As always, Patreon and Subscribestar supporters can read ahead by one extra chapter (for the 1$ supporters) and five extra chapters (for the 5$ supporters) ahead on my three flagship stories.
As of right now that means access to:
Shadows and Dust (Updated the 10th of every month): the Mass Effect story where FemShep has the Phoenix Force from Marvel. Chapters 19 through 23
Crown of Slaves,(Updated the 20th of every month) the Star Wars : The Old Republic Sith Inquisitor isekai. Chapters 26 through 30
Nothing Is True, Save For the Blood We've Shed (Updated the 30th of every month): the crossover between The 100 and Assassin's Creed. Chapters 30 through 34
Additionally, that provides access to the Wild Card story below, which updates once a month on a random date (whenever a chapter is ready, essentially).
And So The Eagle Conquered, a Skyrim story with the MC named for, inspired by, and planning to emulate Constantine the Great of the Byzantine Empire. Chapters 3 through 8.
Cauldron of Ghosts, a Worm/Solo Levelling Fusion Fic wherein Taylor becomes The Player. Not an AltPowerTaylor Stations of Canon fic! Chapters 2-6.
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5$ Supporters also have access to the following Patreon/Subscribestar-exclusive stories:
Shall We Play A Game, a story that is technically a Yu-Gi-Oh and Red River/Anatolia Story crossover, but is mostly as historical romance/drama set in Ancient Egypt. I'm sure duels will happen at some point... Currently on Chapter Nine. This currently may be undergoing a major shift and rewrite.
Forsaken, a Percy Jackson story in which Artemis turns Percy into a girl, based on a very old, prompt-based story I once wrote called The Exiles. Currently on Chapter Six!
10$ Supporters will soon be receiving benefits as well, including NSFW and SFW images of various scenes or moments in various stories, or even just the characters themselves doing lewd things that aren't specific scenes!
Currently, this includes images from Echoes In Eternity, And So The Eagle Conquered, Crown of Slaves, and Shadows and Dust, but there are much more to come!
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And thank you, as always, for reading! Like, comment, etc! Your appreciation fuels my creation!
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My life wasn't a typical one, thanks to the Gates. Even before I Awakened as a Hunter, people would have recognized my family, each and every one of us, and how could they not?
Mom was a B rank Healer and a popular Professor at one of the big schools up in Boston, not that she went into dungeons any more often than she absolutely had to. She preferred for her healing to be done in civilian life, when at all possible. Injuries from car accidents, crimes, or health issues that couldn't be cured through regular medical science. I adored her for that, I really did, and how could I not? What little girl, especially one who already loved her mother, wouldn't revere it when she worked so hard to help people in desperate need of it?
Dad…dad wasn't much of a hunter. Just a C-rank fighter, but that's not why people knew about him. He fought in gates even more rarely than Mom did. No, people knew him because of The Union. The Dockworker's Union, it had been called once, back before the Gates had opened. Sure, it still worked the docks of Brockton Bay, probably always will, but it's Awakened members ended up becoming some of the finest resource collectors and carriers in America.
Between the two of them, we had plenty of money coming in. Maybe in another life we would have had a harder time of things, but I think as long as Mom and Dad were both there we would have been fine. So we had a nice house, a pool, nice cars, a big yard…the American Dream, you know? It was…wonderful.
Then came the day my sister and I Awakened. You've all seen the articles, I know you have, I heard about them often enough back then. One sister goes in and is an E-rank, a pitifully weak one at that, for all that I had a Talent that I can -only in hindsight- recognize was actually incredibly useful and valuable.
The other sister, my twin, my other half, the person I shared a womb and came into this world with? She Awakened as an S-rank. The Talented S-rank Tank, Rosalie Hebert, 'The Bloodstained Rose', you media types started calling her.
My world fell apart. My Mom and Dad, my twin, they were people that mattered, people that the world saw and noticed and revered, people that would draw crowds or could banish them with a look and a handful of words. Me? I was nothing, the opposite end of the spectrum. The only attention that I ever drew was people who mocked me or pitied me for being born to the family I was with my rank.
I still haven't decided, even after all these years, which I hated more.
But you already know that story, you know about their careers and my sister's globe-trotting. You know about what happened with me, too. You know about the Double Dungeon. You know about everyone who died. You know that I stayed behind. Everyone knows that. You know that I met with Huntress Washington and Hunter Wallis afterwards, too, while I was staying in the hospital. So why don't we talk about what happened after that instead?
That's what this is all about, after all.
The things that no one has ever known.
~ Excerpt from an Interview with Taylor Hebert, aka Morrigan.
"Thank you for your time, Miss Hebert. Have a pleasant day."
"Ah, yeah. You too. Sorry, I wish I could have told you more."
"Don't worry about it, Taylor. Frankly, I wouldn't want you to remember more than you do already. Get well soon, okay?
"Thanks. I'll try, I guess."
