It had been three days since the Dwarven Tournament. Jekoni and Jung Lee were following Dave and Malsour as they entered Terra’s power station facility.

Jekoni had been in a state of curiosity since entering Terra. Now that he was a spiritual entity, he didn’t need to sleep. He’d taken the sword and headed off across the city, looking at different systems and areas.

Now, he was looking at the power station in interest.

Malsour grinned, looking at Dave.

Dave snorted at Malsour’s expression. I wonder what he’ll do when he see’s the things we’ve been working on?

They entered through the secret entrance into their laboratory, nicknamed Pandora’s Box.

Jekoni’s severe expression turned into slack-jawed amazement at everything that was within the laboratory.

Magical tech that had never been seen on Emerilia was out in the open, displayed in its full glory.

Jekoni muttered to himself as he seemed to teleport to different areas of the laboratory.

Dave and Malsour grinned while Jung Lee had an amused expression on his face.

“Who’s there?” Bob’s voice came from one of the private workrooms off to the side of the large work area.

“Bob, what are you up to?” Dave asked.

“Ah! I did it! Well, at least part of it!” Bob yelled.

“Part of what?” Dave asked.

“Making the bodies!” Bob said. There was the sound of things being dropped on the floor and swearing before Bob’s Gnome face appeared from the workroom.

“How?” Dave asked, all of his attention focused on Bob.

“We grow them!” Bob said, clapping his hands together.

“I know that much,” Dave said, waving his hands for Bob to elaborate.

“Okay, so we’re thinking we’re going to have to mass produce these people’s bodies as soon as the Jukal find out. Well, what if we were able to grow their bodies, without any imprinted memories, then upload the memories to their minds when the Jukal do find out. That way we don’t need to make their bodies all at the same time. We’ve got them all stocked up and ready!” Bob said.

Dave and Malsour looked to one another.

“Can we actually do it?” Malsour asked.

“What materials are we going to need?” Dave added.

“We can do it, I’ve got a few things pulled together. Had to use Jeeves to do the heavy coding. As for materials, we’re going to need tonnes of organic materials, the power consumption is going to be massive and that’s not even including the metals, soul gem constructs and other items we’ll need to make the machinery to not only create and store these bodies, but transfer the player’s consciousness from the player vaults over to their bodies,” Bob grimaced. They were running low on every kind of resource. Bob’s resources were being used up at an alarming rate and their mining projects were only just slowing down the consumption rather than meeting their needs.

“Well, making a few million bodies is going to be hard work,” Dave said with a wry smile.

Malsour gave Dave a smile. He knew that Dave was in charge of producing most of the materials.

“With the resources we have left we can maybe get a third of everything set up,” Bob said.

Dave’s face looked pinched. The resources Bob had at his disposal were not inconsiderable. For them to only make up a third of everything that was needed, Dave didn’t think that he’d be able to get the resources through normal means.

“I haven’t wanted to do this for a long time as I know that it will bring attention after a while. Though, is there a way to trick the AIs and use my money in the Earth simulation here to speed things up?” Dave asked.

Bob let out a breath.

“It’s going to have to be small amounts. Maybe endorse the Stone Raiders, buy ad spots. Then that can reflect back on you in-game,” Bob said. “I can have a look at it, but as you said, we can keep it up for maybe a year or two in Emerilia, before they start figuring out that you’re playing the entire time that you’re also supposed to be in the simulation.”

“When they figure that out, then there’s going to be hell to pay,” Malsour said.

“Well, let’s do what we can in the meantime. We’re putting miners in Ashal around the outpost. We’re building more ship bays as well as extensions for Terra,” Dave shrugged. “If we have enough time then we should be able to get all of these bodies made before the Empire figures it all out.”

Jekoni and Jung Lee were looking at one another in confusion.

“Dave, you going to introduce us?” Bob asked.

