"Why do you keep going to that boring world Jeremy", Red asked every time Jeremy came back to the coffin motel, "here you have holograms and machines that can take you to the moon and back in minutes", his top argument, "while the most advanced piece of technology there is a musket"

"That's not true", Jeremy protested.

"Oh sure you have modern sails configurations because the designers are a buch of historically innacurate hecks but its all superficial and you still mostly just hack at each other with swords and sticks" red never stopped for breath, "sure magic is great but anything spells can do tech could do better you can use magboosts to fly or hologram projectors to do some great ilusions or see halfway across the galaxy but you go into that dreary place to waste your time"

"We have computers" trying to defend against the harsh words.

Red laughed, "let me tell you a secret sonny", laughing again, "it all happens inside a computer" mockery oozing with every word.

"I mean in the game", Jeremy talked fast, "we have computers and airplanes and lasers inside the game now"

"Ho?" Red sounded surprised, "and where is this wonderful revolution happening boy?"

"Ia the dragon's vault in the Afriat path", Jeremy didn't like being mocked or insinuating he lied, "you can log in and see for yourself"

"I might just do that sonny see if you could stop me" thinking, "meet me in the game in three hours I look like this" showing the picture of a human in simple dress that looked like a farmer that just finished a day's work.

"Are you sure you can make it?" Jeremy wondered, "the path is pretty dangerous"

"Don't worry 'bout me boy", sounding amused, "I have more 'n one ace up my sleeve"

If it took Red off his back Jeremy would gladly show him some of the new inventions from the vault and if he couldn't make it now there was always another day.

Placing his groceries in the unit's refridgerator and his out clothes in the washing unit Jeremy looked out at the silent hallway seeing a lot more units were occupied and knowing he was going to meet the kids sleeping in them soon enough he logged in.

Incarnating in his room on the bottom floor of the main keep he hopped out of bed and looked at his furry feet, stretching and yawning it was fun being a foxman like his favorite ninja from oldschool manga strips.

He ran to the engineering area where Allen spent most of his time these days preparing to make his spaceship once he got the base construction from the pirate emperor after the big battle in two weeks.

"Allen" he had to shout before the dragon lowered his head from some huge dome he was working on, "I have a friend coming to visit from the path in a few hours"

"Does he need an escort?" Allen asked the obvious question.

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"He said he didn't but I dont think he knows about the giants having war wagons now" thinking back to his conversation with Red, "do you think we can send an overlord to fish him?"

"Let me ask the supervisor", chain of command was important and overlords were allways in demand for patrols or supply runs to the now less controversial Andorians.

After looking at a com crystal for a few seconds Allen asked, "when is your friend coming?"

"He said three hours", hearing the words he realised how strange they sounded, "he was very sure about it"

"She sais she can do it if you fly with them to identify him", after another long stare at the com crystal.

"I can do that", RedFox21 looked at the thing Allen was building, "I have a few hours to spare do you need a hand?" He wasn't supposed to come online for a while yet but being here he couldn't just wait idly.

The overlord was their largest flying machine, a blimp dwagon carrier that functioned as a flying fortress, command center for long distance operations and semi permanent lookout station, with only seven pilots able and willing to fly the gargantuan kings of the sky they had a pretty tight schedule on the four ships already finished, thankfully most of the size was just gasses filling the baloon so it didn't take as long to build as warships of the same size and he still suspected Allen cheated somehow.

A few dwagon pilots reported increased giant activity all over the mountain so the vault was on high alert when overlord 3 was launched to fish Red.

Their altitude could be blamed for the relative safety of the first twenty minutes but not for zero sightings of giant activity all around the vault after the call for high alert, then they started seeing the blasts in the distance, familiar red glow followed by a puff of smoke and a rolling thunder that shook them even so high up, that was a sign of war wagons in full combat deployment.

At first they could just see the giant wheeled doom carriers rolling down the mountain at breakneck speed, then came the deployed siege wagons that were a sight dreader by all mechanized units from the vault, then came the wreckage.

Giant wheels buried in the ground, cannons larger than old generation armedrillos thrown around like twigs in a storm, giant bodies shredded by their own friendly fire as the siege line was frantically hurling shot after shot at an invisible enemy.

Another wagon cracked in the middle and then blew up like a flower blossom, giants flying through the air like dolls kicked in a tantrum, more blasts aimed at the broken wagon turning it to a lake of melting metal, the scene repeated again before they were close enough to see what was attacking the giants.

"Who the hell is that?" The pilot shouted above the whistle of steam and cranking chains.

RedFox21 looked in the main viewer, "that's Red", he shouted, "our fish"

"I am not bringing that maniac into my overlord" the pilot almost sounding scared.

"Do you prefer that he drags that shitstorm all the way to the vault?" Jeremy found it barely believable something could still be alive in that inferno below them.

"If we die here I will fucking kill you", the pilot said and turned to his com crystal, "Rosh is diving for the pickup so cross your fingers for her"

A dwagon dropped from the overlord and Jeremy held his breath at the risk these psychos were taking, he couldn't even look outside without losing his conciousness and now Rosh was freefalling into a pit of flaming death.

The dwagon almost hit the ground before it started climbing back up, dragging a rope ladder under its belly and at its end was a flinging avatar that seemed to hold on with one hand.

When the dwagon attached itself to the overlord the pilot turned them around, "your friend is nuttier than a tree full of squirrels" he screamed at Jeremy

"I know" unable to disagree.

By the time the siege wagons shifted to anti air configuration the overlord was out of range, "we have to report this to the vault", the pilot shouted, "the giants are going to be pissed for a long time over all this" gesturing at the field of carnage behind them before leaning toward his com crystal.

The landing field was packed with people running between the flying machines, preparing to fight off the giants if thet hit the vault with what the overlord crew reported, Allen was there to meet RedFox21 and his friend when he suddenly cried "YOU!!"