Aiden raised his paw, and caught the ball as it was tossed. “This sounds like something I cannot begin to help with. Can I remove myself from this problem? I will get in the way, and I have tasks elsewhere. It sounds like this ‘Barry’ is immobile, successfully confined, and using minions to do his bidding. That’s as difficult to curtail as cutting off his access to things in his immediate vicinity.”
Cal nodded, got the ball back, and dismissed Aiden. The Wolfman trudged to the teleportation beacon and winked out. Artorian jumped a little. A notification had popped up in his vision. He’d just been awarded a ton of points! He thought that only worked in Eternium? Must have been a bug. Dawn squeezed him, a silent question on her face. He gave her a quiet thumbs up, and adjusted his seating. They were trying not to talk without having the physical ball. Something new they were giving a whirl. Cleverly done, Chandra!
Artorian glanced over to Henry and Marie. It was so hard not to snicker. They were exhausted. Present, but completely wiped out of energy from the work they had to do. Now that so many hordes of people were active in Eternium, their tasks were endless.
Artorian put his hand up, caught the ball, and asked a question. “Why now all of a sudden?”
Cal caught the Core, and answered. “Deverash introduced a rogue element into the system I wasn’t aware of. Not properly. It’s a material called… that can’t be right. Artorian, it says here you have a bag’s worth of iridium? That’s the material in question? Except it’s not iridium. More like… Anything-ium. Oh, I love this stuff! If it wasn’t currently causing me a headache. You didn’t litter this anywhere, did you? Or give them out? It has allowed Barry to link from his confined space to the outside. If he gets too much of it, or more, this might get worse. I definitely don’t want this to get worse. Particularly if this happens before I enter the second step, because then he can probably get out early. Which means we can’t rely on Occultatum as a counter. With enough of that stuff he can probably form a body that can house a mind. *Eesh*. Dev. Why.”
Artorian asked for the ball, and grumbled after catching to answer. “Why else? He was bored and thought of it as a good laugh. I… I may have misplaced a few pieces. Though I remember where. I suppose we can start here. Brianna. Dagger?”
Brianna hadn’t said a word the entire meeting, but procured the blade in question. Her speech was curt. “Dagger.”
Everyone expected the sharp weapon to be hurled at Artorian’s face, but she daintily placed it on the table and slid it over. The knife trembled, shaking in place as it bumped itself up to balance on the tip when Brianna removed her will from the dagger form. Bouncing an inch atop the table, it popped back into the shape of an Iridium Li. Well, that was neat.
Artorian teleported the pouch into his hand from where it was currently stored, then upended the container, letting the full smattering of Li *click-clack-clatter* onto the inner circle table. He hoped they would remain nice and gathered together. It would have been great if nothing happened, but the previously-dagger-Li slid towards its brothers as if attracted by a magnet. They all shuddered, and combined together into a single coin-Li. Interesting. Artorian picked it up, but frowned. “Well… It looks small, but all the weight merged together. The density of this coin went up. Considerably.”
He stared at it, sliding the Li back into the pouch as he thoughtfully affixed it on his waist. “I should… make sure to get the rest. So it isn’t found by wayward hands. I’m going to just go ahead and do that. Please do fill me in with the plans that come up?”
Artorian received a round of nods, and gave Dawn the ball after a squeeze-hug. With goodbyes sorted, he teleported right off her lap to mitigate a problem he caused. He felt downright crabby about it.
*Fuff*.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Artorian pressed his hands to his hips. Svartalfheim had clean air. Not in the slightest how he remembered it. “Well… I guess our iteration wasn’t… stellar. For keeping. No harm done. I hope.”
The youth planned to comb the Cal versions of realms first, as they were abandoned and devoid of people. Currently, at least. He wanted to plunk his people back down… when he didn’t look twelve. That was still eating him. It’s fine. It’s fine! He’d get to it. First Cal’s realms, then Eternium’s. Given the place was empty, no reason he couldn’t go fast. This would be easier with a racing palanquin. Actually…
Artorian knocked on a forum door, uncertain if it still worked.
