That evening, I talked it over with Anne.

“I’m not sure,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“You can only give the FSAT once. And if your grades aren’t good, it could screw up your entire career.”

“Understood, but that’s less important than getting Paul revived, right?”

She sighed. “I know. I want him to be back to normal so bad…. But Dad always said we shouldn’t make someone else give up on their dreams just so we can have ours.”

“... You know, I really don’t have that kind of dreams. I just want Paul back on his feet, and to figure out who I really am.”

“Yeah, but this won’t get Dad fully back, will it? You need to get one more skill after that.”

“I…. don’t actually know that. I’m reasonably sure, though.”

“Sure of what?”

“Sure that Cure will work, and that it’s what I need to get rid of the Q-phase blast effect. I think… I think it’s something to do with alien weapons, which is why Field Surgery and First Aid won’t work on it.”

“And Heal?”

“I don’t know what it actually does - I won’t until the skill unlocks. I just have a very strong feeling that I need both Heal and Cure to fix him.”

“Oh well.” She shrugged. “Not like the doctors are of any help. Anyway, there’s something I have to talk to you about, too.”

“Shoot.”

“What do you want to do for your birthday?”

I frowned. “My birthday?”

“It’s the day after tomorrow.” Anne grinned. “You know, the date that shows in your ID? The day you officially turn eighteen? Come on, don’t tell me you forgot.”

“Er….” It actually had slipped my mind. “It’s a Friday so we have classes. Let’s not make a big deal out of it.”

Anne grinned. “If you say so.”

It was at that moment that my phone buzzed.

Jimmyboy3263: hey

Jimmyboy3263: put on the news

Andrew2080: what’s up?

Jimmyboy3263: you need to see this

Jimmyboy3263: now

Anne switched on the TV and patched into the newsfeed.

The BBC’s stream popped up. The picture was of a vast city by night, with buildings on fire.

“You are seeing live footage from the city of Lagos,” announced the newsreaders voice, “which was attacked less than an hour ago by Hierarchy forces. We are not able to confirm total casualties at this time.”

The video switched to the sight of fighter aircraft racing through the night skies.

“This live feed is available to us from the Nigerian Air Force’s inflight cameras,” continued the announcer, “as they are moving to engage the enemy.”

A streak of green lightning incinerated first one plane, then the next. The feed cut out.

The news anchor came on screen. “We appear to be facing some technical difficulties. For those of you who’ve just joined us, Lagos, a city of nine million people and the capital of Nigeria, was attacked at 1 am local time by Hierarchy forces of unknown strength and number. We understand that Hierarchy ground ships have landed. …. Please stand by as we are receiving reports from our reporters on the ground.”

The screen switched to a view of a street filled with burning buildings. Flashes of green energy shot out from the distance, blasting apart cars.

“This is Rory McQuill, reporting from the front lines,” came the voiceover. “I’m with the Nigerian Army forces that are holding the line against the alien menace. These brave men are firing back. We are waiting for the heroes to deploy….”

Whatever Rory McQuill was about to say was interrupted by a roar.

The plasma fire from the aliens sputtered out. The soldiers - and the cameras - stared in the direction of the sound.

Out of the darkness came a shape out of nightmares.

It was at least sixty feet tall, with razor sharp teeth, and covered in thick hide bristling with spikes. It lunged forward on powerful legs, and swiped at the troops.

Soldiers went flying through the air as the monster’s claws batted them aside. An unlucky tank went crunch under its tread.

The beast roared again.

The feed cut off.

The anchor came back on screen, looking shaken. “As we can see, it is now confirmed that the aliens have deployed at least one of their battle-monsters. Heroic reinforcements are on their way to the city now. Please join me in praying for the souls of the citizens of Lagos.”

“.... What was that?” I whispered.

“A kaiju,” Anne’s voice was lowered. “A Hierarchy battle-monster. They don’t take part in most attacks…” She trailed off. “But when they do, it’s going to be a bad day.”

“The anchor. He said to pray for the citizens of Lagos.”

