Author Note:
Hi folks, how are you?
It's been a hard month for me. My wife's been hospitalized thrice just in July alone (please pray for her well being, if that's not too much to ask) and I had a car accident earlier this month (fortunately no one get injured).
On the bright side, some of you may have realized we've a new cover since one or two weeks ago. Thank you Bram for the great art ^^.
You can see the bigger size picture in his deviant art's gallery http://bramhistory.deviantart.com/art/Commission-248-Zolf2000-622626158
Okay, without further ado, here's the chapter. Hope you like it.
And, as usual, please tell me if you find any mistake. Thank you for reading and commenting ^^
----------------------------------------
“Ah, again? Oh well, I guess it’s not gonna work.”
*BOOM!*
I cleared the ground above with an explosion and had the coffin carriage emerged to the surface.
Until the moment, I had been imitating Arret’s underground transportation method, but it had too many problems. The most glaring one was the air within the coffin was very very limited, forcing me to go above resupplying the oxygen every so often. I had then tried to make a small air duct connected to the outside, and later an air ball covering my face, which both had helped albeit not enough.
And later, after I had entered the forest, I always ended up either being entangled in trees’ roots - just like now - or crashing animals’ burrows. I suppose it was because I had navigated my ride through the s-flies’ surveillances instead of underground sonar like Arret did.
Anyway, I deemed the method was unusable, at least for now. It, however, had reminded me of a subway train. Right, if it was in a wide and clear tunnel, both matters shouldn’t pose any problem. Fortunately, the worker gi-ants were digging tunnels to all three nearest towns already. In fact, the tunnel headed towards [Firzoa] almost made it way to the forest edge next to the town, although it was currently in postpone to let my reinforcement crawled through.
Still, those tunnels would need to be enlarged several times if I wanted a train that could carry me and my bigger creatures. At the moment, they could only fit up to the size of fierce rats and raptors. It shouldn’t be a problem if given time, and I had plenty of ideas already on what I want to do when going back and forth between the dungeon and the towns became easier. But of course, they had to wait.
Regardless, I set aside the thought and inhaled deeply as I exited the coffin, enjoying the fresh air and the freedom now I was out of the cramped box. Dispersing the stone box, I looked at the map in our link and confirmed my position.
(Hmm. It’s not too far to the dungeon, I guess I’ll just run there.)
Casting a wind buff to my legs, I started to dash towards the direction of my dungeon’s entrance. I had decided to follow Arret’s suggestion, to take my time making a good plan and not to rush, thus I was returning to the dungeon to prepare everything. I should still be able to catch up to Jiwa tomorrow as long as I could have my sky golem ready, when they would either be crossing the territory of [[Ruum Kingdom]] or entering [[Toa Kingdom]].
While I ran, I sent a wave of mana on the ground, testing my range limit one more time to supplement what I had found with similar tests earlier after Dava had left. Yet, this time it reached much further than the previous tests, before the wave abruptly lost most of its strength. Musing it carefully, I reached my conclusion.
(I see… so I was right.)
From the earlier tests, I concluded my magic could probably reach all the way to [[Dragora]] if I wanted to. Not that I would. Because, the mana cost would increase exponentially after a certain distance. This distance, which I called safe magic radius or just safe radius for short, was measured from wherever I cast the magic, either from the dungeon lord or main dungeon body, which each had separate safe radius.
Or so I had presumed, since
However, the latest test had proved my assumption. As I approached the dungeon, the dungeon lord’s safe radius had been overlapping with the main body’s radius. The mana wave just earlier had become significantly weaker only after reaching the border of my main body’s safe radius, thus, able to achieve much further than the previous tests.
(Let’s see… Whenever I’m within the dungeon’s safe magic radius, that would be my safe radius. But when I’m outside, it would be the dungeon lord’s safe radius instead. It shouldn’t be wrong to say that my dungeon lord serves as a relay of some sort outside the dungeon’s safe radius.
(If I could imitate the function and make a series of relay stations all the way to east, it would secure my sky golems’ supply of mana there, wouldn’t it?
(No, wait, if these relays expanded my safe radius until Jiwa’s location, can’t I just summon golems and cast magic on the spot there?
(... Nah. Considering the world war in my previous live, the advantage of aerial support in a battle isn’t something to argue. Investing the sky golems definitely has a merit in its own, even if just to pick father and bring him back here.
(Besides...)
I conjured an earth spike at the border of the safe radius, before made it disappear again.
(Yup, as expected, there’s a short delay. Although it’s barely noticeable at this point, it’s likely become more apparent as the distance widened. Like playing an online fighting game against a high level enemy with a lag, no thanks.)
