There are two types of aether-users.

The first were the Innatum, who through their bodily affinities, could naturally manipulate aether into an elemental form. The power of their spells was measured in six tiers.

They could also undergo ritual ceremonies, amplifying their natural affinities to alter their bodies and gain new abilities. Nick was most familiar with the Nephilim. Wind-based Innatum who birthed wings. Earth beget Lycans, who could morph into beasts of great size and strength. Water beget Vampyrs who could manipulate the blood, the very essence of life itself.

More possibilities existed, though Nick only knew them by rumors. Djinns to the far south, mystics from the spice-lands of Bakara, and a martial group of people in the silk-lands of the far east who honed their bodies through training and nourishment. Port-side merchants said the practice was called “cultivation”.

The second were the Bracers, who used a gem-brace to harness the same powers. Nick wasn’t certain on the mechanics of it, but the purpose of a gembrace was similar to a crutch or a false limb. Something to bridge the undeveloped aethereal connections in a body.

As Nick sat on the stone floor of the cavern, staring at the blue screen in front of him, it became rather apparent this power was of a separate category.

He poked and prodded the edge of the screen a few times, moving it about in the air. How it stayed afloat was a mystery. It wasn’t an illusion, and also wasn’t a product of crystal engineering.

What exactly was it then? And what exactly was he?

Nick tallied up all the things he knew so far. His mind felt significantly larger, and sprouted several phantom limbs. Disconcerting, although the purpose appeared to be related to manipulating and controlling the droids from earlier. He could heal, using those odd violet energies wisping out of him.

His hair had aged, turning into a shade of gray. Thankfully the rest of him didn’t. Violet lines and circles marred his left arm, all the way up to his left forehead. His left eye glowed yellow and had a new square iris.

Maybe he had undergone some transformation like a Nephilim? Implausible, since he wasn’t an Innatum.

The words on the screen didn’t shed much information on the matter either.

Main Unit: NEZRA- 14526181

Current Generation: 1

Main Unit Energy Quantity: 96

Droid Count: 0/50

Total Mineral Quantity: 0

Total Energy Quantity: 96

Active Constructs: Sarcophagus x1

It kind of reminded him of a property ledger. Similar to the ones he used to compile for the Earl.

“Main Unit” referred to him. The blue screens referenced him as Nezra and the string of Pythian numerals several times. What exactly did it mean? Perhaps a reference to the mystery of his birth?

He shelved the thought for later.

Below were a series of words referencing minerals and energy. Both sounded like some kind of resource. Ones he never heard of before. He did notice “main unit energy quantity” and “total energy quantity” had fallen by four, which implied he expended it at some point. Going off the general meaning of energy, probably earlier during the running and climbing.

Droid Count was self-evident and he didn’t exactly have any of the droids around. The Sarcophagus x1 by active construct probably indicated the pod he left behind.

All informative but not exactly useful.

The wind outside picked up along with the sound of rain pelting the wall outside. A gust flew through the dim mining tunnel. The cold cut through his bare chest and drenched pants. Goosebumps prickled up his arms.

Nick bit his lips, shivering and crossing his arms to preserve warmth. Immunity to cold was clearly not an ability he had gained, which could rule out an affinity for water or fire.

The tunnel was bare of anything which could provide warmth. All Nick saw were piles of stone rubble along the walls and an ancient rusted minecart sitting crooked over broken rails. This place had been long abandoned.

He could delve deeper but he didn’t risk it. Especially without some light source.

Another thing to tack onto a growing list of necessities. He had no idea what time of the day it was, and how soon night would fall.

He shimmied behind the minecart. The makeshift barrier doing little to block the wind, which simply funneled around it.

Nick pondered how things would be if they had gone as planned. He’d probably would be in Reclaimer City, undergone the rite to become a Reclaimer, be in a warm room with a bed to sleep in.

He stopped the thought there. It was no use in wondering what could have been. Especially when so much needed to be done. Everything from as simple as finding shelter and sustenance to figuring out where exactly he was in the Fringe. Even with those problems solved, he’d need a faster means of transportation than being on foot.

Especially if he was going to confront the raiders. If he had the means of confronting them. His newfound abilities were interesting but he didn’t know how well it matched his opponents. They had a fully-fledged Lycan and Vampyr, along with an assortment of Bracers, Northlander Innatum, and those advanced weapons.

Not to mention this was the Fringe. Who knew who else lurked out here? Nick recalled hearing out piracy had spiraled out of control since the Imperial Civil War. Many of the attacks originated from the Fringe.

Nick dug into his arms. He remembered Arne’s sneering face and Lady Askel’s apathy. The jubilant laughter of all the raiders. All of them. He’d make them pay.

No. This wasn’t about vengeance. This was about justice.

