~~~Lee~~~

Lee held off his new skill selection while creating plates. There was no mana cap stopping him while inside Three, so he went until his channels started tingling. Then he pulled up his new skill options. Show me what you got.

Runic Mana (Rare)

It's all about the Mana.

Level Effects (Novice)

+1% Effective Intelligence

+10% Liquid Mana Pool and Channel Capacity

It was the same skill as before, but slightly better. A little more tempting now. If he wanted to enchant all the other buildings... or even the wall... Since he doubted his mana batteries would ever be enough for that.

Rune Empower (Epic)

More power for less.

Allows the runic to inject extra mana into any rune to increase the effect without increasing the soul cost.

Level Effects (Novice)

+1% All Mind Attributes

Another repeat, sort of. It was better now and wouldn't require extra soul for the boosts. Something like this would definitely help when he was trying to make more people invincible... but his problem wasn't the soul; it was the materials. Lee couldn't imagine what crazy good stuff he could make if he had better metal to work with.

Technically, he was getting around some of his limitations by spreading the runes over multiple pieces, not to mention whatever he'd done to create Three. Because he’d definitely done something. There was no way he could shove so much power into only concrete and steel…

Soul Infusion (Epic)

Infuse the world.

Allows the runic greater flexibility in materials they can bind with runes.

Allows the runic to reduce the material requirements of all runes at the cost of increased soul requirements.

Level Effects (Novice)

+1% All Mind Attributes

So... exactly what he was looking for.

Did the system put it there intentionally? Or was this problem a common one for a runic? The answer didn't really matter. Lee made his choice.

New Class Skill: Soul Infusion (Epic) - Level 1 (Novice)

He regretted that Alejandro had already left as he touched a plate and dropped a rune onto it... then pulled it back an instant before the plate would have exploded. Oops.

Skill Level Up: Soul Infusion

The skill helped, but not enough. Not yet. He needed to level the skill, and the best way to do that was to use it. A lot.

He tweaked the rune and tried again.

Another failure.

Lee stopped trying to use the plates and switched to May's armor... plates. Those made from the new metal held way more mana than his own summoned ones.

Rather than attempt another juggernaut creation, and since May hadn't finished the required armor pieces yet, Lee worked on his other idea. One of many that involved the hovering plate.

Not only did he want weaponized flying plates, but they could also have uses as mobile shields. Maybe not a priority with the stronger armor he was making... but figuring it out would open up other avenues.

Lee summoned more plates when he noticed the tingling had faded.

Skill Level Up: Create Plate

Then he stuck a rune on one of them.

The plate hovered a foot above the floor, and it didn't budge when he sat on it. Lee kept that one as a chair to see how long the charge would last. The second test didn't float. Not until he tapped it with Mana Mind. Then it shot into the air and stayed there. Another tap and it fell to the floor.

Not perfect... but a start.

~~~Trak~~~

Trak watched his Lord shuffle into a room and vanish behind the door. His god...

It was still hard to believe he'd witnessed what he had... The impossible had happened before his eyes. Only the weight of his oath made the entire ordeal real.

He only had to think of sharing the truth with his pack, and the oath reminded him he could not. He could not tell them they had sworn to serve a god...

Trak entered the pack's rather dismal quarters and brushed the floor hesitantly with a foot—a type of stone he was unfamiliar with—one that betrayed none of the power he'd felt earlier. Was it all a dream? Was this strange building truly a Runic creation? If not for their Lord's demonstration, he would have doubts. He still had doubts...

The humans talked about it killing a swarm, but all Trak had seen was the occasional door opening and closing. Any minor enchantment could accomplish that feat. The extra mana was a boon, to be sure. An unnecessary one for their purposes, though perhaps more of a boon for other classes.

Yet he couldn't forget that power...

How could it be that he did not feel it? How could such power ever be hidden? To look at this place betrayed no whisper of what lurked beneath...

Trak watched the pack as they mourned yet moved on nevertheless. They couldn't afford to grieve. They had sworn to serve, and so they must. Trak couldn't afford to grieve... He forced his mind away from the bitter thoughts threatening to rise up and consume him. Forgive me...

The potions their lord required would have to wait for the proper herbs to grow—something that would happen far faster than he'd originally expected. For now, Urax could prepare the potion glass.

The lord's smith had grudgingly agreed to allow them access to her Furnace Touch after the god's brother requested it. The stone magus forged a new, more appropriately sized furnace, and the smith lent her power to heat it. A magic the Druller pack was lacking. They could burn wood or other fuels, but it would take longer. An unacceptable delay.

