"First, we need to discuss... what are you holding?" Celeste asked as I walked forward. I looked down and saw I was somehow still holding the note that the woman from my flashback handed me. That shouldn't be possible, but at this point I was pretty sure damn near anything was possible.
"Yeah, about that, I need to fill you in on what happened just now." As I explained how I had somehow managed to talk to someone in my flashback, I took a moment to feel out the changes to myself. I felt a little different physically, certainly better but not by much, but the real jump in strength was with my mana. Before, I had enough mana to cast maybe five spells in a row, while mixing in a few mana powered physical strikes. Now, I easily had maybe five times that amount, and it seemed like I had plenty of room to go.
I had thought it would simply increase my body's ability to store mana, but instead it seemed like it let me absorb more potent mana from the space around me, while keeping the amount of space it took up the same. Come to think of it, I noticed now I could sort of sense the mana in the air like I could my own mana, although they had some distinct differences. The mana in the air felt harsher, almost uncontrollable, and yet it seemed to simply exist in the air while not actually affecting much. I guess that's why our bodies had to take it in and convert it into our own.
As I finished explaining the whole story, excluding certain personal elements I didn't feel comfortable sharing with Celeste, I felt her express true confusion for the second time since I had known her.
"Inari, absolutely nothing you just described should be possible." She said, and I gave a slight chuckle as I walked around making sure all the civilians were in a medically right state to leave.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you, it happened. I have the note to prove it!" I said, sticking it in my inventory, which made the man I was healing look at it in awe. I kept forgetting that people were very much so not used to being around Guardians, I'd have to remember that in the future. I decided I should leave memorizing the note for later, as there was a chance I might drop it somewhere or forget the address in the stress of a fight.
"I suppose you do. I've just never heard of anyone other than a Guardian using magic except in extremely controlled scenarios. Hey, I just realized, how did she know your name?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I mean, you chose the name Inari while you were on this planet. How did she know what your Guardian name was?" Celeste asked, and I stood there for a second thinking about that.
"You know, I have absolutely no idea. I mean, I guess she was Japanese too, and I do have the whole fox thing going on, but she didn't exactly seem like she was guessing." That seemed, much more concerning than her wanting me to see her. Oh, and my "sisters in kin", whatever that meant. I did always kind of want a sibling.
"Alright, I think this is something we should leave for once this invasion is over. For now, we need to focus on getting these people ready to go."
"Right, right. By the way, why couldn't I tell Mia about my flashback? You seemed pretty adamant about the fact that I couldn't."
"They are called Insights, and I cannot tell you at the moment why. Mia is a special case, anyone else you can talk to about it, just not her. That will change at some point, but for now just focus on this." Celeste said, and I rolled my eyes.
"Alright, fine, but this better be for a good reason. Also, how did she see my menu?" Now that I thought of it, she was reading from my menu when I chose a class. I hadn't seen anyone else be able to do that.
"Please stop asking questions now."
"If I don't get an explanation for any of this, I'm gonna be pretty mad." I took a look around the shelter, and it seemed like everyone was at least physically ready to go. Mia was talking with another guard, and before too long they both split up and began getting everyone's attention. Seemed like all that was left was getting anyone who could be helpful armed, and maybe buying a few more drones for the squad. I took a look in my inventory to pull out Venus and Mars, but I only saw Venus. Where was-
"Oh my god I left Mars on the first floor!" I yelled by accident, spooking a few people around me. I had Celeste check his camera to see that he was still fine, and that most of the people on the first floor were ignoring him anyways. At the very least, they seemed like they had calmed down from before, so I decided to just recall him and place a call to Arc, this time walking into a corner as Mia and the rest of the guards got everyone in a group. After a few rings, she picked up.
"What is it?" She said, decidedly in a worse mood then before.
"Uh, about to get everyone ready to go. Just going to get the people out of each shelter now. What's going on over there that's got you all worked up?" I asked, and she sighed while looking over her shoulder.
"Sorry, it's nothing. These people are just a bunch of morons, been absurdly annoying to get them wrangled up."
"Yeah, I've had some problems of my own. You have any casualties?"
"Other than before I got here? Nah. What about you?" As she asked this, I simply looked away from the camera for a bit, taking a moment to browse through my drone catalogue. When I looked back, it seemed like she had gotten the message.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it. You can't be perfect in this line of business, and you're dealing with a tougher situation then most do in a first invasion. By the way, is everything good in there entity wise? You aren't gonna have any problems transporting the people, right?" She asked, and I shrugged.
