The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 27 – Brass Tacks

It took Echo a while to adjust to the mech and Matt residing mostly inside it. He had been very cautious at first, never really coming close unless Matt was getting out or the mech stood still. He had liked the autocannon even less. The first shot making him flinch and back away growling at the source of the noise. After some mental back and forth about how it worked and what Matt could do in it, the drake seemed to change from distrust to general apathy. Echo did insist on showing off for Matt which lead to their current situation.

The grass in front of Matt rippled like a pond as a breeze wafted across the clearing. If it weren’t for a series of high-power cameras and a certain mental connection, he would have thought that there was only grass before him. Within the sea of green was Echo, stalking his way across the clearing toward one of the giant metallic boars. The boar in question was rooting around on the far side of the clearing, none the wiser to what was approaching from behind.

Echo had “told” Matt of the boar, describing it as prey instead of an enemy worthy of consideration. Matt just decided to watch and let Echo do his thing, curious to see how this would play out. He still was posted up with the autocannon just in case there were any issues.

The boar was in the low 40s for level and rather large for its species, not much of a problem for Matt in a mech but he wasn’t sure how Echo would handle it. Almost on que, he received a mental prod from Echo and watched as the drake attacked.

Waiting until the perfect moment Echo sprang onto the back of the boar. He bit down on the back of its neck, teeth piercing into the steel like skin of the beast but not deep enough to draw blood. He wrapped arms and legs around the spine of the boar as best he could reach, digging in razor sharp claws to hold on. The boar of course did not hold still for all of this, beginning to shake and buck, trying to rid itself of the drake that was now clinging to it.

Matt watched the impromptu rodeo with mild amusement until his mana sense alerted him to energy being concentrated. He was about to intervene until he realized it was coming from Echo and settled back down to watch. The mana began to coalesce around Echo’s mouth and Matt thought he heard a faint inhale before a blinding wave of plasma blasted out from the drake’s mouth. a clean hole was blasted through the boar’s neck and the beast fell to the ground. Echo held on but adjusted to avoid being crushed and rode out the muscle spasms from the dying boar.

“Well, um, that was something.” Matt said. “It looks like he has the same affinity as me.”

“Is that from the summoning or is it just luck?” Van asked. “We know very little about what is actually involved in that process.”

Matt was inclined to agree with Van. There was a lot that he didn’t know about the system and was only finding things out piecemeal. He was hopeful that Tori would be able to give him more insight unless the system limited her again. He started walking over to where Echo had downed the boar, looking at the relatively contained damage from the fight.

Matt brought the mech right up to the downed boar. “Well, Echo. That was a lot faster and cleaner than how my fights usually go with these.” The drake looked up from his perch and cocked his head at Matt, asking what he meant. “I’ll show you on the next one.”

Echo seemed to like the idea of “the next one” and bounded off into the woods, leaving Matt to try and skin the boar. He felt like this would be a good opportunity since it was still relatively intact compared to the ones he normally turned into a mess of holes and burns. This might be my time to learn a thing or two about how to hunt properly for materials. Or not as he got a mental image of Echo flaying a deer to ribbons.

The rest of the day continued with Matt and Echo hiking up the slopes, occasionally stopping to murder something. Echo had seemed very impressed with the imbuement properties of Matts weapons which lead to the drake showing off its versions of that same ability. Echo was able to imbue its claws and teeth but could also do a reaching swipe like the bear guardian, extending the range of his claws. The mana blast it had formed on the boar had a relatively limited range of about 50 meters and lost a lot of power at that distance.

Matt had learned that Echo was a master of powerful takedowns and rapid flanking maneuvers, probably the reason for its species name. He also learned that the drake had some staying power for prolonged engagements. A few of the treeants had ganged up on them, forcing Matt and Echo into a longer fight than they had previously. The 5 tree monsters went down easily, if not quickly, but managed to put some hits onto both of them. The Mech had suffered dented armor, but Echo only had some damaged scales that quickly healed.

