Savage Awakening 502. The Grand Engineer (I)

The old fellow landed, making a chunky crater. BOOM!

He looked like he’d just come back from a jog.

The blow looked pretty effortless, tearing through reality like paper. Zane could tell he’d barely scratched the surface of his strength.

He thought about the moment of impact, when the Sage cranked all the way back and straight-up blasted it…

Zane quite liked that whole picture.

Every time he got to see a gross display of power, he got a little more hyped up. It was especially strong coming from the old fellow. He hadn’t seen the Barbarian Sage enjoy himself this much in ages.

Grinning, he headed up to give the old fellow a fist bump. “Looks like you’ve still got it.”

“Bah.” The Sage seemed quite pleased. “That's nothing, lad! We’ll see if we can't find a halfway decent Empyrean out here. Then we’ll see if I can’t show a thing or two.”

The Sage wasn't a very humble fellow, but he wasn’t one to brag either—he didn’t think much about that kind of thing. He was mostly just there to have a good time.

Talking to him sometimes, you wouldn’t think he’d been one of the strongest in the Galaxy. It was neat to get a glimpse of it.

It did make Zane wonder just how strong he was, right before he’d taken on Malzareth.

The Sage inspected his smoking knuckles. "Been a while since I unloaded like that. S’pose I can get used to it.”

“Was there another Concept in your fist there?” said Zane, blinking. “That star thing flattened when you punched it.”

“You noticed that, eh?” The Sage gave him an affectionate bump. “You’ll get to it, lad—all in good time! It’s the one that completes Red Giant. I’ve got a feeling you’ll like that one. First things first, let’s get you that damned Gravity. With how much steel you’re shoveling down, it’s a matter of time.”

Zane nodded. “That was Gravity yanking all that essence back in at the end there, right?”

“Bet you didn’t know you could do that too!”

“I didn’t.”

“Well, you don't get more fundamental than Gravity! It’s part of tons of stuff—all the big Laws. Black Hole, Neutron Star—even the Supernova folks have it, at least a little bit. You’ll figure out its ins and outs quick enough. Nifty hack, that Gravity.”

He frowned. “Right! Enough chat. What d’you say you go tear that dwarf over there a new one?”

“Sure thing.”

With that, the two of them headed on in.

***

The Dwarf King sat there dormant on his throne, eyes dulled. A wasteland at his feet—the remnants of his kingdom. His throne room, wrecked—his species, gone… the only thing left intact was a throne, the thing sitting in it.

The Dwarf King and his mech-suit. The suit was a real shattered titan. It looked like it’d been cracked in about a thousand places, then welded back together by smoking Corruption. Built back stronger, and uglier too. Corruption was what powered those mechanisms now, making them whir with a quiet menace.

Zane remembered the Dormu of his vision. Quite a nice fellow, affable too. The thing sitting there gave off an air of suppressed violence. Corruption had hollowed him out.

“Guess that Dormu really did fall, huh,” muttered the Sage. He crossed his arms. “Shame. I never was one for theory, mind you—but I did learn a thing or two back when I was in the Steelheart Outer Sect. He’s got his name all over the history books. Real genius, that guy. Feels like he came up with half of the stuff they’re putting to use. Runesmithing especially. Even helped Aiwe design chunks of the System at one point—first he was just the Grand Engineer. Then it was crunch time, and they made him Grand Engineer-King… After the Dark Elves fell, he held off the Monsters ‘bout a century longer than he had any right to.”

The Sage looked wistful. “I’ve got some good dwarf friends. You met Summersteel. To them, Dormu’s this larger-than-life guy—real legend. They say the Monsters fought him all the way to his throne room, but even ‘til his dying breath, he never gave up the fight. There was a fellow with heart right there. Mild fellow—soft-spoken, they say. You’d never think he had it in ‘em… guess it’s hard to tell sometimes who steps up and who doesn’t—some folks might just surprise you. Damn shame, that.”

Zane nodded silently.

They both considered the fallen Dwarf King for a bit.

“Hell of a lot of Creation in there, tell you what,” said the Sage.

“It’s the mech,” Zane agreed. “It’s just rife with it.”

He trailed off as he inspected it. The Sage inspected it closer too.

“Damn,” said the Sage. “You're saying the same thing I'm seeing?”

“I think so,” said Zane slowly.

“That mech-core right there—see the thing with that Corruption spike going through it?”

“I see it.”

A core of unknown steel loaded heavy with Corruption sank deep into the mech’s chest piece.

“That’s meant to be the thing powering the mech. That’s where the best steel’s to be had in these things… I was thinking we might get some uncommon Divine Profound. Might be even rare! But that thing’s got to be Legendary, at least—that’s a real gem right there.”

The Sage shook his head. “This whole ruin, you won’t find much steel like that.”

