Eminence in Technomancy c5 (Patreon)

Over a week has passed since Beta joined their little group.

Marcus prepared living quarters for her. Seeing that they would be getting more people in the future, he decided to expand even further.

The alchemist created a corridor westwards from the main living room; on both sides, there are rooms. With this new expansion, they should be able to have over ten people in their base.

Apart from that, Marcus continued building his infrastructure. For more complex work, he needed specific work benches.

The first thing on his list is Matter Converter.

Well, that name is an oversimplification, as the more exact wording would be ‘reactive automated, transmutation circle’.

With the reactor operational, power is no longer an issue, so he can start flexing his engineering.

In the shape of a large black box, as big as a room situated above mana pools and below the future assembly lines, the Matter Convertor was explicitly built to interact with liquid mana.

It starts by sucking in liquid mana, the first circle in the black box changes from liquid to solid if needed, and then the second circle interacts with an atom layout and the last one actual manifestation.

All it takes is three steps, but none of this will work if his AI is not present.

Still, he finished making it and then started working on Assembly lines, which also require AI. But this is fine. He needs to complete these anyway. He needs to place those ticks on his mental list. Otherwise, he will go crazy.

In the meantime, Alpha finished the crash course for Beta. The silver-haired elf is a fast learner, and the crash course was enough to get the idea; of course, she can ask for more from their Lord later on!

With basics down, it was time to strike at the cult!

Donning the armour, the pair of elves left the hideout in the middle of the night.

By this point, Beta can use the flight ability to a respectable level as she practises the floating ability inside the hideout. Unlike Alpha, Beta already has a particular attachment to the armour.

For her, it was a gift from her Lord, and she will treasure it for as long as she can!

The girl didn’t realise that several more armours were coming her way in the not so distant future.

“We are approaching the location.”

The blonde elf brought Beta from her thoughts.

“R-Right!”

The pair looked down. The duo could see a cavern of some sort surrounded by tall trees.

“This should be one of the midpoints where Cult is resting. From the documents we collected, it should have another ‘Possessed’.”

The silver-haired girl nodded when she heard that.

“Show no mercy, Beta.”

With that, Alpha proceeded to descend towards the entrance.

Beta followed after her with much less eagerness. Unlike the blonde, the silver-haired elf doesn't have such a ‘warrior’ heart.

One could say that Alpha inherited a ‘sense of Justice’ from Olivier. For the blonde elf, the Cult of Diablos is an evil existence; such an organisation cannot continue to exist!

Once on the ground, they walked inside the cave; with their HUD, they could easily see what was inside without worrying about light sources.

After a couple of turns, they discovered a cavern lit up by torches.

There was a group of rowdy-looking dark knights.

“Beta, target the torches. Once the lights are out, we shall exterminate them.”

“R-Right.”

After hearing the confirmation, the blonde elf lifted her hand, and mana gathered in her palm. With a burst of energy, Alpha released a beam at a torch.

“Hmm?”

“Did you hear that?”

The armoured girl rushed in and shot beams one after another, taking out the light source. Beta was behind her, but she was much slower and less confident with her actions.

Still, she removed a couple of torches, unlike Alpha, who destroyed over fifteen.

Once in darkness, the Dark Knights looked around in confusion and worry.

“Show yourself! We are with the Church of Divine Teaching! If you go against us, you go against the Goddess!”

“Then it's a Good thing I believe in a different God.”

*STAB*

A Groan escaped from the Dark Knight's mouth as he felt someone punch through him!

“N-No…way!”

Hearing that, the knights started to look around in panic! They can't see shit!

This panic was what Alpha needed, as she blasted and punched through the knights while her childhood friend looked wide-eyed at the slaughter she was seeing.

She can't believe how crazy the blonde has turned!

With only one left, the blonde noticed a dumbfounded silver-haired friend.

So, instead of killing him, she broke his limbs and brought him over to Beta.

“Kill him. This man is a cultist, the same cultist who will do anything for cheap power; they harvest us like food. Are you going to allow that to continue to happen?” Alpha asked with a sharp voice.

Her words brought flashbacks to Beta, who paled behind the helmet.

Anger started to surge as she pointed her palm at the crying and snivelling dark knight. The guy can't see shit. All he can hear is a female voice with a metal echo.

With a burst of light, Beta erased the guy. This action was her first kill. It was easy, far too easy.

This first kill made her start shaking as she realised what this meant.

She just took a life!

“Good, let's pillage this place and collect everything we can.”

“...Y-Yes.”

The pair proceeded to explore the cavern; they looked around for anything of interest. A short while later, they found another blob of brown rotting flesh.

Noticing the blob made Beta pale even more! That's what they look like? Fully transformed!?

“Good, I was right.”

