Right now I have a serious headache. The main reason is the annoying bitching of a certain core that is pissed off at life itself.
“THERE IS NO WAY I WILL GO!! NO!!! I’M NOT LEAVING!! NOT TRAINING!!! GO GET ME MORE YOURSELF!! TOO MUCH WORK FOR SO LITTLE REWARD!!” Tony shouts in a tantrum.
Let’s rewind back about half an hour ago before this happened.
We spent 3 hours inside the dungeon mapping more of the first floor and finally we reached the stairs to the second floor, killing over 50 of them on the way. They came in multiple groups; three large ones and several smaller ones with two or three in each group.
On small groups I would MAKE him train his aim by kicking him forwards and having the AI raise the shield around us while blocking him. He needs to get off his lazy ass. I still gave him support fire, keeping two of them off him but seriously, could he be any worse? He could only gets lucky shots at best and he was only shooting at random.
We rested up at the last room before returning. Today was to test the water and I was glad I did so because if I went any further with Tony, he would totally become a liability.
On the way back I MADE him be a shield and the AI into the laser to test her her out. To say the least she can take on a group of 3 imps on her own with a single fighter. She must have watched what not to do with Stuss and did something different.
She controlled the power of each laser shot. First she shoots a weak shot at them and test the movements of each one. When she figures them out, she shoots a weak shot and quickly a stronger one to the side. The imp is focused on the first shot so when it moves to either side she already sees through it. She tries to aim and hit vital places like the head, eye or heart. If she can’t do that or isn’t in the position to, she aims for the limbs.
On the way back we encountered only 2 large groups which was dispatched much quicker with the AI helping instead of Stuss.
When we exited the dungeon we went to cash in the drops. Wingless imps like those on the first floor drop fangs, claws, a small horn and their heart. Anyway not all monster drop the same thing so in total we go 24 fangs, 10 claws, 4 hearts and 2 horns. From the numbers you can already tell the rarity of each item.
The currency is credits like I have said it’s the general currency for the entire galaxy. Here the fangs of wingless imps, or demon goblins as I’ve mentioned. They went for 10 credits a pair, claws go for 20 apiece, hearts are 40 credits each and horns 100 credits each. Horns are sought after because they are magical items.They are used by demons to gather and store their mana.Because of this it’s a magic item and regent for production of potions and magic gear like my gun or wand.
I cash in all my drops getting 680 credits total. It's ok for a first run but I won’t be getting rich any time soon with this hunting speed.
Afterwards I needed to show how many bodies I was removing from the dungeon so I went to a back room and released all the wingless imp onto a balance. The estimated number was 117, I needed to pay 40 credits for the removal and I was clear to go. I store everything back in the storage ring and leave the tower, walking straight to the ship.
As soon as we were all in the ship seem to come to life. "AHHH!!! It’s so good to be back! GYAHAHAHA! I wonder why this shitty ship feels so comfortable now?” Stuss asked.
"Obviously it's because the ship is technically your body, genius!" I tell him.
"Oh… guess it's as shitty as my old one I guess." He says nonchalantly. "NOW BITCH DROP THE BODIES!!! I NEED SOME MAJOR UPGRADES!!!" He shouts like some hyperactive rock musician. He even held the last word as if he was singing.
I simply sigh and find a clear area in the cargo and drop the mound of imp bodies. A few minutes later the top layer of bodies began turning into particles of light one by one.
"I'll be taking a shower. Just tell me the results and the total amount you get from all of them after you finish." I tell him before entering the elevator and head upstairs.
I quickly grab some casual clothes and head to the bathroom. The bath had a one person tub and shower. I hope I can upgrade it and separate the two for more comfort.
I remove the sweaty armor and breathe a sigh of relief as the cool air brushes against my sweat covered body. Hanging the clean pair of cloth I turn on the shower and let it get to a gentle warm temperature before getting in. I find the soap and shampoo and start washing myself off.
Halfway through I hear the disturbance shout.
"GYAAHHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT~!!" He shouted.
"What is it Tony?" I said with a sigh as I continue washing myself.
"THE FUCKING IMPS!! THEY ONLY GAVE ME 15 FUCKING MP POINTS EACH!!” He shouted.
I sigh and shake my head at his stupidity and simplicity. "What do you expect, genius? Those were the lowest ranking creatures in that dungeon. If you killed an untrained human you would get around 400 each, a mage 1000, an archmage maybe 100k." I explained.
He calms down after hearing what I say. He probably understood so he shut up.
I finish washing up and dry myself and get dressed. I picked up the one piece dress and put it on then my panties and bra, both a peach color. Finally I took a pair of short jeans and put them under because I could already guess he would try to peep.
Opening the door I find him there with a blank face and it quickly became a frown.
