9 Crisis Averted

It was dark as the sun has set. The canopy of trees covered the forest, preventing the moonlight from shining into the forest. No bird chirps, no frogs croak, only the sound of wood burning and the occasional cracking of wood.

Light shone from a campfire, slightly illuminating the dark forest. A boy slept soundly beside the fire, hugging his spear.

*Thump… thump… crack

Suddenly, his eyes opened and he immediately observes his surroundings. He's a light sleeper, his previous job required it to be hard-wired in his mind.

He heard the sound of someone or something walking and it stepped on a piece of wood, which startled him. Although the sound isn't too close to him, it's enough for him to pick up. Grabbing his spear and gun was the first thing he did.

He quickly extinguished the fire by kicking and scattering the coals around, after which he climbed the tree. Staying silent and completely still, he tried to look around trying to determine what enemy he might be facing.

*thump

Marco's head turned in the direction of the noise, he saw two eyes glowing behind some leaves. The eyes turned from blue to red as the owner moved forward. It locks on to Marco.

'Motherf*cker, I searched for you for hours!! Why now?' Marco screamed internally. He may have forgotten that the panther is a nocturnal animal.

As he didn't want to waste more time, he aimed at one of the vital parts, the optical sensors.

*Bang

The bullet hit the face of the [Thunderclaw] on the cheeks. However, it didn't penetrate it. Instead, it bounced and only destroyed the left optic sensors.

'Didn't think about the angle, but better than nothing.' Marco thought as he dropped down from the tree. He was thinking that if the [Thunderclaw] leaps at him then he got nowhere else to go.

Poking his head from behind the tree, he saw a small cylinder on each limb. He did the most logical thing, shooting them. He thought 'probably an energy cell or close to it'.

Blue sparks flew everywhere as the cylinder on the right foreleg exploded and [Thunderclaw] fell. Seeing it paralyze, Marco rushed and jammed the spear through the jaw of the [Thunderclaw] piercing all the way until it came out the back of its head.

But this isn't enough! The [Thunderclaw] swung its electrified claw down on Marco. If Marco blocks the claw with his hand, he might lose it by the end of the fight. He can only block it with his spear and that's what he did.

*Crack

The spear was cut into two, and the claws managed to hit him on the chest. But Marco managed to use the momentum to spring back, before putting another bullet through the mouth of the [Thunderclaw], shutting it down for good.

*Thump

He immediately fell on his butt, heavily gasping for air.

'F*ck, this thing almost killed me.'

He took off his armor plate and check his wound. Three long cuts were on his chest.

'Thank god I wore the armor, two cm more and it'll be my lungs for display.'

He decided to just leave the scavenging part for tomorrow. After dressing his wound, he laid down to resume his rest.

---

Sunlight shone and penetrated deep into the forest.

The boy's eyes twitch before they opened.

*Yawn

He sat up but twitched from the pain in his chest. The wound has begun to heal, new thin tissue has grown in the cavity.

Looking at the scrapped armor on the ground, he sighed 'I just got this and it didn't even last a day.'

But he didn't let this spoil his mood. The armor in [Thunderclaw] was slightly thicker than that in [Hopper]. He would only change his breastplate because he was afraid that too much weight on his hands and feet could impair his mobility.

[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼]

Ding

Quest Completed

Hunt [Thunderclaw]

3/?? Machines killed

Reward: 27 free attributes point

[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼]

The sound and the rewards lighten his mood a bit. Who doesn't like to be rewarded for their own efforts?

Thinking about which aspect the points should be allotted to, he decided to just leave it at his new base and focus on the task at hand.

'What can I take other than the armor? Maybe I could take the energy cell and install it to my melee weapon?'

[Yes, you can host. I can help you take it apart and integrate it into your weapon.]

'That's good news.' Marco thought about it and didn't mind an electric spear.

'OH, I forgot about the combat exoskeleton and armor back in the days.' Marco said when he remembered about them, he would try to get one even if the odds were slim. But with one of the most advanced AIs on him, he could design a new one, though he wouldn't know how useful it would be.

He took the [Thunderclaw] breastplate and put it on over his leather outfit. With a little bit of help, he also took the energy cell. After making sure that he didn't leave anything important, he left with the two converters.

---

It took longer than when he came here because of the extra stuff he needed to carry.

With the converters in his hand, he could solve a lot of problems. He can charge his railgun cells and make new bullets for the gun. How? The option available is an induction furnace or induction heater.

To be safe, he checked if there is a bullet factory here on the base, the bullet can't magically appear out of nowhere. Well, good thing he did, because there is one near the armory. He was wondering how he missed the place.

Several furnaces are used and stored indoors. The bad news is that nothing works anymore, but the good news is that some parts are still usable. There are also some prints for the type of bullet he uses.

He took the parts he needed and walk to the top of the base. Placing the furnace on top will only make his job more difficult. Imagine hauling organic material and metal down every couple of days.

He managed to get the furnace going, with Prometheus's help of course. Luckily the bullets for Railguns are just projectiles without the need for propellant. since he still had enough bullets, he decided to repair his spear first.

Repairing the spear didn't take long, he just needed to find a new handle. After finding the perfect wood, he also took the energy cell in his bag. With the help of Prometheus and some electric jargon, now his spear could transmit a large amount of voltage like a taser.

*Zzzzzzz

'It won't do much damage but the stun effect will definitely help.' Marco thought as he watched the electric arc jump over the spear as he pressed the button.

---

Marco is lying on the bed, thinking about what he should do next.

'I got 27 free points. Should I use them all or stash some of them? Saving some points doesn't sound bad, but I still don't have the privilege to do that. ' Marco pondered for a while. Saving some points may come on handy when he's in a pinch or in deep-deep shit.

''Ten in dexterity, ten in strength, and the rest to vitality. I'll go with this then. For intelligence, I'll put intelligence aside for now since I don't need it yet."

Prometheus then proceed with the modication.

*ugh

That feeling of bitten by ants returned and he groaned in displeasure.

Marco closed his eyes and called out to Prometheus "Show me my attributes".

Which the AI did what he was told to.

[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼]

[Attributes]

[Strength: 35->45

Vitality: 28->35

Dexterity: 50->60

Intelligence: 17]

[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼]

He was much more confident now with his dexterity equal to a [Colt], and his wounds would heal faster now that his vitality had increased.

With all the important tasks done, the only thing left was to distribute the points.

'I need to quickly finish the device that can override a machine. Prometheus, what else is needed to complete the device?' He asked the AI ​​because he had been putting this aside since last week.

[We have the transmitter but not the code. The data from this base mentioned flying machines that corrupted other machines and control it.]

*Bzzt

Prometheus showed how it looked like according to the records on the base. A giant flying tick is what comes to Marco's mind when he sees the appearance of this machine. Greyish-white, eight-legged, with flat, oval body. Two thin wings on the back. Two small tentacles made of wire as its hypostome.

Fortunately, there aren't many insect shaped robots. The thought of giant-sized cockroaches swarming a person and devouring said person clean to the bone chilled Marco.

"Can you just write a new code?"

[im an advance AI not an all knowing god. I can't just write the code because I haven't even seen the default code yet.]

"So if I have to guess, these tick guys were made with the code built in and we have to catch one, tamper with the code until it suit us?"

[Bingo]

'It won't be difficult, what's more difficult is finding it and if it sticks with other machine. Leave the quest for tomorrow.' Said Marco.

[Roger that]

Once the device is done, travelling and moving long distances won't be a problem. Marco starts to salivating when he thinks about riding a flight capable Machines.

But for now he threw all these thoughts to the back of his mind and fell asleep.