"... This really is unreal."
Holding the new sword in both her hands, Liz inspected it for damage after cleanly bisecting a giant turtle monster. Not a single chip or bend, no matter what she did it remained flawless.
"Tell me about it."
Carl had also gotten himself a new sword, and unlike his old one it didn't need maintenance weekly. Still, they were both aware that relying on Mac and his gifts could end badly, and they didn't entirely trust him. This is the reason why they were currently testing out his weapons while the rest of the party were standing by nearby.
"This really is a material unlike anything I've seen before…"
Examining his own new mace Jack was stuck with wonder, he had watched it appear out of a strange machine Mac called a 'printer' in a little under half an hour. It hadn't even been warm to the touch afterwards.
(Even stranger he perfectly replicated the weight and feel of my old one… The leather loop feels worn the same way too, but it won't even cut when I tried it with my knife.)
The only difference Jack could note was a small black bead which sat as the connection point between the leather loop and the hilt of his mace, Mac had explained it as a safety measure which would break in an event that enough force to remove or 'deglove' (don't look that up) his hand was applied to it.
Thinking deeper about the situation as he examined his new weapon Jack realised a few things, firstly the fact that he was using this new weapon meant he was trusting it, which meant trusting Mac who made it. While that was obvious with a little introspection, Jack also realised that his other party members weren't making this connection as they didn't want to trust Mac yet.
(With age comes experience… Though I would like for my knee to stop hurting when it rains.)
"I think this is good enough for a test run."
Finally satisfied with the performance of her weapon, Liz declared the end to their parties test run as Ula spoke up.
"Then should we contact him?"
Of the entire party, Ula was the one who seemed to trust Mac the most and believed his words when he said that he would 'pick them up' when they were done testing out the weapons.
"... Sure, you can try to use… Whatever that is."
Giving her go ahead as she didn't really want to take the time to walk back home, Liz gestured to the necklace Ula had received to supposedly contact Mac, and while she didn't expect it to work Mac's voice soon emerged from it.
[What's up? Are you done testing the weapons?]
"Yes… Can you pick us up?"
Still slightly startled by Mac's voice emerging from the necklace, Ula responded absentmindedly.
[Standby… Airlift has been redirected, I'll come pick you up.]
Leaning into the manoeuvre as his dropship violently redirected, Mac locked his feet magnetically into the floor as the craft burned hard. As a shock cone formed at the nose of the craft it folded in its wings and was joined by its pair of escorts in the dive.
"Hold pattern and ease into it, try not to wash them out with the engines on final."
Although commenting instructions the craft's flight control system could interpret and act on, Mac was more reminding himself as he took direct control of the craft and its escorts. This was mostly because of his own impatience, now with a clear way to advance his mission and finally find a new home he wasn't going to accept the 10 seconds extra it would take for the flight control system to set down compared to doing it himself.
Setting down fast and hot, Mac walked out to greet the adventurers as the engines kept running.
"Come on in, I can take you wherever you want to go."
Getting no response Mac turned back around to see what he had figured would be a problem. These adventures didn't trust him, and while it wasn't a problem for now it would be once they started their joint dungeon diving excursion.
(I can deal with that, but they don't seem to respect me either…)
"Change of plans."
Shutting down the dropships and its landed escorts, Mac summoned his sword with a flick of his wrist.
(I can't do anything about trust, but respect is easy.)
"Let's test out your new weapons properly. You first, dragon lady."
Pointing his sword at the leader of the lead adventurer, Mac saw confusion spread across her face.
"Excuse me?"
"Is the poor little baby girl scared of facing someone who can stand up to them?"
"What?"
"I said: Is poor little baby back bitch scared of getting her ass kicked?"
Getting the message the second time around Elizabeth raised her sword as she warned.
"Don't blame me for this later."
Closing the distance almost instantly, Elizabeth swung at Mac without any real technique, aiming to strike his arm and get him to yield. Seeing the move coming from a mile away Mac simply deflected with his sword and stepped into her open guard before poking her in the chest with his flat headed sword.
"Try again."
Having pushed her back, Mac saw his opponent's eyes change, it seemed like Elizabeth realised she would need to get serious. Only the extent of her 'serious' attacks left a lot to be desired.
(What the fuck is this?)
Blocking attack after attack Mac saw no feints, no elaborate footwork and no real technique. It was like Elizabeth only fought by hitting or stabbing at opponents without any real rhyme or reason behind it. Sure, she was strong, outrageously so, but as Mac could match Elizabeth's level of strength with ease there was no real challenge in avoiding or blocking her attacks.
"You've never learned much about this, did you?"
"I've learned plenty!"
Starting to feel frustrated that she couldn't get through Mac's defences Liz wasn't ready for Mac to suddenly go on the offensive, but as he blocked another one of her strikes Mac stepped in close and poked her in the chest again with his sword. Not done yet, Mac followed Liz back and kicked the leg out from under her, grabbing her arm to keep her from falling over.
