Greile checked the door after he heard a knock, and found it to be Axel, Cordelia, and Magnus. Why Magnus was the only one of the three who hadn't used their real names, he didn't know.
"Hey Sam, sorry we're late," Axel addressed him, "Magnus got waylaid on his way to log out. Are you ready to go get your partner?"
"Yeah, I'm ready," he responded, stepping out.
"You've got your I.D.?"
"Yes, thank you," he replied once more in the affirmative as he closed and locked the fairly new door of the place he was being housed.
"Good, let's get going," Axel said.
The group headed over to a van parked at the curb. Seeing this, Greile gave a questioning look.
"My car isn't built to hold five, so I borrowed one of the vans we use for ferrying people for demonstrations at events revolving around the game," Axel told him. "It's more economical than some of the other options, and will fit all of us with ease. Especially considering the surprise."
Cordelia grimaced at her brother's words, as Magnus tried to get him to stop speaking to no effect.
"Surprise?"
"You'll see when we get there," Cordelia told him, shaking her head.
"That's right, so no more ruining the surprise," Magnus told Axel with a disapproving look.
"Oops," Axel responded. "Tell you what, I'll make up for it by buying us all dinner at a nice restaurant I know before we head over."
It turned out the restaurant was more than just nice, it was quite fancy, and Sam felt quite out of his element in the place. Still, he didn't say anything. After all, when Magnus pointed out how they didn't exactly fit in, Axel had responded, "Bah, leave me alone, I'm showing our new friend what one of these places is like in the real world."
Sam was impressed by the atmosphere of the place, but didn't really see the point. He was a simple man, and didn't much understand the appeal of such places himself.
Halfway through their meal, some activists decided to crash the party and intimidate the group, but Axel wasn't one to let himself, or his friends be bullied, and had them removed. As the owner was a good friend of the man, he obliged him, and even apologized to his friend, and his guests for the interruption of their meal.
When they finished, they found the activists trying to make a stink, but Axel and company ignored them as they entered their van and drove off. Axel and Magnus were even so cheeky as to wave at the activists as they walked past. Sam couldn't help looking uncomfortable, considering his past, but the three formed a protective layer around him. It also helped that the restaurant provided security to protect the group from the activists, and keep the peace, so he was able to keep his fears under some modicum of control until they entered the van, and he was finally able to let out a sigh of relief.
"Sorry Sam, didn't expect they'd come to find us like that," Axel said, giving him an apologetic look.
Sam just shook his head, it wasn't Axel's fault those people had tried to come after them, and attempted to intimidate them. If anything, he felt like he dragged the others down. If it hadn't been for the three, he would likely have repeated the same situation that occurred on his first meeting with Maggie, only this time the media would have had a field day with it, and villainized him even though these activist groups were the ones using villainous tactics such as intimidation and extortion. These people were absolute hypocrites who acted like they were saints while they intimidated companies into doing their bidding, and even extorted them while using their "causes" and "charities" to move the funds to achieve their own goals, and line their own pockets.
He let out a sigh, if it hadn't been for his friends, it very simply would have worked, but it was possible it wouldn't work now. Or so he hoped, he really wasn't certain what would happen now. It really could have very easily gotten much worse, he would have freaked without their support, so he really felt he owed the three.
-----
"Damn it! What are these morons doing?! This crap just makes that boy look like a victim! He was hiding behind his friends the entire time! Hell, he was hiding under the table for half that encounter and looking absolutely terrified! Which idiot had the bright idea of doing this live! Get that shit off the airwaves, NOW!"
"Yes, Sir," someone responded, and rushed to make the call.
"Well, on the plus side, we can use this to get the edge over The Guide Company," someone said.
"What do you mean?"
"If we selectively edit the footage, we can make Axel look like the aggressor, and maybe even make that Maggie look like a villain too, maybe, possibly," the person said, not seeming too certain they could accomplish that last part.
"What about the footage that has already been seen?"
"If we repeat the view we want people to believe often enough, the people will begin to believe what we want them to believe is the truth," the person responded. "Once that happens..."
"They'll be putty in our hands, brilliant! Run with it!"
-----
The group left in the company van, and soon arrived at a rather large store that sold gravoid models, VR Pods for the game, and numerous other products.
"Hello, and Welcome to Serous's Gravoid Emporium, where we have all your gravoid needs. How may I help you," they were greeted by a salesperson as they entered the building.
"Hello, we have an existing order under the name, Samuel Colt," Maggie stated.
