A shower of sparks erupted in Fizzy’s face, forcing her to turn away and shut her eyes. She then immediately groaned in frustration. One would think after a week of this she’d be used to it, but gnomes were creatures of habit. Though that hazard posed absolutely no threat to an inorganic construct, her old meatbag reflexes still forced her to flinch. The annoying part was she had already conquered such unnecessary reactions in active combat situations. She clearly needed more time and practice to do the same when it came to her Artificer work. With her concentration ruined, Fizzy decided she might as well take a mental step back and assess the damage.

In front of her was a large rectangular device that, at a glance, looked like a high-tech wardrobe demon. It was tall, it was wide, it was rectangular, and it had a pair of horn-like steel poles wrapped in copper coils jutting out of its top. Fizzy was at the back of the device, next to an open panel that had a bunch of wires and circuits dangling out of it. These internals gave off thin wisps of smoke from the soldering the golem had been doing prior to her accident. The burst of sparks was caused by a slip of her mechanical hand, which was in turn brought on by her inexperience. She wasn’t accustomed to handling the refurbished multi-tool in her hand, and the technology she was working on was very new to her. The main difference was that Katya’s machines had far fewer magical or alchemical components, if any. Their internals were completely unlike the arcane circuitry that Fizzy grew up with, so she was left feeling as if she was re-learning the Artificer Job from square one.

There were upsides to this. The main one was that she was advancing at a tremendous rate. The golem was almost at Level 60 Arclight Artificer and her Electrical Expertise was well past Level 6. She had made more progress in her field in the past week than she had over the past six months. Granted, serving the whims of a certain shapeshifter had been higher up on her priority lists until recently, but this was undeniably rapid development. The drawbacks of taking on this tremendous challenge were that her efforts were met with frequent and repeated failures. That shower of sparks she triggered just now wasn’t the first mishap, nor would it be the last. Fizzy expected to make a lot of mistakes as with any learning process.

However, the repeated interruptions and setbacks to her progress were starting to really grind her gears. In this particular instance she’d have to spend two hours reconstructing the power distribution circuit she ruined. She couldn’t even restore it with her magic since she had burned right through a bunch of resin-like stuff that Katya called ‘plastic.’ Fizzy wouldn’t be using this unfamiliar material if he had a choice, but she didn’t. Unsurprisingly, Tascuna wasn’t rich in minerals and metals. Only the most basic of materials were in any sort of abundance, including those needed to produce plastic. Fizzy’s prototype had to be built exclusively out of these common ingredients since Katya intended to mass-produce the finished product, provided it functioned as promised, of course. At least there would be no danger of running out of spare parts during the research and development process.

There was nothing else for it, so the construct removed the damaged component, grabbed a blank circuit board, and got right back to it. She was trying to adapt Rory Fizzlesprocket’s magnetic emitter designs to work with the Original Artificer’s electronics. The goal was to produce a device capable of counteracting the gremlins’ interference field. This machine would no doubt come under attack once in the field, meaning it had to take a beating and keep working. It also had to be powerful enough to withstand the amplified disruption wave without draining its batteries too quickly, so efficiency was also a concern. In short, some kludged contraption held together by spit and a prayer just wouldn’t cut it. Whatever Fizzy developed had to be a seamless fusion of the aforementioned technologies for it to meet Katya’s demands. The golem was getting there, but advancing past the initial proof-of-concept prototype was taking its toll on her.

This was made evident when barely a few minutes later she pushed down too hard, causing her multi-tool’s soldering iron to melt straight through the plastic she was working with.

“Bob damn it!” she yelled in frustration. “Why is this so hard?!”

The actual answer was that the lack of touch and tactile feedback made it difficult for her to figure out how much force to use with the lightweight instrument, though she already knew that.

“Perhaps a break is in order?”

Fizzy glanced over to Orrin. The giant was seated on a large cargo crate in the corner of the meticulously organized workshop. The golem was yet again taken aback by how quickly his hair and beard were growing back in. His golden mane was nearly back to its former glory even though it had only been nine lunar days since that near-lethal bout of radiation poisoning left him completely bald. Seeing this also reminded Fizzy that she was forever stuck with her rigid twin pigtails. She still liked how they looked and had learned not to bump them into things, but she would’ve liked the option to change her look. Maybe she could hit up Malcolm and see if he had any ideas for interchangeable scalps once she got off this rock, but that was a future luxury. At this moment, her attention was on her unannounced visitor.

