November 4th, 627

“Since when has Vetsmon been back?”

“He’s been in the Holy See for 8 or 9 days. He’s just been busy, so I haven’t poked around. But I need someone to test this on, and I’m sure Tana wants to see him. May as well make something out of it.”

Umara looked at me like she was more shocked by my words than the metal weapon clamped over my body.

I knew exactly when Vetsmon flew in, my Seed programs keeping tabs on him and those around him. He was one of the first people to leave what the Order called the Island of Retribution, apparently because he had been mortally wounded, half-killed from the descriptions of his wounds.

He got treatment from Hallowlight, but soon after recovery he was sent back out. To where, I couldn’t track. All I heard was that he was going to get operated on, receiving both a Crown and an Invocation.

It had been some months since then, so he already had both and should’ve acclimated to them. It was only recently though that I finally got word of his return to the Holy See for proper leave.

It was good that the Order was treating him well. If not, I would’ve already taken him for myself, lest they waste his talent.

Umara sent some messages as I fiddled with some of the communication software within the exosuit.

The suit could send data via radio, microwave, and laser. Interestingly enough, it was also capable of tapping into the Aerial network. That was definitely the spirit at play.

I bound it to my profile before downloading all the data I wanted. Then I sent my own messages to those I knew could get Vetsmon an expedited pass to my estate.

Indeed, I was now the owner of an estate within the Whetted City. I had decided to buy out some places and people near the edge of the territory and get myself situated within the prosperous and self sufficient city-state.

Of course, Maxwell couldn’t be bothered to fly out, so I still had to come to the Capital for this advancement. Nevertheless, it was my new home base. I also wasn’t the only one officially living there.

After contacting all relevant parties and arranging quick plans to meet at the estate, I sent the exosuit back to my 8th dimension and turned to Maxwell.

“How about you leave your hidey hole and come visit the property with us?”

“No thanks.”

“What, too busy rereading the books you yourself wrote for the 100th time?”

“No, I’m just not interested in seeing someone from the Order. I also like peace and quiet, so I’m inclined to avoid a bunch of hormonal young adults returning from war. Just take the next advancement formation and leave before Luna gets word and stops by.”

He placed a large Orb on the table, which I grabbed and infused my Psyka into.

Unlike last time, it didn’t sting when I tried to intake the huge chunks of information. A few glances told me that the formation was actually smaller than the last.

But it was no less complex. I couldn’t recognize the arrays within most of the clusters, new forms and symbols completely eluding me. Still, I had an idea of what it was going to do.

I needed more Psyka, but from now on, it wouldn’t be a simple matter of stuffing my soul with more. I would be multiplying my reserve, but I would also need to make it far denser. The Great Barrier demanded both quantity and quality.

I stashed the Orb, Maxwell waving me off.

“You can get your own Crystal for cultivating.”

“Aw, come on. It’s not like you have a use for it. Give me yours.”

“Hell no! You’re several times richer than I am now after copying my Rails, so bug off and get your own!”

“Copy?! I’ll admit I’m richer but I didn’t copy anything! Those Trains are a technology centuries older than I am, and my engine tech is the first of its kind!”

“Then why did I have to give you my enchantments?!”

“God forbid a man gets some inspiration!”

Umara’s face fell flat to the side, a sigh escaping.

After another few minutes I finally retreated with her and left Maxwell to his devices. We stopped by to talk to Luna, whom I invited to the estate. Unfortunately, she told me that with the recent success over at Retribution, she and Anderson were busy preparing for the next step.

While the details of that operation weren’t mentioned, I knew enough. They were trying to get themselves back onto the mainland of the Pillars of Creation, a massive step in the fight against the Scourge and only possible with my technology.

Of course, the Order had other plans beyond a land invasion. I wanted to find out, but the Order was getting better at keeping things beyond my purview. People were learning about the potential of the Aerials and not just starting to conceive of potential threats to information security, but acting on it.

We sat down with Luna and talked for some time before deciding to leave. Not long after, we were on a private plane to the Whetted City.

The plane landed in my backyard. Literally. I had a runway behind my estate as well as some hangars for multiple private planes and helicopters. After stepping off, my head butler was there waiting with a car.

I smiled at him as Umara and I walked over.

“Erhan, good to see you.”

“You as well, sir and lady.”

He bowed a bit, dressed in an unassuming suit.

Erhan had come straight from Sector 4. Being one of my Pale Horsemen, the leader of a team at that, he knew all the ins and outs of subterfuge and security.

