Upon notification of completion, Alice took out the metal fragment from her storage system, confirming the analysis has been completed.

[High-Carbon Biosteel fragmentation process - 100%]

[Core Type A - Biosteel Reactor fragmentation process - 100%]

[Creation Mode unlocked!]

With a quick tap of the tower’s senses, Alice confirmed Izabel’s location, and no one was entering the tower’s territory. As of now, Izabel, Alice, and Vuer were the only ones at the tower while the last visitors has left. It was a good time to start testing the new materials.

First, Alice selected the High-Carbon Biosteel and the option to create a sword with the material. Then, the familiar fusion options appeared.

[Elemental Fusion]

[Fire - Adds [Heat Stroke] effect. Reduces enemies’ defense by 15% upon strike]

[Water - Adds [Wading] effect. Reduces enemies’ all movement speed by 10% upon strike]

[Earth - Adds [Earthen Wall] effect, creating a shield based of the wielder’s Endurance stat]

[Wind - Adds [Cutting Breeze] effect. Inflicts a damage over time]

[Light - Adds [Glare] effect counter to enemies. Upon reaching 10 stacks, create an explosion for additional damage.]

[Dark - Adds [Obscuring] effect counter to wielder that increases with each attack. Upon reaching 10 stacks, create an illusionary clone of the wielder. Illusion disappears upon hit.]

[Available Fusion slot: 1/1]

[Note: Elemental Fusion strength is determined by [Fragmentation and Creation] skill level]

“It’s different this time. Sounds more like applied effects?”

“The elements do take different forms depending on the material it is fused with. Tower elemental affinity affects it too, in some ways,” Vuer answered, while appearing next to her. “Well, pick one. I am partial to Fire, myself,”

“Is that because this tower and their system has Fire affinity…?”

“I don’t have enough information to confirm or deny that, but honestly, considering the previous elemental fusion, it would be a boon,” Vuer said, then it waved its little paw, conjuring the history screen. It showed the previous fusion’s effect, a 20% increase in offensive strength.

“See? Dishing out harder hits to more fragile enemies would be nice.”

“Logically, yes, but… Hm, rather than that, this is going to be Izabel’s reward for all the energy and levelling points I’ll get from her training here. Let’s just ask her.”

With a snap of her fingers, Alice opened a portal again, her senses helping to pinpoint Izabel’s location. As she expected, Izabel was still busy training, and a quick glance revealed that the stick used to prop up her sword fragment was close to its end. It was cracked all over, at places even close to splintering under her touch. The areas around her fingers seemed to be crumbling more than other spots, a clear sign that she has been gripping it tightly for the past few.

“Izabel?” Alice called out.

“Ah, it’s you, are there anything else?”

“Yeah, it’s about this. Would you prefer a weapon that can reduce your enemies’ defences, or do you prefer other options?”

“You can make a weapon?” Izabel asked, her expression inquisitive. “What weapons?”

“Well, at our first meeting, I couldn’t. I only could now thanks to the materials I got after your group left, and now I can create weapons made from materials the tower had analysed. Anyway, I think considering your fighting style, you’d be used to a sword. The question is, which effect here would you prefer?”

Alice conjured an image of the system [Elemental Fusion] menu in front of them all, and for a few minutes, Izabel was staring at the screen, brows furrowed in thought while muttering the effect descriptions over and over. A few minutes pass in silence, before she finally let out a hum of approval.

“Fire is honestly the most outwardly strong, but I’ll take Dark. Having a decoy to get something off me would be nice,” Izabel nodded, “That aside though, what is the occasion? First the armor, and now…”

“I can always make more. Not to mention, you training here is a big help for me. Take it as payment for your hard work here.” Alice explained. “Well, if you’re sure…”

A flash of light followed her thought, calling the creation menu and starting the process in an instant. As blocks of red and black appeared from thin air, before turning into parts of the blade, it could be seen that the blade was made from a perfect replica of the sample metal’s molecular structure, from its sharp tip to the handle, with nary a deviation in sight. Just like the blade taken from the masked woman, it was pitch-black, though when one looks at it closely, an almost invisible wispy trails of purple could be seen trailing down from it.

As the blocks receded, having finished its job, Alice took the blade and gave it a test swing.

It was rather light, perhaps too light, as she almost stumbled from the force exerted. On second thoughts, Alice almost chided herself from her lack of foresight, after all, the former wielder of this blade does emphasize speed and offense above all else.

“Let me try,” Izabel said, then took the blade from Alice. Unlike Alice’s attempt, her test swing did not result in her stumbling. It even produced a crisp echo as it sliced through the air. Another test swing, and with a similar sound, the tree right next to her was sliced clean, down to the base of its trunk, with nary a wood splinter in sight.

