Darius took another deep breath and took the time to think things through. He could add the Mana Pool Upgrade to the missile launcher. It only gave one hundred mana, but if he invested eighty CP into increasing it, he would have enough to reload two missiles, giving him six shots. The pool regenerated fully in ten minutes, so he would get an additional shot every five minutes. He could also make each missile count for more by increasing the quality. "So, if I improve it to Excellent Quality, that would leave me with forty-one points left over. Hmm, looks like I can increase lock on speed by five percent for every ten points, so if I do that… one point remaining. Not much I can do with that, but I don't want to waste it… fuck it. One more point into mana pool." He made his choices and looked over his final product.

Rain of Fire

Quality: Exceptional

Rarity: Rare

Base material: Steel

Damage: 130

Range: 650Ft

Rate of Fire: 5 seconds

Durability: 65/65

Duration: 15.5 minutes

Missile Capacity: 4

Traits: Incendiary explosive (50/50 Kinetic and fire Damage), 20ft radius. 20% chance to cause Burn Status dealing 130 damage over 60 seconds

Lock on speed: +20%

Magic Effect: Reload (130 Mana to Replace 1 Missile)

Mana Pool: 262/262

Weight: 15lbs

Cast time: 11 seconds

Conjuration cost: 117 Mana

Hard Points required: 1

"Now that that's all finally done, I think it’s time to stretch my wings," Darius said to himself. Remembering to leave word with his uncle, so no one would get worried, he sent off a quick message to the comms tablet his uncle claimed. With that complete, and his Mana Pools all refilled, Darius focused on the Skyblade Eidolon and cast the spell using his Power Armor's Mana supply. one hundred thirty-eight Mana and fourteen seconds later, he felt the extra weight settle on his back and a new pair of icons appeared on his H.U.D. the first was a pair of retracted wings, and the other looked like a rocket engine. mentally clicking on the wings, he felt a snap and staggered slightly from the force of the six-foot wings extending in less than a second.

After rolling his neck around to loosen the muscles, he activated his flight systems. The faint hum of them warming up and coming to full power made him grin. As soon as the vibrations stabilized, he jumped into the air at the same time as he engaged his thrusters. With a whoosh, he was airborne. He gained twenty feet in altitude in a couple seconds, then, without thinking, he tilted his wing flaps and felt his ascent curve and he was flying like a plane. Gradually, he increased his speed and altitude until he was zooming through the air at one hundred miles per hour and six hundred feet off of the ground. He knew he could get another hundred fifty feet up, but wanted to leave room for maneuvering. The ground whipped past him and he felt a sense of exhilaration that he'd never had before. He could only imagine it must be what motorcyclists felt when racing down the highway.

Darius tilted his body first one way, then the other, banking gracefully through the sky. He even pulled back hard on the flaps, making him do a rapid loop-de-loop. it was everything he hoped it could be and more. Next he tried a maneuver he'd seen the blue angels do, once upon a time. He pulled back hard again, but this time, as he reached the crest of the loop, he did a barrel roll and leveled out the flaps so he was suddenly flying in the opposite direction. Even though he had a G-force compensator upgrade on his power armor, he could still feel the effects that move had on his body. Rather than worrying him or making him nearly pass out, he felt even more adrenalin flood his system. He could feel his heart pounding and his breath came in ragged gasps.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Darius? I am detecting a severely elevated heart rate. Are you well?

Darius could only laugh in delight as he engaged the booster and felt his brain pass through his body and pool in his feet. Within a few seconds, he went from one hundred miles per hour to almost one hundred fifty. The world blurred for a moment before the force of acceleration died off and he was moving faster than he'd ever had before, outside of in a cushy chair in a massive airliner. in just a few minutes, the Skyblade's mana supply emptied, and he was given a prompt asking if he wished to switch to the Power Armor's reserves. He declined and felt his boosted speed gradually drop until he was moving at his old max speed. With the reduction in speed, his natural high fell away as well, leaving him with a strange yet serene calm. The clarity it left him was more profound than anything he'd ever felt before. It even beat out the precious moments of after sex clarity.

"Pax, how far are we from Zuri?"

Yes, Darius. We are currently 12.47 miles away from Zuri.

"Thank you." For the first time, Darius really took in his surroundings. According to the compass on his H.U.D. he was flying almost due north. If he remembered right, there was a small town about five miles to the west of the campground. He couldn't quite remember the name, but it was something along the lines of San final, or was it San Fidel? it's definitely San something with an F. It didn't really matter at the moment. Darius knew there was a town over there and there might be more survivors. Gently banking to his left, Darius did his best to orient himself back towards the highway, but still angled west enough to hopefully fly over it. "I really need to upgrade my Navigation system too. Caving a compass is great and all, but without some kind of map or GPS function, its help is limited. Pax, remind me to upgrade Navigation when I get more upgrade points, please."

Of course, Darius. Note made. if you have any other notes or reminders for me, please, do not hesitate to ask.

"Thank you, Pax." With that issue settled, Darius gradually increased his altitude until he reached his max ceiling of seven hundred and fifty feet. With that vantage, he scanned the area all around himself, looking for any sign of the town.

It turned out that Darius was only off by a mile or so. Just as he caught sight of the highway in the distance, he caught sight of some buildings farther to the right. Banking in that Direction, Darius reduced the power to his thrusters, and approached the town carefully. He was glad he took the extra caution, as there was something causing a ruckus around an old Spanish church. Darius wished he'd upgraded the optical system in his suit, since he couldn't make out what was kicking up so much dust and debris, but as he got closer, he eventually made out the familiar small reptilian forms of Kobolds. he also saw some flashes of light coming from the windows of the church, making small explosions of energy in and around the bloodthirsty little monsters. He thought the forms moving around inside the building were people, but he knew the kobolds were monsters, so either way, he was going to take them out.

Once Darius was around three hundred feet away from the monsters, and only thirty feet off of the ground, he canceled Skyblade and used his Power Armor's Mana to conjure Doom Bringer 3000. He might have used his missiles, but didn't want to risk the building and the people inside getting caught in the blast radius. One hundred thirty-two Mana and seven seconds later, his new shoulder cannon came to life. A low red glow emanated from the barrel as it powered on, and mere moments later he brought doom to the feathered lizards.

Combat Mode Engaged, Enemy targets identified. 47 enemy ground units. Scanning…

Kobold, Warrior Caste: x29

Average Level: 7

HP: 105/105

SP: 140/140

MP: 60/60

Defense: 19

Individual Threat Level: Minor

Kobold, Mage Caste: x18

Average Level: 7

HP: 50/50

SP: 130/130

MP: 280/280

Defense: 8

Individual Threat Assessment: Minor

Collective Threat: Moderate

Target Priority acquired. Target lock engaged; you may fire when ready.