- Wow! Where did you get this piece?!

- You know, just went on a casual solo run on that Metal something event. This is what I’ve got from it, nothing special.

The girl tending to our equipment has her eyes shining at the view of the valve we got earlier. It isn’t any different from any other Metallic Dragon’s valve, really.

- Girl, that actually is nothing special. You can buy this valve for twenty coins in the market. It’s complete garbage.

She stares at Maxwell with a disdainful look and throws the valve at him, going back to polishing my parts.

- Ouch! You didn’t need to do that!

- That’s what you get for losing that reactor. Ah! That’s right, that’s the spot! Keep polishing…

- Erm… Okay then.

The girl finishes the job really soon and starts reassembling my body, but she clearly has no clue as to how my engine functions.

- Ranger blue, give her the design.

- Right…

Maxwell jumps from his mecha with the design on his hands. He wears an uniform exactly that of ranger blue, but with white gloves. The name caught, for his dislike.

- Strange… Are you sure this is done right?

- Of course it is, I made the design myself.

She flips the paper at all directions and looks at it from every angle, but her puzzled look doesn’t seem to disappear.

- But… If I arrange it like that, your pieces are bound to detach eventually…

- That’s exactly how I want it!

She drops the design on the floor with incredulous eyes plastered on her face.

- Are you kidding me?

- No, I’m not! Let me explain! – I scream, seeing her showing the back and leaving.

To be honest, I don’t know why every mechanic is touchy about this design. I’m paying, so what gives?

- Pretty much all of my skills revolve around me dropping body parts, so it is a must that they fall apart.

- Huh?

- For instance, I have one skill called Rewind, which lets me turn back to where one of my pieces fell, returning to that previous state.

 - Isn’t that cheating?

- If you had the details… Man, the details. Anyway, it’s not a joke, so begin reassembling me.

- Asap.

- Oh, by the way, can you inform me where is located the Arsel Port?

- I’ll bring you a map.

She points the location of the port and we head there as soon as I’m complete.

Now that I think about it, I’ve been inside that dungeon for so long that I wasn’t able to see the sun. Damn, thankfully I don’t need to worry too much about temperature.

The port is a really refreshing sight. Since Arsel is a tiny island isolated from the world, they rely a lot on the ocean to make a living, so this part is incredibly developed, although its style is still old school.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

As always, it’s a beehive of activity, with transporters, fishermen, guards, mercenaries, visitors, mages, enchanters, trainers, merchants and all of the shady types you could expect and also the unexpected ones. Our ship should be anchored on the far back…

- I can’t see it.

- Yeah, me neither.

- You sure we left it over there?

- One hundred percent sure about it… Oh…

- What is it, boss?

- Do you remember the last time we came here?

- Eh? Not really?

- Do you remember Guild Leader Emperato?

- The one we traded that flaming sword with?

- Yeah… We traded that sword for a black ring called Mischievous Glare, remember now?

- I do. What about it?

- I didn’t actually want that ring. What I wanted was the Void Stone he used to craft that ring.

- And?

- I stole the Void Stone.

Max stares me down like nothing had happened, but then he sums 1+1 and realizes the weight of these words.

- You did WHAT?!

Emperato is a strange red armor samurai that will wreck you in a 1v1 and possibly the only dude that can wage a 1v10 in the entire game – he posted a video on that, and no, it was not against low level scrubs, they were pretty skilled and strong stat-wise.

When he’s using a sword, he’s the scariest motherfucker that you’ve ever met and will get you instagibbed if you are at a three meter radius.

When he’s manipulating flames, he’s that asshat mage that spams Meteor Strike all day every day and completely destroys your entire team while laughing from afar.

His only real weakness is his short range for a mage and his lack of mobility. He’s so slow it hurts to see.

His defense is stellar, offense is the best defense!

Not even a second later, a youthful and impish voice shouted at our backs and an eerie feeling creeped on me.

- Me-tal-la…

Without turning back, I’m able to hear the sharpening sound of his katana and the crepitating of his flames. Maxwell turns to face me, his mask not hiding that he is pale with fear, and whispers:

- Boss… What do we do now?

- Buy me time… I’ve gotta set up a tower somewhere – I whisper back.

- Boss… I’m crying.

- What the fuck Max? Man up and face him…

- But… His character is totally geared for combat… I’m just an offtank…

- Max… - I grab his mecha’s leg, as if it was his shoulder, and shine him a smile.

- I have faith in you…!

With that line, I turn tail and run. Even at that distance I can hear Maxwell’s prolonged groan.

Don’t worry soldier, your death won’t be in vain.