(... T-those eyes, he really was going to kill me…)
With a heavy heart and struggling to bring his breathing under control, Nick felt his entire body go cold and start to shake when he remembered how easily Tom's eyes switched between warm and even slightly loving to straight up dead and void of any emotions.
(Fuck! Why was it me who had to find him? For once I would like not to be the centre of attention…)
When his little sister was taken Nick and the rest of his family had lost all hope, even though they continued to observe the old treaties, it seemed the humans had all but forgotten them over the years. Needless to say, when Nick's little sister reached out and told she had been rescued by a human of all things there was confusion all around, but even more so because the human claimed he was a servant of the most valiant lady of the Hunt. Following the attack on a seemingly random slave trader where he freed all the slaves in inventory, the human attacked the Rover slave hub and freed everyone before heading north where he closed a source of corruption. From these actions, the elders in Nick's village decided they needed to reach out to this human, even if he wasn't a servant of her fail lady like they were, they figured that at least a thanks was warranted, so they sent out their best and brightest youngsters to track down and make contact with the human, and Nick was the one who hit the 'jackpot'.
(Hopefully he'll leave us alone after all this, servant of the Hunt or not, a human doesn't belong in this forest…)
"Okay then, but to do all that I'll need to step up your training."
Having accepted Lisa's commission to take down the kingdom who held her mother captive, kill the knights who had chased her down and free her mom, Tom figured Lisa would enjoy being part of this plan so he figured she would need to get much more competent with violence.
"... What kind of training are you talking about?"
Already quite experienced with the barely veiled torture and torment Tom labeled as 'training', Lisa flinched slightly, but she didn't back down as she was prepared to suffer to forfill her dreams.
"Well, my old 'instructor' would describe it as mastery over violence, but I won't be pedantic like he was and just call it what it is: Getting really good at killing people. Good implies proficiency with weapons, tactics and your bare hands, and proficiency in turns implies sufficient understanding of all those tools."
"In plain words please."
"Like I have been for multiple years now, you will come to think about everything as a weapon or a threat, you will learn to maintain weapons so well you can do it in your sleep but most importantly I will teach you how to take a person apart."
"So nothing out of the ordinary, good."
"... Yeah, I guess it'll just be more of the same, but other than getting you in much better shape I'll also teach you a few different kinds of CQC."
While Tom wanted to correct Lisa, it really was just more of the same compared to what he had already taught her… Just with a few additions.
"CQC?"
"Close quarters combat, I guess we'll also do a lingo crash course… And books too, books never hurt."
When he mentioned books, Tom's mind started working in overdrive to figure out what he should have Lisa read, if she even could read and if he could somehow translate the books from his old world. Nevertheless before he started experimenting, Nick finally returned, his leg's still shaking slightly.
"I'm ready, if we're going to reach the village before nightfall when the monsters become active we need to hurry."
"Sure buddy, lead the way."
Picking up his pack, Tom was immediately ready to move out as he ignored Nick's frown.
"Fine."
"Lisa, can you pull security as we move?"
Following Nick as he led the way, Tom got an idea too tempting to wait around to test out, thus he delegated his work to Lisa."
"Sure, I'll do my best."
Lisa however took on the new responsibility as she figured it was part of her training, unaware that Tom just wanted to fuck around for bit.
"Great, I'll be asking my employer some questions in the meanwhile."
As the trio started moving, Tom started focusing while he remembered the warm sensation he had before when he summoned equipment, while he doubted that he could actually summon something while he was walking around, asking what was available should be no issue at all.
Or so Tom hoped anyway.
INTERFACE_CONFIRMED:_ACTIVE.
CONNECTION_SECURE.46.321_POINTS_AVAILABLE.
(Bingo… I want to see what's available for purchase at the moment and what the price is for more advanced equipment, is that okay?)
Lucking out on his theory, Tom tried asking… Whatever it was he used to call on equipment from his old world was a question.
AFFIRMATIVE:_INTERFACE_CONFIRMED_ACTIVE.
CONNECTION_SECURESTANDING_BY_FOR_QUERY.
