Blacksmith vs. the System

"Harold, you have the command! I have to rest!" I said as I stumbled toward the dungeon gate. "Send the signal should the enemy move."

"Yes, sir!" he shouted, while the rest of the army cheered, happy with their victory. I wish I had shared their happiness, but knowing the overwhelming monster wave was the tantrum of a spoiled noble of a world that no longer made sense, it was hard to feel the same way.

Knowing that the beast wave was a mere drop compared to the storm that was destined to follow, joy was not a luxury I could partake in.

Rosie's earlier words about a hundred ascended — false-ascended, even — like they were a trivial and expected response had been a nasty surprise, especially since her tone implied that it would be just a casual delivery. It implied such might was even more common than I had expected.

I waited at the entrance, and unsurprisingly, Rosie returned a minute later. However, without the advantage of a metal floor to constantly use Observe, I only noticed her when she was merely five paces away.

A scary situation.

"Follow me," I said and opened a temporary gate. She paused, her surprise obvious. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I didn't expect you to have such a strong soul," she replied. The comment surprised me, but only for a moment. I didn't exactly know how the connection with the dungeon worked, but calling that inner space soul was not absurd. Maria had also used the same term.

Before the Cataclysm, the existence of souls would have been a long, potentially entertaining debate. Here, it was just another mystery to unearth when I had time, rather than an idle question.

Calling it a 'soul' might not be correct, but it was certainly plausible.

Yet, what she followed her statement up with surprised me more. "A pity you have ruined your potential," she added, rueful, yet seemingly accurate.

"In what way," I asked as I stepped through the gate, and Rosie followed me a second later. We ended up in the depths of the mountain.

"You don't know?" she asked, her surprise apparent. Although, I didn't know whether her surprise was about my lack of knowledge, or the underground bunker we had found ourselves in.

"Not as such," I said.

"Binding yourself to a dungeon prevents ascension," she said. I was surprised for a moment, then shrugged. It was nasty news, certainly, but it was as impactful as informing a drowning man about losing his whole fortune in a market crash.

Devastating in any other circumstances, yet lacking impact in the face of a more urgent disaster.

It was true for my circumstances as well. While the idea that I would be forever limited to level hundred was supposed to be scary, it had no impact.

Instead, I focused on the particulars of the next step of my plan. I wanted to cut a path outside the dungeon, preferably leading to a nice cave where I could both watch the enemy and absorb the tainted energy. It was risky, particularly if Thomas detected it and decided to attack, but with Rosie's assistance, I was confident that I could defend a two-pronged attack.

A true luxury.

With that in mind, I let Rosie process her shock as I reached the edge of the bunker, and started digging, though picking a diagonal path rather than directly vertical. "How did you not know that yet know how to bind a dungeon?" she asked, shocked.

"You haven't asked Maria about it?" I said.

"No," she said. "Secrets of the dungeons are too valuable, and I wasn't in a position to offer a comparable price." She paused. "I'm still not."

"Even with what I owe you for your help," I responded. Her eyes widened slightly enough that I barely caught it. Without my absurdly high Wisdom helping me, it would have gone unnoticed.

"Yes, even with that," she responded, though hesitant. "I have a more critical boon to request," she responded.

It was interesting. Her words alone showed that Rosie knew much more about how the higher levels worked than Maria did, which was both promising for my future plans, and scarier considering her past with me was rather dubious.

Still, I hoped that her knowledge about binding dungeons and ascension was not accurate. Another thing for the future.

"Unfortunately, our information about dungeon binding had been … spotty," I said. I could see her curiosity, but she didn't ask more questions, aware that it was not exactly the situation. "Tell me about invading dungeons directly. How much of a risk is there when doing so," I asked.

Once again, I could feel her surprise at my lack of knowledge, hidden well. I wondered why she expected me to know more. If it wasn't for my very difficult-to-remember memories, it would have been about Maria telling me.

But, I had a feeling that there was a different reason for her expectations, one that was about why she had been around me since before the Cataclysm. I just needed to find a way to breach it when we weren't counting every second to deal with the enemy.

