Smacking his fist against the table in frustration, Archmage Jennings closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. He needed to calm down and get a hold of himself.

  In front of him, hovering above his desk, was the map of the kobald cities given to the army by the dwarves. While not detailed, it clearly showed multiple cities spread out under the mountain range, some of them being nearly the size of Dorchester. It was clear the kobalds had dug deep into the ground, probably breaking into the outer layer of the underworld.

  He quickly activated his override for the Tower of Magic’s scrying array, secretly using a secondary and hidden wavelength to confirm what the dwarves had found. He’d already configured the array to be able to handle most known forms of kobald illusions, so if there really was something there, he should be able to see it.

  Seconds turned into minutes as the array powered itself for a long-range scan, and he mentally reminded himself to replace the essence crystals he was using. It would be quite a problem if half the Tower of Magic’s reserves disappeared without anyone knowing why.

  Impatiently tapping his fingers on the desk, he scowled at the display, waiting for the scan results.

  When it came up, he immediately began cursing.

  After he’d first arrived, he looked into everything the capital had on Dorchester. He’d known all about the kobalds having taken over the mountain city. He’d even done his due diligence and took a look for himself. After seeing that the records from the capital didn’t include the kobald’s expansions, he made sure to thoroughly check their current progress… or at least he thought he had.

  Obviously, he’d missed a few things.

  Rubbing his hands over his face in shame, he couldn’t stop thinking about how monumentally stupid he’d been. He hadn’t bothered expanding the search area at all. The thought of other kobald cities already having been founded hadn’t even occurred to him.

  All he’d had to do was look, and he would have found them. Suddenly freezing in his seat, he wondered whether or not the king was aware of this. Or more logically, when had the king known about this?

  The king’s observational pillar was well known, and his ability to see everything within his kingdom wasn’t a secret. So, he’d probably known all along.

  “How many layers are there in the boy’s game this time?” he muttered to himself as he thought about the king.

  Although the man was old, Jennings had been there to see him grow up. So, he knew what the king was capable of, and manipulating events of this magnitude was exactly the kind of thing he’d do.

  The only question was, how far back did his machinations go? Had he purposefully used the Populators to cause the density shift to happen early? Could he possibly have predicted the arrival of Lord Walker and his influence over recent events? However unlikely, Jennings had to at least consider it a possibility.

  While it was more conceivable that the king was just taking advantage of the situation to clear out the influence of the Tower of Fate, Jennings couldn’t be sure that there wasn’t a larger game being played he was unaware of.

  He hadn’t felt so much like a piece in centuries.

  He’d been fine allowing the king to use the Tower of Magic to damage the Tower of Fate, as he agreed that they had been growing too powerful, and he could forgive the man for using him and his mages to do it, but what he didn’t like was not being able to see where things were headed. All of his predictions were now useless, as he hadn’t accounted for the kobalds being so widespread.

  He had no idea what was going to happen, or really even what was happening. How big a threat were the kobalds? Could they even be contained by a singular city’s forces? Did the king arrange for the dwarves to come here by using the Populators to clear out the mining city under the excuse of clearing out traitors to the kingdom, all for the express purpose of getting them involved?

  This was why he hated dealing with the king, the man was just too well-informed, and therefore too skilled at the game. Facing someone who was aware of all the variables before they became apparent was too complicated.

  Deciding that he needed more information, he dismissed the current holograms hovering over his desk and sent out a connection request to the Tower of Magic in Hennings.

  After a minute, he felt the connection establish, Archmage Mathers’ face appearing before him in a scrying window.

  “Archmage Jennings? We didn’t have a call scheduled until eleven. I’m assuming you need something urgently?” Mathers asked, sounding annoyed at being interrupted.

  Jennings snorted at the man’s growing confidence. The temporary position as the head of the council of mages seemed to be doing good for him.

  “Yes, I do. In fact, I need several things,” he said emphatically, his tone utterly devoid of warmth.

  Hearing Jenning’s tone, Archmage Mathers sat up straight and lost some of his confidence.

  “What can I do for you?” he asked.

