Luke carefully lowered his helmet onto his armored shoulders and locked it into place. As soon as the runes lined up, the sensory enhancements activated.

  It hadn't taken him too long to learn the Apprentice Mana Vision and Novice Vibrational Senses runes. Although the runes were complex, Luke was able to inscribe them perfectly the first time, even while wearing the power armor. The extra dexterity from his War Machine class was no joke. It still took some time to get the magic to work though. The two runes used concepts that were a bit outside Luke’s wheelhouse and so it took him several tries to get the intent correct.

  As the helmet activated, Luke slowly became able to see mana. It was like an extra color he had never been able to see before. The runed objects in the room glowed bright, but even the air around him had the subtle color of mana.

  At the same time, Luke became aware of the room around him, even behind him. It wasn’t like his vision or hearing was enhanced, but he somehow knew that the workshop wall was four feet behind him and there were objects along the wall. The slow movements of Kruro in the center of the room and the impatient shuffling of Bumblebee near the front door were somehow more obvious than before.

  Combined, the two extra senses would make ambushes way less likely. Unless, of course, you were up against a monster that could walk through solid stone like a ghost.

  Something was missing though. He had taken several breaks that morning to feed and pet Jinx as she got used to the shop. His new senses should be picking her up but he didn’t see or sense anything.

  “Bumblebee? Do you know where my cat is?”

  “Huh?” the young kid said. He had already suited up in the power armor and was ready to go.

  “Jinx. Where is she?”

  Kruro set down her tools. “She is downstairs, in my burrow. Your pet is currently hunting the end of my tail. Jinx is a formidable predator, but my tail is swift prey.” She smiled as she said the last part.

  For the first time, Luke noticed that Kruro’s long tail wasn’t coiled under her like it normally was. She had her tail leading to the far corner of the room and down the round hatch there.

  “You won’t even let me look down there and Jinx gets to wander down there alone?”

  Kruro straightened up and looked away. “You have not yet earned the right to see my private burrow. Jinx has already proven herself worthy. Perhaps you could learn a thing or two from her. But do not worry, the noble Jinx is quite safe.”

  Luke laughed, just relieved that Jinx was safe. He walked over to the open hatch and called down to her, “Jinx, I am heading out. Are you ok with staying here with the nice naga?”

  A few moments later, Jinx appeared near the burrow entrance. She gave Luke a disinterested look and disappeared back down the rounded hallway.

  Luke nodded. Probably for the best. “Are you ok if I leave Jinx with you for a few hours? I probably shouldn’t take her with monster hunting anyway.”

  “Perfectly acceptable. Leave her treats though. I plan on thoroughly spoiling her while you are gone so that I may win her away from you.”

  “Ha! We’ll see about that. I rescued her and built her legs. She may be a cat, but she has some loyalties.”

  “We shall see.”

  Luke walked out the door with a smile on his face. It was a relief knowing that Jinx was in good hands.

  Bumblebee power walked along with him, ready to finally be moving. He hadn’t said anything about it, but Luke got the impression the young guy wanted to take revenge on the local wildlife for the loss of his friends. Bumblebee had a red sword in his hand with a green and purple sword stuck to his back with magnets.

  Luke had two swords of his own, stuck to his legs with magnets. He had installed the magnets there because he felt like they were a faster ‘draw’ at his waist. He had equipped a fire and acid sword because he knew they were effective against the spectral spiders in the tidal cave they were heading towards.

  Kruro had him promise to bring the swords back, even if he died. He wasn’t sure how that was supposed to work, but apparently the swords were expensive and she couldn’t make replacements. Only the Inner Runewright was allowed to inscribe weapons that dealt elemental damage. The naga’s oath of service prevented her from even learning the runes that powered the magic swords.

  Luke planned on learning them himself, and had already taken pictures of the runes on the swords. He hadn’t sworn an oath like she had. Careful conversation about the oath Luke should have sworn revealed that there was some magic compulsion in addition to her normal law abiding ways. It was a restriction he was glad to be free of. Hopefully no one would find out about the oversight for a long while. He really relished in the freedom to do whatever he wanted with magic runes.

  But his dreams of towering magic mechs would have to wait until after he had the fortune to build one. He needed to gather a lot of monster cores to make that happen. To that end, he was walking towards the distant shore with magic swords at his side and supplies stuffed into the compartments at his back. Actually, why was he walking?

  “Bumblebee. How fast can you run?”

  “Faster than you,” he said without hesitating.

  “Oh, you think so, huh? Let’s make a bet. Hundred bucks says I can make it to the edge of the sage scrub before you do. If a monster pops up, we quit racing and take care of it.”

  “You’re on,” Bumblebee said and got into a runner’s stance.

  Luke took a similar stance and said, “Are you ready?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Yep!” Bumblebee said and took off.

  “Hey!” Luke said as he activated his leg extensions.

  Pistons activated, metal and chitin slid against each other. The lower part of his mech leg extended, his foot elongated. He now had digitigrade legs that were made for running. He took off after Bumblebee, each stride eating up the ground.

  It didn’t take long for the wind to start whistling past his helmet. Luke leaned forward and pushed harder, going for maximum speed. The landscape was blurring by now, he had to be going at least fifty miles an hour. His eyes were watering from the wind scything through his eye slit.

  Bumblebee was still ahead of him.

  Despite a huge mechanical advantage and the extra class granted buff, Bumblebee was still kicking up dust ahead of Luke. It should have been impossible. Luke pushed harder and started to slowly gain on him.

  The finish line was a few miles from where they had started, but at their speed it was coming up fast. Luke focused on his Machine Bond, urging his mech to give him just a bit more speed. The magic skill answered and pushed power into the runes. The power armor’s running speed picked up just a bit. It was enough to just barely pull even with Bumblebee. But not pass.

