Pinkie Pie and Octavia end up being sent to a brand new world, one made of blocks and having different rules to live by, where they join forces with Steve and Alex to see what the world has to offer.
Pinkie Pie, seeking a new adventure after sometime of peace in Ponyville, ends up bumping into Octavia and the two, against all odds, are sent to a blocky and strange world that doesn't work in the way they're used to, as the sun and moon move on their own and monsters want to hurt them. The pair end up bumping into a pair of odd creatures, who call themselves Steve and Alex and are more than willing to teach them about this world, not to mention everything they need to know to survive. Together the four of them must face the dangers of this world, master crafting techniques, explore other dimensions, and face whatever challenges are thrown at them, all while seeking a way for Pinkie and Octavia to head home.
(MLP/Minecraft Crossover. Not part of the Demon War story series)
Mod List: RLCraft Tinker's Construct + Construct's Armory Thaumcraft Lost Cities + Scape and Run Parasites Chickens + Hatchery + More Chickens Vault Hunters Improvable Skills 3
It was a rather nice day in Ponyville, as there were birds singing their song, flowers were blooming after being tended to by all sorts of ponies, the clouds had been cleared for the most part, and young fillies and colts were out and about, playing as their parents went about their daily routine. Pinkie Pie was also wandering around the town, as the Cakes had given her the day off, as she hadn't had one for quite some time and most of her days off were used to cover for when she went on an adventure with her friends, so she had decided to find her friends. Fluttershy insisted that there were animals to tend to and that she couldn't pull herself away from them, Rarity was shut inside her boutique for the most part, making dressing and clothing for those who had placed orders for her special line, Applejack told her that it would be some time before she was done with the apple bucking, and Rainbow Dash insisted on mastering a new move. Such a thing made her chuckle, as she knew Dashie, it was a nickname she had given to Rainbow at one point and used it from time to time, wanted to join the Wonderbolts and a new move would help her out, so she focused on tracking down her remaining friends.
While Twilight Sparkle was a Princess, and that meant her duties might keep her busy, she wasn't as busy as Princess Luna or Princess Celestia, who lived in Canterlot, or even Princess Cadance, far to the north in the Crystal Empire, so Pinkie was banking on her, her assistant Spike, or even her student, Starlight Glimmer, being available for an adventure. If that didn't work she still had other friends to fall back on, scattered around Ponyville in case of emergency, though not stored away like how she stored her excess items in case of specific emergencies, as she wasn't about to do that to ponies, griffins, or the other races that lived here. Such a thing reminded her of the students who had proven themselves to her and her friends, the 'Student Six' or 'Young Six' as some called them, in reference to the fact that they might be Equestria's next heroes once she and her friends retired from that lifestyle. Part of her wondered if any of them would be up for an adventure, even if it was nothing like what she and her friends had been through in the past, but decided against it, most of them were busy with either schoolwork or chores and other home related activities.
As she thought about that, however, Pinkie found a familiar light gray coated mare, with a dark gray mane and tail, who was currently walking in the direction of Twilight's large crystal castle, a coincidence if ever she saw one, causing her to smile for a moment as she hopped down the street.
"Octavia! How have you been?" Pinkie asked, speaking once she was within hearing range and surprised the mare for a moment when she came to a stop nearby, due to the fact that Octavia had turned her head for a few seconds and had noticed that the speaker was far away, only for Pinkie to appear nearby.
"Just fine, Pinkie." Octavia replied, shaking off the shock she had felt when the pink mare had suddenly moved from one spot to another, in such a short period of time, as she had glanced away from her for a second and it caused her to move so quickly, where she had to remind herself that it was just 'Pinkie being Pinkie' and just accept it, "I'm actually on my way to see Princess Twilight, as she wanted to see how music resonates with magic... or something like that... and I planned on bringing Vinyl with me, given her taste in music, but she's sound asleep."
"What a coincidence, I was thinking of visiting Twilight and seeing what she's up to! We should go together." Pinkie said, though while she had no idea what sort of experiment her friend was up to, it was hard to keep all of them straight since she did so many, in fact she had been a topic of one at some point in the past thanks to her Pinkie Sense, she was slightly interested in seeing what Twilight was up to.
Octavia opened her mouth for a moment, as if she had something to say on the matter, before closing it as she realized that there was no convincing Pinkie to stop whatever she might have set her mind on and, as such, that meant she had a companion for some time. As such she fell in with the pink mare and headed for the crystal castle once more, since she didn't want to keep the Princess waiting, even though there was a chance that she might not be there, given her duties and connections to both of Canterlot's ruling Princesses, but Pinkie was convinced Princess Twilight was home, so she said nothing as they walked. Normally she carried her cello with her, the instrument she was skilled at using thanks to her own Cutie Mark, but, thanks to the appointment she was on her way to, she had sent it along first to let the Princess see if it had any magic or lingering effects, or whatever sort of clues she was interested in locating, and upon her arrival she would go through the range of notes she could play and see if anything happened. It was why she wanted to pull Vinyl into this as well, because while they had their disagreements over music she knew that giving Princess Twilight more information, in this case a second musician, would yield better results, but for now it was just her.
It didn't take the pair long to reach the crystal castle, which had no guards still, and entered it without delay, though while Octavia was willing to stop and wait, since she had no idea where anything was located, Pinkie hopped down a hallway, as if she knew where to go, causing Octavia to go against her judgement and followed her, even though she quickly brought them to a library room with an odd mirror.
"So, this is the rumored mirror ponies have been talking about." Octavia commented, as when she played at events she often heard ponies talking about rumors and other events, though an interesting tale was about how Princess Twilight, according to the story, went to another world and retrieved the Element of Magic, even though another claimed that it was to defeat an ancient evil before it could return.
"Yeah, I haven't been on the other side, but its an interesting device." Pinkie said, where she stopped and watched it for a time, finding that the seemingly dull surface flickered to life not a few seconds later, causing her to raise an eyebrow as Octavia stood nearby, only to find that it showed a world that seemed nothing like their own, as it just appeared to be all sorts of trees and nothing else, "Maybe we can cross over, get some notes for Twilight, and be back before she even finds out that someone activated and went through the portal."
Octavia felt that such a thing was a bad idea, though, once again, Pinkie seemed to be firm on the matter and a couple of seconds later she was heading through the portal, all while her companion smiled before jumping into the magic, unaware of the adventure that she was setting the two of them on.
Pinkie groaned for a moment as she raised her front right leg and rubbed her face for a moment, even though she quickly stopped as she felt something weird, causing her to open her eyes and found that her hoof was now a hand, which had five slim fingers that had her coat color, before seeing the area around her. The first thing she found was that she was in a forest made of what she assumed was oak trees, only each one seemed to be blocky in nature, as if the world was made out of squares and not any of the shapes that she was used to, and the same was true for the leaves. The ground was also made out of blocks, as there was a raised section nearby and she could see that most of a piece was brown, save for the green top that was the grass, and as she gazed further beyond the forest she was sure that there were stones that were identical to the trees. In fact, when Pinkie stared up at the sky, she found that even the clouds seemed to be shaped more like blocks, which meant that even the sun and moon had to be shaped in a similar manner, though all of this meant that they were definitely in a new world, and, unless she was blind, there was no portal back home.
As she thought about that, however, she found that her body had been altered as well, as she was more like a human, the two legged people Twilight had told her and the others about when she came back from tracking down her crown, back when Sunset Shimmer came back home, as her front legs were now arms and the hooves were fingers, though when she found that her hind legs were intact she realized that she was a cross between species. Her legs were structured like what the humans possessed, even though they ended in hooves, while her body was larger than before, more like a human's she guessed, save for the odd large mounds on her chest, and she definitely had her muzzle, leading her to believing that her body was a mix of both species. After that she found that, while she hadn't been wearing anything before heading into the portal, clothing had been provided upon entering this world, because she had a blue shirt on and a light brown pair of pants over her lower body, though she had nothing over her hooves and nothing on her new hands. She thought about that for a moment, curious as to why the portal wouldn't give them anything to understand the world they had come to or tools to help them figure out how to get back home, but she had a feeling that she would figure something out in no time, but at least it would be an adventure.
In that moment she heard another groan and glanced to her right for a few seconds, finding that Octavia had followed her through the portal and that her body was nearly identical to her own, save for her mounds being a bit smaller, while also finding that she had a purple shirt and black pants covering her body, though that was when her companion opened her eyes and pulled herself up.
"Where... are we?" Octavia inquired, because she knew that she had followed Pinkie through the portal and just assumed that she would be somewhere around the area that she had landed in, something that was easy to confirm when she spotted Pinkie resting off to the side, before she paused, "Pinkie? That's you, right?"
"Yeah, though it looks like the portal mixed our pony forms with our human forms, giving us a hybrid form." Pinkie said, as that was the easiest way for her to explain what was going on, even though she only had a vague idea since she didn't have Twilight's experience with this sort of thing, before she resumed looking around the area, causing Octavia to do the same thing, "Also, I have no idea where we ended up... and the portal has either closed already or its somewhere else in this world and we have to find it."
"Fantastic." Octavia replied, as this was a lot of information to take in, that their bodies were no longer there own, both of them were now lost in a world that they were unfamiliar with, and the only one who had any idea how to get back home had no idea where the portal was located, meaning they were stuck here until someone came looking for them, and with how things could get crazy in Ponyville it would be a while before such a thing even happened.
"My bad. Had I known the portal would disappear, I wouldn't have done this." Pinkie added, as she was sorry about what they had discovered, because she had figured they would be gone for an hour or so and be back in time for Twilight to recall that Octavia was coming over, before she got up and started to walk around, allowing her to study the trees and the rest of the surrounding area.
"How are you... no, wait, don't answer that." Octavia said, as she had to remind herself that this was just Pinkie being her usual self, due to the fact that she was sure that the other Equestrian shouldn't know how to walk with her new legs, yet there she was, walking as if her new body had been with her for a number of years and not a couple of minutes, where she forced herself to focus, "Okay, so what do we do now?"
As Pinkie opened her mouth, so she could say what was on her mind, she found that there was what seemed to be a cave behind where they landed and something was coming out of it, a figure that was roughly around their new height and was light green colored, though the look on its face informed her that it might be hostile. Since she had started walking first it was heading for Octavia, moving on two small limbs that might be feet, and Pinkie was sure that it was hissing, though as she considered what to do something happened, a lady, which she knew since her body looked like hers and Octavia's in terms of shape, appeared near the creature. She was wearing a light green shirt, a dark green belt, a pair of brown pants, and grayish shoes, while she had orange colored hair that ended in a ponytail that hung over her left shoulder, though in her hand was a sword that was both blocky and seemed to be made out of wood. The figure struck the monster with the edge of her blade, which both she and Octavia could see, the latter figuring out that the beast was there after hearing a bit of the hissing, and actually knocked it backwards, where she struck it again and it turned into a small cloud of smoke, as if she had slain it, while leaving some light gray substance behind.
The lady huffed for a moment, like she had been running for some time or something, before putting her blade away and collected the material that had been left behind, though once that was done she glanced at the pair, as she was surprised by what she was seeing, just as they were surprised to see her standing there.
"Thanks for the save... I'm not sure what we would have done without your assistance. I'm Octavia, and this is Pinkie Pie," Octavia said, carefully moving her arm to herself and to Pinkie, even though their names made it easy for her to figure out who was who with just a glance, but this was a good turn of events for them, as it meant they would be able to learn more about this world and what they needed to do to survive till they could find a way back home.
"My name is Alex... and I'm sorry for staring, Steve and I thought we were the only ones like us in this world, despite the odd appearance of your legs." the figure, Alex, replied, though as the pair considered the information, since they had no idea who or what she was talking about, she held up a hand and had them stop before opening their mouths, only for a look of fear to appear on her face as she heard the flapping of wings, "We need to move. NOW!"
In the following moment they discovered why she wanted to move, there was a massive black scaled dragon that was in the process of burning down the entire forest they were in, either because it loved to do that or someone had pissed it off, but given the fact that Alex didn't have much on her, in terms of weapons and armor, it seemed like the former was the right option right now. Alex was the first to move, as she rushed to Octavia and picked her up, showing them that she was stronger than they believed her to be at a glance, before beckoning to Pinkie as she dived into the only safe place, given all the flames that were dancing around the area, which happened to be the cave. Of course, after seeing how Alex reacted to the monster, Pinkie followed after her without delay and found that, once they were inside, Alex pulled out what seemed to be a small block of stone in her right hand and turned towards the opening, where she moved her hand and placed the block down, only it became larger, back to the normal size. In a few seconds she had sealed the way out, or one of them since a cave could have multiple openings, before pulling out what looked like a torch, which she placed on the ground for now as they listened to the dragon wreck the place, no one saying or doing anything out of fear that it might discover the three of them.
When the sounds finally died down, to the point of silence, Alex, after setting Octavia down while they waited inside the small cave, pulled out a pickaxe and carefully removed the stone she had placed down, allowing her to peer outside and find that the dragon was gone, to which she beckoned for the pair to carefully follow her as she departed from the now scorched forest, causing Pinkie and Octavia to follow her into the unknown.
Pinkie and Octavia soon discovered that the path of the dragon's destruction scorched the entire area, turning lush land into a barren wasteland and trees into pillars of ash, though Alex walked ahead of them and kept an eye out for danger, as she didn't want the dragon to find them again. Pinkie let Octavia lean on her as they carefully walked through the ruined area, as she was still getting used to her new legs and body, all while glancing around to see what had happened, as it looked like the beast had scorched the land and left a scar behind, to assert its dominance over the entire area. Both of them knew that this was bad, as a large number of resources had been destroyed thanks to the black dragon, a massive beast that was unlike anything they had seen in the past, and Alex's expression only confirmed their suspicions on the matter. Of course they had no idea what set off the beast and caused all of this to happen, but given what was going on neither of them said anything as Alex carefully lead them out of the area so they could find Steve, whoever that was, and tell him what was going on, and likely move somewhere that wasn't near a dragon.
Of course no one said anything as they made their way out of the charred area, simply out of fear since they had no idea if the beast was still in the nearby area, despite hearing no wings flapping in the distance, and it wasn't long before they were able to leave the charred area, exchanging it for a part of the forest that wasn't burnt yet. Alex didn't stop there, rather she kept going and made sure Pinkie and Octavia were following her, where they did so without delay, as neither of them wanted to be the cause of the dragon finding them and scorching the pristine area that they were walking through. She also seemed concerned that they might run into more enemies, like that green one she had killed to save Octavia, but based on what they were seeing there was nothing near the dragon's domain, either because it kept killing everything or the beasts of this world knew not to get close to such a powerful monster. While they walked Pinkie found that she was able to collect a few things from the ground, some sticks, an apple, and some leaves, before discovering something interesting, she could hold the items like Alex, as in blocks, like stone or leaves, were small until placed and others, like the apple, maintained their size.
After some time Alex came to a stop and glanced around, where they found that she had decided to stop in what looked like the middle of the forest, which had a stone hill interestingly enough, before moving over to the hill and opened a door for a second, a wooden door that, when Pinkie and Octavia walked over to where she was standing, was built into the side of the hill. On the other side of it they discovered a small room of sorts, which seemed to be about two blocks high and was roughly three wide, both to their right and in front of them, before they found another figure that was just like them, only instead of being slim this one seemed more muscular. The figure had short cropped dark brown hair, while wearing a light blue shirt, a blue pair of pants, and gray shoes, where Pinkie and Octavia were able to confirm that he was male, due to the lack of mounds on his chest and the fact that his body didn't look like theirs or Alex's. Based on what they could see it looked like he and Alex must have been exploring, looking for a suitable place to live in, when she went out looking for whatever it was that she was interested in, leaving Steve to either gather more materials or just rest until she came back, or at least they were assuming this was Steve.
Alex glanced at them and beckoned for them to join her, to which they did so and she closed the door behind them, which caused the other figure to turn around, as it appeared that he was checking out his tools for damage, before he smiled as he and Alex embraced each other, meaning they were either close friends and had been worried about each other or there was more going on between them.
"Alex... thank the Builders that you're alright." Steve said, showing that he was definitely concerned for her safety, likely due to the dragon roar he had heard earlier and probably worried she might have been caught in the path of destruction, while she had likely been concerned for him after leaving him in this barely lit area, as he, too, had a torch lighting the cave they called home.
"I mean, we had to dive into a small cave to escape a dragon, but my new friends and I survived." Alex replied, where she pulled back for a moment and beckoned to both Pinkie and Octavia, who Steve was only now seeing for the first time, as he had been too focused on his own companion, before she turned to face them as well, "Pinkie, Octavia, this is Steve, my lifelong friend and companion. Steve, meet Pinkie Pie and Octavia, who I happened to save from a Creeper before a black dragon decided to torch the forest."
"It is a pleasure to meet you." Octavia said, which was the truth after Alex came in and saved her, from something called a 'Creeper', while Pinkie nodded her head and said that it was nice to meet them, though at the same time Steve looked at their odd legs, meaning that this wasn't common in this world, but didn't ask about it.
"As much as I want to stay here, and set up a base of operations, we had better get moving, especially with a dragon living in the nearby area." Steve stated, showing them that he knew the danger they were in and got to clearing up the cave they had started to make earlier, where Pinkie and Octavia found that he used an axe to collect some sort of wooden chest and a square table of some kind, which had nine slots on top of it.
As Steve did that Alex used her pickaxe to open the ceiling, along with a shovel to remove some grass, where she told the pair that both she and Steve liked to leave markers to indicate that they had been to an area, so this little cave was being turned into a pit, a marker for later, though it wasn't long before she removed the door and they exited the area. Based on what the pair found neither of their new companions had left anything behind, in fact it looked like neither of them had all that much to start with, though there was a bit of good news, Steve was sure there was a village to the north of where the cave had been set up, as they had come from the south with Alex. If they found it they would be able to get some beds, to get a good nights sleep when the time came, a number of materials that neither of them could find on their way to where the cave was set up, and who knew what else, which was why he and Alex were so interested in finding it. Of course that was before meeting Pinkie and Octavia, something that meant they would have to make a chance to their plans, or at least that was what Octavia thought and found that she was wrong, as the pair were more than willing to add them to whatever they had been planning.
"Not to sound ungrateful, but why are you two willing to help us so much?" Octavia asked, though she was pleased that she no longer had to rely on leaning on Pinkie to walk, allowing them to follow behind Steve and Alex as they headed to the north, finding some small white furred creatures that lived in packs, wolves she guessed.
"You guys are like us... you're Crafters." Alex replied, where she glanced back for a moment and found that Octavia had raised her eyebrow for a moment, which meant she had no idea what she was talking about, while Pinkie was either lost in her own mind or was interested in the area around them, something that caused her to think about what she could show them, before lightly tapping the air in front of her, calling a screen of some kind out, "Crafters have access to an Inventory system, allowing us to carry far more than a normal person could and even stack most items, so we can carry a lot of, say, stone, instead of a single piece. In addition to that we also found some sort of empowerment system, where we can use Experience to improve ourselves and gain new skills or boosts to existing ones, which wasn't part of the world that we had been living in."
"That's so interesting." Pinkie said, where she tapped the air and, sure enough, summoned the same thing in no time, not that Octavia was surprised by this turn of events, in fact she was positive that Pinkie would have tried it after learning that it existed, even though Octavia was sure that she already had some sort of storage space that would be integrated into this at some point in time.
"Basically, we can do things that only the Builders, the people who built a lot of the ancient structures of the land, could do with the materials of this world," Steve continued, knowing that Octavia wanted a real answer and there was more that he and Alex had to say before they reached their destination, though as he walked up a hill he found that Pinkie seemed to be collecting whatever was around her and Octavia was testing the Inventory out, "opening the Inventory is a sign that you are a Crafter, though not everyone has that power, as while there are Villagers in this world, who live and use places that the Builders created, none of them can actually use the system. Our world is much like this one, as we found a portal and decided to investigate, only when we woke up we discovered that things were different than what we were used to, most of our gear and tools had disappeared, and there are creatures we have chosen to stay away from... that's why Alex and I are doing this, you guys are just like us, and, unless we wrong, you're also from another world and got lost."
Octavia agreed with him, though she was surprised by his statement, and inquired if he knew a way to get home, since he and Alex seemed to have more experience with this sort of thing, though all they could figure out was that there were all sorts of portals in this world and that one of them had to connect to their home world. Alex went on to explain that the Builders, or First Ones as some in their world preferred to call them, constructed all sorts of things, towers that reached into the sky, structures that existed below the water, strongholds below the ground, and all sorts of other things, and that was only the start. Apparently the Builders created more than that, as there were other dimensions that Steve and Alex had only heard about from some of the Villagers, such as the Nether, the End, a place known as the Lost Cities, and who knew what else, so part of their plan was to explore the known dimensions and figure out what the Builders knew. It was easy for Octavia to understand their reasoning, because if they discovered more about what this ancient race knew there was a chance that they could utilize the portals and go home, or at least make a new living in this world, even though she was hoping for the former.
While she was learning all of that Pinkie was just wandering around the area, collecting rocks, sticks, and whatever else was on the ground, which Alex said was fine since they needed everything right now and this was a good way for her to get some resources. Due to that Octavia glanced around part of the area they were in as Steve told her that they used to be able to simply punch down trees with their bare hands to get wood, something that shocked her a little since she was used to ponies like Applejack doing stuff like that, but in this world that was impossible without an axe. She spotted what looked like a pillar of stone that had some ore inside it, which her experienced companions told her was a good thing, as it might give them a bit of resources when they were able to mine it, causing her to ask why they couldn't do so now, only to find that the only pickaxe they possessed had broken earlier. She guessed that it had happened when they cleared out the cave that Alex and Steve had created as their temporary base, no doubt to get more supplies before heading for the area Steve was sure existed to the north of where they decided to stop, but neither of their new companions were worried, as it seemed easy to replace.
As they did that Octavia found some dark gray crystals growing from a stone and discovered that she could pull them out with her hands, not needing any tools to do so, allowing her to add five crystals to her Inventory before following after the others, though she decided to think about the tingling sensation she got when they were someplace safe.
It took them some time to reach what had to be their destination, a somewhat flat area in the middle of the forest that had a number of houses scattered all over the place, a village like Steve was looking for, and while there were some single story buildings, like a greenhouse, and some two story buildings, a library and a windmill, at least according to Alex, even if the windmill didn't seem to move at all. Pinkie and Octavia discovered that the residents of this village, who stood as tall as their new companions, wore either brown robes or clothing that reflected their profession, as they learned that Villagers could be smiths, farmers, fishermen, and all sorts of other jobs. In addition to them there were a number of floating shield beings that seemed to be defenders of some kind, who ignored the group as they entered the village, and there were two tall metallic figures walking through the village, silent defenders who protected the Villagers based on what was going on right now. There were a few other structures they didn't recognize, save for a few houses that were made of wood, and a stone structure with an odd stony pillar that seemed to be dormant right now, likely another thing that the Builders left behind when they departed for whatever plane they went to.
Sure enough some of the Villagers noticed their arrival and walked over to the southern edge that they were coming from, most of them looking surprised to find visitors coming to their peaceful home, but none of them had weapons and that was good in Octavia's eyes.
"Welcome, travelers, to our fine village." one of the Villagers said, who was either the leader or one of the most respected out of all of them, it was hard to tell since he wore normal clothing and nothing special, while the others simply stared at them, where Pinkie noticed there was no smith, oddly enough, "Tell me, are you...?"
"Crafters? Yes, we are." Steve replied, showing Octavia that there must have been some clue that she and Pinkie didn't know about, which allowed others to figure out who in the world they were, though she said nothing as the Villagers took a moment to cheer for their arrival, something that surprised them, or at least her and her companion.
The Village Elder, as that was who he introduced himself as, took them on a brief tour of the village, as he knew that they must have come seeking shelter and knew that there were some empty houses, as they lost their smith not even a week ago, so his place was open for someone to take, along with a plot of land nearby, which no one was planning on using right now. He also showed them to a house that had room for two people to sleep and work in, with space for additional storage, while pointing out a tower on the outskirts of the village, a decent sized structure that he and the other Villagers were confused about, as they had no idea what to do with it. There was even a river dividing the village in half, or at least it would if more had been built on the other side, but the Village Elder had no idea why the Builders did it this way, leaving the tower on one side and the rest of the village on this side, so if someone wanted to connect the two places they would have to build a bridge. The Elder also told them that each of the empty structures had a bed in them, so no one needed to worry about such a thing, though most of their sheep had gone missing recently, so making new beds was impossible for the time being, causing Steve and Alex to think about it for a time.
When they returned to the main part of the village, and they knew which houses were not available to them, Pinkie walked over to where the smithy was located as Octavia stayed with their new companions, no doubt to find a bed to rest since it was getting dark out. She found that it was rather small and that there wasn't much room inside it, hence why she was glad that there was more room available, though there was a bed and a chest, so she closed the door and looked inside the chest, finding a few bits of iron, some brown material she didn't recognize, and a book. She found that the tome was called Materials and You and that it was Volume One out of who knew how many, though when she opened it she found that it talked about the various tools that one used in making everything from tools to weapons, possibly armor if her thoughts were right, and all of it interested her. She was sure that Octavia would figure out how to help Steve and Alex in their quest, but she had to admit that making the smithy detailed in this Volume, and likely the other books that were in the set, would allow her to better improve herself and boost their ability to face whatever this world threw at them.
Pinkie smiled for a moment as she climbed onto the bed and continued her research, thankful that there was a light in the small house, as she had a feeling that she would be at this for a while before getting some well deserved sleep so she could face whatever tomorrow held for all of them.
When morning arrived Pinkie opened her eyes and found that they were still in the world that she had, accidentally, brought herself and Octavia to, though there was nothing she could do about that now and climbed off the bed, finding that she had fallen asleep with the book on her chest. It was interesting, given everything they had seen so far, and when she looked out at the small smithy she knew that, with some time and effort, it could be modified and changed to make room for what she had seen in the tome, something that would make even better weapons, tools, and armor than she had seen so far. With that thought in mind she opened the door and headed outside, where she found that some of the Villagers were going about their mornings without a care in the world, no doubt thinking that the floating guards and those iron golems would protect them from danger. This was one of those moments where she felt that Twilight's knowledge would be more suited for what was going on around them, as she could make a barrier or something to help protect the Elder and the others that lived in this place, but she knew that with Steve and Alex assisting them she and Octavia could help them in some manner.
As she studied the village, and thought about what they were going to do first, she found that Octavia came out of a vacant house, one that had been shown to them, though it was a single story and had to be larger than the one she had picked out, before she found that her companion was carrying a small journal in her arms, close to her chest.
"Hey Octavia, did you get a good night's sleep?" Pinkie asked, where she found that they were heading to the same place, the house that the Elder gave to Steve and Alex, so both of them wanted to speak with their new friends and see what sort of information could be gained from them.
"I'm not sure. I know I slept well, but I had the strangest dream." Octavia replied, where she pulled out one of the crystals she had recovered on their way to the village, allowing her to stare at it for a few more seconds, before finding that Pinkie had raised her eyebrow for a moment, curious as to what she was talking about, "I was standing over one of those tables we saw in Steve and Alex's cave... I think they called it a 'Crafting Table'... where I used a bowl with some black material, a shard I think, with some sort of red dust and three different crystals of this nature. I think I ground them up in some way, producing this weird glowing substance that I then sprinkled over a bookshelf, but before I could see what happened the dream faded and I woke up, finding this journal nearby to jot everything down in."
"Yeah, that's pretty strange. Maybe our new friends will know what to do?" Pinkie remarked, as that was the best thing she could think of, because while Steve and Alex might be from another version of this world, a more simpler one compared to the world they were now in, it was possible that they might know something.
Octavia said nothing to that as they made their way to the house their friends had taken as their home, where it looked like Steve and Alex were on the ground floor, sitting at a table of some sort as they ate some bread, and by that they found that it was them simply raising the food to their mouths and devouring it, like it had no substance. Alex explained that this was part of the nature of this world, as she guessed the Builders liked to move fast and didn't want to slow down for what was considered a proper meal, so that influenced their decision to make eating food in this manner, meaning if they were hungry out in the field it could be done quickly, without having to slow down. Steve remarked that, while the house was one of the nicer ones, he would have preferred to have a furnace, as that seemed to be the only thing missing and when the pair glanced at the area near the doors they walked through it was clear that there had been room for such a thing, a spot that was vacant. He and Alex also took stock of their supplies and found out that they were short a few pieces to even craft a furnace, as they had six pieces of stone and not the eight pieces that were needed, to which Pinkie looked at her own Inventory and found that, due to her random collecting, she had several different items, not counting the book she had found.
In that moment she walked over to the Crafting Table and found that to make a furnace she had to arrange eight stone, or cobblestone as it turned out, into a circular pattern on the outer edge of the nine slots, to which she placed some string in two slots, an apple in another, some seeds and ash in four of the remaining five spaces, and her only stone in the last one, allowing her to produce a furnace.
"How... did you do that?!" Steve exclaimed, because that wasn't the recipe to create a furnace, he knew it since he and Alex had made several of them in their world when they first started out, after making stone tools anyway, and yet that wasn't the only odd thing happening, all of the materials Pinkie had used were still on the table, which she collected, and when she placed the furnace in the space it was still in her hand, "What in the...?"
"Yeah, this is nothing compared to what I've seen... this is just Pinkie being Pinkie." Octavia said, as she wasn't even a tiny bit surprised by Pinkie's reality breaking powers coming into play, though she had to admit that this might be more than what she was capable of in the past, or at least she assumed so since she hadn't spent a lot of time with her in the past, before she glanced at their companions, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
Alex wasn't too sure about that, but she did test something out by placing what looked like a piece of meat in the furnace, which Octavia did her best to ignore, before placing some wood in the lower portion and it lit up, allowing her to cook the meat before their eyes, and it wasn't long before it was done and she extracted a single piece of food. When she did it a second time, however, she did nothing once it was finished cooking and motioned for Pinkie to take it this time, only to find that the light was still on when she extracted the meat, causing Alex to smile as she realized that Pinkie could make an unlimited amount of food if she did all the cooking. Steve stood there and Octavia could see that he was thinking about what this might mean for them, no doubt in relation to the resources that existed in this world, causing her to mention the tree she had and what sort of meaning it might have, causing their companions to glance at each other. Of course neither of them knew what she was talking about, especially since this was their first time seeing the crystals she had mentioned, but Steve was sure that, if they went mining, she might find some more of them, and it just so happened that if they went to the north, following the nearby river, they'd come to a cave to mine in.
This came with their first lesson on how to survive in this world, because now that they had a base of operations, thanks to Steve being right about the village existing, their next course of action was to gather components to make tools, as both his and Alex's tools were either broken or were close to breaking. Their first order of business was to head out and see if they could find a source of gravel, as there were pieces of flint inside them that they could use to make new tools, which caught Octavia's attention, and with the forest around them he was sure they could find some sticks to use with them to make flint knives. Such a thing would allow them to cut the grass and make grass fiber, which, if they had three of, one of them could make a hatchet to cut down trees and turn that wood into planks, an item that would allow them to make all sorts of things, like a Crafting Table for example. From there they would be able to make new tools to replace what they had lost, and with their pickaxes they would be able to mine coal, one of the basic materials of the world that went into all of the torches they had seen and would help cook their food, but the other reason behind looking for coal was because it was something that dropped Experience.
Octavia understood instantly, the more Experience they gathered the more they could pour into their Skills, allowing them to use new types of gear in the future, such as going from stone to iron, and with both Steve and Alex having already done such a thing, to a degree, this was more about boosting her and Pinkie up to their level.
With that in mind Steve had Pinkie take one of the Villagers' torches and found that, in her hands, they didn't need to even worry about torches, as she replaced it and found she still had it, to which they gathered everything he and Alex thought they might need before departing from the village. Interestingly enough the Elder and some of the Villagers wished them well, no doubt because they were the first Crafters they had seen for a long time and didn't want them to disappear, which caused their companions to wave in return, which Pinkie and Octavia replicated, before they got moving. They focused on the river that was to their right and kept an eye out for the gray gravel that would assist them in the first step of what they had to do, though for the most part it looked like all that was in the area was dirt and stone, which was fine since there were more places to check out. While they walked Pinkie found one of the odd stone outcroppings, much like the one that Octavia had found the crystals on earlier, though while it didn't have any gems for her friend to take it did have a couple bits of coal on the outside, causing Steve to nod his head, confirming that it was what they were looking for, so they made a note of where it was located before continuing deeper into the forest.
It took a few more minutes before they found what they were looking for, a lake that had several locations that had bits of gravel for them to take, to which Steve had Pinkie join him at one of them as Alex and Octavia tackled another, meaning the more hands they had the quicker they could complete their task. Fortunately they could dig gravel with their hands, instead of having to look for shovels or something to break the patches of material down, though their friends informed them that the best method was to dig the gravel that was away from the water and leave a wall so they weren't covered in water, as it would slow them down. There was also the slim chance that upon picking up some gravel they would find the flint they were looking for, so it seemed like the plan was to pick up some of the material, move to a safer location, and just break it constantly so they could get some flint. While they did that Pinkie found some whitish material that yielded four balls of the same material, clay according to Steve, something she thought about as she recalled the pages she had read the previous night, about mixing a ball of this with sand and gravel to make something called grout.
As she considered her options on the matter, since it looked like she had found a component to make the starting pieces of that smithy, Octavia found some flint and tossed it over to her, where she caught it and, with Steve's instructions, just smashed it on the side of some stone. Such a thing resulted in two shards being made, along with her keeping the flint like Octavia had suspected she would, where Steve pulled out the sticks he had gathered so far and used the shards to make the flint knives he and Alex had mentioned earlier, while making sure to pass one to his companion. With that done they spotted some grass nearby and used their new knives to cut some strands down, dropping green pieces of string that had to be the fiber they were looking for, and when Steve had three of them he combined them into plant string which, when combined with flint and a stick, made the hatchet he wanted. Pinkie and Octavia watched as he then chopped down one of the nearby oak trees, which fell away from him and turned into a pile of wood that he then placed and turned into a set of planks, or a stack as he called it, and four planks were merged into a Crafting Table.
Instead of placing it immediately he continued along the river and sought out the cave the Elder had told them about, an area that wasn't too far from where the small lake was located, though as he set it down outside the cave Steve had Pinkie place some torches on the walls, to light up the area. She did so without delay and found that there was a lot of stone for them to dig through, which meant it had to be a common material in this world, though at the same time she found that there were patches of coal, dull silver material that had to be iron, and a few bits of gold around her. As Pinkie quickly put down the torches Octavia watched as Steve weaved together some planks and some sticks into a wooden pickaxe, which he only used to extract twelve pieces of stone, allowing him to make four stone pickaxes that he passed around to her and the others. Once the pickaxes were made he started gathering more stone to make the other tools they needed, an axe for cutting down trees and defending one's self, and a sword to fight off monsters, though as Steve did that Alex directed Pinkie and Octavia to the coal veins that were around them, allowing them to gather their first bits of Experience at last, so they could build their reserve and boost their Skills when they were ready to do so.
Alex oversaw their efforts while they gathered the coal that was around them, as she was pleased to find that Pinkie and Octavia, while clearly doing this for the first time, were quick to adapt to everything they were telling them, before seeing that Pinkie found another vein of coal and quickly mined it out as well, which would give them more for later.
"Now that you guys have some Experience, represented by a green number in your Inventory, you can open the Skills tab and use those orbs to boost your abilities," Alex said, something that called Pinkie and Octavia over to the entrance of the cave, where thanks to Pinkie placing those torches down it looked like the cave was vacant, or at least this part was, while she found that Octavia found a few red and green crystals during her mining, "you'll be able to boost your farming, agility, defense, building, attack, gathering, magic, and mining skills, which will allow you to use new materials and do other things that'll boost your chances of surviving... we're still discovering new things as well, so we don't have all the answers."
Pinkie chuckled for a moment as she boosted everything and anything she was able to boost, because she discovered that her Experience Meter didn't go down when she first boosted her building up, since she was planning on making that odd smithy later on, and soon everything was at the same level that it was at. Alex and Steve, seeing that she had done that in an instant, recalled what Octavia had said earlier and just rolled with it, as it was better than trying to understanding what she had done or how she was doing it, as they had a feeling that they'd go made trying to do so. Instead of worrying about that Steve handed out some additional items for them to use, stone swords, axes, and shovels, as he had been swinging at the stone and this was what he had done while Alex was watching over their companions, meaning they could mine as a group and not have to worry about anyone falling behind. With that done Steve then collected the iron and found that it only contained five pieces, though he realized it wasn't a problem when he had Pinkie carry them, though such a thing put a smile on her face as she headed back for the village, something that caused the others to follow after her.
While they walked back to the village she found the location of the sand and clay she had seen earlier, to which she used the shovel that had been given to her and went to work, gathering a few of each material as the others watched her, since Steve and Alex were eager to see her handiwork as Octavia realized what she was doing. Once she was sure she had more than enough of each material, according to the tome that was floating near her, again Octavia said it was just Pinkie being her usual self, as she wasn't shocked that she had gained some sort of magic after boosting her skills, she headed back to the village. Pinkie also stopped by the rock cropping she had spotted earlier, which her companion also pointed out, just in case she forgot about it, and smashed her way through some of the stone with her pickaxe, even some polished stone she liked, before continuing on her way once more. Upon their arrival she walked over to Steve and Alex's residence before slipping three pieces of iron into the furnace she had made earlier that morning, along with a bit of coal, where she stood there for a few moments and let the pieces cook, something that allowed her to produce three iron bars that, once Pinkie pulled them out, she crafted into a bucket, which left her with three iron bars and the new bucket.
As Steve and Alex processed that, as it was a successful repeat of what she had done earlier, Pinkie headed over to the small smithy and went to work, her first action being the collection of the small pool of lava that served as the heat source, and once that was gone she stashed it away before getting to work, for real this time. Her first order of business was just a demolition job, as she cut down the walls with her new axe, removed the cobblestone floor with her pickaxe, and quickly emptied the area that the smithy was resting in, all while her companions watched from across the road as the Villagers came to see what she was doing. Once that was done she thought about the design she was going with and made an area with her polished stone, confirming that all she needed was one piece to have unlimited usage of it, that was three smithy houses connected together, heading towards the edge of the village, and she quickly made a few openings in the front of it and on the left side. Steve and Alex realized that she was making a new smithy, the front third being turned into what had to be where she would take orders from everyone in the village, and with the wood and other materials she made the other two thirds into where her living quarters would be, along with two sections on top that served as a second story, to match most of the houses around here.
Once the first portion was done Pinkie slipped some gravel, clay, and sand into her Crafting Table, making some light gray material that she mass produced and threw into her eternal furnaces, as the old house had two and she added them to her own, leaving six on the ground to make more of the material she was currently after. After the main structure of her new smithy was complete, and her bed was placed, Pinkie dug out an area to the left of her place and started to construct a large area that seemed to be where she'd do all of her work, before retreating to the furnaces for a moment. In the next moment Octavia could see that she was producing a number of black bricks, though she also accessed her Crafting Table with some wood and sticks, crafting what looked like a pattern, which she checked with the tome for a second, something that she then used to make several new items. When combined with a wooden plank it created an interesting table, with some wood that was untouched she made another new table, before adding it to a chest and then to a chest with some wood and a pair of sticks, giving her two interesting storage chests, and then made a new Crafting Table that she added a pattern to, a fact that made a new table that had to be linked to what she was doing.
In that moment, once the flooring was placed, Pinkie pulled a piece of the grout, as she called it, out and added it to the book she was looking at, leaving her with an untouched version and a new volume entirely, before drawing upon the mass of seared brick and started to craft blocks of bricks. She then formed an eight by eight base of the blocks in the center of her work area before building upward, giving herself a seven by seven core for her smithy, which was five more blocks tall, before she glanced at the tome and started to alter the recipe of the seared bricks. Such a thing allowed her to make more pieces of the smithy, making Octavia wonder how much was written in the tomes she checked every now and then, but, in the end, she remained silent, as Pinkie worked her magic, following the recipes that were inside the book as she crafted a control block, a fuel tank, drains, faucets, basins, and tables. Based on what she could see Pinkie could smelt down metals and pour them into either blocks of pure metal, what the golems had to be made out of, or designs she created, hence the reason behind those workbenches she made, where she had the basins on the left side and the tables for the designs on the right, leaving the controls and fuel tank facing the stairs that lead to her house.
A few seconds later she slipped in the iron they had gathered, an unlimited amount no less, before pouring in multiple buckets of lava to power the smithy, causing her to smile as she glanced back at the others and wiped the sweat from her brow, causing Octavia to chuckle as Steve and Alex look dumbfounded by what they had just seen, though she was eager to see what Pinkie did in the future.
"So, what's the purpose of the new smithy?" Steve asked, because after Pinkie had worked hard to set up her house, in no time he mentally reflected, he and Alex had insisted that she take a break for a few moments and fulled the girl off to the side, where she joined them and Octavia for a bit of lunch, bread and meat.
"Well, I know you can make weapons and gear with a Crafting Table, but according to the tome I read the ones made from this smithy should be far stronger and tougher for us." Pinkie replied, taking a moment to gesture to where the smithy rested, which was currently melting down the mass of iron she had slipped inside it a few moments ago, "Supposedly I can use one of the tables to turn some of the cobblestone we gathered earlier to make the basic parts, like a pickaxe head for example, before putting said part on one of the smithy's work tables and pouring some metal over it. Such a thing should allow me to make a reusable cast for later, as there are other types of metal we can use and I'll be able to pour out a tool part made out of iron, or gold, or maybe even something much harder... according to the tome there are also a couple of metals in the Nether, so we'll have to explore there at some point. In fact, if we could get our hands on some, I can even craft special weapons made of dragon bones, weapons and tools out of something called Netherite, and even Manyullyn... whatever that is... the possibilities are endless."
"Meaning, with her powers, you won't ever run out of tools to get the job done." Octavia said, something that amazed both of their companions, due to the fact that their faces revealed that they were stunned by this information, before she took a moment to think about what Pinkie had said, "Though if we want to get at some of the tougher materials we'll have to take our time in the mines, searching for anything that might allow us to get even deeper than before... do you think we'll find some redstone while we're down there?"
"We should, as that's fairly common at times." Alex remarked, as while they were waiting Octavia had shown them the journal she had written her strange dream in and now she was considering what it might mean, though she did know that they would have to go deeper than before to find the material.
A few moments later Pinkie got up, having finished her food, and headed back down into the smithy, where they watched as she took the patterns she had crafted earlier and some of the wood she had gathered to make the wooden parts that were the basics of her work. Steve guessed she had said cobblestone since they had a lot of it, thanks to the mining they did earlier that morning, even though she intended to follow the book from start to finish, hence why she was starting with wood, and with her powers she never had to worry about running out of materials. One thing that was interesting to them was that there were schematics for each tool available to Pinkie when she glanced at one of the tables, which looked like they were linked together, and she wasted no time in making the necessary parts out of wood before turning to the smithy. The first thing she did was empty out the iron into the basins, creating a decent amount of iron blocks, before she slipped in the pieces of gold they had recovered, and more to make things faster, where she moved over to the tables that she could make new parts on and placed the wooden pieces down.
Sure enough Steve, Alex, and Octavia watched as she poured out the gold onto the parts and made the casts she had just told them about, without damaging the parts in the process, allowing her to collect all of her casts and stash them in one of the chests before turning back to her workshop. They observed as she spent some time smelting the gold into ingots and whole blocks, even though when Steve asked if she was planning on making golden weapons she informed them that, according to the books, gold wasn't used like that. Supposedly there was an armorer book as well, according to what she had read in both of her tomes, but she'd either have to find it or figure out how to make it, though as she told them that she made sure all the workbenches were lined up against one of the walls, including a few more she just made. Steve and Alex were impressed by how fast and well she was working, all while talking to people no less, while Octavia wasn't even a tiny bit surprised, in fact she was used to hearing stories of what Pinkie could do, instead she just watched as the figure went to work with the smithy.
It wasn't long before Pinkie turned her attention to making actual iron tools for them, or at least for her, Steve, and Alex due to the fact that Octavia was behind them in terms of Experience in that area, though what she discovered was that, at some point in time, she could modify their tools with other materials. She was able to figure out such a thing by reading the tomes that were connected to the smithy, so once they found, say, diamond she would be able to melt them down as well and forge new tool parts. In addition to that she discovered something interesting, the tools made from her smithy, for some reason, were capable of leveling and becoming better, meaning the more they were used the better they would get, or at least that was her understanding of this discovery. The only other thing she made with the iron was something called a sharpening kit, which would allow them to repair their tools when they were out in the wilderness, so if one's axe or pickaxe broke, to the point where it wouldn't do anything, this allowed them to fix it.
Once she was done with her work, as she didn't want to make armor without that book and whatever knowledge was in it, Pinkie handed over the tools she had crafted over the last couple of minutes, something that Steve and Alex took while Octavia nodded, as he understood why she didn't have any new gear.
"I noticed that you got a bit of Experience from crafting those items, and smelting other components," Alex said, though at the same time they departed from the village, as Pinkie told them the smithy was fine to leave alone, because Steve just wanted to spend a little more time in their new mine before they called it a day, "I take it you specialized in Crafting, like how Steve took Combat and I went with Mining?"
What she was referring to was the fact that their Skills came with three overall specializations that gained one more green orbs when they performed whatever action was associated with it, like how Pinkie had been crafting items, or how both she and Octavia had been mining earlier, or how Steve fought their enemies, apparently.
"Not really. I went with all three specializations." Pinkie replied, where she hopped along the path that they had taken not a few hours ago, leaving a stunned Steve and Alex behind for a few moments, while Octavia simply chuckled as she walked behind her companion.
Once more their new companions had to deal with the truth behind Pinkie's powers, that she was able to break rules and it made total sense for her, before following after her once more, allowing them to focus on the mine and what they were looking for, just more materials and redstone. As they did that, however, both she and Octavia glanced at the sky again, as they were so used to Princesses Celestia and Luna moving the sun and moon, so it was weird to see them moving without any assistance, but they said nothing about that to their new companions. While they walked Steve had them stop for just a few seconds as he found a skeleton, a white boned creature that stood as tall as him and Alex while wielding a bow, who was standing beneath one of the trees they had passed by earlier. He had the others pause for a moment as he drew his new iron sword and silently approached his target, who seemed to be keeping to the shade to avoid the sunlight, where Alex lowered her voice and explained that, in their world, they had to fight skeletons and zombies, who liked to linger in all sorts of shady areas before making their move.
The pair watched as their companion ambushed the skeleton and slashed at it, all while dodging the arrow it loosed at him once everything started, as he used the tree trunk to take it as he attacked his foe again, and it wasn't long before he was victorious, reducing the skeleton to a bit of Experience orbs before rejoining them.
From there they continued on their way to the cave, where upon their arrival Pinkie glanced at the walls and carefully set up a series of torches that ensured everything had enough light, as Alex informed them that monsters liked to appear out of patches of darkness and lighting them up ensured their safety. Of course that worked in their world and they really had no idea what sort of monsters existed in this one, as she and Steve were still learning about the rules of this world, but for now it seemed like they also followed that rule, light meant nothing appeared out of the shadows. As such she, Pinkie, and Octavia started to dig into the walls as Steve kept an eye out for danger, as there was one dark path and, while he could send Pinkie down it real quick, given her infinite torches, he didn't want to push her or Octavia too much too soon, since it was clear their world was different from his and Alex's. Octavia found that both Pinkie and Alex mined slightly faster than she did, thanks to them having iron tools and she was still at stone, but for now she was focused on finding redstone, the missing component that she needed to remake what happened in her dream.
As she dug a small hole around her, away from the others, she found a red ore that seemed to be what she was looking for, something that caused her to call Alex over to see if her thoughts were right, and, sure enough, Alex confirmed that it was redstone, to which she mined the four vein with a smile on her face. While she was doing that, and expanded her hole to see what else she could find, since there was no telling what else this mine had to offer, Steve found some zombies and attacked them first, using his empowered skill to attack, dodge, and take them down, though one scratched him before he was able to take it down. It wasn't life threatening, in fact he had suffered enough zombie attacks back in their previous world, so he simply stood nearby and kept an eye out for more enemies, since both he and Alex knew there were far more creatures inside the mines and that they were being lucky. As he did that and Alex focused on one of the walls, mining out more material for later, since building a wall around their base was important, since they had no idea if Pillagers existed in this world, Pinkie found a cave spider coming at her and, without thinking, slashed it apart with her iron sword.
To be honest she had no idea how she had done that, where she had to assume that her skills had acted up to save her, or something like that, though she did find a small light green orb, a Bezoar according to what her Inventory told her when she investigated it, and found that it granted immunity to poison.
Based on what Steve could see this mine was one of the safest he had seen so far, there wasn't a lot for them to worry about and made that everyone could focus on mining, though sure enough there were instances where they had to stop and use the kits Pinkie had crafted earlier. Such a thing allowed them to repair their pickaxes with ease, though Octavia just stopped when hers reached that point since her tool was made of stone and not iron, so she wasn't sure she could use the iron sharpening kit with her tool. With that in mind she focused on gathering more of the strange crystals she had found, as she had one dream about them and suspected that if she had more of them she would be able to do more in due time, where Steve nodded his head as he saw what she was doing and followed after her, since Alex and Pinkie were fine on their own. Octavia found that the deeper into the earth they went the more things changed, as there were rivers of water and lava, either separate from each other or clashing, the latter forming stone and some dark material that Steve said was called obsidian, which they would need at some point in time, once they made diamond tools.
She discovered his reasoning in no time, obsidian was one of the hardest materials in the 'Overworld', as they called the main dimension of this world, hence why the Nether and the End were different dimensions, and it was used to make the portal to the Nether, something she would keep in mind for later on.
"So to get obsidian we need to find diamonds, which, according to what you've said, can only be mined with iron... and I'm going to say the correct Experience in mining." Octavia commented, which, if she was right about this, meant that it would be some time before they could get to the Nether, where some of the best materials for Pinkie's smithy could be found, at least according to her books.
"The Experience function is rather strange and hard to get used to." Steve replied, reminding her that he was used to just being able to craft whatever he wanted without any restrictions, instead of having to worry about needing the required level to use the tools that allowed him to survive in this world, before he paused as they reached the end of the passage they had been following, "Of course there's a chasm running through this area... reminds me of home."
The chasm was large, probably ten to fifteen blocks from one side to another in the vertical manner, though Octavia was able to find that it went off in both directions for a long time, so this would be a good area to explore once they had more gear, since Pinkie was looking for another book. When she thought about it, however, Octavia realized that if Pinkie took her first book and added something to it, maybe the patterns she used to start her on the path she had picked, she might get the tome she was looking for, which she'd be sure to tell Pinkie in due time. With that in mind, and Steve confirming that it might be better to come back later on, when they had armor, the pair retraced their steps as they made their way back to where Pinkie and Alex were working on expanding the mine. Since they had tested out their new tools, and were able to confirm that the sharpening kits worked, there was no reason to stay in the mine, at least for now, because night was coming, as odd as it seemed, and it would be best if they returned to the village for a time.
As they did that, however, Pinkie glanced off to their left, which was the right when coming to this place, and spotted what looked like a large tower made of stone off in the distance, something Steve and Alex had seen a few times since coming to this world. Octavia got the feeling that neither of them knew what it was, meaning they might head over there once all of them got a good nights sleep, though what Steve did know, from observing one before he and Alex had moved, was that it did contain a large number of enemies. Such a thing meant that they had to outfit themselves first, meaning armor was a requirement and that included leveling their defense skill to be able to wear whatever armor, making Octavia take a moment to wonder if there was a way for Pinkie to share Experience with them, as hers didn't seem to go down when she used it, so if they found a way to share it they might be able to boost everyone else to her level. She kept her thoughts to herself for a time, as she didn't want to excite Steve or Alex and then not deliver when they tried to do it, though with the materials they had gathered she knew that it was time to try her hand at something new.
When they got back to the village, as she expected, Alex inquired as to why Octavia needed redstone, to which she made her way over to the house she had picked out, a temporary base she informed the others as she liked the tower that was on the other side of the river, and focused on the Crafting Table. Once there she pulled out three of the crystals she had found in the mines, one of each to be exact, before placing them in a bowl and added in the redstone, which was when she started to stir the mixture and found that everything broke apart. What she created, however, was a glowing pinkish pile of dust that she called 'Salis Mundus', where she had no idea why she called it that, where she turned to a bookshelf that had been placed on the floor by the previous owner and sprinkled it on it. For a moment all it did was glow, like she had transferred the effect from the dust to the bookcase, before it shrunk before their eyes and all the pages and books just gathered into a single volume that was pulsing with magical energies, unlike anything she had felt before, a tome that, when she picked it up, was called the 'Thaumonomicon'.
As Octavia opened it, however, she found that there was an entry about the tome, looking like it had been penned in her own odd handwriting, speaking about the wonders of this magical book and the magic it knew about, Thaumaturgy, not to mention a tool that would aid her, to which she smiled as she looked forward to seeing what might happen next, unaware that something was silently observing her and the others.
Following the creation of the Thaumonomicon, and the discoveries it gave her, Octavia moved her meager belongings to the tower that was on the outskirts of the village, mostly because she had a feeling that the discoveries contained within the tome might be dangerous. As such she intended on keeping everything contained away from the village, just in case things went south, though, as she discovered, Pinkie helped her out by using the finer stone she used in her house to make the bridge that connected the two patches of land together. With that done she made her way to the top of the tower and found that several changes needed to be made, as this wasn't safe at all and needed several modifications to make it a true home, but that would have to happen another day, given that the day was almost over. She was still amazed by how quick the sun and moon moved in this world, the days were far shorter than what she and Pinkie were used to, though she did join the others for dinner, more bread and meat, while drinking from some of the filtered canteens that had been given to them by the Villagers, leftover from someone else who came through the area.
She also discovered that the magical tome contained all sorts of magical information that, unfortunately, was locked away at the moment, so it could only point her in the right direction, where she assumed if she did the experiments right she could unlock new entries. Thaumaturgy was interesting, especially since Steve and Alex were eager to see what she might learn, and based on what the tome told her she was going to need something called a Thaumometer, though to craft such an item she required more Salis Mundus and an ordinary Crafting Table. Supposedly it would make something that could handle the energies she would be working with, or at least that was her basic understanding of all of this, which told her that she would have to make at some point. Of course, she still had a few bowls and multiple crystals, so she didn't have to worry about going mining for a while, but knowing Pinkie, and the discovery of the battle tower, she had a feeling that they might head over there to see what was inside it, despite the fact that none of them had armor.
When morning arrived, however, Octavia was right in her thoughts, Pinkie was already up and was eying the tower off in the distance, though both Steve and Alex seemed to be getting ready as well, sharpening their weapons and making sure they had anything that might be useful.
"So, we're actually doing this?" Octavia asked, where she joined the others and accepted a canteen for a moment, since she was a bit thirsty and deal with it, and did a quick double check of her stone tools, which might not be useful inside the tower, even though they had no idea what sort of enemies might be inside it.
"Pinkie expressed her interest in checking it out, and the Elder told us that the Builders created the Battle Towers to test people, while leaving treasure behind." Steve replied, though he understood why Octavia would say something like that, as none of them had armor and there was a good chance that something bad would happen to them while they were seeing what the structure had for them, before he considered the other thing he had learned, "Also, the Elder told me that each of the ten floors have treasure chests inside them, so we might be able to obtain new items and gear while we're there... we're only taking on the first floor, maybe the second if we're lucky, before we'll come back."
Octavia considered that information for a moment, because if there were ores inside the chests it would be worth picking them up and handing them to Pinkie, who would be able to use them as much as she wanted, and since they had no idea what else might be in the chests it was hard to say if they would be useful or not. Despite the fact that she knew most of them were under equipped for this, save for Pinkie since her chaotic powers might come to her aid in some manner, she agreed that they could see what the first floor had for them, maybe the second if they were lucky. Steve and Alex had an idea to help them out while they were doing this, they knew of a method to make shields and the Villagers had another method to share, reminding them that the rules of this world were different from their old one. What Pinkie was told was to add six wooden planks to a Crafting Table, covering the bottom left and upper right corners, before adding a stick in the slot between the two groups, giving her a wooden shield, and by adding four cobblestone on top of that she could make it a stone shield, which she made four of in a few moments.
Pinkie then had the bright idea to place four iron ingots around the stone shields and produced three iron shields, which were bulkier and stronger than the stone ones, but Octavia knew why she was stuck with stone and decided that the first thing she'd do, before or after crafting the Thaumometer, and once that task had been completed the four of them left the village once more.
The first thing they did was cross Pinkie's basic bridge, even she knew it was basic and wanted to find some supplies, no doubt better than stone, to replace and improve upon her design, and then walked by Octavia's residence before turning in the direction that the Battle Tower was in. While they walked Alex pointed out a gray Hippogryph that was flying above the forest, away from where she and the others assumed the dragon was resting, which they were thankful for since none of them wanted to fight the dragon at all. The creature in question had the body, tail, and back legs of a horse, while also having the head and wings of an eagle with eagle talons as its front limbs, though it was likely fleeing before the dragon found it, a smart move even though they could see that nothing was wrong with the area. Other than that Steve felt that it was too quiet for a forest, something Alex shared, which meant that the presence of the dragon might be a boon for the time being, forcing other monsters to back off, but sooner or later someone needed to take it down, otherwise it would no doubt burn down the village and everyone inside it.
After an uneventful, yet nerve wracking, trek the group arrived at the edge of the Battle Tower, finding that the tales were true, there were ten floors and nine of them had openings that could be windows, so if they needed to jump out of a floor they could do so and land on top of the nearby trees. Despite the fact that it was clearly old, as it must have been here for a long time, the stone didn't look all that aged and the floor level had two entrances as well, meaning if they wanted to the four of them could split up and tackle the enemies from two sides, a plan for the future. Pinkie and Octavia noticed a few things right off the bat, there were holes in the ceiling that needed to be patched, there was a raised section, a block high by two wide, that had a wide chest on it, and on either side of the chest, with a block of separation, were two iron barred items that had what looked like monsters bouncing around inside their centers. The only other thing of importance was a staircase on the other side of the room, from where they were standing, which was partly hidden by the wall on their right, but to their eyes neither Equestria could see anything out of the ordinary, no guardians for them to fight.
Of course neither of them were stupid enough to actually enter the tower just yet, as Steve and Alex informed them that the iron barred boxes were what they called 'Spawners', devices capable of creating either a specific amount of enemies or an endless horde over time. Since their companions were more experienced they let Steve enter the tower first, which was when the Spawners activated and some green skinned figures appeared out of thin air, who looked similar to Steve and Alex, Zombies as the pair called them. As Steve hacked and slashed into them, Alex told Pinkie and Octavia that most of their undead enemies were unarmed and pretty harmless to an experienced adventurer, though there were instances of some wielding weapons and even wearing really great armor. She also informed the pair that the best course of action was to find an opening, be it leading the enemies around or just killing them all, and using one's pickaxe to break apart the Spawner before it could summon more foes, though they were good fonts of Experience, which was music to their ears, as it should give Octavia what she needed for iron and then some.
While Steve focused on their enemies, and both Alex and Octavia joined him, Pinkie did something they approved of, she used her stone blocks and sealed the holes in the ceiling, because if each floor was the same, and had Spawners for them to take care of, she didn't want enemies raining down on them while they were busy. With that done she joined the others and raised her shield to block an incoming attack, just like Steve and Alex did, allowing her and Octavia to cut into both of their targets and take them down, cutting down on the number of enemies that were on the first floor. Steven opened the way for Octavia to use her pickaxe on one of the Spawners, where she quickly discovered that it was hard to do with her current level of equipment, though he did yank any new enemies out of the way so she could complete her task in peace, leading to her breaking the item in question. Sure enough she got a fair bit of Experience from that, in fact when it broke Steve and Alex stepped away as Pinkie cornered her foe and dealt with it, allowing her to catch up with her companions, to a degree anyway, before Alex stepped up and broke the next one.
Once both Spawners were dealt with, and the enemies were wiped out, they opened the chest and found that there was nothing really special inside it, save for a few bottles of Experience, but Steve found some leather armor and wheat seeds, so he collected them and considered what to do next, all while Pinkie moved the pair of chests outside, to put their loot in before heading back to the village.
"I do hope there is more worthwhile treasure inside these towers, otherwise they aren't worth it." Octavia commented, as while the Experience from the Spawners was nice, and allowed her to catch up with her companions, the first chest didn't fill her with hope, rather it made her want to leave so she could get back to her new studies.
