The Tattoo Summoner [System Apocalypse]

Chapter 8: Combine Forces


Olena froze in the doorway, blinking at everyone mid-brace. Her cheeks puffed like she was holding in a laugh, then she grinned and held up a lumpy tote bag that bulged in weird, angular ways.

"I brought spoils! And snack. But mostly spoils."

"You brought what?" Tanya stood, wary but already intrigued.

Olena stepped inside, ducking instinctively as the door creaked overhead, then paused mid-stride and gasped.

"This place is… tidier!" She whirled on the spot, pointing dramatically. "No more monster guts on ceiling! Floor no longer crunchy! Is… like hospital! But better, because no screaming or clipboard people!"

Tanya crossed her arms, smirking. "We've been tidyin'. Not exactly the Ritz, but it'll do."

"You did good job. Monster bits all bagged up, even! Proper corpse etiquette!" Olena beamed like they'd just passed a sanitation inspection.

Fahad bounced up beside her, trying to peek into the tote bag. "What's in the bag?"

"Many things. Some questionable." She pulled out a dented thermos. "Mystery drink. Still warm. Don't ask why."

"Why?"

"I said don't." She winked.

"We were just chatting about level stuff," Tanya said, then leaned on the edge of the counter. "What are you up to, if you don't mind sharin' that is?"

"Oh!" Olena puffed out her chest, adjusting the strap on her bag like it was a medal. "Level 6, 80% to 7. Take that Boris!"

A beat of silence.

Mrs Eceer raised her eyebrows. "Six?"

"Oi," Tanya said. "We're all 5 and under," she said, being careful with her wording. She didn't want to make Ishita or Fahad stand out.

Ishita blinked in surprise. "How'd you get to six so fast?"

Olena waved a hand like it was nothing. "Oh, you know. Usual story. Got chased by centipede-monster-thing into shipping container full of cursed mannequins. Made new friend called Oleg, he is possibly ghost. Then fell through trapdoor into collapsed data center. Big XP bonuses. Very dramatic. Ten out of ten, would not recommend."

Mrs Eceer blinked slowly. "That is—surprisingly informative."

"I only got one achievement though for choices," Olena continued, digging through her bag again. "Whole level crossroad thing popped up, gave me one choice to take or leave. Only one was labelled 'Oh no, but sexy,' so I picked it."

Tanya snorted. "That was literally the title?"

"Technically it in brackets." She grinned as wide as Fahad was.

Fahad was bouncing on his toes, his arms up in the air in excitement.

Tanya noticed Ishita grimace.

"Anyone under level 5 can't listen to the extra info we got since then," Tanya said, with as much tact as she could.

"Oh! Sorry! Am I not—" Olena made a big 'zip' gesture across her mouth. "Tutorial hush hush. I forget. You all seem so advanced."

Tanya gave her a look, then turned to the others, noting the brief flash of frustration on Ishita's face. She tried to keep her voice steady and light, even though she was aware she was leaving them out again.

"I'm tryin' to get more achievements quickly," Tanya began. She felt like Ishita and Fahad would get that bit and at least they'd then have some idea. "I've got about thirty percent left 'til I hit my crossroads at five. I'm hopin' if I bag an achievement on today's run, I'll have more options when it pops."

Mrs Eceer nodded, arms crossed. "So you're trying to slow your growth to maximise levelling later. Interesting strategy. I have three so far for my Level 6 so more would be nice, but not needed."

Tanya checked Mrs Eceer's Interface for the new ones.

• • •

Achievements

Worthy, Unique Circumstances, Bunkering Down, Walls Have Teeth, The Enemy of My Enemy, Amateur Surgeon, Mini Boss Slayer.

• • •

She only counted two she'd not seen before so she assumed The Enemy of My Enemy had been since her last choice, considering she was ahead of Tanya at the time. Seems like they all got Mini Boss Slayer. Well, at least Mrs Eceer and Tanya did. She wondered if Fahad or Ishita were considered to have done enough to get it too. Now wasn't the time to ask.

Amateur Surgeon was new. She opened it.

• • •

Amateur Surgeon

With no tools, no training, and no hesitation, you did what had to be done. Their arm may be gone but their life is not.

Achievement Boon: You gain some insight into living anatomy after contact.

• • •

She hadn't considered that cutting off Ishita's arm would be an achievement, but she supposed it made sense.

