_________________________
They seemed so expensive, but they did appear to be what he needed. However, he did notice that a lot of them required a Power Generator – Portable. He found the option at the bottom of the list, right next to something that had him squealing in joy.
Power Generator – Portable: This portable Power Generator utilizes the same principles of a Station Core’s zero-point energy reactor, but on a much smaller scale. Contained in a tritanium-lined box the size of one of Earth’s low-tech portable hard drives is enough inexhaustible power to operate every trap and defense you can create. Each defense that is powered by the Generator must be within 20 feet of its area of influence. Power is automatically transferred without the need of wiring. Cost: 25,000 Basic Metal Units.
Molecular Converter – Portable: This portable Molecular Converter allows for the rearming of traps and conversion of casualties while in the field. Although slightly smaller than the one inside a Station Core, it nevertheless provides on-the-fly access to anything needed such as trap components, defensive weaponry, and even additional small-sized Combat Units. Can recycle sprung single-use traps for a portion of their original cost. Resources are shared between all Molecular Converters. Cost: 10,000 Basic Metal Units, 5,000 Organic Material Units. Requires: Power Generator – Portable.
He didn’t have to convert everything himself now! He could just imagine having a Converter in every room, recycling used or broken traps and even pumping out additional Combat Units in an emergency. Unfortunately, the cost of the Power Generator that paired with it was expensive. Even though it wasn’t that big, it used a small amount of tritanium which increased the cost exponentially. At the moment, he could only build two pairs of generator/converters based on his available resources. Of course, if he did that he wouldn’t have anything left over for anything else.
Instead of using all his available BMUs, he instead invested in one of each. The Defensive Weapons Factory sprang to life, the massive facility just down from his Core Room emitting whirring and knocking sounds as it created his two new utility fabrications. It only took a few minutes, but as soon as the construction was complete he instructed his drones to carry them up to an alcove he hastily had them create near the entrance. He wanted his drones outside of the dungeon to be able to bring any gathered resources and have them converted right away instead of having to traverse the entire tunnel system to reach his Core Room. That, and he planned to create at least one new trap to prevent any nearby creatures from entering his damaged and demolished home.
Chapter 8 – Mad scientist
Milton cringed at the cost of the new trap, but he had to admit it was impressive. First, he had the nearby drones gradually narrow the tunnel just past his new Generator and Converter until it was only large enough to admit an average Proctan single-file. In the middle of this passage, he spent 1,800 BMUs to create enough Monomel Filament Wire to protect from any hostile intruders. His drones had to be very careful with how they handled it since it was liable to cut anything it contacted – including them. Fortunately, on the outside of the grid ended with small circular nubs that could be easily attached to a nearby surface.
Despite their caution, one of his drones ended up slicing off one of its nanite-formed appendages when it passed through the near-invisible wire. Fortunately, it was able to reabsorb the makeshift limb without too much hassle and finished the installation.
When it was in place, Milton floated one of his sensor orbs close to see how it looked. Even though he knew it was there, it was extremely hard to spot; wispy is how he would say it appeared. The wire wasn’t strung taught and had some give to it, so it floated in the breeze coming through the entranceway. He imagined that unless someone was paying really close attention then they wouldn’t spot it.
After coming to a transition point, Milton checked on the progress of his friends deep down in the dungeon. He found them both flung onto some comfortable-looking beds sleeping off their exhaustion. He was impressed at how much they had accomplished – especially since they had never done anything like that before – and he was intrigued at the blackish stone with white spots lining a large, two-storied room that was just getting the finishing touches done on it. He would have to ask about it later.
Now that he was relatively sure the dungeon was protected from at least the nearby creatures – if not stupid and blind Proctans – Milton sent his all but three drones that were continuing to chop down trees back out to the mine to the north to squeeze as much metal as he could from it. With the BMU requirements for a lot of his new defenses needing so much, in addition to still needing vast quantities to repair his Core, he needed a better source of the material. He knew that the Quizard Mountains off to the east would supply this – but he was also aware that he wasn’t ready to tackle them yet. Which led him to finally play “mad scientist”, especially since his now only slightly-wounded BBQ had just come back and brought a new addition to his repertoire.
He opened his available Units, arranged on a less-cluttered screen[9] now that he had access to a lot of different kinds and looked at what he could start combining in his Biological Recombinator. He was shocked to see that in addition to Fluffy – ALANNA’s cute miniature dog/wolf companion – and Whisp, he could also recreate the three Cordpower individuals who had attacked his dungeon: Reginald, Mirve, and Glert. He didn’t see an option to bring back any specific creatures that he had converted, so it must be something new based upon his need to bring Whisp back to life.
Milton was sorely tempted to resurrect the three attackers for use within his dungeon – with Neurological Control Units. Their experience in using their innate abilities could be a huge advantage in learning how his other Units could expect to utilize the Gene Mutations he was planning to give them. He decided against it because for one, he didn’t want to see them again and two, he figured he might have a mutiny on his hands when the two Proctans learned about it.
