Chapter 283: The Push and Pull of War (1/2)

Obolis managed messages in his status, ”I'd enjoy seeing the Adairs get torn apart, but I can't imagine how you'd do that considering your resources. I envision a few super golems and you. What else is at your disposal?”

I radiated excitement, ”Eh, it's a surprise.”

Obolis grinned, handling many reports and thinking about decisions as he spoke, ”I enjoy surprises. I'll wait until then. Good luck.”

I left the Emperor's quarters, walking back the way I came. Once at the warp, I looked around and wondered if I could explore more. Stealing wasn't out of the question either, considering how valuable all this stuff was. After letting those thoughts go on for a bit, I silenced them. I didn't have the time to look at this place, and Obolis would know I stole from him.

And, you know, it was the wrong thing to do, I suppose.

Either way, I left for Mt. Verner and met up with Chrona and Ophelia. As I paced up towards Chrona's cliffside, I found her sleeping and Ophelia working over her expandable desk. Floating over, I landed beside them before waking Chrona up,

”Hey. Can you guys hear me out for a bit?”

Chrona rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her tail, the gialgathen's sleek, silver skin glistening under the moonlight,

”It's good to see you guildleader. You decided to show up tonight.”

I raised an eyebrow, ”I always do, though sometimes I come late since I'm busy.”

Ophelia kept looking at her work, ”Yeah, I'm busy too. I just bring my busy here instead of doing it everywhere else.” She turned to me, leaning on one hand, ”So, what do you have to tell us?”

I spread out my arms, ”We're getting a planet.”

A deep quiet passed over us, only the insects' chirping and wind rustling to fill the void. A few seconds screeched by before I frowned, ”Come on, guys. This is good news...right?”

Ophelia gawked at me, ”How in Schema's name did you get a damn planet? You don't even own two cities yet. I just...I don't understand.”

Chrona tilted her head, ”Is it Earth, perhaps?”

I raised a hand, ”It's Blegara, the sea planet we're fighting on, and it's where you gialgathens will be fighting as well.”

Chrona looked up, ”An aquatic world, huh? That sounds interesting. We gialgathens used to live in the oceans, and we still prefer them to drier climates. Perhaps we may expand there without worry for Lehesion. That would be incredible for us. I do worry we would be harvested should we expose our location, however.”

I gripped my raised hand into a fist, ”I won't lie to you guys; we will be fighting Hybrids the entire time. It's going to be tough, to say the least. I do have plans in the works to make that process much easier than it would otherwise be, but still.”

Chrona sighed, ”And that is our new way of life. We will press on until the wrongs of our forefathers have been righted, whether by suffering or by triumph.”

Ophelia waved a hand, ”So, uh, how did you get a planet? Did you threaten Obolis or something?”

I shook my hands, ”No, not at all. He's going to lose Blegara soon, which you've seen some of. I'm going to retake it from the Hybrids for him and guarantee trade deals with the albony. In exchange, I get the planet.”

Ophelia's tsked, ”Geez, and it's that bad, huh? I thought maybe it was only that bad in the capital. I didn't think it was that bad everywhere else.”

I shrugged, ”Apparently, that's the only place he's putting up a fight, at least on Blegara. Either way, he got something out of a bad situation.”

Ophelia's brow crinkled, ”I...guess? Well, whatever. It isn't like I own any territory on Blegara. Good luck taking that backwater hellhole back. You're going to need it.”

I smiled with confidence, ”Thanks. I'm letting you both off of tutoring me for a while. I don't think there's much else to learn here, and I'll try making progress on my own time. Besides, you two have better things to do anyway.”

Ophelia stared at her claws, ”Like what?”

I narrowed my eyes, ”Like help the golem redesigners. You can just do that for our contracted time schedule. Don't think you're out of helping me just yet. Remember that ring I gave you.”

I pointed at the jewelry on her hand, and she frowned under her mask, ”Well...I guess I prefer that to just sitting here and killing time.”

She put up her desk, the metal folding into a fitted square,

”Cya.”

She walked off before floating herself over to the nightly engineers. I turned to Chrona,

”How are the rest of you guys doing?”

