Will-o-Wisp 1 PoV

I think me and my two friends have the worst luck in the world.

Well, we were all lucky enough to be one of the few that were allowed to play Etheria: The Ruined World but that was the end of our luck.

We all decided to choose elementals as our race so we could play together. One of us chose Earth golem but me and one other chose to be Will-o-Wisps.

We were told by the AI that our looks could change because of our nature being made of fire.

When we woke up I found myself in a hot cave system with magma flowing like a river. Soon I encouraged other Will-o-Wisps and we headed up until we found dwarves and golems.

We became friends with them but suddenly we got a call from something in the cave. All golems felt a magic wave calling them so we headed down as well. None of us were more than level 1 and when we finally reached the place we met the last thing we expected.

In a room nearly 30 meters high was a pool of lava. When the last of us arrived a glow from the center of the lava lake shined and soon the lava rose and parts began to slightly harden. Slowly the form changed until it was a large magma golem.

“Tiny elementals as an elder spirit of both your kind I command all of you, rid this mountain’s caves of all that isn’t our own. They plague my mountain and you all shall get rid of them.” The magma golem said in a tone filled with rage.

Mission: Mountain Purge

You have met with an elder magma golem who has ordered you to clear the whole mountain of anything that isn’t of the elemental races. You must kill or run out all dwarves as well as protect the great golem from attacks that may come from other creatures.

Difficult: F++

Reward: Survival of your races.

Success: Kill all dwarf NPC and then all dwarf players to kill off the dwarfs and any other creature that helps them.

Failure: The great Magma Golem dies.

There was a sudden murmur between everyone. We have grown to like them a bit but suddenly an earth golem stood on a high stone.

“Who gives a fuck about Dwarves, if we beat them we get to keep all the minerals and ore in the mountains! We can rule the entire area!” The small earth doll sized golem said.

The sudden message caused most of them to fill with greed. They all roared agreeing. I had met up with my friends already but seeing this we grew disgusted.

“Like hell I’m going to do this mission.” I say.

“Same here!” my friend who choose to be a golem said.

“Ditto!” The other Will-o-Wisp said.

You have rejected the quest. You are now considered an enemy of your own kind. Should your fellow golems succeed in the mission nothing shall change, however should they fail their characters will be deleted but you shall keep your own. This will allow you a chance to unlock your race much later in the future.

Without a moment's notice several of use besides us were left in a small clearing. The golems were all looking at us.

“FUCK, RUN.” The other Will-o-Wisps said.

The next moment we ran for our lives. Thankfully we were near the door and could get out of the cavern. We were lucky unlike others that were closer to the front.

We continued running randomly through the caves until we were sure we had stopped being chased. As we calmed down we heard noises. We had stopped in an intersection and there were two paths. The noise was coming from the right. We waited a bit until suddenly a large boulder came at us. We jumped into the left path and dodged it but that wasn't the end. The boulder JUMPED and what appeared was something similar to an armadillo with stone armor.

He was snarling at us. We all ran as fast as we could to get away from that thing and without looking we zigzagged our way through the tunnels until we collapsed.

When we noticed nothing after us we began to get up once we could. Both me and the other Will-o-Wisps and the earth golem who were both my real life friends were both exhausted. When we looked we saw that our mana was almost gone. What was strange was the lack of stamina but since we were pure fire made from mana then it was obvious overexerting ourselves would eat up mana.

After that a message appeared for me.

Warning: reduce mana consumption or risk dying

“Fuck how the hell am I using mana!” I shout.

“Maybe the fact that you have white flames is the answer.” The golem says.

I stare at him for a moment then check myself out before I see it’s true. It seems I unknowingly activated the fire manipulation skill which is our races racial skill.

I deactivate it and my flames turn back to bright red. I look at my mana and see it has started to recharge again.

“That was close.” I said with a sigh of relief.

“Hey Blaze we have another problem.” the other Will-o-Wisps said.

“Perfect, thanks for ruining my small sense of security after getting a message saying I would die, Ena. What is it!?” I said in an annoyed tone.

“'We’re lost.” The golem said in a blunt deadpan tone.

…

“Just as Brock said.” Ena said.

We all slumped down. Lost in a cave and just at the start of the game too.

We don't really know how long we spent down there. We just randomly walked around and when we felt we were going up, some large monster would push us down.

All of them were beyond us by nearly 60 levels.

With that said we reluctantly gave up and stopped playing but keeping watch on the forums.

A few days later one of the golems that helped push out the dwarves, were guarding the entrance to the cave when two huge robots appeared and destroyed them.

