First Contact

Messing around with the auto turrets revealed a sort of control panel along the side which seemed to be unlocked upon approach although if the mechanism unlocked due to his presence alone or if it would do so with any person remains to be seen. The options available for Thomas allowed him to specify what would be shot and what would be able to pass through without harm.

"There's an option only to attack people and aggressive creatures?" thought the armored man. "Oddly convenient yet I'm not one to not take advantage of an advantageous situation."

Moving about the external walls and roof of the base, Thomas switched all of the turrets to only fire upon people trying to breach the walls and creatures in general who were showing aggression. "Rather not waste the ammo unless necessary."

Finally done checking on the primary defenses, he found himself moving towards the front door of the base to take a look inside. Glancing at his tames shows them vaguely interacting with one another. A quick lick here and a nudge there alongside a few friendly noises. They get along nicely.

Here comes the big reveal though. Entering the building showed…. nothing special really. Everything was as he left it when still in the game and the simplest description would be spartan. Everything inside was practical and almost nothing was for the aesthetic. A larger room had its walls covered in a grand diversity of workbenches and storage units. A smithy and fabricator were the main attractions however.

Quickly perusing each storage unit showed all the relevant resources were there although it was odd looking into crates and refrigerators. This was due to them being larger than they looked from the outside by about a multiplier of 5. The fridge was almost like a cold walk-in closet.

"I will say, while very practical, my base definitely leaves much to be desired design wise" grumbled Thomas. "I mean come on. It looks like a caveman was given a CNC machine and placed it next to his tanning rack."

Moving along the stone floor further into the house found Thomas entering a small corridor. 3 Doors were present. Opening the closest door revealed yet another spartan room although now there was a bed and a small storage chest.

"My bedroom…"

"I've never even imagined what this bed might feel like" with this thought, Thomas absentmindedly traverses the floor, passing the bear rug. "And honestly I can't expect much from a bed that's made from simple in…" the thought ended when he sat on the bed and sunk down into the mattress.

"Holy god damn" muttered the transmigrator. "I can get used to this. How is it even this soft?"

And soft it was. The plush mattress conformed to his weight and form causing him to sink 2 or 3 cm down. Thomas has never been in a nicer bed. "Funny considering it's mostly thatch."

Moving away from the bed with some difficulty, the other rooms are checked. One a simple storage unit and the other a room with a flame turret in each corner guarding a vault in the middle. Here lay the most valuable of loot.

Satisfied after checking the structure, Thomas moves back to the front door, heading to the courtyard. "If you can even call this a courtyard." he thinks to himself.

"Now then. I can't just stay out here on my own without any idea of where I am" thought Thomas as he unconsciously moves to and begins to pet Asmodeus, much to the lizard's apparent delight. "I think I'll head out on Asmodeus for now. She's quick on the ground and can glide through the air quite nicely as well."

Glancing down at her claws, Thomas continues his thought process. "Those sickle-like talons will really help in the arboreal field as well, considering those large trees I noticed earlier. Also, rock drakes can utilize active camo…"

Following that thought, he mounts Asmodeus, earning him a side eye from the girl alongside a grunt which Thomas instinctively felt was a kind gesture.

"Ok girl ehhhhhhh… do your thing?" comes the command which sounded more like a statement but his words were irrelevant as his body seems to know how to act in his stead. A subconscious tap from his right foot seemed to be enough for Asmodeus to get what he wanted and all of a sudden both rider and tame were very difficult to see.

"Ok wow, this is weird. I can barely make out my hand."

"Ok girl, stay like that for me alright?" Asmodeus tilts her head up in affirmative "Ok, are they all capable of understanding me? Hmm. Food for thought."

Hopping off his mount, Thomas moves 15 meters away before turning around and barely seeing much of anything. A vague outline can be seen as well as a subtle distortion, almost like looking through translucent glass although far clearer. It really seems to only be noticeable up close and if you're looking for it.

"Alright alright, good work Asmodeus! Cutting a mean figure there!" Thomas jests, receiving yet another grunt from the girl, this time indecipherable. At her master's command, Asmodeus deactivates her camouflage before waiting patiently.

"Before heading out, I should check over my gear too, see what I'm working with."

Pulling out his pike first proves to Thomas that he has some innate appraisal for all his items. "Just a glance tells me what I'm holding and what quality it is. Its like my mind just blaires out real quick what I want to know about it and yet…"

Picking up a stick from the ground, Thomas gets a fat load of nothing told to him.

