“So how close are you to reaching tier 1?” Trinidad asked.
They were in the second segments cafeteria. While the setting was far from private, they were enjoying the closest thing they could get to it off on one of the corner tables. Liza and Emil took up one of the only two tables next to them while the other remained thankfully open.
“Not even halfway unfortunately.” Ozzy admitted somewhat painfully. Despite not even having been in this world for more than a month he felt like he was advancing painfully slow.
“You’ve only had your powers for what, two weeks? You’re doing fine kid.” Patrick said, Myla and Lars nodding along with him.
Sitting next to her Ozzy felt Trinidad tense as Patrick called him a kid. Everyone else watched as she nearly choked on a potato like vegetable and fixed her with confused looks.
“What’s wrong?” Patrick asked her, concerned lines etching their way across his forehead.
“Sorry Patrick, I just thought of something important I need to get to.” She said and abruptly got up and speed walked out of the cafeteria and up the stairs to the top deck.
“What did I say?” Patrick asked the table, looking about in confusion.
“You’ve never been great with women Patrick, you should be used to it by now!” Emil called over from his table where he and Liza were eavesdropping.
Picking up one of the potato-like vegetables Patrick pulled back and launched the yellowish vegetable. It soared through the air, coming to an abrupt halt as it met Emil's forehead. The vegetable exploded.
“It’s not you, we had a bit of a heated debate with our new guests on their ship, the topic was a little uncomfortable.” Ozzy tried explaining only to be ignored as Myla spoke over him.
“Personally, I’m with Emil on this one.” Myla said with a shrug.
“What do you mean you're with Emil? Just because I haven't found my person yet doesn't mean I'm bad with women.” Patrick defended himself.
“It does when you've been looking for longer than both Lars and I have been hunting combined.” She said.
“Bah, it's harder for people of my size to date. Everyone wants someone cute and small like whiskers over here.” Patrick said, gesturing dismissively at Ozzy.
“Whiskers?” Ozzy asked dubiously, raising his eyebrows at the nickname.
“Yeah, I don't know about that one.” Myla added, Lars nodding along with her.
“What? He turns into a rat. Whiskers. It makes sense.” Patrick tried to reason with them. Looking across the way to Emil for support in his cause.
Unfortunately for Patrick Emil was busy trying to get bits of vegetable out of his hair and shirt, completely ignoring the conversation that was now playing out. Liza, who had been paying attention shook her head sadly.
“You should stick to cooking Patrick.” Myla said, patting him comfortingly on the arm.
“You can cook?” Ozzy asked, feigning a look of surprise.
“Of course I can, why do you think I was setting up shop in the kitchen when we got here?” He asked.
“Emil told me you ran the meat stand in the market because no one would buy your food.” Ozzy said, feigning innocence as he watched Patrick’s eyes narrow.
Using his hands to shake out his locks, Emil had only just finished getting the final bits of food out of his hair when the second vegetable struck.
By the time the groups laughter, Emil’s angry ranting, and Patrick’s defense of his cooking had ended they were all full and ready to go about their days. There was one final bit of work they had to attend to however. They had to divvy up loot.
Placings and food were cleared from the table as dimensional bags came out and began to spill their contents out onto the surface. They were only interested in the valuables, any monster parts were not included in this counting and would instead go to a communal fund for the district. Even still there was more loot than Ozzy truly knew what to do with. All of it coming out in a roaring clatter. Even people from across the room turned their heads to look as treasure piled so high it began tumbling to the floor.
The greatest portion of treasure came from Emil's and Patrick's bags. They were of course the ones who had been in charge of looting the matriarchs and thus had gotten the serious loot. Ozzy, Lars, and Myla, didn't go without either, however. Dumping between the three of them, a modest, if not measly, sum of goods in comparison to what had come from the Matriarchs.
“Well Ozzy, let em’ have it.” Emil said, taking a step back.
Raising his arm Ozzy let the watch do its thing and scanned.
