by J. Carrarn
"We will stay here for another day," Solus said, his voice upbeat. He grinned through the muck that caked his face.
"Shouldn't we hurry to Scathia?" Sig asked.
Detecting the surprise in Sig's voice, Solus shook his head. "No. I am close to evolving, and with this many orbs, the others should be able to evolve as well."
Thinking for another second, Solus continued. "I'll give them better patterns, and they can practice in this city."
And after I evolve, I will take a look at that giant Wyrm in the center, he thought.
The small building where they had left the others appeared in the distance, and Solus saw Derin sitting out in front, keeping watch. The blue zombie seemed bored, and he quietly watched them come closer. When he saw the large containers, his eyes widened, and he scrambled up and back into the building. Solus heard some murmurs from inside, and a moment later, three undead burst out, rushing toward them.
As soon as the others saw inside the baskets, they all began talking at the same time.
"Give me one!"
"You're sharing those, right?"
"WANT!"
"You can't possibly use all those!"
Solus grinned as he saw them positively bouncing up and down in excitement. Tirella seemed ready to explode. He put the container down, grabbed a fist-sized orb, and handed it to Tatjie.
Tatjie began reaching for an orb, and he swatted her hand away.
"Alright, alright. Calm down. There's enough to go around. You will all get as many as you need to evolve."
Derin received his, took one more glance at the massive amount left in the container, and rushed back inside the building to absorb his prize in relative privacy.
A soft tapping came from Tirella as she bounced on her heels, staring at Solus and the orbs.
"You can get more…" Solus said, raising an arm to block her when she dashed forward. The yellow eyebrows lowered as Tirella's eyes turned small and gleaming. "However, I want you to promise me you will let me inscribe your next pattern on your mana-field."
Tirella's frown deepened, and Solus wondered how much she understood.
"Show me your mana-field."
She was quiet for a moment, and then a massive orange field shot out. It was split into five quadrants that were filled with bits and pieces of patterns, mostly mismatched and chaotic. Only one quadrant held a dense, well-shaped pattern, and Solus was sure that it determined her current abilities and exterior. The rest looked like she had somehow tried to draw things on it at random. It was a miracle they even resembled patterns at all. Along the edges of the smaller bits were black, tar-like spots that seemed to ooze slightly.
That doesn't look right, he thought. Taking another look, he wondered if he could scrape away the ooze and chaotic scribbles and replace them with something useful.
"Give?"
Tirella's soft voice sounded confused and annoyed at the same time, and Solus grinned at her as he handed her an orb. "You understand?" He asked as she too sped away and into the building.
"Understand!" came the reply from the empty entrance.
Sig was looking at him quizzically, an eyebrow raised.
"We need more information and she might have it. Surely you agree that as she is now, she would be unable to share it with us?" Solus asked, as if it was obvious.
"I know that, but how can you be sure she won't turn on us as soon as she gets the chance?"
Solus was about to say that she wouldn't when he recalled Domain's recent treachery. How was he to know? Undead and AI alike had proven to be untrustworthy. Suddenly feeling a lot less cheerful, he gazed sadly at the building.
"If she does, and I'm not around, take her out quickly."
Sig nodded, a relieved look on his face. Then he picked up the orbs and moved toward the building. "I am not sure what absorbing all this will do, but I am going to find out."
As Sig disappeared inside the building, Solus was about to follow him when he stopped. Almost reluctantly, he looked down, and a tunnel appeared. He jumped inside, closing the tunnel above him. Deep under the ground, he created a square room, twice as high as he was, with a large stone bed in the middle.
Looking around the room, he sighed. This should be safe, he thought as he set the container with orbs beside the bed. The last few days had passed too swiftly. Sitting crossed-legged on his bed, he grabbed two orbs. Staring at them for a moment, he tried to bring order to his emotions.
His mind was jumbled, his thoughts and emotions a confusing mess. Where, not too long ago, he only had one emotion at a time, or none at all, now many warred with each other.
Fear of what would happen to Skulltown and of the rifts. A slight desire to enter a rift and find out what was on the other side. Apprehension about Scathia and her goals. The issue of Domain wandering about somewhere mixed with slight pain from his betrayal. Coloring it all was a lingering excitement from the Wyrm hunt, and a desire to test himself against the large one at the center of this ruined city. As he probed his own feelings, he felt something else. Buried deep under all was a slow-burning curiosity about Tirella and what she knew.
There were so many that he realized he wasn't even enjoying them anymore. Instead, they influenced his actions as he tried to ignore them, usually failing to do so and acting too rashly. Remembering the quiet calm of his mind when he had been just a skeleton, he wondered… had he made a mistake?
The thought worried him. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and tried to push the thoughts away with the stream of air that rushed up from his lungs and into the room. To his surprise, it helped a little, and he tried again, focusing on the feel of the bed, the orbs in his hands, and the quiet of the room. Slowly, his emotions calmed, his thoughts quieted, and his mind turned still.
