Life in the North: An Apocalyptic LitRPG

It helps that we’re both specced to a higher level of Intelligence. That System addition allows us to anticipate, understand, and grasp the motions of our counterpart. It’s not really futuretelling, just anticipation. Very, very good anticipation.

We tear apart the swarm, the tiny biting insects, each of them barely Level ten. But when they’re the size of your hand and there are literally millions of them, flying in swarms and carnivorous, it can be a problem. The shadow monsters are nearly as bad a problem, since they hide within the shadows of the swarm, attacking when our backs are turned. Thankfully, the System generally designates swarms as a single mass creature and so provide experience for the designated threat Level of the swarm, not individual amounts. Or else this entire dungeon would be a waste of time.

Of course, you also then have to destroy the entire swarm to get the experience. But that’s what area control and area effect spells, along with chained attacks, are useful for. We lob all of those around, everything from gravity mines, which hold and crush monsters to one another, to chain lightning that jumps from monster to monster for miles. And of course, I’ve got the Beacon of the Angels and Ayuri has Ire of the Champion.

When we’re done and the drones are released to chew up the last of the stragglers, Ayuri speaks. “The Queen is getting impatient.”

“I’m trying to gain Levels here. I would think that you’d understand how long that takes.”

“Isn’t raising your Level at an outstanding rate part of your package?” Ayuri says.

I find myself grinning, because she’s right. I do need significantly lower amounts of experience than most Master Classes. Skipping the entire Basic Class gives me that benefit.

“It’s not just about the Levels,” I admit eventually. I look around, reaching out with my senses, checking.

Ayuri senses my caution and raises an eyebrow. “Do you want to talk? In private?”

“Ah, Champion, you’re cute, but I’m seeing someone…”

“Not that, you idiot.”

“Well, if you insist…” I waggle my eyebrows at the Champion.

She snorts and gestures, triggering her Skill and enveloping us.

When we pop out, minutes later, she’s glowering at me.

“Look, it’s a thing. Performance issues. But don’t worry, I don’t hold it against you,” I say blithely.

She unleashes a punch, energy wrapped in compressed air.

I skip aside with ease. “Sorry.”

Ayuri turns her head from side to side as if she’s looking for the unseen watchers, even though we both know that if people are watching, we’d never spot them. Not if they were really serious. Buying direct from the System is nothing we can block.

“Will you do it?” I’ve already asked and confirmed once. While we were within the cannibal sphere. There are a lot of things I asked, least among them being information and control over the numerous security feeds to the throne room. But it’s a lot to ask of the Champion.

“I will. But…” Ayuri falls silent, realizing no more can be said. Not out here. “You better be certain.”

“One hundred and ten percent,” I reassure her.

Ayuri nods. A second later, Mayaya has a Portal open, which Ayuri walks toward. I’m assuming they’re using a party chat system similar to ours. Just more advanced.

Before she leaves, she turns back and asks, “You think I’m cute?”

Chapter 25

“Thirty-four.”

“Thirty-eight.”

“Thirty-four. Intercepted attacks don’t count,” Bolo says.

“Ninety-seven,” Harry insists. “They do count, but we’re also including the ones intercepted by regular security personnel.”

“Doesn’t count. It never reached John.” Mikito crosses arms, shaking her head. “Only those attacks that are a serious threat, and that reached the internal security perimeter, should count.”

“Thirty-four. Only the ones he thwarted himself count,” Bolo snaps. “That’s what we said.”

“No, we didn’t,” Harry and Mikito chorus together.

“John!” Harry and Mikito call, at the same time as Bolo says, “Redeemer!”

I groan, glaring at the team. As I turn, I note the pale gray walls, the floating vid projections of past, glorious battles that display on each wall, just below the hanging banners and crests of defeated armies and kingdoms. The waiting room has a few chairs, though most just pop into existence when needed. They’re not the most comfortable of chairs though, since those same projectors are used as secondary shield defenses.

“I’m not getting involved,” I state. “Also, betting on how many times someone was going to try to kill me was in rather bad taste.”

“Bah!” Bolo says. “If we bet that you’d die, that would be bad taste. This, this was just a way to pass the time.”

“The constant attacks weren’t enough for you? Especially that Master Class team?” I find myself rubbing my hip gingerly. Master Class worms are just unfair. It was like Frank Herbert had grabbed his idea of giant worms from the Mana-diffused air of pre-System Earth. Except he missed the fact that they had Classes and Levels. And had a tendency to take on unwinnable bounties. That’s just wrong.

“That was amusing. It was a good team,” Bolo says musingly. “If you hadn’t climbed down your attacker’s stomach, we probably wouldn’t have gotten to you in time.”

I can’t help but shudder, remembering. The pulsing flesh, the slosh of acid that ate at my shields. The remains of its previous meals and the hard rock. Nightmare inducing.

Ali looks interested, mostly because he was banished at the onset of the attack. Leaving me to deal with three Master Classes. Not a fun place to be, not at all.

“We still haven’t found them?” I say to Harry.

We managed to kill the worm. Seems like having me inside, blocking any teleportation, had seriously messed with its Statsis Block Penetration Skills. The three worms hadn’t even realized it was a problem till Bolo, Mikito, and Ayuri made it to me and the battle started to turn.

Unfortunately, the other two worms escaped. And considering I only got a portion of the worm’s experience, and from what we’ve learned of his Class and race, his “death” was somewhat truncated. It hurt my head—literally—to think about it.

“No. Ayuri assures me they’re out of the Empire though,” Harry says. “I verified they turned in the bounty as a failure, so I’d agree with her assessment. They’ve even got a counter bounty placed on them by the Empire. Though… it’s not a lot.”

I shake my head again, deciding not to touch that last comment with a ten-foot pole. More politics. We’ve been stuck in the waiting room for the last hour, waiting for the Queen to find time to see us. You’d think, after nearly four months of grinding, attacks, and repeated questioning, she’d be excited to see me. Especially since I finally reported I was ready.

John Lee,

Monster’s Bane, Redeemer of the Dead, Duelist, Explorer, Apprentice Questor, Galactic Silver Bounty Hunter,…

(Paladin of Erethra level 41)

HP: 4870/4870

MP: 4380/4380

Of course, that’s a lie. My actual Level at this time is 45, but they don’t need to know that. And altering that single line in my Status via the ring is easier and safer than playing with everything else. I wanted to gain more Levels, but time and tide waits for no Paladin.

Still, the new Levels are great. It made surviving those attacks a lot easier. But, just as much, I’m kind of proud of my new Skills. I spent nearly everything I had, since I now publicly have access to the final tier of the Paladin Skill tree.

Figuring out what I wanted to add was interesting. On the last tier, I’d had four options. Judgment of All, Immovable Object/Unstoppable Force, Shackles of Eternity, and Domain. I couldn’t get Domain without purchasing Shackles, but since I had to get Shackles for the Erethrans, it’d been a possible option to focus upon.

Truth be told, I would never have picked up the Shackles of Eternity if I wasn’t forced to. Just by its name, I didn’t really like it. Then again, I’ve never been into the entire slave thing. Kill someone when you need to. But leaving them enslaved? It’s… wrong.

Shackles of Eternity (Level 1)

A Paladin’s job is not just to see, but it is to judge and enforce the judgment. The Shackles of Eternity provide a Paladin another method of enforcing his judgments. Once used, the Shackles bind an individual, forcing them to abide by the Paladin’s decree. Activation of the Shackles will leave a brand, a visible Mark, and will deal punishment immediately and on an ongoing basis when the decree is violated. All law enforcement personnel, of whatever Class or society, will be able to see broken Shackles on an individual.

Effect: Shackles of Eternity are gaeas that an individual must follow. The restriction will warn an individual when they’re close to breaching, and upon breach, will layer a number of effects upon them.

Effect 1: A permanent, and highly visible, nark will appear to all law enforcement individuals, whether by Title, Class, or System designation. They will be able to access data at no cost on the broken Shackles, including breakage reason and the original Shackles’ use. This can lead to a loss of Reputation and other effects.

Effect 2: Shackle breakers will receive a (Skill level multiplied by half Mana costs) amount of damage upon breach of decree. This is Mana damage and may only be mitigated by Mana resistance.

Effect 3: Broken Shackles deal ongoing (Skill level multiplied by 1/10^th^ Mana cost) damage per minute to the Shackle breaker. This damage is Mana damage and may only be mitigated by Mana resistance.

Cost: Variable depending on Shackle requirements (channeled)

The Shackles of Eternity is a very strange skill. I wish I could’ve played with it more, but other than using it on a few semi-sapient monsters, I’ve left the testing alone. For one thing, there’s no way to dismiss a Shackle. Using it on an intelligent creature for that reason is a no-go. Not without a very, very good reason.

In addition, unlike most Skills, this one requires a significant amount of startup time. Depending on what I’m trying to do, I have to hit a certain minimum threshold of channeled Mana before the Skill will trigger. Only after I add that minimum amount can I release the Skill. Before that, it locks me in place, leaving me intensely vulnerable. Furthermore, even the lowest level use of the Shackles requires a thousand points of Mana. Higher, more elaborate conditions, require even more.

All that means that it isn’t the kind of Skill you use in battle. Digging into the Paladins’ archives made me realize it isn’t even a Skill that was taken by most Paladins. Especially in the later periods, when dealing with the enemies in the more immediate, violent manner was favored. When required, they’d just dragged people before a Paladin that had specced the Skill and left them to it.

I do understand why the Queen wants me to have it though. Or, more correctly, I have a pretty damn good idea. Especially after reading their histories.

All that said, it’d left me with three other Skills to choose from. Judgment of All was the simplest. Like Army of One, it was a pure combat Skill. It was, in a way, similar to the Champion’s skill, using the combined strength of many to power the attack. It could be extremely strong but had one major weakness. It required you to be part of a strong, unified community.

The reliance on that Skill was also part of the downfall of the Paladins in the last fight. After all, they lost the faith of many, so the Skill they’d come to rely upon had decreased in effectiveness. Even so, a single planet’s worth of trust can be quite damaging. As my mentor had showcased.

On the other hand, Immovable Object/Unstoppable Force was a weird dual-use Skill. Upon activation, the Paladin had to select between the two. The choice would provide a boost to himself and to anyone within his aura range.

Immovable Object increased Constitution, health, and passive damage resistance by a significant number. It also negated all knockback effects on the Paladin. Basically, it made him the ultimate tank. Unstoppable Force, on the other hand, increased movement speed, Agility, calculated momentum, and damage done by the same percentage. Unfortunately, it had a major negative in that the moment the Paladin stopped moving, the Unstoppable Force buff would automatically turn off. On the other hand, it also gave a smaller buff to everyone within aura range.

As for Domain? That one was kind of messy. Domain allowed the Paladin to alter reality within the range of his aura. Enemies entering his Domain would receive a debuff to all attribute and Mana cost and a damage-over-time effect. Allies received a heal-over-time effect and a buff to all attributes and Mana cost. At the same time, the Paladin received a minor boost to health, Mana regeneration, resistances, and speed, while reducing damage done to them that passed through the domain. It was an all-encompassing Skill, but each of its individual effects were lower than any of the individual Skills it drew upon.

For that reason, and others, I’d had the hardest time allocating my remaining Skill points. It wasn’t as if I could get another evolved Skill, so for my choice, I had to decide which of the three would suit my fighting style best.

My musings over whether I’d chosen right was interrupted by the entrance of the major domo. He looked at my group with a sneer before he waved us in. I idly considered using Shackles on him to stop him from sneering ever again, then kicked myself.

Really. Ultimate power can so easily make one evil…

***

The throne room is similar to before, but this time around, it’s filled with courtiers. One group is streaming out, their leaders having a hangdog expression. But the subtle smirk on another’s face, as he trudges beside and behind the group, indicates not all of them are as unhappy as you’d think. There’s probably something in all that byplay, considering the entire group is supposed to be together. I can see how having a Paladin with Society’s Web stationed here could pick up a number of interesting missions.

For that matter, I wonder what kind of Skills the Queen has, her and her personnel. Society’s Web might be somewhat different in how it displays information, but it isn’t a unique Skill at its base. I vaguely recall that Catrin has a Skill that allows her to process social information in an entirely different manner. Not as useful for meeting random strangers, but more robust and detailed in the information provided in a known social setting.

My team troops in, taking our place in front of the Queen as she finishes speaking with one of her retinue. Subtle cues send out various courtiers and others stream in, joining the group behind me. The man the Queen is talking to steps back, offering her a nod, and I’m only slightly surprised to see that it’s Saimon. He is, after all, the Exchequer of her Purse. Or something like that.

More surprisingly, what I don’t see is the Champion or any of her team. There are, of course, a few Honor Guards around, standing at the sides of the throne room and keeping watch. Even more are hovering midair, near the walls. Today, the room itself is muted, the moving images and projected banners reduced so that everything, all our attention, is focused on the woman seated on her throne. And even without the help of her Aura, she definitely has everyone’s attention.

“Tell me, Paladin, how are my initiates?” the Queen asks once we are done with the formal greetings.

I idly watch as Harry scurries to the side, moving to join the group of reporters near the base of her throne. He’s gotten special permission—after some insistence on my end—to record what’s happening today.

“Well enough. No one has died, but they’re a bit slow,” I say.

Four months in, and they’re all only two monsters in at most. There have been some close calls, especially when Magine decided to charge in and be an idiot to showcase how tough he is. On the other hand, his example drew the team even closer together as they seriously got into sharing information. The fact that he lost half of his team members in that attack just to save his ass had been sobering.

“And when do you expect that I will receive my new Paladins?”

“That, I believe, is up to them. But at this rate, probably another six months.” I meet her disapproving gaze, knowing she wanted them out faster. Especially since my life has been put in danger recently and even the initiates have had a few close calls.

The assassins going after the initiates were less worrisome, mostly because they were lower Level. Those few who did try were often in for a rude awakening as Rob’s many, many safeguards against random assassinations had been extended to the initiates. After Earth’s own experience, there’d been a significant investment—completely out of proportion to our GDP—in anti-assassin measures.

Harry and Saimon have struggled to find additional information on our attackers. Even with the System, there’s a certain level of expense required to cut through things. You can’t just ask the System “give me the attacker’s employers.” You have to know the right questions to ask, which could mean multiple questions, each costing Credits.

Worse, my Society’s Web can only connect direct relationships when I’m watching the person. When you’ve got suspects who are highly connected, just because of their roles or their places in society, finding the correct thread to pull upon is difficult. Even if we managed to capture the attackers, the threads often led to dead drops, cut-outs who had no clue why they were doing what they were doing, and other System subterfuge.

Could I find the people behind all of our attacks? Probably. Given enough time, given enough motivation, I could track each thread, each individual. Override the Credit requirements, pay it all out from our budget. Problem is, we don’t have time. And so while the investigators are hard at work, I’ve kept Leveling.

“Very well.” The Queen stares at me, then frowns. “Only a single Skill Level? Is that sufficient?”

I grimace, wondering how she knew. And what else she can see. But then, I flash her a smile. “That depends on what you think I need it for.”

“I might have given the impression of being a kind and forgiving ruler, but I would not test my patience, Paladin.” The Queen leans forward, fixing me with a glare. Portions of her aura leak out, making Harry and the reporters stagger, and even Mikito winces.

“Stop talking back at the angry woman,” Harry sends over the party chat.

I straighten a little, push against her aura, and feel it ripple backward. “It’s not enough. Not for what we need. If you want me to shackle the other competitors, I’m going to need more. I need access to the Crown’s Purse to increase this Skill. It seems my budget is still blocked.” I look to the side, fixing on Saimon, who just shrugs.

The Queen doesn’t even blink when I think the middle sentence rather than say it. Instead, she gestures, and Saimon steps forward. He focuses on me, and a second later, an access window blooms. Surprisingly, it’s a direct access to the Shop. I take a deep breath, place my hands by my sides and clench them, and purchase the Shackles of Eternity Skill twice more. That should be enough. Especially considering how much I expect the basic use will cost in terms of Mana. When I’m done, as information stops flowing into my brain, as the Skill finishes its download, a light sweat has broken out. I look at the Queen and give her a single nod.

“Then let us finish this. Bring them,” she says.

The words create a ripple through the courtiers as they stir with excitement. Gratitude that they’ve been allowed to see something so momentous. As I get ready to do what I was brought all the way here for, I can’t help but smile grimly.

Time to make a choice.

***

I’m not surprised that they managed to find Brerdain and Julierudi. They both have quite public jobs. The same can be said for the half dozen other, minor contenders who are led out. At one point or another, I’ve met with them all, spoken with them, pressed the flesh and been left with an impression. None of those impressions have been particularly vivid though. There’s a reason they’re considered minor contenders.

I’m surprised to see Spuryan here, as well as some other, less reputable individuals. Some are known for their opposition to the government or to specific policies of the government. Others are crime lords, semi-independent Guild leaders or corporate Managers, individuals who exist on the gray edges of Erethran society and law.

Guess the Queen has decided that everyone and anyone needs the Shackles. Which, come to think about it, makes sense.

“Huh. She’s got all seven of the Polygon here,” Bolo comments on the party chat.

I blink, surprised. Not about the Polygon, which is the Erethran equivalent of the most powerful crime lords, but that Bolo knows what they look like. I eye the Dragon Lord again and he flashes me a smile. His time in the kingdom has, obviously, been a little more interesting than mine. I guess, for a Dragon Lord who hung around Spaks for decades, I shouldn’t expect him to be an upstanding citizen. I do wonder what he’s been up to when he isn’t saving my ass though.

At the tail end of the group comes Ayuri and her team, backed up by another dozen or so Honor Guards. I quickly note that no other military personnel are here. At least, no army personnel, no space navy. Just Honor Guards. Those directly sworn to the Empress.

“Defcon 1, children,” I send over the party chat.

There’s no external reaction among my friends, but I know they’ve gone further on alert.

“Thank you, all of you, for coming.” The low-level murmuring by those brought in silences as the Queen’s words echo through the room. It’s like a teacher smacking a ruler on a table among a group of unruly children. “We’re here today to see an end to certain… irregularities… in activities. And to set aside, once and for all, the question of who shall rule after me.”

There are a few gasps, but mostly, the group takes her pronouncement with equanimity. Brerdain is looking confident, and there’s not a shift or twitch in his threads. If anything, the number of threads flowing to him increases, deepens in connections as loyalties shift or harden.

Julierudi sniffs, covering her face for a second, then blows her nose with a handkerchief she makes appear. She sets her hand down a moment later, but I see the change, the way some threads fray away and others deepen in color. My stomach clenches as information continues to flow.

Spuryan looks vaguely hopeful, which is a bit confusing. His threads don’t change at all. He doesn’t even seem particularly surprised. Though I’m surprised to see some of the connections he has in the room. Especially among the Polygon.

“Paladin. Are you ready to take on this task?” the Queen’s voice rings out, interrupting my musings.

I step forward and open my mouth to speak, only to find it dry. I clear my throat a little, then speak up. “Yes. I’ll make the choice of the one most suitable to rule the Empire.”

The moment I finish speaking, I receive a surprise notification.

Empire Quest: Erethran Empire (M)

Designate an individual to become the Presumptive Emperor of Erethra

Reward: +4,353,593 XP

“If they’d told me I’d get that Quest, I wouldn’t have bitched as much,” I send to Ali.

“You know, they can still hear you.”

“Oh, I know.”

The Queen waves, encompassing the throne room and all those within, the moment I take the Quest. “Very well, Paladin. I believe the field is yours.”

I turn on the balls of my feet, staring at the group, and find myself meeting the gazes of a group of apprehensive faces. A part of me hates what I’m going to do. This Skill is wrong. Evil in a way. But I weigh my choices. Leave them to fight it out? Allow an entire Empire to fall because I’m scared to get my hands a little dirty?

