Sophia wasn't sure if the day was turning out to be a complete bust or the most amazing day ever. As she was honestly just struggling to process everything. Instead of going out or weighting like she originally thought. The guards recommended they returned to the village to inform the village leader as well as the village mage what had happened. She had to struggle to adjust the moth as she was afraid for her mom if she let it go. Though to her surprise when she had managed to get to her feet the moth had wrapped its legs around her chest. It was surprisingly comfortable, a bit like wearing a reverse backpack. Regardless she wasn't letting go of the moth if she could help it. If that wasn't weird enough the strange beetle had started following her again. Now that the guards allowed it into the village if followed them on Its weird rollie legs.

Its legs made no sense to her, they weren't cartwheels, but they also weren't legs, at least not like any legs she had seen before. How it got around was beyond her, it just did and surprisingly well so. It clattered along behind her quieter than any wagon but louder than she had heard any insect ever move.

At first, she was content to follow the guards. That was till they were about to pass the herbalist hut. She wanted to go see her mother but when she tried to turn towards it. One of the guards, a bully named Ashton tried to shove her along with the butt of his pole arm. He was nearly sent flying like the batch of barrels the large beetle plowed through to protector. Sofia couldn't help but gawk as three barrels she knew was a lot heavier than her clattered down the road. She looked over her armored companion It was then she made her decision that regardless of it or whatever the guards or what anyone else wanted. She was taking this moth to see her mother, and no one was going to stop her.

Austin on the other hand wasn't having a very good time as he simultaneously ran the translation software well printing and programming more ants. While also dealing with another and larger wave of beetles and some sort of nest of actual giant ants. His mining team had accidentally punched into one of their tunnels. Why they also had metal exoskeletons was puzzling but in this case, most were made of copper but he had seen a few iron and even a zinc and aluminum Ant in their mix. Though he had yet to kill any of them as unlike the copper ants they seemed far more intelligent. The turrets he had established could handle any push the ants made unfortunately any attempt at his own push was met with similar results and were overwhelmed by the sheer number of bodies the ants could throw at them.

He finally got the new fabrication Bay online, this one feet would be a severe boost to his fabrication capabilities. As with a fully functional Bay online he could print entire drones without requiring any outside force to assemble them. The only two problems where he was currently down to forty eight percent power, and he had already emptied out almost a fourth of one of his three supply rooms. His refineries were spitting out resource blanks as fast as they could but between the rubble the beetles and now the ants, he was running out of room to cram all the junk into. His next priority, which he was currently working on, was a new reactor to power the facility. Well in the short term, in the long term he would require a lot more power. Especially if this was going to be a primary resource and production facility. Regardless, he set the fabrication Bay to print out the needed components to finish the assembly of the reactor. He could get the components by disassembling an existing reactor, but he did not have any place to safely store any radioactive material. So, for the time being it was better to make a new one than crack open a damaged one and cause a radiation leak. Once he had the power source, he was going to repurpose the remains of any turrets he was not currently using to begin the production of more beetle bots. It was about time for a counterattack. Sadly, this would take more time, so he returned his attention back to the village.

Frederick had been a guard for eight years another two and he'd be twenty one and planned to go join the adventuring Guild. Anyone could join at the age of sixteen, but he wanted to get the pension for ten years as a guard to buy proper gear and equipment. Where most of his fellow guards were quick to spend, their earned coin, he’d pinched every copper he could for his future. So, when the small girl approached him and the other guards to teach her how to survive in the forest. To go harvest herbs to help her mother despite the monsters that recently moved in. Most of the guards had simply laughed her off and told her not to waste their time. He, however, had seen a bit of himself in the girl's desire to look ahead and prepare properly before heading out. So, he had decided to help her and when she hadn't come back the night before he had tried to convince a few of the other guards to go looking for her. He had only managed to get two others to agree, one of whom he had the bribe with dinner and beer at the tavern much to his chagrin. Only for the village to be attacked by a dungeon wave of all things while this did explain the new monsters it didn't bear well for the village.