"Three bottles of Experience isn't nothing, especially with Pinkie's power." Steve remarked, though he did share her view on the tower, with four people it didn't seem like it would be all that difficult if they followed the pattern they had used on the first floor and the enemies guarding it, before he glanced at the ceiling for a moment, "However, I have a feeling that, if we tackled another floor or two, we might find something more useful for our mission... maybe some gear that will help us fight off a dragon or some other dreadful enemies."
Octavia wasn't too sure of that, since this place was just made of stone, but she and the others agreed to tackle several of the other floors to see what in the world they had in terms of treasure and enemies, to which Pinkie took down the stone she had set up on the staircase entrance, just in case foes spawned above and walked down the stairs. A few moments later the group discovered a number of spiders, like those found in the mine, hanging out on the second floor, to which all of them repeated what they had done before, three of them distracting their enemies as Pinkie sealed the holes. Once she was done with that she joined her companions and they carefully blocked attacks before lashing out at each of their foes, this time allowing Steve and Pinkie to break the Spawners when an opening showed itself, showing Octavia that there was a rotation to who got the Experience. The moment the last foe fell the group took stock of what was inside the chest, since that was part of the reason behind why they were here, finding a pile of stone weaponry, causing the more experienced pair to sigh as Pinkie carried the chests outside, though on her way up she lit the floors with her torches, just to prevent more foes from appearing from the darkness.
The third floor had Skeletons defending it, much more difficult than the enemies they had fought so far since arrows were more painful and fatal, so they carefully used their shields to defend against the incoming attacks before breaking down the Spawners, only to find some chain armor and some red bricks inside the chest. From there they found that every floor beyond that seemed to just have Skeletons defending them, so Pinkie had to make sure their shields were good after each fight and, if one was about to break, utilize her materials to make a new iron one, even though she did hand over Octavia's set of iron tools once she reached the level to use them. There were some green slime balls, a set of chain armor, and a suit of armor that looked like it was made of silver in the fourth floor chest, some backpacks and a compass inside the fifth floor's container, and a set of enchanted iron armor resting in the sixth floor's chest, plus some gold ingots and a suit of diamond horse armor. The chests on the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors were far more interesting, containing pieces of blue diamond gear, as one had a sword and another had a chest piece, though they also found some old atlases, a couple of bookshelves, blocks of lapis, and several enchanted baubles, which they had no idea what to do with them.
Once they finished clearing the ninth floor, however, Octavia noticed that the ceiling had no holes in it and meant that it had to be made of some tougher material than they were used to, or at least it looked that way from a glance, though she and the others made sure to spend their Experience wisely as Pinkie just broke the system.
"Okay, do we continue, or do we call it a day and go home?" Octavia asked, because while she knew they had been lucky, due to Steve and Alex sharing their knowledge with them to make sure they survived whatever the tower had to throw at them, she wondered if it was time to quit before something happened.
"Come on, after everything we've faced so far, the top of the tower should be easy." Pinkie said, where she opened the way to the tenth and final floor and quickly walked up the stairs, though as the others followed her they found that what was waiting for them was a giant made of chiseled stone brick and had a single blue eye, which turned towards them the instant they entered the arena it was guarding.
In the following moment Pinkie felt one of her Pinkie Sense attacks come on and instantly called for everyone to descend, something Octavia instantly followed as Steve and Alex hesitated before doing the same, though as they retreated to the ninth floor the Golem smashed through the ceiling, avoiding the chest up there, and glared at them. Pinkie, thinking fast, did the only reasonable thing that they could do at the moment, she jumped out of the opening and dropped down into the forest, finding that the leaves cushioned her fall and everyone else was grateful to discover that fact. As they did that, however, the Golem smashed through the floors like they were nothing, rapidly reaching the ground floor before trying to step out into the world, only for them to discover that it was tied to the tower and couldn't leave the area it had been told to guard with it's life. Even with that information in hand the group carefully slashed at the Golem, as it was capable of yet another surprise, firing balls of explosive fire, though Steve recognized them and sent it flying back with a well placed hit, all while he told them that he and Alex had fought some Ghasts that did the same thing.
Even with their caution and this discovery it took them a while to actually bring down the Golem, as it appeared that iron, while better than stone, had a hard time beating his clearly enchanted body, though they were able to do so in the end, breaking the Golem into pieces, which included some diamonds, redstone, and a few bits of clay.
"Next time... we're coming better prepared." Steve huffed, as he wasn't expecting the guardian of the Battle Tower to be a walk in the park, rather he was expecting it to kick their rears and force them to come back later on, but he guessed that having four people might have made things easier on them, before he noticed something, "Um, where did Pinkie..."
In the following moment the top of the tower exploded and the structure fell apart before their eyes, raining stone down on everything that was around it, forcing them to move for a moment before discovering that Pinkie had disappeared and grabbed onto the chest at the peak, allowing her to save the treasure, and she landed in the tree before touching down and setting the container down.
"You know, I'm not even going to begin to question what you just did." Alex said, because she had no idea how Pinkie had been able to get back to the peak so quickly, nor did she understand how she had known to dodge the incoming attack from the Golem, the first one after it woke up and noticed them, before taking a moment to glance at the chest, "So, what was he guarding?"
"Let's see... some glowing ingots, some odd silt, a few pieces of emerald jewelry, a rod that looks like it's on fire, a couple of diamonds... awesome!" Pinkie replied, where the others paused for a moment as she said that, as she pulled out a tome that seemed to be the armor tome she had been looking for, causing Octavia to chuckle, as now her friend would be able to make the gear she was interested in, boosting their power even more, "Other than that, not much else... save for a lone piece of paper that has a list of seven rings on it, including a 'Ring of Dragons'... I'll have to look into that later, once we're all armored up and ready for a brand new adventure."
Once more Octavia wasn't sure what Pinkie was talking about, save for wanting to explore this world, but decided that it was best if they fill up their new backpacks, put them on, and head back to the village so they could disperse the treasure accordingly, all while looking forward to seeing what happened when she got started on Thaumturgy, even though Pinkie did glance at the sky for a moment before joining them.
As the group headed back to the village, however, three figures stood in a chamber made of darkened material, a relic of an age long past, through it had been some time since they had last been in the same area for any length of time, a fact all three of them were grateful for, with a flat surface nearby that showed any dimension they were interested in. They were ancient beings, charged by the Builders to watch over their creations, and they had grown bored of that, so now each of them had their fun by ruling, in a sense, over the various dimensions that had been left behind, as no one really knew that each of them existed, only that the Builders had existed. Every now and then one of them would modify their dimension in some manner, adding or removing something for a bit of fun, and then drag an inhabitant from one of the other versions of the main dimension into this dimension, just to see if they could survive the challenges of this world. Sometimes they were amused by some of the Crafters that were summoned, either by their actions or how well they did, other times one or more found laughter in watching one constantly fail, and some were just plain hopeless that death was a blessing, and each one occasionally messed with someone that was trying to prove that they existed.
A new session had started and the Crafters had been called in, hence why the three of them had gathered again, to watch and observe the events that transpired in the world, though one usually ignored the first day or two, figuring that nothing interesting would happen in such a short period of time.
"Steve and Alex have made their base in a forest village, a worthy starting base... save for the black dragon that torched part of the forest," one of them, a being whose body was made out of pure darkness, remarked, where the window near them showed the location he was talking about, causing a ghostly white being with red eyes and a figure with glowing eyes to focus on it, before the image changed, "However, we have two newcomers that weren't part of the plan... Pinkie Pie and Octavia they are called... and they just finished a Battle Tower."
"Already?! Most are unable to withstand the dangers of such a place, especially in the first week." the ghostly figure asked, as it was strange, because there was a very small percent of Crafters that were able to bring down a Battle Tower Golem in such a short period of time, before he and the shadowy figure glanced at the third one, while the only way to tell that the shadow had gone so was because of the wisps around the eye area, "What do you make of this, brother?"
"I am intrigued. It has been a while since we've seen this happen," the glowing eyed figure replied, where he raised his left hand for a moment and zeroed in on the strange girls that had appeared in this world, finding that one seemed to be in the earliest stages of Thaumaturgy and the other seemed to rewrite reality, to some degree anyway, before he let out a light chuckle as he glanced at a list of events they used to test newcomers, "This should be interesting."
The other two chuckled a little as well before they got to talking about their plans for the group, what sort of challenges they could force upon them or events to inflict terror upon them, though each of them knew that this session should be one of the more interesting ones they had witnessed so far and were eager to see how the group reacted next.
Once they got back to the village the first thing Pinkie did was take her new tome and added it to her collection, allowing her to understand how to make armor, even though it would take some time to get the hang of things, before she, Steve, and Alex focused on the division of materials. Most of the base materials, like the diamonds and emeralds for example, were placed in Pinkie's care so she could focus on figuring out how to make new gear for herself, since she could likely use the latter already, while making armor for the others. Anything else was divided between Steve and Alex, so they could learn more about the world and anything else that might help them in their quest, though Pinkie also kept the list of rings, since she was sure that it would be some time before such a thing became useful. The instant they were done dividing their loot, for the time being, Pinkie got to work crafting a brand new bench to add to the rest of the tinkering station she had created earlier, which was what she was thinking of calling it, before worrying about trying to make some armor.
Octavia watched as her companion resumed working with iron, since that was the shared level that they were at and she wanted some practice before messing with the diamonds they had recovered, hence why she was crafting new casts with the new tables, so she could make new armor for everyone. From what she read one needed to make the 'core' of a piece, such as one for the helmet or chest piece, plates that seemed to be reinforcements for the piece itself, and some trim to complete the look, though while one could make a piece entirely out of one metal the book encouraged the smith to use different combinations. It reminded her of what she found in the tomes about the new tools and weapons that would be added to their arsenals, and she glanced at the list of supposed traits that each metal supposedly had, discovering that iron had some sort of magnetic aspect, and some of the others had interesting effects. Once more she found that, of all of them, that Manyullyn might have the best effects and, by combining it with the other metals, could make some serious gear for all of them, to which Pinkie, while she wasn't busy crafting anything, formed some plans for the future, to find the materials needed to reach that metal.
Steve commented on her choice, indicating that they might have to go to the Nether at some point to retrieve some of the materials she wanted to use, but Pinkie was fine with that, especially since she would ensure they were well prepared for when that time came.
While they did that Octavia went back to her new tower house and got to work on the next step of her Thaumaturgy, to which she sought out the Crafting Table that was in the structure, at the peak, and once more confirmed that she needed to change the layout at some point. After reaching her target she pulled out some materials and carefully repeated what she had done earlier, allowing her to make some more Salis Mundus with the crystals and redstone she had on hand, just a small pile, before sprinkling it on the table. Such a thing caused the magical energies to wrap around the table for a few seconds before transforming it into a dark brown table with a green top, though, just like the tome that allowed her to do this, it also contained magical energies, to which she opened the Thaumonomicon and studied the information that had been unlocked. According to the tome her creation was an Arcane Workbench and could even make things that were, as the tome called them, mundane, but through the use of the Vis Crystals, the gems she found while mining, she would do all sorts of things and make new tools.
Apparently the magical energies of this world were known as Vis as well, hence why they were called 'Vis' Crystals, and, as she soon discovered, the tome even revealed recipes that would allow her to open more pages, confirming her thoughts from earlier, causing her to sigh for a moment.
"Twilight would have a field day with this tome and the knowledge it contains." Octavia commented, in fact she was sure that the Princess would devote too much of her time to studying and understanding everything that was inside this tome, likely to a point that was too extreme or even dangerous for everyone, before she focused on the page that contained the recipe for the Thaumometer, "I better visit Pinkie."
Her reason for that was because she needed some gold ingots, four of them to be exact, and a glass pane, something that was even written in the side of the page, in case someone was unfamiliar with the recipes of this world, so she headed to the smithy and found that Pinkie was more than willing to hand a few over, plus she made some panes and handed a set of sixteen to her. With those in hand she returned to her new house and climbed up the stairs once more, where Octavia wondered if there was a way to make this quicker and safer, even if she had to invite Pinkie over for some renovation, only to stop at her Arcane Workbench. She huffed for a few moments and regained her breath, because walking up the stairs each time she wanted to use this place seemed like a little much, before she placed the four pieces of gold into position in the four directional spaces of the bench and filled the middle with one of the panes. She also found that she needed one of each Vis Crystal, of which there seemed to be only six types, those being red, blue, green, yellow, white, and black, and she was fortunate enough to have at least one of each, hence why she slipped them into six colored slots that formed a circle around the crafting section of the table.
Once all of that was done, and she was sure that all of the steps had been completed, she watched as the Vis energies of the crystals wrapped around the materials, quickly merging all four gold ingots into a metal ring with the glass right in the middle, with six beads resting where all of the crystals had been. According to the tome this device was supposed to aid her in understanding the world in some manner, as in she needed to pick it up and look through the lens while focusing on an item, like some wood or a stone pillar, to understand more about the Vis. Interestingly enough the tome, filled with more information, told her that the Vis was like an ocean, ebbing and flowing all around them, while finding that there was a second category of Vis called Essentia, which happened to be more rigid than the formless Vis and seemed to be linked to physical items. Even then the tome told her that there were all sorts of Essentia for her to discover and study, in fact it seemed like the next step would be to do such a thing, so her first step was to use the new device to study items around her, like the bed or the shelves, and found that it seemed to make notes on whatever she looked at.
While she did that, and discovered that the information also flowed into her mind to help her understand what she was seeing through the lens, she had to wonder what might happen when she glanced at Pinkie's smithy or a dragon, though it would be a long time before they attempted the latter.
Octavia also found that, to aid her progress, she needed to make some sort of research bench, to make theories about the contents of the tome and the world around them, and noted the materials necessary to do that as well, since it looked like she was only scratching the surface of what was inside the Thaumonomicon. Such a thing required special glass bottles, a feather, and an ink sac to make the writing tools, while using some wood and some wooden slabs to make the table, and by combining the two together she could make the research bench, causing her to make a list. Most of the items were far too each for her to find, it should be easy to make the glass bottles, finding a feather should be easy since she was sure a chicken was somewhere in the village, and using some wood to make the table was straightforward, but finding the ink sac would be a little difficult. Based on what she found inside the tome she would need to track down a squid and claim it's sac, though to do that she would need to visit a larger body of water, since Octavia was sure that they wouldn't appear in the nearby river, which meant her studies, for the most part, were at a standstill.
As such she headed down the stairs once more and crossed the bridge, allowing her to make her way to the smithy and found that Pinkie seemed to be taking a break right now, though right now Steve was wearing iron armor, pure iron since she didn't use any other metal in the construction, and he seemed ready for battle.
"It seems that you've made some progress." Octavia commented, finding that the armor made from the new tome was far more impressive looking than what she and the others had found inside the chests of the Battle Tower, where she had to guess that it was due to the plate nature of how it was constructed.
"Yeah, but I need more metals to experiment with the rest of the knowledge inside the tomes," Pinkie said, something that caused Octavia to smile for a few seconds, because if both of them were stuck like this, needing materials to advance with their new occupations, that meant they would have to go out into the wilderness and see if they could find anything new, "so for now we're stuck with just iron armor... I was looking forward to making some modifications, but this is pretty good for right now."
"Which means we'll either have to go on another mining trip, or explore the rest of the world," Alex added, as Steve was in the middle of being checked out by Pinkie as she studied the suit he was now wearing, making sure everything was right before focusing on making a set for everyone else, "with iron gear both options are possible and encouraged, so we can figure out what else is resting in this world, if there are other villages out there, and locate the structures of the strongest beings in the world... like the Ender Dragon, for instance."
"Ender... Dragon?" Octavia inquired, as Pinkie was far too focused to ask anything right now, hence why she seemed to be the one figuring out more about the world that Steve and Alex came from, which had some similarities with this one, and any information they could get out of their companions meant their stay in this world would be easier, to some degree as she thought about things.
"A powerful dragon that rules over the End... or is imprisoned there, we're not too sure which is true." Steve remarked, all without moving too much, as he knew that Pinkie was interested in his armor and what else she might be able to do with the materials they had, before she nodded to him and quickly took her own measurements, he wasn't going to ask, before also doing the same to Alex and then moved to the smithy, "Anyway, if this world is anything like our world, the Ender Dragon will be waiting in the End... it might have been left behind by the Builders to guard something, or might have been created as a weapon by some other entity we're not aware of... if its the former, we might a clue as to why the Builders left, but if the latter is true taking it out will help protect this world."
Such a thing told Octavia what one of their end goals was, figure out how to get to the End and take down the dragon that ruled over it, though she also knew that it would take some time before they were able to do such a thing, given the state of their armor and weapons. She also found that Pinkie walked over and took a few seconds to get her measurements, to make sure her new suit of armor would fit perfectly, before resuming her work on Alex's set, who smiled when it was done and put it on once everything had cooled down, finding that it fit her perfectly. It wasn't too much longer before she had a set for Octavia to wear, only hers seemed more suited for a wizard, she guessed Pinkie knew about the Vis, again it was better not to ask how she knew about it, and she smiled as she put it on, finding that it fit nicely and would aid her in their next battle, but would likely help her once she learned more about magic. After making sure the three of them were ready to go, and were armored for whatever might happen next, Pinkie focused on using more iron to make her armor set, even if their companions were getting used to her chaotic abilities and the fact that it meant they had unlimited resources for whatever the future held for them.
With all four of them outfitted, and Pinkie took a moment to make sure all of their tools and weapons were ready for their next venture, she headed outside as the others followed after her, as she guessed it was time to talk to the village Elder and see if he knew anything else about the surrounding area, before Pinkie paused as she felt something.
Arachnophobia! a voice said, one that sounded like it came from somewhere else, instead of the Villagers, though as they heard it Octavia noticed that the Villagers seemed worried about something, meaning they might learn more about the voice if they asked them about this, Eight-legged terrors!
As the voice faded away, with some sinister laughter, Pinkie, Octavia, Steve, and Alex found discovered that the village was suddenly under attack by a bunch of spiders, some looking like they belonged in an icy environment, a number looked like they were sandy brown scorpions and belonged in the desert, and a few more vine green colored, like they came from a jungle. The Villagers, of course, started to freak out and ran for their houses, screaming about the end arriving, to which the four of them drew their weapons and rushed out to meet the invaders in combat, finding that their enemies used a bit of webbing to try and slow all four of them down. Octavia, seeing all of the scorpions out of the corner of her eye, did the smart thing and slashed at their stingers before they got close to her or her companions, taking out part of their natural weaponry, while discovering that the shield beings in the village were useless, as they floated above the streets and let the invaders have their way with their domain. As such she and her companions hacked and slashed at all of their enemies, to stem the tide and make sure everything remained safe for the foreseeable future, where Steve and Alex slashed their way through their enemies and opened the way for Pinkie to bounce around, taking some down with ease.
While they carefully fought their enemies, and Pinkie placed down more torches to make sure the surrounding area was clear so no more monsters came out of the shadows, Octavia wondered if there was a way to make this place safer, other than stone walls, before finding that the group of eight-legged terrors had been wiped out, allowing them to regroup as they made sure the coast was clear.
"Praise the Builders! You saved our village!" the Elder exclaimed, where he and the other Villagers were pleased to see that the invaders had been taken care of, though he was the only brave one who came out to speak with them, the others just waiting to make sure everything was clear before bothering to come out again.
"It is the least we could do, since you let us take some of your houses and call this place home," Steve replied, because he and Alex weren't about to leave the Villagers to fight off whatever had just happened, even though he could see Pinkie in the corner of his eye, staring up at the sky for some reason, before he focused on the Elder, "however, if you don't mind me asking, what in the world was that?"
"We call them 'Events', and they are used by the... well, the Admins, to have fun with our world." the Elder answered, which caused Steve and Alex to share a look as Octavia shook her head, indicating that she and Pinkie had no idea what he was talking about, causing the older Villager to sigh as he considered the information he knew, "We do not know who they are, rather we know that they seem to have taken the place of the Builders... to put it plainly, we suspect that the Admins just see our world as their toy and they start Events, a period of which that monsters of a specific nature will spawn."
"Like how Arachnophobia spawned spiders and scorpions?" Octavia asked, as she had noticed that the outskirts of this village hadn't been too lit up before the monsters arrived, which prompted Pinkie into lighting everything up, where the Elder nodded his head for a moment.
"Yes, but we were incredibly lucky... I have heard tales of them spawning hordes of dragons or other dangers on some of the other villages... even with you four we might not survive such a thing." the Elder said, which told them everything else they needed to know, these Admins didn't care for the people of the world and it was only a matter of time until they just wiped everyone out when they got bored of them, before he considered something else, "I've also heard tales of three imposing monsters who answer to the Admins... not the Ender Dragon or anything else you might have heard of, but we don't know anything about them. Such knowledge might be found in the ancient structures or the other dimensions..."
The group glanced at each other for a few more seconds, as it seemed like they had their next objective, head out and see if they could find one of the structures in question, though for now Steve decided that making sure the village was alright should be their first priority, while in the morning they could go on a new adventure, causing Pinkie and Octavia to look forward to what they and their companions might discover next.
When morning arrived Pinkie walked out of her smithy with a smile on her face, while her armor was gleaming and her tools were ready to go, after she repaired her blade and shield after the assault the previous day, though she also carried an axe for cutting down trees and one of the atlases they had recovered. Octavia, on the other hand, simply walked across the bridge and entered the village without delay, allowing them to regroup with Steve and Alex by the Waystone, the stone pillar in the center of Cerozer Taiga, which seemed to be what this placed was called. One thing they found was that the atlas automatically made a map of the area they had been to and they could make notes of interesting things for later, or to make sure they didn't lose their way, so Pinkie added a pin with the village's name on where it said she was standing. Octavia was interested in it and found that their other copy, which Pinkie had given her earlier, was a mirror copy of the main one, so if one was filled in the other seemed to do the same thing as well, or at least it sure seemed that way.
"Okay, so which way are we going?" Octavia asked, because to the south rested the area the black dragon rested in, or at least where they saw it for the first time, and she wasn't too eager to head back to where it was living, just in case it was still in the area, which left three directions for them to head in for their exploration.
"According to the Elder there should be a desert somewhere to the east, an ocean to the southeast, and mountains far too the north, but he's unsure of the other directions," Steve replied, where he looked at the atlas they were bringing with them, as Pinkie handed it over while Octavia kept hers inside her new tower house, though it was clear that he might be thinking of what to do next, "Based on that, and what we've seen so far, heading to the west seems to be the best course of action, at least for the time being, as we might find some of the ancient structures we learned about last night. If we can do that the information inside might tell us more about whoever is watching over this world, the Admins as they're called, and might point us in the direction of the knowledge to find their foul guardians."
"Sounds fun to me." Pinkie said, where she started to head in the direction that they would be heading in, causing Steve and the others to follow after her so nothing overwhelmed her, though Octavia wasn't too surprised by her desire to just explore and left the village as well.
Some of the Villagers came out and wished them well in their venture, since they seemed to know that they needed to explore to figure out what else was in this world, before Steve, Alex, Pinkie, and Octavia stepped into the wild and left the safety of Cerozer Taiga behind. Octavia glanced around as she found that nothing seemed out of the ordinary, using her Thaumometer to scan the surrounding area and make notes on everything she was seeing, or at least the tome she had was making notes on everything as her device noticed them. Pinkie kept her eye out for anything interesting, towers like the one they had conquered or something else for her and the others to tackle, like an underground dungeon or a place filled with enemies to challenge, but all she fought right now were bits of stone sticking out of the ground, which she just cleaned up before catching up with the others. Steve and Alex, the experts in this field, kept their eyes open as they made their way through the forest, as they had a feeling that there had to be something or someone watching them, given the dangers they faced in their own world.
They did end up passing by a few flat mushrooms at one point, causing them to pause for a moment as they noticed the figures, where Octavia studied it with her lens before Pinkie cut one down, as she seemed to want one of every material in the entire world at the rate she was going, and once they were done they resumed moving forward.
Steve and Alex found it odd that the area was so peaceful, that the village didn't seem to have much in the way of danger, save for the black dragon to the south of it's location, though one thing they were happy to see were some pigs, meaning they would be able to bring some back to the village once this was over. Octavia figured that it was about keeping a supply of food for them to eat, so they didn't starve, and it made sense that they didn't take the pigs with them, as they had no idea how long they would be out here and didn't want to endanger them. None of them were worried about the pigs, as it looked like there were no predators in the forest, even though Steve and Alex were sure that something might be lurking in the shadows, since there was no telling what sort of dangers were resting in this world. A few moments after that they found another river and found a large outpost in the distance, one made of wood that Alex said was an Illager Outpost, an area they didn't want to tangle with right now, so Steve followed the river to the northwest and the others followed after him while keeping an eye out for danger.
It took them an hour to find something new, which turned out to be a stone house with an oak roof and a brick chimney, which interested the group as they laid eyes on it, especially since it was some distance from the river, and they headed inside without delay. Octavia found that no one had lived here for some time, as there were a few cobwebs near the door, which Steve and Alex broke up by swinging their swords at them, as the string from these webs could be used to make a bow or two, useful tools for the future, unless Pinkie could make a bow in a different manner. After that they found that there were a few chests inside the house, some locked and some not, a couple of beds, a number of lights that came in the form of candles and metallic lanterns, and a room with a number of iron weapons and tools, which they let Pinkie take for later. In addition to that she found a medkit, a small white box with a red 'H' on the front, before she found a journal near a bed and opened it, where the writer wrote that they met a shaman who told them how to go to a place known as the 'Lost Cities', likely another dimension that was unique to this world, and they wrote the method down.
The 'portal' to the Lost Dimension was to use two Cincinnasita Lanterns, where she discovered that the materials could only be found inside the Nether, place a bed on top of them, and then surround it with six skulls, either from Skeletons or the Wither Skeletons from the same dimension that the material was found in.
"Something important must be located in the Lost Dimension, enough to cause whoever wrote this to head to the Nether to make the portal there." Pinkie commented, showing the others what she had found while they were investigating the rest of this house, finding that there was nothing else inside it save for some crates that Alex collected, storage for later, in case they found some treasure later on, "I wonder if the rings that were on that list I found might be located somewhere inside the dimension... might be worth exploring, once we figure out how to get to the Neither."
"We need obsidian to make the portal, and to get that we need something to mine it, usually diamond." Steve said, which was another piece of information about the world that he and Alex came from, how they were used to things going with all of their tools, but with this world they could either use Experience to boost their skills or wait for Pinkie to make a brand new pickaxe to do such a thing, once she had more materials.
"Or we could mix lava and water, as that should make obsidian." Alex added, informing them of another method that they could use, before she thought about it for a few more seconds, as it seemed like there might be a snag in her statement, all while Octavia gathered all the information she could, "of course we'd still need a diamond pickaxe to mine it, so I guess we'd be back at square one."
Pinkie, however, considered her smithy for a moment, wondering if there was a way to mix materials into a stronger metal or material, such as obsidian, though she said nothing about that as she and the others stripped down the house, taking all of the useful items while leaving the structure as a landmark. Of course she took the chimney's bricks, leaving enough to not mess with the form of the house itself, though as they left the area the group discovered some of the Baby Zombies lurking under some of the trees, causing most of them to sigh. Octavia found that the smaller Zombies were faster than the taller ones, an interesting fact based on what she had seen so far, though she and her companions took them out with a few swings and opened the way for them to depart from the lone house. Once more they found that there were next to no enemies hanging out nearby, which was great for them, even though it deprived them of Experience, before Pinkie found a square shaped structure in the plains that were beyond the tree line, a wooden one based on the walls and all of the fortifications they were seeing.
The area in question seemed to be an outpost of some kind, likely for Illagers since there were a few Spawners and that meant no sane traveler would stop here with them active, so the first thing they did was break the containers before any enemies spawned on top of them. Once that was done they scouted the area, Steve and Alex claiming the wool that was being used as roofing by cutting each piece down, while Pinkie found some lapis and glow dust from each container, but the chests didn't seem to have too much loot inside them. As soon as they were done with the camp, and had taken all of the good stuff to help outfit their village, the group continued into the plains and shifted their course so they could head to the north, mostly for a change in direction so they didn't get bored of repeating the same thing. Such a thing turned out to be a very bad idea, not because of the possibility of running into Illagers or wandering packs of monsters, like the few spiders and scorpions they had fought yesterday, but because they spotted something terrifying off in the distance, one that made them change direction immediately.
It was due to a golden yellow colored dragon torching an area to the north, as in something must have pissed it off, but while it was smaller than the black one it was just as terrifying and everyone knew that, even with iron gear, such a thing was beyond their power, hence why they headed in another direction without delay.
Another thing they discovered was a large floating structure made of some blue material, though while it was clear that it was a dungeon, since it had a number of floors and chambers, there was no way to get up there and Pinkie felt that it had a good number of powerful creatures inside it. None of them were ready for such a thing, in fact they didn't have a way to get up there, at least not yet, so for right now Pinkie added it to their atlas for later and resumed exploring, since there had to be something else for them to stop and salvage. She sort of got her wish sometime later, when they found a small area that looked like a dragon had torched it recently, though there were none nearby, but she did find some emeralds in the floor, in their ore form, to which she carefully mined them and some of the ashen material. Her curiosity got the better of her as she found more charred material and carefully dug into the earth, finding more material before opening a small hole into what appeared to be a circular dragon hoard, given the gold and gems on the ground, before spotting a massive red dragon that was currently sleeping.
She quickly made a note of where this beast was resting before leaving the area, causing the others to move as well once they knew what she had found, though when they were far away from it's cave Steve had everyone stop and made sure everyone had something to drink, just to keep them hydrated.
"Okay, we have at least three dragons near the village... that's not good." Steve remarked, because while two were some distance from their base, and thus shouldn't be too much of a threat, he had no idea if they would follow them back and wreck havoc on everything they were setting up right now, which would really suck after everything they've done so far, as this was a fantastic start to their adventure.
"It's not like we can do anything about them, not with our current level of gear." Alex said, which caused Octavia to nod at the same time, meaning they were in agreement, even if this was the first time anyone had said anything about this, but she did sigh as she considered their options, "We need better tools and gear to move forward, which is easier said than done since some of the materials are deep in the earth and some are in the Nether... it'll be some time before we reach the point where we'll be able to face these beasts."
"Maybe we should return to the village and spend a few days in the mine?" Octavia inquired, as that seemed like the safest option right now, especially since they would be able to protect all of the Villagers in case something strange happened, as in another Event or an attack from some of the Illagers.
Steve and Alex weren't too convinced that now was the time to return, in fact they had barely filled out the atlas, which all of them knew would take forever based on large the world was, before the group got moving once more and continued to avoid the dragons that they knew about. What surprised the group a few moments later was that they found a village that looked like it had been abandoned, not because of dragons since everything was still intact, rather it looked like Zombies might have killed everyone, since a few were hanging out in the houses right now. As such Steve and Alex wiped out all of the Zombies that were scattered throughout the village, even though the first thing they did was activate the Waystone to know the location of this place, before everyone split up and started to salvage everything they could find, gathering wool, whatever food they could find in the various chests, and anything else of use. Pinkie chuckle as she found a chest with two diamonds inside it, she'd figure out something to do with them when they were back in their village, before she pulled out the crate Alex had given her and stored the various chests inside it, as it seemed to shrink them down so one could put all sorts of things inside it.
There was also a small stone structure on the outskirts that happened to contain two Zombie Spawners, which had to be how the village was wiped out, an Admin must have gotten bored of these Villagers, so Pinkie broke them and collected all of the items and Experience. Once they took stock of what was in Mararkas, which was what this village was called, Steve and Alex returned to Pinkie and Octavia, as while they had found a lot of stuff that might be useful they knew there were more items to collect and not a lot of Inventory space to contain everything. As such they decided that it was time to use the Waystone to warp back to Cerozer Taiga, so they could deliver the materials that had been recovered so far and allow everyone to come back with more space, since there was far more for them to collect. Fortunately it looked like they were still within range of the other Waystone and were able to warp back without using any of their Experience to use it, where the Villagers cheered for their return and found that they came back with all sorts of food and materials, which was nice since it could be added to everything else that was being gathered recently.
Octavia smiled as they returned to their home, as it was nice to have some safety before worrying about the dangers that the Admins might throw at them, causing her to pull out her tome and wonder if she might be able to make something to protect them, though she had a feeling she would have to start her experiments before reaching that point and made her interested in what she might discover in the near future.
As Steve and Alex focused on making sure that the loot they had acquired was spread out around the village, and several of the Villagers helped them figure out where everything was, to the point where they claimed signs would help them later on, Pinkie got to work designing some defenses. Given the amount of dangers that were around the village, dragons being far more common than anything else, she felt that making a protective barrier of stone might be best for them right now, so she first used a shovel as some of the Villagers informed her of the boundaries of their domain. Of course she knew that the walls wouldn't be all that strong, not unless she made everything out of iron, but for now she did her best with the types of stone she had access to, while adding some stairs so people could get to the walkway with ease. She also made sections that would be turned into watchtowers, allowing some of the villagers to keep an eye on the surrounding area and alert the rest of the village to when danger was approaching, though to keep everyone safe she'd have to make a bunker underground, in case of a dragon attack.
While she was doing that, and they were impressed by her actions, Steve and Alex focused on making sure the farms had all sorts of food to grow, thanks to everything they had found during their earlier adventure, while finding that Pinkie also had some openings for them to use, one for the mine, one heading outside, and one for Octavia.
Octavia, on the other hand, was busy in her tower, as she had found some materials to use during their visit to the other village and that allowed her to make the research table the tome talked about, though she also had some sugar cane that could be turned into paper. She still disliked the set of stairs that lead to her domain, it just seemed dangerous to her, but she had no idea on how to improve it, save for making a floating island or something to work on, even though such a thing would leave her with no way to get back down. The table allowed her to make theories on the subjects she had studied with the Thaumometer, though when she did so Octavia found that part of her that she didn't know was there, likely the mage she was slowly becoming, took over and really focused on her studies. Part of her wondered if there might be a way for her to make copies or clones of herself, since she had a feeling that everything in the tome would take forever to do on her own, but she'd figure out if such a thing was possible in the future.
Since she needed paper, and likely a lot of it for her research, Octavia walked partway down the tower and cut into one of the walls, allowing her to step outside and use the dirt she had gathered previously to form a ring around the structure, all while part of the area would be turned into a sugar cane farm, for endless paper for her studies. She also discovered that the tome called for her to dabble in alchemy, not the potion making that seemed to be common in this world, especially since the tome referred to Essentia once more, allowing her to shift her thoughts in seconds. The Thaumonomicon went on to reveal that she had to make some sort of mystical crucible to do such a thing, causing her to sigh as she realized that there was far too much for her to focus on right now, so she focused on making sure the sugar cane was planted. Due to all of the things she had read about so far, even if most of it was blocked off, Octavia knew that she would need a lot more paper, though while she was forming the area she made sure to layer the ground of the floating section, so bits of water didn't drop down on the ground.
Of course she had to get a bucket and fill it with water, which was easy to do thanks to all the iron that Pinkie had and her companion didn't seem to mind making one for her, allowing her to make a few trips up and down the stairs to fill out the small river she had created, though once it was done she smiled and made sure everything was placed so it could grow while she was busy doing other things.
"Looks like we've done well, given the limited amount of time before night." Octavia commented, as once her work on her area was done, for now anyway, she returned to the village and found that Pinkie had completed her walls, at least five blocks thick and designed to have openings for her and their companions to use against attackers, Illagers and whatever else existed in this world, with small openings that had wooden doors in place, "Really Pinkie? A wooden door?"
"Actually, the monsters can't break it... plus I'm not totally sure how to make a door out of iron, that we can use levers or other items to open without leaving the way open." Pinkie replied, where she munched on some melons as she looked at her handiwork, which was only possible in such a short period of time thanks to her abilities, something that stunned their companions when they laid eyes on it, before she sighed, "I can't do much for all of the flying monsters, like the dragons we've seen so far, but so far we should be able to flee into our houses and form a plan of attack if something else shows up to attack the village."
"At the very least you lit everything up, so monsters will have to spawn further away from this place," Steve remarked, as that was one of the common lessons that people like him and Alex learned when they started their adventure and he was pleased to see that Pinkie had done the same in no time, with Octavia taking notes for later, "When morning comes we'll head back and get those animals, before either the Illagers claim them or one of the dragons roasts the area and we lose them, as they'll be safer in the village... plus Alex and I built an area for them."
"Also, the fact that you built a wall is a good thing, as we have no idea when the Illagers will come for our allies." Alex said, reminding them of the other threat that was out there, while at the same time noticing that some of the Villagers were on the walls, looking out for danger before likely retreating if they saw something that might endanger this place, "We really have no idea why the Illagers hate the Villagers, given how peaceful our friends are, but they're aggressive and I'm sure that a scouting party might have seen us while we were exploring... hopefully not, since we're not equipped to deal with a raid."
Octavia wondered what a raid was, since this was the first time she and Pinkie had heard such a thing, though before they could ask a question about it one of the Villagers called for one of them to check something out and everyone moved over to the western wall. What they discovered was a number of monsters that seemed to be gathering, ten to be exact, which happened to be a few Creepers and a couple of Zombies, who looked confused by the existence of the great wall Pinkie had rapidly created in the span of an afternoon. The part that amazed Octavia was that none of them seemed to know of the wooden doors that served as their entrances into the village, and even when one walked by it, for just a few seconds, it looked like they were seeing a flat wall with no opening, meaning either they were stupid or there was something about all of the doors that made sure the Villagers and people were safe. One thing all four of them noticed was a pack of vicious wolf creatures, four of them to be exact, which tore through the other monsters like they were nothing, where the Villager informed them that they were Wargs, who either hunted in packs or hunted alone, either way they were dangerous, but couldn't punch through the wall.
Pinkie smiled as she observed her handiwork, as it seemed like she had been right to build a wall around the entire village and make it as thick as she did, for the extra protection it offered, though since the walls were lit, with torches and some of the other lights they found in that house, the four of them turned in for the night.
When morning arrived Octavia found that Steve and Alex had a few things to show her about planting crops, things that she might need to know in the future, for whatever reason, and with all of the Experience she had gained it meant she was able to harvest the crops without problem. While they did that Pinkie went overboard on her renovations to the village, as once she was done with the walls and the lookout towers she focused her attention on making better roads, so when they or the Villagers had to move things it would be far easier, for carts and whatnot. She found that the Wargs were still on the other side of the wall and seemed to be far more interested in them than any of the other monsters, due to the fact that most of the ones they had faced so far hated the sunlight, but she decided to ignore them as she worked on a safe road to the mine. Steve and Alex just decided to let her do her thing as they worked on the food supply, as they knew it wouldn't take her all that long to get the walls and lookout towers up, given them a wider range to watch over, though she did find a downside to her expansion, there were only so many Villagers and a greater area meant less reaction time.
The Elder, upon seeing the walls and her ideas for expansion, informed her that during their travels they might be able to convince the Villagers of the other scattered villages to come and live with them, allowing them to expand everything at one, as in how many people they had, pooling their resources, and everything else. Steve admitted that it was a good idea, because with Pinkie's protective wall they could definitely protect more people and save more animals for later, though as soon as that idea came to him he realized what else they needed to do. While Pinkie worked on securing the mine, with all of her rapid building, he, Alex, and Octavia headed out once more, as they needed to find the house and gather the couple of animals they had seen during their travels, though before they left she made sure to hand them her atlas. It wasn't an item she needed right now, not when she was securing the area that their domain was in, making better roads, and even adding more lights to ensure no monsters appeared from the darkness, which caused Octavia to nod as she collected it so they could leave Pinkie to her work.
Based on what Octavia found it didn't take them long to figure out where the sheep and pigs were resting, even though the walk was quite long, but as they carefully moved them out of the area that the house was in, however, she spotted a group on the other side of the river and had her companions stop.
It was the Illagers, grey skinned individuals who had a variety of clothing, though the common type of them carried what looked like crossbows, another type had iron axes as their weapon, and some didn't have weapons, meaning that those ones had to use magic. Based on the number of them it looked like they were either scouting the area or were on their way to a village to raid it, causing her to remember the village that she and the others had been to and noticed that the group of Illagers were heading in that direction. In addition to all of that she found two imposing figures, one being a large four legged creature who had horns on his head and seemed to be a mount, a powerful Ravager, while the second was an Illager who had an ominous banner on his back, who she guessed was the commander, since the others took their orders from him. Octavia and the others ducked as the commander glanced in their direction for a moment, either hearing the sheep or sensing that someone was watching him, before he and his force continued towards the abandoned village, but they waited for a few more moments before heading back to their base, grabbing the animals and carrying them so they didn't have to wait for them to move.
Octavia had a feeling that the Illagers might be annoyed once they realized that the village had been salvaged, meaning they had to make sure their walls were ready in case their village came under attack in the near future, and make sure the Villagers had a place to retreat to in case the walls were breached, though she hoped they would ignore them and allow them to continue with their lives without being attacked, but she knew time would tell if she was right or wrong.
Upon their return to the village Octavia found that Pinkie seemed to be done with her work, ensuring that the walls were as good as they could be, given the materials she had right now, even though she had a feeling that her companion had to be thinking about new additions that could be made. Steve informed the Elder of the Illager presence they had seen, the fact that it was a larger force than they were used to seeing during their exploration, and that they were going to be upset once they discovered that the other village had been salvaged. Pinkie, upon hearing that statement, brought them back to the smithy and got to work upgrading their gear, as while she found that it was impossible to make diamond armor, at least in terms of the area she had put together, she did discover something she felt would boost their survival chances. She could use one of her workbenches and modify the existing pieces of armor and weapons she had made so far, meaning Steve and Alex pulled off their armor before giving it to her, finding that the first thing she did was make sure they were pristine, even if they hadn't fought anything in them yet, before getting to work.
What they discovered was that she had figured out that by adding diamonds to their armor it, somehow, boosted their attack damage, where Pinkie informed them that if she used them on their pickaxes, for example, it delivered a boost to the durability, meaning they could use it more before having to using a sharpening kit. She was boosting their chances of survival, in case the Illagers came and attacked the village, though with the wall surrounding it, and most enemies being unable to use doors, it was unlikely that their friends would come under fire, but it never hurt to be cautious. There was far too much for her to learn about the workbenches and what she was capable of doing, especially since diamond armor had to be made another way and didn't seem to have the properties of what she was used to doing, but she hoped that they didn't need that type if a raid happened. As she said that Steve and Alex hoped she was right, as fighting Illagers was one thing, but facing them with iron tools and gear, even pieces improved with diamonds, didn't sit well with them, but it would have to do for now, given their lack of materials.
Octavia, not having the skills Pinkie did with turning raw materials into tools, just helped Steve, Alex, and the Villagers in making sure everything was safe, moving the sheep and other animals down into a safe area that her companions dug out after their return, and Pinkie assured her that her tower was safe, allowing her to focus on their immediate area.
"This is the part Steve and I hated the most, the waiting... never knowing if the Illagers would come or if they would ignore us for a night." Alex commented, as she could see that Octavia was worried about what they had seen earlier, the party of Illagers that seemed to be bent on exploring the surrounding area and gathered any resources they could get their hands on, just like they had done previously, "Personally, I hope the dragons torch them and rid us of an annoying foe."
"While that would be nice, we wouldn't hear it and would continue on regardless... unless the dragon roared and we saw a fight in the distance." Octavia said, though she knew that Alex was trying to comfort her, given that this could grow into a mess if the Illagers came at them either this evening, in the morning, or in the following days, to which she sighed as she looked out at the surrounding area, "I wonder if we could tame some of the wild animals and turn them into protectors of our village... it would be nice to eliminate the potential of an Illager raid with, say, a force of Wargs or beasts."
"We'd have to figure out how to do so, as we know wolves can be tamed with bones," Steve added, as he noticed them just talking and decided to see what they were discussing, though he agreed that a force of animals, given what they had seen in the world, would be beneficial to keeping the village and it's people safe, "but a Warg, for example, we have no idea on how to tame something like that... we would either have to experiment, and get hurt in the process, or find a tome that tells us what needs to be done. Given Pinkie's powers we should be able to make an infinite amount of whatever we need to do such a thing, once we..."
Octavia would have asked what was wrong, since it was unusual for Steve or Alex to cut themselves off, but she heard it as well, a horn that sounded like someone was going to war, or a group of someones when she thought about it, to which all three of them noticed a Villager on the western wall freaking out. A few moments later they were by him and she peered out into the forest as her companions calmed down the lookout, where she spotted the Warleader, as they didn't have an actual title or name to use for him, who happened to be riding the Ravager right now. Behind him stood the force they had seen when they were gathering the animals earlier, at least twenty Illagers, not counting the monster or it's rider, who did look ready for battle, something that worried her a little. Sure enough she found that both of her companions seemed to be considering their options right now, given the number of enemies that were in front of them, all while wondering when Pinkie would be done with her modifications to all of their gear, but she guessed they had to stall for time.
As they stood there a number of the Villagers hid in one of the houses, the largest one based on what she could tell with a quick glance, but for now it looked like all of the Illagers were staring at Pinkie's wall and sizing them up, where Steve took a second to step up and draw their attention to him.
"Illager force, what business do you have with our outpost?" Steve asked, as he wanted to present himself and the others as adventurers who built a base in the middle of the forest, instead of revealing that a village was on the other side, where he was thankful for Pinkie making all of her walls taller than the Ravager, by a few blocks anyway.
"We discovered a village some distance away from this place and found that it was empty... you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" the Warleader asked, surprising Steve and Alex, as they were used to Illagers saying next to nothing and using their weapons or magic on whoever happened to get in their way, where they figured it had to be the strangeness of this new world showing it's hand once more.
"All we know is that some Zombies overwhelmed the guards and killed the Villagers, and someone else likely salvaged the buildings for anything useful." Alex replied, as she knew where Steve was going with his question and hoped that what she was saying would appease the Warleader and his party, while Octavia said nothing as she found that Pinkie was standing near the wall, their gear resting near her, but she didn't move since this was a delicate moment, "All the stone, wood, and metal we have was recovered from our mine, as we didn't stick around to salvage the village since there were dragons in the nearby area... we didn't want to tick one of them off."
"While that is understandable, we have reason to believe that there are Villagers inside your compound," the Warleader stated, his tone informing them that he was going to declare war on them anyway, so he could claim their base and also do whatever it was that the Illagers did to the Villagers, something no one in the group wanted to know, to which he took a moment to raise his hand, "either open the gates and allow us to enter, or we will force our way through this wall!"
Pinkie, sensing that things were about to escalate beyond what they were expecting, tossed a few items into the air, where Octavia discovered the armor sets that Steve and Alex wore, modified to boost their skills and defenses, allowing them to equip themselves in seconds before their weapons were passed around. Steve, once armored once more, jumped over the edge and swung his sword down at the Warleader, while at the same time Alex dropped down and arrowed an Illager in the chest, showing their foes that they were more than prepared for battle, while Pinkie dropped a bow and a quiver full of arrows near Octavia. Of course she would have wondered when her companion built all of this, given that she had been working on their armor and weapons, but she wasn't about to complain as the adrenaline rushed through her body and she pulled her new weapon up, using the sounds of battle to push herself to use the weapon. Her targets were the magic using Illagers, as she tried to put them down before they did anything to her companions, given that this was her first time encountering them and didn't know what sort of magic they wielded, which would help turn the tide in their favor, or so she hoped anyway.
As they did that, however, Pinkie pulled out a two handed weapon that had a curved blade at the top, a scythe, where she leapt down into the battlefield and swung at her foes, finding that she could hit multiple Illagers at the same time and did her best to make sure Steve was protected. Steve blocked the incoming axe attack with his modified shield before driving his blade into the head of the Ravager, sending it toppling to the ground and knocking the rider off, though instead of just letting the Warleader go he jumped off the beast's body and slashed with him again. Alex found that some enemies were getting close to her and switched to her own blade, using the shield to protect herself before cutting down the Illagers that were coming to bring her down, all while Octavia put some arrows in the others, driving a few into the trees, who seemed to be recovering before rushing into battle once more. She also found that Pinkie danced like she was a warrior princess, where she had to be using her special senses to figure out where she was going to be hit before it even happened, while her blade cut through the leather defenses of the Illagers, either knocking them back or bringing them down in due time, something that caused all of the Villagers to cheer as they watched them work.
After some time, just a few minutes, the Warleader, missing an arm and his banner broken in half, called for the rest of his forces to retreat before they suffered a total defeat at the hands of these Crafters, showing that other beings in this world knew what they were, to which the group watched as all of the Illagers left the area and decided not to follow, leaving their foes to the mercy of the Wargs and the other creatures in the forest.
"While I'm glad that we repelled the attack, this is only a temporary win... they'll be back." Steve remarked, though he did huff for a moment, as it had been awhile since he fought this hard, in fact it looked like everyone was tired from the fight, even if it had raged for only a few minutes.
"Hopefully a dragon roasts them and their outpost." Octavia stated, though this did confirm one thing, they needed more powers and abilities to make sure something like this didn't happen in the future, meaning she had to figure out how to do everything that was in her tome, just to boost their combat abilities and responsibilities.
"That would be nice, as we won't have to deal with them again." Alex said, where she chuckled as she imagined the scene in question, the black dragon raining death and destruction down on the outpost, allowing them to move on with their lives without having to waste time on the Illagers.
Pinkie, however, was silent as she studied the scene in front of them and then glanced at the sky, no doubt thinking about what they had done and what it meant, since this was different than killing monsters, though Octavia rested a hand on her shoulder before they headed into the village, as there would be time to collect the loot after a good nights sleep, and each of them suspected that it would ready themselves for whatever tomorrow held.
"First they take down a Battle Tower, survive one of our lesser Events, now they've repelled an Illager raid." a voice stated, one that came from the ghostly figure, as he and his brothers were staring at Steve and his companions as they rested up after facing the Illager Warleader, something he was surprised they had survived without serious injuries.
"We underestimated them, that much is painfully clear." the shadowy figure replied, though while such a thing annoyed all three of them, since they weren't used to someone proving them wrong or surprising them in such a short period of time, save for a select few who were no longer part of this world, both he and his other brother were interested in the group, as it was a nice change of pace, "If we were really annoyed with them, well, one of us could summon a dragon and wipe out their entire village... would be a nice way to even the odds, given what we've seen of these four."
"They've barely started their adventure... it would be a shame to reset them so soon." the third brother remarked, as he was far more interested in the four heroes than his brothers were, because he was in charge of the Overworld, while his shadowy brother watched over the End and the Lost Dimension and their ghostly brother stuck to the Nether, so if one of them were to punish Steve, Alex, Pinkie, or Octavia it would be him, "Besides, with the Pink One's abilities it wouldn't even matter if we reset them... she built those walls and lookouts in a single afternoon, using what seems to be an unlimited amount of the same materials, and is able to produce so many tools despite the lack of gathered resources."
"She's cheating?! Why haven't you punished her yet?" the ghostly figure inquired, though he and his shadowy brother had an idea as to why their brother hadn't done anything to her yet, he was someone who thought about things before using his powers, meaning he liked to either get all the information he could or just consider his options before making his move and issuing his will on his dimension.
"Because, for the time being, it adds a bit of fun to the game." their brother answered, though while he made it seem like it was to add some fun, and part of it was because of that very fact, he didn't tell his brothers the odd disturbing part, that he had already tried to punish Pinkie, to restrict her powers and make her a normal Crafter, like Octavia, only to discover that it was impossible to do so, and he felt that even all three of them would fail if he mentioned it, "Still, even with these abilities of hers, and how they change the face of our game, they're still some time away from the Nether or any of the other dimensions that are connected to this world."
His brothers glanced at the scene they were seeing once more and considered the information they had learned, that he was fine with her being in this state for the time being and that he found it to be amusing, especially given the nature of the world, to which they turned their attention to what they would do next as Pinkie, Octavia, and their companions faced all of the dangers that the world had to offer.
When morning arrived, and the group made sure to have a good night sleep while some of the Villagers kept an eye out in case more Illagers came to attack their village, Steve made sure that Pinkie repaired their armor and weapons, while Alex made sure they had all the food they might need, before they departed from the village.
"So we're going to make our way to the outpost and destroy it, after weakening our enemies last night?" Octavia asked, as she wanted to make sure she understood their plan, especially since she had been expecting to remain in the village to be sure everything was fine, given everything they had seen yesterday.
"That's right. Make sure their weakened forces are taken out so they don't come back and attack us, loot the place for any and all items they have, and then tear it down." Alex said, because they didn't want any other Illagers to know where it had been located, so the village could be safe from any potential enemies or dangers, though she also kept her weapons at the ready, since they had no idea what the forest held in store for them, "We could use the materials to help the village, make new houses or repair anything that had been damaged before our arrival, or whatever Pinkie comes up with next."
Octavia was always being surprised by Pinkie and her designs, as she was coming up with new ideas on the fly and most of them seemed to work out quite well, though she was still trying to figure out why she made herself a scythe, given what she had made for Steve and Alex.
"I have a few more ideas in mind, but they seem to be a ways off for us." Pinkie commented, where she pulled out a pad she wrote her notes on and double checked what she had put down so far, even though she didn't feel like sharing them with the rest of the group, hence why it went back into her storage area as she focused on the path, "Besides, I'm still in the middle of figuring out the whole 'going to the Nether' bit... once we have enough obsidian, and our gear is improved to a new level, we should be able to cross that off our list of things we need to do... then I'll move onto the next item on the list and, hopefully, cross it off in no time."
As the others thought about that, however, a surprise came at them in the form of the Wargs that went missing earlier, as in when the Illagers showed up to attack the village, and the four beasts attacked Steve and his companions, who shifted their stances as they realized that they were under attack. Steve defended them as he quickly raised his shield and used it to block the incoming attack, leaving two of the other Wargs open to Alex and Octavia's arrows, which slowed them down quite a bit and tipped the scales in their favor, allowing Pinkie to attack their foes. Sure enough they were surprised to find that she moved like a dancer with her new weapon, avoiding hitting herself with the edges of her blade as she slashed and cut down one of the Warg without delay, before altering her stance again. Such a thing opened a hole in the defenses of their enemies and her companions wiped out the rest of the Wargs before they could flee, including the one that had tried to come at them from behind, the fourth and final member of the group.
After salvaging what they could from their slain enemies, which consisted of a number of leather and bones, taken from the bodies of the slain Wargs, the group continued to move in the direction of the Illager outpost, though Alex told them that this was good, since they could use the leather in some manner and bones could help get some wolves. It informed Pinkie and Octavia that it was possible to befriend the creatures of this world, at least some of them anyway, meaning that once someone figured out how to tame a creature that knowledge would be passed to the others, to boost their power for whatever the future held for them. Another thing they discovered was that a number of Skeletons happened to be under a fair number of trees and each one happened to be aiming their arrows at them, to which the group sighed and separated from each other, surprising the undead for a moment. This time around Pinkie and her companions didn't waste time with arrows, as these were creatures of bone and clearly didn't have any flesh, rather they swung their weapons with the intent to take them out, scattering bony bodies all over the place in a matter of seconds.
Since they were easy to take down Pinkie was able to collect a few items, a few bows that she could reforge into tools they could use and some bundles of arrows to keep them stocked, before discovering a few of their skulls had survived the end of their bodies, to which she claimed them as well, as they seemed to be tied to the portal to the Lost Dimension, based on what she had read previously.
With that done they continued on their trek and, after some time walking, found a shocking sight, the Illager outpost was on fire and it looked like the Illagers had been taken out, as part of the outpost was charred, the wood made useless, and the area surrounding it was blackened. Steve and Alex had an idea of what happened as soon as they saw it, a dragon had either been attacked by the frustrated Illagers or it attacked first, the latter being for fun, though both of them kept their weapons at the ready, in case a roar sounded or they discovered some survivors. Octavia was surprised by what they were seeing, as it reminded her of what happened when she and Pinkie first appeared in this world and encountered Alex, the black dragon who torched the forest for some odd reason, though it seemed like the area was clear. Pinkie simply took a bit of time and explored whatever she could find in the surrounding area, since it seemed weird to see only Illagers, after all they had seen of the force before this point, so she left the others to study the outpost and see if there was anything they could use.
Pinkie found a hill they hadn't spotted before, not too far from the outpost, and decided to climb it to see if there was any items on the other side, before stopping as she found a dragon's corpse resting on the other side of it, a black dragon to be exact, meaning it either attacked the outpost or it had been enraged by the wounded Illagers.
"Hey guys, you aren't going to believe what I found." Pinkie said, because she knew that it was resting nearby and that no enemies were in the area, so she could afford to leave it behind and show the others what she had found in no time, all while she found that there seemed to be nothing in the outpost, even though Steve and Alex found crossbows, "Also, do we have any glass bottles on hand?"
"Well, hopefully whatever you found was worth coming here... looks like most of the good stuff was burned," Alex replied, though as she said that she pulled out a couple of glass bottles, which had been cleaned and prepared in case they found any liquid worth collecting, and tossed them over to Pinkie, who caught them with ease, "So, what did you find? I hope its far better than an empty outpost."
Pinkie beckoned for them to follow and the group did so without delay, only for their jaws to drop when they laid eyes on the fallen dragon she had found, where she drew an iron short sword she had forged earlier, just in case she found a body like this, and carefully cut into a safe location, allowing her to drain the blood while holding onto the body. Octavia found that her companion's ability came in really handy once more, as she was able to drain every drop of blood that was inside the beast's body, giving her at least twenty bottles to do whatever Pinkie might be planning next, before she moved onto what seemed to be the next important part. That being the salvaging of the body, where she went to work removing every scale that the dragon had on it's body, creating a pile of scales that would likely be transformed into armor at some point in time, as it had to be incredibly tough and made her wonder if there was another one, since she doubted that Illagers, all wounded no less, could have brought down such a beast. Once she finished removing the scales, and set them off to the side, Pinkie was left with a skeleton that she went to work on, collecting the bones, skull, and even the dead heart, though at this point Octavia wasn't bothering to ask questions as she watched Pinkie work, even though she would be hauling the largest and most important load back to the village.
With her work done, and she left nothing behind for someone else to claim and use against them, the group headed back to the outpost and Steve let her get to work, watching her reach the peak of the structure before starting to tear it down, collecting all of the material, charred and pristine, before Octavia found a stone structure that seemed to head deep into the ground, given a box shaped hole with stairs heading down.
"What in the world is this?" Steve inquired, as he found it at the same time that Octavia did and she shrugged as he asked the question, to which he pulled out his sword for a moment and beckoned for her to follow, leaving Alex and Pinkie to the tear down of the outpost, before they headed down the stairs.
They discovered that it headed down for a few moments, stopping at a crossroads between four polished stone tunnels, passages that Steve seemed to recognize, as they reminded him of the Stronghold he and Alex had visited once in their old world, before finding iron bars on the openings and enemies, Zombies and Skeletons at least, hanging out, though due to the sheer number they returned to the surface.
"Okay, we discovered a dungeon... explains why the Illagers spent so much iron to keep themselves safe." Octavia said, as it seemed like the Illagers either built their base here and the Admins created the dungeon to have some fun, given what she and the others had seen so far, or the Illagers had built this to make sure nothing escaped from the depths, and based on the odd floating structure they had seen previously she had a feeling something powerful might be waiting for them in the deepest depths.
"We'll come back for it later, once we've had a chance to get outfitted for real... iron's nice, but diamond, or whatever this world's variant is, would make me feel much safer." Alex remarked, though while it was nice to find something new, even if it was an unknown dungeon that was full of unknown dangers, she wanted to make sure they were prepared before even heading down into it's depths.
Pinkie smiled as they headed back home, as she made more materials to work with and Octavia was sure that she would, in due time, make weapons and armor out of the dragon materials she had recovered, which would drastically improve their chances of survival in this world, though they were interested in seeing whatever the future held for them and their friends after this surprising discovery.
It didn't take them long to return to the village, where they informed the Villagers of the good news, the Illagers were taken care of and, more importantly, they wouldn't be coming back to terrorize this place, something that caused them to cheer as the group got to work. Pinkie returned to her building and carefully stored all of the new dragon material in a chest, where she made a sign to indicate what was inside it, that way she wouldn't forget where to find the materials she had taken from the fallen beast. One thing she knew for sure was that, at this very moment, none of them were ready to use anything that was made of dragon bone or even dragon scale, especially since Steve and Alex were far away from being able to use the next level of gear, that being diamond. She was sure that she could make some sort of diamond armor for them, given the forge she had created and everything else she had learned so far, but for now it would be useless since neither of them had the Experience level in defense to wear the armor in question.
