"Planeswalk!"
Our surroundings shifted in an instant, going from a bare stone room to a thin but long alley between two dark steel walls, unbelievably high.
There are a few pipes connected to one of the walls, going a few hundered meters down before sinking into the ground.
The sky is grey, and I feel the smog being worse than it was on Doomed Earth. However me, Naela and Savir have Gamer's Body, so there shouldn't be any negative effect to breathing it.
...Checking my Status, there is no new effect.
Looking around, I let out a long sigh, covering my face with a hand.
Fuck the player.
Not only did he deprive me of the ability to get the Mirvulean Gem for the time being, but also of my plan for killing every human on that world.
Well, I'll achieve it all in due time, but such a setback is still something I won't forget.
I see my companions, they don't seem to be too amazed at the sight of kilometers high walls, having spent some time in halls almost as impressive.
A shout came from faraway, echoing to us.
A few figures can be seen at the end of the alley, they're clad in some kind of crude metal armor and loose grey clothes. I can't make out the details, but from the way they're acting, waving spears, as well as a single bulky pistol around and running towards us, something is wrong in their heads.
They certainly aren't Orks, there isn't any sign of green.
Underhive gangers? Maybe cultists as well?
Yeah, it's quite likely we've been dropped into the depths of a hive city, where else would such high walls be erected?
A single bolt from the pistol hit, crossing the distance between the weapon and me in an instant; I didn't see it move, no time to react.
It hit me in the knee, burning the cloth I was wearing right off, but all I felt was a slight warmth.
Holy shit, what was that speed?
That must be a las weapon.
Don't their projectiles move at the speed of light?
It's a relief I'm not so easy to damage.
...Which can't be said for Naela and Savir.
I shoot a Spark Trigger with Octuple Spell Acid Ball rune at the ganger group; a small sparkling magic missile soars towards them. It connects, releasing eight globs of acid in all directions which relentlessly melt the bodies of the attackers as they scream in pain, foaming blood, their red flesh and seconds later bone become visible.
We walk a few minutes to the writhing, and when I see the las pistol dropped on the ground - still looking operational, I give it to Savir, as he's currently the weakest member of our little party.
Hm, let me change his party settings.
There, now he has the same potential to get stronger as Naela, or half mine.
Wait, no. This verse is too dangerous. I'll change both their settings.
...Now they have 100% as much exp gain as me, the ability to go to a basic zombie dungeon once per day, and a mental Inventory. Neither should die in the early days, with all those perks, available at a will's call.
If it wasn't for the player we'd have more time to get ready for this, to avoid situations just like the current worry about their safety.
We need to formulate a plan to get Savir powerful quick.
Firstly, I can share my EXP gain with party members, but only 1% for the price of them having maximum 25% exp gain in relation to me for the next year during its effect and after turning the option off.
It wouldn't normally be viable, but there's this idea - we can set up a stasis teleport on this planet, fly to a different world, put another one on that planet, teleport here to push my exterminatus button (which is the bouncing burst rune program), and return to the other world. This way for a hive world with, for example, fifty billion inhabitants, both of them would get the exp equivalent of killing five hundred million people, with me still gaining fourty nine billion kills' exp.
We lucked out on getting such a headstart world in the beginning of the 200 year race to cosmic power, lucked out on me being a programmer in my previous life, even lucked out on the god of the omniverse wanting a universal-level battle in just two centuries, in a way.
Before informing my friends of the plan, I check a message that I've been ignoring since we came here.
[Choose your destination]
[SCP]
[Lit by the Sun]
[StarCraft]
[Game of Thrones]
[Marvel Comics]
[Highschool DXD]
[One Piece]
[Worm]
[DC Comics]
There are nine options?
Aah, that's neat, I can choose the things I didn't choose in the past.
