Chương 31: Cheating The System

Grim explained the plan to the rest of them, and they each took their positions. Jeremy was beside the staff with Hazel, while Grim was at the control panel. If everything went right, they shouldn't need her, but she'd do it just to be careful.

"Are you two ready?" Grim asked.

"Uhh, I guess so."

"Yup, yup!"

"Okay, on three, two, one—" Jeremy reached in and grabbed the staff as Hazel stepped into the cylinder and took its place. Her arm was raised above her, and Grim could see her cheeks puff up as she held her breath, the water coursing around her. Hazel nodded, and Jeremy ripped the staff away, taking two big steps as he got distance between himself and the machine. Steam hissed as it leaked out through cracks in the pipes, the air in the cave got hotter and more humid.

Grim hovered over the panel and watched, ready to flip switches. She wasn't sure if it would help if everything started overloading, but she'd try. To their surprise, the steam seemed to stabilize as Hazel took the place of the staff. The machinery had reached an equilibrium for now, but she wasn't going to push their luck. They were on an invisible timer whether Hazel would run out of breath first or her copied skill would run out.

"Okay, let's go. Quick," Grim said as she grabbed Jeremy, he'd put his spear back in the ring and solely wielded the staff. That didn't mean she was going to let him keep it, but if they had to swim, there was almost no chance of her holding onto it. They ran to the pool, but right before they got in, both of them froze. A system notification had popped up. NOTIFICATION(1) CHALLENGE "COMPLETE" A D-Rank reward chest has been placed.

Grim turned to Jeremy and, by the way he paused, he had gotten the same notification too. Both of them turned around and saw that a copper chest matching the aesthetic of the machinery had appeared in front of where the staff had been. A blue glow emanated from within, escaping through the seams of the chest.

"Do we go for—" Grim ignored Jeremy and dashed forward, sliding at the end as she got to the chest. She spared a quick glance at Hazel, who was shaking her head, her eyes wide as she stared. She couldn't tell if her face was turning blue or not, but she redoubled her efforts. Inside was a loose assortment of shards of varying ranks, the grey, green, and blue intermingled, but the glow was brightest from the blue shards, dwarfing the others in light.

Alongside that was a mix of small items that were obviously enchanted to differing degrees. Among them were a variety of coins, feathers, a spool of black thread and buttons.

"Grim, we need to go, now!" Jeremy kneeled beside her and tried to grab her, but Grim pushed him off.

"No, you came here for loot right? This is it, help me grab it." Jeremy frowned and swiveled his head, nearly tearing out his hair, "Shit. Okay." Grim focused on the shards while Jeremy started shoving the small items into his pockets. They wouldn't know what any of them did without Hazel, but that was something they could figure out later. The cave shook, and they looked up to see Hazel let loose of gurgle of breath, bubbles appearing in the water.

Her eyes pleaded with her to head to the exit, but she couldn't yet; she was so close. She just needed a few more to rank up. Her fingers scattered the shards as she sorted through them, trying to find enough to make the dice. Steam burst and a pile clattered to the ground as she heard more air escape Hazel's lungs. She wasn't sure about the conversion rate between the shards to E, but she didn't have enough time to care.

She merged them together, positive that she hadn't been efficient, but in the end she was left with two E-rank Boon dice and a couple of D-rank shards which she pocketed. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The cave shook, and Jeremy shoved her as a rock fell where they'd both been kneeling. The water had risen enough that they were standing in an inch or two of it.

"There's still more!" Grim shouted.

"I love stuff as much as the next guy, but we have enough," Jeremy tried to reason with her. She listened only because she saw Hazel gasp and take in a lungful of water.

"Fuck, okay. You lead." They left Hazel behind and ran to the pond. This time Jeremy activated the staff, and the water parted where he touched it. They walked across the muddy ground; the water flowing beside them. She watched as the water went from a small barrier to a tall wall. The cave shuddered once more, and the water rose again, filling up more of the cave.

