Sure go ahead, practice some wild magic, as long as you don't go squidhead I won't stop you.
Oh what's that, you don't want your flesh to melt off or to get magic cancer or get sucked into the nightmare dimension.
Well I have some bad news for you buddy. Unless you've got a couple thousand years for humans to figure this shit out, you're going to have to rely on the alien training wheels to shoot lightning out your ass.
We're not the top of the food chain, not since people looked up at the sky and it looked back at them.
No I don't know what the aliens want and I can't say I trust them. What I do know is that they can travel through dimensions and across the universe and the best we've done is take a visit to the moon. By the standards of our planet and species, pretty impressive. Compared to the aliens, not so much.
If you want my take on it, I don't think they care. I think they're more concerned with the deepspace squid horror they were chasing which wrecked our planet and so they threw us a little life preserver known as the guide system like you or I would pick up a wrapper we accidently dropped on the ground. It's not like we're special, the Liark and Kylax both got the same treatment from what they shared with us and the other beings from planets with rifts connecting to them say similar things.
Yea it's terrifying that we're basically ants and there are things out there with big boots, but it doesn't help to worry about when we're still drowning in issues down here in our little corner of the universe.
- Retired Tier VII Hunter 'Commander' Lecture on Wild Magic and the Guide System
It is four excruciating hours later that I finally make it to the walls of the Dallas hub city. And what a sight it is. A fortress wall of welded and bolted steel ten meters high stretched across the entire one hundred km perimeter, chock full of gunner nests and missile launchers and swarming with guards.
It is absolutely hideous and I have never been happier to see it.
I knock on the metal door near the main gate and am almost not upset about the HMGs that stay locked onto me. Almost. I flip off the guards on the wall as I’m let into the holding area.
It's a small room maybe three meters long and equally wide, split in half by a mix of plexiglass and metal grating separating the guard from the visitor. The guy across from me is a cranky old goat by the name of Harold who works the second shift at the west gate door. Bald headed with a grey mustache and stony expression, he sits on an office chair behind a desk with a clipboard and no enthusiasm.
“State your name and reason for entering” he asks with so little emotion that it’s almost impressive.
“Alex Summers, hunter initiate, returning to HQ” I answer with an almost equal amount of enthusiasm.
He just grunts and writes it down on his clipboard.
I’ve done this dozens of times already to the point I’ve even given up trying to be snarky with him. I used to think of it as a game, ‘how to get a reaction from Harold’. I tried everything, ‘queen of the wendigos’, ‘bride of Cthulhu’, ‘parasite controlling a human host’, “Alex Fucking Summers’, ‘Your long lost daughter’.
Even said I was a Scav once, told him I make leather out of human faces.
Doesn’t matter, he just writes it down verbatim with a time of arrival and waves me through. One of these days he’ll wave through an actual parasite controlling a human host. At least we’ll have a name, time, and reason for visiting written down.
“See you around Harold” I wave to him as I pass into the city proper.
Or the farmland proper, since a huge chunk of the area inside the wall is dedicated to a combination of greenhouses and fields dotted with guard towers. There are also a couple of large buildings repurposed from whatever they were pre-apoc into warehouses for loading and unloading cargo that transports between hubs and outposts.
I'm in the home stretch now and I don't have to worry about getting eaten, unless I run into a cannibal. It's enough to give me the burst of energy I need to walk the rest of the way. There are a few trucks passing through, but it's mostly quiet and I get to enjoy the cool night air while the sunset paints the sky in vibrant color. Not much for scenery otherwise, unless you enjoy endless rows of wheat. The shadows cast by the stalks still sets off my fight or flight, but I can shove that feeling into the background now.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
A sea of towering steel buildings shine with light in the distance, lighthouses guiding me in. You can tell which ones are pre-apoc by the unbarred glass windows that line the exterior, remnants of a country that only exists in textbooks and the distorted fantasies of those who can’t face the present. Dragging my aching muscles along, the lullaby of exhaustion weighs down on me, but I haven't slept on the side of the road since I was a kid and I don't plan to start again now.
Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
The last ray of daylight is snuffed out right as I cross into the city section and as if I passed the finish line my success in completing the mission comes flooding in. Pure adrenaline and joy washing over me as I'm practically skipping down the empty street toward the guild. There was no opportunity to let the reality sink in while outside the walls, but here in the city I can finally revel in it.
I'm a hunter! An actual, fully qualified hunter!
I’m humming happily as I round the corner down the road to the campus turned guild complex, spotting the brick facade of the admin building. Ever since I was picked up outside Pittsburgh as a kid I’ve wanted to be a hunter. Praised by just about every person you’ll meet, they’re the epitome of the selfless hero. Braving the unknown dangers alone to fight back the nightmares for the good of humanity, no one to rely on but themselves.
