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Ch 104 - Im Inspired by the Memory of Grandmas Cooking

  “What class choices did you get?” Jane asked. She was still bloody, the back of her armor wrecked, but Ruby had healed her up good. While Tomas and Scott both checked their class choices, I deactivated the spells on Switchblade and banished the bike to finish repairing.

  All of Steve’s 6 remaining clones said in unison, “I’ll scout the area.”

  I hadn’t even noticed the other 4 get killed.

  “Only 6?” Ruby asked.

  “The fewer I summon, the more tangible they become and the more independently they can work. If I limit it to just 1, he’s basically a doppleganger of me. Fully physical and independent. Even better, if I have clones out and take damage, it gets reflected to them first.”

  That was super cool. All 6 clones winked at Ruby, then scattered, crossing the field in different directions before disappearing into the trees.

  Steve sat in the grass and closed his eyes. “I can use their senses, but it’s still weird having 7 pairs of eyes. I’m going to practice. Let me know if there’s any cool loot. I’ll tell you if I spot any danger.”

  “Good work.” As much as Steve liked to joke and tease and pretend to be a goofball, he was proving more resourceful than I gave him credit for. He seemed to be putting together a really boss build.

  We looted the bunnies and got a few mana crystals, buckets of rabbit stew, and 2 dozen rabbit feet. Back on Earth, those were usually considered lucky. These were different.

  “Explosive Decoy Hare. When placed on the ground and activated, each rabbit foot will create a lifelike decoy of whoever triggered it. When any physical force touches it, the decoy will explode.”

  “Exploding decoys are appropriate and awesome,” Jane said, but then went back to discussing class choices with Tomas.

  We split the loot, although I let the others keep the mana crystals. There weren’t enough to make a difference for me. I got 5 gallons of rabbit stew, but I wasn’t sure I would eat it. My grandmother had made excellent rabbit stew, but the memories of all those bunnies self destructing soured my stomach. I happily took 3 of the decoys though.

  Before Tomas and Scott could unlock classes, they had to make their second permanent spell choice. Tomas’s build was turning out very interesting. In addition to his permanent teleport spell, he also had cool abilities that included stealth, an increased agility and acrobatics ability called Daredevil, and Steel Thumb, the ability to fabricate or repair machines. He hadn’t used that last one much, but it offered a lot of potential.

  He only had one temporary spell at the moment, the recently-acquired MacGyver spell. Even though he hadn’t used it yet, Tomas made that permanent.

  Scott permed a spell he’d just bought at the system store. He’d spent pretty much his entire mana crystal stash on it, and it seemed a perfect fit. It allowed him to designate a small area during a fight. As long as he stayed within that area, it would dramatically reduce the mana cost of his laser beam.

  He’d been a stunt man back on Earth like Burns, and with his natural strength and physical abilities, I was surprised he didn’t focus more on some kind of pure warrior build. Instead, he seemed to be focusing all-in on his ocular beam power.

  “Hey, I can change my stats around now,” Scott exclaimed.

  I’d forgotten about that option, honestly. With my build combining both magic and combat, I needed all my stats pretty balanced.

  “What are you thinking of changing?” Lana asked, dropping to one knee beside where he sat on the grass.

  “I need more mana so I can fire my eye beam more. That means more Intelligence. I’m going to pull some from all of my other stats to supercharge it.”

  “Cool,” Lana said.

  Ruby didn’t look so thrilled. I shared her concern. “Um, Scott, it’s totally your choice, but do you think it’s wise to cut back on Constitution when we’re heading into a dungeon?” Constitution fueled our Life Points, after all.

  He shrugged. “If I can deal more damage faster, then chances of getting hit are lower. Besides, I’ve got you tanks to get up close and personal. I’ll fill Constitution back in as I get my next few levels.”

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  “Okay, as long as you understand the risks.”

  “I think the risks are manageable. It’s a trade-off that should work while we’re in this big group,” he said confidently.

  It was ultimately his choice, and he was probably right. As long as he stayed behind us, he should be fine. The ability to fire more of those super-powered ocular beams would definitely help.

  Both he and Tomas got some cool class choices, although far fewer than I’d gotten. With input from the rest of us, they quickly narrowed down the list and made their choices. Tomas chose Scrap-heap Surgeon.

  “Scrap-heap Surgeon. Master of flexibility and creativity, the Scrap-heap Surgeon finds solutions in the moment to tackle any problem. Gain the level 4 ability Creative Frenzy.”

