Chapter 24
The PUB flickered like it was giggling along with the Kobolds as a Gambit Accepted appeared in the corner of his HUD under Fox’s icon. There was an icon for both Fox and Touwon, and even a smaller one for Penny under his own icon. He remembered asking Fox about the icons after they’d created their Collective.
"I have no such 'icons.' Our own PUBs show notifications and gambits, along with environmental information such as temperature. Unlike your own Gear, it can not initiate Collective notifications, but can receive the ones initiated by your matched set. I am somewhat jealous of your matched set, but it benefits the entire Collective that you have it."
Nodding, Oskar asked, "What about items and things like injuries and damage you've taken."
Fox thought for a moment. "They show limited information on items, but only information we already now. Our scans are outline only unless we know of the threat level already. Non-set PUBS are decent at putting into text what the wearer already knows."
"I've noticed there are different styles for each species, but obviously my experience is limited."
"At least you know that, human. That is an advantage, know it a truth," she smiled and continued. "PUB Gear comes in many forms, sometimes as full helmets with visors or Goggles that are made specifically for a certain race like Vulk or the Kobolds. Variety does exist, but most are simply Goggles, like ours, with custom or adjustable straps depending on the race and size of the wearer."
"Are they all metal and leather?"
She considered a moment, "I have heard tales of at least one matched Jewelry set made up of a Bracelet and Monocle. It is said to belong to one of the Great Collectives. Great Collectives have a monopoly on such rarities, as you can imagine, but yes, primarily metal and leather."
Oskar's matched set didn't look like anything special. What made it special is he had both pieces. It was too small and ill fitted for Crocs or whatever Drakon were.
Fox did called the Drakon "overgrown lizards," but that's what he'd originally thought of the Crocs, so maybe his version of overgrown was not ambitious enough.
The idea of something even bigger than Crocs is terrifying. I know there are things out there. Yesterday, I felt the briefest of touch of something deep under the ground, but I convinced myself I was imagining it. It hurt my head to think about, and it was impossibly big. It couldn't have been real, though, right?
Impossible or not, it was real and he knew it. He'd felt that familiar pressure in his skull, and he'd made sure they went way out of the way to avoid whatever the hell it was. Thinking about it now hurt his brain in that way he couldn't describe.
Just like those things in the portal at the edge of my vision. Those... whatevers that felt like walking, shuttering madness.
The longer he thought about it, the more it hurt... the more wrong, for lack of a better word, it all felt. Oskar felt his chest tighten, his hands tingling. He drank water just to have something normal to do, something to focus on. It lessened, but the feeling vulnerability lingered.
He knew it was stupid, but he didn't think he could handle talking about it. To Fox's credit, she'd noticed when he'd felt it. She couldn't have missed the tension in his shoulders and the wildness he knew was in his eyes, and she took the changes in direction to avoid whatever thing Oskar had felt in the ground without comment.
She'd tensed, though, watching him. Maybe Fox felt it, too, on some primal level, because she only watched him and said nothing, honoring the unspoken agreement that some things were dangerous to openly acknowledge. This was something that Oskar was just learning, but Fox knew it. Penny knew it, too. She popped up out of the ground and walked nearer to the group than she'd been all day. Touwon himself never even glanced back, but he put the thing he'd been tinkering with back into his weird ass bag of unending broken stuff and walked without distraction until Oskar had calmed down. Oskar hadn't slept very well last night.
***
Oskar slowly regained use of his body over the next hour. He finally sat up, drank more water and reassured Penny he was going to be alright. As always, reassuring Penny resorted in her getting pets.
Vulk and Falk’s Gear was still packed up in Touwon’s bag. The bag that never seemed to get bigger or heavier, despite how much water and gear he added. Oskar was now too curious to care if it was rude and asked Fox and Touwon directly about the bag.
Fox glanced at Touwon, who nodded at her, and she said, "Touwon's class is a quite rare noncombat class called Improvised Artificer. It gives him bonuses to carrying extra junk around and making and inventing new things."
Touwon looked vaguely offended at Fox's use of the word 'junk," but smirked back at her when she grinned at him.
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Oskar couldn’t help but wonder exactly how many storage the strange Kobold had in his bag.
"Touwon was always a skilled combatant, and as you know, still it, so his class displeased many despite it being rare and extremely useful to the Tribe. When Kobolds reach maturity in the tribes, they are given a class based off their desires and knowledge, so learning early where someone's talents lie is important."
"So I'm guessing his interest weren't all in kicking ass?"
"No," she laughed. "Despite his martial prowess, Touwon enjoyed tinkering, repairing, and inventing things most of all. In his case, no one knew for sure whether he'd received a choice or had simply been given the class, but there were some who said he'd wasted his gifts. He quickly proved them wrong, though, through his increased flexibility and creativity in combat, using the very items he created."
Apparently, he made weapons far before he settled on the kukri boomerang knife things as a favorite.
"He calls them kurangs."
