Rune Seeker

Hiral watched Drahn stare at the glowing rainbow dot before the tracker turned back to Seena. “He says that like it’s a very bad thing. Is this Fallen really that scary?”

“More than you can imagine,” Seena said. “We fought him while he was weakened, starved…”

“Half-stuck in a tower meant to suck his power away,” Yanily added.

“… and that,” Seena said flatly, side-eying the spearman. “And he still very nearly wiped the floor with us. We were only C-Rank at the time, I guess, and got a lot of good rewards for actually defeating him, but… can it really be him, Hiral?”

“You remember the notification we got,” Hiral said. It wasn’t a question. “It said the Fallen was dealt with, not defeated. He must’ve somehow survived the fall.”

“This dot fell from Fallen Reach?” Drahn poked the rainbow spot. “Nine miles?”

“While half-trapped in a tower,” Yanily said. Again.

“And he survived?”

“Looks that way,” Hiral said. “Unless I’m wrong, though I somehow doubt it. That’s a new problem.”

“All depends how much he’s recovered from things,” Hiral said. “His strength – when we fought him – was at least in the B-Rank range. But his potential, it felt like it was almost limitless.”

“Are we expected to do something about him?” Seeyela asked. “He’s on the other side of the mountains – with a dozen Infested, I might add. That’s probably too much for us right now. And it’s not a dungeon, so the PIMP won’t be limiting Vorinal’s strength like a normal Boss to something we can handle.”

“It’s not something we can ignore,” Seena said, looking again at the map. “Left, you said this is the raid zone?”

The double nodded.

“Then this needs to be our next priority,” she said. “Right after we see about getting the Bonders on our side. I have a feeling we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

“You said raid groups were traditionally three parties – eighteen people?” Hiral asked Seena, and she nodded. “But Left said it would let in more. I wonder how this is all going to work. Oh… dear.”

“You just realized that means Vorinal and his Infested friends can enter too, huh?” Seena said.

“It’s not just going to be a raid zone,” Yanily said. “It’s going to be a contested raid zone.”

“Worse than that,” Hiral said. “I mean, contesting anything against a Fallen is bad. But, think about this. If Left got a notification for this raid zone, that means it’s PIMP-sanctioned.”

“So?” Seeyela asked.

“The PIMP is all about balance, and since this isn’t a dungeon – it’s a natural area, it seems – and Vorinal can get in, that probably means the Fallen will be able to get any natural rewards that might be available in there. Depending on why this is a raid zone… Actually, scrap that. If Vorinal wants something from this zone, wewant to make sure he doesn’t get it even more.”

“It’s not like we were going to skip the raid,” Seena said. “But it’s a good reminder. Left, you said something about the place being sealed? Did the notification say how long we have until it opens?”

“When we found it, one hundred and forty-eight hours,” Left said. “Still more than one-forty left.”

“Not a lot of time, but also not too soon. Enough time to get reinforcements from Fallen Reach,” Seena said. “I guess we should stop wasting that time talking about this. Why are we always so chatty?”

“We enjoy each other’s company?” Yanily offered. “Witty banter and all that.”

“Must be it,” Seena chuckled. “Left, you’re sure you’re good on where we need to go?”

“All memorized,” Left said.

“Good…” Seena started.

“I have a question,” Seeyela interrupted. “That explains all the colored dots, but, is it just me or are there blank spots on this map?”

“What do you mean?” Seena asked.

“Like right here?” Seeyela pointed to a section of map within another plain similar to the savanna. “At first, I thought it was just flat ground, so it wasn’t showing anything. Look at the edges, though. They’re fuzzy. And it’s not the only spot. There’s one there in those mountains, see? Another one over in the water too.”

“Something wrong with the Racial Scanner?” Yanily asked. “Broken?”

“Or hidden,” Hiral said.

“None of them look too close,” Seena said. “Though, now that you mention it, this section of mountain where you said the raid zone is, isn’t it kind of fuzzy too?”

“Maybe these blanks are other raids,” Right offered.