The youth didn’t in the slightest understand the synthesized noises and pitches that he heard in reply. That… could be a language?
*Bwaauwp*.
Moments later, an eight-sided die warped into existence next to him. Rather than reply in the forum space—the connection of which clicked shut—Dev used a physical voice. “Artorian! So good to see you! I’m so sorry about that. It’s been so long since I’ve Gnomed the Gnome. I’m around! Just not as you knew me. I’m much happier in my new ways of being, after having split from the Gnomes that preferred being traditional crafters and tinkerers. I admit, I do miss the mad machines. Yet it doesn’t call me as the Pylons do. Speaking of. You have broken quite a few of them! I have been quite pleased with discovering what causes those breaks, and how to prevent them.”
The smiling face on the die altered to a frown. “Although, I am very upset that Tatum whispered use of the ‘Majin’ Pylon to you. That one was not ready. Demon-based Pylons were supposed to remain experimental! It’s like he wanted to stir the pot and bring attention to them. Not sure why. Not my problem. I just fix things.”
Artorian raised a brow. “Whispered?”
The Deverash-die bobbed. “Oh yes, he does it all the time. A real headache. He knows he shouldn’t because it makes Cal unhappy. As an example! When he can’t go out in the field with Henry—who he does like even if they can’t spend much time together—he cheekily uses some of his divine points to sneak a title into Henry’s lineup. Such as the one that makes it ridiculously easy to use resurrection abilities on him. Usually, shortly before Henry takes a lethal effect. Cal has told him to stop because Henry can’t be sure if he slotted the title in himself or not, as it is one of his favorites. Tatum does things like that all the time. Cal is even adding limits on what he can one day tell his followers. Tatum’s cheekiness is legendary.”
Artorian couldn’t help but laugh; that was excellent! “Ha! I’m not even mad. That’s amazing. Well, alright then. I’m here to recover that iridium you once gave me. We found out about the problems it has. Time to reel that in. Do you have a tracker of where I can find it all, and a racing palanquin so I can get there faster? I forgot to use a beacon to teleport with my last few jumps, and was reminded that it’s expensive. Honestly, I got used to my Mana restoring in Eternium very quickly. It felt so natural, and it was out of mind right away. I never even questioned it!”
The die spun, showing a giggling face. “That’s intentional! There are mental pushes present in Eternium to make you ignore certain things and notice others. Do be careful about those. Also, the Seed Core connection to Eternium is not optimal. You are at risk of not remembering things right away, and so long as you are in Eternium, you can easily forget things if they’re fleeting. The Order in place doesn’t want you to pay attention to the edges of the system, because you’ll see how to break it. We are using the Pylons to balance it all out but, as you have discovered, system mechanics are actually extremely fragile. I even have the hordes of logs from all the errors you have caused by using cultivation skills in the system. Seriously, you broke a ton! Ripping the status sheet out of someone alone is going to require a century of work to patch.”
Artorian wasn’t sure if Dev was praising him, or upset at the additional work. Oddly enough, it seemed to be the former? “Well. Alright? I’m not sure how to feel about that, yet I will keep it in mind. Tracker and toy?”
“Oh, sure! One moment.” Deverash *bwipped* out of exis
tence for a moment. The sound played again as he returned. A soft pouch fell into Artorian’s waiting hands, free for him to inspect. Digging around, he found it contained a compass and a cube.
Deverash spoke with scheming intonation. “Here you go! I’ve been hoping for that palanquin to get a test run. I loved what you did with the thrusters during our old bouts. Those have been added to all new models. I really wish we could do that again… Actually. Why not? I’ll see what I can do, for fun! The compass in the pouch will point you to the closest unclaimed iridium in a realm. The cube will fold out into a racing palanquin if you click the button. Give it a go!”
Artorian felt a mite suspicious, but the button was pressed, and tossed a fair distance away. He didn’t want to be near a Deverash-made self-expanding box. Not even at A-rank. To his delight and sharp whistle in response, the youth liked what he saw. “This thing doesn’t remotely resemble a palanquin anymore! I do love how the thrusters keep it hovering and in place. Teach me how to operate this version!”
