Ashley

I'm confused. What's going on?

I can't help but scratch the back of my head as I wonder why the portal I initially passed through to appear here is back again after killing the little mini boss thing. But since there's nothing else here and nowhere to go, I eventually pass through the portal again. Following which I find myself back where I was before entering the portal.

What's even more confusing is that the portal is still there. Except it's back to the color it had before I used that key.

And the key itself is gone.

I frown while looking around before eventually deciding to go through the default colored portal. Only to find myself appearing in a large cubic room. One filled with numerous clockworks, all of different species than the ones I saw before.

That said, their levels are all the same. The only difference is their species and potential skills.

Hmm…

All of these clockworks are enormous. Standing at around five meters in height with large spears held in their hands.

But I deal with them rather quickly and in an easy manner.

As it turns out, these clockworks have some rather glaring weaknesses. And all it takes to kill them are to break the links in their clockworks with my True Damage that can't be blocked.

So I just activate my Gaze of Destruction while focusing on the links between their gears and they all begin to fall apart.

To my surprise though, these particular clockworks don't die right away. Not even after completely falling apart.

Huh.

I walk up to the things while tilting my head. Only to find their parts just crawling across the ground towards me.

Well that's unexpected.

Although they're still kind of helpless in this form. So there isn't much these clockworks can do right now.

I tilt my head as I watch them crawling along for a bit. Then, after growing bored, I activate Assimilate and find what looks like some sort of core before lowering my hand to it while pouring some destruction affinity magma onto it. All while gazing at it with my Gaze of Destruction.

And after a few seconds of this, the clockwork parts previously connected to that core all stop moving and I get a message from the System.

But the skill I receive from the thing is rather odd.

{You have slain a being while Assimilate is active. You have now unlocked the Skill Tree: Timedriven Clockwork}

{You have unlocked a new Skill Tree, therefore the root skill of the Skill Tree, Time Connect, is now unlocked for your usage.}

I frown as I go to the Skill Tree and pull up the skill's description.

{Time Connect – Connects all parts of the user's body through time itself, making it so that even if the user's body parts are cut off, the user can still control them.}

That explains their moving around even when their bodies are in pieces.

Well, whatever.

I go ahead and destroy the rest of the cores, thereby expanding the Skill Tree I got from them. But not getting any new root skills in the process.

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So I continue moving through the chamber into the connecting one. Which looks exactly like the first chamber, with the same monsters in it.

I deal with the monsters in the same way as the first set before moving on into the next chamber again.

Only to find the same monsters once more.

And again in the chamber after.

And again after that.

When I end up fighting in the same looking chamber against the same number of clockworks over two dozen times though I begin to question if I'm just in some sort of loop or something. But I continue fighting and going through the chambers even after that for a few more times.

Then I finally stop and begin searching through the chamber itself for anything suspicious.

The chamber is filled with clockwork gears covering the walls and ceiling, with a regular wooden tile floor at the bottom. And when I look around, I realize the clockwork gears are moving at different speeds, with a few of them even looking stuck in place, and others missing.

Hmm…

What's even more curious is that when I move up to the clockwork gears, I realize that they look like they can be taken out of the wall and moved around. So I begin messing with the gears, taking them out of spots and moving them into other places.

And every time I do that, the gears begin changing speeds at which they move.

Interesting.

I continue messing with the gears, changing their locations around until I eventually get them into a position where they all look like they're rotating at the same speed. At which point I hear a clicking sound echo through the room.

Then I enter the next room again after finding nothing actually happening in the room. Only to find a different set of monsters in this room.

I glance through the room at the monsters while identifying them.

♢ Level 375 Timedriven Clockwork Beast – 2141 Potential Skills – X ♢

♢ Level 375 Timedriven Clockwork Beast – 2141 Potential Skills – X ♢

♢ Level 375 Timedriven Clockwork Beast – 2141 Potential Skills – X ♢

These clockworks are quadrupedal beasts instead of the previous bipedal golems. But they're still clockworks. So I tear them apart just like the previous ones by destroying their connectors between gears.

Then I go ahead and destroy their cores while they're lying across the floor in pieces. And after dealing with the monsters, I look around the room again to find the gears all messed up just like the first room.

Which gives me a rather bad feeling.

To test out that feeling, I walk into the next room without doing anything to the gears. Only to find myself back in the first room with more of the bipedal clockworks.

Damnit.

This Domain really is going to force me to alter the clockwork gears of each room, isn't it?

I glare at the monsters before killing them as usual. Then I deal with the gears in the room and head into the next room.

Where I find the clockwork beasts again.

Well this is probably going to take a while.

With that in mind, I deal with the clockwork beasts before messing with the gears in this room as well. Randomly moving them around until I hear that clicking sound.

Then I enter the next room to find different clockworks in it again. Except this time they're the same species.

It's just that there is now a mix of the species from the first two rooms in it.

All timedriven clockworks, but half of them are beasts and half are bipedal ones.

I let out a sigh before dealing with these monsters as well and messing with the gears in the room. Then I go to the next room to find it full of a different arrangement of clockworks once more.

Only to find another room after clearing that one.

And another.

And yet another.

Over and over again, taking ages to deal with the stupid Domain because of this part.

But eventually I find myself finally finishing with the stupid hall of gears – as I end up calling it – before appearing at what looks like the very top of the tower. Where I find a large clockwork sitting on a throne.

The clockwork has a crown on his head and is made out of orange and black gears. Specifically orange gears with black outlines. All with some sort of black metal covering the connectors between the gears.

What draws my attention the most though are the clockwork's glowing orange eyes.

My eyes narrow a little as I identify the clockwork.

♢ Level 375 Timestricken Clockwork Overlord – 5000 Potential Skills – X ♢

The tag is blue. Which means that this is the boss of the Domain.

Okay, guess I will be killing the boss before finding the jewel. Since I still need to find that jewel listed amongst the objectives.

I also need to complete the other objectives too.

For now though, I should focus on the boss.

As if reacting to my thoughts, the boss raises a hand from his throne.

Following which dozens of clockworks of all kinds appear across the tower's peak.

And these other monsters too as it turns out.