“Hi Calrik, come in,” says Auntie V as she finishes pulling a cardigan over her short sleeved shirt. I do and close the door behind me quickly, notification forgotten for the moment despite my surprise at what it says. There was no hiding the black, pulsing veins spidering all down her arm, almost to her hands. They looked malevolent, almost corrupt. I can only assume it’s from the war she’s been waging inside her against this powerful creature.

  “Auntie V…” I say, motioning to her arm. She nods, resigned.

  “It won’t be long, Cal. Did you see Keith before he passed away? I wasn’t able to do anything for him, in the end.” Of course Auntie V would know when people around her pass away.

  “I met his kids, Ulf and Ellie. He was… almost gone by the time I got there.”

  Auntie V shifts her position sitting on her bed uncomfortably and grimaces. I move to help her, but she waves me off.

  “Did you… Reclaim his Soul Sparks?” she asks. I can tell there’s something behind the question and I nod, then pull up the notification again and relive the surprise at the amount, and the extra notification line.

  Soul Sparks Reclaimed: 243

  Soul Spark Resonance: 0.39% (+1 Soul Spark)

  Soul Spark reservoir: 246

  Would you like to allocate your Soul Sparks?

  (Y/N)

  I try to piece it together. It’s incredible to get 243 Soul Sparks through Keith, a single person, even if his Power was extremely rare. And I had 2 Soul Sparks already in my reservoir I had not allocated from the two single Soul Spark Reclamations. The Resonance, though…

  “Auntie V, I need to ask you about something. I know it’s not the best time, but I need your help to understand it.” Carefully I read the notification out to her as she lays back on the bed, eyes closed. When I finish, she grins.

  “It was a long shot, Calrik, but it was worth all the trouble to get Keith here, even though his Power had degraded to Epic. Not just for the huge influx of Soul Sparks you’ve Reclaimed. You need those. That resonance is proportional to how related you are to him. Keith was your first cousin twice removed, and with the number of Soul Sparks you were likely to get from him, I thought maybe even with that small percentage it might show up as something.”

  It doesn’t take me long to puzzle out what she means.

  “Does that mean if I’m close to you when you pass… the Resonance will be higher?”

  “Always a smart boy,” she says with a soft smile. “Yes, I think so. We’re much more closely related than you were to Keith, so the Resonance of my Soul Sparks should be more powerful.”

  “Twelve and a half percent,” I say flatly, having done the math already. I don’t really want them from Auntie V, but I realize it’s the path we’re on. And I’ve also already realized I can’t allocate these Soul Sparks, not right now in these circumstances. Not unless it’s an emergency.

  “Don’t let it bother you, Cal. You’re still our best chance to get rid of this beast once and for all if I can’t. And… I want you to have them. I’ve been thinking about… options, at the end.”

  I sigh deeply and sink down into the chair. We stay that way in silence for a while. I’m contemplating what I should do next and just as I think Auntie V’s fallen asleep she clears her throat and starts speaking again, still with her eyes closed.

  “Calrik, I had some people look into your situation. Eddie’s mixed up with a Supervillain and I’m not sure how much I can do with the favors I’ve got left. He’s got protection and a network.” She opens her eyes and turns her head to look at me. “You need to put more Soul Sparks in Constitution, Cal. There are a lot of people out there who will try to kill you for being a Corvin once they find out you’ve got a Power. It won’t just be Eddie trying to keep his hands on your Credits.”

  “Thanks for looking into it, I appreciate it Auntie V,” I say, and I mean it. She doesn’t need to help me or use her lifetime of favors, even if they’re about to expire.

  “Of course Cal. It’s what I can do to make up for not being there after your parents disappeared. I wish it could be more.”

  “I need to clear my head,” I say, realizing it’s true. “I need to train and figure out how to integrate all these new Attributes into how I fight for the next time someone comes at me.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Cal, I need you here.” There’s true concern in her voice.

  “I don’t need to be stupid about it, Auntie V. I’ll run the kind of Dungeon I could do even before I got all these Soul Sparks, just for target practice. I’ll be back in a couple hours, tops. Is that ok?”

  She sighs. “I’d rather you stayed. But… at least promise me you’ll watch your back. A couple hours will be fine.”

  “I promise Auntie V,” I say, and stand up then put my hand on her arm. She doesn’t pull away, but I can feel the writhing veins under her cardigan. She does look tired. I glance at the orange bag and reaffirm to myself - just a quick run. I leave her room, closing the door behind me, and walk past reception. Bart’s on the phone and Fabian is speaking with Ellie and Ulf. I give them a wave and a small, tight smile before heading out the front door and through the courtyard.

  Just outside the gate, beyond the border line that’s been burned into the pavement by Saint Marianne’s force shield, a HoverPad is already waiting for me, along with Bobby’s smiling face and a PowerSuit.

