Despite the damage, the construct clung to "life," held together by whatever arcane force animated it. Its other arm retracted, revealing a cannon that it quickly aimed at Dungeon Master 07. With a resounding boom, the cannon fired, spewing flames like an ancient artillery piece. The distance between the two combatants was less than a meter, but Dungeon Master 07’s reflexes were sharp. He raised his shield just in time, deflecting the cannon’s blast, though the impact rattled him.
With another mighty swing, Dungeon Master 07 brought his greatsword down on the construct, finishing it off. The mechanical spawn dissipated into nothingness, leaving behind only echoes in the long, concrete corridor. He should have had a moment to rejoice, but just as the spawn disintegrated, a bolt of lightning shot toward him from further down the corridor. He quickly raised his shield again, blocking the attack.
Ahead, deeper down the corridor, three more mechanical constructs charged in, their forms twisted into an unsettling blend of animalistic and pseudo-mechanical features. "Three more inbound," Dungeon Master 07 announced, his voice steady.
"Roger that, Sir," I responded, swiftly kicking down the remnants of the frozen constructs I had just defeated. Their shattered forms crumbled into thousands of pieces, unspawning them. I walked over to Dungeon Master 07 and waved my hand, unleashing my Glacial Stride. A blizzard swirled around us, engulfing the charging bear-like mechanical constructs. My summoned icy winds slowed them down, frosting over their metal exteriors. The two foremost constructs struggled against the blizzard, their movements sluggish, while the third, less affected, charged past its comrades.
Adjusting my grip on my staff, Impotence, I quickly summoned a rampart of ice with my left hand, erecting three layers of frozen defense between me and the charging construct. From the other side of the wall, I could hear the spawn tearing through the ice, but I wasn’t worried. I waited patiently, and the moment its head peeked through the wall, I unleashed a stalactite from the magic circle I had prepared.
The icy spike struck the spawn like a bullet hitting a target, though it didn’t penetrate the defensive film protecting the construct. Still, the impact was enough to knock it back hard. I walked closer, appraising the spawn with my Identification skill.
—
[Identification]
Name: P-31 SHRN 12
Race: Humanoid Mechanical Construct
[Status]
- M.A.: 4780?/????1????4?????9????2????9???
- V.D.F.: 3251?
- Offense: Calibrating...
—
After battling these constructs for days, I’d grown familiar with their strange gimmicks. M.A. seemed to represent the resources available to the construct, similar to how MP and SP functioned. It acted as a pool for both physical and magical attacks, and strangely, it also depleted with movement, making it a fatigue gauge as well. VDF, on the other hand, stood for what I believe is the Value of Defensive Film, representing the amount of damage the construct could sustain before its defense was completely compromised.
Closing in on the knocked-back construct, I activated [Glacial Spears], summoning ice spears that rained down on the mechanical being as it tried to rise. The spears pinned it to the ground, and while it couldn’t scream, being a machine, the steady decrease in its VDF told me how effective my attack was.
Watching the ice spears tear through its defense, I saw the VDF gauge drop to zero. Without wasting any time, I struck it with [Ice Magic], turning the spawn into nothingness. Turning my attention to the still-slowed constructs, I activated [Arctic Eclipse], encasing one of the remaining P-31 SHRN 12s in ice, freezing it completely. The last construct, which had managed to break free of the blizzard by shifting from its bear-like form into a humanoid one, charged at me.
P-31 SHRNs were a type of Mechanical Construct that mimicked sentient beings, much like how undead, familiars, and shadow creatures mimicked life. In this case a beastkin, one that had clearly had invested a lot of points into its therianthropic aspect, with distinct bear features even in its humanoid form. Calmly, I blasted it with the same ice magic I had used earlier. As it staggered, I unleashed a rain of Hexed Frost Lances, the sharp icicles stabbing into its body. Two salvos later, its VDF hit zero, and the construct was no more.
With the spawn reduced to pieces, I turned my attention to the last of the trio. The construct was still firmly encased within the Arctic Eclipse, a heightened version of Glacial Eclipse. The spell manifested as a luminous, moon-shaped prison of ice, intricately patterned with crystalline structures that mirrored the most glorious phase of the moon. Within this icy barrier, the mechanical construct's movements grew increasingly restricted, struggling against the suffocating cold as the spell fully took effect.
Dungeon Master 07 moved in step with me. As we neared the trapped construct, I cast a quick glance at the status interface, which flickered before me, providing a readout of the creature’s deteriorating condition.
