After I finished Nova’s weapon I finally took my time to check out my new skills I gained in the process.

Basic software designer (Basic 3)

The basics formed by scraps of info found within the memories of the dead clockworks

(this skill will upgrade the more you learn about it)

+2% increase to ability when making basic level softwareMarksmanship (Basic 1)

The skill to shoot a gun and hit your target.

+2% increase in precision of your shotsMachine weapon building (Basic 4)

You know your way around with your tools to the point of being able to make weapons that can be added directly to your body.

+5% increase in ability when making a machine weapon (weapons that attach directly onto robots and follow system orders)

We were back in town and Nova was grinning as wide as she could.

Why? First was my present. As a kid she didn’t know exactly how much power she got but here is the message I got after I completed it.

Machine Sniper Rifle

A machine sniper made by an amateur. This weapon is a small high powered sniper rifle that goes on small sized clockwork.

To use this weapon it is required the user to be strapped to a powerful base to use the gun as the recoil is powerful enough to send the user flying back a few meters.

Durability 60/60

Attack: 100-125

Cooldown time: 4 minutes

Steam charge time: 2 minutes

Steam cost: 30% of total steam in tank

Energy 40

It has massive power but an equally massive drawback. Six whole minutes to set one shot in a drawn out battle.

From the display I got from the full ammo shot the power of the gun was much more than the prototypes, which I am keeping by the way, strong weapons would be idiotic to throw away just because they are test material.

Now the second reason Nova is grinning is because I’m checking out the weapon she made.

It was similar to the dwarves gun but smaller to fit into her arm. She added a small glass ball to hold the pressure but she didn’t put a control valve and it let the steam leak. I corrected it for her and she tried it out and it turned out well enough. A bit underpowered compared to the dwarves but it’s a good weapon against animals, it's kind of like an air rifle.

With her cheerfully playing around with the guns ? I began my chat with the others.

”So what monster are we going to be hunting to help the dwarves?” I ask the others.

“Help them? Did they need it?” Rust asks back.

“Actually they do. All the races need to complete some kind of conditions to secure their survival. We completed our own by killing the furnace queen.”

“I see, is that why so many clockwork began waking up near the base after the furnace was set up?” Rust asks.

“Yep, there are several other races in the world that was able to secure their survival.” Bulk says

”How many level 4 threats can you feel from here? Wait...what if to secure their survival is outside of the scrapyard?” I said.

We fell silent and then we all looked at the huge door together. My eyes then flew up at the walls. The walls looked very thick and I was sure the top of it was like a castle city wall and could be accessed.

”What's up there? And what's out there?” I said more just to say it instead as a question.

…

We all get up and walk towards Victor’s house. We arrive quickly since the town is tiny.

As he appears he looks a bit annoyed.

“What do you guys want?” Victor asked coming outside.

“Tell us, exactly what type of monster is out there that made the dwarves run in here?” Bulk said being blunt about it.

“Why do you want to know?” He asked making a serious face.

“You’re one of the awaken correct?” Bulk said.

“Yes I am, about half the town is, the rest were in a small cave when we found them.” Victor explains.

“Then what pushed you here? Dwarves are always known for their strength and yet you ran without fighting if I remember correctly.” Bulk said touching an injury we know nothing about.

He scowled deeply hearing Bulk say that.

“You want to see a dwarfs strength, fine.” Victor says.

He walks inside but what comes out isn’t the dwarf. What crashes into bulk through the metal wall was a huge warhammer which throws him out into the middle of the street.

His metal chest plate was dented but not enough to cause interior damage but he still took a devastating 50 points of damage from that one hit.

“You fucking midget, let me show you why I made my name Bulk!” He says pissed off.

He grabs the handle of the hammer and stands up and holds it in both hands. We looked back into the building and see the dwarf come out with another warhammer of the same size which is nearly double his own size.

“Hehe show me then.” Victor says provoking Bulk.

He runs out on his stubby legs and spins with the hammer to gain momentum but Bulk just pulls the hammer back and swings with all his might in a low diagonal swing.

The two hammers meet making a resounding crash of metal.

In a moment everyone appeared at the windows and doors to see what the sound was.

“Is that all you have midget, even Techno’s little sister is scarier than this.” Bulk insults the dwarf.

“Let me show you the finer points of being small!” Victor shouts.

