#004 – I reject our new robot overlords!

#004 – I reject our new robot overlords!

“Alright...” I muttered to myself.

I was wearing my bottoms again, the letter and the vial in their pockets, the sheathed sword fastened to my hip. They were still covered in blood and it was gross, but I wasn’t about to run around naked. I just had to find a river or something and wash it there before finding civilization. It wouldn’t do for the first people I found in this world to see all the blood and think I was a psychopath or something...

But first, I had to get out of here alive.

“Okay...”

There had been no more ominous sounds from the outside while I’d recovered from the minor heart attack the potion had caused me. That probably meant that the thing was still waiting for me.

Luckily, I was in a slightly better position than before. I had a weapon, my wound was healed, and I even felt more energized than before. All I’d had to do was pour green fire into my bloodstream, apparently.

“Okay...”

I was also stalling. I didn’t want to go outside and get squished by the killer robot dammit! Couldn’t I just stay in this little hole forever? It was safe and cozy and...

And I was feeling less and less energetic with every passing second. The blood still left on the ground glowed a bit less as well.

The potion’s blood energizing effect must have been only temporary... which made sense.

If I was going to get out of here, I needed to act now.

“Okay, fine...!”

I took a breath and then mentally mapped out my escape route. I couldn’t be certain that the route I’d taken to get here would be my best way out of here, but I didn’t have the luxury of trying other routes, so my plan was to simply retrace my steps out of this crater, and then hope to hide somewhere in the forest.

Not exactly a perfect plan, but I didn’t exactly have many other options. Not unless I wanted to camp in this tiny enclosed space for the rest of my new life.

Yeah, fine. I better buckle up then.

Finally, with some determination, I steeled myself and, as quietly as possible, snuck to the entrance. I kept my eyes peeled, trying to spot the robot before it could spot me. But the entrance looked totally safe and robot-free, which only set me more on edge. I’d already gotten burned once by thinking I was safe, after all. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

I inched closer and closer, making sure that my steps were light and didn’t make any sound. When I finally reached the entrance and crouched down to fit inside, I peeked around, trying to spot the assassin hiding among debris, but I couldn’t pinpoint it at all.

Maybe it had left, after all? But I hadn’t heard it leave...

With another slow but deep breath, I finally took a step outside, my heart beating out of my chest and my palms sweaty as I gripped the handle on my sword.

There was a moment of silence and I thought I was safe. But then, the metallic creaking returned.

Right from above and behind me.

My head swirled around and I immediately spotted the creepy robot perched on top of the whole structure I had been in. It was in the process of getting up, its red eyes locked on me.

My mind screamed at me and I immediately turned back forward and legged it. I felt the metallic spike of an arm piercing the ground behind me and had to grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming in terror.

The subsequent familiar metallic crash made me jump to the right on instinct, allowing me to narrowly dodge the robot’s leap attack. I quickly recovered, blinked, and saw the robot already turning toward me, its death accessories ready.

For a brief second, I contemplated taking it head on with my sword. After all, I was still energized from the green potion and seemingly even had improved reflexes...

I dunked that thought into the mental trash bin as soon as it came to me. If this was a game, I probably would have at least tried to fight it, but there was no way in hell I would ever do that in real life!

I turned and ran again before it could punish my hesitation.

It didn’t take long for the tin can of death to follow me.

I kept on running and dodging whenever the thing caught up to me. The robot was relentless though, and I kept only barely dodging its attacks. Weirdly enough, I began to sort of subconsciously learn its patterns. After all, it kept repeating the same simplistic moves over and over. Just striking at me with its spiked arms.

Well, sure, those ‘simplistic moves’ were deadly as hell and hard to dodge to boot, but after enough times, I could sort of predict what it was going to do next.

Another spiked attack swiped my way and I jumped away, but I was getting tired and sloppy. I tripped over a piece of small debris I hadn’t noticed and found myself face planting into the ground.

