And what he saw, as the door opened, was a strangely empty room.
The Prothean complex under the city of Kork looked like it hadn’t been furnished other than some bronze colored carvings on the walls. As David went deeper into the room, going down a slope, the ground simply went down.
Did Protheans use wheelchairs? Why not make a staircase?
There were two other hallways on both his left and right. And in front of him was another door. And finally, he saw traces, other than the previous dead body, of the gnome’s expedition team.
A camp, chairs, a small portable furnace, and cooking pots. Iron mugs spilling their contents all over the floor. A dead Ambusher on the floor, its body punctured by holes which still glowed from the heat of the melted metal inside.
Two dead bodies, blood splattering the tents, and from the wound on them, it was no doubt an Ambusher. David went to the gnomes; this time, their hairs weren’t covered in blood, and he was able to see that their hair seemed especially bright.
Literally glowing, dimly though. Despite the blade-shaped hole in their stomach, their hands held on to what seemed to be small pistols, but instead of a normal cylinder from which a bullet would come, it had a broken glass container with Tesla coils inside. The end of the gun wasn’t a circular opening but two antennae. That was a Tesla Gun.
[Broken Tesla Gun] : [A typical and well-known weapon of the Gnome Mechanist arsenal, this one is broken and completely useless.]
“They must have taken down the Ambusher. But there’s…8 chairs. Three dead gnomes, 5 remains to be found.”
He saw nothing of value in the camp and moved around the laboratory, remembering Syllena’s warning words to be careful of the details as they would be important for his Class Quest.
He touched the copper colored walls around him. Delicately, as if trying to better guess what those drawings could represent. Watching them, showing immense cities, technologically well beyond the gnomes or even Earth’s.
The fauna and flora shown in this engraving seemed aquatic. He wasn’t even realizing that his bionic eye didn’t just observe the engraving, it was bringing it to life. The materials his body was made of seemed to be able to resonate with the engraving.
He saw it all. He saw Prothea. Prothea, a planet made of 99% water, had developed life. If a human were put in the middle, he would find many creatures similar yet different from Earth’s own underwater life. With quite a few species shaped like mosasaurus, sharks, etc.
All had clear differences between Earth’s version and Prothea’s, but they were definitely similar in many ways. His eye was particularly attracted by Great whale-like beings which had a thick ice carapace protecting them from the assaults of equally huge armored squid able to manipulate electricity.
While those two leviathans fought together, many more kinds of fish, crustaceans, and anemones lived their life, amongst them the Protheans.
As Prothea’s dominant species, they looked like transparent, floating jellyfish people. They were humanoid but faceless and with no distinguishing features other than their voice and slightly different color.
On top of their head, a big jellyfish cap could be seen with eight thick tendrils going down to their waist. He noticed no children-sized Protheans seemed to be shown on the engravings.
They lived in underwater cities, close to volcanic areas where metals could be found in high quantities.
Those engravings seemed to take the whole wall; five forearm-sized black lines made from what looked like black crystal went down from the wall without touching the engraving itself.
Starting just below the engraving and all fused into one single, much thicker line, which ended just one or two feet in front of the wall with a small pillar made from the same material. A sphere of polished silver-like material was floating above the pillar. David seemed completely unaware that he was controlling the sphere by instinct.
“How pretty...I was wrong, this place isn’t a lab at all. And if those jellyfish-people were Protheans, then it makes sense why there are no stairs. They most likely just floated around. But if they lived underwater, why is there none of it here?”
David’s curiosity was awakened, and not just that, he knew these kinds of old, powerful races tended to carry huge secrets in all the media representing them. Discovering more would allow David to complete a part of his quest, to fulfill his promise to Jacob.
He moved toward the left hallway. His steps echo through the complex, steel against the black crystal floor. Going through the door and stopping, staring at the dead gnome in front of him, lying against a wall.
This one had been cut in two from the waist instead of the usual stab from an Ambusher. Looking around, he saw the familiar side doors he had seen in the first hallway. Six doors. Five Ambushers. One of the doors was still open.
Likely waiting for its now dead occupants, which was killed in the gnome’s main camp, to come back. At least that’s what David thought made the most sense. Until now, every door that contained an Ambusher was closed, but this one stayed open.
There were no reasons to believe this hallway was different from the last. But just in case, David would target the hallway’s ceiling and use [Vortex Pull] just to be sure that it wasn’t a trap.
After all, maybe one of the Ambushers was hiding in the main hallway, which was why its door was still open. Nothing happened. No Ambushers in the hallway.
David stared at the five remaining doors. He could almost hear the exp rolling in like in a casino. As for fighting in a close quarter? No way. David had chosen Technomage for a reason; he had no skills or experience fighting with any sword.
Even that bronze pipe that had previously used was mostly to entertain himself while killing far weaker robots than him, not fight constructs that could kill him in one strike and were both faster and stronger than him. He didn’t even have a real close-range weapon.
[Prothean Ambusher was killed by [Gauss Nano-Ray], received 100EXP]
[Prothean Ambusher was killed by [Gauss Nano-Ray], received 100EXP]
[Prothean Ambusher was killed by [Gauss Nano-Ray], received 100EXP]
[Prothean Ambusher was killed by [Gauss Nano-Ray], received 100EXP]
[Prothean Ambusher was killed by [Gauss Nano-Ray], received 100EXP]
[Prothean Ambusher was killed by [Gauss Nano-Ray], received 100EXP]
[LEVEL UP!]
