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Blacksmith vs. the System 215
🕑 Added 2025-02-21 22:23:38 +0000 UTCOnce I finished talking to Rosie, she left to scout the perimeter, while I focused on forging, determined to replenish our ammunition reserves before another attack from Drakka arrived. Yet, even as the monsters around my workshop lost themselves in a frenzy, signaling the arrival of the darkness, there was no movement from them.
“Maybe it’s time to focus on the gates and renewable mana,” I said to myself as I felt the dungeon operate once more. As much as I didn’t want to pile too many tasks on myself, it was an inevitable path.
If things worked as we expected and Drakka attacked with a larger force a few days later, dealing with the next attack would require far more equipment due to the inevitable counter-measures they would develop, which would require more mana. I was still enjoying the windfall from the heretic attack, but the occasional boss lizard that arrived in the dungeon was far from enough to handle the consumption I had been planning.
Especially since forging wasn’t the only source of expense anymore. The number of farmers able to use mana had already reached low two digits, and hopefully, it would soon reach triple digits. While no single farmer consumed anywhere even near to me, their combined pull was no joking matter.
But, even as I opened a gate, I was happy to note a significant difference between yesterday and today. The monsters were calmer.
I just needed to close my eyes and focus on the connection with the dungeon to identify the reason. The energy flow from the gates into the dungeon was quite distinct, enough to give me a general idea of breakdown speed.
One that had increased significantly since the day before, centered around the third and the fifth floor; clearly linked to the strengthened decay aura, and helped by the floating mana. That only reinforced my idea to focus on gates, and the intake of raw energy.
The more mana we had, the faster the dungeon reclamation project would progress, which would generate even more mana. A positive feedback loop for mana generation was the exact kind of thing I needed.
I stepped through the gate to appear at the entrance. I waved the guards away before I moved down the mountain, doing my best to ignore the presence of several single-person metal flying kites that Liam had insisted on referring to as planes.
They would prove to be useful, that I had no doubt, but that didn’t prevent me from getting shivers every time I saw them.
I stopped two miles away, and created a thick dome around me — the thick metal floor that covered the mountain surface proving helpful — before I opened a gate.
While that gate was opening, I maintained my focus on the dungeon connection, trying to get a better sense of the energy flow. The new gate added to the energy intake, but not as much as I had expected. More importantly, I noticed a slight dip in the energy consumption from the main gate, limiting the benefit of the new gate even further.
I closed it and dismissed the metal dome before I went down the mountain, repeating the same trick at the halfway point between the mountain and the mountain peak. The main gate’s intake dipped once again, but this time, the dip was considerably lesser, and the gate I opened took more energy.
“Alright, that’s one theory validated,” I said to myself. “Each gate has a catchment area, and overlapping them carries no benefits,” I said. The next step was the other effects. A few choice tests confirmed two more theories. General elevation had a significant impact, so much so that the mountaintop almost doubled the energy intake from the town gates, which turned out to be less about its function as the prime gate, and more about its location at the mountaintop.
Meanwhile, the ground was an excellent insulator for that energy. All it took was about a hundred yards to completely cut that energy completely, and even smaller depths still ruined absorption efficiency.
“That explains the relative lack of underground monsters,” I said, happy with it. The world would have been even more dangerous if we were dealing with constant giant worms or equivalent monsters.
With that, the plan was easy. I built three domes with gates hidden inside at the halfway point of the mountain, equidistant to each other, and opened gates inside. Their presence affected the intake from the other gates slightly, but not as much as it would have had I tried to add them in two layers.
In a pinch, they would work well for emergency deployments and evacuations as well.
When I returned to the gate, Harold was waiting for me, a tense expression on his face. I put a silencing field around us. “We need to talk about the dungeon gates, sir,” he said.
“I know they make vulnerable targets, but the advantages are worth the deployment effort...” I started, only to fall silent when I saw a lack of comprehension on Harold’s face. “But, you’re not talking about that,” I completed.
“It’s the gate from the lizard dungeon, sir,” Harold said. “It’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone,” I replied.
“During the test runs for the new scouting planes, we sent several scouts there, to see if there was any sign of a new monster wave. They failed to catch any monster waves, and they failed to find the gates either.”
I frowned. “That’s bad news,” I said. “I’m going to go so far as to call it terrible,” I replied.
“Why, sir? We already knew they could move the dungeon away, just like how they brought it here in the first place.”
