《Ex Machina (Hiatus)》 Log 000: Ascension? It is now the twenty-third century on the planet Earth, a planet in which the only sentient species that exists is the human race. Humanity has come far from being cave dwellers to a space exploring race, a frontier in which few sapients in this current universe have ever achieved. Cars hovering over head, cities and towns adapted into a beehive manner and people moving along on hovering scooters, bikes or artificial wings instead of their own feet and chatting freely as lords of the sky, earth and sea. Humanity has indeed come very far in this universe but, like always, there is always one that is trying to take things a step further. Derus Allen is an 80 year old retired biomechanical engineer with an extreme love for creating and the job was merely just a means to do something he loved alongside earn some money. Derus rarely ever left his private laboratory and if he did, it was only to get resources for the project he was working on, a project in even in this century would be considered a taboo amongst society, but it''s not like Derus cared about that at all. The only things Derus cared about was if it was possible and how to make it possible which resulted in several dozens of gadgets which would be considered revolutionary if Derus ever decided to market them such as the gravitational language device which allows free manipulation of space to some degree. Due to this reclusive lifestyle, Derus never really made any friends and fell out of touch with his family, although, they would all cringe at the taboo of his project once they knew of it. Inside his quaint, private residence, there is a room which houses many computers running along the walls, constantly streaming data into the head of a humanoid inside a glass container at the room''s center. These computers constantly sweep the internet for any and all possible data related to science, engineering, weaponry, un-armed combat, etc and load them into the ''brain''. So far, since the 20 years they have been set up, almost all important information has been transferred already, it was simply for Derus to perform the last part of the plan. Sitting on an uncomfortable, computerized, metal chair in front of the glass container with it''s back facing the back of the humanoid inside, Derus uses a voice comand to initiate the process.
Initializing Mind Transfer Process...
''This is it...'' Derus thought his final thought to himself before blacking out due to the administration of the potent sleeping drug by the chair.
Connecting human pilot to Ex Machina...
A cable extended from the head rest of the chair onto Derus''s head and another leading into the head of the humanoid.
Initializing mind transfer...
. .. ... .... .....
Mind transfer successful. Beginning synchronization process...
From this point, all the memories of Derus''s life as a human would be placed in the artificial memory cortex which functions just as a normal huuman''s and the data that Derus mined off the internet would be stored in a computerized manner for conscious mental access or for the system to access unconsciously to use as reference. Several hours passed then days and by the time the synchronization process completed, Derus''s human body had long since began it''s decomposition process.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Synchronization complete! Performing system check...
At this point Derus ''awoke'' to find himself, if Derus could refer by ''he'' anymore, as a ball of data inside a black space with code that is being executed being displayed on the walls. ''Status'' thought Derus after which a window was displayed.
STATUS - Derus
Target Ex Machina
Type Inorganic
Body Status Normal - Hibernation
E.U.R (Wh) 0
E.C (W) 100,000/100,000
''So Energy useage rate and Energy Capacity are abbreviated automatically by the system.''
All systems checked, no abnormalities found. Removing hibernation state...
After this notification window, the humanoid''s eyes opened to an area of complete white and a voice sounded from everwhere. "Welcome to my Domain, I see you have been successful in your project. Allow me to offer you my congratulations." ''...huh?'' was the only thought on the shocked Derus''s mind which was read by the voice and it continued. "Do not be alarmed, you may refer to me as ''light'' in your language, the divine of this universe in which you humans reside." "Oh... nice to meet you Light." replied Derus in a voice which sounded synthetic and childlike to which Light responded by saying, "Yes. So, from your accomplishments and death though your project let you control the aftermath, you are to be sent to a higher order world. A world which unlike only electromagnetic radiation is present but mana as well" ''Mana? So magic?'' "Yes." ''Wait... can you read my mind?'' "Although you are an ''Ex Machina'' now, the principle operation of thought doesn''t change so I can read your mind just as I can with every other human. Yours was particularly interesting however as it seems you can have a multi-mind." ''That''s cool... what happens now? Where are you anyways?'' "I am communicating with you through light, you can say I am light itself, the very thing you see and not the space itself." ''That''s... pretty grand'' "I suppose it is. Let me get onto themain topic, I will be transferring you to a higher order universe as you have met the requirements which amongst those would be to identify and use magic." ''I''ve used magic before?'' "Yes, continuing, you will be placed on an Earth-like world and, at this point only, you are free to change your appearance to one of the sapient races which reside there." ''Can I use magic as I am in this body?'' "You can." ''Then no. I''d very much like to keep my Ex Machina body.'' "Not the most talkative are you." ''I appreciate you doing that for me.'' "I''ll send you on your way then, Derus. I wish you all the best." ''Hey no tutorial for the new world and all before I go?'' "With a body like that, it''d be unfair to the residents there." After Light said that, Derus''s vision was shrouded white and the humanoid was transferred away. "Quite interesting indeed." muttered Light before silence descended onto the domain once more. Log 001: Day One (1) An androgynous 5 foot tall grey humanoid with blue angular lines running across its body, hair of grey stopping above the shoulders and a 3 foot long tail is materialized in the center of a dusted hall of an old temple. With glowing blue eyes matching the highlight of the hair, indicating the energy vision is in use, the humanoid surveys the surroundings and examines the broken pews and dusty altar with the symbol of the sun above it but gains nothing of value other than in the environment. As for the environment itself, unlike only electromagnetic radiation, there is another type of fundamental energy just as omnipresent which Derus assumed to be the second force mana as Light had mentioned, mana. Derus had the system scan this new type of energy passively.
Initializing passive analysis of [Mana].
''This building is too old to be used as an area of residence, I should at find an exit.'' thought Derus who then proceeded through the temple''s halls making note of the words of an unknown language that were passively being analyzed by the system and, at the same time, trying to interface with with this energy system of mana but with no success as the mana just seemed to go about it''s own business unhindered by anything in the environment. Arriving at the entrance to the temple, Derus notices that it is surrounded by trees, all of which appear healthy and having rather thick trunks reaching at least 20 metres tall with crowns of thick leaves that block out the sun. The faint sounds of animals going out their business and insects skitting could be picked up by Derus''s conical faustrum ears which would be otherwise impossible for humans. The humanoids ears were capable of picking up soundsall the way up to the ultrasonic range and due to design, can communicate in those frequencies as well. It was also because of Derus'' enhanced humanoid hearing ability that was able to detect the life forms waiting in ambush prompting Derus to activate the energy vision and in this same vision, a red color highlight is used to indentify the five hiding creatures with one directing the other four further in.
