Chapter 20
Skybound
Just as the monster's head flew off its body, Ethan's entire vision was drowned in notification screens, chief of which informed him that he slayed a Wocan and cleared the Tunnel. He frowned for a moment, noting how the battle lasted less than five minutes. Though he managed to inflict some serious damage with his initial lash before the creature dug itself into the ground, he didn't think he'd shaved off the creature's defences enough for it to lose its head in a single strike. He glanced at the fading blossom of the red whip for one moment, pondering that he was missing something intrinsic about the Class.
Shaking his head ever so slightly and wiping the blood from his face, he shifted his focus onto the countless notifications. All in all, there was a lot of information thrown at him, chief of which was the fact that he did actually manage to reach Level 5. However, there were many, many more.
[Congratulations on slaying a Wocan! You have gained 3500 XP!]
[Congratulations on closing a Tunnel! You have gained the 'Explorer' title!]
[Congratulations on being the first to slay a boss monster! You have unlocked the 'Slayer' title!]
[Congratulations on being the first to close a Tunnel! You have gained the one-of-a-kind title, 'Arbitrator']
[Congratulations on reaching Level 4! You have unlocked a new feature–Daily Quests!]
[Daily Quests – complete missions assigned at random to gain a variety of rewards. The more quests you complete, the more complex the system becomes.]
[Congratulations on reaching Level 5! You have unlocked two new Abilities: [Blood Mania] and [Crimson Blade]]
[Congratulations on being the first Awakened to reach Level 5! You have unlocked the 'Trailblazer' title!]
[Congratulations on completing an 'Impossible Feat'--defeat a Boss Monster alone. Reward: a choice of one Passive Ability from the three offered]
[Explorer (Common) – every time you close a Tunnel, gain experience equaling 25% of all experience you have acquired throughout the Tunnel]
[Slayer (Common) – increase damage done to the final Bosses of the Tunnels by 20%, and decrease damage taken by 15%]
[Arbitrator (Unique) – you may close Tunnels without defeating boss monsters if you kill 80% of the Tunnel's inhabitants. Note: this will only work for Tunnels of First and Second Generation.]
[Trailblazer (Common) – increase XP gain from all sources by 2%]
[Blood Mania – Level 1: ability may only be used after killing 5 hostiles in succession. Upon activation, consume all Blood within 15 yards, restoring 80% of your missing Health and all of your Blood Pool. The next three Abilities deal 20% more Damage and always cause the target to 'Bleed' if it can bleed. Cooldown: 8 minutes]
[Crimson Blade – Level 1: conjure a floating blade of blood that obeys your commands. The ability has two stances: (Passive) – the Blade will float around you, consuming 4 Blood per Second, and can be used to attack targets with a range of 3 feet. The speed at which the Blade attacks is determined by your stats. (Active) – conjure a blade for a single attack. The blade will deal 8x more damage than in Passive Stance, has a range of 9 feet, and cannot be blocked. If you successfully cause the target to Bleed, refund the Blood spent. Cooldown: 12 seconds; Blood Cost: 4p/s for Passive Stance; 15 for Active]
"Jesus, I forgot these things can swell to the size of a fuckin' novel," Ethan grumbled as he slowly dismissed all the screens. There were a couple of surprises: the title of Arbitrator, for starters, was something he never acquired in his previous life nor has he ever heard of it. However, it was… useless. At least to him, it was. The only reason he wanted to enter and close the Tunnels was the bosses, so the notion of avoiding them didn't even float through his mind. However, it was still a nice thing to have in his pocket in case something outside of his calculations happened.
Secondly, though all other titles were familiar–as he'd gotten them all before–their values were changed. For instance, the sort of 'Explorer' title that he earned only gave him 4% of the experience gained, while 'Slayer' only increased damage done by 2%. Even 'Trailblazer' only increased XP gain by 0.3%.
