[System Decay] Chapter 23: Armory Raid

Ung’s vault was startlingly well organized for an ogre.

“That’s another point towards it being stolen,” Will muttered to himself.

“What was that?” Lev asked.

“Nothing,” Will said. Thinking out loud was a bad habit born of having someone in his head who actually responded to him. “I call first pick, but you all need to get something.”

Axl hadn’t carried a vault key, which made Will wonder whether those only dropped on solo bosses, but Ung had one. This was his first time being in the vault of a squad boss, and he was pleasantly surprised to see that the loot was as much of a step up from a solo’s as Axl’s power level had been from the goblin chieftain’s.

There was more than one elemental gem present, for one. Will scanned the loot on the tables and walls, and he counted three—gems of Water, Balance, and Twilight.

Will still hadn’t affixed his last two attributes, so he was open to changing out what elements he selected. He was sure that he wanted to affix Time, since it was from a superior elemental gem, Caiyeri had chosen to gift it to him, and time magic just sounded really damn neat, but he’d gotten Poison from a spider nest. That, he was willing to negotiate on.

Water was a no-go. There was no way that was compatible with his class, and defensively, he doubted it would give him terribly powerful skills. While Helper—Ayla, he corrected himself yet again—had been adamant that there were no elements that were straight up bad, she had told him that some elements were a lot better when affixed to certain attributes. Water was a pretty great Speed or Soul affixation for a midrange fighter, but Will already had much more offensive elements there.

That left him picking between Poison, Balance and Twilight. Anything he didn’t use was going to go to the others, so he tried to keep them in mind to some extent as well.

To be fair, it had been him that had killed Ung, and he had called first pick. Will took a closer look at the element stones.

Water was as it sounded. It was a common rarity stone, and while that didn’t mean it was bad, it wasn’t what he was looking for.

Balance was a rare, while Twilight was epic. Both of those sounded like they could work for either Perception or Resistance, but when he read the descriptions of all the gems, it seemed like Time would be the best suited towards the former.

That left him with a choice between Balance, Twilight, and Poison for Resistance. Resistance skills tended to be protective ones, Will knew, though that wasn’t an exact science—his only Power skill was a movement one, for instance. Still, he needed to approach this with the assumption that whatever he was getting next was probably going to best be suited towards defense.

If he could get a poison effect off on someone who was attacking him, which he assumed was what Poison bound to Resistance would be able to do, there was the potential of synergizing with skills like The Bell Tolls, worsening their afflictions.

Will almost picked Poison instinctively because of that, but he ended up deciding against it.

He already had the wither and corruption afflictions. Will had personal experience being afflicted with one of those, but the withering effect didn’t look much nicer. He also had experience with poison, and one of those had been far worse than the other.

Compared to the damage-over-time he could already inflict, poison probably wasn’t going to be very strong, especially when considering the fact that it would be bound to Resistance.

It was between Balance and Twilight, then.

Item: Elemental Gem of Balance

Rare.

Your species has a culture with the concept of “yin and yang.” Balance applies beyond the body; it applies to the soul, and the world around it.

Binds the Balance element to one of your attributes.

Available attributes: [Resistance] and [Perception].

That wasn’t too cryptic, but it was horribly vague about what the element actually did. The assurance that he wouldn’t just get skills that made him really good at not tripping over his own two feet was nice, though.

Item: Elemental Gem of Twilight

Epic.

At the border of night and day is an odd state between light and dark; shadow and radiance merge together in an uneasy dance. The darkness is a comfort, but the light is also your friend.

Binds the Twilight element to one of your attributes.

Available attributes: [Resistance] and [Perception].

That read much more like an offensive powerset than a defensive one. Will could guess that it would provide an assortment of magic that manifested itself in more than one way. It didn’t seem to provide many Resistance oriented skills, while Balance did.

Without the system or helpers to provide him with further information, he could only make do with his assumptions.

Moping about it wasn’t going to change anything, though, so he committed to Balance.

“Twilight, Poison, and Water elements,” Will announced, trading the elemental gem in his inventory for the Balance one. “There’s three of you. Each one pick one. You’ll need them.”

