The rain had stopped and Jack with his small party had the opportunity to briefly survey their surroundings before moving on. It was a stark sight to see the strange yet familiar countryside of this new world.
As the sun rose over the medieval style village, the early morning light revealed a scene of both beauty and destruction. The cobblestone streets were lined with quaint, timber-framed houses adorned with blooming flower boxes and colourful banners fluttering in the breeze. However, the peaceful atmosphere was shattered by the sight of one of the houses that had been completely destroyed by fire. Jack realised that it was their home.
He had hoped to recover more of his father’s processions, or rather John’s and couldn’t help but be overcome with a feeling of loss at the sight.
The blackened remains of the so familiar structure was stood as reminder of the danger that could again befall their village at any moment. Some villagers still remained but were piling up their belongings in carts ready to leave. It made sense the fist retribution would be random and so no one could feel safe. Their faces etched with concern and sorrow as they surveyed the damage.
As they edged closer one of John’s father friends saw them and hissed at them.
Get away from here! Do you want to bring the whole fist down on us.
Sal saw the fear in the man’s eyes. She knew the bounty on their heads and that each and every one of the villagers was risking their lives talking to them. Going over to a girl her age she knew from the village she asked her.
We just need to know what they did with my father
The girl just looked scared but her mother piped up
All we know is he’s gone and I don’t mean the fist took him, they couldn’t find him anywhere. They searched all the houses in the village.
But they did say they wouldn’t torch our houses if we handed you over! Said a man she recognised as the father of the girl, who grabbed Sal by the hair and dragged her back towards the open door of his house.
That is until the bony hands grabbed him. When two of the skeleton minions had been hiding in the shadows of an alley way next to their house appeared and jumped out and grabbed him.
Thankfully he let go of Sal in pure terror and she staggered back and away from him.
Jack was tempted to do some levelling here but John’s memoires and the sense of danger convinced him otherwise. He motioned to Sal that they should leave swiftly.
Sal couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the village without knowing what had happened to her father. But they would likely bring the whole fist down upon them if they remained. So she relented and followed Jack back onto the path to the caves. The minions being unsummoned to avoid detection in the morning light.
---
Returning to the cave system, Sal allowed Jack to take a look at the area he had surveyed earlier. Sal of course had to come to as he would have no way of protecting her otherwise. She followed Jack looking deep in thought or maybe talking to her dragon kin friend. Jack had no idea but just hoped she wouldn’t bolt on him.
Jack knew what creature lurked down here and hoped to add it to his arsenal of minions. Also he was curious to find where these tunnels went. They were clearly much older than the ones he had frequented in his previous life as John.
He used the MASTERY MOD to adjust his bone armour, to make it slightly thicker. No sense in being impaled if possible. Feeling the weight of the armour increase slightly he took a deep breath and ventured deeper into the tunnel, his elven eyes easily able to see in the dark, scanning for any signs of danger.
As he moved further into the cave, the walls seemed to close in on him, the air growing colder and more oppressive. Was this a skill being used on him? Interesting. Jack could hear the skittering of creatures in the shadows, the sound sending an irrepressible chill down his spine.
He didn’t feel great he had to admit. Facing the fists had seemed easy. Maybe it was the fact that his life had depended upon it whereas this upcoming fight was completely avoidable.
He thanked the fact that his domain at forty meters gave him a heads up to any would be attacker. Now having a sixth sense to evaluate all his surroundings using mana sight helped to calm his nerves a little. It was also cool to see everything like you were looking through an infrared night sight.
He came upon a large chamber, the ceiling high above him and the ground covered in sticky webs. In the centre of the chamber was a massive spider, its eight legs twitching as it sensed his presence.
[Name: Spider Soldier young Level 6]
Without hesitation, John raised his hand and summoned his skeleton minions, their bony forms materializing around him. They moved forward, their new swords and shields at the ready, prepared to do battle with the monstrous arachnid. Of course they didn’t get far as they were immediately impeded by the impressively sticky webbing. But thankfully he just needed them as a distraction.
