Sera did not care about the distance of safe operation for innate power from the moment she saw the blue lava hound. The moment the animal so much as touched her range, Sera started sucking out the lava hound's vitality. Moby started glowing as soon as the transfer began.
Odyssey looks deceptively like any other game, till the time they reach the mid twenty fives. That is when one gets to know Odyssey is really an interstellar game that has the depth of a real world. The trade classes which were able to do nothing till then suddenly will have a whole catalog of metals, smelting techniques, workshops and a whole bunch of little gadgets to choose from.
Even among them, the blue lava hound is famous as the only unique boss, who will drop a unique item called ' Pulsar shard '. It is the source of all the electromagnetic guns, and as long as you have an EM gun, you have a way to survive through half the galaxy.
Ofcourse, if you want to buy one, you need to lose a hundred bucks, and not everyone can buy them. Only those who defeated the lava hound one on one could buy one of these beauties.
It is the eternal wish of Sera to be able to defeat the lava hound, for even the resale of an EM gun will get her enough profit to pay her rent, and let her eat steak once a week.
However, there are only two kinds of people who defeated Lava hounds one on one in Odyssey.
The Dark Knight and rich players.
' You did not read it wrong fellas ! Except for DarkKnight, no one defeated a blue hound with skill in Odyssey. '
Now, such an ever so scary lava hound is running straight for her little ' Glass Egg ' like body, Sera is in no mood to wait for the beast to touch her fragile Mecha.
Her decision proved to be correct.
The lava hound's speed decreased as it approached her, just as it was about to ram into her, Sera transferred the last of the hound's vitality to Moby.
She tried to pick the body of the hound into the mecha.
For the first time, a red warning displayed on the mecha's screen.
Till now, Sera thought her mecha did not have a console. On the clean black wooden slate the shining red letters formed.
[ Load too heavy to lift. ]
[ Run analysis ? ]
( Yes ) ( no )
Sera obviously pressed yes.
[ Please sit in the captain seat, and place your palm facing down to accept neural connection. ]
Sera sat in the seat, and placed her hands on the seat's right hand. Right away, a few threads of black and gold arose, and dove into her skin like there's no tomorrow. She screamed in pain ! however, the pain lasted only for a fraction of a moment. That moment was so short, Sera stopped screaming mid way due to embarrassment.
The threads are glowing golden.
[ Running an analysis ]
The combat support system showed her.
' Wait ! Is that why they are giving out systems in the school ? ' She thought belatedly. She had always thought mecha needed to be run by herself. That is why she has become good at manual operation, so much so, she could probably operate any template of the machine in stellar age.
Before her thoughts could wander, the result was displayed.
[ A nano neutron star fragment found. ]
[ collecting this material needs energy in excess of 100 K. ]
[ Collect ? ] ( yes ) ( no )
Hmm.. isn't this supposed to be pulsar shard ? Why is it a neutron star all of a sudden ?
Never mind. Collect first.
After putting it away, Sera watched the lava pool. She reduced the intake of the energy, then she returned to maximum once more.
All of a sudden, the lava pool emitted light again.
Sera felt a premonition.
Before anything came out of the lava pool, a transmission arrived.
" Pack up and leave. We need to get out of here right now. " Calvin informed her urgently on the phone.
Sera started to gently reduce the intake of vitality from Bazinga, while moby went full on invisible with its skin.
" do not let go of that tentacle. " Calvin ordered her.
" Wait ! I have a neutron star fragment with me ! " Sera informed, for the baggage weight must be clear, even in stellar times.
" Understood. Let me know when the transfer value becomes zero. " Calvin responded.
" Sure. " Sera answered.
In a minute, she shut down vitality transfer from bazinga to moby.
" Zero. " Sera said.
The next second, the tentacle whipped around her mecha like a rope getting tied against a doll on a rattle, and Sera started screaming louder than when the chair dug into her skin.
She closed her eyes, hugged the chair for dear life.
Just like that, the chair grew around her like an exoskeleton, with light golden threads poking into her skin everywhere on her body, not just her hands. This time, Sera did not feel their intrusion at all.
Instead, she perceived the entirety of the outside world with the eyes of her mecha.
Four lava hounds got out of the pool, and their energy, spilling around them forming a halo. Sera's mecha could perceive all sorts of energy, gravitational, light, heat and more. As she switched between the perspectives to observe the lava hounds, she gained more respect for the DarkKnight who was able to solo them.
No wonder he wants to run away.
Each one is as powerful as a raid boss. It's impossible to defeat them here.
They flew low, Sera concentrated on the magnetic barrier covering the junkyard itself.
' There ' she realized that spot was open and she could view all the way inside the junkyard.
" Note it down " she ordered her own mecha, or system, either way, she wanted the location in her memory.
Right now, they lack everything other than food and water. Hells, they might lack water in the very near future, after the atmosphere on the asteroid is blown away by the magnetic forces of the cosmos.
So, all they have is a bit of food to sustain them for a year. However, the round trip around the junkyard to her location takes three years. Initially, her food and oxygen were sufficient to last three years. But with the addition of moby and Calvin, she needs new sources urgently. For now, she has secured some good soil from lava hounds, which is enough to grow crops at five times faster speed, so she would be able to
Before that year is past, she needs to find many things. First, fuel / energy for the pod to make the journey at least half way, so that they could go to the space docks at the edge of the junkyard, saving them at least one and half years of journey. Then, the space pod itself should be serviced and modified for a journey that is as long as one and half years.
Thinking back, it's a near miracle for her pod to be able to make this journey here without getting destroyed.
Amongst all these experiences, There is one thing Sera had forgotten. Something that she realized just now, as she oscillated in the nothingness, as 'THE' DarkKnight ran away from a fight.
It is something he would never ever do in the game.
Why is he doing something like this despite being an expert at killing the blue hounds ? The answer was simple.
Because he won't respawn after he dies.
Once they die, they are gone forever.
Her life here is as real as the blood running in her veins. Does she want to go back to wage an inheritance war while a real war is going on outside ?
Sera thought about it seriously, as she watched the junkyard getting away from herself.
As the gray and gloomy day turned into Dark and silent night, Sera decided.
' No. I don't want to go back. '
No matter what it takes, she will develop this place rather than go back to the galaxy and stop the war. She is not a heroine. Whether a billion people die or a hundred billion die, does it matter to her ? Not really.
She is more concerned about her own survival.
From now on, Sera will plant her flag here. She will call this asteroid her homeland.
When she returned, she painstakingly painted a star spangled banner, and put it in her yard.
Calvin gave it one look, then turned away.
Sera followed him inside.
" What did you find ? " She asked him.
Calvin turned on the screen of the pod.
" here ! You see it ? " he asked.
" The micro black holes ? " Sera asked in shock.
Micro blackholes are fragments of the black holes cut into micron size. They are usually deployed in a pattern, such as triangle, rectangle or a hexagon, to create a gravitational field in certain space. Usually, they are aligned so that the gravitational field will be stable through any surprises such as falling comets.
" Exactly. I don't know what sort of luck you have, but had you crashed into one of them, you would never have gotten here intact. You almost took the ideal path in between them. " Calvin explained.
Sera nodded in response.
" So, this formation of blackholes can stop any pulsar beams from the Bazinga. Then wouldn't this asteroid be the safest location on this side of the galaxy ? " Sera mused.