“How in the realms is this monstrosity of metal and mana a filthy Dungeon?!” Scytale yelled. “Those… tubes or whatever they are make it look like some giant octopus instead of the result of an artifact gone haywire!”

Lucille walked forward to the edge of the little viewing platform they were on and gestured to the beating golem core before them. “In function, this construct performs the role of a Dungeon. But it is, in fact, a sentient large-scale inorganic form golem – essentially a mechanical object that has gained a soul like Apophis and Ouroboros here. And as the golem core has been on an Old Era plane for so long, the core became an artifact.” She turned to face the core. “It was made for the pure function of replacing Dungeons by consuming them and becoming a controllable force in their stead. To my knowledge, this is the only one left.”

“Uh… how did you find out about it?” her bond asked warily.

It was actually the mages on the plane who discovered it first. The golem needed to expand its artificial Dungeon domain but when it came near the locations in the city the mages were studying, they attacked it to eradicate it. It was only after it was destroyed that they realised what it was and lamented the wasted potential it held.

‘Huh…’

“Now, I know that we have both asked our two questions,” she addressed the golem, “But I have one last request to make. May I touch your core?”

“A peculiar request. Usually, I should assume you mean to harm me if you wish to be so close to my core, considering my role as an artificial Dungeon, but you don’t have the strength to break my metal shielding.” The golem’s voice was louder and made the room shake with power. The golem was much, much more powerful than its questions and interactions had suggested.

“I intend to initiate something like a spiritual bond through an intermediary,” she stated seriously. “With it, I will be able to communicate with you regardless of dimensional boundaries and what realm I am in. You can also receive any information I send you, and I can receive any information you send me too. And finally, this will allow you to see a realistic model of what the world outside looks like even when you are physically immobile due to your core.”

The golem didn’t hesitate. “I will let you touch my core, if this is what’s necessary for your plan to relocate me.”

She nodded. “It is.”

The room rumbled as one of the hundreds of metal pipes moved to position itself as a walkway between their platform and the core.

“Please begin. I want to see what the outside is like in this era.”

Lucy slowly walked forward with Scytale following her closely. She made it to the core, where she could feel the waves of dense mana brushing against her skin. Scytale shuddered as his beast senses detected the immense force. He inched back.

“I… think I’ll have to stay away for the moment, Lucy.”

“If you need to.” She looked over her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Amazing, actually. I’m just…” He swayed from side to side with his eyes closed. “Feeling a little sleepy…”

She reached down and pinched a feather to pull on and wake him up. “Turn into your human form.”

“Maybe… in a moment…”

“Scytale, I’m not hauling your ten-metre-long body away from the golem core,” Lucy stated flatly. “Turn back into your human form.”

“Ugh…” With the glow of golden light, he turned into a young boy sitting cross-legged on the ground. “Okay… I still feel it, but not as much…”

Lucy turned back to the core. “We’ll be out of here soon.” She unpeeled a black glove and placed her hand on the surface of the cool metal. The vibrating core trembled beneath her skin, with unimaginable amounts of force constantly cycling in the artificial heart. Lucille closed her eyes and activated her Omnipresent Soul Framework subskill of her Origin Skill as she infused spiritual energy into the core.

Her energy came in contact with the unusual soul within, forming a channel between its consciousness and the Simulacrum Realm. Both of their minds were taken into the blank space.

The golem’s consciousness showed itself as the same humanoid figure of its projection. Presumably, the male figure was the spirit body of the core. Without its domain senses to perceive the immaterial space around it, its eyes moved to observe the bleached realm.

“These senses… are… peculiar. And this place?”

“I have yet to obtain accurate data on how you perceive the world, so unfortunately you’ll have to rely on my perspective as a humanoid instead,” she replied with a smile. “As for this space, it is a private sector I control of the ‘spiritual realm’. The spiritual realm is an immaterial… strata of all Main Dimensions that contains and transfers spiritual energy, the power of the soul.”

“You said this would enable me to see what the new era is like?”

In response, she snapped her fingers. The golem’s eyes involuntarily widened as it took in the simulated paved ground and the multitude of buildings. Above their heads, a spectacular golden dome-shaped array spun, and in the distance, a massive mansion built of marble and gold stood above all other structures.

