《Obelisk》


 Prologue

    In the year 2034, the world as we knew it ended. Why the year 2034? Because some random fuck picked an arbitrary event as year 0 and the world as we knew it ended precisely 2034 years afterwards.


    As for how it ended? Well, if you were expecting something like a solar flare, meteor impact, nuclear apocalypse, or even zombies rising up while hellfire rained from above, you would be wrong. Actually, there are only a few very rare recorded cases of people dying from a reason directly related to the end of the world.


    That''s because rather than a sudden disaster, the end of the world as we knew it came as something that could only be called a miracle. Magic suddenly came into existence, spreading into everyone and everything. As long as they weren''t too far gone, the sick miraculously recovered with even the bedridden suddenly jumping around as if they were in the prime of their lives. Crops grew to maturity in weeks instead of months. Batteries seemed to last 100s of times longer than they had any right to, while each drop of gasoline someone put into their car did for 20. Athletes found themselves capable of increasingly superhuman feats of strength, endurance, speed and skill.


    It was the end of the world as we knew it, because the world we found ourselves in was unrecognizable. Soon enough people learned to harness magic themselves. Most could barely will a ball of light with the radiance of a candle into existence. However some learned to teleport themselves to the other side of the world, to bend hurricanes to their will, temporarily control the minds of others, create massive illusions, divine the future and past, and countless other feats.


    This was just the beginning. Soon it was discovered that the planet was growing. About a month in, miners noticed that stone and ore that they mined through the month was beginning to grow back. Besides the usual stone and mundane ore, wholly new materials started to appear as well. The appearance of strange new elements coincided with the wide scale mutation of living things. Some herbs gained incredible properties, some plants uprooted themselves and migrated across the land, and animals grew into beasts and monsters of legend. It was the analysis of these materials and creatures that revealed the existence of ¡°mana¡±. The newly discovered elements were actually the same elements on the periodic table, save the addition of mana changing their intrinsic properties. Mana itself was classified as a boson for magic, similarly to how photons were the bosons for light and the electromagnetic spectrum.


    The implications of this discovery were enormous, but dwarfed by the questions it raised, especially as time passed. Two months in, and the first reported sighting of a goddamn unicorn occured along with dragons, mermaids, phoenixes, and countless other mythical creatures. People began changing, some developing an incredible affinity with magic, along with pointed ears, some seemed to compress themselves, becoming short and stout, while others grew to immense sizes with the strength to match. Race suddenly stopped being about skin color and became whether you were elf, giant, dwarf, or just plain human. Faith healing began to actually work, and even common priests of almost all religions could give at least minor blessings. It seemed that mana responded to information, tapping into the lore and collective unconscious of humanity and bringing it to reality. Of course testing this with a computer yielded the first case of an enchanted item.


    Causing a computer to output the information related to a certain phenomena, in the case of that experiment a small electrical arc, and then adding a bit of code to actually send a current caused a small arc to magically appear, even when the computers battery was removed and all electricity drained.


    Suddenly humanity was ushered into a strange era. Technology progressed explosively while dragons soared through the skies. During all this time, the earth continued to grow and living things continued to mutate.


    After the passage of almost 3 years, the earth burst into pieces. Not in the sense that it exploded into a horrendous ball of fire, but that the land itself shattered and spread out. Suddenly instead of a sphere of rock hurtling through space, it was a massive archipelago of floating islands, the space light years around the planet suddenly warping. New islands appeared, these not being born from when the planet shattered, but seemingly teleporting in from the space between the islands. These islands were populated by strange creatures, some angelic, with feathered wings and halos, some demonic with cloven hooves and barbed tails, some completely alien, as if they were extraterrestrial aliens that were dragged into this situation with us, some mechanical, as if robots that were built rather than born.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    That was when everyone first heard what humanity would then know as ¡°the system¡±


    [initializing¡­]


    [quantifying¡­]


    [greetings sentient, your status has been recorded and can be displayed at your leisure]


    It appeared that magic itself developed something of a boltzmann brain. Suddenly everyone found their attributes quantified into specific numbers. These numbers, representing their physical, mental and miscellaneous attributes, were then subdivided further. For example, mental attributes included memory, magical attunement, and will, while physical attributes included vitality, and strength.


    Beyond that, the system granted creatures the ability to level up, and even gain skills and perks. Leveling up was achieved by collecting experience points, supposedly bits of magic you gained over time by doing certain actions. Leveling granted bonus stat points to certain stats, depending on the skills and perks of the one who leveled up. Perks were akin to passive abilities. One gained a certain amount of perk points per level, as well as one perk point for each time one leveled a skill. Skills represented certain abilities one learned, such as ones mastery with a sword, their ability with a certain type of magic, all abilities that grew in proficiency and leveled up as you went.


    So, as time passed, the various races and cultures that were swept into this new world collided, with the addition of the system, technology and magic kept growing, and the world became truly and utterly unrecognizable. It was in this world, where wizards stood tall over mechanized cities, warriors could sunder mountains with their bare hands, angels and demons collided, and myths and legends were brought to life, where a young lad named Zeno met his end.


    Deep in the recesses of a cave, a young lad studied the nature of magic. He searched for why the world changed all those years ago. He was a bookish sort, with the slightest bit of madness. He often preferred the quiet of a book to the boisterous and often vulgar jovialities of others his age. He had few friends, besides the magic in the world he lived in.


    Dressed in a pristine lab coat while writing onto a small tablet, he continuously made small chalk marks on the floor. He knew he was unlikely to learn where magic actually came from, yet as time went on he received epiphany after epiphany, as if magic itself was trying to help him. By the end of it all, the cave was covered in swirling lines of chalk.


    He picked this cave because it was on the edge of one of the floating islands that remained from when the planet burst. This cave had an interesting quality of spatial displacement, being bigger on the inside than on the outside, as well as bridging the gap between islands even though the island zeno entered had no solid connection to any adjacent islands.


    Of course there were several caves like this one strewn about the world, however this one was in surprisingly close proximity to Aris university where Zeno was carrying out his studies. Both his parents worked there, so he was practically raised within the institutions walls, from soon after he was born to when he became an alumni, as well as the fact that it was the only cave the town guard would let him go to with the Ardian threat across the border. It was there where he learned about what the world was like before magic, as well as discover his curiosity on what caused the change. A curiosity that brought him out to a small cave on the outskirts of his island, covered with chalk.


    ¡°Now, lets see if my hypothesis was correct¡­¡±


    Standing at the center of the chalk marks and willing a spark of mana into them caused the whole cave to light up almost instantaneously. Lines of runes began to fill out the empty space, floating off the walls to make an extraordinarily complex multidimensional diagram, as the lines seemed to flow in impossible ways making it look like an M.C. Esher drawing. The lines got thicker and thicker, denser and denser, until they collapsed into a single point of singularity, taking Zeno with them.

 Chapter 1: a whole new world

    Zeno found himself in a cube 10 meters on each side, the walls being the same basalt stone the cave was composed of. There was still some light, despite the room having no visible openings or sources of light. Not enough light to see with any clarity mind you, but more akin to the level of light where you can make out blurry shapes in the darkness after your eyes adjust.


    Zeno, of course, knew very well where this ¡°light¡± was coming from. Mana had an interesting effect on optics, emitting a subtle colorless glow that could provide some sight on its own while magnifying any other source of visible light.


    ¡°Well this is unexpected¡­¡±


    Casting a light spell, Zeno found that it glowed orders of magnitude more brightly than it should have, becoming a searchlight rather than a candle. Beyond that, the light seemed to have slivers of every color, from the deepest red to the brightest violet and beyond.