"Ah man, why did you put those shorts on?!" He complains as I walk through him and into my room, leaving the door open so I could see his hologram.
"Obviously because I knew you would look." I tell him. "So what was the total amount you gained and currently have?" I ask as I throw my armor in the laundry basket and start drying my hair.
"There were 120 total bodies and I got 1800 from that. I had 79 left after I made both drones which cost 80 each since they needed better CPU and hardware. I also gathered 2 mp from absorbing mp from the atmosphere the time we were away so total now 1881." He tells me
"Mind showing me a list of currently purchasable upgrades and gear?" I ask.
"Pff like hell I'm letting you choose! BITCH!" He says with a scowl.
"Stop bitching and just show me! I asked to only see anyway!" I demand, annoyed.
He clicks his tongue and snaps his finger making a hologram window appear in front of me.
Ship Body Upgrade
Ship Hardware Upgrade
Ship Software Upgrade
Ship Self Defense (Traps)
Ship (Dungeon) Minions
So this is a ship cores upgrade window. I bet each type of core is different but follow basic similarities. I press the body upgrades and find it blank which meant it was much more costly. Hardware and software were the same. The self defense system did have some stuff though.
Ship Self Defense (Traps)
Corridor Bulkhead Doors
800 mp each
Hidden Laser Turret
500 mp each
Hidden Laser Alarm Array
1400 mp each
Minigun Turret
600 mp each
The systems are quite impressive actually. All of them are mainstream, which are things taught to those who wish to go into space.
"This stuff is all mainstream… you didn't make anything yet?" I ask.
"OF COURSE I MADE THEM!! BUT THIS STUPID SYSTEM WON'T LET ME IMPLEMENT IT!!" He shouts in rage.
He looks at me and snaps his finger. A new tab showing custom appeared. I pressed it and it showed five tabs like before, but only Software and Minions were highlighted. I press the software and find a single system, but I pale when I see the name and the price.
Custom Ship Software Upgrade
17 Layer Custom Self Repair Growth type Firewall
1,200,000 mp
"O-oi! W-what i-is this!!" I shout as I stare at the hologram screen.
"That is the firewall I designed in my previous life. It helped me greatly to keep myself hidden for 34 years after I became a hacker. I am still designing the hacking program i had in my old life. It helped me hack into the greatest country's highest branch of security without them even knowing even when their computer did a daily check of the system for breaches." He said proud of himself.
"HOW!?" I demand, wanting answers.
"GYAHAHA! Want to know that badly, huh? Let's see, the idea is that the program rewrites the codes of the victim system making a small gate. I copy what I want and half an hour before the system does its check for breaches, the gate is closed and the codes are placed again in the same way. No one's the wiser. GYAHAHAHAHA!!!" He explains like a normal genius and started laughing like the same lunatic I know.
"Up until now I would guess that the only system I can't surpass is the holder's. I believe they are made by S Rank AI and the bitch that ‘trained’ me only had an A rank one, so I think my greatness can be surpassed by a C or maybe a B rank AI. By then, their processing power is too great for me to surpass unless I become a robot myself." He says with a smug grin.
I sit back on my bed, processing this information in my head. To be equal to a C or B rank AI is impossible! A human can't be so smart unless he was a genius that came once in a millennium and started on his best craft from a super early age, but that’s still too much.. The smartest researchers are at best a match for D rank AI,which is when newly formed AI starts to form an identity for growth types.
Every time I learn something new from him it makes me wonder I got lucky or not.
"Well, even if I wanted to add this, I can't. The AI couldn’t add this even if I somehow make her understand its structure. She will simply turn and ask me for the upgrade. All changes to this ship needs to be upgraded by me." He says with a sigh.
"Well, all we can do is continue hunting. Tomorrow we will be going down to the second floor." I say.
And now we’re back at the beginning.
"Seriously Tony, stop complaining. We need to start somewhere and thankfully, imps are something we can kill. If you just train a bit, you can fight like the AI." I say.
"LIKE HELL!! There is no way I will get like that!" He says.
I rub my head and think a bit. Let’s see,he was a NEET in his old life, a genius with electronics. He’s a bad shot and has no outside world experience. He’s confident in here and a coward outside. So what would make him go out willingly with the drone? Suddenly I remember one of the things NEETs do best. Mess with the pc and play games.
"Hey Tony." I call him drawing his attention.
"I'M NOT GOING!! DON'T TRY!!!I WON'T! I WON'T!! I WON'T~~!!!!" He shouts like a kid in the middle of a tantrum
"Let me ask, do you like video games?" I ask and he quickly quiets down.
"YES! You got any!? It's boring in here!!" He yells and starts looking around as if it's hidden in the wall.