"Eh, probably not? There was a Recorder earlier that was causing issues, but I took care of it. Got me to Aquamarine tier too." I said, and Arc just stared at me blankly for a few seconds.
"I'm sorry, what? You killed a Recorder, and got to Aquamarine in three hours of your first invasion? It took me three invasions to get there!"
"What can I say, I'm both stupid enough to try something obscenely dangerous and smart enough to survive it. I chose my class, but it seems like it won't provide me much more than a ton of mana until I use this ability, but it's not really safe to try it right now. What class do you have?"
"Oh, I'm a Samurai, it's a rare class. I'm planning on specializing into something more electric focused, only a couple more class levels till I do. You'll learn about that whole system once you kill some more entities. For now, it's time to get to the most annoying step of this. So, how are we deciding who's gonna deal with the military?" Well shit, I didn't think about that. It sounded like an extreme hassle, but at the end of the day I did need to learn how.
"Uh, rock paper scissors?" I asked her, but before she could respond Celeste popped up in front of me.
"Inari, you're doing it. You have to know how for later."
"Ugh, fine! So, what do I do here?" I asked Arc, who was seemingly cheering about the fact she didn't have to do it.
"Oh yeah, so all you gotta do is call the nearest military frequency. If there's nothing insane going on, they usually should send a set of vehicles and people to defend it for all the civilians. Just get everyone to the exit when they're ready and the entities outside have calmed down a bit and help defend everyone while they drive over to me. Then we'll all probably head back to whatever safehouse they've set up, eight hundred people is about the limit of what one convoy can transport."
"So the military can defend against all those entities in the streets by themselves?"
"Hell no! They usually have a Guardian specifically to help them clear a path to us to begin with. Plus, that's why people like Fortress are out there culling the herd." She said, and it made me think for a moment. This whole system was starting to make a lot more sense to me, it wasn't just every man for himself, all these Guardians had specific roles. I still wasn't sure which one was perfect for me, but I had time to figure it out.
"Alright, I'll get to calling the military. By the way, let me know in advance if you have any really injured people, I'll save a bit of mana so I can get them healed up." I said, and Arc gave me the widest smile I've ever seen.
"Holy shit, you are a fuckin saint! I was gonna have to waste so many points on healing items before I left just in case anyone got hurt! Hell, I've already spent like eight hundred points just this invasion on it!"
"Jesus, just get a basic healing spell!"
"Don't know who that is, but I do have one. I'm just really not that proficient in it, and there's a lot of shit it can't help with unless you invest in it more. I've already passed the point where it's worth it honestly, but having a medic around is always awesome! We should stick together more often, maybe you can join me, Fortress and another friend of ours in an invasion next time." I blushed a bit at her compliment, but her offer honestly did sound nice. Having some consistent allies did seem pretty much necessary if my class description wasn't lying to me.
"We can discuss that later, for now I've got to make a call."
"Alright, just link me into the call when you've got it all sorted out. See ya soon cutie!" She said, ending the call. This woman was going to be the death of me, I swear. I was thankful that Celeste had chosen not to comment on how that conversation has ended as I looked back, seeing that everyone was seemingly ready to go. As I turned to Mia and waved her over, she saw me and broke off from the group.
"Hey, you almost ready?" She asked, and I nodded.
"Yeah, should be close. How many of your people are capable of handling a gun?"
"Me and about four others."
"Alright, I'll grab you guys some easy to handle weapons and some extra ammo. I also think I might grab a few more drones to help out with any crowd clearing." I took out Venus and Mars, and then looked at my drone catalogue.
"If you want, you can afford the next robotics catalogue, should have some interesting cybernetics as well as some better drones. It will take a tier one gem however." Celeste said in my head, which I pondered a bit.
"I don't know if I really want to give up my two buddies though, I've grown kind of attached to them."
"That's the best part, you don't have to. You can choose to upgrade them for cheaper than it is to purchase new ones!"
"Well in that case, sounds like a great deal! I'll take it!" I said, scrolling through my menu to buy the new catalogue.
Robotics Catalogue Tier Aquamarine Purchased for 200 Points and 1 Tier 1 Gem, New Total: 1233
I took a minute to look through some of the other items in the catalogue, noticing that there were options for prosthetics. Hopefully I wouldn't need that, but it seemed useful to have in the long run. I found the upgraded version of my drones and grabbed one, while also clicking the option to upgrade my current two.