Urax was the sole member classed to create the specialized glass, while the rest of them either worked to grow the herbs or to turn them into potions. The previous plan had been to apprentice Tark or Dura to Urax. To shore up their weakness...

Only now, things were different. Trak didn't know what classes the humans held... but at least one was legendary...

He shivered and shook his head violently. Such thoughts were the epitome of foolishness. Apprentice to a legendary class? For lowly beings such as them!? Bah! Trak would never dare suggest such a thing. Not even in the privacy of his own pack.

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The mere act of swearing fealty to their lord would already elevate his pack to greater heights than ever possible before. There was no need to get greedy. That was how anubi died. Either from a knife slipping between ribs in the dead of night or from a boot crushing your skull at high noon in the street. It was best to keep their heads down. Especially on this new dungeon world...

Trak couldn't miss the way the locals stared at his people. There was some curiosity, but far more distrust and fear... He knew, logically, that it made sense. The humans had only just discovered about the Multiverse.

That idea alone was too foreign to comprehend. Only one sapient species on an entire world? What must that have been like? Not to mention... they'd apparently had no magic. It made sense in a theoretical history kind of way... but Trak just couldn't imagine what life must have been like.

"Trak?" The human voices weren't entirely unpleasant. Not like some species. But the amulet made it a moot point.

He turned to the voice. It was the god's brother's mate, along with another human he didn't know. "My Lady!" Trak bowed low. "How may I serve?"

"Puppies!" the human pup in her arms said with wide eyes.

Trak winced. He'd seen none of the 'dogs' of this world yet, but he'd seen pictures of... pets. Mindless beasts that looked far too similar to his own species.

"This is Isaac," the lady said. "He is an enchanter, and I am hoping he can copy your amulet."

"Yes, my lady." Trak removed the amulet quickly and held it out without lifting his gaze.

Hands took it from him while voices spoke in unintelligible tongues. Trak stayed where he was and didn't dare move until he was granted permission. He only hoped they did not destroy his only...

The other human pup, peeking around its mother's legs, waved at him. It said something, but it was only noise without the amulet of tongues to translate. Trak copied the pup's gesture and saw its mouth widen into a smile before it looked up with more unknown words for its mother. He followed the look and... found the mother's eyes staring back at him.

Trak dropped his face to the ground.

He didn't move until a loud voice brought his eyes creeping back up... where he found the amulet dangling from the human pup's hand. Trak took the amulet slowly and hesitantly. He could feel the mother's eyes on him...

As soon as it was around his neck, the human female spoke. "What do you say?"

Trak opened his mouth, and the human pup said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Gabriel."

"Yes, my lord." Trak bowed low before the small human. He was mostly sure it was a male human. "I am Trak."

Gabriel bowed back, and Trak winced when his mother barked, "That's enough of that!"

Trak kept his head down until a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him upright. The pup's mother. She smelled... upset.

"No more bowing. No more lords and ladies. You may call me Maria, or Mrs Morales, if you insist on formality. This is my son Gabriel and my daughter Anita. Please be patient with them, and tell me if they or anyone else mistreats you."

"My..." Trak started bowing and froze partway when she cleared her throat loudly. He looked up slowly until he met her gaze. Then he straightened. "Yes, Mrs Morales. It will be as you command."

There was something in her eyes that told him not to argue. Something almost as frightening as when he'd felt the gods doing battle above his old world... This human mother and her pups were not to be trifled with. She had extended trust to him here, and he knew that even were he able to betray the direct family of his lord and god, one look into those eyes would prevent any such thoughts.

Within that gaze lurked a deadly predator that would not hesitate to remove any threat without mercy. A mother who would fight against even the gods if that was what it took to protect her pups. Her family.

Trak could see a bit of his own matriarch in those eyes. His great ancestor had watched over the tribe for generations. Longer than this human had been alive, no doubt. But the same spark burned inside her all the same. Centuries from now, this human matriarch's family would still stand. They would do more than stand. They would rule worlds.

He shivered. Truly a worthy human to stand beside their god...

"Are you busy?" she asked.

"I am at your command!"

She cleared her throat again, and Trak resisted the urge to bow. "I am not busy, my... Mrs Morales. There is nothing vital for me to see to until we harvest the first crop."

"Will you tell me what brought you to my world? To my home? I would like to learn."

Trak winced but hid his discomfort. "Of course, my... Mrs Morales!"

She led him to the lord's closed room. "Three, open up!" she said to the ceiling, and the door opened.

Trak bowed hastily when he saw the startled look of his lord and god. "My lord!"

