PtM 18 - Chapter 28: The Dragon Metal Realm

Once again, only two longer chapters this week.

1/2

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Adjacent the Inkwell Plane and affixed to the Dragon Vein Mountains existed a wondrous world of wonder and metal. This place was called the Dragon Metal Realm, and inside it, metal laws reigned supreme. It was a thriving place where metal-based life forms grew – or it had been, till recently.

The world was almost entirely made of metal, and was porous in nature, partially due to its natural construction but also due to generations of Clockwork Clansmen excavating it. This was especially the case for the staging area they arrived in. So heavily had it been mined that spatial cracks threatened to swallow them the moment they teleported into the place.

“It never used to be this bad,” Serrendil said to her companions. “When we first arrived, investiture realm Clockwork Clansmen could be send here to mine and would encounter no difficulties. But now, even peak fusion realm demons could get trapped and killed by spatial instabilities.”

“Well, warn us next time,” said the stump elemental, who’d suffered the worst in transit. “My powers are limited here, and there’s no telling how long my energies will last.”

“Calm yourself, old stump,” said Iridescent Smile. “You were warned that it might be a rough ride and failed to make adequate preparations.”

“I just don’t like this place,” said the old stump. “I hate its look. I hate the smell. Everything about it is hellish and the bane of my existence.”

Cha Ming and Silverfish had suffered the least wounds from teleporting; they ignored the bickering and inspected the chamber’s runework. It normally wouldn’t be so bad, but Silverfish and I actually made the spatial turbulence worse, thought Cha Ming. Silverfish because he provoked a reaction once he left the Inkwell Plane proper, and me because my inner world is too large and strained the spatial bridge connecting this place to the Dragon Vein Mountains.

As for the runework, they immediately discovered problems. “Hey! Hungry lizard!” Silverfish called out. “I have an awkward question for you.”

“What did you call me?” Serrendil said, storming over.

“I called you a hungry lizard,” said Silverfish. “Because I don’t see any other explanation when I see this. He pointed out a section of the metal framework supporting the spatial tunnel.”

“Are those…”

“Tooth marks,” said Silverfish. “This place is unstable because its spatial anchors were snacked on.”

Serrendil blushed. “Maybe it was the insects?” She didn’t look at all convinced by the explanation, but the others dropped the subject.

“What’s done is done,” Iridescent Smile said. “Let’s not dwell on past mistakes. Perhaps we can repair the formation when we’re done here.”

“I’m not worried about getting back,” Silverfish said. “It’s stump the grump I’m worried about.”

“You’ve got names for everyone, don’t you boy?” said old stumpy. “How about them? What names did you come up with?”

“Smiley and Snakey, and Goldie,” Silverfish said without skipping a beat.

“I will not be referred to as Goldie,” said the Clockwork Ancestor. “Retract this infantile name this instant.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Cha Ming cut in. He’d finished inspecting the runic circle and found it very easy to fix. “It’s not difficult to fix, assuming we have the key materials.”

“Which are?” asked Iridescent Smile.

“Dragon metals, obviously,” said Serrendil.

“It’s technically possible to patch it up with other metals, but you would risk destabilizing the realm,” cautioned the Clockwork Ancestor. “Artificers can’t just focus on power conduits and runes – metal composition and interactions is extremely important.”

“Are you saying dragon metals will corrode other metals?” Cha Ming asked. He wasn’t as experienced in this subject as the old dragon.

“Dragon metals are a higher-order material, and will naturally consume other metals they are linked to, whether directly or indirectly.”

“Maybe I could bridge the gaps in some other way,” Cha Ming muttered. He inspected the formation once more, then stomped his foot. Lines formed with spatial ink sprang up to replace the missing portions, completing the runic circle.

He used another batch of spatial ink to reinforce the formation’s link to the realm boundary. “Interesting,” said Cha Ming. “It’s actually a syphoning connection. The formation draws its power from the Inkwell plane, and not the other way around.”

