Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 63: What a Day

“What the fuck!”

Cursing and yelling was rare in the research group, but it wasn’t unheard of. It usually only happened when something went very wrong though.

Alarmed, Isaac used a phased [Phantom Step] to jump straight into the summoning room, but the situation was nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

Patrick was in the center of the room, hair standing on end, breathing rapidly but not quite hyperventilating, an Ulfhednar cloak lying on the ground in front of him.

“What’s wrong?” Isaac called out, his voice intermingling with everyone else there as they all shouted in alarm.

“I’m not exactly sure what happened, but that felt awful.” Patrick said grimly, glaring at the innocent looking piece of clothing “The instant I began to draw on it to get the stat boost, it felt like … I know it sounds stupid, but it felt like a volcano of rage was bubbling up inside of me and if I kept going, I was going to go insane.”

“That’s … bad. Very bad.” Bailey observed “Victor, you’ve used it several times, did you notice anything like that?”

“No, I just got stronger, with no emotions or anything attached to it.” Bishop said, sounding extremely puzzled “Isaac, did you use yours yet?”

“No, I haven’t. Should I try?”

“Only if you’re willing.” Bailey cautioned “We don’t know what negative side effects these things could have.”

“Alright.” Isaac nodded “But I think it’s worth the risk.”

And then, he drew on the cloak, feeling his body morph slightly, growing taller and hairier, while he could see his newly glowing yellow eyes reflected in Bailey’s pupils. It had to look scary as hell from the outside, but all he felt was the increase in power. Better vision, faster and stronger movement. It went over just like all the other pieces of stat-boosting equipment he’d ever used. The transformation was a little more extensive than normal, but still well within the limits of what he could have expected.

Really, everything felt, well, perfectly normal.

“Nah, I’m good.” Isaac said.

“Seems like only certain people are affected.” Patrick observed.

“The question is if there is some kind of identifiable factor that determines who can use these cloaks safely. Who else has used one of these?” Isaac asked.

“You, me and Patrick.” Bishop answered “We were working on getting one for everyone and wanted to wait until then to try them out, seeing as fighting with an ability you can’t control yet is a bad idea. Patrick was just going to tap into it for a few seconds to see what it felt like while we reset the circle and, well, you know the rest.”

“So then everyone who is willing to try one on should do so, and then we see where the results lead us?” Chandler suggested.

That was what they ended up doing, stopping each activation the moment things went any way other than perfect.

It went fine for Raul and Bailey, but Amy and Chandler had the same reaction as Patrick had had.

“So, what the hell is going on?” Patrick asked, language uncharacteristically interlaced with swearwords.

The answer was obvious, to Isaac at least, but everyone else also had all the information necessary to come to the same conclusion. Therefore, he felt safe in immediately presenting it.

“According to the item’s description, it ‘empowers the wearer with the fury of a wolf’. What if that was literal, giving them the fury of a wild animal? The people who can use it safely have a direct connection to nature. Raul might be a [System Researcher] now, but he started out as a [Ranger] and has a wild animal as a pet, with another on the way. Professor Bishop was a [Hunter] and has evolved into a stronger version of that. And Professor Bailey’s [Class] is all about borrowing the power of other creatures.” he explained.

“And what about you?” Chandler asked. It made sense for him to ask, given that Isaac’s public persona was very much still that of a [Rogue] and he hadn’t seen [Form of Horror] yet.

“He’s always been a bit feral, ain’t he?” Amy commented, having walked up next to Isaac during the testing and she was now reaching up and scratching the top of his head as one might do with a dog.

Isaac chuckled, rolled his eyes and teleported a couple of meters to the right. Raul and Karl chuckled, Patrick glared, and the professors just calmly waited for the juvenile behavior to be over.

“While that was put a little weirdly, Amy’s right. I’ve used several Aspects and was then given a [Class] that makes use of them to give me new physical abilities in addition to the actual Aspect [Skills]. In some way, it’s a significantly limited version of what Professor Bailey has, which should let me safely use the cloak.” Isaac replied.

