One week after returning to Etheria I was finally finishing the first pair of arms for the Tanks.
I will say this clearly, these arms are a bitch to build no matter what shape, form or method used. Still I ended up wanting to go extravagant on it. I gave them three forms. First the hands and pressure fist setting. Like I said before I added air elemental core crystal to pressurize the fists. It can now be used more often and the backlash doesn't exist since no steam is used.
The second form are swords. Well, in proportion I think dagger is more appropriate since they are rather short, at best a short sword is what you can call them.
And last the Mana cannon. This is probably the most dangerous weapon I've made yet. I actually fear how powerful these things would be. The arms each require four of every kind of crystal to make it work and the water crystals had two extra in each arm to circulate water to cool down the arm. One was an ice core crystal which is a refined water core and the other a normal one.
The heat generated would be no joke.
Anyway I talk with the guys to see who would get them. It was clear that we needed only one pair of arms to beat the boss but who would get them is the question.
"That is a serious question. The one getting it would get weapons that could be considered one of a kind and to build them seems to be a hassle." Hub said.
"Hassle is an understatement. It took me a month to figure out the method and another week to make the three form arms." I said.
"Yes, these are clearly some of the strongest weapons we will probably get and not having someone else have it can go to the head of the user." Rein said.
"Why don't we go on a gamble." Bolt said.
We looked at him when he said that.
"Well, just make a small metal dice and roll it, the one who answers correctly or is closest to the number will win." He explained.
It was simple and easy.
So simple that I had the dice finished in less than an hour.
I went with two dice so that the gap between numbers will be wider.
Rein picked 6, Bolt went with 2 and Hub chose 10.
With the numbers chosen I tossed the pair forward over a large flat metal sheets.
Each small hit of the metal dice made a resound "Tack" on the metal sheet. After several hits the two dice finally came to a stop.
"The numbers are...5 and 6. Total is 11 so Hub wins." I told them.
"Alright I won!" Hub said eccentric.
The other two sigh and congratulate their friend.
I will have their own arms ready after they clear the dungeon. The opened up space made by the dino collectors was rather impressive to say the least. It was nearly twice the size of the town we built on the outer side of the wall.
"Okay then let's get those arms off. Lay down on the ground and spread your arms out." I tell him.[/i]
He does as instructed and lays down on his back with stretching his arm out.
I pull out all my tool drones and find an opening into his body and toss them inside.
There was one specific one that was totally useless for working but it lights the place up. I had made it to enter places I couldn't take apart yet needed to get in. It was a flashlight drone made from a normal spider collector with a dome shaped light on top.
Turning it on I saw the inner structure of the arm. The many moving gears both large and small all over the place making up the arm and joints.
"Turn off the arms so I can work." I order Hub and moments later the gears came to a stop.
In seconds my tool drones were moving around. They were removing every possible gear within the joints. All these held the structure together and so I was pulling them out.
It didn't take more than twenty minutes for me to cause the arm from the elbow joint down to collapse and lay loose on the ground.
"You guys pull his arm out so I can see what is still attached."[i] I told the other two.
Each one grabbed one arm and pulled slightly. The wires and cables all stretched out so I had several drones jump out and crawl towards where they connect and remove it at the spot leaving the loose wires which I still required. The arms easily came off from the joint down after that.
"Won’t you need the joints Techno?" Bolt asked.
[I]"No, those are for normal models. Gear shift arms take the joint down." I tell them.
With the arms out they drag them away leaving their friend armless.
It was then that I sent out a signal for the left arm drones to come.
Like a hoard of spiders they crawled from Brock’s whale body all the way here. Several people got scared but the robots lots of space so as not to be stomped on as they made their way.
The total number of drones it takes to make this arm is a freaking total of 563 spider drones. As you can see, this is no small number which is why it takes a whole week to make a pair of arms.
I connect to the drone marked as number one in the sequence and finally activate the construction sequence with the target building zone as Hubs left arm.
Slowly the walked up and got into place from sequence number.