Waking up in the hospital wasn't something Taylor had ever expected to do again. Mostly because she had never expected to wake up ever again. Not after what had happened in the Double Dungeon, with the Temple and the statues and the…
Gasping for breath, sprawled across a blood-soaked altar, an arm and a leg lost, the stench of fear and death and fire hanging around her as massive stone figures raised their weapons high to bring them down…
She shuddered and shivered, rubbing her face with her hands, as the room suddenly seemed colder and darker than it had moments before, which was absurd given that she had been reliving the entire event with the two Protectorate Hunters that had just left. She should be feeling better now that she wasn't thinking about it and talking about it, but instead she felt just that much worse. Though, she reminded herself firmly, she was alive. Alive and fully intact, with all of her limbs, and that was what really mattered. Oh, she might wonder how and why she was alive again, why those self-same Hunters that had just left hadn't been able to find any sign of the Double Dungeon, and why the bodies of the dead had been lying around her, including Sophia, who she had personally seen reduced to ash when the other girl had tried to use her Talent to escape the room. She and the other girl had hated one another, but she never would have wanted Sophia dead, and certainly not like that.
Though she had to be honest and, guilty though it made her feel, acknowledge the fact that a part of her was happy and relieved that she would never have to put up with the Talented Assassin's bullshit again. And it wasn't like she hadn't tried to save Sophia's life, it's just that the bitch had ignored her.
She pushed the thought aside, firmly and only somewhat unkindly. The last thing she wanted to do right now was think about Sophia, when she could think about the fact that she was going to see her family again. Her Mom, her Dad, and her twin. God, what would Rosie have to say about this? Lose her shit, fly back home, and try to flatten everyone that left her behind, probably, before trying to make her give up raiding with their parents as her backup. Well, that sure as shit wasn't going to happen!
She'd come too far to give up now, worked too hard and put up with way too much shit to throw in the towel. She was alive, all her limbs were intact, most of her group was still alive, and she'd been complimented -genuinely, at length- by both Hunter Wallis and Huntress Washington. Two of the most famous Hunters in America! Hell, Huntress Washington was one of the most powerful Rangers in the world, thanks to her Talent of Weapon Manifestation! She'd gone so far as to tell Taylor that she was proud of her, and looked forward to seeing her out and about again someday!
Taylor couldn't resist giggling softly to herself in delight, before an insistent flashing drew her attention away from her thoughts and back to the floating Heads-Up Display that was filling a good portion of her vision. The HUD that had been there since the moment that she had woken up, the HUD that the two recently departed Hunters hadn't noticed or commented on, and the HUD that had gotten increasingly aggressive in it's attempts to draw her attention over the last…however long it had been since she'd woken up.
"You know, a few years ago I would have had no idea what this was." she muttered wryly to herself, good mood briefly soured, though still managing to find amusement where she could, and it was true. She'd never been a big gamer when she was young, not like Rose had been. She'd been more interested in books and dreaming about what an amazing Hunter she would be, just like her parents. But when she'd Awakened as an E-rank, possibly the weakest E-rank in the US, she had searched for a solace in a world very different from the crushing reality of life outside her house. A place where she could be good at something regardless of her inborn talent, and as it turned out, she was very, very good at games.
Her mom said it was because she 'had a talent for multi-tasking, analytics, and strategy'. Her dad said that 'she was a geek like her old man.' Her sister had just been thrilled that there was something that they could do together that wouldn't make Taylor utterly miserable, even if they couldn't do it as often as they used to thanks to time zone differences and their divergent responsibilities.
Shaking her head, lips quirking slightly, she reached out and tried to tap the 'screen' floating in front of her. Nothing happened, other than her waving her hands around in the air and likely looking a complete fool, and she frowned faintly. If she couldn't touch it, then…?
"Notifications? Information? Inbox?" she hazarded, and on the third word the screen flashed and split into several more.
Congratulations! Taylor Hebert has now become The Player! said the first.
Rewards distributed! flashed the second.
You have Rested! All HP and MP has been restored to full! informed the third.
Daily Quest: Physical Fitness and Enhancement, assigned! Display quest requirements? Asked the fourth, and Taylor frowned faintly to herself. All of that…made some sense to her, though she didn't know what the 'rewards' in question were, for the second readout. She'd not actually been given anything, as far as she could tell, or at least she didn't see anything on the HUD that indicated items she had received or were waiting for her to 'take delivery' of them. And what about the fourth panel? Quest requirements?
"Yes, show me quest requirements, please." she finally said said, curious despite herself.
A new window appeared, displaying text in a crisp, radiant white font:
Daily Quest: Physical Fitness and Enhancement
Requirements: Complete 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, 50 squats, run 6 miles
Reward: Physical Ability Score Statistic Increase, Mystery Box (x1)
Time Remaining: 14:42:18
Failure to complete a quest will result in a PENALTY!
