Day 1 of Michael’s Deadline


    “I’ve come to a decision,” I said as I walked back into the cavern.


    Safyre and Adriel’s expressions were resigned. They weren’t expecting good news, I realized.


    “You two were right,” I stated bluntly. “Rescuing Saya must wait.”


    Adriel’s brows rose, Safyre’s mouth dropped open in shock, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shael shift uncomfortably. Only Anriq didn’t react. Glancing at the bard, I threw him an apologetic look.


    “I won’t pretend not to be disappointed,” he whispered, “but I understand.”


    Grateful for his support, I turned back to Adriel and Safyre. “I have one condition, though.”


    The lich’s face shuttered. “And that is?”


    “We do it on my timetable.”


    “Your timetable?” Safyre asked, puzzled.


    “Nine days. That’s how long I will allow us.”


    Adriel grimaced. “Nine days will be tight, but at a push, I can have the golems ready in that time.”


    I shook my head. “You misunderstand. In nine days time, I expect the Forerunners to own this sector. That means, the stygians must be vanquished by day eight at the latest. Which in turn implies the possessed must be rehomed before then.”


    Palpable silence.


    “Impossible,” Adriel rasped.


    “No. Merely difficult.”


    The lich made to speak again, but Safyre laid a restraining hand on her. “Nine days,” the aetherist said carefully. “That’s an oddly specific number. Is there a reason for it.”


    I nodded. “By my calculation, it’s the minimum time to get everything done.”


    Adriel frowned. “You have a plan in mind then?”


    “I do,” I replied, and began to outline it step by step…


    ? ? ?


    Safyre inhaled sharply when I was done. “That’s a bold plan,” she murmured.


    “But doable,” I pointed out.


    Not answering, the aetherist glanced at Adriel who nodded slowly. “It is workable, there’s no denying that, but only if we can get all the pieces in place. And—” she sighed—“although I shudder at the speed with which you want to move, I can understand your desire for haste.”


    I leaned forward, more relieved than I cared to admit by her support. “Then you’ll be able to complete the golems in seven days? That was the only part I wasn’t certain about.”


    Adriel’s lips thinned unhappily. “I can. The possessed’s bodies won’t be pretty, but they’ll be functional. And I’ll need help operating the Rings.”


    I nodded. “The Pack elders can assist with that.” I glanced around at the others. “Then, are we agreed?”


    One by one, they nodded.


    “Excellent,” I said, rising to my feet. “Then see to your preparations. In one hour, we begin our campaign against the stygians.”


    “Where are you going?” Shael asked, as I made my way to the far end of the cavern.


    “To see to my progression. You should address yours as well,” I replied without looking back.


    “Come, Ghost, we have a few things to discuss.”


    ? ? ?


    After finding a comfortable spot to sit, I decided to complete the pyre wolf’s advancement first. The choices we faced when it came to my familiar were easier ones. “Shall we begin?”


    “Yes, Prime,” Ghost replied, and without further ado, I called up her Class upgrade interface.


    Assessing familiar’s suitability for a Class upgrade...


    Class points available: 6.


    Familiar’s rank: 9.


    Upgrade requirements met.


    Your familiar may advance her Class to rank 10 at this time by improving an existing Class benefit or by selecting a new one. Do you wish to proceed?


    Willing my response to the Game, I waited for the list of available benefits to appear. I only skimmed through the new ones—none was especially appealing and besides now was the time for consolidation, not further development—and focused on the existing ones.


    6 of 7 existing Class benefits are upgradable.


    Existing benefits that may be upgraded: born again II, manifest, astral bite, diresight, direshield, and mist-thin.


    Existing benefits not available for upgrade: draining bite II.


    Choose Ghost’s rank 10 Class benefit now.


    “What shall we start with?” I asked with a small smile, knowing full well what her answer would be.


    “Manifest!”


    “As you wish,” I murmured, and relayed her answer to the Adjudicator.


