Following the first Dungeon Breach, and the subsequent newscast that went out to the wider world, things ended up changing rather rapidly.
The regulations regarding Rift Hunters being ironed out, was the first.
With public knowledge of the military holding Hunters against their will, and using family members as hostages, even if that wasn’t one hundred percent the truth, there was enough outcry to spur the government into action. And not just in the New States Union, but other countries across the world, in Europe, Asia, South America and some changes even in Africa.
All over the world new laws were put into place regarding what control could be put on, and what freedoms, Rift Hunters would have.
Such as, no Rift Hunter would be solely “owned” by a government or corporation. We were considered contracted agents, similar to professional athletes. We negotiated duties and salaries to form an agreement.
It sounded simple, of course, but it was far more complicated than just a contract. As the changes took place, new RHI’s (Rift Hunter Incorporations) were made, affectionately nicknamed as “Guilds” by Hunters and the wider public alike.
Luckily, with all these changes, my fellow lab rats and myself were freed from our cheese cave abode and allowed to live among the wider world once more, no more military conscription applied.
But these are all things you already know. I don’t really need to tell you how your world ended up where it is. Still, I think it's important I tell you how things went for me in the timeline.
I’ll just move on.
I still had my apartment, and I happily saw my parents return to their house in Greater Montana. Assurances of protection or not, I was far more relieved to know they weren’t under the purview of the military any longer.
“Are you sure you are alright, dear?” My mother said over the phone.
“Yes mom, I’m fine. It sounded a lot worse on the internet than it really was, I promise. And that’s all behind us now, okay.” I changed the channel on the TV as I continued the phone call. News about Dungeon Portals, Hunters, the Pittsburgh monster breach, and the new regulations, dominated every channel.
“Okay, I’m sorry for asking so many times, it's just with all this new System business and these monsters…”
“You don’t have to worry about me, just help dad okay, he needs you more than I do right now.” I stopped flicking through channels as a familiar face popped up on the screen.
It was Barry’s smiling face, wearing a pressed white suit and standing behind a lectern as he gave a speech. Below him on the screen, text rolled by slowly.
“First ever Rift Hunter Incorporation,
Paragon Guild
, established by Legendary Hunter Barry Schilling”
Just off his left shoulder, was the same woman I had watched speaking at the congressional regulatory hearing a few weeks ago. It turned out her name was Clara Reedtz, Danish apparently, a congresswoman from Maine. She was probably the most outspoken supporter of the Rift Hunters in the country.
Which made little sense to me back then, but later the reasons were far too obvious. But again, hindsight and all that.
“I know, this has been put off far too long, I just still don’t think your dad is ready,” my mother continued.
“I don’t think any parent is ever ready for something like this,” I said.
I turned off the TV, Barry’s jovial grin collapsing into a thin line and into blackness, before casting my eyes to the large standing mirror in the corner of the room. I couldn’t look at my face, my gaze only going to the brand new black suit and black tie I wore. As I told you before, I couldn’t manage to look at myself again, especially not that day.
I picked a piece of lint off my sleeve and blew it off my finger. Everything needed to be pristine for today. Although it was largely ceremonial, and I knew I’d be bombarded with waves of condolences that I didn’t want to hear, being there was important.
It wasn’t everyday that you attended your twin brother’s funeral, after all.
“I’m so sorry for your loss.”
It was a sentence I’d heard maybe three dozen times in the last hour. It was almost aggravating at that point. But I knew I wasn’t the only person hearing such a phrase in that room, my mother and father, standing only a couple steps away from me, was also positioned before a long line of attendees waiting to say the same to them.
This wasn’t the only venue where such a scene was taking place in the city, let alone across the country, or the world. The number of deaths since the start of Earth’s initiation by the System had climbed up into the millions of casualties, and it would only get larger as time went on.
So, I couldn’t be pitying myself like I was someone special. We all had people we wanted to protect and love, and we all felt sad when we lost them. My grief was no more powerful than the pain felt by Reitlin or Mathews parents. The difference was, I’d killed those men, not some monster, or accidental explosion.
I choked down the mixture of sadness, guilt and anger that was mixing inside my throat.
“Thank you so much.” I said back with a strained smile. The person nodded and wandered off, the next in line approaching me.
“Hey man, sorry about your brother,” a large hand clasped my shoulder and brought me into a half-hug. “It’ll be alright.”
“Norton?” I guffawed at the man as he let me go.
The large healer was wearing perhaps an entire store’s worth of black fabric in a surprising nicely tailored suit. Behind him, Dupree, Huwett, and Vasquez all wore similarly appropriate attire.
“Francis, Angela, Brandon?”
“Didn’t think we’d leave you dealing with this all alone did you?” Barry stepped out from behind the small group, his pearly white suit from the newscast having been replaced with a dark charcoal, though he still wore an eggshell tie.
“I didn’t know that you knew,” I said honestly.
“Of course we did,” Francis chimed in. “Well, actually, your mom called Barry, and he called us.” He waved over to my mother with a smile, who nodded and gave a half wave back. Francis accepted the effort she gave and didn’t push for more.
“Can we talk?” Barry asked. “I know it’s kind of a bad time, but—”
“No, it's fine, I needed a break anyway.”
I was thankful for the excuse to get away, and guided them all to another room where we had a bit more privacy. Though I could still see the proceeding of Alex’s vigil through the large open doorway.
“You saw the announcement right?” Barry got right to the point.
“For Paragon? Yes, I saw.”
“Well, I don’t think it’s much of a surprise that we want you to join,” he said. “You’re one of us, the cheese dwellers.”
I chuckled lightly at the joke and shook my head, “Maybe that’s what you should have named the guild.”
“See, I told you!” Francis nearly shouted from beside Barry.
