The fortress took another two days to complete. Then I had to create a delivery device for the nerve gas. I thought about how the dwarves operated their stronghold and came up with a design. The football-sized device looked like a top. I tested it repeatedly, by dropping it from as high up as possible.It worked perfectly, landing, tip down, and burrowing into a false tunnel I created below the ground. There it would stop and release its gas. Despite their size, this device was the most intricate thing I had ever produced. It had dozens of magical circuits running along thin mithril pathways.They had a built-in levitator feature, that absorbed the impact of the fall, allowing the device to slowly penetrate the ground where it landed. With the stored mana, it could push up to five meters of dirt or rock out of the way before it ran out of juice. A sensor rune would cut the power when it detected a large void. This had been tricky to implement as it could not be activated until the dev

After we dropped off our passenger, I oriented the fortress toward the coast and the dwarven stronghold. It was time to collect the property that had been stolen from us.I had plenty of time to reflect on the information Michael had coughed up during the journey. One bit had become of interest to me and that was about this so-called Stygian Order. Apparently, that was the actual name of the shadow faction. The assholes that had stranded me in the south, left to die in the desert.He didn't know much about them, other than the fact they had been hampering the Black Dragon efforts in New York as well as Chicago. According to Michael, other than the one kid they captured and killed in Chicago, there hadn’t been any sign of the group. Even when Randy Cotton had arrived and used his force to eliminate the Triad. I didn’t know why the man bothered until I learned that all survivors were forced to offer a System oath to Randy.I tried to understand Randy’s goals but even Michael had been un

I relaxed on the beach as the ocean waves lapped at the sand a dozen feet away. The weather was perfect, a sunny cloudless day and no apparent monsters in sight.Ska and Martin were enjoying the water but keeping close to the shore. We knew the ocean had some nasty creatures in it. I had already gone for a swim but I preferred just lounging in the sun.When we returned to the Houston area we parked the fortress near a beachside resort. The place had been deserted for quite some time but there had been plenty of signs of fighting in the area. This was our last day of rest. We had been here a week and unwinding had helped. Martin was starting to come back around, Ska was being less ornery and even I was given time to process all the fucked up shit that had happened in the last few weeks.I realized having a high intelligence didn't always help with making the most humane choice. It allowed me to come to a choice much quicker but not to think about the consequences of that action.I didn