“Oh, sorry. This is Archmage Jekoni and the man who was captured in the six affinity temple, Jung Lee,” Dave said. “Jung Lee, Jekoni, this is Bob, the Grey God, or Neut.”

Jekoni and Jung Lee had alarmed looks on their faces they’d heard of the grey god the seventh member of the affinity pantheon that oversaw the others and tried to balance things out. However it was hard to associate that name with Bob a simple looking Gnome wearing simple clothes and working on rows of machinery.

“Good to meet you, seems that Dave trusts you and thinks that you might be able to help us on our insane little projects! I guess I should show you what we’ve got going on here,” Bob said, waving them to his workshop.

There were several tanks to one side, a console of sorts. Then, banks on banks of metal plates that had been coded with runes. The whole room was warm with the multiple grand soul gems and three vault soul gems that were littered around the room.

In the center of the mess, there was a pod with runes and tubes running into it.

“So we take the DNA of the brains that are stored within the different facilities. We then get Jeeves to break it down, input it into this thing and then it can grow a body from that. This essentially uses the same idea as a tree. Feed the cells with the right kind of growing energy and wait till it forms the right shape. Once they’re fully formed, they’ll be just a toddler. We take them from this incubator to a growth chamber. In a couple of days, they go from being a toddler to a full grown adult. Then, they go into a dormant phase where they’re maintained at the age they are within the Earth simulation, ready to have their mind and their memories uploaded in a moment,” Bob said.

He made it sound simple, but he was essentially cobbling together systems that would be able to do the same thing as an altar of rebirth.

This was only based off of his own knowledge and experience. Unlike the Aleph and Dave with teleportation where they had been able to work off of the portals to some degree, Bob was making this up as he went along.

It was much more impressive than the Aleph and Dave’s cobbling together of different ideas.

He’d come up with ideas, turned them into working machines, and replaced a system that people had used and understood for nearly fifteen hundred years.

“Now then, we just need time to infiltrate a moon,” Malsour said.

“No time like the present!” Dave thrust his forefinger into the air. “Bob, this is, well, it’s damn incredible. With this, we’ve got options and a path we can take. Have you figured out a way to automate this all?”

“I had Jeeves sort that out. Thankfully, for the heat sinks we can use a heat absorbing series of runes like the power stations and cycle it right back in so that we shouldn’t show anything on the Jukal ships or AI’s sensor sweeps,” Bob said, sounding excited.

“With our Pandora’s Box, we’re not opening up disease to the universe but bringing back the Human race,” Malsour shook his head.

“Well, it’s not going to open itself! Shall, we check and see if reversing the teleport array will work? I think we’ve got enough data from the nearly three hundred summons that people have gone through already,” Dave rubbed his hands together, a wide smile on his face.

They had been recording data from the summoning halls that allowed people to soul bind a creature to them.

In the last week, people had gone nuts and most Stone Raiders were eager to gain a companion that could increase their fighting ability.

Others went for the cute factor or a mix of both. Though, the end result was a whole lot of summoned creatures in a very short time. There were people outside of the Stone Raiders that had also paid for the privilege. It was expensive, but doing it through a summoner was not a guaranteed thing.

“Worth a try,” Bob shrugged.

“Well first got to teleport a portal to the anchor point with the teleportation Array. Then activate a portal at Pandora's Box putting in the address for the portal that's at the Anchor point. The portal at the Anchor point and at Pandora's Box link up creating a direct line between the two. Pandora's Box now holds the most portals and acts as the main hub for all traffic in the Pandora's Box Initiative,” Dave said.

“Well, we won’t need to work it that much at the beginning. Later on, when we start expanding outwards and need to reach more places, we’ll have to move more items over there,” Malsour said.

“Then, we need to get working on the factories for operation mass production,” Bob said.

Jung Lee, who had been listening to the entire conversation, sighed and shook his head. These three men were talking about technology and exploits that they were arranging as if it was nothing more than another day at work.