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“This is rather nice, actually. Pretty sturdy, despite its weight,” Izabel commented, and took another swing. The weapon she haphazardly made with a branch and broken sword has been pretty much abandoned on the ground. “Thank you for this.”

“Well, to be honest, it’s not completed yet. Let me try something again…”

Alice ordered the tower to open the creation menu, and this time, she selected another item to create.

[Processing material reconstruction…]

[True replication order processed for Core Type A – Biosteel Reactor]

Just like before, the item was constructed by blocks of red and black. The blocks’ shape was reminiscent of enlarged “dead pixels” - a common problem to any devices with a screen. As the process finished and the blocks started to fade away, Alice took the glowing sphere, then gestured for Izabel to give her the sword. As the sword came into contact with her hand, a notification appeared from the core.

[High-Carbon Biosteel detected. Confirm integration?]

[Yes]

With that prompt, the blade she held melted into liquid with consistency somewhere between glue and water. It was almost like a slime variant in looks and texture, though the state did not last long before the liquid was absorbed into the sphere.

[Integration complete. Do you wish to confirm yourself as the user for this core?]

This time, Alice selected “No”, and handed the sphere back to Izabel. The latter caught on quick, and selected yes on the prompt that appeared moments after she received it.

[Izabel Viator has been registered as user]

[As long as the core remains within the user’s possession, weapon may be summoned at any time]

Nothing more than a thought was needed, and with almost practiced ease, Izabel was able to switch the weapon from its solid and liquid storage form.

“Want to test it?” Alice offered. “I can get a few things out for you.”

“There’s something I’m curious about, yes, but there is a faster way to find out.”

Izabel looked around, then walked towards a nearby rock. She slammed the blade over and over, only stopping when she saw the blade bend and crack in places. Then, she switched the blade back to its storage form before re-summoning it. The blade reappeared again, pristine as new.

“I saw one of those masked people do it before,” Izabel explained, “Either way, glad to see I was right. This will come in handy.”

Intrigued, Alice ordered the tower to give her the details of the core from the [Fragmentation and Creation] screen.

[This core enables its owner to use the basis of the Bladedance Morph technique, allowing them access to a sturdy weapon that will never break as long as the core is intact. Though most likely not its intended usage, it is able to integrate with Elemental Fusion in exchange for a reduced Biosteel weapon integration, resulting in less available weapons to summon.]

Then, Alice looked at the core in Izabel’s hand, and ordered a quick scan.

[Core Type A – Biosteel Reactor]

[Weapon capacity – 4/8]

“The capacity says four out of eight, seems like the core considers that Dark-element infused sword equal to four,” Alice nodded. “You could get another, if you want, as long as you continue training here. If I can gain another level, I’ll make you one more sword.”

Right after she finished speaking, she detected the presence of two people entering the barrier.

“It’s Elliot and Lucian,” Vuer pointed out. “Wait, I’ll tell them to come over here.”

It seems like there was no need for that.

“Hey, you three!”

Lucian’s boisterous voice was enough to draw their attention, his smile contagious enough to prompt Alice and Izabel to smile back in response, though the latter did so with a trace of friendly exasperation. Alice noticed, however, that her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Oh, welcome back, both of you. If you can wait a bit, I’ll set up the obstacles and enemies again.”

“Lucian, be serious,” Elliot reminded. “Alice… We need to give you something.”

“Ah, right,” Lucian nodded. He looked unusually serious. Scars peek out from under his clothes, and his posture gave away strength that he did not possess in their previous meeting.

He reached into his pocket, offered Alice a small orb, and said, “I have no idea what this is. I don’t think it’s a trap, but, be careful nevertheless.”

[Khaom Memory Orb]

For some reason, the sight of the orb made Alice feel rather uneasy, her very soul grimacing at the sight. The tower scan revealed that it was safe, yet there was something, a trace of overwhelming power that threatens to consume her.

She bit her lower lip, sighed, and touched the orb.

The orb shattered, turning into dust and revealing the white smoke concealed within. The smoke shifted and took shape into a moth about as big as one hand, with fur the color of freshly fallen snow. A glow surrounded it, a gray light so faint it was almost invisible.

[“You are the Defier of Vuerga?”]

Its message did not come out as words. Rather, it was formed from within clusters of smoke in the shape of speech bubbles, while the insect babbled nonsensical noises that no one could interpret.

“I am.” Alice answered.

[“Crisis looms, the machine conquerors from beyond the stars have arrived. You have have yet to discover the true nature of the power you possess, and you lack access to your Divine Fragment’s true strength.”]

The tone of the babbling sounded patronizing, and it was clear everyone in the vicinity picked it up.

“If you think what I did is wrong, then explain to me. There is no exact tutorial on how I should proceed with this whole being bound in one place thing,” Alice said, irritation bleeding into her voice. “Point me to the right direction at least. You seem like you got it all figured out.”

