Steel and Mana

Chapter 144 – Snake Pit (1)

"Is this all we have?" I asked, standing in a freshly built warehouse, watching multiple tall metal vats filling the room to the top of the ceiling.

"Yes, My Sovereign." Paxon answered me as I observed all of the monster blood we collected, which was then being melted down from their frozen state and pumped into them. "We made sure to collect all of it. We also marked some of the vats with red tape, which has some kind of taint within them. They are not as clear as the others, but we can't tell what it may mean."

"Those will be the ones used in tests, then. The rest will be what goes onto the frame of the mech. Good work!"

"Thank you, My Sovereign!" He answered, bowing towards me with a happy smile.

I didn't expect it to be this much. By my estimation, I could fill multiple Olympic pools with it and still have some leftovers. Oh well, it was a welcomed surprise. I heard from Oleg it became even easier to collect the frozen slabs when the snow melted because the monster's blood remained rigid even in the warming weather. At the moment, we were building a miniature prototype, meaning it was human-sized. So, it's a miniature compared to the real one. Merlin and I deemed it necessary to do so and be able to test how to apply some of the magic formations after we came to an impasse.

We have three such replicas right now, without most of the inner parts, gyros, and hydraulics that are being installed into the main one under Sasha's supervision. They were altered so that their limbs could be moved, even without the final solution, for ease of use. They didn't need to be so precise or sturdy, just mobile enough for testing purposes. So, this collection of blood came at the right time because we can start testing with Merlin and go from there. We had enough debates over books and plans, going nowhere, so it was deemed to be best just to do it and adapt in real-time.

When I met Merlin the following day, it was at our usual testing ground. At the start of the project, the whole area was walled off, marking it as a restricted zone and guarded constantly by our soldiers. People could no longer access it, only with permission from Melrin, Sasha, or Oleg, which was not easy to get, even for the rest of the ministers.

"So? What are we testing today?" I asked when I arrived, seeing the human-sized, metallic mech hunched forward before me. It was giving me goosebumps because it was exciting to see it come to life, even if this one was nothing but an oversized toy to be scrapped later. 

"Well," He mumbled, stepping off the stool he was standing on as the giant model was taller than him. "I installed one of the ideas we had and put a CC within."

"You do know, we had dozens of those... So? Which iteration?" I asked, crossing my arms and turning towards the nearby table that had weird little contraptions on it, made in the image of controllers from my old life. It was something I mentioned in passing, and Merlin very quickly adapted them into reality. It was, in essence, a magic receiver that could send and record waves of magic, something born from his earlier endeavors. 

"It has a similar formation inside that I developed for my music recorder." He explained eagerly, seeing me examining the toys he crafted. "It will pick up on my thoughts when they are active, transform them into magical waves, and send them over to the one installed in the model! Easy!"

"Yes, if the receiver works. This is different than recording music as we are trying to transmit concepts and thoughts."

"It worked for Mikan, no?" He argued, fired up, unafraid of the challenges before us.

"Yeah, but she is a witch, and it was done with her own mana. This time, we are trying to send an order to an inanimate object. The only blood it has is the one painted onto its frame. Unlike this toy, even the beasts are alive and control their own bodies!"

"It will be fine!" He laughed, grabbing one of the 'controllers' and activating the magic transmission at once. I watched as the blood-red runes began glowing on the prototype, and lo and behold, it moved its left arm, raising it slightly before settling back down. "Nyahahaha! See? I told you it would work!"

"..."

"Leon?" He asked, unsure a little, seeing my thinking face and how I was squinting at it. Slowly but surely, his initial pride disappeared, replaced by anxiety because I remained stoic and refused to celebrate yet.

"Pass the controller to me."

"Hm?"

He watched as I took it, repeating what he did, using charged CC—multiple ones at that—but nothing. This time, the machine didn't pick up or follow my thoughts of moving its arms, and the simple gears we installed didn't rotate at all. It was completely immobile from start to finish.

"As I thought." I shrugged, giving it back to him while Merlin was already wearing a frown.

"An issue I did not expect."

"This is why I told you Mikan's example has many hidden variables, which we are blinded to. One is the fact that she is a mage. Me, someone non-magical, can't do what you can, as I just demonstrated."

"What if we..." He began but then fell silent.

"If we tattoo something on me? Who knows. Right now, I don't want to become a canvas of criss-crossing spells and look like a clown at the end of it. That thing doesn't come off, my dear Merlin."

"Ugh... This is not good." He mumbled, thinking of thousands of different things at once, but I just smiled, patting his head.

"It is a step forward. Let's try something different! Prerecord an instruction. Can we do that? Like recording music, you record simple movements like raising the arm, lowering it back, etc. Let's see if that works. Don't get disheartened so quickly! We knew this would happen. For now, focus on testing, testing, and maybe a bit more testing. With more data, we can come to the correct solution!"

