Seero analyzed the data from the sudden termination attempt, cross-referencing it with Shialnor’s data and found the reason. It was an emergency contingency protocol built into the Aesdes’ system, a means by which Shialnor could target a problematic dungeon master without having to face them directly.

It was strange that Shialnor, who had given Seero full data on her own system and requested Seero’s assistance, would subsequently attempt to terminate her. But, apparently the Blessed Land had been under attack, and then vanished entirely, so there was a significant probability that another party had taken control of that system, instead of Shialnor. Quite likely the missing Herald of the New Dawn, who also claimed to be an Aesdes like Shialnor.

And that meant that it was no longer acceptable for Seero’s Geo-Oscillator to remain connected to that system, at least not in the manner it was before. As was her initial concern when she first encountered the Aesdes’ system and allowed a foreign program access to her components, which turned out to be a valid objection in the end. But she hadn’t had a choice back then. The Geo-Oscillator had to interact with the system in order to access the Source. She had no alternative means of powering her components, and did not understand the mechanisms of the Source at a sufficient level to adjust the process. In fact, as a combat-focused enforcer, she hadn’t even considered attempting to adjust the Geo-Oscillator back then.

But now…things were different.

Countless calculations proceeded all at once as Seero and the Realm of Machines turned their processors to the task, calculating different variables, simulating different circumstances, and analyzing Shialnor’s data along with Seero’s observations. While Seero now had access to as many processors as she could operate, the speed at which those processors worked wasn’t any greater than her own at present, so she still had to wait for the longer simulations to complete. And then she iterated based on the results and ran them again. Over and over, through countless rounds of design and testing.

And here, in the Realm of Machinery, virtual simulations and real-world testing were one and the same. Assembly lines built her designs even as the processors created the blueprints, while completed designs appeared and then caught fire, crumpled, exploded, or simply wore down as the simulations testing them rewrote the mana around the processors running them.

Soon, Seero was ready.

The mana of the Realm began to swirl around her. Processors began to blink, electricity surged and arced into her, and robotic arms reached for her once more and lifted her body off the ground. The mana became a blinding light covering her body, and then surging through her circuits.

And then…the Geo-Oscillator Engine broke into pieces.

Seero was not content to modify her protocols, or even to make slight adjustments to the Engine. A full rebuild was in order.

Metal pieces reoriented themselves and were reforged. Mana crystallized into glowing pieces that were slotted in. Even organic tissue grew, connecting into different valves. Countless lines of code wrote themselves, and then embedded into growing magic circles as Seero rewrote the device’s protocols from the ground up.

A new core formed. It was no longer a simple machine, resonating with the tectonic movements of a planetary body. It was no longer a modified mana core, connecting to the Source through Shialnor’s system. It was equal parts machine, mana, and living thing. It was an engine, a dungeon core, and even a heart.

It generated its own mana entirely autonomously, with the option to utilize its former connections to expand its output, but with a new safeguard. Its connections to the Realms of Mana or to the mana of Aelea, to the other dungeon cores or even the Primary Home Base, now routed through a new component. A special input, based on the Equalizer itself.

Because now, with the computational and mana power of an entire Realm, Seero had finally managed to produce Iesnuorium.

With the extra processors and the additional data from Commander Elise on the material, Seero had managed a full analysis. She even included a Divination, running Holy mana through the material to search its history as Ateia and Colleöne could. And she determined the reason why Iesnuorium was so rare.

The material had arrived on Earth as a meteorite millions of years ago, and that journey was key to its creation. It originated as the ruins of a star that was burped back out by the black hole that had destroyed it. It then traveled through the cosmos for a truly extraordinary amount of time. In the process, it was subjected to cosmic forces no terrestrial environment could ever replicate, over and over, including some non-standard forces unknown to science. And, in an cosmic fluke of infinitesimally tiny probability, these forces coincidentally applied to the same piece of material in the exact right sequence and timing to produce a truly extraordinary material.

It was little wonder that neither science nor dungeon system had managed to replicate it as of yet. But now…Seero could. Mana in sufficient quantities could make up the difference in the science, and now Seero had the mana and the computational resources necessary to pull it off.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Massive amounts of mana formed into a magical representation of the material. But like the water in the Realm of Deluge or the plants in the Realm of Overgrowth, the Iesnuorium wasn’t truly real. It was still ultimately composed of mana, a functionally identical reflection of the real thing. And if it were only the power of the Realm of Machines that Seero used, it would remain as such.

But that was not the only power Seero used.