  Jennings replied quickly, “First, I need you to use the Tower’s scrying array to inspect the mountain range around Dorchester. And, before you ask… No, the one here isn’t good enough. You’re going to have to use the control hub in my lab. You already have access, so don’t worry about having to use the temporary override I gave you.”

  Seeing Archmage Mathers staring at him in confusion, Jennings growled, “Are you writing this down?”

  Jumping at the question, Archmage Mathers replied quickly, “Yes, of course. Go ahead.”

  Sighing in annoyance, Jennings began, “Now, before anything else, you’ll need to configure the scrying array to…”

  —--

  Nero had tried to read the book, he really had, but events didn’t seem likely to allow him any time to do so. Before he’d even gotten through the introduction, Natalie had begun getting them ready to move out.

  Nick had even interrupted him by harshly making him promise to leave the kobald illusion alone so that the arriving survey team he’d ordered could study it… or use it to find other ones somehow… Nero hadn’t been listening all that closely. He’d been trying to read.

  The largest downside of having his book displayed in his mind over the link was that Nero couldn’t hold it up to show others that he was too busy to talk to them at the moment. He missed having a physical excuse to ignore people.

  Regardless, he still ended up having to close his book when Natalie ordered them forward. Despite being in the middle of the formation, there was still too much for him to see after they walked through the illusion of the stone wall.

  Instead of finding empty rooms like the ones on the floor below, the room they walked into was obviously being recently used to house kobalds.

  The lights were still the standard essence lights that looked like glowballs hanging from the ceiling, and the furniture was obviously at one point meant for humans. However, the kobalds had definitely made their marks on the place.

  Bunched-up piles of linens and curtains were all over the place, looking like makeshift dog beds. A few chairs here and there still managed to avoid the fate of the desks and other furniture, which had been broken down into piles of wood. Stones had been arranged in the middle of the room to provide a place to hang a cooking pot, making the room loosely resemble a campsite.

  Nero frowned in confusion as he looked around, not understanding why there was still any wood left to burn. If the kobalds had been using the furniture as fuel, then there was no way it should have lasted this long. Hadn’t Nick said that the kobalds had been here for hundreds of years or something?

  While the rest of the team spread out and searched the room in silence, Nero took a closer look at the cooking area. From what he could see, the kobalds weren’t actually using the wood to fuel the fire, instead, they were using some kind of paste that smelled awful. Right next to the fire was a bucket full of the stuff, and he sincerely hoped that it wasn’t kobald manure.

  He’d often read about using ‘cow patties’ as a fuel source, but he had no idea how that could actually work. But if that’s what the kobalds were doing, then he had no idea why they went to all the trouble of smashing the dressers, desks, and beds. Were they just being assholes for the sake of being assholes?

  As he was performing his own little cultural investigation, the rest of the team was reporting their findings over the command channel.

  The scouts had already headed out to explore the hallways, easily slipping into the shadows.

  Nick was busy studying what looked like a loose collection of pages he’d found. Just looking at them made Nero wonder what they were made of. They didn’t look like paper… and the moment he realized that… he stopped wondering.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Shivering at the obvious thoughts of what else they might have used, Nero listened in on what the others were saying.

  The consensus was that the kobalds had recently abandoned the floor, but no one had any idea why. A few theories were tossed around, from their forces being too thinned out, to them consolidating themselves for an organized counter-assault.

  Nero had nothing of worth to contribute, so he kept his mouth shut.

  While he should have taken the opportunity to read the book Nick had practically commanded him to read, he instead found himself too invested in studying how the connection between everyone worked.

  He was at least self-aware enough to recognize what he was doing. Considering the answers to all his questions were probably in the book Nick had sent him, it made practically no sense for him to be trying to figure things out on his own. However, he had always been a more hands-on learner than the type that studied. And with his weird as-yet-unnamed ability to perceive the ether at a level that bordered on the prodigious, there was a lot for him to ‘see’.

  It started with him trying to determine who was talking. The connections allowed everyone’s mind to kind of but-up next to each other in the ether, almost like they were in a metaphysical Zoom meeting. Instead of faces, each person’s essence presence was on display. There was no way to confuse who was talking, and matching that essence to who they were in the room was rather simple.