The room they were in rapidly stabilized, and the spatial cracks filling it began to heal over. It only took minutes to completely fix the damage. “Our way out is taken care of,” said Cha Ming. “Shall we get digging?”

“Everyone, be on your guard,” Serrendil said. “Although these tunnels are relatively clear of Gold Mites, as we call them, they are extremely potent in staging ambushes.”

They walked through old tunnels for the next several hours without seeing either dragon metal or gold mite. Serrendil dragged one of her blades along the wall as they walked, filling their surroundings with a pleasant hum. Cha Ming likewise ran his hand along the wall.

“Wait,” said Cha Ming as they reached a branch. “There,” he said, pointing to a tunnel with a large ‘x’ carved atop it. “There are metals that way. Along with some sort of buzzing.”

“Buzzing?” Serrendil said with a frown. “This is an excavated tunnel, Clear Sky. It should be empty of dragon metals. At least I don’t sense anything.”

“I don’t sense anything either,” said the Clockwork Ancestor. “But I do hear some faint buzzing.”

“Buzzing can only mean one thing in this place,” said Serrendil. “Gold mites. Lots of them.”

“Well I don’t hear anything,” said old stumpy.

“You’re no better than a newborn in this place,” Iridescent Smile consoled. “Just follow along and do as you’re told.”

“I shouldn’t have come to this wretched place,” grumbled old stumpy.

“We haven’t encountered anything so far, so it’s worth a shot,” said Cha Ming. “Also, the buzzing is encouraging.”

“Those pests wouldn’t gather anywhere without a reason,” Serrendil agreed. “Alright everyone. Prepare for battle!”

They continued down the excavated tunnel and proceeded down many more branches, each of which had been crossed off. It wasn’t long before they arrived at a split in the road going left and right. “Which way?” asked Serrendil.

“That way,” said Cha Ming, tapping on the wall.”

Serrendil placed her hands on the wall and nodded seriously. “That’s the buzzing the ancestor heard. Stand back, everyone. Muneeba, to me.” Powers of the Runebound Clan and Clockwork Clans fused together to melt open a hole in the tunnel. Serrendil pulled molten metal into a storage treasure while Muneeba did the same for what few earth-aligned materials were left.

They travelled several kilometers in this way before Serrendil stopped them. “There’s a cavern a few meters ahead. That’s where all the buzzing is coming from. You should all be prepared to face gold mite drones, and possibly soldiers. Silverfish and I will be going in first, and Muneeba and old stumpy will stay in the middle. Iridescent Smile is rear guard, while Clear Sky will act as he sees fit.”

Muneeba took out five formation plates and handed them to each of her companions. “Apologies, Majana,” she said to Cha Ming. “I tried for a long time to determine what your elemental alignment was, but was unable to build a suitable plate.”

“It’s not a problem,” Cha Ming said. “My energy is somewhat difficult for other people to manage. It’s best that I act independently.”

“Then take care,” warned Muneeba. “These gold mites are not individually powerful, but their numbers more than make up for it.” She poured her powers into the plate as Serrendil knocked down the remaining wall, revealing a lightless cavern built of mundane metals.

“This isn’t a cavern,” muttered Cha Ming. “This is a hive.” Holes had been burrowed in three dimensions. Surprisingly, however, there wasn’t an insect to be found.

“The buzzing stopped,” Serrendil muttered. “The buzzing usually doesn’t typically stop. Unless…” She drew her twin blades. “Brace yourselves. This isn’t just a mindless group of drones or soldiers. There’s a queen controlling them!”

“You say there’s a queen, but I can’t see anything!” said old stumpy.

“They’re hiding,” said Cha Ming. “But not for long.” He used the Clear Sky Brush to paint deep cracks into the ceiling. The cracks expanded under the weight above them, and the ceiling, which everyone had presumed to be extremely stable, collapsed.

