“RRRAAAAHRG!”

A three and a half meter tall humanoid creature cried out in both anger and pain. It had somewhat stubby legs, long arms that reached all the way to the ground, and a rather large belly. Each part of this monster could easily be classified by using the word ‘thick,’ especially when it came to its craggy gray skin and dense skull. It also had a pair of saggy breasts dangling off its chest, signifying its gender. A pair of long yellow tusks protruded from its massive lower jaw, giving its face a sizeable underbite. But this creature’s most defining characteristic by far, was the single orange eye in the middle of its face.

“GRRAAAR!”

The cyclops roared again, swinging its tree-trunk-like arms down at the pesky shorties that had attacked it. Its fists missed both the dwarf in blue and the golem in white, smashing against the gravelly ground and sending debris tiny rocks flying everywhere. A duo of steel throwing knives then stuck themselves loosely in its left shoulder, but fell out almost immediately as the creature moved around.

“I can’t puncture its skin!” shouted Moss from the backlines while reaching for another blade.

“Drummir, see if you can help him!” ordered Fizzy. “I’ll keep her busy!”

The Paladin then charged towards the monster’s left leg, easily sidestepping another wild smash and then striking it in the knee with all her might. There was a satisfying thwack and the cyclops roared in response, but all the damage amounted to was a bruise due to how incredibly sturdy its legs as a whole were. She then tried to snake between them to confuse her opponent, but the larger creature was clearly used to smaller opponents trying something that obvious. It started hopping around in place with surprising agility as it tried to crush Fizzy underfoot, forcing the golem to fall back away from the others. She hated to admit it, but this thing knew how to use its size and weight to its advantage. But then again, she was already used to fighting things larger than herself, so she charged in once more without a single moment of hesitation.

In the meantime, Drummir had already reached Moss. He took a round metal talisman out of his pocket, which had the image of a hawk in flight etched into it. He held it against the boy’s metal-covered shoulder, then activated his Spell.

“Piercing Gale!”

The small token glowed momentarily with a green light, and stuck firmly to the aluminum limb as if it had been glued in place.

Your next 10 ranged attacks will have their penetrative force increased by 50%.

Now enveloped in the Shaman’s magic, Moss tried to throw another knife at the cyclops. The projectile flew true while leaving a faint green trail in its wake. This one too stuck itself in the rampaging monster’s left shoulder, but sank all the way up to the hilt rather than only halfway through. Emboldened, the rookie Rogue unleashed a flurry of 4 blades that all struck true around that same area. The cyclops roared more in pain than anger as the entire limb hung limply from its shoulder as one of the knives severed something important, essentially halving its attack power.

Drummir had run back to his spot in the middle between Fizzy and Moss, where he had momentarily left his totem. He grabbed the 70 centimeter tall carving of a bull’s head off the ground and slammed its lower end into the loose gravel underfoot, as if trying to bury a fence post.

“All set here, angelface!” he shouted towards the mithril golem.

“Alright!” she shot back while sidestepping a wild kick. “Moss, ladder!”

“I’ll try!”

Having been called out, the gnome used up the remaining charges of the dwarf’s Piercing Gale enhancement to stick a row of knives going up the cyclops’s immobilized arm. Fizzy then stopped dodging and faced an incoming uppercut-like punch head-on. She assumed a stance with her left side forward, putting all the weight on that foot while raising her shield in front of her face.

“Shield Wall!”

Her shield glowed with a red light for an instant, just as the boulder-like fist smashed into it. If her timing had been off by even a fraction of a second, the Martial Art would have whiffed and she would have taken that blow as normal. But she executed it perfectly, making the cyclops feel as though it had struck an impenetrable fortress wall, dealing more damage to itself than to its puny target. In fact, the only reaction its target showed to being hit was having her feet dig ever-so-slightly into the gravel she was standing on.

Proficiency level increased. Shock Absorption is now Level 2. END +4. STR +2.

Proficiency level increased. Bonecrusher War Art is now Level 6. STR +4. END +2.

You have learned a new Martial Art: Gag Order.

