Buttopia
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Chapter 203: A Change of Seasons
🕑 Added 2025-07-09 04:37:30 +0000 UTC“Hit it harder!” Karlinovo yelled as I worked to balance the spike at an angle in the Antarctic dungeon. I had since learned the proper name for it was the Cold From Beyond, which was fitting considering the thing we had encountered here.
“I’ll try!” Yorela yelled back as she slammed an oversized mallet into the end of the spike over and over.
We had been at this for an hour already. Every few minutes, we stopped so that Karlinovo could take careful measurements and adjust the angle ever so slightly for maximum effectiveness. It was grueling work, and I was tapping my mana cycling harder than I ever had before, which was saying something considering this wasn’t even a battle. It was a good thing Mel wasn’t here to realize the possibility of this for future trainings.
A rapid beat made up of sounds of heavy impacts rang out above. The feeling of the spike driving deeper told me we were getting somewhere. For around eight hours before we started this Karlinovo, Elody, Quarilyn, and I had been in deep discussions with several scientists we had finally gotten to the homestead. The first half of it had been spent with Karlinovo trying to teach a math that predicted mana displacement to most of the room. Once that most been grasped, we had moved onto the best way to load and distribute undersea cables to a relay point from the spike to the shore.
That was happening outside as we worked on this part. Elody and Pryte were collaborating with a team to lay out all the conduit we could get transported here on such short notice. It didn’t help matters that we were apparently in one of the worst times for weather as far as the continent went. And while that wasn’t the biggest problem for those of us with cores, most of Earth was nowhere near that point.
“Thanks to Glorp, we’ve got the cable laid to the shore ahead of schedule!” Elody yelled suddenly, breaking my concentration. Luckily, Corey was still there in my channels to keep it focused for me.
The next part of the plan was to hook that cable up to a point in New Zealand using a ship. A team that had been rerouted from repair work on the other damaged undersea infrastructure would be the ones to make that connection. This would have been much easier had the dungeon been closer to the South American side, but we had to work with what we had.
“Good, we are finally making some real progress in here. At this rate, we will have this operational by tomorrow!” Karlinovo yelled back.
That, of course, meant a whole new load of problems would start. Since Grant had found the feral mana beasts nearby, we had found several more populations of the local life going the same route. Rabyn had wanted to know just how widespread it had already grown without us noticing, and had immediately taken to the forests to find out. I had no idea why he, of all people, was so interested, but I hadn’t had time since our return to find out.
Crack! The spike suddenly slid deeper, moving feet downward all at once for the first time. Another mallet strike moved it even further. Karlinovo was smiling and yelling for more as the ground beneath us finally gave way under our assault. Within minutes, we had done it. The dungeon core socketed spike was now deep into the ground.
“Alright, Apollyon, are you ready for the next step?” I asked the core as I dropped the shields, feeling a relief wash over me as the constant channeling pressures halted.
“So big, so much world. Why did none of you tell me how grand this all was?!” the core screamed, but for once it didn’t sound angry. Its voice was instead full of wonder.
“Some things are best left for you to experience on your own. I hope now that you understand what you are protecting, it will do a great deal to help clear your madness,” Corey replied.
The core didn’t speak. The tendrils that had been constantly trying to grope through my mind for the last day stopped. The feeling of rage and madness that had so strongly come across the connection to Apollyon calmed for the first time. I had no idea if this change was permanent, but like Corey, I would remain hopeful.
“Release the dungeon energy into the core, be careful not to sever your connection with the Travelers!” A bolt of energy wizzed past Karlinovo as he yelled that, singeing his beard. The room was coming alive with charged mana.
I carefully reworked the thread, tying off where Alpha had their connection and placing another onto Apollyon. As the connection settled, something unexpected hit me. I could now feel their fear in my mind. It was only for a split second, but it had been very real. I suspected the dungeon connection hadn’t brought the joy they expected. Instead, it had brought a weight. The message that popped up confirmed this moments later.
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>Apollyon: You all will not leave me, right? You will be here?
>Corey: We will share the burden of the dungeon equally until we find a way to purify the energy it exudes.
>Apollyon: Thank you.
>Corey: I will be visiting you often in my manifested form, until you are also able to manifest. We shall discuss much about the world, beauty, and life itself.
__________
Apollyon didn’t reply again, and not wanting to risk any further enmity, I let the messages drop there. Corey had said what had needed to be said. Whether this worked or not, only time would tell. But as Corey said, I would need to find a way to decrease the corruption of dungeons.
