Chapter 80: The Second Meeting

  The closest rental workshop I found was one run by Carol Lang’s Owls, the largest inventors’ guild in Orlinth.

  When they weren’t busy innovating and constructing, recruiting every half-talented inventor in Orlinth, or buying up most of the available tickets for the weekly materials lottery, the Owls were running a side business.

  In addition to reselling some of the parts they’d won in the lottery—at prices far higher than they were worth—they also owned plenty of these workshops scattered around Orlinth to rake even more Steamcrowns. Outside of pure greed, I wasn’t sure why they needed so much. The oligarchs would never let them even scratch the amount of capital they had, so what was the point of hoarding Steamcrowns if Dalton Rose would just take them all through taxes eventually?

  Anyway, for the hefty price of ten whole Steamcrowns, I got a personal workshop—a small room equipped with every tool I could possible need, plus most of the basic materials.

  There were some restrictions, of course. Ten Steamcrowns only granted me three hours in this room, and covered only five kilos of Iron, and even less of the other metals. Rarer ones, like tungsten, weren’t available at all. Crystals weren’t provided either.

  Still, it was better than nothing. I wasn’t going back home in my current state.

  I laid out the tools I needed on a magnetic tray across the workbench, then summoned Zee from the Inventory and signaled for him to hop onto the elevated worktable.

  It was my first time working on a live automaton.

  I suddenly froze.

  Live…

  That word carried a very different meaning now, knowing what I knew about Aetheris. I didn’t feel like I could work on him when he was…well, looking at me.

  I sighed, facepalming and feeling stupid.

  Even if Zee was “alive” in the conventional sense, that didn’t mean that he could feel things. He was still made of metal held together by magitek. It’s not like he had a nervous system to feel pain….right?

  I sighed again. If I had proper control over him—through my COG, like how the Enforcers controlled their automatons—I’d have simply shut him down for the duration of the repairs. But I didn’t. And since removing the Aetheris from his core risked killing him, I’d just have to work through my discomfort.

  “Just stay like this,” I muttered a command, steeling myself.

  I put on a pair of work gloves that were provided to me and ran my fingers over the dents in Zee’s frame. Touching the plates properly made me realize they were coated in something translucent. Under the worktable lamp, it became clear—it was likely a crystal layer. Recalling how Zee could vanish, I assumed the coating had something to do with that. But which crystal was it? I couldn’t even remember where I’d gotten Zee, why he obeyed and protected me, or who built him.

  Not important right now. I just needed to be careful when heating the plates. Too much heat and this crystal coating might blow up in my face. That would be an embarrassing way to end this loop.

  I located Zee’s Core first, just to make sure I wouldn’t accidently damage it while working on the rest of him. It was tucked neatly inside his belly. Fitting. Then, I began.

  I used a socket driver to remove the bolts securing the damaged plates from his back, organizing them carefully on the magnetic tray so I’d remember exactly which bolt came from where.

  Now came the internal inspection.

  I inspected the magitek conductors—copper wires—leading toward the Aetheris Core inside. They were only slightly damaged, but I decided to replace them anyway. I’d already paid the damn ten Steamcrowns, might as well make full use of the materials that came with it.

  Using the set of wooden-handled pliers and a few different screwdrivers, I swapped out the old conductors for new ones. Then I turned to the damaged plates—the truly difficult part.

  I loaded an Ignis into my COG’s Channel Core. The needles pierced my arm, injecting me with the fiery mana.

  [Burn Rate lvl. 5: Ignis is burning. Time left – 00:04:59]

  I picked up the first plate and set it crystal-side down. Aiming an index finger at the dented area, I released a narrow stream of flame, attempting to heat the metal just enough so I could hammer the dent back into place without blowing up the translucent coating.

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  I listened carefully for any strange sounds coming from the crystal coating—in case it was about to explode. If that happened, a faint crackle or pop would probably be the only warning I’d get. Then, only Slow could save me.

  But nothing happened.

  Every few seconds, I checked the state of the iron plate before striking the dent with a small hammer.

  A few seconds of heating. A few strikes. Wait for it to cool down. Rinse and repeat.

  My Ignis burned out at some point and I had to load another. Luckily, I had five of them in the Inventory. It looked like past Viktors had been stacking them.

  I smiled as I worked.

  It was strange—knowing how grim my situation was, yet still finding some small joy in this mechanical rhythm. I always believed I hated the mechanical work because I never actually wanted to build my life around being an inventor, but maybe I was wrong all this time. Or maybe I was just yapping to myself because I didn’t want to think about the damn Crow.

  After three Ignises, both plates were straightened. I reattached them to Zee just as I heard footsteps approaching my workshop.

  A quick glance at the clock hanging on the wall to my right showed I’d only used two of my three hours, so it couldn’t be these place’s employees.

  A chill ran down my spine.

  The Crow.

