We Hunt Monsters 14, page 3
First, though, he needed a test subject, and if Arya wasn’t an option, he needed something else.
“Arya,” he called.
It took one of Arya’s bodies less than five seconds to be by his side – the other was still making the drinks.
“Yes, master, what can I do for you?”
“Would it be possible to get one of the unintelligent security automatons down here? I have something I’d like to test.”
“A bit of an unusual request,” Arya said. “But certainly one that I can make happen. Do you have any specific requirements? We have four different types of security automaton on the premises.”
Keith thought about it for a moment, then nodded.
“If any of them specialize in ranged weaponry or spells, bring them down.”
“Right away, master,” Arya said with another bow. “I will have one down here in the next ten minutes. Will that be all?”
Keith nodded, and with another bow, Arya walked away, replaced almost immediately by another of her bodies, this one carrying a blended fruity smoothie in a frosted glass.
“Your refreshment, as requested,” Arya said, bending at the waist so he could easily reach the drink.
“Thank you,” Keith said, plucking the glass from the tray and taking a slow sip.
It was perfect.
“Hey!” Bob complained. “What happened to my fruit?”
Scratch that.
It was almost perfect.
2
Keith was surprised at the speed at which Arya returned with an automaton in tow. When she’d said ‘within ten minutes,’ he’d expected it would take around that long. It had taken her less than five, which he supposed did count as within ten. The automaton was unlike anything he’d seen before, which was strange, considering they were part of the bunker and he technically owned them. Then again, seeing as there were parts of the bunker he’d never actually seen before, it was understandable.
The automaton reminded him a bit of a mannequin, with a blank, featureless face. In lieu of eyes, a nose, or a mouth, there was a single ring that ran around the upper third with a retractable lens that likely helped it choose its targets. It stood upright and was perhaps five feet tall. Its legs were blocky, though clearly defined, covered in thick plating that was there more for utility than fashion.
Its feet were the same, made from blocks of metal to help it balance, with extra extensions coming out of the backs of its heels so it could better grip the ground. Its torso was much the same, with the exception of several slits in the armored plating where blue light leaked through – likely a power source. Its arms were its main weapons. The left was a crossbow. The arm ended at the elbow, from which extended an oversized crossbow. There was no bolt slotted in, but he got the feeling that it wouldn’t be a problem.
Its right hand appeared more normal, albeit unrefined. There were four fingers instead of five, though they would clearly function just fine. There was a hole in the center of the palm, and when its arm was rotated, Keith could see a clear pane of something running the length of its forearm. Right now, it was glowing blue from within, likely signaling that it was on a full charge.
“Is this to your liking, master?” Arya asked as Keith took another sip from his drink.
Keith nodded as he examined the automaton.
Name: Security Automaton – Ranged
Bonded to the Subterranean Palace
This is a security automaton designed to use ranged weaponry and basic mana blasts. It can hold a charge for up to six hours before needing to reenergize. While on the battlefield, it can take basic orders but will follow its primary directive otherwise, which is targeting the greatest threat perceived by the Artificial Mind’s defense system.
Level: 55
Class: N/A
HP: 100,000/100,000
MP: N/A
STA N/A
Keith had never seen a status quite like this one. Then again, considering it was technically just a robot, it made a strange sort of sense.
“Do you know what the recharge time on this thing is?” Keith asked, standing and walking around the automaton, examining it for any weaknesses.
“Twelve hours,” Arya replied easily. “All of our automatons need twice the time to recharge as they remain active. This one just finished a recharging cycle and was about to be put back into rotation should the need arise.”
“If I remove it, will it cause a gap in the security system?” Keith asked, tapping the metal with a fingernail.
“For the next three hours until the artificial mind can compensate, it will be missed, but all gaps can be covered so long as it can retain ninety percent of the original force.”
Keith stepped back as he thought. He’d need to ask Hunk to make replacements in that case. He was willing to give one up for the sake of experimentation, but he wouldn’t allow any security gaps, especially if it would endanger the children under his protection.
“Do you know what it’s made of?” Keith asked.
If Selena were there, she’d know, but she was busy at the moment, and he was enjoying his privacy too much to bring her down here. Then again, considering that Arya, Bob, and Tac were there with him, was this really privacy? He thought about it for a moment, then mentally shrugged. It was about as private as he ever got, so in his book, it was good enough.
“All lighter-armored automatons are made using a steel and titanium alloy specially designed by the creator of the bunker,” Arya answered easily. “They are not expected to have to deal with melee combat, so cheaper materials were used in their construction. Their core power source, however, is encased in a Mithrinite cage so that it may remain stable.”
