"I mean… not yet. But I am thinking those glowing rocks look real valuable. And those resin nodes? Bet they’ve got industrial applications. Just saying, this could be a payday."
Of course, Ryan would see dollar signs in alien bugs scraping glowing minerals off the walls.
Chris chimed in next, his tone sharp. "He’s not wrong. Whatever this is, it''s new. There were a few resource portals back home, but nothing like this. If these bugs are farming it, they value it. And if they value it, we should be taking notes."
Danny, ever the scientist, sounded just as intrigued, but for different reasons. "It’s not just the minerals. Look at the organic matter, fungal networks, resin nodes, bio-luminescent growths. We could be looking at an entirely new ecosystem here, something engineered by the System or adapted to it. Either way, it''s huge."
Zoe smirked. "So what I’m hearing is that we loot the shiny stuff and sample the gross stuff."
Chris snorted. "Damn right we do. That’s the economy at work."
I tuned them out for a second, shifting slightly in my crouch. I was trying to stay focused, but Zoe made that annoyingly difficult sometimes. Her scout suit was fucking tight. And in this dim bioluminescent glow, her toned legs and perfect little bubble butt were…
Nope.
Not doing that.
I had Emily. And Zoe? She was chasing after both of my best friends.
Still. Annoying.
I forced my eyes back to the drones, pushing the distraction out of my head. Something about them bugged me. Not the harvesting, as that was weird enough. But the way they moved. It was too… organized.
Something wasn’t right.
Then, one of them stopped.
A drone, larger than the others. It lifted its head, antennae twitching, sensing… something. Its multi-faceted eyes glowed faintly in the green mist. And then?
It turned right toward us. Shit.
A small group of six turned toward us. They stopped whatever the hell they were doing, their antennae twitching more frantically now, and turned directly towards us. They were definitely locking onto us, focusing those multiple eyes. The moment stretched, eerie and thick, as more of them started pulling away from whatever the hell they were harvesting, drawn toward us like sharks catching the scent of blood in the water.
“Incoming!” I snapped over comms, already backing up. “They’ve spotted us, we’re coming back to you now, get ready.”
Zoe was already moving, barely a whisper against the damp ground. "We waiting to see if they’re friendly, or-"
“Run.”
I didn’t need to tell her twice.
We bolted, weaving through the bioluminescent cavern, the mist swirling in our wake. The sound of chittering and scraping surged behind us, legs moving, exoskeletons grinding as the bugs finally decided we were worth chasing.
Ahead, the rest of the team was already shifting into position.
Ryan, ever the tactician when shit hit the fan, was barking orders. “Chris, Emily - frontline with me. Joey, Danny, hold the left, keep pressure on the choke. Set up suppression now.”
Danny’s powered armor thudded heavily as he moved into place, his massive warhammer ready. Joey was beside him, energy shield flickering as he prepared to hold the line.
Chris, grinning like the bastard he was, loaded a Shardburst grenade into his launcher. “You know,” he said, casually, “we could have just let them farm. But nah, let’s poke the alien bees.”
Emily’s plasma sword ignited with a sharp hiss, casting a violet glow over the mist. “Less talking, more killing.”
Ryan slapped his turret down, its stabilizers locking into place. “Luca, Zoe, get your asses here or I swear I’m setting the Arcwave off early.”
"Almost there!" Zoe called, feet barely touching the ground as she vaulted a thick tangle of roots.
I risked a glance behind me. The bugs weren’t slowing down. If anything, they were moving faster, the cavern amplifying the sound of their clicking mandibles and pounding legs.
“Brace for impact,” I growled, tightening my grip on my rifle.
And then?
The swarm hit.
<hr>
The bugs closed in, their skittering legs making wet, sucking sounds on the damp ground. They were faster than they looked, and they were definitely aggressive now, mandibles snapping, antennae twitching like they were honing in on our heat signatures.
"Alright, hold the line! Joey, Danny, brace! Luca, Zoe, give me angles! Chris, keep the suppressive fire going!" Ryan barked, already slamming his deployable turret onto the damp rock. "Turret’s hot! Let’s burn these bastards down!"
The turret whirred to life, its stabilizers kicking in as it started spitting out rapid-fire energy bursts. The first few shots slammed into the closest bug, staggering it, but not dropping it. The turret’s firepower wasn’t enough.
I snapped my rifle up and fired. The energy bolt struck center mass, searing a chunk out of the chitin, but the thing barely slowed. Tough bastards.
