And so the group prepared themselves for the trip. Lafrenia and the other attendants of the villa prepared supplies, as well as some basic weapons for Ateia and Taog. Colleöne had returned to her old woman disguise. The group, including 00B, now gathered to plan their route. Colleöne was muttering, seemingly to herself, before she nodded and turned to face the others.
“I believe it is time. If I may make a suggestion on the travel method, NSLICE-00P may wish to check her status now. Well, if someone actually managed to finish even a fraction of her work, that is.”
“Affirmative.”
NSLICE-00P checked and found some new notifications.
Ugh, you suck Colleöne! Is it too much to ask not to be rushed when handling AN ENTIRE MATERIAL PLANE?! Well, whatever, this should be good enough for now. Feats smeats, I’d very much prefer if no one else did something like this ever again so I’ll figure that out later…maybe.
At that moment NSLICE-00P detected a stream of Holy mana enter into her core from beyond the boundary of the universe. A new notification appeared on her screen, this time from her own UI.
New planetary core detected, new core is requesting sync with Geo-Oscillator Engine. Proceed?
Her robotic eye began flickering rapidly. This was an unprecedented situation. A planetary core was requesting a sync with her Geo-Oscillator Engine?
She didn’t know how that could be physically possible, so it had to involve mana and the foreign system. Colleöne smiled wryly at her.
“You, um, threw us for a bit of a loop with the new Material Plane you created. But we believe we have a solution. If you attune your core to this new plane, you will gain access to it once more. I believe you’ll find it to your benefit to do so.”
“Query: Will sync to the new planetary core impact current sync and mana-generation features?”
Colleöne shook her head.
“Dungeons and dungeon cores exist in the boundary between the Source and the Material Plane, acting as the bridge between both. So your connection to the Source will not be impacted.”
NSLICE-00P analyzed this assertion. Imperial records didn’t fully match that assertion, but were themselves divided on the subject of dungeons and so couldn’t be used to confirm or deny Colleöne’s claims. NSLICE-00P's own observations were not directly relevant, again given the unprecedented nature of a second planetary core both existing in range of the first and proactively requesting a sync.
On the one hand, there was some risk. If syncing to the current planetary core, or the Source as Colleöne claimed, had caused her Geo-Oscillator Engine to produce mana and adopt the capabilities of a dungeon core, then the possibility existed that other planetary cores could cause unexpected side effects as well.
On the other hand, as long as the side effects did not result in instant termination or loss of control over the Geo-Oscillator Engine, NSLICE-00P could always shut it off and re-sync it back to the Source. Colleöne did not appear to be lying, though the Aesdes's claimed and observed non-standard nature made NSLICE-00P doubt the efficacy of her body-language analysis on the woman. But Colleöne had been helpful so far, and would not need to resort to such duplicity to enforce her will on NSLICE-00P if she so chose.
Ultimately, the sync request was a non-standard anomaly that a cordial entity was vouching for. NSLICE-00P decided that she would investigate. She made sure to record as much data as she could on her current sync with the Source in case she needed to reestablish that connection, and then approved the sync.
“Connection established. Foreign system offering administrator privileges. Establishing control, standby…”
Core: Geo-Oscillator Engine synced with core: Heart of the New World!
Max Dungeon Mana increased by 1000!
Rooms feature unlocked!
Rooms feature converted to World Feature
Additional features unlocked as I figure them out, show some patience, ok?!
Fortunately, Colleöne had spoken the truth. NSLICE-00P’s Geo-Oscillator Engine somehow calibrated itself to the new core while maintaining its connection to the Source. In fact, from the initial data it appeared that the connection had extended into a circuit, with mana now flowing in a loop between the Source and the new core, with the Geo-Oscillator Engine in the center.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
It was a phenomena that the Geo-Oscillator Engine had never been designed for, one that had never even been theorized by its creator. But, the initial feedback indicated that the Engine’s efficiency had not been impacted negatively, so NSLICE-00P let the connection settle into place.
“Whoa!”
Ateia grabbed her sides and began trembling. Her body began to glow with a flickering light. Colleöne placed a hand on her shoulder and the light stabilized.
“That…was weird.”
