Icarus Awakens

Daniel glanced at one of the only two reminders he had left of his world as he numbly followed the road blazed through the dunes. Rather than concrete or even stone which would be a more familiar paving material, the surface was made from compacted sand.

The impression he’d gotten was that someone with a relevant power had plowed through the countryside like a steamroller. In a world with magic and without cars, it made a kind of sense. The only kind of transit this path couldn’t support would be heavily loaded wagons, so Daniel supposed there was another way those moved to the region he’d just left. Or, rather, had moved. The Thormundz was gone, for all that any cared. The last people who’d survived now either traveled with him or the group that had left for Threst.

Daniel could be described in many ways. Former aspiring engineer turned actual Artificer was one way. Physically, he was in far better shape than he’d ever been. Despite an avowed hatred of all things camping, it was most of what he’d been doing for the past two months. That, and the magically enforced improvements to his body, had left him lean with visible muscles. Had he found a mirror at any point in the past few weeks he would’ve been surprised, though not overly so. Even the bodybuilders of his world would have had him beat, if in appearance rather than actual strength.

So, what was the same? His phone? That had changed too, remade from a magical material after his original was destroyed. Even its software was gone, replaced by an extension of the powers he possessed. The only similarity was the photo of his family serving as the background image. He sometimes wondered if his phone was the Focus his class required at all, considering it was the photo that had allowed him to remake it.

In addition to that was the eagle feather necklace he wore at all times, a gift from his late father. The brown hair, longer than he normally wore, and the brown eyes were consistent with his earthly appearance as well. There was nothing to him that Daniel would consider particularly eye catching. Before coming to this new world, that was.

Now, he had a crossbow harnessed on his back that looked like it was made of solid gold. In truth, the material he’d constructed it from was far more valuable. The quiver on his side was as long as a short sword’s sheath and positioned like one. Daniel was able to get away with not placing this on his back as his bolts were shorter than traditional arrows.

The pack that used to be worn on his back was instead slung onto the ringcat Hunter beside him. He was a leonine cross between a panther and a tiger larger than Daniel, with fangs protruding out of the maw. He was faintly reminiscent of the sabretooths of old. The armor he wore contrasted this analogy, bright gold against the brown, blue, and white fur. This creature was more spectacular to this world than the man who wasn’t from it, in ways both were only beginning to understand.

Daniel thumbed through his phone a few more times, reading entries and double checking the character screen that displayed his stats and powers, before reaching a conclusion he’d been circling for the past couple of days. He looked up and addressed the group around him. “Ok, I’m pretty sure that I have no idea what’s going on.”

“So your power isn’t gone then?” Evalyn, the Bard and unearthly beauty amidst their group asked. Her looks were a product of both natural gift and a force multiplier of a power, granting her a visage that had once literally stunned Daniel. He tried to put those thoughts out of his mind now.

“Yes, and no. I don’t get it.” Words on the screen flashed by as he idly scrolled through the descriptions of the new powers he’d gained from defeating a giant dragon and the more terrible monster that had hidden inside it.

Your Charisma is now 18! You have gained Feature: Mantle of Creativity and Ability: Reassure.

-

Mantle of Creativity (Feature, Charisma, Aura, Level: 2):

You possess the Power to inspire new ideas and unconventional thinking in those that are able to observe you to a minor degree. Any number of Creatures may be influenced by this feature within a short range. This aura is Spiritual in nature and is able to function in an area of Magical Suppression.

• Level 2 (Automatic): You do not meet the requirements for this benefit.

-

Reassure (Ability, Charisma, Spell, Domain: Restoration, Level: 2):

You possess the Power to dispel Status Afflictions: Mental suffered by others. Use of this ability requires a modest amount of Mana, speech appropriate to counter the targeted affliction, and a receptive target. Effectiveness of the ability scales with your charisma and inversely scales with the offensive power’s source Attribute. This is a Magical Ability that does not function within an area of Magical Suppression.

-

Your Intelligence is now 22! You have gained Ability: Invest Affix.

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Invest Affix (Ability, Intelligence, Spell, Domain: Enchantment, Designation, Level: 2):

You possess the Power to instill one object with an Affix: Enchanting that you know, providing the normal benefits this would provide. Only enchanted objects you have made may be targeted, and this ability cannot be used to overcome the Affix Limit of the item. Items of a level higher than your intelligence cannot be targeted. This ability requires an amount of Mana that scales exponentially with the level of the target. You may only affect one item with this ability, and the mana used is reserved and cannot be restored until you voluntarily dismiss the effect. The is a Magical Ability that does not function in an area of Magical Suppression, although the affix will remain inactive and can be voluntarily withdrawn before leaving the area.

