I slipped out into the night, but I wasn’t sure just what tests I should do. An all black wolf in black armor with shadow magic was practically tailor made to be an assassin, but I really didn’t have any interest in murdering people. I settled on running a test of this body’s basic capabilities and abilities while also trying not to get caught by the Knight Guards.

I was able to jump high enough to land on top of the buildings yet softly enough to not disturb the inhabitants. It was hard to test my running speed without any way to quantify the results. I felt fast, but I didn’t know if that counted enough though. For my magic tests I was able to cast a shadowCloud large enough to envelope a lantern and completely block out any light from escaping. It wasn’t terribly large, but it could still be useful to blind a target during combat. Speaking of combat, the spell I imbued the swords with was shadowBlades, which caused a random number of blades to appear, making it difficult to know which one was my real blade during an attack. I missed the capability of having a cannon attached to my arm for ranged attacks, but that style of fighting was pretty rare among Adventurers.

With basic tests complete and satisfactory, it was time to try to get some combat experience, and the forest would be the best place for that. I was sure there had to be some night predators slinking around that I could tussle with. A quick leap to the top of the wall and I’d be over without having to go through the gate. I got to the top and glanced back to make sure I wasn’t seen and spotted a figure trying hard, and failing, to stick to the shadows. The figure was jumping at everything and looked terrified. As I looked closer I could see that it was Sven! Sven must have run the Freedom.exe program I gave him and was trying to escape his former master. As I watched, I heard dogs barking and a group of men were closing in on Sven. They didn’t look like the Knight Guard but were uniformed, so they were likely the personal soldiers of some noble. Sven ran and they chased, but he didn’t seem to know where he was going and ran into a dead end alley. I wasn’t about to let Sven get caught here after giving him the ability to free himself. Sven was my responsibility at this point, so I positioned myself right at the end of the alley and cast shadowCloud on all the lamps in the area. As soon as the lights went out, the men cried out in confusion. I dropped behind Sven as quietly as I could, grabbed him around the waist, and jumped back up onto the roofs. I dispelled the clouds, and the men and dogs frantically searched the alley for Sven but were baffled as to how he could have vanished.

Up on the roof I had placed a hand over Sven’s mouth area. I knew it couldn’t actually stop him from speaking but I hoped he understood. The poor guy was literally shaking as I pointed down, and he saw the confused soldiers search and then decide that Sven must have gone past them in the dark and raced off again.

“You ran the program and broke free,” I said to him. He nodded.

“Who are you? How do you know about that?”

“I’m called Carnivac, and I work for the one that wrote that program. Did you disable everything? Or just the Shackles?”

“Everything... I saw the warnings but I just had to know... I... I was ten years old when...” Sven began shaking more. I could feel that he wanted to cry, but Automata didn't have tears. I put my arm around him to comfort him until his shaking stopped.

“Sven, you now have two choices. I can release your spirit so that you can properly rest, or you can stay an Automata and fight to free the others.”

Sven lifted his chin to look me in the eyes. “No child should have to go through this. I want to see that Factory torn to the ground before I can rest.”

“That’ll do. Let’s get you back to the shop then before more people wake up and you can tell me your story.”

Sven nodded and I picked him up and raced back to the shop across the rooftops. We slipped in through the back entrance, and I saw Elita waiting for us. At first she was on guard but quickly relaxed.

“Prime? Wow, that came out great, it looks really good. Looks strong too,” she said as she walked around Carnivac, looking him up and down. “Oh, and you can look me in the eye now!”

I rolled my eyes a bit as she pulled one of my swords out to inspect it. “Ahem. Elita, we have a guest.”

Sven, who had been hiding behind me, shyly stepped out and waved to Elita. “Um, you’re a warrior type. Were you also freed by Master’s program?”

I put a hand on his shoulder, “Not Master, just a friend. You are your own master now.”

“I haven’t been freed fully, no. I can’t be shackled any more, but I haven’t been brave enough to unlock my past memories. I’m too afraid of what I might find,” Elita said with a sorrowful tone.

“We’ll get through this, and we’ll help as many Automata as we can along the way,” I said, as I placed my other hand on her shoulder.

“Mister Carnivac, forgive me for asking, but why does a wolfkin want to help us Automata?” Sven asked.

“Ah. Right,” I said, looking down at my body. I held up a finger to suggest they wait a moment and stepped back and entered the hatch command. Carnivac’s belt split and opened to the sides, then his chest and abdomen split front to back and the shell opened up, hinging at the shoulders. I climbed out of the shell and stood in front of Carnivac as he closed back up again. Sven had fallen to the ground in shock, so I held out a hand to him.

“The... the master...” Sven mumbled.

“I’m Prime. Welcome to my shop, Sven. Now, let’s hear what you have to say.”