It had been a hectic week since the castle collapsed. Jack found himself swamped just figuring out everything. It was only today that he had finally managed to set up a meeting with the base mind group that Falaen had met. While Falaen had mentioned them a few days ago, he had taken the time to carefully consider what to do with them. He didn't particularly want them as Users, but didn't want to leave them on their own after all the havoc they had wrought.

Setting that aside for when he confronted the group Jack thought back to the week. It was a day after the events when Alacanar finally woke up. By that point Eramis had contacted the court and had issued a temporary suspension while being investigated. Thus, he was to be held at his home while the court looked at what happened. As part of that suspension, Alacanar was forced to cede control of Keston to Eramis for the time being.

In part of a deal between him and Eramis, he agreed to give Jack the modipod that was needed for Mianda. As might be expected, Alacanar was not at all pleased to have to do so, but nevertheless Jack was able to present it to Carol a few hours later. Jack had to go through it to make sure it hadn't been messed with, but everything checked out. Jack even managed to get an apology and a thanks from Alacanar before he went away.

Thoughts of Carol brought up memories of when he saw her last in person. She expressed her gratitude for Jack supporting her and said her goodbyes setting off on a carriage towards one of the coastal cities. Due to the circumstances of the Empire technically still wanting Mianda, Lord Adam was unable to say goodbye to his daughter. However, he did sneakily give Mianda several going away presents along with a promise that he would never forget about her.

Carol was planning when she reached the coast she would hire a ship to take her across the ocean to the Beastman continent. The reason being was the Beastman continent was where the Empire had no power or embassy's on. Plus Mianda expressed an ardent desire to meet more beast men. Carol would not return to here until the problems with the empire had been resolved and it was safe for Mianda to return. She also expressed hope that Telvin would be able to break his curse and help Mianda with hers.

With the modipod Mianda did not need to fear the curse breaking out this year. However, her curse was still stronger and soon the seal would no longer have the strength to stop it. Thus, she depended on Telvin to find the goddess behind the curse. Telvin had gotten a hint from the journal of his fathers. One of his colleagues apparently is now living inside the Elf Kingdom. Thus Telvin and Riley decided to return to the Elf Village so that he could meet up with his mother and head out to the Elf Kingdom.

Due to the potential threat of the assassins, Jack was reluctant to let Telvin head out on his own but eventually agreed to send the couple to the Elf Village with the condition they keep him apprised of any dangers. Despite Telvins fears of flying, he had even managed to stay conscious the entire flight there. The last time Jack checked in on them he saw they were nearly prepared to begin the long journey to the Elf Kingdom. 

When the guards were cleaning up the castle, they managed to find the King's body. Since the royalty was completely dead in the city, Lord Adam had assumed temporary control of the government with Eramis' blessing. He would occupy this position until the First Queen returned from her exile. Till then he was dealing with the aftermath of the collapse. 

Eramis was providing support from her temple, but she was swarmed with dealing with the court. He had only seen her once during the week. Eramis had stopped by letting him know she had managed to track down the corrupted beast that had escaped the seal. While she had been extremely hard-pressed to go out and hunt it down herself, she did at least send three gods to go kill it. In addition she had let Jack know she had ordered Lord Adam to begin to scour the city for any of those Albino Elfs to see if they could capture them for interrogation.

In that search Nyx had her agents aid the guards in the search. They had managed to find a hideout used by the followers of the Whisperer, but it was abandoned. In the hideout they did find some evidence for where Lord Raeta had obtained the ore from. To follow up on this, Nyx had sent her agents south to the southern mountains. In addition to helping out in the search Nyx had worked out a deal with Jack. She would have her agents help train Brandy and the other escorts at the brothel.

While he was getting help from these goddesses, Jack also had to deal with the dark moon goddess. Melinoe was still holed up in Jack's space refusing to step out. He felt sorry for the goddess and did not force her out. Kara was keeping an eye on her, but she had gone silent about what had happened. All that Jack could get from her was her fear of being killed the second she stepped out of his space.

With some prodding he was able to get her to agree to become his User, so he could at least trust her while she stayed in his space. At the very least she was making herself useful by repairing the damage that took place in the battle. Plus he worked with her to set in place rituals to help make his space more secure from unwelcome visitors. During this collaboration she did provide a clue to Jack about the god that had wanted her to make the ritual used in Naraak.