Another screen suddenly popped up in front of him, and just as he was about to dismiss it, he realised it was the reward for completing an 'Impossible Feat'--a self-explanatory part of a system that rewarded people insane enough to even attempt those feats. Usually, they were borderline suicidal, but if one completed them, the rewards were never too shabby. And none of the three Passives offered to him were shabby. Two appeared Class-exclusive, while the third was a bit more 'universal' so to say.
[Moonbound Thirst] – increases the efficiency of all your Blood-related abilities, Active and Passive, by 30% during the Full Moon. Note: these effects will apply even in the Tunnels where that is not the case, as the effect is home-planet-bound.
[Vorpal Veins] – all Poisons & Diseases are 60% less effective on you and you develop immunity to them 100% faster.
[Visceral Rot] – every time one of your Abilities causes the target to Bleed, there is a 20% chance that the wound will be immediately infected, inflicting [Rot]. Rot is a unique status that naturally diminishes the body's faculties over time, decreasing base stats, health regeneration, and cognitive understanding. The longer the person suffers from Rot, the more potent the effects.
Ethan mulled over the choices for a moment. He immediately dismissed Moonbound Thirst–while a 30% increase was definitely insane, it also only lasted two-three days a month. And while he would be superpowered during those three days, it would also create an intrinsic disbalance within him–how he fought while supercharged versus how he fought ordinarily. Those two styles would undoubtedly begin to battle within him, creating disruptions in the style. The risk itself wasn't worth it.
The other two choices were both fairly decent–Vorpal Veins was particularly good long-term as, eventually, the potency of Poisons and Diseases from the Tunnels would truly be mind-blowing, and if he could effectively have 60% of leeway counter to his peers in terms of raw neglect, it would give him a lot of speed to contend with.
And then, there was Visceral Rot. Rot was a… strange status, to say the least. It wasn't particularly difficult to find, be it on items or abilities. For instance, the Dagger he got as a reward for clearing the first camp also had a Rot option, just a much weaker variant of Tar Rot. While the effects it promised sounded heaven-worthy, more often than not, they were quite underwhelming.
As far as people figured, Rot had three stages–the initial stage was just a basic infection, no different than any other infection that had a chance of causing sepsis. The secondary stage was the so-called 'transformative stage' as it is there where it begins to fundamentally change the properties of a body, altering it. And the third stage was the 'end stage' where it effectively infects the host's entire body and makes it extremely infectious.
The issue wasn't the stages themselves but the slow-acting nature of it. In the end, Ethan opted in for the safest option of the bunch: Vorpal Veins. Passive defence of any kind was one of the most notoriously difficult things to get access to, and even if his was quite specific and niche, there was no shortage of Tunnels whose entire theme was poisons and diseases. It wasn't as though the passive ability made him impervious to the effects, as a poison that would kill others would still kill him too, just a bit slower, but it was still more consistent than the other two choices.
It was then that he saw Tara approach and inspect the discombobulated corpse of the monster in front of him. She didn't appear afraid or disgusted or in reflux; if anything, she simply seemed… ordinarily curious. She inspected the wounds, both fatal and otherwise, and took note of seemingly every part of the monster, as though she was preparing for an exam in the future.
"What's up?" Ethan asked, walking up to her.
"Nothing. Just curious," she replied, crouching down for a closer look. "I have a feeling I'll soon be fighting things like this, too."
"You've already been fighting things like this."
"No, I mean big things," she said. "I have fought stray dogs, not, I dunno, sperm whales."
"Yeah, Moby Dick is really one of a kind."
"Depressing part is that he isn't," Tara shrugged, standing up and facing him. "I unlocked two new abilities, both active. One allows me to sacrifice 50% of my current Health and restore twice as much to you, and the other allows me to spray out blood in a cone in front of me, dealing damage to everything in its path."
"Oh, a multi-target skill. Quite nice."
"The nicest, yes," Tara said. "Why aren't you recruiting more people?"
