So far, I have seen multiple places survivors had holed up in. The first was the obsolete bunker where Nina and others lived AKA the Sanctuary. Another one was the Fallen Bastion, the Skyhold Bastion with its running defenses and city-like structure.
Then there were the bunkers in the Valley. One of them was abandoned, higher tier than the Sanctuary, but empty just the same. Lastly, The Veil Ignition Station. A Top-notch laboratory with a number of facilities and a core of such high quality that it still held an immense amount of mana even after 100 years.
The place we find ourselves now is hard to compare to any of them. It doesn't look like a bunker, it’s makeshift at best. I'm also fairly sure it's not a Veil Ignition Station, given the bare bones accommodations.
“It used to be a mine and a workshop,” Lissandra says.
“It's massive, what could they have been making… ah, Skyhold Bastions?”
“Yes. The people of this world seemed to be obsessed with them, this was probably one of the assembly lines for the larger portions.”
“I can’t find any monsters,” Myrra notes.
“Even though they seem to be wounded, this place is still being guarded by a Champion, little kitten.”
“So what are we doing here?” I ask.
“I want to speak to her.”
I don't even bother mentioning that that might be a bad idea. Not because everyone is trigger-happy. It has more to do with my fear that this cockroach-like ex-Absolute might just try to deal with that person the same way she does with Myrra and me. That does beg an interesting question though. Who would win?
Another thing comes to mind now that I'm thinking about it. It’s currently my one hour rest period. Did she time our arrival here on purpose?
What a demon, I’m sure Vega would like her.
We stop near the giant iron door that likely served as an entrance for the larger parts of the Skyhold Bastions and wait for a response.
Even I have noticed a web similar to Sophie's and to the Veil all over the place. Not moving covertly, Lissandra even triggered some parts on purpose. Something akin to sending a message. The reaction doesn't take long, two men exit a much smaller entrance nearby which opens with an eerie silence.
[Frost Reaper - lvl ??]
[Solar Ascendant - lvl ??]
Just a glance betrays that they come from the generation before the war. An additional piece of information for me. Somewhere between levels 200 and 300, your aging slows on the order of centuries.
It’s not like they could pass for twenty, but they could easily pass for someone in their forties. The most likely cause I can think of is a combination of stat investment and body upgrades, especially the one at level 250.
The more I learn, the more of a mess I expect to find when we return to Earth. The consequences of someone being able to live for hundreds of years won’t go over well with some people. It will create a clear division, separating us from normal humans.
One of the men, a slim individual with a friendly face, bows quickly. In exchange, Lissandra makes an elegant gesture, acknowledging the greeting.
“Lady Niall told us about you. Please allow me to offer you a greeting, lady…?”
“Lissandra.”
He nods, “I greet you, Lady Lissandra. I extend an invitation to the Workshop on behalf of Lady Niall. You will be safe as long as you show no aggression. This, we promise.”
“Thank you. Lead the way and please extend my greeting to Lady Niall along with my interest in having a conversation with her.”
I almost don’t recognize Lissandra right now. She is extremely graceful, authority seeping from her words, without seeming arrogant. There’s just enough command in her bearing to make her seem regal. She slips into her role as easily as into a comfortable pair of shoes.
When she introduces Myrra and I, I feel like a country bumpkin.
Well, it's not like it matters what two random guys think of me, so I don’t even bother trying to imitate Lissandra.
What interests me more is the place they call The Workshop. The moment we enter the door they lock it behind us, and an intricate set of inscriptions washes over the surface. The surrounding stone follows suit, totally sealing us away from the outside world.
We are in a tunnel that’s at least as wide as the path outside. And making it even more impressive is the fact that they had to carve this out of the mountain at some point. Even so, the walls are extremely smooth, and the lights are evenly spaced throughout. The shining points of light lead us deeper into the mountain, illustrating the monstrous size of the place.
There are a series of gardens, framed by a sort of railing along the center of the path, giving the passage a needed splash of color.
The tunnel is full of greenery and it boggles the mind to see how much dirt they must have brought in here to sustain the sheer number of plants in here, with everything from fruit trees and vegetable patches to decorative flowers and shrubs.
There are people scattered about the place, in various stages of work. Either resting under trees or taking care of the plants. Most of them are under level 50, and they readily greet the two men escorting us with a great deal of respect.
The quiet hum of the air filters is ever-present. The same mana that powers the lights powers it as well. The deeper we go, the more people we see. There are some facilities full of animals, and huge pieces of what should be another Skyhold Bastion lying all over the place.
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And Myrra, like me, looks around with open interest, her twitching tail giving her away. Though she’s been getting the most looks from those we pass, her being something of a curiosity herself, even the two men leading us can’t seem to help to take a glance here and there.
Myrra towers over both of them, not to mention Lissandra and I. Her pure white hair and cat ears don’t help much, and neither does her fluffy tail.
When we enter the giant cave full of buildings and towers, I’m not even surprised. This place contains more people than the Bastion did. Much more. Tens of thousands easily.
We enter another tunnel, and there we are led to what seems to be an isolated apartment structure. There are multiple rooms housing a small group of people.
