Zero Hour: Part 5
Spike had a feeling that even if he didn't provide light, Mr. Ammo would be able to see just fine in the dark. Luna often boasted the quality of her nocturnal sight compared to Celestia (in their bouts of sibling ribbing) so it made sense that her Benediction would afford similar perks. But lizard or not, Spike was accustomed to living above-ground. Opening all of his eyelids allowed him to pull in a little extra light, but even that stopped being sufficient a few dozen feet into the steep dank tunnel.
It was a small mercy that the path didn't lead straight down, so he had his hands free. Rather than use one to hold a piece of fire with Stagnet, he decided to dial his buffs back just a little in order to fuel a constant thin puff of Dragon's Breath. While the cost was persistent, it was cheaper than the bulky up-front cost of his other skills. As another option, he did have an urge to grind Respire and External Mana Control... But better to save that for when there's no chance of an ambush.
Their goal was only to acquire information. They already had some data, but nothing concretely linked to the Diamond Dog situation. His first theory was that this was a knock-on effect: The Dogs preyed on whatever critters made the tracks above, which made their way out here in advance of the approaching horde of hungry hounds. Then again, it was possible that he had it backwards: Maybe something had grown truly enormous among the insect population, big and strong enough to scare the Diamond Dogs...
"Eugch, just made myself worried for a second there."
"It's natural: Just take it in stride and keep your eyes open."
He took that advice gladly and did exactly that: Eyes, or more accurately Eye, wide open. While he still kinda wished he'd kept the five individual skills earlier, the resulting one was too good to reject. All of his senses felt sharper, the feedback richer in some way he couldn't properly explain. There were tangible benefits as well: While he needed a light source for now, it was a fairly weak one and his reliance on it diminished noticeably with every pop-up of '[Dragon's Eye] has gained a level!'.
Details that previously would have required up-close inspection were now notable from further away, and the smell of the air could be more easily teased apart into its component pieces. He couldn't wait to see what this would mean for his cooking... Not literally, he wasn't going to start roasting anything directly on his only source of light. But let the record show he was tempted!
One of the first details he probably would have missed before? The cross-tunnels they were passing were off somehow. His senses had gotten ahead of his logical deduction, and while Spike could tell that something was wrong about them, he really had to think for a minute to figure out what. Angles were inconsistent, sure. The sizes varied quite a bit. About half of them were rougher on the edges, full of loose rubble instead of glassy... soil...
"I think we're walking into a pretty literal turf war."
His bat-pony backup didn't question that, but Spike kept explaining: Sparkle household habits. Some intersections were dug into the soil, not melted. That implied not just different creatures, but entirely different kinds of creatures. Yet they were all going through the same area, each cutting cross-tunnels at cross purposes. All the scuffing on the ground above might have been from a fight, the collapsed holes the collateral damage of a battle-
A shudder hit his shoulders, rolling up and down the right side of his back. When he turned around he saw Piercing's narrowed gaze, filtered through the light of a floating message box.
[Bloodthirst detected!]
"You felt that too?"
Spike nodded and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure how to describe the next part of the process, but he also 'closed' his nose, his skin, and his tongue. The active component of the Dragon's Eye kicked in as he focused everything into hearing alone. What had originally felt like silence became a medley of smaller sounds, the ticking and cracking of settling stones mingled with the distant noises below them... And nearby, the bubble-snap sound of something being melted with acid.
His first instinct was to be showy and exciting and take a blind swipe in the direction of the sound, using Earthshaper to cut through the stone. That would have been the dramatic and protagonistic thing to do, but Spike held back. Instead he simply jerked his head in that direction and waited, his senses still condensed and focused into one working whole.
When the sound got too close for him to stay calm any longer (although the Gamer's Mind kept him calm despite that), Spike pulled out of his trance and prepared for the attack. The thin sheet of rock remaining fell in clumps, sloughing off of the wall like dry paint to reveal... Well, he wasn't sure what it had just revealed.
