Connect to Etheria: The Ruined World? Yes No
I stretch my finger and press the yes. The darkness quickly flashes into a bright light which makes me close my eyes quick.
As I move my arm out of the way I see something that sends a chill down my spine. We were in space looking down on the green colored planet.
"WOW~~! I’m an astronaut now...HEY BRO LOOK I CAN MOVE MY LEGS!!" My sister shouted in a high pitched voice draws my attention.
Behind me i found my small 1 meter tall sister jumping around. Yep jumping, we have some kind of floor under us in this place.
Suddenly I heard a giggle and looked to the right and see a really beautiful woman.
"My such a cute sister. You're really lucky." This mysterious woman said.
"..." i remained silent just staring at her.
"Oh you must be that mute fellow the Warden talked about. Sorry I didn’t know it was you but seeing that smile that only goes to you sister kind of makes me jealous~~! Can this nice goddess help you smile." She said and leaned in letting her bountiful mounds reveal the cleavage from below her rather normal everyday clothes.
As I have said, I trust only my family and something like this made me scowl at her in disgust which leaves her with an astonished look. It then turns a bit into one of anger.
"Fufufu to think someone would feel disgust from looking at my gorgeous figure." She said looking conflicted and seeming to lose a lot of confidence.
"Hey lady, who are you and what are you doing to Nate." My sister said intervening.
"Lady! *cough* My name is Ariel one of the goddesses of this world...or what's left." She said coughing midway before pointing down.
The last part was really quiet but I heard that well enough.
"We should get to making your characters then. Let me say this, you two are using a special capsule and besides the feedback testing you both HAVE to be the same race. Because she is only 8 she has a kind of leash that will tell you where she is and it can let you teleport her back if she runs away." Ariel said towards me .
I nod and breathe a sigh of relief. That removes the chance of kidnapping.
*snap*
Ariel snaps her fingers and around us some 80 figures appeared. It was in pairs of male and female so at least 40 different races.
"These are the races you can choose from. Just so you know all races start at an even footing with no one race having a better start than another so don’t worry about that." She said waving her hand.
She then moves back and “sits” cross legged with her long dress covering her legs.
"Wow so many to choose. There are some ugly ones as well." My sister says amazed while looking around.
I pull up the menu bar and quickly eliminate humans from the list. Main reason, I hate everyone but my sister and humans remind me too much of those I hate. I then move around looking at each race. The more human they looked the less I liked but I still checked the stats and racial bonus and skills.
In all, anything that had too much human in it got trashed leaving many monsters. Ugly things like goblins and orcs were trashed because my sis thought they looked ugly. From the rest I found only two that I was interesting in. One was the earth elemental or better known as golems.
Stone but in the shape of a man with the basic parts. I could make it more human but no. The most I would go was 75% which left it looking like the Thing from the fantastic four. The other one interested me just as much and my sister thought they were cool. The race was called a clockwork. Genderless machine race that was human size but made of metal.
Really who doesn’t like mechs and this is the best of them.
I get close and whisper to my sister.
"Want the robot." I asked.
"Yeah! It looks really cool." She replied with sparkling eyes.
I point at her then at the goddess sitting lazily over to the side. Understanding she nods and runs over.
"Hey lady we want to be the cool robot." My sister said towards the goddess.
A small vein appears but she looks up towards me and seems me.
"Clockwork huh ok then what do you want to be called then." She asked her irritation clearly showing in her voice.
Please insert your name.
___________________________
A keyboard appears and I think a bit and type my name. When I’m done I press done and the window vanishes.
"Okay then, from now on you sir are called Techno and you girl are Nova. As a family name a random one will be made." She said looking bored.
She closes her eyes for a moment before opening while smiling.
Your surname is now Gears
I slightly frown at the simplicity of the name.
"Don’t think it’s simple it hurts when you insult instead of thanking me." She said.
I frown more.
"Yes I can read minds. This place hooks you up by the brain so yeah I can see what's in your head." She said.
“Don’t read my mind!” I said in my head clearly annoyed.
"Oh so you finally talk, well mentally talked. Well who cares ready to go down." She said clearly wanting to send me off already
“And customization of our characters?" i asked.
"That's only for organic race characters. Clockworks can change their body parts so the appearance changes as well." She replied easily.
"Hey lady why are you talking by yourself." Nova asked without a care in the world.
