ravnicrasol

Gamma Protocol (104)

Added 2025-10-20 02:32:06 +0000 UTC

[104]

I clung to the exterior of the AV as it banked hard, the hot night air screaming past my claws. The heat hadn't died with the sun, just traded its searing intensity for a suffocating humid blanket that pressed against my body. My eyes cut through the darkness like it was mid-afternoon, picking out every detail of the wasteland rushing up to meet us.

Tier 1 Achievement: Reach +150 Adaptive Endurance
Unlocked: AP Consumption
You recover stamina and heal proportionally to the amount of AP gained.

+50 % Progress to Endurance Stat

The achievement popped up and was minimized as I kept my focus below as Long-Run mode kept pushing my endurance higher.

The badlands stretched out below in a patchwork of craters and rubble. What might've been buildings once upon a time were just skeletal frames now, blasted down to their foundations and then blasted again for good measure. Decades of fighting had churned the ground into a mix of pulverized concrete and sand, all of it baked into a crust by daytime temperatures that could cook meat. To my right, the shore cut a jagged line against the almost-black ocean, dotted with half-submerged ruins that stuck up like broken teeth. Salt and rust cut through the air, mixing with the rot-sweet stench of dead monsters.

Movement caught my attention below. Scattered shapes lumbering in the direction we were coming from, maybe two dozen of them spread across a kilometer of wasteland. Further south I could see flashes of light, the places where megucas were engaging with higher class monsters.

Tier 2 Achievement: Reach +262 Adaptive Endurance
Unlocked: AP Consumption
Monsters grant an extra +1 AP, this increases by 1 per class higher than G.

+48 % Progress to Endurance Stat

My muscles coiled tight against the AV's hull, claws scraping metal as anticipation built in my chest like pressure behind a dam. I couldn’t help but feel an equal measure of excitement and apprehension.

“Drop zone ahead. Ten seconds,” the external speakers announced. I tapped the side of the AV in confirmation, and it took a sharp descent towards the nearest monster. “Deploying CYPHER observers.” The vehicle’s doors opened as dozens of drones poured out, leaving a trail of buzzing black boxes that spread out in the vehicle’s wake.

I locked on to the shifting mass of brambles, pulse quickening as I felt a half-manic grin fix itself on my face. I should’ve waited for the AV to decelerate, instead, I launched myself off of the vehicle. It became a proper free fall, the ground rushing up at me.

Letting out a roar, the eyeless monster twitched as if it had only just now seen me.

Too late.

E-class monster “Wriggler” defeated!
+8 AP
Pick your Reward!
+10 AP / ‘Tentacle’ / ‘Bark’

Damage Feedback Triggered: [+2 AP]

Sand and dust exploded around me, my bones groaning from the abuse, the monster's corpse turning to foam and putrid steam. At least this confirmed that even fall damage counted for the newest upgrade. Picking the AP reward, I felt the aches from dropping a few dozen meters vanish, then took off toward the nearest monster at a full sprint.

+375 Adaptive Endurance Reached!
[LOCKED]

The pop-up looked up at me. 375… so this was the achievement I’d get at +500 endurance, it just had the 75% discount from EZ-Mode. I sent a questioning thought at the system as I pummeled sand under my claws, couldn’t it have shown me this earlier or something? It gave me the pop-up equivalent of a pout before another one took its place almost apologetically.

Defeat a C-Class monster: Achieved!
Unlocked: Form Of Power
Requirements: Have x3 or more Tier 2 Achievements active
Reward: Take one of the forms of power (only 1 per transformation)
Currently available Forms of Power: Durability

My pulse quickened and I pushed harder. This was definitely something I wanted to try out now that I had the opportunity for it. Would it be better to leave it for last or as soon as possible?

Adaptive Endurance at 500! Cap reached!

I immediately changed modes, I still had enough AP saved up, and now that I’d maxed out endurance, I needed to be able to cover distances as fast as possible.

Velocity Mode (2):
-1 AP / Second
* +9 Speed / Second *

It was like drinking lightning, the change started as a low hum in my bones, spreading through muscle and tendon while I kept moving. My footfalls began to shift, each stride finding firmer purchase as my feet widened incrementally, the pads expanding and developing a slight concavity that cupped the loose sand instead of sinking into it. Each stride came easier than the last, my center of gravity shifting lower and further back as my tail grew heavier, providing counterbalance for the increasingly aggressive forward lean. The loose dirt that had been slowing me down now felt like nothing, my widened feet dispersing my weight across a larger surface area, while the subtle webbing developing between my toes gave me grip on the shifting terrain.

