"No cars," Ollie said, rubbing his chin.
Pete nodded. "No cars, and the room looks like it stretches on for miles."
"I still don't get why there's even a car park on the first level of a building like this," Sam said. "Aren't they always in the basement level?"
"Not always," Pete said. "The building I work in...workedin, had the same kind of car park as this on the first floor. You have to pay for a spot, and then they give you a special card you can use to access the car park area. It was always too expensive for me, so I just skipped the first level altogether."
"Okay," Sam said, looking left and right at the dozens of empty parking bays stretching out to either side. "You boys are probably gonna just bottle your feelings up and keep going, but I think we should say something about Coop. We've got three hours to clear the floor, and there don't appear to be any enemies nearby, so—"
Torgo started sobbing, tears flowing from his eyes as he leaned against Grizzle and practically howled in sorrow. The little goblin's shoulders shook as he wept and moaned, Grizzle patting his back and drawing him in close as Craig looked on with a sad expression.
"Oh," Sam said, turning to face Torgo. "Yeah, let it all out, I guess."
Torgo didn't look up but kept sobbing as he leaned against Grizzle. Ollie stared off into the distance, hefting his maul and studiously avoiding looking at the grieving goblin.
"She did something," Pete said, staring down at the floor. "Protected me somehow from those rockets. I thought she'd used up all her shields. That's why I was running for her."
[Nero] It is a single-use ability, a desperate measure granted to every soulbound companion and triggered only under dire circumstances. Because it is unique to soulbound companions, it does not appear as a standard ability. Here, I will show you.
>> CLOSE THE BOOKS
The Ledger Keeper sacrifices 100% of its current and maximum HP, ignoring shields, mitigation, or revival effects, in order to keep its master alive and protected from all damage for a period of three seconds. The Ledger Keeper's essence is wrapped around its master, warding them from harm with memory and life, as it expends all that it was and is in order to protect its soulbound master.
Upon completion of the Close the Books ability, all existing funds and inventory items are passed from the Ledger Keeper to their master.
This ability can only be used once.
Pete nodded. "So, she sacrificed herself to save me."
[Nero] As every soulbound companion would likely do under the same circumstances, Coop could obviously see that there was no way for you to prevail given the overwhelming odds. She correctly surmised that, without sacrificing herself in this manner, you both would have died. In fact, Augustus Greedwell may well have killed you all if it hadn't been for her actions.
Pete felt the weight of command as he stood mulling over Coop's sacrifice. Every film and television show he'd seen where someone important had died suggested that words needed to be spoken at an occasion like this. As the de facto leader of this little band, and the person who knew Coop best, it was his job to deliver those words.
"Ah...I didn't know Coop well. I think the time we spent together here in the contest is more than we've spent together during the whole time I've lived opposite her. She's always been a little weird. She always calls it like she sees it, and she's not afraid to fight when it's needed."
He shook his head, knowing that he was fumbling the job badly.
"I guess I only really knew a fraction of who Elena Cooper really was. The memories I saw in her final moments showed me that. I wish...I wished I'd taken the time to ask her about her life and to learn more before the end. I can't thank her now but... she saved me. Saved us all. I'll try to make that sacrifice mean something."
Pete stopped talking and stood staring down at the floor, hands in his lap.
"Thanks, Coop," Sam said solemnly.
Ollie and Craig repeated the words, followed by Grizzle a moment later.
"Thanks, Coop," Pete whispered.
ACHIEVEMENT: Eulogy 101
Congratulations! You've just delivered your very first Dominion Ultrimax eulogy! It was sincere. It was nonsensical. It was lacking gravitas and poignancy and was delivered with all the social grace of a camel suffering from terminal flatulence. But it was short, and that's not nothing. Plus, you'll get plenty of opportunities to get better...unless you die next!
