“The packet has been delivered, Queen Bria!” Speaker Thorn’s voice emerged from the communicator that she had left with the kitsune monarch. “However, it would appear that he was busy at the time. It may be some time before he is able to analyze the information.”

“That’s fine, Speaker.” The queen said with a slight sigh. “Thank you, anyways.”

“Does this mean that you will consider entering the Network?” The voice of the Metong asked somewhat eagerly, causing the queen to smirk.

“At the very least, we shall be allies. Your people were created by one of the gods, so it is only natural that we stand together. As for entering the Network… we can discuss that more closely after we send some people to look at your territories.”

That had been one of the major problems delaying the negotiations all this time. By all accounts, the Metong’s offer was incredibly generous. Some might even say too generous. It left them feeling that there had to be another side to the agreement that they weren’t seeing.

Unfortunately, the Metong worlds were so far away from the worlds of the March that travel between them could only be achieved via point-to-point teleportation in the same style as the Metong travel themselves. None of the L.A.W. worlds had the kind of technology to transport entire ships across such vast distances without first establishing a beacon to teleport to.

There was always the possibility of simply going with the Metong to check their worlds, but that would defeat the purpose of the inspection in the first place. If the Metong really were hiding something, then they would only show the representatives of the alliance what they wanted them to see. In order to fully eliminate their concerns, they had to be given a way to freely explore Metong space without being escorted.

For this reason, the Deckan scientists were attempting to construct a large-scale warp system similar in nature to what the Metong used, but were having a large degree of difficulty. The Metong were far more advanced in terms of artificial intelligence than the scientists, and had used these programs to assist them in their initial designs of the warp system.

Without the aid of the sophisticated artificial intelligence, then even if they were allowed to study the finished product, it would take a considerable amount of time to be able to replicate it. Thankfully, the Metong had patiently acquiesced to their request for more time. To the metallic race, there was no problem whether it took three months, or three years. They did not believe that they had anything to hide, so it was only a matter of waiting for the other party to accept that.

Of course, they couldn’t just outright say that. There had been numerous races that they had encountered in the past with similar mindsets. They were not innately hostile, but were used to a more secretive governing structure. At first, when the Metong had encountered such races, they had tried to convince them that they truly had nothing to fear. However, such a thing only made the other race more paranoid, eventually leading to armed conflict.

Ever since that encounter, the Metong would only stand by and provide the information that the other party requested about their structure while taking a more gentle approach. Doing so had largely reduced the chance of diplomatic meetings breaking down in the past.

This was all information that Speaker Thorn had given to Bria, when the latter asked her why she was willing to be so patient for these negotiations. The Metong had nothing to lose by prolonging the negotiations, as they did not have any investments in the L.A.W. at this time. While they wished to recruit them into the network, there would be no problems as long as a friendly alliance was able to be maintained.

Thinking that over, Bria shook her head, leaning back in her chair. Although the chance of the Metong plotting something in secret seemed low, it was not a risk that she could take for her people. Only when the various government bodies were fully assured of the Metong would they consider joining this Network.

“Oh? So the second race of golems have made contact.” I muttered to myself from within the Admin room. A while back, I had briefly observed the three different breeds of golems that Tubrock had created, each one having vastly different personalities.

The first were the March, who had been chosen to carry the Fairy Ring. They had a more business-minded personality. While they had their fair share of military might, they largely preferred to settle matters through trade, unless backed into a corner.

The second were the Metong, who possessed liquid metal bodies that contrasted the March’s sharp-angled frames. Their mindset was far more generous than any governing body had any right to be, but what was the most surprising was that this generosity was genuine. They hadn’t been taken advantage of by another civilization for the simple reason that they did not give others the chance to do so. Whenever a civilization-wide conflict started, they would immediately proceed to destroy the entire civilization in the name of preventing future problems.

Finally, the last were known as the Gears. Such a name was rather… well let’s just say that it was fitting, if not exactly creative. Their design was far more clockwork or steampunk, built around a nucleus that must have taken Tubrock ages to perfect. This race was not as kind as the other two. When they found a civilization weaker than their own, they would directly send out mining ships to harvest their entire planet.

