Chapter 9 – Arranged Encounters
Tobias enjoyed having an interesting book to read, especially if it was in a beautiful spot next to a burbling stream despite having to wear armor while doing so. What he did not enjoy was someone acting like a 3-year-old on Christmas morning grabbing him by the dummy handle on his back and dragging him off the log he was sitting on. He liked it even less when said toddler in powered armor flipped him around to look at a flower. It was a nice flower he would give him that but what was so imp… If Tobias could have face palmed, he would have but his arms were being pinned to his sides as Matt held his face bare centimeters from a flower.
Pearlescent Iris (Uncommon)
This Iris can be found where there is an even balance of light, shade, and a source of water. Useful in many concoctions and brews to calm the mind and soothe the body. The flowers are the most valuable part of the plant and should only be picked after full bloom.
“Loot, how in the hell could we have forgotten about loot?” Tobias asked rhetorically as Matt placed him back on his feet. “It’s like the most basic component of any adventure or survival game.”
“Yeah, and we have been passing up a lot of it. The lizards, the birds, the wolves.” Matt started listing all the things they had skipped over during their journey.
“Not the centipede?”
“Nothing at all valuable there, honestly we should have burned it… twice.”
Tobias sighed and started to pluck the tiny flowers off the stems as Matt walked off down the stream bed identifying everything as he went.
After an hour of searching the entire area, Matt had come up with a type of ivy that could have enhancing effects and several small chunks of a metallic ore that he had cracked open with the help of the Van. A flat rock and a gentle stomp were enough to split the rocks open to expose the ores. He had gone wild, trying to identify everything but many things gave no return, being nothing more than what they first appeared. Turns out if it looks like grass, smells like grass, and acts like grass, it’s probably just grass.
Matt and Tobias briefly considered returning to the giant boar but decided to skip it, not wanting to set themselves back by several hours when they still didn’t know how far they had to go. Thus, they settled in for the night, vowing to be more vigilant in their travels.
The next day found Matt and Tobias moving along again, this time with the knowledge that there might be good things all around them. They had stopped 4 times before noon to collect some items, mostly plant life but also an odd vein of quarts that was exposed on a rocky outcropping. The terrain had become more undulating as they moved farther into the forest, having an almost bumpy look from afar. They didn’t meet any large creatures but did get a chance to ambush some smallish dinosaur things that the System dubbed pseudo-ankylosaurids. They were about 3 meters long and had long spines running along their backs.
Matt had originally wanted to avoid them but the little dinos had other ideas, all 7 of them charging at Matt and Tobias as they were collecting more plants. A Frag grenade and some well placed shots later, and they were inspecting the corpses of the odd little beasts. Matt ended up using Imbue weapon and cutting off one of the half meter long spines, finding it to be made of some metallic substance. As he was swinging the spine around Tobias had an idea.
“Matt, can you cut one of these open? I want to take a look inside and see if there is a core or anything.” Tobias explained.
Without any reasonable objection, Matt used the hook on his tomahawk as a gut knife and slit the belly of one of the dinosaurs and stepped back as a pile of awful spilled out. Tobias used a branch to poke around before finally just getting on his knees and shoving his hands inside. Matt used the excuse of keeping watch to wander away from his friend doing a reenactment of a movie scene shot on an ice planet. He clambered up a small pile of rocks and surveyed the area.
“Van, what was that feeling of anger I felt in the fight with the boar?” he asked his core via their mental link. “I could feel it almost like an itching in the back of my mind.”
“It wasn’t anger, at least I don’t think it would be described that way.” Van said after a moment. “It was more of a desire, or passion from the heat of the moment. I wanted to fight, to commit to the battle. I wanted to see our enemies fall, crushed, annihilated by our prowess.”
Matt knew that feeling. He knew very well the high one could get from battle and the withdrawal after the fact. He had seen it and felt it when still serving in the army. “Do you think it was a bad thing? I’m still a little freaked out at what the book said about our bond and the amplification effects.”
“No, I don’t think it could lead to us succumbing to some dark desire. I get a sense that this is partly who we are meant to become. Let us see how it develops before we make any assumptions.”
Well, you know what happens when you assume.” Matt said in what equated to a mental mutter. Which he later regretted when he had to explain more idioms from earth and its culture, a topic Van seemed to find much interest in.
A call from Tobias had Matt slide off the rocks and wander back over to see his friend holding a small red gemstone. It looked almost like an agate, dull in the shade but with a slightly too bright sheen in the sun. Tobias said he found it behind the creature’s heart or what he assumed to be the heart since he had never cut open a dinosaur before. 30 minutes and several small stones later, Matt and Tobias reboarded the mech and continued the long walk through the woods.