ACHIEVEMENT REWARD: Leadership Proficiency +2, Resolve Proficiency +1, Inspiration Proficiency +1
Pete took a breath, trying to clear his thoughts and focus on what they had to do next. If he was going to honor Coop's memory, he would need to survive and keep the others alive. Greedwell was only part of the problem, and there was a hell of a lot more work that needed to be done.
"Those arrows," Ollie said, pulling Pete out of his contemplation. "How the hell did they get past Greedwell's shield anyway?"
Pete shrugged. "No idea. I get a bunch of bonuses when I'm Insolvent and when I'm using my charged shot ability."
[Nero] That is correct, Pete. Greedwell's shield, as with most wards of its kind, was able to resist damage up to a certain threshold. Your Coinpiercer ability, in conjunction with the Debt Collector's Drill, granted increased armor penetration and a sizable increase in damage output. Insolvency also gave you a significant boost to critical strike damage, and your Luck and Agility attributes combined to produce a single shot that ruptured the shield, injuring former Overseer Greedwell and creating a vulnerability that you could expose further with a second shot.
"That was it?" Ollie said. "Just a burst of damage?"
[Nero] Damage that was significantly increased by—
"Crit chance and Agility," Ollie interjected, nodding. "Yeah, I get it. But I've got a bunch of damage myself, and I was hitting the bastard with everything I have."
[Nero] I understand, however, the benefits to critical damage granted by Pete's high level of Agility significantly increased damage output against single targets. Your abilities work especially well when fighting groups of enemies, such as zombies, for example. You have several area-of-effect abilities and the capacity to mitigate damage or turn it into healing.
Ollie rolled his eyes. "I know all of this, dude. I've also got a big-ass hammer with a spike on one end and a couple of hefty single-target attacks. Plus, this guy was technically on the System's shit list, so my Loan Shark Enforcer abilities were in play as well."
"And how exactly does that even work?" Sam asked, frowning. "You haven't fully explained yet."
"I told you, the System sometimes gives me a commission, and I have to track down the target."
"But in what way is the System a loan shark? It doesn't make any sense?"
"Lady," Ollie said, turning to face her. "You summon a hellhound that smells like ass, and you wrap your enemies in skull chains. How the hell does any of this shit make sense? It's a game."
"But the game has logic," she countered. "And the System acting as a Loan Shark doesn't make any sense."
[Nero] Actually, in a manner of speaking, it does. It will make more sense if you know a little more about the nature of the financial structure that underpins the Dominion Ultrimax Contest.
"Okay," Sam said. "But give me the cut-down version. No legal jargon."
[Nero] As you wish. In essence, all players, administrators, enemies, and NPCs that are part of the contest are paid in some sense by the System, whether by abilities, class additions, and the like in the case of players or literal Belch Bucks or other rewards in the case of other entities. All of these are technically loaned to individuals from the System and must be repaid, with interest, in some sense. For players, that payment is provided largely in the form of entertainment value, and in the event of death, the final payment is made. In former Overseer Greedwell's case, the agreed payment took the form of the efficient and profitable governance of the Ultrimax contest here on your planet. When he manipulated the contest for his own gain, Greedwell shirked his responsibilities, and thus the System demanded immediate repayment and commissioned Ollie to call in Greedwell's debt.
Sam chuckled. "So we're all borrowing from the System by that logic, and if any one of us does something the System doesn't like, it could send a goon like Ollie after us?"
"Who the hell are you calling a goon?" Ollie protested, making a show of straightening his poster. "I'm a thug, and proud of it."
"You know what I mean," Sam said with a smirk.
[Nero] It is unlikely that the System would assign a commission targeting a player. There are other measures the System has at its disposal to deal with players who break the Ultrimax agreement or behave outside of the game strictures.
"Like disintegration," Pete mused.
[Nero] Precisely. Though typically, the System prefers a more entertaining approach, such as the challenge you have just passed through. The use of classes such as the Loan Shark Enforcer is typically reserved for taking out targets that exist outside of the Dominion Ultrimax game apparatus: criminals who have found a way to avoid Dominion and System surveillance and who have stolen from others.
