Chapter 71

Vixa and I made our way out of the factory which was a communication dead zone, and as soon as we were clear, I sent to my friends.

[Hey, guys. What’s up?]

[This is one of your free days, right?] Mason asked. [We want to hit up a dungeon again if you’re up for it.]

[It is, and I am, but I thought we wanted to wait until you each got a set of skill gems.]

[Well, we got talking with Tessa and your sisters over breakfast and it seems like both of them have pretty easy schedules today. They decided to finish up early so they could delve as a team for the first time, so we figured we might as well go too, ] Sonja replied. [They got a fifth, you know. Can you guess who it is?]

[Oya, ] I answered without a moment’s hesitation.

[How’d you know? We just found out ourselves.]

[It just makes sense. She is older than all of us--biologically at least--my sisters and I are technically older, but she acts like people our age do. At least from what I’ve seen. It’s a natural fit, and it completes an all-girl team. Have they chosen their name yet?]

[I don’t think so, ] Ben replied. [I’m interested in what they’ll choose, actually.]

[I’m sure they’ve got something in mind. Alright, I’m heading back to the armory to get changed. I also need to find where Imuna and the other phenidae are so I can drop Vixa off before we go.]

[We’ll meet you there then then.]

We pretty much ran into each other outside of the teleporters on our deck, and it wasn’t hard for them to notice the harness that I still wore.

“ ... something Abi made up for me. Want to see what it does?”

“Hell yeah! If Abi made it then it’s gotta be pretty damn cool!” Mason replied.

I nodded. “Alright, check it out. Mode three.”

The girls jumped back a little bit in shock as the thousands of nanites rushed out, while Mason and Ben just gaped. I had a feeling that the initial reaction by the twins was out of their fear of spiders, as they soon stepped forward to take a closer look. In short order, everything below my neck was covered in shiny black metal.

“Nanites?” Ben asked as he ran his hand down one of my arms.

“Yup. Apparently it was made possible by Oya, so I’ll have to thank her, but they’re prototypes. Abi sounded pretty confident that she’ll be able to improve on them a little bit, but she gave me this for now.”

“For what purpose? And why isn’t there a helmet?” Mason asked.

“It’s just part of her unending quest at keeping me safe. The harness is meant to be worn under my clothes and currently has three modes. You saw the third one, but the other two modes cause the nanites to form what is essentially a ballistic vest. Mode one has less protection than mode two, but apparently it will be impossible to tell that it is there when activated. As for the helmet, there is one.”

I went through the same process I did only a short while ago, and put on my helmet as I showed some of what the nanites could do with the Beacon interfaced with it. I couldn’t show off some of the defensive features because of where we were, but the shield was enough.

“I have to admit I’m pretty jealous,” Ben said. “I can see the need for it though, especially because you’ll be in situations where wearing an armored suit isn’t appropriate.”

“Abi said something along those lines as well. Anyways, time is wasting. How about we get this show on the road?”

Everyone agreed, and after putting the nanites on standby, I pulsed my mana at one of the stations so my armor would appear, with my friends doing the same thing. I figured I would let Zaszi know so she could get everyone and everything ready ahead of time and it wouldn’t be a surprise, but I found out that my sisters had beaten me to the punch. They had told Kiri who passed along the information to Zaszi, and the two team leaders immediately got to work.

The new suit didn’t take long at all to put on, though I went ahead and made sure everything else was ready. Nothing was missing, so I retrieved my rifle and broke it down so I could clean everything and top off any magazines that needed topping off. While it was my first time taking apart the stopgap rifle that we had purchased and I was a little slow because of that, practicing so much with other guns had made it easy. When I was done, I stored it and the magazines again and then turned to my friends.

“Alright, meet you guys at the Grasshoppers?”

“Sure. I’ll have your sisters, Tessa and Oya meet us there as well,” Anja replied.

“Okay, see you guys in a bit, then,” I said as I turned to leave the officer’s armory. I didn’t even get to the exit before I remembered something.

“Oh, Mace. Are we going to have enough ammo or should we pick up some more?”