Keith nodded again, placing his hand flat over the glowing slits in the chest as though trying to feel the power emanating from inside the automaton. His eyes flicked to the back of his hand, where red-edged black, scale-like material had fused itself to his skin. It almost looked like he was wearing a glove, the result of using the new Primordial Soul Hunter skill he’d received upon getting his final Class upgrade. It was a skill that allowed for the absorption of monster parts to further strengthen Sage or Peak-Sage-level skills. It was impressive and had already improved Ancient’s Fury, but the caveat was that it had a chance of changing him physically. That was why when he’d absorbed one of Denkai’s Doomfire Scales, the back of his hand had taken on some of those aspects.
“Do you have any other questions about the automaton, master?” Arya asked, snapping him from his thoughts.
“No,” Keith said, removing his hand and taking a seat. “It’s perfect for what I have in mind.”
Arya bowed again, then took a few steps back to wait on him. The other Arya who’d served them drinks was now back inside, doing whatever it was they did when Keith wasn’t around. It was nice to know that everything was being taken care of for him, meaning that he didn’t even need to think about keeping anything clean.
“Alright,” Keith said, stretching his arms over his head and hearing a series of satisfying pops from his back. “Let’s see if this works. Automaton, lie down on the ground for me.”
The automaton obeyed, its limbs humming lightly as it awkwardly lay down on its back.
“Wow, talk about lazy,” Bob said, lounging back in his chair and popping small chunks of fruit into his mouth. “You’re about to do something no one’s ever done before. Again. And you can’t even be bothered to stand up?”
“This coming from the monkey who’s constantly using other people as his personal beast of burden,” Tac snorted. “You have to be the laziest monkey I’ve ever seen, buddy.”
“I resent that remark,” Bob said, shaking a chunk of mango in Keith’s general direction.
It slipped from his fingers and hit the floor.
“Arya, can you pick that up for me?” Bob asked, not even trying to move.
Keith ignored Tac’s follow-up comment about the monkey’s general lack of wanting to exert himself in the most basic manner and concentrated on the automaton before him. He wanted to start, but the problem was that he didn’t really know what to expect.
“Stop bickering, you two,” he said, cutting into the middle of the argument. “Bob, am I supposed to infuse the Essence like I normally would?”
“Pretty much,” Bob replied, leaning over the side of his chair and waving his short arm uselessly as he tried to reach the fallen piece of fruit. Arya didn’t take orders from him, so she hadn’t gone to get it. “A counter should appear as soon as you start. You’ll understand what I mean once you do.”
“What about form?” Keith asked, looking at the relatively blocky automaton when compared to his others.
“It’ll take whatever form it wants,” Bob grunted, straining for every extra millimeter of reach.
The problem was that he was so far off that even if his arm had tripled in length, it wouldn’t have made any difference. There was only one way he was reaching that dropped piece of fruit, and that was by getting off the chair.
Keith didn’t much like the idea of the automaton – or more likely the System – getting to choose if the automaton took a male or female form. The last thing he needed was more complications. Then again, this automaton gave him the impression of a man, though that could have been him projecting, so he was hopeful the System would have mercy on him and make things easy for once.
Keith checked his stock of Essence and tried not to grimace. He didn’t have much, only what he’d gotten from the few fighters with ordinary monsters back in the Sunlit Isles following the downfall of the Primordial. All of his other Essence was M-tagged. Then he paused, checking his full stock of the more powerful Essence. His main objective was still here on Monstros. He already had two automatons who would travel with him no matter where he went, so did it really matter if one of them was stuck here?
Besides, infusing it with M-tagged Essence would mean a more powerful automaton overall, despite the less impressive materials used in its construction. With that in mind, Keith checked his available stash. The M-tagged Essence he had was lower quality than that of the other continents, but it was fine, seeing as it was more powerful. Combined, he had just over forty Type I Essence, ranging from Legendary+ to *M* Rare. He selected only the most powerful ones, though he decided to infuse more than the suggested 30 to see what would happen.
Sorting through the remaining Essence was easy enough, as he selected the best of everything he had. It didn’t take very long to arrange it all and pull the first glowing blue speck from his inventory, placing it against the chest of the prone automaton. The Essence was sucked into the construct, causing the light in its chest to glow a brighter blue.
You have started infusion using Automania.
Prerequisites: Type S: Not Met, Type V: Not Met, Type E: Not Met, Type A: Not Met, Type I: Met 1/37, Type W: Not Met, Type L: Not Met
You have one hour to complete the infusion. If you wish to complete it immediately at any point, you may do so. Likewise, if the maximum value is infused in every available stat, the process will complete immediately.
“That’s interesting,” Keith said, examining the only one that was met. “It looks like it’s only allowing me to infuse a maximum of 37 Essence into Intelligence.”
“Probably due to the materials,” Bob said, finally giving up and dropping to the ground to retrieve his mango. “If you have an automaton made using something better, it’ll probably let you infuse more. Also, considering this is already a security automaton, it probably won’t cost as much as you think to get it battle-ready. I’d say only about half of my original estimate, which was made for basic helper constructs with no battle attunement.”