However, baby-steps first. Nick took a deep breath. As the saying goes, the city of Serafil wasn’t built in a day, and although he hadn’t been in a situation as dire as this, he’d always made it through. Valdric always had a saying during dark times.

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

So, thought he did. Nick turned his attention to the bottom of the blue screen.

Options:

[UNIT INTERFACE]

[BUILD]

[ADVANCEMENT] Requirements for Second Trial

Main Unit Upgrades: [POWER] x5, [CAPACITY] x5, [MENTAL] x5

Constructs: [SARCOPHAGUS] x1, [REFINERY] x1, [FACTORY] x1, [ARMORY] x1

Droid Count: x30

Active Classes: [OFFENSIVE DROID] x2, [DEFENSIVE DROID] x2, [SUPPORT DROID] x2

He noted the brackets surrounding the first three sets of words, indicating them as buttons. The [ADVANCEMENT] button was grayed out as if it wasn’t available. Not that he was too interested in going through another one of those trials.

He didn’t have any of those “droids” around so it didn’t seem like it would be much use to push the Unit Interface. That left [BUILD].

The word implied the creation of something. What exactly though? Nick flicked the button with a finger out of curiosity. A separate smaller screen appeared by the main one.

Available Constructs

[REFINERY] – 50 Energy. Extracts minerals and energy and serves as storage.

[FACTORY] – 50 Energy. 50 Minerals. Creates Droids. Requires Refinery.

[ARMORY] – 50 Energy. 50 Minerals. Creates Armament. Requires Refinery.

[SARCOPHOGUS] - 50 Energy. 50 Minerals. Enables rest.

Nick brushed his chin with interest while looking down the list. Now he was getting somewhere. [ARMORY] created weapons while [FACTORY] created droids. Both required the [REFINERY] which also generated the necessary materials.

[SARCOPHOGUS] provided the option for rest. Tempting, but it wasn’t the time.

It reminded him of reading recipe of ingredients from Chef Morel’s cookbooks.

Nick had an expressed interest in getting armed and armored, especially now he knew he was out in the Fringe. A few of those droids would be helpful as well.

He pushed [REFINERY].

Nick flinched as the marks along his left arm flared to life. Violet light lit up the tunnel, sending shadows out. The rubble and railtracks gleamed in the illumination.

A ray shot out of the symbol on the center of his hand casting a ghost-like image a few paces ahead of him.

Nick had never seen something like the image. A pyramid as tall as him with a flat top. Two cylinders strapped upright along two of the corners. Lines and circles covered the entirety of the structure, similar to the ones on his arm.

On the blue screen, there was a single line of words and two buttons.

Confirm? [Yes] [No]

There didn’t seem to be any harm in it, so Nick pushed [Yes].

Instant regret followed, as he felt strength drain out of his body, starting with his left arm and trickling up his legs. Nick fell, managing to land on a knee before crumpling into a heap. He struggled to move his left arm, but it seemed to have taken a life of its own.

It remained as rigid as a board while the violet ray flared brighter. The ghostly image gaining substance. Solidifying from the bottom-up. It looked like the same opaque gray material of the droids.

Nick regained control of his left arm, right as the construct was completed.

He wobbled up. Weak but not incapacitated. Nick looked at the main screen and saw the energy count had dropped to 45. He should have realized the cost for the structure had to have been paid somehow.

Either way, the price had been paid and the structure stood across from him, in the middle of the tunnel.

Not standing as Nick realized. It was levitating.

A tingling sensation reverberated through his head. A phantom limb jostled and Nick felt a connection snap into place.

Nick became instantly aware of the construct as if it was extension of his own body. As if to prove the point a yellow label named [REFINERY] appeared above it.

Now that he had some time to process things, a part of him was a bit concerned about these odd mental connections. Mostly because he wasn’t exactly sure what it was going to do to his own mind. Like having tumors growing out of his skull and then latching themselves to other organisms.

On the other hand, it felt oddly natural. Like practicing a skill after years of disuse. The same feeling when he touched that aether musket back in Sevola.

That raised another question. Where exactly did that aether musket come from? It caused a blue screen to appear just like when he picked up the sword and shield.

The voice mentioned there were others. Were they the cause? Were they involved somehow? Not just with the raiders but more? He recalled Lara’s disturbing news from the south…

More to ponder on later. The yellow label seemed a bit like a button, so he reached up and flicked it.

A third screen popped up.

[REFINERY]- Extracts energy and minerals from raw materials. Insert materials through the opening.

Energy: 0/1000

Minerals: 0/1000

A pretty straight forward description, though he didn’t know what exactly constituted as raw materials.

It gave him the same uncanny feeling when Chef Morel imported a new meat processor into the kitchen. A new Islelander invention which used gears connecting to a wind crystal to mechanically churn beef and pork.

Nick perched his head around the structure and didn’t see anything resembling it, or any machine he heard or read off. Anything resembling a quartz inscription or crystals were hidden away under the opaque shell.

