Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG 83 83. DOOM MOON FOUR – PATCHING

Flora switched into her mech-suit.

"What is the temperature difference to the outside? Do we risk exploding the overheated engines when we open the door?"

"23 degrees, Milady. 42% chance to damage the systems, a 2% chance of destroying them."

Better than Flora expected, but still not odds she wanted to take.

"I'm going to spray Frost Breath in the air. Aito, distribute the cold slowly."

This measure, combined with gradually opening the airlock, reduced the damage to a minimum.

Aidan landed them right next to the shaft. Flora sprang out of the shuttle and bolted thick metal sheets over the entry point to the ventilation system.

"Next! How's the estimated time looking?"

"Very good compared to before, Milady. Patching all the shafts is now mathematically possible."

Flora speed-substituted the broken parts of the shuttle, for which she could improvise replacements. Then they flew to the next ventilation system.

Flora scribbled more anti-heat, durability, and fortifying rune-schemes.

Aito joined her. She wrote the schemes on duct tape and stuck them to the machines according to Flora's instructions.

While it was a known fact that writing rune-schemes was an art, which a robot could never fully emulate, Flora thought differently. Machines executed a lot of crafts, people claimed could never be automated like weaving or painting. She put more significance into placing the rune-schemes.

With Diagnosis, she monitored the whole shuttle and counter-pressured, pushed, and pulled via Telekinesis.

Because Flora had removed the majority of the floor for easy access to the machinery, moving became adventurous. She envied the octopussy for its ability to dangle from the ceiling.

The enemy activity aggravated the situation. Aidan had to fly evasive maneuvers, which shook the shuttle and its passengers.

"I bet my acrobatics ability is rising," mumbled Flora. One of her feet she wedged in a handhold on the wall, the leg kneed on the floor, her shoulder pressed on the rim of the machines access while her hands and magic tinkered.

"One fighter-jet is trailing us, Milady. We are under attack."

"Aito, deal with it."

The octopus exited through the airlock. She pinged Flora for Overload Built-In Skill, and Flora cast it through the link. It worked fine, even without sight and a good layer of metal between them.

"Please narrate what is happening outside."

"Aitoshuri currently is peppering the fighter with laserbeams. She hit its left rocket system. The jet is returning fire-"

The shuttle shook.

"And destroyed our back gate. The octopussy is still hanging on the remains."

"Oh, dear." Flora had hit her head hard, the helmet protected her it, but the impact knocked back her neck. She rubbed her nape, a futile gesture because of the mech-suit. "How close is the jet? Can I use technomancy on it?"

"Its 100 meters away. The rules for big vehicle fight extend the range of weapons, but not skills. Your marksperson skills work because you are casting them through your rocket launcher. I recommend-"

The shuttle shook again and lurched.

"The octopussy lost three tentacles and one of its lasters. The left thruster lost functionality. We have to land. Milady, the word "land" might be a euphemism."

u003cDiagnoseu003e!

The shot squashed the hull surrounding the thruster, jamming the nozzle. If Aidan used it, the chances were high it would explode.

"Bring us down as gentle as possible." Flora grabbed a support beam with both hands and knees to prevent tumbling through the cabin like the rolls of duct tape.

"Too bad, no crafting spells are working in this scenario." Flora would have loved to use Repair or even Cluster Maintainance. Suddenly she had an idea.

u003cRe-Charge: Shuttleu003e!

She banked on the unique effect of her multitool:

Effect: Healing spells repair technological devices too. (Only for believers of Evailyn)

"Is it working?"

"No, Milady. The shuttle has no Physical Regeneration."

u003cHuman Machine Connection: Shuttleu003e!

"Now, it should, right? This spell adds some of my attributes to it, hopefully including Physical Regeneration."

"It's working, Milady. The higher hitpoints help as well. Prepare for impact."

Flora embraced the beam like it was her favorite toaster-plushie and concentrated entirely on keeping the command active.

The shuttle crashed into the ground and slid along the surface until it came to a stop.

A soon as they halted, Flora sprang out of the airlock and aimed her rocket-launcher at the fighter-jet.

u003cAuto-Mode Power-Shotu003e!

The rocket hit the wing of the jet and tore it off. Spiraling out of control, the plane had an even worse landing than the shuttle; it ended with an explosion.

Flora shuddered. 'It's a game. No real persons were killed.' She had gotten used to duels thanks to the martial arts training, but without a fighting ring, everything seemed so real.

"Milady, 6 km to the next job-side. But the third exhaust shaft is 35 km away."

Flora checked the timer. They had 25 minutes left. The Messenger Mech-Suit was fast, but was it that fast?"

Flora's gaze refocused on the shuttle.

HP: 92/440

The octopus released its hold on the crashed gate and crawled to Flora.

"Are there any more elemental healing spells?"

"Yes, Milady. Every element has a healer specialization. They have the same four standard spells, but with healing effects instead of damaging effects, the signature spell is Re-Generate.

Flora opened the diagram for Re-Charge and compared it to Lightning Bolt. She had identified the lightning component before, she knew the regeneration part as well and had a hunch which part was for the targeting. On the tail end of the elemental section, she found a peculiar shape. Formerly, she had thought it had only to do with the cooldown of the spell, but now she suspected it might be related to healing.

