Magical Engineering [Progression Fantasy, LitRPG] (Book 3 Complete)

After a very awkward exchange in which I realized I had no idea what their names were, I now had Johan and Bert with me in the dungeon. We had made a stop to get them bundled up on the way. Johan was the seismologist, and he was here mostly to test how forces passed through the different exotic materials. The goal there was twofold: being able to detect rarer minerals on different worlds, and to understand how mana infusion would alter our abilities to detect earthquakes.

Bert, on the other hand, was here to study every property he could. The concept of mana, charged mana, or any of our attributes being infused into minerals seemed to fascinate the man. I was really going to have to get better at names, because I had had at least two hour-long conversations with Bert already, but somehow the name just hadn't been there in my mind.

"So what was all the hullabaloo about needing us in the middle of Antarctica for?" Johan asked as we stepped deeper into the dungeon.

"I honestly don't know yet, the dungeon cores believed there was something we needed your help to interpret," I answered as we met the cores and Karlinovo in the central chamber. Had I told them about the cores before? Oh well, they didn't seem startled at the news.

Alpha, Beta, and Apollyon were in their various sockets, while the rest were in their manifested forms. They were all circled around the spike. Karlinovo had something he had cobbled together to scan charged mana strength in his hand, and was muttering as he kept flicking it and moving it around.

"Alright, what's going on?" I asked, not enjoying the suspense.

"That's a very good question. One I don't know the answer to," Karlinovo replied, looking angrily at his device as he did so.

"Apollyon started detecting a buildup of dungeon energy flowing into the planet, more than we would normally expect. On top of that, the energy is dispersing somehow. And it is not doing so into a dungeon as far as we can find," Corey answered.

"So we are just losing dungeon energy into the Earth, and have no idea what is absorbing it. That doesn't sound great," I said.

It could be nothing, after all, we were not exactly doing normal things by Spiral matters. This was all thrown together in a desperate bid to save the planet. Now we had massive undersea cables connecting a dungeon all across the world, aligned with the spike feeding it deeply into the planet. Who knew what the exact effects of all this could be?

"Oh, damn. That explains much. Are you detecting anything happening when the energy propagates into the Earth? Does it seem to move in any unexpected directions?" Johan asked in a heavily Swedish accent.

Something I hadn't determined yet was why I still heard accents. We had a linguist willing to study this coming in the next few months, they just hadn't been high on the list of priorities for fields of study yet. I wasn't entirely sure they'd be able to explain anything until they also had a core, but we'd learn soon enough.

"That is the further confusing part, the energy dissipates faster than we can detect how it moves," Corey answered.

"Plus, the death curse seems to be weakening much faster than we thought it would, too. That has to be part of what is happening here!" Gamma added excitedly.

"We need equipment if we are going to properly measure this. Do you care if we set up monitoring stations here?" Bert asked as he paced around the room.

"Uh, Corey, do you think it's safe?" I honestly had no idea. The mana discharges had stopped, but this was still a dungeon after all.

"I believe so. Both Travelers also seem confident in the stability of the dungeon," Core answered.

"I am extremely confident, in fact. Whatever odd connection you have formed, Dave has started to change this dungeon's makeup in a way I have never encountered or heard of before. When I said you were becoming closer to one of us, I now believe that to be more true than ever. As soon as we have the energy needed to run the gate without both of us, I would like to join Apollyon here." Traveler Thirty-Two said this while climbing up the wall and examining something on the ceiling.

"Okay, let's get the equipment we need here to start studying it. You two are in charge of figuring out the people needed, but ultimately listen to the cores. They will tell me if there are problems," I said, looking between the two men, who both had giant smiles on their faces. They looked like kids in a candy store. Hopefully, that meant I had the right people.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I've seen several studies of using fiber optic cables for seismometers, which might be the key to best studying this," Bert said, looking at Johan.

"It won't hurt, but I want to set up a seismic array and see what we can detect that way," Johan replied.

"Alright, I'll let the city know you two get to run this, so go get whatever you need to get started. I've gotta have a discussion with the cores before I head back myself," I said, trying to shoo the scientists away. Both of them chattered back and forth about plans as they vanished through the gate.

"Not making me leave, eh?" Karlinovo asked once they were gone.

"Not much of a point, you are as connected to all of this as I am. So what was our big meeting supposed to be about before the new revelation anyway?" I knew one of the topics would be our other core ally, that none of us really knew how to handle, but they had implied there would be more.

Corey's form moved to the front and started speaking. "We wish to do something that has never been done before. We have all talked about it, and we are in universal agreement on the idea. But in doing so, it could bring great risk to the Empire. So we require your support. I believe you will say yes, knowing you as well as I do, but I am still apprehensive of asking. My continued growth in the emotional spectrum is quite interesting."

"Alright, spit it out." I wanted to know what they had been planning. The fact that Beta had even managed to keep it secret was impressive.

"We wish to educate dungeon cores within the school you are building. Our first students will be Apollyon and our young friend in the penguin who still hasn't chosen a name," Traveler Thirty-Two answered.

"Oh yeah, absolutely. If we are going dungeon raiding in the future. I want those cores to come back here and have a real chance at their own lives. Let's do it. If we can minimize the danger, let's do that too. In fact, let's also discuss another issue." I produced the dozen cores I had taken from the archives as I spoke. "I don't know what to do with these cores."

"Ah, yes, the ones that seemed lobotomized. They are probably best left in the care of you all," Karlinovo added.

"What has happened to these children?!" Traveler Twenty-Nine asked, their voice full of a horror I hadn't heard from either of the Travelers before.

"I don't know. And I agree with you. I found them like this in the Archives. I don't believe that Elody and the librarians would have done this themselves, but I also haven't asked them yet. Is there anything we can do to help them?" I asked, doubtful that they knew the answer.

"I do not know. Something is missing from them. Dave, I believe we need to ask Elody about how the Archive acquired these cores. A dungeon core not being able to be saved from a dungeon is one this, but this seems barbaric," Corey answered. I could feel a small growing rage through our connection.

"We can discuss it now if you want. I'm sure Maud can send her our way." It was probably best to just get it over with. The chat window that immediately popped up confirmed that Corey agreed.

I looked at Karlinovo's readings while we waited for Elody, but with no benchmark for what any of it meant, I was as clueless as he was. If the energy was pulling away more of the death curse than we expected, though, who was I to argue? I knew there would be consequences, of course, but sometimes you just have to accept the risk.

"So, I hear you all need my help. Well, here I am!" Elody said, announcing herself, and hiccuping loudly between words. This was a face of Elody I hadn't seen before. Instead of her usual precise way of walking, she almost sauntered up to us.

"Yeah, just how drunk are you anyway?" I asked, more than a little surprised,

"Yorela may have lied about how strong her drinks were, but I assure you, I'm still entirely within my faculties." The way she slurred half the words made me doubt that, but at least it likely meant she'd be honest.

"So the cores from the Archives, something seems wrong with them. Do you have any idea how that could have happened?" I asked, watching her for any reaction.

If you take a mana beast and infuse it with dungeon energy, you get something not quite a core beast, but much more dangerous than a mana beast. The downside, at least as far as the mana beast is likely concerned, is that this route cuts off any chance of true growth of their own core. For whatever reason, it seems only dungeon cores can truly grow from dungeon energy. At least as far as I've found. What would happen if we were to take a dungeon-infused mana beast and place them in a world with only a normal mana flow? Would they possibly eventually free themselves of dungeon energy, or would they attract a dungeon?

The Mysteries of Dungeons by Sir Reginald Percy Thomas Alquine