The roar of the waterfall became impossibly loud as they travelled underneath it, the water acting as if it hit an invisible barrier about five feet higher than where Jeremy held the staff. As they descended into the pond, the water grew from a wall into a dome, completely covering them. Sweat covered Jeremy as he held the staff high. His pace slowed, and he found raising his foot increasingly difficult. The chest plate he was wearing glowed, and he seemed to get a brief respite from his exhaustion.

"Hey, keep it up, Jeremy. We're almost out, okay? You're doing great," Grim said, trying to encourage him. Jeremy huffed out a laugh, "I'm barely doing anything, the staff is doing most of the work, I'm just supplying the energy." Grim frowned, that wasn't good. He was only an E, an F if you wanted to be pedantic, since he hadn't gotten his first Boon yet. She was actually surprised he was still standing, the amount of energy that thing would use should be immense.

The chest piece he was wearing seemed to help but she wouldn't bet on that being enough to get them through this; they were still halfway to the edge. Reaching into her pouch, she grabbed the dice. It would've been safer to do this once they were home in case she passed out or something, but she didn't have that choice anymore. She grabbed the dice and instead of throwing them, crushed it and absorbed it into her body.

A refreshing tingle once again entered her bloodstream as the internal reservoir of energy she had, filled. Giving her a jolt of energy as if a connection had just been fully formed. She staggered from it but managed to stay upright as a surge of vitality enhanced her every cell, her eyes opened wide and it felt as if everything was just a little bit brighter. NOTIFICATIONS(2) D RANK ACHIEVED Your body and soul are now stronger. You have increased capacity, slots and power. Not that you need it.

Please select reward. Additional Boon Slot (LOCKED) (LOCKED) She barely processed what she was reading as she skimmed through it, she'd never heard of rewards for ranking up before. Another consequence of the government censoring information, if she had to guess. Phil might know if she lived long enough to see him again. Grim dismissed her notification and focused back on the situation. Her skin was itching with energy, and she wanted to move so badly it hurt.

Unfortunately, brute force wasn't going to get them out of this situation. The water was clear, which made it easy to navigate, but since they were walking along the bottom of the pool, the edge she'd leaped from was now too high to climb. Climbing was one of those things where two arms were just about a necessity, and right now both of them only had one. In the distance, Grim could see the lip of the pond dip low enough for them to get up from.

"Just over there, a bit forward," Grim urged Jeremy forward. Sweat dripped down his face, which levitated to join the water he was controlling. Step by step they walked forward until Jeremy faltered and dropped to one knee, his breathing a horrid, ragged sound.

"I can take over," Grim said as she reached for the staff, only for Jeremy to push her hand away and stand up.

"No, it's just a bit further. I can do this." He pushed forward with renewed urgency, Grim wanted to argue, but they didn't have time for it. She kept checking on the link between her and Hazel, but she hadn't felt anything yet. The girl was still holding on, she only hoped the increase in rank managed to help. They crossed the last bit of distance and made it to the opening; it was still a steep incline on muddy terrain, but it was better than the wall.

Jeremy dropped the bubble around them just as soon as their heads crossed the water and fell forward onto solid ground. The pond had overflowed at some point and he had to rest on his side to avoid inhaling any water.

"Did we do it? Are we gonna be okay?" He asked.

"I think so—" She was interrupted as Hazel tugged on their connection and came rushing back to her. The force with which she did so was hard and nearly pushed her over as she summoned herself in front of Grim. Her face was pale as she coughed, globs of water running down her mouth as she tried to speak through lungs filled with water.

"Oh, fuck, what's wrong?" Grim asked, she would have thought Hazel would have been reset when she returned. The fact she didn't meant she couldn't right now. Hazel tried speaking one more time before coughing up a lungful of water and bile, her hair clung down her face in thick clumps while tears filled her eyes from the coughing. Grim couldn't stand to see this anymore and yanked her back into her shadow.

"Can you speak now?" The mountains... going to explode. Grim dove for the staff as her vision went white.