Chapter 10

　　Nighttime Adventures

　　Pulse.

　　One second Maria was sitting patiently in her room meditating, then the next she felt it, a giant pulse in her mind, followed by a blaring system message that was like all the world first messages she had received.

　　11:01 PM

　　Integration Boot Sequence Initiated: Increasing Mana output.

　　Warning: Unclaimed nodes will be used as monster spawn points.

　　Whoosh!

　　As soon as the message formed in her mind, she felt it, a pulse of power so pure that it seemed to resonate with every fiber of her being. This was it, it was finally here, Maria thought to herself as she could all but feel minor nodes connected to her primary node at the school come to life.

　　Instantly, Maria knew what she must do, if she wanted to keep everyone safe. Maria had to claim these nodes, before they went live. In her mind she could both feel her already conquered node, the primary node for the region that was just outside the school, from there, she could feel other nodes that could be linked back to her own primary node. This was perfect, as these were minor nodes, meaning that they should in fact be easier to conquer than the necromantic death bunny she had to slay to take control of her school`s primary node for the region.

　　One thing Maria didn`t know was what, if anything, conquering other nodes would do for her. Other than the obvious note of making it so monsters wouldn`t spawn in her immediate area. That alone was more than enough reason for her to run around, trying to conquer as many nodes as possible. If she could do this, if she could keep this area safe, then humanity would have a safe haven to begin with, which would make survival that much easier in the future. With that singular goal in mind, Maria decided to act on the message that pulled her out of her meditation, in fact she figured that if she was going to do anything now would be the time. Her cultivation core was nearly full to the brim, and her mind node was also filled with power. She also had the bonuses from her many titles now.

　　Mentally Maria tried to pull up her status screen.

　　There was a string of garbled text before her that was indecipherable. Shaking her head, she remembered that the last time she had been able to access her status screen was when she was when she had unlocked her Seer title, and went to see the oracles of fates, or whatever they were, and got kicked out for not being the true Champion, or whatever that was. Still, keeping up with everything, if she originally had 65 to all attributes, and that was before her titles from battling the necromancer bunny, she figured that all of her attributes had to be at 90, with a few distinctions.

　　Name:

　　Maria Alvarez

　　Race:

　　Human ***

　　Attributes:

　　Current Attribute Rating(s):

　　90 / 400 (Base)

　　Spirit

　　110 (+10%)

　　Strength

　　100 (+5%)

　　Speed

　　100 (+5%)

　　Endurance

　　100 (+5%)

　　Intelligence

　　100

　　At least that was what she thought they should be around by now.

　　There was also a 50% bonus to both her Psychic Focus, and her Psychic Manipulation, but that was still unclear to her as she had not yet unlocked any true psychic powers to use said bonuses too. All the other attributes, she was confident in her ability to keep up with them, especially as there were really only a few titles that she had gained since that odd initial encounter with the four oracles.

　　With her mind made up, Maria decided to go out and do a bit of community service. But before she left, she decided to change her outfit slightly. She chose to go for form fitting black spandex pants, a black hoodie, and of course, her black chucks with white soles. With her wardrobe now complete, she opened the latched window, and snuck out onto the slight awning that sat out just past their window. Once on the awning, she turned around and closed the window, thus making it so she had a clean exit.

　　Once everything was closed, she waited for a minute, making sure that her random departure didn`t disrupt her sister. While Anita had been known to sleep through almost everything, Maria couldn`t help but wonder if she had been a little noisy with the changing of her clothes or subsequent sneaking out through the window. Fortunately, everything was quiet in her room.

　　Then turning to see the world, Maria couldn`t help but see how beautiful the world suddenly appeared. While the sun had long since settled for the night, Maria`s cultivator eyes couldn`t help but see all the different gradients of magic that were clearly floating in the air tonight. For a second, it looked like the world had been reincarnated into a vividly colored cartoon. Of course, such thoughts were what got many from her original timeline killed off, as they were too engrossed by the way the world was quickly changing to notice the hidden dangers that hid behind the beautiful aura of power that was now visible for everyone to see. It was with this thought that Maria began making her move.

　　To her surprise, or maybe to no real surprise at all, the first minor node she found was in her own backyard. Seeing the node brought back a lot of memories all at once. This node had killed her parents, as a horde of monsters spawned almost instantly, storming her house, and killing everyone inside. Apparently, Juan had managed to kill off one or two of the monsters, gremlins, or maybe imps of some kind, regardless they all died. That had been a hard day.

　　Looking at the unclaimed node before her, Maria couldn`t help but be flooded by memories of her past. How she was just a survivor at first, while true heroes went out and helped, she stayed behind, happy to be shuttled from place to place. She helped out where she could, but mostly hid.

　　That was what made everything so much worse, Maria the coward survived, while the true heroes died. Looking objectively at it, Maria felt that this might be partly why she had been so distant with her family, she felt ashamed to be with them, to be in their presence. They at least fought and died, while all Maria could do was hide and somehow survive.

　　"Coward." Maria hissed to herself, as she remembered the rage she felt for being alone. In the end, she couldn`t even be mad at her parents, or her sister, instead she could only be jealous of them, of their sacrifice. The way they faced adversity head on, even if they lost, they still didn`t have to deal with the shame that Maria herself felt.