'No harm in giving it a try.' She integrated the matrix in the diagram of the bolt spell.

u003cHealing Lightning Boltu003e!

***************

You gained a new skill: Elemental Healing Lightning Bolt.

Description: A bolt of lightning heals your friends.

Cooldown: 25 sec.

You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

***************

HP: 129/440

"Excellent, but I might have messed up the cooldown part."

u003cElemental Healing Tempestu003e!

The visual effects appeared impressive, with lightning bolts raining down on the shuttle, the octopussy, and Flora, but the hit points only regenerated slowly.

Flora's mana was exhausted, but she had a reserve in her manbattery.

The battle scars vanished from the octopussy, but the tentacles didn't regenerate. The same held true for the shuttle, the gate at the back didn't reappear, but the thruster nozzle opened up again.

While she channeled the spell, she exchanged the robot with a fresh model and plugged Aito in.

As soon as Aidan reported they were airworthy, they took off.

Flora hit herself with Re-Charge before she cast Elemental Healing Hail in the inside. She monitored whether the cold spell had a positive effect on the heat issue, and it was looking good. Not only the hit points continued to rise, but fewer new problems with the engines popped up.

When they arrived at the next shaft, Flora worked even faster. The armor plating didn't have to hold for an eternity, 20 minutes was all they needed.

Back in the shuttle, Flora wedged herself between the motors.

She cast spells with the priority on the skills, which enhanced the speed of the shuttle.

u003cNitro: Shuttleu003e

u003cHurry Up: Shuttleu003e

u003cOvercharge Regular Mode: Shuttleu003e

On herself, she used lightning spells; they had the secondary effect of reducing cooldowns.

u003cRe-Charge: Florau003e

u003cOvercharge: Florau003e

Regularly, she inspected the status of the shuttle. When an issue popped up, she cast spells directly on the affected area, for the electronics Elemental Healing Lightning Bolt, for overheating Elemental Healing Frost Bolt, to counter pressure and resolve jamming Elemental Healing Kinetic Bolt.

u003cDiagnoseu003e

u003cElemental Healing Boltu003e

When she had free seconds, she switched between area of effect spells and connecting to the shuttle. Minor issues she resolved with Telekinesis.

u003cElemental Healing Hailu003e

u003cElemental Healing Tempestu003e

u003cHuman-Machine Connectionu003e

u003cTelekinesisu003e

In the beginning, she cast the spells separately, one after another. But with time, they flowed into each other. Diagnosis and Human-Machine Connection blended, and the other skills interfused.

Flora entered a strange space of mind. Her consciousness flitted into the shuttle, and then it encompassed herself and the spacecraft. The change happened seamlessly, resembling a dream. She had fallen into a trance.

"Milady, we have only 30 seconds left. The heat exhaust is in view. Three enemy fighters are approaching it."

Flora opened her eyes slowly.

"Plug the hole with the shuttle. Try to get a good lock."

"Brace for impact."

Hugging the octopussy, she cast a shield covering them both.

u003cKinetic Shield: Florau003e!

This time you couldn't call it a landing; you had to call it a crash. If the shaft was a bottleneck, Aidan had used the shuttle as a cork. The front part stuck in the hole.

Aito's grip on the supporting beams held, but the beams did not. They crumbled, and Flora and the octopussy tumbled through the deformed cabin.

Before Flora even bothered to find out which side was up, she cast the next spell.

u003cVehicle Armor: Spaceshuttleu003e!

Not a second too soon. Detonations rattled the shuttle and its occupants.

"Excellent work, Aidan!"

Flora, with Aito on her back, jumped up to the airlock and swang out of the shuttle.

Standing on top of it, she saw three fighter jets turning around for another pass.

u003cBarrageu003e!

The rocket split into five projectiles. While two of the jets evaded, the one in the middle didn't manage to escape.

Aitoshuri took down one of them and fired at the third.

The remaining jet came straight at them, firing missiles at the shuttle.

Flora clamped down on the remains of the back door and stayed on top. Of course, Aito had no problems and even continued to shoot.

Wide-eyed, Flora stared at the approaching jet.

"I think he wants to push us off or maybe topple the shuttle."

As it closed in, she jumped down.

u003cDisturb Connectionu003e!

"You're in my spell range!"

Flora would never find out what the original plan of the pilot had been because the jet hit its wings on the shuttle and then smashed on the ground.

Quest completed: Secure the ventilation shafts on the Doom Moon

Possible rewards: Bonus crafting XP, follow up-quest

Difficulty: A

Completion: B

Quest: Report to Lady Mnoder

Possible rewards: hidden

Difficulty: D

"Finally, an easy quest."

"Milady, someone from the wrecks survived."

A female pilot ran into their direction. She had brandished an icy-blue plasmsword.

Flora inspected her badge while she aimed the rocket launcher.

Name: Elena Heavenstormer

Class: Icemaster

Level: 25

Rating: B

RGS: 3

Flora froze. The enemy pilot who wanted to explode the Doom Moon was Jake's wife and mother of his daughter.

"System!" She screamed at the stars. "I haven't signed up for this! I'll write a complaint to Central Tank about this *bleep*ing storyline! I want a refund! I want compensation for emotional trauma!"

Chapter end