Taylor stared at the notification, blinking slowly. This was... different. Very different from anything she'd ever heard about regarding Talents or Awakened abilities. She'd played enough games, and had spent enough time on the internet, to understand what this meant, that she had some kind of game-like power system now. But how? When? The Double Dungeon? The altar? That…that might make sense, she remembered seeing something like this right before the final blow had struck her, but she'd thought she was hallucinating. Now it seemed that she hadn't.
Her heart began to race in time with her mind, an almost physical weight of anticipation dropping onto her shoulders. If this was real, if this wasn't some bizarre delusion brought on by trauma or medication, then she'd gained something unprecedented. From what she understood, completing the quest would increase her stats in the three physical abilities -Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution-, which sounded amazing. Even if her Reawakening hadn't increased her Hunter Tier, being able to improve her body would go a long way to making her less useless, and quite frankly she would take what she could get. And the Mystery Box could be interesting as well, depending on what came out of it. The only discomfiting thing was the fact that the quest was 'assigned', implying that she didn't have much of a choice about it, and that a Penalty would be assigned for failing it.
That…that was something to pay attention to. She had no idea what such a Penalty could or would consist of, but she was willing to bet that she didn't want to find out, either. Most penalties in RPGs were pretty harsh from a narrative perspective, and that was with the one-remove nature of video game. When it was actually her own body, her own health and well-being on the line? Harsh would be understating it.
Fortunately, she didn't think she had to worry about it too much, today. Or, well, most of it. She wasn't the most fit girl in the world, but she wasn't entirely out of shape either, and while 50 each of push-ups, sit-ups, and squats would suck -the most fit girls in her class had only been able to do half that many in gym-, she did have nearly 15 hours to do them in. Running six miles though, that…that could be a bit harder to do. For one thing, she wasn't even sure she'd be allowed out of her room to do it. For another, what counted as 'running'? Was it literally, or colloquial? She hoped it was colloquial, or she was totally fucked. The only real way to find out would be to try it, though, and see what caused the counter to tick and what didn't.
Which she would do after the stuff she could do comfortably inside her hospital room.
Relatively comfortably.
She sighed softly to herself, well aware that 'comfortable' wasn't going to actually come into this at all. In fact, she'd probably hate life by the time today came to an end, but she was alive to hate it, and the shiny, golden apple of getting stronger that this represented would -she had no doubt whatsoever- make all of it worth it.
With that resolution firmly in mind, Taylor swung her legs over the side of her hospital bed and stood up. She wobbled slightly, her muscles still tender from whatever healing had been done to restore her and from lying in bed all day, but a bit of flexing and stretching to warm up her hibernating limbs settled her balance. She took a deep breath, and then carefully lowered herself to the floor, placing her hands flat on the cold linoleum and trying to assume the proper position. Time to delve into those dear, fond memories she had of the Presidential Fitness Test and get to work.
"One." she counted softly as she performed her first push-up, arms trembling slightly from the unfamiliar effort, and she knew it was only going to get worse the further on she went. By twenty, her arms were burning. By thirty, she was grunting with each repetition. At forty, sweat dripped steadily from her forehead onto the floor below. When the chime finally told her she had reached fifty, she gritted her teeth and pushed on, wanting to prove -to herself, to the System, to God- that she could do more than the bare minimum. When she finally reached her limit and her arms gave out, it was all she could do to keep from breaking her face as she collapsed face first onto the floor, breathing heavily and feeling nauseous.
A faint blue notification appeared in her vision: [Daily Quest Progress: 60/50 push-ups completed]
"Oh, thank God!" she wheezed against the cool floor, her arms feeling like overcooked noodles, the cool air conditioning feeling nothing short of heavenly against her sweat-slicked skin. She allowed herself a few minutes -nine, in fact, according to the quest countdown- before rolling onto her back and sitting up. The hospital gown wasn't ideal workout attire, but she wasn't about to let that stop her, and it was better to do this in something thin and light rather than thick and heavy. The last thing she needed was to have her count get screwed up because her jeans weren't flexible enough for some of her sit-ups to count properly!
"Sit-ups, okay, okay, okay…" she muttered after another minute, bending her knees and placing her feet flat on the floor. "Here we go."
The sit-ups were marginally easier than the push-ups, though by the thirtieth repetition, her abdominal muscles were screaming in protest. Taylor gritted her teeth, focusing on the steadily increasing counter in her HUD rather than the burning sensation across her midsection. She could do this. She would do this, she had to do this! This was her chance to prove herself! To be more than the weakling whose only positive was her brain!
An hour after she had started, she'd completed all three of the exercises -plus ten, because she just didn't know when to quit, and God forbid she take the time to rest as best she can after what she had been through- and decided that some food, and a nap, had been more than earned. When she'd woken up, and eaten again, she'd set about attempting to complete the last part of her quest: running six miles.
Which, unfortunately, put her at loggerheads with the nurse in charge of her.
"I understand you feel better, Miss Hebert, and I'm incredibly happy to hear it, truly I am. But you can't just leave the hospital to go for a run!" the nurse said firmly, arms crossed as she blocked the doorway, an unyielding and unsurpassable obstacle. "Doctor's orders. You need to be under observation for at least another twenty-four hours. Might I remind you that you've been unconscious for three days, and what you went through before that?"
