"Your esteemed mother is now awake, young Master."
"Thank you, Aidan." Robby ported into Flora's bedroom.
Two body shaped lumps cambered the blankets. Robby's mind went blank. In his reality, there could be only a maximum of one person in his mother's bed when he looked at it−Two when he was in it. The two bulges didn't compute with his world view−even less so, the definitely male arm that lay on his mother's hip.
Robby paled. Could his mother have done that thing that mothers had to have done to get to be mothers, but no male offspring would ever acknowledge? No! His lack of father proved that he was the result of the virgin birth! His mother would never do those things out of her free will!
He had to beat up the offender!
"Die!" Robby roared and threw himself on the owner of the arm.
"Burned Toast! Sweetie!" Flora exclaimed.
--------------------
Flora woke up with an unfamiliar weight on her flank. Did something fall into her bed while she had been sleeping? When she turned around and saw Eddie's arm, her memories came back. Eddie had been a gentleman and stayed on his side of the bed. They went to sleep without further altercations. She didn't fault him for spreading out a bit while sleeping. The half-hug didn't feel too bad, so she turned around again and opened her virtual menus, making plans for the upcoming training.
Suddenly, she heard Robby screaming, and then a 1.87 m black weight crashed into the mattress.
"Burned Toast! Sweetie!" She rolled away from her thrashing son. "That's Eddie, don't kill him first thing in the morning! A bad wakeup can ruin one's entire day."
"Nobody touches my mother!" Robby roared.
"Where is the attacker! I help you trounce him!" Eddie yelled from under Robby.
"I'm touched, but I can defend myself. Okay, maybe not. But I can assure both of you that there is no attacker here."
"I'm sorry, Uncle Eddie, but I have to beat you up," Robby said, much calmer but still not making any sense.
"I understand, son. I will do my best to make it worse for you than me." Eddie said, getting Robby into a headlock.
Flora was totally flummoxed. Her first instinct was to send lightning in their midst to burn some sense into them, but then she shrugged. That had to be one of those guy things, and they would have to sort it out by themselves. She didn't even know who she was madder at, Eddie for hitting her dear sweetie or her son for misconducting himself.
Ignoring the fight in her bed, Flora went to the training half of her bedroom and prepared for the day.
--------------------
"Please, Milady, reconsider! Think about your brain!" Aidan begged, and Flora sighed.
"Okay, maybe casting three spells simultaneously while jogging while getting poisoned is a bit too much." Flora scratched her head and went back to the list of achievements. She deleted jogging. Sitting on the damaging rune-schemes might be distracting enough. What element was the least disturbing? "Aidan, ask Squad 4-1 if they prefer to be burned alive or poisoned. Those elements seem to be the most suitable. Lightning is unfit because of the shocks. They might interrupt the channeling. All the blood from metal disgusts me, and the slowing effect from ice is bad for the speed achievements. Light and Shadow interfere too much with the senses, and acid is itchy."
"Now, we'll set up a self-sustaining system. While I can't do the achievements in the box, but I can generate the mana and other pool values there. Then I'll spread them via the Divine Radiance aura to the others. We'll add healing turret, repairing turrets and two golems with water healing spells for getting rid of the stacking burning or poisoned debuffs and dummies as targets."
While Aidan fetched the necessary equipment, Flora browsed a book about Modifying Graphs or Morphs. The most suitable for her goals was one of the most common, more damage for more mana.
Now and then, she glared at the still fighting men. At least, the propagation of her aura worked well enough; otherwise, their HP and stamina would have run out.
"I'm the width of a toast away to electrify you," Flora said. "Please explain your behavior."
The two men disentangled from each other. None of them had the grace to look guilty. On the opposite, they seemed pretty satisfied with their juvenile conduct.
"No need to sweat it, Ma. We just caught up with each other, you know? Something like 'hey, how are you?' 'I'm just spiffy!'." Robby grinned at her and slapped Eddie's back. "You are still better at grappling, Uncle! I'll admit that I have concentrated on striking-arts for the game, but I thought I would have closed the gap more."
"You did pretty well, sweetie. In RL, I would have no chance, but that VR refreshed my old bones and muscles. And it was nice of you to stay mostly with jiu-jitsu. I know you could have caved my face in with your big fists." Eddie said, chuckling.
