The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 48 – Working Titles

The defense of the fort was over within minutes after Matt and Echo took down the patriarch. There wasn’t even time for the healing potion to finish its work before the rest of the party began to make their way over to him. He climbed to his feet with the help of Echo, supporting him as he swayed a little. He was coughing up a disturbing amount of blood but figured this was going to happen for the next half hour or so.

“All done?” Matt asked Jess as she and the rest of the party walked up.

“Yeah, it would seem that the remaining mutants in the dungeon have all been taken care of. You should really check your System messages.” Jess responded, saying the last part with just a little sass.

Matt then took her advice and pulled up the messages that had been buzzing in his head for the past few minutes. He saw some things he was expecting and a bunch that he wasn’t.

You have killed: Patriarch of Corrupted Flesh. Level 53

Bonus Experience earned for defeating an enemy above your effective level.

Class: Pilot - Gunfighter is now level 41.

Stat points awarded.

Objectives:

Clear all challenges. (Complete)

Defeat all enemies. (Complete)

Purify/destroy dungeon core. (Transport Party? Y/N)

He wasn’t expecting to see the dungeon objectives in his System messages but just went with the flow. “Ready to get this over with?” he asked the group and got a round of nods. He then selected the option to ‘transport’ the party. Golden light washed over the group and the interior of the fortress was replaced with a darkened room.

Matt looked around and found that not only had they been transported but the constructs had come with them. “Hey Van. Sorry for the sudden teleport.”

“It is fine, I am glad to be out of that forest.” Seeing the confused look on Matt’s face, Van elaborated. “It was dreadfully boring.”

Returning his attention to the center point of the room, Matt inspected the sphere placed upon the alter. He assumed this was the dungeon core and stepped forward to examine it closer. The green gem like ball was half a meter in diameter and rested upon the pillar, somehow without falling off. As he looked closer, he noticed the greasy grey clouds swirling within the orb. Clearly a manifestation of the corrupted state of the dungeon.

Once Matt got within arm’s reach of the core, a System message popped up. It provided a lot more context. The window almost was like the flavor text he got when identifying defeated enemies.

Forest Dungeon Core (Corrupted)

The corrupted core of a forest dungeon. While in a growth stage, the core of the dungeon was exposed to the concept of mutation, thus corrupting it and allowing its influence to spread to the over world. You have braved the depths of this dungeon, defeated its traps and enemies, now standing before the core with a choice. Do you wish to purify the core and allow it to return to its intended state? Do you wish to destroy the core and gain its experience for yourself?

Matt looked back to the rest of the party, and they all just stared at him. When he asked what they thought Lisk was the first to say that it was Matt’s call. Taking a moment, he weighed the options and decided to purify the core rather than destroy it.

He was betting on the dungeon being a better resource in the future and was placing his money on the growth of the entire city over a massive, one-time experience boost. So, without further delay, he placed his hand upon the core and willed it to be purified.

Core purification in progress.

Purging contaminated essence.

Extracting donor resources.

The first 2 notifications were somewhat expected or at least appropriate. Matt assumed there would be a bit of a process to ridding the core of corruption. However, he wasn’t exactly ready to be used as a fuel source to make up for the lost material. In a sudden and mostly painless process, a full third of all his resource pools were drained, absorbed by the core. To an outside perspective, he touched the core, nasty grey stuff was ejected causing the core to shrink. Then the core glowed before rapidly expanding to its original size before Matt collapsed face down.

Venri rushed to his side, beating even Echo. “Matt! What happened?”

“Ugh, fuuuuccckkk.” Matt groaned. He then removed his helmet to roll over and take deep breaths while lying flat on his back. “The core needed to make up for lost material. It took a third of all my resources.” He finally explained a few moments later.

“Would have been nice for the System to tell you that beforehand.” Lisk commented dryly.

“Yeah, no shit sherlock.” Matt sniped after sitting up. Taking the offered mana potion from the dwarven alchemist. After he knocked it back, he looked back to Lisk. “Sorry, mana exhaustion is rough.”

Lisk just waved him off. “Think nothing of it.” He then looked at the orb. “So, what now?”

