Alistair embraced his brother first and then Jessica, exchanging warm greetings with them.
"It's Good to see you guys. Where's Mom? I thought you were working on the storage cube," Alistair inquired.
"We are. And we are close to a breakthrough. Mom is currently busy exploring her own trial world a bit more. She'll be back later today," James replied.
Alistair managed a faint smile, though inwardly, he felt uneasy about his mother having to venture out and face the dangers of battling monsters. He acknowledged the hypocrisy of his concern, understanding that it was simply a part of the new reality they now faced.
"Shame, I would have loved to see her. Impressive workshop, by the way; just how much of our funds are you burning through?" Alistair inquired, letting his gaze wander over the expansive room they stood in.
"Less than you think. A lot of this comes from the workshops you get with the keys; if you give me access to yours, we have even more space to work with," James said before sending a request over the [Akashic Link], which Alistair confirmed.
James looked anxiously at Alistair, and he knew he wanted to see what he had salvaged from the Automata Trial. Alistair gave him a knowing smile before summoning some of the regular and heavy troopers he had captured. James looked at them excitedly, and Alistair could feel the magic flowing out of his brother.
"How do crafting skills even work? I can tell you are using magic, but I have no idea what you are doing," Alistair said as he leaned on the workbench where his brother had placed one of the more intact Itania troopers.
As his brother meticulously removed the plating enclosing the miniaturized mana engine, Alistair listened intently. "What I'm using could be described as magical industrial radiography," James explained, his tone matter-of-fact. "It lets me see the different layers of what I'm working on. Think of it as X-ray vision, and you're pretty close."
He continued his explanation as Jessica diligently noted down each part. "A lot of the skills are passive and boost both [Control] & [Senses], and some help with proficiency. One of my most useful ones is an Intuition-based skill that helps me understand what I'm looking at or spot issues in magical circuitry."
"Sorry to interrupt, but I started with the less exciting stuff, and I don't have the time to watch you disassemble everything," Alistair told James before putting the near perfectly preserved Nugan Sniper, including its rifle and tarp and its storage crystals. James frowned a little before pulling himself away from the now exposed miniature mana engine.
"Well, would you look at that? So you can capture equipment without bashing it to bits," James said as he inspected the Sniper before picking up its rifle it looking down the barrel with a huge smile.
Alistair smirked at his brother's goofy smile. He looked like a kid in a toy store despite Alistair not having pulled out the big guns yet. Alistair stepped to the side and pulled the Itania Missile Boat from storage, which caused both Jessica and James to drop everything they were doing and gushed over the newest addition.
"I can't believe you managed to acquire an intact magi tech missile launcher system," James exclaimed, his excitement palpable. "This is one of the most sought-after pieces of tech in the entire exchange program, right up there with spacecrafts and advanced cybernetics. I can think of countless applications for this and the hover tech alone. With these, I'll have to rebuild my power armor from scratch."
His brother started gushing over even more complicated technical terms, particularly once he inspected the tanks that fed into the missile pods. Apparently, they were connected to the plane of metal, pulling liquid metals needed to create the missiles and assembling and priming them with built-in magical circuitry and runes in the tubes.
"If you can obtain metal from planes, why bother with mining and processing ore?" Alistair questioned, puzzled by the apparent shortcut.
"It's simple," James replied. "Summoned material loses integrity the longer the metal is separated from its plane. For something as temporary as a missile or magic attack, it works just fine."
"Alright, there is one last thing, though be warned, it is automated, so be careful when activating it," Alistair said as he pulled out the storage cube containing the transport craft.
James took it and inspected the cube, and a small hologram showing its content appeared. Jessica and James looked at the projection with amazement.
"I could kiss you," James exclaimed, his eyes glued to the projection. Jessica shot him a sidelong glance.
"Hard pass. I'd rather you pay more attention to your fiancée. You look just as likely to make out with that cube as with her," Alistair said jokingly.
Jessica pouted indignantly at Alistair's remark, giving him a reproachful look, while James turned to her with an apologetic expression.
"I think I'll pick up that disassembly skill after all, or I'll be working on this all year," James commented as he placed down the cube.
"I received an urgent reminder from Mitania today to not squander the opportunities provided by the trial. While I understand that crafters have a different path, it's crucial to capitalize on the trial. After the trial, you can work on the machinery to your heart's content. I know you are itching to work on this stuff. But hear me out it's a bad idea to redo your power armor. I recommend just upgrading it. You'll be more than capable of excelling in the arena and navigating most trial worlds for some time," Alistair advised with a worried expression.
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James looked at Alistair with a slightly pained expression as he wistfully glanced back at the cube.
"I get it. I know you're right, but you don't understand how badly I want to retrofit this baby. A personal combat hovercraft would be useful and incredibly badass." James let out a sigh. "What do you think I'll need to handle your automata trial?"
