Apocalypse: Fairy System Macronomicon (a book to read txt) 📖

and for an instant, Jeb felt like he was looking at himself through x-rays.

A moment later, the roiling grey Myst recoiled away from him, leaving his body and condensing into a simple screen with writing on it. Jeb could read it easily, even though it was backwards, the text facing the bearer of the ring.

Jebediah Trapper

Mystic Trapsmith, Level 39

Accolades: Krusker’s Brawn, Siren’s Cunning, R-R-RubU’s Mysteries, Gresh’s Subtlety, Innovator, Lagross’s Power

Body 21 (5)

Myst 71 (5)

Nerve 26 (8)

Abilities: Mystic Trigger

Accolade Pending: Lagross’s Power suspended due to multiple instances. Awaiting resolution by Admin.

Attention, this User has been flagged for exclusion from The System by executive order.

I wonder how I managed to retain five Myst, Jeb thought, noting the one difference between now and his starting Attributes. Maybe he’d had that Impact stick to him, like Smartass had mentioned, or maybe he exercised it like a muscle.

He needed to figure out how to get more.

Svek broke into a laugh.

“You weren’t shitting me!” he exclaimed, brows raised in amusement. “You really don’t have The System!”

The pirate leaned forward and studied the numbers closely, his pitch black fingernail tapping the top of his knee.

“Attributes like that, you could’ve killed everyone in my camp. God-damn. That’s a respectable spread even before you add the Myst. Seventy-one!? You must have seen some wild shit!”

“I talked to a mountain, once upon a time,” Jeb said, glancing at the ring. “You’re not gonna give that back, are you?”

“Jebediah, I’ll do you one better,” Svek said, tucking the ring in his pocket, confirming Jeb’s suspicions. “How would you like a job?”

“Is this a job where I have a choice?” Jeb asked.

“Of course you have a choice,” Svek said with a grin. “Death is always a choice. Most people don’t choose it, but hey.” The giant shrugged. “If you want to spend the night getting disemboweled, who am I to stop you?”

“What kind of job?” Jeb asked.

“What’s your impression of Mark?”

“He’s young and a little dumb,” Jeb said with a shrug. “Not deal-breakers.”

“He’s an idiot. He gave someone else the password when I specifically told him not to. I can’t abide that. He’ll be gone by the end of the week.

“You, though. You, I can use. I need someone in town who can do more than just pass messages. I need someone with experience, who can think on their feet, someone with survival skills. Someone willing to get their hands dirty to survive. You strike me as a survivor.”

“A survivor who couldn’t possibly hurt you?” Jeb asked.

“Exactly,” Svek said, putting a hand on Jeb’s shoulder and reaching over him to untie the rope around his wrists. Tying Jeb up was about as meaningless as tying up a puppy.

I wish I still had my Myst traps, Jeb thought with a scowl. He would have had a lot more options if he could just point a finger and kill people, or cut the ropes off with a few well-timed winks.

Unfortunately, they’d all been torn apart in the Great Screwening.

Still, seeing his own status again was heartening. It wasn’t gone, just blocked. And there was some proof that he had ways of improving it, too.

Matter of fact, when Jeb started without the training wheels, he could barely move grains of sugar with his mind. Now he was up to about half a pound.

Which was huge, considering Jeb was au naturel telekinetic.

Seeing my status again? Jeb frowned, having a sudden epiphany. The ring had been given to him specifically so he could see his status. There might even be more to it than that.

At least one of the gods wasn’t down with screwing me over, I guess, Jeb thought as he was hauled to his foot.

Jeb hopped in place for a moment before Svek tossed him his pegleg.

“Now, what was your message?” the giant melas asked, slouching back in his throne.

“Boney Pete got arrested,” Jeb said.

“What!?” Svek roared, leaning forward, his teeth bared like an animal.

Jeb took a step back as heat began to radiate off the horned creature like an oven.

“When did this happen?” he demanded.

“About two hours ago,” Jeb said.

Svek growled for a moment, deep in the back of his throat as he slowly relaxed his posture. “I guess we’ve got your first job, don’t we?” he said. “Spring Pete, and you’ll be well-compensated. Boys, send him back.”

Jeb’s heart thudded heavy in his chest as he eyed the mountain tyrant. He hadn’t seen the location of their base, he hadn’t figured out where they were keeping the girl… He had nothing. If he allowed himself to be carted off, he might actually wind up being a stooge for a local crime lord.

It was time to risk a little murder. Hopefully Svek wasn’t impulsive enough to kill him here, on account of the mess.

“I don’t really want to do that,” Jeb said.

Svek guffawed. “You don’t have a choice, little human.”

Jeb cocked a brow. “Didn’t you say so yourself? Everyone’s got a choice.”

“You sure about that?” Svek asked him, letting the question hang in the air, along with all it implied.

“Here’s as good a place as any.” Jeb shrugged, acting far more nonchalant than he actually was. His heart was slamming in his chest, and his shivering nerves were telling him to run with everything he had.

“Okay then.”

Svek rose out of his throne, grabbed Jeb by the shoulder and guided him out of the yurt like a disobedient toddler. There wasn’t a single thing Jeb could do about it, so he didn’t bother struggling, letting himself be dragged out into the open.

Jeb squinted as firelight pierced his dilated pupils.

The camp was pretty much like he expected: a bunch of melas criminals sitting around a campfire, drinking. The fire was set in a