For a place that processed refuse with giant worms, it was surprisingly clean. It did give him the opportunity to drain some of the volatility meter that had shot up after activating his Ruin Edict ability. Greg and his companions swept through the tunnels, clearing out any snakes that straggled behind.
He was still in a bit of pain, but the bleeding had stopped, and it seemed the tiny wounds had closed already. The more concerning bit was his volatility. At seventy percent it was way too high, he needed to get out of here to a place where he could rest as soon as possible. A blinking notification caught his attention, and he pulled it up to let the UI read them off to him as he walked through the tunnels.
Ability level up!
When one of your abilities increases in power, it will not only receive a marginal boost in damage, but will unlock a new facet. At later levels, you will choose between a few facet options.
Radiant strike has evolved
Radiant Strike
Level 2: 10 of 1000
Enhance a melee attack with divine light. Any physical damage dealt will be matched with equal radiant damage. Now applies Mark of the Hallowed Eye status to target. As long as Mark of the Hallow Eye remains and the target remains within one mile of you, you may track the target through any terrain.
Increase Divine Resonance by 2
Decrease Demonic Resonance by 2
Increase Volatility by 2
You’ve earned enough experience to progress to level 3!
Current progress: Level 2 (2650 of 2500)
As previously indicated, upon reaching level 3 you will be required to select a class. This selection can not be undone without intervention of cosmic entities. [Fragment Surge—Error] If you run into one of those, you’ll be too busy shitting your pants to worry about what class you p… [Corruption Contained]
The UI was becoming more and more erratic lately. If he were to lose it to some kind of corruption, he’d be left with no guide and reliant on feeling alone for his abilities and the volatility and resonance meters. That did not sound like an ideal situation. Greg frowned, but dismissed the messages with a thought.
He would have to worry about the level up later, but the new facet to his radiant strike ability was certainly interesting. The path that was falling into place in front of him was one of a monster hunting adventurer, so an ability to track his quarry unimpeded was probably very good. He rubbed the back of his neck, but before he could put any further thought into it, movement caught his attention in the dim green light ahead.
As he got closer, Greg observed four humanoid figures all huddled around a barrel. They took quick, jerking movements, each of them shoving their hands into the container and shoveling its contents into their mouths. Furrowing his brow, Greg called out.
“You guys alright?”
\All four heads snapped to him at once, and he froze. After a still, uneasy moment, the figure in the back opened its mouth and let out a wail that Greg could recognize anywhere at this point. A soft blue glow emanated from its gaping maw, lighting up the thin vapor that poured from it. These didn’t look like the other frost kissed he’d seen. Their skin hadn’t gone gray or saggy, eyes hadn’t sunken in yet, but the sound and glow were unmistakable.
Greg’s muscles tensed, ready to run at a moment’s notice, but to his surprise, the frost kissed retreated first. He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of quickly approaching steps to find Clover and Ricard coming his way. Probably drawn by the wail. Picking up the barrel’s lid that had been cast aside, Greg ran his fingers over the emblem burnt into the surface. A griffon with a spear piercing its chest.
“Do you guys know whose logo this is?” Greg offered the lid to Ricard as they approached but didn’t wait for him to answer before approaching the barrel. What looked like thousands of tiny glass beads were submerged in liquid. He gave the wood a tentative kick and grimaced as the fluid languidly rippled. It seemed too thick to be water, but he was definitely not going to touch it. Instead, he activated his scan ability, hoping to glean some information.
Scanning…
Frost:
Drug believed to be concocted by underground alchemists. Said to give the whole body the fresh feeling of chewing peppermint as well as the high you would expect from other narcotics. It is unknown if the frost kissed can see beings that are not Gifted, but there are no cited cases of them attacking anyone who is not. Known side effects include: extreme weight loss, rotted teeth, natural water vapor in lungs and trachea turns blue, superhuman strength, superhuman endurance, crippling addiction.
Ability Level up!
Scan
Level 2: 1 of 1000
Tap into your inherent magic to examine a creature or object within fifty feet. Provides basic information including name, description, stats (if applicable), and buffs or debuffs.
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“Is that a whole barrel of frost?” Ricard asked, stepping around him to peek into the barrel, also wary of touching it, apparently.
“Looks that way,” Greg said. “It looked like they were eating it. Is that how it’s used?”
“I thought it’s usually smoked.” Ricard looked up at Clover, but she shrugged.
“Never even seen the stuff before,” she whispered.
“I’m no expert, obviously, but I’ve never seen it like this. The little beads are right, though. They crush and smoke them.” Ricard looked around. “Do you think they were feeding it to the snake?”
Greg didn’t answer. He looked around, frowning. Someone had brought a barrel full of drugs into the sewer system, feasibly to feed to the snake, but left it here for addicts to dig into. He had so many questions, but the most important came down to why. What was the point? If he were an unscrupulous drug dealing alchemist, why waste good drugs on a snake that can’t pay for them? Then leave a barrel where your clientele can get it for free?
Quest complete!