Knowledge of a new shield-based move flowed into the golem’s mind, but she didn’t have time to stop and review it right now. The massive limb in front of her had recoiled backwards from the sudden stop, throwing the cyclops off balance in the process. It stumbled back and unwittingly twisted its body, causing the paralyzed left arm to dangle right in front of Fizzy. She seized this chance and abruptly launched herself forward and then upward as she used Moss’s daggers as footholds to clamber up the side of the beast. The steel knives creaked under her disproportionately heavy weight, but held out without snapping as Fizzy only held onto them for the briefest of moments.

“Moss! Blade!” she shouted out as she made it past the halfway point.

The gnome unsheathed the dagger on his belt and threw it towards the golem with a yell of ‘Catch!’

“Parallel One!”

Plus began chanting a Spell immediately while Fizzy used her Magnetize Skill to pluck the spinning blade out of the air just as she stepped on top of the broad shoulder. The dumbfounded cyclops looked at her just in time to have the steel blade shoved right into its own eye.

“Judgement!”

Fizzy’s alter ego then finished chanting her Spell, and a giant door knob made out of solid light slammed into the handle in her left arm, hammering the ‘nail’ even further inside. The cyclops naturally did not appreciate this, and immediately began thrashing around even wilder than before while its skin grew a shade redder. As expected, it had access to some Skill that triggered an enraged state whenever its weak point was targeted, making it instantly more dangerous. Most of these super-sized monsters had one of those, so this development was already anticipated.

Even still, Fizzy had a rough time holding onto that blade. The large creature tried to peel her off, but since its left arm was immobilized it actually couldn’t reach that side of its head too well. Coupled with its sudden blindness and Fizzy’s Champion of Chaos predicting its clumsy movements, it stood very little chance of peeling her off as she held onto its bald head.

“Raging Bolt!”

It was then that Drummir finished chanting his Spell. A bolt of blue light shot up from his totem at ludicrous speed, piercing a fluffy white cloud overhead within a second. The cloud immediately darkened and a massive thunderbolt fell down on top of the fight. It struck the lightning rod that Fizzy had made herself into and the volatile current was transferred through her body, rampaged through the weapon in her grip and poured directly into the cyclops’s head.

Which then exploded in a deluge of blood, bone, and smoke. The golem was thrown off, landing roughly on the ground behind the very dead cyclops. She immediately scrambled to her feet and used an Armored Charge to dash away from it, narrowly avoiding the heavy corpse from falling on top of her with a thunderous quake. Coming to a halt several meters away, the golem turned around to see that the others were already rushing over to check on her.

“You okay, angelface?!” asked Drummir with some concern. “I know you told me you could take it, but…”

A Shaman’s Raging Bolt was different from lightning conjured by Wizards or electricity generated from an Artificer’s charge pack. It was the unbridled fury of nature, which was as powerful as it was unpredictable. If the golem hadn’t put herself in that position, then there was no telling where or who it might have hit. However, she hadn’t managed to get away from this stunt completely unscathed, as the unbridled jolt had melted its way through Fizzy’s head, leaving behind a glowing red wound that smoldered persistently.

“Nothing that-”

“Holy Light!”

“-a little magic can’t fix.”

Under the influence of Plus’s magic, her head began closing up immediately. Thankfully it seemed like she didn’t lose any body mass, unlike when she lost an arm, so it didn’t seem like she’d need any repairs.

“Ah… Right…” offered Drummir while staring warily at the golem.

“What? Is there something on my face?” asked Fizzy.

“I’m sure he’s just awestruck at our magnificent performance,” offered Plus.

“Sorry to say, but that’s not it,” said the dwarf. “It’s just that I’m not used to that whole split personality thing yet. Even if it’s a useful Skill, it’s still kinda creepy. You really should keep that bubbly side of yours in check around strangers.”

Being unofficially appointed as Fizzy’s public relations manager, the dwarf was constantly thinking of her public image. Reputation was everything in the realm of adventurers, so if he was going to ride the mithril golem train to glory, he needed to make sure it stayed the course. Things would get easier once she made a proper name for herself, but they needed to tread carefully for the time being.

“The last thing we want on our hands is people saying you’re crazier than a tin house full of masons,” he elaborated.

“Ah, you’re just being a worry wort!” declared Plus with a carefree smile. “Those meatbags should feel honored to have two of us in their presence!”

