40. Octopussy, Library and Stehaufmaennchen

After Flora logged into the workshop, she dumped the books in a corner and set up the page-turner.

Taking a sip from the Potions Guzzler, she returned to the still running simulation grounds.

In the morning, she had forgotten to check on the Blade-Rollers. The poor robots were both in bad shape. One showed severe damage through overheating, the other had four ruptured appendages, and both of their sawblades were blunt.

"Mine is the broken one, Milady. I pushed the movement and rammed a few trees. Aitoshuri did several long term tests. I'll transmit her data to you."

A row of stats appeared on Flora's HUD. Running continuously, the sawblades worked up to two minutes on their highest setting before overheating and half an hour in their lowest setting. Not bad, not bad at all.

"Outstanding job."

Flora returned to her workbench to work on the octopus. Now she had a pretty good picture of the joints and the motors for them.

She decided to equip two of the tentacles with tools as tips. With a heavy heart, she sacrificed one of her two Doom-Moon multitools and a knife/bender/gripper hybrid for the other arm.

The octopus should not only help her with crafting but also with fighting. Laser eyes were an absolute classic. She browsed the doom moon laser-turret manuals and the marketplace for ideas and appropriate parts.

Now, she had included all the functions she wanted.

Next came the fun parts.

Rationality told Flora to armor the octopus, but thinking about Aitoshuri's needs and real-life octopuses, she had a better idea: Display fabrics!

These fabrics could change their colors to such a degree, that they were used as TV-Screens. The military used them for camouflage and the fashion industry for special effects.

Her drawn picture with notes finished, she started to build the robot.

Mainly, she used the tier-1 materials from Doom Moon. Unfortunately, she couldn't create a whole laser system with them, so she had to substitute with tier-0 materials, that was also the case for the casing with the display-fabric.

With more efficient motors, she solved the worst of her energy problems, but her plans for skin and the laser eyes had thrown her back. She splurged on a high-efficiency mana battery that Aitoshuri could hoard mana while not working and use it for high-load phases.

The octopussy quickly took shape: Eight limbs equally spaced around a roundish head. For the eyes, Flora found some cute heart-shaped laser crystals and immediately bought them.

Comparing her creation to a picture of an actual octopus, she decided to stay more on the cartoonish side of design and forwent the beak and the mouth opening at the bottom. The ability to spew poisonous ink would be awesome, but she had enough on her plate for the first version - maybe in the future.

An easy solution would be using toxic materials for the tentacles. Aitoshuri could hug her opponents to death!

Flora experimented with fusing the toxic waste and the hull material of the Doom Moon and came up with suitable material. It wasn't as strong as the pure material, but she liked the toxic effect.

Suddenly she got another idea. What if she could integrate a kind of inventory space, so Aitoshuri could pick up and store things directly? Flora had disliked stooping down in the sewers and collecting dead creatures like the kingators.

After a quick research, she found a solution. Unfortunately, robots couldn't have a separate inventory. You either could include ordinary bags, or you could give them an access slot to your own inventory. When Flora thought about it for a bit, she realized that the latter had advantages as well. Flora included the inventory-access under the head.

'We'll see how it works out.'

Finally, she finished the design.

Name: Octopussy-Helper-Bot

Type: Robot

Description: Camouflage capable, crafting-robot with laser eyes.

Regular Mode: 7 OV mana regeneration.

Built-In Feature: Laser. 2 sec CD.

Built-In Feature: Vicious Cut. 2 sec CD.

Built-In Feature: Multitool: Change tools. 2 sec CD.

Built-In Feature: Can use Built-In Skills itself from mana-battery.

Built-In Skill: Camouflage. 2 mana + 1 mana/minute.

Built-In Skill: Rapid Fire. 5 mana. 2 shots per second for 5 seconds.

Capacity: 146 mana.

HP: 45.

Rating: S.

Flora burned to print the robot! But she refrained from it because it would be a great project to inaugurate her very own printer.

The next idea came to Flora when she thought about what to do subsequently. Flora whistled. She was on a creative streak!

In the martial arts classes, the other students had their pets on the walls of the room. She could use the page-turner and let Aitoshuri read.

Envisioning the mountain of books and the page-turner amidst wolves and tigers, she decided to build a library container. She could hide all the bad romance in it, and nobody would see the books! That alone was reason enough!

Another 3x3x3m Container took form. This time, Flora inserted shelves and the page-turner and gave it four extendable legs to save space in the classroom. She connected the page-turner and the container, no need to waste mana and nocks on two devices when one could do the job.

