Anomaly at the Mountain Pass

What is man's most significant innovation of all time? I remembered a certain point in life when my college professor asked a simple question "what was man's greatest invention?"

Weapons? Construction method? Vehicles? Books?

The answer was fire. Man did not create fire however, man accidentally made it, and nature taught man how to do it.

The man saw that fire could cook food, bring warmth at night or in rainy weather, fire can scare predators....but man also knew that fire could consume the maker, burning their belongings and themselves, after seeing the aftermath of their negligence and ignorance man then learned that fire is a double-edged sword.

If you don't know how to use it, then expect that you will get burned due to your own ignorance.

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*SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*

I was right. The weather situation is as fickle as it gets as always, it rained after I found a temporary shelter to place myself under. My only source of light is the flashlight that was attached to the pilot helmet as well as the enhanced night vision feature that came along with the helmet.

[I want some barbecue] I swallowed my saliva as I imagined grilling on a rainy Sunday evening BY MYSELF, damn it. I never had any to accompany me on that one so I brought myself to remember something sad.

I'm currently resting on a rock formation that was convenient to sit into, and then patiently waited for the rain to settle. The sound of the rain hitting the ground is dampening any noise outside and inside the cave. My only way of knowing if a threat is nearby is by glancing occasionally at the tactical map to see whether a nearby enemy is present or not.

But man this is boring. I have nothing to do except stare at the UI and the less-visible forest.

It sure is peaceful that it makes me feel that something out of a horror movie would pop out by surprise.

To be honest, I like it when it rains, but not when I am outdoors.

*Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!Ping!*

When I was about to get deep in my thoughts, a notification sound alerted me and I immediately glanced at the tactical map. 20 red dots appeared at the foot of the mountain, though it was on the opposite side of where I am.

[What are they?] I don't know what they are unless I saw and identified them myself, that is how the map feature works. The map's hostile and friendly markers can only identify something accurately once I have identified whatever that is by myself, however, it would always be indicated with a blue for friendlies, white for neutral, and red for hostiles.

I feel that going there by myself would be a bit of a dangerous thing to do, hence I opened the INVENTORY window and looked at whatever I can find that seems to be useful.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

INVENTORY LV 1 [38/100]

-5, 100-round box magazines

-10, 15-round pistol magazines

-1 Plasma Drone Dispenser [5/5]

-1 Plasma Drone Controller

-3 unidentified safe-to-eat berries

-3 MRE

-10 person first aid kid

-5 water purifying kits

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ammunition, a drone dispenser, a controller, and then berries.

I already found what I needed, but I am a bit curious as to why these berries were still left as "UNIDENTIFIED".

[Hmmm...it's a bit bigger than what I remembered it was in the game]

When I took it out, it was about 5 heads taller than me and has a circumference similar to that of an underground canal pipe. Still, the sheer size of each compacted drone alone amazes me. In the game, you are told to eliminate these bad boys because they are searching for the protagonist who coincidentally has the same name as me. Each drone is about as tall as my knees when in a compacted version and is super-duper-heavy. As in heavy, it's heavier than me and that is for sure.

[Okay, now how do I start one of these up?] I took out the tablet-like controller that has these fixed joysticks on the sides, making them look like a certain game console except this one has more than just AXYO, LR&UR, and LL&UL. It has a sliding switch at the top which can change the view of whatever drone you want to control among these 5.

[Oh? Oh...OH?!!!] When I turned it on, the logo of the IMC then appeared.

INTERSTELLAR MANUFACTURING CORPORATION

The UI of the drone controller then appeared after that.

How do I start this? Like a kid being given their first mobile phone, I immediately looked around it and begin pressing whatever I can.....

{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}{ACCESS DENIED}

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The heck?! I remembered now! I am on the militia side.....fuck. I almost threw the controller out of frustration, but good thing that it crossed my mind about that matter.

[Ah oh, there's that] I searched my belt and found what I was looking for, a not-so-lethal knife for its use is not for combat. A data knife. There was something like a slot in the side so I inserted the tip there...and...

{HACKING....COMPLETE}

{ACCESS GRANTED, WELCOME USER}

Access granted, nice. With that, the screen has now turned on showing me buttons that you can use in controlling 5 drones. A deployment button, a return to compact button, a firing button, an elevator slider, a thermal imaging button, a scanner button, and a black screen.

Well, just like a mobile phone-controlled drone, it needs to be paired I think.

{PAIRING.....PROCESS WILL TAKE 10 MINUTES}

[Hmmm....I guess I will just take one out for now] The dispenser has an emergency door at the side so I took the top most compacted drone and then placed it at the ground.

God, it's heavy. My back almost broke as I tried to find my core when lifting it up, if I did not hold my breath then perhaps I would have been injured by that. Self-inflicted injuries are a no-go when it comes to survival in the wilderness.

Since I only needed one drone, for now, I stored the dispenser and its remaining drone units and then headed out of the cave. Still, I find it hard to carry such a bulky thing.

{PAIRING COMPLETE, DEPLOY DRONE? YES|NO}

[Yes please]

{DEPLOYING PLASMA DRONE#1}

*Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*

It's solenoid and motors then expanded its compacted frame, showing me what it looks like when it is about to fly.

*RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*

It instantly hovered after that about 2 meters up in the air, its fan and propulsion system for its VTOL generated that much air to perhaps push me back.

[Wow] Any geeky teenager would love seeing this physically. The camera of the drone then looked at me, and then the screen on the controller then highlighted my body with a green light indicating that I am the controller.

With the onboard joystick at the side, I then controlled it to move there and here, then up and down with the elevator. Its maximum speed is 50 kph, and its rate of climb is 10 m/s. It's a decent drone, in fact, it has a gun with it.

If I control the drone's flight control with the joystick and elevator, the gun can be aimed and fired using separate controls. There's an auto-follow feature where if the user stores the controller, the drone will follow the user and hover nearby. As for the firing mechanism, it is highlighted here that I can fire it and zoom its sight. Next is the energy meter at the top...

[So it has a limited flight time huh, as expected it uses batteries after all] Though I can recharge it back by placing it in the dispenser.

Okay, now with this setup going on....

It's scouting time.

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In the cover of the rainy weather, the night was about to start creeping into the skies as the moon barely peeks at the slight opening within the thick dark clouds. 20 men, all in a cloak traveled at the foot of a mountain bringing with them waterproof lamps to guide their way.

Wet footsteps can be barely heard as their group treads continuously under the harsh weather.

[Are we there yet?] (??) Asked one of them, clearly, his voice is irritated because they'd been walking for hours now without any stop. His feet were sore and wet, not just his' but also included the others, it was difficult to walk as their footwear is beginning to get soaked with muddy water.

[Just shut it, you're still new so you just have to follow, or else we'll have to shut you ourselves] (??)

[.....] (??) Out of fear, the complaining member just nodded in silence while cursing under his breath.

It has just been a few weeks since he joined this sketchy group due to their promise of giving him a big sum of money. He took the offer, and now he's complaining.

The other reason for that is because he's also one of the members in this group who are carrying luggage. They're being treated as baggage handlers that's why.

[Fuck....am I supposed to work like this?] (??) He cursed again, forcibly pulling up the hemp bag on his back. Inside it is food and water, and it is heavy. 30 kg, that was how heavy it was.

Unbeknownst to him and the rest of them, hovering 50 meters above them, something is silently watching each of their movements.