" Sure but it'll be very long since you have the story directly from me " Hugo nodded and listened for the rest of the time learning all about Lily ' That was amazing '
He reached his prepared bedroom looked at the bed and Volos who sniffed around him sensing no poison at all " sorry it must've been hard tomorrow we'll be taking someone somewhere tomorrow "
' maybe they need to hear this but how do I tell them ? ' he looked at a device recalling Lily telling him that it was "of many uses" " But how do I use this ? " " Would you like to get anything for bed Hugo ? "
Hugo was surprised to hear Argus's voice " The talking construct ? " Hugo collected himself from the surprise and asked " Can you send a message to my home ? " " What would you like to have sent ? "
" Just tell them that I'll be helping Valley with a task , I'll be gone for a while " " Message confirmed " Argus repeated what Hugo just said to confirm ' These constructs are very useful I wonder if we could get some sent to home '
" Do you need anything else ? " ' I still have more questions to ask like why they gather parts and liquids out of our body ' Scyan is maniacally laughing inside the lab watching so much genetic material being recorded .
' They are human but maybe because of their environment they have different genetics than the ones back in our world ' he smiles seeing so much material obtained just from one settlement and wonders if the others are also a little different .
' Maybe I should also look into that ancestral dragons of theirs it might be great to see how they can have offspring that barely have anything in common ' Hugo thinks about the previous interactions with other outcasts like the ones with great machines .
' They said also wanted to see if they could get some samples they even wanted to take some eggs to raise ' Hugo wonders if Lily planned to ask for that but considering that Lily would treat them well as he had observed with the animals during their meeting he pushed it below the priorities .
' But I still don't understand how you would use parts of our body maybe her science is too advanced for me to understand ' Hugo wonders if he could visit Scyan tomorrow and gets curious about how he is going to meet the person he has to bring .
' either way, I'll understand more about her depending on how we meet tomorrow ' Hugo goes to rest and the next day he walks into an elevator ' So she is planning to show me the inner workings of her territory ? This should prove she is willing to show them to me '
The elevator door opened and Hugo was surprised to see an empty hallway ' Everyone is sleeping ' he walked through it quietly and reached a room ' This should be the one moreover the person on the other side is awake .
" Hello is this Terra " a girl appeared wearing some hiking gear " Yeah you should be Hugo right ? " Hugo nodded still not getting used to outsiders speaking his language fluently " Yes I hope you don't get sick "
" Please that's not gonna happen machoman " ' Machoman ? ' Hugo follows Terra back to the elevator " So where is that dragon you said " " Volos should be waiting outside " they arrive to see Volos waiting and take off .
" So this is what the world looks like the air seems fresh " Hugo looked down sensing the body of the ancestral dragon confused as to why he could still sense it " Miss Terra how do you move land ? " Hugo asked curious about her powers .
" Curious are you ? It's just controlling the earth I can do the same for others but it's just easier for me to move much solid stuff if it's a liquid like water it would be very hard " Hugo wonders about the three states of matter that he learned from the text he read from other outcast settlements .
' That means there could be other people that can do the same except in liquid and air ' " So this village you have is supposed to be on top of a giant dragon's back right ? " " Yes " " I wonder if she'll ask me to move that giant egg "
" Why would Valley want that ? " " Oh well she did say she was interested in that giant egg but I doubt she would get it unless she changes her mind " Hugo knew that the egg was important to the ancestral dragon but the real problem was how Lily planned to take it .
' I just hope our cooperation with each other prevents her from harming us ' " So what's your name " " Hugo " " alright but why are you looking to the right at the ocean ? Aren't you supposed to look forward at the sky "
" I usually would be but there's something there , I never fly this far because it's only a vast ocean but for some reason the wings of the ancestral dragon seem to go even further " ' She did say something about a giant dragon '
" Then just say that you're calculations were wrong it's normal for a society with less advanced technology to get accurate measurements , even the telescope we used had to use a tiny picture to count the number of stars "
" That's true we were never good at measurements " " Yeah but your metals seem good think you can trade these with boss ? " Hugo wonders why Terra is trying to connect him further to Lily .
" Why do you insist on helping us connect with her , I don't sense any respect towards Valley in you " " You can tell huh ? Pretty sure she doesn't treat us criminals very well , one day she just comes into my prison cell and said she'll buy me like I'm some sort of slave "
Despite her wordings, Hugo didn't sense Terra's pride deteriorate " I remember her saying that she uses criminals to spread out her abilities " " Oh yeah that part is true , at the halls we have a type of currency which she calculates the more you contribute the better the value you get you can use this value for it and I bet she never told you this "
" No , she didn't " " Doesn't matter to me cause all I care about is having more points the more missions she gives me the more comfortable my life actually is " Hugo recalled seeing Terra's room filled with many things he didn't understand the function .
