Cael caught the bot off guard with his heightened speed. After fighting him for a time, it had almost codified his fighting speed. With him now moving much more quickly, it was almost a glitch had occurred in SPD-11’s artificial mind.
Swinging upward with his baton, he forcefully landed a hit on the bot’s forearms. The strong force behind the strike, along with his baton’s large current, affected the arm components just under the green metal shell.
Cael continued with even more ferocious, wild swings. Placing all of his weight behind each swipe, it kept his bot kept in one place and more wary of taking his attacks head-on. Sparks were now flying out of newly created cuts and damaged areas of SPD-11.
After his 10-second boost, Cael retreated again, not ready to just expend his energy. He could only continuously swing because he was faster and stronger.
Facing such an agile fighter without the surge of mana flowing through his suit would be a death sentence.
The fight almost returned to its original style of Cael struggling to keep the fighter in front of him. He’d always learned to fight those in front of him and didn’t employ 360-degree movement as much as he should’ve.
Trying to play the game of catch with this cat-like bot couldn’t continue forever. It was infuriating because it didn’t take long for him to figure out SPD-11’s style.
He had gotten down its timing and tendencies to a T, but there was little he could do with that analysis. Whenever he predicted a situation, he was just too slow to properly act on it.
The constant hits that slipped past his guard caused damage to accumulate, steadily wearing him down.
Swinging down his baton, he utilised his power surge skill to make his strike substantially stronger. Much to his annoyance, though, the light-footed bot just about slipped past his swing.
WHAM!
As his baton slammed into the canvas, there was a strong vibration that everyone watching could feel. Many of the spectators gasped and looked around in confusion, not even paying attention to the fight any longer.
SPD-11, now at Cael’s side, delivered a long combination of thudding hits to Cael’s body. Even with its short stature, its thick limbs and torso made it hit like a truck. Leaping up and extending its fist, Cael was struck right in his jaw, sending him flying off his feet and rolling across the canvas.
He managed to come to a stop, but the world around him continued to spin. SPD-11 looked ready to continue fighting, but suddenly stopped and remained frozen.
“That’s enough.” Arlo said to the bot, before walking past it.
A medical drone rushed over to Cael’s side, scanning his skin.
As he removed his helmet, a cloud of nanobots rushed into his contusions to enter his bloodstream.
The damage was mainly in the form of blunt trauma, which nanobots were worse at handling. Nevertheless, he still felt the signature warm, tingly feeling across his skin as it steadily healed the damaged tissue.
Those watching what had occurred still couldn’t believe the power that Cael had in that slam. Those that had went with him to Zarcona didn’t say much but weren’t surprised.
They weren’t going to just hand him the glory that he deserved; but they knew how foolish these students were. Cael was no longer the weakling that he once was.
Cael Breckenridge was starting to live up to his title a little.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Even as the session continued, with other students taking the floor, many still couldn’t get their mind off what Cael had done.
It was like Keagan had hit the ground! Even Keagan felt a little bit threatened from the commotion around his strike.
After everybody had their sessions against these various autonomous bots, Arlo took to the canvas as the final, golden bot left the hangar-like training area.
“I just want to thank you all for your efforts against these bots. As you can see, fighting is a true art that you need to perfect. It’s good to rely on your strengths but you must not be limited by your weaknesses.” Arlo explained.
He continued to explain how different battle types could fight against those that seemed to be built against them. For those that relied on defence and shields that came up against speedy warriors would have to work on their speed and reflexes. With that, they’d have to learn to cover all angles with the smallest movements possible.
“For the next fortnight, I want you to work on your style, and I’ll give you some advice on how to perfect your skills.”
One stark difference between Cael’s institute and the one in Zarcona was the contrast in training depth. Arlo was pretty much their only instructor – it was rare for them to be taught by other instructors at the institute.
However, in Zarcona, they had specialist instructors that taught various types of fighters, like gauntlet users as well as shield-wielders.
Nevertheless, it felt like Arlo was a jack of all trades. It wasn’t like he wasn’t adept at everything either, he had better knowledge about every martial art and fighting style than every student.
Cael, returning to his humble abode, started researching more about his Ultimate Bot Showdown. Preparation for that upcoming event had to become a major part of his life if he wanted to succeed.
It didn’t just have people coming from the Soburg Empire; it was going to be hosted in the neighbouring Republic of Tecros.
This was a member of the greater Aegis Confederation, which then also had its members trying to participate in it.
To perform well, he’d have to perfect his baton and energy shield design. He had two months, which was plenty time to really gear himself up for what was coming.
He scrupulously analysed his baton design, using the TechForge Simulation Lab to look deeply into the intricacies of the design.
Being honest with himself, there were several compartments that were almost above his paygrade. He had to then open his first folder of files from the creator to guide him.
Not only were the systems complex, but they were totally novel and so, he wasn’t familiar with them. It took 100% of his brainpower to just look at the weapon and understand what he was looking at.
One feature he wanted to add was some form of super-heated blade. If he could make the baton capable of cutting damage, it would vastly increase its versatility.
The amount of power that the weapon would demand almost made him feel uncomfortable. Heating the sizzling-hot edge of a super-heated blade along with supplying the massive current to the baton would need a lot of energy.
With the transformative energy shield creation, though, the theory wasn’t off the table. This whole design was already supposed to be impossible based on common, widely accepted science.
Additionally, it wouldn’t hurt for him to work on his energy shield just to cut its energy demand even more.
To make sure that he could complete these objects as well as he could, he’d have to look toward his skills and stats.
[Skills]
[Skill: Power Surge]
[Skill: Mana Stream]
[Skill: Lv. 1 Rapid Update]
[Skill: Lv. 2 Script Sage]
[Skill: Lv. 1 Quick-Build]
[Skill: Lv. 3 Microscale Manipulation]
[Skill: Lv. 4 Internal Design]
[Skill: Lv. 3 Combat Specialist]
[Skill: Lv. 2 Alloy Mastery]
[Skill: Lv. 3 Compacting]
[Skill: Lv. 2 Scarcity Crafting]
[Skill: Lv. 2 Armour Fitting]
[Skill: Lv. 3 Circuit Routing Proficiency]
[Skill: Lv. 1 Gauntlet Overdrive]
[Skill: Lv. 1 Mana Shield]
Making an autonomous bot meant that he’d have to spend loads of time on just his coding. The brains were what dictated the bot. It gave it a unique fighting style, so he had to make sure his design would make the best use of its body.
This meant he’d have to increase his script sage skill. Additionally, microscale manipulation would help him even more with the smaller components of the bot. Getting better at handling those things had various benefits he was already aware of.
Whilst meticulously inspecting this page, he also felt like combat specialist could really do with an upgrade. He already knew that the bot he’d have to create would enter various forms of combat.
Augmenting his knowledge on combat bots would only benefit him in this situation.
His Script Sage was 80 gears to unlock, with microscale manipulation and combat specialist also costing 180 gears each to upgrade.
With more than a million dollars at his disposal, there’d be no need to wait for his upgrades.
[Would you like to convert $65,000 into 1,300 gears?]
[Conversion Complete!]
With 1,300 gears ready to go, he swiftly performed his upgrades.