CHAPTER 125

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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After ensuring Halley was properly escorted to the surface and conveyed my message, I decided to check on a few things. A little bit of spying said the CHI raid group was taking a little break to repair their armor and get Lilliette a new arm. The first prosthetic she'd had was made of Mithril, and from what I could tell, this second one was being paid for by the guild to be Moonsilver.

Someone had the thought, after reading her report, that she might be able to recreate that 'fluid-like state' she'd managed to reach when she'd exploded my big dino's head. They had no idea what it was, but I had a few. It could be Plasma, or perhaps she'd managed to briefly create Energy mana. According to Kata, it was one of the rarer mana types, something I'd call a third-tier mana type. The locals didn't put the mana into tiers like I did. Some were just more common and rarer than others.

They also didn't think a person's Affinity could change apart from God's intervention. I knew differently; it was as simple as 'cultivating' a different type of mana by concentrating it into their mana core. But I digress.

I was just as interested in if she could re-create her breakthrough. But since everything else on the surface was plodding along just fine, I decided to refocus on the lower floors and get some work done.

The Eighth would be left alone since the CHI group hadn't thrown up any glaring deficiencies. The Ninth... I had to seriously consider whether I wanted the Tomb of The Stained, as I was calling it, to be accessible.

If I let them find it, they'd no doubt sus out there was actual necromancy going on in there right quick. They'd relay that to Layla, who, although tolerant, might see this as a step too far and send some kind of message to people on the mainland, who'd inform the temple and everyone else of the importance. I'd actually get that crusade I was trying to avoid.

Sooooo, Inaccessible? Inaccessible. For now, at least.

It took a bit to shift the sand dunes around, so the pyramid was mostly covered except for the tip poking out. I faked it being part of a more extensive set of ruins by having pillars and pieces of ruined stonework poking out of the sand nearby. For now, the only way in or out was through the tunnel that connected it to the hidden section of the Scorpan Village. If an earth mage managed to get down here, they might discover just how big the pyramid was. Until then, though, It would be better for everyone if it remained a secret.

The rest of the Ninth was chugging along just fine. The canyon was filled to bursting with plants growing even at the edges of the cliffs above. The rodents, big cats, small cats, snakes, birds, insects, and various fish living in the shade those plants provided were thriving. The Scorpan's surprisingly skilled builders had constructed an arching stone-brick bridge over the river near their settlement. From each end of the bridge, cobbles and markers led to the town's gate and down the most common trail they used to travel to the other end of the canyon. This is probably the first proper road in the dungeon. One built by the Children, for them to use.

I was so proud.

There was also a less well-defined path leaving the Tenth's entrance and heading between fields of various grains to reach the Minotaur village. The other fork led out in the vague direction of the Boss arena but didn't extend more than a dozen meters past the fork. Wouldn't do to give the guilders a straight shot to the exit, hmm? Might've needed to add a couple more Children-only tunnels between the floors down here. It wasn't necessary earlier, but with the Guilders getting closer, I needed a way to move them around without them running into the humans.

As I looked, a team of road engineers was making a path from Wyvern's Rest to the Eleventh's entrance. The Weird warping effect the expanded space of the eleventh had on the stone around the floor made me very leery of adding any more exits or entrances. I'd only defined two when I made it in the first place, and I didn't want to accidentally destabilize the space by adding a third.

They could travel normally on the Eleventh just fine.

The Islands were doing well. Life thrived on those with life. The Courts were well settled now and even did some trading at the small dock/ports that'd popped up. The Crabfolk, though they called themselves pirates, were natural sailors and didn't actually do any pirating down here. They mostly facilitated trade between the islands and Wyvern's Rest, and the upper floors through them. When the guilders made it down here, though, I had a feeling those Jolly Rodgers would rise high.

Beneath the waves, the Oceanids were doing well. They'd worked out how to farm some species of seaweed and kelp and used them as garnish and side salads for their meals. Their 'hunters' were currently stalking what looked like a wounded Great White, with three harpoons hanging from its belly. I wished them luck. 𝘙ÀꞐɵ𐌱ΕS

In the skies above the Eleventh, Olympus was pretty bare. A few floating islands were situated above the everlasting storm over the southern half of the Elemental Isles. One was my Core Island, set directly above the storm's center. My Accretion disk had started to affect the storm beneath long ago, swirling it in the same direction and causing plenty of lightning, something the Lightning Court was pleased about.

