Days turned into weeks, which turned into months. The unseasonable heat finally gave way to a snowy midwestern winter, although even that seemed to be tempered and recalibrated by The System.
"It might be global warming," Luna said as she nailed a sheet of plywood over a broken window.
With the board now firmly in place Cass released it, breathing into his hands in a futile attempt to ward off the chilling cold throughout the house. Power was becoming a distant memory and, although their bodies were better able to handle wide temperature swings, the mid-40's temperatures were still enough to give them a chill. "Not with some areas being sub-zero and others being just cold enough to keep the snow from melting. It's definitely set up by The System to create specific environments."
Tess walked into the bedroom, her boards hung in the other rooms. "Whatever it is, the end result is the same: It's still too cold."
"I don't know about that," Cass said. "It's like the health bar thing all over again. It feels cold because we're used to it feeling cold, but we're not receiving any damage from the temperature. It really feels like feeling cold is more of a memory of a sensation than an actual thing anymore."
Luna eyed him skeptically. "Say what you want, bro, but I feel super cold right now."
"Do you, though? Do you actually feel cold, or are you just feeling the cold and assuming you should feel cold because of it?"
The women eyed him standing there, looking comfortable in jeans and a white t-shirt. Luna threw her hands up in frustration.
"Whatever! I don't care if it's mind over matter or The System or what, I still feel cold."
"Can you get some of those heater contraptions from Madison? You have a connection, after all," Tess teased.
Luna glared at her. "First of all, gross. I don't like my mom talking about my relationships. Second of all, I already asked and she said they're working on portable units, but right now it's integrated into their compound."
"It's not like we're going to be spending a lot of time in here anyway," Tess said. "We only have a few weeks left until the Cryptid Challenge and we need to be out training." That elicited groans from both of the twins.
"Come on, mom, haven't we done enough training? We're running out of things to kill now that Maisy won't let us hunt in the woods!"
Tess understood Cass's complaint. Maisy had made it very clear that her domain was off-limits for hunting. She was doing something to prepare for the upcoming challenge but was tight-lipped about what it was. Her and the twins were allowed to pass through the domain if they moved quickly, but she had made it clear in no uncertain terms that any hunting on her grounds would be dealt with swiftly and harshly. Winter had brought a whole host of new creatures to hunt, but they had to go further and further to find them.
"If you ever think you've done enough training, you haven't."
"We're not even getting any good levels anymore," Luna complained. It was true - Tess had managed to reach level 17 and Luna closed the gap with Cass by reaching level 14, but Cass had only gained a single level, putting him at the same level 14 as Luna. It's not that the creatures around them weren't dangerous, they just weren't dangerous enough to really push them - especially not when they trained as a group. It was very clear that the current monsters were meant to push people to level 10 in preparation for the Cryptid Challenge, which left anyone above that at a distinct disadvantage as far as leveling was concerned.
"We need a change, but I'm not sure exactly what that change is. If your dad was here he might think of something," the rest of Tess's sentence was left hanging in the air, just like every other time they'd said it over the last two months. "Anyway, let's review where we're at now and go visit the Bouchards. We'll come up with a plan after that."
They shared their screens, noting the core stat advancements. They'd each taken a tonic at each level, improving their stats in leaps. The tonics were hard to create and were very ingredient expensive, so they agreed that it was a secret to be kept to the Ed, Torreses, and the Bouchards. Tess was glad for it, the raised stats filling her with the warmth of free power.
Tess had buffed her strength, endurance, and luck. She wanted to keep herself at the peak of fighting abilities but wanted to keep adding spare points to her luck. It helped Luna so much that she could only see upside for it. Sometimes she wondered where she'd be if she didn't have to focus so much of her effort on protecting her family.
Tess Torres, Level: 17
Core Stats:
STR: 28 AGI: 28 (25) END: 25 INT: 15 LUC: 19 CHA: 8
Cass was next, his improvements being less interesting since he'd only gained a single level. It was tough to improve as a Shieldbearer when there was nothing to shield, and he was so fast that it wasn't even a challenge for him to hunt alone. He had, predictably, poured his points into agility and his first tonic into strength. They'd finally convinced him to take a tonic for intelligence, since his level eight was noticeably subpar for the current state of the world. Tess secretly hoped it'd help him make better decisions, Gabriel a not-so-distant shadow in her memory.
Cassian Torres, Level: 14
Core Stats:
STR: 19 (18) AGI: 30 (24) END: 22 (20) INT: 11 LUC: 5 CHA: 9
Luna had seen the most improvement with her three levels and the crazy compounding of luck. She had wanted to continue throwing points into her fighting stats, but Tess pressured her into throwing two levels of points into luck. She was on a path now and it seemed like it would be difficult for her to grow down that path if she didn't have high enough stats for it. She thought of Zavier throwing all his points into intelligence and prayed that she wasn't making a mistake. The tonics gave her instant boosts to strength, agility, endurance, and intelligence so both of the women were happy with the compromise.
Luna Torres, Level: 14
Core Stats:
STR: 13 AGI: 19 (15) END: 11 INT: 17 LUC: 30 CHA: 8
"Seriously, sis, that luck stat is insane," Cass's voice was full of admiration and jealousy.
Luna beamed. "Isn't it?? I'm really hoping hitting 30 will help me past this mental block." Luna had been trying everything she could to improve her skills, but nothing worked. Madison had tried to help with items, all to little effect. The Bouchard girl was currently working on what she called 'The Ultimate Luck Powerup Kit' and had promised that it would be ready by the time they visited them today. "I'm trying everything I can, but it's just not working!"
Tess patted her gently on the back. "It's a tough skill to level up. It's so ephemeral that it's hard to know what the rules are. You just have to keep trying and pushing yourself. Just keep experimenting, Honey, you'll get it."
"On that topic," Tess addressed the twins. "We obviously need to change things up. We're too strong to be hunting together. If I knew where stronger creatures were I'd take us there, but it seems like everything is on pause while we're waiting for this challenge to start. I think we may need to split up."
"You never split the party, mom," Cass said to confused expressions. "It's an RPG term. When you split the party up things become too confusing and people start dying. It always seems that as soon as you do that you end up in situations that you really, really needed everybody together."
"You're only convincing me that we need it even more," Tess replied. "We need to be challenged. Anyway, we'll talk about it after the Bouchards. You guys ready?"
They nodded and the trio headed through ankle-deep snow to a pedestal with a big red button on top.