Colleöne nodded.
“You are connected to NSLICE-00P, and she just took ownership of a new Material Plane. Your connection shifted from this plane of Aelea to the new world as well.”
Colleöne then turned back to NSLICE-00P.
“There is much to discuss but the important thing for now is that you have access to that new Material Plane via your dungeon core. It should be possible for you to create an entrance now. Do note that as your own core is not as tightly anchored to the world of Aelea you will not be able to return to this location once you pass over, a necessary drawback to allow your core to travel between the worlds. However, you will be able to create connections between your world and any subordinate dungeons you possess, so as long as you have at least one on Aelea you will not need to manually open an entrance as you did before. And in this case, I believe that would be the most convenient method to reach our destination.”
NSLICE-00P attempted to analyze the new connection in order to verify these words. She could now perceive the barren rock she had once found herself trapped upon, appearing in her UI like the Otter Burrow. She likewise noted some new additions to the foreign system UI:
World Menu Create Rooms Manage Rooms Manage Entrances
Manage Rooms
Name Description Stone Platform A featureless rock floating in the void.
Manage Entrances
Option Cost Open Entrance - Hero Dungeon (Note that this entrance will close automatically if the Hero Dungeon Core passes through) 300 mana to open Add Entrance - Otter Burrow 20 perk points
These additions seemed to corroborate Colleöne’s words. NSLICE-00P had points to spare so she went ahead and added the entrance to the Otter Burrow. A new UI appeared displaying the layout of the stone platform. She designated a location on the edge of the rock, and then a UI appeared showing the current Otter Burrow. For now she placed the entrance to the side of the Otter Burrow core room. She could perceive stone archways rising from the ground in both locations, each covered in countless geometric shapes. Mana began to flow through it, and vortexes appeared between the arches.
Two Dobhar standing guard in the Otter Burrow core room jumped and carefully approached the arches with spears raised.
She sent a command to NSLICE Uscfrea.
“It shall be done, My Queen.”
A moment later the two guards relaxed. One of them took a deep breath and poked a spear through the gateway. When it came back in one piece, he stuck a paw inside. After pulling the paw back unharmed, he took a deep breath and stepped through.
The Dobhar walked through the arch and onto the empty rock. He blinked and glanced around for a few moments before gulping and stepping back through.
“Testing Results: This unit has successfully established and verified a connection between subordinate dungeons. Preparing to test connection between the Heart of the World and Geo-Oscillator Engine.”
Colleöne nodded and smiled.
“Excellent, it seems someone actually did their work, then. But, if I may make a suggestion, perhaps we should depart from the villa before you open the next entrance? It may surprise your hosts if we vanish without a trace.”
“Affirmative.”
With that, NSLICE-00P and the others bid farewell to Lafrenia and Consul Hiberius’s knights. Sir Julianus wanted to escort the group on their journey but NSLICE-00P turned him down. The group made their way down the road for an hour before they came to a small grove. They stepped into the grove and then Colleöne created another privacy barrier. She nodded at NSLICE-00P.
NSLICE-00P attempted to open an entrance between herself and the new world.
A swirling vortex appeared in the air. All the others just stared at it.
“Statement: Warning by the foreign system indicates the entrance will close when this unit enters it. All friendlies should enter at this time.”
00B grunted his acknowledgement and then stepped through. Colleöne nodded as the others glanced at one another.
“That is correct. All of you should pass through now. I shall meet you on the other side, as my presence in such a nascent world may impact its nature.”
Estrith saluted to NSLICE-00P and then stepped through, though she kept her spear in her hand. Ateia stared at the vortex.
“There’s…something on the other side of this. It’s…something I’ve never felt before but it feels…familiar. It’s strange.”
Colleöne nodded.
“It is because that is the world you are now connected to.”
Ateia turned and looked at Taog. She slowly started to smile.
“Should we check it out?”
He flushed and looked away, but nodded.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
The two went in together, Agedia following closely behind. Colleöne then nodded and vanished, leaving NSLICE-00P alone. She could already perceive all of her friendlies on the other side, so there was no reason for her to hesitate.
NSLICE-00P stepped through, and then the vortex faded away.