by Alex Knight
Kaiden looked toward the door. It was much the same as the one they’d entered through except there was a display on its front.
“Room Status: Unoccupied?” Zelda read aloud.
“Means there’s nothing in it,” Thorne replied, pointing to the green glow of its display.
“Thanks. Really cleared that up.”
“Like I was saying,” Thorne continued. “It takes a lot to maintain this place because, well, we have to stock it.” She pointed toward another door, this one on their left. It too had a display, and a realization dawned on Kaiden as he read it.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 30/30 Voidspawn, Level: 15
“Voidspawn?” Kaiden felt his jaw drop. “Wait. The Corps is stocking this place with voidspawn?”
“Not just voidspawn,” Thorne said as she reached the intersection and paused to peer around the corner. Once she’d confirmed the hallway was empty, she gestured for Kaiden to look down it.
More doors. Hundreds of them, lining the walls of the hallway as far as he could see. Displays on them read out the status of each room, what was inside it, and how many.
“Voidspawn. Grachnids. Dark Turen. Baboulian Manhunters. Pretty much any mob of use ends up here,” Thorne said. “Of course, it’s a major pain in the ass to transport them all here. Total grunt work – you three are lucky you got out before you ended up on collection detail,” she said with a smirk.
“How big is this place?” Zelda asked, her eyes wide as she took in the seemingly endless number of doors lining the hallway.
“Big enough that I’m confident we can slip into a room or two without being noticed. Plus it’s even fuller than I thought it would be. I’ve never seen so many stocked rooms. This place was empty last time I checked,” Thorne said. “And once we’re inside, the room status will show ‘occupied,’ so no one’s going to bother us. We’ll be free to grind away on all the mobs in the room.” She nodded down the hall to two doors whose displays were red, in stark contrast with hundreds that were green.
“This is something of a disused area,” Thorne explained. “Overflow storage, essentially. There’s much more closer to the heart of the facility. Hopefully here we can go unseen for a while.”
“I’m seeing different levels of mobs listed on each door?” Titus said, poking a head around the corner and squinting.
“They’re all organized by level. That way, when you kill all the mobs in one room, you can move right to the next. It’s grinding at its most efficient. Or, well, it is for those who get to use it. The mobs don’t respawn – once they’re killed, more have to be captured and brought here. The grunts who stock this place hate it. Do you know how hard it is to capture mobs, get them onto a ship, and bring them here?”
“If the Warden Corps has had this place all along, why not use it? Why isn’t every warden power-leveled here?” Kaiden asked, his mind reeling at the possibilities of such a place.
“Well, for one thing, power-levelling even a single warden takes massive resources. Usually only high-ranking Party officers reassigned from real-world to Nova detail would get access. Getting one player to max represents months of collection duty for junior wardens. These mobs don’t respawn, after all. This is all manual. So, levelling more than the occasional officer is hugely inefficient. You would have to reassign hundreds of patrolling wardens from their usual duties just to keep it running.”
Thorne paused, looking back at him, her expression pained. “Second, it defeats the purpose of the program. The warden program’s primary goal is to rehabilitate prisoners. Turns out spending hundreds of hours grinding in an isolated room on a backwater planet really doesn’t do a stellar job of preparing convicts to reenter society.” She shook her head. “Of course, now that Moran’s on his power trip and dying to find us, I figured he’d be using this place. It doesn’t really matter that having a hundred wardens in here will deplete the stocked mobs faster than grunts can replenish them. Or that huge areas of Nova are probably going unprotected as he reassigns good, honest wardens to mob pick-up for his power-levelling cronies. Moran knows he’s on the clock to find us. I doubt the long-term viability of this facility – or its effectiveness in rehabilitating convicts – is his top priority. When Werner said the Corps was power-leveling, it clicked instantly that this would be where they were doing it.”
“There’s no way we go unnoticed here, though,” Kaiden said. “I mean, there’s a hundred wardens here.”
“We can make this work,” Titus said. Kaiden looked over and found a hunger in the big man’s eyes. And a determination. “Back in the day, when I was preparing for a fight, I’d cut everything else out. Train like it was life or death.” He didn’t need to say more for Kaiden to remember that the sort of boxing Titus had fought had very often been life or death.
“I’d work out all day then study everything I could about my opponent by night. Complete and utter obsession.” He looked out at the hallways around them. “Kinda like what this place is.”
“Pretty much the idea,” Thorne said with a nod. “And it’s risky being here, sure. But as long as we’re careful moving from room to room, we should be fine. The whole of the Warden Corps is looking for us, right? Well, something tells me the last place they’re going to look is here. I mean, who in their right minds would try to hide so close to their enemies?”
“Yeah, who in their right mind would do tha—” Kaiden stopped as a thunk echoed out through the hallway. One of the nearby doors opened and a group of five or six wardens piled out.
Thorne grabbed Kaiden’s shoulder and yanked him back around the corner, then jammed him into a crevice in the carved-out stone wall before finding one for herself. Zelda and Titus did the same with differing levels of success, particularly for the big man.
