Markets and Multiverses (A Serial Transmigration LitRPG)

Felix felt the crackle of energy as his essence surged in his body, and resisted the urge to grin.

It had been too long since he had a real chance to show off his abilities.

Last world, he had spent decades playing the political game to farm Achievement. It had been lucrative, but he’d had few opportunities to put his real skills to the test. Now, he had a chance to do a fight on his terms. Not a battle of skill and reflexes, but a battle where he relied on his equipment and logistical abilities to win a battle… just the way he liked it. Sallia might enjoy real battles, but Felix preferred winning a battle before it even started.

He took another step forward, and reveled in the feeling of moving through the sky as if it were solid ground. He knew that he was showing off a bit - but he couldn’t help but grin. He started dashing towards the distant figures of the fleshy rainclouds, and felt the distance between him and the enemy shrink with each step.

<What do you think?> He asked his friends through the communication bracelet. He tried, and failed, to keep a hint of smugness from dripping into his mental voice. Being able to fly without spending any of his potential felt fabulous after Sallia and Miria had spent so much time thinking about countermeasures for flying enemies. He might need a lot more supplies to get going, but his build felt like it was finally doing what it was supposed to do - supply the group, address missing abilities, and empower himself and his friends.

<I wish you had made this earlier,> said Sallia, as she continued to pour arrows into the flesh-cloud and retreat. <If I had known you could do this, I wouldn’t have wasted one of my ability slots on flying.>

<Sorry,> he said. <I thought about it because you mentioned using an ability slot on flight.>

<At least I know for next world,> said Sallia. <Next time I won’t waste an ability slot on something if you’re able and willing to make an enchanted item that covers that need.>

<I’d be happy to share. Just don’t expect me to create items with new abilities all the time,> he said. <It took me a while to get this one working properly.>

As he chatted with Sallia and kept an eye on the battle, he continued moving forward. Finally, after a few minutes of nonstop sprinting, he reached the edge of the battlefield.

It was chaos. Fireballs were constantly tossed into the ranks of the flesh-clouds, while swarms of insectile monsters squirmed on the ground below, surging towards defenders like an ocean of tiny teeth. Meanwhile, people on the ground had discovered much the same tactic as Sallia had - retreating while firing arrows at the clouds. However, the clouds were absurdly resilient against physical attacks, making the entire fight an exercise in frustration and attrition.

Felix pulled out his second major enchanted item. It was a small metal stick, fashioned to look almost like a wand from one of Anise’s fantasy stories. Felix pointed the wand at one of the flying clouds of flesh, and then sent a tiny flicker of binding essence into the wand to activate it.

The wand lit up, and a moment later, a blast of high-pressure acid soared through the air. It tore into one of the blobs of flesh with enough force that it cut nearly a third of the way through the creature’s body. A moment later, the acrid stench of acid ripping its way into the creature’s flesh filled the air. The creature writhed in agony, before it turned towards Felix and started drifting towards him.

So far, Felix hadn’t seen any ranged attacks from the creatures, but he decided to be careful. He backed up, while the defenders on the ground continued to pelt the creature with arrows. A moment later, Felix saw the black tide of insects nearly reach one of the people helping him, and set a blast of acid towards the insects to keep them at bay. The woman who had been shooting paled as she realized she had lost focus, and quickly started moving out of the area.

Felix grinned.

<So you created an acid gun?> asked Miria.

Felix thought about it. <I suppose I did,> he said. <I was going for something more like a magic wand, but I suppose it works similarly to how guns work.>

<Does it also cost no essence?> asked Sallia.

<Yes, sadly,> said Felix, <This one isn’t a free ability. However, I can store up essence inside of the acid wand well in advance. It can store up enough essence for about thirty shots, and it doesn’t seem ot have any kind of leakage issues.>

<That’s still a pretty solid weapon,> said Sallia, as the angry raincloud’s flesh continued to hiss and burble. <It seems reasonably effective against these things.>

<Why acid, specifically?> asked Anise.

<Well, my original idea was to create a lightning wand. But that didn’t work out. I’m not sure whether lightning was somehow ‘banned’ from this dimension, or whether I just messed up during the construction process, but the enchantment for lightning was totally useless. It just didn’t do anything. So I went for acid instead. I figure that most of the monsters in this dimension are weird, grotesque flesh monsters, so acid should probably be able to hurt them,> he said. 

