42 – Testing the Limits

Andy felt a massive wave of relief when they rounded the corner on the gravel road and saw the plateau ahead. They’d seen it off and on over the desert; it certainly stood out, being more than a hundred feet high, and soaring above the mostly flat desert in the area. “We’re almost there!” he called, turning to wave to the others who were either pulling the trailer or walking beside it. It was loaded high with boxes, bags, tools, and cases of drinks.

Lucy waved back to him from the rear. She was patrolling back there, trusting her hunter’s senses to notice if they were about to be ambushed.

Kayla jogged forward a few steps and said, “Has that always been there? That, uh, rock formation?”

“Nope.” Andy shook his head. “When we fortified the trailer park through the System, it made that plateau.” Squinting, he pointed to his left. “See that waterfall? Hah! That’s from the spring we put in. I hadn’t realized it was flowing down the side like that.”

“You put in a spring?”

Andy nodded. “You can earn boons by doing quests for the settlement. The spring was a boon—same with the, uh, plateau.”

“From the System?”

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t love it”—Andy sighed, clicking his tongue—“but if we don’t use it, we’re gonna get left in the dust…or worse.”

“And we can join?” She looked over her shoulder toward her niece and the other girl.

“The settlement? Yeah, of course. We need more people right now, and there’s a lot of room up there.” He nodded toward the plateau. He didn’t mention that he’d been stressed out their entire walk home, worried that there’d be a band of marauders from Construction City waiting at the base of the trail. So far, it looked clear, and he had a feeling someone from up on the plateau would warn them if bad guys were hiding in the nearby gullies.

At the thought, he squinted toward the top of the trail, trying to see if anyone on guard duty had noticed them. Sure enough, two figures were already working their way down. By the time they’d reached the end of the road and maneuvered the trailer to the base of the trail that wound its way up the rocky face, Omar and Bernice arrived. They didn’t look alarmed, and when Andy saw the binoculars hanging around Omar’s neck, he realized why.

“Saw us coming, huh?”

He nodded, adjusting his baseball hat. “Holy shit, Andy! That’s a big haul.”

Andy smiled, slapping his hand against one of the boxes full of canned food. “We had quite a little adventure.” He turned, looking toward Sandy and the others. “Um, everyone, this is Omar, and beside him is Bernice. If you’ll help us by carrying as much as you can up the trail, I’m sure we can get you all situated somewhere.”

“New recruits, huh?” Bernice said, folding her well-tanned arms over her chest. Her grin was friendly, though, counterbalancing the standoffish posture. “Just so happens we need some extra hands around here. Any of you good with kids?”

They talked that way for a few more minutes. The survivors from the ranch homes introduced themselves, and Bernice and Omar told them a little about the settlement. Eventually, though, Andy waved his spear toward the desert and said, “We ought to get these supplies up. There are bad guys and monsters out there.”

So, they all grabbed a load of bags or boxes and started up the trail. By the time they reached the top, a dozen other residents had gathered around, and word quickly spread that they needed help. Before long, they had a regular train of cargo haulers going up and down the trail, and when it was all done, they had a huge stack of supplies inside the gates.

Jordan approached Andy and asked, “What should we do with my trailer?”

Andy nodded, frowning as he thought it over. He noticed Tucker and Brian walking by and called them closer. “Hey guys, Jordan’s trailer is at the base of the trail. I’d hate to lose it. Any ideas?”

Tucker thumped his aluminum bat on his shoulder as he nodded. “I’ve got a tarp in the back of my truck. Let’s hide it in the desert nearby.”

Brian nodded, looking Andy up and down, his gaze lingering on his blood-stained shirt. “We got it, man. Get some rest.”

“No sign of the Construction City goons?” Andy asked.

Brian shook his head. “Nothing. We even did a little patrol down toward Redington Road and didn’t see squat.”

“I think maybe it's that, uh, debuff,” Tucker volunteered.

Andy scratched his chin, contemplating. “I guess that’s possible. It said they’d suffer a morale loss. Maybe they’re fighting amongst themselves at the moment.”

“Anyway, Omar’s got people on guard all around the perimeter. We’ll see ’em coming.” Brian nudged Tucker’s shoulder. “Come on, man. Let’s handle that trailer.”

“I’ll come help,” Jordan said. “It’s my trailer.”

Brian shrugged. “Sure, man.”

Andy wanted to ask Brian about his wife, but he knew he would have said something if there had been any good news. So, he kept his questions to himself as he watched them start down the trail. Then, he walked through the gates and got a face full of System text:

***Congratulations, Andy! You’ve helped to complete the Settlement quest: Secure the Food Supply. For your efforts, you’ve been awarded a share of the experience, advancing you to level 8 in your Pyroglyph Invoker class, earning another improvement point. Additionally, your Settlement has earned a boon point.***

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Andy looked at his status page, saw his seven improvement points, and quietly called himself an idiot. That was a lot of potential he was letting sit idle. If they’d been attacked on their way back, the difference between surviving and dying might have been in those points. Walking toward his trailer, he resolved to avoid sitting on such a balance in the future.

“Andy!” Lucy called, and he heard her feet thumping on the pavement as she hurried to catch up to him.

He slowed and turned to watch her approach. “Hey. Sorry, I just walked off like that; I was distracted by the System.”

“It’s alright. I just wanted to see if you'd like to check out the showers later and maybe grab something to eat together. We could sit in the park—”

“Showers?”

“You didn’t hear? That Pauli guy was telling me about it. I guess Levi, one of the people you rescued from Construction City, had the idea of rigging up some outdoor showers near the spring. It’s temporary, but I could sure use—”

“Oh shit yeah!” Andy laughed. “Me too!”