Taylor tried not to let her frustration show, well aware that the woman was trying to keep her safe and healthy, and appreciating it on some level in spite of everything. "I know all that, really I do! But I feel fine! Better than fine, actually! And I really need to get some exercise, I've spent way too much time just lying around in bed as it is!"
"Exercise?" The nurse —her nametag read 'Angela', and she was a completely no-nonsense African-American woman her mother's age that reminded her very much of her mother— raised an eyebrow. "You were nearly dead when you came in, and that's after being miraculously -and I use the word deliberately- healed after what should have been fatal wounds, according to the rest of your raiding party members. The only exercise you need is wiggling your toes to prevent blood clots, eating, and hugging your family."
Taylor glanced at the timer on her quest: 06:13:42 remaining. Plenty of time, but only if she could figure out a solution to her well-meaning captor's interference.
"What if I just walk around the hospital? Surely that's allowed?" Taylor tried, then shook her head even as Angela opened her mouth. "No, that's dumb, I'd get in the way. Alright, okay. There has to be some sort of gym or something, right, that has treadmills I could use? Then I'm inside, you can make sure I'm okay, I'm out of the way, and I can exercise?" she hesitated for a brief moment, before a tinge of desperation drove her to making a play that she would normally find appalling. "I can't…I can't just lie around, okay? The last thing I remember is getting my limbs chopped off, I need to use them, make sure they're really there…"
Angela's stern expression softened slightly in understanding and sympathy, as she had hoped it would. "There is a physical therapy room on this floor with some equipment, yes." She held up a warning finger to quell any excitement before it could bloom. "But I'd have to clear it with Dr. Kimura first, and you'll be getting monitored the entire time if he approves it, alright?"
Taylor tried not to look too eager, too reckless, lest she arouse greater suspicion. She didn't know what Angela might think was suspicious about it, but she'd never been in a hospital before and the reasons wouldn't matter if the end result was her attempt at running was shut down. "That's perfect! I'll do whatever Dr. Kimura says, I promise. I just... I really need this."
"Mmhmm." The nurse gave her an appraising look, though it was a bit kinder than similar looks from before, though there was a definitively skeptical edge to it. Still, she nodded her head and turned away, jabbing a finger in the direction of the bed. "Wait here. And I mean right there in that bed, young lady. I'll be back in fifteen minutes."
The moment Angela left, Taylor pumped her fist in silent victory. She checked her quest timer again. Still over six hours left, which meant that she could absolutely do this. She was more than capable of moving faster than 1mph, even as exhausted as she was!
She threw herself back into bed, pulling the covers up to her waist in a display of obedience that would hopefully earn her some goodwill. If Angela returned to find her following instructions to the letter, maybe she'd be more inclined to advocate on Taylor's behalf with the doctor, not just when it came to exercise, but anything else. Plus, she was still a bit sore, and taking a rest while she could seemed like a good idea.
Getting herself a bit more comfortable, Taylor decided to explore more of her mysterious new interface and learn whatever she could from it. "Uh…Player Status?" she mumbled after a moment of thought, hoping that would bring up something useful and hoping that no one would overhear her talking to herself, which would certainly put a crimp in any of her plans.
The HUD shifted, displaying a new screen, a list of stats on the left and an image of herself -with a dozen empty equipment slots- to the right:
Name: Taylor Hebert
Class: Not Applicable
Level: 1
HP: 200/200
MP: 750/750
STR: 5
DEX: 6
CON: 4
INT: 15
WIS: 12
CHR: 3
LUK: 12
Available Stat Points: 0
Available Skill Points: 0
Taylor stared at the numbers in bafflement. Most of them made sense, she guessed. She was pretty smart and savvy, and she wasn't exactly known for her physical traits or her silver tongue, but what the fuck did the System mean that her Luck was 12?! Look at her! She was an E-rank, one of the weakest -if not the weakest- in the entire country, and not doing so well on the global list either! How could she have a Luck stat that nearly rivaled her Intellect?!
As if sensing her question, which it probably did, the System displayed several windows, describing her stats and what they meant. It seemed she was getting something of a tutorial, and thank God for that.
[Strength: This statistic increases Physical Damage (0.25% per point) and inventory size (3 slots per point). Increasing this statistic's value will also cause the player's body to develop greater height and musculature appropriate to their biological baseline.]
That…alright, the first half of that made sense, sure. Strength always determined damage done with physical weapons, usually specifically melee weapons but sometimes all of them, and the idea that she had an inventory -she'd have to look into that later- instead of a carrying capacity was kind of good. She wasn't really interested in walking around carrying a massive back-pack or something like that. Even if she could, she'd look ridiculous. The fact that it would change her body, though…that was a bit disconcerting. It's not like she'd mind being taller, or being more muscular, especially not if it was 'appropriate to her her biological baseline', but the idea that changes in the system could change her actual body on the physical level was…well.