    You have upgraded Ghost’s manifest ability to adept manifest. The third tier of this ability allows your familiar to leave her spirit vessel and take shape as an adept stygian pyre wolf. When in this form, Ghost gains the trait: voidborn.


    Ghost is a being of both fire and the void.


    The second tier of this ability granted your familiar access to the fire woven into her being, this tier does the same for the stygian half of herself, granting her +50% nether resistance, +50% damage with all necrotic-based attacks, and the special manifest variant: necrotic wake. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    When Ghost emerges in the physical plane using necrotic wake, she will leave a trail of nether behind her.  The mist column will have a maximum length of 10 yards, will persist for 1 minute, and will have a nether toxicity of the same tier as Ghost’s stygian claws skill.


    Adept manifest, additionally, increases the distance from her spirit vessel that your familiar may materialize to 20 yards. Note: there is no restriction on unmanifesting. Ghost may disassociate no matter how far she is from Cloak of the Reach.


    Adept manifest consumes psi or mana, and it can be upgraded with Class points. When using necrotic wake, its activation time is average. This is a Class ability and does not occupy any ability slots.


    Upgrade complete. Class points remaining: 5.


    Ghost’s Class has advanced to rank 10.


    Ghost’s physical form has changed to that of an adept stygian pyre wolf.


    “Ah,” I exclaimed, both pleased and disappointed by the changes wrought by the new manifest variant. On the one hand, the pyre wolf’s nether resistance had become even higher than my own—her nether damage reduction was lower though—and that would stand her in good stead over the next few days. On the other hand, while necrotic wake would likely perform excellently against players, it would be of no use against the void’s creatures.


    “How do you feel?” I asked.


    “Better,” she said, examining her new paws and coat. “And both tougher and meaner.”


    I smiled. “You’re definitely all those things.”


    Last time, it had been Ghost’s teeth and coat that had changed. This time it was her claws that grew. Her coat had also been altered, but only subtly, its red gleam darkening a touch.


    “Ready to go again?” I asked when she was done examining herself.


    Her eyes twinkled. “Yes!”


    Closing my eyes, I called upon the Adjudicator again.


    ? ? ?


    You have upgraded Ghost’s mist-thin ability to improved mist-thin. The second tier of this ability allows your familiar to reduce the toxicity of any free-floating nether in a 20 yard radius by 2 tiers. You and Ghost have 55 of 65 Magic ability slots remaining.


    You have upgraded Ghost’s direshield ability to fortified direshield. This variant is a significant improvement over its lower tiered counterparts and grants your familiar access to her offensive psi abilities without compromising her mental defense. When fortified direshield is active, only one half of Ghost’s psi pool is used to shield her mind. The other half remains available to her for psicasting. This is a Class ability and does not occupy any ability slots.


    Upgrade complete. Class points remaining: 3.


    Ghost’s Class has advanced to rank 12.


    After due deliberation, Ghost and I had decided not to upgrade diresight and astral bite, and instead to focus on her defensive abilities: mist-thin and direshield.


    Direshield, in particular, was necessary considering that in the not-too-distant future we’d be tackling a psionic Power, namely the young void tree. A tier three mental defense would likely still not shield Ghost from the Power, but at the very least it would provide her with a greater degree of protection.


    Her remaining points we saved for future use.


    “Now, let’s do me,” I murmured, turning my attention to my own player progression. Thanks to the nagas, I had gained one Class point and nine attribute points. And when it came to the matter of my Class there was little to ponder.


    Void thief had to be advanced.


    Signaling my intent to do so to the Game, I waited patiently for the Adjudicator’s response.


    Commencing Class upgrade…


    …


    …


    Upgrade halted!


    Urgh. Was something wrong? Did I not fulfill the requirements somehow?


    But before my worry could set in, another message unfurled in my mind.


    There are 3 elite tier variants available for the void thief ability. Your Class upgrade cannot proceed until you select one.


    Option 1: mirror armor. This variant causes your void armor to reflect a percentage of any damage absorbed back onto the caster.


