GalaxSec: A Sci-Fi LitRPG (Skeleton in Space Book 2)

by Andries Louws

  The duo devolves into another bout of fighting that is so uncoordinated and generally bad even the worst martial artist in the universe would be ashamed for the two. They continue for a bit, slowly but surely making their way towards the centre of the shallow bowl. Then Douglas sees his stone covering chip after another mana laden punch from Evot. The next moment Evot goes flying, a clean hole punched into her side, Douglas’s arm shining bright.

  “Don’t break my bones.”

  Gasping for breath, Evot stumbles back to her feet. “That was just stone,” she manages to squeeze out. “That reaction didn’t add up to the cause,” she wheezes, “you squared root!”

  [ Mathematics III lvl 24 ]

  The fight goes on, Douglas trying to protect his armor from the mana empowered strikes and Evot shouting math based insults. Douglas does find it kind of odd she manages to present the otherwise dry learning material in such a creative way. Each time she introduces a brand new concept to him, he freezes for a single moment. Quick to capitalize on the lapses, Douglas’s red exterior is slowly chipped away. In order to combat this, the skeleton finds that he can channel extra mana towards the areas to prevent the damage from occurring. Feeling for her power fluctuations using his Mana Sense skill is also helpful, as her empowered strikes give off a different feeling from her mundane attacks.

  All in all, the two somehow manage to train several skills at once while walking towards their destination.

  Hours pass, the sun setting as they keep moving and fighting. The sun rises again, and neither of the odd duo feels the need to sleep or pause. They continuously keep fighting, talking and training. Then, after many sessions of pummeling and taunting each other, the shaking of the ground intensifies. Douglas pauses pulling on Evot’s hair for long enough for her to land another blue glowing hit against his knees. He falls over, the magically reinforced joint failing due to the large wave of interfering mana. Instead of immediately retaliating, like he usually would, Douglas turns his attention back the way they came.

  “They come.”

  “…and here! And another strike, square this root, you negative number! What? They come?”

  “They come,” replies Douglas, unheeding of the new patches of barebone he is showing. Evot looks down his pointer finger and freezes. The large ring of ruins is being invaded by a mountain. The column of dust rising to the heavens acts like a cloak and crown for the red-streaked white creature whose top is just visible. Even from this far away, Douglas can see the rippling fields of barrels and launchers bristling on its surface.

  “We gotta leg it,” Evot whispers quietly.

  “Yes.” And leg it they do. Douglas jams his loose foot bones back into place, quickly lathers some stone on the joint, easily connects the runes on his foot through engraved channels, and stands up. Evot is long gone by this point, her small form running away from the hostile hill coming through the thin band of broken buildings behind them.

  The thought of casting a Piercing Exploding Shot crosses his mind for a single second. He could take out the approaching being with relative ease if he can only land the spell, after all. The chance of hitting that shot is the big issue that keeps him from pouring the rest of his manna into the spell shape. Also, Douglas has gone over the newly created spell shape a few times by now. And he has to admit, it is both inspired and brilliant in all sorts of ways. The fact that there seems to be zero effort inside the spell shape to keep the construct going for longer than a few seconds keeps him from launching it right then and there. For extremely long distance shots like the one he'd need to make like this one, the amount of mana required to keep the magical tether going all the way to its target would make it less than efficient.

  The circular central control formation is brilliant. The way the spell is formed in several stages, divided into several steps is just beyond his comprehension. The manner in which the longevity and integrity of the spell itself is guaranteed beyond a few seconds is not there at all, however. So, instead of launching his sure-kill projectile at the being, Douglas decides to follow Evot’s advice. He legs it.

  Douglas catches up with her within minutes of full-on sprinting, his legs blazing with blue light. The shaking intensifies something fierce, multiple waves of earthquakes overlapping. Douglas is thankful to whatever entity smoothed out the ground around him, as he barely manages to stay upright as is. Slowing down enough to be able to manhandle the woman over his shoulder with relative ease, he keeps on running.

  “LEFT!”

  Veering to the direction that Evot screams at him, he avoids the falling projectile with millimetres to spare.

