Initialization book 3, p.1
Initialization Book 3, page 1
Paths of Power
Initialization Book 3
By
Sean Barber
Copyright © 2023 Sean Barber
All Rights Reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 979-8-9858226-7-0
Cover art by: A-P Graphics
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Initialization Book 3
Copyright
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
John’s Journal (Recap)
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
I want to give a special thanks to two of my Patreon supporters, Chad Johnson and Christian Lee for all of the support you have shown me over the last year. You are awesome.
John’s Journal (Recap)
I find myself with some free time while I wait for Rukia to finish her advancement. I pondered my journey so far, the choices I’d made and the things that happened to me since the world ended.
I decided to write it all down while it’s still fresh and I have the time. Perhaps, when everything settles down, I will write it all in greater detail. So here I am, with one of the notebooks I had collected, with a cheap ballpoint pen, well might not be cheap anymore. With manufacturing at an end, getting more might be expensive. Well, anyway, here it goes.
Rukia and I were on our way through Idaho, heading back to Colorado for some home time, with a full load in my trailer, when the System came and ended the world as we knew it. Finding myself in the middle of nowhere, I packed a few things and my dog, now Soul-Bound companion, and I set off on foot. You see, with the Initialization of the System, all our technology stopped working, and that included my freight shaker, freightliner for the non-truckers.
I was fortunate to find a farm nearby, though the farm owners were not so fortunate. They had been killed by goblins. I was fortunate, not only because they had some supplies I could take, but they seemed to do their own ferrying work and had a forge on site. I used that forge to craft my first spear, and thanks to that first spear, and the fierceness of my loyal and loving dog, Rukia, I survived where many did not.
Just past the Utah border, in the town called Snowville, I found my first System recognized Settlement. This was just a few days after the apocalypse, and even though things were tense at first, the good people there took me in, taught me what they’d learned so far, and I picked up my first guide. I learned how to better cultivate my Ki and clear my Meridians and even figured out a new technique. My Ki bullet wasn’t that powerful yet, but I’d hoped it would grow in strength with me.
Over the next few days, I fought many beasts and monsters, almost dying on at least 3 separate occasions, but I hadn’t come across any other survivors until I reached the weigh station. It was at the weigh station where I’d killed a human for the first time. They were slavers and had attacked me first and I had only been defending myself, but I still regret the necessity.
It was also at that weigh station I met my new friend Magnus. He’s a cultivator like me, and his captors had been trying to force him to put on a slave collar so they could ship him off to this Lord of War character. After saving him, Magnus agreed to travel with me to Colorado. He wanted to continue on from there to find his dad in Texas.
After some time to recover, and make some purchases, wait I forgot to mention, the weigh station was a settlement named Outpost. And after eliminating the leader there, I became its new owner. So, after making some purchases and getting some sleep, I took the City Core for myself; I had plans to set up my own little community with my family, and the three of us, Magnus, Rukia and I, set out.
It was in Ogden Utah that we met more people. As we were in Utah, it wasn’t surprising that the group we came across were members of the Morman church. What surprised me was that it was a lynch mob going after a pair of teenaged siblings. The mob was led by a real piece of work. The leader was their Bishop, and he used a charm-like special ability to abuse his power and make his congregation do things they wouldn’t normally do. Now, even though I’m not religious, I don’t have any beef with religious types normally. They leave me alone and I do the same, live and let live. This asshole, though, I had to step in and protect the kids. The whole situation was resolved, and with as little bloodshed as I could manage. And like that, we had 2 more in our party. Rowan was a Mage on the Path of Mana, and his younger brother was on the Path of Faith.
It was at this point, about a week after the Initialization, that the 2nd stage of Initialization began. We tried to continue our journey, but Cody found a way to literally fall into a dungeon, and we had to clear it in order to get him out, but at least we walked away with some good loot and the dungeon’s Core.
In Evanston, we found another settlement. This one was gouging everyone out of every credit they could. These fuckers charged me a 20% tax on everything we sold AND bought, and they had the nerve to charge each of us a c500 entry and exit fee. After a brief scuffle, we escaped with our entire party and didn’t pay their exit fee.
Later we came across an Essence Wellspring. We managed to rescue a young woman from what I can best describe as a Dire Bear. The thing was as big as my semi, and that was with all four paws on the ground. We fought the bear, saved the damsel and adopted the bears cub. Later, we were ambushed by a group of Fae. I unlocked a Berserk bloodline and, once again, nearly died. Almost dying seems to be a bad habit of mine. Anyway, a couple of strangers found us and helped us deal with a large group of giant spiders. Seriously, why are there always giant fucking spiders, damn near every apocalyptic litRPG story I’ve read has these damned things?
These men brought us to their Village. Their leader was a priest type as well, but she was more of the pagan/wiccan variety.