The creature was as big around as a pony's barrel, but long. So long that he couldn't see the other end of it, even with his fire breath lingering in the air. It had a sickly white pallor and a segmented form, growing fatter and thinner in alternating bands. Here and there little oozing pores on the sides of its body were still producing fluids, at least one of which was responsible for dissolving the rock.
Given the sheer number of little pock-marks and holes on the creature’s surface, it either took its time getting here or it could exude a lot more than just acid.
'Observe.'
Sadly, even with Photographic Speedreading? The speed with which Spike processed information was still limited. So while the creature continued to wriggle out and seemed like it might leap, he could only really see that there were three boxes in his UI instead of the expected one. The largest had the words 'MOUNTAIN CRAWLER' bold and all-caps across the top, but not one of the boxes resembled a character sheet at first glance.
I guess I just have to rely on my own perception until I can get a breather.
That plan probably would have served him perfectly well... if a second creature hadn't abruptly dropped down from the hole above them like some kind of maniac. To his credit, Piercing Ammo didn't take Spike's chance for combat experience away from him, even though the attacker was plunging right for him: He just stepped aside with the minimum effort and let the new entrant sail into the fight.
This sudden interrupting bundle of hate was just as ugly in a distinctly different way. It resembled an ant or other colony insect, but truly massive: Easily as big as Spike's body had been before his growth spurts. That scaling meant it had a pair of serrated mandibles on its face that reached out nearly a full foot, and the pendulous rear half of its body was like an enormous bag of sand in both color and size.
Reading new information from Observe screens took time but Spike didn't need that luxury for something as recognizable as this. He couldn’t have spent the last few years living in a literal tree without picking up a few things: While the scale was all wrong and the colors were a bit weird, this was definitely a termite. A relative of one, at the very least.
Now they were stuck in a proper Mexicolt standoff between the 'Mountain Crawler', Spike, and this new termite-ish creature. Clearly the crawler and the termite had territory disputes with each other in these tunnels, but neither of them were fond of him as an interloper... Hatred that was almost surely magnified by the pilot light he kept whistling out from between his lips.
The tensions gave him an opportunity, and he was glad to seize it. Another subvocal Observe added one more screen to the pile... Only one? Well, he could figure out the reason in a second: Given the circumstances he might actually be able to slow down and read them now. As long as he didn’t move the bugs would (hopefully) be more cautious about each other, neither wanting to jump first.
MOUNTAIN CRAWLER
Recommended Combat Level: 20
Force: 6 / 8
Finesse: 5 / 7
Fortitude: 4 / 4
Traits: Insect, Regenerator, Versatile
...Well that wasn't normal. The other boxes helped with that, thankfully. Sort of.
Congratulations on entering your first proper combat scenario! Strenuous battle fought with worthy enemies, or even the mass farming of lesser foes, is a sure-fire way for the Gamer to acquire a variety of rewards including both items and experience. Do note that many social and mental abilities may not be effective on unintelligent creatures, and their statistics are represented via a different system than those of proper Characters.
WARNING: Observation of lesser constructs and unintelligent creatures is an imprecise science. All statistics are relative. Values may be larger in practice than on paper. There are times when you can only trust your own power in this world.
That clarified things a bit: The Mountain Crawler's stat spread was shown not just with pairs of numbers, but as three individual meters. The Fortitude bar was very short but entirely full, the other two were longer but also had empty space. Turning his attention to the remaining box showed that the other creature got a similar treatment, and showed that he was right about it being a termite! Although again, only sort of right.
BERMITE
Recommended Combat Level: 20
Force: 4 / 10
Finesse: 7 / 9
Fortitude: 9 / 12
Traits: Insect, Lithovore, Hive Minded
While trying to keep his voice low to avoid enraging the enemies, Spike spoke loudly enough that he hoped Pierce would hear it.
"...Should I go for it?"
There was a glint of something silver along Pierce's wings, and then Spike heard a voice very close to his ears. It wasn't quite the same as using the Party Chat or Susurration, but it was similar.
"Confirmed."
