So the following encounter was even more awkward than you would suspect. The woman who I managed to coax a name out of revealed her name as Eve, but strangely, she seemed just as attracted to me as Lilith had. I... Eventually managed to get away from her, so I could return to my mission to avenge Lady Darkrose.

  I began my quest by confirming no one had claimed the reward on the bounty set on the necromancer in the tundra, and then I prepared to make my way back to the lifeless land.

  Before setting off I decided to finally visit my parents and to tell them about Dash…. It was not easy for me but Luseal helped me muster up the courage and willpower finally to do it, and thankfully my parents never blamed me. I decided not to tell them about my vampirism though. At least not yet.

  My parents convinced me to stay in the village for a while, and after a few days Beth showed up. She had received word from her father that she was to begin to share her peoples steam tech with the rest of the world. But it was to be discrete, maybe I should stress just how discrete. We were only to discuss the deliberate dissemination of the technology entirely within our royal workshops, but the dwarven king also required that the steam-tech only be shared “accidentally”. He sent some of his best engineers to work from within my workshop and train Dipshit and his little goblin friends in their trade. The goblin's knowledge of intricate clockwork unsurprisingly helped improve on some of the dwarve's concepts. Beth also seemed quite smitten with me while in my company but she never spent very much time in my presence.

  We used what remained of my clockwork-horse to begin work on a steam-powered horse as an educational activity. Once some of the lower rank personnel had a grasp on the basics they left the bustling dimension of Sanctuary and returned to my workshop in the real world. They began putting their new education to work by improving the workshop. As they improved the real world workshop, those of us inside my royal plane witnessed what can only be described as the mutation of my forge. Perhaps it could also be described as a growth? Or maybe even a development, but regardless; It changed.

  I guess I can try to describe all the new devices and mechanisms that appeared over the following days, but it was nothing short of miraculous. There was casting equipment, heavy duty machining equipment, all kinds of smaller precision tools and accessories. My workshop, Sanctuary, seemed to provide for those who made use of it. People were able to remove tools from the workshop and replacements would be provided as their respective workstations. The overall amount of work being done within Sanctuary seemed to effect the yield of our fields, regardless of where the effort had actually been applied. It appeared as if the more people who were passionate about their trade-skills that were present in my pocket dimension, the better the entire area felt; and the resistant force that prevented us from moving too far beyond the entranceway also seemed to diminish, allowing us to expand further into the surrounding grasslands.

The next phase was to display our innovations as “independent inventions”, serving the dual purpose of sharing the concepts involved with the world, and also diluting the source of the advancements. I established the Hellsing Corp. brand and logo, applying it to my latest mechanical mount. The Hellsing Steed Mark. II! (I don’t know, I never really named the thing hah). Then I rode across the land showing off the incredible machine.

  The latest model was far more capable. But with more capability comes the requirement for more energy. Thankfully we have improved methods of storing energy, releasing that energy, and finally harnessing it. The dwarves had the convenience of both access to practically limitless water, and the heat of the deep mountain to both guide them, and to provide for them. My steed however required more concentrated energy sources, we were able to assemble a remarkably efficient machine by improving on the original spring loaded design to harness the energy of combustibles.

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  Maybe you already saw this coming, but I was finally able to run my horse as a functional portable forge, granting me access to Sanctuary as long as the forge was hot. For fuel we experimented with many types of chemicals, and magic and came up with several solutions. We created fuel pellets with coals, and liquid fuels like some kind of heavy metal horse feed. And we developed some spells and runes to empower the combustion chamber with mana, and even run it using mana alone for short periods of time.

  I zig-zagged across the land spreading kobold/goblin/&dwarven craftsmen from my workshop to villages across the land making my way back up north. My journey was long, lonesome, and uneventful. I traveled across the human kingdom of Denisea, and to the dwarven mountain continent, back across the narrow sea and eventually found my way into the orc infested territory; where I had lost Lady Darkrose.

  I arrived back at the canyon where I had last seen her. Many months had passed, perhaps years; since the last time I had been here. I located the cave opening almost expecting to see her lifeless body, laying in the same position I had last seen her in…. I quickly walked past the now-empty passageway and made my way to where the strange crystal doors had been. Upon arriving I found the doors ajar, and the chamber beyond was empty and abandoned. I had no clues except for the strange blue glass created by the weapon the necromancer had wielded. So I set forth several messengers carrying samples to the greatest artisans of Hellsing Corp. using my steed to access Sanctuary and the anchor point, my home forge back in my home village.

  Next I decided to investigate the Orcs to the north. I headed directly toward where I knew the smart orcs had been concentrating their numbers. I eventually came to some kind of a makeshift fortress built around a crater. I decided just to charge in and find out what the hell they were protecting.

  I figured if they had any organisation at all then their scouts already spotted me and my best bet was to charge in right away. The crater had a gradual slope leading to the main gate at the north-west of the fort, but I approached from the south and spotted a less fortified infiltration point closer by.

  So I crashed through some flimsy barriers with my mecha-steed and prepared for a fight. I could see another structure closer to the centre of the keep and decided to get closer. I rushed in, feeling the familiar rush of adrenaline and sharpening of senses. I found some high-ground near the central structure and finally got a glimpse within. I could see a glowing light, wrapped in crystal, encased in steel. I could make out a humanoid shape near the very centre. So I leapt from my steed to the central construct and dropped inside.

  I landed on a solid metal platform, and the pillar housing the humanoid form was riddled with strange tablets with unrecognisable texts shifting across their surfaces. And inside was another orc, but an orc with incredible armaments that seemed to be fused into its very flesh. The strangest thing was that the creature inside seemed to be trapped, almost like he was frozen in time. I felt the surface of his containment vessel and then struck it with my fist. And finally I prepared Lilith, my katana; And leaving her within the enhanced sheath that Lady Darkrose had crafted, I struck the barrier and nothing happened. This was perhaps the most solid material I had ever encountered, then it hit me. This was the source of the crater. So I grabbed and pried at the devices attached to the structure until one came free. The lights seemed to dim and many of the text filled surfaces changed and began to flash red, or turned to black/yellow diagonal stripes.

  I decided not to try my luck any longer and began to climb back out of the top of the central structure. Once atop the structure I could see the orcs had formed a circle around me, and had been watching the entire time. They seemed to notice the commotion and were not happy about it. I crouched and invoked Luseal to assist in a leap up to where I had left my robo-horse and empowered its heart of fire using my mana. Then I began to ride the horse swiftly back out of the opening I had used to enter the stronghold. Many of the orcs moved to block my escape, so I readied a powder-horn and “fed” my constructed stallion some potent heat producing substances, further increasing its stride. I was able to reach my exit before it was impeded, but the orcs predictably began to fire arrows at me. So I poured a wineskin full of liquid fuel down my mechanised mount’s throat and it nearly doubled its speed, I think this was the fastest I had ever travelled. It was exhilarating!