STATUS -Wolf
Target Organic
Type Wolf* - Unknown Species
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 250
E.C (W) 1,135/2,500
STATUS -Wolf
Target Organic
Type Wolf* - Unknown Species
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 250
E.C (W) 1,372/2,500
STATUS -Wolf
Target Organic
Type Wolf* - Unknown Species
Body Status Normal
E.U.R 250W/hr
E.C 1,211/2,500
STATUS -Wolf
Target Organic
Type Wolf* - Unknown Species
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 250
E.C (W) 1,447/2,500
STATUS -Wolf
Target Organic
Type Wolf* - Unknown Species
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 250
E.C (W) 1,335/2,720
Using the energy vision, Derus could see that the wolves were glaring from behind the large trees, expertly hidden from normal view whilst remaining near motionless with the exception of their deeply quiet breathing. Seeing that the wolves ambushed the only somewhat looking path away from the broken down temple, Derus decided to just walk through the ambush, ready to counter attack at a humanoid''s moment''s notice.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ''The one to the back should be the alpha with the leadership specialization given how it is directing the other four'' analyzed Derus who appeared to be oblivious to the wolves. ''There''s one to my left preparing to pounce, one on my right aiming for my feet and two a little ways ahead lying in wait.'' No sooner after finishing this thought did the two wolves with messy coats of brown aiming directly at Derus did as predicted. With enough speed to leave behind the wind and glowing golden irises, the wolves rush at Derus aiming to take down the humanoid. The wolf rushing at Derus feet was sidestepped as if it were a crawling baby and the wolf that tried to pounce on Derus was punched in the snout with enough force to break it apart sendung it flying several feet away with blood trailing its path before it lay still on the verdant forest floor. ''I may have used a bit too much force but this should be enough to put them out of their misery so they need not suffer needlessly.'' From ahead, two more wolves rushed out whilst the one that Derus side stepped was making slow circles whilst growling lowly in a foolish atempt to bait the humanoid. Derus could understand why the wolves were making such a desparate atempt to get food from their appearance alone which look malnourished with rib cage showing and deflated stomach. Jumping out from behind the humanoid and running in from the left were the other two wolves who were on supposed to take down Derus whilst the humanoid was busy with the wolf acting with bait only to be immediately killed when Derus, in a flash of yellow due to the temporary activation of [overdrive], grabbed the wolf rushing in from the left and slammed it into the airborne wolf breaking the wolf''s spine and sending the other flying through the three crowns. ''That overdrive feature seems to work splendidly but the energy drain is extreme'' The stunned bait wolf was not spared either as immediately after that short bit of contemplation, the humanoid rushed towards it, and kicked it, smashing it''s face in to the point that the eyeballs popped out of its head, towards the hiding place of the stunned alpha to which Derus was calmly approaching. The alpha wolf came out from it''s hiding place with it''s angry glare fixated on the impassive face of the humanoid and it''s teeth bared in a clearly audible growl. Drawing in the energy which Derus assumed was this mana, the alpha wolf began forming a thin glowing membrane over its coat with consequence towards it''s E.U.R. This did not change anything as in the end the wolf met the same fate as the rest of its pack members. ''With that out of the way, I can set about finding a civilization now.'' mused Derus who forgot about the wolf ambush incident the second it ended After progressing through the forest for a while, the verdant floor started showin spots of brown which solidified into a solid dirt track indicating frequent use. Following this, Derus finally arrived at the outskirts of a village which had a wooden fence not more than 2 metres high and a guardsman dressed in leather armor armed with a nocked wooden bow looking sharply at Derus''s location.
STATUS -Human Male
Target Organic
Type Human
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 100
E.C (W) 1,760/1850
''I hope this doesn''t end too badly.'' thought Derus with a sigh as the humanoid progressed owards. Log 002: Day One (2) Derus slowly proceeds towards the gate whilst the guard says something and fires off arrows at Derus feet after a while, getting louder each time until Derus finally declares to the man, "I can''t understand you." and continues on towards him. Arriving closer to the guard who now held a curious stare towards the humanoid, Derus pointed towards the inside of the town then towards themself, hoping that the guard would get Derus''s intention to gain entry into the village. After cautiously taking a few steps back from Derus, the guard makes a gesture with his finger lined in mana, making the shape of a rectangle and writing something inside of it with that same mana lined finger before overlaying a strange seal on it to send it towards its intended target. ''So mana can be used like that'' thought Derus who stood imassively at the entrance to the village whilst the guard cautiously and curiously making observations. A short time after Derus could hear the footsteps of two persons running over, one of them a lean built woman with black hair flowingly ending into a brown highlight, deep-brown eyes, a shade which complements the color of her skin and an attire of armor made of patchwork leather whilst the next person had large circular ears growing out of the skull of their head, a mono-color hair scheme of brown which appeared to look as a lion''s mane when the head was looked at in its entirety and, the same as the fur covering the supposedly enlarged hands, feet and tail of this person whom Derus assumed was male based on the buffed chest and abdominal region due to a lack of upper-wear garment.
STATUS -Human Female
Target Human
Type Organic
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 100
E.C (W) 1,785/2,010
STATUS -Human Male?
Target Human?
Type Organic
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 120
E.C (W) 2,000/2,200
''The man has a higher energy capacity than the woman and a 20% higher useage rate. Should I be overly cautious...?'' was what Derus was considering until the resounding ''no'' came in the form of the man mutant thing trying to pick up Derus after saying something towards the guardsman and the woman who both tried to hold him back.Immediately as the man tried to reach, Derus side stepped and grabs his wrist and at the same time the humanoid shakes its head left and right hoping to transfer that what the mutant human did was considered a bad move. ''This communication barrier is troublesome.'' thought Derus before going off into deep abyss of thinking all the whilst holding the vainly struggling man''s hand for 10 minutes before the woman walked up towards Derus and tapped the humanoid''s shoulder, waking it from its thoughts.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Derus''s head turns rapidly towards the woman who flinches before pointing towards the hand still firmly holding the crying muscular man''s wrist. After Derus let go, the woman gestured for the humanoid to follow her towards the village all the while making several mana messages which appeared to go towards a single point in the village. The group, minus the guard who remained on watch duty, moved through the dirt track of the village lined by structures of wood and stone of a single storey and curious residents, a mix of normal humans, very short humans and mutant humans. After some minutes spent walking, the group finally arrived at the target structure filled with people armed with swords, shields and bows dealing with business at the counter towards the back or the giant floating crystal on the left of the entrance which some of them had their hands on with their eyes closed. ''This place smells of sweat and blood'' thought Derus who was following behind the group drawing some curious stares. The woman moved towards the counter and spoke with one of the receptionists who had just finished dealing with one of the armed persons whilst the manlead Derus into an office like room and gestured for the humanoid to sit in the chair in front of the desk. Derus did not have to wait very long before the woman walked into the room and sit on a chair on the opposite side of the desk to which Derus was seated at and passed the humanoid a collar whilst at the same time the mutant human asked something with an uncertain look towards the woman.
STATUS - White, Green striped Collar
Target Wearable Item - Accessory
Type Inorganic
Status Normal
E.U.R ---W/hr *Item uses an unknown energy type
E.C ----W/----W *Item uses an unknown energy type
''I''m guessing this thing is powered by mana and the system is unable to measure it based on the lack of a comparable standard.'' thought Derus who saw the woman gesturing to put it around the neck area. Not knowing if it is some kind of trap, Derus hesitates before finally deciding to wear it noticing the glow of the gem embedded on it and receives a string of system notifications.
Foreign energy source atempts to interface with cortex region of consciousness with highest priority. Permit this action? Yes
No
''No.''
Foreign energy source atempts to interface with cortex region of communication with highest priority. Permit this action? Yes
No
''Yes, always request permission mode. Temporarily automatically grant permission every hour for 24 hours.''
Foreign energy source atempts to interface with cortext region of motor and sense with highest priority. Permit this action? Yes
No
''What? No.'' The permission request screens kept popping up until Derus decided to set the system to ignore. "Can you understand me now?" Derus heard the woman ask to which the humanoid responded with an affirmative nod. "I''d like to ask you a few questions if you don''t mind." Log 003: Day One (3) "My name is Farris, the chief of this mercenary outpost, and the lion-kin standing behind you glaring daggers is Roran. Do you have a name to go by?" "You can call me Derus."
[Status - Farris] has been updated!
[Status - Roran] has been updated!
