Isabelle looked at the approaching Velithar, their movements jerky but swift, their single hit point a mockery of their lethality. Then she looked past them, at the swarm of pale, naked Oglos pouring from the production line, their identical faces twisted into mindless snarls.
"Ignis," Isabelle said, her voice tight. "Buy me ten seconds."
"With pleasure," Ignis growled, sucking in a massive breath.
The dragon unleashed a torrent of white-hot fire, not at the Velithar, but at the shelves flanking the chamber. Ancient wood and preserved alchemical ingredients erupted into an inferno. The fire spread quickly, black smoke billowing to the ceiling, obscuring the incoming horde and creating a chaotic, shifting barrier between them and the party.
[Ignis uses Major Fire Breath]
[Environment damage: Severe]
The Velithar guards, programmed to target the primary threat, advanced through the flames, their red-hot armor steaming. The Oglos, less resilient, shrieked and fell back, some of them catching fire and stumbling blindly into their brethren.
It was the opening she needed.
Isabelle didn't bother with more complex spells. She didn't have the mana or the time. She reached deep into the core of her being, into that raw, chaotic well of Destroy magic she wielded so instinctively. She didn't need a spellbook for this. She just needed rage.
"Get. Fucked."
[Mana 30%]
She slammed her hammer onto the stone floor. A wave of pure, concussive force erupted from her, a shockwave of crackling black energy. It wasn't elegant. It wasn't controlled. It was just a raw explosion of destructive intent.
[You use 'Shockwave Slam']
The blast hit the charging Velithar square in the chest. Their 1 hp was irrelevant. The sheer kinetic force tore through their emergency-powered systems, shattering gears, snapping conduits, and mangling their metal frames. They were thrown backward like discarded toys, crashing into the burning shelves and crumpling into silent, inert heaps.
[Critical hit]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
['Velithar Guard' is dead]
The fire was spreading, licking at the edges of the massive cauldron. The smoke was acrid, stinging her eyes. The surviving Oglos, now leaderless and trapped between the inferno and the party, were panicking.
"Now!" Isabelle said, yelling over the roar of the flames as she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Tahsi, get your son!"
Tahsi Senior scrambled over the wreckage of the Velithar, ignoring the heat as he choked on a roll of challah bread. He reached the glowing green prison containing his son. He put his hands on the energy field.
"It's too hot!" he yelped, pulling them back. "I can't break it!"
"For fuck's sake," Isabelle rolled her eyes and sighed, rushing to his side. She examined the prison. It wasn't just energy; it was magic, a complex web of runes woven into the light, pulsing in time with the great cauldron. It was a power source. A lock.
[Tahsi Junior - Energy Locked]
If only Isabelle had an energy lockpick, she figured with an inwartd chuckle.
[Clarification: There is no such item as an 'energy lockpick,' although you may attempt to craft one when you are outside of combat mode.]
Interesting. Isabelle would have to file that idea down for later, though, because it seemed like whatever energy was pulsing around Tahsi Junior was getting more and more strong as time marched on.
Isabelle looked from the energy prison to the cauldron, then back again.
"Ignis!" she shouted. "The cauldron! Hit the cauldron! As hard as you can! Knock that huge bitch over, if you can!" It was a bold strategy, sure, but Isabelle was hopeful it'd pay off. She had no idea what would happen if they managed to destroy the cauldron, especially considering it was tied to the Choxian system. The Choxian system that her system had somewhat absorbed, merged with, or otherwise integrated. Isabelle wasn't entirely sure what all that lead to, although she understood it had something to do with the fact that Tahsi Senior had rejoined her party while also 'owning' part of the Choxian system. And then of course there was the whole situation with Ignis being the Choxian dragon. Ignis. Had Ignis heard Isabelle? "Ignis! Do you hear me? Go for the cauldron, dammit!"
Ignis, who was busy incinerating a few Oglos that got too brave, turned her massive head. "Are you insane? That thing is the source of all this. Destroying it could bring the whole tower down! Not just the tower within the tower, either. It could destroy the Clockwork Spire itself!"
"DO IT!" Isabelle said, rolling her eyes. Fuck the Clockwork Spire, she thought. Fuck it with a fifty foot rake.
Ignis snorted a plume of smoke but complied. She gathered her energy, her throat glowing like a forge. She let out a focused, searing beam of plasma-like fire, straight at the bubbling green liquid.
[Ignis uses Plasma Jet]
The beam struck the cauldron. The effect was instantaneous and catastrophic. The liquid inside turned from a sickly green to a violent, boiling red. The entire chamber trembled. Alarms, silent until now, began to shriek.