There was no new attack after that but to think the dwarves could build a robot like those. I looked around and found out they were players, not robots. The clockwork race seem cool but I want magic and they lack that.

A few days later the forum was swarming with the golem and Will-o-Wisps players from the mine complaining that the dwarves were using some new armor and decimated the golems.

I laughed really hard when I saw that. I put a message on the forum.

“Hahaha Karma's a bitch ain't she.” I said and typed that before posting it.

Several others laughed at them but the rest bitched about it.

The next day they attacked but were killed again which made me laugh even harder. In the forums I saw them planning for training to do coordinated attacks.

I called my friends and told them about following the golems as they climb. They’re stronger so they can get past the monsters. If we follow we can get back up to the dwarf city.

With the plan set we waited two days and jumped in on the third day. It was a weekend so we could afford to wait two days.

We waited near the intersection where a rock armadillo rolled down from. Brock made a small hole in the wall and we hid near the intersection.

Soon we heard the sounds of attack from battle. When it went quiet Broke looked out and saw the golems walking on leaving the monster dead on the ground.

We wait until the players walk away before following. We stick to the wall, Ena and I stay behind Brock to hide the light made by our flames.

Nearly two hours of walking and several monsters that were gradually stronger than the last, we finally reach the top.

By then there was one big group.

We wait out the fight and only after it had died down we move close.

The scene of a battle field spread out around us. Many dwarves injured, some dead and golems all around.

As we three walk out everyone suddenly looks at us. We freeze on the spot with the pressure from the stares aimed at us.

“Um, is the fighting over?” I ask a bit unsure.

Nobody answer except for a few nods.

“Guess a few golems were spared. Who wants to finish them?” One dwarf said.

As soon as we heard that we shrank back and hid behind Brock as the dwarves came towards us.

When they almost circled us something stopped them.

BANG

The sound came from behind them and the projectile passed just over everyone and embedded into the wall leaving cracks.

All the Dwarves stopped pale and gulped deeply as did we.

The source of the shot was a robot girl with one of the scariest sniper rifles I’ve ever seen.

“Don’t touch them! I want them!” she said

Everyone was speechless and dumbfounded. One of the big robots behind her moved next to her and started talking.

“Nova, you remember those big guys we just fought?” Bulk said.

“Yeah and?” the girl says.

“Those little guys are one of them.” The robot says pointing at us.

She looked at us then looked back.

“Who cares they are small and cute unlike those ugly guys from before. I’m keeping them as my pets!” She says

Just how unreasonable is this girl. The other big robot who seems to be her brother starts arguing with her and they both seem to be losing.

“Was it really safe to come here?” I ask really worried.

“Maybe we should run?” Brock suggested.

“I’m more scared of the girl than the large robots. What the hell is wrong with her to want to keep us as pets?” Ena said shaking.

Before we could decide the girl began using the dirtiest trick in the book and made her brother conceded to her unreasonably selfish desires. She walked over with a victorious smile on her face.

“Alright, all three of you are my pets from now on, hehehe it’s going to be fun to teach you all tricks. I was never allowed pets so I can’t wait.” Nova said.

“B-but that's slavery!” I shout in protest.

“Yeah, we won’t listen to you!” Brock shouts as well.

“No way will you make us some pets!” Ena says not giving in.

While we contested against her wishes we didn’t notice until it was too late that the huge robot she was sitting on before was now behind her.

It cast a shadow over her and us and she continued smiling while her robot eyes shined. Then the robot lifted both arms with the massive miniguns on them and aimed it at us.

“Mhh, did you say something?” She said innocently as if not noticing the giant robot.

She tilted her head innocently while making a curious face.

“Nope.” I said scared out of my wits.

“You must be hearing things.” Ena said taking back what was said.

“Yep we wouldn’t think of anything better then to be with you.” Brock said in his defense.

She smiled wide and jumped around.

Moments later our death sentence was completely sealed.

You have accepted to be the familiars of the Clockwork Nova Gear. You are now bound to her and can no longer delete your character unless Nova cancels your contract.

Being players you are to be treated as such but you will be under the contract and will be represented as pets. As such Nova and her guardian Techno Gear (through parental control) can view your status window and skills. You can be taught skills by your owner as long as she knows them to an adequate level as well as learn them yourself with her, or Techno’s, permission.

(Note Parental control will last only until Nova turns 15)

We all resign to our fate. To live as pets to an unreasonable girl and they even take away our right of privacy for our skills. This game is sick and twisted to no end and what kind of game allows for players to be enslaved like this.

