Chapter 71 – Dangerous Terrain

“How are we coming along here?” Franklin asked as he surveyed the buildings that Tobias had called townhouses when he saw the plans. Franklin thought they looked a little like the houses on the streets in his hometown but made of wood and stone rather than bricks.

“Aint to shabby for a couple days work.” Said Johan. He was a strange sort of being called Wraith Borne. A name that confused everyone greatly since he looked like a normal human with fair skin and wispy hair. “I think we might have cancelled out the debts for everyone that will be living in these by the time we are done furnishing them.”

Franklin nodded in agreement. Johan was one of the refugees that had come to them. He was a sort of scout for his class but liked carpentry as a hobby and his second class revolved around it too. Once Franklin had given the speech to the refugees on how things would be, Johan had immediately stepped up and volunteered to lead a part of the housing initiative.

“The sooner we can get all those cleared out, the better.” Franklin said. He was making his rounds on all the larger groups of refugees. “Be sure to let me know if you need anything or if we have any sudden developments. I think Sothrun is around here somewhere for everything else.”

“Aye, he wandered that way just before you showed up. See ya around boss.” Johan said with a wave as he walked back toward his teams. Frank watched him go for a moment before making his way down the road to find Jess and the rest of the commando teams. He was getting to like Johan and his easy-going attitude.

With the influx of people, came a lot of new sights and sounds. Many had strange classes that nobody in the city had even thought of. There were also more than a few new species mixed in. Frank was rather taken with the small band of kobolds that had come from one city. He found them to be good natured and rather talented builders.

In full, the city had gained another 30 thousand people as refugees in the 2 groups. Both of their settlements had been smaller, and they had been plagued by issues with usurpers and the terrain they arrived in. Most of the people had been crafting focused, which was confusing until one of them enlightened everyone that most of the classers had died in the defense of the cities.

Most, that was the operative word for the refugees. Most were relatively harmless and seemed to be good, honest folks thankful that they would have a second chance and not become slaves to some despot. The few odd ones out were around 500 classers that had held out until the bitter ends and another 34 pilots. There were also more than a few witches that said something about being a coven. Franklin wasn’t sure what that was about, but it had only been a few days and he had plenty of time to get to know everyone.

The classers, like all the others, had come without weapons. Those were held in a sort of storage that took Franklin a while to figure out and then give them back. The pilots all showed up in a similar state except they all held what Franklin first thought were some sort of lamps. Those ‘lamps’ were the cores of their constructs. All that remained of their war engines was the core they had bonded with.

Rohm and Jess had taken the pilots, separating them out and interviewing them individually. They recorded their classes, fighting styles and even the enhancement of their cores. 2 of them had awakened cores like Matt. They were also the only Golsimr that anyone had ever seen. Frank was unfamiliar with the race and would eventually look it up.

Other than being an odd race, they were like Matt and the recon teams in many ways, mysterious, strong and with a fire in their eyes that few seemed to have. But they had one slight issue that Matt and the others didn’t seem to be subject to. This duo was so codependent that it made Franklin cringe a little.

The pilot recovery plan was similar to everyone else except it was a 2-step process. They would construct their own home and then help around with some general labors to break the first threshold. At that point, they could resummon their constructs and work at the remainder of their debt. Rohm had already decided that they could help with clearing out some more of the surrounding area since the city had changed so much.

When Jess, Rohm and Tobias had laid out the plan to get them freed from the indentured contract, Zar and Mali had raised objections. They insisted that they build a house to share. They then set about dictating the terms of their recovery plan. The plan that they had pitched was going to be a hard one for them, but it allowed them to never separate.

Thankfully, one of the other pilots was familiar with Zar and Mali and filled him in on their odd habits. Franklin sighed, he really was pleased with the state of things and how it had all played out. He was a little disgruntled at having a long walk to get anywhere now that the city was expanded.

The silver lining was that with Matt and Tobias throwing in all those points, he had been able to get everything they wanted and then some. The walls were now half again as tall and had been pushed out another several hundred meters in every direction. The ground had been lifted and they now stood on a rise rather than a flat spot with rolling hills all around.

“Frank!” Tobias called, waving his arm to get his attention. Franklin stopped and waited for the man to make his way over. “I was just going to try and find you.”

“What can I do for you today?” He asked, a little amused as always with how excitable Tobias was.

“I was poking around in the forge, and I found something. Well, I wasn’t really poking around, I was experimenting and Lisk wasn’t around to say no. you know what they say about forgiveness versus permission.”

“Ha, the point, Tobias.”

Tobias looked up and blinked at him. “Oh, right! So, I found out that we can reforge the constructs.”

Franklin furrowed his brow. “I thought we knew that already?” He felt like Tobias had mentioned it before.

