Arcane Apocalypse [LitRPG]

Mia slowly chewed the tear-jerkingly spicy slice of pepper, scrunching her eyes close as she just went through the motions of chewing despite her entire tongue and mouth having gone numb after the first slice. It would be worth it, and more importantly, this was the very last slice of that evil pepper she had to force down.

Swallowing, she instantly snatched up a glass of milk and poured it into her mouth like her life depended on it. After all, she felt like it did. Slowly, the stinging pain of spice left her abused taste buds, leaving them numb and tender, which was alleviated only by the wash of energy coursing through her body.

"Don't touch your eyes," Mark said in his usual teasing tone, and Mia just nodded. "I'm half tempted to burn my skin off and regrow it to get rid of the lingering pepper on my fingers. Soap just doesn't do it for this magical bullshit devil fruit."

Mia carefully guided a lick of her mana down to her hand and expelled it, then grabbed hold of it and forced it to wash over her palms. She wouldn't go touching her eyes anytime soon, but that trick worked for getting dirt and blood off her hands, so it should get the pepper off too … right?

"How much did you get?" Mark asked.

"Didn't check," Mia said, a grin tugging at her lips. "Wanted to wait until I ate them all to check the increase at once."

"Those points in Will are showing," Mark whistled. "I could never. Still, you just ate … seven Natural Treasures? Or was it eight?"

"It was five," Mia said, sighing a little. "But two of them were those Starsearing Peppers, which are supposedly pretty powerful body-reinforcing Treasures."

Saying so, Mia let the System's notifications finally pop into her vision. She wanted to know just what she'd gotten from the Natural Treasures they'd made Zeigler cough up to prepare them for the Raid.

She'd eaten two peppers boosting Body attributes, a pair of spiritual apples that gave her the strangest butterflies-in-your-stomach feel ever, and she'd even managed to get her hands on a single pearly white berry that made her brain tingle from the increase of Mind attributes.

***

[Agility: 16 -> 20] (+4)

[Strength: 10 -> 14] (+4)

[Flexibility: 13 -> 17] (+4)

[Main Body: 13 -> 17] (+4)

[Control: 17 -> 18] (+1)

[Sensitivity: 14 -> 17] (+3)

[Manifestation: 20 -> 24] (+4)

[Main Spirit: 18 -> 20] (+2)

[Cognity: 18 -> 19] (+1)

[Memory: 13 -> 15] (+2)

[Main Mind: 17 -> 18] (+1)

***

Mia felt … conflicted. Her body, soul, and mind felt absolutely fantastic. She could feel all three brimming with newfound power and yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that it had been unearned. This infusion of Attributes had been the greatest she's ever had, and this was also the first she didn't earn as a Rift Reward or from a Quest.

This is just a front-up payment for risking my hide in the Raid. Mia told herself, but the usual rush of dopamine and gleeful self-satisfaction that usually accompanied an increase in her attributes was still lukewarm at best. If anything, she felt a sense of foreboding.

These Natural Treasures didn't grow on trees, at least not on Earth trees. They came from Quest. They had been Rewards given to members of the military and to civilians who'd been kind enough to donate them to the collective stash from where the commanders could assign them to people who could put them to better use. Those people put treasures that could make themselves stronger and more likely to survive the tides of monsters into the hands of those they trusted to save them.

Which somehow resulted in a large slice of them ending up in Mia's stomach. A knot of nerves twisted her guts, and she felt her irritation flare. She didn't know why, but the situation made her angry.

Was it the silly thought of being indebted to Zeigler? Or just the knowledge that if she'd been paid this well and upfront, she was going to have to really put in the work? Maybe the fact that she only now realised that people gave up on magical powers, so she had a better chance at saving them?

The weight on her shoulder felt like responsibility, like duty. Mia had a healthy loathing for both, and yet, she couldn't just shrug it off and ignore it.

Mia knew she could just go about it halfheartedly, do the bare minimum in the Raid and focus on survival, which was probably the smart move. But now she'd feel guilty if she didn't give her best. It was horrible, and she hated it. A part of her wanted to give the stats back, puke up the Natural Treasures and give them back. Another just wanted to punch something, preferably her past self or the Colonel.

To take her mind off of it, she opened up her Attributes page to look over her new and updated list.

***

[Attributes]

[Free Attribute Points: 0]

[Gained Attributes: 88 / 100]

[Body: 17]

Agility: 20 - (90%)

Strength: 14 - (40%)

Flexibility: 17 - (80%)

[Mind: 17]

Cognity: 19 - (90%)

Memory: 15 - (70%)

Will: 19 - (90%)

[Spirit: 19]

Control: 18 - (90%)

Sensitivity: 17 - (100%)

Manifestation: 24 - (100%)

***

Mia smiled, feeling pride build up in her chest as she ran her gaze over the percentages representing her Base Attributes. Sensitivity and Manifestation were now 100% effective, and Control, Will, Cognity and even Agility were just a single point away from joining them.

