As Adam walked into the Base of Operation on Earth, the real one. He thought about how nice it was to be back in business. He could worry about everything Merlin had just shared with him but instead of getting bogged down, he decided he needed to focus on the here and now, not a lot of “What If’s” that had just popped into his mind based on what he’d just learned.
To that end, he opened a portal at the very bottom of his subterranean building and started flooding the Earth with real nanites from his soul space. He converted the Chaos still lurking outside his artificial solar system in his soul space into nanites and funneled them into the planet. Adam had four Cosmos worth of chaos; minus the bit, he’d already used. They were still small enough to exist within atoms and survive the temperatures and pressures of everything save the extreme gravity of a black hole.
Adam adjusted his original programming and set the nanites up to only infiltrate and convert inorganic matter. Living creatures were off-limits. He wanted the networking this would give him for the planet. He did not want to take over the population. If there were beings that were truly more powerful than him out there, he didn’t want to piss off any of them and especially not the ones that might cover the core idea of free will. Of course, that garnered the question, did they even know that this Realm wasn’t fractured anymore?
When he talked to Merlin again, ah screw it, he needed to know, he asked Merlin through the intercom, “Hey Merlin, quick question for you?”
After a few moments, Merlin’s voice came back through the intercom, “Yes Adam?”
“One of the holes in everything you told me that has been bugging me is concerning people that die. Where do their souls go?”
“I didn’t cover that? Oh, I see, because I said even the Gods don’t know what happens when they die? Let me clarify. Beings that have not achieved Neophyte or higher status do as you have learned through other sources. They either reincarnate, serve whatever divine or God they worship or move on to one of the other layers until they give up let go, and are reincarnated anyway. That is the one aspect of your teaching that is wrong. Entities cannot just fade away, that doesn’t happen. Once a soul has enough identity to develop a sense of self, even if they get tired of the struggle of existing, they simply shed that identity and become something new, all within the realm of the layer they are on. The Identity may be lost for a time, but things have a habit of happening over and over. This is true for all souls. That is until you get to Neophyte or higher. Neophytes or higher that are destroyed cease to exist, as far as anyone has been able to determine.”
“What about you, by your own word you have died?”
“My body has died sure, but I do not have access to my soul space. Whoever punished me made sure my soul space created a new magnification upon my death. I’m not exactly sure how that is working or how it’s configured.
“Okay, so souls still follow what I learned until they get to the level you reached or higher unless you’re in the doghouse with big daddy O, who, or whatever that is,” Adam said.
“That’s about it,” Merlin said.
“Thanks, Merlin, it was just bugging me.”
“You’re welcome, signing off,” Merlin said as the intercom clicked.
So that made a little more sense. People could die but as he’d learned before it seemed that whatever the system was it had been designed to improve souls from the ground up, at least until that soul reached a certain level. Still, not messing with people or their souls. He’d give them choices, but no more compelling people to do anything. Adam could very easily fall into the trap of a dictator again. He hadn’t liked how that made him feel. If an Individual came for him, that was a choice. How he responded was his choice to make.
Adam continued pouring nanites into Earth and they spread from New Mexico in all directions. If he started from only one point it would take roughly 241 days for the entire earth to be covered. That would take too long. Well, he needed to do this anyway. Adam went into the Elevator, cast Invisibility onH himself then started flying around the globe mapping it out. As he flew around the Globe, he would land in a secluded area, open a portal to his soul space and flood it with nanites for a few minutes. Take off and go find a new location.
It took him the better part of 24 hours to map out the entire globe well enough that he could teleport to any location near a major city. The nanites had covered the whole planet by 2 p.m. central standard time the next day. Once that was done he had the nanites convert the nuclear material in every single weapon to an inert substance, like silicon. No more weapons of mass destruction. He left normal munitions alone because they would probably be needed in the coming days, but nukes were a no-go because they caused too much ecological and collateral damage to allow their use,
With the nanites everywhere, he would now be able to keep track of everything that was going on and copy all the information on the planet. That took about a minute. A quick comparison to his Earth’s information and he found that the deviation his Cosmos had taken from the Prime Cosmos hadn’t been all that great. In fact, it looked like the primary factor that led to change was him. Otherwise, this world could have been his world before he won the lottery.
As he was reviewing everything he noticed that the food and water he’d created was being confiscated by local governments and gangs in some areas. Then they’d try to sell the goods back to those they’d just stolen them from for an insane amount. All the good he’d tried to do was undone within two days. With nanites in play, he now had options.