---
[Identification]
[Status]
M.A.: 3547?/????1????4?????9????2????9???
V.D.F.: 1453?
Offense: Calibrating...
---
The construct's defensive film was being systematically dismantled by the relentless assault. Unlike the original Glacial Eclipse, which primarily exerted a restraining force, Arctic Eclipse not only bound the target but also inflicted constant frost damage. With every passing second, the V.D.F. continued to drop as the icy moon-shaped barrier maintained its oppressive grip, shimmering brighter with each moment.
---
[Status]M.A.: 3421?/????1????4?????9????2????9???
V.D.F.: 715?
Offense: Calibrating...
The mechanical spawn’s struggles became feebler, its once-violent thrashing reduced to sluggish, futile attempts to break free. The interface updated continuously, the V.D.F. dropping precipitously as the construct neared its breaking point.
---
---
[Status]M.A.: 3413?/????1????4?????9????2????9???
V.D.F.: 124?
Offense: Calibrating...
---
Just as the V.D.F. reached the critical threshold, a notification popped up in the corner of my vision, catching my attention.
A smile crept across my face.
The notification was a welcome sight, a reward for the relentless effort I had poured into honing the skill. Dungeon Master 07 noticed my expression, but as always, he remained commentless.
Watching as the V.D.F. finally hit zero, I decided to dispel the icy prison before it could crush the construct entirely. I had one more thing I wanted to try with my newly leveled skill, hoping to glean additional information about the construct now that my Identification had improved. With the Arctic Eclipse fading, I activated the enhanced Identification skill, and the details unfurled before me:
---
[Identification]Name: P-31 SHRN 12
Model Type: Therianthrope Mimicking Automaton
[Status]
M.A.: 3201/????1????4?????9????2????9???
V.D.F.: 0 (Construct Vulnerable)
Condition: Heavily Damaged [Running at 27% capacity]
(Transformation mechanisms unstable, core functionality compromised, and foreign code interference detected)
[Material Composition]- Unmeltable Iron
- Refined Manacyte
- Voidstone
- Alloyed Manacyte
- Shadowglass
- Mystic Alloy
- Volcanic Ore
- Aetherium Thread
- Stormsteel
- Dragonite
- Adamantite Filament
- Phantomsteel Lattice
- Arcanite Inlay
- Chimeric Framework
- Bloodstone Shards
- Soulbound Circuitry
- Theric Core
- Entropic Alloy
---
The first thing I noticed after the skill leveled up was the label change. The familiar "Race" designation was gone, replaced by "Model Type." This shift in terminology put me in a strange spot, where I felt both clarity and confusion at the same time. On one hand, it made sense, my Identification skill wasn't meant to offer appraisal-level insights, so some inaccuracy was expected. The interface probably wasn't showing things the way an Appraisal skill would. But on the other hand, it didn't quite sit right with me. It was unsettling, confusing even, to encounter a situation where I couldn't fully trust what the system was telling me.
It was an odd feeling, truly. The worst part was not knowing if this discrepancy was normal, something that anyone with Identification might experience, or if it was something exclusive to me. Could it be unique to mechanical constructs, spawns, or even just mechanical construct spawns in general? Or perhaps it was a peculiarity of this specific dungeon? The possibilities made my head ache.
Putting that matter aside for now, the second thing I noticed was the expanded list in the material composition section. It felt like I had been given a recipe, but one that only included the ingredients without any instructions. Having spent several days in this dungeon, I’d become familiar with many of these materials, they tended to recur, especially if the spawns were of the same type of mechanical construct, which they most were. Even when they weren’t, there were usually elements that were always present, like Refined Manacyte. It seemed to be a core component in the construction of these constructs.
Having slain several spawns of this model, I knew what "ingredients" were typical. That’s why, when I appraised this one with my newly leveled Identification skill, I immediately noticed the presence of components that hadn’t been mentioned before: Arcanite Inlay, Chimeric Framework, Bloodstone Shards, Soulbound Circuitry, Theric Core, and Entropic Alloy. These were entirely new to me, and I couldn’t help but wonder, would I have been able to see them at all if my Identification skill was still at level 3?
