Chương 174: Chapter 173 [HE DID WHAT?!]

!] The core sat in the middle of Mike's office floor, and it was, without question, the largest thing any of them had pulled from a kill yet.

"Christ," Mike said, staring at it.

"That's not a core, that's a boulder."

"Would've needed a cart and two horses to get it here without our storage," Sam said.

"Would've taken days longer, too, with the lack of roads from Stonehall." Diane hadn't said anything yet. She was crouched beside it, running one hand along its surface, watching it the way some people looked at cars or paintings they couldn't afford.

"This is incredible," she said finally, glancing up.

"The ones from the horde attack were useful, don't get me wrong, but this is a completely different scale. If the theory holds, something this size could power something a lot more demanding than what I had planned."

"Like what?" Mike asked.

"I've got a few ideas. Nothing confirmed yet." Diane's eyes were still on the core, calculating something Leo couldn't follow.

"But if even half of them work, this could be the difference between small conveniences and actual infrastructure." Mike looked between her and the core for a long moment, then let out a breath and dropped into his chair.

"Alright," he said.

"Tell me everything. Both things—the giant, and whatever's going on in your head right now." Kai told it plainly: the wall, the giant closing in, Luka's shield breaking to save Shai, and Leo going over the wall alone to end it. He didn't dress any of it up. Mike was quiet for a moment after he finished.

"You actually brought it down. On your own."

"Wasn't on my own," Leo said.

"Everyone had already worn it down. I just finished it."

"Still." Mike shook his head slowly.

"That's mental. Well done, Leo. Well done, everyone, actually. Glad you all came back in one piece."

"The village is fine, too," Shai said.

"Better than fine, considering."

"Good. It's been a rough few weeks, but it seems like most of the worry up north is over now. I'm glad Stonehall's come away as well as they have after all of this." Mike looked back at the core.

"So. Diane. What exactly does 'infrastructure' mean in this context?" Diane straightened up, the tiredness falling away fast, replaced by the kind of focus Leo had only ever seen on her when something genuinely excited her.

"Right now, we've got the cores and we've got a theory," she said.

"What we don't have is the first idea of how to actually get power out of one and into something else. That's where I'm stuck."

"Enchanting," Sam said.

"That's my guess, too. As far as I can tell, that's how this world does anything close to what we're trying to do." Diane looked at Kai.

"Do you think Marcus would come to town for a bit? I want to pick his brain properly, see how enchanting actually works under the hood. If it's anything like coding, we might be able to make real progress fast. If it's not, we've got a lot more learning to do before any of this goes anywhere."

"Yes, I think he'd welcome the invite," Kai said, gesturing broadly to the town outside.

"He's the sort of person who would be amazed by all of this—even more so if it means he gets to impart his knowledge of enchanting to someone else." Mike sat back, looking between Diane and the core like he was trying to fit the idea into his head properly.

"Keep me updated," he said eventually.

"Whatever you need, within reason, you'll have it. I'll send a message to the elders about Marcus."

The house was quiet when Leo and Shai finally got home. Both were exhausted and genuinely happy to be back.

"I'm going to do a quick stream to my mum and kids," Leo said, dropping onto the sofa.

"Haven't properly spoken to them in days." This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Shai nodded, already moving toward the hallway.

"I'll grab the mirror. Give them a way to see both of us."

"Oh, good idea. Thanks, love." She came back a minute later with a full-length mirror, propping it against the wall opposite the sofa so it caught them both.

"Ready?" Leo asked, settling beside her.

"Ready." He activated the stream, the mana drain quick and familiar now, and composed the voice tag without needing to think too hard about the words anymore. Hey, it's me. Got some time to talk properly if you're free. He went live. Names appeared in the corner of his vision a few seconds later. His mum first, then Jake, then Olly last.

"Hey," Leo said, raising a hand toward the mirror like an idiot, then feeling like an idiot for doing it.

"Got the mirror this time so you can actually see us both properly." [Karen] Oh, that's clever. Hello, Shai dear, how are you doing?

"Mum says hello, wants to know how you're doing," Leo said.

