Chapter 515
Chapter 515
A fresh group of ravagespawn was already in the process of developing. However, Jake paid them no attention. He looked at the small hovering drone and said, “It’s no big news. You already warned me they’d come after me sooner or later. So it’s not exactly surprising.”
“Jake, this time they are going to be much better prepared,” Mick said. “The bio-ship you and Owen encountered last time was just a scout vessel. The one that is coming after you this time is a battleship.”
“I’ll be fine,” Jake said, then added, “Do you have any news about Owen?”
“His brain chip was removed several days ago at the Grafters’ base,” Mick replied. “So I can no longer see through his eyes, unfortunately. But I can tell you that he’s still alive.”
Jake figured as much. After all, he already knew that the Grafters turned lifeforms into synthetic combat units. So, that was likely what they’d planned to do with him and Owen.
“Unfortunately, they turned him into their puppet,” Mick added, confirming Jake’s suspicions. “They fused him with their tech and weaponry. They are going to send him after you, along with their other synthetic soldiers. They inserted one of their own brain chips into his head, controlling him like a marionette.”
“How do you know what they did to him, though?” Jake asked. “And how do you know the Grafters sent a battleship after me, considering you no longer can see through Owen’s eyes?”
“The Whisperers told me about that,” Mick replied.
“Of course.”
“They recently contacted me again. It was the third time they reached out to me in just a few days. It never happened before. Usually, they contact me only once in a while. This means they are really worried about you, Jake.”
“Then they’re worrying for nothing.”
“Jake…”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Jake, please let me finish. They need our help in defeating their enemies. But first, you have to deal with the Grafters because they aren’t going to just leave you alone.”
“That’s what I’m planning to do. I’ll crush the Grafters’ bio-ships and their base. You can count on that. Nothing will be left of them. But what really worries me is Owen. You said the Grafters control him now. But what if we remove their brain chip? Will Owen be himself without it?”
“Yes. His mind is intact, not affected by the brain chip in any way. If we remove it, he’ll be back to his normal self, half the time a human, and the other half a bloodthirsty monster.” Mick chuckled at his own joke. “But to do that, you’d need to capture and restrain him somehow and bring him to my base.”
Jake nodded. “I’ll figure something out.”
Several ravagespawn had finished developing nearby, forcing Jake to take a short break from the conversation. He quickly dealt with the creatures, then returned to Mick’s drone.
“Jake, there’s something else I need to tell you,” Mick said. “It’s really important. But it’s not very convenient to talk while we’re being interrupted by ravagespawn. So can you come to my base so we can continue our conversation?”
“It’s gonna take me several hours to reach your base by helicopter,” Jake said. “I’d rather not waste so much time just to talk.”
“Fortunately, you won’t have to,” Mick said. “There’s a much quicker way to get to my base now.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Remember I told you that I’d been working on a teleporter?”
“Yep.”
“Well, it’s finally finished. I would’ve completed it much sooner if Owen were still around. He helped gather resources and build most of the framework while he was in Dead City. Without him, I had to rely solely on my drones to finish construction.”
“You could’ve asked me for help.”
“I would’ve if I could’ve found you.” Mick laughed. “I’ve been trying to track you down for days. You’re never in the same place for long.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“Getting prepared for another confrontation with the Grafters, I suppose.”
“Yep.”
“Alright, follow my drone, Jake.”
The drone turned and glided away. For the next several minutes, Mick led the way through the contaminated streets toward the nearest subway entrance. From there, they descended into the abandoned tunnels and navigated the underground maze until they reached a vast cavern hidden beneath the city.
Jake stepped through the shimmering tear in the fabric of reality. The world warped around him for an instant before the familiar interior of Mick’s base materialized around him.
A minute later, they were face-to-face in his main control room. Mick still looked like half man, half metal spider.
“Jake, listen,” he said with a surprisingly serious expression on his face. “The Whisperers told me that to defeat the Grafters and eventually the enemy they’re truly worried about, you need to grow much stronger than you currently are.”
“And?”
