Chapter 37 – Unexpected Complications

To say that Matt was upset at that moment would be an understatement. He was beyond upset, clear past mad, looking at angry in the rearview mirror and approaching murderous rampage at full speed. The reason for his mood was sitting in the construct directly to his front left, less than 100 meters away. Jess had committed a grievous sin, a most heinous transgression to any operation. She dared to say, out loud, to the universe, that something was easy before they were done. He made sure to give her a hard time about it and was told that he was being ridiculous by everyone else there.

The operation had been going well, smooth sailing in fact. They had placed 5 of the 16 repeater towers in the first day and 2 more that morning before she said the words. Now, nearly 4 and a half hours later, they were approaching the next point. The 4 and a half hours hadn’t been easy either. They first encountered a boulder field that caused a detour, then dozens of golems popping out of the boulder field. After the rocky start, they found a swamp which needed another detour lest the other constructs sink.

Now after a very muddy slog and a short skirmish with a few frog-like creatures they found a decent location to set up the 8th repeater. Matt was thankful that they hadn’t any casualties in either fight which was due more to the commando’s overmatch than anything else. Matt had acted as a reserve, letting them do the fighting and pathfinding to each point on the trip. Van grumbling in the back of his mind about not having anything to fight wasn’t helping either.

Seeing the dismounts setting up a perimeter for security, he popped the hatch and jumped out making a beeline for Jess and the open hatch of her construct. “See what you did?” He shouted to her as he marched across the soggy ground. His voice was being amplified by the external speaker in his helmet, so she definitely heard him.

“Yes, and I’m sorry. Just like I said I was sorry at the swamp and the boulder field.” Jess said, exasperated at what had become a slog. “I am having them set up the repeater and we are going to make camp for the night on that rise over there.” She pointed toward a small hill a couple hundred meters away which put it nearly a kilometer from the swampy waters.

Matt just nodded and turned away, going back to his mech, easily hearing Jess muttering under her breath about never making that mistake again. He knew it was a superstition but sometimes it helped to have an outlet for their frustrations that they could blame with no consequences. In all likelihood, they would have had the same issues regardless but it just happened to be the right time and place.

“So, I think I get it now.” Venri said as Matt took his seat and closed the hatch again. “It’s like a hex or curse, right?”

“Yeah, we call it a jinx but it’s all a superstition. I’m not actually mad at her but using it as a little reminder that letting your guard down or making assumptions can lead to someone getting hurt or killed.” Matt said, rationalizing the reaction.

“Hmm, any other we should be aware of?”

“Yeah, but it’s a bunch of proverbs kind of things. Mostly general advice and wisdom but there are some good ones that apply to more martial situations.” He didn’t say more, having gotten distracted by the repeater finally booting up and being moved into its final position, hidden in the treetops.

The group moved off to the hilltop and began preparing an encampment. They wouldn’t need to stay for long but decided to wait out the night and get some rest after their long day. A fire was started, and positions prepared. They set up a triangular patrol base, keeping the constructs at the points, backed up by the machineguns. It was a textbook defense and they had good terrain to do it with the hill providing excellent field of view to the surrounding woods.

Matt helped Venri dismount from the mech, and they began walking toward where Jess was organizing the commandos. “What ones apply to our situation?” She asked.

“The laws. Well, they were called Murphy’s Laws. Pretty much the premise of all the laws is that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” Matt explained. He began throwing out some of his favorites that he had heard over the years, getting a few chuckles out of them.

After a pause, Venri asked a follow up “And all of these apply just to the military on your world?” Matt thought she was fishing for something but wasn’t sure what.

“Yes, well only a couple of the nations that shared some military culture.” Seeing the questioning look, he explained further. He told her about how his home country had only existed for a few hundred years and had been born in revolution. Then they later allied with the country they split from. He gave a brief history of Earth, not going into much detail because he didn’t have the background to properly explain it and Tobias probably had a book or movie on his tablet detailing everything.

