Building a magic system on threat of destruction

The most surprising part of having his arms snap off was the reactions of everyone around him. He felt no pain from the breaks, but everyone rushed to him in moments. Steam bellowed from his steampunk side, pouring out of the break at a rapid rate. His clockwork side simply had a few gears fall out.

Reph quickly examined him and spoke calmly as he did so. "You're okay, it looks like it's just your arms. You aren't in any danger. Are you feeling okay?"

Jack felt a strange sense of disconnect. There was no pain, and he couldn't connect the thought of these arms to his own human arms. He wondered idly if he was disassociating before responding to Reph's questions. "I'm okay, it just surprised me." He turned to the dog animalus to check on the man. "Are you doing okay? I'm sorry I dropped you."

After confirming the man's health, Jack looked at the broken arms he now sported before sighing. He wouldn't be able to type effectively with this, meaning the experiments he could do were more limited. Reph had someone run for Glimm and Dirge before getting closer to Jack and whispering to him. "Your arms shouldn't have broken that way from carrying that man. I think your body overloaded itself, the gears spun too quickly and the steam pressurized too much. I think it was because you increased your [Power] stat." As he spoke, he began patching up the broken sections of the arms, doing short-term repair work.

Jack nodded silently at the speculation. He had thought that increasing a person's strength artificially like that might cause some problems, it was why he had tested on his own body. If there was some kind of accident, he could always get fixed up again. But his arms practically exploding from having too much strength? That was crazy. It could likely be avoided by increasing the body's toughness, making it more resilient to even itself. But this meant that experimenting with stats was far too dangerous. His [Power] stat was still increased as well, he would have to ask someone to lower it for him using the keyboard.

After a minute, Dirge and Glimm came running up with worry visible on their faces. Once they saw Jack sitting calmly in the grass though, they slowed to a jog. Dirge shook their head in amusement, "Just can't keep yourself in one piece can you?" the bore-bot joked.

Glimm gave them a sharp look, admonishing the poor joke before turning to Jack. "We can get you back to the lab and fix you up. Come on-" but Jack was shaking his head.

"I don't have time. This group only has so much time with me before they have to attend to their other duties. If I'm not in danger of exploding or something then I need to keep working."

The three bore-bots looked at each other, seeming to come to a silent agreement. "We can patch up your arms, but you really will need to get back to the lab soon. I can give you an hour." Reph said sternly.

It would have to do. Jack nodded before calling out instructions to the assembled mercenaries. He could still have them try out various skills and debate the values of the different stats.

A group of five figures stood around the corner of a nearby building, peeking in on the abomination at work.

"How can they stand to be near it? Even if the High Deity ordered its creation, they should know better than to touch the thing." a clockwork bore-bot spoke in hushed tones, disgust in her voice.

A demon nodded next to her, "King Plexion died for that thing? There's something else going on here." His face twisted into a grimace as he saw one of his own people helping Jack.

A draconid hummed softly to itself in contemplation, before speaking in a low rumbling voice. "I wonder how it tastes."

The human twins of the group both kicked him in the legs, causing him to hiss in pain. "Stop being such a creep!" one of the girls said. "He's a freak of nature, but that doesn't mean you can eat him." the other chimed in.

The five of them were an odd group, companions at times or barely acquaintances at others. But they had all found a commonality, revulsion at the newcomer into the compound. This Jack character was sent by the High Deity, which meant he was important. But why this body? Why the flippant attitude about the God of gods? He had implied that he was doing the High Deity a favor by being here, creating this strange new magic that seemed to be more dangerous than helpful. He had already removed someone's ability to walk, then he had destroyed his own arms!

The demon spoke, "Do you think...that perhaps the God of gods wishes harm to befall this Jack?"

The others turned to him, surprise on their faces. He continued, "When the High Deity ordered for the people of the world to investigate King Plexion and stop what he was doing, he was put to death within weeks. Then the people of the world were granted this...reward. There was no reason for the king's death, but a reward was still given. Why else would the High Deity broadcast this location to the whole world, knowing who will come hunting Jack?"

