SlaughterBot

276: Emerging

Nicolai turned away from the collapsing shrine. With his internal system complete at last, it was time to leave the cave—which was no longer a cave.

The clean, well-lit, secure, secretive b...

275: Completion

It took five days. Nicolai would’ve been done sooner, but the damage from the Tribulation delayed him.

But, inevitably, he’d gotten it done.

Within him there were now a total of thi...

274: The Aura Mind

Both Nicolai and Cyberwarfare were increasingly interested in Intent. One of the Memory Discs went into detail on it, and as he’d read through, he’d realised that mastering it could be very, ve...

273: Trolley Problem

Over the next days, Nicolai continued to build his Node system and A3 continued to sponge up everything it was taught. It worked with one of the other construction bots, who it named “Quiet Broth...

272: Teachers

That first morning after A3’s creation, Nicolai rose from his bed—the same mat he used to sit on in the cultivation cubby—and regarded the bot, but saw it was still “sleeping.” He got on ...

271: The Leader

Kleos and Maric were swiftly led through the town, to the larger building Kleos had noticed upon first arrival. He didn’t recognise the assault-rifle bearing guards either side of the entrance, b...

270: Toymakers

The new Cultivation cubby was a room rather than a cramped cubby. Concrete walls, ceiling, and floor, all lined with detailed ritual scrawlings by the construction bots. He’d also gone a step fur...

Touching Base

I'm putting this up just before the chapter will go up, so the chapter will show first. Read the chapter then come back to this if you're seeing this first!

So, PipiPupu commented on yesterda...

269: A3

A3 has spoken its first word… murmured Threat Analysis, awed, as Nicolai and the others gazed down at the bot.

I am so proud, said Cyberwarfare, generating an image of a k...

268: Nicolai's Monster

After surviving the Tribulation, he alternated his time for the rest of the day. At first, between the Assembler and the bot. Repairing one, feeding the other. He found the simplest method of feedi...

267: Tribulation!

He lunged forward and grabbed at the piece he’d thrown, which was skittering along the ceiling back towards him and the Assembler. It tried to dodge but he slowed at the last moment, seized it fr...

266: Repair Work

Nicolai was forced to cut short his lengthy Rotation-Orb-making-and Tournament-perusal-session early, before seeing the ultimate victor of Tournament Two, when one of the construction bots became d...

265: Post-Tournament Review

[Retcon alert!

Back when I first introduced the Tournaments, there was a bit where it mentioned that any items/resources used would be restored after each round, and people would kind of be r...

264: A Highly Accurate Retelling

‘So, what of here?’ asked Maric. ‘We do not know what happened above, with all of you.’

‘Weeell…’ began Beth. ‘Let’s see. Uh. At the end it was all big fights between Coalit...

263: Experiment

Nicolai’s waking experience was consumed by the creation of Orbs and Nodes. He slept when he was tired, and never for very long. As the process continued it gained momentum, and he increasingly o...

262: Main Girl

[Author Note: trying something new for these next bunch of chapters. In the past 2 weeks, I did the alternating viewpoints where there are 2 Nicolai chapters, then 1 alternate pov chapter, but just...

261: Trade Link Tower

Jo came down to walk alongside them, while the rest of the humans remained spread out, peering warily over the ruins around them.

‘How the hell did you two end up like this?’ she asked im...

260: Node Builder

Now that everything immediate was out of the way, Nicolai began the process he knew would consume him for the next few days.

Leaving from his Heart Node, the Yin-Yang Rotation Symbiote swam u...

259: Therapising

The components of the Spectral Claw were broken-in, but Nicolai had encountered a problem.

The full set of Symbiotes included the full Fingers set, which went into all the subsidiary Nodes in...

258: Resurrection

‘Gahhh,’ huffed Kleos, sucking in the delicious air, staring up. Then he let out a yelp of confusion and pain as bright sunlight dug into his eyes, made them tear and blink. He held them closed...

257: Utterly Sane

Nicolai stepped out of the portal into his base in a state of alert, holding his assault rifle ready as he scanned the dimly lit cave room, Soul Sense spreading to peer around the Assembler.

...

256: Mutual Gains

[Author note: I'm away for a week, gone on holiday to Croatia. So, don't expect to hear much from me, though I will be around a bit ;o just thought I should let you guys know! Hope you enjoy this w...

255: "Partner"

He wore a dark blue robe, one that was of Earth make, of course, but it had a Cultivator-ish look to it. Underneath that robe was a tight fitting body-suit, one which covered his entire body except...

254: Bartering

‘And what would these recordings comprise of, precisely?’ asked Nicolai smoothly.

‘I have the vast majority of fights from all Tiers.’ Starz tapped a finger to his nose and winked sav...

253 (251): The Champion Meets His Fans

[Author note: once again I split some chapters when posting to RR, mostly around the Questions area as some of those ended up very long. You guys got the extra-long ones but for RR I chopped them t...

250: Jobs

A total of five Simple Hits have been taken out on you via the Scoundrels Guild, for a combined payout of 572,832 points.

Nicolai looked up at the others, and saw Shark grinni...

249: Slayers Guild

As one of the top-ten finalists in the Tournament, Nicolai had also received the other item he was after.

Entrant’s Token (Tournament)

This Token was given to one ...