Augmented Aspects: Chapter 398 Learning In Most Peculiar Ways (Patreon)

Chapter 398

Learning In Most Peculiar Ways

“Hey, a Colossal Phoenix Infused Aethereal Nympho inside an Aetherial Teleiotís Minotaur Matriarch walk onto a moon—” Raygunnr begins, as if this is the greatest line to a joke ever.

“Stop calling me through your strap-on, it’s disgusting. Just talk to me like you are a normal Teleiotís, capable of basic thoughts,” I reply while cutting off his joke.

“It’s not a strap-on, it is an Adjustable Telepathic Antenna of Communication,” Raygunnr replies somewhat defensively.

“That you strapped on what part of your body?” I reply, making sure to only speak in Mana Language and not use my voice in addition to Mana Language as has been my habit in the past. The idea being that if I switch to only speaking in Mana Language, hopefully he too will switch back to his regular form of communication as well, as this is sort of disgusting.

“I had no choice, it was the only place that it would stick after all of my other adjustments were made,” Raygunnr replies in Mana Language making it somehow less creepy to be spoken to by micro mana bursts of the killer robot I am inside, than hearing direct communications in my head. Of course, in my case the reason for this ease is twofold. First, I am just used to Mana Language after so many months of this being our own form of communication with each other. Second, is that my mind can instantly trace the source of the magic being used to communicate with me. Sort of like being able to look at a phone you are talking to in this case, which would be fine if it was a regular phone, versus a long flaccid phone that looks like a wobbly eggplant that I was expected to talk to as if that was somehow normal.

“You should be ashamed of yourself for this,” I chastise after hearing his somewhat lame excuse being offered.

“I am, though not for the reason you might think. I find that I am oddly not embarrassed by having this black antenna dangling here, but rather I am more disappointed by my inability to utilize its full effects correctly.” Raygunnr replies, still blessedly using Mana Language, and I try to keep along with everything he is saying, but then I notice one glaring issue with his comment.

“You made it black as well?”

“Of all the words I said, that is the one you picked up on?” Raygunnr replies, and I already know through our bond that he is deeply embarrassed by this turn of events. That he does not in fact wish to keep the antenna in its current location, and the fact that it is a black antenna only seems to cause even more embarrassment for him. Though he is deeply troubled by this, part of me is skeptical. For I find it hard to believe that he did this all on accident.

Hearing his words, I just cross my arms and give him a raised eyebrow. The look is simple, I am letting him know that I know, he knows why I focused on that part of his comment.

“Fine, but it was all part of your advice,” Raygunnr replies, once again speaking to me through his strap-antenna. The fact that he switched lets me connect Telepathically to him, granting an even deeper level of insight to his thoughts, especially as he doesn’t know how to protect his mind from such uses. That is something else that I will have to work with him on, if he is going to be a constant user of this new antenna. And yes, I am slowly wrapping my mind around the fact that he will need to keep this antenna, and that overall it is a good thing, despite his execution being juvenile at best.

“Don’t you dare talk in that manner,” I reply back, letting the full force of my authority slam through our now Telepathic connection, letting him know just how vulnerable to a psychic attack he is thanks to his wide-open mental posture. While most wouldn’t be able to take advantage of this, I remember my first magic teacher at the Arcanarus University teaching me this exact same lesson.

“Sorry, sorry,” Raygunnr replies, a note of pain in his mind as he screams back at first but then switches mid-conversation back to Mana Language. “If you think you can do better, then you try to remove it and place it elsewhere.”

He declares annoyedly. There is a slight pause as I try to see if he has truly tried everything he can to fix this situation. Then as if reading my skeptical view on his efforts, he frustratedly reaches down and yanks on the antenna, managing to show just how flexible the rubbery material actually is, and how firmly it is fastened in place.

