Chapter 45: Chapter 43 – Ascending the Depths

Mechanical Armors, the equipment that Ghost Squad used when I fought against them in the Mou District. Only, these Mechanical Armor's were much different. Angular, layered armor designed to deflect attacks, and standing nearly twice as tall as myself. Buckler-esque armored plates were equipped to each arm for added defense, then there was everything I couldn't simply tell from a glance. I hoped I could pilot one as I passed between the lines of mechs, approaching the glass room at the back.

Another scanner blocked me from entering, then much like the last, the door beeped open after scanning my mechanical arm. And as it did, I felt the mana roll over me like warm air, causing me to suck in a breath and shield my face on reflex. And after a moment of getting used to it, I lowered my arm and stepped inside hesitantly. Stacked up to the ceiling in metal and glass containers were large, hefty canisters full of heavily concentrated mana.

I pulled one out and brought it to the nearest armor. Then I discovered that I had no idea where to insert the power cell. I was only just as tall as the armor's lower torso, and could see a protrusion in the back that looked capable of containing the cell, yet I had no way to reach the top, where I assumed I needed to insert it. I slowly managed to clamber onto the armor and could reach the top, where I opened a hatch on the protrusion and inserted the cell. Then, closing the hatch, I hopped off.

Next, was entering the armor... How? I looked at it thoroughly for several minutes, looking over every inch and listening to the quiet humm of magical power energizing the armor. I finally found something, a slot at the base of the neck that looked like a keyhole. I dropped down from the torso of the mech and sat against its legs, heaving an intense sigh while hanging my head.

Licht: "I mean, in the first place, we wouldn't even fit in the armor, would we? And would it even be compatible with the bionic arm?"

Iris: "Please be quiet and let a girl's dreams be dashed."

Licht: "If it's any consolation, I'm disappointed too..."

Iris: "I'd rather you feel nothing so I wouldn't feel twice as bad." I let out another sigh and a groan before standing up slowly and turning to look up at the armor. It was just so cool, and I wanted it, I wanted to use it...

I quietly kicked the leg of the armor, ignoring the pain it caused, and crossed my arms as I stood Infront of the object. And after a few long minutes of contemptuous staring, I took out some paper and a pen from my bag, beginning to draw it right down to the smallest detail, while customizing it to fit me and my style. I had no idea what the inside was like, but I hoped whoever I showed this to in the future could do something about that.

In any case, with somewhat abated dejection, I left the room full of mechanical armors, taking a mana cell with me, and left the building. At the very least, I acquired some protective gear from the armory on the second floor. Upper arm guards, a helmet, body armor that protected my vitals while retaining my freedom of movement, and some shin guards. At least I had protection now. 

And so, using what I could from the resources nearby, I cooked some of the meat from the Phantom. In this case, I made strips of jerky from the meat, and tried one. It tasted strange, tough and oily with a somewhat fishy taste, breaking apart easily. Despite the unusual experience, the food was edible, and so I stored it in my bag and carried on towards the exit of this floor.

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Iris - Age 15 - Female - Level 46

Body - Sp: 130/275 MP 103/280

Stats - Str: 32, Dex: 40, Agi: 40, End: 30, Int: 35 Luk: -

Skills - Parallel Thought {3}, Sword skill {4}, Gunsmithing {1}, Mental Resistance {3}, Disease Resistance {1}, Mana Control {5}, Dagger Skill {3}, Critical Point {2}, Dark Vision {2}, Marksmanship {2}, Pressure {4}, Appraisal {1}, Falsification {1}, Primal Enhancement {3}, Cleave{1}, Magic Bolts {2}, Acting {1}, Wild Brawling{2}(^1), Mana Coating{1}, Mana Blade{1}, Detection {1}, Regeneration {1}[NEW]

Title: A Sapling in Stone, Crimson Wildcat, Sky-Slayer, Cruel, Light in the Darkness

You are reading story An Account of Steam & Blood at novel35.com

Capability: 340 (590) with Limited PE) (853) with PE)

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Regeneration huh? I guess it's about time, considering how much I have to heal myself all the time. I let out a sigh as I was ascending the grand stairs to the next level, thinking about my severe lack of rest in this hostile place. I've been lucky to avoid meeting random monsters so far, but I was never going to let down my guard in this place. And anyway, I felt my luck was going to run out soon.

