Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

Leon's arm angled up quite a lot faster than I expected from such a heavy machine yet still slow enough for me to escape its changing range.

Before the city's magister could aim anywhere near the floor on which I slid, I'd already kicked against the bottom of one of the massive, warehouse shelves and pushed myself off to the other side of the wide corridor.

But then, Leon kicked it up a notch, activating the swivel at his arm-guns mounts and causing their massive couplings of spinning barrels to quickly twist in my direction.

Thankfully, up until this point, no bullet came from any of Leon's barrels, keeping this test somewhat safe and reasonable.

Still, even with the added acceleration of the guns themselves, I simply jumped up, once again changing my angle of approach, shooting right past the edge of Leon's sights.

Before the heavy components of the power suit could calibrate and catch up to my speed, I'd already arrived at Leon's side and gently tapped at the suit's waist.

"It's my loss," Leon readily admitted from within his cockpit, his entire armor reverting back to a default stance. "Wanna go again?"

I breathed out before taking in a mouthful of fresh air to refill my lungs.

This quick dash hardly cost me a single breath. But…

'If I don't tap into my abilities,' I thought, raising my eyes up to Leon's shaded visor, 'this might not end well.'

The suit moved far faster than I expected it to. The combined acceleration of Leon's arms and the guns swinging around on their sockets covered pretty much the entirety of the field of view ahead of the young lord of the city.

I could still avoid it with just my physique alone… but it really wasn't something I wished to do in a real scenario.

There was something deeply terrifying when facing the coldly efficient operating way of the supermodern tech. It was an armor designed to counter the neu-weapons, after all!

"Sure," I threw back at Leon before turning and strolling back to the starting point. "I don't think there's any point increasing the distance," I pointed as I turned my head over my shoulder to look back. "Any further than this will cover all the possible approaches for me."

"That check's out with what my pad says too," Leon's distorted voice once again shook the air within the warehouse.

"Ready?" Tuning in on the moment, Makary shouted from behind his cover. "Three, two…"

This time, I idled for half a second longer, cutting in half the advantage I was supposed to have.

I rushed forth.

"GO!"

This time, Leon's arms and guns moved at the same time, drastically decreasing the window that cheeky VIP needed to catch up with my movements.

'I can do it,' I thought for but a split second before a loud, sharp, and high-pitched 'beep' came from Leo's position.

"It is my loss," I mirrored his words from just a moment ago while putting a humble smile on my face.

I've already shown him quite a lot, so there was no need for me to go any further than I already did, was there?

"This encounter would fully depend on the circumstance," Makary explained, looking at his own pad as he stood up from behind the cover of the massive, steal container. "Out in the open, Leon would smash you. But with enough obstacles in the way of his guns," Makary raised his eyes and looked up to the two of us, "you could easily outrun his aim."

"Now then," Leon's helmet rose up with the hissing of the hydraulics, allowing his real voice to pass. "Should we test that… summoned matter of yours?"

'I knew it…'

I could've easily avoided Leon's aim if I tried hard enough. There was simply no reason for me to reveal any more of my powers than necessary. And from the looks of it, just a momentary use of my darkness was enough to pin Leon's attention to it.

"As in?" I asked while stretching my arms out to the back, in preparation for what was coming in the form of Fay's hurried steps.

When she silently pressed against my side, reigniting my senses as usual.

"Whether it could withstand my guns."

I looked up to Leon's face with a look of pity.

"You could blow those with a breath. There's no way in hell it could withstand even a single bullet."

In truth, that was a lie.

My flesh alone felt like it could shrug even a bunch of low-to-medium caliber shoots.

And my aura, for some reason, was just a bit shy of the total sum of all my other stats.

The manifestation of elemental darkness was a spell that fully relied on how much aura I've fed into it. And now that I've gained a slightly better understanding of this force's true nature, I have no doubts.

If so was my desire, I could reach out from a distance, bathe Leon's entire suit within my darkness, and squash it into a bloody mess. Not even the thick layers of his defenses could withstand the overwhelming power flowing from the depths of the darkness that I gazed upon during my encounter with Irene.

And that brought my thoughts back to the question she left me with.

'What are the higher levels of consciousness…?'

"Well, that will suffice for now," Leon muttered as he glanced down at Fay tightly hugged to my side and throwing him some nasty looks. "Sorry for holding you back for so long."

"Oh, on the note of those suits, would you be able to repurpose some of them for construction?" I asked with a shrewd smile growing on my lips and my arms weaving itself around Fay's soft, warm waist. "Having them move heavy objects around could speed up a lot of things."

Leon raised his eyebrows.

"Those suits are kind of… cheap? It's their weapons that cost the hell of it," Leon leaned forth and down onto the frame of his open cockpit. "But save for the few I have here, they might be quite…" he squinted his eyes a bit, "difficult to obtain."

"I see," I sighed before tightening my hold of Fay's waist. "Just some food for thought, then."

Turning around, I took a step back towards the elevator.

"I'm going back to the camp," I threw, hastily retreating from the scene and even leaving Makary behind for the short moment he needed to reflect and rush up to join with us. "We still have a long day tomorrow."

"I will see you soon," Leon threw back at us.

I didn't even need to turn back around to feel his cheeky smile.

Truly, I had my fill dealing with this man.

Sure, his help was likely to come in handy in expanding our operation on the other side… But that didn't make constantly staying on guard in his presence any more appealing.

"Oh right," Makary threw a short moment after joining us near the lift. "If everything goes right, we should be able to organize the first mobile kitchens for tomorrow's dinner."

Hearing the news, I couldn't stop a small smile from forming on my lips.

All according to the food scheme, if Makary's words were right, would mark a great celebration all across the camp. All the soldiers-turned-workers would be fed their first, truly fresh and hot meal straight out of the cooker.

And no matter how palatable the modern rations could be, nothing could beat actual, piping-hot cooking.

Or rather, nothing would soon stop those imperials from getting their hands on that kind of meal in the future!