Drone Omnilegs (set 2/2) | Artefact | Rarity 10

Resist 5 | Damage Resist 5 | Speed 5 | Jump 6 | Parkour 2 | -50% Fall Damage

Set Bonus | Parkour 2 | -70% Fall Damage

Drone Omnimask | Artefact | Rarity 10

Stores air in a large pocket dimension. 24 hours of air supply at normal consumption. The dimension can be accessed with a thought and need to be refilled after use.

Perception 2 | Resist 8 | Damage Resist 5

The two articulated toes of his right feet, enhanced by spring blades and powerful mechanisms, hit the cold obsidian of his skill sphere. The back toe, attached to the heel, alone and stubby, picked up the kinetic force, sent it back for a forward motion.

Enoch’s left leg blurred forward, repeating the same process. Full speed ahead, doing laps around his Skill Sphere. The stars, the belt of nearby moons and Ooloo, the gas planet, rotated madly over him.

He did a somersault for the heck of it. Then another. He stopped mid spin with a Double Jump, tumbled in the other direction. The landing barely registered through the dual legs and the low gravity. A risky choice, picking the set, not to mention sacrificing his one good leg. All worth it. Ridiculously good.

Diminishing leaps brought him to the cluster of his active nodes, lit up in neon yellow. Far to the left, Choo still charged ahead at full speed, shouting “weeeeee”. The artifact hadn’t noticed that his master had stopped running. Enoch had never realized that Choo shared his Speed attribute. Nice feature.

His dad still had PTSD from the old, pre-AI escort missions. Apparently, most NPCs walked too fast for the standard player speed, and too slow for their running speed. Constant stops to wait for the escorted NPCs while enemies attacked. Once, it drove Enoch’s dad so mad that he broke his controller with an frustration throw.

Enoch let Choo zip around the moon to his liking. Concentrated on his Skill Tree. Double Jump 2 for sure. Then Damage Resist and Strength. The Mobility part more than covered now. Time to boost the damage.

Double Jump 2 | Skill | Rarity 6

Allows a second jump in mid air as if the user was on solid ground.

Refresh 20 seconds

Cost | 20 Stamina

Damage Resist 1 | Attribute | Rarity 2

Cancels 2 level of Damage

Strength 4 | Attribute | Rarity 1

Multiplier x5 | Health +20 | Speed 2

Swirls of pixels brought them to Choo’s tiny Skill Sphere. Something fun this level. For once. A new golem. Tower Golem.

Tower Golem 1 | Spell | Rarity 8

Summons a Tower Golem | Health 400 | Damage Resist 8

Mana Shield 1 | Magic Bolt 1 | Regen 1

They rode interdimensional, or conveniently programmed, pixels to Haven Square. Art Delvers seated on their usual table. The endgame threshold had been crossed with their latest Drone Artifacts.

Tetsuo the mage had a full-face helm, polished as a drone with two stylized wings, one on each side. Also an oversized gauntlet on his left arm. It came up to his elbow. About the middle of it, a gem rotated, manipulated by a ring of animated pins. His third item weirder, a tube molded to fit around his neck and shoulder. It ended with two rectangular pieces directly in front of Tetsuo’s mouth.

A full plate cuirass for Anton the healer, covered with mechanisms, ticking gears and pumps for tubes of magical fluid. A huge helm and a real tiny Drone companion.

Ally the rogue had picked twin short swords and a belt. Invisible under her cloak.

A full plate drone cuirass too for Turner the warrior, resting on two drone greaves. The new Artifacts turned him into a steampunk sentinel. Cool.

Quad Nail were there. The player killers group. Their face priceless. They didn’t seem to care much for Art Delvers. Had the professional group magically cured their hurt butt? Doubtful, but it definitely repelled them. Good enough.

They rose and left for their room.

Enoch left his four friends with their meal and their drink. He went to the blackboards. A kill streak for the Bird Spider. Impressive. No interesting Player Quest. He bought some Health Potions. Listed his Shadow Greaves, now useless compared to his Omnilegs. He still had the Shadow Bracers to boost his Veil 1 Skill. It should be enough to approach his targets unnoticed.

He smiled to himself. Lost in his own world. Took a chalk stick and wrote his own Player Quest. A 75 SC bounty for Quad Nail’s location.

No one would bother with that amount, but it would mess with their head.

Enoch practically hovered to the bar. The legs put him in another dimension. Sleek surfaces felt like sandpaper, providing an incredible amount of grip. No effort to zip around.

He picked an expansive fish, a side dish of pickled legumes, a cup of sauce and a cup of dry wine. Back to the table. Art Delvers already loud. He raised his cup for a toast. Hoped that the night would be a bit tamer than the previous one.

“So you really think it’s a good idea to go to the Hollows’ Castle?” said Enoch.

“That’s why we hired you,” said Anton, “you can’t complain so far.”

“We could say the same,” said Ally, “you’re quite the scout.”

Tetsuo said, “the Hive was just a bonus.” He leaned in after a suspicious peak behind his back, “We believe that the castle is the strongest dungeon on this moon.”

His chair screeched on the floor as Tetsuo pushed it back to leave the table. He went to the blackboards and listed their old stuff. The new Artifacts had replaced a lot of already decent gears.

“You ever fought the Hollows?” asked Turner.

“Yeah,” said Enoch, “mostly patrols. Never risked the Castle itself.”

“You’re in for a treat. Bosses stacked on Elites, jam-packed in endless rooms, in between Legendary Traps.”

Enoch retrieved his golden statuette, put it in the middle of the table, said, “I should be able to deal with the traps with this guy, Ipabo, the patron god of traps.”

“Nice,” said Ally.

Anton’s Golem Core stuck to Ipabo immediately, animated it with pink mana. The god’s figurine took off, trailed by Choo, animating a saucer.

The scout looked at the healer. Both shrugged. The healer retrieved a tiny treasure chest from his cloak. The party box, full of mind altering debuffs, and buffs.

Anton smiled. Enoch reached for the box.

“Here we go,” commented the chat.