“What happened?” Lexnara Pellmir asked from her seat behind her desk.

The three men standing before Lexnara looked at one another before the one to her left answered, “We’re not sure your highness. The device detonated as advertised. The yacht’s shielding was a lot more impressive than we were led to believe.” An aid whose name Lexnara could not remember said.

“But the device was detonated before the shielding could be activated. If the detonation occurred as desired and the shielding was not active, how did someone react fast enough to activate the shielding?”

“We do not know your majesty, though our spies viewing from a safe distance have stated that the shielding failed and that the hull of the yacht did receive damage,” the man standing in the middle said.

The man to her right spoke up, “Your Majesty, if I may?”

Lexnara nodded for him to continue.

“The shielding over the yacht protected it from the explosion. The explosion was so powerful though that the yacht was launched from the surface and exited the protective bubble that surrounds Astrix. Our spies watched it tumble for a little while before it was teleported away. Our other spies within the Arch-Mages holdings have confirmed that the ship appeared in its dry dock and that Jezel, the Arch-Mage, and a human male they had never seen before exited after all the guests and staff departed,” he said.

“What of our asset, he was either to die in the explosion or after that Trollip was dead, have we heard from him yet?” Lexnara asked.

“The soul link to the ring he was wearing that would have allowed us to replicate him has been severed. We have been unable to reestablish a connection to it. We have reincarnated the asset based on the information the soul link receiver had received. The last memory the clone has is the unknown man appearing in the safe room and launching a magical attack at him. He has no memories after that, not even The System generated notifications to let the target know what happened appear in his Combat Log.”

“Very well, I had hoped to take my revenge out on the Arch-Mage in a slow and deliberate manner but it would seem that we must accelerate the timetable if we wish to keep the initiative. Activate our assets in the Arch-Mages realm, and begin the cleansing, with the daughter first, if you can. If not, so be it. The Arch-Mage has been a nuisance for far too long.

“Your Majesty, I’m sure you have thought about the ramifications of this action politically, have you also considered The System’s response?” the man to her left asked.

Lexnara looked to the man that had raised the question with a puzzled expression on her face, “The System’s response? Why would the System Respond? Its only purposes, as far as anyone has been able to fathom in the centuries I’ve existed and the countless centuries detailed in our histories, are to expand its influence and the strength of those within its purview. The Arch-Mage has thought to upset the status quo by introducing concepts such as fairness, duty, and free will to the masses when we know that such ideas always lead to anarchy and chaos when those that have no power, think that they do. Also, this is personal, he killed members of my family. No, his meddling stops today and it will start with the eradication of his holdings, his daughter, himself, and the man that thwarted our earlier attempt on his daughter. Activate the assets, The meddling of this Arch-Mage ends today!”

The three men bowed, turned as one, and hurried from her presence. Lexnara smiled, it was always good to keep the analysts scared for their lives. Next, she considered what had happened. She’d hoped to fill the Arch-Mage with dread and despair with the death of his daughter before he died. Now though, she would just have to settle for wiping him from existence. She’s been down this road before with others that had destroyed members of her family, or her friends. There was no doubt that she would be again. That she was still here was a testament to her strength, which she knew The System approved of.

***

Arch-Mage Maneece led Adam through a pair of ornate wooden doors covered in intricate carvings. There were various landscapes and scenes which contained Unicorns, Dragons, Fairies, and many other mythological creatures. As the doors closed Adam felt a field of energy come down and try to sever his Astral Link as a ripple expanded through the room. The spell failed. Arch-Mage Maneece looked at Adam quizzically before he said, “I have sealed this room from all outside interference except for something tied to you. It would seem that not even my preparation can completely sever a connection you have to the outside. Is that going to be an issue for our conversation?”

Adam smiled apologetically, “Not to worry, I know what is not turned off, and pretty sure that nothing and no one can piggyback into this location and listen to us from there, at least not from this dimension.”

Arch-Mage Maneece led them both to a table and gestured toward one of the two large chairs as he moved to sit in the other. Once they were both seated he said, “First, I must thank you for saving my daughter. I have checked the security recordings and if you had not stepped in the Assassin would have been able to kill her moments before I arrived.”

“You’re very welcome,” Adam said.

“Not to sound too ungrateful but is there any way I can get to the assassin?” The Arch-Mage asked.

“Unless you can travel to the end of time, I’m afraid not, Adam said as he pulled up and showed the Arch Mage the message he’d received

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

The Arch Mage looked at the prompt Adam had shared with him and was about to ask a question when Adam continued, “As you can see he’s been thrown a bit into the future.”

