Strapping himself into Betty’s cockpit, Duke let his embarrassment fade into the background. The controls to start up the mech were easy enough to find so he engaged them. Power surged through the mech and even with this rudimentary construct, Duke felt a thrill. He engaged the controls and powered forward. His first steps were unsteady but he was able to move. When he tried to do more than walk, things changed.
Duke tried to run across the cavern and face-planted after only four steps. He skidded to a stop, the metal of the mech grinding against the floor. He could feel his face redden as he levered the mech back to its feet. The controls for this mech had no subtlety and only allowed for gross movements. Duke ground his teeth as he tried to force the mech to do what he wanted it to do.
Over time, his frustration turned to determination. Hours of practice later he learned to work the controls well enough to move around the cavern, but not much more than that. As he clambered back to his feet in the mech after another failed parkour attempt, he took a breath and checked his notifications for any Skill progression.
*** Congratulations, you have ranked your Mechpilot Skill up to Novice 2. ***
He knew the early levels and ranks came quickly but realized that getting this Skill up to Adept, which is where he really wanted to get it before fighting in Bloodstorm, was going to take years. Even though this was not as daunting with the time compression of The Forge, it still troubled him that he was not progressing in the Contest. There had been no indication how long the Contest would run or even if there was some endgame he needed to prepare for. He once again calmed his breathing. Change what you can affect and deal with the things you cannot as they come.
Duke re-engaged in his mech practice, pushing the limits of his Skill and the limits of the mech he was piloting. The mech was completely unarmed which removed a level of difficulty but still limited his Skill growth. After several hours, and a mere three levels of growth he parked the mech and stepped out. Zarna was waiting for him.
“You have progressed well, Emperor.”
“Not nearly well enough, but thank you.”
“Then, perhaps, it is time to learn a more complex mech. Let me introduce you to Barney.”
Zarna walked Duke over to a new mech. This one was more bulky than Betty. It was still crudely constructed but despite the increased bulk, it appeared to be more maneuverable. Once Duke strapped into the mech and got it moving, he quickly noticed the increased power levels of the mech. It had more bulk than the previous one, but its articulation was stronger. It could move faster, strike with more force, and had a greater range of motion. Duke found a smile spreading across his lips as he took the mech through its paces.
After an hour of getting used to the mech’s capabilities which only included one significant mishap, Duke was shown to the weapons course. It was another connected cavern that had a mix of distance targets and melee dummies. Duke found that this mech’s weapon systems consisted of a crude projectile launcher mounted in the right arm and a reinforced left fist. Despite the limitations, Duke attacked with zeal.
The weapons practice gave Duke a burgeoning sense of a return to the past. He found his mind returning to his early days of flight training where he was piloting trainers. The parallels were just too easy to make. Time passed quickly as he dove into his own memories, his mind and body adapting to the controls and mannerisms of this mech. He emerged, exhausted to find himself all alone but also that he had increased his Skill by a full ten levels. He left the cavern, heading back to the mech lab.
With a longing look at Bloodstorm, Duke headed back towards the entrance of the dungeon, being intercepted by Sar Forglyn as he neared the entrance. The minotaur’s expression was unreadable, even to Duke’s XENOGLOSSIA which surprised him.
“You have completed your Mech training?”
“Not remotely. I am barely competent at this point. I need a lot more practice before I feel confident that I’m not going to do more damage to my mech than to the enemy. Where is Zarna, by the way? She wasn’t waiting for me when I finished up like last time.”
“She is sleeping. You were practicing for a full week straight. She has the endurance of a minotaur, but not even I could last that long without a rest. If someone had told me that you were able to do so, I would not have believed it.”
“No wonder I got so hungry. Good thing I can pull food right out of my INVENTORY, right?”
“As you say, Emperor. I can wake her if you would like.”
“No, I don’t think that will be necessary. I will be heading out for some time. I am, unfortunately, nowhere near ready to pilot Bloodstorm yet. Tell her to keep advancing her own skills and apply them to Bloodstorm in my absence. It may be years before I can return here. I also have to figure out what the gold-equivalent value all this is. This armor alone may push my limit.”
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Duke decided it was time to find out just how expensive his new armor was. He headed out of the entrance and back into the Contest World. The message he received was rather surprising as it had nothing to do with his armor’s value, at least not in any way he had expected.
*** Congratulations. You have crafted a masterwork set of armor. You receive 600 Contest Points, bringing you to 73,555 total points. Your ranking has not changed. ***
Duke realized that since he created the dungeon, that maybe he would receive points for everything that was created in the dungeon and brought out to the Contest World. His excitement rose until he realized that the gold value of things would still limit what he could bring out and receive credit for.
It was a good thought but not enough to tip the balance in my favor. I need to go hunting instead. But probably not at the gates. They are too well organized there and might be beyond me. Shit, that feels weird to even think, but that small group of four quite nearly kicked my ass. I’m sure I could have beaten them if I pulled out all the stops, but then I’d have no trump cards left if anyone stronger than them came for me. Like that Zarmouth guy. I wish I had some way to gauge his strength. What I wouldn’t do for a scouter right now.
