*Uuuuuuuuuuuuuurg* Shit, hangover is terrible.
Especially if you are 10. God fuck, puking on my precious Xing-imported rug... that's gonna leave a stain...
Guess what? I forgot I'm in the real world... and drank myself to sleep last night, which didn't take too long considering my lowered alcohol tolerance as a 10 years old. Ugh water, "Sebastian! WATER!"
But damn, this is terrible. My body feels... powerless, and worst of all, my head is having migraines... F*ck, why is the light so bright?
"Turn off the fucking light!" Aaaah I would say its much better but nothing happened. What the hell?
Oh right... I already turned off the ones that could be, these ones are the bioluminescent guidance light in case of emergencies... damn me, why did I have to put them on?
"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-"
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*Day 25, 11:36 AM.*
"pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk..."
"Master!"
"Don't interrupt me unless it's something important, or food, Sebastian." Tsk, I'm busy practicing my beatboxing, can't you see? Wait I'm pretty sure I told Sebastian this already...
"We have detected a unnatural activity on the radar." Knew it!
"And?"
"It is currently moving toward us at just over a thousand kilometers per hour. Based on its current trajectory, it will intercept the juggernaut within 13 minutes 41 seconds."
"...." Just over 1k kilometers per hour? Just a bit more and it would be over Mach 1. What could it be...? "A missile? What is the temperature and energy reading on the thing? And where is it coming from?"
"It is currently too far for our optical sensors to distinguish clearly the temperature reading. Approximate energy reading indicates that it is not a energy torpedo. Base on the trajectory since it came into range, the most likely source would be the Athens, the capital of the Reim Empire."
"Impossibru! They can't possibly know we're here?! We're almost at the freaking Mesosphere!" If it isn't for that weird ceiling preventing me from going higher... Remember I said we used to fabricate stuff and enlarged animals in space back on Earth? Our standard for fabricated animals back then were to be space worthy, as part of the experiment to see if we can create life forms that can live in space without protection. It turns out some can, if you get the ratio and necessary traits to survive just right. I haven't drop that standard since.
Vio II is no exception. Technically this juggernaut is a living cyborg-spaceship; though the current armor plating is not heat tolerant enough to withstand reentry I can certainly bring Vio II into space orbit if not for the wall. Damn it... nobody on this technologically backward planet would be able to track me if only I can get up there...
Athens, eh? It's around 260 kilometers away from here, and I doubt a regular priest can sense us from that far. Magician? Not likely. Reim only has one Academy for the Arcane for a reason, and that's because Reim is the nation with least magicians after Xing and Amestris. Though I do have to admit, the Reim magicians are worth several typical Britannian magicians according to all records. I'm guessing it might be a case of distributed talents versus concentrated talents in the arcane arts?
Wait no, that's not even important! Stop distracting myself, me! Ugh, alright, I've got another five minutes before my optical sensors could get an accurate reading on this interceptor. Damn, maybe I should've focused more on the camera lens production, the ones I have now are only suitable for relatively closer ranges. I need some special lenses that can pick out a ant on the floor from out in space, but the equipment... would be hard to manufacture at the current technology level.
I guess this mean it's time to use that. Hehehe I've always wanted to try it out on a real opponent, and those inmates were too weak for me. Not to mention the accursed 9-whatever chi seal is off now, so I can finally use Xing martial arts! Mwuahahahaha I'll give this intruder a surprise... Finally got to use those martial arts techniques I memorized from Mother's scrolls! Not that she knows, I think...
"Protocol Yellow-3! Deploy type Delta-7 energy shield toward the front! Harden exterior physical armor! Commence upper wing structural support reinforcement! We might need to fire up the alternate engines on the wings. I want a the side shield emitters to be on hot standby for deployment! Warm up the third tier weaponries! Have the second tier weaponries on cold standby! Prep the tagging rounds! And set plasma torpedoes to self-guidance mode! " I issue out the commands at bullet-fire speed.
Who knows, we might just have to shoot down whatever it is. Better safe than sorry. Still, it frustrates me how much power the energy shields consumes per second. At best conditions, type delta-series energy shield around the entire juggernaut can be maintained for a month straight, but that also mean we only have enough energy to keep the repulsor engines fired up for a month as well. Omega-series can be used constantly, and we do, to avoid birds and whatnots, but the delta and up series are too energy-consuming.
