19 Chapter 19: Upgrades

They both carefully explained to Jason the real identity of Vulcan. Everything from him meeting Jess in the forest to the meeting with the lord of Roriksten.

"I'm sorry, but this is just a lot to take in right now," Jason said as he stood up, gazing out of the window of his study to the people of his village. They were happily enjoying their time with their families and neighbors.

"If it makes you feel better, I don't have any grand plans of wiping out humanity. I simply wish to secure my life in this world. You understand how that feels like, Especially after what your village had gone through," said Vulcan, looking his way.

Jason scrunched up his face, unable to find fault in the golem's reasoning. He owed the thing more than his life after it had not only saved them but even improved their way of living. When the sentries approached him with the idea of rebuilding the village to an even stronger and better version, he had thought they were going to forcefully kick him out of the village head position. But instead, they said they were only doing it for the good of the villagers. They even built him this stunning home to live in.

In reality, Vulcan had done so because the village had become a sort of outpost for his operations. Once he would secure resources, they would be transferred here and then transported through a massive tunnel that connected to the large fortress in the forest. But Jason didn't know that until now. He had to face the facts. He owed the golem a life debt, and he would repay it by keeping his secret like Jess.

"I'm in. I don't care if you're human or not. The evidence is clear that you only wish for us to contribute from one another. Just promise me that you will keep protecting the villagers no matter what happens. If you can do that, then I won't have any complaints," said Jason, looking directly at Vulcan's eyes with intensity.

"You have a deal. I will honor it," Vulcan replied, stretching his robot hand towards Jason. Jason stared at the metal hand and shook it. Once that was done, the trio departed for the fortress. This would be Jason's first time seeing the place.

Vulcan took them to a warehouse inside the village that he had built for this specific reason. Inside was heavily guarded and half filled with other things the village needed. Closing the large doors, the sentries went to work on raising a massive platform in the middle of the warehouse with the help of a pulley system on the roof. The raised metal grate revealed a long ramp going down into the ground. Steeling himself, Jason followed as they went down without him. He wondered how Jess was so calm around all this going on, but he didn't want to seem like a coward, so he followed.

Deep below was a large platoon of sentries in their real form. Several hover bikes were parked for convenience, and so Vulcan hopped on one, followed by Jess getting on one of her own. She had been taught how to use them when she spent time with Vulcan. Jason had to ride with a sentry, and they sped off in a straight path. Oil lanterns lit up the path, so it wasn't completely dark down the tunnel. In just ten minutes, they arrived at another checkpoint filled with more sentry guards. The end of this one didn't have a ramp, but a metal platform. Just like the warehouse, it was an elevator with a pulley system, and so they stepped on it, and it began to ascend upwards.

"You've upgraded the village pretty well. I wonder what your fortress looks like now," mentioned Jess as she smirked.

Vulcan laughed, "I think I went a little overboard with the remodeling," he said.

They soon emerged to the surface, and a large grand stone room was present with a retinue of armed sentries. The main doors to the room were open, letting in the bright sunlight in. As soon as the trio walked out, an even larger number of sentries were seen moving around like they were ants. But the most surprising thing were the larger walls surrounding them, they seemed grander and larger than from Jess remembered. They turned around to look behind them and against the mountainside was one of the largest castles they have ever seen. Well, to Jason, it was the first time seeing one. Jess, on the other hand, had seen a few, and this one was enormous. The entire thing was very similar in layout to Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings. Several stone bridges connected the fortress to other parts, and the pulley elevators were commonly seen pulling several sentries and supplies to other parts. Against the walls were hundred-meter-high sculpted statues of Vulcan himself. The pair couldn't stop gawking, so Vulcan had to drag them to the top of the walls.

Below the wall was a large, wide-open courtyard several football fields long, and in it was a massive army of sentries perfectly lined up as if they were ready to head out to battle. The scene left the humans with awe and jaws dropped at how much the golem had increased his forces. Although they were mostly reinforced iron sentries, it was still a far more powerful army than most kingdoms had. Vulcan had built several more production factories ever since he had set up in this place.

"Overall, it is only a little more than 10,000. Only 1,000 will be sent to the Rodden Capital to be shown to the crown. Follow me," he led them down to another courtyard, this one had a team of sentries building several wooden carriages with metal plating on them. They were large and thick in stature.

"These special carriages I have made are the ones that will be used to transport the large army. Each one is designed to transport 100 sentries each. They will put on these straps and go fetal position when attached to the metal hooks inside for easier storage." Explained Vulcan showing the leather straps, and even having a sentry demonstrate.

Jess and Jason shared a look at the same time; they were lucky that Vulcan was on their side. Their only hope was that the top echelon of the kingdom treated Vulcan the same as them. They could only imagine the consequences if they chose to betray him.

__________________________________

Two weeks passed by like that, Jess enjoyed her time at the village while it lasted. Once the shipment of metals arrived, they would set out for the kingdom of Harrien. One morning, a large convoy of carriages arrived at the village. The merchants and their guards were stunned to see a walled town. They even double-checked their maps to confirm they had arrived at the right location. Once they confirmed with the strong-looking guards at the gate, it was made clear that this was indeed their destination. They were led inside the village, and even more surprises appeared. The beautiful homes, roads, and infrastructure made them keep gawking at the site, they have never seen villagers have such lavish homes before. They began to envy the villagers, and thought how wonderful it must be to start a life here.

They soon arrived at a place filled with warehouses, and a man with a strange bird mask appeared. "I hope your travel was well. I take it you're the merchants sent by the lord of Roriksten?" asked Geppeto.

The merchant collected himself, "Yes, you must be the magi-craftsman known as Geppeto. Nice to meet you, the name is Morris Harrington. The trip was as usual. But I have to say, am I in a village or in a town? The place looks absolutely stunning. I've never seen anything like it in my travels before," complimented the merchant, still marveling at the sight.

"Yes, we don't get many visitors, so it's been a while since anyone has seen our new developing town. These villagers are hard workers and pride themselves on making their home a wonderful place. With my talent as a magi-craftsman, it was a lot easier to accomplish. May I take a look at the goods?" asked Geppeto as he looked for anything interesting.

"Ah yes, we have brought plenty of iron from mines in a faraway town. As for the special metals you have asked for, we could only get our hands on some black gold ingots," said the merchant as he showed Geppeto the last cart of the convoy that had fifty ingots of black gold metal.

"Don't let the name fool you. Unlike its counterpart, black gold is resilient and tougher than gold and is mostly black with a few spots of gold in it," explained the merchant.

Geppeto inspected the ingots and he was satisfied. The ingots were rank 3 metals. With this, he had enough to form two sentry bodies. The medium-sized factory had already been pre-built and ready to go. He couldn't wait to test out his new body. There was also the new body modification he got once he hit level 35.

[New Body Mod Blueprint: Energy Blast]