"Oh my goodness! It's Maggie," one of the employees freaked out as they noticed him, "and Axel, and Cordelia too! Who's this with you, oh wait, don't tell me, this must be Greile," the person rattled off like a gatling gun. They soon seemed to realize something, saying, "I'm very sorry for what has happened to you," and bowing toward Sam.
"Um, sorry about this, Gillian is a big fan of Maggie's, and while he appears like a female, he's actually a homosexual," the woman who had first greeted them said.
"Not anymore! I've decided to embrace myself as I was born," Gillian said, "You have been a great help in letting me decide to just be myself. I've always wanted to do so, but felt a great pressure to be this image that simply wasn't me. Your story was such an inspiration to me, you know! I know this sounds bad, but I just wanted to say thank you!"
Sam was shocked to find the very feminine Gillian, whom he actually couldn't tell apart from a female was actually a male who had gained the courage to embrace his real identity from Maggie's and his story. He involuntarily tensed up upon hearing he was homosexual, but had been able to relax a bit after hearing him speak up for himself.
"Anyway, you said you have an order under Samuel Colt," the man continued, "Let me see if I can bring it up."
"You do know they're my customers, right," the woman asked.
"Don't sweat it, sweetheart, I'm just helping you out," the man replied, typing very swiftly.
The woman blushed at his words, but didn't respond otherwise. He soon pulled up the record of the sale.
"Here it is, Sweetheart," he said, and showed her the invoice number. "Ho, this order comes straight from the top of Gravoid Industries, interesting. Seems they're already paid for."
"Indeed, it seems that the order is already fully entered, and is almost complete, although I've never seen this unit number."
"That's because it's not a unit," the man singsonged much like Magnus. "The order is for something much more amazing! You'll see in around fifteen minutes!"
"I, see, is there anything else I can help you with in the meantime?"
"Can you show us to one of the gravoid printers," Axel asked, "We'd like to print out a unit, and some equipment."
"Would you like a standard unit, a remote controlled unit, or a self-propelled unit?"
"Let's go with a self-propelled unit with neural network remote," Axel said, "That should work out best, and the self-propelled units contain a fully self-contained power unit, anti-gravity, and particle emission systems. Although they have no weaponry, you can use them to practice piloting a gravoid outside the game."
"Will you install an A.I.?"
"No, there's no need," Axel responded. "We'll go with a self-levelling system, but no A.I. Before that Sam, you'll need to use your sign in to access the data they'll need."
"It's actually for the production unit, we don't access that information at all, you access it, and set the parameters. Aside from the order I'm inputting, you will have full control over what's printed out. You can even install already acquired parts that you have not yet installed, or purchase other parts with which to modify your unit, if you so desire. We have many people who modify their unit using printed parts from ready built units."
"I... See," Sam wasn't sure how to respond, so he ended up dragging out his response.
"It's not necessary, but you may even find a way to modify your unit if you look around, and add something you didn't think of," Cordelia told him. "Although you shouldn't despecialize too much."
"That's right," Magnus added, "but you still might find something interesting to add."
"Let's go over to the parts printer, and get you setup," the woman attendant told him.
"Toodles," the man said, moving his hands in a very feminine goodbye gesture.
Sam and the others followed the woman over to the unit printer, where Sam logged into his gravoid account, and inputted everything that he wanted to print out. It even allowed him to equip the ability on the gravoid, which he hadn't thought to do before logging out of the game. Once he was ready, he pressed the print option, and it automatically logged him out of the account, and deleted the account data, leaving only the design for printing in the memory until the order was complete.
"Good, now, it should begin printing, and include all the services and parts I included with the order in it's production. We'll make sure everything prints out properly before we complete the order. There's just one question that remains, do you wish to purchase paints, and other products so you can customize the unit beyond what the system provides?"
"Um, I don't know," Greile responded.
"I'd suggest you do," Axel said, "Your unit might be nice, and it's certainly got it's own flair, but you should really consider customizing the unit. We'll teach you how to do that."
"That's right," Maggie added, "I'll help you learn."
"As will I," Cordelia gave her two cents.
"Isn't that nice? You'll be learning from three experts," Axel mused, "Well, maybe not experts. After all, we don't think we know it all, unlike those so-called experts on T.V. Anyway, let's triple the order, in case we need to start over again."
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"I think it would be best to prepare three for practice, and a final one for Sam to complete for himself. Our teaching styles and techniques are all different," Cordelia suggested.
"Hmm, good idea, but let's go with five, in case he needs it."
"Fourteen," Magnus suddenly said.
