[379] 5.2 The Jacobs Family Compound

With my lecture dismissed for the afternoon and a weekend on the horizon, I step outside and feel the warm autumn sun on my face and the gentle breeze flowing through my blouse.  With but a thought, I unfurl my sleek silver wings and allow the winds to carry me up and into the air.  My flight is magical in nature, not mechanical, but I still feel the gusts and it still feels wonderful as my golden hair flutters in the mid-afternoon sky.

A few people stop to wave, and I wave back.  I’m still something of a local celebrity and few are those who don’t know my face even if they’ve never personally interacted with me.  But these past three years away from national and international affairs have done a lot of good in terms of removing my name from the limelight.  That, and the fact that no small number of celebrity so-called superheroes have taken the national stage in recent months.

With names and costumes straight out of the comic books, these so-called heroes show up in times of trouble to dispatch monsters, clear out dungeons, and just make a name for themselves.  And frankly, I can’t blame them.  I know from experience that people will pay good money and donate to the people who livestream or record their forays into the dungeons, something that has taken off in the past year now that we’ve learned how to send radio-like signals through subspace instead of conventional space.  As one of the first to develop that technology, I help myself to a small sliver of the profits of the nascent yet booming industry.

A small smile creeps its way upon my lips as I set off to the south and home.  If I’d had the thought back then, maybe I would have chosen to live a double life instead of fighting under my personal name and identity.  Would have avoided a lot of scrutiny with the law, back in the days where I had to worry about such things.

That’s another thing that has changed in the past three years.  While I’m sure Agent Bennett is privately fuming, there are official policies in place that provide for a certain amount of deference toward high level individuals for minor indiscretions.  In short, unless I prove to be such a nuisance to justify organizing a strike force to take me down, or I act truly beyond the pale, I can get away with most minor offenses, or any collateral damage sustained while carrying out protective duties.

Is it fair or just?  Not at all; I can admit as much even as I benefit from this new order.  But what is the alternative?  None have come up with one that has secured the buy-in necessary to enforce more rigid enforcement.  I’m certainly not signing up to play government lapdog and eliminate everyone who accidentally wandered into restricted airspace or similarly pedestrian offenses.

Three minutes after I depart, I’m outside the city limits.  Another two and I’ve arrived over the sprawling home, compound, and estate where our family lives.  Another fortuitous consequence of the changing world.

With so many monster attacks and the difficulty in securing a city-wide perimeter, urban flight and suburban sprawl has become a thing of the past.  More dense residences, made comfortable through spatial-expansion glyphs, are the new order of style and decor.  Large eco-domes and high-rise vibrant hydroponic facilities replacing the sprawling acres of farmland that once provided food to billions.  And with the retreat of hundreds of thousands into the fortified perimeter of the city’s outer walls, land outside the boundary has been rendered nearly worthless.

A few tens of thousands of dollars apiece— a trivial sum, thanks to our recent ventures— and we’ve been able to buy up more or less every house in the neighborhood, having converted it all to a high-tech compound does admittedly look like a prepper’s wet dream.  From the simple drone automatons keeping watch of anyone approaching to a smaller variant of the hydroponic growing complexes to ensure a steady supply of fresh food, the Jacobs residence is designed to be completely self-sustaining.

As far as defenses are concerned, Chloe, Hank, and I all fulfill that role, me being at level 90 and both Chloe and Hank being in the mid-eighties.  Even Alicia— Chloe’s mother by birth and mine soon in law— has finally admitted that the world has changed so much and has fought in a few battles herself.  She’s even gone on a handful of raids of low-level dungeons, though has refused to step foot in the Tower Gauntlet.  We haven’t pushed the issue, though she is closing in on the important Level 50 threshold at which point her [Inventory] will unlock.

With a wistful sigh, I allow the Earth’s gravity to reclaim its hold over me and touch down on the outskirts of the compound.  Biometric scans— and cybernetic ones in my case— confirm my identity, temporarily disabling the outer defenses and allowing me inside.

Passing through the outer courtyard, I’m greeted by a small drone about the size of a hummingbird.  The little toy flickers in a prismatic array, before a small hologram appears, taking the appearance of Hank’s face.

“You’re home early, Sera,” he says through the video transmission.  “I thought you weren’t supposed to get back for a couple more hours.”

I shake my head.  “No, my therapy appointment got postponed to next week due to the clinician being away on a professional development conference.”

