by Matthew Peed
“Yes, Father?” Ignea asked, floating around me.
“I was wondering if you would let me move your Treant forest to a nearby island so that you can help watch over this portal. Of the people who remain in the dungeon, you’re the one I trust completely.” I smiled at her.
She spun around my head a few times as if in thought. “Alright. The treants were complaining about hitting their heads lately,” she replied with a giggle.
“Excellent,” I said, clapping my hands. Casting my senses more fully over the floor, I grabbed one of the larger islands. I rearranged the other islands a bit so that it would fit near this one. I loved space magic, as it allowed an island nearly fifty square kilometers to exist underground with other islands of various sizes.
“I see you’re almost tier two,” I said, observing her while I worked.
“Yes. I would be a much higher rank if not for the drawback of the fairy race,” Ignea said sadly.
“Drawback?” This was the first I had heard about this. She was usually very open about her issues after I’d talked to her a while ago. It was her idea to tend to the treant forest, and she enjoyed it from what I saw.
“Fairies can only draw in pure mana. No contamination whatsoever. Father’s dungeon actually has a decent amount that lets me cultivate it to the point that I have. From my memories other dungeons take many years to start producing pure mana,” Ignea explained.
“I thought I was cleansing the mana into its pure form?” I asked, even more surprised.
“You are. Or, more accurately, into the World Spirit’s form. Pure mana is more of a byproduct,” Ignea said. She landed on my shoulder, just barely able to fit. “Pure mana is no aspect. It’s a blank slate. You’ve done it a few times when working on your various projects.”
I held my hand out and formed another ball of mana. From there I created a type of tree that branched off into the various types of mana. Fire, water, terra, and air were the thickest, followed by light and dark, which went in opposite directions. Space and time also branched in opposite directions of each other.
After that were the several dozen lesser branches that some people could use. Lightning and nature for instance. Finally, once the last of the various types of mana was pulled out of the ball, all that remained was a clear transparent shell. It reminded me of roots that held up a tree.
“This?” I asked to be sure.
“Yeah. As you can see it takes a lot to process it, and it doesn’t remain untainted for long,” Ignea said, taking the small clear ball into her hands.
The energy quickly flowed into her palms, and she took a deep breath. She grew maybe a centimeter, then jumped into the air, made a few midair spins, then hovered in front of me, smiling.
“I can create more now that I know you need it,” I offered.
She shook her head. “Later. It will take me almost three days to cultivate that little bit you made just now.”
“If you say so.”
“Don’t you have things to do, Father?” she said, tapping my cheek with her tiny hand.
“Yeah . . . have to love wars,” I said as I sighed.
I looked off the edge of the island the portal resided on to where one of my asteroid harvesters had just finished teleporting. It landed on the edge of the island, and my forces started to pour from inside. High-tier-two automata marched in perfect synchronicity as they moved toward the portal. These were the latest models that I’d recently created. The lower tiers would be moving to the portal next, but they would be using vehicles.
“They’re going to regret messing with you, Father,” Ignea said, watching the first batch of two hundred automata march off the ship.
“Of course,” I said, then grinned sinisterly.
Chapter 4
Izora
“Alright, everyone! Be ready! I’m not sure what to expect on this floor,” I called to my group as we exited the elevator to the sixteenth floor.
I had wanted to wait longer, but everyone assured me that they were ready and raring to get on with the dungeon exploration. I do have to admit that after the fifteenth-floor boss . . . prelude or whatever that was, all the guards who were with me were showing much better control over their mana and magic. Three of the newer guards even managed to break into tier two, while some of the senior members stated being close to a breakthrough to tier three.
I tightened my grip on my new lance. I had tested it a bit and found it was a more controllable version of the ancient device. Some of the engineers had started to drool as they’d examined the weapon back at the embassy. It possessed all the same functions, but I knew there was more to unlock. The image of the other me from the illusion using the ancient devices in unique ways flashed through my mind.
Next was the armor. While it only appeared to cover from my waist up, it had a barrier of some kind that reacted much like a set of plate leggings would. I couldn’t test that feature extensively without risking my legs, but it had withstood Sasori’s barrage and I could tell she wasn’t holding back toward the end.
The wings were a nice addition, letting me cross the valley in minutes, or in seconds if I really pushed the mana. When they were in their clock form, I did attract a lot of attention, but mostly in awe from others. I was ready to face whatever was going to be thrown at us in the next few levels.
The wall slid back as the floor opened up to us. Like the last floors, I thought we were outside at first as a large forest opened up to us. The trees were a kind I had never seen before, with silver leaves that appeared very sharp. The air was damp, making me think that this was how it would feel at some of the southern forests I’d heard about when I was younger.
We didn’t see any threats as we moved deeper into the forest. I was wondering what the challenge of this floor could be when I noticed Morita move toward one of the trees. I trusted her and knew she wouldn’t do anything rash. I called the group to a stop and waited for her.