“It’s bad because it means another expert had been deployed to move the gates away. It means that not only Thomas’ superiors are likely aware of what happened —”
“But they also intend to continue their aggression,” he completed.
“Most likely,” I replied. “Or, they would have closed the breach in the dungeon as well,” I added.
“Doesn’t that assume that they could close that breach, sir,” Harold asked.
“A good question, but if they couldn’t, they would have left the dungeon here rather than bringing it back with a giant vulnerability, especially since it has a connection strong enough to support the passage of boss monsters. It means people could as well,” I said.
“An expedition…”
“Is naturally out of the question under the current circumstances,” I replied. “It might have been different if the alliance with Asterion was real. Punishing heretics looks like something they would love to do, but I’m not going to throw lives through it.”
And, it went without saying that I couldn’t walk through it. Not just due to my position, but my link with the dungeon would already be strained when I moved too far away. I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if I entered another dungeon.
“Then, what are we going to do about it?” he asked.
“Nothing, other than keeping an elite team armed with the best anti-lizard equipment I could create on standby just in case there is a bad invasion. Maybe even assign Logan to it. He’s a good kid, and you can teach him a lot.”
“As you wish, sir,” Harold declared dutifully, but I could see his excitement at the prospect of an apprentice.
“There’s a more important issue,” I said. “I need to open more gates, and those gates need to be not too close to the other gates.”
“Why, sir?” he asked. “An escapee route?”
“No. It’ll help strengthen the dungeon,” I said as I gave him a rough outline of my latest findings.
“So, we need to open several gates around the towns, and the taller they are, the better,” he commented as he frowned, then looked toward the towns. “What about a giant wall surrounding the mountains, two or three miles further than the towns,” he said. “We can disguise its general function as an artillery deployment platform. We can even build some tall towers, and fill them with anti-air weaponry.”
”“Not yet, “I said. “It’s tempting to maximize the gains, but such a tower will have to be at least a mile tall to make a difference. Even with mana alloys, it’s not a simple construction act, and it’ll be too vulnerable to enemy actions. Maybe in the future,” I said. “Do you think that also applies to the new defensive wall outside?” I asked.
“I don’t believe it does, sir,” Harold said. “We’re not hurting for material, and as long as we lay railroads to each small fort, deploying and retreating will be easier. While we don’t have the numbers to man the wall with soldiers in the traditional sense, we don’t have to do that in the first place. As long as we put some steam-powered launchers in every point, we should be able to deal with any beast attacks with relative ease, the trains helping to deploy forces to critical locations or evacuate in ease.”
“And, we always have gates for emergencies,” I said. He nodded. “How many gates do you think are viable?” I asked.
“Based on your distance requirements, we should be able to build nine forts with hidden gates for the first wall. If all goes well, we might even expand to a second layer, with twelve gates.”
That was an impressive number. The first wall alone would nearly double my intake, which would be quite beneficial for my mana needs. Not only that, more energy output meant more monsters to kill, which would give our farmers a chance to level up further.
I would feel far more comfortable if we had a few squads of soldiers with another class upgrade. “Good, check with Rosie before building it, though. She might catch something that we missed.”
“And, what will you do, sir?”
“I will be forging,” I replied, a vicious smile on my face. “Enough to bury Drakka under an avalanche of metal, if necessary...”
An idea that was far more viable than before thanks to the increased mana output of the dungeon. All that remained was to wait for Drakka’s next move.
Comments
VoidAutarch
The question is whether he can become a true ascended. Rosie says it's not possible according to her knowledge but I am still hoping it's possible. It would be disappointing to see her lag at level 100 and not make any progress past it .it would be awesome if he could get the intelligence stat next. That combined with wisdom could to some very unique and mage avenues .
Gunmetalrhino
Agreed!! Something like that
Undead Writer
I was hoping he would. Like it would absorb the other dungeon and make the main dungeon start with decay, then fire, and then he can just continue to add more to the main dungeon. Floors 1-5 decay, 5-10 fire, etc. Adding more floors and growing it to incredible depths until it becomes a beast in it’s own right would be awesome! I WANT TO SEE THAT!!! XD
Undead Writer
Thanks for the chapter!! I NEED MORE!!!
Ashlynn & William Elmore
Thx dad
Gunmetalrhino
Is it really never going to be possible for him to take over the other dungeon?