The spider lunged forward, fangs dripping with venom, but Jack was ready. He used the cores ability to tunnel through the earth, moving with lightning speed as he went subterranean to dodged the creature's attack.
His skeleton minions tried to engage the spider, when it got close. Their swords clashing with its chitinous armour. Jack watched using his mana sense, from below, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
As the spider's attention was focused on his minions, Jack emerged from the ground beneath it, his bone armour gleaming in the dim light. He would have to do something about that. With a swift motion, he raised his bone spear towards the creature's exposed underbelly, causing it to screech in pain. He then quickly extended the bone spear using his MASTERY MOD until it broke off inside the spider.
The spider thrashed and writhed, trying to dislodge the spear from its body, but it had penetrated too far and it only succeeded in snapping the end off. Having success with this attack Jack repeated the process five more times.
The creature seemed to be getting better at sensing his arrival by the last thrust. But this one, managed to pierce the creature's heart, causing it to convulse and collapse to the ground, dead.
As the spider lay still, Jack looked around the chamber. He would need one hell of a lot of spiders to level up. At this rate he’d be at it all day. What time was it even? He had no idea. Being underground had screwed up all sense of time for him.
His skeleton minions standing mostly broken in the wreckage of the cave. Which didn’t help either as resummoning them meant his mana was going down rather and up. He hoped that bigger prey lay ahead in the depths of the cave system.
He gave a long whistle to tell Sal the fight was over and she entered the cave shortly only to remark about all the webbing. Jack thought for a moment before hitting on an idea.
Summoning his new minion he tried not to think about his mana. He couldn’t risk any of them getting injured. Sal jumped back making space for his tiny horde. He commanded his spider minion to sweep up all the webbing in their path and empty the cave of it. This annoyed all the smaller spiders still in the cave which chittered their displeasure. Baby soldier spiders? Their animosity meant they counted as intruders. But despite this he could not just absorb them into the core. He would have to deal with them individually. But their mana wasn’t worth his time.
When Sal realised it was another of his minions she enquired if she could have one. He dutifully replied that he was sure she could have at least one when they got out of the caves. Then thinking hastily about it again decided to let her have the next one he got. As if she was capable of summoning it, it would surely provide decent protection. Unlike the skeletons. Sal seemed excited at this and gave him the thumbs up. As apparently that was a universal thing.
With a satisfied nod at a job well done by the spider, Jack ventured deeper into the dark and twisting cave system, his heavy bone armour clinking softly with each step he took. His mana sight illuminated the cavern walls, revealing intricate carvings and strange symbols etched into the stone. Jack went over to the nearest of the carvings excited and tried to think if there was some way he could map all the arcane script there. Unfortunately he currently had no skill for doing that that he knew of. So instead he just removed a few sections of the wall so that he could study them later.
His mana sight allowed him to navigate through the winding tunnels and pick out his next prey ahead with ease, thanks to his ever expanding domain.
Rounding the corner, sure enough, he came face to face with three giant spiders, their eight legs skittering on the ground as they hissed and clicked menacingly. Without hesitation, Jack raised his bone spear and called forth his skeletal minions to aid him in battle. The bones of fallen warriors rose from the ground, their empty eye sockets glowing with a dim, eerie light. Jack had to admit they looked a bit lack lustre. Maybe if he had a hundred of them. They could use fire spells but in these close confines it was too dangerous. At least as this cavern was slightly larger he could change things up a bit in order for him to just observe this time.
The spiders lunged forward, their sharp fangs dripping with venom as they attempted to ensnare Jack in their sticky webs. But this time the skeletal minions were quick to react this time, as the webbing had been quickly dispersed by Jack’s own spider minion. He had shrunk it so as not to be noticed. An afterwards commanded it to return to stand guard over him back to its full size. The skeletons thick bony arms struck out with surprising force. Or not so surprising, as they were skeletal fist members and not just human sized versions, this time.