Duke put his thoughts aside and returned to using his DUNGEON SENSE to scan the planet for anyone off on their own that might be a good target for him. He quickly saw that there were thousands of individuals out and about. He picked one at random that was maybe 300 kilometers away from him and decided to pop over for a “chat.”
TELEPORTATION put Duke out of the individual’s line of sight but close enough that he could approach on foot. He picked his way through rocky hills using the ample cover to conceal his approach. He was a kilometer away when he started to hear the sounds of combat. Expecting his target to be distracted, he increased his pace.
Peering around an outcropping of cracked granite, Duke finally saw his target engaged in combat. The problem was he was not sure which combatant was the Contestant. There was what appeared to be a tremendous housecat fighting with a massive wolf. They were tumbling around, biting and clawing at each other vying for the upper hand. Duke watched in fascination.
The wolf seemed to be the stronger of the two, able to push the cat’s massive bulk but the cat’s claws dug deeply into the wolf’s fur, tearing great furrows and leaving blood trails. They rolled across the ground and Duke was able to get close enough to IDENTIFY them.
*** You have encountered an Astonian Mountain Cat. This beast is a terror of its homeland, easily able to take on prey larger than itself largely due to its unimaginably sharp claws.
Tier: 6
Level: 206
Health: 1,011,515
Mana: 909,000
***
*** You have encountered Baslo, a fellow Contestant. You are not eligible to receive any further information at your current rank in the standings. ***
OK, so the wolf is a Contestant and the system isn’t showing me shit on him. At least I assume it’s a him. Could be wrong. Either way, I think the cat might win anyway. Or should I hit them both and grab credit for killing both. Yeah, let’s do that.
Duke went back to his old standby and struck the pair with a bolt of LIGHTNING, OVERCHANNELED by 500,000 Mana. The vast increase in cost pushed the Ability’s damage output to skyrocket. With both Abilities at the Adept level the normal damage output of LIGHTNING of just over 25,000 damage was amplified by a thousandfold. The 25 million damage would have been enough to get Duke’s attention even with his inflated stats. The reaction he received was not what he expected.
The cat’s eyes glowed blue as the LIGHTNING danced across its fur, leaving bunt and smoldering patches. The cat was stunned for a moment and that is all it took. The wolf, Baslo, lunged forward and grabbed the cat by the throat, tearing it open in a fountain of blood. The crunching of bone and cartilage was the final indicator that the cat was finished. Some thirty seconds later, it was completely dead. The wolf turned towards Duke.
“Now that the cat’s dead, you want to tangle or talk?” Duke, despite everything he had been told, opted for diplomacy first. It wasn’t his greatest decision.
Baslo the wolf shifted into a bipedal form and charged at Duke at full speed. With all the points Duke had poured into his Agility, he was fast. He was faster now than anyone he had encountered, even the demon in the titan mech. Baslo was on him in the blink of an eye, tearing at Duke’s gorget with his fangs. The new armor was amazing, not even budging under the full pressure of the creature’s jaws.
“I’ll take that as wanting to tangle. That’s fine. I’m good with that too.”
Duke grabbed hold of Baslo’s arms and snapped them with his raw strength as he pulled them sideways. He had hoped to dislocate both arms but the bones gave way first. Maybe I squeezed too hard. Baslo howled in pain and tried to get free of Duke’s grip but Duke did not let go even as the rear claws came forward to attempt to tear Duke’s guts open. Again, the armor held without a hint of giving way.
Duke realized that he didn’t have the leverage to pull his opponent’s arms off as he had hoped – the werewolf was just too much larger than him. His continued pulling and tugging did prevent the bones from knitting together as Duke could feel them trying to do.
Abandoning his prior tactics, Balso lunged for Duke’s unprotected face. The attack came faster than Duke could stop it and fangs bit right through his left eye, scraping along his cheekbone with white-hot pain.
Duke reacted with rage, slamming his fists into the sides of Baslo’s skull. Once, the werewolf’s grip on his face lessened. Twice, the werewolf went slack, stunned from the blow. Thrice, Duke’s fists met together in an exploding pile of gore, grey matter splattering the area.
Duke threw the corpse off himself and kicked it for good measure. Instinctively, he activated CLEANSE to get the gore off himself and sat back down to think about the fight and how he really should have handled it.
I really need to stop giving my opponents a chance to respond. This is not a tournament where we fight in a ring until someone is incapacitated or gives in. This is a planetary fight to the death. War footing, airman. War footing.
Duke rose to his feet and paused. Did that paw just twitch? Duke watched, fascinated as the werewolf began to heal. For a total of two seconds before he used his FLAME to burn every tiny piece of the werewolf to carbon. Nobody else is allowed to REGENERATE. That’s for me alone. He sat back down to watch and see if the burnt pieces changed.