Museum Core Chapter 87: Just Another Part of Life

It had happened so quickly, to the point where he’d almost missed it.

A group of mercenaries had been hired to do the panacea run, gone in at full tilt without a system, relying on flashbacks and light machine guns to get through anyway … and then one man had gone over the side of the winding bridge that first floor, straight into the water that had replaced the floor there, and the spikes within.

The formation had broken, the ceaseless use of flashbangs had wound up with a gap, and razor-sharp nut after razor-sharp nut had torn through the mercenaries, leaving only a single survivor who managed to escape to the entrance hall.

What a waste. The deaths of unranked mercenaries had barely even moved the needle in terms of his power, but would cause him no end of trouble, leaving him forced to do PR damage control.

The “correct” thing here would be to just point out that every single person who ever delved the dungeon had been willing and fully cognizant of the danger. But if people were perfectly logical and rational, then populists wouldn’t have such a massive platform.

But Thomas had a “plan.”

And it was simple: give an interview.

… with a lot of caveats, obviously. For one, he’d give it in the dungeon, which would massively reduce the number of people who’d be willing to even make the journey, making himself available outside the transformation zone would likely result in a whole lot of people feeling like they had a claim on his time.

This also had the neat side effect of excluding digital cameras, which would necessitate the use of archaic video recording equipment, something that should, in turn, give the whole thing an air of “mystique,” or, at the very least, old-fashioned dignity.

And, of course, he’d once again be trusting his contacts on the outside to make sure the chosen reporter would be someone willing to work with him.

It was something he’d trust the BPA with. After all, they needed to keep dealing with him, and if public pressure convinced the Prime Minister to ban them from delving or something similar … well, having met the man, Thomas asumed he wouldn’t do something that dumb, but politics had a funny way of leaving the stupid choice as the only option. He’d get help, he was certain of it.

***

God damnit.

Jaclyn had seen her fair share of public stupidity. In fact, her opinion of humanity in general had badly suffered due to the things she’d seen over the course of her career.

And public relations were their own special kind of hell.

For example, while she hadn’t actually had to deal with any of that, there’d apparently been a recent affair that had been a right dog’s breakfast, something involving people claiming that the BPA’s use of the orcish system being “cultural appropriation?”

That had solved itself eventually, but apparently, the PR arm of the BPA dealt with that sort of crap all the damn time. Not to mention that this particular situation was about as incendiary as this sort of thing ever got.

Death was … well, it was a deeply uncomfortable topic all-round to start with, and its occuring over the course of what was effectively training would be a million times worse.

It was just lucky that it hadn’t been one of her people who’d wound up dead. That would have been … honestly, calling it “painful” would have been the understatement of the century.

Even so, this was an entirely separate issue, one of optics and public opinion.

For most people who routinely entered the dungeon, death was an expected danger. The fact that it had only recently come about was neither here nor there, the point was that almost everyone, Jaclyn included, had felt it was only a matter of time before this happened.

But that hardly lessened the impact of the whole affair, now that it was here.

And that wasn’t even touching upon the root of the issue.

The dungeon was a place where they were sending people to train.

In today’s political climate, casualties were a big deal, immediately reported by the media, be it social or traditional, to the point where Western governments often actively avoided certain plans not because soldiers might die, but because those soldiers dying would have made them look bad.

Of course, speaking as one of the people most likely to become casualties, Jaclyn liked the idea of the government not comitting her to needless combat, but she was also painfully aware of how pushing off problems for later could cause them to grow completely out of control, not only threatening a far greater number of people but also necessitating a response that wound up far more dangerous and deadly than the inital opperation would have been. Taking something that might get people killed to something that would get people killed. Like a war.

How much less costly would the destruction of Nazi Germany have been if the world hadn’t been willing to watch Hitler gobble up all of Germany’s vaguely Germanic neighbors in a vain attempt to appease his ambition, rather than waiting for him to get ready?

But being endlessly told to wait over political considerations, then getting thrown head-first into the fire when the consequences of waiting finally became too great to bear, that would most likely be her life going forward, wouldn’t it?

