"What is a Dwarf doing here?" Gemma asked.

Somnus couldn't avoid bringing Gemma and Mia. Before he knew it, they already tagged along. They also had silver masks. When Gemma requested they receive them, she stated that the reason was "Because we are the Silver Masks". Somnus made the masks in the first place just to hide his appearance—he was a king after all. Concealing the fact that his companions were goblins was a bonus.

"It is a bit of a long story," the dwarf said as he smashed a stone flagon on the table and sent it sliding towards Gemma with expert precision and skill. "I ran this side operation in the Hills of Madness—some gold embezzling business—when this n.o.ble s.h.i.+thead demands I go oversee some s.h.i.+thole in the middle of nowhere. Said it was an honor to work for the king. The king! Sidon f.u.c.king Lodwik!" the dwarf was animated as he told the story.

Several of the patrons sighed. "Here we go again…"

Somnus took a seat at the bar, and so did his companions—all four of them.

"Anyway, there was nothing I could do. Honor my hairy a.s.s. They practically forced me into labor at that point." The dwarf took a gulp from his own tankard, burped and then transitioned into continuing the story. "Oh yeah, it was fun. I made some money and opened my own inn. How can I help you?"

Gemma tilted her head. That was it? She looked to Mia, but Mia was just as confused. They both expected a story about slaying dragons or toppling kingdoms. Maybe even overthrowing the king and dissolving the Dwarven forced slavery laws they had. But no. This is what they got. They couldn't help but feel let down.

Somnus placed his adventuring tag at the table and said, "Provide room."

"Balrik Almighty! Is that Starmetal?" the dwarf jumped off his stool and straight onto the bar table, looking down at the tag. "I know dwarves who'd sell their twigs and berries to get their hands on some starmetal, and then you casually waltz in as if the world belongs to you. And you know what? You are f.u.c.king right it does. I have a room just for you. The best one."

The dwarf picked up the tag and held it up to the light and then shouted more expletives in the dwarven tongue. At least it sounded like expletives—it had that particular tonal emphasis as when the dwarf cursed in the language Somnus could understand. High Human was the language most folk spoke in the Empire.

"We would also like rooms," Gemma said and put her own Platinum tag on the bar. Mia also had a platinum tag. The dwarf's eyes sparkled as he realized that his Inn was graced by mighty adventurers who actually did any work. But then Det and Lod put their own Mithril and Orichalc.u.m tags on the table and the dwarf jumped with joy.

"My fellow dwarves are also mighty adventurers!" the dwarf shouted for all the human patrons to hear, as if mocking them. "Mithril and Orichalc.u.m!"

Lod and Det smartly stayed quiet. They were slightly taller than the dwarf, but the dwarf did not seem to notice the difference in their physiques. He noticed something else.

"Where are your beards, gentledwarves?" the dwarf suddenly asked, casting a critical gaze at the two goblins. "Don't tell me your wives beat you at wrestling and they forced you to shave them!" The dwarf laughed.

Lod considered this question for a moment and then nodded silently.

Somnus stood up and walked towards the hallway that connected to the rooms."Your room is at the end of the hallway. I'll keep your tag safe. Dwarf's honor," the dwarf said as he turned to the two goblins. "So this n.o.ble sent me to this place called Iron Valley, right?"

"Right," Gemma said, excited to hear the rest of the story.

The dwarf's voice faded away as Somnus headed into the hallways. It was common practice for Inns, especially those in adventuring settlements, to offer accommodations to adventurers for free. The Adventurer's Guild paid for this, of course. However, rooms were limited, and it was not uncommon for a higher ranked adventurer to kick a lower ranked one out. As far as Somnus's group was concerned, their lodging rights were secure. Lately, however, Somnus overheard that this practice of offering rooms for free had fallen out of fas.h.i.+on. That is to say that paying customers had the right to kick out freeloading adventurers if they paid a hefty premium. Apparently, the Adventurer's Guild was increasing their own premium in an effort to combat this. Nurturing adventurers was very important to both the Guild and the countries the adventurers served.

Although, Somnus had become an adventurer for several reasons, one of them was to find others who were powerful and capable. Although he had yet to accomplish this goal. There was Gemma and Mia, but Somnus only considered Gemma's fragment to be of any use to him. The other reason Somnus became an adventurer was to understand the motivations of adventurers and the objective of the G.o.ds. He failed to do either of those. To Somnus it seemed like most adventurers only did it for money, and the G.o.ds no longer seemed to care about their flock. All in all, becoming an adventurer may have been a waste of time.