“When did you get here?”

Orrin took a quick sip from a pot-sized mug before answering.

“About half an hour ago. You were concentrating, so I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Thanks, I guess. Also, you may be right. A quick walk should help get me out of this rut.”

“Do you actually mean a walk, or a walk?”

“The one that ends with me killing something.”

“Should’ve known.”

Orrin was beyond questioning Fizzy’s bizarre habits. By now he figured out that her monstrous side needed to be placated through violence so that the person underneath could think clearly. Thankfully she aimed her destructive impulses at Tascuna’s wildlife rather than its natives, though not out of any consideration for their lives. In the golem’s own words, she avoided skirmishes with the locals because she wanted to limit the amount of information they had about her, lest they figure out a way to actually take her down. Gnomes were crafty like that.

“Do you want to come?” she invited him.

“Maybe. It’s not like I’m much use to anyone by lounging around here all day. What do you have in mind?”

“I found a cave full of rock elementals on my last outing. With a bit of luck we can harvest some rare materials from them.”

“Sounds good. I definitely need the staff-handling practice.”

Fizzy walked over to the wall and pressed the button near the door, causing the intercom next to it to crackle to life.

“Hey, Katya? You there?”

“Always, devochka. How ees your progress?”

“Pretty good, actually. I should have the next prototype ready within the next thirty hours.”

“So soon?”

In Dragunova’s experience, new technologies of this level took months, maybe even years to develop. She had no problem waiting that long if she got what she wanted in the end. One thing she had plenty of was time. The same could not be said of her tolerance for impatient or incompetent employees.

“You better not be rushing the build, devochka,” she warned Fizzy.

“I’m not. I just know what I’m doing.”

That statement wasn’t entirely true, but it wasn’t completely false, either.

“We will see,” Katya remained skeptical. “Do you need something from me, then?”

“Just letting you know Orrin and I are going on another expedition for a few hours.”

“Okay. I will prepare the transport.”

“No need, we’ll be going on foot.”

“Are you sure? There ees no need to hold back.”

“It’s fine. I need to do some thinking anyway.”

“Ah. The mind-building thing you do?”

“Yep.”

“I still have no idea how you manage that, devochka. I can’t get any work done unless I document every step for review.”

“It’s a gift,” Fizzy shrugged with a smirk.

“Anyway, if you will go on foot that ees fine, but I insist you bring the radios at least.”

“Fine by me.”

That settled, the golem pressed the button next to the intercom, prompting the nearby door to slide open. Fizzy and Orrin went through and started making their way to the elevator. The workshop they just left was situated somewhere in the lower levels of Katya’s main control tower. A lot of things were in this centralized location, which was convenient most of the time. This wasn’t one of those instances since the golem and the giant had to cross the entirety of New Dragunov on foot, and the city-sized factory wasn’t designed with people in mind. After traversing a lot of winding passageways covered with filth and refuse, the pair finally emerged into their surroundings.

Naturally they made sure to grab their equipment and supplies before leaving. For the most part, their gear was the same as when they had their first foray into the jungles of Tascuna. One notable exception was that Katya had rigged up one of her munitions factories to mass-produce several hundred explosive grenades for Fizzy’s modified crossbow. Though she wasn’t planning on using any of those on this expedition, it was nice to not have to worry about running out of ammo for her only reliable way of dealing damage at range. This was but one of several benefits of working with their host, though all of them had that same connotation - convenient, but not vital. At least when it came to the golem’s needs. Orrin still required food and water, and Katya was happy to provide plenty of both. Apparently she brought a whole bunch when she moved to Tascuna, but had been gathering dust in cold storage ever since she transferred her consciousness into her android body. The giant had to admit, those ingredients tasted mighty fine for being nearly a century old.

The nest of earth elementals Fizzy mentioned was only about an hour’s walk beyond New Dragunov’s boundaries. The land here had been stripped bare of any and all natural resources, both above and below its surface. The region was deforested as far as the eye could see, and there were dozens of depleted mines dotting the near-barren landscape. Two days ago Fizzy went down one of these abandoned tunnels to study some of Katya’s older machines that were left to rust once they were of no use. The golem’s goal had been to gain some insight into the Original Artificer’s technology from her earlier, simpler designs. It had been a relatively successful endeavor, but in the process she also revealed a semi-collapsed cavern teeming with feral rock monsters.