Deverash was glad to do so.
Two hours, a flattened forest, seven crashes, and one dirt-lunch later, Artorian got the hang of it. Shifting in the seat, the racing platform zipped over the landscape, boring itself forwards on Mana-thrusters that could swivel in any direction. “Woo~hoo~hoo~hooo!”
Deverash timed the circling laps Artorian made. He didn’t understand why they were so slow, but remained supportive regardless. He yelled loud with adapted air Essence as the platform whooshed by. “Doing great, buddy!”
He checked this lap against the average on record. “That’s seven times slower than the sluggiest Geometric Gnome. G.G.’s can’t be faster by nature, when using worse versions of this palanquin. I will just add it to the records. This needs answers.”
A dodecahedron popped into place next to Dev. “Boss. That platform you have active is kind of a drain on the accumulators. Are you sure you want it to keep chugging along the way it is? Racing platforms aren’t meant to operate outside of Vanaheim.”
Dev bobbed to the affirmative. “Let them drain. Look at these records and tell me what’s wrong. I know about the regional design flaw. Bring this to R&D. This doesn’t make sense. Let that platform drain as much as it has to. The more it gets used, the better. Here he comes again, best bwip out.”
The dodecahedron *bwipped* out as instructed, along with the records Dev made. “All done! Do you think you’re all set?”
Artorian wiped at his eyes. “I think so. Shame that I can’t keep the wind out of my face without Essence shielding.”
Dev had a great idea, and constructed a pair of darkened goggles. The pair was telekinetically tossed over when finished. “Here! Give these a try! I need to get back to work. Have fun with that compass!”
Artorian caught the aviator goggles, and affixed them to his face. Oh, this was going to be much better! “Thanks, buddy! Come be social sometime! I know I’m busy. Just pop in!”
They shared a Mana high five, and the eight-sided die *bwipped* out while the youth sped off at eight tenths of Mach one. Artorian achieved that speed after about ten seconds, starting from standstill. It required no expenditure on his end to operate the platform, and was all smiles as the landscape flew by in a borderline blur. He had to pull up on the levers to increase altitude, as getting tangled in trees always caused a crash, and never a great time.
This was fantastic! Could he make this better? Surely, he could make this better. His thoughts were drawn to the violin. Eh. Too slow. What had a bit more kick? Wait a moment, percussion? Wubs! In the back of his mind he could hear someone yell: ‘Artorian, no!’ His only reply being: “Artorian, yes!”
He hooted out the reply to nobody, as the cascade and repetition of bass drops formed a tune he remembered liking at the yellow line. It was the engine sound of some of the fatter palanquins at the time, thudding along as their Mana accumulators pulsed power to the rest of the craft. This made his deep, dirty wubs thrum as a very stable: *Dvup dvup dvup*.
Not a soul in sight, and not a person in harm’s way. Artorian punched it. The sonic boom caused from breaking Mach one only broadened his smile. The compass which he had plastered to his dash shook wildly. Thrusters doing their best to keep his platform stabilized as he shot through valleys, sped over lakes, blazed through plains, and took sharp deadly turns around mountains in sideways drifts. He loved the churn of the speed he was making this thing go. Could it go faster? “Oh come on, we could go faster! We have places to bee~ee~ee!”
The mad youth laughed out loud as the compass spun around with a snap. He’d passed the entry point, too busy having a good time to see it. With a twist of the controls, he spun the platform around. Though kept going backwards even though the thrusters were trying their best to send him back the way he came. Odd how he came to a near standstill before darting off in his original direction. “Aha! There it is! A mineshaft entry. Maybe I was going a little too fast to blindly burst through a mine at Mach one…? Naaah. Just slap on some shielding! That’d sort ‘er. It’s the Dwarven thing to do!”
