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

Connie

Rabyn had been pretty out of it when he had returned that day, rambling about weird dreams, but the important thing was that he was alive. The surgery had been a success, even if it was just a stopgap measure. It was one she wanted. She was still furious that the jesters had used her, especially to help them steal a child, one she had held in her arms many times.

She was Constance Aurelia V. She was better than that. No one, man, monster or beast should have been able to get into her head, and she would never allow it to happen again.

Those thoughts comforted her as she lay flat on the much less comfortable bed. The idea of medicine like this seemed barbaric. Healing magic existed. They shouldn't have to cut her open and place a device to monitor her soul.

But the fact was they had to. This being a monstrous procedure was exactly why it had such a high chance of working. This wasn't something anyone was likely to try to deal with a soul knot.

Furthermore, if this was as successful as it looked to be, it was entirely possible this was another answer to their lack of funds. Treating soul knots could be a very lucrative business venture. She'd have to talk to the eggheads a lot more once this was all done with to be sure it was entirely viable, but she didn't see why it wouldn't be.

The devices might need some tweaks to work in other mana flows. She could see that being a big problem, especially considering how much they had to work around the weak one Earth already had. But that wasn't remotely an insurmountable problem. If anything, given how quickly this faction seemed to work on problems, it was a minor bump in the road.

"Connie, I want you to breath deeply, and count backwards from ten in your mind. And please do not fight the gas," the doctor said. She wondered if Rabyn had prompted that second part.

"Okay," she said in return, before the mask was lowered to her face. She made it to seven before the world fell away.

Elicec

"So this is going to be somewhat complicated. Unlike Dwarfs and Orcs, Twinoges physiology is incredibly different from that of humans. I won't even claim to be entirely familiar with it either. They are not a common species within the Spiral," Doctor Scalestone said.

Elicec and Cecile were sitting in a room full of doctors, most of whom were unfamiliar to either of them. Elicec was just glad that Dave, Elody, and Karlinovo were all here with them. He wouldn't feel safe in the hands of strangers without them.

"I've scanned them enough to have a reasonably good idea of how their internal organs function, but yes, Doctor Scalestone is correct, they are nothing like what you are likely used to operating on. What they call a heart is a series of three organs that are interconnected by a fourth that generates electrical discharges to control the rate the heart portions pump. This allows a different rate of blood flow as needed to the brothers," Elody explained.

"That sounds similar to what an electric eel has, almost. Well, maybe, I doubt it controls their blood flow," a voice from the crowd of doctors yelled.

"Perhaps, but it's also not useful knowledge at the moment. I suspect we are going to need to use two of the pacemakers, each tied to the portion of the electrical organ that sits between the different heart organs. Ivan, will this cause an issue with the mana charging after the fact?" Oscar asked.

"No, that's the easy part of this. The fact that their internal structure is so different than what these devices were designed for is the hard part. Since we just need to detect the differences and send a signal when the soul knots activate, and not actually control the rhythm of their hearts in any way, I think we should be entirely safe," he replied.

Cecile was getting nervous. Elicec could feel his brother's mood through their body. And while he wasn't exactly happy at the way they were talking about them, like they were some kind of meat, there wasn't much that could be done about it. This was all experimental, and it was just something that had to be done.

He knew that rationally. It was just with how close they were to saving their homeworld that this felt entirely unfair. How was the deck so stacked against them that they had to be attacked by jesters now? He was trying so hard, and yet no matter how hard he pushed himself, it seemed something new popped up to push right back.

"And how much danger is this going to pose to the brothers. Let's not forget these are real people sitting right here, listening to us talk theoretically about how to cut them open," Dave added, proving just why Elicec had been glad he was here.

"Yes, Dave is right. I'm sorry about our candor, boys," Doctor Scalestone said, giving them a smile before continuing. "With healing magic at the ready, I believe this poses minimal risk. Dave, Elody, and I are all capable magical healers. I do think for this surgery we will want both Dave and Elody in the room this time, though, no more observing from above."

"I agree. Alright, there isn't much else we can cover from the discussion, I don't think. Unless anyone has anything to add that is," Doctor Ivalu said as he scanned the room. No one said anything. "Then let's get a full-body MRI. I understand it may not work that great due to their own internal mana, but I'd rather give it a try anyway. Once we have those, we can start the surgery."

