Riseth leaped into action, plunging her space-warped bone blades through the solid metal plating, piercing the mana engine but not immediately shutting down the overseer. As she jumped, Alistair and the rest of the clan unleashed their attacks, destroying all the communication arrays and equipment they had found. Alistair jumped the two troopers guarding the stairs, smashing them into the concrete wall with the hammer side of his poleaxe before turning and teleporting on top of the Nugan Battlecraft before one of the troopers managed to climb on top and man it, smacking it off the side of the craft.
Riseth clung to the side of the overseer, her tail lashing out to wrap around a pair of arms to stabilize herself and stop its attempts to swat her off. As she tried to pry off the plating to disable the overseer, it began to spin rapidly in an effort to shake her loose despite its attacks passing through her incorporeal form. Riseth gritted her teeth while wondering why the thing was still going, trying her best not to be flung off by the rapidly spinning overseer. Her best guess at that point was that the damn machine had some kind of backup energy source, which she either had to pry out or otherwise disturb the energy flow.
"Come on, you infernal piece of Dareg shit," Riseth cursed, her frustration mounting as she finally managed to pry off the metal casing, as it flung into one of the nearby screens. With a focused gaze, she examined the circuitry, quickly spotting the central flow line. Channeling her mana, she burned it out, causing the overseer to cease spinning and go inert abruptly. The sudden halt nearly threw her off its body, but she managed to cling on, letting out a relieved sigh.
"I've got both good news and bad news," came James's voice over the link.
"Let's hear it," Simon encouraged him. His attention was divided between James's report and the ongoing capture operation.
Simon and the rest of the clan were busy capturing haulers and other assets, deactivating them as they were under fire from the logistic node's token guard force. Simon dispatched them quickly by shooting multiple obsidian lances through them. He had done the same to the cargo handler, which limply hung over the control unit, its head blasted apart by having a large obsidian shard shot through it.
"The Good news is that we won't get a missile strike," James said, to the relief of almost everyone.
"What's the bad news, then?" Alistair asked with a slight strain in his voice as he continued fighting the troopers in the room below the HQ.
"The bad news is that the overseer called for reinforcement. All patrols are converging on our position. We have roughly 20 minutes before the first regiment arrives." James concluded.
James led the way to the production facility, accompanied by Melissa, who proved invaluable with her ice powers. Her ability to freeze and immobilize drones and troopers allowed the rest of the clan to deactivate them at their leisure, minimizing the risk of sabotage or damage to the unit. This allowed them to capture the machines intact.
"I don't see that as bad news. I am quite confident I can take out their incoming patrols by myself." Simon said over the link.
"We want them to underestimate us so they don't escalate their responses too fast. I say we grab what we can and leave." Alistair proposed.
"I think Alistar is right. Let's keep this short, if we force them to adapt too fast, we might lose out later," Nessyra concurred.
"I agree as well. Also, Riseth, are you fine dismantling the overseer, or do you need me to come over?" James inquired.
After a short pause, they could hear a frustrated sigh. "Sorry, James, I don't have the right tools and skills. You should take over," Riseth admitted.
"Alright, go help Melissa within the production facility. Focus on the mechanical arms. I will leave some of my spare tools with Melissa." James directed.
Alistair discovered that the battlecraft lacked a storage cube, so he decided to bind it to one of the few they had brought themselves. Consulting with James, they agreed it was a worthwhile endeavor, at least for the first one. With that settled, Alistair and the others began sabotaging what they couldn't take with them, fulfilling the "Destroy Logistic Nodes" objective before the arrival of the first patrol. They managed to extract themselves just in time, already moving on to the next objective. This pattern persisted for the next three months, punctuated by occasional breaks during which most of them trained in other trial worlds or caught up with other matters while James disseminated information gleaned from captured overseers, providing valuable map data, including hidden bunkers and storage facilities which the Stuquit had set up in case of emergencies.
