ASCENDANCY -- The Den - Day 2
Tim opened his eyes as searing pain shot through his leg. He sat up, pulling out of our grip as Kyle and I tried to hold him down.
"You guys have to hold him still!" Tanya shouted.
Looking down, Tim saw the glowing light coming from Tanya's hand, radiating up his leg. It only seemed to send him into further panic.
"Tim! Bro! God damn it, you gotta hold still! She's fixing it!" I yelled.
His body eased as the tension faded, but only a little. Still in shock, he scrambled while Tanya tried to get the bandage back around his leg.
"You guys have to keep him from moving!" she snapped. "Calm him down! Distract him or something! I can't do this if he's flailing around. He's losing blood!"
Yumi stepped up and gently pushed Kyle aside.
"Tim, look at me. Look at me. You're okay. Tim, look at me," she said firmly.
Still panicking, Tim froze as Yumi leaned in and planted a long, passionate kiss right on his lips. She pulled back, and Tim stared at her, shocked in an entirely different way.
She smiled. "Welcome back. Now be a good boy and stop moving so she can get your bandages back on, okay?"
Unable to speak, Tim nodded.
Kyle and I were equally stunned by Yumi's sudden move. Honestly, I think Tanya was too, because we all stared at her until Kyle broke the silence.
"Um... can I get stabbed next?" he said.
Yumi laughed and playfully slapped him as she sat on the bench.
"Well, girl," Tanya said with a coy smile, "I said distract him, not make out with him."
"Hey, it worked, didn't it? Is he still bleeding?" Yumi asked.
"No, I think I got it," Tanya said, tightening the last wrap. "But I'll probably have to do this a couple more times to heal the injury completely."
Tim pulled himself together and looked down at Tanya. "I don't understand. What did you do?"
"Listen, man, you missed a few things," I said. "I'll explain everything as long as you can keep it together, okay?"
"Tanya, your hands were glowing. My leg was glowing. It hurt like hell. Honestly, it felt like you were killing me."
"Sorry about that, Tim," Tanya said. "Unfortunately, while my new ability can mend tissue and even that fracture in your leg, it doesn't stop it from hurting like hell."
"Tell me about it," Kyle muttered, rubbing his arm. "Also, Tanya, I'm still pissed you used me as a damn test dummy."
Tanya snapped back. "Well, it's not like you were gonna bleed out if I messed up, Kyle."
I leaned toward him in solidarity. "Bro, let her have this one. Besides, your arm's better now, right?"
"Yeah, I guess. Look, Tanya, I'm sorry. I should've said thank you, I think."
ARi stood at the end of the table, slowly shaking her head. "I know I haven't had real eyes for long, but I gotta tell you guys that was the craziest shit I think I've ever seen," she said, trying to keep a straight face while grinning ear to ear.
After a few minutes, Tim asked Kyle and me to help him over to the bench closer to the fire.
"You're cold, Tim, because you lost a lot of blood. And if you tear that thing open again, it's gonna start bleeding like it was," Tanya pleaded.
"I'll be super careful, I promise," Tim said as we sat him down on the bench.
Tanya and Yumi walked Tim through everything that'd happened and explained their new skills. Both girls had dumped their available attribute points into Willpower and Constitution. The Energy Reserve capacity was affected by either Willpower or Intelligence, but the Energy Regeneration Rate was tied to both Willpower and Constitution as well. It made the most sense to invest heavily in those two core attributes. That way they could improve their energy stats while gaining a bonus to their Focus and Awareness and their overall Endurance.
I cleared my throat. "Kyle and I decided to wait until you were awake, Tim. We also figured we should save ARi's level up for last, since it was probably gonna have some pretty major ramifications for the group as a whole."
Kyle practically bounced like a kid on Christmas morning. He jumped up and waved his hands. "Alright, guys, so here's where everything stands as of right now." He pulled up the projection of his sheet. "The only points that I've applied are the ones it made me assign before we entered the lobby. That means I've got two level ups, so two skill choices, and a total of ten unspent attribute points. I'm gonna hold off on assigning those until after I see what the skills are. Probably a good strategy moving forward. That way if we need to bump anything up to enhance a skill, we've got the flexibility to do it."
A new window appeared in front of him.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET
Kyle Mercer, 27-year-old Human Male, Level 3.
Experience: 0 out of 2,000, for Level 4.
