On their entrance in the palace, a courtier directed them to a refreshment area with light food and drink. Waiting there were Dame Kaede and the two princesses, now attractive young females and permitted to carry light swords while in the palace. They were surprised at Bizdoatl's new appearance as a half Scubausuc, much more handsome than they had ever seen him. But their disappointment was obvious when he introduced Doable as his mate. Kaede got right to the point in asking him what an Overlord was. After he explained it to her, she said her other self would be thrilled if she could join his expedition, that is, if she could get a better sword and equipment. Her current world was fun for a time, but it does not have enough challenging fights.

Various other noblemen and women of indeterminate power took the opportunity for an informal introduction, their approach being from far enough away for Dame Kaede to give Bizdoatl quick summaries of their importance before they arrived. One older woman she pointed out as a real power behind the emperor, who acted under the pretense of being his trusted courtesan, unlikely because of their age difference, where in fact she was his most brilliant and loyal adviser. Bizdoatl's circuitry meant he could perceive her intellectual genius at a distance.

She had spent a lot of time learning everything there was to know about Lur, and Bizdoatl, and had spoken at length with the Admiral, and in great detail with Dame Kaede and the two princesses about what they had experienced there. But the more she learned the more questions she had. Reaching the conclusion that Lur was essential to the health of the galaxy, but perhaps the most dangerous thing within it. Therefore every word between her and the Overlord of Lur would be the single most important conversation yet held in this young empire.

Much faster than a spoken conversation, Bizdoatl suddenly heard the voice of the virtual Master Parkdeer with a threat warning. It first said the obvious, that the threat was very intellectual, but it is concealed behind a mask of emotion. And this being knows several deadly close range fighting arts, so automatic defense responses are engaged.

She was preceded by a lesser courtier, whose purpose it was to provide introductions between dignitaries, then to remove themselves from the conversation. Her name was the Countess Ilúvatar-Segundi. Bizdoatl inquired of her name out of genuine interest, but also as a friendly way to start a conversation. Is your family related to the eru Ilúvatar? Sadly, the original eru had been destroyed even before I was born. My family were one of the founding families of Ilúvatar the Second, so adopted that name, though we now live in the capital.

So, Overlord, the court longs to hear of you and your beautiful mate, and your world of Lur. And I doubt anyone here has ever seen such classical, high level mechanica like these. Did you have them custom made, or did you buy them? Bizdoatl was surprised, as he had long seen Ell Redoubt and Chielena Lethe as the closest thing to living beings. It irritated him for her to see them as things.

My apologies, he said, does your court not have self-aware mechanica? Oh, no, she replied, none of our mechanica has ever been more than just a mechanica. I'm not sure it would be safe to have such things in the palace. So Bizdoatl asked Ell Redoubt and Chielena Lethe over to speak with her, ignoring Twell that she perhaps assumed was a living being. Her demeanor changed so much that the virtual Master Parkdeer flashed an additional warning.

Then Bizdoatl beckoned to one of the princesses. He knew that Dame Kaede kept them informed, and that they were smart and followed the workings of the imperial court closely, so knew exactly what was going on. The princess dropped much of her formal facade and acted like she was seeing old friends, all smiles and boldly walking past Bizdoatl and embracing Chielena, gushing about how they had missed them, then giving an embrace to Ell before asking if they were married yet and had any children?

The Countess wore as mask of utter surprise. Married?, she asked. It's a Lurian custom, the princess said, a more formal way of mating. The Countess was baffled. In her time she had only seen two or three level 6 mechanica, like Chielena, and none as advanced as Ell, though both were obviously oriented to extreme combat, despite outward appearances.

The princess then spoke again to say that she and her sister, with Dame Kaede had great fun in sparring matches on Lur, and Chielena and Ell were the nicest beings they have ever met. The Countess then said wait, you said children? Oh yes, they have both been upgraded to have living children. We knew many mechanica children of many kinds and hybrids of kinds in our palace, and they were very loyal and hard working. Some had even earned noble titles. Extraordinary, said the Countess. But then realizing that she had been distracted from speaking with Bizdoatl, she asked him what was entailed in your becoming the Overlord of Lur? And while she thought she was well informed on the subject, his brief recap was such that she felt woefully ignorant. Especially because of the detailed records of the Lurian project that were accessible. She easily had the authority to have a hundred scholars review and explain them to her, which is what she then intended for them to do. However, time had run out and the formal presentation to the royals was due. Herald didn't tag along, having become enthralled with the elaborate buffet.

Bizdoatl kept a very orderly face despite his surprise at meeting the emperor, who appeared an older adolescent in age, quite muscular and strong, and looking uncomfortable on the throne. Beside him on her own throne sat the empress, who was just a young child, but looked much more relaxed on her seat.