Unfortunately my good mood is immediately doused by a bucket of ice water that is the atmosphere as I step inside, going from happy and joyous to hostile the moment they see me.
It’s a graduation for a batch of new hunters being initialized so obviously all their friends and the people they work with are here, which is also a lot of people I have worked with. A lot of people who have good reasons not to like me.
I can’t blame them for the reaction, even if some of the rumors are wildly untrue there’s still enough that is real to be damning. Hell I’d be pissed off too if my teammate stole a core and monster parts during a mission. It wasn’t to initialize early though like some people have said, it was part of a ritual that I’d become obsessed with the moment I saw it. Not that it justifies what I did and I was a massive bitch to everyone regardless. Which is all to say they’re completely in the right to treat me like a pest.
Still, I'm finally a full-fledged hunter and I feel pretty proud of myself when the clerk hands me a badge and fancy new cloak. It’s something at least.
I shrug off the icy glares as I exit through the glass double doors to the campus grounds, streetlights illuminating the empty parking lot and carefully maintained greenery. Without the walls or monsters around it looks just like a scene from a pre-apoc movie, peaceful and unaware of the disaster that awaits them in the future. Behind the admin building and a bit north is the dorm I’m staying in, right next to the empty field that sometimes gets used for events. Most of them I skip unless there’s free food involved, usually a big barbeque for the residents where I grab a plate before bouncing off back to my room. I’m technically a resident after all, along with all the other kids that ended up in the hunter initiate program and had nowhere else to go.
Skipping over the plush common area where a few of the aforementioned people are hanging out on sofas, I make my way directly to my dorm room on the women’s side. It’s not much, just a desk and a bed in a three meter by three meter space, but the Artemis poster and display with my first bow both greet me like family welcoming me home. That and the large collection of enchanting and ritual textbooks on my shelves with the few extra spicy romance novels hiding in between.
Home sweet home.
Crashing backward onto my bed with a thwump, the soft mattress whispers for me to give in and sleep, but I still have another thing to go over. Upgrades.
As soon as I prompt it, the knowledge of what I can choose floods right into my brain
[Frame]
(Bones)
-Ultradense Bones ■- 100sp / 10 power
“Increased durability of skeletal structure.”
-Enhanced Marrow ■- 100sp / 20 power
“Increased blood production, faster clotting and repair.”
-Flexible Bones ■- 100sp / 10 power
“Bones will bend instead of breaking.”
(Muscle)
-Sturdy Muscle ■- 100sp / 15 power
“Balanced enhancement of muscles.”
-Burst Muscle ■- 100sp / 15 power
“Potent but unstable muscle enhancement.”
-Alter Muscle ■- 100sp / 10 power
“Able to perform minor temporary alterations to muscle composition.”
(Skin)
-Armored Skin ■- 100sp / 20 power
“Skin is able to absorb more force before tearing.”
-Subdermal Padding ■- 100sp / 10 power
“A layer of absorptive material forms underneath the surface layer of skin.”
-Insulated Skin ■- 100sp / 15 power
“Skin gains resistance to chemical, temperature, and electrical damage.”
Choices, so many choices.
I’ve been over the books that list out every upgrade and what it can build into, at least for as far as our knowledge of them extends, so the actual choice is a far gone conclusion. It’s still nice to experience myself, the sensation reinforcing that everything is real and I actually do have a core now. The thought fills me with an intense giddyness that has me kicking my feet a bit and smiling so wide it hurts my cheeks. Hunter, i’m a hunter~
Getting myself somewhat under control, I focus on picking the option for burst muscle. A tearing sensation rips through my body, leaving every muscle burning in the worst post-workout soreness of my life. After a few long moments it fades, the same as it did when I formed the core, and if I didn’t know better I’d have said nothing changed. With a quick flex of my arm I immediately prove that notion wrong as I lift up my previously heavy pack with little effort.
Bet I could fire an arrow without even trying now.
[Name: Alexandra Summers]
Core Type: Crystalline ■
Core Power: 85/100
Stored Power: 30
[Nervous System]
-none-
[Frame]
-Burst Muscle ■-
[Internal]
-none-
[External]
-none-
A quick glance at my status shows what I already know to be true, my muscles have now been permanently altered with a tier one upgrade.
The constant power draw from my core sits a bit ominous in my mind, even if I know I’ll never deviate from the guide network. I’ve seen some people try to push the limit by forcing power draw and weird things happen. Like your skin peels inside out, a rift opens in your brain, and void worms swarm out until you pop like the world’s worst Pi?ata kind of weird.
I really hope I never see that happen again, god the screams.
Finishing that lovely thought, I let out a massive yawn and am reminded that I’ve not got much time before the day finally catches up with me. My dirty clothes still need to come off and I need a wash before I fall asleep, just as soon as I get the energy to move from the comfy spot on my bed. It proves to be too late for that and I slowly nod off as the exhaustion wins out.