The Paladin waved him down before speaking again. “We can offer you a hefty salary, and we already have a few Dungeon Contracts in the works. Loot share is still equal split with an added share for the cooperation itself. And I mean, with Veltech now…”
I nodded, knowing already what he meant. Veltech Corporation, the company I was previously employed with, was basically gone. As it turned out, the company that was studying the Dungeon Portal in Pittsburgh, the one that had the Hynaenid Raider breach, was Veltech.
An investigation was still ongoing, but it looked like some enormous fines and criminal charges would be put upon the company. It wasn’t exactly fair, really, as Veltech was just unlucky in the end.
Later research, and additional accidental breaches, would reveal that a Dungeon Breach happened when a Rift wasn’t completed after a long period of time. Part of a RHI’s duties was getting assigned Dungeon Rifts to complete periodically in order to ensure there wasn’t a breach.
All that being said, Veltech just happened to draw the short straw.
There were dozens, maybe even hundreds of Rifts that had shown up early in the initiation that were being studied instead of cleared. Other military research sites, government black ops, or private corporations like Veltech, all doing the exact same thing. Veltech’s just happened to breach first.
The end result being though, I was out of a job. My parents as well, as they also had been working for Veltech.
“Doesn’t really help their case when their very own founder is in the wind,” Vasquez said.
“I don’t know about that, Adrian Aetheron had always been a bit of a recluse, no?” Huwett added.
“Recluse, yes, invisible for weeks on end? Nah. He probably went into a Rift and got killed. That’s my guess.” Francis said.
“We are off track,” Barry butted in once more. “The point is, we can pay you more than you need to live and take care of your parents. Not to mention, you’re strong Adam, even stronger than other Epic class Hunters from what we can gather. What are your stats even looking like right now? Angela has her Dexterity up in the early forties now.”
I checked my status screen:
[Name: Adam Pierce
Class: Death’s Disciple
Level: 12
Titles: Pioneer II, True Prodigy, Death Harbinger, Heir to Death, True Defender, Horde Breaker
Stats:
Strength: 34
Dexterity: 57 (61)
Vitality: 51 (52)
Intelligence: 38
Willpower: 39 (40)
Skills: Inspect [Max], Shade Stealth - Lvl 4- Beginner, Marked to Die - Lvl 3 Beginner, Blood Manipulation - Lvl 3 - Beginner, Aura Mastery - Lvl 1 - Beginner
Skill Slots: 3/10
Abilities: Soul Usher (F)
Essence to next ability rank: 263/1000
Essence Available: 188
Spells: N/A ]
I had gained quite a few stats from absorbing the soul essence of the monsters after the breach. Honestly, it could have been more, but there was something new I had to deal with that made my ability more complicated, and why I had so much more available essence than usual.
[Soul Usher (F), stat absorption limit reached for current grade. Increase ability grade.]
Until I upgraded my Class ability, I couldn't absorb any more stats from my kills. Which sucked, as I was really looking forward to skyrocketing my power with my class ability. But it looked like even cheat Classes had limits. Perhaps the System itself had already heard of Bernie Madoff or Jay Mazini, and made sure to hard limit specific things. I didn’t know for sure.
What I did know was I still had other options. Such as absorbing experience points. Which was tempting given that I had learned the kills on monsters during a Breach Event didn’t grant experience. None at all.
Probably, again, a means to ensure people weren’t taking advantage of the System. I could already think of ways for Guilds to allow a Dungeon Breach, then contain it to farm the monsters that swarmed out infinitely for experience and loot.
The System had already seemed to think of that.
But another option caught my attention even more, the option to absorb a skill. It was far more expensive in terms of soul essence to absorb a skill. Turned out I had to spend one hundred essence to do it. And I didn’t exactly get to pick what skill I absorbed, it was random based on the skills of the soul I chose. Which meant, for now, I only could pick a Hynaenid Raider, or the Hynaen Lord, neither of which showed any skill that I wanted.
So I saved them for now, investing in my later growth.
In the down time I had also learned something else. I had figured out why the amount of soul essence I was harvesting with my ability had suddenly started to be less than normal. I assumed at first it was some kind soul tax that my sponsor, Death, was imposing, but that turned out to be a dubious theory.
After looking at all my notifications, my status screens, and combing my inventory, I figured out the real culprit.
[Item: Companion Egg
Rarity: Mythic
Description:
A small egg containing an unknown creature. This egg will absorb nearby energy until it is ready to hatch. Absorbed energy will change the creature and its abilities upon hatching.
This egg has shown a liking to Soul Essence. It is not currently showing signs that it is ready to hatch.]
The damn egg was stealing some of my harvested essence! My hard earned essence, which belonged to me! It was upsetting, as I only had so much of the resource to go around, and I hadn't exactly agreed that the egg could get a share.
But the fact it had chosen an energy tied uniquely to my class showed promise for what might hatch from it.
You better be good you little leech.
“Adam?”
“My dexterity is up to fifty-one, with equipment bonuses,” I lied, closing my status screen.
Francis whistled.
“Told you he was a true beast. Guy is faster than me for sure. Real synergy with his class, the System picked well,” Huwett said.
“Agreed. We haven’t been able to nail down a real way to gauge a Rift Hunter’s strength, not with there being so many diverse specializations, but you’re certainly up there, Adam. Why don’t you join us?” Barry extended his hand with a smile.
“I don’t really see why n—”
“Or you can stick with us, and not the amateur leagues.” A voice suddenly cut in.
I looked over Barry’s shoulder to see a figure standing in the doorway wearing a clean military uniform. The man’s face was just as stern as his eyes, which bore into me with a deep focus only born of someone used to staring down death on a regular basis. I recognized him almost immediately.
“Hello, Colonel Nieve,” I said.
1.19 Death Party