Chapter Three – A Not So Quiet Home Life

Chapter Three – A Not So Quiet Home Life

“Samurai don’t tend to show marked improvements in their abilities. At least, no more than you would expect from a normal person.

It’s this researcher’s opinion that this might be a good thing. It’s comforting to see that anyone, if they apply themselves and are sufficiently motivated, can become just as talented as a samurai.”

–On the Learning Rates of Samurai, academic paper, 2026

***

I spent a good couple of hours practising with the Laser Pointer. The gun took a bit of getting used to. It didn’t have the same kind of kick as my Bullcat had, but it still needed careful handling. The punch it delivered was nice though.

Myalis started me small, with mid-range targets that stood still. Then she summoned an image of myself shooting and pointed out how I could change my stance to improve shooting. That… made some sense, a little. Really, the important thing was pointing the end of the barrel at what you wanted dead. How you held the gun didn’t matter.

Not unless you wanted to be consistent.

We worked out a few kinks, Myalis proving surprisingly patient. Eventually the targets started to move around slowly, mostly from side-to-side, and I started to see the value in basically posing while aiming.

Eventually, Myalis moved me into a digital building with concrete walls and lots of little rooms. The targets were still stationary, though they were replaced with holograms which lit up in passing. I had to turn and shoot them as quickly as I could.

Myalis said that the next step would be moving targets in changing environments, with ‘kills’ only awarded on immediately fatal hits, but she rattled out some statistics about my accuracy and target-finding speed, which had noticeably improved in just a couple of hours.

A few more sessions like this, and I’d be halfway competent, according to her. Personally, I was pretty happy. The time spent in the range had been fun too, and it didn’t even leave me feeling sweaty or anything.

Once we were done playing with guns, Myalis brought up one of my next big purchases.

You have used two suits of armour recently. Both have been damaged. One by falling debris, the other by high-heat exposure. While you still have both of them, and they are repairable, it’s possible that future engagements will also lead to situations where your current armour is just not capable enough to keep you safe.

“Yeah,” I said. “I need something bigger and tougher, then?”

Not necessarily. Larger armoured suits do provide more space for armouring. Thicker plates of conventional materials and reactive sections as well as more room for internals generally means that the larger a suit is, the more protection it will give.

“You’re about to tell me that that’s not always true?” I asked.

You have met other Vanguard who have been fighting for considerably longer than you have. Do you recall their equipment?

Deus Ex came to mind. The first time I saw her, other than these two massive pilon things, she was wearing some pretty thin armour. Just a few panels over what looked like a padded skinsuit.

I didn’t take her for someone who would put looking cute over being well protected. “I think I see where you’re going with this. I imagine the magical third factor here is cost?”

Essentially, yes. I would suggest two purchases. While the suits I would suggest to you now are mostly part of the Sunwatcher technology tree, there are several advances in material sciences that are above what they can provide at the tiers you’ve unlocked for that catalogue. Therefore, I would suggest buying a tier two Power Armour catalogue, then invest in a single powerful suit that can cover all of your needs.

That sounded like it would cost a lot. But then, I had a lot of points to spend. Nearly six figures worth.

“That sounds fair enough,” I said. “I liked the big armour, but it was a bit… big, you know? I can’t imagine using it to get around.”

Perhaps something more like a medium suit of power armour? Fully enclosed, but not as bulky. I’m certain we can fit all the devices you desire into something like that.

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Myalis started to summon models of the various armours she had in store for me. Mostly they fit a single, very obvious theme. Sleek, a bit taller than I was, with a long cat’s tail and protrusions above the head for my ears.

I didn’t mind the look, and from the looks of things, I could pick out the colours as I saw fit, which only made sense since most of the examples she laid out had the kind of stealth system I was growing really fond of having.