“Stop, just stop that, you’re making it even weirder by doing that,” I reply raising my hands up to cover my eyes, not that this stops my Angel’s Sight from forcing me to see everything. Even the way he dejectedly drops his shoulders in resignation is visible to my all-seeing sight. Sometimes it is a curse being able to see everything, as there are times when you wish you could just turn it off for a moment, and give your friend the benefit of the doubt and say to yourself, they aren’t as creepy as you originally believed.

I could tell that my thoughts were bleeding over through our connection to Raygunnr, which only made him even more frustrated.

“Fine, you remove it then,” he declares and tosses the rubbery antenna, only for it to spring back to position a moment later, sending a gentle vibration through the entire hull.  Though the throw and sudden vibration seem to have caused it to shift outwards slightly. Looking at it, I can see that it seems to have extended.

“Wait, it grows?” I ask, mildly horrified by the newfound discovery.

“It doesn’t grow, it extends,” Raygunnr begins, his Mana Language somehow coming across in a posh affected way that denotes he is not pleased with my seemingly uncultured response to his predicament, and his awkward modifications. Hearing his tone, I realize that I might be judging him too easily, for I too fell into such traps, getting a third eye, getting pixie wings, being turned into a giant pixie, and now a Nympho of all things. I get it, the system is terrible at upgrades, but we do need to fix this before it becomes an issue. That’s when Raygunnr continues his explanation, “It can extend to be a third longer, allowing for double the range of communication.”

Hearing that, I paused as I realized he was so embarrassed by the shape, size, and placement of the antenna that he was willing to effectively neuter, wrong word choice Cass, effectively hinder his full potential for the sake of trying to do a tuck-under. This is sad.

“Okay, so to be clear, you and I both think the Antenna itself is okay and worth keeping, but you would like for me to help remove it from its current location and relocate it for you?” I ask, realizing that I think I can easily make this change, but I want to have permission before I do so.

“Yes, I mean, yes,” Raygunnr overcome with excitement messages me through his dangling unit at first but then corrects himself and reverts to my much-preferred method of communication, Mana Language. “I really want to keep this, though I don’t know how, and I don’t think I can remove it.”

Hearing his words, I just shake my head at the utter doubt that he is showing right now. He was so close, pushing this entire process so far down the line, but now that he is almost done with the entire thing, that is when he stops to doubt himself. Seeing him in this state, I feel this is a teachable moment and use it to make sure this type of event doesn’t happen again.

“I’m going to say this once, I am disappointed in you,” I comment. The moment the words leave my lips and body I feel a wave of anxiety overtake Raygunnr, that’s when I raise my finger in a pausing gesture. The type of gesture that says I am not done, so don’t you dare come to any conclusion.

“I am not disappointed in the fact that this happened. Accidents happen,” I pause making sure to let the sentiment of my thought seep in. Then I go for the kill.

“What truly disappoints me is that you came to this roadblock, seemingly had enough points left for a modification,” I state while gesturing to the tube tunnel and latching mechanism that looks utterly ridiculous to my senses. “And decided that covering up your mistake is the best option.”

Hearing my admonishment, I can see Raygunnr’s posture slowly change. I wasn’t commenting on his failure, but rather that his first inclination was to hide his mistake.

“Okay, but how do I fix it?” Raygunnr replies.

“Well, this time, we will need to fix it, and the simplest way is to self-modify.”

“Self-modify?”

“Yes, you are still in that settling in phase, so this will be tough, but not too tough. Like trying to reform drying clay, you will have to hydrate it a bit and be delicate, but ultimately, we can easily do this,” I reply as I begin focusing my mind, while assuming the proper piloting position within Raygunnr. This is that special spot within the cockpit that allows us to more easily connect to Raygunnr’s energy fibers.

