Anti-Mage

As Anton sat in the trees on the north side of the road and waited for his Psychic Energy to replenish before he made his way to the National Guard base a few more Notifications appeared in his vision.

SYSTEM Users also enjoy additional perks.

First, All SYSTEM Users may pull up a simplified terrain map that will display everything that they have noticed within 100 feet. What is displayed is determined by the SYSTEM user's perception. Skills and Class Abilities can modify and improve this perk.

Second, All System Users receive Personal Storage. Personal Storage is an extra-dimensional storage area that can hold up to 10 lbs. worth of materials. Attaining Teir 2,3,4, and 5 Classes as well as some Skills can modify the total storage area. Please note that some perks and abilities allow others to search through and take from your Personal Storage. Some skills work to prevent others from searching another's Personal Storage

As part of your Personal Storage Wardrobe Sets can be assigned and changed into. One set may be assigned per Class Tier. Perks and Skills can modify this number. Additionally, all looted Treasure can be deposited in your Personal Storage.

Anton opened his Status screen. Sure enough, there was a new tab labeled storage. Anton opened it and found that he had 95 copper pieces in it. While there wasn’t a combat log he could look at he must have received some treasure from killing those bunnies.

Anton heard a smash off in the distance on the highway that seemed like it was a little closer than it had been before and decided that it was time to get a move on. Anton made his way east along the north side of 19th Avenue North as he tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Of course, he knew his luck was shit because not 10 seconds later he heard a roar and looked behind him to see the giant Bison jump off the overpass and start charging right at him after it landed.

Anton didn’t know what he’d done to piss this bison off then he saw it. One of the horns had a tip missing. It had had both its horns when he’d first seen it and the dumb beast had hurt itself and now it must be blaming him for its own stupidity. There was nothing for it, Anton was going to have to convert into a Specter and try to get away before it found him.

Anton watched the Bison charge toward him and when it was just about on him activated Specter and then started running toward the base. He stopped following the road and just left the Bison behind him as he headed northeast onto the Guard base. As a Specter he passed through the fence with no issue and was able to make it a mile in just under 3 minutes and made it to the runway and stumbled. He couldn’t see what was going on from the south end of the base but when he made it onto the runway he had a clear line of sight and could see that the Bison behind him wasn’t his only problem. The base was being swarmed by monsters. Giant Bison were attacking the military personnel and civilians who were trying to fight back, while other smaller creatures that resembled coyotes but were much quicker darted around and attacked any lone humans they could.

There was nothing Anton could do here so he turned around and began heading south. One thing he noticed immediately when he came back to the hill was that his steps didn’t follow it. As he jogged, or ran his feet stopped touching the ground and he began pushing against what felt like the ground but his feet were at least 6 inches above it. Anton willed himself to move and that’s when he truly embraced the fact that he was a Specter. He could float and fly. After which point moving became a whole lot easier.

With his Psychic Energy at 50, he could initiate the power and maintain it for 40 minutes. He was no math genius but if his running rate was 19 miles an hour, at least that’s what his Status Screen said. If his speed was 19 miles an hour, he should be able to travel 12 miles before he needed to rest for 50 minutes to get his Psychic Energy back.

But, there was an implication in the description that if he leveled the skill, he could move even faster which was proved after he traveled for 5 minutes.

Congratulations!

The Skill Specter has increased to Common Level 2. Activation Cost: 10 Psychic Energy. 1 Psychic Energy per minute. Movement speed increased by a factor of one. Current Movement speed is double your Running speed.

So his ability to reappear if he was killed had been tied to his perception but now as a Specter his movement while in his Specter Form was tied to his normal Running Speed. The only time his Perception would come into play then was if he was completely out of Psychic Energy, good to know. Anton focused on his movement again and noticed that he floated faster and continued south. His skill level in Specter increased again at 10 minutes, 16 minutes, 25 minutes, and 35 minutes, after which he started looking for a place to come landing to take a break.

At Common Level 5 his skill was allowing him to travel at around 95 miles an hour and looking at where he was it looked like he was almost 40 miles south of Fargo. Anton found a place on the roof of a company called Gorder AG Supply and crossed back over into the material plane with a couple of minutes left before he ran out of Psychic Energy. He had 4 points left. Anton kept quiet and allowed his Psychic Energy to come back while he thought about what he needed to do next.