[Pete-Private-Sam] Like Liandra?
Sam turned to face him.
[Sam-Private-Pete] Maybe. Eventually, we're going to have to deal with this, Pete. What happens if Ollie is given a contract to kill one of us? We already know that the System is big on betrayal. He's your friend, I know, but I still don't think we can trust him. Not until we get to the bottom of what really happened with those players he killed and this Loan Shark Enforcer business.
Pete nodded but didn't reply. He didn't expect Sam to trust Ollie. The Australian had a way of rubbing people the wrong way, and he even did it on purpose sometimes. Pete half-suspected that Ollie was purposefully keeping details of his time in the contest secret just to make Sam suspect him all the more. He got some perverse pleasure out of being contrarian, being an outsider.
But Pete knew Ollie like a brother, and they trusted each other without question. Whatever Ollie's quirks, he would always come through in the end, and Pete knew with certainty that the rangy Australian would never betray Pete or his allies.
"We should get moving," Pete said, motioning at the vacant parking spaces up ahead. "Must be an elevator door somewhere in here."
"I can't see the sides of the room," Craig said, looking off to the left and then turning to the right. "It could be that the elevator has been placed on one of the side walls, rather than the rear of the chamber."
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Could be," Pete agreed, "but we should probably assume that the tower follows the same basic logic of office buildings like this in the real world, or our old world at least. The elevator is typically going to be in the same place on each floor because it runs vertically up the interior of the building."
Ollie nodded. "Except most buildings don't include a parking floor that looks like it stretches for miles in each direction."
[Nero] I would suggest that Pete's logic is sound in this case. While individual floors may be quite unique, each level is likely structured with the elevator in roughly the same location in terms of the overall layout of each floor. It will always be positioned directly ahead on the far wall from where you arrive on each level.
"Then there have to be two elevators," Pete reasoned. "One on this side of each floor and one on the other side."
[Nero] Exactly so. It is possible that the elevator on a given floor may be in a different location, but generally the same logic applies with each level.
"Okay then," Pete said as he started walking.
The others moved along with him, looking left and right, weapons ready. The landscape that stretched out ahead of them was a yawning absence of color, a murky realm of grays dominated by a forest of concrete pillars and the white line markings on the floor. Hundreds of empty car park spaces filled the area ahead and to either side, but there were no cars, motorbikes, RVs, or any other vehicles. There were no enemies either that Pete could see. Just an endless expanse of gray nothingness and an oppressive, mundane space that soon became intensely disorienting as they walked on.
"The ground appears to rise before us," Craig reasoned, frowning as he looked over at Pete.
"Some kind of optical illusion," Pete mused. "I think it's your brain trying to make sense of what it's seeing, but this doesn't make sense. You're looking for something unique, some kind of landmark to help orient yourself, but all you see is the same thing wherever you look."
"Maybe that's the challenge with this floor," Sam mused.
Ollie snorted. "We go nuts trying to find something that makes sense to our brains?"
She shrugged. "Or maybe it's a problem of distance. We've got three hours to get to the elevator, right? But what if it's going to take four hours to reach the wall on the other side? We'll be alright if we run for thirty minutes or so, but we don't know that, so we end up walking too slowly and arrive too late."
"I hadn't thought of that," Pete admitted. "How about we walk for twenty minutes or so and, if we don't see the opposite wall, we start running?"
"I could run ahead," Craig offered. "I'm quite an adept runner, and that way I can send a message back to alert you."
Pete shook his head. "The way this place is structured, you could get lost, and we might not be able to find you. Everything here looks the same. I say we stay together just to be safe."
"Agreed," Sam said.
As they continued walking, Pete brought up his profile and navigated to the new weapon augment gem he'd acquired. The object was sitting in his wallet rather than his inventory, and it looked like a citrine or some similar gem, cut in a hexagonal fashion. Pete pulled the gem out of his inventory and showed it to the others.
