The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 14 – Hunting for loot and levels

Everything had gone wrong. It started great, or at least normal for Matt and Co. with traveling through a forest where nearly everything wanted to kill them. The terrain had gotten rocky and hilly along with still being surrounded by massive trees. They had been handrailing a cliff face that ran slightly parallel to the route they had taken. Along the bottom this cliff, they found a cave opening where everything started going awry.

Well, the cave opening wasn’t a problem, not even where it was located since it was right at ground level. The beginning of the mess they were in came when Tobias said they should check out the cave. It was too small to bring the mech, so they went on foot, the tunnels were large, just not large enough to fit 7 meters of mech. Matt had noticed prints in the dirt making up the floor, so they expected some trouble at least.

The cave entrance was fine, the first couple hundred meters were fine despite the roof lowering to only 4 meters off the floor. The walls were still wide, nearly 20 meters at the far edges where the roof sloped to meet the rocky floor. Matt had to switch to NV with thermal over lay again to see in the low light, preferring to use his IR lights to see instead of white light. His thermal showed the first living being before he could make it out in his night vision. It was a bear, a very large bear, Matt estimated it would make a polar bear look small.

Cave Bear. Level 19.

Matt and Tobias both moved into the cover of the rocks to one side of the cave and watched as the bear ran… right past them. It saw them, looked right in Matt’s eyes and kept booking it right to the exit. Then Matt heard Tobias say some very choice words before he heard the skittering and rattling. He turned back to look at the source of the noise coming from deeper in the cave.

Cave Spider. Level 12

There were several issues. One issue was definitely not the low level of the spider, no, it was that it was skittering along the ceiling. Another issue was the size, it was a meter long, covered in hair with giant eyes reflecting back in the IR light. The last and probably the worst issue was that there were dozens of them, a veritable wave of 8 legged horrors coming up the tunnel.

“Frag out!” Were the first words Matt said. “Flash Out! Run!” Were the next.

The Frag bounced along the cave floor landing in a sandy depression at the apex of the next bend in the tunnel. The flash bang landed further out nearly around the corner, barely bouncing before its fuse burned down and it detonated. Hissing and screeching from far too many spiders followed the flash bang detonation. Those same god-awful noises were drowned out when the frag detonated.

Tobias had a little bit of a lead; he had started running as soon as he heard the warning about the frag grenade. Matt easily caught him since he had his powered armor, then passed him, prepping a second frag by pouring mana into the regeneration pouch. As he made it another 10 meters past Tobias, he stopped and started suppressing the spiders, going right for full auto and emptying his magazine into the wave of arachnids. They were densely packed enough that he didn’t need to pick individual targets. After the magazine ran dry, he didn’t reload but instead bounced a second grenade right in front of the leading spiders.

Boom. The second grenade went off, throwing more dust and debris up in the air. The concussion from the grenades was awful in a cave, but it had the effect of knocking spiders off the walls and ceiling. Tobias began shooting into the spiders and Matt reloaded as he ran, calling Van on the radio and telling him they were coming in hot. He reached the next spot to fire from once he heard Tobias stop shooting and started the process over. They bounded 5 times before they reached a turn that showed the cave opening and a mech crouching in the entrance, Autocannon pointed down the tunnel.

“Go, GO, GO!” Matt shouted, waving Tobias toward the open cockpit of the mech as he loaded his last magazine and sent a long burst down the tunnel. He couldn’t hear the spiders very well after all the gunfire and explosions echoing in the tunnel, but he could see them through the thermal camera regardless of the dust in the air. Tobias made it and threw himself into the cockpit, like an Olympic diver that didn’t know up from down and crashed into his seat.

Matt was right behind him, vaulting over the mech’s support arm holding the autocannon and pivoted midair to crash into the pilot seat. The hatches sealed shut before he even stowed his rifle. He regained control of the mech, Van having set it up almost at the perfect angle for a barrage right into the tunnel.

Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang… Matt put all of the first magazine into the cave, bright flashes showing the rounds detonating against the floor and walls. He changed magazines and backed away, the thermal cameras showing a mess of still warm spider bits splattered around. Matt watched and waited, never facing away from the cave.