He knew he needed to level and he knew he needed to make his way toward a city with a million people so he could access a SYSTEM Shop. When he thought “SYSTEM Shop” his Basic Map filled his vision and an arrow pointing off to his Southeast lit up. The only city in that direction was Minneapolis-St. Paul which was over 250 miles away.

For the next three hours, Anton did one more round of flight and traveled for 35 minutes before he rested for 45 minutes. This put him about 50 miles northwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul on top of one of the skyscrapers in St. Cloud. His Specter skill had leveled up to Common Level 10 and he was traveling at roughly 190 miles per hour which was incredibly nice. Also, while in his Specter Form, there was no air resistance so he was able to just zoom along. Though he didn’t notice any other changes in the skill yet.

He was hiding in an alcove because the area was flooded with people and monsters. It was crazy how many monsters and people there were and it didn’t look like humanity on this version of Earth was doing very well, at least the civilians. This helped Anton make his mind up about trying something out. If using his skill continuously for hours on end was going to get him skill levels with his skills, it was time to try his luck at leveling all of the skills he could. Besides Anton wanted to see what happened when he tried to level a skill he’d purchased. There were a lot of creatures attacking humans that looked like the fictional goblins that he read about so he might as well start there. That gave him an idea.

He’d read a book once where someone had broken a staff and a tremendous explosion of magic had wiped out everyone in a certain radius. If he could find an evil mage and break their staff, that could be cool as hell. He’s seen a couple of shaman-looking goblins running around with staffs shooting black bolts of energy. If he was immune to magic he should be able to use Mind Bolt on the shaman, pick up their magical item, and break it. The XP reward for that should level him.

Anton spent the next 35 minutes running all over St. Cloud until he found the encampment where a leader of Goblins seemed to be torturing and killing humans. Nearby there was another encampment of goblins. The evil fucks were playing drums to drum up the horror while men, women, and children screamed and begged nearby. Well, men and women. The children they’d caught had already been killed and were being cooked when Anton found them.

Anton hadn’t wanted to wait but he also didn’t want to die so he could get the most XP possible so he hid and rested until his Psychic Energy was full and then activated Specter. Anton moved to the makeshift stage he’d created and became materialized 15 feet away from him. The Shaman Goblin was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t even react as some of the goblins screamed and pointed at Anton. Anton merely smiled and hit the Shaman with Mind Bolt. His normal damage of 113 wouldn’t have killed the Shaman. It was level 37 and had 225 hit points. But because it was considered an attack from surprise it was a critical hit and did 226 points of damage which killed the Goblin instantly.

None of the goblins thought to grab a ranged weapon or throw anything at Adam. They saw their Shaman drop to the ground dead and decided to come after him without waiting. No, they just jumped at him like rabid dogs. Anton almost lazily reached forward, grabbed the staff that he’d seen the goblin cast spells with, and snapped it against his leg.

Anton was just as surprised as the goblins when the explosion threw him over 50 feet away from the epicenter and slammed him against a wall. Yes, as an Anti-Mage he was completely immune to magic. What he wasn’t immune to was the force of the air pressure such an explosion made which blew him back and away as the magic disintegrated everything within 50 feet and damaged everything with 100 killing even more goblins.

Anton slammed into a wall about 6 feet above the ground and slid down as some of the goblins that had survived looked in his direction. Before they could react he activated Specter and made his way to his hidey-hole where he materialized into a sealed bank vault in the Wells Fargo building in the middle of town where he groaned before he passed out.

Anton woke up with a start in complete darkness. After he breathed for a moment he checked his attributes, saw that he’d healed completely, which only meant that at least 20 seconds had passed, and then looked at his Psychic Energy which was also topped off. He’d had 9 points left when he passed out so he knew that at least 51 minutes had passed since the attack.

After a moment he remembered that he was being an idiot and pulled up the clock in his interface. It was close to 5 p.m. He’d slept for almost 4 hours and it was Almost sunset. Anton opened his notifications to see what had happened when the staff exploded.

…

Withering Staff has been willfully broken.

Current Charges 45

Damage per charge 6

Damage at Epicenter 270 stepped down by one-half every 5 feet.