The spiders struggled against the relentless onslaught of, ten large skeletons, their chitinous bodies cracking and breaking under the sheer weight of the skeletons’ superior attacks. It also seemed a bit unfair as unless the spiders could pin them down they were impervious to the spiders’ sharp pincers. The attacks only at best managing to sever the odd limb. They were simply out numbered.
One by one, the spiders fell to Jack's skeletal army, their once formidable forms reduced to nothing more than broken husks before they were absorbed into the core.
Jack no longer needed to worry about fighting multiple enemies resulting in a single level up. Those were the days! Well earlier that day. Now his mana was slowly trickling down. He might have to give up on the spiders and do some more tunnelling to find shards to use as mana batteries.
But as he was deep in thought, a fourth spider emerged from the shadows. This one was different from the rest, its body covered in thick, armoured plates that seemed impervious to his skeletons attacks. Also most of his skeletons now had stopped moving. What was going on?
He himself felt a little dizzy but was woken from his fugue by the loud hiss of the spider as it lunged at him. Its massive jaws snapping kept only at bay by his own spider minion.
[Name: Adult Spider Soldier Level 7]
Jack was gladdened to find something with perhaps a little more mana. Also stronger opponents meant stronger minions! But what was with that attack? It seemed like it had used some kind of stunning skill on all his skeletons.
Thinking to expand his repertoire and use these practise sessions to the full. He focused on the ground beneath his attacker and with a crunching sound, the earth beneath the spider erupted, sending spikes of rock into its form.
As the spider writhed and struggled to free itself, Jack could see it was over. Thick mana rich blood gushed from its many wounds. To speed things up as much as anything he raised his bone spear high and brought it down with a resounding thud. The spider let out one final, anguished scream before falling still, its body crumbling into dust and absorbed like the rest.
Jack looked around at how little carnage had resulted from the fight. He hoped again that the cave system held many more prey, as with his earth magic or rather creation skills he was undaunted. Firstly though he needed to tunnel the surrounding area looking for more mana shards to max out his MP so he could level again. In order to do this, he first had to unsummon all his minions and form a harness between himself and Sal so they could move as one through the tunnels created by the core.
After searching the surrounding area for a while and tunnelling deeper beneath the mountain. Jack noted by way of his mana sight that the density of mana had spiked greatly. He realised he’d hit payload. As the faint glow of mana shards dotted the walls of these new tunnels, allowing him to collect them by the dozen, and at last level up.
[Level up! Level 10 MP 16384/32768 Domain: 10.24]
[Tier up! Tier 2 Reached]
[Core Upgraded:
1. Core Construction: - Tier 2: Reinforced Core (increased durability)
2. Minion Production: - Tier 2: Advanced Minions (stronger and more versatile)
3. Trap Creation: - Tier 2: Advanced Traps (more deadly and complex)
4. Resource Management: - Tier 2: Efficient Gathering (increased resource production)
5. Defensive Upgrades: - Tier 2: Reinforced Walls (increased fortification)
6. Offensive Abilities: - Tier 2: Elemental Attacks (fire, ice, lightning, etc.)
7. Core Expansion: - Tier 2: Outer Extensions (expands dungeon layout)]
Jack paid more attention this time around to the upgrades to the core. But only really as he noticed the phrase Elemental Attacks. Did this mean he could not just go ahead and throw around lightning and stuff?
It was at this point for the first time that Jack noted a little tooltip floated next to the words he was focusing on. A help icon. So he mentally clicked on it.
Elemental Attacks: A dungeon core can use elemental attacks by channeling elemental energy that it has absorbed or generated within its dungeon. It can then release this energy in the form of damaging elemental attacks such as fireballs, lightning bolts, icy blasts, or earth-shaking tremors. The dungeon core can manipulate and control these elemental energies to target and harm intruders or enemies that enter its domain. By harnessing the power of the elements, a dungeon core can effectively defend itself and vanquish any threats to its existence.
