Wandering Tech-Priest in Multiverse TPM Chapter 137: Back in the dungeon world

The Nexus Gate's energy finally bled off as the last shimr of light died across its spiralling glyphs.

Luthar stepped down from the central platform, boots striking the polished tal floor with soft, precise clicks. The air of the sub-level lab carried the familiar scents of ionised tal and hot circuitry—the signature fragrance of his domain.

He drew a small tipiece from one of his chadendrites—a modified chrono-interface, its surface etched with tiny sacred sigils.

21:04.

A faint hum passed through his chest as he confird the calculation.

"Twenty-four hours is enough for a buffer," he murmured, his voice almost drowned by the background thrum of generators.

Since ti between worlds did not truly exist, every return carried a theoretical risk: he might arrive at the exact mont he had left. Two identical bodies, occupying the sa ti and space, would be inevitable.

Even if that unlikely catastrophe did not occur, the scenario was no less hazardous. Imagine preparing to depart for another world, only to have a future self arrive in the sa instant. Temporal paradoxes were inefficient problems—the kind even he had no desire to calculate.

So experints, he decided long ago, were best left untested.

Satisfied with everything, he replaced the device and ascended the spiral stairway toward the upper floor of the church.

The hall greeted him with cold silence, golden circuitry etched into the walls like sacred veins. Lun strips pulsed in a slow rhythm, casting the church in a holy machine-light.

Luthar moved through the halls thodically, checking the rooms one by one.

Hephaestus's small chamber—empty.

No soft flicker of divine fla.

Freya's quarters—also empty. Only the faint, lingering trace of her perfu confird she had been here at all.

His augtic eye pinged quietly, confirming what his other senses already told him: no divine presence detected.

Luthar paused in the middle of the upper hall, his gaze sweeping across the silent rooms.

"An empty church," he muttered, his voice even, almost clinical. "Inefficient… and dangerous. A single thief could walk in and take what they please."

He turned his head slightly, scanning the reinforced doors and defensive traps he had installed. None of them had been triggered.

After finishing his checks, Luthar stepped out into the night air, the city's uneven streets glistening faintly under scattered lanterns. The transformation of the Crimson Church had already drawn attention; passersby whispered and quickened their steps, so crossing the street entirely to avoid walking too close.

Murmurs rippled through the quiet district:

"Is that… the rad priest?"

"He looks… weird. Why does he have those moving tentacles?"

"Who knows—but I heard he has very powerful magic weapons."

Luthar ignored them all. His chadendrites swayed in subtle rhythm as he walked, the faint clinking of tal tips on cobblestone marking his presence. A child peeked around a corner, wide-eyed, before his mother yanked him back into the safety of their ho.

Then he neither slowed nor sped up. The world outside his calculations was simply… background noise.

By the ti he reached Hephaestus's workshop, his thoughts had already shifted toward the future. The wide door was half-closed, light from the forge spilling out in a warm, molten glow. Sparks leapt into the air, and the rhythmic clang of hamr on tal carried a steady pulse into the night.

He entered without knocking.

Hephaestus looked up from her anvil, her red hair tied back in a practical knot, eyes gleaming gold in the light of the forge. For a mont, her expression froze—not in fear, but in a sharp, asuring surprise.

She took in the sight of him: the layered crimson robes catching the forge light, his chanical limbs swaying behind him like a halo of iron serpents. Three new chadendrites had joined the older ones, their tips gleaming with specialised tools—a plasma cutter, a fine manipulator claw, and a newly forged rotary drill still bearing fresh polish.

"…I thought you weren't coming back," she said finally, her voice carrying a mixture of curiosity and mild wariness.

Luthar inclined his head slightly. "That's not possible. This place is still good—there is no pollution. It's a perfect place to relax."

One of his chadendrites picked up a cooling ingot from her workbench without conscious effort. He rotated it slowly in the light, scanning it before setting it down with precise care.

Hephaestus folded her arms, tilting her head. "You didn't have that many last ti. Most adventurers would call that… intimidating."

"Intimidation is a side effect," Luthar said evenly, his tone entirely neutral. "Utility is the purpose."

A faint tallic clatter echoed in the background as one of his older chadendrites coiled and uncoiled idly, tasting the air like a chanical serpent.

From the far corner, one of Hephaestus's assistants—an apprentice with soot-smudged cheeks—peeked at the doorway, then quickly ducked out of sight.

Hephaestus caught the motion and sighed. "I guess I should also get so. It would make my job easier."

Luthar turned his augnted eye toward the half-finished weapon on her anvil. "That would be difficult. It's hard to add implants to a divine body made of pure energy… but I believe we can figure out sothing else."

Luthar's gaze shifted from the unfinished weapon to Hephaestus herself. One chadendrite lazily coiled around a support beam, its tip glinting in the forge-light.

"Anything of note while I was away?" he asked finally. "The city… the Familia… any disturbances in the last day?"

Hephaestus shook her head. "Quiet. Too quiet, maybe. No guild inspectors, no adventurers nosing around. Either people are avoiding this place… or they're watching from a distance."

"Observation without action is tolerable," Luthar said evenly. "Interference is not. But the empty church is inefficient. If I am gone for a day, a thief could walk in and steal sothing trivial—or stumble into sothing they should not see."

Her brow furrowed. "I was thinking the sa. One day might not be long, but it's still an opportunity. If word gets out that the church is empty, soone will test their luck."

Luthar's chadendrites clicked softly as he considered. "Solution?"

"I'll borrow a few of Loki's children," Hephaestus said after a pause. "Her Familia has eyes all over the city. They can keep watch for a day. And if Freya lends so of hers as well, no one will dare approach."

Luthar nodded once. "Acceptable. If a threat erges, alert imdiately through the device I left in the church. I will return before anything critical occurs."

The forge fire crackled between them. Hephaestus crossed her arms, studying his new chadendrites again.

"Then tomorrow, we leave?"

"Yes," Luthar said, his voice like tempered steel. "One day is enough for all three of us to make our arrangents. After that… we move forward."

Authors note: basically having lots of difficulty writing new chapter 1st of the spend ti in going to governnt office to correct my docunts so I got tired and didn't got the ti then I am trying to think about the story from 180 to 200 which is getting little difficult as all the ideas looks good but can't able to decide so this week I had only written 181 to 182 since every chapter is taking too much Plus the decrease of the money which in previous month was 140 and this month is around 107 it's too much depression so if you want to support go to my patreon to encourage or just talk about new ideas

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