Big Metal Dragon MK I

"Got any three's," Aurelia asks.

"Nah, go fish."

"Quit lying, I know you have a three."

"Stop cheating," I say.

"Says the one lying through her teeth, and I haven't looked at your hand, only your words, so I'm not really cheating."

Interrupting our game, one of Aurelia's subordinates rushes into our tent.

"Excuse my intrusion, but I bring an urgent report!"

"Speak," Aurelia says, putting down her cards.

"Scout's have found the army if the Archidux marching this way. The estimated time of arrival is within four to five hours."

"I see, thank you for the report. Join the Legates and prepare for the coming battle," Aurelia says, dismissing the soldier. As he leaves Aurelia turns to us, "Seems our game will have to be put on hold. I'll leave a doppelganger her while I go call for Lord Gaoh."

Splitting off from Aurelia is golden light, soon solidifying in her form.

"I'll be off now and if I don't return before they arrive, then at least my doppelganger is here to provide assistance. She isn't able to fight anyone strong, but she can handle some regular soldiers. I'll try to be back as soon as possible," Aurelia says as she runs out of the tent.

Leaving the tent ourselves, Lia, Vorenia, and I go to assist with the final war preparations. Lia and Vorenia go to help with the organisation of the army and final logistics check. Meanwhile, I finally get around to doing what everyone has been yelling at me to do for the past few days. I raise ramparts made of an alloy of titanium and mithril, allowing for high durability and granting it the ability to absorb a certain amount of magic attacks.

Having finished my initial job with ease, I find myself with nothing to do and quickly occupy myself with something fun. Using the same alloy I used for the ramparts to crafted a giant leg. Following that, I made the next leg and a pair of arms. Each limb was made to be heavily armoured with a different weapon for each arm. The feet are mostly symmetrical as each has a spiked foot and heavily armoured shins, with a system of rods on the backside to stabilise the legs. The right forearm has a large blade extending over it while the left arm is essentially a giant shield.

With the limbs assembled, I begin to craft the body. I put extra care into this part so as to make sure it is both light enough that the legs can support it, yet durable enough that it could at least take a hit without breaking. And for the final part, I begin to work on the head. Making it in my likeness, I give it a shape similar to that of a Dragon with horns that resemble mine on top. As a finishing touch, I mould the alloy of each piece to give it the appearance of scales.

Moving each piece into place, I begin to bind all six pieces into place. Using my manipulation skill, I make sure that each joint is moving properly with anything forcibly scraping each other as I look over my finished work of art. My very own giant robot. But unlike the television shows that I saw when I was younger, I don't have a way to sit inside and pilot my new creation at the same time.

"So just what is this thing?" Lia asks as she walks over, "can this massive thing even move?"

"Yes, but only if I make it move. I'll show you."

I begin to use my manipulation on it, causing it to move in a manner similar to that of a human, only several times more imposing. I move its right arm up over a few trees and quickly swing it down, using the blade to cut cleanly through the trees. But as I go to showcase the spike feet with a kick, I can't maintain the machine's balance as it falls to the ground with its tremours causing some of the nearby soldiers to collapse.

"I hate to be the one to tell you, but I think you just wasted nearly two hours building a pointless thing," Lia says.

Ignoring her, I say, "I think I'll call it, the Big Metal Dragon MK I, as long as I don't kick it should be a little useful in clearing out the weaker soldiers."

"Well, if that's the case, I wouldn't say you're wrong, but it probably won't amount to much and you really need to do something about that name."

"Who care's, it looks cool and that's all that matters. But that's not all, now that I've made it once, I can reproduce it like this," I say as I begin to work my creation skill again and within five minutes, another Big Metal Dragon MK I was made.

Lia's eyes practically glow as the immediately asks, "how many of these can you control at once while fighting someone else?"

"Well it doesn't take too much effort to control if I'm not doing anything, but if I was fighting I could probably only control one at a time. But if I was focused on only controlling them, I can probably control around as many as I can see."

"If you were put up on a tall tower that's overlooking the entire battlefield could you control say... one hundred of them?" Lia asks.

"Probably, so long as I can see both the Big Metal Dragon Mk I's and the enemy forces."

"Good, good, this is good. Make more of these, as many as you possibly can, I'm going to look for a high place to hide you that can see both this fortress and the area around it. Instead of fighting personally, for now, I think it's better for you to create and command an army of these... Big Metal Dragon Mk I's, can you please change the name to something better?"

"Maybe, I'm not good with names. Anyways, I'll get started on mass producing these. There probably isn't much time left so we should hurry."

"I know, I'm going to have Vorenia help search around for a good spot too," Lia says as she runs off.

I really only put this together to kill some time, but it seems like it might actually be useful in bolstering our numbers. What a nice little accident. Maybe I'll make an adjustment here... oh, I could also change this...