The conversation followed after this system associated their unique energy signature and relevant status. "That''s a name I haven''t heard before. Why have you come to this village Derus?" "Somehow I ended up at an old temple so I came to find a civilization and now I''m here." "You don''t look like any of the races of this world so were you summoned here?" "Summoned? You summon people from other worlds here?" "... Since you don''t know, I suppose this isn''t the case with you." "I suppose not." The conversation continued in the office between Derus, and Farris. Derus was able to find out about the collar which apparently was supposed to make the humanoid subservient towards the person who issued it. Cringing a bit on hearing that, Derus understood it was a necessary method to quickly break down the barrier for communication between the two and unfortunately, only between the two of them as the collar only worked between ''master'' and ''servant''. "I can remove it at any time you wish, slavery of any kind is outlawed in the continent of Gigan." said Farris to Derus who apparently was paying more attention towards the notifications from the system rather than the lady.
Analysis of speech pattern complete! Artificial vocal communication pattern created. Please input a name:
''Finally'' thought Derus who then went about removing the collar nonchalantly much to Farris and Roran''s buldging suprised eyes. "How...?" asked Farris to the humanoid who was returning the collar to her. "You... only the master should be able to remove the collar, how is it that you can just casually take it off!?" asked Roran almost shouting at the end. "Because you''re not my master?" replied Derus leaving the two in a state of mental vertigo. After giving them a moment to gather their bearings, the group continued their conversation of learning about Derus which left them more confused than before and Derus about some general information of the world. When Derus asked if there was a book available to learn reading and writing, they looked at Derus strangely responded saying that one would need to learn how to read and write before using a book. Derus, Farris and Roran talked about several general topics of the world allowing Derus to find out about the day-month-year which runs similar to Earth, the names of the continents, kingdoms and various other general topics.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Although communication was not as perfect as using the collar, Derus prefered to not rely on it because of its very nature of it being a slave collar.
Name of artificial language [Gigua Tongue] has been stored! Current proficiency level: Early N5 Proficiency Notifications: Off
After a bit more conversation, Derus accepted to become a mercenary after being told that it was a way to earn rewards for doing favours or requests as they call it for others. As proof of becoming a mercenary, Derus was presented with a black rubbery bracer that had the engraving of a two-handed sword in the color of gold, the symbol of the mercenary guild that symbolizes determination. The group then leaves the room and Roran offers to show the humanoid around town only to have to abandon Derus when one of the receptionists call him out on trying to ditch work making Derus chuckle a little before moving through the village. Derus observed that Saroot village was very quaint when compared to the planet Earth. The people dressed in what Derus could only describe as patchwork, moved along the dirt track paths shooting curious stares at Derus as the humanoid walked by. The residents were a mix of beastkin and regular humans who appeared to be living in harmony as Derus could see some of them associating rather closely with each other. Structures of wood lined the sides of the tracks with large farm plots spotting the village here and there being worked on by the farmers in this current evening. Derus could not identify any of the crops as they had no direct resemblance to any of Earth. There was an alchemist shop that sold various herbs and potions to cure minor poisons and restore a minor amount of stamina on their shelves. The owner of the store was suprised upon seeing Derus but the two of them got along well and Derus was able to store information on various types of medicines although it would be unecessary for Derus personal use as Derus is able to perform the same action with the nanobots that make the humanoid''s blood. The blacksmith run by a short, stout man was what had Derus interest. Upon entering the smithery, Derus saw the short man hammering away at an iron ingot in a cobblestone corner. Derus observed as the man continuously led mana into the block as he hammered specific points on it in patterned intervals of time. Eventually the man finished shaping the ingot into the blade of a one handed sword which Derus was lost on "Thanks for waitin'' lad, barely anyone has the patience and respect these days." "No problem, I was merely curious about what you were doing with the energy imbuing into that blade." "Ah that''s nothing more than a hobby project, I''ve got far better weapons and armor in the back room though I''m not sure if I have anythin'' that''d work for ya." "Would it be ok for you to teach me then?" "Sure if you can pay for it." "And how much would that be?" "I''ll take five silvers per day, two additional if you don''t have your own ingots." "I see, thank you." said Derus before exiting the shop with the sound of hammering filling the building once again.
Objective: Learn the art of Blacksmithing [NEW!]
Time Limit None
Details
Learn how to do blacksmithing with mana as the smith from Saroot Village had done when forging theiron ingot. Requires Five Silver, Seven if no ingotss provided
''I should visit the mercenary outpost and find out about the currency in more detail and a place to stay.'' thought the humanoid before moving towards the outpost. Log 004: Day One (4) The mercenary outpost was filled with people and beastkin alike coming in to confirm completed requests by bringing in monster materials, herbs and in one case another client who had to be there with a client to confirm a safe escort. From what Derus could see, it was apparent that taking requests and completing them had to be done within the mercenary outpost, most probably as a means of security to prevent scamming which might happen when there is no witnesses. Moving through the line in the reception counter, Derus was met with curious stares from the other persons with some of them whispering and making reference to the mercenary bracer on on the humanoid''s arm. No one directly approached Derus as like before, they only held curious gazes and nothing more. At the counter, Derus was able to ask to secure a meeting with Farris who had gone back to dealing with paper work inside her office. "It''s only been about three hours since you left, what brings you back suddenly?" asked Farris as she continued processing the documents on completed and outstanding requests. "I need to secure a place to stay. Do you have any ideas where I can find one?" "Why not try an Inn?" "I have no money." "That is a problem... and at this time of day you won''t be able to take a request." said Farris before she stopped looking at the documents and, after thinking for a while, looked towards the humanoid that sat a head below her and continued. "There''s a room we have reserved for when mercenaries come back badly injured but are you ok with such a room?" "It is only temporary." "I''ll let one of the outpost staff know then." said Farris as she and Derus moved out of the office towards the sick bay for battered mercenaries or the SBBM room as the medical mercenaries would call it. When asked about the medical mercenaries, Farris explained that they are mercenaries who specialize in doing first aid, performing healing magic and have an overall higher knowledge of the human body. Derus hoped to meet one in the near future to see how they would apply mana in treating something as complex as an injury. The sick bay was located at the back of the outpost, opposite of Farris''s office. Inside the room, clean, thin curtains were draped over the windows giving the room a powered lighting effect which blended well with the wooden plank flooring. The three beds were arranged in a side by side manner opposite to the entrance of the room. Unlike in modern Earth hospitals, there was nothing separating them like curtains or walls. "You can just pick any of them, we don''t really get much injured mercenaries anyways." "Thank you" responded Derus to Farris who went back to her office right after, leaving the humanoid to their own matters.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. After an hour, the sun had setand the humanoid had laid down in one of the beds. ''Lying on a bed feels much different now. Status''
STATUS - DERUS
Target Ex Machina
Type Inorganic
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 100
E.C (W) 91,765/100,000
''Everything seems to be operating normally, the energy dip is possibly due to when I used the [overdrive] combat feature on those wolves.'' thought Derus whilst looking at the status screen. ''Initialize sleep state.'' commanded Derus to the system as the humanoid''s consciousness receeded into the shape of a sphere in an empty space where code runs along the walls.
Sleep State has been initialized, remaining time: 7:59:55 (hh/mm/ss), E.U.R is now -200W/hr.
System memory and live memory has been combined.
No abnormalities detected. Live memory burning is available.
Administrator access is disabled.
