The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 55 – Your Turn

“Alright, fire off a full tube.” Matt said to Lisk. The demon did as asked and fired off 6 rounds into his target. The buck shot did a reasonable job of turning the steel torso into a shiny, lead covered mess. It wasn’t the reason for the test, but it was notable. “See how much smoke is in the air? It’s all because its black powder.”

“Right, that’s half the reason I had issues with the trial. The smoke became so thick that I couldn’t see the enemies.” Lisk was intently watching the slowly drifting cloud of smoke. “It was the worst when indoors. It didn’t dissipate nearly as fast.”

They were using the test berm at the forge, which was in a narrow and long open courtyard near one of the assembly rooms. Apparently, it hadn’t been used much, other than making sure prototypes functioned as expected. They commandeered the space so they could test fire without having to run back and forth to the area outside the walls.

Matt nodded, fully agreeing. “Use the token on your ammunition pouch.”

Lisk pulled out his token and touched it to the hard sided leather case on his belt. Matt watched his eyes unfocused for a few moments. Clearly a System screen popped up for this process. After about a minute, the token and the ammunition pouch both glowed with the golden light and when it receded, only the pouch was left.

“Well?” Matt asked.

“It’s definitely better. The System window was asking if I wanted to apply changes to the entire pouch or just one type of ammunition.” Lisk answered as he buckled the pouch back on his belt.

Lisk, I swear to all the gods if you only picked one….

“Naturally I chose to upgrade all 3 types.” Lisk finished.

“Oh, thank god.” Matt said with a heavy sigh he didn’t know he was holding.

“What’s that?”

“Umm, nothing. So, try it now and then we can talk to Tobias and maybe Sari.” Matt said.

Lisk loaded up the tube on his shotgun once again and fired at the targets as quick as he could. 6 more rounds with a massive difference. The first was that Matt could still see the target at the far end of the courtyard. The second was that the sound was noticeably different. Where each shot once had a dull sound, it now had a little more of a crack to it.

“Hmm, it hits a little higher and recoils a bit more.” The demon commented. “Overall, it’s a massive improvement to the power and, best of all, I can still see.”

“Glad you like it, now let’s go see Tobias. By the way, how many credits do you have?” Matt asked as they walked toward the main offices.

The forge was a hive of activity, as always but now that they had deadlines. Everywhere Matt looked there were people working intensely on every project that he could imagine. People were constantly working, and the halls were packed with pedestrians and those rolling carts of parts.

The actual forging rooms were a sea of red-hot metal and sparks. What looked like thick armored steel plates were being rolled out and quenched on assembly lines near where a crucible was pouring molten metal into a mold. Welders and riveters were hard at work assembling the armored shutters for the gun ports and fitting parts onto what looked like the turrets of tanks without a hull.

The enchanters were in every part of the forge, not just their own offices. They could be seen running their engraving tools over the still hot surfaces of some components, barely letting them cool in the quench barrels. A few were even working on what looked like a bunch of strange cabinet like devices made completely of metal.

Matt had to wonder where all the materials were coming from but overheard a group pushing carts of barrels saying that they had to clear out one of the assembly rooms for the next shipment from the mine. He was stunned at what was being produced after just a few days of full operation.

Finally in one of the design rooms they found Tobias. He was talking with a few acolytes around a 3D schematic of a tube-like object. “So, the round is charged and ready to go. All you have to do is drop it down the tube and it goes off. There is also this manual firing lever if you can’t just drop rounds for some reason.”

“Ok, and you want how many of these?” an elf man asked.

“I would like to get 24 of them. Then we have 6 batteries of 4.” Tobias was now pulling up the drawings for a few different rounds that Matt recognized. “There are 3 different loadings I want regular high explosive, illumination and the third would be incendiary. The last might be hard to do unless we can get the phosphorus mixture right.”

“We will see it done. Can you push the data to the network so we can pull it from there?”

“Already done. Thank you for your hard work.” Tobias said with a casual, friendly smile and handshakes all around. “Hey Matt, come on in. I see you brought a friend.” Tobias said with a hint of mockery.

“Yeah, I can make friends. Wait. Lisk, are we friends?” Matt suddenly asked trying to mimic genuine concern.

Lisk looked at Matt like he had gone insane. “I would consider us friends given how we interact and all the help you have given me.” He cautiously said.

Matt laughed. “I’m just messing with you.” LIsk looked relieved at the admission. “For the record, we are friends. Add Jess and Rohm to that list.”

“Not Venri?” Tobias asked.

“Ugh, fine her too but that one is complicated.” Matt then pivoted the banter. “Are you ever going to get off your lazy ass and do the trial?”

Tobias mumbled something about getting to it in the next few days. He then asked why they were there, and Matt told him what he was thinking. The idea got Tobias to pull up his personal data pad and start searching through it. After a few minutes, Tobias had a few designs projected onto the display they had gathered around.

