Flight simulator

The Games We Play​

Flight Simulator​

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"Do you think it's ironic that I'm being hunted by birds?" I asked, turning to look at Adam. Red dots blinked on my map, a reminder of the dark swarm behind us, ready to tear us apart if they caught us. "Since I'm pretending to be a feline Faunus, I mean?"

"Please keep your eyes on where you're going," Adam said through gritted teeth, fingers tight on the armrests. Credit where it was due, though; he was wearing a seatbelt this time. Given that we were spending a decent amount of our time upside down, I'm not sure he'd survive this if he wasn't.

I turned back forward and obeyed him without replying. Piloting was turning out to be a very different experience than Driving, but I thought I was getting the hang of it. At the very least, I was learning new things—for example, the improvement my Nature Affinity gave me towards Dust usage evidently improved the fuel efficiency of things I was driving. Since it was a percentage based increase, that was really good news because it would give a massive improvement when I was flying a vehicle that was meant to cross between continents. The issue of where, when, and how I was going to refuel remained, somewhat, but this gave me more breathing room.

But more than anything, I was glad I was getting a chance to get used to thinking three dimensionally in a fight. Sure, on the ground you could jump and such—and there were more than a few uses for that when you applied the leg strength of a Hunter, as I well knew—but it was still a big difference between that and flight. A lot of it is just really simple stuff that's hard to grasp until you experience it for yourself.

For example, keeping sight of the enemy in the big blue sky. I could already tell that one of the most dangerous aspects of this mission was going to be all the stuff I just could not see and that getting and maintaining sight would be vital. If an enemy ship or a Nevermore or a Fell Albatross saw me before I saw them, it might be over before I could regret it. I had an advantage thanks to my Map, but while it was invaluable, it was also two dimensional and when it told me there was something behind me, well, it could be referring to any point in a cubic mile of space. And I wasn't sure if it would alert me to targets I didn't know about, either.

Take right now, for instance, where a murder of Nevermore was on my proverbial heels as they followed the rising turn of my craft. There was a bit of a story there, but it can be summarized as 'the Universe hates me.' We'd run into the dark flock pretty much a minute after we left Vale's airspace and the Nevermore had been stalking us since. The Brightside was that they weren't the giant version, but even that wouldn't make a huge difference to me if I messed up; giant or not, they were creatures who could rend stone and steel alike with their feathers and talons. They could not, apparently, shoot the former forward—something I'd learned on the job—but while this was proving to be a good way to train my Pilot skill, if I let them draw to close or get altitude on me…

I smiled fiercely, getting an idea.

I shifted the thrusters on either side of the Bullhead, turning sharply even as I shifted the aircraft from a horizontal to vertical position. I rolled, pushing the nose of the Bullhead low and then turning the motion into a steep slice turn, before pulling back to rise back to my previous altitude before they could shoot at me.

And then I was closing in on the murder of Nevermore from the side, speeding up.

"Oh, shit," Adam ground out, tightening his hold on his seat.

"Aura Crash," I replied, the light of my soul washing over the Bullhead right as we dove into the swarm. Relatively fragile bones broke across the surface of enhanced steel, rattling the aircraft with a chorus of shattering pops and cracks even as we jostled at the impacts. Savage claws and razor feature clawed at us, training to tear open the ship and bring us down with then, but the iron shell of my Aura protected us.

You used Pilot's Low Yo-Yo without the skill. Your Mastery improves by 10%.

Mastery of the skill Pilot increases! Pilot's level goes up by one!

Mastery of the skill Aura Crash increases! Aura Crash's level goes up by one!

Your level has increased by one!

I let out a laugh as I cleared the darkness of broken wings, the corpses and blood of Nevermore sliding free of the Bullhead's armor, unable to gain traction due to my Aura—but I wasn't done. I reduced the angle at which I banked during a turn and then pulled up, rising higher into the air in a wide arc that left us, for a moment, upside down.

The moment passed as I spotted the remainder of the murder, scattered slightly by my crash and trying to regroup. I could have just continued my turn and wound up behind them, but I tightened it instead, bringing myself down on the birds instead, plummeting towards them as fast as I could.

