The world of Infernius, or at least its surface, was a lot ashier than I had expected. I wasn't there physically so I didn't feel the ash that freely flowed through the world, but my astral projection could see it more so than my scrying spells had allowed me too so I was in for many surprises. It flowed in huge clumps through the air and would in all likelihood be a choking hazard to anyone in this dimension who needed to breathe.

The surface of Infernius was also very dark. If I gazed up at the sky I saw a dark cloud that loomed above me in every direction. The dark cloud cast a grim shadow on the surface and what I could see when I glanced through the cloud was a starless and sunless sky that was also pitch black. I didn't see a moon either.

I found myself inside of a once large city, and around me, I sensed machines, robots, and androids of all sorts. I took a moment to orient myself and to study the things that most closely surrounded me.

I was surrounded in every direction by skyscrapers, cars, and other Htraen-like features of cities. I was also surrounded by inorganic lifeforms. There were no organic lifeforms near me, not for entire kilometers, but there were scores of technological lifeforms near me.

I was on a sidewalk, beside a building that stretched for hundreds of meters straight into the ashy skies. On the road next to me there were countless cars, none of which had any drivers nor did they appear to have been moved in a very long time. The cars were covered in thick piles of ash indicating that no one had disturbed them in weeks, at least, but judging by the thickness of the ash it had probably been years since anyone did anything of note to the cars.

I was doing my best to ignore an ominous notification but it was getting harder and harder to do the more I looked around. That said, I managed to ignore it just long enough to note that up ahead of me was a four-way intersection. I considered walking over to it and using it to gain more information on this odd place but I also knew that it'd look nearly identical to where I currently was. My sensory abilities were just that strong. Eventually I had to give up and read the notification in full.

When I first projected into this city I had read the first two words and then elected to temporarily ignore them and order my robotic, mechanic, and technological soldiers to go to war. I knew just by reading the first two words, one of which I had only really heard of when I was actively in the presence of members of one of my evil cults, that I was going to probably going to need to be fully present to successfully enact my scheme. Now I was fully focused on the scene in front of me and that meant that I needed all of the information I could get.

Dungeon Alert:

You have entered a dungeon. You are currently in the dungeon once known as "Duvessa", a city-type dungeon with aboveground areas and subterranean areas. A dungeon is an area under the influence of a dungeon core, an object created by the evil extraplanar entities known as devils that store and redirect power and energy in ways controllable by a "dungeon master" or "dungeon lord".

Large cities controlled by evil extraplanars were often the homes of these secretive tools created to exercise the greatest amount of control over their inhabitants as possible. If you want to gain control over the surface of Infernius you need to acquire control over at least three dungeons, and thus the cities or other facilities and communities that come with the dungeons, and one of the greater facilities located somewhere on the surface of this super-Htrae-sized dimension.

Part of the problem with Infernius' surface, as well as portions of the history of this dimension, can be discovered by obtaining the dungeon-core located somewhere inside of this city though there may be other ways to discover the history of this place if you're inquisitive. With your current tiers of influence over a few key domains and subdomains, you cannot detect the location of the dungeon core solely by utilizing your sensory powers.

This dungeon does currently have a dungeon master but the dungeon master hasn't updated the dungeon core in close to 490,000 years.

"I am in a dungeon... Of course I am." I mentally whispered, annoyed by this. I had heard of dungeons before, back when I still had my devil worshipers near me, but since I wasn't currently in their presence I hadn't had much of a chance to study them. I had also planned to not come to Infernius for a while, but when I acquired influence over the technology subdomain I knew that I had the powers I'd need to successfully visit this place. Now I was being given a chance to theoretically take control of a city.

I sighed and studied my surroundings some more. After a few moments of careful contemplation, I decided to physically examine the city for a brief moment before I began to tend to machines.

I teleported myself as far as I could see in the direction my enhanced settings told me was the direction I needed to travel to reach the heart of the city. In an instant, I went from standing beside a towering skyscraper to standing in the middle of a vast city-square. I could tell in part for the lack of nearby cars and also because I popped into being next to a fallen robot who was mostly buried underneath a thick pile of ashes. And this was enough for me. Now that I had teleported once and seen even more of the city I swiftly decided to examine the local technology. By helping the technology I would definitely be able to both explore the city and learn more about it anyway.

The robot I noticed earlier was facedown in the ashes and had a body that was similarly colored but my senses were sharp enough to detect it anyway. I lifted the humanoid-like creature out of the ashes and as I did so I went ahead and activated one of my synergistic abilities, a new one I had acquired thanks to my acquisition of the first tier of influence over the subdomain of technology.

My hand began to glow while I hoisted the robot out of the ashes and as my hand glowed, the robot I had grabbed was beginning to glow too. I effortlessly pulled the robot out of the ashes and placed him on the ground, solid ground not ashes, next to me. By the time the creature was on the most solid ground possible at the moment, next to me, it was radiating a bright glow and I heard gears, cogs, and more within it beginning to turn for the first time since I had laid eyes on it. My attempt to bring the creature to life was evidently succeeding!

