Chapter 42 – Reminder notes.

“Well, this is unfortunate.” Matt said.

“Indeed. But at least we know?” Franklin was fishing for a positive in this situation.

Matt thought about it. The wolf population had been rather off since he landed on the planet. They were far too aggressive, too populace and their new mutant variety was the nail in the coffin for any theory besides a more insidious origin. “Yeah, better to know now than have to deal with a bigger problem later.”

“What should we do about it?” Frank asked.

“Nothing right now. Let’s have a meeting with Rohm and maybe Jess. They should make the plans. We can talk to them tomorrow.”

Franklin just nodded along. “That’s probably for the best. They need to.. Gah!” He shouted as a light coalesced in front of Matt. “What in all the hells is that?” He said, rubbing his eyes.

Matt looked down after the light faded. “That would be my System reward.” The box that appeared was just as big as the ones in the spider cave. The difference was that this one was gold rather than silver, making Matt think it was higher rarity.

Reward Chest (Epic)

Indeed, the chest was a higher rarity. Matt moved forward to open it with Franklin peering over to get a look. Upon opening the chest, Matt saw 3 items. They somehow all fit within, meaning the box was spatially expanded. The curious thing was actually the pop-up window that sprang into life as he reached his hand in.

Be sure to use all rewards. Both these and the previous ones.

Freezing, Matt read the message 3 times before it faded away, leaving empty air between him and the box. He had no idea what the … “Awe, shit.” He said, pulling out the token from his storage that he had received from his last loot chest.

Construct Equipment Token (Rare)

Can be used to enhance or increase equipment slots on a pilot’s construct. Can only enhance up to rare quality. Can create additional slot for equipment selection at a forge.

Matt looked at the token for a moment before returning it to his storage. Franklin was giving him the side eye, but he pressed on regardless. Reaching into the chest, Matt pulled out his first reward item. He was both properly chastised and thoroughly pleased.

Construct Equipment Token (Epic)

Can be used to enhance or increase equipment slots on a pilot’s construct. Can only enhance up to Epic quality. Can create additional slot for equipment selection at a forge. Optionally replicate personal equipment on construct.

A simple Improved version of his other Token. He wasn’t sure how to use it but could figure it out late. The feeling he got was that he was supposed to use it at the forge. He moved on, pulling out the next item. He went for another token like object that was just oddly shaped, not round or lozenge shaped like the others he had seen.

Token of Division (N/A)

Allows for the user to divide equipment set pieces. When used on a component consisting of multiple parts, enchantments will be transferred to subsequent parts.

Matt wasn’t sure to make of the strange anvil shaped token but would once again figure it out later. He had saved the best for last and was eager to get to the device he easily recognized. It was also the primary reason that the box had to be spatially expanded.

Recoilless Rifle, High Velocity. (Epic)

A single shot, shoulder fired recoilless rifle that fires a smart munition capable of various types of detonation. Projectiles can be programed for Impact Detonation, Air Burst, Delayed detonation.

The weapon was absolutely perfect, almost exactly how he remembered them except for the ammunition cannister. The weapon had a type of gate on the back that allowed the rounds to be inserted from the rear, allowing for the barrel to be rifled for accuracy. The cannister was a flip top ordeal, likely converted to be similar to other System made weapons. The belt the cannister was hooked to also appeared to have a wide range of adjustment for how it could be carried.

“What is that?” Franklin asked, excitement in his voice as he looked at what was, at its core, a long, green tube. “Is this more of your worlds weaponry?”

Matt clutched the weapon to his chest. “Some of the best.” He quickly stored it away and got to his feet as the loot chest faded away. “I can show you tomorrow. It’s really pretty impressive if it’s like what I used back on earth.” He already knew it would be, the only problem being the cost in mana to summon a single rocket. Just like the original, it was expensive to feed.

Franklin stood back up, coming back to his more formal bearings. “Ah yes, tomorrow. I will see you in the morning then?”