    [dimension initialized - resetting parameters]


    [perks gained: primal chaos mana, dimensional lord]


    ¡°What the? Status!¡±


    [ZENO| level 1]


    [Mental: Will 53 (Focus 100, Confidence 6) | Attunement 60 (Mana control 70, Mana capacity 100) | Memory 65 (Memory capacity 100, Learning ability 30)]


    [Physical: Vitality 11 (Endurance 13, Fortitude 9) | Strength 11 (Dexterity 9, Power 13)]


    Health: 11 | Mana: 100


    [Special: Luck 10 | Perception 10 (sight 10, hearing 11, smell 9) | affinity 10 (primal chaos 10)]


    [skills: spells (light 4, spark 1, force bolt 1, telekinesis 6, identify 5), mundane (research 10, cooking 1, driving 1, cleaning 2, diplomacy 3) knowledge (arcane 10, history 7, physics 6, biology 6, math 5) ]


    [perks: primal chaos mana, dimensional lord, origin research]


    ¡°Well then, that''s interesting¡­¡±


    Before the event in the cave, Zeno was level 11, spending all of his stat points on things like learning ability, memory, focus and mana control, while putting all of his perk points into the crossed out origin research perk. Interestingly stats such as focus and memory capacity increased tremendously, from the high 20s they were in to 100 each, while stats such as mana control and mana capacity also increased from their previously moderate amounts.


    The origin research perk first appeared when he was very young, only level 1, and its description stated that it would help him study the basis of whatever he attempts to learn. This of course isn''t an entirely rare perk, being about as common as an IQ above 140, though due to the vagueness of its effect it remains an unpopular choice. Of course some of the people who picked it are leaders in their fields and claim it gives them very slight advantages in concentrating on a subject and seeing it from different points of view, while countless others who picked it claim it to be a scam that only sucks away perk points.


    Of course in Zeno¡¯s case something seemed much different, as if the perk burnt itself out after he put the mana into the formation. As for what the formation did, well, the newly gained perks might explain that¡­


    [Dimensional lord: ruler of their own pocket dimension. The dimension has a volume of 1000 cubic meters per level of host. Mana in the pocket dimension is immensely favorable to host and will increase effect of host actions. Host is bound to dimension, increasing in ability as the dimension grows, unlocking new perks, skills and attribute gains. Pocket dimension can be cultivated to enhance abilities. Pocket dimension automatically generates mana from virtual subspace based on size and complexity. +2 vitality, +2 strength, +10 attunement, +10 memory, +10 focus per level]


    [primal chaos mana: a special form of mana composed of all elements. Grants access to Genesis magic. Increases effect of magic skills by (primal chaos affinity * 10%). Increases the effect of power skills by (primal chaos affinity *10%). +1 primal chaos affinity every 2 levels]


    ¡°So¡­ that happened¡­¡±


    Zeno had never heard of anything like these perks, especially the dimensional lord one. Primal chaos mana was something common at exceedingly high levels, with most extremely powerful creatures having something similar. Dimensional lord on the other hand was completely unique. Zeno could not recall a single mention of a perk that gave you an actual dimension. One that grew with you nonetheless. He had heard of a few incredibly rare cases of weapons that grew along with their owners, but those were things like swords or armor or guns, not a literal pocket dimension.


    Not to mention those attribute increases. It''s rare for a single perk to grant a +1 to and attribute per level, while dimensional lord adds a total of 14 to base attributes and 10 to focus, the equivalent of +5 to will. You would need over 20 common perks to get that many stats per level up.


    Zeno probably would have stared for a bit longer if it wasn''t for the fact that the system soon chimed in.


    [light spell level up]


    The light spell was something Zeno used constantly, getting up to level 4 after countless hours. Now it leveled up after a few minutes. The description of dimensional lord said that it would increase the effect of the hosts actions, which could possibly include the rate you got proficiency in a skill.


    Given this knowledge, and having no idea how long he would be stuck in this little pocket dimension, Zeno decided to put it to use and unlock Genesis magic. Of course to actually unlock a kind of magic, you had to know what it did, and Zeno could only make an educated guess based on the name. He began to will his mana out and focus it onto a point in front of him, willing something into existence. Zeno continuously poured mana at the limit of his mana control, which should have drained him completely in a little over a second. However, he found that the mana in his little pocket dimension replenished anything he spent almost instantaneously. He ended up channeling mana for a little under an hour, outputting around a quarter of a million mana, and creating a small green cube with rounded edges, as it the universe supplied the most generic object it could¡­ This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    [genesis magic unlocked]


    Zeno wasn''t entirely sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn''t an object so perfectly generic. Either way, it he obtained the genesis spell, and can now worry about other things, like how long the air would last him in this room. Admittedly that would last a while given the large space of the room, but if he finds himself stuck for a few days¡­


    So zeno decided to keep practicing genesis magic, and see if that could create stuff like food, water, or oxygen. Interestingly enough, it actually took a lot less mana than the previous green cube, possibly because Zeno actually knew what he wanted to create. He could feel a gentle breeze as he created oxygen, as well as only taking minutes instead of hours to make a good sized hot dog and about a liter of water straight into his mouth.


    So, worst case scenario he lives the rest of his life inside a 10 meter by 10 meter by 10 meter box, given he isnt driven mad by lonelyness and commits suicide first¡­


    ¡°Ok, priority 1: get out¡±


    So he began to create some materials to try and make another diagram that would hopefully bring him home, leveling genesis magic to 3 in the process, while light leveled up to 6. Now, using his knowledge of the arcane and telekinesis to make another diagram he began to write across the floor and walls, making repeated symbols for traveling as well as old symbols for earth, while using various symbols to denote the geography of his home town, getting a new ¡°array creation¡± skill, while leveling telekinesis to 7.


    Pouring mana into it caused it to glow, but instead of taking Zeno home it just gave him a welcome, but unhelpful message


    [level up!]


    Of course there really wasn''t much he could do, so he began to look through his status screen noting the changes, and given that he has 8 perk points to spend decided to try and see what he could get.


    [perks available: dimensional obelisk, worldly influence, primal creation]


    [primal creation 0/100: using primal chaos mana, the cost of the genesis spell is divided by primal chaos affinity. +1 primal chaos affinity per 2 levels]


    [worldly influence 0/70: all sentients within the pocket dimension will have their opinions of the host improved slowly]


    [dimensional obelisk 0/100: creates a small obelisk linked to the users dimension. This obelisk can be used to enter and exit the dimension at will, as well as absorbing creatures and substances into the pocket dimension to develop it. It also functions as a weapon, protecting the user and growing along with the dimension]


    Zeno put his points into dimensional obelisk almost immediately. It may have taken many more points than he had at the moment, but given the rate he gained proficiency within the pocket dimension, he felt he could do it if he put his mind to it, even if it took a few days¡­


    ¡°This might take a while¡­¡±


    Soon enough Zeno went to rest up against a wall, thinking of several different skills he could gain and level quickly. Genesis was certainly near the top of the list, along with perhaps telekinesis since those would probably be the most useful. Perhaps a few crafting skills would come in handy, given the fact that he will never want for raw materials. So maybe forging, carpentry, definitely some alchemy¡­


    Of course those need things other than simple materials, heat for forging and alchemy, a way to cut with carpentry, both cases where he could learn another skill to level up at the same time.


    Of course doing all of those in such a limited space probably wouldn''t be the best idea. So zeno looked at the wall behind him, thinking about how he could expand¡­


    [would you like to expand dimension in this direction?]


    A quick yes later and zeno found the room to have expanded another 10 meters in the direction of the wall. Spending a few hours to separate both sections with a wall and building himself a small forge/lab he got to work on creating a fire based spell. The spark spell was good for starting fires, but its small area and short duration made it impractical for anything other that starting a campfire. If he intended to actually use a spell to provide the heat for forging he would have to make a different spell entirely. Come to think of it, if this spell would be used exclusively for crafting, it would probably be a good idea to add an enchantment to enhance and refine whatever goes through the flame.


    The enchantment could be something simple such as just strengthening the materials in a process like tempering steel, but that wouldn''t be as universally useful as a flame that endows the product with some form of extra effect, like a flame that automatically alloys two materials together. However such a flame would be much more complicated to create. The idea zeno had in mind was a flame that would enhance the natural properties of whatever it touched, making swords sharper, springs bouncier, acid more corrosive, etc¡­


    Zeno began to think of his primal chaos mana, which enhanced both his magic abilities and any ¡°power¡± abilities he gained in the future, meaning abilities based more on using mana with the body instead of the mind. The primal chaos mana seemed to be were other kinds of mana evolved from, and thus seemed to be able to change to be more applicable to whatever it was used on. Of course a flame like that would seem to be very difficult to design and control, but since Zeno would effectively just be imbuing his mana into whatever he was crafting through the flame, most of the work would already be done.