Damn, if only I worked on making an gravity drive earlier! Beyond a inertialess engine, gravity drive has many other uses as well. Like artificial gravity on any floor and gravity shields, a type of 'soft shield' that draws incoming fire around the spaceship instead of letting it ram into us. If nothing else works, a limited reverse-vector field can be created, though the energy required to sustain that for more than a few seconds is enormous. 20 billion watts per minute if I remembered correctly. And I should, because that damn experiment costed us $180 billion in funding and a working space station in just 12 seconds.
"Sebastian, what's the reading now?" Whatever it is, it should be close enough to get a read on by now, I think. I can create a reverse vector field for fourteenth of a millisecond with the energy we have now, including the five backup batteries, just enough to reflect a single devastating attack in the worst case... and if whatever it is survives afterward, we'll be a sitting duck.
"The cloud ahead has unexpectedly cleared, optical sensor indicates that it is a person." Aha! Perhaps luck is with us? No, on second thought, whoever it is probably cleared the clouds ahead of him.
Damn, so not an artifact. Most likely a magician, and one who can flies at such speed and altitude is bound to be troublesome... until he meets my defense kukuukukkukukukuku....
Ah right, almost forgot. "Sebastian! Release the armed drones! I want them to surround whoever it is from every angle!"
"At once!" Comes the quick reply.
Aaaaaand almost forgot to use that. "Oh, and bring me my alter armor Mk. VI, I think I'll personally greet whoever it is from within the shield."
Time for the (potential) maiden journeybattle!
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*Day 25, 11:06 AM.*
"Your holiness! The anomaly is still showing up on the detection artifact! The onsite magician reports nothing out of order with the artifact itself!" The guard bursts into my private hot spring, reporting in as he busily studies the floor. What's so interesting about the stone floor, hmm?
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh..."
What now? Maybe I should quit this job someday, or maybe take a vocation... yes... a vocation... I haven't had one in far too long...
So, which bird is that god damn detection artifact alerting us about now? Maybe a giant eagle? Those ones with 12 meters long wingspans always cause problems. Probably nothing major, as usual.
Guess it can't be helped, I'll go take a look myself. "Calm down, soldier. Tell the onsite magician to ignore it, I'll take care of it personally." Up we go!
"Yourself? Y-Your holiness! Surely-"
"You must be a new one." I stop him before he can go on, "I always take care of it personally, ask your seniors."
"M-My apologies, your holiness! Please forgive my-"
"Oh shut it, just get on with it." I stop him again before he can make more of a fool with himself. Now, where's the bathrobe? Ah, there it is. Come to mama!
"At once, your holiness!" He turns to leave the room. Why the red face?
"Oh right, I forgot."
He stops, trembling by the door as I walk toward him. "Y-y-yo-your-r h-hol-li-line-ness..."
"Relax, kid, no need to be so formal with me." I give him a pat on the shoulder as I walk by. Whoa, did he just soiled himself? He. Hehehe. Hehehehehehehehehe... Oh kids these days, what do they teach them in military school nowdays?
"Oh!" Hahaha he freezes up again. Am I really that intimidating? "Just one last thing..."
I turn around halfway and give him a slow grin.
"Drop the stuttering, you can't pick up girls if you can't talk to them, you know?"
I leave the guard looking befuddled as I leave for the highest observatory, it has quite the nice view.
".................."
Unbeknown to "your holiness", the virgin continues to replay what he saw accidentally seconds ago as he stands idle by the doorway.
Oh that holy perfection, such perfect skins...
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"What the hell is that?" I mutters to myself as I stare out from my personal observatory, the highest one in this place.
"That ain't one of my Leviathans, that's for sure." What is that flying monsterosity? It looks dangerous, like it could eat my poor leviathans for breakfast.
Spoiler :
More... alive, then this inanimate model. Somewhere between this airship and the giant spaceship I showed last time, plus stingray-esque wings^^.
http%3a%2f%2fi.imgur.com%2fDKfwMgf.jpg [http://i.imgur.com/DKfwMgf.jpg]
And most strange of all, "I can't see inside it. Something's blocking my mana."
Definitely not a bird. I guess the detection artifact is worth its cost, for situations like this. If it isn't for the thing, that... whatever it is would have slipped my notice, considering how high up it is. How? I can't get my leviathans to get up to that altitude no matter what I tried, after all these years...
Time to find out.
"Hoti vayu bhavati vayu bhavati chandra! Hoti chandra bhavati chandra!" I chant the fusion spells as I leave the temple behind me, soaring toward the flying beast through the cloudy sky.