As soon as I connect, I feel a faint jolt as if static electricity is coursing through my body. The feeling is more of a minor shock, but a testament to just how much energy Raygunnr now has available coursing through his body thanks to his external power cells. I focus at the source of this new energy and am surprised to see that this extra energy is held in external horns. I saw them, but now I could feel how they were a third of Raygunnr’s new overall power. Realizing that there was a lot more energy at hand, I almost wonder if this was provided as a test to Raygunnr, one that he failed. With so much extra Mana and Qi coursing through his body, the minor modification he wanted to do was easy to perform, but he panicked and lost sight of the end goal. Or maybe he just lacked the creativity on how to fix this issue.

With so much energy at hand, I use my newly strengthened connection to Raygunnr, and use his Qi and Mana reserves to send a stream of energy down his right hand, then once I get it to a nice vibrating sheen, I move. Though not before Raygunnr begins to ask in a semi-frightened state, “what exactly are you going to—”

That was all he got before an infused mechanoid knife strike slashes deep and seers away at the base, the connection point where antenna meets hull. I make sure to cut deeper into the hull, knowing that any damage I inflict there will be healed by my Robealing Aura.

“EEP!” Raygunnr cries out, after the right-hand slashes, and the left-hand juts out to catch the falling antenna. I somehow know that if this antenna leaves our possession at any time during this process, the antenna will somehow become inert and be almost impossible to reattach.

“Come on, you know that didn’t hurt,” I reply.

“I know, but it’s just sympathetic pain. Some things are instinctual, you know.”

I just shake my head at his reply, though I almost expect nothing less from him at this point. Still, we are almost done.

“All right, I just need you to focus,” I begin, as I begin my second modification, still hooked into Raygunnr’s control panel I begin doing some awkward maneuvers. Bending at the knees, I squat down, then using my still glowing right hand, I reach down and grab the invasive tubing modification and rip and yank that free as well. The moment I get that little track removed, I can already see the Robealing Aura doing wonders on his under hull, and repairing any internal breaks that might have come from this sharp and sudden removal.

“AHHHH!” Raygunnr again cries out, but he is wasting time that we don’t have.

“Stop that, now answer me, do you want this as a headband that we then hang in the back like a limp rubbery ponytail, or around your hull as a sort of tummy band that will permanently keep you from having other passengers. Well other passengers that aren’t me, my Simulacrum, or people that have precise control over Teleportation,” I reply. I know they are both bad decisions, but these are the only two that I can think will work, given the time constraint we are currently under.

At my comment, Raygunnr pauses, as he seems to be nervous.

“Can it be the headband?” He asks, and I am about to, though I pause as I realize this means he wants to have a pilot other than me. I am about to reach my hands up to apply the tubing first to the top of the head as the easy adhesive, but then pause as I wonder if I am a terrible pilot. I also wonder if I am too much for him. I realize this hasn’t been easy for both of us, and that we have gotten on each other’s nerves at times, but I genuinely felt we had a connection. Raygunnr feeling my sudden emotional shift, through our shared connection pauses and then continues speaking.

“I just have this dream that one day, when this is all over, and you have saved the world. You will move on, and I will be alone. Then I kind of had this fantasy that one day your grandchildren would come, find me. See that I set you as my one and only master pilot, and that would cause your grandchildren to awaken part of me. From there, we would go on adventures and strengthen our bond together, and I would share stories about you, and how you saved the world to them. That’s when they would realize just how great of a person you truly were, are.”

At Raygunnr’s comments, I felt a faint tear forming in my eye. He didn’t want me to leave, and checking, I could see that he did somehow lock me down as his only Master Pilot, meaning that everyone else would only have partial control over him. This meant that I could at any time move my body into place and make him do whatever I wanted, and he was completely fine with that. The idea that he would trust me so completely to move his body as needed was oddly impactful. That and the fact that he was already planning for ways to deal with live once I moved on was also telling, as he was planning on apparently manufacturing ways that he could meet with my grandchildren, after I saved the world apparently.

I think it was the fact that he believed in me so vehemently that I would save the world that truly got to me. That he was no longer concerned with what we were doing now, but how he would spend his apparent retirement, that’s what got me.

“You mean it?” I ask, my voice a bit choked up, as I feel a sudden surge of emotions overtake me.

