by J M Hamm
“Seems sturdy enough,” he said. “Are you sure you want to do this now, though? It’ll be dark well before we make it across. Bridgette and I brought camping supplies, I hope the rest of you did as well.”
“Normally, I’d agree with you,” Catayla added, “but we don’t have the time to wait. We’ve rested long enough.”
The tall, blue-scaled scout jumped up into the boat beside Worthy and turned to look at the rest of us. Her weight shifted the boat slightly, but I was gaining confidence the craft could actually support us all.
“Your physical stats should allow you to easily skip a single night of rest,” she said, “and if we make good time, and have a little luck, we should meet up with my comrades well before the moon reaches its highest point.”
“I think we’re all in,” said the statuesque blonde, Bridgette. “I’ve lost friends to get here, and I’m not ready to turn back now.”
“Thank you,” said Catayla. “I know you’ve lost more than most, but all of us have lost something. We all stand to lose a lot more if we do not complete this mission.”
Catayla stood up straight, highlighting her intimidating height, before taking a moment to make eye contact with each of us. The blue scales on her cheeks glittered in the fading light.
“Something has obviously gone wrong at the containment zone,” She continued. “And if we don’t find out what has happened, and help put a stop to it, then the whole area may be in danger. Everything you care about could be gone. We have to keep moving.”
“We’re with you,” said Tiller. “I’m not sure what’s at stake, really, but I do know I’d rather be doing something rather than twiddling my thumbs, as fun as that can be.”
“Well then,” Worthy said. “Are you all going to join me on this pleasure craft, or should I wait for you to hug it out first? Don’t say I kept you waiting.”
As everyone climbed onto the boat, I was struck by the grace each of them displayed. The physical improvements made by the system allowed almost everyone in the party to move with fluid and precise motions. Even casual movement betrayed the coordination and strength generally only seen in professional athletes and dancers.
I jumped forward, covering twice the length of my body. I landed upright on the stern of the small boat, causing a few splashes against the smoldering hull.
Before the system, I’d never really taken pleasure in physical activity. I’d kept in shape, of course, but I’d long ago lost that childlike joy that could be found in just moving. It was wonderful just to exist, despite all the suffering and loss. My depression slipped away as I became lost in the physicality. It was exhilarating to explore these new limits.
“Show off,” said Tiller.
“I might be able to take gold in the long jump,” I said. “But I’ve got nothing on those Jedi reflexes of yours.”
“Actually,” said Tiller. “I wanted to talk to you about that. Once we start moving, talk with me for a minute, okay? You haven’t spent any of your stat gains from the battle, have you?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I was planning on just putting all of them into Intellect. It seems the most efficient use, as it also increases Might by a small amount. Anything else would feel like a waste.”
“Just trust me,” said Tiller. “If this works you’re probably going to kick yourself. You'll definitely kick yourself if you don't try it, and you find out later that it works.”
I agreed to consult Tiller before spending any of my unallocated stats. I then used the eldritch energy that permeated the air to create a set of four oars.
I took one set of paddles, while Worthy, Bridgett, and Catayla took the others. With our increased strength, I estimated it would probably take less than twenty minutes to reach the other shore. I wished I could still try out for crew.
“Listen,” said Tiller. He sat down beside me and began whispering so quietly that I probably wouldn’t have been able to understand him if it hadn’t been for the increased perception I had gained from my Hierophant class.
“Do you remember how you told me you got the Able Learner feat?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said. “Why are we whispering?”
“I …” he began. “I don’t really know, I guess I just figured you’d want to keep being secretive with your build.”
“Thanks,” I said loud enough for everyone to hear. “I think we’re all past that point. If we’re going to be a team, I think we need to share this kind of info.”
I notice a few eyes turn toward me, but no one interjected. Catayla noticed me with narrowed eyes, her vertical pupils were especially disconcerting when she narrowed them like that.
“Ok,” said Tiller. “During the tutorial, most of us got feats from focusing on a single stat. In fact, the tutorial encouraged it. Mine is Heightened Reflexes, it doubles my reaction speeds. It’s basically a straight multiplier for my reaction stat.”
“Damn,” I whistled, “that’s pretty good.”
“You should try putting three points into Reaction, see what happens.”
“Yeah, I’m still not sure. I feel like I’m throwing away stat points if I skip Intellect. Besides, I’ve already gotten a tutorial feat, I’d be a bit upset if it didn’t work.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Catayla said. “Such feats are a crutch given to the newly initiated, they are powerful, and you shouldn’t scorn them so easily.”
“Are you saying I should follow Tiller’s advice?”
“The rules of my order forbid me from giving natives specific information on feats and stats, other than what is given in the tutorial. The tutorial you never had …”
“Oh, shit,” I said. The realization finally dawned on me. “I never finished the …”
I didn’t wait anymore, immediately assigning three points into my Reaction stat.
Congratulations! You have put three points into a single stat before completing the tutorial!! You have unlocked the feat(s) –
Heightened Reflexes ® - Having focused on Reaction during the earliest part of your training you now find that your body reacts to your commands more quickly than you had ever imagined. Your reaction times are reduced by half. This effectively doubles the gains you receive from the reaction feat!
