With his other four, he sent them to gather up and “convert” the bodies of the three attackers. He was excited to see if he would gain access to more gene mutations through their conversion.
When two of his drones hauled the head and headless corpse of the Healer Reginald past the dungeon tourists, the two Proctans stared at the procession. “What are you doing with him?” Whisp asked in shock.
“This big guy will be a welcome addition to my Bio Mass resource, allowing me to create additional Combat Units. His clothes will contribute to my organic material stockpile, and I’m hoping to gain some more Gene Mutations from him.”
“How are you going to do tha—,” she began, before being stopped by a hand on her arm. She looked at Brint who shook his head, “You really don’t want to know. Even though I’m sure you hate these guys even more than I do – you don’t want to see it.”
As the drones disappeared down the tunnel, she looked intrigued at seeing something new, but ultimately decided against it, “I’ll take your word for it.” Her interest was still piqued, however, “What do you mean by Gene Mutations?”
“Well, when I…brought you back…my systems were able to analyze the tiny little parts within your body that make you the way you are. I gained the opportunity to enhance my Combat Units with a – Trait, let’s call it – that I didn’t have previously. It’s called Intelligence Boost +1, and it gives my unit the ability to increase their Intelligence for a limited amount of time by using their inherent power. Sound familiar?”
Whisp and Brint both stopped in their tracks, their faces reflecting their shock at his revelation. Brint continued to look shell-shocked, but Whisp opened and closed her mouth while small sounds came out, evidence that her mind had just been blown. Milton couldn’t help but feel a little pride in what he had done – even if discovering the gene mutations hadn’t been intentional.
“Wha-wait, are you saying you can give my ability to one of your creatures?” Whisp asked as soon as she could form a coherent thought.
“Yes, although I haven’t figured out what benefit it would have on them yet. Like I said, I’m hoping to acquire some more Gene Mutations from those three that attacked.”
“Brint, I know you said I don’t want to see it, but I don’t want to miss this. This could change everything!”
Chapter 4 – Combat Unit Status
Despite the warning, Whisp watched the corpse-massacre with the aplomb of a medical researcher. Brint could only take a few seconds of it before he left while making retching noises, looking a little paler than he had at the beginning.
Once the disturbing display of dismemberment and insertion of body parts into his Molecular Converter was complete, he indeed received some awesome gene mutations.[3] First, from the Healer – Reginald – he received the Self-Regeneration +1 mutation, allowing his Combat Units to heal themselves at a rate of 10 Health per point of power, per minute. The only caveat was that they had to be non-mortal wounds, which, when Milton thought about it, made sense. If I had my head chopped off, no amount of self-regeneration should be able to bring me back.
From Glert, the Physical Augmenter, Milton was pleased to see that he had received two gene mutations: Agility Boost +1 and Strength Boost +1. They were similar to the Intelligence Boost he had already received, granting a boost of +10 to each respective stat for 300 seconds per use of power. He wasn’t quite sure how powerful this was – now that he thought about it, he really needed to investigate what ALANNA had told him about checking out his Combat Units’ statistics.
With the acquirement of two mutations from the Physical Augmenter, Milton was hoping for a similar treasure trove of them from the Elemental Caster. He had seen Mirve use more than one element during their attack on his dungeon, so he expected to gain access to everything the Caster had.
He was severely disappointed.
It turned out that although Mirve could use every element, the only one he had an affinity in was Air – as evidenced by how he had managed to save himself and the Augmenter when they fell down his collapsed tunnel.
Overall, Milton was pleased. Even though his dungeon had been essentially dismantled, he was ecstatic over the Gene Mutations he had received. He looked around his Core Room after dismissing the notifications of his newly-unlocked mutations and saw that Brint had made his way back inside. Whisp was talking excitedly with her still-pale friend, the subject of which made him appear as if he was on the verge of throwing up the cheeseburger and fries Milton had made for them earlier.
“—and the way the body parts just disappeared into nothing was spectacular. I’ve never seen anything like it! Was that what happened to me? Did I still have a lot of blood in me at that point? How wa—wait, where are you going?”
For the second time, Brint left the room in a hurry. Milton felt a little bad for him, especially since he observed tears running down his face as vomit splashed against the walls of tunnel outside his Core Room. Whisp just looked confused at his sudden disappearance, but her confusion was quickly replaced by an enthusiastic bombardment of questions regarding the “procedure” he just completed.
Milton responded to her good-natured interrogation the best he could, but as he didn’t know exactly how his Molecular Converter worked, he glossed over the details. Fortunately, she was more interested in what optional “Traits” he had access to now. She seemed even more excited than Milton, to which he understood when she asked about multiple “Traits”.
“Are you able to give more than one “Trait” to your Combat Units? What about a Proctan? Can you alter our abilities – take one away and give us something else? Or even better, give us more than one ability?”
ALANNA communicated silently with him, answering his question with a friendliness he wasn’t accustomed to from the normally sarcastic, foul-mouthed AI guide, “I think she really wants another ability – probably something flashy. When you think about it, her ability is relatively invisible. She can’t throw fire around, move fast, slice a tree in two, or heal someone with just a touch. Despite having a heightened Intelligence, she probably always wished to have something tangible she could point to and say, ‘That’s my ability! Isn’t it awesome!’.