Venri was fascinated by the scope of the wars that Earth had, particularly how weapons developed so rapidly with technology. Her world had magic of a sort that could be used and substituted much of what Matts home had to brute force into figuring out. Their conversation drew some attention from the rest of the commandos who gathered around for an impromptu session of ‘story time with Matt’. None of them were aware that they were being watched from a distance by creatures waiting for the right moment to strike.

Tobias walked into the building at the center of the city which was now just known as the hub since it both housed that item and acted as a hub for all official activity. He was on a mission, looking for the cities only orc who also happened to be the one to approve his ridiculous spending. This time, the conversation wouldn’t be so hard. He had done some research and talked to a bunch of other crafters and found that the items he wanted to order could be used by a lot of professions.

“Excuse me, have you seen Frank?” Tobias asked one of the clerks on the ground floor.

“Upstairs. Third floor, that is.” The scaled man replied as he kept on walking over to the desks in the northern arc of the circular building.

Tobias shrugged and went up the stairs, both flights being more steps than normal but giving each floor extra height and making them feel more open. Sure enough, over near the recently installed radio set was Franklin. He was leaning over a table which had a map spread across it and talking to Rohm as the felid placed a series of markers on the map. Tobias thought he would see about getting a proper holographic display table for them but had no idea the cost and didn’t fancy taking apart one of his to see about making one.

“Frank, Rohm. How’s it going?” Tobias asked as he approached, trying not to startle either of them.

The commander was the first to respond. “Tobias, Congratulations on your class evolution.” He of course noticed that Tobias evolved his primary class. “I assume you got a good class?”. He knew that the second class was lagging behind, knowing that it wasn’t a true evolution to E grade.

Tobias had indeed gotten a good class. He had gotten 5 options and ended up picking a rare class called Principal Forge Developer which gave an excellent level 25 skill. His new skill gave insights and abilities when working with certain chemicals. The new skill was the main reason for his visit.

“Indeed. It will be very beneficial in both the short term and for long term use.” Tobias shook hands with both men and greeted the classer sitting at the radio. “it’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Franklin sighed heavily. “How much is it going to cost?”

Tobias chuckled as he responded. “Oh, not as much as last time. Also, this purchase will have uses for other types of crafters. I need to but some chemicals. We could possibly make them but I’m not sure where to find the base materials and the cost of the machinery is more than I’m willing to spend without a source.”

In a surprising role reversal, Rohm was the one that pressed for more detail. “What will you be doing with these chemicals?”

“Let me show you.” Tobias said and pulled out his tablet. He then played a series of videos showing explosives and their various uses. “This can help with building, fighting, mining and so much more.” He did have to explain what other crafters would be able to use the chemicals and then give a cost versus benefit speech but that was expected.

After hearing out Tobias, Franklin gave his approval. “Alright, go ahead and get some but try to rope in the crafters so they get some experience with the materials. From my understanding, working with new material can give them massive gains in their levels.”

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Tobias agreed after some hesitation. Every time he contacted crafters, it became a huge headache of fielding questions and managing the supply of materials. It got so bad that he ended up asking one of the other crafters to help just manage the transactions so he could actually help the other people in the forge learn the equipment and work on their own projects.

Tobias did extract a promise form Rohm to take him out when they went to meet Matt at the mines. He Still needed a few levels in his combat class to finalize the evolution and reach the full grade evolution. As he walked back to the forge in the final moments of twilight, he wondered briefly how Matt was doing, assuming he was bored babysitting the commandos. He probably will have nothing to do until he gets to the mines Tobias thought to himself.

“From the left!” Jess screamed, trying to be heard over the gunfire. She noticed a couple of the monsters break away from the main group and move to flank. Just as she said it, a loud thump-bang could be heard, and she watched the entire area where the 4 had been turn into flying splinters and gore. Lisk had gotten his construct up and running it seemed. She turned her attention back to the fight in front of her as the last of the daylight slipped away.

The monsters had come out of the woodwork as soon as twilight had taken the sparse woodland. They were hideously deformed amalgamations consisting mostly of wolf parts. They closed on the group rapidly in their dozens. The only saving grace had been Matt suddenly calling them to arms, somehow knowing the attack was coming. The fist waves had been met with a storm of bullets from the commandos’ new guns which had less of an effect than they would have hoped.