"Did something happen, Maria?"

"No. I want to learn... anubi history... you learn too... because they bow to you."

It took a moment for Trak to realize she was now speaking a different language than before. While it wasn't unusual for countless languages to be spoken on single worlds, it was rare for a sapient to learn more than one...

"Sure," the lord said, looking away. "Just keep the door cracked. I almost blew up the last plate..." He cast a worried look toward the human pups.

Trak kept his eyes on the floor even after the door blocked him from the lord's gaze. "I..." Where did he start? What had brought them here... he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't even want to think about what he'd done. But he had to obey.

"We were slaves." Trak spoke with his gaze fixed on the floor. "My pack served the Philean family for centuries on the B-grade dungeon world of Haltos. Our former master was... a fool. He did not designate an heir... and died. I do not know how he died, only that our oath of servitude had broken. We were free. As free as any other slaves on Haltos..."

He trembled at the memory... Standing there with that key in his hand. The potential it offered. The bliss of freedom. The terror of the choices before him... and the price freedom would demand...

"I was in possession of a dungeon key when it happened—when the oath broke. The matriarch told me to take what members of the pack were in the shop with us..." Trak tried to control himself, but he couldn't keep the whine from escaping his throat. "It was a mad scramble, and there was no time to gather the entire pack! We had minutes at most... so we... so I opened the way... and fled."

"You left family behind?" Maria asked softly.

"My brother and all but one of his pups. My own... my... heart mate... and our youngest!" Trak howled then. A bitter, wordless sound of anguish. His pack—what little of it remained—appeared around him while he cried.

The humans said nothing while he gathered himself. A mercy. Then he could finally speak again. "They may perish for our betrayal. For what I did..."

"Why leave?" Maria's voice sounded... cold and her scent lingered on the edge of rage. He deserved that.

"A chance," Trak whispered, his gaze on the floor. "The chance for those who escaped to live as more than slaves. A sacrifice... I only wish... if they knew we survived... knew what we found here... maybe they wouldn't hate me as they surely do."

"How is any of this worth that price!?" their lord shouted as the door slammed wide open. "You enslaved yourselves again! You even tried to make it worse!"

Trak groveled until Maria pulled him upright. "No bow."

Then he still couldn't look up for long moments before finally saying, "We had no choice before, my lord. It was death or obedience. My sires before me and my offspring ahead. All would serve or die. There would be no advancement or evolution for us on such a high-grade world, no chance for anything more. Forever."

He still didn't know how many generations of his family had lived and died in that place. "When... when you accepted our oath... when you agreed to protect us... and then threatened to cast us out..."

"That wasn't a threat! I don't want to enslave anyone!" His lord didn't understand. He hadn't spent his life in the system. He had not yet felt a boot on his neck.

"I... I think I understand that now, my lord." Maria clicked her tongue each time he called Lee a lord, but Trak ignored her and continued. "Our matriarch claimed to be a seer... but I always doubted her power... until now. She brought us here. To you."

He'd hated her the moment he activated the key and sealed their fate. It wasn't even her fault. She hadn't forced him. He'd made the choice. To save his eldest offspring. To save some of his family. To save himself...

"What was her name?" the lord asked softly. "Your matriarch?"

"My lord, I do not know. She was the matriarch before I was born. Before my father and his father. I do not even know how many generations..."

"How... how long do... anubi live?"

"Most sapient species share similar lifespans, but I believe the matriarch was a higher grade... I believe all of our tribe was once a higher grade... but we lost everything long ago. She... would not speak of it." Trak had learned to stop asking.

Then his lord asked, "Can you ever go back for your family?"

Trak shrank in on himself. It was a fool's dream. To think he could grow to the heights of power that would require... to dream that his family would still live... It was a dream he didn't dare wish for, lest the false hope destroy him. "That is... not realistic."

"But not impossible?"

"My lord... I dare not hope for such dreams."

"I do!" The lord's voice held a growl of anger that pulled Trak's eyes up. "I'll do more than hope and dream. I will make reality conform to my dreams! If you really want to be a part of this... then you better be ready to fight for what you want!"

The god, Lee Cascade, climbed to his feet as he spoke until he was towering above Trak. Then he shouted, "Because I will never stop fighting!"

Trak stared up at him in shock while a strange feeling filled his chest... Maybe it wasn’t unrealistic anymore. He served a master far above any he had before, and his lord was still F-grade. What heights would they climb to at his side? What wasn't possible for a god?

He climbed to his feet, stood up straight, and howled back, "I will fight, my lord!"