Ryan let loose with his Plasma Rifle, and that was different. The shot howled through the cavern, a deep, violent crack of energy. It slammed into one of the bugs and blew a molten crater straight through it. The thing collapsed instantly, twitching as steam rose from its scorched internals.
“Holy shit!” Ryan shouted, a manic edge to his voice. “This thing’s a goddamn cannon! That’s how you drop ‘em… finally!”
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Emily moved in, plasma sword flaring with blue fire, the hum sharp and deadly. She sliced through mandibles and legs with fluid grace, twisting between attacks, using the fog and her speed to her advantage. Green goo sprayed with every cut. She was beautiful in motion, confident, lethal, sexy.
Danny swung next, his warhammer slamming down with a thunderous impact, the kinetic energy rippling through the ground in a concussive wave. The force sent a bug skidding back, its carapace cracked, but it didn’t shatter. The energy field that should have caved its armor in one hit barely did more than dent it.
Danny gritted his teeth, adjusting his stance as he brought the hammer down again, then again. The outdated kinetic system wasn’t delivering the full punch against TL9 enemies, forcing him to keep hammering away, breaking through piece by piece.
What should have been a single devastating strike had turned into a war of attrition.
Chris’s Ganymede Helix Driver burned through another bug, the beam drilling into its shell. But the damage was too slow, forcing him to adjust his aim, shifting to a weaker spot.
They just wouldn’t fucking drop fast enough.
Zoe was already lining up shots, her sniper rounds tearing through joints, disabling the faster ones before they could close the distance. One leapt toward Danny, mandibles spread wide, but her shot took its leg off mid-air. The thing crashed hard before Danny swung down, finishing it with a sickening crunch.
Another lunged at Ryan’s turret, legs curling to crush the machinery, but I was already moving. My energy tomahawk spun through the air, burying itself directly into the bug’s head. It spasmed, its momentum throwing it off course before it collapsed into a twitching heap.
"Nice save!" Ryan yelled, already pulling something off his belt.
His Arcwave Disruptor.
He slid it forward like a goddamn Ghostbusters trap, the little device skidding across the damp ground before activating with a sharp, electric crack. A shockwave surged outward in a tight six-yard radius, the energy wrapping around the bugs, frying their nervous systems-
For half a second.
They twitched, staggered… then kept moving.
Ryan’s eyes widened. “Oh, you’ve gotta be shitting me!”
The bastards were too strong.
Ryan barely had time to throw himself back before a clawed limb swiped through the space he’d just been standing in.
"Arcwave’s no good!" he shouted. “They recovered almost instantly!”
Fuck.
TL8 gear wasn’t cutting it. We were burning way too much ammo, way too many energy cells. The plasma weapons were doing work, but we didn’t have enough of them.
The fight dragged on, a brutal grind. The air stank of burnt chitin and alien gore, green luminescence reflecting off the thick, hanging mist.
Then, finally, we stood panting in the fog, surrounded by the twitching remains of at least ten of those armored bastards.
And, as if on cue, two loot boxes shimmered into existence right over their steaming, goo-covered corpses.
Because the System didn’t care if it was fucking disgusting.
[+18,083 XP]
[+6,750 credits]
[Skill Level up! Ranged Weapons Proficiency Level 7 -> Level 8]
The notification hit my HUD at the same time as everyone else’s. XP-share in action. We all got a cut, even if we didn’t land the kill ourselves. Item-share worked the same way, any loot that dropped was auto-logged in everyone’s interface, though the one who grabbed it got first dibs.
Ryan snatched the first box, peering inside.
Ryan was already on it, popping open the first box with greedy fingers. His eyes widened, his usual cocky grin replaced by genuine excitement.
[Item Acquired: Graphene Processor Wafer Schematic - TL9]
“Schematic?” he breathed. “Wait a minute… TL9? Graphene? Danny, you gotta see this!”
Danny perked up immediately, his curiosity overriding exhaustion. “Graphene? As in real graphene? Not that shitty polymer blend they pass off in Sol?”
“Looks like it,” Ryan said, holding it up. “Which means if we can print these wafers...”
“We’re looking at next-gen processors,” Danny finished, his voice full of scientific hunger.
“Just grab it,” I said, already reaching for the second box.
[Item Acquired: Power Cell - TL9]
“Power Cell?” I muttered, examining it closely. “Looks different.”