This was all well and good. But Jack could see this being a very trial and error process. Really he’d much rather he had someone else to strategically employ this in battle. As time was moving on he could see why being outside the core and in the heat of battle rather than being several kilometres from any fighting was advantageous. One you wouldn’t get killed. Two you wouldn’t be worrying about the battle and could just rationally and strategically employ your resources. Much better than standing by enemies while they got set alight, zapped, frozen or anything else liable to put you in harms way if you or your minions got too close. It was a problem of friendly fire.
Using a mini-map. Now that would be cool. He had really liked those kind TRPGs. Having whole armies under your control. Some of them sucked admittedly but he still seriously loved the genre.
Oh well back to the daily grind. Jack thought as he thought how to address a more mundane problem, namely his mana pool. The shards also guiding his way deeper into the labyrinthine tunnels. Sal once disgorged from the harness followed suspiciously her own bone spear gripped tightly in her hand, and her minion spider at her side, ready for any threat that may come their way.
As they delved further into the depths of the cave, the walls seemed to come alive with movement. Tiny creatures scuttled in the shadows feeding on the mana rich, luminescent moss that also grew here. There was also an abundance of spiders, their wicked mandibles clicking in anticipation of a fight. But Jack was glad of their appearance here, they would swell his minion ranks. He wondered absently what level was required for some kind of intelligence or were these mindless creations spawned from the original dungeon centuries ago.
He did find out however that the stunning attack adult soldier spiders were able to do was not as simple as he thought. He had expected it to be a sound based skill due to the hissing they did. But found that at times when Sal was not seen by the spiders she was not effected by the stunning skill. This lead Jack to believe it was a more in his eyes sophisticated mind control skill.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Eventually he accumulated enough mana for another level up. He blessed his good fortune at coming across this area of super mana rich rock. Otherwise it would have taken him days to level up and not merely hours.
[Level up! Level 11 MP 32768/65,536 Domain: 20m]
It was then that he realised he wasn’t really that tired but Sal not being a minion must sure as hell be. He would need to take that into account in future. Ascending back up to the surface he noticed that also the air underground was not so great. As the air in the cave seemed kind of pleasant in comparison less dry and even surprisingly fresher. They camped there and he allowed Sal a few hours nap time before they would proceed on.
Then they returned to the grind deep below the mountain.
The caverns echoed with the sounds of combat, the clash of bone against exoskeleton reverberating through the tunnels. But as Jack pressed on, pleasingly the mana shards seemed to grow still more in size, pulsing with power that made his skin tingle with excitement. Now that was what he called mana batteries! With renewed determination, he pushed forward, his giant minions clearing a path through the spiders with relentless efficiency.
And then, just as he thought he could go no further on foot as the tunnel narrowed, he stumbled upon a hidden tunnel, which he could see clearly in his domain. Its entrance hidden by a shimmering veil of arcane script with stood out like neon lights in his mana sight. With a quick command, Jack called upon his ability to tunnel, carving a path through the rock with voracious ease. As he emerged into the secret chamber beyond, he could sense a powerful presence lurking within, causing him to stop in his tracks.
So far he had been faced with no challenges but that did not mean he would be complacent on the contrary. Beyond the door he could see quite clearly two great sentinels, no doubt standing guard.
By their mana density they were clearly not spiders. Nothing like them. What would be behind the door? Was it worth the risk? This was a major diversion already after all.
But curiosity had the better of him and before Sal could question what he was up to he removed the door arcane script and all, placing it for safe keeping within the core’s dimensional storage.
He motioned for her to remain outside as a lookout.
And with a deep breath, Jack stepped into the chamber, the air thick with mana and not a little mystery.
His mind filled with anticipation, at some good loot. Jack wondered what level or tier even equipment or artefacts he might find. I mean no one locks a door for no good reason.
