Syl

Chapter 171: Travel Arrangements

The next morning, I awoke bright and early and hurried to the Adventurer's Guild. The graveyard shift workers, who were still on duty, were taken aback by my early arrival. When I mentioned that Thern had instructed me to be there early, they couldn't help but chuckle. However, they also confessed that even Thern's usual arrival time was still a good hour or two away.

"I can at least take your luggage so long." One of the staff members offered.

I nodded and placed my various chests on the floor. The man was startled momentarily before giving a firm nod and then rubbing his hands together energetically. He then started lifting the chests one by one, somehow balancing them in a tower formation. Some of the other staff joked about him showing off to pretty girls again as he trundled to deliver the chests.

Despite what the staff had said, Thern did, in fact, arrive sooner than they expected. Before even greeting him, I silently handed him a flask. He stared at it briefly, twisted the cap off, and took a swig. He immediately started coughing, followed by laughter.

"Ah! That's the stuff!" Thern said, sounding much more pleasant than yesterday.

"It's good to see you, friend. Again, I'm sorry for the wait." I apologized and handed him more flasks, which he eagerly accepted.

"It's not that bad. I'd be taking the long way home if not for you." Thern admitted.

He pointed to an obsidian-colored chest in his luggage, which was highly locked up with multiple chains and enchantments.

"In here is a brand-spanking new furnace heart, all thanks to that salamander you dealt with," Thern explained.

"Right... I had wondered who won the bidding war," I said, recalling my conversation with Luke. "I had hoped the dwarves would win it so I could negotiate for another silver slime core."

"Ha! Well, you'll certainly have the money to potentially negotiate. Although you could also sell your services, many beasties live around us with valuable parts." Thern said.

"So I could do a bunch of hunting quests and get another core that way?"

"Aye. My pa has already told some of the higher-ups that you were the one to secure the inferno sac." Thern answered. "Just make sure to do it through the Adventurer's Guild branch, so you have some diplomatic protection."

"Diplomatic protection?"

"Just in case some scoundrel tries to renege on a deal. Then the full weight of the guild can be dropped upon them." Thern said with a hearty chortle.

I followed Thern as he led the way; we stopped off at the library, where he collected a few of his things before heading towards a deeper section of the guild. I hadn't seen this section before and wondered where we were headed. Did the guild have some sort of staging area for wagons or something? Thern unfortunately refused to answer my query and instead just chuckled with a "wait and see" response.

We had to enter through three locked doors, and my tag briefly glowed as we passed through each one. I turned my head to Thern, showing my concerned curiosity, and he smirked.

"Security. It's checking that you haven't stolen that Gold-rank tag. Congrats, by the way! Bring me something fancy to enchant, and I'll do it for free." Thern replied, showing a toothy grin.

The final door led to a large room with a massive circular dais. Hundreds of glyphs and sigils decorated the platform engraved in gold, a stark contrast to the almost pitch-black stone the main structure was made of. In the center of the dais was a waist-high column, also fully engraved but made out of pristine marble, and at the tip was a beautiful-looking crystal sphere. I briefly thought it might have been a slime core, but upon further inspection, it seemed to be an artificially made crystal.

Seeing my shock and surprise, Thern couldn't help but laugh. "First time seeing a teleportation room?"

"I didn't even know they existed..." I admitted.

"Aye. Most people don't. They are quite expensive to use and with very strict security." Thern answered and then patted the black box holding the furnace's heart. "Our trip is being sponsored by the Empire! They don't trust such a valuable object being transported by ordinary means."

"I'm not going to complain... But I'm sure we could handle some bandits between the two of us."

"No doubt," Thern admitted confidently. "But I guess all the smuggling going on here in Kaerlin has made some of them worry. Not to mention the pegasi and orc attacks... But look on the bright side; their paranoia gets us a comfy trip!"

"Sounds great. So how does it work?"

"Ha! I don't blame you for asking. Unfortunately, this is one of the rare occasions that I can't actually explain something Enchanting related." Thern admitted, almost looking slightly embarrassed. "I've spent months staring at these glyphs, trying to decipher them, but it's like it's written in multiple bloody foreign languages. All I know is that you place a keystone in two of these and then channel mana into the orb, and it works."

"Keystone?"

Thern pulled out a stone disc, cast in marble and engraved with silver. "This here is the keystone. Drew it myself. On the other side is another matching one, and they somehow speak to one another through that monstrosity." Thern said as he pointed to the dais.

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"Can it be anything as long as they match?" I asked curiously.

"Aye. But that's risky," Thern answered. "It's very hard to make two things absolutely identical, so it tries to make the link between the two best matches. If we did something simple like a circle, we could end up in another teleportation room with a circle keystone."

"I see. That could be a big safety concern."

"Which is why this room is so heavily monitored. Now help me get your chests onto the platform," Thern said, pointing to my luggage in the corner.

We moved the chests on the platform, and Thern looked inside them, confirming that the contents were safe and smiling when he saw all the barrels. While we were setting up, Luke and Lisa came to check on us and wish us a good time in the Empire.

"If you plan on bringing back any souvenirs, please get anything other than alcohol. I swear that's all anyone brings back from the Dwarves." Lisa had joked.

Thern slotted the keystone into an empty slot in the dais, and when he did so, it seemed to complete the framework as the entire thing hummed to life. I tried desperately to understand what I saw, but Thern wasn't joking or humble when he said he had no idea what it was. I felt I would have no chance if someone as educated as he couldn't comprehend it.

