(Day 186) Aprilis 30th, 12th year of the Dragon, Age of Enlightenment

As I lay in my bed next to Adaline I thought about yesterday. All the running around, routing an army, and then making sure the smart survivors were well taken care of, as well as the idiots. I had no doubt Desirae would whip them into shape. If I was being honest I was surprised at the changes she’d made as well as surprised about how good I felt about myself. Today, I had to go into Crownport and try to route out a heavily embedded force. Yesterday had been about making sure rumors of my classes and levels made it back to the military leaders. Someone somewhere was probably trying to think of a way to counter something like me. Unfortunately, if I wasn’t mistaken only someone like me, a monster from the Labyrinth or a divine would be able to provide that counter. The divines were prevented from interacting with or against me and the Labyrinth, I guess monsters could be teleported, or captured and released near me but if it did kill me they’d have to recapture it. As for others like me, well it was a big multi-verse, I guess anything was possible.

I climbed out of bed and went down to one of the guest bedrooms on the second floor to take a shower. Since the upgrade, the modern bathrooms I’d placed in each guest room had both a bathtub and shower. My nanites could clean me but I wanted to feel the hot water against my skin before I headed out. 20 minutes later I finished up and donned my typical monk garb. I made sure my Bracers of Air Defense, Cloak of Invisibility, and my Displace ability were on and active then opened a portal directly above Crownport. I looked down on the Fort in the center of Crownport and teleported to 10 feet above the roof. I floated there as I let my nanites spread out to their full 500-foot range. I estimated that the fort occupied a space of about 1,500 by 2,000 feet and was about five stories high, eight if I included up to three basement levels. I should be able to do what I was going to by just walking in circles and gradually making my way down. I had the nanites analyze and then start disintegrating the roof from the top down. I walked in a slow circle around the roof as the fort disappeared as if being erased by the pencil eraser.

At first no one noticed then one of the guards outside noticed that the castle seemed to be evaporating. He yelled and pointed. At that moment people inside had started to notice that the building was disappearing around them and started to flee down the stairs towards the ground level. A couple of mages stepped outside and looked up then cast some spells. If I’d been using a spell I’d cast they might not have been able to see me but I was using an item to maintain my invisibility. Spells were cast. Arrows and Bolts flew past and I continued to just make my way toward the ground. When soldiers or mages stepped within 500 feet of me, they were infiltrated by the nanites, frozen, and then dropped into rooms on Trappist-1e. There I had them strip off their items and put on a Portal’s Inc jumpsuit. Later I would go through all of their equipment and magic items. I had thought about just destroying their gear and clothing so they would run away nude but if I accidentally destroyed a magic item with charges the devastation and deaths those explosions could cause might hurt them and innocents. I was trying a more humane approach.

It was 7:30 a.m. when the Fort of Crownport and any and all guards and officials that had worked there were now in another colony on Trappist-1e. For now, I kept them all together. Desirae didn’t need any more people to worry about today. I had each of them toss their equipment through a portal that opened into the center of my vault. I also had a few step through a portal into the vault and begin organizing the piles and placing items in bins on tables that my nanites created. Adaline came out at one point, flew over to see what was going on then flew back to her cave to use the intercom on the wall.

“Thor, Adam, however, I’m supposed to address you when you’re not here, what’s going on?

“Hey, Adaline. I’m talking through my Thor Aspect but if you talk to the intercom I should be aware of it unless I’m sleeping, which you usually know when that’s going on. Anyway, what can I do for you?”

“What are those people doing?” she asked.

“You know me, I just start walking and around and people throw their clothes, equipment, and weapons at me. Sometimes even themselves. Those people will be separating and sorting those items so I can analyze them later. When they’re done I’ll send them back to their rooms.” I said.

“Okay, next question, Abi contacted me and asked if I’d like to go shopping, whatever that is?” she asked

I had seen the call come in a little bit ago and new Abi had asked, I’d just been concentrating on the Fort. “Sure, go shopping. Ask Abi to help you put on clothes that will cover your elf ears and do NOT turn into a dragon while you’re there. I’m honestly not too worried as I control everything there but my world doesn’t know about magic and monsters yet. I wanted to break the news to them a little more slowly. Also, be careful, your strength will be greater than anyone there, even in your elf form. And finally, have fun!”

“Okay I will, talk to you later,” she said.

I allowed my Thor Aspect to portal her over to Abi and keep an eye on her while she was out. I also sent Abi a message, “Might try to take Adaline up to the moon base before you return to the tower. I think she’ll have a ball in the low gravity.” I received a quick reply from Abi, “Kk.” Well damn, she really had gone native.