    So Zeno got to work on making an array that tried to illustrate his plans for his new spell. The array worked a bit like training wheels, guiding the magic in such a way as to take the desired effect through symbols and images. Of course, that doesn''t mention the difficulty of actually finding a good symbol for what he wanted to accomplish. After all, how does one symbolize growth, change or even chaos itself for that manner. Zeno tried quite a few things, from a blooming flower to a diagram of the four seasons, to an infinity symbol, but none did the trick. Change was fundamentally about going from one state to another, something inherently impossible to depict in a static symbol.


    Zeno decided to try creating the raw materials for when he eventually decided to start crafting. He¡¯d already gained a few levels in array creation, but couldn''t find a single static symbol for change. He thought of as many transitions between states as he could, from life or death, hot or cold, on or off, happy or sad, light or dark, etc¡­ but none seemed to do the trick.


    He saw as different materials emerged from nothing, brought about through the magic of the genesis spell. It was only afterwards that an epiphany came. If it was impossible to represent change with a single static symbol, use more than one symbol.


    And so he began a new array. This one had a small diagram of fire at its core, while to the ¡°east¡± as Zeno arbitrarily decided, were a bunch of raw materials, like stone, coal, sulphur, iron, wood, and others, while the ¡°west¡± had several finished products, like knives and hammers, vials of chemicals, a wooden chair, and more, while the ¡°north¡± and ¡°south¡± had general symbols of improvement and good luck, such as joyful faces, plus signs, shooting stars, and four leaf clovers all surrounding the fire diagram and making a sort of ¡°forge¡± connected by random wavy lines. The lines connecting the materials and products to the core of the formation all had arrow points that went from the raw materials, through the fire and to the finished product.


    Forcing mana into the array caused a small, multicolored flame to appear in the middle. Studying the idea behind the flame, Zeno brought a small lump of diamond made by the genesis spell from his pocket. Using telekinesis, he brought the diamond into the flames to test whether the diamond would burn up like a lump of coal as a regular diamond would or whether the diamond would be forgeable.


    Interestingly enough it was a bit of both. The diamond started to burn, but the raw materials placed around the array seemed to be sucked towards it. As sulphur, steel, coal, wood, and other raw materials rushed into the flames, the mass seemed to compress itself, developing a pseudo-gravitational pull that dragged the finished products on the other side over and into the flames as well.


    [emerging chaos ignition unlocked]

 Chapter 2: grinding

    At the core where the flame used to be lied an indiscriminate mass, seeming like a hulk of burnt charcoal. When Zeno approached, the mass broke apart like an egg, revealing a jet black hammer inside. The hammer seemed much bigger than would have been practical, while the head had an interesting pattern engraved onto it. Inspecting the pattern, he found it was almost identical to the array Zeno made to start the flame in the first place, with lines flowing from the rear end, through a flame diagram and then to the business end of the hammer, while the top of the hammer had a profile reminiscent of an anvil.


    [forge of creation (unique) level 1: a magnificent tool born to hammer chaos into order. +10 to strength. +1 effective level to all crafting skills. Feeding mana into the tool while crafting imbues product with special abilities]


    [system detected unique artifact connected to host. Integrating artifact into space¡­ artifact integrated! Congratulations host, artifact abilities are now integrated into the dimensional fabric, effectively allowing host to use them unlimitedly within the pocket dimension. Dimension has been advanced, and now grants +3 strength on level up rather than +2]


    ¡°So, making shit makes the dimension better? That seems abusable¡­¡±


    Zeno felt almost twice as strong from the extra 10 points to strength from the hammer. If he could continuously create equipment to boost his stats, he would be invincible in short order¡­


    Of course, after countless hours at the forge, he learned this wasn''t true. He started out by trying to forge a shield that would increase his vitality, and while he succeeded, the space did not integrate the shield, meaning he couldn''t stack the attribute bonuses it granted. Neither did it integrate any other product he crafted, from swords to hammers and even a shovel. It appeared that to be integrated an object had to be special, meaning that mass producing objects to integrate would be impossible. On the bright side, he gained and leveled the forging skill a couple times, while leveling both the flame spell and, surprisingly, genesis.


    ¡°So that''s 20/100 perk points¡­ oh oh, a fifth of the way there, oh oh, living on a prayer¡­¡±


    So, Zeno continued his crafting, moving from forging to alchemy, creating enchanted salts and nuclear gunpowder. Not kidding about the nuclear gunpowder thing, apparently the reason genesis was leveling up was because as he was pouring mana into the product to give it more features, genesis created reagents to add into the mix. In the case of the gunpowder the reagent was powdered uranium, which when detonated would cause a small nuclear reaction. Not exactly enough to compare to an actual nuke, but it certainly blew regular gunpowder out of the water.


    Of course, the availability of a material that could create such a large amount of energy could definitely be used for other purposes¡­


    So, Zeno began to work on something new, akin to an engine. The gunpowder would burn to generate heat, which would boil water to spin a turbine, which would generate electricity, which would be¡­ well, Zeno didn''t really have anything to power at the moment, but surely something would come up¡­


    After using genesis and trying to forge everything into place, he put the powder into place and started it up¡­ it immediately exploded¡­


    Luckily Zeno wasn''t harmed any further than being knocked on his ass for his stupidity. I mean I know its a very high energy substance, but it was an explosive substance, not like coal or gasoline which just slowly burns¡­


    So of course Zeno decided to¡­ try again¡­ goddammit Zeno¡­


    At least this time he used arrays to strengthen the structure further, as well as try to slow the release of energy. At least this time it didn''t explode. Just immediately turned red hot and start to melt¡­


    Welp, third times the charm. Building the third iteration on the melted remains of the second, this time more heat resistance arrays were added, as well as trying to cover the inside with ceramics to absorb heat and shock. Low and behold, the turbine emitted a low hum, sparks of lightning shooting off it.


    ¡°I mean I guess it feels satisfying to get it to work, but this is getting a bit boring isn''t it? I don''t even have anything to power with this thing¡­¡±


    [engineering unlocked]


    [assembly unlocked]


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Ask and ye shall receive I guess¡±


    And so Zeno got down to tinkering, using the engineering skill to create designs that would incorporate forging, alchemy, and arrays. A couple levels in engineering later and he was able to create several designs, using magic to supplement his lack of refined materials and mechanics knowledge. Some may consider it cheating, but some don''t get to make robots now do they?


    Crafting design after design, Zeno quickly found that all of his crafting skills, as well as genesis and emerging chaos ignition, were leveling at a rapid rate. Interestingly, creating the body of the robot was simple enough. Just making tubes for hydraulics and magnetic servos to act as the muscles while carving arrays to act as wiring across the frame. The hard part was designing the controls. Zeno was trying to use an array in a small booklet installed in the robots chest to autonomously control the robot, but certain systems were a bit too complex to fit. Walking, for example, was very difficult to get right, with the robot falling over constantly. More complex tasks, like recognizing and interacting with objects were even more difficult. It was simple enough to create a sensor array that gave out certain inputs depending on what it saw, but that would only apply for very specific objects. It would be able to recognize a box, but not whatever was in the box, or if said box was already empty.


    Things like locomotion were simple to fix, for example by going from a biped form to a quadruped, and putting wheels at the bottom of the legs instead of relying on a walking motion. The hard problem is finding a way to make the robot versatile.


    One option to develop and artificial intelligence for the robot is to develop a way for it to increase its memory, like a hard drive, and give it the ability to learn. The problem with that is that Zeno had no intimate knowledge of how hard drives worked. This meant he could probably create one using genesis and his memory of what one looked like, but it would be impossible for him to use it without knowing how. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Not to mention the problem of how to let the robot know what is a good course of action as opposed to a bad one. A robot that only learned how to perfectly fall on his face isn''t very useful.