She'd read somewhere that getting those percentages beyond 100% would be more challenging than getting them up there was, but that was fine. Those would be bonus percentages, pushing the value of every single point she had in those attributes above and beyond. Those arbitrary numbers, calculated by the unknowable cosmic entity known as the System, represented aspects of herself, and they had grown. Which meant so did she.

That Will stat being at 19 and with 90% effectiveness — meaning she'd gotten her Base Will up from the initial measly 3 to a 9 — was especially pleasing to look at.

"We should get going," Mark said, hopping off his seat and huddling over to the open door of the APC. "We were the last ones to eat our veggies. Bet everyone's itching to begin already."

"Yeah," Mia said, following after Mark. The knot of anxiety remained in her belly, but she managed not to think about it. "Bummer that neither quick power-up idea worked out."

"It is what it is," Mark said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Reality is a bitch. Who knew your Class Skills get increasingly picky with what they are willing to eat the higher their rarity is? Dumbass arbitrary mechanic."

That wasn't quite right. Nikki had told them Secondary Skills of subpar quality could also be added to Class Skills if they had an open subskill slot … but that had to be done manually. In the Class Interface tab of an Obelisk.

Similarly, Nikki shot down Mia's shoddy ritual idea, saying it was more likely to launch her mangled remains into low Earth orbit than succeed. Rituals powerful enough to grant permanent benefits, like Skills, were more finicky than the apparently idiot-proof purification rituals they had done yesterday.

I'm glad we have her here. I'd have probably done something stupid without her. Mia thought, not particularly liking the idea of dying, not to monsters but magical backlash. Not that getting eaten by monsters sounded like much fun. I want to die of old age. A boring, normal death … after I lived out my five centuries of life.

She still couldn't quite fathom the length of time that was five centuries. Hell, she was barely an adult at twenty-something years old; she could hardly imagine what being sixty would feel like.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Do you think they managed to agree on a raid-leader yet?" Mark asked as they hurried towards the fortifications surrounding the Rift. People were rushing about, carrying bulging backpacks and crates that they placed down just outside the tiny fortress.

At least they took Nikki's warnings to heart. Those should be our supplies, food, water and whatever other tools we might need. Mia thought, catching some of the baggage-carriers murmuring and cursing about why they needed to haul a damned gas-barrel up a hill. All that stuff should be enough to keep us fed and somewhat comfortable for weeks.

"No," Mia said, her ears twitching as she listened in on a distant argument. "Aiden is still being a prick, but he'll give up soon. I think."

"Why would he?" Mark asked, snorting. "The cunt's more stubborn than a pig."

"Because Rex just promised him that he is going to plant his face into the dirt if he said another word," Mia said, her lips curving up in amusement. Rex was an asshole, but Aiden had been mighty annoying ever since he'd taken it upon himself to 'lead' the Union. A meaty thud and the sound of distant shouting made its way into her ears, and Mia sped up. "Surprise, Aiden didn't shut up. Come on, there might be a fight breaking out."

"Can't we let them get beaten up just a little bit before interfering?" Mark huffed, his stocky legs working hard to help him keep pace with Mia's slow jog. Even before eating the Natural Treasures, she could have left the dwarf in the dust, but now she had 4 extra points in every single Body Attribute. She felt like she could just take off and fly away if she pushed herself. "Plus … Brent will handle it. Slow … down … dwarves weren't made … sprinting."

"I am no liar," Rex said, just beyond the wall. Mia could barely make out his calm voice over the shouts and swears of who had to be Aiden's new friends. "I told him I'd make an imprint of his face in the dirt if he opened his idiotic mouth one more time. Not my fault he didn't believe me."

Mia picked up pace again and cast the Lesser Ward she had prepared over herself when she felt mana building up in some of the people. A deep, resounding thunder crack cut through the din of shouting, making Mia's sensitive ears ring.

She recognised the familiar feel of the mana in the lightning, though as that of her mother's and felt it going up towards the sky.

"I think everyone should calm the hell down," Brent's voice sounded out, barely making its way into Mia's ringing ears just as she reached the open gates of the fortifications. "I need a healer to check on Aiden, then we can go about choosing a raid-leader like actual, civilised people: with a vote."

"You know that won't work," a deep, gruff voice replied, one Mia wasn't familiar with. "My guys will vote for me, the firecracker's idiots for him and the rest among themselves. We need to either make a council to lead, or agree on a compromise candidate."

Pushing through the crowd and letting offending elbows just coincidentally smash into her side as she pushed by, bounce off her Ward, Mia finally broke out into the small opening where Brent stood with Helene at his side, facing down the towering Lion beastman.