“I’m with her on this one,” nodded Fizzy in agreement with herself. “Plus deserves to show off too every now and then.”

“Alright,” said the dwarf while slightly rolling his eyes. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

“Uh, Fizzy?” butted in Moss from the side. “You sure the thing’s dead?”

The corpse was still twitching slightly, so he was a bit unsure if it wouldn’t just pop back up even though it no longer had a head and was riddled with various small wounds.

“Did you get XP just now?”

“Uh, yeah. I got up to Level 27 now.”

“Then it’s dead for sure.”

“Ah, right.”

“Also, you’re gonna need a new weapon.”

Fizzy held up the dagger handle that was somewhat fused to her hand. The blade portion of the weapon had disappeared entirely, almost like it had vaporized. She actually had to pull on it with a good deal of strength to pry its remains out of her hand, then used another bout of healing magic to restore her fingers to pristine condition. The steel shards that weren’t recognized as part of her body simply flaked off her digits and fell harmlessly to the ground.

“Ugh… I think you need a bath more than I need a weapon.”

However, rather than being upset at an item that wasn’t entirely his, Moss’s decided to address the smell of the burned cyclops flesh clinging to Fizzy’s frame.

“Yeah, probably,” she agreed.

“I’ll go get the oil and the blood solvent.”

What followed was a solid 30 minutes of cleanup, during which the gnome lovingly cleaned and polished Fizzy’s frame until she absolutely sparkled. She had to admit, he was definitely showing improvement from the first time he tried to awkwardly clean her with that filthy rag and muddled water. In the meantime Drummir was going around collecting all the throwing knives and talismans that were used up in the fight. He also took it upon himself to find the cyclops’s lower jaw, which should serve to earn the group a bit of extra profit.

Or rather, this was their only source of profit. They had come out to this abandoned quarry in the middle of nowhere without any Quests, for sole purpose of practicing their teamwork against the cyclopi. That female was actually their 4th kill, but it was by far the most grueling one. If it wasn’t for Fizzy’s rather insane idea paying off, they’d probably still be fighting it.

The subsequent debriefing and post-battle analysis revealed that the factor that contributed most to that last battle’s high difficulty was their choice of opponent. Moss, who was in charge of scouting out potential targets, had picked a female without thinking too much of the consequences, and Fizzy had already engaged it by the time she realized the creature’s gender.

Female monsters were almost always bigger and more ferocious than males, and cyclopi were no different, but the real problem stemmed from the fact that it was ‘not male.’ As such, the tried and tested ‘go for the dick’ strategy the golem learned from Hilda did not pan out. Objectively looking at it though, she was as much to blame for this unnecessary encounter as Moss. After all, she had rushed in blind before confirming the situation with her own eyes.

“Still, I think we did good in the fight itself,” declared the now spotless Fizzy, “but we could have done much better. Moss, your throwing arm’s gotten much better over the last few days, but you lack experience and knowledge. First chance we get, you’re joining a proper guild and learning more about monster physiology and habits.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best…” sighed the gnome.

“As for Drummir - you need to change that attitude of yours.”

“What, me?”

“Yes, you. You need to be more proactive rather than reactive. You also need to communicate more.”

A Shaman’s Primal Spells were indeed powerful, but they often required certain circumstances to be met. Raging Bolt, for example, could only be used outdoors and only if there were any clouds in the sky.

“Honestly,” she continued with a disappointed tone, “you shouldn’t need me to point out your magic is better suited to taking the initiative and augmenting your allies rather than waiting for some kind of chance to appear.”

This wouldn’t be an issue if this country had mandatory adventurer training like the elves back in the Republic.

“And how would you know anything about Shamans anyway?!” he snapped back due having his pride injured.

“Because I was in a war, meatbag,” she shot back in a cold tone. “I’ve fought side-by-side with professional soldiers and veteran adventurers alike. I may not know the ins and outs of your Job, but I know how effective it can be if used right. And what you did back there was not using it right.”

Drummir sighed and scratched the back of his head in defeat. True, he may have been almost Level 50, but realistically speaking he’d mostly fought by himself over the past year or so. He didn’t have the kind of combat experience Fizzy did, so he had no choice but to accept she probably knew what she was talking about.

