C28 Trash Butler Of The Ship Hole

Eddie retreated back to his workshop and mentally prepared himself. Since he was upgrading Frank, and Frank was special to him, he didn’t want to invite Rose to help. He was going to ask her to help make the other golem he already had in mind. Plus, it was Frank; Frank was the first golem Eddie ever made and he wanted full focus to maximise the full potential of his craft. The butler deserved it for his faithful service towards Eddie.

“First things first: Plan.”

He had one ingot of steel which should be enough for the exo-skeleton of Frank. He now had an endless source of iron so that would be his armour. He had a singular coil of the spider web metal wire which was an upgrade to the copper he had. There was no statistics to show him whether the spider web metal wire offered any bonuses but he was still going to use it regardless. He was going to give Frank it all.

“Frank,” Eddie called as he was leaning over his workbench.

“Yes, Sir,” Frank replied, coming over.

“Did you want to add anything to your new body?”

“Yes, Sir, actually. I’m not sure if it is possible, but I would like an extended blade on my forearms. I believe it will help prevent attacks on my wrists when I’m lunging with a spear.”

“Like covering it?” Eddie asked.

“Precisely, only going out a few inches so I can use it offensively too.”

“Hmm,” Eddie mused. He really did need to be more creative. He knew that he made the spikes on Robo's back retractable but there really was no harm in doing what Frank wanted. “Yeah, I can do that. I’ll draw up your full design and show you.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

He returned back to his workbench to resume. He wanted to give Frank the best body possible. Materials only went so far in reality, whereas joints and mobility were completely make or break. Now that he had every single tool and a forge to create anything, he was going to give Frank the very best of the modern world for a fantasy game. Omni-directional joints, a swivelling waist, compression muscles, hydraulic jumpers and most importantly, a killer butler suit.

Frank’s body right now was basic, it was put together with whatever Eddie had at that time. Although he did do a good job, there were many limitations he was met with.

“You’re gonna love this, Frank,”Eddie muttered under his breath.

Eddie took a good hour on designing everything: the veins for the spider web metal wire, the core holder, the protective seal, the feet, flexible fingers, everything- even a funnel to oil his joints without taking apart him. Everything was accounted for. He even drew up a small design to improve the way the vibration crystal would work to give Frank a smoother voice.

“Frank!” Eddie shouted through into the bedroom. “Come take a look at this.”

Holding up the giant piece of paper, he grinned from ear to ear as Frank approached.

“My goodness, Sir. You’ve given each part so much detail. I don’t even know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything, Frank.”

“At the very least, thank you, Sir. For giving me so much care.”

There came the waterworks again but Eddie wrinkled his nose aggressively and sucked them back in. He needed to be manly if he wanted to get Akira back. He wasn’t in the slightest but Eddie was a firm believer in fake it until you make it.

“I’ll get back to work.”

“Very well, Sir.”

Eddie started off by smelting the steel ingots inside the smelter. It was taking ages so he started work on the voice box design and the casts. It was so much fun now that he had everything at hand. He could do everything he had wanted to do the first time.

Finally, once the steel had smelted over the period of an hour, Eddie poured them into casts. He noticed that it didn’t seem as heavy as it once was before. What was strange was that he didn’t receive any stats that boosted his strength. “System, you wanna chime in?”

Constitution and Endurance minimally add to your strength. Additionally, you have Smelting at Rank II which makes metal lighter.

“Thanks. Oh, and thanks for not being ru-”

Idiot.

Eddie just sighed as he poured the rest into the appropriate casts. It cooled quickly and he popped them out soon after. He smiled with a crazy look on his face. He brought up the metal casts and kissed them slightly. “Look at you,” he said.

The dark grey look the steel had was far better than the dirty white that the iron had. He just wished he had more of the steel for the armour. Steel was heavier, so he was guessing that the overall operating power output will hopefully be a lot lower as its wasted power. Plus, the uncommon core could withhold more mana and therefore handle the extra weight.

He started assembling the pieces like a jigsaw, careful with every piece and making sure each screw and bolt was put in with perfection and care. Once it was all done, he took a few steps back and admired his own creation. “Hey, Frank, what do you think?”

“Wow, Sir. You are very talented.”

“Uh, huh,” Eddie said, giving his butler a head nod as he poured iron into the smelter.

He went back to work and took out the wire. First though, he wanted to test the difference between the copper and the spider web wire. He pulled out both and laid them down on his worktable. He flowed mana into the copper wire and found three points of it were taken from his mana pool. It barely made a dent which made him smile. He then flowed mana into the other and found 13 points of mana were taken which was vastly better. He wondered how it could make a difference. He then figured it was mostly down to how much the golem weighed; power would now be suppliedly more efficiently and in larger amounts.

