Val sneezed violently, almost slamming her forehead against the inside of her helmet. She finished wiping the blood of her knife before slotting it back into a recess along the leg of her exosuit. A mental command disengaged the seal of her helmet with a slight hiss. Reaching up, she took off her helmet before rubbing at her nose with the back of her index finger.

Ugh, are you sure this thing is properly sealed, Noir? I’ve been sneezing all morning.

Yes I’m sure, came the exasperated response. I even pressurized the interior of the exosuit after you complained last time. No foreign contaminants have been detected.

What about… could I have gotten sick from when you made me jump into freezing cold water?

You’re perfectly healthy, Val. Stop whining and get back to it. It’ll be weeks to get back to Peakpoint if you keep up this pace.

Alright, alright, I hear you. I’ll pick up the pace now that I’m starting to get the hang of things.

Val gave her helmet a quick once-over. No damage, but she was surprised to see a streak of blood across the front of her helmet. She tried to wipe it off, but Val grimaced as she mostly only succeeded in smearing it across the whole faceplate. Turning the helmet back over, she slipped it back onto her head. The screen along the inside flickered on as the suit resealed, revealing a completely clean view of the clearing.

Well, that’s convenient.

Why so surprised? The helmet’s preceptory subroutines are designed to provide a clear view regardless of any minor obstructions.

No, I know that. Modern exosuits have that feature too, but usually they aren’t this good.

My personal tweaks are particularly effective at modding out things like blood splatter.

Oh. Val frowned but eventually decided to not respond further. Placing her hands on her knees, she pushed herself up off the tree stump she had been sitting on. She surveyed her handiwork in the small clearing once more.

Two boar-like creatures lay dead several feet from her. One was riddled with holes from her rifle, while the other sported multiple long lacerations from her knife. So far, Val had eschewed Noir’s exotic needle weapons for her traditional mainstays of guns and blades. Despite their insistence that she start using the needles, Val felt it was wiser to at least get a few fights in with a more familiar loadout. After all, she was still adjusting to the new – or rather, old – exosuit.

This was now the third set of boars she had taken down, and the first time she had faced two at once. The boars had dense hide that was difficult to penetrate, and they charged her with their thickly-muscled legs. Although their tusks were still bone, it was unwise to discount the danger they posed. There were several gouges across the legs of her exosuit where the boars had been able to score hits, although thankfully nothing got all the way through.

A week ago, she would have been extremely pleased with her progress. With her new F2 combat rating after her first Defect mission where she had taken down a direwolf by herself, it was expected that she would win against the pair of F6 or F5 boars. But it was one thing to look at that match up on paper, and an entirely different thing to perform under pressure out in the middle of the wilderness. With no backup, no restocking between fights, and in an unfamiliar exosuit.

I just have such a long way to go. Val finished her scan of the clearing, turning her attention to take stock of her inventory. She still had most of her consumables, although she was already down two universal magazines from her rifle usage. She had plenty left, but not enough to last the rest of the trip. Especially if Noir started pushing her towards harder targets.

Alright, Noir. I think I’m ready to try something a little tougher. What’s next?

Finally! Let’s keep moving, but go slightly further northeast than our previous heading. No sightings, but apparently Scouts have reported signs of a nest of granite moles.

Moles? Val frowned as she started walking in the direction Noir indicated, unslinging her rifle as she went. That doesn’t sound like a big deal.

Shouldn’t be a big deal. These things are ranked F7, barely able to hurt a non-User under normal circumstances.

Val’s eyes narrowed as she detected an undertone in Noir’s message, but she was unable to quite interpret the emotion. Clearly, the Daemon was purposefully sanitizing the data they were sending over the neural link, obfuscating their true feelings. Val was certain this next encounter wouldn’t be as straightforward as Noir made it seem, but she had a hard time seeing the trap.

Fine, be like that. Challenge accepted.

Val grunted in pain as she slammed into the ground. The seemingly-solid stone had given way under her right foot, pitching her body sideways as her leg fell past her knee into a deep hole. A brief moment of panic ran through her as she scrambled forward immediately. She let out a relieved sigh as her leg came free of the hole. She slowly clambered back to her feet, eyes scanning around the cavern for any sign of the next attack.

The past ten minutes had been incredibly instructive for Val. Of course, she already knew that granite moles had existed from ecology classes during her secondary education. But the nuisance species had not featured prominently in any of her Guild rotations. Even the Scouts, who specialized in excursions through the mountain wilderness, didn’t bother with any specific preparations for them.

Some normal moles lived in the forests of the Eastern Henian Mountain Range, although they were more common in the plains of Parvam. Unlike their unenhanced cousins, granite moles burrowed directly through the solid rock of the mountains. Noir had told her that granite moles were normally solitary creatures, but she was targeting a breeding nest. The mother and young would simply escape through the mountainside, but the male would defend the nest aggressively. The closest entrance to the nest was in a dark cavern where the moles could surface in relative safety; at least, until Val showed up and sent them into a flurry of activity.