  “Creative Frenzy. In 1 second of real time, you slow time for 2 minutes per level to build the perfect construct to solve your problem or defeat your enemy.”

  “That’s sweet,” I told him when he explained it to me.

  “I know. I can’t wait to try it.”

  It came with some cool class spells. One gave him multiple choice options for looting monsters, another restored items, weapons, or gear damaged or destroyed during a fight, and the third improved his ability to quickly build defensive constructs from nearby junk and materials he summoned.

  As soon as the initial 10-minute activation period expired, he tried the repair spell on Jane’s armor and it worked flawlessly. She grinned. “That’ll save a bunch of mana crystals repairing our gear all the time.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t choose a healer class,” I said after reviewing his choice. It was really unique, and he seemed super excited about it, but he’d been an actual surgeon back on Earth.

  Tomas exchanged a look with Jane and took her hand. “We actually talked about that a lot. I’m a good doctor, but here we’ve got healing potions and stuff. Don’t need highly trained doctors as much. The best way to protect people here and back on Earth is to get strong enough to defeat that Queen Marisara final boss.”

  He clapped me on the shoulder and grinned. “I don’t want you to have to keep fighting alone.”

  Jane flashed a smile, her eyes glowing with her Phoenix powers. “We all plan to catch up so we can keep up.”

  For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. I swallowed back sudden emotion and pulled them both into a hug. That said it all. Ruby stepped in close and placed a hand on my shoulder. “We’re a team.”

  Steve looked up from where he still sat in the grass. “Well team, we’ve got a horde of mandrill apes charging in from the north. Looks like we get another chance to gain some experience.”

  “How many?” Ruby exclaimed at the same time Lana cried, “Apes?”

  Scott grinned. “My class spells just activated. Perfect timing to test out my new class Sunspot Spammer.”

  He explained quickly. The new class was hyper-focused on maximizing his ocular beam power while reducing mana drain. Perfectly fit the build he wanted.

  Just in time because a tide of giant mandrill apes boiled out of the trees, some soaring 20 feet before landing. All 50 of them galloped straight at us, grunting and growling in surprisingly deep voices. They were as big as silverback gorillas, but clearly Mandrills.

  Even Earth Mandrills always looked weird to me, with their red-and-blue striped skin on their long snouts and the ugliest butts of any animal in the world. It looked like someone shaved their backside, then splashed red and blue paint over the exposed skin.

  These had the same unfortunate coloring as Earth mandrills, but also had arms that bulged with oversized muscles and five-fingered hands the size of cookie sheets. Identify kicked in as soon as I focused on the first one.

  “Graveclutch Mandrill. Level 31. Uncommon. Berserk. These fierce monkeys could crush your skull with their powerful jaws, but they prefer a more hands-on approach. When their oversized hands lock on to a target, they fuse around it and will not come off until the prey or the mandrill is dead. They exert steadily increasing crushing force that builds by draining life force from the target until they shatter bones and rip their prey to pieces.”

  “Do not let them grab you!” I shouted. Then I charged to meet the onrushing horde, Echo and Scalebiter in my hands. My ranged options weren’t great, and I refused to let those monsters close on my team.

  The charging horde of giant monkeys looked impressive, but their tactics would have worked better on a team with fewer ranged attacks. Scott’s eye beam blasted past me, his new class powers on full display. The beam was so hot, it warped the air before slicing through half a dozen of the apes in a single hit.

  At the same time, exploding crossbow bolts from Lana rained destruction across the charging mandrills while Steve again split into a squad of clones who all unleashed elemental destruction in unison. Ice arrows froze monster limbs while burning arrows set more of them on fire, sending them into a panicked frenzy. Two molotovs hit in the middle of the group to fantastic results.

  Andy raced toward the horde right behind me, swords in hand, while Tomas appeared by my side and kept pace.

  Hot on our heels, Jane shouted, “Is there a plan, or are we just rushing in?”

  I had actually just planned to rush in. I was good up close and personal, but now with part of the team running into the literal jaws of danger, I hesitated. I wanted to tell them to back off, but that’s not how we all leveled.

  “Hang back, Jane. Use your telekinesis to keep them off of any of us who gets into trouble.”

  With his quick teleport ability, Tomas should be fine. I didn’t know enough about Andy’s skills. He was carrying a longsword and a shortsword, with another gigantic sword strapped to his back. His short, brown hair was covered in a steel pot-like helmet now, and he looked eager for the fight.

  He saw me glance over and grinned. “Don’t worry about me boss-man.”

  “Okay. Hit them hard and fast and don’t get swarmed.”

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