The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 38 – Updates and plans

Tori was in her realm, not at all relaxing or performing her usual duties for her followers and organization. Instead, she was watching the interactions of her prime and the little dwarf that had followed him on a mission. She had scouted the planet before but somehow missed this one potential problem. Even if she had seen it, Tori wasn’t sure she could actually do anything with the System limiting her. Of all the places for that particular culture to show up, and a possible follower of the order to boot.

Watching the fight with the mutated beasts, Tori waited with bated breath, not worried about her prime and his companions being hurt but instead worried about how this would play out if the dwarven alchemist realized what Matt was. She watched the fight finish and Matt organize his troops, once again displaying his knowledge and acumen for war. She was rather pleased with her selection in this prime and had plans to pair him with one of the others for some training.

The moment Tori had been waiting for finally came along as Van returned and opened his hatch, releasing Venri to the outside. She immediately stormed off toward Matt, in a rage at her earlier treatment. Tori thought that this was a good sign, and everything would blow over with her none the wiser… until Venri stopped dead in her tracks. A look of awe crossed her face, and her eyes began to fill with tears.

“Fuck.” Was all Tori said. She snapped her fingers and opened a portal to one of her great halls and beckoned to the being sitting on the other side of the rift.

The human man unfolded his legs and smoothly rose from his meditative position, stepping effortlessly through the tear in reality to bend the knee before her. “Mistress. How may I be of service?” asked Herman, The Wasteless Concoctor.

Tori rolled her eyes. “Herman, you are a god now, stop treating me like your master and more like the ally that I am to you.” She had met Herman eons ago when he was still in B grade, and she was already a god. He still never dropped the honorifics until she asked.

“Of course, Tori.” Herman said with a grin as he stood to look her in the eye. “What can I do for you?”

Tori didn’t say anything and just pointed at the image she had paused of the dwarven alchemist. Herman knew of Matt, since he was an allied god under her pantheon and, as part of her inner circle, knew about his heritage.

Herman inspected the image, using his skills to pierce the veil of the void and inspect Venri more closely. “Oh dear, this is quite the problem the young master has.”

“Yes, it is. Now can you possibly help me with this issue? Tori asked. “I would like you to intervene and help curb the more insane tendencies that culture has towards the veiled. Take her as an apprentice if you must but don’t let another Krest’man city happen.”

Herman hummed and rocked his head from side to side before responding. “Hmmm. That seems like an awful lot of work. And just to spare your prime some inconvenience.” He tutted, leading her on.

Tori sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “What’s it worth to you then?”

“I want you to try something I have been working on. It would seem that there are some alcoholic beverages and recipes that have just been discovered from Earth.” The alchemist began. “I think I have perfected something called a ‘Mint Julip’ and another by the name of ‘French Seventy-five’ that I would like you to taste test.”

Tori blanched slightly. Herman had once messed up a potion, but the waste material ended up being an alcohol that worked on gods. The accident, in keeping with his title, spurred him to develop the awful drinks, trying to make them palatable. “Fine, I will taste those two but no more.”

“Deal. All sales are final. No takebacks.” Herman cackled as he stepped into the portal once again and began puttering around his meditation chamber in preparation to meet the dwarf.

Closing the portal, Tori resumed her observation of Matt. She really hoped this deal was worth it. The last time she tried Hermans brew, it left her with a decade long hangover. “I hope the little zealot has the sense to not jump the gun. That or my prime doesn’t kill her out of annoyance.” She thought about that last part, coming to the conclusion that Matt probably wouldn’t kill her but might use his aura to make her wish he did.

Matt hadn’t slept that night, instead staying up and keeping an eye on his commandos. Well, he wasn’t really staying up if he didn’t need to sleep right? Either way he was awake and had a couple things to go over in the form of System messages. He had held off until well after he debriefed the classers, and they made their commitments. He opened the menu and dove right in.

Class: Pilot – Gunfighter is now Level 35

Stat points awarded.

Skill selection options available.