She mentioned she had seen a tattoo on the back of this god. It was of a circle within a triangle, but Melinoe would not go into any more detail on the tattoo. She said it was far too perilous for her to speak about that god while he was still active. Jack and Eramis both promised to safeguard her, but she would not budge on the matter. Thus, Eramis could only work on a way to find the god with that tattoo. 

Jack met with Kelsey one night to see how she was doing. She had taken a look at the seals breaking and with his new information about the Whisperer. With that information she was able to adjust her data and said it appears that two parties were working on breaking the seals. One was most likely the Whisperer and the other was working on breaking a hole into oblivion.

Looking it over he decided when he was finished with this city he would be heading to the Well of purification. He made the decision as preventing them from piercing a hole into oblivion was pretty important. To help him accomplish this, he enlisted the help of Riley's sister Natasha. They had brought her to the healers, but they were unable to regenerate her arm. Jack's sole healer was also not a high enough level to create an arm.

Due to her actions that day, Natasha was released from the guards. The Guard leader in fact wanted to apprehend Natasha on suspicion of treason, but Duke Adam was able to prevent that. When she was at a loss, Riley convinced Natasha to become Jack's User and seek a new path through him. Natasha eventually agreed on the condition that Jack would have to develop a class to her specifications. They haggled over the class for a few hours before settling on the Investigator class for her.

After he had made the class for Natasha, Jack reviewed the benefits he had for his Users. As he gained a significant boost to his power after signing with Eramis, he felt he had enough to implement some new features for his Users. Seeing as he was getting new Users that would not be getting near combat, it was time for him to allow them to gain experience from activities that are tied with their class.

With those now active classes like the Blacksmith could now gain experience by making new weapons, and an Investigator could gain experience investigating things. It also helped out the Escort class. After he had implemented that new feature, they began to level up while they worked. 

Of course this came with several downsides. Depending on the action undertook by the User, it will not provide much experience or even grant less experience every time they undertake that action. For example the Investigator can gain experience solving a mystery, but only when they completely solve the mystery. If they ever do not completely solve the mystery, they will not gain experience. This includes if someone else solves the mystery before them.

When she was satisfied with the Class Natasha became Jack's first Investigator. To help her out Falaen worked with JP to build a suitable replacement for her arm. While not as good as her original arm, it did provide some senses to Natasha. She could now feel hot and cold through the artificial arm. They were still working on upgrading the arm but for now it was very basic. 

When he thought about Natasha, he brought up her status to see how she was doing.

Natasha would travel with Jack to the well of purification where she would put her new skills to use and see if she could help track down whoever was making that hole to oblivion. He would take this time to meet up with Megan who had stopped near the Hole to oblivion on his request. When he had finished with Natasha, Falaen had arranged to meet him in order to discuss something important.

During the week the reporter had contacted Falean letting her know that she was alright. The clones wanted to meet with her and they requested Falaen to set up a meeting with Jack. Which brought him to this moment where he was in a carriage rolling down a side street to meet up with them. From the information he had gotten from Falaen, apparently once they found out that Jack had driven away Caina, they moved back into the city with the help of Juliet. Juliet had let them use an old warehouse of her mothers. Which is the one the carriage pulled up too while Jack was deep in thought.

Stepping out, he saw that the warehouse was well taken care of. It looked to have been painted fairly recently. Turning around, he assisted Veronica and Falaen to get down from the carriage. When he helped Veronica down, she leaned in and gave him an intimate hug and a peck on the lips. Ever since the incident Veronica had been a little more forward towards Jack. Falaen went up to the door and knocked several times. A few moments later a woman wearing a pair of work clothes stained purple answered the door. "Falaen, great to see you again. Ah hello, you must be the sleeping one?" She asked when she saw Jack.

"I would not call myself that, but I assume that you mean me. My name is Jack. I heard that you wished to speak with me?" Jack addressed this woman. Her face was identical to that of Juliets but apart from that she was completely different. Her hair had been dyed to a neon purple color that nearly glowed in the light, and had half her head shaved on one side. She had on a dark shade purple lipstick and a eyeliner design of a spider web under one eye.

"Much obliged for coming so soon. Please come in, the others will join us right away." She led the three of them into the building and to what looked like a makeshift living room. Several moments later ten more women came from other corners of the warehouse and took seats in the furniture around the room. If Jack hadn't known they were clones, he would have thought that each of them were completely different women based on the wide ranging style each took. It ranged from one of them wearing glasses and dressed conservatively to one who one dressed in something that would fit in a brothel.