Kurangs? I like boomerukri better, but then again, I gave Penny her name because she had the metallic coloring of a new penny, so maybe my opinion isn't all that important.
// Boomerukri? Are you serious right now?? //
Smiling, Oskar ignored the PUB and listened as Fox continued.
"Touwon's initial design was of foot wide, round and bladed rings that one could throw to great effect. He based that design on weapons historically employed exclusively by warrior princesses in the Tribes, but personally, he never found them intuitive. He presented them as a gift to one of the Elder’s daughters, Scena; a Kobold who vanished during the Culling."
Wait just a second, Oskar thought, but Fox continued.
"Touwon’s class allows him to make weapons, armor, and other gear with seemingly useless materials. With an actual workshop, he would be a prodigy. Obviously, he hid his abilities from the Crocodilian Collectives, thought to be a plain Tinkerer; the common class of the Improvised Artificer class. Tinkerer had the same bonuses to a lesser degree, and he was relegated to repair simple objects and armor."
Oskar listened, fascinated.
"He receives bonuses for using his created gear, and has some ability to retrieve thrown weaponry, breaking down items into base materials. He also has a passive that drastically reduces carry weight in bags he’d created as long as he was the one carrying it, and could even partially lighten the load of others using his bags if they were given freely. That obviously encourages hoarding."
Touwon snapped out something that sounded rude at Fox, who laughed. Fox wasn’t even sure what all Touwon had in that bag, but she was still laughing as she said, "I have never seen him clean it out. Additionally, anyone else looking without permission will find only what he wants them to find."
That sounds broken. So cool!
"My own class is called Ruse Rogue, a race specific Rogue class that is effectively a dodge tank. I gain mitigation, and speed bonuses to dodging that grow in power against an enemy every time I dodge an attack by them. I can also stack debuffs on enemies that damages joints and can cause serious bleeds. This means I get more powerful in longer fights if I am careful."
“Unique or Legendary classes can be taught if someone shows enough compatibility. Students do not gain the flexibility or personalization of the class, though. The class becomes Rare instead of Unique or Legendary, and progresses and grows in the exact same manner it did for the original.
She stood tall as she spoke of her class, obviously proud. “We, as a tribe, try to match the capabilities of the original user to the class as closely as possible for maximum synergy, as there can be only one teacher and one student at a time. Many were lost in the Culling,” her face darkened.
“That was possibly the most unforgivable of their sins. It took a dozen generations to cultivate so many powerful classes, and it is all but gone. The Ruse Rogue class belonged to the father of my mother. From our calculation, I matched him well. He was our greatest warrior.”
Her voice lowered, and she spoke conspiratorially, “Even aged as he was, he made them pay a dear price when they came for him.” Her grin was chilling as her eyes stared into Oskar's soul.
“He killed all those that tried, but they wounded him mortally. They do not know that he died, so even now, they search for him. There is still a modest bounty for the one they call Tatsu the Third Sun. Their fear gives him power, even in death.”
Even though her eyes were filled with unspilled tears, she leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “They will never find out he passed. That is a truth. It was our only revenge. Even now, they think he is somewhere, plotting. They attribute many deaths in the night to him, but only in secret.”
Her eyes blazed as she continued, “Their unwillingness to say his name openly has only given him more life. It is not only my heart he lives in, now. He will live forever in theirs.”
Her wolfish smile showed her teeth. She honestly looked ferocious.
Oskar had convinced himself that he could hold his own against a Kobold if the need ever arose, but now he was starting to doubt himself. The Kobold people seemed to be more united than the other races. He found himself grateful she was on his side. He planned on making sure it stayed that way.
“What was the deal with that Hyena trio?” Oskar ventured.
Scoffing, Fox said, “They consider themselves to be our natural enemies, though they only ran and hid until we were Culled to a tenth of our number. Even still, they run unless they have a clear advantage. It's possible they saw us alone and acted." She looked skeptical, but then said something that perked his ears right up.
"I have seen a few of your kind in my life. Humans, I mean, but rarely are they true combatants. The one's that are naturally born here are scattered and nomadic. The rare few that were rumored to have more powerful classes... they do not usually last long here. They rarely live long enough to gain power. I now find myself wondering if the ones with powerful classes come from other worlds.”
Eyes wide, Oskar asked, “There have been other humans? I mean, I’d assumed since Vulk or Valla did not bombard me with questions, humans were not completely unheard of, but still- this is the first time you’ve mentioned them. Do you know where any are now?”
“Yes. One of the Great Collectives- The Gramm Collective- have one of the powerful ones as a pet. He looked older, gray, but can apparently heal great wounds. Perhaps not his own, because he is hideously scarred, but they would not keep him alive unless there was some truth to the rumors,” Fox said.
That didn’t sound like Erik to Oskar, but he didn’t have another lead, and he didn't come to this world to sit in the desert.
I came to find Erik, and it's looking like the Gramm Collective is the only place nearby I might be able to get information.
Do you read in dark mode or light mode?