"Why in the world would he need fourteen copies," the saleswoman asked, her jaw almost dropping at the original numbers the others were already bringing out up to this point.
"Ah, good idea, that will allow him plenty of unit copies to refine his production, and get the best possible bonuses. It would be a shame to waste the potential of such a unit by not preparing ahead. I'll cover the extra units aside from the first one."
"Half," Cordelia responded, "We'll pay for the rest. It was Mags's idea after all."
"Alright," Axel didn't argue, and accepted her words without argument. "Then we'll purchase fourteen additional units, seven each."
"Um, guys, isn't that a bit much," Sam asked.
"Nonsense," Cordelia responded, "It will take a lot of attempts for you to perfect your production, and such a unit deserves a chance to show it's best possible strength and performance."
"You're talking like it's a unit no one will ever see again," the woman said, with a wry look, as she adjusted the order, and the system showed the adjustments.
"I've never seen it's like before, and I highly doubt I ever will again," Axel said.
"That's riight~!"
"Indeed."
Sam couldn't help wondering what they would say if he told them the unit wasn't even fully complete yet. He decided it was best to avoid telling them, so that they didn't splurge anymore than they already were. This couldn't be a cheap expense they were making, and he didn't want them increasing it further.
The printing process continued, and the woman soon dismissed herself for the time being. She did, however, return shortly thereafter with a beauty in tow. Seeing Hevna in the game was one thing, but seeing her in real life was a completely different thing. Sam had expected the woman to be made of some kind of synthetic materials, but instead he was greeted with the sight of someone who was quite obviously flesh and blood.
"Greetings, Master Samuel," Hevna greeted him in the same manner as she had used while greeting him as Greile. She then gave him a hug, which he hadn't expected. She was warm, and so soft. "It is good to see you with the same eyes as you see the world from."
"Hevna? How did this..."
"It's thanks to Sir Magnus," she responded, "He made a request, and father decided to grant it. So, I am here, no longer a member of my world, as I was."
"Ping didn't explain what the code meant until I was going to pick her up. I didn't believe it myself when he first told me, but I was forced to admit his words were true upon going to retrieve her. This is pretty shocking, I'm not gonna lie."
"No shit," Axel said, it was the first, and last time Sam ever heard him cuss.
Sam couldn't help asking, "Why'd you do this... for me?"
"I couldn't help thinking what a cute couple you two made, and besides, I thought it would be nice for you to have someone there for you, like Cordelia is there for me," the effeminate man responded, smiling at him. "He offered a request, so I gave him this one, hoping it might work out. He laughed, and said he would gladly do so."
"Thank you for thinking of My Master," Hevna told him.
"I'm not your master," Sam responded, shaking his head. "If anything, from now on we're partners, you aren't a slave."
"I'm not a slave, but I am a maid," she responded, genuinely smiling at his response, but correcting him nonetheless. "As such, you are my master, however, if you will accept me, I am willing to accede to Sir Magnus's implied request, and become your lifelong partner."
"Wife, the term is wife," Cordelia corrected. "Anyway, I think it's best we leave things as they are for now, and let Sam think over it. Hevna, we didn't come here to bring you into the world as property. I'm sure Sam agrees that you will be treated as a person, and not a thing."
Sam was a bit overwhelmed, especially by this beauty consenting to becoming his wife if he so chose, but he managed a nod at Cordelia's words, as it was definitely something he would have said himself, if he could manage it.
"Cute," he heard Hevna mutter, and blushed at the word being leveled at him.
"He really is, isn't he," Magnus agreed, and Cordelia nodded.
Sam was utterly embarrassed by these three, and just awkwardly turned to watch the printer proceed with it's production.
For her part, the woman attendant couldn't help agreeing that an embarrassed Sam was cute, although not her cup of tea. Why this beauty was so willing to be with him, she wasn't sure, but to each her own. If the woman wanted to be with him, it was her own decision, and who was she to judge. After all, she had been interested in a gay guy who had just now declared he would no longer continue to be homosexual. She just hoped she could have some degree of the mental fortitude this woman had shown, and make certain to show her own interest.
The printing took a while, What with fifteen copies of the same unit being printed, this was certainly not unexpected either. Sam stood there patiently, while the others took chances to take a look at various goods when they did get bored. Eventually, the printing completed, but not before Hevna's stomach could meekly make known it's need for food. This brought some embarrassment for the buxom beauty, but he simply offered to get her a meal on the way home. She was touched by his response, and accepted graciously.
