Steamforged Sorcery B2 Ch6 (Patreon)

The lonely tap of their footsteps was all that accompanied the two as the undecorated hall wound deeper into the earth. They followed it down for several minutes before a dull buzz reached Angel’s ears and he raised a hand to stop Lilian.

He placed his hand against the wall just before the passage took a sharp turn to the left. It vibrated to the touch.

“Something is beyond this,” Angel said. “Keep your guard up.”

“I thought you were getting payment or something?” Lilian asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“I might have to liberate my payment by force.” Angel’s arm whirred, loading a canister into place automatically. He raised the spark of magic before him and moved around the corner. A small room greeted him.

It almost resembled the cockpit of a chopper. Dust covered screens sat before a large, tall backed chair that had likely once been incredibly comfortable. Now it was little more than decayed rags and a metal frame.

“What is this place?” Angel wondered aloud, walking inside after checking the surroundings for traps and finding none.

“It’s a control room,” Lilian said, a small note of awe in her voice. “I haven’t seen one of these in… ah, ever.”

“Recognized it awful fast for never having seen one.”

“I’ve heard of them,” Lilian snapped. “Catacombs are incredibly protective of them. This is where they were programmed back before and during the Great War. But why would this catacomb let you into it?”

One of the screens – a small rectangle directly before the shoddy chair – blinked to life with dull gray light. Angel raised an eyebrow, approaching the chair. He brushed some of the worthless cushion away and then sat down before the screen.

Welcome, System User. Initializing session…

Error. Connection to System Server not found.

Running diagnostic test…

Error located: Antenna damaged.

Would you like to provide an alternative routing path to the System? [Y/N]

“Well, that’s interesting,” Angel observed, drumming his fingers on the cold chair. “It’s some sort of connection to the System. Not doing us much good, though. I have no idea how to fix something like this, and I don’t have another routing path.”

He tapped the ‘no’ button. The screen flashed yellow before fading as the same words appeared upon it. It swapped to green before going yellow once more.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Angel asked with an irritable sigh. “Do you catacombs have any idea how absolutely worthless this method of communication is? Would it have killed your creators to add some basic dialogue options?”

Red flash.

Angel rolled his eyes. “You can clearly understand me, so let’s make this easy. Green flash means you understand, red flash means you don’t. Understand?”

The screen turned green. Lilian drew in a sharp breath, but Angel ignored her.

“Good. Now, I’m assuming you brought me here because something is broken and you want me to fix it. Am I correct?”

Another green flash.

“Okay. Is it this antenna thing that connects you to the System? Because if that’s the case, there isn’t much I can do. I know nearly nothing about System artifacts, and it would take me too long to learn enough about them to actually fix you. So, is the antenna what you want me to fix?”

There was a long pause. Then the screen slowly turned yellow.

“Is that supposed to be a ‘kind of’ or something?” Angel guessed. “Let’s see… is the problem you want solved somehow related to the System?”

Green lit the screen once more.

“And it isn’t the antenna?”

The screen didn’t change. Angel rubbed his chin. “Lilian, any thoughts? I think the catacomb wants to get connected to the System, but maybe not through the antenna. But how else would we even do it?”

“Maybe it’s got something to do with one of your artifacts?” Lilian guessed. “You did get that new System artifact a while ago.”

Angel blinked. He’d completely forgotten about the strange orb with everything that had happened recently. The Seeker dug through his travel pack and pulled the orb out from within it.

“This thing? If I’m not mistaken, it’s not functional yet. There should still be a day or two until it starts running,” Angel said. “It was updating or the like.”

The screen flashed, going from gray to green several times.

“I take it that means this is what you’re interested in,” Angel said. “I’m afraid I’m not willing to give this away for nothing, though. It was a real pain in the ass to get it in the first place.”

Red blinked across the screen.

“You don’t want it?”

Yellow flash.

“You only need it for a little?” Angel guessed.

The light turned back to green. Then it returned to gray, the words printing themselves across the screen once more. Angel scanned over them once more. He raised an eyebrow. “Ah. The alternate routing path.”

He pressed the ‘yes’ button. The screen shimmered and a small slot opened in the ground before him. A small puff of dust rose up from it as a metal tube emerged, coiling at his feet like a snake.

“I don’t suppose you’ve got any idea what this is?” Angel asked Lilian.

“None. Probably a connection to the catacomb’s core, if I had to take a blind guess,” Lilian said.

Angel picked the end of the tube up. Lines of Old World Magic ran along its length, but they were deactivated. As he examined it, the end of the tube hissed. Four metal prongs folded outwards, making a small grabber.

“Are you sure this is wise?” Lilian asked.

“No,” Angel said, pressing the tube against the top of the blue orb. “But now I’m curious enough to just go along with things. Maybe I’ll learn something new.”

The lines on the tube slowly started to shine. It started near the orb, then traveled down it and into the ground. The dull hum in the room grew louder and the words on the screen changed.

Connection established.

Please enter System User credentials.

“Wonderful,” Angel said, remembering the username that the orb had mistakenly assigned him. The orb twisted apart, exposing the core within it.

Credentials accepted.

Running diagnostics check…

Notice: Faults located in local instance. Would you like to remedy them with a System Update? [Y/N]

Angel tapped yes. The screen flashed green once more before a loading bar appeared on it. The orb hummed to itself as the bar inched towards completion. Several terse minutes later, it finally finished.

System Update successful.

The words on the screen faded away and it went dark. A moment later, the artifact in Angel’s hands grew several degrees hotter.

“Hello, Wonderful,” the artifact said. Instead of the female voice from before, this one was flat and flat.

“Hello,” Angel said. “Who might this be? I don’t recall my System Artifact sounding like this.”

“I am the User Communication Directive of the catacomb that you are currently standing within,” the voice reported. “I have temporarily taken control of this device’s speakers in order to better communicate with you.”

“Interesting,” Angel said. “So, what do you want from me? I’ve already rebooted you and repaired your core. I don’t work for free, so you’ll have to start paying up at this rate.”

“I understand. Given the catacomb’s current circumstances, I have been given permission to offer up some of the artifacts stored within these halls in exchange for some minor help.”

“You’ll have to get more specific than that,” Angel said. “What kind of help do you still need?”

“That large source of magic that your companion is carrying around. The energy you inserted is enough to temporarily reactivate the catacomb, but it won’t last long. However, the power stored within that object should last several years. More than enough time to begin naturally replenishing resources.”

“There’s a whole bunch of them at the entrance,” Angel said. “Why not get one of those?”

“This catacomb does not currently have any active units that could retrieve an item.”

“Ah,” Angel said. “Whoops. I guess that makes sense. Well, we can always just grab another one on the way out. But do you have some way to connect this to your system?”

“The core can draw the energy out without a special interface.”

“Well, it’s your call, Lilian,” Angel said, glancing at her. “It’s your fancy airship canister after all. You think there will still be more at the entrance?”

“I don’t see why not,” Lilian said with a heavy sigh. “But what are we going to get out of this?”

“I have taken the liberty of scanning the information within this System Artifact,” the robotic voice said. “From the information within it, I believe that you are interested in what is referred to as Old World Magic.”

“That’s correct,” Angel said, leaning forwards.

“Then I possess what should be sufficient payment. There is, using your terminology, a damaged Relic within this dungeon. It is not functional, but the runes on it should be sufficient for extensive study. You may have it in exchange for your assistance.”