When it comes to the monsters you face, there is a distinct pattern to the levels you will find. Closest to the dungeon entrance, they will be of levels ranging from nineteen to eleven: Then, starting approximately 14.634 miles from the entrance, from sixteen to eight. Then again, another band reaching out another 196.528, has those from twelve to six. The final band – which will stretch out until it hits the territory of another dungeon – holds those between level nine to level one. It is thus best to start near the boundary and move slowly within, to build up your level and abilities before you are near the Dungeon's core territory: That is where those monsters that profited most from the murder of your people will dwell.

- What you need to know to survive the Voidbound System, by &*%:”%^%

And the promise came true. Here in the Temple, it seemed Frank's miracles got extended use, and so he spent the next five hours casting Rejuvenation every fifteen minutes or so, for groups of increasing size – well into the afternoon, in fact: According to his display, they had close to a thousand members signed on.

The formerly elderly had stood to the side as the second group – composed largely of the students – and progressively gotten younger as people watched: It was sufficiently distracting that they did not notice David and Alicia amongst the third group – again, mostly students looking to gain the perfect, toned bodies the spell produced – better than any diet, and it handled skin care too.

It became quite obvious over the next twenty-minutes, however, as the pair of teens aged. Gaining more than five years of toned athletic flesh, shooting up and skipping the rest of puberty – Jonathon did not want to be present when their parents found out, and had bitten back a few choice words himself at the clear indication the pair intended to go out hunting – leaving the room looking like a pair of swimwear models in their early twenties, hand in hand and heads together.

Happily – for him – Frank told everyone they would need to continue tomorrow at the five hour mark, and he was able to escape – running into the Colonel on the way out, who looked at him with a grim expression.

“I've been informed that we're on our own for now. To support you as much as possible until further ordered, on the condition that we form our own 'gang', and you provide at least some of the benefits mentioned – specifically training and weapons – and in return, we will help you defend the structure until contact can be re-established with the rest of our forces.” he stated, without preamble. “Since this is your structure – I'm inclined to consider you in charge of your gang. Are these terms agreeable to you?”

Jonathon thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. “Though I will need to speak to the rest of my team before I can agree to that, it sounds reasonable – I'll let you know our decision by noon tomorrow?” he tried to pitch his tone as respectful and responsible – and to all appearances, succeeded.

Colonel Mitchelson frowned briefly, then gave a curt nod. “Very well. I will see you tomorrow.” and with that, the colonel turned to join his men: Given the hour, Jonathon retired to his suite before he next spoke – this time, to thin air.

“Jeeves? I presume you were listening. What are the Colonel's actual orders?” he waited, patiently, as the AI shimmered into existence above him.

“A Brigadier General Dire instructed him to support your actions, provided that in his judgement they are not a threat to US citizens or governance. To assert authority if you are found to be trying to claim sovereignty. To validate your claims regarding the Galactics and fortification assaults, as well as ascertain your strengths, and how to acquire these resources for the US armed forces, Jonathon.”

Jonathon nodded at that. “I thought it might be something like that.” he'd read enough military thrillers to have an idea of how the government might react to an armed fortress in private hands. “Let Frank, Michelle, Larry, Francine, David and Garcia know of his offer and his orders, and arrange a meeting at nine AM to discuss it.” he paused for a second, planning his next move. “Book me a slot in the training rooms? I want to hone my magic.”

“There is no need to book a slot, Jonathon. As the owner of this facility, you have priority access, and your own instantiation of all such facilities should you so desire, Jonathon.” Jeeves replied, politely.

Jonathon perked up, surprised. “I see. Then I'll go make use of those – alert me when it hits 2 AM?” Jeeves acknowledged, and Jonathon made his way out, back to the training rooms – it was time to grind his skills.

He decided to train in blocks of two hours, alternating between his magical skills: Starting with Destiny magic, then Death, followed by Gas and Solid, before going to bed: he managed to get all four up to the heights of Initiate 3, before heading to bed.

