Sam spent the rest of the day and into the night creating a mana core from scratch. It was one of the most mana-intensive, mentally exhausting things she had yet to do on this planet. Her first fifteen tries all resulted in failure. She had to throw three of them out of the hole in the ceiling before they exploded. After the third one barely made it out before it detonated, Nul suggested that she try portaling them out instead of risking missing the hole. She had taken the slime's advice begrudgingly, but thankfully, there were no more explosions.
Sam eventually discovered that the mana cores had to be made in three stages as she experimented. Stage one, which surprised her, was to form a small superconductor in the shape of an oval fuse. The second stage was creating the gyroscope or outer housing of the core and attaching the superconductor to it in the center. Lastly, the mana core had to be formed in layers around the superconducting material. If she made the slightest error in any of the steps, the System would not recognize it as a mana core. The three times the cores she was making exploded were caused by her slight error on the last step; one time, it was because the core wasn't perfectly spherical. Half a millimeter difference meant kaboom when it came to mana core creation.
Finally, after many hours, Sam proudly held a completed mana core in her hand. She eagerly examined her creation.
Arcane Mana Core
Classification: Powerplant
Quality: Pure; Perfect Condition
Magical: Yes
Functions: Power any mana engine up to level 57 before experiencing stress degradation.
Enchantments: Absorb Magic
Capacity: 17,245mu
Supported Abilities: Unknown
An amateur creator created this mana core through trial and luck. Regardless of its origin, however, it is a functional powerplant that shouldn't experience catastrophic failure upon first use…maybe.
"You just couldn't resist the jab, could you?" Sam asked the omnipresent System, receiving no response. She frowned when she read the maximum level engine the core could power without degrading. Sam didn't know if it was just a coincidence that the core was the same level as her class or if she could make them more powerful. She also wasn't sure if the level of the engine powering the droid was the same as the droid's level; if that were the case, her core wouldn't work on any of the droids.
Sam stood and stretched with a yawn. She was hunched over the latest core for several hours. Although her high attributes relieved everyday aches and pains, there was still a touch of stiffness after spending so long in one position. She planned to dig the first droid she killed out of the rubble and try to repair it since it was the lowest level out of the group, which she hoped would make it less stressful on her core. But first, she decided to loot the droid with its legs crushed instead of repairing it, curious about what she might get. Touching a void thread to its head, she selected Loot and read the prompt.
Multifunction Hyperlite Attack Droid Level 67 Items:
247-System Credits; Small Hyperlite Mana Core [Level 67]; Hyperlite Control CPU x 1; Hyperlite Optical Sensors x 2; Hyperlite Wiring Harness x 7; Hyperlite Microswitches x 37; 8 Liters Nano Fluid; 23kg Nanoflex Synthetic Muscle Fiber; Light Infantry Assault Rifle; Light Nanoweave Short Sword.
Pulling the small mana core she had just looted from her inventory, Sam cursed in frustration, “I spent all fucking day and night making one of these when all I had to do was fucking loot the goddamn bodies! Argh! Stupid, stupid, stupid, Sam!”
Her self-admonishment out of the way, Sam walked over, linked with the droid, and tried to repair it now that she had looted it. It worked, which sent her into another fit of self-deprecation.
Calming down again, Sam pulled everything she looted from the droid out of her inventory. The Loot skill had taken the optical sensors, so she placed them back into their sockets and quickly attached them using her Repair skill. Seeing how much faster it went, Sam continued repairing the droid using the looted parts, at least the ones that her skill didn't synthesize. She used all the processors and microswitches but still had some of the muscle fiber left over after repairing the droid's legs.
Much to Sam's amusement, Lupie insisted on trying to eat the synthetic muscle. She had to stop repairing the droid for several minutes because she was laughing so hard at the Bloodmorph as she spat and spluttered about the horrid taste of the metal meat, as she called it. Nul, on the other hand, swallowed a piece of the muscle as though it was a juicy steak and even asked for more, which Sam happily provided.
Sam finished her repairs in no time and estimated she had saved at least a few hours by using spare parts instead of having her skill synthesize them using mana. Before she installed the mana core, she cast Reprogram on the inert droid, sighing with relief when the spell took effect. Sam felt herself being pulled into the machine memory of the unit and could plainly sense the basic code that operated it. She was no programmer, but through the spell, her mental link, and surprisingly, her Linguistics skill, Sam could read and understand binary and intuitively knew what required change in the code to get her desired outcome. Which was basically, don't hurt my allies and fight alongside us following all instructions.