In this sleep state, unlike hibernation, Derus is able to know what was happening on the outside via a window which had appeared on the code wall of the space. Sleep state did not work the same way a normal modern earth human went to sleep. The sleep state was the equivalent to a human spending their entire night''s dedicated sleep time in a lucid dream. In short, very unhealthy for a person but not Derus as Derus was an Ex Machina. The sleep state allowed Derus to freely control memories in a manner of copy or cut from the system memory and pasting to the live memory but not the reverse. The system was only able to hold a limited amount of information in storage with perfect recall whereas the live memory was modelled after the structure of the human brain to hold a near infinite amount of information but not able to be recalled perfectly. Memory burning allowed Derus to implant information from the system in such a way that the information becomes as second nature as using a primary language or breathing. Using the administrator mode would allow Derus to manually mold system memory and live memory which can result in a permanent sleep state if the molding is improper or even destruction of the consciousness of Derus. Derus observed the memory of the blacksmith imbuing mana into the iron as he striked it. Without knowing the basis of how mana worked or how much force to use with each strike, Derus would not be able to use this memory to replicate the blacksmith''s skill nor would the humanoid be able to use past life knowledge to do so due to the difference in nature. Derus goal of learning the blacksmithing basics was to primarily learn about mana, how to control it and finally how to use it in craft. After viewing this memory, Derus checked the body components to check if they were in working order and spent the rest of the time in sleep state creating a virtual world inside of the empty code room into a forest theme for fun.
In the mountain border between the dwarf and human territory of the Gigan continent the monsters stir. A corrupt mana sweeps through the mountains decaying the trees. A vortex is formed signifying the entrance of a dungeon. This unknown vortex would signify the start of a disaster. Log 005
Sleep State removed.
Derus got up and out of the bed two hours before the break of dawn and checked the status of the humanoid body.
STATUS - DERUS
Target Ex Machina
Type Inorganic
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 100
E.C (W) 93,365/100,000
''Everything seems to be in perfect working order'' thought Derus who recalled the events of the day prior. ''Today I should see to making some of this world''s currency. Learning about mana takes precedence over anything else.'' Derus got up out of the bed and activated the energy vision to scan the general area. The village was showing signs of minor activity a performance of their morning activities. With nothing out of the ordinary, Derus left the sick bay room, out of the empty mercenary outpost and walked around the village observing the residents. The glowing blue eyes started some of the villagers when Derus looked at them but otherwise nothing much happened. All the shops were closed yet the doors were open and at most, everyone was preparing breakfast. With nothing else left to do other than to question the habit of people leaving their doors open, Derus went back to the outpost, jumped to the top of the roof, and stared at the horizon until the sun came up. The sunrise of this new world was nothing like earth. When the sun began its rise above the horizon, wisping traces of mana in the environment were highlighted in vrious colors that continuously shifted in color that dyed the sky a wonderous blend that melded well together despite the varying color. As the sun broke the horizon, the wisping mana began to fade from normal vision and the villagers, whom Derus noticed also looking at the sunrise, went about their own business as well. Some time had passed and eventually the outpost began to get more active with some of the of the leather armored people leaving the inn and the outpost staff entering the outpost. Derus took this as an opportunity to find out more about the requests available in order to establish a means of earning some funds and approached the mostly empty receptionist counter. "Excuse me, where may I find a list of available requests and how may I accept them?" asked Derus "Near the entrance, just place your hand on the crystal and you''d be able to browse through the available requests there." "Thank you." Derus said whilst turning to move towards the crystal and when the humnanoid placed their hand on the crystal, a system notification popped up.
Foreign energy source wishes to connect conscious region to foreign interface. Permit this action? Yes
No
''Yes.'' thought Derus after which the code room which Derus consciousness was transferred to the code room and at the same time, a vortext had opened, connecting Derus''s mind with whatever the crystal was. Upon willingly entering the vortex into the crystal space, Derus saw other spherical like bodies which probably represented the wills of the other mercenaries. Those spheres were seemingly hovering in space amongst some particles which were streaming into them from a core part of the crystal. Eventually, a stream of particles shot towards Derus at a pace matching those of the other spheres and from there, a menu came up.
Please Select An Option:
[>] View available requests. [>] Make a request.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
''It''s amazing that it''s in a language I can read'' thought Derus who selected the first option which then displayed a list of requests.
Available Requests
Subjugation: Forest Wolves Requestor: Barnevk, Saroot Village Chief Detail: Recently, the forest wolf population has grown beyond what the forest is able to hold and the wolves have started appearing nearer to the village. A minimum of three (3) Froest wolf heads are considered sufficient to clear the request. Note: A team is recommended as forest wolves travel in groups. Time Limit: One Week. Reward: 20 Copper coins per Forest Wolf Head. Accept This Request? [>] Yes [>] No
Delivery: Deliver a package Requestor: Barnes Detail: Deliver a package for me to the alchemist in Castle town. Time Limit: 3 days after accepting. Reward: 1 Silver coin Accept This Request? [>] Yes [>] No
Escort: Escort to Castle Town Requestor: Anna Detail: Need an escort to Castle town. Reward: 3 Silver Coins Accept This Request? [>] Yes [>] No
(Regional Request) (Urgent Request) Subjugate: Berserker Cyclops Requestor: Duke Protus Castle Detail: A berserker cyclops has been sighted by many moving within duke Castle''s territory. Last known area of sighting was towards the eastern forests which lie just before the boundary to Cygnus''s territory. Urgent request for subjugation. Requires the forehead eye of the cyclops for confirmation. Note: Berserker Cyclops is extremely dangerous when cornered. Use EXTREME caution. Multiple teams recommended. Time Limit: None. Reward: 2 Gold coins. Accept This Request? [>] Yes [>] No
The request which caught Derus''s attention was the [Subjugate: Berserker Cyclops]. Cross referencing system information and own personal memories on cyclops myths, Derus understood them to giant bipedal monster that contained some semblance of intelligence. Other than the team warnings which Derus didn''t think applied in their case very much, Derus accepted the request and left the space. Derus then went towards the receptionist again just to confirm some details. "Excuse me, Ms. Receptionist?" asked Derus "You were able to go through the requests yes?" "Yes but is there anything else I have to do?" "Not really, the crystal sends and receives requests from the main branch in castle town so you have nothing to worry about." "I see, what about certain locations." "...I have a map you can view for reference." replied to receptionist who spread out a map on the counter between them and highlighted certain areas on it which Derus stored all of it in the system memory. After that, Derus left the outpost and went towards the north west through the forest which thethey had travelled through yesterday. Upon entering, Derus broke into a relatively slow running speed of 80km/hr, At least relative compared to the maximum possible speed in the humanoid body.
In the depths of the forest, the very same cyclops which Derus had accepted the request for was facing against two persons, a young girl with a shoulder length wild-style hairstyle euipped with enchanted katars and a middle aged man wielding a two-handed sword in chainmail armor. The cyclops'' skin was dyed a burning red as is its aura which flickered about like a flame. This was the cyclops in its berserk state. This was a monster that could take down an entire mercenary team of five in a wild frenzy. It was also this monster that the two, the man and the girl had the misfortune of running into. The duo usually came to this part of the forest for training but they were unfortunate enough to run into the cyclops which had moved in the direction they were in. Seeing the two humans, the cyclops believed itself to be in an ambush and it''s skin changed from its usual stone grey appearance to a flaming red. After clashing with the duo and easily overpowering them, with the man taking the brunt of the damage as the girl''s protector, the two parties now face off against each other. "My lady... I''ll try to... hold it of...f" said the man who continued whilst panting heavily, "So... please... Go!..." "If I abandoned you here, I would disgrace my father, I cannot do such a thing!" declared the girl. However, despite their talk, the cyclops was glaring at them intensely, storing up energy for a wild frenzy. Their time for life was growing shorter by the second. Log 006: Mercenary Mission (2) At 3km north-east from Derus''s current position, the sound of a powerful roar broke out which made the humanoid change direction towards the source. Moving closer to the source, Derus could see many monsters like wolves and avians fleeing the area whilst others like snakes secured hiding places nearby. ''Overdrive, standby.''
