And then each of us received lots of experience points. We had never gotten so many experience points for a single mission. I leveled up several times. To learn what my current level was now, I brought up my Class Menu and saw that my level was seventy-five. I had leveled up from fifty-four to seventy-five in the blink of the eye. Glancing at the log, I realized that I received just enough experience points to level up one time for finishing the main objective. The other twenty level-ups had been given to me for completing the additional objective, which had been securing Mor. Such generous reward for completing one additional objective meant that our superiors were really happy to get their hands on Mor. I felt bad for him. There was no way they would let him go anytime soon. They would be milking him for all the knowledge he possessed.
“Wow,” Vlad exclaimed. “I leveled up twenty-one times, guys. This is freaking awesome.”
Each of my teammates leveled up one time for completing the main objective and twenty more times for the additional one. So my level was now seventy-five, Nate’s also seventy-five, Tamerlan’s seventy-one, and Vlad’s seventy-eight.
A message from Echo emerged in my field of vision. It read, “I will pick you up in a minute, warriors. Stay where you are.”
I was not really in the mood for allocating my skill points into new skills. However, when I looked away from my holographic screen in front of me, I saw the mutilated dead bodies of the scientists. To keep my mind distracted from what had happened here, I decided to assign my skill points.
I switched to the Skill Tree of my Passive Ability. I had learned lots of useful skills for Sixth Sense, making my Passive Ability very powerful.
I checked out the skills that I had not yet learned.
The Second Branch of the Passive Ability:
Name: Fast Hands
Description: Makes you nimbler, which results in increased reload speed, weapon draw speed, and aiming down the sights speed.
Speed increase: +10%
Status: 0/5
The Third Branch of the Passive Ability:
Name: Tracker
Description: Actions performed by your enemies leave markers that you can see. When you look at the marker, the Voice will tell you how long ago they occurred and vanish after some time.
The lifespan of markers: +5 seconds (Current: 0 seconds)
Status: 0/5
I decided not to learn any of these skills. They did not seem particularly useful to me. I might return to them later on, but for now, I decided to concentrate on my Teleport. So I switched to the Skill Tree of my Ultimate Ability.
I had learned and fully upgraded both skills on the First Branch: Teleporter and Violent Speed.
The First Branch of the Ultimate Ability:
Name: Teleporter
Description: You gain an improved recharge delay for the Ultimate Ability.
Recharge delay: 5 minutes
Status: 5/5 (Completely Learned)
Name: Reach Farther
Description: Increases the length of your teleportation tunnel.
Length: 250 meters
Status: 5/5 (Completely Learned)
The skills on the next two branches were available for learning. I checked them out.
The Second Branch of the Ultimate Ability:
Name: Violent Speed
Description: When the Ultimate Ability is active, your movement speed gets higher still.
Speed increase: +20% (Current: 0%)
Status: 0/5
Name: Void Walker
Description: Increases the duration of the Ultimate Ability.
Duration increase: +30 seconds (Current: 30 seconds)
Status: 0/5
Name: Jumper
Description: You can jump higher when the Ultimate Ability is active. Since you are in the void space when the Ultimate Ability is active, you receive no damage in the real world when you land.
Jump increase: +100% (Current: 0%)
Status: 0/5
The Third Branch of the Ultimate Ability:
Name: Regeneration
Description: Your wounds heal when the Ultimate Ability is active.
Healing speed: +10% (Current: 0%)
Status: 0/5
Name: Phaseattack 1
Description: When the Ultimate Ability is active, you can attack enemies out of the void space, but they still cannot attack you.
Status: 0/1
Name: Without a Trace
Description: When the Ultimate Ability is active, you and the trace you leave behind become less visible.
Visibility: -5% (Current: 50%)
Status: 0/5
The Regeneration and Without a Trace skills seemed very useful. If I learned Regeneration, I would be able to heal myself even if our healer, Tamerlan, was not around. So this skill could come in handy.
Without a Trace also was useful. When I activated my Ultimate Ability, I enter the so-called void space, which resulted in me becoming invincible and half-transparent. My movement speed also got increased. However, when I moved, I left a visible trace of dark energy behind me. It was one of the unfortunate side effects of my Ultimate Ability. If I learned Without a Trace, the trace would be less visible, making it harder for my enemies to track me.
I decided to learn these two skills. They were on the Third Branch, but since it was already unlocked, I could skip the skills on the Second Branch.
I had twenty-once skill points. After I put five skill points into Regeneration and five skill points into Without a Trace, I had eleven skills left.
Name: Regeneration
Description: Your wounds heal when the Ultimate Ability is active.
Healing speed: 50%
Status: 5/5 (Completely Learned)
Name: Without a Trace
Description: When the Ultimate Ability is active, you and the trace you leave behind become less visible.
