It didn’t work this time.
Fine then. He needed to do something drastic; trying to outlast it wouldn’t work unless he could get it to stop first. Serenity circled around behind the bull. It turned a little, but when it had to choose between watching him and continuing to send the waves towards Echo and Moira, it stopped turning.
It was always nice to force the enemy to make a bad decision. Either decision would have been bad for it, which made it even better.
Now that he was behind the bull, he didn’t have to dodge the waves. Serenity backed off a bit and gave himself a running start, then leapt onto the back of the sea lion. He didn’t aim for anything other than “on top of the center of mass”, because he just needed to distract it severely. He dug his claws in to get the bull’s attention and keep himself from falling off.
Falling off was not at all in his plans.
The bull ROARED, but this time it didn’t look like Moira had frozen; her bolts kept coming. That meant it probably hadn’t been the same ability, and the others were probably also not frozen.
Serenity found out what the ability was moments later as the sea lion bull started growing larger. He dug in with his foot-claws to get a better grip, and had to reposition himself several times as the holds he had kept getting farther apart. The sea lion roared continuously until he was twice the size he had been and started thrashing, trying to dislodge Serenity.
Serenity dug in deeper with his feet. They weren’t as flexible as his hands, and he didn’t feel like he had as good a grip. Even so, the thrashing didn’t do much to remove him. He simply hoped the bull didn’t realize it could squish him by rolling over. The sea lion was bleeding a lot by now.
Could a sea lion even roll over on dry land? Serenity didn’t know, and didn’t want to find out the hard way.
Whether or not they could, this one didn’t. Serenity hung on for dear life as the enlarged sea lion thrashed and bled. He slowly moved up the sea lion, one hand or foot at a time. He treated it like climbing a cliff wall, only worse since the cliff was trying to shake him off.
It felt like it took forever to reach his goal, but Serenity doubted it had been long at all. He freed a hand and gashed one side of the sea lion’s neck as deeply as he could manage. When that didn’t result in a massive outpouring of blood, he tried to claw deeper in the same spots.
This time, he nicked something important. Blood spurted out as the sea lion thrashed, and it wasn’t long before a very gory Serenity was able to climb off the stilled sea lion bull. He collected the bull’s core - it was the only one of the group to have one - and headed back to the others.
Echo insisted that he rinse off before anything else. Serenity walked to the entrance and used water from the kelp forest. By the time he was done, the sea lion cows he’d left his weapons in had disappeared and he was able to recover the weapons.
“Lancaster has two broken ribs and a break in one of the bones of his left arm. I’ve set them, but there could be internal injuries I haven’t found yet. The regeneration spells should handle all of that, but he’s not going to be up to fighting for a day or two. We can see what’s next - he can walk - but if it’s not the end of the dungeon, we need to either go back to the entrance or camp here.” Rissa glared at Lancaster. “I’m serious, if you push yourself you could make one of those broken ribs puncture something, and that would be a much longer recovery period. Don’t overdo it, don’t even try to get up without help. Got it?”
Lancaster nodded and Rissa turned to look at the group. “Anyone else hurt?”
Serenity shook his head. “Just some scrapes, maybe some minor bruises, nothing to worry about.”
Rissa nodded. “I’ll heal them anyway, you need to keep your energy for other things.”
“I have a twisted ankle. Maybe a sprain?” Echo reported softly.
That explained why Echo was sitting.
Rissa hurried over and checked the ankle. “Probably a sprain, but it’s not bad. I’ll set a regeneration on it, you’ll be fine tomorrow. Until then, I’d say you need a crutch but that’ll have to be a person in here.”
Moira denied any injuries, so Rissa cast a careful [Quick Heal] on Serenity. Like the last time, she swayed on her feet at the end of the casting. Serenity tried to get her to sit, but she insisted she’d rather go with him to see what was in the next room, past where the sea lions had been.
There was a doorway that seemed to be supposed to let into the aircraft cockpit, but actually let onto the core room for the level. Knowing they were done cheered everyone up.
The two chests contained a set of five crystals, another Cloak of Elemental Protection, and 28 Etherium. The cloak went to Moira while Echo identified the crystals.
Basic Contingent Summon Crystal (Sea Lion Pup) (Bound Item) (Temporary Skill)
Grants the ability to summon a Sea Lion Pup as a Skill. No summoning Path is required. May unlock the use of Summoning Paths.