“These all give us passive effects,” Lev said. “And get us skill slots. Right?”

“Wow,” Will said. “Your tutorial helper really didn’t tell you anything, did it?”

“There were helpers?” Allie frowned. “You mean the text that kept showing up to tell us how to do basic things?”

“Jesus,” Will said. “Alright. You should be trying to expand your elements because you need to select three of them to get a class once you rank up to bronze.”

“Makes sense,” Lev said. He took the Twilight element.

Allie gave Will a grateful nod as she took the Poison gem. “Thank you.”

Trevor took the Water gem hesitantly. “Are you sure this is okay? That’s a lot of loot to be giving up.”

“Oh, I’m still taking the rest of these,” he said. “But if you three want to come with me, you’re going to need to be more than dead weight.”

“Hey!” Allie said. She winced. “Never mind. You’re right.”

“Pick up some tablets and shard. I think this place has got some.”

There was a lot more loot here than there were in any of the solo vaults he’d looted before. There was more than a tablet or two, plus a bunch of shards of might, iron, clubs, and the like. None of the shards suited Will’s profile that well, and he had enough of his own that he was fine with just taking a couple tablets.

“We can make skill tablets with these,” Lev said. “There’s a lot of shards, holy hell.”

Will did take a tablet of the forge for himself. Split four ways, there wasn’t actually that much more loot than the solo vaults, but he supposed that was the point of the squad boss.

He could afford to be a bit pickier now. Ung was supposed to be as dangerous to people here as Axl had been in the tutorial, but he’d practically been a joke in comparison. Will wanted a build that would work for him, especially if he was locking in his skills for the long term.

For now, he could prioritize quality over quantity. If the choice was between five skills he could use at maximum effectiveness and twenty that he had no idea how to use, he’d pick the first every time. The ones he’d used during the tutorial were familiar enough to him that even the evolutions came naturally, but the rest of his kit was new. Two new skills—one from the tablet, one from the superior gem—would be enough for now.

Aside from those, there were enough items to give everyone at least one of, which Will happily added to his inventory. Nobody else could actually use theirs at full effectivity, but they’d grow into them, so he didn’t begrudge them the weapons or armor.

Item: Senzen’s Seven-Star Slayer Sword

Rare, bronze (growth).

Created by the elf engineer Senzen, this type of sword is presented to generals and elite forces of the life kingdom elves, growing alongside them. This particular one was taken off of a hapless, dying commando misplaced by the Arcadian impact.

This weapon can be attuned. While attuned, a portion of the experience gained by the User is split towards this item, increasing its rank alongside the User.

[Shimmering Edge] - This weapon requires a constant stream of mana while it is active. While it is active, the sword illuminates its surroundings and has a vastly improved cutting edge. Critical hits do more damage. You may increase the mana stream to enhance the edge.

[Radiant Burst] (bronze) - Successful strikes with the sword charge this ability. When the sword is fully charged, the next hit is a critical hit. On a critical hit, this sword expends all charges in a burst of radiant energy, dealing explosive damage to the target and blinding those in a small radius. The attuned User is immune to this effect.

Will’s eyes widened. In terms of potential, this sword was by far the best item he had. Even now, it had pretty strong effects. The fact that Ung hadn’t used it was practically criminal—this could easily be better than the regretfully consumed hammer that Axl had wielded.

He tested it out, sensing the slight draw of power it wanted from him.

The mana drain wasn’t too bad—it took about the same maintenance cost as Wind Walker. The slayer sword ignited with a purplish-pink light. While the skill stated that it was just the edge that lit up, the entire weapon glowed.

“Damn,” Lev said appreciatively. “You got a lightsaber up in this bitch?”

“Not quite,” Will said, transfixed by the sight. He inventoried it. “But it’s going to be useful for what comes next.”

“And what is that?”

“Well, if you’ll turn your attention to your quest interface, you’ll see.”

“With all due respect, Will,” Trevor said, “We’re not strong enough to fight the… ugh, the Iron Boys. I hate that name.”

