“W-what do you mean?” Erik uttered on reflex, and William repeated without a second thought.

Erik face-palmed and cursed himself inwardly for blurting that out. He couldn’t help it. The question took him by surprise. He was sure they couldn’t tell whether William is a human or not. Something must have changed. It must have something to do with the priest’s eyes.

Joseph kept his smile. The seriousness in his eyes was gone. “Perhaps you do not realize it yourself, but you are a Homunculus, an artificial human. I must admit, you are rather well-made. I could not tell the difference without a closer look.”

“A Homunculus… an artificial human. Well, you could say he is something like that.” Erik thought and tried to think of a response. While he could create an elaborate background story, his unit lacked the acting ability to make it truly sells. William’s expression betrayed what he was saying since he merely repeated what Erik had said in the inner world.

“Might as well play the artificial human denial part and drags this out,” Erik concluded thoughtfully and pondered what would happen at the end of this façade. It almost a certainty that they wouldn’t let William to just leave. If he was a real person, they might. “What could they actually do to him I wonder? Kill him? What’ll happens when he dies anyway? Does he leave behind a corpse and slowly fade out of existence or just vanish?”

[…]

Dell remained silence. The Demon Spawn didn’t know. This power manifested from Erik himself, and thus only he could find answer these questions. The only way was through trials and errors and keen observations. There was no such as a tutorial.

Erik frowned and returned his attention to the screen. Time within the inner world appeared to flow in sync with the outside world, running at a normal pace unlike a couple days ago. This was likely due to William, a unit, being on the outside world. A waypoint would have the same effect.

“Huh?” Erik took notice of a question mark nearby. It wasn’t there a moment ago. He focused on it, and a notification appeared in front of the screen.

“I feel there is something there, watching me, My Lord.” – William Strongarm.

The invisible girl was watching. It was interesting to note that William could sense her presence and more accurately than Dell.

“Maybe not,” Erik thought a bit more on the notification. “It might be just a feeling, like a sense of déjà vu.”

“I-I’m a homunculus?” William uttered finally. “It can’t be. I can’t be.”

Joseph had long since dropped his smile. He shook his head and turned away from William. “We will take him back with us.”

Victoria nodded and flexed her wrist. Chains erupted and slammed William against the wall brutally – causing him to lose 50HP instantly. The chains then wrapped around him, binding his arms and legs tightly, to the point of bone breaking. “This Homunculus is strange. It doesn’t feel any pains.”

Joseph agreed as he watched William remained expressionless under the torture. A normal response would be begging help or pleading for mercy – a normal response for a person. “Perhaps, its creator didn’t put too much effort in the emotional aspect of the creature.”

“It would never pass for a real person then,” Victoria said.

“No, it would not,” Joseph said. “Perhaps that was the point.” He eyed Victoria and chuckled at her puzzled expression. “Imagine if you will, Victoria – a fearless, emotionless army with unquestioning loyalty that could be replicated endlessly? What kind of unprecedent power would that give to the creator?”

There was a moment of silence.

“If that is the case,” Victoria responded and lifted William up high with her chains. She slammed him into the ground, shattering the concrete floor. It took the remaining health from William, killing him instantly. Despite that, his body hammered against the floor repeatedly, all while everyone watched on, speechlessly. One person was in horror.

“Victoria! Why did you do that?” Joseph called out.

“Only God should have this kind of power,” Victoria said and dropped the mangled body of a man on the ground before ripping it into pieces with her chains. Blood and shredded guts plastered all over the room when she was finally done. Amidst the bloodbath, the nun no longer looked like a servant of the Lord. She was his merciless sword.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Erik uttered and felt his stomach churned. He would have vomited if he was still in his physical body. He swallowed the nauseating feeling and witnessed what remained of his first unit. It died such a gruesome death. The screen turned grey as Joseph and Victoria was hidden by the fog of war. The screen then disappeared completely.

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It took a moment for Erik to collect himself. “At least I know what happened when unit get killed in action. They give people nightmares.” He shook his head. “Dell, what is worse than a lunatic?”

[A religious lunatic]

Erik blinked. He didn’t expect that. “Hey! I was going to say that!”

[Then why did you ask me?]

“Tsk,” Erik grumbled and turned towards the Headquarter. With 68 golds remaining, he had enough to recruit another worker, but it might have the same ending. “I need to be careful. Her detection range is huge.”

With 30 golds disappeared from the stockpile, the front gate of the Headquarter opened. A swirling purple mist greeted Erik. Within the mist stepped out a woman in her late twenty. She looked about the grassy landscape with an emotionless expression.

“What will you have of this one?” the woman asked. Her demeanour was much different than that of William.

