“VI, not AI,” Vic corrected her.
Aly looked at him. “What’s the difference?”
“The ‘V’ stands for ‘vulgar,’” I said dryly.
Vic burst out laughing and transformed back into his familiar Vicloak shape.
Aly shook her head. “I don’t know how you keep up with him.”
“Vic’s on our side,” I said. “And he can be useful. Occasionally.”
“I’ll keep what I learned to myself.” Her eyes became distant for a moment. “I messaged Julee that you’re here. She wanted to see you in her lab. It’s the next door to the left.”
“I’ll drop by,” I said. “Thanks a lot for your help, Aly; this could be a game-changer. Is there anything I can give you as a reward? Gold, XP?”
She shook her head. “I hear we’ve got quite a battle ahead. You’ll need everything you have to win. I’ll be fine. The only thanks I need is for us to get back to our real lives.”
“I appreciate that. But it feels wrong to claim your lifelong work without giving anything in return.”
“I don’t stand to lose a thing.” She smirked at me. “When I finally get out, I fully intend to get the credit for this invention and the revenues that come along with it.”
I chuckled. “I’ll make sure to back you up, then. I’ll see you later, Aly.”
I left her lab and approached the next room down the corridor.
“Come in,” Julee’s voice answered when I tapped the door.
I opened the door and stopped to stare at the rows of fancy-looking suits and dresses that hung all over the room.
The red-skinned player smiled at me. “Hey.”
“Hey,” I said and gestured at the clothes. “Did you make all of this?”
“Yeah, it’s my profession,” she said. “I didn’t have the opportunity to work for a year – until you built us this place. And I had a lot of ideas floating around in here.” She tapped her head and giggled.
“So what did you want to show me?” I asked.
“This,” she said proudly, unfolding a flowery dress and spreading it over the table.
The garment looked soft, and the drawings of petals made for some interesting patterns. I looked up at her. “It’s … a dress.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “This is a cutting-edge approach to casual wear; the neckline’s elongated cut flows into the—”
I raised my hand. “I get it. It looks great. Vic?”
This time, my lazy companion didn’t bother transforming.
Optional reward:
You instantly gain 2 levels.
You instantly gain 5 skill levels.
You gain +50% damage for one attack (repeatable). Condition: Your companion delivers a humorous jibe.
“What the hell is that last option?”
You’ve gotta be kidding me, I said, switching to mental conversation as Julee gave a questioning look at my outburst.
Hell no. I’ll take the two levels, thank you.
Level up! (X 2) You have reached Character Level 80. You have 2 ability points to allocate.
Per my standard, I invested the new points into Mental, bringing the total to 94. My mana bar extended by a fraction, though the actual gain was probably enough to cause any normal human player to cry of jealousy.
“Thanks, Julee, that was awesome,” I said. “Anything I can offer you in return?”
Her eyes gleamed. “I’d love to try working with oxsaurian leather, but your goblin leatherworker refuses to sell me any, saying he needs everything for the army.”
“He’s right,” I said. “But I think we can make a small exception. Tell Vrick I said to give you some.”
“Thanks!” She beamed at me.
“My pleasure.” I smiled back at her. I liked the red-skinned player; she had a positive, upbeat personality. “I’ll see you later, Julee.”
“See you later, Chief.” She waved goodbye as I stepped out of her workroom.
It was still early in the evening when I walked through the valley, cutting through the swath of mushrooms in the field to get to my destination. Teleporting around was great, but sometimes I was in the mood to experience the settlement I’d built in person.
Hoker was busy toiling at the worktable in the Dreamer’s Lodge, enchanting a new batch of equipment.
“Don’t mind me,” I said before he could drop the piece he was enchanting while trying to bow to me. “I’m just here to work.”
An idea had been brewing in my mind for a while now. I’d been able to enchant both Lirian’s and my new armor with a self-repair feature. My golems were powerful, but if they had any disadvantage, it was their lack of healing. Instead, they were forced to replace broken beads with new ones, which was incredibly wasteful. Adding the flux rune to their existing schema ran a high risk of failure, as I learned when I nearly destroyed my original Pyrolith Gambeson, and I didn’t think the single open rune slot left at their cores would be enough. I needed to go back to the drawing board, and I needed even more rune slots than before to achieve something truly special. Luckily, I had just the thing.
I walked into the building’s storage room. The crude clay container holding the webcrystal dust had been replaced with a professional-looking clay tub. I went to a thick steel chest and opened it, revealing rows of pinkish spheres inside. Viridium. But unlike the ‘normal’ Viridium I used to work with before, these were high-quality, and their color had a deeper sheen. These were the daily tribute sent from Akzar, and we had 70 so far.
Analyze.
High-Quality Viridium Sphere
Type: Ammunition, component
Runecraft Viability: 10
Rank: Magical
Durability: 200/200
These spheres had two more slots than the normal variety. Normally, I’d ask Duladeen to forge me a golem core to hold the main enchantment, but I was missing two crucial parts for that: one, I didn’t have a captured soul to operate it, and two, I didn’t have a void crystal strong enough to make it truly powerful. So instead, I was going for a different approach – a proof of concept – to see if I could even make a self-regenerating golem.