They were making an attempt to get the pilots back into their constructs one at a time to provide cover for the rest of the group. So far, they had 2 up with Jess, Matt and the last pilot, Milin still to go. Now it was Jess’ turn, and she tapped the commando to her left, signaling that she was breaking away. She made it all of 3 steps before a cry sounded from her right where one of the monsters had somehow broken through and was headed right for her.

Jess managed to fire a short burst before it took her to the ground, pinning her in place and biting at her throat. She managed to get her rifle between its jaws and wedged them open as it tried to bite through the receiver and handguard. She swore, screaming in the face of the monster while she tried to wrestle her knife out of her storage ring while fending off bites.

Just as she summoned her dagger, Jess lost control of her rifle and it was wrenched out of her hands, thrown away by the beast. It once again lunged forward to bite at her but was suddenly yanked off her. Jess looked up to see Echo clamping his jaws around the beast’s neck and shaking the life out of it, accompanied by the sound of breaking bones. Jess could hear vertebrae snapping and saw its body go limp before Echo whipped its head and decapitated the monster. The drake spared her a brief glance before it disappeared back into the shadows.

Able to hear the repeated thumping of Matts cannon, Jess took a moment to just lay on the ground. She suddenly felt a presence rapidly approach her, its arrival promising both salvation and horrible violence. She about screamed again when she felt a hand grab the front of her breast plate and haul her to a standing position. She was suddenly looking at the impassive face of Matts helmet as its eye lenses whirred into focus on her.

“Get the fuck up and fight.” Matt said as he shoved Jess’ rifle back into her hand and pushed her back to her construct. His voice was coarse coming through his helmet, practically dripping with suppressed anger. Just as quickly as he arrived, he was gone again, the presence going with him.

Jess, shaken and stumbling, didn’t even try to rationalize how Matt was both on the ground and in his construct but ran on regardless. She reached it, got in and shut the hatch, deciding to get strapped in in the dark rather than be an easy target while she hooked herself into the controls. A minute later, she was finished and slid the visor over her eyes, finally getting a view of the outside and couldn’t believe what she saw.

A tall dark figure was moving through the camp, at times seemingly vanishing, only to reappear somewhere else. It seamlessly switched between a rifle and a small axe with a blue glowing blade that burned anything it touched. Knowing it was Matt, Jess watched as he rampaged through any of the monsters that broke the line, brutally dispatching anything that came close. If the enemy wasn’t in reach, he changed to his rifle and fired controlled bursts into the horde. Occasionally he would throw a small rock like object that would explode in the clusters of enemies after a couple seconds.

Jess stepped back, out of the patrol base and moved off to the flank opposite from Lisk to get a better angle on the monsters pouring out of a dense stand of trees. She saw another sight that confused and terrified her in equal parts. Matts construct was already there, also firing bursts into the clusters of monsters. As she approached the construct turned its head and looked at her, its eye lenses glowing the same pale blue as Matt’s axe. Jess just stepped up online and began firing into the masses with the shot shells they had developed. She wasn’t sure what kind of monster Matt was, but she was very glad he was on her team.

Matt was having a really bad day. Not only had it been a slog to get to where they stopped for camp, but then these mutants came out of the woodwork. He wasn’t sure if he should he happy or not that they were lower level. On one hand they didn’t pose much risk to the commandos but on the other there was a veritable horde of them. Despite the failing light, he was able to see them clearly thanks to his advanced optics.

Canid Mutant. Level: 18

The creatures were all in the 15- 20 range for levels but there must have been nearly 150 of them. They also seemed to punch above their weight and oh boy, were they ugly. They looked to be malformed werewolves that had a bad case of mange. Their spines were hunched and twisted beyond reason, and they moved with unnatural, jerky movements over long distances. Their true danger showed when they got withing melee range and could leap at their prey.