“Yeah… when a kaiju shows up, it means the aliens are out for blood. Those things don’t stop until they’re put down. Generally that takes entire teams of heroes.”

“Entire teams?”

“The most powerful heroes working together, usually. They focus on the kaiju, slow it down, maybe kill it….. Takes hours.”

“What about the other aliens? Who fights them in the meanwhile?”

“Nobody.” Anne’s voice was bleak. “Generally when a battle-monster shows, every hero focuses on stopping it… every soldier too. A single kaiju can kill tens of thousands of people in an hour. The aliens …. Generally they get citizens into shelters and hope for the best.”

I felt numb.

I’d been going to school, trying to improve my powers, worrying about the Grunters and Anne and money and Paul.

Meanwhile, the Hierarchy had tools like this to unleash upon the world.

What would I do if they unleashed one of those things in the city?

I was an ultra - if I’d had the best skills, could I have helped stop that thing?

Tens of thousands per hour.

That was what I would have to fight someday?

NEW QUEST ALERT! KILL A CARNOTAUR.

THE CARNOTAURS ARE THE MOST DEADLY AND LETHAL SPECIES IN KNOWN SPACE. BUILT TO CRUSH AND DESTROY, THESE SAVAGE MONSTERS ARE GUIDED BY A BRUTAL INTELLIGENCE THAT DRIVES THEM TO SLAUGHTER EVERYTHING IN THEIR PATH. ONLY THE BRAVEST AND MOST SKILLED OF HEROES CAN STOP A CARNOTAUR.

YOU HAVE RESOLVED TO DO SO.

KILL ONE CARNOTAUR TO PROVE YOUR WORTHINESS AS A HERO. KILL THE CARNOTAUR IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ASSAULT ON THE CITY TO SEND A MESSAGE OF HOPE TO THE PEOPLE.

REWARD: 10,000 XP + NEW BLUEPRINTS + NEW SKILLS UNLOCKED.

WARNING: WITH YOUR PRESENT LEVEL, YOUR CHANCES OF BEING SUCCESSFUL IN THIS QUEST ARE MINUSCULE. PREPARE PROPERLY, THERE’S PLENTY OF TIME BEFORE THE NEXT ONE SHOWS UP.

I got up. “I’m going to the workshop.”

I’d made a workshop of sorts in the basement. It had an old table, where I could keep the pieces I was working on; hammers, screwdrivers, and other tools; and my nailgun. (I kept a sledgehammer in the bedroom, just in case.)

The Grunter equipment lay spread out on the table, from where I’d been trying to analyze it. The Grunter armour was incredibly strong and hard, although the blows from my sledgehammer had smashed several pieces to bits. So far, the pieces had yielded little information.

This time, I would use my new skill.

I picked a chipped piece of broken armour which only weighed a few grams. “Chemical Analysis,” I chanted.

My MP dropped by 200.

Blue motes of light began to swirl within the piece. In seconds, the entire piece had transformed into a blue glowing chunk of light.

The light flowed into my hands, then suffused across my entire body.

Huh. I didn’t feel any different…..

MATERIAL ANALYZED

NEW BLUEPRINT DISCOVERED: JAMMER BEACON.

NEW BLUEPRINT DISCOVERED: FULLERSTEEL LAYERED ARMOR.

NEW MATERIAL DISCOVERED: FULLERSTEEL.

YOU NEED MORE SAMPLES OF THIS MATERIAL TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO SYNTHESIZE IT.

QUEST ALERT: ANALYZE 100 SAMPLES OF FULLERSTEEL MATERIALS TO UNLOCK THE FORMULA TO CREATE FULLERSTEEL.

PROGRESS: 1/100.

REWARD: BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: FULLERSTEEL.

I waited for my MP to recharge and then picked up another chunk.

PROGRESS: 2/100.

Then another.

PROGRESS: 3/100.

A larger piece counted for more than one.

PROGRESS: 6/100.

By the time I reached 100/100, I’d dissolved three entire suits.