“That was just a term I was using for using the forge to offset the cost of major repairs and using it for some enhancements. No, we can use it to completely remake the refugee pilot’s constructs. We need a new name for them by the way.” Tobias threw in before rolling right back into it. “I also discovered that the constructs are based on the pilots in such a way that they change.”

“Right, that’s what happened when the pilots hit level 25 right? The transition to E grade.” Frank had seen the results on the commandos and some of Rohm’s people. They all changed but some were more pronounced than others.

“Yes, exactly. They changed because the pilot’s perception of what a construct is changed. It also helped when they began defining their path.” Tobias said. He was leading them to one of the open restaurants that had an excellent tea service. “So, given that all our people just got a good look at what a pinnacle mech looks like...”

Franklin knew that Tobias was spoon feeding him the answer but played right along. “We could have them reforge their constructs and become more efficient like Matt and Van.” He didn’t know exactly what to make of the situation but was confident that Tobias would find a way to exploit it.

“Tobias, how about we have a nice little snack, and you tell me all about your findings.”

*****

Several days after his unplanned swimming session, Matt once again found himself in the woods. These woods were also rather hilly like the forest around Vil’ Krad but not nearly as lush. The terrain and vegetation were much dryer with little pockets of dark green around bodies of water. It honestly reminded him of the American west in the dry season.

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He did have to be more careful navigating the slopes since the topsoil was rather loose and liked to break free at the slightest pressure. They had set off a few small landslides that didn’t do more than send up a cloud of dust, but it still gave his position away. Fortunately, he wasn’t the only thing making dust clouds around there.

He had taken the opportunity to take out some sort of mountain sheep that were common in the area. They tended to be easy to spot with their white coats and he engaged them at range, usually from across valleys and draws. This ended up being a great method for hunting since the sheep would drop then tumble and slide down into the valley for easy collection.

The only creature that had managed to give them any trouble was some sort of incorporeal mist monster that came around at night. It seemed to be exclusively nocturnal and had a habit of draining off mana. He had managed to identify it at one point and was both intrigued and horrified.

Clouded Mana Vampire. Level 51

He didn’t know more than that since he hadn’t really found a way to kill it and get that sweet, sweet flavor text. They had discovered that it didn’t like concentration of mana that had been given an aspect. In other words, it hated fire.

Matt was very happy about the fire solution since they had spent a rather sleepless and annoying night fending off the draining effect of the creature. It turned out that one could fight off the effect, but they had to be awake to do it. He guessed it was something to do with contesting the energy that it was trying to consume. Since Matt and Echo ‘owned’ their mana, the monster had to fight them to take it.

Matt poked his head into a cave they had found. The area was littered with them which was interesting since none of them ran very deep, a couple dozen meters at most. “Think that mana monster can sneak through solid earth?” He asked Van, looking at the walls of the cave.

“I don’t know. It sure is persistent though.” Van said. “I would expect that we can find out tonight. If we set a fire at the entrance of the cave and see if it comes in through the back, that will confirm it.”

Echo hummed and trilled his agreement. The drake had been snooping in every cave he could fine. Often those caves were already occupied by something when he committed the animal kingdom version of a B&E. They didn’t remain occupied for long after that, however.

“Well, lets plan on it then. We already know it won’t get within 10 meters of an open flame so lets keep an eye out for a nice deep cave and plan to stop.” Matt was needing a break, having been a couple days since he last slept, and the nocturnal annoyance of the vampire hadn’t given him the opportunity to unwind.

He climbed back into the cockpit and began making his way up hill. They were a few dozen meters below the ridge line. He had wanted to get up to this one since it had a mostly bare and exposed top that would let them get a good view of the surroundings.

Matt was rather enjoying the scenery as they walked upward, zigzagging along the slope. They were in the shade of the trees but due to them being rather tall and the canopies being thin, he could see quite well. There was also a breeze that was rather refreshing and carried the almost spicy scent of the plant life below.

“It really is a lovely day for a hike.”

“You are in an atmospherically sealed cockpit while within your sealed armor. The temperature, air pressure and air quality are nearly 100 percent synthetic.”

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Matt sighed.

“There isn’t a bed large enough on this planet for me to lay on even if I did sleep.”

Matt sighed heavily. “Van, its an expression. It means that you started the day in a bad mood.”

Van was silent for a couple moments. It was a noticeable pause compared to their normal chit chat. “I am wondering if there is something wrong with the human species. At the very least there might be something not quite right with the ones on Earth.”

“Ha, you might just be o…” Matt lost his footing and several tons of mech crashed to the ground. “Ah, shit.” He said after making sure he wasn’t sliding. “The scree is fricking killing me.” He grumped.

“What’s the matter? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?” The question was followed by Van’s rumbling laughter.

Echo reappeared at that point. He was standing on the trunk of a half-fallen tree that got caught in the branches of its neighbor. He sent Matt a mental image of a slightly better path that seemed to be a bit more stable than the crumbling slopes he was on.

