Apocalypse: Regression

As Nick, t-shirt in hand, walked with Seo-ah to where assignments were being given out, he couldn’t help but watch the rift. His mind was completely occupied with it. He had done his best to try and be a part of the city’s recovery efforts, but there was no way he could focus on anything but the gaping entryway to another dimension.

“So, ready to get our volunteer work assignments?” Allen, who was walking over, ViVi in hand, asked as he came up to Nick and Seo-ah.

“Absolutely, but where’s your t-Shirt? You need to represent our guild!” Seo-ah scolded Allen. “Do you not get that this is a chance for free advertising? The better our brand is, the better talent we’ll be able to drag in, and the better we’ll be able to prepare for the next big calamity. Come on Allen, t-shirt!”

“Wait,” Nick said, stopping Allen before Seo-ah could send him off to Kaylee. “How much can that drone lift?”

“I don’t know . . . like . . . a hundred, hundred fifty pounds for a few minutes, if I really crank up the rotors?” Allen said, looking at the quadcopter drone’s propellers. “It really shouldn’t, but I’ve overclocked this thing.”

“What about just slowing someone’s descent? If it were just used to help someone float down, how much weight could it hold?”

“Oh . . . that would vary based on how fast you were going and the descent rate . . . like how many feet per second you still plan to lose while dropping, but . . .” Allen looked at Nick like he was trying to figure out where he was going with that line of questioning.

“Could you do any artificer magic to really crank it up, have it work for say . . . at least two hundred pounds?” Nick asked, pressing the question. It was only as Allen gave Seo-ah a sideways glance that he realized she was not looking very thrilled at Nick’s line of questioning.

She just looked at him as if her facial expression were spelling out in five different ways, “Don’t do it,” even though her mouth said nothing.

Nick replied with his best apologetic shrug to Seo-ah in return.

“Yeah, I’d just have to . . .” Allen, not wanting to get between the two, hesitated as he held ViVi tight to his chest like a child clutching a favorite toy, his eyes wandering between Nick and Seo-ah. “I mean . . .”

“Fine, just do it,” Seo-ah grumbled, giving up as she looked away from the mess that was about to happen.

“Thank you,” Nick replied, giving his girl a smooch on the side of her head before turning back to Allen.

“Supercharge it, man. Put all the magic you can into ViVi,” he told Allen.

“Sure, I’ll just need to . . .” Allen trailed off as he began tinkering, his hands quickly going to work on ViVi. It was evident how much love and care he’d put into the device as he tooled around with the drone. He’d probably taken apart and reassembled it dozens of times, re-optimizing each and every configuration.

“Great, now can I borrow it and the controller for a second?” Nick asked as he took the device from Allen.

“Nick . . . what are you . . . What do you plan to . . . Nick!” Allen’s protests came too late as Nick turned the drone engines to max, ran toward the giant empty moat surrounding the rift, and jumped as high and fast as he could. The second he was in the air, he held the now fully accelerated drone above his head, using the lift from ViVi to clear the distance as he floated right into the large red rift, the sounds of the panicked artificer as well as dozens of people and authorities coming from behind him as he glided straight into the large red portal.

The transition was less a journey and more a violent expulsion from reality. Everything seemed to warp and twist around him, creating a tunnel that shimmered with unknown energies. It was like being caught in the throes of a cosmic maelstrom, each swirl of light and dark attempting to tear him apart and stitch him back together in the same breath. Nick could only grit his teeth and let the tunnel carry him where it would.

Congratulations on becoming the first representative from Realm 1453, Currently Unnamed, to enter into Realm Zero, Veistregara.

As the first representative of your Realm to leave your Realm, you are bestowed the title “Frontier Warden,” and have the right to name your Realm within the system.

Frontier Warden [Rare]

This title marks you as a pioneer and guardian of the unknown, imbuing you with unique abilities and enhancements.

You have a +20% increased chance of finding rare resources, artifacts, and treasures within Veistregara, rewarding your bravery and exploratory spirit. You also have an enhanced chance to sense and interact with rifts, portals, and realm anomalies.

Note: Unlike in your home realm, you are now able to build and customize frontier bases so long as you are in Realm Zero. To do so, you must create a Domain Heart by harvesting and merging twenty-five essence fragments from individuals within Realm Zero.

As the notifications finished and his feet hit the ground, Nick quickly hit the button on ViVi’s back to turn the engines off. Then he took a look around him. Although it wasn’t surprising, and he didn’t know what else he could expect, he still found himself a little shocked to see the vast, empty arctic wasteland in front of him. Unlike Earth’s poles, everything wasn’t just solid white in all directions. Rather, the sky above was a long sheet of deep purple and cold blue bleeding into each other. Bitter winds sculpted the snow into spires that jutted out like the crown of some long-forgotten giant king, laying slumbering beneath the surface.