“As we aren’t physically on my current plane of residence, I can’t use my spiritual perception to synchronise the residents with this city and form models of ‘people’,” Lucy stated. “But this is a recreation of the Gilded Dome plane and its city, the Gilded Seat. That mansion in the distance is my organisation’s headquarters and my home.”

The golem didn’t immediately reply as it took in the view. Then it slowly turned to face her. “There is… so much I wish to ask.”

“I know. And I have a solution.” Another snap of her fingers caused the fake sun in the distance to start quickly moving across the sky. It disappeared under the horizon to be replaced by a moon, but then dawn came and with it, the sun arose. The simulation rapidly cycled through day and night.

Lucy smirked. “I’ve synched the simulation to the current time dilation of the Simulacrum realm. All I need is to accelerate our minds and we can discuss many things.”

“I am in… awe.” The golem stared at the sun and moon frequenting the sky and then turned to her. “I fear I don’t have enough knowledge of worth to be able to ask all my questions, however.”

“Then let’s check.” The world around them crumbled into small white crystals, which began to coalesce in the centre. They both watched as an immense tower formed in the centre and then rows upon rows of shelves spread out from its base.

Lucy gestured to it with both hands. “As the Simulacrum Realm uses the power of the mind, the quickest way to share information would be the mind, wouldn’t it?” she asked with a smile. “This is the first major construct of my Simulacrum Realm. It’s a work in progress, but it should be good enough for our purposes. I assume with a mind as ancient and unique as yours, you have plenty of ability to manipulate multiple thought paths, so…”

She walked over to an empty shelf and placed a hand on it. “You may retrieve as much knowledge from my ‘Database’ as you can transfer into it.”

“… ‘Database’?” Something about the word seemed to connect with the golem and it walked forward, then carefully placed a hand on the same shelf, as if it were cautious about how to move its body. “Then I will try to transfer and retrieve as much as I can before you go.”

“Not even by then. We can both access the Simulacrum Realm from whatever plane or realm we are within,” she added with a grin.

…

“We have escaped from the wacko Dungeon… golem… thing!” Scytale exclaimed as they left the archway, soaring into the sky with exuberance.

“I don’t understand what your problem with it is,” Lucy replied conversationally. “It’s far better than dealing with another mindless, irrationally hostile Dungeon core.”

“Well, yeah, but…” He considered and then looped back around to fly by her side. “Look, you know how I get with stuff that just doesn’t make sense. I’ve lived my whole life knowing that it’s impossible to control monster essence and then you just go ahead and casually shatter my worldview. I’d prefer if that didn’t have to happen every few weeks!”

Lucille narrowed her eyes at her bond. “So you’d rather live your life in ignorance for the rest of eternity?”

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“Yup,” he said, unabashed.

She rolled her eyes and checked the miniature hourglass in her necklace’s pendant. “Time to head back to Gilded Seat and explain to Vincent what exactly we just met. I’m sure he’ll be intrigued by the prospect of building a Dungeon city within the confines of the Dungeon as well as outside of it.”

“Sure, if you can convince him this M.C… whatever thing actually exists,” Scytale argued.

“I’ll make do.”

They spent another hour making the return trip through the city after Lucy had finally managed to climb to the top of the crater, and then once they had returned the timekeeping necklace and signed some paperwork, they were set to take a teleportation array to the Aeonic plane where they would then catch one back to Gilded Seat.

“Still, it’s good to see that you’re finally putting your Origin Skill to use,” Scytale brought up as they passed the multitude of mages on the Athenaeum’s origin plane. “It’s always felt to me like you have tons of ideas of how to use it but all of them require the Tower to be in a different time period than it is now.”

She nodded to her bond, who was riding on her shoulders. “I feel relatively safe sharing the Simulacrum Realm’s existence with the Dungeon golem because it is aware that if its existence becomes known, it might be locked up in the Athenaeum to be studied for the rest of time.” Lucy smirked. “Using the Simulacrum Realm to analyse all its properties is a far more efficient way to go about it.”

Scytale sent his agreement across the bond and then the conversation naturally came to a close. Once they were on a teleportation array and waiting for it to activate, he raised his head to look at her with his gold, slitted eyes. “And how is it going for you with your crewmates? Is everything going smoothly over there?”

Lucy paused to check the second conscious in her mind, which essentially felt to her like another one of her main thought strands. “Let’s just say… it could be going better right at this moment.”

“Huh…” Scytale went silent as he received her experiences from over in the Distorted Depths. Then he blinked when he felt her body stop moving for a second. “Lucy? Is something wrong?”