"No I don't have them, but hear me out. You're a core so your body is here. Even if your consciousness is destroyed within the drone’s body, it will return here, right?" I ask.
"Yes it would. The bitch said I could do that which is why I suggested it before." He replies with a frown.
"Okay, at least you understand that. Now then, since it's like that, why not consider the time spent controlling the drone as if you are in a FPS game?" I suggest.
He looks at me and blinks a few times and looks up thinking. "Wow… just changing that mentally and I can move the drone better than the AI." He said in an emotionless tone, as if he lost his drive after hearing such a simple suggestion.
"I can control all four drones easily now..." He said empty. "WHY THE HELL DID IT SUDDENLY GET SO EASY!!!" He shouts right after, releasing all the rage inside him.
I sigh and go to brush my hair while letting him rage. Afterward, I go into the kitchen on the same floor and look inside. It was all empty, not even plates and silverware were available.
I poke my head out and frown seeing the raging core's hologram. I was hungry but drawing his rage towards me is more of a hassle. Instead, I go back into the kitchen and call the AI.
"What do you wish of me Captain?" She asks in her regular monotone robot voice.
"Do you have access to the cores creation?" I ask.
"Yes captain, but it is at the level of displaying them and adding any new plans I may develop myself. Should I wish to create something or upgrade, the request will go to the core." She explained.
"I guess it's better this way. Request to make plates and silverware. Also, stock the captain's kitchen with basic food of vegetables, meat and dairy product." I order her.
I prepare myself for the rage and in less than a minute, the raging hologram appeared in the room.
"So~! You want food huh~!" He said with a smile but rage in his eyes.
"I would prefer this done without needing to resort to captain's orders or a small mana injection." I said.
He flinches and makes a frown. He then snaps his finger and a screen for domestic items appear.
I choose "Captain's Fridge" and the "Stock" tab. A real shopping list appeared with many different kinds of food that was know to this world as well as those from his.
Quite a nice selection having two planet worth types of food. I stock the fridge then go to silverware, ordering five cups and plates, along with a set of silverware, before choosing to store them. Total amount rose to 324 mp. When I do the count of price for credits it would be near the same amount. Guess food is based off the actual price range which is interesting.
"Oi, that cost to much!" Stuss complained.
"The mp cost for all the things I choose is within market price range. Anyway, it's only for this time, and possibly when we travel through space that I will as for food restock." I tell him.
He looks at the AI and the next moment a screen appears showing all the price ranges for the food I bought. The mp cost was the exact medium between highest and lowest price in a stable economy. A quick calculation later and he clicked his tongue, accepting the order. The fridge and cabinets lit up for a bit before the glow dimmed. I looked through it all and found them filled nicely.
"Yay, now for some food." I say and pull out a pan that was part of the purchase. I begin cooking some of the vegetables, adding seasoning, preparing the meat and making my own personal blend of noodles.
"WOAH!! You know how to make ramen noodles?" Tony said while looked down at the large pan cooking the everything but the noodles
"Ramen? That came from your world then, huh? It's been around a long time. Well it shouldn't be surprising some stuff are similar. You're not the first person reincarnated with his memories, and you probably won't be the last." I tell him.
"DAMN I'M SO JEALOUS!! I can't wait until we have enough so I can make an organic body for myself." He said sulking.
It will take a lot of mp to make a human body and I bet we will be in space by then. I keep stretching and mixing until it was just right, then I make the noodles and finally put it in the pan to cook.A short moment later,and it's done and ready.
I pull out a large bowl and pour everything in and pull out a pair of chopsticks. It's not wood, but instead, some other non-metal material that feels as natural as them. I sit down on the table and chow down while having the glare of the phantom annoyance on my back. After a while of having holes drilled to my back from the glare, my patience reaches its limit.
"SERIOUSLY STOP STARING!!" I suddenly shout.
"But you're torturing me with that food." He complains.
"Come on! AI have a food simulator to help them develop their tastes. Eat using that!" I shout in reply.
He turns to the AI after hearing this. "Is she telling the truth?" He asked her.
"Yes sir, we possess such system but to this unit it currently has no use." The AI replied.
"HELL YEAH~~! Then go make a copy of the food she made with the same taste and everything!" He commands. In moments my bowl was scanned and a hologram copy was made. Immediately, he sat down and started to slurp it in.
"DAMN THIS IS HEAVEN!!!" He shouted.
I only sighed and continued to eat. After a bit I finish up and go wash my dishes. "I'm going to sleep, feel free to make upgrades but at least leave some MP for emergencies and make a few more of the drones." I tell Stuss.
He simply sighed satisfied and did a gesture to shoo me away. I shook my head and went to bed. It was a very tiresome first day, interacting with this man, and I needed some serious rest.