The one who had greeted them at the door took a seat across from Jack. Veronica and Falaen sat next to him. "I am addressed as BM1, but as I don't remember my original name, you may call me Bella." Bella moved her hair out of her eyes and continued "It is our pleasure to finally meet you Jack. We have experienced your dreams, so it's nice to put a face to the dreams. I understand the circumstances of this meeting are not ideal, but we have much to discuss."

Jack looked at them and nodded. "Yes, first we have to address your actions in that base. Had you succeeded with your plan you would have killed everyone in the city. Let's not also forget that you previously also killed all the awakened at the base. Even if Caina was the one sending out Michelle to kill, you still allowed it to happen. As I see it, you have a lot to answer for."

Bella grimaced and said "You are absolutely right. We have blood on our hands that we will have to atone for. I do not ask that you forgive us, but allow us to explain why we did what we did."

Staring at them, he said "Then speak."

"Our story begins with the Awakened. They were called awakened in part because they received knowledge from dreams of the sleeping one. They also performed a series of rituals which allowed them to advance their bodies and powers based on the dreams as well. They fell into confrontation with the Kingdom of Sevaris when the Archmages rose into power and were subsequently nearly wiped out."

"The remaining Awakened split into several different groups who all went into hiding. Sometime later the Kingdom of Sevaris fell, and the entire world was swarmed by goblins and various other monsters born from the Archmages experiments. It was at that time the base beneath the city was built."

"Our splinter group was focused on the dangers the world faced. Over time we came to the conclusion that the only possible way for the world to survive these threats would be for the Great One to return. Or for us to create a substitute Great One. We did make a serious effort to contact the Great One through the crystals she left behind but all attempts failed. Thus, we felt we had no choice but to create a new Great One."

"When we began, it soon became apparent that a supermind needed to be constructed in order for us to continue with the calculations. Thus the eleven of us, including Caina agreed to give up our bodies in order to create the Base Mind. Perhaps that is when our humanity began to weaken. We began Project Osirris during which we made several sacrifices for the safety of the world. We knew that you and the Great One would have disapproved of our actions. Still we saw no other way to save the world. We ran numerous simulations, but in each case Mantara would fall unless we acted."

Veronica scoffed and said "So you're willing to bend your values when you see the need?"

Jack held Veronica back and then said "Falaen has already expressed your viewpoint to me, and I disagree with it vehemently. I do understand the reasons behind it, though it does not make amends for the atrocities you have committed. You must make amends."

The group of women bowed, and they got to their knees. Bella said "We will do everything in our power to make amends, including offering our heads. Punish us as you will. However, we beg you to save the world from the horrors and dangers we saw."

"I will protect this world. I will not let it fall to any threat." Jack said. "I have thoughts on how to punish the lot of you, but for now I wish to hear about the various threats you foresaw."

"As you command." Bella said and stood up. "When we became the basemind our most immediate threat was the Seven Archmages. Of course they had gone into hiding at the beginning of the goblin wards, they remained incredibly dangerous with the vast knowledge they have. They were able to tune into your dreams and from that they were able to become the Archmages in the first place."

"We eventually found out they had somehow separated from the majority of their power. They varied in power with Invidia being the weakest, but they are all potentially dangerous to the world."

Falaen interrupted and said "If that's the case why Invidia was hanging around in the castle above your base?"

"When Invidia came to the castle, we found out that she was drawn to the fountain we manage. That pool was part of the amniotic fluid filtration. It had a side benefit of providing massive healing. As might be expected it had some corruption due to Caina's influence but it was relatively minor as long as you didn't bathe in it every day. Like Invidia did. We debated on what we should do with her, but eventually came to the conclusion that due to her weakness it was better for us to keep an eye on her."

"You did just that," Veronica said. "While the country rotted with her, you just watched."

Bella grimaced and said "You are right. We should have acted, but we were focused on completing Project Osiris."

Jack broke in and said "I am aware of the Archmages. Now that Invidia has been killed, there are now six left. What can you tell me about the rest?"

