Magical Engineering Chapter 200: Empires and Allies

“I’m almost sure he’s right on the big war talk. I’ve been worried about that potential from the get-go. I still stand by my claim that we might be able to ride that out as the big guys fight amongst themselves, though,” Pryte said the mont the giants had cleared the room.

“Generally, people don’t offer alliances like he did out of the goodness of their hearts. Even if he truly ans well, he’s going to be doing this because he believes it is in the best interests of his people. That ans he thinks the war would affect them,” Laura replied.

“And he also likely has a better understanding of the current political sentints than we do. I may be tapped into the news of the Spire, but any real access I had to the faction gossip dried up the mont I signed on with Dave. That probably ans things are even worse than I realize,” Pryte replied, sighing loudly as he did so.

“What are the downsides to agreeing to this?” I asked. There was, of course, the obvious mutual defense, but if they were attacked, we were probably in trouble anyway.

“We’d inherit their enemies. As that is only the Velvet Sworm Empire, I’m not sure I’d consider that much of an issue, though. They are stretched incredibly thin, and losing this universe hurt them a lot. Beyond that, I’m not sure I see any big negatives,” Pryte answered.

“There’s always the possibility they aren’t as friendly as they appear on the surface, but that’s almost always true. I think it’s well worth the risk for Earth to gain its first potential ally, plus with our ti running short for the supplies we need, I think this is the best option,” Laura added.

“Then let’s do it,” I replied.

“Hey, uh, before we let them back in, do you think we trust them enough to have really let us have this eting in private?” Elicec asked nervously.

“Yeah, I don’t think we are being spied on here,” Yorela answered, her upper eyes laser-focused on the sealed door.

“Okay, well then, sohow we got a letter from ho. We haven’t read it yet because we didn’t want any potential spies, but if it’s safe here, it might be best to get it out of the way before we make any lasting alliances,” Elicec replied as he produced what looked like a small piece of leather and began to unfold it.

I shrugged and nodded, not seeing why they shouldn’t. There was silence as he read it. His brother then moved it closer to his eyes and read it as well. Both of their eyes went wide as they read through it, but sohow even Cecile managed to refrain from speaking.

“Okay, one of you needs to spill. Whatever you just read had you both looking like your reality shifted,” I said.

“The Dwarves missed their last collections, and the ones watching the village have been acting strange. Dad even managed to bribe one of them to get this letter to the Spire. There’s more, but it’s mostly personal stuff. Is our planet about to be free?” Elicec asked, a plea evident in his voice.

“Maybe, we are going to have to determine what’s going on with the Wrenderling Dwarves to know for sure, but yes, this is a good sign, but also likely one that we need to sign the alliance,” Pryte answered.

“I agree. If your world is about to beco another potential ally, that ans we need a show of force to your forr enemies. That said, I want nothing said to the giants about this yet. We don’t know the details of what’s happening, and until we do, we can’t show our hand,” Laura said firmly. She was already falling into the role of diplomacy on a multiversal scale, and frankly, I was impressed.

“We ready for them to co back?” Maud asked as she stood up and stretched.

“Yeah, go ahead and get them,” I replied. There wasn’t much else to discuss. It looked like we were doing this, and in monts, the giants were back at the table. Tomta had the sa expression on his face that he had before they had left the room.

“So, before we get started. I have one question. Did you think there was any chance we were going to reject this offer?” The answer was likely obvious, but I wanted to hear the man say it.

“It was always possible, but considering the position you’re in, no, I didn’t. I understand I’m strong-arming you into a potential war front, but I also don’t think you would find another ally more willing to stand beside as that builds,” he answered.

“I think then all that’s left is drawing up official terms. How do you want to handle that?” Laura asked.

“I don’t, at least not yet. Right now, I want to work on getting all the supplies we need and the gate connected to your world. Do you have soone on your side capable of setting one up, or will we need to use Spire access to get there? We don’t have any vessels capable of independent portal travel yet.” Tomta started tossing out questions rapidly, the earlier roar of his voice having turned into a genuine interest.

“We have communication with our people, and I believe Quarilyn and Elody will be able to build anything to your specification,” Yorela answered.

