Chapter 25 - That’s Some Next Level Shit
Day 20
Mid-Afternoon
When Erin finally woke up, three days after sustaining life-threatening injuries, she felt surprisingly rested. She was also very, very sore. Despite her discomfort, all Erin could think of was everyone's condition. Are Noah and his mom alright? What about Mrs. McGibbons? And are the soldiers unharmed? Given the events of that day, Eun-ha felt some small measure of pride in her daughter for the show of empathy, but she was still quite insistent that Erin not exert herself.
Once Erin got a check-up from the doctor, and took a minute to twist and pull her hospital gown every which way so she could marvel at the new scars, Eun-ha let Brown and Johnson into the room. They insisted on expressing their thanks to her. Johnson managed to put his foot in his mouth with a comment to the effect of, "If those blades hurt you that bad, they would have made us human pincushions." Despite getting a smack upside the head from his fellow soldier, Erin agreed it was better that she took the hits.
That did not make Eun-ha happy, but a mother could not be easily calmed when discussing any situation where their child was nearly killed.
Shortly thereafter, the hospital was swarmed by Erin's friends, the other remaining soldiers, and two reporters of all things asking to interview The Martial Arts Demon who saved the military. The reporters were unceremoniously tossed out on their asses by Logan and General Anderson personally. The rest had to take turns visiting, by doctor's orders. Each was given strict instructions from Eun-ha beforehand to not discuss events in the woods the day prior.
When Erin finally got a chance to look at her dobok, a single tear escaped her eye. It wasn't that badly damaged, but for her it was what the damage represented. A defeat at the hands of a more powerful foe, weakness, barely being able to protect people, and in no small part damage to something that represented her life as a member of Gumiho Dojang.
Eun-ha, ever the compassionate optimist, said, "We'll get you a new one, Ttarai. Stronger than this one." Closing that out with a hug for her daughter that Erin appreciated, even if it did little to help her mood.
Between the honest joy she felt at seeing her friends and family okay, and the food her mother made sure everyone ate, Erin felt her energy coming back up fairly quick throughout the day. Better still, she felt the soreness fade, and some mental clarity return. When everyone except her mom left, to the great satisfaction of the medical staff, the elation was short-lived as every one of them promised to return the next day, as early as possible.
With everyone gone except her mother, and her guards, Erin let the door remain open and sat on her bed cross legged. She told Eun-ha it was for airflow, but she really just needed to feel less…enclosed. "Alright Eomma, I have a quest and some attribute stuff to deal with."
She had shot up to level 60 from taking out Lieutenant Hawthorne, and she still had the completed 2nd Tail quest flashing on her screen. Focusing on the quest first, the completion message appeared, with the System AI narrating.
Congratulations! You have completed the following quest: Unlock The Nine Tails, 2nd Tail
You can now call on the power of up to Two Tails. Ki drain increases significantly per tail used.
Rewards: Gumiho Reward Box, 1000 Quest XP, 500 Bonus XP for Creative Kill
The 1500 XP was nice, but she knew the Intelligence bonus still hadn't applied to that. Sure enough, it boosted her by over 4400 XP when applied. Pulling up her character sheet, she skipped over personal information like her name and glanced at her new level.
Level: 69
Erin facepalmed, then looked at the door. "Brown, Johnson, soldiers are basically just teenage boys with guns, right?"
"Uhh, ma'am?" Brown asked by way of question.
"We can neither confirm nor deny that detail, ma'am." Johnson answered.
Erin rolled her eyes, "Yeah, sure, I just leveled from a quest and hit level 69."
Brown and Johnson started laughing like teenage boys, Erin just smiled and shook her head. Looking at her core attribute info, Erin wasn't disappointed.
Unassigned Attribute Points: 234
Unassigned Body Type Boosts: 0
➕Physical: 117.53
➕Mental: 86.55
➕Combat: 27841.42
➕Resource: 223168.61
➕Social: 119.97
Erin was…stunned didn't quite do it justice. The System had some weird quirks when it came to high stats. That excitement sobered quickly, as she remembered how little those stats protected her the other day, and she winced outwardly.
"Still hurting, Erin?" Eun-ha asked.
"No Eomma, just…working through these stats."
Erin wanted to find ways to improve defense, resistance, speed, anything she could apply points to that would make significant changes. Even if she wasn't terrible at math, there was too little information to do more than choose what felt right, though. Erin set her mind, and decided on +25 to Strength, Endurance, and Vitality, and +27 to Dexterity and Agility for her Physical stats. For Mental she applied 30 points to Intelligence, so she could keep improving the bonus XP and attribute points, and 25 each into Wisdom, Willpower, and Perception.
The final numbers did make meaningful impacts to her Defense, Speed, and Evasion, but her Attack Power was probably the biggest jump. Taking a final look at the categories for her Attributes, Erin could see big leaps in Combat and Resource categories.
Unassigned Attribute Points: 0
Unassigned Body Type Boosts: 0
➕Physical: 148.19
➕Mental: 90.24
➕Combat: 53472.03
➕Resource: 349395.92
➕Social: 156.54
Staring at those stats, Erin couldn't wait to test them out in training. She needed to try out the 2nd tail as well. Erin presumed the drain would be worse, but she couldn't know how bad without testing.