It made Matt happy to see that his companion wasn’t a glass cannon, especially after taking a few hits from the heavy hitting treeants. They ended up stopping on a rocky outcropping for the night, having gotten carried away with fighting instead of climbing. Echo had found a nice shallow opening in the rocks for them to camp in and was already curled up in the small space.

Pulling out a couple items from his storage, Matt began the process of making the ritual circle for contacting Tori. It wasn’t anything elaborate, but he did need to create a representation of her domain. Given that she was a god of the defenses, he decided to make a small earthen fighting position.

Using a knife and an entrenching tool, Matt formed a small-scale representation of a foxhole. He used the entrenching tool to make the small hole and then shaped it with the knife. Forming the grenade sumps and fighting platform was difficult in the loose soil but he persisted, making it as perfect as possible to get a better ‘connection’. The system did not allow this formation to be premade, but it allowed the reuse of designs and encouraged bringing materials to improve on them.

After finishing the hole and placing a bit of cloth over top to represent a tarp providing shelter from the elements, Matt pulled out the catalyst. The catalyst he chose was a section of armor plate that he had taken from his duel with Alfron. The ritual would end up consuming the catalyst but that was ok with him. Given the ruined armor was from his own victory, it would be even more powerful than if he used some scrap or similar item.

Matt placed the roughly hand sized piece of armor between him and the replica fox hole before saying the incantation. “I Matt Shultz, a most humble supplicant, seek guidance from my oh so divine patron, the lovely, graceful, scarry and powerful Victoria, The Eternal Warden.” He said with as much overacting as he possibly could, really harnessing his inner Shatner. Technically, all he needed for the ritual to work was a domain representation, a catalyst and then a statement of who he was and who he wanted to talk to. Being an ass about the whole thing was just a bonus for him.

Matt fell a sudden shifting like he was being teleported but not as severe as his ability before hearing a voice. “You are lucky nobody else heard that.” Tori said. “You might be labeled a blasphemer by some of the overly devout.” Matt opened his eyes to find that they were seated in the same sitting room as their first meeting.

“Is that a problem?” Matt asked, a little concerned about some A grade having it out for him.

“No, anyone that matters would understand given you are not from our System. They might not like you very much but wouldn’t dare harm one of my primes.” Tori said as she poured a cup of tea for them both. “Matt, you continue to exceed my expectations whether by luck or some other factor I am not sure.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Matt as he took his cup and sniffed at the fragrant brew.

“I mean that you should not be level 33 now. What is it that is driving you to level so fast? Even other Expats never pursued power with such zeal.”

Matt had to stop and think for a few moments before coming up with a good answer. “It’s probably the freedom. There was so much in the way back on Earth always holding me back. Well, now I am the master of my own destiny.” He paused for a second, getting a read on Tori’s reaction. “I don’t have anything holding me back, not even a short lifespan but I also see the dangers out there. We need strength to survive, and I don’t plan to be mediocre in this new universe. I want agency and the only way to have it is through overwhelming strength.”

Tori nodded along as Matt spoke, sensing that he was being honest and wasn’t just power hungry to be a dictator. He wanted power to be his own master, dictate the terms of his life and rise to power. “It’s good to hear that you are not trying to become a dictator like some of your peers are wanting to do. Not that I could tell you about other settlements even if I wanted to.”

“So, there are other settlements? How big is this planet?”

“Dozens of other large settlements and many smaller ones scattered around. Your current planet is much, much bigger than Earth. Again, I won’t give you specifics, but there were trillions of beings brought into this initiation and spread across hundreds of planets in both the planes.” She paused a moment as if thinking. “Perhaps when you return to your city, you should brows the forge shops for general information. It will be expensive but I’m sure you can afford it.” She said with a smile that had more meaning than Matt could figure out.

Matt decided to get to the point of this meeting before his catalyst ran out. “So, what was it you had to talk to me about? It sounded kind of urgent and I get the feeling that you have a warning or specific path for me.”