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“Quarilyn Trelyn? I’ve read her work, I wasn’t aware the Olkerfins were working so closely with your empire,” a woman seated next to Tomta said, speaking up for the first ti.

“They aren’t. It’s just the three of us. But yes, that Quarilyn. Dave does seem to have an odd way of drawing in people,” Yorela replied with a bit of a glare at .

“Yes, Tomthy ntioned that. I’ll admit it’s part of why I’m interested in this alliance. There’s sothing here that I can’t fully put my finger on yet, but I want to be on the right side of it. Now, though, I believe it’s ti for us to get that gate put together. We have supplies we need to deliver,” Tomta said, so of the boom back to his tone.

Despite all his training, Grant was in over his head. It was the primary reason he had jumped at the opportunity to start checking all the local towns for any survivors. It was sothing familiar, sothing he understood. The thing inside him that was pumping mana throughout his body, well, it was useful, but it was still so alien. He had no idea how Dave and Maud had taken to this as easily as they had. If l hadn’t been pushing him nonstop for the trip back to Earth, he might have had more ti to question it, but it was probably for the best that he hadn’t.

“That animal is following us,” one of the three Reltleons, Lainchin, said. Lainchin had been the most willing to join Grant on these missions, and he appreciated it. The other two had been friends of the man, and apparently had been training for possibly dungeon raiding before everything went to shit for them.

Grant looked out the side window of the truck, sothing they had managed to get running from the first town they had been to, and spotted the moose. This was a first. It had never followed them from the hostead before.

“That’s new. Keep an eye on it. We should be in the town shortly,” Grant replied, not really sure what else they could do with the moose at the mont. Since it had eaten the shield orb, it was likely far more powerful than he was.

l had convinced him to take a reinforcent mana orb, despite his objections that a shield seed far more useful. But he had seen enough of what l was capable of to know the man had a deep wisdom within him. He reminded him of his ntor, a man who could scream at a new recruit with the best of them, but he was also a man who had seen too many kids die. He could see that sa sadness in l.

He pulled the truck up and parked it on the outskirts of the town, if you could even call it that. There were maybe half a dozen things he’d call houses, and a bunch of smaller, rundown-looking buildings. As he hopped out of the truck, he pulled up his mana orb again to look at it.

Mana Orb~Reinforcent (1)~-First Tier-Dense Body (25)Requirents: N/ADense Body allows the host to spend their mana to more rapidly increase their natural defenses. As long as this skill is active, all aspects of the host’s body are constantly rebuilding themselves for durability. Further ranks increase the effect.Lesser Regeneration (25)Lesser Regeneration uses the host’s mana flow to slowly repair their body. This is uncontrolled, and body parts need to be placed in their proper position for full effect. Further ranks increase the rate of healing.-Second Tier-Tank (10)Requirents: Dense Body (10)Tank allows the host to draw attacks to their body, which would otherwise be aid at an ally. This effect relies directly on the opponent’s strength of mind and can be ignored should their focus be able to overco it. Further ranks make it harder for opponents to suppress this effect.Keep Going (10)Requirents: Dense Body (25) Lesser Regeneration (10)Keep Going allows the host to fight beyond damage to their body that should have rendered them unconscious or worse. This mana skill does nothing to heal the host, and if the wounds are not treated, they will perish once the effect wears off. Further ranks extend the ti Keep Going remains in effect.

“Those don’t look human. You don’t normally have anything like that on the planet, do you?” Glander asked. He was another one of the Reltleons and was pointing to several small animals huddled over the corpse of what might have been a deer.

“No, we don’t,” he replied. Which wasn’t exactly accurate, ermines were a common enough animal. Normally, though, they didn’t glow blue or hunt deer in packs.

A common the across the many worlds of the Spiral is accountability. And yet, as much as those at the top echelons of society rant and rave about holding oneself accountable, their ire is only ever directed at those below them for a failure to do so. The people, after all, must understand that when their betters do sothing despicable, it was only a mistake, not a true flaw of their character. That sa standard is never applied to those they deem rabble.

When a being has co to hold so much power that there is no person or institution able to keep them in check, what is one to do? The harsh reality that few like to think about, and even fewer dare utter aloud, is that power is only ever held accountable by death.

Diaries of the Man Calling Himself the Spiral Reforr