‘Yeah, I’ll bring Tobias, you get Rohm and Jess.” Matt said. “I’m off, gotta get my beauty rest.” He left the office, grabbing Echo on his way. The drake had been relatively good, only pestering the hub workers a little. They both set out into the night, headed for a quiet place to rest.

*****

“It looks nothing like a rifle. In fact, I’m not sure how it can be called recoilless either. The whole thing looks more like a construct gun than anything.” Rohm said, sipping his cup of coffee. The felid man had taken to it like a hog to slop, as some would say.

“It’s not… Wait. That’s actually a pretty good idea. Tobias, can we scan this and have them made by the forge?” Matt asked. He was well aware Tobias actually had the schematics already but wanted to set him up.

“I already have schematics for that type of weapon.”

“Well, then why haven’t Commander Rohm’s corps been fully equipped with them?”

“You know that we are try… Oh. Oh, fuck you!” Tobias shouted, finally catching on.

Laughing at the look on his friend’s face, Matt kicked back in his chair. The sun had fully risen, and the trio decided to have a calm start to the day. They dragged a few chairs out of the hub so they could sit outside and watch the sun rise over the city. A figure was approaching from down the street as Matt was trying to dodge shin kicks from Tobias.

“Greeting Jess.” Rohm said, raising his cup to her. “Hey, that’s mine.”

She wandered over, still bleary eyed with drooping ears, and took the cup from his hands. She didn’t say a word as she took a long pull from it. Without missing a beat, she handed it back before looking to Matt. “Its better with cream.” Jess then wandered inside the hub, leaving the 3 men outside.

Matt looked over to Rohm, eyebrow raised. He didn’t say a word, just giving the felid man a healthy dose of side eye. Tobias leaned forward to stare at Rohm from behind Matt.

Rohm stared them right back. “What? I swear if you say one thing about cats and cream, I’m going…”

“Where did you get it?” Tobias interrupted.

“There is sugar in it too.” Jess said as she came back outside, dragging a chair behind her. She sat next to Rohm and stole another pull from his mug.

Matt gasped in a very exaggerated way. “Commander Rohm! You have been holding out on us? What have Tobias and I ever done to deserve such scorn.” Matt and Tobias were both shaking their heads. “Tobias, just when you think you can trust someone.”

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“I know Matt, they just throw your good will back in your face.” Tobias said as he hammed up his performance as much as possible. “After everything we have done for this city, this is the thanks we get.”

Rohm was squinting at both of them, his ears flattened against the sides of his head. “I will have you know…”

They never found out what exactly Rohm would have them know as Franklin wandered around the corner of the Hub. “Good everyone is here already.” The big orc said, clapping his hands together. The sound made Jess wince, leading Matt to believe she had a little too much fun the night prior.

They all followed the governor into the building and up to the third floor. The maps were spread on the table and Matt noticed they were much more detailed and covered a larger area than previously. There were 16 points marked on the map, all of them in a ring around the city, which he recognized as the repeater and sensor towers, they had put in.

“I assume all the towers are good?” Matt asked.

Tobias was first to respond. “Yes, working as we had hoped.” A brief pause as he considered the maps. “Actually, it might be a bit better than we had hoped. We received a lot of feedback suggesting that the proximity sensors are functioning to a higher level than what we had on earth.”

“So, when can we get real time feedback? How long until we have the displays for that sort of detail anyway.” Matt said, looking from Franklin to Tobias.

Tobias looked to Franklin then back to Matt after the orc shrugged. “Not sure, that isn’t really a high priority after the chemical tanks and the metal works.”

Matt had to take what he could get. There wasn’t any use in him badgering the forge staff and governor. He decided instead to get into the meeting and the reason why they were there. After giving a brief and having Franklin share the quest, they got into the planning phase.

Rohm had wanted to send out all the pilots and sweep the woods, Jess wanted nothing to do with any more mutants but was possibly up for a rematch after her hangover faded. Tobias was working on a way to track the movements but nothing workable yet. Matt however, had other ideas.