She moved on, firmly.
[Dexterity: This statistic increases movement speed (0.25% per point) and attack accuracy (0.25% per point. Increasing this statistic's value will also affect the player's reflexes and agility, and improve their reaction time.]
Again, nothing unexpected, and at least the changes to her would be less physical and more mental, though she had to admit reflexes and reaction time kind of straddled the line between both. Still, no weird and uncomfortable feelings there, and she was glad for it.
[Constitution: This statistic increase player health (50 points of HP per stat point), resistance to status effects (0.25% per point), resistance to physical damage (0.25% per point), and resistance to natural illnesses. Increasing this statistic's value will also affect the player's recovery time from illnesses, substances, and mitigate the refractory period while improving fertility and virility.]
Taylor stared at the explanation, reading through it a second time. Health, resistance to status effects, physical damage resistance, illness resistance, recovery time, all of that made perfect sense to her for that particular category. But that last bit...
Refractory period? What was that again? She'd heard the term somewhere before, but couldn't quite place it. Biology class, maybe, or…something related to biology? Something medical? And those other two words…they involved having kids, right? So…?
It took a moment of racking her brain before the memory clicked into place. Sex Ed, last year. Mr. Gladly stammering through an explanation, a distinctly bored and uninvolved Ms. Henderson sitting off to the side of the room on her phone, while half the class snickered and the other half desperately tried to pretend that they weren't in the room.
"Oh my God!" Taylor hissed, her face instantly flushing crimson. "Are you fucking," Oof, bad word there, and her blush intensified, though she continued gamely. "kidding me?" She glared at the floating text as if it had personally offended her. Which it absolutely had. What kind of perverted system would include that in a status description? As if she needed to know about…about that when fighting monsters!
"Delete that!" she muttered, swiping a hand through the window in a forlorn hope that she could banish or delete it somehow. "Remove. Cancel. Whatever."
The text remained stubbornly in place. Great. Just great. She was stuck with a system that apparently thought it was hilarious to include sexual references in its tutorials. Ugh. She was just going to move on and pretend that this hadn't happened.
It's not like anyone would ever want to have sex with a tit-less, ass-less, E-rank stick like her anyway. She quickly moved on to the next explanation, willing her blush to subside before Angela returned, because God knew that she didn't want to try and explain anything to the older woman.
[Intelligence: This statistic increases mana (50 points of MP per stat point), magical damage (0.25% per point), buff duration (0.25% base uptime per point), and magical resistance (0.25% per point). It also decreases debuff duration by 0.25 base uptime per point. Increasing this statistic's value will also improve the player's memory, learning speed, and ability to solve complex problems.]
Taylor nodded to herself, a small smile creasing her lips. That made perfect sense. Intelligence should definitely govern magical abilities and problem-solving. It was one of the few things about herself that she'd always been proud of, and the fifteen points seemed about right. She wasn't a genius, but she'd always been near the top of her class when it came to academics, and she'd always read a lot of books. And unlike the Constitution explanation, there weren't any weird or embarrassing additions that made her want to crawl under the bed and never come out again.
She moved on to the next description, confident it would be equally unproblematic.
[Wisdom: This statistic increases mana regeneration (0.5% per second per point), increases the effectiveness of healing magic done and recieved (1% per point), and improves magical control (0.5% per point). Increasing this statistic's value will also improve the player's perceptiveness, awareness, and ability to make sound judgments.]
Twelve points seemed about right for Wisdom, too. She'd always been more bookish than street smart, but she liked to think she didn't make terrible decisions most of the time, and she'd picked up a few things about reading people from her dad and the rest of the Union. Still, twelve seemed decent, especially compared to the physical stats. She moved on to the next explanation, somewhat morosely given it was her lowest stat.
[Charisma: This statistic increases the player's effectiveness in social interactions (results dictated in part by player's Intelligence and Wisdom scores), increases the chance of getting favorable prices when buying or selling (1% per point), and improves the player's leadership capabilities. Increasing this statistic's value will also improve the player's appearance, voice, and natural bearing.]
Three. A whole three points. Taylor grimaced, but couldn't really argue with the assessment. She wasn't good with people, far more prone to being a chatterbox and an annoyance for most than anything else and cripplingly shy with strangers, and she'd inherited none of her parents' talents for haggling, leadership, authority, or public speaking. And the less said about her ability to sing or her physical appearance, the better.
And the idea that increasing it would make her more beautiful? Well, she'd be hard pressed not to dump everything she had into Charisma as soon as possible. Only the dream of becoming a stronger Hunter would help her keep that impulse under control. Then she blinked, noticing that the 'leadership capabilities' text was colored differently, the way things looked on the internet if there was an embedded hyperlink.
"Expand 'leadership capabilities'?" she asked slowly, tentatively, and there was a blinking flash before a smaller window popped up. Her eyes skated across it as she read the words there in a soft mutter. "Leadership capabilities include the ability to recruit and command minions, allies, servants, or other subordinates, enhancing their loyalty and willingness to obey orders. Improvements in this category also include improved talents…with seduction and sexual dominance? What the fuck, System?! Are you trying to make me a stronger Hunter or get me laid?!"
