A stream of polychromatic lights condensed in front of zeno, forming a miniature obelisk about 30 cm tall. It seemed to be made of black obsidian, with kaleidoscopic flecks scattered over every square centimeter of surface.

[dimensional obelisk (unique) level 3: a dimensional marker. Allows host to travel between dimensions, can map out other dimensions. Can absorb materials and creatures into space (creatures must be willing or incapacitated). Can change size by a factor of current level. Can be used as a tool for crafting, emulating forge of creation. Can be used as a focus to effect any construct to mind of the assemblage. Base damage equal to sum of attunement, strength, and primal chaos affinity stats. Obelisk will grow alongside dimension and host]

Zeno could finally return to the real world. It's been almost a week, a week where he has had no human contact. The only other “sentient” beings he has interacted with were his robots… Zenos was almost stunned into sile-

“FREEEEDOM!!!”

Well that lasted the whole of 5 seconds.

Using the obelisk to return to the real world, he saw an image of the inside of the cave and was asked if he would like to return. Of course he said yes almost immediately and began running back to the university, even if it would be a pain to explain himself to security. He discovered something groundbreaking, especially with how he gained such capabilities so quickly. Which, admittedly, would be annoying to explain to the guards, given that they’ll probably expect him to be some Ardian spy. Security has been getting tighter for the last few years after the incident at the border, but even the company of the guards is human company.

Along the way, he decided to experiment (read: play) with the dimensional obelisk. He found he could get it to float within 3 meters of him, and it could fly with a bit of speed. The absorption ability was what he found most interesting.

[soil absorbed, Poaceae(grass) absorbed. Grass or dirt floors unlocked]

Zeno instinctively knew that the next time he made another room, he could make it have a dirt floor with grass growing out of it rather than stone. Of course, he began collecting every little thing he saw, from random bushes, to large rocks, to small trees, and even a bit of water he found in a puddle. Zeno was certain that the next room he got was going to be a garden, given the biodiversity in the forest trail he found himself walking on.

Soon enough, he came across a small anthill, and tried to absorb the ants. He quickly found that he couldn't just absorb creatures, with most ants easily resisting the absorption, until one explorer actually went through and was absorbed.

[formica rufa worker absorbed, can now be spawned with genesis]

Zeno quickly released the ant back into the real world. Based on that message, he should be able to make clones of that ant using genesis. He tried creating one immediately, quickly running out of mana.

Temporarily returning to the pocket in order to replenish his stores, he tried spawning the ant again, spending an hour channeling mana for a single ant. He felt a strange connection with the ant, as if it was bound to him. Whatever he thought the ant did. If he willed it to walk in circles, it would walk in circles, if he willed it to climb up a wall, it climbed up a wall. It appeared that he could control whatever he created through genesis, which brought some pretty important questions with it, such as if he could create and control humans…

Something to think about some other time. For now, Zeno continued his path towards Aris university. Eventually he reached the gates, surprised to find what he could only call a pair of cybernetic zombies.

They looked like preserved patchwork corpses, pale and slightly bloated, but without any large bloody holes. Instead they seemed to be sewed together with several bodies and a bunch of wires and lights. One was quick to notice him, immediately bounding toward him, while the second one let out a guttural yell and drew a spiked mace that quickly began to emit a grey miasma.

Zeno found himself frozen. Ardia was known for their necromancy due to their alliance with the demon Orcus. They just had to sacrifice a few people every year and they gained the ability to create tireless workers and undying soldiers. Of course, with those undying soldiers, it was pretty tempting to attack nearby lands and take their people. Most of the time they just selected people from the lower stratum of their own society, supplementing their numbers with people kidnapped from smaller tribal communities. Of course a few years ago they attacked a border town and took a few people, though they were quickly retaliated against, wizards teleporting bombs right into their cities from miles away. It occurred to Zeno that they never recovered any of the people…

Zeno was only jolted out of his reverie as his obelisk slammed into the first zombie, easily piercing through center of mass before turning around to parry one of the strikes from the spiked mace and smash the offending zombie into the ground.

[level up x2!!!]

Zeno decided to quickly absorb both zombie corpses and get away, running into the trees before going back into his pocket dimension.

[automaton absorbed, constructs aligned with host now have increased vitality and strength]

It appeared that absorbing both zombies had an extra benefit besides getting rid of the evidence. Regardless, the fact of the matter was that the university seems to have been attacked. Zeno expected the army of Aris to come soon enough, but was still worried that they might arrive in time. Zeno’s parents and what little friends he had had to be at the university when the attack happened. Right now, he needed to find a way to get inside the city, and hopefully get everyone out.

At that moment, a single robot walked out of the workshop room, followed by its brethren. Zeno started hatching a plan…

Meanwhile, a balding middle-aged man surrounded by more of the cybernetic zombies approached the area the two zombies were guarding, finding no evidence of a fight beyond a few blood splatters on the ground.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Looks like we’ll need to push our schedule forward…”

Zeno was building weapons. Nuclear gunpowder bombs and cannons, runically cooled railguns, monowire “swords” enhanced for maximum rigidity with minimum width, and many others. He intended to equip his small mechanical army, and have them cause a distraction while he snuck through. He would try and find any survivors, teleporting them out while using the pocket dimensions as a transfer point. It took a couple days, but focusing on using genesis to cover as much of the crafting as possible while using emerging chaos ignition on industrial scale batches certainly speed up several things.