"Weapon augment gem," he explained in answer to the puzzled looks he received. "Did anyone else get one of these?"
They all shook their heads.
"I got a bit of cash," Ollie said. "Turns out, even though I didn't kill that Greedwell fucker myself, I still got credit for it as far as my Enforcer contract goes. I was hoping it would be a big payout, but it turned out to be just a couple thousand Belch Bucks."
"Better than nothing," Sam said. "That's what the rest of us got, other than the normal killing fee."
We all got to live, Pete thought, feeling a stab of guilt as a memory of Coop staring back at him in the final moments before she died came to him. He shook his head, pushing back the memory.
"Well, I've got no idea how it works. Nero?"
[Nero] Gems are required to make modifications to soulbound weapons, armor, and the like. The options available will depend on your class and level, as well as any crafting bonuses or special objects you possess. You will need to purchase a workstation first before you can make the addition; however, this is available to all players via your profile, so you won't need to find a Vendo-o-matic machine in order to purchase the object. Here, I will highlight the option for you.
A small symbol appeared beside the augment menu. The symbol showed a side view of a workstation drawn in orange lines. Pete mentally clicked on the symbol and broadcast the resulting description so that the others could see it.
>> TONGSLY BELCH FIX-O-MATIC WORKSTATION - 5000 Belch Bucks
Once purchased, this workstation can be used to craft soulbound weapon augments, armor upgrades, and other useful items. While the workstation will be bound to the player who purchases it, other players within the same party can access and utilize the workstation when upgrading or repairing their own items.
This is a basic workstation that will allow for early game augments, repairs, and crafting. The workstation will be automatically upgraded each time you level up your class. It may also possess certain unique features that relate specifically to your class, Penny Pincher.
"Five grand," Pete mused. "That will basically clean me out."
"Worth it though," Sam said. "To be able to start augmenting your weapon."
Pete paid for the workstation, and his gauntlet flared momentarily, appearing around his arm and hand and glowing with soft golden light. He clicked on the workstation icon and navigated to the available augmentation options, displaying those so that everyone in the group could see.
>> AVAILABLE AUGMENTS
>> PENNY PINCHER BOW
+| Name your bow.
+| +10% Accuracy
+| +10% Range
+| +10% Critical Strike Damage
>> PENNY PINCHER QUIVER
+| Double Shot Chance: 5% chance to fire two arrows at once, dealing identical damage.
+| Ubershaft: 2% chance to draw an arrow with 10x the normal firepower of a single arrow.
>> PENNY PINCHER ARROWS
+| Fire Damage: Arrows deal 5% damage as fire damage over a two-second period after hitting an enemy, with a .02% chance to reduce enemy Hit Chance by 20% for 5 seconds.
+| Frost Damage: Arrows deal 5% damage as frost damage over a two-second period, with a .02% chance to slow enemies by 50% for 5 seconds.
+| Armor Penetration: Arrows have 5% armor penetration, with a .02% chance to apply a Bleed effect, causing 5% damage over 5 seconds.
>> BERSERKER SUBCLASS
+| Dagger Arrows: Two arrows contained within your quiver at all times are designated as daggers and can be drawn and used in melee attacks. These arrows will gain all at-will ability and passive-based benefits applied to bladed weaponry.
"Holy shit," Ollie said. "And we all get to do this if we pick up one of these gems?"
[Nero] Indeed you do. Though gems are rare to find and typically follow some great deed, such as killing an elite boss. They can occasionally be found when looting normal enemies or in loot chests and the like, or even purchased from Vend-o-matic machines from time to time. Like all loot objects, their rarity can be mitigated by increasing your Luck attribute. The System may also provide quests that have a gem as a reward now and then as well.
"Which option are you going to choose?" Sam asked.
Pete shrugged. "No idea, if I'm honest. They're all pretty good. That Double Shot Chance seems overpowered, but so do the added Critical Strike Damage to the bow and the Fire Damage for the arrows."