Changes within
A soft ping woke Solus. It had been pinging softly in the background for a while now. He blinked and realized he was still looking at the ground, feeling light. The emotions had either dispersed or receded into the background, leaving a pleasant empty feeling in his mind, and for the first time in a long time, he could think clearly.
Emotions are dangerous! I must learn to control them.
The thought came unbidden, and with such a sense of truth, he almost wondered if it had come from somewhere or someone else. He knew he had let his curiosity and fear guide him for the last few days.
Not the first time either, nor will it be the last, he thought, realizing a truth. Domain's betrayal had made him wary and led him to hide down here. He was afraid of being caught off guard again.
His gaze fell on the orbs that he still had clutched in his hands, and with a contented sigh, he began to absorb them. A stream of energy poured into his still empty mana-field. He savored the feeling. All too soon, the orbs crumbled to dust between his fingers. He summoned his status window and quickly navigated to his evolutionary options.
> Calculations restarted.
> ...
> Potential evolutions pending.
> Unusual mutation detected in race inscription, calculating possible paths ...
> … .....
> Time remaining: Two hours and twenty-eight minutes
Seeing the timer, Solus felt anticipation drown out his tranquil feeling. Instead of pushing it away, he reveled in it for a moment, enjoying the purity of the emotion. Curious at what awaited him, he opened his status window again.
Name: Os Solus
Age: 1
Sex: Male
Race: Demi stone elemental
Type: Mutation
Class: Stone shaper
Strength: 48/48
Constitution: 39/39
Dexterity: 23/24
Endurance: 90/90
Intelligence: 34/34
Wisdom: 21/23
Charisma: 9/16
Mana-field: 14000/14000
Physical density: 19000/19000
Skills: 2
Inscriptions: 3/7
Mana generation: 32
Staring at
it, he felt a sense of accomplishment. Especially the rise in intelligence and wisdom made him happy. Then he spotted the single remaining point in dexterity, and he flinched. A single point? That wouldn't do! He rose with a wide grin on his face.
He had some time left. Why not see if he could not raise it?
Moving away from the bed, he focused on the far end of the wall. The room extended backward with a low rumbling sound, dust and sand drifting in the air in a glistening cloud of green powder. When the backside of the room was as far as he could throw a rock, he made a hole in it and summoned a few stones beside him.
He threw the stone toward the far end, but it barely got halfway before slamming into the left wall. Blinking, he grabbed another, wondering if it was even possible for him to raise his dexterity like this. Then he pushed his doubts away and began throwing stones.
When the loud ping from his status finally came, rocks lay scattered all over the long room. Only twice had he managed to hit the wall, and neither stone had even come close to the hole. His aim was getting better though, and he found that he enjoyed the simple game.
He dropped the stone he had just picked up and sat down on the bed. Wondering if the ping was even for his dexterity, he summoned his status window and sighed. Dexterity was still a point short, so something else must have increased.
It doesn't matter, he thought, before bellowing in his mind.
Evolution!
The window changed, another one appearing that had lines of text.
> Calculations completed.
> New evolution paths generated based on previous mutations and mutations.
A small list of highlighted options showed, with dozens of greyed-out and unselectable options below.
> Rank B regression class evolution:
> Earth shaper (strength+)
> Rank B+ class evolution:
> Stone golem creator (intelligence+ and wisdom+)
> Rank B+ class evolution:
> Immovable force (strength++ and constitution+)
> Rank A class evolution:
> Mass manipulator (strength++ and intelligence+)
> Rank A class evolution:
> Advanced stone shaper (strength++ and constitution+)
> Rank A+ sub-race evolution:
> Mineral shaper (strength++ and intelligence++)
> Rank A sub-race evolution:
> Mineral elemental (strength++ and constitution++)
Skimming through the options while ignoring the detailed explanations below, he focussed on the attribute cap they would increase.
He frowned. All of them had strength, all but the stone golem creator one. Although strength had always seemed like such a great idea, since his many recent battles, he had found that the evolutions that came with it also limited him in a few crucial ways. They were weak versus ranged and flying opponents. Skimming through the options again, slower this time, he pondered. He liked some of what he saw, but he had hoped to find something to offset his vulnerabilities, if only a little.
Focusing on the greyed-out options, he saw the same message on all of them.
> Locked due to missing requirements.
Scrolling down, he realized there must be dozens if not more options that he could not see. Overwhelmed and a bit disappointed, he examined a few of the options that he could choose in more detail.
"Rank A+ sub-race evolution: Mineral elemental. Required: Demi stone elemental or stone elemental evolution. The physically most sturdy of the stone elementals, mineral elementals can shape not just stone but also metals and crystalline forms. WARNING! Stone elementals are hard to control, but mineral elementals are almost impossible to control. Use with caution. NO REFUNDS!"