Nick's breath formed a cloud before him as he let it out and took in the sights around him. An intense chill bit into his flesh, gnawing through the layers of his clothing until the cold protection effect of his Crown of the Mountain Top kicked in.

Crown of the Mountaintop

While in Cold or Mountain Biomes:

+25% Movement speed.

+Allows the wearer to increase or decrease traction when climbing or running over icy or mountainous surfaces.

+25 Constitution.

+10 Magic.

+25% resistance to ice magic and ice magic effects.

+25% vulnerability to fire magic and fire magic effects.

Note: These effects are halved when the wearer is not in the appropriate environment.

He could feel the improved vitality and swell of magic inside himself. It had been a while since he felt the full bonuses of the crown, and he suspected he’d need every advantage he could get.

His spear appeared in his hands as he withdrew it from his inventory space, prepared to fight.

As the wind kicked up, causing his visibility to drop with the howling biting force of the chilling gusts, he pulled out ViVi’s controller and sent the drone into the air while he squatted low to become less noticeable, backing up a bit so he could exit at any moment as he checked his left and right for potential predators.

Even though he was struggling to see fifty or sixty feet in front of him every time the wind blew, ViVi was having no such difficulties. Allen had done well, and as Nick peered through the monitor device on the controller, he could clearly and easily see the heat signatures on arctic vulpes moving some five or six hundred feet in the distance, just behind one of the ridges. The young arctic foxes darted behind a rock like they knew they were being watched.

“Twenty-five rift essences . . .” he mumbled, going back to the notifications he had seen earlier as he continued to examine the surroundings on ViVi’s monitor, hoping to get as much data recorded as possible before going back to the others to report.

As he looked at the notification, he had to think about Steven Girard’s ramblings on the night of the rift break. The man had been trying to tell him something, something that Nick had found nearly impossible to believe at the time. However, even the system messages, things they just trusted to be there like the air they breathed, were now using language that seemed to corroborate parts of Steven’s stories, so he knew he couldn’t just brush the man’s words off that easily.

“There have to be at least two realms,” Nick said, trying to line up the facts in his head. “No, wait. There’s the Black Witch too. She had portals, and her portals led here. She’s obviously not from our realm, so let’s say there are three realms. The Black Witch’s realm, our realm, and this realm. It’s also clear that two of the realms were filled with humans, and one is filled with monsters that definitely want to farm us like livestock.”

As he was thinking about it, going over the facts he had in his head about the subject, he could hear ViVi make a strange noise. A red square flashed across ViVi’s monitoring screen. It broke his attention, and he looked down to see what was going on, only for it to be too late.

He only had a second to react as a half dozen creatures burst through the snowdrifts. The creature closest to him was fast, nearly striking him before he could throw up any defenses as he leapt backwards, using the power of his crown to increase the friction of his feet against the icy ground to keep him standing as he spun his spear defensively. He battered one creature away with the butt off his spear, spun and then thrust the spear forward, the Weight of Dedication finding its mark as it plunged into another lepus monster’s chest. The beast let out a sharp shriek before collapsing into a heap of white fur as blood streamed out across the pure white snow.

"Next!" Nick called out defiantly, though his voice was lost in the howling wind. Nick saw another lunge out of the corner of his eye and started to turn to defend, but then he heard a crack like a gun being shot and felt a burning sensation in his side. He looked down and saw one of the icy horns sticking out of him, fired like a bullet from one of the creatures.

He pulled out the projectile, cold magic radiating from it before he dropped it to the ground. There was another crack and Nick threw himself to the side and heard a thunk as he rolled.

Nick saw the four remaining creatures racing around him, each with intact horns, and he knew there must be more out there somewhere, hiding and shooting. The creatures were smarter than he had given them credit for, and he considered running back through the rift. For all he knew, there could be dozens of the monsters ready to shower him with icy death.

Then there was a loud, insistent beep above him and bright-red light swept out all around Nick. He looked up and saw ViVi hovering in the air. The drone’s light separated and focused on four snow banks like a spotlight highlighting the entry of a new challenger. Nick charged at the closest lit up snowbank, his spear sweeping through it. The top layer of snow was blown away, and he found an horned lepus, startled and chittering frantically, the nub of a new ice horn already re-growing in its forehead.

Nick sent his aura through his spear, impaled the creature, and felt a warmth flow through him, his Soulstealer’s Ring taking a portion of its life energy to heal him.

With ViVi beeping above him, its lights highlighting the horned lepuses, Nick went on full offense. He charged over the snow, his control of his traction giving him added speed as he tore through the monsters. One by one, the horned lepuses met their end, bashed and stabbed by Nick as he hunted them down.

You have gained 1,310 EXP.

Congratulations! Straight Thrust Lv. 4 has evolved into Straight Thrust Lv. 5.

Straight Thrust now adds 50% strength based damage and an additional 10% damage based on Aura stat.