“Got it. I’ve got my credit chip with me so we’ll pick up some more before we head in. Gotta go drop Vixa off though, so see you in a few minutes.”

It usually didn’t take long at all to find the phenidae as they were typically where all the loud noises were coming from. While parents were busy throughout their day, their kids were often left with babysitters. Phenidae were often dropped off there as well, so the kids would have more friends to play with. Today, they weren’t in any of the normal spots, so I gave up and asked Abi, who laughed before giving the answer.

It seemed like the place to be this morning was up on the pool deck, so the two of us made our way up there. When the door opened, the sound of joy could immediately be heard. That, and the rather squeaky barks of the other phenidae onboard, as well as a few pops here and there as they teleported. I was surprised to see that Selalea was one of those on babysitting duty, as she walked over in a red bikini. She looked damn good for being several thousand years old.

“Hello Jonathan! Hello Vixa! I see you’re geared up. Vixa is staying with us today, then?”

“Good morning,” I replied with a nod. “I had some things planned for today but they got rescheduled, so my friends asked if I wanted to hit up another dungeon. I can’t take Vixa with me, at least not yet, so here we are. I’m surprised you’re here though. I figured you would be out exploring new things, rather than stay here and watch after the kids.”

She laughed. “I would much rather do this, to be quite honest. When your species has such few children around because of the restrictions we put in place to keep our numbers from getting too large, you often find that everyone pitches in. I’ve got more than a few eggs of my own stored on Yrranth, you know. I was lucky enough that Ilnod was allowed to hatch, but in a few years time, he’ll have a bunch of little brothers and sisters to play with. I consider this practice for when that day comes.”

“How are Yrranth and Zogryth coming, by the way? That’s one of the things that was pushed back until tomorrow.”

“Good. Very good, actually,” she smiled. “Olmith and the other council members keep those of us here very well informed. The two main chambers on both planets are done, and they’re focusing on the underground city on Yrranth, for now. They’ve expanded it quite a bit since the two of us last saw it, and they also want to thank you for putting them in touch with Tamara. She passed along all the information they needed to enchant temporary holding areas for livestock. She also gave the engineers in orbit the design for ‘Paradise’ as Shaemu called it, and they delivered them down to the planet yesterday.”

“That’s great! Tamara named them, then?”

“Interesting. What about the planetary defenses? How are those going?”

“Ahead of schedule, but still a long ways away from being completed. The planetary shields, including the aperture should be done by the end of the month. The initial timetable was a bit longer than that, but we’re very good at what we do. What takes the engineers days to do takes us hours. What takes them weeks only takes us days. They’re leaving the excavation for the generators, emitters and cables to us, while they just focus on the installation. The satellites, on the other hand, are much slower going, but they’re coming along...”

I suddenly burst out laughing, causing Selalea to look on in confusion. After wiping my eyes, I apologized.

“Sorry about that, Mason is getting impatient. I’m glad everything is going well though. I suppose I’ll find out more tomorrow,” I said as I bent down and scratched Vixa behind her ears. “I’ll see you later, okay? It will probably be late when we get back, but we’ll get a quick snack before bedtime, alright?”

She barked in reply and suddenly there were six consecutive pops as the rest of the phenidae came over to greet the new arrival. Some of them nuzzled their friend, while one rambunctious young male jumped on top of her, sending both of them rolling around as they playfought.

“You’ve definitely got your hands full. Children and phenidae? I can’t imagine that for several hours.”

“Oh, it’s easier than you might think,” she replied. “They’ll tire themselves out pretty quickly and then spend several hours sleeping before they begin again. You should get going though, before Mason comes up here and drags you back with him.”

I laughed, knowing he might do exactly that. “See you later! Bye, Vixa!”

There was a teleporter nearby, so it didn’t take me very long to get to the landing bay. There was a group of people far smaller than I thought would be there when I arrived, but looking passed it, I could see that the six Grasshoppers were loaded up and ready to go. The only people not yet on the ship were my team, my sisters’ team, and then our respective five-man security details.

