"You are the technician?" Jake asked more than a little shocked. He never dreamed the addled brained crafter was the one they would be escorting.
"You're the Artist!" Aoe hopped up seeming really excited. She rushed over and started pumping Jon's hand up and down rapidly. "Cara… Cara… this is the crafter I was telling you about."
Breeze sighed softly. "I keep asking you not to use my real name when we are with… newbies."
"Oh quit being that way." Aoe ignored the mage. "Artist! Please please make me some armor. I've been saving up for ages."
Jake sitting on the bench just blinked. Other than the crafting core he hadn't actually paid Jon anything. They never asked afterward for payment.
"Hmm." Jon leaned down to look at her, peering into her face from far too close. Aoe just stood perfectly still, Jake thought he could see sparkles in her eyes.
"Nope. Sorry, not interested." He stood up suddenly, his helmet's visor closing from the sudden movement.
"Ahh damn." Aoe sighed and then looked at Jake who was watching them like he had seen a tap dancing monkey playing on the head of a unicycle riding bear. "What?" When Jake didn't say anything she shook her head. "No way. You don't know who this is? No, wait… He talked like you knew each other."
"Yeah, I know him. He makes my equipment?" Jake looked at Jon who was opening his helmet again. "Your gamer name is Artist?"
Jon looked slightly embarrassed right up until Aoe grabbed two fists full of his suit and started shaking him. "You made a fuckin noob equipment? Why him! Why not me!"
Jake again looked to Breeze who just shrugged. Nira glared at him while seeming to ignore the wild antics. Leah just gave him a wide eyed shake of her head, apparently as confused as him.
"Please Merc…. Help me… this woman is quite crazy." His voice rattled as she shook him. "If she kills me I'll never finish your boots upgrade!" He practically wailed the last sentence in terror.
"I don't know. Will upgrading them almost kill me like the last time?" Aoe stopped shaking him seeming less excited to get upgrades from the Artist.
Jon's mask had closed again and stayed that way. His digitized voice came out. "Definitely not. That was a completely different process." there was a slight pause then the soft digitized whisper of "Probably."
"Please all sit down. We are on a schedule." Leah called back then seemed to shrink in on herself as she turned around when everyone looked at her. Still, the vehicle started moving forward steadily picking up speed. Jake's ears popped as an energy barrier covered them protecting them from both the wind and debris.
"Is that scaring?" Jon had sat directly across from Jake and pointed at the back of Jake's hands. Jake moved his hands out of his lap and to his side, half hiding them under his legs. "Hmm. That shouldn't be happening. Most wounds heal all the way once you are transferred back." His helmet shifted. "When I had you half naked on that table, there were a number of other scars too. But those came from a permadeath zone so I could at least understand that. But these new burn scars you are developing. That shouldn't be possible unless you are running around in a permadeath zone." There was a pause. "You aren't are you?"
Jake didn't answer, the silence stretching into uncomfortable. "I thought they were intentional. Some tribal scarring, it seems like something kids would do these days." Breeze finally broke the silence. Jake just looked at the girl that wasn't that much older than him.
After that things became a mix of random small talk. Jake learned that Jon was apparently a big deal in the crafting world. He felt kinda bad about not paying him and a few times threatening his life. That is until he remembered almost dying on that table.
They didn't stop for lunch and were riding nonstop across the wasteland. While the vehicle consumed cores for fuel a single D grade one would cover days worth of nonstop driving. It was late afternoon, with the sun dipping close to the horizon when the ground behind the boat suddenly exploded. The sleeping Jon jerked awake letting out a shrill scream so high pitched it made his digitized voice crack and pop as Leah swerve some. Breeze and Aoe had been playing a card game, they had invited Jake and Nira but neither joined in.
Nira had spent the entire time slumped down in her chair glaring at Jake. Jake in turn had spent most of the time staring out over the wastes watching for monsters.
The four combat members jumped up. He saw Breeze pointing the top of her staff towards the rear of the vehicle. Aoe had a strange half crouch like she was going to sit down and both her arms were bent at her side at a ninety degree angle. Nira was standing up too, three globes of fire hovering above her shoulders and head. She was staring at Jake instead of the back though. Jake in turn ignored her and blinked at the geiser of dirt right behind them. Then he saw it. An enormous worm creature was rising like a serpent out of the earth to crash back into it as it chased after them.
"Holy Moly, what is that thing?" Leah shouted from the driver's seat when she glanced back. They could all feel the vehicle speeding up. But so was the worm behind them.
"Terror Worm." It was Aoe who spoke. "Well hell." she glanced to the west and the sinking sun. "It will get faster after dark. I guess we better do something about it." She said that and then looked at Jake.
He looked back at her then glanced at Breeze who also looked at him. He didn't bother looking at Nira she was certainly glaring at him and Leah was busy driving. With a sigh, he glanced at Jon.
"What? I'm not going out there and doing anything. I don't have any powers or abilities. I can't even properly use the weapons and armor I make remember?" His digitized voice still sounded a bit shrill.
"Why are you all looking at me? I don't even have any ranged attacks." He grumbled to the two women.
"I only have so much ammunition. I can't go and start using it before we even get near the target." Aoe said, her tone though was unconvincing.
When he glanced at Breeza she shrugged. "They are earth, wind is weak against it. We do not need to defeat it. Only slow it down, we have no time for battles against roaming monsters." Jake had never heard that from Aero.
"I'll swing back to get you." Leah said.
"Don't bother." Jake stepped to the rear of the boat, all his equipment forming around his body. His boots were still like living quicksilver as they reformed to turn into clawed leg guards. They inched up his calves to meld with his pants just below the knees.
He pulled the t shirt he wore off as darkness seemed to bead on his arms as the material of his gauntlets emerged from his pores. Then silver beaded on his exposed chest and back turning into the bark textured skin tight armor. It melded like a second skin to his now heavily muscled chest.
"Hubba hubba." Aoe said and Jake ignored her as he watched the worm. It was gaining on them. When it erupted from the earth again. He jumped. His right arm was cocked back and the dark burnt wood material of his fist suddenly glowed like smoldering embers. He crashed down right on the worm. Its mouth was like a lamprey with countless black glass looking teeth that rotated inside. He could hear stone being ground up as it was consumed. There was a large smooth section at the top of the otherwise featureless head. It looked like a dark polished stone. That was what Jake aimed for.
His fist struck the rising monster with enough force that it smashed it down to the ground. The huge dust cloud kicked up by the impact was blown away by the explosion of fire. A pillar of flame rose up into the air for a dozen yards before it blew apart. The worm writhed on the ground, tearing up dirt for more than a hundred feet as it twisted in pain.
Leah was just about to turn the boat around when they heard a second digitized voice. Deeper and more clear than Jon's. "Just keep driving." Breeza and Aoe jumped before turning around to find Jake starting to sit down. His gauntlets were melting back into his skin but his chest armor remained. They shared a look while Jon pushed past them and reached for Jake's right hand.
Jake swatted him away. "I was just going to inspect it. I wonder why the elemental shielding doesn't protect you from that."
"Alright Demon. You pass the sniff test". Aoe flopped down on the chair next to him, too close for his comfort. She was practically leaning on him. "I guess we can count on you to do your part."
Breeze nodded and sat down across from him thankfully. "So that was some kind of test?" He asked, still keeping his hand away from Jon's clutching ones.
Aoe shrugged. "We are going into a permadeath area. We kinda wanted to know what we were working with." She was starting to grin again when Nira spoke up.
"A murderer." Her voice dripped with venom.