Chapter 369 - Darrik

Mercury pressed the living metal against the spine of the wolf a few seconds passed before the living metal passed seamlessly through the skin of the wolf, then Mercury spoke

"Analyze damage"

[Lumbar vertebrae damaged, large factors at L1-L3, hairline factors at L4, full paralysis of hind legs and tail]

"Replace L1-L3, repair L4, restore never connection"

The wolf let out a low growl as the living metal ate away at the damaged vertebrae and replaced it completely, then it let out a howl before passing out as the nerves were reconnected, Mercury sighed before he sat down next to the wolf and closed his eyes form there he began to meditate…

Mercury felt a gaze after having meditated for an unknown amount of time and opened his eyes as he spoke

"Good morning"

"...What's that?"

"It's a greeting used when the sun rises, the time were people normally wake up"

"I see… Then, good morning Mercury"

Mercury showed a smile before he remembered a certain detail and asked

"That reminds me, what's your name? It feels rude to just say 'you'"

"...My name is Darrik"

"Nice to meet you Darrik"

"...Likewise Mercury… Now we should talk about compensation for healing my hind legs"

Mercury tilted his head before he spoke innocently

"I don't particularly want anything though?"

Darrik sighed before he laid his head on the metal floor and spoke

"Now that's a lie"

Mercury showed a smile and nodded before he spoke

"Yes, Yes it is… Then I would like---"

Time passed outside the food processor, eventually, Party and Qutil arrived and explained that the inside was very dangerous and quickly advised the rest of the group not to enter and so 3 days passed before Mercury emerged from the food processor, behind him emerged a giant wolf with black, dotted with what looked like stars fur, though cutting into its majestic appearance was a hind leg wheelchair made of metal, the wolf gazed around looking a little nervous, Mercury spoke

"This is Darrik, he was inhabiting the food processor"

Derrick lowered his head slightly in greeting, the girls all looked somewhat stunned, Marie returned the nod before she spoke in a questioning manor

"A wolf?"

Darrik nodded again before he spoke

"Indded, I am a star wolf"

Qutil muttered

[A star wolf… one of the countless beings that inhabit the void, it's the first time I've seen one in person! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Though what I really want to know is how you penetrated the time-space lock around the island?]

Darrik tilted his head slightly before he asked

"A time-space lock..? Oh, the barrier that's around this land… Heh, that was easy, it's full of holes"

[TAKE THAT BACK IT'S ONE OF MY PROUDEST WORKS!]

Mercury quickly stepped in and meditated

"Now, now Qutil… You are speaking with a being that's capable of summoning special disturbances with a stray thought… Darrik is literally capable of folding and warping space with his mind"

Qutil twirled around for a bit before she spoke, or rather yelled

[THEN IT'S FINE, I AM NOT MAD!]

Darrik tilted his head further before he asked Mercury

"Mercury… do that wisp of nebular have to yell all the time?"

"Yeah, she does or she'll explode, figuratively of course"

"I see… She sure is a strange creature…"

Then Darrik looked over at a person that had approached him with slight weariness, it was Asma and her eyes were sparkling, Darrik felt slightly threatened from this and raised his ears, Asma mirrored his ear movements before she spoke two words as she tilted her head slightly

"...Hi..? Darrik?"

Darrik was a little confused by this and looked over at Mercury, Asma exploited this opening and dove headfirst into his fur as she exclaimed

"...Soft!"

Darrik looked over at Mercury in slight panic Mercury chuckled before he spoke

"That's Asma, she one of my girlfriends"

"Girlfriend?"

"Mates"

Darrik nodded before he looked over at the other women in the group, after a few moments he spoke

"Well, she smells like you… So dose those two, I'll assume they also are your girlfriends Mercury?"