"There's not much considering it's a four-floor dungeon," she said.

"Really?" I said, surprised by her misinformation. Unless it was an excellent bluff, it confirmed that she and Maria had little to talk about. Even more surprising was that somehow her guild members were unable to discover that there was a fifth floor. "Does the number of floors make a difference?"

She sighed. "You don't know that either?" she asked, looking disappointed. I shrugged, not bothering to answer as I continued to dig. "I'm going to expect equal payment," she said. I nodded. "Yes, the more floors a dungeon has, the easier it is to breach from outside. Lower the floor, easier it is to break its boundaries."

"Really?" I asked. "And why is that?"

"Not something I understand," she said. "Something about the boundaries of existence."

I would have questioned her more about it if the only thing I could feel from her was utter disinterest. "A quick correction, then. The dungeon has five floors."

That made her freeze for a second. "That changes things," she replied. "It has just become more dangerous. Luckily, the dungeon is in a mana dead zone, so we have that to our advantage."

"No, I have been using my Meditation to pump the dungeon with a lot of extra mana," I said.

"That doesn't matter," she replied. "Ultimately, the siege consumed far more than what you could ever put in."

I was starting to get a sinking feeling. "Assume it isn't the case, and I have managed to pump enough mana into the dungeon to cause certain changes."

"But, that's impossible. Even if your new class gave you Intelligence —"

"Wisdom," I corrected her. Not a secret I revealed gladly, as it was a valuable advantage, but considering how critical her assistance would continue to be, trying to hide my abilities didn't make much sense.

Especially the ones that were impossible to hide from a discerning eye.

"Wisdom?" she said, nodding slightly, before I caught another sign of shock from her.

"Yes, Wisdom," I said, glad that she had already made the connection. I was tempted to push her on the topic of why she had been following me before Cataclysm, but I did not. "That helps me to process tainted energy rapidly, helping the dungeon to process it." Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire

"I see," she whispered. "And, since it's a five-floor dungeon, the process is actually fast enough to make a difference. We need to evacuate the dungeon. The sooner, the better."

"What do you think about turning the mountain into a bunker-maze and moving everyone underground?" I asked, then stopped.

"Why did you pause?" she asked.

"I can feel tainted energy, so we're almost at the surface. With your Perception, you can find us a nice cave without digging, right?"

"Sure," she said as she focused, then gestured to the left. I changed direction as she asked. "Underground bunker idea is not bad, especially against the heretic worshippers," she said. I looked at her questioningly. "They don't perform well underground," she said. "Especially their pseudo-ascended pawns."

"You're the expert," I said.

"The problem is building the defenses. Without an accomplished ward master to help us, we have to rely on physical defenses, and it'll be difficult to build enough defenses to protect everywhere."

"Even with all the metal I could provide?"

"Yes. Even several hundred tons wouldn't be enough. What we're going to build is nothing less than a modern battleship. We need tens of thousands of tons of metal." Then, she pointed at the wall. "We have a cave here."

"Excellent," I said and dug through, getting a whiff of fresh air, ignoring the suffocating presence of the tainted energy. "I can give you that, as long as you're willing to handle the defensive side of the business."

"Really?" she asked, shocked. "But, the reports…"

"Are about what I had managed to put together in a hurry in response to a sudden threat. It's not the limit of what I can really achieve. As long as you stay here and deal with the threats, I can handle the rest," I said while I activated my Meditation, and started devouring the tainted energy thick enough to feel endless thanks to the siege.

"All threats?" she asked. Meanwhile, she moved to the mouth of the cave, using the vantage point to watch the enemy, her presence once again turning ephemeral. Not invisible … but hard to notice.

"No, just the high-level saboteurs. The rest, the army can handle, and with appropriate warning, I can give a hand," I replied confidently. "In case of trouble, I will always be there to assist."

"Really, that simple?" she asked.

I nodded, deciding I had given her enough time to recover. I kept the meditation active. "That simple," I replied. "Assuming, of course, you have a good explanation for why you have been following me for years. Since before the Cataclysm."