"Are you alright? Nothing permanently damaged?" I asked the midget as he was picking himself back up from the floor.

After flexing all of his hands and toes and doing a few stretches, Yi Gore confirmed that no apparent nerve damage had occurred, and was ecstatic to know that he had finally removed himself from under the influence of the Moon-Devouring Sect.

"While this may be indeed true." Lingfeng accentuated while holding the black Nail up. "It does not detract from the fact that he was an accomplice to a lot of bad deeds. The “Science Labs” of the Sect were very well known places that dabbled in human experimentation, including demon-human or demon-animal hybridisation and cloning. If he was the “Master of Clones” at any of the Labs indeed, then he probably has a lot of blood on his hands."

"True. I never denied that." Said Yi Gore as he sat back down at the table."But tell me, Mighty Zephyr, what would you have done in my stead, if the looming threat of death was always hanging inside of your head every waking hour of your existence? I’m not some brave Hero-like figure! I’m a powerless dwarf!

My morals are shoddy at best, since I grew up for a large period of my life within the confines of the Sect after the demoniacs wiped out my entire village, killed my parents, and kidnapped all of us young village children. I must have been 7 or 8 around that time!

Survival of the fittest or the smartest was the only rule that has applied to me ever since that moment in my life, so I did whatever I had to do in order to “float” above the water currents. It was either them or me, so I picked ME!

Being merciful was not something I could AFFORD to be! Plus, if you really want to get to the nitty gritty details, I stole all of my “research” from the previous “Master of Clones” that used to lead Lab 25 before me when I “accidented” him to death by having a batch of clones go out of control and rip him to pieces.

Whatever human sacrifices were made to get those results before I came to the Lab are not on my hands, but his. I was just simply the most qualified “next person” that even remotely had any idea whatsoever about what was involved in the process of cloning minions, so I was the only one which could take the previous Master’s place. I did like, 95% reading and 5% experimenting most of the time!

Trying to understand how the body actually works and how it is built up from tiny little pieces takes a lot of serious mind focus, you know! You can’t just simply plop some meat or blood in a cloning tank and expect for it to grow into a minion. It simply just does not work that way!

There’s many things involved, like alchemy, bloodworks, formations, rituals, enchantments, a lot of detailed steps that need to be followed and respected to a very high degree of precision if you want to get the proper results. And NOT getting proper results would get me killed, so I was VERY good at what I was doing!

Did I create evil minions for the sect? Yes I did. Thousands of them! Was I the one ordering to do nasty stuff? HELL NO! That was all Fury Bone’s doing! If you want to point fingers, point them at HIM, not at me! I’m just as much of a victim as any of the other kidnapped recruits!"

"How many “other” people are we talking about here? Clones excluded." Asked Lingfeng.

"Hundreds of thousands. My Lab 25 that you guys destroyed was just a small part of the whole Sect. There are many other “centers” spread across all over the 3 Empires, and even outside of them, but I have no idea what happened to those after Fury Bone died. He was the sole owner of the Control Matrix for the Subjugation Nails, so after he died, everything probably went to shit.

I can bet my mechanical arm that a lot of infighting has occurred, or the leftover centers have been absorbed by the other demonic sects. Fury Bone had “friendly” relations with about 5 other demonic sects, if you could even call them that. Those other guys all have their own methods of permanently enslaving their minions too, which are almost the same if not even worse than the Nail method, so I suspect that a lot of the minions simply just got reassigned under “new management” after the infighting was over, since they did not even have any idea that they could have simply run away after Fury Bone died, unlike myself."

"Do you have a list of these Demonic Sects and their locations? Giving away such information would go a long way towards your rehabilitation." Added Lingfeng.

"Of course I do. Got a pen and paper?"

"Yeah, we have some, wait one second...Will-E, sweetie, come here for a second to Nana Trina."

Will-E immediately rushed over to my side, as if he was eager for his next order. As I was retrieving some pencils and paper, I could see Yi Gore and Will-E staring at eachother with their camera-like eyes as the mini-servos inside their artificial ocular devices kept zooming in and out repeatedly on each of them.

"Fascinating...what is this thing? Old Dwemmer construct that’s been simply painted over? Strange....A Household Automaton of some sorts? No...that’s not right...the alloy and design are all military grade, and the Core is simply too large for such a simple critter. It looks like some madman’s patchwork-job made out of spare parts...Incredible. Is it fully functional? Auch...Sharp pencil indeed!" Asked Yi Gore as he took the pencil and paper from me.

"Quite so. It’s almost alive, if you ask me."