  Even more interesting, but not really surprising, was that two people with the same name didn’t lead to confusion at all.

  When he discovered that there were two Helens on the team, he was easily able to tell which one the person mentioning them was talking about. That, of course, led him to try to figure out whether it was a feature of the link connection, translation magic, or both.

  It turned out that it was simply the intention of the person who was speaking being transmitted through the translation magic of the world. Which led Nero to discover that the dwarves had been speaking an entirely different language the entire time! Something which he hadn’t even realized, or even noticed.

  There was no odd ‘dubbing’ effect, or anything that could hint that what he was hearing wasn’t exactly what they were saying. It was all happening automatically in his head, and unless he used his senses to override the translation, he wouldn’t have noticed at all.

  After beginning to listen carefully, he was able to recognize how thoroughly the translation magic was working. It was converting everything everyone was saying into something he could understand, including things like sayings and metaphors. Once he started actively listening for it, it was spooky as hell.

  But that wasn’t all. He also discovered that if he looked closely, he could see the essence connections spread out like a web over the area. He could tell who had multiple connections open, and where they were headed. Some people were having private conversations between themselves, and the dwarves had a secondary network they were using to talk to each other.

  Nick looked like a tree considering how many connections he had going at once.

  The only one who didn’t was Rose, who as usual was hugging a corner and practically making herself invisible. Considering how low-level she was, the fact that she always seemed to be around was something he’d have to eventually ask Cathleen about. But that was for later, for now, he was too focused on studying the connections.

  She only had one, and it was obviously the command channel. Using her as a baseline, he could see that it was leading off through the wall, flowing through the ether, probably back to wherever the Battle Hub was set up. The moment he realized that, he felt like a moron for not tracing his own connection he had with it.

  Standing in the middle of the room while everyone was busy looking around and waiting for the scouts to return, Nero sent his mind along the link through the walls. In many ways, it was a lot like delving, and it required him to keep a tight reign on his thoughts.

  Luckily, he’d had some experience at this point keeping his center contained, so it wasn’t a problem to keep most of his attention back with his body while part of his mind traveled along the ether.

  As he rushed through the walls, he went straight through the stone, interferring with his his ability to see anything. Occasionally, flashes of rooms appeared before quickly being left behind. It was like he was flying through the mountain city like a ghost.

  It was odd to see the connections in the ether. They weren’t like essence flows exactly, but they were similar. He kind of had to focus to even be able to recognize them. His ability to perceive the material plane somewhat faded away into a grey scale as he did so, and couldn’t figure out why. It was almost like there were layers to the ether, and he could only focus on one or two at a time, while the material world acted as the background.

  ‘So, this is controlled scrying. This is going much better than last time,’ he thought to himself, somewhat proud of his progress.

  He even had the time to check his center levels using his identity as he flew through the walls. There was definitely a drain, but he was able to keep it under control. Now that he was aware of it, losing center felt like a combination of his focus wavering and his confidence failing. It really was a metaphysical drain on ‘who he was’, rather than anything like muscle fatigue or something of that sort.

  When his mind probe slammed to a stop, it was back at the forward operating station where they’d come from. His attention was drawn to the ridiculously large wagon which looked like something out of a steampunk novel. While it had six wheels, what really set it apart was the fact that it was mostly cylindrical. Armored plates were attached all over the place, while little essence lights lit up areas underneath them, making the thing look all ‘magi-tech’. Meanwhile, several people were at control consoles, fiddling with things, alongside it.

  ‘So, this is a battle hub,’ he thought to himself.

  There were so many connections coming off it that when he focused on them, it practically blinded him. But there was also a solid pillar of essence that was shooting off toward one of the walls, which he guessed was probably back toward the Dorchester Thought Hub. He was careful not to try and interact with any of them, as he had no idea if he’d end up inadvertently frying someone’s brain.

  Noticing that his center had dropped below 75%, he quickly closed off his connection to his mind probe.

  Slamming back into his own mind felt like someone had set off a firecracker in front of his face. He instantly reared back and closed his eyes.

  “Son of a bitch!” he swore in an angry whisper.

  Nick, having been standing nearby, thoroughly engrossed in his reading, said quietly and somewhat blithely, “I warned you not to mess around with scrying yet. Enjoy your headache.”