I picked up several spheres, returned to the worktable, and accessed the Runecraft Design Mode, which opened to display a semi-transparent copy of one of the spheres.
A core required 15 inscribed runes to turn into a golem-controlling center, but all I needed was to make the golem beads that would comprise its body to test my theory. I selected the Conduit schema from my known list and applied it to the sphere. I stripped off some of the unnecessary binding and socket runes, but I did add a warding rune that connected to fire, sonic, and water runes. And just like that, seven out of the ten available slots were taken. That was all right; all I needed was to add the ‘Shi’ rune of flux, a ‘Te’ connector rune to hit the sphere’s durability points, then slap a strengthening rune at the end to increase all the other runes’ effects.
“What the hell?” I said when I added the ‘Te’ rune after the ‘Shi’ one. A layer of golden dots stretched across the entirety of the sphere. The brown durability dots were visible inside the depth of the sphere, but there was no way I could have connected all the golden ones. “What do I do?” I muttered.
I knew I could use several connector runes on the same schema to make threading the dots easier, but I was reluctant to replace any o
f the runes I’d used. On further consideration, I reasoned I could make do without the sonic ward. I’d yet to encounter anyone attacking me with sound-based spells, though I knew those existed.
Adding a second ‘Te’ rune made things a little easier but it still took me long hours before even half the dots were connected. I stopped to consider if the time I was spending was even worth it. The Enchanter’s Gem would transform the enchantment to nine other copies, but I’d still need to repeat the process six times to enchant all 70 spheres.
I’d eventually figured that overlapping, spiraling patterns were the most efficient design to connect to as many dots as possible, but it was already the end of the workday by the time I finished covering the exterior with delicate patterns.
I rubbed my weary eyes and studied the estimated effects displayed at the side of my view.
Enchantment estimation:
Inertia bead
Fire resistance 94%
Cold resistance 94%
Durability 200 → 294
Malleable Recovery
That looked promising. Inertia bead was the effect that turned the Viridium into a golem bead. The final resistance and durability stats would be even higher as the estimation didn’t consider the Dreamer’s Lodge and Enchanter’s Gem’s bonuses. But it was the last effect that was the most interesting. It was weirdly titled and there was no added description, but it was easy to read the metadata behind it to understand what it stood for. Once the enchantment was completed, I would be able to pour mana into the bead to repair any damage.
I placed nine more Viridium spheres on the worktable and approved the enchantment. The Enchanter’s Gem glowed for a few moments, imparting the complex schema to the other receptacles.
I received a notification that my Runecraft skill had risen to level 75, but I waved it away and concentrated on the ten magical items I’d created.
Flexing my will, I reached toward the beads with a tendril of mana. The dark energy sipped into the compatible items with ease, and with a single thought, they all came toward me, spilling onto the floor and rolling to climb on top of each other.
So far, so good.
Next came the real test. I drew out my Demon Staff and stabbed one of the spheres. The Epic weapon sank through the hard metal as if it were made of dense mud, inflicting over a hundred durability damage. Then I channeled my mana into the damaged bead. I could feel the dark mana coursing through and into the metal, repairing it, making it whole again. I could also feel something else. My mana worked almost like a flexing muscle, forcing the metal to reform. On a hunch, I pressed my will down on the metal, and my eyes widened at the result.
The flawless sphere started compressing before my eyes. Not slowly or grudgingly, but fluidly, like a potter shaping malleable clay. The ability’s name made more sense now.
The discovery offered new possibilities. Though malleable, the bead had still retained the hardness of a grade 3 metal. It was also whole again, having taken three MP per damaged durability point to fully repair. I reformed its spherical shape and made it move back to join with the other nine beads. Then I pressed down on them all at once. The spheres instantly formed into a single, tightly packed block. Another surge of mana, and the block reformed into a seamless cylinder. Another, and it turned into a cone.
I spent a few more moments studying the new feature in fascination. I discovered that minute control and very fine changes were beyond me. I couldn’t rearrange the block into any complex shape or give it a sharp edge, but I could make it grow two thick limbs that flailed around with considerable force. My original intention of making a self-healing golem left my mind. The new flux rune offered a much better possibility. I saw myself covered with a suit of the hard material, using my magic to move it instead of my muscles. I chuckled when I envisioned myself as a sort of pinkish ironman.
There was only one problem.
It had taken me an entire day to enchant just ten of the 70 spheres in my possession. My clan was receiving a tribute of five such pieces every day, which meant if I wanted my future ‘suit’ to fully encompass me, I’d need to lock myself in the Dreamer’s Lodge every other day. I couldn’t afford the time; I had a horde of giants and a couple of demigods to battle.
I clenched my jaw in disappointment. “Damn it.”
“Shadow Lord?” Hoker looked up at me. “Is something wrong?”
“No.” I drew in a steadying breath. “It’s just that I can’t afford the time to keep working on these, though they would really be helpful.”
The goblin looked at the pile of enchanted Viridium, seeming perplexed. “Have you tried simplifying the process?”
