Darling of Fate 2: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure, page 19
My mind was racing, trying to conceptualize what he had just said. But I was missing something, the key lesson in his statements. “So, if I’m understanding you, you’re saying that some energy meshes with us while others don’t? But does that mean that I can’t harmonize with my Friction energy? That’s why it’s fighting me when I try to apply it?”
“It’s not that you can’t. It’s that you aren’t. To truly unlock an Affinity’s potential, you must embody that Affinity.”
“How does one embody Friction? Or Fate, for that matter?”
He shrugged. “Practice. And meditation. Centuries of it, to start.”
To start…?
“Let’s assume I don’t have centuries,” I said. “How do I optimize the time I do have?”
“Practice. And meditation,” he replied, his expression neutral.
My frustration began to rise. “I don’t have time to meditate,” I said, my tone clipped. “Aren’t there any shortcuts? Pills? Elixirs? Bottled insights or something?”
He shrugged, waving toward the Personal Space door. “Of course. I’m sure there are hundreds of vendors willing to sell you a [Heaven’s Touch] pill that’ll push your Mass core to the Peak in hours.”
My heart quickened and I unconsciously felt myself rising to head over to the Staging Area.
A pill on par with one of the Boons in the Hold? Yes, please!
His next words made me pause half out of my chair. “But those shortcuts will only hamper your spiritual development in the long run.”
I settled back with a sigh. “And what about Conflict’s Boon?” I asked. “Did that hamper my development too?”
He waved away my concern. “No pill could compare to the touch of an Aspect. Even that foreign Fate energy I sense in your core is leagues better than any pill or elixir.”
“You can sense that?” I asked. For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to me that Hiko’s Boon would leave a trail.
He nodded. “Yes. Fret not. Your spirit will assimilate it in due course.”
Chewing my lip in thought, I asked, “Is meditation really the best way to increase my power? Isn’t there a faster way?”
“Haven’t you already figured it out?” he asked with a single arched brow.
“No…?”
“Think back to the evolution of your Friction Abilities. What was it that pushed them from simple Abilities into a proper Domain?”
I remembered that fight clearly. Surrounded on all sides by Swampers, my lungs burning. Desperation had fueled me in that moment. Pure panic, really. My [Lubed Up] Ability wasn’t a high enough rank to cover my body, yet I’d pushed it anyway. The resistance had popped, resulting in my Friction Domain.
“I was about to drown. Somehow, I…” I trailed off, the revelation hitting me.
He nodded, a smile spreading across his face. “You see, then? The only true shortcut in the Integrated Universe is life-or-death struggle. Remain on the precipice of death long enough, and eventually, you either die, or you break through.”
Chapter 20
The Fast Way Up
Isat back, contemplating Kurian’s words. Now that I considered it, all of my largest gains had come right before death—my early fights with Kneer, the battle against the Jree, and the fight with the Swampers. But the largest advancements had come from my last fight with Kneer, providing me with amazing Traits and skill levels.
Distantly, I wondered if killing Kneer again would give me even more benefits.
“I see what you mean—”
Byron burst through the door with wide eyes.
“The Jree are attacking the cliffs!”
Athena gasped, though I hadn’t thought she was even aware of who the Jree were. Lex’s fear and surprise flared through the bond, and I could tell he was reliving his fight with Kneer. That spike of emotion was quickly shoved down and replaced with a feeling of pride and determination.
“Dirk, I think I’ve acquired a taste for Jree eyes. It’s like when sharks taste human for the first time and become unstoppable killing machines—” Athena giggled, and Lex cast her a hurt look before continuing. “—I’m just saying, if I have to rip out some more eyes, I’m ready.”
“I…” Looking away, my thoughts churning, I considered our options. “Byron? Are they storming the cliffs already? Or simply posturing?”
He was bouncing in place, casting impatient glances back toward the Personal Space.
“I don’t know! Someone spotted some Jree in the trees, and before we knew it, there were dozens of them staring at us.”