”We've adapted to this place now. At least I think so. This is a beautiful land, in a strange, desolate sort of way. It lacks the growing expanse of creatures that Giess boasted, but it doesn't have the silvers. It's like a blank slate in that way, neither good nor bad.”

”When do you think you and the other gialgathens could be ready to get sent off to war?”

Chrona took a deep breath, ”Hmm, that's a difficult question to answer. Most of those here aren't normal. They need many treatments and time to heal, but I don't think we can afford to give them that kind of respite. Considering what you're trying to do, we could ready ourselves within a week if necessary. We need the space, and any new territory would do us well.”

Chrona stared off at the horizon, ”That is where we belong, riding the wind and coasting across the skies. Being trapped on this mountain, it will drive us insane if we aren't given the liberty to move. I can tell you that much.”

”Then that's what I'll ask you guys to do - retake some land. We'll be doing that on Blegara soon, and we're starting just outside of Saphigia, where the eldritch are strongest and densest.”

Chrona lifted her head and offered a small smile, ”I'll be ready to cull them and the Hybrids alike.”

I shook my head, ”We'll actually be scaring the eldritch into submission, and that'll win the Vagni over to our side.”

Chrona's eyes widened, ”I wouldn't have expected that, but that makes it a lot more interesting. How do you intend to evoke fear in the eldritch?”

I crossed my arms, ”You know, I haven't really thought about it. I'll brainstorm about it some and get a few ideas, but I'm confident I'm able to get them shaken up at the very least.”

”I don't doubt it.”

I turned around and waved with a hand, ”Rest well. You'll need it.”

”You too.”

She laid her head down as I leaped up into the air. The cold, crisp wind brushed against my face and hair, and the stars surrounded me on all sides as I flew high over Mt. Verner. I soaked in the sight before landing near the engineers. Ophelia made it here a minute ago, and she caught up on the adjustments made to the super golems.

I paced up, raising a hand to Diesel and Ophelia,

”Yo.”

Diesel smiled, and Ophelia propped her weight onto a hip. The engineer spread his arms, ”It's good to see you, man. How're you doing?”

”Good. I'm in a bit of a rush, so let's get down to business.”

Diesel straightened up, ”Ah, yes, sir. What do you need?”

”Give me the updated plans and schematics for your golem. I'm going to start mass producing them.”

”We, uh, haven't finished all of the adjustments we need to for a new model.”

”That's fine. Just parse out the immediate improvements you've made thus far. I'll implement them into the new design.”

”I, er, alright.”

Diesel jogged off to a group of other engineers, and they discussed what to keep in the new designs. Ophelia frowned at me, ”Thanks for helping me get back up to speed. I totally didn't need that guy's help.”

I gave her a thumbs-up, ”No problem. Always happy to help.”

She rolled her eyes, and we waited for about fifteen minutes. I did a few mental exercises for primordial mana in the meantime. As Diesel walked back up, he showed me several sheets of paper covered in drawings of golems,

”These include a few of the new design parameters. They're mainly adjustments for your cipher translations, some plate layering in the forearms and shoulders, and better runic configurations for self augmentation. It should make the next golem a bit better.”

I grabbed the papers from him with thanks, making sure I didn't scrunch them up. After reading them over, I jogged off into a clearing in the trees nearby. Sitting down, I gave one more look over. Their rune suggestions were in idea format, so I fleshed them out, coming up with the actual lettering and specifics. Once that was handled, I began my golem crafting.

Pulling out a mass of liquified dimensional fabric, I created four 'centers.' Around these centers, I wrapped around layer after layer of my dimensional material, heating and bending it into shape using gravity and telekinesis. This process took up a bit of time, but the end result was the finished forearms and unfinished shoulder pads of the golem. These plated blocks took on blunt trauma and piercing forces much better than the old designs.

Before finishing the shoulder pads, I opened my grimoire. It took several hours, but I implemented the changes in ciphering and runes the engineers wanted to change. Charging those runes up, I created the three cores needed in the meantime. I used the same techniques as before, spinning molten fabric with dense gravitation at its center point.

