Thanks to the technique he’d learned during his battle with Yussuf, he managed to stay in his body instead of entering his core, fighting to maintain focus through the molten tide of magic infusing every fiber of his being as the great engine roared to life behind his ribs.
Everyone’s Mantle thickened, outlining their features in electric ruby light as Overdrive boosted the aura’s power. Before he went in for the kill, Edge tossed all five of his Disruption grenades at the towering ursine, using the antimagic blast to deactivate the bear’s skills for a few critical seconds.
Meanwhile, he let loose with a flurry of Vacuum Blasts while firing off gusts of wind and sprays of water to keep the beast pinned down, shearing off a paw in the process.
The instant the grenades detonated, the warriors charged the elite while activating their strongest combos, beginning a brutal barrage of heavy hits that sent the big bear flying. It issued a furious roar, burning through its reserves while making its final stand.
However, the stage-three beast couldn’t defeat Puppet Town’s elites. Not when Edge was firing an unending salvo of Vacuum Blasts supplemented by a flowing procession of Double Slashes from the iceblades clasped in each hand. Stripped of its elemental protection, his attacks carved deep into the bear’s body while freezing its tissue solid.
Protected by Mantle, Harden, and Rejuvenation, he took point while enduring everything the bear could dish out before its reservoir ran dry. The undead ursine was more resilient than a living creature and absorbed a shocking amount of punishment before going down. It managed to land a vicious thrust with its claws that would have collapsed his lung if his Organ-Guard hadn’t kicked in, draining less than a quarter of the device’s aether in the process.
It was a brutal melee, but the outcome was as inevitable as dawn following dusk. Over the next frantic seconds, his team cleaved the bear’s limbs from its torso while breaking most of the bones in its body.
They had agreed that if it seemed safe, Edge would steal the beast’s skills before ending the fight. After flashing a hand signal, he used the last five seconds of Overdrive to Leap in and reach out with both arms, planning to pillage some powers before his ultimate ran out and the exhaustion hit him.
He wasn’t sure if Extraction would work on a reanimated being, but since it was using skills, he figured it was worth a shot. When he raised his hands and gave it a try, the chains emerged from his wrists and began their invasion like usual.
Edge was curious to find out what the inside of an undead’s core was like, so he followed the living links along for the ride. At first, everything seemed normal enough. The bear’s inner world was a massive cave, and he could see the emerald canopy of the Sweltering Green swaying in the wind outside.
But the moment he turned to inspect the contents of the central chamber, his hair stood on end and a shiver ran down his spine. “What in the fucking world?”
Most of the creature’s skills were… dead was the only word he had to describe it. The avatars were lying limp on the ground, and he couldn’t sense anything coming from them at all. The chains told him they were empty shells—drained of Ord’s magic that made skills come alive.
Some of the avatars were still alive, but the grisly scene was deeply disturbing and ominous as hell. Edge had no doubts that something bad would happen if he tried to eat a dead skill, so he turned his attention to rest. Although he didn’t think this place was dangerous like the inside of a monster’s core, he wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, the bear didn’t have any amazing powers. But it wasn’t a total bust. There were some decent Uncommons to Extract and Absorb, including a high-rank copy of a skill he already had.
“Let’s start with Regulate Temperature.” The chains bobbed their agreement and took off in a flash, pulling an avatar shaped like a heavy fur coat out of the bear’s core before flinging it into his mouth.
Chewing on hair had an unpleasant texture, but at least it tasted great. Edge enjoyed a flavor that was both a wintery mint and a spicy summer day at the same time. It conveyed an impression of handling extreme climates with ease—of trudging through heavy snow and tropical rainforests without being inconvenienced at all.
This skill wasn’t an attack, so it couldn’t fight back. After chomping on the furry mass for a while, the avatar broke down and dissolved, gliding down his throat before falling into his core. When the duplicate of Regulate Temperature merged with the version living in his village, the avatar started shining, having received enough experience to advance to the next rank.
Edge’s Guide detached from his chest and flattened to form a screen, displaying his list of options.
The skill Regulate Temperature has advanced to Rank 4.
Its mana efficiency has been enhanced.
Please choose between one of the following options:
- The skill will lower the flammability of your gear, preventing it from burning when exposed to intense heat.
- The skill will allow you to raise and lower your core temperature at will, in addition to providing an insulating effect.
- The skill can be activated as an aura, extending its benefits to any allies within 100 feet for no additional cost per person. It will still count as a passive skill when only being used on yourself.
Warning: If no option is selected, your skill will remain unchanged and gain a significant bonus to mana efficiency.
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Since he wasn’t in a hurry, he took a moment to consider his options, deciding to complete the process before stealing another skill.
The first offering wasn’t bad, as it would help protect his equipment. But since his armor was heat resistant and he could store everything else in his vault, it wasn’t a critical upgrade.
The second might come in handy, as it would help him endure extreme weather. But he could create water and ice at will to cool himself off in a pinch, and being able raise his core temperature wasn’t a good enough reason to pick the upgrade.