  The two mechs blew past the edge of the sage scrub neck and neck. Luke slowed to a stop, his bouncy legs making that a longer process than usual. He was breathing hard, but not tired. He felt like he could do it again if he wanted.

  Nice. The race had gotten him an extra level in Machine Bond. For some reason he had expected to only level it up in combat, but apparently learning how to get more power out of his mech was enough to bring him up to level 2. Although, even with all that, the race had ended in a tie.

  Bumblebee laughed and pointed at Luke’s legs. “That’s cheating! I woulda whupped you without those cheetah legs.”

  Luke folded his arms. “Cheating? I’m the one that’s cheating? What about you? You obviously have a magic class you didn’t tell me about. What is it? Warrior? Courier?”

  The young black guy’s eyes widened behind his visor. “Nah, man. I’m just a fast runner. You don’t know how fast normal people are ‘cus you... Uh... Plus! This is the good suit of armor. It’s faster than the other suits, and it’s got a full charge.”

  Luke flipped up his visor and gave Bumblebee an unimpressed look. “You know I build power armor suits, right? I repaired that exact suit and I know it’s the same as the other ones.”

  Bumblebee looked away. “Nah, man.”

  “Oh come on. It’s not a real secret is it? No one’s gonna kidnap us if they find out we have a class, right? Just admit it.”

  Bumblebee flipped up his own visor. “I don’t know, the whole situation with classes on Earth is sus.” He sighed. “Yeah, you discovered I have a class, good for you, detective. But you can’t tell anyone about it.”

  “Why not?”

  “Cus they might make you disappear. I’m always on the Kalibutan Lighthouse forums, and every so often someone hops on and says they got a magic class. Then they just disappear, never post again. It happens like four out of five times. There is definitely something going on.”

  “Like what? Are the Men in Black coming to take them away?”

  “Maybe. You saw the chick in the black suit. She’s always looking at her device. Maybe that’s supposed to find people with classes. If not her, then someone. Either Earth’s government, or Kalibutan’s is getting to them. Maybe that’s why the elves go on vacation there so much. There should be way more humans with classes, but they are still super rare.”

  Luke didn’t know what to say about that. He hadn’t talked to any of his friends about the magic stuff yet, but he had planned on telling everyone. Maybe even showing off on Earth. Not anymore. Bumblebee might be paranoid, but better to be safe than sorry.

  They started walking towards the beach again as Luke thought. He still had his legs extended, so Bumblebee had to hurry a bit to keep up.

  Luke looked down at him. “So, what is your class called anyway? As long as you are ok talking about it.”

  “Yeah, sure, you already know I have a class. I bet you got lots of questions. My class is a good one. It’s called Driver. I can move faster when I’m driving, both cars and power armor.”

  “Driver, huh? Any other qualifiers? Like my class has two words, War Machine.”

  “No, just Driver. It’s a bronze class, those are just one word. I’m level twelve and I have two skills. One’s called Rush, helps me go faster, and the other’s Evade. I can slip past obstacles I should have hit as long as I’m moving.”

  “That’s cool. I totally want to see that Evade skill in action. I’m also assuming you put some points into strength and dexterity?”

  “Yeah, you get a point to spend every odd level, 1, 3, 5, and so on. I put mine into strength, dexterity, and constitution.”

  “No mental stats? Perception is really handy, believe me.”

  “You and your stupid buff. Maybe I’ll put one in after the next level. Degenerate told me mental stats were a waste, but she’s dead and you’re alive, so maybe you know better.”

  “She told you? Did she have a class too?”

  “Yeah. She actually had Driver first. She told me how to get the class after my assessment period started. She was constantly shit-talking me, but still helped me out when I needed it.” He sighed. “I think I’m gonna miss her too.”

  Luke reached down and patted him on the shoulder with a clank. “Sorry, man. So, she had a class. Did everyone have a class?”

  “No, everyone else on the team were muggles. Cuddles and Rooster were fine with it, but Sandwich hated seeing me and Degenerate with a class when he didn’t get one. I bet that’s why he prayed to that fear goddess. He just wanted some power.”

  “What about Shepard and ... the other three whose names I have already forgotten?”

  Bumblebee chuckled softly. “The no names probably don’t have a class. But I bet Shepard does. He denied it, but he would always rub it in Sandwich’s face when their team did better than ours. No way he kept doing that without some kind of bullshit Hunter class or something. Which reminds me. He’s definitely coming back. It’s the only way he can level up, get stronger. Don’t let him weasel a better salary out of you. He wants to be here.”

  “That’s good to hear. I know you don’t like the guy, but I need more experienced people on the team if we are going to do all of the monster culling. If-” Luke cut himself off because he saw a faint glow behind a nearby spiny bush. It was bulbous and slimy, and gave him such a bad feeling that Luke immediately pulled his sword.

  Bumblebee put his hand on Luke’s hand. “No wait, stop. Those are Wizard Leeches. They want you to attack them with magic. They suck it out of you and then throw it back at you twice as strong.”

  Now that he said it, Luke could see how they looked like enormous leeches. They were sandy and green colored, perfect for blending into the sparse vegetation. Each one was two feet high and eleven long. There was one behind the bush twenty feet ahead, and another three spaced along the road farther out.

  Luke dipped his sword and shrunk his legs back to normal. “Then how do we kill them? If you haven’t noticed, we only have magic swords with us.”

  “That’s why we always bring the ... whoops.”

  “Whoops? What whoops?”

  “Don’t worry about it. Watch out behind, there are two more.”

  Today’s chapter title comes from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

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