Feeling the Rush

Taking the lane up to the entrance of the garage already was starting to show John two things:

One, he seriously underestimated how difficult it was to ride a motorcycle. This was apparent in his own insecurity and dread of falling over at any turn and any time he was slowing down. He obviously hadn't expected how much the bike actually weighed and couldn't properly handle it yet. The Driving skill clearly helped him with it, but it was still apparent that he couldn't just wing it if he actually wanted to ride properly.

Two, the enchantments on the bike were lifesavers. On the way up to the exit (there were two stories down John had learned), he almost toppled over with the bike at least twice, but thankfully the enchantments pushed the bike back upright when he was tripping over. If they were this consistent in helping him, then it would at least help to avoid serious damage to the bike as long as he had barely any idea of what he was doing.

As he exited the garage, he had already received a second level in the Driving skill, giving him a lot more confidence in his own driving. The garage led out onto one of the big streets surrounding the Sullivan Tower, actually not that far off from where the bus stop was. The road was pretty full, a nearby stop light showing red, giving John ample time to weave into the traffic, deciding to stick to the actual lanes for now (he had seen enough motorcycle riders weave in between standing traffic) until he had some experience.

Auditory Atmosphere Supplement Activated. Now Playing: Scandroid - Neo Tokyo

After about thirty seconds or so of waiting, the stoplight turned green, making the stream of cars (and John) slowly move forward. Since John had no proper idea about the layout of the city, he quickly pulled up the navigation app of his phone and put that into the corner of his HUD. It was a convenient way to see where he was going without actually missing anything happening on the road.

He followed the road until the came to a freeway entrance, which he followed up, taking a quick trip to the outskirts of the town.

He mostly wanted to test the power of the bike though.

As soon as he was on the motorway, he accelerated to the speed limit, quicker than he had anticipated, and then took off, overtaking many cars in the process.

Driving, Lv.3

The feeling was just too much to properly describe it, the wind blowing against the helmet was still an amazing feeling, just like it was two days ago when he was riding passenger with Brun. Except this time, this was all in his own control. He was deciding where to go and how fast to go. It was simply overwhelming, especially with the knowledge that the bike was his, his alone, and that he could now basically ride it whenever he wanted.

In a couple of days, he had achieved a sense of freedom he had only dreamed of in form of the stories he had written. By now he was living his own fantasy.

Taking an exit off the freeway, he landed at a hillside close to the woods surrounding Springfield. From there he had a pretty good look to the not-so-quaint town of Springfield and some of the surrounding neighbors. The clouds were breaking up by now, opening the view on a blue sky up above and sending down rays of sunshine onto the town. It might’ve been John’s selective view from up there, still jacked up on euphoria and adrenaline, but it felt to him like the rays were falling on various places in and around the town. The Sullivan Tower, Ashcroft Academy, a spot in the woods that could potentially be the Gjoskenholm hall, a mansion on the edge of the town. It felt special to him, it felt like it was telling him something.

The view was very nice, but there was something about it that made John both nervous and excited: the fact that it looked completely normal.

He by now had his abilities for about four days, and he had already seen how much insanity was going on inside the town. He was sure that he had barely scratched the surface yet in the town, but the thought of everything around him having a hidden side to it made him feel weird. Could he trust anyone 'mundane' anymore? Could they not just be Abyssal people as well that just hid their presence? How many of them were what John would consider 'immoral'? All of those were probably valid questions, but they also were nothing that he could answer right now, especially not on a hill outside of the town.

If he actually wanted to see how deep the rabbit hole went, then he had to dive into it. And he was ready to dive in face-first into all the weirdness he could muster.

Starting up the bike again, John checked both his watch and his Stats.

The clock said it was quarter to one, so he was gone for close to half an hour by now.

His character sheet meanwhile told him this:

Well, his mana certainly wasn't looking that great, but since the Bond of the bike had used up a point of Edge, that one wasn't surprising. It also told him that the bike was barely cutting into his Mana above his regeneration. If his calculation was right, the last half hour had cost him about 8 MP, making it pretty easy on the pool. This was certainly within his normal regeneration, so he had no worries there, but he decided that he would still keep at least some of the potions in the bike as a safety measure to keep him from being stranded.

Speaking of potions, John decided to properly look at them:

Mana Potion
Restore 100 MP
Quantity: 12

So, a dozen potions, that was neat. Quickly putting one of them in his personal inventory, he then started his drive back into the city, this time pushing just a bit beyond the speed limit.

The ride back was mostly uneventful except for the permanent joy John felt for his new state of life. Arriving back at the garage of the Tower, the gate guard quickly looked him up and down, nodded and opened the gate for him. Going down to the spot where he had taken his bike from, he unequipped the helmet and put it back into the pocket space of the bike.

