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

John

John had enjoyed his talk with his dad more than he expected. Who knew a nice dinner and a discussion about classes would be one of the things to bring them closer together? Well, besides Rabyn, that was. The Orc seemed to have a sixth sense for just how John could better connect with his dad.

Actually, did it count as a sixth sense for other species? He had no idea how many normal senses the Orc had, and considering technically he himself had more than six these days, he wasn't sure that term was remotely accurate anymore. What he was reasonably sure of was that that thought process had sounded more like his dad than any other thought paths he had gone down in his life. Then again, considering how often he over-analyzed the abilities of his mana orb, maybe he was just his father's son after all.

Rabyn had found him a weapon mana orb that had already been specialized for knives, and while he was making it work, he'd much have preferred it to specialize even further. He knew Rabyn had one specifically for cooking knives. It was something he wanted. For now, though, he would settle for this one.

He had a feeling Refinement would have allowed him to go even further and perhaps only use a single type of cooking knife as his weapon of choice. 'Weapon', though, was a bit of a misnomer here. He didn't want to fight. He just wanted to cook. But if that meant making a butcher knife into something the System views as a weapon, it was a trade he was willing to make.

What he didn't understand was how his father had avoided this problem. The man somehow had three dungeon cores running around in tools that the System never classified as weapons. Was it just because he had made sure to force the distinction? John didn't know, and neither did the people who he had asked about it.

"Oh hey there Hecate, didn't see you there," John said, not having spotted the little black cat until she rubbed up against his leg. He sat down on the end of the bed, and she leaped onto his lap, purring. "I see you've also enjoyed your day."

A second, much larger cat leaped onto the bed next to him and playfully batted the other cat's tail. Knowing how this was about to play out, John sat Hecate down, not wanting to be in the middle of the chaos. Seconds after she was on the bed, they were play-fighting, and ten seconds after that, they were on opposite sides of the room, staring each other down.

John almost laughed at the scene. He knew they'd be sleeping in a pile again as soon as bedtime rolled around, but if he didn't know better, he could swear they hated each other half the time. He knew the trick to ending their standoff, though. Two cans of wet food later, and both cats were purring contently on the bed.

"John, you in here?!" Maud yelled as she opened the door.

"Yep," John replied, smiling while he shook his head. He wasn't sure if most people would enjoy the yelling as much as he did, but her voice was one of his favorite sounds in the world, so all he could do was hold that smile as her face came into view.

Elody

The lunches she had been sharing with Dave the last couple of months had quickly grown into one of her favorite times of the day. The discussions they had during these meals ranged across a multitude of topics, and she had learned so much about the technological advancement Earth had made without mana. Some of it was nearly unbelievable. The fact that they had mastered computers without a mana source was still shocking to her.

She had seen worlds that had started down some progress that may have ended there. They had the math and basic factories down at least, but those were always considered a surprise when a System expansion found them so late into development. What would have happened to this universe had it never joined the Spiral? Would Sanquar's own mana have been enough to eventually awaken something here?

That was theoretically possible, she knew that. Animals had, in theory, been awakened by their exposure to strong mana sources within people. It had never been able to be replicated under controlled experiments, but that was more the problem of how much mana permeated everywhere in the Spiral. Mana barren universes were either cut loose into chaotic space or powerful factions built them up because their other resources were important enough to do so.

Had this universe entered the Spiral without Sanquar, she wasn't sure anyone would have wanted it. It's not positioned well to add to any faction cluster without centuries of work, and without an active expansion, there aren't any readily available universes to integrate with it until a more desirable mixture could emerge. So no, she suspected it would have been cast off into chaotic space to stem some incursion that was proving difficult to seal.

"So, how's your day going? Well, at least since I last saw you," Dave asked as he sat down across from her. He had a tray covered in food, despite the fact that she had already seen him eating a meal with John when she had first came in.

"Not bad, sorry I couldn't make the post snowball fight lunch earlier. Quarilyn needed my help with a new gate addition to the network. We have the northern coast now online," she replied.

"Oh, nice, Maud will be happy. She's been wanting to check in on the orca for a while now. Apparently, she's really worried about what would happen to an orca awakening without its pod," Dave replied.

There was no admonishment in his tone. That was another thing she liked about him. He so rarely got upset unless it was about protecting others. She had dealt with far too many people who let their emotions overtake them for any petty reason.

"I managed to get all the books pertaining to the current situation as well. There were fewer of them directly about these types of tournaments than I had initially thought. Most just covered factions going insolvent. But these three will hopefully give us something to work with," Elody said as she produced three large books from her System storage and placed them on the table one after the other.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Great Tournament by T.S. Lamarcher was the largest of the three. It also looked the oldest. The other two were both by a minor historian that Elody had met a few times, and she had personally placed his works within the archives. Empire Growth and Empire Death had both been written by an eccentric halfling she only knew as Tri.

"Interesting, anything useful in them?" Dave asked in between bites of potatoes. At least she thought they were. It was strange how many colors and shapes they seemed to come in.

"Not really. Lamarcher covers some of the events, but considering how old the great tournament apparently was, I'm not sure how relevant it is to us. There wasn't a faction mentioned in it that I actually recognized. We should still run the names by Pryte to be sure, but I tend to remember everything I've read, and I've read a lot," she answered.

That was an understatement. Even if she didn't quite see it that way, she knew that the number of books she had read would leave most people's mouths agape. She quickly pulled up her class menu just to take a look at the number.

She had moved up a few digits since the last time she had read that. Supposedly, there was no upper limit to it, but she was in the top one percent of her order. Someday, she would be the top. Once that happened, it would be time for a nice vacation.