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Automatic Assault Drone Mk.2 Purchased for 120 Points, New Total: 1113
Automatic Assault Drone Upgrade x2 Purchased for 120 Points, New Total: 993
I watched as Venus and Mars disappeared for a moment, before popping back into the room with a brand new look. The orb that made up their main body was much larger, as were the arms on the side, and they now had a sleek black look to them. I also saw I could customize all of their looks, which I planned on doing later. They clearly looked like they could hold some much better weapons, so I scrolled through the weapons catalogue and got them an option Celeste recommended along with the guns the guards would need.
A-33 Tracker Magnum x2 Purchased for 30 Points, New Total: 963
A-33 Magazine x40 Purchased for 40 Points, New Total: 923
Lancer Assault Rifle x4 Purchased for 280 Points, New Total: 643 Points
AR Ammo x20 Purchased for 20 Points, New Total: 623
"I sure hope you guys do your jobs well, cause this was quite an expensive endeavor. Alright, Venus, Mars, meet your new sister Neptune!" I said, pulling out the last drone while handing them all their rifles and ammo, keeping the last one for myself. Mia quickly distributed the magnums and some ammo out while I kept the rest in my inventory. If we had managed to take care of that horde earlier with much less, I severely doubted we would have any problems now.
I turned and looked back to the crowd to make sure everyone was fine, and saw that a lot of them were simply staring at me and smiling. I was confused at first, then realized, I was their only source of help in this place, and they clearly thought I had a handle on things. That thought made me smile back at them and walk up to the group of about sixty or so people.
"Alright everyone, it's about time for us to leave this place. I want everyone to stay calm and follow either my orders, or Mia's orders. She's the woman standing next to me. You will probably hear gunshots, but that's normal. It just means we are taking care of anything that could become a problem. The guards here specifically have weapons designed to track enemies and avoid anything else, and my little squad here is programmed to never shoot if there could be civilian casualties. Now, follow me!" I said, and the crowd began talking amongst themselves excitedly as I walked toward the exit with Mia.
"Alright, you stay up here with me, the rest of your squad should take spots on every side of the crowd. We head straight for the stairwell, only way to get down. I'll send one of the drones to clear it out incase there's anything lurking in there, and then we'll all head to the seventh floor and get them. They already know we're on our way?" I asked her, and she nodded.
"Called em a couple minutes ago. The second we get that door open, they should start heading out."
"Sounds good. On the way, I've got to make a call, so if I zone out or something just tap me on the shoulder." I put my hand on the pad and got the door open, sending out the first group of people while walking out myself. After a couple more cycles, we managed to get everyone out onto the main area of the fifteenth floor. Thankfully, the stairwell wasn't very far away, but I already saw there were a few entities ahead. I figured instead of scaring everyone with a bunch of gunfire, it would be better to show off a bit to help everyone realize I knew what I was doing.
I held out my hand and charged up a Flame Pillar spell, this time devoting about twice as much mana to it as I usually did, and combined with the extra potency from my class, the spell was absurdly powerful, way than usual. It spread out and roasted the few minor entities in the way, and I heard multiple people in the crowd gasp, a few even screaming. I turned back and gave everyone a smile.
"Don't worry folks, I've got it all handled. Let's go!" I said, leading the charge to the stairway. As we easily made it, I sent Venus in to scout it out and make sure any entities in there were taken and got Celeste to find the nearest military station to call. It took a few tries, but eventually I got through.
3 Entities Killed, New Total: 638
"This is Safe Haven 0-75 of Starbound PMC, who am I speaking to?" I heard a man speak over the phone with an oddly bored tone.
"This is the Guardian Inari, looking for military transport for about eight hundred people spread out between myself and another Guardian, Arc Angel. We are in close proximity to each other, I am in the Misan Entertainment Center." I said, and he didn't say anything back for a bit, but eventually he responded.
"Alright Inari, I'm connecting you to a specialist who's leading rescue operations at the moment. Hold one second." He said, and after a few seconds I saw a face pop up in the corner of my vision. The person was clearly much older than me, somewhere in her late forties or so, and she was riddled with scars. She had very dark skin and a mess of brown hair that was longer than I would expect from someone in combat so often.
"Inari, right? I'm Captain Nianshi, I'll be the one heading over to help you out." She said, her voice extremely gruff. I could just tell that this woman had a lot of experience in combat, so I was feeling pretty confident in our odds of getting out of here with no casualties.
"Nice to meet you captain, I've currently got about sixty people with me, about to head downstairs and get the remaining civilians. How quick can you get to us?"
