Tony took Maximus in his arms and strode out of the forest, the dog’s curled tail thumping against Tony’s ribs, his Dreadblade slung across his back and held in place by the Pauldron of Vengeance, right next to Jorogu's Marital Blade. He had a clear line of sight to the crashed ship, so he took the time to review his sheet and shore up the rest of his unspent points.

Character Sheet

Name: Antonious King Race: Human (Ascendant) Essence: 2 (Dormant)

Class: Squire (5) | Knight (5) | Dread Knight (2)

Attributes

Strength: 19+ Charisma: 10 Intelligence: 10

Dexterity: 14+ Wisdom: 11 Wits: 13+

Endurance: 18+ Spirit: 19+ Luck: 10

Skills

Melee – 10 Awareness – 5+ Occult – 5

Survival – 3+ Fortitude – 6+ Athletics – 4

Tandem Tactics: (5)

Sagas:

Active Saga: War Against Heaven

Backgrounds:

Artifact: Pauldron of Vengeance Familiar: Maximus

Talents

Summon Dreadblade (Life-Biting Essence) Berserker’s Stance

Pommel Strike Oath Charge Invincible Will

*New* Fatal Resolve *New* Adamant Slash

Tony had used his two remaining talent points to pick up Fatal Resolve and Adamant Slash and though he did not relish the idea of getting into another fight soon, he was excited to try them both.

Fatal Resolve: Channel your defiance to rebuke Death itself Cost: 75 Lore Duration: 2 minutes Healing: 50% of Damage Received Cooldown: 2 hours Effect: Upon reaching critical HP the Dread Knight may activate this talent, taking no further Damage for two minutes. Once two minutes have passed, fifty percent of the damage received post-activation will be converted to HP.

Fatal Resolve was his first “second wind” talent, upping his survivability considerably. Tony's overall resilience had gone up drastically with the recent points added to his Attributes and Skills. Fortitude not only allowed him to resist debuffs like poison, fatigue, and disease, reduced the effective time of any debuffs he had, but it also gave him additional HP when he leveled. Tony doubted that he could have survived the blast that hit D, but he may be able to survive the first one that Ignacious shot at him.

Adamant Slash: Convert Lore to raw lethal force and vanquish those that oppose you Cost: Variable Cooldown: None Range: 10 meters Damage: Variable (Low to Immense) Effect: Convert Lore to bonus damage to be inflicted at range. Each increment of 10 Lore spent will increase the bonus damage by 1 factor. Note: Channeling Adamant Slash through any weapon not soulbound to the Dread Knight will destroy it.

Tony was glad to know beforehand that trying to use Adamant Slash with the Marital Blade would have disastrous consequences, both for the sword and for his recently formed relationship with Jorogu.

Satisfied with his selections and the way that his build was moving, Tony examined his new resource: Lore. Mana, or MP, like his HP and Stamina, would start as a full bar and empty as it was used. The Lore bar started empty and would fill as soon as combat started, according to the voice that read to him when he focused on his Lore Bar.

Lore: The Resource used by Dread Knights to fuel their talents. Lore builds with the pace of battle and is absorbed by the Dreadblade from fallen enemies. Using additional Lore when deploying talents could generate additional effects!

Lore reminded Tony of the Rage and Focus bars that older MMOs like WoW had used during the dark times of Microtransactions and "Pay-to-Win" scandals. His Knight talents were now completely cooldown-based, having lost their Mana costs since he didn't have Mana anymore. In a fight, he would have to use his Talents carefully to build up enough Lore to activate his Dread Knight Talents.

Tony’s and Auren’s eyes met as he crested the furrow in the earth where the ruined craft rested. The God’s eyebrows arched. “You leave for five minutes, and you not only return with a puppy but the Dread Knight Advanced Specialization?”

“Yup,” Tony replied flatly, ignoring how off Auren's timekeeping was, “but hey, at least I didn’t teleport someone across time and space under the guise that they were playing a video game.”

Auren winced, then quirked his head. “Wait, what happened to the timid kid from the ship?” he asked half laughing. "You fight off a horde of spiders, get pseudo-engaged, and run off into the woods and you think that you can just come back here and talk to me like that?"

“Ignacious killed Demnas trying to kill me and coyotes tried to eat my dog," Tony started, some of the words catching in his throat. "D didn’t need to die and I lost this little guy once already. I don't really care what level you are, God or not, you lied to me. You took me from my home and then couldn't be bothered to tell me the truth. The timid kid is taking a break.”

And he's probably never coming back, Tony thought.

A smirk broke out across Auren’s face. “Look, Ant-" he started before Tony's glare snapped back to bore into the God's eyes. "Tony, I get that you're upset-"

"Upset?" Tony challenged. "Upset is what I used to get when I got scheduled for overtime at work, upset is what I would get when I forgot to charge my bike's batteries and it broke down. If that's what upset is, how am I supposed to feel when I find out that I've been shanghaied out of my own reality and flung fifteen hundred years into the future?"

Auren raised his hands in surrender. "I can get us back to the Flagship, but I’ll be vulnerable after we teleport, and we both know that there is a mole on the ship. Odds are, whoever that is will be waiting for us to come back.”

You have been offered a quest!

Crimson Guard Duty: Protect Auren after arriving back on the Ascendant Flagship!

Rewards: XP | Dread Knight Set Piece | Ascendant Attribute Boost (Pending Ascension)

“Fine, let’s do it,” Tony agreed.

Auren stood with his back against Tony’s and began to chant under his breath as lines of arcane fire burned into the ground. Maximus whined softly as the air charged with magic. Tony ran his fingers through the coarse fur on the pup’s neck and he soothed. “It’ll be okay, boy. We’ll get you cleaned up and find some good food soon.” The little dog nuzzled back into his arms as reality folded in around them.

A swirling hall of neon flame and sparks rushed by the two of them. There was no sound, no wind, and though Tony could tell that they weren't "moving" he could feel a pull from the middle of his chest toward a gleaming white point in the distance. He continued to pat Maximus, taking in his familiar, and unfortunately amplified, musk. In all of the strangeness of the new world he was a part of, Tony was glad for the one constant in Maximus to ground him.

As they drew nearer to the light at the end of the tunnel, Tony could feel the strain in Auren's back. In Godmaker Auren could be built as a combat caster or a brawler-mage hybrid class. His talents had never allowed for teleportation between planets, let alone galaxies. It seemed that the Battle Aura was an incredibly variable resource for the God, and though he may only be limited by his imagination in its capabilities, using it for purposes that it was not intended for limited its use. The steel halls of the Flagship started to fold in around them as they breached the gleaming point. Neither Tony nor Auren were prepared for what they saw.

Silence greeted them as they returned, broken bodies, blood, intestines, and shattered limbs covered the once-pristine floors and walls.

Time Remaining until Auren has recovered: 180 seconds

The hair on the back of Tony’s neck and arms stood on end and Maximus let out a low growl. He knew better than to ignore instinct. The sound of metal flying through the air met Tony’s ears as he spotted the glint of flying steel. He twisted, shielding Auren, and most importantly, Maximus, from the incoming javelin.

Your Luck has increased!

The tip of the javelin ricocheted off of the pitted metal of his Dreadblade. Tony tucked Maximus under Auren’s half-collapsed and gasping frame and turned to face the attacker.

“So, you have made it back! Good, I was beginning to get bored!” Tolik’s jovial voice boomed. “Murder is such a trivial business. I'm looking forward to a real fight! You won't disappoint me, will you, Antonious?”

Saga Effect Activated: Crucial Battle You are about to enter conflict with a member of The Cadre of Judgement. Death is Final. Encounter XP increased by 25%!