"Here's another branch, boss." - Stickman-ish robot
"I can see that. So why are you not clearing the Quest with it?!" - Black-uniformed man(?)
"So sorry sir. It will be done right away." - Wheel robot
...Now I've seen it all. An army of small, ball-shaped robots with arms and legs are swarming the Dungeon in the hunt for tree branch-OUUCH!!
*Wheeze, wheeze*, sorry about that. My left eye's killing me. After I picked the Evil Eye skill of my choice, an intense pain assaulted my eye. I think it got crushed, then recreated, then crushed again, for then recreated, etc, etc...
This continued for around half an hour before I had adapted to the pain well enough to move on. And by "adapting" I mean that my newly acquired [Pain Resistance] reached a level well above Lv.10. It'll probably reach Lv.20 before the day's over...
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Pain Resistance] skill level has reached Lv.20.
You have earned 0.2 Skill Points
Due to "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 0.2 Skill Points were earned.
See! And the worst part is, the skill only allows you to resist succumbing to the pain. IT DOESN'T REDUCE THE PAIN AT ALL! What a sham! Ugh, sorry about this, but could we rather focus on the bots instead of my lamenting and pain?
The ball-bots, as I call them, are busy searching for trees... and aren't there too many of those ball-bots? I mean, it feels like they're multiplying by the second. I have a birds-eye view from the cliff I'm at now, so I'm sure that their numbers are increasing.
!? What the-? A large... printing press? It had that shape, but it wasn't making newspapers. Instead, tons of ball-bots were ejected outta the machine. Where do they find all the materials needed for this mass-production... rocks!? Simple rocks!? The older ball-bots are feeding the printing press with rocks they've broken off the Dungeon walls into the printing press, then a new ball-bot pops out a few seconds later.
So, it's not a machine, but some alchemy-item? I almost forgot; this is supposed to be a fantasy world, not a sci-fi one. Wonder what their stats are. With my current level on [Identification], I should reach... just barely...
Name:nameless
Race:Machinerz mdl: BB.Sb-008 | Gender: none
Level:10
Karma Value:0
Skills:5
HP: 50/50MP: 0/0SP: 110/110
STR: 40VIT: 100MAG: 0
RES: 20SPD: 70DEX: 90
INT: 35LUC: 80
Skill List:
Attack Skills:[Charge Lv.15]
Active Skills:[Rolling Lv.10]
Passive Skills:[Gathering Lv.20]
Leadership Skills:[Cooperation Lv.20]
Monster Skills:[Aether Engine Lv.5]
I reached it. And the reward is... the strangest status page I've ever seen?
Its magic-related stats are zero, its INT is unnaturally low, its level is 10 despite being newborn... newmade, and its skills are unnaturally high as well. Then there's the strange race. "mdl" must mean "model", so the ball-bots are Machinerz of model BB.Sb-008? The eighth version of the BB.Sb series? I identified the rest of them, but they all had the same status page, all the way to their LUC.
If these are supposed to be... magical robots... then the low INT must be 'cause they're only supposed to follow the orders of their programmer... I think. In that case, the levels and skills these things have must be something like static levels. They're high-leveled the moment they are... made, but they cannot grow any stronger. Unless they get some upgrades.
The skill list mentioned a [Aether Engine] skill, so they could gain a "Rocket punch" skill if their inventor decided to add something like that. For them, skills equal functions.
There are some guys down there that look like commanders for the ball-bots... the Machinerz.
One is a slim robot with huge, halogen lamps for eyes on his slim face. I think it would be better to say that he was made of sticks. I call it a "he" due to his voice being masculine. The materials used on him looks like some rusty-yellow metal. His stats are...
Name:Scarecrow
Race:Machinerz mdl: BB.Sc-772 | Gender: none
Level:6
Karma Value:12
Skills:10
HP: 84/145MP: 0/0SP: 216/250
STR: 20VIT: 120MAG: 0
RES: 10SPD: 120DEX: 30
INT: 60LUC: 110
Skill List:
Active Skills:[Taunting Lv.7] [Escape Lv.28]
Passive Skills:[Riding Lv.8] [Battle Continuation Lv.2] [Clumsiness Lv.Max]
Monster Skills:
[Aether Engine Lv.35] [Longlived Batteries Lv.44] [Hologram Eyes Lv.23] [Shredder Mouth Lv.35]
[Anti-Magic Plating Lv.11]
*Collapse*
OOOH!! Why does the first skill I've ever seen at the highest level has to be [Clumsiness]!? And wasn't the skills for these guys supposed to be static? According to his name, you would think that they would rather focus on the [Battle Continuation] skill, instead of [Escape].
Guess I'll never reach high as a scientist. At least, not someone that makes good hypotheses.
"Eh, boss. What's the point of getting the branches again?" - Scarecrow
"Scarecrow, didn't I explain it before we started all this?" - Black-uniformed man(?)
"... I forgot." - Scarecrow
*Clang* *Crash* *BANG!*
Ouch, that looked like it hurt. A whole toolkit right in the face...
