TtOW! - Chapter 11: Training Montage!

And so NSLICE-00P traveled around the area, avoiding any large signatures and targeting the smaller dungeons.  On Lilussees’s suggestion, she had begun aggressively upgrading her implants, as she discovered dungeon perk points were actually fairly abundant, and that upgrading her implants also improved her HP and Mana pools.  And so the new and improved NSLICE-00P began a dungeon termination spree…

***

NSLICE-00P flew through the air above a large swamp.  A large frog broke the surface, lobbing a glob of venom-filled spit at the cyborg.

A magic circle formed in front of the cyborg, firing a bolt of fire that collided with the poison mid-air.  The two projectiles exploded in a blast of steam.

Her organic half handled the magic on its own.

As for her AI?

A beam of light and mana pierced through the steam, striking the frog’s heart.

[You have slain Frog Dungeon Master (Level 8)!]

Many an adversary did not expect her to perform skills and spells simultaneously it seemed.

[You have absorbed a dungeon core (Slimy Pit)!]

[Gained 5 status perk points, 5 dungeon perk points!]

[Gained Dungeon Affinity: Slime (minimum)!]

[You have conquered the Slimy Pit dungeon!]

[You have accomplished the feat: Dungeon Conqueror (Slimy Pit)!]

[Dungeon Conqueror (Slimy Pit): Unlocked by conquering the Slimy Pit Dungeon.  Grants +1 perk point, grants +1 level in Poison Bolt spell]

***

A unicorn brayed and lowered its head.  Its horn shone with light and fired a beam through the air.

NSLICE-00P formed a mana barrier, blocking the attack.  She simultaneously responded with a barrage of magic missiles but they hardly made an impact on the unicorn’s HP.

So she returned to her roots.

Her hands transformed into machine guns and unleashed hell.

The unicorn cried out as the bullets tore through it.

[You have slain Unicorn Dungeon Master (Level 11)!]

[You have absorbed a dungeon core (Glimmering Grove)!]

[Gained 6 status perk points, 6 dungeon perk points!]

[Gained Dungeon Affinity: Light (minimum)!]

[You have conquered the Glimmering Grove dungeon!]

[You have accomplished the feat: Dungeon Conqueror (Glimmering Grove)!]

[Dungeon Conqueror (Glimmering Grove Unlocked by conquering the Glimmering Grove Dungeon.  Grants +1 perk point, grants +1 level in Light Magic skill]

***

Lilussees opened up the panel, the inside of the compartment now covered in silk threads.  She shook herself awake as she slowly crawled out onto NSLICE-00P’s shoulder.  The cyborg girl was just about to purify a group of ant monsters with her flamethrowers.

“Oh hey, um, boss?  Could you, like, leave one or two of them for us?  Maybe like, just almost kill them, or something?”

“Requesting Elaboration.”

“Like, you get XP for stuff your subordinates kill too, you know?  And, like, it helps us get stronger too, or something.  So you, like, don’t have to pay points to upgrade us yourself.”

“Acknowledged.”

NSLICE-00P put away her flamethrower nozzles and opened a different compartment on her arm.  A jolt of electricity surged through the monsters, leaving them stunned and trembling.

“You’re the best, boss.”

Lilussees hopped off of NSLICE-00P’s shoulder, biting the helpless monsters with her venomous fangs one by one.  Also, savoring their taste to determine which one she should take with her for the road.

“Easiest, breakfast, ever!”

NSLICE-00P logged the increase in her Dungeon XP as Lilussees got to work, verifying the spider’s claims.  She then turned her head to her other shoulder, where a muffled muttering could be heard.

“Does friendly Excellion Formantus Rattingtale the Third also wish for assisted terminations?”

Rattingtale jumped at being addressed, bumping his head on the hatch.  He opened it up and stuck his head out with a curse.

“Why why would I want-desire that?  I’m the Great-High King of all the land, yes yes!  It is beneath-below me to resort to such lowly work!”

“Yay, more for me.”

Rattingtale paled slightly as he watched Lilussees slaughter the helpless monsters.  The vicious spider-thing had largely supplanted him as an advisor.  So if her levels grew while he remained the same….then the weird man-thing might disregard him entirely.  He had no choice.  So he pulled himself up out of the hatch.

“Wait wait!  T-This Great-High King has decided he shall magnanimously accept your tribute, yes yes.”

“Boo.”

“Acknowledged.”

Rattingtale slowly crawled towards one of the monsters, leaping back as it twitched.  He frowned as he observed the creature.

How did his soldiers do this again?

***

Later in the day, as Lilussees turned in for her third nap and NSLICE-00P resumed her magic training, Rattingtale huddled inside his compartment.  He was still shivering, the memory of the lowly and dirty work he had been forced to perform fresh on his mind.

