Chapter Sixty-Four – Desecration – Part Three

Sweet lord, have mercy.

- Former Pastor Biggens -

"Sage, now that we've finished prepping basic Jimmy for success, I'd love to hear more about the items on the patch list. As well as anything else you find interesting."

Of course, I would also like to say that I found your thought process extremely pleasing. Hopefully, we won't need to enact the protocol of intellectual restoration.

"Hope for the best, plan for the worst as they say," I reply as I flick through my notification windows, another title, interesting wording on it. Noted.

Mira is still screaming on the floor, the stones beneath her are starting to glow and become molten.

"Sage, before we begin, out of curiosity, is it her constitution or race that is giving her resistance to heat?"

"Both," Mira says between groaning howls of pain.

Interesting, she can still hold a coherent train of thought.

"What else do you…" she screams, pounding her hand against the ground, cracking the molting stone beneath her, "Want to know…"

Her armor is nearly melted off now, perfect to test if Abyss can absorb partially destroyed items. I'm curious what its limitations are. When I direct it to swallow random items, it appears to have no interest. Over the months that I have had it, not once did it try to eat my rifle, nor the ammunition, nor the clothes that I wore. Curious. What does it define as an item worth eating? Surely a simple common item is less valuable than a rifle. Further study is needed.

"Hold that thought, Stormborn," I hold up the black ring, "Abyss, feel free to take her armor."

"Still thinking about…" she groans, "Taking me, darling?"

I ignore her, and Abyss coils around her, probing the armor. Then suddenly it slithers away, seemingly uninterested. One thing I did notice though, it didn't seem affected by the heat. Interesting.

"Darling?" she pants.

One minute left, still no pop-up from the quest completing. Sage told me that the max Azeroc could hold the quest from completion is roughly a day. If I accept the conditions of his special quest termination, the maximum duration he can stall is approximately twenty minutes if Ulana does nothing to close it faster. I have a few theories as to why she has taken a back seat lately. None are relevant to my focus now though.

Based on the storm forming on the map, Sage is certain it will be strong enough to swallow the island within an hour. Apparently, it costs less for a deity to invoke an action on a world that they are considered the Prime Deity. Sage has proved to be a gold mine, it's unfortunate that I haven't utilized him more. He's very easy to interact with as long as respect is shown. Another interesting thing he told me, it's also easier for a deity to interact with a person with their home world being one that they are Prime on. Food for thought.

I select the exchange that Red offered previously. Sacrificing my only token and losing the reward for this quest. It's annoying, but it's the logical decision. My chance of dying on this world is near ninety percent according to Sage, I imagine the storm will only become worse. Being left on a world with a Goddess that has marked me for death seems unwise as well, especially since I can't activate a token during a Respec quest. Besides, tokens are only useful if you plan on dying. I don't.

"Sage, let's begin, please."

With pleasure, the first of the patches is one of special note…

***

"You're certain they haven't patched that one?" I ask.

Very certain.

"My friend, you are indeed a treasure trove of bountiful information, thank you, Sage."

He doesn't reply, however, he doesn't seem offended by the idea of us becoming friends. Good, baby steps.

There's a new connection timer that appeared in my vision a few minutes ago. Three minutes left. My plan is in place. I am perfectly prepared.

"Sage, can you confirm something for me?"

Depends.

"Intelligence stat, does it also influence mana efficiency, or is it just that I'm doing fewer unnecessary motions?"

Bravo, I'm surprised you could tell. It does not effect your innate mana pool like Wisdom does, but there is a secondary effect from using mana with a more calculated approach. The comparison of your mana weaving with Abyss, compared to… basic meatsack. It's notably different, which should account for you feeling an improvement in efficiency.

Interesting, wisdom has an effect on innate mana pool. There are a thousand questions that I could ask. However, there are more pressing concerns.

My first Respec quest returned me to the exact place that I was taken from. Knowing that, I presume that Fisban's people, or Smith's will be there waiting for us when we return. As I am sure they will have noticed we all disappeared from that spot. The question of who it will be is what drives my current actions. If it is Smith's people, well… I'll do what I must. My friends are the most sacred thing to me. I would carve a hundred Smiths to protect a single one of mine.

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The timer runs down. Less than two minutes.

"Are you a demon or something else?" I ask Mira, more curious than purposeful.

"Dragons don't let demons ride them."

Jericho was correct, perhaps his time with the scholar may prove useful, I need alternate sources of information should my connection to Sage become strained or severed. If his superiors decide to liquidate him, that would be unfortunate.

Mira doesn't say what she is, and before I can ask, my hand tremors as Abyss pulls more mana, converting one of the Wither Charges. I could activate Eyes of the Abyss, but the mana for it would be wasteful.

"Abyss did you find something delicious? You seem rather excited."

The feeling intensifies. Something delicious indeed. Abyss found a secret vault buried deep beneath the temple. The rumble of thunder tells me that the Goddess is not pleased.

"She's pissed…" Mira says, her manic laughter echoes in the chamber, "What did you do?"

"Abyss found her treasure vault, or more accurately, what used to be her treasure vault."

The tendrils of Abyss slither back into the band. A series of pop-ups slide across my vision. Items that Abyss is processing. One of them catches my eye. That will do nicely.

