by R. A. Mejia
The wolves did not care about fair play and quickly realized that my position was precarious and all seven leapt, one after another, at the wall, slamming their bodies into it until it toppled over. I went flying backward, losing the rifle as I fell. I landed on my back so hard that I would have had the wind knocked out of me if I’d had lungs. Instead, I rolled back and onto my feet and called the Blacksmith Hammer I kept in my internal inventory. The wolves surrounded as the long-handled hammer appeared in my hand, and I lunged forward, swinging the melee weapon. But with the odds set at seven to one, I didn’t stand a chance. The wolves dogpiled on me, driving me back onto the ground, and taking away my ability to wield the hammer. I punched out with my fists and started kicking violently, but they simply did too much damage too quickly. A notification appeared in front of me.
You have died.
The world was reset with a flash, and I was once again standing in front of the target range with a table in front of me containing the Flintlock Rifle and a stack of paper cartridges. I slapped my faceplate with the back of my hand, frustrated that I’d died so easily and quickly.
“At least the simulation doesn’t make me wait to repair myself,” I thought as I had the program place another wall. This time, I remembered to have the program fill the inside with dirt and rock. Additionally, I also set the wolves back thirty feet and made sure I had two loaded Flintlock Rifles and plenty of paper cartridges in my internal inventory before I said the command, “Start practice.”
At the utterance of the words, the Shadow Wolves dashed toward the wall I was kneeling on top of. I called the first rifle from my inventory, and when it appeared in my hands, I aimed and fired. The shot knocked one of the seven wolves back off its feet, leaving a hole in the monster’s dark pelt. The smoke from the gun obscured my vision, but I uttered the command phrase to send the spent rifle back to my inventory and bring out the next loaded one. I waved my hand in front of me to clear away the smoke and targeted the next monster. The pack of wolves reached the wall, and just like last time, two instantly jumped up, trying to reach me. They slammed into the copper sheeted front, but thankfully, the structure was weighed down by the dirt fill this time, and it hardly moved at all. I aimed at one of the two wolves just as they crashed back to the ground and pulled the trigger of the Flintlock Rifle. There was a loud blast, and the shot blew a fist-sized chunk of flesh off the wolf. The monster yelped in pain and tried to limp away. The remaining five wolves tried to jump up and bite at me, but I was too high up. A particularly smart wolf noticed that that structure was not as tall on the sides and snuck around behind me as its packmates continued to assault my position from the front. The first clue I had that the monster was there was when I heard the sound of its claws on the wooden stairs. I dropped the powder I was pouring into the flash pan and spun around, automatically thrusting the rifle out behind me. The butt struck the wolf in the nose, and it was knocked off the steps and sent tumbling back down to the ground. I grabbed the powder I’d dropped and primed the flash pan, and with little need to aim, fired at the fallen wolf.
The other wolves had wisened up to the new approach, however, and the four unhurt wolves darted around behind the wall. I knew that I wouldn’t get off another shot, so I sent the rifle back to my internal inventory and called out the Blacksmith Hammer.
Unlike the last time I’d faced the pack, I not only had the advantage of an elevated position this time, but I was also facing them one at a time. I raised the hammer above my head and brought it down hard on the head of the lead wolf, smashing it into the wooden step below with a crack. The blow wiped out most of the monster's health and effectively put it out of the fight for the moment, leaving the wedged head firmly embedded in the monster's skull.
I struggled to free the weapon from the dead monster, and the next wolf on the steps used the opportunity to attack. It sprang forward over its fallen packmate and bit into my right forearm. I felt its teeth struggle to bite through my plating, but the monster's weight pulled down on my arm and made it impossible to pull the hammer back. Instead, I let go of the weapon and leaned forward, slamming my faceplate into the head of the wolf. The monster yipped as my faceplate connected with its snout, and it let go of my arm, falling back a step. I grasped the handle of the Blacksmith Hammer and yanked back, using my legs for extra power, and the hammer came out of the wolf’s skull with a sickening plop.
The already critically hurt wolf I’d pulled my hammer from tried to rise to its paws, but a sideswipe from the Blacksmith Hammer knocked it clear off the back steps of the wall and back to the ground where it died and disappeared in a pixelated flash. The next three wolves each tried to kill me, but the narrow ramp forced them to approach me one at a time. They bit at me with their teeth and slashed at me with their claws, but my hammer kept smashing into them any time they tried to attack my elevated position. I took a few attacks from the quick monsters, but I eventually killed the three wolves then finished off the ones I’d wounded with the Flintlock Rifle.
Upon the death of the last wolf, the simulation ended, the world reset, and I found myself standing in front of the table and the target range with a notification showing.
Monsters Killed: 7 - level 6 Shadow Wolves
Health lost: 24%
Time: 3 minutes, 13 seconds
The fight felt like it took much longer than three minutes. I knew that I did not get XP for killing monsters here but wished that I did. It would make for an excellent way to grind out experience points and level.
