The drainage channel smelled of sulfur and bad choices.
Ren sat cross-legged on a patch of dry concrete behind the dumpster, ignoring the sludge oozing past his boots. The adrenaline from the alleyway collapse had faded, leaving behind a hollow, trembling exhaustion. His hands shook, but not from fear.
They shook with the itch to build.
He held the [Logic Drive] in his palm. It was the size of a fist, heavy and cold, pulsing with that faint, rhythmic blue light. It was the heart. Now, he needed a body.
Ren tapped the cube. The blueprint projected into his mind, not as a picture, but as an exploded schematic floating in the air.
[Blueprint: Surveillance Drone (Model: Roach)] [Class: Scout / Disposable] [Requirements:]
Chassis: Lightweight Metal
Locomotion: Micro-Servos or Spring Tension
Optics: Lens / Refractive Material
Connection: Conductive Wire
Ren looked at the pile of garbage he had dragged out of the dumpster.
A broken radio with the back panel smashed in. A handful of rusted nails. A cracked glass marble (probably a toy for some slum kid). A coil of copper wire stripped from a dead lamp.
"Trash," Ren whispered. "Perfect."
He picked up the radio. He didn't have a screwdriver. He used the tip of his stolen dagger to pry the casing open. The plastic snapped with a sharp crack.
Inside, he found the prize: a small speaker magnet and a coil of thin copper wire.
He ripped them out. The wire sliced his finger, a thin line of red welling up. He didn't flinch. He wiped the blood on his pants and kept working.
Engineering isn't about having the right parts, he reminded himself. It's about making the wrong parts work.
He took the copper wire and began to twist it. He fashioned six spindly, insect-like legs. They were flimsy, barely strong enough to hold weight.
He needed to attach them to the Logic Drive.
He didn't have solder. He didn't have a welding torch.
Ren activated his vision. The world turned gray. The wireframes of the copper legs and the black metal casing of the cube hovered before him.
"Edit: Fuse."
[Corruption: 7.9%]
The headache tapped him behind the eyes, a warning shot.
Where his finger touched the junction of wire and cube, the metal didn't melt. It simply... merged. The atoms of the copper accepted the atoms of the steel as if they had always been one piece. The legs were now a permanent part of the chassis.
Ren worked faster. The pain was grounding. It focused him.
He took the cracked glass marble. He placed it on the front of the cube, right over the pulsing blue light.
"Edit: Fuse."
[Corruption: 8.3%]
The glass sank into the metal faceplate, locking into place. It looked like a cyclops eye, distorted and milky.
Finally, the locomotion. He didn't have motors. He couldn't make it walk with electricity yet. He needed a cheat.
He looked at the speaker magnet he had salvaged.
[Item: Ferrous Magnet] [Property: Magnetic Field (Weak)]
He placed the magnet inside the wire cage of the legs. He stripped the coating off the copper wire and wrapped it around the legs, creating crude induction coils.
If he pumped the raw energy from the Logic Drive into these coils, the magnetic push-pull would twitch the legs. It wouldn't be graceful. It would look like a seizure. But it would move.
Ren set the monstrosity on the concrete.
It was ugly. A black metal cube with a cracked glass eye, standing on six crooked copper legs, shivering in the cold wind.
"Ugly is good," Ren muttered. "No one steals ugly."
He took a deep breath. He touched the top of the cube.
"Boot."
The blue light inside the cube flared. The glass marble caught the light, refracting it into a jagged, eerie beam that swept across the wet concrete.
Click-clack.
The copper legs twitched. The magnet engaged.
Skitter.
The thing moved. It jerked forward, its motion insect-like and disturbing. It didn't walk so much as vibrate across the floor, the metal legs scratching against the stone.
[System: Construct Online.] [Designation: Roach-1] [Battery: 2%]
Ren leaned back against the dumpster, a grin splitting his dirty face. It worked. It was a piece of junk powered by a AA-battery worth of stolen bio-electricity, but it worked.
"Link," Ren commanded.
The static in his vision spiked. For a second, he felt nauseous, like he was falling.
Then, his left eye went black.
When it opened again, he wasn't looking at the drainage channel.
He was looking up at a giant.
The giant had a dirty face, messy black hair, and a coat made of mismatched burlap and wolf fur. He was looking at himself through the cracked glass eye of the roach.
The image was grainy, black and white, and distorted by the crack in the marble. But he could see.
Ren raised his real hand. On the screen in his mind, the giant raised a hand.
[Visual Feed: Stable.] [Range: 50 Meters.]
"Hello, World," Ren whispered.
He mentally pushed a command: Go.
The Roach spun around, its copper legs blurring. It scuttled away from Ren, moving surprisingly fast. It climbed the side of the dumpster, the magnetic feet finding grip on the rusted metal.
Ren closed his left eye, focusing entirely on the feed.
The Roach crested the top of the dumpster and looked out at the street.
The Slums were waking up. People were emerging from their hovels. He saw the Black Serpent gang members, the ones who had chased him, regrouping down the block. They were shouting, kicking over trash cans, looking for the "rat" who collapsed the wall.
Ren watched them from the safety of the shadows.
He saw the leader, the one with the shock baton, standing by a food stall. The leader was angry, distracted. He hung the baton on his belt, the handle dangling loose.
Ren felt a cold calculation override his fear.
He had a spy. He had a weapon (the dagger). And he had a distraction.
"Battery is at 2%," Ren noted. "Enough for one job."
He severed the link. His vision snapped back to his own body.
He picked up the Roach, which had returned to him like a loyal pet. He tucked the cold metal spider into his pocket.
The hunger in his stomach was fierce, but the hunger in his mind was stronger. He needed more energy for the Logic Drive. He needed to recharge it.
And he knew exactly where to find a high-capacity battery.
Ren stood up, brushing the dust from his coat. He looked toward the street where the gang leader was shouting.
"Nice shock baton," Ren said softly. "I think I'll take it."