I continued my run. Less than an hour later, I entered my claimed area. It meant, I could finally use the
“Welcome back, Master,” queen gi-ant greeted as I passed through the portal, to which I replied with a nod.
As I walked towards my gold-decorated stone throne, the gi-ant leader gave me her report. “Master, regarding the important task you’ve given me earlier, I’ve managed to break his mind. He’s completely under my control now and just finished his first meal a moment ago.”
“Oh?” I mused, opening the overview window. Indeed, the mana income rate from the man alone had increased slightly. Because he had refused to eat anything since I had captured him about a week ago, his condition had been worsening and in turn had been dwindling my income.
“But humans are so bothersome, they can only eat a cooked meat,” she complained and pouted.
“Good job, Queen,” I praised while taking my seat. “How did you pull that?”
“Fufu, I tried a different approach,” she hinted. Leaning forward, she licked her own lips and said in a low, sensual voice, “I deserve a reward, don’t I, Master?”
I smiled. “Of course, come here,” I said, pulling her onto my lap, before french-kissing the girl.
“Mmmmmh.”
She hungrily savored my lips and tongue, and I had to say I was enjoying the moment myself. It had been a while since I had a real kiss, after all. Though, she would probably go forever if I hadn’t separated our lips in the end, which she reluctantly complied.
“Thanks for your hard work, Queen. I’ll expect more of your good results in the future.”
“Yes, Master. Mmh, if I may suggest, we should capture more mages to cultivate mana from.”
I nodded. “We should be able to get several [[Dragora]]’s mages in the battle of [Firzoa], I’ll let you handle them when the time comes.”
“Ah, I was wondering, so that’s why Master agreed to help Fantastica…?”
“Well, of course mana is my main concern, I would be crazy if we’ve to keep skimping like now. No matter how I hate to admit, we’re too used to the easy income from Fantastica’s adventurers. But other than that, it can also serve as a stress reliever, particularly for Haz, as he seems to have built up some due to the lack of a real fight.
“Anyway, I’ve a new task for you. You know aunt Ehrisya, right? The red-haired woman whom I rescued?”
“The Red Wizard’s sister?”
I nodded. “Yes. Go to [Firzoa] and escort her back here, she’ll be temporarily staying in our home as a part of my agreement with Master Dava. Make sure you treat her with respect.”
“Okay…”
“Hmm. It may take a whole day just to get there by walking, though…,” I mumbled as I tried to think of a faster way.
“Don’t worry, Master,” she said while leaning forward. On her back grew two pairs of transparent wings. “I can fly just fine, although not as fast as Haz.”
“Great. You can go now,” I told, urging the ant-girl to get up from my lap. “Wait, you’re going to enter a human town, you need to dress up properly.”
Pouting, she asked, “Is that an order?”
“It is,” I replied, selecting suitable clothes from my item list. I chose a backless dress which originally belonged to a female merchant, probably, a pair of boots, and a hooded cloak, then materialized them on the floor.
The demoness couldn’t hide her dislikeness as she took her time to wear each of them, notably the cloak, as she made a small hole for the wings on its back with her acid first. “I’ll take my leave now. Do you mind if I bring along some safety insurance?” Queen asked when she had finished changing her clothes. Her perfect human appearance made her perfect for this task.
“No problem. And I’ll allow violence too as long it’s to protect yourself and aunt Ehrisya, but avoid killing other than [[Dragora]]’s soldiers if possible. Gaining trust of townspeople is important for my future plan.”
“Alright,” she replied and bowed while opening a portal next to her.
“Ah, a moment,” I called, remembering what I had forgotten. I then burned seven hundred something mana points to materialize the gold coins and their pouch in front of her. “Give it to Fantastica while you’re there. Also, tell your workers to expand the tunnels so a golem or a rattibul could pass through.”
“Understood,” she nodded. After taking the pouch, she went through the portal, which closed behind her afterward.
As she was gone from my view, I used the shared vision of s-flies within our link to check her departure. Four kneeling humanoids in armor were waiting her outside. Yet, I knew better those weren’t real armors, they were part of their exoskeleton bodies.
The expressionless humanoids were the newest variant of gi-ants, the royal knight, that had recently evolved from the half-man half-ant creature called knight gi-ant. Only four royal knight gi-ants existed thus far, acting as the personal guards of their queen. With them on board, there were five variants of gi-ants now, excluding the sub-variants: the queen, the royal knights, the knights, the soldiers, and the workers.