Victor does a spin and switches which side he holds the hammer and swings diagonally slams the hammer into the back side of Bulks and makes the hammer which pull him off balance. He spins once more and contacts Bulk right in the waist and sends him flying.

Bulk falls with a resounding thud.

“Erg that hurt. Nearly 100 damage from a single hit. How the hell is this bastard having trouble with the robot's.” Bulk says as he sees his durability fall.

“How? Easy, we don’t have proper professions no jobs, no skills, what we learn is what we can figure out how to do and what skills we invent. It’s not enough against the god damn bots out there!” Victor says.

“Again what got your running from outside with your tails between your stubby legs.” Bulk says.

“...If you want to know beat it out of me.” Victor said readying his hammer.

“Gladly!!” Bulk shouts.

CHOOOOOOOO~~~

Suddenly from all the pipes on his back large amounts of steam poured out of him making an eerily familiar sound similar to a steam engine train blowing its whistle.

I also began hearing his gears spin faster than they normally would.

Before I could react he jumped forward leaving deep footprints and held the hammer above him. When he got near the dwarf he brought the hammer down.

Victor barely escaped and when the hammer hit the ground it created a crater half a meter in diameter wide with the imprint of the hammer in the middle.

The dwarf paled as he looked at that. Bulk pulled the hammer out and looked down at the dwarf. His v shaped visor was glowing menacingly and he was releasing a huge amount of steam making a fog around him.

Bulk slowly raised the hammer above him but the terrified dwarf was paralyzed on the spot so he didn’t even try to run.

As Bulk was about to swing down the steam stopped flowing and his engine turned off with all his systems as well.

The hammer in his hand fell down and he just stood there like a statue.

“He literally ran out of steam, huh.” Rust says with a sigh.

I let out a small chuckle before I walked up.

“Victor it’s best to get out of the way. We will be activating Bulk soon.” Rust says towards the pale dwarf.

The dwarf snapped out of his shock from his brush with death. He got up and quickly ran over to his house and sat down. His hands were shaking and he was covered in cold sweat.

While I look over Bulk I check out all his parts. It was surprising to find that both water and steam tank that were empty and an empty fuel tank as well as all of them being at the point of shattering with just a touch while they were all glowing from the heat.

The gears had taken some damage as well from the high pressure.

”Well he sure tore his body up. Tanks just about to blow from heat alone. I said examining the body.

“Can someone explain what happened to him to make him like that?” Victor asked for the porch.

“...Hm it’s hard since my memories are broken but...ah found it. What he did was rediscover a clockwork knight skill. I believe it was called Overload. If I compare it with anything it would be something like entering the berserk state but it’s induced. The knight makes his engine work almost 5 times faster and it makes the gears in his body work nearly twice that giving him a burst of strength and speed as long as he still has steam.” Rust said.

“And the drawbacks are?” Victor asks.

“What you see here. He consumes all his battery power, his fuel, his water for that burst so he shuts down and it leaves his engine on the brink of blowing up and as well as putting all his gears under huge strain. I’m sure one or two small ones burst during the fight.” Rust says.

“...What a scary race.” Victor says shaking.

“Nope this skill is considered a desperate attack. Like a trump card. It wasn’t used much in the past because we were in larger numbers then but I can see why it would look scary. The single hammer smash downwards could easily have crushed the walls of the town.” Rust says.

“It remind me of the limit break.” Victor says.

“It’s not far off. It could be considered the Clockworks limit break.” Rust says.

Victor just looked at the knight that was frozen in the street.

“If you guys really want to know what is keeping us in here. They are golems. Not some giant boss but the race golems. They woke up with us and we helped each other at first but after the golems grouped up they pushed us out because they got stronger faster by absorbing minerals in the mines. Now they could be called iron golems because it’s the most abundant material in the mines.” Victor said.

”Well that’s interesting, so there are assholes close by? I ask.

Rust passed what I said and Victor only looked at me with a surprised face.

”Tell us, did any of you get a F++ mission yet? I ask him.

“Yes it’s called Elemental onslaught. Well besides the golems there are also fire elementals called Will o Wisps with them. When the two met up things began flaring towards us.” Victor said.

“They found and probably completed their F++ mission.” I said.

“These missions you guys talk about what are they?” Rust asks us.