“Well, well, look who finally decided to show up!” Mason said. “What took you so long?”

“Sorry, Selalea is looking after the kids today, so we got to talking about Yrranth and Zokyrth. So have we decided where we’re going?”

“I think we’re going to the city of Zobos, which is where we were yesterday to watch the game, actually,” Ben replied. “There is a rank IX dungeon there that just reopened this morning, so while we’re underleveled right now, that won’t take long at all to rectify. The maximum level of monsters in there is currently 90, so if we reach level 94 today, then I’ve got another dungeon lined up for us.”

“And we’re going to Belrora, which isn’t too far away. While Tessa and Oya have some levels, the three of us are basically blank slates at this point,” Aleena said, referring to her and her sisters. “It probably won’t take long for us to outgrow the dungeon there, so we’ll probably bounce around a few times, too.”

“Sounds good. I suppose you’re waiting on the skill gems Abi is working on procuring as well?”

She nodded. “She’s already received some of the easier-to-get ones, but she’s still working on the rest. We’re holding off until she gets the entire set, so we’ll be going with whatever we get from our evaluations.”

“That should be fun,” I said before turning to Oya and Tessa who were standing a little off to the side. “Keep them safe, yeah?”

They both nodded, with Tessa responding for the both of them. “We will.”

“Alright, let’s get going, then.”

We filed onto our respective Grasshoppers for the flight down to the planet, and while my friends remained in the lounge area, I moved up to the cockpit with Zaszi following. The flight crew looked back briefly at the flare of light produced by the teleporter, but soon went back to what they were doing. After walking up and setting the Beacon in place and watching it interface with the Grasshopper, I headed back to the bench seats.

“Thank you, by the way,” Suna said as I passed her. “Abi filled us in on the reactors she is working on. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that it will make us feel a whole lot safer.”

“Oh, no problem,” I replied. “I saw the first one this morning, actually. Now, I’m not very knowledgeable about power generation or anything like that, but would a reactor generating five gigawatts every hour be enough?”

“For everyday operation, absolutely. If we’re in any sort of sustained combat, it would probably be close, but not close enough for comfort, especially if any sort of combat jumps need to be made. For that, two reactors would be more than sufficient. That won’t always be possible, so that’s where the power core comes in. It can power the hyperdrive and then the shields or propulsion, and the reactors can take care of everything else.”

I nodded. “She said that she might be able to increase the power output since the first one is just a prototype, but once she starts mass producing them, you’ll get two out of the first four. She also has something else in mind, but until she knows whether it will work or not, she doesn’t want to promise anything.”

“Even one will be a big help, believe me. The vast majority of craft this size don’t have nearly as much power as these will with one reactor installed, and they usually rely on storing much of the power produced for use later on.”

“Really? I didn’t know that.”

“Mhmm. It’s one of the areas of scientific research that has fallen behind. As a result, it requires a number of very powerful and very large reactors to do the same job that theoretical reactors could do while taking up much less space. I don’t suppose Abi can help with that?”

“Unfortunately not. While she has all sorts of information about all sorts of very advanced technology, she can’t use it or disclose it until someone else has discovered it first. Now, she can make improvements like she has done with the fusion reactors she’s been working on, but until someone comes up with something better, everything she knows will stay locked away.”

“Well that sucks.”

I chuckled. “You don’t have to tell me that.”

She started to reply, but Elidi Itenzes--the commander of Grasshopper I--interrupted her. “Alright, Suna, we’re here to get him where he needs to go, not spend all day chatting.”

“Right, sorry!” she replied as she turned around and looked over her console. “All systems nominal. We’re good to go!”

Elidi quickly and easily lifted us off the deck and spun in place, turning us towards the gaping opening in the side of the ship. Once the other five ships were ready, she led them out. She began speaking almost immediately in Pygmaean to what I was assuming was flight control, as soon a male voice replied and we were passing through the dual airskin shields.

