Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The guys were outside hiding from the repercussions of their forgetfulness. Drew had cracked opened the lid to the grill and sparked the flames of sweet meaty indulgence while Spock hovered nearby watching the preparations commence. After the jalapeno and pepper-jack filled sausages were laid bare upon the grates, Drew turned to Spock for assistance.

"Now, onto the two most important aspects to grilling in the south. Number one, every time you use the metal tongs to touch the meat, you must click them twice prior to doing so. Like this..."

*CLING CLING*

"...and number two, if there are any other men around the grill operator, they must stand behind and off to his side to add commentary to each action he takes." Drew finished.

"Indeed? What purpose does this fill for meal preparation?" Spock inquired.

"The most important purpose when grilling. Tradition. You can think of it as being a part of southern culture."

"What type of commentary is most effective to submerge myself within this southern culture, Drew Wright?"

"Hmmmm... good ones would be 'just like that', 'yeah, that's lookin' good', and 'yeah, look at that meat'." Drew replied.

"That's rather strange commentary."

"Yes, but I don't make the rules, I just follow them. Now, give it a shot, stand right there and try it out."

Drew began to flip the sausage links.

"Hmmmm indeed. Your grilling is most satisfactory. You labor with that tool magnificently."

Drew paused and turned his head to look at Spock. He stared at him intently for several long seconds.

"Not bad, not bad at all."

The grilling continued as Drew let his mind wander to reflect on the last several days, only to be pleasantly interrupted by Spock's growing confidence in grill commentary. Truly, it was a gentleman's art to do it well. He thought about his tutorial introduction and what his family and friends would be going through. He thought about the fight with the coyotes and his rewards from it. He felt the connection to his minion that sat out of sight within the brush of the wooded area nearby. He also thought about....oh? He never checked out the new skill he'd gotten from that title he received! He brought the title back up to look at it.

[The First Necromancer]
The first being on a world to perform a necromatic action, spell, or ritual. Such a deed will surely impact the Records of the individual and open more paths in the future. Grants the following advantages: All necromatic actions, spells, or rituals are 25% more effective, for 10% less material and mana cost. Risen minions will be slightly more intelligent and capable of processing complex commands. Grants the Skill: Death Toll (Grade - Common).

That's right! It was called death toll. Now what did it do?

Death Toll (Grade-Common)
Conjures a projectile attuned with the affinities of Death, Life, and Shadow, that can be hurled towards a target. The projectile is moderately damaging, and has a moderate speed of propulsion. The result will heal damaged undead beings and entities, while causing damage to all others. Any damage caused by this spell will return 5% as health points to the caster. If the caster is already at full health, it will instead return 1% of the caster's mana points. If mana points are also at the maximum, there will be no additional effects.

Well, that sounded extremely useful. He'd have to go murder some more mesquite trees later to test out the results. Those mesquite trees deserved worse than death after all the holes they'd poked in his tires, and all the foot wounds he'd received from their thorns punching right through his normal shoes. Not that he didn't have a chainsaw before, but magic had a whole different level of oomph to it.

Anyways! It sounded like he could heal himself slightly by doing damage to enemies, which felt very powerful, plus he could heal his minions with it. That had a lot of utility, and would keep them alive longer, and thus keep him safe longer as well. Actually, now that he thought about...

*POP*

Muffled screaming could be heard coming from inside the house as Drew turned his head to look at the back door. Spock made eye contact with him briefly before cocking his left eyebrow.

'Whooee-uueet' Drew whistled

*************************************************************

Several minutes later, Drew was cutting off the grill as the sausages were finished. He plated them up and brought them inside the house. Hotdog buns, relish, ketchup, mustard, and cheese were all out on the counter so he called out to everyone to come grab food.

"DINNER'S READY, COME AND GET IT!!!" Drew shouted.

Within several seconds, figures began to flow forth from various portions of the house. The first to come forward was a tall, handsome man with caramel colored skin and a suave well-trimmed beard of black. He wore his medium-length black hair with golden highlights in a small ponytail, and small finely pointed ears crested the sides of his head. He was dressed in a layered brown leather chest-piece with small, yet flexible leather shoulder guards.

On his wrists sat finely embossed leather bracers, and his legs were wrapped in a form-fitting pair of tan pants made from a strange material. The pants themselves had leather armor pieces sewn around the knees and crotch. Finally, he had a pair of fine leather boots that stretched up halfway to his knees. The only thing Drew thought the man was missing from the equipment was a pair of leather gloves to match the rest of the set.