What Somnus did not consider as part of the success of this operation was that he was becoming famous. The Silver Masks, as his group was known, had reached even the ears of the Emperor. Somnus was one of only few starmetal adventurers in existence. Human adventurers at least. Whether the dwarves and the various tribes of elves had any was unknown. That was also a part of Somnus's objectives—he had to find out more about the world.

Finally, he went into his room which was unoccupied and sat down on the bed. With stats well into the extremely high ranks, he almost never got tired. He could sprint for days without rest and when he did have to sleep, it was only for half an hour. He slept longer because he observed the integrity of his psyche faltering if he didn't sleep for five or six hours. Being human was very inconvenient.

[OPCOM: Recommend performing diagnostics.]

Somnus considered that suggestion and in a way understood what that meant. He now had the ability to perform [Diagnostics], but putting it into words was difficult. It was subconscious knowledge, Somnus realized. Like many of the abilities he used in the battle against the Herald, he only superficially knew what they did. He did not possess any clear definitions.

"Define Diagnostics."

[Ability: Diagnostics. The ability to perform a full-spectrum self-scan, displaying all known abilities and attributes.]

"Perform diagnostics," Somnus said.

The Halo appeared over his head, and the wings s.h.i.+mmered into existence behind him. They had been carefully tucked away into the dimension where Aeon's body resided—a trick he learned on his way here. Or rather, it was a trick he realized he had. It was called [Dimension Displacement].

[Commencing diagnostics.]

[Target locked.]

[a.n.a.lyzing physical data.]

Status

Name Somnus

Level 202

Race

Machine G.o.d (Lesser Divinity)

Cla.s.s Hero

t.i.tle

G.o.d-Slaying Machine

Health 19420/19420

Mana 148550/148550

Attributes

Physical 892 (SSS)

Magical 849 (SSS)

Mental 488 (SS-)

Technical 512 (SS)

Spiritual 0 (F)

[Detected a large number of skills. Categorizing…]

[Calculating combat ability.]

[Done.]

Skills

Name Rank Specials

Spell Destruction A

[Magic Symbol Destruction] • [Magic Symbol Alteration] • [Fast Destruction]

Swordmaster S

[Agility] • [Dexterity] • [Counterattack Specialist] • [Destructive Blows] • [Discern Weakness] • [Weapon Momentum Cancel] • [Vector a.s.sist]

Gale Steps

[Windwalk] • [Momentum Cancel] • [Lightning Step] • [Whisperwalk]

Void Sword B+

[Information Layer Destruction] • [Form Layer Destruction] • [Thought Layer Destruction] • [Spirit Layer Destruction]

Marksmans.h.i.+p D [Precision]

[Subject is combat cla.s.s: Anti-Mage]

[Referencing Concept Eidos...]

[Exposing interface points…]

[Done.]

Skills

Name Rank Specials

Magic Eyes SS

[Element Sight] • [Mana Sight] • [Spell Sight] • [Slay Sight] • [Move Sight]

Magic Capacity SS-

[Superb Magic Capacity] • [Fast Magic Recovery] • [Greater Realize Area] • [Greater Realizer]

Magic Comprehension S+

[Spell a.n.a.lyze] • [Symbol a.n.a.lyze] • [Origin a.n.a.lyze]

Magic Power SS

[Magic Penetration] • [Magic Rewrite] • [Magic Compression] • [Fast Realize] • [Barrier Breaker]

Mana Manipulation SS+

[Flow Sense] • [Mana Compression] • [Mana Generation] • [Mana Purification] • [Mana Crystallizer]

Magic Theory SS-

[Fast Cast] • [Sequence Cast] • [Efficient Cast] • [Symbol Hide] • [Reflex Cast]

Machine Magic S

[Silent Cast - Machine Magic] • [Machine Efficiency] • [Magic Compression Algorithms] • [Reflexive Actions - Module Activation]

Paradox Magic S

[Information Dimension Interference]

[Subject is magic cla.s.s: Mana Adept]

[Subject is magic subcla.s.s: Destruction]

[Calculating technical knowledge…]

Skills

Name Rank Specials

Reclaim A

[Treasure Presence Sense] • [Ore Sense] • [Mineral Appraise] • [Prospect] • [Danger Sense] • [h.o.a.rd]

