Weapons of Mass Destruction-Chapter 520: Disconnected

"Yo, Nat, you alive?"

Huh. That sounds like Dennis.

I open my mouth. "Fuck off."

"He’s fine," Dennis confirms.

"He is NOT fine! He’s bleeding all over, and I can feel how hot his body is even from here! I swear I can see something moving under his skin!" Kim shouts.

"Kim, my boy," Dennis replies casually. "That… is just Nat being Nat, this is probably his optimal state. I’d be more worried if he’d gone more than a day or two without hurting himself. Right, Nat?"

"Dennis, my boy," I mimic him, voice dripping with sarcasm, "it hurts to talk. It hurts even more to listen to your voice. So, one more word, and I’ll put you into my “optimal state” for a week."

Silence follows, and I sense the two of them leaving the room, only for their presence to be replaced by two different signatures: Biscuit and Noodle. Biscuit sits off to the side, feigning innocence—so exaggerated it kind of feels suspicious.

Examining my body despite the pain, I notice strange sensations on my nose and belly, as if someone has been repeatedly tapping on them. Even the hair at my temple feels slightly wet, as though something very small had been biting and tugging on it.

Well played, Biscuit. Well played.

Meanwhile, Noodle is lying on the ground near my bed, noticeably larger, his belly bulging significantly. His eyes are closed in a satisfied expression, and I half expect him to open his mouth and let out a burp.

Keeping my eyes closed, I turn my attention inward, carefully observing my body without activating any healing marks. Damn. Who knows what could happen if my body started healing while my evolved trait is still applying? I can already imagine any number of horror-show scenarios. That also makes me wonder, how do people with his level of regeneration even handle stuff like this?

As always, my racing thoughts distract me from the pain, dulling it bit by bit.

I give myself half an hour to assess my still-changing body before stopping.

As I thought, the circuits are still there, but now they feel like they’ve been etched deeper into my being and there are a lot more of them. Where once there were pathways for channeling mana, there are now countless additional ones: reinforced for moving larger amounts of mana, and narrower for finer control. True to its name, this trait has evolved to reshape my physique, making it even more accommodating for mana than before.

The fun part? Now I have to modify my constructs again. A lot of the pain and damage I’m dealing with now Is a result of my changing physiology clashing with my damaged constructs. It looks like I won’t make it to my shift in Workshop Number 3.

I’ll need to let Sophie know so she can come up with an excuse. Sorry, Leth, it’s going to take me at least a day to optimize everything.

Overall, it’s exactly what I expected: an evolved version of my old trait, now heavily influenced by my Primary Class, which specializes in mana. I’ll need a few more days to test things properly, but even now, I’d estimate it to be at least on par with Mana Wavelength Iris.

Slowly but surely, my body is adapting to channeling increasingly insane amounts of mana, while my mana pool grows to equally absurd levels. It reminds me of that Lord from the Bastion—whose heart was used to power the fallen floating island.

Surely, I’m not just turning myself into the best mana battery ever.

A few days have passed, and it's becoming pretty clear they have no intention of letting us anywhere near Exoria.

We’re just newbies, after all, and it takes at least a level 8 technician to get close. Even Leth doesn’t have that level of clearance, and his boss, Quent, only gets access under the strict supervision of level 9 technicians like Ito. ȐÄＮօꞖÈ𝓢

But damn, I want to see that thing. It’s already been long enough, so it should be about time, right? Right? I need more access. I want to take advantage of this abundance of equipment and resources they have.

While Sophie takes her time speaking with Leth I find myself standing off to the side with the twins, looking over the inner plating of a suit of war armor that belongs to one of Champion Feroy’s disciples. As before, this is a replacement part.

Apparently, Champion Feroy has two disciples. Someone told me their names, but I’ve already forgotten. I just know they have their own suits of smaller, less powerful war armor than Exoria. Their names are Praxion and Ardenyx.

The inner plating we’re looking at is Praxion’s. Judging by the scale, this armor is probably half as tall as Exoria and slimmer, likely focused on speed, though that’s just a theory I have.

As for the inner plating, it looks like a piece that would fit under the chest plate. It’s like a mesh or web and made from a strange alloy of metal that’s ever so slightly flexible, likely allowing for better absorption of any physical attacks that may bend the outer plating. I also give it a once over with my enhanced eyes, taking notice of the inscriptions. They seem to take some of the impact and redirect it somewhere else through a mechanism elsewhere in the armor.