This place even has windows on one side, and as we approach I begin to hear and eventually see a waterfall, tucked away inside another huge cavern, the water crashing upon the stone below and continuing on to form a large underground river, crisscrossed with dams and bridges, before snaking along its bed to somewhere else.
“Lady Lissandra, when you are prepared, please leave the room, and we shall escort you to Lady Niall. Your companions may remain here in the meantime.”
After that, they exit the room.
“Is this all being powered by a single person?” I ask Lissandra.
“So you have noticed. Not fully, but most of the mana seems to belong to the person I came here to meet.”
“They called her Niall, I’ve heard of her. Apparently, she was one of the Champions who was too late to realize what had happened to the Veil, she helped kill the people responsible. She also was powering at least one of the Veil Ignition Stations with her mana for weeks before the advent of the Veil.”
“That much makes sense with her Potent Mana.”
“The same attribute upgrade as you? Before you said you hadn’t reached the 3rd stage yet, so do you think she’s going to be like you?”
Lissandra doesn’t even bother answering the question, likely dismissing it as stupid.
“I’ll be heading off to meet her. Little pup, you will continue working on the mana shaping exercise I showed you the last time. Little kitten, you will work on your mana circulation.” She exits the room.
“I wouldn’t eat any suspicious meat,” I tell Myrra who’s already making a beeline for the kitchen.
I turn my attention to a pair of mana orbs I form in the palm of my hand. For now, I may as well ignore my curiosity and work on my training. I’m on quite the time limit here. Not satisfied with just training, I attempt to make it as difficult as possible by changing the frequency and density of my mana.
“Are you not worried, feral one?” Myrra asks, jumping into an armchair nearby. Even while talking, I sense her working on the mana circulation techniques Lissandra showed her.
I keep part of my mind on the exercise and turn to her, “About the Champion?”
“Yes.”
“I never got a real look at what a Champion can do, so it’s hard for me to judge the danger. Plus, she’s apparently wounded. But you have been with Lissandra for weeks already, are you still worried?”
“I’m worried Lady Lissandra might…”
At that exact moment, the lights flicker and I could swear I feel the place shake. The tremors gradually stop, but in their place, I feel an immense wave of mana wash over us. The lights flicker again, and somewhere in the distance, I can hear alarms ringing.
Just in case, I keep my eyes on the door, and my mana at the ready. I have anchors placed all across the room, going so far as to place a few behind the window, near the waterfall. Myrra activated her Aurora Glass as well, the tiny pieces of glass-like material sparking in the light as it hangs in the air.
One more burst of mana flows through our surroundings before rippling out into the distance, covering an area I find hard to imagine. Then the mana disappears and the lights stop flickering.
There are no guards rushing in and gradually the alarms stop.
A minute later, the doors open and Lissandra enters the apartment, closing them behind her.
“We will be staying here for three days, after that we will head north,” she says.
I try to examine her but there are no wounds to be seen, no damage to her clothes. She looks like she just came back from a short walk.
“How was Champion Niall?” I ask.
“Her mana heart is damaged and can’t be restored by her own body. She’s failed to find any healer capable of working on a mana heart belonging to someone at her level. She has three years at most before she loses control and kills everyone around her in one of these seizures. That, or the thing lodged inside it, will kill her.”
“You said you intend to make your own heart, are you thinking of helping her?”
“It could be possible with the arm of the Absolute in my possession, but I already have a different idea for that and there is no reason to waste it on a fake who allowed herself to end so pathetically.”
The contempt she displays now is genuine. She has no mercy for someone so powerful who’s allowed herself to fall into such a state.
Seeing how far this fake Absolute went, through all her mad schemes, it is evident she has nothing but contempt for Champion Niall’s apparent surrender.
“I will teach her a method of containing these outbursts that should buy her a few more years. In exchange, she will give me the information I want and give you a lesson, little pup. It’s for something I can’t do currently.”
“Lesson from a Champion? I guess I’ll be owing you quite a lot, that is if you don’t kill me at the end of these two weeks.”
“You might be having fun now, little pup, but I give you a ten percent chance of succeeding.”
Her words remind me of the situation I'm currently in. Without [Focus], the hint of fear that washes over me feels more real. Ever since I stopped using it to suppress my emotions it’s like everything changed. It’s not like I’m watching things happen from a distance, instead, it’s like all my emotions have come flooding back.
But that much is fine. There is no way I will let a small bump in the path stop me. Part of me even welcomes it.
“Sounds good, but why don’t we add a little extra to the rules?” I challenge her.
Lissandra turns to me and I can see Myrra gesturing wildly for me to stop. That silly lynthari knows me too well. But I let the emotions take over.
“Let’s raise the stakes and say I need to get 4 skills to level 50 for you to spare me.”
Just for a short moment, a hint of surprise flashes behind Lissandra's eyes. She observes me, and seeing I mean it, she gives me that small, almost imperceptible smile.
“Little pup, think very carefully about what you are saying right now.”
She underestimates me, and it irritates me.
“Five skills,” I declare.
My emotions are wildly swirling inside of me. To be honest, it's annoying how accustomed I've grown to dampening them.
Yeah, it won’t be that bad being unable to use [Focus] for my emotions, it will be much worse than I expected. But I think, in the end, I will like it more.
If I don't get killed before that.