Perhaps someone else might choose otherwise, someone with stronger morals. But I lived through an apocalypse. And doing what needs to be done is something I learnt a long time ago.

I grin at the group, hiding my doubts with joyful sadism and a trace of rage. “Don’t worry, boys and girls, no one has to die today.”

***

The Honor Guards help me line them up by order of status. Amusingly, this means they start out with people who have the lowest levels, but not potentially the least amount of political or financial strength. Sometimes, Levels matter. Especially when the insane little human monkey is about to test his new Skill on you.

My first victim is sweating bullets, licking his lips continuously as he’s brought to me. A quick check of his Status gives me his name.

Adirter Fullaway, Scion of the West, Profligate Creditor, Slayer of Goblins (Level 32 Industrialist Heir) (A)

HP: 470/470

MP: 1730/1730

Conditions: System Tip, Industrial Efficiency, Mana Drip

I grin and slap my hand down on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt a bit.”

“Really?” There’s a flash of relief on his face, and I feel his shoulders relax.

“Definitely. It’s going to hurt a lot.”

When he’s busy trying to back off, to escape from my grip, I tighten it and trigger my Skill.

Shackles of Eternity is weird to use, mentally. First is the usual plethora of Mana formulae that form and flash away, bundles of data that the System uses in a preprogramed fashion that allow me to cast at a fraction of the time I’d need normally.

Then comes the movable parts of the Skill. I have to adjust the portions, the parts of the Shackles I lay on him. I could do this in silence, leaving the poor bastard to wonder, to figure out the Shackles himself, but that doesn’t serve our purpose today.

Also, that increases my Mana cost significantly.

“Adirter Fullaway, I, as a Paladin of Erethra, now Shackle you. From this day to eternity and a day, so long as the System holds, so long as the Mana flows. You will bear faithful allegiance, provide unconditional loyalty, and sincerely serve, in all manners and form, the Empress and the Empress Apparent of Erethra.”

A ritual circle blooms around my feet and my victim’s as I speak. Mana is drawn from the environment, converging on the circle, helping to power it. The Mana flow grows so dense within the circle that wisps of power can be seen by the unaided eye. More Mana—from the System, from my body—floods out, joining and taking hold of the ambient Mana, even as the Skill formula flows around the ritual circle. More and more glyphs of the unknowable, unspeakable System controls appear.

At first, my victim looks puzzled. There is no pain, no effect. He stops struggling, which is a mistake. Not that it’d help. A moment later, chains erupt from the circle. They pierce his body, digging into his flesh. The black chains are covered with spikes at irregular intervals, and they slide through his twitching body, tearing through flesh and muscle, wrapping around his bones. His health drops, but not by much, for these chains are more immaterial than they are physical.

No, the damage it’s doing, that will come later, if he breaks the Shackles. If he defies the warning. That’s when he’ll suffer. For now though, it’s only the pain of the attack he feels.

More and more Mana flows as I pour it in, waiting for when the System deems it sufficient. My eyes widen, realizing that I’m fast reaching the bottom of my Mana pool, and I grit my teeth. We hit the three thousand Mana region and keep climbing, no end in sight. When I finally hit four thousand spent Mana, only then does it finally peter off.

When we’re done, the ritual circle disappears and I release my grip. Adriter staggers away, his clothes bloody and torn, his flesh unmarked. His eyes are wide—he’s fearful of me—and his aides come rushing over, dragging him away before he can say or do something foolish.

I’m ignoring him as I wait for my Mana to regenerate. That took a lot more Mana than I expected. And he’s a low Advanced Level. I expect I’ll pay even more for those with higher Levels. Thankfully, due to the speed of my Mana Regeneration and how slow the actual ritual is—comparatively speaking—I can handle it for the moment. Later on… well. We’ll work it out then.

“I told you he was never a real contender,” Brerdain says to Julierudi. Almost crowing about it.

“Nor are you,” Julierudi says, tilting her head downward to meet the portly man’s eyes.

“Har. We’ll find out very soon.” He turns to me, raises an eyebrow. “Unless you want to inform us now.”

I ignore the byplay, instead conferring with the Honor Guards. A short time later, more guards appear, forming a circle around me.

“Did you not have enough guards already?” Julierudi says. “Are you that afraid of us?”

I snort. “Neither. These are channelers. They’re going to feed me Mana during the ritual. Unfortunately, I’m just not cut out for this.”

My answer settles them because they both can tell how far my Mana dropped. Seeing that requires a cheap Skill and I’m not trying to use my ring to hide the drop.

We stand in silence while my Mana recovers, the crowd slowly relaxing as time ticks on. The Queen, high above, gets back to running the Empire. Talking with her retinue. Holding vid conferences for those she needs to speak with. None of us can hear a damn thing.

Time crawls as, one by one, I drag the courtiers before me and place the Shackles on them all. Some try to leave, try to bargain their way out. They fail. No one tries to fight—not with the Champion, the Queen, and myself right here.

One after another, the Shackles are laid on all the courtiers present. Most don’t look happy about it, about the “honor” of being allowed to watch anymore. I don’t care. I keep at it. A day passes, as we take breaks for my Mana to recuperate, for the pain in my head from using the same Skill and bottoming out my Mana again and again to fade.

I push through as the courtiers slowly get on with their lives. Answering limited calls. Making others. Running their businesses, their noble houses. Their armies and fleets and cults. And news of what is happening leaks out.

In time, the reporters are allowed to broadcast, the information going wide. There are social disturbances, a few hot-headed fools deciding it’s time to raise the banner of revolution or to try to force. But for the most part, it’s pretty quiet. After all, the point of dragging everyone here was to keep it contained.

Eventually, there’s no one else. No one but Spuryan, Julierudi, and Brerdain. The top three contenders. They look at one another, weighing the options. Trying to determine who I’ll take next.

“Spuryan,” I call.

The Prophet’s eyes widen then narrow. One of the guards moves to push him forward, but he starts walking before the hand can more than twitch.

I place a hand on his shoulder, calling up the Skill. There’s no argument, no discussion. I cast the Skill, and it slams through him. Once more, the guards channel Mana into me, flooding me with Mana over and over again. It’s a sweet agony, pushing my control to the brink.

When we’re done, Spuryan staggers back to his position, looking wan, but I still sense he’s somewhat satisfied. I note how Julierudi has her fingers pressed together in a birdlike shape, while Brerdain has his arm up by his ear. Both of them are staring at me as I breathe deeply and center myself. As I slowly enter a meditative trance to discard the pain.

When my eyes open, a second ring of Honor Guards have appeared. Chanelers, all of them. I watch as the pair of final contenders look between them and me. Waiting for my pronouncement. To see who has won.

“Ayuri.” A single word, a single request.

She appears behind the pair of new guards. Before they can move, she triggers her Skill, wrapping all of us in the Sphere of Gramus. Within her Skill, blocked off from reality, only the channelers, the contenders, Mikito, Bolo, Ayuri, and I will know what is said.

And done.

Chapter 26

When we emerge, neither of the two contenders are happy. At least Julierudi is on her feet, while Brerdain is slumped over, held up by a pair of the Honor Guards. Our reappearance raises a bit of a ruckus, as some of the smaller contenders—individuals in power who’d backed Brerdain—try to make a fuss. Some quick use of the backs of hands and the butts of rifles quiets the group down.

“He’s alive,” I tell them all. “He just had a bad reaction to the Shackles.”

I don’t think most of them believe me, but I don’t really care. Some of the other audience members are shooting Julierudi inquisitive looks, as if they think she’d warn them. But she’s not meeting anyone’s eyes, her gaze fixed on the floor.

“Dornalor, bring her in.” I send a message to the pirate captain over the party chat.

We debated for hours beforehand on whether to have the team with him or if he should go alone. In the end, I just have to rely on him, on what he can do. Well, him and some friends.

Dornalor and the initiates come marching through the doors, pushing aside the individuals ahead of them. Making sure the way is clear. In the front is Kino, followed by Freif just behind. Freif’s main gun and the numerous floating duplicates float alongside him, on full display.

That creates a reaction among the Honor Guard, even if they were warned. They grow more alert, a few filtering down to stand just underneath the throne. I feel multiple Honor Guards slap Two are One on the Empress. She only looks up briefly before she turns back to conferring with her advisors.

Behind the pair comes Dornalor, walking beside a cloaked figure. And, right behind, are Anayton and Magine, bringing up the back of the troop. The initiates are wary, entirely on guard. Their presence is a surprise to many, and even Queen Karlelo is frowning when she realizes something and looks back down.

The Queen’s voice rises, crossing the room, followed by a wave of power. It shakes feet, makes knees weak, and men sway as she expresses her displeasure. “Paladin, what are you doing?”

“My job.”

I stride over to the group, ignoring Ayuri, who’s moving toward me, conjuring her weapon as she does. Everything will happen quickly now. Julierudi and Brerdain are still frozen from what we did inside the sphere, but their supporters are realizing that their person isn’t in line to win. Some of them, the most impetuous, move to head off the woman in the cloak. Guns, swords, even spells appear as they grasp at the last few moments of opportunity.

Because not all of them were shackled. I wasn’t about to waste Mana and time on a non-contender, on a bodyguard. More so, even the ones who are shackled are bound to protect the Empress Apparent. But I haven’t declared her yet, and until I do, she’s vulnerable.

Skills trigger, washing over the cloaked figure and burning them even as Honor Guards act. They clamp down on the Mana in the throne room, pushing against the attacks, reducing their effectiveness. Healing spells fly, as well as some people reaching out with Two are One. Other Honor Guards are more direct, weapons targeting, cutting and firing at the attackers.

The Queen is the slowest to make a move, though hers is the last major action. Her aura flares and hammers the attackers. Whether or not she agrees, attacks in her throne room are an insult to her.

Some—the smarter ones—realize their mistake. Too late. Those who were Shackled are torn apart, the chains erupting from their bodies, criss-crossing and squeezing. Blood and viscera spray as they’re ripped apart. Those who weren’t shackled find themselves crushed by her aura, taking damage from the sheer pressure she exerts. Attacks fail to form, defenses crumble. And then the Honor Guard finishes the job.

Meanwhile, Dornalor has moved aside from the attacked figure, leaving it to burn. Some of those Skills used against it were damage-over-time ones. Others were one-off uses. None of it was particularly useful as the melted figure sags and burns before finally disappearing. The Doppleganger Skill turns off, Dornalor releasing the cast. Even from where I am, I can see the wide smirk on the Pirate’s face.

“Baka!” Mikito mutters, staring at the mess made by the courtiers.

So many of them, acting without thinking, torn apart. Cleaning robots appear to deal with the corpses.

I shake my head, having reached Dornalor, and clap him on the shoulder. He steps back, muttering something about payment, before I stride past the smoking portion of floor where the doppelganger used to be. I stop next to Anayton.

“Are you ready?”

Hasbata doesn’t object, not any longer. Ayuri’s a short distance away, weapon in hand, but eying the surroundings, not me. They’re not stopping me because they maybe, just maybe, trust me. To do what is right. To do what a Paladin always has to do.

Put the Empire first.

***

The entire problem with this has always been, and would always be, finding an Emperor or Empress who could survive the job and who could improve the Empire. What’s a new challenge is the state of the Empire.

The Erethran Empire has endured over a century of neglect by the lack of Paladins, by the nobles, and by the Generals wearing away the direct power of the Empress. Corruption is rife. Attacks on each other continue. They’re more concerned about expanding their personal fiefdoms than the Empire. And the Empress has to push, pull, balance out their needs and keep everything held together.

The Generals keep expanding, forcing her, the ruler, to focus her attention on the military. Leaving the domestic to run riot.

And that isn’t enough. Not anymore. No matter what I thought, no matter what was said, the Reluctant Survivors aren’t crazy pacifists. Their recommendations—while somewhat over-the-top or unrealistic in places—have a grounding in reality. The Empire has grown too large. Too unwieldy.

Like Rome, it will eventually fall, as the barbarians at the gates press against the ever-widening borders. Or something like that. I never claimed to be a historian. I just played Total War: Rome.

So we need someone the military trusts, who can see the problems among the domestic world, and who isn’t entrenched in the corruption.

That, by definition, ruled out all three contenders almost immediately. Not that I intended to tell them that, but it was true. My concern was that anyone I chose outside of the contenders wouldn’t be able to do the job of an Empress. They wouldn’t have the personal strength to fight multiple attacks. Nor would they have the Skills required to bolster the already thinly stretched Armed Forces. More concerning was that any major disruption could set the enemies of the Empire rushing in to finish the job.

The first glimmer of a potential solution appeared when initiates were introduced to me.

But now, here we are in the throne room. And before anything can be done, I need to resolve one last issue.

I walk past Anayton, catching a whiff of a familiar nutmeg scent. I note the tension, the slight nervous sweat on all the initiates’ faces. Then I turn to the initiate next to the woman.

“We spoke to Brerdain,” I say softly. “He didn’t really want to give you up, but we didn’t give him a lot of choice. He’s loyal, I’ll give him that.”

Magine stills. I wait, before he steps back quickly, sword hilts appearing in his hands. He’s glaring at me.

“I don’t really care if he had one of you suborned. If any of you were suborned,” I raise my voice, letting it ring out to encompass all the initiates. “I figured multiple corrupt individuals would balance each other out eventually. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, keep looking.

“But you killed Ropo and Gheisnan. And that I won’t accept.”

Magine falls into a combat stance, one sword raised and pointed at my face. The other, held low and covering his chest, the lower line of attack. He could stab me from here, but between my Soul Shield and my emergency shielding ring, he can’t kill me. Not in a single attack. So I ignore the blades.

“Why?” I say. “It wasn’t even in your orders.”

That fact, we had confirmed. It was the reason Breisnan was alive, the reason we hadn’t just killed him.

“They didn’t deserve it,” Magine sneers. “That old Grimsar, he never made anything of his life. And then he thought he could be a Paladin? While I’ve worked all my life, struggled, to be something, only to fail because I was born too late.” The Movanna turns his head to the side and spits, even as he continues. “The Pooskeen? I would never serve beside one of those creatures. Disgusting monsters, daring to think they’re equal to me.”

I see his incandescent fury, the burning rage in his eyes, from being overlooked again and again. His towering pride and the blame he set upon everyone else for his failures. For the fact that he never amounted to more than what he thought he was. And in doing so, he turned that anger on others.

His friends, his fellow initiates, back away, giving him and me room. We stare at one another over the edge of his blade. I see the light shimmer of energy that marks the creation of the monofilament edge. Around us, the other guards, the Queen, the Champion, and the courtiers are but bystanders to this little drama.

“Will you fight me? Or will you shoot me down like the honorless creature you are? You pitiful, fortune-favored, stumbling fool. You disgrace every Paladin, every true Erethran who has ever born that title,” Magine spits his words like knives. Hoping to score a blow, to cripple my self-control, to force me to fight him. To win back some honor at this late stage in the game.

It’s a good choice in most cases. Anger, anger has always driven me. But this time, he misses. Because I have no pride, no investment in being a Paladin. The Title is a tool, one that I’ve used and used again, to survive. To drag those with me who survived into the light.

When he fails to make me act, Magine chooses to do so himself. He lunges, his sword aimed straight at my eye. I watch as the blade nears, growing larger with each fraction of a second. Only for it to be deflected by a familiar, burning polearm. A short Samurai steps in front of me.

“Your opponent is me,” Mikito says.

I can’t help but stare at Mikito’s back in amazement. It takes long moments before I can speak. “You actually said that.”

I see just a little bit of her profile, enough to see that she blushes. Magine, for all his talk of honor, takes her blush as a distraction that he can exploit and he lashes out with his small swords.

Unfortunately for him, Mikito’s ready, and she blocks it and the follow-up thrust from his other sword. I back off, and in short order, we create an open space. Shields form, trapping the pair within, allowing them to duel without interference. Even the Queen stops her work to watch. I guess in a society like this, a high-level duel between two arena champions is considered high entertainment.

Weapons clash, Mikito doing her best to keep the fast-moving ex-initiate away, using the extra reach of her weapon and its greater weight to beat him around. He, in turn, uses multiple quick shedding blocks, cutting at the edges of her polearm as she swings, driving it farther off Mikito’s center line by inches each time. Each move, each block, each attack is designed to open a gap between strikes so that he can slip in.

Intermixed among the mundane skills are their Skills. Blade Strikes, Power Blows, Cleave, Haste, they all trigger, giving them surprise attacks, explosions of energy, or even unblockable attacks that slip past blades. Blood blooms, staining both of them, as shields fail, armor gets pierced, and blood rolls to the floor.

A quick flicker of the small swords, barely a foot of movement, and the paired Blade Strikes push Mikito back, forcing her to block them with Hitoshi. The polearm swirls in a quick form, breaking apart the attacks. Seconds later, the ground around Mikito explodes in flames. A preset Skill trap, or potentially a spell, engulfs the Samurai. The damage is significant but not fatal. More dangerous is the fact that the flames block her vision, allowing Magine to trigger a new Skill.

By the time she’s out, three figures, all looking exactly the same, are charging her. You would think that they’re just illusions, and you would be wrong.

The Skill Magine uses actually creates, temporarily, three duplicates. All of them are reduced in strength and health, but not in speed. He can’t use any other active Skills while the duplicates are in use, but that’s not his fighting style. A lot of passives, a lot of damage bonuses to attacks, that’s his way.

Magine rushes Mikito, pouring out quick, blurring attacks that are coordinated between all three duplicates. Against anyone else, that might have been dangerous. It might have been a fight-ender.

But Mikito out Levels him. And she’s finally done playing. She triggers her Skill, and Haste, Blitzed, it all combines. Her movements become a blur, much, much faster than the still-locked Advanced Classer can keep up with.

She tears through one of the figures with a simple rising cut from her front leg, spins the naginata blade around to block a pair of cuts and a lunge, reverses and strikes with the butt of the polearm, then cuts again with the blade. A figure drops, bleeding, missing a limb.

Together, the injured mirror images continue to attack. She cuts and cuts again, bringing an overhand sweep down with such speed and force, it throws a duplicate into a shield, cracking it. Long seconds, then the blurred forms within the shields freeze.

Hitoshi is buried in the chest of Magine’s final body, one hand raised, the held blade trying to push away the polearm. The second sword is deep in Mikito’s thigh. Blood dribbles from both their wounds even as the mirror images disperse, the corpses becoming no more than motes of light.

“You cheated. You used… a Master Class… Skill,” Magine complains as he slowly slides off Mikito’s weapon to land on his bum. He releases the weapons in his hands, letting them clatter to the floor, glaring at Mikito and the unfairness of life. That she dare cheat him.

The Samurai stares at the dying elf, poison and flame burning from the wounds Hitoshi layered on him. His chest rises and falls, fueling the unnatural flame. Mikito waits. She will not explain how her view of honor, of loyalty, works. Not to him. Not to a dying man. Not to a traitor.

He coughs one last time, then falls over. She doesn’t move, keeping a wary eye on the corpse, until one of the Honor Guards comes along and lops off his head. Just to be sure. Only then does she limp over to me, her body glowing with the repeated healing spells the guards are casting.

“Satisfied?” I ask her.

Mikito gives me a short nod.

I can only reply with one simple and appropriate word. “Baka.”

Chapter 27

It doesn’t take the attendants and robots long to clean up from the duel. Even the scarred flooring, damaged by the passage of the fighters, is healed and perfect within minutes. Throughout all this, the courtiers and other guards are watching my initiates, studying them.

“Well, Paladin. If you are done with the theatrics, shall we finish this?” the Queen says.

“Got to agree, boy-o. This is getting quite tiring,” Ali sends as well.

I stride forward, and the team moves out, the initiates and my people coming to stop before the Queen. No more attacks, no other actions are taken. Ayuri only hesitates for a second before letting us approach the Queen, then Blink Stepping to the Queen’s side.

“My apologies, Your Majesty.” I feel a grin pull at my lips. “I have a tendency to be a little bit dramatic at times.”