They were smart, driven and more than a little willing to do something crazy, all of which came together to make them all the more impressive and dangerous.

He might be the highest leveled person in the room, but at that time, he felt like he was the weakest one. These three people would change not only the world, but the universe with their machinations.

Dave, Malsour, Bob, Jekoni and Jung Lee went to the teleportation array to gain access to the different ‘summoning realms’ they needed to change a lot of the array’s settings over.

After a few minutes, Jung Lee created a few dozen spirits that moved beyond his body to help move the different items.

“Hmm, they’re similar to summoned creatures as they follow their soul bound master’s commands. Though, there is no loss in Willpower to send them out and control them. It’s more like they’re an extra limb than anything else,” Malsour said, studying the spirits moving around the teleportation array.

“I have noticed that I feel as if there is less power that I am able to draw from,” Jung Lee said.

“Would make sense. They’re splitting off from the source. These are much more docile creatures compared to the true free Affinity spirits. If they were to stay away from you like the other free Affinity spirits would then they would disappear. Regaining the strength that they took to form would take a while,” Bob said.

“What if they were to die?” Dave asked.

“Well, I think that they would lose a portion of their power, but most of it would make it back to Jung Lee,” Bob shrugged. “Though, I’m not sure. I’ve never seen someone that has a free Affinity spirit from every Affinity in their body. It’s pretty exciting!”

The spirits finished their work and returned to Jung Lee.

“Okay, there might not be air on the other side, so create big Mana shields so that you retain some air from here,” Dave said, moving out of the teleportation array room.

“Where are you going?” Malsour yelled after him.

“I need that damn anchor!” Dave said.

Jekoni floated back into the room.

“This magical coding system is amazing!” Jekoni declared, waving his hands out wide.

“It certainly makes things easier,” Malsour said.

“What’s this?” Jekoni said, rushing around the room.

“Teleport array and general gravity manipulation chamber,” Bob said.

“Hey, who’s talking about my baby?” Dave asked, returning to the room.

“You got it?” Malsour asked.

“One portal anchor ready and waiting,” Dave said, tapping his faithful bag of holding.

“Well, let’s fire her up!” Bob clapped his hands together.

“One trip to Emerilia’s moon coming up!” Dave said, smacking the console in front of him.

The teleportation array hummed with power as runes lit along the walls and in the racks around the room.

Jung Lee looked around, his eyebrows raising. The power that was running through the room was not inconsiderable. He doubted if someone with fifty grand soul gems would be able to support the high Mana output.

“Why is the output so high?” Jekoni asked.

“Well, this is supposed to be a one way transition point. We’re basically using the power from the teleportation array to lock onto that transition point and punch a hole through space. Think of a slide. We’re at the bottom of it. With the teleportation array, we’re punching from the bottom of the slide to the top without us having to try and climb up the slide. It’s much more power to climb up a slide than just go down it,” Dave said.

Jekoni and Jung Lee shared a look.

“There really are no limits to people’s imaginations and things they can do,” Jekoni said in quiet praise.

“If these people were alive when we were, they would have been knocked out and locked up,” Jung Lee said.

“Heh, those were good times,” Jekoni said, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards.

The power reached the center of the teleportation array. One moment, they could see to the rune covered wall on the other side of the room. The next, they were looking into a pitch black room of some kind with a shimmering light surrounding it.

***

A screen appeared in front of Dave’s face.

Quest Completed: Master of Space and Time Level 14

Come up with new possible theory (2/2)

Rewards: Unlock Level 15 quest

+15 to Willpower

+15 to Intelligence

+15 to Endurance

+15 to Agility

1,400,000 Experience

Quest: Master of Space and Time Level 15

Come up with new possible theory (2/3)

Rewards: Unlock Level 16 quest

Increase to stats

Class: Master of Space and Time

Status:

Level 14

Effects:

Greater understanding of Space and Time.