When the printer was done, they headed back to the registers, and Magnus and his family made good on their promise of earlier, each paying for the further seven gravoid unit prints each had promised. In addition to this, they bought a kit of paints, and airbrush paints, as well as an air brush painter, paintbrushes, and various decals. He protested this expenditure, but when Hevna showed an interest, he could no longer argue over it, and gave in. It was quite easy for the others to see that she already had him wrapped around her finger, if only she wished for him to be, and he would be at her beck and call if she so desired. Thankfully, she did not have a desire to manipulate him, and instead had clearly stepped in to assist his friends in getting him to accept the good will they had for him.
In truth, so many prints of the gravoid shouldn't have been necessary, but his friends were over-prepers, and he didn't know it wasn't really necessary. Fifteen copies of a unit was, indeed, overkill, yet he didn't understand this yet as he had only just started playing gravoid because he won a pod in a small contest, and had no idea about the models at all.
That being said, these three were not taking advantage of him, and were really thinking of how best to ensure he was able to complete a model at the best possible skill level. If it weren't for the tier being mythical, they would not have made such an expensive purchase, but as it was a mythical tier gravoid unit the expense was justified in their minds. They had decided to help him decorate, or even modify the unit if he so desired, on the way to pick Sam up, while in the van. They actually considered having him build another gravoid unit at first, but finally chose to print out extra copies of the unit. As the higher the tier of gravoid, the more difficult the build was, they thought it best to ensure he had as many chances as possible to complete it properly.
The four stepped out to find a crowd of "protesters" just waiting to harass them, their raucous calls already seeking to intimidate them. Still, the attempts of these people suddenly fell flat when an extremely beautiful woman stepped between them, and Greile. The crowd were stunned by this woman's appearance, this was a beauty that could topple nations, make a straight woman curved, and a curved man straight. Hevna had an outstanding appearance, and proportions that were any man's dream, while still maintaining a healthy fat distribution. Greile had done quite the good job in setting up her base appearance, and it showed. The crowd just didn't know what to do in front of this beauty.
Their group used the confusion caused by Hevna's appearance to walk through the crowd, which began to part like the Red Sea as the young woman walked forward. They entered into the van without any further harassment, and Hevna gave the crowd a small wave, and a smile before entering the van last of all. Throughout the ordeal, she had behaved in a manner befitting the highest quality of maids, and kept a beatific smile on her face, it was enough that all of them had missed the anger smouldering in her eyes.
Once they had entered the van, Hevna closed the door, and placed the bag she had been carrying down. It held a further seven gravoid models within it, three of the base unit she asked for, and two each of the gravoids she wished to use parts from to customize her new unit. The system was capable of bringing in these units through a special unit scanner within the pods. The three had tried to make her accept more, but she hadn't done so, not wishing to waste their money. She saw the wisdom in their suggestion to have multiple copies, however, and accepted an extra set of the original unit in order to ensure no mistakes kept her from being able to use it.
Hevna sat beside her new master in a demure manner, and awaited their exit from the area. She truly desired to be as far away from those who had tried to waylay Sam as possible, as quickly as possible. Thankfully, Axel obliged, and they had soon left the still shell-shocked crowd behind. Seeing this, their organizers scrambled to try to organize their people to chase after them, but the delay in their own reactions due to the appearance of Hevna had already cost them any chance to do so.
-----
"Damn it! When will these morons stop screwing up like this!" An electronic device flew across the room and slammed into the vid-screen, then fell to the ground, shattering, and destroying the vid-screen, and the device. The man stood there huffing and puffing as he looked around in anger. "Who was it?! I want them gone! This is just making our cause look worse and worse!"
The video he had just viewed had started out great, and he even had the delusion it would work for a moment. It showed the crowd gathering to protest against Greile's shopping at the store in question, a well-known gravoid shop that was strangely empty at the time. Everything had gone fine, with their paid protesters holding up signs with Greile's now famous line directed towards Maggie upon their first meeting, and chanting slogans against being called freaks. Everything was going fine until the group actually exited the shop. The "protesters" attempted to intimidate the young man and his group, but their efforts came to naught when a supremely beautiful woman had intervened, and stepped between Greile and the crowds. Her sudden appearance, outstanding beauty, and demure manner had completely disarmed the group, and they had numbly, and dumbly responded to her requests, letting her, and the group exit in peace. In fact, they had been so stunned by the woman's beauty that the crowd were muddled long enough to allow their quarry to completely leave the area before the idiot organizers revealed their intentions before a national audience on live T.V.