It was quite a sight as hundreds of ships of all sizes were coming and going. There were small ships that looked like pleasurecraft as well as absolutely massive blocky ships that were carrying loads of ore that needed to be smelted down into usable material. The station went through so much metal everyday as they worked on hundreds of ships, so it was just easier to do it all in-house.

[All of you stay safe, yeah?] I sent to my sisters, Tessa and Oya.

[We will, believe me!] Lucille replied. [Kiri would beat our asses if we pulled a stunt like the one you did the other day.]

I laughed, recalling the torture she put me through, and would continue to put me through as we got back to learning.

[I bet she would. Wanna take a break at around dinnertime? You can come to us or we can come to you.]

[Sounds good! 18:00-ish?] Tessa asked. [I know just the place.]

[That’d be perfect. See you all then. Good luck!]

[You too!] they replied.

It was a relatively quiet ride the rest of the way, and before long we were landing on one of the many landing pads outside of the dungeon. After retrieving the Beacon, Zaszi and I headed back to the lounge and then down to the bottom deck so we could depart. It was still a little disconcerting to see the thirty Watchdogs disappear from sight all at once as the ramp began to lower, but I soon the ten of us were left alone as the area was cleared.

It took a surprisingly small amount of time, but having two birds-eye views and the ability to be invisible and spread out quickly made it a lot easier. When she got the all clear, Zazi led us down the ramp with the rest of her team taking up the rear. She led us directly to the front door and then turned towards us.

[So like the other day, let us know when you’re on your way out so we can make sure that the area is still clear. Also, remember that you are Khel Haneth while you are here.]

I nodded. [We’ll probably be in here until around 18:00. We’ll probably take a break then to meet up with my sisters, Tessa and Oya for dinner, before continuing on for a little bit longer. I believe Tessa had a restaurant in mind, so you might want to contact her so you can get started on clearing it. Just in case she hasn’t told Kiri already]

[Okay. If you see anything suspicious while you’re in the building, let us know and calmly make your way to the exit, alright? Don’t try to fight anyone by yourselves, ] she sent, looking to each of us as she did so. [It’s a very small, dare I say, miniscule, chance that you could be attacked while here, but it’s possible.]

[We will, and we’ve got more than one pair of eyes in here, remember?] I said, tapping the side of my helmet. [I’m sure that Abi and everyone’s AI can pipe what we’re seeing over to you as well, so you can keep an eye out. You’ll probably notice more than we will, anyways.]

[Good idea. Alright. We’ll see you at 18:00 then.]

I nodded and then my friends and I entered the building. The first order of business was to find out where ammunition could be purchased, and we found it was on the fourth floor, just like the previous dungeon.

“Is it just me, or is this building pretty much identical to the other two we’ve been in, here on Veria?” Mason asked as the elevator opened and we stepped off on the fourth floor.

“It’s not just you, I think they are identical,” Ben replied. “It makes sense. They always put a building up on top of a newly-discovered dungeon, and they probably want to do it as quickly and easily as possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re pre-fabricated and they have a bunch of copies ready to be built at a moment’s notice.”

“The faster they put it up, the faster that people can start delving into the dungeon as well,” I said. “Can you imagine what it would be like if buildings were put up as slowly as they are on Earth? I think it took two months to build the one over the dungeon in Gatineau Park, and that isn’t a very big building. At least in comparison to the ones here.”

“There are some pretty big ones back on Earth, but they take a long time to build, too. Fortunately, once the first two floors are built, they usually begin allowing adventurers in, even while construction is still ongoing. That’s usually reserved for the highest level of dungeons though, as they make a lot more money for the Adventurer’s Guild than all of the Gatineau Parks out there do.”

I nodded, knowing that was absolutely true when a tier S Skill Gem could go for millions of credits if one got lucky enough. When we arrived at the gun store, which was seemingly identical to the previous one, we were once again immediately approached by an employee. It was a woman this time, and we couldn’t understand a word she said. Fortunately we had AIs that could, which were also able to translate our speech in real time and relay it to the woman.