Sending a mental thanks to Echo, Matt returned his focus to Van and the ground in front of him. “Alright ill give it to you, that one was pretty good.” He felt smugness coming from the mental link he shared with the core.

They continued on for a while longer, thankfully without any more slips and falls. Matt managed to crest the top of the hill just after noon by his estimation. After doing a little peek with Van lifting him just over the crest of the hill, he brought the mech up and crouched with just the head poking over the top.

After doing a quick look, Matt was glad they ended up going over the ridge rather than around. The spur he was standing on ran for dozens of kilometers in either direction, and he wasn’t sure that there was a path around.

He looked over the flat top of the ridgeline and down into the much lusher river valley. The trees and other plants appeared to be the same only better hydrated. He suspected that this valley was a lower elevation than the previous ones and acted as a little more of a water shed for the mountains to his west.

After doing a scan with his normal eyesight, he pushed his magnification and worked his way left to right then back again. He started scanning from near and worked his way up to the horizon, looking for threats or any points of interest. He found a few things that looked like they were worth checking out.

He didn’t see anything immediately eye catching but Van had much better optics. “Contact.” He rumbled. “Moving up the valley. 10 o’clock. Call it 3000 meters.”

“Show me.” Matt said as he hopped back in and used the mech’s cameras to get a better look. He had Van start at no magnification and then zoom in to what he spotted. At first, he couldn’t pick up what it was Van saw. Then he saw the flittering movement.

At the extreme range it was hard to make out exact features, but it appeared to be a chase of some sort. He thought they were people but couldn’t be completely sure without getting closer. Honestly if they would just hold still for a… Crack. A gunshot came softly echoing through his external microphones.

“Alright, lets get moving.” Matt said and guided the mech over the ridge and onto the opposite slope. “Not sure what kind of party we are rolling into but lets get closer and see what’s what.”

He began to follow a shelf like protrusion that ran down the ridge but up the valley, parallel to the people he saw. Echo took off like an arrow, making a beeline down the shelf and into the trees. He jumped when he was just below the canopy level and that’s when Matt lost sight of him.

Matt knew the drake was going to scout ahead and investigate. He also had a tendency to find good places to set up in advance if he wanted to ambush them. He was hustling along, trying to get his silhouette out of the horizon as quick as he could.

After a few seconds of a hunched over run, Matt was able to straighten up and slow down. The soil was a little more hydrated and didn’t seem to throw up as much dust, but he still didn’t want to take any chances with a fall or slide.

Van was still expressing his doubts about running in to other sentient beings. “What exactly is your plan? Or, going on your previous lack of planning, do you have a goal in mind?”

Matt was half focused on keeping his footing, half on where he was going and took a few moments to respond. “My goal is to see what is going on and maybe get some information about others on this planet. These are the first people from another faction that I have seen.”

“Didn’t we just get a bunch of refugees?”

“Yeah, but they are part of our faction. Besides, I didn’t actually meet them. We left before they showed up.”

“Oh, right.” Van conceded that point. “I still think it might be best to be cautious about this.”

That was Matts plan, he didn’t want to directly engage anyone but also knew that making a plan was mostly useless. If he had it his way, the group wouldn’t even know they were there. There was also the possibility that he might be able to lend a helping hand if they were in some sort of trouble.

He was just coming to the point where the hillside flattened out, merging gradually with the valley floor. The grass was much taller in this valley than the previous ones and w was about to comment on it when Echo sent a series of images his way. As usual, they were just fragments, impressions of what he was seeing and trying to say.

Someone running. That same someone looking over their shoulder. A woman was the best Echo could guess at. She stopped at a large boulder and pointed her rifle back the way she had come. Something in her arms. A glowing faceted cylinder. A construct core. Movement. Far in the distance. A group of people. The woman gets up and starts running again.

The images shifted and now the vantage point was from above. 7 people running. 7 people wearing the same tabard. All of them spread out and looking. Looking for the woman? They seemed to be following one person at the lead who stopped often. He stopped, waved his hand back and forth then pointed in a direction.

Matt communicated back to Echo to stay out of sight and follow them. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but it seemed that there was a chase of some sort. It looked like the group was gaining on the woman, but he couldn’t be sure. Maybe if he found a way to stall them, he could ask what was going on.

He wondered if they would have a way of communicating over long ranges. Perhaps there would be some opportunity to establish good relations if he helped catch the fugitive. Did she steal a core? He wondered to himself. Shrugging, he moved off and figured he would find out soon either way.

“Lets maybe find a good place to set up a little encounter. I don’t outright want an ambush but maybe we have a good killing field, just in case.”

“For the record, this might be more complex than we think. “

Matt shrugged. “Only one way to find out for sure.”