Status.

User: Brock Carter. Race: Human [F] LVL 16 Ascendancy: Fetters of the Bound [F] Level: 11 STATS Strength: 68.4 - [+20%][Base: 57] Agility: 157.2 - [+20%][Base: 131] Dexterity: 64.8 - [+20%][Base: 54] Constitution: 68.4 - [+20%][Base: 57] Vitality: 112.8 - [+20%][Base: 94] Intelligence: 186 - [+20%][Base: 155] Wisdom: 138 - [+20%][Base: 115] AUGMENTS Augment of Sparks (31.85%). TECHNIQUES Technique available for selection. TITLES At The Precipice, Agent of Chaos, Blessed, Destined for Greatness, Underdog, Hidden Fangs, Leader of the Pack, Login Bonus, Opportunist, Enlightened, Mass Murderer, Needless Slaughter, Masochist, Trophy Hunter (Unique). FREE STATS: 12 SHARDS: 109,588 STARS OF ASCENSION: 11

Brock overlooked his status menu with a grin and immediately chose to dump all his free stats into Vitality, letting it finally crest the threshold of 100 in base stats. He held hope that with the regenerative boost the stat seemed to provide, he’d be able to power through wounds in fights and come out healed up moments later.

It was a bit unrealistic, but a man could dream.

As soon as the change was finalised, he felt a brief surge of life flow throughout him, signifying he was once more under the enhanced effect of his new stats. But, in the end, the stats were only half the reason why Brock was here. Yes, the other half was the fresh addition of his ‘Techniques’ tab. His grin widened.

Idly, Brock glanced over at Harry, who was beaming as he surveyed his own gains. From what he could sense, the boy had crested level 25 and was closing in on 26. Sure, it called for celebration, but he didn’t think it would get him that giddy. Ultimately, Brock shelved the boy’s antics for later and opened up his Technique selection screen. His grin became toothy.

[You can now choose a Technique.]

Ethereal Shackles [F]: The most horrifying fetters are those that do not truly exist. Scales with Strength and Intelligence. Abyssal Embrace [F]: The void shall wait eternally for the cold embrace of death. Scales with Intelligence and Wisdom. Ocular Corruption [F]: The realm is of darkness, and so is the world. Scales with Dexterity and Wisdom. Forbidden Gluttony [F]: Hunger. It shall never cease nor disappear. Only consume. Scales with Constitution and Wisdom. Armageddon’s Prophecy [F]: It shall come for all, and it shall be the unavoidable end. Scales with Intelligence and Wisdom.

“Woah…” Brock muttered.

It was a not-at-all comprehensive list of five separate options, and he was left stumped regarding the choice he was required to make. They all sounded so… ominous, the descriptions even more so than the names themselves. It was actually to the point where he felt somewhat reluctant to choose any of them at all.

Though, he knew they would afford him a much-needed boost in power and finally grant his Ascendancy a use other than being the catalyst which for him to level.

Breathing out slowly, he considered his options. While both sounded interesting - in a morbid sort of way - he discarded Ocular Corruption and Forbidden Gluttony as they utilised some of his weakest stats for power scaling. Armageddon’s Prophecy was instantly thrown to the discard pile as well, just by the rule of thumb to not pick anything that had ‘Armageddon’ and ‘prophecy’ in the same sentence.

That left him Abyssal Embrace, a Technique that made use of his abnormally high Intelligence and Wisdom – the obvious choice, or Ethereal Shackles, which only truly benefitted from the former of his high mental stats. It should have been an obvious choice, but Ethereal Shackles seemed to be… calling him.

From somewhere deep within him, deeper than even his Ascendancy, he felt an urging – a fathomless longing – for him to take that Technique. Like it was meant to be his.

It was strange.

His Strength was one of his lowest stat values, easily comparable to his Constitution and Dexterity, yet the Technique that used it gave him a more powerful pull than even the obvious, most logical choice did to his brain. I should choose Abyssal Embrace, right?

Sluggishly, with something that almost resembled reluctance, Brock tried to select it. But it didn’t work. He could clearly feel his mind connect to the prompt’s ability to choose something, yet his mind itself just… wouldn’t do it. Each and every time he attempted to command it to select Abyssal Embrace, it… stopped itself. What the hell…?

Cursing after several long seconds of indecision, Brock decided to say ‘fuck it’ and instead selected Ethereal Shackles, hoping Abyssal Embrace would reappear another time to be chosen, if he didn’t find any other Techniques he liked. Though, from how Harry had been describing the selections, it seemed that as you grew and your path to power changed, so did the types of Techniques you were granted.

As the screen dismissed itself, Brock felt his Ascendancy beat heavily, a sensation akin to heartburn scalding him from within. He sensed a node of reddened energy rapidly coalescing on the outer flesh of his ethereal heart, like it was some sort of crystallised tumour. He looked inward and gazed at it, though he could glean no other information from it other than visually, and he quickly reopened his eyes.

It was time to test his Technique.

Glancing to the open area of the outback, Brock outstretched his hand and instinctively pushed some of the aura surrounding his Ascendancy into the node now clinging to it. He felt the node greedily devour the crimson energy and briefly it flared in intensity, sending a wave of altered power surging through Brock’s pathways and into his outstretched arm.