Numbers 1-20 were going to be in the base that connected the normal bodies systems to the gear shift ones. 21-89 will become the joint which is also where the four elemental crystal cores arm. 90-400 will be after the joint making up the main body of all three forms, this is where the main mana core crystal is. 401-420 is the wrist and 421-563 is the hand.
With one arm done I call the second group and the process repeats itself. Connecting both arms takes a whole hour and as soon as the last one is on I tense up even more.
"Alright, turn on the arms so we can see if they are working properly." I tell him.
I stood next to his right arm since I was overseeing the construction and from where I stood I could see a few gears start turning. Plate protection the parts was made by small parts so when looking from the outside it looks like ripped muscles on a super body builder.
Following what I saw, I heard as the many pipes pressurized with steam and one by one the systems coming to life. Finally after five minutes the fingers twitched and closed into a fist and he was able to lift the arm.
He sat up and began to open and close his hands.
"Hell...i barely feel the resistance of them moving. It has such a natural feel to them." Hub said as he continued to move his arms.
While he tried out his arms I was putting an empty memory chip into my head and began to copy the sequence code for building and unbuilding the arms.
These were critical because it would tell him the condition of each drone in the structure and would also allow him to make repairs when needed and to specify drones instead of the entire arm itself.
As I finish copying I remove it and handed it to a small tool drone and let it take it up towards his head.
"Hey, I need to install some important data. It will allow you to tell the condition of each piece of the arms." I said.
They looked at me after saying that.
He seems to notice the Drone carrying the memory chip and puts his hand down for it to climb up and lifted it to his head.
I have the drone hop off and into the head.
I looked around for a while looking for a slot until I finally found it. The memory chips slot was right next to the motherboard so it wasn't as hard to find.
It took a bit of time to put it in though, the connection on these things are a bitch to put in but eventually I got it in.
"Hey kid, what is this program?" Hub asks as he looked at the data that flowed in.
"I call it the sequence code. The drones that make up your arms are each individual parts so for you to break down your arm and repair them you need those codes and the program to read and translate them." I tell them.
"Fuck this shit is complicated." Hub said after a bit.
"It shouldn't be, there are 563 drones making up each arm. Each number corresponds with the number of the drone." I explain.
"Ah! So it's like that huh? I get it. So how do I change these?" Hub asked and lifted his hands.
"an option should have appeared in your view after both arms were built." I tell him.
He looks a bit and seems to find it.
The next moment I hear the sound of a lot of pipes releasing pressure as they disconnect.
The entire and sharts shifting and slowly gets wider as a hole in the middle of both hands start to form. More and more parts move outwards connecting to a different series of plugs and the pipes fitting as well making a new format to circulate the steam to work the hand.
As the last few parts finish setting up I see the glow from the mana core crystal at the back of the barrel. It was giving off a faint glow.
"Damn this looks awesome! How do you...oh never mind the targeting system appeared." Hub said as he looked around and waved the cannons around like a child with a new toy.
"Don't play with that thing. I haven't tested the power behind it. Anyway the cannon comes with three settings. Rapidfire, power shot and beam."
As soon as he read beam on my text his head turned to my and his eyes shining.
"Rapidfire charges little mana per shot and fires very fast. It's meant for overwhelming large opponent's. Power shot you need to charge the man for 10 seconds before you can fire. And beam you need to change two minutes to have enough mana. Be careful with the beam because it could damage the crystals so it's a finisher or a desperate attack. I don't know for sure how much power it has but I am sure I could make a hole through a scrap mountain at least. I said.
"Then we better test these beasts out then." Hub said and his cannons returned to their hand form.
Seeing the transformation made me think of how I was turning the clockworks into transformers. The tanks were a prime example. With their size it wouldn't be impossible.
Anyways I climbed on Reins hand and then on his shoulder as the three robot apes get up and start walking around the city towards the wall.
My guess would be to test the three modes on the scrap yard.
Man for some reason it feels nice to be far above other people and the town looking down at them.
Not looking down as if looking at bugs but I may like being in high places. If I think about it, I currently live in a flying rock whale and spend my nights on top watching the night sky that isn't obscured up there. I also feel most comfortable up there as I'm away from others.
