It was a good thing they were travelling in a car. Rory was free to be lost in his state of delirious pain, barely aware of what was going on around him. Viv’s face swam in front of his at some point, but that was it. He couldn’t tell if he could move his limbs, and his voice sounded garbled whenever he tried to talk.

Rory was lost in some strange, agony-riddled dream. Well, perhaps a nightmare.

At some point, he felt his motion slow to a stop. Then he was moving again, a bite of cold wind and wash of wetness the first things he was feeling beside the pain. Moments later, he was being wrapped up like a mummy. Maybe he was dead and was being embalmed for some reason, though it felt pleasant for some reason. At least his pain was going away.

Proper conscious returned with a shocking clarity. It was like waking up. Rory was suddenly in full control of his faculties, with zero clue of what had happened between the moment they’d left the substation and now… wherever they were.

“You feeling a little better?” Viv asked, reaching out to gently grip his shoulder.

Rory nodded, not trusting himself to speak just yet. He was covered in bandages softly glowing gold, just as many of them were. Viv, Dez, Trish who had regained consciousness, even the two new guys sitting farther back in the van.

The cars had been stopped. Everyone had either piled out or were sitting farther back in the van. Rory was positioned at the edge of the back with the doors thrown wide open.

He waved to the new guys. “Hey, I’m Rory.”

“I’m Mikey,” the bald man said. He nudged his buzz-cut partner. “This is Jerome. Glad to see you made it.”

“Of course, he made it,” Viv said.

“Right, of course.”

Rory laughed to ease the tension. He was surprised to see it didn’t hurt. “Evelyn is excellent at healing.”

“’Course,” Jerome said. “I take my family to doc’s office every month, and she’s always great.”

The mention of Evelyn’s family put a damper on the mood. Rory figured the two new men didn’t know about the situation at the bank.

He cleared his throat and focused on Viv. “You alright?”

“I’m not the one who went delirious,” Viv said, smiling and trying not to roll her eyes.

Rory scratched the back of his head and looked at Trish. “You okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Just need to… rest for a bit.” She winced in pain, then smoothed her expression. “You were really brave out there, old man. Got to hand it to you, didn’t know you still had it at your age.”

Rory wanted to laugh but that would have subsequently made him cry. So, he resorted to a grin instead. “What, you thought this old man couldn’t handle things on his own?”

Trish flushed. “I just wasn’t expecting you to risk your own life like that.”

“She’s right, though,” Dez added. “You don’t have to sacrifice yourself for us, Rory. Cause look man, we’re all a team, okay? All of us here. You, me, everyone. Even May, and that weird ass of yours. We got each other’s backs. We’re not leaving anyone behind, we’re not sacrificing anyone, none of that. You hear? We’re all in this together.”

Ned clapped from where he leaned against the Cadillac. “That’s right.”

Rory smiled, suddenly feeling far too warm. It was as though their words had taken the edge off his pain. Viv’s eyes were shining.

“We’re halfway to the bank,” Dez said. “Should reach it in half an hour or so.”

Evelyn nodded. “We should park somewhere safe nearby. Everyone needs to rest up a bit.”

“There’s also this radio I’ve been trying to get to work…” Ned said distractedly as he knocked on something at the front of the van. “But the thing won’t connect, no matter what I do.”

“I don’t think thumping it is going to work,” Allen commented.

“You got a better idea, Allen?”

“No…”

Rory was suddenly distracted as he received his achievements.

New Achievement!

Monster Extinguisher! You’ve located and destroyed the source of monsters. Soon, you’ll be a legitimate monster hunter out for hire.

Rewards

Sigil of Spirit

New Achievement!

Death-defying Encounter! You’ve defied certain death and come out intact. Unbelievable. An act of true escapism.

Rewards

Key to the Thunder Lock

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Spirit. Your soul is your fortress. Beware any unwary besiegers.

[Argent I] grants 1 point to Spirit per personal Tier. Spirit powers mental resilience and willpower. Boosts intelligence, wisdom, and charisma by 1%. Improves passively.

Stats

Type: System

Rarity: Exceptional

Tier: Argent I [0%]

Efficiency: High [75%]

Rory stared at the Sigil with the image of a cartoonish spirit and the weird key shaped like a thunderbolt icon. “What in the world?”

Some discussion afterwards revealed that they had all received achievements, though with only a few different stat Sigils. Allen had received something called Empowerment, while Evelyn had gotten Healing. Rory was going to have to check those later. For now, he needed to open the chest since he was the only one who had been awarded the key.

Evelyn brought the metallic box and handed it over. “Be careful.”