+210 to Willpower

+210 to Intelligence

+210 to Endurance

+210 to Agility

Quest Completed: Master of Gravitational Anomalies Level 10

Come up with new possible theory (2/2)

Rewards: Unlock Level 11 quest

+10 to all stats

1,000,000 Experience

Quest: Master of Gravitational Anomalies Level 11

Come up with new possible theory (2/3)

Rewards: Unlock Level 12 quest

Increase to stats

Class: Master of Gravitational Anomalies

Status:

Level 10

Effects:

Greater understanding of Gravitational Anomalies.

+100 to all stats

Quest Completed: Librarian Level 4

Use research to prove a theory

Rewards: Unlock Level 5 Quest

+10 to all stats

400,000 Experience

Class: Librarian

Status:

Level 4

Effects:

+40 to all stats

Read 5% faster

Understand 10% more of the information that you read

Quest: Librarian Level 5

Use research to prove a theory (1/2)

Rewards: Unlock Level 6 Quest

Increase to stats

Level 238

You have reached level 238; you have 5 stat points to use.

“Yes,” Dave said to himself, putting the five stat points directly into Intelligence, quickly checking his new stats.

Character Sheet

Name:

David Grahslagg

Gender:

Male

Level:

238

Class:

Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Grey God, Bleeder, Librarian, Aleph Engineer, Weapons Master, Champion Slayer, Skill Creator, Mine Manager, Master of Space and Time, Master of Gravitational Anomalies

Race:

Human/Dwarf

Alignment:

Chaotic Neutral

Unspent points: 0

Health:

45,100

Regen:

23.42 /s

Mana:

15,480

Regen:

56.45 /s

Stamina:

5,020

Regen:

48.60 /s

Vitality:

451

Endurance:

1,171

Intelligence:

1,548

Willpower:

1,129

Strength:

502

Agility:

972

He quickly dismissed the screen.

“We’re stable for now,” Dave said, pulling out metal plates from his pocket.

“These are called band-aids. They can disrupt Jukal signals to your interface. This means they can’t activate the kill switch in our bodies and has the added benefit of making them unable to see where we are or what we’re doing. While on Emerilia, it will be hazy. On the moon, they won’t even sense us.”

He tossed them out, everyone taking one.

“Hey, where’s my invite?” Steve asked from the doorway.

“Well, you’ve been cooped up in your workshop for so long we didn’t know what you were doing in there,” Malsour shrugged. Dave and Bob both let out short laughs at Malsour’s hint.

“Hey, just gotta knock first,” Steve said with a wink.

“I don’t think I want to even think of what you’re doing in there,” Dave sighed, tossing Steve a plate.

“Shall we get going?” Jung Lee asked.

“Did the voices tell you to say that?” Steve asked, his eyes thinning.

“Voices?” Jung Lee asked, confused.

“Well, you’ve got like seven creatures inside you. Might be a bit full in there,” Steve shrugged.

“You need to stop referencing the bad movies you’ve been watching,” Dave sighed as he moved for the wormhole in the middle of the room, a grey shield extending a few feet outside of his body solidified.

“Hey, well, at least I’m ready for an exorcist or two! And a zombie plague! Which would be soo cool by the way!” Steve said.

“Seems he hasn’t changed much,” Bob said to Malsour as they followed Dave, who’d disappeared through the wormhole.

“I think he’s getting worse the more time he spends around the Stone Raiders,” Malsour complained.

“You are a Stone Raider,” Jung Lee said, following them as Jekoni continued to study Steve as Steve poked his spiritual body, his finger going through Jekoni’s face.

“Boop,” Steve said.

“Will you stop that?” Jekoni’s eyebrow twitched as he fought with his emotions.

He was a great Archmage of Per’Ush and now he was being poked by a rune covered trash can which acted no different than an interested five year old.

“Never seen a ghost before. You’re a rather noisy one. Thought that they just said boo?” Steve said.

“You’re one to talk! Nothing you’ve said has made any sense since I met you!” The two of them continued to bicker as Malsour turned to Jung Lee.

