Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 70: The road to home

“So, how was Leipzig?” Wirt asked Isaac as he got into the back of the car that had brought them to this city.

“Oh, you know, it’s a nice enough city, but I can still only give it two out five stars, too many serial killers.” Isaac commented dryly.

“Glad you’re able to laugh at that. But if that ever changes, you’ll always have people to talk it over with in the department, we owe you that much.” Wirt said seriously “At least assuming we survive two hours of Sanner’s driving.”

Isaac winced. They’d been driven to Leipzig by a police officer who specialized in motor vehicles, pushing cars well beyond anything they’d ever been intended to for while also ensuring they didn’t tear themselves to pieces in the process. And yes, he was a good enough driver to ensure that no accidents occurred, but anyone who’d ever ridden with him would insist the man was certifiably insane. After all, the journey to Leipzig was meant to take four hours by car, not two.

“I can’t possibly be that bad, can I?” Sanner asked, from the driver’s seat, turning his head to face them and raising a single eyebrow. He turned back to face the road a moment later, though, and they were still in the city, so the car wasn’t going that fast. After all, there was a hard speed limit inside cities, while you could, in theory, drive as quickly as you wanted to while on the highway. That was something that would probably have to be changed ASAP as new options opened up for people to hit truly insane speeds in normal, street safe cars.

But before the various governing bodies dealt with any of that, the issue of summoning needed to be addressed, and it was finally starting to look like that might be happening soon. Sure, having the sentiment of ‘you’re responsible for anything your summoned creatures do’ actually be codified into law had helped somewhat, but it hadn’t been nearly enough.

However, between the Event and the serial killer, things had seriously kicked into high gear. People had been working towards the goal of creating safe summoning regulations before, but the sense of urgency driving it forward had redoubled with each incident. In addition, between Bailey’s and Isaac’s actions in the two incidents, they’d managed to give quite a bit of additional input.

Hopefully, in a week or two, that would be fully over and done with, and low-level summoning would occur relatively safely, at least for everyone except the summoner.

Isaac already knew roughly how that would end up looking, both from the other timeline and the input he’d given into it, both official and unofficially. Sure, he’d been asked for a little input here and there and given it, but he’d also been dropping words in all the right ears whenever he got the chance.

In essence, there would be hard rules against summoning inside residential buildings and near other people. Summoning would only be possible when it was A. clear of other people and B. the summoning area was clearly marked in such a way that people could tell there were monsters ahead without stumbling over them.

And in the months following this law, people would start to set up summoning areas, properly closed off from the outside and manned by people who could actually handle the monsters. The summoners themselves, though, would not be directly protected. If they decided to summon something, their judgement needed to be sound.

Should someone prove said judgement was flawed by endangering others, they’d lose summoning privileges and would only regain them after rigorous training and jumping through countless hoops. While on ‘summoning time-out’ though, they’d have to officially demonstrate that they hadn’t been summoning by showing their character sheet to the appropriate bureau once a month … once that was actually set up.

There’d also be a ‘privacy of Status Sheet’ clause written into law someday soon, with proven to be foolish summoners being one of the obvious exceptions. The one or two points of XP gained by Tier one monsters wouldn’t really be obvious in a month’s worth of normal ‘Job Experience’, but then again, those were relatively harmless to anyone of a decent Level. But given how slowly that accumulated outside of extraordinary circumstances, such as playing field medic while a Stormheart Gestalt raged a mere ten meters from your position, anyone summoning strong monsters would stand out quite clearly.

Isaac grinned. People making him show his status screen was something that could really fuck him over, but his little ‘people can use that knowledge to kill you’ speech during the debriefing had really worked wonders.

He glanced down at his right hand, flexing it experimentally. It had grown back early Saturday morning, but lacking use of it for several hours really had sucked. As tough as that fight had been, however, it had also been well worth it in terms of [Skill] Level gain, even putting two of them above an evolution threshold.

Name: Isaac Thoma

Class: Undying Wraith

Species: Human

Level: 24

XP: 10,316/5,000

Health Status: Healthy

Mana: 500/500

Stats

Fortitude

50

Perception

65

Strength

45

Agility

70

Magic Power

50

Magic Regeneration

60

Free Points: 0 Stat, 19 Skill

Central Skills

Form of Horror XVI

The Chosen Weapon XXI

Skills

Hundred Faces XIV

Stealth XVII

Power Strike XXV

Piercing Strike XXVI

Sundering Strike XXIII

Blades XXV

Sneak XVII

Sweeping Strike IX

Far Strike XIX

Manifold Strike XVII

Hunter’s Gaze XXIII

Phantom Step XIII

Unknown Fear XIII

Bestial Regeneration XII

Undying Focus XI

Tools of Terror XII

Fleeting Presence III

Crippling Blow I

General Skills

Gralloch IX

Alchemy X

Aspects

Aspect Skills

Poltergeist (2 stack)

Poltergeist’s Flight

Poltergeist Shift

Hydra (2 stack)

Hydra’s Regeneration

Redundant Organs

Dunkleosteus

Gills

[The Chosen Weapon] had hit Level 20, and he could finally absorb the Zweihänder, though there was a nice surprise available on top of that.

