The elevator shaft was a throat of rusted steel plunging into the planet's core.
Kai stood at the edge, peering down. There was no cab, no cables—just a dark, vertical tunnel that smelled of sulfur and ancient, stagnant coolant. The air rising from the depths was hot, humid, and thick with the static charge of unshielded reactors.
"Are we... jumping?" Rin asked, her voice small. She stood behind him, clutching the strap of the rucksack filled with their meager supplies: nutrient paste, water, and the few remaining raw materials Kai hadn't used.
"No," Kai said. "We're climbing."
He looked at his hand. The red circuit lines under his skin pulsed softly, a visual indicator of his idle Qi levels.
[ QI RESERVES: 480/500 ][ STATUS: OPTIMAL ]
He reached out to the smooth metal wall of the shaft.
"Script," Kai whispered.
He didn't need to shout anymore. His will was a compiler.
Create Object: Handhold. Material: Steel. Anchor: Wall.
Blue light flashed. A sturdy metal rung extruded from the wall, fused perfectly to the plating.
Kai grabbed it. Solid.
"Hold on to me," Kai ordered.
Rin climbed onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and her good arm around his neck. She was light, too light for her age, but the weight still shifted his center of gravity.
Kai began to descend.
Right hand. Script. Left hand. Script.
Rung by rung, he forged a ladder down into the abyss. It was a rhythmic expenditure of energy—5 Qi per rung.
< EFFICIENT. > Cipher commented. < BUT SLOW. AT THIS RATE, YOU WILL BURN 10% OF YOUR RESERVES BEFORE WE HIT THE SUB-LEVEL. >
"It's safer than jumping," Kai thought. "And I can decompile them later if we need the metal."
They descended past the Sump's foundation. The metal walls changed. They became thicker, older. The corporate logos stamped on the plates changed from the sleek, minimalist designs of the Trinity Corporations to blocky, faded text in languages Kai didn't recognize.
< PRE-WAR ENGINEERING. > Cipher noted, a hint of reverence in the digitized voice. < THIS SECTION WAS BUILT BEFORE THE SECTS. BEFORE THE ADMINISTRATOR WENT GOD-MODE. >
The temperature rose. Kai could feel sweat trickling down his back. The Entropy Sutra worked overtime to regulate his body heat, converting the thermal energy into a trickle of Qi replenishment, but it wasn't enough to offset the drain of the scripting.
[ DEPTH: -200 METERS (RELATIVE TO SUMP) ][ EXTERNAL TEMP: 55°C ][ WARNING: BIO-MECHANICAL INFESTATION DETECTED ]
Kai stopped. "Infestation?"
He looked down. The darkness below wasn't empty.
Faint, green bioluminescence pulsed on the walls. It wasn't moss. It was circuitry. Or rather, something that grew like circuitry but moved like vines.
"Rin," Kai whispered. "Don't touch the walls."
He activated Packet Sniffer.
The world turned gray-scale. And the walls lit up.
The "vines" were alive. They were thick bundles of fiber-optic cables that had grown organic sheathes. They pulsed with a slow, rhythmic heartbeat of data.
[ OBJECT: DAEMON-ROOT ][ TYPE: PARASITIC INFRASTRUCTURE ][ HAZARD: ENERGY DRAIN / DATA CORRUPTION ]
"The machine is growing," Kai realized with a shudder. "It's wild down here."
< THE SECTS IGNORE THE ROOTS. THEY BUILD ON TOP. BUT DOWN HERE... THE CODE HAS MUTATED. EVOLVED. KEEP MOVING, HOST. DON'T LET THEM LATCH ON. >
Kai sped up his descent. He scripted faster, his hands blurring as he created rungs.
Something skittered in the darkness below. A sound like claws on metal.
Click-click-hiss.
Kai paused, hanging by one arm. He looked down.
Ten meters below, a shape detached itself from the wall. It looked like a large crab, but its shell was made of server casings and its legs were sharpened hydraulic pistons. It had no eyes, only a cluster of optical sensors glowing pale green.
