Kaiden activated Hamstring as he reached the gobber, then slammed his hammer into the back of its knee. The creature cried out – something between a squeal and a growl – but kept chasing Zelda. The reduction to its movement speed let her slip away, though, and she fired an Improved Burst Arrow into its chest from a safe distance.
The gobber squealed again as its health dropped into the red. Kaiden swung his hammer for a finishing blow but found only empty air.
Ability: Energy Grip
Kaiden read the notification on his visor just as Titus let out a grunt.
“This one’s mine.”
Kaiden looked over to see the gobber at the big man’s feet, an energy lasso wrapped around its leg. Titus swung his hammer down once, twice, and the gobber’s health fell to zero.
Gobber assisted kill – 3,200 EXP gained!
“Incoming!” Thorne shouted from across the room. “Heads up!”
Kaiden glanced over in time to see the last gobber sprinting toward her. From across the room, Zelda hit it between the shoulder blades with a Warden’s Bolt. At just about the same moment, Thorne pumped charge into her hammer and swung hard.
Ability: Gravity Sledge
The bundle of fur and claws and anger was launched through the air. It slammed into the ceiling, then thudded back down to the floor, dead.
Gobber assisted kill – 3,200 EXP gained!
“That should just about do it…” Kaiden said and then sure enough, the notification popped up on his screen.
Level 42 achieved!
Max health and stamina increased
+3 stat points
Nice! Kaiden breathed a sigh of relief as his health was restored to full, but mainly he was relieved for Zelda’s sake. He’d been down to thirty percent health but she’d been on the verge of death.
Should’ve brought more stimpacks with us, he thought as he checked his character sheet.
Character
Name:
Kaiden
Race:
Human
Level:
42
Class:
Enhanced Warden
Attributes
Strength:
57 (+2)
Intelligence:
51
Endurance:
57
Perception:
51
Dexterity:
152 (+2)
Unassigned:
0
Abilities
Kickback
Shield Bash
Hammer Toss
Lightspeed
Improved Enhanced Senses
Riposte
Flash Bang
Improved Blur
Onslaught
Enfeebling Strike
Slayer (passive)
Hamstring
Matter Shift
Distortion Field
Perks
Turen Tinkering
Kaiden closed his character sheet. Zelda’s health bar was back to full and she was shaking off the remains of gobber fur and spit clinging to her armor.
“Nasty little things, aren’t they?” Thorne said, pacing across the space. “Looks like you all got your next levels, though?”
Kaiden nodded. Thorne had earned hers earlier in the fight. Thankfully, she hadn’t taken too much damage finishing off the gobbers; her health sat at a comfortable eighty-eight percent.
“I could get into this,” Titus said, catching his breath. Despite his good mood, there was a seriousness to his face. “Feels like some quality time hitting the bag, as my old coach would say. Always prepping for that next fight.”
Kaiden didn’t have to guess what fight Titus was thinking about. The big man wasn’t over the beatdown he’d received at the hands of Maximus, and Kaiden had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t be until the score had been evened.
“This is good training, maybe,” Kaiden said. “But is anyone else’s head a bit fuzzy? Like, senses dulled just a bit?”
“That’s mental exhaustion you’re feeling,” Thorne said. “Grinding at this rate really isn’t possible anywhere else in Nova. Real-time combat is taxing on the nervous system. It’ll wear you down. There are medical bays scattered throughout, but they can’t help with the mental exhaustion.”
“We can sleep when we’re dead,” Titus said with a grunt.
“He’s got a point there. We don’t have time to take a break,” Kaiden said and followed him. “Every moment we’re here is dangerous. The sooner we get done here, the better.”
“Fair enough,” Thorne said with a nod. “Well, go on. Send the screenshots.”
Screenshots? Oh, right. They’d leveled up not long ago, and forty-one had unlocked a new ability. He’d seen the message flash across his vision but it’d quickly been forgotten in the fighting.
Maybe I’m more tired than I realize. We have a lot more to go, though, even if we are making good time.
Still feeling like he was out of breath, Kaiden pulled up the details of his new ability and took a screenshot of it. He fired the shot off to the group then took a moment to focus on the new ability.
Ability: Distortion Field
A field of energy surrounds you. You and all allies within 15 feet get a 25% increase to dodge chance. (Does not affect chances of dodging area-of-effect damage.)
Cost: 10 charge per second for a max of 10 seconds.
Cooldown: 2 minutes.
So, it can cost up to one hundred charge if I use it for the full duration, which is a lot. But it basically gives Blur to all allies near me. Not bad. Not bad at all.
Blur was a powerful ability on its own, but being able to give it to himself and all allies around him? That was even better. Just gotta make sure we don’t try dodging any area-of-effect attacks with this. Excluding those, though, this seems a great way to keep everyone alive longer in a fight, or cover us in the event of a retreat.
“Distortion Field looks handy,” Zelda said, looking over to Kaiden.
“Yeah it does,” he agreed. “Can’t wait to put it to use. But what about everyone else? What’d you all pick up?” he asked, then turned his attention to the screenshots they’d sent him. He started with Titus’.
Ability: Intransigence (passive)
Your defensive expertise makes you an immovable opponent. You are immune to knockback abilities, and damage to allies within 10 feet is reduced by 10%. Does not stack when multiple shield wardens are present.
Kaiden’s mind flashed back to when they’d pirated the freighter for the King Street boys. The cybernetic knight they’d fought in the process – what had his name been? – had thrown Titus around like a toy with his powerful attacks. Not anymore. Even abilities like Thorne’s Gravity Sledge wouldn’t break through this passive.
If Titus wants to stay somewhere, he’s going to.
