by Ryan DeBruyn
The attempt made Rocky smile for what felt like the first time that day. Despite the situation, he recalled events when he was a boy and had done the same after having broken a favored tool of his father.
Examining the rifles with Analyze, Rocky was greeted with:
Mechanical MZ Laser Rifle
Features an Ether converter that recharges a battery once every three days. The battery contains forty-five shots. Penetration power of the laser versus inherent Ether is low to medium. These effects vary greatly depending on the target’s inherent Ether Strength. This qualifier only applies to unarmored targets.
0/45 Charges Remain. Once depleted, you will be forced to wait three days for a full recharge. Otherwise, charges will recharge at 1 charge per 1 hour and 36 minutes.
Realizing he hadn’t checked the tank, Rocky told the boys what had happened with the rifles before sprinting back the way they had come.
Mechanical MZ Light Tank
Features an Eether converter that recharges the battery once every day. The battery is broken into two parts, with one part dedicated to motion and the other dedicated to the turret. The turret can fire five concentrated charges. Penetration power of the turret versus Inherent Ether is medium to high, these effects vary greatly depending on the target’s Inherent Ether Strength. This qualifier only applies to unarmored targets.
0/5 Charges Remain. Once depleted you will be forced to wait one day for a full recharge. Otherwise charges will recharge at 1 charge per 4 hours and 48 minutes.
The Ether converter or battery pack for this device is extremely damaged, and it has lost all charge.
It was probably a good idea to know the specifics of the weapons he was most likely going to be facing in the upcoming days or, at least, had a chance of facing. Resolving to a possible test with the young men shooting him with a laser rifle left Rocky feeling nervous for his safety.
He had to figure out if the shot from one of the rifles would penetrate his Ether infused armor. Rocky was going to assume the tank would penetrate his armor and wasn’t going to be testing it. No way was he going to be standing in front of a massive muzzle and tell someone to fire.
When the group of four made it to another cave in the forest, this time much closer to Nepean, Rocky began having the young men set up a new fire pit like the last. Since the group had been following the lake to a small river and then the river to other rivers, they were again situated right beside the water. It was convenient when you needed a drink or a bath, which he was past due for if Linden’s reaction to his armor was any indication.
The roar that sounded from the cave startled everyone, and Rocky was jerked out of his sedate musings.
Right, just because you haven’t run into any creatures in a few hours doesn’t mean they aren’t abundant.
A swallow later, Rocky took charge and arrayed the boys out behind him as he continually made noises near the entrance to the mouth of the cave. Feeling rather silly banging the flat of his sword against a stone, he waited for something to emerge. The viscous shape that inched out of the cave left his eyebrows retreating towards his hairline as his feet unconsciously stepped back.
Luckily, using Analyze was just starting to become second nature to him, finally.
Cave Slime
Journeyman-Devourer
Level 4
Slimes are unusually resistant to most physical attacks and some magical ones.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The slime creature moved with the plodding menace of magma. Perhaps the best description was that it had the consistency, texture, and color of mixed concrete. The cave slime had a mouth which was filled with assorted stones that were broken and sharpened to form something resembling teeth, and as it moved, an orb would sporadically come to the surface for a moment before disappearing back into the creature’s roiling mass of gray sludge.
As Rocky backpedaled away from the mass oozing out of the cave entrance, he felt his hands shake for a moment as they held his sword hilt due to the sheer volume of the creature. It already had a size that would equate to a bus showing outside the cave, and it still hadn’t entirely excised its mass.
If Rocky remembered correctly, the key to defeating slimes was to destroy their cores, and it was a reasonable assumption to think the orb that kept surfacing was that same, hopefully vulnerable, core. However, where it went in between surfacing would be impossible to discern. The group continued to retreat at the same pace as the plodding slime.
This stalemate wouldn’t last for much longer. Behind the group, the river loomed, and it was forty-five feet wide and possibly thirty feet deep in the middle. Rocky considered retreating back into the forest but realized that the group would be forced to run towards the slime and have to cross within a dozen feet of it to exit the valley.
Groaning, Rocky looked up. Of course, he could leap into the trees with his high Dexterity and take the squirrel highway out of the valley, but the only other one who may have had a chance of that trick was Alex. But, Rocky doubted even Alex had the Strength needed to leap across the gaps between branches thick enough to hold them.
Finally, Rocky gulped and decided to test the only exit still easily accessible for the group, which was approximately fifteen feet away from the creeping slime. This attempt quickly turned into a desperate retreat as the slime grew thick, concrete tentacles that slammed the ground and attempted to constrict around him. Once he was away from the creature again and back to the group, Jason helpfully said, “We have got to fight!”
Thanks, kid. I didn’t just risk my life to confirm that.
To the group, he just nodded and considered their options. Jason did have some pretty powerful fire magic, and so Rocky shrugged and looked at him, smiling. He simply said, “Flame-on, kid.”
The look of utter confusion Jason exhibited after his statement made Rocky groan audibly. If there was one way to make an adult feel old, it was not to understand a reference. This specific reference was so perfect in his mind, he dropped his head and added, “Burn it, please,” in a half-hearted, half volume mutter.