Lucy smiled, scratching her chin with blood-stained fingers. “Let’s meet over by the spring in an hour or so, then?”

“Cool.” Andy nodded.

She waved a little awkwardly, then turned and started toward her trailer. Andy watched her for a minute, then walked the rest of the way to his place. He’d left the windows open, and with the strange, unseasonably cool breeze blowing, the inside didn’t feel half bad. Still, it was a mess, and he couldn’t focus in all that clutter, so he spent a few minutes going around, gathering garbage into a bag and folding the laundry he’d left lying all over his room.

He wasn’t sure why he was suddenly so against clutter. Part of him wondered if he was embarrassed because he’d let Lucy sleep in that mess, and he thought maybe she’d come around again sometime soon. Another part wondered if he realized someone who’d taken on a leadership role in a growing community in the apocalypse ought to be able to pick up his living space a little bit. He chuckled at the idea as he set the garbage bag outside his door.

He didn’t have anything good to drink in the place, but he had his magical waterskin, so he sat down on the couch and took a few long, deep swigs of the fresh-tasting spring water, and then he opened his status sheet and looked at his attributes and skills:

Perception:

8

Will: 6

Strength: 8

Vitality: 9

Speed: 8

Improvement Points: 7

Notable Skills or Spells:

(* denotes active bound abilities)

Tracking: 1

Spears: 4

Critical Mastery: 1

Sneak Attack: 2

Shadow Vigil: 3

Burnscribe: 1

Embertouch: 1

Rune of Extension: 1

Fire Tolerance: 1

Piercing Dusk – Bound: 1

Twilight Steps – Bound: 2

Veil of the Stalker – Bound: 3

*Kindlebrand – Bound: 1

*Scorchmark Glyph – Bound: 1

*Kindled Bonds – Bound: 1

Looking at his attributes and assuming nine was the cap for them all, he realized he could bump each one to the max and still have a point left over. Then he looked over his rapidly growing skill and spell list and contemplated how seven points could disappear in there pretty damn quickly.

He wanted to improve many of them, but one in particular had been on his mind. He’d leaned his spear against the wall while he’d been cleaning and reached over to grab it. Leaning back on the couch, he held the blade up before him and studied it. He wanted to know if his Kindlebrand spell had been damaging it. The discoloration in the metal had gotten more pronounced, and he hissed in disappointment when he realized one of the blades had begun to warp. Worse, the wood at the base of the metal spearhead was dark with char.

The question was, would improving the spell make it more potent and do more damage to his weapon, or would it become more…sophisticated, and do less harm to the spear while improving its performance? Would the System even tell him? The thing was, the System had granted him a kind of understanding of the spell, and he felt like it would get better in more than one way if he improved it.

“Only one way to find out.” Before he committed, he focused on the spell and read the description again:

Kindlebrand – bound: You burn a temporary glyph of fire onto a melee or ranged weapon, causing it to shed embers and sear with every strike. The weapon deals bonus fire damage for the next several strikes, but mundane weapons suffer under the strain—each use degrades their durability. Mana cost: 12.

While it was still fresh in his mind, he put a point into the spell and then reread it:

Kindlebrand – bound: You sear a burning glyph onto a melee or ranged weapon, causing it to shed embers and ignite with each strike. The weapon deals bonus fire damage for several attacks, leaving smoldering wounds and scorching through armor or flesh. Mundane weapons will feel the strain of the fiery magic and may take damage with each use. Mana Cost: 15.

The wording had changed! “But…” Andy trailed off, studying the new description and trying to recall exactly what the old version had said. He was sure it hadn’t said “may” before. Also, the mana cost had increased, but not terribly. Interestingly, it was still a “level 1” ability, despite him ranking it up. He figured it just represented the fact that he’d earned the skill at the first level of his Pyroglyph Invoker class.

He was tempted to add another point, just to see how the description would change again, but he had other things he wanted to try, and his supply was limited. Looking at his attributes, he racked his brain, trying to think of which one he should experiment with to see if it had the same cap as vitality. It was hard because none of them would be a bad choice. Perception kept drawing his eye, but neither strength nor speed seemed like a bad move. Then there was his will—it kind of irked him that even though he’d pushed it above “average,” it was still so much lower than all of his other ones.

He vacillated there for such a long time, his eyes flicking from one to another, that something in him snapped, and he focused on perception and applied a point. Or he tried to:

***You have reached the current natural limit of your Perception. While your mind and senses remain sharp, their capacity for further mana-driven refinement is restricted. To surpass this boundary, you must expand your awareness. Seek spiritual clarity, uncover natural treasures that might awaken latent instincts, or endure trials that heighten your understanding of the world around you.***

“What the—” Andy read the message again. “Why is my perception capped at eight and my vitality at nine?” He wanted to know if it was a human thing or an “Andy” thing. He looked back at his attributes, focused on strength, and tried to apply a point. It worked. He tried another and received a similar message:

***You have reached the current natural limit of your Strength. Though your body remains powerful, its capacity for further mana-driven growth is restricted. To surpass this boundary, you must push beyond your current limits. Seek spiritual techniques, uncover natural treasures that resonate with raw force, or endure trials that test the very core of your physical might.***

“Interesting,” Andy said, turning his attention to his speed attribute. Just then, someone pounded on his door, though, startling him out of his focus.

“Andy!” It sounded like Tucker.

He stood up, gripping his spear. “What?”

He jerked the door much harder than he intended; his muscles were aflame with tingling, static energy. As it flew open, he saw Tucker standing there, mouth open, startled. “Sorry,” Andy grunted. “What is it?”

“People. Maybe bad guys. They’re coming up the road and there’s a bunch of ’em.”