Adam created food and water for every hungry person on the planet. No magic was involved this time, So he wasn’t worried about saturating the planet with even more magic. he could use nanites to automatically fix everyone but without the infrastructure to help them, millions of people that were sick, suddenly becoming healthy again was a bad idea. This time around he’d provide the food, water, and medicine as needed and let the people recover normally. he could also make immediate chronic care available, but people would need to ask for help.
Then it hit him, he hadn’t even given it a second thought that nanites were working normally with a high saturation of magic. Maybe there had to be a rule in effect within the Cosmic settings for that to be so. Adam wasn’t going to question that it was going on to hard, it was working in his favor so he just went with it, though he started paying really close attention to nanite stability, just in case.
While he was traveling all around the globe he had Thor open a portal to the moon and drop off some nanites there too. It could be the Vrax or the Lexi, but a moon base for observation didn’t seem like either race’s style. The Vrax could already be on the planet blending in and the Lexi were way too warlike. Of course, the recombining could have changed something. He could be dealing with an entirely new species. The nanites would help him figure that out.
Adam also had Thor determine the spatial coordinates and location for every planet in the solar system and drop off some nanites to each of those bodies as well. Those would take time. he had a feeling things were not going to go as easy as they had before. Nanites on the planets in the solar system he was in, were one thing. Spreading out was probably going to be problematic. Of course, that wasn’t really his plan. Back when he’d spread across the Milky Way, he hadn’t known everything he knew now. Knowing that there was more to the Universe than just this Universe, he needed to worry about himself and those he cared about. After that, he’d try to help those in need he came across if he could. Ruling everything and everyone was not his end goal nor was taking care of everyone. It was not good for people to have someone forcing them to live a certain way. He could help, but he would not dictate.
As he worked on getting nanite coverage on Earth and all objects in orbit around Earth he noticed something. His nanites encountered dead zones they could not access across the globe. Adam even had nanites make chains and stick other nanites into each zone. The nanites ceased functioning as they reverted to their basic component particles and disintegrated.
Adam sent out a diagnostic check to all the nanites and was shocked to discover that all his physical nanites were deteriorating. Slowly, but they were deteriorating. The only thing allowing him to set up the coverage was the number of nanites he’d flooded into the planet. It seemed that high levels of ambient magic were incredibly bad for nanites. Of course, flooding the area with magic probably hadn’t helped. Maybe when the magic density equaled out the nanites wouldn’t break down as quickly?
Adam pulled up his Universal Interface and checked the local Ambient Magic level and noticed in just two days it had dropped to 830% above normal density. The magic was being absorbed. Pretty quickly too, if it had gone down over 170% in two days. At that rate, things should be back to normal for a magical universe in another two weeks. Of course, if the refreshment of mana was still low, it might drop back below 100% again. Adam had a feeling that wasn’t going to be the case though.
He reconfigured the nanite programming to account for deterioration and to replace as necessary to keep the surface of all stellar bodies and satellites at 100% nanite coverage then he started reviewing what was going on again. The new food supplies were still being seized. Should he go heavy-handed or have some fun? Adam voted for having some fun and set up a time loop of sorts.
Adam watched as the “freedom fighters” in Africa took the food from the various huts in a village and started driving down the road to their base, only to arrive with nothing in the truck. They’d go back to the hut, find the food there, and take it again. They’d yell and scream to figure out how they’d taken the food back, only for it to happen again. The third time a commander had the brilliant idea to have someone in the back of the truck watching the food. As the truck started to pull out of the village all the food broke down into nothing. The soldier pounded on the cab, the truck stopped, and the commander came back to see. They walked back to the huts and sure enough, the food was back. The commander wasn’t stupid, I’ll give him that. He picked up a food ration, walked to the edge of the village, and watched as the food disintegrated in his hand. He went back to the hut grabbed another food ration and ate it. Again, he went back to the hut and noticed that it was immediately replaced. Eventually, the soldiers got in their truck and drove away leaving the people in peace.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
That pattern was repeated across the world as people tried to profit by controlling the supply of food, only to find out that no matter how much was taken, it would always disappear and reappear. One government tried to relocate the people away from their homes so they could use the food for themselves only to find that the food stopped coming to the soldiers and shifted to appear where it was needed. he had to admit, fucking with those assholes as they tried to profit from the suffering of others was fun. Adam also had to admit to himself that just wiping them out of existence would have been easier but could have had dire consequences.
With the food, water, and medicine issues sorted he contacted a Law Firm in New York City and Created Portals Inc LLC. Then he purchased an office in New York City. Adam also looked online for real estate that was for sale and found a very nice valley for sale just east of his estate in the Rocky Mountains. This time he was trying to purchase the land for Portals Inc. So, he’d go through the official process.