Not to mention that there’d be people who had an entirely different problem with the whole affair. Because people. Were. Weird.

And not in the “neurodivergent in an immediately obvious way,” though those also existed.

No, what Jaclyn was talking about was people who seemed to have turned the comparative safety of the modern world into their very own ivory tower.

Sometimes, the points they made might be wrong, but at least somewhat grounded in reality, like the various anti-police groups. Because the police did have problems, Jaclyn was almost painfully aware of that fact, but she’d also seen why the police was needed almost every damn day. Having an actual police force was actually a relatively new thing, considering the age of the city; the London Metropolitan Police was not even two hundred years old, which meant that the way it was before was fairly well documented.

The age of the thieftakers … it had been a complete and utter horror show, the city’s streets at night so dangerous that anyone who could afford it ran around with an entire group of bodyguards and even that wasn’t always enough, more than a few bandits had outright engaged in street battles with the nobles’ protections.

So yes, despite the various issues, there was a damn good reason for why the police force was needed, but that was at least an issue she was willing to debate someone on.

However, there was one incident that would forever be burned into her brain.

A call when she’d been early in her career, well before she’d had Eve. An attempted child abduction that had only been reduced to “attempted” because the mother had gone entirely berserk and managed to kick the assailant straight in the family jewels, then started to rip into him using her keys while he was distracted. By the time she’d let off and called 999, half a dozen bystanders had also already alerted the police.

But by the time they’d pulled up with the paddywagon, there’d been a different young woman hysterically screaming at the mother about how violence was wrong, about how it was never the solution, all the while entirely ignoring what would have happened if the abduction had been carried through.

Violence was used too often, and too easily at hand to be curbed, but claiming that there was never a cause for it, even in the face of one of the most textbook examples for acceptable bloodshed … that had shaken Jaclyn’s faith in humanity about as thoroughly as any actual crime she’d witnessed.

How long before someone decided to start a “dungeon monster’s rights” group and tried to stop them from entering, or worse, picked a fight with Daedalus over the whole affair?

And from the initial problems extended another issue: would they still even be allowed to go into the dungeon, or would the political pressure be too much?

Because while training accidents happened, ones that could even result in death, from the outside, delving would look like courting disaster. And now they’d somehow have to change that perception, which was, ultimately, mostly correct.

They were already releasing more information, videos, and photos, to try and convince people that the risk was worth it.

Training videos of Henderson punching a heavy bag with a dozen more ready and waiting to be hooked up, reminiscent of a certain superhero movie.

A cell phone clip of Granger “messing around” with his magic, not doing anything specific or overly helpful, but rather training his control by creating lightshows in the air around him, multicolored arcs of flame and globes of ice intermingled with telekinetically controlled objects he’d found nearby.

Several dozen of the less bloody pictures and videos taken of the monsters within the jungle to paint a proper picture of what they were facing without inciting panic (hopefully).

And finally, a photo montage made up of images that had actually been taken by the Americans over in the Pacific, starting with a heavily censored picture of her after the fight with the snake and ending with her sitting in the officer’s mess next to pile of empty plates, a tower of tupperware and bags lining the back wall.

She’d protested, but Frye had overridden her about as directly and unequivocally as he ever had, and that had been that. It was “good for PR,” and Jaclyn knew it could have been so much worse, but that hardly meant she was happy with the decision.

The reporters that would come for her as a result would be a pain in the ass to deal with, she could already tell.

But all that did not change the fact that, in the end, there was a place in central London that liked to eat people and gave those who dared enter anyway prizes.

The Dungeon was dangerous as all get out, it was just that, in the end, if they didn’t go in, the threats they were delving to prepare for would crush humanity and render it extinct.

But apparently, Daedalus had an idea that had gotten the PR department into a tizzy, one that seemed worth trying. So the BPA would help, and thankfully, none of it was her responsibility.

Also, none of this was exactly unexpected; the only thing that had differed from the scenario they had been preparing for was that it was a group of mercenaries that had gotten themselves killed. But fighting the inexorable momentum of public opinion had and would always be a nightmare.

***

“So, what exactly are you?”