  “Again,” Douglas intones, not happy with the fact that he is being shot at by bones once more. There are a few more close calls, and Evot gets clipped a couple of times, but the running and dodging routine is old hat by now. At least, Douglas thinks so.

  “SHART! DOUGLAS, QUICK, LOOK AT THIS!”

  Turning his head, his Mathematics skill somehow managing to calculate the next couple dozen steps he needs to take in advance, he looks at the new spell shape. All his worries fade away for a brief moment as he finds himself getting caught up in learning a new spell, the wobbling blue lines emerging from Evot’s horned forehead not even bothering him.

  [ New spell learned; Crude Mana Shield ]

  “FARK YOU! CRUDE? YOU DARE CALL MY CREATION-”

  Evot’s indignant scream is cut off as Douglas pounds a good chunk of his remaining mana into the relatively simple spell shape. As with all spells Evot has taught him, this one is laid out in a central circle, branches of lines and runes emerging from the central ring.

  The blue plane of solidified air springs into being microseconds before the projectiles hit. Wild splatters of red appear on the field of blue, white fragments scattering around Douglas. He barely even registers the fact that the Histaff Gargantuan seems to have made a last-ditch effort in the shape of a shotgun-style, shoot-everything-at-once type of attack. Dust hangs thick in the air, thrown up by the thousands of missiles that didn’t hit his shield, as Douglas tumbles and rolls. He eventually comes to a stop, having lost his momentum and a good few kilogrammes of bone and stone to the fall.

  Instead of freaking out about losing yet another arm, the skeleton realizes he is getting really low on mana right about now. Taking exactly four leaping steps to where Evot has come to a halt, he picks her up and takes off once again. Instead of the breakneck sprint he was on before, Douglas runs away from the missile shooting Gargantuan at a relatively sedate pace. Then Douglas forces his tumultuous mind to clear, focusing his limited mental might on the task of running away to the exclusion of everything else.

  He is still in this exact mind frame by the time he reaches the stumpy building sticking up from the concrete sand, many hours later. Calling up the relevant blue screen, he sees that his mana is still at the same low level, a mere few points above zero. Having run at the precise speed to be mana-neutral while keeping his Meditation skill going had been a test of mental control that Douglas didn't even know he was capable of. He thus slowly lowers a fuming Evot, who has been pounding, bashing and slamming her fists into his skull fruitlessly for the past three hours, to the ground.

  As it turns out, even skeletons can become tired, because Douglas manages to say “blue” before the constant low mana state, super focused need to stay in Meditation, and constant use of his Mathematics skill catches up to him. For the first time the skeleton can remember, he feels tired. Douglas doesn’t even notice Evot’s assault at this point, who keeps screaming about stuff that isn’t important.

  Douglas, who finally arrived at the GalaxSec base, who can finally begin his journey as the protector of the graphically rendered child he saw in that one advertisement, goes to sleep. Blue boxes appear, trying to catch his attention as his mental exhaustion finally catches up with him. Douglas ignores both woman and box, closes his non-existent eyes, and takes a nap.

  [ Meditation III lvl 30 ]

  [ Meditation has
reached lvl 30; Apprentice Arcanist 3/8 ]

  [ Mana Sense III lvl 30 ]

  [ Mana Control has reached lvl 30; Apprentice Arcanist 4/8 ]

  [ Engraving III lvl 30 ]

  [ Engraving has reached lvl 30; Apprentice Arcanist 5/8 ]

  [ Magical Animation III lvl 30 ]

  [ Magical Animation has reached lvl 30; Apprentice Arcanist 6/8 ]

  [ Mathematics III lvl 30 ]

  [ Mathematics has reached lvl 30; Apprentice Arcanist 7/8 ]

  Chapter Seventeen – Interrogation and Insubordination

  “I understand that, miss Gilihezal. Nothing about this clusterfuck has been standard, normal, or even tenable so far.”

  Douglas is having one of those episodes again. He feels deep in his single bone that he is just a single bone. His jaw is nowhere to be felt and the base of his skull feels naked and empty. Aside from the sheer lack of body he is sensing, his hearing is the first thing that comes back to him. Rising from his mana-depleted slumber, Douglas hears an unfamiliar voice. The tone is deep and gruff, and were Douglas to have any frame of reference relevant to this, he might have described the voice as belonging to a battle worn veteran.