"Seriously, Scarecrow, you need to stop bothering the Black Baron all the time." - Wheel robot
"And you need to stop slacking all the time, Breaker." - Black Baron (?)
There I got their names, but I still wanna see their stats. First is that "Breaker"-bot. The one who shifts from a humanoid robot into a robotic wheel when moving around.
He kinda looks like those wheel robots in the movie of a galaxy, far, far away. Even if he's only half the size of the Scarecrow guy, who should be around 180 cm, give or take.
"Breaker"'s torso is a disk with a silver outer rim and black sides. His head looks like it's part of the outer rim, along with two grey-famed, blue eyes. His neck is connected to the front of its torso and it looks like he can retract it to form a wheel with the rest of the disk-torso.
His shoulders are placed in the middle of the disk torso and the arms look like those mechanical arms that you see in factories, with four fingers. His legs are similar to the hindlegs of animals such as jaguars, probably to make it easier to withdraw if he goes into wheel form. His feet look like claws by the way. And his stats are...
Name:Breaker
Race:Machinerz mdl: BB.Wh-003 | Gender: none
Level:4
Karma Value:8
Skills:11
HP: 100/100MP: 0/0SP: 188/200
STR: 20VIT: 60MAG: 0
RES: 30SPD: 150DEX: 60
INT: 125LUC: 105
Skill List:
Skill List:Active Skills:[Escape Lv.34] [Rest Lv.Max]
Passive Skills:[Riding Lv.8]
Perception Skills:[Identification Lv.18]
Leadership Skills:[Tactics Lv.15]
Monster Skills:
[Aether Engine Lv.35] [Wheel Form] [Longlived Batteries Lv.42] [Hologram Eyes Lv.22]
[Shredder Mouth Lv.30] [Anti-Magic Plating Lv.11]
*Collapse*
Wait, "Breaker" as in "taking a break"!? You gotta be kidding with me! Just forget it.
Then there's the only... fleshy guy in charge. the "Black Baron", as the bots are calling him. It looks like he has a well-built body, around the same size as Scarecrow.
He's wearing militaristic garments, including a navy-blue jacket with gold buttons and two flaps hanging from the back, grey pants, black leather boots, and a black leather aviator cap, along with huge goggles that cover the upper half of his face. The lower half is covered with his grey beard and mustache.
And the "Baron"'s stats are-
"Sir, Assault has come over a problem." - Breaker
"Ugh. What does that bucket of warmonger-bolts have to say now?" - Black Baron(?)
Oh? Sounds like something important happened. Let's eavesdrop.
"Well, there is a problem with the final tree, located in the center of the floor. A group of what appears to be the evolved form of the raptor-like dinosaur monsters we have encountered on this floor have gathered in that area." - Breaker
"So, the Floor Boss decided to take matters into its own claws. Just have Assault crush them all." - Black Baron (?)
"But sir... all those evolved specimens are classified as the Floor Boss." - Breaker
"WHAT!?" - Black Baron(?)
EEEEHH!? How did that happen!? Is the Floor Boss some hive-mind with the other evolved dinos?
"Hehehe. Even the big bad Assault can't do anything about that." - Scarecrow
"As if you could. Wait a minute, that's supposed to be no challenge for that mechanical muscles for brains." - Black Baron (?)
"It seems his logic circuits cannot decide which dinosaur to target first, as they all have the same amount of strength." - Breaker
"Now that's just... they're the same?" - Black Baron (?)
"It says so in the report." - Breaker
"Damn my luck. Tell that idiot that I'll go and take charge, so just shoot whichever of those monsters he gets his sights on. Urgh, I should have just left him here instead of trying to 'optimize' his punishment. That's what I get for not installing a better Intelligence Chip into that guy." - Black Baron (?)
"Why didn't ya do that boss?" - Scarecrow
"Because, if someone with that much firepower gets too smart, there will be a robot uprising! You don't need to be a genius to understand that." - Black Baron (?)
"... Robot uprising?" - Scarecrow and Breaker
"Yeah. What about it?" - Black Baron (?)
"... Nothing...*Grin*" - Scarecrow and Breaker
"And don't get any ideas or I'll recycle you both into waste-management-bots." - Black Baron (?)
"Eww." - Scarecrow and Breaker
I concur. Eww at the highest level.
The Baron then bordered a machine that was hidden behind the bot-press... is that an airboat? It looks like a cross of one and a car, except for being a one-seater. The wheels look like propels as well...!?
The wheels changed position, turned into... some sort of anti-gravitational propels or something. It's a real, deal, hovercraft!? Oi, why are someone like that baron allowed in this world!? He should rather be in some sci-fi one instead!
"I'll go and take command over Assault's troop myself. You two nincompoops can start readying the explosives across this floor. Activate them when I give the order." - Black Baron (?)
"Roger!" - Scarecrow and Breaker
Wait! I haven't identified the baron yet! ..."Explosives"? Ah, the baron's getting away! Come back!
"Alright, bomb-bots. Place the spheres all over the floor." - Scarecrow
"You're talking backward again." - Breaker
Argh! I need to stop those bombs first! Grr, just you wait, you stupid baron! The next time I see you, I'll wrap you up like a bagworm!!