Tier 1 Achievement: Reach +150 Adaptive Speed
Unlocked: Twitch Muscles
Reaction speed is halved.

+50 % Progress to Speed Stat

The two monsters had seen me coming, a toother and a mouther, an F and a G respectively. Glorified mouths with legs, I barely lost stride as I turned the mouther into a burst of steaming guts under my feet, while the toother got the full power of a crashing fist. Both popped like meat-balloons.

My thighs had developed a second joint, adding articulation that let me compress further with each stride before launching forward. The hot night air rushed past my face, and I could feel the grin stretching wider across my muzzle as the distance vanished beneath me.

I roared again, louder, drawing as much attention onto myself as I could, not breaking stride.

Tier 2 Achievement: Reach +262 Adaptive Speed
Unlocked: Explosive Inertia
Accelerate faster.

+48 % Progress to Speed Stat

Accelerate faster?

The first monster came at me in a loping gait, all mismatched limbs and a mouth that split its torso vertically, lined with teeth like broken rebar. I swung.

My claws tore through its face before I'd registered completing the motion.

The corpse was already dissolving by the time my brain caught up. I stumbled, overcorrecting from an attack that had carried more force than I’d expected.

The next monster shambled into view, built low to the ground with six legs and a carapace that looked like melted plastic. I lined up a kick and slammed my heel through its skull with enough force to crater the sand beneath it. The impact traveled up my leg before I'd finished the motion, my body trying to follow through on momentum that had already been spent.

I caught myself on all fours to keep from face-planting.

Everything felt wrong, like someone had adjusted the timing of every action by a fraction I couldn't compensate for.

Two more ahead, spindly things with too many joints and clusters of eyes sprouting from their shoulders like tumors. They split apart as they charged. I twisted toward the left one and suddenly I was spinning past it. My strike clipped its neck instead of taking the head clean off. The second one lunged. I brought my arm up to block and the movement completed so fast my elbow hyperextended. Pain lanced through the joint, but I was already moving, pivoting and driving my fist through its center mass. The punch landed like a gunshot.

I stood there in the settling dust, testing smaller movements. Flexing my claws. Shifting my weight. Everything happened faster than my mind expected it to. ‘Accelerate faster’ the achievement had read, and that was exactly how it felt, every movement took half the time to reach full speed. It threw off my sense of timing by a hefty margin, muscle memory was working double-time against me, the increased stat already shifted everything, but this made it far more pronounced.

Some adaptation would be necessary.

F-class monster “Plastine” defeated!
+5 AP
Pick your Reward!
+5 AP / A: ‘Molt’

I glanced at the offered ability, curious, and picked it out.

(G-Class. Active) Molt: Change Skin. Cost 15 AP.

[Monster Traits: 10 / 10]

It seemed like something else I’d get to test out. And if I didn’t like it, then I could just replace it with some other new trait. Better focus on the speed problem first. Three more monsters shambled into range, bulkier, covered in overlapping plates that looked like hammered scrap metal. They moved in a loose cluster, mandibles clicking.

I started forward at a careful jog, I had to move as if I were doing half-steps, except each one made for a full bounding step, pushing me from standing still into a full sprint with explosive force. But I was learning fast, by the time I reached them I was mostly sure I’d mostly started compensating for the disparity.

Mostly.

I ducked under the first one's swing and drove my claws up through its jaw, the strike completing before I'd finished committing my weight. My momentum carried me into a roll past the corpse. I came up already moving, faster than intended, and slammed shoulder-first into the second monster hard enough to crack its plating. My follow-up slash took its head off in a spray of dissolving tissue.

The third one tried to get some distance. I closed the distance in three strides that felt like one continuous motion, grabbed it by its rear leg, and whipped it around into the ground. The impact pulverized its carapace.

I straightened, rolled my shoulders, felt my muscles already learning the new rhythm.

Adaptive Speed at 500! Cap reached!