“Syllena, from now on, when I kill many of the same enemies, fuse the log into one single entry. And for my level-up window, display only the upgraded stats unless some big changes happen or I specify I wish to see all of it.”
[Understood, here you go.]
[6 Prothean Ambushers were killed by [Gauss Nano-Ray], received 600EXP]
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“Perfect. So from what you said before, perception is most likely the only stat that I level at a reasonable pace for my level.”
[Correct. Aren’t you glad we’re with you?]
“Yes, yes, you’re indeed one amazing system, Syllena.”
[We are useful, are we not?]
“Yes, very much so.”
David could almost feel the happiness and pride radiating from Syllena. With his new 99 damage by [Gauss Nano-Ray], he should be able to two-shot an Ambusher if he targeted their weak points, which he had become quite good at targeting now, despite his low perception.
He was glad to not have to fight the Ambushers in close range, as despite his great dexterity, his perception didn’t keep up. When they moved frantically, he had trouble properly following the Ambusher's tail with his eye.
He would be really fucked without his [Vortex Pull]. Only nine more levels before he could kill them in one ray, according to his math.
“Damn..they have nothing in their Loot window. Not even any form of money.”
[It’s understandable, I doubt Protheans would give pocket change to robotic security.]
“True.”
As the door opened before him, his bionic eye focused on the sight before him. Another dead gnome. Lying on the floor, behind him was another engraved mural, but the black pedestal lacked the floating orb found on the one at the entrance.
But that wasn’t the surprising part. No, this time…the gnome was lying against what looked like...an altar? It did look a lot like what David would interpret as a sci-fi altar. A floating silver block with a dozen floating pebbles.
The bronze plate showed nothing. Empty of any engraving.
“Maybe the engraving is present only because of the silver sphere that manipulates the bronze.”
Before he entered, David used a [Vortex Pull] just to be sure. Annoying to do every time, but he had no wish to take 120 damage from a sneak attack.
Nothing was in the room. He entered and approached the body. It belonged to a man. Still not the Arch-Machinist’s daughter. To his right was a door, half open. As he looked inside, he saw a strange Prothean bot.
It didn’t look like an Ambusher. It was made from the same metal as the previous construct, but it was completely sleek. As if the Protheans had just dipped someone in burning hot silver, shaved any excess that didn’t fit the body inside.
It was a humanoid-shaped, faceless, silver statue, standing there, menacingly, in the middle of the room. It was still shiny, too. It looked taller than a gnome, around the size of a regular human being. Completely androgynous in its design.
[Analyse]
“Well…that’s too strong. I’m not fighting that without [Data Break]...Syllena, you confirm that even if I leave once I kill the mini-boss with a [Data Break], I can just exit the dungeon and come back to make it respawn?”
[Yes, we are sure of it.]
“Thanks, and I know robots are supposed to have some very high stats in exchange for not being able to progress at all, but aren’t those stats a bit ridiculous for a level 20? I know it’s a boss but still.”
[We are asking for more information on the mainframe.]
[...]
[...]
[Answer received: Prothean Technology predates the System itself; its level is not representative of their actual strength. The System will come with a solution in a new update related to how to rank prothean construct’s power level.]
“Alright. Now let’s just use [Data Break].”
[Data Break]
The Levitar unit instantly started to spam before melting into a pool of liquid silver. Which might actually be the material it was made from.
[Unit-Levitar01 was killed by [Data Break], received 1500EXP]
[LEVEL UP!]
He approached the pool of liquid in front of him. While he knew his [Data Break] would destroy any loot the World System was supposed to give, it still allowed him to gather robotic parts.
[Unit-Levitar01’s Robotic Body Parts are compatible with [Advanced Self-Modification]
“If that’s the mini-boss, the dungeon boss must be of the Epic variety. If I can do this dungeon again and again, and obtain an Epic body. I’d have a fighting chance against the augmented Ravager. Let’s start what Jacob called…farming!”
[But we see no potatoes around!]
“Was that a joke, Syllena?”
[;3]
Two hours passed after Syllena attempted a joke, two hours of Unit-Levitar01 being brought back to life repeatedly by the World System and killed without stopping, David quickly discovered the Prothean construct seemed to ignore him if he didn’t attack them.
Making him start to think that, since he was a robot too, he wasn’t recognised as a threat. David ended up killing the Levitar eight times before gathering all its components successfully, and then kept going for quite a while until he reached level 10.
[Unit-Levitar01 was killed by [Data Break], received 1500EXP]
[Unit-Levitar01 was killed by [Data Break], received 1500EXP]
[Unit-Levitar01 was killed by [Data Break], received 1500EXP]
….
“Finally got them all! Let’s equip them first…alright, Syllena, about the status fully.”
I hope everyone is enjoying this chapter. If you spot any mistake do not hesitate to tell me in the comments. My main language isn't english so I'm more than eager to increase my level and better myself. Same for the System's current "appearance" do not hesitate if you dislike it and want something more simple and maybe easier to read!
Have a great day!