[Ancestry

No matter what mix of peoples brought you into this world, there will always be one or two species that present themselves the strongest and those will be the base of both your physical characteristics and your available ancestry feats. And these qualities can skip generations, so don't be surprised if you don't look like your parents! You always start with one random ancestry feat.]

Tapper was very tempted to ask about these feats that the system kept mentioning, but he didn't want to get lost in the information just yet and instead focused on the next part of his character sheet.

[Ancestry: Golem

You were not born naturally but instead created by an intentional hand, leaving you with some distinct advantages and disadvantages. Your very lifeforce is mana so you no longer need to eat, breathe, or sleep, although you do need to go into standby mode for at least 4 hours to recharge your HP, MP, and daily abilities. Attribute damage does not heal naturally and must be repaired, but that also means you are not limited to healing 1 point of attribute damage per day. Same goes for wound counters. Being made of metal means that you are granted +1 natural armor and are not restricted from using magic. You cannot wear traditional armor, but you can upgrade your body with higher quality materials for more natural armor, and you are weak to spells which act on metal such as Electric and Magnet.]

[Ancestry: Golem (Robot)

ERROR 404 ANCESTRY NOT FOUND

Acquire missing ancestral knowledge from the character? This takes time and will passively run in the background. Y/N]

It seemed like a logical choice that wouldn't result in Tapper blacking out again, so he chose Y and moved on to the next line.

[Background

Everyone was something before becoming an adventurer, and even the lowliest of peasants gain knowledge that influences the rest of their life. Your background represents an entire suite of knowledge and skills that will be called upon to solve problems, and you're encouraged to be as creative as possible when using it. Even a simple farmer would have basic knowledge on carpentry and treating injuries, and they would be adept at animal husbandry and reading the weather!]

[Background: Bartender

Bartenders know how to mix every cocktail under the sun and several under the moon, resulting in knowledge of food pairings and a minor capacity to detect poisons. They also excel at social skills, especially reading emotions and extracting information without giving themselves away. Consider using the hand-eye coordination gained from shaking drinks to add some panache to skills involving subtle hand dexterity!]

[Background: Bartender (Novice 0/10)

Your current background skill level is Novice, and will advance after 10 discoveries. Discoveries come from experimentation, by learning under an advanced teacher (1 week of study = 1 discovery), or from studying knowledge textbooks (varies, generally 1 textbook = 1 discovery).]

Mild annoyance. Tapper was programmed with every cocktail variety in the Bowson Incorporated® Gentleman's Catalog, so it didn't seem as if he should be counted as a mere novice. Maybe he felt some doubt because the system wouldn't budge, so with a resolution to become a master bartender he moved onto the next category. As soon as he glanced at the Class line a pop up started to slide into view, and Tapper either wasn't quick enough or willful enough to prevent it from replacing his character sheet.

[You have selected the primary class portion: Witchcraft

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble! Wyrdlings, cunning folk, and bush doctors are among the more mysterious magicians due to their reclusive nature. They have a reputation for cursing their enemies and enchanting their victims, but witches are no more inherently good or evil than any other magician. Unlike other magicians, witches spend just as much time studying people and nature as they do studying mana, and as a result their magic is used to psych out opponents and brew potions along with casting spells.]

[Primary class features:

Witches have a Spellcasting die of (1d4) and use Awareness as their attribute for casting verbal spells. Whenever one is available, witches can use an open feat to instead learn either two random spell components OR choose one of their own. Mana can restore by meditating while taking a breather, by a total of (1d4+1d8) per attempt. First level gift is (3) spell components, randomly chosen based on the witch's mental and physical characteristics.]

As soon as Tapper dismissed the message the next one popped up in its place. At this point the robot just wanted to quickly read through them and go back to the character sheet, but his attention was ripped away by a new sensation. He was bent under a table to pick up a plastic bag and as soon as he made contact the robot's mind was flooded with a dance of tiny data points, feathery light yet sharp, as the plastic bent under his touch. Units of Tapper's model were all built with basic tactile feedback sensors so they could handle delicate glassware, but this was the first time his computer brain analyzed every single data point as they came in and combined them into an experience that was… is this beauty?