A wave of golden and silver Holy mana passed over the core once it had fully formed. Seero’s new computational resources, plus the data from multiple Realm of Mana terminations and Material Plane extensions as well as her use of a partial anti-mana spell helped her determine how to apply Holy mana to a construct from the Realms of Mana without wiping it out. She prevented the Holy mana from attacking it as foreign, and instead focused on the other special characteristic of Holy mana.

The ability to take the mana of the Source, and turn it into full, solid matter, no different than the mundane material of Earth.

And so, Seero added an Iesnuorium input to her new core. Any mana coming into it from outside, whether from Shialnor’s system, her subordinated dungeon cores, or the Realms of Mana, would run though this input, and would be converted into the ideal energy frequency for the core to run at maximum efficiency. The incoming energy would be stripped of all hostile intent in the process. She would not be attacked from that direction again.

Once the core was complete, Seero’s arms and legs began to regrow, as waves of mana surged into the Equalizer, and then out through her body. As with Ateia, her body had been erased at a level that prevented normal Recovery Magic or HP regeneration to restore it, but that wasn’t a problem. No, it was actually helpful, for Seero did not plan to rebuild the same parts she previously had.

Soft gray metal flowed like water, twisting into muscle fibers and wires both before another layer coated over them. A wave of Holy mana then traveled down her limbs, and the metal solidified. This process then occurred for the rest of her body, her exterior armor appearing to melt and reform.

On the surface, it appeared little different from her original components. But internally, it was another story entirely.

Cyborg wasn’t entirely inaccurate as a description for this Realm of Mana. This world’s first encounter with anything cyber-related was Seero, after all, who herself was partially organic, and all of the first monsters reflecting this Realm were cyborgs as well. Seero could even see cyber-plants like the ones growing in the Primary Home Base now starting to grow in various places of the Realm of Machines.

But Seero was not, in fact, a perfect balance of organic and cybernetic, as the NSLICE program had supposedly attempted to achieve. Dr. Ottosen was too inefficient to achieve his stated goals, and in truth he favored the cybernetic over the organic. Seero, for her part, had been more machine than human, with only her mind and necessary organs remaining of her organic half. Which, in Seero’s former world, had been necessary. She had been a normal human that was intended to battle superheroes and supervillains. Her flesh was simply too weak to achieve her task.

That was no longer the case.

Here, in Aelea, her organic components were a necessary part of her capabilities, able to generate mana and wield it on their own. It more even balance of machine and flesh was now more efficient. Seero took inspiration from the cyber-plants and wove metal and flesh together, intertwined as one. Muscle fibers hung onto a powered metal skeleton. Nerves and wires twisted together and even joined as one.

It went all the way down to the cellular level, where her scans of different slimes, especially the metal slimes, proved invaluable. Microscopic drops of liquid metal now bound with organic cells, forming a kind of living metal that was metallic machine and organic tissue at the same time...and could transform itself into either on command.

Seero was no longer a human with robotic replacements for her limbs like the NSLICE units had been. She was not an organic with a cybernetic exterior bonded to her, like the CELIU units were. For the current Seero, there was now no distinction between her organic and her cybernetic components. All her components were organic and cybernetic both. Her two halves were now one and the same, and she could adjust the balance of flesh and metal as was efficient for the circumstances.

She had now achieved Dr. Ottosen’s stated goal in full. A true fusion of cybernetic and organic, with all the strengths of both and the disadvantages of neither.

Seero tested her components. She flexed her arms and legs, shifting them between flesh and metal and reshaping them to form new components. She transferred mana from her new core and generated mana directly within her components. She ran tests on her new processors and neurons, testing their capabilities both in isolation and in coordination with the wider CELIU network. Her sensors cycled through countless different configurations, from high-tech radar based sensors of cutting edge Earth design to the pure mana senses of organ-less monsters like slimes, and everything in between.

And then, of course, Seero tested weapons.

Her arms were converted into machine guns, flame throwers, railguns, enchanted blades, enchanted crossbows, enchanted spell projectors, laser cannons, missile launchers, and others. Any and all weapons Seero had data on. Now aware of the possibility and freed from Dr. Ottosen’s prohibitions on the subject, she even determined she could produce a tactical nuclear warhead, if needed. And apply some magical enhancements to it, as well.

She could even produce a second Equalizer, though the production of Iesnuorium was calculated as impractical outside of the Realms of Mana. So she went ahead and upgraded the Equalizer while she was here so that it could receive and output truly staggering amounts of energy.

All her tests came back green. Every sensor and weapon worked at maximum efficiency, with updated protocols to make use of them stored in her memory. The various machines and programs of the Realm of Machines reported their tasks completed, one by one.

“Status Report: All systems online. All upgrades concluded. All components repaired and fully functional. Unit Seero, online and ready to terminate.”