“And who do we have here?” one of the most beautiful elves he’d ever seen said as she came over in a strip of cloth that Adam was sure was meant to be her swimwear and a purple towel wrapped around her hips. Bright green eyes with the hint of an aquamarine ring around her irises were framed by delicate cheekbones and a sensuous set of lips the color of newly opened rose petals, more pink than red. She smiled and then took a sip of her drink which was a golden liqueur of some sort.

“No one important,” Adam said with a smile. “My name is Adam, I am very honored to meet you,” he said as he nodded slightly while maintaining eye contact.

“I’m Jezel Maneece, nice to meet you. You’re not going to run away terrified of the Arch-Mage’s daughter are you?” she asked with a hint of a smile on her face.

“Nope, not much scares me these days. In fact, I just came out here to find out what’s going on?” Adam said in a voice filled with mirth.

“Well, you came to the right place then. The Adventurers are diving into the depths to find out what’s keeping the farmers away from the Royal Oyster Pearls. Do you know how hard it is to throw an epic party only for it to be sidelined when your dad commandeers your boat to investigate something?”

“Can’t say that I do, no,” Adam said.

“Well at least I met you, everyone else here is too afraid of my dad to even talk with me,” Jezel said.

“You do realize that there are other reasons some people aren’t approaching you, right?” Adam asked conspiratorially as if he knew a secret she didn’t know.

“Actually, no,” she said leaning closer, “Do tell.”

“They could be intimidated by your beauty,” Adam said sincerely.

“You think I’m beautiful,” Jezel said playfully, though Adam could tell she was just being flirtatious and that there was no real desire behind the act. Also, with True Sight active, he could see from her Aura that there was no passion behind her words. It was more like she was playing a role in a game, at least in her mind.

“Anyone with eyes can see your beauty, but I can tell that you are not interested in me, or even being here. If I’m right in that assumption then why are you here Milady,”

“Milady? I am not royalty…,” Jezel started to say when five security personnel teleported into existence right next to her.

“Jezel, please come with us, NOW!” a female guard said to Jezel as she reached out and placed an arm on her shoulder.

Jezel didn’t struggle as she rose from her seat and mouthed, “Sorry” as she was led away.

One of the five guards moved over behind Adam and asked, “Who are you?”

“Adam, who are you?”

“You didn’t board the boat back at the dock, nor are you on any over our lists, How did you get past security? There are detection spells all around the ship as well as a few protection spells. No one with ill intent should be able to approach this boat without a dozen alarms going off,” the guard said.

Before Adam could answer the guards’ questions, the guard reached forward to grab Adam by the neck, lift him off the chair and slam him to the deck to subdue and terminate him if necessary. Adam read his intentions in his Aura. What the guard expected to happen, did not happen. As the guard had expected no resistance, he’d used his full strength. When his hand wrapped around the back of Adam’s head and he yanked upward, he dislocated his wrist and fractured a few of the small bones in his left hand when they impacted against Adam’s head.

The guard grunted in pain and stepped back as Adam slowly turned to the guard and said, “I really don’t like to be touched,” Adam said as he looked around and saw the shock in the eyes of the other partygoers.

“I think my time here is done. Please pass on to Jezel that I had a lovely time speaking with her, and remember, I do not like to be touched, “Adam said as activated Obscure and Teleported 1,000 feet straight up to float above the boat. His True Sight detected the spells that covered the boat and its surroundings, but it seemed that his Obscure ability was able to keep it from detecting him as the field washed over and through him as if he wasn’t even there.

He could have been a little more flashy, but two things held him back. First, he didn’t know the current political climate and second, he was waiting for the axe to fall when the true power of The System was directed at him. He had a couple of ideas on how it might level the playing field concerning him, so he wasn’t going to draw attention to himself unless he had to. Better to play the aloof, all-powerful millionaire than think he was truly invincible because no one was truly invincible. Besides, he had actually liked sitting down and talking with Jezel. There was something about the innocence of youth that was intoxicating. Of course, he could just be getting old and cynical.

A flash of purple energy pierced the ship and flew past him at the speed of light. Adam was off to the side of the boat a little bit and noticed that the particle of purple light had come from beneath the yacht and had been moving at the speed of light, or pretty damn close to it.

Adam dropped to the water, dipped below, and started to make his way down toward the source of the purple particle when a bright flash of light expanded up and through him at the speed of light. Immediately his mind thought of LSM-60, the World War II-era landing ship that had a nuke detonated 90 feet below it In the lagoon of Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Something like a nuke must have just detonated underneath the yacht.

