---Richard---
As Richard tried to retrace his steps to the factory, he tested out his ‘practice’ tool.
Holding the end of the rod he’d been given near his arm, Richard fiddled with stuff absent-mindedly.
A connection was a process he had to actually work to achieve – it felt like trying to wiggle your ears. A muscle he wasn’t used to using – one that became harder to use the further away from his ‘slot’ the rod travelled.
An average adult human has on average 27 stats. An interesting tidbit about this number, is that it is three to the third power.
The first rank threshold is achieved at 81 stats. This is exactly three times the amount of stats as an average human. You can consider someone with most of their stats in a average sized area and purpose, to be three times as strong as a regular human.
Most rank 1 delvers are spread out enough to be weaker than that, and many find skills and equipment more important than simply stats…but on average you’ll find three rank 1 delvers are required to even stand a chance against a single rank 2. Due to the multiplicative effect stats and skills have, the real difference between ranks is even harder to overcome.
A few delvers after this rank threshold receive a rare mutation shifting their body towards something closer to a monster.
The second rank threshold is rare. It is three times the stat value of rank 1. 243 stats.
Again, on average, you can consider someone of rank 2 to be three times as strong as someone in rank 1.
Most delvers who have achieved this rank have the previous body mutations – in fact its theorized said aether mutations are a requirement to even reach rank 2. Some have even found their aether mutation mutating further – often to even stronger heights.
The third rank threshold is spoken about in legends. It is achieved at three times rank 2. 729 total stats. Those who have achieved said level have not spoken of any unique traits or abilities it may give them… No one has reached this rank in recent time.
Your current rank: <2>
Portion of way towards rank <3>:
A common colloquial term for ranks is for rank 1 to be referred to as ‘bronze’, rank 2 as ‘silver’ and rank 3 as ‘gold’.
A common colloquial term for tiers is for tier 1 to be referred to as ‘half step’ and tier 2 as ‘full step’. The initial tier is usually dropped. Tiers are evenly divided between ranks. In recent years the trend has shifted towards calling tier 0s "Low rank X" tier 1s "Mid Rank X" and Tier 2s as "High Rank X". You'll find many of the older generation refers to tiers in steps and the younger generation has shifted to 'degrees' to indicate someones progression.
Tiers are more important the higher a rank someone grows. – at rank 2 the three different tiers are solid barriers. A tier 1 can usually always beat a tier 0. A tier 2 can usually always beat a tier 1. Etc.
Currently its unknown as to if tiers have any special traits beyond being easy to analyse.
Richard stared at the blue box as it slowly faded once more. Most of it seemed to just be an information blurb – just to reach some text limit? A stress test blue box?
He found his slot had automatically disconnected from the rod after revealing its secrets.
Focusing he reached out once more – an identical blue box flipped into view and faded a few moments later.
It was something to do while he walked, a muscle to flex…and soon it became nothing more than an idle impulse. Like playing with keys or a pen, Richard tossed the rod up and down – not caring if it fell and broke anymore.
Incredibly quickly all things considered, the connection process became second nature. As long as the rod was within a few inches of the slot he could connect it perfectly every time.
And – equally as quickly – Richard found himself at the concentration of railroads once again.
This time, Richard was on the opposite side from where he had entered it last. The ‘front’ of the building was more office-adjacent than the ‘industrial back’ had been… but beyond that it looked basically the same.
Slowly he walked the perimeter.
There wasn’t a wall or fence blocking off the kinetic dust factory – it felt weird the place was so exposed. It felt really weird…but considering how many minecarts were arriving and departing it must just be too complicated to set up.
To reiterate, there were a hundred different ways into this building most of them minecart openings at various heights.
Richard needed to plan his moves. He had to be smart.
…why does my mind jump to kicking down the front door and yelling ‘here’s johnny’ or something. I’m so stupid – fucking focus Richard. What’s the real plan.
Well, to start – the reason he failed last time was due to the mech police.
Where had that come from? What alerted it? The alarm right?
Richard turned his eyes to the buildings around the factory. Most were houses – from what he could tell they were the houses of people who worked in the factory.
Looking in a window or two, he saw the bruised bodies of families. Kinetic dust was toxic…especially over time – the bodies of ‘workers’ and their spouses were not immune and years of exposure had taken a toll.
The most obvious sign of K-Dust poisoning was the bruises. Every minor bump – many ‘normal’ everyday actions left dark red and purple marks.
From a game standpoint, their natural kinetic bludgeoning defense – and probably their slashing defense as well – was close to zero.