    Looking at how a human mind functions, it associates things with other things in order to expand its knowledge. A baby associates its mother with  the word mama, while associating things like hunger, soiling itself, fear, and pain with wailing. Eventually it learns words like hungry, poopy, and ouchie, finding that using those words are much more effective at solving its problems than random wailing. Of course this all has the goal of minimizing pain while satisfying its needs, which drives it to continue learning¡­


    So, Zeno proceeded to try something different. He forged a massive sheet of paper thin brass, doused in white sand and mashed up berries. Putting it through the fire gave the metal a kaleidoscopic sheen, perfectly preparing it for the next part, carving the array. At the very center of the sheet, Zeno drew a picture of a brain, connecting it to a stylized Z with a crown on it representing himself, pricking his finger and adding a drop of blood over it to make sure that the array was focused on holding him as king. From the symbol that represented himself, he connected two symbols back to the brain, a check mark and a x mark. This is the core of the array, so that the robot leans towards doing things that benefit Zeno much like a baby seeks to satisfy its needs. Next, the brain was connected to an intricate web of symbols surrounding it, from symbols designed to activate motor functions like moving arms and legs, symbols based on the association and recognition of stimuli such as sight and language, symbols designed for basic arithmetic, to symbols designed to catalog and record previous actions and decide if they were optimal or not. Finally, the sheet was put through emerging chaos ignition while it was being crumpled up.


    Zeno understood that magic worked on information, symbols and sensations. That was the reason array symbols were so easy to design. As long as a symbol was close enough to what it represented for people to recognize it intuitively or officially, then that symbol represented that thing. This meant that ¡°programming¡± arrays was much easier than programming an actual computer, and why most modern programming languages used symbolism more. The brain symbol at the center of the array had a very, very limited ability to ¡°think¡±. In short, it acted as a logic gate, evaluating inputs and giving an output. This is all carried out by a single symbol, while computers would need an incredible number of arguments to accomplish the same with traditional programming. Of course arrays took up a lot more space, given that the sheet was 100s of square meters in size, not something that you could fit in a laptop, as well as requiring a source of mana capable of producing 10s of times more energy than what would have been necessary to run a comparable program.


    Of course Zeno ¡°thought¡± up a solution for both problems. Energy was never an issue in the first place, given the rate he recovers mana inside of the pocket dimension, while the size is being solved by crumpling the sheet like a piece of tinfoil while subjecting it to emerging chaos ignition. Normally, when you deform an array, it gets ruined, but crumpling it into a certain symbolic shape while using emerging chaos ignition to give it a specific purpose, it would be theoretically possible to reshape and condense the arrays.


    In this case, the arrays are meant to act as the ¡°brain¡± of the robot, so folding it into the shape of a human brain would give all of the arrays a central theme, thus making up for any deformation, even if it loses out on certain higher functions. The flame, on the other hand, is meant to reshape and enhance this theme, effectively reconnecting and adapting the arrays.


    [array creation leveled up x5, engineering leveled up x3, assembly leveled up x4, forging leveled up x2, alchemy leveled up x3, emerging chaos ignition leveled up x3]


    [mind of the assemblage (unique) level 1: made from inscribed orichalcum and forged in the fires of emerging chaos, this artifact is soulbound to its owner, and built into their servitor. Item can level up over time, gaining additional effects and increasing previous abilities. Grants servitors 30 memory, 20 will and 2 attunement. +5 memory and +2 will for every level of the item. +1 attunement for every two levels. Stats capped at owner stats]


    [system detected unique artifact connected to host. Integrating artifact into space¡­ artifact integrated! Congratulations host, artifact abilities are now integrated into the dimensional fabric, causing the artifact to interact with all ¡°brain¡± runes inscribed by the host. Dimension has been advanced, and now grants +15 memory, +4 will on level up rather than +10 memory and no will ]


    [level up!]


    ¡°So every robot I make from now on is tied to that singular AI? That''s great, assuming it doesn''t try to kill me¡­¡±


    The robot in front of Zeno had a humanoid torso, while it had 4 ¡°legs¡± each ending in a set of wheels. Its head was dominated by a single glass lens, acting as its eye, while tubing stretched along each of its limbs. Putting the mind of the assemblage into its chest cavity, it suddenly came on, slipping around a bit on its legs before finding its balance.


    It was kind of cute, seeing it flail about like a newborn. It was also nice that its construction brought Zeno three quarters of the way to getting the dimensional obelisk perk.


    So, Zeno began crafting new robots with various different shapes. Rover robots that were basically tiny six wheeled cars, spider robots that crawled along on several legs, tank robots that sped along on tracks, and even a single helicopter robot, that could actually fly.  It was nice to see them scuttle about, but unfortunately it didn''t bring as many levels as expected. It appeared to Zeno that the skills he obtained had reached the point where their proficiency was becoming harder to raise, despite the incredible boosts from the pocket dimension.


    So he elected to try something new. Exercise¡­


    Using his recent level up. He cleared out another room worth of space, creating a small gymnasium. Here, he created a bit of equipment, nothing too major, and got to work. Working along the machines and weights, he eventually got the fitness skill, after a few hours. The fitness skill was a little different than most skills, since it added a point to either endurance or power each level up. Of course it took ages to level it up, meaning that most couldn''t get extraordinarily strong just like that. Certainly superhuman, but not capable of lifting a loaded semi truck.


    Of course Zeno could cheat, using the pocket dimension¡¯s proficiency boosting abilities. By the time he started his little fitness run he had already been gone for a couple of days at least, even if he never actually felt the need to sleep, something he attributed to the pocket dimension revitalizing him. What was a couple more days.


    So, he punctuated crafting and spellwork with mindless exercise. He focused on creating tools for the robots to use, as well as spells to boost them. So far he gained two entirely new spells, discharge and overcharge.


    Discharge was used to transfer energy to a target, mainly electric energy but also apparently mana as well, since one of his experiments to see if robots could do magic with their attunement stat showed that it recharged their mana on a 1/1 basis. Of course he couldn''t use it on himself without tasering himself so he can''t know if there is some efficiency lost. Overcharge boosted the robots performance, basically overclocking their systems. For him, it increased strength by its level while reducing endurance by twice his level, though he could only sustain it for a little over a minute.


    Finally he decided to level force bolt, a little spell he got in a self defense class, as well as a simple shielding spell, given its simplicity. The shield spell was interesting, since it gave your health a ¡°buffer¡± made from your mana equal to its level, with the rate the buffer regenerates being equal to how fast you could put mana in it, in other words your mana control stat.


    Putting in a bit more exercise, and zeno finally heard the final skill level up


    [fitness level up]


    [dimensional obelisk obtained: generating now]

 Chapter 3: a whole old world

    A stream of polychromatic lights condensed in front of zeno, forming a miniature obelisk about 30 cm tall. It seemed to be made of black obsidian, with kaleidoscopic flecks scattered over every square centimeter of surface.


    [dimensional obelisk (unique) level 3: a dimensional marker. Allows host to travel between dimensions, can map out other dimensions. Can absorb materials and creatures into space (creatures must be willing or incapacitated). Can change size by a factor of current level. Can be used as a tool for crafting, emulating forge of creation.  Can be used as a focus to effect any construct to mind of the assemblage. Base damage equal to sum of attunement, strength, and primal chaos affinity stats. Obelisk will grow alongside dimension and host]


    Zeno could finally return to the real world. It''s been almost a week, a week where he has had no human contact. The only other ¡°sentient¡± beings he has interacted with were his robots¡­ Zenos was almost stunned into sile-


    ¡°FREEEEDOM!!!¡±


    Well that lasted the whole of 5 seconds.


    Using the obelisk to return to the real world, he saw an image of the inside of the cave and was asked if he would like to return. Of course he said yes almost immediately and began running back to the university, even if it would be a pain to explain himself to security. He discovered something groundbreaking, especially with how he gained such capabilities so quickly. Which, admittedly, would be annoying to explain to the guards, given that they¡¯ll probably expect him to be some Ardian spy. Security has been getting tighter for the last few years after the incident at the border, but even the company of the guards is human company.