If anything, he was quite overzealous. He was 55 years old but looked no older than 30. He was an Authority 10 knight, at the end of his talent, but still extremely skilled with the blade and, most importantly, extremely loyal.

He was put in charge of overseeing security for the construction of my estate. After it was finished, he proposed that he take over both maintenance and security for the grounds, eager to become my head butler.

Why an Authority 10 knight would want to become a butler, I didn’t know, especially when I knew how much he loathed human complacency in the fight against the Scourge. He was supposedly as extreme as I was, according to Polly, being rather outspoken and vigorous with his application of my counterespionage policy while at Iron Legion.

But his views aligned with mine and he was eager to follow and serve, so I decided to give him the chance. Since then I haven’t had a single issue with any of the affairs around my estate. Every time I came home it was clean, warm, and my needs were always ready to be catered to.

With as much as I had been home recently, I was glad to have the little things taken care of.

We stepped into the car and started driving, the ride smooth and fast thanks to recent developments in suspension technology. I asked while looking out the window, viewing the lavish and well maintained grounds.

“Are the others here?”

“Most of them are, sir. Feiden landed with Ponteck, Aki, Katta, and Jaya an hour ago. Shadowbane and Blackblood have been resting here with Tana and Aria since not long after you sent the call.”

“Good. Keep an eye out for a Church plane. Vetsmon should be arriving soon.”

“Understood.”

We pulled up to the mansion, stepping out into a courtyard built into the mansion itself. Erhan followed, another butler taking the car to the underground garage.

The mansion wasn’t a castle. I wasn’t interested in walking a mile to the dining room or living room, so it was relatively compact despite what my money could buy. The main building had ten rooms surrounding a large living space and outdoor social area. There was a large indoor atrium, a massive outdoor garden, and just about all the luxury someone in this world could get.

Built like a fortress and dressed as my money warranted, the three story mansion was about everything the earthling in me could hope for. I had my own workshop, Umara had a study, and there was plenty of space for both a family and for others to stay with us.

That wasn’t mentioning the building not far from the main one, a residence for the maids, butlers, cooks, and other workers that lived here. They were living nicely as well, at least half of them from Sector 4 like Erhan, acting as additional security forces besides those that were obvious.

Of course, it wasn’t like I was paranoid living in the Whetted City. That’s why I didn’t force the families of those who worked here to also live on site like those in Wonderland.

After entering through the back door, we went to the living area where we found everyone. It was a bit after noon and I saw Feiden floating on his back in the heated pool with Ponteck, the women sitting around either on a lounge chair or with their legs in the water. Maids were bringing them snacks and drinks, which just about all of them seemed perfectly accustomed to.

“Well you guys look like you’re having fun.”

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“Oh, hey.”

“Congrats!”

Tana enthusiastically waved as Umara walked over to her. She had also advanced to Authority 8 in the last year, ahead of me, like everyone else. She’s also the one who moved into my estate.

While on paper she still held residence at her father’s estate, she much preferred to be in mine, and I had no issue with it. I actually built her a nice two story home next to the main building. You know, for when she and Vetsmon started making super babies.

Apparently her home wasn’t very warm despite being welcoming, and the reason was rather obvious after I did some quick digging.

Putting it simply, her father was a conniving, lecherous asshole. Being the 4th child of his third wife, Tana was generally disregarded until she showed some talent at the Magisterium. Even then, she apparently had some generically talented older siblings that received all of his support in the military. Even after becoming one of the Magisterium’s top elites, he wasn’t satisfied. Anything less than the best wasn’t enough, and she had still been weak back then, unlike her siblings in the military.

She was nearly discarded after Purple Sky, receiving no support from her father while entering the military and having to rely on Talexia for a station with Umara. After that, she continued to receive nothing. Until, of course, I made my rise.

With her new status as one of John Cooper’s closest friends and a soldier of Iron Legion, her father had made no shortage of attempts to get close to me by proxy. But Tana refused to bother me with that, which I greatly appreciated, and preferred to put some distance between them.

She only ever went home when absolutely necessary. She still cared greatly for her mistreated mother and blood siblings, after all.

My estate, her home, was a good haven for her. Umara also enjoyed having her friend live next door. Not that we were here all the time, but such a big space for just the two of us could get a little boring, especially without the modern entertainment I was once used to.

Aria also recently moved in with Tana. She didn’t particularly care for living in the Founder’s Market with the Taveras, so given the chance to move, she took it.

