Burn Down This City

Steering Abigail away from the training facilities and instead toward the exit of the building, John explained, “I’m going to create a barrier for us to train in.”

“Well, you’re just full of surprises.” Abigail replied, looking even more excited. She was obviously about to ask another question, but was cut short just in front of the door.

“Reason for leaving?” The robotic voice and blue hologram that was previously in the middle of the lobby during the day appeared in front of them. “Applicants are free to come and go the night before their test, though sleep is recommended. I need to register you two so that you’ll be able to get back in later.”

“John Newman and Abigail Firenzia, we’re leaving to train in the forest for a little while. Standard stuff,” John replied, to which the program in front of them nodded, the doors opening automatically.

“Very well, please make sure to be back in your dormitories by oh-eight hundred,” the robot ordered before dismissing them. Nodding, John and Abigail left the building, then the barrier.

“Last one to the edge of town is a rotten egg!” she called into the empty street, leaping onto a nearby rusty fire escape with a loud creak.

“Sure, announce to the whole world that two magical people are running across some rooftops,” John whispered, more to himself than anyone else. Still, not one to be left behind, he Jumped to the level of the roofs, then used the second jump from his boots to propel him onto one. “Smell like sulfur down there?” John called, leaning over the edge of the roof.

She nearly collided with him as she vaulted over the edge of the roof, but instead swept his legs and boosted herself over him. “Joke’s on you, I don’t know what sulfur is!” was her reply as she sprinted across the roof of one of the many abandoned buildings that bordered the Rider-Waite barrier.

Recovering quickly, John looked to see the girl with almost twice his Agility score leaving him in the dust. Isn’t this familiar, John thought, sprinting after her.

He fought a valiant battle, but was nowhere close to matching her speed. When she looked back and noticed how far behind he was, she slowed down a little bit. Reaching the edge of the town in record time, she took exaggeratedly slow steps toward the street below and the forest that lay beyond it.

When John saw how slow she was going, he knew that meant they were close to the forest. Spending about half his mana, he used one Jump to catch up with her. The slow transformation on her face as she realized - she had been duped, her own hubris was her downfall - was well worth the mana cost. The brawler’s eyes bugged out as her face scrunched up, a determined scowl overtaking her face as her body was slowly converted into fire from the feet up, surging forward. John sent a Disrupting Blast her way, which caused the process to momentarily stop. In the same moment, he used jumped off the air with all his might to launch himself into the nearest tree and what was technically the edge of the forest, face first. This earned him some damage, but he won.

“That was so not fair! I’m nice enough to slow down a little bit, and you take advantage of it to win? Was beating me that important?” Abigail asked, looking down at the heap of a gunman John was. Sometime between John hitting the tree and falling to the ground, she had transformed back into her normal self.

“What wasn’t important was beating you, but seeing your reaction. Mana comes and goes, but the look on your face? Priceless,” John replied, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. Somehow, throughout all that, his hat had even stayed on. “Let’s get a bit further in. Any specific requests for the barrier?”

“What are my options?” Abigail asked, walking with him deeper into the forest. He had started to Meditate as they went to restore his mana quicker.

“Well, I can make a bunch of types of challenges. War, diplomacy, search and destroy-” John began, but was quickly cut off.

“Search and destroy, easy. And make it a foresty barrier if you can, I really want to be able to let loose,” Abigail replied, fiery cracks spreading over her skin as she tossed her hair back.

“As you command,” John replied with an exaggerated bow, resulting in a spark being tossed at his face. Grumbling in response, he broke off a branch of a nearby tree and cast Create Barrier.

Are you choosing to recreate a barrier you have previously made or overwritten?
[Yes]/[No]

You have selected [No].

Population
Populated? [Y]/[N]

You have selected [Y].

Populated by hostiles? [Y]/[N]
Population related to scenery? [Y]/[N]

You have selected yes to both.

Choose type of hostile barrier
Combat?
Trap?
Prison?

You have selected Combat.

Choose Barrier Mode
Search and Destroy?
Diplomacy?
Base Defense?
Escort?
Race?
War?
Elimination?

You have selected Search and Destroy.

Scenery
Mirror type?
Random type?
Consume an item?

You have selected “Consume an item”, please select the item from your inventory.

John put the branch in his inventory then tapped on it, resulting in another pop-up.

This will result in a forest-type barrier, proceed? [Y]/[N]

John hit yes, the branch disappearing from his inventory in the same moment. I wonder if that just deleted it. I do have the ability to just delete stuff, so I shouldn’t be surprised.

Time dilation: (Min -44%) [-]/[+] (Max 44%)
Size dilation (inside)? (Min -33%) [-]/[+] (Max 33%)
Size dilation (outside): (Min -33%) [-]/[+] (Max 33%)

You have selected maximum positive time dilation. Time flows faster in the barrier. You have selected maximum negative size dilation (outside) and maximum positive size dilation (inside).

Select barrier level.