The four royal knights gi-ants stood up and one of them then handed a short spear to Queen, which I recognized as the boom spear - basically, a three-barrels shotgun with a bayonet on the tip - that I had made and granted to her after her utter defeat from Alveria. Thereafter, they spread out their transparent wings and took off in a flight formation. Needless to say, the queen position was in the middle, surrounded and protected by her guardians.
Being alone in my throne chamber, I turned my attention to the more pressing matter in hand, to build a series of relay stations as prerequisites to initiate an attack on Jiwa. Not before glancing to the dungeon overview, of course, to check how much mana I could spare. And I had to sigh, as only a bit more than 27,000 mana point was available.
(Ah, a week has passed and I’ve spent only the minimum amount all this time, and this is all I got?
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
(Well, at least most of the extinct creatures have been replaced and the ecosystem is working back. And they’ve been generating mana as well, so capturing and fast breeding them is worth the spend, I suppose.
(What’s not worth is the fight against Fantastica Executives! It’s too luxurious in my current condition, especially because I changed my race twice back then. Why did I do that?
(No, no, that’s not right. I gained a deadly spell
(Still, the current amount is too risky with the number of things I need to do.
(Let’s see… Right, if his physical condition has improved, maybe I can have him drink mana recovery potion periodically?)
Deciding on what to do, I opened a portal to level 3.5, which was a huge underground area beneath the level three where the gi-ants had made their nest. Actually, there were two more nests of my gi-ant colony, one was beneath the first level, thus level 1.5, and the other was beneath the dungeon entrance. It made queen gi-ant the boss with the most territories, compared to the dragonoid and the ratsassin who shared the forest room in level three.
In front of me, behind the jail bars, sat down a half-naked white haired old man. He was more scrawny than the last time I had seen him, his clothes were in a mess, and his eyes were dead. There was no trace of dignity of when he had first entered my dungeon about a week ago.
“How is he?” I asked the chained man’s condition to the soldier gi-ants guarding the cell.
Through our link, one of them sent a thought, replying.
I nodded, understood what the big ant was trying to tell, and then materialized ten mana recovery potions on the floor. As the light particles faded, through the same link I ordered them to make him drink one every an hour. One of them was taking a bottle with its strong mandibles when I went back to the still-opened portal, returning to my chamber.
Seeing the White Blizzard’s state left me a complicated feeling, however. Somehow, it reminded me of how Jiwa had been treating my father. I wondered if Tsalja would hunt me down just like I was hunting Jiwa if she ever know.
I shook my head. It wasn’t the time to get distracted and therefore I refocused on the matter in hand.
(The mana income rate is increased, but it doesn’t change the fact that only so much is available.
(Hmm. Is there no other way than that, to instantly increase my mana?
(... I guess I shouldn’t be picky with my method, I can always make more of them later.)
My consciousness left the dungeon lord into the dungeon view. Then, I traveled to the volcano room and continued deeper inside the volcano. Within the magma chamber, I found three infernos were bathing. Their cores were floating inside the magma. With a thought, I quickly killed one and absorbed it, raising my mana up by 10,000 points at once.
(Cool!)
I murdered the other two, one of them even gave me up to 12,000 mana points. Since I made them from normal golems and let them evolved naturally in the hot environment, this was a big harvest. It had taken a while for the golems to evolve into lava golems, almost the entire week plus a little push, but once they could absorb the heat, evolving into infernos hadn’t been that long. Now, with about 60,000 mana points in my possession, I was finally ready to start the relay stations project.
I thought for a moment. Based on what Halili had said, that there was a mana thread connecting the dungeon and the dungeon lord, I deemed I would need to establish a similar thread between the dungeon and the relays.
First, after my consciousness moving back into the dungeon lord, I used
With the first two towers ready, I created a round rock ball, to which I then inserted a monster core. Setting up the receiver was easy, the principle was similar to how I had set the stone pedestal or the weapons to absorb mana. Except, I lifted the absorption surface, making it to actively absorb from its surrounding. As for the transmitter function, it was like reverting the receiver process. Although focusing the released mana was a bit tricky, I managed after several tries.
(Done… Let’s give it a try.)
Opening a portal, I invited a giant bat to enter my chamber and handed the mana-transceiver orb, before opening another portal to the top of the first tower above my dungeon. The giant bat, after went through the new portal, then put it on the designated place and I moved the petal-like structure at the top to grip the orb.
Finished with that one, I created the second transceiver orb and opened a portal to the furthest allowed within the claimed dungeon area, as close as possible to the second tower, and sent the flying mammals with the orb through it. I even helped it flew faster with
(Alright, let’s start.)