"Maybe what I'm holding has to have some quality to it, like a man made item or a natural item of importance, like a specific plant? Or could it only be for things I make?"

A deep sigh escapes him. "Way too many questions with far too few answers. Whatever, let's get on with this."

Appraising the items on his person once more shows some satisfying results.

What could be seen on his person was a full suit of metal apparel known as flak armor. Its black and white color comes from the various dyes he's applied. Items from ark range in quality and each quality is superior to the last in multiple fields.

They range as follows: Primitive, which is the quality the player crafts from the beginning. It's good to note that higher qualities can only be crafted if the blueprint is found through a drop of some kind and tend to be far rarer than actually finding the item on its own, hence why most equipment of higher tiers are found rather than crafted.

After primitive comes ramshackle, apprentice, journeyman, mastercraft and finally ascendent. In game, the actual stats can vary depending on how lucky you are when you find the item, but a general stat increase for ascendent compared to primitive is 4 times. That's to say the highest quality is 4 times stronger than the lowest.

Having played on the server for such a time meant most everything was ascendent in quality. This includes his full suit of flac. Beyond this though, his back was covered with various items, all ascendent. This being a black and white pike crossing diagonally on his back with the head poking above his right shoulder and the bottom just showing 30 cm or so on beyond his left leg.

A crossbow of the same color scheme was fastening horizontally on his lower back, slightly poking out from either side, thus being vaguely visible from the front. He also, strangely enough considering this never existed in the game, had a leather belt which was fastened to the armor around his waist.

Looking down, beginning on his left thigh, shows a water bottle much like a 1 liter military canteen, a spyglass, and a small hatchet, also ascendent, with the hatchet being placed farthest to the left as if it were a knife. On Thomas's right thigh was a simple pouch made of leather with some cord closing it. Smaller than a woman's handbag, it hung from the belt loosely but would not come off without meaning to be taken off.

Looking inside, Thomas discovers "My inventory?! I've gotta say, I never woulda thought my personal stash would be converted into a small pouch but it does make sense. Can't go around sticking my hand into some void and pulling out stuff." Pulling out a full sized ascendent steel pick, Thomas deadpans. "Of course it's larger than it looks."

Putting the pickaxe back, Thomas hops up onto the still-waiting Asmodeus and prepares to leave, directing his mount to the exit.

"I've left food in the trough so you should be fine for a good while, at least until I get back. Stay safe and be sure to defend yourselves if anything happens you guys!"

Talking to animals might seem useless but it seems they all got the memo considering they jumped and called out a few times. "Still gotta get used to animals who understand me."

With his farewells said and the gate closing behind him with a solid thud, Thomas eyes the forest that's some 15 meters away from the gate. A quick tap of the foot signals Asmodeus to move forward towards where the road was at a similar pace to what Pack was capable of earlier.

Dodging trees and plowing through shrubs and bushes with ease would have gotten them to the path in only a minute if not for Thomas halting them. "Can't ride this girl on the road, probably would cause a few issues."

"Ok, let's do this."

Another tap with his foot got Asmodeus to activate her camo. Another tap got her moving in a direction following the path although still some 50 meters into the woods to avoid detection. They head north, if one goes off of the sun's position. The sun was well past mid way now, maybe 3 o'clock?

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After traveling at a good pace for what felt like an hour, the pair slows down as they come upon a much larger road. This one is just beyond the woods but on the other side of the road are open fields that go on for as far as the eye can see. A few prints and tracks show the recent usage and traversing of carriages of some kind.

Better than the desolate path they just followed for a good while.

Taking his time to properly scout, Asmodeus, at Thomas's command, closes in slowly to the road all the while trying to make as little noise as possible. Reaching about 5 meters to the road now, they stop. The road can now be seen far better in both directions without the trees getting in the way.

Pulling out his spyglass, Thomas looks around for any sign of life. Searching for a few minutes in silence yields little beyond the wind blowing through the cracks in his armor and the occasional wildlife, none being the wiser to their presence through the camouflage.

A glimpse of brown and white coming southeast on the path causes Thomas to focus in. "Is that a raptor?" inquires the man to himself. "Nah wait. It can't be. It's similar but a little bit larger, or rather more muscular. And the guy riding it is in distress."

And in distress he was.