“At times,” Bolo says incredulously.

It’d be wrong, kicking him.

I turn back to the initiates, to the crowd of courtiers who have approached. Brerdain has recovered and is staring around, somewhat paler but with his regained confidence. I hadn’t blamed him, hadn’t killed him, for his part of putting Magine among my initiates. Truth be told, Julierudi and Spuryan had tried as well. They just weren’t as effective. Or more.

Julierudi is looking a little more confident, a little more certain of herself. My little trick with the doppelgänger, to draw out the idiots, to lure those who would act without thinking had thrown her at first. But now, with no obvious candidate left, she must consider herself in the lead. Even if she’s Shackled, the wording lets her function – after all, you can’t betray yourself. Especially since I’ve dismissed Spuryan. The Prophet is the only one who looks at peace. I guess losing once and for all can settle you down quite well.

“So, thank you for waiting,” I say. I step toward my initiates. “I’m sure you’d all like to meet your Empress Apparent.”

I turn around and walk back, stopping in front of Anayton. I idly watch as Bolo shifts, glaring at a noble who looks as if they might do something foolish. Mikito is behind the initiates, as is Dornalor. Harry’s the only one who’s moved ahead, facing perpendicular to all of us, just a short distance from the rest of the reporters so that he can capture both the Queen’s reaction and me.

“Do you trust me?” I send, touching upon the comm channel. It’s a tight beam, but it’s not fully secure. It doesn’t have to be.

I stop before Anayton, waiting for my answer. It’s a strange question, especially after they’ve been dragged so far, pulled all the way here to watch.

Silence draws out, and I feel the pressure of their gazes, of their expectation. I can smell her scent, the blend of nutmeg and musk that is all hers. I feel her, see the threads flowing out from her. To touch upon the Queen, to the Lord of the Hounds, to the Guard, and to so, so many of the nobles, the power players behind us.

“Yes.”

“Then let me present her to you.” I raise my hand.

Anayton’s eyes track my hand, watch as it comes down. Not onto her shoulder. Missing it by inches.

To land on empty air.

Only for a short moment, for Dornalor’s and Ali’s twin Skills finally fail.

“Lords and ladies, Generals, Admirals, and soldiers, your new Empress Apparent.”

The susurration of scandal, of shock has already started. Bolo shifts, crackling with power to bring the involuntary steps toward us to a stop. Mikito levels her naginata at Brerdain, who’s looking shocked.

And on the throne… Ali shows me the Queen, her mouth open as she tries to order me to stop. Surprised in her own place of power, surprised at having her Skills locked out. Ayuri’s eyes are wide, realization striking her regarding why I asked for control of the room’s security apparatus. Why I’d asked for it. There’s no ultimate Skill, nothing that can’t be blocked or hidden, given enough information, time, and Credits.

“Catrin Dufoff.”

Congratulations! Empire Quest: Erethran Empire (M) Completed!

Designate an individual to become the Presumptive Emperor of Erethra

Rewarded: +4,353,593 XP

Mana floods into me, as does experience. I shudder, multiple Level Ups appearing and disappearing in a cascade. Another larger notification appears, one that I shelve to the side as chaos erupts around me.

“Redeemer! What is the meaning of this?” Hasbata snarls, leaning forward in her chair.

Her aura snaps out, smashing down on all of us. People stagger. Anyone who isn’t a Master Class sinks to their knees or, worse, drop directly to the floor. Even those with Master Classes stagger, some unable to keep their feet.

My team does, but it’s a struggle, because her anger, her displeasure is directed at us. The only person who looks unfazed is Catrin. If the Mana vortex that formed around me as I gained experience from the System Quest was large, the one that flows around the new Empress Apparent makes mine look like a dust devil next to a Class III tornado.

Catrin’s changing with each strand of power, each tendril of the System as it takes effect on her. She’s discarding her old Class, gaining a new one, receiving the approval and approbation of the Empire, and gaining a series of Titles to mark her new place in society.

Memories of prior tests, prior Class changes pull at me. A desire, a need, to stare and record the change, to compare it to past studies rises up. It almost disrupts my concentration, pulling my focus from the irate Queen before me. I’ve never felt this before, this need from the Library. If not for the immediate pressure exerted by the Empress’s Aura, I might have even given in. To the library and my own curiosity.

Attention, pulled back, when Ayuri appears, Blink Stepping right up to me. Her friends are behind her, squaring off against Bolo and Mikito, but Ayuri only has eyes for me. And the Empress Apparent. Our only threats here are the Honor Guards, the Champion, and the Empress herself. Everyone else is either too weak or Shackled.

“She asked you a question, Redeemer,” Ayuri snaps. Anger at being betrayed, at being tricked pulses from her. She’s just out of easy reach, though with our conjured weapons, it’d be a simple matter to hurt one another. But we’re not there yet.

Not yet.

“Exactly what you asked me to do, Champion.” I nod to the Empress, trying for nonchalance. Failing, mostly. “Empress.”

“She was not the candidate you mentioned,” Ayuri replies.

“No. But she is what you guys need.”

“You will fix this, Paladin,” the Empress says from her position above. She’s leaning forward, focusing the aura on me.

My knees buckle again, and I have to force them up. Warnings flash as I start taking damage, my body compressed and crushed by a pressure that swallows me up, makes it impossible to move. “And if I refuse?”

“Then we have other candidates. We can wait,” the Empress snarls.

I watch a finger of hers twitch, and I realize she might act against the still-transforming Empress.

The simplest, easiest way to resolve this situation would be to kill Catrin. But they haven’t. Which means as much as they’re opposing my words, they’re still hesitant. Because this is my choice as a Paladin. Webs of social expectations, of engrained duty, of what we imagine our own honor and beliefs are, they can bind our actions. Bind us motionless in threads stronger than titanium.

Especially when you’ve got a reporter feeding this all directly to the world and the Empire at large.

Gainsaying me, in full public view, would be dangerous. Sneaking Harry’s report around the throne’s security system was annoying, but worth it. He’s still getting significant pushback, but his Skills are letting him do it. His Skills and those of fellow Reporters, Galaxy-wide and in this Empire. Building friends, building resources. The Empress could shut it down, but at this point, the information is out.

“Here, let me make it easy for you.” I step back to draw their attention to me again and lessen the threat to Catrin.

Then I spin around, stumbling a little under the pressure exerted by the aura. I can’t help but chuckle at the blood that comes from my mouth as I inadvertently bite my lip. I focus, pushing back against the aura. Triggering my own to help alleviate the pressure. It helps. A little.

I meet the gazes of the four initiates, including Anayton’s disappointed gaze, and see concern in all their eyes. I see it all, then ignore it.

I reach for the library. For the knowledge I have within me, my understanding of the System. I remember how I did it before, then reach sideways and back, touching upon the Quest I gave them. Feeling for the Levels of success they each had.

Then I reach for the Quest I just completed. The one only a Paladin could have received.

And I push.

It’s like trying to move a car in snow. As you put your shoulder to it, as your feet slip and slide, as wheels spin, offering no traction. And you strain, putting everything you have into the push, knowing that if you wait just a little too long, if you fail, the wind, the dropping temperature at night will get you. Have you ever felt metal so cold that to place your skin against it would glue it together?

Ever had to put your hands on the car anyway? And push? Because there’s no one else, no other choice but to do the work. You push, against cold, against the slick ground with booted feet, as you sink deeper and deeper into the snowbank. You push as wheels spin. To live.

If you’ve ever done that, then you know what it’s like, in small part. Maybe a thousandth of what it is to pitch myself against the System.

There’s no additional willpower attribute increase, no System-aided benefit to this kind of work. It’s all human stubbornness against cold, unfeeling glyphs and an unspeakable language. Throwing myself into torrents of information with nothing more than the tether of my will and spirit to hold me aloft.

All so that I can demand the System do what I tell it to do. And it’s only because there’s a groove, an option within the Class Quest System at all, that I can make it work. That I can bump the initiates from one portion of their completed Quest to another Quest, to the completed Empire Quest, and let them finish that too.

I make them Paladins because they helped me bring the Empress Apparent here. They safeguarded her, through threats, external and internal. And because it’s an Empire Quest, because they’re Paladin initiates, the System yields.

Not without taking a payment from me.

Because everything has a cost. Even if you aren’t the one paying it.

I scream into the void as the payment consumes my fragile soul, as the System extracts its price from me. I scream, and all I can do is wrap myself up in my most trusted of protections before I fall unconscious.

***

When I come to, Sanctum is still up. Ayuri, her people, the Empress Apparent, my team sans Harry, and the initiates are all captured within the bubble. Everyone else is kept outside.

My body feels as if every bone in it was shattered and put back together. Ali, hovering beside me, is muttering imprecations, fingers dancing as he manipulates the System, data streams and notifications that I barely glimpse. Too much, too much data, too much information. Though I see more and more boxes set aside for my later perusal.

But he’s not the most important figure among those here. What he’s doing for me is, as always, left unsaid and unappreciated by most. For there’s bigger drama. The Paladins—the former initiates—are standing in a semi-circle around the still-transforming Empress Apparent. The Empress Apparent’s last line of defense.

My team, on the other hand, is looking worse for the wear, as are Ayuri and her people. Bolo’s facing off against Ayuri, his hammer out, glowing. His scalemail is chipped, one entire shoulder pauldron shattered, portions of it embedded within his body. Ayuri’s nursing a broken hand, one that is slowly healing, while Mayaya glares at Dornalor, who’s smirking. The Pirate Captain hates to look as if he’s not in control, but he’s lucky we’re stuck in this Sphere. Mayaya’s severely curtailed, locked out of reality as she is here. On the other hand, Mikito is the least injured, her naginata blade resting on Unilo’s neck.

“Owww!” I complain.

My word draws attention, making everyone look at me. I push myself to my feet, careful to keep an eye on the Champion. My health is still glowing red, slowly ticking upward but at a slower-than-normal rate in this benighted hellhole of a Sphere. But I’m alive.

“Damn good thing, boy-o, that you didn’t take your Class up. You definitely wouldn’t have survived if you’d done that,” Ali sends.

I grunt, acknowledging his words. Acknowledging how close I got. If I’d raised my Class, the System would have yanked me down again. Forced me out of it. And that kind of damage added to everything else…

Pushing against the System like that isn’t something you should do. Or, hell, something I thought I could do. “What exactly did you do?” Ayuri says. She’s glaring at the Paladins, adjusting her grip on her weapon.

“I gave you what you wanted,” I tell her. “I gave you your Paladins.”

“They had a Quest. They hadn’t finished it,” Unilo says. She clamps her mouth shut when the talking brings blood to the blade.

I wave at Mikito, who frowns but removes the polearm, to Unilo’s relief. I grin, feeling my body slowly heal. The System may not have liked my actions, but it isn’t holding back its usual processes either. My body fixes itself, putting me back in fighting condition, the longer we talk. “I fixed that.”

“How?” Anayton asks.

I look back, seeing the puzzled looks on all the Paladins’ faces. I can’t help but grin. “Questor secret.”

Funny thing is, that’s not even a lie. If not for the library, emplaced within my mind, there would be no way that I’d know how, or even if, such an action was possible.

Before the others can ask for details, Sanctum falls, revealing us to the crowd. I’m a little surprised to see the ring of Honor Guards surrounding us, the addition of artillery weapons that have been deployed all around the throne room. The Empress is still seated on her throne, though a beefed-up protection squad surrounds her. Nearby, Lord Braxton is watching, wary but cordoned off by another group of guards.

As for the rest of the watchers, the old contenders and the nobles, the other courtiers, they’ve been pushed out of the line of fire. Unable to do anything, their bodies and souls Shackled, they’re just an audience for our little drama.

Surprisingly, Harry’s been left alone. I wonder if it’s his Skill or his status as a non-combatant. But he’s still standing, recording. As are the other reporters.

“Champion, what has happened?” Hasaba asks.

“It seems we have three new Paladins,” Ayuri says. “The Redeemer is no longer necessary.”

I grin, all teeth and challenge as I bow to the Empress. “As requested, as promised. Your Paladins. Now we can stop acting as if what I did was a damn travesty and finish this. You can accept my choice. Or kill me.”

Gasps and hisses arise from more than a few guards, from the audience, from Bolo. Mikito doesn’t seem at all surprised, while Donarlor is eyeing the exit, plotting the best way to escape and not looking at all happy that there isn’t one. I kind of feel bad for the Pirate Captain.

“You…” The Queen quickly takes hold of herself as rage burns in her eyes at my open defiance. I can see her mind spinning, working out implications even as the Mana swirl around Catrin slowly dies.

“My Empress, before you act,” Anayton speaks up. She steps away from Catrin, coming up to my shoulder, then passing it. She stops between myself and the Queen and Champion. She spares only a glance at Ayuri before she continues. “Paladin Lee might be loud, confrontational, and overly melodramatic in his actions, but he’s a Paladin.”

“And what do you mean by that?” The Queen’s voice drops, almost hissing.

Freif walks over, his feet somewhat unsteady, his face pale. He’s clenching his fist again and again, as if he wishes he was holding something. A bottle, perhaps. “His choice is our choice.”

Kino, the last to speak, rumbles from his position next to Catrin, “If you kill him, you’ll need to find new Paladins. For we will guard him and the Empress Apparent.”

The Queen doesn’t answer us directly, instead turning her Aura on us. Except this time, there’s something else added to it. I’m not entirely certain what, but it’s sharper, deadlier. None of us manage to hold our feet except the Empress Apparent. Not this time. We crash almost in unison to the floor.

Even Ali is squished, his body made of energy beginning to disperse. I feel newly healed bones and organs crack, split, and bleed. For a second, I regret my actions. Not because of where it’s led me but for those I’ve dragged along. I hadn’t expected the initiates to stand up for me. Hoped, maybe. But not expected.

I hear a commotion from behind. Those who have been Shackled are finding themselves caught in an impossible situation. The Shackles require them to protect the Empress Apparent—who is now under attack from the Empress herself.

If they do something, they die. Do nothing and they die.

Already, Shackles are ripping out of bodies, tightening across flesh and bone, threatening to tear them apart. I assume that’s part of the reason why Hasbata’s been slow to act. To lose so many of her people would weaken the Queen, the Empire greatly.

But I pushed her too far, too hard, perhaps. This time, there’s no let up as her Aura does nothing but crush us, tear at our bodies and souls. As my life slips away, I hear the screams from the Generals, the heads of industry, the nobles rise.

I gambled. Once too often.

And failed. For the last time.

And then, suddenly, blessed relief.

The Aura’s pushed back, the pressure lessened. It’s not all gone, but most of it fades. Like a tide broken by tide-breaking rocks. I stagger to my feet out of sheer stubbornness rather than any sense, driven by anger. My head pounds, blood drips from my nose, eyes, ears, and fingertips themselves. I’m seeing double, triple at times.

But I force myself to stand. Shame at being crushed that easily turns to anger. I stand.

Only to see Catrin before all of us. Pushing back against the Empress with her own Aura. I blink, even as my Mana Sense triggers, showing me the almost unseen struggle. I see the waves of pressure as Auras fight one another. I’m surprised that Catrin’s able to do this, to push back this far.

And, as I think this, the System answers.

Title: The Empress Apparent of Erethra

As the Empress Apparent of Erethra, the titleholder gains certain benefits, reputation changes, and the collected regard of the Empire to wield. In return, certain Class Skills effects by Title Holder will apply to the populace of the Empire.

Effect 1: Gain a lesser version of the Aura of the Empire affect

Effect 2: Major reputation changes among Galactic society

Effect 3: Selected Class Skills affect citizens of the Empire

“Thousand Hells, that’s a Title!” I blurt.

Ali, having pulled himself together, literally, floats over. He joins me in staring at the Empress Apparent before his voice enters my mind. “Yup. How she’s holding the Queen’s aura back to this degree, I don’t know. Must be a combination of her own Skills.”

I shake my head, not interested in the answer. Not right now at least. Instead, I walk forward, joining Catrin. The Empress and the Empress Apparent have their gazes locked upon one another, while everyone else is disregarded.

The very air between them warps, as the System, as the Auras press upon one another. It’s clear that Catrin’s the weaker. That’s why a lesser effect of the pressing, cutting Aura of the Empress is still upon us. But people aren’t actively dying. Not by much at least. Not from the Aura. But there’s a price—I note the nosebleed on Catrin’s face as she strains.

I glance over, spotting Ayuri. She’s standing, her weapon held by her side. But not attacking. I’m grateful that she hasn’t. And I wonder, for once, if she can. As Champion, can she? I don’t know. But I’m grateful, either way. For we are more than our Classes.

“If you were men, I’d say put the… Mana sticks away and stop measuring. Because if you don’t, you’re going to be down a lot of citizens.” I turn, pointing backward to where many of those I Shackled writhe on the floor. A few of the weaker, more Administrative side of society aren’t moving anymore. My chains, my shackles, with their spiked obligations continue to dig in, grinding away at the health of those bound.

There’s a long pause as the Queen considers. Then she finally relaxes her aura, sitting back. Mental commands follow, and the Honor Guard casts spells, fixing the audience. Others are chivied out, pulled away.

I watch, wondering what would happen if she managed to kill the Empress Apparent out of sight. Would the Shackled still die? I’ve bet a lot on the Empress’s sensibility, her desire to keep her Empire strong. I wish I knew better how the Shackles worked, how it might affect them. It was probably explored and discussed in the Paladins’ histories. I just never got to it.

In tense silence, we wait, as the Paladins behind me, as my friends, recover. Only when we’re alone but for the guards and the Queen’s attendants, but for my allies, does the Queen speak.

“Why her?”

“Ask Lord Braxton,” I reply.

The poor man looks startled to be drawn forward like this. But he eventually sighs and prowls forward, some of his earlier subservience fading away, his back straightening. “How long have you know?”

“Since the first night,” I say.

I turn to Catrin, stepping close to her, and take her hand. She looks slightly amused—until I raise it and turn over the hand to showcase the dark gold ring she always wears.

“When you didn’t ever take this off, when the thread between you and Lord Braxton was so intensely woven. When the Houndmaster and his Hounds made their presence known, helping me. I knew.”

“She’s one of yours?” the Queen says. Now, she’s less angry, more intrigued.

“Yes, Your Empress. One of my internal security members,” Lord Braxton says. Houndmaster, but there are no hounds. Not physically at least. Just figuratively. The Houndmaster chases down those who would be the enemies of the state by loosing his Hounds on them.

“Even so, a spy is not a General. And we need a General,” Hasbata says. But now she’s more argumentative than angry.

“No, you don’t. Your contenders, Brerdain, Julierudi, with the Shackles in place, they can be used to the fullest extent to hold your borders, especially since you’ve got three new Paladins,” I say. “Catrin’s also only mid-Level Advanced Class, so rising in experience, gaining the Skills to aid the entirety of your Empire as your heir Apparent, should be simple. She can grow, given time.”

“So is…” The Queen hesitates, her glance flicking to Anayton. Then realizing that the gig is up, she says it. “Anayton. She who you told us would be your choice. She would have been a good Queen. Honor Guard, loyalty guaranteed, a fighter who could have been a Paladin.”

“Yes. A good Queen.” I look at Anayton, whose face is carefully blank, though I see the confusion within her eyes. The tinge of regret. “But she’ll make a great Paladin.”

When the group looks doubtful, I sigh. “Catrin, your heir Apparent, can play the game, your political game, better than anyone else. She knows what your world needs because she’s been both swanning around among the top of your Society and crawled up from the bottom.

“Working for Lord Braxton, she knows where the bodies are kept, how to clean it all up, who has to be cleaned up. And she can do it, now that you have your Paladins back. And once we let the world know what she did, what she really was, they’ll be a lot less doubtful about her suitability from the military. Especially since her first targets will be the nobles.”