All she could do, while Octavia focused on assisting Steve and Alex with distributing the goods from the outpost, was boost the defenses of their armor and ensure their weapons were sharp, while crafting more kits to repair their gear in case she or one of the others needed one.
Once she was done Pinkie and the others regrouped, munched on some food and drank some water, before departing for the dungeon they had spotted, since there had to be something down there that caused the Illagers to seal the entrance and build an outpost on the ground above it. This time around they found that no more enemies came out to fight them, which meant they were able to conserve their strength for the dungeon they had discovered earlier that day, though at the same time Pinkie kept her eyes and ears open for any additional dragons. Her worry was that one or more of the others might know of the black one's death, even if it wasn't the same one that attacked them in the forest some time ago, and come seeking whoever was responsible for it's demise, though she was hoping they wouldn't care enough and leave the area alone for a time. Thankfully she found that nothing seemed to be flying through the air, meaning most creatures had to be feeling the same thing that had crossed her mind earlier, and it meant they were able to traverse the area with nothing coming to kill them, giving them time to think about what they'd do in the village later on.
When they reached where the Illager outpost had been resting, however, Steve stopped and made sure they were ready to head down into the depths, where Alex and Octavia readied their bows as Pinkie leaned on her scythe for a moment, to which he nodded and headed down the stairs.
"I wonder what we'll find down here, given that we have no idea how long the Illagers were stationed here." Octavia said, as while it was easy to tell where the wood and stone had come from, given everything in the surrounding area, she was interested in what they might find in the depths of this place.
"Hopefully more gear and items to improve our village," Steve remarked, because there was no telling what might happen in the future and he knew that having more items available to them, and within Pinkie's grasp, would help them out with all of their future plans, before he held a hand up to make sure everyone was silent.
Sure enough, in the depths of the darkened dungeon, they could hear the sound of Skeletons moving, Zombies moaning, Spiders skittering about, and something else none of them recognized, causing them to carefully descend as Pinkie lit up the sides of the passage. It would announce their presence to the monsters that were down here, but they needed to see what was in front of them, making it a risk they needed to take to move forward, before they reached what appeared to be the area that was as far as they had gone previously. As soon as Pinkie lit up the intersection, and they found that there were no enemies in the surrounding area, Steve picked the passage that rested to the north of the stairs and opened it with a few swings of his pickaxe, allowing Pinkie to collect all of the iron bars as the others surveyed the passage. What all of them could see was that it was made of polished stone and supported by wooden beams or pillars, depending on the area each piece rested in, but so far no enemies were nearby, worrying them a little as they moved forward.
At the end of the passage, which wasn't very long as they discovered, Octavia spotted a Spawner and rushed forward the instant she noticed it, swinging her pickaxe at it for a few moments and shattered it before anything could emerge, which allowed her to collect a few materials before regrouping with her companions. She then found a door she had passed by in her haste to deal with the Spawner, though when she opened it she found a large imposing black creature with rather sharp looking claws, sporting a humanoid stance, hanging out in the chamber that the door lead to. Of course she and the others had no idea what the creature was, this was their first time seeing it, though Pinkie hung back and made a note of what it looked like as Steve gathered it's attention so Alex and Octavia could hit it in the back. Together the three of them were more than enough to bring the creature down, allowing them to gather whatever it dropped and hand it off to Pinkie for the time being, before worrying about the rest of the dungeon.
Together the four of them explored the floor that they happened to be on, just in case this place had multiple floors, and found that they had been correct, a number of Skeletons, Zombies, Spiders, and other common monsters were down in the depths of this place, explaining why the Illagers kept it locked up with iron bars. During their trek Pinkie found a couple of recipes that seemed to be about gear that they might be able to use, one being the combination of a bone, a gold ingot, and an ender pearl, which, according to Steve, was an orb the size of two apples on top of each other and allowed one to warp between two points when thrown, even if it used the pearl. In addition to that the pearls were the key ingredient for them to find the Stronghold, so they could find an End Portal that the Builders left behind, though to do that they would have to travel to the Nether and kill some Blazes for their blaze rods, to make some powder that, when combined with the pearls, would make Eyes of Ender.
Octavia also found that the pearls came from Endermen, beings of the End that were capable of traveling between both dimensions who could drop them upon death, though the dimensional part explained everything to her, but she was a tad bit interested in what sort of tool Pinkie had been talking about.
There was one thing they did that was identical to their time in the Battle Tower, they took turns breaking the Spawners to ensure everyone got some Experience and, when an area was cleared, they would take a short break and see if there were any new skills or levels they could unlock to improve themselves. Pinkie, of course, continued to gather Experience from all of the monsters she brought down and the Spawners that she broke open, allowing her to spend without fear of losing a single point, something that made Alex jealous when she considered how unfair it was that Pinkie could just blow right through all of the barriers she and the others had to deal with. Octavia was fine with it and saw it as a way to improve their skills, both new and old, while earning more points to improve themselves later, a cycle when she thought about it, though she was also pleased with all the diamonds, redstone, emeralds, gold, and other useful items they were finding, especially when Steve found a diamond sword in a chest, much to her amazement. Alex also ended up finding a bow that was even stronger than the one Pinkie had forged, which Pinkie was fine with since she was still learning the art, and used it to bring down some of their foes as they cleared out a library, allowing their odd pink companion to collect the bookshelves to add them to her enchanting area in her new residence.
While they did that, however, Pinkie found a purple tome that she could actually store her Experience in, before she found a loophole in the system, her Experience didn't actually go down, rather it remained the same and still filled the tome to the limit, allowing her to add it all back to her total, causing her to smile as she realized she could cheat the system more than more.
After a while the group confirmed that there was another floor to the dungeon, as they found an identical downward set of stairs leading even deeper into the ground, leading to a second floor that was identical in design to the first floor they had cleared out. Alex called for a break, allowing them to rest up real quick while Pinkie checked their gear, mending the pieces with her kits so they could keep fighting if they wanted to do so, and once she was done they smashed through the bars to the south and continued to explore the dungeon. Such a thing allowed them to discover that the design and rooms of the first floor were replicated on the second one, just arranged in a different manner, meaning that this was supposed to be more of a challenge, even though it might have been designed for one Crafter and not four of them. Despite that fact Pinkie continued to salvage the rooms that they passed through, collecting new bits to add to the village and their houses, while joining the others in breaking down all of the Spawners and dealing with the enemies that were done here, finding all sorts of new items that were dropped from some of their enemies.
Of course the group also found that there were far more chests than they could deal with the loot of, so Pinkie hauled all of them back up to the surface, including the locked ones for that matter, and crafted a holding area for them so no one saw a pile of chests and decided to steal from them.
Eventually they found the passage down to the third floor of the dungeon and noticed that the theme changed, it turned into a mossy area, given all of the material on some of the walls and ceilings, though for the most part it looked like their enemies were the same, meaning they didn't have to worry about new monsters. The only real difference was that most of the Skeletons carried new impressive armor, going from nothing to iron, gold, and even diamond in some places, to which Steve and Alex made sure to collect everything they could before passing the pieces to Pinkie, allowing her to restore them to a pristine nature before either storing them away or handing them out. Sure enough Octavia found that their far more experienced companions focused on the Defensive tree with their newly claimed Experience, allowing them to move up to diamond armor, because staying alive meant they could, in time, focus on the Offensive tree and get new weapons, which was a good plan. She, on the other hand, kept gathering Experience and pumped most of it into her Magic tree, figuring that taking on a new role in their group was the best course of action, though she needed more items to make use of it so she could aid her companions.
They did discover a small black colored spider creature that tried to hug their faces, though when Steve cut it down they found a few ender pearls that Pinkie collected, though with the items she had access to Octavia got her to make the staff she saw in the notes, a golden weapon with a green crystal at the peak. Supposedly it was a summoning staff, meaning it would allow her to call forth minions to fight on her behalf, but, as she soon discovered, she had to study the monsters of this world before even being allowed to call them, meaning it was just a walking stick for the time being. As such she used her lens for a time and studied the monsters that were in front of them, allowing her to gather more information on them and boost her understanding of Vis at the same time, given that she could also study the surrounding area and add more notes to the ever growing pile. One other thing she discovered was that there was something down in the depths of this dungeon, something powerful that they were getting closer to with every floor they cleared, though while she knew that it was unlikely that they would have found one of the creatures serving the Admins, monsters that had to be destroyed, she knew that whatever it was was dangerous, meaning they might not want to fight it right now.
Upon discovering the fourth floor the group found that it was more of a crypt, filled with undead that were stronger than most of the monsters on the upper three floors, to which they fell back on the method they used to bring down the Battle Tower, shielding themselves so the others could take the monsters down. This time around they took things slower, just to make sure they weren't overwhelmed by the dangers of the lower levels, given that there seemed to be far more locations for the Spawners to reside in and Pinkie spent her time locating them so they could break each one. Octavia discovered that some of the monsters down here had amazing loot, enchanted diamond gear, including enchanted items made out of other materials, where Pinkie gathered the items they weren't using and stored them away for later, likely having come up with an idea of some kind that she'd share with them at some point. There were no other rooms in the crypt, save for the tombs of the dead and the Spawners they had discovered, but the group cleared the chambers out while taking breaks to ensure they weren't totally overwhelmed.
Eventually Steve found another passage down to the fifth floor, one themed after the Nether he and Alex discovered, due to the bright red colored stone, netherrack it was called, special Nether bricks, soul sand, and other items that Pinkie just had to collect, to add to her growing collection, before the ground shuddered and most of the passages sealed themselves before their eyes, leaving one that lead to a massive chamber.
"We're here... the dungeon's dark core." Octavia commented, though she had a feeling that an Admin had been watching them decimate this place and decided to punish them, as that room hadn't been there a few moments ago, though she and the others frozen when they realized what was inside the chamber, "Oh no..."
There were several pools of lava inside the chamber, likely heating it, though what caught their attention was the massive crimson red scaled dragon that was resting inside it right now, with a golden yellow underbelly, though there were black chains around it's neck and limbs, keeping it contained in this place. Even from far away they could see the hatred in the beast's eyes, for whoever chained it down and made sure it was unable to leave, though it started to growl when it found all four of them staring at it, showing that it might not like them either. Sure enough Octavia could see something building in the dragon's throat, causing her eyes to widen as she realized that it was going to attack them, to which she, Pinkie, and their companions threw themselves back into the staircase passage as it opened fire on their position. They were able to get up a flight or two of stairs as the intense fire breath tore through the final floor and scorched everything around it, as in everything was destroyed in an instant, save for the obsidian blocks, but it informed them that they needed to be even more prepared than they were now to deal with such a beast.
In that moment the group decided to head to the surface and seal the passages behind them, hopefully to make sure no one else found the dragon, though Octavia was sure that an Admin had cheated them out of whatever loot was at the end of the dungeon, but she focused on survival and resolved to worry about this once they got back to the village, where they could rest, recover, and plan whatever they were going to do next.
"We did well with that dungeon, especially since we're making out like bandits," Alex remarked, speaking after they found the area Pinkie had left all of their unnecessary treasure in and collected it, where she was thankful for her friend's odd skills, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to carry everything, before she sighed, "but I guess that was a sign for us to slow down and not overpower everything."
"Yeah, otherwise an Admin's not going to like it... guess we'll have to tackle that dragon later, once we've actually been to the Nether and gotten some supplies." Octavia said, because that seemed to be the logical route the Admins wanted them to take, gather enough resources and gear in the Overworld, or whatever this world was called, before forging a gateway out of obsidian so they could travel to the Nether, to empower themselves further, "We might want to find some of the other large structures we've seen so far, just to gather more Experience to empower ourselves to the proper level... plus it'll give me some time to study my tome, as I might find something interesting inside it that might help us out."
"Given what we just saw, I'm up for doing anything that might help us out," Steve stated, due to the fact that he and Alex knew that fighting the Ender Dragon was a near impossible task without the right preparations, especially given that half of what they needed, a fair number of blaze rods, were in the Nether, so it would be some time before they actually fought a dragon in a fair fight.
Pinkie, on the other hand, remained behind the group as she stared up at the sky, as not only was the sun moving to the east, so it could set and bring about the night, she was positive that an Admin was watching them at that very moment, but that wasn't what held her attention. Her Pinkie Sense was going haywire, as if something bad was coming, something far worse than a massive red dragon that could have roasted them with a single burst of flames, and she had a feeling it would happen soon, meaning either the timing was horrible or an Admin wanted to punish them a little more. Either way she made sure they got back to the village, because at least they would be safe behind the walls she had set up earlier, for a time based on what she was feeling right now, where, for the first time in a long time, she hoped that her this was just her overreacting after seeing that dragon. She did, however, glance at Octavia for a moment and knew that she wasn't the only one who thought this wasn't over, not by a long shot, but since they had no way of telling what was coming next both of them remained silent as they headed back to the village, hoping to just have a peaceful walk.
This time Octavia found that she was right, it was rather peaceful and they were able to reach their destination in no time at all, but as the others set down their chests she noticed some red particles in the air and pulled out her lens, where she scanned the sky and got an odd message, that a 'blood moon' was rising.
"What in the world is a 'blood moon'?" Octavia asked, where she turned towards her companions for a moment, who had finished setting down the rest of the chests in an area near the smithy, so they could sort things later, and found that they shrugged, showing her that they had no idea what it was either.
"A blood moon?! Oh no, we have to hide!" the Elder remarked, confirming something for the group, the reason Steve and Alex had no idea what it was was due to the fact that it wasn't an event they had experienced, making Ocvatia and Pinkie wonder what else this world had to offer in the future, before the Elder ran to a bell and started to ring it, "A blood moon is an event where a crimson moon will appear in the sky, bringing forth waves of monsters until morning arrives, and we usually hide underground to make sure they don't get at us... with how rare they are, we assumed they were the work of nature or a sign that an Admin was displeased."
"Then get the others into the bunker, we'll hold the line and keep the village safe," Steve said, though this was bad, since an endless horde of monsters wasn't a good thing for them, not after seeing that dragon and nearly being killed by it when it fired at them, and even with Octavia and Pinkie helping him and Alex he suspected that this was going to be a long night, one without rest for them, "Pinkie, is there anything you can do to help us out?"
"I'll reinforce our weapons and armor, but without any new ores I can't make the more impressive gear and tools that are in the back of my books," Pinkie replied, referring to the weapons and armor that were tied to the smithy she had crafted before they started exploring the area around the village, before she smiled as she pulled out a diamond, something that caused Steve and Alex to smile for a moment, "however, with a Crafting Table and some of the other tools that have been added to my area, I should be able to make some better weapons for all of us... just give me some time and I should be able to produce something impressive."
Steve nodded as he, Alex, and Octavia returned to the walls and made sure everything was lit up, to give them some sight into the surrounding area that was around the village, finding that, for the time being, nothing was happening as the sun continued to go down and the moon took it's place. As they kept an eye out for danger they found that the sky turned red, just like the moon, meaning that it was becoming what the Elder told them about and each of them kept an eye out for the enemies that would be coming out of the forest, though all of the Villagers were safe and out of the way. Sure enough the group found all sorts of enemies gathering outside the village, as Octavia found Skeletons armed with bows, both normal and enchanted, Zombies either unarmed or geared to the teeth, Creepers looking ready to blow stuff up, not to mention all sorts of monsters that were gathering in the distance. In addition to that they could see that there were strange birds in the air, winged monsters that looked like they could pick up creatures and drop them onto their targets, meaning that the village was under siege, far more than when all of the Illagers came to take it over.
As they observed what was going on Pinkie returned and passed out the gear she had crafted for them, as while she had no way of using diamonds with her smithy, save for using them to boost the power of their gear, she could use the power of the Crafting Table to make a different set of gear. The weapons and armor she produced were well fitting and seemed to be on far, if not a tad bit better, than what she produced with her smithy, where Pinkie informed them that she found out something interesting, the weapons and armor had qualities and, based on her crafting skill, she could influence what sort of quality it came out as. By boosting that skill to the max, and setting down some additional items to fix up and even improve upon what she had just made, she was able to produce items of 'undying' quality, making them far stronger than the smithy's iron weapons and armor, meaning they would serve them well in battle. She wanted to add enchantments to all of them, to make them even stronger than what she was currently handing them, but such a thing needed a table that was made for such a thing, which they had been unable to find, and without obsidian she couldn't make it yet, so Steve, Alex, and Octavia were going to have to deal with the lesser versions for now.
Instead of waiting for their enemies to attack the village, and get the drop on them, Steve and Alex donned their gear once more and jumped over Pinkie's wall, the former wielding a new diamond sword and shield as the latter went with a bow for the time being, with her own sword and shield in case enemies got close to her. Pinkie, of course, carried her scythe as she joined the pair on the battlefield, though she moved to another position so they could spread out and cover a wider area, while Octavia stayed on the village side of the wall and loosed arrows down at her targets. She found that a number of monsters either didn't acknowledge the existence of arrows, as in they just tanked them before moving forward, or they were too slow to move out of the way and just accepted it, but she was hoping for something more, like actual magic to do some damage. When she found that Pinkie really didn't need assistance, as she was more than capable of facing the force of monsters in front of her without slowing down, Octavia focused on the air and loosed as many allows as she could into the space between them and their flying enemies.
While she did that her lens floated around her, allowing her to track down and identify each foe, likely to add to the list of monsters they knew about, such as the Roc that liked to pick up hostile mobs so they could drop them, the blue feathered Ventoraptors who were fast on the ground and Pinkie's speed allowed her to take each one down, and even a seagull bird, the Raiko, who seemed rather lame in comparison. In addition to all of their enemies she also found Spriggians, monsters made of wood and leaves that came from the forest itself, Kobolds, little rat critters that liked to steal things from where they landed, and even some Wargs and a few Wraamon, deadly rodents packed full of chaotic energy. She only knew that due to her lens showing her the truth, though as she studied them, and collected information on each beast, Octavia did find a few monsters with a purple aura around them, making each one stronger than before and worth more when they were eventually brought down by her companions. In that moment she had an idea as she called out to Pinkie, who likely had an idea on what she was planning, to which her insane companion struck the ground with the end of her weapon, a fact that caused the monsters to stop in their tracks as they studied her, before she pulled out a Crafting Table and simply crafted a golden summoning staff out of a gold ingot, a bone, and a pearl.
Of course she wasn't worried about wasting material, though before anyone did anything she tossed it backwards as she shifted her stance, allowing Octavia to catch the staff and tap into the magical power that had been building inside her since they appeared in this world. In the next instant she called forth her new ability and summoned several minions that would aid them in battle, several Wraamon to be exact, which was just due to her inexperience and limited magical power, as she had a feeling the more Experience she pumped into her magical skill the stronger she'd get, not to mention letting her summon more when she used this staff. There was one thing she intended to do and was pleased to see that, despite not knowing the exact method on how to make such a thing, each of her Wraamon had the purple flaming aura around their bodies, to which she designated their enemies to them and watched as they rushed out, attacking the monsters from an area that most had a hard time reaching. It was hilarious to watch as monsters like the Warg were torn down by such a small critter, given the base size and power difference between the two, but she wasn't about to complain about what she was seeing right now, since it allowed them to push the monsters back and keep the village safe.
With the summoning staff in hand, her minions helping them out and collecting Experience for her, and the skills of her companions, Octavia was sure that they would be able to survive the blood moon and show the Admins that they weren't going to be taken down so easily, causing her to look forward to what the next day had in store for her, Pinkie, and their grand companions.
Following their battle against the monsters of the blood moon, and getting some rest after seeing that no more enemies were coming out to harm anyone in the village, Octavia woke up before the sun and got to work transferring the notes she had made to the research table she had constructed. Boosting her magic skill, not to mention wielding the staff, had broadened her horizons and opened her mind more than she expected, allowing her to work with her research notes and the magical tome that contained all of the locked information that she was trying to learn about. One such thing she made a note about was some sort of link between the phases of this world's moon and the energies she was beginning to tap into, knowledge that had been boosted by examining the strange blood moon that tried to take them down, likely an Admin who wanted to torment them. She double checked what she had discovered about the magical crucible and found that all she had to do was find a cauldron and apply some Salis Mundus to it, just like she had done to a few items so far, which could be found in several locations, such as a witch's domain or a mansion according to the Villagers, or she could make one out of a few iron bars.
Since it was the next part of her studies Octavia headed over to the smithy and found Pinkie hard at work, repairing their gear before morning arrived, though she wasn't too surprised by this discovery, where she told her companion what she was after and soon enough she was walking away with a cauldron, something that she sprinkled some Salis Mundus on when she returned to the tower, creating a similar looking object with runes on the sides and a slight glow to it.
"Okay, so the crucible has been made... now what?" Octavia remarked, as she knew she was scratching the surface of what was inside her tome, in fact the tome confirmed it by revealing a process that would allow her to make something called 'Nitor', which seemed to be a glowing light of sorts, only to discover that, to make progress, she needed glowstone, which was in the Nether, "Of freaking course... everything in this world eventually leads to the Nether and it's resources... I mean, this is progress, but I was hoping for far more than this."
Octavia admitted defeat once more, as there was nothing she could do until they found a way to the Nether, before she found that there was another page about making Arcane Stone Bricks, likely building material or a component for one of the later items she needed to craft to open more of the tome's secrets. It wasn't much to go on, save for the fact that the tome told her that to craft it she needed more Vis crystals and stone, something that told her she needed to head back to the mine with the others, otherwise she wasn't going to be able to make any progress. Fortunately, because Pinkie was now using a secondary method of crafting items, it was possible that they might be able to head to the Nether soon, just to get all sorts of materials for her to work with before worrying about all of the items to get to the End. Her reasoning was due to the fact that Pinkie had figured out how to use the diamonds they had recovered so far, much to Steve and Alex's relief since this world was so different from their own, so if she was able to make a pickaxe out of diamond they would be able to mine obsidian, giving Pinkie a new material and allowing them to construct the portal to the Nether.
Once she was done going over whatever had been unlocked in the tome, and confirming that a trip to the next dimension was in order, Octavia got up and headed into the village, where she met up with the others for breakfast, finding that the Villagers continued to work around their domain, including working on the walls as well.
"So, did the cauldron do what you wanted?" Pinkie asked, because she was interested in what Octavia was doing, since it reminded her of everything Twilight did after she and the girls met her, and there was a chance it might help them figure out what was up with this world.
"Yes and no... I made a new crucible from it, but to continue I need glowstone, and likely other materials, which can only be found in the Nether." Octavia replied, something that caught the attention of her companions, as they knew that they would be going to the dimension in question at some point in time, since they needed blaze powder and other items, not to mention Pinkie's materials to make better gear, but now everyone needed something from it.
"Which means that we need to go mining, though we're in luck since Pinkie's made diamond pickaxes for us," Steve said, confirming what Octavia had considered earlier that morning, though of course only three of them, at most, would have the skill level necessary to wield such a tool, given that Octavia had pooled her Experience into her magic tree after what happened in the dungeon.
Alex nodded her head for a moment, mostly because there wasn't much more to add to the conversation, at least for right now, and once they were done with their food, which was rather filling Octavia noticed, each of them slipped into their set of gear and she found that Pinkie had made sure Steve and Alex were outfitted for whatever the future held for them, as at this point anything could happen. Once everyone was ready they headed through the gate Pinkie had made in the north and headed for the mine that they had worked in earlier, which had emerged from the blood moon unscathed, meaning the village had been the target the entire time. Pinkie passed out some torches as they tracked down the last point they had worked in, that way everyone had some in case they decided to go in different directions at some point, though Steve did find some iron and coal at the end and got to work, causing the others to spread out and swing their pickaxes as well as they searched for obsidian and other resources. Octavia, however, focused on collecting stone and any Vis crystals they came across, because having more of the latter would be good for the future, since she had no idea what the tome had in store for her, leaving Alex and Pinkie to whatever they were doing.
For a while nothing happened as they carefully dug diagonally down into the ground, though when Alex broke through a wall and discovered a chasm, which was filled with all sorts of Skeletons and a few shadowy creatures, Pinkie jumped over the edge and descended into battle, landing in some water for a few seconds before springing out to fight the monsters that were in this area.
"Good thing she's clearing out the area, since I can see some lava off in the distance," Alex commented, where she turned and started to make a walkway down to where Pinkie was fighting her enemies, a staircase built into the stone and hidden a little so the monsters couldn't see it, though Octavia found the area that she was referring to, what looked like a passage filled with lava.
According to Steve and Alex that was what they were looking for, as they could combine watch and lava to make obsidian in an instant, though in addition to all of that it was possible that someone might find more diamonds while they were in the middle of collecting the material. As they did that, however, Octavia heard something nearby and gripped her staff, as she brought it with them in case she or her companions were overwhelmed by enemies, but for the time being it didn't look like enemies were coming out to fight them. Personally she didn't want any monsters to come out and attack them, as she had enough fighting last night and just wanted a simple mining experience so they could get the materials that two of them needed to progress with their trades, but she knew that time would tell. Steve and Alex also suspected the same thing that was going through her mind, as Alex readied her weapons as Steve focused on breaking the stone and making a staircase for them to use, but for right now it seemed like whatever else was down here didn't want to mess with them, which they were fine with.
When Octavia and the others caught up with Pinkie they found that she had cleared out the area, lighting it up with a fair number of torches, though she found a number of ender pearls, black squares that looked like obsidian, and an odd stone that was circular in nature, or as much as this world would allow.
"Did you mine some obsidian already?" Octavia asked, because if that was true it meant Pinkie was much faster than she thought, especially since she had a diamond pickaxe like Steve and Alex, who were surprised by what they were seeing at the moment, confirming that it wasn't common to find obsidian laying on the ground.
"No, some of those Grue dropped the pieces that are on the ground." Pinkie replied, where she returned to the treasure that had been dropped by the slain monsters and collected everything, something that put a smile on her face since this meant she now had the ability to use obsidian to make the Nether portal and whatever improvements she wanted to add to their gear, "With this I'll be able to improve our gear to the next level, make the portal to the Nether, and maybe add in a central core for the village's wall, so just in case something damages it they won't be able to get inside and harm any of our allies."
Given how quickly Pinkie had set up the wall, in what was considered record time, Octavia knew that if Pinkie did such a thing it would be done in no time and would also protect the village against land based dangers, though sure enough their companion departed for the village, leaving them to mine in peace. Octavia continued to collect stone so she could make more of the bricks she might need in the future, since there was no telling how much of it she might need and she had a few ideas on how to improve her tower, while Steve and Alex looked around for other materials. Sure enough they found a few veins of gold, iron, coal, some lapis, and even more redstone, some of them requiring some effort to get to, but each piece claimed meant they were closer to leveling up one of their skills and improving their combat abilities. One thing they discovered was that some of the coal transformed into some sort of material monster, which Alex felt should be fought with a pickaxe and not a normal weapon, allowing them to mine the earthen creature apart and gave them a bit of stone and iron ore, plus some nether quartz, but nothing too major.
When Pinkie returned she expressed her disappointment in missing the Geonach, the monster they had defeated since Octavia had scanned it with her lens to identify it and told her about it when she returned, before she got to work on the obsidian that was in the passage the others had spotted. They discovered that, true to form, Pinkie had upgraded just her pickaxe, explaining how she got back so quickly, before finding that her empowered pickaxe was more durable and was able to actually mine the obsidian that was in front of her, meaning it should be tough enough for whatever was waiting for them in the Nether. As she mined the material, even if her ability meant it was unnecessary, she also discovered an odd room off to the left and found two Spawners inside it, ones that seemed to be broken, as they spawned nothing, but it was a bit of Experience for her and the others to collect. In addition to that they found a pair of chests that had a couple of interesting items inside them, such as a golden apple, some seeds they didn't have, bone meal, a couple of plain books, a tome about monster weapons, and a tome that detailed strange chickens that existed in the world.
With those tomes in hand, more reading material for Octavia and Pinkie to check out in due time, the group resumed their mining as they sought out diamonds and any other material that might be down here with them, though after obtaining obsidian it was time for a trip to the Nether so they could make some real progress and figure out what to do next.
Following their discoveries in the mines, and some extended time there to stock up on resources that Steve and Alex said were necessary for the future, the group returned to the village to get a good night's sleep and make sure they were ready for what the morning held. This was what they had been waiting for, a trip to the Nether, where Pinkie needed multiple new materials to advance her weaponry and armor, Octavia needed one item for sure and had her eyes set on anything else that might be useful, and Steve and Alex would be keeping their eyes open for two special structures. The first was the Nether Fortress, where they would find the Blazes necessary to collect the rods from, along with Wither Skeletons, black Skeletons with a rather nasty withering effect if they were hit by them. The other was a Bastion, a ruined structure that was guarded by the Piglins, a race that inhabited the Nether, though while there was gold inside such a place they were more interested in the true treasure: Netherite scraps and Ancient Debris, which would allow them to forge Netherite, the greatest material the pair knew about.
In addition to that they could find powerful suits of diamond armor, if they were lucky, and with Pinkie's skill they knew that fixing them would be rather easy, once she got her hands on whatever she discovered, plus they could be upgraded to pure Netherite if an ingot was applied to a piece of armor or any of their tools, allowing her to think about it during the night, as it was interesting to consider.
When morning arrived the group gathered at the southern gate and departed from the village, heading to the west once more as they focused on setting up the Nether portal away from their friends, as the Elder and his Villagers didn't need a portal to another dimension right outside their homes. Octavia had suggested setting it up halfway between them and the Illager base, just in case some of them returned to the base they cleared out not that long ago, a way to make sure none of the aggressors thought to do so again. She was using the dangers of the Nether as a deterrent to keep the village safe from danger while they were off somewhere else in the world, be it this dimension or one of the others they knew about, which the others agreed with, since they didn't have much to choose from. Pinkie had also been told what sort of portal they had to construct so they could head to the Nether, a frame that was four blocks wide and five blocks tall, anything smaller would fail, where she kept the instructions in mind as they sought out a safe location to build it in.
Sometime later they found a decent area, a small clearing, that Pinkie could easily level out with her improved shovel and pickaxe, though once it was flat she took out four more pieces of stone and replaced them with obsidian, before taking the time to make the sides as high as Steve had told her and then connected them, leading to her using the flint and steel that Alex had made on it, creating a purple portal between the obsidian.
"There it is... the portal to the Nether." Alex remarked, as this was the fastest she and Steve had done this, usually it took them days, if not weeks, to track down enough diamond to make all of the tools they needed to even consider this, while this world had outfitted them far too quickly, and that wasn't even taking Pinkie power into consideration.
"Another dimension rests on the other side." Octavia said, recalling what she had learned from their companions and the information she gained from her tome, the latter being far more limited right now, though given what sort of dangers were said to be on the other side, at least on Steve and Alex's old world, she hoped they could find their items quickly and get out before something happened to them.
Pinkie, as usual, simply walked through the swirling purple mass and disappeared, in fact Steve and Alex were sure that she was afraid of nothing and her instances of saving them were to keep her friends alive, before the trio headed in after her, finding the world around them blinking out of existence before a new world appeared around them, one of fire, heat, lava, and danger.
"Note to self, got to make liners for our armor." Pinkie commented, as it was hotter than she was expecting, meaning that this dimension had to be close to the core, like a planet's core in her mind, before she pulled out her canteen and took a few sips, which the others did upon their arrival to stave off the heat, "Okay, let's find the metal we need and some of that glowstone for Octavia... maybe if we're lucky we can find one of the other structures before we need to retreat for a time."
Octavia found that the portal they had stepped through appeared on a rocky edge of the massive underground chasm it had brought them to, as that was the best way to describe the Nether right now, though while there were about ten blocks in front of their portal, giving them some safety, she was worried about the sea of lava she could see. Fortunately one of their goals happened to be nearby, as glowing out of the ceiling were golden or bronze colored blocks that glowed with an interesting light, which Steve confirmed was glowstone, to which Pinkie got to work making a stone path up to the section in question. Once she reached the material she went to work breaking them and found that they shattered into dust, the same color as the blocks her friend had spotted, which she collected as Alex spotted some monsters off in the distance, all new beasts that none of them knew about. There was a massive humanoid creature, which stood as tall as two or three of them, with cloven hooves and a pair of demonic horns on it's head, along with red skin, there was a bloated eyeball beast with spikes on it's body, and who knew what else.
As they stayed out of sight, since the group didn't want to engage the Nether monsters yet, they recalled what Pinkie had told them earlier, she was looking for a blue material called cobalt and a yellow material called ardite, which she would be able to combine to make the Manyullyn metal she had read about. Of course they had no idea if it was stronger than the known material that Steve and Alex knew about, since Netherite was stronger than diamond, but she wanted to collect a few pieces of both metals before they left the Nether. Pinkie she also wanted to collect some Netherite or a few Ancient Debris, but locating said items would be the hardest part of this venture, especially since the former was in scraps and finding an ingot was near impossible, making one wonder where it had all gone, while the latter was said to be in the rocky walls, impossible to find without extensive searching. Fortunately they discovered an ore vein nearby, which contained at least six pieces of cobalt ore that Pinkie happily collected, leaving Steve, Alex, and Octavia to continue the search for the other material they were here for, as once she had access to making Manyullyn they were leaving, since returning with a set of powerful armor was high on their lists right now.
As Pinkie collected the last of the cobalt, however, one of the larger demonic monsters rushed over to them and swung it's fist at her, the collision sending her right into the wall and breaking several pieces of stone, netherrack as Alex called it, all while the others found themselves under siege as well. Such a thing told them that the monsters had either ignored their presence and were only attacking because they were stealing the metal that was in the ground, or they had just noticed the group, even though they had been here for some time, causing the group to attack them in kind. Pinkie, however, was just fine as she pulled herself out of the wreckage and swung her scythe, cutting through her foe's arm as it backed off for a moment, though she was pleased to see that her armor held up to it's attack and didn't break entirely, as she suspected that iron would have broken instantly. In addition to all of that they found flaming skull monsters that exploded when they either struck their target or hit the ground, something that caused Pinkie to smile as she discovered something that might aid them in mining out the area near their Nether portal, she used the edge of her weapon and sent the explosive skulls at the wall behind her.
Sure enough it rained rocks down on her as she fought the larger foe, which she was fine with, though the major thing was that it opened the way for her to see if any cobalt or ardite happened to be nearby, so while she fought her foe she used the skulls to help her in her mining, and once she found the second metal she took her foe down.
"I need a few more items, but with this we should have everything we need to make Manyullyn," Pinkie commented, due to the fact that the tome informed her that she needed magma cream, soul sand, and gravel to make the Nether version of the grout she made to make the smithy, as what it opened the door for would allow her to make all sorts of metals and additions to their gear.
"Might as well keep exploring, but keep an eye out for enemies." Alex said, where she had a feeling they needed resources from the Nether to make what Pinkie needed so she could mass produce the Manyullyn gear that would aid them in their quest, hence why she carefully made her way down to a valley of soul sand that was below their ridge.
What made this interesting was that they found a number of Magma Cubes, square shaped slime monsters who liked to bounce around, wandering the area, where Steve was sure that they had bounced in from one of the other biome, due to them not being in the soul sand valley. Since they contained what Pinkie was looking for Steve and Alex attacked them as Octavia continued to scan the rest of the Nether, adding more and more to her notes for when she returned to the tower and resumed her studies into what her tome had to show her. It wasn't long before their companions were able to find a couple of circular items that Alex confirmed were what Pinkie needed to make the new metal, or whatever it was that she needed the magma cream for, while Pinkie dug up some soul sand, making sure to gather enough in case Octavia needed some in the future. Other than that it didn't seem like any of the structures they were interested in were nearby, which wasn't a surprise to the group since too much progress was a bad thing, before discovering a passage in a nearby wall that seemed worth exploring, so they did so once everyone had what they needed.
On the other side of the short passage, however, they discovered a large force of Nether monsters, far too many for them to take out right now, especially when Octavia was sure that one of the massive flame dragons, like the one they found in the depths of that dungeon, was off in the distance, to which they returned to the portal and headed home.
"Okay, the Nether is dangerous... that much we're able to confirm." Octavia remarked, where she was happy to be back in the Overworld and not down in the depths of the Nether, even though this dimension was just as dangerous as the one she and the others had just left, before she focused on their mission, "So, we got everything we needed, right?"
"I should be able to make the Alloyer now, meaning it won't be long before I start producing Manyullyn ingots to improve our weapons and gear," Pinkie said, though she pulled out the collection of glowstone dust she had collected and handed most of it over to Octavia, while keeping some for herself in case she needed a bit in her own tinkering, before she grinned for a moment as she considered what was in the Nether.
Steve and Alex, on the other hand, simply decided that it was time for them to return to the village so they could rest and figure out what they were going to do next, since returning to the Nether right now wasn't the best option available, not with the army so close to their portal, so they would have to figure out what to do next as Pinkie worked on their gear.
After their return to the village, and making sure it was safe, Steve decided that there would be enough time for Pinkie to work on her stuff later, once they had a chance to actually explore the rest of the area, so they restocked their supplies and headed to the south this time. Of course such a thing meant they had to traverse a ruined forest that had signs of the black dragon they had seen previously, though this time around, with all of their gear, none of them were worried about most of the challenges that might be in front of them. Steve was interested in finding a desert, mostly because this world was so different from their own and he was eager to see what might be out there, plus with their improved diamond gear he had a feeling that nothing bad would happen to them, unless a dragon showed up. Alex hoped that they wouldn't run into one, as there were several to the northwest of the village, while Pinkie didn't seem to mind, since it meant more materials for them, and Octavia shared Alex's opinion on the matter.
Once everyone was ready to go they headed to the south, once more having their tools at the ready in case they found any useful materials or items laying around, while Octavia found a few Vis crystals and collected each deposit, since she had no idea how many she'd need in the future.
Eventually they had to slow down when they reached the area that had been torched by that black dragon, just to make sure it wasn't nearby or something else wasn't lingering, waiting for them to lower their guard, though as they did that Pinkie found a chicken that looked like a log. She and the others realized that it was from one of the tomes she had found, before they went into the Nether to be exact, which claimed there were special chickens that laid resources and it seemed to follow her and her friends, which she was fine with. According to that tome there were sand, flint, and bone chickens, while they could also make or find dyed chickens to breed and make other things, and there were even a few in the Nehter, so she felt that collecting one of each might be a good thing for them in the future. Steve and Alex didn't argue, as it was just odd to see and went along with it, though they did hope that Pinkie would let someone aid her in the future so she didn't overheat herself with too much to do, even though they were the only Crafters in the world.
Alex paused for just a moment when she found the area that she had found Pinkie and Octavia in, reminding them of the Creeper that had nearly hurt them, before resuming her walk as they headed to the south, putting some distance between them and this part of the world, all while Pinkie found no dragon in the nearby area.
While they explored more of this strange and wonderful world the group spotted several structures that Pinkie noted in her atlas for later, one being a massive stone structure that seemed to be an advanced Battle Tower, a Battle Fortress to be exact, while another was in an entirely different forest off in the distance, giving off a sense of evil. Octavia was sure that all of the structures they were seeing held some powerful entities inside them, though not the powerful beings that served the Admins that seemed to be blocking them every now and then, like when that one dungeon room changed into that dragon's massive chamber. Such a thing told her that, at some point in time, she and her companions would attack the locations in question and liberate the land, though she was also amazed by the amount of dungeons that seemed to be in this world, meaning someone intended for them to tackle them once they reached a certain level. Of course she also knew that the Experience in the dungeons wouldn't do much for Pinkie, in fact she was sure the other Equestrian had an unlimited amount of it and it never depleted, but it was more for her and the others to ready themselves for whatever the future held for them.
When the group found a jungle, however, Pinkie seemed to be more in tune with the world and quickly located a shrine of gold and stone that seemed to be for a dragon of some kind, wielding lightning no less, where she lit a brazier and made an offering of gold and diamond, placed on either side of it, before bowing her head and departing.
"Pinkie, what was that about?" Octavia asked, though she found that while Pinkie did that her lens went off, vibrating as if some sort of powerful being was resting inside that jungle, and if there was something powerful inside it, which caused her companion to back off, they wouldn't be able to explore it for new resources.
"There's a powerful dragon inside this jungle... far more than the one we found in the dungeon." Pinkie replied, where she glanced back for a moment as they left the province behind and continued to the south, though everyone paused for a few seconds as she said that, unaware of what they could have gotten themselves into if she hadn't been with them or if she had ignored the odd shrine, "My Pinkie Sense just went haywire when we entered the jungle... as if waking him from his slumber would be far worse for us than running into a black dragon."
Octavia knew what that meant, they likely found the domain of a monster that served one of the Admins, though as she thought about such a thing she suspected that it wasn't one of the three they were looking for, causing her to wonder what this meant and if they had to be worried about it in the future. Steve and Alex had an idea of what she might have sensed, in fact their companions trusted her sense and didn't question it, as it had saved them several times already, so the pair remained quiet as they considered the information Pinkie had revealed. An immensely powerful dragon could be a worthwhile ally, especially with Pinkie's power to make as much of an item as she desired, but if she was nervous about this discovery, and what was resting inside the jungle, than they had to be careful when dealing with whatever was resting inside the depths of the temple they stumbled upon by accident. Of course none of them had seen anything other than the statue, since everything was covered by thick jungle trees, but they were sure that it was a temple and the beast was waiting in the center of it, resting based on what Pinkie was able to uncover from just entering the area.
With that in mind they angled themselves away from the jungle and continued their exploration, seeking more areas for all sorts of materials, though Steve let a smile appear on his face as he spotted a desert some distance in front of them, even if it was on the other side of a small river.
Sure enough the desert was hotter than what they were used to, where Pinkie confirmed that she needed to make some liners for their armor so they could handle both hotter and colder environments, as she was thinking ahead since they had no idea where they would be going next. While she considered that Octavia used her lens on the surrounding area, simply gaining more information about the world they were in, though she also found that Pinkie knocked down a cactus with her axe, gathering more material as she added some sand and sandstone. Of course they came across a sandy chicken and a white bone chicken, who simply fell in with the one they had found so far, though Steve and Alex weren't annoyed with this turn of events since it was one less thing they had to worry about. Both of them were interested in finding a temple, as a desert temple was usually abandoned and had some good things in the depths, chests full of treasure and tnt below it, so they needed to avoid the pressure plate if they discovered such a structure, even though he was wary since they had no idea what sort of dangers awaited them in this new world.
Off to the east Octavia spotted what looked like a massive ant hill, with a few large light brown ants wandering around the opening, though when one started to make it's way over to where they were standing she got the others to continue, due to the fact that it seemed hostile, and found that no one argued with her.
There were other critters living in the desert, like some four legged beasts called Jouste, though they seemed neutral and didn't come rushing at them, like a couple of desert Zombies, Shamblers they were called, but Octavia was less interested in them, even if she scanned a few with her lens, as they spotted a village in the distance. Pinkie wandered off to the left of it for a moment and Octavia was surprised by the dragon skeleton she discovered, something her companion salvaged as she joined Steve and Alex in the village, where all of the Villagers seemed surprised to see them, but they received them without too much commotion. Octavia knew that travelers wouldn't come this way if they could help it, as there were all sorts of dangers in a desert and people would want to avoid it if possible, though the Desert Villagers were fine with it, as it changed nothing about their lives, plus they had a Waystone that the group activated. While they talked the Desert Elder informed them of a couple of dangers that he and his people saw occasionally, such as small and large Death Worms, at least two dragons, not counting the dead one Pinkie found and salvaged, and a mysterious beast they only had rumors about, a massive monster that spread the desert's influence while crushing villages and building towers.
As they talked about the beast, as it might be one of the monsters the Admins controlled, Pinkie shuddered as she glanced to the south, where a sandstorm was raging, though as her friends followed her eyes they found two earthen dragons that had black scales and brown wings on the ground. In addition to that the Desert Elder spotted several Death Worms near the two Zoataur, which was what the dragons were called, before Alex spotted what appeared to be an army of ants, as in those from the hive they had spotted earlier. Steve understood what was coming the moment he saw Pinkie's sense going haywire, someone, likely an Admin, was going to wipe this village off the face of the map and that meant they had to get all of the Villagers out of here, though he had no idea how. Pinkie, however, had an idea as she tapped Octavia's staff for a few seconds, to which the pair combined it with her ability to bend the rules as she struck the Waystone, where she tore a portal open before their eyes, though at this point Steve and Alex weren't surprised and knew it was stable thank to all of Octavia's knowledge on the subject.
While the Desert Villagers moved to gather everything of importance, and Steve and Alex helped them with the items that they couldn't touch, Octavia felt the ground shudder as a massive beast rose out of the desert some distance away, one hidden by the sandstorm, though she could tell that it was dangerous. The confirmation of the rumors caused many of the people to stop for a moment, even though the dragons and worms moving caused them to move once more, as this was the end of their village and they were lucky Steve's group had arrived when they had. As that happened the Villagers made their way through the portal and disappeared before the enemies reached their soon to be destroyed home, though it did give Pinkie and the others a chance to see that the beast was as tall as a Battle Tower, maybe a floor taller. Once everyone was through the portal Octavia lowered her staff and huffed, as that took a lot of power out of her, before Pinkie rapidly moved through all of the buildings, checking them for anything and everything that might be important, and found that all of the important components had been taken, but she did claim a tome titled 'Vault Hunters'.
With that done the four of them moved through the portal and let it slam shut behind them, preventing their home from getting hit by whatever was happening to the desert village, though as Pinkie and Octavia rested, so they could recover, Steve and Alex took the Desert Elder to speak with the Elder, but they all knew that they would be returning to the desert at some point, they just needed to prepare a little before doing so.
"Was that really necessary?" the ghostly being asked, as he witnessed the scene that had been caused by his glowing eyed brother's sudden influence over the Overworld, something that ended up wiping out the entirety of the village that Steve and his companions had been visiting, making him wonder where their brother kept such a beast.
"It was, and it's because of THAT!" their brother replied, where the scene shifted and revealed an ebony black dragon that was sleeping in the middle of the jungle that the group had passed by, a large beast with amethyst purple markings on it's body that looked like lightning bolts, which he and their shadowy brother looked at, "Raijin, the personal creation that's similar to our own creations: those being Rahovart, Asmodeus, and Amalgalich."
"Raijin?!" the shadowy figure inquired, though as he said that he knew it was true, the dragon matched what he recalled, as if it hadn't aged or changed since the last time they had seen the beast, and he understood why his brother was trying to get rid of the dragon while it was still sleeping, before he considered something, "Wait, does that mean...?"
"Yes, She's back." the glowing eyed brother said, though it wasn't something he wanted to admit, despite the fact that he was sure their sister's interference might explain Pinkie's strange powers, as it could be a blessing from someone he and his brothers thought they had destroyed, or at the very least buried to the point where she would be unable to use her powers to influence their games, "We destroy Raijin, before he can wake up, we cripple her ability to do anything besides give Pinkie her blessing... I'd like to use one of the others to destroy him, but with how we've set up our game this time it would take too long to rewrite their positions... my Titan Golem might move slow, but it should wipe the dragon out when it reaches it's target."
The brothers glanced at the scene, at Raijin, and knew that things were getting interesting if their sister was trying to make a move against them by waking her avatar from his slumber, they just had to be patient and see what happened next, as this game was far more exciting than they originally thought it would be and were eager to see how the group reacted to this turn of events.
Following their brief visit to the desert, and their discovery of something incredibly dangerous, Octavia and the rest of the group discovered that the Elder was willing to let the desert group move into their village, though it would make things much more packed than they were used to. To that end Pinkie gathered her materials and started to etch out new locations both inside and outside the village for their newcomers to rest and work in, where the newcomers were surprised by her power to use blocks while never running out of a certain material. While she did that several of the Villagers asked that she make a modification or two to their own buildings, where she listened to their requests and found a way to make it happen, all while Octavia watched as Steve and Alex helped everyone move the items from the desert village into their new homes. None of them were too surprised as they watched Pinkie renovate buildings, making everything in the village better, before crafting all new living arrangements for the Villagers who just lost their home to that bizarre storm, to that massive monster none of them had seen until that point.
As she watched, however, Octavia felt an idea forming in her head as Pinkie made her way over to the wall and started to break parts of it down before rapidly building a section to replace it, all in a matter of moments, something that caused her to move before her friend got busy doing something else.
"Hey Pinkie, how high do you suppose you can place blocks?" Octavia asked, which caused Steve and Alex to pause for a few seconds as their friend thought about the question, because she knew how tall the imposing creature was and felt that it would reach it's target, the shrine Pinkie found, in about a week, since it seemed to be moving slow, which they could use to their advantage.
"Knowing her, probably whatever limit there might be." Alex commented, as while they were used to Pinkie's powers there were things they still didn't know and things they could only guess at, even about this world since it was stranger than all of them were used to, before she realized what Octavia was asking, "Actually, that might work..."
"With Pinkie's power she could build a wall, or multiple walls, in the path that that monster is currently using, meaning it would have to stop and either attack them or push through," Octavia continued, where everyone glanced at the walls that Pinkie had assembled in no time at all, especially the lookout towers that lined the protective barrier she had set up not all that long ago, which she seemed to be thinking about to improve the layout of this place, "depending on how fast that beast pushes through them, or forces itself to go around, we could earn days, even a week or two, to figure out a plan to bring it down. Pinkie, do you think you can build some obstructions in it's path and slow it down?"
Pinkie continued to think about it for a few more moments before shifting her stance, leading to the others watching as she rushed out of the village and headed to the south, something that caused them to follow after her as Steve informed the Elders that they would be back after seeing what she was doing. This time around, with the evening sun upon them, a number of monsters emerged to try and take them down, where those that attacked Pinkie found that she slashed each of them down with a quick swing of her scythe, while the others took a few more moments to beat their foes. This was yet another piece of confirmation for Octavia, Pinkie's power did extend to her Experience, as she must have boosted all of her Skills to the maximum and likely did the same for the bonus skills that she, Steve, and Alex were only starting to use and unlock. As such Pinkie was faster, stronger, and tougher than the three of them currently were right now and Octavia knew that she was only improving over time as she gained more Experience, which was why she was taking the time out of her travel to kill the monsters, just to add to her power.
When they finally reached the area that the monster was moving through, where it was currently breaking the village they had discovered, Pinkie pulled out her materials and rushed forward, rapidly building a crescent outline of a wall she was going to build in the next few minutes, at least five blocks wide. Sure enough Octavia was right, Pinkie was able to build far higher than what she and the others had been expecting when they saw the walls she added to their village, because the new wall rose before their eyes and didn't stop until it was taller than the monster they had seen. Once she was done with the stone wall, reinforced in the middle with obsidian, Pinkie took a few steps back before building an identical wall behind the first one, meaning that once the beast broke through the first it would have to repeat the process, and with it covering a greater distance she was forcing it to break through her walls. She also set down the layout of three more walls, each of them longer than the one before it, meaning she was going to make sure the monster was unable to quickly move across the land, giving them all the time in the world to figure out how to bring it down.
Even with her skills it took a while to make the five walls, though once it was done they retreated to their own village and fought off all of the monsters that happened to appear during the night, allowing Pinkie and her friends to deal with them before they reached their home and she made sure the new walls were holding up.
When morning arrived Pinkie got to work once more as Octavia, Steve, and Alex helped the villagers move their stuff from the middle of the village and placed them in their new homes, though in addition to houses Pinkie ended up making a two story building that ended up being a library, a chapel, and a few other things for the newcomers. She made new farms for them to plant things in, as many of the villagers wanted to work and help them out, even if it meant farming and gathering basic materials, before she moved onto a hatchery for the chickens they had found during their outing. Pinkie also set up all of the new pieces that were required for her to melt down the materials they recovered from the Nether, because the Manyullyn would help them out in the future, she just had to be patient and it would be ready in due time. In addition to all of that she spend her spare time to researching the tome she recovered from the desert village, about vaults and the treasure said to be resting in each one, which interested her and made her wonder if branching out towards that might be a good idea, to help them prepare for the future.
Octavia, while interested in what might happen if she made the next item in her tome, held off on doing so until she was sure that the Villagers were safe and sound, while ensuring that the walls worked like they had when Pinkie first set them up, though she had a feeling that such a thing was unnecessary, given what she had seen in the past. She was still pleased to have saved as much as they had from the now ruined village in the expanding desert, despite the lack of time the storm had given them before the monster showed up, so the newcomers were able to resume their lives as if nothing bad had happened to them, even if they would remember this event for quite a long time. To be honest she enjoyed this, watching Pinkie work her power over wherever she happened to be working, allowing her to build and craft things in no time at all, much to the amazement of the newcomers, even though it was something she wouldn't be able to explain. It also allowed her some time to think about her tome and everything she needed to make sure her experiments proceeded without her slowing down to gather more of the necessary materials, even though she knew that it was impossible to know that, due to all of the locked pages she had seen.
While they were working, carefully expanding the village's wall and placing new lookout towers to make sure everything was fine in the surrounding area, she found Pinkie reading from that tome she found in the other village, manipulating a new power that only she seemed to be able to see at the moment, but Octavia decided not to bother asking what in the world she was up to.
"I know we were planning on adding some new additions to the village at some point, but not this quickly." Steve said, as he and Alex suspected this would happen at some point in time, especially after they fully explored the Nether and found a few more supplies, but it never ceased to amaze them when they watched Pinkie just mess with reality and do things the two of them hadn't seen before, especially build the massive walls without hurting herself.
"Having Pinkie around is a blessing," Alex remarked, which was the truth, as their friend's powers allowed them to do all sorts of things that she and Steve wouldn't have considered, even in their own world, especially when it meant having an unlimited amount of tools, gear, and equipment to accomplish whatever they were planning on doing, before she tilted her head for a moment as Pinkie engaged some Specters that emerged from some nearby shadows, "I'm sure she's found something out in her time studying that book... not sure if it'll help with our current situation, but at least Pinkie's keeping herself busy, keeping the village safe."
"I wonder if she's figured out how to enchant our gear, because if she has we'll be set for later." Octavia added, because it was something that came to mind while they were watching Pinkie work, as enchantments, according to Steve and Alex, would pack quite the punch and improve their ability to survive whatever the future threw at them, and with Pinkie having an unlimited amount of Experience it meant she could make whatever enchantments she wanted.
Steve and Alex glanced at each other as they considered that idea, because if Pinkie got her hands on enchanted books, which they hadn't found inside the desert village or their own, she could likely combine them to no end and make some overpowered enchantments, which had to be what Octavia was thinking about. Given the fact that they were planning on going after monsters, such as that monstrous desert beast and those three beings that were the toys of the Admins, such a thing made sense when they considered it and made them hope Pinkie could do it when she got her hands on the items to pull it off. As Octavia considered it, watching as Pinkie collected some purple fruit from some of the monsters she cut down with her sharp scythe, she had to wonder if that evil structure they had seen might be the answer to claiming more enchantments for them and their gear, something she would have to pitch to their friends once everyone in the village was finally settled into their brand new homes. At the very least Pinkie was focused on keeping the outside safe as she did more additions to the walls and lookout towers, meaning they would be able to keep their focus on the village itself and the fact that there were Villagers that would help them by doing other jobs.
While she aided them, however, Octavia had a feeling that she and the others would be moving at a faster pace after this day was over, as they had no idea how long Pinkie's barrier walls would stall the massive monster and they would need to be ready for when it came time to fight it, she just hoped they would be ready for whatever the future held for them and their village.
When morning arrived Octavia rose with it and decided to get started on her work, the first of which being creating a new type of stone by using her Crafting Table as she surrounded a Vis Crystal with eight pieces of cobblestone, making nine of what the tome called Arcane Stone. By combining four of those together she got the brick version in no time, though to make sure her experiments continued without slowing down she did cut corners by having Pinkie duplicate her items with her power, where she wasn't even remotely surprised to see her friend up at the same time she was up. From what she could see Pinkie was in the middle of cooking the purple fruit she had collected from some of the Specters she had slain the previous day, all while having set up the new station of her smithy so she could combine ores, even though it looked like she had plans to combine Manyullyn, dragon bones, and Netherite to make a superior scythe. Of course such a thing was next to impossible right now, since she didn't have the last material and it would be some time before she found some, but Pinkie wasn't letting that get her down as she continued her work, allowing Octavia to do the same as she returned to her tower and continued her work.
Octavia found that when she combined four Arcane Stone Bricks in her magical Crafting Table, similar to the pattern that created the item in question, it allowed her to make a black stone with a number of magical runes all over it, a Barrier Stone according to her tome, and she had a feeling that it was the key to protecting the village.
With the Barrier Stones in hand she departed from the tower and made her way over to one of the entrances of the village, where she used a shovel and dug up some dirt that was in front of the wall Pinkie had made, and once that was done she placed the new block in the ground. For a few seconds nothing happened, making her wonder what she had done wrong in making her way through her tome's extensive knowledge, before purple particles appeared in the air above them, which told her that it had to be working. According to the tome these blocks were supposed to keep hostile enemies, like the monsters, out of an area, making a barrier wall to keep foes on the other side, and given that there were all sorts of enemies she had a feeling this would be easy to test out. Sure enough she spotted one of the Creepers and smiled as it walked over to where she was standing, allowing her to slip back into the village as it approached her, only to stop as it encountered an invisible wall that was coming from the Barrier Stones, meaning they were working quite well.
"Now that is an improvement," Steve commented, as he and Alex had plans for today and had gotten up early to get ready for the journey they were planning on undertaking in the next few minutes, only to pause as they witnessed Octavia making a new addition to the exterior of the wall, adding something to keep their village safe.
"indeed, and it is only the start of what the tome has to offer." Octavia replied, where she found herself wondering what sort of secrets might be inside her tome, even though it would take her some time to make her way through everything, given the rate she was going at the moment, before she glanced at her new friends, "Who knows, I might be able to make a barrier dome over the village at some point in time, which would be great since we've got so many dragons and all sorts of flying enemies to worry about."
"Until such a thing happens, we'll have to be the protectors of the village." Alex remarked, which was the truth, that they were the first and last line of defense for their allies who called this place home, and whenever they weren't here it placed everyone in danger, hence why she was glad Octavia found out about the Barrier Stones, at least before they left to locate some enchanting books.
Octavia said nothing as Pinkie joined them, resting the handle of her scythe against her shoulder as she did so, though she did take a moment to head over to all of the other entrances and repeated what she did with the first one, digging out the dirt in front of the wall and placed some Barrier Stones in their place. Once she was done, and all of the entrances were no longer hazards for the Villagers, she rejoined the others before they left to continue their exploration of the world, though this time around she, Steve, and Alex were looking for enchantment books. While that evil building might be the best place to find what they were looking for, or at least they assumed such a thing, the group knew it might be slightly beyond their ability to take everything there down, but, if they failed to find what they were looking for, Steve figured they could return to it and tackle whatever was inside it. For now he figured that something might be beyond where those two large figures were located, a dragon Pinkie discovered and that giant Pinkie had slowed down with her new walls, and even if that failed it would allow them to see more of the world, to further understand everything they had been thrust into.
It took them a while to get back to where the shrine was located, giving them another view of the walls and Pinkie was able to confirm that all of them were just fine, in fact the giant beast seemed to have stalled entirely, as if the Admin in charge of it was debating what to do with the information in front of them.
After they passed by where the shrine was located, however, it took the group a few more moments before they spotted a large tower that seemed to be more like a home that had been abandoned, which happened to have four armor stands in the four corners surrounding it, one having chain armor, the second having iron, the next having gold, and the final one having diamond armor. As Alex gathered the sets of gear that were around the building, which was impressive when they stared up at the structure, Steve headed inside as Pinkie and Octavia followed him, where he found a number of chests, all empty unfortunately, a number of sea lanterns in the ground, which he had Pinkie carefully extract, and some redstone lamps with blocks of redstone below them. After that they climbed the stairs and found a few rooms that didn't have any items for them to take, safe for more of the redstone items, before Pinkie found that one had a block of redstone in the section the door was in, the next had iron, the third had gold, diamond was on the fourth, and the fifth had a green block, emerald according to Steve. Pinkie refrained from taking everything they didn't need, just in case someone wanted to use this as a home away from home, before finding that the sixth floor was a farm and the final one was like a lookout area of sorts, and once they were done checking the area out everyone regrouped and resumed their journey.
It took them a while to find anything of interest, save for more enemies that wanted to bring them down, though it was in the evening when the group discovered a river the size of a ravine with five Battle Towers lining their side, the other side, and one even rested in the middle of the area they had discovered.
