Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 66B2 - : Undesirable outcomes

Damn System messages, Jace thought as his sight was flooded with a series of notifications of Greg, Priam, Dee, and Quinn leveling up. “Ollie, can we suppress those notifications?”

“Yup! Doing it now.”

To Jace’s great relief, the screens became tiny tabs on the bottom of his vision. When he focused on one, it would bring up the status screen of his ally. “Perfect. Thank you.” Another message scrolled across his vision.

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[Gift Received: Epic (Variable) Boon]

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Quinn’s voice popped into his earpiece, “I was able to get a good deal, but it took that whole lot of Stardust.”

“Thanks, Quinn,” Jace replied.

“No problem. The rest of the group is going to be attacking Wricen tomorrow after resting up.”

Jace felt a pang of fear race through him. “How’s it looking?”

“Well, they have only really one plan. Full frontal assault, tanking the hits from Wricen and hoping that they can exhaust him.”

Risky, Jace thought. If I was there, I could just sneak in undetected and kill him in one go. But I’m deep in the jungles of another world. And that Big Dry they were going across sounded like it would take weeks to cross. No way I could get there to help. “Anything I can do from here?”

“Greg could use a new weapon.”

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Jace sighed, “Send him the Epic (Variable) Boon, then. They need it more than I do.”

Quinn’s voice was soft and inquisitive, “You sure? You spent a lot of Stardust on it. Three-thousand and change.”

“I’m sure,” Jace replied. “I need them all to survive.”

Quinn was silent for a few seconds, and when her voice returned it was laced with some emotion that Jace couldn’t quite identify. “That is really selfless.”

“Yeah. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a bunch of dinosaurs to kill.”

“I’ll be monitoring,” Quinn replied.

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[Gift Sent: Epic (Variable) Boon]

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Jace nodded as he kept leaping from tree to tree, relying on staying up in the branches where relatively few of these creatures could get to. Traversing the canopy was almost meditative, in a way. A slight challenge, because he was not used to jumping from branch to branch, as the only comparison point he had was running across rooftops and jumping from building to building. But those all had flat surfaces. These were gnarled, curved, and otherwise unpredictable.

Yet at the same time, the fast movement through the branches, digging in with his foot-blades to get a grip, curling his legs under him to launch powerfully up to a hanging branch, and then digging in with his prosthetic fingers to fuel a swing to the next tree was calming. He faced no threats in the trees, and since he was traveling under the effects of his Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3), the dumb dinosaur-like creatures would never locate him.

The perfect blend of a minor challenge mixed with the calm serenity of repetitive action. After this, he thought. This whole cult business, I’m sure Xera will have another task for me to see to. Something to solve to prevent the System from breaking apart. “Ollie, can I run something by you?”

“Yup!” The otter replied as he flew alongside Jace.

“Would I be correct in guessing that most of the threats that Dark Between Stars Signers end up dealing with are people trying to breach the confines of the universe? Like this cult is trying to do?”

“That would be inaccurate,” Ollie replied. “That is some of the threat: but those instances rarely crop up. Like this cult here that we are going to be dealing with shortly.”

“Then…what is the biggest threat to the System’s integrity or balance?”

“What we are doing now! Fixing imbalances is the bulk of it. Whether it is culling animal populations, toppling tyrants, stopping rebellions; trying to maintain order creates balance.”

Makes sense. Just keeping the status quo. But…what about when I reach Tier 10? Yeah, I need to stop Troxanir and do whatever Skill thing it is that Xera needs me to do to block that singularity so other universes can’t come and invade…but what then? If I’m off in the Astral Verge trying to find Chroma then who will keep the System on track while I’m gone?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud roar off in the distance ahead. Refocusing his attention, he kept jumping until he reached the edge of a vast clearing. An enormous field in the middle of the jungle, with dozens of creatures larger than anything Jace had ever seen before. They were gigantic: he would maybe rise to half the height of their large feet.

And they were fighting. Two of these creatures were assaulting each other. Ollie crossed his arms and swam in little circles around Jace, keeping his eyes forward. “These are Kartolls. The one on the right with the muddier-looking appearance is older. The one on the left is younger. They are fighting over a female. We must ensure that the younger one wins; as the older one cannot guarantee offspring.” He shook his head, “They have been fighting for days, based on just a quick scan of the environment.”