From the map data they acquired, they learned that the Nugan and Ithania factions were the two largest remaining factions. The map also included information on which territories were previously held by different factions. During the first two months, they developed a handful of objectives as they targeted both factions and lured them into engagements with each other. Surprisingly, both faction's responses were slow, and they only incrementally improved their security and reduced response time before attacking them. They planned to start participating in the larger battlefields as most of them had grown in levels significantly and felt safe enough to escalate the situation, with Simon being the strongest advocate for escalation.
Nessyra had regularly left to manage the Clan's assets as the experience she could gain from the raids was limited compared to her role as clan executive. Simon, Riseth, and Alistair also regularly left for other trial worlds, at least one of them remaining with James and the rest of the clan in case of an emergency. Juliana's teleportation magic had made significant progress, enabling her to open temporary gates from and to the Hub-Gate location seamlessly, facilitating easy reconnection with the group without the need for the Zephyr. None of the trials they had found within the Automata world had provided them with any rewards, and instead, they added themselves to the final reward the clan would obtain from the Clan War Challenge.
The biggest discovery came during their first night on the trial world. As they had only been on the planet during the daytime, they had not realized that its orbit was filled with debris. The trial world also had a moon with clear indications of a moonbase, which they planned to investigate later in the hopes of finding more spacecraft. The second most valuable discovery was the hidden bunkers, which were filled with rare and specialized equipment and materials. It quickly became apparent that James would be busy for a long time after the trial as he had tons of stolen assets to go through.
Alistair and Riseth gained 17 levels each, putting them at level 69, most of it they gained from their Slayer Trial world. Leveling had gotten noticeably slower the higher their level got. Simon, who lacked as good a trial world, had slightly fallen behind and pushed for an escalation of violence within the Automata World. Alistair had found that he only gained one skill selection at level 60 and presumed they would now only appear every ten levels. However, he still obtained skill points for every five levels, providing him with a healthy stock of skill points to spend.
During those two months, Alistair participated in the Expert & Elite arena matches after reaching levels 59 and 64, and he dominated the competition with his stat growth and elite skills. He had made short work of all of his opponents. Alistair had picked up the Razor Aegis skill, which turned out to be devastating for most of his opponents when combined with the rest of his skill sets. He had not earned much by betting on himself in the arena when compared to before, as his Nephilim race stood out like a sore thumb. Gamblers had rightfully started to bet on him winning, drastically reducing his winnings. Alistair was also quite sure that his luck affinity had influenced his matchups as he had not faced any of the arena favorites among which he now belonged.
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Skill Choices: Tier: Skill Name: Description: [Epic] Switch Teleport
Immediately switching positions with another individual requires either consent or resonance to achieve smoothly. After the teleport, the acceleration of the user and target increases by a large degree for a short period. Distance is limited to the user's [Senses]. Depending on threat awareness, a barrier will automatically intercept incoming attacks.
[Rare] Teleport Other
The user can teleport other Individuals and objectives to different locations. By spending [MP] at a moderate efficiency, the user may bypass some resistance of the target. Innately increases the user's resistance against being teleported against his will. Increases [Control] when using the skill.
[Uncommon] Flame Stream
Unleash a stream of flames. Increased [Power], when used with fire affinity, will burn opponents, damage their bodies over time, and reduce their self-healing. When used with thunder affinity, the flames have a low chance of partially paralyzing and burning opponents and increased [Power] when thunder flames are used against Machines.
[Common]
Machine Slayer Expertise
Increases [Power] by a moderate degree when attacking machines. The skill also improves the user's ability to [Sense] machine-based threats by a large degree.
Alistair had been very satisfied with his recent skill selections. Teleportation, in particular, had become second nature to him during the automata trial. He and Riseth seamlessly swapped places through their resonance, strategically maneuvering to block attacks or allow them to pass through Riseth's ethereal form. Coordination proved key, but they adapted swiftly to teleporting positions when necessary. With an abundance of skill points at his disposal, Alistair invested in several abilities that had long been available on his skill list. Additionally, he used a portion of his earned contribution points as a teacher to acquire two more skill points. He dedicated himself to honing both his existing skills and the new ones he had acquired.