“Why didn’t you just say that in the first place,” Jason exclaimed in childhood excitement. Flames came quickly to both of his hands, and he made a pitching motion as they condensed into balls.
A massive fireball struck the creature and the splash ignited the underbrush right in front of it, and for half a second, Rocky was torn between thinking that the kid was going to burn down the forest and jubilation. At that moment, as the fires reflected off of the wet surface of the slime, Rocky thought the creature had come to a stop. However, whatever delusion had caused this momentary belief quickly vanished as the beast rolled over the burning ground extinguishing it faster than thought.
Go supernova! Go supernova!
He snapped out of his inner thoughts and physically had to pull back the young fire mage who had begun throwing more fireballs at the slime. They, of course, still had no effect. Rocky should have realized that you can’t set fire to a stone, and if you did manage to heat it up enough, you were just going to make it more dangerous.
It was Rocky’s turn, and he charged five Ether charges of his Dark Blade ability and let the black fog coalesce thickly on his sword. Once he had invested approximately half of his Dark Ether into the strike, he lashed out with a cross slash that had the best chance of questing out the creature’s core.
With the new darkness to his skill, he could now see it approach the slime. Rocky’s ability turned the slash into five dark lines which were spread apart, covering thirty feet in total. Between each prominent dark line were waves of dark energy that sometimes seemed to be thinner blades and other times just seemed to be static noise which obscured his vision.
The ability crossed the forty-five feet between the group and the gray sludge in a split second before it struck in unison, and the whole group clapped hands to ears in a futile attempt to muffle the screeching of nails on a chalkboard that resonated from the points of impact. It barely had
an effect as the entire group winced in pain as their ears were tortured by the treble. After ten agonizing seconds of torture, the sound decreased, and the group's faces paled and eyes widened in unison as the cement mass continued to advance, barely showing signs of the attack.
The strike had removed pieces of the creature, which was evidenced by hardening rock forming on nearby tree trunks and branches, but it hadn’t removed enough substance for Rocky or the children to discern a change in volume.
Not willing to thoroughly drain his Ether pool Rocky ordered the boys to swim across the water to safety. Another strike would most likely barely affect the creature, and so Rocky jumped into a nearby tree and made his way out onto a branch over the water.
The boys jumped in from the shore and began struggling through the current. Perhaps unsurprisingly, because he was a fire mage and had probably placed most of his stat point in Intelligence, Jason was a weak swimmer. The two other boys were forced to drag him through the center. From Rocky’s bird eye vantage point, he could easily see to the bottom the body of the water and could see multiple fish moving around below the boys.
Most of the fish looked to be enlarged to the size of a large dog, but one could never tell with the magnifying effect of water. Just as the children reached the center of the river, a dark shadow came racing towards them from upriver.
As the black outline came closer, it resolved into a massive fish that looked to almost be the size of a small car. Taking a deep breath, Rocky prepared himself because he knew he wouldn’t be able to warn them, and any warning would come too late as the creature was closing too fast for them to reach safety. Instead, Rocky decided to use tactic birds used to hunt fish.
Positioning himself on a branch directly above the boys, he tried to assess the timing he would need to make this work. Hoping that the fish would attempt to strike the boys from the rear like any good predator, Rocky prepared to jump.
The water rippled behind the boys who were paddling for all they were worth, as if they could sense the imminent threat.
A brief moment before the fish struck, Rocky committed his body to gravity, and he fell directly towards a spot behind the three kids, triggering Dark Cloak. Rocky inhaled deeply again, preparing himself to submerge under the water just as a scaly, mottled head crested the surface.
With a reverse grip and the butt of his pommel secure by his wrapped hand, Rocky collided with the fish in a splash worthy of a jackknife competition.
Once submerged, Rocky realized if he didn’t want to leave his sword behind, which was now harpooning a creature easily the size of a small shark, he would have to tow it to shore. The death throes of the beast were mighty, and he felt like a sweater in a washing machine for a moment.
When the violent turbulence finished, it wasn’t over for Rocky, as the struggle to the surface was enough for him to debate again about discarding his sword. However, he wanted the meat and loot. Also now that the fish was dead weight, it had become much easier to tow.
Due to his increased Strength and determination, he did manage to crest the water and was even able to beat the children ashore. Once on dry land and breathing heavily, he braced his foot on the river monster’s head and extricated his sword from its body. Utilizing Analyze provided him with what this creature had been before the change.
Ether Musky
Level 24
Apprentice-Terror
Dead
Glancing back across the river made Rocky curse as he saw the slime was entering the water. A moment later, he tilted his head and tried to understand what he was witnessing. It appeared as if the slime was slowly shrinking as it entered the water.
The flowing water was almost seeming to shear layers off of the cave slime and carry it away downstream. As Rocky watched, the creature hit a size that would be half again its original dimensions. Above its rapidly shrinking mouth, a darker gray orb the size of a basketball spun.