The next day's morning meeting was brief: They agreed to the General's terms and tasked Jeeves to keep an eye on him – the question of who watches the watchmen finally answered, before they specified the hours of five pm until nine for accepting new applicants. After the meeting Jonathon returned to training, continuing his cycle of two hour blocks: over the course of the day, he raised Liquid, Time, Space and Creation to Initiate 3 as well. He took full advantage of the fact he no longer needed to eat or drink.

With the four hour gap in his training, to cast spell after spell on groups of recruits, he didn't have much time to raise them further: But he was happy with his progress, knowing that upon his next level he would be buying perks for every single school of magic. Setting himself up for that boost of power – for the next day?

They would hunt.

They were going outside.

------

Up bright and early as was becoming his habit, Jonathon reviewed his sheet, skimming through the store to see if there were any spells he should buy – they hadn't found any plans yet for armour, annoyingly – and dismissing it when nothing caught his eye. He felt an odd mix of excitement and terror, nervousness and eagerness: On the one hand, they were going to go fight monsters. On the other – it had sunk in, at least a little, that he could respawn. That death – at least this time round – would not be permanent: and from what he'd heard of this afterlife, it was like a vacation.

They had put out a gang wide call to assemble in the courtyard for ten AM, and when Jonathon got there, there was already a crowd – perhaps a hundred – gathered. He was pleased to see people on the walls (Mostly soldiers), carrying rifles cloned from those Larry and his gang had brought – mostly AK-47's, from what he could see, which made him curl his lip in amusement.

Speaking of the Necromancer - he was apparently in the process of handing out guns. Specifically, to the six skeletons that stood before him – each received an assault rifle, along with ammunition. Jonathon had gathered that was one potential problem – the Skeletal warriors had no perks, thus had limited rounds, unlike the vast majority of those who had bough the skill: Happily, the nanoforge could make ammunition, if given a sample. So the undead were fitted with belts, from which hung bags of preloaded magazines – it was a rather odd sight – and pending the results of today's expedition, Jonathon had an appointment with Frank to teach him Unarmed Combat.

His gaze shifted to Francine – she was in a huddle with her boyfriend and some of his friends: Their bikes were now fitted with similar weapons along the sides, very much in the style of a mad max movie, complete with silver skulls. The cavalry wing had close to two dozen bikes – some of which looked to be copies of others, again courtesy of the nanoforge – and there was an animated conversation going on. They were tasked as a relief force, should a team bite off more than they could chew – every team had a radio, to call in emergencies. That had been a very sensible suggestion from one of the soldiers, he recalled: The relief team had been a suggestion of the colonel, when he'd heard them planning the expedition.

Michelle, Frank, and David stood nearby – Michelle was carrying a gun, the rest seemed to be depending on their magic. On that note, Jonathan checked he had the bag of balls of tissue paper properly secured to his belt. Looking around at the others – there were close to a hundred people here, he coughed, then in a loud voice said, “I'm going to cast a shapeshifting spell. Please don't freak out?”

Of course, that had everyone looking at him, as he used one of his perks for the first time – and cast two spells simultaneously: Dragon Form and Gaze of Malignancy. It was a strange sensation, as if he had two channels in his mind that he could hold spells in, or channel power through, and picking the spells, as always, was as easy as thinking.

Observers saw scales of glittering silver cascade over his form, as he grew to a height of at least eight feet: A long, sinuous spiked tail sprouted from his spine, and claws grew upon his fingers and toes, as his legs became those of a vicious predator: a line of spikes erupted around his spine, and his eye suddenly lit with a baleful, neon yellow light. Of course there were gasps of shock, even a brief scream Though the chaos subsided as he waved, calling out, “All done!” Happily, the alterations did not affect his mouth or face – much.

