Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 141: Interlude Andre

“This job is insane. Fun. But insane.” Li-Mei gasped, leaning over, hands resting on her knees.

Andre couldn’t help but agree, especially as he wasn’t in any better shape. Reducing someone with enhanced Stats to such a State was damn difficult, yet Dr. Thoma managed it on a daily basis.

Mind you, on top of everything they gained from levelling, they’d each slotted several Space-related Aspects, further boosting their Stats beyond what they should have been able to have.

And that wasn’t even mentioning the [Skills] they’d gained that were completely unconnected to any traditional method of gaining power.

[Fully Geared], [Legendary Blow]

Of course, the former was currently only being used to quickly switch from his work clothes and at-home outfit, but if something worked, it worked, and he didn’t have a better use for it yet.

As for the latter, it required a basic [Strike], [Blow] or [Shot] to work off of, but Dr. Thoma had also had a solution for that. He’d found a Karate teacher who’d learned how to impart the basic [Powerful Blow] to his students over a matter of days and paid for everyone except the good Dr. himself to go there.

The training itself had taken far longer than Dr. Thoma’s and the end result had been somewhat lackluster compared to the Epic [Skills] they’d gotten, but that just enhanced how odd of a duck his boss was.

In one of the stories the man so often referenced, he’d have been referred to as a “monster”, potentially an “old monster”, except for the fact that this was impossible given how recently the [System] had appeared.

As for the “work” itself, well, Andre was forced to agree with Li-Mei. It was the strangest situation he’d ever found himself in, and he’d once been present for a call to the police that had involved the officer saying something along the line of ‘You said you have guns in the house, just shoot the guys trying to break into the garage and dump their bodies in the river.’

Lazy Jackass.

But even that situation had been less strange than his current one. Physical exercise as if one of hell’s torturers were one’s personal trainer, mystic exercises that seemed like a cult’s pseudo-pagan crap and monster hunting, all interspersed with the most mundane of tasks like a running a sample to a lab across campus or getting coffee for everyone as he arrived in the morning.

And why couldn’t his boss get his own coffee? As it turned out, he lived in the middle of the woods and there was no place to get it on his way in except for the campus cafeteria, and its coffee was crap.

Ah yes, Dr. Isaac Thoma’s “secret” home in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization. Everyone knew he had it, no one who knew what it was cared to share. And what was one to do but speculate wildly?

Some people thought it was a secret sex dungeon. Others thought it was an actual dungeon. Or a Dungeon in the [System] sense.

Not to mention some of the crazier ideas, like the claims that he’d built a “meth lab” over there, creating all those potions the team drank even though it was well known that Professor Chandler made those. Or maybe he was producing many other, more exotic substances?

The rumors that made the most sense just stated that he was conducting risky summonings over there.

… except that also made zero sense. No one could survive constantly skating at the edge of disaster, constantly attempting to grow stronger by fighting monsters at the very edge of what they could beat and remain alive. Simple probability dictated otherwise.

Even if a group of people were skilled enough to win ninety-nine percent of all fights, calculated across even a mere hundred fights which barely enough to reach the first Evolution, two-thirds of those people would be dead.

The mere fact that Andre and Li-Mei still had a boss meant that that particular rumor was almost definitely bullshit.

“Hey, are you ok?” Li-Mei asked, nudging him in the arm, apparently, he’d been too deep in thought and that had caused her to worry.

“Yeah, just thinking.” Andre shrugged “But you’re right, this job is insane, but the good kind of insane.”

“I suppose that means that you’re ready to work even harder?”

… speak of the devil, here was Dr. Thoma. Andre blanched at the thought of a worse set of exercises.

“Don’t worry, I don’t have anything else for you to do, at least no physical training. Magic is up next.” His boss said, handing over a folder.

“We’ve already managed to earn you two [Spatial Magic Affinity] through using several different relevant Aspect [Skills], now it’s time to raise that [Skill] to Level 20.”