Trans.m.u.tation B-

[Refine Metal] • [Shape Metal] • [Shape Gem] • [Shape Wood] • [Shape Stone] • [Greater Shape Area]

Magic Refining

[Enhanced Purity] • [Efficiency] • [Process Efficiency] • [Safe Refining] • [Automatic Refining]

Magic Smithing B+

[Shape Magic Metal] • [Deadly Weapons] • [Process Efficiency] • [Disa.s.semble]

Magitech

[Mana Generation Efficiency] • [Increased Capacity] • [Reactor Power Increase] • [Mana Loops]

Enchantment Expert B

[Compact Arrays] • [Efficient Arrays] • [Array Optimization] • [Powerful Enchantments]

Abhorrent Weapons B

[Efficient Weaponization] • [Reactor Efficiency]

[Measuring leaders.h.i.+p potential…]

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Skills

Name Rank Specials

Imperium B

[Subordinate Attribute Bonus] • [Compulsion] • [Efficient Industry] • [Morale Boost]

[Subject is type: Sovereign]

[Subject is Machine.]

[Subject has Race Effects active.]

[Machine Information is available.]

[Subject is Divinity. Type: Lesser]

[More information available.]

Somnus considered the information so far. Many of his skills had improved. He hadn't been paying much attention to them, but the last battle improved quite many of his combat and magic skills. In particular, [Void Sword] revealed the existence of more Layers within the Information Dimension. Another interesting addition was the [Mana Crystallizer]. Somnus understood the potential and the danger of crystallized mana. It was an extremely potent source of magic and even more enchantable than magical alloys, but it was unstable.

"Show Race Effects," Somnus said.

[Displaying data.]

Machine G.o.d - G.o.d (Lesser Divinity)

• Upon reaching level 100, instead of becoming a Legend, you will become a Divinity.

• You may not choose your domain.

• Lesser Divinities require a Patron G.o.d.

• Your Patron is the G.o.d of War.

Machine G.o.d - Human-Machine Duality

• Gain access to Machine Information.

• Gain the ability to equip modules.

• Access Machine Skills while not in Machine Form

• Store Modules in another Dimension

• Equip Dimension Displaced Modules

Somnus narrowed his eyes. The thing that instantly jumped out to him was not that he was a Divinity, but that his Patron was the G.o.d of War. What interest did the G.o.d of War have with Somnus? This was not the first time the G.o.d of War interfered with Somnus. According to Kaiza, the G.o.d of War argued in the favor of Somnus when his Right to Rule was brought into question. Arcadia also claimed that the G.o.d of War was involved in bringing Somnus past the anomaly when he fought Aeon.

"Show me the Machine Information," Somnus said.

Modules

Apotheosis Engine Reactor

[Realize Are++] • [Realize Speed+++] • [Realize Capacity+++] • [Mana Regen+++] • [Mana Capacity+++]

Mana Stabilizer Wings

[Harmonics] • [Dimension Displacement] • [Rea.s.sembly]

Mana Limiter Halo

[Crystallization Matrix] • [Flight] • [Jamming] • [Diagnostics]

[Machine Information is related to Machine Skills.]

[Displaying Machine Skills.

Skills

Name Rank Specials

Harmonics N/A

[Harmonics - Attack] • [Greater Harmonization Capacity]

Crystallization Matrix N/A

[Void Crystal Creation] • [Crystal Purification] • [Mana Increase]

Diagnostics N/A

[Self-Divination] • [Full Divination]

Flight N/A

[Stabilized Flight] • [Effortless Flight]

Dimension Displacement N/A

[Dimension Displacement] • [Flicker]

Rea.s.sembly N/A

[Reform] • [Limb Restoration] • [Slay Negate] • [Efficient Healing]

Jamming N/A

[Information Layer Jamming] • [Magic Circle Encryption]

Somnus tilted his head. So they were like skills, but they did not have any ranks. The skills were related to the modules he had equipped. Somnus wondered if those could be upgraded. Somnus had a special interest in the ability to equip modules that were displaced in the other dimension. In other words, he could equip modules onto Aeon, and he himself would gain their benefits.

[New Modules require power source.]

"Define power source."

[Void Crystals.]

So it came down to generating more crystals. Somnus chuckled. There will be plenty of opportunity for that.

For the rest of the evening, Somnus went through the data repeatedly, familiarizing himself with his new skills. When the day comes that he has to destroy Seraph, he would be ready.