And the prison holding Tahsi Junior flickered.
[Mana 20%]
"Now, Tahsi!" Isabelle commanded.
Tahsi Senior, seeing the flicker, threw himself at the prison again. This time, his hands broke through the weakening energy field. He grabbed his son by the shoulders and yanked him free. They tumbled to the floor in a heap of kobold and half-eaten sourdough.
"Daddy!" said Tahsi Junior with a sudden, pitiful glee.
"My son!" said Tahsi Senior as he yanked the sourdough off the ground and shoved it all in his mouth as fast as koboldly possible
The cauldron let out a deafening groan. Cracks snaked across its metal surface. The humming of the machinery rose to a fever pitch, then died with a series of final, pathetic sputters. The fires on the shelves began to dim as the magical fuel supply was cut.
[New quest: The Spire's Heart]
[Objective: Find the Cauldron]
[Objective: Find the Cauldron - Complete]
[Objective: Escape the Cauldron's Tower]
[New Objective: Destroy the Cauldron's production line - Failed]
[New Objective: Escape the Cauldron's Tower]
"It's collapsing!" Ignis said, her draconic eyes wide. "The whole structure is unstable!"
The floor beneath them shuddered violently. A large piece of the ceiling crashed down where the portal used to be, sending stone shrapnel flying. The remaining Oglos, now devoid of purpose, simply stood there, vacant and unmoving, as the factory around them died.
"Isabelle, what do we do?" Tahsi Senior cried, hugging his dazed and confused son.
"The same thing we always do," said Isabelle, her voice grim. She pointed toward a dark passage on the far side of the chamber, one that looked like a service corridor.
"Try to take over the world?" said Tahsi Junior weakly.
"What?" said Isabelle, rolling her eyes with a sigh.
"My son!" said Tahsi Senior as he equipped five bagels and munched on them reavenously.
"No," said Isabelle with yet another sigh. "We run. We run like hell."
She grabbed Tahsi Senior and shoved him toward the corridor. "Go! Ignis, get them out of here!"
"What about you?" the dragon demanded.
"I'm right behind you," Isabelle said. But she wasn't moving. She was staring at the dying cauldron, at the immense, destructive power it had contained. An idea, reckless and glorious, was blooming in her mind.
She had her hammer. She had a room full of volatile, uncontrolled magical energy. And she had a whole tower full of Oglos and Velithar she still wanted to kill. Maybe, just maybe, she could kill them all at once.
She raised her hammer. The Overlord's Black Silver Hammer. It thrummed in her hands, eager.
"Ignis, get them clear," she said, her voice a low growl. "And tell them not to look back."
"Isabelle, no!" the dragon roared.
But it was too late. Isabelle was already swinging. She wasn't just aiming for the cauldron itself. She was aiming for the largest crack, the weakest point, where the pressure was building. Right on the side of the damned thing. A few subtle green bubbles were already congealing and fizzing out. If Isabelle turned that into an impact point... She could only imagine what might happen. Isabelle poured every ounce of her strength, every scrap of her will, into one final, perfect swing.
"See you in hell," she said. "Fuck the Clockwork Spire."
[Mana 5%]
[Stamina low]
[Critical hit]
The hammer struck. For a split second, there was absolute silence.
And then, an amazing charge of black and purple energy swirled around the hammer, around Isabelle's body. She could feel the power surging in waves through her, burning her eyes and throat like she was boiling with something deep within her. The cauldron shook, creaked, and screeched a loud, horrid noise.
Then, with one final jolt, an orb of purple light exploded from the cauldron, racing through the room and colliding into Isabelle's chest. She was thrown across the room in a wave of pure purple-black electricity. The sheer force of the blast sent her careening into a wall of crates and old, dusty vials.
[You have harvested the Choxian Cauldron]
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Isabelle's mouth gaped wide open as thousands of electric shocks soared from the crackling cauldron and funnelled into her.
[You are absorbing the Cauldron]
[...]
[You are fully absorbing the Choxian System]
[...]
[...]
[No errors found]
[No corruption found]
[...]
[...]
[Choxian System absorbed completely]
[...]
[Cauldron harvested successfully]
[Updating stats]
[Updating abilities]
[Updating affinities]
[Updating system stack]
[...]
[System reboot required]
[Proceed?]
[Y/N]
Was this a good idea? Isabelle had a feeling it was. She felt way too powerful not to think it was a good idea.
[Clarification: Resetting your system occurs instantly as far as Beaubintian life is concerned and opens you up to an estimated 0 vulnerabilities.]