“As do I,” Will said. “They have no taste.”

“I hate to admit it, but he’s right,” Lev added. “We’re doing alright for ourselves, but there’s a lot more of them and they’ve got much better equipment than us.”

“Let’s talk strategy for that later,” Will said. “For now, everyone get their elements affixed and their weapons understood.”

No visions accompanied the affixation of his two new elements. Was that because he’d left the tutorial? Was the corruption to blame for those uncertain dreams?

Will didn’t complain. The gap in his memory lasted only an instant, and he was able to affix his skills and elements without complaint.

He did, however, underline his mental WEIRD SHIT ABOUT THE SYSTEM list.

Then he checked on his new bindings, and excitement overpowered the concern.

[Resistance]

- Bound to [Balance]: You recover from disorienting effects at a much faster pace. You always land on your feet.

As expected, his Resistance skills weren’t anything terribly flashy, but they were useful.

Skill: [Equilibrium Mantle]

- Passive (body).

- Cost: very low mana over time.

- Cooldown: none.

Bronze.

Nullifies extreme environmental conditions in a small radius around the user’s body. Drastically reduces the effect of adverse conditions.

This would have been a banger skill in the tutorial, but Will could still think of a dozen ways this would be incredibly useful now.

“Rainy days are a thing of the past for me,” he crowed.

It was Time that provided the real gift, though.

[Perception]

- Bound to [Time]: You now have an innate sense of timing, intuitively understanding time in intervals of ten milliseconds or above.

A timing passive was useful, but it was the skill that drew him in.

Skill: [Time in a Bottle]

- Spell (chronurgy).

- Cost: high mana per second.

- Cooldown: scales based on how long the skill is used.

Accelerates your perception of time, enabling you to experience ten seconds for each second that passes outside. Warning: your body does not speed up to match your senses.

While it wasn’t superspeed, being able to stretch out his reactions at a moment’s notice to assess the situation and find the optimal path was huge.

“Now that that’s done,” Will said, stretching out his limbs, “we’re going to grind the only way I know how to.”

“And how is that?” Allie asked, white knuckles clutched around her elemental gem like someone was going to steal it.

“That should be obvious by now.” Will’s lips split into a feral grin, unsettling all three of his new compatriots. “Kill.”

#

Level up!

The other members of the party had claimed that the easier dungeons had all been claimed by the Iron Boys, but the ones in the forest that had sprouted around what had once been Everdale University were basically on baby mode compared to the tutorial.

Will put a point each into Power and Soul as he cleaned off his new sword on the corpse of one of the overgrown boars that this dungeon favored.

They still hadn’t made it to the boss room, but the combined effect of Will single-handedly taking down the squad boss earlier and slaughtering most of the thirty to fifty feral hogs that populated the dungeon.

Their attacks were hefty, but they were mostly unformed rank with a few exceptions. Will was just too fast for them, and even without his new skills, he didn’t break a sweat.

Attune Corrupted Item worked for regular items, thank god, so Will had been able to bind the slayer sword to himself without having to do whatever the normal process for attuning a weapon was. Given the fact that he had a whole skill for it, he suspected it was typically a lot harder.

Nobody else had leveled up. Instead, they were sitting behind at the entrance to the dungeon, watching in horror and awe as Will thoroughly dismantled the mobs here.

“Don’t just stand there!” Will shouted, using a gallon of water from his inventory to wash the worst of the blood matting his hair off of him.

Okay, this was definitely going to be harder than he’d thought.

As he encouraged them to wade through the field of bodies he’d sown, Will felt a brief pang of sympathy for Caiyeri.

A notification ping summoned his attention from the corner of his vision. The party interface.

Speak of the devil.

It was a message. Allie, Lev, and Trevor were all within shouting distance of him, so it couldn’t be from them.

Thankful that it had come after he’d removed all immediate threats to his life, Will opened the tab.

You have [1] new message from [Caiyeri Seven].

It took another mental tap to get into the appropriate window. I’m really going to have to find a way to streamline this UI.

Caiyeri: Finally back on planet. You’re still alive. I’m surprised.

