Phon woke up in Drim’s bed, feeling more rested than she had in her entire life. She looked around, Kada seemed to be just waking up as well, and Xard was sitting up, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. Phon pulled out her phone to check the time, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. It was four days later. This bed was truly monstrous if it could make someone sleep for that long, but she couldn’t help but feel great. They all must have been more exhausted than they realized from the labors of the past month.
It was amazing that her phone had only dropped by 6% even after all this time. Anything Nathym made was truly amazing. Oh Zjik, Nathym! Phon suddenly remembered when she realized the date. There were four new messages from Drim: ‘-Wow, just slept for three and a half days and woke up to everyone around me, guessing it’ll be the same for everyone else. -He said he’ll be there early tomorrow, we’re planning on leaving at 375. -Mallea just got the truck. I don’t want to wake you, so we’ll just go without you if you’re still asleep. -Leaving in 15 minutes.’
As she read the last one and checked the time to compare, a new message popped up on her screen: ‘-Leaving now, see you tomorrow.’ “Oh hell no, I’m not being left behind like that,” Phon yelled abruptly. She closed her eyes and saw Mallea and Drim in a moving truck that was just now exiting through the front gates. If she was fast, she could still make it. “It’ll be just you guys until tomorrow. Don’t let the place blow up and don’t slack off,” she ordered to Kada and Xard, then held up her pointer finger and moved it hesitantly between them.
“Ehh, Pox is in charge!” Phon said with haste as she pointed at the small creature curled up at the foot of the bed. She then moved her hands to her eyes, teleported to the kitchen to grab some food, then teleported into the cab of the moving truck before it crossed the town limits.
◆◆◆
Kada and Xard convened in the kitchen a few minutes later. They had both gone to use the bathroom and changed clothes. Kada had used Drim’s private bathroom so they wouldn’t have to fight over it. They found already prepared meals waiting for them in the fridge made by Mallea that they just had to heat up. After they sat down to eat, they began to discuss their plans for the day. “So, what’s to stop us from just slacking off all day?” Kada proposed. “We haven’t had a day off since we got here.”
“We literally just slept for four days,” Xard rebutted. “I know what you mean, though. It would be nice to do something just for enjoyment for once. However, I still think we should try to get at least something done.”
“I know, Phon said Pox was in charge, so we’ll let him decide.” It was hard to tell if Kada was joking or being serious. “So Pox, should we be lazy or be productive?” Pox had been sitting on the table, eating the plastic wrap that had been covering their meals. He sat up, trotted over to Xard, and patted the back of his hand a few times before returning to his meal.
“You know, I really think he can understand us sometimes,” Xard wondered. “What should we do then? It’s a little late to start working on the mountain. We could go one at a time, but I doubt either of us would have much motivation if the other wasn’t there to keep them in check. Maybe we should do something we normally don’t have time for.”
“I think I’m going to practice with my chain,” Kada announced. “It’s been forever since I’ve gotten to use my weapon. It won’t be the same without the anchor, but I can still practice the motions.” A few weeks ago, Kada had sent her anchor off to Nathym for modification. It had also been an experiment on how far she could be away from something she had liquified before it reverted back to normal. The result was that it appeared to be indefinite, and she turned it back to normal for him once it arrived.
“That’s a pretty good idea,” Xard agreed. “I think I’m going to do something a bit different, though. After learning about Mallea and how backed up the news is on us, I think I want to spend a bit of time researching what’s going on in the world. I have the same mentality as Drim. I want to change the world and make it a better place, but I’ve come to realize I actually don’t know that much about it. Since we’re basically trapped in here and can’t help others right now, I feel like this is the best thing I can do as a step in the right direction.”
“Somehow you made that sound both noble and boring at the same time,” Kada jested. “Good luck with that.” After washing her dish, Kada headed outside and began whipping her chain around. Xard headed out on the deck, and began surfing through the browser on his phone. It wasn’t long before the daily airstrike was buzzing overhead. Both of them stared up at the sky to try and figure out its trajectory. It was on an unusual path today, coming from the town and heading north. “Looks like they’re aiming for the shed,” Kada yelled from across the way as she began sprinting back over.