In these times of relative peace, I’ve cut my sessions back from once a week to once a month.  Even though I’m no longer going through national and existential and national crises about being a clone and the subject of a secret government project to fight the System, it’s still nice to have someone to talk with about all the little problems that sprout up.  Like the stern talking to that I’m going to look forward to early next week.

“I’m down in the lab right now.  I’ll let Leece know you’re here.”  Then the microphone goes silent and the hologram vanishes.

I sigh again.  I guess he’s busy with something or another.  While the two of us do work on projects together, he’s also got his share of secret projects that he works on courtesy of the contacts he still maintains with the agency that was originally overseeing Project Seraphina over the past two decades.  I choose not to get involved with it; I’m sure it’s more weapons work, and I don’t really need yet more of that on my conscience.

I place my hand on the scanner in front of the front door.  Two seconds later, with a series of beeps and clicks, the door opens.  Two years ago, I would have said that this level of security was over the top, and it’s still more than a little oppressive to deal with.  But between monsters of levels approaching 75 and no shortage of [Assassins] and similar looking for a fleshy bag of juicy Experience to increase their own power, I’ve been reluctantly forced to concede that Mom and Hank did have a point when they insisted on all this.

The main building in the complex is the old house where Chloe and her parents lived before the System arrived, and where the Jacobs parents still live together.  The layout remains basically the same, at Mom’s insistence.  However, numerous Ethertech and security features have been implemented to the interior as well, and [Lightning] glyphs have been installed to supplement the shaky power grid out in what was two years just the inner suburbs but is now basically the boonies.

Chloe and I, in contrast, live one building over, in our own wing of the complex.  As a young and admittedly very active couple, the two of us took advantage of the sudden influx of space to request our own personal and spacious quarters.  The two homes are connected by a long hallway, with more security features installed between them so as to avoid any… awkward encounters.

But my objective is down in the basement.  Owing to Hank’s class as a [Shadowwalker] and his intolerance to [Light], including even daylight in sufficient quantities, most of his work takes place in an underground lab far larger but of a similar quality as the one we visited not too far east of Denver.

More security panels are necessary to access these lower levels.  Another round of security, this time including retinal scans in addition to fingerprinting and facial analysis.  While the outer complex panels are designed to allow certain trusted friends like Lindsey and Alana to drop by unannounced, only the four of us are allowed in these floors.  Sentry robots based on the technology Hank pilfered from that creep Daryl— may he forever burn in my [Infernal Flame]— with an effective level of 75 are on standby, ready to neutralize any intruder, with lethal force if necessary.

And there are even more secure facilities deeper within.  Hank and I each have our own private, warded, secure facility that only we individually can access, for working on personal projects in absolute confidence and secrecy.

Before I can head down there, I’m stopped by footsteps coming from above.

“Sera,” Mom says.  “I didn’t realize you were here already.”

I furrow my brows.  “I thought Hank said he would let you know…”  I facepalm.  “Don’t tell me, he was going to ‘get right to it’, gave himself a moment to finish what he was doing, a moment turned into five, and now here we are, with you none the wiser.”

I don’t know why I find myself dumbfounded at Mom’s confirmation of my words.  Mostly because I would do exactly the same as Hank just did.  It’s something which has earned me no small number of rightful chewing out courtesy of my girlfriend.  Speaking of…

“I thought Chloe would be home by now.  Wasn’t she working the early morning shift this week?”

“Well, you know how it is better than I do, Sera, dear.  Whenever she’s got patients who need her, she sometimes gets stuck late.”

Such is the joy of Chloe being the most powerful healer in the city.  When patients are on their deathbed, need or want limbs regrown…  Heck, thanks to the power of her new spell, [Divine Reimaging], she even has the limited ability to cure congenital conditions of genetic or endocrinological origin by rewriting their biology from the ground up.  I won’t say I understand it all; her knowledge of biology and bioengineering is far superior to mine.  I’m just glad she’s able to use those talents in a way that serves an unequivocal good for the people.

“Sera?  Are you home?” Chloe asks through [Angelic Bond].  Though the fact that I’m within the telepathic range, which upgraded from five miles to ten a couple years back, should be proof of that.

“Yeah, I got home a few minutes ago and was catching up with Mom.  Why?  Did something happen?”

“Check your phone, Sera.  I just got a pretty frantic voice message from Alana just a few minutes ago, saying she wanted us to rendezvous with her down at the local army base as soon as possible.”

I pull my phone out of my [Inventory] in a flash of silver light.  A few seconds later, it pings four times consecutively, all from Alana, just as Chloe said.  I nearly sigh a third time.  Let’s just hope this ends up being a false alarm as well.