As the battle raged on and things were starting to not look so good for them out of nowhere the very girl he was going to go look for returned with a massive armored beetle like nothing he had ever seen. The beetle then proceeded to shoot magic actual magic of all things at the hoard, and single handedly turned the tide of battle till it nearly fell to exhaustion. Which was probably the only reason why it didn't try and force its way into the village to follow Sophia. If that insanity wasn't enough the next morning, he was told that they were sending her out to try and gather more herbs with the aid of the beetle. Since yesterday's battle probably depleted most of their stores. Sence then the blasted thing had managed to befriend a freaking lunar moth of all things. How just how could a creature of such power and destructive capability be so beloved by a creature whose literal purpose in life was to soothe and heal? On top of that when it met Sofia the moth decided it wanted to groom her as well. Now he was escorting the tiny girl the giant armored beetle and the moth, too well they were supposed to be going to the town mage and mayor but apparently, the girl had different plans. So, wherever the girl wanted to go he guessed as there was no way he was going to get in the way of the freaking beetle that knocked over a dozen barrels like they were nothing. The thing was nearly as big as a small horse to start with, but his battle instinct skill was telling him it was ridiculously tough and heavy. He couldn't even get a feel on its strength other than don't fuck with the Beatle. If he even thought about getting too close to it the skill screamed at him. Whatever this thing was it was probably the deadliest thing in their forest and for some reason, it seemed obsessed with little Sophia. There was not a doubt in his mind that if this thing wanted to it could level the entire village without receiving a single scratch in exchange. Yet it had helped Sophia earlier that day and had done so cheerfully and gently. This really didn't make any sense to him regardless, he needed to report to the mage and mayor. So, against his better judgment when they arrived at the healer's hut he ordered his companion one of the few guards that wasn't badly injured by the fight yesterday to stay with Sophia so he could get the mayor.

Sofia rushed to her mother's bedside. Only to climb into bed with her when the moth just ignored her mother. The moth didn't seem to understand what it was supposed to do and just cuddled with the two.

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Austin on the other hand was a lot less happy with his current surroundings. He practically had to smash the door frame to fit through but once he saw what was on the other side he wasn't going to be kept out. Thirty men and four women most judging by the piles of clothes nearby where the guards from the gate the day before were laid out in beds. If this was the extent of their medical facilities it was pathetic. The best they could do was just to try and ease the pain while the body did its own healing naturally not even giving them proper medicine just a simple herbal sav. How-how could a race that once ruled a tenth of the known Galaxy the race that built him be brought so low. That they had to suffer in these medieval accommodations. While he lacked the nano forges to make medical grade nanites he did have a large store of humanities medical data. One of his occupations af-after the war was to try and preserve as much data on humanity as possible and now it was time to put it to use.

He stormed forward to the center of the room and opened up the bot’s full sensor package. Blue lights from the horn danced across the room. As he spun the bot around getting a full diagnostic of not only the wounds of those in the room but also the supplies available. The herbs they were using were strangely effective it was a mid grade antibiotic low grade antibacterial and had a very mild pain reliever. Creating a unique little plant but still the mix was poorly done. Is-isolating the properties was easy enough. Making something far more potent and could easily be converted into other treatment forms less so. While he lacked any form of needles to perform injections which would be best in terms of treatment. He set to work the claws of the bots mechanical arms weren't exactly nimble enough to do this but he had a low grade molecular disassembler in one of the arms that could suffice. Molecular disassemblers were primarily used in the forging process they could be used to break down base elements though not as cleanly or efficiently as a proper refinery could.

Within minutes he had all the base resources he needed except for some water for the mix. That was when he made his truly oddest discovery yet. He had picked up a strange energy-energy signature when he had performed a scan earlier but why that energy signature was coming from a pitcher of water was beyond him. When he poured some into a simple wooden bowl the pitcher had refilled itself. How was something like this possible? He didn’t detect circuitry or a chemical reaction, just the strange energy signature. It showed a small drop in energy which it was already working to restore. Regardless he didn't have time to deal with this curiosity. The child he had been helping, most likely candidate for a female parent or elder sibling was by far the worst of them here. In her current state, he doubted she'd survive more than a few weeks and in that time she would be in an unnecessarily cruel amount of pain. He quickly added the ingredients to the water and tried to feed it to her. Unfortunately, this proved a lot harder than he had originally thought. The bed was too far away from the bot and he could only manage to reach to her chest. However, the little girl gently took it from him and fed it to her. He ran another quick scan and running projections they should see some noticeable improvements by morning. The rest of the people in the Infirmary were not nearly in as dire a state. Once he had proven that he could help in such a manner they'd likely be far more willing to let him treat them. As it was, they all were more or less terrified of him.

