I double check our equipment, then lead my little troop out into the first chamber. There are three tunnels leading out of the area, including the one I've partly explored. After a moment's consideration, I head down the already familiar path. There are already two more goblins in the room with the fruit tree, but they're both basic ones. I point Emeth and Number 1 towards one of the goblins, then motion Adam towards the other one.

Once they start charging forward I follow behind Adam, intending to keep the fights two on one. This time as well, it seems like the goblins really don't notice us until about ten meters away. And when they do, they conveniently oblige to the split up. Adam's first swing lands as a heavy body shot this time, as the goblin is staggered I lunge from behind Adam to stab at it with my sword. The wound from the sword looks nasty, but it actually did less damage than Adam's strike despite my higher strength. Does the skill make that much of a difference? Or is it that I tried for a stab instead of a slash?

Setting aside the speculation, I pull the sword back and aim a slash at the goblin's neck. Though at this point its recovered enough to get its club in the way. The crude edge of the sword lodges into the club, so I use my greater strength to twist it to the side and leave an opening for Adam to deal a finishing blow. Then I turn to look at the other two. They've already finished off their goblin. In fact, they did it enough faster that its already sinking into the floor, a magic stone sitting between the two automatons.

Hmm. Seems my situational awareness drops if I participate. But I guess since Adam already fought two on one and won with only moderate injury, it should be fine if I hang back to observe. I might feel a little bad leaving all the fighting to them, but taking a command role is probably the best idea. Of course I'll need to be able to give commands. . . How's the research on the Voice Box going? {20 Hours Remaining}

I stand stock still for a moment, then fall to a seated position on the floor. I've already passed by two days?! When did I waste that much time? Was it all the crafting? Damn. I shake my head, then point the others towards the magic stones, then towards the basket on my back. Adam and Emeth, the two closest to the two magic stones quickly grab them and drop them in the basket. Then I notice another drop item. An, ear? No thank you. You can keep that one mister dungeon.

I stand back up and scan through the others. Looks like Adam leveled up this time.

So plus one to all stats is the standard? At least for Automatons. Wonder how big a difference the Club skill going up will make. There are only two paths connected to the fruit tree room, so I lead the way down the other tunnel. The next room is a bit more of a surprise.

The room is as spacious as the room the tower is in, and it has a large stone pillar in the center, and a simple, open walled tent built around the pillar. Currently under the cover of the tent are a trio of different goblins, seemingly talking to each other. Though I can't discern what they might be talking about. The first, is a basic goblin, the second is clearly a prospector again, based on its bulkier appearance and the pick at its side. The last however stands out. It has better gear, a small shield, a chain-mail shirt, and a solid looking reddish hammer, and he has more muscle definition? Scan.

Its four levels higher than any of the other goblins I've seen? And has more, and more advanced skills? Oh, and its stats. A normal goblin at level three had Four, Five, Four, Three. So, I guess the smith starts with one extra strength and goblins gain one point to each stat every two levels? Needless to say, I want a blueprint of that goblin, and his magic stone. I point directly towards the Smith, setting him as the main target for my minions.

As the trio charge forward, I set myself in a sprinting pose, ready to give chase if the Smith flees. Its higher wisdom and the fact that it seems to be the leader of the group makes me think it may be more cautious than the others we've fought so far. My suspicion almost immediately seems justified when the Smith notices Number 1, Adam, and Emeth at a distance of almost twenty meters instead of the ten the others all reacted to. He roars and points the other two at them.

The three goblins actually have time to start running towards the Automatons this time. This goes poorly for the basic goblin as it fails its timing on an attack and runs right into the bulkier and much more solid Emeth with an audible crunch. Emeth follows up with a club blow to make sure the goblin doesn't get back up. Number one and the Prospector lock picks, and start trying to out muscle each other.

During this time Adam runs up to the Smith. The Smith raises his hammer up, which then lights up with a faint red glow before swinging down faster and harder on Adam's head than I'd have guessed it could. With a scan I note that Adam lost twenty HP and gained a fair dent on his forehead, and then I scan around a bit more. The Smith's hammer reads as [Blood-Steel Hammer] and he is missing ten points of VP. So its either related to the hammer, or his Hammer skill.

Adam manages a counter blow an instant after the Smith finishes the motion. Then Emeth rushes in to strike at the Smith's other side. Number 1 and the Prospector are still grappling, but the Prospector seems to be tiring. A game of endurance against a Machine is obviously a poor choice. As the tides seem to be shifting against them the Smith uses the crimson strike again, but this time Adam braces both hands on the Kanabo and blocks. The Kanabo still takes a dent, but at least Adam didn't take further damage. Then Emeth manages a critical blow on the Smith's head.

Both Adam and Emeth switch to clubbing the Smith aggressively while he'd already dazed, so he goes down after a few more blows. Scan. {Generating Blueprint: Automaton-Goblin Smith Type} Number 1 finally shoves the Prospector back and brings its pick up then down hard on his head. It would seem my preparation wasn't wholly necessary.

[Level Up] [Strength+1, Vitality+1, Agility+1, Wisdom+1, skill experience increased] [Spiritual Energy Control (Internal) 1›2] Oh, already? Guess the Smith was much higher level. And one of the spiritual skills huh? I, should play around with that a little to find more uses for SP. I scan the others, finding that Emeth and Number 1 have both reached level 2. Then I approach to collect the loot. Noting the Smith's Magic Stone to be reddish and have a Fire Attribute. The Blood-Steel Hammer was also left behind when his corpse sank into the floor. I go ahead and pick up both myself, then have the others collect the stones from the other two and toss them into the basket.

