Chapter 4 - Midnight Visitor (Part 2)

A mysterious figure tripped over a string, causing a little bell to ring out in the night.

The figure winced, realizing his mistake.

Of course. He should have expected something like this from a . They were known for relying on strange tools and equipment. He should have expected such a thing! He silently berated himself for his own foolishness and lack of foresight while silently removing the sticky tripwire from his shoe.

The figure stood there silently for quite some time, listening for the guard who was previously sleeping just around the corner. But strangely enough, there were no sounds of the guard coming out to check the bell-trap. A few minutes later, he heard the creaking of a bed... and a few minutes after that, a snore.

The foolish must have fallen asleep again. Such poor vigilance!

With a disapproving shake of the head, the figure made his way inside the cave. He found the guard sleeping in the shadows near one of the walls. It was dark, but he could see the man's silhouette swell rhythmically with his breathing as he slept.

But something felt off.

The figure pressed his hand to the tome which was hidden under his coat and whispered something silently. The pressure of the tome's hard cover against his fingertips gave him reassurance. Everything would be fine.

Following the silent whisper, a power came to life in his eyes. It was a new power he didn't yet understand, but it was useful for finding living things in the dark.

As the power awoke, he began to see hues of color surrounding the man. Vibrant reds blended with incredibly dark shades of purple. They flowed around him like flames in slow motion, the dance of the two colors only being interrupted with the occasional spark of green before returning to normal. The figure cautiously watched the sleeping guard as he snuck further into the cave.

Once past him, the figure turned his head and saw many more colors in the deeper reaches of the cave. He knew where to find the people he came to kill.

Bang!

As soon as he looked away, a bullet smashed into the transparent soul shield surrounding his body, the force throwing him off balance. The bullet ignited a blue spark where it struck and bounced off, embedding itself into the ceiling of the cave.

He was shocked and threw his gaze back to the guard he believed to be sleeping. His vision was somewhat obscured by the stone dust falling from above, but his vision was still enhanced by his power. He could see little beyond the maelstrom of red hues swirling furiously around the form of the guard.

Three more blasts shook the air around him as the accompanying bullets struck the barrier, causing it to lose a little more of its integrity with each shot. The shield became more visible as each bullet exhausted a little more soul energy. Now Fane could make out the shape of a curved field surrounding the intruder.

Stepping forward, Fane advanced resolutely towards the enemy as he dumped the rest of the magazine's ammunition. Six more shots smashed into the barrier with a vengeance, cracks forming in the shield's increasingly cerulean surface. The figure panicked, stumbling as he tried to escape. Luckily for him, Fane needed to reload before continuing the attack. But he was unlucky too, since Fane could perform a reload with shocking speed. It was a work of practiced perfection. He didn't even look down and just kept walking towards the panicking intruder while he worked.

Pressing the magazine release with his thumb, Fane quickly twisted the rifle to the side, causing momentum to fling the empty cartridge away. Fane's other hand had already grabbed a new magazine from his chestplate and shoved it into the rifle, all while keeping his eyes locked on the fleeing intruder. He racked the charging handle to load the magazine's first bullet into the chamber, and fired four more bullets in quick succession.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Crack!

Another hail of bullets smashed against the barrier as the intruder threw himself out of the cave, literally diving away in his rush to escape. It seemed the barrier broke down at the last second, blue fragments of the translucent shield falling to the ground like shattered glass.

Fane was about to chase, but decided against it. He already spent a good number of bullets to scare the enemy off, and he doubted they would return. One of the benefits to using firearms was the psychological impact. It was a very loud weapon, shocking anyone not accustomed to it. It was possible the intruder escaped uninjured, but they likely wouldn't be able to muster enough courage to approach a second time.

Now that the threat was gone, Fane noticed his ears ringing.

He cursed under his breath. His hearing protection was built into his helmet, which he wasn't wearing when he lied down to rest. Hopefully the blast of the rifle didn't damage his hearing too much. He made a mental note to test his hearing sometime and look into potential treatment.

He first grabbed his helmet and put it on, not that it would help his ears now. After that, he threw on his boots and counted his ammunition. He picked up the empty magazine, storing it for now. Then he inspected the second magazine, counting 5 remaining bullets and the one still in the rifle's chamber. Each magazine could hold a total of 10 bullets, meaning it took 14 total to break the intruder's barrier.

Fane thought carefully. If he had to fight more than one of those people at a time, he likely wouldn't be able to get off enough bullets fast enough. He was lucky to have caught a coward by surprise. But to fix this issue...

Should he generate magazines with a higher capacity?

Maybe. He wanted to use magazines that would easily divide his stockpile of ammunition. It was an unimportant preference of his, but one he kept all the same. Right now, each magazine could hold 10 bullets, so 300 rounds could easily divide to exactly 30 magazines. Besides that, a larger magazine meant a larger profile for his gun. That could make it harder to maneuver in tight spaces.

Perhaps it would be better to use a gun with a higher caliber?

A higher bullet mass would typically mean more damage per shot, but would be costly and likely be overpowered for the typical targets. Changing to a gun with an entirely new caliber would require him to re-familiarize himself with his new weapon. He would also need to adjust his firing style. No, this option would require a lot of time and introduce unfamiliarity in combat. That was dangerous in the field. Not to mention, he would likely need a better resource to generate the gun alone.

The only other option that came to mind was to discover and exploit some weakness in the intruder's barrier.

Just then, Fane remembered something from the day before. He opened his inventory and selected a random T1 resource.

[ Consume ]

[ Generate Item ]

[ Research ]

He had only ever used the resources to generate items, as they were too scarce. But now was the time to try a new option.

[ Research ]

A new window appeared with an empty box, seemingly waiting for Fane to insert something there.

He considered placing a fresh bullet inside, but figured that wouldn't have any effect since the bullets were generated items themselves. Naturally, the AI already knew about things it created.

Fane looked around, hoping to find a piece of the broken barrier. Sadly, he had no luck. It seems the remains of the barrier had dissipated shortly after it broke apart.

However, his spent bullets were a different story. Crouching down, he picked up a crumpled piece of metal that had bounced off the intruder's barrier. This, at least, had made contact with it. Perhaps it retained some information he could use.

The civilians were stirring now, having woken up from all the gunfire, but Fane paid them no mind.

He placed the spent bullets in the empty research window, assuming the AI was capable of forensic analysis.

[ 3:5:41:27 ]

A timer appeared, obscuring the rest of the window. The number on the far right ticked down by one each second.

Fane sighed. This was the longest timer yet. He was glad a T1 resource could get the job done, but he would have to wait around 3 days to see if it was worth it.