He couldn't help pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to find a way around this. Did these fools really have to yell out that they needed to find them in order to intimidate them?
-----
What followed that surreal experience for Sam was a number of days of learning how to build his new gravoid, and customize it under the tutorship of the three experienced builders. This also included learning how to build a few rare tier weapons the group had decided to just purchase at Serous's. One could purchase weapons and equipment for gravoids up the to rare tier at shops, although rare tier were only purchasable at specially authorized retailers such as Serous's Gravoid Emporium. Some of these places even had some older weapons of the rare tier, Serous's being one such shop. Sam had decided on a couple of weapon designs that were designed to be able to be equipped into special utility slots within the game, they could be used with main armaments, or even be used as main armaments, but their best use was in those utility slots, as additional weapons. Still, with Sam's lack of weapons, they had opted to use them as main weapons, and even purchased some over-armors to equip in utility slots and allow for Greile to be able to add an additional layer of protection. A few slots were used up for weapons still, but that had waited until he had learned how to properly build the gravoid unit, and had somewhat become proficient in it's production.
Learning from three teachers had been a bit difficult, but thankfully Cordelia was the one to start teaching him, and he had a firm foundation when he finally learned from the teaching train-wreck that was Axel. Axel might not be a good teacher, but by observation Sam had picked up a few tricks and tips he would not have otherwise learned, and he was grateful for the experience. For the next couple of weeks, he was learning, and perfecting his new gravoid unit's production. It was challenging learning the finishing, and connection processes, or rather how best to apply them, and it actually took him until his final unit to finally piece together a copy that was the best he could currently complete. Miraculously, only one unit wasn't able to be built into a functioning unit, and Hevna had actually taken parts from this, and utilized the framework to build her own custom unit that would give even the best gravoid unit builders a run for their money.
Sam found this quite troublesome, as she had simply observed the process of building, and was able to create a perfect unit on the first try, and even incorporated parts from the too damaged unit in it's production. Of course, Sam hadn't let her settle for substandard parts from that destroyed unit, and had insisted that she take the parts from one of his completed units to truly finish up the unit, at the very least, which she acquiesced to in the end. He even let his friends take parts to incorporate into their own units, which they thankfully accepted, though not without some pushing on his part in order to get them to do so. He didn't need so many units, and he had finally ended up with seven of his best produced units still together, while the rest were broken down for scrap parts for their new gravoids. Sam could later use the left over parts for building new custom units if he wished to.
Hevna actually produced two more standard units that incorporated his parts, and an original custom unit of her own. He was quite jealous of her talent, but that simply drove him to perfect his production skills before his final build was put together. In the end, he opted to use the best built parts from his remaining units to assemble it, which turned out to be a good idea. Sam was not the best builder, but there had been moments of surprising genius in which he perfectly prepared and assembled a part he otherwise had trouble with.
Once he finished the unit, Sam sat there staring at it for a bit. It had taken him quite a bit of effort, and nearly a full month with experienced builders looking over his shoulders for him to complete it. The paint job was a very light grey, bordering on a white, with turquoise shoulder pads, gloves, and boots. The turquoise was trimmed in copper, and bronze lines ran throughout the grey-white, acting as trim, and connecting to the copper trim through small connecting lines. It was really quite nice, or so he thought.
"Good job," Magnus congratulated him. Upon seeing the completed unit.
Sam frowned a bit as he looked at the unit, thinking something was missing, but not sure what it was. He really didn't think he should have such a feeling, but he didn't distrust it either.
The unit carried a spear, and shield, as well as numerous daggers that were equipped to the over-armors. He had also made a modification to the design of the shoulder over-armors to allow them to equip a pair of ranged weapons, which the unit currently lacked. The shoulder mounted particle guns weren't exactly powerful, but they were originally anti-missile and anti-drone defenses, and would still have the capability, while allowing him to do some damage to enemy gravoids via the modifications made to them. They weren't part of the unit itself, but would still be usable while the over-armors were engaged.
Sam hadn't been able to log back into the game, there had just been too much going on. In addition to his learning how to build the model of the unit in their world, there had been problems. The so-called protesters, who were really more of a mob, had somehow found where they had put him numerous times, and so they had needed to move him each time. After all, these people weren't just stopping at harassing him, but would harass those around him, defaced the properties, broke windows, and even tried to enter the houses he was placed in. This wasn't peaceful protest, it was harassment, destruction of property, and intimidation. These were by no means a protest group, but an organized mob intent on intimidating not only their target, but everyone around him as well! The fact that these people were not being stopped, but instead protected by government agencies was very concerning!
