Dungeon Robotics 136

Happy Thursday! Why is it happy you ask? Well, no particular reason.... 

Well then onto the chapter!

Regan

The talks with the lords went about as expected. I was a bit disappointed they seemed unwilling to believe that the Demons could possibly return. Sure, it was only a theory, and if it wasn’t the demons and some other threat, at least we would be prepared then if they encountered a separated force on the planet that was more determined to kill each other. 

One thing I was absolutely sure of. Something was coming and in universe were magic and monsters were real, I didn’t want to be caught without a way to defend against the coming danger. Hell, it could be something capable of eating the planet itself and we’d all be screwed. 

I cleared the thoughts and looked at the lords. “Feel free to stay here until the problem is handled or return to your peoples to report about this place. All good things I’m sure,” I said with a grin. I noticed Louella sigh and had to suppress a chuckle.

Lord Ferinight cleared his throat before he replied. I couldn’t help but wonder if he wanted to stay longer. That was generally the reaction to things I created. “We will be deciding what to do soon. If we leave, we were wondering if we could leave from the east. It would help us avoid many of the obstacles in the way of reaching our homes.”

“Sure. There is an entrance to the city in each of the cardinal directions. I have changed the security protocols so that it is easier for people to approach, but I would still stress caution when approaching one of the entrances.”

“Understood.”

I stood up with Alara. “Well then,” I said nodding my head to them and making my way out. Louella and Nero followed behind, though Nero left on his own back to his group. Once we were down the hall a bit, I looked to Louella. “Not bad for first contact. Or I guess second contact if you count Rens.”

“How is the he?” Louella asked while we walked. “I had asked him to help protect the town before I left. Strange creatures were appearing and wreaking havoc.”

“Yes. That was partially my fault, but I’ve fixed it. As for Rens, I might have scared him a bit a few weeks ago. His staff was a shard of a dungeon core after all.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Louella mumbled as she shook her head. The sun spirits mimicking her. Those little girls were going to end up annoying someone. Though, I felt sorry for anyone that tried to pick a fight with them. Even though the were barely bigger than a hand, they were packed with enough mana to give most tier three people a run for their money. If they worked as a group, they were likely to be even more dangerous.

“Do you want me to send you back to the city? I’m sure there are a few people that would be more than happy to see you.”

“Yeah. I would appreciate that.”

I waved and sent her to her room in the castle. I made sure to message the automata that work the castle to inform Ezal and Valamar so they don’t think there is an intruder. That done, I turned to Alara. “Finally alone,” I said reaching down to take her hand and bringing it to my lips to place a kiss on the back of it. 

“You’re important, thus always busy,” Alara said but she was looking away and I could almost hear the pout in her voice. 

“I’m important and you’re important to me. Thus by the law of importance, your more important.”

Alara snickered before she turned back to me. “I’m not sure that’s a real thing, but I’ll believe you for now.”

I’m not sure how it happened, but we eventually made it to my core room. I suppose as a dungeon core, being near my body was calming. Ever since I made this avatar body, I was finding I spent more time in it then as the consciousness as the dungeon. I was still fully aware of most of what went on in my halls, but it was still strange at times.

I spent the rest of the evening with Alara. In the morning, she returned to her dungeon. She had fully reclaimed it with my help, but that meant that she would need to develop it more. Being in my dungeon and being around the mortals had given her a lot of ideas that she wanted to add to her dungeon. 

We were also talking about her creating a sub dungeon like mine. While they did take some mana to accelerate their growth, they were useful in moving around among other things. There were also a few experiments I wanted to test with her help, but that could wait for down the road.

Waving to Alara as her avatar broke into dust, I turned to the east and moved over to Steel Spire. It was close enough that I didn’t even need to work about a transponder, but the link between my main core and this one was probably the most solid of them all, besides the core at the center of Louella city. 

I looked at the surroundings from the top of the platform. This world was beautiful even if I was more inclined towards modern architecture. I could still appreciate the beauty of nature that hadn’t been strangled by humans yet. My time with Alara only served to strengthen my admiration.

Turning from the beauty, I looked upon another form of beauty. Steel Spire was fifteen hundred meters in the air. Only a few buildings ever reached this height on Earth, and I’d managed to do it within a few months of arriving on this planet. Looking back, I couldn’t help but wonder how my situation might be different if I had toned it down a bit back when I was starting out.

I created my jets and flew up to the top of the tower. I needed to create a special array so that I could bypass the interference that was plaguing my teleport and portal spells. I would have to create a matching array on the station, but I could reach it manually with my avatar body. My flight back at the other continent showed I could reach tremendous speeds and altitude with this body.

Had it been Earth, I would have escaped the atmosphere during that test, but Murgin was several times the size of Earth. That included its atmosphere. There had to be some form of magic, or the inclusion of magic allowed the planet to reach such a massive size and still allow life to flourish. The fact that gravity still clocked in at about the same as Earth’s was only the first hint of this fact.

Work on the array went quickly. I already had the transponder’s blueprint, it just needed to be modified to make it the distance of the station. By incorporating light magic and technology, I could easy handle that. Soon, three massive dishes stood at the top of the tower, with an assortment equipment making it quite a sight.

