Taking the can and spoon with him, they walked to where the guards were watching the entrance to the shelter. There were three people standing watch: JP, Trey, and another kid whose name Drew didn’t know. That reminded him of the man who’d died to protect him before the rage took over, and he paused, a frown on his lips.
“What’s wrong, Drew?” Katie asked.
“The man, that died during the attack. He jumped in front of me when a troll was attacking. I don’t know his name.”
“It was Frank,” Sarah said softly. The look of concern on both women’s faces was evident, and it tugged on the part of Drew’s mind that desperately wanted to break down and start crying. It was the same part that told him this was beyond his capabilities and he was bound to fail. He was an introvert at heart, and he knew at some point the immediate danger was going to pass and he was going to have to deal with how he was handling the end of the world. But there was still more work for him to do and people that were depending on him.
Drew nodded his head, “Frank.” He repeated, tasting the name. “Frank.” He nodded one last time, then began walking forward. JP, Trey, and the other guard had been watching them as Drew walked up and stopped a few feet away from the group. He realized that he was going to have to break the silence and he tried to think of something to say. Finding nothing that seemed to fit, he saluted the three. A little surprised, they gave him shy salutes in return.
“You three look tired. Trey, can you go get the other people with attack powers? I’ll cast a refreshing rain on everyone.” Trey saluted and rushed off, his former training kicking in. Drew turned to the third guard, who was young as well, probably no more than twenty. “Sorry, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m IT2 Drew Michalik.”
The kid blushed, “Yeah, I know.” His blush deepened as he realized what he just said, “Sorry sir, I’m Private Daniel Barnes.” He was wearing the same troll leathers as everyone else, although he carried several guns and extra magazines which set him apart. There wasn’t much else to identify him; his aura was a mix of colors, no single one standing out as stronger than the other. Sensing that the kid would just get more nervous if he kept talking to him, Drew switched to look at JP.
“Hey JP. How you holding up?”
“I’m alright. You put on one helluva show back there,” the former cop said with a grin.
“Honestly, I don’t really remember much of it. I think I might have overused my mana a bit,” Drew said with a shrug. JP nodded like that made sense. “Thanks for keeping everyone safe while I was out.”
JP snorted, “It’s been easy, aside from the lack of sleep. The trolls haven’t dared show their faces. So, all we’ve had to deal with are a few of the scavengers, but that cleared up after Daryl melted the corpses. Speaking of, he’s been out scouting, and he thinks you must have killed off almost all of them; said the guards who were blocking him from getting inside are gone now.”
“Yeah, we can only hope so. Give me a minute. I need to look at my notifications.” He shook both of their hands and then stepped a few feet away and pulled up the notifications that had been blinking in the corner of his vision since he woke up. His hands were mechanically eating the chili while he did so.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Acid Arrow xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Mana Shield xatherite has reached level 5. Damage absorbed has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Lightning Bolt xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Energize xatherite has reached level 5. Charge requirement has reduced.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Dancing Blade xatherite has reached level 5. Duration has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Storm xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Fireball xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Cone of Frost xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. You have attuned Minor Blink Step.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Acid Arrow, Minor Mana Shield, Minor Lightning Bolt, Minor Energize, Minor Dancing Sword, Fireball, and Cone of Cold xatherite are ready to be upgraded.
Drew blinked, every single one of his widespread quality xatherite had leveled up to the point that they could be upgraded off that fight, except for blink step, which had at least finally attuned. Those higher grade and higher rarity xatherite certainly took a long time to attune and level up, which didn’t give him a lot of hope for attuning aeon or stricto mentis clypeus soon. He assumed they were so far beyond the rarity level of anything he’d encountered on Earth that they weren’t going to attune for years.
Which was fine… He wasn’t sure what exactly aeon had done to him during that fight, but he wasn’t eager to activate it again. As he looked at his grid, he realized that aeon had changed. It was now called, aeon — retribution, but the description had remained the same. He mentally put it aside; hopefully, he could get some more answers from Ares, since it sounded like he was going to be nearby, and Themis could always just pull him there in his sleep.
Having learned his lesson from the first few upgrades, Drew upgraded one at a time. Upgrading fireball, then lightning bolt, and then mana shield. His head started to pound after mana shield, so he took a break while he waited for the other guards to rouse.
Xatherite Crystal Name: Major Fireball
Xatherite Color: Red
Xatherite Grade: Rare
Xatherite Rarity: Widespread
Type: Magic
Effect: Convert mana into a high energy blast of fire that will travel in a straight line until exploding, causing ample fire damage in a 3m radius around the blast.
Mana recharge time: 10.5 seconds.
Xatherite Crystal Name: Lightning Bolt
Xatherite Color: Red
Xatherite Grade: Intermediate
Xatherite Rarity: Widespread
Type: Magic
Effect: Creates a bolt of electricity from any body part to a target no more than 15m away. Deals moderate lightning damage and stuns the target for 4 seconds.
Mana recharge time: 4.2 seconds
Xatherite Crystal Name: Mana Shield
Xatherite Color: Yellow
Xatherite Grade: Common
Xatherite Rarity: Widespread
Type: Magic
Effect: Creates a shield of mana around the caster. This shield will absorb significant amounts of energy and kinetic damage. It also creates a slowing effect around the caster.
Mana recharge time: 4 minutes, 1.5 seconds
Both of his attack spells got significant upgrades: fireball was now up to a six-meter explosion, which made it next to worthless anytime anything was close but would work even better at killing things far away. It had also gotten a damage adjective upgrade, from major to ample. Lightning bolts stun had doubled in duration from two to four seconds and had also gotten a damage upgrade, which gave him an even more potent close-range attack spell. Mana shield had its cooldown reduced, and the amount absorbed had increased.
All three were significant damage upgrades, although he wished he could have upgraded cone of cold too since frostfire ball hadn’t upgraded to the major version of it yet. He suspected it would do so as soon as he advanced the other xatherite. That done, he looked around. Trey still wasn’t back with the other guards, but the pounding in Drew’s head from the upgrading was annoying him. The cooldown on refreshing rain was only a minute and a half, so he cast it on the group around him, enjoying the effects of the spell’s rejuvenating rain.