"Frost could be useful," Sam added. "Chance to slow enemies down."
“I would suggest greater Armor Penetration,” Craig said. “Given the enemy we just faced. Nero, will that trait help with shielding as well as armor?”
[Nero] It will, yes. The usefulness of each unit of Armor Penetration will depend on the type of shield, however. Some wards are set at a rotating frequency that constantly changes. Armor Penetration is less useful against this kind of shield.
“But in the case of Greedwell?” Craig pressed.
[Nero] Yes, the increased Armor Penetration would have applied to Augustus Greedwell’s shield.
“Didn’t need it for him in the end though, did we?” Ollie said, slapping Pete on the shoulder. “Just took a couple of big-ass arrows from Pistol Pete here.”
Pete chuckled in response. “That’s what you’re going with? Pistol Pete? You know I use a bow, right?”
Ollie shrugged. “Yeah but Projectile Pete doesn’t sound as good, does it? Point is, Greedwell is toast, and Critical Strike Damage made the difference, so I say you go for the Bow augment.”
“Coop made the difference,” Sam said. “If it wasn’t for her, we would have all been taken out.”
“Yeah, but if we’re talking pure damage here, I’d go Critical Strike. It’s a higher percentage anyway, so it’s gonna trigger twice as often.”
At the mention of Coop, Torgo started sobbing again. Grizzle pulled him in close, comforting him like a mother comforting her child.
“Shit,” Sam said. “Sorry, Torgo. I didn’t mean to upset you again.”
“He is a tender soul,” Grizzle explained, patting the other goblin tenderly on the back. “He feels much and shared a strong connection with Coop even though they had not known each other long.”
[Nero] May I make an alternate suggestion?
“Go for it,” Pete said, hoping to move the conversation away from Coop and the painful memory of her sacrifice.
[Nero] While adding damage to your individual bow strikes is always a sound idea, I would suggest taking the Dagger Arrows augment first. As I have mentioned previously, now that you have all attained soulbound weapons, mundane weaponry will rapidly become obsolete. Such weapons can still be valuable when traded, of course, but they won’t be useful to employ in a fight. The distance between your soulbound weapon and mundane weaponry will increase exponentially with each augment you make, each new proficiency you gain, and so on. But the change is already apparent. You haven’t used your machete since entering the tower, but if you had attempted to fight Greedwell using that weapon, you would have quickly discovered that it was completely ineffective.
“I don’t have a melee fighting option at the moment,” Pete said. “So, you’re saying take the Dagger Arrows augment now, so at least I’m covered for both ranged and melee attacks. Then, with the next gem, I can look at adding damage or Armor Penetration or something like that.”
[Nero] Precisely. In addition, once you select that particular augment, you will see that there are already items in your possession that can be used to increase the effectiveness of the weapon if you so choose.
Pete tapped that Dagger Arrows augment, and the menu shifted, showing a series of boxes on the left side of the display and an image of two arrows on the right that had thicker shafts and elongated tips that resembled dagger blades more than traditional arrowheads. Below the empty boxes and the image of the dagger arrows was a list of three items.
>> ADDITIONAL AUGMENT INGREDIENTS
+| Shrunken Goblin Skull Pendant: +5 fearsome status when fighting against goblin Scrappers if they can see the pendant.
+| Dice of Misfortune: Rolling it in combat can trigger random effects, from healing to minor explosions.
+| Grease Wizards Premium Plus Lubricant x 1 Tube
Pete knew instinctively what to do. He selected the Shrunken Goblin Skull Pendant and dragged it up into one of the empty boxes to the left of the daggers. The moment the pendant was in place, green writing appeared beneath the daggers, indicating what additional benefits would be added to the augment if he included this object.
>> +1% damage to goblins, hobgoblins, gremlins, redcaps, and other races derived from goblin lineage.
"Nice," Ollie said.
"I'm guessing I lose the pendant as part of the process, right, Nero?"