From the new verses, I don't know what StarCraft is. Game of Thrones would be a good vacation world if I ever want to chill out without any dangers looming ahead, won't be choosing that one anytime in the next two hundered years, even if fun is quite important, I need to focus on becoming more powerful for the battle. SCP is an even bigger nope than DC Comics, as well as Marvel Comics. Lit by the Sun is a relatively new work compared to the other verses I've had the choice to go to, as it was released in 2073. The Siliarin System is so closely packed that I believe a single Bouncing Burst could destroy all of it, even as it is now. It's also one of my favourite book trilogies of all time, and I really want to see the sights it contains within, even after the Age of Magic had ended.
I guess Lit by the Sun it is, It'd be a profitable vacation, I can afford a few months of sailing leisurely through space and sightseeing if it means I'll be getting four thousand's worth of planets inhabitants in exp at the end of it.
Yes, I know it would be best to just destroy it as I appear and then instantly go to a different verse, but it's got a lot of sentimental value to me, and a few months isn't that much compared to hundereds of years, right?
There are a few threats I'd have to be wary of if I jumped verses right now - namely the Raglishev Order, the lowercase gods, the Lords and the Shifter. The only known Lord that would maybe have my back might be Stagnation's.
But I don't have to worry about that, as in Warhammer us three will become orders of magnitude more powerful, not even Shifter's solar system level magicks will be able to touch us when we get there.
In the meantime, there's millions of planets to explore, crush and conquer where we're at currently.
As I tell my companions of the plan I have for this verse, they aren't that repulsed by the idea of murdering billions. Naela has long since become just like me, and it seems my suspections that Savir wasn't right in the head even before 'dreams' led him to us are right.
The thing they both said they want is to explore this place, as it's still a completely alien environment, even if they are used to my halls and dimension hopping in the case of Naela.
We neared the exit of the alley, and as the sight unveiled before us, even I, someone used to living in the twenty second century, may have gasped lightly.
We're standing on an unending balcony, stretching alongside walls of steel and dark cement, kilometers below us are hundereds of thousands of gothic-styled buildings, and I assume above us as well, it's just that we cannot see them. Outside the hive city is a wasteland of grey rock and old, weathered mountains which have watched history unfold for millions of years and will for many more. Far away in the distance another hive seems to have been erected - it towers over the horizon and pierces the everpresent clouds of toxic smog with thousands of spires.
It would be entirely silent if not for the distant rumble of metal crashing against metal, echoing all the way to me, probably from some kind of factory.
So that was my first ever planeswalk.
I would rate it five out of five stars if it hadn't been forced upon me, I really appreciate the ability to cross dimensions like that, it's one of the traits of beings of power, I almost giggle just thinking of what's happened, what is to come.
...And a second later my mood plummets, remembering the fucking player.
Ugh, I guess I should move forward, he will die by my hands, I just have to wait a few years.
Or maybe months / hopefully weeks, if the planet killing, teleporting cycle plan works out. Suspecting it will, there certainly should not be a range limit on the teleports I use, unless the world's a simulation and things disappear, unrender when leaving a certain area around me, but that isn't exactly a likely scenario, even considering the existence of the Game.
Let me set up the TP anchor then, no reason not to do it now.
Seconds later, done - a stone's floating in the air covered in a blueish hue.
Now to give it a magical and physical concealment modifiers, and noone should be able to find it.
There is one doubt about the Cycle plan - how will warp travel affect it?
If I travel for half a day in the warp and come out a hundered ninety nine years in the future, do I have a few months till the Battle?
And if I travel for said amount of time?
Game?
[Time travel within a verse does not influence your time until the battle - Imagine flowing in a stream of water, that is the time stream, and then imagine going down said small neverending river on an infinitely large island, one that floats and is carried by a river even larger than itself. That is your situation regarding the fourth dimension, although grossly oversimplified.]
[If you travel for two hundered years in the warp, and come out of it a day after you left, the situation's like this: if you go up the small stream on the island, does it change where you are on the large river? No. It does not matter if you freeze it, go back, go into the future, or do anything else. The time until the Battle will always be two centuries relative to your perception of it.]
That's relieving, but also kinda concerning.
Space travel is quite slow in this verse, I'd have to stick to neighbouring star systems for it to be worth the effort, and if immaterium gets fucky and decides it's time to delay me a decade...