Bright light-shields formed around the platform in an egg shape, the bottom of it failing to construct properly as the thrusters burned right through the shell. Oops. Little late to fix that now as he *fhwunked* into the darkness of the mine shaft. He was either going to have a spectacular crash, or come out the other end swinging. Either way, his smile didn’t drop the smallest inch as the floor dropped out from under him. A large, vast cavern opened up as he took the plunge. Abyss! He still hated caverns!
Pumping more Mana to the shields, the floodlights flashed into activity, illuminating the area with far greater clarity. Much better! Now to find that iridium! He flicked the compass to steady it, and the metal needle shot to the left. Left it was! Pulling up hard on a control lever, the platform turned sharply. The shield took the brunt of the impact damage, but the bottom of the platform ground loud against both the rock wall and gravel floor. Sparks flew wildly with the ferocity of an active forge in the middle of smithing, but the platform remained functional and propelled itself forwards once more. This thing was meant to take some dings!
The compass began to spin uncontrollably after speeding a good distance down the twisting shaft, and Artorian pulled the control levers to slow him down. He hadn’t gotten back up to sound-barrier breaking speeds down here, but that was fine. His wubs died out, and the platform hovered into the next cavern smooth as sailing on a calm sea. Oh, hey! He recognized this place somewhat. This looked similar to the Dwarven city he’d enjoyed meandering through the first time around.
No children playing around the fountain, but oh well. He parked the platform in the middle of the square and hopped off. It was a little dark, but when realizing they were dirty, he removed his goggles. A little starlight Aura took care of that in a pinch. He let the aviators hang around his neck, and tugged the compass free. “Let’s see. Where to go…”
It took a few hours of trial and error, but Artorian found himself in front of a heavy wooden door. It *chinged* as a small copper bell rang out when the door parted. The ornate onyx desk caught his eye right away. Followed by heavy inspection equipment that was stacked wall to wall.
Following the compass further down this shop, Artorian made his way down carved onyx stairs, and right up to a surprisingly intact vault door. It definitely looked like it was meant to conduct Aether steam in order to get the massive slab of metal to move. None filled the tubes, and the mechanics of the system were dead and silent.
Likely had been for iterations.
How would he get in there? Oh. Right. A-rank two! Artorian grabbed the handles on the vault door, and just broke the whole thing right off the hinges with a horrific metallic screech. As if it were an inconvenient paperweight. “There we go!”
“Oh, come on.” He frowned when he saw what was on the other end, and dropped the vault door with a deep *thunggg*. He stepped through the entryway to take in the sheer scale of the hidden operation. “Deverash Neverdash the Dashi
ngly Dapper! You cheeky snoot! If you ever told me you only made a handful of this stuff, then you lied to me!”
Artorian honestly wasn’t certain if Dev had ever actually said that, but he badly wanted to feel that it had been implied. Specifically due to the presence of the small army of Dwarven-shaped golems he was currently counting. All of them were constructed from iridium, and all of them had a memory Core implanted in their chests. “Fa~a~antastic. Cal must not have checked this place; any one of these could serve as a fully functional body.”
Pulling the original Li out of his pocket, he sighed and held it up. His Aura bloomed, and he laid out his will across the entirety of the vault forge. “Gather!”
Solid metal Dwarves liquified, iridium sloughing off their current forms in waves. What had taken uncountable years to construct was undone in but moments. Over the course of a few minutes, the entire facility was drained of iridium.
The ground below Artorian buckled loudly. Unpleasant creaking rocked the facility as normal metal under the youth’s feet indented where he stood. The ground suffered from easily a dozen tons of weight being gathered in that one spot, as all the goopy material gathered in the coin Artorian held up and increased its density. Well, almost. There was always an outlier.
Personally checking in on the remaining golem that didn’t form into goop, he sighed, and kneaded his brow. He recognized the shape, and his heart sank. Tussle the Dwarf, in the exact shape the youth remembered him from the first iteration, stood tall, and firm. While his chest puffed out, his face was twisted in an expression of false strength. Like he’d been trying to stay strong and proud as the initial conversion happened to him.
Anima: A Divine Dungeon Series (Artorian's Archives Book 6) Page 26
