Chapter 48

Charlotte shivered and then her clothes blurred as a coat appeared on top of her armour. They jogged through the dark.

“Is it winter yet?” Adrian asked.

“Late autumn, by my count,” Charlotte said. “But I could be off by a couple of weeks.”

“Who cares? It’s cold,” Jules said.

Adrian felt silly, with a flick of his Mind the air around both girls warmed by twenty degrees.

Both ground to a halt with weapons coming out.

“That was me,” he admitted.

“You can warm us up?” Jules asked, breathing out and observing the lack of white mist. “That’s nice.”

They ran once more and as they warmed up Adrian reduced the surrounding temperature to make running more pleasant.

Jules looked at him speculatively. “Can you make us cold in summer?”

“Yes.”

“You know I’m not going to let you settle down,” Jules declared. “You’re going to have to come bashing with me to keep me cool. No one wants to do that on forty degrees days.”

“Jules, I’m not going bashing with you so I can be a portable air conditioner.”

“Why not?”

“You can bring your kids and Emily. The Alpha physics equivalent to a day at the beach. Fun!”

“Oh god,” Charlotte interrupted. “Days on the beach. Can you imagine that with monsters! I can’t imagine anything more terrifying.”

“That’s because you haven’t experienced shadow stepping to within metres of a class 0 planet destroyer.”

Jules laughed. “If I had the movement skills. I would have been there.”

“After that, I’m not afraid of anything anymore. I was so terrified.”

“Really?”

Adrian looked at the blond-headed girl. “Except Jules, you’re still scary,” he clarified quickly.

“Remember, you’re the air conditioning,” she said with a laugh. “Every summer and winter. You can have the other six months off.”

Charlotte laughed. “Did you guys get any tips on how to fight these imps?”

“Nope.”

“Everyone still thinks I’m a barbarian, so they don’t bother.”

“Mike didn’t suggest anything apart from to wait till daylight.”

“Is that your way of saying we should stop and have breakfast?” Adrian asked her.

Charlotte blushed. “Well, I skipped it because you were already outside and since it’s still dark and we’ve reached the hills and it’s the most important meal of the day.”

“I can see them,” Adrian told her. “The first imp colony is a couple of kilometres away, but having breakfast here and then setting out at the crack of dawn seems prudent. We go any further and they might spot us and counterstrike.”

They sat and Charlotte passed out tacos. “Battle buffs,” she said happily.

“You know you don’t need them against the imps. You’re just eating them because you love the taste,” Jules ribbed.

“That’s just a coincidence,” Charlotte said with a smile. “What do you think of Kiyoko?”

“That she’s a lot like my old interface. Helping but getting her own agendas addressed at the same time.”

“I got the same feeling,” Charlotte admitted. “We could have skipped this.”

“But where can Benalla run to? To get to Wangaratta, they need to go through the swoopers and southwest is just as bad. Violet Town will get wiped out too and so they have to reach Euroa, which is fine for the young and combat levelled. Everyone else, not so much.”

“That’s exactly the sort of holier than thou speech we expect from the World Saver.” Jules laughed.

“Even if Kiyoko was not here, I know you would’ve wanted to eliminate these too, Jules.”

She nodded. “Because I like to bash stuff.”

Charlotte raised her eyebrows. “Yep, that’s the only reason.”

They ate in silence as the horizon lightened. Then they moved to attack.

By the time they reached the first nest, it was noticeably lighter, and he got his first direct look at the monster type that had killed so many people.

Greater Imps (Dark)

Dark greater imps general possess significant stealth abilities at night, a fear effect that can distract enemy, dark missile, dark pool and stronger ones may also possess shadow hop and instant teleport to a distance of up to three metres.

This subspecies specialises in stealth attacks and shadow hopping.

Adrian noted the extra line about the subspecies. That made sense given the feel that he had gotten about the size of the Alpha physics universe. He suspected that there were literally millions of broken planets out there and any of them could have contributed to this invasion. Alpha physics linked worlds together independent of the physical space separating them. That, in turn, meant that there might be an almost infinite number of subspecies with varying strengths and skills. Regional knowledge would, of course, hit the average and then update with additional information once it was known.

He continued to examine their enemy. Take away their stealth ability and they were still super-human relative to pre-event, but only around level ten in post-event terms.

“They can do short shadow steps,” he told the other two. “Up to four metres.”

“That’s a long way,” Charlotte said.

“They need proper shadows unlike me. They also have dark missiles, and they form them fast. Like half a second fast, so be aware of them. If you see them, you’ll be able to dodge them most of the time at least.”

“Most of the time?”

“They can add body seeking to the missiles, and that means they’ll follow you.”

“Anything else?” Jules asked.

“Yep, do you know how to destabilise the portals?”

The girls looked at each other. “Yeah,” Charlotte said finally. “Kiyoko gave us a device that we just need to push mana into. We assumed she had already talked to you.”