Keith found this fascinating. He knew he’d need to do a whole lot more experimenting once this was all said and done, but he was eager to see how this would turn out. Knowing he could get away with less Essence didn’t mean he was going to, though. He decided to instead pump the maximum he could into each stat, even if a bit of the Essence he used was a little inferior. It didn’t matter to him. So long as there was enough powerful Essence to counteract it, it shouldn’t cause any harm.
3
Infusing so much Essence took longer than he would have guessed. It took nearly half an hour to bring the automaton up to its maximum values in every available stat. It just about cleaned him out again, but he figured that for the sake of figuring the skill out, it was totally worth it. Unlike with his infusions into Selena or Naia, there was no outward change as he worked, though a light humming that had grown more insistent as he worked began to fill the air. Now, the automaton was practically vibrating with the contained energy, and as he sat back, the notification flashed before his eyes that the maximum values had been reached and the process was now finishing up.
Sitting back in his chair, Keith watched as the automaton’s entire body started to glow, spreading from the chest and moving outward until it was an indistinct blob of light next to his chair. Bob was finally showing some interest past licking the empty fruit bowl clean, his eyes locked on the gleaming form on the ground.
It was much quicker than Keith expected. The humming grew in intensity for a full minute before it began to wind down, the light shrinking and retreating until it left a gleaming form on the ground. It looked like liquid metal in the shape of the previous automaton, reflecting the sunlight as its blank features began to shift.
The body slimmed down, hips widening a bit and waist shrinking. Keith sighed internally as the legs took on their shape, long and sleek, and the arms lengthened into functional shape, individual, slim fingers forming as the metal flowed. It seemed this was going to be another girl. He couldn’t say he was surprised, though he had been hopeful.
Cobalt blue hair sprouted from the top of her head as her features formed. They were slim and delicate, almost childlike, eyelashes and brows of the same color as the hair growing into place as lines appeared across the skin, which was looking more organic than metallic. The sheen faded from her face, her chest only expanding the barest hint before it settled into shape. Her stomach, hips, and legs followed, actual feet with individual toes forming last. The hair lengthened, pulling itself into long twin tails that would reach past her waist when she stood, bands of light metal forming around them to hold it in place.
Her skin tone settled somewhere between silver and gray, similar to Selena’s, but more toward the gray than silver. Perhaps it was due to her hair color or something else, but it also had a slight blueish tinge to it. Her hair had a bit of a sheen to it, and after leaning in a bit closer, he could see small strands of silver running through it, giving it some extra pop.
“She looks like a kid,” Tac said, sounding surprised.
The girl barely topped four-foot-ten, even with the hair adding a bit of extra height. She was slim and definitely had more of a childlike appearance than that of an adult.
“The System wouldn’t create a child,” Bob said, hopping to the ground and examining the automaton from all sides. “Her form looks like it was modeled after the platinum elves. She’s no more a child than Selena or Naia were when they were first created.”
Another notification popped up before Keith’s eyes.
Name your automaton to activate.
“Ooh, can I name this one, bro?” Tac asked excitedly.
“Are you going to pick something stupid?” Keith asked.
“No way. She’s too cute for something like that,” Tac said. “Even if she is an adult, like Bob says. I would call her Cheeky. It’s what we called my baby cousin, Cherise.”
“I think I’ll pass on that,” Keith said, shuddering inwardly at the name.
It was too cutesy for a machine of war, even if she looked very childlike.
“Call her Bob, after me!” Bob said.
“I will not call her Bob,” Keith said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Arya, do you have any naming ideas?”
“You can call her Marya,” she replied.
Keith felt like banging his head against a wall. She’d taken her own name and added a letter. He supposed that’s what he got for asking a near-intelligent being for something as personal as a name. Deciding that he wasn’t going to waste all day on this, he decided to use a mashup of what was suggested, sort of.
He mentally selected the name, and Merry’s eyes snapped open. They, unlike her hair, were bright orange. They were also larger than expected, occupying more of her face than might seem natural and contributing to the overall cute look. She turned her head left and right, then pushed herself up and gave Keith a winning smile.
“Hi, master,” she said, her voice light and bubbly. “Is there anyone you want me to murder for you?”
“Ha!” Tac laughed.
Oh, boy.
Keith had to suppress yet another sigh – he was doing that a lot lately. He wondered why the System had it out for him so badly. On the plus side, she hadn’t gone berserk and tried to attack everyone in the vicinity like Selena and Naia had. She seemed to be strangely stable…well, considering what the first words out of her mouth had been. Keith examined her status and this time saw some obvious changes.
Status
Name: Merry
Bonded to Keith the Unconquerable Hunter
Race: Automaton
Class: None
Level: 1
XP: 0/100
HP: 620/620
MP: 900/900
STA: 200/200
Strength - 31
Vitality - 62 (+5 per level)
Endurance - 20
Agility - 26
Intelligence - 90 (+10 per level)
Wisdom - 52 (+3 per level)
Luck - 20
Skills
Passive
Phase Twist: Beginner - V
Cutesy Disarmer: Intermediate - I