The boys now complemented the other's maneuvers as if they were best friends and not savages trying to kill each other two minutes ago.
Flora rolled her eyes.
--------------------
"*bleep*, Ma! Could you please learn a bit slower! I need more time to bring up the new diagram than you learning it!"
"Next skill, sweetie. Don't twaddle. I want to take a nap before the squad comes." Flora didn't tell him that she not only learned the skill but also integrated them into the corresponding commands and spells in her repertoire.
Class:
Techno-Psychic
Branch:
Technology/Magic
Passive:
Your AIs can level their skills and abilities above your Tier
Active:
Intuitive command over technology
STA:
Overcharge AI:
Gives more stats to your AI
AoE:
Overcharge AIs:
Gives more stats to your AIs
DEF:
Defend AI:
Increases Hacking Resistance of your AI
MOV:
Hurry Up AI:
Gives more processing power to your AI
SIG:
Establish Connection to AI:
Connects to an AIssastant
"Very nice!" Flora cheered. While she was intrigued by the active boon "Intuitive command over technology", she could immediately see the value of the passive boon. She had neglected the skills of her AIs when Aidan had told her that they couldn't rise above level 25. Now that they could go higher, she ordered them to train. "Prioritize your anti-hacking abilities, dears. You are my most valued assets, and I don't want you to be led astray."
Robby had not only the spells for Techno-Psychic but also Fist-Master and Fire Fist.
The class for Fist/Hammer-Master didn't appear because she had to complete a quest for it, but at least she could level the skills in the meantime.
STA:
Crushing Blow
Empowered Strike with a high chance to inflict a crushing debuff
AoE:
Hammer the Magic Down
The next blow hits all targets in range. The closer to the origin, the harder they get hit.
DEF:
Hammered
Every Blow increases Strength, Phys Reg and Vitality, reduces Phy Controls and Phy Perception
MOV:
Hammer-Charge
Charge at the enemy
SIG:
Everything looks like a Nail
(Boost) Adds an extra crushing secondary effect to all your skills and physical attacks
Class:
Magic Fist/Hammer
Branch:
Warrior/Magic
Passive:
+ 1 Training efficiency modifier when Magic Enhancement is active
Active:
Reduces the metal handicap of bludgeoning and fist weapons
STA:
Crushing Magic Blow
Element Empowered Strike with a high chance to inflict crushing debuff and magical effect
AoE:
Hammer Them Down
The next blow hits all targets in range with physical damage and magical effect. The closer to the origin, the harder they get hit.
DEF:
Magically Hammered
Every blow increases Power, Reg and Vigor, reduces Controls and Perception
MOV:
Magical Hammer-Charge
Charge at the enemy
SIG:
Magic Enhancement
Adds an extra magic secondary effect to your physical attacks
"If you can mojo it to Light Fist, I would be thankful. I got it because I thought I'd find some synergy with my class, but it never happened. At the moment, I haven't even slotted it into my tree." Robby said.
Of course, Flora obliged.
They tried it out on the training dummies. Whereas Robby was satisfied with the tiny light novas his strikes produced, Flora was of two-minds. Crushing Light Blow inflicted a debuff that lowered Physical Perception and produced a bit of radiation damage. No doubt that it was a good debuff, but Flora remembered what Mia said about synergy. The effect didn't help Robby to heal better.
"What would happen if I integrated the healing aspect of Light into the skill?" Flora mused and brought up the diagrams again.
Her first attempt created the same damage output as the former Crushing Light Blow, but the secondary effect of the light produced a buff on herself instead of debuffing the enemy.
Illuminated: 1x : + 1 OV to Perception, + 1 OV Projection and Mind-Control Resistance.
"This could be useful," Robby stated, deep in thought. "Immensely, useful."
Absentmindedly, Flora hummed. She wasn't finished tinkering with the skill. For the next version, she had to rearrange some parts and needed a few minutes to make it work again. However, she was more than happy with the result. When her fist crashed into the dummy, the damage was a lot lower than before, but not only did she received the buff, but also got healed.
"Ma! That's genius! It's like Mendicate! And it doesn't share a CD with it! That's a game-changer! Can you lower the CD?"