I looked at the creature and began to study it. It was a robot, which I knew at a glance, but it was unlike my robots. Among other things it had a humanoid body, with two arms, two legs, a head, and it even had eyes! But while it had a humanoid body whoever designed it had no intention of making the thing look like any organic humanoid.

The eyes the robot had were polished sapphires that sat in the middle of a face made of a darkened metal named "Orichalcum", which I learned thanks to a notification I received when I touched the robot. Its body was made of the same material, but where an organic humanoid would have had a chest, this creature had an orb-shaped incision, as if it were a mobile orb-transporter or something.

The creature was still for a moment before it began to vibrate as it came fully to life. It moved robotically and began to move its head from left to right. As it did, it stoically studied everything around it, pausing only when its eyes met mine. I noticed that there was an inflexibility to the thing that kept it from making precise, flexible movements even as its neck slowly scanned the area around it.

When it did, it stopped and the thing emitted static for a second. It then fell silent, and somehow I could sense the faintest bit of confusion from the technological lifeform. It then emitted static again. And this time I felt more confusion and even a bit of anger. A few seconds later it tried to do whatever it was trying to do once more, only to blast static again.

At this point I was annoyed, and I calmly rose a hand and aimed even more healing energy at the ash-covered robot. A beam of light shot forth from my hand and phased into the robot. The creature stopped and studied the light that was emanating from my hand and into it, before appearing to relax and gain a looseness and flexibility that it was lacking before. This time, it didn't emit static. Instead the odd creature spoke for the first time!

"Data banks damaged. Current memory-processing power: 5%. Access to collective knowledge... Negligible." The creature said, robotically. Its voice was quiet. There was a pause, but then it spoke again.

"Greetings Lord-God. My iteration of the system is informing me that you healed me and also that you are the god of technology. I extend my gratitude towards you, as well as express my servility towards you and your divine majesty. May you please announce your name?" The robot muttered, its voice stiff and formal. I chuckled, but was excited that my power worked! I locked eyes, or at least I tried to lock eyes, with the robot and began to speak.

"Althos. Althos is my name." I declared, speaking confidently to the robot. It nodded at me and began to speak again.

"Affirmative. Editing full designation for the entity recognized as the lord-god. New title: 'Lord-God Althos'." The robot declared though I sensed a bit of happiness within the creature.

"How may I assist Lord-God Althos?" The entity asked. That made me grin and I immediately replied to it.

"Do you know how to get to the dungeon-core? Or at least how to learn how to get to it?" I asked, curiously. The creature, or at least some part of it was damaged, so it was possible that it wouldn't know what I was seeking. And it might not have had enough authority to know the possibly "secretive" location of the dungeon-core I was seeking.

The creature was still for a second and I sensed it's mind attempting to search its internal databank for a moment. And then the robot's shoulders fell in disappointment. It began to shake its head, the movement still kind of stiff but far more fluid than before.

"I apologize Lord-God, I do not have that knowledge. I am still damaged, but I know that even if I am fully healed I would not have permissions that high. That said, I do know of a possible solution." The robot informed me.

"If you go around repairing local technology in the same way as you repaired me, reactivating us along the way, you will eventually find a robot with the proper protocols needed to inform you as to how to find the dungeon-core. Even before then, once you've repaired enough of us we'll be able to restore our ability to access our collective knowledge which will allow us to tell you who precisely you need to heal to determine the location of the dungeon-core. Unfortunately even fully healing me would not give you access to that information." The robot informed me. This was deeply valuable intel and so I smiled at the robot, grateful for its help in all of this.

"Thank you for your aid. In exchange, allow me to reward you. Hold still little one." I told the robot, before raising a hand and emitting a potent wave of healing energy. The energy infused the air between myself and the robot with a brilliant silvery hue, and gently phased into the robot. The light was absorbed by the robot's dark metal exoskeleton and I watched as the creature began to be healed more thoroughly than before.

I was using a new synergistic ability that allowed me to heal robots and technological life as efficiently as possible. I studied the robot, and in doing so gained an increased awareness of the thing, including learning its total hitpoints and maximum possible hitpoints. The thing had been quite damaged originally, but now was being steadily healed. I only stopped when the entity was fully healed.

When it was fully healed, the creature was momentarily surrounded by a solid sphere of darkness, one I could see through but that would have stumped other, lesser creatures. I watched as the creature's full power washed over it and as it regained access to a number of abilities lost to the bot when it was damaged.

A minute after the sphere of darkness emanated out from the robot the darkness disappeared. The creature looked around, its head now more flexible and in a perfect state of repair, before it spoke.

"Gratitude transmitted to Lord-God Althos. Thank you, oh deity of technology. As a way to further express the gratitude stored within unit 627-Alpha, please allow the aforementioned unit to travel alongside you while you remain within the city and presumably track down the dungeon-core." The robot said, its voice beginning to come more fully and emotionally to life. I could hear a trace of gratitude in the technological lifeform's words! I chuckled and nodded even as I spoke.

"I shall allow it. That said... I know where some nearby robots are. It'd be faster if we just go together my way rather than walking." I told the creature, having already identified other creatures like it that I could heal. I extended my hand and waited for the robot to take it. When it did, the two of us blinked out of the square and into a nearby building.