Along with the few Combat Units that had names, there were also the two hybrid combinations he had made previously that were unable to be further recombined – the Scaly Pygmy Wolf and BBQ. It appeared as though once he made a new combination it was stuck that way; of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t use the same Units again and change the traits. It would just cost him more in the way of Bio Mass, but the combinations he imagined would be worth it.
He pulled up the Biological Recombinator and started plugging in different units to see what he could create. He started with adding in base creatures such as the Lollipop Snake (he didn’t start with the Blood-thirsty Squirrel because he still wasn’t over the trauma of having so many near him not that long ago) and attempted to add an Agility Boost +1 Gene Mutation to it.
ERROR!
Gene Mutations require a minimum of 100 trait points to add!
Lollipop Snake (Stealth Fighter) has 5 trait points available.
Please select traits with a negative value to add Gene Mutation Agility Boost +1:
Blunted teeth (Reduced attack damage): -20
Weak jaw (Reduced attack damage): -15
Addled mind (May damage self or allies): -20
Lethargic (Speed decrease): -20
Poor eyesight (Perception decrease): -10
Thin-skinned exterior (Reduced defensive rating): -15
(more)
It turned out that having a Lollipop Snake with an ability would make it next to useless. If he was to give it enough negative traits to “purchase” a Gene Mutation, it would be like giving a knife to a crawling infant. Sure, it could cause some damage if you let it crawl up on you, but it would be so slow and without much strength behind its attacks that it would be more likely to hurt itself or its friends than be effective in battle. Milton laughed as he imagined the Lollipop Snake crawling up to unsuspecting enemies and gumming them to death.
He got nearly the same result with the majority of his current Combat Units, though as they increased in size they received more trait points, to the point w
here it was only feasible to add a Gene Mutation to the Spiderwolves and larger Units without having to nerf[10] them. Even then, it wouldn’t allow much more than just the mutation. Upon further experimentation, combining two of his creature options together added the trait points together which expanded the possibilities immensely. He had previously unlocked the Tertiary Recombination option under research – which allowed him to combine up to three subjects together – but when he tried this he was disappointed when the trait points only added up the highest two values.
What he hadn’t attempted yet – and was a little scared to, if truth be told – was adding the generic “Proctan” to the Recombinator. He wasn’t sure what would happen. His previous experimentation had been primarily in the non-sentient, animal/creature sector and although he knew they were living, breathing beings…it was okay. Even controlling them with their Neurological Control Units was acceptable because they couldn’t take verbal orders and had no reason to follow them in the first place. But with the possibility of having sentient, “human”-like Combat Units available for creation he hesitated because it felt wrong somehow.
ALANNA had sensed his hesitation, “Don’t be such a pussy – they’re all just big bags of flesh, blood, and bone. So what if one is more intelligent than the other? It doesn’t change what you – and by extension we – need to do. If it makes you feel better, combine a Proctan with another Combat Unit; perhaps the change in appearance will make it easier for you.”
While he didn’t necessarily agree with her assessment of them all being fleshbags, she did have a good idea. Starting small, he hesitantly selected the Blood-thirsty Squirrel and after seeing that it only had 5 Trait Points to spend (similar to the Lollipop Snake), he inputted a Proctan into a recombination.
He was shocked at the results:
Blood-thirsty Squirrel and Proctan
Available Trait Points:
1,005
GM Agility Boost +1
+100
GM Air Affinity +1
+150
GM Strength Boost +1
+100
GM Self-Regeneration +1
+100
GM Intelligence Boost +1
+100
Limber tail (Agility increase)
+50
Stiff fur (Defense increase)
+50
High pain tolerance (Constitution increase)
+100
Developed musculature (Strength increase)
+150
Razor-sharp nails (Attack increase)
+200
Miniature-sized (Str/Con decrease)
-150
Double-sized (Str/Con increase)
+200
Triple-sized (Str/Con increase)
+300
Quintuple-sized (Str/Con increase)
+500
Super-sized (Str/Con increase, Agi decrease)
+800
(more)
Not only did the available Trait Points increase, they increased by 1000! Even the Quizard only had 150, which Milton had previously thought was a huge amount. It was like there was something special in the DNA of a Proctan that allowed for so many variations – which, now that he thought about it, was probably why only they had these special ability-granting Gene Mutations. As another experiment he put the Proctan as the base Unit and the squirrel as the second, but the result was confusing. The result was only 105 Trait Points available – a vast difference just by switching the order. It put the halt on any potential cat-girl fantasies he may have had going into this. Not that he had erotic thoughts about cat-girls or anything.
“Pervert,” ALANNA threw in his direction without even stopping her play with Fluffy. He hadn’t been censoring his thoughts and even though she was still smiling, he took the hint and moved on.
