Primer for the Apocalypse

While waiting for the rift to reset, Robert and I shared a meal and discussed my latest weapon idea. After describing the weapon I wanted to create, I watched as the small twig in Robert’s hand grew and shifted into a meter-long scepter that almost perfectly mirrored my imagination.

“Like this?” he asked, holding up the finished product.

“Yes! Can you add a groove to slot something this size?” I held up one of the clay beads I’d crafted. It took a few minutes for him to shape the opening the way I wanted. After testing the design and making a few changes to aid in accuracy, I got to work carving the intricate designs into the almost living wood.

While a controlled application of Space magic would work better than doing everything by hand, it was very mana-intensive, especially when attempting to carve into something at a higher tier. Because Robert had used his magic to grow the scepter, it had naturally evolved to match his tier. Though Tier Two might not seem like a huge magical jump from Tier One, it was.

I’d turned the extra offal from our delve into elemental clay once again, keeping each type separate and uncontaminated so I’d have good materials to work with once I started making the enchanted beads.

It would be simple. Instead of creating an atlatl to get more distance with a lance, I’d use the newly created scepter to launch enchanted clay beads. It wouldn’t be difficult to build a storage item into the weapon. If I did it right, I’d only need to focus on the mana type and trigger the recall to slot the enchanted bead into place.

It would definitely be a pain to become proficient with, but I could always include a [Target] enchantment into the weapon. I’d probably add some extra ranged spell options since I didn’t plan to use the weapon in melee.

“Okay. Glad I could help,” Robert said, standing up. “Did you need help curing the hides before I settle in?”

“No. My spell should take care of everything. Thanks, though,” I replied. We normally sold the beast skins that I didn’t want to keep without further processing, but since we had the time and I’d been practicing with my Grandpa’s old tools, I wanted to take care of it. Besides, cured leather was worth more than raw hides.

Robert nodded and walked over to his bedroll. I doubted he would spend much time sleeping since he had his version of the Atlas DIVE headgear in his hand already. He probably had some way to link into his own World Junction using the manatech. I’d been able to do the same when I rented the equipment in Pylos after having mine stolen.

I wasn’t sure how it knew my ‘home’ Junction was Earth, but I’d been glad to have a way to contact the friends I’d left behind.

The second delve was much easier than the first since we knew what to expect. After completing the delve and selling our loot – including the now-cured leather from the previous delve – I set an Anchor on the small teleportation beacon, and we departed.

There was no hard limit on the number of Anchors I could have, but I struggled to maintain more than three at a time. I’d already left one at the St. Louis office, and Nashville made two. I’d likely drop one at Birmingham since it was the biggest city with a rift between my destination and Nashville, but that would leave me short one.

I could use Target, but I wasn’t sure I could get the general spell to work that way. Every attempt I’d made so far had failed. I’d probably have to figure something out with enchantments to create the last link I’d need to teleport-hop my way between Pensacola and St. Louis.

It was something to figure out another time.

I pulled out my DIVE headgear about a quarter of the way to Birmingham. “I need to log into the Junction to attend classes.”

“Is that what you were doing before the delve earlier?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yes. Even with the week off work, I still have to attend Academy classes, or I’ll get behind. I’m just glad they made it where weekends were a different schedule. It was hard trying to balance the five-day week with time dilation.”

“You know the Alliance uses a five-day week, right? The simulation is just preparing you all for the change.”

I did know that, but it hadn’t come up in conversation before. Instead of directly answering his question, I said, “That’s going to make things confusing. Having time measured differently doesn’t help either.”

Robert nodded as he shifted to get comfortable in the seat. “We had a class about how this planet’s rotation got messed up a few centuries after it was settled. There was a big push to reset it to standard, but the lead researcher blocked any changes, saying it might contaminate the study. It was a big enough deal that it made it into the history books,” he said. “It was a footnote, but still…”

I gaped at the comment. How had that never come up in conversation with Ros and the others?

Not having time to dwell on the question, I told Robert I’d be done in a couple of hours before putting on the sunglass-style headgear and logging into the Junction. I’d be a little late, but it was better than missing class.

The Birmingham rift was fine, if a bit annoying. The mobs used Light mana to create illusions and make themselves invisible, which would have been difficult to counter had I not been a Space Mage with Spatial Sense. Really, Mana Sense would have probably been sufficient to overcome the challenge. I was pretty sure that was what Robert used during the delve.

Like our first delve in Nashville, we worked as a team instead of having Robert serve as my protector. After pushing all my experience toward the upgrade after the boss fell, I realized I was only a couple hundred points shy of my goal.

Seeing how close I was, I was tempted to push directly to our next scheduled stop – New Orleans. It was a bit of a detour from the most direct path, but that was the next closest rift within my tier. Now that I was so close to my goal, I was anxious to reach it. Lisa might not be sentient, but I still saw the Interface Assistant as a friend. It didn’t feel right to delay our reunion.

Robert reined me in by reminding me that rushing would likely only cut the time between delves by a couple of hours. Removing the small delay was hardly worth it compared to the functional loss of a delve slot.

