The Void-Train was a beast of a machine.
Elian stood inside the conductor's cab, his Blueprint Sight dissecting the engine. It wasn't a combustion engine. It was a Mana-Drive, a complex system of crystals and pistons designed to convert raw magic into kinetic force.
"It's dead," Elian announced, hopping down to the platform. "The Core Chamber is cracked, and the mana-injectors are clogged with sediment."
"Can you fix it?" Kara asked, running her hand along the spiked cowcatcher. "Imagine the places we could go. We wouldn't need gate passes. We could smuggle... I mean, transport... anything."
"I can fix the structure," Elian said, wiping grease from his hands. "But I can't fuel it. This thing needs High-Grade condensed mana. The stuff we use for the furnace is too crude; it would blow the pistons."
Silas poked his head out from behind a crate of rusted spare parts. "High-Grade mana? Like the stuff the Guilds use for their Airships? That costs 50,000 credits a canister!"
"Exactly," Elian nodded. "Which means we need to find a source down here, or steal it."
Goran kicked a loose piece of metal. "Great. So it's a giant, heavy paperweight."
"For now," Elian said. "But it's our paperweight. And it's excellent cover."
He walked over to the edge of the station platform. The Deep Roads tunnel continued into the darkness, wide and silent.
But Elian's passive perception—boosted by his high Intelligence stat—caught a sound.
Click. Whir. Click.
It wasn't a biological sound. It was the sound of servos and gears.
"Lights out!" Elian hissed.
"Again?" Silas groaned.
"Do it!"
They switched off their flashlights. The station plunged into darkness, illuminated only by the faint, bioluminescent moss on the ceiling.
They waited.
From the darkness of the tunnel, red eyes appeared. Not the organic red eyes of the rats, but the cold, unblinking red of optical sensors.
Three shapes emerged from the shadows. They were quadrupedal, sleek, and made of black metal. They looked like wolves, but where there should have been fur, there was armor plating. Where there should have been a mouth, there was a chainsaw mandible.
[Enemy: V-9 Prototype "Hunter-Killer"]
[Type: Mecha-Beast]
[Armor: Reinforced Steel]
[Weakness: Joints / Heat]
"Robots?" Kara whispered, terrified. "Since when are there robots in the dungeons?"
"Since Vane started building them," Elian murmured. "These are the patrols I saw tracks for."
The lead machine stopped. Its head swiveled, scanning the station. A beam of red light swept over the train, then over the crate Silas was hiding behind.
Beep.
[Target Acquired.]
The machine let out a synthesized howl—a screech of static that made their teeth ache. The three mechs charged.
"Goran! Front!" Elian shouted. "Test the new axe!"
"With pleasure!" Goran roared.
He stepped out from behind the train, activating [Iron Skin]. His skin turned a metallic grey. He raised the Corroded Greataxe.
The lead Mech-Wolf leaped, its chainsaw jaw revving.
Goran didn't block. He swung.
CLANG-HISSS.
The axe bit into the wolf's shoulder plating. Normally, steel would bounce off steel. But the acid-infused blade didn't bounce. It bit.
The green resin hissed as it contacted the armor. The metal sizzled and softened instantly. The axe shore through the plating, cutting deep into the hydraulics underneath.
The mech sparked and crashed to the ground, spinning in circles as its front leg failed.
"Ha!" Goran laughed, wrenching the axe free. "It cuts like butter!"
The other two mechs adjusted instantly. They didn't leap. They split up, flanking Goran.
"Kara! Left flank!"
Kara darted out of the shadows. She couldn't trade blows with a metal wolf. She was a rogue.
She slid under the second wolf's pounce. As she passed underneath, she drove her Resin-Etched Daggers into the unarmored groin joint of the machine.
The acid ate into the wiring. The paralysis poison didn't work on a machine, but the corrosion did.
The wolf landed, tried to turn, and collapsed as its rear hip joint disintegrated.
"Silas! Ammo!" Elian yelled.