The tip of the pyramid was flat and gave way to a hole the size of a book. That clearly was the opening. The only one for that matter.

So, what exactly did it process?

He remembered the blue screen he saw after touching the tree trunk. The words seemed to indicate it as a “potential resource.”

Maybe that was what was needed? Something rich in aether? However, there weren’t any trees here and Nick wasn’t exactly too keen to head back into the arachnid infested forest.

Nick immediately thought of gemstones, given he was in a mine. However, looking at the gaping holes along the walls, they all appeared to have been harvested away long ago.

The glimmers among the rubble caught his eye. Since when did rocks gleam in the light?

Nick stood up and stepped toward one of the piles of rubble against the wall. Upon a closer look, he could see chips embedded in the stone. Shards too small to be given attention for harvesting.

Maybe not all of them had been harvested after all.

He clasped a handful with his right hand. A blue outline enveloped the pile, and a blue screen flickered above it.

[Potential Resource] [Minerals- 86, Energy- 37]

Nick looked at the refinery and back at the pile. The amount of “energy” in the pile was almost enough to create another construct. The number seemed rather high for the size. Relatively speaking.

However, he was always up for a little experimentation, and it wasn’t like he had any better ideas. He dumped the pile into the refinery’s opening.

A grinding noise ensued, and the lines along the structure lit up.

It went on for several seconds then stopped. At first, Nick scratched his head, thinking he broke it, when two lines lit up at the bottom of the cylinders. One cylinder shone red while the other shone blue.

He took another look at the refinery’s screen.

Energy: 37/1000

Minerals: 86/1000

So, it did work, and whatever was extracted went inside the cylinders.

Upon a closer look, the tops of the cylinders looked a bit like caps. Nick placed a hand over the blue one, but the moment his hand hovered over it, the lid levitated up.

A glimmering blue substance with the texture resembling a paste littered the bottom of the cylinder.

It was concentrated aether. Mana. Impossible. Centuries of engineering canon had dictated it was impossible to extract aether from gemstones or quartz. Yet this construct had done so in a matter of seconds.

Not just in seconds. It had extracted an impossibly high amount.

Nick scooped out a handful, just to be certain. It spread across his skin like jelly. A sense of ease washed over him, just like when he inspected one of the mana bars the Earl gave him for barter.

It really was mana.

The substance simmered then seeped through his skin. Nick felt strength soar through his arm and throughout his entire body.

He looked at the blue screens to check something. Sure enough “Main Unit Energy Quantity” had risen to 66 while the energy quantity on the refinery dropped to 17. “Overall Energy Quantity” stayed the same at 83.

Nick realized the refinery was in a literal sense, a goose which laid golden eggs. Concentrated mana was the most valued commodity in the entire world. Vislanda’s access to the Spire, the largest source of natural aether in the west, was what solidified its strength against everyone else. Everyone else had to make do with the limited aether reservoirs in the world. Wars were fought over it.

He felt a smirk creep up his lip.

With this, he could live a life of splendor and wealth.

Goals for later. He had a few obligations to meet first.

He spent his time gathering up piles of rubble around the tunnel, dumping them into the refinery.

By the time he cleared out one section of rubble, the refinery’s blue and red cylinders were at about a half and near full respectively. He looked at the screen.

Energy: 484/1000

Minerals: 932/1000

More than enough to create other constructs. Nick perused down the main screen and selected [BUILD]. He looked down at his left arm, bracing himself before pressing [FACTORY].

The violet lines along his left arm didn’t flare. Instead a second screen was presented.

Use Refinery Stockpile? [Yes] [No]

Use Personal Stockpile? [Yes] [No]

Nick understood the implication and immediately selected [Yes] for the first option. He preferred not to undergo the earlier endeavor again.

The violet lines of the refinery flared as a ghostly image of the construct appeared next to it, slowly solidifying into place. The factory resembled an upright coffin attached to a large marble block.

Nick paused to consider if he could build multiple constructs at once. He perused down the options and pressed the option to create an [ARMORY].

On the opposite side of the refinery, a projection formed of the armory and began to solidify. The construct resembled a storage chest set atop a flat platform which reached just above his knee.

In the span of a few breaths, both constructs finished, each latched to the refinery. Nick felt two more phantom limbs snap as the connections formed. He pushed both of their respective names to bring up their screens.

[FACTORY]

[Droid Level 1] 100 Minerals 50 Energy

[ARMORY]

Weapons

[Gen. 1 Basic Sword- 50 Minerals]

[Gen. 1 Basic Spear- 100 Minerals]

Armor

[Gen. 1 Basic Shield- 100 Minerals]

Support Equipment

[Gen. 1 Basic Energy Capacitor- 50 Minerals, 10 Energy]

A whole host of other options which were blacked out, but he disregarded it for now. First thing first was to get armed and prepared. Nick pressed the [DROID] option.

