Chapter 4 - The Collapse

Eric walked down the hallway, staring at the floor, before hitting something hard as a brick wall and falling down. Ass on the ground, he looked up to see a dark figure dressed in black combat gear. His eyes displayed anger, his beard big, black and bushy.

“Watch it, kid! “

Eric stood, patting the dust off with his hands, reorienting himself, he looked at the demon looking man. One stare was all it took to shake Eric, his eyes bore into him seeing his fear.

“s-s-sorry sir, my mistake,”

Eric continued on past the big scary man, down towards Eleen Holy shit, that guy was scary. A large wide archway approached his sight, leading into a workshop with half built Beam turrets littered around. Eleen sitting in front of a Beam turret, wires hanging everywhere, spaghetti was all Eric could think. Eleen was a pretty woman with blond hair tied up into a bun, around 30 years old, sporting a white tank top stained with oil and her various tattoos shown on her arms. Eric walked closer to Eleen, scrunching his face at smell of oil and sweat.

“uhm, excuse me, im looking for Eleen,”

Eleen looked up. A tall, healthy young man with black messy hair and a long lab coat stood in front.

“Pass me that screwdriver,”

“Excuse me,”

“Pass the fucking driver man,”

Sweat dripped from Eric’s brows. He picked up a medium-sized screwdriver, holding it out to Eleen. She snatched it from his hand and inspected, squinting her eyes like it’s the most important tool ever made. Her hand raised, and a thud echoed through the workshop. The screwdriver wobbling back and forth stuck in the wall.

“The smaller one dip shit.”

He picked up the smaller one and passed it over. Again she snatched it, inspected and threw it. It landed in the wall just under the first one. There is something wrong with this woman. Eric looked away the vicious look in Eleen’s eyes made him sweat more. He picked up an even smaller one and passed it. She started working now, screwing in various parts.

“What now??”

Eleen glanced at him before continuing her work, ignoring him. Ignored, Eric walked away to look at the schematics of the Beam turret.

“AMI Monitor scan the documents and display ways to increase damage,”

*Starting analysis…*

*Beam Turret v1.03 found — Displaying 3D model*

A 3d image of the latest Beam Turret appeared in Erics mind. “Highlight inefficient points on the model” Parts of the lense area highlighted in red. Eric focused on the area and zoomed in. They made the lense that focused the light into a beam from glass. “Show materials that will increase damage output”.

*Based on current data…*

*Glass Acrylic - 5% increase*

*Crystal - 10% increase*

*Crystallised Carbon - 20% increase*

Hm will 20% increase be enough. He walked to Eleen to see if the increase was enough. Maybe I can be back absorbing if I solve this fast. Eleen is still sitting in the same place, screwing bolts and connecting wires.

“Hey..”

No answer.

“I said HEY!”

Still no answer.

Eric walked closer, his nose 20cm away from her nose. His eyes drifted downward. Sweat was rolling down her neck onto her breasts. He gulped down his saliva, feeling attracted to the site. Eleen sensing the perverted gaze looked up into his eyes.

“Boo,”

Eric fell back, tripping before stabilising himself on half built Beam Turret. Eleen's face glowed with a smile of satisfaction. He hated himself for the moment of weakness of being attracted to this woman. What was I thinking? She’s the devil. He stepped back after gathering himself while scowling and muttering under his breath.

“Was that needed?”

“What do you want? Your so jittery and whiney,”

Eric stared at her, his eyes twitching in annoyance, I can’t wait to be done with this woman, 20% better be enough.

“Will a 20% increase in damage be enough for whatever is coming?”

Eleen stopped working and looked at him. She sat silently momentarily before bursting out in laughter. She gasped for breath after loosing herself in laughter for the past 2 minutes. Eric just stood with a grim look as he watched the she-devil mock him. She looks nice smiling tho, no no stop she is the devil don’t fall for her traps, Eric told himself.

“So… 20% good enough??”

“hahaha, 20%, hm I guess changing the lense to crystalise carbon would increase the efficiency of the laser. But its brittle, that’s why we use glass holds better.”

Eric when back into his mind and studied the 3d model again. “Isolate laser diode and magnify”. The model rotated and zoomed in, highlighting the diode in red. Hmm, maybe I can use mana and infuse it into the diode. “Calculate a way to infuse mana into the diode”

*Calculating……*

*Error…. Not enough Data*

Fuck, this AMI is becoming useless. Ok so mana is not an option right now, if increase the power input to the diode the output damage should increase. “AMI show options for increasing power to the diode”.

*Re-Writing software - 30% increase*

*Increasing Voltage Input - 300% increase WARNING increasing the voltage can cause unexpected burnout*

Eric looked at the 300% increase and silently cheered in joy, then he saw the warning and cried internally. Seeing the only option left to him was he set AMI to re-write the software for gathering energy.

*Time left until completion….0:4:00:00hrs*

“Im leaving to re-write the software to increase power input,”

Eleen just glanced at the young man walking out from the workshop, hunger in her eyes wondering up and down his leaving figure.

Eric got food at the canteen that was around 20m away from the rift. It was his best option now, after they had taken his access to get close. Sitting down, he ate a slice of pizza while mana was being absorbed and his neurons are slowly mutating. He rests his head on the table after finishing, thinking back to Eleen and her strange behaviour, then slept. A sudden alarm woke Eric from his slumber. Eyes hardly open he looked around, seeing the canteen was empty he stood up. The canteen was empty, food trays tossed to the side like everyone exited in a rush. Eric walked out the canteen, walking down the hallway until the intercom speakers sounded off.

“BREAK IN THE RIFT… REPORT TO YOUR TEAM LEADERS!!!”

Before Eric could continue on to Eleen, a large flash of blue light rippled through the base.

*Mana Concentration Increased 100%*

*Mutations at 0.2%…… 0.3%….*

*ERROR…. Mana Concentration increased ERROR002asdg002%*

“Akh” Eric collapsed on the floor, a flood of pain hitting his skull. He reached up to hold his head as he lay on the floor, wincing in pain.