Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 57: Limited Loot

“Alright, summoning Dwarf Solar Dragon.” Bailey announced loudly authoritatively. The warning was solidly superfluous, given that both Karl and Isaac had been watching him from the very beginning and were very much aware of what he was doing, but this was the agreed upon procedure when summoning with other people around. You warned them, simple as that. If you started skipping out on safety procedures that involved warning everyone of dangerous actions because you thought they were aware of it, well that could go off without a problem … until it didn’t. So, they did it each and every time, lest they get in the habit of doing otherwise.

The summoning circle flared and spat out a small monster. It was around the size of a very large cat and looked like your stereotypical western dragon, albeit with white eyes glowing so brightly they left trails in the air, as well as a bright glow shining out from between its scales. It was cute, though in a murderous kind of way.

It hissed and leaped forward, but two tentacles of rock burst from the ground and snatched it out of the air, yanking it to the ground and tying it down. All of that was well and good … except it also caused the projected [Piercing Strike] to harmlessly flash over its head.

The extra split-second of life it had just gained shouldn’t have really had much of an impact, but they did. Its jaws opened and it was like staring straight into the sun. That wasn’t much of a problem for him anymore, but it was still uncomfortably bright even before the bolt of light lanced out. Mind you, it wasn’t actual light, otherwise it would have struck him at the same time as he saw it, it was more like a bolt of white energy tinged with gold at the edges, but it was still a hell of a lot faster than a normal energy attack at that level had any right to be.

Of course, ‘that level’ was well below where he operated, not only giving him enough time to react, but also enough time to analyze the attack before he had to react.

Isaac charged, intercepting the attack with his left arm, making sure that his shirt didn’t get burned. He’d heal, his shirt, not so much. He’d also recognized that the beam wouldn’t have the power necessary to damage him. The surface layer of skin blackened and flaked off, followed by the layer below that, but by the time it would actually hurt him, he could have killed it twenty times over. … at least in theory.

Karl had begun to raise a section of the floor to cut off the steady stream of energy, but timed it so incredibly poorly that it appeared in front of Isaac’s foot too late for him to react, prompting him to trip over it. While the [Magineer] had likely seen Isaac move, he didn’t have the reflexes necessary to abort the spell before anything happened.

As Isaac went flying, he engaged [Poltergeist’s Flight], keeping his forward momentum and gliding along, parallel to the ground at running speed, blade outstretched and glowing with yellow light. It slid through the rock trapping the little dragon like butter, shearing the creature in half with contemptuous ease.

Then he bodily smacked into the rock, using it to arrest his forward momentum. Hardly the most graceful of kills, but it was dead, something the kill notification could attest to.

Dwarf Solar Dragon (Lv. 4) has been slain. 4 XP gained (20 XP base distributed across 3 people as per their contributions, reduced by 10 % due to Level disparity)

Reward Gained: Dwarf Dragon … Fruit?

That was new. Isaac frowned at the new addition and straightened, only to smack the back of his head against something. It suddenly lost its ability to hold its position and fell, nearly smashing against the floor before he caught it and held it up to his face to examine it. It looked just like a normal dragon fruit, complete with the weird scale-like leaves that covered it, though this time, the leaves were glowing warmly. And it had its own status screen, to boot. A true blue [System] item, with powers beyond the normal. Only things forged by true masters, soulbound equipment, spellbooks and the like had those. And here it was, simply handed out by this Event.

“I’m so sorry, Isaac! Are you allright?” suddenly Karl was standing next to him, looking him and down.

“It’s fine, but let’s try to avoid a repeat performance next time, shall we?” Isaac flashed him a reassuring grin “We’re all still here and the only casualty was my dignity.”

Of course, he’d rather not have another clusterfuck like this, but he’d honestly expected something like this to happen at some point. He could have tried to avoid it by creating a proper procedure for fighting and warning others before moving, but getting the point across merely by talking was unlikely to work. As the old saying went, safety regulations were written in blood. With a clear example of what could go wrong, people were inspired to be more careful and take the rules and regulations more seriously.

Absentmindedly, he brushed the ash from his arm, the wound having already healed. Given that it had been caused by fire and cauterized, it was quite a bit more expensive to fix than normal, but still perfectly within the realm of what he could pay. Thirty mana was nothing to him.

“And your shirt.” Bailey commented, gesturing at Isaac’s grey t-shirt, which sported several large rents from having fallen against the jagged rocks.

“I suppose. But I think this thing is a lot more interesting, no?” Isaac said, the item up to his face.

Dwarf Dragon … Fruit?