Looking back at the area he left, he found it was infested with zombies, probably placed to reinforce the area after what happened to the last two. Most worrisome was a zombified dire bear sniffing around. The thing was covered in ceramic armor plates, its paws seemingly replaced with bladed metal clubs, certainly capable of smashing any of the robots it could get within its reach. It would be difficult to hunt such a beast down…

Luckily, it is firmly in the area mapped out by his obelisk. Placing a around a hundred kilograms of nuclear gunpowder bombs directly under it with the fuze lit was enough to seal its face blasting bits of zombie bear and shrapnel all over the place, taking out a few nearby zombies as well.

Soon enough someone wearing a dark robe appeared at the scene of the explosion. Zeno probably could have gotten him as well, but decided to go a different route.

Using genesis, he quickly created materials for a simple gas mask, basically a cloth filter with goggles, along with a bunch of wood that create an irritating sap. Lighting the wood on fire with emerging chaos ignition caused it to begin spewing out thick clouds of irritating smoke, which Zeno used to fill the area around the zombies and the gate, quickly hiding away while the zombies were blinded and the wizard was probably hacking his lungs out.

Once inside, Zeno began releasing the robots. The tank and rover model were both equipped with a railgun turret, while the bipedal model was equipped with what was basically a pair of autocannons. The flyer was equipped with bombs, meant to hit beefier targets, while the first robot he made was equipped with twin monowire swords, using magic to heat them until they glowed white hot like an incandescent light bulb.

Most of the robots began to fan out and cause as much chaos as possible, with simple orders to kick ass and try to rescue people. The city looked similar to what Zeno read about old battlefields before the end of the world. Black smudges, buildings crumbling apart, the occasional corpse. The difference was that the black smudges were more like tarry goop than soot from bomb blasts, the buildings looked more like they were melted away rather than demolished, and the corpses were still moving. Zeno tried to absorb anything he could find, from rubble to vehicles, while the robot bodyguard cut down any zombies along the way.

Eventually, they came to a white tarp tent, filled with several crates, an operating table and several gallons of embalming fluid. Zeno hoped this was just a station for zombie maintenance while the absorbed everything in the tent, from the bed to the boxes filled with wires and strange devices.

[system detected device: dead-wired heart. Device can be integrated with constructs affiliated to host, increasing strength and vitality. integrating now]

Wires suddenly started growing out of Zeno’s robot bodyguard, wrapping around and holding it together. The wires seemed almost alive in how they moved, as if they were actually muscle and blood rather than cold steel and copper.

Disregarding the fortuitous upgrade, unfortunately those crates weren't the only thing in the tent. The back area of the tent was covered in cages holding human hostages. Zeno recognized a few old men and women who taught at the university, as well as a few students and workers from the surrounding area. Of course, this was a perfect opportunity to strike something off the bucket list.

“Come with me if you want to live”

“Boy, I was around since before that movie came out”

“Do you want to leave or not?”

Even though one of the older professors called him out on his little joke, Zeno still managed to quickly move them out to the area near the cave out where he first discovered the pocket dimension along with some food, them only passing through the pocket dimension for a few milliseconds. That's about 8 down, god knows how many to go.

“Those are some interesting toys you got kid”

Zeno turned around and faced the uninvited guest. He looked like the zombies, but twice as big, and notably more alive. He still had the wires crisscrossing his body like a shoddy stitch job on someone who just went through a meat grinder, but his eyes certainly carried much more intelligence than the zombies did. He was holding a large battle axe with a crescent shaped blade spitting out smoke from the back end like some diesel fire.

“I'm going to have a lot of fun tearing them apart”

The giant lunged at Zeno, being blocked by his robot bodyguard. The robot used its burning hot swords. Clear burn marks could be seen on the blade and the haft of the axe as the robot reared up on its hind legs and pushed the giant back. Hell, at this rate Zeno would have the give the robot a name given how well it was doing.

“Oh, so this pile of scrap in waiting thinks it's a tough one ey?”

The giant leapt again, this time striking at the robot while smoke jetted out of the rear end of the axe. The robot caught the axe in a scissoring motion while trying to deflect it away, avoiding a brute strength confrontation by rolling back. Striking again and again, the giant slowly began guiding the robot into a corner, taking advantage of its inexperience with combat to leave it nowhere to run.

The axe suddenly burst out in a massive gout of smoke, thrusting it down onto the robots guard. The giant knew that this strike could cleave the bot in two, leaving the boy defenseless. Soon the axe fell upon the guard like a thunderous avalanche, only for the haft to be cut clean through.

Even when the robot could have easily dodged the giants strikes perfectly, it chose to block and deflect. This wasn't due to inexperience, but rather the result. Each time the blade made contact with the haft, it cut through more and more, eventually reaching the point where the haft gave out completely.

The giant, suddenly and unexpectedly disarmed, had no response to the robot thrusting both blades into his chest while the obelisk came down from on top.

[level up x3!!!]

Zeno looked at the robot thoughtfully as he fled the scene after absorbing the corpse and broken axe. At this point the robot deserved a name, not only because it arguably saved his life, but because it was the first robot he built.

“Prime, your name is prime now”

Prime fundamentally meant the first, which the robot was. It would certainly be more convenient than calling it “the robot” at the very least.

Soon enough Zeno and prime hacked and slashed their way to the university proper. There, they faced a small battalion of those same giants, as well as tens of black robed necromancers.

“Welp. we are horribly outnumbered and outmatched…”

Looks like they found the enemies forward operating base, along with most of the enemy. Zeno proceeded to order all of the robots to converge on his position, while he circled the area looking for more of those tents. By the end of the hour most robots were badly damaged, though each was recovered along with about 500 more people across 10’s of tents. Of course, that was still only a fraction of the people in the town when it was taken, with most of them probably being held in the enemy base.

Zeno moved out back into the woods, hoping to find something to help him.