Adam still wasn’t sure how The System was affecting him, but he knew that if he could see a flash, a shock wave was working its way up fast. Faster than anyone would have time to react, normally. At the speed of sound, 730 miles per hour at ground level, The shockwave would travel just over 1,070 feet per second. If this was a nuclear blast wave, or something similar, it would be traveling at 784 miles per hour or just over 1,149 feet per second. Adam activated Stutter Step and started taking the actions he could. First, he moved directly under the center of the boat. Next, he activated Technomancy and wasted his next action to know the boat. All of its capabilities and defenses. That was 5 of the 23 actions he’d created with Stutter Step,

Luckily, the boat had a barrier generator. Action 6, he moved parallel to the hull. 7, 8, and 9, he locked himself into place with Mold Chaos by fusing the top of his clothes to the boat. Action 10, Adam activated the generator which created a barrier around himself and the yacht. Action 11, he sounded the alarm on the boat. Action 12, he redirected the barrier to focus its strength on the underside of the boat. There was no 13 action. Either the detonation was a lot closer to the boat than Adam had figured, or the blast wave was moving much faster than 784 miles per hour. Possibly a combination of both.

Even at his accelerated movement speed the shockwave enveloped the boat. The barrier held, for the most part. Adam was momentarily blinded as the energy wave hit the shield and flung the boat straight up and away from the origin point of the blast. Adam felt the shield go down and was blinded as notifications populated his vision.

WARNING you have been struck by a blast wave of energy composed of Anti and Proper elements at a ratio of 50/50.

100,000 SD, Structural Damage recorded.

Barrier blocked 99.9% of the damage

1% SD Damage converts to 100 SD

100 SD Converts to 10,000 HP of damage to biologicals struck.

WARNING, You have taken 10,000 HP of damage

Warning you have exceeded your 152 hit points by 9,848 hit points of damage.

You have Died!

ERROR

Subject’s Hit Points before attack: 15,675,903,632.

Current Maximum Hit Points exceed expected hit points by 1,031,309.4%

Error Noted.

Discrepancy Elevated to Administrator.

The administrator is currently unavailable.

This error will be revisited when the Administrator is free.

Adjusted Current Hit Points are 15,675,893,632

You have NOT died.

Current unadjusted attributes will continue to be utilized for all calculations until review is accomplished.

So, The System had noted the error and was continuing to let him maintain his attributes from before though someone, who was otherwise engaged, would review the discrepancy when they were able. Adam wondered whether the lack of a response was in any way his fault then realized that he didn’t have time for this.

The good thing about still having 10 more actions to take within this combat round with Stutter Step was that he could recover from the blast. His Hit Points would regenerate by the end of the combat round. Adam did some quick math. If .1% of the blast had done 10,000 Hit Points of damage to him the blast would have done 10 million points of damage to anyone outside of the barrier. If his Hit Points were supposed to be 152, that was a bit of overkill.

Actions 14 through 23 were used to recover and review his situation, which wasn’t good. Adam looked around and noted that the city of Astrix still existed inside a barrier that had come up around it, though there was a huge crater where the bay had once been. Note to self, never trust a barrier to take all the damage from an explosive attack. The hull had held together but it had burned away in place and there were holes in some places. Luckily it looked like there was an inner and outer hull and the inner hull had remained intact. That’s not what worried Adam though.

What worried Adam was the fact that the ship he was attached to was currently speeding away from the Island that was only growing smaller as he watched. Adam checked the Yachts features with Technomancy, then activated the life support field that this boat had installed. Additionally, the boat had started to rotate and Adam could see that he’d activated the life support function just in time because they now appeared to be above the barrier that held in the atmosphere of the island around it. Adam could see a clear line where the light from the star nearby reflected off the bubble of air. Adam released himself from the Boat and used Flight to come up and around the hull until he could land on the deck. Unlike the barrier which was now down and recharging, through his Technomancy ability he knew that life support was achieved by a bubble that was simply held in place by magic. There was no hard barrier that he had to cross to enter the area covered by it. Adam landed lightly on the deck and looked around.

While the boat was rotating in what appeared to be zero-G, once he was above the deck, gravity righted itself and everything felt normal while the island continued to rotate around the yacht. Some of the people that had been enjoying themselves were still blinded by the initial flash but as it had been beneath them, Adam didn’t think the damage would be permanent. He watched as they rapidly blinked their eyes to clear them. The male guard with the broken wrist was still standing by the bartender looking around when he noticed Adam.

“You Stop!” the Guard barked.

