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(BUS)Chapter 28: Temporary goodbye
🕑 Added 2024-10-19 15:56:31 +0000 UTCMaya rolled her eyes at that but didn't argue since I was right. Besides that one monk I shot the ear off of I hadn't harmed a hair on the any of their heads. Hell I hadn't even threatened them and they still act as if I'm some bear holed up in a pantry. It was a bit annoying to be honest as they keep complaining about it when in fact we all know they were just too cowardly to actually come near me.
"How long are you planning to stay by the way?" Maya asked changing the subject.
"My answer is still the same as the last three times you've asked Maya, about a month. I'll spend about another month collecting traits from the wildlife here on Athenas before spending the last two months hunting Ratch and the beasties taken from Hydran." I said for the fourth time in the last two weeks.
"Can you just I don't know extend your time here or something, I like having you around?" she asked with large pleading eyes.
"Oh is that right? I assume that has NOTHING to do with the food you've been eating at all." I said and she looked away with a sheepish smile at being called out like that.
"Okay so MAYBE that a part of it but I'm not lying! It's nice to have someone else like me around, someone who understands what it's like. It also helps that you're hot." she admitted shyly.
"And thirteen as I keep reminding you. Seriously I get that I look like an adult but stop looking at me like I'm a piece of meat. At least for another few years anyways." I said and she blushed.
I had made it clear as day that while I too found her sexy as shit I refused to entertain any thoughts of acting on that idea until I was at least sixteen, which was biologically speaking a perfectly acceptable point to become sexually active. No one would bat an eye about it either as few ever lived past forty in the borderlands so hooking up early was even considered the norm. As someone from modern day earth that felt foreign but I was adaptable(pun intended) if nothing else. Sixteen was the lowest I was willing to accept however which means another year for Maya who was fifteen and another two and change for myself.-
I suppose I should point out that Maya had no intention of leaving Athenas until it was stable again which would take a few years at least. The mass exodus of people REALLY fucked the planet in terms of economy and government. Those left were watching to see if Maya went full tyrant or was good to her word and really had no intention of ruling any of them. I helped her a little since I was decently educated at this point and told her some of the ways I could think of to fix the issues but the truth was that unless a corporation bought the planet it was going to take some time to smooth things out.-
You may have noticed that nowhere in my said schedule did I mention grabbing her traits and that was mostly because over the last two weeks I had already grabbed three that I wanted [Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade] and [Energy reservoir-Epic grade]. I had only integrated [Energy projection] so far which caused the range of my powers to extend in every direction to a total of twenty five feet. This was just an extra ten from the fifteen that the single stack of it gave me but was still very useful.-
I hadn't integrated [Energy reservoir] or [Quick thinking] yet simply because I wasn't entirely sure if it was a good idea. [Energy reservoir] for example created a sort of energy storage capacity within the body of a certain amount of energy. For anyone else that would be great but I had this instinct that if I personally added it to myself I'd cripple the potential of my powers. It wasn't hard to figure out HOW either after going over the way I understood my powers.-
See right now I could in theory hold an infinite amount of lifeforce(my energy of choice), If I took this trait however that infinity would suddenly have a limit and a small one at that. I decided to give the trait to my pet after figuring this out but simply hadn't gotten around to doing so yet. [Quick thinking] followed a similar reasoning in that I simply hadn't gotten around to it yet, not the it's bad for me part. My days here at the archives were fairly peaceful and since I already had a game plan I wasn't in a rush to leave.-
Anyone who says that not having a plan was a good way to live was lying through their ass and should be shot for giving bad advice. A GOOD way to live would be to have a plan and then prepare yourself for it not working out. Then you feel like you have some control over things even if shit goes flying fucked sideways. Hell plans don't even NEED to be complicated, wake up and go outside, was a plan despite it's simplicity.-
In my case I lived by a series of small adaptable plans that let me live however I wanted without worrying about it. Thanks to this the next two weeks went by smoothly and I finished the books I had picked out from the archive. I of course made copies of the information within them on my echo but I was officially done with the archive. -
"Time to hit the road huh?" Maya asked as she saw me step out of the archive for the first time since I got there a month ago.