2 more magazines went into the cave and tunnel. Matt saw the swarm still had some life, so he dumped a second into the tunnel, sweeping the muzzle across to be sure he got a good area of effect. The third magazine was for emotional support, for himself not the spiders. The slow chugging rate of fire from the autocannon was cathartic, a mantra of purging the infestation from the world.

Matt mentally told van to keep an eye on the cave and to shoot first, ask questions later if he saw anything, before he turned around and stared at Tobias.

“It will be fine, you said.” Matt used his most sarcastic tone on Tobias. “There is probably a bunch of cool stuff in there, you said. Let’s check it out, probably just one or two animals, you said.”

For his part, Tobias almost looked ashamed as he replied. “Well how the fuck was I supposed to know there were hundreds of giant spiders?”

“Look, I’m not saying you did it, I’m blaming you for it.” Matt shot back.

‘Good levels though.” Tobias murmured under his breath.

Matt took a look, and it was startling. He had nearly 200 kill notifications and had racked up 2 levels, taking him past level 20 and right to 21. That seemed to make it slightly more worth it. Matt shuddered at the thought of those spiders. He briefly wondered what happened to the cave bear, but Van said it had bolted off into the trees without looking back.

“I think we cleared them out if you-“Tobias began.

“No. The next time I come back here, IF I come back here, I’m bringing better equipment. Probably got to have shotguns, flame throwers, Molotov’s maybe a nice thermobaric device.” Matt said, wondering if they could get a couple tankers full of gasoline to fill the tunnel before lighting it up. It would be poetic justice for the skittering bastards, Matt thought as he pulled up his notifications.

Class: Pilot – Skirmisher is level 20.

Stat points awarded.

Skill selection options available.

Class: Pilot – Skirmisher is level 21

Stat points awarded.

“Hey, I’m going to pick my skill while we have a minute.” Matt said before opening the skill selection. The results were better and worse than he had hoped. The first of which was almost insulting.

Flee (Common)

Gain extra speed when fleeing from an enemy.

Steady Aim (Common)

You will be steadier when aiming.

Quick Draw (Uncommon)

The process of switching between weapons is faster. Applies to melee, ranged and other weapons.

Mana Blast (Uncommon)

Release a blast of affinity mana in up to a 180-degree arc in any direction. Power is variable based on mana input.

Break Contact (Uncommon)

When making a tactical withdrawal, speed is increased. Bonus damage when providing cover for allies also retreating.

Matt looked at the skills, 2 were good, 2 were meh and one was just insulting. He was having a tough time with choosing between mana blast and break contact. Both could have been helpful in the cave and even quick draw might have been helpful. He tried to think of what would be the most benefit for the most situations. If he was thinking about every encounter he had so far, mana blast would be the best option.

Selecting mana blast, he felt the information in his mind then a warmth in that place between his spine and heart. The warmth grew hotter, then scorching hot before radiating out and through his limbs. The experience was not pleasant but not outright painful as it was balanced by the coolness entering his mind. He instantly knew this was going to be a great skill to exploit. He would have to test it and make sure that his interpretation of the skill could indeed do what he was thinking. If the skill worked the way he suspected, it might make Tobias very happy.

“Van, I’m going to test my new skill, Tobias hop out. If this works, you might get to see the end of that cave today.” Matt said as he opened the hatch, grabbed his rifle and jumped out.

“What are we doing? Is this about your new skill?” Tobias asked as he followed Matt to the cliff face.

“Something like that, I have to do some testing and need you to spot for me.” Matt replied as he stopped about 50 meters from the grass covered rock wall. He set Tobias off to his flank and told him to observe what happened. Matt reached into his mind and focused on the skill, then directed it toward the cliff face.

A wave of yellow-orange mana rippled out from him in a 90-degree spread, scorching the leaves on the ground between him and the cliff. The wave was indeed a conjuration of his plasma affinity. It crossed the 50 meters distance and hit the wall of rock and grass, splashing as it made contact. It wasn’t behaving exactly like fire, but it had some physical substance to it. He stopped and turned to look at Tobias who just stood off to the side, mouth slightly agape, staring at the now smoking cliff.