The reporter, whose name was Juliet Chapman, had come highly recommended by Director Frye. Apparently, she specialized in the “fluffier” kind of reporting, but was trying to transition to something more serious, and saw this as her chance. A fluffy topic that was nevertheless about an exceedingly serious topic.

They, meaning Thomas using Jan as an avatar, Chapman and her team, were in a room he’s specially grown just for this, with a beautiful sapphire carpet, marble walls, and colorful plant-life relief decorating the four corners of the room as well as the ceiling.

“For one, I’m not human,” Thomas replied. He’d thought about how to answer the question for a long time, and settled on that, which he let hang for just barely long enough that Chapman didn’t take his silence as her cue to ask another question.

He leaned backwards in his massive leather armchair, which looked extra large considering the size of his chosen avatar, and steepled his hands.

“How familiar are you with the mythology of these islands, Ms. Chapman? Have you heard of the fae who can never lie but always deceive, the black dogs who haunt the night but can be halted by the most unexpected of tricks, the shapeshifting horses on whose back you should never get save to harness them and thereby bind their power?”

Once again, he paused briefly, letting his hands drop into his lap.

“I, Daedalus, am a magical being. I have magic, but I also have my limits. Innate shackles that bind my power, rules that ensure fairness, and, I am sad to say, render me somewhat predictable.”

And then, as he spoke the final sentence, he leaned forward again, elbows resting on his knees, fingers interlacing, and chin resting atop them.

“I, Ms. Chapman, am the embodiment of challenge.”

Someone sniggered. Chapman pointedly didn’t look around, so Thomas limited himself to quickly flicking his eyes over to the cameraman currently in the process of regaining his composure.

“My, that’s quite a statement,” Chapman said, with a warm smile.

“Well, I didn’t mean it in the sense of me embodying it on some metaphysical level, or my photo deserving to be in the dictionary next to the word,” Thomas shrugged. “I. Am. Challenge. And challenge is me, the magic at the core of my being. I can’t create an undefeatable challenge, I can’t render myself unkillable, I can’t order my creatures to lay down and die so delvers can level entirely without risk, I can’t grant a safety net for delvers without actively hurting myself, and I can only go all-out against someone who is going to kill me.”

That last part was fudging the truth a little, but not a lie. He could go all out, physically, but not by the propriety that was also constraining him.

“Like when the mercenaries attacked two months ago,” Chapman suggested.

“Someone shooting the soldiers guarding the entrance without so much as a demand to surrender made their intentions rather clear, but even if they hadn’t, instantly killing the avatar I used to tell them that if they entered the dungeon after the initial attack would have.”

“I was wanting to ask you about that; is it true that you offered healing potions to those they left behind?”

“Partially,” Thomas corrected. “I did not hand over physical potions, instead, I chose to make it known that any dependents those men had at the time of their deaths, as well as their parents, siblings, and spouses, can receive the benefits of a panacea potion as it becomes necessary.”

“And what made you choose to set things up that way?”

“Because, unlike me, humans can freely choose their guiding principles,” Thomas mused. “Many chose admirable or neutral things. Some live their lives in pursuit of justice, some seek to create the greatest good for the greatest number of people, and some simply wish to live in a way that is fulfilling in other ways.

“But there are also those who value wealth above all others, whose greed eclipses all compassion and common sense. Those people do exist, sadly. And if I gave away those potions, they’d be stolen within a month, potentially harming the people I sought to help in the process. I cannot accept that.

“Someone murdered their husbands, their sons, their fathers to get to me. I refuse to add to that grief by giving them a poisoned apple.”

“That … that’s an admirable way of looking at it,” Chapman finally said, looking moved, on the verge of shedding a couple of tears of compassion, though Thomas wasn’t sure whether it was genuine or not.

Journalists, ya know?

Thomas shrugged. “Most would call it cynical.”

“Perhaps,” Chapman shrugged, then gestured at the ceiling. “But don’t cynics tend to be blind to the world’s beauty?”

They were moving on, now. This interview may not have been “scripted” per se, and this was the first time they’d ever met, but he’d sat down with Frye and talked about what would be the best points to hit, and the end result had also been passed along to the reporter.