-

Your Dexterity is now 21!

He’d only gotten three which was a bit disappointing, and part of him wondered if the Octyrrum had retroactively used one slot for Divination Aegis. It was common wisdom that people in the lower levels gained one power for every two potential they spent advancing, though it was also possible he'd just hit below average. Even if that wasn’t the case, he was lucky all things considered.

“My Encyclopedia is gone. At least, the way I normally get to it is and it’s no longer on my character sheet, but I can still see the entries for my abilities and features in a different spot where I advance.”

“Right,” said Thomas pretending to understand. He was a Cleric and a gossip. Only one of those was a class. The man was around Daniel’s age, maybe a year or two older, and tended between a frenetic on the job personality, and a laid back one when not trying to stop people from dying.

“I do not understand,” said another, covered in brown feathers. Rather than wearing them, they were part of his body. Tak was an avianoid, or bird person. Both his phone and society at large seemed to prefer the first term, and while Daniel might have had a few better suggestions on what to name the species he doubted they’d gain any traction. Tak was also a Totem Warrior, bearing powers that would make him reminiscent of the ringcat in the same way werewolves looked like wolves. Usually, at least. Things had gotten unusual during the last, terrible encounter at the lake that Daniel was doing everything he could to put behind him.

“Yeah Guy, it’s hard to follow when we can’t read that. Can’t you change the language or something?” Thomas asked.

Add that to the list of mysteries I have no idea about, Daniel thought. “Not that I’ve seen. It’s still odd. It sounds like we’re speaking the same language, but your written one is different. But, I still understand both. Look here.” Daniel tapped on part of the text that was blue. Like an online encyclopedia, this brought him to another page tied to the subject of that text. “I’m in my Encyclopedia now.”

“The one that was taken away?” Of the rest of the group, Evalyn was the quickest, although Daniel wasn’t sure how to judge the last member given how rarely they spoke. “Ignoring again how some random human, likely level 7 at least, not only used one of your abilities for you but then altered another, how is that possible?”

“Like I said, I don’t get it. I’d almost say they made a mistake, and I’m glad they did.” Daniel closed his eyes for a moment, expended some of the mana within him, and nodded. “I can still heighten it too. Without that I couldn’t get more enchanting formulae from monsters, and that would suck. The biggest change is that I can’t search through it anymore. Anything structural to the encyclopedia, like the index, is still gone. The only way I can get around is by jumping between the links.”

“Ok, now you’ve lost me.”

“I, uh, yeah Guy I don’t know either.”

Daniel decided to stop before he had to explain the internet without letting Thomas in on the fact that he was from another world. The Cleric wasn’t one of the ones in the know. In fact, of the people around him only Evalyn and Hunter knew he was technically an alien. “It’s fine, the point is that I’ve kind of cheated whoever did this. My Encyclopedia was already annoying to use so it’s not gotten too much worse.”

“Do you think they’ll find out?”

“I don’t know, Evalyn. What he gave me in return would make me think not, but I still don’t know if they did anything else to Hunter.” He thumbed his way to the description of the function that had formally replaced his Encyclopedia, just to be sure.

Divination Aegis* (Function, Wisdom, Domain: Illusion, Level: 2):

Protects against any form of Power or Magic that allows detection or location of yourself and those around you within a short radius. You may selectively include or exclude Creatures within this area from this Function, and designate a default option. Creatures you are unaware of or cannot detect are unaffected by this function, except those you are aware of when you rest. This is a Magical Ability that functions in an area of Magical Suppression.

*???

The gaze of the group shifted towards the beast walking with them. He was as tall as Daniel’s shoulders, which put him at Evalyn’s chin, Tak’s sternum, and Thomas’ neck. The ringcat looked around, saw the wide berth he was granting the group from the rest of the refugees, and spoke in the smallest voice he could. “I feel fine.” A giant feline couldn’t whisper, but Hunter’s closest equivalent didn’t go far enough to reach anyone else.

Everyone but Daniel and Tak tensed when they heard him. Monsters of this world did not speak. Hunter didn’t fit that category anymore for many reasons, but he still looked the part. The people here had only heard one other monster speak, and that’d been a fire-breathing dragon that had tried to kill them all. To the best of the natives’ knowledge, those two were the only known exceptions to the general rule in all of history. Aberrations. Perhaps, even heresy.

“Grafted.” The last member of the group spoke one word softly, yet with a creaking sound that was unavoidable given their nature. Khare, an earth gestalt, could best be described as a sentient mass of vines tangled together like a Gordian knot. When otherwise unobserved, these gestalt defaulted to an amorphous mass but could take a humanoid shape which they now assumed.

