Chapter Twenty One - Part Two: Weapon of Choice

Simon darted to her side, hands hovering over the weapons in wide eyed wonder.

"How… what… but…" He floundered for words but couldn't get a complete sentence together.

[WOULD THE HOST LIKE TO DOWNLOAD A COMBAT SKILL FOR MORE EFFECTIVE USE?]

Leta mentally shrugged. Probably would be a good idea to have an idea of what she was doing so she didn't accidentally stab herself.

The question was, what would she pick?

She'd gotten the impression for Gada's earlier warning that she would probably end up melting her brain if she tried to download all the combat skills at once, so she had to pick one. But what was the best option for her to start with?

She'd taken up archery for a short time in junior high and high school, but she was by no means a professional.

While she was the most familiar with the bow out of all of the weapons that had been listed, she felt that making that choice would not be beneficial for her.

When she reflected on the two times she'd so far been in a life or death fight, everything had been in very close quarters.

Every gamer knew that bows were meant to be distance weapons, reserved for characters with softer armor and utilized from the rear guard. While she could maybe make it work if her attacker got up close and personal, she didn't want to leave her fate in the hands of 'maybes'.

With bow being the first to go, Leta mentally started scratching items off the list.

She didn't have the muscle structure yet for mace, hammer, shield, or javelin, so those were out.

While she'd love to be able to dual wield swords, she honestly didn't trust herself to focus yet on effectively using such precision, regardless of how much knowledge the skill software would give her.

The passive skills like Alchemy were cool and slightly alarming, but wouldn't help her when she was in a fight to the death.

In the end, the choice came down to one handed sword or spear. Both were great in a fight and wouldn't force her body to go through some serious changes immediately in order to wield the weapons properly.

After consulting both Gada and Inimus, she decided on the spear. She liked that proper use of the spear as a weapon would prevent an enemy from getting too close, and Inimus confirmed that he would be able to transform the attack end into whatever she needed in a fight, be it a lance, axe head, poleaxe, or something else.

[CHOICE CONFIRMED. NOW DOWNLOADING BEGINNER SPEAR.]

Just as when she had downloaded her Magician's Hands skill, her body locked up as if she'd been struck by lightning. Her vision went white as her brain was suddenly overloaded with new information like an out of date computer receiving an update. After what was maybe a few seconds but what felt like hours, Leta's body suddenly unlocked, causing her to shuffle backward as she found herself drawing in air to lungs that had been starved for oxygen.

Simon was by her side, his brows were crinkled with concern, lips tight over his mouth as he struggled to decide what medical interventions needed to be done. He apparently had been shouting at her after she'd seized, afraid to touch her in case she really had an electric current running through her that would hurt him too.

Leta shook her head as she came to her senses. "I'm alright, I promise. Just… part of the process."

"What process requires such a terrifying experience?" He frowned.

She only gave him a humorous laugh and she tried to calm her racing heart. "You get used to it."

The air vibrated again with Inimus's satisfaction, rumbling with the echos of a purr through his pieces like a preening cat.

In her hand, the punch daggers had transformed into a silver spear etched with the same blue hieroglyphs as when it had been a sword. Up and down the shaft was an intricate, black geometric design that looked to be as if someone had imagined a computer system and a tree were the same thing. What looked like leaves from a distance appeared to be stylized circuit boards upon further inspection.

Leta held the spear in a parade rest formation, pommel to the floor and blade pointing up. The socket was about a foot higher than herself, spear well over two meters tall from tip to end.

Leta and Simon marveled at the spear for several breathless moments before, with a thought, she had the weapon turn back into glove gauntlets and pauldrons. "Well, that's a lot less conspicuous than a sword." Leta mumbled, flexing her hands as she watched the material conform to her movements.

"Incredible." Simon breathed, then looked her in the eye with a pleading gaze. "May I?"

When Leta nodded, he pulled on a pair of gloves and gently raised one of her hands up for his inspection.

"Its… metal? It's still metal?"

"From what I can tell, yeah. Right now it's turned into super tiny, flexible strands that become this sort of fabric. "

With a soft "Pardon me", Simon pulled her shirt collar down to examine the pauldron's hidden by her clothes. The pauldrons felt like metal but moved like cotton as just another part of her being.

He tried to run a finger underneath, but found that the pauldrons seemed to be fused to her skin.

"Is it… does it hurt?"

Leta shook her head. "No, I can't even feel it. At first it was super cold but now it's at the same temperature as my skin."

Simon asked a few more questions about Inimus.

What other forms could it take?

Could it become any weapon?

Did it have to be a weapon?

Could she split it into several pieces and leave them in different areas?

If she did that, would the pieces turn into smaller spears?

The last one had her pausing and asking Inimus what the answer was, which turned out to be 'maybe'. Inimus had explained that it could turn into several smaller weapons, such as throwing stars, but its pieces would turn into that silver Terminator-like substance and draw itself together into a larger weapon if needed.

Simon was happily scribbling away, absolutely giddy with what he was learning about Atlantian weapons.

"Amazing. Truly amazing. So, accessing the memories of the weapons previous owners. How does that work?"

"Well it's-." Leta paused as the sound of both of their phones going off simultaneously interrupted her.

Simon's face instantly darkened as he flipped the smartphone over, then jumped to his feet. "We need to go."

"What was that?" Leta asked, her heart starting to beat faster and faster as the Judge scrambled for his sports jacket.

"Distress call. You're phone was added to the group call line last night." Simon said over his shoulder, checking through hidden pockets in his coat to ensure his weapons were all there. "You tap a letter, and character, into the group chat and it sends the rest of us you're location."

He ushered her quickly out the door and they were all but sprinting through the halls. "It's only to be used in on situation - ambushed by the Blessed."

Leta's heart dropped into her stomach, memories of crazed eyes and sharp teeth circling in her head.

They made it to the front entrance when Leta had enough foresight to pull her own smartphone from her pocket and check the message.

Her eyes went wide as she saw the sender, the words "Oh god" leaving her as if she'd been punched in the gut.

Sender: Eirene.