Trying to act natural as the guard took a look around, I shrugged and pretended to get back to work- only to get interrupted a few seconds later as they said, “sorry for barging in here, but may I ask what you’re doing here so early?”
Know that trying to think of a cover story would take too much time, simply following one of my rules of bullshitting: never answer a question straight. “Early? Wait- what time is it?” I shot back, adding a yawn to punctuate my question.
“A little before five. Do you not have a watch or phone?”
“Right… sorry, I’m a little tired and forgot,” I sheepishly replied before yawning again and continuing. “No need to worry about me. I’ll go home when I’m done with this.”
After looking me over a little, the guard rhetorically asked, “so you’ve been here all night?”
I tensed up a little, thinking my bluff might have been called. But the guard just sighed and shook their head. “I get that some of you are excited to be able to study applications of ULE, but policy is for everyone to leave at ten so we can ensure the facility is secure. But somehow, every week, us guards find one of you that managed to passively evade us after losing track of time… Seriously, I thought there was a break in. Save what you’re working on and close it down. I’ll escort you out of here. Then get some sleep- no need to rush your research and mess it up somehow.”
Hanging my head, I mumbled, “I know, I know. Sorry about that. Give me a few, I’m just about done-”
“Nope. I’ve heard that before. Don’t make me unplug the computer.”
With an exaggerated sigh that transitioned into another yawn, I clicked a few things to make it look like I saved and closed a document, before turning off the computer and taking a big stretch. As the guard led me down the stairwell and towards the front door, they made some idle conversation by asking, “so, what are you researching?”
Stouting the first thing that came to mind, I remembered the actual reacher paper I had read earlier and replied, “novel ways to shoot things. Taking advantage of all the stuff you can do with literal magic.”
With a chuckle the guard said, “I guess this is a military base- always looking for better ways to shoot things or blow them up. Anyway, here we are. I told Jake up at the gate to let you through. Don’t come back today- you look like you need sleep.”
As I simply walked out the front gate of the facility, I was once again stupefied by what I assumed was [Act]’s work. When we were out of earshot, I asked Cleo, “I get most MGs are attention seekers- but how has no one taken that perk. I mean, come on.”
{You must understand: the system wasn’t designed for human use, just adapted for it. I’m sure that many others would love a perk that lets them breeze through social situations like that, but either lack the connective nodes, forward thinking, or knowledge to ask about such things. It’s much like how [Makeshift Weapon Proficiency] is connected to [Food Fighting], but since you- quite reasonably- don’t appear to have an interest in fighting with edible objects, you would never ask about it and my personal disinterest would keep me from offhandedly mentioning it except as something to avoid.}
“Yeah, I get that. Also, [Food Fighting]? Was that one of those perks that you got to name since it was relevant for you first?”
{Actually, no. There is at least one MG in this world that has that perk, useless as it may appear.}
“Huh. Well, a little off topic, but I have put some more thought into how I would like to fight demons. After you brought up concerns with explosives or incendiaries, I tried thinking of other weapons I’d be fine using. Melee could immediately be ruled out. Anyone who chooses to fight those things with a sword has something wrong with them. Not to say I don’t, but I’m probably a different type of crazy.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Guns would be acceptable, but I expect that without specialized bullets and a lot of training, I’d have a lot of issues handling myself. I’m also concerned with them needing line of sight in most cases, since I don’t really want to be anywhere close to those things as a general rule.
“So, that brought me back to explosives. But then I thought: ‘what other wide-area, mostly-wall-ignoring weapons are left?’ And chemical weapons was the answer I came up with.”
{While I can see many flaws with your logic, I am happy that you are putting more time into considering this. However, I do have a question of my own: are you not put off from your last experience with chemical weapons?}
“Yeah, surprisingly, not really if I’m being honest. Sure, it was scary and left me scarred, but that was mostly because of my own mistakes: being too close, not wearing any PPE, not waiting for the after effects to dissipate, etcetera, etcetera. If I went through with this, I’d make sure to invest in perks and gear that would help that not happen to me- and others I guess.”
Voice taking on a distinctive pleased note, Cleo purred, {then might I suggest a few perks for you to consider?
{[Crafted Weapon Proficiency] off of [Improvised]. Lets you do all the fun weapon-magic with anything you create or have a hand in creating. Not only would this let you do fun weapon-magic with actually useful weapons, but it also acts as a sort of hub for a wide range of other proficiency-perks. Like…
{[Synthesized Weapon Proficiency]. The chemical weapon perk that’s easiest for you to acquire. It covers anything involving concoctions you brew up. Like the other ‘weapon’ perks, this includes things that aren’t meant as weapons. So if you get some stims or liquid bandaids, those would be valid targets as well.
{Because I’m sure you don’t know much about chemistry beyond what you might have learned in highschool and online, [Chemical Knowledge 1] would let you have a clue what to do with the tools and process involved with synthesizing compounds.
{Finally, so you don’t kill yourself, [Chemical Burn Resistance 1] is pretty much mandatory.
{The whole package would cost 33 experience, putting you at one.}
During their marketing pitch, I was getting more and more excited right up until the end. “Wouldn’t being effectively out of experience be a bad thing?”
{Under normal circumstances, maybe. But you are probably going to be treated like a fresh MG- which you are- so they’ll be careful to not put you in too much danger and likely let you have an easy time getting a couple hundred more experience before they even consider letting you go solo.}
“Alright- I’ll trust you on this. Will I want to sit down for this?”
{Most likely.}
After the new perks had been applied, I reoriented myself in my mental map and started heading towards the shopping district of town. Well, it was more like a few streets that were designated as the place to shop on the local maps, but it was good enough. As I drew within perception range, I realized all the stores were locally run- likely set up by and for the few people allowed to live here out of necessity. Most were restaurants or grocery stores of various flavorings, but I wasn’t that hungry- and most of them were closed. Out of the few places that were open, none would have things from my earlier compiled list.
With nothing better to do, I wandered over to the park. From the maps I had seen around town, it was more of a small forest, taking up almost half of the fortified area on the island. Despite that, it was remarkably well maintained, with nice paths winding their way around, and many beaches and tables scattered in more open areas. While I couldn’t explain why, as I walked around, I got the feeling that the plants' positioning and growth were too regular. Without being able to see large areas all at once, I doubt I would have noticed, but I could almost see patterns with my perception. The feeling wasn't a dangerous one- more like it was the personal garden of a likely very powerful MG.
When I came to a moderately sized cedar, I hopped up and grabbed one of its lower branches. Even with my supposed increased athleticism, my scrabble up the tree was anything but graceful- and by the end I was covered in sweat and sap. Ignoring the annoying stickiness, I finally reached the natural platform I had noticed from the ground and found it surprisingly comfortable as I sat down.
With nothing better to do, I turned on my phone’s hotspot and started wasting time. The past few days had been plenty full of shenaniganery, so I contented myself with the simple pleasures of lofi and endless scrolling.
Like always, the most popular discussions and articles were about MG. News articles, speculation, and the odd update from one of the really attention seeking ones. I wasn’t really interested in any of that. Or I wasn’t until I saw a post titled “New MG Sighting?- Update.”