When Edge returned to his body, the gatekeeper was barely hanging on. The giant catfish was spasming and shaking—blind eyes wide with horror.
He put the wounded beast out of its misery, pried his legs free from its scales, then watched as the ice encasing the carcass made it rise to the surface where it would be easy to reach. He was exhausted and elated by the hard-won victory, but he didn’t have time to give in to either sensation. I need to help the women finish off the lampreys before someone gets seriously hurt.
Edge turned around… then screamed when he saw a murky figure floating just a few feet away—not having noticed Lillian dive in after him while focused finishing off the gatekeeper.
He realized the shadowkiller was staring at him in rapt fascination, committing every moment of his Extraction to memory. Apparently, the crew’s battle with the bloodsuckers was going better than he’d feared. Lilly had come to back up him while Sasha and Mel finished off the swarm.
When they reached the surface, she turned to him and said, “Your core is the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen. When we get back, you must let me run some experiments. I promise they will only be moderately invasive and easy to heal with Regeneration.”
“Err, maybe.” Edge was saved from having to make a commitment when the rest of the crew came running over to make sure he was all right. The lampreys were dead, and while all three women were wounded, the hunters had defeated the gatekeeper and its swarm without anyone being crippled or killed—an overwhelming victory considering the power of their opponents.
Lilly was shivering from her dip into the icy lake. He activated Repel Water to dry her off but didn’t use it on himself just yet. “I think I saw another chest down there. Get some rest and tend to your wounds. I’m going to check it out and won’t be gone long.”
He replaced his mask and breathing tube, dove to the bottom of the lake, then swam over to the den he’d spotted while stealing the gatekeeper’s skills. He pulled out a glowing crystal from his vault and entered the enclosure within an enclosure.
There were a few stray lampreys down here, but the bloodsuckers were terrified of Edge after taking out the stage-three beast and gave him a wide berth. He was in a hurry, so he didn’t bother hunting them down and returned his attention to the task at hand.
I think it was around here somewhere. Sure enough, hiding between prolific piles of bones and the biggest turds he’d ever seen was a chest bearing a seal from the System. He grabbed it and swam to where his crew was waiting.
He pulled himself onto the rocky shore, put his gear into his spatial storage, and dried himself off. The women were in the middle of allocating their points, but when they saw what he was holding, they came over to find out what was inside.
Once everyone had gathered around, Edge let Sasha do the honors. When she cracked open the lacquered wooden box with a flourish, his Guide appeared to let him know what he’d found.
You have opened a sealed chest containing the following items:
1 Skill-Merger Token.
1 Triple-Merger Token.
Runic Gear: Blazebringer’s Ring (Uncommon).
Core Rune: Blademaster’s Emblem (Rare).
This led to a spontaneous celebration, with hugs, high-fives, and fist bumps for everyone.
Everything in the chest was good, providing the crew with a critical bonus when they needed it most. Combined with the cycles they’d obtained from the fight and the trait the System would grant them after they left the biome, the hunters were ready to hit the Claws hard and help save Trapper’s team.
They decided to build a fire and warm up while they talked the matter through, tending to their wounds while recovering from the exhaustion evoked by the grueling ordeal. Lillian had a medicinal ointment that would help their cuts heal faster, and the women applied it while discussing the contents of the chest. In the end, they were able to work out a division that made everyone happy, and everyone claimed their prizes with exuberance.
It came as no surprise that Sasha wanted the fire-aspected ring. Edge was happy to let her have it. He didn’t have any free implant slots and wasn’t anywhere close to hitting stage three. Besides, he wasn’t packing any flame-based powers at the moment, and the ring wasn’t as good as his Frost Fury Medallion anyway.
Sasha bound the runic item to her magical circuitry, enhancing the potency of her fire skills. That ring will synergize nicely with her elemental core. This chest was a lucky find. When the strawberry blond hunter turned toward the lake and let loose with Fire Breathing, her flames were considerably hotter than before—powerful enough to severely burn most stage-two enemies.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Everyone offered a round of applause, then Mel took her turn. The guardswoman had picked up the Blademaster’s Emblem. Once it was bound, the core rune would automatically generate a field across the blade of any weapon she wielded, enhancing its sharpness, penetrative power, and making it harder to chip or break.
Although anyone on the team could have used it, the emblem matched Mel’s skillset best. Better still, after her recent evolution, she had enough implant slots available to bind it now, providing a potent power-up before they took on the jailbird gang.
Lilly wanted the regular Skill-Merger Token. It turned out that she had been looking for one for months and already knew how she wanted to use it, letting her upgrade her skillset here and now.