Lucking out twice in a row, Tom decided to swing for gold immediately.
(Can I buy a W87 mod 2X warhead?)
REQUEST_CONFIRMED:NOW_SEACHING.
STANDBY… QUERY_COMPLEATE
STATUS:_LOCKED.
As expected there wasn't even a price or indication that whatever system was managing Tom's rights would ever hand him a 545 kiloton fusion warhead to "wild out with" but he had half expected this.
(Well shit… What about a 155MM M795?)
REQUEST_CONFIRMED:NOW_SEACHING.
STANDBY… QUERY_COMPLEATE
STATUS:_AVALIBLE
COST:_5.000_POINTS
(That's a bit expensive, but for what it is I guess that's a reasonable price. What about something a bit larger… Say a 203mm OF43?)
REQUEST_CONFIRMED:NOW_SEACHING.
STANDBY… QUERY_COMPLEATE
STATUS:_AVALIBLE
COST:_6.000_POINTS
(So about double the TNT equivalent only costs 1000 points more? That's great to know, still a 40 something kilo round is a pain to lug around… Speaking of, I unlocked UAV-LA class weapons didn't I? What's the cost of a M19 Wasp? Both the block II and block III variants?)
Getting his mind off of the idea of using artillery shells to create IEDs for the moment, Tom started focusing on loitering munitions that he had recently unlocked instead.
REQUEST_CONFIRMED:NOW_SEACHING.
M19_WASP_BLOCK_II
STANDBY… QUERY_COMPLEATE
STATUS:_AVALIBLE
COST:_5.000_POINTS
M19_WASP_BLOCK_III
STATUS:_AVALIBLE
COST:_5.500_POINTS
As the name suggested, loitering munitions were a freakish mix of a UAV drone, a cruise missile and a high explosive fragmentation warhead. Able to be buried in their launch tubes then launched on remote command, survey an area before picking out targets, presenting said targets to the drone pilot before making the chosen target(s) one with the ground.
Tom had used the M19 Wasp a lot in his previous life, from single-target HVT elimination to swarm attacks it could do almost everything he looked for in such a weapon system.
(So the block 2 with its fragmentation warhead is 5000 points, but for 500 more I get slightly longer time in surveillance and a HEF-DP warhead that can deal with armour… I guess I don't need that most of the time as I don't really deal with tanks that often here, still it is nice to know that it exists.)
The great thing about the loitering munitions such as the Wasp was that Tom could talk to them with them using the same implant that he used as a downlink to the GE-54A3 Albatros, it could even be used as a relay station to remotely activate sleeping Wasps up to 100 kilometres away from his current position.
(... For shits and giggles, what's the cost of a block 15?)
REQUEST_CONFIRMED:NOW_SEACHING.
M19_WASP_BLOCK_XV
STANDBY… QUERY_COMPLEATE
STATUS:_AVALIBLE
COST:_2.500_POINTS
Instead of a fragmentation warhead, the block 15 variant had extended loitering time and was 'armed' with a series of blades which extended out from the body of the drone just before impact, while Tom never used it as he really saw no need for it compared to the block 3 or even the block 10, the low price in this world made it sort of viable.
(Well, that certainly gives me some options if those knights start bothering us again, but spending 60.000 points for a single attack wave of Wasp's is a bit pricey… What I really need is a cheap and effective deterrent.)
In all his years of extensive black operations work and work as a merc there was one threat which always worked as a surefire deterrent.
(Seeing your buddies head explode out of nowhere always puts a damper on things… What would it cost to get a M-999 ATR with a EXACTO kit and ammunition?)
QUERY_COMPLEATE
STATUS:_LOCKED.UNABLE_TO_PURCHASE_AT_THIS_MOMENT.
(Shit, yeah I kinda figured that anti material and anti tank rifles would be locked… If only those suits and lab coats developed EXACTO kits and ammunition for 8.75mm…)
While he had sort of expected it, Tom hoped he would have access to self aiming ammunition for long range operations, but to his surprise the system reacted to his last idle thoughts.