I have to know if my teleports allow me to cross dimensions.
How should I do so?
I have a teleport in my base on the old world, the player's attacking it, but if I try to port there for just the shortest moment, nothing catastrophic should happen. The player's waited for minutes, focusing on his spell, when I was running around the base collecting items, what's another half a second?
But first to check a single thing.
Game?
...
No answer?
Alright.
It's just for a second.
Might not even teleport me there.
Oh, what I do for the success of my plans...
And so the teleport activated, within the moment I was back in the base, a quiet rumble could be heard, getting louder with every passing moment, quite quickly.
Almost instantly returning to the face of the alley, my companions don't notice I was gone.
It does work.
Then, if the warp travel time gets delayed by at least a month, or if daemons overrun the ship, we have an easy way out. Hell, there's even an upside - shooting an exterminatus BB in the ship when I know it's doomed, or if the wait's too long, it's free EXP.
"So we're here." I said, looking out to the horizon.
It's a surprisingly peaceful feeing place; the hum of machines is somehow soothing.
...And I am supposed to be the emissary of nature?
Eh, better be able to appreciate the beauty of all things, humans were created by nature, and nature is beautiful, so why wouldn't they, and their accomplishments be, however destructive, not wondrous as well?
"Let's head right, best not get separated in this place." And wouldn't that be a concern, I don't exactly have the ability to make scanners precise enough to pin down specific humans within such chaotic environments, I'd have to commit to the Cycle plan, and return here after the Burst has been cast. The only ones who would be alive by that time should be Naela and Savir, due to the immunity to my magic being in my party grants, minimizing the threat of their sudden death by laser or sword, then, the only thing to worry about would be the time it'd take to find them. Much better than searching all the while Savir's dead in a dumpster half a world from where I'd be, and Naela's battling a bloodletter horde in the northern mountains.
Kinda specific, but one never knows.
As we're walking I think of the goals I have for my stay in this hive city.
Of course, boarding a ship to leave the planet for the Cycle Plan is something of a priority, but a whole world's worth of EXP is more than enough to have some fun across the hellish factories, golden churches and lavish nobles' houses.
I had no plans in the previous world, everything was new back then. Now I'm no longer a new player (relatively), and some organisation of what to do could possibly bring more than the 'regular amount' of enjoyment out of a world.
-x- Minutes later
Still walking on the balcony, a small roadway between a kilometer deep fall and a kilometer high wall, now I have an idea on what I want to do.
Not in any particular order.
Raid everything, and I mean everything, not just the things that seem valuable, for it's good training for the Inventory ability, as well as it's better to have more than have less if possible, one can't predict when a fallen chunk of futuristic metal or a lit candle may be needed.
It feels good to get more and more stuff in the inventory, okay?
Kill nobles, because it's marginally more exciting than slaughtering regular people, and their homes are probably full of valuables.
Explore, for this is a fictional universe I recognise and remember loving.
Inventory an Ultramarine's armour and weapons, then carve a perpetual Repel Physical rune program in their skin so if they wanted to don another suit, eat, or do anything with any object, they couldn't. It'd all get repelled away. Until they tear off a large part of their own skin with bare hands, anyway.
Why?
I hate the chapter.
Yes, I know it was more than a hundered years ago, but the chapter's been a joke ever since the ye olde fifth edition.
-x-
Suddenly, I came to the realization that I have not asked my companions what they wanted to do here.
As we're still walking on the metal cliffside way, I decided it's a good time to do so.
"Hey, Naela, I have a few plans for what to do in this galaxy, but I haven't asked you yet what it is you desire to do. And Savir, what about you?"
"Well," Naela started, "I'm not really that familiar with this kind of environment, the only place I could compare it to would be the zombie dimension we often visit, though upscaled many times. What I mean is I'll go where you go. ...And if in this chaotic mess of a stone and metal city any books can be found, I'll take them."
"And I will be taking inspiration from this strange place for my future projects." said Savir.
Naela smiled at the mention of his projects. Maybe I should look at some of them one day as well.
