"Phew," Rory wiped his brow, the slight nerves he'd had instantly absolved. "I was hoping for this, so I'm glad it didn't surprise me."

Grand Crafts were, in general, far less special than the name suggested. They were like any other form of craft, except they required a unified creator capable in multiple fields. They made for extra potent items, but they weren't some sort of mythical creation beyond comprehension, something he'd long since come to understand with the pearlescent cores he'd made.

The mechanical modular gem was much the same. He had already shaped it by nature of the mechanical modular gem needing to be, well, modular, but there was still mapping and linkage to handle. Unlike gems in the past, which were a single unified map of convergence points, the mechanical modular gem was more like several sub-gems all connected at singular points-

Or so I hope; otherwise, this is going to balloon in difficulty by a LOT.

-that could be operated to change the 'main' gem function, from barrier, to spin, to room, etc. In a way, it was like having a group of islands that were connected to one another by a singular bridge crossing from island to island. What the specifics of each island were didn't matter, just as long as that single crossing connected.

Or something like that. See, this is why I could never be a proper teacher: my metaphors and analogies go all over the place.

Of course, there were some rather specific drawbacks; it would likely need frequent repairs, and its general potency would be worse than a niche-specific gem.

But if he didn't want to constantly burn through gems where they were overkill, it would be perfect.

"Once I actually map it," Rory sighed to himself before turning around and facing the scourge mites that were shivering in his presence.

"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad," Rory said to little avail. "Your younger brother is probably having a great life after all."

Because it's a bloodline guardian now, but they don't need to know that.

The mites, evidently, weren't convinced, still keeping as far from him as they could.

"Wow, talk about unappreciative," Rory snorted before shaking his head. "Anyway, I don't have business with you all right now. I've got to get this bad boy all set up, and then it's off to the mines."

The mines, of course, were a location Rory had only ever seen from the surface. Glancing at the map overlay that he pulled up, it was obvious what the 'mines' were, the former home of the local Territory Alpha.

Well, past tense for both the fate of its home and the fate of it.

Given that his armor was made from some of its remains, that much didn't need much reexamination.

But anyway, chores first, then on to exploring.

The trip over to the mines was far from what Rory expected as he sat in his chair, watching the forest casually pass by beneath.

I can't believe they really kept using this old system.

Once upon a time, Rory had made a highly primitive version of a cable car that could lug things from the Maw over to Ehkorrus by passing along some alchemically crafted vines, even if alchemy of that type didn't officially exist at that point. Decades had passed since then, and in particular over the last six decades spent within the floating volcanic isles, Rory had the convenience of his inventory, never having to consider anything too clever for moving resources around.

Ehkorrus hadn't had that same privilege, needing to puzzle out ways to move people and things from point A to point B efficiently.

Thus, the revitalization of the treetop cable system.

I'm going to have to ask around more about the details.

All Rory really knew was that intermixed between the trees were large poles, from which hung silver and copper-colored vines, that carried along small cabins. If it weren't for the cable-carried cabins, someone might not even notice the system in place, blending in amongst the trees.

I wonder what's up with those vines.

Seated within the small cabin, the trip only took a few minutes. He could have made it there faster by simply running, but his curiosity had led him to board one such cabin.

It was a nice view at least.

Arriving at his destination, it looked nothing like what had once been the rolling hills of dug-up earth left behind from the tunneling activities of the Tyrant of Earth and Scales. It could have been mistaken for an industrial mining site from anywhere on Earth, minus the heavy machinery, people coming and going with pickaxes, shovels, wheelbarrows, and other things you'd expect from a mine site.

Now, I wonder if… Oh, there he is.

There was one man in particular that Rory was looking for, whom he'd only met once during the Apostolos clan get-together.

The man in particular was directing several people Rory had no recognition of, as Rory himself made his way over. Noticing him, the man's eyes widened, saying something to those he was discussing with before jogging over to meet Rory.

"Founder Rory," Isaac, Apostolos's son, greeted him.

"Ehh, better than Lord Founder, at least. Mr. Rory is fine."

"Apologies," Isaac said, shaking his head. "It's still all a bit much."

