“Twas the night before chaos and all through the base…”

  “How does that make any sense Pinky? Isn’t Halloween next week? What is with people and trying to celebrate Christmas early?”

  “Oh yeah that’s right, it’s next Friday isn’t it? I wonder if things will calm down… I hear the Halloween parties in New York City are crazy, maybe you can take me to one.”

  Pinky and Freak were joking with each other when Jon and I finally reentered the base and I briefly wondered if they were actually a thing or not but then promptly decided it wasn’t any of my damn business as I walked around the pit and toward the Team Book Nook. I was only a few steps into the hallway when I heard the sound of the Ascension Upgrader going off three times in rapid succession.

  “New Achievement! Overachiever! You have doubled the requirement given to you for this Phase of your Wave! With how fast the others are gaining points, I’m positive you won’t be the only one getting this achievement and we’re rewarding this one with that in mind. This is a Platinum level achievement. Reward: You have received an A:Tier loot box.”

  “Lucky Charm Feature Activated! Your A:Tier loot box has been upgraded to an A+:Tier loot box!”

  “Well Loopie, what’d’ya get?” Freak called out. I let out a mixture of a laugh and a sigh as I remembered Pinky and him had bet on exactly this.

  “The achievement gave me an A:Tier,” I said and Pinky let out a whoop.

  “Called it. We’re all like, so close; it couldn’t be anything crazy like an S.”

  “Oh… but my jacket’s Lucky Charm feature bumped it up to an A+,” I finished and Freak immediately barked out a laugh.

  “He fuckin’ game show hosted it,” he said, slapping his knee with maybe a bit too much enthusiasm. “But will yah look at that Pinky, guess that means I win the bet.”

  “Um… actually,” another voice cut in and I looked over to see Duskbreaker looking up from a comic book, which was a bit surprising since outside of everything going on, he didn’t exactly strike me as an Augment fan. “Didn’t Brain say whatever he got would get upgraded because of his jacket?”

  “That doesn’t technically mean Freak’s guess was wrong though,” BrainCraft said, drawing my attention back up the hallway as he stepped out of the Mechanic’s Den. “I also didn’t actually bet anything unlike those two so my prediction is moot anyway.”

  “Yeah you just get to be smug about it,” Pinky shot back and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “You still got a lot on your mind Loophole?”

  “A bit,” I admitted before I nodded toward the Book Nook. “I actually just wanted to scoop up some knowledge really quick that Brain added. Trying to make sure I have as many resources at my disposal as possible.”

  “Are you already going for the coding knowledge I provided? Is that going to help with the Hydramental issue?” BrainCraft asked as he slowed down to pass me.

  “Eh, it probably won’t help against him… but you never know either,” I said with a shrug. “If I don’t grab it now though, I’ll probably forget about it. Honestly now that I’m thinking about it, it would probably be smart for me to just add any knowledge books we have in there just in case there’s something useful.”

  “Well hurry up and then open your loot boxes already! We’ve got another bet going on what we’re gonna get out of the A+ Squad Base box,” Pinky shouted and I waved her off.

  “You two might have a gambling problem,” I called back before heading up the rest of the way to the Team Book Nook’s door.

  While the shelves filling the place were still mostly empty, we actually did have quite a few rows that were solidly stocked and I found Swansong in the room looking over them. She smiled back at me as I entered before she pulled down the Spatial Resonance book I had transcribed.

  “And here I thought Codex would be talking your ear off for the next hour.”

  “He probably would have if I let him,” I replied back, walking over to look for the coding book that I was pretty sure should have been placed right near it. I lingered at the shelf for a moment without perusing, looking at her out of the corner of my eye as she fiddled with the book still in her hands. “Are you… um… I mean… did you still want to use my Safe House tonight?”

  We hadn’t exactly talked about it much, and the idea of having her spend the night again so quickly probably should have been something that waited until we had gone on at least a few more dates… but every bit of my gut was telling me that no matter how much the team declared we were ready for whatever got thrown at us tomorrow, something was still going to go wrong. If I could have one more peaceful night, wouldn't it be smart to take it?

  Swansong, apparently, took it a different way and she went beet red almost immediately, causing my own cheeks to heat up as she diverted her eyes toward the ground.

  “I… I mean… It would make sure I could stay near you tomorrow when you confront Hydramental… even if that means staying way above the fight,” she said before holding the book up to block her face. “Brain actually suggested I try absorbing this too. He thinks I might be able to use my songs to affect the Vibe Zones.”

