I haven’t thought much about my physical attributes. Getting Strength, or Vitality, to increase in the first place had been a trial of months, unending effort and exertion for each point. Now, both had shot up by a significant amount. The first sense I had that something was wrong was when the Greyhound Armor started to feel tight. A little uncomfortably tight… My arms feel constricted - clamped - by the bracers, and the greaves were squeezing my legs. What was going on? STATUS EFFECT: HUNGER. EAT SOMETHING, QUICKLY. STATUS EFFECT: THIRST. DRINK SOMETHING, QUICKLY. WARNING: YOUR ARMOR IS TOO SMALL FOR YOU. CONTINUING AT THIS SIZE WILL CAUSE SUFFOCATION AND EVENTUALLY LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS. RESIZE ARMOR? COST: 1000 MP. … Dammit. 702 MP weren’t going to be enough. Fortunately, I had nine unused attribute points to spare… I pushed my points into INT and WIS with urgency. At 31 each, I had 961 MP. It still wasn’t enough. : I need Hypercaffeine and food, fast. : … in mid-battle? : Either that or I have to get out of my armor. Now. : There’s two doses in the Gladiator… but how’ll you drink them? Greyhound doesn’t have a jawplate. I sighed. “Tucker.... I need some cover. Getting out of my armor.” And I unlocked my armor in the middle of the battlefield. A quick slide down, and I was on the ground. The smoke hadn’t lifted, so very few of the soldiers could see my face. The Phoenix Company troops formed a rough circle around me as I sprinted to the jeep. Agni was by my side. “You okay?” “Hypercaffeine serums. Now.” “Which are those?” “Blue vials with an H on the top.” As I swigged down two Serums, Agni’s eyes wandered over me. “You get buffed up somehow?” “What?” “You’ve got muscles you didn’t have last week.” I watched my MP pool expand and my Psydef drop in the interface. “Something happened when the Carnotaur died.” “And it turned you into a bodybuilder?” I grabbed a look in the Gladiator’s mirror. My undersuit was stretched tightly across my chest - a lot tighter than I remembered. My arms had bulked up, and my legs felt very, very solid. And I’d gained three inches of height. At least. The undershirt now ended an inch above my pants, looking like a tank top. “It wasn’t this short today morning,” I grumbled. “You just expanded,” snickered Agni. “Happens to all men. Though it’s usually along the waistline. What happened with the sudden jump-and-run? Everything okay?” “It’s better if I just show you.” A thousand MP manifested in my hands, coalescing into a bright blue ball of lightning. RESIZE GREYHOUND ARMOR? As I willed my agreement, the lightning lanced forward and struck the Greyhound. Sparks flew. Arms and legs expanded, and the Greyhound visibly grew in height by a foot. “What are you?” Chequers stood by me, staring. “You manifested power from your body… That’s not something inventors do. What are you?” “I’m an ultra,” I shrugged. “That should be enough.” “You have the abilities of an Elemental - and the body of a Herculean.” “And the face of an idiot,” chimed in Agni. “Which you will do well to forget, by the way. All of you.” Vorsai gently placed his hand on Chequers’ shoulder. The Herculean met my eyes, then inclined his head quizzically. “I have a combination of several abilities,” I announced. “Some Elemental, some like Inventors, some Herculean… and some cognitive.” Unity whistled. “Well, that’s lucky.” “My powers have specific limits, however.” “Which he won’t go into here,” Agni cut in sharply. “We’re here for a reason, aren’t we? And it’s not to probe Belessar’s powers.” Shamrock held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Hey, I don’t care what he’s got. Just tell me where to go.” A swish behind me, as Morrowstar landed. “Everything all right?” “It will be,” Agni said. “We’re just taking a couple of minutes while Nanocloud gives us our next target. Right, Nanocloud?” “Yeah… The Carnotaur in the Nielsen Recreation Grounds. There’s a few Lynxian Stealth Rovers between us and there, though.” “Good, we could use some target practice. You, soldier-boy.” Agni pointed at Tucker. “Get rid of that trash there.” I held up a hand before Tucker could take offence. “PFC Tucker. I request that the Army designate a team to secure the corpse of the only known Greater Carnotaur to be defeated in combat. I believe Major Fraser will want it handled with care? Can you ask the Lieutenant to arrange it, please?” Tucker saluted. “Right away, sir.” It felt weird to have soldiers saluting me….