Chương 378: Shocking, Isn't It?

At last, I set foot upon ground that felt like actual solid stone. The kind I would have to actually try if I wanted to damage it, but it would be silly of me to do something like this. I welcomed solid ground that wouldn't open up and dump into liquid magma with a warm embrace–Very warm, as a matter of fact. I was still incandescent, and even if I weren't sent on another trip to take another bath, I doubt the heat would fade away any time soon.

I tried to be sneaky, but it was difficult to do so when I was turned into a big mass of light, so I was immediately spotted by the creatures I believe I could use to get to the castle faster. They were a bunch of large, red birds. If I didn't know any better, I would think that there were some sort of lesser Phoenixes. However, I had seen very similar creatures before, simply without the flaming makeover… I was very clearly looking at fire-themed Rocs.

They were on the smaller side for a creature widely known to pick up elephants and fly away with them, but they were nonetheless quite large, with an impressive wingspan. My idea was to use one as a ride, but there was obviously a pretty drastic flaw with my plan… I had no clue how to convince such a creature to take me where I wanted to go, and I strongly doubt that I would be able to learn to do so within an acceptable timeframe. I nonetheless tried to see if there was an easy solution…

And ended up getting thrown right out of the area and falling into another pool of lava. Their method of killing was quite straightforward. They picked up anything they wanted to eat or to otherwise remove from their sight, flew up, and just let them fall to their death. It was a method that would work on most creatures, but obviously not on someone pretty much immune to fall damage like myself.

I was sent bouncing and crashing a few times without ever sustaining relevant damage, but it nonetheless grew old very quickly. I could grab onto one of these Rocs quite easily, but try as I might, I could not force them to do what I wanted, even when attempting to use 'Embodiment Of Negativity' creatively. Also, since they seemingly acted as a group, another one would just come to pry me off when I got a good grip on one. … I sank to the bottom of a magma pit once more.

I had been thrown into this one a few times already, so the bottom-feeders had all been massacred. I thus simply sat down, resting my oversized maw against the palm of my scaldingly hot hand of steel. Ah… Fuck it. I entered the Mindscape, and then the Dreamscape, heading straight for the workshop where I had access to skills in mechanistry that rivalled those of my brother–Probably because these skills were literally what he currently had. Let's see if I can figure something out…

I can create basically anything in the Dreamscape. Resources aren't a problem since the resources are quite literally not real to begin with here, and although I've tried a number of things, I've never attempted what I currently have in mind… I always kept things strictly in the realm of mechanistry, but much like how I am more than just a sapient machine, why couldn't I mix mechanistry with something else? With something I happen to have experience with on a similar level to good old steel? Mmh…

I get the feeling that you're going to do something a mad craftsman would do Listen, if I can't convince one of these damned birds to make my life easier, then I have to do things… Forcefully. I just need to do so using materials I can actually get my hands on in the real world.

Creating things in the Dreamscape for the purpose of pre-final trials is fine and all, but most of the crazy stuff I make in this context, I wouldn't be able to replicate in real life even if I had the same talent for mechanistry as I do here. For example, the components needed to build my clown gals could only be acquired in that A. R.

DL because I had been at the head of a business so successful that even some nobles looked poor compared to me, and that goes without mentioning some of the more 'esoteric' constructs I came up with. However, if I am not mistaken, all I really need to succeed are some wires, which I can grow once I get rid of the excess heat concentrated in my bones, and some steel that I'll be able to manifest by using my knightly form for a few moments. My certainty grew inside of the Dreamscape.

It was weird for so much knowledge and talent to find its place in my mind the second I entered this place, but it had long since become completely natural to me. With a swipe of my hand, the workshop of the Dreamscape changed, and the recreation of one of those Rocs appeared, restrained on a table. I immediately went to work, and it certainly helped that I couldn't grow tired at all. I worked on this project for a full week, one-hundred and sixty-eight hours of work.

As it turns out, thanks to the knowledge I had acquired from unlocking 'Revenant Jack-Out-Of-The-Box', my initial idea was absolutely possible to a certain extent, and most of my time was spent fine-tuning it. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The end result definitely wouldn't allow me to fly a Roc all the way to the castle, but it would save me enough time to make this week's worth of work a good return on investment…

Alright, I'll just need Nara to guide me since I'll be lacking my knowledge and talent from the Dreamscape, but at the end of the day, what I was going to do wasn't that complex, at least not to me, who had earned a finer understanding of how 'flesh' worked. It was rather bizarre to think that I had learned so much the second I had unlocked this new form at the blood ocean. In hindsight, I hadn't even realised that so much information had been crammed into my metal skull, but it made sense.

