Luke almost fell on his face. He caught himself at the last second, long metal arms reaching out to break his fall. Intellectually he knew that he would be four feet taller in his power armor, but experiencing it was a different matter. Thankfully, the Adept Agility runes on the exosuit gave him enough dexterity to avoid disaster.

  Kruro laughed as he slowly got back up. Luke stuck out his tongue at her, which she couldn't see since he had his helmet visor down. He made a mental note to redesign the helmet entirely. He had attempted to give himself a wide field of vision, but it still felt restrictive. Maybe he could set something up with cameras. The electronics would degrade quickly, but it might be worth it if he could better see what he was doing.

  This time when he stood up, he felt more stable and secure. He took a few careful steps around the workshop. It worked. His new magical power armor design worked.

  He felt like a giant. He reached up and easily touched the ceiling, which was high even for orcs. He loved the view from up here, he felt more powerful than ever.

  His limbs responded faster and smoother the more experience he had with the suit. That was the effect of the life rune that everything branched off of. It formed a connection between him and the suit, a metaphysical handshake. He got used to this suit faster than any of the other power loaders he had repaired before. Probably because of the higher quality runes, but maybe because he made it himself instead of just repairing it. The mana suffusing the runes was attuned to him.

  A wide grin broke across his face. He was going to get a gold class from this. His suit was awesome and his mind was already buzzing with ideas on how to turn it into a true mech, a monster killing machine without equal.

  Kruro hissed. “It’s honestly disgusting how quickly you put that together. Two half days? It took me a month to construct a working prototype of the first power loader.”

  Luke flipped the visor up. “Well, to be fair, I did have years of experience repairing your design. You did all the hard work, I just inverted the runes so the armor would work better.”

  “Broken eggshells. You can’t be modest in my workshop, Luke of Runes. Inverting the runes to have them work on the inside instead of the outside is a feat worthy of a gold class. Plus, I can see that those legs are an all new design. Just admit you are a mechanical and runic genius, and you plan on giving me years of assistance after you gain your class.”

  “Ha. We’ll see about that. I owe you a lot for helping me out, but years of help might be pushing it.”

  It was nice being called a genius. Maybe he was special, maybe he was one of many. Either way, walking around in the power armor he made himself was delightful. He was still riding that high when Cormac arrived. He stood in the round doorway and folded his arms. Luke bit back a curse. Usually the humans arrived before the seneschal did. Now he had been caught. Time to see how bad this was going to be.

  He sat down and opened up the chest of his power armor. He ducked out of the torso with a sheepish smile.

  “Hello Seneschal. You’re early today,” Luke said with a lopsided grin.

  “I am a bit late actually,” Cormac said as he gave him a piercing glare. “What did you do to my sixth armor set?”

  “Nothing. It’s still right there,” Luke said and pointed behind himself. “I made this new suit out of spare parts. I know you said to wait a week to start tinkering, but I couldn’t wait. Today is the last day of my system assessment period. Kruro said it’s important to do something impressive now so I can get a good class. This is the most impressive thing I can think of.”

  Cormac’s eyes widened. “Truly? You are about to be chosen?”

  “Yeah, and after making this suit from scratch, I can’t imagine I won’t get a silver or gold runewright class.”

  “Perhaps. If you do, I won’t throw you in prison for stealing my materials and mana dust. If your class is high enough quality, you can work a week or two without pay to reimburse me for the loss.”

  Luke gulped. “I won’t let you down, you’ll see.”

  “Hmm.” Cormac looked away. “Where are the rest of the humans? Are they disobeying me too?”

  Luke glanced at the time. It was twenty minutes after the end of their shift. They should have been here by now. The monster hunter squads had been here a half hour early the previous two shifts. “I don’t know what’s up with them, sorry.”

  They waited there awkwardly for them to arrive. Cormac got more and more frustrated as time went on. Luke was glad he had thought to hire a pet sitter today so Jinx wasn’t alone for too long. Kruro put away her work and slithered over to the front of the workshop. Both of them towered over Luke now that he was out of the power armor.

  She looked outside and said, “The dark skinned one mentioned coming back early, not late. I believe it might be time to start worrying.”

  Cormac cursed in orcish and then said, “They are supposed to make my life easier, not introduce problems. Luke, stay here. I’m going to talk with the estate guards, see if I can send a few out to search.”

  The orc hurried off, but Kruro stayed at the entrance to the workshop. She slithered out into the street and looked both ways, but then returned and stayed at the doorway. She periodically tasted the air.

  Luke said, “Has this ever happened before? You seem a bit worried.”