[System reboot required]
[Proceed?]
[Y/N]
That settled that. Isabelle thought yes.
[...]
[System rebooted successfully]
And everything was moving once again. Absolute chaos surrounded Isabelle. The ceiling and walls of the tower were crumbling in each second, multiple fires had started, and weakened Oglo replicants were scurrying around in fear and they were burning and boiling alive. In the center of the room Isabelle saw the shattered cauldron, its green, brouiling liquid rolling and oozing and seeping nearer her every instant in a slow but inevitable tidal wave. Her party was nowhere to be seen.
Isabelle needed to get the fuck out of here now. She couldn't worry about them. She couldn't even bring herself to care about their safety in the heat of the moment. It was all about her. And her goddamn system. Her awesome motherfucking system.
Isabelle ran from the incoming tide of green muck, her feet thundering against the cracking ground. She passed the dying Oglo replicants. She passed crumbling bookcases and shattered vials and she didn't stop. She didn't look back. She just ran. She finally reached the dark service corridor and dove inside, the world behind her dissolving into a maelstrom of fire, death, and destruction.
[Stamina low]
The corridor was dark and narrow, the walls slick with dampness. The only light came from the flickering flames of the collapsing chamber behind her. She ran blindly, her lungs burning, her heart pounding in her chest. The ground shook violently, and she could hear the sound of the tower tearing itself apart, a deafening symphony of grinding metal and shrieking stone. She could feel the heat on her back, the acrid smell of burning chemicals filling her nostrils. She kept running, her fear a cold, hard knot in her stomach.
[Stamina low]
Fuck. Isabelle couldn't keep going with low stamina! Good thing she had some potions in her inventory. Her inventory that Isabelle didn't even need to open to grab the potions from, since her system was working so well now. Fuck yeah.
[Potion of Greater Stamina x1 equipped]
Isabelle drank the potion immediately.
[Potion of Greater Stamina drunken]
[Stamina 100%]
Isabelle might have been in a dire situation, running through the wreckage and doom, but she felt like a million bucks after that potion.
After what felt like an eternity, she saw a faint light ahead. A way out. She poured on the speed, her legs screaming in protest. She burst out of the corridor and found herself back in the massive, circular plaza with the glowing archway. But the archway was gone. In its place was a massive pile of rubble, and the entire tower was groaning, threatening to collapse at any moment.
She looked around frantically, her eyes scanning the plaza for any sign of her friends.
"Ignis! Tahsi!" she yelled, her voice lost in the din.
She saw a flicker of movement near the edge of the plaza, near a crumbling staircase that led upwards. It was Ignis, her scales singed and smoking, a small, terrified kobold tucked under each of her massive arms.
"Isabelle!" the dragon roared, her voice strained. "This way! Now!"
Isabelle didn't need to be told twice. She sprinted across the plaza, dodging falling debris and leaping over widening cracks in the ground. She reached the staircase just as a huge section of the tower behind her gave way, crashing down in a cloud of dust and rock.
"Go! Go! Go!" Ignis yelled, shoving her towards the stairs with her scaly tail.
Isabelle scrambled up the winding staircase, the others close behind. The steps were crumbling, the walls groaning. They could feel the entire structure shifting, threatening to send them plummeting into the abyss below. They ran as if their lives depended on it, because they did.
Finally, they saw a patch of daylight ahead. They burst out of the staircase and found themselves on the side of a far mountain, overlooking the bizarre mechanical sprawl of the Clockwork Spire and its surroundings. The air was cold and thin, and the wind whipped at their faces, tearing at their clothes. Behind them, the Clock of the Clockwork Spire shuddered one last time, then collapsed in on itself, a final, shuddering sigh of destruction. Then, the entire tower shuddered, smoked, and crumbled to smithereens in a brilliant flash of dirt and decay.
They stood there for a moment, panting and gasping for breath, their bodies aching, their minds reeling from the sheer force of the explosion.
"Holy shit," said Ignis, her eyes wide with a mixture of terror and awe.
"My son," said Tahsi Senior, his arms wrapped tightly around the shivering kobold.
"My dad," said Tahsi Junior, his voice muffled against his father's chest.
Isabelle looked back at the smoldering ruin of the tower, a grim sense of satisfaction washing over her. She'd done it. She'd destroyed the Cauldron and the Clockwork Spire. She'd killed thousands of Oglos, or at least she hoped she had. She hadn't seen any system notifications about that, so it wasn't clear. But Isabelled had definitely saved Tahsi Junior. And she'd absorbed a whole new system. Isabelle felt different. Better. Faster. Stronger. More complete.
