TtOW! - Chapter 156 - The Spoils of Victory (Patreon)

Taog made his way back to the Aelea Drake’s home cave. Now that the battle was over and the adrenaline wore off, he found he was utterly fatigued. The drake’s cave was the safest place for him to set up camp, as the drake would have slain any rival monsters in the area and its scent would linger for a while still.

…ok, Taog would also admit he wanted to check the drake’s home. There were tales of dragon hoards and an Aelea Drake was technically a dragon! The Aesdes confirmed it!

Taog narrowed his eyes as he returned to the clearing outside of the cave.

Because even though the drake was gone, Taog could still see small sparks and distortions near the cave, indicating a high mana concentration that was approaching mana storm levels. Taog gripped his remaining sword and slowly approached the cave.

His hair stood up and a chill shot through him from the high mana concentration. The cave was lit by the occasional sparks…and there was a flickering source of light deeper in. Taog crept inside, trying to keep to the shadows and pushing all his senses and detection skills to the limit. Yet, he caught no movement beyond the flickering lights, no signs of any life.

And soon, he found out why.

At the end of the cave was a cracked orb, pulsing with light. Lightning and sparks shot from it every time it pulsed. There were several skeletal corpses around the orb. Most were lying on the floor, covered in the remains of tattered robes. One was leaning against the wall, wearing the armor of an Imperial Knight, clutching a book in hand.

Taog frowned. The orb looked very much like a dungeon core…but there was no dungeon, no traps, no monsters. It appeared to be broken and leaking mana, though apparently not enough to open a Rift, thankfully.

Taog crept over to the knight, and gently reached for the book. He wiped away the dust and dirt and opened it up. It appeared to be a journal of some sort, made from mana-paper that resisted the ravages of time. Taog flipped it to the end, hoping the knight recorded what happened here.

“I tracked those goblin-sniffing cultists here. I cut them down like the monsters they are, but it was a trap. They got me, but I took every last one of them down before they did.”

“But it brings me no comfort. They were performing some sort of experiment on a dungeon core. If, Aesdes forbid, they find a way to corrupt the dungeons on command, or worse, to create cores themselves…then all of Aelea is at risk. This one seems to have failed, but is far too close for comfort. “

“My strength fails me, it is hard to even see the words on this page anymore. Please, if anyone finds this, complete my vengeance and destroy the Heralds of the New Dawn, may the Aesdes curse their name. The fate of Aelea depends on it.”

Taog’s eyes narrowed. Of course it would be that stupid cult, again. Apparently they’ve been at this for a long time. The knight had a sword at his side, Taog reached down and picked it up. He turned to face the core and scowled.

“We’ll bring those monsters down, count on it.”

He lifted the knight’s sword and brought it down, shattering the core. The sword glowed faintly with golden and silver light as a burst of mana surged from the core. Taog was knocked to the ground, quickly looking back up and pointing the sword forward. But the remnants of the core just faded away, leaving the air still.

[You have purified a pseudo-corrupted dungeon destabilizing the mana of the region!]

[You have accomplished the feat: World Defender!]

[You have accomplished the feat: Hero!]

[Gained the unique hero skill: The Dark Hero]

[Excellently done, Taog!]

Taog blinked repeatedly at the message from the Aesdes…or from Victoria, apparently. His eyes read the words, but it took his brain a while to comprehend…and accept…their meaning.

***

Back at the cove, Ateia breathed a sigh of relief as Taog defeated the dragon. Her mana disconnected from the streams flowing through the world and the light faded from her eyes. She barely remembered to disable the emotional controls again before she plopped to the ground and her organic eye closed.

“Initiating standby-sentry mode.”

Colleöne made a soft smile and picked Ateia up, carrying her to her tent. She nodded at NSLICE-00P.

“She’ll be fine, she just needs some rest. As do most of you, I’d imagine.”

“Observation: It appears entity Colleöne’s assessment is correct. The majority of NSLICE units are initiating standby-sentry mode.”

Colleöne smile and raised an eyebrow.

“But not yourself?”

“Explanation: Apparently this unit had a spell that streamlined the data transfer to her own components, and so suffered less fatigue as a result.”

[The spell Divination has leveled twice and is now level 4!]

Colleöne nodded.

“Well, it is a good opportunity. We’ve not had a chance to speak, NSLICE-00P. If you have anything you wish to ask of me, I am permitted to offer counsel.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye glowed and displayed the persons of interest once again.

“Query: Do you possess any intel regarding the displayed persons of interest?”

Colleöne frowned, and took a deep breath.

“This…may be hard to hear, NSLICE-00P, but to my knowledge none of these people exist within Aelea. You are the first visitor from another reality we have ever encountered. While I am not all-knowing, I can confirm that the rest of the Aesdes were as surprised as I was when we found you.”

