Braxton drank another vial of blood. The effects were quick this time. "Blast Armod Blood consumed. Constitution increased +1. Armored Flesh skill level increased.
"Alpha review stats please." Braxton requested.
Braxton Ace age fifteen. Level 16
Strength 30
Agility 30
Vitality 30
Constitution 32
Intelligence 30
Skills: Combat Camouflage- Mirage (Ghost Presence 40%), Knifehand thrust, Skullcrusher heel stomp, Shadowstep 20 feet, Burrow 20 feet, Antitoxin level 5, Scout Vision- Moonshine Halo (Starlight Vision 30%), Thick Skin level 4, Glide level 1, Armored Flesh level 2
Storage capacity 200, Weapons Storage 100
"Looks like I got some new goodies to review. Alpha show details on Mirage, Ghost Presence, Moonshine Halo, Starlight Vision and Armored Flesh." Braxton requested.
Mirage - create holographic image, range up to 100 feet. It can move and react to environmental stimuli.
Ghost Presence - prevents heat signatures and blocks sensors from detecting wearer.
Moonshine Halo - outlines targets in visor with blue highlights in nighttime conditions.
Starlight Vision - provides vision equal to daylight during nighttime conditions.
Armored Flesh - hardened skin reacts to external physical threats.
"Alpha, do Moonshine Halo and Starlight Vision stack?" Braxton inquired.
"Affirmative." Alpha responded.
Secure in the knowledge the blood wouldn't have negative effects every time he used it, Braxton went back into the Blast Furnace. He had new construction armor set with him. It was ready to go, he just wanted to make sure the area he was returning was free of creatures before he put it on.
When he returned, the area was clear around the gate. He picked it up and move it to the area he wanted to build his sanctuary. The set it up again quickly. Then he got out of his heavy combat suit. He dressed up in the construction suit. It was an interesting piece of gear. It had all kinds of tools for mining and drilling into rocks. It also multiplied his strength for lifting stones and debris. It had sensors that isolated stress areas to identify potential cave in sites.
The armor suit also had building plans. It could be used for creating concrete and other building materials. As long as the raw materials were discovered it could be programmed to create them. It wasn't the fasted task in the world. Braxton spent the next few weeks building a cave complex while he was waiting for Ickthous.
Ickthous arrived after two and a half weeks. He setup his workspace and rested. He had collected a few bits of creatures to make into weapons on his trip. He started working on those. As he was working Braxton came and found him. "I got a dozen quills. You think you can make a crossbow hat will fit them?" He said as he passed he quills over to him.
"Can you get me a sample of a crossbow? I haven't seen one before. If you get me a sample I can make one I'm sure." Ickthous replied.
"Sure. Next time I go back home I'll grab one. I'll get started on hunting more too. I'll test out weapons you make. If everything works out well we might even be able to do some hunting together too." Braxton stated invitingly.
"Sounds good. Grab me something to eat when you are out. That is a big question still. I need to know if I can eat the food in here or if I'll have to hunt outside the caves. After I get a substantial bit of my own gear I'll be able to hunt here myself." Ickthous replied confidently.
"I guess I better get to work. I'll be back later." Braxton responded as he walked away. It was time to get back into action.
Braxton moved out into the blue of the cavern again. He saw numerous targets and had many new abilities to play around with. The first thing he decided to try was he Moonlight Halo. The light in this place was always the same. He wasn't sure if it would work or not. He was pretty happy with what he saw. The UI lit up with blue lines outlining all he creatures. It took a little getting used to sorting through it all.
The creatures he could see with his eyes normally. Then he could see others that had been hidden from his view. Some looked like weeds they must have been submerged or something. He had not really explored his new area much. These weed like creatures interested him. He setup is sniper cannon, that was what he had nicknamed the 20mm sniper rifle.
Then watched the plants. It was an unknown in his world. After the insectile ground monster things below the surface posed a significant threat in his mind. The blue lines vanished when he looked through the scope on his rifle. He watched while an ape like creature approached one of them. The tops of the plant looked like it had some sort of fruit on it. The ape reached for one. When it grabbed it a green mist burst from the plant. Three pairs of finger like jointed claws came out of the ground and wrapped around the ape's body.
It happened slowly over the course of minutes. It was pretty clear the poison killed the ape instantly. The ape never moved after it fell. It reminded Braxton of a Venus fly trap on a monstrous scale. He didn't see a way of killing it. The fruit was visible and the claws were as well. The rest of was under the surface. Braxton burned the image of the plant into his mind. That was not a way he wanted to go out.