From a human standpoint, they were magical coal dust victims or something.
Richard’s dimmed anger began to grow once more.
– He hadn’t forgotten his decision, he hadn’t stopped caring or forgotten…but the past few hours breaking his skill and wandering around had brought the seething rage down to a candle's flame.
Richard found himself picking up his pace – a plan crystalizing in his head as he did so.
The mech warehouse was guarded by two human watchers. Richard found it partway through his search – it wasn’t actually hidden after all. There were two large hanger doors like that of a garage but made out of copper prison bars instead of a solid sheet of metal.
A cage revealing its prize within.
Richard had to figure out how to blow up, disable, block off or otherwise prevent said mechs from leaving the building.
How were they informed they should leave when I set off the alarm? There isn’t really any wires sending communications to it for me to cut…can they just hear the alarm from here? It was pretty loud wasn’t it?.
Richard could still remember how fast the mech had shot and restrained him. It had made him feel helpless – not his fucking kink.
He really needed supplies didn’t he? Every good plan needs supplies…
But he didn’t have money currently and every time he had to go through multiple steps to reach the result it felt muted. His anger had already dimmed once today – proving just how weak it was but still.
Could he sneak in and get the money left in the pulpit lockers?
Was it still there?
Richard grew more and more frustrated by steps and plans – it wasn’t that he was impatient.
…okay, it was a tiny bit that he was impatient.
He couldn’t help it! Richard could be patient when he wanted and wasn’t ADHD enough not to focus on things…but right now it just didn’t sound fun. It didn’t seem like fun and with how shitty of an experience he had had, Richard wanted something exciting. A treat. He wanted it enough to toss the careful planning stage to achieve that. His partly formed plan was good enough.
Trying the side door to the guardhouse Richard found it unlocked.
Slowly, carefully he twisted the handle and pushed the door open.
On the other side – staring directly at him – was the shocked face of a third guard.
Richard flung the door the rest of the way open with a bang and surged into the room.
He felt like a linebacker thundering towards the man even as they reached for a weapon at their belt.
Grabbing the guard's face Richard pushed, throwing all of his momentum into the motion.
The guards head slammed into the wall behind them even as they let out a shout – it was strange how something as simple as shouts of pain shifted between languages wasn’t it? Shouldn’t that be universal?
Bashing the head back again Richard found the second guard walking towards him. The first seemed stunned – not nearly as injured as he should be, but stats were a thing. Richard had a bit over 20 strength stats spread throughout his entire body…that meant he was roughly stronger than an average person but that was it – if anyone had defensive stats it meant nothing.
Jumping at the newcomer, Richard reached towards the baton they had extracted from a holster – it buzzed and vibrated slightly in the air.
Grasping the baton with his left hand and tossing a haymaker with his right, Richard dimly felt first a surprising amount of pain and then a slowing sensation coming from the baton in his grip.
Like a stun gun mixed with a full body kinetic…something.
The pain itself quickly faded – Richards body dismissing it as non important, his passive skill adapting to it and defending against it.
He punched again.
Behind him the still groggy guard stumbled towards Richard and out of the corner of his eye Richard saw the third head towards a back door.
No you fucking don’t.
Richard ripped the baton out of the guard’s hand – flipped it around one-handed and stabbed their side with it.
Anyone see that? Should have got it on tape that was so fucking cool – knife skills!
Dashing forward Richard smashed the first guard with the stun baton almost in afterthought then threw it towards the last just before they disappeared into the door.
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Running forward to the now doubled-up guard Richard kicked towards their head as hard as he could.
There was a sharp crack – the guards head smashing off the doorframe beside him before Richard picked up the baton and returned to his first prey.
“Sorry about that. Where were we?” Richard gasped taking a second to breath.
The only response he got was a groan from the guard he had bashed first and an angry unintelligible spluttering from the second.
Jogging back towards them Richard swung his stolen baton aiming for heads.
“Banter’s not nearly as fun when we can’t understand each other, what happened to everyone having translators?” Richard smashed both guards pretty firmly then looked about the guardhouse.
There didn’t seem to be convenient rope or duct tape.
He turned back and stared at them.
The guard by the door seemed to have shrugged off the pain from the baton and face kicking. He was now pulling himself up off the ground – one hand on his head the other holding his own baton.
…Acab. They are complicit with this whole fucked up society. Probably go home and beat their wife and kids if they have them. One might have even been responsible for capturing me the first time…
…
Richard stared at the three motionless bodies lined up against the wall. He hadn’t been aiming to kill them – they might just be knocked out – but his solution to removing them from the picture had been simpler than he would have hoped.