“Well, that is a very good hypothesis that fits all the information we currently have, we still need actual proof. We’re dealing with a nasty mental effect here and we don’t want to take any chances.” Bailey cautioned them “I’ll check to see if any [Psychologists] or other mental health professionals have [Skills] that can check for mental alterations.”

“I’ve actually got something like that, at least for me.” Isaac said “It protects me from mental attacks and it didn’t get tripped by me using the cloak.”

Also, he really didn’t want some headshrinker mucking around in his mind.

“Uh-hu. Regardless, I don’t think we should use the cloaks until we can get to the bottom of this, but we should still get one for everyone, just in case they turn out to be safe or can be made to be so.” Bailey suggested “With the loot drop guaranteed the first time each individual summons this monster, it should be easy.”

While Bailey readied the summoning circle, Isaac walked over to where Professor Chandler was standing.

“I don’t suppose you’ve given any more thought to my proposition for mass-producing venom?”

“I did, and I’ve set everything in moment. People will be here in half an hour to provide the mana, and I’ve cleared the use of one of the empty summoning rooms with Professor Bailey. Now all there’s left to do is carve the summoning circles and wait.” Chandler replied “Are you still willing to help?”

“Of course.”

So half an hour and several dead black hole wolves later, Isaac stood in a room identical to the other one, save for one very important fact. The floor was covered in a series of identical summoning circles, all fully charged.

“Ready.” he announced and heard the reply “Commencing summoning.” from the other side of the door.

The snakes emerged from the circles, their venom teeth glowing dangerously as they got ready to burn him to ash … and then they all fell apart, sliced into multiple pieces as a combined [Far Strike] and [Manifold Strike] swept through them. Isaac couldn’t be certain that they’d all have vital organs at the same height, so killing them all quickly enough that they didn’t get the chance to spit venom with just [Far Strike] would have been hard.

Ripping them into multiple pieces might have been a little more expensive in terms of mana, but the hassle it saved him was well worth it.

“All done.” he announced, and the door opened. Professor Chandler entered, absorbed both the mess and vials into the storage space he’d established with a core he’d bummed off Bailey. Isaac had managed to convince everyone that even Lesser Space Elementals were too dangerous to fight without one of a very few, very specific set of abilities, one of which he had, so there was little risk of disaster on that front. But this also meant he had to get his ass in gear and get some more because they were about to run out even with economical use. Still, right now, there were more important things to gain, things that were only available for a limited time.

While Chandler headed back upstairs to a pair of cargo containers, strategically placed to be close enough to the summoning room that the dimensional storage could be accessed there, meaning it could also be emptied into them.

Due to bureaucratical weirdness, while monster materials could easily be used for item creation, research, hell, they could be stuffed and mounted on the wall, they counted as a biohazard when thrown away. Thankfully, they had gained a special dispensation that allowed them to immolate this stuff themselves using magic after proving its efficacy, but they still had to store it in a fully qualified vessel until then. Therefore, the storage container for the snakes wasn’t actually a normal shipping container but rather a ten-thousand-euro high tech, ceramic lined overly expensive … something. And they needed it, regardless of it the snakes were inside for ten seconds or ten days.

In this case though, it was temporary storage, with the [System Researchers] alternating every half hour to cast cold spells onto it to keep the snakes fresh, just in case there was something else useful inside.

“So, what was that about earlier, anyway?” Bailey asked, having entered the room along with everyone else “If you’re comfortable telling me, that is.”

“Eh, it’s not a big secret, really. I have slight tendency to get a little overly focused on work and I forgot to mention to my mother that I moved. She tried to visit me, I wasn’t there. Called, and I didn’t pick up. And I’ve stopped checking my email since all those job offers started pouring in.”

“… and then she saw you on TV, doing one of the world’s most dangerous jobs. Sheesh.” Bailey clearly struggled to fight down a chuckle, managed it, and continued “I don’t think I have to remind you about work life balance and how that is a thing?”