“Well, at least you respond quickly to orders, so there’s that,” added the golem.

“Yeah… Alright, I’ll work on it,” he promised.

“Good. Now, let’s get back to town. The mag-rail should arrive in about 3 hours.”

On her word, the trio set off back to the capital of Gun Tarum on foot. After about 2 hours, they arrived back at the Mercenary Guild office. They cashed in the cyclops fangs for a bit of spending money, then went out to stock up on food, water, ammunition and other such things, including a few new daggers for Moss. It was all technically on Fizzy’s dime, but the money earned from this little outing had covered most of the expenses without too much difficulty.

Once supplies were secured, they went to the mag-rail station and got on a different line from the one Fizzy and Moss took from Steelhead. This one was an express train headed straight north, which achieved speed much closer to what the golem had initially expected from the snake-like vehicle. It took them to their destination some 300 kilometers away in a little over two hours, so it was still late afternoon by the time Fizzy, Moss and Drummir had stepped off the train and exited out of the station.

“Damn,” mumbled the dwarf. “I’d heard the stories, but actually seeing it…”

“Dude. This is nothing like Steelhead,” exclaimed Moss.

“Now this is more like it!” said Fizzy approvingly.

The city they had arrived in bore the name of Dragunov. It had been named after the otherworlder that first discovered the Artificer Job over a century ago, and was nowadays referred to as the Tinkerer’s Holy Ground. In this place, technology had been allowed to develop unchecked and unrestrained over the last century, giving it a unique atmosphere that was impossible to find anywhere else on this world.

Gnomish high-rise buildings were present, but it was difficult to say where one began and the other ended. They were all built extremely close to each other and connected through numerous sky bridges of gleaming metal. The exterior of almost every structure was adorned with its own set of impossibly large cogs that clicked and clanked as they moved to what was essentially the heartbeat of this city. At least half of those buildings looked to be factories that chugged along at peak efficiency while spewing out enough smoke to rival Gun Tarum’s Foundry District. Clock towers aplenty dotted the skyline, to the point where it was impossible to not be aware of the current time unless one walked with their eyes closed.

The streets were no less bizarre or alien, as various automatons trotted up and down the road along a special lane that seemed to be reserved just for them. They looked to be some weird, skeletal-like golems at first glance, but they rattled, smoked and sparked way too much for a magical construct. A good number of them had foregone legs entirely, and moved around on large rubber wheels while their primitive engines roared loudly.

There were regular old golems mixed in, too, but they didn’t stand out nearly as much as the autonomous machines created through the manic spark of Automata Artificers. Those clockwork dolls were much less flexible and broke down more often than golems, but the jobs they were designed to do were carried out with the sort of speed, efficiency and precision that a domestic golem could never achieve. Rather than one replacing the other, it had become the case where they both worked in harmony, filling in the other’s weaknesses.

As for the people, they were more or less all gnomes. There were so many small heads with eccentric hair colors done up in buns, tails, spikes and mohawks, that Drummir seemed to stick out more than Fizzy did. Admittedly the foot traffic was rather light when compared to the capital, so the newly arrived trio had no difficulty making their way around.

However, the ceaseless clamor of the mechanized lanes had begun to get on both Moss and Drummir’s nerves. It made the dwarven Shaman wish he was at least Level 60 for the sole purpose of having access to noise-cancellation magic. He briefly wondered how all those bloody gnomes could stand this infernal racket, but then he realized they all wore some sort of ear cuffs. There were some differences due to make and material, but they all covered the outside of the ear, looped around its base and connected to some sort of earplug inside the sensory organ itself.

Realizing this was a common item with a very obvious purpose, Drummir began looking around frantically at the surrounding stores. Using his relatively high view point, he quickly spotted one that advertised a brand new model of something called an Acoustic Augmentation Apparatus. A few minutes, a short conversation and 90 GP later, he and Moss both had their triple-As on, and they finally felt relief wash over them. They could still talk to each other and register footsteps without much issue, but the war cries of industry around them were being flawlessly filtered out.

As for Fizzy, she refused to put those things on. Being both an Artificer and a Metal Golem, meant that what meatbags perceived as a headache-inducing cacophony was like an orchestral symphony to her ears.

