[LEFT!]

  David jumped as instructed, the massive Ravager behind him slamming its body into the sand. He could hear the loud chainsaws swirling and crushing everything in their path just a few meters behind him.

  David was fast, but the Ravager was faster; if not for the head start, he would have been caught. He ran behind a massive pile of scrap, only to hear a loud slam and see pieces of scrap fly in front of him. The Ravager wasn’t slowed for even one second.

  He was running back toward the city. He didn’t believe this ravager would follow him where there was no ground for him to tunnel through. David couldn’t remember the last time he ran with his human body. But he would definitely never forget this chase.

  The Augmented Ravager made him understand his place in the food chain. He had just appeared two days ago and was very far from the strongest in this Scrapyard, much less in this world.

  David only stopped after reaching the very top of the Scrapyard’s pile surrounding the city itself. His limitless stamina had saved him this time. Otherwise he’d have been tired long ago.

  The Ravager ended up finding a weaker prey, David’s Dexterity allowing him to be faster than a normal Ascended GS-Bot. He was a more annoying prey, so the Ravager ended up going for a less bothersome Scrap-Bot.

  Looking at the familiar floor made of piles of scraps and broken robots, David sighed in relief, which sounded more like a broken computer struggling to turn on, than an actual sigh.

  His guess that the Ravager wouldn’t get that close to the city wasn’t unfounded. If he were a gnome, there was no way he would let a beast this strong approach this close to his city. David sat down, his rock hard butt slamming into the scraps below, making a hollow sound.

  

  [Eh, flat butt.]

  His mind was still very shaken by the encounter. In either life, it was the first time he had nearly died. He didn’t have a heart, but if he did it would be beating like crazy. This actually allowed him to calm down much faster.

  “That was close. Way to close. This has to be a zone boss or something of the sort. Can you show me its status again, Syllena? And don’t talk about being flat, you’re literally a screen.”

  

  [(╥﹏╥)]

  

  [Here you go.]

  Watching the Ravager’s status properly, now that he wasn’t running for his life, David felt a shiver go up his metallic spine. Those were some monstrous stats considering a humanoid’s stat seemed to be capped at 100. The Ravager might have three very low stats but the three physical ones turned him into an invincible tank much faster than you’d expect for something his size.

  “I definitely don’t have the necessary level to fight this thing!”

  

  [Acquired a new quest! Check out your Quest Journal!]

  

  [Acquired a new item! Check out your Inventory!]

  

  [One of your traits has evolved! Check out your status!]

  

  [Syllena has access to new information.]

  “Syllena..what is all that?”

  

  [It comes from the system itself, it made this quest. We’ll open the journal!]

  

  [Quest Giver] : ???

  [Proof of Worthiness]: You have now familiarized yourself with your body and the system. Completing this quest will grant you a great reward, but it will demand great risks in exchange. Are you up for the challenge?

  

  [Objectives] :

  

  
• Defeat an Augmented Ravager 0/1


  
• Complete the “Strange Signal” dungeon 0/1


  

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  

  [Reward] :

  

  
• ???


  

  

  
• A great secret revealed


  

  

  [Penalty]: The quest [One Last Farewell] will automatically fail.

  “So I have to kill that monster, or I’ll never see my family. I don’t have a choice. Please, Syllena, can you show me the changes to my status and show me which item has been added?”

  

  [Here you go, David.]

  

  [ [Basic Self-Modification] has been upgraded to [Advanced Self-Modification]. You can now evolve your body to the [Rare] level before reaching level 10.]

  

  [You have obtained the following grimoire: Basic Technomage Spells: an Introduction.]

  “All those sudden gifts…they must have been sent to help me accomplish my new quest properly. So whoever is controlling this system is an asshole, but he is fair at least.”

  

  [The new information we have access to is mostly related to this Scrapyard. There is a hidden dungeon in it. We now know of its location and know that it is related to your first and second class quests.]

  “Thanks Syllena. No point in waiting here then. I’ll learn the spell book and read the spell's effects on the way. Guide my steps Syllena.”

  David didn’t really have a choice, he didn’t like having his back against a wall but the quest’s penalty for failure was straight up the early end of his one and only chance of seeing his family again.

  He couldn’t allow that. Maybe this system was lying to him about being able to see them. But this small ember of hope was what kept him going. Fighting the Ravager was a terrifying prospect…high damage, high defense, high hp.

  One mistake and it would be over if he were grabbed by the Ravager. But David would succeed. He had to. Now he had to find a way to level up in that dungeon.