“Unfortunately, you aren’t able to add more than one Gene Mutation at this time. If you check the available Research[4] for your Biological Recombinator, you’ll find that the options are there but are locked until you get more samples.”
New Average-term Goal: DNA Harvester
After gaining DNA samples of various Proctans with abilities, you have discovered that they provide unique gene mutations. Currently, you can apply a single gene mutation – acquire more samples to unlock the ability to add more than one to your Combat Units.
- Add +1 gene mutation to your Combat Units 4/20
- Add +2 gene mutations to your Combat Units 4/100
- Add +3 gene mutations to your Combat Units 4/500
- Add +4 gene mutations to your Combat Units 4/2500
- Add +5 gene mutations to your Combat Units 4/12500
Difficulty of Goal: Average
Timeframe: 40 years
Rewards: +10 to Communication/Charisma, enhance Combat Units’ Power Capacity X3
Why is she being so nice? Milton should have kept his mouth shut, but he was so surprised at her attitude that he blurted out, “What, no curse words? I don’t know what happened, but I like this new you. Thanks for the information, by the way.”
“Fuck yeah! Now that I have another female to…model…my speech after, I can alter my programming to better communicate with you. That doesn’t mean I won’t fucking tear your ass down when I need to, but I don’t feel the need to bother with using all that fucking foul language shit anymore. Just watch yourself, fucker, since I can change back anytime I want to,” she added that with a pleased smile on her face.
I’ll take what I can get, thought Milton. He had gotten used to her language after so long together, but it was a relief to not have to cringe every time she
spoke with him – her last conversation notwithstanding.
Whisp had been quietly patient throughout the internal exchange, which in reality was so fast that only a second or so had passed since she asked her questions. Milton relayed the information he had received after his conversation with ALANNA. Her excited face fell after she learned that she wasn’t going to be able to gain an additional ability.
“Don’t worry, as soon as I have access to additional “Traits”, I’ll see what I can do for you.”
Somewhat mollified at his statement, she instead concentrated on what Milton actually had to work with, “So, you can add these new Traits to your creatures? How will they know how to use them, and do they have to wait until they grow older, like us Proctans do? Will they have a power pool like us as well?”
So many questions – now I kind of know what Brint must have felt like when he first got here. Milton remembered asking so many questions of the confused and exhausted Proctan that it was a surprise that Brint didn’t tell him to shut up. Fortunately, the Station Core had a lot more patience than most, as evidenced by the near century of boring mining that he had been doing.
Getting back to the question, Milton had been wondering these same things since he had learned about the gene mutations; not to mention the “hint” that ALANNA had given him that his Combat Units had their own status screens. He had been putting it off until he had more time to dig into it – now seemed as good a time as any.
For a baseline, he decided to look closer at one of his Blood-thirsty Squirrels that had been in the fight against Glert in his Core Room. As soon as the coast was clear, and he was presumably out of danger, Milton had sent them away and out to the nearby forest to scout around and keep their eyes open for danger. He was appreciative for their help in defending his Core, but he still didn’t want to be around them for longer than necessary.
Pulling up his Tactical Map, he selected one of the over a hundred that had survived the assault. He wasn’t sure how to pull up a status screen for a particular Combat Unit, so he started by connecting with it so that he could see out of its eyes – but he held back on fully “becoming” it. Even though his sciurophobia had faded a little over time, his fear of squirrels still reared its ugly head whenever he had to connect too deeply with one of the creepy, blood-thirsty rodents.
The squirrel was sitting on a branch in one of the numerous trees surrounding his clearing. It was looking at something on the ground, which after a moment turned out to be one of his Lollipop Snakes ranging through the perimeter of his dungeon territory. Once he sure there was no immediate danger around, he connected a little deeper to it. Not sure what else to do, he simply thought, Status Screen, and Viola! it worked.[5] That was easier than I thought it would be.
The squirrel that he had picked out at random appeared to have been involved in the attack in the Core Room based upon its experience and level. Milton thought it was interesting that they gained levels just like himself, but it made sense because they were infused with nanites which could improve their stats similarly. That made keeping them alive to fight another day even more important if they continued to get stronger the longer they survived.
Since it was only level 4 – and the weakest Combat Unit type that he had – he wasn’t surprised to see that most of its stats were on the low end. Since it was a Scout-type Combat Unit, it did have an increased Perception and Agility score, which helped it “scout” out danger and flee from it quickly. It also had a slightly higher Charisma score – probably because everyone (except for Milton, of course) thought they looked cute.
What interested him the most, however, was the “Power” statistic. With a total of 20, that meant that it was possible to give it a gene mutation and allow the Unit to activate it at least once before it was out of power, or mana as he was wont to call it. He still wasn’t exactly sure how these statistics translated to combat, because he had no reference when it came to some of his “heavy-hitters”.