He accidentally tapped twice. The construct buzzed to life. The violet lines flared and a whining noise hummed through the cavern.

[FACTORY]

[Droid Level 1] 100 Minerals 50 Energy (Queue x2 5%)

Upon reading the description, he realized several could be made at once. The percent started to go up bit by bit. Nick scratched his chin, and before going any further, scrawled Pythian numerals on the dirt. He needed the optimal number of droids relative to weapons with the set amount of resources he had.

He worked through the numbers, using a system of calculations from Pythia meant to replace the abacus. Popular with the ruling gentry. Made by some man named Al-Jabr. He got pretty good at it, given the number of times he had to help Ren solve it.

Six droids, six swords, and one of those energy capacitors. Spears and shields would have been nice but he preferred safety in numbers for now. He also wanted to see exactly what an energy capacitor was. One of the cardinal rules in survival and war was to know one’s own capabilities. All of one’s capabilities.

Nick queued up six droids and six swords. All three constructs hummed as they began fulfilling his requests. The bright lines along the cylinders of the refinery drooped as the resources were consumed.

He gave a satisfied nod as the way this ability of his began to make sense.

The coffin-like part of the factory sprung open, and an opaque gray droid stepped out. Faceless with rugged features, and the same height as him. Just as he remembered from the white room. Nick felt the snap of a mental connection form and the yellow label [Droid Level 1] appeared above it.

There was also something else. A green bar right below the name.

“Act only upon verbal commands,” said Nick. He didn’t need it following every single whim which ran through his mind. “Move to the other wall.”

The droid did as it was ordered, creaking and standing aside. Perfectly obedient without complaints. Nick began to think of the possibilities when the chest at top of the armory split open, revealing a sword.

He grabbed it by the handle, and the armory lid slid shut as it resumed working on another one.

It looked… remarkably average. A blue screen flickered up.

Label: Basic Sword Owner: NEZRA- 14526181

Power- 1

Recommended Class: Generalist

Description: Basic Generation 1 Armament

Recoverable Resources: 20 Minerals

Nick flicked the screen closed with his other hand. He made a mental note to figure out some way of stopping those screens from popping up every time he touched something. He didn’t need the distraction popping up during a crucial moment.

He noted the additional row of information at the bottom, which implied he could reprocess the weapon for a fraction of his investment.

He turned his attention back to the weapon. It was as light as wood, while its texture resembled steel. The blade was straight, about the length of his arm, which rated it in the category of short swords. All-purpose sidearms, neither terrible or excelling at any particular fighting style.

The weapons as he remembered were effective against other droids. Brutally so. However, that didn’t mean guarantee effectiveness against other things. The lightness of it bothered him.

Nick gave it a few cursory swishes and swung it against the wall.

The weapon clanged, causing dust to billow out before bouncing back. Unlike steel however, the shock from the strike didn’t cause the weapon to vibrate.

A welcome benefit. Nick inspected the sword. It didn’t shatter, which was good, but he noted a miniature nick at the edge of its blade.

Which meant he was likely going to need some way of maintaining them, especially if they were going to see continuous use. That or he would have to make more. Nick turned around and handed the weapon to the droid, commanding it to take it. Right as another droid and another sword was completed.

In the span of a few minutes, Nick had six droids armed with swords standing side by side. He had enough rubble on the other wall to make at least six more.

The last item, the energy capacitor finished and appeared. Nick picked it up. It was a staff with an orb at the top, blue wisps swirling within.

A blue screen appeared, but before Nick could read the description of the item, he heard a scurrying noise. Like the sound of multiple soft paws slapping against the floor. It was coming deeper from the tunnel.

It became apparent to Nick he had been making an awful lot of noise and light. All things which would draw up any unsavory denizens around.

Safety was always temporary in the old continent.

Nick shifted his frame of through right as he heard hissing and cackling noises ebb closer and closer. He turned his gaze to the droids, focusing his intent and bellowing out orders. Just like Valdric used to give him during training.

“Form in front!”

The six droids moved in unison, forming a line between him and the darkness of the tunnel. They stood with knees crouched and both hands clasping their swords. An exact copy of his own fighting stance.

Nick had to admit it was odd watching the droids replicate himself. A bit like seeing a crooked reflection of himself in a mirror.

A furry nose peeked out the darkness, followed by a rat-like head minus the eyes. The rest of its body barreled out, running toward Nick on skinny legs with equally skinny arms ending in sharp needle-like claws. The limbs were mounted onto a hunched furry backside, a small tail spinning in its wake.

Cave-dwelling Kobolds. Another earth-based aether monster. And like the arachnids, where there was one, there was more.

Nick got out one word, right as four more of the creatures plunged out of the dark.

“Defend!”