"I'm Shell."
They shook hands.
"Like, a shell? The stuff snails-"
"Yup, exactly like that." Shell looked down and patted her mecha. "This is Mollusk. Get the naming convention?"
"Huh. I do. Why'd you pick that name?"
"I didn't. UHF did, I just chose to match my name to it." She pointed at Prime with her chin. "What do you call your mecha?"
"This is Prime." Jamie proudly presented his mecha.
"It's a little small." Shell reached into Mollusk's Pilot chamber and pulled out a beer bottle, taking a drink from it.
"Size doesn't matter."
"Isn't it a tight fit when you enter it?"
"Ahem, well, I can't exactly enter him. Prime is just like that." Jamie coughed.
"Huh? How do you pilot it?"
"With my thoughts." Jamie tapped his head, and Prime began flexing his arms, striking poses. "See?"
"I suppose that explains the size. How much firepower does it have?"
"Not too much, I'm still at a low level. By the way, what level is Mollusk? Considering you have that railgun and all that."
"Level?" Shell raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, the level of your Mecha Core. I got these at Level 10." Prime's missile compartments popped out to show Shell.
"No clue what you mean by that, but Mollusk doesn't have any levels. It was manufactured like this, and as I got better at piloting and won some fights, I'd just take any useful parts or tech home and upgrade it with them."
She pointed at the railgun.
"Got that thing from a terrorist after I tore up his mecha. Been treating me well ever since."
"I see." Jamie was starting to suspect something. "Can your mecha cast magic spells?"
"Of course not, only Wizards can do that." Frankly, Shell thought it was a stupid question. Everyone knew the difference between Mechas and Wizards. "Can yours?"
"No, that's why I asked." Jamie lied.
"Exactly."
She hopped off of Mollusk, landing next to Jamie. She patted his shoulder.
"Look kid, here's some advice." She put down her beer. "You need to be more careful about what you reveal about your mecha. By now, I think we both can tell that something's up."
"Not really-"
"Jamie, it's very clear that you're unfamiliar with how actual mechas operate. And to be honest? Prime over there is one of the strangest mechas I've ever seen. You gotta be careful."
She pointed at the missile compartments on Prime's wrists.
"Showing off parts of how your mecha functions is dangerous. It's one thing to vaguely say how much firepower you have, it's another to show where said firepower is.
What if I was an actual intruder, or a hostile? I'd immediately know to target Prime's wrists in order to disable one of your armaments."
Sweat appeared on Jamie's forehead. "...Are you?"
Shell rolled her eyes. "Of course not. But do you see what I'm getting at?"
Jamie nodded.
"Good. You're too trusting. When you talk to others in the future, NEVER talk about how Prime can level up, or use magic, or whatever. You're lucky I'm the first Pilot you ran into. Others might have taken advantage of you, or killed you."
"Thanks for the advice." Jamie really meant it.
What if Shell had secretly been a Dynamos cop, or something? He really needed to learn to be more secretive. He had been too friendly with her the moment he found out she was hiding from the law.
"Now, how can you fix this?" Shell looked at Mollusk, hands on her hips. Jamie stepped forward with Prime, the mecha placing a hand on Mollusk.
"With energy." Jamie theorized that he should be able to transfer energy from Prime to Mollusk to fix Shell's problem. As he suspected, a notification appeared.
[UHF-172 "Mollusk" needs 1672 more energy to activate the repair function. Deposit energy?]
Nodding, Jamie declined, as he currently only had a measly amount of energy, a pitiful 12 points. However, this was where it came for him to benefit from this situation.
"Shell, Prime doesn't have enough energy at the moment to recharge Mollusk, but you can help me get that energy."
Shell crossed her arms. "What do you mean?"
"No point in hiding it from you." Jamie clicked his tongue before he turned to her. "I level up by killing things. My level affects my energy. If you can help me kill high-level monsters, the faster I can recharge Mollusk."
"So I scratch your back so you can scratch mine?" Jamie nodded. Shell smiled and picked up her beer, chugging the rest of it. She tossed the empty bottle to the side, shattering it against a tree. "Let's do it."
It didn't take long for Jamie to find another monster. He just ran around in the distance until another one of the evolved giant centipedes burst out of the earth and chased him.
"Shoot it now! But don't kill it!"
"I got it!"
Sitting in the pilot's chair, Shell activated something on the console as the railgun came to life with a hum, the tip gathering the powerful blue energy. Before firing, she angled the gun a little to the side, blasting only half the giant centipede's head off.
"Nice shot!"
As the centipede collapsed, the green goo spilling out of the missing half, Jamie bounded over and had Prime cast Fire Blast to the dying creature, igniting it's insides and ensuring that the kill was attributed to him.
[You have killed a Level 58 Elder Killipede]
[Mecha Core has leveled up!]