“Whew,” one of the nearby wardens said through proximity chat. “Gonna need a shower in the real world after that one. That was tense!”
The wardens passed through the intersection and kept going, heading down an offshoot hallway.
“You ain’t kidding,” another voice agreed as they passed. “This virtual reality gaming stuff is pretty impressive, actually. Tell you what, it’s a far better job than pushing papers all day up at the state house. Kinda wish we’d been reassigned here sooner.”
The voices dwindled as the wardens walked further away down the hallway. Soon only the distant thunking of their boots was audible and then even that faded.
“Thorne,” Zelda hissed. She was talking through group comms so she didn’t need to be quiet. but considering the circumstances, Kaiden hardly blamed her. “This is crazy.”
“Yeah, we’re totally going to get caught,” Kaiden said.
“Crazy,” Zelda said again. “But just crazy enough to work.”
“Oh, hell yes,” Titus said. “I’m tired of flying all across the galaxy just to shoot down a few pirates for weak EXP. It’s time we did some true training.” He stepped away from the wall and looked toward the closest door.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 30/30 Voidspawn **Elite**, Level: 20
“Not that one,” Thorne said, directing his attention away from it. “Those voidspawn are too low-level. They’re Elites, so they’ll be worth more EXP, but still not the sort of EXP we need.” She gestured toward a door further down.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 20/20 Cryo-mummies **Huntsman** Level: 38
“Eh, actually, those have the Huntsman tag so they’re only going to focus on the highest-level player. I’d rather not go in there just so they can zerg me,” Thorne replied.
“Fair enough. That one, then?” Kaiden asked, pointing to a door several more paces down the hallway – in the direction the power-leveling wardens had gone just a few moments ago, too, Kaiden noticed.
“Unoccupied. Twenty out of twenty Grachnids. Level forty. Yeah,” Thorne said striding toward it. “This’ll do nicely.” She touched her hand to the door’s display and ther
e was a heavy thunk as it unlocked.
“In we go,” she said, giving a half bow. “Last one in be sure to lock the door behind you. We don’t want any of these buggers getting out to roam the halls.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Bring him down!” Zelda shouted, retreating from the gobber in front of her. A good decision, considering she was down to five percent health and the furious gobber was level forty-six. Kaiden hadn’t even realized gobbers could spawn at such a high level. The dozen they’d already killed in this room proved they did.
“I got it,” Kaiden said and darted forward, using the final seconds of Lightspeed. He moved so fast the room around him was a blur – not that it mattered. He’d stopped paying attention to the different rooms hours ago. They all looked the same on the inside: poorly lit, with rocky walls and ceilings, and countless numbers of mobs snarling in the half-light. Really, the mobs were the only difference from one room to the next. Hominoids two rooms ago, grachnids after that, and now gobbers.
Kaiden activated Hamstring as he reached the gobber, then slammed his hammer into the back of its knee. The creature cried out – something between a squeal and a growl – but kept chasing Zelda. The reduction to its movement speed let her slip away, though, and she fired an Improved Burst Arrow into its chest from a safe distance.
The gobber squealed again as its health dropped into the red. Kaiden swung his hammer for a finishing blow but found only empty air.
Ability: Energy Grip
Kaiden read the notification on his visor just as Titus let out a grunt.
“This one’s mine.”
Kaiden looked over to see the gobber at the big man’s feet, an energy lasso wrapped around its leg. Titus swung his hammer down once, twice, and the gobber’s health fell to zero.
Gobber assisted kill – 3,200 EXP gained!
“Incoming!” Thorne shouted from across the room. “Heads up!”
Kaiden glanced over in time to see the last gobber sprinting toward her. From across the room, Zelda hit it between the shoulder blades with a Warden’s Bolt. At just about the same moment, Thorne pumped charge into her hammer and swung hard.
Ability: Gravity Sledge
The bundle of fur and claws and anger was launched through the air. It slammed into the ceiling, then thudded back down to the floor, dead.
Gobber assisted kill – 3,200 EXP gained!
“That should just about do it…” Kaiden said and then sure enough, the notification popped up on his screen.
Level 42 achieved!
Max health and stamina increased
+3 stat points
Nice! Kaiden breathed a sigh of relief as his health was restored to full, but mainly he was relieved for Zelda’s sake. He’d been down to thirty percent health but she’d been on the verge of death.
Should’ve brought more stimpacks with us, he thought as he checked his character sheet.
Character
Name:
Kaiden
Race:
Human
Level:
42
Class:
Enhanced Warden
Attributes
Strength:
57 (+2)
Intelligence:
51
Endurance:
57
Perception:
51
Dexterity:
152 (+2)
Unassigned:
0
Abilities
Kickback
Shield Bash
Hammer Toss
Lightspeed
Improved Enhanced Senses
Riposte
Flash Bang
Improved Blur
Onslaught
Enfeebling Strike
Slayer (passive)
Hamstring
Matter Shift
Distortion Field
Perks
Turen Tinkering
Kaiden closed his character sheet. Zelda’s health bar was back to full and she was shaking off the remains of gobber fur and spit clinging to her armor.