Jack surveyed the chamber with a mixture of trepidation and determination. Before him stood the formidable guardians, their massive forms casting imposing shadows against the ancient walls adorned with intricate arcane script. He’d have to pinch those as well. Each guardian was unsurprisingly to Jack a spider shaped golem. When Jack saw this his eyes almost popped out of his head. They weren’t just golems. They were metal golems!
Not quite the metal slimes he might have liked but still beggars couldn’t be losers as they don’t say.
This meant metal armour at the very least at last! And not this embarrassing clacking bone armour.
Now the question was should he try out his skeletons first on just go with the spiders to slow them down a bit?
He decided to go all in sending ten spiders that he had enlarged to try and web them up a bit while he sent in the card he had yet to play – Lurch.
Maxing out Lurch’s size to be slightly larger than the spider golems he realised that he had been a complete idiot all this time! And hadn’t even remembered the clansmen had a fire attack. Oh, well he had been a bit preoccupied. Too late to try it now as it would just wipe out any effect the webbing had on slowing the golems down.
He equipped lurch with a shield and a very oversized club both made out of the hardest rock he’d come across. Then let him loose at the first golem who he was pleased to see had been slightly slowed by the five diminutive spiders to continually spin around him.
Luck had also been on Jack’s side as the golems had not been immediately triggered to attack. Presumably as removing the doors to the chamber was not an eventuality the designer had taken into account when planning the setup.
Lurch struck causing an explosion of rock but through the rock dust and debris Jack could see no harm had come to the metal golem whatsoever. And now seeing the second golem easily sheering through the webbing with its own claws allowing it to approach Lurch from the side. He felt he should intervene. Two against one being rather unfair odds. Though he had kind of expected something of the sort. Rock, earth, metal. Metal is going to win every time.
He watched as with a dreadful inevitability the golems pincer arm reached out with incredible speed and with one punch decimated Lurch. The explosion which left little or nothing of poor Lurch was so extreme that Jack had to create a large barrier of rock to prevent himself also meeting Lurch’s fate.
Jack then tried to create holes in the floor to trap the clearly overpowered golems in place. However strangely the floor seemed resistant to this so he just removed it altogether transporting it into his core’s storage. Then decided to hell with it! And transported all the walls to storage as he unsummoned his minions.
He was tempted to use his experimental teleporting by making his bone harness move to outside the chamber. But was still ensure if that would lead to decapitation so instead settled for just tunnelling out of the way as the whole chamber, now lacking walls or ceiling, collapsed in on itself, burying the golems.
He checked on Sal who was fine apart from being pissed off at him scaring her half to death again. Telling her that he would try and work out some kind of communication system to alert her of such things in the future seemed to thankfully pacify her a bit.
Though it turned out that not all her ire was directed against himself. Apparently Sal and Travar the dragon, had been having major disagreements since she decided to take one of his spiders as a summon. As an oracle she was expected to have her affinities balanced at all times in order to use her full oracle powers. This meant Travar was completely against her idea of becoming some kind of fully fledged summoner, using her soul space as a place to keep them. As the beasts she captured would all have different affinities thus skewing her own affinity as they were all would be bound to her.
Jack knew Sal and knew this would not end well. She was stubborn to a fault when it was something she cared about. And there was nothing Sal had previously cared more about than saving stray beasts at least until they were well enough to survive on their own.
Travar had tried to argue logically that as the oracle she had now certain responsibilities to this world but Sal had just come up with a counter argument that as oracle she clearly knew better than him about everything in the future. So shut up about it and admit you’re wrong.
Things had clearly escalated from there with Sal now asking if she could summon Travar right out of her soul space and back into the dungeon core to be rid of him and his constant nagging, as she saw it.
Jack in principal had no objection but wasn’t sure the effect of sending the previous owner of the core back into it again. And so asked Lurch aka Gves what he thought.
Gves what would happen if the previous owner of the core were to reappear in the core?
Jack was trying to skirt around the issue of not having mentioned that he knew of the existence of the previous owner to Gves previously.