The System then chose that moment to bombard them with messages while it formed 4 gem encrusted boxes in a line beside the core’s pedestal.

Forest Dungeon (Corrupted) – Completed

Rewards:

Loot Chest (Legendary)

Experience: Class: Pilot – Gunfighter is now level 43

Titles:

Dungeon Explorer

Be the first to delve a dungeon and survive while completing all challenges.

+25 all stats

Incorruptible

Spend an extended amount of time fighting corrupted creatures or within corrupted areas without falling to its influence.

+5% all mental Stats

Dominant Existence

Completely dominate a higher-level opponent through strength of arms.

+5% all physical stats

Matt was feeling a little overwhelmed, but it didn’t seem he was alone. The rest of the party was also standing around gawking at their status screens or possibly the empty air in front of their faces. Matt couldn’t believe the titles and even levels that had just fallen in his lap. He briefly wondered what would have happened if he had destroyed the core but didn’t waste much time on it. Instead, Matt allocated his surplus of free points after back-to-back level ups.

Moments later, Jess finally snapped out of her fugue and looked around. “Are those what I think they are?” She asked, pointing to the loot chests. The question seemed to snap Lisk and Venri out of it and they all moved over to inspect the chests.

“How do we know which is which?” Lisk asked. “Like, which one belongs to each of us?”

Matt walked over to join them. “I’m pretty sure they are only assigned once you open them. Jess could pick any and get the same items from each.” He then went to the one on the end of the line and opened the hatch. “Yup, this one is mine.”

The chest had opened to reveal 3 items that were geared for him specifically, well, him and Echo. He pulled out the first and began to inspect it in greater detail but noticed he was the only one. He then waved his hand at the crates which got the others to move forward and open them. Shaking his head, he went back to his new items.

Portable container of ritual persistence. (Legendary)

A self-storing and unpacking ritual circle that can be used for up to 5 preset rituals. Rituals used with this item last longer and consume less resources. Provides assistance to those that don’t have a ritual skill.

Personal Equipment Enhancement Token (Epic)

Can be used on one piece (or set piece) of personal equipment. Can only enhance up to epic quality. Can be used to create epic quality equipment at forge.

Armband of telepathic projection (Epic)

Allows for a summoned familiar to project their telepathic communications to those beside the summoner. Range is determined by grade. Does not provide language or translation.

“This one is for you buddy.” Matt said as he held the armband up for Echo to see. “Want me to put it on?” The drake wandered closer and held out a paw. Matt slipped the band over and slid it up but noticed that it didn’t stay. Just as he was wondering what to do about it, Echo pushed some mana into the silver band, and it shrunk down to fit snugly just below his elbow.

Immediately after, in typical Echo fashion, he stalked up behind Jess and flashed an image that Matt also saw. The drake sent her the image of himself lunging at her from behind, fangs out and talons splayed. Jess flinched and dove over her loot chest, falling flat on her face as Echo let out his version of a laugh. “This, ah… this might have been a mistake.” Matt said as he watched Echo go help Jess up.

Matt watched the rest of the party finish up with their loot crates and stow the items. He did notice that they received 2 legendary items each. He was strangely OK with that development since he got a legendary and 2 epic items to split between him an Echo. The crate would probably have given me 2 legendary items but split the second to make something for Echo.

After everyone was done, Matt began to wonder what to do next when the System answered for him.

Exiting dungeon in 10 seconds.

Exiting dungeon in 9 seconds.

Exiting dungeon in 8 seconds…

The message counted down until hitting 0 and they all vanished after being bathed in the golden light of the System. Immediately after, the party appeared outside the dungeon and was now staring at the same disk they had touched to go in. Well, maybe not the same.

The formerly red disk was now a deep, emerald, green color and rotated slowly in a clockwise direction. The runes that made up the face of the disk had also changed, but Matt wasn’t sure what the difference actually meant. A quick identify showed that the dungeon was the same name but no longer had the corrupted tag.

“Welcome back.” Matt turned around to see that a rather haggard looking Rohm was standing behind them. “We had a little incident while you were away.”

Matt surveyed the scene and saw there was a lot of destruction spread around the area of the dungeon. “What happened?”

