War Core Wednesday! War Core 4, Chapter 7.

Chapter 7.

Hugh woke from a deep sleep with a dull pain throbbing in his side. The face of a monster hovered over him as he opened his eyes, causing Hugh to shriek and scramble across the floor. It took a moment to remember where he was and what was going on. A soft rumble from Blaylock and a hissing yip from the Ssath must have been what passed for a derisive chuckle from the two species. Neither respected anything other than strength, and his recent actions didn’t exactly exude strength to the party that he now belonged to.

“I didn’t mean to startle you, we’re still in the safe zone. How are you feeling?” The Yaelar, Dalven, said. It was his face that Hugh had seen when he first awoke, and the fact that the Yaelar looked like a werewolf hadn’t exactly helped Hugh to keep to his composure. Despite the frightening visage, the Yaelar was about the only one of his party that Hugh felt was a true ally. The others were all alliances of convenience.

“I think I’m fine, the pain’s still there but I can function. How long have I been out?” Hugh asked.

“About four hours, your wound was severe and while I don’t know much about your species, it appears that the blade hit something vital. It was lucky you made it into the safe zone, this place has some form of accelerated healing for us while we’re inside. Here, I think this belongs to you,” Dalven said, passing Hugh his Ka-Bar knife back. The Yaelar must have been the one that plucked it from his grasp when Hugh blindly flailed away with it as he was being dragged to safety.

Hugh pulled up his uniform and could see the ugly wound left behind by the alien blade that had hit him. There was a small pool of blood next to where he had lain, but the wound itself was mostly clotted over and only a small bit of blood oozed from where he had stressed the wound with his movements. The blade that had stabbed him, complete with the severed alien hand still grasping it, was casually tossed into the corner of the chamber they were in.

“You were the one that pulled me inside, I would have died without your help. Thank you, not just for this, but also for your help in defending my home,” Hugh said. He owed the Yaelar big time, and could only hope that he could repay the favor during their coming battles.

Looking around, Hugh could see the rest of the group was resting or had the glazed look in their eyes that indicated they were looking at system information. The compartment they were in was a large metal cube, with no visible doorways. Realizing that he wasn’t about to die, Hugh got to work. Several prompts flashed in the corner of his vision, demanding that he review them. Before he sorted through the system messages, Hugh walked over to the severed alien hand that held the knife that had almost killed him. He pried the fingers off the blade and took a look at the alien dagger.

The weapon had the look of a simple, mass-produced piece. At least the aliens had a similar hand structure, so it felt comfortable enough in his grip. While it was not nearly as good as his current blade, Hugh figured that having an extra melee weapon wasn’t something he could overlook. There was no sheath, but Hugh was able to find a spot on his belt that he could slide the knife into where it could be accessed easily enough and he wouldn’t accidentally cut himself as he moved around. His pistol remained in the holster, useless without more ammo. With his weapons squared away Hugh dove into the system messages.

You have entered a safe zone. Inside, medical nanobots will greatly increase the natural healing of any wounds you may have suffered. While inside the zone, sleeping will accelerate this healing effect. A reward interface is placed on each wall of this compartment and you may interact with it at any time during your rest period. Your personal supply chest can also be accessed through the interface.

Hugh wasn’t sure exactly how these rewards worked. He had forty-nine contribution points which he knew could be exchanged for some kind of reward, but the personal supply chest was still a bit of a mystery. Looking at the closest wall, a small tablet-like screen was placed, which must be the reward interface. As Hugh touched the screen, the system connected directly to his interface, making whatever he selected as rewards a private affair. Being that he was still not entirely trusting of his allies, Hugh was glad to be able to keep at least some secrets from them.

Please select from the following.

1. Contribution Rewards.

2. Personal Supply Chest.

Hugh first opted for the personal supply chest, not wanting to purchase something as a contribution reward if got a similar item from the chest. When he selected the option, a small compartment opened in the metal of the wall and the footlocker that held his gear when he first arrived at the battle pits, was pushed out. There were no latches on the box, but once Hugh touched it, the lid dissolved away, the GCA reprocessing the material before his eyes.

It looked like a pretty good haul. Hugh found three loaded magazines for his pistol as well as a small box of twenty rounds to reload them with. He inserted a mag, chambered a round, and then topped off the magazine, giving him eight shots ready to go before he had to reload. Counting the empty magazine, he now had four, which gave him a bit more staying power in a ranged fight. Reloading the empty magazines in the middle of a battle wasn’t ideal, but he would figure something out when the time came.

It looked like survivability was also going to improve as the next item in the chest turned out to be a set of trauma plates for his plate carrier. The plates were a perfect fit, and while most of his body was still exposed, the most important bits now had some armor to protect them. There were two final items in the bottom of the box, both were small patches sealed in a plastic wrapper that caused a system prompt to appear when he handled them.

You have acquired a minor healing patch. This patch contains nanobots that will quickly enter your body through any exposed skin to seek out and repair the most seriously damaged areas.

Hugh was tempted to try it out but held off. The compartment they were in was accelerating his natural healing, and given how far his wound had progressed in the four hours he was out, Hugh figured there was a good chance he would be completely healed before they were forced to leave for the next challenge. He would much rather have a healing patch on hand for a serious wound during the challenge rather than feel better a bit quicker now.

You have acquired a personal upgrade patch. Activate this patch and attach it to any exposed skin on your body to improve your physical form.