  My body tensed instantly, heart pounding. I was prepared to summon the Armor Piercer—even though I knew it wouldn’t work on him. I ordered Zee to enter camouflage to get an extra edge—even though I knew that wouldn’t help either.

  Then suddenly, in my mind, the pieces began to click into place.

  Dolos had never been truly bothered by Crow #13. If he were, he wouldn’t have gone silent for thirteen runs. No. This entire not-so-metaphorical meat grinder I’d been trapped in, combined with Chronos’ absence, was clearly all by Dolos’ design.

  I wouldn’t even be surprised if, just as he’d dragged me into his realm those two times, he’d also blocked me from reaching Chronos altogether. It made too much sense. He wanted me to break—to push me to the point where I’d beg him for that spear.

  Yes. The spear. It was always about that. Whatever it was, its purpose wasn’t to “remove the Crow from the board”, as Dolos put it. No. It was meant to hurt Chronos…and, inadvertently, me. I was sure of it now.

  Well, too bad for you, lying fuck. I’m not that easy to break. Give me a few more runs, and I’ll crack this myself. I don’t need any gods helping me.

  In truth, I was already working toward that end. Slowly. Outside the therapeutic value of fixing Zee, there was another reason I’d come here.

  I had a theory. What if Zee could remember things between loops?

  I mean, he’d carried over the damage he’d taken in previous runs by residing in the Inventory. That meant that—possibly—he might be “immune” to the time loop reset. And considering he was powered by an Aetheris—a human turned crystal—maybe he was capable of memorizing things. Somehow.

  And if that was the case…maybe I could learn more things from him? Maybe I could use him as a carrier of memories of sorts. It was better than trusting that “broken” photograph that was tainted by Dolos and maybe even the reason the Crow could track me without me watching a Memory Fragment.

  The workshop’s door suddenly creaked opened, yanking me out of my thoughts. When I lifted my head, he was already there.

  It wasn’t the Crow.

  It was someone I didn’t expect to see here—yet somehow wasn’t surprised to.

  Valdemar.

  I wondered if he’d come looking for me instead. I also wondered if this was the first time we were meeting face to mask.

  His mask’s red eyes locked onto me as he approached slowly, stopping on the opposite side of the worktable where Zee lay, practically invisible.

  “What are you doing here?” Valdemar asked, his modulated voice carrying a hint of disdain.

  Disdain? Yes—definitely disdain. What did I do to get him angry?

  “Where should I be?” was my best line of defense.

  He gestured at himself. “Looking for me, of course.” He let out a long, distorted sigh—something halfway between breath and static. “Instead, here you are, playing mechanic with the invisible mutt, forcing me to find you instead.”

  He could see camouflaged Zee? How? Was it because of the mask?

  “Considering you’re here, I think you already know why I’m here,” I replied firmly. “Kinda hard to look for you with Dolos’ other toy chasing me.”

  Valdemar sighed loudly. “I don’t know why I expected more from you." He began pacing the room. “You showed a lot of promise when you were younger. That fire in you. The burning desire to show Cecilia Baines – “

  “Don’t talk about my mother,” I snapped.

  He shrugged, casual, infuriating. “Why not? I knew her longer than you did.”

  “Because you poisoned her mind together with your lying patron,” I said, anger rising. “I know he chose you long before Erebus attacked. This is something you two crafted together years in advance. Using her was part of the plan.”

  Valdemar laughed—another warped, metallic sound that made my teeth ache—but didn’t respond.

  Seeing him, hearing him, almost made me forget why I had wanted to find him in the first place. When I learned the truth about the crystals, I thought that teaming up with him was the right choice. I thought that at the very least, despite his methods, his side was the just one. But now? His arrogance, the way he spoke—it only pushed me away. It only made me recall what I always thought about him and his revolution. That he did it for himself.

  “You’re still ignorant, Viktor,” he suddenly said. “I thought you were ready for more wisdom, but I was wrong. You’re allowing your emotions to take over. You need a few more loops—maybe even a visit to our dearest Foundry—before we speak again.”

  He turned to leave.

  “Wait,” I blurted out almost instinctively.

  He stopped.

  I knew that I’d rather have him on my side—if that was even possible—but the moment I opened my mouth, my emotions just slipped out.

  “So that’s it?!” I asked, practically shouting the question out. “Why the fuck did you even come here? To throw a few insults and leave? Who the fuck are you to even think you have any wisdom to share? Instead of acting so high and mighty, be useful for a change.”

  He laughed again.

  “I’m actually here to help you again. One last time,” he said, still not facing me.

  “Help me?”

  He raised a finger to the lips of his metallic mask—silencing me—then pointed toward the wall.

  “Hear that?”

  I strained my ears. A second later, a violent crash outside shook the entire workshop.

  Déjà vu rang in my mind. This time it was the Crow.

  “Get comfortable in the backseat and watch, Viktor,” Valdemar muttered. “I’m going to show you how I deal with Crows.”