This bunch proved not much different from the ones Fizzy and Tony pummeled to dust on behalf of the Mercenary Guild. They shambled around at random and awkwardly flailed their rigid limbs at whatever intruder they spotted, as one might expect from a bunch of walking boulders. If anything, this bunch were more brittle than the ones the golem was used to smashing up. There were many possible reasons for this, from their bodies consisting of moon-rock that wasn’t all that tough, to the notion that things on Tascuna were weaker than those on Terrania in general. It wasn’t just the golem’s opinion. Orrin also had experience tangling with both varieties of elementals and agreed that these ones were easier to handle, though he had a different idea as to why that was. It seemed to be a suitable topic for some small talk while Fizzy sifted through the remains in search of valuable minerals, so he decided to bring it up.

“I see your new weapon is working out nicely.”

From the Priest’s perspective, that massive lump of metal she was swinging around was the main reason why these foes were dispatched with relatively little effort.

“Hm? What do you mean, new? It’s the same old wrench.”

“Did you not say Katya replaced it with something tougher than steel?”

The bright red, oversized tool didn’t appear different at a glance, so he wasn’t all that certain.

“No. I said she transmuted it.”

“Oh. She can do that?”

“Apparently. Didn’t see how, but I imagine she has an arcane device that does it for her. Probably one she made in conjunction with a master Alchemist prior to leaving the Kingdom.”

“That seems… odd. Everyone in Horkensaft knows how Goroth feels about transmutation. Can’t imagine one of his own would have part in such things.”

“It’s only transmutation into precious metals,” Fizzy corrected him. “Speaking of which, does this chunk look like mithril to you?”

The golem held up a big lump of broken elemental. Off-white streaks of something metallic glistened in the conjured light of Orrin’s staff. Fizzy’s metallopathy was unable to identify it since she wasn’t used to ‘communing’ with raw ore full of impurities. The giant was even more clueless as he just squinted at it and shook his head.

“No idea.”

“Hm. I’ll bring it back, just in case.”

Fizzy stuffed it in her enchanted pouch and continued digging in the large pile of shattered moon-rock she had made a few minutes prior.

“So, what sort of metal is it?” the giant resumed the discussion.

“Katya called it titanium.”

“Never heard of it.”

“Me neither, but we’ve both seen it. It’s the same stuff that Vault door was made from.”

“Curious. Think it’ll help you beat down any more soldier bugs that pop up?”

“That’s the plan. Certainly did a number on these pebbles.”

The metal’s durability aside, its extra weight allowed Fizzy to really put her mithril muscles into each swing. Ideally this would give her the edge should another adamantite-clad bug get in her way. It should be noted that only the base tool got this upgrade. The clamping mechanism that motorized its teeth was still the same. In fact, the golem had been specifically told to dismantle that prior to the transmutation and then reassemble it afterwards. Apparently the process could cause deformities in more delicate objects, so it was only really useful when upgrading structures, armor plates, and, apparently, comically oversized wrenches.

“It does make me wonder, though,” Orrin stroked his beard. “If every single part of your weapon is replaced with something new, is it still the same item?”

This was a philosophical question that came up more often than not in Fizzy’s line of work, and the golem knew just how to answer. She chucked a rock at the giant’s face, resulting in a resounding smack right to the forehead.

“Oof!”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” the golem warned him. “I’m not having that stupid discussion.”

When it came to these sorts of things, she found the smartest move was to not play. As for Orrin, he just rubbed his slightly bleeding forehead with a look of mild annoyance. Not at the injury. It was so minor he wouldn’t even need to apply magic to it. It was Fizzy’s attitude that bothered him. She was becoming increasingly irritable as of late.

“Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the anvil.”

“I don’t sleep, meatbag. Now either help me or shut up. I have enough on my plate as is.”

“I’ll leave the rock sifting to you, then.”

The golem grumbled something under her nose and got back to it. In truth, she was keeping busy as a way of coping with something she learned about herself recently. After all the death she’d caused recently - especially against biters that still occasionally succumbed to the radiation she spread - Fizzy had achieved Level 50 Metal Golem. Normally that would be cause for celebration since it meant a massive spike in power via Rank Up. Previously she imagined that she’d upgrade from mithril to its more advanced and elementally charged form called orichalcum. However, reality was a harsh place that cared naught for hopes and dreams. Upon reaching that big five-oh the construct discovered that orichalcum was not on the list. In fact, there was no list.