“So they’re not actively attacking,” I said with a nod.
“They might be!” Byron replied, his voice rising in pitch. “For all we know, they’re scaling the cliffs right now!”
I had to force my annoyance down, reminding myself that this was fresh-redo Byron. He hadn’t fought the Jree yet or seen me kill Kneer. To him, the Tower had only opened a few hours ago.
“What are you thinking, Dirk?” Lex asked, his calm tone not betraying the underlying anxiety I felt roiling in his mind.
“It’s like Byron said—” I cut off, remembering that was a different Byron. He squinted, but I pushed through. “We have the high ground on the cliffs. They need to get through us to get to the tunnel mechanism. But if we hold them off, I can hit all three mechanisms with Rok’s help. If I can get the tunnel mechanism activated quickly, the rest of you can flee into the tunnels before the Jree scales the cliffs.” Another thought occurred to me, and I smiled. “And the tunnelers will go wild, dumping off the cliffs in waves. The Jree will be forced to wait until I hit all three mechanisms. In the meantime, Byron and the others will make their way to the water region, where I’ll have opened the portal to the Hold!” I looked around the room, excitement filling my chest. “We can have everyone through before the Jree even know what happened!”
The plan was beginning to coalesce in my mind. This was the way to save everyone and get them to the Second Floor. Originally, I’d considered the tunnels the worst region to be stuck in. It was the most difficult to find golden mobs and to farm levels—at least for us humans. But now, I realized that my access to Rok at the top of the mountain was our biggest asset. His willingness to launch me across the Floor so I could hit all the mechanisms in rapid order would be the key to saving humanity. And not just in my Instance, but across all the Instances!
This obviously wasn’t the final run, but this was a perfect opportunity to play-test my theory. If I could manage to get most of my people to the Hold, then I could start working on getting the other Instances to safety too.
“That could work…” Lex replied with much less enthusiasm than I felt.
Byron shrugged. “I barely followed anything you just said.”
I waved away his concern. “Just follow my lead.” Turning to Kurian and Athena, I said, “I’ll see you guys soon.”
Athena chewed her lip with concern, but Kurian didn’t even look at me. He motioned for the girl to attend to him.
“Come, Athena. I’ll teach you all my best secrets while he cavorts around the Tower.”
She perked up at that, turning to stick her tongue out at me. I made a silly face back at her and blew a raspberry.
Before she could return fire, I was back through my Personal Space door. As I went to take the portal, I grabbed the extra rifle ammo sitting in my Storage Chest.
“You still have my rifle?” I asked Byron as we walked into Mama G’s Personal Space.
“Yeah…” He seemed reticent to return the weapon.
Stopping in place, I held out my hand. “Gonna need that for what comes next.”
Reluctantly, he pulled the rifle into his hands. I went to grab it, but he didn’t let go immediately.
Stepping back, I crossed my arms and waited.
He gave the rifle a single stroke like he was parting with a treasured item before handing it to me. He turned away, unable to watch as I pulled it unceremoniously into my Inventory.
“You’ve had this thing for like two hours,” I replied. “Why are you acting like I just asked for your first born?”
He looked uncomfortable, shifting in place. After a moment, he said, “I—I just felt safer with it in my Inventory, I guess. I don’t have any weapons,” he added with a shrug. “Just my boomy.”
Pursing my lips, I nodded. I could understand that, I supposed. Pulling the machete I’d grabbed from Walmart out of my Inventory, I handed it over. There was no way in hell he was getting my katana, though.
“Here. I know it’s not the same, but it’s better than a boombox.”
He reached out and reluctantly grabbed the weapon, using two fingers to pinch the blade like he was handling something dangerous.
I rolled my eyes and took it back from him—by the handle. “You stab with this end, dude,” I joked, indicating the blade of the machete.
He bristled, taking the weapon back by the hilt. “I know that! I just… would prefer a gun.”
