Chapter 17-429: Digging in Deeper

Tool and die shops, as well as woodworking shops, all of which were making a hard comeback with computerization and hard mechanization falling by the wayside, started churning on two continents.

The key thing to avoiding Axiom coming in was to make sure that human irregularity was involved in the process. Don’t follow a pure pattern, have some non-matching stuff, but not in any predictable order.

The simple arms could be slightly different lengths from one another, and vary from one Runner to the next. The paired legs had to be identical to run properly, but could also vary in length. The flat board that was the body could naturally be of variable measurement ranges; the only thing that had to remain fairly uniform were the universal joints connecting the limbs.

Naturally enough, they all had to be made by hand, one tool between themselves and the maker, OR be made of Energized Materials to get around that, which was pretty extravagant for something we were going to throw away.

Wind-up, human-powered, or Cog-lathes that were actually magical weren’t that uncommon after so many decades and the recognized need for them, and it was definitely solid, continuous, and fairly simple business to undertake. Hearing that they were going to blow up a lot of very bad people, the makers and even serious hobbyists were eager to get in on making them, and the required parts for the simple Constructs poured in over the following days and weeks.

If mechanization had been allowed, Gearsmith-led retooling could have probably run them all off in just a few days. Ah, the drawbacks of magitech...

Imbuing them all took a bit longer, as Artificers with Craft Construct had to put down the required magical lattices, stirring up the extremely simple elemental spirits to Animate them, and then goldweight had to be Burned to bring them to life.

The Chinese contributed a big chunk of Qi-Infused stuff to the process, since this was all going to be for their benefit. Certain mounds of gold under Heavenbound Hall contributed to the rest, burning through tons of international reserves nobody knew were there for the benefit of everyone.

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I continued on with my Mapping: 190 miles across, 10k miles long, mapping out the oceans, running my Allegiance in the background, Casting spells from atop Sleipner as the patient unicorn blazed trails over the waves just below the speed of sound, and we watched the cold depths of the world scroll by beneath us.

But there were Nines and Tens out there now. Some had Druidic magic, and Commune with Nature. Some of those were haughty and arrogantly smug sorts who didn’t want to share, but those who were part of my Allegiance were all filling in The Map, and starting with the Continents, naturally enough.

Their new maps of the Felldeeps were not as wide or as detailed as mine, nor did they go as deep. They still revealed all but the deepest layers of the Felldeep that now existed beneath the feet of everyone, and knowledge of the caves, caverns, tunnels, underground seas and rivers, plunging chasms, and plain unnaturalness of having life where should be lava was spreading by the day.

Where the Felldeep drew closest to or connected with the surface naturally raised great trepidation. Nobody wanted to be sitting on top of hostile forces who could come out from below... and at the same time, there were definitely people who wanted to go exploring the Great Unknown rather than occupy themselves endlessly butchering undead.

The Great Dungeon Delve of the elite Tens going through the massive underground complex at the Spire in Antarctica was one of the most-watched shows ever, recorded faithfully as some of the most adept people in the world explored a fear-filled world of ancient gods, hungry horrors, deadly traps, ancient magic, elemental beings, and mazes of tunnels all built for unknown purposes leading to who knew where.

Purge Teams from China especially clamored for the right to undertake and post their own expeditions, and analysis of tactics, methods, and enemies was a common topic, since there always seemed to be something new and dangerous someone ran into.

It also highlighted the weaknesses of everyone involved, as fighting monstrous amounts of undead, fighting Cultivators, and fighting random big monsters all required very different things, and pushing your limits often got your teammates killed.

The Blood of the Irish team’s videos received particularly large sets of views, probably because of how The Mick cursed in ten and more languages with great inventiveness and fluidity, and Amaretta complemented him so icily. The pair composed said phrases with glee in their down time, the Irish and Russians both taking their cursing damn seriously. There were people across the world sending in new ones for them to rip off whenever something happened, or to curse out headstrong Irish repeatedly doing rash shit, brawny Blackhamars doing brash deeds, and getting them all in trouble.

Helix had a lot of True Believers, after all.

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On the personal side, my second Ring, Lore, had finished up with Spell Knowledge to V Valence, letting me grab and swap out any one spell up to V that I saw, witnessed, Cast into it, had Written into Einz, or whatever.

Wizardry Infusing was now commencing in Lore. This would double my base number of Prepared Spells by Valence, giving me ever more on-demand versatility, and more raw stored spell power for emergencies, too.

Getting this done for all I-V Valences was a colossal 350k of investment, so literally a year of putting Named Karma into Lore through the guidance of Einz... and I was still burning goldweight every day. I was mostly setting up new Rings for others, and if not, then giving Einz an anchor of magic that could conceivably live on past me.

Clavus would also have an anchor, as Commander Haru’Ara was burning 10k of goldweight a day, opening him up to Legendary Status.

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I groaned into my exceedingly strong and exceedingly comfortable backside headrest. So easy to doze off against.

“Too many things to do?” Legion asked softly over their shoulder, foxtails out and brushing me softly, steel cables and cloudsilk. So comfortable...

They had no problem catching up to me with a few Waterjumps. Pretty much all the work I was putting in most of the time while Riding was mental, although keeping the Pattern Burning goldweights of stuff going on behind me, a personal touch by Sleipner, had a material presence.

