When another volley of missiles flew his way, Everett banked again hard to his left, digging deep into the mud-soaked earth. Thankfully the Frame’s grip was sure. Everett found himself dumped at the edge of a forest inside a clearing littered with park benches. A park? He chanced a glance around and confirmed that he really was in a park. He could see slides, a fountain, and rolling hills everywhere. It was blessedly empty aside from all of the Riders who were all busy coordinating assault against the half-giant, half-tank. Was that where the missiles came from?

The tank’s outer hull looked rusted from years of sun exposure, marring the dark forest green coat of paint underneath. The upper portion looked vaguely like a torso that once would’ve held a humanoid pilot, except the cockpit had been torn clean off, leaving only the chest and arms. The lower portion, however, looked more like a traditional tank, if it were the size of a house. The steady flashes of lightning gave it a chilling silhouette. A pair of missile pods were strapped to its back, and Everett had to double take when he saw a new set of missiles rapidly materialize inside each compartment. That answers that question, he thought.

A line of bullets looked like they were being fed from a hidden compartment in its back, but then he quickly scrapped that notion when a stream of fire let loose from one of its arm cannons. A second later it swept the other in an arc in front of it, ionizing the air before several lightning strikes flashed in rapid succession before his eyes.

The newly generated missiles fired once again, and he realized he wasn’t anywhere near out of the woods yet, and reflexively dodged out of the way, making a bee line into the outer ring of fighters.

Everett found his path repeatedly cut short by either missile fire or other players who kept darting in and out trying to block as many attacks as they could before backing off. He noticed a line of Titans on a hill, laying a barrage of gunfire, and another group of Rounders deploying shields to stop the tank from doing the same. The more he took in, the more certain he became that this was indeed a raid. The many surprised faces that bore down on him as he passed by all but confirmed this.

“I’m sorry,” he shouted, passing a line of Riders who were all screaming at him at once, “I’m sorry. I just logged in. I had no idea this would happen!”

“Get off the field, stupid grull,” one member shouted.

“I swear by the Three, if we wipe, I’m smearing you from here to kingdom come,” shouted another.

“Move yaushi,” screamed another.

Everett had already realized he’d overstayed his welcome, and their anger was only going to get worse the longer he stuck around, but try as he might, every time he tried to leave, he was either cut off, pushed aside, or doing everything he could to not become shrapnel and red mist. After a few minutes, their constant badgering was only serving to piss him off, and the more they screamed the more he felt like ruining their whole operation out of spite.

He didn’t ask for this. If he could leave, he would. It wasn’t his fault he was dropped in the middle of this mess, and he still had no idea how he bypassed the entire character creation process and ended up here.

Wondering how much health it had, he tried to will an HP bar over its head. Nothing. Well that’s not helpful, he thought. Looking back at all the angry faces staring back at him, he muttered, “Ok, you know what? Every last one of you can suck it.” With that, he reached his hands through the discs he was palming. He felt a warm sensation as black and orange light shot through his arms and slowly settle in his chest. The discs were now securely clamped around his shoulders.

Guided by some unknown impulse, he threw his arm forward while stabbing his feet into the pedals, and his erzelis suddenly stood up on two legs.

He then reached to his side with his robotic right hand, and in the same instance a compartment opened in the left leg of his erzelis. The Frame mirrored his movements perfectly, pulling the blade free in a single fluid gesture. The blade turned out to be a standard mech-sized longsword with an ornate flourishing script carved into the blade, with one edge being more prominent than the other.

More shouts and curses passed the lips of the surrounding players, but he was now beyond caring. The tank was blessedly facing away from him, ceaselessly making its way forward, while a group of Rounders were currently engaged with it, trying to salvage the chaos his arrival had caused.

Without preamble, he rushed one of the attackers and used them as a springboard to grab onto the metal monstrosity’s back. He started hacking furiously at one of the lines attached to its cannons, managing to sever one after several tries.

Holy fuck, I might as well be wielding a butter knife, he thought. He immediately swung over and started on the other, heedless of the incoming barrage that the long-range Titans were firing all around him. Once he was through, he jabbed his sword into a joint in its back before climbing up on top of it and trying to wrench one of the missile-pods free.

Many of the guild members were staring at him in abject horror and rage as their planning and efforts were just thrown to the wayside. Some of them still persevered, trying to keep everything from falling apart. Meanwhile, Everett continued to wrestle with the missile pod, bracing himself in a wide stance as it thrashed about.