When I heard the metallic creaking behind me, in that split second I thought I was dead for sure. But somehow, I still managed to push myself off the ground and throw myself to the side as yet another spike slammed down on the spot where I’d fallen.

I rolled and managed to stand up again in record time, but to my horror, I’d accidentally pushed myself in the wrong direction. An L-shaped piece of metal too tall to jump over stood in my way, perfectly hemming me in and blocking off my escape.

Once again, almost as an ingrained reflex at this point, I jumped out of the way as the spiked appendage slammed the ground and turned to face the monster.

It loomed over me, already digging its arm out of the ground and preparing for another strike.

I turned around and ran into the forest in a random direction. I kept running until I physically couldn’t anymore, at which point I collapsed next to a tree and tried to catch my breath.

...

I had almost died back there.

Several times over.

That wasn’t funny at all. Why did my first encounter in this world have to be a killer robot? Why not... a horned rabbit or some crap?

Fuck...

With my breathing calming down, I took one last deep breath and let out a tired sigh, finally letting myself relax after that harrowing experience.

As soon as I did, an immaterial blue window with some text popped right in front of me, making me jump.

‘First delve’ Main quest complete!

Main objective:

Delve into a dungeon and come out of it alive [ACHIEVED]

Side objectives:

Delve into the dungeon on your own with no outside help [ACHIEVED]

B rank dungeon or higher [ACHIEVED]

Conquer the dungeon on your first try [FAILED]

Hidden objectives:

Find a hidden reward chest [ACHIEVED]

Challenge a dungeon monster at least five times stronger than you [ACHIEVED]

Reward:

Racial skill

+5 SP

“Wha... What is this?!” I yelled, my eyes scanning over the text. “Quest?! Dungeon?! That place was a dungeon?! Hold on, skill?! SP?! Am I in a video game?! What is going on?!”

I could feel the window listening to me mentally dismissing it and demanding answers and it disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

“Wait, hold on–!”

And then another window appeared.

Calibrating racial skill, please wait...

“Racial skill...? No, what is this?! What’s up with these floating windows?! Do I have some kind of status screen like in RPGs?”

As soon as I said it – no, as soon as I thought it – it appeared in front of me.

Name: Nana Aoto

Title: Fire blessed

Race: Human

Skill Points: 5

Racial skill:

Calibrating...

Other skills(0/3):

Phoenix blessing [CURSED] [FREE] [TEMPORARY]

Empty (+)

Empty (+)

Empty (+)

I stared at the text in front of me in bewilderment. I did have a status screen. Had this been here all along? Why hadn’t anyone told me about it?!

A bit miffed, but also somewhat excited, I read the actual text with a frown.

The name... Was this a joke...? No, of course it was a damn joke! The stupid letter said ‘Good luck! ;)’ and my kidnapper had reincarnated me as my old Vcuber model! Naming me after my Vcuber was just continuing that joke!

I growled under my breath.

Well, I didn’t mind that much. My real life name was whatever anyway.

Anywho, skill points, huh? Could I spend them somewhere? Was there a skill tree or somethi–?

Suddenly, two more windows popped into view.

One of them said...

Racial skill calibrated!

You received the racial skill: Streamer!

“Wha–”

The other window was a lot more familiar, though.

GonguuH: so it was a phoenix

Jeofffff: where are my staaaaats?!

GeorgeDoshington: cursed gg bois

RetconRanger: Are you okay, Nana?

Many more messages like these kept popping up, pushing the old ones to the top and out of sight. Some analyzing the status screen, some wondering if I was okay, some just shitposting as usual.

I couldn’t help but gape at what I was seeing. It was... It was my stream chat. It was right here even if I was in a completely unknown land filled with killer robots in a body that wasn’t mine. My viewers were somehow here with me. I could read their messages! I had never thought I would be this glad to see George fucking Doshington and his asshole comments.

I tried taking a slow breath but instead I hiccuped as tears began to streak down my face.

“Chat! Help! I’ve been isekai’d!” I choked out.