REQUEST_CONFIRMED:NOW_SEACHING.
STANDBY… QUERY_COMPLEATE
EXACTO_KIT_FOR_8.75mm
STATUS:_AVALIBLE
COST:_20.000_POINTS
8.75mm_EXACTO_AMUNITION
STATUS:_AVALIBLE
COST:_500_POINTS
8.75mm_EXACTO_MOD_2_AMUNITION
STATUS:_AVALIBLE
COST:_900_POINTS
"Wait, what the fuck?"
Stopping in his tracks at those news, Tom attracted the attention of both Lisa and Nick. While Lisa rolled her eyes before going back to ignoring Tom when she figured he just had one more of his random outbursts, Nick tried to strike up a conversation with Tom.
"Hey, what's goi-"
"Shut up for a moment."
"Yes sir."
Having just found out that he could request items he didn't know existed, and that two generations of 8.75mm EXACTO ammunition existed he now no longer feared whatever the Kingdom could throw at him.
(Hmm, then what else would I need to help Lisa reach her full potential?...)
As Tom continued looking into everything from training manuals to weapon attachments and toilet paper, Nick was breaking out into a cold sweat yet again.
(There's no doubt about it, he really is a servant of our great lady…)
Just by the amount of divine mana radiation out from Tom, Nick no longer had any doubts left, and the fact that this servant of the gods had wanted to kill him meant that the elders might possibly believe he was opposing the most ruthless lady of the hunt.
Needless to say, this was a death sentence he very much wanted to avoid.
"I'm sorry about earlier, it was entirely my fault and I shouldn't ever interfere between you and the Apostle."
".."
Staring at Nick for a bit wondering how to respond, Lisa eventually just rolled her eyes before answering.
"Whatever, just as long as you remember what you're not to talk about."
Ever since Nick had appeared seemingly out of nowhere in front of Lisa she kept up the magical disguise which hid her real eyes and ears, this wasn't out of fear, but an active disdain she held for her own people.
-
"Hmm."
Having arrived at the elven village, the fact that he found himself in a fantasy world had finally settled in for Tom. Setting aside the sort of mediaeval setting he had seen so far, with knights, stone buildings and farmer peasants, the seemingly grown-to-order houses and buildings making up this approximately 100 person village hidden inside a dense forest really seemed to sell the reality. Speaking of the village 'people', they all had longer than normal and pointed ears, although there was some difference between their heights, complexions, builds and the shape of their ears Tom couldn't tell if it was simple genetic drift or different races of elves.
In fact, the only unifying characteristic Tom could find with these villagers save for their long ears was the look of open disdain in their eyes as they stared at him and the disguised Lisa.
"I can see how you feel now, still what's up?"
Understanding why Lisa preferred to keep her race hidden when among humans, Tom didn't fathom why she was now willingly subjecting herself to xenophobia.
"Because their looks of admiration would be worse… That seems to be the village elder."
Briefly explaining the reason why she didn't want to blend in with the villagers, Lisa's eyes turned sharp when an older elver gleaming with mana stepped out in front of her, Nick and Tom.
"... I hope you have a good reason to bring these humans into our sanctuary."
Completely speaking past Lisa and Tom, the elder directly addressed Nick without even attempting to hide his disdain for humans.
"I'm here because I saved your young and were invited."
Not taking kindly to his treatment, Tom had already put a hand on his holstered pistol and answered before Nick could get down on one knee to respectfully answer the elder's question.
"YOU DARE!-"
"Yeah I do, now I need a room with two beds, privacy and some water. Get that for me."
Purposely waiting for the elder to speak up in anger, Tom started releasing bloodlust along with divine mana. Needless to say this effect was almost immediate, as some of the villagers who had looked at him with disdain only movements earlier fell to their knees in prayer while the elder broke out in a cold sweat and folded almost instantly.
"U-understood."
With the elder dealt with, Tom turned to Nick who also broke out in a cold sweat when faced with bloodlust.
"We're taking a break here for a few weeks, if your superiors really want to talk with me immediately tell them to come to us instead."