A cloud of metal dust filled the cavern, blinding them and temporarily obstructing their spiritual senses. This was immediately followed by a violent buzz of activity as tens of thousands of insects tossed off pieces of debris and assembled into ranks.

“Iridescent Smile, screen me!” yelled Serrendil. “Silverfish, you too!” She breathed in, then let out a deafening roar.

The gold mites that had just finished assembling into ranks were nocked back. Most importantly, the metal dust filling the room liquified and splashed onto the cave walls, where it resolidified. A gruesome creature was revealed at the center of the cavern.

Their formation pulled back as the queen, realizing its terrible situation, commanded its underlings to mount a fierce and suicidal offensive. They were forced to retreat into the tunnel to stave off the tide of gold mites.

Serrendil, Silverfish, and Iridescent Smiles took turns defending, but it was clear that this was as losing battle. “Cha Ming, they’re regenerating!” Silverfish said. “Serrendil, you never told us anything about regeneration!”

“We’ve never fought a hive head on before,” Serrendil said between sonic breath attacks. She was the most effective in their group at destroying gold mites, and could take out hundreds of them at a time. lasts of metal-destroying sound. “Queens are saint level creatures, and they’re stronger than a saint because of the swarms under their control.”

Cha Ming also participated in the battle but focused on destroying groups and observing them as they regenerated. No matter how he smashed them, they seemed to be able to recombine with minimal losses.

The gold mites, he discovered weren’t really living creatures. They operated much like his paintings did, but were built mostly of mundane metals with a tiny core of dragon metals. This core was never destroyed, and it was the same for a thin layer of dragon metals the creatures used as an exoskeleton.

“We need to pull back into the safe area,” said Serrendil. “The laws of this realm detest these creatures and will support us as we retreat.”

“Let me try something first,” said Cha Ming. He summoned his Crumbling Canvas Domain and imposed his will over a small area. A wave of destructive energy swept over the gold mite army. Wherever it went, they broke apart, and took much loner to reassemble. “Serrendil, melt the pieces that break off. That should prevent them from regenerating.”

“I’ll give it a shot,” said Serrendil. She pierced one of her blades into the metal ground and summoned forth a sphere of violent sonic energy. Wherever it passed, metal ran like water. Puddles of metal soon formed, then rapidly solidified. “It’s working!”

Cha Ming took things a step further when he saw the queen anxiously digging at the piles of molten metal to extract the more valuable metals. He used his Crumbling Canvas Domain to break away pieces and take them directly into the Clear Sky World, where they could no longer be accessed.

The queen, seeing that its armies were no longer effective, issued a command. The drones keeping her safe broke apart, leaving a smaller army of soldiers that formed a defensive formation. It then began to screech in bursts. “Is it calling for reinforcements?” asked Silverfish. “One is bad enough.”

The tighter formation made it difficult to continue using the same approaching. Whether it was Serrendil’s sonic attacks or Cha Ming’s Crumbling Canvas, they lost effectiveness in proximity of the queen. Moreover, it seemed that the queen wasn’t satisfied with her defenses. By using the spare materials produced by destroying her drones, she had begun assembling defensive formations using dragon metals as a base.

“Serrendil, I have an idea,” Cha Ming finally said. “But I’ll need your help.”

“Just tell me what you need,” said Serrendil.

“You and Silverfish are the key,” Cha Ming said. “Silverfish, you’re the first line of defense. I want you to cut down any soldiers that have reached the late fusion realm or higher. Anything weaker, we can just ignore.”

“I’m not the best defender, but I’ll do what I can,” Silverfish said. “What about her?”

“I need Serrendil to hide behind us and help me defend against whatever that queen will try,” Cha Ming said. “There are endless things it can construct to deal with us, but whatever it is, it’ll be made of dragon metals. Serrendil should be most effective in dealing with this.”

“What about me?” asked the Clockwork Ancestor.