" So how long until we get there ? " " I'm not exactly sure the island is pretty far " " Would we even get any breaks at all ? " Terra asked " Don't worry about that Volos can fly four days straight the problem is returning but she said you'll be taking care of that problem "
' That's right that was going to be my job ' Lily eats her breakfast annoyed by her subordinates' unwillingness to leave the facilities she owns ' Then again not many of them are like Hasst I did say he was the one with the best survival probability and it's not like I can ask them to leave my facilities they probably think I'll kill them or something but that'd be a waste of resources '
Lily checks on the speed that Hasst is taking and calls Argus " Can you start researching on the magic topic ? I'm curious about something like this " " Such a thing requires consulting with the dragon riders as they are our only close information "
" That's true do we have anyone that looks like they can have a proper talk with them ? " " We can send it out as a mission to the residents " " True it's been a month and inactivity could make them rusty but the problem is I can't exactly send them all out it is a pretty vast ocean "
" We can send them to search for satellites " " Good idea post the satellite recovery and make sure to tell them to find more outcasts maybe try searching at the east we also have to restore more satellites down to the south "
...
A shark , Tiburon swam underwater devouring some mazes that swam sending this information back to Argus " Plus points for me " he said and others were using their means to travel to the east .
' It's been a week and the only achievement these guys have was finding a single island with only a tree , it does help that they found a few satellites underwater but still this ocean is pretty big '
" call from Terra " Lily sat on the chair and saw Terra " I'm already here with the others and it looks like there is land close to it " " Oh you want to move it ? " " Yep even though the gravity is much worse here I've been packing a lot of power and I thought you might like what they just found "
" Did you take the extra days to convince those people of the benefits ? " " You know us so well , but do you not want it I'm already here may as well save a trip for Hugo and the doors you keep using " " Fine beat yourself up but as for these people what exactly are they ? "
" I'll give you to Hugo " Terra put Hugo on the call and started to move the land " Uhm hello Valley " " Care to explain what you encountered " " We found some really strange people " " What are they ? "
" I'm not sure it looks very hard to communicate with them , but according to Terra you just have to beat them up and they'll listen to you , she calls them barbarians " " There's no reason to call them that , probably has to do with their intelligence care to show me what they look "
Hugo turns the device to face the Barbarians showing rocks with lava gluing them together ' Dang now I have no idea how to talk to them ' " Terra fought with them and their leaders " she sees other of the barbarians seeing plants with fire over them .
" Is fire the only thing they have ? " " Yeah there is a volcano here but it seems very big and hot if you get too close " " Okay can you take me to the residents of that territory " " Okay " Hugo walks to the territory and hands the device to them " Eves how are you doing over there ? "
" Very well but the problem is these fire guys are keeping an eye on us at least before they haven't done anything to us and when Terra went to fight them they started to behave " " You still haven't figured out their behavior? "
" I do know about them a little that giant volcano the lava doesn't look very normal and there's like a core but super condensed to an unbelievable amount of density but for some reason , its heat doesn't reach us " " What about the water " " It seems pretty normal it's cold even though it's not supposed to be with that dense core nearby "
Eves looks at Lily who is thinking ' So the greater will that protects them should be that core ' " I've been running many different data gathering after I discovered the core when Terra came here and the data is very impressive"
Eves sent a summary to Lily "While the volcano's source of heat defies most scientific explanation , with Terra's powers we sent seismic waves to replicate an earthquake at different points to detect it"
"As predicted we have deduced the density and it is amazingly dense" ' That explains some of the things that's been happening with the ocean but I still haven't figured out the ocean ... wait then how did Terra convince them ? '
" How did Terra talk to them ? " " She talk to them ? " Lily couldn't believe it having a hand massage her face " What's done is done tell her to stop moving the land " Eves used the device to track Terra and found her on the ground .
" Sorry boss I must've been too crazy with thinking I could do all of this " Terra said while on the ground " it would've been easy if you only moved the farm " Eves said .
" Sigh , we'll figure out how to bring food around in the meantime get Terra fixed she really shouldn't be moving a land with a core like that also how is the food? "
" It's fine , why do you ask ? " ' Seems like I'm right about that greater will think it's the core it's the strangest thing right now but the question is how these lifeforms thrive ? ' " Make sure to not throw food out and as for that dragon and man make sure to take care of them as you would take care of Terra "
" Okay " Lily ended the call and asked Argus " How about the people we sent to their villages " " They have made progress in researching the groups that are collaborating with the dragon riders each of them also wishes to use the ancestral dragon as an escape way and have even prepared bargaining chips to assist "
" So what are these bargaining chips ? " " The sage group are devising a way to breathe in outer space , information about them is the most investigated results , the sages have been sent to the Labyrinth after a warlock found a way to send them to this world "
' so like what Yok has said not everyone here is evil but just exiled here because their enemy received it first ' Lily looks at the information on the sages .
