Chapter 03

We looked around for a while longer but ended up back at the weird shaped warehouse. Alara said she liked the feel of it, which was fine with me as I really didn’t have any criteria for a choice. This area was in an out of the way section of the city. The only foot traffic I had seen so far were some thug types. They avoided us for now, but I doubted that would be true had we met them during the night.

“Well, seeing as we have no money to our names, let’s attempt to steal this place,” I said doing some stretches.

“Alright!” Alara said excitedly. She was never one to shrink from a fight.

“First we need to allocate our points. You can go with what you feel is best,” I said as I pulled up the power screen on the phone that was given to every person in the world, no matter NPC or player.

“Yes, dear!” Alara said with a singsong like tone.

On the screen were three points that radiated out with more and more points. For every point I put in more of the circle would be unlocked. It looked like there were thirty-three slots per power that I could see. That meant to max a power I would have to focus on it for thirty-three levels possibly more. To reach the point of building the gate, I would need to be around level eighty unless I found a short cut.

My bonus points were already at work. As I had a point in the two circles. It would allow me to create some simple projectile weapons. The awesome thing about technology manipulation tree was that I could turn everyday materials into the components. It was different from mad science as they were required to gather the materials themselves. I was sure there was a decent cost, as one of the next unlocks was to reduce the energy needed for simple conversions.

I reached down and picked up a large brick. Focusing on a simple handgun, I felt a weakness threaten to knock me out as energy left my body. It was strange not having a way to tell how much energy I had available. The gun took shape in my hand as a Colt M1917 Revolver. I wasn’t too familiar with tech this old.

It possessed a solid weight, and I was sure that I could use it as a blunt weapon. More importantly, it contained a six-round chamber. I was sure my aim was decent enough to put a hole in someone’s head, but the game took into account certain factors when projectiles were fired. It wouldn’t say you missed if you pointed at someone’s head at point-blank range, but even with the game using real world physics, there were a large number of super powers that would be able to dodge a bullet from a weapon like this.

The phone dinged when I was done examining the new gun. I checked it and saw I gained some EXP for using my power to make the weapon. That was good data so I could calculate how many I would need to make if I wanted to level up via that route. Even though it wouldn’t be allocated until midnight it was good to have some income on that front. Since I was already looking at it, I pulled up my body’s full status.

Name: Regan

Age: ????

Level: 1

Health: 16,658

Energy: 1,872

Armor: 99

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 12

Intelligence: 25

Wisdom: 24

Charisma: 16

Constitution: 11

Fate: 10

Perception: 13

Will: 56

I almost had to do a double take looking at the stats. I was a hundred percent sure these weren’t normal stats. I furrowed my brow as I thought about the situation. If I remembered correctly, there were special NPCs that the game deemed crucial to the balance of the world. I could only assume I had somehow been set as one of these. I knew I wasn’t overpowered though. This game had plenty of monsters both on the NPC side and player side that could burn health down. Not to mention, if I get a shot in the head, it didn’t matter how much health I had.

I mentally checked my energy and was sure I could make another, the first one only taking around four hundred points. Before doing so I threw one of my free points into the tree. I stuck to the main path rather than an augmentation. It was interesting to feel the knowledge of technology I knew well in my last life seemingly open up before me. I would have to see if I could ‘play’ with this in some way later on.

I reached down and grabbed two more bricks. Even though I leveled the skill up once, my energy levels were the same as before. I concentrated on the bricks and soon a Smith & Wesson Model 500 rested in my hand. I was glad the system provided the names for me or I would have no idea what I was holding.

Luckily, the guns came loaded. I wanted to be sure that I was ready for when night came again. I was sure we looked like easy prey for some of the thugs. I needed to give this body some more target practice after all. Still ten rounds wouldn’t be every much. I grabbed a few more bricks and turned them into ammunition. Thankfully, they stacked in my inventory.

“My Love, how is it coming?” I asked looking down to Alara.

She shrugged then placed her hand on the ground. A tree shot from a crack in the ground until it was almost two and half meters long. She grabbed it in the middle and it suddenly broke. I saw a wave of some energy flow through it and one end sharpened into a point. She pulled the sword around and executed a complicated spinning movement that was far too delicate for me.