I looked over at Catayla and then turned my head to make eye contact with Tiller. I smiled and nodded my head.
“Heightened Reflexes? Did it work?”
The look on my face must have given it away because I soon heard a mix of groans and cheers.
“Of all the fucking luck,” said Worthy. “Not only are you the only one of us with a class, you also have a fancy familiar and now … cheat codes. It’s hardly fair to the rest of us slobs.”
I ignored Worthy, instead, turning back towards Tiller.
“So, what do you think I should do with my next three points?”
“Fair question,” Tiller said, “I don’t imagine it will take you long to level if you’re only level six. Might would be —”
“Oh, no,” I said. “I’ve already got them. I receive an extra unallocated stat per level from one of my feats, so those three levels gave me a total of six points.”
“Jesus save me,” said Worthy throwing his arms up dramatically. “I’d be outa here if this boat wasn’t the size of postage stamp.”
“Agility is my lowest stat,” I said, “and I’ve already found a way to raise Might. Focus would probably be the most useful for my new abilities, though.”
“Well,” said Tiller. “Obviously you should take all of them eventually. Personally, I think Focus would be the best idea, considering… everything.”
He casually glanced at the kingfisher on my shoulder before quickly looking away. The bird ignored Tiller’s gaze, still feigning sleep.
“I’ll hold out for now,” I said. “A relaxing boat ride is exactly what I need to clear my mind.”
It’s too bad things never work out the way we plan.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: So Long, and Thanks for All th
e Fish
Tiller was the first to notice something was wrong. He stood up, yelling that something had just swum underneath us as he began firing into the water. Each shot shattered the surface of the water like a cannon, leaving behind faint blue lines of energy.
Catayla reacted immediately, jumping onto the boat’s canopy roof. The familiar peal of her rifle was like thunder ringing out in quick succession. It was chaos, the rest of us had no idea what was happening. I began to yell out a question, just as Worthy stood up and began barking orders. Bridgette’s hand wavered between her club and rifle before she began firing blindly into the murky water.
“It’s in the water,” Tiller yelled. “Something is circling us, at least ten of them. Probably more. Watch where my shots are landing. If we focus our fire, we can take these things out one at a time.”
Worthy and Bridgett immediately lined up next to Tiller and began to concentrate on the same targets. The blue lines left behind by Tiller’s mana-infused bullets made it easy for the duo to follow his shots, each shot causing the water to churn and kick up large splashes. Every volley was like a bag of bricks being upended into a still pool.
Unfortunately, the creatures were tough and fast. So far, our group had only struck glancing blows. Blood slickened the surface, but no bodies floated upwards. Even Catayla had yet to get a kill.
I paused to look around, taking the time to activate my arcane shield. The water seemed calm, with the exception of the bullets striking the otherwise gentle waves. It was too dark to see beneath the water, and the explosion and collapse of the bridge had kicked up silt and dirt to further muddy the water. I could barely make out areas of the water that seemed darker than the water around them. Faint shadows that were circling us.
The fisher stirred on my shoulder, letting out a fierce battle cry. Instantly, my vision focused, and the forms of my enemies materialized as faint silhouettes with jagged fins and long, powerful tails.
As I watched, the Fisher dove into the water and began changing into an abomination of eyes and tentacles. It was a form I had come to call the ‘Gazer.’ The shape was now healed of damage, no longer burnt or missing eyes and tentacles. The Fisher was no longer ‘borrowing’ a corpse, but instead exploring the limits of its shapeshifting.
I shared the Fisher’s sight, momentarily losing balance as its senses overlaid onto my own. Dozens of creatures with long, slender necks and dolphin-like bodies had surrounded us. Tumors and lacerations lined their bodies, exposing pink flesh beneath pale, grey skin. Each had dagger-like teeth picking out between curved jaws, and long eyestalks growing from their foreheads.
I drew my staff with my left hand, a long, curved blade appearing as the weapon extended to its full length.
The silver chain became alive, unraveling from my arm. It twirled around me like a vortex. Red and black lighting ran down its length, creating thick thorns that dripped with burning energy.
Dark, smoke-like energy flowed through my right arm, ending at my hand. The mist twirled about my fingers before lengthening and solidifying into a spear, black with bits of burning crimson. It smoked and gave off crackling sparks and pale embers.
The javelin was massive, half again as tall as I was and as thick around as my wrist. It was a scaled-up version of a real weapon I had pulled from my memory, something I had seen at the local aquarium. The blade at the tip was jagged and asymmetrical, with a cruel, sickle-like blade that curved behind it.
I didn’t bother creating a line or chain to tether the weapon, as I didn’t want myself, or my boat, dragged under the waves. I would simply create a new weapon after I lost the first.
I slammed my staff-scythe into the deck, allowing it to fuse with the dark energy that flowed through the boat. I could feel the silver chain struggling to join the battle, but I was able to contain it through sheer force of will. I needed it close to defend my allies.
I hurled the harpoon, the Fisher entangling my target with its tentacles as my weapon found its mark. After striking my foe, I dropped the mental concentration to begin creating another spear. I cast them it into the waves again, and again.