“First, No, and second is everyone else, besides the asshat over there, okay?” Adam said as he moved around the other guests to check with them and make sure they were all right. The guard started to move toward Adam. Wanting none of whatever this guard wanted to dish out, Adam activated Stutter Step and used his superior strength and speed to subdue the guard, heal his wrist with Mold Chaos then create an Adamantium chair with restraints that didn’t allow him to move. Adam was kind enough to provide a straw that he could suck on if he was thirsty within easy reach of his mouth. One on each side. Water on the left, and Fey Wine on the right. Mold Chaos might not be his nanites but he could use the ability to do almost everything he could do with nanites on a much-reduced scale. Of course, he could also make items that were intrinsically magical which was a nice bonus.

To everyone, including the guard, it looked like Adam flickered and then the guard was sitting in a chair, immobilized with straws near his mouth while Adam was standing right where he had been. Adam used Mold Chaos to disconnect the guard’s vocal cords making him mute as he looked like he was trying to say something. Adam lifted a finger to his mouth and made the “Shhhhh” sound before he pointed to the guard and said, “Now you, Stay! The straw on the left is water, and the one on the right is Fey Wine. Enjoy,”

Adam turned away from the guard and then made his way around to the other guests as he cast Heal Other on those that were hurt and used Mold Chaos to fix anything that had been broken when the blast wave shook the ship. Luckily the artificial gravity had held and only a few scratches and bruises with very minimal health point loss were noted. That begged the question, why had an explosion gone off that did far more damage than anyone he’d come across so far could take? Logically, the explosion was either a huge coincidence or it had been designed to take out the ship. He very much doubted anyone was targeting him yet, So….

As that thought crossed his mind, he noted an alarm going off below deck with his Technomancy ability. While he could teleport based on personal knowledge of the ship, he’d never been to the room the alarm was going off in so it was time for plan B. Adam pulled up the schematics of the ship, checked his location against the location of the alarm, viewed the target area through the internal security systems, and then calculated the distance he needed to teleport.

That’s what he would have done, instead when he reviewed the target location he noticed that Jezel was in a safe room in the middle of the boat. It was so safe in fact that there were teleportation inhibitors and additional barriers in place. Also, the room was encased in a 1/8-inch sheet of Adamantium. In fact, the entryway into the room wasn’t even an entry room, it was a portal that passed through one wall of the same room in a specific location. Adam would have to look at how it was designed later. Right now he knew he couldn’t teleport in and the last guard that was alive in the room was trying to break a magical barrier that had sprung up around Jezel and seemed to be maintained by a ring she was wearing. The other three guards were already dead and the Assassin, because that’s all the fourth guard could be, was trying his hardest to break through the barrier protecting her with a very nasty-looking sword.

Adam activated Freedom of Flight and Flight and headed through the boat to the safe room. It seemed that Freedom of Flight still made him ethereal for the most part. As he came up to the safe room Jezel was in, he was repelled, which he’d expected. He made his way around to the entrance and found the hole in the defenses. It was a pretty ingenious setup. There was a single point in the cube that made up the room that was not covered by the barrier. There was no break in the metal but on each side of the wall, there was a magical item attached to the wall that allowed a portal to be opened at that location only. The devices on the outer and inner walls were shielded but that shield sat on top of the barrier that covered the rest of the wall. With Freedom of Flight active, it was a simple thing for Adam to pass through the gap between the two barriers and then phase through the only spot in the wall that wasn’t covered by a barrier, and then phase through the wall into the safe room. Adam solidified into existence directly between Jezel and the Assassin.

The look of shock that appeared in the Assassin’s eyes was priceless, though it only lasted for a moment before she altered her attack and tried to stab Adam through the chest. Adam sidestepped the thrust and jabbed the Assassin’s wrist and elbow with his fingers which caused her to lose her grip on the weapon. As the weapon started to drop toward the floor Jezel called out, “Don’t touch the sword!”

Adam could see with his True Sight ability that the sword had an aura but it didn’t look to be anything special so he reached out and caught the sword before it could clatter to the ground. As he did so a notification appeared.

WARNING, you have picked up a soul-bound item. This item will not work for you, put it down.

Soul Bound huh? Adam allowed his Mold Chaos ability to envelop the sword and then break it down as he absorbed it back into himself. There was a minor energy release which the chaos that had surrounded the sword absorbed easily.

To Jezel and the Guard, it looked like Adam had caught the sword and then a flowing white substance had surrounded the sword and then shrunk out of existence with the sword no longer visible.

Adam noticed when the assassin’s eyes glazed for a moment and then she exclaimed,” What did you do!”