“At least I gained some minor progress with the weapon skills here,” I thought to myself as I reset the wall, filled it with dirt and rock, and set the enemies. Before I started the next fight, I added three more walls that I laid back to back, creating a kind of square fortress. There were still gaps where the slanted sections met, but I hoped it would make for a formidable position to attack from.
As the simulation started, the wolves dashed at the wall again, but unlike last time, it was virtually impossible for them to come climbing up behind me, and I was able to kill all seven wolves with the Flintlock Rifle. I almost felt bad for the monsters as they disappeared.
I tried several more configurations of the walls to see how it would work for melee defenders on the ground. Two walls next to each other with a two-foot gap between them provided a great choke point against the wolves, letting me fight them one at a time--at least until they ran around the walls on either side. Still, I faced two wolves at most, and if I’d had another defender at my back, it wouldn’t be an issue and we could clear the wolves even faster. I built a simple six-foot wooden fence that surrounded the back of the wall and that alone stopped the backtracking of the monsters as long as they didn’t break through the fencing.
Next, I began rotating through different types of monsters. Most died just like the wolves did, but a few found novel ways around what I’d built. The flying Lightning Condors didn’t give a feather about the raised walls. Even if I took down one or two of the flying monsters with my rifle, I was slashed by talon and electrocuted by Spark spells before I could kill them all. It seemed my Metalman body was especially vulnerable to the electric attacks of the monsters. The small and quick Wind Weasels and Fire Foxes also proved a challenge as they could attack en masse by pushing through the two-foot gaps in addition to attacking from range with fire and wind attacks. The Razorback Badger also broke through the wooden fencing that I’d place around the structures with its powerful rollerball attack, but it was easy to kill from the top of the wall as it could not climb the steps up there at all.
I modified my designs to handle each challenge. Against the flyers, I added overhead protection in the form of a partial roof. It provided a limited area that the condors could attack from and gave me some shelter from their Spark spells. I could shelter, reload, and then peek out to fire upon the circling birds. To help compensate for the quicker monsters, I added ditches and tall fencing all around the walls. It was enough to keep them out and lim
ited how many could leap across at a time. The Razorback Badger was the easiest to counter with a wider ditch filled with spikes. It couldn’t roll across the ditch with its special attack and made for a slow-moving target.
I wanted to test even more designs, but I received the notification that my time in the Stasis Program was ending. I waited out the countdown, glad that I’d been able to spend my time so well.
Chapter 29 - Crafting Help
The world went black and when it returned, I was sitting in the closet that was my room. Early morning light streamed through the barred window above me, and I could hear the sounds of the city. The pile of iron, copper, and wood that I’d laid out in front of me was gone, and there was a pleasant notification in my vision.
You’ve completed the quest Mechanical Healer II.
You receive 1 class skill point.
I was happy to see the new skill point, which brought me up to a grand total of three. Gaining class skill points was getting harder and harder as the requirements for the class quests were getting tougher. For example, the Mechanical Healer quests rewarded me when I hit a threshold for repairing Metalmen. After all the fights and repairs I’d done, I’d only just completed the second level of the questline which counted out 500 HP being repaired.
As I looked down at my newly repaired body, the cracks in my iron plating and the burn marks were nowhere to be seen. I couldn’t help but wonder just how the Metalmen of old got through all these quests. I mean, did they have some culture that encouraged ritual damage and repair or were there trainers that shared their wisdom on the best ways to complete them? I enjoyed pushing myself and figuring out ways to exploit the system, but when I thought about the guidance that Greebo got with his guild or the training the Manny got at his fighter’s guild, I sometimes wished that I had more guidance on what it meant to be a Metalman and an Artificer and Inventor.
But that was not the way my life was going to go. Instead, I was alone as the only Metalman in existence as far as I knew. I had the only Artificer class and Inventor specialty. I shook my head to chase away the humdrum feeling and instead focused on what I’d accomplished. I’d gotten fully repaired and finished the design of the portable wall system that would help my team deal with the monsters that were sent by the dungeon as our miners worked. I still had one of the Flintlock Rifles I’d made and just needed to fabricate another to get back to full speed. I checked my inventory and realized I would also need to make more paper cartridges.
As far as getting more class skill points, I’d just have to grind out the work like I normally did. I pulled up the Class Quests I had available to me.