So far, they’d already ticked off him explaining the whole “I’m not human,” “I’m not an omnipotent threat,” and “despite being inhuman, I can feel compassion.”

There were a lot of things he could do to hurt people than he’d implied, and he could hold back more than one might think after hearing his speech, but it was all largely correct, to the point where he’d be able to swear so under truth telling abilities, should that be required.

Now they were moving onto the actual fluff.

And in this case, the “fluff” was literal.

He got to trot out a couple of cute animals and wound up handing over a few summoning tokens when Chapman suggested he should open a petting zoo. After all, asking people to come all the way into the heart of a transformation zone just to pet dinosaurs was a bit much. So she, or someone else, could open that place outside.

And thus ended the first, last, and only interview he’d ever given.

Once again, he wanted to be personable, but not too much of a “person,” lest humanity start judging him on their terms. He wanted …

…

The divide between who’d been and who he’d become … shit.

Would this ever stop sneaking up on him? Would these thoughts ever stop catching him off guard, careening into his carefully marshalled train of thought and sending it spinning off into the abyss?

And he wasn’t even feeling the normal things one might do in this situation. No heart pounding in his chest, no sinking feeling as though a stone had lodged itself in his gut, no ice water running down his back.

Thomas found himself trying to take a deep breath, only realizing after a couple of seconds that that was impossible … stones didn’t breathe. Not even magical ones.

The dungeon trembled, his emotions echoing in the minds of the animals, beasts, and monstrosities he’d populated it with and causing a cacophony of roars, screeches, and stomping that left him very glad no one was presently inside.

For the barest of moments, he’d forgotten who he was. And then, when the knowledge had returned, it … well, it could have gone better.

He couldn’t even hang his head, and doing it through a creature simply didn’t feel the same.

Elias shot into the air, startled by the wash of water that streamed off the core as Thomas resorted to the equally pointless exercise of a cold shower.

The fairy declined to comment, instead staring sadly at him.

“I’m fine,” Thomas sent back.

They both knew it was a lie, but he’d felt he’d had to say it nevertheless.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

His thoughts ran in circles for a while longer before he finally managed to marshal them into a more productive direction. Planning.

The interview he’d just given was aimed at ensuring that anytime someone searched for videos of him, that would be what showed up. They might be able to get ahold of other bits of information about him, but not of him. It would remain the only time his words had directly gone out to the world like that.

Every other bit of information would have to be inferred from his actions, and the other videos he’d start to make, or rather, have made.

Videos of normal delves, taken via what was effectively body cams.

Videos of boss fights.

Videos of people using magic items gained from his dungeon.

Everything he could to make the world view his dungeon as something that, while dangerous, was hardly a death trap and provided a near infinite breadth of possible rewards.

He just hoped it would work.

What was that old saying, “there are always three sides to a story: one person’s version, the other person’s version, and the truth?”

Because that was what this was really all about, wasn’t it? Which “version” of this whole affair became generally accepted?

***

Thomas knew he couldn’t have too big a hand at making videos, that would make them look even more staged than they already would. Or rather than they’d be assumed to be, as he sincerely doubted people would have gotten less paranoid about that sort of thing in the last few months.

But there was still a ton of stuff he could pull, such as creating countless temporary summoning tokens for various jungle critters he hadn’t used in the dungeon and handing them out to people who wanted to make videos outside.

Faking videos inside the dungeon would be asking, no, begging for problems because no matter how he changed the background, there’d always be the risk of having some tell-tale sign in the background that would give away the game.

He also made sure to add a few interesting and “photogenic” monsters to the dungeon, just while the delvers were filming/wearing low-tech “bodycams.”

Dinosaurs with iridescent scales, gorgeously patterned snakes, tigers with glossy coats that looked like they’d been rolling around in a bathtub full of beauty products, and so on.

