First up to bat? Might as well start things off with a bang. I moved in front of the explosives shelf, casually perusing the scrolls laid out. I wasn’t really expecting much. It was a level four Perk, afterall. The good stuff wouldn’t co until much later down the line.
「Concussion Connoisseur」
「One More Boom」
「Big Boom」
「Old Hank’s Pocket Tricks」
「Old Hank’s Hot Shots」
No idea who Hank was, but he sohow managed to have not one, but two different Perks nad after him. Must’ve been soone really impressive for such a thing to happen. There were a few other nad Perks throughout the scrolls for other Skills too. Maybe they were previous interface holders? Scions, I think Corvin called us.
There were a few interesting ones, but eventually I settled on Concussion Connoisseur. It just seed the best, and like it’d have good overlap with so of my other Perks. Specifically, Throwing Weapon Master. Not to ntion it’d be a good baseline.
「Concussion Connoisseur - As a Connoisseur, you always know just how to place an explosive to get maximum damage.」
I grabbed the scroll and moved to the easel. It unrolled, revealing, well, an explosion? There wasn’t really much to say about it. It was literally just a big fireball painted on to the scroll. Was it just ? Or were the scrolls getting lazier? No- maybe I just picked another poorly illustrated one?
It was too late to pick sothing else now, though. The bright light of the explosion blew up, covering my vision. Everything faded under the overwhelming light of the explosion.
Next thing I knew, I stood in a firing range. Similar to Throwing Weapons Master, there were all sorts of explosives set up around. Instead of starting with the smallest one, though, the interface highlighted a massive bomb off to the side. It was so big it couldn’t even fit on a table.
「Aetherium Bomb - Point in direction of target」
Well, that was simple. I guess for big bombs, there was no need to worry about maximum damage? How do I set it off though? I walked over and tapped on it-
Boom!
A brief flicker of muted pain shot through -
My vision flashed. One mont, I stood near the bomb, and the next I was back where I began as though nothing happened. The big Aetherium Bomb? Gone. Vanished in the wind. Guess I passed the training? Note to self, beware the range of big bomb. Hmm… the Aetherium Bomb though… that sounded familiar. Was it back in the Sentinel school? Sothing about the Aetherial Concourse? That, of course, was back when the veil was first ripped open and the Aether bled into this dinsion.
The interface flashed once more, leading to the next big bomb. There were a lot of bombs. I had a feeling I’d be here for a while until I even got off missiles, let alone reached the grenade section.
— — —
A few days later, I descended toward the bottom of the Speakeasy, down in the hidden Underground section. My ascender worked perfectly for descending too. It was so much easier than when I used to co down here in the past. Practically just snap it onto the ropes, and then let it work its magic.
I lightly touched the ground at the bottom of the shaft. I tossed my Transporter into the air, sending a follow command to it through my wrist-pad. It hovered after into the larger chamber just beyond my secret door-
I paused at the entry into the chamber. Soone had been through here. Recently too, at that. There were trails through the dust. A five person group- no, three different five person groups. All that talk about clearing out the Underground wasn’t just bark. There was actually so bite to it.
Thankfully, it seed the groups weren’t looking too hard. My hidden passages were still perfectly hidden. They seamlessly integrated into the surroundings, making it difficult to find even for . I built them, and had Technical Expertise to help. Shouldn’t have to worry about anyone else stumbling across them.
Anyway, I was down here for a reason. My hover bike was really coming along. The engine and most of the internals were done and ready to go. They made it through testing without issue, at least. The body was likewise finished.
Then there were the hover parts—the actual Gravitic chamber and thrusters. They were the final parts to get the basic bike up and rolling. They were also why I was down here. I tapped around on my wrist pad. Behind , the Transporter started winding up to open up a portal.
While that was going on, I moved around the space and checked everything just in case. Aside from the clear trail of the group that passed through here, everything was in one piece. I even went and looked at my vault. It was all as I left it. I figured, but never could be too sure.
By the ti I returned to the Transporter, it was done. I tapped its side lightly, channeling my accumulated electricity through the converter to top off its battery. With that done, I stepped through the portal.
I was slowly building up my tolerance to the Aether. It wouldn’t be long now before I could go visit Fox’s place. That was all in the future though. I moved through the bunker, grabbed everything I needed, and tossed it through the portal. My Transporter sure made moving heavy objects up and down so much easier.
I stepped out of the portal, and felt a tremble through the Aether. Corvid flapped into view with a blue lay clutched in his grasp. “Caw?”
”Hey. Got sothing for ?” I eyed the gem. It was the sa blue one as before. Still had no idea what they were or what they did.
Corvid flew over and dropped it into my palm, then perched on my shoulder. He was looking better and better these days. “Caw- caw-caw?”
”Chek. You did good, my little scavenger. Thank you.” I patted his head and flipped the stone into my pocket. I’d put it with the others when I got the chance.
It took a tick to get everything hooked up to a generator, but eventually I was ready. Stuff could get destructive, hence testing down here. In particular, the actual flying parts of the hova were on the chopping block today. This was the first ti I worked with Gravitic directly, so I wasn’t quite sure how well it’d work out.