Brent gestured for her to come over, which Mia gladly did and stepped behind the man. Mark came barreling through the crowd, shoving people out of the way and huffing from the brief sprint like an overworked horse. He stomped up behind Mia.

"A compromise candidate," Brent repeated once both of them were behind him, sounding dubious. "Would you take orders from someone who got their command based on politics?"

"If it was someone I knew could be trusted to make the calls and wouldn't exploit their power, then yes, yes I would," the Lion beastkin said, lips pulling back to reveal his large fangs in an animalistic snarl. "To save the City and ourselves. We too live in this city, this Raid failing would mean annihilation for us too."

"Right," Brent said, clearly trying to keep the doubt out of his tone. "And who would you recommend as a raid-leader that both you and he-" Brent pointed at the unconscious Aiden now being tended to by a healer. "-would accept?"

"Someone one of my trusted Lieutenants says he respects, and wagers has the backbone not to make use of his newfound authority," the Lion-man said, then gave the feline equivalent of a grin. "That would be you, Mr Steiner. Rex vouched for your integrity. I say you head our little expedition with me and that halfwit over there as your seconds."

The 'halfwit' in question was of course referring to Aiden, who seemed to be coming back to himself. The healer, a Water mage of some sort, going by the pair of gentle watery tendrils caressing the Fire mage, was quite adept by the looks of it.

Brent seemed to be stunned, going still as a statue in response while the chatter from the crowd grew louder. Mia listened in after a moment of shock, focusing on trying to find any murmurs of discontent, of which she found many. Brent was apparently seen as Zeigler's main supporter, but that wasn't enough to make anyone show discontent of the more extreme variety.

"Better than that furry freak … "

"At least he didn't raid our food supplies like those bastards … "

" … he saved us from that one wolf the other day … "

Besides those lukewarm whispers, there were also a load of more positive ones. Many voices sounded familiar, likely because they'd fought together in one way or another and even if their names didn't stick around in Mia's memory, their voices still retained that faint air of familiarity.

Helene nudged the stunned Brent.

"That's … unexpected," Brent said after a moment, then his disbelieving tone changed to one of absolute seriousness. "But welcome nonetheless. I'd be honoured to lead the delve … all that remains now is to convince the unionists and Jeff's people, I suppose."

In the end, that turned out to be much simpler than expected. They grumbled, as did Aiden once he was done gathering his wits and throwing expletives at Rex. The man had experienced Brent's leadership in the goblin rift, so Mia supposed that must have helped convince him, because he agreed to let Brent take command with surprising ease.

"If you can set aside your grudge against me, I have no complaints," Jeff said, his face stiff as a statue's, but Mia caught him grimacing ever so slightly as he received glares from the majority of the other fighters, especially from the beastkin for some reason. It was clear he wouldn't have been accepted as the leader of this expedition like Brent had, no matter what he did. "Let what happened between us rest, at least while inside the Rift. I'll prioritise our success above all else, I swear that, can you do the same, Brent?"

"I can, and I will," Brent said stiffly, then his gaze swam over and came to rest on the last person who'd somehow managed to remain as the sole entirely neutral fighter among the gathered. Initially, the man appeared to be part of Jeff's little group as before, but he broke away quickly enough and now sat up on the parapets with his legs swinging back and forth. "What of him?"

"I don't speak for him," Jeff said, ever so faintly shrugging his shoulders. "Was that all?"

"Yes," Brent said. "Thank you for your cooperation."

Jeff waved him off and went back to his squad of five. Before Brent could call out to him, the man sitting idly up on the fortifications hopped off, his long blonde hair swaying behind him like a cape as his pair of intense golden eyes shone with aloof disinterest.

"I heard you," Tristan said mildly. "Don't you worry, I'll go along with this budding little hierarchy. But you don't command me. You are making suggestions, which I'll accept without a word if they aren't stupid. Got that?"

Mia watched a deep frown form on Brent's face, but he, too, probably remembered the reports and the gossip making its way around the city about the High Elven archer. He'd single-handedly cleared out the Bird Rift, and his contribution was rumoured to be what turned the Sewers Rift from a pyrrhic victory into an absolute one.

"Alright, people!" Brent shouted and clapped his hands loudly to gather attention. "I want everyone to gather behind whose command they wish to be under out of the three of us. That's me, Aiden and-" He paused, looking over at the Lion beastman with a slightly apologetic look. "-sorry, I never got your name?"

"Konstantin," the man said with a feral grin.

"Well met," Brent said, nodding. "And Konstantin. Make it quick!"

Out of the fifty people, around fifteen were beastkin answering to the Lion- No. His name was Konstantin. Almost all the beastkin gathered behind him, while Aiden's unionist friends gathered around him numbered another ten.