"When they first became Archmages, their base emotions went out of control and took over them. Each of them is exceptionally brilliant, except for when the emotions begin to cloud their thoughts. The remaining six is as follows: Luxuria the Lust Mage, Avaritia the mage of wealth, Acedia the sleeping mage, Gula the mage who devours, Superbia the First Archmage and the Leader of all the Archmages Ira the Mage of destruction. We were not able to track them, but they are most likely working to restore their lost powers."

Veronica nodded and then asked "Do you know if they have any weaknesses or can you tell us more about them?"

"Yes. We were only able to get the barest information from them as they are incredibly secretive. Luxuria favors manipulating people. The typical method she uses is seduction. We found she likes to work in the dark, often slipping right behind your defenses. Acedia is the least active of them but when she moves it's incredibly perilous. Avarita dealt with the Kingdom of Sevaris wealth, and out of the seven is the most likely you could make a deal with. Naturally Avarita will backstab you if they think they could get something out of it."

As for Gula he likes to strip areas down to the bone from resources. You can usually track him by the trail of famine he causes. Though he may be more low-key about it nowadays. About the First Archmage, Superbia little is known about them other than they are dangerous. They were one of the mages who struck across the continent razing villages. The last Archmage is Ira. He is the leader and the one who hunted down the Awakened. He has expressed intense hatred for you, the Sleeping one."

"That is concerning." Jack said. "I will figure out a way to find them and kill them, so they no longer pose a threat to this world. So what are these other problems that you foresaw?"

"When the Basemind came online, we began to analyze various threats throughout the world. We noticed that the seals blocking off the subterranean realm were weakening; we ran various simulations to assess the threats. In these simulations we identified three major threats."

"During our simulations we determined it was likely that there are groups working for the entities that live underground. We have seen evidence for that based on various cults that have periodically appeared. Using the sensors, we built for Project Osiris, we have also sensed energy fluctuations deep in the world indicating attempts to breach space. In addition the seals have grown dramatically weaker over the years. We worked to find a way to strengthen the seals, but only the Great One has the power to reinforce the seal."

"I was aware of the last one, but you are certain about something attempting to breach space?" Jack asked.

"You are aware of our proficiency in bending space in the base? We used the knowledge gained from your dreams to do so. With that knowledge we analyzed the energy emissions and determined that they are attempting to bypass the seals and escape through a tear in space. The seals, however, appear to have disrupted their attempts. But as the seals weaken we believe that they will be able to manipulate space and escape."

"That is deeply concerning to me. I will have to see if we can set up ways to block such attempts. Was there anything else you are concerned about?" Jack asked.

Bella nodded "There are just a few more. When we began to set up sensors, we took a look at the sky above into the star system this world resides in. We used your knowledge to make judgements about possible threats that lie in the void. During our observations we noticed something odd about one of the planets that orbit our star. Most of the worlds orbit counterclockwise including our world. The planet we observed however orbits clockwise. Running several simulations we concluded that planet is not native to our star system."

"So what concerns you about this planet?" Falaen asked.

"it has several names, but it is commonly known as the Dusk Star. Using a seeing device, we were able to get a closer look at it." Bella said and stood. She went over to a nearby cabinet and withdrew a piece of paper. "I redrew what we saw based on memory, so it's not as accurate, but you should get a general idea of what we saw."

Taking the drawing from Bella, Jack examined it. It showed a shattered globe. Each of the pieces looked as if there were giant cables keeping the pieces together. "We are unsure of how it shattered, but it appears based on our observations there is something alive and intelligent working on those pieces. Our seeing device was not strong enough to get a closer look, but we did observe several of the large pieces appear to be slowly carved out."

"In addition we noticed that one of the smaller pieces appeared to be in the process of being made into a ship that could possibly make it here. Using our energy sensors, we determined that the main energy source of this broken world appears to be magic. The signature is remarkably similar to the magic in our world which makes us suspect the origin for magic here comes from the broken world."

Veronica frowned and said "What makes you think that?"

"One of the concepts we discovered through Jack's dreams was Evolution. Using it, we examined life in this world. What we have slowly determined is that magic energy is likely a relatively recent addition to our world. Of course when we say relatively recently we are actually talking millions of years. We believe life in this world is far older than that, which begs the question why has life adapted so slowly to magic, which indicates magic must be recent. Some life has adapted to use magical energy. However even now life will experience mana burns should they venture into too high of a concentration of magical energy."

"I see. So you believe that whatever lives in that world could possibly want to come over here?"