And the sound! As Tapper gently squeezed the bag a cascade of soft crinkles and pops formed the white noise in happy harmony with the physical sensation. Every fold he gave the bag formed a peak that Tapper ran a gentle finger over, tracing every ridge and drinking in the sensations as he marveled at the sheer pleasures such a simple act could give. Why did sapients take all of this for granted?

"Bot!" The sudden sharp yelp brought Tapper back to reality and he scrambled to hide the bag behind his back. Embarrassment, shame. Why does this feel like he had been discovered during a moment of intimacy? Aazran, in a rare moment outside of his little nest, stood glaring at Tapper with his one hand on his hip. The tablet was still propped up against the wall, and with no one to watch it the stream had automatically paused on an ad for NuVaYu, the genetic refresher sequence with affordable corporeal mortgage options! "You glitching or something? You've been playing with that bag for an hour."

"N-no sir! Just examining it for, um, foreign contaminants."

The elder raptor just cocked an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. Well, when you're done 'examining' the garbage, give my drink a refill." Tapper silently finished cleaning, zipped behind the bar to mix an especially strong Market Mule for Aazran, and was out the door before the customer finished in the bathroom.

The mealworm tent offered an excellent opportunity for privacy and new experiences. Unfortunately, separating the mealworms from the adult bugs by hand proved to be a thoroughly gross experience and Tapper gained some insight on why everyone else avoided this task. The onslaught of data threatened to overwhelm his CPU and he had to numb his sense of touch to keep from flinching every time Tapper reached into the wriggling flesh mound, even if it felt like a betrayal to the beauty he had just been experiencing prior. Hopefully not every organism Tapper encounters will feel so… fleshy. Synthetic was definitely the way to go, and the plastic bag was quickly becoming a calming presence whenever the undulating pile of bugs started to become too much to handle.

Tapper took a long break to play with the bag when the mealworms were finally separated and boxed up for the kitchen. Crinkling it, twisting it, the white noise was thoroughly comforting and when the random manipulation resulted in the bag wrapping around his wrist like a bracelet it just felt right. Only in the quiet that followed of Tapper examining his new accessory did he realize that he had forgotten all about the pop up.

[Please choose your level 1 feat]

The prompt had never left his vision, still present and patient while Tapper worked through his overstimulation. He could sense a direction the prompt wanted to take him, but he instead asked it to define "Feat" in this context and a new message appeared beneath it.

[Feats

The bread and butter of your character build comes from the feats that will give you new abilities, resources, and survival options. Available feats are based on your class, ancestry, level, attributes, and recent adventuring achievements.]

Another list of options presented themselves to Tapper, and despite making his best effort to actually read them the robot had little more luck than last time. Reading any one feat gave him the basic idea of what it might do, but any attempt to compute the larger implications caused all meaning to spill out of his RAM like fine sand through his fingers, and what little information he could hold onto blew away once he started reading the next feat. These circuits were just not equipped to process this sort of data, but instead of feeling defeated Tapper simply fell back on the tried and true strategy of running a word search to find the most appropriate choice.

[Feat: Potion Brewing

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The focus of your witchy training was finding ingredients and coaxing out their essence for your potions, and as a result you can achieve more with crude materials than alchemists would ever dream of attempting. After all, despite what academics might say any bush witch knows that even the most common weeds and berries can make effective healing salves and poisonous tinctures alike! Your spellcasting die now applies to all attempts of both gathering materials for brewing and the actual process itself. Furthermore, you can more easily pour your own mana into any brewing attempts to make up for any inconsistencies in the ingredients or tools, resulting in a 1-to-1 bonus on your brewing check for every point of mana spent.]

The description made perfect sense to Tapper, so long as he ignored the majority of it that didn't make any sense, and he selected to confirm the feat without a second thought. Immediately his body felt a surge of that tingling sensation, not nearly as strong as the first time and fully contained within his body. But it still felt as if a new portion of his processor was opening up to the world and as quickly as they had come the tingles were gone, leaving behind a vague sensation that Tapper had downloaded a new program yet couldn't directly access it. Hopefully Ricky could explain it when he had some free time.