' They can counter the passive digestion through resources they have no such thing as a big greater will but some of the sages do have long lives they probably offered this option to strengthen their relationship to hitch a ride '
Lily checks the other groups seeing that they have very little to offer ' Either way I should be able to get them to cooperate with me all of them have an interest in me however this complete sci-fi settlement is sort of strange ' she wonders if these two groups were separating themselves because of the nature of their background.
' either way, I'll have to make sure that I can continue to keep a proper relationship with the dragon riders ' " But something is wrong they have been at this war for a while so how come they haven't won ? " " The dragon riders communicate with the ancestral dragons periodically but that never happens anymore "
" And during that time did the Mazes' invasion increase? " Lily asked " Yes however very steadily it even looks like they are fighting a losing war " " So why fight ? "
" Residents' information gathering said that they held on to the hope that some more would come as every new outcast that enters the labyrinth and their forces resulted to a reduced Maze invasion "
" Oh there is that word again about hope , It's a bit annoying to be a hero but I do stand to benefit from it how are their forces in that egg by the way ? " "Very little " " to the point it's deserted ? " " Yes "
" How cruel maybe I should check it out " " Would you like to go with the usual ? " " Sure it's always nice to go for a walk that isn't under a glass globe even if I have to wear that " Argus brings Lily a mask and a cane , she puts the mask on holds the cane presses a button and says " My hand's on the doorknob "
Above the island where the egg was a modern door appears , the doorknob twists and opens revealing Lily who walks into the forest with the cane supporting her " Hmm this place is really beautiful "
Lily loved the beautiful forest ' It's so much different from the one back home ' " Argus is the connection well ? " " Yes a substantial amount of points have been deposited "
" Should be fine we are getting our food supply although there's a transportation fee for it but that just means more mission should keep our residence busy "
Lily looks down at a mushroom and receives some data from the cane ' Taste sweet and a hallucinogen don't mind if I do ' the cane's nanobots cut the mushroom and bring it to Lily who tosses them into her mouth and her mask opens and pulled the piece into the space allowing her to eat it without spreading her poisonous breath .
' It is sweet and chewy too should be a good vegetarian option if it doesn't have the hallucinogen ' Lily ate the rest of the mushroom-like it wasn't dangerous and walked around ' More food '
Several other poisonous food was taken from Lily and she snacked on them ' Hmm they taste good although that alcoholic fruit could use some sugar ' she heard some branches rustle and turned to see a Maze until the Nanobots formed and shot a bullet into the Maze .
The maze turned into gas and went into Lily , but before they could get into her mouth the airborne Mazes died " Expected much I don't feel scared when faced with you " Lily looked at the nanobots which returned "
" Are you okay Mistress ? " " Pretty fine seems like we can create vaccines and sell them ... oh wait no strengthen our relationship with our neighbors can't sell at all if I don't know the value " " How will we make it ? "
" The Mazes can turn into airborne virus so ask the residents for a sample of it and make one out of that we'll give the vaccine to the first dragon rider settlement we can improve their capabilities now that they have that "
" But it is also possible for them to have already been affected , part of the information we obtained was that everyone was to rest after killing Mazes and breathing the "miasma" they expel "
" Then you'll have to ask Scyan to create a medicine too and also warn them about using that medicine on those newly injured we might cause some gruesome death "
" Is that needed ? Larna has restricted the use of the medicine to ensure that only those with very heavy injuries healed and rested after breathing the miasma of the Mazes get administered by it "
" Huh she knows quite a lot I guess even though she's smarter than she has to be , still give them a warning about what we just found ... although she might get mad at me " Lily sighed but considering that nothing bad happened she hoped that Larna was willing to let this slide .
Larna crumples the paper that was sent to her tossing it to her dragon who burns it " Thank goodness I didn't give it to freshly wounded I could've gotten more killed " Larna looked at the island in a distance .
' But they gave me this information should mean they just recently learned about this we already allied ourselves with her residents sent to fight why only have this breakthrough now ? '
...
Tiburon kept swimming east and surfaced to look at a strange shore ' Hmm what's that ? ' he swam in the direction and found some dead fish being carried by the current seizing them to take a bite and see more .
" Woah it's like a Buffet " he started eating them following the directions and suddenly felt danger when he pushed his left hand to pick up a fish and quickly pulled it back ' I can't feel my hand ' he used his instinct to try to map the location of danger .