  “Vitalis called,” he says. “Get Brad’s Suit on until we get to the Dungeon and on the way back; I’ll wait for you while you’re inside. Try not to destroy this one.” There’s good humor in his statement, but I can tell I’m also on notice.

  “Can you lend me a couple weapons and some basic armor? Just basic stuff. Or… could we stop by Storage King?” I ask.

  “Storage King?” he asks, and shakes his head.

  “I’m not exactly allowed to have weapons inside the hospice, Bobby.”

  He grumbles a bit, but agrees to give me what I need.

  I climb into the suit, which isn’t as roomy as it once would have been before I allocated my Soul Sparks, and we zip up into the ship and he opens a compartment inside the ship then pulls out a basic armored jumpsuit and a couple of decent blasters in holsters, as good as mine or better.

  “Blades or blunt? Shield?” he asks me.

  “Blades, no shield,” I say, and he pulls out a typical broadsword with a back sheath and a long hunting knife as well, then tosses it all on the HoverPad. I change into the jumpsuit, securing my personal shield generator as well, and he watches while I equip the weapons.

  “Thanks,” I say to him.

  “No problem, let’s get you to the entrance.”

  “I can make it,” I tell him.

  “I know, I know…” he says holding up his hands. “But, I’m coming anyway and I’ll also be there when you get out. Vitalis was very clear.”

  It’s a small price to pay for me to be able to do a Dungeon run, so I agree. It’s still Brockil manning the desk and I lodge my DRP with him, then pay my 500 Credits. He doesn’t object to me going in along and neither does Bobby - probably our Dungeon run together is fresh in his mind.

  It’s not long until I’m jogging down the sloped stone corridors of the Dungeon at speeds beyond what I would have been able to sprint at not long ago, my blasters snapping off short beams that spear into an eye with every shot to fry the brains of giant rats.

  Giant Dungeon Rat (Level 4)

  Damage Reduction Index: 0

  Mana: 0

  Conditions: Swarm of the Rodent

  Still the Damage Reduction Index for Monsters, and now the more in-depth Redux measure for people. I’ve been wondering since Redux appeared for me whether this would change, but now it’s confirmed and I wonder what more Perception might provide me in the future in the way of useful information.

  At high speed I pivot to my right smoothly and leap slightly as I take a hard right turn, then push off the wall with my left foot and zig zag rapidly through a corridor filled with the Giant Rats. Even the swarming, seething mass of them is easy pickings for me with my newly increased Attributes. Perception picks them out as if they were in slow motion and my Agility can keep up, smooth movements and Strength giving me the stability I need to fire with precision even as I charge and dance and leap through them. I leave them behind lifeless without even a scratch.

  Soon enough I find what I’ve been looking for and I’m glad to see another Party hasn’t cleared out this Dungeon yet. The cold grasp of sapping energy hits me before I see the first Feral Skeleton Rat, although my hearing picked them out long ago, and I’m sure they’re just as aware of me. The last time I faced one with Keoni and team it was a hard but not death-defying battle, and now I’m about to confront a lot more than a single Skeletal Rat on my own. I stalk down a curved, dark stone corridor with claw marks gouged out of the floor and although the cold affects me somewhat, I feel like I can shrug it off. It starts to grow colder as I get closer, their influence stacking from their bunched position, as I peer around a corner and see what must be their lair. Several of them are peering out at me with their red eyes from amongst boulders and rubble where the ceiling of the corridor has collapsed for at least ten meters, maybe more. It’s hard to see beyond the first piles of stone.

  Feral Skeletal Rat (Level 34)

  Damage Reduction Index: 1

  Mana: 12/20

  Conditions: Death’s Cold Embrace

  I glance up, wondering how solid the ceiling is above where I am, and mentally I feel the weight of thousands of tons of rock bearing down on me. A brave or bloodthirsty Rat takes advantage of my distraction and races my way, but my blasters haven’t moved and I let loose with them. Skeletal Rats are a lot faster and tougher than the ones I’ve been fighting; the beams from Bobby’s blasters glance off the hardened bone of the animated Rat as it charges me, only knocking it around, but not stopping it. I holster the blasters and pull out my borrowed sword and long knife instead and get ready to face the Rat as I fight off the cold, life sapping drain of their Skill that clutches at me.

  The Skeletal Rat lunges at me and I move slightly to my right and pivot, driving my sword down on its neck to sever its head. I stomp on its skull and it shatters against the stone, spraying bone fragments across the floor. No Soul Sparks as expected, but I look up with my blades in hand and give a feral grin of my own when I see dozens of angry red eyes and feel the malevolent hate radiating down the corridor.

  “Come and get it,” I tell them, and they’re all too ready to answer the call.