B2 Ch2: Grotto

[Year 21 Month 7: Two hours later]

[Blessed: 6235 – 3]

I had searched through my system logs to see if the errors had been recorded, but nothing other than the finalized text had been stored, and I had absolutely no time to focus on that, considering there was apparently no issue, and I had a responsibility to the citizens of my settlements. I had to turn back to the more pressing matters, despite the highly concerning messages.

While I had been searching for answers, the room had undergone a dramatic transformation, which was mostly due to the Chlorokinesis.

In just two hours, the stone dwarven halls had been completely replaced, plants covering almost every square inch of the area. Vines crawled up the large room’s walls and anchored into several supports that Therisa had constructed. The rat man had also included several edible plants. Soon, the food issue would have to be solved, but any bit would help.

Yezin had to top up his mana several times with Salfi’s help, who was absolutely exhausted from having dozens of the magical equivalent of blood transfusions. She would probably be tapped out for a few days, resting in a cot reserved for her.

With all of the work being done, the population density was still absurd and completely unsustainable, but it meant we could squeeze everyone in. Fortunately, all of the plants and whatever air filtration system the dwarves had were keeping carbon dioxide levels down, and there were no signs of suffocation.

I asked Fal’el if it was exposed to the surface, but he just shook his head, “Nay, too paranoid for that. It’s completely sepr’ate. Lucky it’s still runnin’ though.”

Pressing for a bit more, he just shrugged, “Don’t even need the oaths for this, I don’ know the details, there be a few runes that help though, that much is obvious.”

Sighing, I instead focused back on Therisa, for whom I had one more task.

Having already been prepared for this, she was suspended from the top of the tunnel by a leather harness. “Therisa, seal the shaft.”

Using the last bit of mana in her body, she slowly went around the edges of a highly pressured stone lid and made sure every single crack was merged with another pit of stone.

Most naturally occurring stone was porus in nature, with small holes and microfractures that could lead to tiny leaks that would be barely noticeable. With the replicating nature of the miasma, if even a little bit got in, it would rapidly grow and cleanse whatever life it could get its hands on, and while not as important, it would probably infect the rest of the dwarven ruins, consuming any remaining artifacts.

We had cut it pretty close, with the last group of survivors making it inside the cobbled-together bunker, but Therisa still had minutes to spare and had time to double-check the stone provided.

So far, this taught me three lessons: try not to have a Vexus boss summoned right next to you, you can never have a deep enough and sustainable enough underground bunker, and that skills made an incredible difference in both efficiency and quality.

Watching the all-consuming mist seep through the collapsed tunnels and reach what I affectionately named ‘the cork’ was nerve-wracking, but I watched for several minutes, and it seemed to work perfectly.

“Codex, keep watch. Also, once Therisa has regained enough mana, please have her add an additional stopper to the drop.”

With little else to do for the moment, Codex agreed, and for a while, it was deathly silent; a heavy curtain of despair and loss blanketed everyone. Most were content to simply hold onto one another and spend some time with their loved ones.

Watching all of this, I took a mental step back from the situation at hand and thought about everything leading up to this point.

Inra’s death almost two decades ago, and both his son and Dain’s sacrifice to protect the world. Observing thousands of people and watching many grow old or never come back out of the dungeons. The method in which I had killed the Commander, and countless more lives I had been responsible for, but I never actually did everything I could to protect them.

Even now, there were likely dozens of ways I could have prevented this mess, but I hadn’t taken the time or thought to truly think it through. Instead, I kept myself far away from my constituents, only interacting with them to boost my own power, Goliath being a prime example, and not truly helping the collective.

Salfi by herself proved it, having reached a similar level to many of the more powerful individuals, and more so, effective with my Mark placed upon her wrist.

There were many excuses I could make, whether that was my concern about the churches or even the local nations, but none could go back in time and fix what I had done, or rather, the lack of what I had done.

I had been a pretty shit protector, but that needed to change.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Having already promised that none of my cities would ever be wiped out again, I broke the promise. This time, it would never happen if I had anything to say about it, and it would begin with the people themselves.

***

[Year 21 Month 7: A week later]

[Blessed: 6235 – 1362]

[Marked: 13 + 1362]

The results were massive.