To the emperor's other side and back a step stood Countess Ilúvatar-Segundi, whose gaze at the court was no longer comfortable and friendly, but piercing and determined. A protocol officer then announced Bizdoatl's party to the emperor. Technically a herald himself, he was puzzled why he should announce another leader's herald.

The greatest interest from the court was with Bizdoatl and Doable, as Overlord of Lur and his mate. Twell Miergo, there in his mechanica form, Ell Redoubt and Chielena. As with the court herald, the nobles were also perplexed by herald and his informal attire. After some pleasantries, the emperor proposed that the assembled take in a relaxed lunch and discuss issues of state, while apologizing for the empress who would not be in attendance as she was fatigued.

Bizdoatl was pleased that some of the food provided had Lurian spices though he had no idea how it had been arranged, though he suspected Twell's actions. The emperor said he wanted to hear all about Bizdoatl's adventures on Lur, but in truth he wanted to talk about his family, who had long been adventurers and explorers. He thought himself unfortunate, because after going through grueling training to be an adventurer, it was discovered that he possessed emperor-grade magic. And this diverted him from the path he wanted, to one he had to take because of what he was. Sadly, even he agreed that all would be worse off if he refused to rule.

His empress had it easier, he supposed, since she was raised from infancy to be a high ranking noble, and though she might have other dreams, she could not pursue them for long. He supposed they still loved each other, if only out of duty. Much of what the emperor was feeling had been contained, since there had been no one before Bizdoatl who was close enough in rank to confide in, and expressing ones feelings to a subordinate was frowned upon.

But what the emperor would never have suspected was that Bizdoatl was probably the only being around who could actually do something about his predicament. So after the others there were involved in side discussions, Bizdoatl made the emperor an offer.

What if there was a device that made a perfect reproduction of you to reign as emperor here, while your original appearance was modified enough so that no one would recognize you, and you were free to go explore and on adventures? You would actually get to use your emperor magic instead of just to have it.

The emperor was very interested. He asked if two individuals accompany him, reproductions of Countess Ilúvatar-Segundi and Dame Kaede. Would a version of them both about your age be acceptable, assuming their same knowledge and abilities?, asked Bizdoatl.

Once the reproduction was on the throne, the emperor would join them at their accommodation in the capital with the new identity of Imparat-Segundi, a very powerful mage from a distant and unfamiliar world, and mate of Ilúva-Segundi, whose daughter was Kaede-Segundi, both of whom were extremely gifted swordswomen, carrying blades never before seen. Adventurers joining the exploration party of Bizdoatl, the Overlord of Lur.

Reproductions of the mechanica forms of Ell Redoubt, level seven, and Chielena Lethe, now also upgraded to level seven, and the level unknown Twell Miergo, as well as reproductions of two extremely imposing Felideer, and reproductions of two little children just called Anye and Dake, a pair of Lurians from Pronoea, named Donar and Ziu, that came highly recommended as backwoodsmen from the away Bizdoatl, and a very relaxed male who didn't seem special at all, other than being a gourmand and chef, named Herald, rounded out the party.

Admiral Isstil hoped to show off his new ship to them, and maybe shuttle them to their destination, when he turned up at their accommodation, and was disappointed to be told by a domestic mechanica that they had already left.

Bizdoatl and his team arrived in a spacious port area within a floating city above the first world they were set to explore. They were greeted by a large team of very exotic looking beings. Their spokesman, self described as an arch-devil, explained that before coming to this city as servants to eight omnipotent beings, it was said they had all been virtual creations, but on coming here had been made real and living beings. They sorely missed their masters, who were no longer around, and worthy visitors come here only very rarely.

We offer you the use of our city, and and the city on the ground beneath this one, and our services if you wish to remain here, or support for you if you wish to travel anywhere on this world. On glancing out the spacious windows, all Bizdoatl saw in any direction were deserts, but on asking, he was informed that only a small part of this world was desert, and much of the rest was verdant forest, grasslands and plains, with mountainous regions, swamps and seas. There are also many cities and many different beings.

And what of magic?, he asked. There are two kinds of very different character. The first kind was the natural magic here, but it was superseded by omnipotent beings that came here even before our masters. We know very little of these old ones, but our masters also used and taught the new magic, which can be used by anyone who can use magic, not just the few kinds that could use the old magic.

This set Bizdoatl to think. He remembered that back when doing virtual simulations, he had sent a group of six Lurian gamers, five of which were mortal, to see if they would follow the same pattern as did the simulations. They did, with that five dying of old age. So a second group of eight Lurian gamers were sent to the same place, wherever that was. But there was no follow up on them because the Lurians on Lur carried out a reassortment and his team had to evacuate.

When speaking of this with Doable, she remembered that the eight players had killed each other off, even after gate had provided them with an elaborate base, so it was decided that the best option might be sending just individual players in a base they were familiar with, along with realized virtual character support. Gate had been given instructions for this, but we were interrupted and had to leave. During a reassortment, Lurians might not be suitable for transference, so would gate transfer someone like the targeted individual from some other world, for the same purpose?