I returned my attention to Fort just as crowds of people throughout the city cheered. I landed next to one of the shopkeepers and dropped my invisibility which cause a few people to gasp but the cheering continued. I opened a portal directly over the center of where the fort used to be and released nanites from my world into the hole in the ground that had been created. They filled it in with normal dirt, covered with short grass. I might replace the fort at some point but for now, it was time to party. I then had the nanites start creating food and drink on the table with a sign above that said. “May the Light of Serena Shine Down on You this Day.”

As the food was being created I looked at the shopkeeper and asked, “I need to head towards Andidreas next, can you help me out?”

“Sure, Sure, Andidreas is about three days travel southwest of here. Just go out the west gate and when you get to the fork about a mile down the road, take the left one. You can’t miss it.

I pulled a silver out of my Belt of Infinite Wealth and handed it to him as I said, “Thank you for your time, now go enjoy the feast. I have to be on my way,” I said as I rose into the air, activated my cloak, and started cloud running to the west. I landed at the fork and then started walking down the left one. As I made my way along the road I noticed a wagon heading my way towards Crownport. Beside the driver of the wagon sat a young woman in a soldier’s uniform. As we neared I analyzed her and noted that she was a level 1 fighter, also she had no weapons. She also had a purple cloth bracer on her left arm. As the wagon came within range of me I heard her ask the driver to stop.

“Excuse me, sir, Are you King Adamantadine from the North?” she asked.

“Yes, that would be me, what can I do for you?” I asked back.

“I have been sent here to deliver this message she said holding up a letter.”

“Do you mind if I cast a spell on your first, to check your intent?” I asked.

“Of course, I was told to offer you every courtesy,” she said.

I double-checked the range on my detect Alignment spell and noted that it had a range of 100 feet. I sent the nanites out and into everything within 500 feet. The wagon looked to be carrying salted meat and except for a bow, some arrows and a short sword near the driver and a magical ring, and a non-magical short sword on the woman everything looked okay. Through my nanites, the magical ring had familiar energy signatures and two that were not.

“That ring on your finger, what is it?”

“Oh this, it was given to me from my Grandmother when I came of age. It’s supposed to protect me and help me when I need it. It was stolen from me once but the next morning at sunrise it reappeared on my finger. Grandma said it was soul-bound to me, which I don’t really understand.” She said.

Well except for that magical ring everything seemed to be normal, yet something felt off. My nanites could detect magic and determined that the message wasn’t magical in any way. I cast Detect Alignment on the woman and then the man. The woman was neutral good. The man on the other hand was neutral, though it hinted at evil. So why did I have misgivings?

“My friends call me Adam, might I have your name?”

“I’m Tasha, it is very nice to meet you. May I step down and bring you this message. I don’t get paid unless the message is delivered and any response returned to the sender.”

“I don’t see why not, please, step down.” She stepped down from the wagon and walked to meet me as I moved closer to the wagon. I looked around, making sure this wasn’t some kind of ambush. A hawk was in a tree about a half-mile away but nothing else was visible.

Tasha walked to me “On behalf of The Vizier for the Council of Crimson Blood I offer greetings and this message,” she said holding an envelope with a wax seal on it towards me.

I took the message, double-checked everything with my nanites then broke the seal and pulled out the note.

“Adamantadine,

I would like to congratulate you on thwarting our plans for Venoran. It is not often that we find such a formidable opponent as yourself. A smart man would wonder how this is a trap, which I believe you to be. But the question you need to first asked yourself is this. How does a mortal stop someone that is as powerful, or so close there is no difference, as a divine? The answer is that you do not. So with great humility and the utmost respect, I have sent this message. The mage that destroyed your Tower is Xsitant. I do hope that you will take the time to meet him someday. He is a bit of a trouble maker that doesn’t always do as he’s told. I’m sure w he’ll be seeing you shortly.

-V

Why was there an error in the message? I thought about it and then started sounding it out in my mind. “w he’ll”? The “w” seemed pointless so I focused on “he’ll” which meant “he will.” “He will be seeing you shortly” I muttered questionly, realizing as I did so that the message was saying that I’d be seeing Xsitant Shortly, but he was in the future? “It’s a trap!” I thought as I looked up just as I heard Tasha say “Xsitant.” A vortex opened and pulled both of us into it.

“My mind exploded in pain which immediately stopped. I opened my eyes to find myself standing on a sand dune, Tasha standing exactly as she had been next to me, and Xsitant standing before me. I recognized him from the images I’d been shown by Serena. I didn’t so much as twitch as I had my nanites invade, map out and prepare to take control of him.

“Hello?” he asked while taking a step back.

“Hello,” I said.

“Who are you?” he asked

“Adamantadine, are you still going to try to kill me?” I asked.

“Look around, What would be the point now?” he asked resignedly.

While we were talking Tasha fell to her knees and started sobbing.