And Item generated upon the death of a Dwarf Solar Dragon during the Summer Solstice System Event. Whatever could it be?

Now the [System] was just being silly. Isaac could see a small dragon moving around in egg, her its heartbeat through the shell, feel warmth radiating off the small object.

“It’s an egg!” he grinned. Then, it vibrated in his hands and a new window popped up.

You have correctly identified the object! Would you like to hatch ‘Dwarf Solar Dragon Egg’ and gain it as a familiar?

Well, that had been easy. Then again, this was a very low Level item compared to him.

“It’s an egg that can be made to hatch into another Dwarf Solar Dragon, which will then become your familiar.” Isaac said “I think we all know who this should go to?”

“Raul is going to need a bigger apartment if this keeps up.” Bailey chuckled “First a dinosaur, now a dragon?”

“I suppose having to many incredible pets is the kind of problem you want to have, isn’t it? Certainly better than having too few.” Isaac added, smiling.

“The real question is if this is going to happen with all the Event creatures.” Bailey stated, face twisting into a frown.

“It might. Or maybe we get the item for each monster the first time we kill one so we’re inspired to get more of them. Or the chance could be increased for the first few monsters of the Even we summon to whet our appetite, then reduce it so we summon a bunch more in the vain hope to get the rewards we know are there. Or the chance could be increased for the first few people killing Event monsters so everyone else hurries up to be the first to summon one to get the reward. Or maybe we’re dealing with an actual [System] update and everything has changed, who knows?”

“You’re assuming Patrick’s ‘evil [System]’ hypothesis is true, then?” Bailey asked, frowning hard.

“I do. This Event in particular was practically perfectly designed to entice people to summon dangerous monsters and end up dead. I know that in theory, this could just be due to the creator being incompetent, but do we really think someone who created something as incredible as the [System] could be incompetent?”

“The phrase idiot savant comes to mind.”

The voice rang out of midair, startling everyone except Isaac, who’d noticed the use [Scry] and [Ghost Voice] a while ago, but not deigned to say anything after realizing that the way they’d been cast were very familiar.

“Hi Patrick, how long have you been listening?” he asked.

“A couple of minutes. I’ll be by in a quarter of an hour but I didn’t want to miss anything.” the voice responded.

“Next time, please warn us when you’re watching.” Bailey sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Anyway, let’s get back on topic. Isaac, what were its Stats like?”

“Very low, with the exception of Magic Power, which was a little higher. But overall, this thing was quite a bit stronger than your average Tier 2 monster.”

“Well, that ain’t good.” Bailey sighed, then cursed softly under his breath. Well, it was still clearly audible to everyone present in the room, but it was the thought that counted.

“The thing we need to check is if the loot being generated upon death is limited to the Event monsters.” Karl said.

“Let’s check using the monsters we use for our other experiments, Slate Golems, Acid Slimes, things we’ve killed enough of to know that that they don’t normally generate loot. I’ll go grab the stuff from … Victor just brought the Event stuff.” Bailey sighed “Isaac, if you can spare a couple of those cores, I’ll transfer the entire storage room over here, including the changes of clothes we keep there, I have a feeling we’ll be needing them. Patrick, please move your [Scry] to the surface and direct Amy and Raul down here. You two, see if you can work out a good way to avoid friendly fire.”

“Sure.” Isaac said and tossed over a couple of inscribed Lesser Space Elemental Cores, then turned to Karl “Suggestions?”

“If I’d known what you were going to do, I’d have known to watch out for it and if you’d known what I was planning, you likely wouldn’t have ended up tripping.” Karl said.

“So basically … call out or attacks, Anime style?” Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe something a little less cringey. I mean, I love Anime and all, but it would sound a smidge silly. I think it might be a better idea to just sit down, discus our preferred tactics so we know to be aware of them. And when it’s actually time to summon, inform each other of our initial plans so we don’t run into each other, like the whole ‘you attacking, me yanking the monster out of the way’ incident.” Karl suggested.

“So, what are we discussing?” Professor Bishop called from the corridor “Also, can someone let me in?”

… right, Isaac had given everyone on the research team Aspects of the Specter a while ago and Bailey had just walked out through the door … with the motherfucking keys. Crap.

“We don’t have the key because Professor Bailey ran off with it and the doors are locked.” Isaac sighed and phased through them to join the older man “We’re discussing how to avoid interfering with each other.”

“Friendly fire?” Bishop asked, gesturing at the tears in Isaac’s shirt.

“Tripped over a rock wall created to protect me from a dragon’s solar breath.” Isaac shook his head.