She watched the group of four people and their navy-haired member disappear into the crowd and then shook her head with a smile. “No, never mind.”

The teleportation array lit up with intensely violet light and began to send them across the Mystical Realm. The navy-haired figure looked back as the brown-haired member of his party talked about sleeping in a proper bed for the first time in a while.

“Marellen?” Roa said quizzically.

Marellen kept watching the empty teleportation for a few more minutes with a slight frown. “It’s… nothing. I just thought I saw someone I recognized.”

“Perhaps you are just tired,” Roa suggested. “It would be best for us to head to the Artificers and register these artifacts as soon as possible so that we may all take a well-deserved rest.”

“Oh… yeah… artifacts.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he followed after the others. “Registering those, yeah…”

----------------------------------------

“What are you… Captain!”

The curly-haired woman stormed along the ship deck, heading directly towards her cabin. A somewhat flustered Caspian ran after her when he noticed she was walking off.

“Captain? Captain!”

Adrianna continued to ignore him with a dark look on her face as she flung her cabin door open. She marched inside and yanked her gold-trimmed coat and hat off the hooks on the walls, then pulled them on.

“Captain Adrianna Riftmire!” Caspian said with exasperation as he arrived at her front door, slightly out of breath. “What exactly is going on? One second you were just standing beside me as we watched the others take the dinghies to the island and the next moment you were acting like someone had died!”

“Someone will be if I don’t act soon,” she stated curtly, taking her staff from the wall – a reward from the Commander after she had become a Captain. She walked back over to the door and gestured to her Vice Captain with a sharp tilt of the head. “Move.”

He stepped aside with a frustrated sigh and she stormed back out onto the deck slick with water. She arrived back on the forecastle deck where Zhang Mingxia, the other two men who accompanied her, Liliana, Silenis Vima and Maeva Winrich were present.

“Captain Riftmire, Vice Captain Wharifin… is something wrong?” Lilliana asked with worry. When Adrianna didn’t reply but only took out her spyglass to scan the island’s beach, she archer turned to Caspian. “The Captain looks angry.”

“Why the hell would I know?” Caspian muttered. “She doesn’t explain anything to anyone, let alone me. All she said was that someone might die soon.”

The other crewmembers’ eyes widened. “What?” Lillian asked.

They became startled when Adrianna suddenly collapsed her spyglass and put it back onto her belt. She turned to face them, her normally emotionless face solemn. “Baxtimer’s group entered the eastern side of the island and came in contact with the Scion’s strongest descendants.”

“You ordered them to avoid the eastern side, did you not?” Mingxia asked with confusion.

“I did,” Adrianna growled. “But some people don’t seem to believe me when I say they’re not strong enough to contend with those monsters. I never say things without a reason.” She faced the waters again with a slight frown and then handed her spyglass to Caspian. “Stay here and keep a watch out for when Griffin’s group returns. I’m going to retrieve Baxtimer’s group.”

“What?! But- alone?!” His eyes widened. “But Captain, what about the ship?!”

“The others will be enough to man it.” She marched over to the edge of the ship and held out her staff.

“Then… take me at least,” Caspian argued.

Adrianna let out a long sigh.

What is with his insistence on always coming with me? Is he not aware that his strengths lie in reconnaissance and information gathering?

“Can you fly, Caspian?” she stated blandly.

He blinked. “I… what?”

She pointed her staff at the ocean and with the cry and electrically-charged force of lightning, an illusionary monstrous sky eagle formed. “I said, can you fly?” she repeated.

Caspian hesitated as he eyed the eagle. “…no. But-”

“Then there is no ‘but’. I’m going alone.” She used an arm to jump over the edge of the ship onto the back of the eagle.

“Take Zhang Mingxia then!” Caspian yelled over the sound of the wind.

Adrianna gave her a dubious look. “Zhang Mingxia is a cultivator, a user of spiritual energy. Her effectiveness against monsters with mana is reduced and her strengths lie in reconnaissance at the moment like you.”

“So, we wouldn’t need two people who have perception abilities on this ship, would we?” he argued. “If you need someone who can fight, then she’ll be more useful than me.”

“Captain Riftmire, I wish to participate in the rescue mission,” Zhang Mingxia spoke up, approaching them from behind Caspian. “I am aware that the arts of my honoured Sect may not have as strong an effect as they would in the Heavenly Realm, but even so, please do not underestimate their capability.”