  “This has happened once before, half a year ago. We lost three humans when a wandering titan came too close to the estate.”

  “A titan? Like a monster as tall as the trees?”

  “Titans can be that tall, yes. However, the name is a descriptor of power, not size. The last time one visited our estate, the Lord had to sally forth himself and defeat it. No one else could stand against it. I tasted blood in the air for days.”

  Luke gulped.

  “That is likely not the case today. I sense nothing awry. They are likely delayed. Cormac sent them to investigate a cave this morning. Perhaps they are simply trapped underground.”

  “I'm not sure if I should hope for that or not.”

  Cormac returned ten minutes later, even angrier than when he left. “The guard will not help us.”

  “Aren’t you their boss?” Luke asked.

  Cormac slashed his hands down. “No, I am the seneschal. I am in charge of the estate, the Captain of the Guard is in charge of security. He will not help us.”

  “Why not? They might be in danger, why won’t he send people to look?”

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  “He will have several reasons if asked. The security needs to be tight around the estate right now. They don’t have the extra budget they asked for. But the real reason is that the bastard thinks it’s my fault his chocolate allotment got cut short. That isn’t my fault, the lord asked for that himself.”

  “All this is about chocolate?”

  “It’s not important right now. Right now I am going to go rescue the troublesome humans so we can get back on schedule. Luke of Runes, you made yourself a new suit. Clearly you want to try it out. You are coming with me to watch my back.”

  Kruro hissed. “No, you can’t take my one useful assistant right as he is about to gain a class. I don’t want him dying out there.”

  “If he is as good as you say, his suit will protect him. Besides, his assessment period is still open, yes? This can only help his class choices.” Cormac folded his arms.

  Luke took a moment to decide what he wanted to do while they were arguing. It was clearly dangerous out there, or the others would be back by now. Cormac might be able to protect himself, but Luke couldn’t use any magic weapons. His mech arms weren’t inscribed for it yet.

  On the other hand, Luke had always wanted to protect people. It was the reason he joined the national guard. That and to get away from home as soon as possible. Sandwich and Bumblebee might need him and he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t at least try.

  Luke cleared his throat and said, “I’ll go. Don’t act like this is anyone else’s decision but mine. I’ll go and help you, Cormac. If it looks too dangerous, we’ll bail. But if I can help, I will.”

  Kruro wrung her hands. "If you fight monsters, it will affect your class choices. Are you sure you want to deviate away from a pure runewright?"

  Luke seriously considered that possibility. "I think I am willing to take that chance. I like crafting, but I would love to have the power to protect the weak. Maybe I will get a class that lets me do both."

  Cormac smiled and said, “Suit up, then. It’s past time we left.”

  Luke hurried over to his suit and slid inside. He briefly considered using the other suit since it had magic gauntlets, but decided against it. He knew his own suit was much stronger and faster. Besides, he didn’t know how to use magic yet and now wasn’t the time to learn.

  The power armor closed up around him and he gracefully stood up. It felt even better than last time. Kruro had slithered over and held a few weapons out for him.

  “Take this mace and axe. They do not use magic, but will be good for a beginner like yourself. Since we are expecting Hive Wolves, this should be enough. But if you run into mist beasts or trolls, run. Those can only be countered by magic.”

  Luke nodded seriously and was pleased to find his helmet’s range of motion allowed it without trouble. He was right handed, so he took the axe in his right hand and the mace in his left. He couldn't feel them of course, but the life rune was able to give him some feedback so he was able to grip them securely.

  Together Cormac and Luke walked south out of town. Luke couldn’t help but grin when he realized he was a few inches taller than the orc now.

  “There are a series of tidal caves along the estate’s eastern coastline. I sent the squad there this morning to check them for signs of the Hive Wolves. I don’t know if they’ll still be there by now, but we have to check now before the tide comes back in and blocks off some of the entrances. We can check their patrol route after that.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Honestly, I hope they are just goofing off.”

  “Me too. I would rather berate them than cremate them. Let’s speed up. Do you think you can keep up?”

  Luke chuckled darkly and pressed a button on his waist. A component on the mech’s feet unlocked and lengthened by several feet. His heels were now a digitigrade joint and now he was three feet taller than Cormac. He took a few steps to get used to the new configuration. He was a lot springier.

  “I can keep up. The question is if you can keep up with me,” Luke said and started racing down the road.

  He ran down the dirt path abutting the city’s farms, picking up speed as he went. It was like learning to run for the first time, but with magical assistance to correct any errors you made. It was a heady feeling. After a minute, he felt like he had a hang of it and really put on the speed.