  Then Evot’s voice interjects, her rapid speech sounding panicked. “I appreciate the help, sir Acnheevi soldier, but could you still please be silent? I need to focus. I really appreciate that you are trying to help me, but you still haven’t told me were you are from. I’m really surprised that there’s still people on this planet.”

  “We lost half our team within hours of landing on this warp-forsaken planet, ma’am. We believe you were witness to this event. Also, I will officially deny that I said this, but I’m all too glad that stupid fuck of a team-lead is dead. He knew of the risk that the Histaff could be in a non-dormant state.”

  “Yes, I saw. Still, please be silent. Please go away. If you can’t escort me to safety, then just fly away again.”

  “And that’s where I can’t follow your request, ma’am. We got some unknown cake-eating spook at the helm now - or a freshly pressure cooked crazy chick, don’t know which one is worse - and they sent me some interesting footage and some orders. Before the entire team went dark, they had picked up visuals of a walking skeletal robot and a naked female. Who was missing her legs. The naked thing is still going on, and might I compliment you on how you are wearing your lack of covering with pride, but that missing legs part seems to have been a bit of bogus intel.”

  “Could you please make him shut his mouth? My life sort of depends on it. You surprised me by swooping down here without warning. Please surprise me by swooping away again.”

  A third voice enters the conversation at this point. Douglas had no problems recognizing Evot’s mousy tones, her whine completely unsuccessful in convincing anyone. The second voice sounds rich and warm, something a loving father would use when being firm with their child. The new voice sounds young and somehow very proper. Douglas wonders where the sudden dislike he feels for this voice comes from. “No ma’am. Please cooperate with us, ma’am. Your refusal to answer simple questions is getting suspicious, ma’am.”

  “Calm down, kid. She must be under a lot of stress.”

  At this point, Douglas has come to the conclusion that he has been staring at the ground for long enough. It took him a while to recognize the grains of dirt and sand for what they are, as they look like massive boulders. It takes him way too long to figure out that they look massive because the sand and dirt is inside his actual eye sockets. He slowly turns his head towards the source of the talk. Or at least, he tries to, having forgotten his current body-less state. With an internal sigh, he casts his Mana Hand spell, pressing the magical limb into the dirt under his head. He slowly twists himself around, pushing at an angle against the ground. Instead of looking directly at the dry ground, he comes face to face with a metal plate. Not happy with his unimproved view, he pulls his head back. The metal plate turns out to be part of a rather complex looking set of armor. All kinds of barrels, cases, rails, pods, and knives stick from the bulky red suit. Douglas stops admiring the mechanical butt bristling with weaponry long enough to take in the rest of his situation.

  “Sergeant Kee, I would like to take this moment to remind you that the standard set of actions when coming across civilians that hold critical intel is to detain and interrogate them following GalaxSec standard procedure four oh seven nine two three, regulation blue three square, subsection nineteen point one, sir!” The voice of the annoying person speaks up with gusto, rattling off a long string of nonsense from memory.

  Servos whirr and armor plates fold out of the way as the red-painted suit of armor pats the annoying third person on the shoulder. “There, there. Good job remembering all that, and all.”

  There is silence for a bit as the thin person glares daggers at the armoured person.

  “Please, SHUT UP!” shrieks Evot, who comes into view as she walks around the military duo with fire in her eyes. “There are a lot of Histaff Gargantuans coming this way, and the only way for me to survive this entire situation is if I can get into that base. And I’m not sure if you noticed, but fifty years of Histaff infection have not done the structure any favours. Now please, help me figure out how to get into the GalaxSec base and apply for asylum or get lost!”

  Douglas grins up at her. He turns his head in her direction, sets himself down on the ground right side up, and waves his blue hand at her.

  “Ma’am! I told you to keep your bot deactivated!” The warm and fatherly voice coming from the red suit of armour sounds strict and slightly menacing now. Arcs of electricity crackle between rails, barrels lower themselves at her, and all kinds of other implements that look rather deadly are trained on the diminutive woman.