We helped them fend off an orc invasion, got our gear upgraded and the High Priestess was kind enough to do a scrying for us. I was able to see where my family was; it was the first time I had concrete proof that they were still alive.
With the help of the village alchemist, and the quest reward for fighting off the orcs, I advanced to the Energy stage of my cultivation. We would have left yesterday, but Rukia advanced as well, and unlike me, she formed an egg-like shell around herself and it would take a full day before she can break free.
That’s about everything for now, scant on details, but I can add those in later. Rukia should be done with her advancement in an hour or two. Then we can finally be on our way, and I can see my wife and son in person.
Prologue
Rose let out a deep sigh. Baron and Drake were recovering well from the wounds suffered at the giant mantises’ claws. It had been another life-threatening day in what had been the city of Colorado Springs. After nearly two weeks of surviving in the apocalyptic new world, they had each gotten stronger—well, except Kassie. She’s too young to choose a path yet. She has three months until she turns eight.
Rose was suddenly torn away from her musings as a familiar crack echoed from outside, followed by several more. Rose hadn’t heard that sound since John had taken her to the gun range on his last home time.
Everyone in the convenience store froze at the sound of gunfire. Baron looked at Kassandra, confusion written across his face as he flexed his gauntlet-like prosthetic hand. He had lost that hand on the first day of the apocalypse, when he had tried to defend his wife and daughter from a mutated cat using his nine-millimeter. The gun—like all guns—blew up in his hand, leaving nothing but a seared and bloody stump where his hand had been.
Baron slowly stood up and quietly approached the thicket Rose had grown to protect themselves from the giant insects. They could hear the faint sounds of people yelling and insect screeching. How do people have guns? How are they able to use them without them exploding in their hands?
After a few minutes of gunshots and yelling, everything grew quiet outside. “It’s safe to come out now. The monsters are dead.” A man called out in the silence.
After a moment of not hearing a reply, he called out again. “My name is Corporal Higgins; my men and I are from the army base and we are gathering survivors together. We have a safe place where we can protect civilians. Come on out, you won’t be harmed.”
Baron, Kassandra, and Rose gathered together and conversed in a whisper.
“Can we trust them?” Kassandra asked.
“I don’t know,” Baron answered. “We’ve all seen how people have turned into little more than beasts, killing over a fucking roll of toilet paper.”
“But what if it’s true? What if they have a safe place? Drake almost died; Kassie can’t even defend herself,” Rose said.
Kassandra looked over at her kids in worry. There had been too many close calls. She turned back to Baron, “Should we try? If they are with the army, they should have food too, right?”
Baron’s stomach rumbled at the thought of food. The convenience store they sheltered in had already been picked clean, and they were all on short rations.
“We know you’re in the convenience store, behind the hedge. Just come on out. We’re not going to hurt you,” Higgins said. There was an edge of irritation in his voice that hadn’t been there before. He seemed to be losing patience.
“I don’t know,” Baron whispered. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“But what are we going to do?” Rose asked. “They know we’re in here. We don’t have anywhere to go.”
“Maybe I should go scout it out,” Kassandra suggested.
As they pondered their options, they heard another, much quieter voice speak. “Why don’t we just go in and drag them out? You know Lord Jackson is getting impatient. We’re only a few people short of becoming a small town. He doesn’t care how we get them in, just that we get them.”
“Shit,” Baron swore. “We need to get out of here.”
“How are your Ki levels?” Kassandra asked. “My Mana is full. What about you Rose?”
“I’ve only got half of my Ki pool, but it will have to do,” Baron answered.
“My Mana is full too,” Rose said as she gripped her Soul-Bound staff tightly. Rose reached out through her beast magic and readied all of her pets. Balder stood up and moved next to her stepson, Drake. The two bearded dragons, Alma and Krom, shifted back to the small tunnel they had dug to get inside and stood just outside of the hole. Apophis just laid there; the nearly ten-foot-long ball python merely twitched her head toward the thick bramble-like wall and flicked her tongue.
Kassandra got up and moved over to where the two kids were sleeping. Covering their mouths so they wouldn’t make any noise, she whispered, “You need to wake up. We’re going to need to run again.” It hadn’t been the first time they had to run away from evil-minded people who wanted to carve out their own little kingdom in all the chaos.
Drake jerked awake and recoiled from his mother’s grip. It took him a moment to come to his senses, then he nodded. Kassie, who was snuggled in with her Soul-Bound spirit fox named Foxy, only squirmed and tried to snuggle in deeper with her warm pet.
Kassandra released Drake as he got up. She then turned her attention to her daughter and gently shook her until Kassie finally opened her eyes. she still looked exhausted. While her mother used Kassie’s minor perk to double the little girl’s Stamina pool, it didn’t help with her regen rate.
