7/23

1st Studio Lot (Studios 1-5)

10:20 PM

Scourge. I need to fucking cure Scourge as quickly as possible. I need to gain 13 more levels to do that. I can make that happen. It's late, I'm alone and I'm HIGHLY MOTIVATED. Time to speed run this fucking dungeon.

The local guys clear out studios 1-5 every day. Today we cleared out studios 15, 17 and 20. That leaves me with studios 6-14, 16, 18 and 19. I'm about to rip and tear.

I leap off the airship and begin running. Mid stride my Giant Robot shirt and jeans are covered by neon pink, white and black armor.

Atmos Mind! Chimerablood Rise!

Roiling clouds. The sky dragon roars!

The armor itself is patterned after an Asian dragon, with small, layered plates of metal around my joints. The paint job is mostly a pearlescent white with hot pink trim and details, which contrast against a black under suit. Some of the pink bits glow with neon light.

As I rush out the gates of the first studio lot, I summon gauntlets. Typhoon Punch lets me summon fists. While I'm in armor, it instead summons copies of my gauntlets. My newly maxed out Telekinesis lets me handle up to 10 objects at once. Between my mind and two sub minds, I can handle 30 things, or gauntlets, at once. This will cost me 75 Arcana points per 10 minutes, which is less than what I regenerate every 10 minutes.

Basically, I'm trailed by a bunch of flying armored fists.

Studio 6

I burst into the helm of a 60s TV starship and start pummeling. There's almost a dozen people in here, starting to draw laser pistols on me. I know from experience that these guys pack a punch but can't take a punch. A flurry of blows and the red shirts are dead and the other shirts are also red. Because of the blood. I grab a spare laser pistol for Jose.

If I wait here, several waves of red shirts will eventually descend on me. I'm not waiting. I exit and hit the next studio.

Studio 7

It's a red-brown wasteland stretching under a grey sky. I pop out of the ruins of a Waffle House and fly straight up. This floor features randomized enemy placements and enemy types. This time I can see several platoons of robot skeletons marching towards my location. Cool.

I fly low to the ground, just inches from the dirt, hurtling towards the left group, putting it between me and the right group. I punch the dirt and use that to hand spring up and land in front of the silvery skeletons. In unison, their blue robot eyes turn red as they spot me. Their upper bodies turn, irrespective of their lower bodies, and raise pulse rifles.

My gauntlets are over their heads.

Neon pink streams of storm energy rain down on the robots. Their armor stands up to the attack for just a second and sparks shoot off from all directions. Then my Storm Stream attacks cut through, severing arms, decapitating torsos and removing legs. The robots fall to pieces. I take another two seconds to find and eliminate the remaining targets from the group.

My neon lasers stop, but I'm immediately under fire from the other platoon. Blue, egg-shaped pulse blasts head towards me in a volley. I leap up over the volley, a few dozen feet into the air, but then immediately have to fly up and away as more pulse blasts are aimed my way.

These guys are both precise and persistent. Their guns don't need to reload. Their robot eyes and reflexes have zero difficulty tracking me. Only my sheer speed is enough to keep me alive. I jet off to their right, and circle them in a wide arc. Pulse blasts chase me, their combined attacks becoming a near column of deadly energy. I keep flying.

With a current Agility of 342, I'm flying at around 240 miles per hour. I'm able to spin around the robots in a 100 yard circle in seconds. Yet they keep track of me perfectly. Fine. If I can't close on them, I'll take them out from range.

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Storm Shot fires a bullet of concentrated Atmos energy at a target at long range. I fire dozens of them from my gauntlets. At this distance I don't have 100% accuracy, but I've got enough stats and abilities to make my shots land even at this range and this speed. My first barrage of shots hits, searing steel and cracking robot skulls.

I take advantage of the chaos and fly straight at them, then use Leap, my short range teleport, to end up behind them. They start to turn, but now I'm on top of them. I rush the first robot and my fist slams into its skull, ripping it off the body. My following attack is an uppercut that snaps another robot's spine in half. A robot to my left aims at me and before he can fire I Leap the 20 feet to him and grab his rifle out of his hands. I spin the weapon around, aim and pull the trigger, blasting a hole in his chest.

Six more robots aim at me but my gauntlets have finally caught up. They slam into the backs of the robots, knocking them down and then pinning them to the dirt. I move to each one and put a pulse blast in it, ending the fight.

I take one breath. Just one. Then my gauntlets grab all the rifles, pop them into my inventory, and I move on to the next studio.

Studio 8

I open the door to find myself stepping out of an RV parked in the middle of a stock car race track. There are hundreds of golems all around me, decked out in various logos belonging to disparate drivers. Well, this is new.