"What in the world?" Steve asked, as that was the question going through their minds right now, why had five towers, all made of the same prismarine material he and Alex knew could be found in the rare underwater temples, been made in the same place like this, especially since two towers seemed close to each other, "Were the Admins drunk when they put these particular towers in?"
"Not the ones we're focused on... rather, one connected to that dragon." Pinkie replied, where Octavia knew she was being weird again, seeing or knowing something that no one else knew about and only figured out without telling anyone what she had learned, before she made a note of this place in her atlas, "Well, we only need two, maybe three, of the towers, so we should split up to tackle them... you guys can take one, I'll take another."
Octavia said nothing to that as she, Steve, and Alex watched Pinkie leap into the air, looking like she was going to fall into the water below her, before she seemed to dash through the air and landed on the roof of the tower she had picked out, which went underground based on what they were seeing. As she started to engage her enemies, Skeletons mostly, the trio just walked over to the nearby Battle Tower and climbed inside without delay, finding that it had Zombies instead of Skeletons, to which Steve and Alex took point as Octavia pulled out her staff. She recalled what she did back during the blood moon, to save the village from the dangers that had been threatening to overwhelm them, and it was long before she summoned two of the little Wraamon, one with the flaming aura and one without it. Octavia issued her orders to them, they were to head up the tower and clear the floors above them, so while they were clearing out the first floor, and taking the treasure, the pair would deal with the enemies and then wait for them to catch up before moving again.
Steve had to admit that it was a worthwhile plan, allowing them to save their energy for the enemies on the higher floors, in addition to the Golem who guarded the final of the ten floors, though as he and Alex broke the Spawners, and gathered the Experience for later, Octavia found that her summons didn't last too long, meaning the enemies here had to be tougher than she expected. What they found was a force of Zombies and Skeletons, which was odd since it was generally just one of them and Spiders, but the trio repeated what they did during their first Battle Tower run, two of them forced their enemies away from the Spawners so the third could break them. With that done it was a simple matter to take down all of the remaining monsters and collect their Experience, which most of them were saving up for later since they were reaching a point where it took a lot of the substance to empower them further. Sadly, when they looked in the chests, it didn't look like there were any enchanted books for them to claim, which was the whole point of this venture, but Octavia was fine with that, since she had a feeling that moving too fast was a bad thing, even if Pinkie seemed to be the only one who cared about moving fast, given all of her power boosts recently.
As it turned out the Battle Tower didn't really offer them too much in the way of difficulty, allowing them to reach the Golem on the top and pulled him away from the treasure chest, since it's power could break it and scatter everything to the wind, where they found that, with their improvements, it was far easier to take down than they originally believed. Due to that fact they were able to bring the Golem down, collect the treasure it dropped, and then raided all of the chests as they made their way down to the lowest floor, beating the self destruction of the tower since it was tied to the Golem. After exiting the tower the trio gathered their treasure and found nothing new to aid them, save for some glowing ingots that might be new, but before they could do anything else they found another tower collapsing before their eyes, the one Pinkie had gone into not that long ago. Sure enough she emerged from the water and walked up to where they were standing, informing them that, sadly, she had been unable to find the tomes they were after, meaning they would have to tackle the evil structure at some point in the near future, but she did find a recipe she wanted to try out when they got back to the village.
Since the towers were mostly for Experience, based on their experience with them, the group decided to return to their base and plan their next move, though Pinkie did reveal something interesting, she found a large dragon skull, likely the largest of them all, in the final chest as well, like someone had been in the process of filling out the recipe before being taken out by the Battle Tower's guardian.
"Must be something special, if you're eager to make it." Octavia commented, which seemed to be the norm for Pinkie now, she loved to make things and aid them in figuring out how to survive the dangers of this world, even though facing all the dragons and imposing figures seemed more than what they were expecting when they joined Steve and Alex.
"Supposedly, according to the recipe, it'll help with tracking down items while mining." Pinkie replied, something that was more useful to someone like her, who spent her time making things or down in the mines they had created, but it would open some doors for her to make items that would aid the others in some manner.
Octavia was interested in what Pinkie was talking about, to which they said nothing as they made their way back to their village and she slipped into her workshop, as it was much more than a smithy when one thought about what was inside it, and what else Pinkie could add to it. She then revealed the recipe to the others, that she required the large dragon skull that had been in the chest, four diamond swords, which she could make easily enough, three glowing gems, and a specific ring she'd be able to craft in no time. Since her power allowed her to have an unlimited amount of an item she collected, no matter what the item might be, she could break down one of the glowing ingots into dust and then combine said dust with a block of diamond and a couple of ingots, making a glowing gem. After that she crafted a golden carrot, which was a carrot and eight golden nuggets combined, and added four iron ingots and a glowing ingot to it to make the ring that was part of this, before combining the items into a single form, a purple sphere with a deep red slit, a dragon's eye trinket that she embraced, causing it to disappear in seconds.
When Pinkie turned towards them, however, Octavia could see that her eyes had changed, changing into the slits that a dragon had, and as she glanced around it was easy to see that things were working, she could see whatever treasure the item allowed her to see, where she suspected that it would be put to good use when they faced whatever the next couple of days had in store for them.
Following Pinkie's creation of a dragon's eye, a bauble that actually altered her eyes, the first thing she did after checking it out was head back into the mine, where Octavia and the others followed after her without delay, as they wanted to see her and her bauble in action. They knew that she didn't need the bauble all that much, given that she had the power to use any item as much as she wanted, but Pinkie claimed that it was more about the Experience dropped when one mined, since she had boosted all of her skills and gained a few interesting affects. That wasn't counting what she gleamed from the new tome, the one about Vault Hunters, as there were additional skills she could use and abilities that needed to be unlocked after she checked out the area the tome was linked to, but for now her focus was on the bauble. After a few moments she paused and pulled out her pickaxe, where she dug into the wall to her right for a couple of seconds, causing the others to watch her for a time as they wondered what in the world she was doing.
In the end she located a vein of gold, seven pieces to be exact, that she extracted without delay and added to what she had gathered so far, along with the Experience that would make her even stronger, before Octavia found some strange light in her eyes, making her wonder if there was more to the dragon's eye than what they thought.
"So the eye works. Now what?" Steve asked, as while the dragon's eye looked like it might be useful for mining, which he and the others knew Pinkie didn't need to do thanks to her abilities, he wasn't sure how this was helpful to them, even if Pinkie was missing just a few materials to complete her list.
"With this we should be able to find Netherite, or rather the Ancient Debris that is made into the material, the last piece of the puzzle." Pinkie replied, as with the abilities she had gleamed from the new tome, and what she had figured out from all of the skills that were available to everyone, part of her suspected that she might be able to locate a few samples of the last material during a short expedition to the Nether, "After that we can focus on locating enchantments, so we can power ourselves up for whatever the future decides to throw at us."
Another reason behind heading back to the Nether was so she could try to locate the material needed to craft the lanterns that would make the portal to the Lost Cities Dimension, Cincinnasite to be exact, where she determined that it had to be in the gravel in a specific location, since she didn't obtain any the last time they were there. Steve and Alex exchanged a quick glance, since they weren't expecting to return to the Nether in such a short time since their last visit, but if Pinkie felt she might be able to find the items she needed they weren't about to argue with her. Another part of the reason was that if she found the components to make Netherite, one of the best materials in the world, she could combine it with some of the dragon materials and the Manyullyn to make something special, weapons of incredible power and extraordinary gear to keep them safe. In addition to that Octavia had a feeling that there was something else Pinkie was interested in, so she could make the portal to another dimension, but she decided to say nothing as they agreed with the idea to head back to the Nether, at least for a short time since the bauble might make things easier for them.
With that decision made they quickly returned to the surface and headed for the Nether portal, where they were able to slip through it without anything stopping them and found that nothing seemed different from the last time they were in this dimension, it was burning hot and there was an army of monsters patrolling nearby. Pinkie glanced around for a few seconds, finding instances of the two materials to make Manyullyn in the floor and walls, before noticing a dark substance in the ceiling and launched herself at it, like she dashed through the air or something to reach her target. Such a thing did mean that Steve, Alex, and Octavia had to carve out a path leading to where she was located, but she went to town on the netherrack in front of her, digging out chunks of the material and pocketing them for later as she followed her new sight towards her true target. With the ability to see materials Pinkie was able to locate what she was looking for, a light brown rocky material that, when she cleared off what was above it, looked like a tree log with the square rings in the middle of it, and when she cleared out the surrounding area she found that there were three pieces together.
She smiled for a moment as she swung her pickaxe and collected the Ancient Debris without delay, adding three pieces to her inventory and granting her an unlimited amount for the future, to which she turned towards the others and headed back to where the portal rested. As they neared the portal, however, Pinkie headed back down to where she located the gravel to make her newest smithy piece, and spent a few moments digging into the material, something that allowed her to find a golden material that just made her smile widen. She made sure to collect a few more pieces of the material, as it had to be what she was looking for to make the portal to the Lost Cities Dimension, before leaving once four of them were in her possession, returning to where Octavia and their friends were waiting for her. Once she was done with the Nether, for the time being anyway since they still had to track down a fortress to find Blazes for their rods, the group quickly used the portal and returned to the Overworld for a time, allowing them to head back to the village so Pinkie could spend some time working on the new material.
As the others got something to eat, so they could rest and tend to the walls, in case monsters came to bother them, Pinkie got to work as she slipped one Ancient Debris into each of the furnaces she had, confirming that the ability worked on it as well, and let the flames dance around the material. She found that it produced some sort of scrap, possessing the same color as the base material, though when she combined four of them with four gold ingots she produced something that was incredible, a black ingot that was unlike anything she had seen before this point. In that moment she pulled out her scythe and set it on the workstation with the Netherite Ingot, for that was what this had to be, before retrieving one of the Manyullyn Ingots and a bone of a powerful dragon, the three items she had gathered for this instant. The bone went into the handle, making it far stronger than it had been before and could now withstand some of the more powerful blows she could use with her skills, while the ingots went into the headpiece, creating an ebony black scythe head with a purple edge that was razor sharp and incredibly tough, and the two colors moved down the handle to create a unified look.
With the weapon complete she headed outside and placed a dummy made of diamond down, three blocks tall, before she paused for a few seconds, allowing the others to gather nearby so she had an audience, which was followed by her loosing a few swings that cut through the diamond blocks like they were butter.
"Looks like Netherite reinforced by Manyullyn and dragon bone is the correct path... or whatever you would call it," Alex said, as that was all she could say on the matter, because the new scythe was far stronger than what Pinkie had used up to this point, enough to cut through diamonds with total ease, though Pinkie gathered the pieces and but them together in a trio of blocks, which she returned to her stash as if nothing had happened to them.
"And just think, that's it's base power without enchantments." Octavia remarked, as that was what the test was about, just so Pinkie could test the unenchanted power of the weapon out, before they found enchantments to add to it and the rest of their gear, which might make all of them overpowered, even if she and the others might not be on Pinkie's level, since they didn't have access to all the skills she was quickly unlocking.
Pinkie smiled as she got to work on some armor, just to see what she could do with dragon scales and the two ingots she recovered from the Nether, causing the others to retire for the night, as they would see what she created when morning arrived, even though they suspected that she would spend a great deal of time in her workshop. While they did that, so all of them could be ready for the morning, Pinkie got to work on adding the last couple of stations she needed, which would allow her to improve the quality of the weapons, gear, and even baubles, allowing her to make them far deadlier in just a matter of moments. Her scythe, for example, was at one of the weakest qualities, even though she was pretty good at her craft, and by sharpening it at one of the stations she was able to push it to the highest possible, legendary quality, and she repeated the same thing for the armor she ended up creating for herself, just to test it out before making a set for Octavia and the others. Her thought process was that if something went wrong with the armor she would be the only one of them who would be hurt, so depending on how it worked she'd make more whenever she and the others got back tomorrow, or the day after depending on however long they spent away from the village.
When morning arrived Octavia, Steve, and Alex found that Pinkie really went to work on her armor, as it was crafted out of dragon scales and was improved by both Netherite and Manyullyn, the black and purple melding together in harmony, all due to her skill no doubt, yet she almost looked like a dragon in humanoid form, minus the tail and wings.
"Seems like you did well with your work." Steve commented, in fact he was taken aback by the sheer amount of work that went into the armor Pinkie was wearing right now, as every scale looked like they were individually crafted before being linked together to make the imposing form they were seeing right now, and with the power of the dragon's eye bauble it sure looked like they were talking to a humanoid dragon.
"Indeed, and this will be it's first test drive... if it works, I'll make you guys a set when we get back, if it fails, well, only I will be hurt," Pinkie said, though in that moment she pulled out her atlas and gestured in the direction of the ocean they had been told about when they first took over the village, calling it home while protecting it from all of the dangers that this world could throw in their way, "I'm thinking we explore that direction this time."
The group agreed with her, as they were running out of areas to check in the surrounding area and, even with her armor and weapon, most of them felt that an assault on the college area was a bad idea, so for now they were focused on simply exploring the world and figuring things out, and finding the last pieces of their massive puzzle. As they departed Steve had news to share with the others, according to the two Elders there was a special land where they could find a special type of beast with a golden shell, a cross between a crocodile and a turtle, which supposedly, when made into a new enchanting table, could take the enchantment off of an item and store it inside a book. Octavia understood what he was saying, they could acquire some of the golden shells, give them to Pinkie so she could make the table, and then get to work collecting all of the enchantments they might need from all of the Battle Towers and other similar strongholds. It was more effective than hunting for libraries and other structures that might hold the tomes they were after, since they seemed to be in the middle of striking out no matter where they looked, and if it worked they would be one step closer to their goal, which was toppling that massive monster.
Once more they found that none of the monsters in the nearby area wanted anything to do with them, which they were fine with since it meant everyone could focus on the task at hand, though Alex did make sure they had some boats given the fact that they were planning on traversing the ocean and needed some mode of transportation. Octavia had to wonder if there was a way for them to get mounts, flying or ground when she thought about it, and she was sure there was a tome they had to find to confirm or deny what she was thinking right now, since it would make exploration easier. Her thought was due to the fact that they continued to find tomes about the various things in the world and figured that it would continue to be the case as she and her friends continued their exploration for new items that would improve their chances of surviving all the dangers they were discovering. Still, she agreed with the others and felt this venture would be the key to getting the last piece of the puzzle, which would allow them to focus on all of the other structures and gather more Experience, but first they had to track down the land the Elders had mentioned.
It took a while for them to reach the coast, where everyone stared at the vast water for a moment before Alex pulled out the boats they would be using, two to be exact since the wooden vehicles could carry two people at a time, so she and Steve had one while Octavia and Pinkie had the other.
For a while they saw next to nothing that might be the land that the Elders told Steve about, though Pinkie did stop every now and then to make a note of something interesting they could return for once they had the scales they needed, such as a floating castle, a Battle Fortress, and an island that had another collage on it. Their luck changed as Steve spotted an island that was a fair distance from where their village was located, one that was dark purple colored and seemed to be in the middle of spreading, as the coloration was heading deep underwater, which meant it had to be their target. What they found was that there were pink Slimes bouncing around the place, twisted trees and vines growing all over the place, and bright red-orange flowers, which exploded when someone touched them, which they figured out thanks to a nearby Slime that brushed up against one and was torn apart in the explosion. As everyone carefully explored the area, looking for the creature they needed to take out, Pinkie found some new materials in the ground, which she carefully made her way to in no time thanks to her new eyes and claimed them without delay, before Alex spotted a creature that matched what the Elders told Steve earlier.
"They're the creature we're looking for, but the wrong color." Alex commented, as the creatures were close to the ground, like a turtle, and had a shell with some crocodile features, but the group of three were purple colored and seemed passive to them, which just meant that they had to locate what they were looking for the hard way, unless breeding was a thing for these creatures.
"Then we'll keep looking... they have to be here somewhere." Octavia remarked, because there was no reason for there to be only purple ones when both of the Elders told Steve that there were golden ones, meaning they had to be natural and not forged by some sequence of events, even though they were still learning about this world.
Steve and Alex nodded as Pinkie walked out to see what else was around them, finding nothing but the darkness that was infesting the ground, or whatever it was, before spotting an altar of some kind off in the distance, maybe tied to a beast that was sealed away, so she focused on their target for now. Fortunately luck was on their side once more, as not too far away from where they stopped Octavia and Pinkie spotted a trio of golden ones wandering around, without a care in the world, though in the following moment their friends caught up and cut the critters down. Sure enough they found a few golden shells to collect, meaning the Elders had been correct in what they told Steve earlier, where he handed them over to Pinkie, both for safekeeping and the fact that they had come here for her unlimited power, before they headed back to their boats. With the shells in hand, and a few enchanted items resting back in their houses, it was only a matter of time until they had the enchantment table they were after and would have the start of a collection of enchantments that would improve their ability to survive in this world.
Octavia was looking forward to whatever the future held for them, especially since she was sure that Pinkie might test out her armor soon and make the portal to the other dimension she was interested in exploring, but for now they had to get back to the village before focusing on one of their other tasks.
It took some time for them to return to the village, once more finding that nothing seemed to stop them, meaning either the monsters wanted nothing to do with them or they weren't spawning at the moment, though as soon as Pinkie stepped inside she headed to the workshop.
"It would seem that your adventure was successful." the Forest Elder remarked, as he and the Desert Elder had been talking since the newcomers arrived in the village, mostly sharing information while figuring out how to spread the division of labor, for all of the more mundane duties so Steve and his friends could focus on their adventures.
"Indeed, we found those creatures and soon we'll have the table you told me about." Steve said, though he knew that they didn't have too many enchanted items to use with the new device, meaning they would need to go on more adventures to gain either items possessing all sorts of enchantments or find villages with libraries to obtain tomes, "We still need to find a number of things, since we don't have a lot of enchanted gear, so it might be some time before we can put it to use."
"There should be a larger village to the north, on the edge of the forest before it becomes a plains," the Desert Elder stated, as he had been thinking about what they were up to and realized that he might have some information for them, though Octavia was interested in the fact that so many villages were so close to each other, even if she was worried about the black dragon that happened to be unaccounted for, "I remember some travelers mentioning a great library, so you might be able to find some enchanted books inside it and use them to empower yourselves for the future."
Octavia glanced at the others for a moment, finding that they might have their next destination, though to be honest she had no desire to walk all the way to the location in question, before she spotted one Villager looking at something with what looked like a green stone of some kind, causing her to walk over to him.
"What are you doing?" Octavia asked, though as she reached him she discovered something interesting, one of the Warg, no doubt from the Blood Moon they had overwhelmed, was stuck inside one of the storehouses of the village and she figured that no one had told them because she and the others were always busy, plus it seemed docile.
"I'm taming her. I asked Pinkie for some treats, though with how busy she's been she likely forgot to tell you guys," the boy said, sounding happy as he tossed a meaty treat into the makeshift pen that the Warg had gotten stuck in, who tore into the meat as Octavia and the others found that she seemed more docile than those they had seen so far, before he raised the stone and used it, where it disappeared in seconds, "Can one of you open the building for her?"
Alex said nothing as she carefully removed some of the stone in the walls, opening the way for the Warg to walk out of the building, who proceeded to walk over to the Villager and lick him, showing them that it had been tamed, though in that very moment Octavia realized the solution to their problem. They didn't have to walk all the way to the village in the north, they just had to find monsters that were tameable, like the Warg for example, and feed them some sort of treat to make them neutral to them, and while they might not be able to obtain the same beast as the Villager this was still good news for all of them. It did, however, come as a shock to the other Villagers and many slowly inched their way over to where the beast was sitting, almost acting like a big puppy, causing Octavia to head to the smithy to ask Pinkie what she knew about treats and the various monsters of this world, as she clearly knew far more than she let on. Of course the answer she had for them came from the books they had found in the desert village, one that allowed her to see what monsters could be tamed, such as the Ventoraptors, and which ones weren't, and, sure enough, she was already in the process of making all sorts of saddles, for them and anyone else who found a mount.
As night fell upon the village, however, Octavia found something interesting off in the distance, beyond the wall, and that was four Ventroraptors, two blue, one green, and one icy blue, glaring at the wall, though when she told Pinkie her friend crafted a mountain of treats for them and informed them that she already had saddles at the ready. Steve and Alex, after hearing her plan to boost their speed on land, gathered some materials and started to craft little pens so they could trap the creatures inside them and protect themselves while they offered them the treats Pinkie had put together. As such the four of them carefully set up their traps, making sure the monsters didn't see what was going on since they seemed much smarter than Zombies and Skeletons, though the same couldn't be said for those in the Nether, which seemed smarter than the Overworld monsters. Fortunately it looked like they were more interested in something else at the moment, since none of them were looking in the direction of the village, though with night falling they had to be careful, since all sorts of monsters were bound to come out and attack when they were least expecting it.
When darkness settled over the land, and more monsters started to appear in the surrounding area, the group headed out and found the four Ventoraptors hanging out, without a care in the world, and when they spotted them each one just leapt forward and rushed at the group. Such a thing caused them to turn around and rush back to the edge of the village wall, each one quickly slipping into the traps they had set up and found that maybe they had misjudged the monsters that had rushed after them, as they didn't seem to care about the traps at all. Once all four of them were contained they pulled out the pile of treats Pinkie had crafted earlier, being careful not to let them snip at their hands as they tried to bond with the monsters, and, sure enough, the group of Ventoraptors understood what was going on and calmed down, leaving the group to hand over the treats to see if they could mimic what the one Villager did. Of course the monsters snipped at the food that was being offered to them, which was why they were grateful for the bones they could use to hold the meat out and not endanger their hands in the process, giving all four of the monsters more room to chew on their food.
Eventually, after using between seven to nine treats apiece, the Ventoraptors calmed down and Pinkie passed out some of the green stones that the one Villager had used, allowing them to, as Octavia discovered, bind the monsters to them as mounts, and, sure enough, Pinkie had saddles ready, so each could be outfitted in no time. With that done they quickly took down the temporary holding cells they had created for the monsters and walked into the village, discovering that the barriers Octavia had set up with her magical stones earlier recognized them as allies and welcomed them into the village as well. Such a thing told them everything they needed to know, any monster that was against them would be repelled by the barrier she had set up and any monster one of them befriended would be allowed in with no problems, like it scanned each one or something before determining what to do to them. Once they were back inside the village, and the Villagers got used to the idea that they could befriend certain monsters in this world, instead of kill them all the time, everyone went to bed for the night, as once morning arrived they were going to do something new.
Sure enough, when morning arrived, Pinkie, Octavia, and the others left the village again, though this time they climbed onto the Ventroraptors and rode off into the distance with their incredible mounts, which seemed to understand them a lot better than what they expected. Octavia found that she got lucky, she got the icy one, Steve got a blue one and Alex ended up with the green one, leaving the other blue as Pinkie's, though at the same time she was also amazed by how fast the creatures were, as they were able to quickly cross the land with ease. In addition to that they seemed to have some sort of leaping ability that allowed them to rapidly move forward, an attack designed to hurt whoever or whatever one or more of them happened to be hunting at the time, and she found that they could cross a gap with ease with such a power, to which she had to wonder what might happen if they found some flying mounts. If they got their hands on some sort of flying creature, not a dragon since that would freak everyone out, they would be able to rapidly fill out the rest of the map and learn where more stuff was located, to fill up their atlas and whatever maps they had of this world.
Steve and Alex had some experience in this field, due to the fact that they had steeds in their previous world, while both she and Pinkie didn't have any, but that didn't seem to be bothering her friend in the slightest, as she was exploring to her heart's content, leading the way north with ease.
They ended up passing by a couple of structures, more Battle Towers, a Battle Fortress off in the distance, a tower Pinkie stopped at to loot for more items and armor, and a few floating structures, before they found a large village that seemed to be the one they had been told about. When they approached the village some of the Villagers met them and found out the reason behind their visit, that they were looking for enchanted books, possibly gear that could have their enchants taken off by Pinkie's new table, before discovering that the Elder was perfectly fine with them looking around. They left the Ventoraptors outside the village and found that they simply wandered around, like sentries or something, allowing them to head to the library, where they discovered something interesting, the librarian suspected that they were after special books and beckoned for them to follow him. The Elder had told him of their arrival, while the group was dealing with their mounts, and he already had copies of certain tomes that they could take with them and add to their own collection, but, due to them being Crafters, he was perfectly fine with Steve, Alex, Pinkie, and Octavia looting the place, as they had pieces to replace the bookshelves or whatever else they took.
He also showed off the hidden chest that some libraries were supposed to have, including the mechanism to reveal where it was hiding, and Pinkie found that it was locked with a padlock, to which she pulled out a small pair of diamond lockpicks, an item she made after they discovered the tome that revealed the existence of the Lost Cities, and carefully opened the chest. Of course Octavia knew that she must have broken the lockpicks a few items, as these locks seemed hard to solve, but Pinkie didn't seem to care and solved it in no time, finding an enchanted sword that could set enemies on fire and had a rather sharp edge, even if it was made of iron, so she stashed it with everything else they were gathering. One thing that Octavia was worried about was the fact that most Villagers were willing to bend over backwards for Crafters, as if those who possessed the power were servants of the Builders or the Admins, but they didn't mind, rather it looked like some of the Villagers were hoping, praying, for someone to take down those who had replaced the Builders. She also asked if they knew of a dragon shrine that was located in the southern part of the forest, near the village they had come from, only to find that the Villagers had no idea what she was talking about, save that it might be a sign of another Admin, an ally that might be able to aid them in taking out the other three.
Octavia had no idea what was going on, save for the fact that it looked like they might be gearing for war with the Admins, a force they really knew nothing about, but decided to focus on the fact that this trip gave them what they were looking for, a number of enchantments to improve their abilities, and made her eager to see what they might do next.
After spending some time in the new village, and getting to know the Villagers that were in it, Pinkie found that they had a fair number of enchanted tomes and gear to work with, thanks to those who called this place home, as they were peaceful and didn't require the items in question. She also made sure to track down the Waystone so she could activate it, so she and the others could return here at some point in the future, while at the same time adding to their network as she made a note of where this placed was located in the atlas. Steve and Alex got additional information on where more structures might be found, for more items to add to what they had collected so far so they could find more baubles and whatnot to empower themselves for the future, as Pinkie had made one before trading it for the eye she had crafted. Octavia understood what the pair were thinking, either they could find the components to make more baubles or be lucky and find one while taking on either a Battle Tower, a Battle Fortress, or even one of the colleges.
Once they were done with the village, for now anyway, the group dismissed their mounts for the time being and used the Waystone to return to their base within a matter of seconds, where Pinkie headed to her workshop and they found that she already had an entire enchanting section set up, complete with the ordinary table surrounded by three walls of bookshelves, three blocks high.
"To be honest, I'm not even surprised by this." Alex commented, as while they had been surprised by Pinkie's powers when they first met her and witnessed her abilities for the first time, which was only a week ago even though it felt like it had been far longer than that, her power and deeds no longer surprised her and Steve, "So, what's first?"
"A pickaxe with advanced efficiency, for increased speed, and fortune, for greater drops," Pinkie replied, though in addition to that she added mending and unbreaking to the item in question, just in case enchanting a Tinkers' item caused a chain reaction and took away the fact that it was next to impossible to break the tools made from the smithy, "For armor, since all of us engage our enemies in close range, I've got both basic protection and projectile protection, plus magic protection since we have some of that. Note that this is just the beginning of what I'll be adding to our gear... oh, Alex, hand over your bow as well, as I have some power enchantments to add to it, making it stronger than before, and I might be able to give it infinity, to really boost our power."
Octavia found that Pinkie worked on her pickaxe first before turning to the gear that she, Alex, and Steve wore, though she did ask each one what they wanted, just in case their wishes were different than her base designs, showing that she had all sorts of enchantments and told them what she had. Octavia went with the basic protection, as she wasn't sure what laid at the end of her tome, so it was possible it might hold some power for her or it might not, meaning that while this action cost Pinkie nothing in terms of Experience, which was also used in enchanting, she just wanted to be sure before adding some enchantments she might not need onto her armor. Steve got several enchantments to boost his power as well, since he was one of their melee fighters and usually faced off against their enemies, making his armor far tougher and his weapon even stronger, which made him a force to be reckoned with. Alex, on the other hand, wanted her armor to have the same level of protection while granting her ranged advantages over her enemies, to the point where she might be able to lurk under the trees or behind a corner and loose an arrow to do drastic damage to her enemies, which pleased her when Pinkie placed all the enchantments on her gear.
Once they had their gear, fully enchanted for the time being, Octavia and the others left Pinkie to her work, who mentioned the mortalitas enchantment as she worked on her deadly scythe, where she knew that her friend would make it stronger and far scarier than before, causing her to focus on something else as they waited for Pinkie to complete her work.
When Pinkie emerged from her workshop Octavia found that her gear looked more radiant than before, likely the power she had placed on her armor, making her wonder what sort of enchantments went into making it, while her scythe looked ready to do some damage to her enemies, even if it didn't look any different from before. With that done the group summoned their mounts and departed from the village once more, this time heading back to the area they discovered those five strange Battle Towers in, as while they had cleared two of them so far there were still three to go. Pinkie wanted to break down the structures that were cleared out and see if she could use the material elsewhere, though she was more interested in seeing what her armor could do now that it had been enchanted, plus she wanted to see what her weapon was capable of with the power she had placed on it. Such a thing would tell her if she was ready to construct the portal to the Lost Cities, that other dimension they learned about back when they first discovered their base of operations, or if she needed more work before she could conquer it, plus it would allow her to gauge her strength for the massive beast heading for the dragon shrine they had encountered earlier.
Thanks to their Ventoraptors it took them no time at all to reach the area that the Battle Towers were resting in, where they found that nothing had changed in their time away, not that anyone was expecting something to happen to the area in question, to which they climbed off and got to work. Steve, once more, had them split up, as Pinkie seemed more than able to tackle the towers on her own, allowing him, Alex, and Octavia to focus on one of the others that they built a bridge of stone to, all while their friend propelled herself through the air once more, as if she was dashing. It was something they still needed to learn, or even figure out how in the world she had done such a thing, before turning their attention to all of the enemies, more Skeletons and Zombies, that were in the depths of the tower they had chosen, where it was easy to see that the easy enemies were inside the Battle Towers. Such a thing told Octavia that if she and the others wanted more of a challenge they would have to head to one of the massive Battle Fortresses they had seen so far and see what was inside them, as she figured that those structures had to be far tougher than what everyone was facing inside the towers, though she had a feeling Pinkie was far too strong for these buildings.
The Golem was definitely weaker than she remembered it being, where Octavia guessed it was due to all of the Experience that she and the others had poured into their skills so Pinkie could make them even better armor, since they wore special diamond gear that was enchanted, as none of them had reached the dragon level yet. Still, they had to be careful since the creature could ruin the top of the tower and scatter all of the treasure in the chest it was guarding, but that was the only thing they had to worry about as the three of them forced the creature to divide it's attention between them and ruined it with their weapons. Once that was done they took a few moments to gather all of the treasure that rested inside each of the chests they had passed to reach this point, before they heard an explosion and watched as the side of Pinkie's tower burst open and the Golem was knocked onto the ground, who picked itself up as Pinkie emerged. In that moment Octavia found that some sort of deathly gray energy was dancing around her friend's body, which had to be the mortalitas power she heard her mumbling about last night, before they discovered that the other Golem was moving slower than before, as if Pinkie was stealing it's strength and adding it to her own.
Given how broken Pinkie's powers were, and how she was able to impose her own rules on reality, Octavia knew that even if the enchantment was designed to give a temporary power boost, to be reacquired as a battle progressed, Pinkie would have a modified version of it that was overpowered, though she refocused as their friend slashed the Golem apart with a swing of her scythe and then returned to the tower to claim her prizes.
"Okay, she might be able to tackle the Wither, maybe even the Ender Dragon... she's either gearing up for that monster in the desert, or the Lost Cities." Steve commented, though he was fine with that, as he and Alex already understood that taking down the first two beasts would be hard, even with good gear, and there was no telling if they had been boosted in this world, so having someone like Pinkie was a good thing.
"Knowing Pinkie, it's likely something we don't know about." Octavia remarked, as she knew Pinkie more than the others, due to all the stories and tales she heard about the mare in question, and suspected that there was something only Pinkie knew about that she happened to be getting ready for, or she was just having fun with her enchantments, "Though if she can take down whatever that monster in the desert was, well, I'm not about to complain, as I really don't want to imagine what might happen when one of us decides to fight it."
"I can make something new!" Pinkie said, appearing nearby, surprising Steve and Alex in the process as Octavia stood still, where she had another piece of paper in her hands that detailed the recipe in question, which was when she found that it was a recipe for some warp scrolls, items linked to the Waystones they found in all of the various villages, "With this item I should be able to make scrolls for us to warp out of danger, in case we're overwhelmed by enemies, and the recipe is far more simple than I realized: two ender pearls, two purple dye, two golden nuggets, and three pieces of paper. With these in hand we should be able to breach the other dimension and see what's inside it, though if we're in danger we can use them to flee before we're overwhelmed by whatever might be waiting for us."
As Alex opened her mouth, to ask if that meant what she think it meant, Pinkie pulled out a Skeleton skull, which was the final piece of the puzzle for the portal to the Lost Dimension, as one needed to use two of those lanterns from the Nether, with a bed on top and surrounded by six Skeleton skulls, to make the portal. With the warp scrolls it gave them a way out, just as Pinkie said it would when they thought about her words, meaning one or more of them could spend some time in the other dimension and see what was there, since Pinkie seemed sure it had something of interest. With that in mind the four of them climbed onto their mounts once more and headed back to the village, making record time once more, while Pinkie made sure that the walls were up and found that the beast was still slowly trying to figure out what to do, allowing her to focus on the new portal. She decided to set it up close to the Nether portal, where she dug out the two blocks that were necessary for the lanterns and placed them in the ground, before carefully pulling a blue bed on top of them and set six white skulls around it, two on the left side, two on the right side, and one above and below it.
With the deed done Pinkie touched the bed and found that a surge of magic surrounded it, connecting it to the second dimension that they would be investigating, even for a time, causing her to smile as she rapidly crafted some warp scrolls for later, as it was time for them to try something new and see what sort of treasures they might find in a brand new dimension.
With all of the preparations done, or at least those that Pinkie could think of since there was so much to do in this world, the group gathered around the portal she had created, or at least the enchanted bed that happened to be connected to one of the other dimensions that was connected to this one.
"I can't believe that we're actually doing this... another dimension, one we've never explored before." Alex said, as she and Steve had explored the Overworld, the Nether, and the End before coming to this world, so they had some idea of what to expect when heading to those locations, but the Lost Dimension was one none of them had been to before, "Should we go in with our best gear, or should we get some leather or iron armor, just in case something happens to us? You know, so we don't lose all of the armor that you crafted for us."
"Well, I'm going in with my gear." Pinkie replied, though that caused her to pause as she glanced at the others, because if one or more of them wanted something else she could make it quickly, so they didn't damage their best gear when they faced whatever dangers were in the other dimension.
In the end Steve and Octavia agreed with Alex, they were either going in with lesser armor and gear or none at all, since this was more like a test to be sure the portal brought them to the Lost Dimension, where Pinkie quickly crafted a few items for them, even though she found that Octavia went with nothing. Once all four of them were ready to go, and three of them had their gear stored away for when they returned from the dimension they were about to explore, Pinkie stepped up and laid her hand on the bed, allowing the magic to wrap around her before warping her to a brand new world. For a moment the world around her disappeared, confirming that she was heading to some new location, before finding that it dropped her in the middle of a forest, like the one she and Octavia had appeared in when they first arrived in this world, but she could tell that this world was different from the one she had left. Such a thing was followed by her noticing something in the distance, a large structure that seemed square shaped from where she was standing, and waited for a few seconds, to be sure that her friends teleported to the same location, before walking towards the edge of the forest, to see what sort of dimension the portal had brought them to.
What they discovered, upon leaving the forest, was a massive city that reminded Pinkie and Octavia of Canterlot and some of the more advanced cities they had been to over the years, where some of them looked damaged, though this told them why this place was known as the Lost 'Cities'.
"It doesn't look like anyone's been here for a long time." Steve commented, as the streets looked empty, though they found all sorts of bridges connecting the landmasses together, even though there were some trees on the outskirts of the city, near a river based on what he was seeing, and the others glanced at the ruined city as well, "We might be the first people to visit this place since the day it was abandoned."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that... there is something in this city." Octavia said, where she raised her hand and pointed at the edge of the street that was in front of them, revealing a massive black figure with two scythe claws that seemed to be just a blob, in terms of shape, with a vertical mouth full of sharp teeth, causing her to shudder for a moment, "Though if I'm being honest, after seeing that thing, I think we're in danger... there has to be some sort of species in this world that decimated all of the people that built these structures... a parasitic species..."
The others quickly figured out why she stopped talking, as there happened to be a figure that looked a lot like a Villager, a few steps away from where the bulky figure was currently located, that had small red tendrils coming out of it's wrists and had a dark look in it's eyes, if it had any to begin with. Not only were those two creatures wandering around she spotted a small spider-like creature that was pure black and seemed to be skittering around the area, with tendrils that seemed to be seeking targets to hurt or corrupt, if she was right about them being parasites. She held a hand out to stop the others from doing anything, like giving away their position to the monsters, before raising her lens and scanned them to see if it would give her any information to use against their potential enemies, even though it quickly confirmed that they were, in fact, parasites. The downside to that was the fact that her lens got multiple warnings as she scanned the creatures, telling her that they had to be far dangerous than she or the others assumed, and she made sure to inform her friends of what she had discovered, that they might want to use their warp scrolls and return to the Overworld, before the parasites took them down and corrupted them.
In the following instant they found that a group of small parasites, five of them to be exact, spotted the group and rushed up to where they were currently standing, rapidly ascending the side of the hill that was between them and leapt into the air as Octavia and the others noticed them. Pinkie, reacting as soon as their enemies got close, cut down the first two as Steve and Alex quickly took down two more, each of them hoping that this was over quickly so they didn't alert the rest of the parasites to what was going on, while Octavia focused on the last one. She found that she ended up missing the small creature, as if it learned from what happened to the others, before it headbutted her in the chest and knocked her to the ground with ease. As she regained herself, however, it landed on top of her and stabbed her with it's tendrils, allowing it to invade her body and merge with it, just like a parasite would, leaving little puncture marks on her skin to show the others where it had hit her, before she huffed as she felt something inside her change.
Octavia's body shook for a few seconds as the parasite quickly seized control from her, swarming her mind with whatever madness they infected people and animals with when they invaded their bodies, leaving her as a specter in her own body as she watched the next stage unfold before her eyes. For a moment her chest pushed out before it was covered by some sort of black chitin, which moved down the sides of her body, her arms, and her legs, giving her another layer of protection that should, in theory, help her withstand whatever happened next. In the next instant her fingers cracked and shifted into sharp claws that looked ready to rend the life out of her enemies, while her arms cracked and spikes grew out of the sides, giving her natural defenses to protect herself from those she happened to be hunting. After that six black tendrils grew out of her back, identical to the ones that the other parasites possessed, and they had stingers at the end, likely to spread the infection to others, before her legs and hooves cracked, breaking as they became more suited for battle and even came with what she had to assume were muscles to boost her jumping power.
With the transformation complete the parasite she had become let out a terrifying roar, showing the others that she was no longer in control of her body, but before it could do anything Pinkie spun around and lashed out with her scythe, slashing Octavia to pieces in a matter of seconds, leaving nothing of their friend behind, save for the few items she had on her a few moments ago.
"Okay... that's not good." Steve remarked, as he wasn't expecting to find parasites in this dimension, especially ones that were able to quickly take people down and corrupt them into monsters to kill anything and everything in their path, but before he and the others could mourn Octavia's passing they heard a moan, finding that she had reappeared near where the portal had dropped them.
"I guess we have lives? Not that it matters, since that scared me beyond belief." Octavia said, where they could tell that she seemed haunted by what had happened to her, which made sense due to the fact that her body had been hijacked by one of the parasites, twisted into something that hated all living creatures, before she shook herself and collected her items, as in her tome, the lens, and her warp scroll, "I'm getting out of here, before that happens again."
Pinkie stood there for a moment as Steve and Alex followed Octavia's lead, using their warp scrolls to get out of this foul dimension, though as they teleported out of the dimension, leaving Pinkie behind until she decided to leave, but that was when she glared at the parasites that were gathering near her position, where they found that her eyes were full of rage and her hair lost the fluffiness it had, becoming perfectly straight.
"You traumatized Octavia... You. Made me. HURT HER! I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY!" Pinkie screamed, showing each and every parasite in the city, or at least the area she was in right now, that she was extremely pissed right now and that, while it was her fault that such a thing happened to Octavia for pushing them to come here, she was blaming the parasites for what she needed to clean up when she got back to the Overworld.
The parasites observed as Pinkie rushed by the group of Rupters that launched themselves at her, slashing them to bits in a matter of seconds, without even slowing down to make sure she had hit them, even though the Rupter that was simply watching them found that she was able to hit them with ease. Sure enough the infected Villagers and Humans rushed at her as soon as the fighting started, just like all of the other parasites that were in this dimension, meaning it didn't matter how many of them she killed, as more would rise to take their place. Pinkie, on the other hand, didn't seem to care as she slashed at a group of assimilated Humans and Villagers, cutting her way through them with ease as the watcher parasite found that it, too, was slashed in half, sending a message to the others that they had to be careful, because she was on a rampage and everything was a target to her. Another thing that all of the parasites discovered was that her weapon had a flame enchantment on it, one of their known weaknesses they were working to overcome, to make them even stronger for the future, though as they were cut down another interesting thing happened, small black saplings that would allow them to call forth more parasites and, in due time, infect the world.
As that happened Pinkie found some corrupted Endermen, no doubt assimilated due to the parasites, and slashed them to bits before they could do anything, though she did feel something else besides her anger for these foul things, as if one of the Admins were trying to contact her or something.
Pinkie... I can sense your anger, and I agree with you: these creatures must suffer. a voice said, where Pinkie slashed her way through some parasites that were coming at her before jumping on top of a fountain, which was five or six blocks high, allowing her to see some other types, like a dog type, infected cows and pigs, and even a strong one off to the east of her location, a large one that had two powerful arms with a strange mouth chest, I can help you punish these monsters and the Admin that brought them into this world... what do you say?
"I'm mowing them down with my scythe, even if it's already overpowered... but, if I'm going to wipe them all out, I might need more than this, so go ahead." Pinkie replied, where she stood up and glanced at the surrounding area, finding that a number of Beckons were resting behind her, the name came to her despite the fact that she had never heard it before, so her new ally had to be helping her already.
Third building to the west, blue colored to be exact, the voice stated, something that caused Pinkie to glance in the direction in question before moving, slashing at the parasites that dared to jump at her, mostly the Rupters since the rest seemed to be stuck on the ground right now, but she did find some flying parasites that seemed to be watching her with some interest, You're looking for a chest on the first floor... in it you'll find a special ring, the next step you need to take to bring down both the parasites and the Admin controlling them.
Pinkie found that several of the buildings were large, likely twenty blocks long by her reckoning, before she found the blue one in question, causing her to head inside and close the door behind her, with obsidian, though with that done she took a few seconds to search the first floor, finding a lone chest on a pedestal that had a black ring inside it, which happened to be a black dragon wrapped around to bite it's own tail, who had purple wings and eyes.
"No way... the Ring of the Dragons." Pinkie said, as this was the very ring she had learned about some time ago, which she knew would bestow the wearer great power, though she had to wonder what would happen if she added it to the bauble she was currently wearing, as in just how much power would it give her, which caused her to collect it and slip it over her right pointer finger for a moment.
Indeed, though while it's power is great and terrifying, hence why they hid it here, there is a level beyond this that can be obtained. the voice said, where Pinkie staggered for a moment as her height seemed to increase, not by too much, and a pair of leathery dragon wings emerged from her back, possessing the same color that her body had, before she found that her armor took no damage in the process, For now, return to the Overworld and check on your friend... I will check what needs to be obtained before informing you of what needs to be done next.
Pinkie nodded as she glanced through a small hole in the ceiling, staring at the sky for a moment, before using her scroll to return to the Overworld, as it was time to check on Octavia before worrying about what else needed to be done to take down this foul dimension and the monsters that called it home.
While all that was happening the three brothers continued to watch over Pinkie, Octavia, and their friends, observing their chosen players this time around as each one considered their next moves, since it all depended on which dimension the four decided to head to, and this time it was the glowing eyed brother's turn, even if he watched over the Overworld and the Lost Dimension.
"Brother... how strong did you make those parasites of yours?" the ghostly brother asked, as while he and their shadowy brother were expecting the creatures to be hard to take down, given how everything was structured right now, neither of them had even considered what they had seen, that Octavia would be taken down in seconds and twisted into a monster before the others could react.
"Strong enough to overrun the Overworld, kill dragons, and be an end to all things, hence why they're in another world, so we can have some fun," their brother replied, though at the same time an image appeared next to him as he kept a copy of Octavia's assimilated side, to relish the pleasure he took in having one of his creations tear down one of the players, for a time anyway, causing him to chuckle for a moment, "It's a shame Pinkie killed the assimilated Octavia so quickly, because I was looking forward to seeing what sort of damage she could have caused... those claws look like they could infect her foes with the virus, her tendrils were likely injectors that would do the same thing, and that lower body looks like she'd be able to move at intense speeds. While I should be annoyed that She's back, given Octavia's revival from certain death, this time I'll turn a blind eye to it, as this will make the game far more interesting for us... and, given the strange powers these newcomers possess, there's a chance this turn of events will mess with Octavia and corrupt her. This form was her being assimilated by the parasites... just imagine if she willingly embraced their dark power."
"She would be incredibly powerful, but a danger to everything." the shadowy brother commented, where he observed the scene in front of them, Pinkie rampaging against the might of the parasites, and willing no less, before noticing something odd about her, and he wasn't referring to the strange nature of her hair, which followed her moods, "Though I think we might have a problem: She's helping Pinkie."
His brothers found that he was telling the truth, as there was no way Pinkie could have known where to find the Ring of the Dragons, a powerful ring that Pinkie couldn't help but put on as soon as she found it, but they all knew that she had to be getting help from their sister, who would know where to find the item.
"You're right, this is troublesome." the glowing eyed brother stated, which didn't happen very often, as his brothers had a habit of being wrong about whatever they happened to be talking about during their observations of their chosen players, but whenever their sister was involved he found that he was wrong more often than he liked, before he thought of what his other creature was heading towards, "She might be seeking to make an Avatar, to break free of her prison so she can fight us on her terms... why else would Raijin suddenly reappear like this, while Pinkie's found the ring with her guidance... we have to destroy the dragon soon, before this spirals out of our control."
The brothers glanced at the image as it shifted to the massive golem as it smashed through one of the walls Pinkie set up to stop it, or low it down, though they knew that they were running out of time, as the longer the dragon slept the more power their sister would obtain, until she had enough power to do whatever it was she was planning, they just had to be patient and things would go their way in no time at all.
Steve and Alex, upon returning to the Overworld as Pinkie clearly stayed in the Lost Dimension, found that Octavia left the Waystone that they appeared near, no doubt messed up due to the fact that she had died in the other dimension and was turned into a monster by one of the foul parasites.
"Octavia, are you alright?" Alex asked, deciding to wait until they were outside the village, since she didn't want to frighten the Villagers that were in the village right now, especially since none of them had any idea if the residents of the village knew that Crafters had multiple lives, only to pause when their friend turned to face them.
"No! How could I ever be alright, after my body was invaded, my mind was broken, and my body was twisted into that foul form?!" Octavia replied, where they could see that, after the rapid series of events in the Lost Dimension, she wasn't the same person before they followed Pinkie through the odd portal she had created, there was a haunted look in her eyes, as if she was expecting something bad to happen, "I'm going back to my tower, shutting the door, and doing one of two things: either sleeping until I can't take it anymore, or continuing my work on my tome... I'm tempted to do the latter, just to take my mind off of things."
The pair stood there for a moment, wondering if there was anything they could say to help Octavia through what she was feeling right now, witnessing death and being reborn like that, and before either one could say anything she entered the base of her tower and closer the door, indicating that she wanted to be left alone. As she walked up the stairs, a reminder of the fact that she needed to renovate the tower and make it more mage-like, or how she envisioned someone like Twilight transforming it, Octavia felt like she had a headache. She was positive that it was a leftover side effect from being taken over by a parasite and being connected to whatever mental network they had, if they had one anyway, but she did her best to get over what she was feeling right now as she reached the upper part of her tower. She had spent too long on Pinkie's activities and less on everything that was in her tome, where she was grateful that Pinkie made sure to keep it and the lens safe, items she'd rather not replace, meaning it was time for her to focus on her tome and learning more about the secrets that were inside it.
As she pulled out her tome, however, Octavia paused as her left hand shook for a moment and she watched as her fingers started to push out into the same claws as her parasite form, where panic filled her eyes as she gripped her wrist and just focused on enforcing her will over her body, something that caused the mutation to retreat and returned her hand to it's normal form.
Come now, Octavia, surely you want to experience the power of the form we gave you again? a sinister voice asked, one that sounded like it might be multiple voices speaking at the same time, or one having an echo of some kind, likely the leader of the parasites, or the Admin that created them, meaning she was still in contact with whatever they had inflicted her with, hopefully contained so she couldn't spread it to the others, Or maybe you want something... more?
"NO! I don't want anything to do with you or your foul kind!" Octavia replied, where she practically threw herself into one of the corners and did her best to ignore the dark sounds that were trying to invade her mind or her body, or both based on what happened back in the Lost Dimension, though she also refrained from raising her voice, just in case someone was in the surrounding area.
You say that now, dear searcher, but you've heard the Call of the Hive, and sooner or later you'll come seeking us for all sorts of power and knowledge, the voice replied, though as it got close to the end of the statement it sounded like it was getting further and further away from her, which was fine with Octavia since she wanted nothing to do with the dark dimension Pinkie had created a path to so they could explore it, they always do.
While that worried Octavia, as it implied there was no turning back and that she was doomed to become a warped creature at some point in time, though before she could process that information, and what it meant, there as a knock on the nearby door, which was weird since no one else was up here, and when she opened it Octavia found Pinkie in front of her, her hair straight while possessing a pair of dragon wings, and being slightly taller than her now.
"Hey Octavia, sorry about earlier... if I had known how dangerous that dimension would be, I wouldn't have allowed you and the others to go in without your gear." Pinkie said, showing that she was annoyed with herself for what had happened, and part of Octavia agreed since it had resulted in her death and rebirth, and apparent madness if she couldn't figure out how to get rid of the voice in her head, "Those parasites really gave us quite the scare."
"For me and the others, anyway, since it seems like you stayed behind to dominate them." Octavia remarked, as while she was taken aback by the style of Pinkie's hair, a sign that she was angry with someone or something inside her had snapped, a rumor that she was able to confirm, her new height and her wings really caught her off guard, especially since it looked like she was becoming more like a dragon as time went by, "Nice wings by the way."
"Oh, thanks. I got them after putting on the Ring of the Dragons, which I found in one of the buildings before I used my warp scroll to leave the dimension." Pinkie replied, where Octavia noticed the black ring on her finger, for the first time since she had been busy thinking about what had happened to her a few moments ago, to which she held her hand out, as if she was offering the relic to her or something, "Want to try it out?"
"Thanks, but I think I'll pass for now... maybe once I get over the shock of what happened, and my death, I'll try it out and see what it does to me." Octavia said, as she wanted to make it seem like she was focused on the transformation aspect of what she had been through, even if her demise at Pinkie's hands was another reason, something that caused her friend to nod for a second before lowering her hand, "Sorry if I seem out of it, I was planning on resting and doing some research into the other pages in my tome..."
"And you were interrupted by a voice in the head?" Pinkie finished, something that caused Octavia to pause, which made her wonder how much Pinkie had seen, before realizing that this was the insane mare of Ponyville she was talking about, it was possible that she had sensed her distress and rushed up here to see what was up with her, "Don't worry, we'll figure out how to beat those nasty parasites and their foul master."
For some reason Octavia felt that there was more to the 'we' that Pinkie said, as in more than the two of them, Steve, and Alex, as if there was some unseen fifth member to their interesting party, but since her friend didn't elaborate she kept her mouth shut as Pinkie wished her well and fell over the edge, spreading her wings and flying back to the village. Once she was sure that her friend was gone, for the time being since she was known to do some weird things before coming to this world, Octavia started to gather her materials and got to work on figuring out the secrets of the Thaumonomicon, the first being the creation of Nitor so she had floating lights. Of course she still had plans to renovate and expand her tower, to the point where it wouldn't resemble what she started with, in fact part of her was thinking of mimicking the wider and taller towers they noticed when they were exploring some time ago, but she needed some sort of material to make such a structure, causing her to sigh as she left the tower. She needed a stack of Arcane Stone, the very material she had only just unlocked with her research, yet she didn't have the ability to mass produce it, much less on the scale to make what was in her head, so she collected her materials, headed down the tower again, and entered the village to track down Pinkie, who was in her workshop, likely empowering her scythe further.
Sure enough Pinkie stopped for a moment to see what Octavia wanted, since she expected her to be asleep after what she had said earlier, before lending her some assistance, creating multiple stacks of the stone she needed for her tower, far more than what Octavia had wanted, but she wasn't about to complain.
With that done, and her Inventory had a lot more resources than she had before she came here, Octavia returned to her tower and stashed most of the stone away as she unlocked more of the tome's information, though she knew it would take a long time to delve deeper into the tome's mysteries. One of her experiments involved creating a new source of coal, or at least she attempted to and found that the process described in the tome meant she made little explosives, causing her to sigh as she realized that there was far too much for her to consider and recognize. She found a way to make some sort of brass, which she figured would be important for another part of the tome's remaining secrets, and when taking a break Octavia glanced down at the ground and scanned several items with her lens, adding some information to her tome as she considered what else she could do. She even started what the book referred to as Essentia Smelting, which was the process of breaking items down to do something and to begin she had to break down each of one of the six crystals, all of which caused small explosions that she had to shield herself from, but she was sure she learned something and found a few new pages in her tome.
Using Quartz Silver, fragmented pieces of Nether Quartz, with the Crucible she found that she was able to make various Vis Crystals, of all sorts of elements based on what she was seeing, and such a thing allowed her to open more pages for her to look into as she avoided thinking about the Lost Dimension.
As time went by Octavia found that she spent a lot of time studying and experimenting, where she realized something was off, because before going into the parasite infested world she would spend a longer period of time on studying each part of the tome and performing whatever experiments she wanted to do. She realized what was going on after some thought and paused when it dawned on her, the Voice of the Hive, as she was calling it since she had no other name for what she had heard after leaving the other dimension, had left her a parting gift in the form lost or additional knowledge. It was the Voice's way of ensuring that she'd come looking for it in the future, seeking more power and information, and effective and rather dark strategy when Octavia took a moment to consider what it meant, as the Voice was likely going to require a trade for her to gain more advanced knowledge. A trade that would be part of her body for the information, until she was twisted into a monstrosity bent on learning everything about the world while seeking to cover it in darkness, or whatever the parasites wanted, and by figuring it out so soon she didn't have to worry about falling for it in the future.
As Octavia worked, and considered what she needed to do next in terms of her experiments, she found that Pinkie was in her workshop, creating something or empowering her deadly weapon with more powerful enchantments, though she did know that they would make the parasites pay when the time came to do so.
Octavia found that on the morning of the day following their journey to the Lost Dimension, an area she wasn't keen on returning to, Pinkie was getting ready to leave the village once more and, thanks to the acquisition of her new wings, she wasn't readying her ground mount, who was resting nearby.
"So, where are we going today?" Steve asked, because the four of them usually went out together to track down items or tackle the various structures that were scattered around the land, and given that Pinkie was getting ready to leave he had a feeling that she was looking for something specific.
"The Defiled Lands... I'm looking for Scarlite, which should be found at the level that diamonds can be found in," Pinkie said, where she checked her scythe for a few seconds, finding that it was pristine and ready to go, before checking her pack and found that everything else was prepared for the journey ahead of them, "after that I'm heading to the north, as I need to find a sapphire and, according to what I've learned, they're only found in an icy area... the Elders told me that there's an ice cave some distance to the north, further than when we went to the other village. I'm also looking for some Mana Crystals, but I'm not entirely sure where to find those right now, so I'll focus on them later... oh, and we need to head back to the Nether so we can start making Ender Eyes for the Stronghold, to get some Dragon's Breath."
"What in the world are you making that requires all of that?" Octavia asked, as while she knew that Pinkie loved to make all sorts of things, if her workshop was any indication, this seemed excessive to her, especially when she was planning on a fight with the Ender Dragon.
"This ring gives me a temporary transformation effect, so when I take it off I'll love the wings and power that comes with it," Pinkie replied, raising her hand so they could see the ring she had claimed from the Lost Dimension, causing the others to raise their eyebrows for a moment as she considered what needed to be done next, "however, if I combine it with all those items I should be able to create a gem of power that will grant me a permanent transformation and, if the recipe is right, a great deal of power... I might be able to fight and defeat that golem once that's done."
Octavia raised her eyebrow once more, as while she knew that Pinkie had found the recipe in one of the chests, causing her to think about heading to the Lost Dimension in the first place, this was the first time she heard about it giving her power, something that made her wonder if something had happened to her friend in the parasite dimension.
"Well, shall we get underway?" Alex asked, taking a moment to climb onto her Ventroraptor, who was eager for adventure, while Steve and Octavia did the same thing not a few seconds later, showing Pinkie that, if she was planning on doing this on her own, she was going to have company no matter what.
Pinkie nodded before spreading her wings, allowing her to take off and head in the direction of the Defiled Lands, which caused Octavia and the others to follow after her on the ground, their mounts allowing her to keep up with her, to a degree anyway since Pinkie was clearly faster. Octavia considered this for a moment, as she was curious as to when she and the others might find some flying mounts that they could tame, which might allow them to keep up with Pinkie and not fall far behind, even though their friend paused every now and then to ensure they were following her. One thing she found to be interesting was that Pinkie was flying like this was natural, instead of something she had to pick up after gaining her wings, causing her to wonder if she had some dormant pegasus genes inside her that had been awakened by her acquiring the ring she was now wearing. She also had to wonder how Pinkie had figured out where most of the items were located, as while it was easy to believe the Elders telling her about one of them she knew that something must have told her where to find the rest of the components, especially since she was still figuring one out, but decided that it didn't matter, because if this gave Pinkie what she wanted they might be able to burn the parasites down as well.
While the others were following after her Pinkie gained new information from the voice, that Mana Candy could be made by placing four glowing dust around a piece of lapis lazuli, and with eight of those surrounding a glowing gem she could make the Mana Crystals, which was good to know for later.
When they reached the Defiled Lands, which was rather quick since they knew where it was now, Steve, Alex, and Octavia, all geared with their enchanted gear once more, stood at the ready as Pinkie landed and swung her pickaxe at the foul ground in front of them. Octavia found that it wasn't just the weapons and armor that had been enchanted, as Pinkie had done the same to her tools, making them better with the various stations to ensure they never broke and also took the time to pick out the enchantments she wanted on each item, allowing her to mine faster than before. Of course she wasn't just making a hole in the ground, which wouldn't be a problem for her since she could fly out if necessary, rather Pinkie happened to be making it look like a natural cave that had been dug into the Defiled Lands, and she even pinpointed where the metal was, just like before, even though she was focused on finding some Scarlite. Such a thing caused Octavia to remember that Pinkie was wearing the Dragon's Eye bauble, an item that allowed her to see where the treasure of the ground were located, meaning that, in due time, she should be able to pinpoint the gem she was looking for, or multiple since diamonds could be found in veins and Scarlite might behave the same way.
As Pinkie struck the ground, and made it safe for her friends so they didn't fall into the depths or anything, she kept her eyes open for the gem she was after and her ears open for the dangers of the Defiled Lands, even though it sure felt like this land was far more peaceful than any of them were expecting. She felt that way since she didn't hear the sounds of the others fighting, rather they stayed a decent distance behind her while she tore into the earth, keeping their eyes on both the entrance any other holes that they happened to dig into, keeping their weapons at the ready while finding that they must have been lucky to pick the outer edge of the land. Octavia was of the opinion that, due to Pinkie picking the edge of the corrupted land, the monsters that lived on this foul land were further away than they thought and were taking a while to get to them, so if Pinkie found what she was looking for soon they should be able to get out of here without having to fight anything. It all depended on whether or not Pinkie was able to find the item she was looking for, who continued her work on the ground as she followed what her eyes were showing her, causing Octavia to focus on the defense while both Steve and Alex kept their eyes open for any monsters that might find them.