“Did you do that on purpose?” The Arch-Mage asked.

“No, I used an ability I hadn’t tried since being added to the System. Normally my ability just does damage. I fully expected the ability to kill him, not transport him into the future,” Adam said.

“That is interesting, “ The Arch-Mage said as he pondered for a moment before he asked, “So you are a recent addition to The System?”

“Yes. I was in the Multitude, which was just absorbed by the System. It seems that every member of The Multitude was separated and placed in various locations. At least as far as I can tell from the messages I’ve received.”

“The System does that, but it’s not as thorough as you might think. It has a classification system. Also, The System will review everyone, and those that are similar, or from similar backgrounds will find themselves on the same planet or in the same dimension or Universe. Where did you end up, if I might ask?”

“I started on the Dungeon Planet, Bounty near an entrance to the Labyrinth”

“Truly? The Archmage asked surprised.

“Yes,” Adam said.

“Well, that would explain how you made it to Astrix so easily, the train system that has been embedded within the Labyrinth has a stop there. Still, that doesn’t explain why you would start on a dungeon planet, especially a dungeon planet that isn’t for individuals just starting in The System. You would need to level a lot before you made it that far. Would you mind if I scanned you?”

“Not at all, as long as you share what you figure out, I’m trying to figure out why my attack only utilized 600 of the mana when I tried to spend a lot more than The System allowed.”

“That’s fair,” the Arch-Mage said, “One second.”

The Arch-Mage concentrated for a moment and then a prompt appeared in Adam’s vision.

WARNING! You are being scanned. Your mental defense is high enough due to your attributes to block the scan. Do you wish to allow the scan, Yes or No?”

Adam selected “Yes”. A moment later the Arch-Mage exclaimed, “That’s not Possible!

Adam looked at the Arch-Mage, who shrugged sheepishly before his eyes glazed over and he began reviewing the information again. After a few moments, the Arch-Mages vision cleared as he focused on Adam before he said, “Wow.”

“Wow?” Adam asked questioningly.

“Yes, wow. First, I’m assuming that you have received a message stating that an Administrator will be visiting you shortly?”

“That’s right,” Adam agreed.

“That’s because your base attributes are far too high. At level 50 Master Class, if you put the maximum attribute award I’ve ever seen, which was 20 attributes per level the most any one of your attributes could be is 3,000. That would be 20 attributes multiplied by 50 levels times 3 for Basic, Advanced, and Master Class. Also, that would be in only one attribute. You have over 39.189 billion attribute points in each attribute. Somehow during your conversion, your attributes remained what they must have been before. Also, how long have you been in The System?” The Arch-Mage asked.

“A couple of days at most, I haven’t been able to look at a calendar and I keep changing areas so I’m no longer sure. My internal clock indicates it’s been more than two days though.”

“So you made it to level 50 of a Master Class in two days, How did you manage that?”

“Oh it would be much higher but The System locked me down at Master, I have to survive for one year before I can receive a Heroic Quest to unlock my Heroic Class.”

“How?”

“I proved to The System that I had knowledge, experience, and proficiency with a lot of skills,” Adam said.

The Arch-Mage looked thoughtful for a moment as he paused. Adam could see him doing the math in his head as he estimated how long that would take. When he was done he said, “To do that you have to prove to the System that you have such proficiency and knowledge by actually proving it to The System which takes time. To get to Master level 50, let alone higher, from skill-based XP awards would take a lot of skill XP and a very long time to do. A VERY long time. You’re sure you’ve only been in The System for a couple of days?”

“You said you saw my attributes, I connected to a System Shop terminal and showed the System what I knew. While doing so, I may have accelerated my mental frame of reference a bit,” Adam said with a grin.

“A bit?” the Arch-Mage said.

“Anyway, once I was done I earned level 50 of a Master class and received a prompt which stated that I had to survive for one year to receive my Heroic Quest.”

“Doesn’t seem like that will be too hard for you,” The Arch-Mage said sardonically.

“I except not. Any idea why I could only spend 600 mana on my spell?” Adam asked.

“That’s easy, The System regulates all damage created by individuals or items within The System.”

Adam considered what he said for a moment then asked, “So what you’re saying is that no matter what my base attributes are The System will limit the amount that I can affect others based on the standard maximums, no matter what my attributes are?”