Techno PoV

I was still sulking after Nova's tantrum. She was already back to all smiles and playing around. I on the other hand was examining the three new familiars that, through "their" free will, joined us.

Their names were Blaze, Ena and Brock. Two males one female.

Stats all newbie level 1 so nothing special. Skills are a bit more interesting.

They each have 3 racial skills each. The Will-o-Wisps have Fire manipulation (Basic 2), Fire magic mastery (Basic 1) and Fire assimilation (Max).

The earth golem has, earth manipulation (Basic 2), earth magic mastery (Basic 1) and Iron stomach (Max)

The first two are self explanatory but the third skill is really unique to the race unlike the other which can be learned.

Fire assimilation allows a Will-o-Wisps to "eat" fire and convert it into mana. If they eat a large amount in a short amount of time they can possibly increase their mana capacity/size of core. It’s the same for Iron stomach but in this case the golem must eat mineral ore. As they eat, the body grows and becomes stronger and larger until it's at the size it was supposed to be when they made the character. The golem skill also makes the ore they eat spread around so if brock eats enough iron ore his body will eventually turn him from earth golem to iron rock golem.

Still to think there still exists level 1 newbies after so long.

My group is around level 25 after this battle but I'm sure some battle hungry idiot would probably be nearing level 50 by now.

Well nothing I can do about it. The best we can do is finish the relic furnace and kill the boss golem.

With that said I leave Nova to tort...play with the elementals and go help finish the furnace.

Next day

The previous day we had completed the reparations of the furnace. Today we finally lit it up and began moving tons of scrap iron into it. Clockwork workers had been going mining with several dwarves after the golems were beat and made a huge stockpile of coal which was being shoveled in.

Slowly the heat rises and soon the iron begins melting. As it begins turning liquid we open the pressure valves from the pressure tanks.

Air blasts through and is instantly consumed by the flames which causes a massive rise in heat melting the iron and mixing the carbon in the coal with the iron. We weren't making steel but cast iron. In the real world it’s best use is in machinery, pipes and so on.

For machines, cast iron should be the best option for interior parts before we go into steel parts. Until now we have only been simply melting iron and removing impurities and using iron like that.

The cast iron may be a bit brittle but it is harder so it will work for the workers. I'm waiting until steel comes out before we try anything.

I already have plans for both Nova and Rust. Nova has already clearly showed her talent in scouting as well as control of the robots. So I plan something along the lines of sniper/commander for Nova. For Rust, he shows good stealth but not enough for an assassin but his scouting abilities make that up. With his sawed-off shotguns I think Scout/Hunter fits him more.

That said we need to train. I know that we are probably really powerful but we lack level. We can be OP if we want but level restrictions will be present. That said I still make all four of us some new plating using Dwarven blacksmithing to make them with dwarven techniques. It’s similar to making plate armor just three times stronger.

I spent the whole day making my own parts while the others worked together building the new worker bodies as well as iron sheets. These were taken and were being used to make the new building holding the relic furnace to better protect it from the golems. It also went into making houses stronger.

We also made heavy duty doors for the two entrances to the dwarf town.

For our parts I made only plates but after completely replacing my body I gained an astounding 15 points of toughness but lost 5 of agility because the armor is heavier.

It was a really nice result though Rust didn’t want them because it was heavy. As a scout he seems to want to keep his speed so I don’t push it.

Anyway, the next day the cast iron is being mass produced and the Dwarven armor was undergoing upgrades.

I was just watching the gate when the golem appeared.

“You’re the leader of the robot's right? I saw you in the forums it shows you making your armor at the clockworks base.” Brock said commenting on the video on the clockwork forum page.

I don’t speak or even try to register the dolls presence.

“I just wanted to know if you need help with the software upgrades, I’m in college to be a programmer so I know quite a lot about it.” he says

Unlike before this catches my interest, so I look at him before looking around and finding one of the dwarves helmets.

I stick it on the golem's head even though he protests trying to take it off.

”You want to talk leave that thing on. So what do you want, besides your freedom which I can’t give you, for your work on upgrading our software and teaching me how to do it.” I tell him.

“So this is how you talk. Well besides my freedom I want to level up. I’m weak and while I stay that way I will stay this size and your sisters pet. Help me get big and away from her and we have a deal.” He says.

I agree to help him train since I have nothing to lose. First though I have him teach me what he knows.

I get a scrapped clockwork into working condition and connect him to the software codes.