Pinkie ended up finding more Umbrium and Hephaestite, the common metals of the Defiled Lands that were likely made by converting iron, coal, gold, and maybe redstone, before she smiled as she found a vein of gleaming red gems in front of her, where she dug around it before finding that it was a vein of five and produced a number of red gems that the voice confirmed was Scarlite.
"It took me some time to get down here, but now we have some Scarlite," Pinkie stated, allowing the others to see what she had been looking for, even though she collected all of the gemstones and stashed them inside her Inventory, just like all of the other items she had found so far, meaning now she had an unlimited about of that as well, just in case she or the others found another need for it.
"Good, then let's get out of here." Alex commented, as while they might have gotten off easy, with no monsters coming to end them, she wasn't about to press their luck and the others agreed, as they started to head up the cave that Pinkie had set up, finding that she had used powerful torches so they could see the way out.
As it turned out they were able to get out of the cave and get back to the pure mainland, where they left their mounts, in no time at all, as no monsters came out to bother them, meaning the land was either a bust, for the Admins, or they had been lucky in picking out an area to mine in. With that done the group headed to the north once more, first heading back to the village they had discovered, since it was a good starting point for them, and once they did that Pinkie continued to the north again, causing her friends to follow after her. She found a number of flying monsters in her way and discovered that most of them steered clear of her when they noticed the wings she possessed, while the speed of the Ventoraptors allowed Octavia, Steve, and Alex to bypass those who would have stood in their way if they were walking, though she also made a note of several additional structures for later. One thing she steered clear of were the dragons that were either flying from place to place or just resting near their hoards, those that were above ground anyway, as she sought out the ice cave that held the second gem she was after, as with it in hand they could return to the Nether for the next piece of the puzzle.
Octavia found that Pinkie was able to find an icy area to the far north, in fact she was sure that it was about two hours or so away from the last village they had found, where there were glaciers and ice sheets everywhere, meaning it might take them some time to locate the gem Pinkie was currently seeking, before she landed nearby.
"Quiet... there's a dragon nearby." Pinkie said, keeping her voice low as the others glanced around the glacier they came to a stop at, where she beckoned to a cave that had been built in the edge of part of the ice field, in a frozen section that did look like the side of a hill.
They were able to confirm that it was a dragon's den as an icy blue dragon emerged from it and took off, heading out to find some food or just get some exercise after some time asleep, but no one made a move as it flew to the west, making sure not to announce their presence to the beast, before sighing as it vanished entirely, only for Octavia to see that Pinkie was heading for the cave entrance.
"Are you insane? That's a dragon's den!" Octavia asked, as while she had no idea where they might find the gem that she needed for the recipe, since this world was still new to them, part of her knew that invading a dragon's home to search for it was a bad idea, specially since said dragon had only just left and might return in due time.
"I know that, and it's the only place we can find a Sapphire," Pinkie replied, where she continued towards the cave, as if she didn't care about her well-being after what happened to Octavia in the Lost Dimension, before pausing for a moment as she glanced back at Octavia and their friends, "Look, I'm not planning on spending too much time in there, just in the off chance the dragon returns for some reason, so it'll be a quick in and out, provided I find the gem quickly."
Octavia sighed as she followed Pinkie into the cave, while Steve and Alex remained behind to keep an eye out for the ice dragon that had flown off, though it didn't take them long to reach a golden floor that confirmed that the dragon had a lot of treasure, before Pinkie found a gleaming blue block that she quickly mined.
"Like I said, I'm not sticking around once I got it." Pinkie said, where she double checked that it was a Sapphire block, as it gave her nine gemstones once she decided to break it, but to be sure the dragon didn't notice anything strange she put a new block down in place of the one she had stolen, making everything look pristine.
With the gemstones in hand Pinkie and Octavia regrouped with the others before heading to their base of operations, as it was time for them to prepare for a trip to the Nether, a longer one where they'd actually fight the monsters to claim all the parts needed to find the Stronghold, and Pinkie was looking forward to whatever was thrown their way.
Upon their return to the village Pinkie made sure to double check everything that was on the recipe, just to be sure she had everything that was available to them right now, while Steve and Alex tended to the village itself, helping the Villagers out while making sure the walls were still intact. Octavia, on the other hand, returned to her tower and got to work once more, going over the research she had done so far and what she still had to do while keeping an eye on her supplies, which she knew Pinkie had improved at some point before this point. She discovered ways to make Essentia with her materials, the fact that using Alumentum would improve things drastically, a few other things since there were many crossing her mind right now, and some sort of levitation device that might be useful for entering the tower without having to walk all the time. With the plans in mind she went about making the device that the tome told her about, carefully making it so she didn't bother anything with her experiments, and when she completed it she put it off to the side for now as she turned towards the rest of the tower.
From there she started to renovate the tower and the surrounding area, where she slowly and carefully terraformed the area around the base of her tower and move it up into the sky, making it more like a floating island, while using a bucket to fill the crater she left with water. She also made a hidden tunnel connecting the base to the crater, allowing her to link up the two areas with the new device, where Octavia used a translucent material that next to no one could see to construct the path, though since it only went so far she pushed it to the limit and constructed the base of the new tower to house an area she could safely land in. From there it was a simple matter to hide the new section of the tower with stone and dirt, just to make it look like everything had been moved into the air, as if she had ripped everything out of the ground, before she got to work on the actual tower, widening it so she could store more on each floor. Octavia also made sure to add stairs as she went about figuring out how to make each floor work without getting in the way of the others, while determining where to set her new bed, her workshop, and everything else she might need, including sections that housed her resource centers.
When morning rose, however, Octavia groaned as she realized that she must have worked herself to exhaustion and fell asleep on the floor at some point, but she dusted herself off before jumping down to the edge of her base, as she found that when she landed in the water none of it stuck to her, allowing her to be dry when she left it.
You know, you wouldn't have to do that if you just embraced our power. the Voice commented, reminding Octavia of her passenger, which seemed to come and go based on what she had seen so far, speaking whenever it wanted to while having no regard for her personal privacy, but she imagined that some shadowy figure was floating around her when she heard the Voice speak, We could give you whatever power or knowledge you desire... wings to fly, augments to make your body far stronger for the future, magic to ensure you survive the trials that you'll be facing.
And I said that I would never ask you for aid! Octavia replied, where she rounded on the area that she imagined the speaker was coming from, because it made things easier for her mind when she followed the motions, even if it might make the Villagers or her friends think she was going insane, which she would have thought had she not felt the small bit of power when her hand shifted earlier.
Come now, Octavia, we both know that's a lie. You LIKED the power you felt, even if you were scared of the form that you were given... we can fix that. the Voice continued, showing her that whoever was in control of the parasites, not the Admin that created them anyway, wasn't going to stop until she bowed her head and gave her access to her body or her mind, or whatever it was that they wanted from her, and that it was more than willing to do whatever she wanted to fulfill it's goal, Tell me, what sort of form do you want to be given? We can do whatever you want, even make you the Queen of the Lost Dimension, as you call it, if that is what you desire from us... we all know that you would do great things with the power I'm offering you.
Like I said, you won't be getting anything from me. Octavia stated, where she turned and headed for the village, but a part of her did have to wonder whether or not the Voice was telling the truth, even if she suspected part of it was a lie to trick her into submission, given what little she had seen of the dimension the parasites lived in.
As you wish. We are patient and I know you will come to us in due time. the Voice said, which freaked Octavia out, as she was hoping that the figure would do away and it seemed like it intended to stick around until she gave in, no matter how long it took for her to do so, but before it faded she felt the Voice pause for a second, I will tell you this: Beware the Pink One, for she bares allegiance to a power that rivals that of the Admins, one that spells doom for your world if she is allowed to do whatever she wants.
Octavia had no idea what that meant, as the parasites were a creation of an Admin and there were only three of them in existence, that they knew of based on what she recalled, and yet it sounded like the Voice was suggesting that there was another one out there, one Pinkie found or had contact with, before she pulled herself out of her thoughts as she joined the others in the center of the village.
"So, what's next on our agenda?" Octavia asked, as she could tell that her friends were wearing their armor and weapons, just as she was, meaning it had to be somewhere dangerous, especially since Pinkie was building something that needed all sorts of materials, but she suspected that she already knew the answer.
"The Nether... Pinkie says it's time for us to finally explore it for the items we need." Steve answered, where she found that he and Alex were clearly worried about things, especially since this world's Nether was already different from the one they were used to, with an army of monsters roaming the fiery pits, "All we need are some Blaze Rods, which we can break and make powder from, then we can get out of there... provided the monsters don't track us down and fight us. After that we just need to combine them with a couple of Ender Pearls to make the Eyes we need to locate the Stronghold, which will give us the ability to open the path to the End and, more importantly, the Ender Dragon... and all the dragon's breath that Pinkie might need."
"Gems, crystals, and even dragon's breath... it's like she's trying to become a dragon, though given her abilities it wouldn't be too hard to pull off." Alex commented, referring to the treasure aspect that the winged beasts seemed to have, as the ability to have an infinite amount of items meant if Pinkie did transform into such a beast they wouldn't have to worry all that much, as she'd be able to keep that side of herself down.
"Okay, I'm ready to go." Pinkie said, where she emerged from her workshop and Octavia found that her hair was back to it's original fluffy state, and not the straight style it had taken after their visit to the Lost Dimension, but she said nothing as Pinkie closed the door behind her.
Octavia could tell that their new friends were curious about the nature of Pinkie's hair, how it could change so suddenly and without warning at times, but she really had no idea, it was one of her mysteries when she considered it, so she said nothing as they followed Pinkie out to the Nether portal and found that it was untouched. As such they headed through it, quickly reappearing in the dangerous spot they had found when they first entered this place, something that caused the group to stop as Pinkie set up a stone but of sorts around it, keeping it safe while making sure no one fell into the lava, in case one of them came through without the others. Once she was done Ocvatia asked Steve and Alex what sort of place or item they were looking for this time, where she learned that this time they needed to find a Nether Fortress, which was a reminder that she needed since she had been busy since their visit to the Lost Dimension, but finding one was hard, if not impossible at times. That told Octavia everything they needed to know, as there was no telling how long they would be in this dimension, fighting off the monsters as everyone kept an eye out for the structure they needed to find, even if there were Bastions that weren't all that important as well.
As she opened her mouth to say something, about how impossible this all sounded, she and the others found that Pinkie was glancing around the area they were currently in, almost as if she was listening to someone talk, making her wonder if the Voice had been right, about her being linked to another power, before she stopped and faced the west.
"Whose up for some fun?" Pinkie asked, sounding like herself and not someone that Octavia didn't know, where she had a smile on her face, though before the others could react she gripped her scythe and fell forward, opening her wings as she rushed at the fiery monsters that called the Nether home.
Octavia and the others followed after her, using the edges to the side so they could avoid the lava that Pinkie was flying over, even if she was clashing with the monsters of this dimension and seemed to be doing well on her own, though she had to snap back to reality as more appeared in front of her, Steve, and Alex. She and Steve were good as a team and with Alex protecting them it was easy for them to carefully lure monsters closer to them, taking them out one by one, but the marvel continued to be Pinkie, moving almost as if she was dancing, tearing through monsters and collecting new items in no time at all. Octavia had to admit that she was a little jealous of her friend, that she had the power to do all that while she, for the time being, was still working through the pages of the tome she had created a while ago, and she could almost hear the Voice whispering in her ear, promising both physical and magical power, just like it always did. Of course she did her best to ignore it as she focused on cutting down wounded enemies or wounding them enough for either Steve or Alex to take down on their own, allowing them to keep up with Pinkie, to a degree since she was several leagues beyond them, based on everything she was seeing right now.
Such a thing went on for some time, they would fight monsters, regroup whenever they found a wall, then dig into it until they found a new area to fight their way through, before stopping for some water and food, until they finally discovered a deep red brick structure off in the distance. Steve confirmed that it was the Nether Fortress, or at least one of them since their Nether had three when they took the time to explore it, where this time around, when they reached it, they took the time to carefully explore it, seeking Soul Sand, Nether Wart, and the Blazes that would drop one of the pieces that they needed for later. They also needed to be careful of the Wither Skeletons, as the blackened things were wandering most of the fortresses and had a nasty enchantment on their weapons, one that really hurt and continued to for a time, plus they had to worry about the Wither, as three Wither Skulls and some Soul Sand would make one of the creatures they were planning on fighting. Octavia made a note of that, since it seemed like they could summon the Wither whenever everyone was ready for such a fight, though since they were getting close to dealing with the Ender Dragon she had a feeling they might take out the Wither in no time as well.
It took them some time to actually find a Blaze, and the Spawner that some came out of, though Pinkie, Octavia, Steve, and Alex took turns fighting the creatures they were here for, each one collecting a few Blaze Rods even though they knew Pinkie was the only one that really needed to pick them up.
"Hey Pinkie, how'd you know the direction we would need to move in?" Alex asked, as that was something that had been bothering her since they started looking for the Nether Fortress, which they still found in record time when she thought about the time it took her and Steve to find one in their world.
"Ever since the Lost Dimension I've... well, I've been talking with someone who wants to bring down the Admins for what they did to her, and she's been helping me out." Pinkie answered, figuring that there was no harm in telling them, in fact she found that it was perfectly okay with the trapped figure she was referring to, all while Octavia found that the Voice had been right, as odd as that sounded, before she pulled out her Blaze Rods and juggled them, "She's been telling me about her brothers, the Admins we were told about, and how they treat the worlds they watch over as nothing more than toys for their amusement. We've entered into an arrangement of sorts: she'll help us track down what we need so we can take down each and every toy her brothers have unleashed upon this world, and the dimensions connected to it, and in return she wants the utter destruction of the parasites... plus she wants to either kill or imprison Hero, Null, and Entity. That's why I knew the direction to move in, because we have an ally who wants to see us win over her foul brothers."
Octavia wondered what role the dragon items played in that sequence of events, something she figured they would learn in due time, but kept her thoughts to herself as she wondered what they were going to do next, as she had a feeling the next day or two were going to be more interesting than their trip to the Nether.
Once they had all of the Blaze Rods they needed to make the Eyes of Ender, by exhausting the Spawner they came from, the group made their way back to the portal that brought them to the Nether and it's harsh environment, though two of them did more than walk this time around. Octavia spent her time using her lens on the surrounding area and monsters, taking in all of the information that could be gleamed from them, something that allowed her to gain more pages in her tome as time went on, which she was grateful for since she didn't have to worry about the Voice speaking to her. The other thing she was grateful for was Pinkie holding the attention of the Nether's monsters for her and the others, as their friend was battling all of the monsters with her scythe while showing no signs of stopping or slowing down, adding all that Experience to her own so she'd be even stronger for the future. Of course normally she, Steve, or Alex would have said something about that, as it meant Pinkie would be far above them when they finally left the Nether, at least for the time being, but they had to think about the information she had shared with them, that there was a fourth Admin and she was on their side.
The interesting thing about that was that the Voice seemed to be taking a moment to consider the information that it had learned, meaning that there was a chance that the other Admins would know what's going on, if they didn't already know, but she was pleased to have some peace and quiet in her mind.
By the time they reached the portal back to the Overworld, and ensured that the coast was clear, Octavia called for Pinkie to come down and she did so without delay, allowing them to slip into the container she made for the portal before all four of them returned to their village. Upon their return Octavia found that nothing was wrong on the other side, everything was as they left it earlier, though Pinkie pulled everyone to her workshop and stopped when they were at it, though it was easy for all of them to figure out what she had planned. She pulled out some of the Blaze Rods they had just collected and shattered them with ease, which lead to the creation of the powder they had been searching for, though she didn't stop there, rather she pulled out a couple of Ender Pearls and combined the two into a single entity, just like Steve and Alex told her they would need to do. When she was done the new pearls floated in the air above her right hand, as if waiting for someone to do something with them, where Octavia found that they actually had a eye slit inside them, which made her wonder how the powder could cause such a drastic change in the strange Ender Pearls.
"We've done it... we now have the Eyes of Ender necessary to find the Stronghold that will bring us to the end, and face to face with the Ender Dragon." Steve commented, though he was simply impressed by how fast they were moving right now, that they had a productive base, protection to keep their base safe, weapons and armor to fight the monsters that called this world home, and even an unknown ally none of them had expected when they started this adventure, "So, are we going to find the Stronghold and face the Ender Dragon?"
"Yes and no. Yes, we'll track down the Stronghold, but you three need flying mounts before we attempt to face the dragon, or the monsters in the End." Pinkie replied, where she shifted her stance and pocketed the Eyes before revealing a pair of items to them, the Wither Skeleton skull she had recovered and some Soul Sand, causing Octavia to realize what she was thinking, which was followed by Steve and Alex understanding as well, "I figured that we could fight the Wither on the way to the Stronghold, in a place that we won't have to worry about ruining anything in, and with the star it drops I'll be able to craft a Waystone, allowing us to move around more freely and not have to run around too much... it'll make locating some flying mounts easier, or at least it should."
"Makes sense. Fighting the Ender Dragon on the ground, in a land of Endermen, wasn't easy, and there's no telling what else is waiting for us in that dimension." Alex said, as she had been thinking about it and had to say that Pinkie's idea was great, getting herself and the others their own flying mount would increase their odds of succeeding against the Ender Dragon, in addition to the armor that Pinkie could make to ensure they survived whatever else was in the End.
Octavia thought about it for a couple of seconds and decided that it wasn't a bad idea, in fact it would help them explore the rest of this world, in addition to their upcoming fight against the Ender Dragon, though once that was done, and everyone agreed with the idea to track down the Stronghold before facing the Wither, Pinkie got things started. By that she released the Eye that she was holding and everyone watched as it levitated into the air while heading to the south, where Steve told Pinkie and Octavia that the Eyes would float in the direction of the underground Stronghold, that they would pop out of the air after a few seconds, and if it went backwards they had found it. As such they waited for a few seconds, for the Eye to pop out of the air, before heading to the south, three of them taking their ground mounts as Pinkie took to the air, allowing her to stop every now and then to use another Eye to confirm whether or not they were heading in the right direction. While the group did that she also glanced at the walls she had sent up to slow down the massive creature, which her ally told her was one of Herobrine's creations, and while it looked like one was down she could tell that the others were still up, meaning they had time to do what she was thinking.
Pinkie continued to pause every now and then to make sure that they were heading in the right direction, passing through a portion of the jungle before heading into one of the plains, where she found a village off to their right and a tower off to the left, but she marked this place as a good location to face the Wither.
This time around the monsters didn't want anything to do with them, allowing the group to keep an eye out for any odd structures that could be added to their atlases, since they would likely come back at some point in the future, but for now Octavia, Steve, and Alex were able to relax as they followed Pinkie. Such a thing also allowed Octavia to add more to her tome as she used the lens to study anything new, though she knew that they were running out of new things to study and that she would be busy when they reached the End, since no one of them had any idea what was in there. Pinkie still took a moment to stop every now and then, double checking the direction she was heading in while the others caught up with her, though it was clear that she was amazed by how far to the south they were going, even if there were no new items for her to collect from the environments they were passing. She did come to a full stop at one point when she found that the Eye she was using turned back, where she carefully tracked down the area that it was leading her to and stopped when it floated above a piece of flat ground, causing her to open her eyes as she stared into the earth.
"And there we are. It seems the Stronghold is below us." Pinkie commented, speaking to the others as she made a note in her atlas, so they would know where to come once they were done with the other tasks she had considered earlier, but as soon as that was done she glanced at the others, who had to be interested in what she wanted to do next, "So, shall we backtrack a bit and face the Wither?"
"We should probably find the room with the portal first, so we have a place to put down the Waystone." Octavia said, due to the fact that having a Waystone down there meant they would be able to return later, once everyone was ready to go and had their own means of flying, since Pinkie had her wings.
As Steve and Alex nodded their heads, to show that they agreed, Pinkie simply nodded before pulling out her shovel so she could make a square area large enough for everyone to work in for a time, removing the dirt and gravel for access to the stone underneath the layers. With that done they carefully started to removed the stones that were below them while Pinkie carefully made a staircase for them to use to leave the hole, once they found their destination, while their mounts stayed at the edge of the hole and kept an eye out for trouble. Octavia found that it took a while to get down to a new area that was different from what they had seen so far, a darkened area that looked like it might hold a menacing evil deep in the depths, where Pinkie sealed it off as she made a note of it's existence. After doing that they broke into what appeared to be a tunnel, a modern one that reminded them of what the Builders made when crafting all of the other imposing or impressive structures they had seen, but Steve confirmed that it was part of the Stronghold, allowing Pinkie to mark it as such before they headed back to the surface.
Once that was done they headed back to the north, not stopping until they reached the area Pinkie had marked down as a good point to fight the Wither, where Octavia made sure their mounts were safe, far away from the plains so they didn't get hit, before Pinkie set up the four pieces of Soul Sand and then put the three Wither Skeleton skulls in their place, just as Alex told her.
As soon as the third one was in place the pieces of sand transformed into a blackened material and a torso, with the three heads coming alive as a floating armless and legless figure took form in front of them, causing everyone to back off for the next few moments as it flashed, before it burst out of whatever protective shell it had been wrapped in. The next thing all of them discovered was that it fired on them by using what appeared to be black flying skulls, which came from all three of it's heads, which hit the ground and blasted small holes into the dirt, informing Octavia that Pinkie's ally must have told her about this beforehand. Steve focused on attacking the floating creature while it was close to the ground, which was a hard thing to do since it loved to move around a lot, while Alex stood back and loosed arrows at their foe whenever she was sure it wouldn't hurt anyone else, leaving Octavia to scan it with her lens, giving her more information, before calling a couple of small minions out to fight it when it was close. Pinkie, on the other hand, used her wings to take to the air, as her purpose right now was to ensure that the Wither didn't fly too high, since it looked like it might try to fly off on them, which meant hitting it with the edge of her scythe head and knocking it back to the ground.
As it turned out the Wither was rather disappointing, in fact Steve and Alex claimed that they had a harder time when they fought it before, though as it turned to flee from everyone, to heal it's wounds, Octavia braced herself as some power just surged to life inside her, allowing her to leap forward and swing her sword, taking down the Wither before it had a chance to leave.
"Octavia... what was that?" Alex asked, as they knew that Octavia was doing something in her tower, in fact she was more mysterious than Pinkie could be at times, but this was the first time anyone had seen her do something like that, and she was a little curious as to how she performed such a move.
"I... have no idea." Octavia replied, though she had a feeling that the Voice had decided to help her take the Wither down, giving her all of the Experience in the process, and her reasoning for that decision was because she was sure that part of her legs had been altered for the briefest of moments, granting her faster speed while not overtaking her entirely, but it only made her wonder why an Admin's creation would turn on the creation of another.
As Steve walked over, however, Pinkie joined them and revealed a shimmering star above her left hand, the Nether Star she needed to make Waystones and other items, causing them to smile as they headed back to their mounts, as it was time for them to get started on their last preparations before heading into the End.
Once Pinkie was done making a couple of Waystones, as they had no idea how many might be needed in the future, she put one down in the depths of the Stronghold, near the area that she and the others had dug into earlier, before regrouping with Octavia, Steve, and Alex outside their hole.
"Okay, so we have both Waystones and we know where the Stronghold is located, so all we need are flying mounts to set us up for the End?" Octavia inquired, where she still found it weird that they had reached this point, nearing one of their main objectives, and thanks to Pinkie's ally they had crushed the Wither, but she wasn't about to complain, since it meant they were closer to the end of this adventure.
"Yeah, and we should hunt down some tough ones, since we have no idea what's in the End." Alex said, something that caused Steve to nod his head in agreement, and she knew Octavia would see logic in her suggestion, while Pinkie was okay with her idea, especially since she had her wings, meaning she didn't need a flying mount at all.
"So the birds are out of the question, and I'm not sure the bats will do well either, so I guess we'll have to hunt down some of the dragons, the smaller ones that are treated as monsters." Steve stated, though he knew that such a thing would be hard to accomplish, because the only dragons that weren't the ones they fled from were the ones near the golem, and since he didn't see them fly he guessed they were flightless, causing him to sigh as he turned towards Pinkie, "Your ally wouldn't have an idea on where we can start, would she?"
"No, she says her power's been limited since her brothers imprisoned her, and she's used most of it to help us track down the Nether Fortress and a few other items," Pinkie replied, but as she said that, noticing that the others were surprised by her statement, she glanced at the atlas for a moment and studied the provinces they had passed through to get here, "Now I might be wrong, but the plains we passed through earlier might be one of the best places to find the creatures we're after, though to tame them I need to make some Dragon Treats."
"Okay, and what do we need to make those?" Octavia asked, because she knew that Pinkie already knew the recipe, due to discovering it from one of her tomes, which was the most likely explanation right now, or the other Admin gave it to her not that long ago, and she was curious as to what she and the others had to do this time around.
"Two bones and five emeralds." Pinkie answered, where she paused for a moment as she noticed the looks her friends gave her, as they couldn't believe that the recipe to make an item to tame a monster would require emeralds, before walking over to the Crafting Table and pulled out the items in question, combining them into a set of deep red hearty treats, four to be exact, before she got to work making more, "Yes, I know it seems weird, but this will help you tame the creature's we'll be hunting down... we won't be able to use the same method as the last time, though I'm sure we'll figure something out once we find our targets."
Octavia said nothing as she accepted a pile of treats, more than enough to tame several creatures, which she stored inside her Inventory before taking her position on her mount as Steve and Alex gathered the treats they needed for what they were about to do, to finish the last step before they faced the Ender Dragon.
You did that, didn't you? Octavia asked, as she knew that the Voice was always nearby, because their conversations told her that it hadn't returned to the Lost Dimension over the last couple of days, though at the same time she got ready, as it seemed like the others were getting ready to travel back to the plains.
My dear Octavia, you'll have to be more specific. the Voice replied, where they both knew what she was talking about and she figured it was doing this either to annoy her, which seemed to be working, or because she happened to be one of the few who hadn't been corrupted entirely after the first encounter with the parasites, I have done many things, so it's hard to keep track of them all, just as we have also done many things since settling into our private dimension... I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific if you want this conversation to go anywhere.
I mean the brief modifications that were made to my legs! Even with all the Experience I've gained, even if I'm the lowest of the group, I shouldn't have been able to do that. Octavia stated, taking a moment to pause as the others reached an area that had some monsters in it, green herbivores who seemed to be minding their own business, and who also looked close to dinosaurs, before they started moving and allowed her to get back to the Voice, You clearly did something to me so I'd be able to defeat the Wither, a creation of one of the Admins no less... why help me? I'm also surprised you aren't trying to tear me down from the inside, since we'll be fighting what is essentially your own kin soon.
We were created to corrupt all living creatures and unite them under a single banner, and our maker figured we'd turn on the creations of his brother, if given the chance. the Voice answered, informing her that it didn't matter to the being in question, it was perfectly fine with her and her friends going to war against the Wither, Ender Dragon, and anything else the Admins had created so far, meaning it likely got stronger the more it killed, It's like I told you earlier, you liked what we showed you in our dimension, the power your ascended form possessed, and your body reacted to a sight boost in power... not enough to utterly change you, but enough to take down the Wither. I know you don't trust us, Octavia, but we are on your side... unlike the Pink One, who serves the Fallen Admin and will turn on you when she or her patron figure out we are talking. We can give you the power to stand up to them, but only if you join us.
Octavia said nothing to that as she focused on figuring out where their targets were located, choosing to ignore the Voice and what it was saying, because while part of her was annoyed at Pinkie for not telling them about their ally as soon as she returned from the Lost Dimension, she wasn't any better in that regard. She really had no idea how the others would react if she told them that she was talking to something from the dimension that killed her, something that was offering her power and had already given her more knowledge after being revived from her brief ordeal. While she felt that they might understand her situation, since Pinkie was sort of in the same position she was in, Octavia knew it wouldn't last for long, not when they realized that she might be a danger to both them and their world, since it was a parasite, an ancient one no doubt, that she was speaking to. If that was possible she knew the others would be worried about her falling into madness, becoming a monster bent on corrupting this world and converting everything like the dark beings wanted, so she had to keep this secret until she figured out what she was going to do about it.
It took them some time to find the place that Pinkie wanted to set up shop in and once they reached it Steve, Alex, and Octavia dismissed their mounts, returning them to the tomes they came from, something that they were getting used to, before Pinkie set up a hidden area for everyone to hide in, made of stone and dirt that blended into the area, and as soon as she was done they moved inside it.
From there the group simply waited as time passed, allowing Octavia to read more of her tome as she silently delved into it's secrets, leaving Steve and Alex to simply rest as Pinkie kept an eye out for the monsters she felt were the best for them to use against the Ender Dragon and the denizens of the End. Since most monsters didn't come out during the day there wasn't much for most of them to do, so Pinkie maintained her watch as she mentally spoke to their patron, which Steve and Alex were fine with since the unknown figure wanted to bring down the three Admins. For a time it really felt like they were wasting time, when they could be looking for their targets elsewhere, but Pinkie was determined to make sure this worked out and the others followed suit, allowing her to expand her energy by staying awake as the evening slowly turned to night. When the moon emerged and the sun disappeared Pinkie glanced out at the surrounding area as the others got ready for the task that was ahead of them, where she found Skeletons, Zombies, a few Creepers, and a couple of other minor monsters, before she spotted what had to be their prizes.
She was looking at a trio of wyvern dragons that were different than the dragons they had seen so far, looking more like they could take a beating and then some, one being a black beast, the second being a light white, and the third being a slight green color, and based on how they were acting it looked like the other monsters were scared of them.
Fortunately they were in different parts of the plains, scaring the other creatures of the night by just being there, so Pinkie came up with an interesting idea, she would knock each to the group, hopefully without alerting the others, and one of her friends would force feed it until it bonded with them. As it turned out Octavia took the black one, Steve went with the light white, and Alex went with the green one, where Pinkie flew through the air as she carried her fellow Equestria over to their target and dropped her down into the area, surprising the Morock, which was the monster's name, in the process. While it was surprised Pinkie landed on it's back and did her best to pin it to the ground before it could move into the air, though as that happened Octavia rushed forward for a moment and offered it some of the treats they had crafted before taking on this mission. Sure enough it took a few tries for the beast to calm down, even though it devoured the treats like they were candy, before it eventually succumbed to Octavia's desires and bonded with her, allowing Pinkie to climb off before taking the other two out to their intended targets, allowing her friend to rub the dragon's snout as she wondered what else needed to be done before they were ready to go.
It took some time for them to get both of the other Morocks under control, but once they were tamed Pinkie had them follow her back to their base, where she intended on crafting them some diamond armor, as that was all she could make for mounts, but Octavia knew that once that was done they were going to head to the End and finally deal with the Ender Dragon at long last.
Upon their return to the village, surprising the Villagers with the three Morocks they had tamed and forcing Steve to quickly explain that they were new mounts for them, Pinkie got to work on measuring each beast and forging new diamond gear for them, so each one would be able to survive what they were about to do. While she did that Octavia made sure she and the others had everything that might be needed in the End, since there was no telling what sort of dangers might be waiting for them, but, thanks to Pinkie's previous preparations, there was nothing for her to do. Of course the Villagers were surprised to hear that they had already destroyed the Wither and, more importantly, they were planning on going after the Ender Dragon, but the Desert Elder urged them not to forget about the golem that had ruined his home. Octavia wasn't sure they could forget about it even if they wanted to, as Pinkie had spent some time setting up those walls and she was sure that the Admin they were allied with was readying them for battle with the figure, though Alex informed him that they were getting ready for a fight with it, which appeased him.
It took Pinkie an hour to make sure everything was ready and prepared accordingly, though once she was done Octavia and the others watched as she emerged from her workshop with three bundles, allowing her to place the armor over the new mounts that would carry her friends into battle.
"Okay, they're ready for battle." Pinkie stated, where Octavia found their Morocks wearing the new armor and had saddles so she and the others could ride them without any problems, though at the same time she knew there wasn't much else she could do for their own armor and weapons, "We had best get some sleep as we're going to need all our energy for what lies ahead of us, as I have the feeling the Ender Dragon is going to be tougher than the Wither was."
Octavia nodded her head as the others agreed with her, allowing the three of them to return their new mounts to the area they were kept in, just like what happened to the Ventoraptors they tamed some time ago, before everyone headed to their residences to get some well deserved sleep. She also found that the Voice seemed to be silent this time around, which she was fine with since it allowed her to focus on the task at hand, crossing the bridge before using her hidden path to launch herself up into the lowest level of the new tower, which she was proud of. This time around she didn't waste her time on her tome's sealed knowledge and what she had revealed so far, because Octavia knew that she needed to be focused and not be totally exhausted from spending the night researching new items that had been unlocked. The only good thing was that she would be able to gleam new information from the End, with the dragon and the enemies that had to be guarding it, so once they returned from their venture Octavia was sure she'd be spending some time pouring over the newest pages and what sort of secrets were inside them.
After thinking about that she placed the tome on the stand near her bed and climbed in for the night, focusing on sleep right now and nothing else, though the village was oddly silent as she and the others gathered their strength for the big fight, and she found that morning arrived much quicker than she thought, allowing her to join the others for breakfast.
"Okay, what's our plan for this?" Octavia asked, making sure to have something as she double checked and made sure that her lens and tome were in her pack, though she was looking at Steve and Alex, since they had more experience fighting the monsters of their world, one of which was the Ender Dragon.
"When we reach the End you'll find a number of obsidian towers, which have End Crystals at their peaks that will heal the Ender Dragon if she's wounded." Steve answered, taking a moment to think about what he and Alex had seen before being brought to this world, where he was hoping that this world's version of the End was the same as what they were used to, otherwise their information would be entirely useless, "those have to be destroyed, otherwise we'll never be able to kill the Ender Dragon, and I think Pinkie will be able to take them down easily. From what we've seen in the past the dragon has a few attacks we need to pay attention to, such as when she fires a fireball at her target or dives them, though eventually she will perch on a bedrock structure that she'll land on, which is usually when she'll breath fire on her chosen target... which is what Pinkie is looking for... and it's a good idea to melee her when she lands. Of course, we have no idea what's waiting for us in the End, so we might not be able to do some of the things I've mentioned, so it's a good thing we have the Morocks, just in case the ground is covered by enemies."
Alex didn't have anything else to share with them, meaning Steve had told them everything they knew on the matter, hence why the group finished off their food before getting up, as it was time to get underway and face the dangers of the End so they could deprive another Admin of one of their toys. Once everyone had enough food, and some golden ones that were far stronger than the normal ones, Pinkie walked over to their Waystone and tapped into it, confirming that the one she had placed in the Stronghold was active and ready for use, much to the joy of the others. As such they warped from the village and appeared in the depths of the Stronghold, where Octavia tapped Pinkie's shoulder and let her lead the way, as she had the feeling that her Admin ally knew where to go and would bring them to the portal that Steve and Alex told them about, to which they got moving without delay. While they walked Pinkie swung her pickaxe and broke several items that might block her wings, such as iron bars, though she carefully followed the instructions she was given as their ally figured out where the portal was located, allowing them to save time and energy for what they were about to do.
After some time they reached a square chamber that had a portal frame floating above a three by three pool of lava, with twelve places for someone to put the Eyes of Ender into, so Pinkie did so and once the last one was put into place she and the others found that the portal opened, where a sound of doom echoed throughout the area as a starry void appeared in between the frame.
"I'll never get used to that sound." Alex commented, as she last heard it when she and Steve activated the End portal back in their old world, allowing them to do battle with their Ender Dragon, before everyone focused on the portal and what was on the other side, a hostile land that likely wanted all of them dead, "Okay, let's do this."
The others nodded for a moment before jumping through the portal, where the world around them faded away and they found themselves in what appeared to be a black void, or at least it was that way for a few seconds before they spotted a massive floating island of yellowish stone. Resting on top of it were a number of obsidian towers, just as Steve told them, with floating crystals above them that seemed to be connected to something due to some faint energy beams coming off of them, likely the Ender Dragon based on what they had been told. The group then discovered that they were on a slim platform made of obsidian, four by four as Pinkie discovered, so the others kept still as she added some more obsidian to the edges, giving them more room to stand while noticing that nothing was coming at them. Such a thing allowed Octavia to summon her Morock and take to the air, opening the way for Steve and Alex to replicate her motions, before finding a few Enderman statues that had crystals as their eyes, meaning more targets for them to take out.
In addition to what looked like an army of Enderman, as there were about a hundred of them, there were the odd crab monsters that had energy cannons or something on their backs, making the ground dangerous for most of them, before they spotted the large black scaled dragon, who had purple eyes and white edges on her wings, flying around the skies of the End.
Steve, Alex, and Octavia flew after the Ender Dragon the moment they spotted her, as she was their main target, though to wound her they would need to either hit her with their enchanted swords or the enchanted bow that Alex was carrying at the moment, as she was the best ranged fighter among them. As Alex and Steve worked to get within range of their foe, to distract it from what their ally was doing, Octavia used her staff and summoned her minions once more, allowing them to rush around the floor of the End as they targeted the enemies that were trying to bring them down. While they did that, however, Octavia found Pinkie flying through the air, swinging her scythe at the End Crystals and slashing them apart with ease, all while getting out of the area before she could be hurt by the explosion, and those that were protected by a cage of iron bars she simply landed on for a time. It wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing, she mined through the iron with ease and opened a path to the crystals she happened to be hunting down, allowing Pinkie to slash them apart before taking off once more, and once she was done with the crystals that were close to the center of the island she took out the ones in the towers, just to be sure the Ender Dragon didn't have any healing powers.
Of course it wasn't like they could just waltz into the End and not expect to be attacked, as the Ender Dragon flew after the three Morocks and tried to blast them out of the air with the purple fireballs she was capable of using, including swinging her claws at anyone who dared to get close to her. It caused Octavia to realize one of their errors in coming here so soon after beating the Wither, they should have gone off and defeated an actual dragon in combat, to gain some experience in battling the winged beasts that could torch a forest in no time, and yet, because of Pinkie's Admin friend, they had come without that vital experience. Fortunately it wasn't a total disaster as their Morocks knew what to do to keep themselves, and their riders, alive, as they used their instincts to dodge the incoming attacks and get close so their riders could lash out at the Ender Dragon, who Octavia found to be quite tough, in terms of resistance, as while Pinkie had upgraded their gear to Netherite it looked like this world's version of the dragon was tougher than they expected. She also knew that they couldn't kill her just yet, since Pinkie needed some Dragon's Breath for the item she was planning on making, and to get it they had to get the dragon to launch her other attack at one of them, which was easier said than done when she took a moment to think about what their friend was asking of them.
As she thought about that, however, the Ender Dragon noticed Pinkie near the ground and opened her mouth, gathering her inner flames as she and the others watched, before loosing a burst of purple flames down on the area her target was standing in, though not a few seconds later Pinkie surged out of it with several bottles of Dragon's Breath, landing on top of an obsidian tower for a moment.
"Good, she got the item she needed. Now we can focus on the Ender Dragon." Steve said, as that was the sign he and the others needed, though before they could move he noticed something weird on the tower in question, Pinkie had placed a Crafting Table on top of it and gripped her ring for some odd reason, "What in the world is she doing?"
"Pinkie's going to craft that item, while we're in the middle of a fight." Alex replied, because it was easy for her and Octavia to tell what was going on right now, as there was no way their friend was going to simply wait until later to do this, even if it meant losing her wings for a short period of time.
"And the Ender Dragon knows something's coming." Octavia pointed out, as the dragon was flying towards Pinkie, who had a smile on her face as she put the final pieces of the puzzle into the Crafting Table, causing her and the others to fly into battle once more, hopefully to stop the dragon before she did any damage to Pinkie.
Her thoughts were right, the dragon attacked the tower at the same time Pinkie completed her work, producing a purple gem, but in the next moment Pinkie launched herself at their foe and embraced the gem's power, causing them to pause as a sphere of energy wrapped around her. For a moment nothing happened, though they had to brace themselves after that moment as a powerful surge of pressure surged outwards of the odd sphere, even all three Morocks were surprised by the sudden change as the Ender Dragon landed on a tower. Octavia had an idea as to what was going on, Pinkie, due to her high Experience level, was likely crossing a threshold that not many reached, becoming stronger and deadlier than she had been before this point, and because it was a Dragon's Gem, or whatever it was called, she was about to become an even stronger being than before. Such a thing had to be why the unnamed Admin had her gather all those components to make the gem, to create a weapon to deal with the powerful beings that served the other Admins, and now she had it, but before Octavia could consider anything else a pair of familiar wings burst out of the energy sphere.
After that the sphere broke apart and revealed that Pinkie was, for the most part, fine, save for a pair of curved horns on her head, the ends pointing forwards, and a dragon tail, sized to fit her body while sharing her body color, that weren't there before, though once that was done, meaning the energy disappeared, she grinned before rushing forward.
The air of the End shuddered as Pinkie and the Ender Dragon clashed, talons meeting scythe, though Octavia knew that it was only a matter of time until the victor was decided, causing her to spur her mount forward as she rejoined the battle, slashing at the dragon's wings while she was distracted. Sure enough her plan worked, the Ender Dragon was too focused on Pinkie to notice three other foes flying around her, as Steve and Alex joined in after seeing what she had done, though as she thought about it she quickly determined that it was more like the Ender Dragon couldn't afford to take her eyes off of her foe. It showed them just how strong Pinkie was now, so much so that even with three attackers focused on her the Ender Dragon had to focus on her main for to cripple their morale, yet even then Octavia could see that the difference in power was starting to twist in Pinkie's favor as she started to push the Ender Dragon backwards. To ensure that victory would be theirs Octavia came up with a dangerous strategy, she and Alex attacked the Ender Dragon's wings, as in both of them flew above her wings and descended, crashing her wings into the ground, and before she could shake them off the pair hacked into the muscles, damaging her ability to fly.
Still the Ender Dragon roared as she fired a massive burst of flame at Pinkie, who landed nearby and did something that Octavia found to be amazing, she, too, loosed her own flame breath that smashed into her foe's, lighting up the End with ease, though in that moment Octavia fled and Alex did as well, because the weakened Ender Dragon found that she was losing the battle and, sure enough, Pinkie's attack overwhelmed her, leaving a smouldering pile behind.
"I... I can't believe it. We won!" Alex remarked, though she knew it was more like 'Pinkie won', where she found that their friend picked up a few items from the smouldering pile that had been the Ender Dragon, the spoils of war, which included a vast amount of Experience that was shared between all of them, or maybe the amount was duplicated so each of them got their fair share.
"Indeed, and our ally says it's time to rest before we tackle the other threat." Pinkie said, where the others nodded, as they knew that it was getting closer to when they would face the golem that was making it's way to the jungle, slowly thanks to her walls, before she smiled as she turned towards a portal that had appeared in the central point of the End's island, no doubt to take them back home.
Octavia was surprised that the Voice was silent, but she was more than willing to take it as they returned to their world, all of them holding their heads high as they tore down another of the Admins' dark minions, because it showed them that they would not bow down and that anything they sent at them would be torn down, and she found herself looking forward to whatever they faced next.
Following their victory over the Ender Dragon, and Pinkie claiming her prize, the group used the new portal that opened up in the middle of the End and returned to their village, each one appearing in their residences with ease, causing each one to smile as they regrouped near Pinkie's workshop.
"We've beaten both the Wither and the Ender Dragon in record time." Steve said, though he and Alex were amazed by this turn of events, as both of them were expecting to take some time to gather the items they needed to do both tasks, but with Pinkie and Octavia they had taken both targets down, without really stopping to rest, "So what do we do next?"
"We rest. There are several other enemies we can take out, but we need to rest first." Pinkie replied, as she knew what the next step in their quest was, destroying the golem and then taking out the remainder of the powerful generals that served the three Admins, before trying to do anything to the Admins themselves, all while she took stock of her new additions, "I also need to make some alterations to my armor to accommodate the horns and tail."
Octavia wondered just how far Pinkie would go in becoming a dragon, but decided not to worry about it right now as she nodded her head with Steve and Alex, showing that she was interested in resting as well, to which everyone separated and headed back to their residences, as the first order of business was a good nights sleep. While Steve and Alex returned to their homes, and Pinkie worked on her armor for a time, Octavia returned to her tower and resumed her work on the tome, finding that the more she unlocked the more pages she had access to, even if it would take some time to get through each topic. One thing she instantly discovered was a recipe to make a set of goggles that allowed one to see the Vis of items, as in they would reveal the hidden information of everything, and would even reduce the cost of Vis when she did other tasks, how she had no idea, but she had learned to accept everything this tome told her. She also considered the possibility of creating mechanical devices and imbuing them with arcane energy, something that the tome spoke about as she turned the pages and delved deeper into the information it possessed.
As she did that, however, she heard a voice whispering to her and found that, when she strained her ears to listen to it for a time, it wasn't the voice of the parasites' leader, rather it seemed to be a faint feminine voice, possibly the Admin that Pinkie was speaking to, and when it faded away she suddenly felt much smarter and more magical.
Octavia figured it was a blessing of some kind, to help her keep up with Pinkie in some manner, especially since it allowed her to understand the tome more and figure out things faster than she had before, as if she was stacking blessings since the parasites had given her such a thing after her death in the Lost Dimension. While she thought about that she found a few mentions to something called the Infernal Furnace, which seemed to do a lot with the Vis in the air, and Ignis based on the information in front of her, and it didn't take her long to make such a thing in part of her tower, or at least she made an attempt to do so. What actually happened was that on her way up to the sixth level, the uppermost one where Octavia was planning on doing all of her more dangerous experiments, so they didn't fall on the ground or the village, she found a set of portals on the fourth floor, four to be exact, leading to what she could only describe as elemental planes, as one was made of fire, one was underwater, another was a stone cavern, and the last was up in the air. With her empowered senses she could tell that each one was overflowing with Vis, in fact when she set up the Infernal Furnace in the space provided, a flat area where the flames didn't touch her, it started to work and Octavia quickly set up the system described in the tome, before doing the same with other materials in the other three realms.
She also found that teleporting between any of the realms and her tower was far quicker than what she expected, while also being faster than the portals Pinkie had created so far, though they simply aided her in her studies of her tome as she continued to make new items and, following the whispers, made an altar on the top floor, which would come in handy in the near future.
"There's so much to learn about this world and the other dimensions." Octavia commented, where she weaved her fingers for a moment and an orb of fiery energy formed in front of her, something that caused her to create a bolt of lightning, an earthen spike, and even a swirl of water, all of which she banished once she was done testing her power out, before she had an idea, an awful one when she considered what happened the last time they tried it.
With that in mind she jumped off the edge of her structure and called upon the wind to slow her fall, allowing her to land on the edge of the lake with ease, where she dusted herself off before making her way over to the village, as she needed a single item before trying to do what was on her mind, hence why she stopped at Pinkie's, finding her friend hard at work on her gear.
"Oh, hey Octavia. Shouldn't you be resting?" Pinkie inquired, though at the same time Octavia could see that she had a few plans on how to make her tail armor, she was just putting the finishing touches on it, along with a couple of notes that had to be in case more of her transformed in the future.
"I should be asking you the same thing, but I won't. I need a Warp Scroll." Octavia said, as her plan involved heading back to the Lost Dimension to face some of the parasites, to test her new powers out before they got into a battle, so this was mostly to make sure she worked well under whatever pressure the future held for them.
"Octavia..." Pinkie started to say, the look in her eyes telling Octavia that she was worried for her, especially after what had happened the last time they had been to the Lost Dimension, but before anything more could be said she noticed the look of determination in Octavia's eyes and sighed, where she handed over a scroll without wasting a second, "Promise me you'll be safe?"
"I can't promise that, but I promise to try my hardest to stay safe." Octavia replied, which was the truth, she had no way of telling how this was going to work out and couldn't make the promise that Pinkie wanted her to make before heading to the Lost Dimension, though she took the scroll and slipped it into her pack for the time being.
Pinkie nodded as Octavia departed from the workshop, heading outside in the middle of the night to discover that none of the monsters were interested in the village, in fact the presence of three dragons might be telling them to stay away, but in that moment she slipped outside and stopped by the portal area. She took a moment to stare at the bed portal to the dimension she was interested in, once more surprised that nothing was coming out of the Nether portal, before steeling herself for the madness she was about to experience again as she touched the bed once more. Sure enough a couple of seconds later the world around her disappeared as she appeared in the dimension she was interested in, where she ended up in the forest outside the ruined city that she and the others had seen and could tell that the parasites knew that she had returned to their domain. That was the downside to the parasite Voice, it likely told the others that she was back or was in the process of returning to this world, but she wasn't about to complain about the situation as she focused on her magic for a few seconds, since that was what Octavia was here to test, and get some revenge on these creatures.
She paused for a few more seconds, to make sure she was fine with doing this, before rushing out of the forest as she called forth her magic, which swirled around her before forming into orbs of fire that she launched into the city, striking several of the parasites and causing them to screech in pain. Sure enough she found a number of black shapes running around while on fire, some of the smaller parasites burning to death as the larger ones, like the blob with scythe hands, simply walked as if nothing was wrong, even though she can tell that they were slowly burning away. Octavia quickly considered her options for a moment before creating stone spikes that she sent flying through the air, which crushed some of the smaller parasites with ease as some of the others took a fair amount of damage, but not enough to actually take them down. She figured that water would be ineffective against the monsters, and lightning did more harm than good, as she sent a bolt at a flying foe and watched as it transformed into some odd flying rib cage parasite that loosed poison bolts at her, but sending out blades of wind did some damage as well.
It seemed like magic might be the key to destroying the parasites, in addition to using a dragon's fire, which seemed to be what Pinkie was working towards, and she could tell that the being that the Voice came from was watching her, though she did stop on a fountain's roof, allowing her to stare out at her surroundings, including the black saplings that would no doubt grow into trees at one point.
"Interesting, they're slowly infecting the world around them... if they grow any larger it might be a problem." Octavia said, as she was sure that the saplings would grow into something more corrupted if time went on, even though it looked like they might need someone to be in the dimension to allow time to move on, before she swung her sword and cut down a pair of Rupters that jumped at her.
That was the annoying fact, the smaller parasites either rushed at her while they were on the ground or jumped at her while she was distracted, meaning Octavia had to keep her focus up while traveling through this dimension, least she give her foes an opening to attack her, and with these parasites she couldn't afford to give them any ground. She could tell that they were after her, no doubt to twist her into either the form that had been bestowed upon her when they first corrupted her, which Pinkie killed in seconds, or a new one that better suited her, in the words of the Voice when Octavia recalled it's promise to her. She wasn't about to let that happen, especially since the parasite wanted to twist her into a being of pure darkness to corrupt the main dimension hence why she lashed out with her new magic and blasted several of the weaker parasites to pieces, only to hear bells that followed the arrival of more corrupt saplings, which seemed to be scattering all over the city to ensure she couldn't find them. Such a thing annoyed her, since she was basically making this world worse than she had found it, but in the end she figured that it was okay, as eventually the Voice would be forced to act and then, as soon as that happened, she could cut it down and free herself from hearing it, though for the time being she loosed a larger fireball and used it to distract the parasites.
As it landed, however, Octavia pulled out the scroll and returned to the main dimension, before the parasites could grab onto her, allowing her to breath a sigh of relief as she returned to her tower so she could actually get some rest before seeing what the next couple of days held for her and her new friends.
When Octavia got back to the village she decided to just return to the tower and get some sleep, like Steve and Alex had done after celebrating their success over the Ender Dragon, as she knew Pinkie was likely still in her workshop, putting the finishing touches on her armor.
"I'll tell the others the news later, after I get some sleep." Octavia commented, speaking to herself for a moment as she reached the edge of the village and stared up at her tower, where she used her new power to teleport up to the entrance, or rather what she used as a door to exit the place, allowing her to head inside.
The first thing she did was take a moment to check up on her furnaces, finding that they were working as intended, so she didn't have to worry about breaking them down to figure out what might be wrong with them, allowing her to breath a sigh of relief as she returned to her tower. She did a double check on her materials, making sure she had enough of what she used in her studies and research, since running out was always a bad thing and she didn't want to bother Pinkie too much, only to find that everything was in order, much to her delight. As she did that Octavia found that everything was silent, as in the Voice remained quiet, no doubt trying to understand how, despite it's efforts, she could keep her cool and burn the rest of the parasites with her new powers, or maybe it was interested in how she gained these powers. She had their Admin ally to thank for these skills, otherwise she would have likely fallen behind Pinkie at some point, but now, after confirming her magical power, she knew that their team was ready for anything, or at least she hoped so.
With her brief chores done, and she found that everything was in order, Octavia turned in for the night and got some well deserved sleep, though she found that the night passed by quickly, even though her body was fully rested, and emerged from her tower ready to face whatever she and the others might do next.
"Octavia, boy am I glad you're safe." Pinkie said, speaking when Octavia joined her, Steve, and Alex in their usual meeting area in the village, though at the same time it was easy for her to tell that their friends were surprised by her words, which meant neither of them had any idea what she had done last night.
"Pinkie's only worried because I went into the Lost Dimension." Octavia stated, informing her friends as to what she had done after returning to the village, even though everyone should have gotten some rest, all while noticing that Pinkie's tail did have some armor over it, matching her current set, before she raised her left hand and flames danced over the palm, surprising the others for a moment, "I think that our Admin ally, after seeing us beat the Ender Dragon, decided to grant me some powers as well, and when I decided to head to the dimension that killed me it was to test my powers while also getting some revenge on those foul monsters... so yeah, I can use magic now."
"Well, that's certainly interesting." Steve said, as he wasn't too sure how to take that piece of information, though he was pleased to see that Octavia was fine and that she hadn't been corrupted by the parasites again, especially after what had happened the last time they were in that dimension.
"Indeed, though it begs the question: what are we going to do next?" Alex inquired, as she was sure that they were still in the middle of preparing for their big battle with the massive golem in the desert, since Pinkie wasn't running off to stop it from reaching the jungle, why she had no idea, and she was interested in what their ally had planned next.
"We're heading back into the mines!" Pinkie replied, where she faced the north as the others glanced in the direction as well, as they had only explored a fraction of the depths before getting involved with everything that was going on with the golem and the jungle, "I'm interested in seeing what else might be down there, even if we don't really need anything, just in case we find any additional material down there to reinforce our walls."
"Did our ally mention anything?" Octavia asked, though at the same time they started to leave the village, with several of the Villagers waving goodbye as they went about their own duties, allowing everyone to start making their way to the entrance of the mine.
"No, but I suspect that we'll find something while we're down there." Pinkie said, which interested Octavia, since it meant that this was more for fun while they waited for some developments with the golem and the wall, though she was fine with that, since something less intense than everything they had been through lately would make sure they didn't get stressed out.
For a time no one said anything as they made their way to the north, tracking down the mine entrance they used several times in the past, though once Octavia noticed it she had the feeling that there was something new somewhere inside the mines, something waiting to be discovered. She also knew Pinkie had to be searching for a couple of new items, since that would help her with the workshop and even the rest of the village, there was no telling when she considered what might be down in the depths, so she resolved to be patient. At the same time she held her hand out and summoned a couple of glowing orbs that provided some additional light, where Octavia assigned one to each of them, just in the off chance that they got separated for some reason, before they entered the mine and got ready for whatever might be waiting for them this time. Despite it being a while since any of them had been to this mine, as the start of their quest turned things around on them, Octavia found that the torches Pinkie had placed previously were still lit and burning, though her friend kept one of her arms at the ready in case monsters showed up.
Sure enough they found some Zombies and Skeletons in the deeper part of the mine, in a direction they hadn't been in yet, as evidenced by the lack of torches, though this time around Pinkie held back as Steve and Alex dealt with their foes, while Octavia swung her arm and sent out a burst of wind that cut down a Skeleton to their left.
Pinkie kept studying the surrounding area as they dealt with the enemies, using her dragon eyes to track down the metals and gems that were in the walls, before she found something interesting that caused the others to join her, a bridge, made out of wood, which stretched out into a massive cavern. What they found was that the ceiling had a number of stalactites hanging from it, along with normal stone and materials, before she moved her hand towards the ground, causing them to turn their attention downwards for a moment as they discovered something new. The floor was made out of some type of dark gray material, likely a type of stone that was harder than stone was, though it was hard to tell if that was true or not, at least from where they were standing, though Pinkie was interested in heading down there and Octavia followed her as their friends kept their guard up in case some monsters showed up. For right now it looked like the area was clear of enemies, as there were no monsters lurking in the shadows, but that only worried Octavia a little, because of what happened in the past, as she kept her guard up while Pinkie reached the end of the bridge and headed down a path that was carved into part of the stone wall.
"Looks like someone else beat us to this area... the Builders, perhaps?" Steve commented, as that was the only thing that made sense, that the makers of this world had weaved together the area that was around them before disappearing, and it was reinforced by the fact that he and his friends were the only Crafters in the world.
"Most likely, meaning we might find another underground structure at some point." Octavia replied, as the Builders placed the Stronghold down in the depths and, unless she was mistaken, there had to be something else down located below the ground, based on what she knew after taking in everything that they had seen so far, and she was eager to see what that something might be.
It didn't take them long to reach the bottom of the stairs, allowing them to see that Pinkie was investigating the new type of stone, which she told them was called Deepslate, meaning their ally definitely knew about it, before allowing the others to spread out for a time, to explore, as she pulled out her pickaxe. Octavia watched for a few moments, observing Pinkie as she smashed through the new stone with some amount of ease, though her friend admitted that it wasn't as easy as it looked, the Deepslate was tougher than she thought it was, but after a few moments it allowed her to figure out a way to break through the material. What was interesting about all of this was that there were no enemies waiting for them, as in no monsters were wandering around, which worried her a little since it meant they might be in trouble, though Pinkie did locate something new, all of the ores they were used to collecting were trapped in the Deepslate. By that Octavia quickly found that there were pieces of coal, iron, gold, copper, redstone, lapis, emerald, and even diamonds contained in some of the new material, though Pinkie was able to extract them with ease and, when she mined one of the ores, she found that it produced far more than a normal ore did.
Such a thing meant they were far richer than they originally assumed, though as Pinkie collected the ore she found a new passage leading even deeper than before, where she gathered the others and had Octavia provide some lights while she placed some torches to light the way. As they walked, however, Octavia, Steve, and Alex discovered a new item, some sort of dark substance that was starting to grow on the walls, like some sort of webbing or something, though this time all four of them kept their guard up as they descended into the depths. Eventually the path turned into a staircase that brought Pinkie, Octavia, and their friends to an immense underground cavern that put the one they were used in to shame, which was further validated due to the massive ancient city that was in front of them, with what looked like a massive frame for a portal in the direct center. Of course the ground was covered by the odd dark substance, in fact it looked like it was in the middle of corrupting the ground itself, not to mention the surrounding area, giving Octavia an idea on what to do to the Lost Dimension, all while Pinkie carefully extracted a few of the new items that were in front of them.
As they stepped down into the new area, however, Octavia had a feeling that their doom was coming, especially when she saw that the sounds of them walking were heard and redirected to some other item they couldn't see right now, since all of them heard a shriek of some kind, before the ground some distance in front of them broke open as something taller than an iron golem emerged from it.
"What in the world is that?!" Steve asked, as this was his first time seeing the creature in question, because it contained the same dark material that went into the surrounding area, he was sure that they could see some of it's bones, and the beast looked like it could pack a punch.
In the following moment the beast, as if sensing Steve's voice, turned and zeroed in on him, rushing through the distance between them in a matter of seconds, though before it could knock him out of the way Pinkie appeared in between the pair and blocked the attack with her scythe, finding that it pushed her back a bit. It gave Steve and the others enough time to get out of the way before she found herself being knocked backwards, sending her flying into one of the stone walls as she coughed up some blood, but while Octavia was worried she noticed something, Pinkie was having fun. The two shared a glance for a few seconds, allowing them to share an unspoken agreement on the situation, before she rushed into battle once more, swinging her scythe as she flashed from point to point, causing the beast to turn it's head as it followed her, a fact that confirmed that it was listening to the sounds she made. While she did that Octavia gathered Steve and Alex, due to the fact that this beast seemed far too much for them to take at the moment, before they carefully retreated to the set of stairs they used to reach the ancient city, using the sounds of Pinkie clashing with the beast as cover so it didn't hear their retreat.
As they did that Octavia noticed that Pinkie, despite her power, was being pushed back by the beast, or at least she felt that her friend was holding back to ensure they escaped, and once they were a fair distance away from the city Pinkie just flared her wings and escaped, allowing them to return to the surface, but she knew that delving into the depths wasn't a smart idea and that they would have to do something else.
