Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

floor. From this vantage, he was looking directly at the forgotten scored panel that he had carved so long ago to make Razorback. He had tossed it on the floor when he was reloading his backpack for his survey of the coastline.

Picking it up with new-found awe, he wondered how else the material could be used. Armor? There wasn’t a lot of it here, though. It might be better to level up the Foundry first and unlock some better armor blueprints first. That reminded him that the Foundry should be done making everything he had queued by now. Nick cleared an imaginary throat but Gus ignored him. He could sense the virtual eye-roll.

Taking the plate with him, he would leave it in the control room until he figured out exactly how to use it. He did not want to incorporate the Kroutonium into an item that he would quickly outgrow, essentially wasting the precious material. He could repurpose it then, but the possibility of losing a key perk existed, as well as any levels the item had developed. I’ll think of a good use for you.

Gus arrived at the Foundry and, like before, lights directed him to a different area to gather his armor pieces. Trying them on, he found them extremely lightweight. Almost to the point where he doubted they would be that durable. From their weight, they felt like they were made out of compressed polystyrene. When he placed them in the appropriate places, they formed some kind of tight weld with the suit. The outer surface was rough and ribbed, like a sandpaper coated rasp. Running a finger along his cuirass, he could feel the rough surface catch and pull on the fabric of his gloves. With the armor in place, Gus decided to do some training and come back for the sensors and turrets later. A thought came to him.

“Nick, can you quantify how much a stat change gives me?” Gus inquired, realizing this could save him a lot of experimentation.

“I mean I can, but—”

“Great! I want you to measure the changes in my skills after this training session and compare it to the logs of my previous fights. Damage dealt, attack speed, recovery rates, that sort of stuff. Then compare them on a chart based on my level of the appropriate stat.”

“As you wish, master…” Nick said flatly, yawning with affected boredom.

Gus arrived and stood on the skill scanner, wondering what was in store for today. While the mainframe analyzed and processed all the changes to his skills and his new weapon, Gus practiced some of his attacks. The balance of the naginata was superb. Gus smiled, realizing that he would not have even been able to notice this about a weapon mere days ago. Swinging around, he practiced chaining some of the skills together in different ways. Gus was impressed with how his increases in agility and the improved weapon quality translated into a tighter, more focused movement. The scan complete, Gus received a prompt:

Quest Granted: Kata Chameleon

Quest Conditions:

1) Master the three katas in the allotted time

2) Use kata forms to defend and attack against 3 attackers

Quest Rewards: 500 XP, 300 FP, skill increase

Time Requirements: 3 hours

Do you want to accept this quest? (Y/N)

Once the quest was accepted, Chop Chop came to life and began the lesson, showing some complicated katas to start. After watching it demonstrated, Gus dove in and thought, What a difference a day makes!

Despite the complexity of movement, the forms were easier to learn than expected. Much easier. Gus began to see how each movement set up for another attack, much better than what he had been improvising. Gus felt the corrective coldness the tingle provided on a rarer and rarer basis. In less than an hour, Gus had finished all three katas. He checked his agility stat, twenty-five, which was more than triple what it had been when he had arrived on the island.

A cadre of Mantid pillowbots lined up to attack him. When they began to move, Gus started the dance of the spear. Dance of the polearm? Using the katas, Gus could set himself up much more easily to both attack and defend, leaving himself less exposed and over-extended. He wished he had learned this earlier on, but his agility probably wouldn’t have allowed this level of grace and speed. As he flowed and moved, Gus could discern patterns in the Mantid’s movements, and it became more intuitive which forms to employ to be set up for an attack or parry. He even thought he could understand a bit better how he could incorporate jumps and leaps in his attacks, like the Mantids were wont to do, both to attack and to retreat. Gus was stymied on how he was able to absorb the training today so easily. Was his bump in agility responsible? Maybe intelligence played a part. Didn’t this type of muscle memory and training require years to learn? As he mused a chime sounded.

You have leveled up the skill: Master of Tasks to Level 2!

200 XP awarded

400 FP awarded

Gus had forgotten about the passive Master of Tasks bonus skill from reaching fractal level 1. The description said something about how it would make his training much easier, augmenting his high agility and improving muscle memory, but he hadn’t realized the effects would be so… immediate. Combining its effect with the katas had made today’s training a whole different experience, and would be invaluable with the inevitable enemies he would have to deal with.

In practically no time, Gus had mortally wounded all the pillowbots, ending in a deep crouch, spear braced on his shoulder. The lights dimmed and he was finished, without even being winded by the whole training. He loved these katas! Avoiding another significant beating like the pillowbot had given him just yesterday was impressive alone. The ding sounded announcing the fruits of his labor:

Quest Complete: Kata Chameleon

Quest Rewards: 500 XP, 300 FP

Gus stopped by the suite to grab the tactical backpack, then