"Um, I will try that."

"While you work on it, I will take the second toy and install a miniature 'reactor' into it from CC. We also need to test if the formation we designed for its power is stable and can function. We can create a scaled-down version and take preliminary measurements on how long it can stay operational with one charge. We have long weeks ahead of us, Merlin. Don't try to rush it, okay? Just take it... leasurely~!"

...

....

.....

"I can't believe it..." Polo mumbled, standing next to Pion, looking up at the giant walls of the capital city as the two were waiting in line, wanting to head into the city. They have been at their spot for two days already, slowly inching forward on a bridge made for the common people.

"You said that multiple times already." Pion chuckled, gently knocking on the top of his head.

"But... if you think about it, isn't it barely better than what we have?" He asked, whispering, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

"Barely?" Pion huffed, raising an eyebrow, making Polo blush while those who did hear them chuckled, seeing it as a parent scolding his kid. What they missed was the fact that Pion looked so annoyed about Polo because he dared to suggest the city's walls were on par with what they had built in Avalon.

A few hours later, standing in the midday heat, it was their turn to step before the bored and annoyed guards who were asking for their names and the reason for their visit. Maybe it was because of their grumpiness that they missed the fact that amongst all the people here, these two were almost unaffected by standing in line for days, barely looking exhausted by the time they stood before them.

Pion had already prepared everything before it was their turn and was experienced enough to give fake names and parade themselves as people from Greyback. Even if they checked up on them, all the clues would lead back towards Greyback; Pion and Elena ensured that. After paying the required fees, with a bit of extra for skipping the last questions, they were granted entrance into the city without much fuss. Next, they were herded along by hundreds of others until they crossed the bridge into a completely different world.

"Stay close and don't get lost." Pion warned Polo, looking at him seriously, "Here, I can't help you if you get into trouble."

"I understand." He nodded, his eyes determined to do it right, "Our home takes priority over us. You don't need to worry about me."

"Good." He smiled, happy to see him picking up on one of the traits an Avalonian soldier needs the most: loyalty. Since they were on the road, Polo never failed his teachings and managed to keep Avalon's name out of his mouth all the time. Even when he was trying to force him to trip and make a mistake, the kid passed with flying colors, never revealing anything related to their home. Not even by accident.

Although he had yet to start gaining weight, Polo was quickly maturing below his casual clothes, not just in his body. He had already finished school, surprising many of the teachers by starting late but finishing before any other kids in his age group. After graduation, he immediately signed up for the army and was given special care as Oleg assigned him to become an officer. If he could maintain his growth rate, Polo could very possibly outgrow even Pion. A fact the latter was incredibly proud of, looking at Polo as his own blood by now.

At the moment, the duo was trekking through the poor side of the city. Well, poor compared to the other circles within the Capital, those boroughs that housed the truly important and influential families. Those places would have refused their entry by just looking at them, but here? It was easy to get in and, many times easier to disappear. The families living here were either offshoot branches, bastards of others, or part of the extensive trading branches of nobles, dealing with everything within the empire. Legal or illegal. It was said that for the correct price, anything could be bought here; you just had to look for it in the right places.

"Where to now?" Polo asked, looking at Pion while the two were walking through the crowded streets, passing by a multitude of pavilions, people trying to sell their goods, be it handcrafted jewelry or their own children. It was said that even the Emperors shopped in these parts of the city. Of course, they would never come down personally... but Polo did not want to think about it too much, already abhorring what he was seeing, happy that he could serve someone like the Sovereign instead of an Emperor.

"Following Lady Elena's instructions, first, we will find the Goldflake Inn. Then, there we will find someone named Uzin who will put us in contact with the correct person."

"What weird names."

"Just don't say this into their face." Pion chuckled, glancing over his shoulder, noticing that someone was already following them. "Come... Let's take a cut here."

"Huh?" Polo flinched, looking towards the darker, abandoned-looking alley, very quickly picking up on the clues. "Yes. Attack maneuver Alpha?"

"Let's use Gamma." He replied, making the young boy nod and take a deep breath.

"Yes, Sir."

There were simple codes he had to learn when he was inducted into the officer training. When they got the code Alpha, all soldiers had to use only enough force to incapacitate the target. Beta allowed them to use any force necessary to remove the target as long as it didn't expire. Gamma... It was the green light to use lethal force without being questioned why. He couldn't help but feel his heartbeat spiking up, his adrenaline flooding his system... It was going to be one of his first fights and with the order to kill. He... He didn't know if he was ready, but he had to do his best. For Avalon. For Pion. And... for himself.