Whispers of a Dead Empire - Chapter 140

Calixa:

Mistress;

Octavian has requested quite a few materials for his war effort. I’d suggest giving him a bit of everything you have in storage simply to help push him along. Also, he mentioned a ‘steam engine project’, and I figured you would know what he was talking about and could help him out in some regards.

Kharon

My eyes quickly read through the message that Kharon sent me. My hands were busy patting Nyx on the head, who was busy being passed out on my lap. I went ahead and ran her through more exercises to strengthen her form as best as I could. She needed her to protect herself if anyone would lay a hand on her and I wasn’t around, which unfortunately would often be the case. The best part is that this seemed an excellent way to crush what felt like her limitless stamina.

Now let’s see here, a steam engine, huh? I didn’t expect to see those words in a place like this. I mean, this was a fantasy world. But it was doable. The question was, how? I wasn’t a physics expert or an engineer of any sort. So really, I would have to leave the stuff to them. All I knew were the basics, but that may not be enough. I also had no clue how to build a train, for that matter.

I sighed and nodded but realized it was a good idea. I opened my message screen and told Kharon I was perfectly okay with the idea. After all, once they figure it out, I have a way to move both undead and adventures around the domain without an issue. Hell, maybe I could even talk Redrick into letting me build a train station in his city so I could more easily transfer goods around.

I felt an evil snicker leave my lips as dozens of ideas floated through my head. Sometimes, being a penny pincher was good, and this was one of those times. After all, if I didn’t have to spend any essence, then I wouldn’t. I’ll just stand to rake in the profits. Which also led me to something else. Currently, Redrick and I had a trading agreement, but what if I took it further than that?

I mean, I came from a world of capitalism, and through my various delves of wikias, I had a rough idea of how merchant companies and guilds worked in a fantasy world. So what if I took steps to establish a proper company? That alone would do me wonders on not having to constantly spend essence on creating the currency, and not to mention, it would also be a faucet of even more economic power.

A part of me felt like an evil mastermind with all the schemes I was coming up with, but I also knew that I needed to calm it down a bit. After all, having too many plans is a recipe for disaster. But it was still good to have them. It gave me something to fall back on, just in case the need arises. However, that was for later. Right now, I need to gather some resources for Octavian to use.

Let’s see what I had on hand. I gestured for my screen and quickly rifled through everything that I had. I had a fair amount of copper, iron, steel, silver, gold, tin, and bronze as the primary resources, amongst a few other things. For what I would consider exotic at any rate, I had some mithril, natronium, arcanium, sky iron, a few variants of mana-soaked steel, and a tiny amount of orichalcum. Mithril, I had a solid idea of what it was, at least in most fantasy settings. But the rest were above my head.

I selected it and quickly summoned an ingot to get an idea. After all, if I put too much stock in what I read on earth, then it was likely that I would only screw myself in the end. While I was waiting for it to appear, I summoned a few small ingots of the other stuff as well, though I wasn’t sure how good it would do me.

While creating them, I started a mental list of the amounts I had on hand. Naturally, I had a large surplus of what I would consider the common metals, while for the more exotic stuff, I had very minimal amounts. Mithril, for example, I had at most half an ingot worth. So, I couldn’t go crazy with it. The natronium I had eight units worth, which was a little less than the mithril. Mana-soaked steel was the most plentiful of the bunch, and of that, I had four ingots total, one being a fire-based ingot, one of ice, one of electricity, and one of earth. With the sky iron, I was sitting at a little over two ingots. The orichalcum was the least plentiful of the batch, which totaled just under five units.

The biggest issue was that I didn’t know what each of these metals was or what they were good at. It was a guessing game on my end. Perhaps while outside the domain, I should hire a slew of workers to help shore up the stuff I didn’t know how to do. Though I felt I would be hard-pressed to find people willing to work with the undead. But they would come if the pay was good enough. After all, some things never change.

As soon as the metals were done being created, I gently picked Nyx’s head up and placed my sports bag down in my place so she would have something like a pillow.

With that task being done, I wandered over to all the examples I had made and inspected them to get a general idea of what they were. Mithril was exactly how I imagined it to be. It was as radiant as silver and cool to the touch. I reached out and took the small fist-sized piece and brought it up to the light, and I was shocked at how light it felt. Perhaps, I should use this in a part of my weapon creation since I wanted to cut down on the weight of my gauntlet. While I understood the need for it to be a little heavy, I was still going to wear it a lot, so I wanted it to be comfortable.