“So, Lisk, this is what I have designs of that I could make for some points. I have listed the point cost below each so we can factor that in.” Tobias said as the display showed a few different shotguns from Earth. The designs were outlined and laid out in a grid pattern for easy browsing.

“What are the differences?”

“Glad you asked!” Tobias about sang before launching into the options available. “We have 2 basic operating differences. All of these will be self-loading, so you don’t need to pump the action but one type feeds from magazines like what Matt uses. The other type feeds from a tube like what you have now.” Tobias pulled up 2 examples, one famous design from an Italian company that had a magazine tube and the other that looked like the overgrown beef cake version of an AK.

“My ammo pouch doesn’t produce magazines.” Lisk said as he looked down at the small box on his belt. “That might be a problem.”

“Indeed, it is a problem.” Tobias said frowning and taking a leaning forward to peer at the pouch as Lisk opened it. “You probably don’t want to try to stuff mags then store those on your person?” Lisk shook his head. “Right then, that cuts out half the competition.” He waved his hand at the display and the right side of the grid disappeared.

“So, what separates these then?” Lisk asked looking at the new, much shorter, list.

Tobias immediately launched into a this or that questioning scheme. “Well, do you want a lot of capacity or a short gun?”

“Capacity.”

“Ok. Front and rear sight or just the front bead?”

“Both please.”

“Mhm. Fast cycling or soft recoil.”

“Fast. Recoil isn’t much of a problem with stats.”

“Good point. Now accessories. Do you want to be able to mount lights and aiming devices like Matt has?”

Lisk looked at Matt who summoned his rifle and pointed to the optics, light and lasers. “I want the option. I don’t have any of that now, but it would be good to get some.”

“We can take care of that today too.” Tobias said with a smile. “Alright Lisk, this is what I’m thinking.” He then projected a 3D image of an autoloading shotgun that had a 7 round magazine tube, railed receiver and some mounting points just forward of the handguard. There was a set of ghost ring sights on top but those would be secondary if any optic was used.

“I like the look. It is similar to what I have now for length, and I would like a light. The indoor portion of the trial was kind of difficult.” Lisk said after viewing the projection from every angle. He even wrapped his hand around the virtual display to see the rough fit of things.

“Great. Follow me.” Tobias said as he waved them through another door that ran parallel to the main hallway. “How many points do you have?”

“Uhm like 900 thousand or so.” Lisk said. “Will that cover it?”

“Oh, sure. You will have plenty to cover the cost.” Tobias reassured him as they walked over to what looked like a CNC machine cabinet. Inside was a cradle of sorts and hanging from the ceiling of the cabinet was a small tool of some sort.

Tobias walked up and tapped the display. He pulled in the 3D image of the shotgun they had designed as well as a light that Matt saw was identical to the one on his gun. There was also the addition of a simple tube style red dot optic but those were everywhere in the city now. After parting out all the pieces, he had Lisk walk up and follow the prompt to create the weapon.

As the machine started, Matt saw the familiar golden light emitting from the tool head as it tracked back and forth across the cradle. It moved like a 3D printer but left light behind instead of plastic. Matt couldn’t sense a drop of mana but knew it must be some sort of System bullshit based on its variety of energy types.

They watched the machine for a few minutes as it ran. Matt looked over to the only display on the cabinet and saw the run time. It projected that it would take another 2 hours to finish. He didn’t exactly have time to sit around and told the guys that he was off to his other chores. Getting a wave from Tobias, he left the forge. He reminded Tobias about the trial and the wave turned to a one finger salute.

*****

Next on Matts list was to check in on the dwellers after their first night in the city. Franklin had let them pick out one of the open areas near where the barracks were still standing. He could barely make out the shape of the orb floating in place as he approached. What he could clearly see was Franklin and Tengi sitting at a table and talking excitedly.

Franklin was drawing on a sheet of paper and pointing to various points in the surrounding area. Tengi would follow along and make some large gestures. Matt suspected that he was trying to match the expressiveness of the orc governor. He finally got within range to hear what they were saying.

“… gardens will be a great addition, I am sure Madrith will help in this endeavor.” Franklin was saying. “If she can cultivate the seedlings in the orb, it will give her a great head start.”

“I meet her soon?” Tengi asked.

“I can call for her to stop by and we can talk about it together.” Franklin said, promising to help with the meeting. “Matt, good to see you. Now I don’t have to track you down later today.”

“Why would you need to track me down?” Matt asked. He was immediately suspicious and on guard in case there was another errand that he was about to be sent out on. “I just came to check up on my little friends and see how they were settling in.”

“Your reward.” Franklin must have seen the relief on Matt’s face since he then added on. “What, thought I was sending you on another mission?” he laughed “I don’t think I could actually make you go anywhere you didn’t want to.”

“Eh, you might have a point. I would likely do it if you asked but no, you couldn’t make me do anything.” Matt said with a smile. “So, what do you have for me then and what are you guys talking about?”