Practice Makes Perfect III: Fabricate 1,000 large items
Quality Assurance III: Fabricate 600 good quality items
Mechanical Healer III: Repair 1,000 hit points
Fixer II: Repair 500 durability points
Magic Hands II: Imbue 500 items
Magic Metalman II: Create 50 magical schema
I knew right off the bat that the quest to create fifty magical schema was not going to get completed any time soon. I was on the blacklist for the Mage’s guild, and none of them would work with me since that jerk Harrison Freud complained that I had stolen his super-secret spell. I also knew that making large items took more time just from their size, but I’d already worked out a system to crack that questline. I’d just have to create a large-sized sheet of metal that I could fabricate and deconstruct at night till I hit that 1,000 item goal. I could do the same with the quest to make a good quality item. I could ask Deanly, the orc blacksmith, to make me something of good quality that I could fabricate quickly. Repairing 500 durability points would be a little harder, but all I needed to do was repair my team's gear more regularly, and it would only be a matter of time till I hit that line with all the fighting we were going to be doing. The same went for the quest to Imbue 500 items. It would only take time and effort to finish it if I worked at it daily. Repairing 1,000 hit points was the biggest challenge. I mean, I’m sure it was intended as an easy way to gain a skill point for an Artificer when there were hundreds or thousands of Metalmen around, but I only gained progress on that quest when I got hurt and repaired the damage.
Then I recalled an idea that I’d had for exploiting a couple of class questlines. I didn’t think the guys would mind helping me with them, especially if they got to practice their own class skills. I got to my feet and headed out of my room. As I walked down the hallway a voice called out to me.
“Good morning there, Repair. Have you gotten all fixed up?”
I turned around to see Tognomey waving at me with a cup of tea in his hands. I wondered if he’d been up all night or had some kind of spell like Alarm to help him tell when I came and left.
“Morning there. Yeah, all repaired,” I answered. Then I recalled my promise to update him on the plans for the portable walls and what limitations my updated fabrication skill had. I told Tognomey about my experiments in the Stasis Program and the extent to which I could build the walls.
When I was finished, the gnome just shook his head and put away the notepad he’d been taking notes in. “I’m still amazed that the Metalmen had such an advanced way to experiment and practice. Was this ‘Stasis Program’ something that all Metalmen had? Or was it something that was limited to Artificers?” He picked up the tea from the shelf he’d put it down on and took a sip.
“I don’t know. I’ve often asked myself similar questions. I only have the memories of this frame to go by, not the ones of other Metalmen. It would be a huge boon to any class to be able to train endlessly and fight dangerous monsters without fear of permanent death. At the same time, there may have been special programs for each class that we’ll never know about.”
Tognomey shrugged, wished me a good day, and walked back into the lab that he’d come from. I left the grounds of the Institute with plenty to do that day before I met with the team to go into the dungeon.
I walked quickly westward through the affluent shops and through the center of town and right into the Western District also known as the Crafter’s District. It was my favorite place in the city. The district was a collection of workshops for the people in the city that didn’t fight in the dungeon and instead earned their XP by creating. There were people that worked with all manner of medium: wood, metal, paper, glass, and all kinds of exotic monster parts. There were also lots of artists that painted and created beautiful works of art.
My destination was the blacksmith shop of Master Deanly, the orc that had taught me my Metalworking skills. I found him working at the forge with his two apprentices Atulg and Gujek, who were steadily pumping the bellows to force a steady airflow to the furnace and increase the heat of the fire. I watched from across the road, not wanting to disturb them, as blacksmith teacher used a set of tongs to pull the long bar of metal that he’d had buried in the coals of the furnace. The metal was white hot but cooling along the edges to a yellow-white. He quickly transferred the metal to a nearby anvil, and the two apprentices let the handles of the bellow go and picked up a set of hammers. The two hammered away at the metal in a steady rhythm while Deanly turned the metal bar this way and that way, directing where the force of the hammers was applied. The bar of metal was gradually flattened, and a curve was applied to the outer edges. As the metal cooled, it became harder to shape and was returned to the coals where it was heated up again. The process was repeated until the long thick stock of metal was turned into an inch-thick sheet of steel that had a U-shape from the long axis.
I walked up to the shop after they finished. The younger orcs were just putting down their hammers and wiping the sweat from their brows. They were Master Deanly’s nephews as well as his apprentices, and while not as tall or broad-shouldered as him, the two were starting to grow their own beards, although theirs were still patchy compared to their uncle’s long thick braided beard.
I rubbed my faceplate, realizing I’d never be able to grow such a manly beard and put it up on the
pile of sacrifices I’d made becoming a Metalman. The two orc apprentices turned to me and nodded with friendly smiles and small tusks peeking out from their lower lips.
“Repair, it has been too long. Have you returned to lose another challenge to me?” Atulg, the older of the cousins asked. When Deanly had been teaching me the basics of Metalworking, the three of us had competed to see who was the best at forging a particular item, or who was the strongest, or could work the longest in the heat of the smithy. I always lost to Atulg in challenges of strength, but won a challenge of stamina. The victory had earned me a begrudging respect from the orc.
“No, Atulg, I came by to see if our master would help me learn about working with bronze and help me make something of good quality.”
Gujek snickered. Though he was younger than Atulg, the scar above Gujek’s left eye always made him seem more intimidating than he meant to be. In reality, he was the kinder of the two cousins, and when we had first met, he had often taken part in Atulg’s ribbing and insulting of me.