Hrmmm. A perk of the Benediction, maybe? It would make a lot of sense given Luna's purviews and general style. Might have been a pegasus thing too, like the bits of off-beat magic Fluttershy had shown him. Either way he had the go-ahead, so he decided to do exactly that.
Games had taught him over and over that there was only one reliable solution to regenerating enemies, so first he turned to face the Crawler. Taking a deep breath, he saw it begin to move and heard scuttering on the stone behind. Earlier Spike held himself back from making a big fun flashy display, but now he couldn't help himself: He had backup and could afford the risk.
That long deep breath changed and shifted in his chest, becoming something more molten and stranger than mere air. His exhale was sharp and truncated, more of a shout than anything, and it morphed into a cloud of deep orange flames as soon as it left his lips. In the light of the expanding fireball he whipped around, using his tail to leverage his body far faster than normal, sending both of his claws ripping through the air at the Bermite.
...And that was that. He had almost expected a dramatic, drawn-out battle. But it turns out that when you take buffed stats like his, a well-trained Dragon's Breath, the element of surprise, and an enclosed space? Turning all that against two enemies too dumb to even qualify for Intelligence stats meant two instant kills, clean and simple.
The Mountain Crawler was wreathed in flames before it could so much as twitch, and it clearly had no affinity for either fire or heat. Likewise the Bermite's tough shell would have probably done a fair bit to hold back crushing assaults or even the puncturing spines on its own mandibles. But Spike's claws were something else entirely, and they cut through the grey-yellow armor like it was barely there at all.
A second gout of Dragon's Breath cleaned his claws off the ichor they'd gotten stained with, and he couldn't help but smile at the two new messages in the air.
Enemy slain! You gained 2,640 XP.
Enemy slain! You gained 3,432 XP.
"Hoooo... How'd I do?"
Pierce waved a hoof ambivalently, but the uncharacteristic smile made his real feelings clear.
"You're not one of Arcane's recruits, but you're not half bad either for a first timer. Don't think they'll all be so easy, thou-"
"Hahaha no, of course not: I know a tutorial fight when I see one. Which could have been a lot worse! A lot of Neighponese RPGs just have you get beaten black and blue in an unwinnable battle before your love interest gets burned down and your hometown gets kidnapped."
"...Point taken."
"Speaking of taken, I should send a note back with our initial report: When we've got a secure and effective line of communication we should take advantage, right?"
An arched eyebrow and a short nod.
"Does Ms. Sparkle have you reading a lot of tactical treatises?"
"I honestly get most of the useful stuff from war comics actually! But don't tell her I said that."
Spike went to transcribe the information they had so far onto a section of parchment... But then he realized they had forgotten to try something earlier.
"Invite Princess Luna."
There was a significant delay before eventually he saw the addition of a party member screen to his interface. That was a pleasant surprise! He hadn't been sure he could try to invite somepony over such a huge distance. A less pleasant not-surprise was that her level was still ??? even in the party menu, and the least-pleasant surprise-again? The sight of an error message as soon as he tried to start a voice chat.
You have exceeded the current maximum voice chat range between party members.
Pinkie and Twilight's testing the other day had included her going out to the very outskirts of Ponyville and being able to maintain conversation at a mile and change. But they hadn't actually bothered to keep pushing the distance, since Susurration gave its max distance in raw numbers rather than as a fraction of the normal voice chat's range. That, and it would have been a pain for them to spread out much further at the time. One more thing to be added to the mounting list of future responsibilities, but first? More traditional methods of sending letters.
"Break party."
Sorry about that Princess: I wanted to test something but it turned out to be a bust. We've arrived safely! Upon arrival we encountered signs of large-scale insect migrations and territory struggles: Likely them being pushed out by the Diamond Dogs and not vice-versa. I've encountered the first few hostile specimens, species called 'Mountain Crawlers' and 'Bermites', and dealt with them in short order. Will continue forward barring orders to the contrary. Tell Rarity I said hi!
Spike dashed the letter off with a bit of fire, since sending it silently in his head wouldn't let Piercing know it had been sent. Actually, thinking about it like that reminded him he had something to test...