So it was that Matt and the commandos kept to their grisly task of slaughtering the onrush of mutants. The fight went on for only half an hour, with a little time to mop up the ones that were trying to crawl away, heavily wounded. It seemed that every one of the beasts committed to the attack since Van didn’t see any with the thermals and his threat detector wasn’t picking any up at longer range. Matt decided to recall the pilots and reset the patrol base.

Matt went around and conducted a battle damage assessment on both the enemy and his own forces. They had taken a few minor injuries but most of the commandos had their new armor which kept the worst of the wounds off them. They decided to save the potions and let the healers do their thing and gain some extra experience. He saw Van approach and stop at the edge of the patrol base where he knelt and opened the hatch. From the hatch a very irate dwarf hopped out and stomped her way over to him.

Venri had known something was off about Matt and her trait initiating a personal System quest was just icing on the cake. Within the first hour of traveling, she got the sense that he was different but couldn’t pin down why. Her trait usually only pointed her toward treasures or other rare materials but now, apparently, people of interest. Normally it helped her find her alchemy ingredients but this time it was causing her to investigate Matt for reasons not yet clear. Still, she waited patiently, chatting and trying to tease out info on him, finally getting somewhere when they made camp. Well, that progress was interrupted when he suddenly stopped and called the group to arms.

All Matt had done was look down at her and ask a simple question. “Fighting or not?” Venri hesitated for too long apparently because Matt had grabbed her and thrown her back into the construct. “Buckle up and don’t touch anything.” He ordered, his aura flaring and suppressing her completely.

The next several minutes had been horrifying chaos as she watched him dismantle the monsters with ease. The commandos had held up quite well in her estimation, but it was clear that Matt was a step above. His movements had been precise and decisive, he didn’t hesitate, constantly doing something, working to win the fight. Everywhere he went it was like a bubble followed him, bolstering the commandos, making them fight harder and with more skill.

That was all well and good, Venri would have left it there if not for what had happened next. The construct had started moving on its own, causing her to scramble to buckle up the harness. With a speed far beyond what such a construct should have, it moved to the flank of the camp. It then began firing its damnable cannon on its own, targeting groups of the monsters with startling accuracy. It acted on its own with such fluidity and grace that Venri knew it wasn’t just a skill or other ability.

Once the fighting had calmed down, the construct walked back to the camp and knelt, allowing Venri to hop out. She made a beeline toward Matt, about to give him a piece of her mind, but a sudden pressure descended, and she checked herself. It was not a pressure filled with killing intent like before but more of a calming, graceful aura. She took a deep breath and felt her tension wash away, knowing instantly that Matt was the source of the calming effect.

Echo padded back into the camp, covered in blood. The drake went over to the fire where he sat down and began cleaning himself as Matt waited for the rest to gather round. Once the other pilots had dismounted, they joined the group. Venri noticed that some looked to Matt with reverence and others, like Jess, had more complex looks as they struggled with their emotions.

Matt took off his helmet, hanging it on his belt out of habit. “Good job guys. I think that went pretty well but what does everyone else think?” Instantly, the domineering aura that had been surrounding him was gone, replaced with the friendly old Matt they had gotten to know over the past several days. His eyes seemed to glow ever so slightly in the night, flashing a pale blue that quickly faded.

Venri was absolutely flabbergasted at the sudden change, but that part of her trait was finally satiated, and it provided her the information she had been compelled to find. She knew exactly what Matt was and swore a silent oath to herself to never betray him or break his trust, least she suffer the consequences. She planned to swear absolute fealty to him as soon as she was able, willing to live a life of complete servitude to the veiled-human. Her devotion was rewarded with System notifications, which she immediately opened.

Quest Complete: Investigate: Matt Shultz

Through chance and happenstance, you have discovered a member of the Veiled species. The tales of your ancestors hold this race to be either harbingers of salvation or death incarnate, you must decide your own path and either serve or flee in accordance with your people’s laws.

Congratulations, your trait has evolved!

Trait had evolved into: Grace of the Veiled

Grace of the Veiled:

Your ability to find the truth extends past locating simple treasures and natural ingredients. Through your class and proximity to a veiled, you are gifted with the ability to replicate his affinity if you have his favor. Serve well, honor your ancestors and keep the faith.