Pinkie, Octavia, Steve, and Alex stopped running as they emerged from the deepest part of the mine, returning to the area that contained all the Deepslate they had found earlier, where the group stopped and huffed for a moment, each looking back at the path that lead to the Ancient City.
"What in the world was that thing?" Alex asked, echoing what Steve said back when the creature first showed itself to them, by erupting from the floor in front of them no less, though she was also stunned by something else, it was able to push Pinkie back, meaning if they fought it they would be killed in no time.
"It was a Warden... our friend says that her brothers must have updated the world while we were sleeping," Pinkie replied, reminding them of what happened when they tried to conquer that one dungeon, the entire area had been edited by one or more of the Admins, all in an instant when Octavia thought about it, "however, she is unsure of who made this: was it one of the Builders, and if so why haven't they intervened, or did the Admins find some notes that added this or did they make it just to mess with us."
"As you said earlier, she had no idea this place even existed, otherwise she would have warned us not to come here, or she would have warned us about that creature." Octavia said, though at the same time she considered the information that they had gained just now, all while glancing back down at the path they had come from, as the gears in her head were turning as she considered how best to use this information, causing her to turn to the others for a moment, "I think I'm going to stay at the top of the stairs for a time and study the Warden, in it's natural habitat, and see if there's anything else we can learn about it, just in case we encounter it again."
"We shouldn't stay in this place for too long, at least not near the entrance to the Ancient City." Steve stated, as he had no idea if the Warden would be able to track them down, even though it did seem like it had been moving based off of sound, and he didn't want to push their luck with the terrifying creature, before he glanced at Pinkie for a moment, "Is your armor okay after tanking that monster's attacks?"
"Yeah... it might have been dented a little, but I'll be able to fix it up in no time." Pinkie replied, though even she was both amazed and terrified by the Warden's terrifying power, where she sighed for a moment before glancing around the rest of the area, just to see if there was anything else, as she was still looking for something in the walls, "Octavia, just be careful if you head back down there... that thing is much stronger than you might realize."
"Oh trust me, I'm counting on it." Octavia remarked, though to be sure her studies bore great fruit she also obtained a few of the new items that they had found in the Ancient City earlier, which she was able to identify with her lens as Sculk, the pure block, with the webbing being 'veins' one called a Sensor, and two with bones that were a Catalyst and a Shrieker, all given to her by Pinkie.
With those items in hand, thanks to Pinkie's copy ability, Octavia carefully headed down into the depths of the Ancient City, to stay near the edge so she could observe the terrifying creature, while Pinkie and the others resumed exploring the rest of the Deepslate area. It didn't take her too long to get back down to her destination, where she found the beast roaming in the darkness that they had left it in, though she came to a stop and carefully mined part of the stone wall so she could have a better view of the city they had discovered. Sure enough the Warden was a massive beast that was taller than an iron golem and was made from the same material that the Sculk was made from, while it's arms, legs, and even chest section had what looked like bone armor, and it's chest seemed to glow a little every now and then. What was interesting was that the Warden moved like it was blind and relied on sound to track down it's targets, as without anyone in the surrounding area it seemed to be stumbling around, but she had to correct her thoughts a few seconds later as she found a Skeleton walking into the Ancient City.
The Warden heard the Skeleton's bones creaking and instantly turned to face the direction it was in, where Octavia found that it didn't move this time around, rather it seemed to be gathering energy before witnessing it firing off what looked like a sonic burst that zeroed in on the Skeleton and smashed it to pieces in an instant.
"A sonic weapon... great, just one more problem to add to the list." Octavia whispered, keeping her voice low just in case the echo of her talking could be heard by the Warden, where she found that it didn't seem to notice her talking, though as she said that she found that the Experience of the Skeleton was absorbed by the Sculk and slight expanded the territory it covered, "That, however, might be worth looking into... do enemies have to be near a certain block when they die, or can they be anywhere near the Sculk... I need to do some testing."
Octavia remained in her lookout area for a time, observing the Warden as it wandered around the Ancient City, reacting to all of the cave noises that were in the area, be it any other monsters that happened to enter it's domain, who perished in seconds with either the sonic power or a swift punch, or the natural sounds a cave had. She noticed that there was some sort of connection between the Warden and the sensors that were scattered throughout the city, as it seemed to know the locations of the walls and whatnot, but even with that helping it she could see that it stumbled about. As she observed it, watching it decimate anything foolish enough to enter it's domain, Octavia had to wonder how the parasites would fare in a fight with the imposing creature, along with wondering if it was possible to make more than one of them appear at any given time. If such a thing was possible, and she was hoping that her thoughts were right, she could create something that not even the parasites could stand against, meaning they could wipe out the Lost Dimension and create a force to combat the terrifying might of the beings in that dimension.
With that thought in mind Octavia pulled back and made her way to one of the tunnels she had seen on their way down to the Deepslate area, where she found Pinkie hard at work gathering more materials, likely having thought of a great way to reinforce the village wall with the material, before focusing on her own mission. It was a good thing they hadn't lit every tunnel up with torches, where she found herself a good spot to work in and started to remove some of the stone, making a floating platform in the crossroad she discovered, leaving a single block in each direction for the monsters to move in, before forming a wall for her own protection. With that done she carefully mined the middle block of her study area and placed the Sculk block that likely spread the material to the other blocks, the Catalyst she was calling it, into the hole, but the moment it was in place she backed off and placed herself behind the wall. With three dead ends filled with darkness, a fact she made sure of before doing this, Octavia was sure that she could get a few monsters to appear from the shadows and wipe them out, allowing her to see if her thoughts were right or id she was wrong about things.
It took a few moments for anything to happen, but her patience was rewarded as a few Chupacabras appeared, where she counted three of them at least, and they seemed to be following her scent, which Octavia was fine with as she gathered a bit of fire and torched them, watching as each one perished and their Experience was absorbed by the Catalyst, which, in turn, spread to several of the surrounding blocks.
"So with the Catalyst it spreads quickly," Octavia commented, though as she said that she carefully removed part of her protective wall and extracted the block in question, replacing it with a single stone while leaving the Sculk alone, and the moment she was done she retreated to the safety of her wall and set it back up, allowing her to see the area again, minus the Catalyst she had confirmed the power of, "now, let's see what happens without the key component."
She waited for a few more moments, finding that the monsters took some time to appear out of the darkness, and when a Creeper appeared, she wasn't about to question it, Octavia took it down with an ice spike and found that the Sculk slowly absorbed the Experience. Such a thing told her more than she originally thought she would learn by doing this, the green spheres she and the others absorbed when taking monsters down had to be soul energy, or at least it seemed that way as she watched the Sculk operate and spread. The Catalyst spread far more than the Sculk on it's own, meaning this had to be an invasive species of some kind, though it gave her an interesting idea as she carefully cleaned up the rest, collecting all of the material she had corrupted in her experiments, though she had a feeling their ally was going to be pleased with her for this. Once everything was cleaned up, and she lit the area to be sure none of the monsters made their way into the Ancient City, Octavia pulled out some writing materials and jotted down her plan with a wicked smile on her face, because the parasites were going to pay for what happened to her and she had the perfect weapon to use against them.
Before returning to the surface, however, she made a stop and observed the Warden for a longer period of time, just to confirm her thoughts on the matter, and found that it responded to all sorts of noises, including explosions from some of her fireballs and bolts of lightning, giving her an idea of what to do as she caught up with the group.
"You done with that monster?" Alex asked, as she and Steve had stayed behind with Pinkie, to keep her covered just in the off chance they found their way into the Ancient City, so they could cover the opening and get away from the location in question, since she didn't want to deal with the Warden again, all while knowing Pinkie had found a gray gemstone that she pocketed for later.
"Yes, and I have good news." Octavia replied, where she handed them her notes on what she wanted to do next, which caused Pinkie, Steve, and Alex to look over it for a couple of moments, each with shock, surprise, and even interest when they realized exactly what she was planning on doing next, "So, what do you guys think?"
"Do you even need to ask? We're in!" Pinkie stated, as while she liked their ally's plan to deal with the Lost Dimension, the plan she had been following so far, this seemed far more potent and damaging than anything else and she was looking forward to what might happen when they set it in motion, plus she could tell that their ally was pleased, meaning she also liked the new idea.
With Octavia's studies done, and Pinkie had claimed what she was looking for, the group headed for the surface, as it was time for them to prepare for the first stage of the plan Octavia had come up with and deal a crippling blow to the Admin that was in charge of the Lost Dimension.
Upon their return to the village there weren't a lot of things for Pinkie, Octavia, Steve, or Alex to do, rather they quickly made sure all of the Villagers were safe before Pinkie went to work outfitting the wall with all the Deepslate she had collected, or at least that would have been the case if she had been a normal Crafter. With her power to have an unlimited amount of each item that she collected, which was a lot at this point in time, and with her powerful pickaxe, Octavia knew that it wouldn't take her too long to update the outer edge of the wall. The Deepslate would help keep the Villagers safe from the monsters that prowled around on the ground, while Octavia's own additions ensured that flying enemies wouldn't be able to enter through the air, so this was purely to make sure their residence was safe from their enemies. The group waited for a time, watching Pinkie fly from place to place as she tore down the outermost portion of the wall before replacing it with the Deepslate she had gathered, while Steve and Alex told all of the Villagers what was going on, since they were interested in what she was doing.
Once that was done the group gathered their dragons, storing them away in their journals for now, before heading out for the portal area, where Pinkie quickly used the bed and disappeared, causing the others to join her as they warped over to the Lost Dimension, finding that no parasites were near their forest starting point.
"Well then, let's get this show on the road." Pinkie said, where she spread her wings for a moment, leaving the others to stay still as each one kept an eye out for any and all parasites that might come their way, since there was no telling whether or not the foul creatures would come bother them, "You'll know the signal when it happens."
Octavia nodded as Steve and Alex spread out, getting ready for what they were about to do, while she focused on the city for a time as she watched Pinkie fly around, carefully replacing certain blocks with the Catalysts she had experimented with not that long ago, all while the parasites didn't notice her yet.
My dear Octavia, it is so nice of you to come home. the Voice said, confirming that it must have been silent the entire time, observing them as they took down the Ender Dragon and all of the obstacles they discovered, or maybe it had simply gone away for a time and was only now coming back after feeling her return to this dimension, Tell me, have you finally decided to stop playing this game with us and fulfill your destiny? We'll even spare your friends, especially the annoying one whose currently messing up everything...
No, I'm not here to join you... it's like I said in the past, I'll never join you or call on your power, despite the accident that happened against the Wither. Octavia replied, finding that Pinkie was doing everything in her power to set up the trap she had come up with, which confirmed that the Voice must have been disconnected from her for some time, otherwise she was sure it would know what was coming it's way and would have prepared for it, Pinkie's just having a bit of fun, and then we'll be on our way.
If she's having 'fun', then why are you three here? the Voice asked, which was great that it's attention was on her and not on what blocks Pinkie was using right now, otherwise she had a feeling that it would have figured everything out within a few seconds, but she remained silent as the phantom parasite spoke to her, It would make sense if you were here to fight us, but if it's just to let the annoying one have 'fun' you could have remained in the Overworld, studying your tome while we spoke about many topics, not to mention the knowledge we could give you.
While that is interesting, I have other plans right now. Octavia replied, indicating that she had other things she wanted to do right now, mostly to confuse the Voice into thinking that they were here to support Pinkie by watching her, from what seemed like a safe distance, though as she thought about all of that she discovered their friend flying into the sky for a few seconds, meaning the first stage must have been completed.
As the Voice started to reply, to make a comment on things, Pinkie gathered her power and loosed a burst of flames down on one of the streets she had placed several of the Catalysts along, burning a good number of the small parasites in the process, before Octavia smiled as the Experience was absorbed by the new blocks and the Sculk started to spread around where the chosen Catalysts had been placed.
"That's the signal. Let's move." Steve said, where he and Alex called out their Morocks and took to the skies once more, as it allowed both of them to spread out and rain death upon the parasites that called this foul dimension home, while Octavia did the same thing with her own Morock.
Sure enough when the three of them separated from each other, to cover more ground so they could increase the spread of the Sculk, Steve and Alex rained arrows down on them, occasionally dropping low to swing at the flying parasites, while Octavia just gathered her magic for a moment and hurled larger fireballs down at her targets.
Wha... What is this material? the voice asked, confirming that it had no idea what was going on right now, which was a good thing since it would ruin the surprise and alert the Admins to what was going on, and Octavia could practically feel it's uneasy and worry, as if it knew something bad was happening in it's domain, Stop it! You fools are making it spread all over the place!
That's the point! Octavia replied, in fact she almost shouted it as she loosed a volley of bolts made of fire down on the group of parasites she happened to be targeting, watching them burn to death as the Sculk sucked in their Experience to spread even further, covering more of the city as the seconds ticked by.
My Queen, I don't understand... why would you want this? the Voice asked, though at the same time Octavia found a number of small Beckons, the small black flower trees, growing all over the ruined city, while those that had been left by her and Pinkie, during their previous visits, grew taller and thicker, likely going up a stage as they produced more toxic air that allowed the pollution of the parasites to spread.
Octavia started to reply when something caught her eye, some of the Sculk blocks started to transform, some of them becoming the sensory types that reacted to whenever someone or something moved nearby, while others were twisted into the block that summoned the Warden. Such a thing was followed by what she was expecting to happen, the shrieking blocks let out a harrowing cry that caused even the parasites to stop in their tracks, as they seemed confused as to what in the world was going on, before Octavia smiled as she watched the ground shudder. Not a few moments later she watched as the Warden pulled itself from the ground and entered the Lost Dimension, something that caused the parasite to pause for a moment, no doubt taken aback by it's appearance and the fact that it was tied to the new material Octavia and the others brought to this realm. When one of the parasites made a sound, over, that was when things got started as Pinkie, Octavia, Steve, and Alex watched as the Warden rushed at the poor creature and crushed it with a single swing of it's fist, just like what happened when they first discovered it, which forced the other parasites into action.
As Octavia and the others gathered on one of the roofs, to observe their handiwork, the unknown aspect of her plan, as in an aspect of the Sculk she didn't understand with her limited testing, became known to everyone, the Sculk realized that there were more enemies in the surrounding area and more Wardens erupted to fight the parasites.
"No way... more than one of those things can appear from the Sculk?!" Alex remarked, as she was surprised by this piece of information, mostly because none of them had seen it happen during their time in the Ancient City, plus Octavia hadn't seen in during her own investigations.
"It would seem so." Steve stated, though he couldn't believe his eyes either, that they were seeing multiple Wardens in the same location, though he guessed that all of the Experience that had been absorbed by the Sculk must have allowed such a thing to happen in the first place, how he had no idea and he wasn't about to question it.
"You have to admit that this is a good thing: against one Warden the parasites might, eventually, win," Octavia said, as she had been considering things while they were observing the battle that was taking place before their eyes, where it was far too easy to see that the parasites were starting to lose this encounter, before a grin appeared on her face as she thought about what was going on, "against an army of Wardens, however, this dimension doesn't stand a chance... and that's not counting whatever else might be connected to the Sculk."
"I hope the Warden's the only thing that's linked to this material." Alex commented, all while noting that Pinkie didn't seem all too worried about this development, rather she was accepting it and the consequences of their actions, especially since this seemed to be the place they would have to fight one of the Admins toys in at some point.
Once the discussion was over the group resumed harassing the parasites, only now they had to deal with the Wardens, as a single sonic blast would wipe out their Morocks or knock Pinkie out of the air, so everyone had to be careful in how each of them attacked their targets. While they did that Pinkie noticed something interesting, the Beckons were moving, as the larger ones seemed to retreat from the front lines and moved deeper in the city, while all of the smaller ones stayed near the Sculk and summoned more foot soldiers to deal with the Wardens. Octavia studied that development as well, all while loosing shards of ice at her targets to slow down or wipe out some of the parasites, though she was more interested in the evolution that the parasites were going through, as one of the Beckons grew even larger, gaining a green bulb inside what could be the head. She had a feeling that the Beckons were connected to something far larger than they realized, based on what she and the others were seeing right now, especially since she could see that the parasites were gathering in one spot, likely to create something terrifying to even the odds against the Sculk.
Sure enough she found that a new Beckon emerged as several lower class Beckons were torn down, suffering death at the hands of the sonic blast from one of the Wardens, the newcomer being massive in size, like ten blocks tall, and it had four tendrils attached to the green head, allowing it to corrupt more as lightning flashed in the darkening sky and parts of the ground around it turned dark, not Sculk like at all.
So, you were capable of twisting the land as well. Octavia remarked, though as she conversed with the Voice she did find something that was slightly worrying, the parasites that were struck by lightning evolved into more monstrous forms and, more importantly, a two armed monster that was capable of wrecking all sorts of blocks with it's arms, which served to induce an increase in the Sculk's production.
Yes... not that it matters, as we are fighting a losing battle. the Voice replied, where Octavia found that it was odd that it would say this, as she expected it to offer something, anything, in the hopes of her being able to call off the Wardens she and the others had brought to this domain, Even with Oronco and Terla, I don't know if we can win.
Octavia had no idea who the Voice was talking about, since she wasn't well versed in the parasite's leaders, but before she could say anything she felt the air shudder, which was followed by a tear in reality appearing as a massive parasite slowly emerged from it, a four legged being, whose legs ended in hooves, who looked more equine than everything else. It also possessed six large tendrils, located near it's front shoulders, though it had no head and no tail to speak of, though at the same time Octavia knew it was dangerous, being an ancient being that had to be one of the two the Voice talked about, as in the Overlord. In addition to that part of the sky opened and a floating parasite appeared in the air above them, one who had six tendrils as well as a massive mouth, split into four sections, though while it was a few blocks smaller than the first one she knew that it was equally as dangerous. This beast had to be a Dreadnaut of some kind, an imposing beast like the Overlord, though in the following moment a humanoid figure emerged from the rift, possessing six tendrils coming out of it's back like the other two, though it seemed to be wearing a hood to cover it's body.
Despite that fact Octavia knew what was going on, the Voice had decided to manifest himself and his comrades, likely the first of the parasites since they were the ancient ones, and while it seemed like things were tipping in the parasite's favor she knew that such a thing wouldn't be the case for too long.
The Sculk responded to the danger as every block of it vibrated before their eyes, as if the material realized that something far stronger than the parasites they were currently fighting had appeared, though that didn't stop the Wardens from using their sonic blasts to wipe out the weaker enemies. A few seconds later a new monster emerged from some of the Sculk, as in a worm like creature, three blocks wide by Octavia's count, that burst out of the material and quickly wrapped around the body of the Overlord without wasting time. In that moment she understood what was going on, there was more to the Sculk than what she and the others realized, and the worm was currently engaged with the Overlord as it smashed into a building for a moment, showing that it had to be a powerful monster as well. As that happened another serpent creature emerged from another patch of Sculk, flour blocks in width while having a coiled body that was different than the worm, in fact she was sure that the material had made black scales, a serpent dragon, which wrapped around the Dreadnaut and tore into it with it's sharpened teeth, causing the parasite to moan in pain.
Octavia tracked down the Voice as it landed on one of the buildings, where she did so as well and found that it seemed to be watching the scene unfold before it's eyes, if it had eyes since it was impossible to tell, where the Wardens laid waste to the ground parasites, the Sculk absorbed the other corrupted land, the worm crushed the Overlord, and the serpent tore the Dreadnaut out of the air.
It didn't have to be this way... we could have changed the dimensions and, more importantly, we could have taken care of Pandora, before she made her move. the Voice said, sounding resigned as it watched the Sculk tear into the parasites like they were nothing, in fact the Wardens blasted some of the weaker ones apart with their sonic blasts, especially when it took into consideration the other monsters that had appeared, before it turned it's head towards Octavia, Instead, you came back with this madness... we never stood a chance.
The Voice sighed as it's magical energy escaped from it's body, condensing into a black staff in front of Octavia, which had a silver tendril wrapped around the handle and a golden eye at the top, before the figure shrunk as a red slit appeared in the eye, where the Voice turned back to the scene in front of it.
We have failed Herobrine... and soon this dimension will be covered by the Sculk. the Voice continued, where she found that it was far weaker than she originally thought, in fact it sounded exhausted after everything it went through before this point, and she could see that it's tendrils were breaking apart before her eyes, Take my magic... you'll need it if you stay on this dark path.
Octavia said nothing as she grasped the staff, finding that it was powerful indeed, causing the Voice to drop down into the battlefield, where she and the others watched as it, the Overlord, and the Dreadnaut were crushed by the Sculk's forces, in no time at all, and with that done the group decided to leave for the time being, to rest and turn their attention on the foe that was still wandering around the Overworld.
Following the destruction of the parasites, or rather their leaders, Octavia joined up with Pinkie, Steve, and Alex as each of them landed outside the city that the Sculk was currently invading as the Wardens, and the other monsters it created, tore through their enemies, converting more land with every bit of Experience they gathered.
"You know, when you said that you wanted to use the Sculk against the parasites, I don't know what I was expecting to see when we set it in motion." Alex commented, where everyone stopped near the area that Pinkie had set the escape point in, back during their first visit to this strange dimension, giving the three of them a chance to store their mounts away while Pinkie kept track of what the Wardens and the Sculk were doing, "but... well, I honestly wasn't expecting to witness this, or have your plan work out so well."
"Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to work this well either." Octavia admitted, especially when she considered the Worm and the Serpent that had been summoned to deal with the Overlord and the Dreadnaut, leading to the Voice surrendering without fighting her or the Sculk, and even then she suspected that there was more to this material, an even darker being than the three she and her friends had seen so far, "You have to admit that the results are far better than we could have asked for."
"Yeah, and we infected this dimension with the Sculk." Steve said, as he wasn't too sure if that was a good or bad thing, due to what they had witnessed so far, but given how strong each of the three monsters were he suspected that it was more in the latter's field, before he turned to look at the pair that caused this to happen, "Shall we head home?"
Pinkie nodded her head and wasted no time in passing around the scrolls they needed to use, to which they used them and warped back to the Overworld, appearing near their Waystone as the Villagers cheered for their safe return, though in that moment they found that it was nighttime and everyone decided to return to their houses. Octavia, on the other hand, simply returned to her tower and sat on the ground of one of the floors, allowing her to close her eyes and focus on the power of her new staff, a parting gift from the Voice before it threw itself into the Sculk. She was able to reconfirm that it contained a vast amount of power inside it, which made sense given that it's previous owner had been one of the leaders of the parasites, and, despite it's shape, she could sense that it was free of taint, meaning the only thing that might bring about the revival of the foul parasites was herself. That fact was due to what happened to her in the past, she was able to figure that out with ease, and Octavia found that if she focused her mind she could alter parts of her body to match her desires, so if she wanted a lizard's tail, for example, it would happen, and it was something she tested for a time, mostly to see what her limits were like.
Once that was done she went to bed, instead of working on her own tome, and when morning arrived she found that the majority of her group wanted a simple day off, instead of running off to deal with something else, especially after facing the Ender Dragon, the Warden, and the parasites in a row.
"So where's Pinkie now?" Octavia asked, as that was who was missing right now, though given her friend's habits lately she had a feeling that the mare in question was either working or she had found another tome to boost her power, likely part of Pandora's odd blessings.
"She said that she was checking out another tome, about some skills she could improve." Steve replied, though as he said that he made sure to eat some of the food in front of them, as the Villagers were able to cook and insisted on doing most of the farm work for them, which told him that someone likely made it so they could do more than what he and Alex were used to in their previous world, "Apparently she might have found a way to make some things easier for us, in what way she didn't say, but I have a feeling it's to make us stronger for whenever we head back down into the Ancient City... I have a feeling she might want to do that at some point in the future."
"Actually, I think she's preparing for the Golem... we still have to deal with it." Alex spoke up, reminding them of the last danger that was in the immediate area of their village, not counting the Warden and Sculk in the depths of their mine, all while Octavia had a feeling that the creature in question was a minion of another Admin, if what the Voice said was to be believed.
"With his parasites taken out, I have a feeling Herobrine will make his move soon." Octavia said, figuring that the Admin in question had more minions than the others, even though there was a chance she might be wrong about it and the Golem could belong to one of the others, but she knew it didn't matter, as they would face it in no time.
As the others opened their mouths, to say something on the matter, everyone stopped as the air shuddered, almost as if something had crashed or something strong was pissed off about whatever was happening around it, which caused Pinkie to emerge from her workshop.
"It's the Golem! Pandora says that it has breached the last barrier and will be at the temple soon." Pinkie stated, which told all of them that they must have missed it crushing all of the other walls, not that anyone was surprised with everything they had been through since they were set up, and, since she was still armed to the teeth, she opened her wings as soon as the words were out of her mouth.
Octavia really couldn't believe they were doing this, so soon after messing with the Lost Dimension, or Sculk Dimension she guessed it should be called at this point, but it wasn't long before she, Steve, and Alex followed after Pinkie by using their Morocks to take to the air. As they headed to the south, however, the group discovered that the desert covered more than what they remembered and it was about to invade the jungle that held the temple they had come across, and they found a sight everyone was expecting to see, the Golem had knocked down the last of Pinkie's walls. In addition to that it was easy for all of them to see that it wasn't alone, as all of the desert monsters that had been near it were invading the jungle area to take down whatever was in their way, causing Pinkie to beckon to the others for a moment as she flew down at the invaders and clashed with them. Octavia understood the situation, their friend was taking care of the ground forces while leaving the Golem to her, Steve, and Alex, which was fine with her since it meant they wouldn't have to worry about enemies bothering them, hence why she gathered her magic and hurled a volley of fireballs at the Golem.
The downside was that, since the thing was made of hard sandstone, Alex wouldn't be able to use her arrows against it, so she focused on doing what Steve was doing, flying in with his Morock and slashing at the beast, intending on doing as much damage as they could while opening areas for Octavia to hit. She was perfectly fine with that, as it granted her the chance to find weaknesses and use them against their foe, launching spells into the space between them, freezing both of it's legs to the best of her ability, or calling forth large roots to stop it in it's tracks. Of course it wasn't that easy as the large beast tore through whatever obstacles she put in it's way, all while trying, in vain, to hit either Steve or Alex, who buzzed around the air and did their best to deal any damage to the Golem, but it appeared that their foe didn't seem to care too much about their attacks. In fact, unless she was mistaken, it appeared that only her attacks and Pinkie's scythe attacks, as she accidentally cut the right leg while dealing with the other enemies, were working against the Golem and the rest of the group seemed to be diversions to make sure it didn't hit either of them.
As Octavia thought about it, however, she gathered some of her new power into her right hand and let it bulk up for just a few seconds, allowing her to punch the Golem in the side of the head and caused it to stagger, but it swung at her and she went flying into the forest, crushing several trees in the process.
"So the beast is durable and strong... should have known that would be the case." Octavia remarked, though after being killed by one of the parasites, and seeing the Warden in action, she figured that one of them could take four hits from the Golem before perishing, thanks to Pinkie's special armor, but a few seconds later she rushed forward and jumped into the air, allowing her to return to her mount.
This time around Octavia channeled more of her power into her spells, blasting the Golem back without allowing it to take a step towards the jungle that it had been trying to reach since they discovered it some time ago, but as she did that, and dealt some damage to the actual figure, she felt a sudden change in the air. In the following moment a burst of lightning, dark purple colored to be exact, tore through the trees and smashed right into the Golem's chest, which knocked it back into the ground and forced it away from the border between the desert and the jungle. Octavia glanced back for a couple of seconds, just like the others did, and found that maybe they didn't need to be here, as there was a large dragon, easily far taller than any dragon they had seen so far, and much more terrifying with it's curved horns and lightning dancing all over them, approaching them. It's eyes, however, were on the Golem and the smouldering hole it had left in it's chest, as if it was a 'storm' dragon, a beast of lightning that was far stronger than any normal dragon, while at the same time showing all of them that the minions of the three Admins were nothing compared to Pandora's pet.
In fact, as she thought about that, Octavia spotted a shadowy phantom like figure near the dragon, a slender figure that resembled Discord, only her body seemed to be dark purple, the tips of her claws, hooves, and tail tufts were red, and her eyes were red surrounded by yellow.
"Pandora!" Octavia remarked, as that had to be who appeared before them, while at the same time awakening her dragon to make sure the Golem was taken down, but as the figure turned towards the dragon, and the pressure in the air started to shift again, she turned towards the others, "Guys, get out of the way!"
Pinkie and the others flew out of the way before anything happened to them, where they watched as the dragon loosed a burst of lightning, the same one it had just used to knock it's target back, that surged passed the Golem and obliterated it in an instant, leaving a burning scar behind as the beam traveled off into the desert, which caused the figure to smile for a moment before glancing at the sky as it disappeared.
"Does anyone feel like the dragon actually didn't need our help?" Alex asked, where they stared at the lightning dragon as it returned to the center of it's home, now that the intruder had been dealt with, and it wasn't long before the everyone nodded their heads to show that this wasn't what they were expecting either, "Good, I'm not the only one."
Octavia sighed as she regrouped with the others so they could head home, as it seemed like their plan and preparations for this had been for nothing, the dragon certainly didn't need their assistance in stopping the Golem, plus it looked like it let nothing behind for them to grab, to which they returned to the village to rest and figure out what to do next.
Herobrine, Null, and Entity observed the group as they discovered the Warden and the Sculk, the fact that they used it on the parasite dimension without even wasting time, and their return to the Overworld to deal with the Golem, where they watched as Raijin smashed the Golem apart with relative ease.
"Damn it all!" Herobrine stated, shattering the goblet he had been drinking from, as he had prepared a few snacks for the moment the final wall came down so his Golem could march into the jungle and utterly destroy Raijin before he was able to fully awaken, only to discover the truth of the matter, his minion was nothing compared to Pandora's, "Her followers are far more annoying than we originally thought they'd be."
"Indeed, and it is worrying at the same time... they chose to release the Sculk on the parasites, eliminating another toy you created to have fun with our chosen Crafters." Null remarked, though such a thing worried him since there was no telling if the Sculk could spread to the Nether, if the group were to do the same thing to his dimension, and with the powers that Pinkie and Octavia had he knew they could move their Nether portal with ease.
"Yes, there is no telling what darkness resides in that foul material, so it must be one of Pandora's creations." Entity added, as he had been interested in that material, because it wasn't one that he and the others had introduced to the world, but that fact informed them of the terrifying truth of the matter, their sister was getting stronger as time went by and it was only a matter of time until she broke out of her prison, "The Mad Admin is growing in strength, at an alarming rate, likely brought on by several of our minions being destroyed by her followers... we have to stop them, before they take out any of our main minions."
"She's mocking us... you could see it in the smile on her face." Herobrine said, where he recalled the last thing the three of them had seen before the image cut off was a wicked smile appearing on Pandora's face, reminding him of when he and the others witnessed Pinkie looking up at them, only their sister's gaze held a promise, that she'd reunite with them once she was out of her impressive prison, "Especially now that Raijin is awake... if she wanted to she could have that beast invade our dimensions and hunt our greater minions down..."
"She won't, since she doesn't have enough power to do more than we have seen so far," Null replied, where he raised his own goblet and sipped at the wine that was inside it, something none of them could get drunk on or impaired by, one of the benefits of being an Admin, allowing him to consider the information that they had discovered so far, nothing good for any of them when he thought about it, "but we shouldn't rule out her new followers, as they've taken down the Wither, the Ender Dragon, and the parasites by using this Sculk and the dark creatures against them... they're likely preparing for their next mission right now, and we need to be ready for whatever that mission is."
Herobrine growled for a moment, annoyed that his brother was right, they could only watch and wait as they planned out their next assault on the Overworld so Raijin would fall, even though he knew they were racing against the clock, as it was only a matter of time until the prison shattered and they needed to take the dragon down before that happened, though he'd rather not think of what might happen if Pandora returned with her full power, combined with her followers, and silently hoped for them to prevail in this fight.
Following the discovery in the jungle, that none of them had been needed by the imposing dragon that seemed to be on their side, for now anyway, Pinkie, Octavia, Steve, and Alex returned to their village once more, this time purely to rest for the rest of the day and maybe all of the next day.
"Was there a point in doing all of that, when that dragon just wrecked everything on it's own?" Steve asked, speaking once everyone was back in the village, and their Morocks were resting after all the flying they had done since discovering that the Golem had smashed through the last of Pinkie's massive walls.
"I know we thought everything was for the battle with the Golem, but I've changed my mind on that." Octavia replied, as she had taken some time to think about this and was sure that she had an answer to the question, even though there was no way for her to really tell right now, not until Pandora spoke to them again, "I believe that our ally has been preparing us for the battle with the three beasts that serve the other Admins, the ones that are found in three different dimensions: the Nether, the End, and the Lost Dimension, or the Sculk Dimension if you prefer."
"Right, I kind of forget about them." Alex commented, though at the same time she realized something, if the dragon was Pandora's beast, and a rather powerful one at that as she considered what they had seen, it made her wonder how much danger they were in with the other three, even with Pinkie and Octavia's powers, "Are we even ready for them?"
"Honestly, I have no idea." Steve admitted, because if they were as strong as the dragon he knew that they were in danger of being wiped out instantly, while at the same time if any of the trio were weaker than they assumed no one would have to worry about being killed if they got into a fight with the creatures.
Octavia let out a sigh for a moment as she noticed that Pinkie didn't seem to be focused on the conversation, which told her that Pandora might have something to share with her and she would likely need to confirm it before worrying them, a fine strategy she guessed, before they went their separate ways. Once more she returned to her tower and decided to do a bit of work with her tome, to take her mind off of the madness that they had been dealing with for some time, and that meant picking up from where she left off, since Pinkie had interrupted her the last time she got serious. She was eager to get further in the depths of the tome, where part of her was sure that Pandora, in the smallest way possible, had given her the push she needed to pursue the secrets contained inside it, or at least at the beginning, even though it switched to her trying to sate her curiosity. The tome was the reason why, instead of resting like she should, Octavia opened it and picked up from where she left off the last time she worked with it, not to mention the secrets inside it, as she was sure there was something inside it that Pandora wanted her to find, something to turn the tide against the other Admins, she just had to be patient until she discovered what that something was.
As she moved into the next category of study, however, she found that Pandora had given her another present, a portal to a dimension that, according to the sign resting near it, wasn't connected to the other Admins and would provide her with a place to study the items in the tome, without damaging the Overworld. Such a thing meant that she could pipe all of the dangerous aspects of her studies into the new Dimension, which was perfect since one of the categories she discovered in the other pages talked about something called the 'Taint'. What she discovered was that it was similar to the Sculk, that it could spread to other parts of the world and corrupt it, slowly based on everything she was seeing right now, but the key difference was that while the Sculk moved via absorbing Experience and converting it into energy, the Taint required one to give it a boost. That was why she was carefully pumping any dangerous substance to this odd dimension, making sure to keep her portal back home safe and sound, allowing the Taint's requirement to accumulate without endangering the Overworld, allowing her to focus on other things at the same time.
The other category she delved into was something called 'Golemancy', the creation and commanding of golems, which sounded like something interesting when she started to delve into the new pages that opened for that topic, and she was able to find that all sorts of things were possible with these golems. By that she discovered that they could be made out of several types of material, which were greatwood, iron, clay, brass, thaumium, and something called 'Void Metal', where it was easy for her to figure out that each one had their own strengths and weaknesses. What really interested her was that she was now capable of creating golems that could do all sorts of things, such as harvesting and planting trees, collecting plants and placing seeds in their place, mining anything weaker than one's arms and transporting material into a chest, even killing animals and cooking food. If she wanted Octavia could automate everything inside her tower, allowing her to focus more on her studies and less on the collection of materials, in fact with this new dimension she could set up the first golem station to see how they operated before making them for her tower.
It took her some time to figure out how to craft the first golem, to a degree where it would be able to sustain itself and not break under pressure, before creating a 'Control Seal', a device that allowed her to set boundaries of a golem's work area, though she figured out a way to make sure they didn't delve into the deepest parts of the world, just in case the Sculk was in this world.
After that, however, Octavia smiled as the first golem, which she made after using the golem press that was revealed to her after reading the tome's new pages, went to work chopping trees, allowing her to observe the construct, which was as tall as her, as it hacked into some of the trees, collected the wood and other components, and stored them inside a large chest she had set as it's storage box. Once she was satisfied with the first one Octavia went back to her new workbench and went to work making one of the other types as well, as she wanted to be sure that all of them worked before putting them to work in her tower, just in case one of them broke or exploded at random. With a nearby village she was able to test the golem who was responsible for harvesting the farm and planting new items to ensure the cycle continued, where she found that it did so without delay and also stored everything away in the appropriate chests, since it harvested more than one thing at a time. After that she tended to the worker class golems, where she found that the miner golem went to work on one of the stone walls near her portal, using the pickaxe Pinkie had crafter for her since she didn't want to make a test pickaxe to do this, and it wasn't long before she had more than enough material to continue her tests, including geodes of crystals to aid in her experiments, Vis Crystals to be exact.
The battle golems, on the other hand, looked like they were made out of ancient stone, almost Deepslate when she took a moment to study them, and when she placed one Octavia found that it stood like a statue, as if sensing no danger for it to take care of, and when a Creeper appeared it moved and cleaved the monster in half.
Such a thing lead to her expanding the base of her tower, truly making it look like it had been ripped out of the ground by her magic, or something to that affect, and when she got to the entrance, making it look more like the entrance to where a wizard would rest, she placed her new statue golems outside it. They were under orders to take down any monster that dared to come near her residence, though as she thought about it Octavia realized that she could make more of them and designate specific sections of the outer reaches of Pinkie's wall for the battle golems to watch over. Of course she would have to ask the Elders and the others about it before suddenly placing a number of them down, since surprising them like that would be a bad thing, especially with Pinkie's fast skills, but for now she went about her work in setting up the rest of her tower. Since the Test Dimension still existed, which was what Octavia was calling it, she set up some golems and set all of them to work, creating a small lodging area for her to do her studies in, in case she discovered anything new in the rest of her tome's pages, so the farming golems could work in this dimension as well while the mining golems did their thing and collected more material for her to work with.
Once everything was said and done she found that morning had arrived, though she wasn't tired and such a thing lead to her heading into the village to tell the others the news, that she had something to show them, and sure enough they made their way to her tower, riding their Morocks, or using her wings in Pinkie's case, to the entrance of her tower.
"What in the world are those?" Alex asked, as the moment she and the others landed they noticed the statues that were in front of Octavia's tower, in fact she was sure that they were different than anything else she had seen so far, though at the same time they could see that Pinkie was pleased with her friend.
"Golems... battle types, to be exact... but if you think this is odd, wait till you see what else I've done." Octavia replied, as it was amusing to see that they were surprised by this discovery, even if Pinkie was more impressed by her handiwork and the fact that she had done this all within a single night, before she headed inside.
Sure enough the others were stunned when they saw the worker golems going about their duties, the farmers tending to her new farm, both on an island she had prepared for such a thing, again made to look like she had ripped it out of part of the ground below her tower, and the one near her lodging. On the other side of the portal, however, she chuckled as the others stared at the scene before them, watching as her miner golems went to work carefully removing the dirt that was on top of the stone, giving the group more room to work with as they delved into the depths. She had, of course, used the majority of her materials to make multiple of every golem that was inside the pages of her tome, hence why there was a large group of miner golems gathering more materials for her studies and making more if she needed them. In addition to all of that they got a chance to see the battle golems in action, since the ones stationed in this dimension were set to be on guard in case monsters showed up, and they had collector golems who would gather fallen components to be brought back to the tower, for either her to work with or give to Pinkie if she didn't have one.
Octavia chuckled as she saw how shocked they were and went into explaining what she had done, though she was more interested in what else she could do with the tome's knowledge and knew that they'd be ready for whatever the future held for them and their village.
After seeing what Octavia had been up to for some time, and being impressed by her golems and what each of them were capable of, Steve and Alex decided to take the rest of the day off and just tend to the rest of the village, helping out all of the Villagers with whatever they needed, just to make things more functional. Such a thing meant that they would be adding all sorts of items to the farms to make sure they produced more food and required them to do less, so all of the Villagers could focus their efforts on other aspects of their home. Some of the guards, based on what Steve heard, preferred having some sort of ally to help them deal with any dangers that might come towards their home, especially since there was no telling when another Blood Moon might happen, causing him to think about Octavia's battle golems. He and Alex decided to speak with the Elders at one point, to see if they could convince them to allow their friend to make more protectors and set them up outside the village walls, thereby allowing the guards on the walls to start training in using the bow in case ranged foes tried to attack them.
While they did that, however, Pinkie made a short trip to the Nether and returned without delay, where Alex found that she went back to get a couple pieces of Blackstone and raised an eyebrow as their friend walked over to the portal area, even if she paused for a moment before rearranging things. By that Alex meant that Pinkie terraformed the area by altering it with all sorts of stone, as she had crafted all sorts of variations to use in her various buildings, and she ended up creating three platforms out of stone, even if it meant moving the Nether portal. She discovered that the main stairs, leading to the central pedestal, was where she placed a bit of Blackstone in a way that mimicked the Nether portal, while the Nether portal and the bed portal were moved down to the two other platforms, both still connected to the dimensions they lead to. With that done Pinkie also changed up the landscape and made it far more protected than before, adding railings and even a bridge that linked up with the area outside the village, even though it also made it look more modern as well.
Once that was done Pinkie returned to her workshop and Alex followed her, where she found that Pinkie combined a bit of obsidian with four purple blocks from the End and a block of diamond, creating an altar of some kind that she placed in it's own section of her massive house, before placing the gray gemstone above it.
"What are you doing now?" Alex asked, as Pinkie was always up to something, in fact she could tell that her strange friend had made a large library for her enchanting table, giving her access to some of the more impressive enchantments, and she knew that this was just another strange thing her friend was focusing on.
"I was curious as to why this was called a 'Vault Rock', and Pandora recommended that I make this altar." Pinkie replied, to which she added a button to the wall behind the altar and found that four images popped up around the gemstone, where Alex noted that she still had a gemstone in her hand, her powers ensuring that she only needed one to have an unlimited amount of them, "Interesting... some obsidian, a few pumpkins, a couple of cobwebs, and a few red flowers... should be easy for me to obtain, since I'm sure I've picked up most of them at one point."
Sure enough Pinkie had each item in her massive Inventory, where Alex wasn't sure what to call it at this point, and quickly transferred the required amount of each item into the magical altar, earning a green check mark once she was done with each one, and once all four were marked she pressed the button and the crystal turned purple, allowing her to collect it as she headed outside.
"Time to see what this baby can do." Pinkie commented, where Alex could tell that she was excited, as this was something new for her to experience and, given how much Experience her friend had access to, a vast amount that never went down, she suspected that only Pinkie would be able to deal with whatever was on the other side of the area she was planning on heading into.
Alex simply followed for a few moments and watched as Pinkie approached the new portal, where she tossed the gem into the air and the Blackstone seemed to be empowered the moment the crystal stopped into the center of it, where they just stood there as it created a glimmering rainbow portal between the material, causing Pinkie to smile as she dived into it, all without waiting for anyone to join her.
"What did Pinkie do this time?" Steve asked, as he stopped by Alex for a moment and spotted the new portal, and the area that the three structures were now resting in, showing his interest in what might have happened this time, since they were talking about the oddest member of their group.
"She made a new portal area, crafted an altar, made a new gemstone, and entered a new dimension... I think." Alex replied, as Pinkie hadn't shared too much with her, either because her focus was elsewhere or because she didn't know too much on the subject, where she suspected that the latter might be the truth, before she shrugged for a moment, "Either way, I'm sure there's nothing in there that will challenge her... she'll return with all sorts of information and Octavia will come down to talk with her about it."
Steve considered that information for a moment before nodding his head, allowing the pair to go about their own tasks, or chores since they weren't going to do anything drastic, like Pinkie and Octavia were doing, all while both wondered what in the world was on the other side of the new portal.
Pinkie found herself in a chamber that looked like someone, likely one of the Builders who created the Admins, had made in the past, though while it was about twelve blocks wide, and probably twenty blocks from back to front, she found that the area on the other side of the opening was different from a stone area. She discovered that there was a forest of sorts on the other side, complete with chests to loot and monsters to fight, though when Pinkie opened the first chest she let a smile cross her face as she realized that it had all sorts of new items for her to collect. The chest had a few items that she had collected so far, nuggets of gold and iron ingots, plus food that she didn't really need and took anyway, and several other items that seemed to be tied to the vault she had entered, before pulling out a deep blue gemstone. This, according to what she could tell, was a Beniotite Gem, meaning there had to be an ore version somewhere inside the vault, and she pocketed it without delay, because while she had no idea what she was supposed to do in a place like this she was eager to collect all sorts of new items for the future.
In addition to that she found a few Catalyst Fragments, a relic booster pack, a brown candy bar that wasn't chocolate but tasted rather good when Pinkie tried it, and even a Wither Skull, as odd as that sounded, though she looted the entirety of the chest and added it all to her collection before readying her scythe.
Her reasoning for that was because there were Zombies, a whole force of them, emerging for the woodwork, where she hacked and slashed at them as she continued to explore the vault, finding that the rooms were either designed to look like stone caverns, a forest wilderness, a small western styled village, and even a dragon's horde, complete with a dragon that was made out of different materials. One thing she noticed was that there was a literal treasure trove of items in most of the walls, where she used her dragon eyes to track them down and found that she could even locate the gems that were in the dungeons, such as Beniotite, Alexandrite, Painite, Iskallium, Gorginite, Ashium, and many others. Fortunately, due to all of the enchantments on her pickaxe, Pinkie was able to carefully extract those gems in their ore form, while the rest of the materials, like diamond, emeralds, and all the basic materials, she instantly mined in her rapid mining sessions before moving onto the next room in her search. Another thing she discovered was that there were a number of gray obelisks for her to touch, as they seemed to be linked to something, so when Pinkie found the first one she tapped it with her hand as she hacked through some Zombies and Creepers, rapidly zipping off to the side to find more materials, before cutting her way through another opening as she headed for another room.
Some of the chests didn't have much inside them, and some had treasures like what she found in the first one, though she broke down all of them and collected everything that was inside them, preferring to leave nothing behind since she had no idea if the vault could be reentered once she completed her adventure. She also found a few dark green apples, which were called 'Jade' Apples apparently, and when Pinkie tried one she found that her speed was faster, like it boosted part of her, as in her haste, allowing her to make quick work of the area that she discovered it in before continuing her adventure in this place. She discovered a few special chests that required her to either kill monsters near them, sacrifice some of her health, or even offer her Experience to open them, though given all of her abilities none of those bothered her, including the last one since her bar never went down. Those chests had better loot than the normal chests, more gems and other new items for Pinkie to claim, and they were outdone by gray chests that contained some of the best loot she had seen in the vault, possessing a vast number of gems and materials for her to collect, before she tracked down a third obelisk right in the center of the entire vault.
She glanced around for a moment, wondering if there was anything else for her to do, before deciding that there wasn't, as she had looted everything and anything she could find, to which she tapped the obelisk and it summoned a creature for her to fight, a giant green figure that walked like a Zombie and carried a blade like the monster in question.
"A boss monster... nice!" Pinkie stated, where she burst into the air and swung at the beast, the 'Boogie Man' she could see by observing it for a few seconds, and found that he was capable of swinging his sword faster than Zombies did, which just made things much more interesting than she originally thought when she decided to try this out.
While the massive Boogie Man was strong, he even pushed her back once or twice, his defenses were weak as she hacked into his legs and brought him down with far too much ease, allowing her to end him without wasting too much time, only as she dealt the finishing blow, and he collapsed on the ground, she was warped back to her workshop, complete with all sorts of rewards from the first vault.
"I have to admit, that was an interesting way to kill time... I wonder what else I can find in those vaults." Pinkie commented, as she could see all sorts of treasure inside the crates that appeared near her, the reward for ending the boss no doubt, giving her all sorts of gems, ores, odd vault items, and many other items to add to her collection, causing her to smile for a moment as she popped another gray crystal on the pedestal.
She was interested in seeing what else the vaults had to offer her, because it was a great way to kill time while she waited for the others to discover something that needed their immediate attention, or if Pandora informed them of something that needed to be done, and, once the next crystal was ready, she was eager to kill some more time as she waited for the future to be revealed to them.
While Pinkie was busy making new Vault Crystals, after figuring out what each one needed and throwing the items into the device she had created, Octavia found that Steve and Alex wanted to talk to her about something, hence why she greeted the pair in her tower and a caretaker golem served them some drinks.
"So, what did you want to discuss?" Octavia asked, because Steve and Alex had been following her and Pinkie for some time now, or rather they were following them while they followed Pandora's wishes, and she was sure that they either wanted to get out of this or take back some control in their lives.
"We've spoke to the Elders, and they wish to add the battle golems to the exterior of the village, to keep monsters away from the walls." Steve replied, where he sipped on the tea, something he wasn't even going to ask about since it seemed like both Pinkie and Octavia were doing weird things now, while Alex glanced at the worker golems that were wandering around the tower, peacefully working while they talked, "It's not that they don't trust Pinkie's wall, especially since she added that layer of Deepslate to the exterior, but, after remembering the Blood Moon, the Illagers that assaulted this place, and everything else they've seen, they claim it would be better to have some additional defenses."
"You mean in case an attack comes while we're away?" Octavia inquired, though in her mind it made sense, especially since they made the Admins mad several times and the downfall of the Golem would have upset one of them, so they might seek to lay waste to this place at some point, to which she focused on her friends once more, "Very well, I have been hitting a lot of veins lately... Pandora likely created that dimension so I could make as many golems as I wanted, not that I think about it, some more... so I'll be able to make more battle golems and they'll be placed around the walls."
"They sketched out a rough idea of where to place them, to be handed to you as soon as possible." Alex said, where she pulled out the piece of parchment in question and found that it looked like a map when she unrolled it, detailing where all of the statues could be placed, showing her that her friends must have told the Elders as soon as she finished showing them the golems.
"Shouldn't be too hard... I might have this done before night is upon us." Octavia commented, as it would take a good bit of material to make the golems in question, but based on her calculations, and what was inside her personal dimension, it seemed possible for her to get this done in no time at all, regardless of when she started, though as she rolled up the map she noticed something, there was more they wanted to say, "Is there something else?"
"We're also planning on heading out tomorrow to kill some of the dragons in the surrounding area," Steve stated, where Octavia remembered the couple of dragons they had seen to the northwest of their village, ones that everyone had been worried about when they first laid eyes on them from afar, "We were planning on asking Pinkie to join as well, but right now she seems busy with those temporary portals she keeps opening and running into, which close when she steps out of them, so we decided to go with just the three of us this time around... we have the weapons, armor, and mounts, plus you have magic now, so we might be able to do it without needing her help."
Octavia said nothing to that, save for informing them that she would think on their request, and found that they left after telling her what the Elders wanted and what their own plans were, to which she sighed, grabbed her staff once more, and made her way back to the workshop that produced golems. She didn't lie to Steve and Alex when she said that she would have this done before night fell on the world, as she had been in the process of making more battle golems to expand her territory in the new dimension, the protective zone anyway, so it was far too easy for her to determine the number that was needed for the village walls and ensure she had replacements in her line up. Once Octavia was sure that she had the necessary amount of golems, taking a moment to double check her estimates and the provided map, she collected them from the press and left her tower, allowing her to move down to the area outside their village. Sure enough the Villagers on duty watched as she carefully observed the area that they were in, and the area that was on the outer edge of the walls Pinkie had made, before using the seal to mark down the region of each golem and placed one down when she was sure it was in the right spot.
Sure enough the Villagers were surprised when they laid eyes on the battle golems, since they seemed like statues to their allies, though as she placed the last one down she found that night was approaching and monsters were starting to come out of their holes, to which Octavia smiled as she jumped back and landed on the wall.
At first the Villagers through nothing was going to happen and that they were going to be overrun by monsters, or at least the walls would be besieged until someone lashed out at the enemies that were approaching the village, but that was the moment that a Skeleton stepped into range and started things. Octavia watched as the battle golems awakened from their stone slumber and engaged the surprised monsters, as several were crushed with ease and the rest remained alert, doing their best to stay away from them, and she found that the ranged monsters stood back. Such a thing caused her to let out a small chuckle as several of her battle golems switched from melee combat to ranged, as their stone weapons changed into bows that they loosed powerful arrows from, smashing the fleeing monsters before they could flee. The Villagers let out a cheer as everyone realized that they were safer from danger, which was the whole point of this, and Octavia smiled as she returned to her tower, as there was no reason for her to remain down here now that her golems were tearing the monsters to pieces.
When morning arrived Octavia joined Steve and Alex as they departed for the northwestern area, finding that Pinkie just waved at them after double checking their armor and weapons, to be sure each piece was in perfect condition, as she let them fly off on their Morocks, while she dived into yet another Vault. She really had no idea what Pinkie was looking for in those Vaults, other than wasting time by the looks of it, but she wasn't about to force her opinions on her friend, as she was doing what she wanted to do and that was all that mattered in the end. Instead she turned her focus on the beasts they would be hunting, the dragons who might endanger the village if one or more decided to attack at any moment, and she had no idea if her golems would last long against such powerful forces of nature, hence why she decided to join them in hunting a few of them down. She knew there was a black one somewhere near the area they were heading towards, or at least there used to be since everyone knew the dragons were beasts who fought over their territories and might have killed each other before their arrival, but she also knew they would find out how many of them were left soon enough.
What they discovered, however, was an alarming sight, there were a dozen dragon corpses, all fresh since the scales were still on each one, laying around the mountain range that Octavia and the others had seen the beasts in, in several sizes no less while coming in several different colors, red, green, black, and brown at least.
"What... in the world is this?" Steve inquired, as while he and the others were expecting to find some dragons and kill one or more, maybe three if they were lucky, finding a dozen slain by some unknown entity worried him, especially since they had to worry about Herobrine and the other Admins creating a new monster to deal with them.
"Could it be another Admin... a fifth we don't know anything about?" Alex added, because if there was another Admin she was sure it had to be one of Pandora's allies, though if that was the case she was curious as to why they would have been left in the dark about such an important thing.
"I don't know... honestly, I don't." Octavia commented, though at the same time she found something interesting, there were a few more corpses scattered around the area that they chose to land in, a figure similar to Steve and Alex that was wearing some odd robes, crimson colored while having black plating on the arms, chest, legs, and a hood that prevented one from seeing the wearer's face, causing her to wonder something as she found some intact armor and claimed it for her studies later, "However, I have a feeling that we'll soon have the key to dealing with our enemies, the key to invading the realms of the Admins so we can destroy them at last... we just have to be patient while we track down whatever has been killing dragons."
She was also hoping to find more Crimson Cultists, as they might hold the very key she had mentioned, but for right now they needed to make sure there was nothing dangerous in the mountains, even though she suspected that it would be some time before they found a clue as to what was going on, so they had to be patient and face whatever the future held for them and their village.
Following their discovery of the dragon corpses, and being unsettled by what the scene in question, Octavia kept her eyes open as Steve and Alex scanned part of the area they were in, as she had a feeling that flying wasn't the answer right now and wanted to be sure they didn't announce themselves to their new enemies. She had come across mentions of these guys in her studies of her tome, the Crimson Cultists who were said to research eldritch truths and, given the fascinating nature of this world, that either meant it was connected to the Admins or something much darker. It was possible that they might hold the key to worlds beyond this one, due to the dimensional madness she and the others had gone through to bring ruin to where the parasites lived, and while her tome claimed that they were unsuccessful in their many ventures she suspected that it was only a matter of time until they were successful. At the same time, however, there was a chance that her own studies might be the missing link in whatever the cultists were trying to do, meaning if she could find their knowledge she might gain the key to attacking the Admins, like Pandora was likely planning on having them do.
The only part of the puzzle that didn't make sense was why the dragons, why the Crimson Cultists would target them like this, sacrificing several of their number to bring a dozen of these creatures down, before figuring that it had something to do with Pandora and her powerful dragon guardian.
"Are we sure this isn't Pinkie's work?" Alex asked, as while the odd robe wearing figures seemed to be the ones who had committed the deed they had discovered, given that some had claw marks and burns on them, she wanted to rule Pinkie out of the equation.
"She didn't do this. If she did, she would have salvaged all of the dragons, plus the cultists, before telling us that she did such a thing on her own." Octavia answered, where she showed Alex and Steve that she had considered the idea as well, and had come to the conclusion that their friend wasn't behind the massacre they had discovered, though she considered the rest of the information they had gathered so far, "I'm sure these cultists are behind the scene we found, but why I have no idea... other than the fact that the Crimson Cultists are usually mad or insane, so if they did this it's most likely that they thought all of the dragons posed a threat to their operation."
"And you know this how, exactly?" Steve inquired, as this was the first time Octavia had mentioned the Crimson Cultists, and he could see that Alex was also confused by the information, even though they both knew that if they were able to bring a number of dragons, even while losing some soldiers in the process, it was a threat they couldn't ignore.
"The Thaumonomicon makes several mentions to them, but I didn't think we'd run into them so soon, otherwise I would have said something sooner." Octavia replied, which was the truth, had she known that she and her friends would discover the Crimson Cultists like this she would have told them about these guys before leaving the village, as she suspected that it would have brought Pinkie out as well, "Like I said, it lists them as insane individuals and, if they were the ones responsible for the scene we discovered, it means the dragons posed some threat to their operations... or maybe they were seeking new resources for their eldritch experiments."
Steve and Alex glanced at each other for a moment as they climbed the hill in front of them, as they weren't sure what to make of the information that Octavia was revealing right now, though both kept their hands on their weapons, because if the cultists were insane there was a chance they would be attacked. As the three of them moved through the area, which came to a much flatter area after some time, a new discovery was made, a large number of trees had been cut down, stone was missing from the sides of the mountain pass, and the area was devoid of life. At a glance it seemed like a place one or more of them would have visited at some point in the past, only they would have made things much neater than this, but Octavia knew that, thanks to the dragons, none of them had bothered to come here, and Pinkie hadn't said a word about a place like this, meaning the cultists had to be responsible. When they reached the end of the passage, and came to a stop for a time, Octavia stared at the area in front of them, as there was a massive circular structure right in the center of the mountain pass, as if someone had mined the area out to make a hidden base of some kind.
The place looked like a citadel, with watchtowers all over the place, tall walls that were, interestingly enough, made out of Deepslate, and what seemed to be a church that Octavia could feel eldritch energy coming from, meaning they might have found the key she was looking for.
"You know, I was going to say that they were either incredibly brave or stupid to build in such a place, but, after seeing all the dead dragons, I can said it's the former." Alex remarked, though at the same time she kept her voice low, as there was no way for them to tell if the cultists could hear them from the opening they had emerged through, but right now she had no desire to give away where she and the others were watching from, "So, what do we do now?"
"I'm going to head down there and see if I can find anything worthwhile." Octavia replied, where she held up a hand for a few seconds, stopping her friends from interrupting her while she stared down at the sight in front of them, as she could see knights riding around or patrolling, clerics getting ready to do their duties, and two figures that looked like they might be generals, as there was one figure that looked like an imposing king, the highest of them all, "Just look at what's in front of us, there's literally an army just waiting to do who knows what. If we want to figure out what they're up to, without one or more of us jumping to conclusions without evidence, I need to head down there and investigate the church, and while I'd rather go in as a team, this might be one of those instances where we have to go our separate ways for a time... as in you two stay safe and be prepared to run if they spot you."
"Agreed. You know what you're doing, and have the magic to back you up, in case you need it." Steve remarked, which was a chance of pace, as Octavia was expecting that she would have to convince him and Alex to let her do this on her own, but she wasn't about to ask questions if this was their decision on the matter, to which he drew his weapon as Alex made sure to ready her bow, "We'll keep the passage secure, to the best of our ability anyway, while you find whatever you can about these guys and their plans... whatever they're up to it can't be good."
Octavia nodded and carefully moved down the rocky path in front of her, where she did her best to approach the citadel without being seen, though after some time she weaved her magic around herself and disappeared, an invisibility spell to be exact, which allowed her to study the outer wall for a time. What she discovered was that the cultists had sent up four entrances to their citadel, each facing each of the four directions, and each one had a pair of guards that looked like they were keeping an eye out for danger, all while noticing that there were a large number of crimson banners with a black eye in their centers. As such her only option was to propel herself over the wall with a small bit of magic, not enough for them to detect her, because she felt that walking by the guards in a stealth form might be noticed in some manner, which was when she landed on the wall and found that it was much like Pinkie's, there was stairs leading down into the main portion of the citadel, which she took without delay. While Octavia did that she made note of the amount of enemies in this place, where she was glad that they had decided to fortify their own walls since the cultists looked like they would wipe out one of the Illager outposts with ease, a worrying thought for sure.