“Something to consider after we clear this first one,” Seena said. “Left?”

“I’ve got a good idea where they are too,” the double said.

“Great, then all we need is the dungeon inter…” Seena started, only for everything in the room to go dark, the globe above them vanishing so suddenly it almost made Hiral stumble. Just as his senses realized he wasn’t floating in some endless abyss, display windows around the room flickered to life. It wasn’t anything as dramatic as in previous dungeons, but the eerie on-off, on-off, on-off in rapid succession of the windows made it look like the others were moving in still-frame-motion. It was actually so unnerving, Hiral pushed out his sensory domain to make sure there wasn’t anything waiting for them in the shadows.

Just as he found the walls with his senses, five glowing display windows solidified, illuminating six chests, one dungeon interface, and a new notification window.

Dungeon – The Lost Refuge of the Lost: Complete

New Record

Time: 2:41:03

Congratulations. Achievement unlocked – One Less Threat

Through a chance encounter, you’ve eliminated a potential foe and had your path forward illuminated.

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.

Time until Dungeon – The Lost Refuge of the Lost instance closure: 59:99

Hiral narrowed his eyes at the wording of the flavor text for the achievement. The first part of that – is it suggesting Banst was real? That this whole place is – like Fallen Reach was the second time? As for the second part, am I just being overly sensitive about things and getting annoyed by everything the PIMP says?

“Huh, that’s a little different than last time,” Seena said, looking from the interface to the chests.

“Who cares?” Yanily asked. “It’s loot time!” Without another word, the spearman went straight for a chest beneath a green window that had sparks of lightning randomly shooting through it. For Seeyela, hers had begun to drip, while Seena’s had licks of flame at the corners. Even Hiral’s had changed slightly, with half-seen characters shining within the display depending on how he looked at it.

They weren’t always there, but every time he turned his head, he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

“I’m getting a little jealous here,” Drahn said, looking at his… very plain, green window.

“Just get an advanced class,” Yanily said without turning. He was far too busy opening his chest.

“Just get an advanced class, he says,” Drahn mumbled. “Like it’s that easy.” Then he looked at the four other party members and the two doubles. “At least you two don’t have one. You don’t, do you?”

Left and Right shared a look, then simultaneously stepped forward and patted Drahn on the shoulders with identical sympathetic looks. Another step and they were past him, heading for the central chest.

“They don’t!” Drahn said towards Seena. “They’re just taunting me, aren’t they? Aren’t they?!”

“Shhh, open your chest and enjoy the loot,” Seena said, though much like Yanily, she was too interested in the contents of her chest to look up.

One last chuckle at his doubles’ antics – not that he’d tell Drahn it was a joke – and Hiral turned his attention to his own chest. Or… maybe chest was a bit of an exaggeration. It was pretty small, and a quick glance showed the others all actually had the same thing. Or, at least the same size.

What could it be…?

Reaching down, Hiral ran his fingers along the rather ornate filigree along the lid – The chest is fancy, so whatever’s inside has to be decent – then flipped the top open. Nestled comfortably in a bed of red velvet, a black band with veins of gold running through it glowed faintly in the limited light. Looking closer, the veins in the thick ring couldn’t be natural. They were far too straight, and though they weren’t symmetrical or anything, there was a definite pattern to them. They weren’t runes – though Hiral felt a hint of something from them – but the design practically called out to his PIM.

“Not bad,” Seena said, and Hiral turned to see her holding up a hand to get a better look at the ring now on her finger.

Hrm, that’s where she wore her 1st Generation PIM Enhancement Ring.

Looking back at the chest in front of him, View activated, and Hiral very quickly understood why.

(Lost) 4th Generation PIM Enhancement Ring

+15 to all stats.

One of the more advanced attempts to modify and improve the PIM past basic functionality.

Note: Only one attribute-boosting ring can be worn at a time.

Hiral let out a low whistle. Going from plus-three to all his attributes to plus-fifteen was huge. Without a second thought, he swapped his old ring for this new one, and immediately felt the boost – especially to the stats he usually ignored.