Contaminant found.
Reward
100x copper obols
500 experience
“Lets pack this up and get it to…” Greg frowned. “Who do we turn this shit into? I’ve seen the gate guards, but I don’t think I’ve seen any cops on the streets.”
“Cops?” Clover asked as she pressed the lid down and twisted it into place on the barrel.
“Yeah, like…law enforcement? I’m making a lot of assumptions here, sorry.” He tapped his temple. “Memories still haven’t come back.” While he’d brought Maeve into the fold on what he was, Clover and Ricard were not in such a position. They seemed like good enough people, but they were teenagers. If that weren’t enough of a reason, whatever reason he was brought to this planet for, he didn’t want to drag a couple of kids into.
“Oh, like the Justicars?” Ricard nodded. “Uhh…I mean, we probably should turn this into them, but do we want to?”
“Probably not.” Clover shook her head.
Greg squinted at them. “Why wouldn’t we turn in drugs that turn people into monsters to the authorities?”
“Justicars are just as likely to detain us for bringing it in as they are to look for who actually made it.” Clover shrugged. “It’s probably better just to destroy it and move on with our lives.”
Law enforcement here seemed about as good as it was at home. Greg sighed and took a look at the barrel again. He’d seen an identical one outside the office Brannoc had stopped at before taking him to the docks. Didn’t mean it was connected, a barrel is a barrel. Could have come from anywhere, but he was going to have to look into whatever company this was just in case.
“So we just light a barrel of drugs on fire?” Greg glanced between the two of them. “That sounds like a terrible idea.”
“Good point.” Ricard said.
“Can’t just leave it here.” Clover tapped her hammerhead against the ground. “Don’t really wanna walk around the city with it either.”
Greg gnawed on the inside of his cheek before reaching out and setting his hand on the barrel. He’d suspected it would work, but this felt like a terrible idea.
Would you like to loot Barrel of Frost?
Yes/No
Yes.
He closed his eyes tight.
Added 100 lbs of Frost to inventory
Greg blinked as a burst of mist rose from the barrel, leaving only the thick liquid inside the barrel.
“You’ve got some weird shit going on, Greg,” Clover said.
Greg grabbed the barrel’s lid and shoved it into his storage space before rubbing the back of his neck. “Lets destroy the barrel and get out of here.” He said, not feeling great about having a hundred pounds of drugs hanging out in an extradimensional space over his head.
###
Brannoc stared at them blankly, heavy eyebrows shrouding his eyes in shadow from the fire. They stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the fireplace in his den.
“The snake had blue eyes.”
“Misty blue eyes.” Greg corrected, catching an elbow in the shoulder from Clover.
The elf didn’t react. “Misty…blue eyes.” He said quietly. “So you decided to figure out why. You found a barrel of frost in the sewers, so, in your infinite wisdom, you decided to put all those drugs in your storage space?” Brannoc tapped the butt of his pipe on the chair’s armrest. “That an accurate summation?”
“Yes, sir,” Ricard whispered from his left.
“Mhmm..” Brannoc placed the pipe between his teeth and lit it. “Here is my problem.” As he spoke, smoke billowed from his nostrils and mouth. “Leaving the frost down there was not an option. I agree. Making yourself a drug mule was an interesting decision that I want to be mad about, but I can’t think of a better way to do it.”
Once they realized Brannoc wasn’t going to tear into them for the questionable move, they finished debriefing him on the fight. While Ricard and Clover had done the majority of the work, their review of him was surprisingly glowing. He even felt his cheeks heat up as Ricard recounted his coming in to pull Clover out of danger.
The teens left, leaving him and Brannoc alone in the den. Greg sat down on the couch and pushing his fingers through his hair. The volatility was going down slowly, but it was still causing a pretty significant headache.
“Sounds like you did well.” Brannoc spoke around the pipe. “You can leave the frost here before you leave, I’ll get rid of it.”
Greg leaned forward, head still in his hands. “I got to level three. Was hoping for a little advice before I pick a class. Feels like a big decision.”
“It is.” Brannoc took a long drag from the pipe and looked over him for a moment. “Every Gifted develops their abilities based on choices they make through a lifetime of training. Difference is yours come from solitary choices, where ours are sculpted through years of use. Been a while, but when Killean chose his, it gave him a list miles long to choose from. Took him days to go through it. My advice? Figure out how you want to fight before you even open the list.”
“How I want to fight?” Greg probed. “Like what weapon? I’ve gotten used to the short sword.”
“No.” Brannoc lifted a finger and made a quick circular motion with it. Pressure built in his sinuses, and then slowly released, taking the headache with it. “You need to remember that you will not always be a part of a team. I started my career a healer, but if I could do it over again, I would have diversified earlier.”
“Being a healer seems pretty useful.” Greg muttered.
“Until you fight a beast you can’t heal through.” Brannoc nodded. “You’ve learned the basics. Footwork isn’t bad, between the skill book and the training. What you need to think about is what you already do, and how to make it effective when you’re alone, and with a group.”