“I call it the Stone Raiders effect. You learn to relax to the max when you get free time and then in a serious situation, you can immediately focus on the task at hand,” Malsour said.

Jung Lee nodded. The Stone Raiders were a lively bunch when they weren’t exploring, raiding, or on various quests.

He’d seen how they acted on a raid. Working together, they were a force to be taken seriously.

Malsour and Bob both created shields around themselves, Jung Lee doing the same as he passed through the teleport array’s wormhole.

Jekoni’s spiritual body disappeared from Emerilia and reappeared in the moon.

Jung Lee looked around.

Dave had cast mage light spells, filling the area with light.

Party Chat invite

You have been invited to the private party chat: One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Do you wish to join?

Y/N

Jung Lee accepted the request.

“...leap for mankind? Really? That’s a crap name,” Bob said as Jung Lee joined the chat.

“Hey, it was a great quote, and we’re the first people from Emerilia to ever be on this moon so I’d say that it’s pretty accurate,” Dave said.

The atmosphere on the moon was thin, meaning that they had to rely on the air they’d brought with them and it also made talking impossible other than through the private party chat.

Steve entered the chat with Jekoni while Jung Lee looked around.

They were in a large storage area.

There were automated robotic limbs waiting along the roof on runners that would allow them to move freely.

Along the walls, there were multiple crates with barcodes on them.

The storage facility was massive, extending into the distance.

Nearly a kilometer in the distance, a circle lit up, showing a creature within a shield before they disappeared.

A limb that was over the circle lifted upwards, carrying a box that was identical to the ones on the wall.

“This is the storage and distribution area for the summoned creatures.

As someone summons a creature, it activates this system here. A creature is pulled from the storage racks, placed on the circle, and then transmitted to the summoning circle.

There are also growing facilities that make these creatures as well as fusion reactors and material storage areas for the different nutrients and substrates needed to create and maintain these creatures,” Bob said.

“Well, we don’t have much time till our air runs out. We should get working,” Dave said. Everyone seemed to be pulled into the air as they raced off, leaving the shimmering wormhole that showed the teleportation array on the other side.

They raced through the storage facilities, ducking into a large hallway with multiple sealed doors. Bob opened them ahead of time. They closed behind them.

It wasn’t long until they came out into an area filled with storage bins.

They swung away from where they’d entered.

“Malsour?” Dave asked.

Malsour held his hand out. As it looked like they were going to fly into a wall, the bland grey walls opened for them. The wall closed behind them, darkness surrounding them until Bob created a mage light. The rock ahead of them seemed to dissolve as the rock behind them reformed.

They went a few hundred meters before Dave brought them to a halt.

Malsour moved his hands, black shadows covering his body as he went to work. Jung Lee could sense what he was doing. He pulled all manner of resources from the surrounding area, then compacted and firmed up the rock, creating massive supports as a facility started to form. They were on the ground floor of it. Every fifty meters, there were massive compacted and reinforced stone supports, creating squares through the area.

Cylinders flew from Dave. These automated carvers were nearly five hundred strong as they spread outwards. White Mithril tips came from one end, cutting into the walls and leaving lines of runes across the growing open area.

Malsour pushed the ceilings up fifty meters while Steve tossed out mage lights that attached to the pillars, lighting up the massive area.

Bob moved to where the right edge of the facility would be.

With a wave of his hands, a complicated number of runes were laid out around the open space.

He unfolded a bag of holding he was carrying until it was nearly ten meters wide.

He held the edge.

Like a magic trick back on Earth, as he lifted the bag from the floor, a ten meter wide metallic stand appeared on the floor. On top of the five meter tall stand, there was a metal sphere with a radius of ten meters.

The two metallic objects were covered in runes as well as pipes and different lines.

Jung Lee and Jekoni looked on in awe as in front of their very eyes, a facility was being born.

