Chapter 7: Target Acquired
Added 2022-11-01 16:08:14 +0000 UTC[The spell Magic Missile is now level 4!]
[The spell Magic Barrier is now level 2!]
[The skill Arcane Magic is now level 4!]
[The skill MP Regen is now level 3!]
NSLICE-00P continued to practice magic spells as she waited for her arm to regenerate. With the new mana barrier spell, she could start to compare the magic circles. Still, the two spells were very different, and so there wasn’t much overlap. She would need to learn more spells before she could start deciphering the structure.
Likewise, she decided to explore this Arcane Magic and the spells it had granted her before she spent any more perk points.
Rattingtale stood between her feet, glancing every which way.
“Um, boss-queen, what are we doing?”
“Answer: This unit is analyzing non-standard energy mana while repairs are in progress.”
“Yes-yes, but, um, after that?”
“Answer: This unit has determined she requires a significant boost in capabilities before anymore encounters. Calculations are in progress as to which updates are most efficient.”
“Yes, but, um, it’s a bit dangerous-risky out here, yes yes?”
“Acknowledgement: Affirmative. However, this unit does not know of any friendly locations at present, and has calculated the safety course of action to be remaining stationary.”
“Why don’t we find-locate another dungeon?”
NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered.
“Requesting Elaboration: How would a dungeon reduce current risk levels? Are other dungeon masters potential friendlies?”
Rattingtale shook his head.
“No no, dungeon masters are rivals-enemies with each other. But, dungeons are safer than the open. If we find-locate a younger dungeon, they won’t have as powerful monster-servants, yes yes? So it’s safer than staying here, where we can be found-located by a wandering monster, yes yes?”
“Analyzing…”
“And and, if you hunt-kill the dungeon monsters, you can earn more bestowals of power, yes yes?”
“...analysis complete. Friendly His Royal Majesty, Excellion Formantus Rattingtale the Third’s suggestion seems logical. This unit shall begin scanning for mana signatures to investigate.”
Rattingtale rubbed his paws together.
Oh yeah, it was all coming together.
All he had to do was find a dungeon as weak…err…slightly unprepared as his own had been, and the man-thing could cut right through it. Then…if he convinced her to keep it as a subordinate core, they would have a new dungeon to play with.
And the man-thing still seemed quite confused about the whole dungeon business. So it should be possible to convince her to let him assist in, ah, ‘managing’ the place.
And once he did?
Well…it wouldn’t be his fault if she didn’t check the subordinate core trap menu before taking a walk, now would it?
***
And so NSLICE-00P and Rattingtale began to travel about the forest, the cyborg’s sensors at full power. She was searching for any stationary mana signatures similar to the Rat Cave dungeon, while charting paths around any mobile signatures of notable strength.
She was still running into slimes, however, and vaporizing them onsight.
As she did, she had her organic mind practice the magic missile spell, as her AI focused on the sensor scans and course corrections. It was noticeably harder, the magic circle dispelling anytime her concentration wavered.
But eventually, she succeeded in casting the spell.
[Spell Magic Missile has become Level 5!]
[Spell Magic Barrier has become Level 3!]
[Skill Arcane Magic has become Level 5!]
And just as NSLICE-00P’s arm was about 90% repaired, they located their target.
Another cave, this one sinking into the ground with a rocky path leading down, with a mana-signature roughly similar in magnitude to the Rat Cave.
NSLICE-00P and Rattingtale made their way inside…
***
Inside was an underground tunnel, lit only by dimly glowing mushrooms spaced throughout. The walls and roof were made out of dirt, soft enough to scrape away by hand.
NSLICE-00P activated her combat mode, engaging her helmet and transforming her good hand into a gun once more. Rattingtale climbed into an empty compartment on her shoulder, with an unlocked hatch so he could see what was going on.
They did not have to wait long.
“Warning: Incoming hostile detected.”
NSLICE-00P suddenly jumped backwards as the ground underneath her exploded. Some sort of mole shot out of the ground, jaws snapping at the cyborg’s former position.
She opened fire at the creature.
The mole squealed.
[You have slain Wolf-Mole (Level 3)!]
[Gained 7 Personal XP, 7 Dungeon XP!]
NSLICE-00P was about to move on when Rattingtale opened up the hatch.
“Wait wait! You’re not going to collect-gather the magic core?!”
“Query: What is the purpose of doing so?”
Rattingtale froze.
And then slammed his face with a paw.
He made a mistake. If he hadn’t said anything, he could have just collected the cores himself. But since he had exclaimed in shock, now he had to explain it to her.
“...you see…um…”
He heaved a sigh and shook his head. Best to tell her the truth now. He had bigger plans than a few cores, after all.
“Mana cores are valuable-useful, yes yes? Monsters and Dungeons can absorb-consume them for extra experience. The royal records said the man-things like them too, yes yes?”
NSLICE-00P checked that against the information from the system, and it seemed to check out.
“Acknowledged.”
She walked over to where the creature had fallen and sure enough, there was a small, glowing stone on the ground. She picked it up.