It’s hard to say though since I don’t think we’ll see the full suit of armor anytime soon. We only get small parts, and even if we figure out what they do, we can’t learn much about their full function.

Lumorans are very patient. Even before the Tutorial, they lived at least twice as long as humans. This war has already lasted 10 years, and they seem to be taking their time with the mercenaries, getting to know us better before allowing deeper access.

It says a lot, they’re clearly not desperate enough to be more open yet. But with this floor’s setup, I think we’ll eventually get there.

My plan remains the same: test [Empyrean Lance] and figure out what that skill’s doing to mana to make it behave in such a strange manner. The same goes for my Mana Wavelength Tyrant passive, which I still activate every once in a while to run tests with help from the twins and Sophie. Even so, I think the Mana Wavelength Tyrant will remain deactivated most of the time to avoid interfering with my training and the surrounding mana. I've noticed that at a certain point, its passive ability makes things too easy and could even slow the growth of my skills. It's just that powerful.

I still have more tests planned for my evolved trait, but that’s going to require Lily’s help. In a moment of brilliance, I cut off my hand before evolving the trait, so now we can run before-and-after comparisons.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Sophie seems to be done talking with Leth and now she’s heading towards us, holding a number of mana stones, likely containing blueprints.

“You are currently looking at the new leader of the Level 7 Technician Leth’s assistants,” she declares smugly.

I don’t even have time to complain before she gestures for me to wait and, with that same smug smile, mimics Leth’s voice: “Assistant Nathaniel is talented, but he can be hotheaded, so I’ll rely on you, Assistant Sophie, to lead your group.”

“Bullshit.”

That only makes her smile more, as she continues the impression: “What? No, even Level 8 Technician Quent told me to be careful with Assistant Nathaniel. That weapon he designed and made is proof of his incredible talent, but I’m worried about what he would do with more resources and no supervision. So please, I will be relying on you, Assistant Sophie.”

Huh. I find myself at a loss for words.

She checks to make sure no one is listening and then sends through the link, where me and the twins are, (But you know what? Screw Leth and screw Quent. We’ll play the “nice assistants” for now, but later, when we get better access…)

Sophie lets those words hang in the air, and I could almost swear I hear one of the twins whisper something about a Gundam.

All of the hired personnel stand away from the base on a nearby hill. Only the lumorans remain in the camp, packing things up and making preparations to move us.

It’s been almost a week since we joined them, and now it’s time to make way for the 2nd front where Champion Feroy is to be deployed. They’re apparently preparing a teleportation array around the entire camp—something pre-prepared and used to connect with another array elsewhere, moving tents, war armor, and people in the most efficient way possible.

I think it’s possible to move faster with less preparation, but apparently, they do it this way to hide our movement from enemy forces and reduce the chances of them interfering with the array.

Long ago, I’d have been like: “Just teleport, bruh,” or something silly. But now I know the kinds of things that even I can do with the remains of a teleport structure, so a Champion-grade enemy could really do some nasty stuff. Maybe redirect the teleport somewhere into space, destabilize it, and tear people apart, or teleport us right in front of an enemy Absolute. Fun stuff like that.

Even so, they finish fairly quickly. It’s clear they’re used to this. Between Angry Kittens, two other mercenary groups currently working as technician’s assistants, and three more groups of stronger mercenaries set to join the fighting on the battlefield everyone’s gathered to watch. It’s funny—there’s a kind of competition between the groups, especially between ours and the thylarins since we’re both so new to the role of technician’s assistant.

I mostly just observe as they get into the occasional spat with the twins, trash-talking each other. It’s especially amusing to watch the thylarin try to tease us for having only one pair of arms.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

We’re called back once the preparations are complete. As we enter, I continue to observe, expanding my senses to probe the teleportation array linking us to the web covering the Lumoran territory, a web created and defended by their Absolute in an effort to ward off the opposing Absolute.

For the first time, I see Champion Feroy as well.

He steps out of his enormous tent which is practically a small skyscraper. Like all lumorans, his skin is black, and his eyes have a golden shine to them. His crystalline features are far more pronounced than any I’ve seen on a lumoran before. Far too many to compare to the others, and none of them have been concealed by his clothing. Crystals adorn his shoulders, forearms, the sides of his neck, and even his thighs.