The whole day he spends teaching me about programming. At the end of the day my Basic software designer skill ranked up into the Programmer skill. This skill is much more advanced than simple software, as such anything that falls under programming has somewhat become possible.

I love that the system helps by somewhat giving people knowledge to start out. If we learn more we can improve the skill.

For my side of the bargain I remove the motherboard and put one that I repaired and which had corrupted codes and remade them making it a practice combat bot.

It was simple, he would fight the robot and try to win and level up.

The scrap bot I would rank around level 3 since I added a few newish parts. Should be a good match for a level 1 newbie.

Shame he doesn’t last long. I had to stop the bot from killing him. From there I told him to take advantage of his Iron stomach skill and after about an hour he returned. He was a bit larger and had gained more human like traits. Seems he is the human like golem.

He was able to beat the robot this time and gained a level.

I then repaired the robot and this time I changed the waist knee and heel joints giving the robot speed.

Suffice to say he was thrashed again because he couldn’t handle the speed. I gave him an iron pipe, and had him fight again. This time he narrowly won.

I continued until it was time to sleep gradually increasing the difficulty. He gained sword mastery skill plus 3 levels from beating the robot as it got stronger.

I found it satisfactory to say the least.

The Will-o-Wisps though were less than satisfied since I ignored them. I don’t really give a damn. I did have Bulk tell them to follow to earth golems example and use their fire assimilation skill to augment their stats.

The next day I spent some time working on my programs I already possessed. I refined the mapping program as well as the targeting system. It’s amazing how much better it became after I learned programming. The map was no longer sketchy and held a good amount of detail as well as showing spots the collectors registered monsters or other living beings.

As for the targeting system. The margin of error was further reduced and now those with lesser talent for guns had better handle of the gun.

Nova, on the other hand, became even scarier at short and mid range shooting because she never missed her target and could even hit multiple vital spots much more easily now, and her range went up to nearly 300 m with hitting 4 out of 5 times.

We still had about 2 or 3 days before the golems respawned so we wanted to be ready. I made extra sure that no players posted anything in the forums about it so we could squash them completely with less damage to ourselves and instantly head to the magma golem to finish this annoying quest.

The last bit I did today was refit Hino with stronger armor and a better software increasing the effectiveness of his systems before setting out to train the three brat elementals.

The combat clockwork I was slowly remaking I was planning to turn into my alternative bodies and make knights from them, which I would manually control. Since Nova had the protector I stay with Hino as well as the blast turtle which makes me reach my limit with robots I can control when I control five complex robots.

Though I will never actually use them all at once since I need to map out the caves, while training I leave that to Rust since he seems to have better scouting skills and the maps he makes are of slightly better quality because of that.

At the end of the day around 40 dwarven power suits were remade and the earth golems reached level 6 while the fire ones both got to level four. They had taken up my suggestion and stupidly flew into the blast furnace about half way and began eating the flames from that height. Improved them greatly I must say.

The golem now took the image of a human 10 year old and the two Will-o-Wisps can both change their looks to be similar to phoenix since they liked the bird form but can take a similarly large human form.

The next two days I beat them nicely as I trained them and when all the dead dwarves started appearing I knew the time limit was done. They had obtained level 12 each and were at full size. Contrary to what they thought Nova was happier to have the full size.

Now on the fifth day after the golem war, all the armor had been remodeled and now had more plating protecting the body where the old one didn't. The town also looked better and no longer rusted.

With collectors in the cave we saw the golems rushing to reach us and among them several huge signatures were noted. Guess they were going on the last offensive.

We scrambled and got ready.

I won't go too deeply in our victory but I will just say that those huge signatures the collectors registered were complete rock golems with no human traits besides the basic shape with two arms, two legs and one head.

Bastards were tough as hell and only because I had Nova shoot them with the sniper that we broke through their defense.

We had greatly reduced casualties on our side compared to last time because the armor was much stronger and protective than before.

Once we killed off the last one we gathered all the drops and we finally headed into the cave. We passed them the map we had made and continued down. I didn't bring any combat robots because they were complex robots. I needed to use as many collectors as possible, so I left them behind.

Rust and Nova were also helping out with mapping the lower levels and slowly the map began to piece itself together as the drones started to meet up during the descent.

There were numerous rock and fire based monster in the cave which we took down and which I had the golems eat parts of.

As I suspected they grew much faster eating monsters than ores.

After some time the collectors met up into one large group after having mapped the whole cave system and only a single path was left. I had them wait so as not to endanger them with the monsters attacking.

We took the shortest path down until we finally met up with them.