“Did you all get a ring like this?” Hiral asked the others.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Plus fifteen?” Yanily said, holding out his hand to show off his ring.

“Yup,” Seena and Seeyela said at the same time, looked at each other, then held out their matching rings. Even Drahn had the same one, and he was looking at the thing like it was a long-lost love, his eyes wide and practically sparkling.

“Good thing the Interspatial Rings don’t count as equipment,” Seeyela said. “I wasn’t wearing the plus-three version of this, but fifteen? That’s too good to pass up.”

Yeah, fifteen free stats is just that good.

“Nothing fancy or complicated,” Seena said. “But damn good. What’s in the group chest?”

Left held up what looked like a crystal cube that fit snugly in the palm of his hand. “A Building-In-A-Box,” the double said. “Well, technically, three of them.”

“That’s not even big enough for Li’l Ur,” Yanily said. “Unless he scrunches right up.”

“What’s it do?” Hiral asked, knowing it couldn’t be a building for the little lich. Probably.

“According to the notification window,” Left said. “It is a seed for an actual building that can be grown with the input of solar energy. It can also take on the properties of other materials used during the growing process – including rare materials, from what it says – to improve the quality of the result.”

“We can grow houses?” Seena asked.

“It doesn’t specify houses,” Left corrected. “Buildings.”

“Any limit on dimensions listed?” Hiral asked.

“None,” Left said. “There is a note that states once we choose a location and begin the growth process, however, the building won’t be able to be moved after that.”

“We need to be picky about where we put it,” Seeyela said.

“Somewhere with a good view,” Yanily said. “Obviously.”

“I wonder what the PIMP expects us to do with these?” Seena asked, and Hiral grimaced at the mention of the PIMP and its plans.

Not wanting the others to see the emotion likely clear on his face, Hiral turned away, though he caught Seeyela with a similar expression on her face. Their eyes met for a brief instant, then they both turned back to their chests. Seeyela was clearly still annoyed with the PIMP despite previous discussion, and now Hiral was starting to lean her way as well.

A shake of his head. It wasn’t important now. Like he’d decided, he’d take what the PIMP gave him through his achievement rewards, but he’d use them his way.

As if she’d read his mind, Seena asked, “Everybody ready for achievements? I’m sure we’ve got some good ones.”

“So ready,” Yanily said.

“Why don’t you do the honors, Seena,” Seeyela said, her voice only tense because Hiral was listening for it. “You did finish Banst off.”

“And half the theatre,” Drahn chuckled.

Seena gave the tracker a faux glare, then walked over to the interface and said, “Achievement Rewards.”

Just like that, a barrage of windows sprung up in Hiral’s face, and his eyes widened at the first one. Right, we had those achievements from killing that Wild-Boss. Totally forgot about them.

Achievement: Fully Countered

Reward: Class Modification: Right Back at You

Right Back at You: When avoiding attacks, a calculated portion of damage that would have been suffered is instead stored for later use by the user.

Note: Calculated damage has limits.

Note (2): Stored damage can be used on an attack or ability of the user’s choice.

Note (3): Stored damage can be maintained for up to 3 minutes per Rank.

Note (4): New instances of stored damage refresh storage timer.

Hiral read the notification window, then did the same thing a second time. It doesn’t say anywhere how much it stores per dodge. Or total. Is it purposely being vague?

Since he knew he wouldn’t get an answer to that question, he put it out of his mind. All in all, not a bad ability. And it should synergize really well with his attributes and Echo Aura. Actually, since it didn’t look like it had a limit on which abilities it could be used with, could he use it with the Lost Echoes as they spawned? That’d make them hit extra hard!

Testing for later.

Hiral suppressed his own chuckle as he moved on to the next window.

Achievement: A Tough Nut to Crack

Reward: Class Modification: It’s What’s Inside That Counts

It’s What’s Inside That Counts: When fighting enemies of higher rank than yourself, gain 10% bonus experience per stage of rank difference (low, medium, high), or a flat 30% for unknown ranks.