“I’ll kill-slay them, I’ll kill-slay them all, yes yes!  That wretched spider-thing, staring over my shoulder, waiting to betray me, yes yes.  I just need to convince the man-thing that it is false, and plotting, yes yes!  But how?”

Rattingtale rubbed his paws together.

“Oh, I know, yes yes!  Man-things are sensitive, yes yes!  And the spider-thing is foul!  She was most brutal-vicious, even devouring the monsters, yes yes!  All I need to do is point that out to the man-thing, and she will be repulsed-disgusted, yes yes!”

Rattingtale popped his head out of the hatch.

“Greeting: Does friendly Excellion Formantus Rattingtale the Third have a request?”

NSLICE-00P calmly addressed the rat as she stabbed a boar monster in the neck with a newly upgraded wrist-blade, spraying blood all over the area.

“N-No no, j-just checking on…uh…our progress, yes yes.”

“Affirmative.”

Rattingtale slowly closed the hatch.

And so the Great-High King of all the land…decided to start his plan over for about the fourth time today.

Meanwhile the wretched, false spider-thing was plotting…how to arrange her silk for maximum sleeping comfort.

***

[Bionic Prosthetics +2 upgraded to Bionic Prosthetics +3!  STR is now 130, SPD is now 65!]

[Armor Plating +1 upgrade to Armor Plating +2!  DEF is now 120, RES is now 60!]

[Advanced Sensors +1 upgraded to Advanced Sensors +2]

[Repulsors upgrade to Repulsors +1!]

NSLICE-00P evaluated her implant options, aiming for a wide upgrade to her capabilities.  With each upgrade level she also unlocked more specialized upgrades for each of the components, though at the moment she had not yet determined which of these was desirable.

Instead, she decided to evaluate new implants.  It seemed adding new implants improved her overall HP and Mana pools, both improving her survivability as well as boosting her capabilities on top of the value of the implant itself.

Lilussees and Rattingtale sat on her shoulders as her robotic eye glowed, displaying the foreign program UI so they could also see the available implants.

Suddenly Lilussees jumped and started pointing.

“Oh!  This one!  Get this one boss!”

NSLICE-00P brought up the option.

[Monster Hanger (small): Provides living space for 5 small monsters.  Unlocks subordinate summoning.  Cost: 5 points.  Mana Upkeep: 1]

“The spider-thing is deceiving-tricking you, boss-queen!  She just wants a place to sleep-rest, yes yes!”

“Oh?  The snack is, like, talking huh?  Look, boss, I’ll, like, admit I want a place to stay, or something.  But, like, this is good for you too, you know?  Most dungeon masters, like, use lots of monster subordinates, you know?  Like, you already got two, technically.  So, like, this will allow you to summon more, or something.  And, like, it’s not bad to, like, keep your subordinates happy and safe, you know?  Like, you wouldn’t want us to get hurt while you’re fighting something big, right?”

“Query: Can subordinates provide additional value in excess of upgrading this unit’s own capabilities?”

“That’s, like, the wrong way to look at it, you know?  Like, even if you can do everything yourself, subordinates are still helpful, you know?  Like, each subordinate is also earning their own XP, or something, while earning you XP too?  So like, you’re still growing while the subordinate’s growing too, which means, like, if you have them learn skills you don’t have, that’s like, brand new skills for you, you know?  Also, like, this is one of the cheapest implants for mana-upkeep, so like, it’s a good boost to your HP and Mana, you know?  So it’s like, good to invest now to open that door?”

Rattingtale was about to object when he shivered.  Lilussees was staring straight at him, rubbing her mandibles together.

And, well, having a Royal Chamber was only appropriate for the Great-High King of all the land.

Likewise…if the man-thing was going to summon more subordinates…then perhaps he could convince her to summon some of his kin.  And of course, who better to lead them than the Great-High King of all the land?  And once he began to gather a faction…

Yes, this could work to his advantage.

“I…concur-agree with the spider-thing, yes yes.”

“Affirmative.”

[You have unlocked an additional Implant Slot!  Max HP and Mana increased!]

[You have unlocked the Monster Hanger (small) implant!]

A new panel door formed on NSLICE-00P’s back.  It opened to what appeared as a black void, hiding whatever was inside from the outside world.

Lilussees immediately scrambled over and leapt in.

“DIBS!”

Rattingtale just heaved a sigh before slowly crawling over to check out the new hanger himself.

Inside was a sleek metal room with a large table in the center.  Five doors stood on the far wall.  He saw Lilussees shutting the door on the far right.

So he, of course, moved towards the door on the far left.