"Dave, assuming suddenly everything calmed down, where would you go for a vacation, if you could go anywhere?" she asked with a smile.

Dave

I woke up with a smile and a yawn. Yesterday, despite the added stress, had actually been a great day. The brothers' planet was about to be free, and I was going to make sure it stayed that way. The snowball fight had been fun. John was ready for his first fortification today. And then to top it all off, I had had a long, enjoyable conversation with Elody into the night about where my dad and I used to camp.

Someday, when there was time, we were all going to have to take a nice trip back there. As soon as things calmed down again, that was going to happen. I hoped it would be everything I remembered it as, but I knew that wasn't really the way nostalgia worked, but I could always make all new memories if I had to.

I was still full from the night before and felt mostly recovered from yesterday's victory, so I pulled up a chat window. I figured I may as well get my own fortification done before breakfast, and then we could work on John's.

I closed out the chat window, happy to see Maud agreed about John. Those two continued to impress me with how much they cared about each other. Could John have even made it this far without her support? Not wanting to think about how horribly things could have gone instead of how they had turned out, I pulled up my fortification menu and started it.

For what I think was the first time ever, I finished the fortification without a single complication. I had been kind of hoping for a new affinity evolution, but considering how many I had already done, it made sense I wouldn't get another one.

Before I regretted that thought, I quickly knocked out the simulator run as well. While it was only enough experience to push me back up to level three twenty-four, I didn't want to stress Corey any further today. I'd finish off hitting my new max level tomorrow.

With that out of the way, I headed in search of John and breakfast. I had every intention to steal him as soon as I good helping of eggs, and maybe some of the weird eggplant-like hashbrowns that were a staple on the buffet. I couldn't remember what Rabyn had called them, but they were like a cross between regular hashbrowns and bacon flavor-wise. They were always a favorite in the grand hall.

"Glorp, I didn't know you were finally back," I said, spotting him downing his own plate of breakfast, and grabbing a seat next to him.

"Yeah, we finished the funeral rites this morning. Um, I've got a favor to ask, actually," he said awkwardly.

"Spit it out. No sense in being nervous around me these days. We've faced enough life and death situations together. You're family," I said, causing a smile to form on his face.

"Well, speaking of family. Can I try to send a message to my uncle Glarppp? I'm not actually sure he's still alive, but I want to find out if possible," he asked.

"Of course. Tell Pryte the next time you see him. He should have the most luck finding him," I said, just as John grabbed the seat across from us.

Had I known he had any possible surviving relatives before I'd have brought this up myself. Glorp was welcome to bring all his family he could here. He had fully earned that right.

"Thanks," Glorp replied.

"And how are you two doing this morning?" John asked, with no food of his own.

That didn't surprise me. He often shared a quiet breakfast with Maud before he really started his morning cooking. Sometimes Alex and I would join them, but we liked to let them have their alone time often.

"Good, I already fortified my core, and Glorp has decided to try to find his uncle. So I believe that means it's your turn for an event this morning," I said, not giving him a chance to escape.

"I suppose so, is there anything special I really need to do, or can I actually just trigger it here?" he asked, looking between me and Glorp.

"In theory, it should be fine to do here, but just in case, why don't we move over to one of the more supportive chairs. My first one went a little hard, but I don't think the same will happen to you," I replied, pushing my tray forward and giving myself a good stretch as I stood up.

"So I just select the option and proceed through the warnings about losing experience and whatnot?" he asked the moment he was sitting down again. It was obvious that, despite his fear yesterday, he really wanted to try this.

"Yep, go for it," I said.

"Do it!" Glorp added in a cheer.

We sat in silence for a few minutes as I watched John's body contort slightly before finally relaxing. Was that how it looked when I did a fortification? How strange did I look the first time when I had been out for an hour?

Finally, John's eyes snapped open. "Well, grade D now, Dad," he said, managing to sigh and smile at the same moment.

Within this tapestry of reality we call home, there exist many different regions. In the Spiral, most residents prefer to only think of the one or perhaps the two. Spiral space, and unconnected potential Spiral space. When pressed, though, most will be able to name chaotic space as another, much scarier location. But there are far more than just those.

Even considering chaotic space as a singular location is in itself a misconception of what the place is. I understand why many see it that way. It's difficult, if not impossible, to conceptualize chaotic space while traveling through it. But if you can find a border of where chaotic space is freshly bleeding into another reality, often a glimpse can be made into what exists beyond it.

For lack of a better term, I will refer to this as 'beyond space'. I have rarely ever had the privilege of traveling to it, as it is already exceedingly challenging for me to explore the reaches of chaotic space within the form I now find myself. And sadly, it seems to play even worse in the rules that govern beyond space, assuming there even are universal rules. I have never spent enough time there to be truly sure.

Moving past beyond space, there is also another region that is known in the Spiral, but even more rarely spoken of. Usually, all references are treated as a myth to scare children. But those with a true education know differently. They are aware there was a Spiral before the one we currently inhabit. What became of that lost space, I am unsure. Though I believe that I have found the barrier that separates it, and even more interesting, it seems as though the Spire at the bottom-most floors that they are willing to admit exist, pierces that barrier.

There is yet another stage of space that exists outside of what I have already described. This is likely the most mysterious of them all, as while all beings tend to know of it, they never really put a word to defining it. They just accept that dungeons exist and that their energies come from elsewhere. Even I have never found the source of this dungeon space, and I have spent a great deal of time looking.

Mapping Reality by a Chronicler of Existence