“We have job now.” Tengi chirped. “Frank asks us to grow things and he pay us with credits.”

To Matt, that sounded exactly like what they had talked about earlier. “Anything else?” Matt began probing. “Don’t you have other needs to level and grow?”

“No, we grow slowly but constant.” Tengi then gestured to the wall. “So long as don’t die to soon.”

“Tengi was telling me that they know about the upcoming event. Matt, it would have been really bad for them unless they found a way to hide the orb while they fled inside. They were probably too close to us to go unnoticed.” Franklin said in a somber tone. “It’s really a good thing that this all worked out the way it did.”

“Hey, so long as everyone is happy.” Matt said with a shrug. They chatted for a few minutes more with Tengi telling him how much they loved the old barracks. Matt guessed it wasn’t so cramped when the occupants were half the size of the previous ones.

“Do you want your reward now?” Franklin asked after they caught up for a little.

“Um, sure? I thought we had to go to your office or something.”

“Ha, not anymore. My evolution skill selection now allows me to open the city menu from anywhere withing the territory of the city.” Franklin said as he opened the menu in front of Matt. “Go ahead, this is your reward window.”

Matt looked at the System window that was floating in front of him. It had his completed quests and assigned quests all listed out with a big green check mark next to his quest to find the last resource point. He reached out and touched the button, opening the next screen.

Listed on the screen were the reward options Matt had to choose from. He could choose credits or a loot chest. Each option showed him a little detail in the sub text. The credits were listed in value while the loot chest would be of epic quality. Matt chose the chest and got a message asking him to be patient while the reward was summoned.

After a minute or so, the familiar chest materialized in front of Matt. He opened it while Franklin and Tengi looked on in interest. From the depths of the chest, Matt pulled a small figurine that looked just like him or, rather, like his armor.

Sacrificial Armor Totem (Epic)

This totem is an exact replication of the users’ armor while in a pristine state. Allows the user to instantly transfer all armor damage to the totem section by section or all at once. Totem will still function when in spatial storage. User can repair and rebind totem by channeling resources into it.

“Well, well, well. This will be useful.” Matt said. He had been injured several times and slowed from damaged armor. He thought the totem would allow for him to stay active in a fight for much longer. It would also be a not so nice surprise for any sapient enemies he had to fight in the future.

“You get the most fascinating rewards Matt.” Franklin said as he studied the action figure like totem. “I am curious to see what the trial awards our people that are running it now.”

“How many have we gotten through it so far?” Matt was genuinely curious since they were coming up on the first System event. Every person that went through the trial could very well end up with crucial event winning equipment and knowledge.

Franklin pulled up his screen and turned it toward Matt. “Take a look for yourself.”

Matt studied the screen. It was broken down into the 3 major groups of pilots, classers and crafters. Each group showed the number that broke the level 25 threshold and evolved, along with how many had run the trial. Unsurprisingly, every pilot had broken through and nearly half had completed the trial. “This is a very nice little breakdown you have here.”

Franklin closed the screen. “Thanks, its not much compared to how detailed I can get but I don’t want to get bogged down in the details. I can technically track the progress of every citizen but don’t.”

“Why?”

The orc shrugged. “Seems like an invasion of privacy to me. I don’t need to know everyone’s whereabouts in the city and their status or level. I break it down by major category or job role and look at averages.”

Matt appreciated the little privacy. “Good to know. I think I am going to go track down Tobias again and get him moving to complete the trial. Who knows, if he had done it already, he might have already finished all the preparations.” He stood and waved as he walked away, Echo following along in his wake.

It would turn out that Matt didn’t have far to go since Tobias was talking with Rohm just outside the hub. “Tobias!” Matt called out. “Got orders from Frank. You are to get your ass over to the trial and run it. We can’t have you falling behind and the sooner this gets done, the sooner you are back to work.”

Tobias squinted at him. “You’re making that up. Frank has never given an order to me.”

“What makes you think that he hasn’t started yet?”

“General decency and respect?” Tobias reasoned.

“Yeah, your probably right.” Matt agreed before turning to the commander of the construct corps and classers. “Rohm, can you have the next group that runs the trial drag Tobias along?”

“Uh, suuuure. I guess we can do that. They leave in a few hours” Rohm hesitantly supplied.

“Great. Tobias, you are going. The longer you put it off, the longer you are out of action and the closer we get to this damn event.”

Tobias crossed his arms and sulked like a petulant teen before finally throwing his hands up. “Fine. Your right, I will go get ready.” He said before moving off to the forge.

Rohm called after him. “East gate in 2 hours!”

Tobias gave another one finger salute from over his shoulder. He didn’t bother looking back as he trudged off.

“What does that hand gesture mean?” Rohm asked. “I feel like I should be offended but cant be sure.”

“Oh, boy. How much time to you have for a history lesson?” Matt asked, preparing himself for another lecture on Earth culture.