As people started standing up, a woman in a blue outfit directed Elicec and his brother through a door. He hoped the MRI was easy, whatever it was.

Cecile

"We're going to be okay, Elicec. Dave won't let anything happen to us," Cecile said as they left the weird tube.

Had they called it an MRI? He wasn't fully paying attention at the time as his thoughts had been focused on his brother. He had been more and more anxious by the moment during the discussion.

He knew what was bothering him, though. Elicec was hyper-focused on one thing, and only one thing now. And how could he even blame him? There was a real chance their world would be free and part of the Empire of Dave. That thought was all he had needed to get him through this terrible ordeal.

"I know. I'm just worried," Elicec said back as they were led to another room.

Dave

"Glorp, I'm not sure this is a great idea. While I appreciate everything Orglina did during the attack, she is very much still a kid, and I'm uncomfortable putting this kind of pressure on someone her age," I said.

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We had finished the surgery on the other three the next day and were now sitting down to discuss the dungeon delve plan. While we might have their soul knots mitigated, we still couldn't risk them coming with us off-world until I found a true fix, and so far, all my attempts at that had gone nowhere.

All the preparation that had gone into the effort had entirely been worth it. The Twinoge's unique physiology had proven much less of a problem than we had all worried. They had come through it just as easily as Rabyn and Connie had.

The only real problem was that the amount of mana we had to use to get the pacemakers working correctly had severely taxed all of their cores. Doctor Scalestone expected they would be up and about, mostly recovered in a couple more days, but that was still more time than I wished we didn't have to wait. The continued frustration of endless waiting games was getting more and more grating.

If they had any new information unlocked from their encounters with the jesters, getting it to Maud as soon as possible would be crucial. The soul chat had become incredibly mana-intensive on her end to use, and was likely to grow even more so the deeper into chaotic space they went. I expected we would lose meaningful contact anytime now.

Trying to reach out to Otis had proven fruitless as well. Apparently, I would need to find something beyond just trying to think of needing his help before I went to sleep, not that I had any other notions of how. The idea of trying to find someone hopping around soul realms was a brand-new concept to everyone.

"If they are able to form cores, and that is a very big if considering how weak our mana flow is, I don't think it's overly dangerous. Though I know little of the dungeon you plan to face myself. But many species in the Spiral would allow children, if properly prepared, to at least accompany adults into dungeons," Quarilyn explained.

"She's right, and considering how capable Glorp is, I'm willing to entertain the idea as well," Pryte added.

He and Roberts had only returned from their meeting with Tomta an hour before this conversation. It seemed Laura was too deep in distant negotiations to pull her out at the moment. I knew she'd be angry once we finally told her about William, but we had no good option to do so. That meant it was an anger I'd have to deal with when it came.

"Glorp, are you really sure this is a good idea?" I asked, looking into his eyes. Ultimately, this was his decision to make. The truth was, they'd be going into the dungeon far more prepared than I had been my first time.

"No, but we need to do it anyway. The only way my family will be safe long-term is if we start really training together. And you know, Red wanting to join us makes it all the better. Think about how great it will be to have a primal mana beast on your dungeon delving squad. We can take so much off your hands as we get better at it," Glorp explained with a bit of excited enthusiasm,

I thought about it again briefly, and still wasn't sure it was the right move, but he was right in the idea that they needed to learn to defend themselves. We needed more channelers willing to do exactly what they wanted. I swallowed hard, worried I was about to make the wrong call.

"Alright, but they have to have their cores formed. And I want them to work with, uh, actually, I don't know who to have them work with at the moment. But as part of their training, when we are back from the dungeon, they are going to start practicing in both mana and class orb use with someone. Pryte, add that to the list of things we need to figure out," I said, Mel's absence hitting me hard there.

"Already on it. I put feelers out while we were off-world. I had a feeling something like this was coming, though I admit I expected it would be the Reltleons that wanted someone to train them," he answered.

"Speaking of, I would like to join you on the delve. For the sake of my people, I need to grow stronger as well," Glunderlin said, somehow both firm and meek at the same time.

"Of course you're welcome. No arguments from me there," I said honestly. It would be good morale for Alexandria to see Glunderlin grow alongside the rest of us. Earth was the Reltleon's home now just as much as it was ours, and the more he helped defend it, the fewer problems I hoped we would find in the future. Sadly, I doubted it would remove them all.