  “That’s not a bad idea…” I said. While I wanted to tell her that it would probably be better if she stayed with the others, especially when the giant egg inevitably hatched, a selfish part of me appreciated that she’d be nearby. “How about we absorb these and then go hang out with the others for a bit… I know they want to see what I get in my loot boxes, but I got one hell of a history lesson today and… well I really can’t keep it to myself.”

  “Sounds good… although maybe once that’s done we could go and watch a movie… just the two of us?” she asked, peeking up cautiously just as she opened up her book, causing it to start to glow. The glow illuminated the blush still on her cheeks and I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Took the words right out of my mouth.”

  It only took us a minute to get the books absorbed before we returned to the main lounge, only to be immediately beseeched by Pinky and Freak chanting, “Loot time. Loot time. Loot time.”

  Including the A+ I had just received and the Squad Base box, I was sitting on a total of five new boxes to open. Though I would normally have started from the bottom most tier, in this case a B since I really didn’t consider F:Tier boxes to be bad, I instead reached first for the A+ Squad Base box amongst those that I had materialized.

  “Expansion Swap Coupon! This coupon can be used at any time from the base console in your main lounge. Once used you may choose one currently connected Expansion within your Squad Base to reroll. The expansion will be immediately removed from your base and you will be provided two random options to select between to replace the expansion. These options will be of equal rarity and level of the expansion you have chosen to swap. Any room gained through this coupon is ineligible for future Swap Coupons.”

  “Hmm that could be useful, though which room would we want to use? The Garage Gym, Study Hall, and Book Nook are all no gos I’d imagine,” I said, tapping my chin as I pushed the item description onto the holographic display.

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  “And I’d rather keep my Mechanic’s Den. I get bonuses on my crafting in there,” BrainCraft added, clearly thinking for a moment. He was about to say something when Pinky jumped in.

  “Why don’t we just reroll the Phase Lounge? I mean… it’s not like we’ve been actively trying to recruit people for their tokens or anything and as far as I can tell, we never figured out what the hell to do with it anyway.”

  “Eh, I wouldn’t say you guys never figured it out,” Jon called over from his chair and I looked over to see as he propped his feet up on a clear section of his desk. “I’m pretty sure the idea of getting a bunch of people to split the gains you’d get from the tokens is the way you’re supposed to use it. You guys have just had so much shit thrown at you that you’ve never had time to do anything with it. I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you Pinky. It does seem like the obvious choice, but there’s also twenty two more days left in the Phase and I think that’s something to consider before just impulse buying. If you guys can get this handled and have a smoother rest of the Phase, then you’d be throwing away a lot of possible points and levels just to get rid of it.”

  “We don’t necessarily have to just immediately use the coupon either… we can sit on it and decide when the time feels right too,” I said and after just a few seconds, everyone murmured agreement and I pocketed the coupon until we had more time to really consider our options.

  With that out of the way I turned to the rest of my boxes. The B:Tier I had received for assisting in Barracuda’s arrest came with a thousand credits and a weapon item called Boxer’s Gloves, which provided a flat strength increase along with a percentage increase to all melee blows. While I still had no clue what the Hidden Upgrade feature did on my SnakeBite’s Legacy weapon, I wasn’t about to trade in the stacking target buff the weapon gave me for a pair that didn’t seem to be outright better.

  The A:Tier I got from cleaning up the Intrepid Museum came with a satchel of Superior Health Injectors and, for the first time in a while actually, a new trophy. When I materialized it, it looked like a much, much smaller version of the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier.”

  “Intrepid! Gold Level Personal Trophy. You look at battles where you’re outnumbered and refuse to blink! That takes guts and real fearlessness and with this trophy, you know that won’t be without merit! When fighting in battles against groups, take 5% reduced damage (maximum increase to reduction is 75%) for each enemy within 20 feet of you. These enemies do not have to be unique so yes, before you ask Loophole, this trophy will help you with the particular cloning pain in the ass you still have to deal with.”

  I wasn’t actually entirely sure what trophies I had in my display case at this point, but the damage reduction would be exceptionally useful and I was more than willing to see what I could shuffle around just for it. And that was if I even needed to. After letting the others see it, I put it away into my B.E.L.T and turned to the last two I had to open.Just in case I was going to want to use Jon’s reroll, I grabbed the A+:Tier I had just received for passing two hundred thousand Phase Points and opened it.