Anyway, I’m digressing. Upon noting these new materials, the next thing I immediately did was consider what made them special. Identification comes with many perks, such as the ability to identify the materials an object is made of, detect skills or abilities being used nearby, and even gauge the potency of attacks like spells or magical effects. Another perk, which I unlocked at level 3, is an in-built encyclopedia. At lower levels, this encyclopedia only provides basic explanations for system interface elements, allowing me to access very rudimentary descriptions of newly acquired abilities, skills, or even titles.
As the skill progresses in level, it extends its reach to the external world. At level 1, for example, the best you could get from appraising a chair would be a simple statement that the chair is, in fact, a chair. But as the skill level increases, you start to learn what materials the chair is made of, and beyond level 5, the skill allows you to not only learn about those materials that make a chair up but also get the option to appraise these materials individually. You could discover what kind of tree the wood came from, how old it was, and so on and so on. There is a limit to how much information you can obtain, of course, but from my experience, the more "magical" the object being appraised, the more detailed the information you can extract.
So, when I saw a material like Stormsteel while appraising the mechanical construct, I knew that Stormsteel is an extraordinary metal alloy, forged from the rare Thunderite ore. This ore naturally acquires the ability to absorb and store electrical energy from lightning strikes. To create Stormsteel, the ore is smelted at extreme temperatures and combined with a stabilizing metal like Voltanium. The result is an alloy with a perfectly stabilized structure, exponentially enhancing its conductivity to lightning and making it not only incredibly durable but also highly conductive to electrical currents.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
However, when I looked at something like a Chimeric Framework, I was left completely clueless. I had no idea what it was, in what condition it could be found, or how it was made. The same was true for Arcanite Inlay, Bloodstone Shards, Soulbound Circuitry, Theric Core, and Entropic Alloy. How come? The answer was simple: I didn’t know because the system doesn’t know.
As I was processing this information, the spawn, which I had yet to finish off, let out a low growl before charging at me, the ground shaking beneath its massive frame. I was about to raise my hand to stop it when Dungeon Master 07 wedged himself between me and the charging creature.
The massive mechanical bear came to a halt as it collided with the radiant barrier he had summoned. With a swift, practiced motion, Dungeon Master 07 swung his greatsword down, the blade crackling with holy energy as it cleaved through the construct, obliterating it in an instant.
He then calmly turned toward me, his expression as impassive as ever. "Something happened?"
I nodded, still digesting the information that had flooded my mind. "Yes. Something did." Then, I began to update him on everything I had just learned, hoping that he might have an explanation.
As I finished explaining everything to Dungeon Master 07, he nodded thoughtfully. "I see," he said, his voice low, as his eyes drifted back to the spot where the mechanical bear he had just slain lay moments before. Only the lance it had dropped remained.
He took a deep breath. "The more I learn, the more I realize how off-mark my first guess was."
"We were missing most of the context, so that was a respectable guess," I said, giving him a light nudge with my elbow. "Don’t beat yourself up about it."
He raised an eyebrow at me but made no comment.
I was being genuine. His initial assumption was understandable. His guess was that the authority wielded by our fellow reincarnate stirring up trouble in the Dwarven lands allowed him to create mechanical constructs. It seemed like a reasonable conclusion at first. After all, when you hear about an authority like that, it’s easy to assume it simply allows the wielder to summon these mechanical constructs. But it clearly wasn’t that simple. The words he received from the angel confirmed as much.
What the angel told Dungeon Master 07 while I stepped aside was that he had, as I had assumed, received a revelation from the Seraphim they serve. The Seraphim of Love revealed to him what they knew about the authority wielder, who they referred to as "Hellspawned." And what they shared made Dungeon Master 07 realize that the authority’s power wasn’t as simple as just creating mechanical constructs. It was something more complex, which is why he decided to come here, to this dungeon filled with mechanical constructs, to try to understand the authority that, while it might not directly spawned these creatures, certainly played a role in their existence.
Still musing, Dungeon Master 07 threw out a theory at me. "...An authority that allows the wielder to infuse certain properties onto something, creating thus something new, like the materials you just mentioned. How does that sound?"
I nodded. "I can see an authority being like that."
"But?" he asked, sensing there was more.
"If you want a ‘but,’ I think the only one but would be that... I can also see the authority being something else entirely."
He nodded thoughtfully.
"Actually, no," I corrected myself. "I was being too pessimistic. It’s not that bad. It could’ve been worse. At least we know that this authority’s whole thin—well... perhaps it’s not exactly its whole thing, if it’s its thing at all. But we know that the authority wielder was known for his unconventional inventions, so we can safely assume his authority is related to his craft."
