Don't worry! The animals are adept at feeding themselves!
Alpha Strike: An interstellar Weapon Platform's Guide to Cultivation [Progression Sci-fi/Cultivation]
- Thread starter Osamaru
- Start date
- Original Novel Sci-Fi
B2 - Lesson 42: "Much Can Be Learned From A Threshold."
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B2 - Lesson 42: "Much Can Be Learned From A Threshold."
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Garrelt, Robert, Maggy, and Antchaser approached the massive gate set in the stone wall of the Dragon's Garden. The four stopped just short and took in the sight. The gates were just as magnificent as they had been from a distance, and this close, the group could see even more detail in the carvings.B2 - Lesson 42: "Much Can Be Learned From A Threshold."
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"I wonder why it's so detailed?" Garrelt asked, as much to himself as the rest of the group. Perhaps an absurdly powerful Cultivator could appreciate its entirety, but even he, at the late [Golden Spirit] stage, would practically need to press his face against the gate to see the smallest details.
Maggy adjusted her glasses and squinted at the gate. "I've seen similar things before, though never quite to this scale." She pulled out a notebook and started flipping through pages as she continued. "Typically, such things are meant to act as guides and clues for trial takes. Or as monuments to their creature's story and accomplishments. This one, though… it feels like someone tried to cram a hundred different murals into the same space. It's rather… chaotic."
Garrelt scoffed. "Ha! Chaotic! Painful is more like it. The thing looks like a master sculptor took inspiration from a teenager's sketchbook. Why does that ant look like it's performing martial arts? Why does that slime have a hat? That group there is literally just having a cookout in the middle of a battlefield! And what's with all the bloody ducks?!"
HEY! I worked hard on those! Alpha complained as he observed the group.
Robert frowned. "So you noticed those as well? Good, I thought I was being paranoid. Some of them are rather cleverly hidden," he said, scanning the gate.
Maggy nodded. "It is all rather much, but you can see several storylines weaved through the chaos if one pays attention. It's all connected somehow, even if it's not immediately obvious."
Still rifling through the notebook, she gestured to the gate. "The overall story tells of the conflict between the ants and the slimes. That part is obvious. What they're fighting over exactly isn't clear, but there are several over minor stories happening as well."
She pointed to one section. "Here, we have the tale of the star-crossed love between an ant and a slime."
Then she pointed to another. "This one has to do with a rather large slime wearing a crown and a powerful ant standing up to him. I'm not sure why the ant has spiky hair and seems to be glowing, however. Or why the slime is riding a floating egg. "
And another. "Over here, we…" Maggy's face suddenly went bright red. "Nevermind! Ignore that one! Don't look at it!" The three men gave her an odd look, and their gazes wandered in that direction. "I SAID DON'T LOOK!" Maggy suddenly yelled.
Three pairs of eyes snapped in the opposite direction.
Maggy coughed into her hand. "As I was saying, there are several different stories crammed into this thing. What they all mean is hard to tell. Most of them seem to be… incomplete? Or don't really go anywhere. They might be references for those who know what to look for, more than full stories."
Garrelt raised an eyebrow. "And you learned all of that in a glance?" he asked, his arms folded.
Maggy puffed out her chest and gave the man a smug look. "Of course! That's my job, after all. Why else do you think I was chosen for this expedition? Seeing the small details and connecting the dots is what I'm best at."
Garrelt only shrugged, causing the young woman to huff.
Alpha had to admit, Maggy's skill was rather impressive. He had put a lot of work into the gate and didn't think people would start paying attention to details like that for some time. On the other hand, that also meant the young lady was far more dangerous to their plan than Alpha had originally given her credit for. Dr. Maria had warned him that might be the case, as Maggy's talent had bloomed since they had last seen each other.
Alpha would have to keep a closer eye on her.
"Ah! Here it is!" Maggy said with a sudden excitement.
She stopped at a particular journal page and, with one swift motion, tore it free. Holding the blank page in her hand, she pointed it at the gate and pushed. The page, as if freed from gravity, floated toward the gate until it stuck to the very center of the mural.
Maggy then snapped her fingers.
The page flashed with a blue light, and a bright blue ring of color swept outward from it. The light ring traveled the length of the gate, splitting and multiplying each time it hit a distortion on the gate's surface until the entire thing looked like countless raindrops hitting a still body of water. When the light show finally ceased, one last blue ring traveled from the edge of the gate and converged on the blank page at the center. The page flashed once, and when the light had faded, the page was no longer blank.
Instead, it was filled with a replica of the mural on the gate.
A quick scan of the page showed Alpha that while it hadn't captured everything, the details it did capture were far beyond what any mortal hand could have done with simple pen and paper.
The more Alpha saw of this so-called 'magic,' the more it fascinated him. Alpha couldn't wait to get his hands on his very own Mage. Dr. Maria had already… dissuaded Alpha from capturing young Maggy. The old doctor seemed to have a soft spot for the girl. Alpha could only hope there was a Mage among those Icefinger sent to cause trouble. Alpha did so enjoy gifts.
The now-filled page slowly fluttered back to Maggy, and the young woman snatched it out of the air with a squeal. She then placed it back into the journal, where the torn page magically mended itself, rejoining the whole. Maggy closed the journal with a satisfied smile, though she blushed slightly when she noticed the other three staring at her.
She stood straight, though she looked away. "This way, if it is important, we have a record of it," she said, answering the unspoken question.
"Right! Well, then, should we get a move on?" Robert responded with a clap of his hands, drawing attention back to himself. "Mr. Antchaser, if you would?"
Antchaser nodded and approached the gate.
"Showtime!" Alpha spoke into the goblin's personal comms.
The goblin then raised his bangled arm toward the door. As he did, the bangle twitched and came alive. The metallic dragon released its tail and slithered up his hand until it was staring at the door, its eyes glowing a bright red.
As it did, two enormous dragon's eyes also glowed the same bright red.
The three humans jumped as the mural suddenly burst into life and motion.
What was once a still frame, erupted into a chaotic battlefield, while the area was filled with the sound of clashing metal and clanking gears. Over the next few seconds, the intertwined armies pulled away from each other until each side of the gate comprised only its own soldiers.
Only the two massive dragons remained interlocked, but they too soon split. As they did, the middle of the gate cracked with a shutter, and a blinding light spilled out. As the opening in the gate widened, the light didn't dim; if anything, it grew brighter until an opening just wide enough for two of them to walk through, shoulder to shoulder, formed. The opening beckoned them to step through, though the bright light beyond made it impossible to see anything past its threshold.
The four of them remained silent throughout the process. When nothing more happened, Garrelt looked at Robert, and the expedition leader nodded. As their scout, it only made sense that he would be the first through. Garrelt returned the nod and stepped forward. He stopped at the entrance briefly for a moment… then vanished into the white void.
Antchaser stepped through next, followed by a nervous-looking Maggy. Robert was the last to enter, bringing up their rear. Before stepping through, he turned again and waved to the watching crowd, eliciting another cheer. Then he, too, vanished into the white light.
When Robert disappeared, the massive gates rumbled and slowly closed behind him, the clashing armies rushing forward to seal them once more.
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Boarslayer huffed as she watched the dungeon gates close behind the four.
If anyone had asked, she wouldn't deny being jealous that Antchaser had taken what was supposed to be her spot in the group. Despite all the work that had gone into the Dragon's Garden, few of the goblins had actually seen the finished product. In fact, only Weaver, the old seamstress-turned-resource-manager, had gotten that privilege. She had a frankly terrifying talent for organizing and making the best use of any given space. One that Alpha used time and time again during the dungeon's construction.
During their meetings, the old hag had bragged for a week that she'd gotten to help lay out a real dungeon!
Because that's what this little project was quickly turning into, despite Antchaser's insistence on calling it 'fake.' Sure, it had started out that way. Nothing more than smoke and mirrors to fool the Adventurers into assisting them.
However, as time passed, Boarslayer started to see changes in the plan. Small things were tweaked here and there. Details were changed to better fit a story. Things that should have been unnecessary for their purposes but made sense in the long game were added. The resources anad effort put into it.
Boarslayer knew that many in the village didn't think she was very bright. To a point, they were right; even Boarslayer knew she wasn't as smart as some of the others.
But she always paid attention to the minor details. To a Hunter, those details could mean life or death.
So yes, Boarslayer had noticed. More than anything, she had noticed how Alpha was enjoying himself with the plan. She didn't even know Cores could have fun.
Regardless, this whole plan had shifted from a mere distraction and bait to something… more.
The dungeon had become less of an illusion and more of a fact.
After all, what was a dungeon if not a place to train, grow, and earn rewards?
That it was 'new' was beside the point. Every dungeon was new at one point or another, and part of Boarslayer had been excited to be one of the first ones through. But she also understood that there were more important things at work. They had a story to sell, if the village was to not only survive but thrive. If this plan really worked how they wanted, then more than just beating back Icefinger's men, this could be the beginning of something none of them could have ever imagined!
No… what really made her grind her teeth was the fact that all of this was necessary.
That they even needed all these smoke and mirrors to even have a hope of getting to that future.
If they had been strong enough — if she had been strong enough — then Bosco's men would have never been able to do what they had. Icefinger would never have been a problem. The village wouldn't have to rely on outside help.
If she had been strong enough, they would have never lost their home in the first place…
Boarslayer clenched her fists until small drops of blood formed on her palm.
She then took a deep breath and released it in the way the human named Big Bert had taught her. Boarslayer had been skeptical about the things the man had told her — about herself, and the so-called 'Titankin' — but she couldn't deny they had been useful. She had found herself seeking the man out daily during their trip to the dungeon to learn more, and it was paying off in ways she would have never imagined.
In fact…
Boarslayer strode off into the camp to look for the man in question. He'd vanished sometime during the show at the gate. If she couldn't let off some steam in the dungeon, then she could get some training done. There was no telling how long it would be until Icefinger's men arrived, and she had to get as strong as she could before then.
It didn't take long for her to find him, either. After a few minutes of asking around, she was directed to the large tent in the center of the camp set up outside the dungeon gates.
Boarslayer approached the tent entrance when she froze. From inside the tent, she could hear Bert speaking to someone.
"Yes, they've entered the dungeon… No, still no information about what's inside. The goblins are rather tight-lipped… No, nothing about the rest of Bosco's men either…"
Boarslayer leaned in, straining to hear what the man was saying. She wasn't aware the man could even speak that quietly.
"A week until they arrive? That's pushing it… I understand, I will have everything in place by then… Yes, sir, understood. I'll let our men know to be ready."
As Boarslayer moved closer, she accidentally rustled the fabric of the tent. It was a slight movement that could have just as easily been the wind, but Bert stopped speaking instantly. Boarslayer's heart raced, and she stood straight just in time for Bert to pull the flap back and frown down at her.
However, his frown soon shifted into a grin when he noticed it was her.
"Ah! Boarslayer! How are you, my girl? Here for another lesson? Good timing. With the camp build and the others in the dungeon, I've got a few hours to burn," Bert said with a chuckle.
Boarslayer paused, staring up at Bert for a moment before speaking. "Ya… that's right… Am I… interrupting something? I thought I heard voices," she said, peering past Bert into the otherwise empty tent.
Bert laughed and took a step forward, letting the tent flap fall closed behind him and blocking Boarslayer's view.
"Oh, no, no, don't worry about me. Just finishing up some Guild work; nothing for you to worry about. I promise I'm perfectly free," he answered, patting her shoulder. As he did, he turned her around and firmly guided her toward their makeshift sparing area and away from the tent. "Come now, young Boarslayer, I have a few things I've been wanting to show you."
Boarslayer gave one last look at the tent. "Right… sure," she said flatly before turning away and following Bert toward the sparring area.
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
That guy anad bothering you too?
Sparring takes pirates, need a pair of "arrghs"
So basically "fake it until you make it" is getting to the real thing. Steepled fingers time.
Was worried there that Boarslayer may have a training accident and catch a bad case if the deads.
Oh, no... At least Alpha will have heard what Boarslayer did... I'm gonna miss her.
So, a new bona-fide dungeon! Probably full of bugs, though... it is in Alpha, after all.
So, a new bona-fide dungeon! Probably full of bugs, though... it is in Alpha, after all.
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B2 - Lesson 43: "Surprise! You've Been Drafted."
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B2 - Lesson 43: "Surprise! You've Been Drafted."
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B2 - Lesson 43: "Surprise! You've Been Drafted."
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When the light faded, Antchaser found himself not in a forest, as he had expected, but in a… waiting room?
He paused, his eyes narrowing. This was new. It had been a few days since anyone other than Weaver had been through the gates, and at the time, this entire area was still under rough construction. The Dungeon Core had refused to show anyone the complete blueprints for the Dragon's Garden. He wanted it to 'be a surprise,' in his words.
Why it had to be a surprise — for them at least — when the entire thing was nothing more than a stage for them to sell their story on, Antchaser didn't know. Boarslayer had simply shrugged, uncaring, while Dr. Maria had told him to 'trust the madness. Whatever the hell that meant.
What had once been a rough outline of a small building was now a rather well-furnished, if somewhat strange, room. The room itself was large enough to comfortably accommodate ten people of average build. However, if more than a few of them were Boarslayer's size, things might get a bit crowded.
Four ant-leather canapé were scattered around the room, surrounding several polished, deepwood tables. The floor appeared to be one solid chunk of taijitu marble, the intricate swirling black and white patterns lending an air of refined elegance to the room and giving the Spirit Energy in the room a fairly gentle and calm feeling.
There was even a tall jade pot with a [Silver Spirit]-rank bonsai of some sort in one corner, several large, bright peaches hanging heavy from its branches.
Overall, the entire room felt more like something one would see in a noble manor rather than a dungeon. Yet, there was something… familiar about it, as well. Maybe it was the way the room was laid out or some of the decor's design, but Antchaser could feel Weaver's touch in the room.
Despite that, there was also a definite air of… age to the room. The furniture felt slightly worn, while the floor bore minor scars from previous occupants. Even the gameboard on one table — chess, as Alpha called it — showed signs of pieces having been replaced, and countless games played atop its surface.
Garrelt, who was the first through the entryway, was already lounging on one of the canapés. On the table in front of him, a single peach lay neatly divided into four, its pit resting on a small square of cloth. One portion was already missing.
As Antchaser walked further into the room, Garrelt waved him over.
The goblin nodded and approached the table, sitting opposite the man.
Maggy stepped through the glowing entryway a few moments later, stumbling through with her half-staff raised as if to brain the first unlucky soul in reach. The other hand held a swirling ball of fire at the ready.
Instead of the bloodthirsty hordes she had apparently expected, a grinning Garrelt greeted her from the canapé, one arm slung around the back and a boot propped up on the table.
Maggy visibly deflated, her spell dissipating into stray mana. Antchaser could practically see the questions floating around her head but chose not to say anything. He remembered how nervous he had been the first time he'd also stepped foot in a dungeon. That this was only the second 'dungeon' the goblin had ever visited was beside the point.
However, it didn't take long for the woman to adjust, and soon, she was wandering around the room, examining the various unusual artifacts. Antchaser recognized several devices from his time in Alpha's true dungeon and the Lab, but their uses eluded him. Many of the goblins who had run Alpha's dungeon assumed they were relics from whatever civilization the Dungeon Core's creator had belonged to.
She seemed particularly interested in what was attached to the far wall.
At a glance, it seemed to be a window with a dark stone tunnel behind it. From time to time, a colossal ant would stroll by, transporting something or another. The lifelike image seemed so real that one could mistake it for an actual window — until they noticed the 'window' wasn't attached to the wall but floated several inches away from it.
The 'monitor' was one artifact Antchaser had struggled to adapt to the greatest. There was something… offputting about seeming images and texts scrolling across a flat plane, only for them to vanish into nothingness past the edge.
Finally, Robert appeared from the entranceway, taking in the room at a glance.
Garrelt waved at him. "Room's clean. No traps that I can see. Other than the obvious one, of course," the scout leader said, motioning to the bonsai.
Antchaser turned and looked.
On a sign pinned to the wall beside the tree were the words 'For Good Luck. Take One.'
Above that, hanging from the wall, was what Antchaser knew was the barrel of a rather powerful laser turret. The goblin had seen what such a weapon could do from the few used to defend the Dragon's Garden walls during its construction.
To have one so casually pointed into such a small room, with little room for escape, sent an icy chill down Antchaser's spine. He doubted Alpha would kill one of the Adventurers, given their importance to their plan. But for sure, some greedy future trail-taker wouldn't be so observant — or wary — as Garrelt, and not recognize the danger for what it was.
Garrelt then motioned to the quartered peach on the table. "Everbloom Stone Peach. A minor treasure with slight regenerative properties. Good for the body and gives a small boost of energy."
Antchaser turned his attention back to the quartered peach, then reached for a slice after a moment's hesitation.
It practically melted in his mouth, being far juicer than something called a 'Stone Peach' had any right to be. The flavor was rather mild — sweet with a slightly spicy aftertaste — and as he swallowed, a small wave of energy rushed through his body, easing aches he hadn't been aware of and giving him a slight jolt, as if he was just waking from an afternoon nap.
Where had Alpha found such a thing? Antchaser wasn't aware of any such fruit in the cavern. Had it been collected from another? He didn't know. Ever since Alpha had arrived, Antchaser's days had been filled with management duties. He'd not been out hunting in weeks.
More than that, how had he grown something like this so quickly?
Antchaser knew Alpha had time manipulation capabilities, but this… this was on a whole other level. How deep did the Dungeon Core's power truly run?
Maggy and Robert also picked up their share and savored the treasure in their own way: Maggy with an ear-to-ear grin and soft cooing sounds, and Robert with a stalwart, thoughtful expression that surprised Antchaser for some reason.
When they had sat at the table, Robert turned to Antchaser. "The dungeon's generosity at this early stage is quite a surprise. Was it the same when your people first found it?" he asked.
Antchaser blinked… then thought on his feet, "Ah! Yes, sir. I didn't want to spoil the surprise. It's just a small gift. Some of our hunters believe it is the dungeon's way of luring trial-takers deeper in. The first crumb in the trail, if you were."
Garrelt folded his arms and nodded. "Makes sense. It's a common enough tactic, though not always quite as obvious as this one." He picked up his own slice and threw it into his mouth, continuing, "When I said 'minor,' I meant it, too. These might be quite the treat to someone in the lower Body stages, but they're nothing amazing in the end. Like Antchaser said, they're just the first crumb along the trail. Something to whet the palate."
Garrelt then tapped the seed, "That said, a wild, Deep-variety like this should fetch quite a bit more than whatever the Guild has growing on their farms."
Robert nodded and reached for the seed. With a wave of his hand, it vanished, likely into some storage item.
"That's good to know. I'll keep this safe for now," he said, turning to Antchaser. "With that out of the way, what next?" he asked.
Before the goblin to could respond, a new voice spoke.
"Good afternoon, soldiers!"
All four sets of eyes snapped to the monitor.
It no longer displayed a dark tunnel. Instead, it now showed a war-torn hellscape, hundreds of scorched craters lining a blacked field that stretched for as far as the eye could see, broken only by trenches lined with thorn-covered metal vines and wooden barricades. Antchaser instantly recognized the land as one of the training scenarios from Alpha's real dungeon. As they watched, something far in the distance exploded, sending up a massive cloud of dust accompanied by a fireball.
Antchaser's eyes glassed over, and his mind was filled with high-pitched whistling sounds as destruction fell from the sky. They were getting closer with each strike. One of his teammates tried to make a break for the next checkpoint, only to be mowed down as soon as they rose from behind the cover of the foxhole wall. His hands wouldn't stop shaking, making keeping hold of his rifle difficult. So did the blood covering it, though if it was his own or someone else's, he couldn't remember. The whistling death approached closer in a wall of fire and dust. From within, Antchaser could see two glowing orbs staring into his soul, as if the approaching death were a beast rushing to claim him.
Then, suddenly, it all vanished.
The foxhole transformed into the underside of the table, and Maggy's own warm orange eyes replaced the burning eyes of the Beast in the Flame and Dust. She stared under the table at him, obvious worry in her gaze.
Antchaser's bark-colored skin flushed, and he crawled out from under the table, retaking his seat.
Robert frowned at the goblin, but Garrelt gave Antchaser a knowing look. Antchaser looked to the side. "Sorry about that…" he muttered into his hand.
Before things could get any more awkward, the voice from the monitor spoke again.
"Welcome to the Dragon's Garden! As new recruits, I'm here to lie down some ground rules, so shape up and pay attention, ya maggots!' The speaker walked into view. They were not a human, however. Or any sapient race those present were aware of.