Congratulations! Spear Sweep Lv. 4 has evolved into Spear Sweep Lv. 5.

Spear Sweep now adds 50% strength based damage and an additional 10% damage based on Aura stat.

Nick breathed heavily as he dismissed the notification, unsure if it was the extra effort of moving through the snow or just something about fighting in the cold environment, but it felt like the fight had been more challenging than it should have been. Then again, without ViVi, he wouldn’t have had a chance to win in the first place.

He turned, ready to return through the rift and report what he’d found, when Vivi beeped once again and hovered over one of the dead horned lepuses.

He walked over and stared down at the monster's remains, wondering what the drone was trying to point out. He used Omni-Trainer’s Insight.

Horned Lepus

Level: 32

Type: Frost Critter

The horned lepus is a nimble and elusive creature native to the frigid tundras of the Realm Zero. Covered in dense, snow-white fur, it blends in seamlessly with its icy environment, making it difficult to spot. Its large, expressive eyes are a deep shade of blue, reflecting the cold, harsh landscape it inhabits.

Insight Note:

Snow Camouflage: The horned lepus's fur provides perfect camouflage in snowy environments, allowing it to avoid predators and ambush prey.

Frost Leap: This ability enables the horned lepus to leap great distances, leaving behind a trail of frost that can temporarily slow down pursuers.

Cold Resistance: Naturally resistant to freezing temperatures and ice-based attacks, the horned lepus thrives in extreme cold conditions.

Ice Horn Blast: The horned lepus can fire a shard of ice from its small horn at supersonic speeds, capable of piercing through armor and dealing significant damage to enemies. This ability is usually used defensively when the lepus is cornered or feels threatened.

Nick couldn’t understand what ViVi wanted. The creature’s information would have been useful if he’d been able to get it before the fight, but he saw little else of interest.

Then he caught the sparkle of something in one of the stab wounds. Using the tip of his spear, he cut open the horned lepus and found a crystal the size of the tip of his pinky. He pulled it out, wiped off the blood, and saw that its color shifted from yellow to pink to aquamarine like it couldn’t decide what it was. He examined it with Omni-Trainer’s Insight.

Essence Fragment - Minor

Type: Consumable

Effect: Energy Source

Essence fragments are a valuable item harvested from individuals within Realm Zero. These shimmering, ethereal fragments are imbued with potent magical energy. Combining ten of them will form a normal Essence Fragment.

Insight Note: Essence Fragments can be harvested from individuals within Realm Zero and also by breaking a normal Essence Fragment down into ten pieces. However, when converting larger essence fragments into smaller ones, the yield will not always be guaranteed.

After reading the notification and understanding the importance of the essence fragments, Nick quickly cut open and collected the remaining ones from the monsters he’d slain. As Nick examined the ten minor fragments he had collected, he noticed that at least one creature, a tiny horned lepus no larger than a chihuahua, was staring at him in the distance. He gripped his spear, ready to do battle, but rather than attack him, the little lepus darted off at full speed, running away from him.

“What… No, come back,” Nick said to the fleeting outline where the beady eyes had been staring at him a moment ago. He was completely lost as to what just happened. The others had been like rabid dogs in their attempt to kill him, but this one, the tiny bunny, had actually shown self-preservation instincts and fled.

“I hate smart monsters the most,” he griped, thinking about the lost minor essence shard.

“That’s not all you have to worry about,” a familiar female voice whispered in his ear like she was standing right next to him, but even as he whipped his head around, there was no sign of anyone there. “It saw the portal. It knows you’re here. It knows you don’t belong, and soon, everyone it tells will know that a buffet of delicious people have appeared in the artic lands of Salarium.”

The woman’s words caused Nick’s heart to seize like she was holding his chest. The terror of what she implied ran through his head. He knew she was right, even if he didn’t know how much he could trust her. Her words were laced with both cause for fear and irrefutable logic.

What do I do? How do I close the rift? Can I catch it if I run fast enough and kill it before it opens its mouth? The questions, one after the other, began to race through Nick’s head as he looked around.

“Call your reinforcements. Build the heart. Fortify your defenses before it’s too late. The rules of this world are different than the rules of your own. You must act quickly or face death,” the voice urged him, giving him the only hope he had to save humanity from whatever threats had just discovered them.

“Thanks,” he replied quickly, giving the one word of gratitude to the one guiding him, before making up his mind to do just what the voice had recommended. However, if he was going to kill another two hundred and forty tiny lepuses, or twenty-four monsters large enough to drop regular essence shards, then he was going to need back up.

With that thought in mind, he took ViVi, turned the camera to face him, and began recording: “Allen. It’s me, Nick. I’m doing fine, but I need help ASAP. Send the best hunting parties. Humanity depends on it.”

Ending the recording, Nick turned on ViVi’s rotors, slotted the controller on the drone, and threw the little machine in a direction he hoped would reach Allen.