Once inside the citadel Octavia noticed that there were barracks to house the cultists, a stable for their steeds, which also explained why she and the others couldn't find horses, an armory filled with weapons and armor made from a crimson ore, and even a smithy with some material laid out, where she carefully found some loose bars and pocketed them, as she knew Pinkie would want some.
"Generals, how goes the experiments?" a voice inquired, where Octavia hid herself for a moment and watched as both of the figures she had seen earlier walked through the streets of the citadel, marching beside the Crimson King, as Octavia was going to call him, who rode on a horse clad in deadly looking crimson armor.
"Our mages have been delving into the eldritch knowledge, my King, but they are unable to perform the ritual... sadly we are still missing a key component." one of the Generals replied, where Octavia noticed that one seemed more like a figure that belonged to a church and the other was actually a warrior of some kind, where it was the Church General that spoke, leaving the other one in a state of silence as they moved through the city, "Even the components we liberated from those dragons, both their treasures and their scales, has done nothing to tame the eldritch powers we're dealing with."
"A dozen dragons, but nothing to show for it... I'm not even surprised." the Military General stated, where Octavia felt that he and the Church General were rivals in some manner, no doubt since it seemed like their King was spending more time on his opponent right now, which was failing based on what Octavia learned as she silently followed them.
"Interesting. What of the other tome?" the Crimson King asked, something that caught Octavia's attention, because while she expected there to be a single book related to what the cultists were doing, given her own tome, the knowledge that there was a third one out there meant she had to claim it before leaving this terrible place.
"We have been unable to open it, or use it in our various rituals... it, too, needs a key and we don't possess it." the Church General answered, which was good news for Octavia, because it meant that whatever they were working towards was far from being completed, so if she stole the tomes she could cripple their operations and inform Pinkie of their discovery, all so they could prepare the walls for a potential incoming attack.
"Very well. Our next destination will be the ancient city we found under the ground... we'll find the missing link, that I know for sure." the Crimson King stated, where it was easy for Octavia to see that he was displeased by this information, but at the same time she was amused by his orders, as heading into the Ancient City meant certain death with the Warden they had found down there not that long ago.
Octavia peeled away as the Crimson King issued orders that would lead to the death of his soldiers, though at the same time she needed to tell Pinkie so her friend could terraform the area of their mine to prevent the Sculk from spreading to the surface, though she had one more target to hit before leaving. She carefully made her way over to the church, where she discovered that none of the cultists were present, oddly enough, and entered it without delay, finding that they had all sorts of items from the rest of their world, components to be used as keys to the ritual they were trying to perform, with no real success. Sure enough she found what she was looking for, a crimson tome that radiated eldritch energy, the tome that the cultists were using in their rituals, and tucked it inside her pack as quickly as she could, before noticing another one resting on a pedestal, causing her to walked up to it so she could study it. Octavia discovered that it was a tome with a leather cover, one modified to have a screaming face on the main cover, though the longer she stared at it the more she became convinced that it was, grossly enough, human flesh modified to fit over a book, to which she shook herself before collecting it as well, figuring it was better kept in her possession and not in the hands of the cultists.
With that done she rapidly departed from the citadel, finding that she was able to leave without raising the alarm, and was able to catch up with Steve and Alex without anyone discovering her, to which they departed with all the haste they could muster, as it was time to head home and inform Pinkie of what was going on, and what she might learn from the tomes she had stolen from their enemies.
After leaving the Crimson Citadel behind, as that was what Octavia was going to call it since they didn't know the name that the cultists gave it, she and her friends headed outside and got on their Morocks without delay, allowing them to escape before the insane people realized they had been robbed.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Steve asked, as while he knew that Octavia must have discovered the book they needed, especially since no alarms had been sounded after she left the citadel, he wanted to be sure that she had done what she had told them, since he didn't want to go back there anytime soon.
"Yeah, I did." Octavia replied, where she carefully removed the crimson tome, appropriately named 'Crimson Rites', so the others could see it, though staring at it made her wonder what sort of secrets were contained inside it, since she knew that the cultists were tampering with eldritch energies, "Not to mention a little surprise, another tome that might help me figure out what to do next."
"Two tomes, three counting your book... what an odd coincidence." Alex remarked, which was true, the fact that there were three special tomes in this world, that they knew of, made the three of them wonder what in the world she could do now, if she was able to do what the cultists couldn't do.
Octavia shared Alex's unspoken thoughts, as she was able to do wonders with her own tome and the secrets kept inside it, so it only made sense for them to wonder what in the world she might be able to do with the second tome, much less the third one, an unexpected treasure she couldn't leave with the cultists. Still, what worried her was the fact that the cultists would no doubt discover that their citadel had been ransacked by someone and conclude that it had been them, since she and the others knew they were the only ones around for a good while, to the best of their knowledge anyway. There was a chance that claiming these tomes might bring about an attack from the insane cultists, and with their number they would need more statues to defend the line as she and the others prepared for battle, hence why one of them would have to tell Pinkie the news. At the same time, however, she knew that there was a chance that they might be able to wipe out their enemies without drawing attention to themselves, they would have to direct the cultists to the lightning dragon guarding the jungle temple, as she knew that they were hunting for powerful components and it seemed like a reasonable idea, one that might end with the cultists being wiped out.
When she shared the idea with the others, however, she could see that they weren't totally convinced, and to be fair she knew it was a long shot when faced with the idea of having another war with some of their many enemies, but it was far better than inviting the army of cultists to their village, though she focused on other things as they landed outside the walls and headed inside after dismissing their Morocks.
"It seems you guys have been busy." Pinkie commented, speaking when the group came to her workshop, not that they were at all surprised, as she was more in tune with Pandora than they were and their ally might have figured out what was going on as soon as Octavia pieced everything together, "So, what did you discover?"
Octavia went into detail about what she had seen in the Crimson Citadel, detailing the fact that the cultists were ready to go to war with whoever they wanted, as long as it meant they could find more components to complete their ritual, which she had stolen the main key to before their departure, and she handed over the bar she had collected. She went into as much detail as she could about the three main targets of the entire cult, those being the Church and Military Generals and the Crimson King himself, because if a fight happened she believed that taking them out might dissuade the cultists, as in force them to retreat once their leadership was shattered. Both Pinkie and Pandora, the latter listening to what they were saying since she was still trapped in her prison and was keeping most of her attention on her brothers, agreed with using Raijin, the lightning dragon, against the cultists, as Pandora was sure he'd trash them in no time. Pinkie was also sure that the material Octavia had secured was Refined Crimsonite, which she suspected had been a normal metal at one point in time, only twisted and refined by the eldritch powers that the cultists were trying to tame, but, in her eyes, it was weaker than diamond.
"Still, even with all that we've seen, I'm still not sure what the cultists are planning." Alex remarked, speaking once Octavia was done explaining everything to Pinkie, who had absorbed all of the information with ease, though that was the one part of everything that she was unable to understand, what were the cultists working towards.
"They were probably hoping to tap into a power equal to the Admins, or maybe even a far greater power." Octavia said, as there was the third tome to take into consideration, one that seemed far more than the Crimson Rites tome, at least from a quick glance, though she wasn't too sure if her thoughts were right or not, "I'm going to head to my private dimension for a time and see what sort of information I can get out of the tomes, in a world that the cultists won't be able to track... I don't know if I'll discover anything, but they had the tomes for a reason and I'm hoping that I'll learn something by looking into each of them."
As the others nodded their heads, allowing them to focus on Pinkie's studies of the new metal, Octavia quickly returned to her tower and slipped inside her test dimension, where she found the golems hard at work extracting materials from the hole they were digging, making sure to leave a trail so they could leave. Instead of interfering with the work that the group of golems were doing she headed up the side of a mountain, making sure to put some distance between the portal back to the main dimension and where she was planning on experimenting. Her reasoning was that if something happened the distance would ensure that whatever went down wouldn't bother the others or their village, and once she was sure that enough distance had been achieved she pulled out her pickaxe to clear out the area, making it flat in no time. After doing that Octavia pulled out her tomes and set them on the ground in front of her, carefully opening the Thaumonomicon and Crimson Rites as she sealed the other in a sphere of magic, so it wouldn't be bothered by her studies, before taking a seat as she opened her mind to everything that she was about to learn.
Octavia discovered that the cultists, despite her earlier thoughts, weren't insane, at least not totally, as their tome gave her some insight into their beliefs and rituals, as they were convinced that there was a higher power in this world, though that power wasn't the four Admins. They believed that there were gods still watching over their world, either the Builders who left the Admins or what the cultists called the 'Old Ones', likely beings of great and terrible power that drove people mad, some hidden in sealed temples that were next to impossible to open, others sealed in other dimensions, and some were found in the depths of space. Such a thing brought her to the ritual that the cultists were attempting to complete, one that seemed to be the key to opening the way to where one or more of these beings was located, while the ritual itself labeled as Apertis Oculis, or 'Opening the Eye', likely a way to gaze into other realms without going insane. She had to wonder if the cultists were planning on killing whatever was on the other side of the portal, when she considered the weapons and the army that they were building, to make themselves gods or something so they could advance through the stars, or the other dimensions that existed in this world.
The leather bound book, which practically oozed eldritch energy while it floated on it's own, rather freaky she admitted to herself, was definitely the key to what the cultists were doing, in fact the more she thought about it the more Octavia was convinced that the Crimson Rites tome was just the preliminary work for this dark tome, but when she touched it with her hand, glowing with magic, she saw worlds and immense creatures pass by her eyes, causing her to jerk her hand back as sweat started to form.
"The Necronomicon... such a dark and eerie tome." Octavia remarked, though this time around she found that it opened to her touch, like someone wanted her to read it and the information contained within it, though it contained all sorts of secrets that, when combined with her tome's knowledge and the Crimson Rites' knowledge, would allow her to form the rituals necessary to summon the minions of Herobrine and his brothers, even invade their realms.
Octavia had been right, the Crimson Cultists had the key to defeating the other Admins and their creations, the three dark beings that seemed to be as strong as the lightning dragon, and now that key was in their hands, she just had to figure out how to use it and soon their enemies would fall, making her look forward to what the future held for her and the others.
After completing her research in the Test Dimension, and potentially discovering what the Crimson Cultists were up to, Octavia gathered the three tomes, stashing them away in her pack for a time, before heading back to the main dimension to meet up with her friends.
"You were in there for some time. Did you discover anything?" Steve asked, because at this point he and Alex were used to what Pinkie and Octavia were capable of, the former being the ultimate smith and warrior while the latter seemed to be the greatest magic user around, in fact they expected them to do something odd every now and then.
"I've confirmed that the cultists are definitely insane, since they've been trying to open portals to the realms of the Admins and beings beyond them," Octavia answered, which she was still coming to terms with after everything she had thought about during her previous study session, though she found that two of her friends were surprised by this information, something she was expecting to discover during this conversation, "I think the cultists serve one of the other three Admins, which would mean they've been tasked with finding a way into Pandora's prison to kill her before she breaks free, since it looks like her brothers want to take her out of the picture... what better way to do it than with god killing lunatics?"
"If the cultists were planning on invading her prison plane, or wherever it is, does that mean we can use it against the rest of the Admins?" Alex inquired, though at the same time she noticed that Pinkie was, true to form, tending to the material she had gathered and seemed to be working on something new, even though she suspected that nothing would surpass the attire she was wearing right now.
"Yes, but we need special keys to invade their realms." Octavia replied, as she had considered the information during her study session earlier and realized something along the way, the missing components to the ritual had to be items that only the powerful beings of this world possessed, "I believe that these keys are being held by Rahovart, Asmodeus, and the foul Amalgalich... that means that we'll have to return to the dimensions we've been to so far: the Nether for Rahovart, the End for Asmodeus, and the new Sculk Dimension for Amalgalich... we might have to speak with that dragon in the jungle, since his key would stabilize what I'm planning on doing. Now, I know what sort of altars we need to make to summon each of the powerful beings that serve the other Admins, but we need three Soulkeys... which are made from seven diamonds, one of the Soulgazers, and a Nether Star... and three special soulcubes, demonic for the Nether, aberrant for the End, and undead for the Sculk Dimension."
"I can make the Soulkeys... in fact, they're already complete." Pinkie commented, where she stepped out of her workshop, as that was usually where they were meeting up to talk about things, so she could listen in as well, before she produced three keys that were ebony black color, had a crimson eye opposite of the teeth, and radiated energy, "The Soulcubes, however, we cannot make just yet, as we need Soulstones, which we'll acquire from bosses in the various dungeons, to make them... it'll be a while before we can actually challenge the powerful minions that serve the other Admins."
"So we need a demonic boss, an aberrant boss, and an undead boss, along with certain stones to surround the various Soulstones to make the Soulcubes." Octavia said, which was problematic, as she knew that there was a dungeon with that red dragon nearby, but she had no idea where to find the ones that held the Soulstones they required to make the items to summon the beings that needed to be slain, "I'm going to guess that for the demonic Soulcube we'll need to get some Netherrack, which we have plenty of, for the aberrant we might need Endstone, again we have enough of that, but for the undead one we might need to salvage part of the dungeon for that... I'm sure we haven't found the stone to make it yet, based on what we've done so far."
"So we need to fly around the world, track down the various dungeons that exist around us, and pray that they hold the bosses we need." Steve stated, which wasn't what he wanted to hear, since it meant they would be away from the village in the off chance that the cultists came looking for the times Octavia had stolen from them, even though they had no idea that they had been there in the first place.
"Actually, according to Pandora we need Demonstone, Aberrantstone, and Shadowstone." Pinkie spoke up, causing the others to turn towards her for a moment, as they weren't expecting their Admin ally to speak up and share information with them, though Octavia wasn't annoyed with the correction, as this meant they wouldn't waste time looking for all the wrong materials to make the Soulcubes, "she said that Demonstone can be made from combining a piece of Nether Wart with cobblestone, Abberantstone is one obsidian with eight Andesite, and Shadowstone, which can be made by combining one obsidian with eight cobblestone... I can make all three of those right now, actually."
"Okay, but we still need those bosses, right?" Alex asked, because there was a chance that Pandora might tell them that their plan to track down the dungeons was wrong and that Pinkie, in some way, could make them for the group, to save time, where Pinkie nodded, confirming that they still needed to track down the dungeons, "So to find a demonic Soulstone I'm going to guess we need a Nether dungeon, though for the aberrant and undead Soulstones it seems that we'll have to search for some dungeons holding bosses with a similar type... maybe like that floating one we spotted some time ago? It might hold a boss or two to help us gather the components we need... if not, at least we will have deprived the cultists of all sorts of resources that could be used against the rest of the world and it's inhabitants."
"Well, we should at least explore the surrounding area first, to make a note of where the dungeons are and what sort of monsters we might find inside them," Steve said, as they needed a plan of attack to deal with multiple locations, since he had a feeling that they wouldn't be able to find everything on their first venture, especially since they had to return to the Nether for one of the items.
Octavia agreed, as it was a good idea to form a plan of attack when dealing with all of the dungeons that were out there, especially those that were above ground, though Pinkie continued her work as she, Steve, and Alex headed outside, each of them having an atlas that were linked together. The plan was simple, they were going to spread out and fly around the surrounding area, to the north, west, and east, since everyone knew what was to the immediate south, where each one would fill in a certain amount of the map before regrouping. This way no one had to overlap with what the other two were doing, even though Octavia was planning on checking out the south at some point, just to see if the desert had anything for them to use in their efforts to summon the three beings that had to be taken out. She suspected that was the reason behind the creation of such a large army, as the Crimson King must have been seeking godhood in some manner and was more than willing to throw the lives of his people away so he could gain the keys to invading the worlds beyond the one he lived in.
As she flew around her section of the map, the north to be exact so she could keep an eye on the cultists before worrying about the south, Octavia noticed that nothing seemed to be happening to the area that the citadel was located in, rather it seemed like all was silent. Such a thing worried her and made her angle her Morock low so she could use the passage that she and the others had found earlier, where she wandered in on her own and silently made her way towards the cavern the citadel had been resting in. At the end of the path she found what she was looking for, the citadel was resting where it should be and, more importantly, she found that all of the cultists were still inside it, though she could see that many were far more alert than when she and the other were last here. It made sense, given that she had stolen the tomes from them and escaped without them noticing her presence, and she could see the Crimson King from afar, who seemed annoyed, but right now it seemed like everything was fine, everyone was accounted for, to which she left the cultists to their devices and departed from the underground cavern.
Once she was back in the air Octavia found a few more dungeons, all resting around the area that the mountain was in, a sign that made her wonder if they had been looted already, which would explain some of the things she saw inside the citadel, but when she checked the starting area of each one she found that everything was fine.
"Hm, they have dungeons around them, but haven't looted them yet." Octavia commented, using the atlas to make where each one was resting, with a short description so the others could read them, though this was good news for them, as it meant that there was so much treasure and items for them to claim before the cultists bothered to head into any of them, especially since they were hunting bosses right now, "This could work to our advantage."
After that she headed down to the south and spotted something that wasn't in the desert before, the village that some of their Villagers had come from had been transformed into a dungeon, heading into the depths, and she was sure that they might find an undead boss down there, causing her to smile as she wondered what might happen once everyone was done with their observations of the vast area around their village.
Following the trio scouting out the surrounding area, tracking down the various dungeons that were scattered around the various regions near their village, Octavia and the others returned to find that Pinkie had crafted the three stones that were required to make the Soulcubes they needed for their final objective.
"You've returned. I take it you have some dungeons for us to delve into?" Pinkie asked, though at the same time she swung her scythe around before placing it on her back, showing off her skill once more, not that the others needed a show since they knew she was delving into Vaults whenever possible, so it was possible her strength was higher than before.
"I'm positive I know where we can find an undead Soulstone, but the aberrant and demonic ones still elude us." Octavia replied, as she agreed with the others, the demonic one had to be somewhere in the Nether, it made sense when one took a moment to think about it, though that still made them wonder where they might find the aberrant stone, "We're sure that the demonic one is in the Nether, unless some demonic boss happened to appear in this dimension, but we had no ideas as to where we might find the aberrant Soulstone."
"Well, let's just start hitting dungeons and see what we find." Pinkie said, as while she was disappointed in the fact that they didn't have all the information to tell her where everything was located in this world, so they could focus on tearing down all of the powerful enemies standing between them and the Admins, she was eager to do something with the others again.
Steve and Alex glanced at each other before the four of them made their way out of the village, for the first time since their attack on the parasite dimension, where everyone took to the air and headed for their first destination, as Octavia was sure that they could find an undead Soulstone in the dungeon in the desert. As they flew over the continent they also kept an eye out for anything that might be tied to the Crimson Cultists, since there was no telling what those fools were up to, only to find that everything was still fine and allowed them to reach their destination without much delay. Once they hit the desert everyone glanced out at the area around them, keeping an eye out for their target before Octavia spotted the cubed entrance that looked like weathered sandstone or some sort of material they hadn't gathered yet. Of course Pinkie just had to take a few blocks for herself, to use them in the future if she wanted, and while she landed and did that Octavia and the others landed nearby, where she felt some powerful creatures lurking in the depths of the structure.
The staircase in the middle of the cube took them down to the first floor, where they discovered that it was the same as all of the dungeons they had been in so far, they had to clear out chambers before locating the path downward, though the sensations Octavia felt indicated that there had to be more floors than what they were used to. Such a thing meant that all sorts of monsters were here, possibly multiple bosses that could increase their potential to obtain the items they needed to forge one of the three Soulcubes. They also discovered all sorts of new enemies standing in their way, tall figures that were wrapped in bandages, Cryptkeepers, tall sandy scorpions called Sutiramu, brown Imps that had blades on their arms for some reason, Clinks, and many other new foes. The only reason they knew those names was because Pandora quickly told Pinkie and Pinkie informed them of the information she had been given, though at the same time they found that the monsters of the Desert Crypt were definitely tougher than the other monsters they had faced so far.
Since these were new monsters the group made sure to study them for a time before doing battle with them, Steve using his sword to cut into his targets while blocking stingers with his shield, Alex picking and choosing her targets as she loosed her arrows through the air, Octavia summoning her magic to blast some of the monsters, and Pinkie just headed down a path on her own, swinging her scythe while leaving a trail of bodies in her wake.
"Honestly, I'm not even surprised anymore... and this means that we'll find the stairs faster." Steve remarked, because he and Alex were now totally used to seeing what Pinkie and Octavia were capable of with their various abilities and powers, in fact whenever one of them held back it was a little disappointing.
"Indeed, though don't forget to break the Spawners that we discover." Alex stated, where she and Octavia turned down the two paths that were linked up with the chamber they had found their way to and took one each, using their weapons to deal damage to the enemies that were coming from where they were looking, allowing Steve to deal with the Spawners in the chamber before they were overwhelmed.
Eventually they found a chamber that had a large golden worm monster that was sleeping, meaning it woke up once they entered it's domain, though while it wasn't one of the bosses it was still strong, even though Octavia stuffed a large fireball into it's mouth and let it blow up once it had been swallowed, blowing the monster up. Pinkie caught up with them after that happened and discovered that this had been a Crusk, the golden version since there were two other versions, those being light white and light brown, before they discovered that it had been guarding the path downward. After that the four of them delved into the depths once more and repeated the process, three of them going down one path while Pinkie did her own thing to save time, though this time Octavia's group found an imposing creature first. The tall Imp creature was a dirty brown color and seemed to enjoy thrown pieces of earth at it's targets, causing them to split up and attack it from three directions, Octavia tanking the hazards by blasting them apart with her magic.
It was tougher than most of the monsters in the crypt, that much they could tell at a glance, but eventually they brought down the Crypt Executioner and found that it dropped a number of items, ten diamonds for Pinkie to collect, a few iron bars, what appeared to be the blade from it's arm, and a spherical object that Octavia carefully picked up.
"An Imp Soulstone... interesting." Octavia said, where she could see that the Soulstone looked like a magical eye of sorts, as odd as that sounded, while she could feel something inside it, meaning that if one of them used it they would be able to summon an ally of some kind, a combat pet she guessed, though as Pinkie collected their spoils she handed it over for just a moment and grinned, as Pinkie was able to even duplicate these, "Well now we won't have to worry about losing any of the Soulstones we're looking for... just have to hand them to you for safekeeping and we'll have as many as we need."
Pinkie chuckled as they delved deeper into the crypt, finding that there were more monsters like those they had faced so far, where everyone found that none of their foes got stronger the deeper they went, as if the dungeon was set to a very specific level, so they were able to hack through the smaller enemies with ease. While they delved into the depths Octavia discovered something interesting, on one of the taller walls that they walked by she spotted what appeared to be an old diagram of obsidian that was placed on a single pillar, four pieces before being topped off by a diamond block. After that there were two more pieces of obsidian before it braced off in a 'T' shaped formation, two to the left and right before one last piece went downward, and below all of it she found an inscription that read 'Lunar Grue'. She showed it to the others for a moment and all three of them shared their thoughts with her, it looked like a summoning recipe, meaning while this place didn't have any of the Soulstones they needed, even with Pinkie finding a dragon in the depths that might have one of it's kind's Soulstone, it had an important clue.
After jotting down the formation in front of them they continued down into the depths and discovered that the final boss was just a more powerful Zoataur, the flightless earth dragon that they had spotted when the Golem attacked the village of the desert, and with their power it took them no time to bring it down as well, giving everyone more loot to claim for the future.
"Check this one out." Pinkie said, holding up a fiery looking Soulstone that had to be the one that belonged to the dragons, one that they would have likely needed to claim if they had been planning on taking out Pandora's dragon, which they all knew had been part of the plan before discovering that they had her as an ally, before she smiled, "You know, I might be able to make it so we can get specific summons from them... might make things easier for all of you, since you guys still have to fly from place to place."
Octavia chuckled as they gathered their loot and proceeded to head back to their village, as they needed to take stock of everything they had found inside this crypt, not to mention the information that had been on the wall, before working on the next stage of their massive plan to weaken the Admins, and she was looking forward to the next few steps.
Following their venture into the Desert Crypt, and not finding any of the Soulstones that they needed to tackle the three powerful beings that served Herobrine, Null, and Entity, Octavia and her friends returned to their village so Pinkie could go over the items they had found earlier and see what they needed.
"So, we failed to find an undead Soulstone... do we have any other ideas where we might find one?" Alex asked, as none of them were used to failure, in terms of finding what they required to improve their standing in this world, and this was proof that even with Pandora's power she couldn't see everything, otherwise the stone would be in their possession.
"I'm thinking the jungle temple that Raijin is guarding might hold what we seek." Octavia answered, as she had taken the time during their flight back to the village to wonder why the dragon was guarding a temple, of all places, which meant that it was either linked to his master, the mysterious Pandora, or it held something for their quest, "That pattern we found on the wall earlier might be a clue to find the aberrant Soulstone, since it seems like something we have to call forth with some sort of ritual setup. As such we can focus on traversing the Nether to find one of it's dungeons, which has to hold the Soulstone we're after, before worrying about the other two that seem to be in the Overworld... we can summon whatever monster the image in the crypt was talking about once we have the demonic and undead Soulstones."
"Okay, so back to the Nether... we had better be prepared for a long journey." Steve remarked, because he didn't like the Nether and this world's version of it was more hostile than anything he or Alex had seen, save for the Warden and the rest of the new Sculk Dimension.
Pinkie nodded her head in agreement, as she knew that preparing for a trip to the Nether was important, especially since she had to make sure they had canteens that were filled with water, check their armor to be sure each piece was ready for a return trip to the Nether, and ensure the Morocks were ready for such a trip. Based on what they knew there were no dungeons near where their portal brought them to, nor were there any on the path to the Fortress or Bastion that she and the others had cleared out to obtain the last of the items to reach the End. As such they would have to spend an unknown amount of time in the Nether, searching for a dungeon that would hold a demonic boss for them to take down, as Pinkie was sure that they would find Battle Towers during their search, likely a distraction for everyone, so they needed to be prepared for a long stay in the Nether. It was for that reason that she spent her time crafting more canteens and making sure all of their armor was modified with the special liners they had discovered earlier, to help them out in the overly cold and intense heat environments, and when she was done she'd turn in for the night.
When the early morning hours of the morning arrived the group gathered in front of the Nether portal, where Pinkie held out a few scrolls, allowing the others to claim their Warp Scrolls so that the moment they discovered the item they were after they could warp out of the Nether and return to the Overworld. With those handed out she also gave them a couple of other items, such as several canteens made out of dragon bones, which were far stronger than their old ones and, as an odd addition, she was sure they contained more liquid, as well as medkits that were enchanted to be eternal, as in all of them wouldn't break. The last item was mostly in case someone got hurt while they explored the Nether, since it was a hostile environment and was incredibly warm, so her preparations were to ensure that everyone survived this portion of their quest, which the others accepted and stashed away as they readied their various weapons. In the following moment they moved through the portal and found themselves back in the Nether, which looked the same as before, though Pinkie made sure the area was clear so the others could call their Morocks, and once that was done they started searching the rest of this dimension.
Octavia found that the natives of the Nether still disliked them and attacked the group on sight, where she and Pinkie just focused on wiping out all of the demons and other monsters that were in this dimension, leaving Steve and Alex to track down a dungeon that would have the Soulstone they required. It was the easy way for them to go about this, since none of them had any idea where to find what they were looking for, though it wasn't long before Alex spotted a Battle Tower off in the distance, where Pinkie delved into it as he and the others searched the surrounding area. Sure enough Pinkie found that there was nothing of real value inside the Nether Battle Tower, save for more treasure to add to her hoard and more diamond items to add to the armory, before she regrouped with them and they resumed their travels. The other aspect of her tackling the Battle Towers was that it gave the others a short period of rest so that their Morocks could recover from having to travel in this massive fiery dimension, and giving them a chance to drink some water as well.
One thing Octavia discovered as they traveled was that there was a massive space in the lava where nothing was around it, save for a few Netherrack blocks that formed a flat patch of land to stand on, which Pinkie confirmed they could use as soon as all of the Soulstones had been obtained and the Soulcubes were ready to be used.
As they traveled through the Nether, searching for a structure that Pandora claimed existed, Alex and Steve noticed that all of the monsters were far more aggressive than what they were used to and what they had seen during their previous visits to this world. It was like the Admins knew what was going on and wanted to stop them before they reached the end of their quest, to stop them from reaching the three powerful beings that served them in the other dimensions, which had to explain what was going on right now, even though Pinkie focused on taking all of their enemies down. Octavia also did her best to make sure the demons were convinced that fighting them was a bad idea, sending bolts of lightning either at a few of them, to tear her targets apart, or at the ground to convince her targets to back off, though Pinkie was doing most of the fighting right now. She didn't argue with Pinkie because her friend was itching for a fight and cut through of the rest of the demons, clearing the area while gathering anything of importance before regrouping with the others, before she spotted something off in the distance.
It was a crimson structure with blocks that had pentagrams on them, where they could feel the demonic energy coming from it, causing the group to land at the opening before finding that it went down into the ground, where they took a few moments to dismiss the Morocks and drink some water before heading into the dungeon.
Sure enough they found that it was a lot like the Desert Crypt, where there were rooms that eventually linked up to the chamber that would bring them down to the next level, which seemed to be a common thing in this world, possessing all sorts of Spawners that created more enemies for them to deal with. As such they broke into their two groups and went off to tackle the enemies who were gathering around in the chambers, Pinkie hacking and slashing as Octavia used her magic in combination with Steve's sword and Alex's arrows. While there were stronger enemies for them to deal with, since the Nether's inhabitants were stronger than most of what the Overworld could throw at them, save for the Warden and what else might be lurking in the Sculk, they were able to cut their way through their enemies and gathered new items that, in the end, would be handed over to Pinkie whenever they grouped up. In one of the bigger rooms they found a demon that was known as a Cacodemon, a round floating head of sorts with short arms and stumpy legs, with a massive eye and large sharp teeth, but Octavia spiked it with several ice spikes, weakening it so Steve and Alex could cut it down.
With that done they found that a number of items spilled out of it's body, where they found a great deal of diamonds, a few demonic charges that were likely an attack that the Cacodemons used in combat, before they smiled as they spotted a twisted red Soulstone, which had a green slit in the middle of it.
"It can't be... is that what I think it is?" Steve asked, as he wasn't expecting to actually find a demonic boss, which was what the Cacodemon was, even though they had taken quite a bit of time to track down a Nether dungeon, or Demonic Temple as Pandora had called it earlier, and he honestly wasn't believing what he was seeing.
"Yeah, a demonic Soulstone." Pinkie replied, where she picked it up, after collecting the other items, before juggling it for a few seconds as more of them suddenly showed up in her hands, causing the others to chuckle for a moment as she put all of them away and they pulled out their Warp Scrolls, "One down, two to go."
The others nodded their heads for a moment as they activated their Warp Scrolls and returned to the Overworld, as there were two more targets for them to claim before worrying about the powerful enemies that served the Admins and they were interested in seeing what was lurking in the Jungle Temple.
Following their return to the village Pinkie, Octavia, Steve, and Alex spent a few moments resting, since they had spent a bit of time in the Nether, before departing once more, as there were two more Soulstones to obtain and everyone was sure that one of them was in Raijin's jungle temple. As such the four of them got underway without wasting time, because the vast amount of dangers that were in the Nether informed them that the Admins were either aware of what they were doing and were trying to stop them, or it was just a coincidence that the other dimension was so full of danger. Octavia agreed with Pinkie and Pandora, ignoring the possibility that the Admins were behind the sudden changes in the Nether would be folly, as with Raijin's survival, and the destruction of both the Golem and the Parasites, her brothers had to be getting worried, so they were likely doing everything possible to stop them. At the same time Steve and Alex simply agreed with them, though both of them were focused on what sort of dangers might be waiting for them inside the Jungle Temple, as while either of the last two dungeons had been difficult they knew that Raijin had to be guarding his for some reason.
What really worried them was the fact that Pandora was keeping quite about the dungeon they were heading to, meaning she wanted it to be kept a secret and not ruin the fun before it was time, though she did direct them right to the entrance of the temple, a rectangular stone structure that was a little impressive, where they found Raijin resting nearby.
"Sorry to disturb you, but we're looking for an aberrant Soulstone and Pandora told us we could find one inside this place, no doubt guarded by a fierce monster." Pinkie said, where Octavia, Steve, and Alex landed nearby before dismissing their Morocks, to make sure the storm dragon didn't lash out at them for some reason, before finding that the beast wasn't in the middle of sleeping, he had been sitting up the entire time and was watching all of them, "We can enter, right?"
Raijin stood there for a moment, studying each of them and their gear, or at least it sure seemed that way, before raising his left hand for a second as he placed it on top of the temple structure, where they found that the door had been sealed and his touch allowed him to undo it, as it sunk into the ground. With that done he beckoned for them to enter the temple, as he had likely been told that they were coming and prepared accordingly, allowing the group to ready all of their weapons before walking down the steps that happened to be on the other side of the doorway. For a few moments it just seemed like they were heading underground, as if the temple was more like a crypt, which would be nice to track down an aberrant Soulstone, though so far it looked like there was nothing else for them to worry about. Such a thing worried the majority of them as they followed the stairs, which wasn't wrapping around itself like they thought it might, before finding that there was some light at the very bottom of the stairs and readied themselves for whatever had to be waiting for them on the other side.
What they discovered, however, was a whole new world that rested below the jungle floor, as it looked like there was a sky of sorts, trees everywhere, ancient structures that looked like time hadn't touched any of them, and it was no doubt filled with monsters that were protecting the final beast.
"I think we crossed into another dimension... there's no way all this could have been built underground." Octavia said, due to the fact that the sun section of the sky seemed to be moving like an actual celestial object, just like what they found in her Test Dimension and the Sculk Dimension, before she glanced out at the rest of the jungle and the buildings, "I'm sure there's a puzzle of some kind in this place, mostly because it seems like something Pandora might do... I might be wrong, as she's a hard one to read."
"Well, we had best get started, since we have no idea what might be in this place." Steve remarked, where the others just nodded their heads before heading down the path in front of them, as it looked like there was a path leading to what had to be the main temple of the entire jungle.
Based on what Pinkie could see it looked like there were five main structures made of stone, not counting the entrance that sealed itself behind them, meaning the key to leaving had to be in one of the others, even though she was sure that all of the smaller ones were designed for her and the others, with the fifth being the final challenge. At the same time the group kept their eyes open for any enemies that might be in this place, namely Skeletons and Zombies, that seemed to be normal for places like this, but they were ready for anything, given the other monsters they had seen so far. The thing that worried them about all of this was that the path had too many places for enemies to hide in, as there were trees and other obstacles that enemies could hide behind, if they were more along the lines of Villagers anyway. As they approached the main temple Octavia noticed that the front door was definitely locked, because there were four runes glowing near both of the upper corners of the frame and each one seemed to be linked to the four other structures that seemed to be more like tests.
She stood there for a moment as the others studied the surrounding area, making sure that there were no enemies for them to worry about, before turning her head a little and truly opened her eyes, as she had found a way to integrate her Lens into her new magical abilities and that included linking it to her eyes, without any changes happening.
"We're going to have to split up. Four of us for four tests." Octavia commented, drawing the others to her for a moment as she focused on the four structures that were resting around this part of the odd Jungle Temple, one baring the symbol of an angry dragon's head, the next had a swirl of magic, another baring a pair of crossed swords, and the fourth a bow with an arrow, which represented all four of them, "We won't be able to move forward until we complete them."
Octavia wasted no time in heading into the structure that represented her, only for her eye to twitch as she realized that it teleported her to a realm of chaotic energy, much like the past that Discord brought to Equestria with floating buildings as other things turned in the air, and she could see all sorts of information with her eyes. Of course she instantly realized the key to solving this puzzle wasn't with her magical powers, that would have been too simple since her Spectral Sight would have zeroed in on the key sigil, rather this was designed so whenever she used this form of sight the item would vanish without a trace. As such she had to rely on her other power, the one stolen from the Parasites, causing her to bound into the air with ease before glancing around, as she had mastered this part of her other power while her golems were doing all of their work, though she knew that this was designed to test her other aspects, altering her arms and chest depending on the situation she was in, before finding a matching symbol behind a crate.
Instead of tapping it now she turned around and continued pushing herself to her limits, so she could ensure she would be ready for whatever the future held for them, though she had faith that the others would be able to track down the end of their trials and meet up with her later on.
While she was doing that Pinkie found that her test was an easy one, even if it was more mental, she had to make her way through a massive dragon's hoard of treasure, because it was a quarter of Ponyville's size, without giving into temptation as she looked for the symbol that matched what was on her structure. She understood why Pandora was doing this to her, because she was far more dragon-like than she intended when she first swore revenge against the Parasites, which meant their ally wanted to see if she was greedy or if she could resist the temptation. Such a thing was likely linked to the three Admins that were their end goal, who might open the door for them to claim greater power if they swore to serve them in some manner, by appealing to their greed for power, and by forcing down her draconic greed she could prove that she was worthy to face the Admins and their terrible pawns. It was a worthwhile test, as she faced her inner greed and pushed through it, ignoring all of the treasure that was around her, before finding a magical rune on one of the walls that glowed for a moment and disappeared when she tapped on it, though she continued to walk around to conquer her greed, to be at peace before joining the others.
Steve, however, found that his test was a battle royale between him and a number of monsters, each round forcing him to use different weapons and other tactics as he searched for the symbol he was looking for, though he had to admit that all of this was good training for when it came time to fight their final enemies. Not only did he have to constantly switch his weapons, and adjust his style to accommodate each type, he found that his opponents changed as well, going from some of the most basic of foes, such as some Skeletons and Zombies, before switching to Creepers, Enderman, and other such monsters. It taught him to keep an eye on what their enemies were doing and prepare himself accordingly for whatever happened to be doing on, changing up his own tactics to ensure that he wasn't overwhelmed by what their foes happened to be doing, attacking weak points while keeping his hidden. He also spotted the symbol he was after, it was outside the arena he was currently fighting in and that meant he had to win in order to get to it, meaning he'd be here for some time, but Steve was glad for the experience and resolved to ask Pinkie for some new weaponry for the future, to be of greater aid to her and the others.
Alex found that her test was a series of obstacle challenges, likely testing her endurance and speed, though the odd part about it was what she found at the beginning, there was a chest and a sign informing her that, to accurately perform this test, that she had to store her heavy armor inside it and most of her weaponry. She was only allowed to use her bow and her attire, modified to better suit the jungle environment while not holding her back by getting tangled in anything, where she was happy to do so, even though she planned on asking Pinkie to make it lighter so she didn't get weighed down by it in the future. While she was doing that, however, a dart hit her arm and nearly knocked her off the ledge she was on, but she was able to regain her footing before removing the offending item, where her body shuddered for a moment as she felt a new power awaken inside her, followed by her fingernails and toenails becoming sharper, like feline claws. That was followed by tiger fur growing all over her body as more of her changed, where she found that her ears turned into cat ears and a tail emerged from her spine, before feeling her face push out as well, though once everything was said and done Alex found that she was faster, stronger, and more agile than before, capable of new feats that put a smile on her face as she found her symbol.
In the end the four of them regrouped outside the main temple after hitting all of their hidden targets, though as they did that Alex shifted on her new legs and bounced from side to side, as she enjoyed her body's new power and wanted to see what she could do in a fight, before handing Pinkie a crate.
"I need some modifications to my armor when we get back... you can do that, right?" Alex inquired, a question she didn't really need to ask, she just wanted to be sure that Pinkie could do it in no time, and she smiled as her friend accepted the new order as she claimed the crate for later, "Okay, let's see what's inside the temple."
What they discovered was a single chamber with a pedestal, which contained a Soulstone and a note that informed them that it was the one they were looking for, meaning Pandora had been testing them to improve their skills, though none of them were too disappointed by this and pocketed it as they headed back to the surface to prepare for the last trial they needed to overcome.
Following their departure from Pandora's hidden realm, which explained why Raijin was guarding it from trespassers, the group returned to their village with all the haste they could muster, as Alex needed some modifications to her armor and, at the same time, wanted it lighter than before, so it wouldn't weight her down.
"So what happened exactly?" Octavia asked, speaking once they returned to the village and had landed, Pinkie heading into her workshop with the armor that had been handed to her, as this gave her and Steve a chance to look at Alex's new tiger body, making her wonder if there was a race in Pandora's realm that they had missed.
"I was tackling my test, which required me to only have my weapon and basic clothing, when a dart hit me and injected some sort of liquid into my body," Alex replied, as she had been thinking about it and was positive that the projectile in question had been laced with some sort of transformation drug, given her rather serious and sudden transformation, though she just stood there for a moment as her new ears twitched and her tail moved, as everything about her had improved thanks to the dart and the test, "resulting in my transformed form... I've got to say, heading into that temple was a good idea, as I feel ready for whatever the future throws at us."
Steve and Octavia opened their mouths to say something, though before they could do so they closed them as Pinkie came out of her workshop, making several measurements of Alex's new body and where her new additions were located, so her armor could be modified easily, before returning to her work.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Steve asked, because he was worried for Alex, due to the fact that this was the first time either of them had seen something like this, not counting Pinkie's transformation into a dragon hybrid creature, even if she wasn't worried about her sudden change into her new form, "Maybe we should head back and get that dart, so Octavia can mix up a cure for you?"
"While I'm sure she could do that, I don't think it would be necessary... especially since I'm sure this was part of Pandora's plan for us." Alex said, where she shifted her stance and leapt up onto the top of Pinkie's workshop, before crossing over to the roofs of some of the other buildings that had been built nearby, ending with her landing near the pair as she stretched for a moment, as her new body was amazing, she felt like a real predator now, "You have to admit, my new speed with keep me out of danger and allow me to hit our enemies where they'll least expect it... I might be able to turn the tide of our fights with this body."
"If she's fine with it, we should accept it." Octavia remarked, as she was eager to see what Alex could do with her new body, in terms of skills and abilities, and knew that they would be able to test her out soon enough, because they had that symbol on the Desert Crypt's walls to check out, as it might give them the last Soulstone they needed, "However, once we're done with the powerful monsters that serve the Admins, we should return to the Jungle Temple and see what else that world has to offer us... we might find more than what we saw during our brief stay."
As Steve and Alex considered the idea, and the possible dangers that were associated with it, Pinkie emerged and walked up to where they were standing, presenting Alex with the new and improved armor pieces that she had asked for, which looked identical to what she had started with, but she trusted Pinkie to have made some changes. While Alex put the new armor on she immediately noticed that it felt much lighter than before, even though it was clearly made of the same materials that all of their armor was made out of, before spotting new holes for her tiger ears to fit through, a hole for her new tail, and even some plating to protect one side of her tail. Once everything was on, and she found that they still fit like a charm, she put all of it to the test by repeating the jumps she had done earlier, when she was showing Steve and Octavia a bit of her skills, only to find that the armor was definitely far lighter than she remembered it being, meaning she would be able to utilize her new form's gifts without having to sacrifice anything in return. As such she returned to where the others were standing and let a smile grace her face, because Pinkie's work was truly outstanding and her new body was a true blessing, as she felt ready for anything now as she readied her bow for a few seconds, even if it was returned to her back after that.
After that everyone simply rested for some time, as traveling and tackling Pandora's tests took a bit out of them, though as they did that Pinkie planned where to built the monument that they found in the crypt, as she was sure that it was tied to the last Soulstone they needed to obtain.
Once everyone was ready to go, after about half an hour of rest, the group departed from the village once more and they followed Pinkie, who headed towards the area the dragons had fallen in, as it would give Octavia a chance to check up on the Crimson Cultists before they summoned whatever creature held the last Soulstone. When they reached their target area Octavia headed into the cave and found that the Cultists were still inside their cavern Fortress, oddly enough, but if they were going to stay in this area, instead of heading out and doing damage to the rest of the world, she was fine with them staying there. With that done she turned around and headed outside once more, quickly returning to the area that Pinkie, Steve, and Alex were working in, two of them terraforming some of the area to give them a flat area for the statue to rest in, as Pinkie was carefully placing the obsidian and diamond block down. Octavia landed nearby and dismissed her Morock when she noticed that the others had done the same to their own, allowing her to observe them as they worked on the area, though once Steve and Alex were finished with their task they pulled back and got ready.
The moment Pinkie was done with her work she pulled out a Soulkey and used it on the diamond block before backing off, where they watched as the statue was consumed before their eyes as a dark blue Grue, one that was easily twice as large as an ordinary Grue, appeared in it's place. Octavia could tell that it was stronger than a normal Grue, given the materials required to summon it in to where they were standing, though for the most part it seemed like it was more like a normal one in terms of combat abilities, a disappointment for sure. What annoyed them were some of the abilities that it had, as it attacked faster, hit harder, and even inflicted blindness and slowness on whoever it hit, though there was one other skill it had that was even more annoying to deal with, which Alex discovered as she struck the monster with her fist, since it hit her in return. The Lunar Grue had the power to force one's armor to be removed, as Alex found that both of her gauntlets were knocked off at first, before the next few collisions reduced her to the unarmored state she had been in during her trial earlier, though instead of being annoyed she focused on backing off and loosed arrows into the monster, pushing the Lunar Grue into the attacks that the others had prepared for it.
Even though they were sure that the creature was stronger than a normal Grue, and could confirm it while they fought it, Pinkie, Steve, Octavia, and Alex were able to topple the monster in no time at all and found that it dropped several items that were common to the monsters of this world, along with a dark purple Soulstone with a skull icon.
"And there's the third Soulstone... we'll be able to make all three Soulcubes now." Octavia commented, though while she was disturbed by the ease of recovering the third and final Soulstone, which Pinkie juggled to make multiple of them, the progress they made put a smile on her face, while Alex slipped on her armor again, no doubt silently cursing the fact that she had been forced to take her armor off twice now, once with her own hand and the other by magic, "We should be able to start our assault soon, right?"
"Just got to make the Soulcubes... but first, let's rest and ready ourselves for the battles ahead." Pinkie replied, as she and the others knew that facing the might of Rahovart, Asmodeus, and Amalgalich were going to be three of the hardest fights that any of them would take part in, so getting some well deserved rest would prepare them for what they were about to do.
The others nodded as they summoned their Morocks and headed back towards the village, as they agreed with her and knew that tomorrow was going to be one of the toughest days of their lives, especially since none of them knew what sort of powers the beings had, one they were looking forward to tackling with all of their might.
Following their period of rest in the village, well deserved after everything they had been through so far, Pinkie and Octavia gathered near the portal to the Nether, as the first of the three beings that needed to be take care of was supposed to be in the fiery realm. Normally it would take them some time to figure out where to place the summoning circle, but due to their previous exploration of the realm in question Octavia was sure that they had an area where to set everything up for the big fight with Rahovart. There was no telling how powerful this being would be, especially since he was one of the three beings that served the other Admins, so they were hoping that he wasn't on the level of Raijin, otherwise Octavia was sure it would be an impossible challenge for her and the others. Such a thing was why Steve and Alex spent more time gathering what they needed before meeting up with them, though they were fine with waiting since it gave them a bit more time to think about the plans they had come up with for the battle that was ahead of them.
"So we're really doing this..." Steve commented, as he wasn't a fan of this world's version of the Nether, since it was filled with demons and who knew what else, in fact part of him was sure that there were monsters in there that they hadn't seen yet and didn't want to see them.
"Yeah, but we've risen from facing monsters to facing powerful beings." Alex remarked, though while she did share some of Steve's worry, since they had seen Raijin's power with their own eyes during their battle with the Golem, the other part of her wanted to see if she and the others were even ready for this fight.
"This will be one of the greatest battles of our lives, since we don't know how much power the Admins gave their creations," Octavia added, though at the same time she tapped her staff on the ground as she made sure her magic was at the ready, one last check before they headed into the Nether and faced Rahovart, before focusing on the portal that they would be using to travel to their desired destination.
Pinkie simply nodded as she made sure everyone had everything they needed for the Nether, though once that was done she stepped through the portal and caused the others to follow after her, where her companions quickly summoned their Morocks and took off before the demons noticed them. Pinkie, on the other hand, spread her wings and took off, where the four of them headed out towards where the lone area was located, as it seemed like the best spot to summon Rahovart so they could face him, given how there was nothing around it. Fortunately they tracked down the location of the small piece of land in the lava, where Pinkie landed first, to be sure the area was clear, before the others came to a stop in the air that was around her, figuring that staying in the air would be best for when their foe made his appearance. Once everyone was near the designated area Pinkie got to work, using obsidian to make four pillars that stood in the corners of a five by five square, while the center held another pillar made of two obsidian, the Demonic Soulcube, and two more obsidian, before placing a diamond block on top of the four corners.
With that done she pulled out a Soulkey and used it on the Soulcube, where the altar structure was consumed by a glowing green light that caused Pinkie and the others to jump back, while watching as a solid stone floor phased into existence all around them, complete with massive walls to prevent them from flying out of the arena. Sure enough there were demons that also phased into existence as the light transformed into a massive pillar of energy that seemed to be spiraling around the center of the arena, though the sheer size meant that Rahovart was taller than they had been expecting. For the next couple of seconds the four of them slashed and blasted the demons that surged at them, who had either been trapped in this place when Pinkie activated the altar or were part of the encounter, before the green energy dissipated at long last and revealed their foe to them. Rahovart was a massive crimson colored colossus that stood far taller than the group did, just like Raijin, a hulking beast that looked like he had a club attached to his left hand, as if it was a replacement of sorts, and seemed far more demonic than most of the demons they had seen so far, with large curved horns, large black bat wings on his back, and massive hooves.
This was Rahovart, the so called 'Lord of the Underworld' when they considered Pandora's information on the beast, who just so happened to be Null's most powerful being, so killing him would likely cripple one of the Admins in some manner, a fact that would make their end goal that much easier.
In that next moment they discovered that Rahovart's left hand wasn't a club, rather it was a demonic cannon that allowed him to fire off bursts of demonic green energy that took the form of large spheres that rapidly zeroed in on where Pinkie or the others were located. Such a thing caused them to fight from four different locations, since it was clear that he was able to quickly turn on whoever he felt was the most threatening or the weakest, because in the beginning Rahovart had Steve and Alex in his sights, switching between both of them as their Morocks bared them to safety, before turning toward Octavia as his next blast slammed into her fireball and cancelled her attack. The terrifying thing was that he was capable of firing off multiple attacks from his cannon without slowing down, where they rushed by where Octavia was standing, due to her using her magic to change their trajectory, which wasn't very easy, so the wall behind her would tank them, ending in flames erupting from where they landed. It confirmed that he was definitely a being that belonged to one of the Admins of this world, his speed and power were stronger than some of the other opponents they had encountered so far, and in addition to that Pinkie found that while she could deal some damage to him his hide was incredibly tough.
After a couple of moments they discovered that there was more to Rahovart's attacks besides just loosing energy shots at them, he was capable of actually walking around his arena, instead of standing in the center of it, and he used his fist in an attempt to smash them into the ground or walls. Steve and Alex dodged to the best of their abilities, to the point where Alex actually landed and dismissed her Morock, where she took off with her new speed and jumped up onto the walls of the arena, finding that they were set on different levels and she could use them as platforms to attach Rahovart with some of her arrows. In addition to all of that he even had a massive wave of fire ability that triggered every now and then, as in intense heat that would scorch the flesh from their bones if they were caught in it, though Octavia countered that with her magic, creating icy barriers around herself and her friends so no one was taken out by the Hellfire Wave. He even held the power to alter the surrounding environment with a single punch, rearranging the layout of his arena with ease, likely one of the powers given to him by his Master, forcing them to change their tactics and movements before he had a chance to hit any of them.
The most annoying thing was that the arena continued to spawn demons for them to fight, though to make sure most of them could focus on Rahovart, and not be distracted, Alex rained arrows down on all of the newcomers, doing her best to clear the area so she could focus on their foe as well.
Eventually something changed in their foe, as if he was changing tactics or something, where Rahovart continued to call in more demons to fight them as he rained death on his foe's locations, though in addition to that he called forth what had to be giant human shaped monstrosities, Behemoths they were called, that joined the battle. These new foes were some of the toughest demons in the entirety of the Nether, far more than the ordinary demons they had faced so far, meaning that each of them took a few more hits to take down so the group could focus on Rahovart, which showed them that the colossus was taking this battle seriously. Octavia also slammed as many icy spells into the colossus' chest, doing her best to push him back and deal some damage to him, while Steve hacked at the demons that dared to come near him while he stabbed at Rahovart's feet, which seemed to be doing some harm to their foe, and Pinkie flew around the arena to distract the Demon Lord while targeting several weaknesses to boost their chances. After a while of the battle progressing like this they found that the massive demon shuddered before the demons disappeared entirely, leaving him alone with them for what might be the foreseeable future, but in the next moment Octavia realized that he had sacrificed his army to grant him the power of constant Hellfire Waves.
In response to that Octavia summoned her power and conjured a massive wall of thick ice to protect them from the rest of his attacks, while Pinkie hurled Steve at Rahovart's legs, allowing him to hack into them and force the massive demon to his knees, before she stabbed him in the head, pushing him to the ground as the walls collapsed around them, a sign that they had slain the Demon Lord.
"Dear Makers he was tough... and there's two more of him standing in our path." Alex commented, where she huffed for a moment, as the running she did had worn her out, even though her new training made it possible for her to sustain these long battles, before they watched as the massive demon showered them with materials, which Pinkie happily collected for later, before discovering a swirling crimson mass.
"And I think we might have a fragment of the key needed to end our true enemies." Octavia remarked, as Pinkie captured it with a glass jar, revealing that it had to be some sort of essence, meaning that when they downed the other two beings, Asmodeus and Amalgalich, two more would likely fall into their hands and grant them the power needed to bring an end to their long quest.
The others said nothing to that as they got ready for the journey back to the village, so they could rest and recover before worrying about the next powerful being that was on their list, as they had a feeling that the next might be tougher since it was Entity's powerful being and were eager to see what might happen when they challenged it.
After defeating Rahovart, a powerful being tasked with watching over the Nether by his master, the Admin known as Null, the group returned to the Overworld for a time, allowing them to rest and recover from the battle that could have gone in their foe's favor, had they not done what they had to secure their victory.
"Okay, so that battle was tougher than we were expecting... though, oddly enough, I'm finding that I am eager to do battle with the next powerful being." Steve commented, which had to be his adrenaline speaking right now, especially after all of Rahovart's powers and abilities, some of which could have crushed them had they not been quick on their feet, causing him to turn towards the others for a moment as they finished their meal, "So how long are we going to rest?"
"Eager to get to the End and face Asmodeus?" Octavia inquired, though she couldn't blame him, because after witnessing the immense power of the first two powerful beings, part of Raijin's power and Rahovart's full terrifying might, she was eager to see what happened when she and the others summoned the next being, including the final one, Amalgalich, who had to be stronger than the other two.
"Oh, is that where we'll call him and fight him?" Alex asked in return, where she stretched for a moment, as her new body was definitely more suited for combat than she originally believed when it was given to her, but found that she agreed with Steve, she was eager for a fight and wanted to see just how strong Asmodeus was, since he was listed after Rahovart, to which she turned towards Octavia, "You said that we'd find Amalgalich in the Sculk Dimension, right?"
"Yeah, and that's going to be a problem given what we did to it." Octavia replied, because there was no telling what might have happened to the dimension in question, given that the Sculk was likely still spreading and all of the monsters that it brought were no doubt still patrolling it, killing anything that made sound and devouring the Experience to cover more of the dimension's vast area, "We'll worry about that once Asmodeus is dead... though I have a feeling that this battle is going to be even tougher than when we fought Rahovart, so I'm a little worried about what we might discover when we decide to challenge the last powerful being."
Pinkie, however, remained silent as she studied the material that she had captured after Rahovart's demise, because while it seemed like a mass of demonic energy, and those who thought such a thing were correct, it also contained a fragment of power that, if she had more of it, she could determine what to do with it. By 'more of it' she meant more samples of the energy of the other powerful beings that were in this world, as while Raijin might offer his willingly, without hurting himself in the process, Asmodeus and Amalgalich would need to perish for her to obtain their fragments. Pinkie was sure that she would be able to craft weapons capable of ending an Admin with these strange pieces, which seemed to be what Pandora was pushing them to do so she could get her revenge on her brothers, but she needed another piece to determine if her thoughts were right or not. For now, anyway, she carefully deposited the jar inside her Inventory before readying more of them, three to be exact, as she wanted to gather the others once they were able to do so, though she reflected that Raijin could wait until the other two had been claimed, causing her to nod as she stored them away as well.
After another hour of rest the group was ready to go, to which they gathered the supplies they might need this time around, readied the Morocks that would bare three of them into battle, and departed from the village after wishing the Villagers well, as they would be safe with Octavia's golems guarding the perimeter of the wall. As such they used the Waystone to teleport over to the location of the Stronghold, thanks to Pinkie setting it up ahead of time before she and the others worried about the Ender Dragon, before making their way down into the depths of the ancient fortress. There were no enemies inside the building this time around, either because they had cleared everything out and lit it up with a number of torches, which was the most likely explanation on the matter, or the defeat of the Ender Dragon caused the monsters to vanish, but the group said nothing as they tracked down the portal room. Once they found it the four of them returned to the End at long last, to which they found that the obsidian pillars were the same as before, there were a number of monsters still lurking around the area, and the portal back to the Overworld looked untouched, though they focused on their mission as they took to the skies once more.
Fortunately it didn't take them long to find a suitable location to place the altar, as in a rather small floating island that was just floating in the air, right in the middle of the void between the three larger islands that were around it, before Pinkie set up the alter, which was the same as Rahovart's, save for the aberration Soulcube in place of the undead one, and quickly used a Soulkey before backing off.
Sure enough her thoughts were proven right, as soon as the alter was activated it was consumed by a pillar of green energy, which had to be the summoning mechanism for the powerful beings, before they watched as the void was filled with a new flat flooring that was made of the same dark material of the Soulcube. This time around, however, they found that the arena wasn't circular, like what they found in the Nether, rather it was a massive square shaped arena that had no deviations in the outer walling, so Alex would have to either use her Morock or stay on the ground. At the same time there were a number of square shaped pillars that appeared in the arena, likely halfway between where the pillar of energy was resting and the area that the walls of the arena were in, where the tops were on fire as well, no doubt to keep them from going too far once their foe had arrived. This also spawned monsters for them to fight, alien invaders that looked like brains attached to some spider-like machines that had what appeared to be guns in place of a scorpion's tail, along with the small Trites, small spider critters that also seemed like invaders, before the energy dissipated and their foe arrived at last.
Asmodeus was nearly as tall as Rahovart was, appearing to be a dark pale brain of sorts that was protected by a casing and attached to a machine body that had six powerful looking legs that would help it move, before discovering that it had what appeared to be a large barreled weapon on it's underside, one that was primed for battle.
"So this is Asmodeus, Mastermind of Invasion... and that, according to Pandora, is a machine gun." Pinkie remarked, where she was amazed at the sheer power that the being possessed, as it was like they were standing near Rahovart once more, but while she and the others had no idea what a 'machine gun' was they also knew that they would find out in due time, to which they separated from each other as the battle started.
Asmodeus turned on them as it's weapon started to spin, where they paled for a moment as it loosed a massive amount of yellow colored bursts of energy at them, tearing through the ground and part of the protective pillars with ease, despite the fact that the arena healed as if nothing had happened. Such a thing told them that it was best to not get hit by the bullets their foe was using against them, as Pinkie found that Pandora had some knowledge on the matter and was sharing it with her, to be shared with the others when the opportunity presented itself. By her estimates Asmodeus fired about a hundred of them in the span of a few seconds, while it's power prevented the arena from sustaining massive damage, though to have any hope of victory the group decided to fight from four separate locations and divide it's attention, forcing it to decide who was more important in the grand scheme of things. It seemed like she was it's target for the moment, which Pinkie was fine with since it allowed the others to attack Asmodeus and the annoying aliens that were heeding it's silent commands, but as Steve rushed in to attack it they watched as their foe activated some sort of flying device that pushed it off the ground for a time and let it move closer to it's main target.
In addition to all of that they found that the powerful being could also fire off rings of concentrated energy that were strong enough to topple the pillars that were around him, as one got hit by several of it's attacks and crashed to the ground within seconds, even though Asmodeus' power allowed it to be restored not a moment later.
