Hints of Mischief

Sera looked at the local news of the galaxy first. 

Breaking News !!! 

🟊 Dustwood heiress attacked at Ravenwood mansion 🟊

# Retribution # Karma .. 

Is this revenge or retribution ? The sordid history of Dustwood and Ravenwood - BenStar analyzes for you. 

The content was that Sera was found almost dead at Ravenwood mansion, a famous haunted house which belonged to Dustwood's long time enemy, now extinct Ravenwood family. All the Ravenwoods died in a freak accident at this mansion twenty years ago. The mansion, though, stood tall and strong, completely unaffected by the accident, or the resulting radiation. 

Original owner was not the type to go to haunted mansions on whim. Someone must have provoked her. Sera noted it down for investigation at a later point. 

The rest of the news is typical army movements, politics, etc. 

Now that she finished basic investigation, Sera settled down and thought about the game. 

[ Undeletable Eidetic Memory ] 

[ This extension will allow you to record any number of memories, dreams or imagination. Alzeimers will never be a problem ! ] 

[ As long as you are not a delusional megalomaniac, that is ! ] 

All the same, Sera thought of everything she remembered about the game, and her life. 

[ Recording … ] 

Her entire life of twenty years was recorded in less time than twenty minutes. 

' System, Analyze this. ' 

She commanded. 

[ Preliminary analysis complete. ] 

[ points of note - It is three years before the beginning of the battle of the planets. ] 

[ Galaxy mission ] 

[ Please search test planets for any exclusive red - mouthed mutant locusts. Planet 144 matches the breeding conditions. ] 

[ Reward : 100 honor points. ] 

Sera accepted the mission. Red mouthed locusts are common pests mentioned in the game. She was also curious if they exist in reality. 

The monsters they were going to face on the planet are wide mouthed rabbits. They have fur and long ears like rabbits, but a wide mouth full of sharp teeth, and jumping ability that's a mixture of both frogs and rabbits. They are omnivorous, cannibalistic and solo hunters. 

Their teeth are sharp but fragile. They could tear off wood, but not mecha metal. 

Sera awoke with a start. 

' The f*cking asshole ! He tricked me ! ' 

She thought as she remembered the words said by the perverted instructor. 

The mecha she is about to take is made completely of wood, and is an explorer type. 

As long as she leaves the energy shield offered by the base ship, her mecha would get eaten to its toes. 

" System, Stats. " She called up. 

[ Name : Sera Dustwood ] 

[ Innate ability : Vitality transfer ( Plant ) ] 

[ Auxiliary ability : Cartography ▼ ( expand ) ] 

Sera expanded the abilities and looked for Analysis. 

[ Analysis ▼ ] 

[ When the host looks at an organism, any organism present in galactic flora database is identified. ] 

[ Species not discovered can not be identified. ] 

[ Mutated species could only be partially identified. ] 

[ Please turn on continuous analysis. ] 

" Okay ! turn it on. Continuous analysis. " Sera ordered. 

She looked at the mirror. 

[ Sera Dustwood - Human L0 ] 

A name tag floated above her head. 

Satisfied, Sera laid down to nap. Anyways, the first death flag will not apply to her as long as Sera does not leave the energy field of the mother ship. 

She is determined to not leave the energy field no matter what. 

In no time at all, the system woke her up. 

[ Time to go out. ] 

Sera cleaned up, made sure her body had none of the smells before she went out. 

After everyone gathered, the instructor announced. 

" Suit up. " 

They all walked to the wall, picked up their helmets and put them on. 

Sera's baby pink and silver was especially visible against the muted colors of the rest of the entourage. 

" To the chambers. " 

They all walked to the doors which matched with their mecha necklaces. 

Sera walked inside. 

She expected that the mecha will look somewhat shabby, given it's old, and organic. What she assumed was she would get a time worn looking wooden mecha with a rustic worn down wood look. 

What is in front of her is a wooden barrel with a door on wooden legs.

Even the door release is manual ! 

It does not even have steps, only a badly made ladder. 

At that moment, every last swear word she learned went through sera's mind. 

However, it is impossible to change mecha at this time. Thus, she got in, and closed the door. 

It's only after getting in did she realize. 

The so-called bio energy is taking up the vitality of a space pine seed. When the seed dries up, the energy generation depends on compost ! .. yep, what you are thinking is correct. It depends on her poop. 