Hiral read that over a second time too. At first glance it looked decent. Bonus experience was always good – though of course they got it after completing the dungeon – but how much would it really impact them? Mid-Bosses and Bosses for sure, but it didn’t say anything about Elites, so it would only take effect when fighting things stronger than them.

Then again, maybe that’s the point? We’re bound to grow faster by fighting stuff above our rank – if we survive.

He put it firmly in the ‘okay’ category as far as achievement rewards went, but it could easily go either way depending on how often it actually worked. A thought closed the window, and Hiral moved right on to the final achievement from killing the Reinforced Runeoceros.

Achievement: Running Wild

Class Reward: Class Modification – (Lost) PIM Upgrade – Party Interface – Call of the Wild

(Lost) PIM Upgrade – Party Interface – Call of the Wild – Rare and powerful creatures have claimed territory as their own across the world. Territory that holds powerful Lost treasures, while the creatures themselves are a source of growth and advancement.

Party Interface will now detect and track such Wild-Bosses when within a certain range based on Atn and Rank.

Hunt these creatures to take their power as your own.

Dynamic Quest Complete

My First Hunt

Reinforced Runeoceros Defeated: 1/1

Reinforced Runeoceros Treasure Obtained: 2/2

Hiral blinked at the second notification that suddenly popped up and covered his achievement notifications.

“Treasure?” Yanily asked the same question on the tip of Hiral’s tongue. “We got treasure from the Wild-Boss?”

“News to me,” Seena said. “Did anybody find anything?”

“Not me,” Hiral said. “Drahn?”

“Nothing,” the tracker said.

“You think it means this?” Seeyela asked, a massive horn appearing in her hands before thunking to the ground. “Or this?” A thick plate of the Rune-o’s armor dropped beside the horn. It was the slab of armor Hiral had cut off to give Seena a target. And, now that he thought about it, he’d also cut off the horn.

“Look at you Miss Sticky-Fingers,” Seena said, one eyebrow up.

“What?” Seeyela asked with a shrug. “I thought they might be useful later. And apparently they are… somehow. Just don’t ask me why.”

“The horn is still circulating solar energy,” Hiral said, the movement of it clear to his senses and Cycling+. “And it feels like the rune is still active in there.”

“Something you can use?” Seena asked him.

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’ll take a closer look at it later, I guess.”

“The plate?” Seena asked. “I don’t sense much solar energy in it.”

“Me neither,” Hiral said. “Might as well keep it though. Maybe we can find a use for it. Feed it to the new buildings or something when we figure out where to set them up.”

Seeyela crouched down, and the two items vanished a few seconds later, sucked back into her Interspatial Ring.

“I’m guessing we all got that Call of the Wild ability at the same time,” Seena went on. “Finish up your other achievements, and we’ll go over them together.”

Hiral nodded and dismissed the quest window and read through Call of the Wild one more time. There were more Wild-Bosses out there, and it sounded like there would be a benefit to hunting them. A benefit to who, though?

Ugh, as annoyed as I am, I can’t keep questioning everything.

Hiral swept the notification aside before he could dwell on it, and went to the next.

Achievement: ~(o_O)/~

Reward: Class Ability: (Lost) Echo Aura+ becomes Class Ability: (Lost) Vengeful Echo Aura+.

(Lost) Vengeful Echo Aura+: When you successfully evade an attack, have a chance to leave behind a Vengeful Lost Echo+ afterimage in your position that will pursue your attacker to attack a single time before exploding. (Don’t worry, the explosions weren’t removed.)

Note: (Lost) Vengeful Echo Aura+ is a continuous effect requiring no ongoing investment of solar energy, and a minor investment for each Vengeful Lost Echo produced.

Note (2): Damage of attack and explosions caused by (Lost) Vengeful Echo Aura+ are based off Atn, with damage for each subsequent explosion against the same target increasing by 10%.

Note (3): User of (Lost) Vengeful Echo Aura+ and party members are unaffected by explosions.

Note (4): Explosions. Explosions. Explosions. More upgraded, angry explosions.