"I can read you brother’s mind to talk with him since he doesn’t want to talk normally." He said with a vein appearing on her head.
"Wow can I do that to?!" She asked excited.
"No it just for a god." She replied with a proud look and a smug grin on her face.
Nova pouted and I couldn’t help smiling.
“Send us down then." i said.
"You will be within a 3-6 meter area that she is in. You will need to move quickly because the Clockworks have a really nasty start being robots and all." She said.
With that she snapped her finger and the world went dark again as I felt that falling sensation again. After a moment I feel myself “wake up” again.
...Systems booting up.
System error...extensive damage detected...system check for damage
System has detected multiple missing limbs and system failures...Checking for working systems
System has detected several working systems booting up, visual sensors, scanner, vocal box, right arm, and right arm tool gear.
Current battery power 67%, engine is undamaged but remain offline for unknown reasons.
After the last message a line of light appears and spreads out finally giving me vision. What I saw was incredible.
Going up hundreds of meters up was mountains of scrap metal. Hundreds of broken buildings and scrap mountains were in all direction that I could see, which weren’t many. As I try to move my head I hear the sound of creaking like a rusted hinge on a door. I then try to move my body but I find the same problem but when I look I see why.
Both my legs were crushed and my left arm was missing.
So this is what she meant. I thought to myself.
I slowly try to sit up and this causes my gears to scream in protest. Besides the upper body I try moving my right arm which is still intact and like the body it’s rusted but after opening and closing a bit of the oil in my system more or less gets in the joints making it a bit easier.
Let’s see what we have as stats. i thought.
“Show status”
A large screen appears in my eyes showing my stats.
Status Name Techno Gear Race Clockwork Class None Level: 1 Free stats points 0 Durability 67/150 Energy 68/100 Strength 10(-5) Agility 10(-5) Dexterity 10(-5) Toughness 10(-5) Intelligence 10(-5) Wisdom 10(-5) Charisma 10 Leadership 10 Luck 10
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Traits Rusty body
Being offline has degraded your body to scrap.
-5 to all stats until the respective system or parts are replaced. Parental control
A system skill that lets you teleport your child or sibling that is below age and has wondered a certain distance from to back Clockwork scanner
A basic system in a Clockworks body that allows them to scan their surrounds and check tools and parts.
Also allows them to identify items at a certain range.
skill cost: 1 energy every 15 seconds
Skills Clockwork body construction (basic 1)
Being of the Clockwork race you instinctively know how to make parts for your body Scavenger (Basic 1)
Able to find scraps and parts from trash
Increases chance to find something by 5% Tinker (Basic 1)
You have the natural skill to tinker with any machine
5%Increases ability when tinkering with a machine
Well no surprise is start with the skills to fix my body. Let’s see the inventory and equipment. I thought to myself and called up the Inventory and Equipment screens.
Inventory
- 5 fuel cans
- 5 water canteens
- 1 gear box
Equipment
Head: None
Chest: None
Right arm: Tool gear
Left arm: Broken
Right Leg: Broken
Left Leg: Broken
Tool gear? Let’s see this...how do I get this out? OH! i asked myself and looked at my arm thinking of this tool which popped out.
From just below the right arms wrist several spots opened and a few tools came out. One for welding, another for messing with wires and so on. With this I can repair myself. I need to work quickly. Considering I have some kind of engine to power me I need to start that before I can do real repairs or I will run out of power.
The half open rusted chest plate I had covering my chest was quickly removed revealing the battery and a small steam engine inside. There were quite a few gears missing and a lack of fuel.
Guess that explains the inventory stuff then. i thought remembering the box.
I pull the gear box and open it finding some old gears. I began fiddling with the gears as I try to make them fit and only after about 15 minutes do I finish.
"...ro" a small voice shouted.
"huh" I let out my voice.
I look around and then it hit me. Nova was still out there. With the broken leg I can probably only drag myself. I put the chest plate back on after bolting the screws in place then I put the gear box away and start dragging myself towards the cries.
On the same height as me but a bit further away, about 5 meters away, on the side of the scrap hill we were on if found a small clockwork “crying”.
When she heard me moving close she looked and then tilted her head.
"Bro?" She asked looking my way.
"Nova." I said letting out a sigh of relief.
I slump down in relief. She gets up and walks over letting out creaks like me but she has all her limbs and is moving much quicker. Probably because she is a child they can’t make the start as hard.