“A woman?” Erik wasn’t surprised. He was curious if the gender was randomly generated. He quickly brought up her status window to have a good look at her stats and attributes.

Name: Astrid Silvermoon [Edit]

Gender: Female

Age: 24

Class: Peasant

Profession: Worker

Heath Point (HP): 70/70

Stamina Point (SP): 45/45

Mana Point (MP): 0/0

Strength: 7

Constitution: 8

Resistance: 9

Dexterity: 7

Charisma: 12

Wisdom: 8

Perception: 12

Luck: 6

Equipment: Linen shirt (upper-body), Linen Legging (lower-body), Cloth (upper-body), Cloth (lower-body), Straw Bracelet (right-wrist)

“Astrid Silvermoon,” Erik noted. “Her health and stamina are lower than William, probably because of her lower stats. Charisma and Perception is a bit high off the bat. Magic is still at zero. Not sure if it means she cannot cast magic or she could eventually learn magic.”

Erik closed the stat window and zoomed in onto the tile to have a closer look of his second unit. She was pretty, he admitted. Her dark brown hair was caked with dirt and mud. Her clothes look like it hadn’t been washed for a while. If she cleaned up with a new set of clothing, she would be one hell of a fuckable babe.

“What the hell am I thinking?” Erik questioned and shook his head. He was still a teenager, one that didn’t have a girlfriend for 17 years of his life. But there was a time and place for everything, and this was not the right time.

“Astrid,” Erik said with a thought, bringing the woman to attention.

“What do you demand of this one?” Astrid responded.

Erik issued some simple movements, and she carried them out without a question. But the ways she moved along the edge of the two tiles made him stared. Once she completed her task, she stood idle and waiting for new command.

“Umm…” Erik mumbled and looked about to see if anyone was watching. “Astrid, please remove all your clothing.”

Astrid tilted her head before carrying out the command. She removed her shirt first then legging and the under cloths without a sign of hesitation. She then stood naked as Erik swallowed hard and eyed her up and down.

“Nice breasts,” Erik commented, wanting to reach out and hold them in his hands.

“What will you command of this one?” Astrid asked the moment she was “selected”.

[You humans are strange. Getting excited for little thing]

“Shut up, Dell,” Erik growled and zoomed the tile back out. He couldn’t feel anything with his spirit touch. It needed to be his real body. “You can put your clothes back on now.”

Astrid did as commanded, giving Erik another brief show. Like usual, she stood completely still once she finished her task.

Erik returned to the outside world and exited the hospital from the west entrance. Thunder and rain greeted him. A waypoint was formed under the cover of darkness, and from the purple swirling mist, Astrid Silvermoon emerged. Seeing her in person made him blushed like a kid in puberty. He looked down at her chest before fidgeting.

“Ah, what the hell,” Erik said and gave them a squeeze. They were soft, spreading over his palm like jelly. “Damn, this is what breasts feels like.”

Astrid only narrowed her eyes as a response to the fondling. Her expression returned to stoic once Erik had his fill. It wasn’t fun when she had no reaction to his touches.

With his teenage tendency sated, Erik turned away from Astrid and entered the waypoint. Darkness of the night turned into bright sunny day as he stumbled on the stair case. He looked back and took notice of how massive the Headquarter was.

[This is ill-advised, Erik Summers]

“Yes, yes, but Plan A will only get Astrid killed so we’re going with Plan B,” Erik said.

[We’re running away?]

“Plan C,” Erik corrected and patted himself. “I will go, instead.”

[That is ill-advised, Erik Summers]

“Ah shut up, Dell, you and your ill-advised,” Erik said as he closed the waypoint. The huge wooden double doors of the Headquarter closed behind him. He thought of Astrid to bring up her screen. He then formed a waypoint inside the barrier as the doors opened again, revealing the swirling mist. He stepped back out into the outside world and found himself inside the barrier.

“Go and hide yourself in the hospital and wait for my orders,” Erik ordered and watched the woman entered the hospital. He would use her as an anchor to create a waypoint. Once Astrid disappeared, he eyed the old building. It looked like a haunted building.

“It’s time to get my hands dirty,” Erik thought. It would be nice if he could command units from the safety of his inner world, but they currently lacked his enhanced ability. He had witness what Joseph and Victoria were capable of and knowing was half the battle.

On his approach, Erik could hear chains rattling and saw flickering golden lights, but unlike William, he could keep his distance and remained undetected.

[Someone is coming]

“Eh?” Erik uttered. “Already? How? I’m not even in the building yet!”

His mind ran a mile a minute to figure out what to do next. The front door swung opened, showing silvery chains burst out. It missed him by several arm lengths and slammed into the ground. Before he could say a word, he was tackled by something – someone – invisible.

She gripped his waist tightly. “She’s scary, big brother!”