Knights Apocalyptica

Chapter 103: Custom Mods

Erec stared at glowing light arrayed around his Vallum Armor. The smooth plating and large pauldron on one side. Breathtaking as always, but it was due for a change. After a long day of more noble bullshit, he’d slunk off to his research center.

It’d undergone a change, with all the boxes opened up and sorted out, and even a couple of personal projects were. VAL swore by the ‘innovation’ rule, which allowed all researchers a portion of time dedicated to personal projects. Since nothing had been formally started yet, and they lacked training, the experiments were still simple.

VAL had tasked him with writing safety procedures before allowing Erec to get to his own ‘innovations.’

It’d been tedious to transcribe, but at long last, Erec was free to toy around with his Armor.

He'd already pulled apart some of the plating—mostly to poke around in the interior; and reinforce the Q.A.P a bit more. A bit of full proofing for his Armor, which would hopefully mitigate repairs on the road.

There were essential systems he didn’t want to fail on the trip. And taking his Armor apart and doing maintenance was excellent practice for the upcoming Scavenging and Armor Modification exam.

Overall, the Vallum model prioritized a modular design. Its redundant systems made it easier when going on extended outside-of-the-wall expeditions. Good starting places when facing real-world conditions, and in terms of modifications… Erec had been thinking it over for a while.

With this research center, he didn’t have the funding to purchase any custom or luxury hardware.

So, over the last couple of weeks, he turned over ideas of how he wanted to tailor the design to himself in his head. If he were honest with himself, it kept firm in his mind because it was an escape from life's pressing realities. Dealing with these merchants—they’d given three attempts so far to wrangle out of his feast… And the damn exams made his heart hammer as he worried about grades.

All he wanted was to roam the roads and be away from everything else.

The design he came up with was crude but simple. Erec took off a pauldron and began to drill into the plating—enough to secure a bolt and a spike to the other side. He repeated the process, turning the shoulder plate into another weapon.

Once that was complete, he welded spikes onto the knuckles of his gauntlets.

This was, well, what his instructor would label as a ‘beginner modification.' It was inelegant. But Goddess be damned, Erec was sure it’d be effective.

More potential weapons to use in battle—to ram things, or punch things in combat if he lost hold of his axe. With Fury, he already became a living weapon, so why not have his Armor reflect that?

As he finished the labor of love and war, he took a step back and admired his work; the menacing spikes on the shoulder and fists made for a hell of an intimidating sight. Internally, Erec turned over the idea of adding one more—right above the visor and on his forehead, but… that might look a bit goofy.

But if he headbutted a creature... The potential carnage…

[Have you ever thought about going through a Rift?] VAL’s mechanical voice buzzed in his head.

Erec’s train of thought vanished at the question. “No. It’s a bad idea, unless you’re doing it for research. And even then, no matter how stable the rift is, there’s always a chance of getting sealed on the other side.

[Has that happened before?]

“Yeah, though, the Knights in question dived in to seal the Rift—set off enough magic on either side of one, and you have the potential to collapse it. One side is often less stable than the other, so if it’s stable here, there’s a decent chance it’d be easier to collapse on the other. But you’re as good as dead if you do.” Erec let that hang in the air.

[I can’t help but wonder about those modified canines you fought not long ago, with the wires and implanted blades. It made me wonder if there are other worlds with technology that spawn those ‘monsters’ you face.]

“That isn’t something the church would approve of.”

[Why should you concern yourself with their morality? They have ulterior motives by limiting your access to old-world technology. No matter their claims, I’m well aware of several pieces of defensive technology that would enhance the safety of your walls.]

“VAL, we’ve been through this before. Anything that scale—coming from outside the walls, they’d shut it down in an instant.” Erec felt a headache coming on. Was there a point to this discussion? They both knew the Kingdom approached reality with a ridiculous slant; the more time he spent with VAL, the more apparent that became. And their bans on non-magic tech were by no means consistent.

Even more concerning, was Erec found it hard to believe the Goddess truly cared what they did past killing shit and gaining power. It made no sense, but he didn’t have an answer

[Have you thought about investigating the church?]

“I—Now you’re being ridiculous.”

[Am I? A large institution with little oversight ruled by claimed divine mandate? If ever there was a recipe for human corruption…]

“What am I supposed to do about any of that? Look at where we are—“

[Yes, we’re in the research facility of a newly appointed Count favored by the Kingdom. A count that they’re lining up to be involved with a project that goes directly against the Church. By all appearances, you’re already being maneuvered into a position for their devices against that institution. But, Buckeroo, the problem is you don’t seem to be all too invested or aware of what’s happening around you.]

“It’s not that! I know, it doesn’t look good,” Erec yelled, tossing a piece of scrap metal against a nearby wall at the sudden prod from the machine. It was making him feel dumb.