<Pay attention!> said Sallia. <Below you!>

Felix glanced below him, and saw that the tide of insectoid aberrations hadn’t just ignored him. Instead, it looked almost like they were congregating together, like a weird lump. A moment later, the ‘lump’ burst apart, as a wave of essence radiated out from the insects in the center. Somehow, the next layer of insects self-detonated, turning the chaotic essence into a controlled burst of force. A few of the other insects got squished by the blast of force - but far more of them were sent flying towards the defenders. Including him.

Felix inelegantly rolled away, and nearly fell out of the sky as his boots failed to recognize that he needed to stay in the air. He could have survived anyway by using his teleport, but dropping out of the sky less than ten minutes after he started showing off to his friends would have been embarrassing. However, while he nearly dropped out of the sky, he didn’t get hit by any of the insects. 

A moment later, Felix’s heart sank as he realized that several of the other defenders weren’t so lucky. He heard several screams of pain as people were bitten by the insects, followed by rough choking and coughing sounds as people backed off. He looked at the defenders and frowned. The people who had been bitten didn’t look so good. They were stumbling as their friends dragged them back, and in mere seconds, the skin around each insect bite was turning a distinct shade of dark purple.

Something was definitely wrong with these things. Were they venomous?

Felix flung another blast of acid at a nearby lump of insects, and was gratified to see that his attack had slowed it down, at least.

<What on earth?> yelled Sallia. Felix flinched as, for a moment, he focused on Sallia’s vision over his own. In Sallia’s field of view, the flying ball of flesh suddenly unfolded, like a disgusting flower unfurling its petals. For a moment, the creature resembled a flying octopus with a giant, horrendous maw pointing directly at Sallia. The beast charged.

In a quarter of a second, Felix felt Sallia’s essence churn inside of her body as she slammed physical boosts into herself. Then, she whipped out her sword faster than his eyes could track, and neatly stepped out of the way of the octopus’s charge. Her blade flickered through the air, and three of the monster’s fleshy limbs flipped through the air.

<They have some sort of charge attack,> she said, as she stepped back into range of the monster. A few more swings later, All eight of the monster’s tentacles slid away from its body. The creature slumped to the ground, as if it were out of energy, and Sallia shot it with a few more arrows before she got a System notification confirming it was dead.

Felix turned towards the nearest few flying balls of flesh, and narrowed his eyes.

Sallia had killed her ball of flesh fairly quickly after it charged at her, so it was probably some sort of last-ditch attack. However, for those who were unprepared, it could be deadly.

He sent another spray of acid at the ball of flesh he had targeted, and this time, it looked like the creature had enough. It turned towards him, and its own limbs unfurled like a flower petal. Felix sent another blast of acid at it right as the creature charged him.

Then, he deactivated his boots and plummeted from the sky. A few seconds later, he caught himself as the ball of flesh zoomed over his head. It slammed into a building, before several chunks of its flesh disintegrated from the final blast of acid. The creature sank to the ground, and Felix got his own System notification.

2,000 Achievement wasn’t bad at all, but the creatures made him nervous. He glanced at the sky, and saw that there were still hundreds of these things flying above the city. In another few minutes, the insects on the ground would start reaching the civilians of the city. While that wouldn’t end the city instantly, the casualties would be horrendous. This didn’t seem like a mere four bell raid. This was on par with some five bell raids. Why was it rated so low?

Whoever was in charge of ringing the bell seemed to agree with him, because as he started attacking the next ball of flesh, he heard the chime of five bells. The other defenders immediately started withdrawing, and a moment later, a beam of light tore through six of the flying balls of flesh.

The city was unleashing some of their higher level weapons.

Felix decided to retreat with the defenders, in order to help them fend off any of the encroaching tide of insects, when he heard a surprising shout from behind him.

“Felix! What  in the world tree’s name are you doing out here?” Cried the voice of an older man. Involuntarily, Felix’s head whipped back towards the defenders… where he saw his father sitting behind the lines of other defenders with a disapproving look.