Chapter 589 - Strange Lab (Patreon)

When morning came, Hera and the others had a quick meal before the entire party, including Bonnie and Alex, went to the dungeon's location. It was inside one of the large warehouse-like structures. The researcher and the assassin were going alone just for moral support. Bonnie still wasn't able to move around very well, and going inside a dungeon where they could be attacked wasn't something she was willing to do. Truth be told, she never said that Alex couldn't go, but the assassin knew that staying in a place like this alone could be scary, not to mention that no one could tell how long the dungeon would take. If it was one of those dungeons that took days to complete, having her alone outside could put her in a bind. When he realized that the two would be outside, Adriel also said he would stay behind. Arguing that if people took too long to come back, someone might need to go down to the raft and get more food. Considering the party going to the dungeon had five people, seven if counting, with Hera's titled blades, everyone agreed with his argument.

Arriving in the warehouse, Mylo and Nimbus were in charge of the large double doors. They were heavy, and it took both of them to push one of the sides open. As the inside was exposed to the outside air, some lights turned on. Those were actually mana crystals enchanted to turn on when movement was detected. Going inside, the group spread out, trying to see what was going on there. They found several screens and even a couple of illusions that showed various statistics. Not that any of them could understand what all that meant. The language used here was completely alien to everyone. Even Shane and Hera, the de facto linguistics experts of the group, never saw anything like it. Every letter was a squiggle that would change and move, almost as if every character was actually a full word, but it moved to show all the letters in the order they should be.

All this was inside a part of the warehouse right by the entrance, but it felt a lot like a reception with walls blocking the path for the deeper area. They crossed another door, this one much smaller and lighter than the one in the front, and arrived at a large open area with what looked like an elevated pool covering most of the ground.

To the left, there were more crystals projecting illusions that were just like holograms that some companies have started making lately. The reason why things like this, projections made with mana crystals, were not as popular was due to the cost. Making a hologram only required electricity, but to make an illusion, you would have to either have someone fueling the crystal with mana or use a mana core that could regenerate enough to keep the illusion working. If anyone found a core that had enough mana to keep something like that constantly on display, people would rather use them for something else, like for vehicles or as home generators.

Helena walked towards a glass room with several pieces of equipment that looked like they would be used in a chemistry lab and whistled, "Wow… I have to say. I never expected an ancient civilization to be this advanced."

"You don't know the half of it. Come check this out," Hera called the group. She went up a ladder to see what was inside the pool and she couldn't believe her eyes. As soon as she stepped on the platform, a set of lights turned on under the water and revealed a large circular structure in the middle.

"What is this? Some kind of sci-fi engine." Nimbus asked after more people joined her on the platform, but no one had the answer. Not until Blue arrived, helping Bonnie up the steps.

"I don't get it. What are we looking at?" the controller asked.

"I… I really hope this is not what this is, but it looks like a nuclear reactor," Bonnie said.

"Are those even real? Are they not just something that people say that power a ship in a space movie?" Adriel had a confused expression.

"No, they are real but aren't those like large things with smoke coming out of them? And aren't they super deadly?"  anyone could tell how worried Blue was just by glancing at her face.

"I mean… yeah, that's why there was only one in the world. People looked at it and realized it was better to use mana cores to get electricity. Especially after the disaster," Bonnie continued.

"And this is what it looks like inside?" Alex frowned.

"If I remember correctly, the structure is very similar. A large vat of water to help control… something? Maybe the temperature, with the actual reactor in the middle," Bonnie still had her eyes glued to the pool.

"I don't think this is one of those things," Mylo said.

"How can you tell?" Shane turned to him.

"Don't people say that you die in seconds if you get close to one? Something about poison in the air. We are still alive, and I'm not feeling sick."

"That sounds right. But let's try not to test that theory. No one presses anything that looks like a button, deal?" Shane turned to the rest of the party, who all nodded in response.

"Where is the dungeon?" Blue turned to Bonnie, hoping to get away from this place quickly.

She pulled her spyglass and looked around, "There, in the back," She pointed to a set of double doors just like the ones they used to get inside the warehouse.

"I know what you are thinking, but you do realize that if we go there, we should see this turned on, right?" Shane turned to the controller.

"No… that's not a guarantee. Is it?" Blue looked at Helena and Hera with a pleading expression.

"It's not. Just because there is one here, it doesn't mean that there is another in the dungeon. Then again, we can't say for sure that won't be the case. Especially if whatever happened here is related to this thing," Hera replied.

Helena looked at the Empress with a smile, "I couldn't have said it better myself."

Blue let out a long sigh, and Alex patted her back, "You don't have to go if you don't want to. You could stay with us."

"No, no. I want to participate in the dungeon," Blue looked to the double doors in the back, somewhat dejected.

"Let's go then. There is no reason to wait around," Shane went down the platform and started walking to the back of the room.