"So our team will be Dave, Elody, Glorp, Grant, Gorpila, Lorgela, Orglina, Glord, Red, and Glunderlin, assuming the other siblings are able to form their core. Otherwise, I recommend they still come along but stay with me outside the dungeon," Pryte said, looking around the room as he spoke. Was he looking for any other volunteers?

"You're doing this trip without me as well. Seems best the three of us don't all go off-world again together for the time being," Timon added.

That was a good idea. I had been considering telling him to stay behind anyway, and this just made it all the easier. "What is the plan if the GPA decides to retaliate while we aren't here?" I asked.

"The defenses will hold. And you should all only be gone a few hours anyway. I've also got Trolke enclosing the main gate. If they are somehow spying on us through the weak mana field, this should hide our travel better." Karlinovo yawned in the middle of the words.

He sounded exhausted. And considering the giant bags under his eyes, it was obvious he was. When was the last time the man had slept? Were we running him ragged with what had to be done?

"From now on, Dave, you don't get to enter the gate from the streets. Unless there's a good reason otherwise, we are going to make it look like you are always here as much as we feasibly can," Pryte added.

"That's likely going to cause a problem for Arena fights in the future, isn't it?" I asked. I didn't have any intention of doing much fighting anytime soon there unless we really had to for some reason. But as far as I could tell from what I understood of the scoring system, we were doing fine as a faction.

"With the soul oaths gone, it's possible, but keep in mind we go directly to our own private room now. It is something we will have to deal with, but we have months before any floor will be necessary," Pryte replied.

After several more rounds of discussion on the possible counterattacks that still hadn't happened, we finally called the meeting for the day. Timon wanted me and Pryte to meet our captive anyway. So that meant as the others filtered out back to their own projects, we followed Timon to the bus.

I had no idea exactly where Timon was keeping the jester, but I quickly understood as I walked through the bus door, only to find myself somewhere else. "What the hell?" I said, looking around.

We were standing on a small patch of grass outside a building. The land around us didn't stretch as far as it should have, and the sky seemed off. Had we just entered a gate? Where were we exactly?

"Welcome to my home away from home, chez Timon," the mantis said, leaving me with several completely irrelevant questions to the situation.

How had he managed to say a French word to me? For one thing, the System was supposed to be translating everything. For another, did he somehow know French or at least weird English French idioms? I pushed the annoying thoughts away in the parts of my brain that had once spent far too much time questioning how Klingon could be spoken in Star Trek while there was a universal translator.

"Pocket universe, I assume?" Pryte asked.

"Yep, completely under my control as well. Follow me, and don't touch the red door," he said as he opened the front door to the building.

Inside the room was a single couch and something that resembled a very early television. Two doors led from the room. One was green and the other red. Timon ignored the red door entirely as he opened the green, revealing a set of stairs. We again followed him through that door into some sort of prison.

"Figured we were gonna need this in the future. Wasn't planning on keeping a jester exactly at the time, but hey, fortunate coincidences," Timon said as he pointed to a large cell containing the monster we had forced to stay alive. "He's not very happy with me, as he really wants to die, and that's just not allowed inside that cell."

"Hello Dave, have you come to talk? I believe I can help you. I just need to be free of this monster's clutches," the jester said in the same singsong voice they had all used.

This time, when I felt the words worm their way into my brain, I pushed them right back out. It was much easier to ignore these weaker ones once you knew what to expect. I did note the missing presence of Apollyon, as they hadn't helped force the creature from my mind. It seemed the core was not able to influence my mind if we weren't in the same universe.

"No," I said to the jester, before turning to Timon. "So what have you learned so far?"

"Very little, the main reason I brought you here was to make it clear to it that no help was actually coming. It seems to think that holding it here is a grave mistake," Timon answered nonchalantly.

"It is. When all is whole again, the infinite regrets will be known," the jester said.

Slam the hammer, me boys, slam it so hard the moon itself rings out with the joy of the forge. The end draws near. We can't keep that black hole at bay much longer. But every single piece we can produce will be countless lives saved. Every one of you is already a hero in my books, and one day our names will be remembered.

We go to the endless fires of creation with our heads and hammers held high. Because together we know we've ensured the future. It's been an honor working with every last one of you.

Only words recoverable from a recording of someone called the Forgemaster