As he said that, he pulled what looked like the world’s most sadistic engineer’s take on the Rubik’s Cube, built from the bastard lovechild of a beartrap and an Iron Maiden.

“Try to see if you can warp space enough to solve that cube, be careful, and remember that Professor Bailey is a healer.”

… yep, that sounded like a great time, fun and all, and like the world’s biggest workplace safety violation.

Andre strongly suspected that this thing wasn’t nearly as dangerous as it looked, simply because Dr. Thoma was generally pretty careful. Most likely, the absurdly dangerous appearance was intended to make this as close to a situation that was actually threatening. After all, “combat” against a dangerous, superior “foe” gave great returns in [Skill] Levels.

“Anyway, I’ll be in the next summoning room over if you need something, and please let me know if that device helps with your training.”

And with that, Dr. Thoma just waltzed out of the room, going straight through the walls. Strange, but that was how this job was. Odd as all get out.

***

“Alright, now the two of you’ve levelled up your [Skills] to a high degree, grown comfortable with your Aspect [Skills], and gathered all the XP you need to hit Level 10.” Dr. Thoma told them with a massive grin on his face, “So congratulations. I’m pretty sure you’re among the most prepared people to ever hit your first Evolution.”

“That doesn’t seem right.” Andre said cautiously. There were so many powerful people in this world, with all sorts of insanely rare [Classes], how could the two of them possibly be among the best prepared people in the world?

“It is, though.” Dr. Thoma told him with a reassuring grin “There are certain kinds of preparations that can only be achieved with the help of someone more powerful feeding you Aspects and teaching you [Skills]. So now, please choose a new [Class] and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.”

With that, he sat down on a his chair and pulled out his laptop to do something “productive”.

Not that Andre was paying attention to him anymore, he had his own task to focus on.

Congratulations! You’ve managed to reach the first Evolution Threshold.

Based on your current achievements, Skill Levels and Aspects, you have unlocked several new Classes. If these options do not satisfy you, you may choose to leave this screen and continue to rack up more prerequisites, but you cannot increase your Level beyond 10 until you evolve your Class.

Here are your possible Class Evolutions:

Student (common)

A student is someone at the very beginning of their journey, not knowing much about anything yet willing to learn anything their teachers have to learn. This is a Class that focusses on knowledge acquisition, retention and eventual application. It is one of the least specialized Classes available, and therefore the most flexible and varied when it comes to your eventual Evolution.

Eternal Student (uncommon)

First, you are a student, learning the ins and outs of your future profession, be that in trade school, under a master, or in the classroom of a university.

Then, you put that teaching to use, going about your business while learning through doing.

And finally, you will have become the master, teaching others to follow in your footsteps.

But what if you don’t want to do that, what if you’d rather continue your journey towards wisdom? This is the domain of the Eternal Student, who is not only the embodiment of the idea “you never stop learning”, but takes it to a whole other level.

This is a Class that will never exceed the power of a more focused one, but so long as the Eternal Student spends enough time learning about the Class he wants to emulate, he can get close. However, there are some limitations to this mimicking ability where magic and highly mana-intensive Skills are concerned.

Diligent Student (uncommon)

The Diligent Student is an ambitious person, focused on reaching their goals, one test score at a time and this Class reflects that.

It is not a Class that will do much for you by itself, yet vastly enhance the power of the Class it evolves into, taking into account not just Skills, Aspects and outstanding achievements, but everything the Diligent Student has learned.

Student of Ancient Teachings (rare)

There are many people who recreate things from the time before anything that could even remotely be considered “modernity”. Some people merely recreate certain small aspects as a part of cultural experiments, others attempt to live their entire lives according to scattered records that were barely readable even by the greatest of archeologists.

And then there are the people who somehow managed to directly learn their craft from the ancient masters themselves.

A Student of Ancient Teachings gains the ability to re-create the knowledge of the past with very little to go on and a high degree of accuracy. Perfect for an Archeologist, or maybe someone looking to explore fields of study that have vast stores of lost knowledge.