“Well, it would seem that the dungeon called for help or had tried to set a trap. Either way, after you entered, we faced off against a few waves of mutants.” Rohm explained as he gestured to the piles of corpses. “We got hammered but didn’t lose anyone permanently.”

“What do you mean permanently?” Venri asked, already pulling out a bunch of healing potions.

Rohm went on to explain that the waves had been sporadic in frequency and the first 2 were nearly back-to-back. They repelled the first but the second saw the line break and a few monsters ran amok within the patrol base and it came down to melee fighting to finish them. In that time, 3 of the 30 defenders had been severely wounded but their resident healer was able to stabilize them.

After the first 2 waves, Rohm pulled everyone back to tighten up the lines. That strategy had worked well enough with the constructs acting as close in support and handling the larger mutants. As he spoke, Matt watched a few groups move to the piles of bodies before one of their number used a fire spell of some sort to burn them.

Matt saw that Venri had already moved off to see if the wounded needed anything, or rather, if she could do anything for them. Matt motioned for Jess and Lisk to go reconnect with their teams while he finished up with Rohm, filling him in on everything that happened inside.

He got on with his recounting of the dungeon, for which everyone had pretty much settled in to listen with only those close with Matt asking questions. He didn’t have to say much more than vague details, after promising to play the recording from his helmet.

Eventually, Rohm was able to get everyone up and moving for the march back to the city. Although Matt figured that a march wasn’t the right term since they could pretty much run the entire way back as speeds faster than Olympic sprinters.

“Van, can you keep us moving? I have a skill selection to handle but can wait if you want.” Matt asked after loading up into the mech.

“Go ahead, I can handle it for now.” Van replied. Matt felt him take over control of the mech. It was a strange feeling since he still got the feedback from it into his neural link but wasn’t actually doing anything. Without further ado, Matt opened his System window and took a look at the skills offered.

Preferred Terrain (Uncommon)

Gain a bonus to movement, strength, perception and constitution when in your preselected preferred terrain type. Only one terrain may be selected.

Violent Negotiations (Rare)

Gain a bonus to damage inflicted when fighting enemies within a certain intelligence threshold. Sapient enemies within 10% your intelligence stat will take additional damage.

Ground and Pound (Rare)

Deal extra damage when fighting an enemy in melee in which one of you has been taken to ground in a semi pinned or fully pinned state. Pinned state can be influenced by familiars and others in party.

Seeker of Fortunes (Rare)

Get a extra perceptive ability to find treasures or valuables in your surroundings. Effect is based on perception and intelligence.

Group Influence (Epic)

Allows your party and other allies in your immediate area to be positively affected by your mentality. Effect is based on willpower and has no negative impact when withdrawn.

Matt didn’t like the looks of any of these. The preferred terrain one reminded him of a certain class from a tabletop role playing game and the Violent Negotiations was rather niche. The treasure seeker option was moderately enticing but not enough to make him pick it over what he had in mind. So it was that he rolled back to his previous skill selection and selected the skill.

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.

Skill knowledge flooded his mind once again and Matt felt a part of him click into place. This was the final piece to round out his issues with working alone. He had noticed when fighting the rok that he was missing a way to suppress a target and a way to catch them in the open. He had been relying on closing with his enemies or taking well aimed shots at range, but this could change both factors.

Any good machine gunner would be able to repeat the basics of machinegun theory. Emplacement, use, commands and such were the basics but there was something even more basic, doctrine. There were 2 schools of thought on the matter of using automatic weapons in a support role and neither was wrong.

One could either have a low rate of fire to suppress an enemy and allow their own forces to maneuver on the pinned enemy. This worked well in a combined arms strategy and did help to preserve ammunition which was the major problem with the weapons. The system relied on the slow rate of fire to maintain accuracy and have a small beaten zone.

The second way was to use a high rate of fire to catch troops as they were exposed. It would get as many rounds in the air as possible to hit a fleeting target. The general idea was an accuracy through volume strategy but proved to be very effective in urban areas where long range accuracy wasn’t exactly required.

Both options were good and had their own merits, but Matt had experienced enough of this world to know that enemies often didn’t think rationally or stay in cover. This fact pushed Matt towards wanting to throw as much of the proverbial lead as possible. He would have to make a stop at the range when they returned to check the effect, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be let down.