Fizzy did not have a Rank Up option.

That was a tough pill to swallow. Nobody liked being told that they had capped out on their potential and that there was no more significant advancement to be had. It was a depressing notion, especially for Fizzy. Being a golem had become a major part of her identity, and it hurt to learn she had reached her peak in that regard. At least there were other ways she could improve. She still had the Paladin Job to work on, which was why she did her best to fight exclusively via mace and shield. Well, technically a wrench, but it was close enough. She was able to advance it to Level 45, which gave her access to a new Skill - one that was recommended by a fellow Paladin back in Azurvale.

[Beacon of Faith]

True devotion to the Gods can only be expressed through sincere faith and continued worship.

Requirements: Level 35 Paladin, Holy Scripture, FTH 200

Type: Passive

Range: Self

[Effects]

Gain additional FTH from all sources equal to 10% of the original amount (minimum of +1).

Increases the amount of FTH lost when violating a Taboo by 100%.

Increases the effectiveness of the FTH Attribute by 1% per Level of this Skill.

Provides an additional +4 FTH per Level of this Skill.

Ideally she would have picked this up much sooner, but wasn’t able to. Even if it was available as early as Level 35, it had taken her an awfully long while to hit that 200 Faith (FTH) requirement. And now that she had it, her divine abilities were sure to grow at a much more rapid pace. Her magic would be more potent, and Strength of Faith would grant a greater bonus to melee attacks. The Attribute could also potentially contribute to her defenses if she picked up Radiant Presence or Bastion of Light in the future. The actual effect of Beacon of Faith on these benefits would be negligible at first, but the Attribute in question could grow without limit so long as the Paladin maintained her fervent devotion. A great investment, in Fizzy’s opinion.

And her FTH score was just one aspect she could improve. Though Metal Golem had hit a dead end, the construct still had multiple other venues of growth to pursue. Paladin Levels aside, she could max out Skills, get new Jobs, and seek out beneficial Feats. Aside from getting bigger numbers on her Status, Fizzy could also enhance her combat ability by acquiring better equipment and amassing combat experience to draw on. There were plenty of options and opportunities to gain power, though the golem saw them as little more than consolation prizes when compared to her Main Job’s benefits. One could argue that she didn’t need to obsess over her martial prowess so much, especially since her current long-term goal was to master Arclight Artificer. However, Fizzy knew what she was. Violence would always be a part of a monster’s life, so neglecting her combat abilities would be foolish.

These pummeled elementals weren’t much of a stepping stone, though. Too easy, and the trace amounts of minerals in their bodies weren’t worth the hassle. Still, the ‘walk’ had done its job of clearing her head, so she headed back to Katya’s lab with Orrin. Upon her return she immediately got back to work. This time around she got over herself and put on some protective eyewear, both to help control her flinching and to better see what she was actually welding. That seemed to do the trick as she was able to finish that power distribution circuit without a hitch. The rest of the build was time-consuming, but relatively simple. Fizzy finished the prototype well within the deadline she gave earlier. More importantly, she did it without Katya’s help despite the otherworlder repeatedly saying she’d never manage it. The golem had taken that remark as a challenge to her competence and insisted she be given a chance to prove the Original Artificer wrong. Katya gladly accepted with a bemused smirk and the words, ‘I knew I would like you, devochka.’

Fizzy still wasn’t sure exactly what ‘devochka’ meant, but it sounded kind of cute, so she didn’t mind the nickname.

Nevertheless, she wasn’t quite done yet. The Oscillating Counter-Disruptor - or OCD for short - still had to pass an array of tests to check if it suited Katya’s needs, so the golem contacted her via the intercom to set it up. Several minutes later, the golem and her machine joined the otherworldly android at a different laboratory that was adjacent to the central control tower. This facility had an observation deck that oversaw six rectangular chambers of armored glass, all under a steel dome. There was an antenna-tipped machine within each corner of two of those transparent rooms. According to Katya, that equipment could mimic the electromagnetic fields in the gremlins’ jungle. Not perfectly, of course, but close enough for testing purposes. The actual trials would consist of placing one of Katya’s centaur-like foraging automatons next to Fizzy’s wardrobe-sized OCD and checking how well the latter would protect the former from various intensities of interference. The secondary chamber had one more of those harvesters as a control group.

With all the equipment in place, the only thing left was for the golem to wrap up some last minute setup and configuration.

“Are you ready down there, devochka?” Katya’s voice crackled over the loudspeaker.