It looked to be attempting to turn around, but with its weight on the downslope towards the river, it was instead force-fed by gravity to the unyielding current. Its full mouth and spinning orb made a somewhat humorous sight, and Rocky was reminded of a Disney character. It almost looked comical, but this creature had tried to kill him or at least scare him enough to power Monstropolis.
Glancing at his Ether bar, Rocky turned off Dark Cloak. It had become a habit to activate the ability in combat, and after its deactivation, he had sixty-five Dark Ether points remaining. Double charging his blade with Dark Blade and expending fifty more Dark Ether, he lashed out surgically towards the orb. The second twenty-five Ether charge of the skill was to ensure that if his aim was off slightly, the second airborne dark blade would connect. The noise of screeching nails filled the forest again.
This time, though, the orb sundered into three pieces. Once the orb broke, whatever force was holding the slime together was released, and the blades dug deep furrows into the sloped earth of the river bank after passing through the creature’s now soft body. It was like watching a water balloon pop as the concrete like material sprayed the land and trees in a facsimile of a bursting bubble.
The three boys who had also reached the bank were gasping for breath and looking at the river musky. All of their eyes went wide, perhaps realizing just how close to a fish food they had come. Trying to act cool and nonchalant, Rocky quipped, “Well, that’s over! Who wants to swim back?”
The boys looked at him, then the water, and then the fish who rested near his feet. Each one shook their heads as quickly as possible, and because each boy possessed a different Agility stat, it was like watching bobbleheads. Chuckling loudly, Rocky smiled and looted the fish, receiving one Crystallized Ether. Taking a moment to slow his breathing after the swim, he then filleted and skinned the massive musky before storing the meat in his bag of holding.
Once the group had caught their breath, they spent the next hour trekking up the river to find a crossing and another hour returning to the cave where Rocky looted the orb of the slime and received one more Crystallized Ether, a shattered slime core, and a long knife. Hoping the slightly rusty kitchen knife wasn’t from a survivor, Rocky gave it to Alex.
The camp was set up, and while the kids worked Rocky took the time to practice his sword work, once again working on his footwork and wrist Dexterity while also attempting to maintain an isometric Strength. Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, the boys had joined him. Each one following his slow movements with nervous glances at him to keep pace.
Often, one of the boys would finish a swing, look at Rocky, and quickly return his stick halfway back along its previous course before continuing. It was surprisingly helpful as he noticed mistakes in the kids’ forms that were due to them mirroring his actions. These mirror images pointed out multiple errors that he corrected and continued.
Monkey see… monkey do!
So what if he made them do a few very awkward and comical things. He didn’t break into laughter when they struck a He-Man pose, so they would never know. That image would remain in his brain forever, though.
With Rocky’s guidance, the boys then moved on to their own weapons of choice and tried to learn control and accuracy. Alex advanced with slow grace, holding his two daggers and working on similar issues that Rocky had himself. Jason juggled a single fireball, attempting to transfer it from hand to hand with a little throw in the middle, and Oliver used his sling to dig an ever-increasing pit into a nearby felled tree.
While the boys continued training, Rocky set up two large stumps with golem metal resting across them over the pit. Having Jason start the fire was much more convenient then striking metal on a stone for a quarter of an hour or wasting another torch. Smiling, Rocky began cooking lunch for the group.
Looking at the kids, Rocky remembered that he still had three sets of nano weave armor for the children and enjoyed a moment of their childish exuberance when the boys heard he had gifts. Passing out the protection to each young man, he explained how it worked, how to equ
ip it, and how to remove it, using his own set as a teaching aide.
The level of excitement from the ninja flap was pretty unreal, and he even got an incredibly enthusiastic hug from Alex. The kids’ smiles were somehow infectious, and Rocky felt the earlier darkness of the day lift and brighten. It even helped him ignore his mounting exhaustion.
Lunch consumed half of the massive fish which made Rocky’s eyebrows raise at the sheer volume everyone was eating. After lunch, the group entered the forest, and Rocky introduced a game that would be beneficial to all of them. In Stealth, he was going to follow the boys as they hunted. He would, of course also, intervene in any fight that the boys couldn’t handle, but they were to try to find him.
The main points of the game were for Rocky to remain undetected while the boys attempted to ascertain his position. Each boy carried a handful of pebbles, and if they thought they saw, heard or, detected him, they were to throw a stone at the location in question. He would then remove Stealth if they were correct, and the game would restart.
Not to mention increasing the amounts of Etherience they’ll gain, since I won’t be joining fights unless absolutely necessary.
At first, the children, exhausted the handful of pebbles in minutes, attempting to flush out his position by luck instead of skill. Exiting Stealth high above them in the trees, Rocky smiled sardonically and assured them he was still present. They had begun to grow fearful he had abandoned them. Growing serious again, he lightly scolded the three, admonishing them to take the exercise more seriously.
Easily able to avoid detection of the boys, Rocky enjoyed a leisurely trek through the woods where he picked edible plants and other herbs that his new skill in herbalism identified as noteworthy reagents. His ability had an odd way of recognizing the plants, and he tried to get a better feel for it as he shadowed the children.