"Are you okay?" Ignis asked, nudging her with her snout.
"Never better," said Isabelle. "I just need a minute."
[Combat mode deactivated]
[Achievement unlocked: Absorb another system's power into your own]
[Achievement unlocked: Destroy a cauldron]
[Achievement unlocked: Harvest a cauldron's power]
[Achievement unlocked: Destroy a systemic location]
[Notice: You're ready to level up]
Fuck. Yes. Isabelle was so ready for this shit!
[Congratulations, you've reached level 71!]
[Notice: You have 2 new affinities. View now?]
[Y/N]
Affinities? Isabelle wasn't sure what that meant. This must've been something new, she figured. Perhaps it was something from the Choxian system she'd finally ingested.
[View now?]
Isabelle thought yes.
Affinities
Slots: 2
Empty (Choose affinity?)
Empty (Choose affinity?)
Woah. Something totally new. What was an Affinity, even?
[Clarification: Affinities are a holdover from the now-absorbed Choxian system. Affinities are passive modifiers that enhance certain actions you may take. They are limited by slot count and scale via an affinity rank. They do not cost mana or stamina but instead modify how you and your system interact in certain situations as a passive amplification layer.]
Well, that was cool. Isabelle would have to choose an affinity for each slot, wouldn't she? If she was able to.
Affinity Select
Shadow Affinity (I)
Predation Affinity (I)
Well, look at that. Isabelle had two affinity slots, and two affinities to match. She was interested in learning about each one. She started by focusing on Shadow Affinity (I) and thinking 'Learn more.'
Affinity: Shadow Affinity (I)
Description: You gain ability and skill points when interacting with shadow, literal or otherwise. All attempts you make with your system have a +15% effectiveness in low light, sneak is perpetually improved, and your shadow magic costs less mana and is easier for you to control.
That was... excellent. Isabelle was glad she only had two affinities to put in her affinity slots, because otherwise, she had a feeling things would get difficult quick vis a vis deciding what to equip. Isabelle navigated back to the Affinity select menu and focused on the Predation Affinity (I).
Affinity: Predation Affinity (I)
Description: You hunger for blood. Killing blows and critical hits restore small amount of hp and stm. When you kill an enemy, you get a small surge of stat buffs that quickly decays.
That wasn't too shabby, either. Isabelle equipped each affinity in a respective slot.
Affinities
Slots: 2
Shadow Affinity (I)
Predation Affinity (I)
Great. Isabelle was fucking thrilled!
[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
Attribute Points to Spend: 70 (+50 from cauldron)
Hp: 938
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 400
M-Regen: 3/2sec
Stm: 845
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
Isabelle was thrilled! Absorbing that cauldron and harvesting it had apparently gained her some extra attribute points to add for this level up sequence. What a score! Isabelle put 100 of them into her mana to raise it up higher, and the remaining 20 she used to reduce her M-Regen time.
Skill Points to Spend: 79 (+55 from cauldron)
Str: 487 Int: 360
Dx: 400 Wis: 366
Const: 448 Char: 200
Another modifier from the cauldron. Damn, Isabelle was going to have to harvest more cauldrons! This was giving her a permanent boost to her stats that she wouldn't otherwise get. So fucking nice. Isabelle decided she'd put 100 into her char to make everyone stop fucking disrespecting her, and then the remaining 34 points she dumped into her dexterity.
[Notice: You have Raw Essence to spend. Spend on your Abilities now?]
[Y/N]
Raw Essence? Isabelle had no idea what the fuckedy fuck that was. How much new shit was there in this level up, exactly?
[Clarification: Raw Essence is an essential component of Life Force that you gain access to when you absorb latent hp from the world around you. The cauldron you harvested contained 225 Raw Essence. You can learn to harvest raw essence from slain enemies.]
Well, Isabelle was just learning more and more. Why hadn't she heard of Raw Essence again?
[Clarification: Raw Essence was previously used in the Choxian System, although its name at that time was actually 'Bread Essence' and it could only be gained by consuming large amounts of bread.]
Isabelle sighed and rolled her eyes. Fucking classic. Still, this Raw Essence thing sounded cool as fuck.