[Mecha Core has leveled up!]
[Mecha Core has…]
[Mecha Core has…]
[You have gained Attribute Points.]
[Would you like to absorb the Elder Killipede's Affinity?]
"Yes, yes, YES!" Jamie was overwhelmed and overjoyed with the nonstop notifications.
[Magic Core has leveled up!]
[Magic Core has leveled up!]
[Magic Core has…]
[You have gained Quality Points.]
[Multiple upgrades pending]
[Multiple spells pending]
Jamie was in pure ecstasy. Thanks to Shell's help, he just had to cast one spell to level up a crapton of times, earning himself multiple spells and upgrades to give Prime.
"Give me a sec!" He called out to Shell, who replied with a thumbs up.
Rubbing his hands in excitement, Jamie thought of the status panel, and the moment it appeared, his jaw dropped.
[Prime]
[G***** Prime Unit]
==Mecha Core==
Level: 52
ATTRIBUTES:
Strength: 9
Agility: 13
Durability: 10
Flight: 9
Energy: 12
Attribute Points: 24
"24 points… hoooh." Jamie breathed out in awe, checking the upgrades list without a second thought.
[Mecha Core Level 45 Reward - +20 to all Attributes.]
"The free reward is already great… I can't wait for the ones I can choose from." Jamie's heart beat faster with anticipation.
[Mecha Core Level 30 Reward - Choose an upgrade.]
[1. Energy Cyclers
2. Protective Layer
3. Rocket Punch Evolution - Explosive Punch]
"Energy Cyclers." Jamie couldn't believe his luck. His original plan was to dump a bunch of points into Energy, partially refill Mollusk and call it a day, but this upgrade changed everything.
Of course, the other options were appealing, but energy was the priority right now!
The schematics provided showed that the cyclers would be internally installed in Prime's waist, the only visible indicator of the cycleds being two dots of red light that activated when the cyclers were in use.
The Energy Cyclers themselves were insanely useful. They automatically refilled Prime's energy at a rate of a whopping 20 points per second! With this, Prime's energy was basically always full.
"Next one!"
[Mecha Core Level 40 Reward - Choose an upgrade.]
[1. Sonic Disruptors
2. Flash Pads
3. Smokescreen]
"Huh, these ones are purely for utility." Jamie rubbed his chin.
They all served as distractions, but Jamie only had a way to be safe from one of them. He didn't know how to defend himself from soundwaves, and it would be tedious to have to find a way to block his vision when using the Flash Pads, but he could see through smoke with Thermal Vision, so Smokescreen was what Jamie chose.
The schematics showed that a new line of tubing would be built in Prime's body, with small holes being added to his torso and limbs for when the smoke was to be released. Not seeing any problems with it, Jamie moved on to the last upgrade.
[Mecha Core Level 50 Reward - Choose an upgrade.]
[1. Grappling Hook
2. Overdrive Function
3. Magnetic Lining]
"Hmm, these are good… except for the Grappling Hook. Prime can fly, what's the use of that?"
From the schematics, Jamie found the other two options very appealing. Overdrive Function added an attachment to the Mecha Core that enabled Prime to temporarily go into a state that triples his Attributes and evolves his upgrades, making it very good for emergencies, albeit there were bound to be some side effects for using it.
As for the Magnetic Lining, it basically infused Prime's frame with a magnetic material, except to a crazy level of magnetic. With this upgrade, Prime would be able to control metal objects, drawing them towards or away from him.
"Phew… I'll have to pick the more important one." Jamie chose Overdrive Function, comforting himself by thinking he would be able to do the same as the Magnetic Lining in the future with metal magic.
"Well, that's all of them. Upgrading time." Jamie looked at Prime, the holographic outlines appearing on his body again.
Like before, the holographic outlines were mysteriously filled in with wires, materials, and even smoke, out of nowhere. Within seconds, Prime was fully upgraded, and Jamie could already feel the different abilities and their functions.
"Time to distribute the Points and move on to the Magic Core."
Thanks to the Attribute boost from reaching Level 45, nearly all of Prime's Attributes were in the 30s. Jamie didn't need to think too hard and tried to even them out.
==Mecha Core==
Level: 52
ATTRIBUTES:
Strength: 34
Agility: 37
Durability: 35
Flight: 34
Energy: 37
Attribute Points: 0
==Mecha Core Abilities==
Rocket Punch
Wrist Missiles
Thermal Vision
Energy Cyclers
Smokescreen
"Now that that's over with…" Jamie began, only to be interrupted.
"Yo, you're taking a while!" Shell called out to him.
"Hold on a little longer! It's a lot of levels!" Jamie replied before turning back to the panel. "As I was saying, now that that's over with…"
"It's Magic time!"