But he knew what it was saying—he’d thought about it too. This situation stunk, and he felt like he was being puppeted around the more he learned from Garin and Lionel about how the world worked. But knowing that and being able to deal with it were two different things. What could he do? What the hell did he know about politics? This wasn’t a game he wanted to play to begin with, and fuck them for trying to get him involved

[Relax. I was making a point.]

“How screwed I am? Is that the point?” Erec’s shoulders dropped.

[How you need to begin to make strategic objectives and not comply earnestly to the mandates of others. I wasn’t programmed for business strategy, but I’ve had plenty of talks with Dan Brovski. The corporate world is cut-throat, and with your appointment on a management team, the sooner you learn to deal with it, the better.]

“Easier said than done.”

[It’s all about leadership style, buckeroo. You have to develop your own, trying to force in the wrong type comes off as unnatural and will cause undue stress. Ultimately won’t work for things on this level. It takes time to develop, but, you have to work towards it to make any kind of tangible progress.] VAL’s buzzing turned soothing; as it tried to take a step back and ease the already mounting tension.

But that tension had no place to go. Hadn’t for months.

And thinking about it, as much as he’d kept making this expedition up as an excuse to free himself from this lifestyle—it was only temporary. It wouldn’t rid him of these problems and might make things worse.

Fuck.

“VAL…”

“Val?” Boldwick’s voice called out from the entryway to his workshop; Erec froze as the man entered, his eyes doing a quick sweep of the research center. He looked relatively surprised and curious—but there wasn’t anyone else in here. Certainly not at this hour. “Who were you talking to?”

[Lie.]

Except Erec didn’t know how to lie about it, the sudden shock of seeing his mentor here of all places when he least expected it threw him through a loop. Boldwick raised an eyebrow at him.

[Lie!]

“I—uh—Nicknamed my er, Armor. It’s a Vallum Model… So I, uh, named it VAL…”

[By Dan…]

He didn’t need to see Boldwick’s face to tell that the man scarcely believed that, not with how shaky his voice was. Nor the sudden flush creeping onto his expression. Boldwick rubbed at his eyes. “Alright. So you’re going to lie? After all this time? I heard you talking to yourself before I came in. And I don’t think you’re only cracking from the stress.”

Erec kept his lips shut. Not that he could open them and say what he wanted anyway.

“I’d suspected something was off for—does putting on Colin’s modified helmet on your Markos ring a bell? Or mysteriously finding your Armor in the sewer after my men combed it… or…” Boldwick trailed off, his eyes sweeping the lab. “…All this. Why the sudden interest in a research building? You’re capable of a lot, but I wouldn’t consider this sort of thing your natural inclination."

“You’ve been using old-world tech, haven’t you?”

“I—“

[Tell him that is confidential business information! No—don’t admit to anything! Wait, say that—]

“…That’s—Yeah,” Erec didn’t bother confusing it further, and for the moment, VAL seemed too stunned to figure out the best approach. Boldwick wasn’t surprised, but his brief flicker of disappointment hurt far more than any condemnation.

“Honestly, have you been scared of the church? Is that why? Erec, I pushed a gun on you—I can’t… It’s fine. I see it in your eyes. You don’t want to fess up to whatever you found, and that’s alright. But know that I’m not going to sit here and judge you over it; when you want to confess whatever is going on, I’ll be here waiting to listen. I’m only hurt you don’t think you can admit it to me.” Boldwick walked over to a counter, turning over one of the glass beakers in his hand.

Erec opened his mouth and then shut it. What could he say?

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I thought it might have had something to do with your Talent, but… Well, it’s obvious to me that two separate things were going on. In the shadow of that talent, I don’t think anyone else had picked up on it.” Boldwick put the glass down and sighed. “Honestly, with this whole thing—“ he gestured to the research center, “Your whole life now as a Count. I’ve been thinking of what I can do to help, but there’s a reason I’ve remained a Master Knight this long. Namely, this side of being a noble… Well, it’s not honest work, and I’ve never found a way to square it with myself.”

Boldwick took a long look at the room.

“But, I’ll help you find a way. Whatever route you choose. I am backing you, Erec. Not the Order, not the Kingdom. My students have been and always will be my priority.”

“…I don’t deserve that loyalty, but you don’t know what it means to mean.” Erec felt his throat close up, a pit of anger at himself and VAL in his chest—after lying for so long, Boldwick didn’t even take it personally.

“You’re inviting me to that feast you’re throwing. That’s an order.” With that, Boldwick stormed out of the room. Leaving Erec to devour himself with self-loathing.

And gratitude for the man that’d changed his life. He could only hope to do better by his mentor.