“No, not again.” Isaac shook his head “But I still forgot to call because my ‘life’ was mostly other stuff.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s not good.” Bailey nodded along “If you ever need time off to deal with something like that, you know all you have to do is ask, right?”

“Thanks, that means a lot, but I think I’m safe on that front. For now, at least.” Isaac shook his head.

“Well, the offer’s always open. Have fun with the snakes.” Bailey bade him goodbye and headed back over to the other room. Well, the original one, anyway. They’d ended up spreading out across all four, doing various experiments that needed to be done during the Event, or harvesting as much as they could of all the Event materials deemed useful. Chances were it would return in exactly one year, but not only wasn’t that guaranteed, it was also pretty far away. Today was going to be busy as hell, and Bailey had offered them all tomorrow off in exchange for their efforts during the Event.

Eventually though, they had to take a break. Working throughout the day, even with supernatural constitutions and basically no need for sleep, was already problematic due to labor laws. Doing so without breaks, even if some of them could have gone without, took those same laws and snapped them in half.

They’d paused for a bit here and there during the day, but on 8 o’clock in the in the evening, they all huddled together in front of a laptop to watch the Tagesschau, one of Germany’s more popular daily news segments. Fifteen minutes to sum up all of the most important world events and give a weather report. At least that was how long it normally took. But if something particularly important happened, there was an additional segment, called a ‘Flashpoint’, tacked on at the end, pushing back all other programs by a decent amount. Needless to say, this situation qualified, taking up almost all of the regular fifteen minutes, the only reason they were able to talk about anything else at all was because they shoved off a lot of the Event stuff into the extra segment.

Of course, their contribution was mentioned, and part of the press conference was shown, but no one went ‘look, we’re on TV!’. No, the situation was far too grim for that.

50 Million. 50 Million people. That was the number of dead being thrown about. That was the equivalent of well over half of Germany’s population, or 0.6% of theEarth’s population.

The Event hadn’t killed nearly as many people as it could have, and their work had not only helped reduce that number, they were also being credited for saving those lives. It was gratifying, but far too many people had still died. Even one would have been too many, but getting through any day without [System] related deaths would have been unrealistic, nevermind one with a godsdamned Event. They’d certainly screwed up some divine asshats’ plans, but not to the degree Isaac had hoped for.

The only thing they could hope for was that said number would reduce as actual reports came in and were compiled, rather the current guesstimate, based on thousands of fragmented, incomplete reports.

For example, something had happened in Beijing, as proven by pictures taken from the roof of and sent out by the American Embassy, but no one knew just what precisely had happened and how many people had died, so a fairly high guesstimate had been used. It wasn’t mentioned on the news, of course, but they’d done a little bit of research themselves.

The same thing had occurred in several other places, over and over again, as well as a few barely scientific guesses about third world countries, all cumulating in a number that might be far too high … or far too low. They just didn’t know, not yet.

Some of the dead had summoners had been greedy bastards, willing to endanger others just for the chance at getting rare loot. Others were idiots. Certifiable idiots, as proven by cell phone videos retrieved from the shattered remains of said electronics found near the scene, of jeering numbskulls eager to see the first dragon they were actually able to summon with their meager mana pools.

The news shut off, transitioning to the intro for some kind of nunnery based soap opera, at least going by the first few seconds. They didn’t see more because Patrick snatched up the remote and slammed his finger down on the ‘off’ button.

“Greedy people are a problem, but they have their reasons for doing what they do, and by figuring out what that is, you can predict and deal with them. Stupid people are the most dangerous people in the world because you can’t predict them. They’re going to do something just because it pops into their idiotic little minds, be it putting ice cream on pizza or mixing bleach and ammonia, and them we all have to live with the consequences.” Chandler ranted, breaking the silence “All of those assholes can drop dead as far as I’m concerned, as long as they stop fucking things up for the rest of us.”

