Scion of Humanity

Blake bashed his shield into the level two Mander’s face, while he simultaneously cut off another’s tongue. Both monsters were stunned and unable to cast. He focused on the last, and ignored its jet of fire as he rushed through the heat plume, shield first.

When he bowled over the immobile creature, its flames immediately sputtered out. With his vision no longer occluded by the blaze, he found the dazed Mander and quickly finished it off.

He quickly scanned the tunnel for the last two creatures. One was missing its tongue and appeared frozen in indecision, while the other had recovered from Blake’s attack and had begun to cast a spell.

No you don’t!

Blake rushed the Mander and skewered its open mouth. The nearby tongueless monster recovered and launched itself at Blake, its maw extended.

He whirled, shield in hand, and knocked the living projectile from the air. As it tumbled, Blake pursued. By the time it came to rest, his sword chopped through its neck, and its head rolled from its body.

Although the fight was over, he reflexively searched his surroundings to ensure he was safe.

Good, now do I have enough?

Blake checked his status.

Nano - 20m

With twenty million nano in his reserve, he held just enough currency to increase an attribute one last time. Once the twelfth and last enhancement was purchased, he would not be able to upgrade his attributes again until he leveled.

Blake opened his status and admired his power.

Attributes - Increased by 42%

Physical Power - 24.1[3]

Physical Stamina - 18.5[1]

Physical Resistance - 17[2]

Magic Power - 12.8

Magic Stamina - 12.8

Magic Resistance - 21.3[2]

Over the last three days, Blake increased his Physical Power by one, Physical Stamina by two, Physical Resistance by three, and Magic Resistance by five. He had also upgraded his necklace. Unlike his old one, which only granted him two Physical Power, his new golden chain increased his Physical Power by three.

Once the three points on his necklace were added to his natural Physical Power, it was raised to a staggering twenty-seven point one. Unfortunately, he had yet to find upgrades to his earring or ring.

Blake shook his head.

I’m as strong at level one as I was at level five in my past life. AND, I still have another attribute to raise. That’s insane!

As he reviewed his attributes, his attention repeatedly returned to his Physical Resistance, which sat at seventeen. Even with the bonus from his jewelry, it was only raised to nineteen. To feel safe, he needed it above twenty. That was the point at which he could survive most small-arms fire.

Any pistol bullet impacts would leave heavy bruising, but would not puncture his skin. That assumed, of course, they did not use armor piercing rounds. Even then, he might shrug them off. By his estimation, he needed to raise his Physical Resistance to over thirty before he was all but immune to gunfire.

Screw it, I want to be bulletproof. Never know when those cops will start in on us again.

Blake spent the twenty million nano to raise his Physical Resistance. With his forty-two percent bonus, once the nanomachines finished their work, it would be increased to twenty point five.

Nice.

Although another group remained before he finished the scenario, he did not bother to wait for the change to complete. By this point, the level two Manders were a minimal threat to him. Only the occasional aether or psi user posed a challenge to him, as their spells were harder to resist.

Should I increase the difficulty to level three next time?

The reckless side of Blake wanted to see if he could upgrade his Elite Solo Warrior achievement. He felt that he had a good chance of doing so, as long as there were no surprises within the higher level scenario. But, if he did run into a curveball, he might die.

Don’t get cocky.

At this point, his death would likely lead to the destruction of humanity. Without his foreknowledge and power, history would likely repeat itself. Everyone he cared about would perish within just a few years.

No, I need to evolve my spells before I take the risk.

But, to evolve his spells, he first had to master them. Once mastered, the upgrade would consume fifty million nano per spell. Luckily, his Combat Connoisseur achievement cut the cost in half.

In his past life, he had only evolved a few of his spells. The cost was prohibitive. It was far more efficient to increase his level and attributes than to enhance a spell by ten to twenty percent.

Now, however, he had a different objective. He was not trying to rise in power as quickly as possible. Blake was attempting to do something he once thought impossible, solo clear a scenario two levels above him in hopes of upgrading his achievement.

If he were successful, he expected to gain another five or even ten percent bonus to his attributes. It would make him even more overpowered than he already was.

Hopefully it’s enough to defeat the Koza.

Lord Zeleck, the leader of the goat-like alien incursion, was a monster, and their last encounter weighed heavily on his mind. Blake needed every bit of power he could grasp if he wanted to defeat him and his faction.

Muffled voices startled Blake awake. He sprang to his feet from his comfortable bed before he realized he was safe. Morning sun spilled into his room through the wooden shutters which covered his single window. He remembered he was in his claimed bunkhouse room on the second level, furnished with minimal furniture and comforts.

Blake cherished these protected days, as once Invasion day came he was sure he would not sleep soundly.

The voices came from outside.

“He would want us to wake him up to hear the news,” Donna argued.

“Blake’s been working himself to death,” His father disagreed. “Let’s let him sleep in. We can tell him in a few hours. It’s not like it’s an emergency.”

Blake decided he needed to speak for himself, and yelled, “It’s fine, I’m already awake. I’ll be right down.”

Just a minute later, he stood outside the bunkhouse next to his parents. “So, what’s the news?” he asked.