Bob pulled out what looked like a box created from soul gems. Inside there was an ebony box with glowing runes.

Jekoni and Jung Lee’s eyes stuck to the box. The rich Mana signature of the item was alarming.

Bob threw it to Dave.

He took the box and placed it against the wall. His army of carving cylinders were making short work of the walls.

The soul gem box expanded outwards, grabbing onto the wall. The soul gem expanded across the wall as if watching frost rapidly form on a window.

The soul gem filled in the different runes that had been formed, glowing with power.

Dave floated over to Bob while Malsour walked forwards. As he did so, the stone in front of him parted, moving up and down, revealing solid stone pillars and piles of resources on the ground.

“The Runes are so that no one can sense what we’re doing in here, an added safety precaution. Also they’ll allow people to walk around with some gravity. The only reason we’re not floating off is because Dave’s orbs are exerting the same gravity on us as we would have on Emerilia. That box looking thing that the soul gem sheet is growing out of is a Mana well. The soul gem will power the runes. Later on, it can be commanded to grow the different machines and items that Bob will need to create people.

That sphere-looking thing on the pedestal is a fusion reactor. It can pump out more power than a dozen Aleph power stations,” Steve pointed to Bob who was with the same massive bag of holding revealing what looked like big metal lockers. “Those are factories to make the repair bots and mining drills this place is going to need.”

Jung Lee looked at it all. In less than fifteen minutes, they’d pulled out these artifacts and they had built a facility two hundred meters wide, one hundred long and growing.

Steve walked over to where Bob and Dave were, Jekoni following as the soul gem sheet spread under their feet.

Steve listed off the things that Bob was pulling from his bag of holding.

“That’s a sensor package. It will allow us to make an image of the whole moon so we know the best place to mine. Also, it will have the ability to allow us to see outside of the moon to map the things surrounding it. That’s an automated mining drill. It’s small now, but those factories will be able to make bigger ones with enough resources, power and time. That’s a small refinery, got a couple of those. Automated carts and a few repair bots.”

The different items kept falling out of the bag, Bob placing them along the right most wall, creating an area filled with equipment and machinery.

Some things, like the repair bots and automated carts, were activated.

Steve gestured and they started moving.

“You’re controlling the automated machines?” Jekoni asked.

“For now. Once Jeeves’ module is set up, he’ll take over everything. Right now, I’m just going to collect the resources Malsour has identified, and pour them into the small refineries so that we can start putting the factories to work,” Steve said as they reached the fusion reactor where Dave was working on a console that was connected to the pedestal of the massive machine by lines of glowing soul gems that were inlaid into the floor.

The soul gem sheet filled in the runes around the fusion plant and continued to spread outwards. Its speed was slowing down, but it had still covered a massive area in just a few short minutes.

As the sheet reached the factories and other stationary machines that Bob had placed down the soul gem sheet created lines from the machines to the fusion plant in the ground.

“This should help out a bit,” Dave said as he pressed a command button on the console in front of him.

A line that connected the Mana well mounted in the wall through the soul gem sheet and into the fusion plant glowed with power as energy was fed into the fusion plant.

The soul gem sheet’s progress halted. All of the power that was stored in the sheet and coming from the Mana well was now poured into the fusion plant.

Slowly, runes along the pedestal started to glow with power, finally reaching the sphere.

There was a faint whirring noise as the runes on the sphere lit with power even slower than the ones on the pedestal, the power line from the Mana well reaching its limit as light spilled out from it.

Dave was completely focused on the console. Over his shoulder, Steve was watching everything that was happening.

“Hydrogen read is good, gravity is ramping up. Good increase in pressure,” Dave muttered, Steve nodding behind him. His playful attitude was gone as they went through the fusion reactor’s start up.

The whoump whoump of the fusion reactor sped up, becoming faster and faster as it seemed to become one continuous noise. Slowly, the sphere started to rise from the pedestal. The top of the pedestal where the reactor core had rested was covered in various runes that were glowing with Mana.