    Along the way, he decided to experiment (read: play) with the dimensional obelisk. He found he could get it to float within 3 meters of him, and it could fly with a bit of speed. The absorption ability was what he found most interesting.


    [soil absorbed, Poaceae(grass) absorbed. Grass or dirt floors unlocked]


    Zeno instinctively knew that the next time he made another room, he could make it have a dirt floor with grass growing out of it rather than stone. Of course, he began collecting every little thing he saw, from random bushes, to large rocks, to small trees, and even a bit of water he found in a puddle. Zeno was certain that the next room he got was going to be a garden, given the biodiversity in the forest trail he found himself walking on.


    Soon enough, he came across a small anthill, and tried to absorb the ants. He quickly found that he couldn''t just absorb creatures, with most ants easily resisting the absorption, until one explorer actually went through and was absorbed.


    [formica rufa worker absorbed, can now be spawned with genesis]


    Zeno quickly released the ant back into the real world. Based on that message, he should be able to make clones of that ant using genesis. He tried creating one immediately, quickly running out of mana.


    Temporarily returning to the pocket in order to replenish his stores, he tried spawning the ant again, spending an hour channeling mana for a single ant. He felt a strange connection with the ant, as if it was bound to him. Whatever he thought the ant did. If he willed it to walk in circles, it would walk in circles, if he willed it to climb up a wall, it climbed up a wall. It appeared that he could control whatever he created through genesis, which brought some pretty important questions with it, such as if he could create and control humans¡­


    Something to think about some other time. For now, Zeno continued his path towards Aris university. Eventually he reached the gates, surprised to find what he could only call a pair of cybernetic zombies.


    They looked like preserved patchwork corpses, pale and slightly bloated, but without any large bloody holes. Instead they seemed to be sewed together with several bodies and a bunch of wires and lights. One was quick to notice him, immediately bounding toward him, while the second one let out a guttural yell and drew a spiked mace that quickly began to emit a grey miasma.


    Zeno found himself frozen. Ardia was known for their necromancy due to their alliance with the demon Orcus. They just had to sacrifice a few people every year and they gained the ability to create tireless workers and undying soldiers. Of course, with those undying soldiers, it was pretty tempting to attack nearby lands and take their people. Most of the time they just selected people from the lower stratum of their own society, supplementing their numbers with people kidnapped from smaller tribal communities. Of course a few years ago they attacked a border town and took a few people, though they were quickly retaliated against, wizards teleporting bombs right into their cities from miles away. It occurred to Zeno that they never recovered any of the people¡­


    Zeno was only jolted out of his reverie as his obelisk slammed into the first zombie, easily piercing through center of mass before turning around to parry one of the strikes from the spiked mace and smash the offending zombie into the ground.


    [level up x2!!!]


    Zeno decided to quickly absorb both zombie corpses and get away, running into the trees before going back into his pocket dimension.


    [automaton absorbed, constructs aligned with host now have increased vitality and strength]


    It appeared that absorbing both zombies had an extra benefit besides getting rid of the evidence. Regardless, the fact of the matter was that the university seems to have been attacked. Zeno expected the army of Aris to come soon enough, but was still worried that they might arrive in time. Zeno¡¯s parents and what little friends he had had to be at the university when the attack happened. Right now, he needed to find a way to get inside the city, and hopefully get everyone out.


    At that moment, a single robot walked out of the workshop room, followed by its brethren. Zeno started hatching a plan¡­


    Meanwhile, a balding middle-aged man surrounded by more of the cybernetic zombies approached the area the two zombies were guarding, finding no evidence of a fight beyond a few blood splatters on the ground. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°Looks like we¡¯ll need to push our schedule forward¡­¡±


    Zeno was building weapons. Nuclear gunpowder bombs and cannons, runically cooled railguns, monowire ¡°swords¡± enhanced for maximum rigidity with minimum width, and many others. He intended to equip his small mechanical army, and have them cause a distraction while he snuck through. He would try and find any survivors, teleporting them out while using the pocket dimensions as a transfer point. It took a couple days, but focusing on using genesis to cover as much of the crafting as possible while using emerging chaos ignition on industrial scale batches certainly speed up several things.


    Looking back at the area he left, he found it was infested with zombies, probably placed to reinforce the area after what happened to the last two. Most worrisome was a zombified dire bear sniffing around. The thing was covered in ceramic armor plates, its paws seemingly replaced with bladed metal clubs, certainly capable of smashing any of the robots it could get within its reach. It would be difficult to hunt such a beast down¡­


    Luckily, it is firmly in the area mapped out by his obelisk. Placing a around a hundred kilograms of nuclear gunpowder bombs directly under it with the fuze lit was enough to seal its face blasting bits of zombie bear and shrapnel all over the place, taking out a few nearby zombies as well.


    Soon enough someone wearing a dark robe appeared at the scene of the explosion. Zeno probably could have gotten him as well, but decided to go a different route.


    Using genesis, he quickly created materials for a simple gas mask, basically a cloth filter with goggles, along with a bunch of wood that create an irritating sap. Lighting the wood on fire with emerging chaos ignition caused it to begin spewing out thick clouds of irritating smoke, which Zeno used to fill the area around the zombies and the gate, quickly hiding away while the zombies were blinded and the wizard was probably hacking his lungs out.


    Once inside, Zeno began releasing the robots. The tank and rover model were both equipped with a railgun turret, while the bipedal model was equipped with what was basically a pair of autocannons. The flyer was equipped with bombs, meant to hit beefier targets, while the first robot he made was equipped with twin monowire swords, using magic to heat them until they glowed white hot like an incandescent light bulb.


    Most of the robots began to fan out and cause as much chaos as possible, with simple orders to kick ass and try to rescue people. The city looked similar to what Zeno read about old battlefields before the end of the world. Black smudges, buildings crumbling apart, the occasional corpse. The difference was that the black smudges were more like tarry goop than soot from bomb blasts, the buildings looked more like they were melted away rather than demolished, and the corpses were still moving. Zeno tried to absorb anything he could find, from rubble to vehicles, while the robot bodyguard cut down any zombies along the way.


    Eventually, they came to a white tarp tent, filled with several crates, an operating table and several gallons of embalming fluid. Zeno hoped this was just a station for zombie maintenance while the absorbed everything in the tent, from the bed to the boxes filled with wires and strange devices.


    [system detected device: dead-wired heart. Device can be integrated with constructs affiliated to host, increasing strength and vitality. integrating now]


    Wires suddenly started growing out of Zeno¡¯s robot bodyguard, wrapping around and holding it together. The wires seemed almost alive in how they moved, as if they were actually muscle and blood rather than cold steel and copper.


    Disregarding the fortuitous upgrade, unfortunately those crates weren''t the only thing in the tent. The back area of the tent was covered in cages holding human hostages. Zeno recognized a few old men and women who taught at the university, as well as a few students and workers from the surrounding area. Of course, this was a perfect opportunity to strike something off the bucket list.


    ¡°Come with me if you want to live¡±


    ¡°Boy, I was around since before that movie came out¡±


    ¡°Do you want to leave or not?¡±


    Even though one of the older professors called him out on his little joke, Zeno still managed to quickly move them out to the area near the cave out where he first discovered the pocket dimension along with some food, them only passing through the pocket dimension for a few milliseconds. That''s about 8 down, god knows how many to go.


    ¡°Those are some interesting toys you got kid¡±


    Zeno turned around and faced the uninvited guest. He looked like the zombies, but twice as big, and notably more alive. He still had the wires crisscrossing his body like a shoddy stitch job on someone who just went through a meat grinder, but his eyes certainly carried much more intelligence than the zombies did. He was holding a large battle axe with a crescent shaped blade spitting out smoke from the back end like some diesel fire.


