The last six loot boxes I still had left to open were listed at the top of the window as I turned around and walked back to my waiting plate of food. It was as easy as a mental flick of the wrist as I materialized the stack of shoebox sized crates onto the table.
“Just how good of an item should we be expecting out of the S+?” Jon asked as I started to scarf down my food. Although it was a simple meal, bacon and eggs with a cup of orange juice apparently counted as a good enough breakfast to warrant the Well Fed buff, granting me a boost to my Stamina and Damage output.
“Well remember, the Control Gear that you’re wearing came from an S+ Tier, so that should at least give you some clue. But as I know you want a more thorough explanation, I’ll oblige. Outside of exceptionally specific examples like your gear, S+:Tier loot boxes will typically hold a single item and a rather modest credit sum. The item presented will be a Unique Mythic level item and, like with S and A+ tiers, it will be thematically appropriate with the source of the box. Think of it as similar to how you originally got your Nutcracker Stomper boots,” Angie started to explain and I had to briefly suppress a laugh. Logically I knew it was immature, but the loot box I had gotten the item from had come from an Achievement I had gained just for punching a dude in his crotch. “That said, that does not guarantee the item will be a perfect fit for your needs, but it will at the very least be worth a good amount of credits if it isn’t something you will use.”
“Unique Mythic just sounds awesome,” Jon said and I could practically hear him drooling.
“You know, you’re not the one getting to use these things right?” I called back and he laughed.
“Harsh, you don’t gotta remind me!”
As I started to reach for the S+:Tier loot box a thought occurred to me. As an Augment, I had a combined powerset that was, for some reason I still didn’t quite understand, called Perfect Planner. The powerset, like all powersets, was made up of a Primary Power, a Secondary Power, and a Hidden Power. While I still had no idea what my Hidden Power was, or what the hell it would even do for that matter since it wouldn’t be unlocked until I hit level 15, I had gotten well acquainted with the main two parts of my powerset.
My Primary Power was an ability called Local Area Manipulation that allowed me to do practically anything within an area surrounding my entire body as long as I had a “general understanding” of what I was trying to do. That ability had so far done things like given me the ability to manipulate literal gravity to let me fly as well as abuse quantum physics to teleport short ranges within that same sphere of influence.
My Secondary Power was a bit more specific and I knew some people weren’t even quite sure if it could really be considered a power. Super Luck had worked out really well for me so far and it had carried me through the first few days until I had really expanded my knowledge base far enough to start adding more abilities to my narrow action bar. Just as my Local Area Manipulation came with a minor ability of its own, Area Sense, Super Luck had a skill that I had stupidly only utilized once in the entire time I had been an Augment so far.
Luck Bomb would allow me to massively increase the odds of a positive outcome for, well as far as I could tell, anything. I wanted to blame the Acceptance Matrix for many of my lapses in judgement, but I knew the truth was that I had just allowed myself to get hyper fixated on my crusade against SnakeBite. Outside of just the single time that I had used the skill hoping to give Jon a clue toward my, at the time, secret identity, I had made no attempt to utilize the possibly huge skill. There were a lot of aspects of the game I hadn’t been properly utilizing and I knew I needed to start rectifying that if I wanted to keep pushing forward.
Knowing the next few days were supposed to be quiet, I decided now was as good of a time as any to try using Luck Bomb on something just as important as making a specific fight go my way. I concentrated on the loot boxes, willing the best possible items to come out of them and activated the skill. The skill didn’t come with any sort of fanfare or a noticeable physical effect, so I just had to assume that it worked. It was possibly the most annoying part of the entire skill.
I tapped the S+ loot box and it opened, a window flashing into my interface in an instant.
- Pendant of Paramount Ascension
- 20000 Credits
My eyes widened as I looked at the Pendant, materializing it into my hand. There was a four pointed star with shimmering orange edges hanging from a sturdy looking silver chain. The pendant was warm to the touch and I could feel a warm aura emanating from it.
“Well… holy shit,” Jon muttered as I opened the detail window.
“Pendant of Paramount Ascension. Mythic Tier Equippable Necklace. Holy shit is god damn right! Loophole, I don’t even want to waste time trying to be funny about this. Put this necklace on and don’t look back, even if it will make you look like an out of touch douchebag stuck in his senior year of high school trying to be edgy and cool. Though now that I think about it, your orange leather jacket already does that enough for you so this might not really move the needle that much…. Oh well. 50% Buff to Two Stats of your choice. Warning: Once you make this selection, it is permanent and cannot be changed. Additionally, your Lowest Stat (after equipment modifiers) will be Doubled. And yes, those buffs are with all of your gear equipped. This item comes with the Catch Up feature.”
“Catch Up. Each time you level while wearing this item, your lowest stat (before equipment modifiers) will increase by 1 point. This does not affect your normally distributable stat points from leveling up.”
“So definitely not rerolling that…” I said as I turned the pendant back and forth.
“Uh yeah duh… So what, Luck and Strength like usual?” Jon mused and I could hear the sound of a fork hitting his plate.