Seeing as she couldn't train in the hospital though, Erin opted for checking the next thing. The new Gumiho Reward Box. Switching to her Inventory screen, Erin focused on the reward box only to gasp audibly as the System AI read the message.
Exalted Retracting Gumiho Claws of Intimidation
Quality Level: Exalted
Description: Gumiho Claws are a user-specific name for augmented nails. Once activated, these nails will apply and cannot be removed. Gumiho Claws will augment your finger and toenails with claws.
Modifier: Retracting. This modifier allows the item to retract.
Modifier: of Intimidation. Anyone not in your party or Guild who views your claws while they're extended will run an intimidation check. If their Charisma is at least 75% of yours, they will not be intimidated.
Notes: Now you got claws, girl. Get out there and cut a bitch!
When the flavour text in the notes was read by the System AI, Erin said under her breath, "Oh, I plan to." Erin didn't hesitate to equip the new item, focusing on them in her Inventory and choosing Equip when the menu appeared. Once they were equipped, she tested extending and retracting them before poking and scraping random things in the room. It was going really well, until her mother chastised Erin for damaging hospital property.
"Sorry Eomma," Erin said to her mother in an apologetic tone, but the big smile on her face returned immediately after.
Day 20
Evening
Noah's Lair
Noah was sitting at his terminal, bouncing between screens for different projects, adding notes, changing parameters, refining his ideas. All at speeds made possible only by the Silver Neuron-Boosting Inventor's Implant. When he received it at the end of phase 2, the only perks were a 5% Intelligence boost and +1000 resource points. Given his current Intelligence was almost 500, a 5% boost was pretty negligible at this point. The resource points were…a drop in the bucket.
Flipping to Project Akropolis, Noah sent modifications for the scan parameters to the terminal, which would in turn propagate out to the bots on that task. It would amount to a 6% increase in efficiency. Minor, but it was a big project, so every bit helped.
Simulations for Project Panoplia were promising, but it wasn't ready for production, and may need to wait until Project Technites could be made a reality.
His newest project, Polemikon, was likewise being simulated. Whether or not he would follow through with that project, Noah still wasn't sure. That would be a project for the military, and no amount of goodwill from General Anderson would make Noah want to support an organization he now saw as corrupt.
Thinking about Polemikon, he retrieved the scans of the tank again. Logan and Sydney couldn't tell him much about the Stranger, but Noah could infer at least one thing based on the scans. The Stranger was dangerous. He had split the .50 cal gun in half, snapped one of the treads, gouged holes in the main gun barrel, and did significant damage to the armour across roughly 50% of the vehicle. There was damage to the makeshift power source, and even with power the turret probably couldn't traverse properly anymore.
Noah ran ideas through his mind before creating a sub-folder off the main project. It would estimate project requirements if he built an upgraded tank from scratch, instead of modifying the original. As he tweaked the designs, the system could automatically update that sub-project.
"Sky." Noah called to his AI.
The very human-sounding AI responded immediately, "Yes, Noah?"
"If we shifted 90% of simulation resources towards Project Technites, what would you estimate is the likely time to receive final results?"
"I estimate we could have a prototype design within 3-5 business days."
"Did…you just make a joke, Sky?"
There was a lighthearted snicker from the system before Sky said, "Was it humorous, Noah?"
Despite his urge to cringe, Noah smirked slightly, "It was…different. Is it also accurate though?"
"3-5 days is an accurate estimate of the simulation completion time. This is only based on known variables, and may not constitute actual reality."
"I trust your capabilities, Sky." Noah said, reassuringly. "Make the changes. I think we need to get Technites up and running as soon as possible."
"Thank you, Noah." Sky responded appreciatively, "I will make the requested changes."
Day 20
Evening
McGibbons/Moon/Jackson Residence
General George Anderson read the conversation with Command yet again, and each time it reinforced the concern he was feeling towards the insanity that was brewing in leadership.
Command: Confirm status of subject, Moon Ye-rin.
Anderson: Subject awoke today. On the mend.
Command: Orders were to terminate. Explain yourself, General.
Anderson: Subject is a unique asset. Likely would have gained her confidence already if not for events involving Lieutenant Hawthorne.
Command: Direct quote from General Hawthorne: "She murdered my son! You put that bitch down RIGHT NOW!"
Anderson: With all due respect to the General, what she did was self-defence, and Lt. Hawthorne attempted to murder four civilians, one of which was the subject's mother.
Command: Direct quote from General Hawthorne: "There is no self-defence against the Federal Government. Either you put her down or I will come out there myself and put both of you down!"
Anderson: Orders Received. Anderson out.
The threat was officially on the table. If they sided with Command they were following unlawful and immoral orders from a puppet regime who took advantage of a bad situation. If they sided with Erin's people they would be throwing away their careers, probably their lives, and possibly bringing untold death and destruction down on Middletown. One thing he determined was for certain, he could not make this decision for his people.