Alistair directly dialed the second trial world, unsure what to expect. He was glad he had found at least something of worth in the caves, as wandering through pitch-black caves for hours wasn't exactly exciting. As he stepped through the portal, he hoped the next trial world would be more exciting to explore.
Emerging from the darkness into another dimly lit room, Alistair furrowed his brow as he surveyed his surroundings. Unlike the previous cave-like environments, this room was angular and constructed of magically reinforced concrete, and he could not sense any dungeons. In front of him stood a closed metal door, prompting him to place a light crystal in the center of the room. The air felt dry and dusty, and he could discern a metal table and chair in one corner. Pillars with bands between them, reminiscent of those seen at airport boarding gates, formed a queue leading up to the gate.
"Now, this looks more promising. There might be some tech here if they had a gate station like this," Alistair remarked, surveying the room. He noticed there were emplacements for light sources in the walls and ceiling, though they lacked power. As he approached the door, he heard a distant explosion, followed shortly by the shaking of the earth.
As Alistair pushed open the heavy metal door, a set of stairs emerged before him, leading upward toward a soft, beckoning light. Climbing the steps, he emerged onto the surface to find himself amidst the ruins of a concrete structure, its walls scarred by the telltale marks of explosions. Above him, two suns cast their brilliant light across the sky, though less dry than the bunker below, still held a noticeable humidity. The distant echoes of explosions reverberated through the landscape, accompanied by the incessant buzzing of insects. Flying above the shattered bunker remnants, Alistair surveyed the scene below: a city in ruins, consumed by chaos. Explosions illuminated the skyline, mingling with streaks of laser fire, projectiles, and missiles streaking across the sky.
Alistair surveyed the landscape, witnessing the intense battles unfolding between machines, their clashes reverberating through the air. In the distance, he spotted outposts nestled within dense forests, while soaring higher revealed the vast expanse of a distant sea. Most of the landmass appeared to range from temperate to arid, punctuated by deep green forests and rolling hills. Surprisingly, many of the trees bore a familiar resemblance to pines and cedars, while the grasses below were a comforting shade of green. Scars of battle and partially burned forests dotted the land, with more cities and flashes of conflict visible in the distance.
"Jackpot," Alistair exclaimed with a wide grin.
He understood that while the likelihood of finding plans and blueprints was slim compared to exploring dungeons, capturing and reverse-engineering the war machines present would still provide a significant advantage to his brother's efforts and, in turn, their clan's. He felt much more comfortable fighting through machines rather than wendigos in a dark cave.
"Hey, James, check out my view," Alistair said with a smirk as he shared his vision with James over the link.
He could hear excited cheering over the link, and he could feel his brother sharing his vision with others, whom he presumed were their mother and Jessica.
"That's awesome, Alistair; please fetch me one of those missile launcher robots. Riseth has some blueprints for improvised weaponry, but a proper missile and launching system with intact magic circuits and a power source would go a long way towards letting me work out the functions of magic tech. No offense, but the sentries you brought were ancient and more magic than tech."
James then delved into a flurry of technical details that went over Alistair's head. He expressed his disappointment with the simplicity of the sentries compared to the potential advancements made possible by incorporating magic with technology.
"Robotics, cybernetics, and figuring out storage cubes. You sure have your hands full," Alistair commented.
"You're the last person who should lecture me on juggling too many tasks. You and the demon sisters are perpetually busy with something. I can barely keep track of what you guys are doing. Right now, Nessyra is hashing out a contribution-based exchange program with other factions, and god knows what other projects she got going." James said over the link.
"I am starting to see why Neshaan culture encouraged so many parties. What do you mean by contribution-based exchange program?" Alistair inquired as he mapped out the visible area.
James explained that the knowledge of the looming threat from beyond their universe has spread. This made many of the factions more open to the idea of exchanging technical know-how and magical techniques in exchange for something of equal value. This new arrangement would allow James to trade his knowledge of cybernetic hands for other technical expertise of similar value. Nessyra was among those involved in developing the contractual magic underpinning the exchange program. When he told James about the mithril vein, he was much more excited than Nessyra. He said mithril was great for magical circuitry and was much better than the silver he had been using.
After hearing this, Alistair raised his eyebrow; he should perhaps talk to Nessyra to watch her health a bit. Her burning out would be catastrophic. WHAM! Alistair was rudely taken out of his musings as a long-range kinetic bullet struck him. He had been hovering over a battlefield for a while; his [Kinetic Skinguard] had caught the shot and sent it out in a massive shockwave as Alistair dashed toward the ground, glancing into the direction of the shot. He had lost a decent chunk of [Qi] and could hear the panicked voices over the link.
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"I'm fine. I was preoccupied with scanning and mapping my surroundings. I didn't anticipate the automata would take notice of me from this distance," Alistair reassured them as another shot whizzed past him. Barely dodging it with his [Temporal Combat Reflexes], he reached a rock outcrop to seek cover, closing the link. Despite his increased [Senses], he hadn't managed to spot his attacker.
"Probably a damn sniper; good thing I have an automatic defense skill, or that would have torn a chunk out of me..." He grimaced.
Alistair hunkered there for a moment before peeking while using the light manipulation to turn his head invisible. Even when actively using [Conceptual Awareness], he could not spot anything as it was out of range. Alistair uprooted a big bulbous plant growing beside the rock formation. He would not wait out a robot sniper. Instead, he would try to lure it out.
