Alex stood over the body of the River King, breathing heavily as his chainsword’s whirring finally slowed to a stop, its hunger sated. A wide pool of blood stretched out beneath his feet. Sickly red liquid dripped from his clothes. Even though it couldn’t find purchase on the magical cloth, there had been so much of it thrown in every direction that it had still managed to paint him like a slasher villain.
He stared down at the corpse. It had been a man, once. But that had been quite so ti ago. Weeks. The creature that he’d just carved to pieces had been dead for a long ti before he’d gotten around to putting the wretched creature out of its misery. If Alex was honest, there was a good chance that Maurice the ‘River King’ had been dead long before the apocalypse itself.
Alex wasn’t sure if he’d ever t a man with less purpose behind his existence. Even calling him greedy wasn’t sufficient. The River King had simply consud. He’d consud for the sake of consuming, controlled for the sake of controlling. There had been no deeper desire driving him whatsoever.
No goals, no dreams, nothing. Just… consumption. Consumption without foresight or incentive or reasoning. The River King couldn’t have even been called a good businessman. Even though Alex had far from been close with the monstrous man, that much he was certain of. Only an idiot would seek to betray his own ally purely because it would get him just a little bit more benefit in the short term.
And as Alex stared at the ruined remains of the beast that they’d put down, he realized he felt sothing. It wasn’t pity. He wasn’t anywhere deluded enough to even start to pity the River King. Every choice the man had made had been his own.
It certainly wasn’t sadness. He’d have killed the River King about a dozen tis over if given the chance. Soone like this hadn’t been worth keeping alive.
Claire put a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Hey. You okay? You look a bit… off.”
He looked up at her. Then, finally, he realized what it was that he was feeling.
It was a hell of a lot of magical energy.
Power pumped through his veins in an icy storm, tearing through his chest to drive into his core. Alex’s back stiffened and he drew in a sharp breath. His thoughts were montarily stolen from him as wave after wave of freezing power lifted from the River King and entered him.
Goddamn, that was quite the reward. I guess killing that bastard was a lot harder than it should have been. I didn’t think the System would give such a nice reward for killing this cockroach. But, then again, he’s one slippery bastard.
“Never been better,” Alex replied with a grin, the final vestiges of power trickling to a halt. He could feel sothing lurking within his soul. And, if he rembered correctly, killing the River King counted as killing an Anomaly. That ant he’d finally advanced his Unmaker title. There was a free skill upgrade waiting for him the next ti he ditated.
“You sure?” Claire asked. “You looked really pensive.”
“Oh, yeah. I felt sothing a bit weird after I killed that guy. It confused for a mont.” Alex scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “But then I realized it was just all the magic he was worth for putting down. I couldn’t give less of a shit about killing this insufferable prick.”
Alyssa walked up beside him. She looked down at the spreading pool of his blood with disgust. “Yeah, well, I can. Thanks for putting him down. I can’t believe he wanted to sacrifice . I was on his own damn team! He could have at least had the decency to go after you instead. You weren’t even properly allied with him!”
“I’m not sure if I’m ant to agree with that or not,” Alex said.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimr of energy. There was sothing lodged in the center of what had once been the River King’s chest. A tiny white crystal fragnt.
Alex’s lips pulled apart into a smile. Even before the System identified the item, he knew what it was. The gem was identical to the one he’d gotten as a reward for reaching the top 10 in the Local Leaderboard back during the 2ndInitialization. He reached down and grabbed the fragnt, tearing it free from the River King’s flesh with a wet squelch.
The System’s words twisted into being as he held it up pinched between two fingers.
Unstable Nexus Core Shard (Epic) — Consumable
Upon Destruction: Permanently gain 5 Units of Soul Energy.
If the user of this item is killed, it will re-form at the location of their death.
The first three Unstable Nexus Core Shards returned to this location will evolve.
“Whoa,” Claire whispered. “That’s a crazy item. 5 Units? For free?”