Rory nodded as Sue pulled May back. She was looking on intently, the first time Rory had seen her so focused.

“Give the chest to me,” Viv said, holding out her hands.

Rory gave her a flat look. He activated his Weaving, just in case. “I’ll be fine, dear.”

Time to see what they received for their hard work. Unsurprisingly, the key fit into the chest with ease. There was a small snick after Rory inserted it as far as it would go, then twisted to the right. A series of clicks followed, after which the chest’s lid started rising on its own.

Disregarding any potential danger, Miles had come over and almost leaned into the chest. “Woah!”

The others quickly gathered around him since there was no immediate reason for alarm. Rory was excited to see what the chest held too.

He groaned as he tried to get to his feet, his back clamping into him as though to keep him in place. But then, he was being helped up. Viv was by his side, one arm slinking around his waist to prop him up and the other pulling his arm over her shoulder for added support.

“Thanks,” he said.

She smiled at him.

There were three Sigils inside the chest. Rory got their description before he could even see their images.

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Wielding. Allows Sigil-infused items to be wielded with active Sigils.

[Argent I] allows [Argent I] item use.

Stats

Type: Concept

Rarity: Exceptional

Tier: Argent I [0%]

Efficiency: Medium [50%]

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Fortitude. You can now resist more than just physical blows.

[Argent I] grants 1 point to fortitude per personal Tier. Fortitude grants resistance to all non-physical damage, all status conditions, and all debuffs. Improves passively.

Stats

Type: System

Rarity: Exceptional

Tier: Argent I [0%]

Efficiency: High [70%]

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of the Unrestrained. The unbreakable rules of the world relax their grip on you.

[Argent I] allows 5% decrease in universal physical restraint.

Stats

Type: Concept

Rarity: Exceptional

Tier: Argent I [0%]

Efficiency: High [60%]

Rory stared at the Sigils, the implications of each of them thrumming in his veins. The Unrestrained sounded like perfect for frontline fighters—what had Miles and Ned called them? DPS?—like Dez and Viv. Fortitude would pair nicely with the Sigil of Spirit.

But the Sigil of Wielding was the most intriguing one of all. It sounded like a way of using Sigils externally via items, something that could potentially bypass his Sigil of Weaving’s restriction.

There were a couple of other things besides the Sigils, though. One was a hammer with a dark wooden grip and a curved metal head the colour of the storm clouds over them. Another was a large, heavy, circular plate resting beneath the entire ensemble in the chest. Rory would have dismissed it as a simple platform, but it had the most obvious Sigil’s image—a picture of an anvil surrounded by a silver circle and a single triangle.

Rory’s palms tingled with the sense of swirling energy as he took up the hammer. The Sigil under its wooden handle, depicting multiple lines bundled together to form an ‘X’, glowed to life. Rory could feel the energy in his hand connecting to that of the hammer until the exchange between them turned into an even stream.

New Item!

You’ve obtained a Hammer of Sigil Warding. Use it in conjunction with an Anvil of Sigil Warding to infuse any object with a compatible Sigil.

[Argent I] allows [Argent I] Sigil Warding.

Stats

Type: Crafting

Rarity: Exceptional

Tier: Argent I [0%]

Efficiency: Medium [50%]

“Is that supposed to be a magic hammer?” Allen asked.

“These items.” Rory waved the hammer at the plate. “I’m pretty sure they can only be used if you have a Sigil of Wielding, which I now do. Try using it.”

Trish took the hammer and swung it experimentally, but unlike with Rory, there was no Sigil glowing at the handle’s bottom. She looked a little miffed when she handed it back to Rory. The Sigil underneath it glimmered again as soon as the handle made contact with his skin.

Rory explained the differences to the others. “So, not to be selfish, but I think I’m going to keep these items and the Sigil of Wielding for now. So long as no one has any better ideas.”

Dez shook his head with a small smile. “Nah man, you deserve them after all you’ve done. You’re the expert on Sigils here. We might be able to use them more, but without you making them in the first place, we wouldn’t have made it this far.” He looked around. “Isn’t that right, guys”?

No one argued. Miles and Trish grinned, Sue and Ned nodded approval, Allen gave him an encouraging thumbs-up. Viv’s wide smile was the most delightful of all. Rory smiled back, suffused with a pleasant warmth. He was glad more than ever that they had all survived. So far.

Thunder boomed. For a second, Rory was back in the substation, about to be overwhelmed by the Thundershells and their boss, the Thunderclaw Knight. Then another peal made the air shiver, and raindrops started tapping on the road and pining on the van’s roof. In moments, it was falling hard enough to soak them all, filling the empty chest until it overflowed.