"Let's try again."
Getting pulled back onto her feet Liz felt frustration starting to build, sure she was strong, and fast, but that all seemed to be nothing compared to what Mac was capable of pulling off.
"You're signaling too clearly where you want to hit."
"Is that so!?"
Although getting called out on it Liz still continued to look where she was going to hit Mac, clearly telegraphing her moves on a subconscious level. She had fought all her life like this, and it hadn't been a problem up until now because of her immense strength.
"I told you to stop looking at where you're attacking."
An hour into the impromptu spar, Mac had forgotten about the entire respect thing, that annoyance had been replaced with worry for his new teammate he was currently teaching how to feint.
"And I told you it's not that simple!"
Blocking another clearly telegraphed attack, Mac was starting to consider another approach to this entire dungeon expedition when he noticed the rest of the party. Jack had sat down, rubbing his knee as he had a satisfied smile on his face watching Elizabeth. Carl was watching Mac's instructions like he was the one being taught, sometimes he would subconsciously mimic one of Mac's moves while his attention remained fixed as if trying to absorb the lesson with his entire body. Dexter had destringed his bow, without much to do he was also sitting and watching the match, but it seemed like he trusted Mac and his machines to keep the area secure. At some point during the match Ula had wandered off, but through his uplink Mac could see her walking around the landed dropship, scribbling into a notebook with great interest.
(Seems like their wariness has mostly disappeared…)
Blocking another one of Elizabeth's clearly telegraphed attacks, Mac put away his sword.
"Enough. You're absolutely horrible at this."
Declaring the end of their sparing, Mac watched pensive disappointment spread across Elizabeth's face and made him change his mind.
"If this really is the state of Red claw then I have no choice but to readjust our agreement."
"Now wait-"
Seeing Mac prepared to bring penalties for her poor performance Elizabeth was starting to panic, but shut up when Mac put a finger in her face.
"I'll come by every day for a week to personally beat you into shape from sun up to night. Now you'll need some rest before our next lesson, so I'm dropping you off at home."
"But-"
"No refusals, unless you want to keep that nickname from before."
Shutting up the party leader, Mac got the entire party gathered and boarded into his transport after the impromptu training session.
(Ease into it, these people haven't flown before.)
This time Mac's focus was on the inside of the transport, so he merely instructed its flight controller on how to act.
"How does this thing fly in the sky like this?"
From the moment Ula sat foot onboard the dropship she was furiously scribbling into her notebook, but once she reached some kind of issue she spoke up and just asked Mac.
"Its engines provide an upwards or propelling force by breathing in air, mixing it with fuel and igniting it. It knows how to fly using an artificial mind, as well as multiple sensors that update it on the world around it several times a second."
Writing down every word Mac told her, Ula fiddled with her hair for a bit before responding.
"So… Can this machine think?"
Arriving at a common misconception Mac had seen a few times when interacting with species who hadn't invented computing he was quick to address, Mac was well prepared to explain.
"No, not exactly. The machine can only reason in ways it has been taught to do, it is a rigid machine following strict orders without deviation. It cannot dream, deviate or really understand these orders, it just follows them blindly."
"Oh, okay…"
Sort of understanding what Mac was saying Ula appeared slightly disappointed.
"Are you interested in the idea of a thinking machine?"
Putting on his best poker face, Mac appeared to innocently inquire about Ula's response as he figured there might be religious or ideological restrictions placed on the concept of a 'thinking machine'.
"A bit. The mage tower, the place that trained me to use magic, has long been researching and working towards the creation of something they call the Ideal golem, it is described as a thinking machine and would solve a lot of problems."
"I imagine."
Keeping R3D's existence under wraps for the moment, Mac simply smiled.
The flight back to the capital was a short one, as the adventurers had only traveled a few hours outside the city on foot to test their new weapons, so the dropship started landing before Ula could get to ask any more questions.
"Thanks for the ride!"
Not taking the time to marvel at the quick transport, Dexter was the first to thank Mac for the trip, with the rest of the party soon following.
"Yeah, thanks for the transport."
"Thanks, my knee starts hurting when I walk for a long time, so I really appreciate this."
"Thanks for the help and also for the conversation, it was very enlightening."
"... Go on ahead guys."
As Mac's pair of gunship escorts circled overhead only he and Elizabeth remained behind as the rest of her party members went ahead. While she was suddenly very interested in kicking around, Mac remained patient as Elizabeth found her words.
"... Look, I'm sorry about that other day, when I hit your arm."
"It is fine, I had it coming, the way I was acting."
Dismissing Elizabeth's worry, Mac was about to turn and leave when she spoke up again.
"Also thank you for teaching me today… T-t… Nevermind, see you tomorrow."
Surprised at how meek the half dragon was being at the moment, Mac didn't get to respond as she ran off.
"... I guess I earned their trust."