ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 63: Failure to Integrate

Chapter 63

Failure to Integrate

A blood and viscera covered Alexa stood over a mountain of corpses. Her fort had long since been ransacked, forcing her to enter both close quarters combat with elves and orcs alike.

Panting.

Why did they stop? Is this some ploy to drag out the final few minutes? Alexa wondered to herself. She wouldn’t put such tactics beyond the orcs and elves.

“They are likely regrouping, trying to charge all at once.” Alexa muttered to herself, no longer able to keep her personal thoughts inside her mind.

She was tired, so tired.

Her mind was mush from having cast so many high level spells so often. Still there was a problem, even now, she felt the constant surge of Integration energy swelling up inside her. She wanted to stop it, to prevent the surge of energy, but she didn’t trust herself to be able to fend off any more attackers without being able to call upon magic. Her legs were like jelly.

Even now she found herself having to jab the tip of her sword into the ground to let her rest some of her body weight onto the blade to help her remain standing.

“When did I get a sword?” She found herself asking.

Thinking back, she remembered that she had been swinging the sword about wildly for quite a while. Also looking around at the pile of corpses before her, it was clear she had taken down quite a few warriors with this very blade.

“Nope, there was a second blade.” Alexa said to herself as she saw the broken blade sticking out of a particularly large orc chest. Looking back, she did remember that blade, “so where did I get the second blade?”

Looking around, she could see how a lot of weapons lay next to different bodies. There were a few that didn’t have any obvious blades nearby, maybe one of those?

Shaking her head, Alexa wondered when the next wave would come. She was so tired, worse those stupid monsters kept respawning. Every minute, or so, that was how long she had to rest before the next monster would come to replace the ones she slew.

Endless.

That was the one word she would use to describe the battle to this point.

Worse, throughout the battle she would constantly get different messages trying to tell her about something. Each time she had the message, was of course while she was in the middle of combat with one of the orcish or elven leaders.

She paused, as an eerie calm seemed to settle around her. Finally, after a long moment she checked on the pulsing system message that would not stop trying to distract her during battle.

Orcish Army Has Fled the Battlefield. Armies forced to flee 3 of 3.

Hidden Quest Completed: Stop the Invasion: You managed to singlehandedly stop the three armies of opposing forces from setting foot upon your planet. While time remains, you managed to make all three enemy forces retreat from battle. Time of final army fleeing the battlefield: 0 hours, 23 minutes, 58 seconds. Rewards increased due to difficulty and time remaining.

Seeing the message Alexa paused.

Alexa first thought to go out and check to see if what the message said was true. She had not moved to peek her head out of the fortress in quite a long time. In fact, the last time she remembered doing so was back when the dragons stopped showing up.

Mentally, she forced the other messages to appear within her mind as well. Each seeming to add merit to the previous messages.

Dragon Army Has Fled the Battlefield. Armies forced to flee 1 of 3.

Elven Army Has Fled the Battlefield. Armies forced to flee 2 of 3.

Seeing the messages, the angry pulsing system messages finally stopped flashing at her, letting her know she had seen them all.

“So that was the first message,” Alexa thought to herself as she realized the distraction that caused her to take an axe to the shoulder was like the message telling her about the dragons fleeing the battlefield.

Alexa looked up to see that with her Healing magic and Regeneration she shoulder had healed up, along with all the dozens of cuts and slashes she sustained throughout the battle.

It had been pretty touch and go there for a bit. The dragons were arguably her one biggest asset on the field, as they carved through everyone, regardless of who they were, while making a direct bee line for Alexa.

Alexa wanted to collapse into a heap on the ground, she had practiced. Trained daily for events like this. But most of her training was done in bursts or short stints. This was her first taste of true battle, and she was not ready for it. Even with the cheat source of energy from the Integration flooding her constantly, she barely won.

Intense tingling.

Finally feeling like she was going to explode from the constant surge of energy within her, she took the Integration and tried to convert it to something. Mentally pulling up her options for the Integration energy she was sort of relieved to see that she could at least do something with the energy.

Energy Gained. Do you wish to convert Integration energy absorbed into class experience?

