I pick up the now dead god and carry him over my shoulder back to the praetors who watched the whole exchange at my command. "Well done," they say. "We never doubted your might."
"Regardless, it is concerning that he managed to find us, and now whoever sent him probably hates us twice as much. Pick up the remain of my golem; in the meantime I will devise magics defenses for the tower." The praetors hurry to execute my orders. This could be bad.
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After a few days of study, I have devised a magical barrier I have placed around the tower that will keep entities not designated at the time of establishment out of reach. It uses a system of thaumaturgically enhanced stones that erect a barrier that no matter or energy besides the designated entities are able to pass. I have also erected autocasters around the tower; using Cognitio (Mind, Cognizance) Essentia as an engine, I can place spell foci into them and they will automatically cast spells at entities I instruct them to. Finally, I have constructed several more combat-ready golems that will act as a last line of defense should the previous two fail.
Additionally, I have created a spell focus that makes materials I cast it on virtually indestructible using Praemunio (Protection, Armor) Essentia. Unfortunately, the tradeoff is it can no longer move, so I was not able to use this on the gates of the tower. With these precautions the tower will be able to withstand even magical sieges. Leviticus oversees the construction of the defenses for me.
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As I return to my study, the brain of Winter finally decides to speak to me through the connected machine. "Did you kill him? Tetrax, I mean."
"Yes. I have his body in the Curative Vat if it’s any consolation. I’ll be experimenting on him to test resurrection and soul transplants."
Winter goes silent at this. He’s still a useful resource. I take my newfound free time to make advances towards my Heaven gateway device. If my calculations are correct, a sufficient supply of noble and wise souls should be able to power it. Very well. I will do whatever it takes to get to Heaven.
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I suddenly remember my thoughts from long ago, during my first Excursion: I can go see my family. I know where my house is so all I would have to do is open a flux rift to it. I want to see them so bad, but getting them caught up in this now is the last thing I want. If I could just… my idle musing sprouts forth inspiration. I get to tinkering to create the device I have envisioned.
After about two hours of work, I have my device ready; a handheld mirror that uses the latent trans-dimensional energies of a noble soul and a supply of Desidirium (Desire) Essentia to show the user any location they wish to see. I focus on my home, my bedroom, my living room. Slowly, a sort of spectral image appears on the mirror. It shows a still image of my living room. Success! Although nobody must be home right now. I’ll check back on it later.
Still bored by my newfound free time, I resolve to trying something new, something I haven’t done since arriving here: sleep. Although I didn’t need sleep, I figured some couldn’t hurt my mental fatigue. I walk to my bedroom in the tower and lay down, trying to fall asleep. To my surprise, sleep comes relatively swiftly; I didn’t even think I was physically able to fall asleep, but I now embrace the slow fade.
When I awake, I feel incredible. My head churns with new ideas and new thaumaturgical theories that I assume I created while dreaming, although I don’t remember any dreams. With that, I wake up and begin working again.
I find it convenient to add the dragon’s scales to the inside of my fortress armor; their concentration of Praemunio (Protection) Essentia is so absurd that it would take me a month to reproduce a single scale worth of material like it. The added protection should make me virtually immune to any blows, such as those I took from Tetrax. Speaking of which, I wonder why he came after me? I can’t image the death of a single Royal Knight is that impactful to a god. Regardless of the answer, I continue making improvements to my arsenal. I manage to infuse an Unhinged soul into my Primal Cutter, which should now allow it to harness vis from the atmosphere and act as a secondary casting apparatus.
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"Leviticus, gather the praetors. Today we begin our Third Excursion."
Leviticus gathers the praetors in front of me and I select a few I think will do well to come with me. After selection, we head out of the tower in search of another sealed flux rift. After locating it, I open it and step through. Round three, let’s go…