But that was it. The energy fervently crashed up against his fingertips and was forcefully expelled as thick wisps of red energy. Nothing happened.

“What the fuck…”

Cursing, Brock made to run his hand through his matted hair but forcefully stopped himself. Maybe his Ascendancy truly was crippled in some way or another, and he was not only barred from the passive use of it but also the power of Techniques as well. His earlier excitement curbed significantly, and the stupid grin fell from his face. It quickly became a grimace.

Heaving out a prolonged sigh and glancing over as a rocky scaled snake the width of an iPad – one that reminded him far too much of the basilisk - slithered across the desert floor, its cumbersome body drawing divots throughout the expanse of red sand. Brock could sense from its aura that the beast was around level 20.

No… I’ve gotta just be using it wrong, right?

The office worker gritted his teeth and decided to give it one last try as he outstretched his hand once more. He aimed it toward the creature and siphoned some more energy to the node. Once again, a wave of power exploded through his pathways, except this time, when it reached the tips of his fingers, it all just disappeared to the void of nothingness. No wisps, no nothing.

He was left astonished for less than a second before an atmosphere of weighty oppression settled over the area. Brock watched with wide eyes as the snake abruptly froze in its movements. The creature’s shadow roiled as chains of abyssal darkness phased up from within and grasped onto the body of the beast akin to the metal tentacles of an ancient horror.

Slowly, the reptile’s stone scales began to bubble and melt where chains met its body.

Brock quickly found his fingers to be locked in a claw grip, and he could feel them twitch and react as the snake struggled weakly, trying to escape the grasp of its corrosive bindings. Curiously, he squeezed against the spectral pressure rooted in his palm, eying the chains as they receded slightly into the shadow whence they came and began to crush the reptile against the earth under the weight of their pull.

His fingers flexed as Brock grunted and forced his hand to close the remaining distance. A sickening crunch resounded. Behind, Harry gasped in shock. As his fingers touched his palm, the chains tore through the creature and disappeared back into its shadow, leaving the dismembered remains of the venomous animal behind, its flesh blackened and bubbling.

“Woah, dude…” Harry muttered from the side, “Was that your first Technique?”

It took Brock a second to break out of his awe at the power he had just acquired, “Yeah. It’s called Ethereal Shackles. Gotta say I didn’t expect it to do that though…”

“Damn that’s epic. It has some sort of acid effect too, I think. I can tell from my second Technique.”

Harry emphasised the word ‘second’ boastfully, giving a smug smile as Brock’s eyebrows rose and waiting for him to ask about it. Ever the sucker, Brock did, brushing himself off and walking over to the boy, “You got a second Technique?!”

The teenager chuckled, “Yep. It lets me ‘detect’ and ‘identify’ the toxins of anything within the range of my aura, plus it gives an immunity to any toxins I currently own. Thought it’d be useful for finding new poisons and stuff. Got it for reaching level 25. Sick, right?”

“Yeah…” Brock couldn’t help but feel giddy at the thought of grinding all the way to level 25 and getting another Technique of his own. His first already seemed so overpowering, and he knew it had definitely increased his combat potential and versatility by quite a bit.

The next hour saw a series of tests with his newfound power, mostly involving him finding the exact limits of his Technique. From the lizards he had thrown into the air, it was clear to him that the ability had no height limitation of its target, with the chains rising up and dragging them back down to the earth.

It seemed that the size of the shadow also appeared to limit how many chains appeared, and the Technique itself only had a duration of about ten seconds before the conjured shackles snapped and dissolved. If he’d had Ethereal Shackles when they fought the basilisk, he knew the fight would have been so much simpler.

Although, he somewhat doubted his chains would be strong enough to hold it. Let alone big enough; he’d noticed that they had a fixed size, regardless of the size of the monster he used it on.

Overall, however, he and Harry had experienced a notable power up.

Despite that, they certainly weren’t ready to tackle the Sky Bandit just yet. No, they wouldn’t be for a while. It had only been a handful of hours since they had left the bounds of Alice Springs, and they’d already seen such concrete improvements. Both of them couldn’t help but feel immensely excited at the prospect of how much they’d grow within a month’s time.

Hell, Brock didn’t even care about the growing stronger part, he just wanted to get another Technique. They… were so fucking awesome.

The two of them ended up taking a break and broke out a series of the assorted foods they had collected from Jordan’s stores and their time travelling, though the quality and freshness was questionable at best. Sadly, he found that they had fewer non-perishables and more canned food now. Still, they’d had enough protein bars and peanuts to last them a few days.

A slightly louder series of trembles echoed in the distance.

Very few creatures came over in search of the somewhat tantalizing scent of chocolate and salted peanuts. Those ‘very few’ creatures that did were instantly met with small blasts of Brock’s Augment, just enough to scare them off. Killing those far weaker than him left a bad taste in his mouth. It felt decidedly wron-

"Oh! We need to loot the basilisk!" Harry piped up suddenly.

Brock sighed.

Lethargic and full-bellied, the man hobbled over to the gargantuan corpse ahead of them, following behind his excitable companion.