"I'm well, thank you," Shai said, turning toward the mirror.

"Better now that everything's settled again." [Jake] How's dad actually doing? He always says fine even when he's not.

"Jake reckons I always say I'm fine even when I'm not." Leo grinned at the mirror.

"I'm fine, Jake. Just had a long day." He caught the silence where Olly's name should have already appeared.

"You okay, Olly? You're quiet." There was a pause before the text finally came through. [Olly]... [Olly] so the group chat's been going mental today [Karen] What? Why? I haven't looked at it, I've been out all day. [Jake] Olly, you idiot, why would you bring that up [Karen] Someone tell me what's going on right now [Olly] some guy over there was streaming the fight you were in. I didn't get an invite so I couldn't watch it but it's been all over the group chat for the last few hours. Leo was shocked.

"Wait. What?" [Karen] What fight? What are they talking about, Leo?

"I can't believe this. Why would someone stream that? What a fucking idiot." [Karen] Language, Leo! [Jake] Mum, it's fine. Look at him, he's sat right there, he's fine.

"Mum's panicking, Olly said someone streamed the defense earlier so everyone back home knows about it, and Jake's trying to talk her down," Leo said, half to Shai, half to himself.

"I need to find out which idiot decided streaming was a good idea." [Olly] it was a good idea, how were we supposed to know"There's nothing anyone back there can do about any of it," Leo said.

"So it's better you don't know most of it. All that leads to is more worry for nothing."

"Well," Shai said, "your dad did manage to bring down the mountain giant that attacked my village. So there's that." Leo turned to look at her.

"Shai!"

"What?" She looked genuinely confused.

"I'm not letting you undersell it again. You did something incredible." [Karen] HE DID WHAT [Olly] HOLY SHIT DAD THAT'S BADASS. how big was it?? [Karen] Olly! Language! [Olly] sorry. how big though There was a pause before Jake's name appeared again, the message shorter than his usual ones. [Jake] a mountain giant? Like, bigger than this house, can squash you like a bug? That kind of mountain giant?

"Not helping, dude." Leo waited, but nothing else came through for a moment.

"Alright," Leo said, dragging a hand down his face.

"Let me just explain properly, save us all the confusion."

By the time he'd finished walking them through everything that had been going on up north—the horde, then the giant—the questions had mostly died down.

"It's over now, though," Leo said.

"That's the important bit. The giant was what was pushing everything south. Now that it's dead, we expect the attacks to stop. Apparently, the monsters know better than to come south of the border. It was the giant coming down from further north that caused all of that." [Karen] I'm glad. I am. I just wish you'd tell me these things so I don't have to find out from the boys or the group chat.

"I get that, Mum, but I know how much you worry about everything. If you never found out, you wouldn't have to worry because it's over. That was why I didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to stream it. Why worry people back home when they have no way of helping? It'll drive people nuts," Leo said. [Olly] So what are you going to do with the giant core thing? You said something about magitech. Is that like the thing from anime?

"Yeah, more or less. Diane's working on it. She's smart, so I'm hoping it works out. It sounds like it should, though—they already use them for enchanting things, and Diane's idea works like that, but with our knowledge of science on top. Using cores from the monsters we've killed to power things we lost when we came here should mean proper machinery eventually. Maybe more." Leo shrugged.

"And hopefully, soon, we'll get word through the UI about actually getting home. That's still the goal." [Jake] Good. The conversation wound down slow after that, everyone running out of things to say without wanting to be the one to end it.

"We should let you go," Leo said eventually.

"It's been a long day here." [Karen] Ok, son. Look after yourself. Both of you.

"We will, Mum. They're saying bye, Shai."

"Try not to worry," Shai said toward the mirror.

"I'll keep him safe, I promise." [Karen] Thank you, dear. [Olly] bye dad [Jake] later dad He ended the stream. Leo let out a long breath and sighed for the third time that evening.

"That went about as well as it could have," Shai said, standing and offering him a hand up.

"Come on. Bed. It's been a long day." He let her pull him to his feet.

"Yeah," he said.

"It really has."