The Dragon lives! That is heartening news indeed. Though I have to admit we never really got on. I am glad to hear he lives as to the effect on the core. As far as I am aware there would be none. All contracts were severed forcibly when he left. Whatever entity removed him, they were truly powerful.
Gves’s opinions on many things had changed since he had left his position as senior administrator of the core. He now had a different perspective on things and didn’t feel compelled by such strong emotions where the core was concerned. Actually now he thought about it maybe that was the wrong way of putting it. Now he did have emotional responses to things whereas before he just felt compelled. He knew now that the core itself had been controlling him.
Jack had already checked the user list on the core’s system and could find no mention of the previous owner anywhere but had just wanted to double check with Gves. As the possibility of losing control over the core again was not a small threat to their plans.
Can you just do that then? I mean unsummon him to another place. Jack was intrigued with Sal’s new powers. They seemed to open up a world of possibilities. And also might solve a problem he had not been able to come up with an answer for so far. Levelling minions.
He had no clue how to level his level 1 skeletons and had thought he would have to get them to fight really weak mobs or hunt in packs to level. But now maybe there was another way. Summoners levelled their beasts all the time. Hunting with them like their own personal party.
I think I can or rather it feels like I can. My skills are all very intuitive and not at all like the ones you’ve told me about. Sal was sure glad she didn’t have all these MODS and things that Jack had. He made them all sound cool and all. But how on earth would you use them in a battle. She could only imagine that going badly in the heat of a fight. No she way preferred skills that she could just use without having to think to much.
Ok, whenever you’re ready. Said Jack expectantly keeping an eye on all the system information in case it suddenly changed.
Hello? Oracle? W-Where am I? It was at this point Jack metaphorically slapped his forehead as he realised as brother and sister they were very alike. Sal had not told Travar anything.
You’re with me now buddy. Travar isn’t it? You have been summoned back into the core.
Noooooo!
Can you say with your hand on your heart that you are completely trustworthy? Said Sal seemingly out of the blue. Had she been listening in on his and Travar’s exchange
That was easy for Jack to answer. Yes and No. Yes to you and No to anyone else in this crazy world except perhaps your mother but even that I’m not totally sure of.
What makes you ask? Oh parallel dimension sister/daughter of mine.
Daughter! Shrieked Sal
Well, nothing really makes sense here so yes maybe. Replied Jack matter of factly.
Ok. Said Sal contemplatively before smiling widely.
Well that could have gone way worse thought Jack with both Sal and the still screaming dragon. I mean it didn’t breathe fire over him or anything. He sure hoped though it wasn’t going to be as much of a pain as Gves. As he had hoped the dragon would be the first useful member of his team. Having such a wealth of knowledge that Jack was sadly lacking, about this world.
Ok, I see this wasn’t at all what you were expecting but my sister was adamant that you…would be better utilised elsewhere. You are our greatest asset after all. Said Jack switching to flattery halfway, dragons loved that right?
And now Jack used the ace up his sleeve that Sal had actually primed him for.
And I can offer you a body of your choice, Right now the choice is limited to skeleton, spider or bat but that’s purely a short term supply chain issue. In the long term I’m sure we can find a body befitting one as prestigious as yourself. The great Salamander of the South.
Sure Jack was shameless but what was the harm. It was true the old dragon was due some respect and if it also meant he would be more amenable to accept the terms and conditions. Then all good.
A body!?
They went on to discuss terms but Travar seemed to be happy with any body whatsoever. Apparently being trapped without one for hundreds of years did that to you.
Travar more or less immediately appeared in skeletal form, looking around curiously at his surroundings. He then proceeded to jump about, and waggle his arms about. Clearly pleased with his new acquisition.
Jack had used the MOD to change the bone density of this minion making the bones look that much whiter. Also he didn’t want him to just explode into dust on the first hit. Though if possible he wanted to keep him away from the frontlines initially. He wanted to treat his new ally with some respect and not turn him into cannon fodder like the rest. His appearance would make him slightly more visible and therefore easier to protect.
