WilburWoods
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Chapter 61 - Field Test
🕑 Added 2023-10-15 18:10:07 +0000 UTCLogan rushed through the jungle. He kept a sharp eye on where Levemoth floated. It let out a roar and the Black Rain fell from the thundercloud surrounding it. This was a big one. Was it just him, or had Levemoth grown a little? Now, that was a scary thought.
Surging through the foliage, Logan let Tumor work its magic with the Armor. Nothing stood in Logan’s way, as his passage tossed up tufts of grass and a rain of earth with every dash. Everything blurred.
“Tumor!” Logan roared against the wind. “I can’t really see.”
[You can see just fine, I am using your eyeballs after all. You simply cannot process.]
“Not a good time for semantics!”
[I can temporarily increase the production of dopamine, norepinephrine and adrenaline if you insist. This will result in significant fatigue once the effects wear off.]
“Let’s save that for later.”
[I can guide your movement for now, Logan. Simply look ahead and trust me. We should consider our options in manufacturing nootropics for you to work better in this Armor.]
Logan chuckled between breaths. Sometimes Tumor missed the obvious.
“We’ll just work on the appropriate [Enchantments], for when we craft some head-gear for me.”
[Darnit! I keep missing obvious solutions. I will assimilate this insight into my sub-routines, in hopes of developing a prediction model which will surpass your ideas.]
“Then what use will I be?”
[Logan. Not only are you the one of us who can directly interact with the physical reality, and act so in a decisive and courageous manner, you also are made necessary through your class.]
Logan nodded at that in approval. Tumor steered the Armor to the right and they dashed past a giant boulder that Logan had barely seen. Quick glance at the sky. They were getting closer to the edge of Levemoth’s area of attack very fast.
[I also shouldn’t have to remind you that you have intrinsic value as a person. A sapient being’s consciousness is infinitely valuable to themselves, and thus should not be disregarded lightly.]
Logan smiled. Tumor had gotten very philosophical since the cave. Logan didn’t mind. He had found he liked this nerd living inside his brain.
Logan could already see the first drops of Black Rain hitting the ground. The blurry outline of a scythe-fiend screeched hoarsely at him. Logan extended his fist and smashed through the monster. It exploded into bits as the armor-clad fist struck its chest. Logan spat out a glob of the oily black blood and pushed up ground as he surged towards a troll.
The troll managed to slow Logan’s blazing dash down. They tumbled and the lumbering monster tried to grab Logan with all of its arms, but its chest and throat had caved in from the impact. The ugly monster groaned and wheezed before Logan kicked its head in.
Zipping to the next monster, Logan looked around. There were people running and screaming. Logan rushed towards the sounds. He made an observation. This wasn’t his camp. He had come out of the ruins, seen the Levemoth and just bolted towards it, thinking it was attacking his people.
I guess all people are my people in a way.
A scythe-fiend was charging towards a pair of women, but Logan pushed himself in the air and landed on the monster, feeling the spine crack under him. The monster let out a weak screech and died.
“Go hide!” Logan snapped at the women, who stared at him in shock. They did not move. “HIDE! NOW!”
They snapped out of it and ran towards the bushes nearby. Logan saw where they were heading and dashed past them. Together with Tumor he made sure there were no Levespawn around the bush. With that he left the women huddling together.
The next thirty minutes Logan dashed around the area killing scythe-fiends, trolls and snakes with oversized heads. The snakes proved to be the most difficult of foes.
While the scythe-fiends were essentially crushed with a lazy left-handed punch, and the trolls could be felled with a solid one-two in the face, the snakes were a different matter.
Logan had only faced them once before, and that was when they were distracted and he had help.
One of them he managed to kill when it was crushing a bearded man in his forties. The skin was tough, but Logan managed to punch the slithery bastard on its back, which made it uncoil. The bearded man moved weakly on the ground and Logan wondered idly if he would make it or not.
The snake snapped and attacked, surging at him and coiling back up. The strikes were so fast, Logan could barely react, and when he did catch the snake, it had enough momentum to pull away before Logan could land a clean punch.
At his request, Tumor produced a thin black blade in Logan’s hand. Logan whipped the slim blade around, but the snake was fast. It lunged at him, but Logan roared with fear and anger and pushed the blade at the serpent’s open maw.
With a lurch the tip pushed through the interior of the snake’s mouth as its teeth clamped on Logan’s shoulder. The fangs did not puncture the Armor, but the force of the bite had a weight to it which made Logan fall to his knees.
Tumor took the initiative to generate a shorter blade on Logan’s other hand. Noticing this, Logan wasted no time and pushed the dagger into the snake’s eye.
It writhed and hissed until it went limp, falling on Logan. He scrambled out of the way and went to check on the middle aged guy.
Yep. Dead. The snakes don’t mess around.
Logan sprinted here and there, skewering and slicing the lesser monsters. The snakes were troublesome, but there weren’t many. He cringed to himself, realizing that he would need to let the people dealing with the snakes just die and deal with the easier foes first.
[Your strategic assessment is correct, this results in the least amount of casualties in 92.56% of cases within my simulations, of which I ran 173.]
That didn’t make Logan feel any better. He looked up. Levemoth was gone. At least that was going his way.
He entered into a settlement. There was clearly Dorven gear in use here.
What a surprise…
The people were smart enough to have ran and hidden, but a few straggling warrior-types were dealing with the few monsters left. Logan killed the trolls, as they were dangerous for even mid-leveled warriors. One guy blasted a scythe-fiend with a surge of fire from his palm.
Fire magic? Well that guy will be fine.
Logan attacked the snakes with surprise attacks, making Tumor reinforce and sharpen the blade as he ran them into the skulls of the serpents. They writhed, and tried to wrap around Logan and bite him, but he was too durable, too fast and too strong.
[Skill replaced!]
[General skill: Marksmanship made latent.]
[General Skill obtained: Power Armor Fighter]
[Power Armor Fighter level 1]
“That’s oddly specific,” Logan said.
[It is only appropriate. Something such as “fighting” or “brawling” isn’t appropriate for your situation which entails enhanced speed and strength and ability to access multiple weapons of varying properties.]
“Well, I’m not complaining,” Logan said as he smashed an elbow through the ribcage of a scythe-fiend. He really hated the blood spattering on his face. He needed a helmet. “Sounds cool as hell.”
[I… I think it sounds cool too. What does that mean? Being a person is a strange endeavor.]
“Don’t think too hard about it, just roll with it.”
Logan dealt with two more serpents before the carnage was over. It wasn’t a pretty sight. There was a dozen corpses on the ground, but at least an equal amount of Levespawn. Logan sighed and settled himself against a nice rock in the middle of the camp that was a mix of mudhuts and industrial jackhammers. Logan felt spent. He hadn’t exactly slept much lately. And he had all the other needs of the body screaming at him as well.
I think I’m going to need a water container in my spatial storage. And food.]
Slowly the people came out of their hidings. Some wept at their fallen friends, but most looked at Logan with alien astonishment.
A woman in her late thirties pushed through the crowd and offered a hand. She had sharp grey eyes and a line for a mouth. Her jet-black hair was drawn into a loose bun. She offered a long, bony hand.
“I’m Scilla. Thank you for saving us. Thank you.”
