>>5835302“How about you tell us a bit about these crystals, for starters?” you ask as you hold the one you showed him earlier up. “We’ve been able to guess they’re used to regulate the kind of Magic certain constructs work with, and I have something similar I’ve found before, though not quite using this same concept. What are those made of, by the way?”
‘Nemuria at its zenith was able to develop a variety of crystals specifically attuned to different Magics, grown using a base set to better attune them. My Golems were meant to function as protectors, crafted with an artisan's touch, beautiful and powerful. They would keep… my people safe, and protected from the monsters and demons and other Outsiders that would threaten them. Their Orichalcum construction provided them great protection against most threats of our day.’
“Interesting! Especially with how you were able to get them to work with organic constructs.” you say with faux praise. ‘Hey, Basilea, Piccolo, you guys going okay down there?’
‘We may have located one of our main goals.’ Basilea replies. ‘I think you and the twins will need to see this, though.’
Aha, positive news, it sounds like. ‘We’ll be there shortly.’
‘The organic constructs were more a result of intense study, seeking to augment our people’s Magical abilities further. We dare not risk the lives of our people, but some still were willing to… volunteer in some ways.’ He pauses for a moment. ‘Perhaps the ultimate fruit of our labor came true, given your ability to claim Outsiders, demons like those two, as part of your retinue.’
A curious statement, but not one you’re going to entertain JUST yet. “So were some of those experiments carried out on this vessel? I assumed they were related given the lab we found you in.”
‘Yes, yes, that’s exactly it.’ he answers quickly, several of the eyes closing for a moment before only a couple of them reopen.
“It was surprising to find this on the ocean floor, though. Didn’t look like some kind of submarine vessel, so I’d been trying to piece together how exactly it crashed down here.” you begin, looking forward. There are a few aquatic monsters that cross your path, but the Majin girls scare them off. “Leading theories I’ve had involved either some attack that sent it crashing, or some kind of power failure. Impact caused it to snap in two against that… palace structure, which I’m surprised is still mostly undamaged.”
There’s a momentary pause, before he remarks, ‘Reasonable guesses. But had you considered some form of sabotage to be at play as well?’
(cont.)
