Chapter 63: The metallic abyss

Within an obsidian room; Redstone torches for ambiance. A red orb afloat within. A pedestal underneath as if the orb would drop at any moment. “What the ever-loving hell is this thing!” I say in extreme frustration.

NEI, I have found is excellent for finding recipes and uses for items. But if you have absolutely no clue of its identity; it's useless! I have tried power core, red orb, explosive device, and a mile-long list of other things. I absolutely cannot find the item and with that, I cannot identify its use. It's absolutely maddening. Kicking the pedestal in frustration.

Kneeling towards the orb, a shiver running up my spine as I recall the absolute destruction it created from simply overloading. Shaking my body out of its stupor I level my gaze at the odd orb. Sometimes the fear of death is stronger than the mind. Even with an infinite supply of clone bodies, I can't shake the dread it instills in me.

I was bruised for a week after surviving that damned blast, growling in remembrance of the recovery period. Healing items heal direct injuries; indirect like bruising and small injuries are outside of its recovery area. So short of flaying my own flesh to regenerate it completely I need to reply on my own body's recovery rate.

This time was mostly spent cuddling my adorable pets and reading. Pretty sure Cassie figured out something was up with my aloof nature the past week to avoid her finding out. It has the opposite reaction; receiving a large amount of mail badgering me to know what's wrong. I have hardly known her for a month; she's far too caring. It’s a trait that will get her in trouble in the future.

Heading outside of the obsidian bunker. Considering it as a decoration by this point as I recall the blast zone. The fallout from the metal spanned over a kilometer at least! I find a comfy spot on my sofa and relax. Allowing the tension from another fruitless attempt at finding its bloody use.

Hearing light footsteps at a quick pace, “Hey Jengal.” I say, appreciating the company of the pain in my arse. Being stuck in my house for a week was driving me mad. So, I invited Jengal to visit to keep my company. “How did I survive alone for as long as I did?” I murmur; Jengal approaching. He in fact does have access to my teleportation network, which has had unexpected benefits and problems.

“Hey, how's the bruising?”

A sigh of relief escapes my lips. “I am nearly back to 100.”

“Good.” He says as he kicked me out of my side of the sofa. Sitting down like he owns the place.

“Rude, I can always revoke your privileges.”

He scoffs, “I am pretty much your sole source of rare, hard to find materials. I am irreplaceable.”

I just chuckle, “Is that arrogance I hear. Here's some advice; ‘everyone’ is replaceable.” Idly musing of all my jobs, I thought I was ‘irreplaceable.’

He just looks away; I am sure he will learn his lesson eventually. Sighing internally; he's gotten too comfortable. Not like I can do much; I am too lazy to find another source of items and he's not soo bad.

Poking a sore spot, “So… found that Kontron crystal yet?”

He just throws an extremely fluffy pillow I use to host my books when I read on my back. Enjoying the embrace of softness, I throw it back far harder. I take a remote, switching on a tv I installed in this living room. It seems a ‘limited’ degree of tv exists. It would be far more vast if those damned tech bastards weren’t hoarding their radio tech from the rest of this world.

I would sneakily realize it but after getting a couple death threats, I decided against it. I could likely handle it but I don’t want to be public enemy number one.

In my boredom, I extracted a few additional genes from my body. It had the side effect of healing the ‘harvested’ area completely; speeding up the healing process.

I noted that I could gather the genes I modified my body with. I also found the genes: Sentience, sapience, and humanoid. Realizing I don’t know the difference between sentience and sapience I check my chicken. Finding it acting like a pack animal herding other chickens in hunting formations.

Felix punked me the prick. The chicken was already sentient I just gave it canoid traits! I hastily scribbled my book to double-check quests in the future. I just pray towards Felix for an answer… I got one. Extremely loud laughter, true, pure laughter.

Finally getting out of my funk. I begin doing stuff again. I could have changed the clone body but I find it upsetting to dispose of bodies. It wasn't ‘too’ bad; so, I let it go and just sucked it up. Heading to my kitchen I whip up an omelet for some energy. I used the volcanic black salt, it's like magic.

I begin by crafting a few more farming stations. Upgrading and expanding my farming area and its automation. I plant a wider variety of crops. This includes bushes, vegetables, and fruits. The only thing it's not automatically growing is trees and mushrooms. While I am at it, I remove the strategically placed webs over my doors. Fool me once, fool on you; fool me twice fool on me.

After which I did a bit of gardening, cleaning up some trash and making the island slightly more attractive. It’s the small things in life. As I dust up some leaves fallen from the autum trees. I lightly think about the stir the whole situation caused.

The mayor… he was livid. Posters posted all over; information wanted; gold reward. Of course, I ignored them and pretended I don’t know anything. It wasn’t really my fault; blame the person who stored a nuclear robot under the lake. Images flashing through my mind, a shiver running through my body as I recall my arm being sheared off. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug, I hardly noticed during the moment.