Looking around, I confirmed there were no monsters nearby before I started the more troublesome mode.

Hunting Mode (3):
-2 AP / Second
* -1 Speed / Second *
* +9 Senses / Second *

My vision sharpened incrementally, the darkness peeled further back until I could count individual grains of sand in the craters ahead. Details snapped into focus: heat ripples over warm rubble, texture differences between pulverized concrete and wind-worn stone, microscopic shifts in shadows marking uneven ground.

Then the sound hit.

The wind separated into dozens of distinct currents. The crunch of sand underfoot. Waves against the shore. Something overhead, high up, a steady mechanical buzz I'd been ignoring. Drones. Maybe a hundred meters up, their rotors creating overlapping interference patterns that made my ears itch.

Everything kept sharpening.

My feet crunched through the sand-concrete mix and the sound exploded into component parts. Grinding fragments. Hissing sand. Hollow pockets where air escaped from beneath the crust. The smell built until it dominated everything. Salt and rust I'd already known, but now I could track the salt's trajectory from the ocean, separate machine-rust from blood-rust from oxidized rebar. The rot-sweet stench of dead monsters had layers now. Decomposition stages. Chemical breakdowns I didn't have names for but regretted distinguishing anyway.

My skin prickled, registering temperature variations. The air moved in streams and pockets, some cooler where they'd passed over the ocean, others radiating stored heat.

Tier 1 Achievement: Reach +150 Adaptive Senses
Unlocked: Aural Sight
See Cores

+50 % Progress to Senses Stat

I heard them approach, having already been drawn in by the earlier roars. The monsters ahead lit up in my perception, each one carrying a core that made my sharpening senses recoil. Little knots of wrongness my improved awareness couldn't quite classify. The nearest one had something that tasted like copper and felt like static. Another carried a sensation like spoiled meat. A third registered as a high-pitched whine I felt in my teeth.

My posture faltered. The ocean wasn't just waves anymore. I could hear the distinction between each wave. The drones overhead resolved into distinct entities. Fifty-four. Each with its own mechanical signature, minute variations in rotor speed and flight pattern. The sensation crawled across my skin.

Everything was too much and getting worse. The cores pulsed in my awareness without even needing to get closer, each carrying its specific wrongness. More moved into range from the south, their approach marked by vibrations through the ground my feet catalogued without conscious input. I could count the grains of sand in the wind as they dragged against me. The ocean roared with complexity I couldn't ignore. The AV’s engines were a faint roar far behind me.

Tier 2 Achievement: Reach +262 Adaptive Senses
Unlocked: Intent Recognition
Sense intent from those you are observing

+48 % Progress to Senses Stat

Tier 3 Achievement: Have x3 or more Tier 2 Achievements active
Unlocked: Form of Power
Take one of the forms of power. T3 Achievement: Form of Durability [Unlocked].

I killed the mode immediately, grounding my feet and trying to sharpen my attention on the monsters.

Think Mode (4):
-3 AP / Second
* -1 Senses / Second *
* +9 Agility / Second *

I took a breath, tasting chemicals and decay and superheated earth, something slotting into place behind my eyes, a trickle of relief.

The nearest monster’s core pulsed thirty meters out, it had moved faster than I’d expected, that copper-static wrongness, and beneath it was something else. The thing looked like someone had tried building a wolf out of scrap metal and gave up halfway, all jagged edges and asymmetrical limbs, its jaw unhinged too wide for its skull. But there was something else to it, a texture. Oily, slick, like grease sliding across my scales except it wasn't touching me at all. The sensation pressed against my left leg.

I didn't know what that meant.

The monster rushed, lunging towards my left and my body pivoted right while my brain tried to catch up. Its claws scraped past where my leg had been. Two more cores lit up as they got closer. One carried that spoiled-meat sensation, spreading across my shoulders. The other felt like static building in my teeth. My brain couldn't parse what any of it meant.

The scrap-wolf came at me again and I barely got my claws up, catching its throat mid-lunge. The acceleration kicked in, my strike completing fast, crushing its skull. Its death turned the wound into putrid smoke and I stumbled away from it in a hurry, eyes stinging. The spoiled-meat sensation intensified. I spun and something slammed into my back, driving me forward three steps. Pain lanced through my shoulders where claws had raked skin and tore through. The thing was already repositioning before I’d recovered, built low and wide like an armored beetle, its shell covered in pustules that wept something luminescent.

