Jake logged in early as was his normal now. Normally it was because he needed time to get to anywhere worth hunting. This time though, he had another purpose. His armor had been so badly destroyed he had gone back to the same basic starter armor he had started with. While he relied on his Survivor's Fury skill to hunt B rank monsters. He knew that it wasn't the right way to do things. It was dangerous and driven by self loathing. If he kept it up, he would likely die. While part of him might want that he had too many people that needed him. He had pried the information out of the mayor. That the only other one that had tested in his town as possible to become a gamer was three years old still. Ella's town had one that was six. Either way, both would not be able to help for a long while.
Jake had just nodded. He hadn't said it but he needed to know how long he had to make sure and stay alive.
From the last batch of Maws, he had killed he had actually gotten his first crafting core. Now he wanted to see about getting a set of armor made. Even with his reduced credits, he had been farming constantly. A large amount of the ones he had killed were B rank monsters or entire nests he had wiped out. Not giving any concern to his own safety allowed him to become a terrifying instrument of death. The fact he no longer split his mutagen had allowed him to rapidly increase all his attributes. Even if they still remained at D rank in the system menu.
None of those involved back in town could explain to him why his attributes never increased on the game system even if he was blatantly getting stronger. They had been forced to admit much of the technology behind the system was beyond their understanding. They had little knowledge beyond what was needed to maintain the system. It was a terrifying admission to Jake, but one that he tossed away almost as fast as he had heard it. In the end, it didn't matter. So long as they could keep the pocket dimension working.
Instead of heading to the tech faction section of the hub, he went to the fantasy. Not having any elemental resistance was a problem. He had heard that some of the fantasy armor could be made in a heavy variant. It allowed them to protect physically just like any normal armor would while still having the elemental resistance shielding. It would only protect physically what it covered but he wanted to see what the options were.
He had forgotten how crazy the "factionist" were. None of them would even discuss with him the option of making him the magic faction armor. Most didn't even let him explain that he could in fact use it. Everyone assumed he couldn't. He knew the ability to use either armor was rare but not unique. Clive had told him that. Clive had told him a lot of things now that he was in the know so to speak.
Thinking about Clive made Jake feel bad. Right after logging in the first time after "the event". Clive had given his heart felt condolences taking Jake to a back room to talk. He apologized for not being able to help them. Seemed really torn up about it, even crying. Jake was shocked. In a moment of weakness, he let that shock turn to anger. Hurling insults at the older man and spewing vitriolic hate at him. Demanding to know why children like his friends had had to suffer and die. It didn't matter that two of them had been older than him. Nor did his concern go to his own situation.
Clive had taken it all without complaint until Jake was exhausted. His grief returned to replace his anger. He apologized to the game master right away. Clive had just shook his head and agreed that it wasn't right for children to go out to fight. He confessed that he would have preferred to be the one out fighting. But he couldn't.
He was capable of coming to Earth. Could resist the radiation but his evolutionary potential, whatever that was, was too low. It was just high enough to keep him from dying or worse turning into a monster. But not high enough for him to absorb mutagen. Or not enough to matter. It was hard for Jake to understand all of it. It sounded like outside the safe zones like the Hubs the radiation was higher and he couldn't even stay out there very long without getting sick.
Some people still went out to hunt even if their EP was low. But it normally killed them in a slow and horrible way. Clive apologized for not being brave enough to do that. Even though he didn't actually belong to Jake's town. Jake had just left, not knowing what to say other than he didn't blame Clive. They hadn't spoken much since then, but Clive always treated him with kindness and respect.
Jake ended up checking out the Tech faction's crafters. They showed him a ton of different types of armor. Most of it was made from patterns, meaning it was better than the basic armor but not unique. Much of it was nice, all of it was an upgrade. But he really wanted to shoot for the best of both worlds. Sadly, the tech faction was the ultimate in physical defense but had no real way to protect against magic or elemental damage. Several even showed him super expensive "total immunity" armors. They could completely nullify physical attacks while converting some of the energy of the attack into more shield power. It would take a tremendous amount of sustained damage to break them.
Even if Jake hadn't been getting reduced payments, he doubted he could have afforded one. The cheapest one would have cost him two million credits.
Jake left them and headed back to Clive's bar. He figured he would break down and ask the old man for help finding a crafter that worked on Magic armor that would work with him. He was only halfway down the old cracked asphalt road when someone came sprinting up from behind him. His gloves formed into gauntlets as he turned around. The hub was a safe zone but he didn't care. He couldn't risk dying, not while there was no one else to fuel the towns.
"You…Are… The…." A teen a few years older than him panted and gasped as he came to a stop. "Demon?" He sucked in a deep breath and stood up straight. He was willowy skinny and tall, really tall. "The D Rank Demon? The one that can use both magic and tech armors?"
Jake really looked him over. He wore a white t shirt under a set of suspendered overalls. Both hands had heavy gloves on but they looked more like work gloves than any type of weapon. All his clothing was covered in soot and had sweat stains. His face was dirty, but Jake could clearly see the outline of goggles in the grim.
"Yes. Why?" Jake got right to the point.
"Are you still looking for armor? One that provides both physical and magical protection? You haven't used your core yet, have you?
He practically vibrated as he rotated on the heels of his feet some.
"I am. And I haven't used the core yet." Jake answered, curious if this person could help.
The boy clapped his hands together and turned his face to the heavens as if he was praying. "Perfect!" He grabbed Jake by the shoulder and started to drag him back down the street away from Clive's bar. "Come with me. I'll show you armor you can't get anywhere else!"
At the end of the street, where the asphalt ended and the wasteland began. Jake dug in his feet bringing himself and the boy to a dead stop. "My workshop is just over there." The boy pointed to the bomb shelter looking hatch entrance set in a blocky section of old concrete that Jake remembered seeing with Cass so long ago.
"The safe zone goes that far?" Jake was scanning the area, looking for an ambush.
"Of course." The boy said, then glanced around as well before leaning in some. "I'm like Clive so it has to or I couldn't go there."
Jake's head snapped back some as if he had been struck. He looked at the boy again, closer. "You…" He started to ask.
"I know. Clive is my uncle." The boy nodded, answering before Jake could ask if he knew the truth.
"Come on." He tugged at Jake's shoulder. "Oh, my name is Jon. Spelled J O N." He had pronounced it with a Y instead of a J.