Taylor quickly closed the window, infinitely glad that a 'sub-window' like that would obey where the primary tutorials didn't, her face burning so brightly she was surprised the sprinkler system hadn't activated from the sheer heat of it. Who —or what!— had designed this system? Some kind of perverted cosmic entity? Was this some sort of kinky sex game to them, the freaks? Murder a girl then give her super-powers with sex effects?!
She shook her head, trying to clear the embarrassment from her mind and focus on the remaining stats. "Let's just... move on," she muttered, as much to herself as to the system, her voice strained. "Luck. Please be normal."
[Luck: This statistic affects critical hit chance (0.15% per point), loot quality and quantity (0.25% per point), and the probability of favorable random events (0.25% per point). Increasing this statistic's value will also improve the player's chances in games of chance, increase the likelihood of beneficial mutations from status effects, and enhance serendipitous encounters. High Luck will often manifest in ways that the player may not perceive in the moment.]
Well, at least that one seemed reasonably straightforward, even if the implications of it's more 'passive' effects had her feeling a bit wary. Though the score still puzzled her. Twelve seemed almost suspiciously high for someone who had been as unlucky as she'd been for the past couple of years. Bullying, Awakening as an E-rank -if a Talented one- despite the power of her parents, getting her limbs cut off, dying, getting revived with a perverted System dictating her life... none of that seemed particularly lucky to her. Then again, the description said luck manifested in ways the player might not perceive, so maybe she'd been lucky in ways she hadn't recognized? Maybe she should have died permanently in that dungeon, and her twelve Luck had saved her somehow? It was possible, she supposed. And, ultimately, she could only circle back to the fact that it offered her the ability to not only become more powerful, but more beautiful, more attractive.
It gave her the chance to be someone people would be glad to see not because of her weakness, not because her presence promised 'an easy raid', but because she was powerful and worthy of admiration. And if she wanted to draw the eye, to become someone desirable, well, that was hardly a sin. Who didn't want to look better than they did, who didn't want to have people look at them and think 'what an attractive person'?
So, maybe the System was a pervert, maybe it had some…really weird things getting added onto it's RPG mechanics that made it feel like something that wasn't Rated T for Teen, but it was her perverted System. It was hers, and it was offering her the chance to get everything that she had ever dreamed of, and that made her willing to put up with an awful lot regardless of how embarrassing it was.
She was still mulling over the implications when the door to her room swung open, and Angela returned with a younger -half Angela's age, probably- Asian man in a white coat.
"Miss Taylor Hebert, this is Dr. Kimura, the attending physician for this shift." Angela said, gesturing to the man beside her.
Dr. Kimura smiled warmly, genuinely warm rather than a clinical smile that felt practiced, and Taylor felt herself relaxing almost immediately. "I understand you're feeling restless and would like to get some exercise? And Angela mentioned something about needing to reassure yourself about your restored limbs?"
"Yes, sir." she confirmed politely and clearly, sitting up straighter and gesturing around the room. "I really need to move around. I feel... trapped, just lying here."
The doctor nodded thoughtfully, glancing down at the chart in his hands. "Your vitals have been stable, and your recovery has been nothing short of miraculous. Walking around would normally be encouraged at this stage, but given the... unusual circumstances of your injuries and healing, I'd like to be cautious. You've been through something completely unprecedented, after all." He tapped his pen against the chart contemplatively, lips somewhat pursed as he considered the situation. "However, I understand the psychological impact from your trauma, and the fact that you're by nature an active person thanks to your Awakening. I'll approve activity on the treadmill in the physical therapy room, under supervision. Slow walking pace only, nothing strenuous. Do it as long as you like, but the moment the room monitor has concerns and shuts things down, that's the end of it. Any dizziness, shortness of breath, or pain, that's the end of it. Agreed?"
"Absolutely, doctor, of course." Taylor agreed quickly, relief flooding through her. She'd take what she could get. Walking wasn't running, but maybe it would count for the quest anyway, its not like there was any real definition for what counted as 'running' anyway. "Thank you so much."
Dr. Kimura smiled again, seemingly satisfied with her honesty. "Good. Angela will take you there now and get you set up. I'll check back in a few hours, unless something happens to change that." He turned to leave, then paused. "Oh, and Miss Hebert? We let your parents know that you'd woken up. They should be here later tonight."
Taylor felt her heart skip, a smile creasing her lips at the idea of seeing her parents again, holding them again, telling them how much she loved them. "They will? I …that's great! Thank you for telling me, I really appreciate it."
He smiled, nodded, and left, leaving Angela to help Taylor into more publicly-appropriate exercise clothes, a pair of loose sweatpants and a t-shirt that were a bit too large for someone as undeveloped as Taylor was -she'd reinforced her pouting heart with the knowledge that she now had the ability to change that fact, if over time-, but infinitely more comfortable and functional than the gown she had been wearing previously. Not that that was saying much.