The static-teeth feeling spiked. I ducked and something whistled past my head. I couldn't track the attack, the sensory information flooding in faster than I could sort it.

Tier 1 Achievement: Reach +150 Adaptive Agility
Unlocked: Multi-Think (upgrade)
Your thoughts can multiply depending on the amount of focus

+50 % Progress to Agility Stat

Tier 2 Achievement: Have x4 Active Achievements (x1 per stat) active at the same time
Unlocked: Master of None
You are somewhat malleable

Relief flooded through my skull, the screaming information input suddenly muted out. Empty system notifications flooded outwards as if in a swarm. The sound of the drones, the crunching sand, the waves, the AV, my own beating heart, it was all muted behind a soft static. I could feel the system doing something, like putting up a curtain for me where I needed it to keep me from going blind.

I wasn’t sure how the achievement made this possible, but I could actually hear my own thoughts now. The pressure wasn't random, it had to be the achievement’s ability to sense intent, to sense where the monster wanted to strike.

The beetle-thing charged. That spoiled-meat sensation concentrated into a point, pressing against my ribs on the right. I shifted left and its tusks gouged air. My counterstrike punched through the shell and into its skull. I got the ding of a notification, but the pop-up kept itself out of the way.

Another core lit up forty meters out, this one different. The wrongness felt sharper, like touching broken glass. The monster that went with it had bolted in my direction like a missile.

This one didn't look like scrap. It was lean, built like a greyhound stretched too long and made of yellow glass, its limbs ending in hooked talons that dug furrows in the sand-crust. Clusters of eyes dotted its elongated skull in asymmetric patterns, each one reflecting light differently. No mouth I could see. The core pulsed with that broken-glass sensation, and underneath was pressure building against my throat.

It moved.

Not running. It blurred forward twenty meters in an instant. One moment there, the next ten meters closer.

The pressure sensation spiked, concentrating on my right shoulder. I threw myself left and hooked talons scraped through where my neck had been. The thing didn't stop, momentum carrying it past me in another blur.

Three more cores moved into range.

The glass greyhound blurred again, and this time I felt the broken-glass sensation shift, pressure building against my right leg. I was already moving when it materialized, bringing my claws around in an arc that caught empty air. I’d struck too soon, it dodged and blurred past, talons opening three lines across my thigh that burned.

It spun around for another attack.

The greyhound blurred toward me and I didn't try tracking the motion. I tracked the intent instead. That broken-glass sensation concentrated into a point pressing against my stomach. I twisted, brought my claws up, and this time when it materialized I was already mid-strike. My hand punched through its elongated skull before it could abort, shattering it into splinters as its body continued onward and toppled limp, dead.

E-class monster “Light-Dart” defeated!
+8 AP
Pick your Reward!
+10 AP / A: ‘Surge’ / ‘Crystal’

The second notification had been brought up, and as I took a moment to catch my breath, I blinked at it for a moment. The pop-up had a feeling of… “you might want to look at this, boss”, though there weren’t any sounds or weird vibrations, it was as if…

As if I could hear the system. Not words, not exactly, more like a clearer sensation of intent. Was that the first achievement's upgrade? Giving the system the capacity to be a more active participant?

It felt almost… almost like a neuralink.

The system scoffed at the comparison, then proceeded to remove the curtain it had put up around the useless information from my senses, and I winced.

Ok, ok, so not a neuralink, better.

The curtain returned, and the victory notification came back up.

Tier 2 Achievement: Reach +262 Adaptive Agility
Unlocked: Copilot
Instinctive awareness takes over in the event of being stunned or unconscious

+48 % Progress to Agility Stat

Huh, that was neat.

The system rubbed the monster-victory notification at me again. I picked the surge ability, and when I was asked what trait I wanted to replace, I picked corrosion. The trait made things too much of a headache while remaining too niche and weak.

Useless Corrosion trait forgotten!
Trait: Surge, learned!

(G-Class. Active) Surge: Move Really Fast. Cost 15 AP.

Well that was super imaginative.

Unlocked special hidden 11th trait!
Be a butt

I rolled my eyes and took the moment to catch my breath and look around in search for my next victims.

