Gray's hideout

I couldn't help but smile as I watched the little spider-like machine I'd created by modifying a sentry gun clumsily walking around the hideout, tilting left and right, almost falling with every step.

My smile turned into a chuckle when I saw Lil Soot slowly creep toward it and lunge at the moving sentry gun's side, causing it to collapse on the ground. 

"Quite the little hunter, aren't you?" I said with a laugh as I kneeled next to and pet the little kitten, proudly posing over its fallen prey with an aura of smugness.

"But you gotta stop bullying the little guy. You don't wanna cause a robot rebellion, and the eventual AI apocalypse, do you?" I remarked as I picked up the clumsy murder machine and put on its legs. "What am I saying, you're a cat, of course, you do."

The little kitten heard my words and just meowed before zooming away into the living area to do god knows what, and I could do nothing but shake my head in exasperation.

'Now... back to work...' I mused as I picked the sentry gun and moved to the target practice area. I set up seven targets, two of which were moving, put the sentry gun on the ground, and stepped back.

I activated the sentry gun's attack mod, and it stiffened for a second before it started clumsily moving, its face opening to reveal the gun barrel next to the red camera lens.

It opened fire, and the recoil caused its movement to become even more disoriented, but every shot still hit with maximum accuracy with little to no margin of error.

'Not bad... the automatic targeting system is impeccable, but the movement leaves a lot to be desired...' I rubbed my chin in thought as I watched the sentry gun demolish the targets.

'I'll have to work on the movement programming and adjust the mechanic limbs, and I'll have something I can use...' I nodded after some thought, intent on working on it later.

I've been working on this little guy since I talked with my teacher some days ago. Even though my Mechanics skills wasn't high enough to create a full-blown attack robot, something like this was still possible.

It looked like the average sentry guns I'd created earlier, but the body was thinner, and the gun would come out of the front instead of the upper part. It also had four long mechanical limbs to help it move.

In other words, it looked like a spider, hence the name; Spider Sentry.

'I should have gotten enough levels to max out Artist by now...' I mused as I brought up my system interface to see the accumulated notifications I'd been ignoring as usual.

[+1 level to the Brawling skill]

[Brawling (level 47)]

[+1 level the Crime skill]

[Crime (level 41)]

[+3 levels to the Computers skill]

[Computers (level 40)]

[1+ level to the Guns skill]

[Guns level 25]

[Due to reaching a milestone in your Guns skill, you have unlocked the perk: Ricochet Intuition]

[Ricochet Intuition: the ability to imbue your bullets with the capacity to bounce off structures and understand the properties of projectiles recoiling off of any surface and how to create ricochets]

[+11 levels to the Mechanics skill]

[Mechanics (level 37)]

[+2 levels to the Art skill]

[Art (level 3)]

[+6 levels to the Artist class]

[Artist (level MAX)]

[+18 stat points]

[Stat points: 19]

[+2 class levels and six stat points accumulated]

[You have reached the maximum level for your current class. Would you like to choose the next one now?]

'Still not there... guess I gotta take one more general class...' I sighed, scratching my head at how quickly I was maxing out the classes, leaving me unable to increase my archetype skills as much as I wanted.

I basically focused only on the Mechanic skill, but the others still leveled up somehow, and I ended up maxing the Artist class. 'Oh, well...' I shrugged as I took the Scholar class after some thought.

[You have gained a new class: Scholar]

[You have gained the skill: Knowledge]

[Knowledge: this skill covers all non-scientific disciplines like history, sociology, psychology, and the like. Knowledge can be helpful in identifying the background of supernatural creatures, helping with occult research, and allowing you to say cool stuff like this gauntlet is Late Medieval, probably from Florence; the markings are unmistakable. Chicks really dig that shit, you know?]

[+2 levels to the Scholar class]

[Scholar (level 3)]

[+6 stat points]

[Stat points: 25]

...

'Everything seems in check...' I nodded as I browsed through my character screen, finding everything in order.

...

Name: Grayson Whitlock

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Archetype: (The Mad Scientist level 4)

Class: [Thief (level MAX)] [Fighter (level MAX)] [Acrobat (Level MAX)] [Programmer (Level MAX) [Gunman (level MAX)] [Mechanic (level MAX)] [Duelist (level MAX)] [Artist (level MAX)] [Scholar (level 3)]

...

Stats:

Body: 140

Mind: 140

Spirit: 140

Stat Points: 25

...

'Back to work...' I picked up the spider gun and took it to my workbench to start working on upgrading its mechanical limbs before working out the kinks in its programming. 

'I wonder how Patrick and the other guys in the warehouse are doing now...' I mused as I dismantled the spider guns limbs, stopping for a second before resuming my work.

'It's been a while... I should check in on them...?' I sighed as I dropped what I was doing and stepped away from the workbench. I was evidently in no mood to work, so I might as well go out and visit the warehouse.

I walked towards the exit and saw Soot lounging around and doing nothing, so I picked him up and put him in my jacket, intent on taking him with me, because why not?

"How about you and I go for a ride?" I asked with a smile as the little kitten climbed up to stick his head over the zipper and get a good view of where we were going.

He meowed, and I took that as approval, nodding my head and leaving the hideout.

...

East End

"Looks like you're having fun..." I remarked, smiling as I looked down at the fluffy head poking out of my jacket, fearlessly looking around despite the motorcycle's rapidly increasing speed.

I turned a corner, increasing the speed and making a deliberately sharp turn to see Soot's reaction, but he still had the same blank look on his face as he curiously inspected the surroundings.

"You win..." I said with a chuckle, shaking my head as I brought the motorcycle to a screeching stop in front of the warehouse and quickly dismounted.

I looked around but saw no one, prompting me to start honking the horn to get the homeless guy's attention, and sure enough, Patrick quickly came out from inside.

He smiled and waved his hand as he saw me, making his way towards the warehouse's fence gate.

"Oh! It's not like you to stay; you usually drop the food and take off before we even know you're there," Patrick said as he approached me and took the sandwich bag from my hand.

"I just don't want to impose. But It's been a while, and I thought I'd check in on you guys, see if you need anything," I replied with a shrug as I watched him take the bag from my hand.

"We're doing well enough. There's this little girl who'd been helping us for a while," Patrick replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow at his words, to which he chuckled.

"She's pretty much like you... we found her pretty banged up and tended to her wounds," Patrick said, sighing as he shook his head. "The poor thing looked even worse than you when you passed by back then," he added, waving a hand to the side.

"And now she won't go away, just like you, even though we told her not to worry about us old hobos," Patrick jokingly concluded, shaking his head with a shrug.

"I'm sure she has her reasons," I said with a smile, shaking my head as Soot began meowing, getting Patrick's attention. "This is Lil Soot, by the way. I found him in the street some time ago," I added as I scratched the little kitten's head, causing it to purr and push its head against my finger.

"Charming little fellow," Patrick said as he reached a finger towards Soot, only to withdraw it as the little kitten slapped it away, causing him to smile warily.

"Anyway, we might not stay in this warehouse for long," Patrick said after trying and failing to pet Soot a couple more times as the little kitten never stopped slapping his hand away, seeming very offended.

"I hear the warehouse owner came back to the city and will be selling it off, so we'll likely have to move out sooner or later," he added with a sigh, shaking his head.

"I just hope it happens sooner rather than later since that little girl seems to be trying to do something about it..." Patrick remarked, his tone concerned as he turned around and started walking away.

"I don't want that sweet girl doing anything crazy for our sake..."