**

It had taken the better part of three hours, but they'd managed to chip off a sizeable portion of the reptile's stone scales - with Harry being certain they'd make good armour material even though they didn't know a blacksmith - rip out a few of those spiny teeth, and even obtain its venom gland.

The procedure to acquire the latter had been a bit messy, involving Brock entering the interior of the beast and following the instructions shouted down the throat by Harry. The boy's Aura Technique had allowed him to guide the man to the gland filled with grey fluid, which then saw him removing it with his blade and actively attempting to cauterise the incisions before he was coated in petrifying toxin. Fortunately, at his behest, his Augment was capable of doing so, and he tucked it into his inventory.

He had been rather curious about why it was a fluid inside the gland not a gas, but upon touching his searing knife it had began evaporating, creating more of a petrifying steam than a gas, which answered his question. The beast must have been using some other fire gland to spew out the poisonous gas.

There wasn't actually much Brock could do with the poison, he found, except maybe use it with his Augment to create some sort of petrification grenade. That'll be interesting...

And so, afterwards, he jumped in the passenger’s seat of the jeep and let Harry drive for a bit, the heavily sheltered boy enjoying the responsibility and freedom immensely. Brock, on the other hand, had something more important to do. With the gaining of his first Technique, he was also allowed access to what Harry called the Aetherweb.

He had also gotten the Title ‘Budding Power’, and it was related to getting a Technique, though it gave no stats, so he paid it no mind other than simple acknowledgment.

Licking his lips, Brock opened his own Aetherweb.

[Aetherweb: Fetters of the Bound.]

[Stars of Ascension: 11]

Tough Hide (0/3) Aurous Intensity (0/5) Beat of the Ethereal Heart (0/10)

As Brock panned over his limited choices, he felt a faint sensation from his Ascendancy, giving him a slight feel as to what each option would do. They all seemed strange, and although he had just opened the screen, he was immediately under the impression that the Aetherweb wasn’t actually for him, but for the heart residing within him, like Harry had mentioned before.

Experimentally, Brock dumped three Stars into the cheapest selection, Tough Hide.

For a second, nothing happened. Then, upon his Ascendancy’s next powerful beat, he felt the energies pulse through him and leave his pathways a tad bit more resilient and flexible than they had been prior. That much all but confirmed Harry’s words that the web wasn’t exactly evolving him, but his Ascendancy and its function.

If not for the sudden interruption, he would have circulated some energy to see the effects.

[You have completed Aetherweb: Tough Hide.]

[Only the most resilient in the Multiverse possess a hide thick enough to support their pursuit to the Apex. Empower yourself and bask in the rewards of capability. +10% maximum flow in user’s pathways. Future Techniques will have a higher base capacity for aura.]

Brock read over the prompt in astonishment and experimentally pushed some of his aura through his pathways. It seemed the excerpt wasn’t lying, and he found that his paths could accommodate roughly 10% more energy than before. Any more than that and the power just wouldn’t fit in, and it would expel itself through his pores.

Then there was the part about his future Techniques having a higher ability to contain more aura, which he assumed meant a more powerful effect. It wasn’t useful now, but it certainly would in the future.

Amazed by the developments, Brock went ahead and dumped a further five Stars into Aurous Intensity, dropping the value of his mysterious currency down to a meagre value of three. A quick glance showed that no new choices appeared to replace the two he had consumed.

[You have completed Aetherweb: Aurous Intensity.]

[To strengthen aura is to empower the core of your being and the powers that it relies upon. Tread the boundless path of aura and bath in its prosperity. Latent aura power increased.]

Immediately after reading the prompt, Brock looked inward and searched for the mentioned effects. Eventually, he noticed the aura radiated by his Ascendancy had become slightly more saturated with power and vibrance, though it was hard to tell by exactly how much. He was a bit sour that there was no other effect, however.

He only spared a few moments longer to embrace his changes, before Brock closed the screen for another time, unable to purchase anything further. Grinning goofily, he looked back to the desert as their vehicle positively skimmed through it.

Harry was smiling like a maniac as he sped them through the countryside, enjoying the wild freedom he had never been allowed under the protective eye of his Ma. The boy still dearly missed and worried for the woman, he could tell, but it seemed he was also unhesitatingly savouring what it was like to not have her constant overbearing presence.

Occasionally, Brock bore witness as strange worm-like creatures were splattered across the windscreen and front of the vehicle, jumping out from the sands and getting instantly obliterated by the insane speeds of the jeep. Wonder where these fuckers are coming from…?

Brock knew that if he was ever a father, he’d be an utterly terrible one. Why, might you ask? Well, simply because he was letting a kid who didn’t even have ten minutes on his driver’s license speed at over 150 kmph through the vast and deadly expanse of the outback. The danger was palpable, even to the densest of idiots.

While it probably was no longer deemed illegal - both the speed and the person driving - it was certainly an act of dog shit stupidity. In fact, on second thought, Brock leaned over and snatched the wheel from the teen, shooing him off into the back seats so the older man could assume the position as the driver and slow the vehicle down.

There, potential crises avoi-

Dum Dump.

…Did I just run over a snake?