Then I search through the tent space for anything useful. Most of what I find is food, some kind of animal pelts, or wooden weapons. But there is also a rudimentary forge with enough pieces of Magic Iron next to it to fill the basket nearly to the halfway point. I consider the pelts for a moment, then decide they probably aren't worth the space they'd take in the basket. For now.

I lead the way down another path, this one about a ninety degree turn from the way we came. Further down this path we find an odd sight. A short fence of Magic Iron, surrounding a group of unusual creatures. Spheres about the size of basket balls, translucent enough to see golf ball sized spheres on the inside. Can it be? . . . SLIMES!! I approach the fence and look down at the slimes, my excitement visible despite my expressionless face. Aha! Thats the best. But, I guess they're pretty weak if they're being kept in a corral like this. Still, guess thats one of the potential tropes. My gaze settles on one with a Blue-Green coloration. Scan.

Ahhh. Damn weak. Interesting skills though? Maybe I could use one of their magic stones to make a defensive goblin? I look down at the slime, considering that idea. I think that'll hurt on an emotional level. But stronger minions ahoy. I step over the fence and aim my sword at the very slime I first looked at. I waver, then bring the sword down, splatting the slime's body easily despite its resistance skill. Its quasi-liquid body spreads out, leaving just the core behind. Ah? No stone? DID I KILL IT FOR NO REASON?! 

Some of the other slimes gather round, absorbing the puddling remnants of the first slime. Oh. Oh no. Don't do that. I shake my head and take a half step back. I slap my cheeks lightly to collect myself. Alright, well maybe I can do something with the core? Scan. [Slime Core] {Generating Blueprint: Autotéras-Ferrofluid Slime Type} What? {Attention, multiple research subjects required to create Autotéras-Ferrofluid Slime Type} What?! {Add; Liquid Metal Conversion Process, Machine Core, and Magnetic Field Manipulator to research queue (Y/N)} WHAT?! . . Just do it. {Time for current research topic and queued research topics 44 hours}

Three more topics only adds another day? Guess the voice box was a taller order. I look to the other colors of slimes. So far I can see seven different colors, including the Blue-green ones. After a round of scanning I can see the general idea. [Red Slimes] are probably fire attribute, [Blue Slimes] water, and [Brown Slimes] Earth. The other three I'm not so sure about. [Green Slimes], [Black Slimes], and [White Slimes]. None of the different colored slimes have skills relating to the attributes, or even higher stats, but I'm guessing thats what they are. After a moment's hesitation I kill a Red Slime and scan its core, but it reads the same [Slime Core] as the basic slime did. So I guess I can't get different slime blueprints?

I shake it off and collect the cores from the two I already killed before stepping out of their enclosure. Well that was rough. Should turn out pretty interesting though. The slime enclosure is in a dead end, so I head back to the goblin camp section and select another path. The first room along this path has a larger pond than the one right after the tower room. I can even see fish in the pond. And a goblin with a simple fishing rod next to it? [Goblin Fisher] He has one point higher agility compared to same level base goblins, and the [Fishing 1] skill.

I point Adam towards him and calmly wait while it attacks the Fisher. As he lacked combat skills and proper equipment, and was caught off guard, the fight didn't last long. I scanned the goblin for the blueprint, took the [Magic Stone: Water Attribute F-Rank], and moved on.

In the tunnel between the Pond chamber and whatever lies beyond, I find a section of wall that seems studded with various gemstones. I turn to Number 1 and point him towards it. The first swing of the pickaxe doesn't do any apparent damage to the wall, but a few gems tumble down regardless. Scan shows them all to be rather basic, but they should still be useful. After around ten strikes the wall somehow looses the gem studded look, leaving over twenty gems on the floor, which I quickly collect.

The basket is now about eighty percent full. So I turn around to head back to the tower. We encounter a trio of basic goblins in the fruit tree room, and quickly take them down and collect any interesting loot. Before we re-enter the tower however, we are jumped by another goblin. It managed to get behind and stab Emeth before we noticed it at all. But it didn't last long after it was discovered.

Well, that blueprint won't be anything worthwhile, since it had the same stats as a normal gob and just had better skills. Magic stone is a yes though. [Magic Stone: Dark Attribute F-Rank]

[Level Up] [Strength+1, Vitality+1, Agility+1, Wisdom+1, skill experience increased] [Smithing 1›2]

Once back in the tower I scan around, Adam has reached level three, the other two are still at two though. I set the basket down and separate out the loot to the appropriate areas, then move over to the forge. Alright, now lets build everything we need for a Goblin Smith Type. {Enter rest mode during production (Y/N)} No? Why would I do that?

Almost as if in response, my body abruptly leaves my control and starts going through the, dare I say, terribly tedious action of processing and shaping more components than I could bother to count. . .

.

.

.

Six Hours Later

Okay, next time for sure. . . Haaaah. At least the skill managed all the shaping. Somehow using SP to get the shapes just right? Should try that out myself next time I'm smithing. I retrieve one of the spare hearts I had around, the brain the skill used the gem binder to make, and the Smith's Fire Attribute magic stone and take them to the otherwise mostly assembled body. Alright, go ahead and animate it.

The few remaining parts all but jump into the body, the pain of my soul tearing flashes over me for just a moment. Then the new Smith awakens. Alright, now. I might regret this, but build another body to show the Smith Type how to do it. . . {Enter rest mode during production (Y/N)} Yes. Everything fades to black as my body jolts into action.

Chaos_Sinner777

Aha! Finished a chapter on the once in four years day of February 29th! Also, Autotéras, something I threw together by looking up the etymology of Automaton and searching the greek word for monster. Just, something to indicate that its a mechanized monster, right. Automatons are humanoid after all.