“No, but I can do it directly. In terms of strategy, we split up and target the dense areas, as that is where the portals are.”

“You seem very knowledgeable,” Charlotte said.

“Adrian spent the first couple of days of the event fighting imps,” Jules told her.

“I closed five portals and killed hundreds of mini-imps. It was a good grinding spot at the time though a little boring.”

Jules picked up her club. “Come on let’s fight.”

The imps were not a threat. Adrian pretty much only killed them when they got in his way. Everything was focused on killing the breeders and the portals. The imps, despite their numbers were too slow to register as a risk to Adrian. Especially when a single wind blade would shred five at a time.

Adrian tracked his experience. They were worth twenty experience each but that raw amount was reduced to half a point of experience by the level difference with the breeders being worth a whopping thirty experience. Even with the level reduction, it still meant that he was getting flooded with experience.

1000 imps killed; Experience - 513

Badge Slayer of Greater Imps I – Awarded (Experience reduced by 50%)

4000 imps killed; Experience – 1087

Badge Slayer of Greater Imps II – Awarded (Experience reduced by 75%)

11314 imps killed; Experience - 1113

Portals Destroyed 14 (Diminishing returns activated.) Experience – 9,000

Experience – 68,790 (11,731 from actions, banked experience 11,928) of 100,000 required for Level 7

He did not hit the next slayer level, which he figured was probably at twenty thousand dead. Charlotte and Jules predictably struggled with the terrain, and so he took responsibility for all the hard to reach colonies, blasting himself up to the top of each hill and then gliding off it to the next colony.

“Final counts?” Jules said as they looked back at the hills they had just murdered their way through.

“Sixteen thousand imps and fourteen portals,” he answered.

Charlotte grimaced. “Three thousand and three portals.

“Twenty-two thousand,” Jules crowed. “And I got slayer three.”

“How many portals”?

“Eight,” she admitted after a moment.

‎ “Maybe we can call it a draw?”

Jules hesitated, and then nodded. “Sure. At least we both beat Charlotte.”

“It’s unfair. I don’t have any area of effect magic.”

Jules pretended to cry, and the redhead punched her playfully in response.

Then Charlotte frowned. “Mind you there are only a couple of niche opponents which I can fight better than you.”

“And probably nothing under class four,” Adrian told her. “But what do you expect? You’re tank specced.”

“True.”

It was getting dark, but they did not hurry. The night no longer scared them.

Violet Town was as dark as Benalla had been, with no obvious central wall to head toward.

They wandered slowly through the outskirts. “Where do we go?” Charlotte asked finally.

“I can take you.” Kiyoko’s voice said from a nearby doorway. Jules and Charlotte jumped in surprise with Jules producing her club.

“Always with the dramatic entry,” Adrian said, sighing. “As for you, Charlotte, you just walked into it.”

“I didn’t know she was there,” Charlotte protested.

“Not your fault. But she’s been trailing us for about three minutes, waiting for the opportunity.”

“It was fun,” Kiyoko declared unapologetically. “How far does your perception extend?”

“Can’t you just check?” Adrian teased.

“If I could I wouldn’t ask.”

“Not sure that’s strictly true.”

“Point,” she agreed with a laugh. “But I really don’t know.”

“I guess you’ll need to keep testing it.”

She laughed. The oracle was in a good mood. “Congratulations on your success.”

“How do you know?”

“Apart from you being here rather than still fighting?”

“Yeah.”

“There are partial quests in the system that just closed, and my personal oracle quest just awarded me five thousand experience about an hour ago.”

She was walking hurriedly, presumably toward the others.

Jules hurried after her. “What you got experience for our work?”

“How do you think oracles usually rank up?”

“I hadn’t thought about it.” He looked at her and sure enough she had ranked up three levels and was forty-six. Five thousand experience for eliminating the imps was less than one level in the forties. It meant she must have got a significant boost of experience from elsewhere.

“Let me guess, you also got a tonne of experience for me harvesting the mushrooms.”

“Yep.” Despite her age, she did a little skip. “It’s a great system.”

Kiyoko guided them straight over to a large building. The moment they got within range Adrian could sense the rest of their exploration team and a lot of locals. The place was still serving as a hotel, though like everywhere else it had been blacked out. Kiyoko, without ceremony yanked open the door. Brilliant yellow light shone out of it.

“Shut the door,” a local yelled.

“After you.” Kiyoko waved for them to go through the opening.

A big man loomed, silhouetted by the light. “You need to shut the door because the light attracts them.”

“There’ll be no attack tonight,” Kiyoko said firmly.

“Did the adventures you talked about kill them all?”

“No, but they’re in too much disarray to do anything tonight. They’re not all dead and there will continue to be raids over the next couple of weeks.”

“We won’t survive,” the man moaned.

“But they’ll be weaker than the last few you’ve had. Button up tight and you’ll be fine.” Kiyoko patted the man comfortingly on the shoulder.

