Author’s note:

A bit of a confession here.

I am challenging myself a bit from this chapter forward.

I have written zero notes for this particular dungeon dive.

The only thing restriction is that in the end, our MC couldn’t be found out by Fin’Vaiel that he is self aware NPC.

Having said that, it means also means that the chapters might be a tad slower than usual since I have no idea where I am going with this. It’s going to be a quite bit harder for me to write since I am used to writing guided by my notes.

In other news: GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

1000+ followers! I love you guys! Thank you!

Sorry, Andur, the author of Coeus? I stole the name from your latest chapter. :P

Chapter 53- Hidden Machine Nation

***July 5th, 965 A.F.***

***Mechanna Entrance***

***Ajax McGuire***

“What do you mean welcome to Mechanna? Did you bring me here with some sort of magic? This is not a part of the plan! Wait, did you change our route because of this? Are...are you kidnapping me?”

Did my premonition about being abducted by two shotakon became real? Even though Wyn and Fin is a certified beauty, rape is rape. I don’t approve of this! I won’t approve of this! Even if millions of men curse my name for refusing such a situation, I will not succumb to my lust! Even if those pillowy mounds of heavenly boobs bares in front of me, I will close my eyes and run away! I will resist the temptation with everything I got you know! I know I was a bit of a sex maniac before, but that was just because of goblin biology working against me.

“Don’t worry, Ajax. This is just a short detour. I have a bit of business in this ruins. To be honest, I have the ability to teleport everything straight to the D.C. As soon as I am done here, I will teleport you along with all the luggage and then back to Caedona.”

She started to drive the wagon along a path that leads to a cave entrance which was the center hole of a gear piece. Wyn yelled out loud without looking at me.

“You are going to freeze to death if you stay out here.”

I took a look down beyond the edge of the cliff again. There doesn’t seem to be a way out of this except through teleportation unless somehow I gain the ability of flight. If I still had my bear skin Ki’th, I could have used it to float down. Maybe.

As long as they don’t try anything, I don’t need to go against them. Seeing no other options, for now, I gathered my courage and quickly followed her into the dark cave. Once I was in the cave, I immediately felt more comfortable due to the difference in temperature from outside. The air was warmed by the burning braziers lined alongside the wall, lighting up the dark tunnel.

The hooves of the oxen clanging on the metallic ground created a nice beat which echoed throughout the tunnel. I am pretty sure if a musician was here, could turn it into the next best album. After traveling for ten minutes or so, we finally reached the end of the tunnel. It was a room large enough for the wagon to do a U-turn. Wyn snapped her finger and the ground shook. After a while, a gear which I initially thought was just a part of the wall rolled away and a new pathway appears.

“Listen Ajax. It’s a bit too dangerous for you to follow us. Just wait for us in this room and you will be safe. We will be back in no time.”

“Can’t you just teleport me to the D.C. right now?”

“Sorry, no can do. I used my teleportation power for the day. I have to wait until tomorrow before I can use it again. Besides, I haven’t hugged you enough yet.”

“What about Fin? She is a wizard of some sort right? Can’t she do it?”

“Umm..”

“She didn’t spec into teleportation.”

“Ya, that.”

I looked at the expression that Fin gave. The more I look at her, the more convinced I am that she was Valery. It was very easy for me to tell when Valery was lying. She always played with her long hair when she was lying. Fin was making the exact same motion. Even though I suspect that she is lying about this, there was no other choice for me.

“Ok, no problem Wyn. I will stay here.”

“I will bring some souvenirs for you when I come back.”

With that, the two elves disappeared into the dark opening.

***Mechanna***

***Fin’Vaiel***

“So what do you think?”

I turned off all my emotions since this became strictly business. I walked into a room with walls made out of various gears. I could see there was a hatch on each side in the centre of the wall, including the ceiling and floor, of the perfectly cubed room. I opened one of the hatches to find another identical room.

“Isn’t it a bit lazy to just copy and paste rooms?”