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*Day 25, 11:49 AM."
I stare out at the girl standing in front of me, separated by a thin layer of my type delta energy shield.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
49.995 kilometers up in the air.
"".................""
I continues to stare at the girl in silence. It shouldn't be possible, but I feel like she's staring at me as well.
"Drop it."
What the-? She can see me?
"Who the hell are you? And how can you see through my invisibility?" I disengage the invisibility mode on my Mk. VI, dropping into plain view.
"That should be my question. And what is that... thing behind you? Something of yours, I assume?"
"I asked first! And as to the second question, that depends. What's it to you?"
"Answer my question! And what is with that armor? It looks so ugly!"
Say what now? Oh you didn't... HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY PRECIOUS ARMOR?!
Hmmph! I look awesome in this awesome-looking armor!
Spoiler :
I'm ALWAYS Awesome! Rawr!
http%3a%2f%2fimg-9gag-fun.9cache.com%2fphoto%2fawKGXZx_460s.jpg [http://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/awKGXZx_460s.jpg]
"And what's with you? Wearing that revealing bathrobe? Trying to lure somebody, washboard? Such an ugly color!"
*Gasp* "Y-You didn't! This is my favorite color!"
"And this is my favorite armor!"
We stare daggers at each other for a little while longer.
""Bitch!""
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*Day 25, 1:12 PM.*
"-Fine!"
"Fine!"
"I said it first!"
"No, I said it first!"
"What does it matter?"
"Ha! I win!"
"Answer me!"
"Fine! It doesn't!"
"Fine then!"
""........................""
""Hmmph!""
...And that's how I invited the Great Priestess of Reim onto my juggernaut for lunch. It turns out her name is Scheherazade, an old hag approaching her 600th birthday looking not a day older than I am. And I'm Ten.
Spoiler :
Here's the chibi priesetess:
http%3a%2f%2fvignette2.wikia.nocookie.net%2fmagi...1211035220 [http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/magi/images/f/f8/Scheherazade.png/revision/latest?cb=20121211035220]
And here's the chibi-chibi priestess:
http%3a%2f%2fvignette1.wikia.nocookie.net%2fmagi...1020170922 [http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/magi/images/2/2b/Colored_Scheherazade.png/revision/latest?cb=20121020170922]
That is our one common ground though. I got the chi seal to blame for my size, what does she got? Nothing, it turns out. Guess she never listen to her mother when she told her to drink more milk. Oooh, I'm soooooooo sorry, didn't realize you don't have a mother! Boohoo! Must be sooooooo sad!
Current mutual social status: Enemies for life.
...I didn't realize until the end of our outdoor shouting match that she was the same Scheherazade who purchased the cube of mana flesh from months ago. I guess I should have paid more attention to who signed the contract, but paying attention to things I'm not particularly interested in was never my strong suit.
Updated mutual social status: Frenemies.
As it turns out, she wants more.
"Same price, I'll purchase all you got in stock." She puts down her teacup.
I take an excruciatingly long sip of my tea. It's my favorite milk tea with frostings on top. I'll leave you tea-snobs to determine whether or not it's really 'tea'.
"Double." I mirror her earlier action. What an nice atmosphere in the room...
"Excuse me?"
"I said, I want double the price."
"No."
"And a full compensation for that ridiculous import tax I paid last time."
"No means no, Pray."
I put up a finger regally to stop her from going on and on and on and on about how important it is they acquire my cubes of mana flesh. Pfft, as if I care about the lifes of Reim citizens, I don't even have a proper mall here! I will when they become my moneymakerscustomers, but not a moment before!
"The way I see it, you need it more than I do" I enjoys her piercing stare. How does she do that?
"And I've seen your gears, Scheherazade. I'll be honest with you..."
*Arch eyebrow*
"They suck. Totally and completely, suck." I say into her gasping face.
"How dare you! I spend five centuries perfecting them! They are the most advan-"
"I can increase their performance threefold."
"-What?" That shuts her up. Good.
"Like I said, I can increase their performance threefold. Just look at my armor!" I gestures toward Mk. VI beside me.
"The skinsuit? What can something so thin do?"
"Thin or not, it's far better than your rag-tag armor, Scheherazade."
"It's not rag-tag! My creations are flawless!"
"Bullshit!"
Ignoring her, I call for Sebastian to bring the smuggled Reim Legionaries' armors to the first experiment room. Behind me, Scheherazade sulks as she follows, leaving behind the suddenly animated statues around the rooms to clean up the table. Mechanical dolls with merged spirits as the controllers, by yours truly.