I shake my head and wave. “I’ve also Shackled the major players. So you’ve got time. Time to let her train, to gain in Levels. Maybe not a lot, before the others take over, before the Generals we’ve Shackled are replaced. But enough. If you let her.”

Hasbata continues to frown, obviously not entirely convinced.

Then, before I can keep pitching the woman, Catrin puts a hand on my arm. I shut up as she steps around me, approaching the throne. Ayuri moves to block the way but stills at a glance from the Queen.

Hasbata’s retracted her Aura, making it easier for all of us to breathe, to continue healing. As Catrin strides forward, glancing between Ayuri, Lord Braxton, the other attendants, and the Honor Guards before her, I can only hope I was right. Silence stretches out before us as the click-clack of her heels on the floor resounds, the only noise within the expansive throne room. As she leaves, the hint of her scent, that nutmeg and musk, fades. We wait. The room waits.

Catrin finally comes to a stop at the foot of the stairs leading to the throne. She looks up, meeting the Empress’s gaze, and speaks.

“We should talk. Privately.”

Chapter 28

Not with a bang but with a whimper.

That’s how things get resolved in the end. They kicked us out, my team and me. We’re put on watch, even if the new Paladins are ushered out to be debriefed and checked over. They go without much complaint—for now.

Once the check is done, they’re released to do their thing, Leveling and searching down Quests to complete. Annoyingly, it seems that the Empress has been withholding a number of Empire Quests from me. Quite a number that are Paladin only have stacked up, giving the new Paladins a lot to choose from. It keeps the Paladins and their teams busy, Leveling and righting wrongs.

The Empress and the Empress Apparent speak for hours on the first day, before the announcement is made. Not that Harry’s transmissions hadn’t spread. But the official broadcasts reaffirm and ensure that Catrin’s place is officially backed. There will be no midnight assassination, no random body turning up, skewered by the Champion.

Our captors let us get news and messages from outside the cells they hold us in. Carefully monitored, but they let me read the news. Which is nice. I’m sure they’ll let us out eventually. Or so I hope.

The first to find me is Anayton. The Paladin finds me in my gray, drab, utilitarian cell with its single tiny window. She finds me staring at the ceiling, running over the experiences, teasing at the memories and information that the library expelled. That told me of what was to come when what I’d done to the Paladin initiates was spread around.

And staring at the single notification I’ve refused to dismiss.

System Quest Completion Rate: 89%

“Redeemer,” Anayton greets me softly.

I swing my legs from the bunk so that I can sit up and stare at her. “Not Paladin anymore?”

“Not between equals.” She takes a seat across from me, the nanites forming a chair for her.

“I’m surprised they let you see me.”

“I’ve… been given some additional privileges. Informally. Because of what they heard,” Anayton says, glancing toward the door she came in from, where the guards await.

“Ah, right.” My lips twist. “And you wanted to talk about that.”

“Yes.”

I pause, considering. “I’m sorry. For using your name. I needed—”

“A distraction,” Anayton replies. “I understand. Why me though?”

“Because you and the Empress Apparent are similar in many ways. Your sense of duty, your understanding of war and what it truly means,” I say. “Life on the frontier or the Restricted Zones.”

“You used me to test the waters with the Queen.” When I nod, she adds, with a little more heat in her voice, “Then why not just choose me?”

“Did you want it? Do you want it?” I say.

“Of course I don’t!” Anayton says. “To be trapped by politics and compromises, to weigh the needs of each person, each army with every single decision I make? Or refuse to make? Who’d want that?”

“Who would, I wonder?” another voice, this one softer, interrupts Anayton’s rant.

I twist my head to the side, raising an eyebrow. “How’d you get in here?”

“Why can’t I?” Catrin says as she sways over. There’s a little less sex kitten in her movements, more confident businesswoman—and damn is it hot. She smiles, as if knowing what I think, even as her new bodyguards behind her glare at me. “I am the Empress Apparent.”

“Your Grace.” Anayton bows and salutes, a blush creeping up on her face. “I-I meant no disrespect.”

“None taken. I wasn’t offered much choice either,” Catrin says, stopping before me.

She keeps smiling, even as she hauls back and slaps me into the nearby wall. I peel myself off the shattered cell wall, spitting out blood and a couple of cracked teeth.

“Owwww. And how?” I say. That was a powerful attack, but there’s no way it should have done that much damage.

“Empress advantage. Your resistances don’t work on me,” Catrin says lightly. She turns her head to the still-bowing Anayton. “And get up. You’re a Paladin. You shouldn’t be cowering. Look at John here. He didn’t cower when he made decisions on mine and your lives. Without asking.”

I wince again, this time the dig being a little more pointed. When Catrin beckons, I walk over warily.

“Yes, Your Grace. But it seems you two have much to speak of…” Anayton slowly edges out of the room.

“Are you done then? Content with your place?” Catrin asks while I stop nearby, nursing my aching jaw. The worse part of losing teeth is feeling the System replace them in real time.

“I am, Your Grace. I was… unhappy with being used. But I understand the Redeemer’s choices. Even if I might not agree with them.” Anayton shoots me another glare.

“Very well. We look forward to seeing how you progress, Paladin Nichortin.”

Anayton scurries out, leaving me alone with Catrin. The Empress Apparent turns to regard me, her eyes trailing from my eyes to rest at my swollen jaw. At a mental command, the cell doors close at her bidding, blocking off the guards and bodyguards. I hear muttered imprecations from outside, but I ignore them.

I can’t help but marvel at the changes. She’s shed the false front, removed the ring that hid her true Class, dropped the dual Classes she had to take to help hide her Status. The things she needed as a Hound. And with it gone, her true Levels, her true experience shines through.

Empress Apparent Catrin Dufoff of the Erethran Empire, Empire Top Companion, The Hidden Blade, Class 2 Human Resource, Slayer of Goblins, Wexlix, Crilik, (more)… (Erethran Empress Apparent Level 2) (M)

HP: 2410/2410

MP: 3480/3480

Conditions: Aura of the Empire (retracted), Trust of the Empire, Never too Late, Pheromones, A Good Impression

She steps closer, and I tense as she brings her hand up, turning my red and bruised face from side to side, before she leans in and kisses me. Rather hard.

“Owwww…” I complain when I get my lips back.

“You idiot.” She steps back again, dropping her hand. “Why did you do that? Did you think I was some Artisan you had to save?”

I mentally wince, doing my best to hide my reaction. I doubt it works, but I have to try. There’s truth to her accusation, at least partly. Playing the white knight might have factored—did factor—into this. Saving others, helping them, it has become habit. Even if they felt they didn’t need it. But I know better than to say of that.

“Well?” Catrin arches an eyebrow.

“Need! The Empire doesn’t need another General or noble or damn cultist. Could you imagine them? They all have their agendas, and none of those agendas give a damn about those beneath them—or the realities of the System. And it’s not as if I know that many others. Most who could, who would have worked, would turn it down. You…” I shrug. “I knew you wouldn’t. You’re already enmeshed in the political system and the power players, without actually being beholden to anyone but the Queen. You’re smart enough to know what needs to be done, and your background…”

“My background?”

“Your background means you’re likely to sympathize,” I say. “With those who are always crushed under. A monarchy isn’t the best option at times, but with the right person… it might work.”

“And my Levels? The fact that I can’t boost the army?”

“You were always going to need to grind to get the best Skills in your Class. But if you think your Skills don’t help the army, then you’re just as blind as the rest of them.”

“My Skills…” Catrin’s eyes go distant as she stares at the Skills that the System decided was relevant to pass on to the rest of us.

In turn, I pull up the information on my side.

Empathic Bond (Empress Apparent Title Effect) (A)

Understanding a target is paramount to extracting information from them. Empathic Bond allows you to sense and reflect the feelings of your target with greater accuracy.

Effect: +16.3% in empathic connection, emotional and body language recognition and reflection.

Data Analysis (Empress Apparent Title Effect) (B)

Data is just knowledge, unsorted. Data Analysis allows user to analyze and acquire information at an increased rate, increasing learning speed, and knowledge acquisition.

Effect: +11.4% in data analysis.

Never Too Late (Empress Apparent Title Effect) (A)

A socialite is never too late. They might be late, but they are never too late. This Skill gives a socialite a dual effect Skill, first in event timing and the second in movement speed.

Effect: +13.4% in event timing intuition. +47.2% movement speed when required

The first Skill was an Advanced Class Skill. I knew on her side, it actually had a much larger effect—one that allowed her to almost intuitively grasp what people all around her were thinking. In fact, at higher Levels like she had, it combined with the minimap option and offered almost a sixth sense, as the System fed in emotional readouts from even normally hidden attackers. It allowed a Skill holder to take the temperature of a room or read killing intent just as easily.

As for the second Skill, it’s a Basic Skill from her base Class. It’s a non-combat Skill, but its uses extend to training and duels, to practice and tactical analysis. As a base Administrative Class Skill, it’s the basis of a lot of their work and the ability to handle and deal with solar system levels of information.

The last Skill is the one that amuses me the most. It’s the Skill that might just be better than the Admiral’s, since it might get people to where they need to be, when they need to be there. I’m still not sure if it’ll play out that way, but there’s only one way to find out. I hadn’t expected that Skill to turn up, though I’d hoped.

All three Skills are more subtle in their effects, less in-your-face than a General’s XP increase, or a damage upgrade from a Sargent. It’s not as powerful, by far, as the Admiral’s if she had taken over. Her domain Skill would have made some clear changes to merchants, to interstellar commerce. But, I believe—I have to believe—that these Skills will have a wider effect. Because everyone, anyone, will have access, will use these Skills every single day.

“Empathy, knowledge, and social grace?” Catrin smiles at me. “And you gambled the Empire on these soft skills?”

“Hey, I’m a West Coast kid. We’re all crystals, granola bars, and sunshine.” I don’t stop to let Catrin answer, because I know she can’t understand the reference. Or is unlikely to, at least. “And I didn’t know, not for certain, but I had a guess. The rest of it, you can grind up. You’ll have to.”

“Yes.” Catrin touches my face again, the bruise on my jaw already faded. My skin is unmarred again, smooth and perfect. “I will. The Queen has given me a year to Level. To prove myself, to prove that your choice was not a complete mistake. To convince everyone else.”

I pause, then nod slowly. It makes sense. A stay of execution for my non-combat-based choice. “When do you leave?”

“Today.”

I open my mouth to ask where, then clomp my teeth together. Best not to ask, best not to know. She’ll be safer that way.

“I came to ask. And to say goodbye. To cut ties.”

I step back, putting space between us. Offering her a half-smile. “I know.”

I knew. The moment I made my choice.

I bow low, sweeping a hand behind my back, bending my knee. “Empress Apparent, Catrin Dufoff. Rule well. Rule long.”

Catrin steps back too, offering me the barest inclination of her head. Accepting my words, my offer. And if there’s regret there, of what could have been. Only the two of us will ever know.

“Live well, Paladin.”

***

When she’s gone, I close my eyes and breathe. I let the emotions exist for a time. Let them rest within my mind, let my breathing go heavy and tired. And then, like everything else, I sweep it up and bottle it away. Put it in that box where I store away all the pain, all the loss, all the anger of an apocalypse. It’s hard, harder than before. Because this time, I can’t blame the System, can’t blame a cruel and uncaring world. Or fate, forcing me apart.

It’s hard this time. Because I chose this ending.

I draw a deep breath and let it out, and with my mind clear, my path cleansed, for the first time in days, I turn to my notifications.

Level Up!

You have reached Level 50 as a Paladin of Erethra. Stat Points automatically distributed. You have 14 Free Attribute Points and 14 Class Skills to distribute.

That had arrived when I finished the Empire Quest. I shouldn’t have gained five Levels from a single Quest like that, even if it was a Heroic Level Empire Quest. But my cheaty experience requirements meant I jumped up fast. Of course, I wasn’t the only one who cheated. Mikito gained some experience from her Skill too.

Just as important is the next notification.

-Heroic Class Possible! -

-Would you like to challenge your Heroic Class Quests? Available Quests include:-

- -Grand Paladin of Erethra

- -The Lord of Light

- -Shield of Rage

- -more…-

Unfortunately, my little stunt with the System had seen that taken away from me. My choices, my options. In a bitch slap that robbed me of some of my experience from the Quest, that robbed me of some of the benefits of my Level Up, the System had also enforced a new Class. One that I only dared to look at now, when I’m alone and certain of my safety.

I turn my gaze to the small window and look at the twinkling night lights of the city in the distance. The cell, the corridor outside, the prison, they echo with an emptiness that seem to wrap me up, remind me of how alien this world is.

And then I stare at my new Status Screen.

Status Screen

Name

John Lee

Class

Junior System Admin (Grand Paladin)

Race

Human (Male)

Level

1

Titles

Monster’s Bane, Redeemer of the Dead, Duelist, Explorer, Apprentice Questor, Galactic Silver Bounty Hunter,

Corrupt Questor, Class Lock

Health

5170

Stamina

5170

Mana

4660

Mana Regeneration

434 (+5) / minute

Attributes

Strength

368

Agility

446

Constitution

517

Perception

300

Intelligence

466

Willpower

529

Charisma

220

Luck

121

Class Skills

Mana Imbue

5*

Blade Strike*

5

Thousand Steps

1

Altered Space

2

Two are One

1

The Body’s Resolve

3

Greater Detection

1

A Thousand Blades*

4

Soul Shield

4

Blink Step

2

Portal*

5

Army of One

4

Sanctum

2

Penetration

7

Aura of Chivalry

1

Eyes of Insight

1

Beacon of the Angels

2

Eye of the Storm

1

Vanguard of the Apocalypse

2

Society’s Web

1

Domain

2

System Edit

1

(Grand Cross)

(1)

External Class Skills

Instantaneous Inventory

1

Frenzy

1

Cleave

2

Tech Link

2

Elemental Strike

1 (Ice)

Shrunken Footsteps

1

Analyze

2

Harden

2

Quantum Lock

3

Elastic Skin

3

Disengage Safeties

2

Temporary Forced Link

1

Hyperspace Nitro Boost

1

On the Edge

1

Fates Thread

2

Combat Spells

Improved Minor Healing (IV)

Greater Regeneration (II)

Greater Healing (II)

Mana Drip (II)

Improved Mana Missile (IV)

Enhanced Lightning Strike (III)

Firestorm

Polar Zone

Freezing Blade

Improved Inferno Strike (II)

Elemental Walls (Fire, Ice, Earth, etc.)

Ice Blast

Icestorm

Improved Invisibility

Improved Mana Cage

Improved Flight

Haste

Enhanced Particle Ray

Variable Gravitic Sphere

Zone of Denial

There are quite a few changes in play. All that Leveling meant I never had a chance to make use of the free attribute points and the free Class Skill points. I still have forty-two free attributes and two Class Skill points from the Erethran Paladin Class. And another ten attribute points from my Class upgrade.

I stare at my Class and bring up the entirely unhelpful explanation. Strangely enough, the explanation—in its entirety—is in English. Not Galactic that has been translated by Ali into English, but English to begin with.

Class: Junior System Administrator (H)

A Junior System Administrator has a minor role in overseeing the smooth operation of the System. They have access to the basic code of the System and may make minor changes to ensure the continued, smooth functioning of the System and the achievement of its primary goal.

+4 in Strength and Agility per Level. +5 in Constitution per Level. +8 in Intelligence per Level. +10 in Luck and Free Attributes points per Level.

External Mental Manipulation and Information Access is Barred.

All other Resistances increased by 20% (stackable).

Damage received reduced by 25%

Access to Level 3 installations and code

+1 Class Skill per every two Levels

If I hadn’t known something strange was going on, the new Title—which is hidden from all but Ali’s gaze—would have told me.

Title Achieved: Class Unlock

You have a limited, secret Class. As per Galactic Order 4.1, all such System Administrative Classes and Titles are hidden. You have access to equivalent Classes and Skills as per Galactic Order 4.1.1.

Effect: Your Class shows as—Grand Paladin of Erethra. You may access the equivalent number of Class Skills (1) of the Grand Paladin Class (1—locked to Grand Cross).

I never even got a chance to choose my Skills. Never got a chance to look them over, decide if this was the right one. And unlike so many other Skills, the singular Skill offered to me by the Administrator Class is incredibly simplistic in its description.

System Edit

A core Skill for System Administrators.

Effect: Make trivial to minor amendments to System processes

Cost: Variable (HP & MP)

I stare at the information once more and reach out, touching the tendrils of the System, the way it overlays and encompasses the Mana it marks. The way it presses upon my skin, twists itself into me and the very air we breathe. It’s everywhere, a part of everything. Making it all work.

And I can change it.

The memories that lie within unlock finally. They tell me what I have stumbled upon, what I forced on the Paladins, and then myself. They tell me how it was all logged.

And that there will be consequences.

Epilogue

Six Pauhiri months. As the world spins, as Empire Quests and dungeons spawn are defeated. I stick around, studying my mind, making full use of the Empress Apparent’s bonuses for Data Analysis, doing my best to understand what the Corrupt Questors have learnt.

What I’ve stumbled upon.

As good as her word, Catrin is gone. Spirited off for training, for developing her Skills. The first time she placed a point in her Skills, we all noticed. And again, a few months later, as she Leveled up enough to get another point. She’s grinding, under the protection of the Honor Guards. Protected by the promises I drew from the others with the Shackles. Though rumblings of discontent, of Brerdain and Julierudi losing standing even as Spuryan and his people grow in numbers, rise every single day.

The Paladins take to their jobs with a vengeance. Freif travels to the frontlines, bringing his brand of destruction and violence to hot spots across the Empire. He and Ayuri are out there constantly, making it clear that the Empire is not any weaker with the choice I made.

Kino’s taken a different tack, going after the nobles and the corruption. The big Risen has connections with others of his kind, with the disposed. Aided by Gheisnan’s packmates and Spuryan, Kino’s tearing a whole new swath through the corrupt practices that have flourished in the absence of the Paladins. Amusingly enough, Kino’s the lowest Level of the three since he’s often stuck babysitting a multitude of Auditors, Investigators, and the like. There’s only so much the Eyes of Insight can do.

As for Anayton? She’s the busiest of the group. Though she concentrates a lot of her time in Restricted Zones, she also hops over to help Kino or Freif as needed. She’s absorbed a large number of the surviving team members of the deceased initiates. To my surprise, Smo’kana is added to her team. He’s back on track to potentially become a Paladin under Anayton’s tutelage. I disagree with her choice, but that’s the thing—variety is the spice of life.

In the end, they don’t need me. Even when we locate Krenmock—ex-Duke of the Inifinite Keeps—the fight is over long before it starts. Without the aid of his most powerful allies—who are all Shackled to not betray the Empress—he’s cornered on the floating asteroid he calls his base. The only reason it was a challenge was because we decided to play nice and go in instead of bringing a fleet to blow it to bits at a distance.

I’m left alone, and that leaves me more than enough time to grind and, very carefully, test my new Skill. I explore the System, the way it changes lairs to dungeons, the unClassed to Classed. I watch as people complete new Quests and accept new Classes, when Settlement Orbs flicker and die and when Mana overpowers technology. I eye Skills as they trigger, as the System takes over the heavy lifting.

And I understand more than ever.

But my System Quest doesn’t tick up, no matter what I learn of how the System works. I’m stuck at the 89% mark. I’m missing something, and I can only believe that it’s in my head somewhere. And so, I study. I suffer through the headaches and the pain, the bloody noses and the brain bleeds that are fixed by the System in my trawling through the library.

Searching. And failing.

Six months, and finally, the other shoe drops.

Because choices have consequences. And consequences have babies.

The call comes as I ready to open a Portal to another dungeon. I step off the teleportation platform, allowing others to take my place. Mikito frowns, drawing her naginata—to the chagrin of the guards. But she ignores them, watching Ali and me.

“John?”