“Thanks Van, I can take over again.” Matt said as he finished his skill selection.

“You picked a rapid-fire skill?” Van asked, clearly confused based on their previous talks.

“Yeah, I figured it will be very handy in our upcoming adventures.” Matt said. “I noticed with the rok that we don’t have a way to deal with fast moving enemies and animals don’t exactly have the fighting style to suppress traditionally.”

“Hmm, that reasoning is sound. It is better to be well balanced than find yourself stuck in a specialty that you can’t work out of.” Van rumbled.

“Speaking of specialties.” Matt began. “What are we going to do about the little alchemist that’s acting strange lately?” He had some ideas but wanted Vans input since, while he was technically only a few weeks old, he still had reasonable ideas.

“It sounds like a prob…” Van began before being cut off but a familiar presence.

Tori’s presence descended on both of them like the warmth of the sun peeking through on a foggy morning. “We need to talk about that, Matt. We have much to discuss and I would like to get this out of the way sooner than later.” She paused briefly as if she was mulling something over. “Use the formation that allows for Echo and Van to join. They should be a part of the conversation too.” And with that, her aura faded, leaving Matt to just shrug and focus back on his walk back to the city.

*****

Far, far away from the planet Matt was on, but not that long before he talked with her, Troi turned to look at the being who walked into her office. It was another god from her pantheon but not one most would expect to see in a human lead faction.

“Warden Victoria.” The hobgoblin bowed deeply as he entered and closed the door behind him. He was tall and long limbed like most of his race, but that was where the similarities ended. For one, He was a god, something rarely achieved by any of the goblinoid races. Second, his bristling orange fur was immaculately styled and waxed. Thirdly, He was wearing a 3-piece suit of a lovely blue that nicely contrasted his orange fur.

Victoria smiled as she replied. “Magistrate Ralzin.” She paused before saying. “Get your fuzzy ass in here and drop the formalities, Raz.”

“Of course, Vic.” He approached her in the lounge area and glanced at the screen she was watching. “Ah, good. You are already looking at the reason for why I came here today.”

Tori cocked an eyebrow at his nickname for her then raised both at the comment about Matt. “What does my prime have to do with anything? There haven’t been any developments that you should be concerned with. “

“Oh, it’s not Matt exactly but he was the start of it. We need to discuss a certain clause in the accords.” Raz then produced a tablet and flicked a projected image to hover next to Tori’s screen. “As you see here, the accords are very clear about mixed pantheon cities for newly initiated worlds.”

Tori scanned the screen and the highlighted text. “Yes, but there aren’t any other gods in that city.” She pointed out the obvious but knew Raz was clearly on to something.

“That’s the problem, if we want to retain complete control, we need to have 3 more blessed or one more prime in that city, otherwise another power could contest the city. I know we don’t want a civil war being waged with E grades, so I have a proposition.” Raz changed his display to show a tall orc talking to a certain human forge master.

“What about him?” Tori asked then noticed the look in Raz’s eyes. “The orc? As your new prime?” Seeing the hobgoblin nod, Tri thought for a moment. “Hmm, that could work. You know what, just go for it. If he rejects you, then we can look for other options.”

Raz nodded and dismissed his display. “I will ask around our pantheon and see if any others want to be a part of this city to really lock in our control. Are we aware of any allied factions operating on this planet yet?”

Tori shook her head. “Not yet but I’m sure they will come out of the woodwork after this first event goes live.” She paused and looked to Raz. “Good catch, Raz. Good luck with the orc.”

The hobgoblin bowed and made his way to the door. “Thank you, I will see the reports filed after I make contact so you can review them.”

“Or you could just stop by again. It has been a while since we caught up.”

Raz just smiled, showing a mouth full of teeth and fangs as he closed the door. Tori sighed and tuned back in to her newest prime. He was just asking his construct core about how to handle the dwarf. She like that about him, decisive when it mattered but levelheaded when he had time. She decided to reach out now. They could talk about Venri and Tobias both in a face-to-face meeting. “We need to talk about that, Matt.”