Chapter 5.10 - The New Models

Serin had yet to visit the Foundry or Biome regions. So after his visit to Shurik he went for a walk. There were the hustle and bustle of autocarts, as well as smaller lighter carts that carried a worker or two pulled by the quadruped Homunculus. He had heard that the foundry region was starting to function but when he arrived it made him smile. It seems the bones of the foundry were established, and mana was being produced through the kinetic energy provided by flowing water. Most of the rotating devices were turned off because at the moment there was only a small fraction of the production potential being used within the foundry. That production was quite the facility.

As Serin walked in, he saw, other than personnel loading and unloading equipment, there wasn't a large staff. Serin then spotted Jorvik. As Serin approached, Jorvik smiled and not wasting time with formalities, began explaining away..

"Hello Serin! As you can see, the facility is well on its way towards its objective of being a production facility. But more importantly, my prototype lab is fully operational"

Serin followed Jorvik into a second building. This one filled with various bins, tables, and piles of scrapped designs. Serin then saw them. Two completed designs. Jorvik went over to explain. He motioned to one that looked like a cylinder, but as he approached the sides split open to reveal a dozen long bent legs ending in small hooks.

"The first is the sentinel model. Besides the pod and homunculus being built together, this one is designed to simply wait in a spot and observe. Should an untagged person come within 50 meters of its visual range, it activates, and detains them."

Serin then had a small gate open up and a domesticated hog came in. the homunculus, sensing the untagged lifeform, sprang up and clamped around it, letting out a loud siren.

Serin could tell this design was inspired by the attack. "How many would it take to cover the capital?"

Jorvik smiled, "I would suggest Lord Koni builds these into the design and architecture of all future buildings, but for now a few hundred will do. The production floor, having completed the outer perimeter of all three regions, is working these models."

Serin looked confused, "There is no way we have the amount of metal from expeditions to cover that many additional homunculus."

Jorvik laughed it off, "That's not a problem. After the attack people donated thousands of kilograms of metal for the sentinel project. I can run my factory constant for a year and not dent the stockpiles."

Serin smiled at the thought of his people coming together.

Serin then looked at the other homunculus. This one looked like a backpack that was meant to be carried. If a backpack had mechanical tentacles ending in claws.

"How much does this weigh, and why would i carry it?"

Jorvik laughed, "Well this model is built more for the Mechanist Gole. You see Serin, we are able to use our own connection to mechanical constructs to control the arms as if they were an extension of our bodies. The other facilities think their lifter frames were amazing, this is where the future is."

Jorvik put the backpack on and then mechanics seemed to meld into his body. Then Serin watched as the mechanical tentacles moved with the fluidity of human limbs, except extremely accurate.

Serin then looked at Jorvik, "this is amazing Jorvik! Is this something that all of us could use?"

Jorvik blushed, "sadly no. our race's connection to constructs is part of who we are, however." Jorvik then took off the backpack and showed Serin a small glove. On it there were a set of knobs. "I have used my knowledge to dynamically program a few base instruction sets into this glove and bracer. For now, you can set the arms to offense, which attacks anything untagged in melee range, defense, which attempts to stop melee attacks, climbing, which assists with climbing by digging into surfaces nearby, and manual, which makes the top left arm mimic the movement of your arm, but a meter in front."

Serin was awestruck. He then saw the semi complete shell of adamantine plates on a mithril skeleton. Serin motioned to it. Jorvik sort of blushed, "Well the Guardian Gole can make a suit of stone around themselves and protect themselves from the outside world, i thought it might be worth it to create a metal suit. Plus we are all members of the protectorate, however one heavy rain and we are out of the battle. So i am designing a suit to make up for it. Also we are incredibly frail so this should increase our survivability."

Serin smiled, "I have created a mask that is being produced for the protectorate. I cannot wait to see what you do with yours. Inform Shurik your model is to be front loaded for your design.

***

Serin had seen enough and was on his way back to the capital. While walking around he saw new shops selling goods he hadn't thought of. One was selling tinted glass for the Dhamphir, and another was selling enchanted clothing for the Gole. It seemed that where the was a need, there was industry.

Serin messaged Shurik and made sure he was aware that Jorvik would get the first helmet for his prototype. After a pause that Serin assumed was a huff from Shurik he received 'understood' back.

Serin thought back. It had been years since he left his burb, and still it seemed he was stumbling from one problem to the next. Now however, the problems were just larger and more complex. 'Is this life?' he pondered. He brushed that aside. Instead, he went home to find Olma and Nok. he was playing happily in the gardens and already starting to roughhouse with Luna the caretaker.

Soon he will leave for the academy. Serin thought about it. Olma had explained that changeling children speed through the earliest years of biological development. "Grandmother told me it was so we wouldn't be eaten by predators when we were still living in the wild." was how Olma put it.

So Serin spent the rest of the day with Olma and Nok. He wanted to treasure these moments. So the three of them sat in the training room. Serin was still worried about his son growing up in a world so dangerous. So he looked at Nok, "I want you to learn everything from everyone you meet. That is the only way to truly succeed in life."

Nok smiled and understood, then went off to play. Olma curled on Serin's arm. She could feel his worry, and knew that her touch comforted him.

***