The space around him shattered as he entered the Fateweaver barrier again, still sitting on the bike. As the blinding light subsided, he was greeted with the view of Grimbart and Lance working on a big APC like vehicle with multiple rows of tires and a big turret on the top of the vehicle. The thing was hoisted into the air with a bigger than usual car lift, and the two mechanics were working on the bottom of the big vehicle. Looking at their tools, John saw that they weren't just for mechanical works but there were also various crystals glowing in different colors and intensities. His assumptions was that they needed those to create some of the different enchantments that they would likely put on a vehicle like that.

Being way too curious, John approached them and simply asked, "Is it normal for people to ask for a vehicle like that?" Both mechanics didn't even turn around when he asked that question, but Lance still answered him.

"This vehicle is certainly not intended for the personal or conventional use. This is one of the vehicles that the enforcers and drop teams use. They need the extra protection since they mostly deal with... less friendly people than most field workers do." That answer surprised John. There were enforcers and drop teams in the Fateweavers? What did those jobs entail?

"Why would the Fateweavers have to use enforcers for anything?" For wording his thought, he just got a silent scoff from Grimbart.

"What do you think happens to clients who don't pay, boy? If you want something done right, do it yourself. These teams are combat pros taken from various merc groups in the near town, and put under contract so we pay them better than any scared shitbag could. Also there might be situations where the field workers fuck up their Barriers and they need someone to fix their shit, so the drop teams deal with that. Looking at you, I'd say that you'll meet them soon enough."

John just rolled his eyes in response, "Very funny, but I can deal with my fuck-ups myself, thank you very much."

The dwarf seemed to be surprised by that, as he turned around to John and looked him straight in the eyes. "Really? So you're actually telling me that you're interested in some handiwork, know how to clean up after yourself, and are still competent enough as a Fateweaver to make it to this job? Boy, you're either talking so much shit there or you might just be the second coming of Vic!"

That was a name he hadn't heard before, "Vic? Who's that?"

"Eh, he was pretty much the best Fateweaver this HQ had ever seen. He was charismatic, he had some proper balls, and he actually knew how to back up the shit he spewed. No idea what happened to him, at some point he just up and left, never to be seen again. Shame really. We had some fun nights. Anyway, you're talking big, kid. If you can even back up half of the shit you just said there, then I think I'm going to like you. Lance already seems to have taken a liking to you, but that doesn't say much. The tin can is easy to deal with."

Lancelot vehemently shook his head at that, "It's not just that, Grimbart! There's something about John that I can appreciate, something the other Fateweavers don't have... I can't put my finger on it..."

The boy in question had some hunches about that though. Lance was either somehow feeling SARAI through the connection in his brain or the magic enhancement of his brain that was apparently to a certain degree technical? John would probably still have to investigate that at some point... Shaking his head he looked at Grimbart. "Oh, I'll prove to you that I'm much more than just what I talk. I'm The Gamer, and in the end, everyone will bow down to my awesomeness!"

This proclamation got both a chuckle out of Lance and a boisterous laugh out of Grimbart, "Oh, sure, I'll bow down to your green ass and kiss your boots, as if! Like I said, survive the first weeks first."

The doors to the garage opened at that moment, and Hannah and Aloy entered through the doors separating it from the remaining hall.

Aloy looked fine, though maybe a bit sweaty. Did she actually have to deal with some kind of physical test?

As they came close to John and the two mechanics, the redhead began to smile a bit brighter at the sight of him. He put on his own smile and asked her, "So, how was it? Do I have to go up there and kick someone's shins for hurting you?"

The redhead shook her head, "No no, everything is fine. They just needed some information about where I came from and how my world looks like... then they took some blood and made me run on a strange machine, it wasn't anything bad."

Hannah intervened at that point, "Yes, she cooperated exceptionally with Rex and let him do his tests. I would like to ask you some questions though. Do you have a minute?"

John nodded his head while he looked at Aloy, "Is it okay if I-" he interrupted himself as he saw that she seemed to be completely focused on the mechanized mechanic behind him. Slowly moving forward, she took in every detail of the mech, carefully studying every piece of metal.

"Are... are you alive?" she asked, slightly prodding different parts of his chassis.

"I very much am, ma'am, and I would appreciate it if you didn't stare at me like that... It's unsettling," answered Lance, slowly moving away from the group.

That seemed to shake Aloy out of her concentration, "Oh, I'm so sorry; I guess my instincts must've kicked in there... I'm still not really used to machines not being hostile towards me or any other living thing... I didn't want to appear weird."

The robot just shook her off, "Ah, everyone here's weird in their own way. It's fine, but I would like to know more about what kind of 'machines' you had to deal with."

Seeing that as his cue to have that conversation with Hannah, he silently slumped away, pulling her with him.