"Alright. Give me your codenames as well as your current Rank and Brain Capacity Rank."
I calmly said in front of the five Elite Members of the League. They are the prepared Elite Members who will accompany me on the Patrol Mission that will last for 3 days. Due to the reports about the Darkbugs or the Darkgens appearing near the highway which connected the Free City of Nysia to the Moonlight Confederacy, the merchants coming to and from it felt threatened.
"Sen. Gold-rank Tier 3, Rank A!"
"Dali. Gold-rank Tier 4, Rank B!"
"Oni. Gold-rank Tier 2, Rank B!"
"Pasuta. Gold-rank Tier 5, Rank B!"
"Nell. Gold-rank Tier 2, Rank A!"
All Gold-ranks and two Rank A. If I convert that to Intelligence then Rank B is 4 and Rank A is 4.5 and if I convert those to the maximum output they can exert when using a Metagen, 60% for Rank B and 70% for Rank A. It's 10% increment per rank. That's why a Rank SSS can exert a maximum output of 100% and can utilize it like it's their own body.
Then there's me, a Rank SSS+, if I follow the 0.5 increment in Intelligence and 10% increment in maximum output per rank. My 7.9 Intelligence will amount to almost 140% of the maximum output.
The standard Metagen, the Primeval Knight, of the Primeval Aegis League which was being used by Elite Members was manufactured to have a maximum output of 70%.
Right. The same as that one I used on the assessment and the Metagen Nysia gave me during my first day. Though what I used during that assessment was a previous model which could only exert 50%. The new model was raised to 70% so that those Rank A could utilize it to the best of their abilities.
The Specialized Metagen, on the other hand, always has a maximum output of 150% despite it being piloted by Rank S to SSS. That's why the reaction of Lexie during my Brain Capacity test was that extreme. I could tap on that excess 50%. It's like Gigantifying and empowering myself at the same time.
The Ultimate Metagen which only Mythic-ranks can use has a maximum output of 200% to 300% and it depends on the skill and the resources used when building it.
With these 5 Elite Members to complete my team who will go on patrol, each of them was piloting a standard Metagen which was slightly altered to suit their needs.
Also, there are three variations of the standard Metagen, the same as the Metagen of the 3 Heroes. Light-armored, balanced and heavy-armored.
Sen and Nell who are both Rank A have the balanced variation.
Dali, Oni and Pasuta have the light-armored variation.
Since we need mobility, a heavy-armored variation isn't ideal.
As a Core Pilot, I should have my own Specialized Metagen however, due to it still in the process of building which Nysia estimated to be 2 to 3 months, she let me pick one that I could borrow on the League's Armory.
Though it's called an armory, it's actually a place to enshrine the Specialized Metagen of those Core Pilots who died in the line of duty. Having it be borrowed by a newly promoted Core Pilot was a system they put in place so that they could still do their duties while their own Specialized Metagen was still being built.
With a lot of choices in place, it showed how many subordinates of Nysia died while fighting the real enemies.
After browsing everything, I picked an old Specialized Metagen that was previously owned by a Legend-rank Core Pilot during one of the major battles against the Invading Forces and Alien Civilization.
It's a purple light-armored Metagen named as the Purple Haze. It boasted longer legs than the normal ones, it's even supposed to be faster than Kazeyoshi's Crescent Hurricane. However, that's not the Metagen's true specialty. It's a specialized one so it was built to accommodate the previous owner's awakened ability which involves fogs, mist and smoke. Letting the Energy circulate through it, it will release a haze that could cover the Metagen.
Err… that's actually the reason why I chose it. A fast Metagen who spewed out smokescreen as it ran. With only a short blade and a pistol type of gun as a weapon, it relies on quick attacks which are aligned to my ideal, however, I changed the short blade to a sword. Intermediate Sword Mastery was still accumulating experience even if I'm piloting a Metagen after all.