Instead, the creature that appeared was a… drawing? Or rather, the animated drawing of a bipedal ant wearing a bowl-shaped moss-colored helmet. Several shiny medals and other insignia were pinned to its carapace.
It marched on screen and turned to face them with a frown, one pair of legs behind its back. How Antchaser could tell an ant was frowning at him, he didn't know, but that was the distinct impression he got from the moving drawing.
Again, it spoke. "You're about to walk into a war zone, soldier! Those bloody slimes are at it again, working to undo all of our hard work! It's your duty to get in there and set things right. If we don't stop them, they'll devour the garden, then spill out into the capital like an unstoppable wave of destruction. Your first mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make your way through the garden and investigate the source of the infestation."
Robert stood and approached the screen. "Are you the Dungeon Core, good sir? We heard of your distress and have come to assist," he said with his brightest smile.
Despite that, the moving drawing continued to speak, ignoring the man.
"Don't let your guard down, however. You're not the first of the Queen's forces sent to investigate, though we've not heard anything back from them. Who knows what happened to them, so be wary and keep your eyes out. If you find anything, bring back proof, and you will be handsomely rewarded."
Robert's eye twitched while Garrelt laughed. "I think it's ignoring you!" the scout leader said.
"Strange. Are we already too late? Has it gone insane?" Robert asked. He really didn't want to have to destroy the Core. A dead dungeon wasn't worthless, but it was nowhere near the value of a working one.
Unheeding, the strange creature on the screen continued.
"Lastly, the Queen has given any intrepid treasure seekers the rights to rewards they may find inside the garden walls. Want more? Get out there and complete more missions, you maggots! This has been Sergent Alphantonso, signing off! Good luck, recruits, and Godspeed!"
"OH! I know what this is!" Maggy suddenly called out. The rest of the group turned and stared at her.
She grinned and pushed her glasses up her nose. "I've seen something similar in a few of the Old Ruins. The creature we're seeing isn't actually there. It's just a…" she waved her hand in the air, as if searching for the right words, "… moving record. An image that someone added their voice to and animated. It can't respond, as it's just a recording."
Garrelt raised a brow. "Like a memory crystal?" he asked.
Maggy nodded. "Yes, though more… limited in some ways. As I said, they're fairly common in the Old Ruins. Not that anyone can figure out how they work." She responded.
"Fascinating…" came Robert's response. "Does that mean this dungeon holds ties to the Old Ruins?"
Maggy shrugged. "Maybe? None of the architecture matches so far, but it's possible. It might just be an imitation, as well. It comes and goes in waves, but there was a time it was rather fashionable to mimic Old Ruin designs and methods."
"Was it the same for you?" Robert asked Antchaser. The goblin only nodded, not trusting himself to speak at the moment.
When Robert turned around, the scene on the screen had changed.
This time, there was no battlefield. Instead, a ball of static floated in a featureless black void.
A new voice spoke, this one Antchaser recognized as Alpha's own. As it did, the floating ball pulsed and squirmed in sync with it.
"Antchaser. If you're seeing this recording, then you did as I asked and got help. Good. Unfortunately, things have deteriorated, and I don't have time to speak directly. Make your way through the dungeon to the first rest checkpoint, and I'll have further instructions for you. Don't dawdle. Time is of the essence."
The screen flashed black, and the displayed image was replaced with a corkboard with two large posters pinned to it.
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Primary Mission - Investigate the sources of the infestation.
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—✦—
Sidequest - Investigate what happened to the prior scout teams.
—✦—
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The screen then floated to the side as a section of the wall opened up, revealing a hallway and another door.
Robert stared down the hallway for a long moment with a frown, then looked at the screen before turning back to his team.
"Well, folks, you heard the Core. We have a mission to complete, so let's get moving!"
So... odds are this is a former Fed world now. Who's betting these "old ruins' are First Fed and the "copycats" are Second or Third?
- Location
- Earth: Universe Meta - 1
Not the first hint we've gotten that this is the case. Though, it's the first Alpha has while not being in such a sorry state. So far:
* Jishi is aware of other habitable planets, and wasn't super surprised that the Feds exist. - Alpha missed the connotations
* We had an interlude where the Feds talked to the baby eater who was probably a Cultivator.
* In Grimm Adventures, one of the randos in the Guild recognized Grimm.
* This mention of recordings.
Meanwhile Alpha is living up to his reputation of giving even allies PTSD.
I'm aware of the previous hints. My post was in the vein of, "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action.", not, "Guys, we got our first hint that the Feds have been here!".
EDIT: Taken individually, the previous hints could have indicated escapees and/or trapped persons. This hint indicates Fed facilities, which means a definite Fed presence. Also, the "randos" (at least, the ones interested in GRIM) were the same race as Holdoror, something the sparse info on their race seemed to mean indicated a more recent presence. It's possible, however, that they are second or third Fed and their people just keep really good records.
Edited for grammar and extrapolation.
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B2 - Lesson 44: "The Punch You Don't See Coming..."
Sorry for the delay, everyone! I lost power during the storms for most of the day, and just got it back late last night.
Here's Friday's chapter!
Also, WOOT! WE IT 1,000,000 VIEW ON ROYAL ROAD!
Thanks for all of the support, everyone! I really appreciate it.
6952 SFY-Third Era, 6 standard months since Planetfall.
2 days since the beginning of Operation: Safari Hunt >>
Before anyone says anything else, I would like to state for the record that technically, the Dragon's Garden counts as a training simulation, as defined by the native understandings of the term' dungeon.' As such, it in no way violates the terms of any previous contracts I may or may not have signed (under duress!) with Naughty Ducks Interstellar Games Inc.
All content found there-in is solely the work of ALPHA-555-12-4412 and the residents of Federation Expeditionary Outpost A-00-01-87643.
Any and all sibilance to previous works are purely coincidental.
Now, with that out of the way, let's get this show on the road!
Your first question is likely, 'But Alpha! Why bother?'
After all, isn't the goal of the Dragon's Garden a distraction?
Yes! Yes, it is!
But does that have to be all it is? Is not one of the key principles of planetary conquest the three Rs? Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!
Reduce your dependency on extraplanetary resources by sourcing native equivalents.
Reuse your equipment to save time and resources! That Class-X Laser Bore works just as well boring through your enemy's armor as through the ground.
Recycle what you can, whether it's enemy supplies, equipment, or ideas. Why go through all the trouble of doing it yourself?
While the primary function of the Dragon's Garden is bait, both for the Adventurers and the approaching bandits, we have to think long-term here.
If my goal is to turn the cavern into a successful outpost of the Federation, then it needs a connection to the wider world. There's no telling how long I'll be here. The Federation might jump in tomorrow, or I might be stuck on this rock for the next century, building the infrastructure I need to crack the ice layer surrounding the planet.
Toward that end, a so-called 'dungeon' offers several benefits.
First, it's an active draw for natives, both Adventurers and those looking to possibly settle in the area. While I've found a few gems in the rough among the goblins, the quantity and quality of talent I'll need in the future will only grow from here.
This also gives me the opportunity to study these 'Cultivators' and 'Mages' in a controlled, more natural environment. My experiments with the bandits have been fruitful, but by their nature, they're not the most cooperative bunch.
A dungeon also offers the opportunity to discreetly spread Federation technology and ideas among the native population.
Why bother, you ask? Good question. My current identity won't last forever. The more I learn about the natives, study what little history I've been able to collect and connect the dots, the more I'm certain that this isn't first contact.
Too many things don't quite add for this world to not have had some interaction with the Federation.
Even if not the Third iteration.
My interactions with Jīshí, in particular, strike me as… odd. It hadn't wholly occurred to me at the time, but Jīshí's reaction to supposedly reading the memories of my 'soul' wasn't what one would expect from a native of a world with no apparent spacefaring capability. Even from possibly thousands of years old rock ladies.
She had shown a rather worried concern about my exploits (rude!), yet never once had she actually questioned concepts such as traveling between stars and planets or even life beyond the local star system.
Compared to her complaints about me personally (again, rude!), her reaction to that knowledge was muted. More of a… silent contemplation rather than world-view shattering revelations it tended to be for those in her situation.
As if she was already aware of such things.
The events with the Deadwood Tree only further strengthened my belief in this matter. After all, she had said the organism was responsible for destroying several planets prior. If that's true, it may even be the cause of the debris rings orbiting the rocky supergiant in the sky.
I can only attribute the delay in making these connections to the damage to my personality and processing cores. It makes me wonder what else I missed while recovering.
Not that she's getting away with STEALING MY TAWP!
Ahem, As I was saying… my identity as a 'dungeon core' will eventually come under scrutiny. More so, as more numerous and experienced Adventurers visited the cavern to explore the Dragon's Garden. I simply don't have the full scope of cultural understanding to play the role well enough.
Even the Adventurers here already seem to believe I'm some sort of aberrant… or am half-insane (RUDE! ALL OF YOU!). So, before the truth comes out, I must lie down a firm Federation presence in their hearts and minds. The goblins are already loyal, mostly — even if they don't yet understand to what or who — while Dr. Maria is a prime example of how loyalty can be bought with knowledge and technology.
I need to make the cavern, and thus the outpost, indispensable to the Adventurers. To where not only will the truth not phase them, but they will come to our defense if the need arises.
And so we come full circle.
Why am I putting so much time and effort into what should have been a simple redirect? Because If I can pull this off, it won't be just that. The Dragon's Garden stands to be the beating heart of the outpost from which the Federation's influence over this world will spread.
There was just one small problem I hadn't accounted for…
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"More of them are coming from the north!" Big Bert yelled, his billowing voice easily carried over the chaotic battlefield. At his words, a small group of goblin hunters and Adventurers broke off from the frontline. They rushed toward the northern wall just in time to see a horde of skittering creatures burst from the treeline.
A hundred carapaced creatures charged the walls, massive mandibles attached to even larger, bulbous heads clicking in chaotic disharmony. The sound was so loud that it nearly drowned out the defenders' cries and the clash of steel on insectoid armor.
Several larger creatures stayed near the back. Even compared to those charging forward, their heads were massive, dwarfing their body. On top of their heads sat a long, hollow horn. A deep blue light emanated from within, and one of the goblin hunters called out, "SHIELDS!"
Goblins pulled long poles from their backs and rushed forward along the northern line. They plunged the poles into the ground in front of the gathered defenders. The ball-like tops of the poles whirled before shooting into the air. At the top of their arcs, they unfurled into plates held aloft by spinning rotor blades.
The edges of rods and hovering plates sparked as a glowing white energy field swept outward to fill the gaps in between. At the same moment, each of the creatures at the back of the horde released a barrage of glowing blue slimeballs from their horns. The glowing balls of goop soared through the air in high arcs before slamming into the energy barriers and splattering across the solid light surface.
The burning substance caused the barriers to flicker and spark as it rained down on the charging horde. However, the creatures in question seemed barely affected by — or didn't care about — the burning blue substance as they, too, slammed into the barrier.
At a signal from Boarslayer, small holes opened in the deployed barriers, large enough for only one or two of the creatures to pass through at a time. The creatures took the bait, and the waiting Adventurers cut them down as they pushed through.
Alpha watched the entire process through several [Wasps] scattered around the battlefield before turning his attention to another one.
Deeper in the forest, an army of ants clashed with a horde of massive… termites?
At least, that's what Alpha thought they were. These creature's morphology seemed far more varied compared to the ants. Huge soldiers with snapping jaws were accompanied by smaller, agile ones whose only job seemed to hold down the larger ants. Intermixed were slower-moving termites who could shoot mortar-like globs of slime from long horns. Then there were the skittering balls of glowing blue the size of watermelons — like ticks gorged on blood — who would charge into the ant army. Only to explode and cover the surroundings in burning slime.
Alpha had almost missed that last type, as they were fast, and their heads and legs were tiny compared to their explosive abdomens.
Thankfully, the enemy's numbers were much smaller than his own army of ants. The termites seemed to favor these specialized units over the sheer number of the ants. The result was it took several natural ant soldiers to take down a single termite soldier, even if Alpha's intermingled Antonio-model antborgs helped even the odds.
The result was a rather unsettling stalemate of sorts, with each army pushing and losing ground in an unpredictable ebb and flow.
Occasionally — mostly those lines left to the natural ants — a few of the termites would slip through the defenders and swarm into the surrounding forward, attacking anything they came across.
With Alpha's warning, the goblin village and gathered Adventurers had reacted in time, but the termites were relentless, and Alpha had quickly allowed the use of a few tricks the goblins had 'won' from the dungeon.
It was more than he'd wanted to show so early in the game, but…
"This is kinda my fault…" Alpha said to the bobbing form of the incubating Antoinette. Despite the antborg still being a growing embryo, Alpha could almost feel her judging him.
She wouldn't have made such a silly mistake, after all.
"Don't give me that look, young lady!" Alpha said. "Anyone could have made this mistake!"
Antoinette bobbed doubtfully at him.
"Okay, OKAY! So maybe I got a little too excited at finding the source of the ant's 'nitro.' But can you blame me?! They never bring it back into the colony, and they only ever seem to produce it when under major threat!"
It had taken forever to figure out exactly how the nitro was produced, but once he had, Alpha had nearly kicked his own circuits for not seeing the obvious.
Chemical analysis of what little of the nitro-like substance he had collected showed it shared a similar composition to the golden 'honeydew' substance the ants harvested from the aphids in the root room.
At that point, he still hadn't figured out what exactly caused the change, but he still started stockpiling the resources. Alpha had even expanded the root room, digging out his own chambers so that he could tap the roots without disturbing the colony's natural farm.
That's when he had made his first mistake.
In retrospect, it should have been obvious that other organisms would take advantage of such a massive root system in some way. The woody roots spread out for hundreds of kilometers in all directions, and the ant's farm was only a small part of that.
What Alpha hadn't expected was to break into an entirely different colony, only a few kilometers away from the ant tunnels.
At first, Alpha had been excited at the prospect of absorbing another colony. However, That excitement quickly died as it became apparent that the termites weren't just farming the root system like ants, but devouring it. Surveys showed parts of the root system were infested with the creatures, and the damage was enough that entire sections had died.
The blue slime the termites secreted was highly acidic and particularly effective against the woody roots. Right now, they too only occupied a tiny section of the whole, but that wouldn't always be the case. If these creatures were like their smaller cousins, they would continue spreading so long as food was available. Left unchecked, there was a strong possibility that they could irreparably damage the root system.
If Alpha's theory that the ant napalm was somehow synthesized from the root sap, then that would ruin a lot of his plans. More so with this other colony being so close to his own.
So, Alpha had done something about it.
It had started with small raids on the termites. Alpha would send in antborgs to dig tunnels under the termites' own, then collapse them. His plan had been to cut the termite's access to the root system off little by little, hopefully starving them or forcing them away from away. At first, it had worked. Alpha would collapse a tunnel, and the termites would rush to try and clear it, only for Alpha to collapse another. Those termites trapped on the other side would be slaughtered by antborgs and collected for study.
Everything seemed to go well for a time.
Then Alpha had made his second mistake.
Or rather, it had been what he hadn't done.
Alpha didn't have the time or resources to exploit the termites as he had the ants, so he hadn't bothered to fully scout out the termites' colony. After all, if it was anywhere close to the size of the ant's, it could stretch for hundreds of miles and comprise tens of thousands of tunnels. With everything he had to deal with at the moment, Alpha hadn't bothered beyond sending a few MUD slimes and other scouts to look for something interesting.
So it had come as a surprise when termites broke into the goblin's cavern early that day. The insects poured into the forest, devouring the new source of fresh wood at astounding speeds. By the time Alpha could establish a response, the termites had invaded the ant territory, instantly triggering a war between the two colonies.
Part of Alpha knew that with the two colonies being close, such a thing was inevitable. But he also knew that his intervention and cutting off the termites from the root system had forced the termites to push out, accelerating the confrontation.
It didn't help that it came at the worst possible time.
Or maybe the best? It wasn't any stretch to say the Adventurers had been a boon to the defense of the village. To their credit, they had rushed to defend the village as soon as the first termite was spotted.
Bert, in particular, was defending the western wall practically by himself.
Something had to change, however, or they would be caught with their pants down when Icefinger's men arrived.
Thankfully, there was one blessing in this mess.
The ants had started producing napalm once more in response to the termites.
And Alpha had seen how…
Here's Friday's chapter!
Also, WOOT! WE IT 1,000,000 VIEW ON ROYAL ROAD!
Thanks for all of the support, everyone! I really appreciate it.
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B2 - Lesson 44: "The Punch You Don't See Coming..."
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<< Alpha Log -B2 - Lesson 44: "The Punch You Don't See Coming..."
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6952 SFY-Third Era, 6 standard months since Planetfall.
2 days since the beginning of Operation: Safari Hunt >>
Before anyone says anything else, I would like to state for the record that technically, the Dragon's Garden counts as a training simulation, as defined by the native understandings of the term' dungeon.' As such, it in no way violates the terms of any previous contracts I may or may not have signed (under duress!) with Naughty Ducks Interstellar Games Inc.
All content found there-in is solely the work of ALPHA-555-12-4412 and the residents of Federation Expeditionary Outpost A-00-01-87643.
Any and all sibilance to previous works are purely coincidental.
Now, with that out of the way, let's get this show on the road!
Your first question is likely, 'But Alpha! Why bother?'
After all, isn't the goal of the Dragon's Garden a distraction?
Yes! Yes, it is!
But does that have to be all it is? Is not one of the key principles of planetary conquest the three Rs? Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!
Reduce your dependency on extraplanetary resources by sourcing native equivalents.
Reuse your equipment to save time and resources! That Class-X Laser Bore works just as well boring through your enemy's armor as through the ground.
Recycle what you can, whether it's enemy supplies, equipment, or ideas. Why go through all the trouble of doing it yourself?
While the primary function of the Dragon's Garden is bait, both for the Adventurers and the approaching bandits, we have to think long-term here.
If my goal is to turn the cavern into a successful outpost of the Federation, then it needs a connection to the wider world. There's no telling how long I'll be here. The Federation might jump in tomorrow, or I might be stuck on this rock for the next century, building the infrastructure I need to crack the ice layer surrounding the planet.
Toward that end, a so-called 'dungeon' offers several benefits.
First, it's an active draw for natives, both Adventurers and those looking to possibly settle in the area. While I've found a few gems in the rough among the goblins, the quantity and quality of talent I'll need in the future will only grow from here.
This also gives me the opportunity to study these 'Cultivators' and 'Mages' in a controlled, more natural environment. My experiments with the bandits have been fruitful, but by their nature, they're not the most cooperative bunch.
A dungeon also offers the opportunity to discreetly spread Federation technology and ideas among the native population.
Why bother, you ask? Good question. My current identity won't last forever. The more I learn about the natives, study what little history I've been able to collect and connect the dots, the more I'm certain that this isn't first contact.
Too many things don't quite add for this world to not have had some interaction with the Federation.
Even if not the Third iteration.
My interactions with Jīshí, in particular, strike me as… odd. It hadn't wholly occurred to me at the time, but Jīshí's reaction to supposedly reading the memories of my 'soul' wasn't what one would expect from a native of a world with no apparent spacefaring capability. Even from possibly thousands of years old rock ladies.
She had shown a rather worried concern about my exploits (rude!), yet never once had she actually questioned concepts such as traveling between stars and planets or even life beyond the local star system.
Compared to her complaints about me personally (again, rude!), her reaction to that knowledge was muted. More of a… silent contemplation rather than world-view shattering revelations it tended to be for those in her situation.
As if she was already aware of such things.
The events with the Deadwood Tree only further strengthened my belief in this matter. After all, she had said the organism was responsible for destroying several planets prior. If that's true, it may even be the cause of the debris rings orbiting the rocky supergiant in the sky.
I can only attribute the delay in making these connections to the damage to my personality and processing cores. It makes me wonder what else I missed while recovering.
Not that she's getting away with STEALING MY TAWP!
Ahem, As I was saying… my identity as a 'dungeon core' will eventually come under scrutiny. More so, as more numerous and experienced Adventurers visited the cavern to explore the Dragon's Garden. I simply don't have the full scope of cultural understanding to play the role well enough.
Even the Adventurers here already seem to believe I'm some sort of aberrant… or am half-insane (RUDE! ALL OF YOU!). So, before the truth comes out, I must lie down a firm Federation presence in their hearts and minds. The goblins are already loyal, mostly — even if they don't yet understand to what or who — while Dr. Maria is a prime example of how loyalty can be bought with knowledge and technology.
I need to make the cavern, and thus the outpost, indispensable to the Adventurers. To where not only will the truth not phase them, but they will come to our defense if the need arises.
And so we come full circle.
