Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

- The Next Morning -

"Wakey wakey, time to wak-"

"Shut it, I'm already awake."

"… Gosh, you could've said something beforehand," Luna sighed deeply faced with Cyanide's sharp reply. "If you're always already up when I call you, what's the point of asking me to do this every morning?"

"Just in case," Cyanide replied in his usual flat tone of 'not-giving-a-shit'. "What about the old geezer? Is he up?"

Luna shrugged "Still snoring away. He did expend a lot of energy yesterday, though, so I suppose it is understandable. Do you want to wake him up?"

After some thought, Cyanide shook his head. "Leave him be. With his strength, he'll only be a burden."

Yesterday, Cyanide had brought Doctor Finch to the sewers to deduce just how useless he was, and the results were better than expected. If nothing else, the Doctor could at least be a suitable distraction.

That said, his combat skills were still about equivalent to that of a garden snail or possibly even less, so Cyanide saw no benefit in bringing him along again for today's mission. Of course, the Doctor would be overjoyed to hear this (had he been awake), but in reality, the only reason Cyanide hasn't directly thrown him out yet was his concoction skills. Cyanide was curious about the limits of Doctor Finch's powers when it came to items like potions and poisons—especially the latter—so he decided to keep the old geezer with him for now.

After a quick shower to clear his mind and a fast daily routine to check over the entire Aterra building, Cyanide set out.

*****

There wasn't much to do on the way to the school he had in mind, so Cyanide spent the time browsing through the new Soul Arts he could obtain now that he had unlocked the Lightning Affinity for his soul. He had also put all 10 CP he earned from the level-up into INT, just to increase his maximum Soulforce capacity to accommodate these new Soul Arts. As such, his new maximum SF was 35.

"Hm… this Lightning Affinity is quite useful against mutants, it seems…" Cyanide murmured as he read through the skills' descriptions.

"Actually, all of the affinities have their own status ailments that they can inflict on mutants," Luna explained. "Lightning, for example, inflicts Shock, which paralyzes them. Fire inflicts Burn, damage over time, while Ice inflicts Freeze, which is self-explanatory. These status ailments are triggered based on luck, but certain Soul Arts have a higher chance of triggering them or can even be guaranteed."

"I see… what about Death, then?" Cyanide asked. "What status ailment does the Death Affinity inflict?"

Luna smiled. "I was waiting for you to ask that. The Death Affinity, perhaps the strongest of them all, holds the Control status ailment."

Cyanide's eyes widened a bit. "Control…? You mean… I can turn mutants into my own soldiers?"

"Precisely," Luna said with a wry grin. "Of course, due to the powerful nature of this status ailment, unlike the others, it doesn't just have a chance of being inflicted on mutants. Instead, there is a single Soul Art of the Death Affinity called Control, which you can apply to certain mutants. The more you Control and the longer you attempt to Control them for, the more SF it will drain. At your current stage, Controlling even one will be difficult, and you won't last long."

"Hm… I see… so when can I learn this skill?"

"Well, considering it requires an INT stat of at least 100 to unlock and a cost of 5 SP, being an advanced and flexible skill, I recommend waiting until you're at least Level 50 or so," Luna said after some thought. "Now, before you ask if there's a maximum level cap, I'll say it right now: there is. Level 999—but I doubt anyone will reach that level by the time this game is over."

Cyanide nodded slowly in agreement. Every time he leveled up, the amount of EXP needed to reach the next level was significantly increased by about 150%, so reaching Level 999 would be quite the tedious task.

"Speaking of the time the game is over…" Luna continued, having thought of something. "Do you suppose some other players may have moved into this city after yesterday night's broadcast, Cyanide?"

"Who knows." Cyanide shrugged nonchalantly, pulling up a Soul Art that appeared to interest him on the Skill Shop displayed in front of his chest. "But if they are here, I suppose I'll need to get rid of them, don't I?"

"If your ultimate goal is to win the game, to reach the so-called 'summit' of this world, then yes," Luna replied. "At the same time, however, it may be more interesting to just sit back and watch as they kill themselves one by one…"

Hearing this, Cyanide chuckled. "You're darker than I remember programming you to be."

"Well, my dear creator, you had the bright idea to make me into a human-like machine and give me personality, so obviously I can change," Luna said, sounding exasperated. "The only thing that won't ever alter is my loyalty to you, since that's at the very core of my code."

"As it should be," Cyanide muttered, pressing the [Purchase] button on the skill displayed. It read as follows:

[Skill Information]

[Name: Lightning Chain]

[Type: Soul Arts]

[Description: Inject Lightning energy into a given target. Nearby targets will be chained. Low damage, but high chance of inflicting Shock.]

[Soulforce Cost: 5 SF]

[Requirements: INT > 15]

[Price: 1 SP]

Perhaps another person would've chosen to get a Lightning Affinity Soul Art that actually could electrocute enemies to death, but not Cyanide. He had enough methods to kill. Something like Death Infusion or Petrify would be far more effective, compared to a blast of lightning that not only was loud but also flashy.

Maybe some people liked that kind of thing, but Cyanide was raised an assassin and thought like one. If able to be discrete, he would. That said, when it came time to reveal his true power, he wasn't afraid either.

"The school's right ahead, Cyanide," Luna said, and Cyanide came to a stop. About a hundred meters in front of him, Lumina High lay. At least, that's what it once was called. Now, however, it was nothing more than an abandoned building, just like every other structure in this god-forsaken, post-apocalyptic world.

"Now then, if this place is marked as a POI, there is undoubtedly at least a Stage Three Mutant hiding here, possibly higher," Luna said sternly. "Are you ready, Cyanide?"

Cyanide smirked and drew his weapons, gun in his right hand and knife in left.

"… I always am."