"I'm a Quartermaster, not a soldier!" Silas shrieked, but he threw a heavy object—a spare piston from the crate he was hiding in.
Elian caught it mid-air.
The third wolf ignored the others. It had identified the threat. It charged Elian.
Elian stood his ground. He held the heavy iron piston in one hand.
[Class Skill: Edit Mode]
[Target: Station Floor]
As the wolf lunged, Elian didn't build a wall. He built a ramp.
He raised a sharp, angled slab of stone directly in the wolf's path.
The machine, moving at forty miles per hour, hit the ramp. It launched into the air, sailing over Elian's head.
"Pull!" Elian shouted.
He threw the piston. But he didn't just throw it. He used [Material Synthesis] on the fly.
[Piston + Flash-Frag]
The piston hit the airborne wolf in the underbelly.
BOOM.
The explosion blew the machine apart from the inside out. Shrapnel and oil rained down on the platform.
Elian dusted off his jacket.
"Scrap metal," he declared.
The fight was over in thirty seconds.
Goran stood over the twitching remains of the first wolf. "These things are tough. If I didn't have the acid axe, I would have broken my arms hitting them."
"They're Vane's private army," Elian said, walking over to examine the wreckage. "He's bypassing the System. Monsters give XP. These things just give tetanus."
He knelt beside the destroyed head of the third wolf. He pried open the cranial casing with his pry-bar.
Inside, amidst the sparking wires, was a glowing red chip.
[Item: Logic Core (Encrypted)]
[Origin: Fenrir Guild Labs]
"He's controlling them remotely," Elian realized. He crushed the chip in his hand. "He knows we're here. The signal cut out when they died."
"So they're coming back?" Kara asked, reloading her daggers.
"Not immediately," Elian stood up. "Vane is cautious. He just lost three expensive prototypes to a 'derelict' station. He'll assume it's high-level monsters. He won't send a human team until he's sure."
Elian looked at the piles of dead machinery.
"Silas," Elian pointed. "Harvest them."
"Harvest robots?" Silas blinked. "For what? Toaster parts?"
"Look at the plating," Elian tapped the black metal. "It's Star-Steel alloy. Lightweight. Magic-resistant. And the eyes? High-grade optical lenses."
He turned to the train.
"We can't fix the engine yet. But we can upgrade the armor. If we're going to turn this train into a mobile base, I want it to be bulletproof."
While Silas and Goran stripped the robots for parts, Elian and Kara explored the station office—a small, glass-walled booth overlooking the tracks.
It was preserved in time. A coffee mug sat on the desk, the liquid inside evaporated into a brown stain. A skeletal corpse in a conductor's uniform sat in the chair.
"Poor guy," Kara whispered. "He waited for a train that never left."
Elian checked the console. It was dead. No power.
"Ghost," Elian thought. "Is there a terminal link?"
Under the desk. The emergency hardline.
Elian ducked down. He found a thick cable. He stripped the end, revealing the copper wires. He placed his hand on them.
[Class Skill: Edit Mode (Interface)]
[Mana Cost: 50]
He pushed his mana into the dead computer, acting as a living battery. The screen flickered to green life.
[Station 404 Log]
[Last Entry: 10 Years Ago]
Elian scrolled to the bottom.
> "They cut the power. The Guilds... they aren't trying to save New York. They're trying to contain the loot. The bombs on this train aren't for the monsters. They're for the Gate itself. They want to seal it permanently so no one else can enter."
Elian froze.
The official history was that the Guilds tried to save the city but failed.
This log said they tried to destroy the Gate to maintain a monopoly on high-level dungeons.
"They sacrificed the city," Kara read over his shoulder, her voice shaking. "Millions of people... just to keep the loot for themselves?"
"Control," Elian corrected. "If the Third Gate opened, it would have introduced free mana to the populace. Everyone would have Awakened. The Guilds would have lost their power."
He downloaded the log to his system memory. This was leverage. If this got out, the Big Three would face a revolution.
"We can't leak this yet," Elian said, pulling his hand away. The screen died. "If we do, they'll nuke Sector 4 to silence us."