State [Overdrive] has been set to stand-by mode.
Whatever made that noise was not something Derus thought should be taken lightly but at the same time. Setting the [Overdrive] state to stand-by mode increased Derus''s E.U.R and the angular lines which ran about the humanoid''s body changed to have a yellowish tint and a soft blue-green glow. Following this, Derus proceeded rapidly in the direction of the roar hoping to collect on the bounty. A few seconds later, Derus heard a loud crack followed shortly after by a girl''s shout and a crunching sound.Concerned, Derus accelerated even more which made the humanoid appear as a yellow blur bouncing off the trunks of the trees as running in between them would have taken much too long to arrive at the area. When Derus arrived at the area, it was nothing less than that of a tragedy. There was the body of a man who''s topside was face-first embedded slightly into a tree and was outlined in red as if the man''s blood was used to draw the impact area. The man''s spine was splintered at the lumbar region and the small intestine could be seen as the only thing still attached to the man''s bottom part. The girl was on the ground, heaving with one leg twisted in the opposite direction and an arm appeared to be broken. Finally, there was a four-armed bipedal red skinned creature holding a large tree trunk in two of its hands with a firey-misty aura seeping from its body glaring at the girl with its single bloodshot eye. After scanning the creature, Derus became a bit alarmed at the potential of some of the monsters of this new world.
STATUS - Berserker Cyclops
Target Monster
Type Organic
Body Status Abnormal
E.U.R (Wh) 6,000
E.C (W) 25,865/30,000
''What the heck is this!?'' thought Derus in mental exclaim who then proceeded to scan the girl who had her head turned towards the humanoid and was wide-eyed.
STATUS -Human Female
Target Human
Type Organic
Body Status Abnormal - Low E.C
E.U.R (Wh) 50
E.C (W) 465/2,670
''That girl might die if that cyclops continues. Activate [Overdrive] state.'' Following this thought, the angular lines running along the humanoid''s body surrended its blue color to yellow. The humanoid''s eyes glowed with the power of the sun the world around it seemed to slow down to a crawl with the exception of the cyclops. The E.U.R of the humanoid body went up to the extremes of normal permissable operation which was to accomodate for the boost in all motor components and mind assistive components to handle motor action at high speed. In this state, the normal human reaction time was reduced to inhuman levels as Derus was now able to react within nanosecond timing.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Moving towards the cyclops at a high speed, Derus delivered a sonic speed jab at its gut before dodging the tree trunk that was slammed down at that exact spot near-immediately after. Seeing Derus dodge the blow successfully, the cyclops let out a power roar and began swinging the tree trunk wildly along with sending a few punches. The low swing whichaimed to knock the humanoid off its feet was dodged when Derus hopped over it lightly. Following that swing,the cyclops threw a fist aimed towards the humanoid''s face which was countered when Derus held the monster''s wrist and pulled such that the humanoid rolled along the wrist into the cyclops to close the distance. Derus jumped and landed an uppercut on the creature''s sternum which made the cyclops crumple it''s face slightly as if stung by a bug. The tree trunk was then swung rapidly at the airborne Derus who was sent off through the trees causing some light damage to the humanoid which was almost instantly repaired by the nanomachines that acted as the Ex Machina''s blood. The monster didn''t think that Derus would be so easily taken care of and began to give chase. The humanoid dug its feet into the ground to stop its motion and stared in the direction of the approaching cyclops whose aura appeared to be building. No. It truly was growing as Derus scanned the creature again and saw the difference in status.
STATUS - Berserker Cyclops
Target Monster
Type Organic
Body Status Abnormal
E.U.R (Wh) 9,110
E.C (W) 25,265/30,000
''This monster is too dangerous.'' thought Derus calmly observing the approaching creature. ''There shouldn''t be any casualties if I use it in this area.'' The humanoid''s left arm began to change. The hand began receeding onto the wrist making it thicker and at the same time the rim of the wrist of the now missing hand had the same color and glow as the humanoid''s eyes. The inside of the humanoid''s wrist appeared glossy but not empty as if one looked inside of it, they could see a grown sphere of energy which drew upon the humanoid''s own capacity.
Electromagnetic Energy Blaster engaged.
Following the system notification, Derus aimed the humanoid''s wrist at the chest of the nowreasonably close cyclops which had taken a throwing stance upon seeing the humanoid raise it''s hand and not wanting to take any chances. When the cyclops threw the tree trunk it was holding, Derus fired off the energy from the energy blaster which had erupted as a solar prominence and reduced Derus''s capacity by 10,000W. The beam angled slightly upwards expanded in a conical shape incinerating the trunk, blowing a big hole in the cyclops''s chest and burning off a few leaves before shooting off into the sky. The cyclops lost its aura and its skin changed to a stone grey color before fell to the floor causing a local tremor. Derus marked its position before rushing back towards the human girl, carefully picking her up and dashing towards the village. If Derus had observed the cyclops a few seconds after its fall, Derus would have seen a dark cloud of miasma building over the cyclops consuming its residual mana.
STATUS - Derus
Target Ex Machina
Type Inorganic
Body Status Normal - [Overdrive] Ready
E.U.R (Wh) 1,000
E.C (W) 81,865/100,000
Log 007 Running in a manner that produced the minimal amount of shock with each step, Derus made it back to the village mercenary outpost, stunning the guard at the gate at the speed at which the humanoid was running at. Once inside the mercenary outpost, Derus stopped running and walked towards the reception counter admist the shocked gazes and reported the incident involving the cyclops to the receptionist. Afterwards, the girl was placed in one of the beds in the sick bay and Derus ran out of the mercenary outpost, out of the village and back towards the cyclops to pick up the eye of the cyclops. When the humanoid arrived at the location, there was the cyclops which had more than likely grown smaller during the short time it took Derus to make the round trip. Despite its smaller size, the cyclop''s eye retained it''s size and for some reason, the cyclops was more brittle than before so Derus had no problem extracting the eye and returning to the village. ''That the cyclops decayed so rapidly is part of how this world works it seems.'' thought Derus who had archived the event. When Derus made it back to the outpost, the humanoid submitted the eye to an available receptionist and was told that the reward of two gold coins would be rewarded three days later when the duke could be notified of the completed request. Although the receptionist was a bit surprised when Derus brought in the eye of the cyclops, they still handled the submission properly to which Derus thought it was professional.
Objective Completed! Task Archived.