“Katherine.” I frown, staring at Earth’s Ambassador to the Galactic Council. All these years and she’s managed to hold the position. She’s grown into it, from the brief conversations we’ve had. But there’s a haunted look in the woman’s eyes today, her hair in disarray, a smudge of something dark and black on her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

“They destroyed the Embassy,” she says, her voice shaking with each word. “Killed half of my staff, those who didn’t have enough health. We need you to come.”

“To Irvina?”

Her head bobs like a marionette’s. She drops her voice, whispering the next words and sending a chill through me. “They killed Peter. They’ll kill us all if you don’t come.”

“Who?” My fingers ache, my fists clenched so tightly they hurt. “Who’s threatening you?”

She startles, looks over her shoulder at a noise only she can hear. “They’re coming. I have to go.”

“Who’s coming?”

A pair of last words, before the connection cuts off, before my head hurts as the System shuts down the jagged call.

“The Council.”

###

The End

Thus Ends Book 9 of the System Apocalypse.

John will be back in Broken Council (Book 10 of the System Apocalypse)

Estimated release Q4 2020 / Q1 2021

Author’s Note

Stars Asunder is the end of the Galactic arc for the System Apocalypse series. This arc was always meant to showcase John’s journey through the System universe, showcasing to him the effects of the System on planets not his own and also, providing him further clues to the ultimate question – What is the System?

The next book, Broken Council will start the final arc of the System Apocalypse series. Having drawn the ire of the Galactic Council, he’ll be forced to make difficult choices, and do his very best to survive the coming storm.

As always, I’m grateful for everyone who has followed me on this long journey. I’ve received more support in this little story in my head than I could ever expect and hope that you’ve enjoyed the journey thus far.

If you enjoyed reading the book, please do leave a review and rating. Reviews are the lifeblood of authors and help others choose to continue with the series or not.

In addition, please check out my other series, Adventures on BradAdventures on Brad(https://readerlinks.com/l/971658)

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(an urban fantasy GameLit series), and A Thousand LiA Thousand Li(https://readerlinks.com/l/971660)

(a cultivation series inspired by Chinese xianxia novels).

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About the Author

Tao Wong is an avid fantasy and sci-fi reader who spends his time working and writing in the North of Canada. He’s spent way too many years doing martial arts of many forms, and having broken himself too often, he now spends his time writing about fantasy worlds.

For updates on the series and other books written by Tao Wong (and special one-shot stories), please visit the author’s website:

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Subscribers to Tao’s mailing list will receive exclusive access to short stories in the Thousand Li and System Apocalypse universes: https://www.subscribepage.com/taowonghttps://www.subscribepage.com/taowong(https://www.subscribepage.com/taowong)

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About the Publisher

Starlit Publishing is wholly owned and operated by Tao Wong. It is a science fiction and fantasy publisher focused on the LitRPG & cultivation genres. Their focus is on promoting new, upcoming authors in the genre whose writing challenges the existing stereotypes while giving a rip-roaring good read.

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Books in The System Apocalypse Universe

Main Storyline

Life in the North

Redeemer of the Dead

The Cost of Survival

Cities in Chains

Coast on Fire

World Unbound

Stars Awoken

Rebel Star

Stars Asunder

Broken Council (Q4 2020/Q1 2021)

Anthologies

System Apocalypse Short Story Anthology Volume 1

Comic Series

The System Apocalypse Comics (On-going)

Glossary

Erethran Honor Guard Skill Tree

John’s Erethran Honor Guard Skills

Mana Imbue (Level 5)

Soulbound weapon now permanently imbued with Mana to deal more damage on each hit. +30 Base Damage (Mana). Will ignore armor and resistances. Mana regeneration reduced by 25 Mana per minute permanently.

Blade Strike (Level 5)

By projecting additional Mana and stamina into a strike, the Erethran Honor Guard’s Soulbound weapon may project a strike up to 50 feet away.

Cost: 50 Stamina + 50 Mana

Thousand Steps (Level 1)

Movement speed for the Honor Guard and allies are increased by 5% while skill is active. This ability is stackable with other movement-related skills.

Cost: 20 Stamina + 20 Mana per minute

Altered Space (Level 2)

The Honor Guard now has access to an extra-dimensional storage location of 30 cubic meters. Items stored must be touched to be willed in and may not include living creatures or items currently affected by auras that are not the Honor Guard’s. Mana regeneration reduced by 10 Mana per minute permanently.

Two are One (Level 1)

Effect: Transfer 10% of all damage from Target to Self

Cost: 5 Mana per second

The Body’s Resolve (Level 3)

Effect: Increase natural health regeneration by 35%. Ongoing health status effects reduced by 33%. Honor Guard may now regenerate lost limbs. Mana regeneration reduced by 15 Mana per minute permanently.

Greater Detection (Level 1)

Effect: User may now detect System creatures up to 1 kilometer away. General information about strength level is provided on detection. Stealth skills, Class skills, and ambient Mana density will influence the effectiveness of this skill. Mana regeneration reduced by 5 Mana per minute permanently.

A Thousand Blades (Level 4)

Creates five duplicate copies of the user’s designated weapon. Duplicate copies deal base damage of copied items. May be combined with Mana Imbue and Shield Transference. Mana Cost: 3 Mana per second

Soul Shield (Level 4)

Effect: Creates a manipulable shield to cover the caster’s or target’s body. Shield has 1,500 Hit Points.

Cost: 250 Mana

Blink Step (Level 2)

Effect: Instantaneous teleportation via line-of-sight. May include Spirit’s line of sight. Maximum range—500 meters.

Cost: 100 Mana

Portal (Level 5)

Effect: Creates a 5-meter by 5-meter portal which can connect to a previously traveled location by user. May be used by others. Maximum distance range of portals is 10,000 kilometers.

Cost: 250 Mana + 100 Mana per minute (minimum cost 350 Mana)

Army of One (Level 4)

The Honor Guard’s feared penultimate combat ability, Army of One builds upon previous Skills, allowing the user to unleash an awe-inspiring attack to deal with their enemies. Attack may now be guided around minor obstacles.

Effect: Army of One allows the projection of (Number of Thousand Blades conjured weapons * 3) Blade Strike attacks up to 500 meters away from user. Each attack deals 5 * Blade Strike Level damage (inclusive of Mana Imbue and Soulbound weapon bonus)

Cost: 750 Mana

Sanctum (Level 2)

An Erethran Honor Guard’s ultimate trump card in safeguarding their target, Sanctum creates a flexible shield that blocks all incoming attacks, hostile teleportations and Skills. At this Level of Skill, the user must specify dimensions of the Sanctum upon use of the Skill. The Sanctum cannot be moved while the Skill is activated.

Dimensions: Maximum 15 cubic meters.

Cost: 1,000 Mana

Duration: 2 minute and 7 seconds

Paladin of Erethra Skill Tree

John’s Paladin of Erethra Skills

Penetration (Level 9—Evolved)

Few can face the judgment of a Paladin in direct combat, their ability to bypass even the toughest of defenses a frightening prospect. Reduces Mana Regeneration by 45 permanently.

Effect: Ignore all armor and defensive Skills and spells by 90%. Increases damage done to shields and structural supports by 175%.

Secondary Effect: Damage that is resisted by spells, armor, Skills and Resistances is transferred to an Evolved Skill shield at a ratio of 1 to 1.

Duration: 85 minutes

Aura of Chivalry (Level 1)

A Paladin’s very presence can quail weak-hearted enemies and bolster the confidence of allies, whether on the battlefield or in court. The Aura of Chivalry is a double-edged sword however, focusing attention on the Paladin—potentially to their detriment. Increases success rate of Perception checks against Paladin by 10% and reduces stealth and related skills by 10% while active. Reduces Mana Regeneration by 5 Permanently.

Effect: All enemies must make a Willpower check against intimidation against user’s Charisma. Failure to pass the check will cow enemies. All allies gain a 50% boost in morale for all Willpower checks and a 10% boost in confidence and probability of succeeding in relevant actions.

Note: Aura may be activated or left-off at will.

Beacon of the Angels (Level 2)

User calls down an atmospheric strike from the heavens, dealing damage over a wide area to all enemies within the beacon. The attack takes time to form, but once activated need not be concentrated upon for completion.

Effect: 1000 Mana Damage done to all enemies, structures and vehicles within the maximum 25 meter column of attack

Mana Cost: 500 Mana

Eyes of Insight (Level 1)

Under the eyes of a Paladin, all untruth and deceptions fall away. Only when the Paladin can see with clarity may he be able to judge effectively. Reduces Mana Regeneration by 5.

Effect: All Skills, Spells and abilities of a lower grade that obfuscate, hinder or deceive the Paladin are reduced in effectiveness. Level of reduction proportionate to degree of difference in grade and Skill Level.

Eye of the Storm (Level 1)

In the middle of the battlefield, the Paladin stands, seeking justice and offering judgment on all enemies. The winds of war will seek to draw both enemies and allies to you, their cruel flurries robbing enemies of their lives and bolstering the health and Mana of allies.

Effect: Eye of the Storm is an area effect buff and taunt. Psychic winds taunt enemies, forcing a Mental Resistance check to avoid attacking user. Enemies also receive 5 points of damage per second while within the influence of the Skill, with damage decreasing from the epicenter of the Skill. Allies receive a 5% increase in Mana and Health regeneration, decrease in effectiveness from Skill center. Eye of the Storm affects an area of 50 meters around the user.

Cost: 500 Mana + 20 Mana per second

Vanguard of the Apocalypse (Level 2)

Where others flee, the Paladin strides forward. Where the brave dare not advance, the Paladin charges. While the world burns, the Paladin still fights. The Paladin with this Skill is the vanguard of any fight, leading the charge against all of Erethra’s enemies.

Effect: +45 to all Physical attributes, increases speed by 55% and recovery rates by 35%. This Skill is stackable on top of other attribute and speed boosting Skills or spells.

Cost: 500 Mana + 10 Stamina per second

Society’s Web (Level 1)

Where the Eye of Insight provides the Paladin an understanding of the lies and mistruths told, Society’s Web shows the Paladin the intricate webs that tie individuals to one another. No alliance, no betrayal, no tangled web of lies will be hidden as each interaction weaves one another closer. While the Skill provides no detailed information, a skilled Paladin can infer much from the Web.

Effect: Upon activation, the Paladin will see all threads that tie each individual to one another and automatically understand the details of each thread when focused upon.

Cost: 400 Mana + 200 Mana per minute

Domain (Level 2)

Details not revealed as yet.

Grand Paladin Skills

Grand Cross (Level 1)

Details not revealed as yet.

Junior Administrator Skills

System Edit

A core Skill for System Administrators.

Effect: Make trivial to minor amendments to System processes

Cost: Variable (HP & MP)

Other Class Skills

Frenzy (Level 1)

Effect: When activated, pain is reduced by 80%, damage increased by 30%, stamina regeneration rate increased by 20%. Mana regeneration rate decreased by 10%

Frenzy will not deactivate until all enemies have been slain. User may not retreat while Frenzy is active.

Cleave (Level 2)

Effect: Physical attacks deal 60% more base damage. Effect may be combined with other Class Skills.

Cost: 25 Mana

Elemental Strike (Level 1—Ice)

Effect: Used to imbue a weapon with freezing damage. Adds +5 Base Damage to attacks and a 10% chance of reducing speed by 5% upon contact. Lasts for 30 seconds.

Cost: 50 Mana

Instantaneous Inventory (Maxed)

Allows user to place or remove any System-recognized item from Inventory if space allows. Includes the automatic arrangement of space in the inventory. User must be touching item.

Cost: 5 Mana per item

Shrunken Footsteps (Level 1)

Reduces System presence of user, increasing the chance of the user evading detection of System-assisted sensing Skills and equipment. Also increases cost of information purchased about user. Reduces Mana Regeneration by 5 permanently.

Tech Link (Level 2)

Effect: Tech Link allows user to increase their skill level in using a technological item, increasing input and versatility in usage of said items. Effects vary depending on item. General increase in efficiency of 10%. Mana regeneration rate decreased by 10%

Designated Technological Items: Neural Link, Hodo’s Triple Forged Armor

Analyze (Level 2)

Allows user to scan individuals, monsters, and System-registered objects to gather information registered with the System. Detail and level of accuracy of information is dependent on Level and any Skills or Spells in conflict with the ability. Reduces Mana regeneration by 10 permanently.

Harden (Level 2)

This Skill reinforces targeted defenses and actively weakens incoming attacks to reduce their penetrating power. A staple Skill of the Turtle Knights of Kiumma, the Harden Skill has frustrated opponents for millennia.

Effect: Reduces penetrative effects of attacks by 30% on targeted defense.

Cost: 3 Mana per second

Quantum Lock (Level 3)

A staple Skill of the M453-X Mecani-assistants, Quantum Lock blocks stealth attacks and decreases the tactical options of their enemies. While active, the Quantum Lock of the Mecani-assistants excites quantum strings in the affected area for all individuals and Skills.

Effect: All teleportation, portal, and dimensional Skills and Spells are disrupted while Quantum Lock is in effect. Forceable use of Skills and Spells while Skill is in effect will result in (Used Skill Mana Cost * 4) health in damage. Users may pay a variable amount of additional Mana when activating the Skill to decrease effect of Quantum Lock and decrease damage taken.

Requirements: 200 Willpower, 200 Intelligence

Area of Effect: 100 meter radius around user

Cost: 250 + 50 Mana per Minute

Elastic Skin (Level 3)

Elastic Skin is a permanent alteration, allowing the user to receive and absorb a small portion of damage. Damage taken reduced by 7% with 7% of damage absorbed converted to Mana. Mana Regeneration reduced by 15 permanently.

Disengage Safeties (Level 2)

All technological weapons have safeties built in. Users of this Skill recklessly disregard the mandatory safeties, deciding that they know better than the crafters, engineers, and government personnel who built and regulate the production of these technological pieces.

Effects: Increase power output from 2.5-25% depending on the weapon and its level of sophistication. Increase durability losses from use by 25-250%.

Cost: 200 Mana + 25 Mana per minute

Temporary Forced Link (Level 1)

Most Class Skills can’t be linked with another’s. The instability formed between the mixing of the aura from multiple Mana sources often results in spectacular—and explosive—scenarios. For the 02m8 Symbiotes though, the need to survive within their host bodies and use their Skills has resulted in this unique Skill, allowing the Symbiote to lend their Mana and Skills. (For more persistent effects, see Mana Graft)

Effect: Skill and Skill effects are forcibly combined. Final effect results will vary depending on level of compatibility of Skills.

Cost: 250 Mana + 10 Mana per minute (plus original Skill cost)

Hyperspace Nitro Boost (Level 1)

When you’ve got to win the race, there’s nothing like a hyperspace boost. This Skill links the user with his craft’s hyperspace engine, providing a direct boost to its efficiency. Unlike normal speed increases for hyperspace engines, the Nitro Boost is a variable boost and runs a risk of damaging the engine.

Effect: 15% increase in hyperspace engine efficiency + variable % increase in efficiency at 1% per surplus Mana. Each additional 1% over base raises chance of catastrophic engine failure by 0.01%

Cost: 250 Mana + (surplus variable amount; minimum 200 Mana increments) per minute

On the Edge (Level 1)

Shuttle racers live their lives on the edge, cutting corners by feet and dodging monsters by inches. There’s only one way to drive a ship with that level of precision, and no matter what those military Pilots tell you, it’s with On the Edge.

Effect: +10% boost in ship handling and maneuverability. +10% passive increase in all piloting skills. +1% increase per increment of surplus Mana

Cost: 100 Mana per level + (surplus variable amount; minimum 100 Mana increments) per minute

Fate’s Thread (Level 2)

The Akashi’so believe that we are all but weavings in the great thread of life. Connected to one another by the great Weaver, there is not one but multiple threads between us all, woven from our interactions and histories. Fate’s Thread is but a Skill expression of this belief. This Skill cannot be dodged but may be blocked. After all, all things are bound together.

Effect: Fate Thread allows the user to bind individuals together by making what is already there apparent. Thread is made physical and may be used to pull, tie and bind.

Duration: 2 minutes

Cost: 60 Mana

Spells

Improved Minor Healing (IV)

Effect: Heals 40 Health per casting. Target must be in contact during healing. Cooldown 60 seconds.

Cost: 20 Mana

Improved Mana Missile (IV)

Effect: Creates four missiles out of pure Mana, which can be directed to damage a target. Each dart does 30 damage. Cooldown 10 seconds

Cost: 35 Mana

Enhanced Lightning Strike

Effect: Call forth the power of the gods, casting lightning. Lightning strike may affect additional targets depending on proximity, charge and other conductive materials on-hand. Does 100 points of electrical damage.

Lightning Strike may be continuously channeled to increase damage for 10 additional damage per second.

Cost: 75 Mana.

Continuous cast cost: 5 Mana / second

Lightning Strike may be enhanced by using the Elemental Affinity of Electromagnetic Force. Damage increased by 20% per level of affinity

Greater Regeneration (II)

Effect: Increases natural health regeneration of target by 6%. Only single use of spell effective on a target at a time.

Duration: 10 minutes

Cost: 100 Mana

Firestorm

Effect: Create a firestorm with a radius of 5 meters. Deals 250 points of fire damage to those caught within. Cooldown 60 seconds.

Cost: 200 Mana

Polar Zone

Effect: Create a thirty meter diameter blizzard that freezes all targets within one. Does 10 points of freezing damage per minute plus reduces effected individuals speed by 5%. Cooldown 60 seconds.

Cost: 200 Mana

Greater Healing (II)

Effect: Heals 100 Health per casting. Target does not require contact during healing. Cooldown 60 seconds per target.

Cost: 75 Mana

Mana Drip (II)

Effect: Increases natural health regeneration of target by 6%. Only single use of spell effective on a target at a time.

Duration: 10 minutes

Cost: 100 Mana

Freezing Blade

Effect: Enchants weapon with a slowing effect. A 5% slowing effect is applied on a successful strike. This effect is cumulative and lasts for 1 minute. Cooldown 3 minutes

Spell Duration: 1 minute.

Cost: 150 Mana

Improved Inferno Strike (II)

A beam of heat raised to the levels of an inferno, able to melt steel and earth on contact! The perfect spell for those looking to do a lot of damage in a short period of time.

Effect: Does 200 Points of Heat Damage

Cost: 150 Mana

MudWalls

Unlike its more common counterpart Earthen Walls, Mud Walls focus is more on dealing slow, suffocating damage and restricting movement on the battlefield.

Effect: Does 20 Points of Suffocating Damage. -30% Movement Speed

Duration: 2 Minutes

Cost: 75 Mana

Create Water

Pulls water from the elemental plane of water. Water is pure and the highest form of water available. Conjures 1 liter of water. Cooldown: 1 minute

Cost: 50 Mana

Scry

Allows caster to view a location up to 1.7 kilometers away. Range may be extended through use of additional Mana. Caster will be stationary during this period. It is recommended caster focuses on the scry unless caster has a high level of Intelligence and Perception so as to avoid accidents. Scry may be blocked by equivalent or higher tier spells and Skills. Individuals with high perception in region of Scry may be alerted that the Skill is in use. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Cost: 25 Mana per minute.

Scrying Ward

Blocks scrying spells and their equivalent within 5 meters of caster. Higher level spells may not be blocked, but caster may be alerted about scrying attempts. Cooldown: 10 minutes

Cost: 50 Mana per minute

Improved Invisibility

Hides target’s System information, aura, scent, and visual appearance. Effectiveness of spell is dependent upon Intelligence of caster and any Skills or Spells in conflict with the target.