The Chosen Weapon (epic, Level XX)

There are many things that determine the power of a warrior. Training. Physical Prowess. Skill. Raw Talent.

But there is one more thing. A weapon. Having the right one to carry into battle can be the difference between life and death.

And that is what this Skill is all about. The user may choose a single weapon and make it soulbound. This weapon then becomes a part of them, inextricably and eternally bound together, able to be summoned at will, and will never harm its user.

As this Skill’s Level grows, new forms and abilities will be gained.

In addition, consecrating this weapon in the blood of legendary foes will grant it new strength and powers.

The chosen Weapon has its own mana pool to use its own Skills, separate from the user’s, drawing power from the environment. However, the user may also choose to divert their mana regeneration to refill this pool once their own is full. It starts out with a pool of 100, then increases by 10 with every Level in this Skill.

Based on the user’s Level in the Blade Skill, The Chosen Weapon (Old Reliable), gains a new ability for every Aspect the user holds.

This weapon may now absorb two (one remaining) additional weapons to be used as an alternate form for The Chosen Weapon. This number will increase by one with every [Class] Evolution.

He’d already absorbed the Kriegsmesser at [Skill] Level 10, taking up one of the absorbtion slots already, and now he’d gained a second one at Level 20. What he hadn’t expected was the fact that he’d be gaining anotherslot every time his [Class] evolved, which would happen literally the next time he levelled up, which left him with an embarrassment of riches of sorts. He’d already planned for the first slot, but he’d need to think on what he wanted to put into the one after that.

Hm, maybe a bow or something? He wasn’t that good with it, but having a ranged weapon available could be useful. Sure, he could always throw his knife, but the range of that would be limited. He should probably wait, though, and see what wonders Stagmer could create one he evolved his [Class]. Or maybe the next Event would drop something nice? Because there would be another Even, he was certain about that. Now if only the response to that were apparent …

Still, he’d also brought [Undying Focus] to Level 10.

Undying Focus (epic, Level X)

No matter what kinds of damage an Undying Wraith suffers, no matter how badly they are injured, one thing will always remain. Their undying willpower.

This Skill grants the user the ability to directly alter their perception of pain, including completely shutting it off.

WARNING! Completely removing one’s sense of pain may lead to injuries going unnoticed!

In addition, it prevents tunnel vision, therefore allowing the user to keep track of their goal without overlooking anything in the process and even block out mental attacks.

Lastly, Undying Focus allows healing and regeneration Skills to heal brain damage and even restore damaged memories without requiring specialized Skills on the part of the healing individual.

Furthermore, this Skill boosts the user’s resistance to hostile aura effects.

… it now increased his resistance to other people’s auras and that was, in a word, useless, at least for now. Auras were unlocked by the second Evolution, which basically no one had at the moment. And Isaac himself had almost a decade of aura practice on the rest of the world, so when he got his, he wouldn’t need it. Still, the [System] didn’t give you different [Skill] upgrades because you didn’t need them, they gave you the upgrade it had on file for that particular [Skill], so to speak.

Isaac looked back out of the window as the car sped onto the highway, leaving the city behind them. Leipzig really was pretty, and he’d spent every spare moment exploring it, eating at nice restaurants, and even going to see a movie. He might not have gotten the Friday of leisure he’d wanted, but in exchange, he’d gained nearly an entire weekend of exploring a beautiful city on someone else’s dime.

“Well, that went by a hell of a lot more quickly than expected.” Wirt commented.

“What’s the normal timeframe for something like this?” Isaac asked.

“I don’t really have a direct comparison for something like this because you don’t normally need more than your average city’s SEK contingent to catch a serial killer, but if something is serious enough to need reinforcements from elsewhere, say a massive drug bust or coordinated strike against every safehouse a specific gang, it normally takes a few days between preparation, execution and debriefing.” Hersh replied from the front seat. This time, she was sitting there and Wirt had joined Isaac in the back. Apparently, that had been arranged beforehand and Isaac didn’t get a say, leaving him stuck in the back going both ways.

“Yeah, the sad thing is, it wouldn’t have mattered how many people they brought in to deal with her, we’d still have all died. At some point, mere numbers stop being enough.” Wirt added grumpily “What kind of [Class] lets you pull stuff like that, anyway? Assuming you’re willing to share the name, that is.”

“Oh, I don’t mind. I hold the vaunted [Class] of [Edgelord Supreme].” Isaac replied, voice dry as the Sahara Desert.

“Oh well, that makes sense.” Wirt replied in the same manner, making it abundantly clear he didn’t believe Isaac, but Sanner burst out laughing.

In response, Hersh spun around in her seat two glare at the two men in the back.

“If we crash because you two are distracting the person driving at racecar speeds, I’d going to kill you.” she growled.

… that was the last straw and Wirt burst out laughing as well, trying to apologize in between peals of laughter.