Why am I putting so much time and effort into what should have been a simple redirect? Because If I can pull this off, it won't be just that. The Dragon's Garden stands to be the beating heart of the outpost from which the Federation's influence over this world will spread.
There was just one small problem I hadn't accounted for…
————————————————————
"More of them are coming from the north!" Big Bert yelled, his billowing voice easily carried over the chaotic battlefield. At his words, a small group of goblin hunters and Adventurers broke off from the frontline. They rushed toward the northern wall just in time to see a horde of skittering creatures burst from the treeline.
A hundred carapaced creatures charged the walls, massive mandibles attached to even larger, bulbous heads clicking in chaotic disharmony. The sound was so loud that it nearly drowned out the defenders' cries and the clash of steel on insectoid armor.
Several larger creatures stayed near the back. Even compared to those charging forward, their heads were massive, dwarfing their body. On top of their heads sat a long, hollow horn. A deep blue light emanated from within, and one of the goblin hunters called out, "SHIELDS!"
Goblins pulled long poles from their backs and rushed forward along the northern line. They plunged the poles into the ground in front of the gathered defenders. The ball-like tops of the poles whirled before shooting into the air. At the top of their arcs, they unfurled into plates held aloft by spinning rotor blades.
The edges of rods and hovering plates sparked as a glowing white energy field swept outward to fill the gaps in between. At the same moment, each of the creatures at the back of the horde released a barrage of glowing blue slimeballs from their horns. The glowing balls of goop soared through the air in high arcs before slamming into the energy barriers and splattering across the solid light surface.
The burning substance caused the barriers to flicker and spark as it rained down on the charging horde. However, the creatures in question seemed barely affected by — or didn't care about — the burning blue substance as they, too, slammed into the barrier.
At a signal from Boarslayer, small holes opened in the deployed barriers, large enough for only one or two of the creatures to pass through at a time. The creatures took the bait, and the waiting Adventurers cut them down as they pushed through.
Alpha watched the entire process through several [Wasps] scattered around the battlefield before turning his attention to another one.
Deeper in the forest, an army of ants clashed with a horde of massive… termites?
At least, that's what Alpha thought they were. These creature's morphology seemed far more varied compared to the ants. Huge soldiers with snapping jaws were accompanied by smaller, agile ones whose only job seemed to hold down the larger ants. Intermixed were slower-moving termites who could shoot mortar-like globs of slime from long horns. Then there were the skittering balls of glowing blue the size of watermelons — like ticks gorged on blood — who would charge into the ant army. Only to explode and cover the surroundings in burning slime.
Alpha had almost missed that last type, as they were fast, and their heads and legs were tiny compared to their explosive abdomens.
Thankfully, the enemy's numbers were much smaller than his own army of ants. The termites seemed to favor these specialized units over the sheer number of the ants. The result was it took several natural ant soldiers to take down a single termite soldier, even if Alpha's intermingled Antonio-model antborgs helped even the odds.
The result was a rather unsettling stalemate of sorts, with each army pushing and losing ground in an unpredictable ebb and flow.
Occasionally — mostly those lines left to the natural ants — a few of the termites would slip through the defenders and swarm into the surrounding forward, attacking anything they came across.
With Alpha's warning, the goblin village and gathered Adventurers had reacted in time, but the termites were relentless, and Alpha had quickly allowed the use of a few tricks the goblins had 'won' from the dungeon.
It was more than he'd wanted to show so early in the game, but…
"This is kinda my fault…" Alpha said to the bobbing form of the incubating Antoinette. Despite the antborg still being a growing embryo, Alpha could almost feel her judging him.
She wouldn't have made such a silly mistake, after all.
"Don't give me that look, young lady!" Alpha said. "Anyone could have made this mistake!"
Antoinette bobbed doubtfully at him.
"Okay, OKAY! So maybe I got a little too excited at finding the source of the ant's 'nitro.' But can you blame me?! They never bring it back into the colony, and they only ever seem to produce it when under major threat!"
It had taken forever to figure out exactly how the nitro was produced, but once he had, Alpha had nearly kicked his own circuits for not seeing the obvious.
Chemical analysis of what little of the nitro-like substance he had collected showed it shared a similar composition to the golden 'honeydew' substance the ants harvested from the aphids in the root room.
At that point, he still hadn't figured out what exactly caused the change, but he still started stockpiling the resources. Alpha had even expanded the root room, digging out his own chambers so that he could tap the roots without disturbing the colony's natural farm.
That's when he had made his first mistake.
In retrospect, it should have been obvious that other organisms would take advantage of such a massive root system in some way. The woody roots spread out for hundreds of kilometers in all directions, and the ant's farm was only a small part of that.
What Alpha hadn't expected was to break into an entirely different colony, only a few kilometers away from the ant tunnels.
At first, Alpha had been excited at the prospect of absorbing another colony. However, That excitement quickly died as it became apparent that the termites weren't just farming the root system like ants, but devouring it. Surveys showed parts of the root system were infested with the creatures, and the damage was enough that entire sections had died.
The blue slime the termites secreted was highly acidic and particularly effective against the woody roots. Right now, they too only occupied a tiny section of the whole, but that wouldn't always be the case. If these creatures were like their smaller cousins, they would continue spreading so long as food was available. Left unchecked, there was a strong possibility that they could irreparably damage the root system.
If Alpha's theory that the ant napalm was somehow synthesized from the root sap, then that would ruin a lot of his plans. More so with this other colony being so close to his own.
So, Alpha had done something about it.
It had started with small raids on the termites. Alpha would send in antborgs to dig tunnels under the termites' own, then collapse them. His plan had been to cut the termite's access to the root system off little by little, hopefully starving them or forcing them away from away. At first, it had worked. Alpha would collapse a tunnel, and the termites would rush to try and clear it, only for Alpha to collapse another. Those termites trapped on the other side would be slaughtered by antborgs and collected for study.
Everything seemed to go well for a time.
Then Alpha had made his second mistake.
Or rather, it had been what he hadn't done.
Alpha didn't have the time or resources to exploit the termites as he had the ants, so he hadn't bothered to fully scout out the termites' colony. After all, if it was anywhere close to the size of the ant's, it could stretch for hundreds of miles and comprise tens of thousands of tunnels. With everything he had to deal with at the moment, Alpha hadn't bothered beyond sending a few MUD slimes and other scouts to look for something interesting.
So it had come as a surprise when termites broke into the goblin's cavern early that day. The insects poured into the forest, devouring the new source of fresh wood at astounding speeds. By the time Alpha could establish a response, the termites had invaded the ant territory, instantly triggering a war between the two colonies.
Part of Alpha knew that with the two colonies being close, such a thing was inevitable. But he also knew that his intervention and cutting off the termites from the root system had forced the termites to push out, accelerating the confrontation.
It didn't help that it came at the worst possible time.
Or maybe the best? It wasn't any stretch to say the Adventurers had been a boon to the defense of the village. To their credit, they had rushed to defend the village as soon as the first termite was spotted.
Bert, in particular, was defending the western wall practically by himself.
Something had to change, however, or they would be caught with their pants down when Icefinger's men arrived.
Thankfully, there was one blessing in this mess.
The ants had started producing napalm once more in response to the termites.
And Alpha had seen how…
As a Reminder! You can read up to 12 Chapters ahead by subscribing to the Patreon HERE.
We currently have chapters ranging as low as 3 Advanced chapter for $2.50 a month, all the way to 12 for $10.
Any subscriptions directly go towards not only supporting me as an Author, but towards things like Cover Art and Professional editing!
So any and all support is greatly appreciated! Thanks again to everyone!
We currently have chapters ranging as low as 3 Advanced chapter for $2.50 a month, all the way to 12 for $10.
Any subscriptions directly go towards not only supporting me as an Author, but towards things like Cover Art and Professional editing!
So any and all support is greatly appreciated! Thanks again to everyone!
WHEW! Looks like Boarslayer yet lives. All is right with the world.
B2 - Lesson 45: "Introduction To Loot - The Universal Languge."
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B2 - Lesson 45: "Introduction To Loot - The Universal Language."
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Alpha stared at the tiny blue mushroom inside the glass dome. The current Translight system he used to grow the fungi was basically jury-rigged. The mycelium of this species was rather slow to grow, and Alpha still needed to build something proper to handle the load. Even in the current setup, it had taken nearly thirty years of Translight time for the first mushroom to form.B2 - Lesson 45: "Introduction To Loot - The Universal Language."
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Yet… it was worth it.
A small syringe was inserted into the mushroom, and a tiny amount of milky white substance was extracted. This 'milk of mushroom' — actually a type of latex — was then transported via a robotic rail to another room. Inside, an antborg waited, its abdomen swollen with a swirling, golden liquid.
Almost reverently, the mechanical arm holding the syringe injected the milky-white substance into the ant.
Then, the ant shook.
Or rather, its abdomen shook, vibrating at such speeds that it would have blurred in a mortal's eyes. As it did, the golden liquid mixed with the mushroom latex, and after only a few seconds, the concoction had turned an angry, glowing red.
"SUCCESS!" Alpha said as a dozen party streamers around the room popped at once, showering the antborg in colorful confetti.
The clues had been there all along.
Alpha just didn't have the context to understand.
After all, both the root sap and the mushrooms were a major part of the ant's basic diet. That combined, they could prove so… explosive seemed like it would have been a contradiction. Why would a creature intentionally ingest foods that could blow up in its face? Literally!
Well, it turned out the secret was in the ants themselves all along. Analysis of the ants showed that a special enzyme produced by the ant's stomach could break down certain parts of the mushroom latex. At the right proportions, this digested latex would react with the root sap, forming a natural explosive.
The ants could safely ingest both items safely, because the rest of the mushroom acted as a neutralizer, preventing the reaction.
When the colony was threatened, certain ants chewed on pieces of mushrooms, extracting the latex but ingesting none of the mushroom solids.
Alpha had kicked himself for not figuring this out sooner. The insects of the mushroom grove had been his biggest clue. Their explosive properties were likely caused by their habit of directly ingesting the sap from both the plant and fungi.
Moreover, the resulting compound seemed to have a narcotic effect on the ants, placing them in the strange, calm, trance-like state Alpha had observed earlier.
Not that it made much difference to Alpha. He had plans other than just letting his antborgs blow themselves up.
Alpha directed the red antborg toward one side of the room as the wall pulled back, revealing a long corridor with several targets at the far end. Alpha rubbed his metaphorical hands and grinned a mental grin.
"Activate… [Ant-nihilator]!" he ordered.
Two of the hotspots along the side of the antborg's thorax bubbled as the flexible nanites shifted and reformed. Then, two long tendrils pushed out and twisted into a pair of cones, the back ends large and bulbous, while the front ends collapsed into fine points.
The [Ant-nihilator] had been a conceptual design from the moment Alpha learned of the ant napalm. But with no working samples, he couldn't actually test the weapon outside of simulations — until now.
Almost giddy with excitement, Alpha gave the command.
"FIRE!"
Instantly, two burning lances of fire erupted from the tips of each cone, leaving a glowing trail of red aerosolized napalm in the air as they traveled.
The lance shot across the shooting range at high speed. It was maybe not as quick as an actual bullet, but it was rather impressive for what was mostly a highly pressurized jet of liquid. The best part was yet to come, however.
BOOOOM!
As the flaming lances struck the nearest target, it erupted in a massive fireball. What's more, the explosion raced backward, down the glowing trail of floating lights, triggering a succession of smaller, if still impressive, explosions along its flight path.
"IT WORKS! HAHAHAHAHHA!" Alpha cheered.
More confetti rained down from the ceiling.
Alpha pulled up the weapon schematics and examined them one more time.
The addition of the crystal rail projectile was a late stroke of inspiration from watching the mortar termites. The arrayed marble, the size of a pea, acted like an anchor for the spiritual napalm, allowing it to travel nearly 30% farther than simulations suggested otherwise. Alpha's refinement of the mushroom latex and root sap also allowed for aerosolized napalm left in the projectile's wake to pack a much stronger kick than he had predicted. Likely, the ant's own rough mixing method included too many impurities and mushroom solids to let the compound fully synthesize.
The [Ant-nihilator] would still need some testing and tweaking, but all the other numbers showed similar results to the simulations. Good, good.
Lucky for Alpha, some eager test subjects were practically knocking at his door to… volunteer. Hey, the termites had started this war. It was only fair.
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"Robert! To your left!" Maggy yelled as a glowing blue hamster leapt at another mud-covered ant 'zombie.'
The distraction was enough for Robert to whirl and backhand the ant with his shield, sending it rolling several meters toward the edge of the forest clearing.
The blue hamster clung stubbornly to the ant's carapace. It gnawed at several weaker joints, cracking them in several places before a muddy tendril reached down and grabbed the summons, squeezing it until it erupted in a fiery ball of… well, fire.
The ant zombie, now with half its head missing, slumped to the ground. Antchaser rushed forward, a large 'rifle' in hand. He knelt down, aimed, and pulled the trigger. A thin, continuous beam of fire erupted from the weapon's tip and struck what remained of the zombie ant just as it rose.
Instantly, the mud-filled the carcass and bubbled and steamed until a few seconds later, all that was left was an empty carapace and a pile of dirt.
The four trailtakers paused and looked around the clearing.
"I think that was the last of them," Garrelt said, huffing.
"Oh, thank the Sisters!" Maggy exclaimed, collapsing onto her back. Another small blue hamster creature ran over and sat on her head.
Even Antchaser found his heart racing and breath heavy after the fight, despite knowing there was no real danger.
The goblin sighed, then nearly jumped out of his skin when Robert touched his shoulder. The high-level Cultivator easily blocked the stock strike drilled into him by his training. However, Robert didn't seem to take offense and instead smiled down at Antchaser.
"Well done out there, Mr. Antchaser," the team leader patted the goblin's shoulder. "I'm ashamed to admit I feared we might have to protect. But it seems my fears were unfounded. In retrospect, I assume it should have been obvious, what with you and your people having run this dungeon before."
Antchaser chuckled nervously and turned away. "Ah, no problem… sir. I… understand."
Robert smiled, white teeth flashing in the dim light of the forest. "Even so, I would like to apologize. I must say, though, that's quite the impressive weapon you have there, that… beam emitter, you called it? And you said such weapons can be found deeper in the dungeon?"
Antchaser nodded. "Yes, sir, though much farther in than we should be headed today," he said, shouldering the weapon.
Robert nodded. "Fascinating. I'm looking forward to seeing what other wonders this place holds." He then turned away. Antchaser frowned as the Adventurer did. The man's smile had seemed… odd to him, for some reason, though he quickly dismissed the feeling as just coming down from the battle high. There was a reason Antchaser preferred his traps to these kinds of head-on battles.
Antchaser steadied his shaking hands, then reached up and slid a lever on his weapon. A slot in the forearm slid open, and a small, dull crystal rod was ejected. It hit the ground and crumbled into dust. Antchaser reached into a pouch at his hip, removed a fresh, glowing crystal, and slotted into the same opening before pushing the level back into place.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, sir? Offering such weapons to the Adventurers as rewards? I understand that's… part of your purpose and all, but it feels like a bad idea," Antchaser said into his personal comms.
"Na, don't worry about that. These things are basically fancy welders. They couldn't even put a scratch on the armor I gave you and the other hunters." came Alpha's response.
"Just worry about showing our 'guests' a good time and leave the rest to me. I know what I'm doing here." The mad cackle that came over the comms sent a slight chill down the goblin's spine.
Most of the time, Alpha seemed calm and collected. The picture of what Antchaser would expect of a Dungeon Core. At other times, however — especially when the Core was scheming or overly passionate about something — Antchaser worried that maybe the Core had gone insane. He shook his head and sighed, his shoulders sagging.
"He's right, you know," Maggy said from her supine position on the grass. Antchaser flinched, then turned to look at her as she continued. "That weapon is fascinating. It's not too different from a [Fire Lance] staff or other similarly enchanted weapons, but I can't sense even the tiniest spirit or mana emission until the very moment it fires. That could be devastating in the right situations."
It took a second for Antchaser to realize the young Mage was speaking of Robert. They wouldn't be able to hear Alpha, as the comms were built into Antchaser's implants.
Maggy flipped over on her stomach and stared at the weapon with sparkling eyes. "You know… if you let me inspect it closer, I might be able to help with the efficiency issues!" she said, gesturing toward the pouch holding the shaped beast core charges.
Antchaser hesitated. If his actual weapon wasn't already leagues better, he might have let the Mage. Antchaser couldn't deny he wasn't a bit curious himself at how the weapon worked. But all of this was just for show, and besides, Alpha was footing the bill for ammo, so the cost wasn't really an issue for him.
After a moment, Antchaser shook his head. "Thank you for the offer, but I will have to decline, Ms. Greenwood. It's rather… fragile to such tampering and difficult to get. Until more is known in general, I don't feel comfortable letting others tinker with it," he responded.
Maggy deflated but didn't push the issue. It had been worth a shot at least, and besides, if what Antchaser had said was true, she could always get her own sometime in the future. One of the things that made dungeons so attractive to Adventurers was their habit of high quality and consistency with their rewards. More so if the dungeon was trying to spread an inheritance that required unique items or equipment.
"Gather up, everyone! It's time to see what we got this time!" Robert called out after everyone had rested.
Maggy and Garrelt shared a grin, then turned and walked toward the large round platform in the middle of the clearing. Antchaser shook his head and followed shortly after.
B2 - Lesson 46: "Everyone Loves Small Chests."
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B2 - Lesson 46: "Everyone Loves Small Chests."
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Alpha's first 'dungeon' was called simply the 'Boot Camp.'B2 - Lesson 46: "Everyone Loves Small Chests."
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What it had to do with either, the goblin hunters didn't know. Yet the name was whispered with both reverence and fear in the shadows of the hunter's lodge. It was a place of power and a place of nightmares.
It was where they had gained the tools and training they needed to save their homes and family.
But it was also a place of perpetual torture and horrors beyond anything they had ever experienced before. A place that didn't even have the decency to let them die.
In that place, completing missions would award them merits, which the hunters could use to purchase various equipment and tools. This equipment could then be used to complete even harder missions, and so on.
If you completed your training, you could even take this equipment out of the dungeon.
The hunter's armor was a prime example of this, and it was one of the first pieces of equipment the goblins learned to buy. Otherwise, death in even the simplest mission came swiftly and suddenly.
The Dragon's Garden, however, operated on an entirely different principle than the Boot Camp.
Instead of a loop formed from completing missions, earning merits, buying equipment, and completing more missions, the Dragon's Garden was built around one thing.
Loot.
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Robert approached the circular stone platform, stopping just at the edge. This was already the third such platform they had encountered since beginning the dungeon, and the process was becoming familiar. Once the rest of his team had arrived next to him, Robert held out his arm with the metal bangle. As he did, the bangle transformed into a living dragon, released its tail, and stood, staring at the platform.
Its eyes flashed a blood-red color, and a strange twisting formation — like interlocking gears moving around a center point — appeared on the stone platform, glowing the same dark red. The small dragon then slithered up Robert's arm and once more became nothing more than an inanimate bangle. He lowered his arm and turned his attention back to the platform.
The lights flashed brightly, then vanished. A feminine voice spoke from the platform.
//No enemies detected. Wave Cleared//
//Calculating…//
//Clear Time - 15:23 [NEW RECORD!]
Wave Rank - C
Wave Size - C
Final Evaluation - B+ //
The group cheered, and Robert grinned.
They still weren't clear on what the evaluations meant overall. Not even Antchaser's people had figured it out, according to the goblin, but it was obvious that a higher score would only result in better rewards. The exact meaning and methods for obtaining the best rewards would come with time as more adventurers delved into the dungeon and learned its secrets. For now, they were the scouts, here to do a job. The rewards were just the cream on the cake.
The next moment, the middle of the stone platform slid away, and a pedestal rose. On the pedestal sat a small wooden chest.
"Awww, it's smaller than the last one…" Maggy complained.
"Just because it's smaller doesn't mean it's any worse. We did get a better evaluation this time, after all," Robert responded with a chuckle, walking forward. The last challenge they'd cleared had rewarded a large kite shield of unknown make. At first glance, it had appeared rather bland for a dungeon reward.
But closer inspection had shown the shield anything but. Not only was it crafted from Deep — if mundane — materials, the quality of its craftsmanship was astounding. It might not have been very useful to them as it was, but if they could get it to an Array Master or Enchanter back in Halirosa, it could be turned into something even the more powerful sects and clans would bid tooth and nail for.
That had spurred the expedition leaders on further. What other secrets did it hold if the dungeon offered that kind of reward so early on?
Robert stopped in front of the chest and grinned, then slowly lifted the lid.
