Matthew stepped into the chalk ring where the noble brat was waiting, he didn’t need to measure out any distance to be ready to strike him as the entire ring was within his range. the only two reasons he hadn’t hacked him in half already was because he was internally debating how to slaughter the noble brat and that the duel hadn’t started yet
[Hold off on killing him for a few moments, Matthew]
Matthew let out a sigh as he shifted his stance as he stood ready, the Marquis entered the ring in between the two duelist and looked over at the noble brat and spoke
“State your name”
While the noble brat might be getting cold feet, he still kept up his facade of bravado and glared dismissively at Matthew as he stated his name
“Ukiad”
Marquis Elias nodded and looked over at Matthew and spoke again
“State your name”
“Matthew Rockwell”
With the simple procedure done, the Marquis looked back at Ukiad, then back at Matthew before he declared
“I, Marquis Elias Maitner declare this knight duel before me valid, any murder or harm resulting from it will be pardoned by my authority”
Then he turned around and walked out of the ring before he turned again and declared
“Begin!”
At the start signal, neither side moved, Matthew held his Marshal sword out with his right hand as he stood side on towards Ukiad, still not letting go of his bravado Ukiad stepped forwards carefully measuring out the distance between them as he taunted
“What’s wrong, have you sprouted roots into the ground already, barbarian?”
Matthew didn’t respond, instead he lowered his sword slightly before he suddenly stepped in towards Ukaid and blocked the sword slash that met him, Ukiad clearly didn’t expect the sudden advancement from Matthew, furthermore the Marshal sword being far heavier than it looked gave Matthew all the opening he needed to carve Ukiad in two then and there
[Wait! Don’t kill him]
As Matthew let the chance slip, Ukiad quickly took some distance and raised his defense once more, seeing that he had missed his chance to instantly end this farce Matthew complained over the local net to Alina
[...Please tell me why I can’t carve this brat in half already]
Alina didn’t answer as Matthew and Ukiad started to circle the ring in full focus on each other, after half a rotation Alina’s ecstatic voice sounded out over the net
[His body… According to Aea’s scans and my Mystic probes it's a manufactured body, there’s a core that seems to contain his consciousness in the middle of his chest!]
“...Huh”
Matthew’s surprise puzzled Ukiad for a moment which presented Matthew a chance to strike which he took, quickly stepping in once again Matthew stabbed forwards with the tip of his sword which was reflected by Ukiad’s sword as he stepped into Matthew’s range and twisted his sword to the side flicking Matthew’s sword away as he slashed after the side of Matthew’s neck, Matthew watched the blade approach his neck for a few milliseconds as he brought up his left hand and struck the flat side of the blade sending it above his head as he stepped in and planted his left elbow in the stomach of Ukiad that was blown back a few steps as he grasped for air
“Y…You b…”
“Yeah, yeah… Sleep tight”
Before Ukiad could recover or finish his sentence, Matthew stepped in and stuck his chin with the hilt of his sword, knocking out Ukiad that crumbled backwards like a sack of potatoes
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“Winner, Matthew Rockwell!”
As the Marquis declared him the winner of the duel, Matthew grabbed Ukiad by the scruff of the neck before lifting him off the ground and before the Marquis or anyone else could protest he turned and placed Ukiad into the Mk. 22 that closed around him, then he showed a smile to the Marquis as he spoke while the Mk. 22 turned and kicked off the ground heading West at once
“Well then, lord Marquis, should we finish up the current negotiations?”
The Marquis glanced at the Mk. 22 that now contained Ukiad as it leaped clear over the Western walls before he glanced back at Matthew’s bright smile and eventually decided that risking his and his knight's life to rescue a noble brat who had interrupted a formal diplomatic negotiation and had risked Duke Adam and the youngest princess killed to only lose a knight duel wasn’t worth it.
To the Marquis, that brat had caused his own undoing, and now that Matthew had ‘taken out the trash’ for him so to speak he made a mental note to have the scribes burn any recordings of the noble brats interference
[Aea, do we still have Mystic knight corpses on ice?]