Legion was caught in an interesting position. They had tons of Karma they needed to earn to consolidate their positions and refine the Pact Grantors they had Consumed, but all the easy entities they could go fight with were also viable targets for others to go Level on... once they hit post-Ten.

As a result, other than spending time in Russian Gulagzones popping stuff to further Names of Gear and Cohort Levels, they weren’t doing that much all-out fighting. Interestingly enough, they had decided to start finding all the Old Gods out there and talk with them, sussing out Their positions and attitudes and how easy They would be to work with... or if They would have to be destroyed somehow.

In addition to finding out that Old Gods tended to be incredibly horny, especially with a really, really powerful nymph-succubus-hu hsiao in front of them, Legion had been doing a lot of negotiating with these very old entities... who were definitely not used to being talked to and treated by mortals as if they were peers.

Legion’s universal reply: “They are bringing down the Shroud, which You are hiding from. They can bring down You.”

It was actually very high-Karma work, and right up the road of an unbelievably high-Charisma half-dragon Warlock just soaked in Pact Magic. However, the Old Gods generally learned to behave after Legion tossed them through a wall or three in best anime fashion, and rapidly learned respect from the other side of a fist.

When dealing with Old Gods, the Old Ways were best!

“They just found a cavern under the Chiquata Shroudzone!” I complained.

Legion’s eyes flashed. “Another buried death realm? That’s... five, so far?”

“Yes.” There were two others in Africa, located by goblin Druids (turned out the little green guys were naturals for Fire and Earth Druids, in addition to pyromancy), and under Roanoke, of all places (the Shroudzone on the surface had been cleared of undead a couple weeks ago, but hadn’t gone away; ding-ding, warning bell!), in addition to the Ghoul Kingdom in Russia. No wonder the Roanoke colony had disappeared long ago. “We are pretty sure there’s one in the Amazon and under Machu Pichu, too.”

Nobody knew what had triggered the Shroudzone in the Amazon, so it was reasonable it was in the Felldeep. Maku Pichu’s Shroudzone was bigger than the undead visible inside it could justify, and no Druid had gotten close enough to look deeper.

The extent of the Felldeep was mesmerizing a lot of people. They just had no clue there was such an immense world down there, and we didn’t know WHAT was down there living in it.

That a great amount of it was not going to be friendly to us was pretty much a given, however. Someone would have to go down and verify things.

“I can access the Felldeep very easily,” Legion assured me. “It would be a decent task for me, would it not?”

I reflected that it probably would, as there were likely Old Gods down there. I also took the opportunity to hug Legion tighter, hee! “So much work! You saw the Fey want some enclaves of their own in North America, and are willing to sign the Constitution for the recognition?”

“Yes. The Fey have always existed at the magical level, not the secular. A Fey Enclave would give them a secure place in the mortal world even if magic were to falter again, if such a formal agreement were made with mortal authorities. They are very eager to attain it.”

“Indeed they are. Locking it into a Constitution would give it tremendous power, and put their status at the rank of the Churches of the Divine.”

“You are also advocating against it?” Legion smiled.

“The Fey... are not true Powers.” I watched the sea rolling by below, noting an outpost, probably of the sahaug, in a Rift canyon. It was close to merfolk territory, so I had Legion send it off to the Dragon King, as Lemuria’s borders weren’t all that far away, and this could be considered within a couple hour’s swim of its borders. He would probably find a good reason to send a hunting expedition out here and get rid of it, and it definitely wasn’t worth wasting munitions on.

Legion tilted her head, considering that. “They subsist off humanity’s hopes and dreams, for good or ill. They have no influence on the fate of souls, and their messing with the Free Willed is not appreciated by any of the parties involved. Even their influence with the Land’s Spirits is one of domination or suppression. I feel no sense of support from Heaven for this at all. From Hell there is... interest.”

“Hell believes it could use this as a way to rope in Fey souls?” Surprise, surprise.

“Hell is totally willing to try and see, I imagine, since they have no influence in Fey perpetual reincarnation.”

“Noting that to pass on the Fey Queen there. Her reaction should be amusing. They are basically leeches on humanity, trying to secure their food supply, even the more positive ones. They have no true function, save to exist and fill whatever narrow purpose they were born for.” Some of which were quite positive, as the nymph Bound to me was very quick to point out... but even those purposes could be twisted by the right forces, as she had been...

“Perhaps some believe that by binding themselves more tightly to the mundane mortal world, they can become something more?” Legion hazarded.

“It is already possible for them to chuck their reincarnation and enter mortality. They want Free Will and the right to choose and be more, without giving up the power they have now. It is a perfectly natural mindset to have.”

Legion considered that in more silence, looking at it from more angles than I could. I only had so many thoughtstreams, after all. “Would not swearing to a mortal Pact like that redefine them?” they asked at last. “Would they leave the Courts?”

“The best way to treat wildfey who want to remain in the mortal world is to make them choose an Allegiance. They will find sympathetic mortals to associate with, and will be bound to them by Duty and Loyalty. This moves them from parasites to symbiotes, as they can now contribute alongside us.

“Court Fey taking that step are often seen as traitors to their kin. Binding themselves to a mortal Constitution... that might be the equivalent of creating a whole mundane Fey Court centered around that document.”

Legion frowned. “Would that not interfere with Kingship?” they asked.