Sam had one concern: she felt a foreign presence trying to 'ping' the droid when she activated the hatch protecting the mana core. As she rewrote the droid's code, she searched for a transmitter or receiver with her mind, finally locating a small control node attached to the antennas. She reconfigured the receiver to link with her handheld device using her Reprogram spell.
When she was finished reprogramming the droid, which took nearly twenty thousand mana from her reserves, Sam placed the small mana core into its receptacle and closed the hatch, saying, “Moment of truth.”
Sam jumped back as soon as the hatch closed over the mana core, warning Lupie and Nul to prepare themselves in case something went wrong.
The sound of capacitors charging accompanied the droid's cacophony of whirrs and clicks as power flowed through its body. Then, its optical sensors lit up with a soft blue light. The droid curled its new legs under itself and slowly stood up as if testing them. It was a little unsteady at first but soon stood motionless in front of Sam. When it didn’t attack immediately, Sam pulled out her Data Link and found a new icon flashing on the screen with an image of the droid on it.
Selecting the icon brought up a new screen displaying an image of the droid with several readouts to one side. It was similar to her status screen. Sam first noticed there was no bar representing health or stamina; instead, only two bars that read Damage and Power, which Sam took to mean overall functionality and remaining charge in the droid. Some experiments showed that she could check the damage percentage of each segment of the droid's body; its head, torso, arms, and legs all had a readout associated with them.
"Does that mean I could have killed it if I damaged it enough?" Sam asked herself. She wasn't sure, so she decided to experiment with the idea if the opportunity presented itself.
The droid, as Sam had been calling it, actually had a name. It was HAF-33, followed by a period and a series of around fifty numbers. When she pulled up more information on the name, she found it meant Hyperlite Attack Frame 33, and the series of numbers following the name was its individual serial number. After a little more playing, Sam was able to change its name. She humbly chose to name it S-1, which stood for Sam-One.
Confident S-1 wasn't a threat. Sam told it to retrieve its weapons, which it did quickly after saying in a loud robotic voice, "Affirmative!" All three jumped when S-1 suddenly spoke, and Sam had to laugh. They had no idea the droid could talk, and the robot's voice caught them all off guard in the relative silence of the cave.
“Time to get to work!” Sam said, rubbing her hands together. She had a droid army to build or, more accurately, repair and repurpose.
***
In the end, Sam repaired and reprogrammed the four standard droids, but the elite droid was a different story. She was able to repair the large droid, but when she used Reprogram, a message popped up denying her access.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Warning! Your current spell level is not sufficient.
“Well, that blows,” Sam said, looking longingly at the sleek metallic figure. With a sigh, she put it in her inventory until she could increase the level of her spell enough to add the elite to her collection of metallic murder bots.
She returned to the other four droids, all standing at attention, awaiting her instruction. Three of the droids' eyes were blue, but one, the level sixty-five she had named S-2, had glowing violet optics. She put the mana core she made in the droid as an experiment since, even though her core was a lower level than the droid, it had over seven thousand more mana units than the small Hyperlite cores she looted, which all topped out at ten thousand units. Even the elite droid’s mana core held only twenty-five thousand mana units, proving to Sam that if she could improve the level of her cores, they would outclass the similar ones she looted.
Pulling her Data Link out, she checked S-2’s diagnostics. All systems were in the green, giving her hope the additional power of her core would compensate for its lower level. Sam was using one of the gadgets from her belt to monitor S-2; it was called a Self-Adhesive Auto-Diagnostic Puck, a long name for a little hockey puck-sized piece of kit that magnetically adhered to the side of S-2's head. It was already synced to her Data Link, allowing her to view virtually all of S-2's diagnostics. There was a readout for everything from the temperature and integrity of each individual processor and servo in its frame to its mana core status and overall mental health. The mental health readout caught her off guard, confusing her until she figured out it referenced how clear its programming was and if it was experiencing any errors that would need addressing. Although S-2 was loaded with a low-level AI operating system, it was nowhere near sentient.
