2.38 ANIMATOR – PART 3

While Flora watched her little golem attacking the dummies, she sketched some of her ideas in a virtual notebook that Aidan simulated for her.

"I think I'm ready to wear a cape!" Flora stated proudly. For her, a cape was the ultimate sign that you were a superhero… or a supervillain, but SUPER in any case. "A golem cape! The clasp will be its eye, and I put the mana emitters on the shoulders as ornaments."

When Flora drew it, the ornaments looked a lot like tentacles.

"The teacher mentioned that it could physically attack as well… how much do we have to level the spell for it?"

"Roughly level 100 if you run it with 5 MR/min, Milady. If you invest 10 MR/min the golem can already attack with one appendage. It depends on your Magical Micro-Control, Psychokinesis Affinity, and even the Ambidextrous Ability as well."

"And two mana emitters?"

"We can't obtain it with just leveling the spell. The value derives not only from your Spell OV but also from Magical Micro-Control, and the Ambidextrous Ability. We have to level the other two as well. Around level 140 on average should be enough. Even then, two magic emitters might be all we get in a long time. Adding physical attacking appendages is easier."

"Placing a mana emitter on one shoulder would leave the blind spot too big." Flora elongated the tentacle that it could reach over her head, but she wasn't sure if she wanted something waving around at the corner of her eye. "A cape that flutters even without wind would be fine, indeed. It could attack the enemies behind me."

"You shouldn't have enemies behind your back, Milady. That's too dangerous even with the protection of a golem."

"True. I should shelve the idea. I can't put a cape in armor, much less a mech-suit." Flora started a new page. "Please ask the teacher if a golem gets stat bonuses from armor. It should be the case if it can equip weapons, right?"

"Beep beep." Aito sent a link to a forum discussion about a game update in which CentralTank patched away the armor bonuses for companions to the outrage of some animal lovers. One vocal owner of a panther had invested too many VirDos in a sweater with "Mummy's favorite Kitty" with suitable stats. Some other users looked at the positive aspects like saving money. Companions like robots and animals were expensive enough even without adding the cost of their equipment.

"Now, the cape rises in my appreciation again. Give me some numbers of the golem's stats at 5 MR/min, 10 MR/min, and 15 MR/min. We can get to level 50 in a night or two, so use that as skill level."

Aidan complied but mentioned that with two nights of leveling, the golem might be able to use two melee appendages with 15 MR/min.

Flora inspected the stats. They were quite nice compared to what she remembered about the robots.

"May I cast the spell on my golem in the classroom, Milady?"

"Err, sure?" Flora agreed and looked at the screen.

Aidan-Octopussy took the hand of the meditating Flora and laid it on his model of the CoCC clan leader. Bluish energy flowed from the body's hand into the golem, and it started to move.

Flora wasn't sure how she felt about being puppeteered. On an intellectual level, she knew that Aidan did it in the boxes but witnessing the process was uncanny.

'When the robot overlords conquer the world, will they use human puppets for magic?' After the thought crossed her mind, she laughed. Of course, there was no magic in the RL, so no need for human puppets, and AI's had no problem using magic in the Cetviwos as long as they weren't robots or personal assistants.

"Now, we will go over the profits from leveling Milestones. Companion skills differ quite a bit from damaging skills in this regard." The Woodling said, and Flora immediately switched her attention to the teacher. She had never asked herself how the Milestones would effect summoning.

"Nothing changed with the first Milestone, First Improvement. You'll still get a 10% bonus to your modded OV. Second Luck usually gives you a 20% chance for a lucky hit, which raises the damage or healing of skills. For Animate Companion skills, it raises the mana regen investment by 20% without you having to pay for it."

Immediately Flora thought that it was worth trying the spell multiple times for a stronger companion, but then the video continued.

"That chance will be applied every minute anew. So the stats of your companion will fluctuate when your skill is above level 50."

Flora was glad for that mechanic. It would have sucked waiting for the cooldown to finish just to have no luck with the spell and biding time for the next attempt.

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"Usually, Third Wind gives you a bonus to the effect of the skill when the target of the skill is below 30% health. Because the spell's target is the golem and it should be in pristine condition, this Milestone works for Animate Companions like with your Attributes: When your health is below 30% the golem will get stronger."

"Nice." Flora looked up the Summon Elemental spell. The same Milestones applied to it. Unfortunately, there was no skill for robots, so they didn't profit from the Milestones of their owner.

"Fourth Intersection brings a huge improvement to the table. 40% of the OV of the crafting ability you used for creating the golem will be added to the Skill OV."

"I didn't include the Fourth Intersection in my calculation about when we can get the second mana emitter, Milady."

"Never mind, dear. Level 200 is a few days of leveling away."

"Around 2300 hours if you stay level 1, Milady."

"Oh my!" Flora spluttered. "Good that I will start leveling soon. Show me a comparison of the 15 MR/min Octopussy and the 15 MR/min golem after two nights of leveling."

