A few hours pass since the miners had started working. The natural mountainside has been shot, bleeding dirt.
Miners can be seen entering and leaving the hole like an ants nest. The baskets on their backs filled with ore. They walk out to the side where the ground is relatively flat and dump it.
The robot is sitting on the floor next to the pile. He grabs a piece of ore and injects it with mana. The impurities fall off as he molds it like clay in his hands. As he pushes it against his ruined hip, it sticks like glue.
He finished repairing his leg but was struck with a realization. His upper body and other parts that were not damaged were covered by some sort of plastic plate. It covered the inner workings of his body but it was not very strong.
He ripped the plastic covers off his body, revealing the strange metal strings that were used as muscles. The leg he repaired didn't have anything like that. It was just a lump of metal shaped to look like a leg, but it worked just fine.
The robot realized that his body could be more effective if he replaced all the old parts. As long as his body was made of metal, he could control it. He began to replace his body, taking extra care to not make any mistakes.
When he got to his chest he found a blue crystal inside. It glowed pleasantly, and didn't seem to be attached.
"This must be the core."
Earlier, he upgraded his core and felt energy surge into his chest. This should be what was upgraded. He felt uneasy with keeping something like that out of his body. He wrapped it in metal and shoved it back inside.
His entire body changed. Before, he felt brittle and light. Now he is literally a walking slab of metal. With every step he takes he can feel the dirt being compressed under his weight.
"Those treacherous humans, try to fight me now!"
He grabbed a chunk of ore in his hand, tightening his grip. Loose dirt shook off, before it snapped into pieces.
"I dare you."
An evil look flashed across his chiseled metal face. If he had this body back then, he wouldn't have had to run away so miserably. He could just stand there and they wouldn't be able to hurt him. How would they? Could their swords cut through iron? Or if they wanted to capture him, how would they? They can't use horses to carry him back, or wagons either. He's far too heavy for them to pull.
He stretched his body, getting used to the feeling. The power behind his movements, and the weight behind each step. He felt unstoppable.
[ Achievement Unlocked- Cosmetic Surgery ]
[ Forsaken Android has taken the first step, and repaired his body. Unlocking the spell- Cosmetic Surgery. ]
Hmm?
The robot selected the achievement, taking him to a menu he had never seen before. It had rows upon rows of achievements listed but they were all blacked out and he couldn't access any information on them. Only one was lit up and it was the one he just unlocked.
He then went to his skills list to check what the effects of the spell was.
[ User can add a simple illusion to metal that makes it appear organic. ]
The robot thought back to when he was choosing abilities during his level up. He doesn't recall ever seeing an ability called Cosmetic Surgery. This means that the achievements have special rewards that he can't get through normal means.
If every achievement gave him skills as rewards then this could be huge! There were at least a few hundred achievements on that list. That means he could get thousands of skills without spending a single level up!
The robot called the first little bird he created over. Now that there is an achievement system, he has even more reason to hurry up. The little bird flew over to him from the woods and chirped. He was in no mood to play with the little thing so he patted it to calm it down as he started to add metal to it.
He molded pound after pound of iron onto the small bird. It started to resemble a proud phoenix. It had luxurious red feathers that burned like fire in the sunlight. A pair of sharp talons curled on it's feet, and it stood up to the robot's waist. It was a large, domineering, and magnificent bird.
If a hunter saw it out in the wilderness, he would risk his life chasing it down. He had used Cosmetic Surgery to make the bird scout look realistic and alive. He was going to need a strong helper in the upcoming battles, so who could be better than the one who has been helping him all along?
"Gather intel on the creatures that live on this mountain, and report back to me."
He then sat down and started to think about what to do next.
"Understood." The majestic bird flapped it's wings and took off leaving the robot dumbfounded.
"Since when... could it talk?"
***
A pair of orcs walked together down a worn path. Each had a large piece of wood they used as clubs in their hands. The male held it over his shoulder as he talked to the female.
"That's what I'm saying! If you let the gobs do all the hunting then you'll get weak! You have to go out every now and then to hunt for yourself."
"Mmhmm. That's great! But there are plenty of others that hunt for themselves and they're still not as strong as you! There's got to be more to it." She moved herself closer to him as she tried to coax the answer out.
His big green face tinted red at her closeness. "I-I don't know. That's really all..."
While she was having fun teasing the big oaf, she saw a flash of bright red at the corner of her eye. She turned to look and only caught the tail of the creature as it flew by too quickly.
"Did you see that!"
The male orc was too embarrassed to look up, so of course he didn't see it. "No. What was it?"
"I don't know, I didn't get a good look at it. But I know for sure that I've never seen anything like it before."
She grabbed his hand and pulled him back the way they came, causing his face to turn a darker shade of red.
He didn't resist but he was still hungry. If they go chasing after a bird it might take forever before they are able to eat.
"What about the hunt?"
"What? You're still wanting to eat?"
The orcs stomach rumbled in response. The girl rolled her eyes. "Fine, I just want to get a better look at it. Then we can go hunting, okay?"
Of course he wouldn't argue with her since she really wanted to see it. He followed behind her as they chased in the direction it went. After running for a few minutes he realized that they were running back in the direction of the village. He slowed down and was about to tell her when he saw something moving.
"Relai watch out!" He screamed at her, but he was too late. A metal arm reached out from behind a tree and slashed across her arm. She fell on her back as she grabbed her wound and cried in pain. He sprinted toward the monster and, with a mighty roar, rammed into the tree it was hiding behind.
He charged right through it and knocked a metal monster into the air. It broke apart form the impact and was forced to lay on the ground slowly crawling toward them.
After making sure it would cause no trouble, he ran over to Relai. She layed and didn't move so he thought she was just in shock. He pulled her into his chest and tried to comfort her.
Her voice shaky and interlaced with sobs she said, "It's poisoned Janja! It poisoned me!"
Janja could feel her shaking in his arms and knew he had no time to lose. He lifted her up in his arms and sprinted for the village. Not forgetting to crush the metal things head with his foot as he ran past. Carrying her while running posed no serious problems except that no matter how fast he ran it never felt fast enough. He felt her shivering getting weaker with every step he took.
"Damn this vile poison! Just what did they use!"
He had never encountered a poison that acted so fast. Even the most poisonous animals in the area took a few hours to kill.
Janja finally saw the village just up the hill. He heaved madly, trying to get oxygen to his lungs.
"Help!" He screamed, but the other orcs were too busy crowding around something.