Seero stepped into the Primary Home Base. All of her subordinates stood there, waiting for her. Even Melion has ceased working on their latest designs to join the group. Ateia nodded at her.
“What now, Seero?”
Seero analyzed the situation. The Herald of the New Dawn, who was apparently an Aedes who seemed at least more powerful than Ateia, presented a serious threat, one who could apparently track them down. Though, if he was an Aesdes, he’d have access to the same information gathering capabilities Colleone had taught to Ateia. Still, Seero didn’t have countermeasures to that capability and likewise couldn’t estimate the Herald of the New Dawn’s combat potential at this time.
But since he could find them starting the operation against his followers and continuing to train in dungeons both carried equal risk. And there was the possibility of the Aesdes intervening now. So, Seero calculated that it would be best to take the initiative.
She was about to respond to this effect a wave of mana surged from her core, disrupting her thoughts. Ateia cried out and held her head. Taog turned to her.
“Ateia! What’s wrong?!”
Ateia’s eyes went wide and she started trembling.
“I don’t know…but I feel that something terrible has happened.”
As for Seero, she detected an intrusion of mana, similar to that used when the Heralds of the New Dawn attempted to sacrifice Ateia. She attempted to quarantine the mana, counteracting it with different types of mana. It appeared a judicious application of Holy Mana managed to eliminate it.
At that moment, Seero received a message from the Aesdes.
Dungeon Master and Hero NSLICE-00P, this Shialnor, The Lady of Mana and the Boundary, She Who Tends the Gardens of the World, the creator and manager of the dungeons. We, the Aesdes, have lost control of the Dungeon and Personal System Cores, and the Blessed Land is under attack.
I do not know what is happening to the dungeons or to the boons we granted to the masses as a result, but I know we cannot provide any more until this situation is dealt with. I can only imagine what will occur on Aelea in the meantime, and we may not be able to assist.
However, you are primarily connected to your own Material Plane, and so are the only dungeon core that I know to be online. You have had the deepest connection to the System of anyone outside the Aesdes, and you have Ateia, an Aesdes who still walks the surface of Aelea and who will be the least affected by what’s going on in the Blessed Land.
I’m sending you everything I have on the two systems. I believe you’ll be able to use it to keep your new world up and running, hopefully your subordinate cores, and maybe even recreate some of the boons for your own subordinates. I am told that Anuale took the power of Elséró from your enemy, though at great cost to himself, so you should be on even footing at the very least.
I know I have no right to ask anything of anyone, and nothing more to offer, but still I must beg you. Please, protect Aelea while we cannot.
With that, Seero’s processors went into overdrive as a massive amount of data flooded into the core at the center of the Primary Home Base. Shialnor had constructed a gigantic and mostly automated system based on the Aesdes’s Divination ability, along with complex methods of connecting the Realms of Mana to a material plane without threatening the boundary of the universe.
Even Seero couldn’t comprehend the entire thing right away.
But she didn’t need to. Shialnor had highlighted some of the more immediately useful functions, particularly the features related to the Primary Home Base. Shialnor had only designed these recently, so they weren’t as complex as some of the others, and they were specifically designed with Seero in mind. Seero could compare these to her own experiences of utilizing the Dungeon system and shaping mana in order to create some basic mana-based protocols for the Primary Home Base’s core.
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“Request: Friend Ateia, this unit requires your assistance.”
Ateia nodded and crouched down, placing her hand on the ground and focusing on the core at the center of the world.
“On it.”
With the power of an Aesdes, both the Holy mana dwelling within her and the instinctual sense of the world she was connected to, Ateia could help Seero implement the changes. Seero analyzed and wrote the protocols, Ateia shifted the core and flows of the world’s mana to match, as well as alerting Seero if she felt any problems.
For now, Seero and Ateia managed to re-implement the features relating to the Primary Home Base, mainly the UI-based expansions and world feature additions.
Ateia was sweating, and nearly fell over. Taog crouched down and grabbed her shoulder, steadying her as she panted for breath. Seero’s own processors were starting to overheat.
Agedia slowly glanced between the two.
