The Rise Of A Porter

"154 attribute points..." Arnold mumbled, "I'm such an idiot!"

The reality of the situation hit him hard. The number of attribute points he got was amazing and Arnold wasn't pissed about getting those. He was pissed because he realised the true purpose of the headhunter quest.

According to him, the quest had a hidden purpose as well. It was supposed to work as compensation. Since Arnold wasn't able to level up after he got the 'Ascension' quest, there was no easy way for him to earn the attribute points and level up his attributes as the main source to gain attribute points was through levelling up.

Thus completing this quest served as a way for him to gain some attribute points. Thus it wasn't a simple quest either, and Arnold realised it as soon as the notification popped up in front of his eyes.

"If only I had waited a bit longer before claiming the rewards..." he shook his head.

The number of attribute points he got as an 'extra reward' was equal to the number of the extra monsters he killed after the counter reached its maximum value. So it meant that more monsters he killed before claiming the rewards the more attribute points he could've gained. If he had known about this earlier, then he would've never claimed the reward until it reached a threshold value and couldn't increase anymore! He could've been swimming through a sea of attribute points yet now he would have to be content with the water well he got.

"I hate these 'hidden' quests! They gave generous rewards but argh... completing them perfectly is a pain in the butt!" He cursed out loud for one last time before heading back into the forge.

Although he wanted to invest the attribute points to increase his attributes at once, he had decided against it. His mind wasn't in the right place at the moment. If he wanted to make most out of the opportunity, then he needed to have a clear conscience first and to do that he'd need to throw himself in work.

Once in the forge, he called out a bunch of his T-range automatons who specialised in weapon development. He didn't bother to call Talos to help him because one, he was already busy with installing defences in the base or he would throw a tantrum after seeing that Arnold wasn't planning to rest up like he was supposed to and two, most of the defences that the base had been equipped with were the creation of electronic minds of these automatons as well. Thus Arnold wanted them to assist him in the next step of his 'one-man army' plan, making the self-aware sentry guns.

The thought of making these weapons crossed him when he was being overwhelmed by the attacks of lizardmen. He couldn't use his summons to assist him back then and he was put in a life-threatening situation because of that. So he decided to make weapons that wouldn't be counted as his summons and yet assist him during fights. Thus now he wanted to focus on making a sentry gun which could differentiate between his enemies and eliminate them while protecting his allies.

For this purpose, Arnold thought it would be better to program the sentry guns by himself using his [Novice Programmer] ability. Doing so would have its benefits. One, it would greatly reduce the complexity of the sentry guns. Two, it would make it cost-effective for Arnold as he would save a lot of beast crystals by programming them himself and three, programming the sentries himself would allow him to increase the flexibility of operation for the sentries. It was a win-win situation for him. Hurray to cheap, yet deadly weapons.

"So that's my plan. Any questions?" Arnold finished explaining his automatons about what he desired to do next.

All of the automatons shook their heads. It was well within their technological limits to make sentry guns. But Arnold had another plan related to sentries as well and it was the main reason why he needed their help, and he knew with the help of his automatons he'll be able to succeed in making what he had in his mind.

"Also," Arnold stopped the automatons who were getting ready to work, "if possible, I'll like you to make a mountable variation of the sentry gun as well."

For the first time, his automatons were clueless about what their master was trying to say. Arnold understood why the automatons were confused and immediately explained what he wanted them to do.

"What I meant was that I'd like to make a lightweight version of the sentries as well." The corners of his mouth edged up a bit, "They should be light enough for hounds to carry on their shoulders. We also need to take care that the sentry gun doesn't restrict their movement speed, that's a must."

The automatons understood what Arnold wanted them to pull off but it was easier said than done. There were a lot of issues they needed to take care of first.

The lava hounds were agile creatures and one their major strength was their sudden and unpredictable pattern to attack. So the automatons would have to take special care while designing the lightweight sentry so that they don't end up trading their agility with firepower. What they needed to do was to ensure that the agility of hounds and the firepower of the sentry complement each other well, only then would Arnold's plan succeed.

Another issue was the aiming mechanism of the sentry. Sentry guns were weapons that were supposed to work from a stable or stationary platform and not from the shoulders of a creature. When the hounds run, their shoulders are constantly oscillating up and down, and this movement would make the sentry fire in random directions and may hit one of the allies as well. Thus it wasn't much reliable.

But even before any of this, they would need to research on the hounds to understand how their movement pattern vary under different scenarios and make the sentry gun according to that. And only after that Arnold and his automatons needed to figure out a way to prevent these problems and it was going to be a challenging task.

"I wouldn't even try to do it if it wasn't a challenge." Arnold mumbled with a smug look on his face, "Nor would I need the help of the automatons either."

His automatons were silently observing him mumbling to himself. After a while, their master finally broke the silence.

"We'll figure about the lightweight sentry guns later. Right now, we should probably focus on making the stationary ones first. Come on guys, get to work. We don't have much time to waste!"