Three bombs dropped over the shed as they had predicted: one very large bomb and two smaller bombs before and after. “I’ll get the big one,” Xard said as he leapt up onto the roof in a single bound. He positioned himself in the large looming shadow it created, and took a wide stance. He held up both arms and completely stopped it of its momentum, catching it like it was a soft pillow. He took a deep breath, and blasted the energy out of his mouth, not wanting to damage his clothes. Then, he began to shift his jaw around, feeling he might have damaged it.
Meanwhile, Kada had leapt up on the roof, and jumped off in the direction of one of the smaller bombs while lashing her chain towards the other. As soon as she made contact with the first bomb she melted it, and as expected, she was unable to melt either of the others. She reeled her chain in, pulling the bomb past Xard towards herself and melted it as well. She then let out a sigh of relief as yet another crisis was averted. “Uhh Kada, a little help,” Xard cried down to her. “This thing is freaking heavy and I don’t want it to break the roof if I set it down.”
Kada leapt up to him, melted the bomb, and apologized. Not a second later, however, a new strange sound came up from below. “Garuu garuu.” It was Pox, making a noise they had never heard before.
“What’s wrong?” Kada asked him after she jumped down. He began flapping an arm wildly in the direction of the skycraft. A new bomb had just been dropped, right over the pile of supplies. It was a rather small one, but the blast would incur a devastating loss that the Drazah’s likely wouldn’t be able to replace easily with their diminished funds. It would be almost impossible for Kada to reach it in time, but she had to try. Before she could move, though, Pox leapt up into her hands and began waving his arms again. “I don’t get it… you want me to throw you?”
Pox nodded in response, and positioned himself. “Well I don’t really have any other option at this point. Go get it, boy.” Kada wound up as if she was about to pitch a ball, then flung Pox across the yard with all her might. He blasted through the air, only losing momentum just when he was under the bomb. Pox opened his mouth wide, and the small bomb glided right down his throat and into his stomach. He tumbled as he landed on a few planks directly beneath him. A second later, a small puff of smoke slipped out between his lips.
“Well that’s new,” Xard commented after he joined up with Kada. “There are tons of strangely evolved monsters out there due to the influx of radiation from the last war, but I’m really starting to think Pox might not be from this world.”
“Woah, are you saying he’s an alien?” Kada asked as if her mind had been blown.
“Or maybe something divine. Hand Guy used that word before, and he doesn’t seem to be of this world either, so I wouldn’t rule out the possibility,” Xard elaborated.
“Yeah, if you excuse me, I think I’m going to get back to practicing before I have an existential crisis,” Kada mumbled. The rest of the day passed without incident, other than the two of them constantly gazing over and observing Pox.
◆◆◆
Late the next morning, a moving truck rolled into the Drazah compound. Mallea pulled it up right next to the shed. She hopped out and opened the doors to the warehouse section of it. Drim climbed out of the passenger side, followed by another man whom Kada and Xard had never seen before.
He was wearing a white dress shirt with rolled up sleeves and the top few buttons undone, along with dark brown pants, sneakers, and a tool belt wrapped around his waist with just about every tool anyone could ever need. There was also a pair of welder’s goggles tied around his wrist like a bracelet. His eyes were copper colored, and his platinum hair was a steep contrast to his dark skin. He was also quite tall, looming over the rest of them.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Nathym Cyper,” he introduced himself to the two of them in a slight Englusian accent. “I’ve heard a lot about the both of you, so it’s nice to finally meet in person. And thanks for sending the anchor Kada, it saved me quite a bit on materials.”
“Unfortunately, I must ask for assistance,” Mallea now called from behind the truck. “Most of this equipment is too heavy for me to move. I’d also like to get the truck back soon. Damned if I’ll pay for a whole other day when I’d only be a few minutes over time.” Nathym excused himself and went with Drim to help her.
“We should probably go help too, but where’s Phon? Wasn’t she supposed to be with them?” Xard asked Kada.