Cost: 100 + 50 Mana per minute

Improved Mana Cage

While physically weaker than other elemental-based capture spells, Mana Cage has the advantage of being able to restrict all creatures, including semi-solid Spirits, conjured elementals, shadow beasts, and Skill users. Cooldown: 1 minute

Cost: 200 Mana + 75 Mana per minute

Improved Flight

(Fly birdie, fly!—Ali) This spell allows the user to defy gravity, using controlled bursts of Mana to combat gravity and allow the user to fly in even the most challenging of situations. The improved version of this spell allows flight even in zero gravity situations and a higher level of maneuverability. Cooldown: 1 minute

Cost: 250 Mana + 100 Mana per minute

Equipment

Hod’s Triple Fused Armor

The product of multiple workings by the Master Blacksmith and Crafter Hodiliphious ‘Hod’ Yalding, the Triple Fused Armor was hand-forged from rare, System-generated material, hand refined and reworked trice over with multiple patented and rare alloys and materials. The final product is considered barely passable by Hod—though it would make a lesser craftsman cry.

Core: Class I Hallow Physics Mana Engine

CPU: Class B Wote Core CPU

Armor Rating: Tier I (Enhanced)

Hard Points: 9 (6 Used—Jungian Flight System, Talpidae Abyssal Horns, Luione Hard Light Projectors, Diarus Poison Stingers, Ares Type I Shield Generator, Greater Troll Cell Injectors)

Soft Points 4 (3 Used—Neural Link, Ynir HUD Imaging, Airmed Body Monitor)

Battery Capacity: 380/380

Active Skills: Abyssal Chains, Mirror Shade, Poison Grip

Attribute Bonuses: +93 Strength, +78 Agility, +51 Constitution, +44 Perception, +287 Stamina and Health Regeneration per minute

Note: Hod’s Triple Fused Armor is currently under limited warranty. Armor may be teleported to Hod’s workshop for repairs once a week. All cost of repairs will be deducted from user’s account.

Skills in Hod’s Armor:

Abyssal Chains

Calling upon the material connection to the shadow plane, chains from the abyss erupt, binding a target in place.

Effect: Target is bound by shadow chains. Chains deal 10 points of damage per second. To break free, target must win a contested Strength test. Abyssal Chains have a Strength of 120.

Uses: 2/3

Recharge rate: 1 per hour

Mirror Shade

Mirror Shade creates a semi-solid doppelganger using hard light technology and Mana.

Effect: Mirror Shade create a semi-solid doppelganger of the user for a period of ten minutes. Maximum range of doppelganger from user is fifty meters. Doppelganger has 18% physical fidelity.

Use: 0/1

Recharge Rate: 1 per 4 hours

Silversmith Jeupa VII Anti-Personnel Cannon (Modified & Upgraded)

This quad-barrelled anti-personnel weapon has been handcrafted by Advanced Weaponsmiths to provide the highest integration possible for an energy weapon. This particular weapon has been modified to include additional range-finding and sighting options and upgraded to increase short-term damage output at the cost of long-term durability. Barrels may be fired individually or linked.

Base Damage: 787 per barrel

Battery Capacity: 4 per barrel (16 total)

Recharge Rate: 0.25 per hour per GMU

Ares Platinum Class Tier II Armored Jumpsuit

Ares’s signature Platinum Class line of armored daily wear combines the company’s latest technological advancement in nanotech fiber design and the pinnacle work of an Advanced Craftsman’s Skill to provide unrivalled protection for the discerning Adventurer.

Effect: +218 Defense, +14% Resistance to Kinetic and Energy Attacks. +19% Resistance against Temperature changes. Self-Cleanse, Self-Mend, Autofit Enchantments also included.

Silversmith Mark VIII Beam Pistol (Upgradeable)

Base Damage: 88

Battery Capacity: 13/13

Recharge Rate: 3 per hour per GMU

Tier IV Neural Link

Neural link may support up to 5 connections.

Current connections: Hod’s Triple Fused Armor

Software Installed: Rich’lki Firewall Class IV, Omnitron III Class IV Controller

Ferlix Type I Twinned-Beam Rifle (Modified)

Base Damage: 39

Battery Capacity: 41/41

Recharge rate: 1 per hour per GMU

Tier II Sword (Soulbound Personal Weapon of an Erethran Honor Guard)

Base Damage: 397

Durability: N/A (Personal Weapon)

Special Abilities: +20 Mana Damage, Blade Strike

Kryl Ring of Regeneration

Often used as betrothal bands, Kyrl rings are highly sought after and must be ordered months in advance.

Health Regeneration: +30

Stamina Regeneration: +15

Mana Regeneration: +5

Tier III Bracer of Mana Storage

A custom work by an unknown maker, this bracer acts a storage battery for personal Mana. Useful for Mages and other Classes that rely on Mana. Mana storage ratio is 50 to 1.

Mana Capacity: 350/350

Fey-steel Dagger

Fey-steel is not actual steel but an unknown alloy. Normally reserved only for the Sidhe nobility, a small—by Galactic standards—amount of Fey-steel is released for sale each year. Fey-steel takes enchantments extremely well.

Base Damage: 28

Durability: 110/100

Special Abilities: None

Enchanted, Reinforced Toothy Throwing Knives (5)

First handcrafted from the rare drop of a Level 140 Awakened Beast by the Redeemer of the Dead, John Lee, these knives have been further processed by the Master Craftsmen I-24-988L and reinforced with orichalcum and fey-steel. The final blades have been further enchanted with Mana and piercing damage as well as a return enchantment.

Base Damage: 238

Enchantments: Return, Mana Blade (+28 Damage), Pierce (-7% defense)

Brumwell Necklace of Shadow Intent

The Brumwell necklace of shadow intent is the hallmark item of the Brumwell Clan. Enchanted by a Master Crafter, this necklace layers shadowy intents over your actions, ensuring that information about your actions are more difficult to ascertain. Ownership of such an item is both a necessity and a mark of prestige among settlement owners and other individuals of power.

Effect: Persistent effect of Shadow Intent (Level 4) results in significantly increased cost of purchasing information from the System about wearer. Effect is persistent for all actions taken while necklace is worn.

Ring of Greater Shielding

Creates a greater shield that will absorb approximately 1000 points of damage. This shield will ignore all damage that does not exceed its threshold amount of 50 points of damage while still functioning.

Max Duration: 7 Minutes

Charges: 1

Simalax Hover Boots (Tier II)

A combination of hand-crafted materials and mass produced components, the Simalax Hover Boots are the journeyman work of Magi-Technician Lok of Irvina. Enchantments and technology mesh together in the Simalax Hover Boots, offering its wearer the ability to tread on air briefly and defy gravity and sense.

Effects: User reduces gravitational effects by 0.218 SIG. User may, on activation, hover and skate during normal and mildly turbulent atmospheric conditions. User may also use the Simalax Hover Boots to triple jump in the air, engaging the anti-gravity and hover aspects at the same time.

Duration: 1.98 SI Hours.

F’Merc Nanoswarm Mana Grenades (Tier II)

The F’Merc Nanoswarm Grenades are guaranteed to disrupt the collection of Mana in a battlefield, reducing Mana Regeneration rates for those caught in the swarm. Recommended by the I’um military, the Torra Special Forces and the No.1 Most Popular Mana Grenade as voted by the public on Boom, Boom, Boom! Magazine.

Effect: Reduces Mana Regeneration rates and spell formation in affected area by 37% ((higher effects in enclosed areas)

Radius: 10m x 10m

Daghtree’s Legendary Ring of Deception (Tier I)

A musician, poet and artist, Daghtree’s fame rose not from his sub-standard works of ‘art’ but his array of seduction Skills from his Heartthrob Artist Class. Due to his increasing infamy, Daghtree commissioned this Legendary ring to change his appearance and continue Leveling. In the end, it is rumored that his indiscretions caught up with the infamous artist and he disappeared from Galactic sources in GCD 9,275

Effect: Creates a powerful disguise that covers the wearer. The ring comes with six pre-loaded disguises and additional disguises may be added through expansion of charges

Duration: 1 day per charge

Charges: 3

Recharge via ambient Mana: 1 charge per Galactic Standard Unit per week

F’Merc Ghostlight Mana Dispersal Grenades (Tier I)

The F’Merc Ghostlight Mana Dispersal

Grenades not only disperse Mana in the battlefield, the Ghostlight Dispersal Grenades degrade all Mana Skills and spells within its field of effectiveness. Used by Krolash the Destroyer, the Erethran Champion Isma (prior version) and Anblanca Special Forces. Five times Winner of the Most Annoying Utility Item on the Battlefield.

Effect: Reduces Mana Regeneration rates, Skill and spell formation use in affected area by 67% ((higher effects in enclosed areas)

Radius: 15m^3^

Evernight Darkness Orbs

When the world goes light, the Evernight Darkness Orbs will bring back blessed darkness. If you need darkness, you need Evernight!

Effect: Removes al visible light and mute infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths by 30%

Radius: 50m^3^

Seven Heavenly Spire Wards

Quick to set-up, the Seven Heavenly Spire Wards were crafted by the Thrice Loved Bachelor’s Temple of the Sinking Domain as their main export. Using the total prayer and faith of the temple, they produce a set of wards every month.

Effect: Set’s up a 30’ by 30’ defensive ward; protects against both magical and technological attacks and entry

Fumikara Mobile Teleport Circles

These one-off use mobile teleport circles allow connection to existing and open teleport networks.

Effect: Connect to open teleport networks within a 5,000 kim radius of the teleport circles. Allows teleportation of individuals to the networked teleport centers

PoenJoe Goleminised-Mana Generator Mark 18

The latest Mana Generator by the infamous PoenJoe, the Mark 18 is guaranteed* to not blow up on you in optimal conditions. This partially sentient Mana Generator can extract up to 98% of a Mana Crystal’s saved energy in 0.003 seconds. Currently loaded in an Adult Kirin Mana Core.

Effect: It’s a Power Generator. Guaranteed to provide up to 98 x 10*99 Standard Galactic Mana Units

*Not actually guaranteed. In fact, we’re 100% certain that containment failure will occur.

Payload (Level 2) (Embeded in Anklet of Dispersed Damage)

Sometimes, you need to get your Skills inside a location. Payload allows you to imbue an individual or item with a Skill at a reduced strength.

Effect: 71% effectiveness of Skill imbued.

Secondary Effect: Skill may be now triggered on a timed basis (max 2:07 minutes)

Uses: 22

Recharge: 10.7 charges per day in SGE

Table of Contents

What Has Gone Before

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Epilogue

Author’s Note

About the Author

About the Publisher

Books in The System Apocalypse Universe

Glossary

Erethran Honor Guard Skill Tree

John’s Erethran Honor Guard Skills

Paladin of Erethra Skill Tree

John’s Paladin of Erethra Skills

Grand Paladin Skills

Junior Administrator Skills

Other Class Skills

Spells

Equipment

Broken Council: A Space Opera, Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (The System Apocalypse Book 10) Tao Wong

Broken Council

Book 10 of the System Apocalypse

By

Tao Wong

License Notes

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Broken Council

Copyright © 2021 Tao Wong. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2021 Sarah Anderson Cover Designer

A Tao Wong Book

Published by Starlit Publishing

69 Teslin Rd

Whitehorse, YT

Y1A 3M5

Canada

www.starlitpublishing.com

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-989994-45-0

Print ISBN: 978-1-989994-46-7

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-989994-47-4

Contents

What Has Gone Before

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Epilogue

Author’s Note

About the Author

About the Publisher

Books in the System Apocalypse Universe

Glossary

Erethran Honor Guard Skill Tree

John’s Erethran Honor Guard Skills

Paladin of Erethra Skill Tree

John’s Paladin of Erethra Skills

Grand Paladin Skills

Junior Administrator Skills

Other Class Skills

Spells

Equipment

What Has Gone Before

John Lee has come a long way fom his mountain campsite in the Yukon when the System first initiated on Earth. He’s helped stabilize Earth’s politics, travelled across the galaxy and, in his latest adventure, helped the Erethran Empire choose its next Empress.

Along the way, he’s continued his search for an answer to the first Quest he ever received – What is the System.

At the end of his recent adventure, he achieved a new height of power, a Heroic Class. Except, unknown to most, is the fact that his Heroic Class shown to all – Grand Paladin – is but a ruse, a lie for what he truly gained. For John found a Hidden Class, that of a Junior Administrator of the System.

It’s a secret with dire implications and those who would keep it hidden have already acted, attacking Earth’s embassy on Irvina, the capital of the Galaxy.

Chapter 1

The Portal opens five hundred sixty meters in the air. When I step through it, I free-fall. Beneath me, the herd of L’liest CaTues cover the ground like the bison herds of yore, their mottled brown and green skin hiding the trampled earth beneath.

The L’liest are six-legged scaled behemoths whose bellows reach me high above, as does the never-ceasing pounding of their feet. They’re tiny figures to my eyes, belying their actual size tens of meters tall and half as wide. Spirals of razor-sharp spikes, dripping with poison, jut from their bodies in a vicious pattern. From their six-eyed, conical faces, roars of dissatisfaction and grunts of anger erupt in rhythmic regularity as they search for prey.

In the distance, the earth shakes and rocks dance on cracked, sun-baked pale-yellow clay. The desolate vista is broken by the occasional glimpse of purple cacti. Around me, as I plummet, the sky is lit with the pale-yellow light of the dying sun, a massive thing in the last couple of million years of its life.

A surge of will and I call forth their Status information.

L’liest CaTues (Level 187)

HP: 18,736/18752*

MP: 2457/2457

Conditions: Hardened Skin, Scaled Protection, Poisonous Fog, Acoustic Beat, Power of the Herd*

* Health is shared among all members of the herd, as is damage.

Beside me, as I fall, Ali hovers, cross-legged. My tiny, six-inch-tall Spirit companion is clad in his usual orange jumpsuit. Skin the color of tanned wood, with a sculpted goatee, his fingers play across invisible screens as we plummet.

“You know, I’m sure you’ve done dumber things in the past. But I am forgetting them…”

“It’s the pressure. I’ve done a lot dumber things,” I reassure Ali. Even as I speak, I’ve split my attention enough to begin the process of calling forth my Skills. I start with the simple ones.

Soul Shield for protection.

A Thousand Blades to give me access to copies of my Soulbound sword.

Aura of Chivalry for the damage bonus and intimidation effect.

Eye of the Storm to concentrate their focus on me.

The Evolved Penetration Skill to give me a secondary shield defense.

Then I kick on my Hoverboots and float. The creatures below are trumpeting their dissatisfaction, my Soul Shield shimmering as their audio attacks slam into it. I’m not in my Hod right now, the power armor stored away. Replacing it would be expensive, and between my evolved Penetration Skill shielding and Soul Shield, I should be safe enough.

Lastly, to add shielding points to my Penetration Skill, I call forth a Beacon of the Angels. The ritual glyph forms in the air, a circular oval of light showering the herd with pure, unadulterated energy.

L’liest CaTueses crisp beneath the azure glow of formed energy, scales cracking, poison mists burning away. They thrash and scream as a damage counter in the corner of my vision ticks up.

Beacon of the Angels is an area effect Skill, a near-perfect Skill for dealing with the horde. Near perfect since the radius of damage is insufficient as portions of the damage dealt are split between the entirety of the herd. Those caught outside see a small blip down, tens of hit points before their natural regeneration pops them back up.

Individual L’liest caught within the attack take more damage as only a portion of the damage is transferred. But their resistances, their Levels are high enough that I’d have to keep spamming the Skill to take out a single L’liest.

All this takes place in fractions of a second.

I hover, watching the effects of my attack—or the lack of them—and end up shaking my head. There’s a reason the L’liest have managed to survive this long and overrun an entire planet. Built up to this level, Power of the Herd is an insane Skill to overcome. You either have to get a whole army hammering at them in multiple assault locations to drive down the hit points of the entire herd or…

Well.

Me.

But for now, I take my time. Spell buffs are cast, just the basics. Health and Mana Regeneration, some physical damage resistance. An Elemental damage spell boost to add a little punch. And that’s about it.

There are other buffs that might work and wouldn’t directly conflict with the buffs I already have. I could even have asked for them from the fleet hanging around in space above. But then I’d have to share the XP. And it wouldn’t be a proper test of what I can do alone.

So.

Me, by myself, to start. Until I tear down enough of the monster herd’s health that it makes sense for the fleet to get involved. I watch the living carpet of scales and furious six-legged monsters, a writhing, heaving mass of anger, and find myself grinning.

There were other options. Other ways of doing this.

Considering everything over the last few months, everything that happened since Katherine’s call, letting loose feels right. That I gain the support of the Erethran Empire as a by-product is a nice bonus.

“You know, cackling madly to yourself isn’t normally considered normal, boy-o,” Ali says.

“Bite me.”

To punctuate my point, I raise my hand and call forth the first of my untested Skills.

Immovable Object / Unstoppable Force (Level 1)

A Paladin cannot be stopped. A Paladin cannot be moved. A Paladin is a force of the Erethran Empire on the battlefield. This Skill exemplifies this simple concept. Let all who doubt the strength of the Paladin tremble!

Use: User must select to be an Immovable Object or Unstoppable Force. Effect varies depending on choice. Skill combines with Aura of Chivalry to provide a smaller (10% of base effect) bonus to all friendlies within range.

Effect 1 (Immovable Object): Constitution, Health, and Damage Resistance (All) increased by 200% of User’s current total. All knockback effects are mitigated (including environmental knockback effects).

Effect 2 (Unstoppable Force): Agility, Movement Speed, Momentum, and Damage Calculations based off Momentum increased by 200% of User’s current total. Damage from other attacks increased by 100%. Only active while user is moving.

Cost: 5MP/s

I only put a single point in this because I wanted to reach Domain. I’d even gone so far as to spend my Credits—okay, the Empire’s Credits—to get this Skill level.

Now, I’m curious how it would affect things. A surge of energy sent a simple Firestorm spell down into the midst of the monsters, in the same area where I’d launched my initial attack.

“So?” I ask Ali. I’d rather do that than run the math myself.

“Nowhere near enough.”

“I was hoping for a little more detail,” I mutter.

“Really? You really want to know the math? Fine. The L’liest have a base fire resistance of 287% with their Power of the Herd Skill boosting that by another 63%. However, you’ve got a 90% Penetration Skill, allowing you to disregard all but 46.781% of that damage resistance. Now, your Firestorm does approximately a thousand points of base damage, which means you are dealing on average 532.19 points of fire damage,” Ali lectures me. “But that’s if you land a head-on strike, which excludes mitigating maneuvers, dodges, et cetera.

“Which, luckily for us, the L’liest are too dumb to do. So, 532.19 points of fire damage is applied to their hit points, which is doubled by Unstoppable Force. However, you have to include critical damage strikes to those that didn’t blink, minus those that did, add in the base regeneration levels they all have, take away crowding effects—”

“Enough, I get it,” I say, waving. “We’re doing around a thousand plus points of damage to the L’liest or so, but they’ve got eighteen thousand points just base. And that’s not including them shaving off a chunk for the rest of the herd.”

“Exactly,” Ali says. “You aren’t doing enough.”

“That figures,” I say.

It’s one of the reasons why I bought the damn Skill direct from the System. It’s not good enough for a lone fighter like me. If combined with the Aura Skill in the front of an army, that ten percent boost would be amazing. Split across thousands, and if those thousands were elites?

Either way, not my problem. I call forth the next Skill. It forms around me, seeming to twist the atmosphere by its very presence. I feel the Mana around me warp, change as my Skill takes it in-hand and make reality bend to its will. Immediately, I feel the Domain Skill working on me.

Domain (Level 1)

With chains that bind, and threads that extend from one to another, a Paladin is the center of events. In his Domain, enemies will break and allies will bend knee. Let the enemies of the Empire tremble before a Paladin with his Domain.

Effect 1: All enemy combatants receive -10% attribute decreases, a +10% increase in Mana cost, and lose 25 HP per second while within range of the Domain.

Effect 2: All allies receive a +10% increase in health regeneration, a 10% increase in attribues, and a reduction of -10% in Mana cost (semi-stackable) while within range of the Domain.