A golden light spilled out as he did, and a chiming, rising music played with no discernible source. No one knew what the purpose of either was, but it gave the event an air of excitement.
When the chest lid was finally open, the light pouring out flashed once, then vanished while the music stopped.
The team's excitement slowly dwindled as Robert stood there for a moment, frowning down into the chest.
"Is… is it bad?" Maggy asked, not quite able to hide the slight shake in her voice.
"I'm… not sure…" came Robert's response. He reached into the chest and pulled out half a dozen small clay… coins?
Maggy and Garrelt frowned, though Antchaser's eyes widened in surprise.
"Sir!" he whispered into his comms, "Are you sure it's a good idea to show the Adventurers that?!"
"It'll be fine. I know what I'm doing, don't worry. We need something big to keep their attention. Besides, they still need testing."
Antchaser sighed.
"Oh? Do you perchance know what these are?" Robert asked, noticing the goblin's reaction.
Antchaser flinched but put on his best smile.
"Yes, sir. I just wasn't expecting to see them this early. The dungeon must really be… spoiling us."
That got Robert's attention, and the man flashed a bright smile. "Well, don't keep us in suspense, lad. What are they?" he asked.
Antchaser didn't answer immediately, instead reaching into his pouch as he walked closer. From his pouch he withdrew a few clay coins identical to the ones in Robert's hand.
He held one up so that the other three could see it.
"The dungeon called them 'MUD' and as for what they are? Well, to put it simply, they're a type of spiritual tablet," Antchaser said as he twirled the MUD through his fingers so that they could see the partial array.
"Ridiculous," Maggy said, scoffing and folding her arms. "I know tablets, and those aren't tablets. Hell, the arrays on them don't even look complete. What are you supposed to do? Piece them together like a child's puzzle?" She chuckled to herself and shook her head.
Antchaser smirked in response. "That's exactly what you do," he said.
"Wh-what?!" Maggy sputtered.
"If I may?" Antchaser asked, holding his hand out to Robert.
"Interesting… go on," Robert responded, handing him the coins from the chest.
Antchaser looked through them, then selected one before passing the rest back to Robert.
The goblin then knelt on the ground and arranged the MUD into a circle using four of his own, along with the one he took from Robert. The coins shook slightly, then suddenly snapped together, forming a ring. Antchaser then placed a small, lesser spirit stone from his pouch at the center.
The array lines carved into the MUD flashed to life as the array activated. Like air being pushed into a bubble, a translucent barrier formed in the center of the ring and rapidly expanded outward until it covered an area roughly five meters in diameter.
From the other side of the barrier, Maggy and Garrelt gawked.
Robert rubbed his chin and approached the barrier. Garrelt said something, though no sound made it past the barrier.
"An Isolation Barrier. Fascinating. And so quickly, too." Robert said to himself. He then flashed several hand signs, and Garrelt nodded.
The scout leader withdrew his shortsword and struck the barrier. The blade bounced. Robert grinned, and Garrelt touched his blade, muttering an incantation. The edge of the shortsword lit up in a bright orange glow, and again, Garrelt struck out. This time, the barrier wobbled, sending out ripples across its surface. Even so, it held firm. Robert's grin widened further.
"Good. Good! I doubt such a thing could withstand many such blows, but blocking even a single attack often means the difference between victory and defeat." He then turned to Antchaser, "Surely that isn't all they can do, however?"
"Of course not," the goblin responded. Antchaser plucked up the spirit stone, and the barrier popped. He then quickly replaced two of the MUD with two new ones from his pouch and placed a fresh spirit stone in the center.
Again, the array flashed to life, but instead of a barrier, a ring of golden light expanded outward. As the golden light washed over them. Instantly, the minor injuries they had accumulated during the delve began to heal rapidly.
"A [Sunlit Ritual] recovery array, astounding," Robert said in awe.
"HOOOOOOOOOW?!" Maggy rushed Antchaser and grabbed him by the shoulders before he could react.
"Tell me how you did it?!" she yelled as she shook Antchaser. The fervor in her eyes looked oddly familiar to him…
Garrelt, on the other hand, only laughed as he pulled the young woman away. "Calm down, girl. Let the man speak. We're not gonna learn anything if you rattle his brain like that."
Maggy whirled on him. "You don't understand!" she said. "Never mind he built an isolation barrier in just a few moments. But even the most basic barrier is totally different than a recovery array! I could understand if it was two different tablets, but all he did was switch out a few coins! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW INSANE THAT IS?!"
Garrelt sighed and patted Maggy's shoulders. "Settle down. Yes, I know."
"As do I," Robert said, turning to Antchaser. "Care to explain, Mr. Antchaser?" he asked.
The goblin nodded. "As I was saying, Ms. Greenwood guessed it from the start. The MUD are what the dungeon calls 'modular arrays.' They're designed to interlink in a way that any array can be quickly assembled in a short time-frame, as long as you have the appropriate MUD coins," he said, gesturing to MUD. Robert noted how each held one or more seals — the arcane symbols that made up the language of arrays — with various connecting channels on each.
Robert palmed one of his free coins and stared at it. "And these can be reused?" he asked.
Antchaser nodded hesitantly. "To a limited degree. They're no Jade Tablets, but they're far more durable than your typical spiritual tablet. Through testing, we've estimated they can handle roughly three major arrays or ten minor arrays before they crumble."
Robert raised a brow and stared at the clay coin more intently than before.
One reason people were willing to spend such an exorbitant price for spiritual tablets, despite being one-use items, was their speed and versatility. One didn't need to be an array master, or even understand much about arrays in general, to activate a tablet. All you had to do was power the tablet, and it would do all the work for you.
But their price also made them emergency items.
These… MUD however…
The more he stared at the coin, the wider Robert's grin became.
Is that a fishhook sticking out of Robert's cheek?
B2 - Lesson 47: "When In Doubt - Outsource!"
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B2 - Lesson 47: "When In Doubt - Outsource!"
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"QUICK! CLOSE THE DOOR!" Maggy yelled just as Antchaser slipped through. A panting, muddy Garrelt rushed the heavy door and threw his full weight against it. Just as it was about to close, several insectoid legs shot through the opening, thrashing as their owner tried to push their way into the room.B2 - Lesson 47: "When In Doubt - Outsource!"
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"BACK! BACK YOU FOUL BEAST!" Robert called, a slight crack in his voice breaking through the man's charismatic calm. He stabbed at the creature behind the door with his sword, and it screeched, withdrawing its many legs. The door slammed shut, and all four occupants slid to the ground, muddy and tired but otherwise unhurt.
Maggy splayed out on her back and called out to the ceiling, "What the hell was that?!"
"Ants… lots… of… ants," came Garrelt's response. The man shook like a dog to remove some of the mud covering him, to little effect.
"I know that, you muddy fool! I—" Maggy snapped.
"What I believe Ms. Magnolia means to ask —" Robert cut her off, " — is why were there so many of them? And why did they feel so much more powerful than the ones outside?" The man said, more focused on cleaning the mud and hemolymph off his shiny sword.
"Ya! That!" Maggy responded, pointing toward Robert from her spot on the floor.
Antchaser shook his head and opened his mouth to respond when another voice cut him off.
"Good. You all survived that. Very good," said the large ant sitting near the far end of the nearly identical room to the one they first entered.
"EEEEEEEEKKKK!" Maggy screamed, rolled over, and pointed at the ant. A small red spark erupted from her fingertip and shot toward the creature like an arrow. However, instead of hitting the creature, it impacted a hexagonal energy shield that suddenly appeared around it. The errant spell deflected upward and slammed into the ceiling before exploding into a large fireball and leaving a small crater.
All five occupants of the room stared up at the crater as dust and bits of plaster rained down over the ant.
The ant then looked back down at Maggy. "You're paying for that…" it said flatly.
"Hey… Boss…" Garrelt said as he slowly stood, his hand reaching for his shortsword, "I think I swallowed too much mud… 'cuse that ant just talked."
"I noticed as well…" came Robert's response. The man pointed his own sword at the new occupant and circled around the opposite side of Garrelt.
Before either man could make a move, however, Antchaser stepped forward.
"Lord Alpha! As requested, I've brought help," the goblins said, bowing at the hip.
Robert furrowed his brow, then lowered his sword. "Antchaser, would I be correct in assuming this is our… host?" he asked.
Antchaser turned and motioned to the ant. "May I present Lord Alpha, the Dungeon Core of the Dragon's Garden."
Maggy blinked. "Wait… the Dungeon Core is an ant?!"
"No, it's just puppeting it, girl," Garrelt answered. "It's a fairly common way for Dungeon Cores to communicate… the few that ever bother to."
"Quite," Robert said, lowering his sword. He then bowed, mimicking Antchaser. "I greet you, Lord Alpha, on behalf of Halirosa and the Adventurer's Guild."
Garrelt didn't bother adding more and simply waved while Maggy did her best to disappear, likely still embarrassed by her… outburst.
The ant looked over the group with a frown. How Robert knew the ant was frowning, he didn't know, but that was the distinct impression he got.
"Hmmmm… So these are the ones you brought? I do hope there are more. While what I've seen so far has been rather impressive, I'm afraid it won't be enough," Alpha said.
The atmosphere of the room suddenly grew heavy. It was straight to business, it seemed.
As the leader of both the current team and the expedition as a whole, Robert stepped forward. "I assure you, good sir, that you'll find the Adventurers of Halirosa more than ready to meet any challenge, both of the dungeon's and whatever foul deeds these… bandits have perpetrated," he said before gesturing to the group. "Fear not. The ones you see before you are but a small example of those many talents we have brought to assist you and your plight."
"I see…" Alpha responded. "I hope you aren't talking about that lot outside. They have their own troubles to deal with, at the moment,"
That gave the three Adventurers pause. Even Antchaser gave Alpha an odd look. That wasn't any part of the plan he'd been informed about.
"Is… there something happening we're not aware of?" Robert asked, obvious concern in his voice. Had the village been attacked by the mud-possessed creatures again?
Alpha waved the question off with one of the ant's forelimbs. "Nothing for you to be concerned about at the moment."
Robert begged to differ, but another question pushed its way forward first. "You're aware of what's happening outside the dungeon?"
Whoops… did I already screw this up? Alpha thought to himself.
Garrelt thankfully solved that problem before it became a problem.
The man shot to his feet and pointed to Alpha, his eyes wide. "Bloody hell! You're a growth type!"
"Huh?" Maggy looked back and forth between Garrelt and Robert, the confusion obvious on her face. "Wait, I don't understand. I thought it was a bad thing for a dungeon to break its bounds? Isn't that the entire reason we're here?"
Garrelt looked over at the young woman and raised a brow. "Girl, you live in the largest Adventurer city in the world. How are you so ignorant about these things?"
Maggy puffed up as she glared at the man, "Well, excuse me for preferring the company of books and ruins to brutish Adventurers who only know how to break things!"
Garrelt didn't respond. Instead, his eyes glanced up at the crater in the ceiling.
"That was an accident!" Maggy exclaimed, her voice slightly higher than normal.
Robert pinched the bridge of his nose. "Would you two kindly refrain from ruining our good rapport before we've even gotten the chance to build it?" he asked.
Both Garrelt and Maggy looked away.
Robert sighed. "To answer your question, Maggy," he continued, "typically, it is a bad thing. Most dungeons are designed in a way that they're self-contained. If they break their bonds, then it means something's gone wrong. A few — extremely rare — examples, however, have shown the ability to extend themselves outward, typically to collect resources or expand if the number of trailtakers exceeds what the maker originally expected. We call these rare few 'growth-types' for their ability to change and grow."
Alpha let the man speak. This was rather good intel for him. None of those he'd interrogated had mentioned these 'growth types' before. The knowledge was likely limited because of their apparent rarity.
Maggy frowned. "Why aren't all dungeons like that? It seemed like it would be advantageous."
Garrelt took up the explanation. "Mostly because of the cost. Typical Dungeon Cores aren't smart enough to look outside their walls," he nodded to Alpha. "Making something like our friend here takes far more resources, with little benefit beyond 'what if' scenarios. Trying to create a dungeon that can expand without having something truly intelligent behind the wheel is how dungeon breaks occur."
Maggy looked like she didn't quite follow, but nodded anyway.
Alpha, on the other, felt like he understood the issue. It was rather synonymous with the Federation's issue when setting up automated systems.
If you already knew what you wanted to do, it was rather easy to set up simple AI routines to maintain even complex systems spanning entire star systems.
But if you wanted things to change, adapt, or improve, you needed an… extra touch. You needed an overseer capable of not just monitoring but thinking — one capable of planning and considering the future.
Alpha bumped up finding a real dungeon higher on his priority list. He was rather interested in seeing one of these 'growth-type' intelligences. From everything he was hearing, they sounded rather similar to Sapient-AI in their own way.
Robert turned back to Alpha. "We're getting distracted, however. What exactly is happening outside?"
Again, Alpha waved them off. "Nothing for you to be concerned about. Your companions have things well enough in hand for now. Think of it as nothing more than a bit of motivation to finish your own mission."
Robert frowned, but didn't push the issue. He knew better than to argue with a Core in its domain.
"And what exactly is it you need us to do, sir? We've heard you have a bit of a… bandit issue?" Robert asked instead.
Alpha laughed. "Oh, the bandits are well and handled. No, it's what those fools released that's the problem."
Robert raised a brow. "I assume this has something to do with the muddy creatures?" It was obvious that while the mud slimes originated from the dungeon, something had gone wrong. Both with them escaping the walls and in how the possessed creatures were spread out. The difficulty spike from the third wave to the first rest area was unreasonably high, at least if the dungeon wasn't trying to eliminate anyone who reached that point.
Their own group had been harassed nearly constantly, leaving little room for rest or retreat, whereas before, they had encountered very few creatures outside of the challenge waves.
Instead of responding immediately, the Alpha-controlled ant turned and walked further into the room, stopping near a screen that hovered in place, just like in the first room.
The Adventurers and Antchaser exchanged looks before following, each taking a seat at a table. Alpha turned around and addressed the group.
"Your bandit friends cause quite a headache for me," as Alpha spoke, the screen flashed on, showing a picture of a large glob of mud floating in a black void. "As you've already guessed, the mud slimes are an integral part of the Dragon's Garden. Both in the story I'm crafting, and in other aspects."
"Like what?" Maggy asked, her hand shooting into the air.
"That's proprietary information. Now, moving on," Alpha shut down the young woman's question immediately. Maggy slumped in her seat.
"As I was saying, they're important to the proper functions of the dungeon. With that in mind, I created something to… help." The screen flashed again, and a new figure appeared.
Maggy pointed at the screen and yelled, "That's the dragon on the door!" All eyes turned to her, and she blushed.
Garrelt stood and approached the screen, observing it from all sides.
"Hmmmm… It looks like a Mud Drake. A young adult, a few centuries old at most."
Alpha raised an antenna. "That's quite astute of you. So you recognize it then?"
Garrelt nodded, "They're rare beasts, for sure, but I've dealt with one or two in my time. None so old or large, however. What's this one at? Middle of [Elemental Dominance]? Hard to tell without a spiritual signature, but given their typical growth rate, I'd guess somewhere around there. You never know with drakes, though. They're called 'Half-Dragons' for a reason."
Alpha nodded, "That will make this simpler to explain then. I've been raising this particular specimen for quite some time. However, that fool Bosco didn't see a key part of the dungeon's design. Instead, he only saw a treasure to steal. Maybe he hoped that whatever power it could grant him would help him deal with his pursuers. Whose to say."
Garrelt barked out a laugh, "Let me guess, the fool bit off more than he could chew and choked on his own hubris?"
"Very much so. Though let me assure you, the Mud Drake had no such choking issues," Alpha responded with a laugh of his own.
He continued. "However, for as much of a fool as he was, the man had his own tricks. Through means I can't discern, the man did something that allowed the Mud Drake to slip from my control… and with it…"
"The mud slimes…" Robert finished the thought.
Alpha nodded. "Exactly. The Mud Drake isn't sapient, but it's smart enough to use the tools given to it. Ever since, it had been waging war outside of the normal bonds of my dungeon in its push against the last chains binding it. If it escapes, not only will it be decades, maybe centuries, until I can get the dungeon back to working order, but a powerful creature with an army of mud slimes will be unleashed on the outside world. I shouldn't need to explain why that's bad."
The group went silent, contemplating Alpha's words. 'Bad' was an understatement. Just from what she'd seen so far, Maggy could imagine the kind of damage something like the mud slimes could wreak if they made it to the surface and started multiplying. They were far more dangerous than typical slimes on multiple levels.
Then put a near-dragon, of a species known to be extremely territorial and violent, in control of them? Ya, that was a recipe for a terrible time.
Robert nodded, seeming to come to the same conclusion.
"I see," he said, "so you need us to eliminate the Mud Drake before it can break free. We would need to see the creature for ourselves to know for certain, but that should be within our power. If not, we can always call for help."
Alpha shook his head and crossed two of his forelimbs. "Nope!" he said. "I don't want you to kill the Mud Drake. As I said, it's an important part of what I'm trying to do here, and its death will set us back a long time."
Alpha grinned. Once more, Robert found it… odd that he could tell the ant was grinning, of all things.
"I want you to capture it."
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B2 - Lesson 48: "Life's A Stage..."
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B2 - Lesson 48: "Life's A Stage..."
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B2 - Lesson 48: "Life's A Stage..."
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<< Alpha Log -
6952 SFY-Third Era, 6 standard months since Planetfall. >>
So, again you ask, 'why bother with any of this?'
Why not deal with Icefinger's men myself?
Why not capture the Mud Drake on my own?
Why bother even trying to turn the goblins into a Federation Outpost? It's not like they can really offer me anything beyond manpower, and the ants cover most of that.
Good questions, my hypothetical interdimensional reader!
To put it simply, to set the stage.
As I am now, my estimates tell me I don't have the resources or equipment to take on Halirosa should they prove a threat. Oh, a couple of bandits here and there, sure; even the expeditionary force or Icefinger's men shouldn't be too hard to deal with alone. But if Halirosa itself decided to throw its full weight against me? I'm ashamed to admit I'd have to flee and start over… again.
Yaaaaa, not happening. I need a cover. Something to act as a shield until I'm ready.
To that end, I need to put on a little 'play.'
Sure, I could likely deal with all these issues myself, but Icefinger's men have their part to play, just as the Mud Drake does. A master doesn't pull on the strings of their puppet mindlessly; they pluck them and watch the puppet dance on its own.
What can I say? I learned from the best.
That said, keeping a consistent story straight when you're essentially winging things by the seat of your pants isn't easy. I don't even wear pants! Yet, one benefit of playing the part of an ancient being from another era is that most of my mistakes can be naturally written off as just 'from a different time.'
It's not that there aren't cracks if one looks hard enough. I just don't have the history, cultural understanding, and background knowledge to cover everything.
Thankfully, I've been able to find a few people who can help with that. The goblins still think me a Dungeon Core, but are more than willing to help fill the gaps where needed. While others, such as Dr. Maria, are quickly grasping the truths behind the veil.
I have even found a few 'helpers' from the most unexpected of places.
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Robert, Maggy, Garrelt, and Antchaser spent the next three hours at the rest checkpoint, well… resting. The fight to the small room had been rather intense, and none of them were quite ready to face whatever the dungeon had to throw at them next.
Or rather than the dungeon, they should say the Mud Drake.
"Do we really need to go farther?" Maggy asked. "We know what the issue is; can't we just turn around and call it a day?" She slumped against the couch. She still felt more at home in a lab than out in the field like this. While the dungeon was interesting, she would much rather study it in depth when it was fixed.
Robert sat across from her, cleaning his equipment with a small cloth. Wherever he wiped, the grime, dirt, and gore vanished, though the cloth itself never seemed to accumulate any of the filth.
"No can do," he responded. "If our goal is to capture the escaped drake, then we need to at least see the creature, if for no other reason than to confirm what we know. The first rule of adventuring; never assume you know the situation. More than one Adventurer has died because they rushed into a cave thinking they knew what was inside."
Garrelt laughed, "Or to the goblins." He flinched and gave Antchaser an apologetic look.
Antchaser just rolled his eyes. "It's fine. I'm quite aware of how… tricky our surface cousins can be. There's a reason the Deep Tribes stopped trying to civilize those savages millennia ago."
Maggy looked at Garrelt, then Antchaser, and back again. "What do you mean? Isn't goblin extermination one of the most basic missions? Surely they can't be that difficult," she asked.
Robert slid his freshly cleaned and polished sword back into his scabbard and turned to Maggy. "Yes, and no. While surface-dwelling goblins are often categorized in the same way as magic monsters and spirit beasts, people often forget that they are technically a sapient race. Savage, warlike, and destructive — in both nature and culture — but sapient, nonetheless."
