At the old arcade once again! For real this time!

“Try to dodge that, John!” Rave shouted as she hammered the buttons on the machine. They were currently playing Street Fighter on one of the old arcade machines. “I can and I will!” John said and dodged successfully, following it up with a combo that put Rave’s character down. “And here I win again.” “You know you take this way to seriously, right?” Rave complained. “And you knew what you were getting into when you agreed to date the guy who has literal game powers.” John said. “It’s still pretty unfair to Possess the analogue stick so you can minimize your reaction time.”

They kept playfully bickering until they sat down at which point they concentrated on Jimmie. The mechanic was completely pre-occupied with one thing and one thing only: Aclysia. He kept giving her little scraps of metal which she then ate. The rate at which she grew and what she ate were seriously out of sync, meaning that she grew way less than what she ate. Jimmie was able to explain that is was because living materials didn’t exactly obey physical laws like density and weight but instead converted extra mass into mana that was stored in a pocket dimension and…well the theory was long and winded down to: Don’t worry about it, it works.

“She is fascinating.” Jimmie said and adjusted his cap as he gave Aclysia a screw to munch on. “Thanks for sacrificing some metal, Jimster.” Rave said. “No probs, Rave.” Jimmie said. “Introduce me to some girl some time.” “Ya know that I barely know people here.” She denied that request. “I guess…so are you going to stay here today or what?” He leaned back and lighted a cigarette. “I wanted to speak to Travolta.” John explained, “I haven’t seen him much, ever.” “I guess. Travy should be back any minute.” ‘Metal feels different.’ It suddenly ran into John’s brain. “In what way?” He asked Aclysia. The figurine had grown to twenty centimetres and kept eating. “What is she saying?” Jimmie wanted to know. ‘Taste. It tastes different.’ “Is that good or bad?” John kept asking questions. ‘Are there good and bad tastes?’ Aclysia asked back, ‘Am I supposed to dislike the taste, Creator John?’

“She is wondering about the difference in taste between plastic and metal.” John finally told Jimmie as his eyes kept darting back and forth. “Really? What does she like more?” “She doesn’t have an opinion on the matter. I think she isn’t smart enough to make decisions yet.” “Then make her smarter.” Jimmie demanded. “This is so cool, I am such a geek for stuff like this!” “You really are.” Rave said and created a small ball of light in her palm that started rotating. “To bad you can’t build yourself a girlfriend.” “You mean like your boyfriend can?” Jimmie challenged her. “What? Think she can measure up to me?” Rave stared intently at Aclysia. “…She is sexy. Which game is she from again?” “Nier;Automata, it’s a spectacle fighters with girls in French Maid outfits that have giant weapons.” John gave a thumbs up, Rave returned it with a smile, “That DOES sound awesome. Are you going to dress her up like that too?” “Yes.” “And give her giant weapons?” Jimmie interjected. “Yes!” He turned his raised thumb to Jimmie who pumped his fist. “Nice! So, go make her smarter.” “Do you know how?” John asked. “No, but basic idea is that she gets bigger the more mana she has so maybe you should give her something enchanted to eat.”

That actually sounded sensible. John pulled Experimental Necklace 1 from his inventory. “Eat this Aclysia.” The little woman dropped the screw she was eating and took the enchanted item. After sinking her tiny teeth into the talisman windows started popping up. Actually, it was the exact window just 3 times.

“Wow, Jimmie, you were exactly right.” John marvelled and started spending points. Because Jimmie really wanted her to speak he raised her Intellect to eleven, then split the remains evenly.

“Aclysia can you talk now?” Moments later a tiny voice came from the former figurine. “Yes, Creator John.” She sounded just like in his head, although a bit squeakier “I feel different.” She said and looked at her hands like she was surprised to see them there. “What do you think do you like more: Metal or Plastic?” Jimmie asked with interest. Aclysia turned to John. “What do I like more, Creator John?” She asked. “I don’t know.” Aclysia turned back to Jimmie. “I do not know what I like more.”

“No real advancement in that regard it seems.” The mechanic sighed and fell back in his chair. “But she can speak now and she sounds cute.” Rave and tickled the little woman’s tummy. “Think you can make her normal size? I kinda want to have a threesome with her.” John and Jimmie exchanged a quick glance which pretty much just said ‘You are a lucky man dude.’ And ‘I know, right?’

Travolta chose that moment to enter with a loud noise. “Fucking dammit.” He cursed and threw a wet jacket of him. “It is storming outside the barrier. Fucking annoyance.” John gulped when he saw the number above Travolta’s head. 41. He somehow gained 22 levels in the span of a week. Better Observe that fact.

What was Thana? He had the inkling suspicion that asking wouldn’t be smart. Besides Rave nobody knew how much information he could get by simply looking at people. Speaking of Rave she looked at John with a raised eyebrow, she had gotten rather good at making out when he was looking at a window.

“Ah, I see our latest member is here too….and he brought a toy? Fuck my sideways you kids are making me go actually bald.” He kept cursing as he ran his hand over the stubbles on his wet skull. “She is called Aclysia, Baldy.” Rave said. “You even gave her a fucking name. Hurray for your creativi….wait is she eating a nail?”

“Aclysia, tell him.” John instructed. “That is correct, I am eating a piece of metal in a certain shape that you refer to as a nail.” “Okay, what the fuck.” Travolta stepped closer and inspected the thing. Aclysia looked at him with emotionless green eyes as she kept eating. “What is this?” “John got the skill to create an Artificial Spirit, that’s the result.” Rave put the long story very short. “Fucking fantastic. Man, your power is interesting.” He looked over and said, perhaps a bit too thoughtful, “If only I had something like that.” Before patting John on the back. “Well, I will be upstairs, don’t break stuff.” “I should…probably get going as well.” Jimmie said reluctantly. “I still have that job at the hospital.” He sighed. “Man, I can never catch a break.” He lighted another cigarette and left the building.

“Well, we should probably get going as well.” Rave said and smirked. “You know what we wanted to do today?” “Take a day off farming, watch that anime you insisted on just so I understand the parody of it and explain the Abyss Auction to me.” John listed of the things they had agreed on doing. Well, Rave had told him they would do these things and he had nodded without a better plan.

“Ex-act-ly!” Rave said and stood up. “Now let’s go we have a terrible Chinese cartoon to sit through.”