Alistair peeked again before throwing the plant, baiting a reaction that he got as the bulbous plant exploded. He had not seen a muzzle flash, and the shot was too fast, but he had felt the surge in magic and dashed while using [Blink] to close the gap. Another shot flew at Alistair at close range, though with his boosting skill and [Blink], he managed to dodge it and reach his attacker, blending into the environment with the aid of a tarp that perfectly mimicked its surroundings.
Alistair used [Identify] to reveal it as a [Nugan Sniper - lvl 40]. The Robot had a humanoid shape with a sleek and angular design and a low profile to minimize its visibility and make it easier to blend into the environment. Its skeleton was painted in a muted brown and green color with a matte finish that seemed to absorb light instead of reflecting it. It was hugging a large rifle with arcane circuitry all over it, and it had the same color as the robot. Without the short but intense magic surges of the rifle, he would not have been able to find the sniper before it was too late.
Alistair stepped on the rifle to prevent it from being used again before kicking the lying-down robot in the head, forcing it to let go of the rifle and tumble through the underbrush. Alistair stored the rifle in his inventory as he teleported on top of the machine again, pinning it to the ground with his body. It struggled and kicked him as its legs spun around, spikes shooting out of the soles of its feet. It started rapidly hacking into Alistair's back. The damage was easily directed into the ground as the machine's threat stemmed from its weapon. Alistair forced open the plating to where he sensed the magical power source, which turned out to be a white crystal that looked like it was in a battery case. He plucked the crystal out, and the machine went limp.
Alistair's attack slightly tore the camouflage tarp, but he suspected it was not hard to repair and still usable. He stored it along with the sniper's body in his storage. When he checked the combat log, it said defeated, not slain. Alistair presumed if he were to put the crystal back in, it would spring back to life, yet he could store the robot with no issue. He inspected the crystal with [Identify] which spat out [Storage Crystal], but the result was not helpful. Still, he suspected he could use it to gain storage essences, although he suspected his brother and Riseth would both have a better use for it.
"I wish my Identify would work on things other than opponents," Alistair muttered as he stored the crystal.
He had gotten much closer to the urban battlefield on a forested hill and could spot the occasional drone scouting the surroundings. Alistair pulled out the tarp to stay low for the moment as he took stock of his situation. He was quite confident the sniper was a specialized unit. The sniper itself was weak, but its weapon was not. It was still a tier 10 weapon made of cheap materials but advanced techniques. If there were millions or even billions of machines with equivalent weapons coming, even a higher-tier fighting force would be doomed. Sol had the right idea to create defensive, magically reinforced positions.
Alistair's musings were abruptly interrupted as a bus-sized flying craft closed in on his position. It looked to use magic to levitate as it lacked wings, and Alistair could sense a magic engine in the center of the craft even from this distance. Unlike the sniper, the craft put little stock in stealth. It was slightly rectangular, yet it had bulbous and rounded flanks with intakes at the front; Alistair was unsure why it would need those, as the craft did not seem to use conventional propulsion. A lettered decal was translated into N3A4Z32 in bold yellow on the ship's convex part. The craft itself was painted a matte black. It had some slug throwers mounted on the sides and other pipe-like openings at the bottom.
Alistair repositioned himself as stealthy as he could behind nearby trees and undergrowth. The craft was quite fast, and his identity only showed it as [Hover Craft]. It came to a rather abrupt halt above the sniper's former position as black orbs were shot out of tubes at the bottom of the craft. Once the orbs hit the ground, their storage magic unfolded, releasing a war machine each. Around a dozen heavily armed robots formed a circle, most carrying what Alistair recognized as plasma rifles due to their abundance of glowy bits. Others had a wide assortment of small arms that were built into their bodies, like shoulder-mounted single-use missiles and minigun arms. [Identify] revealed them to be various variations of [Nugan Troopers] [Nugan Recon] [Nugan Heavy Trooper], and their levels ranged from 38 to 45.
The first thing Alistair noticed was the lack of an obvious leader and that most of the troopers radiated magic, unlike the sniper. Alistair presumed they did not sustain themselves on storage crystals and had small mana engines instead, which meant the sniper and its equipment were a potentially valuable catch. With the exception of the heavy troopers, all were bipedal humanoids, much like the sniper, though their coloration was black with yellow decals similar to the hovercraft. The heavy troopers boasted two thick, retrograde legs that supported their massive bodies. Surprisingly, despite their bulk, they moved with remarkable speed and agility. They had the same decal as the troopers. The Recon had better camouflaged armor platings but were lighter and carried light plasma rifles. They carried a pack of what Alistair presumed were grenades and sapper charges, and one carried a backpack with many sensors and antennae on it.
Their arrival was not uncontested. Eight missiles struck the transport hovercraft. Six of them were blocked by a barrier protecting the craft, but the sixth missile smashed the barrier as magical hexagons scattered and flickered out of existence. The following two missiles tore chunks out of the craft, throwing it off course and causing it to crash. This forced both Alistair and the robots to run for the hills as the bus-sized craft came crashing down. Alistair managed to stay hidden, but most of the robots did not. Some of them got crushed under the craft, while others exchanged fire with other robots attacking them from the urban sprawl below.