I channeled the mana to the first orb. In the process, I realized it would be more efficient if I just made a path for it to follow, thus I made the first tower hollow. The stream of mana flowed faster through it and quickly gathered within the orb, then I directed the stream to the second orb.
(Good, they’re connected. Now I need to make sure my safe radius really expand.)
Fortunately, my next test showed that my safe radius did increase. Not as much as I had expected, but good enough for a prototype and, with that, the first phase was complete. Anyway, I commanded the bat to return to the dungeon.
The fact that my creature had to put the transceiver orb manually on top of my relay towers every time was troublesome, especially because they would only get further from the dungeon. However, I figured I could just install the orb later, with my creatures rode my aircrafts on the way. Thus, the second phase would be preparing planes.
Before that, however, I would need a big clearing for the runway. To achieve the required speed, a good runway was necessary. The lack of it was probably one of the reasons my first sky golem failed to take off. Too bad there was no place suitable for the role within the dungeon as of now, and therefore, I decided it was time to expand my dungeon.
I burned 100 mana points right away with
Then, to minimize the required mana, I enlarged the room with
Thereafter, I began reworking my elemental guardian. First, I reduced the material thickness while ensuring it would still be able to endure the heavy air pressure when flying. It took a lot of time, as I worked in details for every part, tested them with
I circled the sky golem once, double checked the shape of the wings as they were essential for lifting the plane, and ascertained the flaps, rudders, stabilizers, and other parts were working as intended. Even after all that, I still made another final check on everything.
(Good, the frame’s ready. Now the difficult engine part…)
After musing for a while, I started with detaching the pair of propulsion engines from the sky golem. Not in literal meaning, they were still attached there physically, although no longer part of the golem. Rather, I made them as an extension, like tools, which the golem still had an access and control over. It was so I could put a monster core to the engine without turning the golem into a real monster.
Inserting a core to the both engines, I set them as the energy source for each of the engine while actively absorbing mana from their surroundings. Unlike an aircraft from my previous live, my aircraft didn’t need a complex machinery or any motor to convert electricity into kinetic. In fact, it didn’t need electricity at all, as everything was mana-based.
I then had the golem started the engines, which, as far as I could see, was no different than when they had been part of the golem themselves. As the detachment was a success, the next step would be to increase their outputs.
Currently, the propulsion engine only consisted of a multi-stage fan all the way. I began with removing the later half of the fan. Then, to make the air flowed more fluidly, I would compress the air by shaping the passage to become more narrow as the air passed through. I also played with the fan blades’ shapes and angle positions to experiment for the best result. When I was done, it produced thrice stronger wind than the original propulsion engine had.
Afterward, I coated the whole inner parts of the engine with a vacuum, to prevent them melting from an extreme heat. Then, in the middle of the engine, following right after the fan compressor section, I changed it into a stove of some sort section using the engine’s core, which the golem could adjust up to the lava temperature. Of course, I had the elemental guardian tried it out when I finished, causing a loud whooshing noise along with a very strong blowing hot wind.
(Uwaah, impressive! Adding a gap of temperature was the right choice, the golem even has a hard time maintaining its position! And it wasn’t a full throttle yet?!)
The sky golem stopped the engine and corrected its standing position, as it had gone off track from turning only one of its two engines. In the meantime, I thought it was such a waste if I didn’t do anything to make use of the strong exhaust. Therefore, I added another layers of fan in the rear, behind the stove section, and connected them with a shaft to the previous multi-stage fan. Needless to say, I also coated the new parts with vacuum.
The idea was to rotate the rear fan using the energy from the strong exhaust, which would also help rotating the front fan and thus made a cycle. This way, the mana usage would be more efficient, as the sky golem only needed to maintain the heat in the stove section.
Finished with my version of jet engine, I worked on the other engine. Afterward, I filled both cores with mana for emergency reserve, just in case they couldn’t access my mana for whatever reason. With everything in place, it was finally time for a real flight test.
The golem restarted its engines, both of them. Reaching the wanted output, it released the break and started to run. It only took seconds to leave the ground, making the more than a kilometer long runway seemed unnecessarily redundant. Anyway, I opened a portal in the mid-air, allowing the stone bird to taste the night sky outside for the first time.
“Fly! Soar in the sky!” I yelled as I couldn’t hold my excitement.
Going several rounds, I deemed the test was enough and had it returned through another portal. After even the landing was perfect, I coudn’t help but to grin all the time.
(Alright. Just you wait Jiwa, I’m coming for you!)