    ¡°I''m going to have a lot of fun tearing them apart¡±


    The giant lunged at Zeno, being blocked by his robot bodyguard. The robot used its burning hot swords. Clear burn marks could be seen on the blade and the haft of the axe as the robot reared up on its hind legs and pushed the giant back. Hell, at this rate Zeno would have the give the robot a name given how well it was doing.


    ¡°Oh, so this pile of scrap in waiting thinks it''s a tough one ey?¡±


    The giant leapt again, this time striking at the robot while smoke jetted out of the rear end of the axe. The robot caught the axe in a scissoring motion while trying to deflect it away, avoiding a brute strength confrontation by rolling back. Striking again and again, the giant slowly began guiding the robot into a corner, taking advantage of its inexperience with combat to leave it nowhere to run.


    The axe suddenly burst out in a massive gout of smoke, thrusting it down onto the robots guard. The giant knew that this strike could cleave the bot in two, leaving the boy defenseless. Soon the axe fell upon the guard like a thunderous avalanche, only for the haft to be cut clean through.


    Even when the robot could have easily dodged the giants strikes perfectly, it chose to block and deflect. This wasn''t due to inexperience, but rather the result. Each time the blade made contact with the haft, it cut through more and more, eventually reaching the point where the haft gave out completely.


    The giant, suddenly and unexpectedly disarmed, had no response to the robot thrusting both blades into his chest while the obelisk came down from on top.


    [level up x3!!!]


    Zeno looked at the robot thoughtfully as he fled the scene after absorbing the corpse and broken axe. At this point the robot deserved a name, not only because it arguably saved his life, but because it was the first robot he built.


    ¡°Prime, your name is prime now¡±


    Prime fundamentally meant the first, which the robot was. It would certainly be more convenient than calling it ¡°the robot¡± at the very least.


    Soon enough Zeno and prime hacked and slashed their way to the university proper. There, they faced a small battalion of those same giants, as well as tens of black robed necromancers.


    ¡°Welp. we are horribly outnumbered and outmatched¡­¡±


    Looks like they found the enemies forward operating base, along with most of the enemy. Zeno proceeded to order all of the robots to converge on his position, while he circled the area looking for more of those tents.  By the end of the hour most robots were badly damaged, though each was recovered along with about 500 more people across 10¡¯s of tents. Of course, that was still only a fraction of the people in the town when it was taken, with most of them probably being held in the enemy base.


    Zeno moved out back into the woods, hoping to find something to help him.

 Chapter 4: break in

    Zeno was looking through the forest for any natural treasures he could absorb. Since the last time he expanded, he leveled up 5 times, meaning he could create 5 more rooms. As for what to fill the rooms with, he didn''t yet know.


    He decided to set up a few traps, along several points in the forest. Bits of food laced with sedatives spread through the forest. The idea was that while he got to crafting, several creatures would take a bite of the bait, fall unconscious and be absorbed.


    In the meantime, Zeno would get crafting a different kind of robot. Finally deciding to expand again, Zeno went in the opposite direction of the workshop to create a small garden, electing to have the ground be dirt and grass, with a few shrubs and even a tree. There was even a projection of the sky providing sunlight. There he would house all of the small creatures he absorbs, and see if he could control them like he controlled the ant. The area across from the gymnasium would just be a general storage area, where he could house the robots and equipment, if it wasn''t suddenly filled with all of the stuff he absorbed before. Oh well, something to handle later¡­


    Finally going to a room behind the workshop, as well as a bit of space above it, he got to building the robot he was talking about.


    This robot would have a shape that took up the entire 10 by 10 by 20 meter space, specially enchanted to resist heat and corrosion. The inside was basically a massive forge, with several mechanical arms to shape finish and engrave items. The top area was basically a processing plant, that would take materials and process them as appropriate before moving them into the forge to be shaped and assembled.


    Now that Zeno had the dimensional obelisk perk, he didn''t need to worry about raising his skill levels like mad, and could instead had the process of crafting be automated. The current automaton in front of him was just the beginning.


    He began trying to instill his own crafting abilities in the machine, creating a blank book and filling it with everything he could think of, from the depth and force to use when inscribing, to how to make a metal move a certain way, to how to design and fit parts together, to basic chemical processes for alchemy. He left the pen in the book as he installed it, making a seperate brain rune for every one of his crafting skills. He also added a few sensory systems to look at the normal workshop while he worked himself. The final centerpiece for all of this was the first thing he crafted in this dimension, the forge of creation. Placing the anvil like hammer at the center of the machine, he finished its construction by dowsing it in emerging chaos flames.


    [primal wright (unique) lvl 8: granted the powers of creation by a dimensional lord, this smith will flood the world with its crafts. Uses creators skills for crafting. Forge of creation integrated into construction. Obtains creators perks for the purposes of crafting. Can use genesis magic. Can use emerging chaos flames]


    [system recognized special construct. Integrating construct with dimension. Host skills now evolved through the constructs use passively. Construct can automatically create any item that host has designed and crafted. Construct can design new items over time. Construct has expanded through dimension]


    The robot suddenly opened up, spreading until it encompassed the entirety of the workshop, while the same kind of wires the zombies had and the robots grew spread along the walls while mechanical arms with various tools popped out. Zeno felt the forge rumble to life as the factory started working.


    ¡°Have I really been kicked out of my own workshop?¡±


    Zeno decided to go and practice his spellwork. He didn''t really want to try things like teleportation or shapeshifting, since those could go really, really, really badly. Instead, he spammed spells like shield, while thinking about how to use summoning spells. He went over them a little in his studies to see if it had any relation to the creation of magic.


    At its most basic state, summoning was creating an idea of a creature and bringing said creature into existence. The more powerful the creature, the more mana it cost to summon, so while something like a lizard would be easy to summon, a dragon would be almost impossible. Part of the reason the strength of the gods was linked to the number of their believers was because when they ¡°descended¡± they were actually summoned through a from of natural conjuration spell. The more believers a god has, the more mana gets funneled into it, the stronger it is when summoned.


    Of course, summons weren''t permanent, or even ¡°real¡± creatures. Summons were more like video recordings, you could see and hear them, but they weren''t really ¡°there¡±.


    That didn''t stop summons from kicking ass of course, and given the immense boosts to magic Zeno got inside his pocket dimension it was worth a shot.


    Most likely he would face the undead and their necromancer masters, with a rare chance of demons. That meant that things with holy affinity would fare best, given its effect over the desecrated dead. And when Zeno thought about holy affinity, the first thing to come to mind were angels.


    So, covered in repeated castings of shield, he began to channel mana into the summoning spell. He tried to sense the flow of mana, and analyse how it moved and changed as the summoning progressed. Using his heightened focus stat he tried to cast identify on the mana, suddenly gaining sight of a rainbow hued flow of mana moving towards a small white ball.


    The small white ball slowly grew wings, and as time passed, began to grow a body as well. Soon enough, a winged, featureless humanoid figure with skin the color of rose gold appeared. Zeno noticed the spell kept drawing in mana, despite clearly being done, so he continued. The angel slowly grew a robe, along with a halo of light. Soon afterwards it began to grow a second pair of wings. As the third pair of wings began to grow, Zeno was entranced by watching the multicolored mana flood into the angels form, further developing it. By the time the third pair of wings grew fully, the spell stopped absorbing manaDid you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    [research level up, knowledge arcane level up]


    [arcane sight unlocked, summoning unlocked]


    [summoning level up]


    Zeno realized he stood there pouring mana into the spell for hours. He knew the summon wouldn''t last for long, so he immediately sent it to just outside of the enemy base. Once there, it immediately began to decompose into small pinpricks of light, fading away outside of the pocket dimension. Just before it faded away completely, it drew its sword and sent out a wave of fire, cleaving through scores of zombies, while burning through the necromancer¡¯s black shields almost instantly. The ground were the flame hit was smoking vigorously, the embers still bright.


    [level up x2!!!]