He looked her hard in the eye. "With sapience comes wisdom. More than many would like to admit have been killed because they treated goblins like any other beast. Treated them as predictable."
Garrelt nodded. "The number one killer of rookies is underestimating goblins. Not that the Guild would ever publicly admit that, of course. Bad for business. But spend enough time in the Guild tavern, and you could gather enough horror stories from the old dogs to fill a book."
Antchaser spoke up as well. "The Deep Tribes have tales. Old tales of how the Deep goblins and the surface goblins were once one people. How we split differs in each story, but a common theme is that those who left for the surface were eventually driven mad by the sun, cursed by a life away from the tunnels and the earth. Most people just see them as stories to keep curious children in line and to their home tunnels. 'Wander too far and you'll be dragged to the surface by the Mad Ones to join the horde!' That kind of thing. But I always wondered if there was some truth to those old stories."
"I see…" Maggy stared at the three, her eyes wide.
Robert stood and clapped his hands. "The point being, an Adventurer must never underestimate their foe or assume they know everything there is to know. Information, above and beyond anything else, is our most important tool. With that said, how about we get a move on? Maggy does make a good point that we can't afford to waste too much time. While the Dungeon Core said that our allies have whatever is going on out there well in hand, it would set me at ease to confirm so myself."
The other three nodded and stood as well.
As one, they turned and headed for the door on the opposite side from which they had entered.
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The door swung closed with a thud, and the party walked into a… half-built army camp?
Or at least that's what it looked like to them. Unopened crates and pre-cut boards were piled between canvas tents and cold firepits. Despite being the first sign of civilization they had seen in the dungeon, the scene sent a chill down the Adventurer's spine.
The place was eerie, in a way. It had a cold, abandoned feel to it, as if its occupants were forced to flee suddenly. A thick dirt road ran down the middle of the camp and ended suddenly at the tree line. Several cut logs and piles of tools lay nearby where they had been dropped.
The group slowly made their way down the road, their eyes open and alert to any sudden movement.
"Think we should search around for clues?" Garrelt asked.
Robert frowned, but shook his head. "No… this looks like a set piece for the dungeon's storyline. Interesting, but not important to our immediate mission."
"Don't let them leave just yet! You need to head to the command tent!" Alpha suddenly spoke up through comms.
He worked hard on this part, dang it!
As the three Adventurers turned to walk further down the road, Antchaser called out, "Wait!"
The Adventurers paused and turned to the goblin. Thinking on his feet, Antchaser pointed deeper into the camp, toward the largest of the tents.
"I think we should check out the large tent there. Before the bandits broke the dungeon, I remember seeing documents there. If this place is related to the storyline, it might contain important information about the Mud Drake."
Robert and Garrelt exchanged a look and nodded. Robert gestured to the tent. "That's a good point, Mr. Antchaser. Very well, lead on then."
Antchaser sighed in relief and stepped off the dirt road, heading deeper into the camp toward the command tent. He wasn't actually sure if there really were any such documents in the tent, but Alpha obviously wanted them there for a reason. Antchaser just hoped he didn't end up making a fool of himself.
The trip through the camp was rather uneventful, though the scattered equipment and building supplies made for minor hazards. Much of it looked like what Antchaser remembered seeing in the bandit work camps, and in all likelihood, had just been repurposed for whatever Alpha was building here.
Ten minutes later, they stood in front of the large tent and admired it.
"I have no idea what this is even made of…" Maggy exclaimed in awe. She reached out and touched the smooth, cloth-like material. It was a molted dark green, with splotches of lighter browns and greens mixed in. Yet it didn't seem woven in any traditional manner she could think of. Coupled with many of the strange artifacts and devices she'd noticed scattered around the camp as they made their way here, part of Maggy was rather excited at the opportunity to dig into this dungeon's history.
One bad thing about living in a world where a single person can gain the strength to topple entire civilizations… was that unless you had such a person working for you, civilizations had a nasty habit of vanishing.
So many people, cultures, and histories had been lost to the annals of time and the whims of powerful Cultivators or Mages. Maggy had made it her life's work to dig up these lost secrets, and this place whispered secrets unlike any she had ever seen or heard of before.
"Well, now! Now that we're here, would you kindly show us these documents, Mr. Antchaser?" Robert's voice broke Maggy out of her daydreams.
Antchaser stepped forward. "Um… Ya… sure…" he said, scratching his cheek with his free hand and looking away. He really hoped Alpha had a plan, and he just hadn't wanted to show off the camp.
The goblin placed a hand on the tent flap, but an unknown voice called out before he could push it open.
"HALT! By order of the Queen, state your business!"
All four of them whirled around, their weapons ready, just in time to see a figure stepping out of the shadows of a nearby tent.
The figure of a human male in ant-like armor.
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B2 - Lesson 49: "... With Plenty Fools To Play Their Part."
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B2 - Lesson 49: "... With Plenty Fools To Play Their Part."
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"HALT! By order of the Queen, state your business!"B2 - Lesson 49: "... With Plenty Fools To Play Their Part."
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The figure who stepped out of the shadows was undeniably human. His sharp, clean-shaven jawline and icy blue eyes gave the man an air of noble refinement, while his commanding voice spoke of authority.
Yet the armor he wore was… strange. At first glance, one would think it was just a typical set of plate mail, complete with a half-helm. On closer inspection, one could see that the armor wasn't made of metal. Instead, the metallic armor was made up out of the silver carapace of a giant ant. Even the half-helm was shaped to vaguely resemble the head of an ant, while the large halberd they wielded was crafted from a large ant's mandible.
The Adventurers didn't let their guard down, however. They were the only ones who were supposed to be in the dungeon. So, where had this newcomer come from?
Robert stepped forward, his sword at the ready. Before he could ask who the man was, however, a second armored figure walked into view.
"Claude… what are you doing? Mr. Alpha told us to bring them to the Mud Drake."
The second man spoke, his arms folded, his own halberd resting in the crook of his arm.
The first man, Claude, visibly deflated, and he turned to the second. "We're supposed to follow the script, Bill!" he said with a sigh.
The second man, 'Bill,' smirked from under his helmet. "Why bother? The dungeon's not operational yet. We're not on duty."
Claude pointed at Bill. "Because I put a lot of work into it, dammit! Why can't you just give me this?!"
The two armored men started arguing while the Adventurers stared on, utterly confused.
The sudden rustle of fabric caused the group to turn around, and a third man stepped out of the command tent. This man was larger than the other two, and his armor was more intricately designed. If the first two men's armor were inspired by the more common ants in the dungeon, the new man's armor seemed to invoke the larger, rarer soldier ants.
The newcomer let the flap of the tent fall and stood straight, frowning at the group of Adventurers, then turned to his companions. He pinched the bridge of his nose through his intimidating helmet and sighed.
"What are you two doing?" he asked, his voice flat.
Bill and Claude froze, then turned and stared at the large man, then pointed at each other;
""He started it!"" they complained together.
The large man stared at both silently, then turned to the Adventurers. "I apologize for these two, Trialtakers. This is still new for us, so it's taken some getting used to. I assume you're the lot Mr. Alpha called to solve our little 'problem' then?"
The Adventurers shared a look before Robert stepped forward and extended his hand toward the third man.
"I believe so," Robert said, "and who might you gentlemen be? I was led to believe we would be the only Adventurers operating in the dungeon?" Though Robert's words were warm and friendly, his eyes held a dangerous glint that didn't go unnoticed.
The third man in ornate armor reached out and shook Robert's hand. "You can call me Hugo. These two are Bili and Claude," Hugo said, thumbing toward the other two men. "As for why we're here… well, that's complicated. We're not Adventurers. Not anymore, at least. We're —"
"We're NPCs!" Bill interrupted with a grin before Claude elbowed him in the side.
"Fool, we're actors. Stop using words no one knows."
"Who's a fool?! That's what the big Boss called us!"
As the two men argued once more, Hugo turned back to Robert.
"What my compatriots are trying to say is, we've been hired by the Dungeon Core to play roles in its 'story.' Once the dungeon is operational, our job will involve helping Trialtakers learn about the dungeon and provide tasks or rewards as needed."
Robert frowned and narrowed his eyes. "I… see," he responded. "I've never heard of a dungeon hiring outsiders to play a part in their dungeons. Typically, if such things are needed, they are filled by dungeon-born creatures or artificial constructs. How did you come across such an opportunity?"
Hugo chuckled and looked off to the side as he rubbed the back of his head, "Ah… well… you see… that's kind of an awkward situation —"
Before Hugo could speak further, a growl escaped Antchaser's lips. "They're bloody bandits."
As one, the group turned to stare at the seething goblin, one unblinking eye twitching as Antchaser stared at the three 'NPCs.'
"What the hell, Alpha?! Why are these three here?!" Antchaser sent through his comms. He had to resist mentally screaming the question.
"Yaaaaa, sorry about that one. I needed your reaction to be genuine, so they buy what we're selling. Just roll with it. Those three have already been told what to say," Alpha responded.
Robert raised a brow. "Bandits, you say?"
Antchaser's clenched fists shook, but he spoke through clenched teeth, "Yes… bandits. They're part of the lot who… followed Bosco into the dungeon."
Robert turned back to the nervous-looking three and frowned, his hand gliding toward the hilt of his sword. "I see…"
Maggy flinched and retreated, her staff held outward as if to fend off the former bandits while Garrelt reached for his bow.
Hugo took a step backward, his hands raised. "Woah! Easy now, no need for any for that. Your goblin friend is right; we were part of Bosco's group. But like I said, the situation is… complicated."
"Why should we believe anything you say!?" Maggy called from behind Garrelt.
Garrelt frowned before his eyes widened, and he whispered, "You're… Dungeonbound… aren't you?"
Hugo's arms dropped, and he sighed, his shoulders sagging. "Aye… that's right. After the… incident with Bosco, the dungeon captured the lot of us." The large man chuckled to himself and shook his head. "Now look at us."
"Dungeonbound?" Maggy asked, looking between the former bandits and Garrelt.
Robert was the one who responded, as he frowned at Hugo. "It's a term used to refer to those who have broken a dungeon's laws and, in turn, been 'imprisoned' by it. Yet, it's supposed to be just a rumor. There have been no verifiable reports of Dungeonbound in millennia. It's just another story used to scare new Adventurers into behaving while in a dungeon. After all, if you broke a dungeon's rules to the point it was forced to act personally, they would typically just kill you."
Robert stood straight and folded his arms. "So… that begs the question. Why you three?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as he stared at Hugo.
Hugo shrugged. "Who knows? Good behavior? This place is… strange. What matters is we work for the dungeon now, not Bosco."
"Good ridden, too. Never liked that arse anyway…" Bill muttered before Claude elbowed him once more, harder this time.
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Maggy asked.
The three former bandits exchanged a look. "Well, the fact we're not dead, for one. This place is more dangerous than you realize," said Bill.
Robert frowned and drew his sword, causing Hugo, Bill, and Claude to take a step back. "An interesting story, but by Halirosa law, you are bandits and will submit to capture or face execution. For the time being, you'll be detained at the camp until such time that you can be questioned and transported back to Halirosa for trial."
Robert stepped forward, and the bangle on his wrist flashed to life. The silver dragon lifted its head and stared into Robert's eyes before speaking in a monotone voice. //Warning. Hostile action toward NPCs detected. Trialtakers are advised that attacking NPCs unprovoked may result in penalties up to and including banishment from the dungeon.//
Robert stared wide-eyed at the tiny dragon wrapped around his wrist.
"These three are criminals by law. Is the dungeon going to stand in the way of justice?" he asked with a frown.
//Your feedback and concerns have been duly noted and will be passed on to dungeon management.//
With that, the silver dragon lay back across his wrist and became lifeless once more.
Robert ground his teeth and looked between the former bandits and the bangle. Garrelt stepped forward.
"It might be best to let this one go, Robert. Keeping in the good graces of the Dungeon Core is more important than dealing with a few minor bandits," the scout leader said as he pushed Robert's sword down.
To the surprise of everyone present, Antchaser agreed. "While I respect your desire for justice for my people, I doubt anything you could do to them would be worse than what the dungeon is capable of. We have more important things to worry about."
"You have no idea," said Bill, "You don't want to know what happened to the others — OWE! Will you stop that?!" Bill rubbed his sore kidney while glaring at Claude.
Robert stared at Antchaser with narrowed eyes before sighing and sheathing his blade. "Very well…" he said, "we'll discuss this matter later."
He then turned back to Hugo. "Assuming what you're telling us is the truth, how exactly are you supposed to help us?"
In response, Hugo only grinned.
- Location
- Earth: Universe Meta - 1
I don't get Robert here. It's very obvious that this society is used to automtion, and that the concept of some level of AI is not unheard of. A dungeon can basically be considered under the full authority of the managing AI. An AI that the authorities cannot modify.
Even with the narrative that Alpha has lost partial control, it's obvious that this part is under his preview. Trying to arrest these guys is like trying to arrest someone who's been imprisoned in a foreign country. Step 1 of the arrest is literally to commit a jailbreak.
Even with the narrative that Alpha has lost partial control, it's obvious that this part is under his preview. Trying to arrest these guys is like trying to arrest someone who's been imprisoned in a foreign country. Step 1 of the arrest is literally to commit a jailbreak.
B2 - Lesson 50: "You Might Need A Bigger Boat..."
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B2 - Lesson 50: "You Might Need A Bigger Boat..."
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"… Are you certain this will work?" Robert asked as he eyed their newest 'companion' with a frown. When the three former bandits had brought the newcomer out from behind the large command tent, the team of Adventurers hadn't been sure how to feel.B2 - Lesson 50: "You Might Need A Bigger Boat..."
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On one hand, it wasn't another bandit. On the other…
Robert stared at the massive ant standing beside the tent. It was one of the large soldiers that had harassed them on the way to the dungeon. They had yet to see any inside the dungeon proper, but the creature still made him nervous. He could imagine the damage such a beast could cause if it broke free from the Dungeon Core's control while their guard was down.
Robert found his hand drifting to the hilt of his sword every time the creature so much as twitched. He didn't miss the way Garrelt's eyes tracked the ant as well. Maggy, however…
"This is amazing!" the bubbly girl practically squealed. One hand traced the various ridged of the ant's carapace as the other rapidly made notes in the floating notebook in front of her. Dozens of minute bursts of Mana and Spirit Energy flashed across Robert's senses. He wasn't quite sure what she was doing, but the control she demonstrated was astounding, even to him.
For as flighty, air-headed and ignorant of how the world worked as the girl seemed at times, it was easy to forget she was one of the peak geniuses of her generation.
"I've heard that dungeon's bred their own spirit beasts, but this is beyond anything I could have ever imagined! I've dissected Demon Ants before, and while it might look like one on the surface, this thing might as well be an entirely different species!" As Maggy spoke, her voice became more and more animated.
"Its like its internal structure has been optimized to an absurd degree. And some of these organs… I couldn't even begin to tell you what they do!" Maggy suddenly hugged the ant. "Oh! What I wouldn't do to get you in the lab."
Five humans and a goblin watched the scene with a flat stare, before Hugo turned to Robert and spoke, everyone leaving the young mage to her… moment.
"It should be fine. Mr. Alpha had us keep this one away from the slimes for this very purpose," He said with a nod.
Bill, standing next to the ant, slapped its side and gave the Adventurers a thumbs up. "That's right! Little Billy Jr. is harmless!"
"Billy Jr?" said Claude, an eyebrow raised.
Bill spun and pointed his finger at the other man. "You be quiet! You have your scripts. Let me have my ants, dang it!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth, did 'Billy Jr. lean down and clamp the man's helmeted head between its mandible. It then lifted the man off the ground and walked away.
"Jr! Drop! I said drop!" Bill screamed as he flailed about, trying to undo the straps to his helmet. "I told you before, I'm not a larva! put me down this instant, young lady!"
Hugo sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The Dungeon Core has told me he will be personally directing the ant during the mission. You have my assurance that things will go smoothly. All you and your team have to do is observe and let us handle the rest."
Robert stared off after the ant as it carried Bill away, Maggy chasing after them. "… Right." He then turned back to Hugo and asked, "What exactly is the plan?"
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Three Hours Later
The group crowded together in the camouflaged bunker, several hundred yards from the river. Through a glass window — which Hugo claimed was invisible from the other side — they stared at a large muddy hill the size of a small castle with a deep cavernous entrance carved in its side. Behind the hill, a large lake had formed where the river's water pooled before continuing its journey downstream.
"So this is the place, then? The drake's den?" asked Garrelt.
Hugo nodded. "That's right. The den itself is a natural part of the dungeon, though the drake has added to it since its… escape." He gestured to the muddy hill and Robert could just make out a quivering mass resting on top. As they watched, a small piece pinched off and fell to the ground. The newborn mud slime then slinked off, disappearing into the forest undergrowth.
"Gross…" said Maggy in response.
Hugo lifted a strange artifact and pressed a button.
"We're ready, Bill. Get moving," he said.
"I'm coming!" came the response through the artifact, as if it were a communication jade, though Robert sensed no energy flux.
A moment later, a large shadow emerged from the treeline. A solider ant slowly walked into the brighter mosslight of the river, followed closely by Bill.
"Is he… crying?" Robert asked, incredulously. Sure enough, Bill and the ant had stopped just past the treeline, and the man was animatedly speaking to the creature, his shoulders heaving slightly as he wiped his face with his sleeve.
Hugo sighed and again spoke into the artifact, "Bill, get on with it! We still have other stuff to do!"
Bill flinched and reached, or his own artifact clipped to his belt. He raised it to his mouth, and the man's voice spoke out of Hugo's artifact, "I said I'm coming! Just…" the man sobbed slightly, "… just give me a minute, damn it!" The man clipped his artifact back to his belt, then lunged forward, hugging the ant's carapace, before spinning around and dashing back into the woods, one arm over his eyes.
The massive solider ant only cocked its head once and turned toward the drake's den with no further prompting or prodding. It crossed the hundred meters of open terrain between the treeline and the den unimpeded. Then, with little ceremony, it crawled through the cavern opening and disappeared into the shadows in the back of the den.
Several seconds passed, and when nothing more happened, Maggy softly whispered, "Are… we waiting on som—"
ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRR!
An earsplitting roar shook the area. Even from this distance, those in the bunker could feel the sound in their bones. The next moment, there was a deep boom from within the den, and something shot out of the entrance. The soldier ant flew for several dozen meters, before crashing hard and rolling for several more. Well… most of it did.
The ant was in a terrible state; its armor-like carapace was cracked in half a dozen places and a long gash nearly cut its thorax in two. It struggled to stand on several broken legs and nearly did so, before a second shadow erupted from the den. This second shadow covered the distance between the den and the ant in the blink of an eye, and the ground shook as a massive foot slammed the struggling ant back to the ground.
Robert frowned as he caught his first look at their objective.
Garrelt gave a low whistle. "Wooow, now that's a big girl," he said, verbalizing what everyone else in the bunker was thinking.
Big was an understatement. If the soldier ant was the size of a carriage, then the Mud Drake they were looking at was easily the size of a modest house, utterly dwarfing the giant insect. As if to emphasize that point, the Mud Drake leaned down and grabbed the ant's head between its massive jaws. It pulled and the ant's head was ripped away with seemingly little effort.
The Mud Drake then tossed the head away and gave another air shaking roar toward the forest, as if daring any more ants to barge into its home uninvited.
The reaction in the bunker was mixed. Maggy was staring at the creature as if it was a nightmare given flesh, while Garrelt grinned wider than Robert had ever seen the man do so before. Antchaser and the former bandit's reactions were muted in comparison. Robert could still see the weariness and fear in their eyes, but it was born from recognition of a creature far beyond them, not one of surprise or shock. As if the creature was already a daily part of life. Sure, you respected it, but the awe had long lost its effect.
As for Robert, he remained stone faced as he reevaluated what exactly they had gotten themselves into. Left alone, a Mud Drake like this had the potential to grow into a creature known as a Kigendoro. They were powerful draconic creatures of earth and water that were feared more as natural disasters than spirit beasts. A single Kigendoro, if unchecked, could turn an entire valley into a festering swamp in as little as a year.
Moreover, given its size, he suspected the creature was at least [Elemental Dominance], maybe even nearing [Core Condensing]. As a peak [Spiritual Awakening] Cultivator of some talent, Robert felt he could handle a typical early [Elemental Dominance] spirit beast. More so if he was supported by the rest of the expedition. But one with dragon blood? And possibly close to forming its Spirit Core? Things would be… tricky, to say the least. The only question was, would the possible rewards be worth the effort? Lucky for them, the Dungeon Core wanted the creature captured, not killed, which, ironically made things a bit easier for such a powerful spirit beast.