One Cop had tried to stop these people, but been summarily fired the next day when an edited video painted him in a bad light. One would think he would be put on leave, and given a chance while an investigation commenced, but even the police union had turned on the man, and he had been given no benefit of the doubt. Sadly, Greile hadn't thought to record the interaction himself, and no others recorded the interaction, or the man may have been able to keep his job.
A day ago, the head of Gravoid Industries had suddenly contacted Axel, and arranged a meeting with Sam through him. Well, not a meeting with him, but for one of his representatives to meet the young man. This mysterious man didn't ever make a physical appearance, and instead spoke through legal representatives. Sam was supposed to meet the person he would be speaking to in a short while, and the presence of both Magnus, and Hevna were requested. Thus, Magnus was present in the location when he fully finished the gravoid.
"You should test it out using the neural control system," Magnus said, "We have enough time for a quick warm-up for the unit, but will have to leave soon. Hevna, can you get the gravoids, I don't trust that no one will break in here while we're gone, so we may as well bring everything."
"Yes I'll get the others, and the spare parts, and ready them for transport," the buxom beauty responded.
"Good, we don't want your gravoids disappearing before you can even upload the improved version into the game system," Magnus said, and then began prepping the neural link setup for the unit.
"It's so strange thinking of the method to accessing my world being a game," she responded.
Magnus kept doing what he was doing, but responded, "I know, right? It's strange for us too realizing that the game isn't simply a game. Knowing what we know changes everything."
"I have a feeling there's a great deal more to that world than we know," Sam added.
"Probably," Magnus responded, as he continued to set everything up, "I mean, we haven't really explored that much of the world yet, maybe a hundredth of a percent at most. We haven't come across any peoples outside the bases yet, but who's to say there aren't a great deal more where we haven't explored yet. The clans are content to raise up players for battling in the leagues they're still fleshing out, and simply practice against beasts and other players, so we haven't really explored much. What do you think, Hevna?"
"I don't really know much, I was prepared for my eventual master, but my knowledge isn't centered around the world. I think I remember sister speaking about others of our kind, only they weren't father's children. I'm sorry I don't remember more."
"That's okay, you probably were kept out of the loop so you couldn't spoil things the players were meant to discover, and learn on their own," Magnus suggested. "Alright, it's ready and calibrated, try it out, Sam."
Sam concentrated, and the unit came to life at his mental prompting. He thought, and the unit's emitters came online, and eight wings appeared behind it as he stared in awe at the display. Sam began to operate the unit, carefully causing it to move, and stumble. The unit reacted to his thoughts and caught itself, over-correcting and nearly falling over, but Sam managed to prevent it as he slowly grew used to controlling the unit. Still, forget running the unit through it's paces, he was just getting the hang of balancing it, let alone actually running, or flying. The wings were just too much of a distraction at this time, so he soon deactivated them, and worked at walking with the unit without falling over.
Hevna smiled as she continued packing the other units, and the various parts. She had already gone through this process herself, and knew it would take him some time to adjust. The neural controls were very different from the cockpit controls within her world, so it had taken quite the adjustment, but she had been much quicker in learning to build the units, so she had plenty of time to adjust to it by this time.
Sam worked on piloting the unit for the rest of the time they had before they had to leave. Hevna was quite impressed with her master, it would have taken her much longer than it had taken him if she had little to no knowledge of piloting gravoids. He was already showing signs of adjusting without that advantage, and she believed he would make a good pilot once he had learned the basics of piloting a gravoid in combat. He might even make a great one, depending on the effort he put in.
Despite his fairly fast progress, Sam couldn't be called a genius. By the time Magnus told him they had to leave, he was only beginning to walk falteringly with the unit. Perhaps Hevna had made a hasty assessment, but he was having fun, and gaining in proficiency by the minute. He was frustrated each time he made a silly mistake, but kept trying none-the-less.
The group soon left, taking along their stuff as a precaution. The faux protesters had shown signs of having found Greile once more, so they weren't taking chances. Hevna did most of the packing, and took great care to make sure none of the models, or their parts were left behind. Sam's hair stood on end, when the three passed a gigantic crowd headed toward the residence he had been in. They decided to avoid returning upon seeing this, but they were running out of places to stay in the area. It saddened Sam, as he had lived in this city his whole life, but these people were intent on hunting him down, and would soon drive him out at this rate, and he had no clue where he could go when that happened. Was this really how a civil society was meant to be?