“There wasn’t enough room on the truck, so I had to teleport all the way back here.” Phon was suddenly behind them, and removing her ribbon from her eyes. “Don’t bother helping them. Make them do all the heavy lifting as punishment for abandoning me.”
“Why’d you bother to go then anyways?” Kada questioned her. “It definitely seems like they could handle it on their own.”
“I wanted to check Nathym out before he officially joined,” Phon answered in a huff, almost as if she was offended by the question.
“I’m actually guessing she wanted to keep Drim and Mallea from having too much alone time,” Xard rebuked.
“I also wouldn’t rule out that she wanted to make sure he wasn’t gay like you Xard,” Kada added.
“Is it too much to ask that one new person doesn’t obsess over my brother?” Phon blurted. “He does check out, though, but does seem to have high admiration for Drim. That much is to be expected I guess.”
Soon, the truck was heading off to be returned, and Nathym and Drim were headed back over to the rest of them. Nathym was carrying two suitcases and Drim had Kada’s anchor lugged over one of his shoulders, and was carrying an anvil under the other arm. “Thanks for carrying that stuff Drim,” Nathym said with his appreciation. “I guess I really should work out more. I’m a Fiend too, but stuff like that is just too much for me over a long distance. I can lift it, but carrying it is another matter. Anyways, I brought gifts for everyone!”
“Let’s start with Phon’s since it’s the most simple,” Nathym said as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out Phon’s yo-yo and tossed it over to her. “I added the upgrades you wanted on the ride over. They’re now the green and purple settings on the ring.” Phon caught it, thanked him, and then immediately wandered off to assumedly try it out.
“I guess we’ll do Kada next,” Nathym continued. He opened up the smaller of the two briefcases and pulled out a large blue and silver purse with a new thermos attached.
“Oh wow, it’s so cute, thanks,” Kada said appreciatively as she took it. She immediately took off her current thermos and tossed it over her shoulder, then put on the new bag. She reached inside and pulled out a small clear sphere, about the size of a regular bouncy ball. “Huh, what are these for?”
“Ah, well if you take off the cap of your thermos, I’ll explain,” Nathym suggested. “As you can see, there’s a small spike on the underside of the cap. Go ahead and stick the sphere on it.” She did as instructed, and the cap immediately reacted. The spike began to widen, as the top of the cap opened up, creating a funnel into the sphere. “Now you can use that to fill up the sphere with anything you melt. Go ahead and try it with the anvil Drim has. It’s an old spare I don’t use anymore, so I won’t miss it. Oh, and remove the sphere from the cap when you’re done.”
Kada melted the anvil, and then flowed the liquid into the sphere. It began to enlarge as it was filled, but showed no sign of bursting. Once the melted anvil had been completely transferred inside, a small circle popped up on the sphere and then spun for a second. There was then a small flash, and an icon of an anvil was now displayed on the sphere. “Woah, this is really neat and useful, now I can store liquids easily and organized. Incredible,” Kada said in awe.
“Ah, well there’s more to them then that, but we’ll get back to them in a moment,” Nathym assured her. “For now just put it in your bag, or you can touch it against any part of the outside and they’ll stick there. The spheres are the only thing that will do that.” Kada stuck it to the side, and it miraculously stayed there, not even causing the fabric of the purse to droop at all. “One other thing about the purse you should know, is that several common materials, fabrics, and metals have been sewn on the backside of the strap to boost your melting capability.”
“You really think of everything; so useful,” Kada complimented him. She ran her thumb down the back of the strap to feel the different materials. She activated her Curse for just a brief moment on each one to see if there were any of the present materials nearby. When she got to a piece of fabric, Nathyms shirt instantly melted off of him. “Ahh, sorry!” Kada apologized, immediately unmelting it.
“I’m a bit to blame as well. I honestly should have seen that coming.” Nathym turned around and bent over since his shirt had formed behind him. The other three perked up at the sudden appearance of his Curse Mark which was now visible to them. It was a network of platinum gears and cogs running the length of his spine. “Oh, I forget that’s there most of the time,” Nathym addressed the matter when he noticed their intrigue.