The bore-bot seemed to consider this. "The ruling council back home won't like this. Honestly, they might try to lock him up and kill him in secret."

The draconid interjected, "If they tried to take him away, there would be war. Stealing a reward from the High Deity and hiding it somewhere? Too dangerous to leave alone."

One of the twins nodded in agreement and the other spoke up. "So should we kill him?"

The rest of the group froze, eyes focused on the twin who had spoken. She looked back at them casually, no fear showing in her expression. "Think about it, someone is going to come kill Jack. The High Deity might even reward them for it. Why shouldn't we be the ones to do it?"

The demon offered a reason. "Riniox."

The group all nodded in agreement, that was a compelling argument. The woman would surely find out if they killed Jack, and considering protecting him was now a part of her year-long contract...they likely wouldn't be walking away from this job.

"Then we wait for an opportunity, or at least allow someone else to take advantage of an opportunity." The draconid offered.

The group nodded. One way or another, Jack needed to die.

The heroes' procession marched closer to their destination. A humble spot in the middle of nowhere. An out-of-the-way valley complex that was so far removed from civilization, that no one had known where it was without extensively studying the maps. The gathering of twenty people represented the group that had taken it upon themselves to serve the High Deity above all others. Priests, paladins, and scribes who had heard the call and answered. They had slain the king of all demons according to the mission given to them by the God of gods.

Their leader was a demon named Lexel. He had worked in the palace Plexion as a chef, managing the food for the entire castle. When the High Deity had called for the death of his king, he acted immediately. He began poisoning the king's food that very day, just a small amount to weaken him gradually so that others could strike the final blow more easily. In the days that followed, his king had shown no signs of worry. Plexion believed that his people were more loyal to him than the God of gods. What a fool he was, the noose tightened every day as more and more palace staff joined the cause.

The day representatives from other countries arrived, the trap was sprung. Palace gates were flung open wide and guards ran not to protect the king, but to subdue him. Many had died in this act, Plexion was a powerful mage, even when weakened with poison, but Lexel had clung to him despite the danger. He had held the king down as others plunged blades into the now-dead man.

Lexel looked back on that moment fondly, it marked a new age for all. Truly, the High Deity was a gracious being. He had brought an angelic being into the world to bestow a gift upon the underserving people. None of the priests knew anything about this supposed Jack, there was no scripture about Deis having a servant (outside of the people of Drowl of course). Truly this Jack would be a being of unknowable depth and beauty and would reward Lexel for his devotion to the most wonderful God of gods.

He knew that those he traveled with felt much the same. They were all eager, no, they were ecstatic to reach their destination. Monarchs the world over had given them the right of way, allowing them to be the first to experience the holy blessings that Deis would bestow upon them. They were only a day from their destination. One more day and they would have their reward.

Jack sat in the basement lab, thinking about what to do next. They had done some more tests with skills, trying to find differences in learning times or difficulty in acquiring skills. Talk about stats was slow going, it was so difficult to quantify things like intelligence or charisma. How do you even assign that a number anyway? It was another thing he would need to talk to Deis about. Honestly, the number of things he needed to talk to Deis about was getting longer by the hour.

Reph, Glimm, and Dirge were getting their tools and parts ready. They were going to fix up his arms, and Jack had asked if they could improve the amount of mana he could use to cast spells as well. They had said they would try, but couldn't guarantee anything.

"Hey, Reph! Any chance you guys can turn this body off so I can go back and talk to Deis?" Jack asked.

The three paused, and then Reph spoke. "We can...if that's what you would like. It would make our work easier, but I don't know when we will be done. Increasing your mana...well your body is so complex that it's difficult to find the right balance. We are still studying how the three types of internals interact."

Jack thought about this. "Tell you what, if you guys can't figure it out after a day or two then just switch my body back on and we can figure something else out. Last time my soul just got sucked into this body before I knew what was happening, so if you turn me back on I should hop right back in."

Glimm looked thoughtful at those words, but Dirge grimaced. Reph nodded, "We can do that, good luck up there."

With that, Jack lay down. The last thing his mechanical eyes saw was Dirge waving goodbye as Reph pulled something out of his head.