Range: 10 Meters

Cost: 500 Mana + 5 Mana per Second

One of the biggest aspects of Domain is its significantly lower upkeep cost. For example, my Eye of the Storm costs me a ridiculous 20 Mana per second, which leaves me using it only occasionally to draw attention and keep the focus of enemies on me for a short period. As a taunt Skill, it’s incredibly wasteful, other than its ability to affect multiple individuals at a time. Then again, it costs so much because it is a taunt Skill, since direct affect Skills on emotional and mental states are more expensive than physical effect Skills.

Whereas Domain, I could theoretically keep running constantly. Its upkeep is low enough that my natural regeneration leaves me able to keep it active, though obviously, I have fewer options if I do so.

Unfortunately, its range is pretty short, and it doesn’t stack damage effects. While it increases my base attributes, it doesn’t increase my Mana regeneration at all.

“All right, let’s try this again anyway,” I mutter.

Another Beacon of the Angels hammers the angry herd below. Ali watches the damage logs while I wait for my Mana to regenerate. I idly throw a Firestorm too when Ali bitches about messing with test results.

Now, you might be thinking, that’s great and all, but why isn’t the giant fleet in orbit showering kinetic weapons and beam attacks down onto the herd below? My Beacon of the Angels is pretty powerful, but it’s hard to compete with orbit-launched kinetic weaponry. Even with the penalties that the System places upon pure tech, there’s still something to be said about a gravity-drawn half-ton of mass.

There are a few reasons, as always. There’s the issue of lost XP. Launching orbital bombardments on monsters is damn safe, so it means that the System reduces the XP gain quite a lot. In a world where everyone wants more experience to go up in Levels, no one wants to waste it.

But more importantly, the System doesn’t let it happen. Oh, you can still drop giant rocks, and if you’ve got the Skills, you can do damage. But the farther away you are from entering a planet’s boundary, the greater the mass of Mana you have to push through. The greater the amount of Mana—and Mana generally is denser the closer you get to the surface—the greater the damage reduction.

Again, tossing planet killers or other orbital strikes around is still possible, but the cost and time taken in many cases is incredibly high.

As importantly, you need to have backup options—individuals on the ground to deal with the sudden increase in spawning as the attacks and subsequent deaths release a bunch of unruly System Mana. Without sapients on the ground to soak up the Mana, you have a different problem—unchecked Mana mutations. And those mutations often result in some truly scary monsters—the kind that can fire back at orbiting spaceships.

It wasn’t always like this. At one point, it was possible to unleash a ton of nukes and kinetic strikes and then mop up a little. But thousands of years ago, so far back that most people don’t even realize it, that changed. It was one of the first major changes in the way the System worked.

M: …this change in damage done via technology makes no sense. The Council should not be choosing to do this, not when we need to keep our planets from being overrun.

J: Agreed. This can’t be the Council’s doing.

K: Then who? The Council controls the System.

M: I think that’s why we have the System Quest. To find out who controls the System, really.

J: I disagree. If it meant that, it should have said so. Not ask what the System and Mana itself is.

…

The memory from the library surfaces, detailed correspondence from a time so long ago, humanity was still beating each other with sticks and huddling around a fire. It sweeps me away for a second before I wrestle the memory under control.

I’m getting better at controlling the uncontrolled release of information into my brain. The Corrupt Questor’s library, the entire damn repository of their knowledge squeezed into my brain and then encrypted. The encryption has been breaking down, and with it, additional secrets are coming to the fore.

“Are you done yet? Some of us are getting impatient here,” Bolo’s voice cackles over the communicator.

I grunt, almost imagining the seven-foot-tall alien with his ram-horns glowering at my image. “Soon. Hold your… dragons.”

“Why would I hold my dragons? Do you think we do not take good care of them?” Bolo growls. “That’s a lie! Any dragon the Knights take control of are well cared for. Who told you—”

I kill the communicator, focusing on my next Skill. This is the big one from the Master Class that I wanted to try. It’s a pity I failed to Evolve it, but that’s the risk you run.

Judgment of All (Level 6)

An Emperor might sit in judgment of those who defy them, but a Paladin sits in judgment of all who fall before his gaze. Desire bends and debases itself. Duty shatters under the weight of ever-greater burdens. Morality shifts under the winds of circumstance. In the eyes of those he serves, a Paladin’s judgment must be impeccable. Under his gaze, those underserving will fall. So long as his honor holds true, judgment will follow.

Effect: Skill inflicts (Erethran Reputation*$HonSysCal*1.5 = 442) points of on-going Mana damage to all judged unworthy within perception range of user.

Duration: 65 seconds

Cost: 1000 MP

I’ve never used the Skill before, but this seems to be the perfect place to try. I tap the portion of my mind that hosts the Skill, that slotted bundle of calculations that the System has imparted to me. I reach within, feeling the connection to the System, the portion it has dedicated to me and this Skill.

I trigger it, feeling Mana gush through my body, into the System to set the system running as Judgment of All activates. The world twists and bucks, turning grey and black, figures beneath me, above me, through my communicator and through the very threads that bind me to others activating.

And I know, with just a gentle push, I could make the Skill affect them all. Anyone I perceive, that I can sense, I can injure with this Skill. No matter the range, no matter the distance. I could kill with naught but a thought.

The people who are after my friends, the Council, the bounty hunters and the fighters who have attacked us, the merchants and petty criminals who cheated us. The fools in their corporations and Guilds who blocked us. I could kill them all just by letting the System know they are unworthy. Kill them with an activation of the Skill.

And a twist of the System.

I shut down that line of thought.

Hard.

I let the Skill run as it is meant to. Taking my physical senses, my hearing, my sight, the targets that the System and Ali have marked within range of me. And it shoves power down through the very same connection the System has formed with each of them.

Weaponizing itself.

For those without my Skill, without my Class, the show is just as spectacular. I glow as I float high above, like a wrathful god come down to lay his petty grievances upon the unworthy. All caught within the effect find themselves irradiated, glowing from within and without.

Skin, scale, and flesh crack, light spilling out from within. System-regeneration wars with the damage the Skill provides. L’liest burn from within, and even the herd’s Skill can’t shunt the damage aside fast enough. Hundreds of monsters fall, bellowing as they die. Experience notifications roll in without end, and I ignore them all.

Deep within, I stare as the System itself strains to deal with all the deaths. Mana, released from the dead monsters, gushes into the atmosphere. Some—a small portion—slides into the System itself, disappearing to places I cannot follow.

The rest escapes into the world while the System struggles to calculate and divvy damage, life and death, to all those within range. The planet itself bends and twists as the System struggles, released Mana searching for a place to deposit itself.

Some finds its target in me as experience, though the way it enters me and boosts me feels… different. Other streams of Mana find creatures too small for me to have noticed before. Forcing mutations, forcing growth. Cacti twist and expand, insects balloon in size, and leylines draw the rest away to dungeons throughout the planet.

In the corner of my mind, I note friends and allies curse and exclaim. A Paladin’s ultimate combat Skill is something that has not been seen in hundreds of years. And though the Erethrans might not hold me in the highest regard, I still hold some place in their culture, in their litany of legends.

And I’ve yet to call forth the best Skills.

***

It takes a while for the L’liest herd to resume their journey. Even as I fly to the nearest unharmed portion, the herd is disquieted, concerned by the first attack that has managed to harm them in decades. I’ve killed a noticeable percentage of the L’liest and they are wary now, in the way prey are when they know they’re being hunted. But they have to move or be crushed by those behind, so they eventually resume their never-ending journey away from the dungeon that first created them.

Beneath my feet, Ali flickers from point to point, his form split into multiple tiny copies. He scoops up the loot, dumping it in my storage, shunting it via Portals into a pile when we run out of space. His latest trick is amusing and potentially useful.

Even if he’s only used it to spy on sapients while they’re showering thus far.

“Are all final Master Class Skills that powerful?” Mikito asks over the comms, sounding intrigued rather than scared like many who shouted in my ear before. The Advanced Samurai is my most loyal supporter, though I doubt she understands the full extent of what happened. Hell, I don’t either. That sudden surge of megalomania… now that I’m not riding the high, I’m certain it’s not as easy as I thought to abuse my Skill. “Or is that just…”

“The Paladins’?” I shrug. “In a way. This is based off Reputation in the Empire. Before I came here, if I had picked this up, it would have done maybe a couple hundred points. Now…”

“Now, it’s an army killer,” Bolo rumbles. “Yes. The Lords of the Flight have a similar Skill. Beast Lords do too, though some draw from the power of their pack. A double-edged Skill.” I hear a pounding sound, and I imagine Bolo thumping himself in the Chest. “A true Dragon Lord does not require such base Skills. Strength comes from within the individual.”

“What he means is that Dragon Lords are geared toward individual strength rather than army-destroying Skills,” Brerdain says. The Chief of Staff for the Erethran Navy is with us, a courtesy addition to keep us out of trouble. Well, that and run the fleet we’ve brought along. I imagine the portly Admiral sneering at Bolo when he isn’t looking.

“Then my Master Class Skill…” Mikito says.

“Probably closer to Bolo’s than mine.” Then I frown, remembering aspects of her Skill. “Though I don’t know. The Samurai Skillset is…”

“Different. A servant-Class based off their lord’s potential, rather than their own,” Harry says. The smooth, dulcet tones of the British War Reporter’s voice slides into the conversation. “Not unique, bur uncommon for sure. Few care to tie themselves in so tightly. Potentially extremely powerful, but like yours, also circumstantial.”

“Bah. Let me down and I shall show you true strength!” Bolo says. I imagine him drumming his fingers on his hammer, though I doubt he’s taken it out on the bridge they’ve been watching me from. That would be too rude, even for him.

“Calm yourself, Dragon Lord. The Paladin desires to test his Skills,” Brerdain says.

“I would like some experience too,” Mikito says.

“Crazy combat monkeys,” Harry mutters.

Bolo growls. “We cannot gain experience by standing around recording the Paladin’s actions, unlike some.”

“Maybe, but I know patience.”

“Patience! I have shown much patience, all these weeks!”

“Enough, you two,” I say. I’m over another large herd. Big enough, among the rolling hills that look like tiny bumps beneath my feet, for the following Skill to work. More than sufficient. “One more only.”

Two. But they don’t need to know the second. In fact, they’re better off not knowing the second. At least for now.

“Last Skill. Grand Cross,” I announce.

I reach within, touching the bundle of information, and let it flow. Only a single point… but the effects are as spectacular as my Judgment of All.

***

The crater that lies before me is impressive in a truly disturbing way. I’d let the Skill expand to its maximum limit, though I know I could also compress it so that it becomes a single-person attack too. One of the advantages of a Heroic Class Skill is that it’s a lot more flexible by design.

The crater is tens of kilometers wide and at least a couple of kilometers deep. The earth is compressed, minor hills flattened as though a titan had pushed a seal upon the earth and all those beneath it. Once again, another rush of experience. Again, that feeling of wrongness, of unsettlement as that experience resides… somewhere. Somewhere wrong.

Beneath me, dead L’liest and a scorched earth. Around me, Portals open, landing craft screaming down to the ground as Erethran soldiers deploy, feet touching upon the new planet, the first sapients in decades since its abandonment.

They pour out, weapons out, taking position and setting up moving shield walls. Specialized ships land and transform, artillery ships transforming as they hide behind the shield generators, already receiving instructions from orbital spotters. Mana flows as specialized buffing units throw out spells, catching me as an afterthought while the Erethran army gets to work.

In another corner of the planet, I sense my friends stepping onto the planet. Party chat flickers to life, connections firming, and then fade as they stride into the bowels of hell itself to suppress the former capital city’s dungeon. The source of all the trouble.

I consider joining them. Briefly.

But I can offer them just as much, if not better, aid out here. I get moving, taking the fight to the L’liest CaTues herd. With troops on the ground, I drop everything but my shields and utilize Judgment of All again and again. Ali’s confirmed it’s the most Mana efficient Skill, at least against the L’liest.

I get to work, and if I’m paying attention to something else, to a Skill that has been humming along in the background, one that almost begs me to make use of it. No one but Ali and myself need know.

Or should.

After all, its very existence and my hidden Class pit us again the Galactic Council itself.

System Edit

A core Skill for System Administrators.

Effect: Make trivial to minor amendments to System processes

Cost: Variable (HP & MP)

Chapter 2

Clean up of the planet Gurrant took just under an Earth week. Of course, that worked out to about eleven days with the faster rotation on Gurrant and a tiny fraction of its year. The L’liest herd had grown unchecked for over a decade, spreading across the super-continent that made up the overly dry landmass of the planet.

“We could have beaten the Dungeon,” Bolo says, arms crossed as he glares at me. The seven-foot-tall, ripped Dragon Lord is complaining—again—as we stand around the remnants of the dungeon entrance. Over his shoulder is the over-sized hammer he uses, the emerald scalemail glinting in the light with every breath.

All around us, drones and Erethran army personnel work to clear out the remains of the monsters. It’s rather intimidating, when you think about it, how much has been destroyed. One of the first things to land was the Quartermaster Station, which has an abbreviated System Shop that allows people to funnel in entire corpses to be sold off.

At the same time, a growing manufactured city has sprung up, where automated factories and Artisan butchers and leatherworkers are tearing apart the L’liest. They extract scales, organs, meat, and bones with gusto. Everything is being used, with even the most damaged parts being stored for composting. It’s a massive undertaking, but it all goes off without a major hitch.

System communications, extremely organized personnel, and Classes help provide a level of efficiency that no pre-System human army could ever hope to achieve. Not that I’d ever expected to see an abattoir on a battlefield.

“I’m sure you could have,” I say, “but hogging all the experience was getting a little much.”

“Hogging?” Bolo frowns, cocking his head to the side. “There were no pigs involved.”

“Seriously. Buy a new English pack.” I can’t help but shake my head, always amused when the cultural assimilation portion breaks down. I’m not exactly sure who Bolo downloaded, but there are very strange gaps in his understanding at times.

“Or you could speak Galactic, and stop being rude to our hosts,” Bolo says with a finality that makes it sound as if he’s won this fight.

Ali chuckles as he continues to multitask, paying attention to what is being taken apart by the army and making sure we’re getting our share of the earnings while also watching a Monty Python sketch.

“There’s no one else here, not even Mikito,” I point out.

That’s true enough, since the Samurai was teleported off for another arena battle. This time she has acquired a sponsor, someone willing to pay for the expensive teleportations to ensure she is included in a number of such fights around the galaxy. Truth be told, she probably could have taken part in a lot more battles if it wasn’t for the fact that she spends most of her time hanging out with me.

A galaxy is a big place, and arena fights are extremely common. In fact, Mikito’s collected a wide array of championship Titles. The fact that most of those Titles don’t provide much of a boost to her is offset by the occasional one that does. Add the fact that Titles can conflict—and might not stack—and chasing after them is a select and expensive sport.

Still, according to Mikito, with enough Titles, they could consolidate, providing her another boost to attributes, damage, and if she’s really lucky, a Skill. Heck, some of the more famous championships have Titles that come with their own Skill.

“Maybe, but we’re not on your backward planet at the moment. It’s polite to use Galactic,” Bolo says in Galactic.

I switch as well, sniffing then regretting doing so. The charnel house smell of thousands of dead animals has not disappeared, making me gag. “Doesn’t really matter anyway. They needed to take out that dungeon to begin the settlement process for the capital. Without stabilizing the Mana flows, we’d never be able to retake this planet.”

“True, though one wonders about the Dungeon Master. Must have been insane to focus the entirety of the capital’s Mana overflows into a single dungeon, especially when the capital was as extensive as it was.” Bolo shakes his head. “Even I know better than to do that.”

I shrug. Whatever the Dungeon Master’s sins or hubris, he has paid the final price. As did most of the population that didn’t manage to find a method off planet. Luckily, in a System world, that is relatively easy, especially in a state of emergency. Bindings like serf contracts, System regulated teleportations, and the high cost of interplanetary ships are relaxed.

Of course, to some extent, that just shifts the emergency from the surface of the planet to near space. Hundreds of ships overloaded with sapient passengers launched to escape the L’liest. And then, many found themselves stranded, unable to reach the next habitable planet.

Finally, the Empire stepped in, scooping them up and throwing the vast majority of them into serf contracts to pay out the costs of the rescue. Still, between forced servitude for a number of years and certain death, most chose correctly. The few that hadn’t, died.

For the most part.

A coral-eared man strides up to me, barely five feet tall, with blond hair and an angry look. He skips over dead corpses without a care, giving them as much regard as I do, too focused on his objective. Once he arrives, he plants his feet, tilting his head up as he stares at me in his rolled up, castoff Erethran Army uniform.

“I understand you’re the one to thank for saving us,” Ito Karan, the tiny man, says.

I’m not entirely sure how to react, so I nod. He’s the self-selected leader of the survivors, many of whom made their way underground, finding places to hide from the L’liest in the far corners of the continent and beneath it.

They’ve existed below the surface of the planet in holdout rooms and small complexes. Occasionally they popped up long enough to make sure that nothing had changed before returning to their underground prisons. Total survivors are in the thousands, less than one percent of those who chose to stay. Most had not expected to be below ground for so long.

“What took you so long? We expected a rescue mission within months, not decades!” Ito Karan says.

“You’ll have to ask someone else.” I shrug. “I wasn’t around for your initial disaster.”

“But you’re a Grand Paladin, correct?” Ito snaps at me.

“Yes.”

“Then you’re the one in charge. We expect compensation!”

I consider smacking him, I seriously do. This really has nothing to do with me, and I have other, better things to do. Greater worries occupy my mind. But a small part of me is curious to see what he wants. It’s the same part that used to poke at open wounds, or that disturbed ant nests when I was younger. Curious to see what lay below the sand.

So I ask him.

“Credits to start. Enchanted weaponry and privileged access to the dungeons as they are created. In addition, because we’ve lost so many years, we will need trained guides to help us progress.” Ito shows no hesitation as he rattles demands.

He keeps going, but I cut in. “You need my thirdborn son as well?”

“What?” Ito falters, apparently confused.

“All right, all right. You drive a hard bargain. My apprentice has my firstborn, so I can only give you my secondborn. I won’t go any higher.”

“I don’t want your children. What kind of backward society do you come from that you think I want your children?”

Ito sees Ali literally rolling around in mid-air, holding his hands to his mouth as he stifles his laughter. Even Bolo is grinning. It takes Ito a second more to figure out what is going on.

I glance at Ali, who isn’t even bothering to hide his laughter now. “It’s all your fault, you know, you and your Korean dramas.”

“Don’t blame me, it was your culture.”

“Chinese. I’m Chinese, not Korean. I told you that before. And I am a CBC. Canadian-born Chinese, so not really but sort of,” I reply.

Ito’s eyes bulge and he starts shouting, so I flash my aura. He cuts off with a strangled squawk.

“I don’t really know who you think you are, but I don’t really care,” I say. “Order someone else about this.”

“You—”

He shuts up when I conjure my sword. Something about a four-foot hunk of steel, sheathed in Mana, dissuades him. I point away from me in a random direction and he walks off. I guess having a bit of a reputation for being an insane, rage-filled monster has advantages at times.

“Well, that was fun?” I say and look around once more.

Hundreds of members of the Erethran armed forces scurry around, some in robotic movers, others physically hauling away the beasts. Others are making roads, marking down locations for buildings, and tossing nanite formers. And in the distance, a familiar figure.

As Brerdain makes his way over, the Chief of Staff glances in the direction of where Ito has walked off to with a frown.

“Did you have to make my work more difficult?” he complains to me, but I notice he’s not making any moves to speak with Ito either.

“The Empress bargained for five planets cleared and cleansed,” I say. “She never said a word about me being polite or dealing with idiots.”

“Some Paladins might consider that part of the unsaid requirements.”

“More pity to them,” I say.

“You do know your attitude carries over to the Paladins you trained. And they are training even more Honor Guards,” Brerdain says, his voice chilly. “Your attitude is—”

“Perfect. I know.”