“Alright.  I’ll be there in ten.  Love you, Chloe.”

“Love you too, Sera.”

“I’m sorry I come home and then I immediately have to leave again, Mom.  Seems there’s a bit of a situation that demands our attention.”

Mom’s expression immediately turns worried; I pull her into a hug which she reciprocates.  I can hear her heart rate picking up, and so I console her as best as I can.

“I can’t stop you two, can I?”

I shake my head, still buried in between her neck and shoulders.  “No, Mom.  You know as well as I do that Chloe is going to jump into danger as soon as she learns that lives are in peril.”  And I would jump in at the first sign of Chloe being in danger as well.  My girlfriend responsibilities to the woman I love more than anything or anyone.

“Just…  Promise me that you’ll avoid unnecessary danger.”

This, I can do.  “Of course, Mom.  I’ll…  I’ll see you again when I get home.”

As I leave, I look over my [Status] window, just to make sure I know exactly where I stand, should the worst come to pass.

[Name: Seraphina Mortensen]

[Age: 21]

[Level: 90; Experience: 16,552,575;  To Next: 75,110]

[Current Stats: [Health]: 23,311 / 23,639; [Ether]: 15,797 / 16,856]

[Current Stats: [Strength]: 192; [Speed]: 192; [Vitality]: 235; [Mind]: 262]

[Combat Parameters:

[Attack (Physical Damage Dealing Capability)]: 672 (Base Strength 192)]

[Agility (Ability to Dodge Attacks): 544 (Base Speed 192 (+106 from [Valkyrion’s Perception]))]

[Defense (Damage Reduction from Physical Attacks): 445 (Base Vitality 235)]

[Magic Attack (Magic Damage Dealing Capability): 392 (Base Mind: 262)]

[Magic Defense (Damage Reduction from Magical Attacks): 367 (Base Mind: 262)]]

[Equipment:

[Weapon: [Filia, Swordstaff of Dawn]: Attack + 480, Magic Attack + 115, Agility + 80]

[Helmet: [Elementalist’s Bandana]: Defense + 25, Magic Defense + 25, 10% Resistance to all elements]

[Arms / Shield: [Stormcrystal Gauntlets]: Defense + 30, Magic Defense + 25, Agility + 35, Magic Attack +15, 33% [Lightning] Resistance.]

[Body: [Shadowshell Armor]: Defense +145, Magic Defense +30, Agility +5, 33% [Light] and [Dark] Resistance.]

[Leg Armor: [Fleetfoot Boots]: Defense +10, Agility +55, Agility +15%]

[Accessory 1: [Ring of Replenishing Recoil]: Magic Defense +15]

[Accessory 2: [Brooch of Ambition]: +20% Experience Gain.]]

[Elemental Affinities]

[Offense: [Attacks deal either [Light] or [Non-Elemental] damage.]]

[Defense:

[Fire]: 40% Resistance (33% Resistance, 10% Resistance)

[Water]: 10% Resistance

[Wind]: 10% Resistance

[Earth]: 10% Resistance

[Lightning]: 25% Resistance (25% Innate Vulnerability, 33% Resistance, 10% Resistance)

[Light]: 40% Resistance (33% Resistance, 10% Resistance)

[Dark]: 40% Resistance (33% Resistance, 10% Resistance)

Class 1: [Valkyrion]

[Class Skills: (0/6 Skill Slots remaining)

[Valkyrion’s Perception (Rank XVI)]

[Valkyrion’s Body]

[Valkyrion’s Rally]

[Valkyrion’s Defense (Rank VIII)]

[Etheric Armor (Rank XIII)] 

[Elemental Ether Strike (Rank XIV)]]

Class 2: [Defier of Fates]

[Class Skills (0/6 Skill Slots remaining)]

[Morningstar’s Triumph (Rank VII)]

[Death Defied]

[Defiant Spirit]

[Rebellious Surge]

[Reconfiguration (Rank XVIII)]

[[Infernal] Element Manipulation (Rank III)]]

[General Skills: (0/6 Skill Slots remaining)

[Basic Glyph Manifestation (Rank XI)]

[Advanced Ether Manipulation (Rank III)]

[Multidimensional Twincasting (Rank II)]

[Subspace Manipulation (Rank VII)]

[[Angelic Bond] with Chloe Jacobs]

[Lifecasting]

[Pyretic Simulacrum (Rank VI)]]

[Unique Traits:

[Touched by the Multiverse]

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