Sam pulled a mana rifle from her inventory and checked its readout with her glasses; it showed full auto (999 rounds remaining). Turning the rifle to the side, she toggled a small switch, and the readout changed to a percentage of 99.99%. Toggling the switch again from solid beam back to single rounds, she flipped another tiny switch, and the readout changed to semi-auto (999 rounds remaining).
Sam’s Loot skill synthesized two extra rifles and one extra sword, so she repaired the damaged rifles, giving her two spares once the droids were fully armed. She tested the spare Nanoweave sword, and although it was sharp, she didn’t think it would be better than one of her void swords. That is until she discovered what another of the gadgets on her belt did.
Magiflex Tether Link [Growth] 1 of 1
Classification: User to Weapon/Item I/O Tether
Quality: Epic
Magical: No
Enchantments: Immortal; Soul Bound
This device houses four Magiflex tethers, each of which can be attached to a compatible weapon or item. The tether link allows the user to channel their personal mana through the connection, vastly increasing the weapon or item's effectiveness. Note: This item is soul-bound to you and cannot be destroyed. The current maximum tethers are 4.
Sam tethered the rifle; she absently noted that the remaining rounds had increased to 99,999 on the readout before she placed the rifle on her back, where it was magnetically locked in place. She retrieved the Nanoweave sword and tethered it also. A light violet glow lit up along the blade's edge before she placed it in the magnetic clamp on her back next to the rifle.
Her final action before they moved out to continue exploring the ship was to link her two remaining tethers to two more gadgets on her belt called Hex Shields. When she tethered one of the shields, she reread the description.
Hex Shield Array [Growth] 1 of 2
Classification: Personal Defensive Array
Quality: Epic
Magical: Yes
Enchantments: Immortal; Soul Bound
Function: Unlike standard magical shields, This defensive array is not a cohesive shield unit. Instead, the Hex Shield Array projects over one thousand monodirectional hexagonal shields around the user, each with its power node in the main unit. Destroying one shield projection will not affect the others, thus allowing the user to maintain a higher level of protection. This device can operate on its own power source or be tethered to increase its effectiveness. Warning: if the shield is tethered, the user will experience mana backlash if a node is destroyed, albeit on a more minor scale than losing a single full-body shield. Note: This item is soul-bound to you and cannot be destroyed.
Sam felt she did everything she could to prepare for this dungeon, so with a quick command to her droids, they all moved out.
Sam chose the hallway the droid patrol had exited as their first exploration path. As they picked their way around the centuries of sediment and neglect, the trio and the droids made quite a sight. Sam was in the lead with Lupie, who decided to stay in her monster girl form. They were followed closely by four heavily armed robots, one with violet optics and a void slime on its head.
***
Ten minutes later, they came to a dead end. It looked like the corridor had recently collapsed, which, Sam thought, might explain why no reinforcements had found their way to them in the hanger bay.
Turning to S-2, Sam asked, “Was this corridor open before? And where does it lead?”
“Affirmative! Patrol Route Thirteen Alpha, leading to the Alpha-level armory, was clear twenty-seven hours, thirteen minutes, and seven seconds ago,” S-2 confirmed loudly, its robotic voice echoing in the corridor.
“Shh! Not so loud, S-2,” Sam hissed, checking their surroundings nervously. Unlike the decaying remains of the hanger bay, their four-meter-wide and five-meter-tall corridor was still pristine. The walls were a smooth blue-grey, illuminated by soft lights every ten meters. There wasn't even any dust on the floor to suggest this place was abandoned centuries ago. "Because it isn't abandoned," Sam reminded herself as she observed her surroundings.
When nothing burst out of the walls, Sam turned to examine the collapsed area more closely. She soon concluded that it had been done deliberately. The beams protruding from the rubble had clear blast and cut marks, indicating that something or someone intentionally collapsed the tunnel. But why?
“S-2, why would something collapse this corridor?” Sam asked.
“To delay the unknown entity from reaching the Alpha-level armory until proper analysis of the intruder's power level can be made,” Came the prompt reply—thankfully, in a much quieter tone this time. However, it was still a little loud for Sam's liking.
"Okay, that solves that mystery," Sam absently said as she eyed the pile of rubble. On a whim, she asked a question she should have already, "S-2, actually all of you, can you lead me to the captain of this ship?”