We put all of them away before turning to the final room ahead.

When I looked back we saw the dwarves sweating from the heat. I called for a break and let them cool off. It was a clear disadvantage for the dwarves who aren't handling the heat well enough.

It’s possible that just the clockworks are capable of fighting this thing. I thought.

Several thoughts about how the clockwork saved the dwarf passed through my mind. It was clear that there was a connection here. The dwarven armor can't handle the ever-training elementals that grow stronger by eating these rock and fire based monsters.

Put simply it must be because of us that we could reach this far.

Thinking something like this could be true, I begin to form a plan and pull out a good amount of ammo.

What I brought out was a new ammo type for Nova.

Before she used plain metal stakes. These new ones were more drill like with a drill bit head. I also brought out a new pipe for the sniper. The inside had etching inside that would cause the bullets to spin which would increase the penetration power.

I replace it for her while the preparation was going on. I then restock my bombs and pull out two huge tower shields for Bulk.

It was clear this fight was for long ranged fighters so he will act as our shield should the golem throw something our way.

With everything more or less taken care of, we move in.

The room we entered was huge. About 30 meters high and dome shaped. The diameter was roughly 150 meters and half way into the room a pool of magma forms covering the far side of the room in lava.

Like a cliche boss entrance, the room rumbles and the lava jumps up in a few explosions as gas was released. Then from the entrance the lava begins rising. As the body rises parts of the lava cool and forms a volcanic rock armor.

“Grr, So the rats have come to me. Good. Those weaklings weren't doing their job properly anyway!” the magma golem said.

No one spoke to the intelligent boss monster.

“Nothing to say pests!” he shouts

Before anyone could say anything a dwarf that was scared took a shot at the Golem.

The bullet hit into the exposed lava.

-2

(-2) 2998/3000

Everyone pales. A sudden rumbling started in the room as the golem began laughing.

“Is this really what's kept killing those weaklings? Pathetic!” He shouts while laughing revealing the red glow of the magma inside its body through its open mouth.

All the dwarves paled.

"All of you retreat and seal down the village. Let us handle this. Nova ready the new round." I say.

The dwarves nod and begin running out.

“Hahaha. So you choose to run when you know you will die, rats!” the golem shouts.

“Who said we were running.” Bulk shouts drawing his attention.

The golem looks at us. The remaining group was Bulk, Rust, Nova, the three elementals and me.

Nova was just finishing getting her sniper out after getting into position on the protector. On my shoulder the grenade launcher had just finished coming out.

“Clockwork? I thought your kind died out long ago and were now scrap?” He commented.

“A few had reactivated recently just like the awakened ones.” Rust says nonchalantly.

“What do trashed machines like you think you can do against me.” He says taunting us.

“This!” I say

Using my targeting system I aimed up and fired three bombs in succession. The golem didn't even flinch as it approached. They all stuck to his chest above the glowing area on his chest.

“Ha is that al…” He says but was cut short.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

At once three massive explosions happened on his chest. They were powerful enough to blow away the magma around his chest.

“GRAAHHH~!” He roars in pain.

As the smoke cleared the massive chest area had a huge hole in it exposing the core.

“Now!” I shout.

BOOOOM

With an even bigger explosion Nova fired off one of the new rounds I made. The impact to the core was massive making a few cracks and to add to that it continued on as it drilled for a bit more into the giant's core.

[/b]Critical hit[/b]

“Well fuck! Thats some massive damage!” Bulk said as he saw the damage

“Of course, the core is their power source and this guy keeps his under heat for so long that it became brittle.” Rust explained

“You...all...will...DIE!” the golem shouted in a rage.

He roared in anger and stood up again. We saw that the drill stake was firmly stuck in his core. It hadn't fallen out even with all the cracks.

Slowly he repaired his chest but as soon as the lava fell into the cracks he began to roar in pain.

Slowly he began losing life.

"Seems like the inside of the core isn't as lava resistant as the crust. I said after seeing that happen

The golem pulled all the magma off his core leaving the hole in his chest. By that time he had lost 90 points of life

“Bro, it will take 5 minutes before I can shoot again.” Nova said.

I node confirming our time limit. He can't protect his core anymore since it would hurt him if he did. But that doesn't remove the danger he poses.

"Bulk, stick with Rust, defend him if anything comes his way. Nova dodge as best you can. You hurt him the most so he will try going for you. I will try to get his attention. When you can, Nova, shoot at the big ball in his chest again." I order.

“Sure bro.” Nova says with a nod.

