ability could only transport him twenty feet, yet his weapon was nowhere in sight. Blake turned three hundred and sixty degrees and scanned the woods in an effort to make sense of the situation. 

What the hell?

Almost fifty feet to his rear, a small stream cut through the forest. A trickle of water flowed through the pebbles and disappeared into the distance.

Okay, I may not have paid as much attention to my surroundings as I should have, but I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed that.

In an attempt to gather more data, Blake checked his status.

Okay, the ability used one of my charges. That’s normal. Now let’s check my energy levels… HOLY SHIT!

His aetheric energy was almost empty. Only a trickle of fuel remained in the reservoir, which could easily have accumulated in the last few minutes.

No wonder I almost passed out, I literally fed the spell everything I had. 

Blake closed his interface and searched the area once again.

Maybe it actually worked? IT WORKED!

Blake whooped and threw his arms into the air. The celebration lasted just moments before he came to a sudden realization.

I need to find my spear.

Luckily, when he supercharged his ability, he had not attempted to change the direction he faced. That meant he should have traveled in a straight line. When he first stood up, he faced away from the small ravine. Accordingly, he should cross the stream and continue in a straight line until he spotted the spear and corpses of the Lupus he killed.

Hopefully I fell straight down and not to the side.

After a quick Oblate Mind Sense, where he confirmed no enemies were nearby, he jumped the small ravine and strode forward, eager to find out how far he travelled.

***

Blake grumbled in annoyance.

Where the hell is it?

For the last thirty minutes, he had searched for his starting point to no avail. To make matters worse, he had failed to mark a nearby tree before he began his hunt. Now, he could not be sure where exactly he landed.

I must have fallen on my side or even backwards.

If true, he would be forced to search in all directions, something that could take him hours.

No. There’s no way I travelled more than a few hundred feet. I just need to use a nautilus search pattern. 

Rather than blindly pick a single direction, he would instead walk in a spiral. Each time he circled his starting location, Blake would be further away. It would make finding his spear more likely, but would make it harder to determine how far he travelled.

Oh, well. It can’t be helped.

Blake began his march.

***

Finally!

It only took him another twenty minutes of searching to find his spear. Unfortunately, because of the circular pattern, and the varied distance between spirals, he had no way to calculate how far he had travelled.

That’s fine, I’ll just do it again!

A howl in the distance reminded him of where he was. Deep within enemy territory on a foreign planet.

Okay, never mind. I’ll test it out as soon as I get back.

***

Blake was spat out of the Lupus’ portal onto the sandy ground. The scenario he just completed was located outside Snowflake, a town thirty miles north of the Dome. Unlike Pinetop and Payson, the area was not a Ponderosa forest high in the mountains. Instead, he was surrounded by desert scrub while he stood atop a rocky hill.

Well, at least I can see for miles in every direction.

Without any further delay, Blake attempted to replicate his previous experiment. He visualized the ability, the change, and the cost, every bit of his energy reserve.

Please work. Please work. Please work.
With a full aetheric energy reservoir, Blake activated Charged Guided Spatial Step. He could immediately tell the change was accepted when his vision went dark, and his body felt like it was lit on fire.

Blake once again found himself on the ground, this time with a mouth half full of sand.

Worth it.

He spat out the grit and blinked his eyes until his vision returned. Once he could see clearly, he searched the horizon and quickly found his starting point.

Holy crap. That’s gotta be almost a quarter mile away! How does that math even make sense?

The ability he used normally required around nine percent of his aetheric energy reserves and transported him twenty feet. This time, he used around ten times the energy, yet travelled fifty to sixty times farther. 

Maybe most of the cost is in creating the spatial fold, not the distance travelled.

He was eager to test out his latest theory, but was unfortunately out of energy. After a quick check of his status, he was also reminded that he was required at yet another council meeting. Blake could attend remotely, as half the council did, or even skip it all-together, but he suddenly found himself ravenous. 

Screw it, I’m not missing dad’s cooking.

Not only did his father’s food increase his attributes for hours after he ate it, the cuisine was delicious. He found his mouth already watering at the thought of a juicy Mander steak.

No way I’m missing that.

He briefly considered skipping the meeting after supper, but then remembered Jennifer’s mission. Days before, she and Bobby had travelled down to Phoenix to meet with the Cardinals’ faction leader. By now, she should have something to report.