Chapter 126: 79 – Heart of Copper, Part 5

“Amara, when you said you had an android body I could use…I expected it to have hands.” Ahrina’s voice came sourly from a set of speakers in the corner of the training room. Together with a camera, microphone and screen placed next to them, the AI could now communicate in both the computer room and training room independently. 

Amara shrugged, grinning as she watched how Ahrina positioned SlaughterBot’s bladed arms in front of the cameras on its head. “SlaughterBot wasn’t intended to be a capable assistant, but a sparring partner.”

“I want to be able to do more than sparring!” Ahrina replied moodily, crossing her avatar’s arms on the screen. “If I have a drone that is more capable, I could help you with other tasks. I could even create new drones on my own after that if I have the materials and tools required.”

Goosebumps spread on Amara’s skin. But rather than being fearful, she felt excited. 

Now there’s a thought…if Ahrina had a small army of drones, she would be able to handle all the cross-realm information distribution and lead the development of technology in the mortal worlds. Maybe even manufacturing, and…

Realizing how much of her unpaid labor she could delegate to Ahrina as long as they created a few drones for her, a wry smile quickly spread on her face.

There would be no more need for the mortals in Ezme’s domain to ask her to ask me to do something, they could just ask Ahrina and she would be able to solve it in most cases. If it’s related to information it’ll be all cases, as long as she has the information on her harddrives.

Leaving more time for me to do research in the process!

“I suppose we could have a factory or two set up for you in Ezme’s domain. We can just make your first drones here - or snatch them from some of the robotics companies on Earth, if there’s any that suit our needs - and drop them there via a portal.” Amara said in a contemplative tone as Ahrina was testing out SlaughterBot’s mobility. “You should have one on Teyrin too, but that will take a bit longer since we can’t send anything there physically. Once they’ve made their first computer we can send over the schematics for a drone to get you started there as well.”

“It doesn’t matter if it takes time.” Ahrina replied, putting her fists against her hips as she pushed out her chest. “Because once I gain a foothold, none will be able to stop me! Hyah! Hyah! Hyah!” 

“Yeah, whatever you say.” Amara snorted with a wry smile.

“Are you disrespecting me?!” Ahrina exclaimed. “You think I’m joking?”

“No, I don’t.” Amara replied with a grin. “But you say it like you have some evil intentions. Such as conquering the mortal worlds.”

“But I will conquer them!” Ahrina protested as her avatar pouted on the screen. 

“Yeah, sure.” Amara snorted as she joked. “Just don’t make a mess in the process.”

“Oh, I won’t!” Ahrina replied while grinning. 

Amara shook her head in amusement as she watched how Ahrina piloted SlaughterBot. For a sentient AI, they were surprisingly robotic; sharp and sudden movements, rather than the somewhat smooth flow that biological beings had. 

It was not as if Amara didn’t understand why that was. While programming SlaughterBot, she had realized that the inherently sharp movements weren’t because they were inferior to the movement of biological beings. Rather they were superior; if a robot could remember the inputs required to end up in a specific stance, they could reproduce it without hesitation from then on. 

In short, the movements of biological beings were smooth because they were clumsy. Robots were clumsy as well, but for a different reason - they didn’t have the mind to detect that something had gone wrong, unless it was programmed into them. 

But with an intelligent entity like Ahrina at the helm there was no clumsiness to be seen once she had discovered the possible movements of SlaughterBot. 

Amara grinned as she picked up a sword and glanced at Ahrina’s avatar. “How about taking it to the next level with a spar?”

The catgirl’s ears drooped before Ahrina replied anxiously. “I don’t want to hurt you, even if it is by accident during a spar. So I need to determine how strong you are first.”

Amara nodded with a smile. “Got it.”

For the next half hour, Amara was led through a series of stances - both realistic and unrealistic ones for combat - for which Ahrina would gauge how Amara's strength faired against SlaughterBot's attacks.

Amara knew that she was strong enough to parry all kinds of attacks that SlaughterBot could do, since she was well aware of how strong her own creation was. Standing two meters tall and one and a half meter wide, the robot would probably be considered on the larger side by most people from Earth, as it was larger than two people stood next to each other.

However, the robot was as small as it could and needed to be for what Amara had intended; keeping up with her when it came to strength and speed. And to achieve that, it had ended up growing larger and larger - and Amara didn't bother optimizing the positioning of everything perfectly for a prototype.

In the end, she had achieved her goal; SlaughterBot had managed to keep up with her - when it came to the physical strength of it, at least. It had reached the point where if Amara had been a regular human from Earth, then she didn’t doubt that she would have easily lost in a fight.