Skills: Tier: Name: Description: [Epic]
Razor Aegis
Allows the user to generate highly maneuverable razor-sharp disks capable of cutting through most materials within their grade. These disks orbit around the user, slicing through obstacles and opponents at a moderate cost of [MP] and [SP] for creation and maintenance. Upon impact with a target, the disks automatically expand, increasing its surface of attack. The user can take manual control of the disks, directing them with a minimal additional expense of [MP] and a small amount of focus. The user can summon up to 4 disks and manually control up to 4. Disks will automatically avoid allies and destroy themselves before damaging them. [Epic]
Appraisal
This skill increases the user's ability to appraise known objects, opponents, and concepts and displays them through the [Identify] skill. It automatically displays or reveals any knowledge the user possesses or has access to through the [Akashic Link].
[Epic] Switch Teleport
Immediately switching position with another individual requires either consent or resonance to achieve smoothly. After the teleport, the acceleration of the user and target increases by a large degree for a short period. Distance is limited to the user's [Senses]. Depending on threat awareness, a barrier will automatically intercept incoming attacks.
[Rare] Light Manipulation
This skill can be used to make the user invisible by manipulating light waves by causing light to pass through a designated area/space/object without reflecting off the surface.
Other uses include a flash of light to blind opponents and gathering ambient light to create a light source. The user may create a laser beam made of light to damage opponents at low efficiency and low [MP] or [SP] cost.
[Rare] Arcane Energy Manipulation
Increases the efficiency at which the user converts and transfers energies from one to the other by a moderate amount using arcane means reducing. Reduces overall energy loss from transferring and converting energies within the user's body by a large amount. The user's augmented physiology optimizes the conversion process within their body, albeit at a slightly reduced rate outside the body compared to internal conversion. [Uncommon]
Kinetic Poleaxe Proficiency
Increases the overall proficiency, [Power] and [Control] by a moderate degree when fighting with a poleaxe. Further enhances the user's ability to channel [KE] and magic through a poleaxe, reducing the damage to the weapon and increasing the [Power] output of attacks containing [KE] when attacking with a poleaxe.
Alistair's available skill list had accumulated multiple appraisal skills during the trial. He had put off picking them as combat skills had higher priority. However, once he picked the appraisal skills, he received the expected offer to evolve the skill by sacrificing his other appraisal skills. This improved the usefulness of his [Identify] skill by leaps and bounds. He had continued to add more books to his Akashic Link library, which increased the skill's tier to epic and confirmed his suspicion that it was mostly measured by the availability of information based on his grade. He had mostly picked up the Arcane Energy Manipulation skill in anticipation of his next augmented body part. Alistair had completely remolded and refined his ribcage to store kinetic energy and had slightly improved its ability to contain the energy, reducing the loss over time.
Alistair had also picked the Kinetic Poleaxe Proficiency for its passive bonuses, and while not massive, they were noticeable. He also had more than enough time to practice his light manipulation during the automata trial and eventually managed to turn himself invisible completely. Alistair even attempted to use the laser beam Riseth had practiced but found that his beam was just as weak. The last skill offered was one of the most interesting to Alistair. He could see himself picking it up and developing it into a slayer skill that would improve as he grew more experienced fighting against different kinds of opponents. But he decided to hold off for now, keeping one point in reserve.
Nessyra had set up a meeting with the natural god of Neshan Zaltom. Nessy had hinted that he was one of her sources of information, particularly when it came to Sol and other natural gods. Alistair was getting ready, reflecting on the busy last few months as he used the glamour of his comfort array to turn his armor into a black suit. He had planned to make it a dark blue, but Riseth had told him that black and red were more common colors for business meetings on Neshan. Alistair was curious how the second meeting with a god would go.