The Automated King

The Second task

The king of the sky, the holy sun, has reigning. It is resting on the perpetual throne as infinite commemoration to the sacred emergence. The man, in his euphoria, unfurled the curtain by his blinding bravado to welcome the grace of the shimmering light.

“Humans are puny, huh.”

In his pleasure, Reginald is writing his daily diary of powers. The total of seven pages were scribbled with tables, marks of his careful annotations of his ability and prowess.

“Hmmm, overall, there are 2 abilities that I could conjure off my body. The first one is quite useful for covert mission. I don’t really have to be concerned over the dream one, since it’s kind of too imaginative for me. The how of those ability was still in question, though.”

Reginald is reviewing all the notes in studious mannerism. He crossed out several materials that might not feasible to concoct and retry.

“The second traits would be apprehensive to talk about. My toilets, bed sheets, and a few dents of my desk were busted by the sprinkle of acid from my body. The cause itself is a bad fortune for me, too.”

He is shaking his heads in embarrassment by the flash memories of excruciating agony down his head.

“so, what’s on my headline for today? Merry had injected me with painkillers back then, could this be the cue for me?”

Along with his fluttering hands, Reginald is warming up to prepare for his regular stretch of the day.

“Heads.”

He is exhaling aimlessly to his surroundings.

“Hmm, how could I notice if my breath would get people passed out? I have no sparring partners for this, unless... Ah, let’s stash this one away for Marion. Step two...”

Reginald is looking upon his nails and fingers, carefully overviewing each and every single one of them in careful motion.

“No formation of needle-like nail or protracted skin that would bear resemblance of any kind with the actual ones. Next!”

He is averting the attention to his legs.

“Nothing down here too, what about.. haha, it’s too vulgar.”

Reginald then back into his steady state.

“Time to wear my uniform for today, then. The blissful managerial duty, here I come.”

---

Reginald is sauntering off the roadside in joy, hopping in salutation of the morning bless. He is in delight of Monday, his favorite day of the week, in contrary to the common humans of the block that might be discontent with the value of such sentiment.

“Hello, mother nature! Hello, there, young lady!!”

The gloomy aura were emanated from the left of Reginald. It’s Marion with her frowny expression, seasoned the patch of grass in disgust.

“... Oh, right, Reginald and his oddity. How in the world can you get so happy, for god’s sake? Your wretched grin is spooking me out.”

“Oh, my, a bewitchment of my humble neighbors. Here, smell my blissful puff.”

Reginald is blowing his breath to Marion in delight.

“Yuck. What’s wrong with you, airhead? Are you mocking me?”

“No, I wanted to share my bliss, just like what I said before.”

“And this is the payment.”

Marion is throwing her stoic punch to Reginald with full might, knocking him down to the road pavement in advance.

“Thank you for the consideration. Have yourself a beautiful, cheesy day.”

She left the fallen in her wrath, alongside the painful hand by the erupted concession of the dispute on her accounts.

“Oww... It hurts.... Huh? No bruise of the kind, somehow.... Interesting.”

He is pulling out the small memo book off his bag and quickly record the sudden encounters for the notes to cover.

---

By the sunset, Reginald is rushing to the headquarters for a check-up of his renewed prowess. However, only Merry and her equipment is present on site, even though it's all that he needs to talk with at this moment.

“Hello, Regi, long time no see.”

“Yo, Merry. I have a great news for you, emm, for me, as well.”

“Please, be seated. Fill me in with small details, I need to sleep early this time around.”

Reginald is sitting down to one of the couch in front of Merry that were separated by a prone-looking glass table in the middle.

“And sorry, no more tea for the night.”

“Nah, don’t need those. Alright, to be straight, I’ve awakened a new traits. The superhuman one, if you don’t get it.”

“It’s not a headline for me.”

“I've named this one as ‘invincible, ’ and no, it’s not something with the transparent features for that one.”

“I’m not dumb, Regi. Continue.”

“This morning I’ve met my neighbor. The slink, I mean Maria, shook me with her fist, and bam!! It’s no injury, even if it’s still hurt anyways.”