“I don’t think your help will be necessary,” said Cha Ming. “And I have a feeling we’ll need to deal with more than just one queen going forward. As for you three… sorry, you’re just liabilities. Retreat into my pocket dimension while we take care of this.”

“We’ll do as you say this time,” said Iridescent Smile. She and her two companions entered the Clear Sky World, leaving Serrendil, Silverfish, and Cha Ming to confront the gold mite queen.

At a glance, the queen was just a larger gold mite, but thanks to his keen eyes, Cha Ming was able to determine that it was an agglomeration of gold mites, held together with a large core and a strand of spiritual force. No, not spiritual force… thought Cha Ming. This is Will!

Thus far, Cha Ming had seen a few types of will. The saints of Slovana and the pontiffs in Mendin used something called Divine Will. Saint Demons controlled Demonic Will, and though Cha Ming had yet to see a saint level Daoist, he’d heard they controlled something called Immortal Will.

This strand resembled neither of these, nor did it feel like Spiritual Will. Instead, it resembled what he called Planar Will. Planar Will enforced the rules of planes and the occasional powerful pocket realm and was often accompanied by high-level sentience.

To see such will on a life form was strange to Cha Ming, but it gave him some hints as to what kind of creature it was. “Everyone get into position,” said Cha Ming. “Let’s kill ourselves a queen.”

Cha Ming activated Triune Soul Burn to maximum and summoned his three Regalia pieces. He then painted a line straight towards the queen. An icy landscape appeared on one side and a fiery inferno on another is as yin broke and yang shattered. Metal became brittle and precise pieces deformed and bulged, disabling a quarter of the soldiers before they could even act.

Since the defeated soldiers were in close proximity to the queen, it was able to harvest their precious dragon metals before Cha Ming could get to them. The remaining three quarters of her soldiers intercepted Cha Ming and his companions; a third of these collapsed as soon as they reached Cha Ming’s crumbling canvas domain, leaving only half of the original number of soldiers.

Silverfish dutifully smashed them apart as they came with his anchor hammer. Those he couldn’t, he repelled with wave after wave of inky energy. But it wasn’t long before the soldiers overwhelmed him. Chinks began to appear in his spiked armor, and traces of metallic corruption began to appear on his arms and legs.

“Let me do something about that,” Serrendil said, but Silverfish refused. “That’s fine. I can take the pain.”

“Stop being stubborn,” said Serrendil, but Silverfish pushed her away.

“Pain is good,” said Silverfish. “It’s how I know I’m still me. More importantly, only pain will let me bring out my true strength.”

Runic characters appeared around Silverfish as his wounds multiplied, creating an elaborate tale of injustice and retribution. Each character increased Silverfish’s strength and regeneration and would continue to do so as long as his soul remained intact.

As Silverfish defended, Cha Ming focused on his next painting. Hot and cold intensified as he added details to Shattered Yin, Broken Yang. The twin phoenixes transformed into a blazing sun and a chilling moon.

“Serrendil, get ready!” Cha Ming said. He poured Clearmist and law into the Clear Sky Brush and began infusing them into his painting.

Distractions would not be tolerated. If he was interrupted, the painting would fail. It was therefore unsurprising to Cha Ming that the queen chose this moment to strike.

The wall and fortifications around the queen suddenly opened up, revealing hundreds of tiny barrels. They launched metal spiked spheres at the group of three, which exploded just before Silverfish’s effective attack range. Tens of thousands of tiny spikes shot out in all directions.

Cha Ming could felt something was off, but he decided to trust in his friends and continue his painting. This sun grew hotter and the moon grew colder; a region of turbulence appeared between the two incompatible forces.

“What are you standing around for?” Silverfish said, deflecting most of these spikes with a wave of inky creatures. “Do something, Serrendil!”

“Not yet,” said Serrendil, pulling a bunch of needles out from his shoulder. “Something else is coming. Something bigger.”