"Alright, Angela. Let's do this." she said after a moment, rolling her shoulders and flexing her fingers, getting an appraising look -was that a glint of approval in the older woman's eye?- and a nod from the nurse, who turned and led the way out of the room. As she fell in behind her, Taylor could only hope that a walking pace would be enough…and that she could finish her quest before they made her stop.
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Two and a half hours later, a thoroughly sore, limp, jelly-legged Taylor was practically crawling into her hospital bed after taking a long, hot shower to sooth the ache from her muscles. Or at least to lessen it, because she rather doubted it would be gone anytime soon. But she'd completed the quest, and like the three portions before it, she'd gone above and beyond what was necessary. Pushing for that extra mile had been wretched, and she was pretty sure the staff were going to have a 'talk' with her parents about just how hard she pushed herself, but they hadn't stopped her and she hadn't stopped herself. She hadn't allowed herself to interact with the System when she'd still been out in the public area of the hospital either, but now that she was safely ensconced in her room, she turned her eyes to the waiting windows.
[Daily Quest: Physical Fitness and Enhancement - COMPLETED]
[Rewards Earned: STR+2, DEX+2, CON +2, Blessed Mystery Box (x1).]
[For prompt obedience to System Directives, you gain a bonus reward: Blessed Mystery Box (x1), Cursed Mystery Box (x1)]
[For surpassing quest requirements, you gain a bonus reward: STR +1, DEX+1, CON+1]
[LEVEL UP! The Player has reached Level 2! The Player can now spend Stat Points to increase Ability Score Statistics! Reward stats will be distributed when Player has spent Level Up rewards!]
[Mystery Boxes can be transferred from the ITEM INBOX into the Inventory, then opened.]
Taylor stared at the notifications with a mixture of exhaustion and excitement. Three stat points to each of her physical stats? That was practically doubling what she'd started with, in some cases! And a level up that let her spend more points? Plus mystery boxes? It was almost enough to make her forget how much her body ached. Though she did have to admit that the distinction between 'Cursed' and 'Blessed' had her feeling a bit anxious, even if she was sure that the System would have brought her this far just to give her something that would kill her. If it wanted to do that, it wouldn't have saved her in the first place. Or given her a bonus reward for 'prompt obedience', which she really wasn't fond of the phrasing of, even if it was factually accurate.
A few quick hand motions later -it seemed her inventory was partially controlled by voice and partially controlled by touch- and she had three boxes in her lap. Two of them, blue with gold ribbon. The other, black with red ribbon. Hesitating for a moment, hand over the black-and-red, Taylor took a deep breath and immediately chickened out, picking up the first 'Blessed' box instead. The moment her fingers closed over the bow at the top, the ribbon and top dissolved in golden light, the four sides falling open to reveal a floating, brass-colored key.
[Congratulations! Your Blessed Mystery Box contained an instanced dungeon key! This key allows you to enter an instance dungeon! It can only be used on the Observation Balcony of the Brockton Bay Memorial Hospital Parking Garage.]
A…key to a dungeon? The System let her create her own dungeons? That was…insane, but also not unheard of in games. From what she remembered, places like that tended to be unique to each player, and offer good EXP and rewards for completing them. So…it looked like she knew what she was doing as soon as she could slip out of the hospital without getting grabbed by somebody for being a truant patient.
Putting the key in her inventory, she opened the next Blessed Box, which fell open to reveal what seemed to be a book. As it floated up from the box, Taylor could see it was an old, leatherbound tome with silvery runes etched along its spine. The cover depicted a stylized raven with its wings spread wide, and it made a soft thumping sound as it dropped onto her lap.
[Congratulations! Your Blessed Mystery Box contained the Skill Book: Raven's Call! This book will transform your current summonable familiars into ravens that can scout for you, carry messages for you, and carry small items. Activating this Skill Book will destroy it and permanently grant you the skill. Would you like to activate this Skill Book now?]
That sounded a lot more useful than her current familiars, the shadowy insects that she used to scout for whatever raiding party she was a part of, not least because they could fly, talk -if she remembered correctly, ravens could mimic human speech- or carry items. All her insects could do was help her find the enemy by dying. That, in the end, made the decision quite easy.
"Yes, I would." she said decisively, resisting the urge to rub her hands together in excitement only with great difficulty. "Activate Skill Book."
The book's pages began to flutter open by themselves, the runes along the spine glowing with silvery light. As the pages turned faster and faster, the light grew more intense, until the book suddenly burst into a shower of shimmering purple-edged-black particles of light that swirled around her before sinking into her skin. A momentary sensation of warmth spread through her, followed by a flash of knowledge—how to summon the ravens, how to communicate with them, how to direct them.