Edge realized that he only knew what seven of her eight skills did—an oversight on his part. The eighth wound up being something called Track, which let her unerringly locate anything that got hit by the skill for several days. It was useful when hunting monsters and stealthy enemies but hadn’t come into play during their excursions in the Sweltering Green or trip across the grottos.
The raven-haired monster hunter smiled wide as she consolidated her gains. First, she merged Transparency and Vortex Shot to create Assassin’s Vortex. In exchange for a modest increase in cost, her most powerful attack would now be silent, invisible, and almost undetectable to energetic senses. It still created a bit of wind, but going forward, Lilly’s skill would be incredibly difficult to evade, which had been a problem while battling the beasts in the subterranean biome.
Once the merger was complete, she pulled out a skill gem she’d been saving and used it too. It contained a power called Haze, which wound up being one of the most badass support skills Edge had ever heard of. Haze created a dense cloud of smoke that was opaque for the targets Lillian designated but wouldn’t impede the vision of anyone else.
While there were lots of ways to deal with it—from wind powers to Disruption to sensory skills—Haze would be a nightmare for enemies that weren’t equipped to handle it and incredibly useful during a large-scale conflict.
That left Edge with the Triple-Merger Token—a pure white disc featuring the image of three skills coming together to make something new. He had no complaints, since it was the item he had wanted to begin with. In addition to already having a regular merger token, it was his first time coming across a triple.
The token was bound to come in handy, as he only had one free skill slot and wanted to open several more sockets before engaging the jailbirds. Their elite members were sure to have some amazing powers, and he was eager to add them to his collection.
He had some ideas for which skills he wanted to merge using both tokens and considered using them here and now. However, Skill-Eater didn’t respond to his request for advice, so Edge decided to ponder the matter for a while longer and hope the big guy woke up from his nap before he was forced to use them.
Now that the gatekeeper was dead and the treasure had been divided, the next item on his list was to see how many cycles he’d earned and spend the free points as wisely as he could. He pulled up his Guide and read through his updates while the women finished making their own decisions.
You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle up your core. Your new cycle is: 23.
You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle up your core. Your new cycle is: 24.
You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle up your core. Your new cycle is: 25.
You have 15 attribute points awaiting allocation.
15 points. Not bad at all. Edge was thrilled to have picked up three cycles from defeating the colossal catfish and its army of lampreys. They would make a big difference in the battles to come. Now then, how should I spend them?
His Durability and Defense were over 30 with the bonuses from his traits, and his Amplification was sitting at an impressive 36. His Reflex was high enough to handle the boost from Warlord’s Mantle and Fear the Seasons, but his Control was lagging behind, and his Power wasn’t going to cut it either.
He would be engaging experienced warriors in hand-to-hand combat soon and had severe reservations that he could beat the battle-hardened killers without enhancing his martial prowess. While he thought the matter through, he asked his Guide to display his physical attributes.
Physical Attributes
Power: 14 (16)
Endurance: 20 (23)
Durability: 30 (33)
Reflex: 17 (18)
Speed: 17 (19)
Control: 14 (16)
Perception: 23 (24)
After glancing at the numbers, he realized that he had a perfect way to spend his points.
Right now, his baseline Power and Control were both 14, and his Speed was sitting at 17. With the 15 points he’d earned, he could take all three attributes to a nice round 20. Thanks to his Triple Tap trait, which added 10% to the baseline value of those attributes, he could get three extra points that way, granting him an additional bonus that was worth over half a cycle by itself.
With a plan in place, Edge went to work, spending the points a few at a time so the accompanying sensations weren’t overwhelming. Whenever he confirmed his choice, potentia was released from his core in an electric rush to permanently enhance his body.
Getting more Power was always unpleasant, since the transformative energy dissolved the bonds between his muscles and various other tissues before molding them into a more resilient configuration. It felt like battery acid was flowing through his veins, with some broken glass thrown into the mix for good measure.
But the benefits were more than worth the price of admission. A little short-lived pain was a small sacrifice to make for obtaining a dramatic spike to his strength. Speed felt similar to getting more Reflex, although the changes were taking place within his fast-twitch muscle fibers rather than his neurons and nerves. Combined with the other boosts to his Speed, Edge would be able to move faster than almost anyone else his stage.
Control was unique, since the potentia was enhancing his proprioception instead of altering his tissue, allowing for minute adjustments that increased his fine-motor control. It also enhanced his sense of balance and awareness of his body in relation to his surroundings, helping him navigate the world with more grace and dexterity.
When the last jolt of potentia finished working its magic, the crew took a few minutes to adjust to the various changes to their bodies and cores. Then everyone rose to their feet and rolled up their sleeves—ready to claim their final reward for winning the fight.