“Luck is a definite one, even if we just consider how much my Super Luck along can scale as things keep growing, it’s going to be a huge boost for a lot of my abilities,” I said and leaned backwards in my chair. “Strength… obviously it’s useful given the boosts to my base damage and my total stamina, but I have so many abilities that use percentages rather than variable costs. I can only use a 20% Stamina skill 5 times whether my Stamina is 1000 or 4000. I’m already hitting really hard, I could use the second boost here to help one of my other stats buff up too and then still just throw a few points into Strength every other level… Can one of you two give me an actual rundown of what the other stats do?”
“Ooo me me me!” Angie chirped, almost suspiciously enthusiastically. I had been keeping her quiet with my newfound ability to ignore her and I decided to let her go with it.
“Let’s start with the easy one first! Toughness. This stat directly increases your Health Points by 100 points per point of Toughness that you have. It also will slowly give you additional damage reduction to Melee, Blunt Force, Piercing, and Slashing damage.”
“I’m going to vote not that one. I think you’re getting decent boosts on your items already and you’re pretty good at not getting hit,” Jon said when Angie briefly stopped.
“Codex, honey. As much as I could listen to you speak for ages, let’s let me get through all of these before Loophole goes and tells me to be quiet again.”
“Lips are zipped!” Jon called out.
“That’s a good boy,” Angie giggled. “Now, Dexterity is your go-to stat for physical finesse and speed. Each point in Dexterity directly enhances your Movement Speed, Agility, and General Athleticism, adding 1 point to each of these substats. This translates to a 1% boost in their performance compared to your pre-Augment baseline for every point of Dexterity you possess, ensuring you move faster, react quicker, and perform physical tasks with greater ease and precision.”
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“As you are already well aware, your Intelligence stat is directly tied to the level of specialized knowledge you are able to absorb through Skill Books. This stat will also increase all damage you deal through abilities that deal Mental or Psychic damage while also increasing your resistance to those types of damage.”
“Charisma acts much like it would in most games and it feels like we are cheating the rules of the universe by giving it to people who… er… you know what, I’ll skip that joke, I don’t think you’d like it all that much,” Angie said, stopping herself as I let out a noticeable sigh. I had known the joke was coming but was actually surprised that she censored herself before I had to. I continued working on my breakfast while she continued her description. “This stat increases your resilience to all forms of Persuasion and is used in your own attempts of Persuasion and Intimidation against Sapient and Non-Sapient targets. This stat has additional applicability that we will discuss when you reach level 20 and unlock Merchandising options.”
“Finally, let’s dive into two of the more nuanced stats: Style and Ingenuity. These two are actually kinda like dance partners, each with their own flair but working best when used together.”
“First up, Ingenuity. This stat is all about efficiency and creativity, especially when it comes to chaining your abilities together. For every point in Ingenuity, the energy cost of using abilities in quick succession is reduced by .25% of its base cost, making complex combos more sustainable. Think of it as your knack for finding the most clever and resource-efficient way to handle challenges.”
“Now onto Style. This stat brings the flair, literally and figuratively. When you chain abilities together, Style amplifies their effectiveness, increasing damage and impact with every combo, as if rewarding you for executing with precision and panache. Like with Charisma, Style has additional applicability that we will discuss when you reach level 20 and unlock Merchandising options.”
“So how’d I do? Did that fulfill your request, Loophole?” Angie asked and I nodded.
“Perfectly, I appreciate that Angie, and you holding back the joke,” I said as I started to pull the last S:Tier loot box I had received toward me. I had gotten it from completing The Snake Key mission that had led me to Sal.
“To be fair, it wasn’t really that good of a joke, I’m better than that and you deserve only the best jokes I can make,” she said somewhat smugly.
“Wait, you're saying this has been your A material so far?” Jon asked and I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t encourage her,” I said, and thought about the skills for a moment. "Let's come back to which second stat I should boost in just a bit after we’ve seen what else I’ll get. No need to rush a decision when I might get something that has an equivalent but targeted boost.”
”While I understand your thought process, I feel obliged to inform you that most items with that kind of boost will come from S+:Tier boxes. They can appear on occasion in S:Tiers, but generally the item needs to be Diamond or Mythic level to have that sort of stat modifier given the large, scaling gains of the buff over the course of the game,” Angie explained and I nodded.
”That’s good to know,” I said, “Thank you, Angie.”
"For what it’s worth, I still vote for Strength but I could see arguments made for Dexterity or Ingenuity, though Ingenuity is gonna be getting the doubling effect from being your lowest stat," Jon said and I pulled the necklace back into my B.E.L.T, turning my attention to the remaining S:Tier.
It only held a single item in it and I found my lips pulling upward in a soft smile. “We’re not rerolling this one either.”
“SnakeBite’s Legacy. Platinum Tier Fist-Weapon. So you were pretty good at fisting those bikers as it was and now that they're gone, it’s up to you to fist people… in their memory? Like, I'm still processing everything you told Codex and me, and I’m still not quite sure why you’d be wanting to honor this guy’s memory given how much of a pain in the ass he was for you, but if Axio thinks this is the item for you then hey, who am I to argue? When equipped, your Melee strikes deal scaling damage when making repeated strikes to the same target. Each concurrent strike on the same target deals 5% increased damage with no maximum increase, this increase resets to 0% after 5 seconds without a strike being landed. +5 to Strength, +5 to Style, +3 to Dexterity. This item has the Hidden Upgrade feature.”
