Chapter 17 - The Second Orb (1/2)
”so, what now?”
after having travelled for a couple of hours the group decided to stop and have a quick lunch, after which the still slightly annoyed Alice asked about their future plans
”yeah that's a good question”
”wha-!”
”well jokes aside. Viktor, Laura you guys can both use fire magic right?”
”um”
”yeah a bit”
”how hot can you get the flames? hot enough to melt steel?”
”impossible..”
”yeah there's no way that's possible”
”why?”
”okay let me show you”
viktor quickly grabbed his staff and after a second a small fireball appeared in the palm of his hand
”now this is fire magic in the most basic form, if i wanted to increase the size i just increase the area like this”
canceling the first fireball Viktor once again channeled mana into his staff, this time a larger fireball, about a meter in diameter appeared in front of him
”now this is a larger scale fire magic, but the temperature is almost the same”
”what if you try and compress it?”
”this is what happens”
Viktor slowly compressed the fireball, bit after about 5 seconds the flame went out
”well of course it did, you choked the flame”
”i...what?”
not only Viktor, but everyone else present gave Dax a confused look
”Viktor what is needed to start a fire?”
”some sort of fuel and a spark, why?”
”okay… to make a fire, or start and maintain a combustion cycle you need 3 things. first as you said you need fuel, second you need not a spark but proper temperature and third is oxygen, or air”
receiving blank stares all around, Dax gave a sigh before giving up on his chemistry lesson
”oh well, it doesn't really matter. that just means all of you have to protect me while i break though the orb's ablative heat shield…. okay for now i want Redmond in front with Eduard right behind, with Viktor and Laura on the flanks for ranged attacks.”
”what about me?”
”you my lovely Alice are on overwatch, therefore you can borrow this”
Dax quickly tossed Alice his mask, which she caught with a suspicious look on her face
”are you gonna stick it to my face again?”
”while that would be entertaining, no. come on you can trust me for once Alice”
”okay…”
with a nervus look on her face, Alice equipped the mask
[INTERFACING, STANDBY.. COMPLETE. LIMITED MIND MELT IN EFFECT]
”woah, this is amazing!”
”yeah yeah calm down Alice, for now i will spot targets as we move closer to the orb but it'll be your job once i start breaking through the heat shield, so listen to ICI, its gonna explain how to use it”
”ah i can hear ICI in my head…”
Alice started to seemingly talking with herself, with an increasing amount of annoyance in her voice
”yeah i am focusing! what the hell do you mean thermal vision! and what the f.u.c.k kind of language is that!?”
”is she gonna be okay?”
”yeah Alice is a smart kid Redmond, i think”
”Dax is ICI always this annoying?”
”welcome to my world…”
after about half an hour, Alice started to get the hang of using the sensor masks features
”are you good Alice?”
”yeah, but it's still a little strange being able to see… well….like this”
”okay just focus on getting used to it, let's move out”
”ah but Dax don't you need the mask to spot threats?”
”nah, i won't need it. ICI this is a combat situation, right?”
[AFFIRMATIVE, LIMITERS RELEASED.]
Lazarus 04-Omega class custom cybernetic implant: Eye of Argos
made by the illusive Lazarus cybernetic industries, the eye of Argos was designed exclusively for use of qitons. making use of the artificial nature of qiton fysiologi, Lazarus industries made not only a first class cybernetic implant, but build an entire processing system around that and integrated directly with the occipital lobe, allowing it to surpass natural limits. the eye is made up of 4 individually moving lenses arranged in a diamond pattern, allowing for vision on par with high spec military sensors.
”i can finally get this stupid thing of my face”
Dax quickly removed his eyepatch that covered his left eye, revealing an artificial eye with a faint red glow, to the surprise of the members of Blue Phoenix
['EYE OF ARGOS' ONLINE]
”if your eye works then why were you wearing a eyepatch?”
”...creepy..”
”oohh! it's glowing, yeah that is kind of creepy”
”yeah it is kinda creepy right? sadly this thing was made with only functionality in mind, but it's really handy, a little to handy to be honest”
”how so?”
”i'll show you a example Redmond, i'll read Laura”
”read her?”
”yeah, okay let's see.. from this range i can clearly see her carotid arteries, from that i can judge her pulse, which is a bit higher than normal. now i observe her lovely blue eyes, pupils are slightly too wide for this light level, that combined with the small amount sweat forming on her forehead and her pulse i can asses that she is scared of me, but also slightly curious.”
”...how..did…..you?”
”with this eye i can see stuff like this, in combat i can even predict my enemies movement by observing their eye movements and/or muscles, or i could the count individual leaves of the highest tree on that mountain over there”
””...creepy””
after spending an extended brake the group moved further into arachnid territory as the forest slowly started to thin out and as it gradually turned into tundra with rare pine trees dotting the landscape. after reaching a spot where a few pine trees cl.u.s.tered together, Dax stopped moving.
”okay let's stop here for a moment”
”Dax this is the 3rd time, why are we randomly stopping?”
”i just want to see you getting frustrated for a moment, Alice~”
”wha-!”