It got Zane’s attention for another reason too.

“It feels kind of like dreamsteel.”

He ran it over with Great Sage Mind, and sure enough—the feeling was right. The Sage did say this fellow worked with Aiwe…

He wondered how much it’d help him unlock that next stage of the System Store. He’d worked through most of his dreamsteel already, and he’d plateaued somewhere near 65%.

The Sage scratched his chin. “It’s got to be an alloy. There’s some of that highest-grade sunsteel in there. Some prime infinisteel too, I’d wager—all melted in when that Dormu made it. I’d guess he put in some good dreamsteel too. That’s a jackpot, if I ever saw one—down that thing, and that’s three big boosts for one.”

“I’d just have to crush it first.”

“Yeah? And how’re you feeling?”

Zane shrugged. “I’ve got this.”

He was leveling up his physique almost every day, it felt like. Even just walking around, he felt the difference. His Gravity was getting boosts too. He felt more confident in his body than ever.

“Attaboy. How’s that steel-munching going, by the way?”

“I'm through with most of the sunsteel,” he informed the Sage. “Think I’ll be done with the infinisteel in a few days too.”

“Then this ought to be a good top-up. I’ll say this, lad—this’ll be a real tough customer. About as strong as you’d get for half-step Empyrean, if I had to guess. Good notch above anything you faced before. It’s almost like a two-in-one, with how strong that mech suit’s got to be… well!”

The Sage gave him a hearty slap on the back. “Give it hell, lad.”

The Sage headed out.

With that, Zane turned and faced his foe.

The real Dormu had taken down seven half-step Empyreans without much trouble. He wasn’t sure what the skeleton Dormu could do, but he doubted it was far off.

That mech suit rose thirteen or fourteen feet tall.

Zane gave it one last once-over and decided just how he’d take it on.

Then he strode straight for it.

The moment he stepped through the threshold—stepped into that throne room proper—the Monster stirred. Heavy corruption burst through the cracks in its armor, staining the world…

The dwarf rose steadily to its feet.

Dormu, the Worldbuilder (Monster King)

Essence Level 699

That precious mech-core gained an unholy life too. White-hot in the astral plane, powering up all those mechanisms… he sensed the presence of Million-Year Bones, built deep into that mech.

The spike through its chest, though, was what stood out. It was a Million-Year Bone unto itself and badly corrupted—kind of like what the Slayer had. But this beast was fifty levels stronger. Heavily armored too.

The sheer Creation and Corruption—just the raw energy surging through it, stored in that mech-core…

In Creation alone, he was pretty sure it had even more than Reina did when he last saw her. Which was really saying something.

Just like Destruction, Creation had its own pressure, especially in a glut like this.

He liked that pressure—he had to grin at it. It was the kind of edge he needed—the kind of thing that got him going.

The feeling of challenge.

As the dwarf rose, its pseudo-Universe expanded around it too, and he saw gears churning against a backdrop of stainless steel—heard clanking, steam hissing, like its world was one great factory, shot through with Corruption.

Then the dwarf groaned and attacked.

Its first strike was a fist thrust. The runes on its fists screamed green, and a ball of condensed Gravity-Law burst out—shot out of a cannon.

But he’d been ready for it. He rolled out of the way just as that core smashed where he’d been—violently rupturing reality behind him.

But it was just its opener.

Then he took the bulk of the assault.

Steel and stone raged into being. Fat chunks of it clanged and screeched, gaining definition, carved mid-air, seething with the black of Creation. Tons and tons of stone and steel, the stuff of civilizations—giant columns, barracks’ worth of shields, full-on roofs; steam engines, wrecking balls—he even made out a full-sized train, being welded to life, smoking steam.

All shining steel, all peak Primordial at least, like the dwarf had plucked a whole bunch of random heavy objects from the world it’d once ruled.

Then it sent it all crashing over Zane’s head.

He stomped out of the way of the bulk of it. Smashed out four times in quick succession, blowing away two giant pillars. He took a few roof tiles in the face, but he just set his jaw and took it—his eyes were on that big train hurtling straight for him.

He roared, wound back—and rammed it with a Red Giant punch.

That thing didn’t go down as easily as any normal Primordial-steel object. It was still rife with Creation. But he pounded it with such force it still flattened like a tin can, one compartment after another.

That was the raw force.

Then the explosion shot it straight into the ceiling.

Then he saw the fist. The mech fist coming right behind the train—aimed straight for his face, and he realized that train was just the first blow in a one-two. Breaking it had left him all out of position.

He made out four tiny rockets along the edges of that hammer of a mech fist.

He just managed to get his arms up to block. He was feeling pretty pleased about his reaction time, actually.

Then the fist connected with his forearms, powered with the force of four rockets.

His forearms then connected with his face.

CRUNCH!

Zane grunted.

“Dammit.”