Adrianna frowned as she considered it. Zhang Mingxia walked up to the edge of the ship. “I was sent here by my Sect to become familiar with the other realms and their military capabilities. I wish to complete the role.”

Adrianna pinched her nose bridge and then waved at the Sect heir. “Fine. Jump on.”

The only reason she accepted was because Caspian looked like he was ready to jump if she declined. Now that she had accepted, Caspian gave a satisfied nod and backed off. “I’ll check with Arventiel to find out what she can spot from the bird’s nest. Good luck and stay safe, Zhang, Captain.”

Zhang Mingxia leapt over the edge and touched down on the eagle’s back. With perfect balance, she crouched down just behind Adrianna. “What will we do first, Captain?”

“First, we’ll fly around the eastern side to inspect the situation of Baxtimer’s group in greater detail,” Adrianna replied indifferently. Lightning crackled in the air around them as the eagle beat its wings and began to fly. She narrowed her eyes. “And then we’ll go see why Officer Griffin has directed his group to the eastern side too.”

…

“Captain, I can perceive Officer Baxtimer’s entourage,” Zhang Mingxia announced. She pointed her tasselled sword at the group of five below. “Officer Baxtimer, Baervad, Deirvetch, Zoc’uraghets and Leutia seem to be residing in a cave to escape the senses of the monsters.”

“I can see them too,” Adrianna replied. She frowned slightly when she noticed the condition of Wilden Leutia, the necromancer. “Leutia has a deep injury on his left shoulder, and the others have wounds of varying risk-levels too.” She clicked her tongue. “This is why I told them to stay back from the eastern side. Junem is with Griffin’s group.”

“But did you not state that Officer Griffin’s group is navigating towards the direction of the Azure Dragon too?” Mingxia stated. “Charlene Junem may be able to aid their recovery.”

“If Officer Griffin is heading towards the east of the island, it’s not because he knows they’re there and wants to save them,” Adrianna stated coldly.

Zhang Mingxia paused and observed Adrianna. “You appear certain of that.”

Adrianna didn’t reply and instead just crossed her arms. The two women fell silent as they watched the monsters search the tropical flora and terrain for the intruders.

“Will we retrieve Baxtimer’s group?” Mingxia finally asked.

Adrianna considered it and then turned to gaze at the cultivator.

Zhang Mingxia blinked. “Captain?”

“Officer Zhang, I will land on the beach below and give you the opportunity to lead Baxtimer’s group back to the Dawnlight,” Adrianna stated. “Due to Wilden Leutia’s dark-element affinity, Charlene Junem’s healing will be rendered ineffective. It will be safer for the group to be healed by Winrich when they return to the ship.” She turned back to observe the monsters. “I’ll stay here and watch Griffin’s group.”

“…will you be alright without me?” the Sect heir asked cautiously.

Adrianna gave her a dismissive wave. “I won’t need to participate in combat unless Griffin’s group lands themselves in trouble, or the monsters need to be distracted to stop them from following you.” She gave the cultivator a serious look. “If you do this well, then I’ll ignore your limitations regarding spiritual energy and consider placing you in a position of team leadership more frequently. It’s clear now that none of Baxtimer’s group can be trusted to lead effectively.”

Mingxia’s eyes widened and she gave Adrianna an Empire salute. “I… will try my best, Captain. Please let me attempt this mission.”

Adrianna directed the eagle construct with a gesture of her finger and the construct swooped down to the sandy ground. Zhang Mingxia leapt off and didn’t look back as she headed for the cave the others were in, using her spiritual senses to avoid all the monsters. Adrianna flew the eagle above the mountain base where Griffin, Charlene Junem, Dais Twyla and Catherine Sherwood were.

Is he seriously trying to obtain that water-element natural treasure from the ruins? What does he plan to do with it?

Win Caspian over? No, I don’t think Griffin is willing to fake being Caspian’s friend. Then is he trying to win Maeva over?

That was understandable. Maeva disliked Griffin quite a bit after his first few attention-seeking stunts and detested him by the end of their first two years together. But she was arguably the closest person in the past to Adrianna after Caspian, so it made sense he’d want to stay on her good side for now. In fact, out of all her crewmates… Maeva was the only one she visited once Adrianna had quit the navy. Even Caspian… Adrianna had avoided.

