Chương 73: George’s Run (VIII)

>>Hey, George. What say we get all the way to the portal doorway before you call up the last quest item. We can't go into the sea monster room for that pick, so we're going to be light grappling out of here. I'm not even sure Jellybean will be able to drive us to the portal before long. This room is going vertical. George tossed the dolphin keychain on the ground in front of him while clicking the key fob with the other hand. As soon as the jet ski expanded to its full size, he realized his mistake.

The jet ski started to slide back down the hallway on its frictionless hover field. George lunged for the handle but missed, his gauntlets smacking the footwell and bouncing off. Nod fired the light grapple, but with nothing to brace against George was dragged off of his feet and pulled behind the jet ski as it gathered speed. >>Minimize it! But the key fob wasn't in George's hand any more. He spun around as he slid down the slope on his belly, but he couldn't find it. >>Identify, where is the fob?

A white line appeared in his vision, pointing straight down to his waist. The former nodling had extended one tentacle without being told and caught the key fob as it fell from George's hand. George cast draw, clicked the fob three times, and the jet ski disappeared. The spider's arm wrapped itself around his waist again. Nod shot the light grapple at the wall and brought their slide to a stop. >>Well, that was unnecessarily dramatic. >>Where was that agility stat when we needed it?

Maybe we should have chosen "grip" after all. >>Sheesh. Want to try that again, Evel Knievel? Maybe with some forethought this time? George braced himself against the wall and set his feet.

"The nodling caught the fob on its own." >>See if it can still use the draw skill.

"Hey, nodling. Fetch," George said and tossed the keychain further upslope. The spider released George's waist and launched itself before the keychain hit the ground. Using George's body as a springboard, it snatched the keychain in midair, ricocheted off the opposite wall, and landed back on his chest, holding the tiny dolphin up to George. George wordlessly took the keychain and tucked it into his pocket. The spider resumed its place around his waist.

"That took like two seconds," George said. >>2. 94 seconds. That thing is fast.

"I'm still not quite sure how to use it as a weapon, but I think it's become even better as a scout now." >>Except it probably can't fly around anymore since it is so much bigger. >>And we don't know if it can use draw. Try it again and be more specific. Also, use a mental command this time. The gnome said you could do that. George took the keychain out of his pocket again and held it at arm's length. >>Nodling, use draw to take this.

Again, a tentacle rose from the metallic, black knot around his waist and the keychain flew out of George's hand. The spider caught it and held it out to George. >>Neat trick. George tossed the keychain down one last time and clicked the fob. The jet ski appeared and George halted its slide with one foot. He carefully mounted, and when he had the handlebar gripped in his free hand, Nod cut the lightrope and George gunned the jet ski forward. It slipped backward briefly and then moved upslope.

George leaned forward over the handlebars as the jet ski climbed the slope toward the door.

"Does this mean we have to give it a name? I kind of liked 'the nodling' but it just doesn't seem to fit anymore," George said. >>We sure as hell aren't calling it Jellybean… or anything comparably emasculating. We need something that strikes fear into the hearts of our enemies when you shout its name in victory.

"RUAC? Identify said it was a reticulated utility appendage construct." >>As Director of Branding for this whole outfit, I'll be the one to make the suggestions, thanks. >>You may quietly note your opinion as seems appropriate. >>Hmm. Let's see… it's red, has eight needle arms, is metallic in a sort of fleshy way, was made from your blood and a Mentis token… >>How about… >>The Widower. >>Mr. Claws. >>No. >>The Severer.

"Any other ideas?" >>Hang on. I'm thinking. >>Bloodgrasp… Phobolimb… Shadow Skitterer. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"You think people are going to be scared when I shout 'shadow skitterer' and then throw this thing at them?" George said. >>I don't know! >>I'm having performance anxiety. >>This is unlike me.

"Maybe we should wait and ask Cassie what she thinks," George said. >>No! I need some agency around here. You won't even give me another limb. I'm naming this damn octo-belt. >>Ok. How about this. >>Writher.

"Writher?" >>Yeah. What's wrong with that? Look how writhey it is! It's completely writhey.

"Let's call that a 'working title,'" George said.

"And we'll workshop with Cassie once she's squared away." >>I hate my life. >>She's probably going to name it Squidgy or Puddles or something. By the time they reached the doorway portal, the hallway had tipped so much that George couldn't stand on it without starting to slide down. Nod anchored the lightrope to the wall beside the portal door and George leaned his weight back on it to pull it taut.

"Ok. Here we go," George said.

"I pick the crafting skill upgrade." Crafting Skill Upgrade selected. Unlock one skill from a menu of six advanced crafting skills. Upgrade the skill to level ten. Skill Menu • Orbit—Cause objects to circle you or a chosen anchor point at adjustable radii. • Imbue Motion—Instill stored momentum into crafted objects. Motion decays extremely gradually. • Remote Manipulation—Enables non-contact control of items within a defined range. Max one item at a time until higher levels.