Given how frustrated she felt, Val had to admit the mole was doing an excellent job delaying her. Apparently, the moles could use their nano-enhanced muscles and claws to move up to several feet per second when under duress. A terrifying speed when Val considered her current opponent was larger than a medium-sized dog, had claws that were as long as her hand, and was covered in natural armor designed to withstand jagged rocks and crushing pressures.

Additionally, the mole also seemed to be completely attuned to the nano permeating the entire cavern. Although not common, Val had heard of Users who were able to control their surroundings by manipulating external nano. The mole seemed to do this instinctively to burrow through the rock at high speeds, but it also used the ability to litter the cavern floor with pithole traps for Val to constantly step into.

Not sure I wanted these specific lessons, but I guess it still counts as “preparation” and “knowing your enemy”, huh, Noir?

As expected, she received no response from Noir. Any further retorts she had for the silent Daemon were cut short as a slight cracking sound to Val’s left caused her body to tense. Her head whipped around just in time to see a sleek shape burst out from the wall of the cavern and hurtle towards her. She immediately threw herself into a forward roll. Coming up in a crouch, Val brought her rifle up to fire on the mole, but the creature had seamlessly burrowed back underground.

Val’s frustrated growl transitioned into a surprised yelp as the rock underneath her leading foot gave out from underneath her. Dropping her rifle and letting it hang by its sling from her side, she slapped her left hand down next to the hole to stabilize herself. She unsheathed her knife with her right hand, the nano edge flaring to life with a high-pitched whine. Without hesitation, she plunged the blade into the opening.

Her knife cut smoothly through several inches of rock before slamming into something hard. The impact jarred her hand, but she kept her grip on the knife’s hilt and pushed down even harder. Suddenly, she felt something give and the blade sunk another inch into the cavern floor. Her efforts were rewarded with a squeal of pain as her knife managed to cut through the mole’s armored outer coat.

The small self-congratulatory smile that had been growing on Val’s face froze as the resistance below her knife suddenly vanished. Her arm shot deeper into the hole as the knife sliced through the rock floor effortlessly, only coming to a stop once the hilt slammed into the ground.

Val’s eyes widened in surprise as a pillar of earth jutted upwards rapidly, catching her squarely in the chest. Her armor held strong and prevented her ribs from being crushed, but the force of the impact launched Val through the air. She landed heavily on her back several feet away, losing her grip on the knife. She lay there stunned for a moment as the knife clattered across the ground away from her.

Note to self: mole’s control of earth is not limited to making holes.

Blinking twice as her brain kicked back in, Val slowly rolled over with a weak cough. She pushed herself onto her hands and knees, but before she could get all the way to her feet, a large clawed paw burst out from the ground and grabbed her right leg. Val yelled out in pain as the claw tightened and started to crush her leg.

Val’s eyes fell on her knife, which now lay tantalizingly just out of reach. Her right hand grabbed her rifle, but the weapon was just a little too long to comfortably aim down at her own leg from her current crouched position. Knife over there, rifle won’t work. That only leaves –

Val dropped the rifle again, instead reaching across her body to pull her pistol out. Bracing up on her left elbow, she stuck her pistol between her legs and fired off three shots at the paw. She watched in dismay as the bullets ricocheted off the mole’s armored front leg.

Another cry of pain escaped Val’s lips as the claw tightened again. This time, the crushing sensation was accompanied by a horrible cracking sound as the plates in her exosuit started giving way. Panic started to set in as she fired off another set of ineffectual rounds. It’s my exosuit now, but it’ll be my leg soon. But how do I free my leg? Gotta do some–

Shock bullets. Aim for the outside of the paw.

Noir’s clinical tone cut through Val’s scrambled thoughts. She didn’t even pause to try and make sense of the orders as her body reacted instantly. With one quick mental command, she set her pistol to the new electrified ammo subroutine. The one second it took for the pistol to reconfigure its nano felt like an eternity as pain wracked through her leg, but soon she was lining up a shot on the mole’s paw. Following Noir’s advice, she shifted her aimpoint to the left slightly and squeezed the trigger.

The bullet leapt from her pistol, just barely grazing the outside of the mole’s front leg. Luckily, it seemed that was enough as the mole’s paw started convulsing. The muscles along the top of the leg contracted sporadically, forcing the claw to open and relieving the pressure on Val’s leg. With a quick kick from her left foot, she freed her leg and rolled away.

Val popped up to her feet, wincing slightly as she put pressure on her right leg. Looking down, she could see cracks radiating out from where the mole’s claw had gripped her. A few quick range of motion tests showed nothing was broken, but her shin would surely show a nasty bruise the next day.