***

“Here, eat this,” Elias announced casually as he threw something next to Thomas’ core. It looked oddly familiar, but he couldn’t place i- …

“Wait, is that your spear?” Thomas asked. Elias’ old S-Ranked gear had been “in storage” since forever, sealed in a solid stone slab while they waited for it to downgrade to match his rank. And as for why absorbing it had been out of the question, well, that was simple. Doing so would have resulted in Thomas exploding, at least according to his fairy.

“Yep, finally scaled down to my level,” Elias grinned. “Items that actually change their rank to reflect the user take forever to adjust, but they’re much more powerful than ones that shackle themselves to their user’s ability to channel power.”

“And you’re sure I can just absorb it?” Thomas pressed. Elias seemed to have cared about this thing a whole lot.

“Well, you’ll just recreate it immediately, right?” the fairy said. “Besides, you need to be able to use the growth property.”

That made sense, but … “Growth?”

“The item actually increases in power as the wielder does; that’s a property called ‘growth.’ ‘Scaling’ means that it can also downgrade itself when it’s given to a new user who can’t use it.”

So Thomas finally extended his power and absorbed the tiny spear, only for his metaphorical eyes to fly open in shock.

Lance of Longinus (D-Rank, legendary, growth, scaling)

A weapon forged by the system itself to honor a myth of one of the oldest worlds, capable of slaying the very gods.

The Lance of Longinus grants the wearer powerful hemokinetic abilities at the cost of mana, and is capable of “jumping rank,” dealing damage to enemies up to two ranks above your own as though they had durability comparable only to your own, rather than being able to utilize their own power. In addition, this weapon is highly effective against all sorts of magical defenses and capable of reducing the defenses of any enemy struck while rank jumping is active.

Energy draw: tiny to high for hemokinesis, massive to jump ranks, titanic to repair, and titanic to grow

Restrictions: soulbound to user until their death, currently unbound

“Are you seeing this?” Thomas gasped, showing the system window to the fairy.

“What part?” Elias replied nonchalantly.

“The part about Earth, obviously,” Thomas growled.

“Uh, we overheard Gula tell that to the director. All the magical worlds are collapsing back towards the oldest universes until things stabilize again.”

“… Shit,” Thomas muttered. That was actually correct, but he’d completely forgotten about it.

“I mean, it’s not like it changes anything,” Elias shrugged. “Neither of us can do anything about that universes colliding, and … I mean, have we been doing anything except trying to fix stuff this entire time?”

As if it were that simple to get past not only hearing something like that, but also seeing proof.

And now … now might not be the time to have this little crisis of, well, everything, but to be honest, there was never a good time for that. Besides, as a dungeon core, Thomas had a near-unlimited number of breakable items to smash until he felt better. Until he was finally in the right mindset to start building magical items. Specifically, the items that would allow his delvers to crush the second anchor beast.

Thomas didn’t know for certain who’d be going, but he was pretty sure he knew of at least four people who’d be in on the action. Including one of his favorite delvers so far. And he was also actually aware of what Deputy Director Abrams would like, since she’d been repeatedly bemoaning the loss of her variable mass boots in the battle against Alaxia.

But those things had been basic, a simple slapdash combination of a boot he had a dozen variations of and the second power held by Dexter the Giant Sloth.

This new variant, on the other hand, would be a handcrafted masterpiece.

To start with, the base material. It was obvious, he’d be making it out of a creature that held the needed power, extracting the pattern of his bones out of Dexter’s larger form, allowing him to create just those, then altered the shape so that rather than normal bones, including the hollows that normally contained bone marrow, he was creating something closer to ivory, solid, cylindrical with rounded edges, beads.

Well, solid save for the holes that ran their length and breadth through which he could thread the chain that would hold the whole affair together, with the chain made from Iridosmium, a naturally ocurring alloy of the two densest elements on the periodic table he’d found in one of the storage rooms for geology samples.

It would normally have been too brittle for that kind of application, but, well, magic. He’d managed to bring this stuff up to D-Rank, and just like Elias had told him, upgrading raw materials would make them develop anomalous properties even if Thomas didn’t directly add them himself.

Iridosmium (D-Rank, common)

The densest elements of the Earth, fused in the ground and empowered by magic, naturally warping gravity around itself and becoming harder to move than their weight alone would account for.