“Huh, that’s right. You weren’t there at the Subsector Leaderboards. The 5 units aren’t even the most important part,” Alex said eagerly. He cracked his neck as he readied himself. “I only need one more of them before I can bring these back to the Nexus Point. But, until then…”
Alex ground his fingers together. The white gemstone between them shattered into iridescent ribbons of falling light. An instant later, a wave of power drove into his stomach like a hamr.
He gritted his teeth as what felt like jagged blades of energy sliced through his veins. They wound through his flesh, carving through his body on their way into his soul. His hands clenched into fists and his blood seed to roar past his ears.
And then it stopped. The sensation couldn’t have lasted for longer than a few seconds, but Alex still blew out a relieved breath with its completion. He let himself relax once again, shaking his arms out as a grin pulled back across his lips.
Alyssa swallowed nervously. She drumd her fingers against the haft of her large paintbrush. “Uh…”
“I’m not going for yours,” Alex said through a snort. “I think we’d have already done that if we wanted to. There are more than enough people that I’m sure will try to kill us soon enough. Besides, your Partial Soul Manifestation is way too useful. I’d be an idiot to waste that just to get my hands on another Nexus Fragnt.”
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“How logical. Not the most sentintal approach. Wouldn’t most people have said sothing about us being friends or the like?”
“Dunno,” Alex said. “We’ve known each other for… what, a few days? It’s not like we spent much ti together after the dungeon. We’ve both been busy. Calling us friends would be a stretch. I’d rather just be honest. No reason to lie.”
“That’s… I guess that’s a good point, actually,” Alyssa admitted. “And it’s definitely a hell of a lot better than spewing a bunch of bullshit. I’ll take it. At least I’ve got a reason to believe you.”
Alex nodded absently. He glanced over the River King’s body, searching for where the man’s hands were. It took him a mont longer to find one. He knelt beside it with a grimace, studying the rings on the corpse.
“Looking for a Spatial Ring?” Claire asked.
“Yeah,” Alex replied as he started to pick the rings off the River King’s stubby, thick fingers. “No point to leave behind all the shit that the River King had. That’s a lot of money to throw away. And I don’t think we should sit around here forever. Sobody might notice that he’s missing. This guy strikes as the kind to have at least so kind of contingency plan.”
“That’s assuming he didn’t betray everyone on his side already,” Alyssa grumbled. She nudged the River King’s other hand with the butt of her paintbrush. “Here’s his other hand.”
Claire walked over and knelt beside it.
“Check his shoes as well,” Orchid put in, still holding a hand over May’s eyes to prevent the girl from seeing the blood-splattered room. “It’s common to hide things there.”
They spent the next few minutes just looting the huge man’s body. It was a rather sizable effort, but the end result was a few fistfuls of massive gold rings and necklaces, along with one much more respectable magical ring.
Alex held the ring in question — a plain golden band — up as he read the System’s identification for the item.
Stabilized Greater Spatial Ring (Epic)
Bonded Effect: The Stabilized Greater Spatial Ring contains a 10 x 10 x 10 foot cube of extradinsional space folded within it. Inanimate objects can be stored in this space. Magical items are stabilized, though sufficiently powerful ones can erode the ring until it becos destabilized.
Upon equipping, this ring will beco invisible and conceal itself from most prying eyes. It cannot be removed until the wearer’s death.
In addition to the extra effects at the bottom, it was also magnitudes larger than the one he already had. He glanced at Claire.
“You mind if I…”
“Go ahead,” Claire said with a shrug. “You killed him. And I don’t want anything from that giant sack of grease. I feel like it’ll ruin my appetite.”
Alex shrugged. “Fair enough.”
He slipped the ring onto his pinky. It was nearly three tis too large for his hand. But the mont he let go, the tal shimred. It shrank down to sit perfectly against his skin. Then, as they all watched, it vanished entirely.
“Now what?” Alyssa asked. She glanced around the gold filling the room. “Should we…”
“Of course,” Claire said. “I don’t know exactly what the going rate for gold is, but we’re not leaving anything behind. Alex, can your ring pick up more than one thing at a ti?”
Alex held his hand out over a pile of gold and concentrated.
Nothing happened.