Jerky whined. The dog had fallen asleep over their journey, but it seemed the noise had woken her up.

“I don’t like this,” Viv muttered.

Dez nodded and roused everyone. “Let’s get moving before we’re all sneezing to death.”

They all piled into the van and the Cadillac, spacing themselves out so that they weren’t cramped anymore as they’d been on the journey to the substation. Rory was thankful for that, as he was thankful for being helped into the van’s rear by Viv and the others. It still hurt all over his back to move much but it was better than before. The pain was more muted now.

Evelyn and Allen had taken the van’s front seat beside Ned, the two new guys and Truck keeping Viv and Rory company in the back.

“You must think we’ve all gone crazy here,” Rory said, trying to be amicable to Mikey and Jerome.

Jerome tried to smile but it came out too lopsided to be one when his wandering eyes landed on Truck. “I want to say we’ve seen worse. But we haven’t. It’s nuts.”

Rory laughed. “That about sums it up.”

“We got these Sigils though,” Mikey said.

Rory nodded. His Rescuer Perk was working well.

“Fear not, mortals,” Truck said all of a sudden, startling half the passengers and making Ned rock the van in surprise. “You’ve survived the Thunderclaw Knight’s wrath for the time being. Use these moments to fortify yourselves, and you shall continue to do well.”

Rory wasn’t so sure about that. They’d barely beaten off the monster, and it still wasn’t dead. “It was different from the Thundershells. Intelligent. I might have been able to negotiate something in a better circumstance, though it was pretty unreasonable.”

“Negotiate?” Viv frowned. She closed her fingers into a tight fist. “We don’t need to negotiate anything. It’s just a matter of making our Sigils strong enough to kill that thing for good.”

Rory wanted to argue with that, but he didn’t feel like arguing with Viv. It was just that all he saw when he closed his eyes was Viv lying wounded, unconscious, nearly dead after the Knight’s attacks.

He didn’t want that to ever happen again.

“On negotiation, one can never tell with Otherworlders,” Truck said. “Some may be open to it, some care not at all, and some will only seek to gain your trust to stab you in the back.”

“Exactly what I mean,” Viv growled.

“At least we took care of its minions,” Allen said from the front.

Truck nodded. “An excellent stroke of good work, yes.”

They lapsed into silence for a while. It was nice to simply enjoy the chilly weather, but Rory couldn’t stay silent on what was bothering him for long.

“I can’t go on like this, you know,” he said, feeling a little guilty for being so morose. “I know some of you guys can keep going, but I’m too old for all this. My body feels like it’s falling apart. I was supposed to be retired, for crying out loud.”

Viv gripped his hand, an intent look on her face. “I’ll protect you, I promise. You don’t ever have to worry while you’re with me.”

Rory smiled at her, but he knew it came out as a sad thing. “I would never want a burden like that on you.”

“It’s not a burden.”

“You have your Sigil of Wielding, correct?” Truck asked.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Rory said. “Can Wielding really bypass Weaving’s restriction?”

“You must not think of Sigils acting against each other. There is no such evasion at work here. Weaving prevents you from using Sigils externally, not items that have Sigils Warded in them. If those items can replicate the Warded Sigil’s effects, it is not affected by Weaving’s restriction.”

That made a twisted kind of sense to Rory. He recalled seeing slots for items in his [Status]. Maybe using Sigils externally wasn’t as beyond him as he had thought. For now, he absorbed his new Sigils and checked his [Status]. It had been a while.

But he was interrupted by an achievement.

New Achievement!

The Old Man and the Apocalypse! Your aged body may not support the required physical strain in an apocalypse, but never forget that you have gone through life’s trials more than most.

Rewards

Venerable Perk: 0.5x to physical stats, but x2 to non-physical stats

[Status]

Rory McIlroy

Race: Human

Class: Weaver

Profession: Merchant

Tier: Argent IV [0%]

Perks: Rescuer, Stalwart, Looter, Venerable

Stats

Spirit: 4 [Argent I]

Fortitude: 4 [Argent I]

-

Sigils

Sigil of Weaving: Legendary, [Argent VI]

Sigil of Locomotion: Remarkable, [Argent III]

Sigil of Stats: Ordinary, [Argent IV]

Sigil of Knowledge: Exceptional, [Argent V]

Sigil of Mercantilism: Exceptional, [Argent II]

Items

Hammer of Sigil Warding

Anvil of Sigil Warding

-

There was so much to see and check, so much Rory was fascinated by, that he was out off when the radio in front of the van suddenly crackled to life.

“Hello?” a voice said. “Is anyone there? We have an announcement. I repeat, we have an announcement.”