“You have it in one. In your case, it will prevent you from shooting something at your maximum possible damage. On the other side of that coin, it will also prevent others from doing a huge amount of damage to you. With your Constitution, Endurance, and Regeneration I dare say there isn’t a creature that could do enough damage to get passed your regeneration, at least until they are well above legendary level.”

“That’s interesting, and if the System is monitoring and balancing damage so that everyone is on a similar playing field, how did the bomb that went off under the yacht do enough damage that it would have killed just about any person that was caught in it? In fact, I’m pretty sure anyone that wasn’t in a shielded area on the island is now dead?” Adam said as a statement, which sounded eerily like a question.

“You are, of course, correct. The device that detonated did a lot more damage than any person can take or produce because it was a device. The System has two major systems that it monitors, technology and magic. Magic is produced and created by people so The System monitors and limits what people can do. As for devices that are created with Technology, The System can monitor them but it can’t control the damage they do. The scope of such things follows universal laws, not laws created by individuals. If something is created that is too powerful The System has been known to utilize magic to reduce the effect or prevent the technology from working. However, anyone can purchase System generated items that do Structural damage. That damage is usually displayed with SD after it. One point of Structural Damage equals 100 hit points of damage to organics.”

“So technological weapons are, by design, more powerful within The System?”

“Yes. I believe the device that was utilized against the yacht was probably a Tier 10 bomb of some type, most likely Antimatter, or anti-particle,” The Arch Mage said.

“Why would someone want your daughter dead?”

“One does not become an Arch-Mage without making a lot of enemies?”

“If that is so, Is she safe here?” Adam asked.

“She is, though it’s funny that you should ask.”

“Why is that?”

“Someone just entered the secured area she’s supposed to be in?”

“Supposed to be in?” Adam asked.

“Of course, I have her locked away with only my most trustworthy staff, those that have been with me, or her. since her birth. She appears to be in one of my security wings, she is not.”

“And the person that isn’t where they were supposed to be?”

“Here comes another now,” The Arch-Mage said as a woman pushing a cart of food opened the door to the study they were in and started pushing the cart toward them.

Adam felt the Arch-Mage beside him react as if physically punched, then his image vanished. What the hell was that? Adam thought as his mind went into overdrive and he reviewed the last few minutes. There had been a shimmer when they’d entered the room. Well, shit, the Arch-Mage had gone elsewhere to protect himself, which Adam couldn’t really blame him for. He’d been left in this room with a holographic duplicate which he hadn’t detected. If that were the case though his True Vision and Scan abilities, which he kept active all the time should have noticed. As he looked around the room his mind took in all the patterns and he recognized the dimensions and placements for runic wards that nullified observation skills. Very slick indeed. Well Played Arch-Mage Maneece, well played indeed.

Adam was shocked out of his contemplations when he felt pressure against his forehead and then heard a gunshot. The attendant was looking at him with an intense stare as if she expected her attack to have done something. Adam checked his Combat Log.

WARNING! You have received a critical strike to the head.

Weapon Variables active: Surprise Attack, High Caliber, Critical Strike

Attacker Variables active: Called Shot, Snipe, Headshot.

Base Damage for High Caliber weapon 100

Base multiplier x2 for Critical Strike, increased by 1 for Surprise Attack, Called Shot, Snipe, and Headshot. Total multiplier 6

Damage taken 600, 100 multiplied by times 6 multiplier.

Superficial damage.

Adam closed his combat log and refocused his attention on the woman who was moving toward him. He watched as a very nasty-looking knife appeared in her hand. He could tell that it was magical but the properties of the runes in the room were preventing him from deducing the properties of the dagger. Adam activated Stutter-Step to move 24 times faster than everyone else just as she disappeared.

Adam’s first and second actions were to teleport to a parallel position with the roof 20 feet above where he stood and activate Flight. With his third action, Adam reached out with Technomancy and linked to the security systems in the room. His hunch that with magical protection in place that blocked magical scrying and such there would be technological security was correct. His fourth and fifth actions were spent bringing himself up to speed on what had happened.

The Arch-Mage had not set him up. Adam was looking through various security camera feeds that were tied into this camera that showed 83 dead people. Jezel had been shot and was lying in a pool of her blood as an assassin made his way toward her. The Arch-Mage was frozen in place while another man held up a monitor that showed the assassin near his daughter making his way toward her with a very long and sharp blade and a box that had one side made out of glass or plexiglass. The box was obviously designed to carry someone’s severed head in it.

