Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Walking in his new Tek Suit felt no different from any other piece of clothing, save for the extra information in his field of vision. Nicholas had clearly spent quite a bit of time coding the software for his suit. He mastered its utility in no time, and was soon using his eyes alone to navigate through the suits menus. There was an empty slot for additional configs shown on the side, as well as a status overview of the armor’s integrity. And on the top-right hand corner was a battery, icon, as well as the indicator [1 hr, 31min]. He assumed that was its current power level.

They exited the base at an unfortunate moment, right as two members of the platoon were heading out for a hunting trip. When Jerik exited the building, they ended up face to face, with less than a foot of space between them. The two men let out shouts of fright and surprise, and dove away from him. He had to admit they reacted well, assuming that he was a stranger. The had their rifles ready at once, aimed at his chest.

“Who the hell are you?” One of them said, his voice hard. “How did you get-”

The other, reacting in a flash to Jerik taking a step forward, didn’t bother asking questions or making demands of him. He fired at once. His hasty action made his partner also give up on the attempt, and they both shot a stream of bullets at Jerik. He flinched back under the impact, but the armor deflected the bullets with ease. He raised one hand  in front of his eyes, seeing a wave of light spread through the circuitry. A notification on his HUD said that the shield was at eight-four percent capacity. Two full magazines of rounds from Superior-Class weapons,a nd only sixteen percent of his shield lost. Not bad, he thought.

They were backing away now, reloading their rifles to begin again, but he never gave them the chance. He darted forward, smacked the barrel of the first rifle, and knocked it out of the man’s hand. Then he stepped inside the reach of the other, pulling his rifle free, then throwing the man over his shoulder. He hit the ground with a grunt, too stunned to do much of else. Almost by instinct Jerik aimed the rifle he’d just taken at the first soldier, making him freeze.

“Not bad,” he said, and the platoon member relaxed as he recognized the voice of his leader. “Good reflexes. Shame your rifles don’t do much against the armor Nick made for me.”

After a few seconds of shocked silence, in which Jerik helped the man he’d tossed to his feet, they let out a round of nervous laugher. Jerik clapped them on the shoulder, telling them not to worry. “I’m impressed how fast you reacted. Go on now.”

But they waited around, sensing that they were going to see something impressive. Jerik allowed it, as he did the other members who approached. He might as well make sure they were familiar how the armor worked. They hung around in a wide circle, giving him and Nicholas plenty of space. He turned to the young man, able to make out the details more now that they were in proper daylight.

“Alright,” he said, working his arms to get a real feel for the movement. “Give me a crash course.”

Even without seeing his face, he knew the engineer would be grinning from ear to ear. He pointed at Jerik’s feet. “Your suit uses magnetic propulsion to fly. You can enable it in your configs.”

He found the menu in a second. [Flight Mode]. He enabled it, and the feeling of weightlessness covered his body from head to toe in an instant. He actually lifted a few inches off the ground, his arms flailing slightly as he tried to keep his balance. It was a tricky endeavor, as he’d never worn anything quite like it. But after a few seconds, he figured out the trick of it. By slightly flexing his knees and keeping his core tensed, he could remain mostly level, and was able to stand still, three or four feet off the ground.

“You picked that up fast,” Nicholas said. “You can control direction and speed with your hands. There’s a chip at the base of the helmet that reads your brain waves and interprets them as commands. Once you get used to it, you can even guide yourself without manual control.”

He tapped the back of his own suit’s neck to demonstrate. Jerik experimented with his hands, moving them in different directions to push himself. When he angled his hands towards the front of his body, he went back at a reasonable speed. The opposite effect occurred when he pointed his hands back. By flicking his hands up and pointing his palms towards the ground, he rose up several feet. And when he clenched his fists, he dropped out of the air entirely, landing unsteadily on his feet. Flight Mode was disabled at once.

“Woah,” he said, stumbling slightly. He hadn’t expected to hit the ground so quickly. Strangely, the shock seemed much less than it should have been. As if he’d said the thought aloud, Nicholas gave him a small nod.

“There’s a low power shock absorber in the suit,” he explained. “It lessens the impact of anything that hits your feet, hands, shoulders, and head. Good in case you get knocked out of the air.”

“Which of course is possible,” Jerik said. Nicholas nodded again. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Alright. That’s enough with the baby steps. Time to give this a real shot.”

He enabled flight mode again, and shot into the air. He leveled out, then rushed forward as fast as he could. He shot away, and, glancing back, saw the others cringing as if there’d been a loud explosion. Then he realized, and let out a whoop of laughter. He’d moved so fast that he’d created a sonic boom, the ripple that was produced when he broke the sound barrier. Mach 1. He angled himself up a little, gaining altitude, and before he knew it, he was nearing the clouds. Despite how thin the air was at this altitude, he continued to breath fine. Flying in the suit was effortless.