Curb stomp them until they stopped moving – if they die they die.
…based on how much blood was everywhere they were probably dead.
He felt strangely free as he left them behind and entered the garage. Richard had stopped second guessing himself – they were fake. It was like killing those players that had been recruiting muggers – it didn’t mean anything.
✌️ Achievement get: 3v1 unarmed slaughter. (rare)
Description: Take on three NPC’s a rank below you. They don’t outnumber you – you outnumber them.
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Stat: +4 Body power
Stat: +2 Body speed
The achievement floating up as he entered the hanger made Richard laugh a bit. “The game seems to approve – enjoying the show are you? Stick around I’ll show you something much better Mr. System you voyeur slut.”
Why had he been thinking so quietly? Disable the mechs? Really that was his first thought? He now had a much more fun idea.
There were three mechs in the building – one seemed to be half taken apart so he ignored that one and moved to the second.
Moving around to the back of this mech, Richard grabbed an inner railing and stepped up the footholds.
He slid himself into an elevated seat and began to check the insides.
The ‘mech’ was in simple terms, a round-ish metal ball with two stubby arms and four legs.
In its resting position, the back was popped open – the seat Richard was now laying in facing straight up into the air. Presumably, when Richard figured out how to turn it on, the seat would shift forward into an upright position – if he could just figure out ‘how’ of course.
Fiddling around, Richard tried flipping switches and bending levers – each labelled in some strange language with unknown characters.
Finally, Richard ‘linked’. He connected his slot to a metal-detector-looking disk on a tube and the machine whirred to life. The disk sucked down onto his arm locking into place and several devices began moving.
A burst of steam shot out several tubes on the side as a series of clinks sounded out… and then slowly, with a smooth shift, the cockpit closed.
Latches flipped around Richard's legs and chest – a seatbelt of sorts that was almost claustrophobic in its sudden restriction of his movements.
And then it was finished.
Richard found himself seated and looking through a wide glassy window in front of him – tinted a deep yellowish purple. A rearview mirror of sorts was built into the bottom corner of the panel – the grimy view behind the mech even worse than the front view presumably due to bouncing off of several mirrors.
There was a dim reddish orange meter in the upper corner – the now translated description claiming it was his slot quality. there were several stat panels now that Richard looked better – each with a translated description.
Operator Stats
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Slots(1)
Slot Rank(0)
PercentToRank(1) ( 87% )
Current throughput(low)
Current power(high)
Machine stats
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SyncRate(low)
Machine health. ( 98% )
Energy Storage. ( 5% )
Operator instructions:
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Recommended action, allow 'Aether battery' a moment to charge.
As he watched the ‘storage’ percentage steadily ticked upwards. After a minute or two the slot percentage ticked up once to 88.
Not having a manual, and with most of the switches unlabelled, Richard began randomly flipping shit. How hard could it be?
One dial turned on a beaming searchlight in front of his view, a second shot the mech's grabby arm where it was pointing (currently towards the building's caged gate).
Turning off the front view searchlights, Richard pressed a button to retract the grippy claw – and, with a slight squeal of metal, the copper bars bent and ripped out of the wall.
Pulling two joystick-style controls around Richard began slowly lumbering out of the building.
The mech operated based on two levers. If the left was pulled back and the right pushed forward the mech would turn left and vice versa for the opposite direction.
The tops of these levers were on a rotating ball which controlled each side's arm – Richard felt like a T-Rex, the arms were barely visible in the corner of his view.
…his grabby arm was still holding the garage door. Flipping one switch seemed to crunch the door more…flipping another seemed to inject something into whatever the hand was holding…another turned his left arm into a shield of sorts. Richard found the correct switch to drop his door making sure to remember which one was which.
It was a surprisingly simple system…of course there were dozens of other dials and switches Richard didn’t know how to use – for all he knew the mech had rocket boots or something hidden behind its hundred switches.
Laughing slightly as he crashed into the corner of the garage and pushed through it, Richard watched as the machine health percentage went down a tick.
“Onwards!” He shouted feeling immensely pleased with the controls. They weren’t quite ‘mimic your movement’ level haptics but the more he shifted the smoother they felt.
“Wait no! I forgot something” Richard stopped – spinning his mech around and shooting the other mech in the hanger over. It fell backwards and rolled sideways…the other mech was probably too in pieces to matter.
