A cold Reality in the future...

“So, what are you thinking about?”

Briggs smirked, as Sama picked the most interesting time to ask questions. They were zipping along upside-down across an overhang, Sama’s feet misting as her Cloudstepping Sandals kept them unerringly on course, and the Disk naturally didn’t lose its load just because it had turned him upside down.

“I’m thinking hooray for the Alignment system.”

“Actually, knowing what it takes to be a Good Person, instead of some self-justified philosophical arguments?”

“Yeah. I like being a Good person, instead of just thinking I’m a good person and not really knowing for sure.”

“Well, you know, being rewarded for being Good is a great thing, too.”

“Risk-free cooperation being one of those.” He fist-bumped her without looking, and they flipped back to the horizontal as she proceeded up the ice-covered stone.

It was the fastest way to the cave yawning in the icecap above, after all. No need for a laborious climbing ascent and indirect approach, and it wasn’t like they could fly with the winds up here playing havoc with any form of magical flight. The chimera’s power was enough to defy the normal winds, but even it would have to take shelter in a storm.

“I would dearly like to see some wag who thinks that any philosophy that is good for whoever follows it is Good run into the Alignment system and try to argue it was wrong.” Briggs smiled despite himself.

“That’s kind of like a grain of sand arguing about the tyranny of ocean waves. Good isn’t determined by you, Good ‘is’. Where you choose to stand determines if you are Good or not. Just because it’s best for you doesn’t mean it’s Good, and your arguments about pretentiousness are just that,” she sniffed.

“Hypocrisy isn’t Good, and anyone who claims that it is, is making a false argument on the face of it, sure. Whether they can deal with it or not, eh…” He thought of so many people back in life who had thought they were good folk, and where they might be standing now. Most would end up Lawful Neutral pricks, or self-justified Neutrals. Where they were going to end up would probably surprise the Hell out of them.

Evil was very easy. Neutral was easy. Good now, Good you had to work at, and it was not easy.

“Eh, I don’t wanna be Good, I wanna be Damn Good!” she called out, as they reached the top of the cliff and changed angles once again. He grinned broadly despite himself… the cave was less than a hundred meters away across the ice-covered stone.

He stepped off the Disk, which separated itself into leaves, spun itself into a flat stack, and inserted itself into Sama’s Masspack. Mikle was standing watch on Forge with the main bunch of stuff further down the mountain.

His Tremorsense radiated out from his soles as he landed on the ice, and his Heavyfoot gripped down like steel spikes, meaning no chance of slipping and sliding. He also had a perfect view of the ground under his feet, so no chance of stepping on slippery spots, weak ice, ice covering crevasses or holes or pits, or missing any creatures concealed on the ground.

The Crystal Dragon was not geared for lightfoot like the other styles, which generally emphasized speed, agility, jumping, balance, dodging, and evasiveness. No, Crystal Dragon was about absolute stability and immovability, which were a strength all their own.

He could feel Sama’s Tremblesense brushing across his own, her position radiating like a blip on a radar screen, impossible to miss even though she wasn’t actually stepping on the ice with her Wave-Skating Step. The flow of ki over the stone was still an impact, and he’d be able to feel it like a ghostly wind scouring the stone, even if her radiating ki wasn’t as visible to him as a bonfire.

He sniffed, and the wind brought the reek to his nose immediately, although most of it was whipped away and not very strong. Still, the unclean nature of it made him lift his nostrils in disdain.

“Go in or pull it out?” he asked calmly.

“You think you can Source its attacks?” she asked reasonably.

“Ehhhh…” The Caster Level of a Warped monster like this was probably stacked in quite the wrong way. Its Combat Rating was probably way above his Level.

“Let’s go with outside, and if you must, you can just toss at it.” He felt a pulse, and then the wave of both an Interdiction and Stillflight sweeping out, the Laws of the World shifting from iron to adamant.

He was strong enough to do the same, but not with the same area of effect. This thing was going to get a bad surprise if it tried to fly, or even jump off the mountain and glide.

They closed in rapidly on the den, and she waved him to stop as she paced in, playing the Tip of the Spear. He eyed a boulder near the entrance, and adroitly hopped over to it, clawing his way up it by ramming his fingers into the ice and climbing it smoothly, waiting calmly atop it with Endure poised and ready.

It only took a few breaths before there were three explosive booms, the thunderstones going off with deafening potential. The roar of alarm rose to some non-harmonious shrieks as Sama cut at it, her Pierce Damage Reduction rending its very high-grade DR something fierce and giving it a shot of pain it likely had not felt in some time.

The roar that came out shook the ice and stones visibly, sending chunks clattering and falling as the mountain under his feet trembled. He could vector its location precisely, about a hundred feet in and to the left of a straight line from the cave entrance, now clawing and pounding on the stone with a couple tons of weight as it pounded after Sama, who was retreating rapidly back outside.