The runes over the reactor continued to climb as the noise coming from it reduced. As it did, faint distorting waves seemed to form around the core.

As the sound died, these distorting waves grew. As the noise disappeared, the waves halted and then started to converge on the reactor once again. They stopped when they were just a few inches from the exterior of the reactor.

The last runes started to light up faster and faster until they reached the peak of the sphere.

The light that connected to the Mana well dimmed and then went out.

Dave and Steve were checking over various different readings on their console.

“Even though that power is contained, it’s stronger than anything I’ve ever come close to seeing. Even more vicious than a ley line,” Jekoni said in a solemn voice.

“With great power comes great possibilities,” Dave said, pressing another switch on the console. The runes across the floating core and pedestal underneath flared with brilliant light.

Jung Lee blinked his eyes a few times to try and get rid of the bright after images.

As his sight recovered, he noticed the lines within the soul gem sheet branching out from the fusion reaction were glowing with power.

He looked to the factories and reactors that were spreading out in the space that they had, unfolding themselves and readying their various systems for operation.

The fusion reactor was now sending power to the soul gem constructed floor, walls and roof.

Its rate of growth climbed, racing to cover where the army of carvers had been as they filled the ground and tried to catch up with Malsour who had expanded the facility until it was two hundred meters wide, forty meters tall and four hundred meters long.

The room vibrated with power. It had been less than thirty minutes since they had entered this area when it had been nothing more than rock and stone untouched and unseen for centuries.

“Looks good. Now, time to get that portal set up,” Dave said. The group followed him as he floated over to near the center of the facility. Malsour finished off the furthest wall as mining drills approached him. They’d take what he’d started and build on it to expand the facility.

The refineries weren’t that large, but they still were ready to accept the materials Malsour had pulled from the stone where the facility had been and were now in the process of being picked up by the automated carts and repair bots wandering the area.

Bob was busy working on a console, referencing his interface as he worked.

Dave pulled components from his bag. Steve took some of the parts. There was a central pillar that was connected by a series of rune covered metal bands that reached four smaller metal pillars.

“This is the anchor?” Jung Lee asked.

“Yeah, basically it will act as a focal point for me to connect to when bringing back a portal,” Dave said, looking over the construct.

He checked a few things before the pillars and runes activated. The pillars started spinning faster and faster until the runes on them were just a faint blur of light.

“Be back in a minute,” Dave said, disappearing.

“Teleportation magic?” Jekoni said, his voice a shocked whisper.

“Yeah, he figured it out a while ago, but he can’t use it anywhere that the Jukal have eyes. If he was to do so, then they’d catch on and we’d have to advance all of our plans,” Steve said.

“All of your plans?” Jung Lee asked.

“Well, you didn’t think that just making a moonbase was our only plan?” Steve smiled.

Jung Lee looked around as he sensed something changing.

The soul gem sheets in the areas that weren’t occupied started to grow. They formed multiple capsules stacked closely together while entire sections expanded with rune covered soul gem sheets inside.

Jung Lee recognized these from the items within Bob’s workshop.

However, there had only been one capsule in that room. Here, there were thousands being created, as well as machinery meant to move the capsules.

The progress was slow because of its complicated nature. Even though it was slow, with the power of the fusion reactor and Mana well, they were growing at a rate visible to the eye.

Malsour was returning from his work. The mining drills were already looking to expand the facility.

“The mining drills will open up more areas, while the soul gem construct will fill the inside, making it impossible for the Jukal to detect this place as well as compacting the pillars, ceiling and floors so that the whole thing is structurally sound,” Steve said.

“Is Bob pulling out plants?” Jung Lee asked as he saw Bob working in an area that was growing a series of floors on top of one another with a series of bins on each floor under what looked like strip lighting.

“I was wondering how they were going to get the materials to make the bodies,” Steve sounded impressed.

“They’re going to use these plants to make bodies?” Jekoni asked.