“Mean what? Going on adventures with your grandchildren, yeah I think it would be fun. I would sense them coming, then cover myself in moss and hide in between rocks, with only my hull showing, as if I had been abandoned for centuries. Then only their presence within my hull would awaken me, and we could go on adventures together—”

I had wanted to stop Raygunnr at first, but then found that his imagination was wild. Covering himself up to make it look like he had been abandoned for centuries?

“That was not what I was referring to, but we can get back to that topic later,” I reply realizing I might need to get more details from the crazed writer. Though I see that his imagination and focus on the arts of a good story are as clear and vibrant as ever, a good sign for what he is still capable of, if we succeed. Which brings me back to my original question, “I mean, that you believe we are going to succeed?”

“Again, honey. I think the only one that still has any doubt about your success is you. I mean you are a demi-god going up against what Legendary bloodline holders at best? In a living spacesuit that is itself a sentient Legendary Bloodline holder as well. Yes, you will be just fine.”

Hearing his continued confidence in me, I took a sigh of relief. As I think he is right, that I am just getting in my own head. That’s when I realize I still have work to do.

Opening my mouth, I feel my connection to Raygunnr come into place as Raygunnr’s own massive metallic maw opens up, at which point I put in the tubing. With my right hand now free, I begin manipulating the antenna. Wrapping its flexible material around Raygunnr’s massive head, making sure to melt parts of the rubbery substance into the lower barbs of his horns, and smoothing it out until it is a rubbery flat surface that is clearly registering as part of Raygunnr’s head. Just as his energy infused horns are part of his head, so too is the stretch of rubbery material that has been melted and form fitted to wrap around his massive mechanoid dome. Then as expected, there is still a portion left that would almost look like Raygunnr was one of those business elites who had a ponytail. Feeling Raygunnr’s fear of his new aethereal tail that is meant mostly as a weapon cutting off his antenna, I work. Reaching back and just like zipping up a dress, I take the tubing and arrange it perfectly up the center of his spine, all while mimicking the gesture with my own body.

“Oww, how are you able to do that?” Raygunnr asks, his thoughts incredulous as he doesn’t seem to mind pestering me now that he can finally see the end result in place, despite this being the hardest part of this whole procedure.

“Simple, anyone that has ever been in a cocktail dress knows the easiest way to zip or unzip a pesky zipper," I state, and this is no different than trying to wrestle a zipper that is caught on something. But rather than the zipper being caught, I am trying to make sure it catches onto Raygunnr’s hull, where I then use his own arms to melt it into place.

From there, it is a simple motion of taking the extra length of antenna and shoving it into the tunnel, fully extending it, then locking the end into place, meaning that it’s final state will be fully extended, with only a portion of the tubing sliding out if he tilted his head fully forward. After which time, his simply raising his head back up would push the still fully extended antenna back to its final resting spot.

Once I am done, I pause as I take a moment to overlook my work and realize that there are no further modifications needed. The headband portion is fully in place, while the exposed antenna part looks at most like a futuristic wire dangling down from Raygunnr’s head to his body. If anything he looks even more like an unstoppable killing machine than ever.

“Wow, that was—” Raygunnr begins, but then pauses as he realizes. “Wait, can I call you from my strap-on?”

“You just did,” I reply, then somewhat indignantly remind him, “also, don’t call it a strap-on anymore. Call it what it is, a wrap on your head.”

“Yeah, that is so much better,” Raygunnr shoots back.

“Fine, you name it then,” I reply.

“Wrap on, has a nice ring to it, I’ll keep it,” Raygunnr notes in a tone that I almost swear means he is messing with me. Still I don’t rise to the occasion, he can call his serenely applied antenna band anything he wants, it’s his body after all.

There is an awkward pause, before Raygunnr finally directs us to our next course of action, “so what do we do now?”

That’s when I reply with my two-part plan.

“Now, we save the moon, then save the world, baby steps.”