Adam put in the bid and let the Lawyers he hired get to work. He did contact the lawyers and let them know that he was one of those that believed that bonuses would be based on the successful and timely acquisition of properties he wished to acquire. After the initial call, he let Thor handle any questions the lawyers had. They could handle property acquisition. Adam would handle infrastructure build-up.
With all of that underway, it was time to visit Al. Adam teleported into the air bubble at the bottom of the Bermuda Triangle and then had a thought. Adam released his chaos into the eight feet around him then started creating an airlock of sorts around the entrance to the dungeon. While he did this he tried to make physical nanites every once in a while and soon realized that when the physical nanites were within 100’ of the entrance they failed to work.
Using only his chaotic nanites he created an underwater structure that could withstand the pressure by making it out of Adamantium, just to see if he could. All windows were transparent Aluminum which were bonded to the Adamantium at a molecular level. The structure was seamless except at the airlock hatches.
Adam moved slowly and built the structure from the ground up to make sure the foundation was also able to withstand the pressure. When he was done he had a structure that was 500 feet in diameter with an airlock at the top that could be attached to an elevator shaft that he would extend to the surface. Eventually, he’d add portals once the technology was up and running again but for now, he’d go with the technology people would expect.
Once the structure was done, he went inside, closed it up, and opened a portal from where he was into the sky 500 feet above the ocean. He held himself in place as almost all the water inside the structure drained through the portal. This completely cleared the upper levels and left just a couple of small puddles of water on the ground floor.
Adam closed the portal then quickly walked around the ground and had his nanites convert the water into chaos and absorb it back into his soul space. The air bubble the dungeon created was in the center of the structure. The cliff rose out of the floor, surrounded by the main room which was 100 feet across. he added a red dotted line around the area of the air bubble the dungeon maintained. Along the outer edge the words, “In Case of Breach move inside the red dotted line or into the cave” printed around the outside.
It took about three hours to finish the structure and then provide power, air, and furniture. In a pinch, it could house 50 people and he set up accommodations for 10 five-man parties to have their own areas to rest in. While it might look like the structure from the movie The Abyss on the outside, when he was done the structure resembled a hunting lodge.
After the structure was complete it was a simple matter to create a floating platform that attached to the airlock at the top of the structure. The shaft had an elevator that rose to an underwater base that floated 100 feet under the surface to allow it to remain stable and unaffected by surface waves or wind during a storm. Water planes and boats would land and dock above.
Adam used his normal nanites to create some nice submersibles that could ferry ten people down to the submerged base where they could then ride an elevator down to the Dungeon Entrance. Because he was utilizing normal nanites he made that portion of the base out of normal materials that could withstand the pressure, except for the elevator, he made that out of Adamantium as well.
Buoys were released on quick-release cables to the surface to mark where the structure was beneath the surface. he also sent out a flash message to all subs in the area that the location of the structure so there would not be any accidents. Once the function of this facility became known, he was pretty sure that wouldn’t be an issue. In fact, he was quite sure the governments would be working to protect entry into the dungeon.
Adam finalized his work by filing all the necessary paperwork with every government that was even close to the location he was in as well as with the Chinese and Russian Governments so there would be no misunderstanding as to its purpose. Once everything was filled, the upper part of the base was connected to his underwater fusion reactor. he was done. he clapped his hands as if cleaning them to show that he was done, and stepped into the Dungeon.
A mouth formed on the wall opposite him. “I thought he felt something going on outside of his opening. Is everything all right Adam?” Al said.
“Yes, that was me. How are you?” Adam asked.
“As good as can be expected sitting at the bottom of the ocean in a cave that at this depth, I’m lucky if anything makes it into the cave entrance, If I’m being honest.,” Al said.
“Well, he came to keep my word. Do you have those first couple of levels set up to give those that visit a fighting chance?” Adam asked.
“Yep, would you like to take a look? Nothing in those levels can harm you so you should be able to look around just fine.”
“I think I will, though I’m just going to look. I’ll use invisibility, go have a look, and be back out here if a few to talk in a few,” Adam said
“Sounds good”
Adam cast invisibility stepped into the first level and moved through the floor Al had created. The first level consisted of a normal cave system with giant crabs, swarms of sharks in “Short Cuts” between pools in different caves, and a few critters he didn’t recognize. The floor boss was a giant water-based salamander-looking thing. Behind the boss was a stairway leading down to the second level. The Boss was level 10 and everything else on this level was lower than it. This would be a very good starting level.