The transaction and dilemma resolved for now allowing him to get back to trying to get some loot. Though Sal skewing her affinities and losing her oracle powers in favour of creating some kind of animal sanctuary was a problem that would need some thinking about at some point. But for now it was back to hunting and looting.
His mana sense told him that the golems were still completely unmoving. Which he thanked them for, being so considerate and not launching an attack while they were bickering amongst themselves. He looked back briefly at Travar, the now skeleton minion who was standing next to his sister looking at her. He sure hoped they’d play nicely.
Then got back to the problem at hand. He didn’t think the golems were static because they could no longer function but supposedly it was more likely that removing all the arcane scripting from the chamber. Well removing the chamber was more truthful. Had short circuited them a bit or at least confused them into inactivity.
Tunnelling then removing a large section of space around the first golem he came across, confirmed that it was not the earth preventing them from moving. They had just stopped.
At first glance, the Metal Golem appeared almost humanoid in shape, similar in many ways to the fist clansmen in terms of pure bulk, a chiselled thorax, and powerful limbs. But upon closer inspection, one could see that its features were far more angular and mechanical, clearly born out of engineering functionality. Which was curious as he expected them to just be magical creatures.
Its head with its many eyes, was adorned with intricate designs etched into the metal surface. Glowing orbs arcane energy served as its actual eyes, burning with an otherworldly intensity. Basically, it was cool! And a must have product for his army in the future.
Jack dearly wanted them in his arsenal of minions That would be totally awesome! Plus stop him getting killed. Actually he could see himself riding around on them or even heading his troops into battle a top one of these fine mounts. He really didn’t want to trash them.
Although, maybe some of what was left could be useful? Could he have robot minions as they didn’t have souls or did they in this crazy world?
He was pretty much totally reliant on the MODS he had been given at the moment. For though he had memories of being a great programmer for the life of him he couldn’t remember how to do anything. Hopefully his full memories would return but until then he was a bit of a luddite as far as any program-atical tinkering was concerned or engineering for that matter.
While he was thinking he looked through his mods again and looked through what he could do with his DOMINION MOD. It allowed for the use of AI so that meant hopefully android minions were on the cards.
Its pincers were like massive scimitars ending in a wickedly-tipped razor-sharp point, capable of rending through solid stone with ease. As demonstrated helpfully by Lurch earlier. With no sign of ware on the talons whatsoever. Wolverine meets Ironman!
Emblazoned upon its chest was a large sigil that pulsed with a faint inner light, indicating the source of the golem's formidable power. It must have a large battery. Useful if nothing else.
Jack was a bit disheartened but guessed he’d just have to make a tin opener after all. Which would be a real pain as all he’d be left with was a hunk of scrap metal.
Then he thought to ask Travar as he was the only expert among them. Well apart from Gves who was a last resort as Jack had far from forgiven him.
Could there have been an ancient civilisation down here? Have you heard of one that had giant metal golems?
Travar who had been brought into the space, looked the golem up and down. Then gestured for Jack to raise him up a bit so he could have a closer look from underneath at its chest. Jack obliged by creating a plinth of rock that elevated Travar by a meter or two allowing him to inspect the towering golem in greater detail.
No, idea. Very curious though. Golems were quite common but I’ve never heard of one quite like this one. It’s a mystery.
Jack hoped he hadn’t hired a dud and that all their conversations wouldn’t go this way. He groaned inwardly knowing he couldn’t hold back his own curiosity and would have to ask about the scripting now. As it would be such a waste to just leave these treasures here especially as he knew Sal wouldn’t let him dally here indefinitely.
Lurch have you any idea about these scripts?
Lurch appeared also in skeletal form on a second plinth which rose up next to Travar’s one.
I can tell the scripts are relaying elemental power from this central core unit located here, master. Said Lurch tapping the golem with his boney finger making a metallic clinking noise in the hollow chamber.
Travar looked from the golem to the almost identical but slightly less white skeleton that stood only inches away.