The moth was silent for a few seconds, as if it was thinking, its babbling stopped as it hovered in front of her. Then, it spoke again.

[“I am the Defier of Khaom.”]

Another moment of silence. The previous speech bubble started to dissipate, then another formed.

[“Just like Vuerga, Khaom is a Divine Fragment. Khaom rules over the right side of the mind, all knowledge is held in its domain.”]

The moth started to flicker, white smoke trailing from its body as it started to disappear. As it did, a final speech bubble appeared.

[“What is… in the left arm?”]

Before Alice could voice her irritation, the moth fully dissipated away, disappearing in trails of white smoke like a magic trick.

A heavy silence hung in the air, so thick one could cut it with a knife.

“What… was that?” Lucian asked, finally breaking the bubble. “I didn’t actually expect…”

“Lucian, do you know this Defier of Khaom?” Alice asked.

“Of course, that is what the administrator in the northeastern tower introduced herself as. When she heard that we’ve been to a tower in the western area, she gave us that orb and told us to deliver it as soon as we could in exchange for a couple of new skills,” Lucian explained.

“All in all, that tower operate the same way as yours do, minus different enemies. Fight your way to the treasure, take care of obstacles, and get your prize at the end,” Elliot added. “We’ve discovered that in the north, there are three towers.”

“Speaking of discovery…”

Lucian elbowed Elliot on the side, he was clearly a little hesitant.

“Oh right, my turn… is Valerie here? We need to tell her something. Last time, wasn’t she with you, Izabel?”

Izabel looked hesitant. She gripped her knuckles and gritted her teeth.

“She was taken by someone. I was caught off-guard.”

Sensing the other girl’s hesitation, Alice decided to answer the question for Izabel. “Don’t blame her—“

“Dammit, we were too late—!”

“Calm down, Elliot, we have to explain the whole story first.”

Alice ordered the tower to conjure soft grass around the area where they were standing, then asked the other three to sit.

“How do I explain this…” Lucian muttered, shifting in his sitting position and rustling the grass all around him. “I’ll start from the beginning. There are swarms of people in white masks running all around the north. They seem to be looking for someone or something, and we saw an army or them swarming the Tower of Khaom.”

Elliot nodded in agreement, “The tower itself was able to repel them. Well… more like they got confused and left on their own. But, the thing is, the administrator—“

“Miss Saville Neferura. That was her name,” Lucien helpfully supplied.

“Yes, Miss Saville called the masked person in the frontmost spot… Damian Aseira,” Elliot said. “Izabel, we all know what that means.”

“Damian Aseira…? That’s impossible. Valerie’s father isn’t that much of an idiot. Don’t we all get the notification to seek the towers?”

“No, though we didn’t see his face, the voice sounds familiar. We all have heard his voice when he called Valerie with the ROOT system.” Lucian shook his head.

“Wait, to clarify, you saw a crowd of people, all wearing white masks, and they were storming the tower of Khaom on the north,” Izabel said. “Then, after they were driven out by the tower’s administrator, they decided to hide out in hell knows where, but also, before that, you hear Valerie’s father.”

“That is the gist of it, yes. That tower offered us a boost of strength, but we have to deliver that orb to you… more precisely, she didn’t mention your name, but she asked the orb to be delivered to a tower in this area of the map. Yours is the only one,” Lucian explained.

“Oh, by the way, I saw from the map, there are ten towers in total,” Elliot added. “Three on the north, four near the equator, and three on the south. Khaom is located on the northeast, the other two are right on the far north and on the northwest, respectively. This tower is on the westernmost.”

“I’m impressed you caught all that, Elliot.”

“Not really, that was what I could catch before Miss Saville let the map disappear,” Elliot shook his head.

“That aside, about Valerie… Izabel, we need to track her. I think that she would be safe, if her father still protects her, but… I have a bad feeling about this.”

“I know,” Izabel nodded. “I’ve gotten stronger, too. Let’s take a week to train here, and we can try looking for information about Valerie.”

While they were talking, Alice was silent, thinking about the message she had received. The moth’s hint was far too cryptic, and right now, she needed more information. Not to mention, the talk about invasion from beyond the stars was not exactly helping.

What is in the left arm?

Alice looked at her own left arm, yet, no answer came to her. Then, she called out to the three.

“I’ll give you two some equipment, as well,” Alice said, while looking at Elliot and Lucian. “In exchange, can you bring me information?”

“I’ll tell you what I know,” Elliot nodded. “Though I don’t think I read anything about Divine Fragments before, so this whole thing will be a shot in the dark.”

“Better than not trying at all.”

“It’s a deal, then. You all know the drill, right?”

As Alice snapped her fingers, summoning the tower interface on her command, it occured to Elliot and Lucian that perhaps they should have asked for a bit of time to catch their breath.