It was then that the wall surrounding the gold mite queen broke apart. Dozens of long needles broke through Silverfish’s ink screen and shot towards Cha Ming.

“Deflect!” Serrendil shouted. Half the needles shooting towards Cha Ming bent away. As for the other half, they struck his body. Most of them bounced of his regalia, but a dozen pierced through his divine shell.

These wounds are a problem, but I can still keep going,thought Cha Ming. He ignored his injuries and continued focusing on his painting.

Another round of needles shot out, but this time, there were three times as many. Silverfish shot into the air and smashed a tenth of the needles away, and Serrendil, uncertain if Cha Ming was able to resist, burnt off the back portion of her demon armor to empower her shout, deflecting most of the remaining needles.

Cha Ming’s body had yet to heal from the previous round, but he didn’t panic. Inkwell War Plate activated at his command, summoning forth an inky black shell that increased his defenses by an order of magnitude.

The timing was fortunate, because no sooner had he deflected these needles did a golden light flash out from the queen and break past Silverfish’s defences. Cha Ming maintained the shield out of instinct, only to see it shatter as a needle formed almost entirely of saint grade dragon metals pierced through it, broke through his regalia’s defences, and poke a gaping hole through his divine shell.

It then continued to pierce into the core of his inner world where he was most vulnerable. “Ninesky, get Luther and the others to suppress the will in that needle,” Cha Ming instructed. “Flamewing, Claw Vice, and Jade Memory – I need you all to do your part as well.”

He then turned his attention back towards his painting, which was just missing a final stroke. A spiral of chaotic energy appeared on the tip of the Clear Sky Brush as he painted a simple spear where the energies of the sun and moon intersect.

“Obliterate!” Cha Ming commanded. The spear flew towards the screaming queen and tore into its thick exoskeleton. It then continued straight into its core, where the will controlling its body was stored.

The core shattered, and the army of gold mites collapsed. The third round of saint-level spikes lost the will supporting them, enabling Serrendil to catch them with ease.

As for the dragon metal spike in Cha Ming’s inner world, it lost its root of power. The planar will of his three demiplanes eradicated the remnant will, then consumed a portion of its strength. Not only was Cha Ming’s inner world unharmed by the spike, it had increased the intensity of its planar wills by thirty percent.

Only then di Cha Ming realize how close to death he’d come. Over half of his Clearmist reserves had been decimated in the exchange, with most of the damage having been caused by that single needle. It was only thanks to  was only thanks to the guardians of his inner world suppressing its will that he’d survived.

“I think we’ll need to be more careful if we fight queens in the future,” Cha Ming said. He summoned their companions from the Clear Sky World and began to heal the damage to his divine shell.

He completed his recover three days later. By then, Silverfish had mostly recovered form his injuries, while Serrendil had used a portion of the dragon metal they’d claimed to heal the damage to her demon armor. Her swords now shone with a golden light that had been absent all this time.

“Ah, there he is,” said the Clockwork Ancestor as Cha Ming joined the group. “We were just discussing future activities. The consensus is to push forward, but there is an issue that may pose a problem to this course of action.”

“Is it the queen?” asked Cha Ming.

“Correct,” said the Clockwork Ancestor. “It was not an independent sentient entity. It reminds me of custodians, in a way. It had an artificial soul, but was not capable of independent decision-making.”

“I sensed a strand of will in its core,” said Cha Ming. “And that will didn’t seem to belong to the queen itself.”

“I thought as much,” said the Clockwork Ancestor. “This means that a greater entities exists among these gold mites. Given our current strength, pushing forward would not be prudent.”

“Our goal was never to destroy these creatures, but to find dragon metals,” Serrendil cut in. “And since there was a queen here, there aught to be quite a bit. These needles were good stuff, but there must be more where that came from.”