Usable only by those who met the challenge that generated the Crystal.
Summon: This creature has no life unless it is summoned. Summons do not require food or other maintenance. When dismissed, it will disappear. The Pup may be summoned once a day.
Temporary Skill: If the Sea Lion Pup is killed, a Sea Lion Bull or Sea Lion Cow (20%/80%) will be summoned. The Sea Lion will attack the creature or object that killed the Pup. The Sea Lion will disappear when the creature or object is destroyed, the Sea Lion is killed, or the summoner dismisses the Sea Lion. This is the last Summon that can be performed using the Skill.
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Echo picked one up. The crystal disintegrated in her hand and a small sea lion baby lay on her lap. She picked up the rest and started handing them out. As each person touched one, it disintegrated and a pup appeared next to them.
Nothing happened when Serenity touched his. He didn’t see any way to activate it, but he somehow knew it would work if he swallowed it. It wasn’t nearly as attractive as the level crystal, but at least it wasn’t repulsive. He shook his head and ate the crystal.
[Link established. Updating Summon]
He felt a click, like a connection was established, and his pup appeared. Serenity could see from its eyes and hear from its ears. He felt a young, inquisitive mind ask him if he wanted to play.
He sat down and played with his summoned pup while he figured out how to untangle their senses. After a few minutes, he was able to use either set of senses without being overwhelmed by the other. It was familiar and yet foreign, because he could control the body or ask the pup to do things. It would do whatever he asked to the best of its ability, yet the pup didn’t mind when he took over. Instead it felt like the pup was watching over his shoulder, trying to learn from what he did.
It certainly didn’t feel like a summoned creature that wasn’t real unless it was summoned.
Rissa set her pup to playing with Serenity’s. “They’re cute, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, they are.”
“They aren’t as cute as you are in your other form, though. When are you going to let me pet you again?” Rissa leaned against Serenity, watching the pups play.
“Ah …” Serenity was sure he was blushing. He was also sure he didn’t want to have this conversation in public.
[Tutorial Great Dungeon Level 8 Complete]
[1900 XP awarded]
[1900 Core awarded]
Theoretically, reaching the point where no one could progress was impossible.
Unfortunately, the theory was wrong. Everything reached a point of stasis. Stars still burned and worlds still rotated around them, but no intelligent beings strove to excel - or even to survive.
Except one - and all he did was exist. There was no reason for him to do more.
Eventually, Order’s Voice found a way out. If the only existing being would agree to give up most of his power, the Voice could reset the multiverse to an earlier time. Of course, the Voice couldn't ask it that way. It could only ask if the Final Reaper was willing to start over from when Earth was first brought into Order.
There were many things - many abilities - that were simply too much a part of the Final Reaper to be removed from him, even sent back in time. Order's Voice was not made to remove ability, after all. It wouldn’t be fitting to have the Voice's greatest success die from too much power for his mortal body to handle, so he needed a stronger body. If he truly objected, well, the Voice would leave a way out. Not that the Voice was going to tell the Final Reaper anything about it. That would be pointless - and impossible.
When he landed in his old body - more or less - on Earth, the Final Reaper once again became Thomas. He was both and neither. He needed a new name for a new life, and the Tutorial was the perfect place for a new name.
Serenity.
We all want to believe we are heroes of our own story - unless we want to be the villain, of course.
The Final Reaper wanted to believe he was a hero, but at the end of everything he decided he hadn’t been one. Driven by a desire to right the wrongs he was subjected to, he killed everyone who wronged him or his people - which turned out to be everyone that wasn’t killed by someone else first.
When Order’s Voice asked him if he was willing to try again, he had to think. Was he willing to go through all of the pain again to not be alone?
Yes. In a heartbeat.
Not that his heart beat anymore. Now it would.
When he landed in his old body - more or less - on Earth, the Final Reaper once again became Thomas. He was both and neither. He needed a new name for a new life, and the Tutorial was the perfect place for a new name.
Serenity.
New Description B:
Pulled from a hopeless (if powerful) future back to the moment of Earth’s integration to try to improve the outcome, Serenity has only three goals:
- Save his girlfriend, murdered on the day on Earth’s integration
- Save his parents, killed in the attack on Washington, DC
- Save his planet, torn apart by warring factions in the years to come
He’s going to need help - and help isn't something he’s good at asking for.
I'm considering changing the description of the story on the front page. Which should I change it to?