Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG

2.53 New Ride

While Squad Four-One, Eddie, and Frogger still fought for their achievements, Flora experimented with her magic and magical perception.

Now and then, she jotted down notes on her new robot−virtually of course, the flames from the hotplate would incinerate paper in a matter of seconds. Initially, she wanted to base her future mount on the Hungry Chest. However, most of her previous adventures took place in sewage systems or the narrow corridors of the Doom Moon. The 3x3x3 meter robot vehicle was too big. Nonetheless, she wanted to have her robots with her in case of a surprise attack (1), so she needed the space to transport them as well.

Must have:

- Enough space for me, 1-2 octopussy, 1-2 Gollies, 1-2 turrets

- Able to be stored in my inventory (max 3x3x3 meters)

- Navigate most of the possible terrains: city, forest, caves

- High defense

- A bit of offense

Nice to have:

- Speed

- Flying or at least hovering or swimming

- Underwater capabilities

- Fighting capabilities

- Self-repair feature

- Low mana-reg per min, or at least high utility for the cost

- It should be a toaster or at least a home appliance for the Church of Evailyn bonus

Flora stared at her list. There was a solution. "Let's build a transformer!"

While Flora was excited, more and more of her companions dropped out of the race. Only Frogger, who started later, still flung magic like a possessed man. Mia, Eddie, and Shari continued channeling but did nothing else. Gram changed his strategy every few minutes and mixed channeling and casting spells interspaced by cursing. Dice hugged his dummy; now and then, he managed to conjure the power for one more hit. Cherrya had abandoned all visible activities and seemed to be reading.

Flowing Flowers to Shiny Frenemy: "I have to go! Now! To build a Killer-Robot-Transformer-Bike! Prepare for your back-rest to vanish!"

Shiny Frenemy to Flowing Flowers: "Haha, I'm used to you giving me the cold shoulder. I will survive a cold back, too."

Flowing Flowers to Shiny Frenemy: "As a warm brother, your back never gets cold."(2)

Shiny Frenemy to Flowing Flowers: "Zing! Homophobic Flora strikes again!"

Flora rolled her eyes but let him have the last word. There were more important things to do than verbal sparring, namely killer-robots to build! She logged out of her bedroom and landed in the Rat Climb in Deriga's workshop. Immediately, she dashed to the drawing board and started sketching.

Flora wanted a sleek design with lots of propellers. Weaponizable propellers! The robot should use them in killer-mode like a blender and carve up its enemies. Blenders of death, despair, and delicious smoothies! For the driver, she wanted just a cabin, maybe a capsule, and another cabin as a trailer. If she built them 1.2 m in diameter and 1.5m long, she would have enough space for herself, one guest, and 1-3 Octopussies or Gollys.

The propellers could be used to hover and for water movement too−if she added a rubber ring around them as wheels.

In fight mode, the propellers would prop up the cabins, and she had a 3-meter murder robot! Alright, the connections between the capsules and the cabins and the propellers had to be hardy. She wanted a maximum of moveability and security. Probably, impossible. But what if only one cabin moved vertical and the other stayed horizontal, like an erected caterpillar? If she added enough blenders, sorry propellers, it could still hurt the enemies but had fewer weak spots.