“Seero…can you tell us what’s going on?”
“Response: It appears the Aesdes are under assault, and their system has been compromised.”
Agedia blinked.
“The Aesdes…are under attack? And wait…their system? You usually mean the boons by that, right?”
Agedia then tried to check her status…and her eyes went wide.
“My status…is gone?”
Estrith and Taog’s eyes widened in turn as they tried to check their status too. 01R crossed his arms and scoffed.
“Typical man-things. That is why we, the truest followers of the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen, rely-depend only on her, yes yes. Her sacred records cannot be…”
Suddenly 01R’s eyes went wide.
“W-Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen…w-where did the sacred status-records go?”
“Response: The dungeon system was also impacted by the intrusion. This unit and friend Ateia are working to re-implement it. As an alternative, data regarding the latest status viewings for all units should be available on the NSLICE network, though this is purely a visual record and may not provide the same functionality.”
01R’s robotic eye flickered, and then he smiled.
“See see! The Wise-Mighty-Gracious boss-queen always has-knows an answer, yes yes!”
Agedia glanced at Ateia, who was still catching her breath.
“Is that what you just did?”
She then shook her head and turned to Seero.
“Never mind that, point is something big’s going down and the Aesdes aren’t able to bail us out right now, is that right?”
“Affirmative.”
Agedia nodded.
“In that case, we better get going. No one else has a shiny girl that can apparently reimplement the boons of the Aesdes, so I can’t imagine anyone out there is handling this well. Which would be a perfect moment for a cult drawing power from the Realms of Mana to strike. Shiny girl, you ok to move?”
“Affirmative.”
----------------------------------------
Seero, Agedia, and Estrith exited through the Otter Burrow dungeon. Seero had sent word ahead detailing the situation, and Uscfrea’s chosen warriors were now spreading word through the settlements. Uscfrea and his council were at a joint fortress at the border with the Imperial lands, where they had been coordinating with the other Turannians, so Seero launched into the air and flew over.
The people in the Dobhar settlement calmed down a bit when they saw Seero still flying in the sky.
Seero soon arrived, and was guided inside. She found Governor Aemilia and the other Imperials, along with some Selkies, running around along with Uscfrea. Magister Canus, Miallói, and Uscfrea had largely taken command.
Magister Canus nodded.
“Ok, Dux Opiter is too panicked to report, but at least we know the communication artifacts are still working. We're still setting up the heavy artillery but every other artifact we've tested works, so that's something. It’s a mixed bag for my troops, some seem hardly affected, while others can’t use their skills at all.”
Miallói nodded.
“My skills, fine, the ones I trained too. Others, not so much. Depends on mastery.”
Uscfrea nodded as well.
“Sounds about right. Guess we’re finding out who actually learned and who just relied on the Aesdes, huh?”
Magister Canus heaved a sigh.
“That’s…not so good for a lot of my troops. Most were barely trained at all, and didn’t understand the difference.”
At that point, they turned and saw Seero. All three of the leaders saluted to her.
“Your Majesty NSLICE-00P, I’m glad to see you.”
“Correction: This unit’s designation has changed. Please refer to this unit as Seero.”
Magister Canus nodded.
“Understood. Your Majesty Seero, we received your message. Do you have anything else to add on this situation?”
“Answer: From information received by the Aesdes Shialnor, this unit predicts with 74.92% probability the situation is related to the Herald of the New Dawn, who this unit encountered just prior to the incursion on the system.”
Uscfrea frowned.
“So…it’s an attack by the cult. I…did not anticipate they could strike the Aesdes directly, much less succeed. This is one situation we weren’t prepared for.”
“And it’s about to get worse.”
Everyone turned at hearing a new voice. Magister Tiberius stepped into the room, saluting to the leader group and Seero.
“Your Majesty, glad you’re back. You need to hear this.”
Magister Canus nodded at him.
“What is it?”
Magister Tiberius groaned, took out his flask, took a swig, and then heaved a sigh.
“Just got word from Magister Appius in Corvanus. Apparently, the Southern Court has declared war on us.”