At the top of the grand stairs was the remains of an equally grand gateway, seemingly wrenched open. The fall of this civilization was not only hostile, but violent, for them to have been rampaged like this. Was it the work of monsters? I wondered, passing beyond the threshold of the gate and into the streets. I used mana to mask my presence, a technique I used quite some time ago now, and had forgotten.

Skulking through the quiet streets of what seemed to be middle and low-class citizens, I stumbled upon another area map in a ruined commercial street. I memorized the map with licht's help, and began travelling to the exit, without much excitement. Not to say it was completely uneventful.

I observed packs of 3-5 phantoms skulking silently through the streets, while I was safely hidden away at a distance. Fortunately my technique worked, but I decided not to stick around to find out how long. Every now and then I would observe phantoms crawling about, chewing on corpses of smaller creatures, or the occasional street urchin.

I also observed street urchins sometimes dwelling in small clusters high up towards the ceiling, once dropping on a phantom that made too much noise. I discovered that the Street Urchins punctured their prey with the spines they walked on, and then drained the victim of blood until they were completely dry. I made a mental note to not get anywhere close to one in the future, and carried on my way.

There were other creatures on this level I began to discover aswell. Small invertebrates that looked like centipedes without legs, that latched onto stones to feed on the minerals in them. Large, slimy creatures that looked like starfish with only 4 arms, and feelers glistening on them like fleshy blades of grass. At the end of a road I was walking down, there was a thick wall of web with a Phantom stuck in it, turned into nothing but rotting bones by a creature in the center of the web. It looked similar to a street urchin, except it had only 4 legs connected to a pair of rubbery spheres. One sphere had a protrusion on one end, supposedly to creat web, and the other held a wide seem that opened up into a vertical, tooth-filled mouth.

Then, at long last, I reached the exit. A massive gateway, heavily fortified with remains of ancient mechanical armors, broken weapons, vehicles, and tattered strips of uniform. I passed by multiple sets of barricades, fortifications to halt an advancing enemy, all in vain. I left the final threshold of the city, emerging from the wall of the cavern into a vast expanse full of unordinary flora, stone, and towering pillars. One of these pillars was my objective.

And so, with much more of my journey to the surface to go, I left the ancient ruins with my life intact. The air of the cavern was fresh, and bitingly cold. The darkness became heavier and heavier as I entered the stone brush. Much of the flora was similar to coral formations, with branching "roots" sprawling across the ground. There were stone "trees" every several tens of meters or so, with sprawling "branches" creating a sort of roof over my head as coral protrusions erupted from it like organic chimneys.

I kept up my presence cloaking while traveling through this alien underbrush, traveling towards the nearest Tower. I knew these towers held "dungeons" that spanned the height of a mountain, holding treasures and monsters, and sometimes artifacts. I was going to use one to ascend all the way to the nearest district, assuming there was one in this mountain. And if there was, It would either be Mou 13, or Gravel 13. And if it was Gravel 13... I held that thought for the time.

Soon enough I was introduced to the fauna of the stone forest, which included phantoms and some of the other creatures that infiltrated the ruins. Yet in addition, there was also things like Snakes that hid in the branches of the stone trees, shooting out needle-like spines at unsuspecting prey and dropping towards them with venomous fangs. I was the unsuspecting prey, but I was quicker and more aware than it thought, easily decapitating its head after its harmless spines bounced off of my armor.

There were also small lizards with 6 legs and long necks that fed on soft coral protrusions. I inspected the same protrusions, only to discover they were poisonous. Not only poisonous, but violently poisonous. I guess these creatures evolved to have high poison resistance, and were therefore left alone after becoming poisonous themselves.

Soon my wildlife tour of the Deep came to an end, as I reached the base of one of the Towers dotting this cavern. I soon located the entrance, and after psyching myself up and double checking everything, I entered. Soon I would return to the surface, alive and breathing. Bloody, bruised and torn, but alive.

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