Shortly after, Farris came out of the sick bay in a hurry, saw Derus and beckoned the humanoid over as they moved towards her office where they then discussed the cyclops subjugation. "Putting aside the absurdity of taking down a Berserker Cyclops alone for now, how did you come across the girl?" asked Farris with a slightly disheveled appearance to which Derus could guess was related to the girl and responded, "Her companion had been taken down by the cyclops, I was only in time to save her." "It''s good that you were, she''s the daughter of the requester. With this we can negotiate an increase in the reward, what do you say?" "I won''t mind having the extra currency to lug around." "Good that''s settled then. Now if you don''t mind me asking, how did you subjugate the Berseker Cyclops alone?" "Is it necessary for you to know?"A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "Just a curiousity and really, with how child-like you appear to be, no one suspects you to be all that strong." "I see. But to answer the question, all I did was what I was capable of doing." After Derus said that, Farris looked over the humanoid, scrunched her brows, narrowed her eyes and asked Derus. "So you punched it?" "Among other things, yes." "I... See... What is your goal Derus?" Before Derus could respond, a knock came on the door. After Farris gave the ok, one of the receptionists came in and game a status report on the girl, Ms. Castle, Derus had brought in. It seems that she is in stable condition from the first aid that had been administered but she would need time to heal and as such, the Duke had been contacted. Seeing that the talk between the two would take a while, Derus left the office. Moving into the outpost foyer, Derus was met with looks of admiration and some nods rather than the usual curious glare. ''News travels fast it seems...'' thought Derus who then went outside and took an afternoon stroll around the village before settling on top of the roof of one of the buildings and looking at the clear blue sky. It was a peaceful scene of observing the different clouds streak across the sky slowly whilst a gentle breeze hovered in the air. Taking the opportunity of the quiet time, the humanoid closed its eyes and Derus was once more in the code room that had been remodelled to appear as a forest rather than a dull void-filled space. Since Derus had left, there were adaptations made to the forest such as the executed codes which had run along the walls of void code room had now run across the forest floor and on the tree trunks instead. Molding the sky Derus had just seen into the sky of the void space and coding for a weather system passed the time for Derus until the evening. Afterwards, Derus returned to the outpost sickbay and decided to enter a deep sleep state for the next three days, the time it would take for the reward to arrive at the village and also to quickly recharge some of the energy lost. Since this was a long sleep time, Derus coded for a proximity alarm which used the humanoid body''s abilities in sound and energy detection to determine if any significant lifeform remained in proximity to Derus for a certain amount of time would forcefully cancel the sleep state. Before finally moving into the sleep state, Derus set an auto response in the event someone tried waking the humanoid which was to have the person tap the foreheard of the humanoid if waking up was necessary. Like this, the three days passed with Derus dedicating all of the humanoid''s body resources to recharging the lost mass of energy and the girl sleeping in one of the beds. No one bothered the girl but there were a few atempts to rouse Derus which were dealt with by the automatic response set up in advance. After waking from the sleep state at the end of the three days, Derus checked the status of the humanoid body before leaving the sick bay.
STATUS - Derus
Target Ex Machina
Type Inorganic
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 100
E.C (W) 100,000/100,000
Log 008 There appeared to be some sort of commotion within the outpost that day as the receptionists were stifly dealing with the mercenaries. At the entrance, there were two men standing next to the entrance posing as bouncers and armed with excellent gear compared to the usual. The two men wore silver chainmail armor which in the front had a shield crest with a sword at the center. One of them had a two-handed broadsword across his back whilst the other had a sword in one hand and the outline of a shield could be seen on his back. The two men were staring straight ahead and not really paying attention to the people inside the outpost but noticed when one of the receptionists on duty went over to Derus in a hurry and ushered the humanoid towards Farris''s office and knocked on the door. "Who is it?" came a woman''s voice from inside of which Derus could guess was Farris "It''s Sera Ms. Farris, I have Derus here with me." responded Sera "...Come in." Entering the room, Derus could see Farris sitting ar her desk glaring at the middle-aged man in front of her like a predator. Behind the middle-aged man stood another guard in a similar attire to the ones at the outpost entrance with the exception of not being equiped with a visible weapon. This guard was the only one to turn towards the door when it opened. Seeing that the guard was just staring without saying anything, Derus just left the guy to his own business and waited until Farris turned towards the humanoid. "Hello Derus, this man here is Duke Protus Castle. He-" "Came to hear the situation from the supposed lone mercenary who took down the berserker cyclops alone. You are this Derus correct?" said Protus, bluntly cutting in on Farris''s introduction. "Yes." responded Derus maintaining a neutral face whilst at the same time thought that it was rude of the man to cut off Farris like that. ''I guess dukes have that right...'' thought Derus. "You''re rather small aren''t you? How did someone like you manage to take down that monster?" "Don''t you think you''re a bit rude to inquire into Derus ability like that considering the life of your daughter was saved by such person?" "Can you really expect me to look at this Derus and say with confidence that I can accept such a thing? Naturally I would require some proof, yes? Farris and the duke began their debate once more whilst the receptionist had long since excused herself after noticing the tension between the outpost chief and the duke. After several minutes, Derus got tired of their cyclic argument and asked in an annoyed tone "When can I pick up my reward for the subjugation?" The two stopped their back and forth arguing and turned towards Derus with Farris being the first one to respond. "As soon as this man here learns to appreciate what the life of his daughter is."Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. "Of course I appreciate who ever saved my daughter''s life, I just don''t believe that it was the result of a tiny man looking thing with no trace of mana what-so-ever." replied Protus, dropping in a tinge of a snide tone. "What do you want me to do to prove it then?" asked Derus now using a neutral tone not giving the duke any ideas about the humanoid''s ulterior motives. "It''s simple really, all you have to do is spar against my trusted guard here." replied Protus in a somewhat belittling manner. "And if I win?" "Then I agree with Ms. Farris''s notion to give you the reward of 50 gold coins. Derus glanced at Farris and could see the fox like smile before she quickly reverted back to her usual business expression. ''Not bad Farris.'' thought Derus before looking towards the duke and voicing an agreement. At the back entrance of the village, near the entrance to the forest, Derus and the guard stood apart from each other. The guard, who was named as Hamilton, still apparently unequiped, stood some distance away from Derus whose arms were folded as the humanoid awaited the start of the signal to fight. The guard, Hamilton, placed his two hands in front of himself as if holding something cylindrical prompting Derus to scan both him and the duke.