　　That word, was the final motivation she needed to continue on. This would not be an easy night, but if she could sacrifice herself here and now, she would gladly do it, if only to pay back the bravery that her family had shown her last time.

　　Moving forward, she went to the recently spawned mini-node.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it`s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

　　Unclaimed Mini-Node: Would you like to begin battling for control over unclaimed node?

　　"Yes." Maria said to the air.

　　Warning: Incomplete Merger Detected: Resource Battleground not fully formed yet. Planet not safe for nodular battle.

　　Investigating.

　　Previous conditions have already set.

　　Initiating suitable challenge Protocol.

　　With that, Maria felt the pulse of power she now associated with being teleported and now found herself transported to an alternate realm.

　　This world she had been teleported to was not as sickening as the last world, one that was filled with the putrid rotting smell of decay. There was still an over boding feel of malevolence here, but it was more subdued, more constricted in the way it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

　　Tremor.

　　The ground shook, ever so slightly, but it was just enough for Maria`s now supremely enhanced senses to notice.

　　Then with a flash of mana, Maria saw it, a scaled creature slithering silently through the thick grass.

　　Fear.

　　Just seeing part of the creature let Maria know what she was dealing with, a snake. Snakes were by their very nature the form of optimized power. Everything about them was power, grace, and precision pushed to the extreme. Millions of years of evolution pushed to extreme to create the perfect instrument of death. Right now, Maria had only a few things going for her, first, she could tell that the creature chosen as her opponent had been purposefully left on the weaker end of things. Secondly, she had slowly remembered the combat moves she had used to be so effective in her past life. Maria didn`t quite know the exact cause for more and more of her memories to be released, she knew from the oracles of fate that her well was already cracked slightly. Then the more she meditated, the more she seemed to recall details of her past, nothing like important dates, times, or locations. Rather, she remembered different kata-style movements that she had performed for years in her past life. Movements that helped her to better circulate her mana, and energy throughout her body. This energy in turn helped further fuel her own meditative efforts.

　　If Maria had been given enough time, she was almost certain that the full deluge of memories of her past would come back to her in near crystal clarity. Of course, time was the one thing she didn`t have at the moment, as she was currently under a self-induced time crunch, one brought on by countless years of regret, and the ability to finally set things right. Right now, Maria didn`t need the gift of perfect recall to help her. Instead, all she needed were her fists, her chucks, and her increased attributes.

　　While she couldn`t see the head of the snake that was slithering before her, there was one way for certain that she knew she could draw the attention of the beast that was now trying to find a way to flank her.

　　Rushing forward, Maria moved, finding the one open spot where the snake was clearly exposed, of only for a foot of space.

　　Leaping Strike- Into Heel Slam!

　　Maria jumped up into the air, her light blue mana circulating within her body in a way that it never had in her previous life. Feeling the circulation of the energy, her body first felt lighter than air, allowing her to jump ten feet into the air. Then once at her apex, she felt the moment her upward momentum stopped and she began to fall. That was the moment when her body instinctively switched to the dark blue mana of water.

　　Whoosh!

　　Like a raging waterfall, Maria came down and struck the snake right in the middle of its spine. Her strike was so powerful that it cut through the densely corded muscle and the snake`s spine with ease.

　　Squish!

　　There was a nearly sickening pop and burst as Maria`s food collided deep within the ground, fully proving that her strike had managed to sever the snake`s body in half.

　　"HISSSSS!"

　　There was the undeniable cry of pain, as the snake cried out, then raising its head from its hiding spot below the shrubbery, it spun around and struck at Maria.

　　Fortunately, Maria had anticipated such a counter, as she was already moving forward, away from the base of the tail that she had just severed, and made it so the snake, if it did try to strike at her, would lunge past its own body.

　　Just as Maria expected two things happened. The first thing was that the snake was still able to move, pivot, and turn in any direction to strike out, even though its tail had been removed. The second thing, was that the snake`s mind hadn`t caught up to the fact that it was now at least a third shorter of its original size. This might not seem like much, especially for a snake that is clearly over twenty feet long and has a body the size of Maria`s lower leg, but it is important to note in the case of hydraulics. In particular, the functions of a giant muscular serpent who is used to having the full weight and balance of a twenty foot body would be able to move and strike in ways that a body that was seventeen or shorter wouldn`t. This was true for this particular strike, as the snake lunged forward, then Maria could all but see the Wile E. Coyote moment, when the snakes eyes that had been full of rage and hatred suddenly looked surprised as they found their forward momentum stopped, and then found their body that had been equal to Maria`s chest level suddenly drop to the ground.

　　Thump.

　　The snake had crashed, and for a second the snake`s survival instincts kicked in, closing its eyes to protect from any debris that might be kicked up by its inopportune fall. That was when Maria herself struck, lunging forward, she initiated a quick Hop-Strike, again jumping up into the air, only to come down on the neck of the serpent, just under the point where its oversized head lined up with its long thin body.

　　Hop, hop.