Command Troops (Uncommon)

Any combat focused allies will have increased stamina and mana when following your commands. Only applies to those directly under your command. Uses Willpower

Designate Target (Uncommon)

When fighting in a group of at least 4, deal extra damage to enemies when designated ad targets. Designate up to 5 targets at a time to apply damage multiplier to. Uses Willpower

Rapid Fire (Rare)

Significantly increase the rate of fire of your primary armament for as long as the skill is channeled. Recoil will be negated for duration of usage skill activation. Costs stamina to channel, all other costs remain as default.

Experienced Instructor (Rare)

Those that have learned from you directly earn bonus experience for a length of time directly proportional to the duration of your instruction. Ongoing teaching may result in cumulative application of bonus time.

Unstable Imbuement (Epic)

Imbue a weapon with your affinity but in an unstable nature that reacts violently when contacting an enemy. Gain total control of the stability of mana imbued projectiles. Cost and usage are similar to Imbue Weapon.

Matt had a hard time choosing which skill to pick. He like the rapid-fire skill for emergencies and for any more fast-moving targets that required an ‘Accuracy by Volume’ doctrine. The teaching and group fighting skills were intriguing but he had no idea what was meant by willpower for its usage and decided to wait until he talked with Tori again. In the end he was most attracted to the unstable imbuement and chose that skill, knowing he could come back for the others.

When he selected the skill, he felt the knowledge enter his mind and instantly knew he was on to something. The skill would be the perfect partner to his imbue weapon skill. Where his older skill was excellent as a penetrator, it tended to just pass through all but the densest enemies. His new unstable skill would allow him to use his autocannon as a pseudo, long-range grenade launcher. He had an impression of how it would work with a melee weapon but would have to test it to be sure.

Matt sat back and sighed, he felt good about his choice and decided to start making breakfast for himself and Echo who had dozed off by the fire and curled almost completely around it. He set up his coffee pot and began to prepare his morning brew, making a little extra incase anyone else fancied a taste. While he worked, he brought up his status screen, reading it in full for the first time in a while.

Name: Matt Shultz Level: 35 (E)

Race: Human-Veiled

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Strength: 164 (190)

Dexterity: 212 (254)

Endurance: 187 (216)

Constitution: 152 (177)

Perception: 149 (181)

Intelligence: 212 (254)

Wisdom: 119 (152)

Free Points: 26

Skills:

Imbue Weapon (Rare), Passive Mana Sense (Rare), Run and Gun (Uncommon), Mana Blast (Uncommon), Powered Displacement (Rare), Shaped Mana (Rare), Unstable Imbuement (Epic)

Feeling rather good about his progress, Matt smiled to himself and allocated his free points into his preferred distribution, keeping a couple extra just in case. He had to admit, being up early had its advantages, the peace and quiet was nice and the luxury of a coffee without having to rush was severely underrated. It also had its downsides as he looked over and saw Jess sitting on the edge of the camp, knees drawn to her chest and staring out into nothing. Matt had seen it before and could guarantee he would see it again.

With a sigh, he pulled out a second cup from his storage and filled it with the fresh brew before walking over to the elf. He didn’t say anything as he sat beside her and handed over a steaming mug. Jess only startled a little but took the coffee regardless. She didn’t drink it at first, just holding it in her hands and watching the steam drift up. Matt didn’t speak, remaining silent to let her voice her thoughts in her own time.

After several minutes where Matt could literally hear the grinding of her teeth as she organized her thoughts and spoke. “We are not the same.” Jess said.

“Oh? Why would you think that we were?”

“I always assumed that you were stronger because you were dropped into the thick of it and had to fight to survive.” She paused and ground her teeth more before continuing. “Then, you left again after only just a couple days, back to fighting and exploring. You come back less than a week later with nearly ten more levels. I though maybe you got lucky again and I was trying to push myself to catch up, but it didn’t make a difference.” She took a sip of her coffee and made a face, scrunching her nose at the slightly bitter taste.