"I kinda thought you'd go with a Dwarf to be honest Mark. But you look good man!"

"I seriously considered it, but I've been short my whole life. It sucked big time, now I'm even taller than you!" Mark replied.

"Ahhhh, I hadn't considered that. But you always would roll Dwarf in DnD. What class did you end up going with?"

"Yeahhhh, and they're still cool, but I chose a wood elf. Being tall is it's own perk! Plus, I move faster and more stealthy in natural regions like forests and plains. I went with Light Warrior."

"Oh? So what kind of weapons will you use, and why Light Warrior?" Drew asked.

"I used a boon to get starting equipment, and another to upgrade it all. So, I'll be dual-wielding short swords for melee, and I have a bow for long ranged attacks. I went with this class to have more agility. I wanted to able to get into, and out of trouble quickly and with less effort. I wanted to get hit less often and strike at weak points at my advantage."

"So a rogue build then?"

"Kind of? Rogue and Warrior mix I guess."

"What about your last boon?"

"The Greater Boon? I used it to purchase a tracking skill and a skill called 'one with nature'."

"One with nature? What's it do?"

"Eh, supposedly it'll let me 'commune with nature'. The description said it will allow me to gather information from wild animals and plants, and I have a small chance of beasts not being naturally aggressive towards me."

"That sounds... a bit lame to be honest."

"Nah, you don't understand. I picked it to go along with the tracking skill. If I can get information from plants and animals, it'll allow me to gather information on bad guys quicker and more effectively."

"I guess...anyways, you look good man. Where's Miranda?"

"She was teleported here naked for some reason, so she's throwing some clothes on." Mark said.

"Huh, that's... strange. Anyways grab a plate! I'll join ya in a second, I want to talk to everyone else."

That wasn't what Drew was expecting at all. Mark had always played heavily armored warriors and paladins in games, and almost exclusively as dwarves. He guessed real life changed people's perspectives when their lives were at risk. Or maybe he truly just wanted to be taller. Not that Drew could blame him, as he had changed his body completely. Now, Mark just looked like a taller, more elegant version of his previous self. Almost like a younger, more slender, and medium-brown skinned Pedro Pascal.

The nature skill really did sound pretty lame, but having a scout type class available to their forces was a great chance to prepare for danger before it came, or track enemies if necessary. Being agile would keep him out of harm's way more often, although Drew worried his toughness stat might end up needing some work long-term.

Miranda came out shortly after and nodded her head to Drew as she grabbed a plate of food. She was a little bit taller than before, and she'd definitely lost a bit of weight as her form was more slender. Her old clothes seemed to be drooping off of her slightly. Her skin tone had changed the most, instead of the light chocolate she used to have, it was now a gray-blue with brown undertones. She kept her ears longer than Mark and Drew had, but they weren't overdone either. Her hair however was as white as the moon, and had streaks of purple flowing throughout it. Lastly her eyes were a metallic silver that held a lovely sheen to them.

"So you went with the dark elf neophyte huh?"

"Yeahhhhhh..."

"What's wrong, didn't turn out how you wanted it to?"

"I couldn't keep my black hair apparently, and I didn't find out until I'd chosen the race."

"Still, you look lovely. I really dig the purple on white, and your eyes are cool as hell."

"Yeahhhhhh..." she sighed.

"Not used to it yet, right? I'm still surprised when I look in the mirror."

"It's just hard. I liked the way I looked before. I'm sure I'll get used to it, it's just weird for me right now."

"I get it. What did you choose for boons?" Drew asked, trying to switch subjects so she wasn't as uncomfortable.

"More spells. I started with a basic healing spell, so I chose another than healed damage over time that could be cast without touching the person. I figured it would help in fights if I couldn't get to everyone. I also picked a spell called smite, it does damage to bad guys. I didn't want to be helpless in a fight and rely on everyone else.  I used the greater boon thing to purchase an upgraded common level spell that would allow my healing to eventually regrow lost limbs."

"Holy crap...no pun intended. I didn't even know you could choose common spells for the greater boon. That's fantastic news! You can dish out damage, and help keep people alive. I think you picked amazing choices."

Miranda beamed at Drew's compliment. She smiled at him and then walked away with a sausage hot dog to sit next to her husband. Her class truly would be a lifesaver in the hell that was coming, and despite her never having picked up a game before, she managed to pick extremely compatible and intelligent choices with her boons. Maybe more people would survive The Descent that he had originally thought... or maybe she was just very intelligent. Food for thought.