“Affirmative!” the four droids replied simultaneously.
Sam stared at them as they continued to stand motionless. Before remembering, she didn't actually order them to do anything other than answer a question. “All right then! Lead me to the captain!” She said with excitement, hoping it would be the boss of this dungeon and that he…or…it…would be protecting the core.
The droids started jerking around, unsure what to do before S-2 said, "Unable to comply, the pathway to Alpha-level commander is blocked."
Sam rubbed at her temples in frustration, then ordered the droids to excavate the blockage. To her surprise, they all turned as one and began marching back toward the hanger bay. "Wait, where are you going?" she called after them.
S-2 turned to say, “We are proceeding to remove the blockage from the corridor leading to Beta level to grant access to Gamma level—”
Cutting off S-2, Sam asked, “What level is the captain on?”
“Epsilon,” S-2 answered immediately.
“Is there a way to that level through here?” Sam asked, gesturing to the collapsed corridor.
“Negative,” S-2 responded.
“Then why collapse this corridor…” Sam thought, eyeing the rubble suspiciously. She asked, “S-2, what is in the armory?”
“Unknown,” said the violet-eyed droid, making Sam suspicious.
“So, something controlling this place blocked some, if not all, paths leading to other decks and areas. But this path wasn’t blocked for self-preservation. Instead, it was to keep me from getting to…what? What could be in the armory that it fears me getting my hands on? Heavy weapons, or is it something else? Is there a subroutine I didn’t detect that is making my droids purposefully mislead me?” Sam didn't think she missed any malignant code when she reprogrammed the droids but wouldn't dismiss the possibility out of hand, considering how much of an amateur she was regarding the Reprogram spell. She stared at the rubble as she calculated her next move.
Ultimately deciding to take the armory route, she instructed the droids to excavate the path leading to what she hoped would be heavier firepower.
***
Three hours later, the droids opened a hole large enough for the party to slip through. Sam commanded the droids prop up the excavated area with the cut metal beams to add just a touch more safety before they passed through; even then, she was still nervous when they walked the twenty meters to get past the collapsed area, letting out the pent-up breath she was holding when they made it to the other side without incident.
Continuing their trek down the corridor, which was winding for some reason, Sam took Nul off S-2’s head and placed the slime on her own. Then, she put S-2 on point about twenty meters in front of the party with instructions to send a message to her Data Link if it detected enemies or any other anomaly. It took looking at her map to clue Sam into the fact that they were tracing the outline of a hull as they traveled toward their destination, which is why it was winding.
“Just how big is this ship?” Sam asked. They had already traveled over a kilometer in this single hallway, and Sam was getting antsy.
“It is a dungeon,” Lupie said as if that explained the eternal hallway.
“What does that have to do with the size of the ship?” Sam asked, confused.
"Dungeons can be any size the core desires so long as it has enough power. I know this because I was born in a dungeon," Lupie said.
Sam stopped walking and stared at her in amazement, “You what!?!”
Lupie shrugged as if it was common knowledge and Sam was overreacting, "How else do you think I am an elite? A dungeon core designed and created me, and when our dungeon was overpopulated, I took it as my chance to escape with my pack." She smiled happily, "Then I met you," she frowned a little, "and you seriously kicked my ass…I mean, who shoves a bomb down a giant wolf’s throat then cuts their arm off to get away from the blast…”
“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” Sam defended herself.
“Just how many times have you blown yourself up or cut off pieces of your body?” Lupie was genuinely curious.
“I…” Sam started, then paused to think about it, “I…lost count.”
Lupie giggled and gave Sam a side hug, “I am glad I am your summon. You are very weird and fun.”
"I'm glad I can entertain you," Sam said dryly. She would have said more, but S-2 stopped and raised its left arm, making a fist. “What? Are we in a cheesy war movie?” Sam thought but stopped and checked her Data Link to see if the droid sent her something.
Sure enough, there was text on her screen:
Alpha-level armory entrance sighted.
Warning: Four level 70 turrets, two with kinetic load-outs and two with magical reservoirs, have barrels directed down this corridor. What are your orders?
Sam mentally typed, “Is the door to the armory closed?”
“Affirmative,” came the prompt reply.
After some thought, Sam sent a message to her droids and companions, “Let’s take this armory!”