by R. A. Mejia
A stat upgrade cost three Companion Points for a single added point and an additional point for each stat upgrade after. Adding an embedded tool would cost me two to five points depending on the tool, and upgrading the armor would cost five companion points. I knew that I wouldn’t invest in any of those upgrades as my class allowed me to accomplish them as long as I had the proper class ability.
I could only assume that the ability to upgrade stats like this would be more useful to another class that happened to get a pet, like a ranger, summoner, or tamer. Still, there were things I could purchase that I could not add manually through my class. I could add an internal inventory system to Parker for four class points and increase the initial slot for more points. Additionally, I could not give Parker special abilities with my class, so I focused my attention on those. I reduced the number of choices to ones that Parker could use now.
Stinger - Companion gains a sharp stinger that punctures an enemy. A melee weapon attack. Reach 5 ft., one creature. On hit: 2-4 piercing damage. Capable of injecting poison into an enemy.
Spider Climb - The spider can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Web Sense - While in contact with a web, the spider knows the exact location of any other creature in contact with the same web.
Web - Ranged Weapon Attack. Reach 30/60 ft., one creature. The target is restrained by webbing. The restrained target can make a strength check, bursting the webbing on a success. The webbing can also be attacked and destroyed.
Poison - Create an internal reservoir for poison that can be injected either through a bite or stinger attack. Damage depends on the type of poison used.
I liked each ability listed, though Web Sense was only useful if I took Web first. I was torn between Web, which would bind an enemy and Poison, which would add extra damage. I knew that I’d eventually get both, but for now, I needed to level up Parker so that I could take him with me to the lower levels of the dungeon without worrying he’d die from a single attack. So, Poison it was. I selected the option and got a notification.
Upgrading your Mechanical Companion with Poison ability will require 30 minutes and the following resources: 0.56 lbs glass, 0.32 lbs rubber.
I looked around the laboratory and saw several jars
filled with rocks and rubber tubing used with some kind of alchemy set and grabbed them.
“Hey, what do you think you are doing?” Gnomerad yelled.
“I’m just gathering a few resources to upgrade Parker. Don’t you want to see how he gains the poison ability? It’ll make great data for you.”
Gnomerad paused, his pencil tapping against the notepad in his hand, but it was Tognomey that interjected. “Yes, we do want to see how the upgrade happens. And since we’re not directly giving you material, we aren’t technically going against the Gnome Council’s order not to aid you.”
Before Gnomerad could object, I placed the materials on the floor next to Parker, who poked them with a leg and peered down at them with his glass eyes. I sat next to the mechanical spider, patted him, and then activated the upgrade. My left forearm split open, and another notification appeared in my vision.
Please target your Mechanical Companion to begin the upgrade.
I directed the red light from the tool over Parker, and when the light hit him, he turned to me and curled up into himself, and the front of his body clicked and opened up like a book revealing his inner workings. There were copper gears inside Parker’s body, small steel pistons that pumped, chains that pulled, and wires that connected it all. In the dead center of it all was a gleaming, marble-sized metallic sphere. I recognized the expensive metal as ochrium, as it had cost me a week’s worth of profit from the dungeon. I marveled at the small sphere as it was Parker’s brain. The part of himself that gave him the ability to move, act, and learn.
Yet as the light from my fabrication tool moved over Parker’s inside, the gears and inner workings seemed to shift, and the fabrication tool broke down the materials I’d laid at Parker’s feet and started to build, layer by layer, a new mechanism. As I watched, a glass receptacle made with a rubber top and tubing appeared. The tubing led to a small metallic cube, and more ran from it along Parker’s casing. I lost sight of the tubing as it snaked into the machine but assumed it must connect to some place that would allow for the poison to be injected.
“Well, isn’t that fascinating,” Gnomerad said with a look of amazement on his face as the fabrication process finished and Parker’s out casing closed up. It was the most polite thing the gnome had said in the past few weeks, and for a moment, I recalled that he was a researcher: someone like me that loved to learn and understand how things worked. Then Gnomerad shook his head and turned to me and said, “Well, I suppose that data might have been worth our time, but don’t expect us to thank you for it. I’ll also be charging you for the materials that you stole from our lab.”
I shrugged my shoulders and twiddled my thumbs, my nonverbal motion for a sigh. “Yeah, you do that, Gnomerad. Just make sure you also credit me with gold for showing all this to you.” I stood up, and Parker rose up on his eight legs, and we left the lab. I was ready to test out just what Parker could do.
Chapter 35 - Testing Parker
It was nighttime in the city when I took Parker from the Institute. Even at night, there are people on the street, shopping and working by the light provided by the magical lamps that light up the cobblestone streets. While Parker did his best to follow in my wake, he constantly had to move and dodge people’s feet. Heads turned as we walked, and I saw and heard people whisper to each other. I ignored it just like the other stares I had grown accustomed to as I walked through the richer parts of the city. Eventually, however, a golden-haired elf dressed in a green vest with gold threading and blue trousers stepped in front of me and held out a hand to stop me.