Curiosity and fear ruling me, I bite and bullet and start prepping invisibility potions. Chugging the first potion I teleport towards the lake. Admiring the attempt at blocking off the lake. It hasn’t stopped curious onlookers but at least the main detonation area is covered. I am not here for that though; I walk towards the water. Noting a less than crystal appearance, a green glow permeating the water subtly. If I wasn’t here just a week ago, I wouldn’t notice, yet I can see it clear as day when I am looking for it.

Submerging myself within the water; I begin searching. Looking for breaks in the earth and any sign really of the source the beasty. Eventually, I find some eroded tracks from where the metallic monster clearly walked along the lake. Suppressing the nightmare fueled flashbacks, I have cried enough already. I follow the footsteps, losing my way occasionally but eventually they lead me deeper and deeper.

Ignoring the drowning sensation; musing at the illusion of impending oxygen starvation. Makes me wonder why I bothered with the damn gills if I feel like I am suffocating underwater irrespective of my actual ability to breathe.

Eventually, I find a sharp decline leading into a ravine of black underwater. Pushing the fear of the dark to the back of my mind. A moment of hesitation later and I step into the black. Falling into the inky void.

It felt like a long time, but rational thought disagreed. Eventually, I come to a stop, finding a pitch-black floor. Taking out some Glowstone, I start tossing it around. A semblance of light passing the area. Shiny, black metallic walls reflect the light dimly. I follow along, throwing more and more Glowstone. I note strange symbals engraved roughly in the walls.

Clearly done with haste and a tool hardly designed for the job. I notice scratch marks of missed strikes and shards of metal on the sandy floor. I continue on, noting the large increase in symbols, and now, shapes and pictures in chicken scratch along the walls.

Finding the metallic walls and etched lines both enchanting and terrifying; I continue on. I notice a slight decline along the walls. I eventually come to an area with grey metallic walls. The light permeating the underwater cavity far better. I notice broken electronics such as lamps, lights, and outlets. Some shards of what I could only imagine was once a table stands in the middle. Time has long since eroded it to specks of dust and shards of wood in the general shape of a rectangular object.

Entering further I see the flicker of dying lights. Marveling and the vitality of the dying electronic. This place seems positively ancient; how the hell does it still work? I begin to notice broken doors, panels; some with flickering blue screens of cracked glass. What is this place?

The ceiling is still out of view, far higher than my light reaches. I find a singular blue panel glowing powerfully at the end of the long space. Not a flicker mars it's pristine blue screen. Looking around it I see a large metallic skeleton, a large plug like socket at the back. A small spark of electricity discharges into the water occasionally.

Coming closer to the panel I see words in writing I can't read. A greyed-out image of a familiar destructive metal monstrosity. Looking to the side I see… jumping back in fright. I look closer, noting a similar metallic creature. Yet rusted and mostly destroyed. The shape the only identifiable feature uncorroded by time.

Pushing down the fear, I step forward. Reaching out hesitantly I touch the metallic husk. Running my hand along with its corroded metal plates. It's honestly beautiful in design when it's not trying to kill me. In between the 2 structures, I notice an odd black line inset into the wall. 2 slight indents in the metal rise up into an arch. An almost invisible line flows down the middle.

Taking a moment to consider my options… I leave. I have caused the town enough trouble. I will visit at a later date with better precautions. That’s a door I will open another day. Heading back, I avoid getting lost to the best of my ability. A few side doors caught my eye but I eventually chose to ignore them. Rising to the surface; drinking an invisibility potion I leave the area.

Heading home, I sit back on my sofa appreciatively. I wasn’t gone long but it felt like an eternity. I wasn’t scared; I didn’t feel fear, I felt ‘Terror.’ The darkness corrosive on my mental state. The water a restrictive coil. It’s an extremely claustrophobic place to be a constant feeling of being trapped.

Suppose I am not as fearless as I thought.

Using my bond to call Chic for cuddles, I receive a “Coming.” Following by emotions of excitement. The soft spider nuzzling my chest as I relax from the short trip. I open a book, looking into it; I put it down. Noting the horror book, I had been reading. I should read a tamer book – “100 ways to avoid danger!” A silly book containing a lot of useless information. Although it hosts a few snippets of street knowledge worth a damn.

While reading I play with a rubics cube. I made one with deco craft recently and it has held my attention well. That frustrating thing stopping me at every turn. I eventually scrambled the thing before throwing it at a wall. The clay it was made out of, crumbling at the force; disintegrating against the wall. I probably shouldn’t have done that! I nearly finished it as well. Sighing at my foolishness.

Eventually, I fell asleep on that comfortable sofa. The safe and relaxing feeling In my home allowing me to settle down.