Will: Thanks for the well wishes. I hope you’re doing alright.

#

Caiyeri’s first real encounter with her own people was a padded, magic-suppressing room where she was quizzed, interrogated, and examined inside and out until they were sure that yes, she was Caiyeri Seven, no, she had not been corrupted, no, there were no adverse mental or physical additions to her that could result in trouble for Abyss.

Time worked in funny ways when the mind was not allowed to rest. She knew that from extensive research from endless sleepless nights, a world of knowledge at her fingertips.

What the books hadn’t prepared her for was people. The first non-clone being she had held a conversation longer than two sentences with had been Axl, the Carrion Lord. The second had been Will. Technically, the god in the machine counted. That made these elves four.

Her opinion of the outside world was decidedly mixed at this point.

But Caiyeri had been born and raised to serve the Abyss Nation, and so she would.

Even if she sent a message to the only human she’d ever spoken to in real life while she was in the middle of a briefing.

“The mission specifications have changed,” Caiyeri Chanceheart, sometimes better known as Caiyeri Zero, told her clone. Despite the decades of difference in their ages, any onlookers saw only an elf woman talking to her mirror. “Two lost their Caiyeri. You will join them. Life has taken its roots on the planet. We cannot allow them to take new territory.”

Seven had a bevy of questions for the donor she’d come from. The Life Kingdom had been said to be a failing state in the texts she’d read. They shouldn’t have the manpower to take an area, let alone occupy it. They were supposed to be on the brink of dying out from sheer incompetence and naivete.

She asked none of those questions, for she was a clone and an elf, and both of those followed orders.

“Where?” Seven asked simply.

“Many locations,” the original replied. “We believe they are using a heretical connection to the system to do so.”

Again, more questions. Again, Seven remained silent.

“Your black squad will neutralize one threat and claim the region for the Abyss,” said the original. “There is a connection that you may be able to make use of.”

“A connection,” Seven said. Her job was not to assume. It was to confirm.

“Yes. A human. According to our intelligence, he is one of only ten that survived million-to-one odds. One of our embedded agents claims to have witnessed him eliminating a squad boss with brutal efficiency—alone. Your task, separate from the rest of the squad will be to infiltrate this User’s group and turn or eliminate him. You will be deployed in three standard days as this planet measures. Any questions?”

So many. “None, General.”

“Good." The original turned and left.

Caiyeri looked back to the message Will had sent her. The man who had apparently attracted the attention of the higher-ups in the Abyss.

The man she was now being tasked to kill.

I hope you’re doing alright.

The words sat there in her eyes like an accusation.

Caiyeri: I hope so too.

#

Groaning with pain, Dylan retraced the steps he’d taken. No monsters bothered him on his track. He didn’t know that this was because of Will’s persistent aura in the area, instead assuming that it was his obviously dominant presence that did it, no longer brought down by his teammates.

“If that asshole just gave me a fair fight, he’d be six feet under right now,” he growled.

Even after using the healing potions, he hadn’t healed all the way, and it looked as if he couldn’t.

Burning with fury that was impotent in more than one way, Dylan tracked his way all the back to Everdale, where he’d come from.

It had only been bad luck that he’d been saddled with incompetents. He’d told them what they’d needed to do, but that bitch—what was her name again? Annie? Allie?—and those dickwads hadn’t fallen in line with him like they should’ve.

Eventually, Everdale University came back into view.

It looked like a proper fortress now, reinforced with traps and monster skulls planted on spiked walls.

A real alpha’s place.

As Dylan made his way to the front gates, a figure clad in ostentatious Ferrari-red armor jumped down from a ceiling, landing in front of Dylan on both feet.

“This is Iron Boys territory,” the armored guy said. “You’ve been here once before. The fuck do you want?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Dylan hissed. “I know how to get you the rest of my dipshit group. I’m here to join up.”

A brief pause. The armored man looked Dylan up and down.

“You got balls, man.”

“Actually, I don’t right now.”

The stranger raised an eyebrow at that, then shrugged and extended a hand anyway. “Welcome aboard, bro. Tell us everything.”