It was short lived though, the tanks have a fast walking speed thanks to their size so we reach the wall soon enough and they grab the sides and pull themselves up and with a few unsteady steps they fix themselves to sit down on it like seats.
“Alright, now lets see how much damage these can make.” Hub said gitty.
”Don’t go too wild since there could be hidden important class type clockwork all around here. I said.
“Yeah i know, i’ll mostly aim at the tops so no need to fuss about it.” He said and started to laugh as his right hand turned into the cannon form.
”Not bad, already can make one arm transform by itself .” I commented.
“Not really difficult, just choose transform and right hand, they are set either right, left of both so it was made simple.” He said.
I chuckle, obviously it was, that is how i set it up since i knew they weren’t the brains of the clockwork.
“Alright let's see rapid fire.” Hub says and points his cannon up at the mountain.
I see a small stream of blue light gather inside the barrel for 3 seconds before a glowing ball formed at the top.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
At once three high speed balls of condensed mana flew out and travelled to the top of the mountain putting three deep imprints on its size. A small bit of smoke was coming from the barrel as we all had our jaws hanging.
“Fuck…” Rein said and gulped at the destructive power. Hubs arm was shaking and his arm transformed back into a hand.
“Fuck...that was intense…” he said while shaking.
”What happened?” I asked.
“The motherfucking cannon quadruped in weight when it gathered the mana. This thing, there is no way i can hold it up to fire the power shot let alone the beam." He said as he let his arms dangle.
Now that was interesting. Since when do weapons get heavy. But come to think of it, did the cannon absorb the mana in the air to shoot. I never thought that mana had weight but if you take into account the amount of compression of the mana it could significantly increase the weight if mana had mass.
"Hahaha so that little fact about mana hasn't changed huh, that's good, it will properly balance out that weapon just nicely until they grow enough to handle it." Delta suddenly said to me.
"You knew about that?" i asked.
"Of course! I have a more advanced cannon of my own, do your really think i wouldn't know about that limitation. It took me three years of upgrade after upgrade making my body stronger to handle a cannon of my size." he says.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
"Yeah, a titan like you must have it rough huh."[I] I said nonchalantly.
Yeah, from the first moments i never considered him a god, he was built by the hands of mortals so even if he is the strongest man made machine in existence i would only consider him a titan because of his size. A god possess similar power in a small human form while titans are monstrously huge to contain that power.
[I]"You know there is a way to counter the sudden rise in weight by at least half. What the monkey did was absorb mana directly into the main mana core crystal you placed inside the barrel but if he takes the mana through the four elemental crystals it refines the mana and lessens the weight. Though the quality of the mana rises then giving a slightly larger kick."[I] delta said.
[I]"As in recoil?"[I] i asked.
[I]"Yep, though the small kick is enough to drop that idiot off the wall so just warn him about that."[I] Delta said and for some reason i could feel he was laughing at this moment.
I contemplate this. Though the weight is removed there would be recoil. From what i can tell Rapidfire has a set number of shots to fire and with recoil it could cause friendly fire as the cannon lifts upwards.
Still i end up calling them and passing the information.
"So relieve the weight but possibly have some recoil. Huh, it's a trade off that seems worth it." Hub said.
"Yeah, most efficient weapons have recoil when first developed and i bet it's only that way because we don't have the strength to handle it. I am betting this is a Synthoid rank weapon and we are simple clockwork." Rein said.
"Let’s test to see how big a recoil we are talking about." Bolt said.
On cue Hub jumped down and landed on the trash piles he lifted his right arm but then shifted his posture in a manner that looked made to take a recoil or impact.
I notice the mana flow into his elbow joint where the elemental cores were and like before a blue light came from the barrel and he pulled the trigger.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Three shots were released in at once before he stopped. The speed of the bombs was even faster than before and the bore right into a far away mountain and detonated deep inside the mountain causing it to collapse. As for the recoil. Even waiting for it Hub was thrown back against the scrapyard wall causing it to shake violently.
We could hear the screams from the town citizens because of the earthquakes that were happening from the mountain collapsing.
I watch from Reins shoulder the demolition caused by the cannon.