Damage Taken 68 points of force damage (25% of 270)

Damage Taken 12 from slamming into a wall.

55 of 135 Hit Points Remaining

Well, that made sense. The force of the explosion had hurt and the sudden stop when he slammed into the wall, while not devastating, would have killed him before he earned his title and gained the high endurance he had. Anton thought about how lucky he was that his health had increased. While he thought about that he wondered if anything else had changed and checked to see how many goblins he’d killed.

163 goblins. His actions had killed 163 creatures. Granted he’d picked the group because they’d been farther back from the front lines of the hordes of monsters that were fighting with people but he hadn’t expected to get 163 of them. As he reviewed the notifications he realized that the Shaman had been level 37. Anton had also killed 15 level 25 elite goblins that must have been right next to the Shaman. The rest had been between levels 1 and 8.

Anton checked his levels and noted that he’d only earned 3 more levels and was now level 5. Anton did as he’d been doing and put one point into each attribute and the extra point into Perception. His levels and attributes increased his Psychic Energy to 84 Points which would increase his versatility and also allow him to move as a Specter longer

At his current skill level, Anton could move 2,790 feet in a single combat turn or 3.1 miles in the initial minute that spending 10 Psychic Energy would allow. Then he could become visible and use Mind Bolt twice before he activated Specter and retreated to the vault inside the Wells Fargo Building again. That would cost him a total of 60 Psychic Energy. His regeneration rate was still only 1 point per minute so he’d have to wait 1 hour before he could go out again. But, he could go out once per hour, help the humans by targeting the most powerful creatures, and then return to his fallback point.

While there was nobody in the vault and no way for anyone else to enter it because it had been closed when the world had gone to shit, Anton could remain in here and leave as he liked. There was even a vent for air which was far too small for anyone to fit through but he wouldn’t have to worry about running out of oxygen.

Anton Activated Specter and did a quick recon. The train yard to his northwest ended up being where most of the people from St. Cloud had come together. They barricaded the area with cars, trucks, and train cars while at least 100,000 people were holding off swarms that were coming from the south. It looked like a hopeless battle. But maybe Anton could help out. There were a lot of houses on the south side of the railway. Instead of using Mind Bolt this time, he was going to go with the tried and true, gas explosion which he’d killed the giant bunnies with. The initial explosion and then the fires afterward might give him some experience but more importantly, the fires would block off some of the access and make the hordes of monsters go around.

Anton made his way through the houses as twilight was starting to come in and found a couple where he disconnected the stoves and turned on the gas. He was able to get four houses set up within a 4 block area. While he let the gas billow out he now had to find a way to light them that wouldn’t automatically kill him too. Anton went to one of the many convenience stores and found a bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol, a couple of rags and shirts, and a few lighters.

Anton made a very basic Molotov cocktail by putting some alcohol in a jar and using a strip of rags as a fuse of sorts after it was soaked in and the activated Specter. Then he made his way over a group of goblins about a half mile away from one of the houses which was spewing gas into the inside and floated up until he was hovering over them by about 100 feet. If what he tried to do didn’t work and he ejected himself into the material plane he should have enough time to activate Specter again before he hit the ground.

Anton pulled out the lighter, lit the bottle with alcohol in it, and then willed it across the planar barrier into the real world. As he did so a new notification appeared In his vision

It appears that you are attempting to utilize a skill that you do not have, yet meet all prerequisites for.

Would you like to spend 1 skill point to learn the Skill Specter’s Reach?

Specter’s Reach – For 1 Psychic Energy per pound you may push physical objects into the alternate dimension that is tied to your Perk Specter or into the Material Plane from the Spectral Plane.

Would you like to learn Specter’s Reach for 1 Skill Point, Yes or No?

Hell, to the “Yes”, Anton thought as the SYSTEM accepted his response and the skill became known to him. Once he had the skill, Anton easily pushed the lit bottle into the Material Plane where it fell to the ground below and exploded. While it didn’t kill anyone it caused the goblins below to shoot their arrows up into the air which harmlessly passed all around and through Anton. Not that his proof of concept had worked it was time to kill some goblins.