"It is a possibility. Which could pose a significant threat to life in this world. Should they bring a high concentration of magic here, most life will likely perish. Not to mention we are still unsure what caused the breaking up of their world."

Jack nodded in concern. "I will have to investigate them. How fast were they building this ship?"

"We estimate they will finish overall construction in a few years. When it will be ready to sail here, we are unsure."

"In that case I will have to check in with Eramis and see if she knows anything about them. At least it appears we have sometime to prepare for them. What is the last threat?" Jack asked.

"The last threat would have to be while we were using the Energy Sensors we detected a distinct energy signature with them. Using the knowledge of the energy types from you, we narrowed down what it could be and came to a rather startling conclusion."

"What was that conclusion?" Veronica said.

"The energy signatures indicate that somewhere in the world is one of the Sundered." Bella said.

Falaen frowned and said "What is a Sundered?

Jack had been confused for a few seconds until suddenly the knowledge flowed into his head. I believe JP informed you about the various energy types?"

"Yes." Falaen nodded. "JP said that there were Magic, Holy, Life, Creation, Dragon, Elemental, and Soul types of energy. He also mentioned an eighth but it was dangerous to speak about them. I assume that sundered refers to the eighth type."

"That would be correct. While they have numerous names, Sundered is the more popular term for them. Due to the nature of their power, they are incredibly powerful and dangerous. Are you certain about this Bella?"

"We are eighty-five percent certain of this. The pulses were very brief, so we believe the Sundered may be hiding."

"Well that is troubling. But as they haven't done anything yet, they probably aren't an immediate threat as well. We just need to be careful not to upset them." Jack said after thinking for a bit.

"So what are the powers of these sundered?" Veronica asked.

"I can't go into too much detail, but basically they nearly reach omnipotence. The very basis of their power comes from their willpower. Some of the more powerful ones will be able to create a whole galaxy with a wave of their hands. But I have no idea why one would choose to hideaway here."

"It may be possible for us to track them, but we would need to build a multitude of new sensors. If you were to provide the resources, we could build it." Bella said.

Jack looked at the clone woman and then said "We will see. Now that I have heard of the dangers, it is now time to discuss what will happen to the lot of you. First off I will not take you as my Users. I find your past actions deplorable, and you have yet to redeem your actions. Still since you have the willingness to make up for your actions, I will make sure you pay for your actions through helping the world. Right now I am working on building a training dungeon for my Users to help build up their levels. However, due to my schedule I do not have time to oversee it."

All the clones looked at Jack confused and Bella said "Are you suggesting that you want us to oversee this dungeon of yours?"

"Yes. For penance I want you to work in this dungeon. When the dungeon is fully up and running you will help visitors apply to be my Users. In addition I will have you do various tasks for me. You will also make every effort to help the world within the rules I give you."

"We will be honored to do this for you. But I must ask, we have done little for you to gain our trust. How can we ensure you can trust us with this position?"

"One of my Users is a Master at writing out contracts. Instead of becoming my users, you will sign this contract and obey all of the regulations in the contract." Jack reached into his inventory and pulled out several contracts that Lady Irene Niadas had made for him. When he learned that the Clones wanted to contact him, he had these contracts made. "They have numerous restrictions, but I will allow you relative freedom in the way the dungeon is formed."

Bella took the sheets and read them. "These are reasonable terms. We thank you for granting us mercy Jack. We agree to this." Bella signed the documents and passed it along to the others who signed as well. "What now?" Bella said, returning the contracts to Jack.

"I will be leaving Keston tomorrow. I will bring you over to the dungeon and get you set up before I head south to address some issues developing. I will expect you to be in front of the Inn I'm staying at by dawn. Do you understand?"

 Bella nodded and then said "Yes, we will be ready to go. We will gather up our stuff and be in front of your inn."

"Good. I will see you tomorrow then." Jack said and stood.

"Bless you Jack. We will work hard to redeem ourselves in your and the Great Ones eyes." Bella bowed as Jack left.

Exiting the building Jack said to Falaen "That went well." 

"Indeed, though I do not know if it is prudent to let them be in control of a dungeon even if you have them restricted by a contract."

"I will just have to keep an eye on them." Jack said and helped his Users into the waiting carriage.

ElKriJa

Thank you for reading my story. This chapter is the beginning of Arc 4. I will be releasing the revised version of Chapter 2 this week. If you have any comments or questions please let me know. Have a great monday.