“I leveled up,” Freya said. “Like a lot.”

They were still sitting by the grove, Logan leaning against the trunk of a Numa Fruit Tree and Freya leaning against him. King Sluikumar had ordered tables and food be brought to the grove for a picnic. Logan wasn’t sure if this constant feasting was for the benefit of the guests or the hosts, but he and Tumor wouldn’t say no to some more pie.

“That’s cheating!” Logan protested. “I didn’t get anything.”

“You got me,” Freya said smugly.

Logan pulled her in more snugly.“Can’t lie, that’s a hell of a prize.”

“And besides,” Freya said. “I did things to you.”

“Yeah you did,” Logan said, grinning. “Snoff’s bed won't be the same ever.”

Freya giggled. “I was talking about the Armor, idiot.”

Logan perked up. “Oh yeah…”

[I completed assessing the changes made by [Bless] 3 minutes and 40 seconds ago. The changes are… substantial.]

“Well don’t hold me in suspense.”

Freya grunted. “I wish I could hear Tumor.”

“Most of what you’re missing is unnecessary math,” Logan said. “But he’s nice.”

[Not only did the [Bless] enhance the function of all existing [Enchantments] by approximately 15%, it also created more room for further magic to be contained within the Armor.]

“Holy shit,” Logan said.

“That good?” Freya said, again rather smugly.

Logan grabbed her head and kissed her forehead. “You’re amazing.”

“I know.”

[That is not all. The natural properties of the Armor have also been augmented. It is… Difficult to explain, but it is much more maneuverable to me now, and I am more sensitive to it. We must test this later, but I am 96.81% certain I will level up faster while managing the Armor.]

Tumor told him some more of the details it deemed important and then insisted with a persistence only a machine could achieve that they would conduct tests. Logan sighed and got up. The limp leg felt even smoother getting up than before.

Wait a minute… Felt?

Yes, Logan wasn’t dreaming it up. There was a faint phantom tingle and even the outline of a feeling of the muscles moving. That was most likely more of an illusion than actual muscle work, but Logan could at least feel something.

“Tumor…” Logan started.

[I have sensed it. This is very good. It seems Freya’s [Bless] did something to your body as well. I should run… Hmmm… Yes, your constitution is stronger. Your VO2 max has also increased by 15%... How peculiar. Is this permanent or temporary? In any case, this has saved your leg from muscle atrophy and in the worst case scenario, necrosis.]

Logan gulped as he imagined a black and glistening gangrenous leg encased in the black armor, just rotting away. “You didn’t tell me that could happen!”

[I deemed it better to omit. There was only a 17.65% chance that you would require immediate amputation.]

“SEVENTEEN PERCENT!?”

[Now, this is exactly why—]

Logan exhaled. Slowly. “How about… Next time you tell me?”

*

After Tumor was satisfied by Logan benchmarking his strength, speed, jump height, agility and every and all conceivable physical dimension of Logan’s body with the Armor, Logan collapsed on the ground.

Snoff had come to watch the theatrics with Freya, and together they chatted and munched on bread and jam as they watched Logan do cartwheels and sprints.

When Logan had some of his breath back, he got up. “I do feel that I have better stamina now.”

“Oh for a certainty!” Snoff exclaimed. “I have already told all of my friends of your escapades in my abode yesternight. They were most impressed.”

Logan and Freya shared a pained and amused look.

“Tumor, I have some ideas for further [Enchantments]. I want to do something else than just augment our current abilities.”

[What do you have in mind?]

“What about a projectile weapon?” Logan mused. “Could we shoot pellets made of this Armor? Little black bullets that zip out of my palm and then return after hitting something?”

[Most interesting. We should definitely try that. It would indeed challenge my facilities as a [Machine Soul] and it would be an interesting project to collect data from.]

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Logan asked the right questions and Tumor ran the math. It wasn’t quite as simple as just making the Armor better. This would require either an [Enchantment] from Logan or acute control from Tumor to get the metal balls to return.

They deemed it better if Logan did the work on this one, since he had already succeeded in making a return [Enchantment] with the Scythe-rang. However, it would be tricky, since it would need to be a different piece of metal than the Armor. Or maybe they should only enchant a part of the Armor. Logan wasn’t sure how that would work…

They contemplated on the merits of using the spatial storage as a bullet magazine for the pellets, but that would be a much too expensive solution. Of course, Logan could create a smaller storage space, maybe the size of a cubic foot.

They did have a spatial storage full of that precious black metal. The problem was that it was of limited supply and clearly extremely valuable. Logan wanted the biggest and baddest Armor ever, but he needed to be a responsible adult here and with a cool head decide whether or not the black metal would serve the settlement by the pond better.

Tumor wasn’t having it, and was going for the full devil’s advocate route.

[We do not need to use much of the metal to acquire this new, exciting weapon. Moreover, your martial prowess is a prerequisite for acquiring more of the metal, if we assume it is deep underground where monsters lay.]

“Goddamn it, Tumor,” Logan muttered as he accepted a piece of bread with jam from Freya. “What if there isn’t more? We will need to make sustainable Numa batteries out of this metal.”

[Assessing Logan’s psychological tendencies…]

[Adjusting reasoning faculties…]

[...]