STATUS - Hamilton
Target Human
Type Organic
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 100+
E.C (W) 2,550/3,000
STATUS - Protus
Target Human
Type Organic
Body Status Normal
E.U.R (Wh) 100
E.C (W) 4,458/4,500
Seeing as Derus locked onto himself for a second, the duke slightly narrowed his eyes and observed the humanoid more intensely. ''100+ and increasing, this Hamilton is stronger than he seems. I am curious as to what he plans on doing with his hands like that.'' absently thought Derus who became lost in thought afterwards, paying attention to listen only for the signal. With a shout, Hamilton materialized a two-handed sword whilst at the same time, a strange inscription appeared at the back of his hands. The sword appeared to be a translucent red, matching the highlight colour on his brown hair, and at the same time weightless. Derus was unsure if the sword was truly real until Hamilton took a few test swings with it. "Not going to use your weapon?" asked Hamilton with some amusement. "It is unecessary." replied Derus. "... your overconfidence shall be your downfall." said Hamilton before taking a battle stance. "Are you two ready?" asked Farris. "Yes." said Derus. "Yes." grunted Hamilton. "Then... begin!" Kicking off the floor at a speed that would be difficult to react to for normal humans, Hamilton closed the gap between the two of them and swing his sword in a wide horizontal at the humanoid. Derus had already predicted this and quickly activated and deactivated the overdrive state to take several steps backwards, making it appear as if Hamilton had swung his sword throughthe air for no reasonwhen Derus was truly a few steps away. To both Farris and Protus, it looked like teleportation but the true reason was that the rapid change in velocity could not be detected so easily by normal human eyes. With Hamilton now wide open, Derus moved towards him quickly, flashing the [Overdrive] state and punched him just hard and fast enough for him to lose two of his front teeth and pass out on the floor signaling the end of the battle. ''I hope that blacksmith has some free time today.'' thought Derus who had begun walking towards Farris and the duke. Log 009 Derus stood in front of the duke staring passively at the man who had his face twisted in a rather incomprehensible manner. The duke blew out a stale breath whilst turning to one side and raising and opening his hand in front of himself. Binding mana to the space in front of himself by imbuing mana on his finger tips, the duke pulled and twisted the space causing a two dimensional vortex distortion. "What was that you did just now?"The duke then placed his hand inside the vortex after dissipating the mana from his hand and pulled out a pouch which he then tossed towards the humanoid before moving towards his knocked out subordinate. Checking the pouch, Derus saw that it contained 50 gold coins within. Curious about what the duke did, Derus turned and asked. "Magic Storage." came the curt response from the duke. Seeing as how the duke continued on his way towards his subordinate without any further regard for the humanoid, Derus paid him no further mind. "Nice one on holding back! Don''t worry about the duke, that''s just the look of his pride being broken." said Farris with a wry smile looking towards the duke''s back after which she turned to Derus and continuied, "Guess you don''t need to stay in the sick bay any longer, right?" "I dpn''t mind staying in the sick bay but I would need to acquire a private place to stay. Is it possible for me to construct my own place anywhere outside the villages or towns of this country?" "... You know that there are monsters roaming about just outside those villages and towns right?" "Yes, but what I am concerned about right now is if it is ok or not." "I don''t think anyone would have any problems with it if you can build a house in the wilderness. "Thank you." After that, Derus turned towards the village and headed towards the blacksmith''s smithery. Entering the smithery, Derus could hear the sounds of clanging metal as the humanoid stood in wait observing the smithing process once more. The short man was hammering away at yet another iron lump, flattening it into the shape of a sword blade whilst at the same time injecting mana into it. After the man finished, he noticed the presence of the humanoid inside the smithy and moved towards them. "Ah you''re back again lad? Still interested in learnin'' how to be a smith?" asked the short man. "Yes." responded Derus who then went on to take out a coin out of the pouch that was received from Protus, "Will this be enough?" "...Oi lad... actually, nevermind. Let''s start right away." said the man who then went on to introduce himself, "Name''s Granuf and as you can see, I''m a dwarf." "Derus Allen, Ex Machina."This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. "Dunno what an Ex Machina is but let''s get started. First, I''m going to ''ave ya do the injection binding on this ''ere ingot" said the dwarf whilst picking up an ingot from the cobblestone floor near the forge to the back of the smithy. "Extend your mana from one of your fingers to this part on the ingot." instructed Granuf. "I don''t know how to use mana." responded Derus making the dwarf choke on a breath. "You serious lad?" "Yes." "...Just a minute then" said the dwarf who then went through the door to the backroomfor a moment before coming back out. In the dwarf''s hand was an arm bracer which he shoved towards the humanoid. "Wear this, it should help you with mana manipulation."said Granuf who waited for the humanoid to put on the bracer. Derus equipped the grey coloured arm bracer which had a red gem embedded on it as well as some red lines streaking from it forming a red pattern of an eye along the surface of the bracer. From the system notifications received, Derus could feel something wasbeginning to collect within the self, the consciousness, which stemmed from a link created by the bracer on the humanoid''s wrist. Setting the system to analyze this interaction, Derus turned on the energy vision, the glowing blue color of the eyes startled the dwarf a little but was ignored as Derus tried manipulating the energy to compress into a normally invisible orb which hovered above the humanoid''s hand. "I think I''m ready to begin." said Derus after dissipating the orb. "...Oi..." "...?" "You ''ere just pulling me leg when ya said ya don''t know ''ow to control mana weren''t ye lad?" said Granuf with eyes squinted at the humanoid. "...What?" came the confused reply from Derus After having a hearty laugh at the humanoid''s confusion, the dwarf continued, "It''s a joke lad, a joke. That bracer''s ability is to make it easy to use mana, it''d be a surprise if you weren''t able to use mana even with that." "I see, thank you for the mana bracer."
Item Description Updated!
Mana Bracer
A bracer which greatly aids in the ability to manipulate mana. Currently owned by the dwarf Granuf of Saroot Village.
"It''s on loan while we do the lesson so ya''ave to return it, got it?" "Understood. Is this bracer available for purchase anywhere?" "Nah, it was a useless item from a trek in a dungeon a while back. Kept it as a souvenir ever since. Now let''s start with the blacksmith lesson, we can talk about this later." "Ok." "First, use your mana and connect it to this point I have my finger on." instructed Granuf which Derus did after failing to do so once and succeeded after being assisted by the system. "Next connect your mana here and tell me if you feel any difference." Doing as such, Derus could tell that the first point Derus had connected to was comparatively softer than the second point which Derus relayed to Granuf. Smiling on hearing this, Granuf remarked on Derus''s natural talent and for an hour, tested Derus on different points which would sometimes be extremely close in thoughness or have different textures. When Derus''s mana ran out after the hour, the humanoid went still as the glow of eyes in energy vision mode and angular lines running across the humanoid body changed to red as Derus received a dizzing jolt after which Derus was inside the code space again.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
Warning! Unknown abnormal state induced! Entering sleep mode! Enabling contact electrical defense measures! Entering administrator mode!
Log 010
Warning: Invalid use of core detected!
After this notification, to focus on the process of using mana, Derus had turned off displaying notifications from the system which left the humanoid at the mercy of automatic safety features. Because of this, Derus had missed the following notifications which were now hovering in the code space.
Warning: Destabilization of core imminent, recommend to stop current activity.
The humanoid''s power core functioned by feeding waste energy into the other cores that would then build upon that waste energy, use what was necessary and feed the remainder and newly generated waste energy into another core. This process only required four of the humanoid''s hexadeca-core power system. The mana which Derus was using during the blacksmith practice was interfering with the electromagnetic power core of the humanoid body. This resulted in the stability lines between the cores unravelling, resulting in each core trying to run the humanoid body independently, falsely detecting that the mana was a useable energy source. Because of this, several of the cores became damaged from overuse and the humanoid body had to perform emergency protocol, causing Derus to go into sleep mode. After regaining stability, which was a few minutes at most, Derus was then able to enter a conscious sleep mode and from there, the system immediately turned on administrator mode causing the humanoid body to glow with a cold red color. In this administrator mode, all actions the humanoid body has to take must be coded for manually, a task impossible for a normal human being. In this state, Derus dilated the difference in time within the code space and the outside world by a factor of 20 by accelerating the thought process speed of the humanoid. All that was left to do was to observe how the mana had reacted in the humanoid during that one hour. ''So that''s the reason...'' thought Derus after seeing the mana reaction. To fix this, Derus would need to either dedicate several of the humanoid cores towards stabilizing the mana when in use, or, create an independent network within the humanoid body to operate mana independent of the electromagnetic energy lines. ''Creating an independent network for mana without my old lab, that would take over 200 hours. That''s not time I can afford to be out of operation on a world like this.'' thought Derus considering the two options. ''I''ll just focus on restabilizing the body and then set the next objective towards securing a permanent residence.'' Derus spent several hours in accelerated time writing several lines of code, manually directing the nanomachines'' repair and using the resources of the humanoid''s own body which Derus had stocked up on within the artificial stomach. After which it was to simply wait for the sleep state to end via non-forced start-up procedure.
