Weapon and Tether

Under the shadows cast by the tall walls at the entrance of the city Moribus, five figures formed a circle.

"So ehh... Miss Alicia suggested a beginner-friendly mission and that's what we'll be doing," Gallagher voiced out. "Cute little Ruth here will do the explaining... She's the most knowledgeable here, and she's also the youngest of the party. You guys should get along!"

Gallagher placed his hand on Ruth's shoulder, bringing her closer to him.

"Ruth... Please tell us about our mission."

Ruth was flustered for a while before saying:

"E-eh. Nice to meet you."

Arwan watched and subconsciously thought, 'I find her a little cute, but Alicia is way better. Ahhh, I guess other races are really built different.'

Meanwhile, Femi was getting impatient and inwardly yelling, 'I was really excited for this but now everything seems to be moving slowly!'

"A-ah, sorry.... I'll start now."

Ruth's low voice once again brought everyone's attention. After inhaling and exhaling, she then said in a higher voice:

"A pack of camo coyotes migrated closer to the city. Because of their camouflage traits, if not careful they might interfere with adventurers' mid-missions. The mission is to get rid of them before any accidents happen."

Two holographic screens appeared from her wrist comm. One was a map of the surrounding regions around the city, and the other was a 3D hologram of a canine.

"That's the camo coyote?" Femi asked, pointing at the 3D hologram.

"Yes. Eh, and they're called coyotes..." Ruth corrected.

"Hmm, she's a wise type of lady. Makes her cuter," while stroking his chin, Arwan's thoughts slipped out of his mouth.

"E-eh, t-thank you. I'm not really good in combat, so I use my knowledge to make up for that," Ruth lost control of her calm and became more flustered than before.

Arwan just realized that she heard him after her reaction, and he also felt awkward.

The scene made both Femi and Gallagher break into laughter. Eva, on the other hand, snapped.

"Tch! We don't have all day! Are we done here?"

Everyone became silent for a while, well, except for Gallagher. He laughed a little longer than Femi. Femi also had a lot to let out, but he had already begun to be wary of Eva. She was just too… hot-headed.

'She's a wild one,' Femi retorted inwardly.

After regaining composure, Gallagher looked around and said, "Ahhh, we've worked with a lot of younglings, but you guys are definitely the most entertaining."

He then pointed at Femi.

"You remind me of my young days," he complimented. "So do you guys have any questions?"

"Huhh... I get most of the idea... We can discuss the battle plan after we get to know each other's fighting style," Arwan suggested.

"Hehh, what and where are the vital organs of the coyotes?" This was a question Femi had been meaning to ask since he saw the hologram. His swordsmanship needed such information. He was already familiar with every humanoid's vitals, evolved creatures, on the other hand, their vitals were hard to discern by looks. One of the most common traits of evolution.

"T-the vital points are—"

"Argh! We'll add that to when we formulate the battle plan. Let's go! I'm tired of standing here," Eva's loud voice interrupted Ruth.

'Yep. I guessed right. She's rash!' Femi acknowledged, not daring to say it out loud.

"Okay then. We'll head to the warehouse where our equipment is kept. I'll send the coordinates to you. Our ride is packed inside, near the gate. We'll catch up."

"Alright."

Arwan approached Gallagher, then Gallagher transferred a holographic map to Arwan.

The duo left Gallagher and the others, walked to the bike, and got on.

"Byeee."

From under the blue and white mask, Femi yelled.

Gallagher waved at them, then murmured to himself:

"What an interesting duo."

As they entered the city, Femi once again looked around.

Femi's eyes were always pleased by the view.

Looking up, Femi saw the blue dome that extended all over the city. Moving in the skies were drones that were used by law enforcers to monitor the streets.

This was a city packed with adventurers, galactic wanderers, etcetera; To maintain peace on the streets, the law enforcers were always monitoring everywhere.

As Arwan drove through the streets, Femi glanced around to occupy himself.

The buildings here were all cuboid shapes. Some also had glowing signboards.

Most of the people here were also armed, so seeing different weapons and envisioning himself fighting with them was also a fun way to keep himself busy.

"How long till we reach?" Femi's voice muzzled from under his mask.

Checking the time approximation on his map, Arwan replied, "At this speed, about six minutes."

"Alright."

Femi was someone who got bored fast. Having toured the town earlier, he had done sightseeing already, along with the buildings he saw on Mars, he wasn't really that impressed again.

*****

Five minutes later, Femi and Arwan alighted in front of a huge building.

The building in front of them was also cuboid in shape, but its width and length span were longer than anything they'd seen so far.