Assuming this was the target world for all three transfers, would the individual still be around? Because he would not necessarily be a Lurian, Bizdoatl assumed that gate would have given him maximum magical power, items and wealth to succeed here. But we should check up on him, to see how a non-Lurian could adapt to a situation like this.

But first we must get things orderly here, in this floating base. Few of the formerly virtual beings here required food or sleep, so spent their time cleaning and maintaining the base, and guarding some realized game items left here. So while there were well tended sleeping areas, the kitchen was pretty bare. Once the gate console was set up, gate reproduced a substantial amount of the local coinage, so they could buy food from the city on the ground. Only later did Bizdoatl think that they just could have asked gate to provide them prepared food, but then said to himself that exploring means trying new things.

The beings in the city on the ground were a diverse lot, many different kinds, so were not disturbed by them especially after finding out they were travelers, with money to spend. And that is when the swords came out, not to fight, but to sell. The floating city was known for manufacturing some very high quality swords, an essential item on this semi-civilized world, Bizdoatl assumed, and had an establish reputation. So the city on the ground had an abundance of swords that were 'almost as good' as the swords from the floating city, or so said the sellers. But they did have an eye for quality, and several offered to buy the unique swords of the Segundi family, which were politely declined.

Very skilled at court politics, Imparat, Ilúva, and Kaede were amazing at gathering and collating useful intelligence without seeming to be nosy, especially indirectly, such as when haggling the sale of exotic trinkets of which they had an endless supply, the merchant would be fixated on the sale, so would give them the information for free.

One of the more important discoveries was that something about this world magically brought about the spawning of very large numbers of undead. Most of the party were unfamiliar with such things, so Twell informed them of the details. The assumption is that at some point a gate had changed the rules of a given world to rationalize it with a game. An animate skeleton seems ludicrous, and those that arose from actual dead remains were a minority, so if unavailable, then the world itself would generate them.

It also explained why, at this level of technology, swords were so popular, as likely any magical tools for eliminating undead. But what effect would this have on the decay rate of magic on this world thought Bizdoatl. He asked Twell about the calculation used to determine this, and could it calculate the rate of this new world. He replied that he believed he could, but that a large part of it was based in change over time, so it could not be done quickly, so he would start now.

Bizdoatl's next inquiry was to gate on Lur, through its console. Could it direct him to the location of this world's gate. It replied that it could, but it was not recommended that anyone travel there at this time. It is located in a very deep cave in a mountain range and it is not alone there. The cave is also being used as a nest for a very powerful dragon.

Bizdoatl then asked gate what a dragon was, and gate responded by telling him a library of information about various types of dragons, simple and lizard like, midsized, giant and violent or highly intelligent, colors and scale patterns, many kinds that were virtually designed and bred, raised and transferred, and soon Bizdoatl regretted asking. So he interrupted gate and asked what kind of dragon was this dragon.

Giant, intelligent, old, with a great reservoir of natural magic. Approach with caution. So he asked for a flying remote communications device that could translate between his speech and that of the dragon. And having awakened the dragon from a sound sleep, he soon had to request another such device, as the first one had been swatted like a small insect.

It took a while to convince the dragon that they were not from this world, bore him no ill will, did not covet his impressive collection of valuables, nor intended to disclose his location to those that might. But the real breakthrough happened when Bizdoatl learned of his fascination with breeding rare kinds of beings, and even cross breeding them to produce new and noteworthy kinds.

We have the means to do that in many cases, even of seemingly incompatible beings. Bizdoatl used himself as one example, and his mate Doable as another. The dragon sounded fascinated. She was a purely mechanical being? Only to some extent. She was a very complicated mechanical being called a mechanica, which are very much like living beings in many ways. She was first made into a living being, and then one that was a blend of two normally very incompatible kinds. Extraordinary, he remarked.

It was the icebreaker that convinced the dragon that he had to meet these beings. He eventually offered to transmute into the form of an ordinary being, were they to come pay him a visit. Bizdoatl's counter offer was for him to transmute, then they could bring him to where they were, in the floating city. He agreed and was so impressed after speaking with them for several star cycles about the galaxy, and enjoying the food and drink provided by Herald, that he said he was seriously considering giving up his life as recluse and ask them to let him join their party.

However, having lived here for so long, and having seen so many of its mysteries, he was of the opinion the ancient ones who lived here had discovered that the way to counter magical decay was with the natural spawning of undead. It buffered and limited the magical barrier, so that the native beings were unable to use most higher level magic. But outsiders from other worlds would be, by comparison, as strong as gods.

In their absence, for better or worse, I find this world rather dull, and suggest better exploration in the next world on your list. After using remote observation and watching the various nations brawl with each other, Bizdoatl agreed, and after accepting several exotic beings from the floating city to their team, they moved on to their next adventure.