    ¡°Huh, I mean I don''t mind the level ups, but that took how many hours? I mean in the half that amount of time I could have just created a bunch of bombs and achieved the same effect¡±


    Either way, the angels appearance and subsequent attacks were shocking enough to knock the enemy into disarray, an opportunity that Zeno was all too willing to take by sending in waves of robots. In the time it took him to complete the summon, the factory was continuously pumping out robots, much faster than he could due to being a living assembly line.


    They immediately set out in formation, with melee based robots charging in, built similarly to prime but with much heavier armor, using their sheer mass to beat the enemy, while bipedal walkers came from behind, now with 50% more gun. At the very rear, tanks equipped with rail cannons rained death upon the enemy, while flying units dropped death from above.


    Unfortunately the melee units were quickly overwhelmed due to the appearance of a zombified asura, a six armed, 4 meter tall giant wielding 6 separate sabers. It charged at the bipedal walkers when the ash from the angels attack converged on it, blasting it apart in a burst of light.


    ¡°Huh, maybe the angel was worth the effort?¡±


    Soon afterwards, more necromancers appeared, along with a single devil characterized by the two stubby horns on an otherwise human body. They began to spread a dark miasma towards the ashes, seaming to smother the glowing white embers away. It didn''t seem to do much, but zooming in showed that the ash was very slowly being corrupted back into normalcy. Of course during this time the robots were laying into any hostile they could see, with the railgun wielding tanks taking potshots at the necromancers, occasionally piercing their shields as well as the body those shields were protecting. As time went on and there were less and less zombies rushing to try and distract the robots and burn out the field of embers the angel left, more shots were directed at the devil and necromancers. Once they saw there were no more zombies to come and reinforce them, they began to retreat deeper into the university campus.


    Unfortunately Zeno couldn''t see so far into the campus, so he had to step in and map the place out as he went, taking most of the robots back into the space while absorbing the ashes, as well as the corpses of the enemy.


    [sacred ashes absorbed. Soil inside pocket dimension becomes resistant to corruption. Causes creatures hostile to host to suffer very low damage over time]


    ¡°That sounds useful¡±


    Zeno immediately took some dirt out of the pocket dimension. It seemed to be a slightly lighter color, and he could easily bury his enemies in it due to how quickly the boundaries of his little dimension seemed to recover from damage. Even when he tried to excavate the walls of his dimension to gain more space the stone seemed to regrow just as fast as he could chip it away.


    So he slowly traveled through the university, purposely attempting to map everything. He found a large group of people in the central courtyard, surrounded by a small number of zombies as well as the necromancers and devil who seemed to be trying to construct an arch out of runic stones. At some point, the necromancers started herding people into portable holes, pieces of space that have been expanded in order to allow the storage of large volumes into a space the size of a handkerchief.


    The plan was simple. Zeno already requested the factory focus on making railgun turret robots capable of long distance sniping, ignoring almost everything else in order to produce them quickly. He would place those turrets all around the roofs near the central area, supplemented with the railgun tanks. Then he would block off all of the exit routes with soil, ensuring that the enemy had nowhere to run.


    About an hour later all the escape routes were blocked off, while the entire campus was mapped. Zeno decided to wait a bit more before deploying the turrets, to ensure he had more than enough to take out all of the enemies in a single volley.


    Zeno was a bit grateful the necromancers always wore their hooded robes. Not having to see their faces helped his mental state incredibly. The zombies didn''t bother him that much since he didn''t know any of them, and zombies were historically one of the most common enemies that you could kill without guilt. This also helped with the devil, since they were also common cannon fodder in various stories, such as the story of a certain warrior slaughtering hordes of demons on the ancient planet mars.


    The arch was soon completed. The devil began placing the last few stones around the arch, and began pouring a bit of black mana into it. The runes on the stone lit up as the inside of the arch showed a heavily defended courtyard in an enemy fort. The necromancers began grabbing the portable holes to pull them through.


    Zeno realized he was out of time, and thus deployed all of the turrets as well as the other robots. The turrets rained death on the necromancers and devil, quickly clearing out the former while wounding the latter. The other robots focused on eliminating the zombies, clearing them out exceedingly quickly and turning their guns towards the devil.


    The devil, wounded and with his shields failing, made a mad dash for the portal, making it through as he was peppered with holes. However, the portal soon started spewing out dark miasma, along with several zombies, these seeming slightly more decayed, yet somehow even stronger than their fresh brethren.


    Zeno quickly ran down, pushing his obelisk above the portal and raining dirt over it, trying to bury it. He absorbed all of the portable holes, sending the people inside them to where he sent the others. Once he reached the continuously piling dirt, he absorbed the portal as well, trying to shut it down.


    [portal absorbed: integrating into dimension]


    [spatial expansion enchantment absorbed: integrating into dimension]


    [spatial distortion occurred: dimension has mutated]

 Chapter 5: break down

    [mutation complete, dimensional laws have shifted. Space is no longer located relative to itself, and can expand into areas that are already occupied. Obelisk can now create temporary portals, and can use mana to create more permanent portals. Instead of increasing by level, space can now be created through the genesis spell. This will decrease mana density of space, which will slowly recover by level]


    ¡°Well, that seems useful, I wonder if the mana density recovers passively based on my level or if it just increases every level up¡±


    Either way, Zeno decided to go and check up on the people he rescued, somewhere around an extra 12,000 people. First he spammed genesis in order to create enough food for a while, plopping it in a massive pile near the center of the crowd with prime standing next to it to hand the food out. People rushed towards the pile ravenously, and Zeno decided it might be a good idea to wait till they had their fill, as well as sending a few more police robots.


    The 12,000 people were about half of the towns population before the attack. Zeno didn¡¯t know what happened to the rest, hoping that they escaped outside of the town.


    Soon enough people grouped up into clics and families, sitting down to eat together. Most of the people seemed starved, as if the necromancers didn¡¯t bother feeding them. Zeno waited until they mostly finished before popping in, approaching the closest thing to an administrative personnel he saw. It was mainly some big wigs, the headmistress of the university, the town mayor, and a few of the more successful local business owners and some of the faculty heads from school. They seemed to be discussing what they were going to do now, and it seemed like they wouldn¡¯t spare a glance for any passerby


    Of course, approaching while being flanked by robots certainly helped with getting their attention¡­


    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, mind filling me in on why the town was overrun with zombies?¡±


    The group of leaders looked at Zeno like a madman, wondering how could he have missed it when it happened? The headmistress was baffled given the fact that he was still wearing his lab coat, and a faint whiff of the smell was reaching her past the 5 meters of distance he kept.


    ¡°Were you living under a rock, boy?¡±


    ¡°Afraid not mam, it was actually in a pocket dimension¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°So are you going to tell me what happened or?¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t joking about the pocket dimension are you¡±


    ¡°Nope, now can you catch me up to speed on what actually happened?¡±


    The headmistress seemed slightly surprised, pointing at a collar she and some of the more experienced faculty heads wore around their throats.


    ¡°They came in at midnight a several days ago. Somehow, they got through the security systems, appearing in the middle of the town. About 20 greater devils and 100 lesser devils served as shock troopers, breaking down all our defenses from the inside so that the main force could come, about 3000 necromancers as well as swarms of undead controlled by each one. The attack happened far too quickly to retaliate efficiently, most waking up to a pair of undead by their bedside. Those of us with classes were forced to put on these limiter chokers, including the bishop and captain of the guards. Soon afterwards they started shipping people out in batches, several citizens and perhaps a handful of classed individual at a time. The limiter chokers meant we couldn¡¯t resist, even as they slowly shipped off our numbers¡­¡±


    Zeno¡¯s face began to scrunch up. This was that he was worried about, the people that Ardia took weren¡¯t recovered. Best case scenario, they were enslaved. Worst case scenario, they died torturously in necromantic experiments.


    ¡°Do you know Thomas and Alexandra Hightower?¡±


    One of the faculty heads got an ugly look. He was the faculty head of arcane studies, one Zeno used to work under, and his parents boss. Zeno grew terrified, feeling a chill down his spine.