“It’s getting harder to deny that,” Evalyn agreed with Khare. “That man who approached you might have been a god, or a servant of one with their authority. I think the class is called Proxy, though they’re pretty rare. Maybe more than Artificer.”

“Nothing like that happened before I met the guy though, and Hunter’s been like this since I met Tak. There wasn’t some crazy ritual or god or however the Grafting working initially, just one of my powers making a bond. I mean, you all heard him at the lake, right? He’s been in my head almost this entire time.”

This topic made Thomas the most uncomfortable of the group, which made sense considering his class. “It’s different hearing a voice in your head and words spoken out loud, Guy. If I had the rate this compared to the rest of the crazy things happening with you, I’d give it a 4.”

“Out of five or ten?” Evalyn asked Thomas.

“Five? I thought that’d be obvious.”

“If this is a four, then what’s a five?”

“The dragon. The first one.”

Tak grimaced. “Haw, yes. That one was bad.”

“You didn’t even fight that one Tak!”

“You just shot it with arrows.”

“I’m not a fighter, I’m a healer,” Thomas grumbled. “So what, Guy? Your power’s only slightly broken?”

“I guess. It means I still have a good reason to hunt monsters once we get to the city. That, and making money.” Right, money. I don’t have any. I need to ask someone how that works. He knew people used coins of some kind here because of a bet Thomas had once tried to make but otherwise hadn’t seen much of the kind in his time here. Living in what equated to a disaster zone changed normal day to day affairs like commerce.

“Of all of us, you, and Thomas,” Evalyn conceded after a moment’s thought, ”Have the easiest time not taking contracts to provide for yourself. Bards aren’t exactly uncommon, Totem Warriors and Martialists less so. At level 2 our options aren’t terrible, but they are still limited when it comes to any kind of formal command role. Honestly, we should be grateful someone of such a lauded class like you would still hang around with us.” Evalyn’s words were, at once, sarcastic, good spirited, and contained just a hint of the charm that pervaded her. After what they’d all been through, she’d put in the most work at keeping a brave face and had done much to keep them all afloat.

Thomas got that look on his face whenever someone mentioned the economy and Aughal. “Right, yeah. About that, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you, Guy. Might want to keep it quiet that you’re an Artificer, at least at first.”

“Do you think someone would rob me?” Daniel looked with some concern at Thomas. The Cleric was from the region they were now in, though he hadn’t been entirely clear with what that history amounted to. This was what Lograve had told him back when the Arcanist was preparing for Daniel to be the sole survivor. It was something important enough that it was included along with the instructions on who to contact about the world ending.

Thomas looked pointedly at the golden crossbow gleaming in the sun. “I mean, maybe? You’re probably fine if you keep your stuff inside Khare, no one would check them. It’s, uh,” he looked away awkwardly for some reason.

“What?”

“You know how regions can be particular about rare classes?”

No, Daniel thought, but didn’t say. He didn’t lie either, as Thomas could detect lies in people whose charisma wasn’t high enough and still knew some kind of tell that Daniel had. He’d improved his charisma, but not by enough. As the attribute was below 20, and thus below his level, he still suffered from level disparity to it. Everything having to do with charisma was made slightly worse, although he was still above his baseline before coming here. “What’s it like in Aughal?”

“It’s not the worst?”

Evalyn was the first to remark on the limp endorsement. “Gods, you don’t take slaves do you?”

“I don’t! And, no. I’m pretty sure.” Thomas kicked at the road, which held up surprisingly well to the affront. “It’s not that bad. But, look. Some people can find themselves in debt or serious trouble, and then conveniently someone comes along with a solution.”

“Slavery?”

“No! Uh, contracts.”

“You don’t sound so sure,” Daniel commented, suddenly very nervous about reaching the city.

“Guy, it’s fine. There are just some people who might be powerful enough to get away with keeping a slave and not having anyone find out. I don’t think that’s happening but I can’t say it’s not!” He shook his head. “Bottom line, there’s another Artificer in the city already. Level 4, might be higher by now, and as far as I know, he’s doing fine! They’ve already got an Artificer is what I’m saying. The city wouldn’t be as motivated to hire you, but it’s still attention you probably don’t want.”

“But I’m an Artificer. Ignoring that it’s possible to identify people’s classes, I mean, I can do that, not being able to sell magical items is going to limit how much we can earn.”

“So, we talk to that Artificer and have him sell them! We’d lose some on it sure Guy, but it’s more covert that way.”

“Is his name Arpan?”

Thomas blinked in surprise. “Yeah. You know him?”

