Chapter 42 - Automatons and Runes

"I wonder what type of ability would be generated from my blood?" Arnold mumbled. He was intrigued, after all he had so many abilities, if the was able to generate an active ability from his blood then he could use it on one of his summons which would help to get some load of him during his battles.

He took a small knife and grazed his forefinger, soon blood came rushing out of the 'cut'. Arnold took the and used the his blood on it. The moment the blood touched the surface of the rune, the red engravings on it started glowing. The colour of the engraving changed from red to blue, indicating that the process was successful. Arnold once again used his [PROBE] skill on the stone.

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OBJECT : (Activated)

TYPE : Blood crystal

GRADE : A

REMARK : An extremely rare crystal which can be used to generate an ability from blood monsters, humans and any other sentient beings. The rune contains [PLASMA SHIELD] ability.

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"Not too shabby. The hounds could definitely use this as they lack in defense. I should probably give it to Cerberus." He summoned out the aggressive two headed lava hound. When the hound looked at his surroundings, he got confused, why did his master summoned him if there were no enemies to fight?

Arnold generally summoned the hounds only when he was in full in battle mode, but right now he was casually sitting on a chair and looking at Cerberus.

He then signalled the hound to come forward and the hound obeyed and sat near his chair. Arnold then picked up the activated and tossed it at Cerberus but nothing happened.

"You gonna tell me how this sh*t works?"

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You need to place the near the creatures chest. Once you do that, the creature would be able to absorb it. But if you're using the on an automaton, you'll have to construct a cavity to insert the in it. You can retrieve this rune stone anytime but if you do that, the particular automaton wouldn't be able to use that ability again. In case when the automaton is destroyed you can retrieve the rune stone from its body.

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Arnold sighed softly. "Next time, try to give me such information sooner, could you?"

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REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED.

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He rolled his eyes and picked up the rune stone from the ground. He did what the system had told him to and placed it near Cerberus' chest. Suddenly sparks flew out of the rune stone, an intense light covered the entire room. When the light faded away, the stone in his hands disintegrated into dust. He looked at Cerberus, his chest now had a weird blue now engraving on it. At this moment a notification appeared on the interface.

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Implantation successful!

Your summon Cerberus, type : , can now use the [PLASMA SHIELD] ability.

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"Nice! I should craft a few mor-"

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[AUTOMATON ASSEMBLY KIT] has been crafted successfully.

The item has been stored in your inventory.

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"Or I could build the automaton first." Arnold smiled and opened his inventory to take out a large bronze box, putting it down on the floor, "Damn it is heavy. Phew..."

He opened the box containing various mechanical parts and tools. He took them out one after another and laid them across the room. A file was also inside the box which had the information about the different parts of the [AUTOMATON].

"Okay, so this is the voice command module, the document says it's been pre-programmed with basic functions," He said as he picked up a rectangular shaped chip, "and this is the power source, it's quite small, I wonder how long will it last... let's look at the document...

"1 MONTH! You serious? I could make a fortune by selling these, that is if I'm able to figure out how it works. Well, that would be the last of the equipments, the rest are the mechanical parts like it's head, hands, etc. Better get the instructions and start building the automaton."

Arnold flipped through the pages of the file but it didn't had any instruction whatsoever.

"What the hell is this, SYSTEM? Why is there no instructions on building the automaton?" Arnold panicked.

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The system can only guide you with the connections of internal modules. You'll have build the physical frame of the [AUTOMATON] yourself.

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Arnold was speechless and rubbed his temples, and thought, This is just the first time. It's normal to meet a obstacle. It's normal… it's normal… LIKE HELL IT'S NORMAL!

He was frustrated but there was nothing he could do about it, he took a deep breath and calmed down. "It's just like an advanced puzzle... and I have no clue how to solve it... but I will solve it"

*****

6 HOURS LATER...

CRACKLE

CRACKLE

CRACKLE

Arnold took off his welding helmet, his hair was damp from his sweat. He held his knees and panted. "This thing is way too tiring. I'm exhausted… I'll complete the physical design tomorrow."

He felt like a certain genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, apart from the fact that he wasn't a genius, or a billionaire, or a playboy, or a philanthropist. In fact he had terrible luck with women.

He shook his head and looked at the fruit of his labour. A headless black armoured automaton was standing near his study table. The physical design of his first automaton was nearly completed, he still had to upload the voice command module as well as the artificial intelligence chip inside the 'brain' of the automaton but this work was too tiring and after continuously working for six hours he was exhausted.

"It'd be better if I made another and get an ability for the automaton." He stroked his chin, "The thing is I want them to have a variety of abilities, not just the ones I have. Maybe I could ask someone from the family for help?

"Let's see... who would be willing to spare 2-3 drops of blood... Nathan maybe? No, hell ask too many questions about the process and the runes and what not and I'm definitely not gonna ask Johnny, it's too soon for me to join my parents in the afterlife."

As if his parents were helping him from the afterlife, someone knocked on his door.

"Arnold, you in there?" Nina's voice came through the door.

"I'll have to lie... but maybe I can convince her..." Arnold said with an evil smile on his face.