That was all she had from the integration. Just the ability to convert it all to class experience, but that was better than nothing. That was definitely preferred over having to explode from the constant influx of energy.

“Yes.”

As soon as she said the word of command, a cooling wave of relief filled her mind as the energy that had been filling her near to bursting began to drain off.

“Ahh.”

A relieved sigh escaped her lips, as she found herself falling to the ground.

Splash.

She found herself in a pool of warm water, but none of that mattered right now. Instead, she felt relieved that she could finally relax. The maniac smile that had filled her face for so long was finally able to relax.

“That was awesome.” Alexa said, as she let her body once again heal itself as it seemed to also be relieved from the mounting energy that had been coursing through her body.

*Ding

There was another flashing message in her mind.

Quest Rewards Calculated: For surviving to the end of battle, you have automatically been conferred the title of Knight. Rank has been increased once for each army you single handedly forced to flee the battlefield.

Final Enemy Kill Counter:

Elves: 368

Orcs: 732

Dragons: 10

From there Alexa saw her rank rise three times. The changes were as follows:

Knight to Knight Captain.

Knight Captain to Minor Lord.

Minor Lord to Lord.

Lord to Baroness.

With each rank she received something similar to a title in its bonuses that were bestowed upon her.

Rank Knight: All Physical Attributes increased by 5%.

Knight Captain: All Attributes increased by 10%.

Minor Lord: All Attributes and Skills increased by 15%.

Lord: All Attributes, Skills, and Psychic Powers increased by 20%.

Baroness: All Attributes, Skills, Psychic Powers, and Magic Aptitudes increased by 25%.

So each progression of rank increased the previous bonus by an additional 5%, while also adding a new category that the bonus was also applied to.

NOTICE: You have been granted an official Rank. Know that Ranks are the only bonus that can be transferred to your progeny. Know that progeny can only be bestowed a rank that is one level lower than your own. Also know that with your current Rank, you are considered a minor Noble, meaning you are now granted certain protections and authorities. Would you like to see the complete list of your new abilities?

“No.” Alexa said, as she could barely keep her eyes open from reading everything that was currently in front of her. As it was, she was exhausted.

Quest Reward Notice: As a newly minted noble, you can have direct input on the scope of reward you receive for completing this quest. Would you like to: Gain Land? Gain Power? Or gain more steps towards increasing your current Rank (current progress 17 of 1000)?

Seeing the options before her, Alexa went with the only one that made sese to her.

“Power.”

Then, just as she expected a message appeared before her eyes.

Chance of rare skill crystal 89%, Chance or rare Psychic power crystal 10%, Chance or rare Magic power crystal 0.1%.

Seeing the message, Alexa reached out and touched the message before her.

Would you like to use Hands of the Architect to increase odds of gaining rare Magic power?

“Yes.”

FLASH!

There was a bright pulse of energy before her eyes then she saw the largest crystal appear before her eyes. Just seeing the crystal was enough to bring a smile to her face. Reaching out she picked up the crystal that felt surprisingly heavy given what it was. Compared to the regular augmentation crystals she found, this one had weight. Not only was this one the size of a giant rock, it also felt like it would make a very good paper weight, if one was so inclined.

Looking at the crystal, Alexa thought about consuming the crystal right then and there but she stopped herself.

Looking at the crystal, she imagined how long she could feel normal while under the effects of this crystal. In her mind she imagined consuming the crystal, and then being able to speak to Gina, Julie, and the others as herself, as her real self. That way they could see her, who she truly was.

In a way, the thought of that frightened her. What if they didn’t like her? What if they found the real her to be preferable to the way she always was? What if I start hating myself in secret? All these thoughts went through Alexa’s mind.

Then she realized she still had her stolen energies from the few hundred warriors she killed.

Orcish Powers Available: Regeneration, Dark Sight, Rampaging Strength, Magic: Arcane.

Elven Powers Available: Longevity, Agile, Enchanting Voice, Magic: Nature, Healing, Wind.

Dragon Powers Available: Hands of the Architect, Eyes of the Architect, Magic: None.