She wasn’t nearly as pushy as the previous employee, so she quickly led us to the counter and retrieved the ammo we were looking for. We decided to go with five thousand rounds of the same two types of ammunition we had purchased previously, but when Mason said that we wanted three thousand rounds of armor-piercing incendiary rounds, the woman told us we should reconsider.

“The Zobos dungeon is fire-themed, so you’ll find that armor-piercing incendiary rounds aren’t nearly as effective. Guns aren’t effective at all against some of the elementals you’ll see down there either, but you’d be better off sticking with the armor-penetrating rounds you requested for monsters that are still vulnerable to projectile weaponry. For everything else, you’ll need to use your skills instead.”

“Thanks for letting us know. In that case, we’ll take five thousand rounds of the armor-penetrating rounds instead.”

“No problem! Just give me one moment to gather that for you, and I’ll be right back.”

She grabbed something from below the counter and then went through the double doors behind her. She wasn’t gone for very long, but she soon walked back through the doors. She wasn’t carrying any ammunition with her, but when she got back she placed something that was similar to a serving tray on the counter.

“Will that be everything?”

“I believe so,” Mason replied.

“Okay. Credit chip or communicator, please,” she requested.

I removed my new phone from my suit’s dimensional storage and handed it over to her. She accepted it with a thank you and then put it screen down on some sort of sensor. The area around it lit up green after a moment, and then she handed it back to me. As she did, a pile of ammunition boxes appeared on top of the tray she brought back out with her. After examining the boxes to see that it was the 12mm rounds we were looking for, Mason handed them out to us, giving us each two of the large, five hundred round boxes full of ammo.

“Thank you!” Mason told the woman who had helped us.

“Not a problem! If you end up running out and need some more, just come on up and we’ll sort you out.]

I chuckled. “I bet there is a good chance of that happening. Thanks again!”

With ammunition sorted out, we headed back down to the ground floor to get the evaluation over with. We were used to it at this point, and though it was incredibly annoying, we soon made it through and could officially enter the dungeon.

It was a very different experience from other dungeons as usually we just opened a door and walked down some steps, but this one actually had an airlock in place, and an operator sitting on a chair outside of it.

“Welcome!” he said as he got up. “Heading into the dungeon, then?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “What’s up with the airlock, though?”

“Ah, you must be new to fire-themed dungeons. The airlock is here as a buffer against the heat that is generated by the creatures in the dungeon, and even the dungeon itself. Now this one isn’t as hot as other fire-themed dungeons that are out there, but the air inside is easily hot enough to kill you if you aren’t prepared for it.”

“And it’s perfectly safe?” Anja asked.

“Absolutely! Dungeons like this one would be sealed off completely if it wasn’t. Monsters and adventurers in themed dungeons just sometimes produce more mana than the dungeon can absorb on its own, so the dungeon ejects a small portion of it. Airlocks like this one direct that excess mana to a series of high-quality mana crystals, which is where the building gets the majority of its power from. Inside the dungeon, you won’t even notice the flare ups once you’re passed the first floor, and we don’t let anyone enter the dungeon if one of those flare ups is imminent. The last one happened forty-two minutes ago and they always happen around six hours apart, so you’re clear to enter.”

“Thanks for the explanation,” I said as I walked forward. [Is what he said true?]

[Indeed, ] Abi replied. [Themed dungeons are rather rare on Earth, but airlocks are used there as well. When the Adventurer’s Guild was created, the first thing they did was seal off the few that were found until they were ready to be opened. While the ejections of mana took days or weeks to occur, they often decimated the surrounding landscape for miles around.]

[Constant fires, storms and floods?] I asked as the hatch closed behind us and the one on the other side opened, allowing us entrance into the dungeon. There were windows on each of the two hatches, so I turned and gave a thumbs up to the man that had operated it for us.

[Well, not so much fires as nothing was able to grow within a certain radius of fire-themed dungeons, but they definitely increased the overall temperature of the surrounding area and covered the ground in layer after layer of ash. Pompeii fell victim to an undiscovered fire-themed dungeon, you know. It was probably the largest and most devastating mana ejection from a dungeon to ever occur on Earth, and the dungeon beneath Mount Vesuvius is probably one of the most visited dungeons nowadays.]