Pinkie tanked some of the being's attacks, just to see how her armor held up to it while opening the way for the others to do bit of damage to their foe, and found that while she could endure a number of hits with her armor, forged from the greatest materials in the known dimensions, it did sting a little. It was a price she was willing to pay so her friends could hit the large being and actually harm it in some manner, though she understood that this was going to be a tough battle since Asmodeus was fond of moving out of an area to ensure that they lost their favorable footing. Alex did her best to deal any damage with her arrows, aiming at the main body and the legs that were holding their foe's brain up, trying to bring part of it down to make the battle easier, before finding that some of the larger foes warped into the arena and called forth a green barrier around Asmodeus. It was ridiculous in her mind, they had barely done that much damage to the being and it was calling in reinforcements to defend itself from whatever damage the group might do, while at the same time directing orbs of green energy at her and the others, in addition to it's main weapon blasts.
Rahovart was a master of melee combat with magical attacks thrown in, while Asmodeus was a master of ranged combat with magical defenses, making Alex wonder what in the world Amalgalich would throw at them, especially since Pandora claimed that it was the hardest of the three opposing powerful beings.
Octavia noticed what to do as she turned her magic on the barrier keepers, wiping them out with explosions from the few fireballs she hurled at them, allowing Pinkie and the others to continue onto their foe's main body, Steve focusing on it's legs, to slow it down, while Alex joined their friend in assaulting the brain section. The only good thing was that attacking it from below was that Asmodeus couldn't turn it's machine gun down on Alex, something that caused the others to dismiss their Morocks as well before rushing below it, while Octavia switched to frost magic to freeze it's legs, so it didn't fly off to another part of the arena. After a few more moments they found that more barrier keepers warped into the arena, not to mention a number of ugly flying creatures that Pinkie slashed through to eliminate any potential dangers, before finding that Asmodeus siphoned the power of the newcomers to mend the wounds it possessed. At the same time Octavia found that it was preparing it's main weapon, for an attack that would likely deal great damage to them, where she gathered her magic into an orb in front of her and fired a beam of energy that smashed into Asmodeus' brain container, which pierced it and surged off into the far wall behind it.
As Asmodeus collapsed, the lie fading out of it as items dropped for Pinkie to connect them, especially the interesting dark purple essence she captured, Octavia huffed as she wondered what in the world would happen when they faced the third and last powerful being, though she had a feeling that some rest was needed before they dared to return to the Sculk Dimension and face the might of Amalgalich.
After bringing down Asmodeus, and claiming the second of the four components needed for whatever Pinkie was thinking of, the group returned to the village for a time, using the rest of the afternoon to rest, recover, and prepare for the final fight with all of the powerful beings that called the dimensions home. Amalgalich was Herobrine's foul creation, just like how they knew that Rahovart was Null's and Asmodeus was Entity's, but, given the sudden increase in power from one to the next, it was possible that they were about to walk into a deathtrap, given that they could have lost had Octavia not come up with the idea to take out their last foe so quickly. It was for that reason that Pinkie made sure their armor and weapons were ready for whatever powers and abilities that the last powerful being might possess, since not even Pandora knew, meaning they must have been created after she was imprisoned and she only knew of their existence, and how to summon them so her chosen heroes could take them out. Steve and Alex chose to rest, as they knew that their weapons and armor were fine in Pinkie's hands, as she would be able to make sure they were ready for whatever happened in the morning, while knowing that Octavia would form a plan of attack for the moment they returned to the Sculk Dimension.
Octavia, in addition to that, scoured her tomes for information and additional spells, to prepare herself for the battle that they were about to get into with the final powerful being, to the point where morning arrived before she knew it, causing her to join Pinkie, Steve, and Alex near the portal to the dimension they had messed up.
"I've come up with several ideas, but, unfortunately, we won't know which plan to use until we determine a few things, like the state of the dimension." Octavia said, informing the others that there were several plans in her head and that all they had to do was see just how bad the Sculk's infection was, since they had started something that was nearly impossible to reverse, especially given the powerful beings that were lurking in the material, "However, most of them truly depend on what happens when we find and summon Amalgalich... I'd tell you now, but I don't want to waste time."
"Agreed. There's no telling what the Admins are doing, or what they're planning now that we've broken two of their toys in battle," Steve remarked, as there was a chance that Herobrine and the others might have empowered the last one to take down whoever came to challenge it to a fight, which would make it that much harder on them if it happened, causing him to turn towards Pinkie, "Anything from Pandora?"
"All she's told me is that her brothers have been silent... probably reeling from us crushing the last two." Pinkie replied, as it made sense when she thought about it, Null and Entity had likely poured some of their energy into their creations and now those monsters were dead, so they might have hurt the Admins in some manner, meaning Herobrine might be just watching them to see if they succeeded against his beast, "Though she's suggesting that we get a move on, meaning if we linger for too long we might be in great danger."
The others nodded their heads, as there wasn't much to say on the matter now that the main topic had been covered over the last few moments, before they used the bed portal to return to the Sculk Dimension, as it was time for them to see how bad the damage was. A few moments later the group appeared on the outskirts of the city that they had used to trap the parasites in before unleashing the Sculk on those who transformed Octavia into something else, where they quickly found that much had changed since their last visit to this place. The buildings were covered by the dark Sculk, there were all sorts of Sculk blocks scattered throughout the area, and there were far more than the Warden and the other two dark beasts that had emerged to fight the leaders of the Parasites, as Octavia spotted what appeared to be a cluster of Spiders that shared the Warden's colors, including Deer, Wolves, and even a Creeper. She figured that the last one was more like a habitat spreader, that when they detonated it spread the Sculk to new areas so the other monsters could continue their infection of the land, and she really didn't want to know what the other monsters were capable of, as it seemed like they were consumed by the Sculk and repurposed after some time.
After seeing that she and the others took to the air, heading towards the edge of the city, far away from where they set up their trap, where Pinkie found a good area, far from the Sculk, to set up the altar needed to summon Amalgalich, which was the same as the others, with the undead Soulcube in place of the others, before activating it with the Soulkey and just backed off before everything got hectic.
Sure enough the ground around them transformed into the twisted coloration of the Soulcube, just like the last two they had used to summon the other powerful beings, before Octavia's eyes widened as she and the others noticed the slight difference between this one and the others, the central pillar of energy. Instead of it being green colored, like when they had called forth Rahovart and Asmodeus, Amaglalich's pillar was a dark purple and she was sure that she heard what had to be the screams of souls, either the dead of this dimension or those that the powerful being had slain. At the same time it sounded like someone was whispering that they were all going to die, as if suggesting that Amalgalich's power was far beyond that of the other two, a voice they eventually lost as it disappeared, likely consumed by the vortex of energy that was in front of them. As that happened Octavia watched as the rest of the arena formed around her and the others, as it formed a circular arena for them to fight in, with three rings of flames resting near the top, though unlike Asmodeus' area they didn't see any pillars erupting from the floor to add any intensity to the battle.
After all of that the energy dissipated and their foe appeared before them, a massive deep red monstrosity that walked on four legs, more like a spider to be exact, had two arms that ended in three scythe like fingers, giving it six in total, a thick tail that was all bone, and a hideous face that looked like it inspired terror in those who faced it, all while looking like that it was used to suck in the souls of it's victims.
"So this is Amalgalich... this might have been a mistake." Alex remarked, where she wasn't too ashamed to admit that this might be far more than they were expecting when they decided to face the last of the powerful beings, as Amalgalich just seemed like it was far stronger than the other two had been.
The others said nothing as they took to the air, Pinkie with her wings and the others with their Morocks, leading to them spreading out to ensure their foe had to pick and choose who was more important, though when it started to chase Pinkie it told them something, Herobrine and the others wanted her dead. One thing that was shared with the rest of their foes was that Amalgalich had allies that it called into battle, Reapers that seemed eager to harvest the area of souls, no doubt to feed their master and empower the terrifying being even further, causing Octavia, Alex, and Steve to deal with the ones that came towards them. In addition to that the lich summoned dark orbs of energy that were sent flying through the air, causing Pinkie to pull off some tricks to avoid being hit by them, where she was thankful for her Pinkie Sense and watching Rainbow show off, as both helped her keep herself alive as her friends attacked Amalgalich's arms, legs, and body, just to deal some damage to it. The beast seemed to shrug off their attacks, or maybe it was ignoring the pain because there was something else that was dominating it's actions, as Pandora was sure that since it feasted on souls it might be hungry for more, so even with all those who had been slain in this dimension it was still seeking more souls to devour.
After some time Amalgalich let out a roar that literally shook the air and caused everyone to stop, as it sounded more like a sonic weapon of some kind, that called even more enemies into it's arena, those being Geists and Epions, showing them that all manner of dark creatures answered it's foul call. The sky was littered with enemies as Octavia hurled bolts of light purple magic at them, blasting them into oblivion, while Steve flew close to his targets and hacked them apart and Alex let loose a volley of arrows at those who were the furthest away from them. A problem arose as they noticed how many foes were in the arena, the Geists would continue to grow over time and when one was slain, be it by their hand or by getting too large, they would explode and shower an area with the shadowy flames that were linked to them. While one might just assume that such a thing was only viable to those who fought from the ground, given what happened back whenever they fought the Geists in caves, due to being in Amalgalich's presence every bit of flame leapt into the air and rushed after it's foes, causing Octavia and the others to dodge to the best of their ability.
Despite all the foes around them, disrupting the battle, it seemed like they were making progress, as Amalgalich changed it's tactics once more, drawing in the air once more as it prepared another sonic weapon, a favorite of it's no doubt, before Octavia noticed something was wrong and Pinkie was blasted into the wall behind her not an instant later.
"Soul Burst... an incredibly powerful, not to mention extraordinary dangerous, spell... we were right, they're trying to take her down." Octavia commented, all while swinging her staff and blasting the monsters that were in the air might now, due to the fact that their enemies weren't slowing down, but she knew this spell due to Pandora warning her about it, since it had the power to rend one's soul and deal great damage to the target.
A moment later they heard a roar that sounded like a cross between Pinkie's voice and a dragon's roar, though as Octavia watched the smoke clear she and the others found that something was happening to their friend, as it looked like she was starting to change before their eyes, her dragon side taking over. By that she meant that Pinkie's armor had merged with her body, transforming into scales while bulking up to make her larger than before, while it looked like her arms and legs were in the middle of becoming wicked instruments of destruction, a dragon's claws, and it seemed as if her scythe had merged with her tail, giving it a curved blade at the end. As Octavia noticed that Pinkie's head was pushing out, and most of her body was enlarging to match the beast she was becoming, she understood what had happened, the Soul Burst had damaged both parts of her soul, both dragon and pony, causing the two to merge into one form. Pinkie, however, didn't seem to mind what was going on right now, in fact she was purely focused on Amalgalich as she opened her mouth, but instead of flames, which she might learn how to wield in time, energy started to gather in front of her sharp teeth, like the beam Octavia had used against Asmodeus.
In that next moment Pinkie's breath attack smashed through most of the monstrous creature, crashing it's legs and part of it's body to the ground, causing the monsters to dissolve as their boss transformed into items for them to claim, though all Pinkie claimed was the twisted energy fragment before collapsing, leaving the others to clean up the mess before even heading back home, but Octavia smiled as she waited to see what might happen next.
Following Amalgalich's demise, a feat that Steve and Alex knew they wouldn't have been able to do on their own since both Pinkie and Octavia were the ones to have brought down it and Asmodeus, Octavia found that the arena's walls started to collapse around them, a sign of their master's death. With that information in hand the pair moved to collect the items that had been dropped from the third and final powerful being their Admin allow wanted to destroy, to get back at her brothers for some reason, while Octavia found that Pinkie had pulled out a jar before collapsing. As such she snatched it and used it to scoop up the essence that had been dropped by the massive lich when it died, as Pinkie was collecting them, for what purpose she had no idea, but at least this way she would have all three of them. After that she gathered her magic as she readied another spell, as with the walls collapsing it was only a matter of time until the Sculk monsters rushed into the area that all the sound was coming from and attacked anyone who might be here, so they had to get out of here before such a thing happened.
In the next moment Steve and Alex found that the magic had gathered around them, Octavia, and Pinkie, where the four of them disappeared after a few more seconds and were incredibly surprised to find that they appeared outside their village, with Pinkie landing in a nearby clearing.
"I'm glad my studies have paid off." Octavia commented, where she wiped the sweat from her brow, as that spell, despite all of her training and her growing pools of mana, had taken a lot out of her, especially since it was after facing the terrifying power of Amalgalich, so she was already weakened by fighting the powerful being, "I discovered a teleportation spell, but it's best used as an escape spell, much like the scrolls we would have used if the Sculk monsters didn't start to gather around the arena we were in."
"So, what happened to Pinkie?" Steve asked, as he was sure that Octavia had some sort of idea on what had happened to their friend, even though he could see that many of the Villagers off in the distance were interested in everything that was going on right now, even if they were slightly confused by a few things.
"Amalgalich probably tried to destroy her on Herobrine's orders, but only succeeded in empowering her." Alex replied, as she understood what had happened to Pinkie, the Admins wanted to destroy their friend, to cripple them and make sure they didn't get closer to their domain, but now she was far stronger, or at least she hoped so, "I know it's not identical to what happened to her, but it reminds me of what happened in Pandora's temple."
"Well, we had better let her rest up, since we'll need her at full power for when we decide to move onto the next step of our ally's plan." Octavia said, as she knew that Pandora wanted them to invade the world that her brothers were in, just to make sure that the world was safe from whatever they were planning to do next, though before she could take a step the three of them found that Pinkie was stirring.
Sure enough Pinkie was surprised to find that the change hadn't gone away during her rest, as she had thought her new form would have been a one time thing and not a permanent addition to her body, but based on what Alex was seeing she seemed to be moving like this was natural to her. Alex and Octavia agreed on one thing, Pandora must have aided Pinkie in coming to terms with her new body while she was unconscious, hence why she was so calm about the situation, though it also came with an unexpected surprise when Pinkie started to shrink before their eyes. It appeared that the change had given her a second form, she could pick between her new dragon form, which was just as large as Raijin was, or she could pick a form that was identical to her bipedal form, only it looked like a dragon that walked on two legs and was more like a human's. Pinkie was amazed by the transformation to her original form, where she joked that she could pass as a dragon back home, causing Octavia to chuckle for a moment, where she found inspiration in the transformation before flying off in the direction of Raijin, where it was easy for Octavia to realize that she was going for a fragment of his essence to have all four of them.
With that done Steve and Alex tended to the Villagers, assuring them that everything was fine and that they weren't in any sort of danger, while Octavia returned to her tower for some time, as she wanted to go over the information that was inside the tomes she had collected so she could perform the final spell correctly. The most important tome she had found inside her tomes was the one that allowed her to open a portal to the realms beyond this plane of existence, going into the lands of the other Admins and, if she so desired, even beings that had little to no interest in their world. It was vital that she knew the spell by heart, least she warp them to a realm of existence that might cause their heads to explode or twist them into what could be described as true monsters, or at least that was what she gleamed from her few glances at the other worlds, due to the fact she had practiced it a little to be sure it worked. In addition to that she had an altar she was making that should, at least in theory, anchor one side of the portal to this world while doing the same for her intended destination, but she had a feeling that she would find out if that was true or not once Pinkie and the others were ready to go.
As the evening gave way to night, however, Octavia wasn't too surprised to find that Pinkie had returned to her workshop and was already hard at work binding materials together to form something new, what she really had no idea and felt that whatever had happened during the Amalgalich fight had inspired her in some manner. Of course her curiosity got the better of her and she headed to the workshop to see what in the world Pinkie was up to this time, only to pause as she opened the door, as on the other side was a world that reminded her of Pandora's temple, the hidden world Raijin was guarding from all of his mistress' enemies. The area she walked into looked like the counter area that was the start of the workshop, where one could place orders and have Pinkie make them, but beyond that it was a different story, as the large smithy that her friend had set up previously was resting nearby, far larger than she remembered and figured that Pinkie had rearranged the entire inside of her building. It looked like part of the area had been remade into a jungle, similar to Pandora's hidden world, but there were structures positioned near a river and what looked like a volcano, where Octavia figured out that she had created what looked like the perfect work for her to work in, a smithy world of sorts.
Pinkie used the power of this world's lava to heat up and cook the materials she was using, while utilizing a nearby river to either counter it or even cool her creations, and Octavia was sure that her friend was working on some ingot that seemed to have a rainbow sheen to it.
"Harmonium, made from combining all of the known metals in the various dimensions into a single mass." Pinkie stated, as she knew Octavia was there and continued to shape the new material with a level of skill that was beyond what she had used before her transformation, finding that the creation of something entirely new was great and exhilarating, before she chuckled for a moment, "With this we should be able to fulfill Pandora's wishes at last, and ensure that the other Admins are unable to do what they've done in the past."
Octavia grinned for a moment as she realized what Pinkie was crafting, as when she got closer she discovered that it was a modified set of armor that had to be what she had been wearing before clashing with Amalgalich, a set that looked like it was designed for Pinkie's new form, turning her into a dragon of destruction with how many bladed surfaces she found on the dragon set. From what she could tell the armor was designed to shift between two forms, her new dragon state and her new anthro form, with the latter being more peaceful looking for when she was hanging around the village, and next to it rested her modified scythe, ready for the battle that was coming their way. With that in mind she went out for a time and quickly collected the gear that Steve and Alex had been given in the past, returning them to Pinkie so she could mend the newest material into their design, enhancing their strength and defense to what had to be the absolute limit. Once all of her work was done Octavia returned the gear to their owners, finding that they were surprised as well by what Pinkie had done to their gear and weapons, before heading out to complete her own objective before it was time to deal with the Admins who thought this was just a game.
When morning arrived, however, Octavia had them gather outside near the portal area, near a black altar she had made for just this event, where she gathered her magical power and activated it, creating a black swirling portal that connected to an entirely new and unknown dimension.
"Come. Let us declare war on the Admins." Octavia stated, where she turned towards the portal that had opened near her as Steve and Alex glanced at each other, no doubt worried about their chances, even though she and Pinkie were looking forward to whatever was on the other side of the portal.
She and Pinkie were eager to bring an end to this adventure, after all the madness they had been through to get to this point, hence why they approached the portal first and their courage caused their friends to follow them into the depths of the abyss, to see what might be waiting for them next.
Octavia had no idea what she was expecting on the other side of the portal, as Pandora had told them nothing about the realm of the Admins, but as everyone glanced around the area that her magic had brought them to she had to admit that this was an interesting place. She, Pinkie, Steve, and Alex were standing on a white walkway and were staring out into what seemed to be a purplish void, though that wasn't the most interesting part, as there were multiple spheres floating around in the sky, though when she focused on one she instantly realized what she was seeing. Another world rested inside each of the spheres, copies of the world she and Pinkie had been sent to a lifetime ago, though as she glanced from one to another she discovered something she wasn't expecting to see, each one had different additions made to them. By that she found one that seemed to be an ordinary world, likely the one that Steve and Alex came from since no one else was there, there was one that seemed to be more smithy related, like Pinkie's smithy, there were others with trains and people working on all sorts of large structures, and even one with a vast community of rather creative Crafters.
In that moment she realized that the Admins were able to peer out into every world that the Builders had created, meaning the creators of this world were still out there and didn't care about what their Admins were doing to their precious creations, while their world seemed to be absent.
"I see. It looks like they can focus on a world, instead of just staring at all of them at the same time." Octavia remarked, as it made the most sense, especially when she recalled that Pandora had said that her brothers saw this world as their toy, just like all of the others that existed across all of reality, though if that was the case it meant that the Admins knew they were coming, if they didn't feel their intrusion in this realm.
"So we're playthings to them... great, makes me dislike them even more than I previously did." Steve said, though while he had been nervous about doing this, in fact it was insane to think that they could face the people that watched over the vast worlds that the Builders had created so long ago, he found that he was calmer than he expected, either because of the fact that Pinkie and Octavia were nearby or because of the empowered gear.
In that moment they discovered what appeared to be silver creatures, which looked like humans while being metallic, that formed a fair distance in front of them and rushed at them, where Octavia found that their arms formed blades and axes, as if they were made of some malleable material, where they fell as Alex slashed them apart.
"I'm also amazed by this place as well, but we need to focus on the task at hand." Alex remarked, focusing on the fact that the Admins wanted them destroyed before they reached the area that their targets were likely resting in, though she also found her new blades, reforged and improved with Pinkie's new material, to be even stronger than she expected, cutting through the creatures with ease.
Octavia nodded as she called upon her power and loosed blasts of energy through the air, where they zeroed in on some additional silver creatures that were emerging from what appeared to be pools of silver energy or material, like they were made of quicksilver or something. In the end she found that it didn't matter too much, as Pinkie's new weapons cut them up with ease, allowing her, Steve, and Alex to move forward as Octavia provided support with her magic, but she did have a shortsword that Pinkie had insisted on her having in case of emergency. Still, her spells were more than enough to stun all of the Quicksilver Golems, as she was going to call them, which allowed Pinkie to slash through her targets, Alex pinned her targets down with some of her arrows, and Steve finished them off while cutting down his own foes. Together the four of them tore through the guardians of the realm that the Admins ruled from and pressed onward, though while they did that, however, Octavia spotted the shadowy image of Pandora flying through the air, no doubt happy to be home, but she was also focused on the task at hand as they tracked down the other Admins.
As they did that, however, a roar filled the air as small winged creatures, drakes that were smaller dragons, rushed toward where they were currently fighting their way through, where Octavia nodded to Pinkie as they each focused on one set of foes, she taking the right of the bridge as Pinkie leapt to the left. Together they cleaned up every enemy that was flying in the air with their abilities, even though Octavia found that Pinkie's wings allowed her to move through the air with ease so she could slash at her targets without wasting too much time, so she used lesser spells to stun her foes. Still, something about this worried Octavia as she glanced around the rest of the area they were in, none of the Admins were anywhere, as she expected one or more of the other three Admins to show up and challenge them for entering their domain, instead of them being allowed to run rampant on the bridge that also seemed out of place. Given that the Admins had total power in this plane, and likely the mortal realms that they were supposed to watch over, it seemed odd for there to even be an area like this in the first place, making her wonder if Herobrine and his brothers had set a trap they had walked into.
Eventually they reached what appeared to be the main heart of the realm, a circular area with some sort of magical disc in the direct center, floating above the ground, causing them to gather around it as Octavia found out one other thing, there were three sealed portals and a destroyed path to one more, Pandora's she guessed.
We called this the 'Nexus', the connection point between our four realms. Pandora said, where they found her spirit to the left of the disc, no doubt remembering when she and the others used it, before her brothers sealed her away in the prison that she had been trapped in for who knew how long, causing her to turn towards them for a moment, With all of their powerful beings slain my brothers will be weakened for a time, meaning this is the best chance we have to set things right. Octavia, I know the codes... Herobrine and the others wouldn't change them, as they never thought I'd made it back here... can you use your power to change the disc and open the way?
Octavia nodded her head as she listened to the combination that Pandora gave her, where the portal on their left opened a few seconds later and they found that it seemed to lead to a realm that looked like a darker version of the Nether, and off in the distance was a shadowy human, which had to be Null. Sure enough he didn't seem pleased by their arrival in his shadowy fire realm, as that was the best way to describe his plane of existence, though to be sure that no openings were given the group separated from each other as they went their different ways to attack him. Null glanced at them for just a few moments, clearly gauging who was more of a threat to him and his brothers, before lashing out with his magic, which was waves of darkness that targeted Octavia, who wrapped her magic around her as she loosed fireballs at her target, all to open holes in his defenses. Even though he was clearly damaged by Rahovart's death, damaging him like Pandora had said, he readied most of his magic and sent it at them to keep them away from where he was standing, switching between his targets to ensure he was victorious, though with Pinkie's incredibly useful Pinkie Sense they were able to avoid each of his spells, as Pinkie informed Pandora of what was coming and she told the others what was coming.
One thing she noticed was that his power happened to be nullifying whatever he wanted, forming holes in the ground to catch Steve and Alex by surprise, but they were able to avoid them thanks to what Pinkie and Pandora were doing, though as he raised his hands Pinkie removed one of his hands with her scythe before Steve removed his head.
"We... we did it!" Alex remarked, though at the same time she and the others glanced at the Harmonium weapons Pinkie had pushed their weapons to earlier, weapons capable of fighting, harming, and even slaying an Admin, the strongest foe they could possibly face in the entire world, only it made her wonder how far they could push their weapons.
In the following moment Null's dimension started to collapse around them, where Pinkie collected a golden piece that had to be from a medallion as they escaped from this realm, allowing them to return to the Nexus before the portal slammed shut, where they paused for a time to decide who to worry about next and what might be waiting for them in the realm they picked out.
Upon returning to the Nexus, and watching the portal close behind them as they left the crumbling ruin of Null's world, the group gathered around the central point once more as Octavia started to put in Pandora's second code, so she could open the path to the realm of Entity, the second brother.
"Something's been bothering me... why did your brothers seal you away?" Alex asked, as while she and the others were more than willing to follow the path that Pandora had set for them, in fact she was grateful for it since it allowed her, Steve, and their new friends to deal with all of the dangers of their new world, part of her was curious as to what might have lead to Pandora's brothers turning on her.
My brothers and I were tasked with observing the worlds that the Builders created... purely watching over them without interfering at all. Pandora replied, where she sighed for a moment as she remembered the days before she was sealed in the prison that her own brothers had locked her in all those years ago, all while Octavia continued her work with the disc as Pinkie and the others listened to her explanation, When Herobrine decided to turn against the wishes of our makers, and started to see things more like a game for him to play with and utterly tarnish by forcing Crafters into new worlds, I was the only one to stand against him and our brothers. I thought I might be able to take them, with Raijin backing me, but we were overwhelmed by our former allies in no time at all, and for choosing to preserve the will of the Builders, to watch over the worlds they made, my brothers sealed me away in a prison that has been my home for a long time.
"They... sealed you away because you wanted to do your job?" Steve inquired, though after everything they had learned on this subject, and about the other Admins that they were now destroying, he realized that he wasn't phased by the new bits of information that Pandora was sharing with him and the others.
"I'm not surprised, they seem like villains that are waiting to be punished." Pinkie remarked, because she had seen some with her friends over her years as the Element of Laughter, like Tirek or King Sombra, and right now the other Admins, in her eyes, were similar to the beings she helped her friends take care of, before she glanced at the portal that Octavia was working on at the moment, "And soon the second will follow the first."
"The way to Entity's realm is open." Octavia stated, where she finished putting in the code that Pandora had told her and a new portal opened on the right path, just like what had happened when she messed with it to find Null's plane, though as they gathered near it she readied her staff, "Let's be careful... we have no idea what is waiting on the other side, nor do we know what sort of tricks our foe will throw at us this time."
The others nodded their heads for a moment before passing through the portal, finding that it brought them to what had to be some sort of mansion in the middle of the woods, one that was floating in a void of sorts that looked like it might be in part of the End, where they fought and killed Asmodeus. While it was weird to discover something like this, in the realm of an Admin, the group wasted no time in invading the mansion and found that it was filled with the monsters they fought while facing Entity's powerful being, likely the guards to keep their target safe. Octavia confirmed that he had to be hiding from her and her friends, in fact he no doubt knew of Null's demise and wanted to gather as much strength as he could, before they tracked him down, though at the same time it was clear that he was hoping his minions would wreck them so he didn't have to fight in his condition. Such a thing didn't stop her from tearing apart the mansion with fireballs, because she found that the monsters, for some reason, didn't like the flames and it was a great way to force them to come from a single path, allowing the others to hack through them as Pinkie glanced around in rapid succession.
Octavia understood that she was hunting Entity right now, with Pandora no doubt tracking her brother to the best of her ability, especially since their Admin ally had been sealed away and most of her power was locked away right now, though she suspected that he was either at the peak or in the basement.
Of course the monsters continued to try and blast them from afar, like they did during the battle with Asmodeus, but this time around none of them were even worried about such a thing and dealt with their foes without too much trouble, due to the fact that their armor and weapons were far more superior than when they last fought them. In addition to that they knew that they had experienced explosive growth over the last couple of days, as Pandora's training in her hidden realm boosted most of their abilities to an entirely new level, especially in Alex's case. In addition to that they knew that using the vast amounts of Experience that the powerful beings had dropped after their defeats had allowed Steve and Alex to catch up with Octavia, even though Pinkie was far stronger than all of them, especially with her new dragon form. In that instant Alex knew that Pinkie was the strongest of everyone, in fact, had she taken on this challenge on her own, she was positive that their friend would have reduced everything to cinders with her new form, before forcing Entity into the air to fight him for some time.
Part of her had to wonder if they were holding Pinkie back, given how strong she had to be right now, before she turned her attention to the task at hand, as she knew that their friend would have said something if that was the case, hence why Alex focused on cutting down their enemies as they moved through the mansion.
What was interesting was that most of the chambers, for the most part, were empty of anything and everything that might be placed to show that someone lived here, as if Entity didn't sleep and preferred to keep it this way to make sure anyone who dared to step foot in this place, though that was foolish on his part. If he had filled the mansion with items Alex was sure that they would have started to search them for anything of use, and when she glanced at Octavia she found that her friend silently agreed with her, their target had made a terrible decision in keeping this place empty. There was one room that looked like someone had been living inside it, as it had a double bed, some drawers and furniture to hold clothes, but, for the most part, it seemed like an ordinary place for an Admin to decide to live in. Since it was worthless Octavia burned all of it as well as she and the others pressed on, moving down the hallways as Pinkie sought out their target, before she came to a stop in what looked like the center of the massive building, causing her to glance up and down for a bit, as if the Admin they were looking for was in two different locations.
"Keep the area covered and make sure you aren't standing on this line." Pinkie stated, where she pulled out her scythe for a moment and spun it, the edge cutting into the floor and leaving a gash behind for the others to take note of, causing her friends to stand on either side of it and focus on all of the monsters that were rushing at them.
In the next moment Octavia realized why Pinkie had asked them to do such a thing, as she started to spin her scythe, like she was performing a technique of some kind, and gathered her energy around the curved tip, before swinging down at the floor and the ceiling, releasing two crescent waves that cleaved the mansion in half, revealing that Entity was hanging up in the air above the structure. Octavia, upon discovering what Pinkie had done, summoned magical steps for the others as she burst into the air, using her magic to smash into the black orbs that were sent down at them, though while Null had tried to erase them it sure seemed like Entity wanted to knock them back down into the burning mansion. Alex burst out of the flaming structure with a smile on her face, using Octavia's platforms to make sure she reached her target, and when she reached her destination she spun around and kicked Entity's back, sending him flying down into the mansion as a pair of large fireballs followed him, a gift from Octavia. Alex found that the speed and power of her new body allowed her to do much more than she originally assumed, which she was constantly confirming every time she discovered something new, and kicking an Admin like this was just another aspect of her change that she wasn't expecting to find, and it allowed them to turn the tide against their various enemies.
Entity, on the other hand, sent out more of the monsters that inhabited the End, confirming that it was his domain, but it mattered little in the end as Steve, Alex, and Pinkie tore through them with their new weapons, before Octavia used a bit of her magic to send her blade flying right into his heart, stunning him before yanking it out to remove his head.
Something's wrong... even with their powerful toys destroyed, my brothers aren't this weak. Pandora remarked, as she knew there was something seriously wrong about this entire situation, causing her to wonder what they'd discover in the third and final realm that they would be invading.
"We'll figure it out later. For now, let's get out of here." Octavia replied, because the mansion realm was collapsing, just like what happened when Null died and his realm fell apart before their eyes, and her friends nodded their heads once more as they made their way back to the portal that had brought them here in the first place.
Thanks to the destruction they had wrought on the mansion they were able to find the portal in no time, allowing the four of them to return to the Nexus without delay, granting them some peace as Pandora recalled the code for the last realm, even though they were all curious as to what they might find in Herobrine's realm and what he might throw at them.
Following the downfall of Entity, and the destruction of his realm, the group gathered in the Nexus once more, where most of them simply rested as Octavia carefully manipulated the disc to open the way to Herobrine's realm, just like she had done for the last two realms they had been in.
"So Null and Entity were weaker than you expected?" Alex inquired, as Pandora had said something interesting after they cut down the second brother, that the two Admins didn't have the strength she was expecting them to have, even if both were weakened from the loss of their powerful beings, though she did see that their ally nodded her head, "What does that mean, exactly?"
I am unsure... it could be nothing more than my imagination, that we did more damage by taking away their powerful toys than I expected, Pandora replied, because after what happened with Entity she was sure that something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out if it was due to what they had done, how strong her champions were, or if there was another aspect that they weren't seeing right now, or there's some darker purpose that we aren't seeing, like...
"Herobrine stealing their power to boost his own?" Pinkie remarked, because after everything they had discovered so far it sure seemed like something that one of the Admins would do, to ensure their survival in the face of such danger, and she could tell that the others were considering her words to some degree.
It's a possibility we can't ignore... though if he did that than he's no longer the brother I knew. Pandora said, as she had seen how Null and Entity had reacted to what was going on and realized that they had been corrupted by their desires, or maybe it was Herobrine's darker desires that had twisted them into the shades she barely recognized, so she was eager to see what madness was going on in his realm.
Octavia considered the idea for a moment as she opened the portal leading to Herobrine's realm, where they entered it so they could see what sort of madness was going on in his domain, only to find that it was a copy of the Lost Cities, a massive place that meant it would be harder to find him.
"So, the riffraff have finally reached my domain." a voice said, where they glanced up at the air and paused for a moment as they spotted Herobrine staring down at them, only he looked a lot like Steve, just without all of the armor and weapons, and his eyes glowed with power, making it look like he and their friend were twins, "Surprised? What can I say, the Builders were so impressed with their first creation that they made a race of mortals that look a lot like me... sometimes the firstborn are better than those who came after them."
You drove our brothers insane, forced them to join you, and refuse to fulfill the duties our makers gave us. Pandora stated, though this was a pleasant surprise, that the third and final brother was out in the open, instead of lurking in some shadowy area while watching as his minions tried to tear them down, but now she was worried about their chances, as her elder brother seemed stronger than she remembered him being, With your powerful minions destroyed it seems like you took advantage of the situation and...
"Robbed Null and Entity of most of their remaining power. As much as I enjoyed working with them, there's only room for one Admin in this world... and that includes you." Herobrine replied, though in that moment he extended his hand towards them and lightning struck Pandora in the chest, actually shocking her despite the fact that she was a specter, before raising a glass jar that he stuffed her spirit inside, which he shattered with his fist, though their ally didn't come back, "You know, I must thank you, Pinkie, for creating a weapon capable of actually killing an Admin... I've been meaning to dispose of all three of my siblings and you have delivered the key to my problem, right into my hands."
"You're a monster." Octavia remarked, as while they were expecting to discover some sort of darkness, when dealing with all of the Admins, she wasn't expecting to find that Herobrine was basically evil and likely had some sort of dark plan that they would have to stop, now that they've uncovered the truth.
"No, I am a visionary, as my plan involves taking all of your powers and opening the way to the realm of the Builders, as I will become the god of reality itself!" Herobrine stated, showing them that he was completely insane and that he had likely been building up to this point, ever since the day he and his brothers sealed Pandora away in her prison, though this also meant that he felt that he had the keys to realizing his dark and incredibly dangerous dream, "The power to adapt to any situation, the power to open portals to the furthest reaches of reality, the power to strive and have hope, and the power to destroy even the strongest beings in existence... all of these powers will become mine in due time. It does not matter if I destroy you or my pets do the deed, because I will have what I need in the end... kill them."
Sure enough they discovered that his minions were more of the Parasites that lived in the Lost Cities, or, as they called it these days, the Sculk Dimension, though this time around, after everything they had been through, Pinkie, Octavia, Steve, and Alex were more than ready for a fight with them. Steve stood his ground and used his shield to block attacks, finding that the Harmonium element of the shield was stronger than the sharp claws of the Parasites, while his blade was more than enough to rend them asunder, scattering pieces and body parts as he made his way through the city. Alex used her new speed to bounce from one building to another, causing the Parasites to follow her with their eyes, or whatever they had for such a thing, and found that they were having a hard time doing so, while loosing arrows at her targets, piercing their hearts with ease as she left a trail of bodies in her wake. Pinkie, of course, was a whirlwind of death as she swung her scythe and slashed through her opponents, where Octavia noticed that it was more like dancing, in a sense, though she was just as strong as she was in the past, meaning Herobrine was in danger if he did nothing to stop her.
Octavia, on the other hand, had a nasty surprise for their foe as her arms split down the middle and doubled the amount she had access to, where one held her staff as another channeled the power of fire, another called forth ice, and the last used lightning, allowing her to decimate anyone who got near her. She also altered her legs to allow her to jump better than before, more along the lines of what Alex was doing, and changed her tail into that of a snake, or rather the head of a snake, giving her an extra set of eyes that kept track of what was going on around her. In the past she had been worried about the power she had absorbed from the one Parasite that wanted her to become their queen, or something like that, but now she understood that it was power for this point in time, causing Octavia to enhance her eyes with better sight and granted herself some horns for some extra protection. Such a thing allowed her to headbutt one of the taller Parasites in the chest, sending it straight into the side of the building behind it and crushed it, all while cracking the entire structure in the process, since she found that it collapsed on several other Parasites, before she rushed off and sent lightning down at some of their other enemies.
Herobrine chuckled as he activated his power, where they watched as reality itself seemed to shuddered as the buildings started to move, some lifting into the air while others sank into the ground, and even a few were turned on their heads to point sideways or diagonal. He was messing with them, that much Octavia could tell by looking at what was going on with the world, while at the same time displaying his might as an Admin who wasn't restrained by the others that were made to watch over the worlds that the Builders left behind. With that information in hand she and Pinkie landed for a moment, on the side of two different structures, before she enchanted Steve and Alex with some power so they could keep up with the battle that was about to take place in the skies above Herobrine's twisted world. What was even weirder was that what he was showing them wasn't the end of it, as there was a large silver ship in the air, a mechanical one that seemed far more advanced than what they had seen in the world they were used to, in fact Octavia was sure that it was from another world that he was supposed to watch over.
In the next moment Herobrine rained cannon fire down on where they were standing, intending on blasting them all into submission or even death, where Pinkie utilized her Pinkie Sense and helped everyone overcome the barrage, though it also meant they rushed from one building to another as they avoided the attacks. As they did that Octavia found instances where she could dig some of her clawed hands into the sides of the buildings before hurling them through the air, hitting the bottom and sides of the ship with as much force as she could muster, which also opened a path for Pinkie to reach the deck. With that done she rushed into the hallways and swung her scythe at anything and everything that might be critical to the safety of the structure, causing explosions in her wake as she tore apart the insides, which meant she might be able to prevent it from firing at Octavia, Steve, and Alex, before she glanced outside and found more appearing in the air, as if an armada was waiting in Herobrine's realm. Of course he was forgetting that Octavia was one of his foes as she hurled all sorts of spells into the air, blasting them into pieces to the best of her ability, though some of them were destroyed by the most unexpected thing of all, large tentacles that likely came from another realm of existence, a plane far beyond what all of them were used to, which wrapped around their targets and crushed them.
It was hilarious in a way, as Herobrine had declared that he would be the master of reality, and Octavia was sure he meant all of creation since his plans had to be bigger than even the Builders that made him, causing some of the stronger beings in the universe to retaliate, crushing his weaponry while they did their work.
Herobrine, seeing that happen, called forth more of his power as he donned gleaming silver armor and a red cape, along with a shimmering trident that had to be his personal weapon, where Pinkie switched into her offensive form, which was mostly her armor taking a more offensive appearance, before linking her scythe to her tail piece. With that done the pair clashed in the air above the realm, lightning flashing as the two swung at each other and dodged whatever attacks each of them were able to avoid, though in the beginning Octavia noticed that Pinkie had an edge thanks to her weapon and her armor. The Harmonium that was added to her gear, making it capable of extraordinary feats, protected Pinkie from most of Herobrine's attacks, even though she suspected that they still hurt to some degree, while the bladed edges had to hurt the Admin when he was struck, so it was like two equal forces clashing with each other. Even then the pair burst from spot to spot as they clashed, each trying to bring the other down, though even with his speed and power it was clear that Pinkie held a greater advantage than Herobrine did, as she had been fighting monsters for a long time now and the Admin had done no practice in preparation for this event.
Pinkie smashed open his defenses and shifted into her larger dragon form, releasing a burst of flames that consumed the area that Herobrine was resting in, though while most of them knew it was pointless, since it wouldn't kill him, Octavia did know her friend had a plan.
"Hah! How pointless of you!" Herobrine shouted, emerging from the flames and smoke without a scratch on him, which was what the others expected after everything they had seen of him, though as he said that, however, Octavia smirked for a moment as he coughed up blood, where the rest of the smoke cleared and they found Pinkie's scythe head was resting in his chest, right where the heart would be.
Pinkie said nothing to that as she shifted her stance, showing them that she had used the attack to cover him so he didn't see her reverting to her anthro form, and grabbed onto the handle of her weapon, where she gathered her power before swinging the weapon, the energy splitting Herobrine in half. It was amazing, that an all powerful Admin could be deceived like that, though this time around the realm didn't shudder or start to break down around them, meaning that something else might be coming and caused Pinkie to land as their foe's body turned into silver dust. After a few moments nothing happened, causing them to wonder if they might have been wrong about another threat coming, and, eventually, Octavia called for them to head home, even though she had an idea on how to reach Pandora's prison. She suspected that with all of her brothers slain whatever magic had been keeping her contained will have been broken, to a degree, and she might be in need of some help to full break free of the magic, causing the others to smile, because after everything Pandora had done to help them it was time for them to help her out.
The first thing they had to do was head back home, so they could rest and recover from the three battles they had been in recently, though Pinkie knew that once everyone was ready they could tend to Pandora before worrying about whatever the future held for them.
"So, what do we do now?" Alex asked, as she had been thinking about that since the moment they entered the realm that Herobrine, the last of the Admins, called home, as they had been working towards defeating him and his brothers and now, after finally fulfilling that goal, it seemed like their adventure was over, "We beat the Admins at their own game, and also vanquished every foe or obstacle that Pandora set before us, which means that things can go back to normal, right?"
"No, we've still got one Admin to deal with." Octavia replied, though at the same time they passed through the portal that had brought them to the realm that Herobrine and his brothers had ruled from, with an iron fist no less, allowing them to return to their village with smiles on their faces, as they were alive and kicking.
"Yeah, Pandora's still sealed inside her prison... Herobrine might have broke her projection, but she's still alive." Pinkie said, where she sighed for a moment, as there was no real way for them to figure out where their Admin ally might have been sealed away, but she did know Octavia likely had an idea as to where they might be able to find it, otherwise she wouldn't have mentioned it in the first place.
"Well, before we do anything we had better rest... while some of those battles might have been easy they were also tiring to some degree." Steve remarked, as the last battle was one that he and Alex would have lost if it hadn't been for the powers of Pinkie and Octavia, the latter having reverted to her base form after the battle had ended, so she didn't freak out anyone when they reached the village.
Pinkie and Octavia nodded as Alex jumped forward, landing on the wall of the village before disappearing inside, no doubt to give the Villagers a heads up about their return and their success over the corrupted Admins that had been bothering this world, which should interest the Elders to come degree. Steve followed her in as he noticed something else, as there were a number of Crimson Cultists resting on the ground off to their left, closer to the direction that their Citadel was in, a fact that told them that their enemies must have attacked at some point while they were gone. Of course it seemed that the Cultists had failed to take the Golems seriously, deciding to move into their range and declare their intentions to those living in the village, which had caused the guardians to awaken and destroy all of the enemies that dared to come here. As such Pinkie and Octavia made a quick search of the perimeter of the wall and found that all of the Golems were intact, so the protective barrier was still up, allowing them to enter the village as well, discovering that everyone was happy to see that they had returned and that they were safe.
Sure enough they found that the Villagers were surprised to find that the Admins of this world, or at least three of them, had been using this world and all of the other dimensions as their personal game boards, but they were pleased to find that things had changed, that they would be in the hands of a trustworthy Admin in no time. The oddest thing about all of this was that none of the Builders, which had to know what had happened on this world, had come down to see what had happened to the Admins that had been left in charge of this world and the others connected to it. Octavia guessed that all of the Builders were far too busy with the other worlds that they had built, or whatever it was they were doing right now, hence why they hadn't seen anything from any of the beings that might have created Pandora and her brothers. As such none of them would have to worry about being lectured or even punished for bringing an end to Herobrine's plans to end those who created him and to seize a throne he believed to be vacant, allowing them to relax and rest after everything they had been through so far.
While they did that, however, Octavia did a bit of research on what to do to fulfill their next, and last, mission, tracking the magic that might be the prison that Pandora was imprisoned in, and she was sure that she had an idea as to where they might find their ally.
When morning arrived Octavia called the others back to the altar she had created to enter the Realm of the Admins, which she had deactivated after their return, causing them to wonder what in the world she was up to this time around, but she simply said nothing as she gathered her magic once more. The others watched her for a couple of seconds as the power built in the altar once more, causing another portal to open before their eyes, though this time it seemed to take them to something interesting, a blackened core that looked like the heart of one of the realms they had invaded. Resting in front of the area the portal brought them to, a shattered platform that was wide enough for everyone to stand on without any worries, though there was a large gap between where they were standing and the heart of the area. What Octavia found was a large eerie swirling black orb in the heart of the area, which had dark gray chains attached to it, imbued with magic to keep them from rotting away no doubt, though they recognized the energy that was being siphoned from the core, as it was the power of an Admin.
"So that how they've been keeping her locked up... these chains are siphoning her power, keeping her drained to the point that all she could do was manifest like she did." Octavia remarked, as it was an ingenious idea when she thought about it, given the fact that Herobrine and his brothers turned against Pandora and needed a way to make sure their sister stayed down, until they found a way to beat her, where she altered her sight with the Lens once more, "We'll have to break those chains first... Pinkie, do you think your scythe can handle them?"
"I should be able to, unless we find another metal that's the 'strongest'." Pinkie replied, as there were several metals they had uncovered during their adventure that seemed to be labeled as the strongest in some manner, only to find another in due time, and she had faith in the Harmonium she had created, hence why she shifted her stance and readied herself for her next set of motions, "Let's get this show on the road."
Steve and Alex watched as Pinkie took off without delay, spreading her wings as she soared over to one of the chains and swung her scythe at it, allowing them to observe as she slashed through the material with ease, though as it fell she made sure to cleave it apart so no huge chunks remained. Of course she made sure to collect some samples, just because it was something new for her to study in the future, before rushing towards the next one and slashed through it like it was made out of paper or something, making sure to clean up the area as she moved through the area. While she did that Octavia worked her magic on the large sphere, carefully studying the power that had been built into it while trying to unravel it at the same time, which was far easier than she originally assumed because of the fact that all three of her brothers were no longer of this world, so their power was disappearing. Steve and Alex, however, just stood there and watched, staying on guard in case any of the slain Admins had left something behind to guard the prison that they were unraveling right now, but, to their surprise, there seemed to be nothing in here, as if the monsters that were placed here had been recalled to defend the Admins from their foes.
They were unnerved by the fact that no one was here, that they were able to stand there and watch as Pinkie tore through the chains that were around them, while Octavia dismantled all of the magic that had been poured into making the orb in question, which flashed violently for a few moments before finally dissolving into nothingness, revealing a weakened and dirty looking Pandora floating in the center.
"I... I knew you... were special." Pandora remarked, sounding like she was exhausted, which made sense given the chains that had been linked to her prison, while at the same time her voice happened to be incredibly ruff, no doubt due to the fact that she hadn't spoken to anyone for who knew how long, "But... never did I dare... hope to be freed from that... foul... prison..."
In the next moment she fell forward and Pinkie caught her before she even got close to hitting the ground, though with all of their work down, and nothing else needed to be done here, she followed Octavia and the others back to the village, as it was time for everyone to relax and unwind as they helped Pandora get back on her feet, before worrying about what the future held for them and their ally.
The days following their invasion of the Realm of the Admins were, surprisingly, rather peaceful, even with the statues that were guarding the village from the enemies that existed in their massive and vast world, allowing everyone to relax for the first time in quite a while, without plans for the future. Such a thing allowed Steve and Alex to do something they hadn't done in a while, just check out the rest of their village, talking with the Villagers while pointing out how to improve what they were doing, in terms of farming and whatnot, and even doing a bit of work themselves for the first time in awhile. Pinkie did keep up her work in the workshop, though while she experimented with new weapon designs she did mend the tools that all of the Villagers were using in their daily lives, but, true to form, she did throw a party for them to celebrate saving the world from their enemies. Even during the celebration Alex expected something to happen, Crimson Cultists to attack or dragons to swoop down to wipe them out, but nothing came to bother them and allowed the group to enjoy the afternoon, while also giving them a chance to rest for whatever the future held for everyone.
Octavia, however, spent her time divided between making sure Pandora was fine, as her recovery was slower than both she and Pinkie had expected it to be, and figuring out the calculations that needed to be made to zero in on a specific world that they were interested in returning to. She figured that with the deaths of the other Admins, and the total collapse of their vast powers, there was a chance that she would be able to track down their home world, as while she enjoyed her time in this odd world, even with everything they had encountered, their adventure was over, that much both she and Pinkie agreed on when she brought it up. To do that Octavia and Pinkie combined some of their abilities together, creating a set of gems that should be able to power a new altar, or a teleport ring since she needed something better to channel her power and the energies they were harnessing. Pandora, when she was able to do so, watched them work their magic, as it was different seeing them work with her own eyes and not the spectral eyes she had used when she projected her spirit out of the prison she had been stuck in, and occasionally offered some assistance in how to accurately accomplish what they were after.
As Octavia carefully constructed the new portal, however, she and the others kept an eye on the outskirts of the village, as it just seemed odd that the deaths of the other Admins would cause everything to become peaceful, before Pandora told them that she was using a bit of her power to give them a break in a peaceful location. Such a thing allowed them to help her regain her former power as an Admin over this world, though in addition to that they discovered something that none of them were expecting, they had some guests from the jungle temple arrive a few days after they freed Pandora from her prison. It turned out to be a tribe of tiger people, much like Alex's new form that she had adapted to using since she had been given it, and they already knew about the guardian Golems, as they approached with peaceful intentions and were admitted once Pandora noticed them, as they were her people, those who came seeking shelter when her brothers first started their plans. Of course they had been worried about her after she was imprisoned, even though she left an idol of herself in her realm to watch over them, holding a small fragment of her power, and Raijin prevented them from leaving, just in case Herobrine and the others were looking for them, but now, with her brothers gone and their plans broken, they were able to return to the normal world.
One thing that the newcomers wished for were new statues, where Octavia offered to try making some in their image, as it sure seemed like what their Chieftain was asking for, and she found that it was exactly what they were hoping for, so she ended up spending some time taking measurements of several warriors for their statues. In addition to that Pinkie got her own request and presented to them several weapons and armor that were more suited for their bodies, styled to match their more tribal appearance while offering them more protection, not that anyone was surprised by that fact. The group of tiger people weren't even surprised by this information either, as if Pandora had told them about Pinkie, Octavia, and both of their companions while she was ensuring they were strong enough for what the future held for them. In fact they praised her like she was a descendant of Raijin, even if their goddess had told them what had happened to her before the big fight with the Admins, but she wasn't about to argue as she went to work with her order, so when it came time for all of their new friends to leave they'd have the gear they wanted for later.
After all of that, and Octavia made sure to set up all of the new statues for their new friends, Octavia gathered them near her transport ring, which she had placed at the peak of her tower, far away from everything else so in case things just so happened to go south they wouldn't tear their village apart.
"Octavia... what have you done now?" Steve asked, where he and Alex stared at the gray colored ring shaped device that was resting behind Octavia and Pinkie, as the two must have joined forces to make something like this, though despite the fact that he wasn't attuned to magic like she was, since she had spent so long learning about the energies of this world, he could tell that it contained a lot of power inside it.
"With our adventure coming to an end, Pinkie and I have decided that it's time to head home." Octavia replied, where she gestured to the ring for a moment, allowing their friends to see six special colored gems that they had designed to boost the power of this structure and stabilize it, but even with that fact they put it up here to be safe, causing her to glance back to their friends, "Hence why we built this portal ring, with Pandora watching over us while we did so, so we can head back to our home and tell everyone that we're alright... and, at the same time, tell them about a new world that is unlike what we're used to. Trust me, you'll have scholars coming just to study this world and the various rules it has."
Steve and Alex said nothing as Octavia stepped forward, tapping her staff on the ground while igniting her power, where it surged into the metallic ring and sunk into it, making them wonder what it was designed to do, besides open the way to the world that their friends had come from. For a moment nothing happened, causing the pair to wonder if it had failed to do what Octavia wanted, before they found that the energy in the air started to change as lightning flashed, just as a swirl of magical energy started to gather in the center of the ring. Octavia focused for a couple of seconds as she followed the thread of magic that, if she was right, had brought her and Pinkie to this world a while ago, which she had sought out after they decided to do this, since she needed some practice to make sure she traced the correct strand and not one to one of the other worlds that existed in this universe. It was also true because of her experience opening the portals to the three realms of the Admins, as she might accidentally open the way to another world that Herobrine and his brothers worked on or made their bases in, so some practice was necessary for her to make sure everything went smoothly.
A few moments later the group watched as a new portal snapped open in front of them, going to what Steve noticed was a plains area near a town or village, even though he and Alex were surprised to see a large mountain with a city of the side of it, causing Pinkie and Octavia to chuckle for a few seconds.
"Don't worry, everyone does that when they see Canterlot for the first time." Pinkie remarked, though as she said that she and Octavia turned for a moment and faced the portal in front of them, while Steve and Alex regained themselves as they stood behind their friends, showing them that, while this was a surprise for them, they were ready to venture into another world and see what might happen next.
The group stepped forward once more, as it was time for two of them to head home and see how things had changed, as they were sure a few weeks had passed since they were brought to this world, and they were eager to see what they and their friends might discover next.
Pinkie and Octavia stared out at the open plain that was just outside Ponyville, as they were both glad to be home and still surprised that the spell had worked as intended, even though that was why Octavia had spent her time figuring out how to make sure this was successful. Steve and Alex followed them not a few moments later, where it was clear that they were just shocked by what they were seeing right now, especially when one of them looked at the sky and discovered the tale that the pair had told them was true, the sun wasn't moving on it's own. Such a thing came as a surprise to them, even though they trusted their friends and suspected they were telling the truth on the matter, while also informing the pair that there were beings in this world capable of such amazing feats. Even Pandora followed them through the portal, since she wanted to know more about the strange world that the pair had come from and the residents who called it home, especially since she knew that the powers resting inside Pinkie and Octavia had allowed her to finally best Herobrine and their brothers, not to mention being freed as well.
The pair, on the other hand, simply smiled as they stared out at the familiar sights that they had seen in the past, as while it had been an interesting adventure, in an entirely new world that neither of them knew about, they were happy to be home at long last.
"You know, generally this is where I'd be springing up and welcoming you to Ponyville, in my hyper manner." Pinkie said, a fact that Octavia knew, just like all of the other residents knew when thinking about the mare in question, causing her to let out a chuckle as she gripped her scythe and it disappeared, becoming a crescent necklace, while her armor became more casual, not that the others were surprised by this, "So, welcome to Ponyville. I'd throw a party, but first I should check in with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, see if I've been replaced as their employee... after everything we've been through, making cake sounds like the easiest thing in the world right now, and might be more exciting with all the items I've recovered... might be able to make something entirely new in that field as well."
"I would love to head home and see if Vinyl, my roommate, has done anything in my absence, but there is someone we had better check in with before we do anything else." Octavia remarked, where Steve and Alex were lost as to what the pair were talking about right now, since they didn't discuss their lives before coming to their world all that much, but they decided to go with it as the pair started to turn back to the portal, "Princess Twilight must have felt the portal opening, so we had better make a portal structure and switch it off for the time being... just to make sure no stray beings, ponies or otherwise, end up in another realm that they aren't familiar with."
Pinkie nodded her head for a moment as she pulled out more materials and repeated what she had done in the past, as in placing them and the six crystals in the spots that Octavia wanted them to be put in, so the connection could be stable and not be in danger of collapsing. As she added a way to power the portal or deactivate it, while still having a link to the portal they had walked through not that long ago, Octavia addressed their friends, informing them that it would be best if they put their armor and weapons away, since this was a peaceful world. Sure, there were guards watching over three of the known Princesses, since Twilight, the fourth, didn't have any, but they were more of a formality requested and enforced by the few noble clans that still existed in Canterlot, so they were nothing like the statues back home. In fact the only time she recalled seeing the guards fighting anyone was during the Changeling invasion, during the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, but, even with their current skills, she knew the guards had fallen to all of their attackers, before their Captain and his bride beat them by utilizing their love.
Steve and Alex glanced at each other, not sure what to make of that information, though decided to do as Octavia said, they pulled off their incredible armor and stored it, plus their weapons, away in their Inventories, putting them within reach if the situation turned hairy on them, leaving them in their ordinary casual attire for the first time in a long time.
"What in the world was that? There I was, simply relaxing, and suddenly I get the shivers..." a voice said, where Pinkie and Octavia turned their heads for a moment and found that Discord, in all of his chaotic glory, had appeared in the area that the portal was in, though he paused for a few seconds as he stared at them, their friends, and even Pandora, "Huh... and here I thought I was the only Draconequus."
"Is that what we are? The Builders must have been inspired by you when they made me." Pandora replied, finding that she and the new being were nearly identical in terms of body style, in fact their claws, wings, and legs were the same, save for the coloration of their bodies, meaning her makers had been inspired whenever they visited this world, if they did so since she had no idea what the Builders had done before or after making the worlds she watched over.
"Discord, we've had an interesting adventure in another world... that being said, is Princess Twilight around? I'd love to talk with her about magic and what I've learned." Octavia inquired, because she knew that the mare in question would have the same opinion when she showed her the tomes she had acquired, save for the more terrifying one that she was going to keep hidden for the time being, hence her question.
As it turned out Twilight and her friends were already on their way, where they came to a sudden stop as they found that Pinkie had changed, not that Steve and Alex were surprised by that fact since both had seen it far more than the mares who came to check on her. Each of them had their own coat and mane colors, the latter resting on their tails as well, and they discovered that there was an earth pony, which Pinkie and Octavia had been before ending up in the forest Alex had found them in a lifetime ago, two pegasi, ponies who flew and manipulated the weather, a unicorn, who loved fashion and was a skilled seamstress, and an alicorn. Octavia explained that the alicorns were few in number, in fact there were only four right now, one who controlled the sun and her sister who controlled the moon, another who was linked to love, and Twilight, who was the Princess of Magic, given her affinity for the immense subject. Twilight informed her that there was a fifth, Cadance's own daughter, meaning she might have missed it during one of her previous events since Pinkie had been with the others in the Crystal Empire, causing her to shrug for a moment as they told Pinkie's friends about the adventure in another world.
While they did so they made sure to head inside the crystal castle, that way no one asked any questions about the newest arrivals or their mysterious friend who looked like Discord, before Pinkie and Octavia told them about everything they had been through, the monsters they had seen, the materials they had acquired, and saving the world from the Admins who were using it like their own personal game.
"You've had... quite the adventure." Twilight said, as she wasn't sure what to make of part of what they were told, though she did enjoy flipping through the two tomes that Octavia had shared with her, even though part of her wanted the third one they had recovered as well, before she glanced over to Pandora, "I'm sorry you had to suffer like that."
"Me too... I just wish I could have done something to prevent it from happening." Pandora replied, because she had taken the time to think about such a thing, ever since the day her brothers turned on her and locked her away in that prison she had spent most of her life in, though such a thing caused her to glance over to her new friends, "I did some research and found out why Herobrine's realm didn't collapse, like what happened when Null and Entity fell... the realm you fought him in wasn't actually his, it was the first realm the Builders had made for my world, a place without an Admin to rule it, and he took it so it could act as his seat of power."
"At this point, nothing about them surprises me." Alex remarked, as the three brothers had been nothing more than pure trouble for her, her friends, and even Pandora, not to mention those who followed Pandora before her imprisonment all those years ago, though now their world could step into a new age with a wonderful Admin watching over them.
Pinkie and Octavia grinned for a moment, as now that they were back home there were ponies who might seek to see the wonders, including the dangers, of the world they were sent to, meaning they would need a crash course of what to do to survive their visit, and both of them were looking forward to whatever the future held in store for them, their friends, and the worlds they knew about.