“Let’s get out of here!” Pryte yelled from the entrance, as more charged mana arced across the air.
“Yes, until this all starts to settle, it will be very dangerous for us to stick around!” Karlinovo dodged another blast as he agreed.
***
For the first time since I had returned to Earth, we somehow finally had a month without crisis after crisis. The food distribution had been enough to buy the spike time to get to work, and we had gotten news that crops were starting to grow again. It would still be a dangerously close margin for food scarcity and the world, but it did look like we’d come in on the safe side of it.
The city numbers continued to swell as Grant pushed further and further with his search and rescue operations. Virtually everyone we found alive made the decision to return to the safety of our growing homestead. On top of that, we had an influx of scientists, engineers, and other specialists as the president had promised.
Karlinovo, under his guise as Ivan, along with the former librarians, had been working with them on ways to connect mana flow technology into earth technology. Progress was slow compared to our earlier leaps, but I was okay with that for now. It meant I had real time to spend with my family.
While I knew I could have spent much of this time training, or even in the Arena, without Mel, it just didn’t seem right. So instead, I worked with Trolke and Glorp on the buildings. I learned what I could from Karlinovo and Elody. I read through the diary with Alex and Sanquar. I even joined John in the kitchen a few times.
As the leaves began to change colors and fall from their branches all around us, we finally had things settling into where they needed to be for the winter. While the long houses wouldn’t be the only housing, they would work for the year while a more natural city layout developed. A building for a school had been erected to Elody’s design, and the underground tunnels were finally seeing some progress.
“Really, that’s the name they voted on?” I said as we sat around the meeting hall, a fire blazing as the chill had finally started to set in.
It had been greatly expanded beyond just a dining hall. While that function still existed, a guest suite had been added for the many visitors we now had coming in and out. While at the moment those were primarily engineers, it had been designed with visiting diplomats and dignitaries in mind. Pryte had overseen that part.
“I want to know how they even came up with Alexandria,” John said, shaking his head with mock laughter.
“I understand your history has it as a reference to a city of knowledge with that name, but apparently that had nothing to do with the suggestions. Some of the Reltleons and human settlers found out that Alex is pregnant, and thought this would be an amazing thing. Naming your capital city after your firstborn and the line of your empire can be quite the show of power,” Pryte replied.
“I’m not sure how big I am on the idea.” Alex had the look she had when she was far more annoyed with an idea than she was willing to say.
“Welcome to my world. You think I wanted this damn empire named after me?” I said, trying and failing to suppress laughter.
“Well, in both cases, I think you both are just going to have to accept this. Now, where are we at on the defenses?” Pryte asked, turning his gaze to Karlinovo.
“We have the fundamentals down. Those solar panels we were supplied with will work to help amplify mana fields if we are able to alter the type to match your sun’s output. That will greatly increase our mana production. Once the tunnels are done, we can set up a series of panels to work in relay channeling charged mana where it needs to go. In theory, we may even be able to use that to take a load off the Travelers, allowing them to better help Apollyon. But…” Karilnovo trailed off as the doors slammed open.
“We have a problem!” Rabyn’s barely escaped his lips. He was covered in blood, and half his right arm was just gone. He collapsed where he stood.
Feral mana beasts can be both a blessing and a curse. While they mean that the natural mana flow of a world is increasing, and by their own existence and proto cores, they help to further that growth as they roam, it also means a potential danger now exists. Predators can often become far more dangerous as their strength increases. Rarely do feral mana beasts awaken to the world of thought, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous. Their true danger lies in an encounter with dungeon energy.
Feral Mana Beasts, Danger and Change by Roril Thorl, Paladin of Conservation Grand Warden of the Order
Comments
Michael Halpern
the long houses will likely be repurposed as barracks and warehouses eventually, at least for a while. They are going to need a prototyping hub complex. somewhere with small scale examples of all of Earth's advanced manufacturing processes and equipment. CNC, 3D printers, semiconductors (though larger format is fine for now), and so on. longer term they'll have to convert some existing production facilities.. Another interesting thing, Apollyon is connected to the Internet. Or at least the backbone infrastructure of the Internet, they might not have a user interface, or any other way to process the data but that could change.
Michael Halpern
Im going to guess mana wolves got him. As an individual, a pack would be much harder for Rabyn to deal with, sure members of the Usadai family could also be problematic but they are solitary hunters,