[ Accessory Learned ]

[ Type: Scholarly ]

[ Accessory Name Logged ]

[ Crown of the Weak Raven ]

[ Consume to Evolve Abyss or Store? ]

[ Evolve / Store ]

Scholarly, interesting, I haven't seen that kind before. Ravens are known as intelligent creatures, pairing that with the type, I assume it boosts intelligence or Wisdom. Weakness implies a debuff to strength, however, it could be on constitution. Best not to risk it, given my current situation. I hit the store option for all of the items that come. Abyss has done well, three epic items including the crown, twenty-two rare items, thirty-seven uncommon items, and a plethora of knicks and knacks… wait. What does this one mean? Interesting. I take note of that one as well, even if it's common, Abyss can upgrade items after all…

"It's time," I say, rolling my neck, "Abyss, be ready, Sage, should this be the end, I enjoyed speaking with you."

For once… I can honestly say the same.

"Mira, I suggest you surrender when we arrive, though it is your life, choose what you will."

Her eyes hover over me as she shakes in pain on the floor.

"My dragon…" she starts.

Time ripples and space distorts. It begins. The familiar sensation crosses over me. I hold back the nausea, my focus is my resolve.

The ground tremors as we arrive, like something large has struck the warehouse we were once in. There is darkness all around, and I activate Triage without speaking it. Time slows to a crawl. I recognize the bodies of people around me, Fisban, Tran, Barlow, Gilroy, Jericho, and Verantha are fine. I turn, Mira is behind me… fuck me… so is her Dragon. That is unexpected. People are yelling around us. I'm about to tell Stormborn to calm her dragon, but she's unconscious. Somewhat problematic.

Mira's dragon spins its tail breaking the lower sections of the warehouse, and metal beams crash down around us. Thankfully, we're under the dragon's belly, the warehouse is definitely falling apart. The Dragon's head is sticking out of the top.

My eyes sweep the room, three hundred weapons are pointed towards us. They're wearing night vision goggles. Most of the rifles are pointed at the Dragon… is it shrinking? Interesting. Perhaps Dragon's sizes are dependent on levels. With each second that passes it gets notably smaller. Well, that problem will solve itself. Hopefully the debris will settle by then as well.

I deactivate Triage, keeping myself poised to activate it again.

"On your knees!" some of them yell.

"Echo… Romeo… Foxtrot… Nine… Four… Four… Seven!" Fisban yells in the dark.

Silence falls over the room, except for the shifting concrete and metal beams. I splay my fingers, readying Abyss to begin its work. I can manage thirty threads with this level of intelligence, thirty of them would become meat shields to create a barrier between us and their bullets.

"Abyss, quietly, like we discussed," I whisper.

The tendrils move as small threads through the debris, hunting and seeking. There are items here… they are well prepared for more than one outcome. I activate Triage again, beyond the warehouse there are quarantine zones of people, perfectly spaced. I look above, they've constructed a makeshift dome over the old warehouse, and people are patrolling it. Impressive, but I still like my odds.

"Are they ours or not, Fisban," I ask into the darkness after I release Triage.

"I don't know," she breathes.

I'm in position to strike, if I take advantage now, I'll have them. But if they are allies, it will make for strained relations this early in the conversation. Besides, I don't want them to know what I can do yet. Not while pretending to be helpless puts them at ease.

A voice cuts the dark, "Whiskey… Lima… Delta… Seven… Six…"

Fisban lets out a sigh of relief, "I am Special Agent Fisban, commander of this operation. Stand down."

"Can't do that ma'am," the same voice echoes back, "Waiting on orders, no one said anything about a dragon."

"A dragon?" Fisban asks.

"It's right above you."

Not for much longer, at the current rate, it will be tiny within a minute. Abyss is still in position, I can feel it hungering for their items. Meanwhile, I've been multitasking, going through my messages. It would appear that Cortez, Mwangi, and Dorliac with the rest of our Platoon have gone for a routine Green Gate only a few hours ago. The world certainly still rotates even when you're not on it. They're alive, that's good. I didn't realize I missed Cortez this much, seeing her messages causes many illogical rushes in my chest. I reread them from the beginning.

[ SPC Cortez: Jimmy, where are you? My mother hasn't told me anything. Did they take you?

Jimmy…

I miss you.

Are you ignoring me? Or did they take you? ]

There's a pause in her messages for almost a day until it begins again.

[ SPC Cortez: I finally got her to budge. Why didn't you tell me about this Respec skill thing?

Sorry… I'm not one to talk. She said she thinks you may have somehow started a Respec quest, it's the only thing that makes sense… since you all disappeared. I'm sure you'll be back soon. ]

A few more days go by.

[ SPC Cortez: It's weird doing gates without you guys. My mom let me keep Niva, she's missing you almost as much as me. I think she's grown a little bit, she eats a lot more now. Stress eating maybe? I don't know. Hurry back, there's so much to discuss. So much that I want to say. Like that I'm sorry… I should have told you first before I told her… I'm sorry, Jimmy.

Fuck… I miss you. ]

Almost every day there are more messages, for weeks, each time she says she's sorry. The only breaks are when she does routine gates. The messages are getting more worried as the weeks go by.

[ SPC Cortez: My mom says that Respec quests can last for months, but I've known her my whole life… she thinks you're all dead. I haven't given up on you, I know you'll come back to me. ]

There are more messages, filled with regrets. Her venting about everything. Then there's today's message. I only missed her by a few hours.

[ SPC Cortez: Doing another routine green gate today. Then we'll get a few days off… hopefully. The gates have been harder. I heard a few platoons went missing in Europe and Asia. Anyway, I miss you.

I believe in you, come back soon… please. ]

Illogical emotions ebb in my chest. I'll see her soon, another few days won't change that. Before then, I have things to settle, specifically my future and how this new arrangement with Fisban will work. Though in truth, I don't think I'll need them for long. Not if I can stay at this level of intelligence, Ulana set me up for success, more so than I realized before.

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