Kassie groaned but sat up at her mother’s bidding.
Baron stood next to the hedge, his prosthetic hand already transfigured into a Metroid-looking blaster cannon, one of the four forms it could take. It had been a struggle to survive with only one hand for the first week. Once the second stage of Initialization began though, he had used his perk on a Soul-bound weapon that could function as his missing hand.
In the silence, just a minute after the second man spoke, the leader spoke again, but quietly, as if to his companion. “Fuck it. I’m tired of this shit. Peterson, burn me a way in.”
Everyone heard a loud whoosh, and the wall of vines smoked.
With the sudden speed reptiles were known for, the two-foot-long bearded dragons and the snake darted through the hole.
There was a snap-hiss as Drake activated his Soul-Bound Mana-blade. He approached the smoking plant wall to stand alongside Baron and Rose.
Rose shook her head and said, “No, stay back and protect your sister.”
“Balder is protecting her. I can fight,” Drake said back.
“Do as she said. Protect your sister,” Baron said in a tone that brooked no nonsense.
Sullenly, Drake moved to the back of the main room, where Kassie stood holding Foxie. Balder’s fur had already taken on the slate-gray coloration that showed his armor ability was activated, and his fangs had enlarged and turned crystalline.
“Where’s mommy?” Kassie asked.
Drake looked around and only just then noticed his mother had disappeared. Her disappearance wasn’t a surprise to him. Kassandra was a Rogue on the Path of Mana and had access to the shadow school of magic. She would disappear, only to reappear from a monster’s shadow and deal devastating damage to it.
Once the fire had managed to burn through most of the hedge, there was a scream of pain from outside, followed by the clatter of bullets being fired. As though that was his signal, Baron brought his hand cannon up and launched a compressed ball of Ki. The attack burst through the remaining few vines and he charged out through the new gap, his cannon already changing back into its sword form.
Rose ran through immediately after Baron, green light glowing over her staff as she prepared her spell.
Once they burst through into the daylight, Baron caught sight of his wife fading back into the shadow of one man. The man had collapsed, blood pouring out of his sides. There were three other men out front. They all seemed to wear some kind of mismatched pieces of armor, including Kevlar vests, and pieces of chitin covering their shoulders, legs, and arms.
The three men who weren’t bleeding out, all held M4-carbines. They were firing where Kassandra had been. Baron used their distraction to his advantage as he charged in. Before he could reach them, a mass of roots erupted from the ground and entangled the men, causing them to stumble and trip.
The reptiles took that opportunity, at the mental prodding of Rose, to charge in. Apophis latched on to the gun arm of one man and immediately coiled itself around him. The beardies couldn’t do much in the way of damage, but they aided the root spell by grabbing onto the ankles of the other two men and chewed on them. Their tiny teeth couldn’t penetrate the armor, but it provided an extra bit of distraction.
Rose made sure Balder stayed in to protect the children. She didn’t want the kids out where bullets were flying.
The fire mage managed to down a potion that stopped his bleeding before he raised a wand in his hand and pointed it at Baron. A bolt of condensed fire flew at Baron, but he simply cut it in half with his Ki-infused blade.
The fire mage’s eyes grew wide in panic as Baron followed through with his block, reversing the swing and going right for the caster’s head. One gunman managed to tear through the roots holding him in place, and he shoulder checked Baron just before the swing could connect. It threw Baron off balance and he stumbled past. Baron grunted in pain as a three-round burst struck him in the back. Each round managed to penetrate his Ki enhanced natural armor, causing blood to spray out from his back and knock him to the ground.
Kassandra re-appeared in the man’s shadow who’d shot her husband, stabbing him right in the kidney before vanishing a second later.
A loud crash, immediately followed by a pained yelp from Balder, caused Rose to spin around. An enormous figure, at least seven-feet-tall, came stomping out of the convenience store, holding Drake and Kassie dangling by their necks. The figure was wearing what looked like a suit of Fallout knockoff power armor. It was big, bulky, and felt powerful.
The poor kids were holding onto his forearms, trying to keep their weight off of their necks. A man’s voice sounded out, slightly distorted as though it came from a loudspeaker. “Stop! Put down your weapons and kneel on the ground. If you don’t, I’ll snap one of the kid’s necks like a twig.”
Rose instantly dropped her staff and fell to her knees. She knew she couldn’t do much, anyway. She only had a few spells, and the only one that had any direct combat application was her root spell. She could talk to animals mentally, see in the dark, and use a minor regeneration spell, but that was about it.
The rest of the men broke free of the entangling roots. One of them pulled out a set of handcuffs and forced Baron’s hands behind his back while another kneeled on his neck. As soon as the cuffs were on him, the sword form reverted to looking like a gauntlet and went limp. They dragged him over next to Rose and forced him to his knees.