“Nasty little things, aren’t they?” Thorne said, pacing across the space. “Looks like you all got your next levels, though?”
Kaiden nodded. Thorne had earned hers earlier in the fight. Thankfully, she hadn’t taken too much damage finishing off the gobbers; her health sat at a comfortable eighty-eight percent.
“I could get into this,” Titus said, catching his breath. Despite his good mood, there was a seriousness to his face. “Feels like some quality time hitting the bag, as my old coach would say. Always prepping for that next fight.”
Kaiden didn’t have to guess what fight Titus was thinking about. The big man wasn’t over the beatdown he’d received at the hands of Maximus, and Kaiden had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t be until the score had been evened.
“This is good training, maybe,” Kaiden said. “But is anyone else’s head a bit fuzzy? Like, senses dulled just a bit?”
“That’s mental exhaustion you’re feeling,” Thorne said. “Grinding at this rate really isn’t possible anywhere else in Nova. Real-time combat is taxing on the nervous system. It’ll wear you down. There are medical bays scattered throughout, but they can’t help with the mental exhaustion.”
“We can sleep when we’re dead,” Titus said with a grunt.
“He’s got a point there. We don’t have time to take a break,” Kaiden said and followed him. “Every moment we’re here is dangerous. The sooner we get done here, the better.”
“Fair enough,” Thorne said with a nod. “Well, go on. Send the screenshots.”
Screenshots? Oh, right. They’d leveled up not long ago, and forty-one had unlocked a new ability. He’d seen the message flash across his vision but it’d quickly been forgotten in the fighting.
Maybe I’m more tired than I realize. We have a lot more to go, though, even if we are making good time.
Still feeling like he was out of breath, Kaiden pulled up the details of his new ability and took a screenshot of it. He fired the shot off to the group then took a moment to focus on the new ability.
Ability: Distortion Field
A field of energy surrounds you. You and all allies within 15 feet get a 25% increase to dodge chance. (Does not affect chances of dodging area-of-effect damage.)
Cost: 10 charge per second for a max of 10 seconds.
Cooldown: 2 minutes.
So, it can cost up to one hundred charge if I use it for the full duration, which is a lot. But it basically gives Blur to all allies near me. Not bad. Not bad at all.
Blur was a powerful ability on its own, but being able to give it to himself and all allies around him? That was even better. Just gotta make sure we don’t try dodging any area-of-effect attacks with this. Excluding those, though, this seems a great way to keep everyone alive longer in a fight, or cover us in the event of a retreat.
“Distortion Field looks handy,” Zelda said, looking over to Kaiden.
“Yeah it does,” he agreed. “Can’t wait to put it to use. But what about everyone else? What’d you all pick up?” he asked, then turned his attention to the screenshots they’d sent him. He started with Titus’.
Ability: Intransigence (passive)
Your defensive expertise makes you an immovable opponent. You are immune to knockback abilities, and damage to allies within 10 feet is reduced by 10%. Does not stack when multiple shield wardens are present.
Kaiden’s mind flashed back to when they’d pirated the freighter for the King Street boys. The cybernetic knight they’d fought in the process – what had his name been? – had thrown Titus around like a toy with his powerful attacks. Not anymore. Even abilities like Thorne’s Gravity Sledge wouldn’t break through this passive.
If Titus wants to stay somewhere, he’s going to. Bodes well for keeping our defensive formations together. And there’s a damage resistance buff to nearby allies. Basically, this makes Titus even more of a beachhead to rally around in comba
t. I dig it.
“Intransigence,” Kaiden said, looking at Titus out of the corner of his eye. “As if you weren’t already stubborn enough.”
“Heh.” The big man chuckled. “Seems the game’s encouraging me. I’m gonna take that as a sign I’m going in the right direction.”
The next new ability was Zelda’s.
Ability: In My Sights (passive)
As long as you are locked on to a target, all allies deal +25% damage to the target.
Ah, this partners up with Lock On. He pulled up a tab on the ability to re-familiarize himself with it.
Ability: Lock On
You direct charge into your hammer-gun. For 5 seconds, as long as the last target you damaged is within your line of sight, your attacks will not miss. You cannot attack any other target. If you take damage this effect deactivates.
Cost: 30 charge.
Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Nice! So, Lock On will lock her on to a target, then the new passive, In My Sights, will let each of us deal additional damage to that target for up to five seconds. A pretty convenient way to focus important targets. Pick off an opposing medic or blast warden in order to swing a battle in their favor. More combos. They’re each very powerful, but we’ll need to coordinate to make the most of them.
So, that was it for new abilities for the moment. Thorne was above them in level by a bit so she hadn’t unlocked anything new just yet.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Titus asked, looking around at the remains of their last fight. “This room’s clear, on to the next one. What is that, five down now? Six?”
“Something like that,” Kaiden said as he moved toward the door that led back out into the hallway. This was always the most dangerous part. Once they were in a room, they were fine, but switching between them always ran the hazard of being spotted.