And it was eating the Daemon-Roots, tearing at the cables with metallic mandibles.
[ ENEMY: BIT-EATER (SCAVENGER CLASS) ][ THREAT: MEDIUM ][ BEHAVIOR: TERRITORIAL ]
The crab stopped eating. Its sensor cluster swiveled up. It saw Kai.
It let out a screech—a burst of modem static—and began to climb the wall toward them with terrifying speed.
"Hold tight!" Kai yelled.
He didn't create a rung. He released his grip.
They fell.
Rin screamed, the sound tearing from her throat.
Kai watched the crab rushing up to meet them. He waited until they were two meters apart.
He drew the Arc-Blade in mid-air.
SNAP-HISS.
The blue plasma lit up the shaft.
Kai swung. He didn't aim for the shell. He aimed for the legs gripping the wall.
The blade sliced through three of the crab's legs on one side.
The machine shrieked, losing its purchase. It tumbled away from the wall, flailing.
Kai fell past it.
He reached out with his free hand toward the wall.
"Script: Brake!"
He didn't create a rung. He created a slide. A long, angled metal ramp protruding from the wall.
His boots hit the ramp. Friction screamed. Sparks flew as he slid, slowing their descent from fatal to merely painful.
He hit the end of the ramp and vaulted off, landing in a crouch on a solid metal floor.
THUD.
Rin gasped, the wind knocked out of her, but she was safe.
A second later, the Bit-Eater crashed onto the floor five meters away with a deafening crunch. It lay on its back, legs twitching, fluids leaking.
Kai stood up, the Arc-Blade humming. He walked over to the crippled machine.
[ ENEMY STATUS: CRITICAL ][ FINISH IT? (Y/N) ]
He drove the plasma blade into the creature's central processor. The twitching stopped.
[ TARGET NEUTRALIZED ][ QI RESERVES: 380/500 ][ (ABSORPTION FROM THERMAL AMBIENT ACTIVE) ]
"We're here," Kai said, looking around.
They were in a massive, circular tunnel. It looked like a subway tunnel for giants. The walls were lined with thick pipes and the glowing green Daemon-Roots. The heat was intense, rolling in waves from down the tunnel.
And at the end of the tunnel, a massive, blast-shielded gate stood closed.
The Geothermal Tap.
"It's huge," Rin whispered, sliding off his back. She wiped sweat from her eyes. "It's like a city gate."
"It's a factory," Kai corrected. "A Fabricator."
He walked toward the gate. The Entropy Sutra analyzed the structure.
[ TARGET: GEOTHERMAL TAP 01 - ACCESS GATE ][ SECURITY: AIR-GAPPED / MAG-LOCKED ][ POWER REQUIREMENT: 50,000 KYL ]
"It needs power to open," Kai said. "More power than I have."
< LOOK AT THE CONDUITS. > Cipher directed.
Kai looked at the thick cables running into the gate mechanism. They were severed, eaten away by the Daemon-Roots.
"The roots cut the power," Kai realized. "I need to bridge the connection."
He looked around. There were no spare cables. Just the dead crab and the rusted walls.
"I need copper," Kai said. "And I need a lot of it."
He looked at the Bit-Eater.
[ OBJECT: BIT-EATER CARCASS ][ COMPOSITION: SCRAP STEEL / COPPER WIRING / HYDRAULIC FLUID ]
"Decompile," Kai ordered.
He placed his hand on the dead machine. He didn't just break it down; he harvested it.
The crab dissolved. The copper wires inside fused together, forming a thick, heavy coil floating in the air.
"Rin," Kai said. "I need you to guide the wire. I'm going to splice the main line."
Rin nodded, grabbing the end of the floating copper coil. Her hands were small, but steady.
Kai walked to the severed conduit on the wall. The Daemon-Roots hissed as he approached, sensing his Qi.
"Back off," Kai growled. He flared his aura—a burst of raw, static data.
The roots recoiled, shrinking back into the shadows.
Kai grabbed the severed ends of the massive power cable. They were thick as his thigh.