As everyone made their preparations, he reviewed what he'd seen in the map room. With the exception of the high level scout that was watching them, the typical levels outside were in the low teens, with health scores in the low hundreds, and a wide range of undead-themed classes. Including, he had noticed, 'Divinatory Zombies' – which he suspected were the ones that had overrun the colonel's base – in a swarm about fifty miles away. The classes had been mildly worrying – Skeletal magi, Undead Blademaster, Skeletal Snipers had all rather stuck out – but he was confident that, working together, they could take them down if they were careful.

They planned on moving out in groups of nine, all led by someone whom had the 'Team Link' perk: David was leading their group, for example. Even as he ruminated, David & Alicia joined them, along with Sue – now an absolutely ravishing redhead, carrying a rifle with a reassuring degree of confidence - and her friend Beatrice, now a very athletic blue eyed blonde, whom had apparently poured a respectable number of skill points into Void and Destiny magic, and was very interested in Jonathon's class. They both appraised his new look rather critically, then Sue laughed.

“Nice duds, sweetie. “ she remarked, glancing at Bea – they giggled like a pair of schoolgirls, some private joke between them, it seemed: They both had been on cloud nine with their youth and beauty restored to it's prime.

“Thanks, I think,.” Jonathon replied. “Any preparations you have to do, before we head out? Gear to grab, monsters to summon to your beck and call?” He gestured to Larry's skeletons: The necromancer was leading them over to join them, giving Sue a very appreciative look, before handing her, David and Alicia some of the rifle he carried: He passed the latter two bags of ammunition, too, and gave them a stern look.

“As I told you yesterday – they've both been modified to reenable full auto for emergencies. Run through gun safety with me?”

“Always assume it's loaded. Never point it at anything I don't want dead. Keep my finger off the trigger unless I want to kill someone. Be sure I want the kill – or the risk of killing what's behind it.” the duo chanted, solemnly: Larry gave them a look, then nodded.

“Good. As promised, you have three spare mags. Remember at the end of each encounter to pass your empties to myself or Sue, and make sure you get a full one back.“ he kept drilling them on use and safety, but Jonathon's attention was drawn to Bea – she had just summoned up... something.

Imagine a spider, if you would – let's say a Tarantula. Now cover the limbs in sharp spikes and give it the hairless mouth of a wolf, circled by eight eyes glowing a soft violet, and a carapace of light-drinking black. Finally, give it the rough size and mass of large dog – say, a great dane.

He blinked his reptilian eyes. “What is that?”

“A 'dart 'according to the skill on my sheet?” The blue eyed blonde replied laconically, and with a certain note of satisfaction. “A minor void Elemental – I wonder what the larger ones are like?” In that moment, she both looked and sounded like a bond girl – one of the sexy Russians who worked for the bad guys at first – and he had to pause and swallow for a moment at quite how enticing she looked. She clearly saw his reaction, and pealed with laughter. “Your face.” she shook her head. “I also have this.” a flicker of concentration crossed her face, and then, without any warning, she was holding a sword, or perhaps a large dagger – easily a foot and a half of blade – that was the same light-drinking black as her pet. Even as he took this in, it gained an almost necrotic aura, a weave of dusty smoke spiralling around it.

“I always wanted a magical sword when I was a girl.” she confided. “Something straight from lord of the rings. Think I could kill a Balrog?” her confidence, smile, and general amusement was doing wonders for morale – she was apparently enjoying the attention, too. She posed, and as she did there was a flicker, and she was suddenly wearing wizardly robes: She looked at them and shook her head. “No. I don't think I can pull this off.” just as quickly, she was back to the jeans and jacket she'd arrived in, flashing Jonathon another dazzlingly bright smile.

Eventually, everyone was organised. David triggered team link, then led his team out through the wall. They had a pleasant walk for the first five minutes or so – activity had greatly died down, and the Fortification turrets shot at anything within half a mile – but the terrain itself was alien – and not. The very way the ground was shaped had changed, and while there were familiar bushes and plants they were used to, there were others that looks distinctly out of place – a blue ball surrounded by spiked stalks, for example, basking in the sun – it twitched slightly as they passed by, and they took a step back to consider.