"This!" I pick up the Reim armor with my right hand from Sebastian as I walk into the experiment room, "is the weakest, physical augmentation exo-armor I've ever seen!"
I give a swift demonstration as I cleanly pierce through the reinforced chest portion with my left hand. I guess it's a bit of a cheat to use my chi-piercing technique as well, but Scheherazade doesn't need to know that.
"...."
Unconvinced, eh? Fine, let me show you.
"Sebastian! Bring out the big guns!" I say with a grin across my face. Muwhahahaha, time to be amazed, Scheherazade!
The automatic machine gun turret rolls itself into the room, on the elevated railtrack above.
"You might want to cover your ears." I tell Scheherazade as I put in the premium leather ear-plugs.
"Why?" Sebastian hands her the plastic ones. They don't really do much, to be honest.
She puts them on regardless. Completely oblivious.
"Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt~" Muwahahahahaha my turret makes mincemeat out of the frail armor on the pedestal ahead of us. Naturally with its armor-piercing rounds...
A few shrapnel fly by, before stopping dead cold as it rams into my armor. Don't feel a thing! As expected... I turn to take a long at how Scheherazade defends herself...
...with a semi-transparent, golden shield perfectly adhering to her skin and clothing...
Dang, that's a pretty advanced shielding technique! I know this personally. A spherical shield is the easiest, being its natural form. Form-fitting shield? Now that's tricky. I was a little lazy and used a elliptical shield for Vio II's main shield.
Anyways, the show continues. Next contestant: Another Reim armor, the one I used earlier. The turret switches to shotgun rounds. History repeats itself.
"The structural integrity was already compromised!" Scheherazade protests beside me. Fine, I'll show you something you can't deny! "Hmmph!"
Final contestant: The third Reim Legionnaire's armor, and a decorated one at that. A centurion's armor, probably better than the regular Legionnaire's armor.
Pew! A single shot lands itself square center.
"That one didn't even pierce through!"
"Wait for it..." The plasma turret rolls itself in, hot and ready. Aim, Fire!
BOOOM!
The room vibrates slightly as the armor and its cousins lying in pieces goes down in my spectacular attack. Muwahahahahaha modern technology ftw! They didn't stand against a chance! Once that tagger round landed, my plasma rounds always lands! Self-guiding rounds are awesome! I love miniaturized repulsor engines!
The floor, of course, is completely unscratched. To be expected of my testing room, naturally.
Immediately following up, I steps forward, replacing the decimated armors.
"Maximum power!" Let's do this!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! An even larger explosion shakes the room, forcing me a centimeter back.
"And not a scratch! Muwahahahahahahahaha!"
"Fine, what is your proposal? I assume you have one?" And Scheherazade admits defeat! Woohoo! I win again!
"Of course I have one!" I replies indignantly, "So, remember I said I want double the price? I lied."
"Oh?"
"I want triple! BUT! I'll give you tips on how to manufacture my awesome armor! What do you say, friend?"
"... No." Comes the soft reply.
Say whaaaaaaat? How could she reject my offer after all I've shown her? "Why? My armor is more than threefold superior to yours, Scheherazade!!!"
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely rejecting your offer."
"... Ok? What now?"
"I want you to work for me, directly. A hundred of these armors a year would be good enough, and I'll give you whatever you want."
"Hmmm, tempting..." Sweet jesus, I was going to give her false data, have her fail, then steps in to save the day... Oh well, I guess this speeds up my plan!
"...No."
"Why?" Ha! Karma's a bitch, Scheherazade!
"I have an even better offer. How about you let my companies operate without any taxes for five years, and remove the import tax, and in return I'll manufacture all these armors you want. You pay for the resource cost."
"Three-fourth of the import tax."
"Quarter"
"Half."
"Half, agreed. This mean we got a deal?"
"Of course."
"Good! Sebastian! Bring the contract!" I grin at her surprised face. What, you didn't expect me to have anticipated this much? Kukuku...
I adjusts the import tax listed from 'none' to '6.25%', then gives her to sign it after jotting down my own signature, with a flourish.
She signs it, making mine looking amateurish... You will pay for this, Scheherazade!
"May I suggest some celebratory champagne?"
"Yes you may! Perfect timing, Sebastian!" I grins alongside Scheherazade as we follows Sebastian into the onboard bar.
"What's the best you got?"
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Current mutual social status: Wasted