QUEST COMPLETED! ANALYZE 100 SAMPLES OF FULLERSTEEL.

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: FULLERSTEEL.

FULLERSTEEL IS A COMPLEX AND TRICKY MIX OF FULLERITE AND STEEL, LAYERED INTO A SANDWICHED COMPOSITE IN MUTUALLY REINFORCING PATTERNS. THE MATERIAL IS HIGHLY RESISTANT TO STABBING, HEAT AND IMPACT. AS AN ARMORING MATERIAL, IT IS A GOOD STARTING POINT, BUT TRY TO FIND SUPERIOR MATERIALS AS YOU GO ON.

FULLERSTEEL 1 KG = 0.5 KG STEEL + 0.5 KG FULLERITE + 400 MP.

REQUIREMENTS: CHEMIST LEVEL 5.

I need to advance my Chemist skill to actually create Fullersteel. If I had it, could I create armour out of it?

WARNING: FULLERSTEEL LAYERED ARMOR REQUIRES THE SKILL POWERED ARMOR FORGING LEVEL 1.

YOU HAVE NOT YET ACQUIRED THIS SKILL, SO YOU CANNOT UNLOCK THE ARMOR BLUEPRINT.

TRY SIMPLER ARMORS.

…. Could I make simpler armours?

I tried to concentrate and think of armour designs.

QUEST ALERT: GUNS AND ARMOR.

UNLOCK ONE ARMOR AND ONE WEAPON DESIGN BY ANALYZING THE GRUNTER EQUIPMENT YOU HAVE CAPTURED.

REWARDS: 1 ARMOR AND 1 WEAPON DESIGN UNLOCKED.

I applied Analyze to the last remaining suit of Grunter Armor.

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: KHICHDI COMBAT ARMOR

KHICHDI COMBAT ARMOR CONSISTS OF AN UNMATCHED SET OF ARMOR PIECES.

AN ARMOR SET HAS SIX COMPONENTS: HEADGEAR, BODYPLATE, BRACERS, GAUNTLETS, GREAVES AND BOOTS.

IN KHICHDI COMBAT ARMOR, EACH OF THESE COMPONENTS CAN BE OF A DIFFERENT TYPE. FOR EXAMPLE, ONE MAY USE A WELDING FACE SHIELD FOR HEADGEAR AND A NANOFIBRE WEAVE BODYPLATE.

HOWEVER, KHICHDI COMBAT ARMOR DOES NOT GAIN ANY SET BONUSES AND CAN ONLY BE UNPOWERED.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE MATCHING ARMOR COMPONENTS, IT’S THE BEST OPTION.

My mind flashed back to the materials I’d unlocked when I first gained the Skill Chemist.

I took a look at them again:

NANOFIBRE WEAVE: SYNTHESIZE CARBON NANOFIBRE THREAD TO USE FOR ARMOR AND WEAPONS. 250 MP / SQUARE METRE + MATERIALS COST.

“Can I make armour out of carbon nanofibre?” I wondered out loud.

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: NANOFIBRE WEAVE BODYPLATE.

NANOFIBRE WEAVE IS LIGHT, STEALTHY, AND IN SUFFICIENT LAYERS ABLE TO WARD OFF MEDIUM BLOWS AND SMALL ARMS FIRE. A BODYPLATE MADE OUT OF THIS CAN PROVIDE BASIC COMBAT ARMOR.

ARMOR POINTS: 200 (BODY)

DAMAGE REDUCTION: 25% LASER FIRE REDUCTION

DAMAGE NEGATED: 10

COST: 250 SQ. M. OF NANOFIBRE WEAVE MATERIAL + 300 MP

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: NANOFIBRE WEAVE GAUNTLET.

ARMOR POINTS: 25 (ARM)

DAMAGE REDUCTION: 25% LASER FIRE REDUCTION

DAMAGE NEGATED: 10

COST: 50 SQ. M. OF NANOFIBRE WEAVE MATERIAL + 300 MP

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: NANOFIBRE WEAVE BRACERS.

