Chapter 47: Heading out

  Deciding on which ability to take was one of the most irritatingly difficult choices I had ever had to make. Given that I betrayed and murdered two separate adopted fathers and turned on multiple people I had called friend or brother, I believe that says a lot about the difficulty of my choice.

  I came very close to choosing Conqueror's Aura for the additional Soul Expansion, or 'XP' as Diaochan sometimes referred to it. I refrained as I simply did not see myself working with any close allies any time soon. The same can honestly be said of each of the abilities, as they all had strong cases, but in the end, I chose [Iron Vanguard Assault], which propelled me forward at many times my normal dashing speed and reduced incoming damage while it did so. My mass was also increased during this dash based on how much Might I had. I didn't care to understand the equation, but I knew the stronger I was, the more powerful the ability became.

  That finally chosen, I wanted to get right back into working on the Chrome Prophet. I was lacking most of the knowledge, but with the data sent from the siblings, Diaochan could walk me through what to do with what parts and which tools. There was a slight problem, though. After a week living in the hunting grounds, I was out of supplies, and honestly, the terrible noodles weren't enough food to grow my stats anyway.

  Sure, I could and would keep killing drones to increase my level, but if I didn't use cybernetics or some sort of elixir or pill equivalent, I would need to actively grow my muscles if I intended to get my Might and so on closer to my maximum. To do that, I would need food with a bit more substance. Unlike a real wilderness, the beasts I slew in this block couldn't be eaten; they could be salvaged, though.

  I already had a fair number of digi-creds saved from the time I'd spent hunting on behalf of the siblings. Not in terms of buying a gun like I wanted or even bike parts, but for food, the slightly under fifteen hundred digi-creds listed in my HUD was more than enough to keep my belly full for an extended period. The problem wasn't my ability to purchase the supplies I needed, so much as going and getting them without raising attention.

  According to the last recording I had been sent by Ji-Ho and Ha-Rin, my daughter's efforts to find me hadn't slowed down, and in fact, Clan Irons had begun to circulate the information they had on me to the other clans in addition to offering them a significant reward for my head. The fact that the hunt hadn't been called off made me feel even more certain that Lyn Lu was, in fact, my Lu Linqi.

  On the upside, as of the last time we had spoken, the siblings were feeling increasingly confident that they were no longer under surveillance and had not been hacked. It was likely still too dangerous for us to share a call, but that may soon not be the case. For now, Fabio's ability to ascend between tiers to lose anyone tracking him after spending time with the two engineers would have to suffice.

  That thought made me smirk to myself as I left my home away from home on the morning of the eighth day after the incident at Sukarno's. Oh, how quickly I had grown accustomed to the conveniences of this new world.

  I was fairly confident that leaving the hunting ground and then returning to it was going to prove a more challenging affair than entering it the first time had been. Unfortunately, I didn't have much choice in the matter. I would go purchase as many days' worth of food as I could reasonably carry, return them to my hideout, then I would scour the areas of the hunting grounds that I had already slain drones in.

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  As I had gone on something of a rampage among the drones, there were many corpses of the machine beasts I hadn't bothered to bring back with me to Vaestro's Customs. Since I had gained a couple of levels and was now focusing on getting the Chrome Prophet working, it was time to retrieve the drone bodies I had left in my wake. After that, I intended to bathe with the hose that launched cold high-pressure water that I had found in Vaestro's Customs.

  I knew the fortifications and clan warriors surrounding this block were in place to contain the drones spawned by whatever it was that happened when an Over-Surge wasn't wiped out, but that didn't mean the Clan Yantra members wouldn't abandon that task if they thought there was a big enough reward in it for them.

  Obviously, I wasn't afraid. I am Lu Bu; I have never feared another man in my entire life. I could still feel it in my bones; today was going to be long, challenging, and dangerous. Hopefully, it would be productive and maybe even a little fun too.

  Given that the purple drones were functionally aggressive metal horses, the defenses set up by the Yantra Clan were mostly based around the 'ground level' of the block. So I headed upwards seeking a point where the metal grass-infested block that held the hunting ground was close enough to another that I could climb or leap to the next block.

  I had spotted or overheard a few hunting parties from the clan in the block whilst I had been living rough, but I didn't think these groups were seeking me so much as seeking to fill their Soul Expansion gauges. Fortunately, I didn't have any such encounters that morning.

  It still took almost two hours to find the collapsed terrace that suited my needs. I looked down upon it from the doorway that would have originally led to the balcony I was observing. The long and thin platform of cement was no longer directly attached to the outer wall of the block. Instead, the terrace hung from a series of metal cords that ran from it back into the wall where it would have once been secured.

  Taking a few seconds to observe the hanging balcony and how steady it might prove to be, should I leap the dozen or so feet down to it? That was when a small smile crept its way across my face as I knew I had been right all along. Today was going to be a lot of fun after all.

  "I don't know about this." Said Diaochan dubiously as I stowed my inactive spear and took a few steps back from the edge. We were on the thirty-second floor of the block. Up this far, the metallic grass was only just barely beginning to get a foothold. More importantly, a fall from this height would undoubtedly kill even me.

  Neither the potential for death nor my A.I assistant's lack of confidence were enough to put me off. I was hungry and I had made up my mind. Continuing to put distance between myself and the doorway that led directly out the side of the massive building.

  "At least let me try to analyze the sturdiness a little more. I haven't been able to confirm if that balcony can-"

  "Your objections have been heard, considered, and discarded," I told her curtly and began sprinting towards the open door. Leaping through it, I sailed over empty air and then landed upon the hanging balcony and continued my sprint.

  Even without a moment's pause at my landing, the corded platform began to swing out further away from the wall in a semi-circular motion. A smile was still plastered across my lips. I jumped again once I hit the end of the balcony, hurling myself towards the equally shattered and unkempt cement wall and balconies of the closest block.

  If I had acted too rashly, if I had let my hunger make me impatient and foolish, then I had consigned myself to a plummeting death. I did not believe this to be the case, however, not after I had watched seven or eight separate city net videos about my newest ability and how to get the most out of it. Waiting till the moment my leap reached its absolute zenith, I went ahead and activated [Iron Vanguard Assault].

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