Once Ateia and Taog had finished packing, NSLICE-00P gathered all of her monsters back to their hangars, and then opened the entrance to the new world. Inside was an expanded stone platform, as NSLICE-00P had increased its size. Off to the side on the added land, Melion bounced around, surrounded by drones and golems in various states of construction and disassembly, along with multiple ingots and ores of various types. Melion was bouncing as they read over the Grimoire of Arofinas Leolar, particularly the sections on warship construction and the related enchantments.

But NSLICE-00P was already up to date on Melion’s drone-golem research and development, and so just stepped through without distracting them.

They arrived back in the Otter Burrow and linked up with Uscfrea, explaining their plans.

“Query: Is NSLICE-Uscfrea currently aware of the locations of friendlies Agedia and Estrith?”

Uscfrea nodded.

“Estrith’s touring the Imperial settlement above, I’ll retrieve her for you. Agedia…that was the snake girl, right? She headed out towards the Imperial lands a while back, hasn’t returned yet as far as I’m aware. Speaking of which, the Imperials requested you to stop by, if you’re available, My Queen.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered. She was aware that Agedia had left for Castra Turannia, now that she had confirmed Agedia was still there it did make sense for NSLICE-00P to retrieve her, so that they could return through the new world.

As for visiting the Imperial authorities there, NSLICE-00P conducted another analysis. On the one hand, she was now wary of all diplomatic interactions, which also had little potential benefit for her primary directive. But on the other hand, the Empire as a whole was not hostile to her as of yet, and both she, Ateia, and Taog still possessed ranks within it. Agedia had been specifically introduced to them by Magister Tiberius, and Governor Aemilia’s family had assisted her after she terminated the cult base in Corvanus. As such, NSLICE-00P predicted that Turannia’s authorities were likely unrelated to the Heralds of the New Dawn, and unlikely to conduct any hostile actions towards her or her friendlies. As such, it would be beneficial to contact them, as they could potentially provide intel on the current status of the Empire and the Heralds of the New Dawn.

“Acknowledged. Statement: This unit has calculated that diplomatic contact with Turannia’s provincial authorities provides potential benefits at acceptable risks, and so is acceptable to this unit. This unit will do so upon retrieval of friendly Agedia.”

Uscfrea nodded.

“I’ll let them know you’re coming.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye began to flicker as Uscfrea brought her attention to communications with the Empire.

“Query: Does NSLICE-Uscfrea have access to mana-based long-range communications technology?”

Uscfrea rubbed his chin for a second.

“Um, you mean the communication artifact? Yes, we got some from the rebels.”

“Statement: This unit would like to scan the artifact’s construction, as well as the maritime vessels and any other mana-based technology in NSLICE-Uscfrea’s possession.”

Uscfrea grinned at that.

“Let me get the angry Dux. I’ll make her show you all the toys they brought.”

NSLICE-00P scanned the Imperial communication artifact and some of the vessels the rebels had stolen from the Northern Fleet, as well as a number of other artifacts the rebels had brought with them, and sent the data over to Melion. Long-range communications had been somewhat of a bottleneck for their drone project, seeing as they lacked the infrastructure for electronic networks of any significant distance. Due to the lack of both technical knowledge on how to construct said devices and the lack of industrial infrastructure to manufacture the necessary components, NSLICE-00P predicted a mana-based or hybrid mana-electronic solution would be more efficient to pursue.

And it turned out the Empire already had a mana-based long-range communication network established. Melion was working on recreating the device and brainstorming how to integrate it with her drones. NSLICE-00P predicted there was a reasonable probability she could deploy military-grade drones for scouting and observation in the near future.

And the construction of said drones might be even easier. With the theoretical knowledge and blueprints from the Grimoire of Arofinas Leolar and a full scan of working vessels based on those fundamental designs, NSLICE-00P had full confidence they could replicate an Imperial warship. With that knowledge as a base, she and Melion could then use her data from the Empire’s airships and her own summoned drones to iterate on the designs. She had reasonable confidence they could come up with suitable mana-based air-frames for the new drones.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

And the combination of golem and AI technologies could handle the programming with ease.

Given the estimated time frame on the research and development, NSLICE-00P would need to begin investigating how to set up supply chains and production lines, in order to enable mass production. Of course, if the new drones appeared in the Aesdes’s dungeon system as a potential summon, she could bypass the issue to some extent, but making individual purchases with her own mana was not the most scalable solution. A separate production line would still be beneficial.

So she began investigating solutions…and found that the Aesdes had significantly expanded her menu for the new world.

World Menu -> Create World Features -> Geological Features

Name

Cost

Upkeep

Description

Add Ore Vein

Variable

Variable

Add a vein of a chosen mineral that replenishes over time. Mana cost and upkeep will depend on vein size, minerals chosen, and desired speed of replenishment.

Add Fertile Soil

Variable

Variable

Add soil with the nutrients necessary for healthy plant growth. Nutrients may be replenished over time for mana upkeep. Cost and upkeep depends on field size, soil fertility, and desired nutrients.

Add Water Spring

Variable

Variable

Add a spring that will continuously create water. Cost and upkeep depends on size and rate of replenishment.