After hardening the spheres, I grafted the cipher inscriptions onto their surfaces. Once made, I implanted the cores into the middle of the unfinished shoulder pads, and I interlayed plates until the masses were finished. A bit of inscribing later and telepathic strands connected the shoulders to the main body. With everything connected, the consciousnesses were ready for action.

Voilà, the three minds of the super golem were made.

The rest of the process was simple enough. As usual, I generated the same chunks, paying less mind to the plating technique as I went. It was important for the arms and shoulders as they took the brunt of most forces. The other parts of the golem could stand to be less indestructible in favor of production efficiency. I needed many of these golems made and quickly after all.

I ended up finishing the second super golem several hours later despite my speeding up the process. The inscribing took time to charge, as did finalizing the details of the golem. It was an arduous process. Generating the eyes, ears, connection points, legs, arms, and the runic markings were all time-consuming. It resulted in a polished finish for the golem, and for that reason, I stood proud of my creation.

It hunched over, laying against a stone nearby. It sunk into the ground, a miniature version of me, nearly. Walking up, I planted my hand on it and charged the golem. It hummed with energy and vitality as the dimensional fabric composing it revved into action. The eyes brightened. The runes glowed. It was alive.

As it stood up, I connected to its mind via telepathy, ”It's good to see you, new guy.”

”What is this? Are...Are you my creator?”

”Yup.”

The golem bowed, a sense of awe overcoming the new entity, ”And I will follow whatever commands you may give, be them burdensome or backbreaking.”

I grinned, ”Oh, you'll be breaking plenty of backs, though they won't be your own.”

Giving the golem a sense of purpose, I told it to find Torix in his lair. If the lich wasn't there, the golem was to wait until the lich arrived. Without waiting anymore, I furthered my work, preparing another golem. This time, I layered my activities more, and that saved me time.

Using my Congruent Mind Strain skill, I set up three concurrent actions. On the one hand, I steadily charged my grimoire with one train of thought. My second focal point of attention revolved around meditating with my elemental furnace revving. The third logic strain implemented the raw building of the golem, and it made everything run smoothly like clockwork. These adjustments and not needing to rewrite the ciphering meant I finished in four hours. Labor intensive yes, but it was a far cry from the first golem.

By then, the sun had risen a while back, and it was time to meet with the others. I got the third golem to meet with the second, and they waited for Torix to show up in his lair. As they did that, I met up with Helios and Florence for our morning warp. Pacing up to the two, they stood in silence with Kessiah scarfing down a biscuit covered in gravy with a latte. Helios narrowed his eyes at me as I stepped up to them,

”You're late for our arranged meetings. We agreed upon 9:00, and now it's nearly 10:00.”

Florence grinned, ”It's extra downtime before we go in and save some Vagni. I, for one, appreciate it.”

Helios glared at his brother, ”And I, for one, don't wish to waste time. I suppose that perspective can't be shared between us, however. You would need time that could be wasted.”

Florence took the insult in stride,

”It's more like I know how to appreciate some peace and quiet so I can think a little.” He nudged his brother, ”Or none, in your case.”

Helios sighed before I neared them. I lifted a hand, ”I'm going to own Blegara soon.”

Helios leaned back, taken aback by my sudden announcement. Florence looked back and forth like he was searching for a joke. When he didn't find any, Florence spread out his arms,

”Seriously?”

I nodded, ”Yup.”

The sociable albony walked up and put a hand on my shoulder,

”Congratulations. I'm happy to hear that.” He leaned back, ”I of all people understand that no one has worked harder to keep that place safe. You can carry those thoughts with confidence. I use to run the place, after all.”

Helios raised his eyebrows in exasperation under his mask, ”You've yet to establish so much as a footprint on your own world, yet you're aiming to own someone else's? That seems rather unwise.”

Kessiah talked with a mouth full of food, ”I don't know. It seems cool to me. What about it's bad?”

Florence pointed at her, ”Stopping Elysium, but we planned on doing that regardless. As for everything else involved with owning Blegara, I can help point out some of the best resources there...And, I'll keep any governing suggestions to myself. I wasn't exactly the most effective ruler, so my advice is, well, unwarranted.”