[Affirmative, biological analysis and disposal have yet to be scheduled]
[Examine all female corpses for any similarities to the current occupant of the Mk. 22 and begin work on a digital interface capable of interfacing with the core containing his consciousness]
[Orders received]
-
As Matthew and Alina worked to bring their bout with the Willmir empire to a close and receive due compensation, another conflict was well under way around a week's travel time South of Basecamp
“...They just keep coming, don’t they… I don’t believe this a simple retaliatory raid anymore”
As he complained, Iaka brought up his coil rifle and took aim, as a Forge champion he had seen many such retaliatory raids each occurring roughly a week after the slave takers returned with their bounty, but it had been well over two moon cycles since the last slave raids
“Look on the bright side Iaka, we are able to replenish our stock of mining slaves for at least a few years with this”
Iaka squeezed the trigger slowly, a few moments later a barrage of coil rifle fire rained down on the advancing invaders about a kilometer ahead of their group, Iaka raised his right hand and made a few hand signals that quickly directed the entire platoon of Forge champions to move to the next firing position before he also kicked off and sprinted as he spoke to Ruhi though the microphone on his headset
“I still have a bad feeling about this, the sentinels still haven’t brought down the berserker rampaging around in the 4th sector yet either”
Around a month ago a Turman kingdom army had arrived at the edge of the mountain territory, this army had long since been dealt with, but soon after another larger army had arrived and now a even larger 3rd expeditionary army sent by the Turman kingdom had arrived while the steel guardians of the forge, the holy sentinels, were still busy dealing with the 2nd army and the emerald green haired berserker that led it
-
Matthew sat himself up on the soft bed and let out a heavy sigh before he rolled off it and sat down against the wall next to it and curled up his legs
[Do you require sleeping aid, master?]
‘...No, I don’t feel like sleeping anymore’
The diplomatic negotiations with the Willmir empire had been completed, they had secured 2200 silver coins and 15 platinum coins in total for the full release of their current prisoners, Alina had returned to Basecamp where she was preparing to Displace the prisoners to the formal exchange that would happen at dawn
[I may be able to assist you in a lot of matters master, but I can’t rest your body for you]
‘I’ll be fine, don't your biological readings tell you so?’
[The importance of rest goes past the physical needs of your body master]
‘The bed is too soft, I feel like I am sinking through the floor’
[Should I inform the mistress of your lack of cooperation in this matter?]
“...Please don’t”
[Understood, shall we finish the rundown of the last 4 types of nanites where we left off two months ago?]
‘...Why not, we went through the Trauma, Blood, Bone, Nerve and Organ nanites already, right?’
[Yes, the next on our list is Forge bio-nanites which not only is capable of schematic manufacturing but also replenishment of other stored nanites given an external material supply, though greater material efficiency can be achieved by interfacing with any class BuleArrow approved fabricator]
‘So it’s the Forge nanites I’ve used so far to manufacture most of the stuff at the Basecamp?’
[Yes, though the construction of a fabricator is highly recommended to scale up production]
‘...Noted, by the way, have any of the analyzed materials so far been suitable for nanite manufacturing?’
[Yes, some trace elements discovered in some metal armor, but the observed amount was deemed negligible due to the current manufacturing efficiently]
‘Okay, so what is next on the list?’
[The Data bio-nanites which I’ve mentioned before manages all internal data storage on the Code arrow 09 and local network interfacing, as well as this Data bio-nanites can also be used for general data gathering of almost any matter for application of other nanite patterns]
Matthew nodded, the local network which he and Alina communicated on was nothing fancy like a general satellite data uplink connection but instead clever use of surveillance drones which bounced the signal along over longer distances, this had been Aea’s suggestion instead of investing the recuses into more conventional solutions exactly due to the Data nanites which Aea had explained briefly then
‘Yeah, the local network is really useful, it certainly gives a lot of overwatch, having hundreds of drones in the sky… Is it also the Data nanites that is used to harvest bio matter?’
[No, general nanites handle that, though the analysis of the gathered bio matter to best apply it is handled by Data nanites]
‘I see… So what’s the next nanite type?’
[The next is Maintenance, which handles power and material transfer to other nanites patterns and performs general maintenance and repair work on the Code arrow 09]
‘That sounds simple enough to understand, so what’s the last type?’
[The last type is Improvement, which is what required the significant hardware upgrade and software development that went into the 56 years of the Code arrow 09’s development, by gathering data from all other specialized nanites and by cross-referencing internal schematics it is now possible for a single Code arrow 09 to develop and utilize new types of bio-nanites or hardware for unforeseen or very specific tasks the user desires]
Matthew blinked a few times before a smile showed on his face as he spoke out loud
“...So developing and manufacturing, bionic implants or nanites capable of wielding Mystic powers are possible?”
[Yes, very much so, in fact development of an experimental first generation bionic implant is nearing completion]