I leaned back to take in my handy work. “Not bad for a day’s work,” I said with a chuckle. Then laughed as I thought about the fact that I was about to send my mind through what basically amounted to a satellite uplink. It reminded me of the virtual reality games that I played for a time while trapped in that prison of a tower.

I still needed to create a receiver on the station, but that would only take a moment now that I’d built it once. My nature as a dungeon core allowed me to reproduce things in a fashion that put most craftsmen to shame. 

“Master!” I turned when I realized that Julie was standing behind me.

“Julie. How goes the hunt in the north?” I had assigned her and Anubis to track down any remaining necromancer cells. It was a grueling task that would likely take them months. I did wonder why she was here, but I was sure she was about to tell me that herself.

“It is proceeding well. The dungeons of the north have assisted us in this endeavor with many of them coming out of hiding. As you yourself are aware, nothing is better than having a dungeon when checking lands.”

“Isn’t that the truth. Then what brings you here?”

“I came at Duilin’s beckoning,” she spit at the name. Julie generally didn’t like being ordered around. Likely, she had only agreed since it would allow her to see me. Given her nature, I might need to devote some time to her every now and then, so she didn’t lose it. She cleared her throat. “Duilin believes that Wrakras is about to awaken. I was the only that could travel fast enough to bring you word. We were near the border checking the old Dwarven city after all.”

“About time. I was being to wonder if he was trying to make up for lost time. That’s good to hear. We will fly over to make sure nothing happens.”

Julie squealed in joy as she hopped up and did some sort of dance. I just watched on until she calmed down. “Right away! I would nothing more than to fly with you, master!”

I glanced back at the array, but decided that Wrakras was more important. Depending on how he took his body, he would be a force to reckon with. We were needing more of those as the days moved on. I moved into the air and Julie joined me with her giant black wings. “Right then. Lead the way.”

Julie took off, and I quickly followed her. It wasn’t long before there was a sonic boom as we broke the sound barrier. Julie seemed determined to show off so I allowed her free reign and kept pace with her. Soon we were going speeds that would have allowed for escape of the planet’s gravity. I always enjoyed actually pushing my body to the limit like this.

We reached the mountain pass in less than an hour. A true feat given the distance of the location. The dead scar flashing under us. Looking down, I saw that the undead the Beneath Expedition forces by the trolls and Kobolds had already been recreated. I would need to find more ways to get the unholy mana that tainted this area under control or it might snowball into an even bigger issue.

Following the pass, we eventually made it to the north territories. Julie turned further east. We crossed between fifteen hundred and two hundred thousand kilometers which reminded me just how large the continent was compared to the continents on Earth. It wasn’t long before part of the fleet came into view.

A large ruined city was under it. It made Louella’s city look like a toy. The city covered the land from edge to edge of my vision. I couldn’t even imagine how long it would take to survey the place. Not to mention, it was a dwarven city, so there was even more underground.

“Did this place have a name?” I asked as we came to a stop midair. I couldn’t help it, the sight was that breath taking. On the portion of the wall we could see, there were massive statues that seemed to rebel against time even with the damage they’d suffered over the years. Only that, but I could feel magic radiating from just about ever direction in the city.

“City of Iron Hammer. Once the greatest city that a dwarf could visit. Legend has it that a mithril mine allowed it to grow to this size.”

“A mithril mine?” Taking in the sight, I certainly believed that something of that value would be required for it to reach this size. A few minutes passed as I admired the view. 

“Wrakras, master?”

I looked away from the sight and nodded. We flew over to the ship that housed the man. I’d had left him back at the dungeon if I’d known it would take him this long. One of the deck workers ran over to meet us as we touched down on the deck. “Machine Father.”

“Good work. Do you know if Wrakras has awoken yet?”

“Negative, he was still in the process during my last update.”

I nodded and thanked him. All the automata on a particular ship got an update of situations happening onboard every half hour. That kept things running efficiently. The captain and several of the officers had the ability to issue an early update if it was necessary. There was almost minute by minute updates during combat. 

Julie and I made our way down to the area that Wrakras was being watched. Duilin came into sight right where I left him as we rounded a corner. I could feel plenty of mana radiating out from Wrakras’s room. The unholy element had been removed and much like Julie, the dark element had been enhanced.

“You sure he’s about to awaken?” I asked as I moved to stand next to Duilin. “If so, there is a battle that needs both of you.”

I still wasn’t sure of the extent of the Greater Elemental Glourios and his minions. I could walk right over them as I had of many of the forces on Murgin already, or they could be a whole new playing field. I wanted as many of my forces as I could.

“Trust me. He is close. His mana pattern shifted early in the day. And before you ask, no there has been no outside influence.”

“Good. I hate when my things are taken by others.”

“You know, many people might find the fact you call them things offensive, but I can tell you say it in a way that means you care,” Duilin said deadpan while having not budged a single muscle.

“Are you… are you being sarcastic?” I asked.

Duilin burst out laughing reminding me of a Viking or something similar. “Come on, boss!” he shouted slapping my back. I had to wave Julie off as an almost physical wave of ‘pissed off’ radiated from her. 

I put some force into my arm and returned the favor, maybe accidentally causing Duilin’s head to smash into the wall. Though, he was a mechanical construct like me so it didn’t do much other than dent the wall. I could tell he was about to respond when a pulse of mana from the other side of the wall drew our attention. Wrakras had sat up and was looking around.