She placed her hand on the tree, and a moment later I felt a surge of mana from the tree and her as arcs of lightning started jumping between it and her body. One of the guards started to rush forward, but I quickly held him back. I could see she wasn’t in any danger.
“Princess Izora! This place is amazing for lightning users!” she finally called after maybe five minutes.
“I could see you were enjoying yourself.” I chuckled.
“My apologies. The mana was just so pure that I couldn’t resist. As you know, lightning mana is hard to cultivate safely. I didn’t have to worry about my skin burning off when channeling it here,” Morita said flatly.
“That means the voltage is low enough,” I said, thinking about the book on electricity that Vern had made me read.
“I’ll be visiting this place regularly from now on.” Morita smiled, looking back at the tree she was using.
“We still have to be sure there aren’t any threats,” Hatsu warned her.
“I know, but we’ve been in this outer reach for almost twenty minutes and nothing has bothered us. Even if I cultivate mana out here, I’ll still gain a decent boost to my cultivation. Not to mention how deep we are,” Morita replied quickly.
“Let’s move on and actually find out what this floor has to offer,” I said, turning back to the main forest. “But I feel this floor was made with a particular person in mind,” I joked and everyone chuckled and nodded at that.
After another ten minutes of the same thing, we found something new. It looked like a ruined temple that had been here for several centuries. We approached cautiously in case there were traps. One of the guards scouted inside. After a few minutes, he came back out, waving us inside.
I could tell that the temple would have been a grand place back in its heyday. The inside could easily fit a hundred people. In the center was a large statue of a man with a lightning bolt. In his other hand he held a tablet. Morita jumped up the platform to read it out loud.
“Strike my bolt!
Strike and a storm to grant you power
will come!
Strike my bolt!
Strike and let your will be known to all!
Strike my bolt!”
“I think it wants us to use lightning on the bolt,” Tsuzuki suggested.
“I agree, I’m beginning to think this really was a floor made for a certain someone. It is probably safe, so let us hurry and move on to the next one,” I said after considering it for a moment. “Morita, you can come back later to test it out,” I called when I saw her looking slightly depressed.
“Yes, Princess,” she answered, quickly jumping down.
The exit to the next floor was on the opposite side of this one. As I’d figured, the floor was completely safe, especially for lightning users. Morita looked like she was having the time of her life while here. I just shook my head and pushed open the door to the next floor.
Another forest greeted us, only this one looked . . . normal, with an abundance of terra and nature mana in the air. In the distance I made out a dome-shaped mountain. There appeared to be a snowstorm raging around the top. I gulped, worried that the entrance to the next floor was up there.
“Princess, there is a path to the left,” Sasori said.
I moved next to her and sure enough there was a path that led along the edge of the room. Looking back over the massive floor, I decided that Lord Regan must have created this floor for people to cultivate mana as a team. I could tell right now that even a Water mage would have trouble surviving that snowstorm for long.
We made our way around the mountain without any trouble. Some of the guards said they would want to return later and cultivate mana if it was allowed. I agreed to it as long as they came in groups. The floor was safe, but halfway through there was a quake that caused cracks to form in the ground that quickly resealed. I wouldn’t want someone to be by themselves and get trapped or, worse, crushed. We reached the entrance to the next floor after only a few minutes.
“I wonder how many floors Lord Regan has to be able to have floors that offer no resistance to adventurers?” Tsuzuki asked when we reached the door.
“His power far exceeds that of a normal dungeon. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was in the triple digits by now. Plus, he has the Heaven floor,” I said, remembering the structure that inhabited the area outside the planet.
“That is indeed true. I would like to see how the Celestials are taking his presence. Even in our records, they had plans that stretched for centuries. I can only imagine that Lord Regan is like a colossal wrench hitting their engine.” Tsuzuki snickered.
“Serves them right,” I scoffed. All our collected history showed the Celestials causing just as much harm as good. The fact that our world was suffering due to Lelune was enough reason for me to want to curse the lot of them.
The group made its way down to the eighteenth floor, where we entered a large cavern that appeared to stretch on for kilometers. I knew of dungeons that made massive almost space-defying structures underground, but Lord Regan really took it to the next level. Just the last floor alone must have been at least four kilometers in height. Adding all the previous floors, if I did my math right, it put us around twenty kilometers beneath the surface.
I was amazed at the level of magic required to keep this place intact. Dungeons had been created when the World Spirit came into being. Everyone knew they cleansed the mana of the world, but no one was sure why the mortal races’ mana was poisonous to the World Spirit to begin with. It was one of the biggest mysteries for the Mages Guild.
This floor looked like an enlarged version of the sixth floor. It was a giant mine with building-size automata that were digging out large sections of the walls and floors. If Lord Regan was able to use all the material that we saw mined in just the few minutes we were standing here, then he must have had an army that could match either the kingdom or empire.