"The physical stats of the golem depend on materials used and rating of the model. Your current model is B-rated. Should I take it as base?"

"No, I will craft an S-Rated model as soon as I know what I want…"

Aidan delivered the data. The golem was the clear winner at first glance. However, the Rapid Fire was a great skill, albeit with a long CD, and the Octopussy had four laser-crystals while the golem only had one magic emitter and its attack appendages.

"Give me the average DPS based on a 25-second rotation." Flora paused. "It might be unfair to compare them because the mana pool of the golem limits shooting spells while the rotation of the Octopussy can be sustained longer. Let's make it half spells and half cantrips for the golem."

"37 DPS for the Octopussy and 40 for the golem. However, I made a lot of assumptions in favor of the golem, Milady. On the other hand, Aito uses Rapid-Fire strategically and not on cooldown. By the way, there is a huge update on Thursday two. The numbers might change then."

"Oh no, patching day!" Flora's memories overflowed with all the buggy patches in her lifetime that made working impossible. "Do I have to log out for that?"

"The business and school server gets patched at another time and can be accessed, but users get encouraged to log out. Usually, you get 100 VirDias for not being connected to the Cetviwos during that time."

"Are the updates always on Thursday Two?" Flora had her mother-son-date on Thursday afternoons. Now, she suspected that Robby put it on purpose in that time-slot.

"Yes, Milady. They happen every two weeks, but there are unscheduled updates as well."

"I have taught my son well. He doesn't lose gaming time, and I can spend time with him−a win-win situation." Flora laughed.

"You all got a taste of the power of golemancy. Now, what can you do to improve the physical stats of your golem?" The teacher started to explain crafting tricks. They were quite obvious−for greater dexterity: create flexible and delicate appendages, for more defense: use strong materials as the outer shell, for more hit-points: make it bigger.

Meanwhile, Flora experimented with directing her clay figure. "Attack the dummy. Dodge when I throw something at you and jump when I clap."

The golem hit the dummy with lightning, and Flora flung a wooden board at it. Dutifully, it ducked under it, but then it just stood there, looking at Flora.

"Resume attacking, dear."

The golem followed her order and didn't react at all when Flora threw the board again. It toppled over and lay still on the floor.

"Oh no! I killed Golly!" Flora exclaimed, but then saw on her HUD that it still had HP left. Hastily, she shot at Healing Waterball at it. The golem didn't move, even though its health was now full.

Flora narrowed her eyes at the clay figure, which played dead. "Okay, attack the dummy. Dodge when I throw something at you and jump when I clap. Otherwise, keep attacking."

The little golem resumed the attack, still lying unmoving at the floor.

Flora sighed. What could she do? Yelling didn't work at all on a 5 MR/min golem. It had no ears. Although she could guide it through the link, its lack of common sense seemed to be problematic. Her AIs had spoiled her.

"Our lesson comes to its end. We have ten more minutes to go over your questions," the teacher said.

"Ask her, whether a golem can have nocks, Aidan." Flora hadn't given up on her cascading army idea. Additionally, she could give the golem one of Aidan's or Aito's jacks and they could direct it.

The teacher listened to Aidan's question and shook her head. "A nock has too much metal in it. It interferes with the golem's magic."

"But what about mithril nocks or technomancy? We will ask the experts at the Magetech Institute directly. Meanwhile, we'll do tests. Bring an Octopussy to the bedroom, Aidan." Flora said while she cast Animate Companion again.

Assign two spells.

"Establish Link and Refresh." Flora patted the golem on the head. "Now establish the strongest possible link with the Octopussy."

The octopus started to move.

"Which of you is connected? Let me guess… it's Aidan, right?" Flora could feel her links to her companions quite strongly. Now the faint shadow of another link, originating at the golem and pointing to the Octopussy, had appeared.

Aidan felt like a crystal tower, clear and solid, Aito like a mobile art piece with many layers, you never quite know what part will face you, and when you poke it, it will move away. Golly felt like a potato sack. Flora imagined feeling a crystal tower flavored Octopussy through all the potatoes, but was far from sure.

"Yes, Milady."

"How do you feel, and can you communicate with Golly through the link?"

"The Octopussy receives 13 MR/min, the current OV of Establish Link, so the connection is strong. I will level the spell more because its OV is smaller than the Magical Regeneration of the golem. I will suggest that the golem should jump."

"Good thinking, Aidan," Flora commented while watching the unmoving Golly. "Golly, listen to Aidan. That's the guy who operates the Octopussy."

Nothing happened.

"Golly, imitate the Octopussy."

Aidan shot at the dummy, and the golem raised his arms as if they were tentacles and mimicked shooting. At least cantrips came out of its hand where Flora had added the magic emitter stone focus.

Flora felt like crying but had to laugh. She laughed even harder when she looked at the empty classroom. The lesson had ended without her noticing it.

"I'm so ready to call it a day, but we have to finish the Sweeping Blow Aptitude Test. Com'on, crew. Back to work."