“Follow-up Query: How far does the intelligence network of entities Aesdes extend?”

Colleöne shook her head.

“Farther than any that exists in this Plane. We watch over the entire Material Plane, and can view the records of anything within it if we so wish. Well, our attention is not endless, so we do not keep track of everything that occurs, but suffice to say visitors from another world would certainly warrant our notice.”

“Acknowledged.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered. At this point, she was already assuming the persons of interest were located in a separate universe, so Colleöne’s statements didn’t change the status of her mission. They simply confirmed that any sort of local search within this universe had a practically zero chance of success.

“Query: Do you possess any intel regarding spatial magic, or other universe-traversing capabilities?”

Colleöne again frowned and shook her head.

“I am sorry, NSLICE-00P. Spatial magic will not achieve what you hope, not in the way that we have designed it. It works within the structure of Aelea, it was never intended to reach beyond. We were not even aware of other realities beyond Aelea and the Source until you arrived. There is no precedent for what you are attempting to achieve, even the Aesdes are not certain how one would safely and successfully do so. But take heart. You are not alone in Aelea, even if you should find yourself unable to ever leave.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered rapidly. If Colleöne, one of the Aesdes apparently responsible for the foreign system stated so, then it was highly unlikely the foreign system contained the capabilities she was searching for.

Which meant that NSLICE-00P would have to develop such capabilities on her own. Which…was not impossible. She had already made her way through the Boundary of the Material Plane once, though by a vague and largely accidental process. If she could study and codify said process, perhaps she might find a way to leave this universe. She now also had the gates between the New World and the Otter Burrow she could study, and spatial magic was still a possibility.

And a new capability had opened up to her.

The use of the NSLICE network to aid a divination had revealed a new option to expand her capabilities. She had already seen the Legion mages join together to cast larger spells than any one individual was capable of. It should be possible for her to replicate that feat using the NSLICE network, opening up spellcasting with more powerful effects than currently available to her. If she then applied that to spatial magic, and utilized the full computing resource of the NSLICE network to iterate on the process, perhaps she could come up with spells that had no precedent.

It was something to explore once the other NSLICE units had recovered.

In any case, she would not begin working on leaving the universe until the dangerous hostiles were terminated. Ritual magic through the NSLICE network could have combat applications so she could purse that in the meantime, but otherwise her focus was on terminating the threat.

“Gratitude: This unit thanks you for your assistance with the primary directive. Query: Does entity Colleöne have any intel regarding the group designated ‘Heralds of Mana’ and any affiliated forces?”

Colleöne rubbed her chin and then sighed.

“The Aesdes…are not supposed to intervene in the affairs of the Material Plane’s inhabitants, not even to stop those opposed to us. I was sent mainly to guide you and Ateia regarding her new state, as well as your new Material Plane. It would go beyond my mandate to speak to you on them but…”

Colleöne’s eyes narrowed.

“The Aesdes are worried. The Heralds of the New Dawn have surprised us with their capabilities, which go beyond what should have been possible for them. Even the blessings of the Realms of Mana would not have taught them how to twist the world’s mana in the way that they did. It is possible…no, I should not speak such grave ponderings aloud and without basis. I will simply say this. Your current course is a wise one. You have achieved mighty victories thus far, but your strength is not invincible. I believe the best thing you can do at this moment is prepare for the challenges ahead.”

Colleöne then made a wry smile.

“But, well, time and time again you have surprised even us Aesdes. I have a feeling you will do so again, no matter what may come.”

“Acknowledged.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered. Well, none of what Colleöne said on the hostiles was actually useful to her, save the vague implication that the Heralds of the New Dawn had capabilities considered non-standard by this universe. NSLICE-00P was still on her own in terms of countering those abilities.

But that was fine.

After all, terminating non-standards was what the Non-Standard Leashed-Intelligence Cybernetic-Enforcer was built to do. And in this case, NSLICE-00P would achieve her original purpose, by all means necessary.

Author’s Note:

Should Taog have gotten the Hero feat from breaking one pseudo-corrupted core that’s been left for years and wasn’t creating monsters or Rifts or anything?

Well, let’s just say Anualë might raise his eyebrow at that. But, well, Taog did have to slay a dragon first, technically. A dragon which may or may not have been weakened by a coincidental surge of Holy mana in the region beforehand.

Well, it technically fits within the stated requirements, so good enough! There’s absolutely no favoritism going on in the system, absolutely not. See, he got the boons after the victory this time, so it’s fine!

Anyways!

Did Taog just accidentally become the MC? Will NSLICE-00P do something completely unprecedented? Will she find and terminate the hostile non-standards? Tune in next time, to find out!