“Hold there, golem. Where is your master? Point him out to me as I wish to speak to him about that marvelous contraption following you.”
“I have no master, sir.” I added the sir after only a slight pause since I figured that it was better to be extra polite. “I am my own person. If you wish to speak about the mechanical spider, I am the one to speak to.”
I felt stupid speaking so formally, but I didn’t want to offend someone with so much obvious wealth. Not only was the elf in rich fabrics, but he had on more jewelry than I’d seen on nearly anyone else in the district.
He sniffed and asked, “It speaks? Oh, this is a day for rare finds indeed. First, a mechanical spider, and then a talking golem. I simply must add you both to my collection.” He turned and said, “Henry, please collect these two. They can’t be let loose, or another collector will surely pick them up.”
A seven-foot-tall troll in black livery appeared from behind the corner of the building we were standing in front of, instantly reaching out for me and Parke, but I scooped up the spider and took several steps back, bumping into several people.
“No! I am not a thing to be collected,” I shouted. The words made the troll pause just long enough for me to continue. “I belong to the Gnome Research Institute, and they would not take kindly to me being stolen off the street.”
I’d not wanted to say someone owned me, but the words made the troll look back at his master. The elf just shrugged and said, “I will duly compensate the clever little creatures for their innovation. I will even commission them to make more of you if they are capable of producing such fine speaking golems now.”
The troll grabbed out again, and I dodge him and quickly said, “I am one of a kind, and I’ve heard the gnomes say it cost them a year’s work and 30,000 gold to produce me. Is that a price you wish to pay?”
The number made the elf’s eyes widen a fraction. He held up his hand for the troll to stop, and it did. The elf sighed and said, “While the cost only makes you rarer and more tempting, my wife has forbade me from spending such an amount again this month.” He pursed his li
ps as if considering whether or not it would be worth angering his wife then shook his head, “No, I’ll just have to wait till I get my allowance again. Please tell your masters to expect the pleasure of a visit from Lord Arnault in the future.”
With that the elf and his troll servant turned the corner and continued on their way. I heard murmurs and whispers about seeing the lord but had no context for the reactions of the people around me. But it was clear enough that the elf had some great power in the city if no one blinked at his attempted kidnapping and theft.
I picked up my mechanical spider, and he climbed up onto my shoulders. The spider shifted his weight as I walked, and I regretted not getting Spider Climb instead of Poison. If Parker had Spider Climb, he’d be able to stick my body without trouble. As it was, it was annoying to carry the spider that way. Still, we reached the center of town and headed for the dungeon. As I passed by the few stalls still open for the night dungeon divers, I recalled that, even though I’d upgraded Parker to have the poison ability, I’d yet to actually add any poison.
I checked the stalls around the dungeon, and while there were a few vendors that had one or two healing potions, none had poison for sale. I looked over the weapons they displayed and considered scanning a couple to get their schematics, but the sharp-eyed vendors manning the booths were watching too closely. As I browsed what was for sale, the trap vendor nodded at me, and I decided to look over some of the traps I’d not used before: large spring traps that slammed shut dangerous jaws, cages that closed on their own once a creature entered, and chains that tangled up legs. I couldn’t afford any with my now-limited funds, but it occurred to me that adding poison to a trap would increase its lethality. I asked the vendor if he knew of anyone that sold poisons.
The heavyset man thought for a moment. “Hmm, the herbalist shop is closed at this hour, or I’d say they were your best bet at getting a high-quality poison. But I have some minor poisons that I’d be willing to sell you. It only does a couple of points of damage, but every little bit helps.”
“How much?” I asked.
“A silver.”
“What? For that much coin I could buy a sword or a health potion.”
“You could. But like I said, the herbalist shop is closed.”
“Let me see the potion then.”
The vendor handed me a small thumb-sized vial with green liquid inside of it. I took it in my right hand and whispered the words to scan the vial.
“Aye! What are you doing there?” The vendor asked.
“I’m just examining the potion to make sure it is what you say it is.” I lied.
Vial of Weak Poison
Damage 1-2 per second
Duration 5 seconds
Weight 0.5 lbs
Durability 2/2
Weak Poison Components: 0.2 lbs of glass, 0.15 lbs of copper, 0.15 lbs Conium Rubrum
“This is a weak poison, and the vial is only a single dose. It just isn’t worth a silver. At most, I’d give you ten copper for it.”
“No, you’ll pay a silver, or you can go without.”
I handed the vial back and said, “Then I’ll just go without then.”
The vendor shrugged and asked, “Will there be anything else?”