"That's fine. How's the new pet doing?"

"Uhh, fine?" Isaac crossed his arms, thinking for a moment before sighing. "My sister says her kids love playing with it. You'd think it was a cuddly little thing."

"Hah, isn't that so?" Rory chuckled as Isaac's face turned down for a brief moment.

"Is, uh, is something wrong?" Isaac asked, leaning in.

"What? Oh, no. I just never got the chance to properly check this place out when I killed the Territory Alpha squatting on this land. Quite a bit of development here."

Stolen novel; please report.

"You'd bet," Isaac said with a nod. "As useful as the Maw is for resources, the resources of the second floor have long since been used up, with only a few minor resources respawning, and the third floor still isn't something we can easily push deeper into. Not the case here —the earth below is littered with valuable ores, minerals, and such. We've been digging it up for decades now, and we still find large deposits."

"Glad to hear."

"And, well, the other thing." Isaac leaned in with a whisper.

"Other thing?" Rory asked, confused.

"Yeah, my father didn't mention it to you?"

"No?"

"Well…" Isaac frowned once more before sighing. "Well, I already said as much as I did; no point in backtracking now. Follow me."

Doing so, Rory trailed behind the younger man as he made his way toward what seemed to be the 'command center' of the entire operation. It wasn't huge, but it still stood out. Turning around, Isaac nodded to the door.

"Wait here, I'll be back in a few minutes. I'd invite you in; in fact, I could give you a tour, but it's not really very interesting. All function, no form."

"Fair enough," Rory responded as he leaned against the wall of the building. "I'll be right here, not getting into trouble.

Waiting behind, Rory continued to examine the surface of the mines. Scattered about were a few people who stood apart from those who were clearly working as miners or part of the mine operation, carrying varying weapons or bows.

Guards. I guess that makes sense. Without an active, powerful presence guarding the area, it would make sense for an opportunistic monster to try to muscle its way in on valuable land, maybe able to consume the natural resources to boost itself or something.

Of the guards, only a single one was tier six; the rest were all tier fives.

Which also makes sense. Tier sevens aren't crawling around everywhere here in Ehkorrus; you'd have to travel pretty far out for that.

Still looking around, only a few minutes later, Isaac returned, a slight huff telling Rory he'd been scrounging around for something.

"What was the hold up?" Rory asked, a slight chuckle in his voice.

"This," The younger man held up a piece of-

What in the world?

Before Isaac could say more, Rory snatched the item.

Relic of Lost Homes

A relic of a time that no longer exists, it points the way to things that should not be.

"Long story short," Isaac said, taking no issue with Rory having taken the item off of him. "It was discovered on the third floor many years ago, a trial all about finding hidden things or something. I don't really know the full details. The trial itself was apparently unstable, the entrance made of liquid shadows, so it was Uncle Manda who had been in charge of clearing it because of his connections with shadows…."

The man droned out for a moment, a brief moment of sadness before he continued.

"Anyway, the reward from the trial was that. Dad thought it might be useful for locating you, but it instead led us to the mine of all places."

Rory was still staring at the 'relic' in question.

It was a GPS. An old-school GPS that he had seen in museums before.

"And you said it led here?" Rory asked after a moment.

"Yeah," Isaac answered. "If you travel really deep into the mines, I mean really deep, deep enough that the pneuma starts to become toxic to those beneath tier five, something was found."

"Something?"

"Yeah… No one really knows what it is. Dad made it clear no one was to mess with it, though."

"Well, that sounds like something to check out," Rory said, still investigating the GPS. It was a build from before he was born, all analog with no touchscreens.

"If you say so," Isaac said with a shrug. "You're the only one who can override my dad's orders, so who am I to step in? I would give you warnings about the toxic pneuma and all that, but I'm sure you will be fine."

"Yeah, I will be."

His curiosity set to the max, Rory gave a brief wave to Isaac as he set off, walking briskly to the entrance of the mines.

Relic of Lost Homes. Surely that can only mean one thing.

Traveling through the mines was far less interesting than Rory expected; it was pretty much just a bunch of strip mine tunnels branching and weaving in any number of directions.