“Okay, the next item is a small one,” Nathym continued on. “I just thought of it on a passing whim one day. Hopefully it’ll prove useful to you.” He pulled out a silver hairband from his briefcase and handed it over to Kada. “As you can see it’s exactly the same as the one you’re wearing, but the sunglasses on top are the new edition. Once you’ve put it on, push the glasses down to your eyes.”
The glasses were on a swivel, and spun down into place on her nose. After they had been lowered, the lenses began moving on their own. They formed a seal around her eyes, and started to glow. “Oh, everything looks the same. I’m kind of disappointed, not gonna lie,” Kada pouted.
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“Well, it’s not really meant for these conditions,” Nathym explained. “It’s meant for dark areas, and they form to your eyes like goggles. I mostly intended them to be used when you’re swimming in the ground. It should allow you to be able to see perfectly clearly. They’ll work in caves and other dark areas as well, and at night. Also, they’ll function as regular sunglasses if you look at a bright light.”
“Okay, that is pretty useful. Disappointment retracted,” Kada changed her attitude.
“Lastly, your anchor. Hand it to her if you please Drim,” Nathym asked of him.
Kada had a big smile on her face from finally having her anchor back in her possession. She had missed it all this time. It didn’t really look any different from when she sent it off, but that didn’t really matter to her since she was content with how it was to begin with. “Guess I’ll go get the chain to put back on it if you’ll excuse me,” she said to them.
“Ah, you'll find that you don’t need the chain anymore,” Nathym stopped her. She looked quite confused by this prospect. “Instead, grab it by the ring. There you’ll find a small button. Then, swing it as you would when the chain was attached while holding the button down.” Kada swung it with a vertical slash. The rest of the anchor detached from the ring and flew out. It crashed down into the ground a ways away, following Kada’s motions.
“It uses a certain type of magnetism to control the anchor, and not just that, it treats it as if there was an invisible chain as well,” Nathym explained. “If you release the button the anchor will start to reel in. Think of it like one of those fancy dog leashes. I’m sure it will take some getting used to, but should prove a much more versatile weapon. That’s not the best part, though, in my humble opinion.”
“Really?! The anchor that flies around like magic isn’t the best part?” Kada raved. “Nathym sweetie, you’ll be drowning in girls if you spoiled them all like this. If I wasn’t already predisposed I’d be leaning towards locking you down myself.”
Nathym laughed nervously at this comment, doing his best to move past it. “To start, what you’ll want to do is hold the anchor up horizontally, as if it was lying flat on the ground.”
Kada did as instructed, but as she held it, she noticed a mark branded on the inside of the ring. It was a six-toothed cog split in half. “Huh, I feel like I know this brand,” Kada announced. “The Enigmatic Engineer, wasn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah, that’s me,” Nathym confirmed. “I didn’t mean to do that, sorry. I must have put it on there out of habit.”
“It all makes sense now why this stuff is so awesome,” Kada realized. “The Enigmatic Engineer’s works are legendary. Originally, I wanted to commission a weapon from you, but I heard the waiting list is insane and that you reject most of it. So I guess this is kind of like a dream come true.”
“I’m flattered,” Nathym said sheepishly. “I do wish I could have made everyone’s requests, but after that title got so famous I was swamped with orders. I had to become a lot more picky with what I’d make. Honestly, I could probably make everything in a reasonable amount of time, but the stuff I make has the highest potential to be used for nefarious purposes. So, I began to vet my clients, only wanting to make things I believed would be beneficial for mankind in the end.
“I would also release items to the public that I believed to be something everyone could benefit from. That’s all in the past now, though. I officially shut down my website and now my services are exclusively for the For Hires from here on out. Though I may still continue to work on items that help the general populous if I can find the time.”
“Jeez, it makes me wonder what kind of dirt Drim has on you to get you to join,” Kada wondered. “I should have guessed that the Enigmatic Engineer was a Fiend this whole time… Sorry, I interrupted your instructions. What do I do now?”