Sleep State: 58 minutes left.
The time remaining on the sleep state was in normal time so Derus still had approximately 20 hours that would be used to go over the blacksmithing via simulation.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Pulling the memories of the blacksmith in action and observing it at the same time as making notes of the mana interactions from personal experience, Derus was able to create a simulation for blacksmithing using mana, a much safer method. Creating a silhoute of the smith and using the information gathered on mana with respect to smithing and otherwise, Derus cross-analyzed the smithing process of the blacksmith. The simulated iron the silhoute struck had 3D data points extending from it, showing Derus which points the man struck with the hammer and the information of those points in terms of texture and toughness. After observing for a while, Derus created a simulation hammer and tried the process for several hours before succeeding on the 13th hour. After this, Derus sent this data to be processed by the system so that this mana-type blacksmithing could be used on any other material that may be found as well as to let the system passively create more methods of blacksmithing by simulating different patterns.
Analysis of ''Mana Blacksmithing'' has begun, time left: 10 years, 6 months approximately.
Unfortunately, the lack of information meant that this procedure would take a very long time to accomplish. Derus wasn''t too concerned however as more information would come with time. Finally the sleep state timer had reached zero and Derus had left the code room via console code, seeing out of the eyes of the humanoid once more to the face of a very curious smith which hung over the humanoid''s body.
Sleep State Removed.
The glowing red humanoid stood up and checked their status.
STATUS -Derus
Target Ex Machina
Type Inorganic
Body Status Normal - Administrator Mode
E.U.R (Wh) 100
E.C (W) 35,000/100,000
''The energy loss from the damaged cores was quite severe...'' thought Derus who then disabled the administraator mode returning to the usual blue color. "Oi! Lad! You alright?" asked the dwarf in a boistrous manner. "Yes." replied Derus, still using the console which produced a rather mechanical voice, and continued, "Is it ok for me to come back here and observe your smithing process at a later date?" "I got no problem with that, but are ya sure ya ok lad?" "I shall be fine." replied Derus who then left the smith and moved towards the inn under the afternoon sun. After taking walking for a bit, Derus began to detect tremors in the earth which was the onset of an Earthquake that happened just a moment after. The earth shook widely shaking the buildings but not collapsing them as they were sturdy, the people of the village panicked at the suprise attack and ran indoors or simply stood still in fright all the while screaming. None of them in their panic had noticed the pillar of darkness that shot into the sky from the mountains signalling the birth of a new dungeon and the calamity known as the flood in this world. After the dark pillar faded from the sky, the tremors stopped shortly after. Some people were still shaking from the surprise but there was no significant damage from the earthquake just now. Since this quake was most likely caused by the phenomena that caused that dark pillar, Derus suspected that there would be no after shocks. Instead of heading towards the inn, Derus changed paths and headed towards the mercenary outpost to seek out Farris in hopes that she would have some more information on the pillar. Log 011: The wide world Shortly after Derus arrived at the front of the outpost, people began to pile at that same location. The mercenary outpost in this world doubled as a method of networking with outside information and as such, it was also their duty to delegate territory news to the residents even if they were considered to be an independent organization. It was an agreement for their operation with the king of the human country. Or so Farris explained to Derus when he entered the outpost and saw her busying about before they both moved to her office. On the way there, Derus noted that two guards guarded the sick bay which was still occupied by the girl Derus had brought back. The guards stood out from the rest of the people as usual with their metal armor. After finding out about the significance of the dark pillar eruption from Farris, Derus decided against the idea of spending a week to create a mana system using the nanomachines. Remaining unconscious for such a long time in such conditions was unsafe concluded Derus who then decided to dedicate that time towards recharging instead.
Priority has been set towards gathering and storage of energy. Combat State has been locked.
During the recharging - active state, Derus would be unable to access combat state without accessing administrator mode. Limitations on perception are also implemented which is to the degree that the energy vision would be restricted. Finally, significant system aid in precision movements during combat would be limited to human levels. Finally, the angular lines running along the humanoid body and it''s eyes stopped glowing. Changing like this in front of Farris caused her to crunch her brows at Derus in light confusion but at the same time, she did not bother with asking Derus unless the humanoid saw to make it a topic which wasn''t at the moment. "Thank you for the information Farris." said Derus who continued, "Do you have any records of this ''Flood'' event?" "You''d find that in Castle town, just head to the Mercenary hall or the city library. You''d find eye witness records in the hall mostly, not too sure about the library, probably history and theory." replied Farris. "That would be sufficient. Which direction should I go to if I wish to get to this Castle town?" "It''s to the east- ah... just a minute." said Farris as she got up and went towards the shelves to pull out a map scroll. Opening the aged scroll across the desk, which Derus had snapshot immediately, Farris continued. "This is the village here, just go east along this route and you''ll reach Castle town. Ignore those two branching routes, those head to the other territories. You can probably find a carriage rider to give you a trip for a fee." said Farris who then rolled up the map.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. "Thank you. I shall be heading towards the Inn now." said Derus as the humanoid got up and exited the office as Farris went towards the shelf to put away the map. Reaching the Inn, Derus booked a single room for three days and asked that no one disturb unless it was an emergency. During those three days, Derus let the humanoid body sit on the bed and face the doorway whilst at the same time ran blacksmithing simulations using imainary materials and real materials. Also, at the same time, any memories associated with words and text were brought forward to compile an auto translation for the written text of this world. Finally, three days later, Derus left the inn and started towards the eastern end of the village in the direction towards Castle town. The expected trip by a carriage was three days and those carriages travelled at a snail''s pace compared to an old first generation car. With an unknown event occuring, Derus had no intention of taking that long on travelling and as such, on the road to Castle town, a humanoid could be seen running at a high speed. The expected arrival time to Castle town was several hours at most if the current speed could be maintained.
The vortex in the montains had grown in size, whilst the area around it had decayed. If one looked, they could see the vortex siphoningmana from the veins of the earth in a whirlpool. This vortex is what is known as the entrance to a dungeon, a space which is separated from the real world yet is influenced by it. Currently travelling through the mountain range were a team of four, three men and a female, from the dwarf kingdom. Being dwarfs, they were as tall as the average ten year old human child but none would mistake this group with those of children. The woman carried a large shield on her back which, at its center, had a large gear and dull red orb. This shield was held in place by straps which had ran across her torso. The two men following on either side of her were equipped with crossbows that appeared to have scope lenses. The crossbows themselves were unlike anything which could be expected in a medieval world as they were made completely of metalwith all moving parts made hidden in metal encasing. The man following behind them appeared to be old but in his eyes one could see a stubborn determination that refused to allow his body to yield to time. Nothing out of the ordinary defined the man in the back. He appeared extremely ordinary wearing cotton clothes and leather shoes. On the back of his hands however, were two rotating magic boosting sigils which required a great deal of control for its use. The group was making their way towards the area where black pillar which had recently shook the land. The group travelled in silence, carefully observing the surroundings as the mountain life grew smaller the nearer they got. Upon reaching that desolate space, they saw a dark vortex, the size of an adult human, rotating slowly whilst absorbing mana. The group immediately confirmed it as a dungeon entrance from their experience and put themselves into battle formation with the shield bearer at the vanguard. The vortex rippled as they drew nearer and a streak of black mana lightening shot forward before stopping and materializing into a four armed creature with a glowing single red eye and black wispy skin along with other creatures. The cyclops let out a roar that broke apart the surrounding dead vegetation before charging towards the unlucky group.