The second level would be a little more difficult. The primary creature type in this area were merman. The boss was similar to a witch doctor as he could cast spells. Adam looked around and found nothing that didn’t seem fair, even the traps were appropriate for the level they were on. The first level looked like it was for levels 1-10 and the second for levels 11-20. This would do nicely
Adam walked back to the entrance and faced the wall with the mouth on it. “Do your floors keep to that 10-level pattern going down?” Adam asked.
“Yep, I’ve got 10 floors set aside. The 10th floor can handle a party of level 91 – 100 though it’ll be a bit of a challenge though,” Al said.
“It looks like we’re ready here, where do I need to go to fix your node link to the surface?”
A platinum node rose out of the floor, “You need merely place this node back into the holder that was already created ages ago.”
“Where is it?”
“There’s an island 37 miles west and just a little south of his location. On that island, there is a cave with a statue in it. The node goes there.”
“Adam reviewed the layout of the surrounding area through his nanites. The island of Bermuda was 57 miles southwest of the cave entrance to Al. Just north and east of Bermuda there was an underwater mountain that almost reached the surface. he reviewed the data he had of the area, found the cave Al was talking about, and said, “So I have some bad news there Al, the island you’re talking about. It’s completely submerged now.”
“Are you sure?” Al asked.
“Quite sure. I have some good news though. I’ve already created a base and way to get down to your cave entrance for normal mortals.”
“That’s nice I guess?” Al said dejectedly.
“Cheer up man, as soon as I get my company up and running I’ll be able to open portals that lead to the facility right outside your cave entrance. Also, it’s made of Adamantium so it’s not going anywhere. Hey, I have an idea! How would you like someone to test your Dungeon levels? Not me, I’m a little overpowered but someone I know would probably love to give it a whirl?”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to accidentally kill anyone you’re fond of?” Al asked.
“I don’t think you’re going to have that problem, let me get her here,” Adam said and opened a portal into his Place of Power near Desirae, who was in a training session with his mom and dad, “Desirae, I have a task for you, if you’re up to it?” Adam called out through the portal.
“A task he says,” Desirae said as she looked up, “Okay you two, we’re done for today. Keep practicing I’ll catch up with you later. Thor if you don’t mind,” she said. As Desirae stood the nanites shimmered over her skin and she was left looking refreshed and dressed for success. Desirae took a step through the Portal to stand beside Adam.
“Desirae, you are now in a dungeon here on Earth. The dungeon is sentient. This is Al,” Adam said as he pointed to the mouth on the stone wall.
Desirae, looked around, “A sentient Dungeon, really?” she asked excitedly. “Al was it? Do you have a Dungeon Master yet?”
“Nooo,” Al said hesitantly.
“Can he, please?” Desirae asked.
“Desirae, you, and Al need to work on the terms, one of which is that you need to beat his dungeon. Do you need any equipment or weapons if you and Al come to an arrangement?”
“I’ll need his weapons and armor. It’ll make running the dungeon easier.
“I can do that,” Adam said as he focused his will and conjured the equipment he’d taken from her so long ago. The items appeared in a neat pile on the ground before us. “Desirae,” he said waiting until she looked up and met his eyes. “Al is a friend of the Labyrinth, whom we do not want to piss off. If you and Al cannot come to an arrangement, just leave him alone. If you do come to an arrangement, by all means, accept the role of Dungeon Master if you are given the opportunity. Lord knows I’m going to be far too busy to do it.”
“Understood,” Desirae said seriously.
“Okay, when you’re done, that is the exit portal,” he said pointing at the exit portal.” Outside you’ll find an underwater base with all the luxuries, including a communication suit through Thor. Also, nanites are out there once you get more than 100 feet from the cave entrance. So just head down the hall to the lounge after you’re done and give him a shout, he’d like to discuss a couple of other things with you about moving out of the soul space and setting up shop to handle affairs here. You, Mom, Dad, Amanda, and Abi.”
“Okay,” Desirae said as she started picking up her equipment and armor
“Are you sure she’s going to be okay in here?” Al asked.
“Al, Desirae was one of the top assassins before we met. She’s also level 5,000. Do you think she’ll be okay in here?” Adam asked.
Al sighed, “Yeah she’ll be all right, it won’t even be a contest,” Al said.
“Okay then, you two hash out terms, I’m going to head back to his Base of Operation. I’ll check on both of you later,” Adam said as he teleported to the Base of Operation under his estate in New Mexico.