On top of those two, Feiden also talked to me about moving in, but apparently his father was now trying to declare him the official heir, so that wasn’t much of an option. Normal noble stuff, so I wasn’t planning on being that concerned unless Feiden needed my help, such as with finding a wife. No man with such smoldering good looks could go without a woman when he was going to inherit an estate. The rooms there were meant to be filled!

As for Shadowbane, well, this was the Whetted City. She and Blackblood enjoyed hanging out here when they weren’t on the frontlines getting pelted with charred monster blood.

Everyone stood to congratulate me. I shook a few hands and gave a few hugs.

Then, Aki asked.

“So, what new summons have you unlocked? Has the tech level advanced?”

“Yes, it has. Hey, Feiden, care for a spar?”

“Let’s do it.”

Feiden smiled, obviously eager for a battle.

With a step, everyone headed to the training grounds, yet another building on the estate that branched off the main one.

We arrived, the place clean and the air fresh. The floor was solid metal, as were the walls and ceiling. There were all kinds of devices for things like weight training and advanced target practice. I also had a range outside.

Everyone stood to the side as Feiden and I moved to the center of the metal sparring ground. Once there, I took off my coat and put it in my spatial storage.

“What kind of combat?”

“Melee. Hands and weapons. I won’t use guns.”

“With or without armor?”

I smiled at his question, calling my summon.

……

Aki’s eyes bulged when John lifted his foot.

A metal suit appeared around him, his foot getting locked into an assembly of servos and armor. After his other foot was in place, it looked as if the armor swallowed him.

Metal skeletons locked around his torso and limbs like chains, plates of armor sliding over and clamping down in precisely machined places.

Camouflage covered him, fabric rigs holding grenades and ammunition carriers covering his chest. A large knife sheath manifested on his shoulder, looking more like a shortsword with its length.

Then his face disappeared into his helmet, the visor crawling with some kind of optical technology.

It only took a couple of seconds for everything to fall into place, and by the time it finished, John was standing at just about 7 feet tall. The bulk of the armor made him look like a metal monster, a tank in the form of a person.

Feiden looked up at him, frowning.

“Since when does a fucking Authority 8 Summoner look like that…”

He sighed and put on his own armor, his previous question answered. Once his training spear was out, metal but dulled around the edge, John’s voice echoed from the suit with the peculiar processing of a speaker, sounding a bit more menacing than usual.

“Ready to dance, pretty boy?”

“Can you in that massive suit?”

“That’s what you’re going to help me find out.”

John squatted a bit, his fingers fluttering alongside their metal counterparts.

Aki glanced around as the two stood there, staring each other down. It looked like Feiden was hesitating to decide what to do.

She skipped over to Umara, who was staring at John with a wide smile.

“Hey, so…”

“Looks amazing, doesn’t it? I can see where he got the inspiration for our own armor.”

“Yes, but those suits were only prototypical theories when I left Earth. I just can't believe they actually made it. Even more, I can’t believe he got access to future tech.”

“Mm. I’m just wondering how fast it is. We’ll see if he can keep up with Feiden.”

“Well, if it’s built like everything else the war machine produces…”

Aki’s mutter faded, Umara glancing at her before looking back at John.

The War Machine, or as Umara had heard John call it, the military industrial complex. In a world dedicated to producing the most advanced weapons technology conceivable, what level would a suit, designed to turn a person into a walking weapon, perform at?

Not to mention when it was backed by the empowerment of Psyka.

Umara’s thoughts stopped there when Feiden finally launched his attack.

His speed was incredible, looking like he simply teleported to John’s position. He landed in his blind spot and maintained a perfect distance to attack with his spear and retreat if necessary. His aim was true, the spear heading for John’s neck with space folding behind it and warping its speed like his movement did.

That’s when Umara heard the scream of metal on metal, eyes widening when she saw John grabbing Feiden’s spear.

Locked in the grip of his fist, the spear had slid just far enough to stop in front of his visor. Feiden’s eyes bulged like he refused to believe what he was seeing.

“You’re too predictable, pretty boy! Can’t keep up with your own speed?!”

With a yank, John ripped Feiden’s spear from his hands and sent out a fist. Umara could barely follow its speed, the metal arm slamming so hard into Feiden’s chest that there was a shockwave produced by the collision of the empowered fist and Feiden’s Vigor.

The exosuit won, sending Feiden flying across the training ground. He flipped in mid air, using his legs to plant against the wall to absorb his momentum. When he landed on the floor though, he suddenly ducked.

His spear came flying like a bullet, nearly going through his helmet and planting itself into the wall next to his head.