  “Jacob always said dungeons were the best way to level up.”

  David looked at the Grimoire, which had appeared in his hands after he took it out of his Inventory. It looked like a strange black cube with green lines separating it into four smaller cubes. A pop-up window appeared as soon as David stared at this strange, futuristic-looking “grimoire”.

  

  [Do you wish to learn the knowledge contained within this Grimoire?]

  He pressed yes.

  

  [Congratulations! You have learned the following spells!]

  [Gauss Nano-Ray]: You fire a green ray of pure electrified magical nanites, akin to a Gauss rifle. If the targets die from this skill, it disintegrates into dust. Forcing all non-robotics NPCs, Players and Enemies in a 30-meter (100 feet) radius to be frozen in shock and fear for three seconds.

  [Effect]: 50+Mag dmg

  [Cooldown]: 2 seconds

  [Nano-Bots Infection]: You release thousands of Nano-Bots in an area in your line of sight. They will instantly infect any creature stepping into the area of effect and begin to deal raw damage, bypassing all damage reduction.

  [Effect]: In a 10x10m area (or 320ft), all non-allied creatures are inflicted with [Nano-Infection], dealing 5 + ? Mag dmg per second. The AOE lasts until the skill is used again.

  [Cooldown]: 30 seconds

  [Holo-Shield]: You can summon a shield of pure energy, making all attacks against you, magical or otherwise, get instantly blocked and negated.

  [Duration]: 10 seconds

  [Cooldown]: 20

  [Nanites Transfer]: Using the nano-bots in your own body, you can switch your highest stat with any other stat of your choice. However, once switched, the skill must be used again for your stats to go back to what they were prior to the skill's use.

  [Effect]: Switch two stats of your choice permanently.

  [Cooldown]: 30 seconds

  [Vortex Pull]: You have the ability to command your nano-bots to build and materialise a miniaturized black hole. Every creature in its vicinity, friends or foes, is pulled toward the vortex. Some specific skills, equipment, or creatures can resist its pull.

  [Effect]: Summon a Vortex which pulls every creature in a 5x5m area (or 160ft) for 10 seconds.

  [Cooldown]: 30 seconds

  David finished reading his new skills, while Syllena sometimes made a window appear in front of him to tell him to switch direction. It seemed like he finally had access to some proper Magicka-based skills!

  Which actually seemed to have a very clear rotation already planned : [Nano-Bots Infection] followed by a [Vortex Pull] to bring his enemies into the AOE, then spam [Gauss Nano-Ray] until [Vortex Pull] ran out of time, and if the enemy was still alive, use [Nanite Transfer] and [Holo-Shield] to fight in close range.

  While David had never been a gamer as serious as his son, he still knew the basics of how skills rotation worked.

  “Now those skills look like what I’d expect from a Technomage! Syllena, do you know why I don’t have any mana, stamina or resources to manage? I could understand when I had no skills other than [Data Break], but now it sounds kinda overpowered to be able to just spam my spells.”

  

  [We don’t know; we have no access to this information.]

  “That’s almost a second cheat with how strong that makes me.”

  

  [Your privileges make you strong but not invincible. Please be careful.]

  “Aww, you’re worried about me?”

  

  [Yes, and please allow us to remind you that for all we know, your death could lead to ours too.]

  

  [We also have one last piece of information about the dungeon, it seems like the System has given you the special privilege of being able to reset dungeons like players!]

  “ So this means we can kill everything with [Data Break] and get out to easily farm levels.”

  A small ping rang in his ear as a window appeared in front of David with a message from the System itself.

  

  [We advise you to defeat the final boss without [Data Break] as it would destroy any unique rewards useful to your progression. [Data Break] skill destroys any loot a target contains. Which is why you have received none from the Advanced GS-Bots.]

  “I also destroyed a lot of normal GS-Bots with a pipe.”

  David received no more answers from the System, but Syllena didn’t leave him hanging.

  

  [There is simply nothing to gather or obtain on the Scrap-Bot, we suppose. Sorry.]

  “Don’t blame yourself, okay? The information you should have access to is locked, it seems. You’ve been invaluable to me. You’re my only partner in this adventure after all! While you’re guiding me, let me tell you some more stories about my world, alright?”

  

  [:3]

  

  [We would like that. Thank you. <3]

  I hope everyone is enjoying this chapter. If you spot any mistake do not hesitate to tell me in the comments. My main language isn't english so I'm more than eager to increase my level and better myself. Same for the System's current "appearance" do not hesitate if you dislike it and want something more simple and maybe easier to read!

  Have a great day!