“How about we go back to where we found them and see if we can track them back to anywhere.” Matt suggested. Getting everyone looking at him, he continued. “There was over a hundred of the damn things, they had to leave a trail of some sort as they moved through the area. We might be able to find where they came from.”

“Oh, yeah that’s a better idea.” Rohm said. “Think you can narrow it down and we do what we did with the insect guardian at the mines?”

“Ah, no. I was thinking a much smaller group since we will be doing a dungeon of some sort. Maybe the commandos and a few more.” He was expecting push back on this, so he decided to go right to his next arguments. “Look, I want to hit this one hard and fast, the last little event was fun and all, but this might be a bigger issue than not.”

He had gotten a message from Tori last night about this quest and how dungeons that are corrupt are seriously bad news. She recommended immediately expunging the corrupted core. Message was a bit of a stretch, and it was actually more a few key words that put him on the right track.

“So should we try to rotate some lower leveled people in?” Rohm asked. Still not getting the point.

Tobias, thankfully, came to Matts rescue. “Rohm, lets get this one knocked out and we can look for good leveling opportunities later.” He shot a look at Matt and got a knowing nod in return. Rohm just shrugged and moved on.

After that, the meeting moved swiftly. Jess committed the commandos again and Tobias said he would work on a method to narrow down the location of the dungeon. They set a 3-day deadline. If there wasn’t any concrete progress by then, the main body of the corps would mobilize and start a sweep of the surrounding area.

*****

Matt rested the tube against his shoulder and looked through the sight. He had set the target out at 300 meters, close enough to be easy to hit but not so far that it was a hard shot. He inhaled and shouted. “Back Blast, Clear.” Then pressed the trigger.

The 75-millimeter rocket streaked out like a laser beam. Far flatter trajectory than the ones back on Earth. The boom of the round leaving and the pressure wave behind him kicking up dust was almost enough to distract him. He managed to keep his eyes on the target and withing a second, the rock was hit, then vaporized. The shaped charge turning the boulder into gravel in the blink of an eye.

“Holy shit!” Jess yelled. She had her ears covered to ward off the noise and pressure. “That was a lot.”

Matt was inclined to agree. But what was worse, the Mana cost. Each rocket cost nearly 200 mana, meaning he could fire a maximum of 13 of these at a time. It was by far his most mana intensive weapon or skill. The vertical teleport didn’t count since it was not something he wanted to try and repeat.

“I must say its very impressive.” Rohm agreed, pulling a bit of cloth from his ears. “What’s the maximum range of that?”

“For what? Area target, armored target, is it moving, how big is it?” Matt pushed back. “The technical maximum is a few thousand meters, but you can’t hope for much just lobbing rounds out there. I would say I could hit the guardian at five hundred guaranteed.”

Lisk let out a low whistle. “Very impressive. If we could get a few hundred of these on the walls, not much would be able to oppose us.”

That was part of the plan. Tobias was working on sampling the metals recovered from the mines and trying to generate a viable template for the forge staff to work from. The enchanters would have a field day with the ammunition case alone.

They chatted a while longer as they walked back to the forge. Matt still needed to use his tokens and report his findings back to Tobias. They had wanted to know if the weapon was viable for widespread use or if it was a Matt special.

Something finally occurred to Matt as they talked, and the conversation moved to levels. None of the commando pilots had evolved despite being level 25. Rohm had broken through and also held off for some reason.

“Soooo, what’s the deal with all of you not evolving yet?” Matt asked once there was a break in the conversation. He had no idea this simple question would cause the entire group to stop dead in their tracks. He turned to look at them seeing stupefied looks on their faces.

“We, ummmm. That is to say…” Rohm began.

“We all forgot. Instead of breaking through, we went out and got plastered.” Lisk said, not a bit of shame in his voice.