“Spin the stock 90° to your right,” Nathym resumed. Thankfully, Kada grew up in a port town and actually knew what the parts of the anchor were known as. Otherwise, she wouldn’t know that’s what the smaller limbs near the ring were called. After she spun it so that it was now vertical, the stock clicked into place, causing her to jump for a second as the arms at the bottom suddenly split apart. Both sides split in half, causing the arms to become four parts, forming an x. This made it much easier to balance, similar to crossbows and ballista of a similar design. There was also now a hole at the center of the arms, where the crown was previously.
“Next, you need to pull the stock to the right, kind of like if you were opening a cabinet,” Nathym continued. She tugged on the metal, and the ring and stock spun out to the side on a hinge she couldn’t see. There was a new opening on this side too, and she could see light coming through from the other side. She began to have musings about where he was going with this, and was getting quite excited and eager with anticipation. “Now take the sphere with the anvil in it and put it inside.”
Once she slotted it in, the anchor began to act on its own once more. The ball on the top end of the stock opened up, a laser sight appearing in the gap. A knob appeared on the bottom ball with a button in the middle of it. “You use the knob to dictate how powerful you want it to be, then push the button when you’re ready to fire,” Nathym explained. “I suggest you start out on a lower setting, and be sure to only aim at something you really don’t mind breaking.”
“Forget that! We’re going full blast!” Kada roared. She cranked the knob all the way to the maximum, and before anyone could stop her, she aimed at the mountain that she and Xard had been working on breaking down. After a light press of the button, the sphere came shooting out of it at blazing speed. Kada knew what she had to do now on instinct. She unmelted the anvil inside, and it broke out of the sphere. It soared over the top of the border wall, and straight into the mountain. There was a booming crack and then the anvil was nowhere to be seen. Only a deep dark anvil shaped hole in the mountain remained.
“I love it!” Kada gushed. “I love it so much, it’s the best present I’ve ever gotten! Someone bring me a bomb. I need a bomb! I need to make something explode! If I don’t make something explode right now, I’m going to explode! Someone bring me a—” Kada’s demeanor suddenly went from ecstatic hyperness to a calm mellow as a puff of green dust hit her face.
Drim was holding a flower just beneath it. “I knew that was going to happen, so I had this ready. How do you feel, Kada?”
“I’m good,” Kada said slowly with very little enthusiasm. Her eyes went lax, almost looking like she was sleepwalking. “I think I’m just going to chill for a bit.”
“Alright Xard, now I have a few things for you too,” Nathym moved on. Xard seemed genuinely surprised by this, and a little weary, since he was prone to break anything he used in combat. “I will have to admit, you were a tricky one. You have such natural defensive capabilities that no amount of armor that I could make you would help. In fact, it would just hinder you since you wouldn’t be able to absorb impacts, so it would lessen your offensive capabilities in the process. However, I believe there is one weak spot: the back of your head.”
“You have to activate your Curse, so a well-timed surprise shot to the back of your head would almost certainly kill you outright. Anywhere else on your body you would most likely notice beforehand, and if you didn’t, it probably wouldn’t kill you right away because of being a Fiend. So, I made you this headpiece.” Out of the other suitcase, Nathym pulled out what looked like a red piece of circular plastic, almost like a bulky tiara. “Since you already keep the hair in this area well groomed, it should fit perfectly. You wear it around the back with the thin ends just above your ears.”
Xard took it with a bit of hesitation since he wasn’t overly ecstatic to wear it, but felt much better once he tried it on. “Wow, I can’t even really feel it’s there,” Xard expressed his comfort.
“It’s hard to make out too. It blends in with your hair so well,” Drim added.
“Yeah, I tried to make it as convenient as possible for you, since you should wear it basically all the time. It’s also waterproof, so it would be fine to bathe with it on,” Nathym elaborated. “In terms of potentially saving your life, that’s about all I could come up with.”
“Figuring out what you could use as a weapon was even harder. I originally started looking into things you could funnel energy into, but the results were that they wouldn’t be much help if you learned how to control how well you expend energy from your body. That’s when I came to realize that it was dumb to even try and develop a weapon for you, since you are the weapon. So in the end, I came up with these…”
Nathym pulled out what looked like a small jewelry case, and opened it in front of Xard. Inside were four rings. Three of them were lined up in a row, with the fourth at the top with a chain around it. There was a small trinket adorning the top of each of the rings, each depicting something different. For the three rings it was a bullet, a grenade, and a missle. On the last ring was a radioactive hazard icon.