"Rank A+ class evolution: Advanced stone shaper class. Required: stone shaper class. Increases the size and scope of what a stone shaper can do while reducing the mana expenditure. One of the most useful utility classes to have in your arsenal. Can be used to create entire cities on new worlds. Note, this class is not as useful in combat scenarios. If combat is required, a mineral shaper is recommended."
Seeing the note at the bottom, he quickly skimmed across mineral shaper, but it was as he had guessed. It just reduced the difficulty for him to shape metal, which didn't seem like a great choice if compared to the sub-race evolution mineral elemental.
He closed his status window and sighed. Although he very much wanted to increase his power, none of the options he saw seemed like a good fit. Any increase in strength seemed redundant. Although the idea of increasing his stone-shaping ability either in magnitude or by adding metal in the mix seemed interesting, he wasn't sure how much it would help him.
Focusing his stone sense on the building above, he felt the slight tremors as the others moved around inside the building. What should he do? The plan to evolve right away had left him, although the desire to do so remained. First, he would increase his attributes as high as he could. Perhaps that would unlock some better options.
Now how to increase dexterity and wisdom...
He lay back on the stone bed, a plan slowly forming.
—
"Where did Solus go?" Derin muttered to himself as he stood waiting outside the building.
He was cradling one arm, thin and a paler blue than the other one. The mana from the orb had barely been enough to regrow it, and he wanted to ask Solus for another orb so he could finish the regeneration process. Not that there wasn't another reason. He summoned the small information window that Drys had provided him.
> Mana-field: 6312/7100
He was so close to another evolution! He didn't know what to select yet, or if he would even get the chance to choose for himself. Solus had said he would inscribe something on his mana-field, but that could mean anything from no options to a limited set.
A scraping, creaking noise came from the entrance as Tatjie, with some difficulty, pushed herself through, one massive arm at a time. When she was out, she stretched, the muscles in her long arms rippling.
"Didn't you find him yet so you could beg for another orb and fix your poor little arm?" she said, raising one of her own and flexing it at him.
Derin snorted and shook his head. Looking at Tatjie, he saw she had a big smile on her face. "Did you reach the next point?"
"Yes! So I hope the big guy has something cool in store for me!" Grinning, she swung her arms around while pacing the length of the building.
"And Tirella?"
Tatjie picked up a stone and squeezed it. A loud crack echoed through the quiet area, and she tossed the handful of grit against the wall with a loud clatter.
"Dunno. She is still inside, holding a handful of dust."
A soft rumbling sound came from the area behind them, and they swirled around. Solus climbed up from a hole that closed behind him, holding the container with orbs under one arm.
"There you are! Didn't want to share the building with us?" Tatjie bellowed happily.
Solus looked at her, scanning her and cocking an eyebrow. "So you are ready to evolve?"
As she nodded, he grabbed an orb from the container and tossed it to Derin. The blue undead grabbed it, nodded his thanks, and sat down on the spot to absorb it.
"Show me your mana-field," Solus said, moving toward Tatjie until he towered over her. She barely reached his waist, but her arms still looked menacing.
"Sure thing, big guy!"
She laughed, and an odd orange mana-field spread out around her. To Solus's surprise, he saw many familiar parts in the densely packed segments of the field. At least part of what she had was based on his old valiant zombie pattern. There were some major differences, though. Some parts were either gone or smaller, while others were blown up out of proportion.
Drys's doing, he thought with a wry smile.
The base patterns he recognized were all based on strength, and he frowned. He had no experience with changing patterns on the fly like Drys. All he could do was inscribe one on an empty mana-field. Looking at it, he wondered if h
e could remove the previous pattern and replace it with another. Pulling up his status info, he shuffled through the old evolutions that he had been able to choose from.
"So stunned by what you see that you don't know what to do?" Tatjie asked.
Solus laughed at her and looked at the small status imprint Drys had given her. "I am going to try something, don't worry!"
Before she could react, he put a mental hand on the area with the small status imprint and willed it away. A soft groan came from Tatjie, and she rubbed her head.
"What did you just… HEY! I needed that!"
Solus laughed, waving his hands. Finally, something went as he wanted it again.
"Not to worry," he said as he effortlessly inscribed the status imprint back where it had been. "See? I just had to try something."
Tatjie grumbled something before glaring at him with her single good orange eye. "That hurts, you know! What are you even trying to do? Turn me back into a freshly awoken skeleton?"
Solus blinked. Could he do that? He was almost tempted to try. When he saw her warning glare, he knew she wouldn't just sit there and let him. Besides, he had better try that with someone who deserved it. Perhaps a Kaot? Grinning at the prospect, he inspected the mixed and matched patterns. Drys had obviously been trying to create something new and entirely focused on brute strength, but the completed pattern was a chaotic, unbalanced mess.
After some time, he managed to distinguish the racial evolution from the class evolution. The racial one was strange, and he didn't recognize it. Due to size constraints, she or Drys had somehow scribbled the class inscription in between the partitions of her pattern, even overlapping them in some places.