"Are you ok bro?" She asks worried looking at my broken body.
"Yeah...need fixing." I replied.
I turn around and lay on my back before sitting up again with her help. I start looking around and activate the scanner even though it has a strong pull on my little energy.
I look through the scraps looking for another Clockwork body and after a bit I find one.
"Nova...Bring that...robot." i said pointing at a nearby one.
She looks and sees the inactive robot.
"Okay bro hold on." She says
She walks over and starts pulling but barely gets it moving. While she does that I open up my chest and then pull out a single fuel can and after a small bit of looking I find where to open the fuel tank and empty the bottle in there. Then above that I see the empty water tank and take a water canteen out and pour it in filling it.
I then look a bit more but can’t find it.
Wait I’m a robot I might have vocal commands or in the menu i thought to myself. "Engine start…" i said in a quiet voice.
When nothing happened I open the menu and look at my body. It showed the places that were damaged. I look closer at the chest and the outline of my insides show up. After opening the menu to the chest it does a scan of the engine wasting 3% of my energy but what appears is good.
All engine systems are working. Fuel levels at 100%. Water levels at 100%, 80% of gears in place. Main power engine turning one.
Like a car, I vibrate as the engine comes to life and begins to heat the water with the fire it was blowing.
Slowly steam starts rising from the pipes on my back showing that the engine is up.
"Bro~! It’s too heavy! Huh Hey bro there is smoke coming out your back." Nova said coming back and noticing the slowly rising steam.
"Come here...Nova." I said calling her over.
She comes and sits down. I have her bring out her gear box and I remove the old chest plate. Her much smaller body needs fewer gears but it's harder to find the right size but after some time I finish. I then fill her tank of fuel and water and have her check the chest space. Soon enough the engine is up and running so I put her chest piece back on her and me. I then fit myself with some remaining gears i missed.
The next thing I needed was stuck so I dragged myself close.
"What are you going to do bro?" Nova asked worried.
Without answering I open the tool gear on my hand after pulling the left arm of the inactive Clockwork over my body I begin separating the connections on the arm.
I think the Tinker skill went into effect as well as scavenger because I have a small know how as to how to remove this part but can’t do it completely correct. Nova got bored seeing me work so she began to dig up various small parts like a few arm plates or head pieces. A few she found actually fit into a few spots that was open and without any protection.
After half an hour I finally removed the arm from the Clockwork. I identified it to see if it was okay to use.
Old Clockwork left arm.
An old clockworks arm that was removed by an amateur. It has sustained large damage from the elements and from its poor removal but is still operational and will work.
Durability 33
Equipment attached: old tool gear.
Cool another tool gear. With it I can work faster. I happily thought to myself. "Nova!" I said.
I call Nova over and see she found a few new armor plates to fit into the spots she was missing.
"Hold here." I said and instructed her to hold the arm.
I position the arm how she should hold it and she does. I quickly start attaching the wires together and melting them so they can fuse. Then the joints and then all the other gears until all of it was finished. After it was all said and done a whole hour had passed since I started removing the arm all the way to attaching it.
You have regained your left arm.
+2 strength
+5 dexterity
As energy begins powering the arm I move it around letting the oil lubricate the joints.
"Wow! That was cool~! How did you make the arm work bro?" She asked excited.
"We are...robots. We can...take parts...and make...it ours." I explained.
With that I turn to my legs. With a quick scan of my legs I find what has happened to them. What I find is that several important gears are missing so I take the gearbox out and see if any of them are there and a few really are but the rest no luck. With my new arm I pull the dismantled Clockwork down and check its legs. Thankfully he has all the parts intact so I begin scavenging him. The parts I need I take and put into my legs while the rest of the gears and such I remove and put into the gearbox for future repairs.
I then open up the chest piece and remove the battery to replace my own and a few parts I could remove from the engine. The last things I remove are parts of the tool gear on the right arm so I can repair mine.
With my legs repaired I am finally whole again and at least for the physical status I don’t have the rusty body trait attached to them anymore and I can walk normally now.
"So bro where do we go from here?" Nova asked.
I looked at Nova for a moment realizing what she meant. All we saw were mountains of scrap all around.
*tick**tick**tick*
I start hearing ticking and when I look back I spot a half broken Clockwork. The gears in his head have started to turn and slowly his eyes light up like Nova and mine.
"Ah someone’s here. Mind giving me a hand...and a pair of legs." He said.