Adaptive Agility at 500! Cap reached!

AP: 13 / 200

The monsters I’d killed had bought some time, but my AP was low, so from here on out it would be a grind as I got strength and durability up.

In that order.

After thinking it over, the “mode of power” thing felt like it might be a significant boost, in which case it could very well be temporary. I wanted to test out having all my stats maxed (except senses, because this level was torture already), see how it felt. As it was, E-Class monsters had been easy, dangerous if I faced a dozen at once, but manageable in small numbers.

Which meant I should be able to tackle a low-end D-Class if it was alone, maybe if it had a few helpers. I still remembered the encounter with the stonereaver, that had been an ugly thing.

Rolling my shoulders, I glanced up at the drones flying overhead and raised my arm, waving it.

“Confirm status. Are you in distress?”

I shook my head.

“Operational. Are you seeking targets?”

I nodded.

“Nearest hostile cluster: three kilometers south-south-east. Composition: primarily F-class. They represent the forward edge of the surge. Recommended engagement window: five hours maximum.”

I nodded. The megucas and other combatants had gone out of their way to create this, to allow some monsters to slip through and approach. Every minute I spent doing this was income they would not be receiving, and it would mean other resources would need to engage to clean-up whatever I couldn’t handle.

Better to keep things within schedule.

The drone flew up.

With a direction in mind, I turned on the next mode and set off.

Power Mode (5):
-4 AP / Second
* -1 Agility / Second *
* +9 Strength / Second *

It was like plugging a furnace into my muscles. Tendons thickened into cables, muscle condensing and growing tighter before expanding in size and starting to compress again. It lasted all of three seconds before coming to a stop. Huffing, I just pushed harder, ran faster, turned the ground underneath into clouds of dust as the wind whipped past me in a frenzy.

The monster cores glowed against the background, and I veered to go in a straight line towards the group.

I tore through them like a truck going through a sheet of paper. F-class monsters just did not present a threat without surrounding me in some fashion. Rather, I was fairly sure they just couldn’t present a threat, my abilities were perfect for facing off against greater numbers of weak enemies.

Tier 1 Achievement: Reach +150 Adaptive Strength
Unlocked: Concussive Touch (Upgraded)
Every blow hits with thrice the force

+50 % Progress to Strength Stat

Thrice? Nice.

The first group led to the second, and then the third.

My body kept growing and compressing in on itself, muscles that bloated and then streamlined at the rhythm of my heartbeat, fibers reorganizing into denser bundles without sacrificing my stride. Three more monsters ahead, low-built with half-liquid bodies like wet concrete. I closed the gap in four bounds, grabbed the nearest by its face, slammed it down hard enough to pulverize everything above the shoulders. A backhand caught the second, sent it tumbling in pieces. The third made it five meters before my claws bisected it.

Tier 2 Achievement: Reach +262 Adaptive Strength
Unlocked: Folded Force
Each third strike to the same spot hits for 3 times the impact

+48 % Progress to Strength Stat

In a flicker of excitement, I slowed down. This felt like another aspect worth testing out even if it cost some time. And I’d just found a volunteer, a Dirtball. The E-class was big, built like a boulder with legs, its hide covered in overlapping plates that looked almost metallic. It moved quickly in a straight light towards me. I sidestepped, raked claws across its flank. The plates barely scored. It slowed down, wheeled, and began rolling towards me again. I tested punching the same spot I’d scratched, hard enough to force it to change course. The armor cratered but didn’t break.

Perfect.

Pulling back, I tested a different location. Claws scraped but didn't penetrate. Then another spot. Same result. The location was important, then. The monster roared and lunged again. Locking on to that first spot I’d hit twice already. I planted my feet and drove my fist into that first cratered section with the same power of the earlier punch.

The impact detonated through the plating, shattering it. I roared in joy, punching it again, harder, not letting it escape as I did two quick jabs and then put everything I had into the third punch. The creature's entire torso ruptured outward in a spray of dissolving tissue and steam, the force lifting what remained of its body off the ground before it came apart midair into foam.

Three hits, same spot. The system counted each location individually.

I laughed, or tried to, my body translated it into something that was between a roar and a growl and a hiss. This was fun. I bounced on my claws a couple times and launched towards the next group, muzzle twisting into a rictus of fangs.