  Nero, now rubbing his temples which were throbbing, glared at the man. Nick hadn’t even bothered to turn away from the ‘book’ he was reading.

  Walking away, intending to get some space from the man, Nero muttered, “Dick.”

  Thinking to himself, Nero realized Nick had gotten a few good digs on him over the past bit without reprisals. He’d have to remedy that soon, or the old man would start getting too full of himself.

  Putting his growing grudge against his friend aside for the moment, Nero thought about doing some more investigations into the Thought Hub-type connections they were using, the pain in his temples convinced him he’d be better off focusing on the team’s current mission.

  Luckily, his connection to the command channel hadn’t been affected, so he could still hear what everyone was saying. Although, he had to admit it was weird to see everyone grouped up while just staring at one another while their minds talked to each other.

  “Command says it’s up to us if we keep going. Technically, our mission is to clear our area of level 2, so there isn’t any reason for us to be here,” she stated firmly.

  One of the Helens replied, “But we might as well try and find out where the kobalds are grouping up. It doesn’t seem weird to you that they have abandoned the entire floor?”

  Natalie replied, “We don’t know they have. We only know that they aren’t using this room anymore… and even that is only conjecture.”

  Another soldier, one whose name he hadn’t caught yet, added, “That’s right. For all we know, they could be using one of this floor's central market areas as a mustering ground. It’s more important for us to find the hidden tunnels they’ve set up so we don’t get surprised.”

  Merrick, one of the mages, suggested, “I think that we should return to our assigned route. There will probably still be war bands that are patrolling which need to be cleared out. We should let the survey teams and the Tower of Magic worry about the hidden tunnels, while we focus on the fighting. They’ll find them.”

  While Nero knew that his opinion would definitely matter, he didn’t want to influence Natalie’s decision. He knew he had no idea what they should be doing, and he currently didn’t feel like pretending he did.

  Interrupting their conversation, one of the scouts who’d gone off to check the hallways said, “I’ve found out where they went.”

  Natalie, along with everyone else, went silent. They were all eagerly waiting to hear what he had to say.

  “They’ve retreated to the upper levels, leaving behind war bands being sent out from central positions near the main tunnel junctions. There are currently a few thousand of them swarming around the one nearby. It’s obvious they’re prepping for a defensive engagement. I think the war bands we’ve run into are meant to hinder us and buy them some time to get their defenses in place,” he said in what Nero was beginning to recognize as his typical quiet voice.

  Natalie’s face scrunched up in annoyance. “That’s going to make clearing them out difficult. With the hidden tunnels throughout the floors, they’ll be able to strike out wherever they want. They’ll get the time they need to set up whatever they want.”

  Nero, not seeing the issue, spoke up, “Why don’t we just go clear them out? He said there are only a few thousand right? After we defeat a few waves, I can use their soul stuff to just nuke ‘em.”

  Nick, having been listening to the conversation, stepped up next to Nero and glared down at him. “Nero, while that might work, we have no idea how prepared they are for us. Also, you don’t know what kind of kobalds are there. If there are only the basic grunts that we’ve been facing, your plan might have a chance. However, I very much doubt that now that we’re inside one of their strongholds, we won’t find some of their actual leaders and upper castes.”

  Nero, understanding what Nick was getting at, replied, “You mean actual real kobalds, and not just the clone army they’ve bred to assault us. I guess you’re probably right. But, how different could they be from the ones we’ve been facing?”

  Natalie, her tone grave, replied, “The simple kobalds we’ve faced, both just now and on the mountain were, at best, equivalent to level 10 or 20. There may have been a few of the leadership castes among them, but I doubt it. Kobalds don’t usually send out their leaders for assaults, that’s why digging them out of their holes is so difficult. Above ground, they’re swarm predators, here… they’re more like an army.”

  Shrugging his shoulders as if he weren’t worried, Nero replied, “Well, we’ll just have to kill them harder then.”

  One of the soldiers who’d been silently listening along, replied, “What? You mean like stab them more than once?”

  Nero, pretending to be utterly serious, replied, “Yes. That’s exactly what I meant.”