Tori smirked a little as she replied. “Indeed, I thought I would have enough time to save up for communications directly, but you are advancing too fast.” Seeing the confusion on Matts face, she pressed on. “The System limits me initiating contact by having a sort of point system. The more I tell you when I reach out, the more it costs.” That explained a lot of what Matt had wondered about in his messages from the goddess.

“So, Matt.” Tori began. “We need to talk about 3 things. The first is your trait and the domain you made. The second is about your new familiar and the party system. The final one is in relation to your construct, its core, and your path as a pilot.” She ticked off the items on her fingers.

Matt sat and listened intently as Tori gave him the lecture of the century about why he was beyond vexing to contain as a prime. His trait and its inherent ability allowed and guided him in his development of his proto domain. She said up front that she would not directly help with his efforts there since it could taint the result. Basically, he had a half-formed domain that was based on his affinity and his aura trait, the other part of making a full domain would come later, if he lived long enough.

Tori spent far longer on his familiar than she had on his domain issue. “To get a familiar summoning token in a trial is an excellent reward and I think balanced considering your situation and performance. That the familiar is a draconic species is even more impressive since that was more up to your soul than your performance.”

Matt was confused and asked for clarification. “What situation and what about my soul?”

Tori sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as she replied. “You are running solo when you need a team. As you should well know, constructs don’t do well when isolated, so far you have been the exception. As for your soul, that was what you were seeing during the summoning ritual with the token. You entered a System assisted soul space to find a summon. It made sure that you would be compatible and have complimentary… personalities.”

Continuing with her tirade, Tori elaborated on the other issue. “But this brings about a problem. Most don’t get access to the party system until after the first of the System events for their settlement. You skipped the process, and you will need to set it up very carefully since you can only do it once per grade. You want to get the most benefit from it since you will be stuck with it until after your next evolution.”

The goddess went on to tell Matt that the party system was hard locked to either D grade or after completion of the first settlement trial, depending on if the person was an initiate. He could essentially cheat the system and bring others in, giving them access to the party system. For it to be permanent, he had to set a withdrawal penalty otherwise the System would not let them keep access since they did nothing to “earn” it. A credit penalty was recommended but Matt could set any number of options.

“What is so special about summoning a draconic species for a familiar?” Matt asked before he forgot.

“They are of a very proud and intelligent lineage. At the higher grades all beasts get a level of sentience and can adopt human forms, but the draconic ones are sapient from the beginning. They mentally develop like any human, elf, or other such species.” Tori paused again before continuing. “This may or may not cause problems for you in the future. Hard to say honestly.” She finished giving him a knowing look.

“Got it, System stuff.” Matt said. “So, about my mech, Van and my path? What’s the deal with that?”

Tori sat back in her chair and steepled her fingers in front of her. “What do you know about the pilot class and the amplification that comes with the core?”

Matt pulled out his insultingly titled book for pilots. “Mostly just what’s in here.”

Tori sighed in apparent relief. “Good, so you know about the amplification and how it is more than just power. You probably noticed in your trial that you didn’t have any emotional … feedback?”

Thinking back to the combat trials, Matt had to agree. “I was much more my clinical self. I still got excited, and the adrenalin was definitely flowing but I didn’t feel the same as when I fight with Van.”

“That is to be expected since you were cut off from him at a soul level.” Tori said. “Your fight with the guardian was much more heated from what I saw. Did you notice the difference between that fight and the trial?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling much more…um I’m not sure of the word. It’s not exactly a rage but I want to utterly defeat my opponent, crush them completely in a physical and mental way. I had a similar experience with the venom of that snake.” Matt saw the confused look and told the story of how he fought the venom off on that night. He described the emotions and his perspective of what he felt and thought during the incident.

“System damned insanity.” Tori said under her breath, rubbing her temples after Matt finished telling the story. “Wrath.”

“Huh?”

“Wrath is the word you are looking for, though truth be told, I’m not sure if I should tell you.” She sighed before continuing. “It’s one of the more stable amplified emotions, more controllable than pure rage but not requiring an event to kick off like vengeance does.” She glanced over at him “Its also not inherently good or evil if that helps your conscience.”