She glared at the mole angrily as it disappeared back beneath the rock. She took three more steps forward and bent down, scooping her knife up off the ground. Slotting it back into its sheath, she also pulled a universal magazine off her breastplate. She fed over two-thirds of the magazine into her rifle before it refused to take any more ammo, leaving her with a small chunk of material in her hand. She slammed the last bit of the universal magazine into her pistol before reholstering it, leaving it on the shock ammo setting.

Thanks for the help, Noir, but I certainly could have used it earlier. I know you’d probably speak up if my life was in any real danger. Do you get some sort of pleasure from watching me fail against a stupid F7 mole?

No, I don’t get any pleasure from this at all. If you wanted my help, you should have asked earlier. You haven’t been adjusting well at all.

What do you mean? I’ve been trying to adjust this whole time. I’m just barely getting the hang of the new weapons, the new-old exosuit, and the constant body enforcement subroutines. And clearly still struggling.

I agree you’ve been adjusting to all of that. But you haven’t been using your greatest resource at all. Me. You’ve been fighting as you would have a week ago, only a little faster and stronger. For someone who throws the phrase “we’re a team” around often, you’ve sure been neglecting your partner an awful lot.

Val’s brow furrowed as she processed what Noir said. She almost sent back another retort, but thinking about it, the Daemon was right. She had taken the “background” body enhancement for granted and was now falling back into her old patterns. It was true that she needed to readjust to her new loadout, but Noir was pushing her to recognize that more had changed than just her exosuit. She bit her lip as she sent a message back to Noir, trying to dampen her frustration and enfuse the message with as much of an apologetic tone as she could.

You’re right, Noir. I was just so wrapped up in all the other changes, I’ve been neglecting strengthening our teamwork. I have to admit, I’m a little confused though. I was led to believe that Daemons could, sort of… seamlessly boost a User’s capabilities. But you make it sound like it’ll be more active?

Eventually, yes. By the way, dodge to the left.

The sudden change in conversation surprised Val for a moment before she threw herself into a roll towards the left. A jagged spike of earth burst upwards from where she had been standing a moment before. Apparently the mole had decided to use more of its earth-shaping abilities now that the ability had been revealed.

As I was saying, eventually it will all be passive. I’ll learn to read your intentions and act without direct instruction, and you’ll be better at factoring my abilities into your combat. Of course, I can still do the former now. But you can’t do the latter. For example, did you know that I can detect the vibrations coming up through the soles of your exosuit to do this?

Val watched as a wireframe outline of the cavern’s surface was overlaid onto the display of her helmet. Behind the wireframe, Noir populated more wireframe outlines that Val quickly recognized were various tunnels created by the mole. Her eyes were drawn to a highlighted icon currently working its way up to the roof of the cavern. The mole, she realized. The icon paused for a moment before it became surrounded with a glow.

I’m now also overlaying any fluctuations in ambient nano I can detect. I recommend you dodge this as well.

Val immediately started running away from the mole’s location. Her raw speed still surprised her as her boots pounded across the cavern floor. Looking down, she could see places where the wireframe tunnels approached the surface of the ground, leaving only a thin slab of rock. Dodging a few pitfall traps, she made it to a section of relatively unaltered ground.

She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the glow coalesce into a flash of light. Her eyes widened as a flurry of rock spikes burst out from the ceiling before launching in her direction. Another note to self: mole can create earthen projectiles.

She dashed to the side in an attempt to get out of the line of fire. One spike caught her in a glancing blow off her shoulder, but she managed to dodge the bulk of the missiles. Val’s eyes returned to the ceiling, tracking the mole’s icon as it started winding its way down one of the walls back to the floor.

Ok, your point is well-taken, Noir. I bow down to the power of my almighty Daemon partner.

I’m not trying to lord this over you, Val, sent Noir in a chastising tone. I just want you to be aware of what I can and cannot do. Forget the new exosuit and weapons. Increasing our synchronization is the single most impactful thing we can do on this little hunting trip.

Alright, alright. Seriously, thanks for the X-ray vision. It already helps a lot. Do you have any other suggestions?

Yes. So far, your guns and knife have had minimal effect. Earlier, you thought the pistol was your last weapon, but that was actually incorrect. This is a habit I want you to try to break early. So long as you are an exosuit I’ve customized, you’ll never be left without a weapon. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Val sighed as things started clicking in her mind. Yes, I know what you’re talking about. And I suppose it’s no surprise you chose a weak enemy that would be resistant to my “traditional” weapons, huh?

Well, I’m glad I don’t have to spell everything out for you.

Val dropped her rifle again, letting it hang from its sling as she freed her hands. With a thought, the two cylinders dropped from her vambraces into her waiting palms. The spikes extended out to menacing points with a snap of her wrists. Her eyes tracked the mole, which was now rushing towards her from about two feet underground. She spread her feet and took a low stance, ready to stab at the mole when it got into range.

Alright, Noir, let’s see how these things work. Ready for round 2?

Thought you’d never ask.