“Adam ignored the question and used an ability that he hadn’t tried since his abduction into The System, Chaos Bolt. The damage was listed as “Damage, 1 per mana spent. So he thought about what his mana regeneration per second had been and spent 391,897,592 of his 391 billion mana, or tried to. A flashing red notification appeared in his vision.

WARNING, Mana expenditure does not fit within known parameters for spell usage with The System. Mana reduced to maximum skill level for ability attribute-based bonus for ability utilized.

Skill not detected

Attribute bonus detected

Attribute bonus limited to Master Level 100 equivalent. 300 mana can be spent to increase damage by 300%

Attribute bonus exceeds Master Level 100 by more than double.

300 Mana spent for the simulated skill level of Master Level 100

300 Mana spent for maximum attribute level equivalent to Master Level 100

600 Mana total spent to hit Basic Level 55 Elf Assassin with Chaos Bolt

WARNING exposure to Chaos energy may have random effects.

Adam’s attention was drawn back to the female elf as the Chaos Bolt hit, enveloped her and she winked out of existence. Adam directed his attention to his combat prompts to see if it could shed any light on what had happened, what he found was not unexpected, but surprising.

Basic Level 55 Elf Assassin Catastrophically failed their Luck role. The Assassin has been forcefully teleported forward in time 100 billion years.

Note, as the individual that was attacked has been ejected from this time into the future, the effect of that action will not happen for 100 billion years. If the target was killed, XP will be issued at that time.

What horseshit. He’d have to wait for XP if he killed things by sending them so far into the future that they probably met their end in a dead universe until he reached that point. Adam thought about it for a second then shrugged as he thought, Whatever

“What did you do to her?” Jezel asked.

“She had a bad reaction to a magical bolt I hit her with,” Adam said with a grin.

“What kind of bad reaction?”

“She decided to go skipping through time into the future?” Adam said.

“Is she going to appear where she disappeared from then?” Jezel asked.

Adam looked thoughtful for a minute before he said, “I imagine so, but we’ll be long gone by then.

“How do you know?” she asked.

“Adam willed the combat log to appear, turned it to face Jezel, and showed her the prompt stating she’d been “teleported forward in time 100 billion years.”

Jezel looked at the prompt, looked at Adam, and then looked at the prompt again before she asked, “Was that a Time spell of some sort.”

“Heavens No!” Adam said quickly before he continued, “I don’t mess with time as a general rule. As you saw it was just her luck, or karma, taking care of business. Though 100 billion years, even I have to admit, wow,” Adam said.

“Wow indeed,” Jezel agreed before she asked, “Have you seen my last guard?”

Adam shrugged sheepishly, “He’s kind of tied up at the moment. Also, the rest of the ship and passengers seem to be fine, though we’re above the island floating through space or whatever the equivalent is for this realm.

“It’s space, though it’s a very small area as compared to a Universe. Only the Islands and the Sun exist within it,” Jezel said.

“Really?”

“Really, the solar system is surrounded by a barrier my father helped establish to hold it all together. Eventually, we’ll bounce off of it and just continue to float around. That is until my father comes to retrieve us.”

“You’re sure he’ll come?” Adam asked.

“Oh yes. As soon as the ship was damaged a signal was sent. Give it another minute or so.”

Adam’s attention was drawn away as he detected a well-dressed male elf as he appeared on the main deck with the security system he was monitoring with Technomancy. He looked over and saw the guard sitting in his Adamantium chair Adam had created for the guard. Adam could tell he used some form of scanning ability or spell to analyze the chair and then he waved his hand and the guard was freed as the chair disappeared. The elf handed the guard a potion, which the guard drank quickly.

“Thank you sire,” the guard said as he nodded toward the door to the stairs down to the safe room, “Your daughter is in the saferoom with the other guards, this way”

As they walked Adam listened to Elf ask, “She made it to the safe room, your sure?”

“She was taken to the safe room by the rest of the security detail before the explosion went off, I am absolutely sure of that sire.”

“And you are not there, why?”

“An Individual appeared on the ship while we were in the bay that did not board in Astrix. I was trying to detain him. Sire, I know not how, but he subdued me in a moment?”

“He left you as I found you in a moment?” the elf asked.

“Yes sir,” The guard said as he appeared in front of the portal and pulled out a crystal he must have had in his dimensional storage because Adam hadn’t detected it on him when his Mold Chaos enveloped him. Everyone seemed to have those damn dimensional spaces. A moment later a portal opened and they started to step forward.