Dave raised his arm and pointed. “If we get too close, it'll try and kill us. So, uh... Open fire, I guess?” Sue, Larry, Michelle, David and Alicia all opened fire: Jonathon just looked at it, considering it hostile. Jonathon, Bea, Dave and Frank just watched – even Larry's undead held fire, watching to see what the effect was.

The effect of the bullets was... Unimpressive, for the most part. As they opened fire, the stalks were pitted and shredded – Michelle's shot, rather spectacularly, ignited the central mass into a ball of flame – and where Jonathon looked, the plant matter bubbled and warped, increment by increment – but nothing much seemed to happen.

Frowning at this, Jonathon was just about to suggest spellcraft, when Bob shimmered into being, standing amidst the undead. “A Vineripper. Surprised that was seeded here – the light is all wrong. Why are you shooting it?” his tone was quite reasonable, and Dave sighed and looked at him – the Vineripper twitched, but did not, as it were, move. Being a plant and all.

“Because my fucking danger sense told me that if we got too close, we'd be hurt? And the Consequences of leaving it alone was someone damn well dying today?” Dave replied in an exasperated tone, as if it should be obvious – and, Jonathon supposed, it was: for someone who had spent his perks on being able to see such things.

Bob nodded. “Sure. If anything steps on a vine, they'll curl round you, inject you with a fairly nasty necrotoxin, and try and hold you there until you die to be fertilizer. even if you get away, there's a strong chance of a nasty infection. But you have Doctors and a healing bay – you don't need to worry about a Plaguelord, right? Just set it on fire.”

Jonathon lifted one of the tissue balls – igniting it with a lighter, he tossed it on the ground and cast Fire Elemental. A moment later, an octopus-like quadruped took form, and he directed it to destroy the plant: It promptly pounced on the vineripper – igniting the vines that tried to grab onto it – and started tearing at the carnivorous vegetable. Jonathon let it run, as he tuned back into the conversation.

“Oh. Isn't it in the guide? It's a system bug. A disease is normally classed by the System as not being alive, and thus not a System entity. But it's.. blurry. Rarely, if a disease kills someone? And is the direct cause of death? It assigns the plague the respawn, as if it were a System entity. Which makes it a system entity with full access to the System, that can respawn, gets a stat sheet, perks, classes – you end up with a sentient disease that learns, and is still infecting you every time you respawn – letting it kill you again if you're very unlucky. Really nasty, especially when they start getting classes.” Bob was explaining. “Which is why It's good to invest in a little medicine, and grab Sterile touch. Or be sure there's a doctor to hand, or anyone with life magic.” he glanced to Jon, who was listening and feeling slightly horrified. “Since you have a doctor, nothing to worry about, right?” a pause. “Unless, of course, your buddy here decides he hates you and learns enough life magic to just make one whole cloth, anyway. Then you're screwed.” As glances turned towards him, Jonathon was relieved when they were all distracted by a flare of light – System light.

You have Slain a Level 12 Vineripper!

You receive 144 SMU credit

1 XP

Have Fun!

“One down, eleven to go.” Bea murmured, as the Minor fire elemental returned to stand by its master: Her words got several nods, and Bob smiled. “This takes me back. Dave, was it? Maybe use those perks of yours to find your swarm a good fight?”

Blushing slightly, Dave nodded. “Fair fucking point.” and he spent a moment looking around: Jonathon saw his Mana dip before he pointed. “This way.”

Bob made a polite cough. “I take it none of you have the skills to harvest its parts?”

Michelle paused. “I didn't see a perk for that in Alchemy?” she said, carefully.