　　She jumped up once, onto the neck, then a second time to further the depth that her feet were able to cut through the beast`s neck. Each time she only used her dark blue water linked mana to help give her downward force extra strength.

　　With that, the snaking stump, for a tail, of the serpent began to slither and whip around.

　　Shadow Boxing.

　　Maria found herself, resting her full weight onto the back of the snake, both feet firmly planted into the spine of the massive creature, while using her hands that came up into open palmed strikes to fend off the whipping of what remained of the monster`s tail.

　　Whip, whip, whip.

　　The snake`s stump did lash out at Maria, leaving minor slashes, but nothing she couldn`t handle. Maria even began incorporating the whipping stumpy tail strikes into part of her own death strikes, aimed at defeating the creature.

　　Grinding Heel Strike.

　　Maria used her left leg as her plant leg, this was the foot that was the closest to the beast`s head. Then with her right leg she would raise the leg when the snake`s stump of a tail went low, trying to get a sweeping strike. Maria used this time to rise up her foot and grind the strike deep into the serpent`s back.

　　Over and over she struck.

　　After a few blows the snake`s stumpy tail began to slow, then finally she felt the moment the snake`s back snapped.

　　Crack.

　　Then a few more strikes tore free the rest of the still wildly spasming back to the head.

　　Panting.

　　Only now that the danger was mostly over did Maria allow herself a moment to breathe, to relax. She had won, it was a fact that was as obvious as it was that the snake was still going to offer a challenge even through death. With the battle mostly over, Maria snapped her left foot back onto the opening and closing maw of the snake, while moving her planted right foot to rest where her left foot had been.

　　That is where Maria stood, for what felt like hours, but was really just a few minutes. Being here, Maria took the moment to meditate, focusing on replenishing both the energy from her core, but also the energy that she had apparently used from her mental node. Maria didn`t quite know where or how she used the mind energy, but was okay with taking these last few minutes to both calm down and recharge.

　　Finally, she got the message she had been expecting.

　　Minor-Node Conquered: Linking Minor node to other nodes you control. Primary Node found. This is now listed as a secondary node and will be converted to producing spirit mana.

　　Title: Minor-Node Conqueror

　　Minor-Node Conqueror: You have claimed a minor node. +1 all attributes.

　　Title: Nodeling Conqueror

　　Nodeling Conqueror: You have conquered a minor node and managed to connect it to a major node under your command. +10 All Attributes, +10% Strategy, +10% Leadership.

　　Crafting/Cooking Item: Snake Body (Whole): Sending back all crafting and cooking supplies related to kill.

　　Note: The power in these Crafting and Cooking items has been reduced to more natural levels of your planet.

　　Sending you back to your own dimension in three, two, one&

　　Whoosh.

　　There was a blur of light and then maria was back in her own backyard. Looking down, she could see the faint glow of mana covered blood and gore on her clothes, but that was all secondary. Right now Maria could see that once again the enemy that she had slain had come with her, though once again their body was shrunken to be the size of a regular sized black snake that was indigenous to the area.

　　Maria almost contemplated that for a moment, but then realized she still had many more nodes to conquer if she was going to make this neighborhood safe. With her goal in mind, Maria hopped her fence and began heading to the next nearest node that all but glowed with magical energy.

　　***

　　3:22 AM

　　The night shift was always the best time of night for officer Jones. His job was simple too, go out into suburbia, search the streets and make sure those who were out drinking got home safely, while also looking out for the random acts of vandalism.

　　Officer Jones sat in his speed trap, the one he found that sat behind the Ground level sign that directed people to Big Tony`s Pizzeria. He found that this was the perfect spot to wait with his engine running, while all his lights were out, and he just waited for traffic to come. From his vantage point, the lights of oncoming traffic, or, more importantly, those trying to leave this small slice of suburbia were able to be seen far before anyone could see him. Of course, the locals knew right where he was and would often slow down, causing their headlights to swerve slightly as their vehicle`s rapid deceleration caused the vehicles to veer off course, ever so slightly. These were the things that Officer Jones liked. Honestly, he didn`t like the idea of having to write a ticket, particularly not for locals, but often times people passing through, especially at this time of night would begin accelerating when they were still within city limits. As the increase in speed didn`t occur until a half mile or so down the road, making this the perfect spot to catch anyone coming into, or leaving from the place he called home. Fortunately, though, tonight was a quiet night, which meant it was also a safe night.

　　Click.

　　"One Adam Twelve, this is dispatch. We have a report of a suspicious person trapsing through yards and leaving behind random dead animals."

　　Hearing that, Officer Jones immediately perked to life, as the sleep coma that had nearly conquered him was suddenly gone.

　　"This is one Adam Twelve, could you please repeat?"

　　"Affirmative. One Adam Twelve, we have reports of a mysterious hooded stranger running around neighborhood off of Main Street and twelve, leaving behind dead and decapitated animal bodies."

　　"Affirmative, in route now. Any details of the types of animals being left behind?" Officer Jones said, as he flicked his hands to turn on his lights, then his vehicle was shifted into gear and performing a U-turn on the very same Main Street that dispatch had just mentioned.

　　"Yes, we have reports of rats, snakes, rabbits, one rooster, and a goat."