"You’re knowledgeable about Dwemmer Construct Architecture?" Lingfeng asked curiously.

"I had to be, about 50% of the cloning pods I was using had Dwemmer infrastructure and components inside of them. In truth, the fueling and substance auto-feed parts of the cloning pods were inspired by some of the Hydroponic designs of the old Dwemm Folk.

Legend says that they even had these marvelous hanging gardens everywhere in their Capital City that simply grew by themselves with no humanoid intervention, at least before the whole kingdom got wiped out by the Endbringer."

"Wait...wiped out by the WHOWHAT? Lingfeng, you never told me anything about this!"

"The Endbringer, The Dragon of Endtimes, Death-Wing, Shadowsand, All-Ruin, call him whatever you like, is a colossal Shadow Dragon that appears sporadically from time to time in history, and leaves only desolation in his wake. And I’m talking entire Kingdoms and Empire-sized areas of complete wipeout.

Everything near him for miles simply turns into black sand and crumbles into the ground. Nothing resists the area-of effect, not even the strongest resistance gear, Hero, or even Descended God. All objects simply crumble into nothingness, including even the walls of the houses, the gold, gems and artefacts inside of treasuries, even the grass on the lawn outside. EVERYTHING goes poof and turns into dust.

The Dwemm Kingdom got wiped out that way, after they upset Mother Earth with their defiant Magics and Constructs, so it’s believed that She sent the Endbringer to clean the Dwemmer Folk out for the good of the World.

Even their Mountain-Sanctuary Capital City got reduced to nothingness! Only a flat sheared-off mountain plateau remains nowadays as silent testimony of that once Great City.

The only traces that we ever find of the Ancient Dwemmer are their Secret Research Laboratories that were hidden deep beneath the earth, and got spared away from the destruction on the surface. And those are usually filled with a lot of angry Dwemmer constructs like that Librarian Boss we fought a while ago, so they are all considered High-Level Dungeons, since most of those places also have a Dungeon Core at the center.

Get any dwarf to tell you about how great their Ancestors once were, and you’ll find your ears bent for whole hours at a time from that sort of yapping."

Well...damn...If that wasn’t some sort of System Intervention mechanism when folk got too smart, I don’t know what else it might be.

Guy invents Household Robots? Kingdom Wipeout

Guy invents Gunpowder? Area Reset.

Guy invents WhateverPissesMotherSystemOff? Server Format.

No wonder the planet is still stuck in the middle ages!

"Ok, here...this is all I can remember..."Yi Gore passed a stack of papers back to Lingfeng, as he had been busy writing while the Loremaster had been explaining to me the whole End-Dragon thing.

The windmage picked up the papers and read the details with a worried look upon his face, causing his eyebrows to furrow in anger and disapproval.

"Are you sure that this list is accurate?"

"Positive! Well, at least I’m certain about the contents being valid a few months ago, before Fury Bone died."

"Even if this info is outdated by a few months, if this list is true, then all three Empires are under a massive threat from the demoniacs. Especially if the Blood Cultists are on the move, those guys are plainly insane! They sacrifice people left and right with abandonment! Shit! Even some of the Imperial Princes are listed in here! AARGH! How the hell can I get this info back to my party ASAP?"

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"We shouldn’t risk anything at this moment. Don’t try to use any official channels. Just wait until Mr. Nobi comes back, and we can ask him to do the delivery. He’s the best person at maintaining stealth and dropping off “high risk” packages such as this troublesome info." I told the Windmage.

"Right...he went to deliver Fung’s “package”. I guess we have no other choice. But! Until this info is confirmed, you’re not going anywhere else, midget!"

"Oh, don’t worry about me...as long as the Goddess is with you, I shall remain forever in your company!"

"The WHO?"

"He means Carmine...I think Yi Gore has a slight crush on her..."

"On HER? UGH, I’ll never get dwarf tastes! We don’t even know if Miss Carmine will stick with us...She might simply want to return back home to the West." Replied Lingfeng.

"Why don’t we ask her then? Hey...Hey...Carmine, Love, can you come here for a second?"

"Aye? Whatsit lass?(*Buuuurp*)"

"What are you going to do from now on? Go back home, or stick with us?"

"Oi...dunno, actualleh...Never thought ‘boutit dat far. I miss me home, but with nobode dere left alive, oim not sure oi wanna go back dere ahnemore. Fer now...I think I’ll just stick with yer shiny lil’ heads. Ye make fer good companeh!(Hic). After oi gets me feet back under meh after a while, we’ll see ‘boutit den, K?"