But with her overblown stats since her ascension, there were few non-divine beings that could compete with her raw strength. As such, she managed to absorb every blow Ahrina threw at her; sometimes only using one hand.

Depending on the angle she was holding the sword and the force Ahrina put into the blow however, there were times when she had difficulty keeping her arm from shaking. It didn’t take long before the stances Ahrina picked for her became increasingly awkward, making it difficult for Amara to make use of her strength properly, forcing her to use divine power to absorb the blows. They were the kinds of unrealistic combat stances she would never really end up in other than if she had panicked and wasn’t able to dodge - which was Amara’s real expertise.

Raising an eyebrow after one of the blows, Amara threw a glance at the catgirl on the screen to the side of the room. “I had to use divine power again. Are these really necessary?”

“Obviously, I need to estimate your weakest points!” Ahrina exclaimed with a grin. “How else will I be sure you will be able to parry my blows?”

“I won’t end up in those positions though? I prefer to dodge or deflect attacks over parrying.” Amara retorted. “And you can stop your attacks if you see I can’t defend myself, can’t you?”

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“...I see your point.” Ahrina conceded. “Very well. Let’s give it a try, but I’ll be careful in the beginning.”

“Not expecting much of me, are you?” Amara grinned as she took a proper stance. “Lets!”

The duel began much like Amara’s duels had been with SlaughterBot without Ahrina present - with the exception that there was no longer a delay between the attacks. Ahrina was capable of foresight that SlaughterBot never was, and could chain her attacks. 

And once Ahrina gained confidence that Amara wasn’t going to get injured easily, the pace of the duel quickened.

Amara had begun sweating profusely from the exercise, and realized she was grinning when Ahrina was lunging at her with SlaughterBot’s arm extended to slash at her, at the same time as her other arm was moving to stab afterwards.

Chopping sideways in front of her with her sword, Amara struck at the incoming blade to deflect it, but at the last moment, the incoming blade changed direction slightly, forcing Amara to parry the blow instead.

The moment the blades made contact, Amara felt that the pressure Ahrina had exerted in the attack was greater than ever before.

[Poph!]

A loud popping marked the sudden arrival of a brilliant yellow mist that filled the air. Amara flinched at the sound and jumped back - both to get away from the unknown mist and because she had lost track of where Ahrina’s other incoming attack was when the surprise event took her attention. 

Before she had managed to think about what could have happened, the mist had already faded. With a clear view of SlaughterBot, Amara could see that Ahrina had made the robot stop in its tracks when the fight was interrupted. 

And SlaughterBot’s arm - the one that had performed the last attack - was hanging limply with clear yellow liquid dripping from it. 

“What happened?” Ahrina asked anxiously. 

Amara let out a sigh as she glanced at the catgirl that was looking at her worriedly. “Looks like a hydraulic line burst.”

“Oh.” Ahrina’s ears drooped guiltily. “I’m sorry.”

Amara shrugged and approached the avatar. “Eh, it’s easily replaced so it’s nothing to worry about. Though you might want to put a bit less pressure on them.”

Ahrina tilted her head as she glanced at the crippled SlaughterBot. “Why not replace it with something better?”

“Well…I suppose we could.” Amara put her sword on the desk Ahrina’s screen was on as she looked at SlaughterBot thoughtfully. “But if they are a different size - which they likely will be - it will require other modifications to be done too. And then there might be other things that need to be changed as a result, which then lead to more modifications, and so on. It might just be better to build SlaughterBot two-point-oh, with the specs you want from scratch.”

“In which case it would be better to make my other drone-body first. One with hands.” (Ahrina)

Amara nodded. “Exactly.”

A silence descended between the two until Amara started feeling chilly after sweating for so long. “I need to take a bath. You can check in my workshop for what parts I have in the meantime so we can discuss the design of your new drone after.”

“Great!” Ahrina replied cheerfully.

As Amara headed towards the bathroom, Ahrina was making SlaughterBot follow her - even as she was about to enter the bathroom.

Amara raised an eyebrow at that. Oh, right. Gesturing towards the alcove that served as entry to the workshop, Amara spoke. “The workshop is over there.”

Ahrina looked at her for a while before she made SlaughterBot turn. 

Amara watched as the robot was moving away, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. That was easy. Figured she’d try to stay to watch me strip.

With a shake of her head, Amara entered the bathroom. Maybe she really was just messing with me before. 

But that belief was shattered a few minutes later. With her head laying on the edge of the pool as she was soaking in the warm water, she could hear SlaughterBot walking - coming closer.

With her brow furrowed in displeasure, Amara opened her eyes and let out a long sigh. 

Don’t. You. Dare.

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