Chapter 37
As Darius made his way back to the Village, He opened his Status looked at his attributes and thought about where to spend his three new points. With his enhanced spiked gauntlets for his power armor giving him ten extra strength, he felt it was fine for the moment. Even his base eighteen strength rivals that of professional weightlifters. What he really felt was lacking in that last large battle was his mobility and combat speed, especially when his Power Armor was damaged. So he placed two points into Agility and one point into dexterity. Looking over his stats one last time, he felt satisfied with his progress over the last two weeks.
Darius Williams
Modular Mechanist Level 16
Stat Progression: Mage/Warrior Hybrid
Xp: 13,047/14,050
Credits: 7,599
Str 18
Dex 21
Agi 21
Con 18
End 18
Int 18
Wis 18
Attribute points available: 0
Hp: 144/144
Regen: 29/day
Sp: 270/270
Regen: 27/min
Mp: 270/270
Regen: 27/min
Next, he moved on to his Power Armor. In order to upgrade it, he had to activate the Suit. When he did, he was happy to note that it had finally finished restoring all the durability it had lost and was fully functional once again. He looked at his upgrade points available, and with the one point left over from his last level up, he had four points available to be spent there.
Idly, Darius flipped through the various tabs and options. Looking over both what he had already upgraded and what hadn’t yet been tapped into. As he was scrolling through, one upgrade caught his eye. Wanting to know more about it, he clicked on it and read the summary it provided.
Neural Interface Upgrade System:
The Neural Interface Upgrade system empowers pilots to establish an unbreakable link between themselves and their Power Armor's AI, transcending the physical boundaries of the armor's storage. Comprising ten tiers of increasing connectivity, this system allows pilots to access the AI's capabilities at the corresponding tier even when the armor is stored within its Extra-Dimensional space. From Tier 1, which offers basic synchronization, to the pinnacle of Tier 10, which facilitates a transcendental union, this upgrade system amplifies the bond between pilot and AI, enhancing strategic prowess and decision-making capabilities, along with select upgrade systems from the Power Armor itself. As pilots ascend through the tiers, they unlock an ever-deeper integration with the AI, ultimately harnessing its full potential even during periods of storage.
As an advanced upgrade system, this path costs a base 2 upgrade points, increasing by two additional points for each Tier of Advancement.
Tier 1 - Interface Augmentation:
Pilots who invest in Tier 1 are bestowed with a refined neural interface, granting access to all installed software, and limited Upgrades, including the AI at their Tier 1 capabilities during periods of storage, enhancing convenience and accessibility.
Tier 2 - Enhanced Connection:
The neural link is further enhanced, providing access to the Tier 2 abilities even when the Power Armor is stored. This enables pilots to make more informed decisions and access essential data.
“Ooh, Daddy like,” Darius muttered after he read what it provided. He wasn’t sure what all systems it would give him access to, but just having access to Pax on a daily basis would be invaluable. The doubled cost of upgrades was a kick in the nuts, but overall he thought it was well worth the expense. Hell, I might not even have to pull the suit out of storage to upgrade it anymore. It’s a bit awkward to put it on, just to take it off again. Besides, I’m sure people seeing me walking around all kitted up makes them think we might be under attack or something. Without any more hesitation, Darius made the purchase.
With two points left over, he dropped them both into the second Tier of Environmental Tolerance. That increased his resistance to elemental effects and extreme temperatures to ten percent. With the last choice made, Darius paused in his stride and finalized the upgrades.
“Agh!” Darius screamed suddenly. It felt like an Icepick stabbed into the base of his skull and tried to scramble his brains. His vision went white, static turned up to eleven filled his ears. He could taste copper and his nose was filled with the scent of Ozone while ants seemed to be crawling under every square inch of his skin. The sensations seemed to go on forever, and yet they vanished before he could even fall to his knees. He triggered his helmet to open up, and he dropped down to all fours. He spat into the sandy earth, expecting to see blood in the spittle, but it came out normal. He worked his tongue around his mouth, and the coppery tang of blood had vanished like it had never been there. He cautiously sniffed and the scent of electricity was completely gone too.
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“Pax, what in the hell was that?” he demanded.
Instead of hearing her reply in the suit’s speakers, he clearly heard her reply in his mind, and the text scrolled across the bottom of his vision, like subtitles.
Neural Interface Chip has been installed. Systems Calibrated.
Apologies, Darius. I had not realized the installation of your new Neural Interface would be so traumatic.
“Wait, what? you put a chip in my head?”
Yes, Darius. Did you not know that before choosing that upgrade? The Neural Interface Chip is what provides the link between your Power Armor and your Brain when the Suit is in Storage.
“God damn motha fucka. Warn a guy next time, alright?”
Personal Preference for Confirmation noted. I do apologize Darius.
“Nah, It wasn’t your fault. It’s my own dumbass that jumped right in without asking anything. Sorry for yelling at you. Wait, since I see your text with my helmet off and hear you in my brain, does that mean it worked?”
Yes, Darius. Neural Link is operating at full Tier 1 functionality. As per your personal Preference though, I must inform you that while the Power Armor is in storage, I will be limited to Tier 1 functionality as well.
“Noted,” Darius replied. After another minute or so, Darius stood back up and dismissed his armor.
Incoming Communication from Emily Pierce. Do you wish to connect?