“Then we were selected by Rohm for this task. We all said we could take a look, thinking it would be an adventure.” Jess whispered the last part. “I should have known something wasn’t right when I used the codex. I felt it. Did you know that?” She looked at him with tears in the corners of her eyes. “I could feel the pain, the loss, the rage and sorrow. I could feel everything that went into that codex because of my fucking trait. I know the price you had to pay for that knowledge and still, I still couldn’t bring myself to acknowledge that you stand apart.” She had tears running down her face as she turned back to east, watching the first tinges of color in the sky.

Matt continued his silence, letting Jess get her thoughts out. “Then last night happened. I had felt so ready, so sure that we could handle anything. But I was wrong, so wrong.” She choked out the last part, quietly crying as she gathered herself. “Those monsters were too fast, too strong and after the first one broke the line, I couldn’t face them. When that one pinned me, its… like it stole my will to fight. Echo was the only thing that saved me, that monster had me dead to rights.

“Then you came.” Jess said, turning back to him. “I know your trait, Matt. Its all the more effective on me because of mine. I felt the wrath burning in your veins. I could feel the lust for battle singing in your soul. We were fighting to live, but you are living to fight.” She was full on bawling at this point, that ugly cry that you didn’t want anyone to see. “How did you do it? How do you live with that?” She choked out between sobs. Matt knew exactly what happened, her perception of the world was shattered, and her confidence tanked. It happened to everyone at some point and the sudden change in perspective could leave one in the dumps.

Matt put his arm over Jess’ shoulder and pulled her in for a side hug. “You think I was always like this? You saw the codex; you probable know I didn’t start out like I am now. Part of that is from the System but the rest is all me.” He spoke softly, getting his point across as gently as possible. “I did it the same way you will. I had my mentors to guide me, my wound to teach me and living through horrors to steel me. Jess, you will get through this if I have to drag you and the commandos the entire way.” He was pushing out his calm aura with a bit of hopefulness sprinkled in to help bring her back on track.

Jess sniffled and wiped her nose before sitting up and taking another sip of coffee. “Matt?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you helping me?” Jess asked.

With a sigh and a soft smile Matt answered her question. “Because you’re good people, Jess. You, Rohm and the rest of the commandos are my friends. People are supposed to help their friends.”

“Thank you.” Jess’ tears had stopped, and her voice leveled out. She took another sip from her mug before pulling a face. “Matt?”

“Yeah?”

“This coffee is fucking gross.”

Matt laughed, put a hand on her shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze before letting go and drinking his own coffee while they watched the sunrise. Echo came padding up and laid down behind them so they could recline a little. Matt noticed that his head was toward Jess, and she had begun to idly scratch at his jaw line. Attention hog Matt thought to himself as dawn broke on him and a freshly battle tempered elf pilot.

“At least you made it through the experience.” Matt said before taking a sip. “When I was… What’s wrong?” Jess had a look on her face of abject horror. Her aura was giving off intense feelings of embarrassment and she suddenly stood up.

Jess knocked back the rest of her coffee, not even making a face this time. “I forgot to allocate my points and choose my skills.” She said, handing Matt his cup. “How the hell could I forget.” She muttered as she wandered off in the direction of her construct.

Matt and Echo just watched her go before looking back to each other and shrugging. He couldn’t blame her; he had forgotten about his free points for the first few days of being in the system. He also had other things to think about, like the mutant carcass in his storage. If he was right, they would have a big problem on their hands in the near future.

It seemed that the previous nights’ activities were good for the commando group with almost all of them gaining enough levels for another skill selection. After they had all allocated points and selected skills, the group set off to their next objective. Matt once again letting them take the lead.

It was a couple hours later that they ran into another group of enemies. This time, it was more stone golems, a favorite amongst the pilots who’s large caliber cannons were very effective against the rocky bodies of the golems. The pilots even managed to fend off a level 28 colossus that attacked while they gathered the cores from the downed golems. It went down under a few volleys from the cannons, not detonating and allowing retrieval of its core as well.