*BEEP BEEP*
Items identified:
Core of The Rat
Core of The Juggernaut
Mana Crystal
2 Shards of Unstoppable force
Shard of Horns
2 Shard of The Horde
Shard of The Charge
Shard of The Murk
Tower Shield of The Horn
9 Potions of Healing
Stolen story; please report.
2 Potions of Defense
148 Mana Stones
Amulet of Horned Defense
Ring of Minion Control
Ring of Fortitude
Onslaught Chain
Ozzy balked at the list. The mana stones alone was a sum nigh incomprehensible to him. It was like standing and looking at a pile of earthly gold. They'd made all of this in a day, no not even a day. Hours. It blew Ozzy's tiny little mind and he couldn't imagine why people wouldn't do this all the time.
Whistling as Ozzy panned the list about the group Emil picked up one of the cores. “Would you look at that. These things must like you.” Emil told Ozzy.
“Maybe they like you Emil, they think they’ll get absorbed by someone inexperienced so long as you’re around to guide them to it.” Patrick added with a chuckle.
Rolling his eyes Emil sat the core back down. “I’m telling you I had nothing to do with him absorbing it, if you'd only waited an extra 5 seconds, I would have explained to him that maybe a rat core wouldn't have been the way to go. It worked out though, didn't it? Everyone loves his abilities. Anyways, how are we splitting this?” He asked.
“10 shares. Ozzy gets three for handling two matriarchs. Myla gets three for keeping the little ones off of us. Lars gets two and you and I get one.” Patrick said.
“I’ll give up a share if you tell us what had Trinidad so thrown off, that kind of info might be more valuable than a shard.” Myla said.
“That’s not on the table, pun intended by the way.” Ozzy said, ignoring the creepy look Myla had on her face.
A susurrus of groaning responses rose up from the table in response, even Lars getting in on the fun.
“That was horrible.”
“You should feel ashamed.”
“You have to tell us because of that.”
“I’m not telling, trust me you don’t wanna know. I already wish I’d never told those guys.” Ozzy said, and right as the words left his mouth he realized he facepalmed.
“Wait it’s about you?” Emil and Myla said at the exact same time.
“No comment.”
“Come on, you at least have to tell me. You’re in my house!” Emil begged.
Ozzy pointedly ignored him, taking a long sip from his cup to avoid talking. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Liza approaching, a dangerous smile across her face. She had some kind of insult loaded, Ozzy just knew it.
“Come on sweetie, tell mommy and daddy what happened.” Liza said, her smile only growing as she spoke like she was talking to a little kid.
Ozzy choked and spat his drink out.
“I hate you people.” He just barely got out, his words lost under the din of laughter.
In the end Ozzy went with shards, money, and a magical item. Originally Myla had told him to just keep the murk shard but he’d felt bad not including it in the loot pile and opted to use part of a share to get it. He also got the shard of unstoppable force and one of the horde shards.
The magic item he opted for was the Amulet of Horned Defense.
The Amulet of Horned Defense
This amulet is a defensive item that may be used to summon horns made of mana to defend the wielder. Mana can be channeled into the item to summon persistent horns to defend the back shoulders neck and face or the amulet may be destroyed to summon three-pointed matriarch horns to counter any charge.
While he wasn’t sure how often he'd really be using the Amulet he was just happy to have another defensive option available to him. He was really not a fan of being hit. Hopefully if he ever did get into a melee, the mana horns would make someone think twice about targeting him or just outright help keep him from getting skewered.
The final option of the amulet was the main reason he’d gotten the amulet. Some things were just too big. Even when you had a gun made specifically for big game hunting. In the case that he was ever facing something like a root sucker or a matriarch again solo, he wanted to be sure that he had something to keep them from just charging him. Range was his best friend, and if he ever ran out of it, he sure as hell better have a plan to get it back.