Brerdain fumes for a second before he points upward. “In two hours, we will be ready to depart for the next planet. Make sure you’re ready.”

“Aye aye, sir!” I salute lazily, making the Chief frown. I guess his cultural download package didn’t include Earth military salutes. Erethran salutes are different.

“We will be ready, Honored Strategist,” Bolo says, cutting off any further discussion. “We are truly grateful for this opportunity.”

I snort. The Empire is gaining as much, if not more, with this expedition in retaking lost planets in the Restricted Zone, but I can understand Bolo buttering him up. Most Heroic—or Master Class—individuals would find it difficult to find empty, uncontested planets on which to conduct such an attack. Politics and prior claims mean that most Heroics have to tread carefully and not just blip in and do what they want.

On top of that, this planet is the easiest of the lot. Most overrun locations have a mixture of monsters, including flying and magic-wielding ones. Elemental attacks, flying monsters, and gravitic implosions all make just hovering above the monsters and killing them without any major risk a non-starter. And let’s not forget the fact that it kills your experience gain.

Without aid from the navy, without the benefits of boots on the ground to help quell rogue dungeons, retaking planets would be a fool’s errand. Even blasting apart the swarms of monsters for pure experience becomes an issue when you don’t have places to rest, to recuperate when a battle goes bad.

Never mind the long, long list of enemies waiting for your usual Heroic to waste their Mana, to lower their guard for a second. It’s why such purges are rarer than you’d think. At least, on a Galactic scale.

“If we only have a few hours…” Bolo falls silent, looking around.

I snort and wave him away, letting him loose. Having gained his Levels the hard way, Bolo’s got to grind a lot more than me to get anywhere. And while we might have taken out the main dungeon finally, there are still a ton of monsters constantly spawning.

Once Bolo rushes away, kicking up dirt and blood in his wake, I’m left alone. Alone, without monsters trying to kill me, in a charnel house of corpses and the collapsed end of the city dungeon.

***

While I wait, I look over my Character Screen. It’s the first chance I’ve had to look at it since the battle ended. Even with all the death and destruction, I only got a couple of Levels.

More interestingly, that weird feeling about experience gain jumps out at me, displayed easily for me to spot on my Status Screen. If I wasn’t so aware I’m in public view, my jaw would have dropped as I stare at the information.

Status Screen

Name

John Lee

Class

Junior System Admin (Grand Paladin)

Race

Human (Male)

Level

1 (4)

Titles

Monster’s Bane, Redeemer of the Dead, Duelist, Explorer, Apprentice Questor, Galactic Silver Bounty Hunter, Corrupt Questor, (Living Repository), (Class Lock)

Health

5450

Stamina

5450

Mana

5140

Mana Regeneration

459 (+5) / minute

Attributes

Strength

385

Agility

458

Constitution

545

Perception

324

Intelligence

514

Willpower

559

Charisma

220

Luck

171

Class Skills

Mana Imbue

5*

Blade Strike*

5

Thousand Steps

1

Altered Space

2

Two are One

1

The Body’s Resolve

3

Greater Detection

1

A Thousand Blades*

4

Soul Shield*

8

Blink Step

2

Portal*

5

Army of One

4

Sanctum

2

Penetration

9e

Aura of Chivalry

1

Eyes of Insight

2

Beacon of the Angels

2

Eye of the Storm

1

Vanguard of the Apocalypse

2

Society’s Web

1

Shackles of Eternity*

4

Immovable Object / Unstoppable Force*

1

Domain

1

Judgment of All

6

(Grand Cross)

(1)

System Edit

1

External Class Skills

Instantaneous Inventory

1

Frenzy

1

Cleave

2

Tech Link

2

Elemental Strike

1 (Ice)

Shrunken Footsteps

1

Analyze

2

Harden

2

Quantum Lock

3

Elastic Skin

3

Disengage Safeties

2

Temporary Forced Link

1

Hyperspace Nitro Boost

1

On the Edge

1

Fates Thread

2

Peasant’s Fury

1

Combat Spells

Improved Minor Healing (IV)

Greater Regeneration (II)

Greater Healing (II)

Mana Drip (II)

Improved Mana Missile (IV)

Enhanced Lightning Strike (III)

Firestorm

Polar Zone

Freezing Blade

Improved Inferno Strike (II)

Elemental Walls (Fire, Ice, Earth, etc.)

Ice Blast

Icestorm

Improved Invisibility

Improved Mana Cage

Improved Flight

Haste

Enhanced Particle Ray

Variable Gravitic Sphere

Zone of Denial

I’ve gained enough Levels as a Grand Paladin that I’ve acquired a new Class Skill point. I can even add it to my Grand Paladin Class—or what acts like my Grand Paladin Class. But I don’t actually have any experience for my Junior System Administrator Class. Like, at all. Which makes no sense.

Unless the System Administrator Class doesn’t gain experience via the destruction of monsters or sapients. Which would be incredibly rare. Not unheard of—there are Classes like Pacifist or Fellow of the Universe that can’t gain experience via murder—but they’re truly rare. Like, I can recall maybe a dozen off the top of my head—and I’ve got the Questor’s library in my head. Hell, even Artisan Classes get experience for kills.

Still, here I am, a ton of kills, an entire planet murdered, and I’ve received a portion of the experience and…

Nothing.

If that’s the case, then the Administrator Class must be even more interesting than I thought. Considering I have the entire goddamn library of the Questors—a group so obsessed with the System, they went down some dark roads, and when they ran out of dark roads to go down, they cut down the trees, blasted the mountains, and paved whole new ones into the abyss—that’s saying something.

It’s saying something even more that over tens of thousands of years, there’s no record of this position ever. Then again, the fact that the moment I gained the Class the Galactic Council went after Earth is more than sufficient evidence for me to scream cover up.

But…

My System Quest hasn’t ticked up. Even as more and more information washes over me from the library, even as my new Administrator Class wields the System’s gifted Intelligence to rip apart the library and provide the knowledge in bite-sized chunks, nothing. The silence, the lack of Quest updates is disturbing. Silence, as if I’ve hit a dead end.

But I don’t know why.

I blow out a breath, shake my head, and glare at the Class Skill point I have to use. I have no access to the System Administrator Skill tree—if it even has one. So I’m forced to choose from the Grand Paladin Skill tree.

GRAND PALADIN SKILL TREE

As usual, I don’t have to worry about the second tier for a long time. I’d have to hit Level 26 to gain access to it. While I gain Levels at a decent rate, especially for a Heroic Class, there’s only so much grinding even I can do. Especially when said grinding involves taking out entire planets’ worth of monsters.

All that means that each Class Skill point is ever more precious. And it’s not as if I can afford to buy a Heroic Class Skill. Never mind the issue about off-loading activation since I’ve got the damn library in my head, it’s also incredibly expensive. Like, not even our budget from the Erethran Empire is enough kind of expensive.

And this is the kind of budget—drawn down over decades of negligence, admittedly—that is taxed over multiple solar systems and billions upon billions of Erethran citizens. It’s the kind of budget that let me spend on building up the newbie Paladins without much concern.

And a single Heroic Class Skill would wipe out the budget for the year.

I guess it makes sense. Each Class Skill is so powerful, continents get shredded with their use. If the System made it cheap, it’d be forced to constantly expend more Mana to trigger the effects of the Skill than it would have gained by forcing said Heroic Class to grind for the Credits. So the System has to make the Skill exorbitantly expensive, such that even wiping out a whole planet’s worth of monsters is insufficient to buy a single Skill.

It’s a logarithmic increase in Credits, such that a Heroic Class might grind for a decade or so before they could afford a single Skill on the first tier. Which means, in that period, he’s pulled forth thousands of points of Mana and even more has been recirculated through the System, making it a net surplus.

And that assumes the Heroic even cares to grind. There are other ways to earn Credits of course. For example, just by existing on a planet, a Heroic is often sufficient deterrent against most kinds of shenanigans.

But none of that really matters, not to me. Right now, I’ve got to choose what kind of Skill to pick.

Grand Cross is powerful, and I know with a little push, I could expand the tens of kilometers the initial Skill range has set wider. Of course, it’d weaken the Skill further, but it’s a great mass stomper. Even more powerful than Judgment of All in sheer damage, plus it works against environmental obstacles. More damage per Mana spent, and more focused damage.

But I don’t need more damage. Not anymore. The ability to concentrate the attack on a single individual via Grand Cross is important for me, but if I’m punching my way through a fight with the Council, I’m already twenty kilometers from the nearest shelter in a Yukon winter in my pajamas.

Which is why, while I eye Defense of the Fallen, I decide against it too. It’s definitely on my list of things to pick up eventually, because unlike my evolved Penetration Skill, there’s no warmup required for its shielding properties. It’s actually a permanent Skill, increasing my overall tankiness.

But… again, if I’m punching my way out of the problem, I’m on the wrong route. There are literal Legendary Classes in the Inner Council. I can’t even hope to beat them.

The only good news is that because they are Legendarys, they won’t take action directly. After all, the President of the United States doesn’t come out to visit a rabble-rouser in a city just because they show up in the president’s briefing reports. The president has better things to do—like dealing with other heads of state.

But that advantage only holds so long as I manage to stay far enough below the radar. Once I make too much noise, they’ll likely take direct action and smack me around. And then it’ll truly be over.

So back to Skills, since I ain’t buying Defense of the Fallen, I definitely can’t get the linked Skill. Burden of the Worthy is an interesting Skill that basically dumps damage onto my doppelgangers created by Extra Hands. It makes me much more unkillable.

And unlike most Skills, the doppelgangers in Extra Hands are real. Not ghosts like the ones that Hod makes, not semi-solid constructs or even shadow copies with a portion of my Skills. They’re real.

Extra Hands (Level 1)

A Paladin can never be everywhere he needs to be. But with this Skill, the Grand Paladin can certainly cover more ground. Mana Regeneration reduced by 5 permanently.

Cost: 5000 Mana per duplicate.

Upkeep cost: 5000 Mana per day per duplicate. Must be paid by original Skill user.

Effect: Creates maximum two duplicates of the user. Duplicates have 90% of all (unboosted) Attributes, gain no effects from Titles, and may not equip Soulbound weapons but have access to all (non-purchased) Skills of user. Each duplicate has their own Mana pool but regenerates at 50% of normal regeneration levels. Mana levels take the place of health points for duplicates.

Original Skill user has a nonverbal connection to duplicates at all times. System will provide a download of duplicate’s memories upon their destruction or cessation of upkeep costs. Fidelity of memory download dependent upon Skill level.

Note: This Skill cannot be used by duplicates.

My eyes narrow at the significant number of conditions in the Skill, but even then, having multiple versions of me is useful. I do recall the cautionary words passed on by Ali and Roxley about the System duplicate attempts though, so before I make my choice, I get to asking.

“How does the System create these duplicates? I thought you said it doesn’t read memories?”

“It doesn’t. The duplicates are Mana copies of you based off the System’s best guesses,” Ali says. “Keep them around long enough and they’ll even form distinct personalities from you. It’s why most individuals with such Skills dismiss the doppelgangers every few days.”

“So when you say best guesses…”

“Everything you’ve shown the System, it’ll show. In your case, they’ll eat a lot of chocolate, obsess over the System, and piss off everyone they come into contact with.”

“Funny.”

“But true.”

“Go watch your reality TV,” I say to Ali and turn back to the floating notification window.

It sounds as though Extra Hands isn’t the best Skill if I want long-term help. Memories and studies brush against my mind, offering further details about similar Skills.

The more data the System has, the better. The level of fidelity to the original increases for individuals who aren’t as devious, while schemers and liars have difficulty with such Skills. The more you live with your heart in the open, the easier it is for the System to create people like you. Individuals who play multiple angles, who have significant mood swings or mental issues, or have spent significant periods in the Restricted Zone are all known to receive divergent doppelgangers.

It’s one of the most often quoted examples of how the System isn’t omnipotent. More than one Questor has even explored the possibility of using duplicates to further their System Quest by rereading the same information with duplicates themselves.

Sometimes it even works.

And we won’t even discuss the truly disturbing research some have conducted on their very own duplicates to prove the difference in System-made duplicates and the original.

On the other hand, this is the only Skill that offers additional tactical and potentially strategic possibilities. I just need to make sure whatever—whoever—I create doesn’t mess things up.

As I’m about to explore my newly acquired Skill, I’m interrupted by a cough. I frown, looking up, and realize I’ve been standing here for over an hour. Mikito’s back, and with her is Brerdain.

“If you’re ready, Grand Paladin…” Brerdain says, gesturing at one of the many attendants with him.

“Yeah, let’s get to it. More planets to cleanse, more experience to gain.”

And hopefully, gain the backing of the Empire. Or at least their neutrality as the Council comes after Earth and me.

Chapter 3

Interstellar travel with the System is weird. You can teleport anywhere with the right Skills or enough Credits. You can even take entire fleets if you have the money to do it. Credits are a power in themselves and can make even a small but prosperous organization lethal.

At the same time, even with the nearly instantaneous travel options available, most travel is conducted via hyperspace jumps and wormholes. The cost of instantaneous transportation is so expensive, it’s only ever used as a strategic resource on a level above individual transportation or for small, high value goods.

And individuals with the Skill to transport entire fleets are in the Heroic level, so that’s another level of rarity. Individuals are easier, but even then, the cost is significant. Which is why evolved Portal Skills are so important—and so easily blocked.

Want to use your teleportation Skills against monsters? You’re good. The vast, vast majority aren’t set up to block that. Want to use it against sapients? Not as easy.

All that is a long way of saying we’re seated in our beige rest room, food splayed out across us on the steel board table, lighting adjusted for human norms as we traverse the interstellar vastness in a faster-than-light spaceship, bouncing from wormhole to wormhole.

Each of us have plates full of food. Even Ali is in his full-sized form, being just over eight feet tall. He, of course, has the most disgusting dish before him—a plateful of squirming bugs, piled high. Bolo’s got three plates and works his way through his carnivore’s delight, while Mikito’s side of the table is much more contained. Not that it stops her from eating as much as the rest of us, just that she does it with a little more grace.

It says something about how long we’ve been in the Galaxy that none of us even blink as Ali pops the squirming bugs into his mouth and chews as though they’re so much popcorn.

“Are you certain that Ambassador Ward is fine?” Harry raises the topic again. This isn’t the first—or last—time he’s asked, and I can understand his concern even if I’m frustrated by it.

“Yes. She’s an Ambassador. They can’t directly hurt her.” I shake my head. “Even hiring mercenaries to destroy the embassy was pushing the letter of the law.”

“The Redeemer speaks truth,” Bolo says. “The Council and Irvina itself could not function if they destroyed the laws once more.”

“Once more?” Harry says, leaning forward, sensing a story there.

“Ancient history. But twice before, the laws regarding the safety of planetary and governmental representatives and the peace of the capital were relaxed or removed. Both times, there were a significant number of casualties among the representatives. It devolved into all-out war among the greater and Inner Council.” Bolo shakes his head. “We lost our inner council seat in the last altercation and the Erethrans took our seat then.”

I grunt, surprised. I’d known there was some minor animosity in there, but considering how little Bolo cared about it, I thought it was a nonissue. This doesn’t sound minor at all.

Spotting my surprise, Bolo waves. “In truth, I think the king was grateful for the loss. We care not for galactic politics. So long as we are left alone to care for our dragons and our planet, it is enough.” Bolo pauses as if he considers something. “Also, without a Legendary to hold the seat, all such power is ephemeral.”

“The Dragon Knights have no Legendarys?” Mikito asks.

“None that are public. The last known Legendary fell two and a half millennia ago during a dragon surge.”

“Dragon surges sound way scarier than a normal monster wave,” I say.

“They are. Dragons grow much faster during that period, going from adolescence to maturity in months instead of decades. Mature dragons become elders and elders become ancients.”

I wince. The last time I met a dragon, it was but a mature dragon—and one that was pregnant and thus underpowered, along with being hampered by the lower Mana density of Earth still being in the transition period. Take away any of those things and I’d have been fucked.

On the other hand, it also means theres a baby dragon—or soon-to-be baby dragon—running around the Yukon somewhere. Curiosity has me poking into the System, and I find myself bookmarking the infosection on baby dragon pics. Nearly as good as cute kitten pics.

“So weird,” I mutter. I push down the library, forcing it not to give me more data about dragon surges, Mana waves, and the System. A part of me—the part that has been boosted by the System—is happy to process that information, but I stay focused on the conversation. “Anyway, Katherine is safe. And some of her staff. They’ve managed to find a location to reside in which has guaranteed their safety.”

“You say that, but I’ve been poking around, and something about the attack made me look at it over again,” Harry says. “I found this guy outside. Watching.”

A gesture, and a floating image forms of a big man clad in gold-edged, emerald plate armor and a flowing cloak, metal covering his body except for his actual face where small tusks jut from his jaw. Pink skin covers his swarthy face with its prominent cheekbones, but it’s the glowing green eyes and wide smirk that catches one’s attention.

“So who is he?” I ask.

“Kasva Dedprom, Champion of the Council, Level 38. Heroic Class. He didn’t take part, but he was watching.” Harry leans forward. “He doesn’t show up outside of the arena battles”—Mikito perks up at the mention of her favorite sporting event—”in Irvina to protect his Championship Title or a few, special Council meetings. He is their ultimate attack dog. And he was watching the attack.”

“Heroic Class Champion. Damn…” I frown. “And high-Leveled too. I wonder how he gets his experience…” I wait. But for once, the library has nothing to offer me. No direct information at least. I get a ton of knowledge about Champion Classes in general, but nothing specific. Which is fascinating in itself. “He’s probably getting some latent experience gain just hanging around. But it’s possible they keep him running around in a Council-only dungeon.”

“There are rumors of a dungeon in the first district,” Harry confirms.

“A Heroic.” Bolo eyes the figure, tapping at the information Harry shared with us. His actions call up the sparse additional details about Kasva. Not much at all, considering his status and position. “A difficult fight.”

“Well, if he’s not acting directly, we’ll have to worry about him later,” I say.

“And in the meantime, we do what?” Harry says, pointing his fork at me. “I understand you don’t feel strong enough to confront the Council directly, nor is violence the best resort. You are only a new Heroic. But if you intend to delay until you become a Legendary…”

“Not the plan.” I shake my head. “The Levels are nice, but it’s the Empire’s involvement or support that’s the reason we’re doing all this. The Council is pressuring Earth, and even if I turn up, I doubt they’ll just stop. Not since we became a bad example.”

“About that…” Harry says.

I ignore him, not wanting to discuss why they dialed the pressure on Earth up to a twelve. Telling him would just make him even more of a target. “We need to rally support for Earth, to stop the vote to remove Earth and the rest of the Dungeon Worlds from participating on the Galactic Council. Which means helping out the Empire. And anyone else who is willing.”

“I can understand the Empire choosing to help, what with you being their Grand Paladin and all, but the others—”

“The others will take more convincing,” I say. “I know. Even if we give them the thousand hells, I doubt we alone have enough to convince any of the other Council members to help. Luckily, most Dungeon Worlds are in one empire or another. If we can convince the other empires, help them settle their Dungeon Worlds…”

“You think you can get their help?” Harry’s eyes unfocus as his fingers work through the abbreviated information-only Shop he has access to before he nods. “The Movana and Erethran Empires each have two Dungeon Worlds. Including Earth, the Truinnar have two too now. The Dragon has one. The Twelve Clans of the Grimsar have another. There’s another that sits in the center of the warring states that make up the Pooskeen empire. The last four are seated at the edges of a bunch of minor kingdoms, all of whom fight over the Dungeon Worlds among themselves and everyone else.”

“Exactly. Any Dungeon World located in an empire’s area of control could probably drive that empire’s votes to us,” I say. “Being able to control movement of visitors and settlers would be a significant economic, political, and Leveling boon.”