Sometimes I hit, and at other times the strange fish would twist out of the Fisher’s grasp to temporarily avoid becoming seafood kabobs. Kill or miss, I continued to throw.
It worked well, quickly landing me five kills. Tiller, Worthy, and Bridgette had collectively managed to take out another two, while Catayla had killed at least four by herself before the school of fish fled, leaving behind floating corpses to bob on the surface of the turbulent river.
“Is that all of them?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” Tiller replied. “I can’t hear or see anything, but it doesn’t feel finished.”
“You two,” said Worthy. “You need to learn how to keep your fucking mouths shut. You think whatever is out there isn’t listening to us? Paying attention? You jinx us and it’s liable to fuck with us just for kicks.”
“That’s an interesting theory,” said Catayla. “Your words might even hold some wisdom, despite your ignorance. Right now, however, we need to focus. Tiller is right. That was just the opening salvo. Something else is coming. Something … bigger.”
The Fisher felt my rising fear and let out a deep laugh as it dove under the boat, stretching out its tentacles and searching with a hundred eyes. It would be hard to get past its gaze, even in the dark and murky water.
Hard, but not impossible.
The boat lurched as it was brought to an immediate stop, the bow being lifted completely above the water. I could feel the eldritch energy the craft was made from beginning to distort and bend. It took a large part of my focus just to hold the hull together.
Before I had time to process the images I was received from the Fisher, a large tendril of thick, slimy flesh shot out of the water and began snaking around the boat. It wrapped around the craft twice, suckers as large as dinner plates gluing it to the hull.
Several more tentacles shot out of the water, hanging above us like executioners waiting for the command cut us down. They cast a shadow that blocked out what little light remained.
The writhing limbs descended just as the last rays of daylight were disappearing behind the horizon. I grabbed my scythe, cutting a wide crescent as I swung my blade upwards.
Thick spikes grew from the hull of the boat, extending outward and skewering the tentacles as they fell around me. A high-pitched scream, just barely within the range of human hearing, rang out as the tentacle that had been wrapped around the boat withdrew beneath waves.
I released the spikes and created a thin dome of wispy energy. The remaining tentacles fell and began to pound at the dome in a steady staccato, denting the wispy barrier like hammers upon thin sheet metal.
“It’s not going to hold,” I yelled. “We need to attack those tentacles, drive this thing off.”
My words went mostly unheard and hardly needed to be spoken. The small crew had already begun firing under the dome to hit the tentacles around us.
I was out of the fight, every ounce of mental energy I had remaining went into maintaining the dome. Each blow felt like a physical strike that reverberated through my skull. Luckily, that same skull was rather crowded.
The Fisher could act separately from me, so I cut off our connection. I immediately lost the extra sensory input, but I could feel a vague feeling of acknowledgment as the creature dove further into the depths — seeking the main body of the creature.
“Catayla,” Worthy yelled as he took time to reload his rifle. “Got any more of those explosives? A shockwave might be able to injure this thing, or at least convince it that we aren’t easy prey.”
“A few,” she yelled. “But they’ll be useless unless we can get them close to the main body. These tentacles are boneless and flexible and abomination flesh is notoriously tough, they’d barely feel it. Even if we did take them out, there is a good chance they can regrow, or that more are waiting in reserve.”
“We should at l
east try,” Worthy barked back. “These things are going to kill us.”
“It won’t work,” she said. “The blast would be much more likely to kill us than this beast.”
An idea hit me, and I sent a vague image to the Fisher. I felt its amusement as it spun around and began swimming back towards the surface.
“Wait,” I stammered. “Will that work? If we can get the explosive close to the main body can we kill this thing?”
My words were formed slowly between gasps as I tried to steady my breathing. The dome was being damaged faster than I could repair it, and the strain was taking a toll on me physically.
“Theoretically,” said Catayla. “Injuring it might cause it to retreat, even if we can’t kill it.”
“Good,” I said. “Throw everything you have into the water directly in front of you. Give us a couple minutes on the timer, if you can.”
Catayla either trusted me or guessed at my plan because she didn’t hesitate. She immediately threw three marble-sized beads into the water. The splashes were followed by a large bubble that rose to the surface as the beads disappeared beneath the waves. I caught a quick glimpse of an eye-filled blob diving beneath the waves.
Strikes continually struck at the barrier, and new tentacles had begun to target the gap I had left at the bottom of the dome, trying to pry it open. I reached the end of my endurance, my fists shaking as I lost control of the dome. It shattered as a final blow tore through the fading membrane.
Twisted shrapnel spun out in every direction. A screech cut through the air as small streams of blood ran from one of my ears, tinnitus filling my mind with painful ringing. Severed tentacles fell, still squirming as they slowly sank beneath the river.
For a few glorious moments, I was able to catch my breath. No more tentacles emerged, all of them either withdrawn or severed.
“I’m going to turn this whole boat into a capsule,” I yelled. “We’ll be totally cut off and defenseless, and those tentacles are going to smash through it in a matter of seconds. We’ll have to hope those explosives do their job.”