Ozzy had also snagged up a little bit of cash. 17 mana stones was an inconsequential number compared to the vast sum available but to someone with practically no liquid funds to their name it was a fortune as vast as the swamp he was stuck in.
After they finished divvying up the loot nearly two hours had passed. They were a blur of jokes, plans of what to spend their money on, and food. Even Trinidad had come back for the tail end of the festivities.
Emil had ended up grabbing the shard of unstoppable force along with 30 mana stones. While Myla had grabbed both cores and good chunk of the magical items. Supposedly she had a good buyer for them back in the city. Lars and Patrick had split the rest of everything. Patrick telling Lars he’d give him an even split of the cash he got from selling everything if the silent man let him sell his half as well to which he’d agreed.
They were getting ready to pack in when Lars stopped Ozzy.
“Do you plan to absorb the shards tonight?” He asked him.
“I think so, I’ve never been big on waiting.” Ozzy shrugged.
“A toast then.” Lars said, raising a glass of mead high. “To strength!” He said loudly, the rest of the table following him in suit.
The vibes were high, and he decided he might as well share the moment with the group.
“Is it against the rules to do it here?” Ozzy asked, pulling shards out of his bag.
Emil let out a whoop which was answer enough for Ozzy. Everyone save Trinidad, who was tall enough to see over everyone’s heads, clustered in. All eager to watch the show.
Palming the shard of the horde Ozzy prayed for something for his rat core or something for his artifact.
Affinity Shard of The Horde
The shard of the horde is an object of power that bestows powers related to the concepts of the horde within the scopes of the wielder’s cores.
Postulations
This affinity shard is likely to bestow a power that will allow the wielder greater ability in groups, summoning powers, or abilities related to hordes.
Absorb? Yes/No
Ozzy clicked yes and let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in as he felt an influx of power overtake him.
*BEEP BEEP*
Power Bestowed!
Furry Swarm
As social creatures it has always been expected that when you find one rat you will find more. Summon a swarm of furious rodents that can disorient, attack, and of course swarm your enemies. Rats summoned by Furry Swarm will have strength and health only slightly above normal rats.
Grinning Ozzy picked up his next shard. It had been exactly the ability he’d been hoping to get from that shard, and he eagerly scanned the next one as people patted him on the back and offered words of excitement in regards to the new ability.
Affinity Shard of Unstoppable Force
The shard of unstoppable force is an object of power that bestows powers related to the concepts of unstoppable force within the scopes of the wielde’rs cores.
Postulations
This affinity shard is likely to bestow a power that will allow the wielder greater ability to maintain momentum through enemies, obstacles, and other barriers.
Absorb? Yes/No
The influx of power came, giving Ozzy the jitters as more power than his should knew how to handle began to flow through him.
*BEEP BEEP*
Power Bestowed!
Voidshift
Just as light has no place within the darkest recesses of the void neither does matter. This ability allows you to shift your form between this plane and the void. Allowing you to pass through objects, attacks, and defenses to strike at your enemy’s heart. This ability may only be used if the welder is in motion. Shifting to the void too many times may cause adverse and damaging effects.
Frowning at the text Ozzy read over the box again. It was not at what he’d expected from that shard. He’d been hoping for shield breaker attack for his gun core, though this one certainly seemed more interesting. Either way he decided to move on to the last one.
Affinity Shard of The Murk
The shard of the murk is an object of power that bestows powers related to the concepts of the murk within the scopes of the wielder’s cores.
Postulations
This affinity shard is likely to bestow a power that will allow the wielder greater ability to slip into hiding, have greater success at stealth, or control over visual information.
Absorb? Yes/No
“Maybe you should take a break before this one.” Ozzy heard Trinidad’s voice from over his shoulder, but it felt more like he was hearing her across a vast distance.
Too late he realized that he was literally glowing. His body probably at the limits of what it could handle, but his finger was already on the yes button.
The wave of power didn’t even register to his senses, and he was unconscious before he could even look back at the screen.