He gritted his teeth, trying not to bite his tongue, as they rattled violently in his mouth. From his point of view, the missile pod was close to refilling, and he didn’t think he’d be able to turn it in on itself in time, when a Scout settled on the other side of him and assisted in forcing the pod downwards.

“You might want to get back with your team,” Everett said. “I’m pretty sure I’m about to blow myself to kingdom come.”

The Rider looked at him with an easy grin on his face and said, “No one dies on my watch. Especially someone crazy enough to fight a Howitz Franx in a weird naked Erzelis. Besides, you’re helping. So why shouldn’t I return the favor?”

“I’m not doing this because I want to help you. I keep getting boxed in every time I try to leave, so I figured either I kill this thing, or I blow up and screw all of you and your shit talking friends.”

The Rider laughed and heaved upwards, forcing the pod to turn itself downward towards the base of the tank and said, “Yeah, I can’t fault you there. They’re a might bit pissed, but I promise you, they’re good guys. The loot from this thing could drastically help us boost our Fraternity. They really want to raise it to level 2.”

Everett raised his eyebrow at that and fished out a small dagger he didn’t know he had and jammed it into the joint under the missile pod, noting the last missile had just regenerated and was probably going to fire any moment. “Welp, I guess it’s time to back up and admire my handy work. Wayyy over there.”

Not wasting another second, Everett jumped back down the way he came, retrieving his sword and holstered it on the way before beating a hasty retreat.

“Vanguard, fall back! It’s about to blow,” the other shouted as he did the same.

As if it was second nature, as soon as Everett landed, he twisted his elbows and pulled back. The discs slid down and back under his palms as his Frame returned to its vehicular form. The group closest to the Howitz Franx quickly peeled back at the command of the Rider he was with, giving him room to finally get some distance away.

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It wasn’t until Everett had driven a short distance from the raid party that the adrenaline had finally started to peter out of him. He couldn’t feel the rain pelting down, but he could feel the wind and it was freezing. He felt a little comforted that his æther shield protected him from the harsher aspects of the elements, but also felt somewhat dismayed at the fact he and his erzalis were stuck in their underwear.

He kept driving though, knowing the next few moments were already going to color a lot of people’s perception of him. On the other hand he thought, I guess that’s one way to show your black ass to a bunch of strangers.

A moment later, there was a thunderous cacophony from the tank’s demise. Even at the distance he’d gotten to, the shockwaves pounded through his chest and made his ears ring, but he could still hear the cheers and random gunfire from the group a moment later and figured it must’ve worked. He almost jumped when a prompt flashed in the peripheral of his vision in confirmation.

Congratulations! You have destroyed a Howitz Franx! Even though your encounter was brief, you still managed to survive an impossible encounter. For your bravery, you have advanced to Blooded, granting you 20 AP!

In addition, you have unlocked the advancement menu. Please look over your options to decide how you wish to advance as a Sentinel class Rider.

Unfortunately, you are too far away to receive any loot, but that explosion was legendary!

You gain the following traits: Aggression, Evasion, and Protection.

Everett chafed, mildly upset at the loss of loot, though he didn’t really feel entitled to it either. Those three free traits, however, were an entirely different matter.

Now that he was far enough away from the raid, he pulled over and stopped to pull up the reward window. He had a guess at what the colors meant, but that was something he could ask Heaven later.

Aggression - rank C: All damage within 30 feet increased by 15%.

Evasion – rank C: 10% dodge bonus while in Drive mode & 15% dodge bonus while in Assault mode.

Protection – rank D: All damage taken is reduced by 10%.

Everett hazarded a guess that it had to do with his actions during the raid, but couldn’t be sure, considering he didn’t take any damage, nor did he actually protect anyone from taking a hit. What really stood out to him was his advancement to Blooded. Not sure what to make of it, he filed it away as another thing to ask Heaven. It soon dawned on him that for all that reading he did, he didn’t actually bother reading much about the mechanics of the game.

Not knowing what else to do, he decided it was time to get moving. So, he pulled up his map to get a sense of where he was at. While he intended to pull up a mental projection as he had done in countless other games, he found his hand unconsciously reach for a button on his left side dashboard that brought up a projection instead. “Huh? Don’t know how I knew that was there, but ok. Looks like I’m somewhere called the Hanza District,” he said to himself. He zoomed out as much as he could, then started tracing his way back to the city. His mind reeled once he realized just how far away from the city he was. He was at least a twenty-minute drive away! Seeing all that space between him and his goal he decided he might as well use that time to get a lay of the land.