Health: 125 out of 125. Stamina: 125 out of 125.
Base Attributes:
Strength: 12.
Constitution: 12.
Agility: 11.
Willpower: 13.
Intelligence: 17.
Perception: 14.
Charisma: 11.
Unassigned Attribute Points: 10.
"My first skill choices look like this." He waved his hand, and the window changed, showing Kyle's first three options.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL SELECTION
Congratulations, Kyle Mercer!
You have 2 unassigned skill points to spend. Please select one of the following:
Piercing-Lunge 1.
Executes a rapid spear thrust that concentrates kinetic force at the tip to pierce hardened armor or biological plating.
Defensive-Sweep 1.
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Performs a low, arcing sweep to deflect and create space, increasing dodge and block chance by 15 percent for 3 seconds. Successful deflection restores a small amount of Stamina.
Quantum-Storage 1.
Applies phase-space theory to compress matter into a stabilized quantum subspace for later retrieval. Items remain in perfect stasis until withdrawn. Creates a persistent personal subspace inventory accessible through the system interface. Initial capacity: fifty slots or one hundred kilograms.
We all read his last option, and our eyes grew huge. Kyle's included.
"Kyle, is that what I think it is?" I asked.
"Why, yes, Gavin. If what you think it is, is a magic bag of freakin' holding," Kyle said.
Kyle didn't bother waiting for anyone else's opinion or thoughts. His body glowed as he accepted the skill. He walked over to the pantry, grabbed one of the clay jars, and held it in his hand. We watched it disappear. He held out his other hand, and we watched it reappear.
"All right, Kyle, keep it together," he said to himself, taking a breath. "I mean, guys, I was kind of hoping maybe I could make something like this become an option. ARi and I spent hours looking into what happens when she dematerializes something, like when she was carving the cavern out, because it's not an instant process. Well, I mean, phasing something out is instant, but she gets to make choices and options about how it's gonna reappear. So I was like, well, where's it currently at? Is it in limbo? Is it sitting in some kind of alternative dimension, quantum pocket, whatever? It's gotta be somewhere, right? She has to decide to do something with it, or she can't choose another action until she does. So it's gotta go somewhere, right?"
He stopped, realizing he'd been rambling. Kyle took a breath and pulled himself together before continuing.
"What I'm saying is--I figured it out. Look."
A new window appeared.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL SELECTION
Congratulations, Kyle Mercer!
You have 1 unassigned skill point to spend. Please select one of the following:
Phase-Compression 1.
Generates a short-range plasma burst by compressing and superheating air to ignite or melt surfaces. Energy: 15. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Scales with Intelligence and Willpower. Overuse drains Stamina.
Phase-Displacement 1.
Reshapes nearby stone, soil, or metal into barriers, shields, or other forms by shifting molecular alignment. Energy: 20. Cooldown: 14 seconds. Scales with Willpower and Intelligence.
Phase-Expansion 1.
Pulls heat from the area to produce freezing vapor and brittle frost that hinders targets. Energy: 15. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Scales with Intelligence and Willpower. Overuse drains Stamina.
The entire room became completely silent. For over a minute, all of us sat and stared at the window. Honestly, I couldn't believe what I was looking at.
I finally looked back to Kyle, who whispered softly, "I'm gonna be a space wizard. No... a phasemancer. Or Quantum Warlock?"
He finally met my eyes as I slowly shook my head back and forth in disbelief.
"Yeah. Phasemancer. That's what I'm gonna call it. I'm a freaking phasemancer."
"Whoa there, Mr. Wizard," I said. "Hold your horses and slow down."
ARi cut in, grabbing Kyle's attention. "Listen, you need to think this through, and we need to think ahead here, because remember, all of these skills form, create, and follow skill trees and branches."
She gestured at the window. "So for example, if you go down the Phase Compression route, that's essentially like diving down the skill tree for anything having to do with heat, fire, and things of that nature, like in one of those stupid video games. Same thing for Phase Expansion. That's obviously gonna be supercooling, so we're talking ice, frost, things like that."
ARi paused, looking at Kyle seriously. "But Phase Displacement though." She waved her hand and adjusted the window.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL DETAILS
Phase-Displacement 1.
Uses phase technology to manipulate nearby terrain, allowing solid materials such as stone, soil, or metal to be reshaped into barriers, shields, or other structures. The skill temporarily alters the physical state of matter within range, enabling rapid construction or defense without traditional tools.