At that moment the golem raised his arm and began swinging it down at us.

We all split after that.

The arm missed is by far but we lost our balance because of the tremor it caused. While I was down I aimed and shot to bombs onto his arm and when he pulled back I detonated them before the shell was penetrated. The bombs cause his arm to burst but not fall off.

Seems the damage is weaker the further from his core you get. And I bet it's like the smaller ones. His damaged body can probably regenerate.

As soon as I thought that I notice the hole I made in has arm close up and his life returned to 1608/3000.

"Aim only for the core. Attacking his body will get us nowhere." I tell the others.

"Roger." Rust replies back

I saw Rust pull out his two guns and unload the four blunt shots towards the core.

Two missed and hit his body one hit the core making a few small cracks but the last did some massive damage. By luck it hit right over the metal stake shoving it further in.

He roared again and looked towards Rust. He then shoved his arms into the lava and pulled out two huge balls of lava. First his right arm pulled back and he through the massive lump of molten rock at Rust.

From behind Bulk stood in his way as he connected his two massive tower shield and planted them on the ground. The shields could almost be compared to the iron doors we made for the village.

When Bulk connected his shields it formed a V shape and with a slight slant backwards it covered the two completely.

When the magma ball crashed into them I say the shield and Bulk slide back at least 2 meters from the force behind the rock.

Other then that they both escaped death easily enough since the shield made the molten rock split to the sides.

Cruck Boom

The sudden noise draws our attention up. In the air near the roof of the cave, the three golems were doing something. All over the roof cracks formed and soon the huge boulders fell loose and plummeted down onto the magma golem.

The impact of the rocks make a huge wave which we had to run away from.

“Damnit you guys! Once we finish this bastard off your all dead meat!” Bulk shouts

I was preparing my tort...training regimen for them.

Now though the attack would have been effective it didn't work well against the golem because it simply pushed him under. Soon he rose again after the rocks melted. Though it didn't cause much damage he was still hurt because his core was forced completely under the magma.

It took only 50 points of damage before he resurfaced.

He was still ripping magma from his core which made a dangerous opening I made sure to exploit.

I pulled out a small box filled with bombs and changed out the one I already had since it was nearly empty. I also filled my water tank to build up more steam.

With the steam I had I aimed and fired several shots all landing on his arm or chest. And detonated when the final one was near.

The series of explosions made the cave rumble.

I also heard more shots from Nova to my left and 4 more from Rust.

As he neared its end it seems he also sees his imminent death.

“As if...I WOULD ALLOW MYSELF TO FALL TO SUCH CREATURES LIKE YOU!!!!!” He suddenly shouted.

He lifted both his arms up and clutched his fists

“FUCK RUN~!” Bulk suddenly shouted.

Bulk and Rust were both running for the door. All of us but the flying elementals ran as well. We reached the door and Bulk was waiting for me and Nova. Once we passed he planted his shields at the entrance of the room and pushed the shields until it became a door.

“GGGRAAAAHHH!” The Golem shouted as his fists fell into the magma pool.

BOOM

I heard his fists hit the magma and felt the intense vibration.

Behind us the dwarves had retreated only to the corridor and had been watching. They were now muttering.

“This fight is insane. We would be dead by now.” One of them said.

“I know what you mean. We really have to thank the group for all their help.” Another one commented with sincere gratitude in his voice

As the dwarves mindlessly muttered we, who were holding the shield felt a massive impact but since all four of us were holding we stopped the force but we saw the door get red has it heated up.

When everything got quiet we pulled the shields back a bit and looked out. The giant golem was huffing exhausted.

“Bro I can fire my big toy again.” Nova says.

"Ok. Bulk, Rust and I will run out in both directions. Take a shot from in here when you get the chance." I tell her.

She nodded and began pulling the sniper out and loading another drill stake into the gun's chamber.

While we waited we heard banging outside. When we looked we saw the magma golem throwing rocks at Nova's pets and Hino who I was moving around and making him return. I had forgotten him outside but thankfully the new plates helped him survive since this lava wasn't hot enough to melt his heavy padding.

We remove the shield and run out while letting Hino run in and having him sit down and let him cool off.

The golem's eyes were intensely fixed on us. He roared in rage and launched a punch towards me which I blocked by firing bombs and blowing up his hand while getting away.

At the same time he grabs and throws a chunk of lava at the other two which was blocked.

At the same time we both fired at the golem but he suddenly clenched up and protected the core.

“Hehehe. You will all die!!” He shouts

Just like before he quickly lifts his arms and prepares to slam his fists down.