He reached down to touch the pile. A single piece of gold vanished into his ring instantly. He grimaced.
“Nope.”
“Then we’ll get everyone else to help bring this back,” Orchid said. “There really wasn’t too much resistance from the River King’s n. I don’t think they were very motivated to back him. We avoided as lethal force as much as possible… but that leaves you with the question of what to do with them.”
Alex frowned. “Most of the people in Blackreach are Nativeworlders, right?”
“Yeah,” Alyssa said. “A lot of his warriors were loans from Gentle Shadow, though. They’re probably long gone.”
“We didn’t co up against anyone from Gentle Shadow,” Orchid confird. “Not that I recognized, at least.”
“Would you let them join your town?” Derek asked, examining one of the River King’s arms intently.
Alex and Claire exchanged a glance. She shook her head faintly, and Alex couldn’t help but agree with her.
“…no,” Alex said after a mont longer of thought. “Probably not. Not without at least so kind of interview or sothing. We aren’t established enough yet. I can’t just go around letting random people I don’t know learn the location of the town.”
“Then we’ll just tell them the River King is dealt with. Their Transporter probably has a few more locations in it,” Orchid said. “It does an that word about this will get out, though. It could cause you trouble in the future.”
“Better that than indiscriminate murder,” Alex decided. “They didn’t put up much resistance. That probably ans they were hoping we’d kill the River King. I’m not going to turn around and kill them just because it makes life easier. Let them go. Give all of them so gold as well.”
Both Claire and Orchid sent Alex a surprised glance.
“What?” Orchid blinked. “But—”
“It’s gold,” Alex said. “Not Credits. I an, I’m sure it’s still worth sothing, but Blackreach isn’t going to be safe anymore. The guard and guy leading it are gone. Who cares if we lose a bit of money? It’ll an more to the people here than it does to us. Maybe it’ll help smooth things out a bit as well. Make a few less enemies along the way.”
“That’s nice,” May said from behind Orchid’s hand. “I think it’s a good idea.”
“It’s a soft idea,” Orchid corrected. She shook her head. “But I’ll let our n know.”
Alex nodded. “Thank you. By the way, what happened to that rchant? Bridget?”
“Gone,” Orchid said. “Without a doubt. She was probably contracted from Gentle Shadow. I’d imagine she vanished the mont things went south between the River King and his Outworlder allies.”
Alex grunted. “h. No loss. I don’t think her supply line with Finley has changed, so no issues there. We should probably find another rchant for him to work with just in case. But that’s a problem for later. Orchid, do you mind finishing up here? I want to get back and ditate as soon as possible.”
“Just take May with you,” Orchid said.
“I’ll stay to help,” Claire offered. “And — Derek, stop. Put that down.”
Derek glanced over at her. He had one of the River King’s arms in the air and was examining at it like it was a choice steak rather than a piece of a very disgusting man.
“What?” Derek asked. “Look at it! The fat-at ratio is great!”
Alex grimaced. “No. Don’t even ntion it, man. That’s just fucked up.”
Derek sighed. He dropped the arm and rose back to his feet. “Fine. Waste of good food, though.”
“The hell were you doing before the apocalypse happened?” Alex asked. “I’ve never t anyone who would look at soone like the River King for even a second and think they’d want to taste him.”
“Just kinda lying around,” Derek replied with a one-shouldered shrug.
“…right,” Alex said. “Well, I’m heading back. Good run, everyone. Let’s do this again soti. I’ll see you around. I’ve got so points to cash in before one of the River King’s allies inevitably cos knocking at our door.”
Alyssa let out a snort. “Yeah. Right.”
Alex tilted his head to the side. “What?”
“What do you an, what?” Alyssa frowned. “Wait you were serious? You think that guy actually had anyone that would co avenge his death?”
“Avenge? Hell no.” It was Alex’s turn to snort, but his features went serious just monts later. “But he wasn’t a pushover. A fair number of Outworlders knew who he was. And when they figure out he’s kicked the bucket… I’ve got no doubt they’re going to co looking to see if they can part us from the fruits of our labor.”
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