Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 298: The Kids

Isaac grinned as he sat on the bench, gazing out across the seemingly endless ocean of the Arctic sanctuary. Every single sanctuary gained a central building from the boss, which, in this case, amounted to an artificial “iceberg” that was mostly made of glass and ceramics.

This place was the least visited dimension, it was just too cold. It had also been a pain in the ass to explore, as only Isaac, Raul, and Bailey had been able to properly function in the freezing waters without an ass-ton ton of protective spells.

But they’d gone down most of the list, focussing on the sanctuaries for their sheer versatility. And with this one, no one would particularly bother him, so he could relax and work.

Having Artemis around had been great, but the leopard hadn’t quite figured out that she was getting a little too big to play lap cat. Work first, then pet the cat, that was the way to go. Sadly, typing while sitting down with a massive ball of floof stretched across your lap required some downright inhuman contortions.

In the distance, a polar bear and her cub strode across the ice floes. Playing around with a collection of baby animals had become something of a tradition, but thankfully, Bailey stayed stern whenever another adorable animal captured someone’s heart. Yes, the polar bear cub was sinfully cute, but it wouldn’t have fit in half the rooms and corridors in their building once grown. So the question of adopting one had been a hard no.

Eventually, his phone rang.

He picked up, and Tanja almost blew out his eardrums as she yelled “It happened” over and over again. Normally, that might have been alarming, but between the fact that she sounded excited and that this was something he’d been looking forward to and dreading in equal measure, it was pretty obvious what had happened.

Today was the day the twins had, apparently, gotten their new superpowers. Sure, when he’d created his bloodline and bought the option that passed it along to all direct blood relatives, they’d become the strongest 7-year-olds in the world, but considering how much power could be found in this world, that wasn’t really saying much.

Now though, now they’d have access to the full power of the [System], the immense growth potential it offered. This could get very nutty, very quickly.

He packed up and strode out of the room while telling her to wait, not select anything, until he showed up to help. Under most circumstances, the [System] offered the best possible starting [Class] of all those available, it would be utterly foolish not to consult the world’s undisputed most knowledgeable person where the [System] was concerned.

Once outside the sanctuary, he opened a portal straight back to his childhood bedroom, and walked down into the living room. It was just like he remembered it, except with a fresh dent in the ceiling.

Why the dent? Well, between the handful of blond hairs in the dent and the occasional speck of plaster in Tanja’s hair, it was pretty obvious what had happened. Those occasion bursts of exuberance had become less common and more controlled with time, but they clearly still happened. That really needed to stop now that she’d soon gain a hell of a lot of power.

And it wasn’t like Viktoria was much better. She might be sitting on the sofa without plaster in her hair, but she wasn’t sitting still either, her foot bouncing rapidly enough to make the couch shake.

“So, your [Systems] finally activated?” Isaac asked.

“Yep,” Tanja said, jumping back onto her feet, barely avoiding another encounter with the ceiling, “I’m going to be a Valkyrie!”

Ok, wait, what? Isaac frowned. An advanced [Class], already?

“What are your suggested [Classes]? Can you show me the windows?”

Greetings Tanja Thoma. Welcome to the System. Would you like to select [Valkyrie Squire] as your Class?

Okay. Oh-kay. What on Earth? Obviously, the connection between Isaac’s Einherjar race and the Valkyries was, well, obvious, but still, unexpected.

Tanja had been all in on practicing with the sword, so the [Class] made semi-sense when focussing on the Squire part of everything, but it was still a bit of a surprise.

Being a squire was a precursor to knight, historically speaking, so there was a case to be made that the whole thing was based on the fact that she had an incredible degree of skill with the blade but was too low-Level for [Knight].

But Valkyrie? Was it an automatic [Class] for anyone connected to an Einherjar? Was it about the training? Or just generally being close to one before activating one’s [System]?

Honestly, there was no real way to determine the truth until another kid connected to him in some way got their starter [Class].

And Viktoria was in the exact same boat.

Greetings Viktoria Thoma. Welcome to the System. Would you like to select [Valkyrie Apprentice Caster] as your Class?

She’d been focussing on playing around with mana, though with her tiny mana pool, she could barely manage ephemeral light shows. But it had clearly been enough to unlock a caster [Class] and have it be the first suggestion.

“So, those look like good [Classes], but we’re going to look at all other options first, ok? And because we can’t look at [Class] descriptions the first time around, I don’t know if you’re going to get the Valkyrie race, and changing your race when you’re already not human can be very ... Uncomfortable.”