I fly straight up and search for danger. The sky is blue and the roar of race cars is nearly deafening. There's a stadium full of golems. A lot of them have beer hats. And nothing seems to be trying to kill me yet.

I use my System Scan, scraping the area for threats until I find them. It's the damn race cars.

Stock Car. Tier 5. It's a car. If you get in its way it'll kill you by running you over. This is true of most cars, actually.

Possible Loot: Antenna Ball, Crash Helmet.

There are also armed guards walking around. I suppose if you start a fight here they'll join it. I won't be giving them that chance.

I fly down to just about a dozen feet above the track. I feel a burst of air as the race cars zoom past below me. I wait until the last one passes before I drop down onto the track.

My head turns to watch the lead car. It's coming down the straightaway. I begin to charge my spell. It's taking turn two, curving high at the apex and then cutting in close as it ends the turn. My spell finishes charging. I see the lead car speed up and aim directly for me. I raise my hand to it.

Tempest Buster Rifle!

A five-foot-wide column of Atmos energy erupts from my outstretched palm. It impacts the lead car, which explodes and flips forward onto its nose. The three cars behind it immediately slam into the lead car and crumple into a mass of metal. My column of energy lasts about 5 seconds and I sweep it from left to right, blasting the whole pack of cars. Many of them simply explode. Others collide into the exploding cars, spinning and slamming into the walls or other vehicles. Red flames and black smoke billow across the track. A flaming tire flies up into the stands and kills three golems. The crowd cheers.

I fly back up, spot the dozen or so security guards, and Storm Shot each one just for the experience points. Then, I'm out.

Studio 9

I'm in a high school. I don't see a direct threat or even any golems. From down the hall I can see night through a glass doorway. Abandoned high school at night? Oh, whatever could this floor be about? /Sarcasm.

I check my radar. There are red dots throughout this area. While I'm watching, one disappears and then reappears right behind me. My right leg sweeps back and kicks whatever is there. I turn to see a black cloaked humanoid figure with a dumb rubber mask.

Slasher. Tier 5. Not strong or fast but can teleport right behind you at any time.

Possible Loot: Knife, Meat Hook, Machete, etc.

I step over and stomp its head into paste. I stomp again to make the corpse, and blood, disappear. I sigh. I basically have to wait until they teleport behind me one by one, then kill them one by one. Annoying. I can probably make this faster.

I step to the wall and punch right through the drywall. It's like butter to my 250 Strength. I check my minimap for the remaining 9 enemies. One teleports behind me. I reach back, grab him by the neck and snap it. I check my minimap for the remaining 8 enemies. I sprint directly towards the nearest one, smashing through the flimsy walls of this fake high school as I go.

I burst into the science room, shattering a shelf full of empty glass beakers. The glittering shards tinkle and crack onto the ground. I fire a Storm Shot into a hooded figure and its head explodes in dark red blood. Another stalker flashes behind me and I let its knife scrape across my armor, doing literally nothing, before I turn and punch it in the stupid blue ghost mask. I feel its head cave in from my blow and it drops, blood gushing out of the big goofy smile mask.

I check my map briefly before jumping straight up, through the ceiling and into a regular classroom. The hooded Slasher here seems surprised to see me as floor tiles and Styrofoam ceiling slide off me. He actually turns to run away! I grab a desk and hurl it at him, which hits his back and he bends in a way that is usually impossible for humans.

Another Slasher teleports behind me but gets one foot stuck in the hole I just made. I turn and see him looking down at his foot. I look down at his foot. We both slowly raise our respective masked faces up and stare each other in the eye. His knife hand flashes forward. My knee comes up and cracks his wrist. He drops the knife. I catch the knife. I drive the knife into his chest, then his neck. I shove the bleeding monster away from me.

Four left. I stomp right through a wall out into the hallway and see a Slasher in the distance. I use telekinesis on the knife in my hand and it darts forward, punching right through the Slasher's stomach, then flipping around and cutting his neck open. The knife flies back to me, passes me and, since I now know the timing between when a guy disappears on my minimap and when he reappears behind me, the knife is in the right spot at the right time to be inside another Slasher as he fades in. I turn and look at the guy. He's clutching at his chest in a panic. I flip my fingers up and the knife bursts out of his chest, coating me with blood.

I have to stab the corpse a few more times to make it and the blood fade out.

While I'm doing that the two remaining Slashers appear behind me at the same time. I use a spinning backhand to clock both at once, then fire a Storm Shot from each hand as they fall back.

Studio 10

I emerge from the lower deck of a personal fishing boat on the ocean. There are two golems in light clothes, both smoking cigarettes.

The tall white guy turns to me. "Glad you're here. She's under us right now." The fat white guy golem throws a bucket of chum into the water. Something big bumps the boat from below and all three of us wobble.

Ah. It's a shark boss. Neat.

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