Though I wouldn't be able to fully utilize the advantage of the Specialized Metagen because of my different ability, just that smoke is enough. I'll make up for the lack of variety using my above SSS capabilities.
"Let's set out!"
I shouted and the 5 Elite Members saluted before they all rode into their respective Metagens. I looked back to see Nysia also looking at me to send me off. After nodding at her, I also jumped into the Purple Haze's cockpit.
After inserting the key and starting the Metagen, the cockpit closed and the interior of the Metagen lighten up followed by the appearance of the interface for inputting commands and a screen which shows what's in front of the Metagen I am piloting.
The interface and the screen are holographic in nature which is nice. The Metagen I used on Virtual Simulation had a physical screen and interface which the input keys on the interface or the screen will sometimes break due to the impact. Whenever it happens, it needs at least a minute to be repaired. During that time, I didn't have any choice but to rely completely upon manual steering to avoid any attacks.
The Manual mode was only put there for situations like that after all. The Metagen can move with continuous command inputs which involve one's Brain Capacity.
That's why, having a holographic screen and interface means even if it got distorted by the impact, it will restore itself in a second or few.
After practicing in simulation, I'm already quite an experienced Pilot. With my body locked in the seat to reduce the stress on it, I started operating the Metagen.
Compared to other Mecha from Earth sci-fi fantasies, Metagens didn't have any annoying AI who would keep reminding the Pilot about what to do. Metagens were only equipped with warning programs such as engine damage or armor breach and the likes, everything depended on the Pilot's skill and Brain Capacity.
After making sure that everything was put in place, I input the takeoff command. As soon as the interface recognized that, it was instantly sent to the Purple Haze which also instantly acknowledged the command. The thrusters installed in place lit up and lifted the Metagen into the air and flew out of the League's base.
Spearheading the Patrol Team, the Purple Haze which I was piloting immediately reached the height of 100 meters and zoomed towards the direction of the Patrol Target Area.
The 5 Elite Members, after seeing me take off, all followed behind me. With the two light-armored at the front, the balanced ones in the middle and the last light-armored at the rear, we maintained a speed that wouldn't leave anyone behind.
Flying past the installed security of the city, no one stopped us because of the emblem of the League carved into every Metagens.
When we left the vicinity of the city, for the first time, I finally saw the state of the places not enclosed behind the walls and securities which the city has. Apart from a 10-lane superhighway for land and sky vehicles, everything around it was in ruins.
That's the damage caused by the constant wars and attacks to the planet. Compared to the futuristic feeling in the city, the ruins of civilization were something tragic and probably it wouldn't go back to the same state as before.
"League's Purple Haze to Sentry MC-01, ETA 20 minutes."
Before we continued, I informed the Sentry Base put in place by both the Moonlight Confederacy and the Free City of Nysia in between the two. It's a proper procedure to avoid complications of unknown Metagen flying inside their radar.
The Patrol Target Area was located near the Sentry MC-12 so we needed to pass through 11 Sentry Bases like that before we reached it and after reaching that, we still needed to inform the Base Commander before we could begin our patrol.
Why didn't the Sentry Base send patrols by themselves? Because it's out of their area and they only have a few Elite Members stationed there who weren't allowed to leave the area for security purposes. They're kind of strict like that. That's why they sent a report back to the HQ.
Nysia or the corresponding branch Executive will then determine what to do about it. Only this time, Nysia sanctioned the Patrol Team to test the new Core Pilot recruit which every Executive and Core Pilots also wanted to see.
"Sentry MC-01 to Purple Haze. Noted. Destination?"
"Purple Haze to Sentry MC-01. MC-12."
"Noted."
Once the response came, I also responded back to tell our destination. With that, they will now be responsible to inform the other bases that we will be passing through their area.
20 minutes per base. Though it's fairly safe due to the sentries in place, being wary of the area we were passing through was a given. No one knows what's waiting for us after all.
It only looks like there's a lot of Metagen and people but due to how big this world is, there's a lot of space where the enemies could pass through unnoticed.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