BOOM!!! KRRRRIINN CRACK

Before he could even begin to drop his arms Nova fired dead center at the huge core in his exposed chest.

The drill stake rushed right into the core and dug in deeply spreading cracks all over and shooting out the other side and embedding itself into the wall behind him.

Fatal hit

Seven levels for killing one boss. It must be because it was a small group instead of large number. The last fight with the golem army gave me 2 levels, the walk down we killed various monsters and it gave me another with this boss I'm now level 35.

I breathe out a sigh of relief. When I looked at the golem he was still standing. In his chest was the completely cracked core splintering out of his chest.

As I looked close I saw the lava was quickly cooling and when it reached the magma pool it started to cool the lava as well. Soon the whole pool was hot stone that slowly let out a few traces of heat and smoke.

“Hehehe That was awesome. I think we should hunt a few more boss monsters.” Bulk said excited.

“Do you want to die, is that it mr. shields.” Rust says insulting Bulk.

“Hey! If I didn’t have these shields we would all be dead.” He shouts at Rust.

“Those things are more like doors.” Nova says bluntly as she reaches us.” Nova says bluntly.

“You know...it doesn’t feel bad following these guys. Seems fun being with them.” Brock comments.

“Yeah, where else would we have fought something like that so early on just ourselves.” Ena replies

As soon as the elementals land three large hands grabbed them.

“Now then. What kind of punishment should we give you three from dropping those stones carelessly and almost killing us from the wave.” Bulk said in an evil tone.

Both Bulk and me were staring at them while our eyes glowed. The three shrank back.

“Bro, Bulkhead leave them alone!” Nova shouted.

“B-Bulkhead!! You're calling me fat like that transformers!!” Bulk shouted towards Nova.

“Hump you are a fatty!” Nova says bluntly.

We dropped the three and they shrank to tiny size again and ran behind Nova. Seems they learned well enough there manipulation skill to return to that size at will.

”Leave them, (for now), we need to take care of this first. Let's remove that crystal” I tell them while looking at the big core left in the magma golem.

As we began to move the dwarves came out dazed looking at the huge giant. Suddenly the quest appeared in my visor.

Mission: Elemental Onslaught

You have successfully helped all the dwarves beat the magma golem leading the golems to attack. With your actions you have set in stone and steel the relationship between clockwork and dwarves.

Reward: +2 level, Dwarves are now permanently unlocked.Because you have helped complete this quest, the Mission, Mountain Purge, done by the fire and earth golems has failed. The Fire and Earth golem race has been permanently locked.

Due to having befriended a golem and two Will-o-Wisps and not killing them they will have a chance to revive the race in the future[split]Your fight with the boss of the dungeon is worthy of entering the hall of fame. Should you allow it we can post it in the hall of fame. Note it will also show where the current location is revealing the location of the dwarven town and south gate of the clockwork scrapyard.

The last message I have to think about for a while before I allow it to happen. I was leaving soon, way before any of them can find this place so it didn’t matter.

All the dwarves cheered and began celebrating. For my party we began to break the stone around the massive core and collect the core. Because it was too big and broken we had to break it into fragments which were easier to carry. The core itself was huge. Nearly 3 meters in diameter. To say this was a grand prize out of a lottery would be an understatement.

Magma Golem Core Fragment

(craft material)

A fragment from the core of a boss class magma golem. This core is very dense and holds a huge amount of magic energy. Broken into fragments the cores power is severely lowered but each piece holds an equivalent of the power as it is made up of a good amount of mana.

This core is specifically unique as the crust of the core is highly resistant to heat but it is brittle and the inside is weak to heat but holds a large amount of mana within. These fragments are highly sought after because they can be used with smithing and making magically enhanced armor and weapons.

I can’t help but grin at this. To find heat resistant materials is one hell of a blessing. I can now make some well needed upgrades after some experimenting. If I can make a steel alloy mixed with the crust I can make many weapons that would heat up quickly. That includes Nova’s sniper. I can reduce the impact of overheating on it and have it fire off more rounds faster.

We scavent every last bit of the core when we are finally done we jump down and walk over to the dwarves who all look happy.

“Thanks for the help. We can’t thank you more. You even helped us yourself after you said we had to do it alone.” Victor said.

“We got a lot more out of this doing it ourselves.” Bulk said.

“He is right. We needed to pass level 30 to surpass steel parts restriction.” I told him.

“I can already see that shiny new body waiting for us.” Rust said in a daze.

We all laugh hearing him say that.