While he was reviewing the security footage the female assassin reappeared and slammed a dagger down where his shoulder would have been. The strike would have been perfect as it passed beside his neck, missed his ribcage, and entered his heart, if he had been sitting there. Instead, the knife slammed into the seat cushion of the chair and extended her neck, which is what he’d been waiting for.

Adam’s sixth action was to drop down and land as he struck the female between the back of her skull and her atlas, the topmost vertebra of her spine, with a rigid palm strike. The strike was aimed precisely and made with his full strength. He was sure that The System would modify the damage to within its mandated limits. He didn’t care, A strike like that could sever the spinal cord if applied correctly and he was applying with maximum efficiency and force.

The assassin was already falling forward head down into the chair with her ass in the air as if she were a puppet whose strings had been cut. Adam paid her no mind as he turned and moved toward the door she’d entered through. His seventh action had him break the speed of sound as he moved through the corridors to Jezel’s sanctuary. From the security footage he’d reviewed he knew that the Arch-Mage had placed her in a secret pocket dimension that could only be accessed by one door. That door was being held open by an assassin that had a recorder in one hand and the door in the other. The assassin with the long blade and the box was still a few steps away from Jezel when Adam made it to the door. Adam’s eighth action was to move next to Jezel and utilize Mold Chaos to stabilize her brain function while repairing her body. He accomplished this by touching her forehead with a finger before he ended his action by standing and facing the assassin with the blade.

Adam’s ninth Action was to utilize Mold Chaos to create a vorpal weapon. His 10th and 11th actions of Stutter Step removed the assassin’s blade arm and head with his vorpal weapon. His 12th action removed the head of the assassin holding the door. With his 13th action, he pried the box from the dead assassin’s grasp, plucked the assassin’s head out of the air, and placed it in the box facing the glass side as he closed it. He set the box on the ground facing the camera. The Camera? With his 14th action, he grabbed the camera out of the air and placed it on the ground facing the head in the box and used the rest of that action to move over to Jezel, pick her up, and put her over his left shoulder. As he finished he was already moving toward the location of her father.

Adam still had the vorpal blade in his right hand and was carrying Jezel over his left shoulder as his ability Mold Chaos repaired her body. Her brain remained oxygenated though he placed her in a coma to prevent her from feeling any of the trauma her body was going through. Luckily, the Arch-Mage wasn’t that far away. He was down and around a bend in a replica of the room, Adam had been in when he’d activated Stutter Step.

Adam’s 15th Action was to put the point of his vorpal blade through the back of the Assassin holding the monitor. The blade entered the assassin’s head, exited from his right eye stabbed through the monitor destroying it as the Arch-Mage watched. Adam’s 16th Action was to stow his vorpal blade in his Shadow Vault as he stepped into the time-stopped area, picked up the Arch-Mage with his right hand, and stepped out of the time-stopped area. Adam utilized his 17th Action to memorize where he was so he could use his Teleport or Gate abilities to get back to this location.

As they stepped out of the time-stopped area, Adam could feel that the Arch-Mage could move again and set him down. His 18th Action was utilized to lay Jezel at the Arch-Mages feet gently while his 19th Action was utilized to issue commands to his Mold Chaos ability to release her from the coma as soon as she was fully healed while he looked to the Arch-Mage and said, “She will be fine, Stay here, I’ll finish this.

His 20th action was spent leaving the room as he pushed the Assassin outside and closed the door. With his 21st Action, he used Mold Chaos to place a sheet of Adamantium that was fused with the wall which was also converted to Adamantium around the door frame. The door could be knocked loose but they wouldn’t be opening that door until he returned without some serious firepower. Adam activated Obscure with Action 22. With Actions 23 and 24, he connected back to the security systems with Technomancy and worked to identify and locate every intruder in the Arch-Mages base which brought him to the end of that combat round.

In one second, he’d saved Jezel, rescued the Archmage, secured their location, and identified every intruder that had taken overt action. As the 24 extra combat rounds Adam could take during a single second came to an end, his Mana, Stamina, and the hit points he’d converted with Mold Chaos replenished.

Adam thought about how overpowered he was, how unfair what he was about to do was, and then shrugged. He hadn’t attacked these people, they’d attacked him. One did not swim up to a hungry Great White Shark and wonder why it took a bite out of your ass when you got too close. He would need to get back to the Arch-Mage and Jezel and get some questions answered. Now though? Now, it was time to get to work.