Matt looked at the three of them in turn, analyzing their expressions. Jess looked like she forgot her math homework and was trying to pass it off as nothing. Rohm was severely embarrassed or at least Matt thought since he was still figuring out how to read his expressions. Then there was Lisk, who didn’t seem at all bothered. Matt was pretty sure the only time he got excited was when a shotgun was involved.

With a not-so-subtle urging, Matt sent them off to retrieve their constructs so they could evolve. He also made sure to remind them to spread the word to the others in the commando squad. There was no point in leaving power on the table. He also had a feeling that they would need it for this upcoming dungeon.

An hour later Matt was looking at 3 constructs that had significant changes from their previous forms. They had all grown larger, gaining at least a meter in height but that’s where the similarities ended.

Rohm had changed the least. His grew in height but the general shape and posture remained the same. His construct had dropped the highly polished metal, instead moving to a more consistent ochre red. There was still the black of the under carriage and equipment boxes to break up the color, but it was still quite the sight.

Jess had some pretty significant change. Hers had turned almost a solid green color and thinned out quite a bit. It looked like her build was going to focus a lot on dexterity and Matt wondered how that would play out in the real world. She was also looking at her cannon with some distaste. She would probably want to change it later. Matt wasn’t even sure what her melee weapon was, so couldn’t gain any insight there either.

Then came Lisk. Matts favorite demon shotgun savant. No really, that was the class he evolved to, which made sense as his change was the most radical. His construct had grown the least in height, but its proportions had changed in some odd ways. The legs had gotten thicker, stouter, and the hands thinned out significantly. His ammunition box was replaced by a large belt around the waist that would angle shells out when needed. It was set to load 2 at a time and there looked to be 3 offerings of the lethal cannisters.

Matt wasn’t sure if he should be surprised at how the evolutions went but they had pretty much happened just like his. Each one selected their class then vanished into a golden glow before returning almost immediately. Having now witnessed it from the outside, Matt had to admit it was quite the sight.

“Alright, let’s go talk to Tobias and see what he knows. Then I have some business with the forge and some tokens.”

*****

Matt was staring at the monitor along the side of the bay that the mech was standing in. He was currently trying to sort through all the options for his tokens and how best to use them. He had gotten a rather mixed bag of news when opening the system menu.

Before committing to the act, he had researched the topic in his piloting book, finding that it was actually a rather simple process. All he needed to do was place the token on the small pad near the terminal that acted as the “selling” area. Then the terminal would display the option he had for the token.

What Matt wasn’t expecting was the cost. The token was just the key to get to the shop, the rest was done with his credits. What he didn’t realize was that literally everything earned credits. Completing quests? Credits. Killing monsters? Credits. Leveling? Well that one didn’t actually give credits, but he wouldn’t have been surprised if it did. Long story short, Matt found out he was loaded.

Now the hard part was narrowing down Matt’s options. He had picked out the one for the Rare Token, an upgrade to the construct mana battery which multiplied its size. The battery had grown by a factor of 10, from 2500 to 25,000 mana capacity. It would take Matt a couple days to fully charge it but would last an extremely long time. The entire reason for the massive upgrade was that the original battery was common quality, literally the stock model.

Matt was now looking at a long list of Epic options for his mech and thought he had settled on his final contender. He would ask Tori about it, but she had told him to figure it out and live with his choices. He did appreciate the sentiment, reaffirming the stance that he was on his own for the parts of his path that mattered. “Fuck it.” He said and hit the accept button and watched millions in credits vanish from his account and a shiny new object appear on the left upper arm of the mech.

Mana Shield Projector (Epic)

A device that projects a mana barrier, acting as a shield, a small distance from the construct. The barrier will match the user’s affinity or as pure mana if affinity is unsuitable for stable projection. Angle, distance, size/shape and placement can be adjusted by user as needed.

Matt inspected the shield projector and was satisfied with its placement for now. He would try to fine tune it in the next couple days but had other business to attend. He looked down as the last token, the Token of Division. “No time like the present.” He said to himself as he summoned his armor and moved back to the terminal.