Looking at the options remaining, the only one that seemed worth having was the Enchanting Voice option, though that was more of a vampyre power, if she remembered correctly. Still it was an option.

Would you like to purchase Enchanting Voice for 12 of your 368 Elven Essence points gained?

Seeing the message Alexa said, “yes.”

Then in her mind her mental counter dropped from 368 to 356. She of course still had to distribute the energy stolen from ten dragons, and the 732 orcs she had slaughtered.

With her stolen integration energy going straight towards increasing her class, and the options for additional powers exhausted, especially as she refused to get Rampaging Strength, as that sounded more like a werewolf power than anything. She was left with only one option.

Energy Gained. Do you wish to convert energy absorbed into class experience? Attributes? Or Elven only powers?

“Attributes, equally.” She didn’t know if the system could understand the concept of equally, as she didn’t want to spend her time trying to mentally calculate where the rest of her remaining 356 essences went, or how many she was to apply to each attribute.

Fortunately, despite the odd statement, the system didn’t protest.

She made the same choice two more times, for both the orcs and the dragons.

With her immediate work done, she found herself wondered how much time was left. How much time did she still have to go around collecting the various crystals remaining on the ground, then just as she had the thought, her tracker opened up in her mind, displaying the message.

Time Remaining: 0 hours, 16 minutes, 18, 17… seconds.

Seeing the message, Alexa rose to her feet. She had power crystals to collect, not just any crystals either, as she knew there were at least ten crystals that would form over the ten dragons she killed. With that realization, she sprung to her feet with a renewed sense of urgency. She only had sixteen minutes after all to grab as many crystals as possible, including the ten special crystals from the different dragons she slew.

She still had the giant blue crystal in her hand. One that if it was found she had it, she knew others would likely come for the stone. In the grand scheme of things, she knew she was far weaker than many of the Supers who had their class and time to level. Compared to a team like her parents, she was grossly outmatched and that was just against a two-person team. Against some of the major strike teams, she would be seen as nothing more than a stepping stone to power.

Holding onto the stone, she paused as she looked at the stone hungrily. Then rationalizing to herself that the crystals from the ten dragons would likely be just as rewarding. She did what any junkie coming down from an all-time high would do, she focused her mind on the crystal, then inserted some of her personal energy into the stone causing it to release its stored energy.

SHATTER!

The crystal exploded in a torrent of magical goodness. As soon as the energy infused goo began pouring out over her hands, she felt a surge of energy unlike anything she had felt before.

Instantly her eyes rolled back in the back of her head. She felt the world spinning, only after a second did she realize the sudden spinning was caused by her body collapsing to the ground. Mentally she was able to separate her consciousness from what her body was experiencing.

Her mind was fully awake, as the mental barriers she had built to protect herself from such surges were strong.

Mentally she looked at her body with a cold sort of detachment.

She could feel the way her body pulsed and spasmed from jolts of magical energy that sparked in her body. Currents of magic opened up within her mind and psyche.

Then she was left with a new message that caused her to pause.

New Magical School Opened: School of…

PAIN!

Mind numbing pain coursed through her mind and body, as she attempted to understand what she had just unleashed, what she had just gone through.

In her mind she knew she was blacking out, that the pain was too much for her to process. Her last thought before she found her consciousness completely fading away was, I am going to miss out on those other crystals.

Then darkness.

***

At 2 AM, TSI agents and Dawning Light staff were still in the process of investigating the crime scene where Devin Docker led an assault on school grounds. As could be expected the local media was quick to come on campus and film everything.

"Devin Docker was alleged to be involved in a number of recent crimes, the most heinous of which were the forceful transformation of underage women into full blown werewolves." Ariel Canter the news anchor for the Local 9 affiliate began speaking.

"While the crime spree had mostly been stopped, he led a pack of no less than twenty wolves onto campus, in what authorities are saying was done in an effort to enter into the school’s Tier II dungeon."

“During the course of the battle on campus, a number of students gathered around to watch, while one woman chose to act. I am here today to speak of the valiant efforts conducted by Alexa Thyme, a sophomore and recent addition to the student population here. As you can see, the dungeon which would glow brightly if someone was still alive within the confines, does no glow. A scan of the surrounding area reveals that there was nowhere else for the sophomore to have gone after the battle, but into the dungeon.” The news reporter who was allowed on scene to cover the events paused, as she added a moment of sorrow to the mix.