While the mine itself wasn't all that interesting, the deeper Rory traveled into the earth, the more he felt the pneuma change, subtle at first, before adopting an almost choking feeling. It still wasn't very dense, but then Rory hadn't expected as much.

Hmm… It's like gas buildups on Earth, except the pneuma version. How curious.

For Rory, it really wasn't a problem; his own innate energies completely rebuffed the cloistering and asphyxiating pneuma hanging in the air. Continuing deeper and deeper, Rory at last came to a stop when the tunnel he'd been walking through suddenly opened up, and a massive canyon appeared deep below the earth.

More interesting than the canyon itself was the fact that the GPS clearly was indicating it wanted him to go down.

Well, when in Rome. Or something like that.

Taking one step over the edge, Rory dropped like a rock in free-fall, falling for nearly three hundred meters before latching onto the wall with some threads of pneuma anchoring him in place, arresting his fall a mere hundred feet from the bottom.

Not too bad.

Knowing better than to speak out loud and potentially alert anything nearby, Rory released his threads and fell the final one hundred feet, landing as if it had been no more than a small hop.

On the canyon floor, there was nothing but darkness, rocks, and an inky-black river crawling across it, with black moss growing alongside it.

Oh, a tier six lizard monster. Anddd it ran away.

Following the GPS for longer, he walked next to the inky river for some time before the GPS seemed to thrum with excitement, which Rory could see why. There, nestled in the crook between the floor and wall of the canyon, was an odd addition. It looked like a piece of polished black metal had fused into the stone, or simply appeared, replacing the physical rock that had once been there. Had it just been a deposit of black metal it wouldn't have meant anything to Rory.

What was intriguing was the fact that as Rory stared at it for several seconds longer, something clicked in his head, recognizing it, or partially at least. Not from his time on Aelia, but from videos and images he'd seen online back on Earth.

Isn't that one of those Ricochet ships?

The experimental ships that had been used in the old universe war they'd been obliterated at the very end.

So why was one here? Or at least, part of one?

Approaching the piece of ship fused into the stone, Rory crossed his arms and frowned.

Yeah, it's not a whole ship, and definitely damaged, like pieces were deleted from existence.

Even more curious, Rory finally crossed the remaining distance as he entered through a chunk deleted from the side wall of the 'ship', even if it was more like a modern art piece at this point.

Inside was… well, nothing. It had been scrubbed clean of anything, just the bare bones of the old ship.

Or almost the barebones. Pressing a hand against what must have once been a dashboard, Rory pulsed his aura, engulfing the area as he began to lock onto concepts at play. It was weird; even without being able to access the long-dead computing systems, the intent within Rory felt as if he could still parse. Combined with his knowledge of spatial concepts that was second to none, Rory began to put together a picture, as incomplete as it was.

Ricochet ships were specifically engineered to withstand the most extreme forces of our universe, save for the total deletion at the very end. That said, it's still hard to believe it could have lasted for any period of time in those conditions…. No, wait, I can feel something else.

Head instantly swiveling, Rory realized that, deeper within the long-dead ship, for a moment, it was as if Rory felt a flicker of life.

What in the world?

Mysteries building further, Rory followed along, the ship scrubbed of all traces of their past universe, a relic of a concluded tale with no happy ending.

While Rory understood that some would find more sentiment in that, for him, it was the mystery that intrigued him. Finding his way into the very center of the ship, Rory paused outside, which looked like a plain pillar of metal made of the same material as the rest of the ship, a material Rory had absolutely no understanding of.

Once upon a time, this stuff was probably the most valuable material in the universe; now it feels almost like a glass pane, ready to shatter at the slightest touch.

Made of exotic matter in this universe, Rory figured that wasn't far off from the truth, but that wasn't what mattered for the moment.

Having stood there for several minutes now, Rory had gotten a sense for the pillar in front of him, of the intent behind it.

It wasn't some mere load-bearing pillar. It was wide enough around that someone could have hidden within after all.

Which was precisely what Rory figured was the case.

Because the pillar wasn't a pillar.

It was a life pod.

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