Reginald is jumping up and down, mimicking a boxer in front of the clueless Merry.

“So, in the other words, my anesthesia is the culprit?”

“I guess this is the case, indeed.”

“However, this is nightfall already. To recount on the list, no other quest is vacant for you to take over, especially alone. What are you going to do about it?”

“Oh, okay. I might be laying low to test my hypothesis, if there’s no one to assist for.”

“Ermm, hypothesis? What is it, Mr. Young scholar?”

“If there’s not a single peculiar engagement with some outer-reactive experience, I could retain this talent for more than 24 hours.”

“It’s a so-so from me, then. Wish you luck with this experiment, bye, see ya, adios, cheerios!!”

Merry is yawning heavily, messing her smile of farewell in a split second afterwards.

“Yo, Merry. I don’t wanna disturb you, after all. Have a good time.”

---

The sky is still dark, parallel to the cold embrace of the wind. It’s well-suited hours for a mini-jog for me.

(Huff-puff)

Nah,  the chilling touch of air is freezing me out. It’s not a good time for fooling around with the fog. Hmm, what’s the most pleasant way to waste time? Watching TV, perhaps?

“This is a warning message, follow the instructions accordingly.”

Hey, it’s Repugnare’s logo. How did they... It’s Marion, too.

“There’s a breach over one of our smaller gates. We need your help immediately, fellow saviors. Scan the coordinates down below into your bracelet for easy tracking.”

An infiltration? By whom?

“It’s the gang of Puffer-fish. I repeat, the gang of Puffer-fish. I recommend these emergency mission for you with resistance to their poison, but several assists from ranged support of any kind would be needed.

Remember, do not let the civilians know about this. You’ll receive a handsome commission if this applied to your success, and compensation of damages if you are failed to adhere with this command. Thank you for your attention, and stay safe.”

Puffer-fish, a poisonous delicacy, legacy of our ancestors. They were once a prey, now they returned as predator. I wonder how much knowledge and competence that they have developed throughout the period.

Anyway, did I have those powers from yesterday, though?

Mmm, my nerve is not sensing any painful ignition if it’s running by self-impact. What about this one?

(Bam!)

Uh, It’s hurt. No remarks or bruise of any kind to count upon my knuckles.

“Hey, it’s still morning, ya impudent brats!! Quit your domestic violence and go back to sleep!!”

“Sorry, my unknown next-door fam! Won’t do that again.”

I wanna pop to the scene by this minute, although I am not sure if this is adequately prepared.These ‘alien’ intruders brought myself into joy. Are they stretched up their fins to be the foundation? Or is it mutated wholly to be its activated limbs?

The nourishment of knowledge, wait for me!!

---

My map tells me to set off by this road, but why is no one attending? Is the call not reaching all of the members? I need to ask about this with somebody. Oh, one of the police robot is roaming nearby.

“Scanning....... Welcome, Repugnare’s savior 00532. Please state your basis for coming to this place.”

Ummm, to rescue someone, perhaps?

“I saw the emergency call from TV. Did these mission open for public?”

“Scanning...... It is relative to the ability that you possess, Mr. Reginald Lambardi. Please clarify your ability to the system before passing through the wall.”

“ I don’t have ideas for it, yet. Brief me over the danger, Mr. LORD.”

“Bzzztt.... It’s Jeremy of Repugnare..... To explain the situation in short, this Pufferfish has enormous sharp-edged poison barb foiled its entire organs. Wherever you touch, the barbs would puncture your skin. We could contain the creature for now, but we don’t have certainty over how long it will take.”

Okay... the poison is extended to its skin, not only residing within the organs, got it.

“For the ability that I possess, My skin is impenetrable of strong contact that primarily would injure me. In other terms, I can’t be wounded, even though I don’t know of how much the sense of pain would be afterwards.”

“Processing....... Mr. LORD’s main hub has contacted the headquarters over your upcoming, Mr. Reginald Lambardi. Please move along to the zone of combat accordingly.”

“Thank you, Mr. LORD!!”

Ellen has given me her grace from afar. She might be relished of my volition to battle my own argument with experience, or something in-between. Such a nice rocky grandma to have.