“Ready when you are, dear,” she replied while putting her sword through a series of motions.

We looked around. The sun was well past the horizon now, but there still wasn’t a soul to be seen. I observed the gate to the warehouse courtyard. It was a rusted thing that looked like it was very past its prime. A chained lock held it closed. I grabbed it and the stats vaguely entered my mind.

“Step back,” I said then angled the barrel of the Colt at the lock. Cocking it, I pulled the trigger and with a crack of gunfire the lock went flying.

“You and your toys,” Alara commented.

“What can I say. I think at this point it might be part of my soul,” I laughed.

Pushing the gate open, we walked in to take a look around. The rusted warehouse stood to one side of the courtyard. There wasn’t anything of too much interest. It was an empty building that looked like it hasn’t seen people in years. There were a few graffiti tags on random surfaces, but even those looked weathered.

“So… How do we declare it as ours?” I thought out loud.

The information booth said you could steal things but was vague on the how. I tried say that I claimed the property as my own, but that didn’t work. Shrugging I walked further in, followed closely by Alara. We moved into the building to see if there was anything that would give us a hint.

In the center of the warehouse, there was a pedestal that looked pristine compared to the rest of the structure. I glanced at Alara then walked over to it. An outline was visible, so I smirked and placed my phone down in it. The pedestal lit up as a screen popped up in front of me.

Abandon Warehouse

- Purchase: 100,000 Thread

-Yes | No

I clicked No and waited a moment. A minute later, in the corner of my eye, a notification appeared.

-+2 Villainous Points

A few greyed-out screens popped up in front of me. A count down overlaid the screens in bold. According to it, we had five minutes until something happened. I titled my head as I tried to remember the information on this. All I knew was that an event was about to happen.

I pulled up my status screen again and considered where to put another point. I still possessed two and wanted the most bang for my buck right now. Energy manipulation was a good bet, as it would give me access to a sort of energy field that I could use to repel attacks or even attack with if I could control it well enough.

Construction had some good fortifications options, but I wouldn’t be able to apply them in the time I had. Plus, I couldn’t alter the building until I owned it. I felt leaving the building might cause us to fail the event. Just to be safe I went ahead and put a point in each of the two trees. Even if I didn’t use it this time, once I captured the building, I would need to modify it to make it useful.

“You ready, My Love?” I asked, placing a hand on Alara’s.

“Of course. This will be nothing compared to the Zinth Hordes,” Alara smirked.

I shook my head at the memory that flashed through my head. Now that was a battle for the history books. Ten dungeon cores versus entire species. The battle lasted for days.

“Fair enough. Let us show this world how powerful we are,” I grinned back to her.

Quickly enough the timer reached zero.

“Who the hell is messing with our territory!?” a crude voice echoed from outside.

I moved over to the window and saw a group of people that were looking at the busted lock. They stood like typical thugs, not even the good ones, but the doomed to die first ones. They carried a variety of blunt instruments, while it looked like one had a pistol tucked in his pants.

“Looks like we have company, My Love,” I said looking back to her.

“Is there enough to go around, Dear?” Alara asked twirling her sword.

“Should be, I counted a dozen of them,” I said with a smirk.

“Come out or we’ll come in and get you!” a voice called from the courtyard.

“You can have that one. His voice is unpleasant. Reminds me of the fuckers that locked me away,” Alara said covering her ears.

I nodded then turned to look back out the window. I leveled the Smith & Wesson at the man, who I agreed possessed a vulgar demeanor, and aimed for a body shot. Live targets were the best for testing your aim after all. After I lined up the shot, I pulled the trigger. With a loud crack like thunder, the vulgar man went flying nearly a meter as the round punched through his chest.

Silence filled the air for a moment before one of the men cried, “Fuck! They killed Jess!”

“Rush it!” another of the thugs yelled.

They charged across the ten-meter gap to the large doors in a matter of seconds. Alara stood ready on the other side. I managed to put a hole in two more thugs as they ran, but only took out one of them. Still, the one that didn’t die screamed in pain the whole time. The forerunners burst through the doors, and the center one ended up impaling himself on Alara’s sword.