[We can always use your abilities and repurpose the metal if we decide otherwise. We will only be spending Numa this way, of which we have plenty for now, in terms of your ambient gathering and the Numa Fruit you have been ingesting.]

“Damn it, you’re right,” Logan said.

With that, Logan opened the dimensional space in his Armor, to the great excitement of Freya and the few Faelves around them. From within Logan plucked a piece of black metal. It was a smooth edged ring, a foot in diameter. A stray ray of orange sunlight hit it through the canopies, giving it a soft, eerie glow. The metal weighed probably around a pound, although it was still hard for Logan to assess these things with his enhanced physicality through the Armor.

[Slightly over one pound, yes. Enough for our project.]

That was all Logan needed to know. He knelt down. Freya scooted closer to see.

“[Mass Produce].”

[Skill Level Up!]

[Mass Production level 6]

[Attribute Level Up!]

[Focus: 30]

[Control: 30]

The ring turned into large cylindrical bullets, like the modern ammunition on earth. Logan had no reason to give them any other shape, other than the most efficient military engineering had produced already on Earth. From that one pound, weighing a little over 7000 grains, Logan produced 36 smooth black bullets, mimicking the size and weight of a 0.300 caliber sniper rifle round.

That’s an extra pound of weight on my body… Well I suppose with Frey’s [Bless] we can handle the extra load.

[Especially if we eventually manage to get your leg in working order. I am allocating an inordinate amount of computing and actual power of the Armor to keep us moving smoothly. The opportunity cost is noticeable.]

“We’ll work on that,” Logan muttered to himself and really hoped they could. The relationship with his father’s camp and by extension the [Healer] therein was icy, but maybe they could trade something to get Logan’s leg healed.

Is that selfish? Should we have a vote on my leg? I can’t just use common good resources for my own right? That’s literal corruption?

[Your leg being operational and thus your martial prowess through which you both protect the people and acquire resources for them is ‘common good’.]

“How can you be sure?” Logan said and pensively thumbed one of the black bullets he had just made.

[I could show you the math.]

Logan made a face. “You know what? I’m sure you’re right. But I’ll still run it by a few people to make sure.”

Freya brought Logan another shimmering blue fruit and Logan kissed her arm when she handed it to her. She sat next to him and leaned her chin on Logan’s shoulder.

“What comes next, Mr. Engineer?”

“I’m thinking,” Logan said distractedly.

“I know,” Freya said. “You always have that face.”

“Next comes enchanting these bullets. I want them to have the basic stuff, you know. They need to be infused with Numa. I think I will [Empower] them. Then of course penetrative power, weight increasing with velocity, resistance to wind and friction in the air…”

Freya scoffed. “Weight increasing with velocity… What kind of mathemagics is this? Since when are you smart?”

Logan laughed. “Since Tumor. He does all the drag coefficient stuff and other geek magic.”

“You guys make a good team,” she said.

“We do,” Logan admitted. Freya smelled amazing. “But you’re just saying that because you think the Armor is a uniform.”

Even through the Armor, Logan could feel Freya’s cheek drawing up in a lopsided grin. “What can I say? You look sexy in a uniform.”

“It’s not a…” Logan gave up. He nudged her gently “You know what. You’re distracting.”

Freya whined. “Noo… I’m moral support.”

“You be quiet moral support then.”

“Yessir.”

Logan rolled his eyes.

“Ok, Tumor. Can you possess a bullet?”

Logan and Tumor ran through some tests. The idea was to imbed the bullets into the Armor as a part of the liquid metal construct and then be possessed, shot out and guided by Tumor during their trajectory.

Tumor could indeed possess a bullet, but it was difficult assimilating the bullet into the Armor, and then shooting it out and making it take form and solidify again. They worked for long enough to consume two more E-grade Numa Fruits and for Freya to get completely bored with their tinkering.

[Sub-class Level Up!]

[Enchantment level 30]

[Attribute Level Up!]

[Potency: 32]

[Efficiency: 35]

“Finally!”

[This is adequate. My simulations give me confidence to say that I will be able to fully assimilate the bullets and possess them throughout their full trajectory later, when my attributes are higher level.]

“Usually the things we would have to shoot are big and ugly,” Logan said, satisfied with finally being able to lean back. The bullets would be attached to both sides of Logan’s forearm, 18 bullets per arm. From there Tumor could manipulate them enough both through the Armor and possessing the bullets to give them a reasonable accuracy.

[The accuracy is not reasonable, I am only able to guide the trajectory for the first thirty feet, which is the first 0.0109 seconds. This is not aiming, it is divination.]

“Hey, as long as the bad guys die,” Logan said.

[Very well. But now we must practice shooting.]

Logan went up to one of the Faelves to consult where they could practice shooting magical bullets safely. The Faelves were unanimously not thrilled with the idea, because Logan’s Armor and all of its tricks and antics were apparently “suspicious machinations”. However a young Faelf of green porcelain skin called Fleafmar took them to an old and shriveled grove that was full of withered trees. With a few Numa fruits in tow, Logan and Tumor began practicing.

Their training was interrupted after an hour by a frantic Snoff gasping for air as he stumbled to the abandoned grove. Logan stopped and looked at the wheezing Faelf.

“Logan! ‘Tis your old camp! There be great trouble!”