Bob shook his head. “It's in botany, believe it or not.” he sighed. “Pity. Some good materials there you could use to poison your weapons – though I suppose that's not so much of a concern with your local monsters.” with one last look at the smouldering plant, they headed off in the indicated direction.

After about five minutes walking through rolling hills – largely downhill – that had not been there a week ago, two things occurred.

Firstly, suddenly forest – nestled in a valley that opened before them was an ancient forest, filled with trees that did not belong on earth, but perhaps on its better looking, more deceitful cousin: The kind of ancient forest you could imagine an elfin robin hood stealing from the poor to give to the rich, before swinging away on a vine. The woods were dark and crowded with plant life, and in their murky depths – who knows what might lurk?

Secondly, both Sue and Bea started looking around. “We're being watched.” Sue remarked: Bea pointed towards one of the trees. “Someone over there.” she said with confidence. “In the trees, up high.”

This pair of events led to a third: Dave suddenly dived to the side, and there was a 'hiss' then a bang as the ground where he was standing suddenly erupted into a burst of steam, the grass blackened and charred: with nary a word from Larry, his skeletal warriors charged forward, and he gestured everyone towards cover – Dave was swearing. “Mother fucking Snipers!”

Jonathon knew that already, however, as he felt a stabbing pain in his shoulder – like a small explosion under his scales, as the smell of burned pork filled his nose. He failed to bite back his scream and dropped to the ground, dual-casting 'Heal' upon himself, raising both his auras with a thought, and without even needing prompting, the minor fire elemental barrelled forward on its four stumpy, flickering legs, charging towards the treeline, hunting the aggressors.

A breath taken, he noticed the shot had taken – through his draconic armour and possibly his resists – something like eighty points of damage, and he kept pouring the healing magic into his own body as the burning shape of his summon entered the treeline.

“Where are they!” yelled Larry, as one of his undead blew up, charred and cracking, just as the skeletons approached the treeline – Jonathon was gratified to see his own summon was faster, though Bea's Dart wasn't far behind. Still, the light provided by the animated flame gave them their first glimpse of their attackers.

Perhaps half a dozen skeletal... octopi? Hung from trees: three articulated bone tentacles secured them in their places, while another three held sophisticated looking energy weapons, and only the blasts of steam and char on the bluff they hid behind was sign they were firing at all: The weapons were eerily silent. Still, now he could see his foes – he separated the strange split in his mind that let him cast two spells at once: One channel he kept for restoring his wounds, as he focused his burning gaze on the closest and invoked Growth of Immolation on them: Without any warning to the horrors that were shooting at him – that he belatedly realised must be the skeletal snipers he'd seen on the map – the tree it was hanging from rapidly grew, engulfing it in branches and vines, cocooning it within a matter of seconds – the cocoon then erupting into bright blue flame.

The others weren't passive, either. Now they had targets in sight, his friends started shooting back, the surviving skeletal warriors joined them in their action; a barrage of automatic fire breaking through the air.

Gusts of wind seemed to weave around Michelle, distorting her position. As he watched, her own shot impacting one of the snipers, exploding into a colossal fireball perhaps a meter in diameter, engulfing one of its comrades. Frank gave a quick prayer to Maskeline – surprising him – and gestured, throwing his own fireball into the trees which were now merrily burning: that could prove to be a problem, if they did not get it under control. Sue and Bea were firing away, even as one of the Snipers somehow managed to drop it's gun, and another fell to the ground as the heat of the flames cracked the branch it was hanging from – quickly swarmed by Dart and the skeletal warriors, who pinned it down. Even young David joined in with the spells, gesturing at another and causing it to loose its perch with a wave of magical energy.