"Well, thank you, Carmine! You too, Mr. Gibbson! You and your Pickaxe have been some invaluable individuals to our group so far, I don’t know how we’ll ever be able to repay you."

"I can repay her with my heart, if she will take it!" Yi Gore immediately gesticulated exaggeratedly again while pointing to his metallic chestplate.

"EEK! Oim seeing glowing orange midgets again! Musta ‘ad too much Ale ta drink!"

*PUNCH*

*Yi Gore Slide on the floor*

"Ah...Perfection!" Mumbled Yi Gore from under the table.

"You probably should wait until she sobers up a little bit before trying any more of those attempts, Yi."

"Right...I will take note of that for my future endeavours. Besides that, I do have a favor I need to ask you though. If I am leaving with you all, I want to go and say goodbye to the youngsters that rescued me from the tree and their family. I owe them that much."

"Sure, we can all go with you and thank them as well. Right, Lingfeng? It’s not that late in the evening yet."

"Fine, whatever. But leave Carmine behind, she’s too smashed to even stand up straight."

"Carmine Love, here...take some of these and give them to the nice Innkeeper over there and say that you’re sorry for breaking his furniture, alright?"

I then passed Carmine a few gold coins that were enough to cover the damages and pay for the drinks and meals almost two times over, so after stumbling her way to the innkeeper and bowing in regret while passing the coin, Carmine simply headed upstairs and crashed flat out while still sobbing about the loss of her family. I can’t even begin to imagine what she must be going through!

After that, all our group followed Yi Gore out of the Inn, and to the donkey trade market where all of the donkey-rearing farms were displaying their products to the public.

It was a noisy, messy and stinky place filled everywhere with all sorts of donkey breeds, but that was to be expected.

Everywhere, the donkey breeders would brag about how strong and how loyal their own pack mules were compared to the other competitors, each highlighting the “perks” that each donkey breed possessed to the curious customers.

In the end, we arrived somewhere near the center of the market at a decently large corral filled with gray-white patterned donkeys similar to the one from Shrek. As soon as the midget entered the nearby shack of the corral owners, a little kid jumped on him squealing, while other two larger kids followed.

"Unca’ Yi. Where have you been? We saw you get beat up by some mean Monk lady then run away with her! What happened?"

"Ugh! YOU! You’re the mean Monk lady! Why did you pick on Unca’ Yi!" The third little kid just ran straight to me and kicked me in the shin.

"ARRGHFFF...THAT HURTS!" I limped away while jumping on one leg.

"Now, what did I tell you about hitting other people?"Yi smacked the little kid over the head.

"Always hit them from the back when they are not watching?"

"No, the other thing..."

"Don’t hit them until you are sure that they can’t fight back?"

"WRONG!" *Smack*

"Yi...seriously...what have you been teaching these kids..." I facepalmed myself.

"How to live in a cruel world that wants to kill them at every occasion?"

"Look, just because you had it rough in life, it does not mean everybody will get screwed in the same way. You’re just turning them hostile to other people for no reason!"

"No reason? PFUAH! There will always be a reason. Even in the donkey trade! Even if they remain safe! Whenever you HAVE something, no matter how insignificant, there will always be other people that will want it for themselves. It’s smarter to just be prepared for all eventualities! Right, kid?"

"Right, Unca’ Yi!"

"Now, where’s your Mum and Dad. I need to have a word."

"Inside...making dinner."

After that, we entered the shack and met the family. Yi Gore then told the Mother and Father of the kids that he had found his old friends and that some of his memories were returning, and that he had to leave together with us next morning.

Of course, that made all of the kids cry, as they clung to the midget’s frame and told him to remain with them. It was quite adorable and heart-wrenching at the same time.

"Thank you for saving my Progenitor, little Benefactors, but I am afraid that he has to come with us. There are many people back at home that miss him too. You wouldn’t want Unca’ Yi to be apart from his family, now would you?" I tried to appease the little kids while caressing their heads.

"What? That’s your kid, little Yi? Why didn’t you say anything about that?" Asked the Father of the household.

"Memory loss, remember? I barely recognized her! She did not even have a shaved head the last time I saw her!"

"Everybody back at the Temple was worried when he went missing in that terrible storm. How can we ever repay you?" Asked Lingfeng.

"Well, if you’re all Monks, then one of you should be good at healing, right?" Asked the smallest kid.

"Ugh...I have some minor skills in regards to that, but I can’t say I’m any good at it yet…"

"Then, can you go and save Mr. Khong? That’s Uncle Yi’s favorite Donkey, and he’s been sick for the whole week! He simply refuses to eat and lays down all of the time!"