Perfect for use in items and potions related to gravity, mass, kinetic energy absorption and durability.

So, yes, a perfect material for use in this item, and considering that it was D-Rank, the brittleness would be overshadowed by the enhanced toughness unless he made the chain even thinner.

And then, he added the power that allowed Dexter to hit with enough force to send even a fully transformed Henderson flying.

Wrecking Ball Fists.

But Thomas also slapped a secondary ability onto it, one that would allow Abrams to shift the bracelet from limb to limb, letting her apply the ability to virtually all her methods of attack.

Bracelet of the Unconquerable Hunteress (D-Rank, legendary, growth)

Bracelets forged from the bones of a titanic megatherium, imbued with gravitational magic and an unquenchable desire to tear down the mighty.

When fuelled by mana, this bracelet will warp spacetime around the limb it is attached to, increase the effective mass behind any blows made with said limb, increasing the force of the impact without changing the blowback upon the attacker in the slightest. This effect can be initially fuelled from an in-built capacitor. It may also be teleported from limb to limb.

As a soulbound item, this bracelet can be repaired using mana and teleported back to the user when lost.

As a growth item, the user may pay additional mana (can be spaced out over multiple instances) to uplift it to match their new rank.

Energy draw: middling to large for use (mana capacitor equal to ten seconds of use at full draw), low to move, massive to teleport into place or repair, titanic to upgrade

Restrictions: Soulbound to first user, only equipable by Jaclyn Abrams

Basically, Thomas couldn’t pre-soulbind an item, but what he could do was add a restriction as to only a specific person being able to equip it, and the chance of someone else with the exact same name sneaking this thin was low.

And Elias had assured him that the restriction would be negated by the soulbinding once it was applied, ensuring that it wouldn’t increase the mana cost of any of the abilities.

Now one for Henderson. He was the one who usually played the actual tank, and tended to get much more badly injured than Abrams.

So he needed something for that. He had an axolotl in his collection, and they were among some of the most capable regenerators in the world. Thomas simply blew up the size of a standard axolotl skin, tailored it into a vest, and then lined it with the stark white fur of an arctic ermine.

They might not have been overly capable of recovering in general, but there was one specific aspect in which they were incredible. They could outright regenerate the brain damage they gave themselves by slowing their metabolism during hibernation, so he threw in that power as well. Also, considering that it was topical, he made the whole affair temperature-controlled. Since this thing was supposed to be worn under one’s shirt, it could easily get hot inside, especially when fighting.

And yes, the whole affair was bright pink, but that should be fine, right? He was sufficiently secure in himself to put it on?

Guardian’s Restorative Vest (D-Rank, legendary, growth)

A vest formed out of the dungeon-made skin of an axolotl, lined with the fur of an arctic ermine to wrap the stalwart guardian and repair his wounds.

This vest can be worn under any item of clothing or on its own, while adjusting the internal temperature to keep the wearer comfortable. However, it will also enhance the healing of the wearer when injured. It will prioritize immediately fatal injuries over limb/organ regrowth. In addition, it is capable of repairing slight brain damage, including reconnecting neurons and regenerating damaged tissues.

Large wounds will close in a matter of minutes, however, limbs will take weeks to regrow, and brain damage require months.

In case of incapacitation, anyone considered to be an ally by the wearer can step up and power to heal them.

As a soulbound item, this bracelet can be repaired using mana and teleported back to the user when lost.

As a growth item, the user may pay additional mana (can be spaced out over multiple instances) to uplift it to match their new rank.

Energy draw: tiny to low for use (mana capacitor equal to thirty seconds of use at full draw, twenty-four hours in standby mode), massive to teleport into place or repair, titanic to upgrade

Restrictions: Soulbound to first user, only equipable by Lukas Henderson

Plus, Granger did have those bracers that needed upgrading, right?

It was pretty simple, Thomas just recreated the old version, but at D-Rank with the growth attribute and the ability to inflict the mummy’s curse. He wouldn’t even have to relearn anything.