Alpha was pleased with the find.

~~~

“My Lord, we have returned.” Alpha respectfully announced that they returned from their mission.

“We have found another possessed person and more details on their operations.”

Marcus nodded, but then he noticed that Beta wasn't with her.

“And Beta?”

His question made Alpha grimace for a second.

“I have forgotten that my friend is on a softer side than I am.”

“I see. I will see what I can do. Trauma like that can take a while to process.”

“I apologise; I should have been patient. Especially when you always say to have patience.” The blonde said that while lowering her head.

“It's okay. You made a hasty choice; remember this next time.” The Alchemist patted her head before walking from the workshop towards the living room, where a blob of rotten flesh awaited them.

It appears that Beta went to her room.

“Let me fix this first before I speak with Beta.” He said that while looking at the blob.

“Yes.”

Marcus pointed his hand at the blob; magic waves started to bombard the ball of rotten flesh.

It started to glow as it rapidly shrunk and formed into another elf girl.

Her hair was dark blue, the same as her eyes. A mole was just beneath her lip on the left side, making her look cute.

‘This is the third time, and it's another elf girl.’

The alchemist started to ponder, are the elves the best harvest source for the cult?

He needs to investigate how many elves remain in the world.

“Y-You healed me? H-How?”

“I am a Grand Alchemist; my name is Marcus Goldman. The girl next to me is Alpha; she is my second in command. She will fill you in.”

Alpha puffed her chest when she heard that! It made her all giddy when Marcus had so much faith in her!

“...Wow…a Grand alchemist! No wonder!” She tried to stand up, but the girl placed her foot on her long hair; this made her slip and crash face-first into the floor.

“...”

“...”

‘She is a klutz…’

“Be careful; your nose is bleeding!” Alpha went over and helped her to stand up.

“T-Thank you.” The blue-haired girl blushed from embarrassment as she slowly stood up, cleaning up her bleeding nose.

“Alpha, brief her on things we do. I am going to talk with Beta.”

“Yes, my Lord!”

The blonde took the curious blue-haired girl away. Seeing his second-in-command doing her thing, Marcus went to the living quarters.

He went over to Beta’s room and knocked on the doors.

“It's me. Can I come in?”

“...”

“...”

“Y-Yes, one moment.”

A few short moments later, the doors opened, and pale and teary Beta was looking at him.

Marcus sighed, seeing that. He was right; the girl wasn't as ‘natural’ in a fight like Alpha.

So, the first thing he did was pat the silver-haired elf’s head. Which made her gloomy look disappear and get replaced by a happy blush.

“I heard you had trouble in your first fight.”

“Y-Yes. I— froze.”

“Better than me. You know I dodged any sort of fight for over 50 years.” As he said that, he entered her room and sat on the only chair in her average size room.

It was barren, with only a table, wardrobe, and mannequin for the armour; it was empty as one expected, as she had only moved in not long ago.

“Y-You did?”

“Of course. You do realise that I am no fighter, initially.” As he said that, he looked at the armour placed on a mannequin in a corner of the room; Beta cleaned it off and left it in a pristine condition

“...”

“All I ever wanted was to build the best possible armour. But as time went on, I was running out of time; the natural lifespan of a human is short. So, I delved into other arts until I discovered eternal youth.

As you can probably guess, people noticed my discoveries. Greedy people wanted what was mine, so I had to fight.”

The silver-haired elf slowly nodded.

“But you are different. You knew that you didn't truly know how to fight, but you went to fight anyway. That means you have courage.”

“...But I froze…”

“That is fine.” He got up from the chair and walked over to her side. He patted her head one more time.

“Tehehe~”

For a second, she giggled, but then a thoughtful look appeared on her face.

“Umm…can you tell me some stories?”

“What kind of stories?” He asked curiously.

“I want to hear how you became a Grand Alchemist!” She asked that with starry eyes.

“...Sure…”

~~~

Alpha’s eyebrows twitched. She was feeling jealous! Marcus has been in Beta’s room for a while! She can hear how he is telling things about himself! Even she didn't hear that!

‘Wait! Should I lessen my strong front? Show some vulnerability!?’

She pondered for a bit.

Eventually, Marcus left Beta’s room and walked to the living room, where the pair of elves were waiting for him.

“My Lord, Alpha has told me everything I need to know. I wish to join you. If it's okay?” The blue-haired elf asked him respectfully.

“That is fine. I assume you want a name as well?” He asked with a sigh as he saw an expecting look. These elf girls are strange, to say the least.

“Yes! Please!”

“Very well. From now on, you are Gamma.”

The girl fistbumped, she looked ecstatic. Marcus smiled when he saw her behaviour. He then looked at Alpha.

“Alpha, you shall continue to teach them what I taught you.”

“As you wish, my Lord. Is Beta fine?”

The Grand Alchemist slowly nodded. ‘Fine’ is an understatement. Marcus wonders if his words are becoming gospel to that girl.

The more he thinks about this, the more it is evident that a cult is forming around him, and all he needs to do is to be himself.

“She is fine. Once she digests that experience, she will be ready for actual missions.”

A relieved look passed through the blonde’s face. Thankfully, the silver-haired elf wasn't THAT traumatised.

“Glad to hear. Then we rest for now, and tomorrow we shall start our lessons, Gamma,” Alpha explained to the new girl.

“Very well.”

“Good. Once the basics are down, I will continue to teach you all three.”

The pair’s eyes glitter when they hear that!

“Yes!”