"H-huh?" Ethan stuttered, surprised at something the kids said for the first time since meeting them. "What do you mean?"
"Exactly that," Tara said. "Now is the prime time to recruit people. Everyone's lost, terrified, and in need of someone to show them the way. Hell, why am I telling you this? You're a psychiatrist, you should know this."
"... I do," Ethan said after a moment's pause. "And I'm still not flagging kids about and 'recruiting' them. Why?"
"Yes, why."
"No, no–I'm asking you. Think of it as a test," Ethan said. "Why do you think I'm not actively recruiting people?"
"... my guess is limited food, shelter, and supplies," Tara replied.
"In part, sure," he nodded. "But I'm a psychiatrist, not a nutritionist. Think of my reasons, rather than general reasons."
"Oookay, hmm," she said. "You're… waiting for the entire world to catch on to the concept of the Awakened to see who cracks and who doesn't?"
"..."
"Alright, stop looking at me like I'm a fucking moron and just tell me."
"... there are two types of armies," Ethan said. "Well, there are quite a few more, but in very, very broad strokes, there are two–all-purpose ones, and specialised ones. If I wanted to raise an all-purpose army then, yes, I'd be out there knocking on doors like I'm a Jehova's Witness, asking people whether they've heard the good word of Ethan."
"Pfft."
"But I don't want an all-purpose army. I don't want brainless grunts and soldiers that I can ship off to the frontline just so they can die. I don't want fresh recruits that'd sink their dicks into the fire for me because we're not in that kind of war."
"..."
"You were partially correct when you said that I'm waiting to see who cracks and who doesn't," he continued as a spatial swirl suddenly appeared next to them. Tara shuddered but held her focus on Ethan in a desperate bid not to remember what it was like to walk through that thing. "Except I'm simply waiting for the optimal biome for recruiting. Think about it: when people are faced with fear and the unknown and the potential death, as now so always, they gravitate toward larger groups. Groups with guns, scary men, and order. There is strength in numbers, even if it is just the false kind of strength, the mind convinces us: the more of us there are, the harder we are to mow down. So, if I went around asking any fit-seeming dude and dudette if they wanted to join my 'army', their first question would be: what fucking army, you schizo? For now, everyone believes that big men with big guns and big missiles are enough to protect them, to safeguard them, to help them weather whatever shitstorm this is.
"But, once the entire catalogue of reality begins to unravel, and they see their protectors failing and dying and changing, the psyche cracks. The perception of reality bends and breaks, and, suddenly, the human mind seeks the best alternative. Who can protect me now?"
"Then you swoop in."
"Hell no."
"H-huh?" it was Tara's turn to stutter as she looked at him confusedly.
"Didn't you listen? They're asking–'Who can protect me?'. They're not asking 'who can make me strong'."
"Ah."
"I'm not against pulling in people even now," Ethan shrugged. "But you two were legitimately just a shot in the dark. The fact that you worked out even semi-well is, quite possibly, one of the most mind-bending things that has ever happened to me. And, one time in college, I dated a girl who suggested we have a threesome with her and her brother."
"..."
"..."
"I'm sorry, fucking what?"
"Psych majors are fucking weird man," even Ethan cringed for a moment as he recalled a distant memory. "Anyway, all I'm saying is this: there's time and place for everything, and now's neither the time nor the place to 'recruit' people. Now, let's go back. I'm fucking starving."
The ease with which he proclaimed his hunger caused Tara to smile faintly. She was wrong, she recognised. Ethan was very much human–he was quirky and strange and too well adjusted to their newfound reality, and at certain times he did appear and probably was larger than life itself, but he was still a human. A person with strange quirks and notions and wants and memories and desires–all things that concoct an individual, all else notwithstanding. However, as that was a dangerous line of thought she knew she ought to never dwell on, she stopped it, gilding Ethan's figure in the sheen of the unknowable. He was a mystery, one that she was simply not meant to solve.