"Did...i make that!" Were words that escaped my lips. I couldn't help it, the power behind it were in a monstrous league i couldn't even imagine. I gulped wondering if i should have made this. It would easily clear out most of the boss monsters they encountered and arming the tanks with it would create the best defensive unit possible but, is it safe.
I was shaking somewhat from fear of my own work. Who wouldn't after seeing that much power, power you didn't expect, cone from your own invention.
I need to be careful with what i make from now on. Besides these cannons no more big stuff until i can properly gauge the power of my own weapons. i told myself.
"Urg...damn that was no little fucking kick!" Hub said and rubbed his head that hit the wall.
"Damn...kid you made one hell of a monster gun." Rein said serious.
[I]"I know, i need to be careful from now on. This is far beyond what i can even think of. Unless i want to make a weapon this strong i want to keep these cannons as the only ones in existence." i tell them.
All three nodded agreeing.
"Anyway, we can definitely destroy the boss now, we can finally start expanding properly and finally leave." i tell them.
"Yeah, we can deal with it right away, do you want to gather people to follow or just us go?" Rein asked.
"You guys go, i will have a team go in soon after. I don't want others seeing close up the power even with this display we can say it was testing for a future weapon and hide the cannons until it’s truly needed. Don't use them willy nilly. Keep them as last resort." i said.
"Right, come on guys, let’s go finish up quick or else the kid will never get to making the North gate." Hub said and the other two nodded and all three turned to the opening into the dungeon after dropping me off they rush in.
Hub PoV
We rushed into the dungeon which had been growing sparse of the drones and even the juggernauts were all but gone.
The constant raiding had worn down the resources the boss had to work with and with the mini boss being removed it stopped producing drones probably to make a new mini boss.
It was probably reliant on them for its protection.
Along the way we encouraged what was probably the last bit of the herd of drones.
Not many were strong as the levels had dramatically dropped with the lack of resources and quality of material.
You could say we made the dungeon accessible to the lower leveled clockwork that had regularly come and hunted for parts.
We stomp, punch and crush them all like bugs even when they jump and climb on our bodies to bite and claw at us but to no avail. Our armor was simply too strong. We had switched steel armor plates for enhanced earth steel plates while Techno built the arms. It had saved us many times against the many annoyingly high leveled monsters around here.
We crush our way through we reach the room the mini boss lived in.
The room held a large metal egg which was probably the new mini boss.
Scans of it clearly showed it wasn't even past 25% complete and couldn't even hope of getting out. It would need a constant flow of metal into the egg for it to built its body. If you’re wondering how then the egg is actually a kind of production factory.
Techno was highly interested in this form of construction since it would be an interesting feature for the clockwork animals he was making.
We cleared the room of all the annoying pests before heading down the only passage available already feeling the rise in temperature, though it didn't affect us much since the cooling systems had been installed so we can freely move in this region where heat is intense.
The dungeon was similar to the first one we entered after being revived. The walls were all made from metal composition that seem to resist corrosion and though it looked like iron it wasn't. It was much tougher and it was thick. It would take several dozens of our punches to break through these walls.
Anyway the place had many small openings on the walls where drones would normally come through but having destroyed the last few i doubt it would have many left here.
We slowly walk through the slowly curving metal corridor until we saw the end which like the first boss seem to release red light from the room and we knew why.
Like the first furnace queen this one would probably be another one.
We walked through the door and looked upward at the furnace queen.
It was huge as fuck making us looked up. It was easily eight meters tall with a t-rex body shape, the area around its back having several pipes releasing steam and smoke. It didn't have front arms since it was useless to this form as move as it was for the real dinosaurs.
As it notices our presence, it turns towards us. This one could move unlike the spider. It spread its two massive legs out and pulled in a lot of air before it let out a massive roar.
It hit us like a wall but it did nothing besides make noise.
I'm sure to lower leveled beings it would have had caused negative status effects on them but we were higher leveled.
"So want to end it quick or have fun?" I asked.
"End it quick. This thing has held up the boy for a bit too long here." Rein said charging towards the monster.
It let out a roar and took a step forward and turned its body 180 degrees causing its bulky tail to spin behind him towards Rein.