[Notice: You have Raw Essence to spend. Spend on your Abilities now?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
Raw Essence: 220
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant: 3 Summon: 2
Heal: 3 Destroy: 13
Transmute: 3 Confuse: 3
Shadow: 1
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting: 8 Sneak: 12
Archery: 11 Lockpick: 5
Armed Combat: 18 Melee Combat: 4
Speech: 17 Sleight Of Hand: 6
Well, shit. Isabelle needed to spend her Raw Essence. She had a feeling it wasn't going to go 1:1 Raw Essence to ability level. Was it?
[Clarification: No. Raw Essence can be converted to XP, which you can then use to level up ability levels.]
Okay, that made sense to Isabelle. So whatever she chose to use her essence towards would become XP that would then increase her level for her. Very cool. Isabelle wondered if she could visualize which abilities she'd be able to convert enough Raw Essence to XP in order to successfully level the ability up.
Raw Essence: 220
Starred Abilities Eligible for Leveling
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant: 3* Summon: 2*
Heal: 3* Destroy: 13
Transmute: 3* Confuse: 3*
Shadow: 1*
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting: 8* Sneak: 12*
Archery: 11* Lockpick: 5*
Armed Combat: 18 Melee Combat: 4*
Speech: 17 Sleight Of Hand: 6*
Wow, so Isabelle could really level up a lot of her abilities. Then again, 220 Raw Essence sounded like it was kind of a lot, especially if it came from that cauldron. So, Isabelle figured she'd really only get to level up one or maybe two, perhaps three of these. First, of course, she wanted to level up Shadow Magic Ability. In fact, the more Isabelle thought about it, the more she figured all her affinity should go to Shadow magic, since she was a mage of shadows, after all.
[Congratulations, you've finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name: Isabelle
Gender: Female
Level: 71
Class: Shadow Mage
Race: Human
Alignment: Chaotic-Evil
Affinities
Slots: 2
Shadow Affinity (I)
Predation Affinity (I)
Attributes
Hp: 938
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 500
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 845
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
Skill Points
Str: 487 Int: 360
Dx: 434 Wis: 366
Const: 448 Char: 300
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant: 3 Summon: 2
Heal: 3 Destroy: 13
Transmute: 3 Confuse: 3
Shadow: 4
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting: 8 Sneak: 12
Archery: 11 Lockpick: 5
Armed Combat: 18 Melee Combat: 4
Speech: 17 Sleight Of Hand: 6
Now that, right there, was a bitching character sheet. Isabelle felt awesome. Fucking awesome, even, she thought.
Isabelle leaned against the mountainside, her body trembling with exhaustion and adrenaline. She looked out at the vast, sprawling expanse of the Clockwork Spire, its shattered gears, pistons, and cogs once a testament to a civilization of pure, unadulterated order. And she, Isabelle, a force of pure, unadulterated chaos, had just dealt it a devastating blow.
"What now?" said Ignis, her voice a low rumble.
"Now," said Isabelle, her eyes gleaming with a newfound power. "We get the fuck away from this godforsaken place before I get an uncontrollable urge to take apart every clock I see."
[Combat mode activated]
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Why the fuckedy fuck was Isabelle in combat mode? Was this like the Choxian cannibals all over again, she wondered with a stab of something like anxiety?
"Do you guys see any enemies?" said Isabelle, rolling her eyes.
"I just see lots of bread in my claws," said Tahsi Senior. He indeed was holding a lot of sourdough, and was even pawning some of it off an Tahsi Junior, whose bread consuming ability was nowhere near that of his father's.
"Ignis, how about you?" said Isabelle. "You've got a lot of extra visibility, with your large dragon neck and your dragon head and your dragon eyes and everything."
"That I do," said Ignis. "Although I'd suggest you work on your phrasing, Isabelle. Wouldn't want to hurt my dragon feelings.
Isabelle sighed, rolled her eyes, and then repeated what Ignis said under her breath with a high pitched, mocking tone.
"Well shit," said Ignis. "I think I figured out what it is. And why you never got any notifications for killing Oglos despite that crazy stunt you pulled. Look a little closer down near the bottom of this mountain."
So Isabelle leaned over the cliff's edge, and gasped at what she saw. A horde of Oglos was ascending the mountainside, and they were out for blood! They were in dark obsidian armored tank tops. Some of them were driving tanks which seemed to be inexplicably scaling the side of the mountain. It was a bizarre, horrible sight to behold.
"Ah, fuck," said Isabelle. "That asshole Oglo's at it again with all his fucking replicants. What a crazy asshole."
"He must really, really hate you," said Ignis with a huff.
Isabelle looked down again, watching the foes advance. Things were about to get dicey, that much was clear.
"I'm gonna kill that fucking guy," said Isabelle. "All forty thousand of him."