"Connect it," Kai told Rin.
She jammed the copper coil into the gap.
"Cipher. Override the safety. Reroute power from the thermal exchange."
< WARNING: VOLTAGE WILL BE LETHAL. DO NOT TOUCH THE CONDUCTOR. >
"I'm not touching it," Kai said. "I'm scripting it."
He raised his hand.
Create Object: Insulator. Material: Ceramic.
A layer of white ceramic materialized over the splice, sealing the copper.
"Now," Kai said. "Let it flow."
Deep in the walls, something clicked.
HMMMMMMMM.
A low, vibrating hum filled the tunnel. The lights on the massive gate flickered, then blazed to life—not green, but a harsh, industrial yellow.
The ground shook.
[ POWER RESTORED ][ GATE CYCLING... ]
The massive doors groaned. Dust fell from the ceiling. Slowly, agonizingly, they began to part.
A blast of heat hit them. It was like opening an oven door.
Kai shielded his eyes. Inside, beyond the gate, was a cavern of fire and steel.
Massive pistons pumped rhythmically, driven by the geothermal heat of the planet core deep below. conveyor belts moved raw ore into smelting pots. Robotic arms, ancient but functional, hung from the ceiling, waiting for commands.
And in the center of it all, suspended over a pit of magma, was a central console.
The Fabricator Core.
"We made it," Rin breathed.
Kai stepped inside. The heat didn't bother him; it fueled him. His Qi reserves began to tick upward rapidly.
[ ENVIRONMENT: HIGH THERMAL DENSITY ][ RECHARGE RATE: +10 QI/SECOND ]
"This is it," Kai said. "Infinite energy. Infinite materials."
He walked toward the central console.
But as he approached, the Packet Sniffer pinged.
[ WARNING: LIFEFORM DETECTED ][ SIGNATURE: HUMAN ][ LOCATION: CENTRAL PLATFORM ]
Kai stopped. He raised the Arc-Blade.
Someone was already there.
Sitting on the edge of the central platform, legs dangling over the magma, was a man.
He wore tattered robes that looked like they had once been white. His skin was gray, cracked like dry mud. He was bald, his head covered in data-ports that sparked intermittently.
He didn't look at Kai. He was staring into the fire.
"You're late," the man said. His voice was dry, like grinding stones.
Kai tensed. "Who are you?"
The man turned slowly. His eyes were gone, replaced by glowing red optical implants. But the implants were cracked, leaking light.
[ TARGET: THE KEEPER (CORRUPTED) ][ CULTIVATION: LOGIC GATE (LATE STAGE) ][ STATUS: UNSTABLE / INSANE ]
"I am the janitor," the man rasped. He stood up, unfolding to a height of nearly two meters. "I keep the fire burning. For the Master."
"What Master?" Kai asked.
The man pointed a shaking finger upward. Not at the ceiling. At the sky.
"The one who fell," the Keeper said. "He sleeps in the code. But he is waking up."
The Keeper reached behind him and pulled a massive wrench from his belt. It was glowing red hot.
"And he doesn't like guests."
< KAI. > Cipher's voice was urgent. < THAT'S NOT A WRENCH. THAT'S A CONTROL ROD. IF HE HITS THE CORE WITH THAT, HE COULD CAUSE A MELTDOWN. HE'LL BLOW THE WHOLE SECTOR. >
"Rin, get back!" Kai yelled.
The Keeper roared and charged. He moved with the jerky, unnatural speed of a glitching video file.
Kai braced himself.
He was a Logic Gate cultivator now. He didn't just have a sword. He had the code.
[ COMBAT PROTOCOL: ENGAGED ][ QI: 420/500 ][ SCRIPTING: READY ]
Kai raised his free hand.
Script: Wall.
A barrier of transparent force materialized in front of him.
The Keeper swung the wrench.
CLANG.
The barrier shattered like glass, but it stopped the momentum.
Kai lunged through the shards, the Arc-Blade slashing.
The battle for the Forge had begun.