Getting a Kid Sick was the Answer after all.

Getting a Kid Sick was the Answer after all.

With my robotic (not really, more like an electrical puppet) body lying face-first on the floor, I stopped to think. I also reabsorbed the faux latex skin. It wouldn't survive the first combat and I didn't want to spend the resources to fix it. Otherwise, everything was fine. A fall like this wouldn't damage Josselyn too much. The repairs were less than the resources recovered from the latex.

I didn't have enough materials to make another Josselyn. Without a Dungeon, I was limited to what I could absorb from the environment to replenish my Dungeon Mana. Substance was less of an issue, I could eat the whole building if I had to.

I moved the arms into position, then tried a pushup. The collarbone actuators were too weak. I had to replace them with stronger ones on the fly, taking the time to design the changes with the proper Perks to the bonuses would stick.

Hours later, I did a pushup, then moved to an Orz position, and planted a foot on the floor. With a heave from the arms, the gyro fought against the movement and I fell on all fours again. I locked the joints in place and went back to the drawing board.

Poor Josselyn had too many issues. First, the real Josselyn was dead. That was a major issue. She had a bullet wound to her head and a gun was lying nearby, so I think she took the "deny the enemy their food" approach and offed herself. Second, My technique wasn't so refined I could do a human-sized puppet on the first try. Third, it had too many moving parts. Eighty buttons were almost an entire keyboard.

I decided to downsize, throw away the human size, and simplify. My new puppet would be the size of a child, with much less mobility, broader legs, more stability, and with integrated armor. If I didn't need to pretend to be human, which I would fail unless I could convince people I was doing the robot dance, then the armor could be the fuselage.

No feet. Hands would only open and close, without independent finger movement except for the thumb. Shoulders wouldn't have the same mobility. Head, the same. More than half the actuators went away. I added extending prongs to the sides to push it back on its feet. Eight of them that would see little use in normal conditions. With only half the height, it weighed five times less after the thicker armor was accounted for. The armor was rounded and egg-shaped in some places for extra resilience. The helmet was thicker with a V-shaped face plate to deflect blows to the sides. I wanted people to think the head mattered when, in fact, I could do without it. If enemies would be so kind as to waste their blows there, I would be very happy.

I added spring-loaded blades to the forearms. Not claws like some angry Canadian superhero but swords. They would deal a lot of damage on pop-out and I had a trigger that would activate with a punch. Actuators retracted the blade and it took five seconds to rearm.

Then I disassembled Josselyn to recycle the components and absorb what I couldn't use for Mana. It was a loss but what else would I do with that pile of metal? I couldn't carry her around.

When I finished the construction, I named my creation before the System could. "Kid Skip."

> Your training and knowledge improved your Implements of Demise Skill to Rank II

> Rank II benefits: When attacking with an unexpected weapon or from ambush, you deal 10% more damage per rank.

> You created a new contraption. Mark II mechanical body, "Kid Sick".

> For this (Very Rare) contraption, you gained 3,908 Experience points.

These aliens have a really bad translator. Scaling down the complexity reduced the rarity by one level and I was now level 19, making it worth less Exp.

*This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

*

I started climbing down the stairs, testing Kid Sick's mobility. One thing I realized was that I needed to develop the skill to control the puppet. Push the buttons in the correct order, right timing, and even with adequate pressure. Josselyn was just too complex to pilot straight out of the dock. This design was much more forgiving and simple to pilot. Only not having a foot joint that needed to be adjusted at every step already helped.

"Jimmy will be fine," Rogue reported after checking on the mage.

"Where did it go?" Shieldbearer asked.

"Ran into a building. It was the first time I saw an Infernali leave dying prey behind," Rogue answered.

"Do you think something is controlling them?"

"No idea. We need to rest. A single Spinehound, especially after devouring a soul, is too much for us."

It seemed the Infernali got a boost of power after eating a soul. Except this one didn't get its meal. I stole it first.

The dog quickly climbed the stairs. I prepared to fight. It came on the floor I was at, growling. I swiveled Kid Sick's head to stare at the beast.

It shot a hail of spines. Most of them pinged harmlessly against my armor, leaving just superficial scratches while some lodged into the joints. When he saw I didn't fall, the dog charged.

I tried to position my forearms to stab the dog but the spines stuck to my joints blocked my movements. They were tough enough that my servos couldn't snap them.

The Spinehound jumped on me and knocked Kid Sick back with a loud clang. It started to bite into the metal neck and I let it for all the good it would do. Instead, I flexed the arm all the way back, causing the spines to fall down and release the elbow joint. I lined up the stab so the blade would pop out between the ribs and go straight for the heart. Then I triggered the springs.

Shunk!

The blade slid between the ribs and severed both the heart and lung. The Spinehound thrashed but that only widened the wound. I pulled hard to the side and the sword ripped open its side, pouring a lot of blood on my chassis.

> For killing level 41 Spinehound, you earned 3,251 Experience Points.

> You gained a level! You gained +8 Intelligence, +4 Wisdom, +7 Will, +5 Clarity, and +7 Hardness. You have 10 Attribute Points.

> You gained the Rapid Growth Perk. Plants inside your Domain grow 100% faster and yield 50% more produce.

> You gained the "Oops, I was in range" Perk: Your own explosions deal 20% less damage to you.

Level 20, hooray! Also, I was heinously under-leveled for this place.

The search party was coming my way now. It was a good time to remember I forgot to add speakers to this damn robot.