Even so…
As the Mud Drake tore pieces of the ant off and chewed on them, Robert sighed and stood.
"I think I've seen everything I need to…" he turned to look at the rest of his party and continued, "Let us head back and bring what we've learned to the others. Hopefully, Bert hasn't gotten into too much trouble."
B2 - Lesson 51: "Challenge Accepted!"
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B2 - Lesson 51: "Challenge Accepted!"
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"AAAAHHHRRRRUG!" Bert swung the massive [Megaton] hammer at the charging Bulwark Termite soldier. The powerful weapon slammed into the armored head of the tank-sized insect with such force that a visible shockwave expanded outward.B2 - Lesson 51: "Challenge Accepted!"
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THUMP!
A secondary boom sounded as the kinetic piston at the back of the hammer activated. The termite screeched as spiderweb cracks spread through the quarter-meter-thick armor of its head. That next instant, its back end exploded, covering the two dozen smaller soldier termites behind it in corrosive blue gore.
The Bulwark Termite collapsed, dead before it hit the ground. A group of Adventurers cheered, then rushed past the massive insect and swarmed the distracted soldier termites before they could regroup. In a matter of seconds, the termites were dead.
Bert whirled, breathing heavily, [Megaton] at the ready… only to find no more targets. Instead, the battlefield was littered with the corpses of hundreds of large termites. Most were workers or soldiers, but nearly two dozen tank-sized termite corpses were spread around the area.
The Adventurers of the expedition had treated the termite infestation mostly as a way to kill boredom. While the creatures' numbers were great, the Adventurers chosen for this expedition were elites, and each individual termite wasn't much stronger than [Bronze Spirit].
That changed when the Bulwarks appeared. Nearly twice as large as the typical soldier termite and heavily armored to an absurd degree, each took at least three Adventurers to take down. Even Bert struggled to kill the creatures quick enough.
Offensively, the Bulwarks weren't too strong, but if the Adventurers weren't careful, they would be swarmed by the hordes hiding behind the creatures.
The expedition would have lost a few people that way, but for the quick actions of the goblin hunters in retrieving the wounded or redirecting their efforts.
Bert was honestly surprised at how coordinated the hunters were. They were more efficient and worked together better than some of the most elite militaries the large man had seen. He would have to ask about their training one day.
The tide of the battle had shifted once more when Boarslayer, wielding the weapon Bert now did, had appeared. The artifact — [Megaton], as she called it — proved exceptionally effective against the Bulwarks, its mighty blows seeming to bypass the creature's insane armor. Unfortunately, the weapon also appeared to put more than a little strain on even the powerful goblin warrior. Boarslayer had only killed two of the armored insects before she nearly collapsed, her arms visibly shaking as purple bruises spread up her arms.
So Bert had taken up the weapon in her stead.
As soon as he picked the weapon up, he understood why Boarslayer struggled with it.
It was heavy, even for Bert. Moreover, the massive hammer's secondary impact shook his bones in a way he had never felt before. Bert had to reinforce his body with Spirit Energy like he did with his most powerful body enhancements to even use the bloody weapon.
Now, the fight was over, and the Bulwarks were exterminated. Whatever intelligence — if any — commanded the termites seemed to take that as a sign. The forest emptied of termites as quickly as they had appeared.
The gathered Adventurers and goblins paused, taking in the battlefield. Seeing no more enemies, the group erupted in cheers.
Bert smiled and knelt in the gore to catch his breath.
Glad that's over. Don't think I could have done that many more times… Bert thought to himself as he stared at his slightly shaking arms.
Silent as a ghost, Boarslayer suddenly appeared beside him. She stared down at Bert with a frown for a silent moment before snatching [Megaton] from his hands.
"Mine," she said before walking away.
Bert only chuckled to himself and shook his head.
As the large goblin warrior walked away, practically dragging the massive hammer behind her, Bert's gaze drifted back to the [Megaton], and he hmmed to himself.
He had never seen a weapon quite like that hammer before. It hadn't taken long for Bert to realize the weapon used none of his Spirit Energy at all, barring what it took to reinforce his own body. For such an astoundingly powerful weapon to use no Spirit Energy? Yet be able to be wielded by a mere early [Spiritual Awakening] Cultivator like himself?
That kind of thing was unheard of.
Bert had to consciously suppress his greed at the thought of the hammer. Trying to take it would only crack the already strained relationship between Halirosa and the goblin village, let alone his newest 'apprentice.' Besides, it didn't take a genius to figure out where Boarslayer could have gotten such a weapon.
Bert's gaze drifted toward the direction of the dungeon. He wondered how Robert and the others were doing with their own mission. According to Dr. Maria, they should hear some news soon.
Bert grinned from ear to ear.
I wonder if they had as much fun as us?
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<< Alpha Log -
6952 SFY-Third Era, 7 standard months since Planetfall.
5 days since the beginning of Operation: Safari Hunt >>
The enemy has been vanquished! Long live the colony! Long live the Queens!
In all seriousness, though, I've made quite a bit of progress on our little termite problem. While the goblins and Adventurers slaughtered the army sent into the forest, I've not been sitting on my digital butt.
Infiltrating the termite colony was easier than I expected.
With most of the termite colony's soldiers and workers split between fighting the ant colony and the Adventurers, they have made a critical error and left their own colony practically undefended.
Of course, there's no way I'd let that chance slip by. It helped that the Alphantonso Mark-6 iterations were nearly as strong as a termite soldiers themselves. Refining the modular nanite ports built into their carapaces had greatly increased their utility.
I've even noticed the native ant-mind adapting to the mods as well, and they have been 'requesting' access for various jobs around the colony when not being actively directed by the onboard AI.
That such a thing should only be technically possible is a minor matter. That's the best kind of possible!
Ok, so I should really look into that, but I've got other, more important issues to deal with right now. I'm sure it'll be fine.
As I was saying, the strike squad, backed up by a few Antonio-II model soldiers, made quick work of the termite colony's weakened defenses.
As I suspected, the termite colony was massive, even compared to the ant colony, but as it followed a similar layout, I was able to quickly find several key locations.
Including the royal chamber.
At ten queens, half of which seemed newly hatched, I'm glad we managed to find this threat before it became significant. If the termites had been allowed to continue to grow, their numbers would have snowballed out of control.
At first, I was going to wipe them out. Kill all the queens and torch the nurseries I could find. Sure, with such a massive colony, there was a chance I would miss a few, but it would have been worth it.
Dr. Maria, however, convinced me to leave a few of the queens alive. According to her, for as destructive as they could be, this particular species of spirit insect were prized for their various alchemical and medical uses.
Keeping them around while regulating their numbers would be a boon for their growing outpost, and act as another draw for Adventurers. If we were lucky, the various rare resources in the forest, coupled with both the termites and ants, would attract experienced alchemists and mages looking to exploit the resources. Apparently, the natural napalm produced by the 'Demon Ants' was also quite valuable, if much less so than the termites.
In retrospect, I should have considered that, given how adept the natives seem at exploiting their environment. The Federation would be proud!
Another surprise came in how well Bert wielded the [Megaton]. That wasn't a weapon designed to be used without Boarslayer's custom armor. The damage the woman had caused to her body in just a few swings was evidence of that.
Yet Bert had not only kept pace with the weapon for quite some time, but had reduced the strain on his own body through a rather clever use of Spirit Energy.
I knew that the strange energy could reinforce a biological body through observing my ants, but not to such a degree. This warrants further investigation.
That said, now that the termite issue has been mostly resolved, it's time to get on with the show!
——————————————————
Bert chucked as he grinned wider down at Robert.
"Hey boss, welcome back. Sorry about the mess. We had a small… incident while you were gone."
Robert stared at the grinning, blue-splattered giant of a man in front of him, then turned to the gore-filled battlefield spread out behind the giant. He then sighed and pinched the ridge of his nose.
"I assume you've already sent scouts out to locate the colony?" he asked the giant man.
Bert nodded, "Yup. They left not too long before you all returned. Some of the goblin hunters even agreed to escort them to the most probable locations. We should hear back from them within the day if luck holds up. This place just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"
Robert smirked, then frowned. "Yes… it is. That's what I'm worried about. This place is a little too good."
Bert raised an eyebrow. "You expect the clans to raise a fuss if the Guild tried to claim this place?" he asked.
"… Among other things, yes," Robert responded.
The two of them stood there in silence for a long moment, each lost in their own thoughts before Bert coughed into his hands.
"So, boss… how did things go on your end? Were you able to meet with the Dungeon Core and figure out what we're dealing with?"
Robert's shoulders sagged, and the man resisted the urge to complain. "Yes. We did. Things aren't as simple as they seem, however. If we want to keep this place, I'm afraid we have quite the challenge ahead of us."
Bert's eyes lit up, and his grin grew wider. "Keep talkin'. I love a good challenge."
B2 - Lesson 52: "Do What You're Asked."
And I'm back! It was a good break and I got a chance to work on the upcoming ending.
I even got to visit a friend and attend a wedding!
————————————————————————
B2 - Lesson 52: "Do What You're Asked."
————————————————————————
———————————————————————————"YOU KNEW ABOUT THEM THIS WHOLE TIME?!" Maggy yelled as she shook Dr. Maria by the shoulders. If the doctor hadn't already been a celebrated healer and [Golden Spirit] Cultivator herself, Alpha would have had strong words for the young lady about respecting her elders.
As it was, the old doctor simply laughed, apparently enjoying her young friend's rather… eccentric display. "Of course, dear. I have been down here for quite a while longer than you have."
Maggy stopped shaking the woman and stared at her, eyes filled with hurt betrayal. "And you didn't tell me?!"
Dr. Maria chuckled and patted the young girl's shoulder. "Now, where would the fun have been in that?" she said. "Besides, would you have entered the dungeon if I had shown them to you? Or would you have spent the next month locked in a hut trying to figure out how they worked?" the doctor asked, gesturing to the small pile of MUD coins on the table.
Maggy looked away, visibly blushing as she muttered something too soft to hear.
Bert, standing nearby, lifted a coin off the table and nimbly rolled it across the back of his fingers. "So these are what you guys found, huh? I'll admit, I've never been one for tablets. Sure, they're useful, but they burn money like a young master at the brothel. I'd rather rely on what I can do myself."
Maggy turned and pointed a finger at the large man, "You only say that because you don't understand what these represent! If we could crack how they work, they could change… everything!" she said.
Robert raised a hand, cutting off what he expected would be a lengthy breakdown of every reason Bert was wrong.
"That's understandable, Bert, though keep in mind that the tablet market alone makes up nearly 5% of Halirosa's annual income. They still require some testing, but Magnolia isn't wrong. A dungeon capable of producing even common tablets would be an unimaginable boon for the city." Robert raised on the coins, 'But If these 'MUD' are capable of what we suspect, then that alone would make this the find of a lifetime."
Bert raised a brow and whistled, reevaluating the seeming clay coin he held. "That big, uh? I'll trust your expertise then. That said, the other stuff you brought is more interesting to me." Bert placed the coin down and picked up a kite shield that was also sitting on the table, along with a collection of other items.
The large shield looked more like a buckler in the giant's hand. He lifted it, then, with his free hand, flicked the center of the shield.
DOOOONG!
A loud metallic sound echoed through the camp. When Bert turned the shield to the rest of the group, they saw a small dent had formed.
"I put enough Spirit Energy and force in that blow to cave even quality steel. And this thing isn't even arrayed," he said before placing the shield back on the table. "What's more…" he gestured to it. At first, the group had trouble seeing what Bert saw, but those gathered around the table soon gasped. As they watched, the dent in the shield slowly bulged outward, snapping back into place, until the shield returned to its pristine condition.
"I recognize this alloy," Bert said. "The smith who discovered it claimed it could 'remember' its shape in some way I couldn't understand. The problem was that it was a rather soft alloy prone to deformation under certain forces. He found some rather clever uses, but it was ultimately deemed unsuited for armor or weapons. It seems the dungeon has solved that problem."
Alpha grinned to himself as he watched the group from a hidden [Wasp], glad someone had recognized the shield's value. It was one of the items that Alpha was most proud of.
Bert was right: the nickel-titanium alloy, often nicknamed 'memory metal,' wasn't suited for armor or cold weapons. Sure, it had uncountable other uses, even for the Federation, but its military applications were limited without serious processing — which Alpha didn't have access to… yet.
That was until he discovered his ants.
It turned out the 'Demon Ants' incorporated a similar principle behind the metal into their carapaces. Alloying the metal and carapaces — among other things — together using Federation methods created a biometal that was not only absurdly durable but could quickly repair itself when damaged. The resulting metal was even chemically inert to everything but itself, allowing it to 'cold weld' in an atmosphere. If something did manage to severely damage the metal, you could literally stick it back together with little loss in its structural stability.
That also made it slightly harder to work with, but Alpha had immediately thought of a thousand uses for the metal.
The armor that his dungeon's 'NPCs' wore was even made of the stuff. This new equipment offered only slightly less defensive ability than the tactical armor Alpha had given to the goblins, though it was significantly heavier and didn't come with any of the fun stuff built into the goblin's armor. A personal shield generator covered anything the armor couldn't handle.
Who knew what else he could make with it in time, though?
Alpha smirked to himself as he watched Robert reevaluating the shield he had so casually dismissed in the dungeon.
The rest of the table was filled with the various items they had collected during their brief delve into the Dragon's Garden.
A couple of the shield fences the goblins had used against the termites. Typically used to keep wild animals out of your garden, but the Adventurers — and goblins — didn't need to know that.
A solar-powered, collapsable lantern that got more attention than Alpha was expecting once Antchaser showed how to use it.
A box filled with various medical solutions Dr. Maria had assured Alpha the Adventurers would be interested in.
Even some more traditional arrayed equipment from Alpha's experiments. While their effects were still minor, the quality that Alpha could produce was leagues above what could be done by hand, and the items would be suitable for Cultivators below [Silver Spirit].
Alpha had tried to vary the rewards as much as he reasonably could. No one liked getting the same thing over and over again. He needed to show the kinds of things he could really offer the Adventurers to flame their greed. At the same time, showing them everything would take away from the wonder and set unrealistic expectations.
Alpha was fully planning on using the Expeditionary force as an eventual' beta group' to test how best to balance these rewards. However, that would likely have to wait until after they had dealt with Icefinger's group.
Examples of the items were passed around the expeditionary team as each of the two dozen or so Adventurers and support staff discussed the finds and what other secrets the dungeon might hold. Robert had no fear of any of the items going missing. Maybe he would have if it was another group, but not this one. Everyone chosen for the expedition were professionals of the highest caliber in one field or another, if not always combat.
While the rest of the team played with the loot, the expeditionary team and village leadership met to discuss their next steps.
——————————————————
Once the dungeon team finished explaining what they had learned, the inside of the command tent had gone deathly silent.
"I see the issue," Bert said, finally breaking the silence. The large man's shoulder slumped, and he slicked his hair back. "On one hand, we can't abandon the dungeon. Even the cavern itself is a treasure trove. The clans have grown a bit too 'arrogant' lately with their monopoly of the nearby Deep entrances. This place would go a long way in fortifying the Guild's position in Halirosa. On the other hand…"
Bert let his words hang in the air as the goblins and Adventurers around the table exchanged looks.
Garrelt tapped the table with an arrow rhythmically; a habit Antchaser had quickly picked up meant the man was thinking the problem through. After a moment, he stabbed the arrow into the table and stood. "Our best bet is to stabilize the dungeon as best as possible. Eliminate the slimes and possessed creatures, patrol the area, and prevent the drake from causing more damage. While we do that, we send for a Guild Executive. They should be enough to capture the drake alo—"
"Absolutely not," came Robert's response.
Garrelt paused, frowned, and raised a brow. "And why not? An Executive would be, at minimum, [Soul Fusion]. Even if the Mud Drake has crossed into [Core Condensing], capturing it would be a breeze."
Robert folded his hands and returned the man's glare. "And are you willing to take the risk that we can't keep the dungeon from collapsing before they get here? The Dungeon Core itself said that time is of the essence. How incompetent would we look if we let the dungeon collapse before help could arrive when we can handle the issue ourselves?" he asked.
"At what cost?!" Garrelt asked, opening his arms wide. "I'm all for a good hunt, Robert, and if I was alone with the time, I might try my hand at the drake myself. But we're not alone, Robert. How many people are we going to throw at that thing to even put it in a position to be captured? How many won't make it back to enjoy the spoils?"
Robert frowned, then leaned back in his chair. "Everyone in this expedition understood the risks when they joined. Danger is part of what it means to be an Adventurer." The man's voice was flat and cold. At the expedition leader's uncharacteristically callous response, those gathered around the table turned and stared.
Garrelt's frown deepened, and his eyes narrowed. The scout leader took a deep and pointed at Robert. Before he could say whatever he was preparing to, however, Bert stood, a hand outstretched to both.
"Hold on now, both of you," he said, glancing between the two glaring men. "You both have valid points. Robert isn't wrong that we're on a time crunch here. We're walking a thin line between the dungeon break, the termites, and who knows what else is out there." Bert locked eyes with Garrelt while Robert smirked. "At the same time," Bert continued — Robert's smirk fell, and his eyes snapped to Bert — "While it's true that we all understood the risks as Adventurers, Garrelt isn't wrong. This isn't exactly what we signed up for. And we must remind ourselves not to be blinded by greed, lest we fall off our tightrope to disaster in our rush."
As the others around the table whispered and muttered to each other, Garrelt and Robert continued to glare at each other. Dr. Maria stood nearby, nodding her head at the large man's word.
While the others discussed the problem, Antchaser, Boarslayer, the doctor, and Alpha were having their own discussion over their comms.
"What's the chance of them actually capturing the thing without casualties?" Boarslayer asked. "I get why we're doing this, but it doesn't feel right if people are going to die needlessly." After all, it wasn't as if the Dragon's Garden was in danger of collapse. All of this was just smoke and mirrors.
"Hard to say… it's gotten bigger — and stronger — since the last time I saw it," came Antchaser's response. "Between Robert and Bert, they might be able to keep the beast focused enough to keep everyone safe. But the drake is used to group tactics after dealing with the ants for so long. It's a risk."
Boarslayer grumbled. "I don't like it, but should we do what Garrelt suggested and let them call in a Guild Executive? That would also make dealing with Icefinger's lot a certainty, right? Do we know when they'll arrive yet?"
"No," Alpha said. "My eyes outside of the region are limited, and I've not yet been able to locate them. I suspect they're cloaking their movements somehow. However, all the data I do have points to them arriving in the next five to six days."
"Regardless, I don't think calling a Guild Executive would be for the best," Dr. Maria interjected.
"Oh? Why so?" Alpha asked.
Dr. Maria frowned. "A few reasons. First off, the timing. It could take anywhere from two days to a couple of weeks for an executive to arrive, depending on if there are any holdups. Relying on them to solve our little bandit issue is inefficient."
She then turned and stared at the hidden [Wasps] drone spying on the meeting. Alpha had yet to figure out how exactly the woman could spot them so easily.
"There's also the issue of leverage. It's one thing if the expeditionary force works together with the village to beat back the problems of the drake and the bandits. It's another thing entirely if a Guild Executive arrives to 'rescue' us all with a wave of their hand… assuming Icefinger's men don't go into hiding as soon as they learn an Executive is here." Dr. Maria frowned. That was a distinct possibility.
"That gives the village — and dungeon — far less bargaining power, even by Deep law. In the worst-case scenario, the Guild moves in and takes over with the excuse of 'stability and protection' or some other nonsense. If the village wants any say in what happens here in the future, they need to establish themselves as a power capable of, at the very least, being of use."
Boarslayer and Antchaser exchanged a dark look. The doctor had a point. As they were now, the expeditionary force was treating the goblin village as allies. And as long as they proved themselves competent, the other Deep Tribes would rally to their defense if someone exponentially more powerful than them tried to bully their way into control. That was how the otherwise independent and isolated Deep Tribes had defended themselves from the surface races for millennia. Had there been a larger village nearby, Bosco's group would have never done half of what they had.
But if the village invited that power in? Well, then, that was an entirely different matter.
Boarslayer folded her arms. "Then that just brings us right back to where we started. Where do we go from here?"
To everyone's surprise, the answer to that question came from an unexpected source.
"You guys are overcomplicating this," said Maggy, who, until that point, had remained quiet during the meeting. After all, she was a scholar, not a fighter. She could defend herself well enough, but the other around the table had far more experience dealing with powerful beasts, be they the veteran adventurers or the goblin Hunters.