    ¡°No¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Zeno, they were one of the first shipped off for trying to keep others here¡±


    ¡°No. No. No. No no no no nononononono¡±


    ¡°They were heroes¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Zeno?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    The mayor was growing disturbed by the boys silence. He understood that this Thomas and Alexandra duo seemed to be related to the kid, probably his parents, but news like this brings even grown men to tears, not silence as if their minds shut down.


    A few minutes later and Zeno seemed to boot up again, taking the obelisk and absorbing the collar from each person''s neck.


    [level limiting device absorbed. Host can now use obelisk to suppress enemy strength as long as the difference in power is not extreme. Hostiles within poket dimension will have their abilities suppressed]


    ¡°Now then, anything else I can do for you all?¡±


    Now the mayor was truly disturbed. The boy seemed to have recovered from that shock way too quickly.


    ¡°You seem awfully chipper for someone who has just learned that their parents have been taken prisoner by a foreign nation known for their cruelty¡­¡±


    ¡°Why would I be? I just have to go over and rescue them while murdering any Ardian I see.¡±


    Ok, forget disturbed, the mayor was now slightly terrified.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The headmistress was also worried. The sheer malice that was in the word ¡°murder¡± showed that he wouldn¡¯t be satisfied at simply killing a few enemy soldiers.


    ¡°Be careful Zeno, going down this path is something that will leave you broken by the end¡±


    ¡°With all due respect mistress, one of the benefits of madness and a broken mind is the fact that it¡¯s very difficult to break it any further¡±


    Zeno¡¯s plan was simple. He would create an army, an iron legion, and have them carve through Ardia, torching it to the ground. He would make sure they never got the chance to do this again, not their leaders, not their army, not their people, not even the generation after them. He would guarantee that there would be nothing left capable of getting back up and committing another atrocity. He was so busy planning that he didn¡¯t see the headmistress¡¯ hand until it was too late.


    The hand smashed through his shield, slamming into his chest and sending him flying into the robots behind him. Before he could get on his feet, the headmistress was in front of him yet again.


    ¡°My class is sage.  I spent 50 levels cooped up in research and study, trying to see the limits of this world. I did not train for battle, and faced with someone who actually knows how to fight at my level, I could only wait to die. All of this, and I still had the raw strength to send you careening through the air. When I said this path would leave you broken, I didn¡¯t mean mentally. I saw the people shipped of, people I loved like a mother. I know what you feel and then some, and you won¡¯t find anything out there that will leave deeper scars. When I said it will leave you broken, I meant literally. There are people capable of ripping the fabric of space time with their bare hands, people that could kill you with a thought. I know what you are going through, and I know you are nowhere near prepared, so sit down and train. Train your body and your mind. Get each and every advantage you can, because you will need them. I can feel that you have tremendous ability for a level ten, and your mechanical toys are nothing to scoff at given your level. But when faced by something that has more digits in their level than you have levels, you will be destroyed. Go, the university should still have plenty of things you can use to get stronger. I chose the path of the teacher, so I don¡¯t have the same ability to grow in strength. I leave it to you to become strong enough to put the Ardians through hell for me¡±


    That little tirade shut Zeno is up pretty good. It helped him realize that he wasn¡¯t the biggest fish in the sea. Hell, one of the creatures that gave him the most trouble was that special giant zombie back at the tent. If the devil he faced in the university was one of the greater devils the headmistress mentioned, he would be screwed.


    ¡°Thank you for waking me up, headmistress¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need your thanks boy. I need your work¡±


    And so the head mistress began on the walk back to the university. Now that she was no longer limited by the collar, she could handle any enemy along the way easily enough. Zeno, of course, decided to create a portal to let the old brunette through, along with the rest of the people there.


    Of course he dove straight into the library, absorbing everything he could, from bookshelves to server racks to lab equipment, settling into his pocket dimension, he began reading. He decided to start off with reading everything he could on ways that could grant him a lot of power quickly. Whether it was based on upgrading his robots, new crafting methods, nanotechnology, summoning, augmentation magic, space-time magic, etc¡­ he read up as much as he could on all of them, before deciding to try something new.


    So, he picked up a book on martial arts, particularly of the internal variety. The book went over the basics of how they worked, spreading mana through the body and infusing it, allowing the body to preform supernatural feats in a similar way to how magical beasts did it. Reading about that brought Zeno to look over his old traps in the forest, finding several different creatures at each spot. Absorbing them all, Zeno began trying to study the more magical ones, though he was surprised to find a titanomyrma drone flying about, something he vowed to check up on later.


    For most creatures, they just had a higher mana density than normal, with some having discreet flows in the mana. The book mentioned mana being moved in pathways unique to the internal martial art, different pathways having different effects and compatibility for certain people. The creatures seemed to disregard that in favor of just chaotically spamming mana all through themselves.


    Taking a little bit of a break, Zeno decided to try and expand the factory and the garden area, hoping to both speed up the rate of production as well as give him some more space for a later experiment with ants. Returning to his reading, he decided that he probably wouldn¡¯t achieve much with internal martial arts without some more information to guide himself with, so he decided on two things. First of all, the map had something of a ¡°no mans land¡± to the south west, making a small buffer zone on part of the border with Ardia. This no mans land was actually known as the Ar jungle, and was known for its high density of magical beasts. This would provide him with more information for how to cultivate internal martial arts, as well as the opportunity to absorb whatever treasures he can find. The second thing he decided on was studying space-time magic. Space-time magic was one of the more complicated bits of magic for various reasons, one of said reasons being how mana apparently comes from leaking through space-time. Because of that, you needed a much clearer image of what you wanted the spell to do, as well as much more knowledge of the underlying principles of what you¡¯re trying to manipulate. The main reason Zeno wanted to try this was the temporal acceleration, haste, celerity and most of all time stop spells. These spells would take the time Zeno had and increase it multiplicatively.


    So, the first thing he did was to design a form of jet/rocket robot, one big enough to attach a portal to. It would be sent to the Ar jungle, mapping the way there, while Zeno stayed in the pocket dimension and used the fact that he literally owned the fabric of space-time inside it to cheat with learning space time magic.


    Zeno even already had some ideas, given inspiration by how the genesis spell expanded the space inside the dimension. What he understood was that the decrease in the amount of mana counteracted the time dilation the expansion should have caused. This meant that by trying the same thing, except without letting the mana density change, would theoretically slow time around him.


    So he decided to try it, stretching his focus to the limit to succeed in what was effectively forcefully stretching out a second into a minute. It was weird, because while he was stretching time he was trying to squeeze the space so the mana stayed the same. Looking through the portal on the robot, it looked like the robot was starting to slow down ever so slightly. Of course that hit him with a thunderclap headache, projectile vomiting and a bleeding nose before the speed went back to normal.


    ¡°Note to self, do not look from one region of space to another with a different ratio of spatial expansion unless you want your brain to melt¡±


    [temporal dilation unlocked]


    And so, Zeno got to work training so that he could multitask while using time dilation, spending several hours focusing on just maintaining the spell, which was actually only a couple in real time. Following up from that was a different spell. This time the spell was a bit different, and not something he wanted to test on himself.


    This other spell was a similar concept to the temporal dilation spell, but focused on the singular individual instead of an area. So, he speeds himself up while slowing everything else down. Stacking the two together should  make him more than twice as fast. Zeno started experimenting with a rubber ball, trying to condense the space it occupied.


    The ball began bouncing notably faster, so he decided to try it on his hand and


    ¡°OH GOD THE PAIN! ITS CRUSHING MY FINGERS!!!¡±


    Apparently having the space your hand takes up become twice as condensed as the rest of the body makes your brain think it¡¯s being crushed into a pulp. On the bright side, the hand seemed perfectly fine by the end, so he decided to brave the risk and try it on his entire body at once.


    ¡°Ohthisisworkingperfectlyimsuprisedididntthinkofthisbeforethisisordersofmagnitudeeasierthanthetemporaldilationspell¡± (oh this is working perfectly, I¡¯m surprised I didn¡¯t think of this before, this is orders of magnitude easier than the temporal dilation spell)


    [temporal condensation unlocked]


    ¡°Now we¡¯re in business¡±