“Amen to that.” Isaac muttered.

“So, what now? Do we keep going on the material gathering front? Our storage areas are getting full, even with the extradimensional storage spaces Isaac provided.” Patrick asked.

“I think now might be a good chance to reassess our needs, and then proceed accordingly.” Bailey suggested.

And that was what they did, though as it turned out, those ‘needs’ turned out to be a fuckton of coffee and energy drinks, followed by even more monster parts. The FOMO was real, given that this might be the only chance at getting some of this stuff, ever.

But the end came eventually, the Event tab on the summoning section winking out with little fanfare. Isaac slumped in relief, jumped through the ceiling and then onto the nearest roof with another giant leap.

And then, he laid down to look up at the stars. Finally, a moment of peace. With a light thud, Amy landed next to him, likewise staring up into the skies.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Even prettier without the light pollution.” Isaac shrugged “Have you ever seen the sky out in the desert? It’s filled with millions upon millions of stars, more than you could ever count, beautiful beyond compare.”

As people started dying in the future, the lights of cities winking out one by one, more and more stars once again becoming visible. In many ways, seeing a sky so devoid of stars was a relief as it showed that they werestill here, that they were still …

“No, but I’d like to see it sometime.” she replied, interrupting his train of thought.

“Believe me, it’s worth it.” Patrick commented, having also appeared on the roof next to them.

… and there went any chance for him to have a little peace. Isaac sighed, wiggled around a little to get more comfortable on the roof.

“You know, maybe we should go travelling, sometime after you lot figure out how to create portals.” Isaac suggested “Chances are, you’ll need to have been somewhere to teleport there, so once you can teleport, a little world trip might be in order.”

They had been trying to get their hands on a power like that, but the only one monster had shown any inclinations in that direction. The Rifthunter was a humanoid being with dark blue, practically black skin and a spindly body, incredibly long arms ending in claw-tipped fingers that could shred flesh with ease. They could exist into a dark-blue-and-purple pocket dimension, creating portals and reaching into the real world to murder people, or open portals at a decent range.

They’d also been definitively proven to be quite limited in where they could open their portals unless they’d been there, but if locked in place too long, they’d just start opening portals randomly until they could leave the room they’d been locked in.

This made them incredibly hard to contain, meaning they had to be killed quickly, which in turn slowed down the research progress.

But once someone learned that [Skill], they’d get both an Aspect of the Lesser Space Elemental and an Aspect of the Rifthunter which had been gathered by now to enhance its range … or at least that was the plan. Isaac knew it would work, but there were enough indications to support it that everyone else had gone along with it.

… now someone actually needed to learn the damn thing.

“So, what are you going to do tomorrow?” Amy asked, then glanced at her watch “Er, today? Free day and all that.”

“Sleep right here on this roof because I have not slept in thirty-six hours, then eat something, go home, and then have some mindless fun. Video games, Anime, Manhwa, anything that doesn’t require me to focus.” Isaac sighed and closed his eyes.

“You aren’t seriously going to sleep here on this rooftop, are you?” Patrick asked.

“Not with you two jabbering right next to me, I’m not.” Isaac mumbled and ignored them. Sleeping under the open sky on the hard roof like this was less fun than, say, actually camping, but he was willing to do anything once just to have experienced it. There were worse things to do. For example, he knew a couple of fellas whose claim to fame was having urinated off the roof of every dormitory in the university town. What was sleeping in strange places just for the hell of it compared to that?

The others, at least the ones able to jump up to the roof, stayed around a little bit, chatting, and by the time they left, Isaac was feeling refreshed again. Everyone went home soon after that, having agreed not to come in tomorrow. They needed to rest.

Even Isaac would calm down a little. Sure, he’d be summoning a few monsters here and there, but no way in hell would he go at anywhere to close to his top possible speed. As he kept getting beat into his head with a brick, over and over again, he needed his rest and relaxation. Still, a little wouldn’t hurt. He did have a few Aspects to grab, after all.