Then, with a glare at the three of them, presumably for not following her instruction to go in, she walked past them and in like she owned the place.

“She is very opinionated,” the bouncer said.

“She’s an oracle,” Adrian answered.

The bouncer looked at Adrian and his eyes widened. “I’m sorry, sir,” the man apologised profusely. “I did not see you. Please come to my humble establishment. I’ll serve you personally.”

“Did the others put you up to this?” Jules abruptly asked the man.

“What? No? He’s a VIP, a World Saver.” The man’s face flushed.

“Just go with it,” Kiyoko called out to Adrian. “He gets experience if he does a good job of serving you.”

The bouncer, who actually had the class of innkeeper, wiped sudden nervous sweat off his face. “It’s not like that my lord. I…”

“It’s ok. We’ll sit with our friends. Food, beer?”

“Yes, of course.”

He dashed away with what looked like an agility in the thirties.

Level 10 Inn Keeper

The innkeeper class gets skills to maintain an inn. They get boosts to agility and strength based on the number and the importance and number of people they are serving.

They receive or lose experience based on how well they serve customers with noble themed titles.

Adrian watched the man work as he stood in the entranceway to the hotel. His identification kept extracting extra information about the class. There were official royal titles available and the badges sometimes counted. His defender of humanity badge got him into consideration at the rank of a lord. World defenders ranked at the duke level. World Saver was a level above the monarch, on a pedestal by themselves.

A duke could strip a level of experience per day. Adrian, at a word, could strip every single level from the server-style classes. The grants in the other direction were more limited, but the innkeeper if he did an adequate job would be level twelve tomorrow and an exceptional effort would propel him to fifteen.

Adrian also realised that he had similar though reduced impact on all service classes, blacksmiths, enchanters, cleaners, all of them would get notifications and fall over themselves to serve him and considering the experience damage he could do to them or vice versa grant them they would probably do it all for free.

“You look like you have seen a ghost,” Kiyoko said sweetly.

“That’s obscene.”

“You saved the world. What else could you expect.”

“But…”

“I know,” Kiyoko said, coming over and linking arms with him. “It’s overwhelming, but you’ll get used to it.”

“Your oracle class gives you something similar.”

“Yep, but I have world defender now, which does more.”

The innkeeper rushed back and forth constantly. His staff ran after him, struggling to keep up with the man’s frantic movements. Fresh drinks appeared whenever they were emptied.

His entire table got uproariously drunk. There was a brief fist fight which the innkeeper diffused with more alcohol, and it was a bloody fine evening.

He collapsed at two a.m. and woke up at six just before dawn, hangover free and ready for the new day.

The room downstairs was spotless. A level fifteen innkeeper beamed back at him even as he deposited a full big breakfast with orange bacon and a bluish tinge to the eggs in front of him. “Big breakfast with a twist.” the innkeeper proclaimed with a wink. “And.” Then very carefully, like it was precious, he placed a coffee cup on the table. The smell of fresh brewed coffee felt like it physically hit him.

“What the?” Adrian said in amazement. “You have beans.”

The innkeeper looked apologetic. “Yes, no, yes, extremely poor quality ones. But I have abilities to improve the quality of food or drink items.”

Adrian took a sip. It was amazing he audibly sighed. “Amazing.”

In front of him, the innkeeper jumper up two levels.

Buff of the Coffee Addict

Plus six to agility and ten percent movement speed increase for a day.

“And it has buff?”

“I’ll have one, too,” Jules ordered.

“Sorry miss, I can’t. All my skills are on cool down.”

The man’s level dropped level.

“Jules!”

“What?” she said, turning to Adrian. “His net up one level and he annoyed me.”

“It’s perfectly fine. Sir, if I could have served one to duchess Jules, I would have. The faults in my lack of skill.”

A level was returned to the innkeeper.

Adrian glared at Jules. She was having way too much fun with this. “She’s not a duchess.”

Jules beamed back at him. “Are you sure? Mr. World Saver.”

“Yes!”

Jules giggled. “Mr. Nobody, Adrian, are you going to share?”

“Miss, I can offer a solid instant coffee and amazing hot chocolate.”

“But you can’t do that.” Jules pointed at the coffee cup.

The innkeeper shook his head.

“I’ll have both and one of those.” Her finger switched to stab out at the plate in front of Adrian.

“Of course.” He whooshed away using his massive attribute bonuses to their full extent.

Jules’s order was delivered almost immediately. It must have already been cooking in preparation. She took a sip of coffee and her mouth puckered.

He took a sip of his and it was smooth and perfect. He instinctively made a satisfied noise.

“That’s it. When we travel together, you’re going to share your World Saver perks.”

“Sure, but you’re not getting any of this coffee.”

‎ She grabbed a sausage off her plate and ignored the black streaks through it and took a bite and moaned appreciatively. “Coffee’s shit, but the meal is the real deal.”

‎