He slowed to a dead stop, and looked around. He could make out Zenken in the middle distance. If he went to the ground now, he’d guess that he’d be about half a mile outside the city. He couldn’t have been flying longer than a minute, he thought, yet he’d covered such an incredible distance. He laughed as he felt the adrenaline coursing through his system. His senses were as sharp as could be in his excitement. But just then, he caught a glimpse of a red light flashing on his HUD, letting him know that he had just drained half of his battery with that bit of flight.

Not the most efficient battery, he thought, turning to fly back to Zenken. He moved quickly, but avoided going too fast out of fear of running out of power. More of the platoon was visible outside now, obviously drawn by the sound of the sonic boom. He soared down to them, noticing the small text windows that popped up over their heads, showing their names. Each time he focused on one, the other window, the one containing their public information, appeared. He slowed down considerably as he drew closer to the ground, until he was basically still, then mentally willed Flight Mode to end. He landed much more smoothly this time.

“You’re a natural,” Nicholas commented. “I didn’t expect that to go supersonic.”

You are reading story Mech & Magic at novel35.com

“I noticed,” Jerik said, breathing heavily from the rush. “Strange, I didn’t hear the sonic boom.”

“Well, you wouldn’t,” Nicholas explained. “Once you break the sound barrier, you’re moving faster than sound, so the boom can never reach you.”

That was new information to Jerik, and mildly interesting, though he suspected that he’d never really have a need for it in his life. He looked at the battery, noting that it was at fourteen percent. Then, to his surprise, it changed to fifteen percent. “Wait. Does this thing charge itself?”

“Yep,” Nicholas said brightly, rubbing his hands together. “As long as you’re in sunlight or near static electricity, it will passively recharge. Pretty fast, too. By my best estimate, just spending an hour outside will fully charge it.”

That was impressive, Jerik thought, though he didn’t say anything. Tapping the side of his helmet as he’d seen Nicholas do, he opened the helmet, taking in a deep breath of the fresh morning air. “What about your suit? How fast can it fly?”

“It can’t fly,” the young man replied, to his surprise. “I didn’t see a need for it. In any event, setting up magnetic propulsion is more expensive than you think. You need it to reposition quickly. I’m a front-line fighter.”

“Okay,” Jerik said slowly, rubbing his chin in thought. “So what does your suit do then, if it can’t fly?”

“It can keep up to a degree.  But basically, it just enhances my movements and my defense. And it’s got a more impressive version of my shield.”

He lifted his forearm and clenched his fist, the same way he did with his old shield. The oval shield appeared once again, but this time it was made of metal, as the extra plates on his forearm slid forward and reformed to take that shape. It almost looked like nanotechnology. It probably was, he reminded himself. Just over the surface of the metal was a thin blue energy field, adding extra protection. Several of the spectators let out murmurs of awe. Nicholas lowered his arm, and the shield vanished at once.

“I put a few more modes in this one,” he said. “This is my favorite.”

He took a few quick steps, then sprang forward, hand extended outward as if to strike with his palm. Another shield appeared, a tall and broad rectangular one. It was a veritable wall, able to cover maybe five or six people standing side-by-side. But then, when he came to a halt and took a step back, the shield stayed where it was. Nicholas continued to back away, and the shield remained where it was, humming quietly.

“Portable shield,” Nicholas said, putting his helmet down. As Jerik had expected, he had a huge grin on his face. “Nearly thirty hours of work using what little materials were left after making a suit for you and Morgan. Didn’t think I’d have enough, but it worked out in the end.”

Jerik shook his head, then stepped forward and put a hand on the young man’s shoulder. He might not understand emotions too well in his life, but there were rare circumstances where he could catch on, and share an experience with someone. This was one of those moments. “You’ve outdone yourself with these, Nick.”

The others made a loud noise of agreement, stepping forward to clap Nicholas on the back and rustle his hair. “Good work, lad!”

“Yes, good work,” Morgan’s voice sounded from behind them. Jerik turned to look at her, noticing that she had a very business-like expression on. She was wearing a new set of robes with a hood. There were arcane runes woven all over the fabric in stylish places, and she practically vibrated with power.

“Nice robes,” Jerik commented. She nodded her gratitude for the compliment, then beckoned him closer.

“I’ve just finished the supply check,” she said seriously. “We’re ready. Tomorrow’s the day.”

 

You can find story with these keywords: Mech & Magic, Read Mech & Magic, Mech & Magic novel, Mech & Magic book, Mech & Magic story, Mech & Magic full, Mech & Magic Latest Chapter