”Caw!” Corvid cheered on from the far side of the chamber. So much for a vote of confidence it wouldn’t blow up. No- the thrusters would work just fine.
I flicked on the generator-
The machine’s ergency shut off imdiately flicked. It didn’t even get off the ground before flopping over and showing its internals. How… disappointing. I tapped it with a pulse of Technical Expertise. Everything should be-
Ah, that's what went wrong. I pulled out my tools and opened it up, rewiring a spot. It had a feedback loop, overloading the ergency shut-off before the circuit could even really get going. I checked the other ones just in case. Sa issue with three of them. That’s what I get for working nonstop. Stupid brain just couldn’t keep up without sleep.
With that fixed, I checked it one more ti and kicked it on once more. This ti, it activated without much issue. The machinery slowly lifted into the air, gravity completely losing its hold on it. The Gravitic chamber was fully in swing now, without any hint of exploding.
”Caw! Caw-caw!” Corvid called from afar. He flapped over, landing unsteadily on the Gravitic chamber. It shuddered, though held him up without issue.
I tried it again with the other chambers. All of them kicked on, reducing gravity around them. A few issues here and there, but nothing I couldn’t figure out. It’d taken a ton of Crystallized Elents to Transmute Gravitic, so it was a good thing it worked the first ti. I’d have to spend a while just making elents if I wanted to Transmute more Gravitic.
The actual turbines responsible for lift were a bit finicky, but that should all be fixed once I got it hooked up to the rest of the fra. I designed them to operate at weird angles to fit under the hover bike.
“What do you think, Corvid?” I asked the bird as he pecked at one of the thrusters.
”Caw? Caaawww~” He waved a wing halfheartedly. Maybe that ant good? Passing? Sothing like that?
Overall, the hover bike was coming along splendidly, in my opinion. I went back up to my workshop and started putting it all together. I was really looking forward to the day I could pull it out onto the street… or the sky, if I played my cards right. For now though, it was designed to be a lowrider along the streets rather than a true flyer. Not to say it couldn’t fly if I wanted it to.
There were so other things I wanted to incorporate. HMGs built into it might be helpful, as well as a stealth module to make it invisible. Maybe even so kind of auto-driver to pilot it without . But of course, all of that would take much more ti.
Corvid checked out after watching ss around with my deck. Guess tech and all that wasn’t interesting to the little bird. Not that I could bla him. It was a confusing ss to even , and I was the one who designed everything.
I finished up and then headed off back to the BC Gym to spend another Perk Point. With any luck, tonight would be the last of the Perk Points I earned from my ti with the circle.
— — —
Back in the pavilion, I made my way over to the lee Weapons shelf. I was hoping for so good stuff. Throwing Weapon Master was already a ga changer, so if I could find sothing that built up on that? I’d be golden.
「Cheap Shot」
「Master Splinter」
「Bell Ringer」
「Viper’s Strike」
「Gut Instinct」
C’mon now. There wasn’t really a choice here. If there was an eidolon Perk, I had to take it. It was almost a psychological need by now. Viper’s Strike it was. And it was a good Perk for , considering my current setup.
「Viper’s Strike - The first strike on a target will always hit a vulnerable point. Viper guides your blow.」
It was interesting. With it? I wouldn’t have to worry about hitting the wrong spot if a situation like Corvin ever happened again. I was almost guaranteed to get a paralyze off combined with my Jade Dagger. Assuming I knew what ‘always’ ant, of course.
I tossed it on the easel. No surprise, it unrolled to reveal a serpent in the middle of a lunge. Its fangs stretched out of its mouth in a dominant display of ferocity. It was going to strike, and its target could only try and fail to get away. Light seed to flash off the fangs-
I found myself back in bed. That was it? I figured it was an ability type one anyway. If it was a training one, it wouldn’t be restricted to just the first strike. That’s fine, though. Since it was an ability, I didn’t feel too bad either.
Might as well go and get the last Perk taken care of. Finally get it off my plate. With a thought, I entered the pavilion once more. This ti, I moved for my final Skill with a Perk Point: Criminology. Cues was already insanely useful for reading people. I was looking forward to what the next one would be.
I looked through the list of scrolls, reading through each of them.
「Background Noise - Enhance your hearing and filter through noise like a radio.」
It seed the most useful of the lot. Always wanted to listen to conversations others would rather keep secret. Sotis bugs were an issue with BugHounds, but good all fashion tailing? I could easily get away with that. I tossed it on the easel and prepared myself to be transported.
It hopefully would have a much more practical application outside of that though. Suppressing gunshots, in particular. I wouldn’t have to worry about blowing my ears out anymore by filtering out the explosive cracks.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t spit out back into the BC apartnt like I thought I’d be. Instead, it tossed into a black learning space. Tables grew out of the darkness, and the place transitioned to a popping diner. Chatter soon filled the air. A learned Perk, then. Ugh- so much for getting of easy tonight.
I moved deeper into the diner to learn whatever the space wanted to teach.
— — —
AN: Finally got all the Perk stuff done. I’ll put up her Perk list at the start of the next chapter.
If you’re reading anywhere other than Royal Road and , then this is stolen.
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