"Lucky for you, we were already planning on heading down that way, so our ETA is looking to be around eight minutes. Why don't you loop that other Guardian into the call now, need to know more about her scenario. She's got the majority of your people after all." I nodded and linked Arc into the call as Venus returned, confirming there weren't any entities in the stairwell at all. In the meantime, Mars and Neptune had taken out a couple stray flying entities around, and thankfully everyone seemed to be staying rather calm. Eventually, Arc picked up the call.
Three Entities Killed, New Total: 663
"Hey, you got everything ready? Oh, you must be the escort. Names Arc Angel, I'm sending my building's location." Arc said, her voice suddenly losing all of it's normal cheeriness. I guess she just didn't like the military, which I suppose I understood. Nianshi seemed to be nice enough though, so I doubted we'd have any problems. I began walking down the stairs ahead of the group of civilians, who all followed me down to the seventh floor, albeit slowly.
"Glad to see it. Alright, we'll stop by Inari's spot first, then go to yours. We're currently being escorted by- eh, what's that? What do you mean don't tell them? Whatever, I don't get paid enough for this." The captain said, turning back to talk to someone.
"Sorry, what's going on?" I asked, and she turned her head back around and sighed.
"The Guardian here apparently doesn't want you to know who they are yet. No clue why, but I'm not questioning it. Just know they're capable. We'll call you back when we've arrived Inari. Captain Nianshi signing off." She said, dropping out of the call. Arc rolled her eyes.
"I'm gonna head out too, gotta get these morons ready." She said, also leaving the call. I focused a little more on my environment and saw we had made it to the seventh floor, although the stairwell was already a bit packed, which wasn't great. I turned to Mia, making a plan in my head.
"Alright, you take this crowd down to the bottom of the stairs. I'm going to go get everyone on this floor. When you hear me yell down to you from up here, take everyone and send them out onto the front floor. I'll have two of the drones clear the floor out for you." I said, and she nodded and began leading everyone downstairs. Meanwhile, I headed out the door with Neptune in tow, the other two following the crowd down. I sprinted through the seventh floor as quickly as I could, which really went to show the physical improvements from my class. Even without the Metamorphosis skill, I was much faster than before. I had to guess that I was easily running over forty miles per hour.
The entities on the floor weren't exactly ignoring me, but I simply took out my rifle as me and Neptune fired into the small horde that had amassed. I realized I had adapted to seeing tons of these things die rather quickly. The fact they didn't spray blood or anything when they died helped a lot. Pretty quickly, the rest of the entities actually started running away, clearly realizing they were outmatched. Without someone telling them what to do, these guys were a lot more uncoordinated.
12 Entities Killed, New Total: 712
I quickly popped open the door and saw the security guard from earlier who I had given a magnum walk out, along with who I assumed was the chief of security.
"Bring everyone out and be quick. Rest of the people are waiting downstairs." I said, taking a moment to give a glare to the chief, who jumped slightly and turned around as I opened the door again. As we went through the cycles of getting everyone ready, I noticed a guard walking out with a body wrapped in a tarp. I quickly realized who it was and looked away, before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw the man from earlier, doing his best to give me a comforting look. I simply nodded to him, saying nothing. Eventually everyone got out of the shelter, this time over a hundred people stepping out.
This was the first time I realized just how many people a crowd like this was, and I was slightly worried about the ride over to Arc's building now. At least I'd finally have another Guardian backing me up. I began leading everyone back to the stairwell the same as before, as the entities from earlier looked at them with renewed interest. Thankfully, a few warning shots was all it took to send them running again as I dipped back into the stairwell.
"Alright Mia, send them down!" I heard the crowd in the stairwell begin moving, and I let the group with me begin funneling in. We quickly got everyone down and onto the first floor, where Mia and the rest of the guards were cleaning up any entities below. I joined in, finishing off the remaining weak entities before heading over to the shelter by the entrance of the center.
9 Entities Killed, New Total: 755
As I walked up, I looked through the shattered glass doors leading outside, seeing a few military vehicles pull up right on schedule. It looked like we were almost done with a good portion of this rescue mission. I doubted the invasion was going to be over anytime soon, but saving all these people was going to be a big step. I began letting everyone out of the last shelter as I heard a familiar voice call out to me.
"Good to see you Inari! Now, how about we get these people out of here. Everyone! Follow me outside, we have plenty of vehicles out here to take you somewhere safe!" Captain Nianshi said, the crowd bursting out into cheers. Now that was a sound I could get used to.