Inside was an empty room…at first.  Shortly after he stepped inside, the air twisted and distorted.  When it cleared and he could see once more, the room had been replaced by an underground burrow.

He frowned.

A bit lacking in majesty…but it did look very comfortable.

And well…at least it was safer than his current quarters.

***

And as NSLICE-00P continued to assault dungeons and upgrade her implants, her organic half continued practicing with magic.  She continued practicing with all her available spells, of course, but also with new applications of mana.

For example, she tried infusing her machine gun bullets with mana, much as she had her lasers and flame throwers.

The first attempt had done nothing at all, the mana barely entered the bullets.

The second attempt had caused the bullets to explode in the chamber, disabling that particular weapon and, uh, ‘training’ her HP Regen skill.

But eventually…she managed to pour a significant amount of mana into one of the projectiles without it either exploding or dissipating into the surrounding air.

[You have learned the spell Mana Infusion (minor)!]

[You have accomplished the feat: Enchanter!]

[Enchanter: The first step on the path of the magic craftsman.  Unlocked by manually accomplishing a mana infusion.  Grants +1 level in the Enchanting Skill.]

[You have learned the skill Enchanting!]

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered as she processed the latest boons.

She started running a simulation…

Green checkmarks began to appear across the simulation criteria.

If her calculations were correct, she was ready to take on the Equalizer.

***

After some more practice with Mana Infusion and Enchanting, NSLICE-00P turned her attention to the Equalizer.

Her goal this time was modest.  She wasn’t going to attempt to improve the Equalizer, like her other implants.  She didn’t even necessarily want to enchant it, as she had with her other weapons.  She simply wanted to optimize it.

The Equalizer had been designed as a universal EMP, able to dampen any energy type it encountered.  But now, NSLICE-00P did not require it to dampen every energy type.  Mana had been the vast majority of energy encountered ever since completing her last mission, in fact she had not even encountered or detected any electrically powered devices since arriving in this area, much less the more exotic non-standard energy types.  So, she calculated she could significantly improve the Equalizer’s performance by tuning it to mana specifically.

And so she began.

She flooded the Equalizer with mana.  The exotic metals inside of it began to absorb and amplify the energy, resonating with it.  Her AI then activated the protocols for the Equalizer, instructing it to shift its energy wavelengths to instead interfere with the energy.  And as she did, she also ran mana through the physical structure of the Equalizer.  She had, of course, recorded when the foreign system had upgrade her components, she now attempted to replicate that phenomena.

And eventually…

The mana stopped.  Her log indicated the process was done.

She lifted her hand towards a nearby tree.

She fired a small rainbow-colored beam at it…

The beam tore through the HP barrier around the tree, damaging it faster than it could repair itself.

[...wait what?  What did you just do?  You, um…I don’t really understand what’s going on here.  Well, I didn’t really understand that particular weapon in the first place, so, um…well whatever.]

[The Equalizer upgrade to the Equalizer +1!]

[...ugh, I have to do work now, don’t I?  Please stop that.]

[You have accomplished the feat: System Upgrade!]

[System Upgrade: Unlocked by manually performing a system upgrade.  Which is not supposed to be possible.  Ugh, this is going to get complicated, isn’t it?  Um, I don’t know, just have +20 perk points or something?  Whatever, you’re figuring this out yourself anyways so close enough.]

[...what is happening here?  You manually upgraded a dungeon component?  And created an entirely new skill?!  Wow…wait what is this?!  That’s…you’re erasing mana directly?  Um…ok I mean, that’s not the worst thing anyone’s ever done but, um, again, please don’t do anything bad with all this, ok?]

[You have learned the unique skill: Anti-Mana Beam!]

[Anti-Mana Beam (Level 1): Projects a type of inverse-mana that reacts destructively with normal mana, including HP.  While it can fully deplete HP, it does not harm matter itself.  Requires The Equalizer.]

[You have accomplished the feat: Skill Creator!]

[Skill Creator: Unlocked by creating a brand new skill.  To be honest, this normally happens when you're a MUCH higher level so I'm a bit worried about passing you this much this early, but, um, ok, +20 perk points.]

With that, NSLICE-00P reran a particular combat simulation, factoring all the new abilities she had gained.

She waited as the simulation ran…

And then…

Numbers appeared in her UI.

“96.31% chance of target termination.”

It seemed she was ready.

It was time to confront the Ursanus once again.

Author’s Note:

And so we head to the climax of the intro arc!

We’re at the stage of the week where my brain turns to mush so probably just 1 chapter day until we hit the weekend.

Anyways!

Will NSLICE-00P’s calculations prove accurate this time?  Can she overcome the Ursanus or will we head into another grinding arc?  Will the system managers be ok with this new entity going around creating her own skills?  Tune in next time, to find out!