《Grasping for the Heavens》Chapter Two
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These… These bunkers don’t seem very sturdy. Sure, it’s underground and all. But an explosion would rip this apart you know? Or wait. Since this world has mana crystals, does that mean the walls could be enchanted or some other bogus magic thing? I’m… Not sure…
“Hey you! You’re a combat droid! What are you doing here?” Said someone.
Looking around, I spot the man he shouted.
Pointing at myself I ask, “You mean me?”
“Yes you,” the man replies. “Is there anyone else here who is a combat droid? Get out of here!”
Ah… I wanted to be in the safety of this bunker… Actually, where is the combat taking place? Ah… I never asked that question. The floating map updated to show a path to where the fight was going on. But. I don’t know how to fight!
“Shoo shoo! Get out of here!” Shouts the man.
Fine! I’m leaving! But I still don’t know how to fight… My only question now is there a death penalty or something for fleeing from battle? I mean, I have no idea how to fight. If you tell me to trust my instincts… That won’t actually work. Actually, I’m wondering if it’s possible for one of my new species to die, get stored and become ‘reborn’. That is definitely a possibility. Or that might just be a privilege reserved for the high spec robots...
Hey… The map… Why is the path to the battle getting steadily closer? No. No no no no. I don’t know how to fight! I mean, yeah, I’m a robot designed for fighting apparently but I still have zero fighting ability… Maybe I can sift through my own program, and see if it’s there is auto combat? That requires time… Not a luxury I have… Is that a missile? *BANG* Then I’m covered by dirt and I start to lose my consciousness. What? Robots… Can lose… Consciousness…
Coughing, I open my eyes to darkness. Oh yeah. I got buried by that missile… Should I call for help? Yes…
“Mmmph! Mmph!” I shout.
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That… Was helpful. I wonder for how long I was trapped down here?
Unconscious for 24 hours.
Damn. So a day has passed? Will someone dig me out? Or do I have to dig myself out? Actually… If 24 hours have passed and I still haven’t been found. There is a high possibility that the base could’ve been wiped out… So… Should I just wait here in anticipation or should I dig myself out? Actually, do I even have the energy to dig myself out?
Battery: 100%
Pressurized Tank: 50% (leaking)
Solar Power: 0%
Ah… So the power that is mainly used for ME to MOVE IS LEAKING?! WHAT?! How do I solve this?! How do I solve this?! What? Why? Why does this happen to me… I understand that the blast could’ve messed up the tank… Oh well. I just have to dig myself out before my tank runs out of power. And digging time!
Many hours later I have barely any pressurized power left. A total of 8%. Not fun, but enough, probably. I hope. Right…
Forcing myself out of the ground I hear someone shout, “There’s another one of those buggers over here!”
Ah crap. Come on! I’m just a peaceful looking battle droid? Why would you try to harm me? Do you see these cute little sharp claws on my hands? They aren’t even threatening at all? Well. I mean, claws could look intimidating but… That isn’t the point… Actually. How were we defeated? Aren’t we made of metal? What did they use to destroy us? Or did we just retreat and I was just stuck here.
While I’m contemplating about how my kind were defeated. A resounding clang fills the air. I look up and I see a man looking at me in surprise. Um… I thought they would blow me apart? So was the strength necessary to defeat our kind simply beyond normal? Like a hero? I’m just going to get to this problem when it hits me.
Moments later I’m surrounded by people hammering away at me. Is this how my kind were defeated? Death by numbers? If so, the people of this world are surprisingly weak…
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Yup. Enough of this testing on what my armor can sustain. Slashing with my claws, I rip the men's faces around me into shreds. Um… How do I absorb these people? My power is at a worrying 2%...
Ah. There’s an auto absorb. That’s good. Right… Ah, would you look at that.
Pressurized Tank: 1% (Repairing)
Repairing. Now, if what I see is an indication of anything, we are attacked because of our looks. So if I can just edit my features to look human. Right? So… Where is this feature/edit thing? Do I just will the thing into place?
Ah… It’s finally popped up. Right. I have… A total of 10 human skins. Would I like to use them? Yes please. I just have to make myself not look like the terminat*r. Should be simple. I don’t actually want to change my eyes though… Wait. Can’t I just change the LED lights for my eyes or something? Yeah, there's the option. Let’s change that to… Black. Yup, sounds good. A large majority of these skins are tan colored, so I guess I’m a tan colored bald black eyed human. Bald? I can’t be bald. Let’s make some hair. I have 10,000,000 strands of hair… How much hair does an average person have? Like 90,000 or something right? The bad thing is that all this hair is all sorts of different colors… There’s black hair, blue hair, brown hair, blond hair… A large majority of the hair is blue… So… I have blue hair? That’s… Fine… I guess… Blue hair it is! Just slap it on. And voila. Blue haired black eyed human.
So… Should I just wait until my pressure tank is repaired and filled?
Battery: 100%
Pressurized Tank: 5% of limit reached
Solar Energy: 5%
What? Why did solar energy rise? Is it because of the sun? Seems so. But why is that rising? Is it because the battery is full so that there is a separate tank for solar power? I thought it was just transferred to the battery… I suppose I was wrong then.
Right… Time to move then. Wait. Can I tap the battery to see how much it can store now?
Battery Capacity: 100 fillawatts
Ah… Father? What could a fillawatt even be? What? Where? When? Why? I guess I’ll just live the rest of my robot life without knowing what that is… Now. Should I look for a human civilization. Or should I look for the rest of my kind. Choices choices choices. Ah. Now that I think about it. Aren’t I stark naked? I mean, I don’t need armor as underneath this fake skin is just metal… But wait, does the skin regenerate, or does it just rot away like some zombie?
Once a part has been implemented with a robot. That part will automatically be converted from pure mana to a solid material.
Wait… If energy could be considered mana. Can’t I just change this solar energy into mana which can then be used to improve my tanks or batteries? But first, clothing. Armor isn’t an issue so I just need clothes. There should be clothes lying around somewhere, right?
Yes! Shirt acquired! Now I just need to find a pair of pants. And then some shoes… Maybe some gloves if I want them… Ah… Can I make these claws adjustable. So that they only come out when I want them to?
Concentrating for a bit the claws slowly start to sink into my fingernails. Good. Now I’m not a creepy human with metallic claws. And I can also bring them out when I need them. Perfect. There! Pants! Yes! Now onwards! To an adventure! Actually, where am I supposed to go? If I go to the frontlines, I should be able to find some human civilisation.
Hmm? Why is the map saying I’m on the frontlines? I’m not. I can’t be. That simply can’t be…
Why… Or well. I’ll just walk in the direction of north. Afterall. North was the previous frontline… And if you wonder why I know. I took a quick glimpse of the map before I was ordered to go to the bunker…
To infinity! AND BEYOND!
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