This was one that he didn’t have to wait to use. A bit concerned over what was going to happen, Hugh unwrapped the personal upgrade patch, rolled up his sleeve, and slapped it on his arm. The patch dissolved almost instantly as the nanobots inside did whatever they were going to do to him. Hugh couldn’t feel anything other than slight pressure from inside his chest and tingling on the skin where the patch had been. There wasn’t any pain and after a few moments of work, the sensations stopped and the system gave him the appropriate updates.

Hugh Logan. Physical form enhancements.

Intelligence: 8%.

Perception and vision: 10%.

Physical endurance and strength: 15%.

Cellular regeneration capacity: 75%.

It was a minor improvement, but if there proved to be several stages to their quest, Hugh could amass enough power in his physical body to become something resembling a superhero from the comics. It also made him glad he didn’t waste the healing patch, with his natural cellular regeneration bumped by 75%, he was sure to be fully healed before the next challenge. With all the freebies gathered, it was time to delve into the rewards he could buy with his contribution points.

You have activated the contribution rewards interface for the first time. At each safe zone, you may exchange your points for various rewards. Many of the basic rewards will be present at each rest zone, but some will be randomly selected and not likely to be found a second time. Quantities for both basic rewards and randomly selected rewards will be limited. Choose wisely from the current offerings.

Standard Contribuiton Rewards:

1. Minor healing patch (5): 5 points.

2. Personal upgrade patch (1): 10 points.

3. Ammunition (10): 1 point. Please note that the quantity of ammunition provided with each purchase will vary based on the weapon selected.

Random Contribution Rewards:

1. Upgrade to your melee weapon (1): 5 points.

2. Armored uniform (1): 10 points.

3. Core reward pack (1): 25 points.

The GCA looked like it was going to be stingy with its descriptions once again. He’d already gotten an explanation of the healing and personal upgrade packs and the only new item, the ammo, was described as well. The random rewards had no details but the armor and melee upgrades weren’t too hard to figure out. The wildcard was the core reward pack. It sounded like something that he could use when back in his war core, but if they succeeded, didn’t that mean he wouldn’t be forced back into his core?

He didn’t want to discuss it with his allies, who didn’t seem inclined to offer up any information on what they’d gotten to the group. Dalven might be a safe option to bounce things off of, but even he had also been silent on the issue of what his rewards were. Thinking on it for a bit, Hugh figured that every reward had something to help him through the challenges they were facing. If one of those rewards focused on his core then that meant he was likely to be forced back into it before they were done. If that were the case, having some kind of bonus to his core might make a huge difference. There was also the chance it was just some minor reward like a couple of infantry mechs or something. Still, it was the most expensive item on his list, so that meant it was something good, right?

Hugh couldn’t resist the mystery of the core reward pack, adding it to his purchases. In addition to the core reward, he chose the personal upgrade pack and a single unit of ammo. He needed every physical advantage he could get if he wanted to even hope to keep up with his physically superior allies. Waiting, Hugh was a bit confused when nothing happened. After a few long moments, a system prompt appeared, informing him what the holdup was.

You have been inactive for some time with the contribution rewards interface. While you can access the interface at any time during your stay in the safe zone, purchases may only be made once. Please make your final selections and confirm that you are finished.

Well, that threw a wrench in the works for Hugh. He was planning to spend a single point on the ammo reward to see how many rounds he would get for each point, but now he had to just take a guess. With the personal upgrade and core rewards, he had spent thirty-five of his forty-nine points. The armored uniform was interesting, but having a couple of extra healing patches might be a better option since he had no idea how effective the armor would be. With two extra healing patches, he dropped the last four points into ammo, confirming his purchases.

You have opted for a core reward pack. Once you enter the final, war core stage of the battle pits, you will be able to pick from a list of minor upgrades. Should this war core upgrade option appear again at another stage of your challenge, it will improve the quality of the upgrades offered to you when you enter the final stage.

The system prompt seemed to confirm that he would enter his war core once more before this was done. Since it was the final stage of the battle pits, it stood to reason that it would be the most challenging, and the one he could use the most help with. Maybe buying it was a mistake, and he would have better spent the points on something that would help him now, but he felt it wasn’t a bad, long-term investment. Before gathering up his other purchases. Hugh activated the personal upgrade patch, reviewing the latest changes to his body.

Hugh Logan. Physical form enhancements.

Intelligence: 10%.

Perception and vision: 15%.

Physical endurance and strength: 20%.

Cellular regeneration capacity: 85%.

It wasn’t as big a bump this time, but the improvements were starting to be felt a bit more. Hugh could see his muscles bulk up and there was a sharpness to his vision that he hadn’t noticed before. It was still all reflective of his baseline stats from when he was a normal human, so an extra 20% physical endurance and strength was still about the gains he would have gotten if he was a gym rat. How far would he improve before this was over?

At least the other items he purchased were physical things, and the others eyeballed him as he put away the med patches and stowed the ammo. They were likely trying to calculate how many points he had spent, which is the same thing Hugh would have done if he hadn’t been unconscious when the others had gathered their rewards. It turned out that each point spent on ammo equated to five bullets for his pistol. An extra twenty rounds didn’t sound like a whole lot, but Hugh was glad to have them. Time was counting down to the next stage and he didn’t think it would be quite as easy as fighting through some poorly armed aliens who were distracted by other defenders.