No sooner had he thought to do so, he found himself scrolling through the list of options on his console until he found the contacts menu. He put in the ID for Lena with a message that read, Hey Heaven, sorry. I don’t even know where to start, but I ended up spawning way out in the Hanza District, in the middle of a fricking raid! Like what the fuck?

Surprisingly, I didn’t get myself blown to smithereens But in either case, I figured I should let you know I’m here. I’ll probably try to fight whatever I can on the way for the experience (‘cause why not), but I won’t be too long getting there, I hope.

Then he waited for her to confirm the add.

The deluge that battered away at his shield reminded him a bit of home and reminded him that he was still in his underwear and should probably make his way to town sooner than later. For now, though, he listened happily, just taking in the moment. This game was already getting off to an odd start.

About a minute had passed when he got a ping back. Hey Ma’Z, nice! I’m kind of speechless about what could’ve landed you in the middle of a raid, let alone starting outside of a city either. But uhh, the Hanza District is actually a pretty high-level area. I’m not sure how far you’ll get before you get yourself killed. I mean, unless you got some incredible loot out of that raid boss, you’re basically rocking your starter gear, right?

Well, that deflated his aspirations.

Stopping to look at his Erzelis Frame, he could see he wasn’t “naked” per se, but the armor plating that covered his Frame might as well have been non-existent. His Status pretty much confirmed it.

Ma’Hiz Vi’Olorun

I’Lu – Stratos Savant (Void Lord)

Ērzelis Frame – Unnamed

Rounder - Unspecialized

Traits:

Aggression

Control

Evasion

Protection

Telepathy (racial)

Raw Instinct (passive)

Abilities:

Lesser Telekinesis (racial)

Wheelhouse

Spells:

Tier: Blooded

Æther Slots:

6 of 6

Acceleration: +0

Top Speed: 195

Boost Charges: 0

Currency

Cyn-P: 0

Cyn-E: 600

Cyn-D: 200

Ti Ara Gate : :

Might: 10

Dexterity: 12

Durability: 10

Intellect: 11

Will: 11

20 unassigned AP

Idan Gate : :

Stratos: A

Flare: D

Luminescence: D

Nocturn: C

Steel: D

Torrent: D

Void: S

Drive: :

Brakes: Armali

Engine: Armali

Rotors: Armali

Suspension: Armali

Tires: Armali - (asphalt)

Core: Dua’Lessa

Booster: none

Weight: 532 awls

Combat: :

Head: Rusted Array

Body: Rusted Plate

Arms: Rusted Brace

Legs: Rusted Shins

MainHand: Basic Longsword

OffHand: n/a

If what Heaven said was true, he was as good as roadkill. Thinking back, it was by the skin of his teeth that he managed to not get himself killed as soon as he logged in, and sheer luck that he didn’t, in fact, get blown up. “What are the odds,” he asked, looking at his sheet. With a sigh, he gazed out at the cloud-covered hillside park. He gathered it was probably a bit after noon by the little bit of light that broke through the rain clouds.

When he looked down, he suddenly noticed the clock in the upper right-hand corner of the Rounder’s dash and realized it was actually closer to 6pm game time. He was way off.

Resuming the ready position, he placed his palms and fingers back on the discs that now lay flat in recesses on either side of the Frame’s central console. He noted how they somehow attached themselves like magnets. He could take them off easily enough if he wanted to, but they otherwise responded to his movements with pinpoint accuracy.

He started to drive off, but then had a thought occur to him. He looked at the map again, and confirmed what he thought, then sent another message to Heaven. So uhh… What about the Zastra District, he asked.

A moment later she responded back, Eh, I guess, so long as you keep it strictly 1 v 1. If another mob joins in, you’re better off running to safety and trying again. It’ll be slow, but you can probably get some decent parts for gear for your efforts. Word of advice though, mobs don’t just float away in a pixelated fog or anything like that. You have to physically dig through them. You’ll know you got something when you get a buzzing sensation followed by a name for the part. It’ll be colored if it’s anything good. Chase that gold!

Now that, he liked. With a smile, Everett plotted a path to the Zastra District. An overlay dropped onto his Vision, giving him a path to follow. And with that he was off.