The remaining islands were inhabited by the scant few Wyvern-kin, Wave, and Taura, and the non-sapient four-winged scaled things, which the Wyvern-kin treated like pets. It was pretty cute, actually. But besides a few trees, plants, vines, and other small birds, Olympus's floating islands were barren.

It was time to fix that with a bit more life and add a bit of Greco-Roman ruins and buildings around the place. My Core Island could do with an upgrade, too. After that... I had everything I needed to make Instinct's body, bar an actual body to start the process with.

So, I guess that's what I'm doing after the building.

The way I saw it, I had two choices; get an extremely-recently-dead and vacated-of-it's-soul body, shove Instincts in and bind him there with some death/soul mana... or make an entirely fabricated and inorganic body, nonetheless wired up with mana circuits to let it move, like my Avatar was.

Hmm. Choices.

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Refugee Camp, Outside the Port, Atlantis

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Halley walked through the large collection of tents, stopping every so often as she checked in on the people who'd fled Blackwater Bay with her. It'd been a day since she'd informed them of The Creator's options for them, and she'd decided to walk around taking questions. If she didn't have an answer for them, The Voice had decided to pay the camp a visit today, and Halley invited the woman to join her on her rounds. She'd said, 'Sure, why not.'

And that's what they did.

Stolen story; please report.

After they'd worked their way through most of the questions and worries the people had, Halley decided to ask one of her own.

"So, what's it like?" She asked quietly. She didn't explain. The Voice had to know what she meant. From the few seconds of silence and considering look, Halley was spot on in her assessment.

"Different in so many ways. It's hard to describe," The Voice began, raising a hand and looking over her claws. "I didn't believe him when he talked about how humans had so many things wrong until he fixed them. Better balance, coordination, hearing, taste, and eyesight, oh, Creator! Did you know that light enters your eyes upside down? But your retina, the part of your eye that actually sees things, is right-side up. So, your brain has to do extra processing to re-flip what you see. And! There's a spot right in the middle of your vision where you don't see anything, but your brain fills in the gaps itself with what it thinks should be there!"

Halley blinked rapidly, trying to keep up with the rant the woman beside her had started. "So.. any regrets?

"Not particularly. Most everyone I knew before was dead." The Voice answered in a half-wistful, sad way. Halley shifted awkwardly. Before she could strike up the conversation again, more people came up to have things clarified.

They'd gotten through everyone an hour later and retreated to Halley's tent. Before she could speak, The Voice raised a hand and pulled out a rune-inscribed rock. The runes started glowing, and there was a shift in the air. The muffled sounds of everything beyond the tent faded immediately, leaving the two of them in complete silence. Another spell pulsed out from her hand, a wave of barely visible mana spreading out through the tent and fading at the edges. Halley blinked and realized she was glowing. Then, the glow stopped abruptly.

"We're free to talk now. As far as The Creator and I could tell, no one was listening earlier, but you never know. Someone could've been following us, invisible to all senses. That second spell makes humans, and only humans, glow. Something about genetic markers. It should have revealed anyone else in the room with us."

"You didn't glow, though." Halley pointed out.

"I cast the spell," Was The Voice's non-answer. She let it slide for now.

"So, how long have you been like this?" Halley asked,

"A while, now. I lived with the Drake-Kin for months before they accepted me, and then The Creator revealed the lack of the Life Goddess's protection and spoke directly into my mind. He asked me to be his voice on the surface, as I understood and could best interact with humans. I accepted, and the rest is a matter of public record."

"And... your body? The wings?"

"The Creator and I both agreed I would be in danger if they knew I was a human," The Voice explained. "It started as a means of deception, but my opinion changed as we discussed what changes to make. I decided to become closer to my chosen people, the Drake-kin. Also, I've always wanted to fly. This was the coolest option He had. The Creator called me a Scaleborn, the only one of my kind. I assume a similar option is available to those who choose to descend into the dungeon."

"So, the Guild and nobles think you're a monster made to look human, not a human made to look like a monster?" Halley reasoned. The Voice nodded. "We'd be the same, then. Hiding our origins."

"It's not really hiding. You wouldn't have to live on the surface and potentially expose yourselves every day like I do. You'd live in the dungeon. Likely on the Eleventh Floor," the Voice said, sitting at the tent's small table.

"Why the Eleventh?" Halley questioned, sitting on the edge of the other chair. "Why not any of the higher floors?"

"There's plenty of space, one well-developed town, and plenty of smaller settlements. The Guilders haven't gotten past the Eighth yet, so there'd be plenty of time to integrate into the society there already."