"Yeah, that's Marie and that is Julia"

Darrik nodded, then he spoke again while he lowered his head slightly

"Greetings, Asma, Marie, and Julia"

Marie showed a smile and waved her hand while Julia spoke

"Good day to you Darrik"

Then Darrik looked over at Amanda for a bit before he concluded

"Not one of Mercury's girlfriends"

Amanda blushed slightly before she shook her head and pointed over to Julia

"I am Julia's friend"

Darrik nodded before he turned his head to the avatar that was floating off to the side and asked

"A Golem..? No, a doll, controlled remotely"

The avatar showed a slight smile before it spoke

[My name is Party, I am one of the 33 sub-administrators of Alfan]

Darrik nodded before he spoke

"I greeted the administrator before I took residence in there, I take it you weren't informed…"

Party's smile widened as she shook her head, then she spoke

[I am also one of Mercury's girlfriends' mind you, my name is Party]

"...Nice to meet you, Party"

[Likewise]

Darrik looked around at the people present once more before he began speaking

"Mercury has healed my spine, for that, I have agreed to follow him, I look forwards to the cycles to come"

After that, the group moved towards the center of the island where they found a rather large building complex with an emblem above the main gate, it was that of an oriental dragon chasing its tail, Mercury gazed at the emblem for a bit before Qutil boasted

["The eternal pursuit of knowledge" Sounds rather deep right!?]

"Yeah, it's a noble pursuit"

[Wait out here, I'll be right back with the soul gem]

"Sure"

The group waited for about half a day, most of the time was spent by the girls getting to know Darrik while Merucyr did checks on the artificial spine parts he had made with living metal to make sure everything was going as planned, then out of nowhere Qutil returned while loudly announcing her presence

[I have returned!]

Mercury showed a slight smile before he asked

"Did you find the soul gem?"

[Yes!]

Qutil's smoke-like body revealed a transparent gem inside it, the gem was the size of a fist, Mercury showed a hopeful smile and spoke

"Hopefully it can be replicated"

[I hope that too, for your sake Mercury!]

"Relax, if this doesn't work we'll work out something else"

[...FINE! Next stop, the central intelligence matrix!]

After a brief walk, the group arrived at the central intelligence building where the machine that made up Ida's mind was located, the entire building that was about as large as the research building Mercury walked in alone along with a golem and soon arrived in a central room, in there golems were building some sort of computer, Mercury gazed at the pice of arcane technology and asked the golem that walked by his side

"What's this, Ida?"

[MYYY NEW BODDDY I HAVVVE BEEN WORRRKING ON IIIT FOR 316 YEARS]

Mercury nodded before he asked

"Do you have a time estimate on when it's going to be done?"

[INNN A FEEEW HOURRRS TIMEEE]

Mercury nodded again before he showed a smile

"Looks like we had good timing then… What were you planing on doing once you were portable?"

[CONQQQURE LANNND TO INCCCREASE PPPRODUCTIVTY]

Mercury showed a wry smile, looks like they really had good timing after all, after waiting for a few hours the data transfer began, the dragon island would be run by another A.I. that Ida had designed to keep the island maintained while it would be out conquering new land, by morning the data transfer was done and the machine had transformed into a humanoid golem that walked out of the building along with Mercury that showed a smile and spoke to the group that was eating breakfast

"That's that done, let's head back to the ship when we're done eating"

Then he sat down and received a bowl of soup from Asma that then sat down beside him and began looking at him while he was eating and asked

"Is it… Good?"

The soup was made with a preserved stock and was quite tasty despite not having any filling, though it was a little heavy for breakfast, that Mercury had gotten used to over the trip however so now he appreciated the taste a whole lot more than when he first ate it

"Yeah it is"

"Good…"

Asma began eating her one soup, Mercury focused on his food, and when he was done eating he helped pack the makeshift camp that had been made outside the central intelligence building before the group headed into an elevator and returned to the ship, after calming down the crew that was startled by Darrik and Ida's appearance they left the underground dock and was once again out on the sea surrounding the dragon capital, from there they headed through a dragon gate and returned to familiar waters...