Dr. Gynoid, Volume 1, Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Chapter 11

“Uuguu~” Ryza plops down, looking exhausted.

“Hmm.” Miss Secretary takes out a notebook and begins writing. “Seems the experiments are complete.”

“R-really!?”

“For today.”

“Only today!?”

“This is for your benefit as much as my own.”

“Explain how dumping acid on me helps me in any way!”

“It was barely acidic.” Miss Secretary finishes her notes and puts the notebook away. “But thanks to it, I can now do this without hesitation.”

She pulls a vial out, filled with a purple liquid. After a quick pop of the cork, an acrid smell begins to fill the air.

“W-what's that…?”

“Acid. Several times stronger than the last batch.”

“You said the experiments were over!?” Ryza begins scurrying away, even as she remains on the floor.

“This isn't an experiment.” Miss Secretary follows her with calculated steps. “It's a demonstration.”

“Nooo!”

Despite her scream, Miss Secretary dumps the acid on Ryza's exposed arm.

“It burns! It bur–huh?” Ryza stops and looks at the purple goop dripping down her arm. “It doesn't burn?”

“It's the expected result.” The notebook returns, with a few more notes being jotted down. “You've obtained a resistance to acid, so something this weak can't harm you anymore.”

“Eh!? Really!? So I'm like … invincible!?”

Miss Secretary hits Ryza on the head with the notebook.

“Ow!” She rubs at her head.

“Do you feel invincible?”

“No!”

“Then there's your answer.”

Despite her playful demeanor, Ryza isn't an idiot. She quickly understands what Miss Secretary is showing her.

“No wonder,” Ryza says. “I once got so cold that I nearly turned into a popsicle! But after that one time, I always felt like the cold didn't bother me much anymore.”

“Indeed. You've got a special skill that automatically gives you resistance to any elemental effect that causes you damage. Burning, freezing, acid, poison, and many other damage types are included. Unfortunately, physical attacks aren't part of your acquired resistances.”

“So I'm invincible to everything but physical!?”

Miss Secretary pulls out yet another vial, this one filled with a bubbling, green goop. “Would you like to test that theory?”

Ryza eyes the vial with fear. “No! No, I don't!”

“A wise choice.” The vial disappears back to wherever Miss Secretary keeps her supplies. “Every skill has its limits. But you can certainly survive elemental attacks that would kill most others. The reason you didn't acquire most of your resistances is simply because of your sheltered life as a princess. But I've rectified that small problem today.”

“Wow!” Ryza stands and grabs Miss Secretary's sapphire-like hands. “So you did all this for my sake! Thank you!”

The gynoid turns away, looking uncharacteristically shy. “Perhaps…”

While the two girls were having fun, I've been inspecting the new addition to my domain.

The processing plant that turns raw materials into useful products used to be attached to the storage warehouse. Such a setup made sense at first, as we lacked manpower to move materials around efficiently and didn't have the technologies to do it without manual labor.

But with the new resources we've gathered and the upgrades provided by Miss Smith, our options have expanded. As such, our base needs to expand with it.

“Excellent work, Terraformer.”

The specially created golemite stands proud, the pointy hat flopping just a bit as it moves.

“Enhancing your stone manipulation abilities was a wise choice, as expected. Well worth the GP it took to upgrade them.”

Behind the Terraformer is a conveyor belt, the raw materials from the warehouse riding along the moving belt at speeds high enough that it can't be mistaken for one meant to transport people.

“With this, we can move materials from the warehouse to the processing plant even faster than before, greatly speeding up my domination of this cave! And…”

I turn to another conveyor belt. This one is moving in the opposite direction, going from the processing plant to the warehouse.

Instead of raw material, it's filled with processed items like iron and gunpowder. Since we converted the old processing area in the warehouse into material storage, it only made sense to fill it with finished items ready to be put to use by Miss Smith.

With this system, the golemites can efficiently move the materials around to where they need to be, freeing up many of them to perform other essential tasks, like expanding my domain or exploring the depths.

“Dr. Gynoid! Dr. Gynoid!” Ryza comes running over. “I'm invincible! Let's go take back the castle from those bandits! I'll blast them with my boomstick! And beat them with my staffstick! And stick them with my boomstaff!”

She waves around her scepter and shotgun, as if she were fighting the enemies who took over her castle.

“No, thanks.”

“Eh!? Why!?”

“I’m finally making good progress on my domain. I've got production facilities running, golemites delving deeper, and now…” I point to a group of golemites heading my way, led by Assassin. “The scouts have returned.”

“Y-yeah, but if we don't do something…”

“Against how many bandits?”

“Umm … I'm not sure.”

“How strong is their leader?”

Ryza's shoulders droop. “I'm not sure.”

“Who do they work for?”

“I don't know…”

“So many unknowns.”

Ryza finally understands just how dangerous it would be to rush into the capital. But just because she understands doesn't mean she's happy about it.

“Then I'll go,” she says. “Even if I die, I can't just sit in this cave while the people in the city suffer under their rule.”

Ryza gives me a curtsy. “Thank you for everything, Dr. Gynoid. Because of you, I managed to escape, get a new weapon, and learn about my special skill. I hope that you're able to build a great domain in this cave with your golemites and gynoids.”

Stubby leaps up and down at Ryza's feet, asking to be picked up. She reaches down and lifts him, bringing the golemite up to her face.

“You're saying you want to come with me? Thank you, Stubby. But it's too dangerous. I'm sorry.”

Stubby keeps wiggling in her hands. The runt of a golemite doesn't even have arms, but it would certainly be waving them around if he did.

There is another golemite here. Artillery has been riding my shoulder ever since our last trip into the depths, his eyes staring at the side of my face.

“Well.” Ryza puts Stubby back onto the ground. “I'm off. Thank you once again, Dr. Gynoid. I hope we meet again someday.”

Hmm.

I rub my chin, my gaze on Assassin and the scouts, who are approaching with armfuls of materials.

They found it. Excellent.

“Stop.”

Ryza halts her steps and turns back to me. “Yes?”

“If you go alone, you'll just sacrifice yourself needlessly.”

“Probably. But I have to try.”

“What you need are allies capable enough to fight the bandits alongside you.”

“Yes, but the city soldiers have all been captured.”

“Then you'll just have to get another army.”

Ryza tilts her head a bit. “Where?”

Assassin stops in front of me and proudly shows off the materials he managed to gather while exploring. Within those items is a silvery metal that's far too shiny and beautiful to be iron.

“Where?” Reaching down, I grab that piece of metal from his arms. “Here in my domain, of course.”

“Eh? But didn't you just say you wouldn't help?”

“No. I said it was too dangerous without the proper intel and preparation. But with this, it's only a matter of time before we're ready to march out.”

Ryza stares at the silvery metal. “What is it?”

“Silver Damascus, a type of metal that unlocks a combat-oriented skill tree when used in golemite creation. With this, I can create an army specialized for battle.”

“Eh…?” Ryza's sad face regains a bit of hope. “Then, does that mean…?”

“Assassin. Deliver this directly to the production facility and prioritize it over all other materials. Then, I have a new mission for you.”

The small golemite looks like it wants to salute, but its arms are full of material, so it just ends up shaking a bit before walking away.

I turn and meet Ryza's eyes. “Two days. In two days, I will be ready.”

“Really!?” A full-blown smile blooms on her face. “Thank you so much, Dr. Gynoid!”

I turn from her. “Hmph. It's just a necessary goal in my path to domination.”

I also need to prepare. And that means…

“Ryza, get your weapons ready.” I pull out my shotgun. “We're going exploring.”