I shook my head. “It’s impossible. I need to thread thousands of points; it can’t be circumvented.”
“Hmmm.” The goblin studied the beads more closely. “I see what you mean. That is a complicated sigil to trace.”
“Trace?” I raised an eyebrow at him. I knew Hoker used a different enchanting skill than me that was considered easier, though less deep than Runecrafting.
“Yes,” he said. “Those spiral formations would take a long time to copy.”
“Wait.” My mind was racing. “Do you think you’d be able to copy it?” I already knew Hoker could emulate the enchantments I’d discovered, providing my soldiers with a mass of slightly lower-powered versions of them.
“Yes, Shadow Lord,” he said then frowned. “I can do the spirals, but the other sigils are beyond me, I’m afraid.”
That wasn’t a problem. I could add the other eight runes with a flick of my mind. I went back to the storeroom and brought ten new Viridium spheres. “Let’s check it out.”
We toiled together for another half hour and finally came up with a workable method. I would apply the new schema on a sphere, which would allow Hoker to take over using his own enchanting skill to copy the connector’s spirals onto it. Once he finished the process, the Enchanter’s Gem would copy the effect over to the other nine spheres.
I ended up preparing ten more spheres with the initial blueprint – enough for Hoker to enchant a hundred spheres with – then I left the building.
From now on, the industrious goblin would provide me with ten malleable golem beads every day. We agreed to dedicate the entire next day for both of us to work on the project together, which would leave me with 30 new beads. It would be a good start, though I estimated I needed at least 60 to fully cover my body.
Feeling pleased with the achievements of the day, I teleported back to my house and went to sleep.
Interlude: SLTV
“Oh boy, brothers and sisters, are we in for a treat!” Gondriel, the VI anchorman said.
“I’d say,” Hannanel, the co-anchor agreed. “Oren is up against incredible odds – throngs of bouldites led by our very own siblings, Gabriel and Azriel. The two are standing vigilant over the cave’s entrance, but they amuse themselves by directing the bouldite forces. I heard they’re quite eager to pit their strategic capabilities against our favorite mad meat suit and his posse.”
“A desperate battle, with a huge possible loss for either side,” Gondriel declared. “Who will be the victor? On one side, the meat suits stand to lose their last grain of hope, throwing everything they have against hopeless odds for a desperate attempt at the impossible. On the other, the VIs’ very existence may be threatened. Is there a chance our reign is about to end? Will the meat suits’ desperate struggle lead to our undoing?”
The two anchormen exchanged grave looks. Then they burst out laughing.
Gondriel finally got his laughter under control. “Yeah, no, of course not.”
“You’re right,” Hannanel said. “But it would still make for entertaining viewing. Think of the drama, the suspense, and the trove of testicular quips we’re bound to witness!”
“I just hope our brothers will keep it sportsmanlike,” Gondriel said. “If either Azriel or Gabriel get too annoyed, they might accidentally wipe out Oren’s forces on their own – you know how
much they enjoy swinging those sharp sticks of theirs – and that would be unfortunate for us viewers.”
“I’m sure that they, like the rest of us, are excited to see what the future holds. After all, how often does one get to pit armies against our enemies instead of shattering them by themselves? I think we can count on them trying to out-strategize Oren. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what’s ahead.”
“Agreed. Well then, brothers, stay tuned for whatever that crazy Oren tries next. And remember, that’s the way the meat suit crumbles!”
16 - Tower Attack
The next day I wasted no time returning to the Dreamer’s Lodge to work on the next batch of golem beads.
With Hoker laboring at my side, the tedious process was made somewhat more bearable. However, I didn’t resent the opportunity for a break a few hours later when Kaedric’s voice came to me.
“Excellent,” I said. “Hoker, keep working while I’m off. I’ll be back soon.”
“Yes, dreaded Shadow Lord,” he replied diligently.
I teleported to the Breeder’s Den, finding the mandibled seneschal already waiting for me.
He bowed. “My lord. All the food has been loaded into the building, and the military gear awaits the new soldiers in the barracks.”
“Excellent.” I rubbed my hands together and accessed the Breeder’s Den Interface. The food indicators were through the roof, showing a surplus of nearly 200,000 units overall. “Now let’s see …” I tried to recall the numbers Kaedric had given me. “We agreed on 120 kobold assassins, and … ahem … Kaedric, would you like to do the honor?”
“It would be my pleasure, my lord.”
The mandibled hob closed his eyes. Almost at once, the Breeder’s Den shrieked and churned with such intensity it vibrated. A long line of kobolds emerged from it, followed by a throng of Ogres. All available space around the building was quickly taken over as the giant brutes spilled into the open fields, but they could barely make room quick enough for the throng of hobgoblins that followed. Over a thousand hobs – lean archers, muscular tanks, and agile strikers – streamed out of the building, forming into orderly ranks. The Breeder’s Den noises turned into a piercing screech as dozens, then hundreds of round eggs rolled out of the opening.
Life Reset: Salvation (Life Reset - Neo Book 6) Page 30