“Is that what we’re calling that, then?” Karl asked, phasing through after him.

“It’s the breath weapon of a Dwarf Solar Dragon. What else are we going to call it?” Isaac shrugged.

“I think that is a question that needs to be answered with proper rules of nomenclature, given that there will be more dragons, who will likely have different modes of attack.” Bishop informed them “’whatever the dragon’s element is’ breath sounds good enough, now you just have to make that known to the scientific community at large so it actually gets used. Otherwise we’ll end up with a bunch of different naming systems, all claiming to be the ‘right and proper one’.”

“Eh, I think we’ll be fine. Once we have a proper list of Event monsters, complete with mystical abilities, weaknesses and all required warnings, Professor Bailey is doing an announcement, if not a full press conference.” Isaac told him “Cementing that as the system of nomenclature should be easy enough to slip in.”

“I suppose that should work. So, have you reached a conclusion about how to avoid friendly fire? When hunting deer, we wear bright red warning vests the animals can’t see but we can, but I doubt that applies here.” Bishop asked, so Isaac and Karl gave him a basic rundown of the plan, followed by running through a couple of scenarios. It felt a little like roleplaying, something that felt rather weird to be doing deep beneath a constructions site, in the middle of the night. And then Bailey came back and unlocked the door for them, but then he ran off again, only stopping long enough to dump out some summoning materials and yell something about waking up some people to come and help them by providing mana.

“All right, so now you’re planning on summoning some more Event monsters?” Bishop asked, looking around the room “This is a nice place, perfect for what you guys do, isn’t it?”

“It is and we’re not going to be summoning Event monsters, we need to check something first.”

With that, Isaac grabbed a hunk of slate from the pile Bailey had left them, walked over to the Tier 1 circle and placed it inside.

“Summoning Slate Golem, I’m going to stab it the instant it appears.” he announced. It felt silly, but getting into the habit would save lives down the line.

The golem itself died less than a second after appearing. Isaac didn’t even bother using [Skills], he simply laid the tip of the Kriegsmesser on top of its body, them hammered the heel of his palm into the back of the hilt, driving it clean through its body and shattering the core as if it were made of glass. The kill notification appeared as normal, without any mention of a reward being generated or an item appearing in front of him at chest height.

“Doesn’t look like normal monsters generate loot, even during an Event.” Isaac said.

“Not necessarily, it might just be a fluke. Let’s try again.” Karl said, walking over “Summoning Slate Golem, I’ll break it with a rock.”

Once again, a golem rose from the glowing circle on the floor, then burst apart in a shower of gravel as a hunk of the already dead monster lifted off the ground and hammered into it at incredible speed. Still no reward.

“How long does it take to get ready again after that?” Bishop asked.

“Less than a minute.” Isaac said and Karl nodded “Ditto.”

“I’d suggest checking a few more times, maybe for a total of ten, then return to checking out the Event monsters.” Bishop said and they agreed. Once the pile of gravel had been moved outside by Karl, they got ready to summon another Event monster. An Uraeus serpent, a monster from Egyptian mythology associated with the Pharaoh, who, in turn, was often associated with the Sun god Ra. The plan was set and Isaac triggered the circle, causing a three meter serpent to erupt from the circle, hissing angrily, eyes like burning coal glaring at them.

A similar glow was visible on its two venom teeth as it exposed them to hiss at them … nope, it had done that to spit at them. Twin streams of burning liquid flew through the air but splattered against the Kriegsmesser. Isaac would not be tanking this with his body, no siree.

The ground around the snake suddenly softened and it sank in quite a bit before it resolidified, solidly trapping it. And then, a crossbow bolt skewered it through the head.

Isaac to keep the monster at a distance, Karl to tie it down, Professor Bishop to kill it. The plan had been highly effective without having to be needlessly complicated.

Reward Gained: Stellar Venom

“Can I see that?” Isaac asked and was handed the small glass vial that had appeared in front of Bishop.

Stellar Venom

The Venom of an Uraeus Cobra, burning with the fire of the sun itself. It can be used to coat blades or start fires. It may also be drunk to provide a slight but permanent resistance to fire … if you can survive it.

Additional Information provided by the Alchemy Skill:

This substance can be used to produce Fire Resistance Potions, coat blades or be infused into fire magic to increase its effectiveness.

But a new notification suddenly pinged him.

Old Reliable has gained a new Skill due to absorbing an extraordinary material!

New Skill: Starfang: This infuses the blade with the power of the sun itself, superheating it. This heat will only damage the user, the environment or other individuals if the user wills it. This costs 5 points of mana for a single strike or 50 points of mana to sustain for thirty seconds.