-x-
After a few more minutes, we encounter a double door, locked with a heavy metal chain. Seems like the hyperadvanced security archaeotech from the zeroth millenium still holds up fourty thousand years later.
Seeing no reason not to go inside, I make the chain disappear, and with a push the door opens, loudly creaking on rusted hinges.
There's a short hallway at the end of which a stairway leading up could be seen, light is coming from where it's going, on the right there is a single door.
I go for the door, testing if it'd open with a push, and it does.
Not much is visible in this room, the already weak light of a clouded sky illuminates the highway, which in turn fails to reach where I am.
I cast the light spell I learned from the of time awakening my magic.
And...
I don't really know what I expected, there are just some crates here, quite old if the spider webs and layer of dust are of any indication; noone's been here in months, at the least.
I make one crate disappear.
[Wooden Crate] x1 has been added to your inventory.
[Gausteel Nail] x19375 has been added to your inventory.
It's just nails?
Doing it again with another crate, I get almost exactly the same results.
"Why the fuck would anyone need this many nails? Was a wooden hive city scheduled to be built?" I laughed, "Wait, that could be a real possibility, with how idiotic the high nobles can be."
Of course, it's most likely for something much different, but a chance to ridicule the rulers should never be wasted.
I then pocket all the other crates, each and every one filled to the brim with nails.
What will I do with all of them? No idea. Something will come up eventually.
Better to have rather than not, is what one of my mottos is.
From the top of my head, they could be used for torture (sticking hundereds in arms and legs of the tortured), and carving runes on most softer materials (as they are made of a futuristic sci-fi metal alloy, that should mean a lot of materials).
Wait, could I use the material they're made out of for runes?
Searching it in the material library addon, it's confirmed that yes, it is possible.
[Gausteel]
[This steel alloy is one of the numerous alloys to be encountered in the Imperium, it is mainly used for construction of buildings, due to its uncorrosive and sturdy nature; it can pass the tests of time.]
Material subcategory - metal alloy - +98%
Futuristic world - metal is common - -28%
Futuristic world - alloy mass-produced - -128%
Subcategory type - hyper-advanced alloy - +337%
Subcategory type II - sci-fi furnace necessary for re-forming - +1184%
Rune stat increase - [1463%]
That's a neat material, much better than the fake gems I'd been using till now, about two times - the gems were in the range of 700% to 800%, if I remember correctly.
A furnace is necessary to reform it, huh?
Getting one of the nails, I try to bend it in my fingers. I actually have to put the tiniest amount of pressure on it for it to deform.
That was an easy and predictable success. But, how will I carve runes onto them? There really isn't enough space to put them on.
Ah, I know, the nails would have to be melted into something larger. Shame, the furnace is needed after all.
Could I make rune armour out of this? With my runecrafting skills, I can turn a simple rock into something that has the potential to kill everyone on a planet, imagine what kind of protection I could imbue a chestplate with... Many ideas are coming to mind.
But should I make it? My END stat gives me enough physical protection, and programs for any esoteric resistances, immunities, I can always put on jewelry, maybe gaunglets if there isn't enough space for the necessary runes.
For now though, I should find as strong of a material in this verse as possible, as rare as possible, doubting an alloy used for nails is the top of this verse's metal rarity. It is not a question that the runed items must be of top quality, no subpar metals are welcome.
And I know what class I'll be picking next, it'll be from the Production tree - runecrafting and geomancy are more than enough for offensive magic as it is. I need something to better imprint the runes, and I do not doubt that a runed, glowing sword forged by myself would be cool as fuck.
Also, a forging class most likely won't end on the ability to make masterfully crafted armour, weapons or trinkets, maybe there will be mechanics for me to abuse and create exponentially more powerful gear with using both runecrafting and forging?
Could I make my own materials for astronomical bonuses?
[Ruthov]
[A crystal crafted by Suisei Kyoryokou, made to be used as rune material.]
