Chapter 27 - First Step
“Hey, got you some food. Don’t overwork yourself to death.”
“Meh, even if I did die from overworking, I’m sure you’d storm the Underworld, defeat the Goddess of Death, and drag my soul back just to resurrect me.”
Lucas glanced up to see Chloe standing there, holding a sandwich and a drink.
“Thanks,” he said with a smile, taking the sandwich.
Chloe’s curious gaze shifted to the scattered parts and glowing components on the ground. “Are you really planning to build a giant robot?”
“Not a giant one, just human-sized,” Lucas replied, munching on the sandwich. He pointed casually at a pile of magical components. “Probably without some of these glowing parts.”
“Why? They still look fine,” Chloe asked, tilting her head.
Lucas shrugged nonchalantly. “I have no idea what some of them do. Lecturers never covered magic in our maths course.”
“Besides,” he added, smirking, “sticking to science is better for me. I am a Mechanic, after all.”
Finishing his sandwich, Lucas stood up and dusted off his pants. “Alright, I’m going to take a nap. I’ll leave the watch to you girls. Don’t worry about the golems, I made sure they’re tied up securely.”
“Sure. Sweet dreams,” Chloe replied with a smile, leaning in to gently peck his cheek.
Grinning, Lucas walked over to an empty spot, lay down, and closed his eyes.
Although he said he was going to take a nap, he still needed something to help him fall asleep.
His vision shifted, bringing him into the void white space of the
“Okay, show me the golem’s schematic,” he instructed, clapping his hands.
In an instant, a five-meter hologram of the golem appeared before him, spinning slowly in mid-air.
As the level of
His eyes glowed faintly with rings of blue light as he stared intently at the hologram, lost in thought.
“Keywords. Compact, agile, tough, flexible,” he ordered.
The five-meter golem immediately shrank to two meters.
“Remove all magical components.”
At his command, various wiring and components were stripped away from the hologram.
“Zoom in on the arm,” he added, and the hologram focused on the golem’s arm.
As he examined the intricate details, Lucas muttered to himself, “Don’t need that. Definitely don’t need this… but I’ll keep that and this.”
Hours passed as Lucas finally completed his work, three holograms spinning slowly before him, two mechanical soldier designs, and one suit design.
Nodding in satisfaction, he exited the simulation and returned to reality.
Opening his eyes, he realized only half an hour had passed in real-time, meaning he had spent three full days in the virtual space.
“This kind of time dilation is wild,” he muttered, stretching before deciding to finally take a real nap.
Three hours later, Lucas woke from his dreamless slumber.
“Morning. Or evening. I don’t know. Can’t really tell the time,” Samantha greeted, casually fiddling with a runic spell in her hand.
“Evening, I guess. It’s seven o’clock now,” Lucas groaned as he stood up. “Your turn. I’ll take over.”
Nodding, Samantha returned to her spot and slid into her sleeping bag, ready for rest.
Lucas watched as Samantha slipped into her sleeping bag, then turned his gaze toward the hanging golems.
“Another big construction project,” he muttered, though a grin tugged at his lips.
Approaching the decommissioned golem he had been tinkering with earlier, Lucas summoned several tendrils of mental energy.
Swiftly, he began dismantling it, separating the outer plating from the internal components into two neat piles.
Metal plating from the pile levitated into the air, gradually reshaping under the influence of his mental energy. Bit by bit, the pieces molded themselves into the desired structure.
Every bend and curve aligned with the design he had created in the
Before long, a skeletal metal frame hovered upright, suspended in midair.
It resembled a humanoid figure. Lean and compact, built for agility rather than raw power.
“Alright, next step. Making it move,” Lucas mumbled to himself as several mechanical components floated up from the pile, drifting toward the frame.
He carefully slotted the hydraulic actuators into the joints, ensuring each one fit seamlessly with the surrounding metal.
"These should give it the strength needed for combat while keeping it fast."
Next, he moved on to the servos. He attached them to the shoulders, elbows, and knees, testing their range of motion with subtle flicks of mental energy.
"Smooth enough. Now for the brain."
Lucas picked up the small black metallic component, the neural processing unit. "Pseudo-AI… not perfect, but it'll do for now."
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
He connected the processing unit to the central hub within the robot's chest, wiring it carefully to the motion sensors and optical system.
A single red lens floated into place and embedded itself in the robot's head. "Multi-spectrum camera, LIDAR for spatial mapping. I'll disable the mana-sensing module for now. I'll play with it after I gain some bits and bobs about magic.”
Next, he turned his attention to the power source. Holding up the glowing blue mana crystal, he muttered, “Once again, after bits and bobs about magic, I'll play with you. Let's just stick you in for now.”
He installed the crystal into a containment chamber within the chest cavity, adding a conversion module to transform the mana energy into electricity to power the robot's systems.
Finally, he moved to the exterior. Using the golem’s plating, he altered its molecular structure to make it more durable, lightweight, and resistant to damage.
Even the internal metallic components had been enhanced for greater efficiency and strength.
One by one, each plate snapped into place, forming a seamless protective shell.
With the final piece secured, Lucas stepped back to admire his creation, a sleek, white, sci-fi-style robotic soldier.