Adam withdrew his focus from Technomancy and the surveillance devices on the ship and turned to the portal that was opening to his side as he said, “Jezel, the last guard and I believe your father is stepping through now.”

Jezel looked to the open portal as the guard saw Adam standing slightly in front of Jezel. Her father came through the portal behind the guard. Both men looked around the room and noted three dead guards and the missing fourth, then Adam and Jezel.

With a flick of his hand, the elf that had been following the guard sent a bolt of darkness speeding toward Adam.

Jezel screamed, “No father, he saved me!” as a bolt of black energy flew at Adam.

Adam recognized the spell as Dark in nature and used Mold Chaos to create a pocket of light in his right hand, which he caught the darkness in, nullifying it. A moment later the white light in Adam’s hand disappeared as Adam looked back to the elf calmly and asked, “Are you going to attack me again or would you like to check on your daughter?” The Elf had not moved and Jezel had lowered the barrier that had been protecting her as she moved forward.

“Jezel, did he truly save you?”

“Yes, Father. The fourth guard was trying to kill me when Adam appeared and stopped him,” Jezel explained.

“The elf and guard looked around the room and then the guard asked, “The fourth guard, killed the other three?”

“Yes, they were dead when Adam arrived. He has been nothing but a gentleman, well except for dealing with the assassin of course,” Jezel answered.

Jezel’s father pulled a tablet, well it looked like a tablet at least, and pulled up security footage. Adam monitored the recordings he accessed with Technomancy as he quickly watched through the betrayal of the guard and Adam’s appearance.

Adam was slightly surprised when the elf turned to Adam and asked, “Am I right in assuming that bolt of magic you used was Chaotic in nature?”

“You would be yes?” Adam said.

Jezel’s father stored the tablet and looked at Adam before he bowed slightly and said, “It would seem I owe you an apology. My name is Arch-Mage Maneece and I would like to formally apologize for attacking you just now.”

Adam relaxed a bit as he changed his body posture and demeanor to be more relaxed and formal as he said, “My name is Adam, I am new to the System so do not have any ranks or titles given by the System. I accept your formal apology and would state that I understand the lengths a father will go to for the welfare of their daughter. Again, the apology is appreciated but not necessary.”

Arch-Mage Maneece nodded then moved to his daughter as she hugged him, “Are you truly okay?” he asked pushing back a strand of her hair.

“I am, Adam saved me.”

“Very well, let’s get everyone back to safety, and then if you wouldn’t mind Adam, I’d like to sit down and talk, if that would be all right with you?”

“Can I ask questions?” Adam asked.

“You can ask. I will answer those questions I can but even I don’t know everything,” The Arch Mage said.

Adam smiled as he said, “Then yes, I would very much like to sit down and have a conversation with you.”

Getting everyone to safety was anticlimactic. The four of them went through the portal, Arch-Mage Maneece cast a spell, and the boat, with everyone on it, teleported to a dry dock somewhere else. Everyone was escorted off the ship as the Arch Mage dismissed his guard and motioned for Adam to follow his daughter and him.

They left the dry dock and appeared to be in a giant structure that contained many people. Adam could tell from the construction that a lot of time and effort had been put into this place. Also, through his Astral Link, he could tell that he was in a place of power with at least two nodes possibly more but it was hard to pin down the energy types as all eight basic elements were present. The three of them stopped before a set of giant double doors that opened automatically.

Jezel hugged her father as he said, “We’ll talk later.”

Jezel withdrew and stepped through the double doors which closed behind her.

“Will she be safe in there?” Adam asked.

“As it’s a pocket dimension, outside of this dimension, I’m sure she is safer there than we are here,” The Arch-Mage said with a laugh.

“Good to know,” Adam said.

“Now if you’d follow me, I’ll give you a small tour of my home and then we can sit and talk,” Arch Mage Maneece said.

Adam nodded and for the next hour, he was led around the Arch Mages home as various structures and oddities that the Arch-Mage thought Adam might find interesting.

One item that caught Adam’s attention was the mounted head of a dragon. It had caught Adam’s attention because the skin wasn’t skin but looked to either be made of crystal of some sort or transparent metal. Adam’s Scan ability failed to give him any information.

“Your scan ability wouldn’t provide any information I’m afraid. That creature was from outside of the Current System?”

Outside of the current System?”

“Let’s head to my library where we can pick up some refreshments and relax without the possibility of being overheard. I’m sure that any questions I ask, that you choose to answer will contain information you do not wish for everyone to know the answers to,” The Archmage said.

“You are, of course, correct. After you,” Adam said as he followed Arch-Mage Maneece through his home on the way to his library.

“