Neither creature looked like they were tired in the least. Their brawl was a clash of teeth and muscle. Both creatures appeared like quadrupeds, but they were standing on their hind legs and clawing at each other with their forelegs. Each claw looked to be the size of a cargo van like the ones that Jace saw delivering corpo merch. The sheer power each exerted was startling. “How do I even take something like this out?”

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Quinn’s voice came over the comms, “Let me try some new Skills out.”

Jace’s vision shifted slightly as it became more akin to a heads-up-display, with various data readouts on the periphery of his vision. Most importantly was the highlighted, gold places on both creatures. “What did you do?” Jace asked.

“You were already under the effects of a Celestial Observer. Your first hit against one of those weak spots will deal x6 damage. Your reaction time is improved from another Skill, and I’ve also readied the [Obliteration] Stratagem on you with the trigger condition of “your blade about to impact a target.” This, combined with your x6 damage increase from Wrath’s Embrace (Rank 10) should result in a grievous injury.”

Jace nodded and took a deep breath. No trees to grapple to. Once I’m on that chunk of land, I’ll only be able to grapple onto the creatures. Gotta avoid their feet. Void Blade (Rank 1), Void Shield (Rank 1), Wrath’s Embrace (Rank 10). Time slowed to a crawl from Jace’s perspective, and he dropped thirty feet to the ground, landing in a roll, before getting up and sprinting forward.

He could feel the ground quaking under his feet as he got closer to the two titans engaged in their struggle for supremacy. Jace was able to spot, far off on the other side of the clearing, another one of the creatures with a brighter coloration. Must be the female they are fighting over. He focused on the older one Ollie had designated. The closest weak spot was the back of the neck.

Quinn’s voice came over the comms, “The top of the spine there, where it meets the brain stem, is where the least amount of muscle and cartilage is located. You’ll have to sever the spine up there.”

Jace had to run off course as one of the brutes took an unexpected step towards him. He barely got out of the impact zone as he was bucked off the ground from the force of the impact. Regaining his footing, he felt his energy continuing to drain at a steady rate from all the Skills he was using. Raising his arm up, he fired off the grappling hook and began to ascend. However, the older of the two creatures got the upper hand and pushed the younger one backward. Jace had to extend his foot-blades into the thick hide and stop retracting his grapple line, instead using it as a sort of leash to keep himself tethered. The body hit the ground with a tremendous crash, and he heard the roar of pain from the younger one.

Jace sprinted forward, eyes focused on the weak spot still highlighted by Quinn’s Skill. He saw the head rearing back for a strike. Not enough time! He raised his hand, “Void Beam (Rank 1)!”

The blast of grey energy exploded outward and slammed into the neck of the creature, completely obliterating a hole through the spine and throat; the damage amplification was practically useless as the beam annihilated matter upon contact. It gurgled, and a surge of brackish, brown blood surged upward as it began to topple sideways. Jace felt exhausted: the cost of using the Void Beam without it’s limiter Skill Evolution: and let all his Skills deactivate as he ran the opposite direction of the topple so as not to be crushed.

It finally finished its death roll with another enormous thud and lay still. The younger of the two creatures tried to move, but did not seem to be able to. “Shame,” Ollie said. “Looks like it suffered injury preventing it from moving.”

“I just killed that thing for nothing?”

Ollie shrugged, “Sometimes the balance cannot be maintained, and a Signer for Xera must chalk it up to bad luck.”

“But…it can be cured, can’t it?” Jace sat on the ground and sucked in air.

“You do not have a Skill appropriate to it.” Ollie waved his hand at the fallen Kartoll and dusted it.

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[Stardust Acquired: 15000]

[Stardust Split: 3000]

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“But I do have a Boon I could use,” Jace retorted. “I could get some type of healing elixir that could cure wounds…or something.” He glanced at the female creature off on the side of the glade that cautiously watched. “Will the species die out or something?”

“No. The female will search for another male. But it may take some time.”