  Evot just sighs and picks up Douglas, who happily waves at the small group of armored sapients surrounding them. The skeleton catches a good view of what's going on, seeing the large, deeply scarred and torn up metal wall of the base behind them. They seem to be boxed in by two landed military hoverbikes and the duo that was just talking to them. One is large, mustached, and looks to be generally very robust and hairy under his power armor. The second sapient is a lanky soldier in oddly stereotypical soldier gear. More hoverbikes are floating in the air, their weapons half trained upon the undead duo. Carrying Douglas, Evot slowly shakes her head. “What do you want.”

  “We would like some intel, ma’am.”

  “Just call me Evot, okay? And I know about as much as you. I don’t know how I ended up here, nor do I know what the deal with this stupid place is. All I know is that I died a long time ago, and now I’m not dead. And why are there Ancheevi mercs here? What does a Central corporation want with this dead rim-planet?”

  “Do you know of warp-madness, ma’am?”

  “Yes, of course I know about that condition! I am not warp-mad! I am not having a womanly breakdown. This seems to be my original body. At least partially. For as far as I can tell.” Evot keeps ignoring the guns and launchers trained at her. Doing a quick headcount, Douglas sees that there are four hoverbikes hanging suspended in the air. Douglas takes it all in as Evot scurries about, picking up the many bones that are scattered around the place.

  “Miss Evot, do you have a licence for that tech?” asks the lanky sapient.

  “Remember what I said, kid. Regulations have their time and place, and this is not the time to start checking whether or not the tech she is carrying is licenced.”

  “But that is-”

  “Yes. But we already lost half the team through blindly following regulations, so let’s not keep walking down that path, alright son?”

  “Sir, yes, sir!”

  “Good. Ma’am, could you just give us something to work with?”

  Evot stops trying to attach a vertebra to Douglas’s spine. She was trying to put it back upside down, and that would just force the skull to spend a lot of mana in remoulding the bone. Instead of indulging her in her unhelpful attempt, Douglas stops the mana flow going to the
missing bones, preventing the bone from catching. With a sigh, she puts it into the glowing outline in the correct position. “I’m invoking GalaxSec shelter law. Get me inside, and I will tell you everything I know.”

  The wide mercenary nods once. “I can work with that. Weapons down! Main entrance is to the side. Tech Jeehon, try to get it open!”

  “Thank you.” Evot keeps working on the complex puzzle that is Douglas’s bone and stone body. “I really mean it, thanks.”

  “No problem, ma’am. It’s a right down mess, this entire op.”

  Evot and the small group of soldiers chat some more, exchanging pleasantries and introductions as she rebuilds Douglas. His complete and utter mana exhaustion must have caused his body to lose integrity. The fact that all his stone-covered joints were shattered by her mana empowered punches during their many spars didn’t help keeping him together either. Happy that she seems capable of puzzling him together much faster than he ever could by himself, Douglas remains silent and watchful.

  He overhears whispered talk as the hoverbike riding mercenaries discuss what tech seems to be powering Douglas’s blue glow and floating bones. Bets are made, and it seems that nanotech or advanced dynamic magnetic actuators are the two most likely technologies that are being bet on. Douglas is just happy to be learning new words, even though the information accompanying each new term is meager at best. Douglas quickly loses interest as the talk devolves into minutia he doesn’t care about. The sapient on the bike that holds the most antennas and dishes then starts talking about access protocols and near depleted base fusion cores that are emitting odd power signatures.

  Instead of falling asleep again, Douglas focuses his attentions inwards. Each new bone that Evot holds in the correct position only takes a small trickle of mana to reconnect, a process that happens largely automatically. Getting a feel for his internal state, Douglas notices that both the stream and the amount of mana coming from his forehead have increased once again. He barely manages to correlate this with that fact that seven out of eight of his class skills got to their level cap. Also, Douglas discovers that the mana stone inside his skull is deteriorating fast. The constant filling and draining of the magically created yellow rock-like substance seems to be having a detrimental effect. Instead of the solid mass it was before, it has turned into a loose collection of magical gravel.