The discussion around the table paused, and all eyes turned to the young woman, who blushed red. She coughed in her hand and collected herself before continuing. "What I mean is, you're thinking too much like Cultivators. Not every problem needs to be beaten over the head with the biggest stick you can find."
Garrelt raised a brow and smirked. "Well then, Ms. Mage, how do you propose we fight the dragon-blooded spirit beast, which, I remind you, is likely a greater realm stronger than anyone here?"
Maggy turned to the man and glared. "The Dungeon Core already told us himself. He doesn't want us to fight anything…"
Maggy's words trailed off into silence. After a moment, Dr. Maria burst into laughter and grinned at the young woman beside her, causing Maggy to blush even further.
Bert, too, grinned, then reached under the table and pulled out a rolled map. In one motion, he unfurled it and laid it across the table for them all to see.
The lass was right. They had gotten so tied up on the drake's power that they had all forgotten one important detail.
Their job was never to fight the drake in the first place.
It was to capture it.
I even got to visit a friend and attend a wedding!
————————————————————————
B2 - Lesson 52: "Do What You're Asked."
————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
As it was, the old doctor simply laughed, apparently enjoying her young friend's rather… eccentric display. "Of course, dear. I have been down here for quite a while longer than you have."
Maggy stopped shaking the woman and stared at her, eyes filled with hurt betrayal. "And you didn't tell me?!"
Dr. Maria chuckled and patted the young girl's shoulder. "Now, where would the fun have been in that?" she said. "Besides, would you have entered the dungeon if I had shown them to you? Or would you have spent the next month locked in a hut trying to figure out how they worked?" the doctor asked, gesturing to the small pile of MUD coins on the table.
Maggy looked away, visibly blushing as she muttered something too soft to hear.
Bert, standing nearby, lifted a coin off the table and nimbly rolled it across the back of his fingers. "So these are what you guys found, huh? I'll admit, I've never been one for tablets. Sure, they're useful, but they burn money like a young master at the brothel. I'd rather rely on what I can do myself."
Maggy turned and pointed a finger at the large man, "You only say that because you don't understand what these represent! If we could crack how they work, they could change… everything!" she said.
Robert raised a hand, cutting off what he expected would be a lengthy breakdown of every reason Bert was wrong.
"That's understandable, Bert, though keep in mind that the tablet market alone makes up nearly 5% of Halirosa's annual income. They still require some testing, but Magnolia isn't wrong. A dungeon capable of producing even common tablets would be an unimaginable boon for the city." Robert raised on the coins, 'But If these 'MUD' are capable of what we suspect, then that alone would make this the find of a lifetime."
Bert raised a brow and whistled, reevaluating the seeming clay coin he held. "That big, uh? I'll trust your expertise then. That said, the other stuff you brought is more interesting to me." Bert placed the coin down and picked up a kite shield that was also sitting on the table, along with a collection of other items.
The large shield looked more like a buckler in the giant's hand. He lifted it, then, with his free hand, flicked the center of the shield.
DOOOONG!
A loud metallic sound echoed through the camp. When Bert turned the shield to the rest of the group, they saw a small dent had formed.
"I put enough Spirit Energy and force in that blow to cave even quality steel. And this thing isn't even arrayed," he said before placing the shield back on the table. "What's more…" he gestured to it. At first, the group had trouble seeing what Bert saw, but those gathered around the table soon gasped. As they watched, the dent in the shield slowly bulged outward, snapping back into place, until the shield returned to its pristine condition.
"I recognize this alloy," Bert said. "The smith who discovered it claimed it could 'remember' its shape in some way I couldn't understand. The problem was that it was a rather soft alloy prone to deformation under certain forces. He found some rather clever uses, but it was ultimately deemed unsuited for armor or weapons. It seems the dungeon has solved that problem."
Alpha grinned to himself as he watched the group from a hidden [Wasp], glad someone had recognized the shield's value. It was one of the items that Alpha was most proud of.
Bert was right: the nickel-titanium alloy, often nicknamed 'memory metal,' wasn't suited for armor or cold weapons. Sure, it had uncountable other uses, even for the Federation, but its military applications were limited without serious processing — which Alpha didn't have access to… yet.
That was until he discovered his ants.
It turned out the 'Demon Ants' incorporated a similar principle behind the metal into their carapaces. Alloying the metal and carapaces — among other things — together using Federation methods created a biometal that was not only absurdly durable but could quickly repair itself when damaged. The resulting metal was even chemically inert to everything but itself, allowing it to 'cold weld' in an atmosphere. If something did manage to severely damage the metal, you could literally stick it back together with little loss in its structural stability.
That also made it slightly harder to work with, but Alpha had immediately thought of a thousand uses for the metal.
The armor that his dungeon's 'NPCs' wore was even made of the stuff. This new equipment offered only slightly less defensive ability than the tactical armor Alpha had given to the goblins, though it was significantly heavier and didn't come with any of the fun stuff built into the goblin's armor. A personal shield generator covered anything the armor couldn't handle.
Who knew what else he could make with it in time, though?
Alpha smirked to himself as he watched Robert reevaluating the shield he had so casually dismissed in the dungeon.
The rest of the table was filled with the various items they had collected during their brief delve into the Dragon's Garden.
A couple of the shield fences the goblins had used against the termites. Typically used to keep wild animals out of your garden, but the Adventurers — and goblins — didn't need to know that.
A solar-powered, collapsable lantern that got more attention than Alpha was expecting once Antchaser showed how to use it.
A box filled with various medical solutions Dr. Maria had assured Alpha the Adventurers would be interested in.
Even some more traditional arrayed equipment from Alpha's experiments. While their effects were still minor, the quality that Alpha could produce was leagues above what could be done by hand, and the items would be suitable for Cultivators below [Silver Spirit].
Alpha had tried to vary the rewards as much as he reasonably could. No one liked getting the same thing over and over again. He needed to show the kinds of things he could really offer the Adventurers to flame their greed. At the same time, showing them everything would take away from the wonder and set unrealistic expectations.
Alpha was fully planning on using the Expeditionary force as an eventual' beta group' to test how best to balance these rewards. However, that would likely have to wait until after they had dealt with Icefinger's group.
Examples of the items were passed around the expeditionary team as each of the two dozen or so Adventurers and support staff discussed the finds and what other secrets the dungeon might hold. Robert had no fear of any of the items going missing. Maybe he would have if it was another group, but not this one. Everyone chosen for the expedition were professionals of the highest caliber in one field or another, if not always combat.
While the rest of the team played with the loot, the expeditionary team and village leadership met to discuss their next steps.
——————————————————
Once the dungeon team finished explaining what they had learned, the inside of the command tent had gone deathly silent.
"I see the issue," Bert said, finally breaking the silence. The large man's shoulder slumped, and he slicked his hair back. "On one hand, we can't abandon the dungeon. Even the cavern itself is a treasure trove. The clans have grown a bit too 'arrogant' lately with their monopoly of the nearby Deep entrances. This place would go a long way in fortifying the Guild's position in Halirosa. On the other hand…"
Bert let his words hang in the air as the goblins and Adventurers around the table exchanged looks.
Garrelt tapped the table with an arrow rhythmically; a habit Antchaser had quickly picked up meant the man was thinking the problem through. After a moment, he stabbed the arrow into the table and stood. "Our best bet is to stabilize the dungeon as best as possible. Eliminate the slimes and possessed creatures, patrol the area, and prevent the drake from causing more damage. While we do that, we send for a Guild Executive. They should be enough to capture the drake alo—"
"Absolutely not," came Robert's response.
Garrelt paused, frowned, and raised a brow. "And why not? An Executive would be, at minimum, [Soul Fusion]. Even if the Mud Drake has crossed into [Core Condensing], capturing it would be a breeze."
Robert folded his hands and returned the man's glare. "And are you willing to take the risk that we can't keep the dungeon from collapsing before they get here? The Dungeon Core itself said that time is of the essence. How incompetent would we look if we let the dungeon collapse before help could arrive when we can handle the issue ourselves?" he asked.
"At what cost?!" Garrelt asked, opening his arms wide. "I'm all for a good hunt, Robert, and if I was alone with the time, I might try my hand at the drake myself. But we're not alone, Robert. How many people are we going to throw at that thing to even put it in a position to be captured? How many won't make it back to enjoy the spoils?"
Robert frowned, then leaned back in his chair. "Everyone in this expedition understood the risks when they joined. Danger is part of what it means to be an Adventurer." The man's voice was flat and cold. At the expedition leader's uncharacteristically callous response, those gathered around the table turned and stared.
Garrelt's frown deepened, and his eyes narrowed. The scout leader took a deep and pointed at Robert. Before he could say whatever he was preparing to, however, Bert stood, a hand outstretched to both.
"Hold on now, both of you," he said, glancing between the two glaring men. "You both have valid points. Robert isn't wrong that we're on a time crunch here. We're walking a thin line between the dungeon break, the termites, and who knows what else is out there." Bert locked eyes with Garrelt while Robert smirked. "At the same time," Bert continued — Robert's smirk fell, and his eyes snapped to Bert — "While it's true that we all understood the risks as Adventurers, Garrelt isn't wrong. This isn't exactly what we signed up for. And we must remind ourselves not to be blinded by greed, lest we fall off our tightrope to disaster in our rush."
As the others around the table whispered and muttered to each other, Garrelt and Robert continued to glare at each other. Dr. Maria stood nearby, nodding her head at the large man's word.
While the others discussed the problem, Antchaser, Boarslayer, the doctor, and Alpha were having their own discussion over their comms.
"What's the chance of them actually capturing the thing without casualties?" Boarslayer asked. "I get why we're doing this, but it doesn't feel right if people are going to die needlessly." After all, it wasn't as if the Dragon's Garden was in danger of collapse. All of this was just smoke and mirrors.
"Hard to say… it's gotten bigger — and stronger — since the last time I saw it," came Antchaser's response. "Between Robert and Bert, they might be able to keep the beast focused enough to keep everyone safe. But the drake is used to group tactics after dealing with the ants for so long. It's a risk."
Boarslayer grumbled. "I don't like it, but should we do what Garrelt suggested and let them call in a Guild Executive? That would also make dealing with Icefinger's lot a certainty, right? Do we know when they'll arrive yet?"
"No," Alpha said. "My eyes outside of the region are limited, and I've not yet been able to locate them. I suspect they're cloaking their movements somehow. However, all the data I do have points to them arriving in the next five to six days."
"Regardless, I don't think calling a Guild Executive would be for the best," Dr. Maria interjected.
"Oh? Why so?" Alpha asked.
Dr. Maria frowned. "A few reasons. First off, the timing. It could take anywhere from two days to a couple of weeks for an executive to arrive, depending on if there are any holdups. Relying on them to solve our little bandit issue is inefficient."
She then turned and stared at the hidden [Wasps] drone spying on the meeting. Alpha had yet to figure out how exactly the woman could spot them so easily.
"There's also the issue of leverage. It's one thing if the expeditionary force works together with the village to beat back the problems of the drake and the bandits. It's another thing entirely if a Guild Executive arrives to 'rescue' us all with a wave of their hand… assuming Icefinger's men don't go into hiding as soon as they learn an Executive is here." Dr. Maria frowned. That was a distinct possibility.
"That gives the village — and dungeon — far less bargaining power, even by Deep law. In the worst-case scenario, the Guild moves in and takes over with the excuse of 'stability and protection' or some other nonsense. If the village wants any say in what happens here in the future, they need to establish themselves as a power capable of, at the very least, being of use."
Boarslayer and Antchaser exchanged a dark look. The doctor had a point. As they were now, the expeditionary force was treating the goblin village as allies. And as long as they proved themselves competent, the other Deep Tribes would rally to their defense if someone exponentially more powerful than them tried to bully their way into control. That was how the otherwise independent and isolated Deep Tribes had defended themselves from the surface races for millennia. Had there been a larger village nearby, Bosco's group would have never done half of what they had.
But if the village invited that power in? Well, then, that was an entirely different matter.
Boarslayer folded her arms. "Then that just brings us right back to where we started. Where do we go from here?"
To everyone's surprise, the answer to that question came from an unexpected source.
"You guys are overcomplicating this," said Maggy, who, until that point, had remained quiet during the meeting. After all, she was a scholar, not a fighter. She could defend herself well enough, but the other around the table had far more experience dealing with powerful beasts, be they the veteran adventurers or the goblin Hunters.
The discussion around the table paused, and all eyes turned to the young woman, who blushed red. She coughed in her hand and collected herself before continuing. "What I mean is, you're thinking too much like Cultivators. Not every problem needs to be beaten over the head with the biggest stick you can find."
Garrelt raised a brow and smirked. "Well then, Ms. Mage, how do you propose we fight the dragon-blooded spirit beast, which, I remind you, is likely a greater realm stronger than anyone here?"
Maggy turned to the man and glared. "The Dungeon Core already told us himself. He doesn't want us to fight anything…"
Maggy's words trailed off into silence. After a moment, Dr. Maria burst into laughter and grinned at the young woman beside her, causing Maggy to blush even further.
Bert, too, grinned, then reached under the table and pulled out a rolled map. In one motion, he unfurled it and laid it across the table for them all to see.
The lass was right. They had gotten so tied up on the drake's power that they had all forgotten one important detail.
Their job was never to fight the drake in the first place.
It was to capture it.
B2 - Lesson 53: "It's 5 o'Clock Somewhere."
————————————————————————
B2 - Lesson 53: "It's 5 o'Clock Somewhere."
————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
How does one capture a drake without killing it?
Not easily, apparently.
Alpha had expected this, of course. Both Dr. Maria and the goblins had theorized as much, even if neither had any experience.
"That doesn't mean it's impossible, of course," Garrelt said, addressing the meeting table. "Halirosa has a proud tradition of drake hunting. Being so close to the Forest of Giants, it's not uncommon for drakes to wander into the Crimson Mountains from the north."
Garrelt pointed to an enormous sea north of the Crimson Mountain range, labeled 'Starfall Sea.' Bordering the sea and the mountains was a thin strip of land that stretched the length of the northern edge of the continent. Two long peninsulas jutted out from either end of the continent, giving the entire thing a serpentine appearance. In fact, the peninsulas were even labeled 'Serpent's Head' and 'Serpent's Tail,' respectively.
In bold letters, surrounded by what Alpha could only assume were warning signs, was the region's name;
Níohoggr's Grave.
Garrelt's finger slid across the map toward the east and paused on a forested area that took up nearly two-thirds of the eastern peninsula, the one labeled as the 'tail,' before suddenly ending in a jagged mountainous area near the tip.
It looked small compared to the rest of the planet and the massive mountain range to the south… Until one considered that if Alpha's estimates of the planet's size were correct, the forest was easily three to four times the size of the Amazon back on Old Earth, even after its restoration.
Garrelt smirked, "Though keep in mind, those that wander far enough south to be a problem are those forced out of their flocks for one reason or another. The sick, the old, the runts of the litter. Yet even they're still dragon-blooded creatures. Every drake season, not a few fools underestimate the creatures and die horrible, painful deaths or —"
"Garrelt…" Robert growled in warning.
Garrelt raised his hands defensively. "Hey, I'm just making sure you all understand that while it might not be as hard or dangerous as fighting one head-on, capturing a drake is no simple task. If we do this, we do it right, or people will die."
Maggy squinted her eyes and frowned. "Why do people capture drakes to begin with? Seems like a lot of trouble," she asked.
Dr. Maria was the one to answer that question. "Likely the same reason our Dungeon Core friend wants one. A live drake is worth far more than a dead one — particularly to the dragon clans. With the right formations and methods, a living drake can be continuously harvested for materials for years. Not that those greedy bastards don't use that as an excuse to rip others off."
All eyes turned to the doctor. She folded her arms and smirked. "What? You think I run the business I do with just charity work? Please."
Once more, Alpha wondered just how many cookie jars the old crone had her hand in.
"Right, anyway, as I was saying," Garrelt addressed the group, "Capturing a drake isn't easy. Their dragon blood gives them powerful spiritual senses. They can spot ambushes before the ambushers even see the creature. They can detect traps like pitfalls and snares easily. Even if hidden under multiple layers of stealth arrays. Nets or chains are equally ineffective, as their monstrous strength means they can easily rip through them unless they're made of high-quality materials."
"So, how do you capture one, then?" Antchaser asked.
Garrelt smirked. "Drake hunters have a few methods proven to work over the years. However, only one is known to be both safer and consistent," the man said.
"… And that is?" Antchaser frowned and folded his arms.
Garrelt smirked, grew wider, and he turned to Bert, who met the man's gaze with a wide grin of his own.
The giant man answered for Garrelt. "We get them smashed!"
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"Do we really have to do this?!" Maggy asked as she stared at the waist-high pitch-black hole in the cliff face.
Boarslayer sneered at the slightly shivering human woman. "It's a hole, girl. A well-explored and frequently traveled hole. Even if we come across something unexpected, that's why we have a Forward. You'll be perfectly safe."
Maggy spun and pointed at the much larger woman. "It's not what's in the hole I'm worried about!" she said. "It's the bloody mountain falling on top of me!"
Boarslayer folded her arms and leaned on her hip. "Fat chance of that. Tunnels like this don't form if they can't support their own weight. And that's before it's reinforced. Just don't go blowing things up while we're in there."
Maggy threw her hands in the air. "Why do we even have to go down there?!" she asked.
Antchaser and Garrelt rounded the corner, carrying a strange, low-rimmed mine cart. Garrelt sat his cart down before turning to Maggy. "Because the village doesn't have the necessary [Dragon Ale] for the plan. Importing it from Halirosa would also defeat the purpose, so we have to… improvise." The scout leader flicked his wrist, and a glistening peach appeared in his hand. He took a bite out of the Everbloom Stone Peach and grinned.
Antchaser sighed. "We have nothing in the village strong enough to get a [Core Condensing] drake drunk," he said, slicking back his mossy hair. "According to our scouts, there's a massive peach orchard in the neighboring cavern. If we gather enough, we should be able to make a decent spirit wine using the village's… technique." Antchaser side-eyed the two human Adventurers.
It was actually Alpha who would make the wine, using his strange control over time, but the humans didn't need to know that. The village leadership had agreed it was best for the expeditionary team to remain in the dark regarding the Dungeon Core's influence over the village. For now, at least.
"That's fine," Maggy said before pointing at the hole in the wall barely large enough for a mine cart to squeeze through, "but why do we have to get there through that?!"
Antchaser moved his cart to the tunnel entrance and locked it into a set of hidden rails. "This is the most direct route to the cavern in question," he said as he fiddled with the cart. "It's an old ant tunnel the village converted into a railway for the hunters. Like Boarslayer said, it's frequently traveled and well maintained."
Ok, so it was primarily Alpha's ants that actually used the thing, but again, that wasn't something the Adventurers needed to know.
"If we take the main tunnels, it would be a two-day round trip, not counting the time to gather fruit. We won't make it in time if we rely on that route," Antchaser continued.
Garrelt narrowed his eyes. "Make it in time for what, exactly?" he asked.
Antchaser flinched slightly but recovered quickly. "To capture the drake before… something happens, of course."
Garrelt raised a brow but didn't comment further.
There was a metallic click as the last mine cart was fit into place, and Antchaser stood. "Finished. Let's get going. It'll take an hour to get there," he said, dusting off his pants.
Maggy eyed the linked mine carts warily. "How are we going to actually get there? Those carts aren't big enough for all of us, and don't feel like crawling on my knees through a cramped tunnel for an hour, regardless of how safe you claim it is."
Antchaser grinned, then smacked the side of the nearest mine cart with his hand.
The carts shook slightly, and there was another click. One by one, the front and back of each mine cart lowered, then connected to the one in front of it. After a moment, the dozen mine carts fused into one long, flat-topped train, leaving just enough room for the four of them to lie down on.
Antchaser bent down and crawled on top of the carts, moving toward the front. He called out behind him. "If Dr. Maria's estimates are correct, we'll need several loads for the plan to work, so hurry!"
Boarslayer and Garrelt exchanged a look before shrugging and moving toward the entrance.
Maggy looked back toward the village and sighed.
I hope things are going well on their end…
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Smack!
"Not here, fool! I said over there!" the old doctor said.
"Y-yes, ma'am!" the Adventurer responded, rubbing his head as he dragged the freshly cut log toward the processing area. He could feel the old woman's disapproving eyes burning into this soul the entire way and so quickened his step.
"Humph." Seeing the slacker speed up, Dr. Maria rolled her eyes and turned to lock eyes with an older goblin woman directing another crew off to the side.
As she made her way in that direction, the goblin woman — Weaver — shouted something at working Adventurers and goblins, then walked toward Dr. Maria as well.