“Now, for the moment of truth.”
He activated the power system with a pulse of mental energy.
The red lens in the robot’s head flickered to life, glowing steadily as soft whirring noises came from its servos. The robot’s limbs twitched as its neural processor synced with the sensors, running a self-diagnostic.
“Automaton, huh?” Lucas mumbled, glancing at the white robot with its red, flickering eye.
“You will be Jager. Just because of you!”
After assigning the name, a new system notification appeared. This time, instead of the usual message, it displayed a status window.
<>
Jager
Level 10
Race: Automaton
Class: Assaulter
VIT - 35
POW - 45
AGI - 50
INT - 40
SYS - 30
Talent: None
Skill:
Thoughtblade - Lv 1
Smart Algorithm - Lv MAX
Realsteel Frame - Lv MAX
Psyform - Lv MAX
<>
<>
Thoughtblade
Rank: Rare
Active
Imbues the next attack with psychic energy, delivering additional psychic damage to the target.
Smart Algorithm
Rank: Rare
Passive
Enhances learning, comprehension, and analytical capabilities.
Realsteel Frame
Rank: Uncommon
Passive
Reduces physical damage by a percentage and nullifies it entirely if below a specific threshold.
Psyform
Rank: Rare
Passive
Enhances structural integrity, improving resistance to physical and mental damage.
<>
<>
Gearmaster
Rank: Rare
Passive
Enhances craftsmanship, increasing machinery and equipment's overall durability and performance, and reducing failure rates.
<>
“All these windows are kinda overwhelming,” Lucas mumbled as he stared at the system windows.
Looking at Jager's status window, Lucas raised an eyebrow. “His stats are higher than mine, except for VIT and INT. What's SYS? System?” he muttered to himself.
“Hello there, I am Jager. Nice to meet you, master,” Jager said in a mechanical tone, its red eye flickering softly.
Lucas froze, his gaze fixed on Jager. The automaton, in turn, stared back at him with its singular glowing red eye.
‘Did it just speak? It did, right? It definitely spoke!’
Still flabbergasted, Lucas quickly glanced back at Jager's status panel. His eyes landed on
‘Wait, the System categorized it as a lifeform. Do they have a speech program? Wait, of course, they do. They can talk,’ Lucas thought, facepalming at having overlooked such a minor yet obvious detail.
‘But isn’t this better? I thought it’d be fine if it could just understand basic commands. With the System's intervention, Jager is essentially an AI.’
“Hey, Jager. How are you feeling? Any discomfort in your body?” After sorting through his thoughts, Lucas shifted his attention back to Jager.
“I am fine. I do not feel any discomfort due to the superiority of the materials used,” Jager responded in the same mechanical tone.
Nodding, Lucas continued to examine the robot. “Do you mind if I run some tests on you?”
“No, I do not mind,” Jager replied, making a "please" hand gesture.
With Jager's affirmation, Lucas began testing its capabilities, starting with basic mobility tests like walking, crouching, and jumping.
Next came physical tests to assess Jager's strength and durability. Finally, Lucas performed tests to evaluate its reactiveness and adaptability.
“Everything is within expectations, if not slightly better,” Lucas muttered, his gaze fixed on Jager, who stood straight in front of him.
Suddenly, Jager’s red, singular eye glowed as it turned its head in another direction.
Noticing this, Lucas followed its gaze and saw Chloe and Samantha staring blankly at them.
“Enemies?” Jager asked abruptly.
“No, friends, Jager. Friends,” Lucas replied, shaking his head.
Jager’s red lens glowed faintly as if registering the girls as allies.
“Lucas, care to introduce your new friend?” Samantha teased as she walked over, her eyes curiously fixed on Jager.
Lifting its hand, Jager gave a small wave. “Hello, I am Jager. I am pleased to meet you,” it greeted in its mechanical tone.
“Wow, you built a robot!” Chloe exclaimed excitedly as she approached. “Hi, Jager! I’m Chloe! And this is Samantha!”
Tilting its head slightly, Jager responded, “I am pleased to meet you, Miss Chloe and Miss Samantha.”
Samantha circled Jager, scanning its sleek, white frame. “I've got to say, this is impressive. How long did it take you to make this?”
“Not too long. The real work was figuring out how to repurpose the golem's parts. The rest is just assembling and tweaking,” Lucas shrugged casually.
Chloe stood next to Jager, peering at its glowing red lens. “Can I touch him?” she asked, her curiosity practically radiating.
“Jager?” Lucas glanced at the white robot.
“I do not mind,” Jager replied in a polite but flat tone.
Excited, Chloe poked Jager's arm. “Wow, it's so smooth. Like, this doesn’t exactly feel like the golem's metal. Did you do something to the metal?”
“Just some slight tweaking. Nothing too wild,” Lucas smirked.
“Speaking of which, do you think the next wave will be harder?” Samantha’s expression darkened at the thought of her spell being disabled.
“Probably,” Lucas nodded. “That's why I made Jager.”
Glancing at the girls, he suddenly said, “Why don’t you girls take some more rest? In the meantime, Jager will look out for us.”
“What about you?” Chloe asked, gazing at him worriedly.
Lucas chuckled and patted her head. “Just making Jager some companions.”