Anton made it over to a water tower where he appeared on the very top away from anyone that could have seen him from the ground and kept an eye on the horde while he recovered his psychic energy. He also prepared three more Molotov cocktails while he recovered. It was actually kind of amazing that the idiot goblins hadn’t accidentally blown up one of the houses yet but as Anton watched from the water tower he began to understand that the Goblins must smell the gas and didn’t want to go near it because they were giving each of the four houses a wide berth as they made their way north. Once his Psychic Energy was maxed out again he went to work.

Anton’s goal was to get the goblins to chase him from all directions until they were next to one of the houses. Then he’d make it look like he’d run inside with them in close pursuit, activate Specter, and then BOOM! Even if he messed it up, he should be fine but now that he could use the skill Spectral Reach this should even be easier and less dangerous.

With his increased speed in Spectral Form, it was almost anticlimactic when he appeared before a bunch of Goblins and ran toward one of the houses that were leaking natural gas before he went spectral, flashed in front of another group on the opposite side and ran at the same house. As he came close to the house he smelled the hint of onion and knew that it was well and truly saturated, then he waited.

The two groups he’d aggravated drew even more attention and before long there were hundreds of the list monsters rushing toward the house. Anton floated up until he was about 20 feet over the house above the front door and waited. The goblins made it to the house and rushed inside. Filling it up. Some of the goblins noticed the smell but ignored it as they rushed inside. Anton heard glass break as they started digging through things and before they could blow themselves up, Anton ignited the Molotov Cocktail and pushed it into the material plane with Spectral Reach where it dropped and shattered and…

BOOM!

Everything around him went white. Anton felt no heat and made his way over to a neighboring building where he dropped Specter and sat down to rest while watched the goblins that had survived scramble to and fro as they looked for him. Since he was over 1,000 feet north of their position they weren’t going to find him. Anton went over his gains. Unlike the group with the shaman, the highest-level goblin he killed was level 10. Though he had killed 343 in total.

Now that his proof of concept worked, Anton got busy and sucked three more groups of goblins into chasing him into the houses he’d set up to explode. When it was all said and done he’d killed over 1,300 goblins without taking any damage. After the last explosion he even gained a new Title.

Congratulations! You have earned the title Goblin Slayer 1. You have killed 1,000 Goblins. All Goblins will automatically know that you are not their friend. Additionally, any damage done by you is increased by 5%.

Anton rose above his handiwork and was pleasantly surprised as the trees and other houses in the area also lit on fire and after a little while exploded. This created a wall of fire working its way east and west through the housing as the humans fled north toward the train yard while the goblins were kept south of 3rd Street North. It looked like 25th Avenue North was wide enough to act as a natural fire brake as was Cooper Avenue North on the East side. The horde that had been making their way north now had to split and could only come at the train yard from two sides.

Anton made his way south to Highway 23 and saw that the army coming from the south was a lot bigger than he’d thought and it wasn’t just goblins. He’d watched a lot of science fiction and fantasy and he could swear he saw orcs, trolls, giants, and a whole lot of other creatures he’d never seen before. That didn’t matter, for now. His Psychic Energy was getting low so he headed back to the vault and rested for a bit while he looked at his gains and distributed his attributes. He’d reached level 13 with those four explosions, though each goblin wasn’t giving that much experience for some reason. After checking his notifications he figured he was getting about 50 XP for each level 1 goblin he killed. The Rarity of his class must put a serious penalty on the Experience he could earn to level.

After he looked at his attributes, he had to admit he was starting to like what he was seeing. His Psychic Energy was up to 173 and he was regenerating 3 points per minute now. So he could use 60 points of Psychic Energy and regain them with only a 20-minute break. Now he should be able to focus on the bigger guys and maybe hit them with his Mind Bolt.

Anton rested for 40 minutes, activated Specter, and headed back out into the city to see what he could do to help. Well, not help but if he could kill a lot of monsters and get stronger while simultaneously helping other people, he would. Things had been crazy since he touched that pillar. He finally felt like he was coming to terms with his new existence and if he could find ways to exploit his abilities so that he could grow stronger quicker that was what he was going to do because as the little bit of time with his ex-girlfriend had shown, there was no guarantee that anyone he met was going to survive. He wasn’t powerful enough to save anyone from the number of monsters he was seeing and he wanted to be able to do so if he ever made it back to his world.