Myst Filter: Grime – small
A Myst filter that allows the Myst that passes through to only affect objects the user perceives as filth or grime
And the other…
Annihilation Myst Lens – very tiny
Myst that passes through an annihilation lens removes the first thing it touches from existence, making these both useful for industrial and military applications, but also quite dangerous.
These rare lenses are found in the Mines of Seeping Death before being sold to businesses and governments to be broken down into safer sizes. It is illegal for a private entity to own an Annihilation Myst Lens larger than tiny.
That’s what I’m looking for.
Ah crap, the water’s up to my ears.
Rather than touch the thing, Jeb simply removed the grime filter from the casing, then pressed the two halves of the wand back together before he carefully siphoned out as much Myst as he could, splitting it into two.
“Hope this works,” Jeb muttered, carefully seizing one half of the wand with his Myst, while hovering slightly away from the annihilation lens with the other ball of Myst.
With a mental flick, he sent the wand and ball of Myst up, out of the snarl of trees and hurtling toward the boss siren’s last known location.
He couldn’t see the monster, but he’d been harassing these creatures without direct line of sight for a while, so when Jeb felt like the lens was in place above the siren, he took the unspent Myst that was hovering close to the lens, and shoved it through.
He felt the lens shatter as a kind of crackling sensation in his mind.
Bang!
There was the harsh crack of an implosion, followed by…
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
You are now level 20!
Congratulations! You have beaten the Siren Mother in a one-on-one duel. Your cunning is beyond reproach!
Siren’s Cunning Accolade Granted!
+5 Nerve
Yes!
Wait…
Why isn’t the water stopping!? I killed the damn thing, it was supposed to stop! Goddamnit, I should have gotten that necklace of adaptation, Jeb thought as he took a deep breath, the water reaching up towards his lips.
Congratulations! You have reached level 20! Please choose a Class!
Kinda busy here! Jeb thought as the water rose above his face, sealing him in a silent tomb.
Chapter 7: Magical Batman
***Jessica***
A little projectile hummed from Jeb’s hiding place toward the monster, then the three mermaid heads, a good chunk of the water and the monster therein, simply vanished, in a ten-foot sphere.
Crack! The implosion sounded like a gunshot as the air rushed in to fill the void. A moment later, the Siren boss floated to the surface, the oversized body missing the top of its gargantuan skull.
“The fuck was that?” Jessica demanded, scanning the ruined coast.
No answer.
She scanned the shoreline where she expected Jeb to be, and noticed the water level was two feet above the level of the shore and rising, peeking out from the toppled trees and destroyed brush.
Shit, what if he’s trapped under a tree?
Light step
She dropped her mass to next-to-nothing with a thought, skipped forward with a flick of her foot, then brought her mass back to full, generating inertia from nothing.
She crossed the lake with a single step, then, when her foot hit the ground again –
Light step
The wind resistance, and her foot landing on the tree, brought her speed gently down to zero, then she relaxed and allowed her mass to return.
The Class ability drained her stamina pretty quick, but it was just too useful for her to pass up.
“Jeb, are you in there?” Jess asked, peering into the muddy water. “If you’re not stuck under a tree, say something.”
Shit. He’s probably under there.
Jessica braced herself on another log and heaved up on the topmost tree in the pile, using every ounce of her strength to haul the tree up and throw it into the lake.
She felt superhuman, but that didn’t mean her strength was limitless, nor did it mean she could throw around huge objects as she liked. She was still only a hundred and thirty pounds.
She had to carefully brace herself, and haul the tree up on her shoulders, balancing it on top of herself as perfectly as possible, because any little shift in weight could send her stumbling forward or backward.
One….
She threw it into the lake.
Two…
The water level kept going up, now four feet above the shore. Her ankles were getting cold and wet.
What the hell happened? Some kind of underground artesian well? Damnit, I hope I’m not crushing him by moving these trees. But between that and drowning… I’ll take my chances.
It took entirely too long to move each one of these trees…and Jessica wasn’t entirely sure she was looking in the right places.
Jeb, if you die after I let you have those boss solo kills, I will drag your ass back out of hell myself and take those accolades back.
Eight short, and yet horrifyingly long minutes later, the water was beginning to go down again, and Jessica had the last tree exposed.
If this isn’t where he was hiding… he’s probably dead.
A man with ten Body might be able to hold his breath this long, or recover from passing out underwater if he couldn’t hold his breath.
The last tree was the biggest though, as he’d been sheltering behind the biggest one he could find. It was toppled over, partially sticking out of the bloody lakewater, edge resting on its stump.
There’s gotta be room under there, she thought, plopping her feet down into the water, setting her feet on the stump.
She squatted down and grabbed the base of the tree, straining mightily as