Visibility: 25%
Status: 5/5 (Completely Learned)
The Fourth and the Fifth Branches were unlocked now. Each had only one skill on it. I checked them out.
The Fourth Branch of the Ultimate Ability:
Name: Phaseattack 2
Description: When you fire at enemies out of the void space, your bullets get charged with dark energy, which results in them exploding upon impact like a mini fragmentation grenade.
Force of explosion: +10% (Current: 0%)
Status: 0/5
Required skill: Phaseattack 1
The Fifth Branch of the Ultimate Ability:
Name: Phasevision
Description: When the Ultimate Ability is active, you can move through walls and other structures.
Status: 0/1
I typically used my Ultimate Ability, which placed a teleportation tunnel, only in those cases when our team might need a quick escape or when we needed to make a tactical retreat from enemies. This was what this ability was for. When my Ultimate Ability was active, I could not attack and could not be attacked. If I learned Phaseattack 1, I would be able to attack when in the void space. Sure, my Ultimate Ability was designed for tactical retreats, but being able to attack out of the void space might be useful and come in handy sometimes.
So I learned Phaseattack 1 as well as Phaseattack 2.
Name: Phaseattack 1
Description: When the Ultimate Ability is active, you can attack enemies out of the void space, but they still cannot attack you.
Status: 1/1 (Completely Learned)
Name: Phaseattack 2
Description: When you fire at enemies out of the void space, your bullets get charged with dark energy, which results in them exploding upon impact like a mini fragmentation grenade.
Force of explosion: 50%
Status: 5/5 (Completely Learned)
Required skill: Phaseattack 1
So I now had five skill points left. The Sixth, final, Branch of my Ultimate Ability was unlocked now. It contained onl
y one skill. I checked it out.
The Sixth Branch of the Ultimate Ability:
Name: Hide and Seek
Description: Nobody, excluding you and your teammates, can see and use your portals.
Status: 0/1
After reading the description of Hide and Seek, I got very happy. If my enemies were not able to see my portals, they would not be able to use them. This was the skill I had been waiting to learn for so long. There had been lots of times when I created a teleportation tunnel so we could retreat from our enemies only for them to use my portals and catch up with us. It would never happen again.
I learned the skill.
Name: Hide and Seek
Description: Nobody, excluding you and your teammates, can see and use your portals.
Status: 1/1 (Completely Learned)
I used another skill point to learn Phasevision from the Fifth Branch of my Ultimate Ability.
Name: Phasevision
Description: When the Ultimate Ability is active, you can move through walls and other structures.
Status: 1/1 (Completely Learned)
Phasevision would work extremely well in conjunction with Ubiquitous, a skill from the Sixth Branch of my Passive Ability, which I had learned some time ago. Ubiquitous allowed me to see through walls and visualize the area in front of me when every time I closed my eyes. So working together, Phasevision and Ubiquitous would let me see through walls and structures and place teleportation tunnels through them. My team would undoubtedly greatly benefit from this powerful combo of the two awesome skills.
So I had three skill points left. I learned all of the most useful skills for my Ultimate Ability and was not sure what to learn next. In the end, I decided to put one skill into each skill on the Second Branch of my Ultimate Ability.
Name: Violent Speed
Description: When the Ultimate Ability is active, your movement speed gets higher still.
Speed increase: +20% (Current: 20%)
Status: 1/5
Name: Void Walker
Description: Increases the duration of the Ultimate Ability.
Duration increase: +30 seconds (Current: 60 seconds)
Status: 1/5
Name: Jumper
Description: You can jump higher when the Ultimate Ability is active. Since you are in the void space when the Ultimate Ability is active, you receive no damage in the real world when you land.
Jump increase: +100% (Current: 1 meter)
Status: 1/5
So I could now jump one meter high when in the void space, the duration of my Ultimate Ability was now one minute, and my movement speed was 20 percent higher when my Ultimate Ability was active.
I was not sure if these three skills were particularly useful. However, I knew that Echo could undo these skills if I paid some money to the organization. So I decided I would unlearn these skills to get back the three skill points if I needed them to learn some of the other skills.
So I had learned most of the skills for both my Passive and Ultimate Abilities, making them very powerful. Next time I leveled up, I would shift my attention to my Active Ability. It was a really long time since I learned new skills for my Active Ability.
I was about to check out my current stats when a roar of engines came from above. I looked up and saw our dropship descending. I closed my Class Menu and glanced around. My teammates had already allocated their skill points too.
After the dropship landed, we got on board and then climbed into our cryogenic chambers. When we woke up, we were back on our space station. We got out of the dropship. Nate and I headed for the Control Room. Just like always, Vlad and Tamerlan did not join us, though. The latter would love to, but the Russian did not let him.