"So what do we do?" Kara asked, looking at him with wide, angry eyes.
Elian looked out the window at the Void-Train.
"We finish the mission," Elian said. "The conductor died trying to get those bombs to the Gate. We're going to deliver them."
"To New York?"
"No," Elian smiled coldly. "To the Guilds."
The Return
They hauled the scrap metal back up the stairs. It was heavy work.
When they emerged into the basement of the Foundry, the air felt warmer. The furnace was humming steadily.
"Home sweet home," Goran groaned, dropping a pile of robot legs on the floor.
Elian secured the Blast Door to the Deep Roads. He set up a new trap: A Gravity Mine he had improvised using the Train's braking system components. If anyone opened that door without the key, they would be crushed by 50Gs of force.
They walked up to the main floor.
"Boss!" Silas called out, pointing to the main factory doors.
Someone was knocking.
Not a polite knock. A heavy, metallic pounding.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
Elian signaled for quiet. He approached the door, checking the external camera feed he had rigged up.
Standing outside the gate was a single figure.
He wore a pristine white suit, entirely out of place in the slums. He held a briefcase. Flanking him were two Iron Golems—Level 20 constructs.
[Subject: Mr. Kross]
[Affiliation: The Merchant's Union]
[Role: Debt Collector / Negotiator]
"Elian Vance!" the man shouted, his voice amplified. "I represent the Union. We have a lien on this property dating back twenty years. Open the gate, or we will seize the assets."
Elian looked at Goran.
"Did you pay the electric bill?"
"We don't have an electric bill," Goran whispered. "We steal power from the earth."
"Right."
Elian opened the small wicket gate. He stepped out, railgun-pipe in hand.
"This property is paid for," Elian said. "I have the deed."
"The deed is for the surface rights," Mr. Kross smiled, adjusting his glasses. "The Union owns the mineral rights. Specifically, the Mana Leyline you are currently tapping illegally."
He tapped his briefcase.
"You owe us back-taxes on the mana usage. Total sum: 2,000,000 credits. Payable immediately."
Elian narrowed his eyes.
This wasn't the Union. The Union didn't care about a derelict foundry.
This was Sterling. The Guild Master of Azure Abyss. He was using the legal system to crush Vanguard economically, just as he threatened.
"I don't have two million," Elian said.
"Then we take the factory," Kross signaled the Golems. They took a heavy step forward.
Elian looked at the Golems.
They were made of iron.
Elian was a Dungeon Architect. He could edit iron.
But they were Level 20. If he fought them, he revealed his hand. If he lost the factory, he lost everything.
"Silas!" Elian yelled over his shoulder. "Bring the bag!"
Silas ran out, holding the sack of Mana-Rat Cores.
"It's not money," Elian told Kross. "But it's collateral. 200 refined cores. Estimated value: 50,000 credits."
Kross laughed. "That covers the interest for this week. What about the rest?"
Elian stepped closer to the barrier.
"I propose a trade," Elian said. "I don't pay you in credits. I pay you in Services."
"What services could a squatter offer the Union?"
"I fixed the Leyline," Elian said. "I can fix your other properties. The Union has dozens of 'cursed' buildings in Sector 4 that generate zero revenue. I'll clear them. I'll renovate them. You get rent. I get to keep my factory."
Kross paused. The Union was bleeding money on Sector 4 real estate because no one could clear the ghosts. A Dungeon Architect offering free renovations? That was worth millions.
Kross tapped his earpiece, likely consulting his superiors (or Sterling).
He nodded.
"You have one week," Kross said. "Clear the Tenement of Whispers on 4th Street. If you succeed, we defer the debt for a month. If you fail... the Golems take your head."
Kross turned and walked away.
Elian let out a breath.
"One week," Elian muttered. "To clear a Haunted House Level 15 dungeon."
Goran stepped up beside him. "We're going to need more bleach."
"No," Elian said, looking at his acid-dripping axe. "We're going to need more firepower.