***

Queen Pellmir watched with her generals as the attack on the Arch-Mage seemed to go without a hitch, that is, until the moment the assassin assigned to the unknown man entered the study he was speaking to the Arch-Mages hologram in. As expected the sniper rifle inside the cart targeted, fired, and hit the target right between his eyes. Then things went weird. A second later the assassin that had shot him was crumpled in the chair, her ass in the air with a broken neck. The assassin’s head that had been about to decapitate Jezel while her father was forced to watch was in a box pointed at the camera which was now at ground level while the body of Jezel was nowhere to be seen. Also, the tablet that had been showing the Arch-Mage the death of his daughter while transmitting his helpless state in the stasis bubble had gone dead ending all transmissions from within the Arch-Mages private sanctum. Worse yet, over the next 3 seconds, every assassin within the complex was neutralized. Additionally, the exploit that had been added to the Arch-Mages security system had been sealed. No further information was coming out of the personal dimension of the Arch-Mage.

The Queen turned to the general closest to her, “Reincarnate one of the assassins, the one that went after the unknown man seems to be a good candidate. Get her in here to answer questions as soon as possible.

“Yes, your majesty,” the general said as he pointed to a man near one of the doors. The man turned and left the room.

For the next 30 minutes, they went over all the surveillance footage looking for any hints as to what happened. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and the man that had left earlier returned with a woman dressed in a simple white smock. They moved in and stood before the queen.

The Queen leaned back from the table, looked at the two, and asked, “What happened?”

“Your Majesty. I entered the room as ordered, and the weapon fired and struck. I noted that it had no effect on the target and teleported to perform an assassination on him while he was still seated. When I arrived no one was in the chair and then I was struck from behind. My Combat log Identifies my attacker as Adamantadine. It also indicates that I was only struck once with precise and maximum force to my spinal column between the bottom of my skull and 1st vertebrae. He crushed my spine with a single blow.”

The queen looked thoughtful for a moment before she waved the assassin away and turned to the generals, “Not a loss then, we now know the name of our target. I want to know everything there is to know about Adamantadine and anyone else who stopped our attack on the Arch-Mage.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” was parroted around the room as everyone got up to leave.

Lexnara Pellmir, Queen of the Di’kree paused for a moment as she thought about everything that had happened over the last few days. Years of planning and maneuvering personnel into locations where they could be picked up to work in the Arch-Mages personal dimension. That didn’t even take into account the number of credits she’d spent gaining information and purchasing protection against others using the System to learn information about her in addition to the false leads she set up. All of her plans had been thwarted by a man named Adamantadine.

Lexnara went back to her office, sat down in her chair and put her hand on the System Node implanted into her desk, and then accessed the System Market. She scrolled through the tabs to the Information hub and pulled up personal information on Adamantadine. Lexnara reviewed the costs of the various packages and then coughed in surprise.

Adamantadine

Current Status, Alive or Dead: 500 Credits

Basic Information: 4 Billion Credits. Basic Information includes Current Status, Race, and Location.

Standard Information: 40 Billion Credits. Standard information includes Current Status, Race, Classes and Levels, Commonly known Abilities, and Location

Detailed Information: 4 Trillion Credits. Detailed information includes Current Status, Race, Classes and Levels, Attributes, All Activated Abilities, Location, Origin, family, and significant others.

She’d expected the Detailed Information to cost somewhere in the rand of 1 million credits, which she was prepared to pay out of her personal assets. 4 Trillion Credits though. That would deplete the Empire’s income for at least 10 years. Besides for a million credits, she could hire someone to find this Adamantadine and scrape the information out of him. Yes, that sounded like a great idea. She accessed the bounty board and then a hidden feature which her Master Class, Political Provocateur gave her access to, and put a call out to any Assassins with interrogation experience. Shortly thereafter she had a contract assigned. 1 million credits up front, 4 million upon completion of the task. He was so expensive because he was one of the few that had leveled above Legendary. Part of the contract was that she’d have to provide information concerning the target, which cost her nothing. She knew right where Adamantadine was at the moment and with a quick call she’d had a target package prepared from the memory of the Assassin that had just been resurrected. Now it was the contractor’s responsibility to track him down if he moved from the target location.

The assassin she’d hired was well-known for his ability to complete contracts. In fact, the name he’d chosen for himself was quite appropriate, Finalis. Once Adamantadine was dealt with Lexnara could return her attention to making the Arch-Mage and his daughter suffer, and then die for the deaths of the rest of her family, it would only be fair after all.