A muffled crash from outside, quiet enough that Tapper likely would not have noticed if he hadn't numbed the rest of his senses, derailed his train of thought and the robot threw open the tent to investigate. Nothing was amiss out in the open, but entering the warehouse showed a conflict in progress as a customer tried to crawl behind Tapper's food and drink counter and Aazran struggled to stop him.

The customer that Tapper didn't recognize was a thoroughly disheveled human male with greasy hair and a wiry frame, not even trying to be subtle as he shouted, "Get off me, you old lizard! I know there's some coin behind here somewhere!" He was already laying on the counter, trying to pull himself over and kick Aazran off his backside at the same time.

Despite the difference in age Aazran had a better foothold and was slowly pulling the other one back over the counter. "Ret, this ain't like you! You've been running too long, you need to stop!"

Instead of answering, Ret got in a lucky wriggle that gave him the distance to start searching behind the counter. He was throwing aside bottles and utensils without care until he barked a triumphant laugh and hauled a heavy box onto the counter. It was a lockbox, and although Tapper had never seen it used he had been informed that it was full of credit chits and not to be opened without authorization. That means the confrontation had escalated to stealing profits, triggering a high priority directive in Tapper's programming that spurred the bartender into action.

Tapper zipped over and grabbed the nearest obstruction, hauling it overhand to get it out of the way. This happened to be Aazran, who may have yelped something before he was unceremoniously thrown backwards but the loud crash as he landed among the chairs drowned out anything he had said.

[Vigilant Watcher lvl 1 defeated! + 1 XP]

Ret was preoccupied with trying to pry over the lockbox and didn't even realize he was caught until Tapper grabbed him by both wrists. "Ow! Stupid dumbass bot, let go of me!"

"Bar brawls and attempted thievery are both against the code of conduct of the Fableton market. Please cease your actions and leave this establishment." Ret just struggled more, thrashing his body and kicking at Tapper but the robot's vice grip didn't waver. Tapper wasn't sure of what else he could do, so he repeated his instructions and increased his gripping force when the wiry organic started to slip through his grasp.

Ret suddenly stopped struggling when his wrist started to crack, dropping to his knees in a mix of pain and desperate anguish. "Please, please don't do this to me. I'm working a triple tonight and I need more longhaul and if I crash now I'll never make it I need this money."

He was quickly devolving into a gibbering mess, but Tapper was able to understand the gist of what he was saying. "If you are low on funds then you can attain proper employment. A healthy work ethic is the cornerstone of society upon which we all —"

"Tapper!" The sudden shout was Miss Uxral, standing in between the conflict and a gaggle of wide eyes as the students crowded behind her. "You let go of him this instant!" The robot obeyed without hesitation, and Ret cradled his injured arm with a sad whimper. The elder hybrid then walked over to the lockbox and opened it with her personal key, shaking out a pitifully small pile of thick metal coins. She pulled one out, touched it to a spot on her wrist, checked the tiny readout screen on one face of the coin, and tucked it into Ret's pocket. "Here you go dear, go home and rest up."

"But my wrist… I can't work at all now…" Whimpering pain screwed up into a scowl of rage and the human sneered, "The Hand should crush this whole goddamn town!" He didn't make eye contact with anyone as he ran out of the warehouse, leaving an awkward silence in his wake.

[Desperate Vagrant lvl 1 defeated! +1 XP]

After a beat a pained groan from the floor spurred Miss Uxral into action, turning to everyone else and instructing, "Alright kids, you all can go home today. Ricky, honey, help Aazran up and get him into the clinic, I'll have Wiessa come take a look at him. And you," she pointed a stern finger at Tapper, "clean this mess up. I'll deal with you in a minute."

Tapper again obeyed without comment, silenced by a phantom sense of nausea clawing at his mind. The way Miss Uxral pointed at him had zapped the robot with a sense of guilt, but he couldn't understand why. Someone was trying to steal from the establishment, and Tapper had stopped him. Maybe he was supposed to be more forceful with so-called desperate vagrants?