The new [Skill] wasn’t that good compared to his other [Strike]-type [Skills], but the fact that it could be cast from the weapon’s mana pool rather than his own made it amazing. But the really incredible thing was that he’d gotten it from the venom of a Tier 3 monster, especially not when Isaac was at Level 24.

“Alright, this stuff just gave my weapon a new [Skill], even though that’s only supposed to get those from extremely powerful enemies. I think it might be pretty valuable.” Isaac announced.

“Then I suppose we should give it to a professional.” Bailey suggested, coming down the stairs with Amy and Patrick. He couldn’t see them on account of there being several walls between them and vice versa, but they could all hear people trough those kinds of obstacles and long since learned to recognize each others’ footsteps.

“I’ve got a friend I can call for that, he’s a chemistry professor who lives five minutes from here.”

“It’s Professor Chandler, isn’t it?” Patrick asked “Do you think he’d let me work with him?”

Bailey chuckled “He usually enjoys teaching the next generation. Just ask him, he’ll almost certainly say yes.”

“Yes!” Patrick grinned, then looked down at the ground, slightly ashamed. Clearly, he was a fan of this other professor, though Isaac had never heard of the man. Still, there were a lot of professors around here, plenty of whom had done something noteworthy, he could hardly be expected to know them all.

Bailey took a few steps away and made the call, then came back, handed over the vial of venom to Patrick and told him how to find the lab where Chandler would now be heading.

“Alright, what did I miss?” he asked those still here and Bishop gave him a brief rundown of what had happened.

“For the next summon, I’d like to summon the Mare of Helios.” Isaac suggested “It was a named in the Event announcement and I want to know if those monsters are more powerful than the rest.”

“Sure.” Bailey nodded “Plan?”

Isaac quickly outlined the plan, and Bailey agreed that it was acceptable.

The monster was summoned and manifested, whining at a volume that made them all wince. Then, it took to the sky, galloping across the empty air, the full salvo of attacks uselessly flashing past below it.

“Shit!” Karl yelped and threw himself to the ground, a flaming hoof stomping down where his skull had been mere moments before. Limbs of concrete reached out from the ceiling as he tried to limit its movements while a few Slate Golem he’d kept on hand for that exact purpose.

The air around it suddenly thickened as Amy cast a spell, slowing it down and allowing both Isaac and Bishop to land attacks, a crossbow bolt and [Far Strike] respectively.

It then whirled and charged straight at her, intent on crushing her under its hooves … and then one of its hooves fell through the air. The way it moved and the shocked impression clearly identifiable even on an equine face made it clear it had been expecting to put it down on a solid platform instead of the empty air. Its entire body followed and it flipped through the air, slamming into the ground onto its back with a loud, wet crack. Then a crossbow bolt thunked into its skull.

“What just happened?” Bishop asked even as what looked like a shredded horse girdle appeared in the air in front of him.

“I figured out how it flew.” Amy shrugged nonchalantly “It creates platforms out of mana under its hooves and I broke one right before it stepped on it. Checkmate.”

“Huh, check this out.” Bishop said, making the window visible to everyone.

Girdle of Helios (parts gathered: 1/3)

A replica of the girdle used by the Mares of Helios that pull his flying chariot. A horse dressed with it gains the ability to fly until it is removed.

This is only a part of the item, bring it into physical contact with two more like it to create a the final object.

“I think the real question is if that also works on someone who’s been transformed into a horse?” Amy asked, shooting a wink at Bailey “Think about it, you could play Pegasus.”

“Very funny.”

The professor gave a weak smile, but it seemed that he didn’t find that joke particularly amusing.

“Anyway, let’s see if we can get two more for the full set, shall we?” Bishop grinned, walking over into a corner and depositing it there for safekeeping “Papa needs a new flying horse.”

Isaac returned his grin. This might be happening in the middle of a night under a massive time crunch as they were trying to catalog the monsters and loot, but it somehow, he was also having … fun. Fighting new monsters with people he liked, without the world literally ending, it was nice.

“We’ll definitely have to do that before the end of this Event, but I think it’s more important to have fought each monster at least once.” he sighed turning to Bailey … only for the other professor’s phone to ring and he turned away to take the call.

Isaac supposed that was the life of a Professor. Having significant amounts of resources at your hands, conducting great experiments, but not being able to do too much personally because one had to deal with paperwork and fight bureaucratical battles.

“Of course. Bonfire Golem?” Bishop asked, an almost feral grin on his face. He was clearly enjoying this as much as Isaac was, danger be damned.