The infinity dungeon 202

Chapter 202

Michael walked under the glittering dome of the night sky. Occasionally, an explosion echoed in the distance, its sound reflected by the nearby mountains and cliffs. He kept going until the night was almost black, and then stopped in yet another cave.

He built some collectors, a few batteries, and went to sleep. When he woke up, he developed his Inner Space some more and waited for the sun to set. Faint vibrations shook the cave at regular intervals, getting progressively stronger as the gigantic worm got closer. Soon Michael would have to resort to using explosions again.

Another day and night passed.

“Twelve batteries…” Michael said as he sat at the edge of the cave. A glimmering field of magic protected him from the solar radiation coming from above. A waste of mana, but he did not care.

He snapped his fingers and an explosion immediately followed. It was so far away his eyes could barely see it, and the sound never reached him. The vibrations that had been growing stronger over the last hour slowly faded.

“...for a total of twelve Silver of mana. Probably more than I had before losing my powers.”

“It is,” Icarus interjected, “if you disregard your lack of elemental energies, of chi and jing, of Qi, of Intent and—chief of all—of skills, one might even say you’re more powerful than you were before.”

Michael smiled and got up, walking to the back of the cave. He ran a finger on the cool damp stone, and all the water gathered in a small sphere that then floated to his mouth. He gulped it down, letting the chill of it soothe his dry throat.

“224 seconds before the batteries are full,” Icarus said. “How about you build me another drone, so we can work the Foundry better while you, you know, live in the outside world?”

“No,” Michael said, and sank into his Inner Space.

“What do you mean, no?” came the far away voice of his AI. Since Icarus was driving the drone and had just departed from the asteroid belt, his voice had the static quality of faint radio.

“I have a better idea. You wanted to expand its cargo bay, no? It’s high time we did that.”

By the time the drone returned, Michael was already deep into developing his solution to the problem.

“What’s that odd tech you got there?” asked Icarus. He was snooping around, floating the drone like a curious shark watching a diver.

“Do you not recognize these fractals?”

He pointed at two shapes he had made out of titanium gathered from the asteroids.

“Damn,” Icarus said. “Shield and Distortion Sphere. Long time no see. But if you could replicate the old fractals, why didn’t you do it sooner?”

Michael gathered some magic from a battery and directed the glowing energy to the fractals. They lit up, then promptly melted and exploded in a shower of multicolored sparks.

“There’s two problems I’ve identified so far,” Michael began. “One is that I can’t really replicate the infinite complexity of fractals from memory, and certainly not using these materials.”

“I think that could be one of the problems, yeah. The other?”

“The other… I’m pretty sure even a perfect fractal wouldn’t work here. Look around. It’s all space-y and tech-y, what do fractals have to do with all this?”

“They are on my planetoid’s surface,” Icarus said. “But I see your point. What then?”

Michael played around with the scraps of the broken fractals for a while, deep in thought. “We have to build something. A machine, some sort of technology that can generate a shield.”

“What about the Distortion Field?”

“Remember what happened right before the Sanctum broke? The two skills were merging. Which means that there must be overlap and compatibility between the two. Why not build the technology with it in mind?”

***

Back in the real world, Michael watched the sun set behind a nearby mountain. The worm was still following him as he made his way deeper into the mountain range, but it seemed to avoid the mountains and instead remained hidden in the ground of the valleys below.

He ran a hand through his hair, finding almost none of it. He had cut it to almost zero the day before, getting rid of the singed and burned remains of it, but he had still not gotten used to the strange lightness and breeze between his ears. It certainly helped him bear the heat of the day, though.

Then, as the last ray of the sun vanished, he set out yet again. With more magic at his disposal than ever before, he enhanced his eyes to grant himself night vision, increasing the brightness of the night to almost daylight. Color was also restored, and the only way to tell that it was night was the lack of heat and the myriad of stars above.

After a few hours of walking the tremors returned, signaling that the worm was once again on the move. Indeed, looking down at the valley below Michael spotted earth moving, craters forming, and boulders suddenly rolling down the steep slopes of the mountains. He shrugged. He was walking along the side of a tall mountain, and it would be several more hours before he was forced to come down and cross the valley. Perhaps a whole day.

But then, right as he resumed walking, he felt something he had never felt before.

He immediately sat down and closed his eyes, entering his Inner Space in a hurry.

“Michael? What got you so agitated?”

“The Temple!”

In the distance, the Elven Temple had rotated. Previously inert, it now emitted a very faint pulse of nature magic, like a beacon pointing to somewhere in the distance.

“Did something happen in here that might have triggered the change?” Michael asked.

Icarus ran a check, just to be sure. “Nothing that I could detect.”

“Then what’s it pointing towards?”

“Perhaps outside?”

“Out? In the real world?” Michael found it hard to believe, yet he left the Inner Space all the same. He got up and looked in the distance.

He saw nothing at first, but as he was about to give up he finally spotted something.

“Green?” he muttered, “A plant? Here, of all places?”

Checking inside, the Temple was pointed straight at the patch of green in the distance. Michael would have to cross the valley to reach it, as it was on the mountain at the opposite side of the valley, but he was confident he could get there before dawn.

“Let’s check it out, I guess.”

He was sick and tired of this place. He was making good gains with his magic system for sure, but constantly being followed by the worm was wearing down his nerves.

As such, he descended the mountain quickly and readied his usual explosion spell out of raw mana. He was using the ability so many times that it was becoming second nature to him, almost making him want to experiment with it rather than the shield in his Inner Space.

He distracted the worm, crossed the valley, and then climbed up the mountain. He empowered his body and legs to do so, climbing several thousand feet in less than an hour.

He stopped close to the patch of green he had seen from afar.

“Okay, this is not what I was expecting.”

There was a corpse on the ground. Fresh, given the lack of sun damage, the man had long hair and vaguely Asian features. He wore golden-plated armor and bracers, with a long-sleeved robe underneath. As Michael got closer to him, he felt the Temple literally shake in anticipation.

“Cause of death seems to be poisoning,” Icarus said after drawing some magic and running it through his own circuitry. His way of casting was different then Michael's even though it was fully dependent on his mana. “There’s still some poison coursing through the man’s veins. It causes some sort of internal rot that isn’t immediately visible outside, but if you look close to his eyes you should see blackened veins.

Michael hummed as he searched the body. “How did he get here, though?”

“That’s the question. I’m betting his way in is going to be our way out.” Icarus said.

“Nothing on the body,” Michael said. “But what’s this on his finger?”

He slid a golden ring from the man’s finger and examined it. Its magic, while detectable, was faint and yet, the moment he touched it, the Temple seemed to go on a frenzy. Its vibrations were strong enough that they felt almost real.

Michael’s eyes widened. In the distance, the edge of the sky was brightening as dawn approached. 

That’s not the Temple. The worm, it’s back!