'I could probably get my [Sub-Cores] to recreate this... Although that's certainly risky. I could end up sending myself to go visit Kappa if I screwed up.'

"Right. I think we are ready." Thern said, looking pleased.

"Anything I should know or be warned about?"

"Keep your arms and legs inside the circle. Seriously." Thern said sternly. "Other than that, try not to vomit."

I nodded and stepped up onto the platform to join him. Thern placed his hand on the crystal orb, and it began to slowly build up with a glowing light. The sigils and glyphs on the dais began to shimmer and transform before my eyes, and the entire room began to bend and warp.

"Hold on to your breakfast!" Thern bellowed with laughter.

Then the orb suddenly flickered red, and Thern muttered a dozen curses.

"I thought they charged the bloody thing!" Thern shouted angrily.

He slapped his hand on top of the orb, and I saw the orb pulling vast quantities of Mana from him. Thern started muttering curses and then suddenly fell to his knee.

"Shit! Syl, I'm gonna need you to help dump Mana into this thing! It sucked me dry!" Thern shouted in panic.

I nodded, rushed to the orb, and placed my hand on it. Immediately, I felt the orb start to siphon Mana from me. Thern looked relieved when the dais' enchantments suddenly became alive, and the room rapidly warped and twisted. There was a popping noise, and abruptly, the room we were in looked completely different. The wooden floors and walls were replaced with pure stonework. Where there might have been a sconce, instead, an engraving was carved directly into the stone, providing an ample light source.

Thern took a swig from his flask before steadily standing up again. "Bloody beards. That could have gone to shit."

I opened my mouth to ask what had happened when the door to the room slid open. Rather than a wooden door that swings, it was what looked like a stone door that somehow slid into the wall to open a walkway.

A stout female dwarf entered the room, looking absolutely livid. While Thern had an impressive beard that went down past his waist, she, on the other hand, had a massive hairdo that stood tall above her head like a giant beehive. It was massively braided and well taken care of with its wispy black coloring.

Thern looked at the woman storming towards him, his eyes wide. He looked about to say something when the woman decked him in the face with a massive right hook that sent him crashing off the dais and tumbling to the wall.

Unsure if we were under attack or not, I swiftly cast and held [Stunvolt] in my hand. The blueish-purple energy sparked dangerously on my hand, the buzzing-ticking sound filling the entire room as, unlike my testing, I held nothing back, and it was fully empowered. The dwarven woman actually flinched in surprise at the loud noise and swiveled to look at me; she glared as if I had challenged her.

"Syl! No! That's my ma!" Thern shouted, spitting out some blood.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"What's wrong, boy? Not gonna let your pointy-eared girlfriend defend your honor?" The woman barked.

"Ma!" Thern shouted, going red in the face. "We're coworkers!"

"And how many other coworkers have you brought home with ya?" Thern's mom snorted in response.

Thern facepalmed while fiercely groaning. "Just cause I work with the humans doesn't mean I've adopted their taste in woman, ma! I'm still a dwarf at heart."

"That's a relief on a poor mother's heart," She responded.

"Bah! The only way to relieve your black heart would be to throw it into a volcano." Thern spat.

Then, both dwarves abruptly started laughing so hard that tears began forming in their eyes. I dropped my spell and looked at the two, feeling lost and confused.

"I have no idea what's going on..." I mumbled to myself.

"My son is saying you're too skinny to be a wife. And I don't blame him. Are those humans starving you or something? You're practically skin and bones!" Thern's mom responded.

"Ma!" Thern shouted.

"Sorry... Sorry... Forgive an old bat for being brusque; I haven't had my morning drink yet."

I pulled out a flask and handed it to her, immediately making the woman burst out with a devilish grin. "Boy, I think I like this one!"

"Ma!"

"You're right. Where's my manners." The woman chuckled. "Name's Thessa; pleased to meet ya!"

"Syl. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

Thessa nodded, then finally took a swig of the canteen. She kept drinking and drinking before finally stopping and letting out a breathy sigh followed by a belch.

"Well, slap my tits; that's probably the strongest drink I've ever had!" Thessa exclaimed happily.

"Did ya think I was fibbing to pa?" Thern questioned.

"I thought maybe you'd lost your gut living out in the sun with the humans," Thessa admitted. "But I'm happy to be proven wrong. Although you've clearly gotten rusty if that teleportation was anything to go by!"

"You can insult me, but never insult my work! I copied the keystone design perfectly!" Thern shouted back.

"Then explain what went wrong with the teleportation? It clearly needed more Mana to compensate for your screwup."

Thern reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment with what looked like black markings on it. He stomped over and angrily thrust it towards his mom.

"Good thing I took a rubbing of the finished product." Thern defended himself.

Thessa examined the piece of parchment with the utmost scrutiny.

"Hmm... I'd give this a less than five percent deviation... Not bad, boy!" She said, scratching her chin. "But then what the hell happened?"

"I thought maybe the guild might not have charged the mana battery enough," Thern said.

"Surely they wouldn't be that stupid," Thessa said. "Although the only other possibility is too much dimensional weight."

"Dimensional weight?" I asked.

"It's not exactly an official term, but we use it to describe the phenomenon. Basically, you can't cheat teleport costs with dimensional storage." Thern answered. "But even with the extra chests, it wouldn't have cost that much more Mana. I mean to explain that you'd need an absolutely massive amount of dimensional space, on par with an artifact storage!"

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