I shook my head, ”Actually, you'll be helping me decide a lot of the rules there. We all will. The more pressing matter is taking the planet from Elysium. We need so much firepower that even a Spatial Fortress would shake in its boots. Or, its giant tentacles and, uh, mouths, I guess. You get what I mean.”

I rubbed my hands together, ”We do that, and we'll be reaping all kinds of rewards.”

Helios crossed his arms, ”It's unfortunate, but Schema will not appreciate your rampant military arming.”

Florence scoffed, ”What? Why wouldn't he? We need every bit of firepower against Elysium that we can get.”

Helios turned to his brother, ”Schema despises militaries that rival his own. Throughout the cosmos, that A.I. has done away with empires for that reason - they were too powerful. Militarily, that is.”

I turned to Helios, ”Is that why Obolis focuses more on building up resources than armed troops?”

”Partially. He also relishes in exploration, which is far more inclined to resource accrual than building a large, standing army. Don't mistake that for weakness, however. We're doing well in other territories outside of Blegara, so don't underestimate the Empire's might.”

I raised my hands, ”I'm not. I just appreciate how that military isn't on Blegara. Speaking of which, we're going to back off of Blegara for a while.”

Kessiah finished her food, ”Why would we do that? We just got a base established there.”

I pointed around us, ”See, Schema's system is all around us because this world is owned by him. If we back off of Blegara for a while-”

Florence snapped his clawed fingers, ”They'll establish their system there...So, uhm, why is that a good thing?”

I let my hands flop against my sides, ”Your plan wouldn't work otherwise. How else is Amara going to broadcast my takeover of the eldritch?”

Florence's head leaned back, ”Ah, of course. That's a noteworthy detail I forgot to flesh out. Unfortunately, letting the Adair family establish themselves will make retaking Blegara much harder, however.”

I shrugged, ”Eh, we're barely holding any territory as is. It's no big loss. I'm more concerned about making our retaliation as fierce as possible. Helios will be the one warping in a large number of troops. Him and Spear both. For that, we need potent troops to send.”

A message popped up in my status screen from Torix. He wanted to talk in his bird emporium. I turned to everyone, ”I have to cut this short. I've got to meet with Torix. You guys relax, though I might need you all to do something later, so don't stray too far.”

Florence gave me a thumbs up, ”You got it, Harbinger.”

I jogged off before floating myself through Mt. Verner. I loved the mornings here because the suite section was home to a few cafes. Passing them filled the space with the comforting, warm aroma of coffee. It tasted pretty good still, though the caffeine had no effect on me anymore. It's one of the things I missed, though I never drank too much coffee before the culling.

Passing the shops, I moved towards Torix's tunnel, passing the dusty elevator leading there. After getting to the same room beyond the glowing fungus, I walked into the bird exhibit room. I frowned at what I saw.

”Torix...what the hell are you doing here?”

The lich stood over a group of misfits, several animals, and even some Eltari. The lich piled several gemstones over in the corner of the room, and he hovered a few towards his left. These oddballs stood in front of the crystals, ready for contact. At the back of the bird exhibition room, a medical team was ready and waiting to help them in case of an adverse reaction.

Torix found me looking, so turned to face me,

”Ah, you're here. I was waiting to see you in person. I believe that we can use the crystals against the Hybrids, as we predicted.”

I stepped up, inspecting the line of people here. They carried deep scars over their bodies, and many lacked a limb or two. Most stared forward with a careless attitude as if they didn't care if they lived or died. Torix gestured to them,

”I put out an ad campaign to our guild to see if there were any members who were willing to expose themselves to the Omega Strain.”

”Omega Strain, eh? You're using the Greek alphabet again.”

The lich's eyes flared red for a moment,

”There are few things I don't know, and you exposed one of those weaknesses the other day. I thank you for that, and I now know the Greek alphabet along with much of its previous culture. Many of your ideals were formed from that culture, in fact.”

He waved off the implications behind his words, ”Cultural investigations aside, I guaranteed these individuals would receive credits and new positions in the guild if they allowed a measure of experimentation. These rewards would be given to their families should they die, and these are the individuals who showed up.”

Seven people stared up at me, and their eyes widened while their jaws went slack. I put my hands on my hips while facing them,