“Why, looking to possess one, ghost?” Steve asked.

“Why did I ask,” Jekoni muttered.

There was a flash of light where the anchor was located. If one was able to see the origin of this light, they would have seen a complicated spell formation in the middle of the anchor point.

Everyone stepped back under the blinding light.

“Seems that his teleportation ability has become more refined,” Steve said. Jung Lee was surprised at Steve’s words.

Seems that in the last couple of weeks, I have been met with nothing but surprises. Jung Lee smiled as the light faded away.

The anchor was gone, but in its place, there was a massive portal, the kind that linked Emerilia to a number of different realms with different creatures.

Jung Lee looked at it, remembering the portal that he had guarded for centuries.

This one had four identical clamps at the northwest, northeast, southeast and southwest points.They were thick with magical coded runes.

Another massive clamp also rested at the top of the portal. Each of them was connected by a band of soulgem that ran in between them. At the bottom clamps, they connected to the soul gem sheet.

A thick power line grew through the soul gem sheet, connecting the reactor to the portal.

As soon as it connected, the portal flared to life.

A grinding noise came from the portal.

Jung Lee stepped backwards. Unlike the fusion reactor, the Mana that powered the portal wasn’t contained, it was wild and powerful.

The runes on the overlaying clamps activated, lighting up.

He sensed the different magical circuits were rotated into place and then moved within the massive circular housing of the portal.

Hundreds of pieces were moving at the same time before finally the first locked into position. It was a rippled effect as piece by piece, the magical circuit, that was the portal, locked in the different circuits.

The last one came online and the power surged once again.

Jekoni stepped backwards as Steve laughed wildly.

Runes along the portal’s ring lit up from the outer band, reaching inwards. When they reached the inner band, they were no longer looking through the facility. Instead, they were looking at Dave who was standing in a warehouse-looking facility with all manner of materials behind him.

He walked through the portal.

“Like the show?” he asked with a smile.

Jung Lee and Jekoni didn’t know what to say. These magical artifacts were well in excess of anything that they had ever seen in their lifetimes. These four people had combined these artifacts and their knowledge to make a facility that they could never have dreamed of making in their previous lives, even at the peak of their careers and positions.

“Bob, once you’re done with the greenhouse, I want to connect this place to the Datskun, then I want to set the miners and bots to making our exit before returning to work on the different facilities here. How long do you think until we can start growing bodies?” Dave asked.

“I’m going to need to do a number of test runs to make sure everything runs. I’ll have Jeeves set up soon,” Bob said as he poured items out of his bag of holding into the different growing bays of the greenhouse he had created in a few of the fifty meter by fifty meter squares that rested between the spaced out supports.

If one was to look closely, they would see that a Mana shield covered the greenhouse and that it was slightly hazy inside as Bob had released canisters of stored air within the enclosed area.

“I can get started on the exit right now. Going to need the components sooner or later, but we can leave that to the bots here. I’d feel more safe if I do the mining. Don’t want the Jukal seeing us, especially with it needing to be so close to the moon’s surface," Malsour said.

“Okay, sounds good. I’m going to go to Pandora’s Box, shut down the teleportation array and set up a portal there to connect to moonbase, shipyard one and Datskun,” Dave said, looking to Jung Lee and Jekoni.

“If you need more air, just release your shield here, step through the shield, and grab some from the other side. We’re going to need to fill up this place. I have to move automated carts to the seeder, then capture air there, and move it to the moonbase. We’ve never connected the facilities together properly. Having them all accessible is going to really speed things up!” Dave smiled as Jekoni and Jung Lee could only look at one another.

“All of this is a bit...insane,” Jekoni said.

“Ah, just a bunch of ideas that came together,” Dave smiled.

Just came together? I doubt anyone would have the resources, drive or balls to do something on this scale! All right under the noses of a race that has an entire planet filled with one of the races that they conquered, for entertainment!