Occupying a lot of land space, the building with a blue glowing signboard that said, "Zephyr's Warehouse" stood.

'Right when I thought I'd seen enough,' Femi smiled as he walked closer to the building. 'It's not the best warehouse in the city for nothing.'

He had heard about the warehouse when he first toured the city, but he didn't think too much about it.

Femi wouldn't have imagined a warehouse—where people stored things—would have anything impressive to serve.

"Andro, wait for Mr. Gallagher and the others to reach here before you enter," Parking the bike properly, Arwan snapped out of his reverie.

Ever since Femi 'disgraced' Arwan in front of Alicia, Arwan had been calling him "Andro," short for androgynous, to rile him up.

'This petty bastard!' Femi exclaimed inwardly. "Oi, stop call—"

"Ahhh, sorry for keeping you guys waiting," cutting Femi off was Gallagher's deep voice.

"We just got here. It's no problem," Arwan said as he approached the incoming party.

The warehouse had a parking area in front of it; that's where they were currently.

"Ugh. Do you guys want to make unnecessary talk again? Move it already!" Eva, who drove the car and parked it, snapped at the four of them.

"Yeah! Let's go in, guys!!" Femi rushed everyone in.

As they assumed Femi was just itching to do things, they were all unaware of Femi's true thought.

'No way in hell I'm going to see her angry side.'

"Now that's good," Eva acknowledged.

With everyone now ready, they all walked into the warehouse.

Walking into the door of Zephyr's Warehouse, the receptionist counter at the opposite side of the room was the first thing they met.

At the counter were two individuals: an alien race man and a human lady.

Femi would have walked to the counter as fast as possible and asked the man weird questions, but slightly glancing at Eva who was behind him, he knew better than to do that.

The male receptionist's eyes shot up as he saw a familiar face.

"Gallagher, welcome welcome, new members of the party?"

"Heh heh, just some kids I'm teaching the hang of things. I never say no to helping hands," Gallagher said. "We can head straight to the back, right?"

"Of course," the receptionist responded.

With the end of the short exchange, the group went towards a door that was adjacent to the reception counter.

Behind the door was a long corridor.

As Gallagher, who was obviously familiar with this place, navigated them through the corridors, they were greeted by lots of workers who knew the trio.

"You're really popular," Femi voiced out.

Gallagher turned his head back, gave a smile to Femi, and replied, "I valued connection when I first became an adventurer. It's part of what put me where I am. That's why Alicia suggested us to guide, haha, through us you can get more information than normal unaffiliates."

"Ahhh! Mr. Gallagher is so cool! Thank you!"

Femi saw Gallagher in a brighter light, then bowed to thank him.

"Hahahah, it's nothing impressive really," Gallagher might have said that, but Femi saw the proud smile he had.

"Tch!" Eva hissed. "Can you guys move faster? You're slowing us down."

"Oh, is someone jealous she didn't get a compliment from the kid?" Gallagher teased.

'Mr. Gallagher is playing with hell, how splendid. Go! Put that scary fish in her place!' Femi cheered in his heart.

Feeling an intense stare over his shoulder, Femi slightly turned to see Eva, who was at the back of the party. Seeing her glare, Femi swallowed all his thoughts.

The rest of the walk was quiet, except for some slight murmurs between Arwan and Ruth; the former was asking questions, leaving the latter to answer them.

Following a few minutes of walking through the large warehouse, they arrived at their storage room.

Gallagher entered the passwords required to open the door, then turned to the duo, "So what weapons do you guys use? Tell me so I'll get something that matches it. You'll have to wait her—"

"OHHHH! Arwan! Get

in here you must see this!" Femi's yell interrupted Gallagher.

"Excuse me," Arwan's interest overwhelmed and forgot his basic courtesy. Following Femi's footsteps, he entered the storage room.

"Hey! You don't just enter someone else's place like that!" Eva's rage-filled voice echoed as she also entered the storage room.

'Maybe I shouldn't have brought them here.'

Speechless, Gallagher sighed and gestured to Ruth to enter.

***

Arwan was left in awe. He had seen weapons before, both at Mars and while touring Terramoribus with Femi, but he had never been so close to them.

That had now changed.

Everywhere, every side, every corner of the room. They were displayed.

'Swords, shields, guns... And the most beautiful, battle mechas.' In his head, Arwan was twirling like a kid.

"You guys shouldn't touch anything," Gallagher said with a stern expression.

Arwan's fantasy was cut short by the sight of Gallagher's face. Then he realized they had been rude to their helper.

Following the realization was a short moment of embarrassment, then an apology.