“Not yet. I may come back to buy some of the larger traps, though. I plan to hunt some larger dungeon monsters soon.”
Parker and I left the vendor having gotten what I wanted, even only if it was a schematic. I could get the water I needed from the fountain, but I wasn’t sure where the Conium Rubrum plant was.
“Query: What is the Conium Rubrum plant?”
A flower that grows in well-sunned, plains type environments. It grows between 4-16 inches tall, has between 6-8 red petals, and a herbaceous furred stem.
The description of the plant tickled the back of my mind, but I couldn’t remember seeing something exactly like that. But, then again, I’d seen dozens of types of flowers in the dungeon and throughout the city. The plant was either from the dungeon somewhere, cultivated privately, or grown in the wild. I was betting that, like most products the city made, it appeared somewhere in the dungeon and as it was made into a weak potion, it likely came from the early levels. I’d just have to scan the plants until I found something like I needed.
Parker and I descended into the dungeon and made our way to the first floor. We traveled through the underground tunnels until they opened up to the dungeon field, and I felt an unusual comfort as I looked out upon the field of flowers. I’d spent so much time there grinding for XP and deconstructing wood for repairs that it almost felt like returning home. It was also one of the most picturesque dungeon levels with massive fields of white flowers and occasional thin trees that dotted the landscape. I’d long ago stopped receiving any XP from killing the level one monsters, but it was the perfect place to test out what Parker could do.
From the entrance to the dungeon field, I could see movement amongst the flowers, as lizard-like Scaledons roamed through the west side of the field and Squirrel Scouts and Knights controlled the east. I took Parker from my shoulder and put him on the ground. The flowers almost completely obscured Parker as we walked into the field, and my mechanical companion merely pushed through them stoically. I only recalled my desire to find the Conium Rubrum plant as the stalks of the flowers hit Parker as he passed through them. I used Inspect on the white flowers and was shown they were called Conium Album.
Close, but not the same kind of plant that the weak poison schema called for. I shrugged and led Parker to one of the places I’d seen movement. I whispered the command to bring out my Blacksmith Hammer from my internal inventory, and it appeared in my hands with a small flash of light. I knew the monsters posed no threat to me, but they could destroy Parker with just two or three good hits while he was level one.
The flowers in front of us parted, and the scaly snout of a Scaledon peeked out. It hissed as it took one look at me and then backed away, some natural instinct telling it that I was dangerous. I pointed at the Scaledon and said, “Parker, attack!”
But the mechanical spider didn’t move. I turned to look and saw that it just stood there, its front legs tapping against the stone floor like an engine idling. I was surprised at the disobedience until I recalled just how specific the commands were to interact with the Metalman OS were. They often needed exact phrases and clear targets to work properly.
A rustling sound from in front of me drew my attention, and when I looked back at where the monster was, it was gone. The swaying flowers were the only indicator of which direction it had fled. I wanted to grind my non-existent teeth at how specific the commands in the Metalman OS had to be but turned back to Parker and said, “Go attack the Scaledon.”
This time, with a specific target, Parker moved. He shot forward faster than I walked, following the direction that the Scaledon had gone. From my vantage point, I watched the Scaledon run away, cutting a path through the flower field taking him northeast, while Parker cut a straight path to the monster. Their paths intersected after a brief moment, and I ran forward to see how Parker fared against the monster.
When I arrived at the sight of the battle, I found the Scaledon biting through one of Parker’s legs. My instinctual response was to bash the lizard’s head in with my hammer, but the Mechanical Spider didn’t seem to mind. He had wrapped his other legs around the Scaledon’s back and was biting the lizard with metal jaws that were located just below his bulbous glass eyes. The spider’s jaws tore at the flesh of the lizard, and the Scaledon soon lay dead beneath it.
Parker has killed a level 1 Scaledon.
He receives 5 XP.
I swiped away the notification as Parker raised one of his front legs into the air, and I could almost swear there was a gleam of triumph in his glass eyes. However, his other front leg was twisted and broken. Looking at the spider’s health, he’d lost 3 HP, and while not a large number, it represented almost half his health. I deconstructed a nearby tree, repaired the damage to Parker’s front
leg, and he was soon fully operational and ready to fight again.
But I didn’t like the time it took to repair Parker. I mean, if I was going to have to fix him up after every fight, it was going to take forever for him to get to level two, much less level three. No, I had to get Parker more XP quickly. Thankfully, Parker could benefit from my time on the level. When I was only level one, Greebo and I had figured out that setting traps was a great way to kill monsters passively and gain XP. Since Parker already had the Trap Making skill, he could help, and it would raise his skill.
I had schematics for several types of traps but wasn’t sure if Parker could help me make them, so I pointed at the ground in front of me and ordered, “Make a trap here, Parker.”