But two stand out the most: a large, inverted pyramid-shaped crystal at the center of his chest. Unlike normal lumoran crystals, this one is clearer, with a pale blue light swirling inside, giving it an almost otherworldly presence. The second is a circle on the inner side of his left wrist, made of the same material, with that same pale blue light swirling inside. Its speed increases even more, shimmering light radiating into the area.

He wears simple white clothes, and his hair is pale yellow. Standing in the middle of the camp, he lifts his left arm toward the sky. A pulse of mana explodes into the area, emanating from the circle on his wrist, lighting up the array and powering it with an immense surge of energy. He connects to the Absolute’s web, and clears the identification checks, allowing him to use it.

Another pulse of incredible mana radiates outwards and the ground under my feet shifts as the environment around us changes.

The mild weather is immediately replaced by harsh cold and loud winds, threatening to blow us away, even with our powerful bodies.

Champion Feroy pulses his mana again. And the lights of a defensive array flare up, drawing in even more mana. The wind quiets and the cold becomes bearable, though it’s still chilling even to me with my thermal energy. The weather is just that extreme.

We’re sent to our tent to wait while they re-establish the workshops and defenses. On the way, snow begins piling up outside, gathering between the tents and on top of them. As far as I can see, there’s nothing but snow falling from a dark, wind-blown sky. We’re nestled against a mountain, the rocky wall serving to provide some shelter from the wind, but it remains relentlessly strong nonetheless.

“Izzy, heat the room, please,” Sophie asks before we even fully enter.

No one takes their jackets off. Instead, we huddle up in the living area as Izzy gets to work generating heat and Sophie makes a barrier to insulate us. It’s getting better as the camp heats up, but not enough to be comfortable, so having Izzy help is great.

“So I wasn’t the only one who was cold,” Maya says, sitting next to Izzy and pulling her closer, to use her as a heating pad. Noodle, now smaller, coils closely around her as well.

Sophie just rolls her eyes at her sister’s antics. “Lily, you have the highest constitution here. Could you feel the cold out there too?”

“Yes! I thought I would never feel cold again, but the weather outside is something else!”

“It’s probably the work of a Champion, either the lumoran’s in an attempt to slow the monsters or it’s coming from one of the monsters themselves,” Tess says, sitting beside me and gesturing as she speaks. “I’ll try to find out, but I’m not sure how much they’ll actually share with me.”

With a sigh, I create a thermal pyramidal contraption with empty spaces for me to send kinetic energy through, and in this way, I can now almost perfectly mimic the sound of crackling firewood. Even the light has improved vastly, shifting in intensity rather than providing a constant radiance to give it a more natural feel. I expand it a bit more and pump more thermal energy into it, adding to Izzy’s heat.

“Even if they are higher level than us, how do they plan to fight? Aren’t most of the mercenary fighters here around level 350?” Min-Jae asks.

Tess reaches her hands towards the thermal cube to warm them up, “They’re probably issued some kind of special equipment. And then they probably only fight for a few hours at a time. Do the war armors have built-in heating?”

Sophie snorts. “At this point, we’re no better than boot polishers. But honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised, it wouldn’t even be that hard to implement.”

“But we are goddamn good boot polishers!” Dennis cries in an attempt to defend our team’s honor as assistant technicians.

“Isn’t it better this way?” Aaron says. “We can learn gradually and improve before they set us to doing the fancier stuff.”

Sophie doesn’t answer, gesturing to me with a nod instead.

Tess picks up on it, “Nat, please don’t do anything stupid.”

In response, I deactivate my Mana Wavelength Iris and lean back, “We might have no other choice sooner or later.”

I pick up Biscuit and put him on my lap, then extend a mana arm to retrieve his favorite blanket, wrapping it around him with only his small head poking out.

“The Champion just disconnected us from the Absolute’s web and cut off all connections. Even my Ley Lines leading back the way we came are gone. At the same time, the Absolute’s web covering this area started to disappear. Soon it’ll be gone permanently, or at least until the Absolute decides to remake it.”

“Oh boy,” one of the twins mutters. I sense them and Sophie doing their own checks, confirming my words.

I continue, “Either they tracked us down and we’re disconnecting to hide, or…”

Tess finishes my words, “Or we were always supposed to disconnect.”

I nod and lean back, thinking of all the reasons that might be the case.