If she could have stomached it, would she have gotten one? No hesitation definitely wouldn't apply to her so she guessed it would be entirely different.

Tanya looked up and Ishita was fiddling with the sleeve of her jumper. Tanya could see the hurt under the silence and hated that she couldn't tell her.

"Can get you front and centre this trip, right Ishita?" Tanya said. "If you're feelin' up to it, that is."

"We'll catch up, won't we Mum?" Fahad said brightly, patting Assistant, who clung to his hoodie like a koala.

"Yes," Ishita said softly, managing a smile. "Eventually."

Tanya gave her a nod. She'd help her catch up. One way or another.

Olena clapped her hands. "So! Boris said no tidying. He is busy training Fifi the monster dog. But he will come help carry big things when we scavenge. Says I must call him and he will be here in drop of hat. I not understand? He maybe get new Ability."

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"Woah—the monster dog is called Fifi," Fahad said.

Mrs Eceer looked pained. "You're taking her seriously?" she whispered to Tanya whilst Olena said something about Fifi, as quirky as ever.

"I always take Olena seriously," Tanya said, deadpan. "Even when she's dropping hats."

"Ready?" Olena said cheerfully.

Tanya turned toward the exit, stretching her arms and cracking her knuckles. "Before we head out, I need to pick a level up. Might be somethin' useful for a scavenge."

She flicked her interface open with a casual swipe, eyes narrowing as the options appeared.

• • •

You may select to merge any two Abilities you currently have. You may also dismiss this Ability Merge and all Abilities will stay the same.

This will be a new Ability without levels of honing but any Minor Boons you gained from levelling it will be combined into the new Ability, allowing for more potential.

The new Ability will both combine the previous capabilities of both Abilities and also expand upon them to broaden their capabilities beyond the two separate ones.

The Abilities you can choose from are as follows:

More than Meets the Eye

Level 4

Tattoos created by you are imbued with latent magic. They can be summoned by their Wielder for unique effects. These effects are determined by the design, Vitality of the Wielder, and cost of creation. These can be seen in the Tattoo Menu.

The Power of Intention

Level 7

Intention is the core of your tattoos. You can predict and share how intentions may affect your tattoo whilst in the design phase.

An Inkling of Control

Level 9

Your magical connection allows you influence over your sentient Summons. You are now proficient in Commanding Summons. You may also barter with Summons. In special cases your Summon will choose to follow your wishes without your influence.

The Blink of an Eye

Level 1

Unlocked from Achievement: Unique Circumstances

While performing a tattoo under stress, time slows down. You are capable of completing tattoos at a faster speed. The more lethal the situation, the stronger the boon that tattoo will receive.

Boons granted by The Blink of an Eye depend on the environment's stimulus as well as the Ability's level. Boons will be revealed as their causes are utilised.

Mnemonic Etching

Level 1

You can store a single memory within a tattoo. When activated, it imprints that memory onto the Wielder's mind—whether it's a tactical lesson, an emotional moment, or even a warning from the past.

• • •

Tanya read the intro a few times, to make sure she understood.

The stronger the Abilities she merged, the more initial loss she'd receive, but also the more potential the new Ability would have.

If she wanted to take the initial loss for more growth, the obvious choice would be combining The Power of Intention with An Inkling of Control.

What would that do?

The Power of Intention was about creating the Summons and how she had the ability to influence them. An Inkling of Control was more focused on controlling or understanding the Summons afterwards.

What did they have in common?

They're the only two that allow me control over tattoos—one when I make them an' the other when I work with them.

She imagined that would give her something broader about controlling them. Maybe they'd allow her more choice over exactly what the Summons did.

Tanya nodded her head slowly.

System, I assume you won't say what the extra element will be?

Error: Restricted Information.

Thought so.

The next obvious way to go was the opposite. If she combined the lowest level Abilities she'd get to keep the high level Abilities that she'd honed and could stay safe whilst she levelled up something brand new. That way she wouldn't lose anything either.

So that's The Blink of an Eye and Mnemonic Etching.

She mulled it over. It didn't cause as much anxiety as combinations like the other one. Getting an Inkling of Control to Level 9 had near killed her—and she'd lose the progress she had made to keep her safe from Phantom Brand. The Blink of an Eye had saved her once, but she hoped that as time would continue, she'd be able to tattoo under calmer conditions.