She jumped and kicked his shoulder to free the weapon, bringing it around to impale the one on the left. I turned my pistols towards the crowd that had come to a standstill thanks to Alara and unloaded the cylinders of each. Alara jabbed forward with her sword and tendrils of wood exploded out impaling the last three thugs.

All that remained was the thug that was screaming bloody murder outside the building. Alara pulled her arm back the threw her sword. A moment later the screaming came to a sudden stop. I shook my head, I had wanted to keep him to get some answers about the city, but it wasn’t a big deal.

“Getting a little rusty, Dear,” Alara teased as she held her hand out and the sword flew back to her.

“I don’t fight on the front lines often, you know that,” I said with a shrug.

“I know. Dear, I just wanted to play a little,” Alara snickered as she poked my side.

- You’ve Completed a Claiming Event!

Stole an abandon warehouse Defeated 12x JunkHead Thugs 2,000xp (200 each) + 2,000 XP +10 Villainous Points (You’re now a Villain!) +2 Villainous Points (Total domination over your enemy) Villain Tier 1 (-57 Until Next Tier)

I walked over to the corpses. I nearly whistled as Alara really did a number on them. Thorns of wood impaled most of them, while bullet holes were the cause of death for the others. I forgot Alara didn’t know to hold back and was quite fatal to her enemies. I kneeled next to one of the corpses and pressed my hand against it. I grinned when a list of loot appeared. So glad this was a game, made some things much easier.

-Ragged clothing

-100 Thread Needle

-Scrap parts

The money would probably be the most useful at the moment. I went to place it in my inventory. I thought back and remembered reading that Players got a payout once a week at midnight. There was a formula based on your hero and villain gauge, but I hadn’t done anything to accumulate my tier yet, so I would just get the base pay for new players if I didn’t raise my tier before the end of the week. I chuckled at the thought of having to work back through the tiers from the ground up again.

After looting all the bodies, I stood back up and looked at our new warehouse. It was bare and beaten up, but it was officially ours. I couldn’t wait to start building something. I smirked, ‘it looks like being a dungeon core is part of my soul now,’ I thought to myself.

“Let’s clean up, my Love!” I called to Alara.

Alara and I cleaned up the warehouse, but it was pretty empty to begin with, so it didn’t take us long. When we finished, we stood at the entrance trying to figure out what to do with the place. I had wanted a base to work out of and this city had a lot of resources to feed my abilities. This fulfilled both options, I just needed to get access to the ground level under the city. The bodies were buried and Alara used her powers to make some nice-looking bushes grow over them. There was only about thirty centimeters of dirt before we hit a metal plate. Without the bushes there would have been a weird mound of dirt to one side of the courtyard.

“Can I go take a nap?” Alara asked yawning.

“Used too much energy?” I asked.

While the combat was pretty straight forward, to use certain abilities or using your power in certain ways required energy. Both Alara and I used our power both before and during the fight. Being at level one we only had so much energy to use. I was regenerating energy faster than a normal level one would due to my energy manipulation, but it would still be a while before I was full again.

She nodded then made her way to a side room that was probably the warehouse’s guard room. She slammed her hand into the ground and a bush like plant grew rapidly. Once it reached the size of a decent bed, she pulled her hand free. Yawning again even bigger, she plopped down on the freshly grown bed.

I chuckled before turning back to the warehouse. There were plenty of ways to be ‘successful’ in this game. I needed both money and experience points to build the dimensional gateway. The hero route offered more experience at the beginning, but the villain route was better late game. The villain route relied on an empire to gain their points.

There was also the anti-hero route. It required toeing the line by building an empire but doing enough good deeds to balance it out. I tapped my chin in thought, I paused when the sensation felt different. I shook my head, chuckling at my fleshy body. I walked up to the balcony.

The city or rather the warehouse district met my gaze. I was sure there was plenty of work we could do at the bureau. This game’s version of the adventurer’s guild. We could get mission that would reward us points and experience. There were few heroes and villains in this city according to the data I got in Axiscore.

I leaned on the rail as I watched the area. It was remarkably quiet. The night breeze was a nice feeling that I hadn’t been able to fully enjoy in a long time. Having a metal body reduced some of the enjoyment of certain activities.