That was a mistake and something she severely regretted.

Her ponderings on Maeva Winrich brought to mind the strongest and most impactful memory she had of the woman – the second last time they had ever met.

………..

“So? What is it? Why did you request for us to visit?” she asked, still wearing the dark cloak she had returned from doing her underworld affairs in. She leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed as she observed the dark-blue-haired woman sitting by the bench.

Maeva Winrich raised her eyes from where she had been silently staring at the wood in front of her. “…Adrianna.”

“Hi, Maeva. I came, just like you said. What’s wrong?”

Maeva didn’t say anything at first, but then she got up from the chair and walked towards her. Then her pace sped up and the woman dashed forward to grab the front of her shirt.

“What have you done to my friend?!” Maeva hissed.

She gazed coldly down at the blue-haired and blue-eyed woman, whose grip trembled with rage.

“Telling me that he’s going to kill you and that you were to blame for everything-” Maeva’s eyes widened with distress. “I told you to help him, not… not…”

She took advantage of the woman’s lapse to rip the healer’s hands off of her clothes and shove her back. Maeva winced as her back hit the hard edge of the table and then froze as their eyes met level-to-level.

“Help him? Yes, you did tell me to do that,” she growled. “But you never told me that Caspian was this close to-” Something in her prevented her from letting the words slip out, and Maeva gazed at her with slight apprehension.

“Adrianna? Caspian was… what? What’s wrong with Caspian?” Maeva asked worriedly.

She shoved her former crewmate away and rubbed her eyes. “You don’t… know…” She shuddered as she took a deep breath and then sat down on a chair near the table. Her eyes strayed over to where she saw a half-empty bottle sitting and considered trying to use it, but gave up because she knew her Superior illusion affinity prevented her from getting intoxicated through magical substances.

She crossed her arms and leaned them on the bench. “…look, Maeva,” she began, her throat feeling dry. “When I entered his room, it was a mess. But worst of all was that he held a jagged shard of glass covered in his own blood in his fist. There was nobody else in the room. We can only guess what would’ve happened if I was a moment too late.”

Maeva’s face drained of colour and she shakily pulled up a seat next to her. “D-Does- i-is that his last one?”

She shot her former subordinate a darkly amused look. “Resurrections only activate when someone wants to live, Maeva.”

Maeva went silent and so did she. “What… are you going to do now?” Maeva eventually asked.

She sighed and tilted her head back to look at the roof. “Keep going and I hope he eventually finds something else to live for, I suppose. But he needs a second pillar now that I’ve chosen this path. Make sure you keep in contact with him, Maeva.”

“…Captain, you’ll break him,” Maeva whispered.

She smirked and stood up. “You can’t break what’s already broken. Why do you think I even lasted this long?”

Her former crewmate looked confused but she didn’t stop to explain herself and walked towards the door. “I’ll see you sometime… eventually. In case you urgently need to contact me, you can go through Ravimoux. I’m working with Regulus Ravimoux to follow up on some leads that may have something to do with the Distorted Depth’s… inhabitant.”

Maeva quickly stood up and followed her to the door. “Capt- I mean, Adrianna, wait up.”

She turned around to see her former crewmate.

“Adrianna, isn’t there any way we could change this?” Maeva pleaded. “Confess to Caspian and find some way to help him, or talk things out… all of the crew believed the rumours that you had finally died. Even I did until Caspian spoke to me.”

“…I don’t think so, Maeva. And even if there was another way…” She gave her a slightly strange, and bitter, smile. “I still would’ve chosen to do it like this.”

“…why?”

“It’s because…” She looked behind her and then turned back to her ex-subordinate one last time. “If I stay around anyone else I care about for any longer, you’ll all be hurt too.”

Maeva looked pained. “Captain… none of what happened was your fault.”

“…thank you, Maeva. But…” Her expression went cold. “I know whose fault this is. And I am going to kill him. You always wondered why I never got rid of him at the first chance I had, but that was because… I failed to kill him the first time. I wanted to ensure I did it correctly the next.”

Maeva stared at her, but then smiled bitterly and shook her head. “I’ll see you later, Captain.”

“Ex-Officer Winrich… stay safe,” she said. Then she turned around and didn’t look back to see the woman watching her go.

She pulled the hood of her cloak down and narrowed her eyes.

“I wonder if the Court of Ninety-Nine would know what a ‘Distorter’ is…”