1<->22

Huh, this slider wasn’t on Create Barrier last time, looks like the maximum barrier level is the same as the level of the skill. That makes sense, John thought, adjusting it to be twenty. Though it was still five levels below Abigail, he didn’t want to have to punch too far above his weight. He felt the barrier surge into existence around them, and entered it with her.

Barrier Quest: BURN IT
Objective: Defeat all enemies (Currently: 10 Spriggans, 20 Blights, 40 Shambling Mounds, 20 Savage Pixies, 9 Bowtruckles, 1 ???)
Optional Objective: Score higher than Abigail Firenzia
Reward: 4,500 XP, Heart of the Oak
Optional Reward: Bragging Rights, 2 Skill Points for offensive skills, 1 Perk Point

“This’ll tell you what’s left and keep track of who’s killed what,” John explained, inviting Abigail to the party. After a moment of shock and a sideways glance at seeing the invitation, she tapped accept. In the corner of their vision, their names appeared with a zero next to them.

“See you on the other side!” Abigail laughed, launching deep into the forest as a fireball. Apparently, she hit something, as her score immediately went up by five. Discordance played in John’s head, and he leapt up as a mass of branches crashed down onto where he had been.

I don’t know how effective bullets will be… so I’ll try blasting it away instead. John thought, pointing Ebony and Ivory at the mass of branches in front of him. The runes on his guns glowed a brilliant white as he channeled a Mana Bolt through each of them, but instead of coming out as a projectile, as he expected, they came out as beams of energy which burned through his enemy, killing it instantly and bringing his score up to ten. “Holy shit! Have I ever told you guys how much I love you?” John asked, caressing his guns. David appeared on his shoulder, eager to also be praised.

“You too, buddy! Alright, go find some enemies for me!” John ordered his pet, tossing his guns into the air to retrieve some meat from his inventory. He flicked the meat forward, David surging toward it like a bullet and becoming corporeal just in time to catch it in his beak. Meanwhile, John’s guns floated gently down into his hands. I wonder what other spells do when channeled through these guys.

While that was happening, David had apparently found an enemy, as John’s score went from ten to fifteen, but Abigail was already at thirty.

Following the direction the hawk had gone in, John found David ripping a second savage pixie to shreds, eight others buzzing around him and squeaking angrily. Tendrils closed in on David’s wings, and John was ready to burn them off with a channeling of Mana Bolt. Instead, David blinked out of view for a moment, appearing above the battlefield. John had little time to watch more though, as Discordance alerted him to two shamblers ready to attack him from either side.

Deciding to test things out, John channeled Mana Construct through his guns, and squeezed the triggers. Glowing blue bullets shot out, ripping into the shamblers at his sides. Hold on… that felt like I could… Pressing even further, John leapt onto a branch above, channeling Mana Construct through his guns again but dumping more mana into it. The result was exactly as he expected, two bullets roughly the size of tea plates tore gaping holes into the enemies below him, killing them. That takes up a lot of mana, but fuck if it doesn’t get results.

His train of thought was derailed as a swarm of wasps surrounded him, stinging him on all sides. Though this was little more than a minor annoyance thanks to his duster, it was enough to distract him from the wooden wrecking ball sailing toward him. It knocked him through the next tree, and took a good chunk of his health in the process.

Getting up, John immediately recognized the Spriggan in front of him from hundreds of hours playing Groundmid, except where they were a minor annoyance in that game, this one posed a serious threat. It swung its large arm toward him again, though John had the sense to dodge over it this time, firing a Mana Bolt at it in the process. This seemed to only enrage it further, and three shamblers appeared behind it.

Something trapped his left foot, and John looked to his left to see a Vine Blight slowly approaching him. Alright, this is getting way too hot for me way too quickly, John thought, using Sip the Mana. He attempted to channel it through his guns, but it just didn’t work. All the creatures around him (David excluded) momentarily stopped, and that was the chance he needed.

Slipping out of the Vine Blight’s grip, he disintegrated it with a beam from his guns. A verdant aura surrounded the shamblers as they stumbled toward him, the rest of the creatures having recovered. Channeling Disrupting Blast through his guns fixed that, and the vegetation holding the three creatures together seemed to wobble as a diffused wave of disarming sound washed over them. He used one of his daily charges of True Sight from his hat, which revealed a glowing green spot on the Spriggan’s chest. Charging a Mana Bolt each through Ebony and Ivory, he fired it at his most dangerous assailant. Apparently, it had been expecting this, as it met the two arcane beams with a wall of wood. This wasn’t enough, though, as the magical beams pierced the wooden barrier and the Spriggan’s heart, killing it instantly.

Two normal bullets for each shambler quickly followed, and John was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Looking at his score, it was a respectable seventy… which was dwarfed by Abigail’s one hundred and twenty. Leaping into a tree, he started using Meditate to recover, before noticing a large part of the barrier’s forest burning in the distance. “Bah, this game is rigged,” John commented to his ever faithful bird, scratching him gently under the chin.