Shrugging, I said, “I’ll keep it in mind for next time. For now, we’re on the clock.”
Without checking to see if he was following, I stepped into the portal sitting in Mama G’s Personal Space.
The atmosphere shifted noticeably, the clean aroma of the kitchen replaced with the humid stink of damp rock. The stark blue light of the portal was the only illumination as I glanced around to get my bearings.
We were in one of the tunnels leading from the cliffs, just around a bend so the daylight didn’t penetrate to our position. Byron and Lex followed as I jogged out of the tunnel out into the sun. The throngs of people positioned along the cliff edge had an air of borderline panic amongst them. I caught more than a few eyes glancing toward the tunnels, thoughts of retreat clearly in my mind.
To the left, I spotted Jerome coordinating people into defensive positions, while nearby, Lacy was busy frantically scrawling away on her sketchpad. When Jerome saw us emerge from the tunnel, he jogged over.
“Bout time,” he grumbled. “The trees be thick with them aliens.”
I nodded, surveying the hundreds of people bustling across the cliffs. “People are looking a little skittish. Everyone holding up alright?”
He gave the nearby people an appraising look, his lips pressed tight. Leaning in, he lowered his voice. “They won’t hold. First sign of trouble, the whole line’ll break.”
“You really think so?” Byron asked, examining the people as if trying to see some tangible sign of an impending rout. “They seem solid enough to me.”
“I know soldiers,” Jerome growled. “These ain’t that.” His up-and-down look of Byron made it clear that included him too.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said before Byron could argue. “New plan. Everyone is going to head through the tunnels and move toward the next region.” Jerome squinted, the only sign that he was surprised. “I’m gonna hit this region’s mechanism which will trigger the mobs to go crazy. Last time, they pushed out toward the cliffs, which should hold the Jree back. From there, I’ll hit the jungle mechanism and meet you guys in the water region. We’ll head to the center island together.”
“How the hell you plan on doing all that?” Jerome asked, his tone skeptical.
“No time to explain,” I said. “You’ll just have to trust me.” The defenders on the cliff edge were blocking my view of the trees, but I had to assume the Jree weren’t attacking yet, as no one was in a full-blown panic. “We should start filtering people away slowly, so the Jree don’t notice.”
A thought hit me, and I turned to look up the mountain behind me. It could work…
“It’s not gonna take the Jree long to notice we’re abandoning the cliffs,” Byron said.
“Hmm.” I spotted Lacy in the corner of my eye and called out. “Hey, Lacy!”
She looked up from her pad, a focused look on her face. When she saw me, her face brightened—just for a moment, but impossible for me to miss with my boosted Perception—and she came over.
“What’s up, guys?”
“Plan is to make an orderly retreat and head for the next region”—her eyes widened in surprise—“but we don’t want the Jree to know and launch an early attack. Can you project some fake defenders on the cliff while they filter out?”
Her jaw worked back and forth, and she chewed the inside of her lip. She turned to survey the more than a hundred people in the area. “Not this many. But maybe twenty or thirty?”
I nodded. “That should work.” Turning to Jerome and Byron, I said, “You guys start spreading the plan to everyone. I’m gonna get moving toward the mechanism.” Looking back to scan the mountainside once more, I considered. “Maybe ten minutes before the mobs go crazy. Everyone needs to be past the main cavern before then. It’s about a mile, so let’s move fast.”
Jerome and Byron left without a word, heading in opposite directions. To Lacy, I said, “Get started on those projections. But don’t stick around too long, okay? Ten minutes.”
She nodded, then reached out to squeeze my arm. “Be careful,” she said softly.
“You too,” I replied with a nod.
She walked off, her head down as she began to sketch. A part of me wanted to hug her, even draw her in for a kiss. But I knew that she didn’t remember any of the other redos. No one did. A feeling of loneliness threatened to overcome me when something pressed against my leg.