The next morning I woke up at 7:30 am like normal. I spend a good half hour doing stretches to limber up my body. This is something drilled into everyone so that we won't suffer muscle cramps later on in life or during battle. Almost everyone is trained to the point of being able to do a split easily as long as you continue daily. Those who train it, can easily perform acrobatics.
After I finished stretching I got a new suit of armor and took it to the bathroom.
Obviously opening the door warns him I was up so I walk out to him waiting there. "Do you mind not waiting like a stray dog in front of my room every morning? It makes you look desperate." I told him and it seems to affect him nicely. Nevermind, he was totally acting because he fell on his knees in a perfect orz pose.
"Thats cruel… and here I was waiting for you to wake up and all I get is treatment worse than a dog's..." He says before his hologram shook and turned into a large dog with unkempt hair, looking completely like a stray. He did a lone wolf howl which I had to hold back my laughter, else I would lose it.
"Like I said, a stray." I said quickly and enter the safety of the bathroom.
I take a few deep breaths to allow myself to calm down before I take a morning bath. When I finish, I equip my armor after drying myself. I tie my hair in a small bun behind my head and hold it with a clip. We will be going deeper down today, so loose hair will be an advantage to the enemy since it can hide them from my view when I'm fighting or running.
I go and make breakfast before heading to the cargo where I find some more drones. In the cargo hold were the two larger drones and around them were five other smaller ones waiting at attention.
"Five new drones? Small version so 300 mp?" I ask.
"Nope, 10 new drones and 600 mp. Current mp left 957. The other five are patrolling the ship." He explains.
I simply shrug and tell them we are going. I open the airlock and let them through and then then open the second door that leads out. Tony locks all the doors to be safe and we head in.
Same process as before, all the drones had the antenna attached and we head immediately to the dungeon. I drew quite a bit of attention with seven drones behind me. I walk quickly and enter the dungeon going down the same path we took before.
I had two drones ready to set up the shield and the rest were already ready for combat. Like before the first group we encountered was a small group with four wingless imp.
"These bastards are mine, be a good bitch mage and sit." Tony says with a cocky attitude and sends the two small drones and himself flying.
He fires off a single shot, and for some reason it was strangely accurate and with the sound of the shot drawing their attention, it hits one of them in between eyes.
The other two drones aims low towards the closest imp on the right. The first drone shoots directly at him while the second fires to the left of the imp. As if going by a script the imp dodges to his right, getting shot in the chest by the second shot.
Tony’s targets the one on the right next. He uses the drone to shoot first, and fires to the left of the imp. Again, it easily hits it in the chest and kills it immediately. The final one was able to jump back and away from the carnage, but that was short lived as the drones fired from all sides.
"Gyahahahahah!!! Eat that you little red shits!!" I heard him shout.
I simply sigh at how simple he is but really, how does a simple change in mentality change a person's skills so much? Well considering the AI could read the movement of the imps he should be able to do the same just as easily.
I gather the bodies and find a horn and a heart. Not bad for a start.
Anyway we get moving and soon find another small group. I let him take them on, they recharge their battery packs faster than I regain mana so this is convenient. Also, he is slowly learning to control the power of his shots. We don't encounter a large pack until halfway through because packs are simply small groups bunching up to attack at once, trying to suppress intruders with larger scale coordinated attacks.
Unlike yesterday I focus on training my marksmanship by distracting as many as possible to make openings for the drones. This is actually rather effective. One shot near the right leg and then another to the left eye in the position it would be after it dodged. All the shots I released were worth 1 mp and the barrage makes it stop in its tracks and cover its eye in pain and it gets skewered by a shot in the head, heart or gut.
By the end of the first floor we kill two large groups, ten small groups of 3 and five groups of 4 Which is around 75 monsters total. We rest up in the final room that has the stairs to the next floor. To get ready I pull out a blue and purple gem.
I remove the red gems from the guns and insert a blue ones. On the base of the wands handle I insert similar gem but this one is purple. I charge one point of mana and fire the gun making a water ball come out as the projectile. I flip a switch on the gun and with the same power I shoot, a small stream of water coming out of it like a toy water gun.
I nod to myself, satisfied, and lift the wand. With one point of mana, I focus on a rock and with a quick motion I lift the rock up with magic. Then a flick of the wrist and the rock embedded itself in the wall causing a deep hole and cracks to appear. Satisfied, I put them away.
"What was that?" Stuss asked.
"I just switched the type of magic I would use. If I add just a water gem to the gun I will only be able to use water magic with it." I explain.
"Hmm… all of the drones are charged! LET'S GO KILL!" He shouts.
I could just sigh and follow behind as we go deeper. I watch my crystal glow as it records the floor advancement for me. Time for a bit more challenge.