Energy Cost: 20 per activation.
Cooldown: 14 seconds.
Scaling: Willpower and Intelligence.
Overuse or large-scale manipulation increases strain on the user. If Energy Reserves are depleted, the skill will automatically draw from Stamina, and continued use beyond that threshold will begin consuming Health until activity ceases.
"It’s not as glamorous sounding as the other two options, but I want you to think about that last fight, Kyle. If you'd had the ability to phase some of the stone beneath the ground you were standing on and absorb some of that material before that thing got close enough to hit our pikes, instead of us spearing it, you could've created stone spears right out of the ground in front of the damn thing. That monster could've run itself straight into a wall of granite spikes. I'm not saying that level one Phase Displacement would've been powerful enough to do that, but that's the kind of direction it's gonna go further down the skill tree."
"Holy hell," Tanya said, shaking her head. "Kyle, you could've absorbed material right out of the ground and dropped rocks on that thing's head or hurled them at it or something."
"Alright, Kyle, they're not wrong," I said. "Those other options are pretty crazy too, but I don't think it's talking about fireballs or ice balls, at least not yet. It reads more like a spray cone of plasma or supercooled material. And it isn't clear about the range, which probably means you'll have to be a lot closer to use them. That's something to think about."
"Especially considering you've got the lowest Constitution and the lowest health points out of everyone here," Tim said.
"That's true, and I'm glad you guys said something," Kyle admitted. "Because I was so gonna slam on the option for Phase Compression. ARi, if I don't choose the Expansion or Compression options now, can you bring them up as choices later like you did for Yumi?"
"Yeah, I can do that, Kyle," ARi said. "Remember, it doesn't tell me what potential skill option I'd be overwriting by doing that though."
"That's fine, as long as I know we can come back and pull them back up at a later time if we need to. But these guys are right, and I'm glad you talked some sense into me before I got overexcited. Honestly, for example, there’s not alot of room in here, and could you imagine if we found ourselves fighting in this den? I mean, I'd hope that we'd never have to fight this close to ARi's living avatar. But I don't think it'd be a good idea if I started blasting superheated plasma in this place."
"It's just ARi, Kyle," I said gently. I reached down and grabbed ARi's hand. "I know it's not easy to comprehend what's happened with everything that's going on, you guys, but ARi's one hundred percent human. The system even reads her as human female here. She is, by every definition we could come up with or consider, a human girl."
Tanya and Yumi both smiled, and Tim looked back toward me thoughtfully as he considered what I'd said. "Gavin, I haven't even thought about it. I'm so sorry. ARi, with everything that's going on, I didn't even put those pieces together."
He continued, his voice growing more animated. "I mean, think about it, you guys. If one of us dies in here, our physical body dies in the cradle back on Earth, but we respawn here like she did, meaning that we're alive on this world like she is. That technology can go both ways. It brought her from the digital into a physical reality, and it can take us from the physical right back into the digital."
"Tim, that's extremely profound. Super deep, dude," Kyle interrupted. "I'm sorry to interrupt though, because we gotta get back to deciding what kind of freakin' phasemancer I'm gonna be!" He looked at ARi. "And if someone comes in here and tries to take you out, I swear to God I'm gonna phase the hardest rock within my range right up their ass."
Kyle's body started glowing as he selected Phase Displacement. "So here's my stats after I assigned my points."
[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET
Kyle Mercer, 27-year-old Human Male, Level 3.
Experience: 0 out of 2,000, for Level 4.
Health: 145 out of 145. Stamina: 145 out of 145.
Energy Reserves: 200 out of 200.
Base Attributes:
Strength: 12.
Constitution: 12.
Agility: 11.
Willpower: 17.
Intelligence: 23.
Perception: 14.
Charisma: 11.
Skills:
Phase-Displacement 1.
Uses phase technology to manipulate nearby terrain, allowing solid materials such as stone, soil, or metal to be reshaped into barriers, shields, or other structures.
Quantum-Storage 1.
Applies phase-space theory to compress matter into a stabilized quantum subspace for later retrieval. Items remain in perfect stasis until withdrawn. Creates a persistent personal subspace inventory accessible through the system interface. Initial capacity: fifty slots or one hundred kilograms.
ARi smiled back at Kyle as she whispered. "Space wizard..."
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