The Seraphim’s words, relayed through the angel, revealed that this authority wielder had made a name for himself over a thousand years ago, and not for good reasons. Apparently, this authority wielder, along with his allies and inventions, conquered half of the continent. He was particularly active on the other side of the Parting Sea. After establishing an "empire", he did exactly what he’s currently doing in the Land of Men: enslaving his subjects and forcing them to harvest materials for his grand goals.
He was lucky, that’s one thing for sure. No doubt this authority wielder would have struggled to expand as he did had he spawned in a time like today, where the Seraphim, thanks to Jason, are familiar with authorities and the dangers they pose.
He and his friend were active in a pre-Jason era, an era where the Seraphim were clueless of the problem they were bound to pause, which allowed them to grow so much in power that the Seraphims, all three of them, had to descend to deal with the problem. But they sprang into action a little too late. Even though these self-proclaimed gods made their descent, all they could achieve was to exile the problematic bunch to the Dwarven lands, where they simply relocated their enterprise and continued their work, unimpeded.
"I guess that makes sense," Dungeon Master 07 responded after a pause.
"Besides," I added, "I know I shouldn’t undermine an authority like I’m about to, but I don’t think that authority is going to be a major problem, especially compared to the problem that mechanical constructs of his are going to be." I then proceeded to explain to Dungeon Master 07 that whatever the authority does exactly, it allowed that authority wielder to create mechanical constructs, and these constructs already exist somewhere in the Dwarven lands. Heck, the Seraphim themselves are dreading an invasion of these constructs, a legion of them. So clearly before the authority is going to be a problem, the mechanical constructs it enabled the creation of were going to be a problem first "That is, of course, assuming it’s going to be a problem at all."
Dungeon Master 07 looked at me. "You think it won’t?"
"I mean, if he’s friendly and still loyal to the cause, it won’t be a problem. But you don’t think we’re going to get along with that authority wielder, do you?"
He cocked back his head and took a deep breath. "I hope we will get along. I hope they haven’t forgotten what we’re in this world for. But I think we’ve encountered one too many treacherous fellow reincarnates to be stupid enough to cling to the blind hope that it won’t be the case, don’t you?"
I nodded, for there was no point in denying it. He was right.
"To tell you the truth," Dungeon Master 07 continued, "I was really optimistic about that fellow authority wielder of ours. But upon hearing what Aurelian told me about them, him and his friends, what their maxims were, I’ve developed doubts."
It wasn’t just one authority wielder who conquered half the Land of Men; he did so with two major allies an elven Monarch and a therian that was the face of the slaving empire they erected. Together, the Triumvirate they erected had a motto, a maxim that those under their rule were expected to strive toward through their sweat and tears: "To become Strong, Immortal, and Eternal."
"The other thing that made me really reevaluate my optimism was his friends," Dungeon Master 07 added, his voice taking on a more somber tone.
"I was thinking... the same thing," I replied.
There was a strange pattern about traitors, they usually became traitors because they found someone in this world to care for, and thus forsook mighty K.R.U.L and the Goddess.
So, really, the fact that he was known for having allies that we have reason to believe were natives of Fiendfell, it is not hard to understand where Dungeon Master 07’s apprehension was coming from.
I knew I was being hypocritical about that, considering that I, too, once cared deeply for someone native to this world. But hey, I never, not once, considered forsaking my duty for them. Hopefully, it was the same for that fellow incarnate of ours. I really didn’t want him as an enemy. I wanted him as an ally. I was done dealing with traitors.
"I’d still give him the benefit of the doubt though," I said, "since, well... I suppose not everyone was so lucky to have several versions of themselves to ally with." Dungeon Master 07 chuckled at that. "But I will definitely not trust him fully until he gives me a reason to."
As we got back on the move, I nudged him with a teasing grin. "Yep, we Dungeon Masters are all blessed to have one another. And you," I said, pointing at him, "are blessed to have me."
He looked like he was about to fire back with something equally sassy, but then I saw it, his expression shifted, and instead, he responded with a seriousness that caught me off guard. "Yes, I am. And thinking back, I believe I messed up by not taking full advantage of the fact that there's so many of us. I intend to fix that though."
"By summoning more of us into Fiendfell?"
He nodded, and then a chuckle escaped him, which quickly turned into laughter. "I look forward to that day... but I also dread it."
"Dread it? Why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Why? Because I know it's going to be a nightmare to babysit all of you."