    Option 2: void aura. This variant expands the range of your void armor, allowing it to protect any allies in close proximity.


    Option 3: void thief extraordinaire. This variant allows your void armor to effect multiple thefts simultaneously.


    Choose your tier 5 void thief variant now.


    “Well,” I thought, rocking back. “This is a surprise.”


    For the first time, the Game was giving me a choice when it came to how I upgraded my Class ability—and it was a difficult one too.


    All three variants on offer were good.


    Naturally, I was drawn to the extraordinaire variant the most. Void thief’s biggest handicap had always been that it only worked against a single spell. By allowing me to steal—and negate—multiple spells simultaneously, extraordinaire addressed that weakness in the best possible way.


    Void aura was nice as well, seeing that it afforded my allies the same level of protection as me, and if I was the stand-and-fight type, I’d have no hesitation in choosing it. However, I moved around the battlefield too extensively for the variant to be an option. Then, too, there was also the possibility that the aura itself would compromise my vanish ability by warning my foes when I was close to my allies.


    Mirror armor confused me initially. On first glance, what the variant did appeared to be no different from the tier four void thief effect, redirect. But after reading the Game’s wording a second time, I realized my mistake.


    Mirror armor did not just reflect or redirect damage from a successfully stolen spell, it reflected any damage absorbed. That meant from the moment a foe attacked me with magic, they’d been feeling the effects of their own spell! “Yikes,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair.


    I wanted both mirror armor and void thief extraordinaire.


    But I couldn’t have both.


    So, which do I choose?


    Being able to reflect damage meant I could conceivably kill my foes by merely letting them attack me. But I’d still have to survive their hits first. And that meant investing heavily in Magic to strengthen my void armor.


    I didn’t want to do that, of course.


    Mind and Dexterity was where the bulk of my attribute points had to go, otherwise my other abilities—backstab, shadow blink, and so on—would fall behind.


    Void thief extraordinaire, on the other hand, was not as dependent on the size of my mana pool. Once I stole the spells I wanted, I could avoid further hits, letting me conserve my void armor with not too much effort. And of course, multiple thefts meant multiple new methods of attacking.


    Hells, if I stole enough spells, I could conceivably out-cast some mages!


    Another Game message flashed for attention, a not-so-subtle reminder that the Adjudicator was waiting on my decision.


    Choose your tier 5 void thief variant now.


    “Variant three it is,” I whispered, willing my choice to the Game.


    Upgrade complete. Class points remaining: 0.


    Congratulations, Michael, your voidstealer Class has advanced to rank 14!


    You have upgraded your void thief ability to void thief extraordinaire. The elite tier of this ability makes it easier for you to filch knowledge from your foes by reducing the damage your void armor needs to sustain for a theft from 20% to 10%.


    The range of hostile spells that can be stolen has also expanded to include trigger-cast spells and wards. Additionally, the memory capacity of your void armor has improved, allowing you to remember any stolen knowledge for 48 hours instead of 16. Void thief extraordinaire also increases the number of spells you can steal and retain knowledge to 3.


    “Three spells,” I marveled. “And retained for two whole days too!”


    I had been anticipating an incremental increase to both aspects of the ability, but I’d forgotten that the step up from tier four to five was a big one—as was the accompanying jump in spell power.


    Still grinning, I turned my attention to my other abilities.


    Unfortunately, I had less to smile about when it came to them. None were ready for upgrade to tier five yet. My two-weapon fighting had still not reached rank twenty so whirlwind couldn’t be improved, and while I had a few mental abilities that could be advanced, I lacked the necessary Mind ability slots for that.


    A state of affairs I should correct.


    Reaching out to the Adjudicator, I communicated my intent.


    Your Mind has increased to rank 135. Other modifiers: +12 from items. Available ability slots: 9.


    I still didn’t have enough Mind ability slots for another elite ability, but in only three more levels I would, and for now that had to suffice.


    My progression completed, I moved on to my next chore: reading the den chief’s pamphlet.