  “Oh come on!” Pinky immediately complained as a wave of light passed over me, bringing me up to Level 27. “How do you keep getting Level Up Coupons out of those dammit!”

  “It’s that damn luck of his, it’s gotta be,” Freak grumbled, though he was clearly amused by how Pinky was reacting. “Guess it just gets him a bit closer to Hydramental’s level which should make the fight all that much easier.”

  “I’ll take it where I can get it,” I said with a nod. Instead of letting the level sit, I dropped my usual two points into Luck and then the extra two into my Intelligence. It didn’t quite get me to being able to use my If-Then-When-Why Paradox Assessment book, but it did put me into striking distance for the next time I did level up. Or, barring that, just using the Study Hall for two days in a row. “Now last but not least,” I said and opened the F:Tier that I had received alongside the rest of the Squad for our earlier stream of battles.

  After it went through its usual roulette, it stopped on a Belt of Popularity which would have given a rather large boost to my Charisma through a percentage increase and probably would have sold for a decent amount at the resale shop. Even then, I still had Jon use his reroll, because while I wasn’t exactly sure what I needed for the fight, I knew it wasn’t going to be more credits that I probably wouldn’t even get to use in time.

  “OH COME ON!!!” Pinky actually shouted this time when the wave of light passed over me yet again.

  “Phase Points Gained! Powerleveler: Gain more than one level within a single hour. This gain has a static value. 100 points times the amount of levels gained. Total Value: 200 points.”

  “Well there goes the rest of the evening as he figures out what Augmentation to do,” Jon said with a laugh, though he was almost immediately surprised when I, yet again, quickly dropped my points into Luck and Intelligence, this time actually hitting the Intelligence requirement for my Paradox Assessment book before the Ability Augmentation window opened.

  I absolutely could have dithered on this for a while, but there was really only one option I wanted to consider right now, and it was almost solely because I wanted to see just how strong a fully Augmented Ability could be.

  “Sting Like a Bee: Level 5 Activated Ability. You gain a 2% chance (increasing by 2% for every 1 point of Luck you have) for your next 3 Unarmed Strikes to strike Weak Spots and inflict an additional 50% damage! Additional effects may also occur. This ability has a 2 minute and 30 second cooldown after the final strike is thrown. This ability has the Time Adjustment Augmentation, removing its time limit. This ability has a Passive Upgrade Augmentation.”

  “First Modification Option! Critical Blow! Non-Elite enemies struck by this ability, either passive or activated, have a chance equal to half of your current Luck to take critical damage instead of the base damage upgrade IF they are below 50% health. This Augmentation can proc once every 5 seconds and neither the Active nor Passive versions of the ability are accessible while it’s on cooldown.”

  “Second Modification Option! Stamina Refill! Empowered strikes now refill your Stamina for 5% of the total damage dealt by the blow. This refill only accounts for damage dealt from these basic attacks.”

  “Third Modification Option! Momentum Breaker! Your strikes now rock your target to their core! For each time this ability procs on an enemy, increase the cooldown on all (regardless of current use status) of their activated abilities by 5 seconds. This effect can stack an amount equal to this ability's current level and does not reset until all stacks have fallen off. (Current Level: 5. Maximum Cooldown Increase: 25 seconds.) This effect immediately falls off if they leave your Local Area.”

  I was actually a bit surprised to see just how short these Augmentations were compared to some of the others I had seen, and none of them necessarily felt like big game changers like Angie had suggested the third Augmentation for an ability would be. That’s not to say I thought they were necessarily bad choices, just that I didn’t know if they lived up to the small bit of hype that Angie had given them. I could practically hear her in the back of my head just about to comment on is when I shrugged it off and decided to go with the Momentum Breaker Augmentation.

  While the “instant kill” feature of the first modification was useful, the fact that it could only proc occasionally, and specifically put the rest of the ability on cooldown made it less appealing to me. I wasn’t exactly hurting for the ability to put out damage and I hadn’t even used the activated version in days, especially since my Luck was so high that the passive version had to be practically always proccing. It was with the same logic that I skipped past the Stamina Refill option. Because between my various ways to instantly fill back up to max and my Stamina Management skills, I really wasn’t hurting for that either.

  “Wow… that’s the most decisive I think I’ve ever seen you,” Jon said with a laugh when only a few seconds had passed.

  “Well, I didn’t want to waste the whole night away,” I said with a shrug. “Now then… instead of a movie, who wants to hear a little bit of history?”