“Look dude, I’m not saying its something but I’m saying it looks a bit off and we should be cautious.” Matt said as he and Tobias looked at the arch made from 2 trees tilting over and meshing their branches. The effect looked like a doorway, almost too much like a doorway for Matt’s taste.
“Well, what can you see with the mechs sensors? Anything that would make you think it was a trap or something?” Tobias said, knowing full well that there was nothing on thermal or infrared.
“No, but still, you have to admit we haven’t seen anything like this in these woods.” Matt reasoned before finally just going for it. “If this is some sort of magic space portal thing that takes us to some godforsaken region of this planet, I’m going to slap you.”
Matt guided the mech under the arch, a near perfect fit with less than half a meter of clearance above and to the either side. The trees had grown suddenly thicker leading up to this “door” and before they knew it, they had been funneled right into it. 2 steps later they were through and into the small clearing they had seen from the other side.
Matt swept the muzzle of the auto cannon across the clearing before stopping with his sight hovering over a small cabin with a matching shed. There was even a curl of smoke coming out of the brick chimney to tie the whole scene together. He was about to start edging his way around the perimeter of the clearing when the door to the cabin opened and a man stepped out, looked right at them, and waved. He seemed happy they were there as he called over to them.
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“Hey, welcome, come on over and have a chat with an old man for a while.” The stranger called.
Matt was confused by a lot of things. First being that they seemed to have wandered into a lone homestead in the middle of an endless forest. Second being that the man seemed no older than 40, just a hint of grey at his temples. Third being that his voice carried like it was being projected by a megaphone. Lastly and most importantly, Matt could almost sense a power coming off of him, palpable to his senses but just at the edge. The aura of the man had a welcoming air to it, something that gave the feeling of a proud shopkeeper showing off his creations.
Matt looked over his shoulder at Tobias who just shrugged. Matt not having much else to add moved the mech forward to stop a respectful distance away. He was closer but not so close he would be looming over the stranger.
“Hop on out, I have some coffee fresh out of the press. We can chit-chat for a while and ill tell you who I am.” He said, eyeballing the mech up and down several times before taking a step back and pointing at the cabin. Matt took a closer look at him. Middling height with a dark complexion, he was wearing what looked to be an apron over his white shirt and black trousers.
“Van, when we get out, close up and keep an eye out. Ill try to keep you in the loop as we see what’s going on.” Matt said as the mech lowered and the hatch opened, allowing him and Tobias to hop down.
The strange man gave Matt a good look up and down before doing the same to Tobias. With a gesture and a word, he bade them to come inside. The interior of the cabin was not at all like the outside, it looked completely modern, like a very high-end kitchen attached to a large sitting area. Matt had some major disorientation from the transition. The man waved toward the kitchen counter where a French press was sitting with 3 mugs, a sugar jar, and a small carafe of cream.
“Help yourselves. Sorry I don’t have any cookies; I am limited in what I can offer initiates during the introduction. Hope you understand,” he said, grabbing one of the mugs and filling it with what smelled like a very bold roast.
Matt decided to be a polite houseguest and took his helmet off and clipped it to his armor. He also kept his rifle but let it hang on the sling as he and Tobias each poured a coffee, skipping the cream and sugar. They followed the stranger into the sitting room and settled onto the chairs across the low coffee table from him.
“Son, you can put your gun down if you want, not gonna need it here,” he said to Matt since Tobias had opted to leave his in the mech.
“Thank you but it’s ok, I don’t want to just prop it up in the corner or something.” Matt responded, quickly finding a reason to keep it within reach.
“How about right there?” The stranger said pointing at a wooden rifle rack that had suddenly appeared next to Matt. Absolutely baffled, Matt looked back to the man who sighed and added. “This is a reflection of my realm where I can conjure just about anything as long as it doesn’t need to be permanent.”
Matt didn’t know what that meant but he did know that he was probably out of his depth on this, so he put his rifle on the rack and picked up his mug. Tobias was staring expectantly at their host, an excited look on his face.
The man took a sip of his coffee before getting started. “Nothing but to get into it, I guess. I am Kran En’Halkath, otherwise known as The Boundless Vendor. I am one of the divine entities in the system which are often referred to as gods. My Focus is in the making and selling of things in the Higher Plane though I have some clout in the Lower Plane so don’t write me off as a one trick horse.” He frowned before correcting himself. “No, that’s not how they say it on Earth. One trick pony, right?”