"Babysit?" I pretended to be insulted, though we both knew that with Dungeon Masters like Dungeon Master 04 around, it really would be a nightmare. "You think we need babysitting?"
"Yep," he replied with a smirk. "And by babysitting, I don’t mean the easy kind."
***
Having been here for about a week it was clear this domain had some serious size to it. The fact that it looked like an underground facility didn’t help with the feeling of vastness. Something that also amplified that impression was the time we took venturing through it. We were indulging in some serious dungeon delving, spawn hunting, or rather, to be exact, I was. Dungeon Master 07 was just tagging along, only interfering when he had to, just like Justaff did during our training days.
We took our time, since easily three-fourths of it was spent with me defeating the dungeon’s spawn and resting between fights. I figured our journey would have been faster if I had gone all out on the spawn hunting, but Dungeon Master 07 insisted I always keep my fatigue percentage and MP above 50%. He was concerned about the possibility that the dungeon was controlled by someone like us, meaning it could pull dirty tricks like we used to. If that happened, he wanted me to have at least half my strength left to run for my life.
He seemed to share the concern I had, albeit on a whole paranoid level, the concern that all the dungeons in Fiendfell might be controlled by souls from another world. That’s why we had to make frequent stops to recover. Coupled with his insistence on clearing every alternative area, slaughtering all the spawn we encountered, and even backtracking at times to ensure we missed nothing, our progress was made slow.
At first, it didn’t feel like much of a delay in the early areas, but as we advanced and the spawn got tougher, I had to rely on Dungeon Master 07 more and more. That slowed us down further, but finally, it seemed we had reached the end of it.
"This is what I think it is, right?" I asked, eyeing the large door ahead.
"Yes," he nodded, his gaze fixed on the door leading to what I could only assume was the guardian’s chamber, the room every passage we cleared converged to.
My focus shifted to the door, but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Dungeon Master 07’s gaze shift to me. Turning to meet his eyes, I didn’t need words to understand what he was silently communicating. But I refused to accept it.
"We’ve talked about this. We’re not talking about it again," I said firmly.
"That’s the thing," he replied. "We haven’t. All we’ve done is shove this discussion aside, but now there’s no avoiding it. No, what am I saying? There’s no discussion here, just a decision that’s already been made. You are not coming with me. Only I am going to confront this domain’s guardian."
"Oh, come on," I protested.
"I only agreed to let you come here because you wanted to level up, no other reason. It’s needlessly dangerous for you to join me in this."
"I’ve leveled up plenty since we got here," I said, noting his fed-up expression. "There’s not a big difference in level between us anymore."
"Since when is twelve whole levels not a big difference?" he asked.
"Since it’s applying to me," I shot back.
He sighed. "Come on, be reasonable. We don’t know what’s behind this door, but there’s no chance it’s weaker than a level 40 Verdenkind. At best, it’s my level, but at worst, it’s far, far stronger. This won’t be a battle you want to take part in."
What he said was supposed to change my mind, but it didn’t. "And what if it’s stronger than you? Far stronger, like the dozen or so level "abyss" between us?"
"Then I’d run," he stated, as if it were obvious, only to regret it when he saw the smile on my face.
"Then I’d do the same if it’s beyond something I can handle," I said, moving toward the large door.
"Dungeon Ma—"
He tried to insist again but I cut him off. "You know it makes sense for me to join you. I have "appraisal", or something like it. You don’t. I have the thing that’ll allow me to accurately assess the strength whatever is beyond that door. So it’s really for the best that I tag along. Pragmatically speaking of course."
He looked like he still had something to say, which he did. "You know, right now I’m seriously considering knocking you out for your own good."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Those words make you sound like you’re either trying to hog all the experience for yourself or, worse, get yourself killed in there. So just give it up. I’m not changing my mind. You’d actually have to knock me out, and that’s not exactly a reasonable option when you consider the wiser alternative I know your bright self is thinking about: letting me tag along and appraise the domain guardian."
"You’re not changing my mind by trying to appeal to my ego," he said.
"I would have tried," I replied with an innocent shrug.
He shook his head in defeat. "Fine. Let’s do this. But if you identify the guardian as something beyond your reach, beyond my reach, you run. Understood?"
"Don’t worry. I don’t know what made you assume otherwise, but I very much value my life, so count on me to make a run for it."
"Good," he said as he pushed the gigantic door open.