John rose from his throwing stance, laughing like a madman.

Then he suddenly pumped his arm, a long blade being ejected out of his forearm. Feiden saw that and nearly slumped in premature defeat.

“Come on, pretty boy! Let me see your war face! Aaaahhhh!”

John charged Feiden, the mechanical boots of the exosuit screeching across the metal ground and his bounds closing the distance in just a few steps.

Feiden scurried around, refusing to get anywhere close to that blade. He took out a proper spear soon after creating some distance, his face dead serious as if John were really trying to kill him.

The two entered another brief standoff before Feiden suddenly zipped across space. John launched his elbow out in turn, Feiden’s body making contact with it as if he intentionally ran into it.

Feiden’s body went flying again, but he recovered quickly and flew right back in.

He circled around John, using space to his advantage, but from the onlooker’s perspective, it seemed like he wasn’t even trying to evade John’s blows.

John inside his exosuit wasn’t necessarily lightning fast. While he was significantly faster than he was before, it was his uncanny ability to anticipate that completely denied Feiden’s attempts to land a blow.

Umara’s eyes dilated as she watched. She could feel the sheer density of John’s Aura in the area. His predictive abilities had always been near-clairvoyant, but that was just recently exaggerated by his boost in mental cognition.

John had seen Feiden in battle many times. He knew his behaviors, his patterns, his quirks. While Umara couldn’t begin to imagine just how John used that to his advantage, she could see the results clear as day.

It was like John was reading Feiden’s mind, like he had lived this day several times before, already knowing what moves Feiden would make before he even thought of them.

And he hadn’t even used his illusory abilities yet, let alone his new guns. If John went all out, even going so far as to bring out the SEER Knife and whatever other dastardly gadgets he cooked up with Psyka Crystals, she wasn’t sure who in this room could stop him without being mentally and physically maimed beyond recognition.

All because of a single advancement, because of a single suit hailing from a world of sheer technological superiority. Without it, John was still vulnerable, even with his coat. But now?

That exosuit was threatening to eliminate his one weakness.

Feiden’s sudden shouts summed up her thoughts rather well.

“Fuck! What kind of Summoner shit is this?! Cold Summoners are supposed to be the weakest!”

“Shut up and give me some more sugar, pretty boy! Daddy’s still got plenty of energy!’

“Fuck no! Umara! Get your fiance off of me!”

“Don’t bring her into this affair!”

“This is not an affair!”

Umara rolled her eyes as Feiden started running, barely avoiding John’s mechanical claws.

They played cat and mouse for a few minutes longer, Feiden eventually drawing Blackblood and Ponteck into the fray. It was only after the three started working together that John actually got pushed back, but the blows he took only highlighted the toughness of the exosuit, weapons often streaking right over its armor.

Then, Umara suddenly turned, the door to the building opening.

A massive figure walked in, everyone coming to a halt and turning to him. The Head Butler Erhan waved in the man before tactfully leaving.

Vetsmon stood there, an awkward, nervous smile on his face.

He looked significantly different than the last time they had seen him. He stood around 7 feet tall, as tall as John was in his exosuit, and his face showed the weathering of decades instead of just years.

Just his Aura was unrecognizable, even compared to how it had been at the Treehouse. He still radiated lingering bloodlust from his time on Retribution, the mountains of death he had carved still present in his psyche.

As it was for everyone else there.

His skin was still dark and tanned, his hair a month overdue for a cut. His muscles bulged from under his clothes, his forearms as thick as most people’s thighs and as vascular as a bodybuilder’s. He looked like the incarnation of strength itself.

On top of that, his body was riddled with new Invocations. That meant he had gotten his Crown, and there was no doubt about its power. At minimum it used Authority 11 materials, likely sourced from a King Blood, which meant it was at least on par with Umara’s, who received the best of all attainable Crown materials for a warlock.

Not even John was sure of the specifics, but it was safe to bet on him being the strongest in the room.

Umara turned when she heard John’s footsteps. He walked straight up to Vetsmon and stopped, the two men staring at each other.

Vetsmon raised his hand for a shake.

“I wanted to start with an apology…”

John stood there silently for a few seconds before grabbing his hand.

Then he suddenly twisted, pulling with such power that Vetsmon was raised off the floor and flung across the air like a doll.

He slammed into the opposite wall across the building, shaking the ceiling.

John stepped forward, his suit groaning with power as the blade on his other forearm ejected.

“Your apology will be composed of training data. It’s time to pit the machine against flesh!”