“Well? How long did it take to cross that distance? How high was the wall of mana? Come on man, details.” Matt said at the completely stunned researcher.

“It, uh, wow.” Tobias started off strong with a whole lot of nothing before getting back to his senses. “So, it was probably a little over a second to go from you to the wall. As for the height, that’s hard to say since it wasn’t consistent. It started at your height, like it came from the surface of your armor. Then it grew to about 3 or 4 meters before leveling off.”

“Ok, other than the time and the start, that’s about what I expected. How about this one?” Matt said as he readied another mana blast. This time he concentrated it into a narrow line, it still had some spread but didn’t start out nearly as wide. He kept it to a narrow 5-degree cone and tried to use the same amount of mana as the first.

The near straight line of plasma shot out and slammed into the burnt part of the cliff. It hit with substantial force this time, burning a shallow channel in the rock face. The mana was a much lighter color for this test, more a light yellow than the yellow orange of the first one. Matt looked over at Tobias to get his input.

“Much faster this time, I couldn’t guess at a the time it took but it looked to reach a height of maybe 5 meters. Also, there was more impact to the rock, which might mean better concentration unless you put more power into it?”

“I tried for the same but was short by about, hmm, 2% I think.” Matt reviewed his mana levels and confirmed that it was indeed a hair under 2% less mana usage from the first one. “I can go up to 180 degrees in an arc in any direction, not just the one I’m facing. Another plus seems to be that it is plasma affinity, so it acts like fire.”

“And you plan to use this in the cave?”

“Ha ha, I plan to use it whenever I can but yes, for any more bugs.” Matt shuddered; he didn’t want them anywhere near him but at least he had a tool to keep them at bay. “So, lets reload and head in again.”

As it turned out, Tobias was right, there weren’t many spiders left. Well, to be fair, there weren’t many left up to the point that they had previously made it to. Matt only shot a couple that were wounded, leaking a purple blood, or whatever spiders had, onto the floor. When they reached the point where they had been before the wave of arachno-freaks came rushing at them, they stopped and listened. Hearing nothing, they moved deeper into the tunnel. The tunnel didn’t have any branching paths, just one winding route which Tobias said was strange for a natural cave.

There also hadn’t been any cave ins, even from the grenades going off. Matt assumed that was because of the relatively dense earth mana that he could feel all around him. Either way, Matt was thankful that the roof had stayed where it belonged. Advancing around the bend where the first grenade had gone off, Matt saw a few piles of bones. He couldn’t tell what they were but, most seemed to be scattered into small clusters.

They kept pressing on, stopping every so often to listen for anything else that might be lurking. Another 100 meters and they started seeing the webs. They were sparse at first, only in the corners of the walls where some larger rocks were nearby. Slowly, the webs became denser, coating almost the entire floor and walls. Matt had a plan for this and the new skill to use it.

Matt cast his mana blast, willing it to push farther than the 50 meters it had gone outside. To his surprise, it worked, consuming more of his mana but also burning hotter than before. The webs that it touched instantly turned to ash, barely any smoke from them as the front of the blast moved past. It was in this manner that Matt and Tobias moved deeper into the cave, still stopping to listen at every bend in the tunnel.

Bones littered the floor where webs had been, some falling from sack like masses of web that were stuck to the walls. This time Matt recognized some of them, a few of the skulls were distinctly canine in nature. It appeared that a pack of wolves had tried to venture into the cave at some point or they had been brought in if the spiders hunted outside. Matt hadn’t seen any webs in the forest but that didn’t mean that spiders didn’t go outside. He would have to hope he wouldn’t find out about the hunting habits of giant arachnids.

Eventually Matt and Tobias came to a halt in front of a wall of web. A very porous wall but probably great for the spiders since anything else would stick to it. Matt had Tobias set up behind a boulder with a clear line of sight to the web wall while he went closer. Matt hefted a flashbang in his left hand, a frag ready to go if needed. He decided to make a narrower mana blast, not quite as narrow as his testing but he didn’t need the full arc to make an opening to look through.