It’s you isn’t it. YOU!! GVES!
He then proceeded to try and strangle Lurch, where he stood, causing them both to fall to the ground below the spider golem, in a mess of bones.
Lurch didn’t respond in kind making it a very one sided confrontation. Also as Lurch was in his skeletal form strangulation proved very ineffective. Jack left them to it for a moment while he thought on Lurch’s words.
Reluctantly he realised he would have to put the golems like so much other scrap metal into the core’s storage space, which was more resembling a computer recycle bin at this point than anything useful. But as he had no idea how to disassemble the golem’s without destroying them, he just sighed. Though it brought back memories of when he had first taken apart a calculator as a kid of about six, and found there was no way he could get it back together again. Not functionally at least. He had just had a new memory come back! He would be a programmer again in no time. Maybe.
In hindsight he thought it was probably better than defeating them as they would no doubt have just been so much of a waste then anyway. Sometime in the future hopefully he would work out how to turn them into minions of his own.
So into storage they would go. It was sure lucky he had a dungeon sized loot bag and not an adventurer’s bag of holding. As a long time RPG player he couldn’t bear to leave these items behind. I mean when might he need them? with no game guide or forum. How would he know if he would need them later for some all important quest?
Also he figured he probably would otherwise why were they just waiting there for him? , so to speak. It was clear to him that they must be part of a larger plotline or challenge.
Looking down at the still writhing skeletons Jack decided that he would have to look into how he could better control his minions. If they were to act as any kind of cohesive party when facing enemies. Alternatively he would just have to end up hiring mercenaries if that was a possibility. Though he hated the idea of not being able to construct his own elite fighting force.
Now onto whatever is in this mini dungeon area. He thought.
The next area was a chamber within a chamber. It was entered via a trapdoor near what would have been the back wall of this chamber. But was no more. He could see straight into it without even using his domain. And it was quite imposing as he could see there were six of those metal spider golems in there and these ones looked slightly larger he thought.
So what to do? Something told him he better not mess anything else up as someone had obviously gone to great trouble to set all this up.
Not wanting his minions to trigger anything within the room. Especially not anything large and metallic. He hurriedly unsummoned them all. Entering the space he found it was what looked to be a large library, complete with table and chair. But his domain said otherwise. All the books lining the walls were fake. Only the ones on the desk infront of him was real.
The large wooden table had one book that was a particularly large tomb. However sitting a top the book was a shiny metal device. Ah, yet another spider. But with just one eye this time to spice things up a bit. One amber eye stared at him. What was it with the spider theme in this place? Again like the golems guarding the place it was some kind of android.
Its eye swivelled eyeballing him as he drew closer. One leg then moved towards him but then tapped gently at a couple of pieces paper laying in front of the tomb. One in a fancy medieval looking script and one scrawled in familiar handwriting.
The scrawled note simply read: Being bitten by a spider never hurt anyone. He went to move the paper to look at the one underneath when the mechanical spider moved like lightning and bit him. Son of a bitch!
[Synthetic blood matches model two’s blueprint]
[Dungeon Tier requirement met]
Model two was him but then who was model one? He wondered
The suspense is killing me but at least it’s not the spider bite I suppose. At least hopefully he would at last get some kind of idea why he had been summoned to this world. And why all the cloak and dagger? What was wrong with the good old fashioned summoning circle? If they want him to do a quest of some sort.
He would dearly obviously have liked to have met up with Elliandra, as she was calling herself.
While he was waiting he had a look around the room but it seemed to all be fake. The only thing that was possibly real was the book but the dam spider thing wouldn’t let him pry it away.
A message in standard blue and gold appeared:
World quest. Reach Tier 3 within 3 months of acceptance of this quest. Your levelling must take place outside the six realms. And must be conducted in utmost secrecy for you to succeed. Non completion will result in certain death of yourself and most definitely a large percentage of the world’s population. Refusal to accept this quest will even more likely result in the above.
Accept Quest [Y/N]