Reaching the largest minecart door Richard squeezed through the sides just clearing the walls.
A short trip through a tunnel and Richard was in a large hanger – he had passed by this one in his first visit, all he had to do was head through that door and he would be in the room with his stuff.
Lumbering through the machinery Richard giggled as he tried to pick up a machine to move it out of the way.
His arm…was not made for construction – the claw seemed built specifically for catching humans so when he shot it down at the mechanical device it failed a bit. That was fine – push past the machine not being human-shaped and try again!
Richard picked the device up, stepped through, turned around, crunched the machine to bits.
“Fuck! That was the squish button not the drop button…eh, I bet no one will notice.”
Dropping the mangled machine Richard kept walking – entering the correct room then lumbering over to the pulpit. He stared through the glass – peering down at the two dead-eyed workers looking back at him.
“Forgot something, carry on”
Richard shot the door and ripped it off its hinges.
He then walked around slightly and aimed through the doorway – shooting his claw in and latching onto the locker he remembered leaving his shit in.
“Yoink,” Richard whooped as he retracted the device – the locker broke some bolts as it pulled out of its position and smashed through the doorway.
…the mech actually slid forwards slightly with this stunt but other than that everything seemed to be working perfectly.
“Its kind of surprising how long it keeps taking the alarms to go off – I’ve been working based on the idea it would have started as soon as I entered…do they not have security cameras in steampunk land?” Richard wondered to himself – out loud in his cockpit even as he turned and began making his way towards the office section.
…
Richard's mech was just under two meters in diameter. The top height was a bit above that due to the legs and it wasn’t 100% a sphere…but it was a good estimate. Taller then most people but not giant.
So far that size hadn’t been an issue – the size came into play near the end of the hallway however. Richard couldn’t fit through the door. He also surprisingly couldn’t push through it – the final solution was to take a running start.
Richard retreated down the hallway a bit, spun in place then charged.
A faint vibration ran through the whole structure with each step – all four legs almost galloping as he sped up then blew straight through the door, the frame and a bit of the wall.
Slowing down slightly Richard saw the shocked face of what looked like a cleaner stare at his large form for a second. They dropped their mop and bolted into a room beside them shutting the door – hah, as if a puny door could stop the great machine!
Richard turned back to the new hallway – remembering the path back to the CEO’s office.
Strolling down the hall even as an alarm started going off – finally! Richard turned a few times and then repeated his bulldoze method.
…it said a lot about how much Richard was winging things but he didn’t know what would happen if he entered the room only to find it empty again. Could he try and hide in a closet or something?
Richard started giggling uncontrollably at the thought of his massive form trying to hide in a closet even as he spotted the same pompous looking NPC who had played a knife game on his body.
“Target acquired” Richard spoke in a funny voice aiming the arm even as the man jumped up out of his desk in shock and anger.
They didn’t even have time to fully realize what was happening – been there done that – the CEO didn’t even begin running before suddenly they were grabbed and held at Richards's side.
Currently, Richard's mech held two items. On his left the slightly dented from its passage through several walls ‘locker’ he had retrieved from the pulpit. In his right the struggling form of the fake human.
Richard tried imagining what it looked like from the outside – the little arms made the whole thing absurd. It was like a fat man holding two large cups of diet coke.
Turning for the wall Richard considered how durable his passenger was.
…Probably won't make it will he?
Turning sideways and attempting to run at an angle was not intuitive with the control scheme. It took richard a solid minute of positioning before he managed it – holding the CEO behind him as he lumbered through the outside wall.
…or tried to. With a large bang, Richard was slightly surprised to find his passage was obstructed.
How dare the wall.
Smashing it a few more times Richard turned and decided to retrace his steps.
He felt allergic to the retreat – last time he passed through the building in this direction he choked and Richard felt strange and anxious as he ran.
It felt like blood should be pumping through his veins and pounding in his head but instead, it wasn’t.
His body wasn’t responding the way he was used to – was this not enough?
Spying an overseer standing in the middle of the hall waving him down Richard sped up.
He wouldn’t be caught again – the impact of the overseer left a smear across his mechs windshield and they immediately left his thoughts.
“I wonder if one of these switches is a windshield wiper? Flipping stuff randomly might break my cargo so I’ll wait…should have flipped literally every switch before starting shouldn’t I – hindsight’s always a bitch. Oh look! A door to outside!” Richard pointed out turning towards the newest obstacle.