[Skill Acquired: Raven's Call (Active)]
[Description: Summon 1-3 spectral ravens to serve as your familiars. Ravens can scout areas within 1 mile of your position, providing your information of everything that they see and hear, relay simple messages, and carry objects weighing up to 1 pound. Duration: 1 hour. Cost: 100 MP per raven. Current Level: 1. Current EXP: 0/100]
A heady rush of excitement flooded through Taylor as she felt the skill settle into her being. This was far better than her old summoning ability, leagues better. She could already imagine the utility: scouting ahead in dungeons without risking herself, sending messages to teammates, maybe even carrying small healing potions or other supplies. The possibilities were numerous and thrilling to think about.
A shift in her weight on the bed, the closest thing to an unconscious wiggle of excitement as she could get lying down like this, reminded her of the final box sitting ominously on her lap, and her eyes dropped to it as her excitement drained into a dull, quiet sort of dread. The Cursed Mystery Box's black surface seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it, and the red ribbon looked uncomfortably like fresh blood. Though maybe she was just getting into her own head thanks to the damn thing's name.
"It can't be that bad, right?" she muttered to herself. "The System wouldn't kill me, not after going to all the effort of saving my life and giving my leg and arm back. It wouldn't be logical."
Logic, however, didn't stop her heart from pounding as she finally grasped the ribbon. Unlike the golden light of the Blessed boxes, the Cursed box released a wisp of dark smoke that coiled around her fingers like a serpent before dissolving. The sides fell away, a seething black-and-red orb floating in midair. Taylor's eyes widened as it split into two small orbs, and she gave a soft yelp and a grunt as two heavy weights dropped onto her legs. It didn't feel great, especially as sore as she was, but that was easily ignored given just what those two weights were.
A pair of curved short-swords -they looked like a longer, less-severely curved sickle, actually, almost like a khopesh- with oddly long hilts and strange pommels. Which was interesting enough, but what really caught her attention was the material that the blades themselves were made out of, because it wasn't any metal that she recognized. As a matter of fact, it didn't seem to be any sort of metal at all, more closely resembling some sort of crystal. Amethyst, maybe, though she wasn't sure if it was the right shade of purple. She'd have to ask someone with a little more experience in nice jewelry and gemstones than she did if she wanted a real answer on that.
[Congratulations! Your Cursed Mystery Box contained the unique weapon: Asarakam, the Hollow Blades! They have been added to your inventory. Inspect them to learn more.]
Taylor carefully picked up the twin blades, her hands wrapping around the hilts with a bit of familiarity. She wasn't one for direct combat, given how weak she'd always been, but her primary weapons had always been short swords, and these were close enough despite the obvious differences. They were lighter than she expected, despite their size and the apparent makeup of their blades, and seemed to hum with a subtle vibration that ran up her arms. The crystal material caught the hospital room's fluorescent lighting, sending purple reflections and refractions dancing across the walls.
"Inspect Asarakam…" she whispered, half-afraid someone would walk in and find her with unexplained weapons in a hospital room.
A new window appeared:
[Asarakam, the Hollow Blades (Legendary-Unique Twinblade Weapon)]
[Description: Twin crystalline blades forged from the solidified essence of two dead gods, these weapons -Tanha and Gilati- take on the strength of those that they slay, making their wielder stronger and growing in strength alongside them. Like the wedded gods from whom they were forged, these blades will always be called to one another. The crystal material is nearly unbreakable and will repair itself over time if damaged.]
Special Effects:
The Married Blades: So long as the player is still holding one half of the blade-pair, the other blade will always be drawn back to them as if by magnetism.
Additional Effects will only be discovered when unlocked.
Turning the blades in her hands, Taylor marveled at how they caught the light, how it rippled along their lengths. The purple crystals seemed to have depth beyond their physical boundaries, as if she could fall into them if she stared too long, and she shook her head while blinking rapidly. Quickly returning them to her inventory before anyone could walk in and question why a hospital patient was fondling twin swords in her bed, she thought about what little information her Inspection had given her.
"Unique weapons, huh…" she whispered to herself, leaning her head back against the pillows.
The implications were staggering. In all her gaming experience, unique named weapons were the rarest and most powerful kind, usually ones with a specific, important backstory in the game's world. And these weren't just any unique weapons, either. They were apparently made from dead deities, a married couple at that, and could grow stronger as she did. It seemed almost too good to be true, especially since they'd come from something called a "Cursed" Mystery Box.
"What's the catch?" she murmured, half expecting the System to answer her directly. When it didn't, she frowned, resisting the urge to call them out again, turning her attention back to the floating window that still displayed the weapons' information. Something about them felt... off. Not necessarily evil, but unsettling in a way she couldn't quite define. Perhaps it was the notion of wielding blades allegedly made from dead gods, or maybe it was the curious absence of any clear downside for items from a box labeled Cursed.
She let out a soft sigh, closing the inspection window with a flick of her hand. Whatever secrets Asarakam held, she'd figure them out eventually. Either by chance, or -rather more likely in her opinion- because she was forced to discover them in the midst of a struggle to survive. For now, all she could really do is rest and wait for her parents to arrive.