After we completed a mission, we usually rested on our space station for a few days. However, our last mission on the wandering planet was not all that hard. Sure, our first encounter with the alien bugs was almost fatal for us, but after we found the mobile base of the scientists, we had never had to deal with the alien bugs again. So this mission turned out to be relatively easy, and I did not see the point in resting.
However, the main reason why I was so eager to begin another mission right away was that I wanted to forget about what happened on the wandering planet.
Both Nate and Tamerlan felt the same way. Yet Vlad said that we should rest and without saying anything else, grabbed Tamerlan and half-dragged him away from Nate and me. There seemed to be something on the Russian’s mind. Come to think of it, there always seemed to be something going on in his head.
So Nate and I had no choice but to ride the elevator to the Control Room.
Later on, Tamerlan suddenly rushed inside. He ran up to Nate and me, looking downright scared.
“What the heck happened?” I asked.
“I gotta tell you something, guys,” he said after he looked back over his shoulder as if to make sure nobody was behind him.
“What is this?” I asked. “You look like shit. Did Vlad attack you or something?”
“No,” Tamerlan said as he shook his head. “It’s not me he’s after. It’s you.”
“What do you mean, mate?” Nate asked, frowning.
Tamerlan looked back again. He was very nervous.
“He told me something,” Tamerlan replied. “He said you two hate him. Then he said that you’re planning to kill him.”
I was silent. Vlad was not exactly wrong. After he killed Alyson, I had promised myself that I would deal with him sooner or later.
“He then told me that we should attack you first,” Tamerlan continued. “He said that now that I’m level seventy and he’s almost eighty we don’t need you two anymore. He said that if we kill you, Echo will find other teammates for us. That’s why he didn’t let you pick another mission. He wants to kill you here because he’s got an advantage over you in this place.”
I nodded. I knew what Tamerlan meant. The Control Room was considered a Safe Zone because nobody could bring a weapon here. Yet Vlad had somehow found a way to do just that.
“Where is he now?” I asked.
“We were at the firing range,” he replied. “He went to the bathroom, so I took the opportunity to get here.”
“He’s going to look for you after he finds you missing,” I said.
“Yes,” Tamerlan said. “But after he told me that he wanted to kill you, I realized I had to warn you. You’re my friends, and I like both of you. But Vlad—He’s not a good person. So I—”
At this moment, we heard the hissing of the elevator door. Tamerlan instantly spun around to face the elevator just as Vlad stepped out of it.
He stopped and looked at us suspiciously, his pistol stuck in his waistband.
“What the hell are you doing here?” He finally asked, looking at Tamerlan.
“I got tired,” Tamerlan replied, trying hard to hide his nervousness. “So I decided to get some rest.”
Vlad looked between all of us as if trying to determine what was really going on here. He eyed us suspiciously for a moment before shifting his attention back to Tamerlan.
“Let’s go, buddy,” he said.
“Where?” Tamerlan asked.
“To the Training Room, of course,” Vlad said annoyingly. “There’re not many places where we can hang out on this freaking space station.”
“I just told you I’m tired,” Tamerlan said, his voice quiet and lacking confidence. “I want to rest.”
“How can you be tired, dammit?” Vlad barked at him. “The last mission was piece of cake. You are not fucking tired. Don’t try to bullshit me. I’m not an idiot. Let’s fucking go.”
Tamerlan did not argue with him anymore. Glancing at Nate and me, he followed Vlad and they both entered the elevator that took them to one of the lower floors of the space station.
“We need to do something,” I said.
Nate was silent, his brow furrowed. He then shrugged and said, “I don’t
think we can do anything.”
And he began to walk away as if to indicate there was nothing to discuss.
“We have to come up with an idea of dealing with him,” I said.
“I can’t think of anything,” Nate replied. “But if you have some ideas, I’m all ears.”
Nate had been this way since Vlad killed Alyson. Even now, when we were being targeted by Vlad, Nate showed little interest in what was happening around him. It was as if he did not care if he lived or died.
Unlike him, I was not keen on getting killed, especially by Vlad. I would not mind dying young in battle, but there was no way I would let Vlad kill me. I had to come up with a plan of defeating him. Since Nate did not seem to be interested in helping me, I had to do it all alone.
I looked at Nate one more time, then turned around and began walking to the elevator. Nate did not even ask where I was going.
When on the space station, Vlad and Tamerlan spent most of the time at the firing range, which was called the Training Room, where we could fire various weapons at holographic targets. The only place on the space station where we could not tote any weapons was the Control Room. Considering Vlad was planning to kill Nate and me, it would be suicide to go to the Training Room.
The Weaponized: The Complete LitRPG Series Page 41