Hera helped Alex and Bonnie to get down from the platform, "Are you sure you don't want to stay Blue? It's ok if you do."

"No. I mean, I'm scared, but what's the point of being scared? We are in a place where we should be able to fight any monster that shows up here, so I want to be there to help. And to fight my fears."

"Ok then. If you are sure, let's just wait for them to leave before going inside. Who knows if this is a weird dungeon that forces everyone inside here to participate," Hera let Bonnie go, and the group that was going to stay behind nodded, leaving the warehouse before going towards the dungeon. It was a bit of a weird suggestion considering that Hera only saw a dungeon that would do that once, back in the Moon Base room. That being said, it was a sound idea. If that actually happened, and the exit was far away from the entrance, like it was in the Weeding Disaster hard mode, they could be in trouble. It was a long shot, but one that, when thinking about it, no one was willing to take.

"Hera. Call me when you arrive there. We don't know what to expect," Lurize said just before the Empress dismissed him. Daskka had told her again and again that she didn't have to do that during dungeons. Doorways were still a question mark, though. Despite that, Hera maintained her idea. She would avoid crossing with any of her blades out just to make sure there would be no problems.

When they were clear, Mylo turned towards the large doors, with Blue by his side to help him open them. However, as soon as they touched the entrance, a notification appeared in front of everyone inside the warehouse.

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Would you like to enter the Day of Progress dungeon?

[Yes]     [No]

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"I guess you were right," Helena smiled at Hera as everyone pressed the yes button.

"Not quite," Hera looked back, and the doors to the outside were still there. So even if Bonnie and the others were here, there was a chance that they would be able to leave without any problems.

"Anyway, let's go then," Shane said before pressing yes, but the door still didn't budge. Only when all of them, the ones inside the warehouse, confirmed that they would enter that the entrance was open.

Beyond it, there was an exact replica of the warehouse entrance, with one difference. Instead of things being in that odd language that no one understood, the illusions were all written in English. But before they could read what was actually going on there, a man came rushing towards them. He had completely black skin, not like Helena, but actually black. He had webbed feet and hands, and his ears were fin-like.

"Is he a triton?" Shane asked out loud. Hera never had a chance to interact with one of them, but now that the elf mentioned it, she could see the similarity. Even if, as far as she knew, their skin should be in different shades of blue, not this deep black that they were seeing.

"What are you talking about? Of course, I'm a triton. What else is there?" The man scoffed and crossed his hands over his chest. With the initial surprise out of the way, Hera took a look at what he was wearing. The man was barefoot, and he was wearing shorts. He also had a long open coat over his shoulder that went all the way to his knees. It looked a lot like a lab coat, but it had a blue wave pattern all around it, "Nevermind that. I'm glad that you are all here. How much do you know about what happened?"

"What happened?" Blue asked.

The man stared at Blue for a few seconds, "Please tell me you are kidding. They didn't tell you anything?"

"I'm afraid not. We don't even know your name, to be honest," Helena replied.

"What? But I'm… no... I suppose that makes sense. You are from Abyssia, after all. I'm Jadas Skyseer. The chief artificer of the city. I'm the one responsible for all the advancements and all the magecraft gear we use in Sky and in your city. I'm the one who created the design for the Slime Carriers and the Net Launchers you guys use. Anyway, the new project I'm working on is a way to change how we use mana cores. Instead of having to get lucky and earn one in a dungeon to be then able to make something, I invented a way to turn cloud dust into mana itself. That takes a large structure, and we can then use it to fuel mana crystals and use those to power whatever we need. It's all very technical, and I'm sure most of what I said went over your head, but that's fine. We all have our strengths. The important part and the reason we called you here is my assistant. He ended up falling into the structure, and the mana latched on to her and went crazy. It created almost a… creature. And that…monster is attacking anyone in sight. That's why I had to call you. The people of Sky are scholars and artists. We don't focus on physical prowess like you. Don't take this as me saying that we are superior. I'll leave our accomplishments to speak of that. However, this is the kind of thing you excel at. Killing things that should be killed. A task that requires muscle and a specific type of knowledge that cannot be used for other things."

Everyone was annoyed at the way Jadas talked. It was too fast, and he was so condescending, not to mention the amount of backhanded 'compliments' mixed in the middle of his speech. This was clearly a man who loved the sound of his own voice.

"Ok. And what do you want us to do? Kill your assistant?"

"NO! Well… if that's what it takes, then yes. I want to be able to turn on the mana pool today. To do that, I need the mana monster to be gone. Do whatever you need to do for it to work. If killing my assistant is what it takes, then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make" Jadas gave a small bow as if he was doing some sort of noble thing.

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Dungeon Quest - Mana Creature Rampage

A triton inventor inadvertently created a creature of mana. The creature distorted the laboratory where a mana pool was created. Defeat the mana creature to return the place to normal.

First Time Rewards: 180 000 gold
Jada's Workshop Grab Bag
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