Unfortunately, the new skill had 25 seconds cooldown, and Flora couldn't tweak it.
"Just imagine if you could change the skill of Elemental Power Strike and Shield Bash as well! That's two more heals for the palas and Emba! Can you do it with ranged skills as well? Even Ressa could heal a bit with it. Wow, the possibilities are endless! I wonder what Zapple will say." Robby rambled.
Flora followed him mentally but wasn't convinced of the usefulness for other people than her radiant clan mates. They could not only heal themselves with it, but the effects also propagated to nearby allies. For everyone else, it was just a weak heal.
"I'll send the guys over to you to get the skills! Oh no, your brain! I send them later in the day. Can you do it, Ma?"
"Sure, sweetie," Flora said. She wasn't confident but didn't have in her heart to deny her excited son. "Give me a few hours of sleep after the achievement-grind, and we are good to go."
Robby left with a quick kiss.
--------------------
Finally, the squad four-one arrived.
Flora knew Shari, a black woman with a motherly vibe and dimples, Gram, a gruff and stout white man, and of course Mia. Probably new was Dice Swifticle, but Flora wasn't sure because he looked so much like Zapple that she had problems separating them. His hair was a lighter shade of blue, but otherwise, he had the same nervous energy around him as his brother. Last was a pink-haired girl in her twenties, Cherrya Boom.
"Auntie, Auntie, Auntie! I need my roller skates!" Cherrya said for the third time.
"Aidan is on it, dear. Be more patient." Flora considered for a split second if she should more patient as well, but then decided against it. "Or I kill you." Flora had enough of all the youthful exuberance. Her head throbbed again, and her bedroom was her domain.
"Ooookay!" Cherrya's eyes widened. "No need to aggro, it was just a question!"
"No question three times repeated it just a question, dear. Instead, it's a curse. Don't curse me if you want to stay here."
Flora clapped her hands to get everyone's attention while Aidan sent out group invites. "Let's get this party started!"
With a lot of coaxing, Flora managed to get everyone on the hotplate, that's the name she gave the square with fire runes. When she activated the runes, flames shot out of the floor, going chest high.
"Owie! Owie! Owie!" Cherrya screamed.
"Did you read the pamphlet I sent to you, dear? I underlined 'Set your pain to the lowest setting'," Flora said.
"Hotplate is a *bleep*ing false advertisement. I'm standing in a *bleep*ing BBQ Grill!" Gram complained.
"There was pamphlet?" Cherrya mumbled while adjusting her pain slider.
"Yes, configure your body in the box to give you stamina, concentration, and mana. The turrets and golems will heal you, and you will get additional pool values from me as well, but do your best to keep up your pools on your own." Flora reiterated the key points. "In the bedroom, we will concentrate on the listed achievements. Try to get to the one hour mark and then judge for yourself if you can prevail until the four-hour mark. We have a bit over 8 hours together, so use them wisely. Please be a team player and don't disturb the concentration of your neighbor."
Flora thought she had to add some motivational stuff but drew a blank. "Go, go, Clan Riverstones!" She forced herself to say.
Eddie clapped and repeated it, and the others joined in.
Relieved, Flora sat down. Although the flames fully engulfed her, the heat wasn't worse than in a sauna. She cleared her mind and regulated her breathing. First, she cast the Toxic Beam on the nearby training dummy. The jet originated from her headgear, a tiara with an inlaid focus. When she felt confidant that the spell flowed perfectly, she cast Thorn Cannon with both hands. The small spikes pelted the dummy, and the debuffs ranked up.
Flora took another deep breath while casting the next dual Thorn Cannon. "Good start, four hours to go."
Around her, the Riverstones started their rotations as well. The light from the fire, the lasers of the turrets, and the Healing Rain from the golems mixed as flashing clouds grew over their heads. The whirling motor of Mia's drone and muffled drums from Cherrya's headphones mixed with the sounds of the skills. Flora felt like during a 20-century carnival before they tightened the security. She forced herself to just focus on her dummy and her spells.
"*bleep*, this is impossible." Gram cursed when his channeled Holy Presence snapped.
Flora didn't react. Although they undertook the achievement hunt together, the success didn't depend on their teammates. Everybody had to find the strength to complete four hours of casting in themselves.