[Nero] Correct.
"Worth it though," Sam said.
Pete nodded, dragging the Dice of Misfortune up into another vacant slot.
>> 1% chance to cause one of the following effects:
+| Bleed for 2 seconds [non-stackable]
+| Fire damage for 2 seconds [non-stackable]
+| Slow enemy for 2 seconds [reduction of all enemy movement by 50%, non-stackable]
+| Apply Vulnerable debuff to enemy for 2 seconds, making them take 5% more damage from melee and ranged sources [non-stackable]
+| Blank Strike: all bonus effects are removed, and only base dagger damage is applied.
+| Butter Fingers: The weapon drops from your hand and is sent into your inventory, nullifying the intended strike.
"Well," Ollie said. "It's better than a kick in the teeth, and the negative effects aren't even that bad."
"Agreed," Sam said, leaning in close and re-reading the details of the augment. "I think you should go with this as well."
Pete nodded. "I don't think I've even used the dice as they are, anyway, so this makes sense."
"And what about the lubricant?" Craig asked. "It is a high-quality product, so I'm sure it will add something of value to the process."
"Yeah, I don't really want to use that right now, though. It might come in handy for something else later on."
[Nero] Your current sponsorship arrangement with Grease Wizards Inc. means that you will be provided with another tube of lubricant if you use this one, Pete. This will occur throughout the contest. There are limits to how many tubes you can use, of course, but the owners of Grease Wizards Inc. have been quite generous, so it is unlikely you will run out of the substance.
"Oh, okay then," Pete said, dragging the tube of Grease Wizards Premium Plus Lubricant into another vacant slot.
>> Frictionless Edge: Increases Armor Penetration of Arrow Daggers by 5%. Daggers are also less likely to get caught in armor or flesh during a fight.
A button appeared below the daggers with the words COMMENCE AUGMENT written on them and a 500 Belch Buck price tag. Pete's finger hovered above the button.
"Anything else I should know before I do this?"
[Nero] Only that the changes are permanent. With further augments, you can remove and sometimes alter existing features of a soulbound weapon, but any changes you make now, during this augmentation process, will be locked in, at least until the next time you use the workstation and have a gem with which to apply a new augment.
Pete pressed the button and watched as the image of the Arrow Daggers shifted to the middle of the display and started to rotate. One by one, the additions were added to the daggers as images of the pendant, dice, and lubricant tube all shimmered and then disintegrated in a way that Pete found oddly satisfying.
With each change, the look of the daggers changed slightly. When the pendant was applied, the edges of the arrow blades took on a slight emerald sheen. The application of the dice added a series of black dots to the wooden shaft of the daggers, number markings that occasionally shifted places as though the weapons themselves were now dice of a kind. When the lubricant was applied, the arrowheads glimmered with reflected light, the keen edge of each blade seeming to grow sharper.
>> AUGMENT COMPLETE
>> NEW ITEM: Dagger Arrows
Pete stopped walking, pulling the daggers out of his quiver and holding one in each hand. He considered the weapons, twisting them around as the others in the group looked on with interest. The daggers weren't particularly refined. The handle of each was essentially a slightly enlarged wooden arrow shaft, and they both still had fletching at their base. There was no cross-guard, and they felt a little top-heavy. The blades were triangular, with cutting edges on either side, stretching a good four inches each.
The weapons felt serviceable, but Pete wasn't sure how effective they'd be against larger enemies or those that wore heavy armor. Still, it felt good to have a melee option when the time came to fight up close, and the fact that he could continue to develop the weapons was incredibly appealing.
[Nero] In future augments, it may be possible to apply some changes that affect all three aspects of your soulbound weapon: bow, quiver, and daggers. For the most part, however, they will now be treated as individual items, capable of being upgraded in their own right. You will only be given a limited amount of gems, so you would do well to consider which weapons to augment and when.
"Come on," Sam said, pointing up ahead. "We should keep moving."