"I'm so sorry for barging in. My body moved on its own. Sorry, sor—"

"It's good, as long as you respect our wishes, it's all good," Gallagher shrugged. He was weak to younglings.

Arwan was silent for a moment, then asked:

"Mr. Gallagher, why didn't you want us to enter though? Privacy?"

"Well... Yeah," Gallagher was shocked by the question, and it led to him being ruffled.

"This is his collection. He says he's not proud of it," Ruth, who was silently watching everyone in the room, interjected.

"Eh... Yeah..." Gallagher agreed.

"Oh, what's here not to be proud of? Everything is so cool! How did you get enough money to get all this? As an adventurer, this should take a load of your money!" Arwan said enthusiastically.

"Well, I just obtained them over the years, no biggie..." Gallagher waved off the compliments. "Anyways, you like mechas right—"

"Oi, be careful with that!"

As Gallagher changed the topic, his words were cut short by Eva's loud voice.

Arwan, Gallagher, and Ruth paid attention to Femi and Eva, who were on the opposite side of the room.

*****

In front of Femi, occupying most of the wall space, was a two-tier shelf.

Displayed on the upper shelf were different swords and daggers, while on the lower were large shields.

In Femi's hands was a long sword. Immediately he glanced at this particular sword, he knew it matched him well.

"Oi, be careful with that!"

Eva's loud voice simply graced Femi's ear. For the first time, he paid no attention to her rage.

He hurriedly swung the sword and repeated another slash until he stopped to look at the sword again.

"You like that?" Tapping his shoulder, Gallagher's voice finally reached Femi.

"Yes, I really do. Can I have it?" Femi asked genuinely.

"Femi, you can't ask for it like that. Weapons are very expensive. It can't be given just like that," Arwan, now knowing it was a collection of Gallagher's, tried to help Gallagher reject the offer on his behalf.

"Ahh," Femi let out a low sigh of disappointment.

"It's yours. Keep it," Gallagher's words put everyone in shock.

"Thank you! I appreciate it!" Femi exclaimed.

"Tch... Lucky." Arwan hissed. He just lost his opportunity to make his own selfish request.

'The weight and shape, it's kind of what the old man explained. It'll fit my swordsmanship perfectly,' Unaware of Arwan's pain—or maybe just ignoring him—Femi whispered to himself.

The sword had an obsidian black, narrow, straight blade that was engraved with patterns.

The patterns, which had blue hues, extended from the fuller of the blade to the point of the blade, with the fuller having fewer blue hues compared to that of the point of the blade.

The simple longsword hilt was black, with only the middle of the pointed cross-guard having a small-sized hole.

"Hoho, it uses a tether battery. How does it work with a sword though?" Arwan was also inspecting the beauty of the sword and spoke out of curiosity.

In response, Gallagher said:

"That's a sword I call Negraazul. The patterns are engraved with blackites, a substance that absorbs Tether. When a tether battery is inserted in its slot, the blackites absorb the tether and create a higher damage than a normal thrust and slash. It's a very nice sword. I would have loved to use it, but neither Eva, Ruth nor I are skilled enough. That's why I'll entrust it to you."

'Negraazul, it has a nice name... You also use a tether battery... Huh,' Out of confusion, Femi asked, "What's a tether battery?"

Everyone was left speechless.

Who didn't know a tether battery in this age?

"Fool," Eva blurted.

After the break of silence, Ruth began sharing her knowledge.

Firstly, after the chain reaction, tether was one of the newly discovered elements. It became an important power source for the modern day.

Tether originally existed as some sort of energy in the atmosphere, until Tether Cores were discovered. Simply put, Tether Cores are naturally solidified Tether.

With these cores, batteries of different sizes were artificially made to simplify its use. Tether's worth truly lay in the ability to enhance things.

For example, the bodysuits Femi and Arwan wore had slots for a tether battery. When active, the bodysuits absorbed damage from external bodies in exchange for Tether procured from the battery.

Other instances of Tether usage are power sources for spacecraft and modern-day vehicles, the dome of the Adventurer's City, etcetera.

"Ahhh, it seems like my old man stuck with using the old things," Femi let out a chuckle.

"You're just oblivious to complicated things," Arwan mocked.

That's true. Femi didn't pay attention to things he didn't find cool right off the bat, so no matter how curious, he never bothered to ask how deeply things were, especially if they were complicated.

"Femi's weapon has been taken care of. Arwan, you're interested in the mechas, right? I have only two, so just pick one of them," Gallagher instructed. "With that, weapons are settled. Eva, what formation and plan do you have for this mission?"