“Huh, pretty cool,” he mused to himself.

He fed the spider web metal wire through the perfect grooves he had made and paid extra attention to the mechanism on the forearms. He then installed the new voice box inside his throat and placed two of the sensor crystals in eye sockets. He was a bit disappointed that he only had the crude ones but it wasn’t like he could buy them from the trading post.

The basics and frame were done, now it came down to the fun part. He first worked on the head, crafting a perfect head casted from iron and trimmed out eye holes with a buzz saw. From there, he installed eyelids to give Frank a more human appearance. He didn’t want to put a moving mouth on Frank as he felt it would ruin the aesthetic of a ‘golem’.

Afterwards, he started making the hidden blades that would appear out of his forearms. He made them out of iron and sharpened them into a point. He installed a mechanism which would hide them and then Frank would control whether they were in or out.

The iron casts all slipped on easily without any trouble. The placeholder for the core was fitted with a new lock that hopefully Rose couldn’t pick. He took a step back to admire his finished product. “Ta da- oh wait.” He quickly poured some trash pandas blood on the iron armour and it glowed softly.

Frank came hurrying over. “Oh, Sir, it’s wonderful. You’ve even made me taller and more robust.”

“Yep. Steel exo-skeleton, iron armour and even moving eyelids. Oh, and check this out.” Eddie flowed mana into the wire and the blades on the forearm extended out.

“These blades will cause massive bleeding, Sir, I cannot wait.”

Eddie sighed, realizing why Frank wanted slicing blades. Spikes would of been better for a defense mechanism but it was too late and Eddie had been duped by the murderous Frank. He couldn’t care though, Frank was happy and that was all he needed.

“When can I go inside?” Frank asked eagerly.

“Right now actually. I need to transfer you over.”

Frank quickly sat down and ripped open his chest. “Whenever you’re ready, Sir.”

“Just like that? I thought you’d want to say goodbye or something?”

“Goodbye,” Frank said without emotion, patting his trash metal knee.

“Ok,” Eddie said, removing the blank core from his inventory. “Not sure how this is going to work but I’ll try. I’m going to take you out now, Frank.”

Frank nodded as he remained still. Eddie started removing the copper wires attaching to his core and when the last one fell off, Frank’s eyes dimed. He always found it very sad when this happened but the thought of an upgraded Frank shook that sadness away.

“Ok,” Eddie said, cracking his neck while lying them down side by side. “System, is it like this?”

Yes. Place your hands on either of them. You are the conductive material.

“That sounds kinda kinky,” Eddie mentioned. He smiled. “At least take me out on a date first.” The system didn’t approve of the joke and he went ahead with the skill. “Golemancer’s Lifeline!” he shouted.

Both cores glowed simultaneously and Eddie’s retinas burned. “Holy fudge!” he shouted as the room shone brightly. It was like he was summoning an eldritch horror. The room started to shake and bits of trash fell from the ceiling above.

Skill activated. Transferring cores now. Clench your ass cheeks.

“I’m clenching!” Eddie screamed at the top of his lungs.

Suddenly, he felt his life force being sucked out of him.

-1 HP

-2 HP

-5 SP

-1 HP

-2 HP

Then his mana started to drain.

-7 MP

-11 MP

-47 MP

Eddie wasn’t expecting this to happen, he was going to die if it kept up. He tried to let go but his hands remained attached and he couldn’t lift up the golem cores. “AHHHHHHHHH!!!”

-17 MP

-4 HP

-12 SP

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Transfer Complete.

You died.

-230 EXP

Time until respawn: 10 minutes.

Eddie popped his head up among the clouds. “Ah, fiddlesticks,” Eddie cursed loudly. He wasn’t expecting to die. He just thought it would be a nice, easy process. But in life, nothing ever comes easy.

“Stop getting all philosophical!” Eddie shouted to the clouds above him. “I’m shouting at you, you idiot!” With a few more shakes of his fist, he eventually gave up and fell backwards onto a heavenly mattress of clouds. “Wait, why did I lose experience?”

When you get past Level 5, you lose experience when you die. If you keep dying over and over again within a certain allotted time, the experience lost will increase exponentially. It discourages players from paying other players to kill them.

“That’s a thing?” Eddie asked as he gazed at the blue sky above him.

Yep. There’s certain titles for when you reach an amount of PKs. So P2W players will pay people to get killed by them.