“Brent finished upgrading the Quarry,” his mother answered. “Now, the faction hall upgrade is available.”

Blake grinned. He liked good news before coffee.

He had hoped Brent and Jordan would finish their upgrades before he once again left to challenge the Manders. Blake anxiously wanted to know what off world materials were required to advance.

“So, what do we need?” Blake pressed.

His mother’s eyes crossed. A moment later, she shared her interface with him.

Upgrade Faction Hall to level three.

Requirements:

All materials must be gained through scenario completion.

Granite - 1.5 tons

Marble - 100 pounds

Breshian Broadleaf - 2 tons

Iron - 200 pounds

Bronze - 500 pounds

Nano - 500m

Blake’s eyes widened. “Holy shit! That’s a lot!”

His mother nodded in agreement. “Yes, it is. Everything’s pretty obvious except the Breshian Broadleaf. Do you recognize that name?”

He shook his head. “No, but it sounds like some kind of tree. I’ll see if Metal knows what it is.”

Blake used his skill and summoned his companion. A moment later, the wraith floated through the small portal, which closed behind him.

“Hey Metal, how’s the family?”

The wraith responded in a deep, rumbling voice, “They are well, as am I. With the increased time available to me, I have been able to construct more clothing. My skill and wealth have grown.”

Blake grinned widely. “That’s great! I’m glad things are working out for you.”

Metal floated above the ground, transparent, with no reaction to his words.

Seeing that the small talk was not welcomed, he got down to business. “I’ve got a question for you. The faction hall upgrade is available now. It requires us to get two tons of something called, ‘Breshian Broadleaf’. I assume that’s some kind of wood. Have you heard of it?”

“Yes. It is found on low gravity planets and is extremely tall. It has broad leaves, as the name suggests, which are colored a distinctive azure hue.”

“How big are the leaves?” Blake asked.

“They can be as small as four feet long and two wide, and as large as eight feet long and four feet wide.”

Blake’s eyes lit up when he recognized the tree.

“Metal measures things in feet, too?” Donna interrupted, confused.

His companion turned to address his mother. “The Architect automatically converts all measurements to whatever unit the listener is most comfortable with.”

Blake ignored the interruption, and said, “I think I know where I can find it.”

“Oh?” his father responded. “Where?”

“In Phoenix. There’s a scenario that takes place on a world with half our gravity. The Stoltar’s world has huge trees that are hundreds of feet high, way taller than redwoods.”

“Stoltar? What are they?” his mother asked.

Metal answered her. “The Stoltar are an avian race which make their homes in the canopy of the trees. Like the goblins, they failed their integration test and are now forced to participate in combat scenarios.”

“Integration test?” Peter frowned.

“It is what you humans will soon go through. From what Blake has told me, it sounds like your race is doomed to failure as well.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Blake stated adamantly.

Metal met his declaration with skepticism.

“Are these… Stoltar… intelligent beings?” Donna asked.

“Yes, they are sapient,” Metal confirmed.

“And, you’re supposed to fight and kill them to get the materials?” she pressed.

Blake nodded.

“That feels wrong. Are you sure there isn’t another way?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know any other place where we can find those trees. Trust me, if there was anywhere else, I’d go there in a heartbeat. They aren’t exactly the easiest people to fight.”

“You’ve fought them before?” His father asked.

“Yeah, once. After that, my team and I decided it was way too dangerous.”

“Why are they so dangerous?” Peter leaned forward, interested.

“Well, like Metal said, they live in trees. They have wings, but can’t really fly, only glide.” He then corrected himself. “Well, a few can fly, but only if they have a wind spell or something.” He shook his head. “Anyway, unlike the Manders or Ursa, they have a good mix of all four energy types. They also work together in small teams.”

“Family units,” Metal corrected.

Blake winced.

Just what my conscience needs.

“If they’re so strong, how did you beat them?” his father asked.

“My team did most of the work. Montgomery blasted them with fire, while Rajesh and Jeff dropped them out of the sky.” He shrugged. “I mostly just stood there, useless.”

“Maybe we should buy you a gun,” Peter suggested. “That would work against them, right?”

Blake shook his head. “Yeah, it’d work, unless they had a spell that could block it. But then I’d get pretty much no nano for killing them.”

“But we don’t need the nano, only the wood, right?” His mother reminded him.

“That’s true,” he admitted. “Sorry, I’m not used to thinking like that. You’re right, I’d get way more nano from killing level two Manders anyway.” Blake turned to Metal. “We can get the other materials from any scenario, right? It doesn’t have to be from the Stoltar planet?”

“You are correct,” his companion confirmed.

Blake grinned. “Then yeah, a gun sounds like a good idea. And, if we can’t find one of the other materials there, we can always get it back here.”

“Don’t you need to go through a background check and register the gun?” His mother asked. “That will take some time.”

Her husband shook his head. “Not in Arizona. We can buy it used from a private seller, and we don’t have to worry about any of that.”

“Do you know anyone that has one we can buy?” she asked.

“No, but I can ask around, maybe someone in the faction has an old rifle.” He grinned. “Besides, there’s always the internet. You can find pretty much anything online.”