“Almost!”

The mithril construct flicked a switch and her invention hummed to life. She then turned a few dials and clicked a button, causing it to pulse with a magnetic force that Fizzy felt in her core. There was no clicking, skipping, or stuttering, though. Just a vibration that was as close to tickling as a golem could experience. The automaton next to her seemed entirely unphased. It was at this point Fizzy realized she failed to consider that her jammer might adversely affect the very things it was meant to protect. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. The golem internally resolved this potentially catastrophic oversight as her genius subconscious filling in the gaps and not just a stroke of good luck.

[A special action has been performed. LCK +1.]

“I said it wasn’t luck, damnit!”

“What was that? I didn’t copy.”

“Uh, nothing! Just a prayer to Nigel that everything goes well.”

“Bah! Religion. I do not see why you put so much faith een eet.”

“It helps me smite my enemies, if nothing else. Anyway, I’m all set down here.”

“Very good. Come up and we will begin.”

Fizzy joined Katya on the observation deck and waited confidently for the trial to begin. The wall of glass and numerous monitors provided plenty of views and readouts to track conditions within the test chambers. Katya operated the nearby control panel and the instruments instantly showed a spike in electromagnetic activity. Nothing seemed to happen. The two automatons and the golem’s OCD showed no signs of struggling, but this was only the beginning.

“Okay. Eet handles passive disruption levels. Let’s see how eet does against active.”

Katya turned a dial and Fizzy’s machine automatically amplified its own output. Arcs of electricity leaped between its copper-coiled ‘horns’ every few seconds, accompanied by an angry buzzing noise. It was a good thing the golem didn’t need to breathe, otherwise she’d be in danger of suffocating from anticipation. This was the point when her initial prototype exploded spectacularly. This new model held its ground and kept the harvester bot functional, as evidenced by the way it continued to walk circles around the device. In comparison, the unshielded automaton was stuttering in much the same way that Fizzy did when she got hit by that amplified disruption wave.

Katya kept things as they were for five minutes to see how the prototype would fare with longer exposure. It passed with flying colors, showing absolutely no signs of breaking down. Admittedly the real thing would have to work for hours or days on end, but there would be time for endurance trials later. This was a stress test, and the intensity of the disruption field was still only at a fraction of what the real thing was capable of, according to what her instruments had recorded in the past. She kept upping the power output in stages that lasted five minutes each, pushing Fizzy’s invention to its utmost limits. The machine valiantly stood its ground for three more rounds, though the intensity of its counter-interference field was starting to slightly affect the automaton next to it. It still fared much better than the control group, which by this point had its electronic brain completely fried.

That was as far as Fizzy’s prototype went. When Katya turned the dial up to stage five, which was about 80% of what the gnomes’ magic could dish out, the device was overwhelmed. The steadily intensifying current jumping between its coils struck its own frame and punched right through the insulation. The resulting short-circuit caused panels to fly open as showers of sparks and plumes of smoke erupted from inside. In the Artificer business, this was known as a ‘catastrophic failure.’ The OCD went completely dead moments later, with the mechanical lumberjack following suit instantly after.

The golem was, understandably, quite dejected by this result.

“Ah, crap. Another useless piece of junk.”

“Nonsense, devochka!”

Katya, conversely, was positively ecstatic.

“That ees by far orders of magnitude better than my own attempts at doing the same! I do not know how you did it, but you are definitely on the right track! You must show me your vork! Togezer ve are sure to refine and improve ze design until vve can smash zose tiny freaks!”

In fact, she was so excited that her strange accent started to slip again. Bizarre enunciation aside, Fizzy was naturally elated to hear this glowing review of her work despite the catastrophic failure. It confirmed in her mind that she had the potential to stand on equal ground with the Original Artificer. However, she couldn’t let the praise go to her head. One thing Fizzy absolutely could not do was show Katya how she achieved this result. At least, not yet. She still assumed this old bag would stab her in the back the instant the golem was of no further use to her, much as she had abandoned so much of her obsolete equipment. Fizzy had so far succeeded in keeping those suspicions to herself, though she had previously made some demands that might tip Katya off.

“Hold on. Before that, you said you’d prove to us you can actually send us back once I showed my idea was viable.”

This was one of them, and being reminded of it instantly caused the automaton’s mood to visibly plummet down to her usual air of cold indifference.

“Very well. Deal ees deal. Come.”