Material subcategory - Arcane Crystal - +984287%
Perfect Work - +4794%
Mana-Infusion - Alephis - +93729487%
Rune stat increase - [94718568%]
Damn, now I wish I had chosen a Production class instead of geomancy, which wasn't even used for what I intended it to do...
Even more reasons to murder the player's soul and body the fuck out of existence.
"Let's go, nothing more is here." I paused in the passageway, "...Up the stairs."
And so we went up the stairs. One would think that many millenia in the future elevators would be more common, but no, stairs it must be.
They went for at least a hundered meters, all barely illuminated by the dim light coming from above and below.
"Why's everything so enormous in this realm? And it all feels truly old..." asked Savir.
"Isn't it typical of the more accomplished kings to build better, larger kingdoms? Said case can be observed here, humanity has accomplished much more within this dimension compared to yours, it had more time to advance." I paused, "But then you might ask, don't some kings hoard their accomplishments to themselves? I answer that yes, they do, and it's exactly what's happened here, why all of this feels, and in fact is ancient by our definition of the word."
"It sounds like you know about this place?" Inquired Naela.
"That is true."
A silence fell upon the three of us, as we were reaching the top of the stairway.
Savir was looking at me expectantly from my side, what was he waiting for?
"Well?" He said.
"Hm?"
"Where do you know this place from?"
I guess I can tell them, at least of this.
"Do you know the theory of the existence of multiverses?"
"...No, not really."
"Well, imagine all the worlds you can, multiply that by infinity, contain it in a box, and then make infinte such boxes - that is a short summary of what a multiverse is. Basically an unimaginably large number of worlds, ranging from a difference in a single grain of sand's placement to being made of entirely different elements. And everything outside that spectrum as well. It so happens that I have read about this place before becoming who I am now."
Naela's eyes widened.
"There was a book about all this? In the world I lived in?"
"Yeah, though it isn't likely you ever stumbled upon it, nor will you. It's quite local I would say. I lost it in the events following my transformation into a dryad."
"...If you ever get your hands on it again, please let me know."
We stop, as there are no more stairs to go. There's a double door before us.
Gesturing for silence, I put my ear to the door, hearing nothing I inventory the inner part of the lock, and open it wide.
On the other side is an alley, a 'normal' one, going for a few dozen meters in up, left and right directions.
Don't know what I was really expecting, but a wholly normal looking alley wasn't it.
The only remarkable thing about it would be that there don't seem to be any places it leads to, being just a kind of boxed off area, with a steel staircase leading to the roofs, as well as a few doors.
Now, should we go to one of the doors or up onto the roof?
Doors.
Sure, parkour sounds fun, but best not draw attention to myself, what fun is it for the cat to have to kill the mouse before said feline got a fair share of enjoyment out of it?
If I get caught, I won't hesitate to escalate, and then the imperials will do so as well; the cycle will repeat itself, until either side falls. I am not going to shoot an exterminatus on a planet when I hadn't placed a teleport on a different world, without anyone to steer a void ship to get me to my next destination it would end my plan before it even began. Also, the existence of the chance of my companions dying is a real issue, until the first BB is fired.
After it's fired the first time, both of them will be hundereds of times stronger than me now, and I will ascend to heights unimaginable.
Can't wait.
Going up to the nearest door, I try to open it, only to find out that it's locked. This isn't much of a barrier for me because of the inventory, and so the steel door disappears into the pocket dimension only I can access.
Inside, there's someone typing on a keyboard, looking at a holographic screen before them. They don't seem to have noticed my very noticable entrance into their apparent place of work.
Coming closer to the person, I notice he's quite old, and that his eyes are fixed in a single point in space, unblinking.
"Hello?" I attempt to get his attention.
No response.
Poking at him, he ignores me.
Finally, I catch a glint of metal - half his neck is covered in wires and metal joints.
After that, what I see is that his fingertips aren't skin either.
"Is this a ...servitor?" I ask noone in particular.
"Yes," An unknown voice comes from an end of the room.
Turning my head to face who's talking, I see a man dressed in what I'd guess to be the local military uniform, holding and pointing the 'deadly' end of a laspistol at me.