“While I love my twenty-five and its high velocity, there is something to be said about lobbing a heavy ass bullet out there.” Matt commented as he watched the fight. Venri had been acting strange and he was attempting to bait her into conversation.

“I think your weapon is far superior to theirs.” Venri replied. Her tone was giving Matt an odd feeling. Her aura was stable but had a weird feeling to it which Matt couldn’t pin down.

“Maybe, but theirs are pretty good still.”

“Oh, of course, they are adequate for the task.” Another instance of the dwarf instantly agreeing with Matt.

“Van, let’s keep an eye on her. Something isn’t quite right and it’s giving me an odd feeling.” Matt sent mentally to the core.

“Agreed. Something happened last night that makes me question her sanity.” Van responded. His tone was rumbling and completely serious.

Matt was curious now. “What did you see?”

Instead of telling him, Van projected a video of the previous night from his perspective, which just happened to be at the awkward angle provided by his height. The video played in double time from the start of the fight, showing him tossing Venri into the cockpit, the recording of her rather choice words about him, then the fight itself. The video slowed when Van returned and opened the hatch. Matt saw the alchemist jump down and begin stomping toward him, looking like she was about to give him a scolding.

The playback zoomed in, showing Matt in frame on one side and Venri at the other. He watched as she stopped dead in her tracks and her face went slack after he took his helmet off and faced the group. He did see a slight glint in his own eyes but skipped over that as he focused on the dwarf. Her eyes held tears in them, but her expression didn’t match sadness, it was one of joy.

“I have no idea what to make of that.” Matt said to Van after watching the playback a second time. “You got any ideas?”

“Naturally. I am very well versed in mortal emotions and expressions.” Van paused and let his sarcasm sink in. “No, I have no idea what that is.” His deadpan delivery naturally perfect.

Matt wasn’t sure either, but they decided to stick to the plan and just keep their guard up. He did however try to bait her into more conversation. “So, Venri. What are your plans after we return to Krad?”

Venri took a minute to respond, Matt assumed it was to consider her options. “I am not sure, possibly just keep practicing my alchemy and getting levels in my combat class.” She paused, hesitating for but a moment. “Unless you have any suggestions?”

Matt picked up on the subtle tone to her question, the kind that was seeking approval or perhaps guidance. “Well, if it were me, I would try to do what I wanted, either expand the horizons of my craft or perhaps specialize into what I found interesting.” He was trying to guide her to a conclusion without flat out stating it. “Is there anything that you always wanted to do but never had time or opportunity? I would maybe look into pursuing that. Hell, you could get a hobby for fun even.”

“That is certainly an interesting opinion and one that I think requires more thought before I can just abandon my newfound duties.” Venri still had an edge in her voice, hinting at more.

“Take your time.” Matt said, disengaging from the conversation and switching over to the radio.

“Recon One, this is Trainer.” Matt hailed Jess while using his internal callsign for the mission.

“Trainer, this is One.”

“Let’s pick it up and move, we have two more points to hit before we stop for the night.”

“Roger, Trainer.” She paused for a beat before switching gears. “Three and Four, lets RV with main element.” Right on cue, both the other two constructs picked up and began moving back to the main body of the unit. They moved at a steady pace, always being sure to cover the areas to their rear and sides, bounding back the way they came.

Matt though that it was going rather well. He was pleased that they had grown some in the frantic fight the night before. All 4 teams were working together in a much more clinical way when moving in the patrol formation.

“I have to get a permanent call sign” Matt said to Van.

“They offered you some rather interesting names if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah, but they were all kind of shit.”

Van laughed in that rumbling way he always did. “What didn’t you like guardian, savior or commander?”

“They are all awful and those aren’t even the worst that they threw around last night.” Matt thought back to the brief discussion and cringed at some of the suggestions from the commandos. He mentally added that to the list for things to talk to Tobias and Rohm about. He had a long list of things to talk with him about, but it would have to wait, they had 2 towers left for today and another 3 for the next day to finish before the main event.