ARMOR POINTS: 25 (ARM)

DAMAGE REDUCTION: 25% LASER FIRE REDUCTION

DAMAGE NEGATED: 10

COST: 60 SQ. M. OF NANOFIBRE WEAVE MATERIAL + 300 MP

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: NANOFIBRE WEAVE GREAVES.

ARMOR POINTS: 80 (LEG)

DAMAGE REDUCTION: 25% LASER FIRE REDUCTION

DAMAGE NEGATED: 10

COST: 200 SQ. M. OF NANOFIBRE WEAVE MATERIAL + 300 MP

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: NANOFIBRE WEAVE BOOTS.

ARMOR POINTS: 25 (LEG)

DAMAGE REDUCTION: 25%

DAMAGE NEGATED: 10

COST: 40 SQ. M. OF NANOFIBRE WEAVE MATERIAL + 300 MP

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: NANOFIBRE WEAVE HELMET.

ARMOR POINTS: 45 (HEAD)

DAMAGE REDUCTION: 25%

DAMAGE NEGATED: 10

COST: 80 SQ. M. OF NANOFIBRE WEAVE MATERIAL + 300 MP

I could actually make a full suit of nanofibre weave armour out of this…

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: NANOFIBRE WEAVE COMBAT ARMOR.

WEAR A SET OF SIX COMPONENTS OF THE SAME ARMOR TYPE AND GET A BONUS.

BONUS DEPENDS ON THE TYPE OF ARMOR.

NANOFIBRE WEAVE COMBAT ARMOR IS FULL ARMOR. BLOCKS 100% OF DAMAGE UNTIL THE ARMOR POINTS ARE EXHAUSTED WHEN WORN IN A SET.

NANOFIBRE WEAVE COMBAT ARMOR IS LIGHT ARMOR. REQUIRES 15 STR TO USE.

NANOFIBRE WEAVE COMBAT ARMOR BONUS: 50% REDUCED COST OF EVADE BLOWS SKILL.

And it would help me dodge enemy blows.

Of course, I had no idea if it would work on a kaiju.

I added up the total amount. I’d need 680 square metres of nanofibre weave to make the armour, which meant….

At 250 MP/square metre, that was 170,000 MP! Plus another 1,800 MP to assemble it.

Okay, I could make one metre at a time, wait to regenerate… at 5.7 MP per second that would take me….

About eight and a half hours.

Well. Obviously producing a hyper-advanced material wasn’t going to be easy. I resolved to get to work the next day and start stockpiling.

Because if I could get a full set of armour out of this, that would add a total of 400 armour points.

Armor points which I definitely needed in order to avoid being pulped by two plasma blasts from an alien.

I used Analyze on the laser rifles next.

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: STANDARD LASER RIFLE.

STANDARD LASER RIFLE +40 DAMAGE/HIT

COST: 1 SMALL FOCUSING CRYSTAL + 1 SMALL POWER PACK + 1 KG STEEL + 400 MP

That was out. At least until I got a few more intelligence and wisdom boosts. And figured out how to make a focusing crystal. I was pretty sure I could get a kilo of steel items from a hardware store, though.

QUEST COMPLETED! GUNS AND ARMOR.

I resolved to start making nanofibre weave and stockpiling it.

I checked the last blueprint in my list.

DUE TO YOUR LEVEL 4 IN ELECTRONIC ARTS, BLUEPRINT JAMMER BEACON IS AUTOMATICALLY UNLOCKED.

Looked like there were hidden benefits to having a high skill level.

JAMMER BEACON

THIS HANDY DEVICE AUTOMATICALLY DISABLES ALL RECORDING EQUIPMENT AND SENSORS WITHIN A THREE BLOCK RADIUS FOR ONE HOUR. A GREAT TOOL FOR THE INFILTRATOR, THE ASSASSIN, OR THE THIEF. CONSUMES 250 MP WHEN USED. RECHARGE TIME 24 HOURS.

COST: 3 SMARTPHONES + 1 BATTERY + 300 MP.

Why did my power come with such handy options for villainy?