On the outer casing, she air-brushed a shelf with old books and the inside brown and orange grained. She added a light and a long grappler that the AIs could fetch their books themselves from the shelves.

Name: Library-Container

Type: Container

Regular mode: 4 mana regen.

Built-In Feature: Scan Books.

Built-In Feature: Change Height.

Rating: A.

When Flora saw the rating, she reworked the legs. Before, she had rushed that parts of the design too much. After increasing the stability and creating a feature, that it could stay at 0,5m, 1m, 1,5,m and 2m without using energy, she refreshed the description.

Name: Library-Container

Type: Container

Regular mode: 3 mana regen.

Built-In Feature: Scan Books.

Built-In Feature: Change Height.

Effect: +1 Training efficiency modifier for reading

Rating: S.

'Better!'

Flora beamed to the Riverstones HQ to print it.

While waiting for the printer to complete its job, Svetlana entered the building.

"Hello, Auntie Flora!" Svetlana greeted her. "Thank you for the funding. We used it to upgrade the printer, among other things."

"No problem, dear. Everything that is mine is Robby's anyway." Flora looked at the printer and felt a pang of conscience. "In a few hours, I'll get my own printer. Of course, I want to update it as well. Should I update yours to 'S' first?"

Svetlana coughed. "The update to S is very hard. Don't underestimate it! And to be honest, we have no funds for it at the moment. Of course, we aspire to have an S-rated printer long-term, so your help will be appreciated."

"Sure, and meanwhile, you can use my printer if you want that extra quality. I'm moving to a new lair, and the printer will be in a separate hall from my living quarters, so you can visit anytime without intruding."

"I never heard from someone who upgraded their printer alone. You can hire other crafters to register their blueprints on your printer. The price for an S-rated blueprint is 1000 VirDos."

Now, it was Flora's time to splutter. "Just for registering? Not the blueprint itself?"

"Right. You didn't know?" Svetlana scratched her head. "Well, we wouldn't pay you money, but you would get lots of contributions points. I already sent you some for the upgrade to A.

*Bleep*! I forgot to send you the voucher for hiring squats! I'm sorry Auntie, the last week was at the same time hellish with the new employees and heavenly because of all the excitement about my rising synchronization!

I'm now at 69% and hit a ceiling. Do you have any advice?"

"Have you tried using different bodyparts?"

Svetlana stared at her frowning. "What do you mean by body parts?"

The printing of the Library-Container finished.

Flora signaled Lana to wait a moment while she logged into the workshop and looked through her cloud-drive.

'Where is the Stehaufmaennchen?'

After she recovered the file, she ordered the printing.

She joined Lana and watched the candy cane alike structure being built.

"I designed this tumbler for training my sync. When you hit it, it will bounce back." Flora pointed at the colorful stripes. "You can aim at the blue band with knee, yellow with your elbow. On the top are some smaller dots to hit with your finger. Try it first when it is standing still after that when it is swaying. Don't forget to train to aim with your butt and bosom, as well. You never know when you need fine control in these areas!"

"That's handy! I saw the tumbler at the forum a view hours ago!

It's a new item in the Cetviwos-Shop. Guess they directly used the rights they bought from you."

"Oh, well. I don't expect much sales from such a simple gizmo." She looked at it. "I could add a feature that gives you challenges, lighting up some of the rings and a body part, and you get points for hitting it correctly. And you wouldn't have to announce the moves to the System." Flora grinned. Yes, she was on a creative fire! "Would you be interested in such a device, or is it too much pressure?"

"My old job consisted of disarming bombs. I'll be damned if a *bleep*ing tumbler pressured me!"

"Give me 10 minutes!"

Flora logged back into the workshop and took a sip from a mana potion.

'Cables, L.E.D.s, sensors, a display, a mana-plate, and a control box, and we are ready to go!'

First, she put an L.E.D behind every stripe and dot of the tumbler. Then she sculpted a human doll that looked a bit like Svetlana, marked the body-parts, put lights behind them, and put it at the top of the pole.

At the base, she installed the display and a big 'Start'-Button.

Then she wired everything to the box.

Flora realized that it was the first time she had to program a control box. Until now, she had cheated with using the AIs to control the devices.

Thankfully, the programming was more like putting phrases together than actually writing the code:

Define zone_x: Where the color of the pole is the same in the region of L.E.D_x.

Define bodypart_y: To the lit doll body part corresponding body part of the player.

At Button press:

Light up one random L.E.D_x of group tumbler-lights.

Light up one random L.E.D_y of group doll-lights.

Wait 5 seconds or until Hit in L.E.D zone_y with bodypart_y.