"Towns? A Society?! How big is the dungeon?!" She exclaimed, taken aback.

"Huge. It's hard to explain. It needs to be seen, to be believed. I could try, but you wouldn't understand its true scale until you've been down there."

Halley nodded, eyes narrowed as she looked at the tent's fabric rippling in the wind.

"Well, no matter what anyone else does, I've made my decision." Halley declares, smiling at The Voice. "You don't deserve to be alone."

There was a shimmering in The Voice's eyes that might have been tears, but Halley ignored it.

"My friends call me Kata."

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Secret Compartment, The Merchant Ship Good Tidings, The Kalenic Sea

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Akio decided the rest of the trip was nowhere near as thrilling as the start had been. There wasn't a need for the crew to be this far down the cargo hold while at sea, and with the big crate in the way of the false wall, it wasn't like they could leave either. So, they mostly talked. At one point, Ossydus decided to get some sleep, and the four teens gathered on the other side of the room.

"So, what was that, Akio?" Sophie asked. Akio'd been thinking about how It was good none of them got seasick; there wasn't even a port hole to throw up out of if they had been. He blinked and turned to the darkly-dressed girl with a raised eyebrow at her question.

"Hmm?" He hummed, looked to the right, and yawned. It was tough to tell time in the secret compartment, and as far as he knew, they'd been away for a couple of days straight by now. Exhaustion was finally catching up with them.

"That spell you used when Heliat was looking around the room. How come he didn't see us, but we could still see each other?" Sophie managed to get out before being overtaken by a yawn of her own.

"Ah," Akio exclaimed, now understanding and blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "Well, I figured he'd be looking at shadows and dark corners. Your invisibility needs them to work properly, right?" Sophie nodded sleepily, and Akio continued. "But what I did wasn't technically invisibility. It was an illusion of what the corner would look like without anyone in it, cast as a dome around us. He would've seen us if he had walked up to us and gone through the dome."

"But, once he lit the 'empty' corner with his lantern, he dismissed any chance we were there?" Elize finished for him, leaning back against the piled blanket. Akio nodded to the girl on his left. "That was clever, but it could have gone wrong in so many ways."

"If you didn't notice, we didn't have much time to come up with anything else," Bruce countered, and Akio appreciated his support. "So what if it was his first successful cast of that spell? It worked, and we got away clean. The captain even threw him off our trail, saying whoever was in here must have left last night. Heliat will be scouring Blackwater Bay for a Minotaur that isn't there, and he'll have just as much luck finding us."

"Very true," Akio agreed. "Couldn't have done it without Ama, though. Casting spells through a dungeon core makes it so much easier, you can't even understand. She knew what I wanted to do and altered the illusion on the fly. Heliat would have seen us if she hadn't changed the visible light level or shadows. I couldn't have done that on my own. The best I could've managed on my own was a static illusion. Might have fooled him with it, but there's no guarantee."

He softly brushed the shield on his legs with a hand. He sent Amaterasu some appreciation and got a very smug feeling back from the gemstone. He snorted and smiled softly. He'd let her have the smugness for now. She deserved it.

Akio yawned again and blinked blearily at Bruce, who he noticed was sporting a shit-eating grin. Akio blinked again and realized that both Sophie and Elize had fallen asleep on either side of him. They were softly snoring and leaning against his shoulders.

Akio could only blink an SOS at Bruce and look at him helplessly. The Australian boy covered his mouth, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Akio swore revenge for this betrayal with his eyes. Bruce rolled his eyes and lay down on the blanket.

Not long after, Akio felt himself drifting off.

The following day, or at least they thought it was morning, Akio woke up in the same position. Only this time, it was Ossydus awake and smiling gently at the group. At some point, Bruce had rolled on his back and was snoring; drool stained the blanket below his mouth.

Ossydus noticed Akio was awake, and Akio saw what he thought was a mischievous look. Akio shook his head back and forth slightly, eyes wide, as Ossydus raised a bright red, crisp-looking apple to his mouth. The Minotaur bit into the apple, purposefully making the loudest crunch he could.

There was a moment of silence, then a second crunch. The three sleeping teens began stirring, and soon enough, both Elize and Sophie were awake and realized where they were.

He thought the stuttering and blushing was... kinda cute, actually.

A second later, Akio realized he must have said that out loud because suddenly he was being slapped and shouted at, with the backdrop of Ossydus and Bruce laughing at him.

But this wasn't even his fault!

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