"Automated defensive skills like shielding are a must. I was sniped by that rifle while mapping the area out of nowhere. Also, I took a quick peek outside the bunker, and they've obliterated most of the urban sprawl and surrounding forests. So having the ability to get the hell out of dodge with teleportation would be another requirement before I'd let you come along," Alistair explained.
His brother scratched his chin, walking toward one of the workbenches as he placed down the cube and turned to face Alistair.
"One week. I should have my suit completed and field tested in the arena. Would you take Jessica and me along if we manage to fulfill those requirements?" James asked.
Alistair contemplated for a moment. He had been considering organizing an expedition to the automata trial, which could provide valuable experience and improve coordination among clan members.
"It will be a straight-up warzone, and I only agree to this if we organize it as an expedition for the whole Clan. Getting everyone prepared and on board with it will be your job," Alistair responded.
"So, convince people to come along and develop sufficiently strong shielding and teleportation equipment? It's a good thing I've already developed a Blinkcore that allows my suit to use the [Blink] skill," James remarked confidently.
"If you require more time, that's fine. I'd rather not rush and lose somebody," Alistair emphasized.
James nodded confidently. "Leave it to me. I've got plenty of projects waiting for this exact kind of magi tech. You've brought me a treasure trove: miniaturized mana engines, magic hover propulsion, stealth equipment, communication, and sensor gear. Heck, Zathron might even be able to help me hack into their communication networks," he listed eagerly. "Go do your thing, Alistair. The Veteran Arena matches should start soon, and I wouldn't want you to miss out on my account."
Alistair checked the time and cursed he was cutting it close, so he said his quick goodbyes and hurried to the Arena Dungeon. He signed up and informed Nessyra to place bets on him just before the betting pools were about to close. He sat down on a free bench and checked his skills. Alistair still had one free skill point and two possible upgrades he had been holding off on. He was quite sure if he picked the upgrade on his [Kinetic Skinguard], it would have a low chance of becoming legendary tier. He had been focusing on molding more resistance and refining it, though he had not yet gotten a linear upgrade. He still had some time before reaching the next grade, and he might get another idea besides linear upgrades to push it into the legendary tier, so he confirmed the skill upgrade.
Skills: Tier: Name: Description: [Supreme] Kinetic Skinguard
This skill allows the user to absorb and effectively redistribute kinetic energy [KE] automatically upon touching the user's skin. The skin has been tempered, remolded, and refined with the essences of [Stability], [Resistance], and [Heavenly Purity] in order to resist any attempt to dispel or disperse or manipulate the skill with high efficiency. If possible, the skill will automatically dispel Kinetic and related energies and store them in up to two orbiting spheres of force at a moderate cost of [MP] relative to the KE stored. Once these spheres are at capacity, any energy overflow will be dispelled through kinetic shockwaves unless directed otherwise by the user. This ability comes at the cost of a small portion of [Qi] proportionate to the absorbed kinetic impact. The user may redirect and use the absorbed energy through their body but increases [HP] damage taken over time the longer the energies are held onto.
Alistair read the skill description; one thing was for sure: he could push the skill by splitting the energy cost by using both [Qi] and [MP], aiming to use the more efficient one until he ran out. He would also try to get a hang of three or more spheres rather than two. Skill upgrades were one of the more obscure topics he had tried to research. Most tried to measure tiers by numbering them. In his mind, he had planned out his tier list to start with trash and end with legendary. However, he could not help but leave the possibility of higher tiers open as he subconsciously could not help but add more tiers like the mythic and god tiers above it. His skill was technically an 8 out of 9 on his official scale when leaving out the mythic and higher tiers.
Alistair's inner perfectionist was having difficulty coming to terms with the fluid nature of the system. He knew he had already overdone it with his foundation building, and he decided to not hold back on leveling up anymore after the free-for-all all event, which put a final timer on his planned skill upgrade. He was interrupted by the familiar window popping up.
Veteran League (lvl 40-44) First-time participation counts towards [Gladiator] title. Rounds: 1/10
Time left to confirm: 39 Seconds Opponent:
Masrangi Tameos - lvl 42
Do you wish to Participate?
[Yes] [No]
Alistair blazed through the first three fights with little issue. The only surprising thing was the arena; it had changed every time he had entered. The first arena had been a jungle, the second an open field with hills, and the third a flat circular arena surrounded by water. He entered the arena for a fourth time. Instead of salty water, the air was earthy and stale, with a faint smell of wood. He was surrounded by tall medieval buildings made of stone and wood. He had no straight line of sight to his opponent's bubble. He knew his opponent was [Vilagoros Damdos - lvl 44] and wondered if he finally would meet his match. His opponent's name atleast sounded draconic in nature. When the bubble fell Alistair flew towards the closest tower to get a better view, as soon as he took to the air the building that had stood between him and his opponents were split in two as they were forcefully slashed in half. Alistair, who had already left his position, looked in surprise at his bestial opponent, who had swung what looked to be a somewhat broad nodachi with an adamantine shine to it.