"Seriously Yi? You named your Donkey as Khong? Could you be even less subtle?"

"Why? What’s wrong with me naming him after Emperor Khong? He was a great Emperor during his time!"

"Donkey Kh...No, nevermind, you would not get it anyway. I can go take a look, maybe I can spot what’s wrong with the creature."

"Oky...follow us!" The kids led us away to one of the enclosed stables.

In there, a Donkey lay on the side with total apathy displayed on its face.

"Ok, Yi...you know anatomy maybe even better that I do...So, what’s really wrong with the critter?" I pulled Yi Gore to one side.

"Something is obstructing the intestines. I have already scanned his internals, and there’s something very large stuck inside his small intestine. The only way to get that out would be to just cut it open, but that would just simply kill it. Sad, but stuff like this happens all of the time."

"What if you could remove that object, but did not have to kill it?"

"How?"

"Operate on it?"

"OperWHAT?"

"Cut it open, remove the problem, then heal it back up. I can help with the stitching and the Regeneration Spell. I also have some anesthetic pills with me, but I have no idea how many of those would be necessary to knock a donkey out cold, yet I could wing it."

"Are you sure? I’m not against cutting open live subjects, but the kids might get scared!"

"Weren’t you the one that wanted to expose them to the “cruel world”?"

"Yeah, but not with the blood and the guts and everything!"

"Admit it! You’re a softie afterall, and just don’t want to traumatise the kids!"

"Ugh…"

"Ok...Mom, Dad, can you please take the kids away? This is not something for them to witness. It could get really nasty."

After the kids were taken away, I mixed up a bunch of knockout pills, and then we force-fed them to the Donkey with a funnel.

We then washed ourselves thoroughly then shaved the fur away from the “operation spot” with Lingfeng’s razor blade. Yi Gore also switched to his “autopsy” clothes that he still had in his spatial ring, then we proceeded to open up the Donkey’s belly slowly but surely, as Yi began to dig inside the Donkey’s bowels to find the offending object.

I would periodically cast a Regeneration spell on the animal, to prevent it from bleeding out too much, so in the end, we reached the obstruction and managed to cut it open swiftly.

What came out surprised everybody, to say the least. It was a silver-iridescent scaled egg-like object, with reflections like those on a CD, albeit in a purple-ish hue, and we had no idea what it could be. After removing the bowel obstruction, I healed the spot back up by splashing some liquid healing potion on top of the cut of the intestine to close it, then Yi Gore stuffed the gut-chain back into the Donkey’s belly where it belonged, as I kept splashing more healing potion on the wound and casting Regeneration. In the end, the wound healed up from our combined efforts, leaving only a minor scar and a nasty-looking shaved spot on the Donkey’s belly.

"Well...that was most certainly another experience I could have never imagined." Said Yi Gore. "If the critter lives, it should be kissing YOUR ASS from now on instead!"

"If it does not die from an anesthetic overdose or blood loss, I’m sure it will be fine by tomorrow. Congratulations on becoming a Veterinary Surgeon, Yi."

"Damn Girl! I even got an Achievement for that! You and your craziness!"

"What the heck is this egg-like thing anyway?" I asked while wiping the offending object with a cloth to remove the blood splatters away from the shiny surface.

"Can I have a look at that?" Asked Lingfeng.

"Sure, have a go at it. My Appraisal skill only says [Mysterious Egg] and nothing more."

After spinning the silver scaled egg on all faces, and even attempting to scratch the surface, Linfeng finally gave us a verdict.

"It’s a fossilized Fairy Dragon egg. If it were still alive, this would have been a priceless treasure, since Nether Fairy Dragons are one of the most coveted pets for Magic Casters because they can serve as an extended mana pool for their Owners and are extremely smart. They are also incredibly Rare, since they only bond at birth to a single person, and follow it for life. Imprinting, I think it is called, or something like that.

Nobody has any idea how to hatch any of these eggs, so most just become inert objects like this one, after a long enough time period has passed and the embryo died." Demonstrated Lingfeng as he stored the egg inside of his ring then summoned it back out, proving that it was considered a “dead” object indeed.

Bummer! So much for having my own Dragon pet! Sadface!

"Still...it could be worth quite a lot to any collector of such items, even in this state. Some mages think that even these “dead” eggs can still hatch through some sort of magical means, so they collect a lot of them for “just in case” reasons." Added the Windmage. "Here...your “Operation plan” got it out of the Donkey, so it should be yours for the keeping." Lingfeng tossed the silver egg back to me.