Waking up was no longer the pleasure like it was a few days ago. Nina's smiling face wasn't next to him to drive his nightmares away. There was a fleeting moment when he felt like everything was okay but it evaporated faster than water off the scorched earth of the swamp he burned.

The window next to his bed was wide open. Cool, soothing winds welcomed him into the monstrous world of the living.

"What was the nightmare I had-"

Suddenly, his head throbbed. The pain felt like someone had taken a knife to his skull. It didn't stop there, it felt like he was getting stabbed by multiple knives at once. He leant his head against the metallic bedpost, still sitting on the bed. He squeezed his eyes shut. With his nails dug deep into his palms, he willed the pain to go away. Soon the rest of the world became detached, all he could concentrate on was the pain rooted deep in his head. This was the first time something like this was happening to him.

He couldn't think straight. The headache came along with a constant buzzing sound in his ears. If his brain was a computer, then constant buzzing sound occupying the headache was the noise made by its exhaust fan. But it was a hundred times louder.

He let go of his head and grabbed the bedpost instead. His grip on the bedpost got tighter and tighter and eventually it snapped in half, and a large piece of it got stuck in his palm. Coupled with the headache, now his hand was bleeding as well. All he felt, all he knew was the pain of that moment. The pain started to subside as suddenly as it came.

"What... the... hell." He managed to mumble while [Essence of life] healed the wound on his hand.

As he tried getting back to normal, he realised he was on his feet, his eyes wide. He tried remembering about the nightmare he had, but he couldn't. The nightmare was not just forgotten but completely erased.

Aside from his noisy breath, there was nothing to be heard, which wasn't all that uncommon considering how isolated the workshop was from the rest of the base. Still, this silence made him a bit uncomfortable. He stood next to the open window and stood there while his nerves calmed down a bit.

The morning was as assured as the tides and just as unstoppable. It was beautiful. Life was beautiful, or so Arnold would've liked to say. But to him, it felt as he needed a few more hours of blackness. Not to sleep, but to prepare, to pour his thoughts out onto a page, reorganize, prioritize and pack them back in again. Barely five minutes had passed since he woke up and he already felt like he was on a rollercoaster.

He tore his eyes away from the scarlet morning sky and headed into the washroom to wash his face. He didn't care whether his day was bad or not, he still had tasks to do. The world wouldn't stop to check on his well-being, hell it would surprise him if anyone apart from his summons actually cared about him at this point.

Once out of the shower, he unlocked his bedroom door and went out to be greeted by the sight of an almost unrealistic creation of his automaton's minds. A completed sentry gun, a weapon tag already printed on it.

"SG-69? Really? Of all the numbers they could choose, they chose this?" Arnold shook his head but he regretted doing so, as his headache came rushing back to him, "Ouch! Dunno when the fck, this pain would completely go away... sigh, rise and shine boys, we got some work to do!"

One after another, the automatons came back to life and stood in front of him. Ready for command.

"Alright, guys. I see you finished it up and upgraded it as well. Good job and thank you." Arnold said, "You're free to do whatever you like now, but ask Talos first, he might need some assistance."

"Yes, Master!" The automatons roared in unison as left Arnold alone inside the workshop with the sentry.

"Let's see what you're made up, shall we?" He smiled and used [Probe] on the sentry.

___

Module incomplete.

Please complete the setup by inserting an AI chip in the required slot.

___

"Right. This weird headache completely made me forget about the AI chip. I should probably get checked by Alice." Arnold mumbled and took out a blue-chip from his inventory, "Thankfully, I still have a few remaining chips after making the specialised automaton strike force. Oh right, I should probably modify the strike force as well. Can't have them failing against the lizardmen..."

He rambled on for a while about how he'd like to upgrade the automatons while he altered a fraction of the AI's programming to suit the sentry's operations.

He didn't require a computer or any device for this purpose as his [Novice Programmer] ability provided him with a virtual machine which was integrated into his system. All he needed to do was to insert the chip in a certain slot of his inventory and the virtual machine would pop up on his interface. This concluded the easier step and from there onwards it was all 'Python' programming.

(Author's Note: I think most of you know what 'Python' is, but I'll briefly describe it for those who don't. Python is a programming language like Java and C++ but it's more programmer-friendly and much easier to understand and work upon than its counterparts. In my opinion, it's the best programming language and thus I decided to mention it here.)

"It's getting boring... can we have some music please?" Arnold said and his virtual machine which was linked to the internet (only God knows how) immediately followed through with his request.

[Request acknowledged. Now playing: Ba*k in the Bla*k, by A*/D*]

A message flashed on his interface and the music filled his ears. (Author's note: Looking at your way, Deadpool_ou_pas.)

"Now that's more like it!"

After an hour of solid programming, he succeeded in altering the AI and inserted the chip into the designated slot and once again used [Probe] on it.

___

[SG-69]

TYPE: Reinforced sentry gun

AI type: Self-programmed for automatic enemy verification and termination.

GRADE: A+

BASIC STATS:

DURABILITY (DUR) : 2500/2500

ENERGY (ENR) : 1500/1500

FIRING RATE: 1002 bullets per minute.

DAMAGE: 22 per bullet (physical damage)

DEFENSE(DEF) : 137

ACCURACY (ACC) : 89

HEIGHT: 1.62 meter

WEIGHT: 160 KG

POWER SOURCE: [Self Made lithium ion battery] – chemical/electrical charging

ENERGY CONSUMPTION (Idle mode): 7 Energy/min

ENERGY CONSUMPTION (Combat mode): 20 Energy/min

RECOVERY RATE : 9 Energy /min

WEAPON MODULE :

• Four barreled long-range miniguns.

• Steel-Titanium alloy shield for superior defence.

ABILITIES :

• [Damage Reflection]: The thick shield on the barrel allows the shield to reflect up to 40% of the ranged damage received. This ability has a 10% chance of activation and increases by 0.5% of every hit the enemy lands successfully.

• [Self Destruct]: Once the durability of the sentry hits 0, it'll explode causing 200-350 physical damage in a 20-meter radius.

Remark: A deadly weapon for anyone to have. Try not to stand in its way for too long or you might not be able to stand for the rest of your pathetic and miserable life. Not like it's going to be blissful either way. Just saying.

___