In the center of the room was what looked like a town. It had a dirty look to it, made from metal and covered in dirt and soot. I could just make out smaller automata working around the area. We set out toward it as I reminded everyone: no hostile action. If this was another mining floor, then we would be perfectly safe.
It took us nearly half an hour to make it down the edge of the mine. From the entrance, the ground looked relatively flat, but once we actually started moving down, it turned treacherous. We reached the bottom of the mine and started heading toward the small town with only one guard getting a bruise when the rock he was standing on gave out and he slid nearly twenty meters in a small rockslide.
We were halfway to the town when we saw a sign. It was rather obnoxious with flashing lights and words that changed colors every couple of seconds. We had to get closer to read it since it was hard to focus on from far away.
“Greetings Adventurers! Feel free to mine here much like you did on floor six. DO NOT go near the BWEs. They will attack you based on proximity. This has been your one and only warning. The depot in the center will provide you access to the next floor, but the BWEs do drop their load there once every few hours.”
“Seriously, who would purposely piss off one of those things?” Sasori asked, shaking her head and laughing.
I had to agree. Even from here I could tell they weren’t something to mess with lightly. Not only were they huge, but they had several other smaller automata crawling over them. My guess was it would be like trying to siege a castle if a party attacked one of those. It looked like the depot, as the sign labeled it, was clear for now, so we picked up our pace to reach it before one of the BWEs started heading toward it.
We made it a few minutes later. Not that hard when a party of adventurers actually starts moving at their max speed. The automata in the depot gave us a cursory glance, then went back to what they were doing. I looked around but saw no hint of where the next floor entrance was. Deciding not to waste time, I moved toward the nearest automaton.
It looked like a cross between a miner and a gnome tinkerer. The automaton possessed several dozen tools all over its body and was covered in the dirt and grime that came with mining for many long hours of the day. It was working on a jumble of wires and tubes when it noticed me approaching. It stopped its work and gazed at me as I closed the distance.
“Excuse me. Can I bother you for a moment?” I asked politely.
“What does the Selected want with me?” the automaton asked in a deadpan voice.
“Selected?” I asked, caught off guard.
“Servant of the Creator. Receiver of his Favor,” it replied.
A little confused, I replied, “Ah. He is a great being that I have decided to give my all to. I do not think he has given me much of his favor, however.”
The automaton glanced at my back before he said, “Then you do not respect the gift that has been given to you.”
The memory of Lord Regan’s mana flooding my body flashed to mind, making me both blush and twinge a bit from the echo of the pain. I supposed to the members of Lord Regan’s dungeon, it would appear that he had favored me quite a bit. I’d have to remember that for the future.
“I apologize. My mind slipped a bit. Of course, I’m thankful for the blessing that my lord has given me. That is why I’m trying to prove my people are worthy of it,” I said with a curtsy.
The automaton just stared at me, then pointed toward a building toward the center of the town. “A device that will send you to the next floor is inside.”
“Thank you,” I said, bowing my head.
We rushed over to the building as one of the guards noticed that a BWE was heading toward the depot. I had no desire for my people to try to fight such a thing, so I hurried them into the building. Inside there was a platform much like the elevator. We rushed to the top of the platform, then I hit the only rune I could find. There was a flash of light, and I blinked as spots appeared in my eyes.
Looking around after my vision cleared, I couldn’t see anything different about the room we stood in. Two of the guards moved carefully to the doorway and searched the area. They paused for a few sec
onds before they turned around.
“Princess, you need to see this,” one of the guards called.
I made my way over to look out of the entrance, gaping at what I saw. There was a city sprawling from the building we were looking out from. A layer of fog coiled through the air that made it hard to see far. I couldn’t even make out the ceiling from where we were, but I knew we must be underground.
A group of figures emerged from the fog a ways down the street. They were hard to make out, so I told everyone to be ready for anything. As the group got closer, I started catching more details. They wore gritty metal armor that covered most of their bodies. I wasn’t sure what it was, but something told me that they weren’t automata. As I watched I realized that it was the way they moved, more random than the way automata normally ran or moved around at all. The group of people stopped in front of us.
“Look here. We finally have some guests! It took them long enough, but given the power of the boss it makes sense.” The foremost figure laughed loudly.
“Where are we?” I asked carefully.
“You’re on the twentieth floor! The goblin City of Gears!” he shouted happily, pulling off his helmet.
I took a step back when I saw green skin. It was smooth like a human’s, and they looked more civilized than any goblin I had ever seen in my life. They wielded armor and weapons that echoed a lesser version of what Lord Regan might create. One of the goblins had a large weapon that looked like seven or eight of our air rifles welded together.
“Alphonso Genkins!” one of the goblins suddenly shouted, and there was a massive explosion of light, blinding everyone in the area, other goblins included.
“Damn it! Alphonso! They’re guests until they attack!” the leader goblin shouted angrily.