Bracers of the Crafty Mage (D-Rank, legendary, growth)

Forged from the bodies of a draconically empowered dinosaur and a D-Ranked undead powerhouse, this item is everything the enterprising mage needs for low-cost crowd control.

The wrappings surrounding the leather may be unfurled and telekinetically controlled by the user, with any and all damage sustained by the bindings able to be repaired by a simple addition of mana. Even a charging draconic tyrant king (the creature that unwillingly donated its hide to form this item) can be stopped in its tracks if properly bound.

When a creature is at least partially bound by this item, in exchange for an additional payment of mana, the Crypt Guardian’s curse may be applied, sapping stamina, slowing all manner of healing and recovery, and inflicting nausea. This curse can be stacked up to three times.

As a soulbound item, this bracelet can be repaired using mana and teleported back to the user when lost.

As a growth item, the user may pay additional mana (can be spaced out over multiple instances) to uplift it to match their new rank.

Energy draw: large to high for use, high to apply curse, high to repair, massive to teleport into place, titanic to upgrade

Restrictions: Soulbound to first user, only equipable by Wyatt Granger

And finally, Gula could probably use something to defend herself with when she was far from tanks and out of usable spirits.

As for ideas, Thomas was pretty dry. All he could really think of was something to remove the “out of defenders” issue, which was summoning more creatures, something he specialized in, both inside and outside the dungeon. Summoning tokens, then.

He created a simple necklace of silk thread, with seven elongated bone beads with a slot on the inside strung up on it, each coming from an animal associated with protection, such as the lion, dog, bear, eagle, wolf, owl, and elephant.

And in three of those slots, he created a temporary summoning token. One for a Marble Hoplite, a second for one of his saber-tooth tigers, and the third he left empty for whatever she wanted to use.

Wise One’s Guardian (D-Rank, legendary, growth)

The last resort of a wise leader of her people, built to protect her in case of emergency, forged from materials chosen to prove the creator’s admiration.

This item can have either body parts of or temporary summoning tokens (which will not be used up) for any monster the wearer’s rank or below slotted into it. These monsters will be summoned at full power when the user’s life is in danger, or upon any other conditions the user sets.

This item has one summoning slot per rank (currently three).

As a soulbound item, this bracelet can be repaired using mana and teleported back to the user when lost.

As a growth item, the user may pay additional mana (can be spaced out over multiple instances) to uplift it to match their new rank.

Energy draw: capacitive (massive to fully charge for one summoning), massive to repair and teleport into place, titanic to upgrade

Restrictions: Soulbound to first user, only equipable by Gula Worldstrider

Currently Slotted:

Marble Hoplite (D-Rank)

Tempestuous Venomsaber Tiger (D-Rank)

Empty slot

The restriction had been a little weird, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Because while he’d never vocalized it, he did admire her. She’d brought her clan to Earth, into the middle of a strange land amidst an upheaval, and things had not only not escalated in the slightest, she’d actually managed to turn it all into a mutually beneficial arrangement that had doubtlessly saved the United Kingdom and the lives of millions of people living within that nation.

But there was just one more idea that he felt like he needed to try out. Dexter’s primary power, his unlimited range. Well, it actually had rather stringent limitations, but none that came into play in the confined spaces of the dungeon.

Megatherium sinew, Rubber Limbs, and now …

Power incompatible with item creation.

Welp … that hadn’t worked. Why hadn’t it worked? For a brief moment, Thomas considered banging his head against the proverbial wall until he figured it out, but after a couple of seconds, he decided to just ask Elias.

“It’s an internal spell, items can’t copy internal powers.”

“I’ve made plenty that did?” Thomas replied, uncertainly.

“You made items that radiate inwards or warp the world around the wearer,” Elias corrected. “Bone and flesh warping works from the inside out, something like your gravity bracelets are projected inside from the exterior. I could have explained that if you’d asked.”

“I would have, if I had known that was something that you hadn’t shared everything on,” Thomas shot back.

“And if I had said everything, you wouldn’t have remembered half of it …”

Yeah, they’d had this argument before, and most likely would again.

But now, there was something else coming down the line. Something he’d been looking forward to for months. And it might even be the perfect way to hand over his newest creations.