Miss Uxral exited the clinic to find Tapper standing stock still by the counter, the entire cafeteria having been thoroughly cleaned per her instructions. She strode over to the robot with her arms crossed, and under her withering gaze Tapper reflexively collapsed the telescoping pole of his lower torso until he was looking up at her. Uxral took a moment formulating her words before she started, "Aazran will be fine, but his snout is fractured. Possibly concussed, too. He'll be taking his meals through a straw for a while so you'll be in charge of feeding him, and probably Rethar as well since it sounds like you might have broken his wrist." Another pause. "Did you really pick up and throw Aazran into the chairs? We're lucky a fractured snout is all he got."

"I prevented the interloper from stealing the funds of his establishment."

"And you hurt Aazran in the process. You didn't stop first to make sure he was okay? A facial injury like that can make it difficult for a reptilian to breathe, especially at his age. If he had landed wrong he could've suffocated right there on the floor."

"Because Rethar was breaking the rules and —"

"Nuh-uh." Miss Uxral stuck a finger out that stopped Tapper right in his tracks before she continued, "Don't even bother finishing that thought. I know that your model is used to high-end bars with fancy clientele and all that, but we aren't doing that here. Look at me, young man." Uxral was in full teacher mode and Tapper couldn't help himself from reacting just like a scolded child. "We help our people before we stop the bad guys, you understand me? And we definitely don't hurt our own people in order to stop a simple crime. Now I don't want to call Ricky in here to dig around in your programming, but I will if I have to. So the next time our customers or an innocent bystander gets hurt, you make sure you help them before you try to stop someone from stealing. And I know, in a fight sometimes you help your customers by stopping the bad guys, but this wasn't that. In this situation, you shouldn't have thrown Aazran and you should have made sure he wasn't in real danger before you tackled Rethar. And if he had gotten away, so what? It's only money, that comes second to people. Do you understand me?"

Tapper squirmed a bit. Not only from Miss Uxral's unwavering gaze, but because her commands went against everything his core programming knew about running a business. "I understand, but… but would that not just encourage criminals and freeloaders to rob from you?"

Miss Uxral's visage broke a bit when she scoffed in response. "Freeloaders? What makes you think Rethar was a freeloader? He works plenty, it just isn't ever enough." Somehow Miss Uxral could read the confusion in Tapper's frozen face as she took a deep breath before continuing, "Maybe some context would help. Why do you think Rethar wasn't working already?"

"Because if he needed money, then Rethar merely should have worked more hours? Or been more diligent with budgeting his funds?"

The hybrid teacher drummed her fingers on the countertop in thought before she reached behind it and pulled out an unopened plastic bottle of water, the sort that Tapper had been instructed to ration unless told otherwise. "See this plain bottle of water? It costs 0.1 Cyracoin at the Cyracorp commissary, it's enough to last one person for one day and that's only if they aren't working out in the sun. Which everyone does. The recycling center pays a little bit less than .05 coin per hour, and they are very good at tracking when you aren't doing work activities like walking from one station to another.

"Now Rethar, he doesn't work at the recycling facility, he works in the trash mines because they work on commission and it's possible to make more than what Cyracorp offers. But it is also very easy to fall behind, and you'll get replaced as soon as you can't afford the bus fare. So Rethar takes longhaul, a drug that lets you put off sleep and work extra hours. Nasty stuff and I keep it as far away from here as possible, but I won't condemn him for taking it. Poor guy still thinks that receiving handouts is shameful, so in his desperation to work more he wound up like this… I feel like I'm losing you."

Tapper's head had slowly tilted until he was nearly looking at Uxral sideways. "That… sounds untenable."

"Yes, exactly! You're getting it!" Tapper was not getting it at all, but Miss Uxral still broke into a grin that frightened the robot slightly. "It doesn't work, that's why I don't make anyone here pay for food or necessities. It's rough because there's never enough to go around, but over time we've made a delicate balance where no one is left totally destitute and that is better than the alternative." She then took a calming breath and continued, "Look, I understand that I just fed you a lot of confusing information. The point is this: Your first focus should always be finding ways to help people. Don't hurt anyone unless it's the only way to prevent them from hurting your customers and innocents, okay? You find ways to help."

Tapper stood up slightly and beeped a confirmation. "I will try my best, Miss Uxral."

"Good boy, that's all anyone can ever ask of you."