It was almost as if the act of “injecting” Proctan DNA into a creature gave him extra “Character Creation” points that could be used to improve everything about it. It’s a cheat! Even though there wasn’t really anything to cheat against, he couldn’t help but be excited at what just dropped into his lap, per se.
He switched the order again until he had over 1,000 available Trait Points to spend on his new creation. Even though he was working with his nightmare-inducing phobia, the thought of the squirrel being larger (and deadlier) actually lessened the fear. Having it the same size and deadlier heightened his fear, but when it was bigger it was almost as if it was an entirely different creature. He was glad that he wasn’t afraid of spiders or snakes because he didn’t think the same would apply to larger versions of them.
The list of available positive and negative traits seemed endless, so he eliminated any negative traits on the list because he was fairly “rich” in points. Once the list was reduced, he felt like a kid in a candy store with unlimited funds. Even if it wasn’t truly unlimited, it sure felt like it.
After what he assumed was days trying out different combinations – but was in actuality only 20 minutes – he pushed “accept” on his selections, consuming 1,010 Bio Mass Units for the recombination process. Once it had finished, he then started creating it in his Core Converter. Although it cost ten times the normal amount of Bio Mass (100) compared to a Blood-thirsty Squirrel (10) – because of its increase in size – it was worth it. The only downside was that the Neurological Control Unit for it cost ten times as much as well (10), which would get expensive after a while – especially if that applied to any other recombinations he made.
It wasn’t large enough to need to be made in his Bioconversion Laboratory, so the process was complete before he knew it. He experienced a small spike of fear as he looked at it that gradually mellowed out as he continued to evaluate his creation.[11]
Standing two feet tall, his new Squirreling was the same dull-brown color as its predecessor but that’s where the similarities ended. It appeared slimmer, sleeker, and more agile than a normal squirrel if that was possible. Its fur had a dull sheen to it that was obvious as it laid flat and was as stiff as porcupine quills. Milton wasn’t sure if it would stop a sword slash, but it might turn a clumsily-thrust knife or two.
The tail seemed to move of its own accord, bending in ways that should been impossible. Nails the size of pencils stuck out of its front paws, glinting in the light of his Core Room with deadly sharpness. Everything about this Squirreling screamed speed – but that wasn’t what he was most excited about.
When Milton looked in its eyes, he could see an intelligence behind them that was absent on his other Combat Units. He had given the large squirrel a measure of “Proctan Smarts” which translated to a sizable (at least for a squirrel) increase in its Intelligence and Wisdom. Which was important because it also now had the Agility Boost +1 Gene Mutation.
While the ability to increase its Agility by 10 wasn’t a whole heck of a lot at this point, it was still an almost 25% increase compared to its base stats. In the heat of battle, a little extra speed could go a long way towards squeezing out a victory – especially if the Squirreling used the ability unexpectantly.
According to everything that he had researched regarding the different stats on his Combat Units, it didn’t appear that they could strengthen their abilities themselves like a Proctan could. They could reduce the amount of power they used when activating their ability, as well as increasing their power pool – but that was about it. Milton hoped that the more DNA samples he acquired in the future – at least ones with an Agility Boost component to them – would increase the Boost amount.
Pleased with his new creation, he pulled back from it and sent it outside to begin scouting around and hopefully increase its level by testing itself against the nearby creatures, thereby increasing its stats. He had to instruct one of his drones to open a small access port in the wall near the wire grid when it got close – he didn’t want his hard work to try leaving and end up in pieces so soon.
As soon as it left his Core Room on its new assignment, Milton received a nice surprise:
Co
ngratulations!
You have unlocked an achievement:
It’s…ALIVE!
You have successfully integrated foreign sentient DNA containing genetic mutations into a non-sentient creature for the first time, creating a hybrid the likes of which has never been seen before.
Bonus – Geneticist (Level 1):
By applying your knowledge of genetics, you have discovered how to combine sentient and non-sentient DNA together in a way that the whole is much greater than its individual parts. This skill gives a small bonus to the Trait Points that can be used during the recombination process. Continue to experiment with creating sentient/non-sentient hybrids to improve this skill.
Current Bonus: +10 Trait Points
Additional One-time Bonus – +5 to Ingenuity/Wisdom and Sensor Interpretation/Perception.[12]
Sweet! That skill is a game-changer!
With that thought on his mind, Milton ignored everything else and proceeded to hunker down and become one with the mad scientist within him straining to be released.
MWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA
ALANNA just stared at him with humor dancing within her eyes…
“Nerd,” she told Fluffy, while pointing at the giant metal Station Core in the middle of the room. She then ran up the hallway with her purple puppy chasing after her, the miniature dog intent on catching his prey and demanding a belly rub.
Chapter 9 – Fearsome foursome
“Where the hell are we?”
The Quizard Mountains: A Dungeon Core Epic (Station Cores Book 2) Page 7