chapter 87
Dean’s attacks always came in at angles that you couldn't really completely deflect. Each time I knew that I couldn’t dodge them, they were going to hurt. Using my left side helped, as that was mostly cybernetic.
There was a bit less strength behind this blow; that probably meant he wanted to go for a leg kick to my right side. He had learned to pull away his hand as fast as possible, but I still managed to grab it enough to get myself some leverage to pull myself closer.
Now usually it would be a bad idea to try to get even closer to a droid that was so good at close combat. The difference was that in terms of strength I wasn’t that far behind. Using my right shoulder, I rammed it as deep into his chest as possible, causing him to lose balance.
It would have been a perfect time to continue my attack on him, but I ducked as fast as possible as a roundhouse kick from Sam would have connected with my head. He liked to go for weak spots a bit too much; if he had gone for my midsection or my legs, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
Even while Dean was off balance, he was still way too good at decision-making when we were going at full speed. It seems that he decided to let himself drop as I watched him in almost slow motion as he was falling. Now that he didn't need to support himself with his legs, he used them to tangle mine up.
The next moment I was on the ground, protecting my vitals and looking for an opportunity as they continued to beat me. One of Sam’s legs came in a bit too slow, so I grabbed it. Using all my strength I rolled towards Dean. Having the strength to toss about a human-sized combat droid was amazing.
I had gotten into a crouch position when the sparring match was interrupted by an alert on our watch. We needed to get to the second floor as fast as possible, as there was a fire there. It was one of the drills we were running—not just me, but everyone on board—getting random alerts to try to get to certain positions to do a task as fast as possible.
As I looked back up towards the closest stairway, my left shoulder was hit with the frontal kick by Sam. That hurled me back about a metre or two. It also hurt way too much. One thing that I didn’t expect during my rank-up was that now even my mechanical parts could feel. Not in the artificial way I could turn off if I wanted to, but more like my biological parts.
After that kick it took me a bit, but I also felt something inside my core. Did I finally rank up one of my resistance skills? I really hope so, because getting those to rank up has been annoying.
“Why did you do that?” I asked Sam as we were all already running towards the middle stairway.
“You get too distracted by stuff like that. You should’ve still paid attention,” was his answer. I didn’t say anything back, as he was completely right.
When we reached the middle staircase, we didn't rush down it like usual. When we started these drills, we came to the realisation that stairs weren’t really that good for emergency situations. Ladders you could slide down; going up, no matter what, was always annoying, but going down stairs could be quite dangerous and actually slow.
That's why every staircase now had on one side a thick railing that more resembled a slide, because that's literally what it was. It took a while to get the surface just right, to be durable enough to handle constant use but also not be too slippery, so you weren’t going way too fast when you reached the bottom.
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All of us slid down to the third floor and then once again to the second. We needed to dodge incoming drones that were delivering some packages.
“Hey, watch out. It’s annoying enough having my drones constantly doing drills, but don’t mess up their deliveries!” Bob yelled at us as we rushed towards the back of the ship where the imaginary fire was.
Everyone that could move also was required to wear a device of my own making. We called it Zero Gravity Moving Assistant, or as most called it, 0A. You could attach it to multiple locations on your body; it just needed to be secure enough, like your belt. From it you could pull a 30-metre length rope with a really strong electromagnetic tip.
While there were hand railings for staircases when there was zero gravity, and other places on the ship as well, there were way too many places where you could just get stuck floating about. This was a way to fix that issue and allow you to even move fast in zero gravity.
Those drills were always fun. Going to zero gravity was as easy as changing some settings for the gravity generators. We made it to our destination in the allotted time. I was the first to make it here, so I won our imaginary races. Winner got bragging rights, so when I turned around I had a stupid grin on my face.
“Stop gloating, you only won because of your stupid rank up.”
“Sam, don’t be a sore loser, but for now let’s take a break from our sparring. I think I might have managed to get a breakthrough on one of my skills, so I’m going to the meditation room.”
“Fine, fine. We need a little bit of a recharge as well. Kicking your ass always takes more power than we can generate ourselves,” Sam added, and Dean seemed to agree.
“If you want upgrades, just ask, we can figure something out. But most likely the best opportunity to get some better ones for you—and everyone else, for that matter—is at our destination. It shouldn’t be too long before we need to drop out of FTL.”
“Sam here is just a bit too eager to get stronger. The priority is for you to get stronger, that would raise all of us as well,” Dean explained as he dragged his brother away.
As I was about to start moving upstairs, I saw Bob approach, so I stopped.
“Hey, sorry about almost hitting your transportation drones.”
“As long as you don’t hit them, it’s fine. In fact, perhaps it’s better to do some drills while you actually did. Could be good practice for them. But that’s not why I wanted a word.”
“While being the quartermaster and handling all the cargo is truly exciting, I think I also want to learn how to fight, just in case. And not just with guns and missiles that I currently have, but proper fighting. Perhaps even going on a few portal delves?”
“Yeah sure, not a problem. We might need to change your body up a bit, but otherwise that’s a good idea. But what brought this up?”
“Well, I have been thinking about our stay at the Barren Haven. As I need to handle our cargo sales and purchase, Paradise is most likely quite a rough city where I would most likely need to conduct trades in person. People in places like that will try to take advantage any way they can, and if they find weakness… well, I don’t think I need to explain anything further.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. That is also why, when we get there, one of the first purchases we make will be a skill stone for me that will help harden the bond I have with all of you, so that others couldn’t circumvent them.”
“I am not afraid of that, unlike the others.” He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed way too hard. “It would actually be fun to watch them be in disbelief as I ripped them apart. No, I’m more afraid of being too weak to resist my capture.”
Everyone else that I was bonded to couldn’t do that, but Bob was still Bob. That defiant programming of his was still part of his core, which meant he could probably kill me if he wanted to.
“I can promise you that I will make you as strong as I can, but there will always be someone stronger out there.”
“For now all we have to do is survive long enough, and I’m sure you’ll figure something out, you always seem to.” And with both hands, he indicated all around us. Then he gave me a small nod and left, already yelling at some drones that were way too slow packing some crates.
I mean, Bob was right, it would be quite funny to see someone taking control of his bond, thinking that now Bob couldn’t hurt him anymore. That would be a fun surprise. But I was going to make sure no one was going to be able to do that to my bonded.
Now that I was back in the meditation room, I focused on my core. It wasn’t that much different from before, but now my Novice Impact Dampening was Apprentice rank. The skill was now more complex, and as mana circulated through it, it now gave a more complex overhaul of my body, boosting my defensiveness.
Each skill seemed to be different even if they were similar in nature. It seems that each one will require quite a bit of time to learn how it specifically works and how to bring the most out of it. No wonder everyone got simpler versions of similar skills, as it seemed to help, but there was always a learning curve.
My eyes snapped open when I realised that Lola was going to want to run another set of tests to see how effective this rank up was.
Perhaps cultivating was the best course of action to really sink in my skill improvements. Perhaps a long session would be best—nearly until we drop out of FTL—so I could get some sleep before that.
My plans were interrupted as I remembered that the store of mana in this room was out. Damn it, I don’t remember if I told anyone this or not.
Only half an hour later, Lola opened the door. That traitor Sam was just behind her.
“Come on, stop contemplating on the skill. I want to see how much it improved.”
Well, damn it.