They were winning – surprisingly – but not without cost, and not quickly: Jonathon was increasingly aware that the noise might attract additional monsters, and the waves of steam from the shots that erupted around them were causing scalds: He could see a few others had been grazed, but the first impression was that these snipers had the aim of star wars imperials. He realised, as he switched to double-casting Growth of Immolation – the spell wasn't killing them, annoyingly, but it pulled them from the trees and damaged them – that most of the team had picked up some form of Aura: Dave was dodging every so often, moving out of the way with a flicker, empty space between steps just a fraction of a second before the shots hit him: There were flashes of darkness around Bea – as there were around him, he realised, as their Void Auras consumed shots.

The children – he couldn't help but think of them like that – seemed to be okay: they were hunkered down, sensibly keeping their heads low and out of sight of the rifles firing their way – the one left in the tree was happily trying to shoot Dave, he realised, as his comrade ducked and dived, looking like he'd taken a few grazes – he was favouring his left arm – but was otherwise unhurt,

Frank and Sue both had nasty looking burns that he cast some healing energy towards, as the last of the Snipers was pulled to the ground – wounded, but not dead: the bullets, unsurprisingly, weren't all that effective.

Of course, the main key to their survival was that the Snipers had been detected early enough for them to take cover behind this rise, blocking their line of sight: for that, he thanked the prescience of Sue and Bea: He'd need to think of a way to thank them later.

He was pretty sure they would need to finish these monsters up close, and he racked his brain for a moment trying to think of how to get there without being shot to pieces before he remembered what the boy could do. “David! Can you open a portal to just behind them? Bea, you and I rush them and take them in close combat!” The boy – now a handsome young man in flesh – nodded, and Bea flashed him a manic grin, manifested her blade once more: The portal flickered open, and they dived through.

They emerged in a burned – and burning – clearing that had been torn in the forest, even as the skeletal snipers came to their feet. Continuing to fire at his friends even though their bones were chipped and charred, torn by vines and bullet, explosions and flame, but still standing. Still functional.

The moment of surprise was theirs, and he charged forward, slashing at the nearest with his claws, and almost reflexively pulling it into a lock he knew would work for its multiple limbs, dislocating one as he manoeuvred to try and tear it's head off.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the gorgeous blonde – he had become uncomfortably aware over the past few days that the rejuvenation spell had been intended to repopulate a planet – slashing her blade at the skeletons with some skill. where it touched their bones, they shimmered into dust, and coupled with the damage her target had already taken, she killed it in the first blow, before moving to take the second.

The snipers whirled to face this new threat – they happily lacked any weapons for close quarters fighting, but they had no qualms about pointing those advanced rifles at their comrades. Before they could open fire on the pair, the one furthest from him exploded in a ball of flame, pulling their attention back to the front – He recognised it as Michelle's explosive shot in one distant, analytical part of his mind, the rest of him focused on what he was doing barely aware of his health bar flashing to full as he raked the sniper with his claws, snapping it's spine with brute strength and pouncing on the next, knocking it's rifle aside as he worked on dismembering it with his bare hands.

It may have been moments, or minutes later, but at last the Skeletal Snipers were all dead – properly dead, and the others came to join them through one of David's portals. Dave was in the lead, and flashed them a smile. “We have some time to loot and rest. Jon, you got the fucking mana for healing?”

Jonathon checked his reserves: he still had about four hundred left, and he gestured to Frank as he saw that all of them had scalds and burns – and now the adrenalin of the fight was wearing off, it was becoming apparent people were starting to feel them. “Give me a boost, Frank?” he asked, and as the cleric gave him a nod, he started dual-casting his healing spell, watching as it washed over everyone: It took him nearly a minute before everyone was healed fully, and he swore he'd work on a better healing spell when they went home.

It was when that was done the System notifications rolled in.

You have Slain a level 15 Skeletal sniper!

You have Slain a level 14 Skeletal sniper!

You have Slain a level 16 Skeletal Sniper Commander!

You have Slain a level 15 Skeletal sniper!

You have Slain a level 14 Skeletal sniper!

You have Slain a level 15 Skeletal sniper!

You receive 1323 SMU credit

7 XP

1 Respawn

Have fun!