He looked to his left seeing trees without leaves ' What is this place ' Tiburon pictures it sending it through the satellite which Argus records " Is Boss there ? " " She's out for a walk " " Seriously ? "
" Yes, she is " ' Dang Argus can never take a joke ' " So my left arm feels like it just died and you know how this place is where outcasts are thrown into right ? " Tiburon said " What if they manage to send death over here ? "
" Why do you assume this ? " " Well " Tiburon throws a fish onto the island and watches it lay on the group without movement " Look did you get that Argus ? " " Yes the fish is supposed to move but it's dead this theory will be good I will connect with the satellites "
' Hehe scored me some points ' Tiburon returned underwater while Argus reconnected with a satellite ' These weird tools are flying to the sky ' a hooded figure looked at it ' I can't exactly do anything on them if they aren't alive '
Lily was enjoying all the lethal delicacies on the island ' Some of these could be medicine should make sure to get this data to Scyan in the meantime these Mazes are persistent ' Her cane continued to kill the Mazes quickly while Lily's breath continued to poison the airborne Mazes .
' At this rate , I could just stay here and the maze corruption will probably disappear ' Lily hears some words ' Sounds like the language of the dragon riders , I don't understand some of these words and I'm sure it's not the hallucinogen '
She pays attention to the words finds a small rock to sit on and listens to " Help " ' Help ? Why do I hear this ' Lily looks at the egg wondering if it is even alive ' I can't tell that the cane only has a self-defense mechanism and data gathering so I doubt I can tell maybe I should look into the information saved into this '
Holograms opens showing some text on the dragon tribe " Hmm I should search up with these keywords " "No results found" Lily recalls how ancestral dragon souls can dwell in one body and searched with the keyword souls and found .
" so the bodies are like an afterlife or a land of dead " Lily translates the words based on her limited understanding of their language " They're asking for "Help" so they probably have hope that they can survive the Maze invasion "
Lily walks around checking the time ' It's almost noon but I already ate a lot so no reason to go back early ' " Argus can you tell the dragon riders' that'll be staying at this island with the egg ? "
Larna looks at the letter guessing that Lily must've wished to get the egg for herself ' It's hers to have we don't even have enough forces to fight against the Mazes so if she wants it that much she can have it ' Larna throws the letter to be burnt " They already say it's dead anyways "
Lily walked through the forest letting her cane kill the Mazes and proceeded to breathe in the Mazes' gas form ' There's a satellite up here ' she heard some voices and translated them " Thank you " ' That should mean it's fine right '
" Argus my hand is on the doorknob " a door appears and she opens it returning to her home and leaving the egg ' There's more than an egg over there , there's also a lot of souls ' " Tiburon discovered a strange land to the east of the dragon riders settlement "
' That looks pretty far ' " And we found some strange aberrations " A live feed of a hooded figure appears " The residents' imagination led them to call it a reaper after seeing what the land is afflicted with "
" Oh like that community fandom " " Yes they assume that this reaper came from people who sent away their death into this world and that aberration is a convergence of several different deaths "
" So much like me but if there's death wouldn't there be life ? " " There's is someone like that Tiburon swam even further and was suspected of attempting to escape so I connected to more satellites and found another island . "
An island appeared and truly embodies the fact that this world was called the labyrinth " An actual labyrinth " " Except when Tiburon threw something inside they were instantly trapped and corrupted by the mazes . "
" Then maybe we can first make contact with the eye inside the storm ? " Lily pointed at a greenland full of vegetation and life " That should be our life right ? " " Possibly according to data obtained "
" So we'll have to understand why the Labyrinth chose to enclose Life and free Death " She observed the map seeing how far east the island Death was " Terra told us something about Hugo saying "the wings of the ancestral dragon seem to go even further" right ? "
" Yes she did " " Hmm they flew pretty far from here and considering their technology and Terra's small information what if it's much bigger than it was ? " " That theory is plausible after all it is strange itself that several ancestral dragons are within that body "
Lily thinks about genres related to death " Say can these dead souls possess bodies ? " " We can try , Scyan already completed an artificial dragon "
" Good let's take that dragon to that egg island maybe we can use that to have one soul possess it and get some answers " " I will have someone take the body to the location should we prepare more ? "
Lily thinks about it " No maybe not instead we should just say that we can create more bodies and send Hasst he'll be just right for the mission " " Should I have him vaccinated first ? "
" No I already cleared the Mazes over there but I want to see why the dragon riders believed that the egg is dead there's still some sort of will that is protecting it "
" Perhaps a traitor in the midst ? " " Possibly it could explain a lot of why they think it's dead even though there was a voice and it's impossible for a soul to stay in something that's supposed to be dead "
ns 15.158.61.11da2