Space Elementalist (rare)

Space. Everywhere, a part of everything, vast and unknowable. Now, why on Earth does it suddenly look like a pretzel?

… there’s a Space Elementalist nearby, why else?

A Space Elementalist is a Class that can manipulate space through a direct application of mana, twisting and warping it, turning reality itself into a funhouse mirror. They gain Skills based around enhanced spatial visualization while making manipulating space cheaper, easier, and far simpler to keep existing manipulations in place.

Space Mage (rare)

Space. Expanding or shortening it, increasing distances or shrinking them to an absolute minimum, creating an infinite loop that’s almost impossible to escape … as well as all the standard abilities like teleportation, both short and long range, and portal creation.

A Space Mage gains a vast library of spells, most of them focused on manipulating space and reality, turning any battlefield into something that is to their advantage.

Genius Spatial Mage (epic)

Here, there, and everywhere (maybe even all at once?), that is a power beyond what a normal Space Mage is capable of.

A Genius Spatial Mage is someone who has unlocked the Space Mage Class, yet vastly overshot the basic requirements. In your case, you did that by using your various space-related Aspect Skills, both exploring and combining them to the point where this exceeded their normal bounds, becoming a new Skill in their own right.

As a Genius Spatial Mage you will be able to do everything a Space Mage can do, but better. Teleportation, Portals, and, of course, the obligatory spatial manipulation.

Adapted Human (epic)

Slotting an Aspect lets humans gain the powers of monsters. Now the question is: are these people still human? The answer is, of course, no. Why else would that person still have their species read “Human”?

This is, in fact, still the case with an Adapted Human as well, with this merely being a Class. But what a Class it is.

The Adapted Human gains a vast store of Skills that can make far more use of their Aspects than anyone else does, up to and including the ability to transform into a hybrid form made up of all the monsters whose Aspects you have slotted.

“Hey, Dr. Thoma, what’s the difference between a Mage and an Elementalist?” Andre asked. It might be already a sure thing that he’d become a [Genius Spatial Mage], but now he was very curious about this other topic.

“Think of it like this: there’s an expert martial artist, and a computer program that can simulate a person, with all the limitations that comes with it. The martial artist does everything on instinct, moving perfectly as befits countless hours of study, easily able to adapt new moves to their existing skillset or coming up with new ones. But going outside of what they know can be difficult.

“Meanwhile, the computer program can’t do anything unless it’s told exactly what to do, but it can be programmed to do everything. However it is completely useful when it comes to altering moves outside of the pre-prepared list of changeable attributes. This is a Mage, a Class that can cast known spells decently well, draw on a vast number of tricks and use complex magic comparatively easily.

“The Elementalist is like the martial artist, able to create a form of ‘magical muscle memory’, using basic elemental manipulations with about as much effort as it takes to lift a finger. They can also weave their chosen element with contemptuous ease, making it do anything they need it to. But they have to do everything manually, without the help of spellforms, which can be a real pain in the ass when it comes to the more extreme or mystic workings.” Dr. Thoma explained “So, which one are you going to pick?”

“Neither, I was offered [Genius Spatial Mage], so that’s what I’m choosing.” Andre said.

“Congratulations.” Dr. Thoma said, a massive grin expanding across his face “I’ll go get the champagne, and then, you can start searching for your portal locations. How do you two feel like Mallorca?”

… in other words, he was sending them off on a vacation, probably because another round of hellish training was about to come down on them once they came back.

As it turned out, Li-Mei had received the [Class] of [Leap Mage], which was fully focused on teleporting and was likewise epic.

To reward them for their efforts, Dr. Thoma handed them several plane tickets that would take them all over Europe so they could memorize them so they could later portal there, with the first and last airports being near major tourist locations. That was nice of their boss, sure, but Andre couldn’t help but fear that they were merely a premature apology to whatever he had planned for them once they returned.