So, he went ahead and chose number three. While he’d been offered something similar after taking Regulate Temperature to rank two, the range was considerably higher this time around, and this version didn’t cost additional mana to affect a larger group. Regulate had also gained some protection against fire and ice attacks, which meant the aura would have direct combat utility when facing enemies who specialized in those elements.
While all that was nice, it wasn’t the main reason he’d made his decision.
Edge was planning on heading into some extreme-threat biomes before long, most of which featured one manner of life-threatening climate or another. By this point in his adventures, he no longer intended to explore them alone. Being able to protect his crew from deadly weather would let them enter a wide range of regions they couldn’t have explored otherwise, granting them access to new crafting materials, powers to steal, and other opportunities for growth.
Besides, he had enough skills now that picking a few upgrades that were geared toward enhancing the efficiency of his crew were just as important as bolstering his individual power.
When he made his choice, the avatar began to change. The coat of fur representing Regulate Temperature grew bigger and thicker, but that was only half the story. It also produced a bubble of energy, extending its protective powers to everything inside.
Edge spent a few minutes praising the newly upgraded avatar, petting Rue, and debriefing the rest of his skills. Then he returned to his body—ready to steal another power from the big bear before it expired… again.
Most of the beast’s powers weren’t well-suited for human biology, so he grabbed another high-rank Uncommon and fed it to Mantle, whose cup was starting to look pretty full. He almost Absorbed the third avatar too, but when he realized what it was, he decided to put it into his Auxiliary Skill Slot instead.
It was Enhance Hearing, the same skill Mel used to sharpen her senses. He couldn’t advance it after socketing the avatar into his auxiliary slot, but that wasn’t a problem. Gaze was a superior perceptual power, and boosting his hearing was a welcome bonus but not important enough to make room for by getting rid of something else.
When he stepped back into his skin after the third Extraction, Edge signaled that he was finished, then sat down to ride out the tide of exhaustion that broke over him a heartbeat later. Able nodded, then struck the beast in the head with his hammer, crushing its skull and ending the fight.
Sakura walked over, and everyone gave her some space while she inspected the corpse, hoping to learn what had driven the stampede mad and sent it straight for Puppet Town.
Eventually, she shook her head in defeat. “I’ll have to wait until Analyze comes off cooldown to learn more. When the harvesters process this corpse, have them deliver the claws to me. I’ll need them if we want to investigate the magic that created and controlled the horde.”
By the time Edge’s team made it back to town, the battle was almost over. A few crews were still hunting down stragglers, and the recruits were finishing off the beasts with broken legs.
As they approached the gate, he pulled up his updates to check out his gains.
You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle up your core. Your new cycle is: 33.
You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle up your core. Your new cycle is: 34.
You have 10 attribute points awaiting allocation.
Not bad for the easiest fight against a stage-three I’ve ever had. Now then, how should I spend those points?
Since he wanted to use his Rare and Epic skills more often and unleash expensive combos in battle—not to mention use Warlord’s Mantle on bigger groups at once—he decided to place them all in Generation this time too. Combined with his prior investment, he had nearly doubled the rate that his reservoir refilled in the span of a week, which should tide him over until he hit stage three and added more powers to his collection.
The potentia was set loose in a crackling surge. The transformative energy sank into his core, widening his mana pores and increasing the pull they exuded. It tingled like lightning was dancing beneath his skin before everything settled down a few seconds later.
Now I can let loose without having to rely on Overdrive so much. Even if I run my reservoir dry, it will fill up in a few hours. That will let me hunt all day with minimal downtime and make a big difference in a large-scale conflict.
When Edge drew near the wall, he was shocked by the sheer number of corpses scattered around the base—far more bodies than he’d ever seen in the same place before.
For once, he didn’t have any harvesting to do. Teams of professionals led by Izzio the butcher and Talia the skinner were walking through the gate with beasts pulling wagons to collect all the parts. He waved as they passed each other but was too exhausted to chat. Besides, they have their work cut out for them if they want to finish extracting the parts before the biome’s scavengers beat them to it.
Edge didn’t know the details, but everyone who had participated in this operation would be awarded Contribution Points, which they could turn in for a share of the resources, along with a range of other options.
His team exchanged a round of fist bumps and high-fives then went their separate ways—ready to rest, clean up, and receive medical attention. When he turned to leave, Sakura came walking over to his side. His eyebrows rose when she activated a magitech privacy device before uttering a word.
“I didn’t want to mention this to anyone else just yet. What I said about needing to use my ultimate is true, but it isn’t the whole story. This is just a hunch, but there’s a chance that a Unique core was involved with the stampede. There were traces of magic Lore-Weaver seemed to recognize, although the spider never says anything about the twenty-one, no matter how much I ask. I’m not sure that it can, now that I think about it.”
“What does that mean?” Edge asked.
“I have no idea. But given the circumstances, I doubt it bodes anything but more trouble. I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll know more soon, and we won’t like the answer.”
“When it rains, it pours.” He offered his partner a weary handshake, then walked back to Trapper’s lodge—ready to rinse off the grime and sleep like the dead.