Mick’s metallic legs twitched nervously. “For that reason, they improved my invention skill, allowing me to create a special kind of brain chip that can be very useful to you.”
“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“I already told you that I’m not interested in having any foreign tech implanted in my body. And my opinion still hasn’t changed.”
“Jake, wait,” Mick said quickly, as if afraid Jake might leave immediately. “Let me at least finish. This chip is not what you might think it is. It won’t give me or anyone else any control over you whatsoever. I won’t be able to see through your eyes, access your stats, monitor your thoughts, or anything remotely similar. It won’t grant you abilities that consume your mana, either.”
“What’s the point of this chip, then?”
“It’ll simply multiply all the experience you gain, giving you a nice bonus. That’s all. It doesn’t do anything else.”
Jake didn’t say anything. Mick must have thought he still opposed the idea because he quickly added, “Moreover, this chip can remain active for only twenty-four hours. After that, it needs to be recharged, which can be done at my base. Also, if you don’t like it or decide you don’t need it anymore, you can easily extract the chip from your body whenever you want without needing my help at all.”
Even though Jake didn’t want any tech in his body, having all the XP he earned multiplied was definitely appealing. Thanks to that, he could level up and get stronger faster. So after giving the matter some thought, he agreed to have the chip installed in his head.
The procedure turned out to be much simpler than he’d expected. Mick drilled a small hole through his skull, inserted the chip, and then the wound sealed itself. The entire process took less than a minute. Mick stepped back and grinned.
“It’s all done, Jake,” he said with a satisfied grin on his face.
Jake waited for some kind of notification to pop into view. But that didn’t happen. He then checked his status screen only to find his stats unchanged. Surprised, he looked at Mick and said, “I don’t feel any different.”
“Why would you?” Mick said. “As I said, the only purpose of the chip is to give you a nice bonus every time you gain XP. Whenever you gain experience, an additional notification should appear to inform you how much extra XP you earned. Other than that, the chip isn’t supposed to do anything else or show you any additional information.”
“I see. Well, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Jake then focused on his sensations. He immediately felt the presence of the chip inside his head. He tried to move it around, and it actually shifted wherever he directed it. He could tell that with a little effort, he could even force his body to create a passage and push the chip back out of his head if he wanted to, just as Mick had assured him. Not that he expected otherwise. If he hadn’t trusted Mick, he wouldn’t have let him implant the chip in his head in the first place.
“So, did the Whisperers tell you anything else?” Jake asked. “Did they reveal any more details about themselves or the mysterious enemy they keep talking about?”
“No. They only contacted me to tell me that the Grafters aren’t going to leave you alone, so you need to deal with them. But to do that, you need to be much stronger than you currently are, or at least stronger than you were several days ago when they contacted me. They told me that the Grafters were going to send a warship after you and that you needed to be ready.”
“I see. Well, I’m going back to Dead City, then.”
“You do that. But don’t forget that the chip can remain active for only twenty-four hours. When it runs out of charge, feel free to use the teleporter to return here so I can recharge it.”
“Alright. By the way, did the Whisperers tell you when exactly I should expect the warship’s arrival?”
“Well, they didn’t know that, of course. They can’t foresee the future, only monitor events happening in various parts of the world.” Mick paused. “Still, if they bothered to warn us, I wouldn’t waste time. The ship could reach Dead City at any moment now. You need to be ready.”
Jake nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
After that, he made use of Mick’s teleporter to get back to Dead City.
Almost immediately afterward, through his mental link with the Kaiju, he was informed that the saurian beast had come under heavy attack. Judging by the amount of damage it was taking, it was clear that it wasn’t regular ravagespawn attacking the beast, or at least not ordinary ones. But even elite ravagespawn shouldn’t have been able to deal that much damage to the Kaiju.
Concerned, he established a visual link with the creature to see what was going on. As soon as he did, he saw the world through the Kaiju’s eyes. And what he saw came as a surprise. It wasn’t ravagespawn at all.
Instead, it was a group of Spartans that had run into the Saurian Prowler. And they were now attacking his Kaiju.