I set the silver metal down and reached out for the natronium next. This one was a strange blend of wood and gold. It was as if the two were trying to overtake one another but got stuck halfway. Its surface was rough like bark, yet it kept the familiar hardness of metal. It was a strange thing, and it weighed a little more than the mithril. From the looks of it, I would assume that this was from the armor that the theocracy soldiers wore. For now, I would keep this on the side until I could figure out what to do with it.

Next up was the arcanium; it had a strange mix of deep vibrant violet and a radiant sea blue that danced in tandem with the ambient white light of my training room. I was enthralled by its beauty as I reached out to touch it. But once my fingers grazed its surface, I noticed it was cold. Far colder than anything I had ever experienced. But the cold quickly faded, as a pain formed in my chest, as something tried to tear something out. A gasp escaped my mouth as I pulled my hand away as fast as possible.

“Mother?” Nyx’s voice tore through the air as I massaged my hand. The pain faded from a stabbing pain into a dull throb.

“Hey,” I replied to her, taking a step away from the metal. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“It’s alright. What are you doing?” She asked as she yawned and walked over to me. Her hair looked a little haggard, and a few strands were sticking up in wild arcs.

“Just looking at metals, trying to figure out what I need to use for weapons and whatnot.” I yawned as I stepped back and kept my eyes on Nyx as she wandered over.

“Oh, metals are fun. Which types are you looking at?” She came over to the table and eyed them.

“Well, this one here is Mithril.” I pointed to the first one, and she nodded her head and reached out for it.

“It’s so pretty, mother.” She threw it softly into the air, and its silver surface scintillated in the light as it tumbled through the air.

“That it is. I was trying to figure out what this one was here.” I pointed towards the arcanium, but I kept my distance. That pain was a sharp reminder not to touch it again. Which I didn’t plan to do. But I wish I knew more about it. The name told me it had something to do with magic, but that was something that was out of my grasp.

Nyx hummed thoughtfully as she placed the small fist-sized piece of mithril down. “What is it called?”

“Arcanium.” I replied as I crossed my arms and eyed her.

Her face scrunched up softly as she thought it over. Then suddenly, her face lit up. “Oh! I know what that is! It’s mana that has fused together naturally. The book I read said it’s a rare material. Oh, mother, can I have some? It might be what I need to further help me.” As she spoke, her face lit up, and excitement blossomed in her eyes like a raging fire.

Seeing her this excited warmed my heart in ways that I didn’t expect. “Of course. Feel free to take it.”

Without a single shred of hesitation, Nyx reached out and took the material off of the table. The second her fingers touched it, the strange colors adorned its surface lit up, and strands of silver energy exploded out from it.

A look of determination crossed Nyx’s face as the energy slammed into her hand. She hummed thoughtfully for a moment as the energy flickered violently. I watched her as she seemed to struggle with the energy flowing from the material. My body was as taut as a spring, ready to step in if something happened.

It felt like an eternity, but eventually, a smile broke across her face. “Mother! I figured it out!” Her voice came out like an excited squeal as she jumped into the air. The material in her hand pulsed as it turned to liquid and melted into her flesh.

“What did you figure out?” I felt happy for her as I watched her jump around. I really wished I knew how to use magic. But I was content with what was at my disposal. There was so much I could do with what I had. All I needed to do was train with it. I already gained a few new skills and felt stronger than ever. I just had to keep pushing to get further with it.

“In the middle of that creation spell you do, was a rune that I didn’t know. But when I pulled the arcanium into me, I realized it’s the arcane rune. It’s pure unfiltered magic, and it was all I needed to find the last piece of the puzzle.” She stopped jumping around, and her grin became almost feral. “From what I read, the use of arcane magic was rare since pure mana is very hard to control. But I’m a dragon, so it’s expected that I could do it.”

I rolled my eyes at her. A little brat is what she is, but thankfully she was better than when I first met her. “I’m happy for you. So, tell me, what are your grand plans, oh mighty arch-wizard?”

“I will be the strongest arch-mage to walk the lands. I will be the storm that washes away all of those that oppose us.” She replied in the most serious tone I’ve ever heard from her. “And I’ll hunt down anyone that hurts you and Ms. Alessia without mercy. I’ll be a warrior princess and be the strongest dragon to ever grace the world.”

I sometimes forget that Nyx was a monster wearing little girls’ clothing. She was a dragon, even if I tried to paint her as a human. But at the end of the day, I loved her for who she was, even if I had to guide her from plans of eventual world domination.