“Well… Taking it slow might not be a bad idea.” I commented to myself.

I watched for a while before I saw the track of the train form. Only, this time it formed towards this district rather than the station. It connected with what looked like a factory on the other side of the district. The train came to a stop inside the factory then took off almost half an hour later.

“Interesting,” I said.

So, the train has even more maneuverability then I first thought. I wondered if I could take advantage of that fact. If I decided to build and sell things, I could still make money and it would generate experience towards my heroic or villainous level. This could be a way to reach my goal and not have to burn, destroy, or fight too much. A break did sound nice.

I suddenly felt a pair of hands around my waist. “Alara. Did you have a nice nap?”

“I did. How long did I sleep for?” Alara asked.

“I’m not sure. I wasn’t paying attention,” I said with a shrug.

“You not paying attention? I guess strange things can indeed happen,” Alara said with a cute laugh.

“I think I’m more tired than I thought. It's been almost constant fighting in Murgin for so long,” I said turning around and resting my head on her shoulder.

“Maybe we should rest for a while,” Alara said with a chuckle.

“That sounds really nice,” I agreed, and she pulled me back into the warehouse. As I walked with her, I felt my link shift a bit, solidify. I could only assume that something happened to the world and my place in it grew stronger thanks to that.

~~

Alara and I spent the rest of the day in her bed. I couldn’t remember the last time I actually slept. As a dungeon core I never had to and when I lost consciousness even then it would usually be the result of something, I was either fighting or something was trying to kill me. I wondered again when the last time was I was able to relax this much.

I heard a ding around midnight. Checking my phone there was a notification much like the night before. I gave it a cursory glance over.

!Its MIDNIGHT!

-You defeated 12 Villains

-You defeated 0 Heroes

-You Earned a Total of 4,250 Experience points

-Level Up! You are level 2!

-You Earned 0 Hero Tier Points

-You Earned 1 Villain Tier Points

-You Earned 12 Villainous Points (Naughty, naughty. You’re a villain now!”)

-Current Villain Tier 1

-Days Until Payout 4: 1,219.00 Thread

Nothing had really changed other than my level and that was just an extra point to spend. I just put the phone away and continued to snuggle with Alara. The night quickly passed that way. When the sun shined through the window, I decided that I needed to do something productive today.

At least relaxing so much let me plan a bit. I decided to go the neutral route. I would build and sell technology to heroes and villains alike. There were only a few large-scale entities that created and sold to players. The NPCs only offered to a certain level and of course the players usually wanted as much profit as they could get.

“Alara, My Love. How do you feel about some experimenting today?” I asked sitting up.

“Sounds fun. Just don’t make anything explode. At least not until the afternoon,” Alara said with a yawn.

“No promises but I’ll try my best,” I said grinning.

I pulled my phone out and choose the app that would allow me to modify the building. It would require Thread of course, but I had a bit saved up thanks to the two days that passed. I found the option I was looking for.

-Ground Level Elevator. 1,500t

It would use most of the thread I had but I needed access to the junkyard below. I clicked yes on the option and a truck quickly pulled up outside. A bunch of drones flew in and started constructing something in the corner of the warehouse. I reached up a grabbed one, careful not to be aggressive. Looking over its construction, my technology ability gave me the option to modify it to lower the cost to the construction. As well as giving me what level of the ability it needs to be to create the drone. It was surprisingly low at only level seven.

I let it go and it flew back to its work. It took only a few minutes before the elevator was constructed. I walked over and found a maintenance elevator that was large enough to hold a small vehicle. It was lite in the way of safety measures, but I wasn’t too concerned about it. I waved Alara over and hit the button.

We shot down at a ridiculous speed. Alara grabbed on to me as I gripped the single rail on the elevator with a death grip. The city was nearly a kilometer in the sky, and we crossed half that distance in a matter of seconds. Sparks flew as the brakes engaged. I worried for a moment that we were about to have a rough landing when it slid to a stop.

Alara and I stumbled off the elevator feeling light headed. Damn flesh body! We found a spot and sat roughly on a piece of debris. I hugged Alara to me until she calmed down.

“That is the first thing on my list to improve,” I whispered into her ear. I only got a nod in reply.