Amber had come out of their bedroom looking very pleased with herself. It looked like elves were very trendy this season. She'd said she would likely choose one, but Drew was surprised no one had chosen another type of race. Although she looked very different than his two friends, she still very much looked herself. A bit thinner, about the same height, medium length pointed ears. Although, now her strawberry-blonde hair seemed to almost glow, as if it was giving off it's own small amount of light. Her blue eyes had become a slightly lighter shade, and like her hair, also seemed to have a very slight illumination to them.

She was dressed in leather armor that was very similar to Mark's, although it seemed to be the normal quality and not the upgraded stuff that his friend had purchased.

"You look good Boo Bear, how did everything go?"

"Pretty good, although the tutorial guide was a bit surprised about the way I used the token." she chuckled.

"I'm sure they were. It was your crazy idea that you got in your head after talking with Spock. How'd everything else go?"

"Well, I went with the archer just like we talked about, but for the races, I found a sub-species of elf called 'sun-touched'. I used my minor boon to get that race, it gives a couple more stats per level, but it also adds light based affinity to any attacks, skills, or spells I use. According to the tutorial guide, it'll cause extra damage when I use my arrows too. With my lesser boon, I chose a skill that allows me to conjure arrows out of thin air for free. They'll only work for me, but still... I thought it was a good deal. Less of our limited supplies will be wasted, and I don't have to carry around a quiver." Amber explained.

"Ohhhhh, good choices. Speaking of boons, where's she at?"

"FREYA!!!!" Amber called.

Freya came prancing out from around the island kitchen with her tongue hanging out of her mouth and a big puppy smile on her face. Apparently, she'd been begging for food from Mark and Miranda. Drew hadn't even noticed her because he'd been paying so much attention to the changes his friends and Amber had gone through. She sat down next to Amber and looked up with her big, sad, brown eyes.

"She doesn't look any different." Drew said.

"She won't, at least not for awhile dear. The guide said that using the token on her was unique and rather unexpected. Of course, I went through the process first so I could use my greater boon to purchase the animal bond skill so I could help her with her own token."

"Were there any issues?"

"No, not really. When I activated the bond, I was able to communicate with her telepathically. Although, that's going to take some getting used to. I'm still talking to her normally and she seems to understand, but she has a child-like intelligence. Apparently, The System never considered someone would use a token for their pet. According to the tutorial guide, it's extremely rare in the cosmos for newly integrated planets to use a token like that."

"Yeah, so what's that all mean in practical terms?" Drew asked.

"Well, she'll stay how she looks now, but she'll gain stats per level like normal. Usually, animals don't have access to classes, as they are generally less intelligent compared to other newly integrated beings. I was able to bypass that restriction by using the greater boon, and then she had access to the starting classes. The minor boon was spent on starting equipment, and the lesser boon was spent turning that equipment into natural features that evolve and grow over time, similar to how beasts work according to the guide."

"So we cheesed The System good then?"

"No, we just exploited loopholes that existed within it, but the guide didn't seem worried or think anything bad would happen. If anything, he found it very interesting."

"Huh. Alright then. So what about her class?"

"Medium Warrior. It had a nice balance of physical stats, and it's not like she'd be good at magic or anything, plus how would she use a bow?"

"Yeah that's a good point, she does lick her own ass after farting." Drew said in between fits of laughter.

The couple laughed, but apparently Freya didn't think it was funny as she walked away and slumped onto the ground while she huffed at them.

"She sort of understood what you said, so she's sulking now." Amber chuckled.

"She'll get over it. So what's the deal with the equipment becoming part of her or whatever?"

"Freya will have natural armor and weapons. So the long sword basically allowed her teeth and claws to become much more durable, stronger, and sharper. The chainmail armor thickened her skin by a large margin, making it just as tough as the armor was."

"Oh cool. Good for her. I'm still surprised you didn't save the token for your sister."

"Hell no, I don't mind protecting her, but she wouldn't get any use out of the token before The System hits us. Freya could at least get a few levels in hunting rabbits or something." Amber protested.

"True. By the way, have you seen my mom anywhere?"

"Yeah, she said she's setting her DVR to record another show, I'll go get her."

Amber went to get his mom, as Drew gathered some food for his plate and began walking over to the table to join the others. Spock had already joined them and was talking with the couple. It was a good thing that he'd made it to the table and sat down when his mom had come out, because otherwise he would have dropped the plate. This was not what he was expecting.

"What in the actual fuck... Mom??"

****Author's Note****

Dun Dun Dun... What did his mom choose?! What did you think about everyone else? Were your predictions right? Any thoughts... :)

****End Author's Note****