312 Animator (1/2)
”Any issues concerning the other Overlords?”
Leva shook her head. ”Xia has gone out of her way to ally herself with me; her position as Advisor to the Five is advantageous to us.”
”Hmm... She has other allegiances, let us exercise some caution around her.”
Leva licked her dark lips nervously; her black forked tongue flickered quickly before disappearing. She bowed slightly, causing her raven-like wings to drag the floor. ”I will do as you say, Nix.”
Nix nodded. ”Now that you've got a handle on things here, I'm going to be requiring more help from you in Everspire.”
Leva offered him her version of a smile, with her fangs and predator like features, others might have found it terrifying. ”I look forward to it, Nix.”
”A curse has temporarily hampered my Breach Commander abilities; I'm going to need you to fulfill that duty for me.”
”My Dark Chancellor abilities is a lesser version of the Breach Commander talent tree.” Leva brought up her Dark Chancellor Interface for Nix to look at.
”You can open a breach anywhere you've been, right?” Nix searched his inventory and removed the golden razir. ”Inhabit this, and I'll bring you back to my place.”
Leva nodded, ”After that, I should be able to open Breaches there. How did you get here if your Breach Commander abilities are disabled?”
”My armor has an ability called Nether Walker.”
”You have Azul Khan's armor?” Leva examined Nix's gear; it looked like regular clothes. ”The Emperor's armor could look like normal clothes when he wanted them to.”
”It's the King's set,” Nix admitted.
”You can take a few people with you when you move around the breach. I've seen him do it in the past.”
”Take a seat and animate this razir. Then I'm going to return home.” Nix saw a bit of hesitation in Leva's dark eyes. ”What?”
”Nix... Could you summon Ducky to talk to me?”
Nix laughed at the expression on her face. Leva seemed to have a fondness for the person who caused their demise.
[Summons: Ducky]
Ducky appeared a moment later, her face lighting up when she saw Leva.
”Leva!” Ducky offered her a quick hug before turning back to Nix. ”We on a mission, Nix?”
Nix shook his head. ”Stay and keep Leva company, she'll bring you back in a bit.”
Leva looked down at the Razir on her lap and focused; a moment later, she was looking up at herself. The tiny Razir darted toward Nix and ran up his leg.
”Unfortunately, this isn't an Emperor level puppet, so we can't communicate.”
[Nether Walker: Return]
Nix reappeared in his home a moment later. It was empty, just as it was when he left it. He held up the Razir to his face. ”Release the puppet and attempt to open a breach here.”
Nix breathed a sigh of relief a moment later when a breach opened, and Ducky stepped through with Leva. ”Good job. You can stay until Fajii gets back.”
****************
Nix stared at the queue for the Animator Interface; he had been forced to use it when Una animated the Arch-Nemesis puppet. Was the Animator Interface the last stage of Taxidermy? He'd never heard any mention of the title. ”For once, couldn't Colonial come with a damn manual?”
”What hun?” Hyai spoke from the kitchen where she was making dinner.
”He's bitching again Hyai, ignore him.” Pon's gruff voice reminded Nix that the old bastard had been watching him for the past hour.
”Don't you have somewhere else to be old man?”
”Not really,” Pon admitted. ”Make something for f*cks sake.”
”I have figured it out. This animator interface makes things.”
Pon clapped from the nearby couch. ”Wow... You've become enlightened.”
Nix ignored him and continued. ”I've used fifty pelts from a dozen different animals. Depending on the type of pelt, the Interface decides what kind of creature it is.”
Pon squinted his eyes when Nix enlarged the interface. ”It says, small creature between 2 and 8 pounds.”
”Here's the cool part,” Nix added the teeth he purchased from the auction house to the second queue slot. Immediately the Interface changed to a Small predator between 2 and 8 pounds.
Nix switched them out with different teeth, and the Interface changed to small herbivore. ”The pelts decide the size; the teeth decide type.”
Pon moved to the seat beside him so he could watch closer. ”What are those slots beneath them?”
”Let me show you the notes I've been taking. There are five major queue slots in the Animator Interface.”
[Queue One: Size Designator] Furs, feathers, skins.
[Queue Two: Type of creature] Beaks, bills, teeth]
[Queue Three: Movement] Hooves, feet, wings, fins
[Queue Four: Natural Defenses] Bones, shell, exoskeleton.
[Queue Five: Essense] Spirits, possessed items, curses.
”Frankenstein lives.” Pon whistled, ”make this old man something cool!”
Nix brought up the hud for the auction house and started searching. ”There aren't any strong essences in the Auction House. So its life span might be a few months.”
Pon confiscated the hud. ”I'll do the searching; you focus on the assembly. We'll use the pelts you already have in the first queue.”
Nix laughed at Pon's excitement. ”Okay, find us some chompers.”
”Exusian duckbill,” Pon purchased ten bills and continued searching.
Nix cursed the lack of instructions. ”Do I use five bills? Or fifty?”
Pon shrugged. ”One for starters, we're experimenting.”
”After two queues, it's designated as a small carnivore.” Nix moved to the third queue. ”Movement type.”
”Otter feet!” Pon grinned and made the purchase.
”Old bastard, you're making a platypus.”
Pon cackled like a mad scientist. ”Yes!”
”Any bone chips or fragments?”
Pon frowned at the auction hud. ”Only rat bones.”
Nix considered the bones. ”Rat bones are nice and flexible; let's do it. Look for spirit essence.”
Pon scowled at the hud; he was a man of low patience. ”Fine.”
”Want to stop Old man?”
”Stop? No, I don't want to stop. Put them in there!” Pon continued to search the auction house; after several minutes, he could find nothing.
Nix brought up a second hud and started looking. ”Found one!” Nix showed Pon the auction item.
Aquatic Ring
Description: Simple ring
infused with the spirit of
a Bolo fish. Grants the wearer
underwater breathing.
Nix added it to the last queue and then showed Pon. ”Check out the description, too; we'll skip enhancements for now.”