In fact, changing races when it was a sidegrade rather than an Evolution was one of the most painful experiences in his life. While they were looking through the list of [Classes], Isaac began to run down his options.

It should be possible to mitigate the problem with a potion, or maybe the help of Bailey’d biomancy and the like, but this was still a fundamental shift in one’s body he was talking about. There were …

“I’m picking [Valkyrie Squire],” Tanja announced, and that was … somehow fine? Had she actually picked the [Class]? But the [System] window had disappeared after the “ok” button had flashed in the way the chosen button did. So, what on Earth? Was Valkyrie not a race?

“And I’m a Valkyrie now!”

Viktoria was almost knocked off the couch as a pair of wings like those of a tawny owl spread from Tanja’s back.

While he was very glad that his little sister was not in incredible pain right now, it made zero sense. And stuff that didn’t make sense was never a good thing. Or had the whole situation randomly worked out fine in general?

And how on Earth had she already unlocked her [System], when she was still this impulsive? It wasn’t fully transparent what unlocked it, other than the fact that it always unlocked at the 18th birthday at the latest, but it had some link to maturity as well. Sure, the exact link wasn’t clear, but there was still a connection of some kind.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Can you show me your racial and [Class] descriptions?” Isaac finally asked, hoping nothing else would go wrong.

Young Valkyrie (preternatural, alteration of current race, currently unique)

The winged warriors who scour the battlefields for the worthy do not spring into existence fully formed, and are rather trained in Valhalla by the Einherjar themselves.

As such, they gain access to basic yet encompassing weapons proficiency, wings to travel far and wide, and the ability to restore the worthy.

Benefits: guaranteed racial upgrade at the next Evolution, flight-capable wings, access to healing spells [Healing Touch] and [Sanctifying Field], guaranteed access to advanced healing spells upon Evolution, generalist [Blades] [Skill]

Base Stats: 20-25

So, in summation, weapons [Skills], racial-based healing [Skills], and most likely, resurrection in the next couple of Evolutions. But the most important part was that she could bloody fly. And if Viktoria picked the other Valkyrie-[Class], both of them would be able to fly.

The. Twins. Would. Fly. Shit.

Maybe the [Class] wouldn’t throw any more complications at them?

Valkyrie Squire (epic)

Trained by an Einherjar from early childhood, the Valkyrie Squire is the first step onto the path of becoming a warrior of Valhalla.

Capable of using an incredible combination of flight-based movement abilities and weapons skills, a Valkyrie Squire is a terrifying threat on the battlefield, almost impossible to corner or restrain while dishing out immense amounts of damage.

Note: Choosing this Class will automatically transform its bearer into a Young Valkyrie

So yeah, a standard starter [Class] of a rarity higher than common. Nothing bad there, just raw power that he wasn’t entirely sure she was ready for.

At that point, there really was no more problem with Viktoria picking her [Class], [Valkyrie Apprentice Caster].

Valkyrie Apprentice Caster (epic)

Trained by an Einherjar from early childhood, the Valkyrie Apprentice Caster is the first step onto the path of becoming one of Valhalla’s magical corps.

Capable of using an incredible combination of flight-based movement abilities and basic battlefield magic, when a bearer of this Class appears, the battlefield will shift or be forced to.

Note: Choosing this Class will automatically transform its bearer into a Young Valkyrie

Once again, an advanced starter [Class], but that was all.

But the real mystery was why the race change had been so uncomplicated.

Still, the mystery didn’t seem to be an immediate problem, so he decided to put it off until later.

A quick conversation and a portal later, they were back at the university so the twins could practice with their abilities in a safe environment.

“Why are we here again?” Tanja complained as her mother helped her into an enchanted harness.

“Because flying is tricky, and you’re either going to practice with that harness, or you’re going to only fly in a three-meter-tall room with a padded floor,” Isaac told her.

“Mom!” Viktoria complained, but their mother shook her head.

“Listen to your brother,” she said, earning both herself and Isaac a death glare.

“Come on, this is going to be fun,” Isaac said as he led the way up the stairs.

On the third floor, Artemis padded towards them. Oh no.

“Aw, is that your cat?” Viktoria asked as she crouched and began to reach out to pet the cat.

“Yep, that’s our pet leopard, her name is Artemis,” Isaac said, retrieving a snack from his storage ring.