“Say, angelface,” spoke up Drummir after he could finally hear himself think. “Where are we headed to exactly?”

“See the biggest tower over there in the distance?!” asked the golem in a slightly-too-loud voice.

“What?”

“The tower? The big square beige one?”

She pointed at the structure in question, barely visible between the gaps in the buildings. Admittedly it was more of a spire than a tower as it had a very pointy roof, but it was definitely the only thing around that could be described as ‘big,’ ‘square’ and ‘beige.’ Or rather, it was hard to attach any other adjectives to it, except perhaps ‘pointy.’

“That’s the headquarters of the Royal Institute of Technology,” she continued. “I want to drop in there to check on a few things before we head to the Vault.”

“… What? Hold on.”

Triple-As blocked out all noise generated by machinery and constructs, which unfortunately also included the mithril golem’s voice. He took one of the ear cuffs off, allowing Fizzy to finally make herself heard.

“… Just shut up and follow me,” she growled before stomping off.

However, the golem felt a bit insulted at the thought that she had been ‘filtered out’ and ended up getting mad at him instead.

“Was it something I said?” muttered the dumbfounded dwarf.

“She said we’re going to the Royal Institute of Technology,” butted in Moss from the rear of the line.

“What, you could heard her?” asked Drummir while putting his earpiece back in.

“For the most part. She’s in coming through a bit muffled, but I can understand her just fine.”

“Weird, we got the same earplugs didn’t we?”

“Yeah, I don’t really know,” admitted the gnome while scratching his nose. “I think it’s because of this arm. I mean, I hear a slight buzzing whenever I do this.”

He waved his prosthetic hand past his left ear to demonstrate.

“Come to think of it, the lady in the store did say the golem bits might cause some kind of interfishiness or something,” continued the gnome.

“… You mean interference?”

“Yeah. That.”

“You wanna go back and get it fixed up or something?”

“Nah, I’m good. To be honest, I kind of like this situation. It’s like I’m the only one around that can hear Fizzy!”

Drummir rolled his eyes while mouthing out a silent ‘bloody gnomes.’ The two of them then picked up the pace to catch up with the somewhat pissed-off Fizzy. Thankfully it didn’t take long for the mithril golem to become enamored with her surroundings once more and forget about that awkward moment altogether. But as she walked along and took in all the sights and sounds, her eyes flashed across something that shouldn’t be there. Something that had absolutely no right to be there.

Floating above the crowd of gnomes was a head of crimson hair, topped by a pair of fluffy triangular ears and attached to the body of a young woman with light brown skin. It was the sort of appearance that desperately begged to be noticed, so there was no way she would fail to do so. Fizzy had just enough time to register the existence of a slender red tail poking out from her backside when the woman suddenly disappeared around a corner.

The golem suddenly ran out while screaming Boxxy’s name. Plus, Moss and Drummir called out to her, but she didn’t even hear their voices as she ploughed through the crowd. She pushed people aside or knocked them over haphazardly until she arrived at the corner in question, but the catgirl she saw was nowhere to be found.

It was an odd cocktail of emotions she was experiencing at that moment. One that began with newfound joy and hope, which were immediately crushed into stinging disappointment, followed closely by self-doubt. This was the first time since her rebirth that she seriously questioned whether she had gone mad.

“There’s no way that was Keira, you know,” advised her alter ego. “It’s just someone who looks like her. Him. It. Y-you get the point.”

“…”

“Yo, Fizzy!” screamed Moss as he caught up. “You alright?!”

“… No, Moss,” she answered after hesitating for a bit. “I’m not alright. I don’t think I’ll ever truly be ‘alright,’ but I’ve made peace with that fact. Just like how I need to make peace with another.”

“You good, angelface?” called out Drummir.

The dwarf was trailing behind Moss because he stopped to help the people Fizzy had knocked over. Thankfully the pedestrians had bought the ‘unfortunately malfunctioning golem’ excuse he pulled out of his ass and moved on with their lives, so it didn’t seem like there would be any problems.

“Change of plans,” declared Fizzy. “Forget the Ritz for now, I have something I need to do. You two get a room at the local Mercenary Guild and get some rest. I’ll be back by sunrise.”

“... Whatever you say Fizzy,” said Moss. “Come on, Drummir, she says she needs some alone time.”