Xera’s voice came over the comms, “Don’t worry about that, Jace. If you could fix this, you should. But you cannot; and a Common (Equipment) Boon would not manifest something potent enough to heal a creature of this size. Just end its suffering and dust it.”

Jace sighed but nodded, “No, that makes sense.” He pushed himself up and willed Void Blade (Rank 1) onto his weapon, as that cost no energy thanks to Nethaldrim’s inherent property. Walking around to the creature’s head, he stayed out of range as it tried to bite at him. “Sorry, big guy. I can at least put you out of your misery.” Jace threw the blade overhand, aiming for one of the enormous, car-sized, brown, slitted eyes. It sank deep, and the creature let out a slight roar before stilling.

Jace summoned the blade back to his grip, and Ollie dusted it.

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[Stardust Acquired: 15000]

[Stardust Split: 3000]

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I guess it’s a good lesson to learn. Xera might send me to keep order in the System, but I should accept that sometimes there will be undesirable outcomes. I can try my hardest, but sometimes luck…or fate…or whatever will say something different. He sheathed his blade and looked back to the tree line. Walking over to it, and hoisting himself up with his grapnel, he pulled out the (Restful) Wildercloth tent, set it up, and tried to fall asleep.

Greg was mid-breakfast, eating one of his survival meals, when he received a message.

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[Gift Received: Epic (Variable) Boon]

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“All right! Quinn, coming in clutch!” he said with glee as he looked over at Darrin.

Quinn’s voice came through the earpiece, “It was donated by Jace, not me.”

“Pass along my thanks,” Greg said as he looked at Darrin. “Well, I have guns back at home base for magitech and technology worlds, but I don’t have anything good for magic worlds. Is there…something that has both ranged and melee uses?”

“A bowblade would be appropriate,” Darrin replied as his spidery form crawled along the ceiling. “Converts from a pair of dual-swords into a bow. With a Rare quality Boon, we can get one that manifests magical energy for the string and projectiles.”

“Because of Weaponmaster’s Familiarity, I should be a pro with it, yeah?”

“Correct.”

Greg nodded, “Let’s do it.”

“Converting (Variable) to (Equipment) and using it.”

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[Using Boon: Epic (Equipment).]

[Manifesting.]

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In front of Greg a gorgeous, horn bow appeared in a shimmer of starlight. It clattered on the ground, and he picked it up as Darrin explained what it did. “This is a Sandstalker Bowblade. It is made from the horns of an ancient animal that once hunted in Fernaid. The fearsome Sandstalker. Pull apart at the center, near the hand grip.”

Greg did so, and the two joined horns came apart; a thin, metal blade sliding out from either side as he held two scimitars. “Oh, now that is awesome.” He stood up while Priam and Dee looked up from their conversation with interest. Greg took some practice swings, and it felt perfect in his hands. He hadn’t used blades frequently: bludgeons, sure: but it still felt perfectly natural. Must be the Weaponmaster’s Skill. Makes me a natural.

“Re-merge it.” Greg did so, and Darrin continued, “Now, it has a unique property that it manifests a string and arrows of pure-magic energy. However, that is overridden by your Cosmic and Ascended Power. You could fire anything appropriate to Planetary or Supermassive.”

“I can fire black hole arrows?”

“Yes. Supermassive.”

Greg grinned and turned around, looking for something to shoot. Spotting a bit of pottery, he gripped the bow at the point where the blades joined together, and as he pulled his hand back to a firing position: again, something he had not done frequently but felt natural: a string of dark, black energy appeared along with an arrow of the same energy. Loosing the string, the arrow darted forward, slamming into the pottery and piercing it. Then, space warped slightly as the pot shards were sucked inward and slightly compressed before clattering to the ground.

“That’s going to be useful,” Priam said as he stood up. “And Planet is super broad in its application. You could do fire, water, wood…all sorts of stuff.”

Greg grinned and tucked the bow into a loop on the side of his pack. “You both ready?”

Priam nodded as he stood up and dusted himself off. He offered a hand down to Dee, who accepted it and pulled herself up. “Ready as we’ll ever be,” Dee said.

“Let’s go kill a god-king.”