“Go ahead and put those three on. Oh, I should probably say that they’ll-” Nathym tried to warn him, but it was too late. Xard put a ring on each of his left pointer, middle, and ring fingers, and then immediately began screaming in pain. “Yeah, that will happen, sorry,” Nathym apologized. “They’re fusing with your nerves at the moment, the pain should subside soon. I don’t really recommend ever taking them off since you’ll have to go through that each time, but if you want to, you can press down on the icons and they’ll release themselves.”
“These rings activate when you try to draw energy from them with your Curse. They’ll give off an amount of energy around that of the icons on them. However, they can’t be used unlimitedly. Each ring has a cooldown before it can be used again, proportionate to how much energy it provides. For the bullet, which is about the same as one fired from a high powered rifle, the cooldown is a little less than a second. The grenade is around five seconds, and the missile is about thirty seconds.”
Xard now understood the training Drim had been putting him through. It was to let him select which ring he wanted to draw from without doing all of them at once. “It’s up to you to get creative with how you use the energy. For example, with the bullet you could fire it off as one big blast or several weaker ones. I’m not really super creative with stuff like this, but another idea I had was to use the energy from the grenade ring and fire it through each of your fingers. Then you’d have something akin to a shotgun.”
Xard gave the bullet ring a test fire. He activated his Curse and focused it on that finger. The energy surged into him as if he had been hit by an outside force. He pointed a finger on his right hand towards the mountain and let it loose. The damage wasn’t as wild as Kada’s, but there was still a noticeable hole.
Xard pushed his hand to his eyes and began to well up, becoming suddenly emotional. Until now, he had always felt his Curse to be lacking. It was great defensively, but relied too much on an opponent to be able to fight back. With this, he could now go on the offensive with the others. “Thank you, Nathym,” Xard said sincerely. “This is more than I could ever ask for. Should I put the last ring on too?”
“No, please don’t,” Nathym said with a sudden seriousness, almost hostile. “That ring has the same destructive capabilities as a nuclear bomb, and I will only give it to you if you promise me that you will only use it in case of an absolute emergency. Even then, I don’t want you wearing it for any reason except for when you’d use it, which is why it’s on a chain. The ring will break on use, so it’s one time only. I also can’t promise that your body will come out unscathed from such a massive intake of energy at once.”
“Wow, that’s quite the responsibility,” Xard was a little stunned. “I swear that I will only use it if there’s no other option.” He took the chain and wrapped it around his neck.
“Thanks, sorry to get so heavy there. I just don’t want someone to get hurt on accident by one of my inventions again,” Nathym admitted. “Anyways, I do have one more thing for you.”
“Kada’s right, you’re going to attract all the ladies. Maybe even a few gay guys too,” Xard quipped.
Nathym let out a nervous laugh once more. “Well uhh… I heard you had some trouble picking out a combat outfit since everything is destroyed so easily because of your Curse. Go ahead and undress out of everything except your underwear please.”
“You’re making me much less enthusiastic for this gift,” Xard groaned. “But if it’s as amazing as everything else, I’ll have to trust you.” He disrobed as Nathym pulled out the last item from the suitcase. “It’s a… it’s a sack…” Xard listlessly said as he stared at it. It indeed did look like a sack attached to a pair of shoes. It was made up of a red fabric, with several dark gray plates strewn about that looked like pieces of body armor; all of them differently shaped.
Nathym gave a small chuckle and said, “I know what it looks like, but just trust me on this okay. Put the shoes on, then you should find some noticeable arm holes to stick yours through. Once it’s on, tap your headpiece twice and it will sync up.” Xard finagled his almost naked body inside the baggy fabric, feeling more unsure about this by the second. He finally got his arms through the holes and tapped his headpiece. All of the fabric tightened around him, bringing all of the plates close together, forming a skin tight suit.