It was clear that while Konstantin had the respect and loyalty of his men already and the unionists had long agreed to let Aiden lead them, the final twenty-four — all the rest, minus Tristan — only saw Brent not as a good choice, but the least bad. Well, that was better than nothing at least, and Mia doubted it was a coincidence that the people under Brent had the numerical superiority. Zeigler was the one to gather them, so it wouldn't be a surprise that the crafty Colonel planned for it to grant Brent the numbers to overwhelm any one of the other factions.

While Brent went about setting up some semblance of a command structure, Mia assembled her gear. That dimensional bag she was promised for her last Newcomer Quest would come in handy right about now, but she had to clear the Raid for that first. Which meant she was left hauling a bulging backpack filled with food, water, a sleeping bag, a tiny gas stove and her own equipment.

She still had her Wand and the knife she'd gotten from Mark, each held on a holster on her thigh and waist respectively, but she also kept the belt made to hold potions fastened around her waist. It only had a trio of System-made healing elixirs, which she'd keep for absolute emergencies — like someone getting their guts splayed out or their limbs cut off — but she also had a slew of lesser potions made by their local amateur alchemists. Most of them were healing potions, but she also had a pair of mana potions and one that would supposedly give her 5 Bonus Agility points for a few minutes before leaving her with the world's nastiest full-body cramp.

Not sure how that'll help. Monsters will just have to track me down, even if it helps me get away from them, and they'll find me writhing on the ground like a salted worm.

The final part of her new gear was a light leather chest plate made by some crafter and a new Amulet of Minor Protection that Nikki had crafted. Every member of their team now had one hanging around their necks, but unfortunately, it was weaker than the System's Amulet was. Nikki said even just managing to make something that'd work together with Mia's Lesser Wards instead of getting in its way was something of a masterpiece, given she was working with 'garbage Rank 0 materials'.

The worst part was that it actually weighed on her spirit more heavily than the previous Amulet. Where she could have maintained maybe five or six enchanted items of the previous Amulet's calibre, three or four of the current one would be pushing her to the limit. The System's Rewards had really set her expectations far too high.

Any little bit helps. Mia thought, then grabbed the backpack and pulled it up with a grunt. The plan was to dump it by the Rift once they were on the other side and clear out their immediate surroundings to set up a temporary base of operations on the other side. Which was nice, considering Mia's measly Strength was nowhere near enough to allow her any measure of mobility while weighted down by her pack.

"Want me to carry it for you?"

Mia jumped a little, so absorbed she was in fastening the straps across her torso that she failed to notice Camie and Lina 'sneaking up on her'.

"I can manage," Mia said with a huff, eyeing her girlfriend, who stood there with her own larger backpack like it weighed less than a feather. "Should I be worrying? Did you find anything?"

"I didn't," Camie said. "But that doesn't mean anything. I just eavesdropped on those out and about, not on some secret meeting with their suspiciously absent King. All I managed to figure out was that the huge Lion-kin is the second-in-command of their Pack."

Mia frowned but knew she couldn't do anything. Camie had gone to eavesdrop on some of the Beastkin to try and figure out whether the members of the Pack remaining behind in the city would try something now that the strongest fighters of the other factions were going into the Raid and possibly never coming out.

That Konstantin was their second-in-command also shouldn't have been a surprise at how even Rex went all 'yes, sir' and 'no, sir' when the larger man asked him any questions.

"Well, nothing we can do about that," Lina said, shrugging with a bit of forced nonchalance. "You two ready to kill some iron mutts?"

"Sure." Mia snorted. Camie just nodded, the perfect picture of stoic aloofness that she always defaulted to when around strangers.

"Let's get going then, the others are all ready … I think," Lina said, then grabbed a backpack of her own and lifted it over her shoulders with a grunt. "Can't let them start without us!"

Mia rolled her eyes, but followed after the blonde as she stomped off towards the Rift which had everyone now gathering around it. Her gaze swept over the tense people, all gripping weapons, spears and swords, staves and wand. Everyone held them like their lives depended on it.

Her eyes finally landed on the tiny pink cat lazing in her jacket's breast pocket, the Familiar having shrunk itself down to the sized of her palm to fit inside and have a nap. She roused it by tugging gently on her mental link to the strange creature, then watched as its eyelids sluggishly opened up to reveal a pair of gemlike blue eyes mirroring her own.

"You're up, little guy," Mia whispered. "Think you can handle scouting ahead and making sure we are not jumping into a monster ambush on the other side of the Rift?"

The cat looked confused but gave a hesitant nod. Mia wanted to sigh, but at least she'd know whether there was something dangerous on the other side by whether the cat survived the forward scouting mission long enough to come back.