  Wind rushed by his power armor, whistling through his visor slit. Luke squinted and pushed harder. He had to be going fifty, sixty miles an hour.

  He slowed down a bit and glanced behind himself. To his immense disappointment, Cormac was right behind him. The orc had kept up with him the whole time.

  “That’s... impressive.” Cormac said, trying not to sound out of breath. “Turn east at the fork and head straight for the beach. We can turn north when we get close.”

  Luke nodded and refocused on running. He was going to show that damn orc, his magic mech was better than the greenskin’s fleshy legs. He streamlined his form and pushed hard on every step to take advantage of the compression power of his running legs.

  It didn’t take long before he saw the beach in the distance. The estate was surrounded on three sides by the ocean, a peninsula that connected with the portal to the south. Luke slowed down as they neared the sandy beaches, realizing he had no idea where to go from here.

  Cormac had lost some ground but quickly caught up. He pointed north and led the way off the path through the brush. Luke went from leading the way to barely keeping up. He had to reconfigure his legs again because the running configuration couldn't handle the uneven ground. The scrub brush near the beach was like a mix of grass and cactus, scraggly and sharp enough to mark his metal legs.

  It didn’t take long for them to come across the first sea cave. It was among the rocks in a small inlet. The beach was made of black sand and there were mech sized divots leading towards the cave. Cormac didn’t bother heading inside because he saw tracks leading away as well. He gestured to Luke and they headed north again.

  Luke was starting to struggle to keep up. His mechanics and runes had made up for a lot, but his base fitness was only human. By the time he got to the third cave, he was panting. Cormac took pity on him and gave him a short break before moving on to the fourth cave system.

  The fact that they hadn’t found the squad yet was encouraging news. They had spent their day investigating these tidal caves, and were still alive hours later when they walked into the fourth cave. Luke could see tracks entering the cave, but none exiting. He checked his mace and axe again. They were large and sturdy looking, but he wished he had a rifle. He was trained to shoot targets, not cut and bludgeon them.

  At least he could count on not freezing up if this came to a fight. He had that trained out of him in the national guard. He hadn’t paused when facing down an orc all alone and he wouldn’t hesitate when bashing monsters in power armor.

  The cave was tall and wide, only getting dark as they turned the corner. Black sand covered the cave floor, but petered out as the cave slowly sloped upwards. Cormac pulled out a crystal light and held it up. Luke made a mental note to add lights to his suit. He kept an eye behind them, but so far the cave hadn’t branched or anything so there was no risk of attacks from behind.

  The fresh smell of the ocean slowly transitioned to a rotten and dank smell. The walls were rough and jagged. Luke had expected stalactites and stalagmites, but found neither. Just jagged boulders of pumice strewn about.

  After a few short minutes of walking, they heard something ahead. Cormac started running and Luke scrambled to keep up. There were sounds of fighting and the woosh of magic. They burst into a larger room to see an ongoing battle.

  The five mechs were there, the room lit by a dozen crystals on the floor. It spread strange shadows on the wall that made them seem like they were moving. A moment’s observation made Luke realize the walls weren’t moving, they were covered with gray spiders. Each one was bigger than a human, and had eyes that were glowing green in the reflected light.

  There were dead spiders strewn about the entrance to the room, a dozen of them burnt and dripping with acid. The greatest concentration was around two of the mechs, who were lying motionless atop a pile of monster corpses.

  There were three people still upright, fighting in the middle of the room. In the seconds since Luke arrived, each of them swung their sword at nearby monsters. Magic sprung from the blades, arcs of lightning, flames, and ice spread out around them. The attacks weren’t very effective, the spiders evaded by jumping back or phasing into the floor.

  Luke wasn’t sure he had seen that right until a nearby monster jumped onto a pumice boulder and then disappeared into it. These monsters could walk through walls.

  Cormac started chanting as soon as he entered the room and small balls of mana appeared around him, slowly orbiting his body. They bobbed up and down with his cadence, growing bigger the longer he sang.

  He cut off the chant and gestured out. Dozens of small spikes of mana shot out from his body in every direction. The spell covered the room in magic shrapnel and hit dozens of monsters at once. More than half of the monsters in the room fell dead from that single attack. The surviving squad members noticed Cormac for the first time and shouted for joy. Luke recognized the voices of Bumblebee, Sandwich, and Degenerate.

  The hair on the back of Luke’s neck stood up and he turned around. Oh no. That was a big one.

  “Contact rear!” Luke shouted.

  Today’s chapter title comes from Saving Private Ryan (1998)

  And that's Chapter 10 done. Now would be a great time to rate and review. Go on, it won't take you long.