" Prepare to deploy ! " The message announced. 

The door to the mothership opened in the sky. 

While everyone landed down coolly, she fell down like a barrel thrown down from the plank. 

Even as she fell, sera rolled all the way to the edge of the energy field. 

If she did not extend down her rickety hands and caught on to one of the little shrubs, she would have rolled away straight in to a pack of mutant beasts. 

Sera used that shrub to stand straight, and looked around. 

[ Lancelot Maxmilian - Human L3 ] 

' L3 ? you mean she scumbag Lance is an L3 while she, the industrious girl is only L0 ? just what did the original owner do in her nineteen years of life ? ' 

The system started to display memories once again. 

" No no no ! Stop. I don't need to see them to know. " Sera grumbled, as she looked around on the ground. 

Fortunately, there was a partially identified plant on the edge of the protected field. 

Sera looked at the remaining energy in the pine seed. 

Just enough to take a step there. 

One step. 

Two steps. 

The barrel just made it past the line, but the leg did not come down flat. 

Sera refused to poop to provide the rest of the energy. 

Thus, she did the only thing she thought correct ! 

She retracted the legs of the mecha. 

The barrel fell down flat on its bottom. 

" Sera Dustwood ! you must form a team of hunters. " 

The voice of the instructor came through the space suit walkie talkie. 

' What ? there was no such thing in the game ? ' she thought. 

Not just the game, there was no such thing in the novel either ? … 

Then it struck her. The instructor added this kind of condition just to add hatred to herself. 

' This little dick dog bas..rd '  She cursed. 

She had to choose two team members. 

Sera thought and chose the other two people who died the most unfair deaths in the game. 

" Eileen Tucker and Betty Marble. I will form a team with them. " She announced. 

Eileen is not so happy to remain here, while Betty is all too happy. 

" Do you have a plan, Sera ? " Betty asked. 

" Well, you could go and place some rabbit traps outside the protection field. Also, help me grab some rations from the supply station. My mech is out of power. " she said. 

Meanwhile, Sera turned to her mecha to see if she could find any hidden functions. 

Her green suitcase with planters set, and the bag of world seeds both are in a corner. 

The mecha is called " Redwood Man ". 

Interior is pitch black, with extremely slight golden lines running through it. 

' Where is it red ? ' Sera wondered as she examined the room. 

There was a small wooden knob that's red. It's a subtle brick red which looks very elegant. Looking at the interior, it's more like a luxurious European parlor for tea parties or cigar smoking than an interstellar machine. 

All the same, she pulled the red knob. It opened to reveal a little ball. 

[ Mecha manual detected. ] 

[ Load the manual ? ] 

Her system asked. 

" Yes, please. " Sera answered. 

[ Reading. ] 

All of a sudden, Sera's head acquired tons of knowledge. She broke down into a cold sweat from the resulting headache. 

Unlike her initial thoughts, this mecha is not trash, but an ingenious invention. Though Kubo Zun was the one to design it, the actual maker was a genius biologist Eldritch Darwin. He descended from a line of famous biologists, and was considered an unprecedented prodigy, till he became the ultimate mad scientist, was shot to death. 

He was a genius in gene theory. He created the gene splicing method, grew artificial organs. His ultimate aim was to create the ultimate being that carried the genes of every animal. 

On the contrary, Kubo Zun was considered a genius Virtuoso, able to turn anything into a machine. He is a master of minimalism. He believed everything must have a purpose and man must not oppose nature. 

Eldritch was like an unbridled horse running wild with crazy ideas, while Kubo reigned in all these crazy ideas, quantifying them for a purpose. 

Together, they made this genius machine. Eldritch was just erased from history. That must be why this mecha was lying in storage for this long. It would not have been her turn to get this incredible mecha easily, had it not been for the notoriety of the maker. 

The black and gold interior is indeed made of fossilized redwood veneer, while the gold specks she is seeing was a mycelium of a special type of fungi, which transfer energy in the redwood. The entire mecha is made of various mutant baobab treants for fast growth, Sequoia for height, pine for resin generation and mahogany for sturdiness. 

Each joint in the legs is made of various woods together. The golden mycelium binded these woods together, kept them alive. 

Her mecha is a living breathing organism, Sera realized with a shock.