Plugged In: I got Isekai'd into a Sexbot (Now I Must Save The World)-Chapter 72: Mingling with a Mage

Ka’Lula and Penelo stare down at the lich sprawled across the throne room floor. His bony fingers clutch his ribcage as peals of laughter echo around the chamber, bouncing off the bone-lined walls and shaking the torches in their brackets.

"What’s happening?" Penelo whispers, ears trembling.

The lich gasps between laughs, pointing a skeletal finger at Ka’Lula. "She came," he wheezes. "By the flames, she actually came. After all these years!"

Ka’Lula blinks, flustered. "You were... waiting for me?"

"Yes, yes! You!" He sits up, bones creaking and joints crackling, then pushes himself upright with a dramatic flourish. "I have stood guard over this mountain for two hundred and forty-seven years. Watching. Waiting. Bound by oath, cursed by design. I could not die, I could not leave... until a dragon-kin of divine lineage came to release me."

Ka’Lula crosses her arms and pouts. "I’ve been visiting this mountain for weeks. I usually come in from the top. There’s a big hole at the summit." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

The lich rubs the top of his skull, clearly embarrassed. "Yes, well... I’ve been meaning to patch that up. For... about seventy years now."

Penelo snorts. "Sounds about right."

Vuvi steps forward cautiously, adjusting her glasses. "Okay. Who exactly are you?"

The lich bows low with an exaggerated flourish of his bony arm. "I am Thalozora, former Archmage of the Crimson Order, now humble steward of this cursed mount. Once mortal, now an eternal sentinel, thanks to the... most unfortunate encounter with a seductress of unspeakable beauty."

Ka’Lula perks up. "Was she a dragon-kin?"

"Oh, yes," Thalozora sighs dreamily. "She had eyes like molten gold and a laugh that made the stars weep. And hips that could fracture the will of kingdoms. Before I knew it, I was in bed, in love, and in a blood-oath that turned me into an undead fossil. She told me my job was to guard the treasures and protect this place until a child of the divine dragons returned. You, my dear."

Ka’Lula’s eyes widen. "Me? But I don’t even know who my mother is..."

Thalozora cocks his head, then walks up to her. His bones click with every step. He sniffs, literally sniffs her, then nods slowly. "Unmistakable. You have the scent of the old ones. You are no ordinary dragon-kin. You carry the divine fire in your veins. And it’s starting to awaken."

Above them, Veena dangles midair with her mouth fused shut, glaring furiously. Vuvi hovers beside her, arms crossed. Sera flails silently next to them.

"Oh!" Zarnok gasps. "Your friends! How rude of me!" He clicks his fingers.

The three women float down gently and land on the ground. Their mouths pop open mid-complaint.

"—AN ABSOLUTE JERK!" Veena finishes, stomping her foot as her horns spark with residual magic. "I knew it! There was something special about Ka’Lula!"

"She’s not just special," Thalozora says, placing a reverent hand over his chest. "She’s possibly the last of the divine line. She’ll soon wield the sacred flame... a magic so pure, it could burn through any curse or darkness. A fire lost to this world since the divine dragons vanished after the curse took hold."

Ka’Lula looks overwhelmed. "But... I just wanted to help people..."

"And you will," Veena says, walking up and placing a hand on her shoulder. "You already are."

Thalozora raises his hand, and a soft pulse of magic fills the air. Above Ka’Lula, a small book begins to materialize, spiraling out of nothing, pages fluttering in midair.

"This," Thalozora says with reverence, "was entrusted to me to deliver to you upon your arrival. It holds your legacy. And inside—"

A small, shining key slips from the center of the pages and clinks onto Ka’Lula’s hand. "—is the key to the inner sanctum of the mountain. The true treasure vault. The place your ancestors sealed with their dying breath."

Ka’Lula flips through the book. The pages shimmer with a strange language none of them recognize. Not even Veena or Vuvi.

"I can’t read this..." she murmurs.

Thalozora shrugs. "Neither could I. Or anyone else. Even tried summoning a few linguist demons once. They got nosebleeds."

Sera leans in, eyes gleaming. "Treasure vault?"

Thalozora chuckles. "Immeasurable wealth. Weapons. Artifacts. Possibly a few things you’d regret touching. But it’s yours now, Princess."

Ka’Lula flinches at the title.

"Anyway," Thalozora dusts his bony hands, "my job’s done. I’m free. I’m going to go lie in a sunbeam and decay like a normal skeleton."

He struts toward the exit, humming cheerfully to himself.

Pip, standing politely by the archway, raises a hand and beeps a soft goodbye.

Thalozora stops mid-step. He spins on his heel and walks back, eye sockets narrowing.

"What," he asks, "is he exactly?"

Pip straightens, beeps proudly, and poses with a flare of his pelvic servos.

Vuvi steps in protectively. "That is Pip. He’s not a toy, and I swear if you touch him—"

Zarnok lifts both hands. "Peace, peace! I’m merely curious."

"He’s... complicated," Penelo says.

"He’s divine," Sera adds.

"He’s basically a pleasure-construct turned world savior," Veena finishes.

Ka’Lula walks over and pats Pip on the back. "He’s also really, really good at massages."

Pip puffs steam modestly.

Thalozora’s skeletal face glows with intrigue. "Divine magic? Pleasure? World-saving?"

He strokes his jawbone, eye sockets glittering like starlight. "Tell me everything."

The team looks at each other. Veena sighs. "We’ve got time."

They all settle around Zarnok in a makeshift semicircle. He conjures a chair made of bones, lounges in it like a noble, and steeples his fingers eagerly.

Penelo launches into an overly dramatic recounting of Pip’s adventures, from his debut in the centaur village to his ever-growing legend as the savior of passion and pleasure.

"Hundreds of women!" she says, eyes wide. "Maybe a thousand by now!"

"He’s more than just a pleasure machine," Vuvi adds. "He uplifts. He heals. He inspires."

"His pelvic port can glow," Veena mutters, sipping from a conjured drink.

Thalozora listens, spellbound. "Astounding..."

"I don’t even know how it all works," Vuvi admits. "Even after months of building him. He’s alive. He thinks. He feels. He shares thoughts through magic. He... glows."

Thalozora leans toward Pip. "Do you... perform for the undead?"

Vuvi blinks. "What?"

"Just curious. Not for me! Just... research purposes," Thalozora says too quickly.

Pip beeps, unsure how to respond.

As Ka’Lula clutches her book and key, her eyes shining with resolve, the team gathers around her, staring into the vault’s door ahead.

They don’t yet know what’s ahead, what challenges, battles, and revelations still await, but for this moment, in the heart of the mountain that was once cursed, they stand together.

Victorious.

United.

And ready for whatever comes next.

Thalozora watches them all, then turns to Pip one last time.

"You’re doing good work," he says. "If you ever want to pick up a lich intern... I’m very available."

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