“So, what does that mean for my path?” Matt asked.

“It means that you should probably avoid any of the berserker type classes that rely on close combat.” Tori said. “You have a good thing going with your mixed fighting style and if you hone it, things will only get better or at least more focused.”

“I’ll try to do that.” Matt said. “Thanks for all the advice and guidance, Tori.”

Tori stood and Matt followed suit. “Its not a problem and I am glad we had this chat. In the future, I will just ping you and you can use this method to contact me, unless it’s very urgent. Also, there is this.” Tori handed Matt a small booklet. “It has the diagrams for ritual circles that will allow you to include your familiar and your construct core.”

Matt took and stored the booklet. “This doesn’t break the System rules?” He asked.

Tori laughed before responding. “No, it makes no difference if I give you a few notes or if I tell you exactly how to do it verbally.” She clapped him on the shoulder and looked him in the eye. “Now, go get some rest and finish what you set out to do. Oh, and good luck with the drake.”

With a snap of her fingers, Tori dismissed Matt and the communion ritual, returning his consciousness to his body. Matt opened his eyes and yelped as the first thing he saw was Echo’s face, not a centimeter from his own. The Drake stared at him with its brilliant blue eyes, before snaking its tongue out to lick his face.

Matt flinched from the rough surface of its tongue which caused Echo to let out a chirping noise that sounded a little too much like laughing. He sauntered back over to the shallow cave and swept it clear before circling a couple times and laying down. Matt stood up and followed the drake, summoning his bed roll on his way. He conversed briefly with Van while he set up for the night, finding out that he actually remained in his exact position during the ritual.

Matt skipped making any dinner, not feeling at all hungry and kicked back on his sleeping pad. He would have just slept in the mech again, but he didn’t want to leave Echo out all by himself for the night. A sentiment that the drake evidently appreciated since he curled his tail around Matt and pulled him closer to his side. Then the massive head of the drake came over and rested atop his lap, effectively pinning him to the ground.

“I guess this is good night then.” Matt said, getting a low whistle from Echo that he interpreted as “most definitely”. With nothing else to do, he slowly scratched at the softer skin behind Echo’s jaws, eliciting a purring from the drake. Matt slowly drifted off to sleep, pondering his chat with Tori and the brief thought about not having asked about his shaped mana ability floated through his mind before sleep took him.

Franklin looked at the holograms floating over the design tables in what had become Tobias’ lab. “I don’t see what this has to do with a belts and feeding.” The orc said, getting some noises of agreement from the acolytes also in the room. “But you say that this is basic where you are from?”

Tobias looked up from his notes. “Oh, yes. Basic infantry weapons like this are very common. Honestly its not hard to use or manage compared to some of the guided weapons that we used.” He paused for a sip of water before going on. “Once we get into guided and smart munitions, we will need to actually deploy infrastructure to support them.”

Franklin looked to the acolytes for any hint of them knowing what the human was talking about. He got nothing showing any comprehension of the advanced weapons. “Ok, so what do we need to produce these? And the Ray-Dee-Oh’s you mentioned, they seem useful.”

“Well, the radios can be made pretty cheap if we are willing to spend the money to clone the components and assemble them ourselves.” Tobias said. “We could actually set up an entire re-trans and sensor network for about a million, something we will want to do eventually.”

“Ok, well what should we do first?” Franklin said. He then held up his hand to stall for a moment. “Look, Tobias, we have the money to fund some things but lets make this as cheap as possible for as long as possible. Give me a solution that makes sense.”

Tobias nodded, fully understanding where the governor was coming from. “Ok so here is what I think to get the most bang for our buck.” He then laid out the plan to equip the entire settlement with small arms and communications. The weaponry was mostly contingent on Matt coming back to let them run the scanners on all his equipment. The forge being level 2 and fully operational was going to change everything. Tobias was excited for when they hit level 3 in just a couple weeks if his estimate was correct.