There was more than enough visibility to assure the chimera of no massive force waiting outside, nor did the swirling winds convey any scent to it other than hers. She came shooting out the cave as a heavy blast of poisoned, subzero liquid came squirting out after her, and twisted aside with alacrity to give the impression she had dodged, instead of the foul breath actually dissipating harmlessly as it hit her Null.

It bounded out of the entrance, power and grace apparent in every movement, wings out, heads up and staring at her as she arced away from it. Tremble was out and glowing and singing something in Draconic he wasn’t quite sure of, but which sounded extremely confident and kept the chimera’s attention.

Yeah, that middle lion head had human elements to it, and the dragon and bull heads didn’t look as smooth as they should have, more like tumors that had erupted from a leonine body, and sent changes to its fur and muscles twisting over it. The dark scales of a dragon were visible here and there on its fur, which was mostly golden, cut by strips of black in odd places, and one foot was hooved instead of clawed, while the lion’s tail also had bands of dragon scales and a crest along half its length.

Briggs moved from absolute stillness to violent motion instantly, coming in over the wings as they swept down, and Endure smashed down on the bull’s head.

The spiked point drove into the thick skull, and steel-hard bone cracked and fractured, collapsing around the point of penetration to drive deep into its brain. It didn’t even manage to bellow in surprise as it was smashed down. There was a pop as its thick neck gave way, and its second source of a breath weapon was dead.

Lion and dragon heads snapped around in surprise as he kicked off its back. The dragon head’s neck was ten feet long, and the chimera turned with surprising speed to lunge at him while he was still in midair, a head the size of a crocodile with some rather unclean stuff dripping from its jaws snapping at him for a bite.

Sword Beats Fist. Endure was already ready, and even in midair came around to smash into that head.

The dragon head whipped away from the impact, a dazed look in its eye at the force of the hit. The lion, sphinx, whatever head glared at him, and Roared in his face as he hit the ground.

The ice and stone in front of him fractured and blew back against him, pinging off his armor. His Source defied the Thunder in the attack, protecting him from being deafened, and its attempt to jelly his internal organs. As Sama had said, it did punch his Source, but his energy resistance was still at Diamond Vajra level, and it was hardly a killing impact, Soaked with ease.

A Banestar flashed out like a spear, impaled the dragon head before it could recover, and it hissed and writhed uncontrollably as it died. The lion head ignored it to pounce at Briggs.

It was ten times his weight, so it was really surprised when he braced for the impact and Endure morphed to halberd form with a spike topper.

The Archer Stand Thrust took it right in the mouth, and his whole body creaked as his heavyfoot and Battle Stability locked him in place. The inhuman Strength of a Source heaved and twisted, and even as its claws ripped at his Armor, he heaved it off to one side, sending it sprawling in the snow with a six-inch hole from the roof of its mouth up into its brain.

It gargled and struggled, trying to think with a cranial injury that bad, and he could see the wounds to the bull head that he had hammered down had stopped bleeding. Not mending, but that didn’t mean it was truly dead…

Sama was in front of it in a trice, and to the crowing triumph of Tremble, her Sword swirled, and all three heads fell free of the corpse, with Blooding there to make sure its regeneration couldn’t do anything about it.

Cool blood hit the snow, and dark clouds of poison rose as it did. Vivus danced around the wounds and blood, eating it and feeding it to the Land.

“DR?” he asked professionally, eyeing a five-foot gash along its right side, nearly severing the left wing. He hadn’t noticed how awkwardly that wing was beating in the heat of the moment, which he knew was a sign his MAB wasn’t high enough yet, and his thoughts not moving fast enough. Its blood wasn’t freezing in the subzero chill, either.

“Yeah, Epic, likely fifty points or so. Look at that hide. Except for the mutation, it doesn’t have a mark on it. Even trolls accumulate scars. It’s probably never run into anything more dangerous than a siege engine.” He scanned the carcass, and had to agree with her. Even the wings, normally something easily shredded and prone to healing wrongly, were basically flawless, save for alternating between furry and micro-scaled.

“Welp, let’s get to salvaging and get out of here,” he said agreeably, as he mentally ticked over a lever, and was delighted to see it hit almost instantly. It was a Secondary Class Level, he and Sama had discussed that taking them while he was low Level was much better than waiting until Ten, and with a steady supply of Karma coming in, it was a no-brainer.

Staying a Five, with his Grandmastery, wasn’t too much of an imposition. Sure, he’d be delaying his advance… but every day of delay for himself was a day of improvement for his Hammer, his Armor, and other Gear. An over-geared Five could take down a Ten with crap Gear, if it came down to it, although it might not be easy.

He ticked over a Stealth Mastery and a Skill Focus Feat, grunted to himself, and watched Sama get to the butchery with her Blade and bare hands, moving to help her when she pointed.

It turned out that watching ten Ranks of Profession (Butcher) at work was an interesting experience, as well…