Bolt was further behind him and with his pressure fist ready to fire. Bolt stopped a moment as the tail came in.
Rein stopped a quarter of the way within the range of the tail and opened his arms and let the tail smash him full on.
It pushed him two meters back but his armor was barely dented. He had a firm grip on the tail and started taking steps back causing the body of the boss to straighten. Just as the boss started pulling he pivoted his foot to the left and put all his force behind it.
He began to drag the body until the boss finally toppled and he finally got it going. He picked up speed as he began spinning the huge body and finally released it towards the back of the room.
When he released the boss Bolt ran forward and jumped at least seven meters. The boss had hit the back wall and was in a daze as the fist of the massive tank made contact with its right leg completely trashing when the explosion from the pressure fist pushed his fist out with scary force.
The punch sent vibrations through the room and the boss roared in rage as it began to flail.
I walked a quarter of the way into the room. The others casually walked behind me as my right arm changed into the cannon.
I hold it up and support it with my left arm. I initiated the process for a single series of rapid fire which was three shots. I don't have any power plant or anything to make a true rapid fire but i doubt there were many creatures that could survive this.
I gather mana and feel my arm gain weight rapidly until i pull the mental trigger causing three balls of energy to fly out.
In moments they reached the boss and exploded with all their glory making an earthquake that shook the whole dungeon I bet.
As the smoke cleared we could see three overlapping craters where the boss was but no parts were left. It had pretty much vaporized the monster which was amazing in of itself. But was amazing was that craters. The walls were supposed to be nearly indestructible but they were left in scraps showing the dirt around it.this was good to know when we needed to make changes underground through the walls of previous dungeons. Still we now know how thick they are. Fucking walls are nearly seven meters thick.no fucking way we would be able to crush that.
As we contemplate what had happened we heard footsteps and soon found the clockworks already moving with many carts filled with materials.
Techno soon entered in his smaller four armed bluish body with the little girl behind him.
She ran over and jumped on Bolts back in one jump like it was nothing. Seriously the boy is making her a scary person with all that he gives her.
"Thought i want to complain about disintegrating the body of the boss. I really doubted you would be able to help not using the overpowered cannon on it." he said and sighed looking at the hole.
"Don't be glum, at least now we got rid of the biggest problem." Bolt said while watching the little girl run over, on and around him at high speeds.
"I can at least experiment with the eggs they possess. A few changes to their model will make something real interesting for sure." he said.
Oh boy! He is getting some more ideas. Dammit kid you are to creative. i shouted in my mind. "So what are you and your crew gonna do now?" I asked.
"I've designed defense turrets for the city and left with Venus, the mayor and sent copies to Gaia. They are magic based like the first one i made before making your arms. I told Gaia to scan your arms to figure out how to build them later." He said.
"Can't you build the turrets?" I asked.
"I'm leaving for South Gate today. The town doesn't need me anymore since the biggest danger is gone and the city is mostly set up. You guys will be stationed here for a while until the defenses of the town can handle the monsters anyway. I stayed to long here, five months really. Though i got good experience i need to finish up the last to cities in the North gate and the scrapyard central area." techno said.
"Shame you can't stick around more." Rein said,
"I'll be here two more days as i release the robot animals into the scrapyard and collect the dino robot eggs. There are a substantial number of them but it will be moved quickly." he said.
He smiled and started to talk about plans. Learning from mistakes Techno says he had sent in a few scouts in a small ship. Some clockworks he rebuilt were given coordinates to the gate and had gone to learn the local geography. They were expected in a week which would be the time it would take for Techno to go to Southgate and return. No doubt he wants to already plan the building methods and know if he will need reinforcements before hand.
Still five months here, that means he has been working on construction projects for nearly a year already. I have seen a lot of personal growth in him, he is finally enjoying his own time and is more open to others. I hope he eventually stops talking through text.
We leave with him and find a large movement of workers already raising the structure for walls around the cleared area and all around the scrap many of Techno's animals were moving and eating the scraps making their effort to expand their numbers. Elves were shooting magic to clear the land and make vegetation sprout.
All efforts to make this town grow until it wouldn't seem we were in a wasteland planet.