“It only appears to be the same. It's not just copied and paste. Some of the rooms have a chance to be trapped. Some of the room have enemies in them. Some of the room will merge with other rooms from time to time. In every room, there will be one or two hatches that are locked, creating a maze. Every room will have it’s uniqueness once I am done designing each and every one of them.”

“That’s pretty impressive.”

“That’s not all. The whole dungeon is like a huge Rubik's cube. Every now and then, all the rooms will rotate, so every time player visits, it will be different.”

I walked into another room and Wyn followed me. This time, there were bronze colored mechanical puppets embedded into the wall. The puppets have a large bullet shaped head with two red eyes that differed in size. It’s neck was so thin, it looks as if it would snap with the slightest touch. It had arms that looked like an accordion with claws as the hands. It didn’t react to us since we were in game master mode. Wyn snapped her finger and the room started to rotate. The wall became the ground and the puppet ended up on the ceiling.

“Even within the same room, there will be up to six variations. As you can see, the mechanical puppet will usually attack players from the wall. In this variation, the puppet will attack from the ceiling. At this point, only ranged classes will be able to effectively attack these puppets.”

This is amazing. With this many variations, players will never feel bored coming to this dungeon. The rerun value for this dungeon is over the top. As much as I want to give some constructive criticism, I really cannot think of any off the top of my head. I decided to ask for more detail about the dungeon.

“How do you beat this dungeon?”

“The core of this dungeon is a room that is a two by two by two room large that never shifts its location. In there will be the boss battle. I haven’t really designed the boss yet, but I am thinking a larger version of those mechanical puppets that you saw. When you beat that, a portal will open to the treasure room or something. I haven’t really fleshed out everything yet.”

“I must say, the idea behind this dungeon is very impressive. How did you come up with an idea for this dungeon?”

“I was watching some old movies from the old Earth and two of the movies just merged together in my dream. I will lend them to you later.”

“As much as I like the design of this, I don’t think we can implement this dungeon as of now even if you finish it.”

“Why is that? I worked so hard on this.”

“I am not saying we will never release this, it is just not the right time. This whole thing is basically steampunk heaven. I am sure that there will be people who will love this dungeon because of that. I just don’t know if the general population will accept this in the current setting.”

“Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science. Can’t we justify everything by writing a lore using that as a premise? A wizard in the past became an outcast because of his study to merge magic and technology. After he had mastered the arts, he created this hidden machine nation as his legacy or something along that line.”

“That may work. Anyhow, you did a great job on this. I must say I am pleasantly surprised. I want to bring the rest of the team in here to give some feedbacks. Dinner’s on me tonight as a bonus. For now, I want to take a look at all the rooms you have designed.”

I opened the hatch in the ceiling and floating into another room to continue my inspection of Mechanna.

***July 5th, 965 A.F. (night)***

***Mechanna Entrance***

***Ajax McGuire***

I’m bored.

I have been waiting for hours already and there was no sign of the two elves at all. I started to be become a bit unrestful due to the boredom. I have already played with all the spells I could cast. It has been quite a while since I have nothing to do at all. I tried to go to sleep but it was still much too early for me to do so.

“WYN! FIN! ARE YOU GUYS DONE YET?”

I yelled into the entrance. I was hoping that they weren’t too deep inside and would respond to me. Of course, I had no such luck. Being a bit curious, I poked my head through the entrance to take a look. I saw a room in the shape of a cube. There was a hatch on each side of the room, with the hatch on my right opened. It was evident that they went towards that direction. I walked into the center of the room and faced the opened hatch, cupped my hands around my mouth to try my luck again.

“WYN! FIN! ARE YOU GUYS DONE YET?”

There was still no answer. Just as I was about to give up and exit the room, the ground started to shake and all the hatches slammed shut. It shook so violently that I fell on the floor. Soon the floor became the wall, and then the ceiling, just like a scene from the movie Inception. I tumbled around in the room like a ragdoll. By the time everything stopped shaking, I immediately stood back up and opened the hatch where I came from. All I see was another room similar to the one I was in.

“Shit. This can’t be good.”

Author's post note:

10 points to Gryffindor if you can guess the second movie that this dungeon design is inspired from.