Looking down, I saw Lex there, his head leaning against me.
“We’re in this together, you big ape,” he said. “Don’t go getting all melancholic on me now. We’ve got people to save.”
I reached down and pet him on his neck. “Melancholy? Me?” I blew a raspberry as if that was the most ridiculous idea ever. “Come on, I’ll race you to the top.”
Turning toward the mountain that loomed over the tunnels, I started running. With a leap, I latched onto the sheer rock and started climbing, my Friction Control giving me preternatural grips. My initial idea had been to return to the elevator at the bottom of the mountain and ride that up to Rok. But that meant nearly thirty minutes of running and a fight with the giant Excavator. But right in front of me was direct access to the top where both the mechanism and Rok wait.
After all, the shortest distance between two points was a straight line.
The only downside to this method was that the Jree would most likely spot me. There was the possibility that would accelerate their plans. But I still considered it the better option.
As I climbed up the nearly vertical mountain, I was utilizing my Friction energy, my grips latching onto the rock like they were super glued. But I had another energy to work with, and I hadn’t had much chance to play around with it outside of the Safe Zone. So as I climbed, I swapped my Friction energy with my Mass energy, reducing my mass to the bottom limit. Pulling up my Status Sheet, I confirmed that my Agility was now at 150.
I leaped like normal, reaching for a handhold about a foot above my head. My body launched past the hold, and I shot up fifteen feet before my momentum let up. Scrambling to find a nearby hold, I worried that I would crash to my death before I’d even started. But Red lashed out, gripping the rock long enough for me to find a hold.
As I leaned against the cliff face, my adrenaline spiking from the near fall, I realized that the weight of my body was almost nothing. I was gripping the rock tightly but felt almost no pull from gravity. Experimentally, I removed my feet from the rock and clung by a single grip. Hanging by a single hold unenhanced was easy, if not trivial—even before the Tower. But now, with my mass reduced to the limit, I felt light as a feather.
The realization was so freeing. I didn’t need to fear the fall, even without my Friction energy. Even my reduced Strength was enough to make clinging by one hand a joke. Slowly, I regained my footholds and began scaling the cliff, accounting for my low mass and incredible Agility this time.
At first, it wasn’t as fast as when I used my Friction Control. But as I limit-tested my new Agility, I found myself taking more and more daring chances. Leaping ten, fifteen, even twenty feet to latch onto a microscopic hold left me feeling dizzy with exhilaration. Within a few minutes, I was traversing the mountain even faster than when I used Friction. My passage up the cliff made Kneer’s climb during our deadly duel look like child’s play.
When I finally pulled myself over the edge and onto Rok’s plateau, I had an ear-to-ear smile plastered across my face. That had been one of the most exhilarating things I had ever done—right next to the thing I was about to do right now.
In the distance, Rok stood bent over, his hands magically scooping rock from the mountain. According to my internal calculation, I had reached the peak of the mountain in less than ten minutes, so I had some time before I triggered the mechanism.
Walking over to Rok, I called out, “Hey there, Rok!”
The giant Stone Golem actually flinched in surprise, dropping the massive boulder to the ground with an earth-shattering thud. He turned to regard me slowly, though, for him, it appeared to be closer to a full-speed whirl.
I put up my hands by way of apology. We were still a hundred feet apart, so I had to shout to be heard. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
The surprise on his face was replaced with a beaming smile, his hand going up in a wave.
“Looo!” he called back. “Yo wan rok?”
As I approached, I played back our earlier conversation, employing him to throw me toward the giant tree in the middle of the jungle region. He was just as amenable as before and even seemed to relish the idea of chucking me.
During our conversation, Lex appeared, flapping his way over with the heavy beats of his wings.
“I. Hate. Flying!” he called as he came into view.
“I’ll meet you at the water,” I said. “Try to convince the Co’xatl not to kill any of our people. Let them know that in exchange for safe passage, I’ll be hitting both mechanisms.”