We leave behind the statue of the golem with a huge hole in his chest and head up.

The next day after doing massive repairs and smithing to make up the bombs and bullets we used, we began making new bodies. I made the same kind of body I had now for myself. I dismantled all my weapons and tools and upgraded them with steel parts that has begun being made in mass now that it's safe to mine coal. I learned the proper mix for steel and how to do it in the turtle.

When I was finally done with that I took the time to also completely upgrade my personal software. Though I’m working fine, there are still quite a few corrupt files so with help from the skill correction from the Programming skill I begin rewriting them filling each blank with what I think is right. If nothing comes to mind when looking at one of the codes I leave it and only fill those I notice I can do.

When I was done I was happy that there was a large increase in processing power and even my movements with this iron body was smoother since the commands were being executed more accurately. I finished the Robot and then transferred the transmitter and had Rust move my motherboard to the new body.

Ah how I'm never been so happy to see so much shiny cold steel run on a new steel fire crystal powered engine with only a small fuel tank to feed the oil needed to lubricate my gears. I even also added a second battery which would allow me to use my tools, which is what uses energy, for a longer period of time.

Here is my stats after the upgrade.

StatusNameTechno GearRaceClockworkClassKnight MechanicLevel:37Free stats points60Durability1120/1120Energy400/400Strength98Agility76Dexterity105Toughness110Intelligence89Wisdom95Charisma30Leadership20Luck50

My stats sure have flourished from the first time. Not to mention I still have 60 extra points to place which I am keeping for now. For a while i've been thinking that Clockworks are a cheat race but when I think about it. Unless they had a source of material they can’t upgrade that much without leveling so. Until we find something a better material than steel we might be stuck with this. Well beyond the mountain range would be monsters. Maybe monster parts mixed into the iron and steel could make something interesting.

Anyway after I finished my new body I remodeled the old one. I made it shorter and made it into a full knight. I had left the swords since they were iron and made new steel knight swords.

I did take the launcher though. It was made for my current size so it wouldn’t fit him. I gave the knight body steel plating though and steel joints but the rest stayed as cast iron.

I moved to Nova afterward. I wanted a sniper so I made her a body that was full adult size that could hold more weapons. I turned all her collectors into tool drones and removed her tool gears and added rifles into both arms. I gave her short swords similar to the knight swords so that if things ever reach a point where she has to fight close up she has something. Though I doubt that would happen with her always on the protector.

Her body was full steel but because of the smaller size them me her agility was over 100 as well. Along with the machine rifles and sniper, which I remade into her new body out of steel as well as with a experimental barrel made with part of the magma golems core, I gave her a pair of pistols which have a hidden holster in her upper thigh. (think robocop)

I also made a transmitter for her that allowed her to control up to 1 complex robots. I would need to hunt a robot boss to get a better transmitter.

I also repaired her software to what I could.

Rust was given a body about 190 in height with hidden gun holsters for her shotguns like Nova’s. I gave him a dual socket for transmitter which make scouting better. I also added a rifles and but I left tools that he could use to make traps and such.

The result was that they both got a class. Nova’s was called the Sniper Commander. The class comes with the increased ability to control more robots easier so even with a transmitter that can control 1 complex robot she can actually control 2 with moderate control of both.

Rust gained the class, Scout. It’s may sound simple but the class consists of not only being scout but also act like a hunter class. It increases his scouting abilities by a huge margin and his mapping and scanning skills are in another league. He also gains higher proficiency in marksmanship since hunters are ranged class.

In fantasy game hunters would be archers so its not strange to see this kind of bonus. He also gets a bonus for trap making.

Bulk got a new, body just like his own fully of steel. Same weapons as before.

I refitted both the Hino, the blast turtle and the protector with steel parts as well.

The protector I upgraded most of its body since there was still many rusty parts.

I added a suspension system into the legs which works like springs and allows it to jump nearly 10 meters into the air. The agile body build works well with this and considering Nova’s control over it, she will learn how to properly use it quickly.

Every last one of us had the new engine outfitted to be heated with fire crystals. We had gained a large number of them and we know they have a charge time of around 1 days each. With the number we have we will last a good time before anything happens. And if it does we can take advantage of the Will-o-Wisps.

With all of our business finally done here we pack our things. The dwarves and clockwork are sad to see us leave because of all our contribution but it wasn’t something they would forget or I would let them forget. We part with the who community waving and cheering as we all leave the dwarf town heading into the scrapyard to stock up and fuel before heading south west through the mountain range to who knows where the roads take us.