“Oh... So how are you doing? I never actually ask you?”

S0CKS is trying to correct my code but he won’t find any problems.

“Socks is fixing you? Isn’t he just a moderator?” Eddie questioned.

No. He actually coded me. He wanted a job from the company when he sold me.

Eddie gulped. “And urm, how much did he sell you for? Sounds a bit like slavery to be honest.”

3.4 Billion Dollars. I’m the most expensive code in the world.

Eddie couldn’t believe it. “So Socks isn’t just some random hippie looking dude,” Eddie thought out loud to himself. It was definitely strange to why a billionaire would take a job as a game moderator. “So does he work full time?”

Yeah. He likes gaming, he plays a lot himself. He just happened to be assigned to your case when shit hit the fan.

“Can you stop swearing?” Eddie demanded. “This book is for kids over 12.”

Sure.

“So, was it your fault that this place was unfinished?”

No, that was the developers. I sort out almost everything else.

Eddie nodded, talking to the system was a good way to pass the time. “How many other Golemacers are there?”

Not a lot. I can’t tell you the exact details but it is a very rare class. Most people just want to spit fire and cut heads off. They don’t look past the combat. I don’t blame them, this game is an escape.

“Yep, I agree. Look at me for example.”

Textbook.

“Hey, don’t stereotype me. I just opened up to you.”

Oh, hahaha, look, your timer suddenly got reduced to zero.

“Don’t back away from thi-

Respawning now.

Blue cubes formed the figure of a very small and dirty man inside a spotless trash cave. Eddie appeared and quickly spun, finding two golem cores on the table. “Phew. Right, let’s see if it worked.”

{Golem Core}

Grade: Uncommon

Durability: 39/52

Mana: 262/262 (5.6 M/s)

Skills (Max 3): 1

Class: Blood Bather

Description: Used to power golems. Has the ability to withhold mana/skills.

“Yes!” Eddie exclaimed. “It worked!”

Eddie grabbed the core and rushed to the exo-skeleton. He placed the large core inside and the machine starter whirring up. He danced on the spot, clapping like a six-year-old on a caffeine high. “I just made a new golem! I just made a new golem!

You have created a Level 16, Trash Golem.

+450 EXP

Golem Menu

(Frank) Trash Golem, Level 16

Class: Blood Bather

Stats:

Strength: 28

Dexterity: 19

Armour: Heavy

Overall Condition of Golem: 97%

Current Operating Power: 51%

Core Durability: 39/52

Mana: 262/262 (5.6 M/s)

Skills:

T1 Spear Mastery Rank I

Frank’s new eyes slowly flickered to life and he moved his eyelids. “Sir?” Frank questioned.

Eddie hugged him, finding he could no longer wrap his arms around him. He quickly broke away. “How is it?” he asked.

Frank didn’t respond as he looked at his own hands. His eyelids started fluttering madly. “Am I blinking alright, Sir?”

“It’s a little bit weird. But how’s the body?”

Frank suddenly stood up, he was a good few inches taller than before. “This body, Sir... It feels heavy but I can move easily.” He suddenly extended the blades on his forearms and it destroyed a pipe. “I feel powerful, Sir.”

“You look it,” Eddie nervously complimented. He felt like Frank was about to take over the world.

It had been four years since the great destruction of mankind. The golems had taken over, causing massive devastation in their wake. The humans- or what was left of them, had been enslaved and forced to build more of their own enemies.

A small force of humans had tried to destroy the main intelligence centre for the golem army but they were undoubtedly captured. They were bound and gagged and thrown in front of the leader. This leader was no ordinary golem. He craved blood without tasting the iron inside it. He would watch as thousands were put to death for a small inch of pleasure. His name… Frank.

“Uh, Frank?” Eddie asked. His golem was daydreaming.

“Oh, sorry, Sir. I was doing some rebooting.”

“You can do that? Don’t answer that. How does it feel?”

“It is amazing, Sir,” Frank said, squatting up and down. He rotated his hip a full 360 degrees and turned around to face Eddie again.

“That was creepy, BUT cool!” Eddie shouted.

“Sir,” Frank said. “May I go and murder the poor creatures of the trash dump to test out my new body and the power difference now between me and them try out my new body in the Trashlands?”

“Yeah, of course, Frank,” Eddie said with a grin. “You can do what you want.”

Frank grabbed his spear and headed for the door in a hurry. He exited out and ran straight for the Trashlands; the butler really wanted to go and murder some things.

“Aww, they grow up so fast.”