Daniel shook his head, and he didn’t explain how he knew either. That was a painful memory. “Do you?”

“Only by reputation. Look, it’s fine Guy. Really!”

“Sure. But how powerful are the people who lead Aughal, level 6? I can’t imagine there’s someone this close to the edge more powerful unless they’re leading a nearby Incursion Army or ambushing Daniel.” Thomas, who had already been unbalanced by the direction of the conversation, squirmed under Evalyn’s probing question.

“Not exactly. It’s not a secret per se but they don’t like people talking about it.” He lowered his voice. “See-”

“Hey, asshole! Village is where you said it’d be.” A shout from the front of the procession interrupted Thomas. Like Tak’s, the voice carried the auditory clarity and pleasantness that its owner did everything to defy. “Can you stop using my wyvern as danger bait now?”

“Hmrm. Unfortunate she did not go to Threst,” Tak commented, unintentionally giving Thomas a lifeline from whatever he was about to confess.

“They could’ve just asked me.” Daniel shrugged. “Or Hunter. Not that people should think they can ask Hunter things. Not that what happened is bad! Uh-”

“I think he understands,” Evalyn said reassuringly, nodding at Hunter who hadn’t visibly reacted to Daniel tripping over his own words. “Your hearts practically beat in sync.”

“Not always.” Daniel looked into the distance where several humanoid outlines were displayed. One of his first powers, Identify Creature, displayed an aura around people he sensed and provided some information on them. It was something similar to having a wallhack with one notable exception.

The first major foray Daniel had made into testing the limits of his powers had been accidental and game changing. Hunter, as it turned out, could share his powers. This was probably due to the bond they shared, something similar to a class in that it gave powers, but it was far more mystical and less well understood than classes. Daniel’s Focus hadn’t given him the details of the bond when it had first formed, and he still couldn’t find it in his Encyclopedia, assuming it even had an entry. In any case, when you combined a magical power that relied on the strength of senses and a monster with a nose keener than a bloodhound’s, you got what Daniel affectionately called ‘murder cat radar’.

There were limits, of course. Higher level creatures and those with stealth powers could subvert Hunter’s senses. Wind in the wrong direction, or excessive noise, similarly blunted Hunter’s ability to mark nearby creatures. Further, the transition into a desert environment had impaired the ringcat as he was exposed to an array of scents he wasn’t familiar with.

In the best conditions, Hunter’s range extended past three kilometers. Now it was closer to about half of that. Daniel hadn’t been alerted to the clustered humanoids until Tlara had already sent out her scout, prompted by what Lograve saw on a map that Daniel had shamelessly copied into his Focus. Word had gone down the column that they’d be pushing an additional hour or so into the march to reach the oasis. Even if they couldn’t house the convoy, there were mutual benefits to camping near a village instead of open terrain.

“So, what are we looking at Guy?”

Daniel’s eyes scanned over what he saw. Another feature, one of two categories magical powers were sorted into in this world, subtly improved his ability to process information. Not to a great degree, but every bit helped. “97 people, none with a class.” He frowned, wondering how they could have survived this long isolated in a world of monsters. “Is that safe?”

“Yeah.” Thomas didn’t sound entirely convinced himself. “Aughal’s got a Hunter’s Guild. No one wants to stay out in random villages but there are patrols.”

“Right, but wouldn’t any of the villagers get a class? Some of them are close.”

“How do you know that Guy?” Thomas asked, a little askance.

“If people are two levels lower than me, including people that don’t have a level, I can see their attributes if I want to. There’s a guy on the tower with a wisdom of nine, and another on the ground with a nine in dexterity. If they have potential, they could get a class tomorrow.”

Thomas inclined his head to the side, not fully acknowledging the point. “Yeah, but what about the wall? Village this small, there’s probably just one or two people who could get a class before hitting it and they probably moved to Aughal when they did.”

The what? Daniel encountered yet another topic he knew nothing about but appeared to be commonplace enough that it would be suspicious if he asked about it. Now that he thought about it people had mentioned it, but it’d just been one of the many things there hadn’t been time for questions for. Whenever something like this came up, he filed it away to discuss with Evalyn or, preferably, Lograve later. There was one question he felt safe in asking though.

“Right. One other thing. By default, I can tell the race of people, only I haven’t heard of these before. What’s a dusker?”

“Oh no.” Thomas groaned and shuddered a little. “Evalyn, could you go use your boob powers and ask Lograve to head to the next village instead? We don’t want to stop here.” While the sound of one Cleric getting slapped was satisfying to a few, it did little to answer the fresh questions that came to Daniel’s mind.