She could feel mana emanating off the stone…and could feel the mana from her Geo-Oscillator Engine reaching out to it. She decided to allow the connection.
The stone melted into light and sank into her palm.
[Mana core absorbed! Gained 2 Dungeon XP!]
“Gratitude: This unit thanks friendly Excellion Formantus Rattingtale the Third for his assistance. This unit was not aware of the opportunity to gather additional resources.”
Rattingtail just frowned as he watched her absorb the core.
“Yes yes…um…anything for the boss-queen…”
***
[The skill Presence Detection is now level 2!]
[The skill Trap Detection is now level 2!]
[The skill HP Regen is now level 4!]
And so NSLICE-00P blasted her way through the dungeon, her ground-penetrating scans revealing any ambushes before they happened and easily identifying any traps. Her damaged arm was now fully repaired, the weapons within it rebuilt and resupplied. It seemed that since they were considered dungeon traps, her weapons were reloaded automatically after some time. Which was fortunate, since NSLICE-00P had no data on the nearest ammo supplier.
NSLICE-00P now found herself in a large cavern. This time, the hostile signatures were approaching directly, quickly coming into a view.
Before her stood a large squad of featureless humanoids, seemingly constructed out of dirt.
[Dirt Golem (Level 5): A basic golem, packed earth animated by a mana core. Slow and weak, but durable and cheap.]
She opened fire on the golems with her machine guns. The bullets pierced through them but failed to slow them down, the small holes quickly repairing. NSLICE-00P put away her guns and took a step back, keeping distance from the golems.
“What-what are you doing? Hurry up and kill-slay them!”
Her robotic eye flickered.
“Analysis complete. Explanation: This unit has calculated that this is a good opportunity for experimentation.”
Instead of her weapons, NSLICE-00P drew upon her mana, drawing a magic circle in the air. A magic missile launched and struck the lead dirt golem head-on.
The golem immediately crumbled, the dense mana projectile shattering its HP barrier and disrupting the mana holding it together.
[You have slain Dirt Golem (Level 5)!]
[Gained 10 Personal XP, 10 Dungeon XP!]
NSLICE-00P, having determined an effective attack, immediately turned her attention to magic circle creation.
In fact…
She utilized her AI to copy and paste several magic circle templates and split the mana accordingly, such that her organic side need only complete one magic circle to activate them all.
A round of magic missiles assaulted the golems, destroying them all.
And a round of notifications assaulted NSLICE-00P’s eyes.
[You have slain Dirt Golem x4!]
[Gained 40 Personal XP, 40 Dungeon XP total!]
[Level up! Your Personal Level is now 6!]
[Level up! Your Dungeon Level is now 6!]
[The spell Magic Missile is now level 12, upgrade available!]
[The skill Arcane Magic is now level 8, spell choice available!]
[You have learned the skill Multicasting! The skill Multicasting is now level 4!]
[Multicasting (Level 4): Can cast several spells at once. Number of simultaneous spells increases with level.]
[You have accomplished the feat: Arcane Prodigy! (Learn a high-tier magic skill under level 20 without spending perk points)]
[Arcane Prodigy: Unlocked by learning a high-tier magic skill under level 20 without spending perk points. Unlocks more advanced magic perks. Grants +3 perk points.]
NSLICE-00P scanned the area but there were no further hostiles on approach at the moment. And she saw some new notifications, so she decided to investigate.
[Available Upgrades for spell Magic Missile:]
- [Dense Magic Missile: Increases mana density of magic missile projectiles, boosting damage]
- [Exploding Magic Missile: Magic missiles deal small area damage]
- [Instant Magic Missile: Bypass use of magic circle when casting magic missile]
- [Multi Magic Missile: Creates multiple magic missile projectiles with each cast]
- [Piercing Magic Missile: Increases magic missile penetration against RES and magic barriers]
[Available Spell Choices for Arcane Magic:]
- [Detect Magic (minor): Locate spells.]
- [Mana Blast (minor): A cone shaped blast of mana. Deals damage and knockback to the area.]
- [Mana Infusion (minor): Infuse mana into a target. The most basic enchantment.]
- [Mana Transfer (minor): Transfer mana to a target]
- [Spell Shield (minor): Boost target’s RES]
- [Telekinesis (minor): Utilize mana to grasp and move objects]
- (continued…)
It seems she could now upgrade the Magic Missile spell now that it had passed level 10, and that she also had a choice of the next spell granted to her by Arcane Magic. She dedicated some of her free processing power to analyzing the options, and then carried on with her dungeon exploration.
Meanwhile Rattingtale’s ears were pressed against his head.
The man-thing…
Took out dirt golems in one shot?
With what looked like several spells casted simultaneously?
Rattingtale was no wizard, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to be possible at their level.
…perhaps he might hold off on the trap plan for a bit longer…
Author’s Note:
Ah, there we go. Back to the OP power tripping!
Anyways!
What upgrades and spells will NSLICE-00P determine is most efficient? What shall become of Rattingtale’s devious plot? What does the next dungeon master think of all this? Tune in next time, to find out!