When Hit: Counter +1.

Show counter.

Repeat 10 times.

When Flora checked the time, she realized that she had only needed 6 minutes. So she added a menu-button and up and down arrows for adjusting the time for the hit and the number of rounds.

Flora rechecked everything, shrugged, and ordered to print it two times.

It was a bit rough, but that was normal for a prototype for proof of concept.

Name: Stehaufmaennchen Game for Synchronisation Training (Prototyp)

Type: Game

Rating: B (F)

Notice: Rating gets adjusted by player feedback.

Back in the bamboo hut, Flora found Lana training with the original tumbler and explained to her the game.

When the devices finished printing, they occupied different corners of the hut and started playing.

In the first round, Flora got an easy move: The head of the doll lit up and a stripe near the top. She headbutted the tumbler for her first point.

The next round left her slack-jawed: Left knee to the stripe directly beneath the doll. That was at the height of 1,70m!

Flora to Aidan: "Remind me to make two areas that we can match only the upper body limbs to the high zones of the pole. Maybe implement two game variants, one for gymnasts and one for normal people."

<Power-Jump>!

While Flora hit the pole, she missed the right zone by a hairbreadth. Admittingly a very corse hair, more a dreadlock than natural hair.

The next few rounds went uneventful. Only when the pole wanted from Flora to hit one of the small dots with her elbow, she took another note.

Flora to Aidan: "More mid-sized zones would be helpful as well. Maybe we quarter one of the cylindric stripes at hip-height in rectangles."

After Flora completed the game with a score of 9, she watched Lana finishing her round. Her counter showed 12, but Flora didn't know how many times she had failed. She added it to the improvement list.

Lana's movement looked fluent, and she aggressively attacked the tumbler. The weird jerkiness was gone, but a bit of skittishness remained.

"So, what do you think? Any suggestions?"

"I *bleep*ing adore it and don't want to stop! But two issues caught my eyes: A finger lit up, and it took me a while to identify which finger because the light spread. The other thing is, I haven't even played five minutes and a quarter of its durability is already gone. My strength isn't that high. If someone with a lot of physical power plays this game, the tumbler will be kaput in no time."

"Good points! The solution for the first one is easy, but I don't know about the second one. Maybe higher-tiered materials?"

"You could try to get it approved as a training-dummy. I know that the requirements are ridiculous because people had exploited it for combat, but you can try."

"Oh, tell me how! I love exploitation!"

"First they made training dummies robots with infinite HP and took them questing as tanks. That got fixed quickly. Then a too clever by a half guild constructed the wall of their compound out of mage dummies. The wall was not only indestructible, but it actually shot spells at the attackers."

Flora laughed. "Great! I want that! Any more feedback?"

"Some of the combinations were a bit challenging, but I liked it. The journey is the reward, right? And without pushing the limits, there is no progress."

"Exactly, but I will implement an easy mode for the beginners. Thank you for testing! I'll send you the finished product as a reward."

Flora to Aidan: "I hope you took notes, she did some excellent testing."

"Oh, yes, no probs! Thanks!" Lana fidgeted. "The topic is hot ATM. I would hurry up the publication. And ... I might stay here for a while, you know."

Flora smiled and nodded. But first, she went in the corner of the hut and filled up the library container. Although Lana was occupied with the game, Flora still shielded the books from her eyes.

'I'm so childish! I'm sure Lana reads tons of shitty romance novels! And since when do I care what other people think of me?'

The admonishment didn't help. Flora tucked the books away on the last shelf. Not that you could hide 124 books in an otherwise mostly empty library, but she tried.

Flora to Aitoshuri: "Enjoy!"

A fanfare of trumpets sounded, which made Flora smile. She recognized the piece: it was from Bach's 'Jauchzet Frohlocket!' (Shout for joy, exult!).

Back in the workshop, Flora enlargened the hands of the doll. Then she inserted an opaque material on the inside and black contours outside between all the zones. That would help color blind people to distinguish the zones better.

Methodically, Flora worked through her list until only the dummy issue was left.

That proved to be simpler than Lana depicted it. Flora just had to draw a rune on the base. The rune made the tumbler indestructible while training, but vulnerable while in combat.

Flora was intrigued by the concept of runes and immediately bought the book '1000 common Runes and Glyphs'.

Name: Stehaufmaennchen Game for Synchronisation Training

Type: Game/ Training-Dummy

Rating: A (F)

Notice: Rating gets adjusted by player feedback.

After printing one for Lana and herself, she published the design and wrote CentralTank a letter. She offered them to feel free to sell it in their shop as well, for a cut, of course.