With a thought and an urging from his will, Matt cast his mana blast in a 20-degree arc, penetrating deep into the web wall. He stepped back as the entire mass of webs started to catch fire. It burned like when touching a 9-volt battery to steel wool, sparks and flame spreading rapidly. Matt hadn’t expected that so he back peddled, redepositing the flashbang into its pouch and leveling his rifle. He wasn’t sure if anyone was home but wanted to be ready just in case.

Matt strained his ears, listening for anything that stood out over the whooshing flames. He heard a popping, a wet popping noise followed by some hissing. Soon he got the notifications about what had happened.

You have killed Cave Spider – Hatchling. Level 2

You have killed Cave Spider – Hatchling. Level 1

You have killed Cave Spider – Hatchling. Level 1

You have killed Cave Spider – Hatchling. Level 3

You have killed Cave Spider – Hatchling. Level 4

You have killed Cave Spider – Hatchling. Level 1

The list of kill notifications went on and on, growing as the flames spread through the giant tangle of web. He told Tobias what was happening, getting a “good riddance” in return. Tens of meters of dense web burned away and hundreds of kill notifications rang in Matts mind as the fire raged. It was just enough to push him up 2 more levels, having been close to leveling already. He used the time to put the free points into his stats, finishing just as the fire ran out of web.

“Oh, well this is interesting.” Tobias said suddenly. “Check your notifications.”

Matt would have given him the side eye, but he was still sealed up in his helmet. Doing as told, he opened his notifications and scrolled to the bottom, both confused and delighted by what he saw.

Quest Complete (preemptive) – Infested Woodlands.

The woodlands have become infested by cave spiders that have destroyed the eco system (Original).

You have found a nest of cave spiders and destroyed it, preventing the collapse of the local eco system. Quest rewards granted in full. (Modified)

“Well, that’s good and a little ominous.” Matt said. There were quests but they were already happening, but he didn’t know the trigger for how the quest was supposed to go. “Would the System give the quest or is it initiated some other way?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Tobias said.

“You have a pile of books that you bought and have been reading every night. I assumed you to have more info than I do.” Matt deadpanned back.

“Oh, yeah they haven’t mentioned anything yet but maybe I can narrow it down tonight.”

They both looked back to what remained of the webbing, it was all but completely burnt away now. Matt decided to go a little closer to inspect the damage. As he entered past where the original web wall was, he saw 2 boxes, gilded in a silver like metal sitting in the last stretch of cave before the tunnel ended. They were both the same size of about a meter long and half a meter tall and wide. He walked up to one and inspected it, noticing there were no locks or anything on the seams.

Reward Chest (Rare)

He called Tobias over to take a look. With a glance and a shrug, they each picked a box, or in this case chest, and opened the lids. Matt saw a series of items in the box and pulled them out to inspect them one at a time. He saw Tobias doing the same a couple meters to his left with his box.

Viper Hood (Rare) (Upgradeable)

This hood can be worn over armor and can be extended to a full-length cloak at will. Passively obscures the user’s information when worn and can actively be used to blend into the user’s environment making them all but invisible for the cost of mana.

The hood looked like the viper hoods he was familiar with from earth, a couple short “Sleeves” with a hood meant to be worn over a uniform or equipment. Where the ones on earth had a netting and tie down points to add jute fibers and vegetation, this had neither. It was colored in a lighter camouflage pattern much like the modern styles from back on earth. Matt immediately put it on and noticed it fitted itself around his armor, not at all catching on the armored plates. He played with the length adjustment, going from covering his shoulder blades all the way down to his ankles before turning back to the box.

Construct Equipment Token (Rare)

Can be used to enhance or increase equipment slots on a pilot’s construct. Can only enhance up to rare quality. Can create additional slot for equipment selection at a forge.

Well, that was neat, Matt thought, all his current equipment was of rare quality already so he couldn’t upgrade but he could add more. He was debating what to use it on when he inspected the third and final item, another token.

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.

It turned out this little venture turned out to be worth it, spiders and all. He got a very usable item right off the bat and some tokens to enhance the mech and one item. Matt wasn’t sure what he wanted to enhance at the moment but had a long walk to think it over. As he looked back, the box dissolved into light, completely vanishing. Tobias walked over and asked if he was ready, so they left, back tracking out of the cave.