"Yep, gonna grab any useful or interesting traits on this planet before heading back to Eden six for those tasty beasties the old man's got waiting for me." I said with a casual grin.
"Guess this is goodbye then." she said with a sad look.
"Only for now, I'm sure you'll bump into me eventually after you finally leave this place." I said with a chuckle.
Not wanting to drag this out any longer than necessary I turned and set off in a jog away from the monastery and towards the wild area nearby. The day was pleasant with clouds floating lazily overhead and a constant but gentle breeze that caused the bamboo, trees and other plants to rustle and wave.-
I could jog for hours if I paced myself so as my boots crunched on the grass and dirt as I went I took in my surroundings leisurely. There wasn't much in terms of wildlife this close to the monastery but the place was vibrant with green and blue plantlife all over the place. The air smelled of the stuff and a strong earthiness that was pretty bland. The area not inhabited by people nearest the monastery was a small forest of bamboo and those odd blue leafed bonsai looking trees.-
{Leafur
Lifeforce: 370
Traits: [Dexterous hands-Common grade]- 500 units, [Sharp sight-Common grade]- 500 units, [Compact form-Common grade]- 500 units, [Environmental camouflage(silver bark tree)- Rare grade]- 5000 units}
In the blue leafed trees lived small lemur-like creatures that were clearly quite used to people as they not only didn't shy away from me but were more than happy to climb up my body and even play or groom themselves on me. They were about a foot long and had blue fur that matched the trees they lived in as well as tails that looked like the leaves of said tree but were made of fur and cartilage rather than leaf.-
I wasn't particularly interested in any of their traits to be honest as even the Rare grade trait was clearly an adaptation to evade the few predators that lived on this planet by blending into the trees they lived on. I could see the things being quite popular pets though as they were adorable, hyper friendly and enjoyed getting petted. Most of them went back to their tree once I started to walk away but one of them seemed perfectly content to nap on my shoulder which ended up forcing me to take it off and put it on the tree.-
The next creature I encountered was not much better in terms of traits and was just as friendly as the Leafurs. It was a small feline about the size of a normal house cat but was clearly more of a forager/scavenger as it's body was lean and it had a pouch of skin on it's stomach used for storing food for later. Physically speaking the creature was roughly built like a racoon but less bulky and with clear feline features. It's fur also had a green color to it that let it blend into the grass and bamboo with ease.-
I hadn't seen the predator of this area but judging from these details in both the species I had encountered so far I was willing to bet it was either a avian of some sort or relied heavily on it's vision. Anyways this feline creature called a [Gramut] had no hesitation at all walking up to me and shaking it's paws at me as if to beg for scraps much the same way a racoon would ask for something. Once it became clear I didn't have any food to give it thought the creature lost interest and wandered off.-
{Morak
Lifeforce: 1299
Traits: [Ambush muscles-Common grade]- 500 units, [Sharp vision- Common grade]- 500 units, [Active camouflage- Epic grade]- 20,000 units, [Powerful jaws-Common grade]- 500 units}
This fucker got me good after I had let down my guard because of those two friendly species. See I was walking through the woods right and all of a sudden one of these bitches springs out of bloody thin air and latches onto my upper arm and bit down hard with it's shark-like teeth before thrashing.-
My shield stopped any damage but I was NOT in a good mood and blew it's fucking head off with a satisfying red mist explosion. It had a trait I very much wanted however so I immediately planned a little population control to get some copies to stack. [Active camouflage] was more or less the shit that chameleons could do but in this case turned up to ten as it blended almost to the point of perfect invisibility. I obviously grabbed the trait and lifeforce without a second thought.
_______________________________________________
Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 508,578
Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Uncommon grade]X3,[Enhanced senses-Rare grade], [Omega body-Rare grade]x4,[Superior bones-Rare grade],[Armored hide-Rare grade], [Fire resistance-Uncommon grade], [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade]x2, [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Minor regeneration-Rare grade][Iron stomach-Uncommon grade], [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade]
Stored traits: [Amphibious lungs], [Water resistance],[Quick thinking], [Energy reservoir][Active camouflage]
Comments
Christian Jeffress
Thank you very much for another excellent chapter.
Troy Malloy
Thanks for the chapter!