"You are not authorised to be here, the three of you have five seconds to line up by that wall before I shoot."
I smiled as I saw the weapon as well as the one wielding it clearly focused on me, he probably noticed my rather unusual eye colour, and unknown means dangerous, especially in this galaxy. Both my companions have the 'regular medieval citizen' look down quite nicely, so they aren't given as much attention.
I smiled more, as none of us are making a movement to fulfill the arbites' order, he seems to grow confused, maybe frustrated or even scared of our lack of acknowledging his word.
Then, a flash of light can be seen and my face feels slightly warmer. So he's not scared after all, I guess comparing the behaviour of militia from 40k to the one's in the fantasy world shouldn't really be done, that's a completely different psyche seen here.
A second later the crack of lightning can be heard, and his head is no more, having exploded in a shower of blood, flesh and bone. The body hit the floor.
"Getting some practice in, huh?" I asked Naela.
"His way of being rubbed me the wrong way."
"That's because he shot me, right?" She nodded. "...you didn't have to, I can take care of myself just fine. Besides, there's gonna be a lot of fighting during our stay in this dimension, you gotta get used to people wanting me dead."
She was still looking at me, as if she wanted to say something more.
"Look, if that brings you peace of mind, when we leave this planet all of its mortal inhabitants will die painfully." I said, patting her on the shoulder.
That seemed to brighten her mood up a bit. I wonder how much of her transition to 'evil' was of a regular change of thinking, and how much it was Game's effects.
"Planet? Aren't we supposed to be jumping dimensions?"
"A world isn't always a single land. Sometimes it's millions of lands, all within a single dimension. Also, why'd you assume I can activate a program in wholly different planes of reality?" An interesting topic, I can teleport from verse to verse using a stasis teleport bolt, but then time is frozen without me there, is there a way for me to access frozen dimensions? If so, that would be...
[There is not, as you are now.]
Game?
There is no way, you say?
Won't stop me from trying. Sometime in the future.
For now let's go where the militiaman came from, there's gotta be something more interesting than lifeless paths across the steel jungle we've encountered till now.
And so we did.
There, behind a corner, is what appears to be an open door to a spacious elevator, there's a small statue of a two headed eagle before the entrance.
We came in, Naela looked around.
"There's nothing in this room." She said.
"Ah, this isn't a room, it's an elevator."
She looked at me blankly.
"It's a room that moves up and down in a building to take you between floors faster than stairs."
"So it is a room after all."
"Uh, yeah I guess.."
There's a hologram on a wall with fifty buttons, all numered. I would assume putting down a holo may be easier than manually installing some buttons in this place. Though, it seems strange that millenia into the future the same numerical system is still used. Or maybe it's just Game translating it for me.
I selected level fifty, and the doors closed.
Savir widened his eyes as he glanced at the closed doors, but a look from me calmed him down.
A minute later the elevator stops moving, and the doors reopen to reveal a... street? There are a few people walking, all hunched down, avoiding eye contact, wearing visibly old clothing, all around are gothic buildings tens of stories tall, a similar sight to my home city, if one was to remove most of the glass, as well as add a lot of ornate details, towers, and spikes to everything.
40k really is a satire of Doomed Earth.
But now that satire's reality, does that mean it no longer is?
What would a satire of Warhammer look like?
Maybe I will live to find out.
Even cause it.
Hm.
[A/N]:
Sorry for the delay, again. Studying's been tough, but do not worry for I always remember this work of mine, and no matter the delay, the next chapter will always come, until the fic is finished. Then, and only then, will I either start a new fic or begin writing original fiction.
Lit by the Sun is of my world, all my thoughts given shape, and I am gonna be shamelessly using this fic to flesh it out. Don't worry though, it's quite interesting. Not everywhere do magical medieval ships fly across a solar system with ~4000 planets, 502 million years into the future. I will be describing some things when Sui's group gets there, as it is practically impossible at this point in time for almost all of humanity except a few friends and family of mine to know what I am on about.
I hope my portrayal of a hive city's confusing exterior and interior is on point.