Smashing through his third door of the day – his mechs ‘health’ had just dipped to 14% – Richard glanced around wildly and then started running. He wanted to reach a good distance before checking his cargo. The CEO didn’t seem to be struggling as much? Yeah, they were fine for now.
The building behind him was still ringing with lights and a blaring noise but Richard didn’t look back.
He raced down the street hoping there wasn’t a law against mechs on the road – hoping he wouldn’t be stopped by a second even bigger mech but luck seemed to be on his side.
Ducking into an allyway Richard ran into what he could only call a 'slums' before stopping.
He felt giddy. He had done it.
Popping the back Richard impatiently disembarked his vehicle to stare at his prizes.
The locker was bent – to the point the door itself was open – and Richard felt around inside till he grabbed the fanny pack.
Attempting to maneuver the hammer out was a bit too hard so Richard left it – he didn’t care about starter weapons anymore.
There was also a toolbox worth of junk in the locker – a bunch seemed to have fallen out but duct tape remained so Richard looted it then turned to his second prize.
“Hey! Remember me?” Richard waved…
The CEO looked shaken – the trip hadn’t been kind on him but he was starting to pull himself together his already angry face turning red as he began to splutter something.
“Yeah…if I cared to translate that I’m sure it would be a great line. I’m just going go ahead and move you now – best to keep momentum man. You know how it is.
Binding the dangling legs together, then wrapping the CEO’s arms to his side, Richard popped back into the mechs and released the claw.
Running back around he hoisted the CEO – tossing the bound man over his shoulder – and went on a walk.
…
“You know…I’ve never quite gotten the difference between irony and karma if I’m being honest with you – please forgive me if I got it wrong…its karma what’s happening to you and it's ironic the way I’m doing it – is that correct?” Richard spoke from his position on the ground.
Richard had tied the CEO to a railroad then sat down a few meters away.
The final act of revenge wasn’t quite as funny as he had been imagining but the punishment he had come up with felt fitting.
They were the CEO of a railroad company – kind of – so he would kill them by reenacting a western classic. Tied to a railroad like a damsel in distress.
Of course, usually the damsel was saved by the hero – in this story, the hero was the one doing the tying – but it still felt good enough.
The only problem seemed to be that Richard had picked a bad track. It had been close to ten minutes now and not a single minecart or mini-train had rushed past. The CEO had started getting loud so he was now gagged to prevent people from coming past.
Honestly, if Richard had more time he would have liked to figure out how to dangle them in front of the train – toss them in front of it perfectly and hit a home run.
…the amount of time was almost enough to make him second-guess himself.
Suddenly without warning a cart came whirling around the bend filled to the brim with copper bars.
Several tons of metal rushed forward to impact his victim. For some reason Richard had been imagining the CEO would fly after being hit – would ragdoll through the air like a ball after being hit by a bat…instead they broke.
Maybe the K-dust was messing with it – maybe he had simply tied the CEO too tightly to the tracks – whatever the answer was the NPC disappeared with a squelch.
The impact half squished them – flinging bits of gore everywhere – and ripped their body in two.
…Richard stared at the result of his actions in shocked silence.
Grabbing a metal pole off the ground, he slowly walked over and poked the remains of the CEO’s legs with them.
…
What could he think? What was he supposed to think? He had done this. His mind had come up with this and carried it through. This smear was what he wanted right?
🚂 Achievement get: Tied a CEO to the tracks. (Unique)
Description: Reenact a western classic and become the villain of a cowboy movie.
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Stat: +10 Body Power
Stat: +5 Body Speed
Stat: +2 planning power
Stat: +2 emotional defense
“Ah…wondered when that would arrive – larger reward than I’ve gotten in a while. Thanks. I resent that villain tag – I’m a fucking hero mate – but it's fine. I forgive you.” Richard responded to the system as he left the scene of the crime.
He felt…free. He felt good. Shouldn’t he feel something else? Guilt maybe? Nah…
…the only regret that Richard could end up mustering was a faint sadness – his whole plan was less funny than he had imagined.
Ah well. Maybe he would come up with something better by his next target.
He just had to figure out where the police officer that had fucked him and the creepy scientist were hiding and come up with some new punishments.
Before that Richard was going take a break again. It was a bit of a shame he couldn’t take the mech around everywhere but…it was kind of noticeable. It stood out in a bad way – and linked him directly to this crime. So many people had seen the ball smash through the building and kidnap the monster running the place…
It was fine. Richard had his money again and now he wanted to go shopping.
Maybe after grabbing some guns, he’d have a plan for the next two.