The quills of the armadillo creature seemed to work against the other underground creature. He thought it may work well against this one too. The creature had developed the defense to deal with this environment. It made him wonder how much force they were shot out with. That bit of data would help know how much force he needed for his crossbow. It did penetrate the armor fairly well.
Thinking about that made him think about making a grenade that shot spikes out of it. That thought blossomed into a variant for his rocket launcher. The two designs formulated in his mind as he continued to watch the ape like creature being drawn under the surface. The time wasn't wasted but, it wasn't filling his need to get a kill.
Braxton searched for a new target. He found creature that looked like a bear. It was large and black. It didn't have anything that looked like heavy hide or armor plating. He lined up his scope on its head. He sorted out the distant and calculated the data. Then he squeezed the trigger. The sounds echoed off the walls. Creatures all around jumped and some ran away from the source. The round raced to the target.
The impact hit as it should. Then it got weird. The bear seemed like it turned inside out. The new creature it turned into looked more like a crab. It had a black shell with eight legs. Two pairs in front and two in the rear. The part of its body that had been the bear's head was leaking blood. It was injured but it wasn't a dire wound.
It's new form had two new eyes and the armor was thick and flexible looking. "Okay, back to the basics. Target the eyes." Braxton said to himself.
The creature scrambled towards him. He had one chance to kill it before it got to him. He targeted the eye and squeezed the trigger again. The bullet raced the short distance to the crab monster. The impact slowed it down and destroyed the eye. It wasn't an internal eye the wound only pissed the crab off.
Braxton summoned his sword and activated the laser. The crab closed into melee range a second later. Its attack was weird. It lurched forward with its whole body. Braxton was expecting swipes from the claws. It seemed like it was trying to lock his whole body inside the bear's form. He slid backwards out of range and began reworking his battle strategy. This thing continued coming at him like a slinky folding and twisting its body as it moved. Side stepping the attacks worked well. The creature couldn't twist to the sides far. That gave him time for slashing at the monstrous legs.
The battle lasted for ten minutes. Braxton managed to cut off two of the legs on the same side finally. That slowed the beast down. Braxton's armor had prevented the creatures claws from damaging him. They weren't sharp and he hadn't seen any teeth. The only weapon this creature might have was clamping him inside its body and dissolving him whole. The whole thing had him creeped out. He targeted the rest of its legs cutting them all off. Then he cut the thing up. The thing didn't bleed at all.
He dismembered the thing and it was still twitching. He did get a kill message either. He was able to gather the legs up. He carried them into to the camp and passed them to Ickthous. "This creature is crazy. I've cut it up and it won't die. I took off all its limbs and it still hasn't died. It hasn't even bled a drop. Have you ever seen anything like that before?"
Ickthous looked over the limbs briefly. "No. I can't tell it this is a plant or an animal. It might be some combination of the two or two creatures that survive off each other. There is meat but the other side is more like plant fibers." He responded.
"Well hopefully you can use the parts of it for weapons and armor or something. I'll go try to finish killing it." Braxton said as walked back out.
As he was walking back his mind flashed back to the bear's head. He could've sworn it was bleeding. It was something else for him to look at. He walked back to the area where he left the thing. He was carrying the sword as he walked. The creature had closed up and the bear side looked like a bear shaped clam after the legs were cut off. It had snared some creature's body inside it. The rear legs were still hanging out the back of it.
Short of other ideas he activated the laser on the sword and cut the head of the bear off. It's spine looked like a root. What he thought was blood was more like a slime. He kept cutting. The next thing he did was insert the blade along that root. He wasn't sure yet what it finally was that kill the creature but he finally got a message.
"Parasitic Creeper killed." Alpha chimed in.
The second creature that was trapped wasn't as odd. It was already dead and looked like a young armor plated horse. He hadn't seen anything that looked like it before. He didn't see any adults of that type around either. Having seen so many different types of creatures with his Moonlight Halo his surprised him. He collected both in his storage and walked back.
Alpha played the messages as always. "Parasitic Creeper acquired. Stone Ghost acquired."
Braxton dropped off the two bodies then said "I'll be back shortly. I'm going to see if Vixen can grab a crossbow and bring it here. I want to take that Creeper apart and find what makes it tick. It might be a key to killing other creatures. If you want to start on the horse looking thing just save me the blood."
Then he walked through the gate. He returned fifteen minutes later. "The crossbow should arrive in a couple hours."