”It's a system the “Awaken” have. I have it as a system directly in my circuits all other races I think have one that are magic based. Missions are tasks that are of any importance ranging from basic tasks to killing a great demon.” I explain.

“Quite a strange thing but doesn’t matter. So do these F++ missions have any significance?” Rust asked.

“They are missions that represent the survival of a race.”

“What are the mission details?” Rust asks Victor.

“Show quest “Elemental onslaught” to everyone.” He says with a sigh.

Unlike before where the screens appear in my visor this one appeared in the air through magic.

Mission Elemental Onslaught

You woke with the golems and you all helped each other but for some reason they have turned into your enemies. Find out why they suddenly attacked and eliminate the threat that comes from these elementals.

Difficulty: F++

Reward: Survival of the dwarves

Success: Kill all golems or find the threat and kill it.

Failure: All dwarves die.

So this quest clearly says it to their faces. So there is something besides the golems that is a threat. So killing them isn’t required. This is quite a strange quest. What kind of threat would make them attack? Maybe a boss took control of them?’ I thought while examining the quest.

“Quite fascinating this mission thing, hmm it says they have a threat. So it’s not them wanting to do it but being forced to.” Rust says what everyone had on their mind.

“Why not just beat them all.” Nova said tilting her head innocently.

”I agree with her, if it happened once it can happen again. So cut the trouble by the root. I say agreeing with her.

Nova said what I texted and everyone looked stunned.

“We don’t have the strength to fight them.” Victor replied.

“What? Weren’t you beating Bulk easily?” Nova said bluntly.

“They are much stronger or I guess it would be better to say they are tougher. Their bodies are much harder and we can’t break past their defense.” He explains.

”Just make a stronger weapon. Come here and take that trashy metal suit off.” I tell him.

He doesn’t argue with me calling it trashy and comes over and removes the dwarf armor.

I pulled out all my gears and collectors to help me and then finally unleashed my tools. I began with scanning then restructuring it. After I began adding gear supports to augment the armor systems and greatly improve their power. I then pulled out a small clockwork engine and removed the old one and put it on the back and strapped it in and then made a casing from it to protect it.

When I was done the suit had a perfect blend of dwarf and clockwork.

Dwarven power armor

Crude armor made by dwarves that increase their strengths partially. After being augmented with gears like in a clockworks body it can now increase the user's power by nearly twice as much.

This armor is powered by a repaired clockwork engine and now runs on high steam pressure.

x2 increase in strength

I put the suit on the ground and put away all my things and tool and get up and check on Bulk. His engine had cooled enough to put water and fuel again so I did just that and turned him on again. The engine started up and as steam built the batteries charged and he soon woke up again and as if on reflex he swung his arms as if to continue his last action.

I grabbed his arms and held it tight.

“Let me go, let me crust that midget!” He shouted.

“Fights over. You used a skill that shut you down and nearly killed you and Victor.” Rust says.

I let him go as he started examining his boding. He slumped down after getting the status report on his body. He pulled his collectors out and began repairing himself.

Victor had walked out and was equipping the armor and getting a feel for it.

“With this kind of gear...I think we can fight them.” He said with a rather empty tone.

“Hmm interesting. The clockwork technology we use to make our bodies compliments your dwarven technology quite well. If I didn’t know better they could have been made for each other.” Rust says scanning the armor.

“Do we get to make these cool suits?” Nova asked excited.

”Would be better to, because we aren’t the ones facing the golems. We will make you these armors and in return we get everything on the golems. We will guide you but we won’t assist more than that. Consider the drops payment for use bringing a solution to your quest.” I tell them.

Rust passed the message and it left all of them silent.

“We will do it!” The voice of a stranger called from behind the crowd.

We looked at the source. Three dwarves stood there all looked strong and were oozing charisma that came from those natural born leaders.

“From the feeling I get from you three, you must be the other leaders of the dwarves.” Rust says.

“Yes we are and we three accept your offer for those who follow us. We want to get this over with and we don’t mind some random drops from those bastards going to pay for tech that could last a lifetime and make us rise up.” The first one said.

“And you Victor?” I say out loud.

My direct question makes him shudder a bit before he nods.

“Fine, I accept for those who follow me as well. I agree to hand over everything they we get off them to you.” Victor said.

I nod and turn to the others before sending out orders to the clockworks to line up for repairs. We were going to need a lot of help to get this dwarven clockwork tech quickly spread out.