Chereads / Fractured Stone: The Assembly System / Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: The Assembly System?

Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: The Assembly System?

The inside of the ship was cold and the air smelt musty, Ferrous and Kellan both put on air filters, sometimes corpses could be found in old wrecks and would breed all sorts of virus's, it was best to be safe as medicine wasn't easy to get. Walking inside the ship, the duo both noticed that it wasn't that long of a ship, quite small in terms of ordinary space vessels, around 40-50 meters long. Kellan spoke up "This seems to be the main hallway, I'm gonna go see if I can find the engine bay" Ferrous nodded, who knew? Maybe the ships FTL core would still be intact, Ferrous spoke up "I'll see if I can find the bridge then, right now we seem to be at the crews quarters" A half open door revealed a series of beds and lockers in a medium sized room, Ferrous and Kellan both looked at each other "We'll leave that to last..." Usually, the beds of old wrecks were partially rotten, and the stench would seep through the air filters and into their clothes. Disgusting. Kellan started making his way down towards what he assumed was where the engine bay was while Ferrous headed towards the front off the ship, or so he thought, because as he was walking he realized that he had appeared at the engineering bay instead of Kellan, which mean Kellan is most likely at the bridge right now. Ferrous decided to look around to mark key components for salvaging and he noticed that the FTL core had a nasty crack on it, damn. At least the booster engines seemed partially intact, and numerous other small components looked to be in working order, as Ferrous was writing all this down, he noticed an old terminal in the corner. It was originally locked in a transparent case, but the case's hinges had long since been torn off by something and lay tossed to the side, Ferrous walked up to the terminal and inspected it, noticing that it was an old terminal from 30 years ago. "So this ship crashed either 30-40 years ago" Ferrous brushed the layer of dust on the terminal away and inspected it further "The ships power no longer works, but my backpack should be able to power it" These terminals barely chewed up any power and by using his backpack, it could probably be powered for 6 hours before his backpack ran out of juice. Pulling out the terminals old power cord, he plugged it into his backpack, the connection was green. "Here we go then" Pressing the terminals power button, the terminal came to life with a low hum, its screen lighting up in a blue glow. The terminals loading bar took a minute to reach the end before a desktop appeared "There's nothing on it?" He frowned, what's the point of locking up a terminal if there's nothing on it? Something felt off, Ferrous pulled up his AWCD and plugged it into one of the terminals ports, as soon as he did so the screen flashed and a window appeared on the screen "Encryption?" Ferrous wasn't concerned, ships all had this type of encryption on them, and unless the encryption was made by modern standards Ferrous wouldn't have trouble breaking through it "These old ships are easy, they left a massive window and didn't realize it" Ferrous took 10 minutes for his AWCD to break the encryption and when he finally did, the old window disappeared and a new one took its spot "A storage folder?" The folder had a random assortment of files, mainly system files "Wait, what's this one?" A folder titled (SYS-EF/e-TAS)

was on its own "Is this what they were hiding?" Ferrous opened the folder, and as soon as he did a prompt lit up the screen. (Initiate data transfer?) Ferrous frowned for a moment, this was new, he wasn't expecting this folder to initiate a data transfer over "What is this? A program?" Ferrous accepted the transfer and another prompt appeared on screen (Searching for acceptable storage device - Device Found - Initiating) The program started downloading itself onto his AWCD "Wow, this program is huge!" Ferrous hoped it wasn't some strange virus and that it wouldn't fry his AWCD, the program took up half the space available in his AWCD before it finished the transfer, and as it did a prompt appeared on screen once again (Transfer complete - Purge enabled) The computer then wiped all of its files then turned itself off. Ferrous was surprised, he'd never seen a terminal do that before, what was this program! He checked the file that recently downloaded itself "The Assembly System?" This is the file, yet what is it exactly? Opening it up, a page appeared (Step 1: Make an account) An account, huh? "Is this a game or something? What is this?" The program wanted a username and password, as well as a security question. "What next? Want me to tick a 'I am not a robot' button?" As he thought that it popped up! Ferrous made the account, he used his scavenger account as a guide and completed his account creation. As he finished a screen popped up (Welcome user, to The Assembly System) the text faded and was replaced by a directory filled with tasks, he noticed (Step 1: Make an account) was grayed out with a tick next to it. Looking at the next task, he saw it read (Step 2: Assembler) Ferrous looked at the other tasks but he couldn't read them, nor enter them at the moment "It seems it wants me to follow the list orderly?" as he said that, a text appeared in the top left corner of his screen (Correct).

Ferrous was shocked! It heard him, and it replied! The text appeared once again (Correct) Ferrous was amazed, what sort of program was this! The text answered once again (The Assembly System is designed in order to help you make the tools and parts necessary for the manufacturing of Mechs, Spaceships and Robots) Ferrous was shocked (The Assembly System is also designed to supply a form of learning, though the amount you learn is completely up to you) Ferrous was confused and excited "What do you mean by what I learn is completely up to me?" The system answered (Tasks will be issued in the main directory, the tasks you complete will enable you to open various forms of manufacturing manuals based on the path you decide to go down. There are three paths, Mechs, Spaceships and robots. Progress made down either of these paths enables you to receive various rewards and manuals based on the path you go down) Ferrous thought for a moment "So does that mean that if I complete tasks related to the Robot path, I'll unlock manufacturing manuals related around robots?" (Correct) Ferrous was excite "But how can I make any of these things, I don't have any credits or machines" The system responded (Prior credits is unnecessary, The Assembly System will guide you in the manufacturing of your own machines, such as assemblers, refiners, etc)

Ferrous asked another question "What are these manuals?" (Manufacturing manuals are books which can be read in the storage tab, or directly printed out into a physical book) Ferrous thought "And these books have all the information I need to make my own machines?" (Creation of original designs aren't possible until you have learned up to the -Intermediate level-) Ferrous noticed 5 extending rows, each with different colors and amounts of missions "What levels are there?" (There are five levels, trainee, novice, intermediate, senior and master. You are at the trainee level) Ferrous didn't have any questions for now he decided to check the different paths and decide which one he wanted to go down first "Lets rule out spaceships for now, now way I can make those at the moment" he was stuck between robots and mechs, Ferrous had previous experience with robots and they were smaller and easier to make by far "I'll start going down the robot tree for now, mechs can come later" The system spoke up (Robots and Mechs use the same type of assembler, completing the first mission of the Robot path will also complete the first mission of the Mech path) "Wait, so do certain paths need other paths in order to progress further?" (Correct) Ferrous looked at the rewards for both starting missions for the Mech and Robot paths

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(Rewards)

Assembler Usage Manual

Basic Robot Parts Manual

Basic Robot Anatomy Manual

Basic Mech Anatomy Manual

Basic Mech Parts Manual

Basic Material Refinement Manual

(Task)

Construct your first basic assembler!

"In order to build a Robot or Mech, one

needs an assembler"

Upon task acceptance (1x Basic Assembler Blueprint) will be gifted

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"I'll accept it now, there might be some parts in this ship than I need" Ferrous clicked the accept button.

(Congratulations! You have been gifted (1x Basic Assembler Blueprint))