• Awaken—Infuses a crafted construct with a limited behavioral routine, granting it the capacity to act semi-autonomously. • Mold—Permits reshaping of raw or crafted material into new forms without the need for conventional tools. • Set Condition—Allows user to embed a conditional trigger into a crafted object. Trigger types include environmental state (temperature, impact, pressure), temporal delay, or interaction-based events. > >I have choice fatigue. >>Naming Writher took it out of me.

Maybe I'm picking up some of your PTSD vibes. I'm having a trauma manifestation. >>This one is all you. I'll just rubberstamp whatever you pick.

"Let's remember this moment next time you remark on my 'unmanly exclamations of surprise'," George muttered, looking over the skill menu in his visor. >>[Already napping.]"I think orbit and imbue motion could be useful in building a better button clicker or other crafting applications, but I'm a little more interested in skills that might be more immediately applicable to surviving the next few hours," George said.

"Although I suppose orbit could be useful to create floating shields around us. Thoughts?" >>[Zzzzz….]"If mold lets us adjust the shape of things, it could be handy for making shelters and sealing ourselves in safe places. If we'd had it in the first trial, we probably wouldn't have needed that nanite cube to seal the door to Charlie's bedroom.

"On the other hand, that set condition one might be useful for making traps. Let's say we bind something to the ceiling and set a condition that it falls when someone walks underneath it. That could be good, especially if we are being hunted," George said. >>[Sighs.] >>[Rubs eyes.] >>[Yawns.] >>[Blearily sees where George's train of thought is taking him and decides to intervene.] >>George… >>The burden of watching you fumble through these choices on your own is more than I can bear.

How did you manage those twenty minutes when we got the armor and I had to tactically retreat into unconsciousness?

"Do you mean that time you nearly got both of us possessed by a powerful, mysterious entity just because you wanted to look cool in black armor and then you died for a while?" >>Yeah. That time. >>That was just before I came back and found you hiding behind a chair in the dark, hoping no one would find you. Which, I might add, is exactly what the only 12-year-old girl in the trial did… just saying.

"Ok, Nod." George sighed.

"What is your pick?" >>It is a no-brainer. Remote manipulation. >>It has force-choke written all over it. >>What did we learn with the bookstore zombies? Your crafting skills may not work on living organisms but they do work on what those organisms are wearing. >>Who knows how much strength and dexterity a level 10 remote manipulation skill might have? I doubt we'll be able to make the black knight dance like a puppet, but I bet we'll be able to make his lance miss or spin his helmet around backward or something.

>>Besides, we have the nodlings, so we don't need imbue motion or awaken. Our little spidery Oompa Loompas can do all that for us.

"Fine," George said.

"That's a great skill. Remote manipulation it is." New Skill! Remote Manipulation unlocked—level 10 >>This is going to play really well in the climax of my memoir. >>I can see it now… We'll get to the "hero at the mercy of his enemy" scene and just when the baddie raises the gun to fire the killing shot, he finds the gun slowly turning around in his grasp until he helplessly stares directly down the barrel… then BANG! >>It will be terribly cinematic… >>…

Not to mention a vivid and potent metaphor for the folly of evil. >>I'm excited. I'm thinking of publishing serially. I bet we'll get loads of followers who tune in to watch me kick ass and watch you lovably plod around. The steeper the hallway had become, the faster it had begun to accelerate toward total vertical. Most of George's weight was hanging from the lightrope attached to the now-ceiling of the hall.

"Are you ready to go fish the exit token out of the sea monster room?" >>Easy does it, Captain Ahab. Let's not forget the last time you got juiced up on a new stat and then jumped through a portal. Do you remember what happened?

"Yes, I—" >>Ya looked like an idiot is what happened. >>Then we almost died and I had to save us… again. >>So, let's take a minute to review our gains before we plunge into our next adventure. >>You've grown in leaps and bounds in the last twenty-ish minutes. >>I'm proud of you. It brings a tear to my eye. Truly. >>But you're not gonna be used to your new supercharged body yet. >>You unlocked agility, durability, grit, constitution, and mental fortitude, and they all got kicked up to level 50.

>>Your body is going to be much more at your command. You're stronger, faster, tougher, and you'll heal quicker. >>You also got a weird semi-sentient spider belt that is still mostly an unknown quantity. Make sure it stays securely attached as we swing around in the sea monster room. >>And you can now move things remotely with your mind, but we don't know the range or strength of that power yet. >>So… I'm just saying. Take it easy out there.

Let's just fish that token out of the drink like normal, solve that math equation, have a nice, easy zoom down the big slide, and then throw the keychain into the dragon's mouth and make it expand into jet ski size as soon as the dragon swallows it.

"That's really your plan?" George said. >>Of course that is my plan. It is a killer plan. >>We can even do the trick with your blood again so that the dragon eats it. Then… boom. Problem solved. We might even still be able to drive Jellybean afterward.

"First things first," George said and drew in the lightrope until he was just below the portal doorway.

"Ready?" >>Code Venom protocol is queued up and prepped to engage.

"Here we go."