“It is believed that during the fight with Mr. Docker, that Alexa gained wounds while trying to protect both TSI agents and her fellow students from further harm. During the battle she is presumed to have been forced to enter into the dungeon, where it is believed that she died from her wounds sustained from the battle. While authorities have not given up searching for Alexa’s remains, no one expects to find much of anything. For as we all know, what dies in the dungeons stays in the dungeons. I am Ariel… holy shiitake what is that?”

Ariel cut herself off, as the dungeon that she had been near a moment ago began to flash and pulse angrily.

Seeing the sudden flashing dungeon Ariel jogged backwards from the dungeon.

Then precisely at 2:15 AM MST, on the morning of 1 November a film crew caught the moment an Integration happened.

SHRRIITT.

A ripping sound as if a tear in reality was being forcefully given form and shape appeared.

For a second, there appeared to be flashing images of bodies that appeared on the ground. With a start Ariel, realizing she was standing in one of the ghostly bodies moved. Not knowing if this was some type of special effect, an illusion magic gone wrong, or something else equally screwy Ariel moved back to safety.

The camerawoman zoomed in, catching everything, from the dead bodies of elves and orcs that appeared to have been bisected, burnt, or carved to pieces. To dragons. Literal dragons, or the remains of dragons appearing around them.

All around campus, monsters appeared. The camerawoman found herself also moving forward as she panned down to show that her own feet were also inside a pulsing body.

Then as soon as she found a clear spot, or at least a spot that was free of a dead body, she panned up to see Ariel.

Ariel for her part was trying to keep her calm as she tried to process what was happening.

“Is this some kind of Halloween prank?” She shouted.

All the while the bodies began to pulse more rapidly, until finally they all seemed to be more real than illusion. Then there was a flash of magic.

POOF!

Then just like that, the bodies that had appeared to be mere holograms a moment ago, figments of a particularly intricate illusionist’s imagination all became solid.

“What the?” Ariel said, as she very gently used the toe of her shoe to nudge the bloodied remains of an orc that died due to a giant broken sword that was still sticking out of its chest.

Squish.

The body not only responded to the light touch, but her force also caused a smattering of blood to pour out of the body. At that, Ariel did what any broadcaster would do, when faced with a similar situation.

“AHH!” Ariel screamed.

Woosh!

Fortunately her scream was drowned out by the sudden appearance of Mr. Mackie, the school’s dean of discipline.

Seeing the man, Ariel moved to ask him just what was going on. But before she could bring her microphone up to ask any questions, Mr. Mackie moved forward.

Cough, cough.

Mr. Mackie charged forward, causing the camerawoman to have a hard time panning with him. Only managing to stop and see him lean over and pick up a giant of a woman who all but draped and convulsed wildly as he picked up her body.

“What? Who is that?” Ariel asked.

Mr. Mackie turned to face the reporter, where a giant Amazonian woman could be seen. Her large body was covered in blood and tear marks, but oddly she seemed to be in perfect condition.

Mr. Mackie looked like he wanted to say something, but then just shook his head and poof he was gone, along with the giant woman that was in his arms.

Silence.

“That was her.” The Camerawoman said.

“What?” Was all Ariel could say, after trying to understand what was happening.

“That was her. The girl. The one that was missing.” The Camerawoman said.

At that, Ariel’s eyes widened, as she did a quick scan of the area. Then quickly put back on her interviewing persona, the one she used when briefing events just like this.

“You saw it here first. A Halloween miracle. I am still not certain what happened, but one thing we know for sure is that today, Alexa Thyme emerged from the dungeon.” Ariel said.

“Not just that, did you see her title? I have never seen a title displayed before.” The Camerawoman again said.

“Title?” Ariel said, then her eyes widened as she did remember seeing something glowing above the large girl, but she had been spasming so much that all she saw was a weird glowing light similar to a halo over her head.

“Yeah, it said Baroness.”

“What the heck type of title is that?”