“Hidden Upgrade. This item has a secret! If you can figure out what it is, this item will upgrade. No hints will be provided!”
I materialized the item into my hands and examined the pair of fingerless leather gloves. The material wasn’t exactly leather, instead looking like a mixture of black and green scales, with small, fang-like points adorning each of the knuckles.
“Sheesh, now that’s one hell of a one-on-one specialized item,” Jon said. “Although… correct me if I’m wrong… you don’t have a weapon slot. I don’t even think we thought to look for something like this at the resale shop either.”
“I hadn’t really considered it… I’m a hand-to-hand fighter and never really thought to use a weapon… Wouldn't these go in place of my Steel Wrapper gloves?” I asked as I thought about it for a minute. "Also... that kind of thoughtlessness is normal for me, the better question is how you missed that.”
“I’ve gotten very little sleep since you dragged me into this,” Jon called back. “Kinda just been tossing and turning when I get into bed ever since we started. Angie, care to explain?”
"So this one is a bit complicated and even I'll admit I think it's kinda bullshit," Angie started. "The Weapon slot does exist, but only appears the moment a player chooses to utilize a weapon. This tends to happen far sooner for Mechanical Genius archetypes and more obviously Weapons Master archetypes, but Axio tends to prefer to encourage players to utilize their powers instead of weapons. Even though this specific item are gloves, because they are labeled as a weapon item, they will simply be layered over the Steel Wrapper item. Consider it, and I hate myself for saying this... a Loophole in the system."
"Okay... yeah, still too tired to comprehend why the game was designed that way but let's just be happy it's working in your favor," Jon said, stretching as he yawned so hard it nearly made me yawn as well.
“Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna sit around and complain about it too much... You should go get some sleep dude, I can handle some random crime alerts and stuff on my own here today,” I said.
“Maybe after we finish with the loot boxes. Open the A+ next,” he instructed and I obliged. I had gotten this one for fully claiming Hell’s Kitchen, marking it as the first territory that I as Loophole had sworn to protect. The box ended up containing only a single item, but it was one that was more than welcome.
“Well that’s gonna save you a whole lot of credits,” Angie said with a whistle and I couldn’t help but agree. “You’ll need to head back to the ViewFinder to install it though.”
“That’s a super small price to pay given how much I’ve been wanting a mini-map,” I said, unable to suppress the smile as I materialized the Mini-Map Coupon, into my hands. “I think we’re gonna need to start saving my Luck Bomb for doing mass box openings, this has been a great haul so far.”
“Kinda making my ability to reroll feel pretty useless though,” Jon said with mock complaint in his voice.
“Don’t worry, we still got the three F:Tiers, one of those is bound to have to be rerolled,” I said.
While they were technically at the bottom of the scale for the loot box tiers, F:Tier boxes weren’t actually something to be disappointed about. The boxes always contained only a single item, but it could be literally anything that could be generated for the game. I had gotten both my boots and the original level 1 Pocket Dojo expansion from F:Tier boxes.
I opened the first of the three, receiving a Bronze tier Belt of Strength. Instead of having Jon reroll the very first item, we decided to move on to the next box. The belt was decent since it would have given me +10 to Strength, but there was no way I was going to replace my Belt of the Action Hero. Although I could make as many abilities as I wanted, I could only utilize so many of them at a time because of the limited nature of my Action Bars. Thanks to my belt, at any time I had access to 11 Activated Abilities, 4 Passive Abilities, and 2 Movement Abilities.
Other than my Passive slots, I had kept every single available slot on my bar filled so there was no way I’d be trading out my Belt unless I found something with a feature that was the same or better. Even still, I could sell the Belt of Strength at the resale shop for at least a few credits.
The second F:Tier box opened to reveal a Satchel of Health Injectors, which, when opened, held 10 Superior Health Injectors and 20 Enhanced Health Injectors. Once again I pulled the item into my B.E.L.T. and moved on to the final F:Tier.
“I’m starting to think these masks are just a trash item at this point,” I said as the box opened to reveal a pink How the Hell Does This Fool Anyone? Mask. Jon used his reroll on it and the item vanished as a window started to randomize the item.
When it finally did come to a stop it ended up giving me a Satchel of Stamina Injectors. It ended up being identical to the Health Satchel, only giving me Superior and Enhanced Stamina Injector instead.
“Well not the best but still plenty useful, can’t complain too much,” I said as I got to my feet and took my now empty plate over to the sink. “Okay, I’m gonna head into the Square so I can get this map installed then I think I’m gonna take a flight around the city to get used to it, maybe see if I can’t stumble my way onto a Crime Alert.”
“Sheesh, I’m liking this more focused version of you,” Jon said with a laugh and I heard him groan as he stepped out of the Command Room, carrying his own dish around to the sink. “I do think I’m gonna try and crash for a few more hours… I’m not mad or anything, but you were treating the floor like a punching bag for the better part of two hours this morning.”
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