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"Shit, shit, shit, shit! Why did they have to come now?!" yelled Carlsson in his mind. "This was supposed to be a simple escort and then it all went to shit!"

The young soldier in plate armor was not having a good day. It was supposed to be easy. Defend Lady Karsten moving from Bonobo, heading northwest to Mill Gray before taking a break for the night and heading south back to her mansion. A few days on the road, admiring his liege and the landscape, lay back a bit with his compatriots and then home free for a week or so without work.

Things don't always go as plan due to one teeny-tiny problem

The witches' cult.

"Bastards ambushed us! We outnumbered them at first but come on?! How can we expect to be attacked by those crazies when we are moving with over 60 soldiers?!" asks the plate armored man to himself.

"Ok, ok. Focus. You were sent to make haste to Mill Gray, meet up with the guard force there and bring back men to fight and to move wounded. At our pace we were about a day or two out from Mill Gray but on my own I can maybe push it in a few hours? Damnit won't they all be dead by then?!"

Stuck in his own thoughts, Carlsson barely noticed when a man in black armor stood a hundred meters ahead on the road, staring at him. Immediately believing it to be another ambush, the soldier shook in his boots thinking he was done for if not for the relaxed stance of the stranger.

Stopping his ground dragon, sword and shield drawn, Carlsson begins "Who goes there?! What are you doing here in the middle of nowhere?!"

The man, now very apparently armed considering a spear is visibly on his back, simply put his hands up in a non threatening gesture and spoke in a deeper, yet still somewhat youthful, tone. "I mean no trouble. Just was traveling when I saw you getting close real quick. You in a hurry? Need some help with something?" asked the man kindly.

Carlsson really didn't trust this man. He was alone in the middle of nowhere and in all black. This could very well be a trap. "However… He's clearly a warrior." A deeper inspection of his person showed high quality armor and weapons. "If I don't get help immediately, they could all be dead by the time I get back. All of them. Lady Karsten, her knights. My friends…"

Biting his lip in frustration, the emotional soldier expunged an aggressive grunt before finishing with "sigh*, fine! I- no, we, need help warrior. A convoy I was escorting was attacked and we need help. You good with that spear? If so, head down that way" he points in the opposite direction he rode in. "On foot, you may be able to run there in about 25 minutes. The battle is right in the middle of the road. You cannot miss it. If you feel up for it, head down NOW! I need to head back to Mill and get reinforcements."

Stopping for a second, Carlsson notices the man still looking at him yet somehow seems serious. Maybe it's his stance? "Irrelevant." "Look, I can't promise much but you should get SOME compensation if you help out. Now, please, stop standing there and get going!" With that final exclamation, the armored man took to jogging at a good pace down the road.

As he passed him, Carlsson felt a cold chill go down his spine, as if a predator just ran past and he barely made it out.

"What was that? Oh no, he's going!" finally realizing his hopeful ally had passed him, Carlsson shouts out "HEY!" getting the man to stop. "You never gave your name!"

"Nor did you!" he shouts back.

"Cheeky bastard"

"The names Carlsson, soldier of the Karsten domain. Who are you?"

The man seems to ponder for a bit considering he doesn't answer right away. A few seconds go by until he gets his response.

"Names' Shino. Just another adventurer!" came the man's reply.

As Carlsson turned back down the path he was following north, having gotten his response, he hightailed it as quickly as possible.

Fast enough to where he didn't notice the shimmering eyes staring at him from the forest's edge.

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So it's been a while. I have no excuses. I just kind of write what I want to when I have time AND the will. Very busy with work but that's no excuse, still have plenty of time otherwise. I'm just making sure to try to live my life without too many obligations outside the necessary :)

Some people have asked for more of this story, more than I thought really considering how niche both titles are but hey, I'll take it. For those who are actively waiting, thank you very much. It does warm my heart to see comments of people requesting more. In fact, I got to writing this again from someone commenting on my other story.

With that being said, most people here are either totally new after seeing the story for the first time on the cover of FF in which case welcome, whereas others favorited this and just forgot about it entirely in the last year and are now reading this update with no idea of what's going on, in which case, welcome back XD!

Anyhow, as with the last few times, I'll say right away that I more than likely won't update often. Updates could come in a week all the way to a year. I'll try to pump some more out but it all depends on how I'm feeling to be honest.

Overall, I do find some joy in writing still even if I'm not necessarily good at it.

Thanks for reading.

Until next time.