He was sorely tempted to increase his strength again. With two more points, he could maintain his Multipurpose Augmentation Tool, even without Nori’s exoskeleton, but he thought he could do better than that. Ten points were already too much to invest in a secondary attribute. His Path’s main attributes were Intelligence and control. Shrugging, he divided the points, putting one in each. He grinned at the sudden rush of clarity that came over him and checked his Status.

Bulco, Human, level 5 (18 Tec)

Path: Engineer→AstroTec (score 13)

Attributes:

●       Strength 10 Ⓢ

●       Agility 2

●       Intelligence 3 Ⓟ

●       Control 3 Ⓟ

●       Awareness 2 Ⓢ

●       Appeal 2

Conditions:

●       Attribute Boost: +1/level

Finished with his task, he looked up. The thin partitions around Nori were up. Nathan remained in place, frowning.

“G’night, kid,” Bulco said. He didn’t bother raising his own partitions and simply threw himself on the empty bed, leaving the young man sitting alone in the flying spaceship.

***

Nathan felt his headache worsen as he studied his new options. This time, the pain wasn’t as bad as the first time he’d leveled, but it wasn’t much better, either. His heart thumped loudly in his ears, and he felt beads of sweat forming as soon as he accessed his Status screen. The Tec was calling for him again, demanding his attention.

Level 5 reached

Path crossroad reached. Choose one:

Bonded: form a personal bond with one technological item

Wild: exponentially increases control’s range and strength

The young man was stuck. Thankfully, each choice sounded like he’d be the one in control, not the Tec, but he had no idea what to choose.

On the surface, the Wild option sounded better. Up until now, he was only able to interact with the ship’s system when he was inside it. Even when he tried to connect with the excavator, he was only able to do it from a dangerously close distance. Having extra range and better control would be a big help. On the other hand, other than these two occasions, he didn’t encounter many opportunities to utilize his Path powers.

Bonded sounded interesting, but he had no idea what it actually meant. Did it mean an actual, physical bonding, where he’d become part machine? Or did it just mean he’d be able to control one target over any distance? He thought the second option was more probable, assuming it counterbalanced the Wild option.

Nathan sighed and wiped his sweaty forehead. He could feel the Tec agitating inside his body, demanding he satisfied their purpose with a choice. Refusing to act rashly, he closed his eyes and reached deep into himself.

A rapid series of pictures flashed through his mind. He saw himself standing in the middle of an army of abstract machines, controlling them, guiding them to do his bidding. A ruler and conqueror, who none could stand against.

The images shifted. Nathan’s jaw slackened at what the other option showed him. He nodded to himself and made his selection.