My arrival at the forward operating base was met with an odd reception- at least to me. MGs technically can’t be part of the military- international treaties, unions, eccetera- despite how much funding we get from it, so I wasn’t expecting it when the collection of National Guard, reserves, and police eclectically saluted me as I stepped out of the car. Not really knowing how to respond, I quickly said, “you don’t have to worry about that. I’m just here to do my job like you guys.”
This happened a few more times as we worked our way through the small fortress that had been set up. This had clearly been a plaza just a few hours ago, but as was supposed to be standard for new shelters, cleverly hidden fences had popped up to section off an area in front of the building the shelter was actually in. The building itself was overbuilt- especially on the first floor where a large section was now an eerie void to my perception- which should let it hold up for long enough to be evacuated.
Remembering back to something Cleo had said a while ago, I realized the void made perfect and very uncomfortable sense. To be sure, I quietly asked an aide walking with me, “are all shelters also anti-magic zones?”
A little startled by my voice, they replied, “uhh, yeah, I think. I mean, if they’re operating properly they should be. Better chance of that since the buildings were designed with them in mind. Is it an issue?”
Only noticing I was leading them on after I started, I asked, “Is it normally an issue for MGs?”
“Ehh, the few others I worked with said it made them really uncomfortable and sick, so they only stuck around for just long enough to get everything sorted out before leaving.” With a small chuckle, they joked, “lets you guys feel like normal people again for a few minutes.”
In a flat voice, I informed them, “going back to ‘normal’ for me includes being blind. Please let whoever is in charge know that I’ll be staying out here. All I really need from them in the first place is confirmation they are doing fine- which it looks like they are- and someone on call if something goes minorly or majorly wrong. And the bag of required gas masks.”
While it wasn’t intentional, my little talk made the aide freeze in place like a deer in headlights. Despite my annoyance, I reminded myself that I should be acting nicer, so I added, “don't worry, I’m not angry or anything. It just brings up unpleasant memories and I want to get going as soon as possible. I’d rather be done with this part of the operation before the drizzle becomes proper rain.”
After a few seconds, another one of the aides started to gently guide the scared one away while asking me, “we’ll handle getting armed support set up, can you make sure the masks are ready?”
With a nod, I admitted, “I already know where they are- and there’s even a few extras. As soon as I hear from you again, I’ll be setting off.”
Leaving them to do their thing, I wandered over to a nearby tent which I had noticed contained a set of pretty military-standard looking backpacks, full of the necessary equipment. Since there were five shelters, I would be hitting one at a time in order to minimize the chaos. An equal number of backpacks were laid out on a table- each with one or two more gas masks than the number needed to make up the difference with their designated shelter’s supply.
As I got close, one of the nearby personnel came running up holding a clipboard. After a quick conversation, I hoisted the correct bag over my shoulders and started getting all the straps secure and comfortable. The cargo was fairly heavy, but most of the issue was that it was pretty bulky. Additionally, the hard sections of my dress clearly weren’t designed with exterior straps in mind, making some of them dig into my shoulders and hips a little- although not as much as I had been expecting.
I did a few test jumps and shakes to make sure everything would stay how I wanted during the trip, then made my way to the edge of the small cordon in the direction of the shelters.All things considered, it was quite peaceful for being inside a Breach. I guess my last experience where there was only really one building of interest for the demons may have skewed my expectations towards a more chaotic and desperate scene. I’m sure the overall number of demons at this one was much, much higher, but the density was certainly lower.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
To kill time until I got the go-ahead, I relaxed my perception out as much as I could, letting the world dissolve into an indecipherable mess of slight ULE gradients. The level of detail was much lower than what I could do before the recent optimizations- only being useful for noticing general areas with a lot of ULE- but also covered an area with a radius approaching 400 feet up to almost a mile away.
When I asked Cleo how a software update could increase performance so much, they said it was something along the lines of “cleaning up artifacts of a prototype” and “more operator comfort with the system.”
My quick sweep notified me of something at the very outer edges of what I could see. Of course, I made sure to tell the people around me, but since it wasn’t where I was going, I didn’t care that much. Even more so since at that moment, my designated high-priority channel received a message that everything had been sorted out.
I sent a confirmation and as soon as Carlos also sent one, I hopped the temporary barrier that had been erected outside the fencing and dashed over to the first building on the route. A team had been kind enough to get the first few blocks of houses unlocked in between waves, so there was no need to melt locks just yet.
Keeping my output to the barest amount possible while still being able to comfortably control the shape, I molded a small tube out of polymer which traced along the ceiling of the rooms and hallways I passed through. At regular intervals along their length, small holes would disperse the gas as I fed it in through ports by the doors should it be necessary to hide. Any doors and windows that could be blocked were, followed by a generous amount of glue into the side farthest from the hinges if it could open. For any windows that couldn’t be covered, I scorched them with silane to build up a layer of opaque crud.
Finally, I burned arrows into the walls as a guide in case I got caught up somewhere and the civilians needed to go out on their own.
This obviously took a while to do, but various benefits granted by my costume made it so I wouldn’t run out of energy. Theoretically, an MG could keep going forever so long as there was ULE to use- but in reality, at a certain point your body really just needs rest to flush out waste. What that meant for me at that moment was that as I continued and got more practiced, I only got faster.
Where the first room took five minutes due to my overly-cautious regulation of power, need for perfection, and slight decision paralysis, after a few buildings I was down to a little over one. However, even this speed was putting me behind schedule. Sure, there had been some testing when I proposed this strategy, but the rooms we had used were smaller than what I was encountering and my abilities had been clearly overestimated.
Or, that’s what should have been happening. Despite unconsciously stopping for a moment to worry about the time pressure, the preparations continued. Of course, as soon as I realized that and took over more conscious control of my magic it stopped. In whatever section of my brain received what passed for tactile feedback from my magic, I felt feelings of confusion and disappointment from the now stifled chemicals.
Like a child being told to stop annoying their parents while they were only trying to help. Creepily so…
Getting back to work myself, I worriedly asked Cleo, “does my magic make these chemicals sentient? Or sapient?”
{Probably not at this point- that sort of thing is very advanced and hard to do unintentionally. It’s more likely that the magic is taking a small part of your consciousness to operate and only mimicking being a different entity. That effect is also similar to how the perks like one of the ones your colleague mentioned- I think it was [Perk Macros]- functions.}
“I don’t know if I like that more or less,” I complained while trying to slip back into just letting things happen. “Any hints on getting it to happen?”
{Well, in this rudimentary form I would recommend trying to get back… ‘in the zone’ like you were before you stopped it. Remember, it's just you, so it can’t do something you aren’t doing since you’re not doing it.}
Probably intentionally confusing wording aside, I went along with the advice, devoting my focus solely to doing everything better and faster than the previous room, every room. I think I was actually starting to get the hang of it until my actions caught the attention of some roaming demons I was too distracted to notice.