There were no sleeves, leaving his arms completely bare, but there were two large shoulder pads. They were a bit more streamlined than what someone in sports would use, and seemed to be made of a softer material. The plates covered the rest of his body entirely, except for where it would make it hard to move like the inside of his thighs. Finally, as a purely cosmetic piece, was a red banner attached to his left hip. It extended just past his knee and had golden trim, with a golden Fiends For Hire logo embroidered on it.
“Heh, nice butt Xard,” Kada snickered slowly from the side. Xard turned his head to get a glance. It was true that the suit formed to him more than he would have liked, but couldn’t deny that he appreciated how it made his butt look. The past months of rigorous exercise were paying off.
“I do really like the design,” Xard complimented the outfit. “It makes me feel… I don’t know… respectable? Like, now I’ll look like someone to be taken seriously instead of running around in rags. The banner is also a nice touch, and of course it’s color coordinated… Though I kind of always imagined myself in either a cape or cloak, kind of like Drim’s.”
“No cloaks!” Drim suddenly said sternly. “Cloaks are my thing. Get your own.”
“Okay... let me explain some of the features,” Nathym interrupted their fashion discussion. “Obviously, the most important one is that it’s durable. Your energy will pass through it like it isn’t even there most of the time. It may cut it if you focus it finely like a blade, but if you or anything else does manage to cut it, it will reform itself as long as there is extra material available. This is one of the main reasons it is so big to begin with. Next, the shoulder pads. Those are shock absorbers for when you have extra energy with nowhere to put it. After a bit of study, it seemed that your shoulders are one of the least likely areas where you’d get hit.”
“That makes sense,” Xard agreed. “I have run into that situation in the past. I’d rather not fire blindly, so I appreciate it. What about the rest of these panels, are they shock absorbers too? Because I kind of feel like that would be counter intuitive to absorbing energy from others.”
“No, those are shock enhancers,” Nathym corrected him. “They should increase any impact you receive by around double. Lastly, your shoes; Energy will completely pass through them as well, and will help you keep your balance even when high in the air.”
“So wait…” Xard pondered for a second. “You’re saying I could fly.”
“Well to be a bit more technical about it, you would be applying energy in bursts to maintain height and speed, but I guess in laymans terms and with enough practice, yes, you’d be able to fly,” Nathym responded.
“Okay, I’m going to give it a try,” Xard said as he walked a few paces away. He absorbed the energy from the missile ring and sent a strong blast through his feet. Now he was in the air, about 50 feet above the ground and still managing to keep upright. He absorbed the grenade ring, and expelled the energy slowly to keep him hovering.
There was definitely a good amount of assistance coming from his shoes keeping him balanced, because he felt he’d be spinning out of control otherwise. He decided to try moving forward a bit, but let out too much energy, causing him to spin and lose his composure. A second later he crashed back down on the ground, the back of his head being the point of impact.
“Alright, I completely understand the point of this headpiece now,” Xard groaned as he rubbed his head. After a second of recuperating himself, he asked, “This stuff is incredible. As far as I know it completely defies the laws of energy. You’re creating it from essentially nothing and creating more from energy that already exists. How does any of this stuff work?”
“Uhh Xard, it’s probably better if you don’t ask that,” Drim cut in, with a bit of a worried tone.
“It’s fine, Drim,” Nathym assured him. “It’s probably better if it’s not a secret. The truth is, I don’t know.”
“Wait, are you serious?!” Xard exclaimed. “How is that even possible if you’re the one who made it?”
“My Curse is called Blueprint,” Nathym answered. “I think of something and then it tells me how to make it, what I need to make it, how to use it, and imparts the skills I need to be able to create whatever it is. Essentially, I just follow a preset list of instructions. I understand if that makes you trust the equipment less. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“It’s why I had to adopt the alias of Enigmatic Engineer, though that wasn’t what I went by originally. I’ve found that for some reason, people trust an invention from a completely anonymous source more than someone who is unable to explain it. After all, the name Nathym Cyper is blacklisted in the scientific community.”