One economic race, one generous race, and one war-mongering race. Each of them were placed at entirely different points of their galaxy, making contact highly unlikely. It was only due to some special circumstances that the Metong had managed to find the March. And in doing so, the two ‘peaceful’ races had managed to join forces before either one encountered the Gears.

That isn’t to say that the Gears would be destroyed when the three finally met. Rather… I felt as though they were becoming stronger through their indiscriminate harvesting.

Smog covered the sky of a distant factory planet. The constant sounds of hammers beating against anvils rang out in the air like a harsh song. Through the streets of this factory planet, a metallic figure walked. His form was golden, appearing as an armored skeleton with two empty gears for eyes.

Those who saw him made way for his passing, as they knew the meaning behind such an appearance. An appearance where the body’s components had become irrelevant, and the individual could freely alter their own form. Clearly, the man had achieved perfection. But, not just perfection… the golden glow on his metallic frame signified that he had taken a step beyond even that.

The golden golem made his way through the streets, before arriving at a large complex. Realizing that he had reached his destination, he walked to the doors, which opened on their own to allow his presence.

“Lord Geer, we are honored by your presence.” The receptionist spoke in a clicking tone, the lenses of their eyes focusing and widening briefly. The Gears did not have a gender difference, everyone being able to design their own bodies so long as they had the parts to do so. “The head is expecting you.”

“I would hope so, after calling me here.” Lord Geer spoke in a dull tone, one which seemed to echo off the walls. He did not pay any mind to the receptionist, directly walking to the stairs and making his way to the top floor. For one to call the lord of the race to a meeting, there had to be special circumstances involved. One of which being that the other party was unable to leave to attend a meeting at the palace.

Such was the case for the head researcher, or as everyone called him… ‘the head’. As Lord Geer pushed open the door to the head’s office, he was greeted by the sight of a ten meter tall… head. Unlike other Gears, the head had opted to only focus on enhancing his own processing power. He turned himself into a living supercomputer by discarding all other components.

Doing this allowed the head to understand geometric magic far more easily than anyone else in their entire race, and he was known as the only one able to casually decipher and cast spells at the fourth tier. Even Lord Geer, halfway into his ascension to godhood, had to respect such an individual. Though, that did not always mean that he showed it.

“What did you call me here for?” He asked in his rumbling tone, causing several of the looser pieces of the head’s frame to shake.

“Calm your anger, Lord Geer.” A voice spoke from one of the eyes of the head, the mouth used only to print data. This voice was gentle and serene, but was soon joined by another voice that spoke from the other eye.

“Can’t you see that he’s impatient? Really! It’s not like we called him here for nothing!” This second voice was harsher, speaking with a grinding voice. This was another… unique aspect of the head, as he had been born with a modified nucleus that gave birth to twin personalities.

“His impatience is understandable.” The gentle voice spoke up. “He is paving the way to allow our race to ascend to a higher realm. His time is really quite precious.” Thankfully, it was the more amiable personality that often took the lead in conversations, while the other one would only comment here or there until violence ensued.

“Lord Geer, we called you here because we have discovered a sharp increase in monster appearances across the territory. According to our calculations, many of these appearances cannot be attributed to natural spawning mechanics.”

The empty gears on the golden golem’s frame began spinning in reverse. “Explain your meaning.”

“It is our belief that these creatures are appearing from another place. A space outside of our own, but closely connected. By bending the dimensional fabric, they enter our realm. We have reached this conclusion by tracing their origins to a region of distorted space.”

“Are you able to look into the other side of where they came from?” Lord Geer asked, seeming unperturbed by this news.

“Unfortunately, that is not the case. However, we were able to detect a high level dimensium reading from this distorted space.” This piece of news attracted Geer’s attention. The nucleus of their race was made of dimensium, so it was a resource that they could never have enough of. Not to mention its ability to enhance the power of magic cards.

“I understand. Send in a group of Cog Scouts and a conversion facility. You have permission to activate the fleet for this mission.” After he said that, Geer turned and began walking away, clearly believing this conversation to be over.

“As you will, Lord Geer.” The serene voice spoke to Geer’s back. After he left, the eyes of the head flashed red, the two voices speaking in unison.

“Activate the Destroyer Fleet. Assemble Cog Scouts. Deploy one conversion facility to the following coordinates and await further instructions. By order of Lord Geer, we are beginning a campaign against new territory. All forces, prepare to depart.”