[I remember reading about that. Since Mount Vesuvius is a volcano, they initially thought that it killed most of the people there and buried the city, right?]

[Yes, though there is always a chance that Mount Vesuvius does erupt at some point. Your parents and many of the other Spectres actually debated heavily on whether to open it up or not, as I’m sure you’ve noticed that the rock that dungeons are made from is incredibly tough. It is easily able to withstand the heat and pressure from the bubbling magma, so as the dungeon grows, it displaces some of that magma. Eventually, the growth of the dungeon will force that eruption, though it is hard to tell when exactly that will happen.]

[I’ve got to assume that there is a plan in place should it erupt, right?]

[Like this dungeon, there is an airlock that gathers all of the ejected mana and stores it in a large collection of mana crystals located inside of the building. When the volcano erupts, that mana will help power six modified shield generators that are strategically located around the volcano. Rather than keep stuff on the outside out, it will keep stuff on the inside in. Everything except molecules of oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gasses, at least. If those weren’t able to pass through the shield, then it would be almost like plugging the volcano. The magma would still want out, and it would find a way that would more than likely end up outside of the shield.]

I felt tapping on the side of my helmet, and I looked over to see Mason standing next to me.

“What?” I asked.

“We were calling you for a good ten seconds but you weren’t responding,” Anja answered.

“Oh, sorry,” I said, as I relayed to them what Abi told me.

“Well enough of the history lesson. Are we here to learn or are we here to kill some monsters and level up?” Mason asked, causing me to laugh.

“Let’s go, then.”

“Hold up,” he said, holding out an arm to block me, which was actually at head height. “Are you going to stay in that form or are you switching to another one? I know fire won’t be effective in this dungeon, but you still have your frost breath and your dragonkin form will better protect you from the heat.”

“Right. Forgot about that. Alright, give me a minute,” I said as I began shifting forms.

It was still as slow as it usually was, but in a little over a minute and a half I was once again taller than Mason, and he had to look up at me, rather than it be the other way around. I also removed my rifle from my dimensional storage and was happy to see that it had grown in size to fit my hands. After making sure that the safety was on and it was loaded with a fresh magazine, I turned back to Mason.

[Now can we go?]

While it was a very warm 60 degrees Celsius in the dungeon, it certainly didn’t feel like it. That was partly because our suits were so good at insulating, but also because of the air filtration and temperature system. It was a two-part system with a vent and a fan at the back of the helmet, and then a cooling and heating unit located on the back of the suit, between the shoulders.

Both the cooling and heating units weren’t your typical ones that ran off electricity, either. Instead, there were two chambers that each held a small rectangular piece of metal, approximately ten centimeters long, seven centimeters wide, and one centimeter thick. Engraved on each of the two plates was an enchantment that either heated up or cooled down when mana was allowed to enter the chamber. Fresh air was then channeled through one or both of those chambers, which then circulated the suit, keeping the inside at our desired temperature. Normally that would have been around 18 degrees Celsius, but now, in my dragonkin form, that was a little chilly, so I bumped it up to around 30 degrees Celsius.

We had walked through the somewhat steamy down-sloped tunnel for nearly ten minutes before we finally saw the first sign of a monster or a chamber, and what a chamber it was. It easily rivaled the mega-floor with goblins and a wyvern that we had encountered previously, but Benjamin was confident it wasn’t the same.

“In the vast majority of cases, mega-floors are the same as the one we encountered in the Hillside Lake Dungeon. They’re almost as if you took a small piece of a planet and closed it off, allowing an ecosystem to form on its own. If they have a dominant species, then you might see a sign of that, with settlements or paths or things of that nature. I can already see elementals, and what look like imps and kobolds. Notice that they’re pretty much ignoring each other? That’s the biggest sign that this is just a single, if large, floor. If it was a mega-floor, then they would probably be fighting each other. Also, there was no mention whatsoever of this dungeon having a mega-floor, so there is that.”