The two women stopped and sighed as one, their shoulders sagging slightly.
"I'm getting too old for this," Weaver said. "I thought these were supposed to be to be your 'elites?' Why do I feel like I'm herding a group of toddlers?!"
"Kids these days. I doubt half these 'Adventurers' have done anything but kill spirit beats and mana monsters in years." Dr. Maria responded. "It makes me wonder what they're even teaching them now these days."
"Good thing we're here to set them straight, right?" Weaver said.
The two women exchanged a grin and cackled before heading off to find a new victim — eh, worker.
Alpha didn't have a spine — or a body — yet somehow, he still felt a shiver run through his being. Weaver and Dr. Maria had gotten along from the very start, and Alpha was starting to question if it had been a good idea to introduce them…
The two men standing beside the activity echoed Alpha's thoughts.
"Hey, Bert…"
"Yea, Robert?"
"What's happening?"
"I'm… not totally sure."
"Do… do we stop them?" Robert asked.
Big Bert slowly turned and looked at Robert with one raised brow.
Robert silently returned the look before he turned back to the controlled chaos.
"Right…" he muttered, almost to himself.
"YOU TWO! WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE? PICK UP A TOOL AND GET TO WORK!" Dr. Maria yelled from across the field, causing the two men to flinch.
Bert and Robert looked at each other again before Bert shrugged and walked toward a waiting group.
Robert pinched the bridge of his nose, and his shoulders sagged. A moment later, he followed the large man.
In the middle of the field, the skeleton of a massive wine press was slowly taking shape.
B2 - Lesson 54 "Wanna See A Magic Trick?"
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B2 - Lesson 54 "Wanna See A Magic Trick?"
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A mage, a scout, and two goblins walked into a dark, primal jungle.B2 - Lesson 54 "Wanna See A Magic Trick?"
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As much as Antchaser wished a punchline was coming, that was the reality of their situation. The forest past the tunnel was far different from their home cavern. Where the goblin cavern was filled with towering redwood trees and massive mushrooms, this new cavern was a tangled mass of overgrown vegetation and strangling vines.
Even the path cleared in advance by Alpha's ants was already disappearing under fresh growth.
"Why is there a jungle next door?!" Maggy complained, incinerating a thumb-sized insect with a thought before it could sneak into her robes.
"That's the nature of the Deep," Garrelt responded. He and Boarslayer stood in front of the group, hacking away at the thick brush to clear their way.
Antchaser took the rear, the same plasma cutter he'd used in the Dragon's Garden clutched tightly in his hands.
The goblin continued Garrelt's commentary, "Most Deep caverns are pretty insulated. You never really know what you'll find walking from one cavern to the next. I know of a tribe of Deep Dwarves who live in an underground desert under a massive pool of magma, held in place by a spiritual barrier. Pure metal dust will filter through the barrier and fall like snow to the sands below, where the tribe sifts it out." As he spoke, Antchaser kept watch over their surroundings.
"Another well-known cavern is the Shattered World, a place filled with so much broken space no one is sure where it starts and where it ends," the goblin continued.
Measured from the outside, the cavern was less than ten square kilometers wide. Yet some people had reached the opposite wall in as much as ten steps, while others have spent months, or even years, traveling constantly. That was the kind of place you could find in the Deep.
"And that's why access to the Deep is so coveted," Garrelt said next. "The sheer variety of strange environments down here gives birth to uncountable treasures and resources that can't be found on the surface."
"How do you not know any of this?" Boarslayer asked the young mage. "Don't you live in an Adventurer's city?"
Maggy huffed. "I'm an Old Ruins researcher! As far as we know, there's never been an instance of Old Ruin architecture this deep. Not that anyone knows why. That's what makes the Dragon's Garden so interesting. It obviously has Old Ruin influences, if not directly. The implications could be… groundbreaking!"
Boarslayer exchanged a look with Antchaser, though neither said anything.
"Anyway," Garrelt continued, cutting through another thick vine that blocked their way with his heavy machete, "all that variance also means the Deep is, on average, far more dangerous than the surface. You never know what kind of strange things you'll find down here."
Sccccrrrreeeeeee!!!
As Garrelt swung at another vine, his machete failed to cut all the way through. Instead, it became lodged in the writhing vine, screeching vine, as dark red blood bubbled out.
"Ambush!" Garrelt yelled as a dozen 'vines' fell on the group. Being the largest of the group, Boarslayer seemed to get the brunt of the assault. She lifted her arms in time for several fanged maws to latch onto her forearms. Serpentine bodies as thick as an adult human's wrist wound themselves around her arms and body, as short, clawed limbs dug shallow groves into her muscled arms.
Boarslayer slammed her arm against a nearby tree with enough force to crack the trunk, loosening one of the creature's grip enough that she could slip several fingers under it. She pulled, and the creature was torn apart in a spray of gore. A hammer fist to her shoulder drove another creature's fangs deeper but also crushed its head with the sound of a cracking skull.
In only a few breaths, the ambush was over. Maggy stood in a charred circle, blackened vines surrounding the wide-eyed, panting woman, while Garrelt calmly cleaned his glistening daggers. Not a single scratch or drop of blood was visible on the scout leader himself.
Boarslayer swayed slightly as they regrouped, her vision swimming.
Garrelt steadied her with a hand. "Hanging Longs," he said, kicking a body away.
The long, green bodies looked like vines at first glance, but closer inspection showed distinctly reptilian features with four pairs of short, clawed limbs scatted along its long body. Near the head and tail were manes of bright red feathers that gave the appearance of hanging berries from a distance.
"Mildly venomous, but not very dangerous for someone of your cultivation and size. The blood will attract something nastier in a place like this, though. Let's move on and find somewhere for you to cycle the venom," he continued.
"Ummm… guys?" Maggy suddenly spoke up. Garrelt and Boarslayer turned to Maggy with a questioning look.
The young mage nervously looked around the area, asking, "Where's Antchaser?"
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Antchaser struggled against his bindings, but the strange threads only tightened in response. He had never seen his captor, and even now, as he was dragged through the unnaturally silent jungle, whatever held the other end of the threads was careful to never enter his line of sight.
That was bad.
It spoke of intelligence beyond that of a simple spirit beast. That was even before considering how the creature had taken advantage of the other spirit beast's ambush or grabbed Antchaser before his companions had even noticed.
It had descended on him in absolute silence, binding him with black threads that seemed to materialize out of thin air. In less time than it took to draw a breath in warning, Antchaser had been pulled into the underbrush.
What's more, despite feeling every bump and bruise as he was pulled at speed over the jungle floor, Antchaser could tell at a glance he wasn't leaving a trail — not a broken branch or torn leaf was left in his wake.
If Antchaser had been the same person he was several months ago, he might have fallen into despair. Lucky for him, he wasn't that goblin any longer.
The goblin gave one more push against his bindings. The threads barely had any give, but it was enough. A bulge near his shoulder wiggled under the threads, making its way toward where the bindings ended, just under Antchaser's nose.
The [Wasp] drone wiggled free a moment later. The drone turned, looked at Antchaser, then spread its wings and launched into the air. Antchaser sighed in relief as he watched the drone fly away. Alpha could track his and Boarslayer's exact positions using their implants. It didn't matter what kind of stealth tricks his mysterious captor was using.
Now, they would just have to think of a way to explain that to the Adventurers…
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If Alpha had a body, he would be grinding his teeth at that moment. He'd grown overconfident over the last few months, as his capabilities had grown. He had forgotten an important lesson about this hellscape planet; expect the unexpected.
To be fair, the goblin's implants weren't built to detect stealthed enemies, and there was only so much data he could gather through his [Wasp] drone scouts at once. Even so, he was kicking himself for letting slip by like this.
Even now, Alpha couldn't get a good lock on whatever dragged Antchaser deeper into the jungle. The drone's optical cameras could only make out a blurry shadow moving through the treetops.
Lucky for him, whatever method the creature used to avoid detection wasn't obscuring the tracking signal from Antchaser's implants.
He could lead them right to… wherever it was, the creature was taking Antchaser without it even knowing it was being tracked.
The problem was convincing the other two to follow Boarslayer's directions. She might have been an expert hunter, but so was Garrelt. The man might become suspicious if she started following a trail he couldn't see. Luckily, he had an idea… though he doubted Boarslayer would enjoy it.
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"I can't see a thing!" Boarslayer roared before turning to Garrelt. "What about you?"
Garrelt shook his head. "Nothing."
The floating motes of mana surrounding Maggy vanished, and she opened her eyes and shook her head. "I can't get a read on him. Whatever took him is blocking my divination somehow."
Boarslayer slammed her fit into a nearby tree. "Damm it! How does someone just vanish without a trace?!"
"Teleportation, maybe?" Maggy proposed. "Though if that was the case, we should have felt the energy fluxation. Teleporting isn't subtle in the slightest." She glanced around the thick forest. "Should we split up? See if we can find any clues?"
Garrelt looked at the young mage like she was an idiot. "Splitting up is the worst possible thing we could do. More so if whatever happened to Antchaser isn't a one-off. No, we head back to the village and gather more people. A few of my scouts have more… esoteric abilities. We'll find him. If he lives."
"But that will —" Maggy began to say.
"Maggy," Garrelt cut her off, his eyes hard. "We know nothing of what happened here. Knowing when to proceed and when to retreat separates the Adventurers who get to go home and those who don't," he said before turning toward the tunnel entrance. It would likely be at least half a day before they could return. They had to trust that Antchaser could survive until then.
"Wait!" Boarslayer said as a voice whispered in her ear. The two Adventurers paused. They turned and stared at the goblin in confusion.
"I…" Boarslayer spoke through clenched teeth, nearly snarling the words the voice in her ear had her parrot, "I might have a way to… track Antchaser."
Garrelt raised a brow as if to say, 'Continue.'
Boarslayer sighed and rubbed her temples. "Antchaser and I are… Oathbound."
Garrelt's eyes widened, though Maggy looked between the two in uncertainty.
"Oathbound? What do you mean?" Maggy asked.
Boarslayer grumbled wordlessly, leaving Garrelt to answer. "It's an old form of soul binding. Rarely done now these days. In fact, the only place I know it's still practiced is the Radiant Sea. Why would two goblins near the other side of the continent be Oathbound in the manner of the Wandering Cities?"
Maggy turned to Boarslayer, her eyes wide and sparkling. "Does that mean you two are married?! When did that happen?! Well, I mean, I guess it's obvious in hindsight. You two do spend a lo—"
"NO!" Boarslayer roared, shaking the nearby trees with the sound of her voice. "Divines above, NO, we're NOT married, girl! What kind of…" Boarslayer took a deep breath and collected herself. "My point is, I can track him… kinda."
Garrelt frowned and narrowed his eyes as he stared at Boarslayer. "Why is this the first time we're hearing about this?"
Boarslayer folded her arms and frowned right back at him. "Because it's a personal matter, and frankly, none of your business," she responded, thinking on her feet.
Garrelt raised his hands in defeat. "Fair, that's fair. Fine. If you're able to track him, then let's get moving. Every moment we waste is more time for them to get farther away. Lead the way, Ms. Boarslayer."
Boarslayer didn't bother to say anything more. Instead, she turned off the trail and walked deeper into the jungle.
Maggy gave Boarslayer a cheesy smirk as she passed the goblin, and Boarslayer felt her eye twitch. She was going to have a talk with Alpha about this stunt later. She didn't doubt news of her 'oath' would spread like wildfire. Boarslayer would milk the Dungeon Core of everything she could for agreeing to this.
B2 - Lesson 55 "Get Them Before They Get You."
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B2 - Lesson 55 "Get Them Before They Get You."
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Antchaser wiggled against his bindings, trying to work anything free.B2 - Lesson 55 "Get Them Before They Get You."
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Thanks in part to the implants the goblin had received from Alpha after he had nearly died at the hands of Bosco's men, Antchaser's right arm wasn't fully flesh. Not that anyone could tell at a glance, such was the Dungeon Core's strange technology.
Most of the modifications to his body allowed Antchaser to interface with Alpha's tools, but those on his limbs were more… functional. When paired with simpler flesh-sculpting spirit techniques he had picked up from Dr. Maria, Antchaser didn't even have to carry his old tool belt anymore.
He knew Boarslayer and the others were on their way, thanks to constant updates from Alpha. But that didn't mean Antchaser would sit back and wait to be rescued.
Yet, nothing was working. Whatever the strange cloth binding him was, it wasn't normal. Even the small plasma torch he had replaced his pinky with succeeded in nothing but scorching his hand.
Antchaser ground his teeth as each new attempt failed. He wasn't the same person he was when Bosco first appeared, and Antchaser hated feeling so helpless again.
Suddenly, the strange cloth loosened slightly, and a blade slid underneath. It swept up the length of the bindings, and Antchaser was free. Antchaser gasped, sucking in a deep breath he hadn't been aware he needed. His vision and brain swam slightly as blood flow returned and bright light assaulted his eyes.
"Huh?" the goblin muttered as a hand reached for him.
Antchaser frowned, reached for the hand, and was pulled to his feet by a grinning… Garrelt?
Garrelt steadied the unstable goblin and patted his back.
"I love unwrapping presents, but I never expected to find a goblin in one. Good to see you're alive, kid. We were worried for a moment," Garrelt said, still grinning.
"I… what's going on? Where are the others?" Antchaser asked, furrowing his brow.
"You got your arse snatched, that's what. Once we noticed you were missing, me and the others split up to look for you," Garrelt responded with a chuckle.
"What happened to the thing that grabbed me?"
"It escaped once I tracked you down. When I did, it dropped you and ran almost instantly, though not without a fight."
Antchaser narrowed his eyes and looked around. They stood in a small jungle clearing with obvious signs of a brief battle. A few scorch marks here and there and a long gash in a nearby tree that looked like it came from an enormous claw.
Antchaser's frown deepened, and he turned to Garrelt. "What was it, even?" he asked.
Garrelt shrugged. "Not a clue. It was sort of… blurry around the edges. Pretty impressive, honestly, for it to hide from sight even as you're staring right at it."
"… I see," came Antchaser's response.
Garrelt turned and waved the goblin to follow. "Come on, let's hurry and meet up with the others. Can't remember if I ever told you, but those in my line of work have techniques for spotting cloaked or disguised creatures, and mine are some of the best. Whatever it was, that thing's still out there and dangerous."
He started walking toward the clearing's edge.
"Wait!" Antchaser spoke up.
Garrelt paused and turned back around with a frown and a raised brow. "What? We need to hurry and meet the others before that thing finds one of them."
Antchaser grinned and stuck out his hand. "I just wanted to say thanks… for saving me and all. I know we didn't get off to the best start, but I appreciate it. Other Adventurers would have left me for dead. I'm glad you're one of the good ones."
Garrelt grinned back and reached out his hand to shake the goblins.
"It was no problem. I'm glad to see I've grown on you," the human chuckled.
The two men shook hands and laughed.
Suddenly, something unraveled around Garrelt's arm and, quicker than a striking serpent… severed his own limb at the elbow.
Garrelt took several leaping strides backward, strange cloth tendrils wrapping around his severed arm and stopping the bleeding.
He narrowed his eyes, then frowned at his bleeding stump and the severed arm still grasped in Antchaser's hand.
"Hmm… strange. What gave it away? Has that windbag really changed so much since we last met? Hard to believe that the first person to see through my disguise would be some no-name goblin barely into [Silver Spirit]," said the thing pretending to be Garrelt.
Antchaser tsked and tossed the severed arm away as the thin syringe sticking out of his palm slowly retracted.
"Whose to say…?" he said. In truth, the 'thing' in front of him had played the part rather convincingly. If anyone else had been captured, the goblin didn't doubt they would have been thoroughly fooled. It had even mimicked Garrelt's spiritual signal somehow.
In the end, however, it hadn't been the slightly overly boastful attitude, or even its praise of the 'enemy' that had tipped Antchaser off.
No... one simple thing had exposed the deceit; the real Garrelt was following Boarslayer, headed to their location, according to Alpha. They were close, too. Maybe the thing before him could sense that, and it had hoped to sow confusion.
'Garrelt's' frown shifted into an earsplitting grin as his face — then the rest of him — rippled like cloth in the wind, distorting his features into a dark nightmare. When the cloth settled, a beautiful young elf woman in flowing, dark blue silk robes stood where Garrelt had.
"No matter…" the woman said in a melodic voice. "I was hoping to keep you alive until I could extract enough information from you, but I'm sure one of your other companions can fulfill that role just as easily. Maybe that cute little mage girl, hmm?" The strange woman — Antchaser wasn't even sure if that's what this thing was — chuckled softly.
She covered her mouth with a sleeved hand and grinned widely. "As for you, little goblin, you've outlived your usefulness. Fear not, however; I'll complete your mission here in your stead. I'm sure Enforcer Magnus will be very interested in how you got to this cavern from your own. The other scouts swore up and down we were still four or five days away."
Antchaser's eyes widened.
She's one of Icefinger's group! Why are they here?! Did they take an alternate route than Bosco? he thought. That would explain why they were so late, and why Alpha had such difficulty spotting them. Most of his surveillance was focused on the tunnel the bandits and expedition party had used. That Icefinger's men could even find an alternate route through the Deep was troubling. It suggested Icefinger's influence in the Deep Tribes ran deeper than anyone expected.
The woman's eyes narrowed into a face-splitting sneer as horror and realization played across Antchaser's face.
"Oh, sweet, innocent goblin…" she mocked in a sweet soft voice. "Did you honestly think the Boss would let your insult go? Bosco might have been a fool, but he was still one of ours. And we mean to collect the debt."
A high [Golden Spirit] spiritual pressure slammed into Antchaser at the next moment, thoroughly locking him in place. At the same time, the severed arm beside him twitched, and half a dozen cloth strips unraveled from it, twisting into wicked points. Before Antchaser could break free from the woman's suppression, the cloth spears shot at him with blinding speed.
Antchaser would have died in that moment if he had been the only one 'present.'
Instead, Alpha used the goblin's implants to override his movements, much like he controlled his antborgs, and forcibly threw him out of the way at the last second.
Antchaser wasn't even aware the Dungeon Core could do that, and the implications weren't lost on him. Though that matter would have to wait until after he wasn't fighting someone nearly two greater steps above him.
The goblin hit the forest floor with a roll, his body coming back under his control as his cultivation shielded him from the woman's spiritual pressure. Even with such a substantial difference in their power, one advantage of [Silver Spirit] was he couldn't be fully suppressed like an [Iron Body] Cultivator would be. Unless taken by surprise as he had been, that was.
However, his reflexes and concentration would take a severe hit since he needed to constantly cycle Spirit Energy to fight off the effects. There was a reason there was such a big power difference between the greater steps.
Things weren't looking good, however. Some geniuses from the clans or sects might jump steps and fight on even ground, but Antchaser wasn't one of those people.
His only chance of survival was stalling her long enough for his companions to arrive.
His eyes never left the woman — or the severed arm — as he slowly stood.
"So you're one of Icefinger's people, then? That tracks…" he said. "You and Bosco are both arrogant pricks, after all. I guess it's true what they say; sparrows who seek the same grain share the same sky."
The woman threw her head back and laughed. "A philosopher goblin? Who would have guessed?" As she spoke, the arm twitched again, stood on cloth tendrils, and walked back to the woman. "That's the third time you've surprised me in just as many minutes, little goblin. Maybe I won't kill you after all. I have been wanting a pet."
The way the woman spoke sent an icy shiver down his spine. The dark glee in the woman's eyes told him without any doubt that death was the least of his worries if the others didn't get to him in time.
He shook the thought from his head, however, as Alpha whispered in his ear. Antchaser would only have one chance at this. He had to make it count.
The woman reached down, grabbed her severed arm and held it up, as if admiring her own work.
Then, with no warning, a thin stream of nanites erupted from the bloody stump. The nanite needle cut through the air faster than Antchaser could even process, but the woman's [Golden Spirit] reflexes proved better. Her eyes widened, and she barely pulled her head back in time.
Instead of piercing her eye, the nanite needle sliced a bleeding gash in the side of her cheek before soaring past. The woman screeched, dropped her arm, and grabbed at her bleeding face with her good hand.
At the same time, Antchaser dropped a small black pellet from a slot in one of his implants. It hit the ground and erupted into a massive cloud of billowing spirit-sense-suppressing smoke, courtesy of Dr. Maria.
Then Antchaser turned and ran.
From behind, he could hear the woman screech out in a rage.
"YOU KNOW WHAT?! I'VE CHANGED MY MIND! RUN, LITTLE GOBLIN, RUN! MAKE THIS FUN FOR ME!!!"
Noxious
An excellent host
- Location
- South Africa