Artemis promptly ignored him and happily hopped into Viktoria’s arms. Traitor.

Thankfully, the leopard’s modes were “beg for pets or chase off”, not “beg for pets or maul”, or worse “beg for pets then maul”, but would a little loyalty have been too much to ask for?

Then again, it was a baby leopard that could be petted. His sisters would have to be sociopaths to not take advantage of the opportunity.

So, after half an hour, they’d finally managed to walk five stories and found themselves on the roof.

There was a standard-height railing around the outside, though the real safety device was the magic that could catch people or leopards who fell over the outside.

Only a small strip around the outside of the rooftop was clear of stuff, to prevent people from climbing onto something to get over the railing, the rest was a playpen for Artemis, complete with small trees and waterproof pillows.

“So, do you guys want to fly?” Isaac asked, turning around to address the twins, “Those harnesses can catch you even if were to fall from an airplane, so feel free to experiment.”

With that, he stepped onto empty air, then took another step onto the railing and hurled himself skywards, where he came to a dead stop atop a pillar of fire.

“So, do you want to join me?” he called out, and the twins manifested their wings. Tanja had her tawny owl’s wings while Viktoria’s looked like they’d come from a stone eagle. Unlike most races that gave new body parts, Valkyries could apparently manifest theirs through clothing, so there was no trouble with having to alter their shirts or harnesses.

And then, the chaos began. For the first time in years, the twins encountered windows and walls that didn’t give way at all when flown into, and the harnesses kicked in dozens of times before they finally managed to fly straight. In fact, Isaac had to let himself drop back onto the roof as his mana was beginning to drop too low to keep hovering.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” their mother asked him.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” he chuckled, “We built those specifically so people could practice flying without any danger.”

While the twins were finally managing to stabilize their flight and swooping around overhead, Isaac began to lay out two fancy sets of gear onto the rooftop.

The Kriegsmesser that had once been his, Legacy.

One of a dozen different sets of armors, this one designed for low weight and flexibility, perfect for flight.

And a mid-length magic staff and some spellbooks for Viktoria.

Staffs and other casting assistance devices were rarely used at the higher Levels due to how difficult they were to construct in the first place, never mind that there were hard limits as to how much mana they could channel, and how at some point, spells were too complicated to be cast through them.

Amy and Patrick had both played around with staves a while ago and they’d usually ended up breaking them. Amy still had one, though, topped with a human skull carved from dragon bone, for costume purposes.

Meanwhile, generic spellbooks were likewise tough to use for low-Level casters, learning spells just from books was incredibly difficult until at least the third Evolution, sadly.

But since he was giving Tanja an incredible sword, he needed to make a significant degree of effort to provide something similar to his other sister.

The twins landed once Viktoria caught a glimpse of the gear.

“Wait, is that for us?” she asked, and Isaac nodded.

“I got you each a full set of armor perfect for flying in, and some starter gear.”

He levitated Legacy over to himself and, going down on one knee, presented Tanja with the blade.

“This was one of my earliest weapons. Its name is Legacy, and it will never leave you unless you want it to.”

She gently picked up the sword, tried to figure out how to strap it to her side for a couple of seconds, then gave up and hugged him while still holding it.

After a long moment, she let go of him, thanked him, and went straight back to messing with the sheath’s clasp.

“Viktoria, I’ve gotten you a staff worthy of a mage of your caliber, and a collection of the finest battlefield spells I know. It’ll take a while for you to learn them, but when you do, you’ll be able to do incredible things.”

Another hug later, he gave each twin a spatial ring and once everything, including the harnesses, had been stored, they made their way back. Tried to, at any rate.

Artemis showed up, and that put an end to their exit for another ten minutes.

And then, they finally let Isaac open a portal back to the family home, where some construction was just being ended.

“What’s that?” Tanja asked.

“Just some precautions,” their mother said while Isaac sniggered at the twins’ expressions.

Was the giant aviary over the backyard overkill? Yes.

Had Isaac overpaid the workers by an insane degree? Probably.

And was it necessary? Absolutely.

The twins being able to fly would be enough trouble overall, but at least this way, there was a place for them to do that without them escaping halfway across the city.

Isaac left the complaints to his parents to handle while he mentally created a training plan. Monsters to kill, [Skills] to practice, other training exercises. Something to let them advance and grow without risking them or turning them into powerhouses before they’d even graduated high school.