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Wonder if Spike can get more information about his enemies, opponants, by physically injesting portions or whole, depending on size, to gain detailed information about resiliance etc, which can extend into comparing against local enviroment, to eventually reach level of predicting most likely expected farming in a given area, or area where farming should be best given a certain mob?
Especially with lithovore ants, Spike might have a nice place to have later?
Hey, don't look down on the comics. The only diffrence from the literatures is that they have pictures.
First blood! Double kill! Game , set , match!
GG WP
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And I somehow see that being used and someone going to spike. Stop meta gaming
Typo? Discord? Pinkie's influence? Unsure. Needs further testing.
YOL TOOR SHUL! (I refuse to believe that referring to it as a shout was accidental)
Bug-types are weak to fire, got it.
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Look out against ice-fairies, though.
(For this world, would that be the ice Wendigos?)
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to be fair, sometimes that is the case...
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It made me think of The Whitest Kids U' Know.
"Invincible bears runnin' around, rapin' your churches, burnin' your women.
Most of my writing experience and perception comes from reading other people's fanfics, so I sympathize with Spike on unconventional sources of info.
Been enjoying the story, I binge read it to get up to date. The way the Levelling up seems to work is reminiscent of both 'The Gamer' comic and the anime adaptations of 'So I'm a Spider, so what?' and 'That time I reincarnated as a Slime'. The last one in particular with how skills can be superseded/merged or consumed by superior abilities, I particularly like how it's been incorporated with the overarching Dragon skills. I dunno if it's possible, but do you think we could get a full stat and skill tree to view at some point? Nothing too complicated, maybe like a word cloud branching off from a central point?
Also curious about the potential reputation system and if it potentially behaves like the ones in Fallout: New Vegas or XCOM 2 in regards to factions. Doing jobs/favours to gain a favourable reputation.
Hmm, I am interested in the Bermites more than the Tutzlworm knock-offs, mostly due to the “Hivemind” mentioned. Hivemind tends to lean towards Sentience due to the Gestalt nature of Hiveminded races, the more minds connected, the more intelligent a species gets.
There is a critical mass and which they become thinking beings and I am curious if they have reached that point yet.
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Yeah, that'll definitely be on the menu: We just had a stat sheet update last chapter, and future chapters will have other peeks at the exact crunch going on for some of Spike's systems. As for a branching skill tree, I'll have to think of a good way to present something like that. Might be a good bit of supplementary material for the fic's anniversary or something!
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. Joking about other games aside, Spike's system has been making sense with how it grows and evolves. So if he can view his whole skill tree, I imagine it'd be really neat and orderly. I feel like that'd fit Spike, with his Twilight Sparkle upbringing.
Nice, it would be cool to see some supplementary details like that, Just don't make it look like the FFX Sphere Grid. I can recall that being particularly troublesome to navigate
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100%. And since many of his skills don't currently have any kind of direct relationships in terms of "this one begat this other one", it would probably be fairly disconnected. Maybe a visual layout akin to the Exalted RPG's old charm trees? I'll keep ruminating on it.
I would think this is a typo, but I also know Spike's sense of humor and also how weird JRPGs can get. It's definitely intentional.
Ah...
Hmm...
Think I've played that one...
... sonar? ;]
I mean, he could probably do the Toph Beifong thing, with that skill.
Hah. Grandia II. There's a particular fight very early on that you're supposed to lose, but if you somehow manage to get enough of an upper hand as to take down half of your enemy's HP, she switches to the "latter part of battle" techniques... which causes a glitch, because she's not supposed to use them here, and the battle... locks up. :D
Alternatively, you may get "a taste of things to come", where you start out with insanely good gear/stats, go through enemies like tissue paper, and then at some point the plot mandates you get stripped of, or somehow lose, all of your gear/equipment/powers and have to take the long route.
Damn! No kill like overkill...
Better save than sorry.
I wonder if Spike is going for a range weapon for assisting him to do something if a enemy or environmental obstical forces him to range combat.