"Why the hell did I agree to this!?" Adam snarled. "We have guns on this thing, you know!"

"Aura Crash!" I answered again, smashing my way through the flock of birds again. They let loose high-pitched, warbling cries as they broke across my ship, flying in every direction before plummeting towards the earth. I followed them down for a moment before pulling up and into a turn, before rolling out of my flight path and spinning laterally, and then completing the turn after cutting what I could out of it. I focused on the few remaining Nevermore, got them in my sights, and starting firing. I shot wide at first, adjusted the angle to bring it closer, and at least a few of the shots must have hit because several of the birds fell limply out of the sky.

You used Pilot's High Yo-Yo without the skill. Your Mastery improves by 10%.

You used Pilot's Displacement Roll without the skill. Your Mastery improves by 10%.

Mastery of the skill Pilot increases! Pilot's level goes up by one! Pilot's level goes up by one!

Mastery of the skill Aura Crash increases! Aura Crash's level goes up by one!

A skill has been created through a special action! Battles in the air have created the skill 'Dogfighting Mastery' to help seize the sky!

"I know," I replied belatedly. "That we have guns, I mean. But there's a limit to our ammunition so we might not be able to rely on it during the mission, if the ship we steal is even armed. Leveling up Aura Crash is the way to go, I think, so I can just crash through whatever's in the way. You might want to get used to it now."

Adam just growled, still holding on. I continued talking as if he hadn't, though.

"There's good news, though. It seems like there are shortcuts to improving my abilities," I said. "Because I used a skill I didn't actually know, I got a lot more experience. If I grind this way constantly, I should be able to improve more quickly. No, more than that, if I can figure out how to do this with other skills…"

I frowned.

"Oh, but it didn't happen before…does it only work in combat?" I mused. "Hm…well, that's fine. Let's find some more Nevermore, okay? I need to get my flying skills as high as possible before the mission, right? So let's fly around for a bit longer before we land."

Adam swore under his breath.

"When we get on the ground, I'm doing to make you train until you feel like you're gonna die, I swear to God." He promised.

"Ah, please do," I said, smiling. "Since it's to get stronger, I'll happily endure it."

Adam growled something but I didn't hear it. It was as if there were suddenly a great distance between us, a vast empty space that swallowed the sound. I knew he was there but my senses just brushed over him, focused elsewhere.

Behind me…

A skill has been created through a special action! After repeated use of your sixth sense, you have obtained the ability 'Sense Danger' to detect impending misfortune!

Sense Danger (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

Survival Instinct augmented by Aura, this ability allows the user to sense when bad things are about to occur or when they are being watched by those with ill intent. The higher the skill's level, the sooner it can sense danger.

Okay, if the sudden feeling that there was something terrible behind me wasn't enough to set me on edge, abruptly getting an ability called 'Sense Danger' hammered it home. Without hesitating, I pulled into a sudden turn and swung up to get higher. I looked forward, above me, and all around, trying to see what had pulled my nerves so taunt, but there was nothing—

"Over there," Adam said, voice suddenly quiet as if worried he'd be overheard. "You sensed it, too, right?"

"Hard to miss," I answered, voice strained. I focused my eyes. In the direction he'd indicated and saw a black shape in the distance, far away but approaching swiftly. For a moment, I thought it was just another Nevermore until I realized just how far away it was, at which point I knew I was right.

It was another Nevermore.

Darkness There and Nothing More

LV53

Giant Nevermore

"You know," I told Adam. "I keep meaning to get around to training my luck, I just don't know how."

"As you gain strength by getting stronger and gain intelligence by becoming smarter, logic would dictate you could improve your luck by getting lucky," Adam mused, eyes on the titanic Grimm.

"So what you're saying is it's impossible for me?"

"Yeah," He nodded. "That's what I'm saying."

I cracked my neck once and nodded at that in acceptance. I licked my lips once, glanced nervously at the creature, and then went faster.

"I guess I'll just make my own luck, then," I stated as the Grimm flew towards me.

I matched it's charge with my own.

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