Hiral nearly facepalmed.

Had the PIMP given him this upgrade because of his current feelings about things, or was it more because the Lost Echoes had already proven weaker against ranged attackers? Either way, objectively speaking, it was a good improvement. With the Lost Echoes no longer staying in place – but instead chasing after their target – they were suddenly that much more dangerous. Especially if he kept boosting his Atn. One more read through to make sure he didn’t miss anything obvious, and Hiral closed the window to open his next one.

Achievement: Don’t Hug This Tree

Class Ability (Active): Power Attack and Class Ability (Active): Dual Power Attack become Class Ability (Active): Power Attack+ and Class Ability (Active): Dual Power Attack+.

Power Attack+: When using a single, one-handed weapon, increase total, combined damage of all attacks that would be launched by 10% for every second the attacks are held before striking.

Note: Total damage bonus of Power Attack+ caps at 30% (3 seconds of held time).

Dual Power Attack+: When using a single, two-handed weapon, or two one-handed weapons simultaneously, increase total, combined damage of all attacks that would be launched by 15% for every second the attacks are held before striking.

Note: Total damage bonus of Dual Power Attack+ caps at 45% (3 seconds of held time).

This time, Hiral’s near-face-palm turned into his jaw dropping. He actually had to read that two more times – slowly – to make sure he was understanding it correctly. Even then, he’d need to test it to make sure it worked like it looked.

And how did it look? Doing the math for his RHCs – with a shot every zero-point-two seconds – he could theoretically fire fifteen shots each in three seconds. The way the upgraded ability read, Power Attack+ – with just one weapon – would take the combined, total, potential damage of fifteen shots, multiply it all by thirty percent, and then put it all in a single shot.

If he was using both weapons, it would combine thirty shots, multiply it by an additional forty-five percent, and then… what? Death beam something? It might as well be, considering the sheer absurdity of that much damage.

…just what does the PIMP expect us to fight we need that much firepower?

The thought of it all made him a little nervous – and a little leery the PIMP was trying to bribe him back into its good graces – but he could only wait and see. Then again, maybe like the Gravity ability on the Greatsword of Amin Thett, there was a hidden cap to the amount it could store in that single shot. Testing really was the only option.

One more readthrough of the window – and another shake of his head – and Hiral hesitantly closed the notification window to bring up the final one. Just what would the last one be? He got his answer the next second.

Achievement: Face the Music

Reward: Class Ability (Active): Resonance of Lost Heroes

Worry not on the darkness of the road ahead, for a guiding light shall lead you true.

Resonance of Lost Heroes: Grants a party-wide buff that channels memories and strengths of Lost heroes.

Grants Ability (Passive): Resonance to user and members of user’s party within range.

Resonance: Chance on attack to mimic an ability used by legendary heroes lost to time.

Note: Abilities generated by Resonance are random and based on historical references. Results may vary.

Note (2): Range is 200 feet from user at time of creation.

Note (3): Duration—2 minutes per Rank

Note (4): Cooldown—60 minutes

Note (5): Cooldown between Resonance Abilities – 10 seconds

Hiral frowned at the window in front of him. It was a good ability – he couldn’t deny that – but he just… didn’t want it. Here it was again, like the PIMP was trying to make him, and the rest of the party now, into copies of people who’d come before. To guide them down the only path it saw as correct.

Why did they need to be copies? What was wrong with who they were or what they were trying to do themselves? They all had their own reasons, along with people they loved and wanted to protect. Those were what kept them each going.

They didn’t need abilities from forgotten heroes – they were already heroes.

They’d saved Fallen Reach, even after Vorinal had been freed and the PIMP didn’t know what to do. And they were sure as hell going to stop the Enemy. Yes, that’d be much easier with the PIMP’shelp, but they wouldn’t be its puppets, its slaves, or its copies.

Another shake of his head at the notification window. He’d never even considered not taking an achievement reward before – and he wasn’t sure he could deny it – but neither of those things mattered.

He. Was. Not. Taking. This.