“Anyway, I’m hungry, does anyone else want something?” Isaac asked, phasing his arm and grabbing a box of leftovers from one of Leipzig’s best steakhouses from the trunk. There were a few foodstuffs and the like belonging to Isaac back there, as well as a bottle of wine which he’d never, ever, open. In a few decades, he’d be telling his kids or grandkids ‘and this is the bottle of wine I was awarded for saving a city from a serial killer’. By then, the world would be used to the existence of extraordinarily powerful beings and the ‘saved the city’ bit wouldn’t sound quite as outlandish as it did now.

“That’s handy.” Wirt commented, nodding at Isaac’s arm which was still shoved through the seat behind him “Any chance you’ve got another one to sell?”

“Maybe. Though I’ve got a feeling that the phasing and healing Aspect combination will soon become a classic among cowards and mobility based fighters.” Isaac replied.

“Cowards?”

“What better combination to get the hell out dodge than being able to walk through walls and heal any injury you receive?” Isaac replied “I’ll see what I can do, though, look over what Aspects I have to actually sell and all that.”

“What other use do you have for those?”

“Oh, I’ve got a couple from a Rock Golem that are earmarked for certain engineers and the like. We’re also in the process of researching how to best farm Aspects, depending on the answer, there might also be an abundance of specific types soon enough.” Isaac explained “At the end of the day though, you can get pretty far without Aspects as well. A rare [Class] can easily be obtained by getting all of one’s [Skills] to a high Level. Anyway, you didn’t answer me yet, do you want something?”

“No, I’m good.” Wirt sighed.

“Something wrong?” Isaac asked.

Wirt sighed again “You know, same as always. Monsters show up, do bad stuff, and then humans prove that they’re worse than any monster. The usual mess caused by working in the justice system.”

Then, he turned serious “I know you’ve already received a job offer or two, and you’ll likely get a hell of a lot more in the near future, but if you’re not certain this is what you want, don’t take them. This job can be very rewarding, but it can also be depressing as hell, too.”

“Oh, come on.” Hersh complained from the front seat “Now the mood’s ruined. How about it, what are some funny stories I could tell … dogs. Those silly little buggers are always good for a laugh, aren’t they?”

Wirt. Went. White.

“Do not tell that story, I’ll do …”

“Yeah, not a chance.” Hersh shook her head, and looked straight at Isaac.

“So, this was way back when the two of us where still patrol officers. We got a call about a very aggressively barking dog that was scaring passersby and apparently, the fence keeping it off the street was looking sort of rickety. We headed out there and yes, it looked like it would get free any second, so I say ‘this is a case for animal control and let them handle it’ but no, he gets it in his head that he can just talk it down.

“He gets out of the car, walks over to the fence and stares down this bundle of canine fury … and the fence gives way. Two seconds later, he’s gone right up the nearest tree and the dog is going apeshit at the bottom.

“At that point, I’m already calling animal control to have them deal with it … and then dispatch contacts us because ‘we got a call about some creep sitting in a tree to spy on people right where you two are.”

Isaac chuckled softly. That was certainly an interesting mental image, but Hersh was still talking.

“Except I haven’t told you the best part yet. The dog? It was just a pug.”

“Giant pug, I swear the damn thing had a Doberman for a …” Wirt tried to add, but Hersh cut him off “Nope, just a normal, average size, pug.”

“Okay, that was a good story.” Isaac laughed.

“The real question is what’s going to happen with all those [System] pets. ‘hey, my neighbor’s eldritch pet is bothering me in my dreams’ and stuff like that.” Wirt added sardonically “People need to teach their pets some manners.”

“What did we just talk about?” Hersh glared at him “So, Isaac, got any funny anecdotes from the lab?”

“You bet your ass I do! So, do you know what a microraptor looks like? One of my coworkers has one and then it …”

He went on to tell a long tale involving Brisa somehow getting into the vents, getting lost, and somehow managing to find itself into a video lecture on paleontology. The professor in question had been recording the Zoom session, including the feed from his webcam, which meant the image of an utterly shocked Professor side by side with a dinosaur doing a beautiful dear in the headlights impression had been preserved for all eternity.

That was how they ended up passing the time, telling silly stories and bringing up interesting anecdotes, until they reached the same supermarket parking lot Isaac had been picked up two days ago.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to drive you to your house?” Sanner asked.

“I live in the middle of nowhere, it’d take longer for you to drive me there than it’ll take me to walk and even then, I’d still have to walk a fair distance. Here is fine.” Isaac said “Seriously though, it was nice meeting you all. Next time we see each other though, let’s hope it’s for less serious reasons, shall we?”

They said their goodbyes, Isaac got his stuff out of the trunk and then headed away into the forest.

Tonight, he’d be hunting. Well, first, he’d absorb the Zweihänder into Old Reliable, but then he’d be hunting for some Aspects and then, he’d be evolving … at least if he actually got the Aspects he wanted.

He just wished he’d thought of his current build before he’d outlevelled the monsters whose Aspects he needed. Then again, he was creating a path from scratch, getting used to all his new [Skills] and their specific quirks, as well as coming up with new ideas all the time. He was experienced with the [System], but he wasn’t a nigh-omniscient genius, sadly.