Though just as he began to ponder this, he detected a large energy signature heading for the building. Assuming an incoming threat he switched to turret mode. However, he didn't set his support as there was a cellar beneath him and he didn't want to punch a hole in the floor and risk a collapse. He watched as an elderly old man and an overly voluptuous young looking woman walk in. Paradoxically it was the woman who was the source of the energy signature. He reverted back from turret mode much to the relief of everyone in the room before scanning her this just confused him more. Other than a small crystal forming between the heart and the stomach just below the lungs in the woman's chest, she matched the human template perfectly. This strange energy signature, however, he couldn't find a reason for it. By all matters, she should not be able to put out as much energy as a small reactor just by existing. There was no way a biological entity could generate such power. He scanned her again to double check and just sat there confused so much so that every drone that wasn't actively defending him paused as he diverted more processing power to the conundrum.

Sofia meanwhile realized what she had just done. She had brought the moth to her mother without any understanding as to how to convince it to heal her. Then The Beatles showed up nearly knocking the door off its hinges to fit in the room, its horn unfolding into a she didn't know what to call it bunch of metal feelers maybe and glowy bits. It then emitted a bright blue light as it spun around the room after that it folded its horn back up.

It started rifling through the herbalist healing supplies. Despite his protests, a guard, one of his patients, quickly grabbed and stopped him. Likely having seen what the beetle could do on the wall the day before. In a matter of minutes, he had made something by eating the plants with his weird claw hands thing? Before spitting it up into some water and tried to get her mother to drink it. She didn't know what it was trying to do but it had gotten her something made from the herbs that she had gathered so she fed it to her mother. The beetle did its glowy blue thing again and seemed to settle down only to spin around and pointed Stinger at the door. Much to the gasp and fear of everyone in the room. When the mayor walked through the door, he just looked confused as a guard pulled him aside shielding him with his body. However, it wasn't the mayor who the beetle was after it was the town mage. It had likely sensed her magic and had been wary of her. Its stinger slowly slid back within its shell, and it did its blue thing once then twice then a third time. Before it just backed away parking itself between her and the town mage seemingly protective of her but not hostile.

Seeing the beetle had calmed down the mayor quietly said. “Sofia explain exactly what that is how it got here and what's going on to the best of your abilities.”

Sophia spent the next hour or so retelling the entire story. The only thing she left out was the metal structure underground saying how the beetle had simply found her in an underground cave system that she assumed was its den. Meanwhile she had noticed a faint green glow coming from the moth’s wings. She didn't know what was going on but it was pretty, the mage had seemed to notice it as well but no announce seemed to point it out.

“Damn it of course it's some weird creature from the underground. Catherine do you recognize it or know any creature with similar abilities.” The mayor groaned from his seat.

“No it sort of resembles a scavenger beetle but only in shape and its black metal coating. Most likely it's been eating them to reinforce its own armor and is just simply taking on the characteristics of it. If I had to guess it's some sort of assimilation or mutation monster a bit like a slime or a mimic. Maybe even some kind of chimera if it's mutated multiple times already. Its base probably had something to do with metal like an iron elemental or something similar. What troubles me though is how it can use magic. Even if it only knows the one spell the only way a creature like this could learn magic is if it ate something that has the instinctive knowledge to use such power. Meaning either it managed to get ahold of something very powerful. Either its remains or it hunted whatever used to have that power. The only other way it could achieve such ability would be if the power was imbued upon it by something like a dungeon core or a mage but if that was the case why would it be following around little Sophia. Speaking of which Sophia when did you unlock your magic, I don't remember you having the capability to commune with magical creatures before this?” She asked sweetly fully wishing she could hug the poor girl for the ordeal she had been through but thinking better of it since the creature didn't seem to care too much for her.

Most likely whatever it gotten that magical spell from had made it wary of anything with magic. Though that wouldn’t explain why it was so infatuated with Sofia inspite of her magic.

“Wait I I have magic?!” Sophia said eagerly.

“Yes, I'm assuming that's why you're able to charm your little friends here. You're magic while weak seems to have a natural attunement to beasts. Perhaps one day you will be a beast tamer or even a Summoner If you're truly lucky. Given that your young age and your generally kind nature it's no wonder the lunar moth found you to its liking. It’s a bit surprising though for your beetle friend though given what you told us of how the Moth took a liking to it already maybe not.” she said curiously.