I wouldn't have been so comfortable manipulating flesh and blood otherwise… I certainly wouldn't have felt so confident that creating bones would be within my reach if not for this surge of foreign knowledge. Most of it didn't seem that relevant to the form itself, but it didn't have to be. My forms didn't exist in a vacuum of their own. It was only natural that the acquisition of a form would bring benefits that could be used even when the form itself wasn't being used.

And since it was linked to the form, it was knowledge that I held innately now, and since this little 'invention' of mine relied a lot on how the 'flesh' of a living being functioned, the mechanical portion wasn't as large as one might guess. I was confident that I would be able to manage things in reality with Nara's assistance. I returned to the real world at last, still exactly where I had been before entering a state of dormancy.

The lava was still just as liquid as it had been a full week ago, despite the fact that it was supposedly meant to harden eventually. With the trained expertise of someone who had been at the bottom of these pools far too many times, I made my way out and, before locating a Roc, tracked down some other creatures to kill. I didn't devour them immediately.

I gathered the corpses in a pile and promptly began to disassemble myself little by little, taking pieces out and throwing them to the side, using the readily available flesh to rapidly regrow my body, but without the incandescence that had been a constant part of my time in this realm from nearly the moment I had entered.

Without the excessive heat messing everything up, I was able to regrow my tangle of wires, my various upgrades were able to function as normal once more, and the constant, searing agony I had been in unfortunately came to an end. Well, I would definitely be thrown into a magma lake eventually. So it didn't matter much. Only once I was back to normal did I set out to find a Roc–After ripping out a bunch of my wires for future use. Now that I wasn't constantly glowing, sneaking around was easier.

I used 'Rest Mode' to extinguish the glow of my eyes, and rolled myself into some ash before starting to crawl toward prey. The old 'Quietness' proved useful once more as the stupid bird I decided to target didn't notice a thing until it was too late. Since I had experience with wrestling these bastards, I choked the idiot bird who had wandered away from the group and quickly dragged him to a more secluded spot. More secluded didn't mean much.

This small region of solid stone was basically just a plateau with some naturally formed pillars and spikes of rock jutting out of the ground. The area I picked was just one, somewhat concealed between a few pillars, and the place that I had cleaned of interlopers to use as food just before. The first thing I did was to transform into my knightly form.

Having to go through the normal 'Plush Form' beforehand was a bit nerve-wracking, as the 'Plush Form' was naturally far more susceptible to the conditions of this realm, but I managed just fine. With 'Steel Shaping', I created all of the necessary components I would need, and then transformed into a very bare 'Gynoid Form'. I didn't even bother giving it an exterior. It was just the skeleton.

I only needed it because it had far more dexterous hands and fingers compared to the rest, allowing me to work with more precision. I had to switch between forms a few times throughout the entire process, but things ended up being quite smooth… The Roc was restrained in place in case it woke, and I began operating it, only slightly. My goal was to insert wires in several key locations throughout its body. This was quite easy by going back into my 'Base Form'.

I just needed to touch the wires, and I was able to control them, making them slither to where I wanted them. The intrusive surgical manoeuvre quickly woke the creature up, but it could barely make a noise or struggle against the heavy restraint I had created. The mass of negative, primal emotions it felt as I cut into its body was intoxicatingly delicious.

Alongside some pieces of steel, Nara and I were able to replicate what I had done in the Dreamscape, and apart from some very obvious, poorly cauterised wounds, the only sign of my actions was several wires sticking out of the Roc's upper back. Alright, now it is the moment of truth… I climbed onto the giant bird's back and grabbed hold of the wires with both hands, using controlled shocks from my 'Faraday Box'. I was able to make the Roc's body act as I desired.

It took a while for me to get used to how this worked and how to properly dose it to get what I wanted, but I eventually removed the restraints and shocked the Roc into taking flight toward the castle. Indeed, as my recently acquired knowledge of 'flesh' told me, the body of most biological creatures was controlled by lightning currents. I never would have guessed that such a thing existed otherwise, but with this knowledge, I was able to puppeteer a living being into moving the way I wanted it to.

The Roc was still conscious, but its muscles were under my total control. Well, total might be too strong a word. The flight was a bit awkward, and part of the success was to be owed to the currently playing 'Music Box', which was instilling a deep sense of fear within the Roc, encouraging it to not struggle too much unless it wanted to be cooked on the spot by lightning. Can a fire bird even be cooked? I bet this bastard is already cooked.

Regardless, I set off toward the castle, feeling the familiar tingle that told me my actions were pushing some forms closer toward being unlocked, or that I had added more forms to the list. I really hope it isn't the latter. I want to actually get new forms…