The golem parted ways with the other two and headed out into the city on her own. Fizzy walked down the street while looking all over the place, except the atmosphere around her was different from before. Rather than a tourist on a sightseeing trip, she was more like a woman on a mission. At some point she decided to stop wandering around aimlessly and stopped to ask some street vendors for directions. It was an act that was a bit more frustrating than it had to be since they too were wearing triple-As and couldn’t hear her when she spoke. Still, she eventually managed to find the place she was looking for and went inside.

She left that sculptor’s studio after about three hours and made her way towards the edge of town. It was already night when by the time she passed through the mechanical city gates and went into the surrounding wilderness. She walked tirelessly through the night, until she reached the tall grassy hill she had spotted through the mag-rail window on her way here. She climbed up to the top and soaked in the view around her.

The lit up city of Dragunov could be seen a few kilometers away in the distance, which stood out like a sore thumb against the surrounding sea of darkness. Well, relative darkness. Tonight just so happened to be the night of a Lunar Convergence, meaning that all three of the world’s moons shone in the sky at once. Fizzy was rather thankful for the additional illumination, as she would have probably gotten lost without it.

Those were hardly the only celestial bodies visible in the sky, though, as countless stars twinkled across unimaginable distances. The golem chuckled to herself as she stared heavenward.

“Boxxy did say several times it wanted to pluck those shinies out of the sky, didn’t it?” she mused idly.

Fizzy would have gladly given them to it if she could, but she couldn’t. In fact, the things she could do seemed to be rather limited, especially when compared to that incredibly crafty monster. Even what she was doing right now was somewhat pathetic, but it was the best she could do under her circumstances.

The golem reached into her Bag of Holding and pulled out a stone slab, one that was wider than it was taller and plenty thick, too. She dug out some of the dirt with her bare hand and stuck the stone slab in it, then filled up the hole so it would stand upright. This sole marble headstone atop the small hill looked incredibly lonely, but then again, that was more or less the point. Some vandals would eventually show up and knock it down, maybe even try and dig up the body, but Fizzy couldn’t worry about that right now. Besides, the joke would be on them, because there was no body to be found.

Still, she felt it inappropriate to leave nothing behind at all, so she reached back into the Bag of Holding and pulled out a mithril plate - a ‘bandage’ she got from Malcolm. She dug up some of the dirt in front of the headstone and buried the metal sheet. Boxxy would probably scold her for wasting shiny things on a pointless ritual, but it lost the right to criticize her when it got itself killed off and left her behind.

The golem knelt in front the headstone, closed her eyes and put her hands together in prayer. She offered one to Mortimer, as was customary, and then one to Nigel, because it wouldn’t be fair to leave him out. She also threw a quick ‘fuck you’ to Teresa for no particular reason. After about 15 minutes of this, she opened her eyes, leaned forward, and solemnly placed a hand on the headstone.

“Well, this is it, I guess,” she muttered to herself. “It’s funny, really. Back when we were on the run, all I could dream about was a moment like this. Admittedly the scene in my imagination contained a lot more laughing on my part and a lot more of your pieces strewn about, but I gotta take what I can get, right?”

The golem chuckled humorlessly to herself for a moment as her face naturally adopted a sad smile.

“You taught me that. You showed me a way to live without letting others trample all over me. Sure, it involves trampling over them first, but that’s just how the world truly works. I know that now, because you taught me that too. And truthfully, although it had been a really bumpy ride, I can honestly say I enjoyed the hell out of it while it lasted. I just expected it would last forever, you know? But I guess naive thoughts like that simply go to show how much more I have yet to learn.”

Fizzy scooted closer to the memorial while still on her knees and pressed her shiny forehead against the smooth stone surface.

“I won’t forgive you for what happened back then,” she whispered softly, “because there is nothing to forgive. That was simply how things played out, how the dice rolled and how the coin toss landed. Only an idiot would curse mortals for the whims of fate, and the monster you raised is no idiot. That’s why, I will instead say the words I wish I could’ve said to you directly.”

She then placed her metal lips on the vaguely chest-shaped headstone, right on the ‘M’ of the etching that read ‘Boxxy T. Morningwood.’

“Thank you, and goodbye.”