He broke off contact to his squirrel unit with a shudder of revulsion and located his remaining Big Bad Quizard on his Tactical Map. Milton had kept it near his dungeon in the fear that there might be some more incoming danger, but when the danger had passed he had sent it to patrol his “borders” again. Although it wasn’t clearly defined, it was essentially the farthest out he could reach and still communicate with his Combat Units. The range had extended greatly when he had reached 50 Communication/Charisma and he had yet to fully determine how far away he could reach them. It turned out to be a lot further than he had expected.
Chapter 5 – Spiderwolves
He found his BBQ in a fight with a pack of Spiderwolves in the middle of the dark, night-enshrouded forest – six of them in fact – and his Combat Unit had taken some damage already. Although it had extra protection in the form of armored scales along its back and sides, it couldn’t prevent every attack – especially when it was surrounded. The wolves with large spider legs extending from their backs had taken to nipping at the BBQ’s unarmored tail-tip and legs, fortunately only causing an insignificant loss of blood from these superficial wounds. Unfortunately, the teeth from the wolves was coated in a venom of some kind, which, while not damaging, was slowing his Combat Unit down severely.
Rather than watch his remaining (and rather expensive) “heavy-hitter” die, he took control of the situation. Milton knew that the Spiderwolves were reluctant to get too close to his Unit, which was evident by the three unmoving wolf forms just beyond the ones currently encircling him. He looked around and saw something that might help keep the BBQ alive.
Now with full control of the BBQ, he immediately completed a 180-degree turn and sped toward the Spiderwolf directly behind him. Momentarily caught by surprise at the sudden movement, the wolf was just barely able to get out of the way before being caught by razor-sharp claws.
Which was fine with Milton, because that wasn’t the point of his actions. He kept going, and he was pleased to see that he still moved fast enough to stay ahead of his pursuing enemies. Dodging around a couple of trees, he came upon what he had seen earlier that gave him some hope of survival.
At some point over the last couple of years (based on the undergrowth surrounding it), a massive tree had fallen in the forest, taking out a swath of smaller trees on its way down. The base of the tree had ripped itself out of the ground, leaving the 15-foot-across trunk with roots sticking out its bottom as it rested along the forest floor. Milton aimed for the base of the tree, taking care to avoid being impaled by the massive roots sticking out horizontally and vertically.
As he traveled, he could feel himself moving faster as the venom started working itself out of the BBQ’s system. If he could just avoid being bit again, he figured he had a chance to pull this off.
The Spiderwolves were practically right on his heels as he got into position, his back to the exposed underside of the giant tree. The wolves nimbly avoided any roots sticking out as they surrounded him again, though this time it was only towards the front and sides. Growling out what he assumed were aggressive threats, the wolves paused as they waited for an opening against the slowly-recovering giant lizard.
Which gave Milton the chance to enact the second part of his plan. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but he didn’t have any other ideas. Turning toward the nearest root, he sliced through it with little resistance and placed it in front of him. The increased volume of growling caused him to pause for a moment, before he went to work on the wood. He sharpened the end with a few quick slices, fashioning a makeshift spear out of the root. It wasn’t exactly straight, but it was long enough to extend his range by almost six feet.
The wolves had had enough of waiting and attacked as one, hoping to overwhelm his Combat Unit with aggression and numbers. It would’ve worked if Milton hadn’t been ready for it.
He activated his Overdrive skill when the first wolf was in range of his “spear”. This sped up his perception of time so that everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. At
its current level it only lasted 30 seconds, but that was more than enough to dictate his orders to his Combat Unit. He just hoped the wolves stuck to the plan.
His BBQ was already fulfilling his first order as time started to renew its normal speed. Milton “sat back” and watched, knowing that there wasn’t anything he could do except observe at this point. The one drawback to his Overdrive skill was that he couldn’t control the actions of his Combat Units until the current battle was over.
If you’ve ever seen a lizard – even a small one – you’ll probably know how hard it would be for them to try to sit on their back legs and manipulate something with their “hands”. Milton had no expectation that his BBQ would be any different, but he was able to make it push off its front legs and extend the spear out to the nearest wolf on the far right. The increase in range was unexpected, which allowed the inexpertly thrusted spear to miraculously strike the wolf in the throat, stopping it in its tracks.
The wound didn’t kill it, but the spear stuck inside its throat did take it out of the battle for the time being. With five more hungry and angry-looking wolves encroaching on the BBQ, the giant lizard turned to the wolf beside the impaled one and slashed out slowly with its razor-sharp toes. As Milton had predicted, the wolf jumped back, wary of being hit by the deadly claws. The other wolves saw the ineffective strike, figured they had an opening, and continued to attack without caution.
With a spin reminiscent of an ice skater, his BBQ spun to the left on its back leg, arms and claws extended out front in a deadly parody of an invitation to hug. The second unexpected move of the day ended up hitting three of the remaining Spider-wolves in their heads, where his BBQ’s claws easily carved through flesh and bone with abandon. They fell to the ground dead, their prior speed causing them to tumble and roll into the spinning lizard.
The Quizard Mountains: A Dungeon Core Epic (Station Cores Book 2) Page 4