“Well, there’s this, for starters,” Cha Ming said. He pulled out the shattered core belonging to the slain queen and handed it to Serrendil. “As for the rest, give me a bit of time.” He focused on his surroundings and enforced his Crumbling Canvas Domain on a larger area. It expanded until it encompassed the cavern, then penetrated a few meters into the porous metal structure. “I assume we should maintain integrity of this tunnel system?”

“That would be for the best,” said Serrendil. “Unless you want mountains of metal dropping on your head.”

Cha Ming continued his crumbling canvas through the tunnels and began breaking apart whatever metals he could find without affecting the stability of the tunnel. Dragon metals and other precious metals began pouring into the Clear Sky World at a rapid rate.

His law projection gradually expanded until it encompassed hundreds of kilometers in every direction. Judging by the extent of the tunnels and the dragon metals he’d found, the queen had barely managed to exploit ten percent of the formation. The only problem was that they hadn’t found nearly as much dragon metals one the queen and her drones and soldiers. This further strengthened their conjecture that a greater entity was in control of the gold mites.

“How was it?” Serrendil asked as Cha Ming opened his eyes. “How long will the formation take to excavate?”

“It’s already done,” Cha Ming said. He proceeded to summon thousands of concentrated dragon metal bricks from the Clear Sky World, including a much smaller pile of concentrated saint grade dragon metals.

“This…” Serrendil said.

“Is it too little?” Cha Ming asked. “If you want more, we’ll need to find another queen, because this tunnel is completely empty.”

“Allow me to explain,” Iridescent Smile said to Serrendil. “Congratulations, Clear Sky. You’ve just excavated more dragon metals in the past few hours than Serrendil’s entire clan has in the past sixty years.”

Cha Ming eyed her skeptically. “Will it be enough?” he asked.

“Enough to last us centuries, if we ration properly,” Serrendil mumbled.

“But not long enough to ensure the prosperity of your people,” Cha Ming said, sensing her hesitation. “I understand. We can keep going.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Serrendil said, shaking her head. “Out of the five great clans, ours has always been the smallest due to our reliance on dragon metals. Being able to excavate so much all at once – it gives us hope.”

“Indeed it does,” said the Clockwork Ancestor. “With such a quantity of dragon metals, it might be possible to achieve my mission.”

“What mission?” Cha Ming asked.

“To raise a demon prince,” the Clockwork Ancestor said. “Or princess, as it were. A true royal demon would be able to harbor all the demons on this plane, and a large portion of the humans as well.”

Cha Ming frowned. “Dredging up these materials is dangerous. Killing a single queen almost cost me everything.”

“Ah, but what if Serrendil’s strength underwent a transformation?” asked the Clockwork Ancestor.

Cha Ming looked to Serrendil. “Is this possible?”

“Very,” Serrendil said. “Our people are the fewest in number due to our dependence on dragon metals. But once we solve this problem, we are capable of frightening growth.” She eyed the dragon metals they’d collected. “If you allow me to consume these dragon metals, I guarantee I’ll be able to break through from middle fusion to peak fusion in a week’s time.”

“That fast?” Cha Ming muttered. “It sounds like your bloodline is a bit overpowered.”

“Among my sisters, I was ranked second,” the Clockwork Ancestor said haughtily. “It was a toss-up between me and Inkwell.”

“What do you think, Silverfish?” Cha Ming said. “Do we have enough time?”

“I have no idea,” said Silverfish. “But I’ve been told that the starry road segment we’re looking for is in a dangerous location. If Serrendil could increase her strength, finding the road and crossing it safely would become much easier.

“I’m game with whatever,” said old stumpy. “What about you, Snakey?”

“I’ve always wondered about the sustainability of our kingdom,” said Muneeba. “I see no reason not to give it a try.”

“I agree as well,” said Iridescent Smile. “Slaying even a few more queens would be a great boon to our kingdom’s combat strength and resilience.”

“Then it’s settled,” Cha Ming said. “But first, let’s leave this place. If there is a greater entity controlling these creatures, I’d rather not stick around as it investigates the death of its minion.”