I forced myself to relax while I waited for the rift to reset. Seeing how difficult it was for me to sit still, Robert took me to a nearby spa and scheduled me for a massage. It was more thoughtful than I expected, and I appreciated the effort. By the time the hour-and-a-half massage ended, I felt much more centered and calm. I was still eager to complete the upgrade, but it was no longer causing me to fidget constantly.

As he had in the last new rift, Robert stepped back during the second delve and allowed me to run it as a solo delver. He had to step in when I took a claw to my face, but I remained calm enough to cast Restore and reverse the damage. I could tell he was impressed after seeing me handle the injury without freaking out.

While I’d been seriously injured in the game a few times, most of the response came from years of training to cast Restore anytime I felt significant pain. It had become ingrained, making it more of a reflex than a conscious thought.

Still, I appreciated him stepping in to keep the mobs off of me while I dealt with the injury. I’d let my Barrier lapse, which was a failure on my part. I knew better.

By the time we reached the boss, I’d already earned enough experience to pay for the upgrade. Defeating the boss pushed me past the point I needed to reach level one on top of that. I was ecstatic.

I didn’t bother waiting to process the loot we’d gathered. Instead, I hastily cast Cleanse and applied the experience toward both the upgrade and my first level. I assigned the three points I received to Intelligence and Wisdom since mana would be my biggest limiter in the foreseeable future. I would have considered buffing my Vitality had I not gained a point naturally a few months earlier.

We took the next day off to celebrate the milestone, though Robert insisted we process the loot before leaving. I begrudgingly agreed, and we worked together to harvest the valuable materials we’d collected during the two delves. Neither of the final rewards were notable – just some silver coins and a few copper pieces. It hardly registered as I hurried through our task.

When we finished, I spent much of the day answering questions about the upgrade now that it was active. I described the upgraded interface functions to Robert as I encountered them. He asked tons of questions, pushing me to reconsider some of my former ideas about what the upgrade could do.

With a little testing, I learned that Lisa’s help made learning and casting new spellforms almost trivial. At least, it was for any spell rated as Advanced or below. I suspected I’d need to increase my mental stats to go any further. The strain from my limited mental acuity was pretty intense, even with her help.

My spell list was getting so long that I had to minimize it to avoid cluttering everything. I did the same for my skills, leaving only the core of the status displayed unless I specifically sought out the information.

͠ ͠ ͠

Name: Emie Mercer

Level: 1 (14/200)

Profession: N/A

Affinities: Time, Space

͠ ͠ ͠

Health: 120 (2.4/min)

Stamina: 210 (8.4/min)

Mana: 170/170 (7/min)*

͠ ͠ ͠

Attributes

Strength – 9

Agility – 12

Vitality – 12

Intelligence – 17

Wisdom – 14

Perception – 12

Unallocated: 0

͠ ͠ ͠

Spells*

Skills*

͠ ͠ ͠

I was still hoping that the rest of my attributes would grow more without investment, but I didn’t think it was very likely. Rhona had hinted she might be able to help me on that front, but we hadn’t discussed the topic further. It was probably what she wanted to talk to me about when I arrived in Pensacola.

We still had a few days before we were expected to arrive, and Robert’s flight back to St. Louis wasn’t until Saturday morning. Since we still had one more stop planned on the trip, we took our time getting to New Orleans.

The New Orleans rift was swampy, which I didn’t care much for. Robert didn’t seem to mind the environment, which I thought was a little weird. It probably had something to do with his Nature affinity. The rift did lean pretty heavily toward Nature and Water.

After the first delve, which we tackled as partners, we took another day off to relax and explore the area. Instead of staying in the bunkroom at the local Atlas office like we’d been doing, we opted to rent an Airbnb instead. The city was fun, and we both enjoyed exploring.

The following day, we challenged the local rift again before embarking on the last leg of our trip. Or, my trip, as it were. Robert still needed to return to St. Louis the next day.

We stopped to check in with Rhona when we arrived. I hoped she’d let me move into my apartment a day early, but I knew I could easily crash with Justin if she said no.

I was surprised to see the Atlas National Headquarters had a similar setup to the smaller offices, with spartan bunkrooms to accommodate traveling adventurers. The rift/adventurer area was separated from the rest of the building, even housing a separate entrance hidden in the enclosed parking lot.

Without Robert, I’d likely never have even noticed.

“Emie! You’re earlier than I expected,” Rhona said as she entered the bunkroom almost directly behind us. I was surprised she knew I was there, though I probably shouldn’t have been. Even mundane technology made it simple enough to track who entered a building.

Turning her attention to my partner, she said, “And you must be Robert. We haven’t met in person before. We should have a little chat before you get settled.” She glanced back at me. “Your brother should be finishing up soon. I’ll come find you when I’m done talking to your companion.”

The dismissal was clear, and I didn’t hesitate to retreat. I felt slightly bad for abandoning Robert after he’d had my back for months, but the Mind Mage scared me. It had almost been enough to keep me from moving nearby. Only the assurances of my Mage Academy instructors that Mind Mages were limited to surface thoughts kept me from moving elsewhere.

Besides, Rhona had mentioned multiple Mind Mages being present during the transition. It wasn’t like I’d be able to avoid all of them. Better the devil you know, and all that.