“Damn, that’s going to take some getting used to,” Darius muttered. “Yeah, go ahead and connect me.”
“Headman Darius, are you there?” the woman’s voice rang out in his mind. He could hear her like she was standing next to him.
“Yeah, I’m here. Emily right?” Darius asked.
“That’s right. We just finished following your advice and now have our own Communication Tower up and running. How is my man, Sean, faring? Last report I had was yesterday.” Emily said.
“We’ve managed to find a treatment that’s a combination alchemy and Divine healing that seems to be working quite well. It’s a bit expensive reagent wise and whatnot. But the death Essence taint is gradually being pushed back.” Darius reported.
“I heard one of your priests was able to help. What alchemical solution did you find?”
“Nothing we tried seemed to affect it directly, but my alchemist followed what our priest, as you called him, did. We increased his resistances temporarily while weakening the Death Essence. It’s allowed him to fight it off on his own. The black veins that were on his skin are smaller today, and don’t run across his body like it had before. My guys think that it will be another week or so at this rate before he is fully recovered. My cook has been making a thin gruel and a nutritious broth that we’ve been feeding him with a tube. He’s still out cold, but he isn’t starving or dehydrating anymore.”
“Thank God. I’ve been worried for days about him. Has your Alchemist made any strides in resisting the Death Essence?” she asked.
“No, not yet. He has some ideas, but it’s going to take a lot of experimentation before he comes up with something solid. For now, I think we just need to focus on eliminating the undead forces whenever they leave the fog.”
“Agreed. We had a small skirmish last night, eliminating a small band of them, but nothing close to the numbers we saw the other day.”
“Any idea why it was such a small force?” Darius asked.
“I thought they might have been running out of undead to send, but we sent our own drone. they seemed to have even more than before, from what we were able to see before they managed to destroy it. Be careful sending one of yours in. They seem to be able to detect them easier now.” She said.
“Good to know. Thank you for the update. Hey, any progress on upgrading to a village yet?”
“We’re still waiting for our first crop to come in. Why do you ask? Wait, you didn’t, did you? You did, didn’t you? How, by Vulcan’s left Firey nut, did you manage to pull that off just two weeks into the apocalypse?”
“Vulcan? You mean those pointy eared freaks from star wars?”
“God, no. and it’s star trek, not star wars. Vulcan is the Roman God of the forge and volcanos. You know, because I have Volcano powers? Hey, don’t dodge the question. Is Zuri a Village now?”
“Yeah, we are.”
“How did you do it? Even with magic, Ki, and Faith, we haven’t gotten a crop to harvest yet.” Emily was practically demanding an answer at that point.
“You see, when I completed that quest when we met…”
“Yes?”
“Well, I didn’t tell you what all I got for a reward. Because we destroyed an army that outnumbered us over twenty to one, we got a Settlement Specialization Core.” Darius then explained everything, in general terms, that had happened since they’d met for the first time on the war-torn battlefield, with destroyed undead corpses all over the place.
“Damn, you are one lucky bastard, you know that? Any idea how else we can get one of those Specialization Cores?”
“Yeah, I know. And I have no idea. I saw one when I got my Medium Perk, but I picked the Power Armor instead. Besides getting one as a reward, I’ve no clue how to get one. Did you check the System Marketplace?” Darius asked.
“I did, and they have them there… but they cost half a million credits each.”
“Damn, that’s a pretty penny. That reminds me, did you complete your quest with that last skirmish?”
“Yeah, we did. But we didn’t get anything beyond the five hundred War Points and the Loyalty and Morale boost. Nothing extra like you described. It probably didn’t help that we outnumbered them three to one. But we have a lot of people who need leveling. The crafters get every time they complete a project, but it’s slow. They only get ten to twenty Xp each time. Then there’s our dedicated fighters. At least the cultivators advance on their own. The Faithful seem to advance in random bits, still have no idea how all that really works.”
Darius relaxed a bit, chatting with Emily. Gradually, the topics shifted from the war efforts to general day-to-day things. It was nice, being able to talk to someone in the same position he was. He’d made friends in the Village, but there always seemed to be a gulf between them. Everyone seemed to start acting more formally around him. Intellectually, he understood that they were seeing him as more of a leader, their respect for him and his position increasing with each passing day. But it felt lonely at times. Emily, it turned out, felt the same way. He’d eventually made his way to his manor and kicked back on his living room couch. He’d caught sight of people looking at him out of the corner of their eye as they watched their leader chatting at no one as he walked through the village. He’d made the ‘I’m on the phone’ gesture to them, but he wasn’t sure if they’d believed him.
“Well, Baron Williams,” Emily placed extra emphasis on his Baron title. “I’ve got to get going. It’s been remarkably pleasant chatting with you. We should do it again sometime.”
“Agreed. I’ll catch you later then.” After that, their connection broke and Darius was alone in his thoughts once again.
Congratulations Baron Williams!
You have gained 100 Diplomacy points with the Hamlet Elysium.
Diplomacy Rank Neutral has increased to Friendly (+100)
At the friendly rank, settlements enjoy amicable and positive diplomatic relations. There is a mutual understanding, goodwill, and a willingness to engage in cooperation and mutually beneficial exchanges. Openness and a spirit of collaboration are hallmarks of this level, fostering an environment of trust and shared goals.