Curious, I popped out the half-drained energy cell from my sniper rifle and slid the Power Cell in its place. It clicked in smoothly, a perfect fit. My HUD flickered, and then the ammo counter on my rifle display spiked. It jumped from the 20 or so shots I had left in my current cell… all the way up to ‘99’. Two digits. Just ‘99’. But something told me, it was a lot more than just ninety-nine shots worth of energy. The counter just didn’t have space for three digits, maybe more.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, staring at the ‘99’ on my display. “Ninety-nine? This thing’s juiced.”
Ryan whistled, leaning in for a closer look. “No way. Let me see that.” He peered at my rifle display, then back at the Power Cell in my hand. “Damn. That’s gotta be… what? Double capacity? More?”
“Feels like it. Let’s not waste it yet, though.” As cool as the new power cell was, I wasn’t about to burn through it on these mobs. I popped the Power Cell back out, carefully sliding my old energy cell back into the rifle. The ammo counter dropped back down to where it was. I tucked the new Power Cell into one of my utility pouches, patting it gently.
“Power Cell, huh?” Emily mused, watching me pocket the new ammo. “Maybe these things are the key to actually hurting these bugs without draining our reserves dry. Regular cells just aren''t cutting it.”
“Definitely,” I agreed. “We gotta find more of these. Or figure out how to make them.” Which brought us back to the schematic. Ryan was still holding the wafer like it was a dirty diaper.
“Danny, look!” Ryan exclaimed, his voice high-pitched with enthusiasm. “Graphene Processor Wafer! TL9 schematic! Do you know what this means?”
Danny, who had been examining the Power Cell, turned his attention to the schematic. He took it from Ryan, his black eyes widening behind his visor as he read the item description on his HUD. He held the wafer up to the green glow of the fungi, turning it slowly, his expression shifting from curiosity to outright awe.
“Damn,” Danny breathed, his voice hushed with reverence. “Graphene Processor… TL9… Ryan, you’re right, this is huge.”
“Huge for what?” I asked, still a little skeptical, though their excitement was starting to get to me. “Another fancy blueprint for something we can’t even build?”
Ryan scoffed, shaking his head dismissively. “Luca, you’re missing the point! This isn''t just any blueprint. This is TL9 tech! We’re TL8, back on Earth? Barely scratching the surface of TL8! This… this is a generational leap! This is like finding the goddamn Rosetta Stone of System tech!”
Danny nodded rapidly, his red curls bouncing under his helmet. “Exactly! Graphene processors… they’re probably the backbone of TL9 systems. Understanding this schematic, reverse-engineering it… it could revolutionize everything! Our weapons, our armor, our ship systems… everything could be upgraded!”
“Think about it,” Ryan continued, his engineer brain clearly firing on all cylinders. “Faster processing speeds, more efficient energy transfer, stronger materials… This isn’t just a schematic, Luca, this is the key to unlocking a whole new level of tech! This could be the base for a whole new industry back home!”
Chris chimed in, a sly grin spreading across his face. “You know what else it is?” he said, his voice laced with excitement. “It’s a goddamn goldmine. Imagine being the first ones back home with a TL9 schematic? We’re gonna be rich, boys. Filthy rich.”
Okay, now I was starting to get it. Rich? Revolutionary tech? Suddenly, a schematic didn’t sound so useless after all. If this thing really was the key to TL9 technology…
Danny carefully slipped the schematic wafer into a secure pouch on his armor, handling it like it was made of spun gold. “We need to study this,” he said. “Analyze every detail, every layer. Back on the ship, we’re going to lock ourselves in the lab and dissect this thing until we understand it inside and out.”
“Alright, alright, I get it,” I said, finally seeing the light. “Professor Thompson and Engineer Mitchell have their new favorite toy. But uh, professors?” I gestured to the fog-choked cavern stretching endlessly in front of us, and the lingering stench of bug guts. “We’re still in the middle of a goddamn hive. Queen’s still waiting, and I’m pretty sure she’s not going to be impressed with our tech breakthroughs if we’re all dead.”
“Right, right,” Ryan said, shaking his head, but his grin was still wide. “Schematic’s priority one after we get out of this hellhole. But yeah, bugs first, riches later.”
“Exactly,” Zoe said, nodding towards the fog-choked cavern ahead. “And we’re not getting out of here anytime soon. Let’s move. Queen’s still waiting, and I’m getting seriously creeped out by this fog.”
She was right. TL9 tech was exciting as hell, but it wasn’t going to get us out of this cavern. We still had a long, wet, bug-filled way to go. And something told me, the ‘easy’ difficulty setting on this delve was a goddamn lie. But hey, at least we had a potential goldmine in Danny’s pouch. That was something, right?