But would they be useful?

The Blink of an Eye was about tattooing under pressure, whereas Mnemonic Etching was about memories. Whatever they'd combine to be sounded very meta. Her first thought was the moment of creation somehow being woven into what it did? Tanya was sure there would be some way of that being useful, it didn't seem like The System was in the habit of handing out useless Abilities, just balanced ones. Either it would be hard to control or weak.

She had no proof, but she imagined merges with separate ideas would fall under the weak category and need a lot of levelling.

Where could this go…

Time seemed to be what they had in common. Perhaps eventually the Summons could control time, or she could? That sounded incredibly useful if she was right, but also like the most terrifying powerset she'd ever heard of. If she failed a tattoo right now, she'd die, or someone else would—maybe even a few people if she was very unlucky. But time powers handled wrong could break the world. Tanya didn't know much about the theories of time, but she'd seen Back to the Future, and that was enough to take that combination off her list.

Wait a sec…

Tanya had been reading them both through as she theorised and a niggling thought pushed to the surface. Why hadn't Ishita's tattoo set off her The Blink of An Eye Ability already?

She opened her log for Prosthetic and inspected it, making sure to focus on each area.

There it was…something.

• • •

Boons

• • •

She'd missed it because the section had been ignored until she looked for it. Considering she'd aimed for efficient reading times with pop ups for more detail, that made sense. She checked out more options, like the Skills she'd played around with, with Assistant. No other category had those three dots. It looked like something was loading there, two somethings.

The other must be from Mnemonic Etching.

Remembering what Mrs Eceer had said about her overlays appearing when she had enough understanding to use them, Tanya decided that was her best guess. She'd talk to Ishita about it later, but for now she needed to merge Abilities.

Technically, she could refuse to, but the loss felt worth the gain. Whether it was sacrificing multiple levels or just one, she'd be allowing herself more chance to grow in the future. She just needed to work out how much loss in the meantime she was willing to take.

She opened the options again and her eyes landed on the first option.

That would be ludicrous…right?

Messing around with her core Ability—now that would be something. All of the options were about the tattoos, considering her Class and all. She supposed that mixing it with one would expand upon the strength of that change, because the Tattoo Summons were what they'd both have in common.

The Blink of an Eye and Mnemonic Etching had the most obvious big changes. One would add time or stress as a bigger component of her tattooing, and the other would maybe include more memory or emotion.

She didn't really like the idea of having to change her main Ability too much; if she didn't like it then she'd be stuck with it anyway. But what if she didn't have to…

Her first two Abilities: More than Meets the Eye and The Power of Intention. She hadn't even chosen the second from a selection—she'd evolved it from her tattoo use.

Surely, the only way they could combine is by somehow giving her more control over the tattoos she created. She read it a few more times but couldn't think of any other combination. One Ability brought her tattoos to life, and the other let her decide and predict the tattoos she made.

That was Tanya's favourite option so far. She'd lose a bunch of levels, but it may give her greater heights with her creations. Even better, it wouldn't lose her control over any of the ones she made, so new experimentation would be far less stressful.

She analysed More than Meets the Eye with the other option. An Inkling of Control was another obvious one as it might allow her more specific control of her creations, but something about that didn't quite sit right. Too much control and she'd lose out on what made Summons like Assistant special—autonomy.

This was getting to be too many options.

It's notes time.

Looking around the room for paper snapped her out of a deep haze. The others were talking about routes. Tanya knew she shouldn't miss that. She bit her lip, torn between scavenging and the decision.

Do I need to decide now?

She looked back at the list.

Alright, so I'm assumin' any change will need time to get used to. I don't think I want A Blink of an Eye merged 'cause it gets freaky time shit involved. That feels like the only one that could change stuff without practice when we go out. I can wait.

It was easier said than done. Tanya had to tear herself away. Her vision no longer being filled with the Interface was a strange feeling, like leaving the cinema or theatre and realising the world outside of it still exists.

There's no rush.

Tanya affirmed to herself a few times. She'd not chosen an Ability without a life or death situation and it was strange, a tension in her chest like she was missing something that could hurt her.

More like a compulsion to check the stove even though I know it's off already.

Tanya snorted. She'd think it through, and in the meantime, she had an adventure to go on.

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