Adaptive Strength at 500! Cap reached!

Toughness Mode (6):
-5 AP / Second
* -1 Strength / Second *
* +9 Durability / Second *

I’d need to kill two G’s just to get the mode to progress a single second.

At least I had ample room to pick targets.

Yet as I began to tear through more targets, I noticed my body wasn't changing the same way it had when I'd prepared to fight Shadow. When I'd prepared to fight her, I'd activated the obsidian trait, which had covered my body in thick glass-like plates. Right now that trait wasn’t active, my physiology was advancing in a different direction. The order in which I triggered things, even what traits were bought when, it clearly had an impact. This time rather than growing armorplates, it was more like my skin was growing calloused and thick, like I was wearing layers of leather rather than skin.

It vaguely reminded me of those old extinct animals, something about "tank unicorn"? I shook the thought off and continued my hunt. I might not like the direction this was taking, but for the sake of keeping this test as pure as possible.

Tier 1 Achievement: Reach +150 Adaptive Durability
Unlocked: Porous Bones (upgrade)
You can alter your mass anywhere from a fourth to quadruple of your baseline

+50 % Progress to Durability Stat

Immediately I made myself lighter, the weight I’d put up had not quadrupled my mass, at least not yet, so I took full advantage of that and took off faster. I wasn’t even bothering to dodge anymore, any injuries the G’s, F’s, and most E’s were insignificant enough I could mend easily, and for every kill I became harder to hurt. And as a bonus, it also allowed me to use the damage feedback to suckle up some extra AP here and there.

Tier 2 Achievement: Reach +262 Adaptive Durability
Unlocked: Hit me thrice
Gain limited resistance against the type of damage you receive thrice in a row

+48 % Progress to Durability Stat

I'd started slowing down, not because I wanted to, but because my bones and body kept growing heavier. I was less of a whirlwind of speed and more like a bulldozer with rockets. Slowing down and turning was harder when moving this quickly. Inertia started being a consideration in my calculations. The calculations being, mainly, on how to turn my body into a battering ram and explode through the biggest monster in any group before engaging the others.

This.

This was how it should feel, to kill monsters without needing to concern myself with anything else. Just kill, and kill, and kill them all. Rip them to pieces, watch their bodies foam and hiss and turn to nothing.

I wanted more.

Tier 3 Achievement: Reach +375 Adaptive Durability, Unlock Form of Power
Available: Form of Hunger (Durability)

I set the notification aside because I wanted to keep going. How much time did I have left? CYPHER would tell me once I started getting close. My whole body was buzzing with power. I felt like I could keep going for days. Maybe that was literally possible, since I wasn't even winded. Every kill mended scratches and took away whatever traces of exhaustion had started to form.

The system was picking the rewards for me now, not just emphasis on AP, but on improving the quality of the traits I already had. I could just focus on the slaughter, on letting loose what felt like months of pent-up frustration. This was what I'd always wanted.

Not exactly in this way, not as a magubo, but rending monsters to shreds. To this sickness in the world to nothing.

It felt right.

It felt-

A drone crashed into the side of my head.

It took me a moment to make sense of the piece of machinery that was strobing with red lights on the ground. “Alert: hostile entities inbound. Classification: two C-class, one hundred fifty-eight D-class. Directive: immediate northward evacuation, Axel Garcia.” It proclaimed as it righted itself and ignited its rotors once more.

The order put a tightness in my chest, it was too soon.

Endurance - 500
Speed - 472
Senses - 265
Agility - 444
Strength - 444
Durability - 500

The system agreed with me. We were fired up, we could keep going, and going and-

“I want to fffppight…” I said through the awkward shape of my muzzle. “Dee classss. Sssstill have powerrr-up. Tessst.”

The drone remained immobile for a moment.

“Nearest viable target identified: mid-class D-type entity,” it said through speakers “Confirmation requested. Engagement parameters indicate an eighty-four percent fatality projection. Support unit Meguca Shadow is positioned for response, but strategic directive remains: disengage and withdraw.”

“Want.”

“Copy that. Adjust bearing west. Target ETA: ten minutes. Other high-class hostiles inbound in thirty minutes. Extraction window closes in thirty-five. Happy hunting.”