Tobias and Matt just nodded after a confused glance at each other. Kran En’Halkath continued on after getting the affirmation. “This world, in its infancy anyway, has the potential for many things to happen, one of which is these sorts of encounters. I had taken the opportunity to put myself in for one of these chance encounters and it looks like it paid off.” He looked at Matt and Tobias again with that investigating gaze. “Well, for one of you it will pay off, if you accept that is.” This last part was directed at Tobias.
“Ok, well I’m Tobias and this is Matt. Couple questions just to start with if you don’t mind mister Kran um- En’Halkath.” Tobias said after a minute of digesting the information that had been dropped in their laps.
The god just sighed before saying. “Just, call me Hal. That’s a normal sounding name on Earth so it shouldn’t be a struggle. Not like a title means anything to you two since grade suppression doesn’t work on extra-universal beings. I have a feeling our relationship would devolve into a more casual one anyway.”
“Alrighty then Hal. What do you mean only one of us?” Tobias spit out as fast as he could.
Hal, not expecting that one to be the first question or maybe trying to piece together what Tobias has said took a moment to respond. “Are you at all familiar with how mortals and gods interact? Normally we extend the offer of a blessing to the mortal, it doesn’t work on other gods, don’t ask why. The trick to the blessings is that the mortal has to be aligned with the god in some way.”
“Matt and I are not aligned in any way, most importantly in our classes, not that I have a class anymore but that’s something you will learn about later. Ahh, but don’t misunderstand, I hold no animosity toward you, Matt, only that we have different goals. Now Tobias, you and I have many more things in common, you are a creator by trade and passion which falls under the purview of us creator gods.” Hal paused a moment and took a sip of his coffee which Matt had to admit was very good. After deliberating for a moment, he elaborated. “The ranks of the divine are generally broken into sections. Some focus on creating, some on fighting, aspects of the soul, society and so on.”
“How does this blessing work? What is the point and what does it do?” Matt asked before Tobias could derail the conversation.
“Ah, a good question! Most just accept it and don’t question someone of a god’s power level. It is a two-way sort of arrangement. For when you perform deeds or gain experience under the purview of my aspect, I gain a little power. You can also gain benefits, both to your creations and your path, borrowing from my aspect.” Hal answered, being sure to note this was good for both of them.
After receiving the blessing, Tobias and Hal went back and forth a while longer, questions and answers coming from both of them. Matt sat back and listened while they talked, finally realizing the presence he felt was actually the aura of the god. He had a trait that revolved around aura but this was the first time he experienced anything in relation to it. He wondered how long it would be until he could make more use of his trait and what form that would take.
After a couple hours of pleasant conversation, they exited the cabin. Hal taking the opportunity to question Matt about his equipment and his mech. “I must say, Earth has certainly advanced a great deal since I was last there. Your level of technology is amazing when you consider there was no System to help. I’ll say you are quite far ahead of the people on this world, but that’s to be expected when looking at the Seed universe.” Another bombshell that Hal refused to elaborate on, par for the course in Matt’s opinion.
“Can you tell us how much farther it is to the city we are going to?” Tobias asked him.
“No, I can’t tell you, that would break the rules the System has in place, and I don’t want to owe it compensation.” Hal said, clearly having been in that exact situation before. “But I will warn you, the enemies you face will get stronger as you close in, until the last little bit anyway.”
“Welp, thanks for telling us that much at least. I guess it’s time for us to go. Been a real pleasure talking with you Hal.” Tobias said before he climbed up into the mech. Matt said his goodbyes and climbed back into the pilot seat, sealing the hatch. Once his vision shifted back to the mech’s, he saw that the house, and shop were gone, replaced by a small clearing. The dense trees had even vanished, returning their surroundings back to the sparse undergrowth and rolling terrain that they were familiar with.
As Matt moved out, he wondered if he would have a divine encounter like Tobias had. He wasn’t sure about how common they were but found the concept interesting.
Kran En’Halkath watched as his guests left the dimensional rift that he had used to pull in a bit of his realm. He knew Tobias would be a good thing and much was to be gained from him and his knowledge. He also had an odd feeling about Matt, the “Human” companion of his newest blessed mortal. Veiled was an odd race to be mixed with and he wasn’t sure the nature of that mixing, Matt looked completely human, inspect only returned “Human-?”. His class, temperament and nature were a bit strange too, in his godly opinion.
As it always did for him, the spark of inspiration took hold in his mind and he began to see a deal, one that would profit him immensely. Well, it would be a profit if she didn’t beat him to within an inch of his life for wasting her time. With that in mind, he departed to contact an old customer of his, time was of the essence in making deals after all.