Chapter 75: The Forging of a General

The soft, blue light of my hidden System interface illuminated the dark, perfectly preserved Overseer’s control room.

’The choice is with me, eh? Must be because he swore the Oath of Loyalty.’

I stood perfectly still, looking at the three glowing options hovering in my vision right above Rolf’s convulsing body.

The incredibly thick, intoxicating ambient mana in the sealed room was pushing his C Grade core to the absolute breaking point.

I had a choice to make, and it would dictate the entire future of my military force.

’Brute strength is common on this continent. Any low tier Orc or Troll can swing a heavy club. But a true commander aura is incredibly rare. I do not just need another frontline foot soldier to soak up damage. I need a general who can lead the armies I will inevitably build.’

I stared at the glowing golden text hovering in the air.

The Ironclad Lycan path would give me an indestructible, immovable shield.

The Shadow Stalker Fenrir path would give me an invisible, lethal blade in the dark.

But the Alpha General path would give me a true commander to lead my pawns.

I mentally selected the third option without any further hesitation.

[Path 3: Alpha General Confirmed.]

[Initiating Stage 2 Evolution sequence.]

"AAARRRGGGHHH!"

Rolf screamed out loud as the ancient, concentrated ambient mana violently forced his body to adapt.

It was a completely raw, highly visceral transformation. The heavy, reinforced iron plates of his new Vanguard armor groaned under immense pressure.

CRACK! CRACK!

They began expanding and shifting on their own, physically altering their shape to accommodate his rapidly increasing muscle mass and bone density.

’It is painful to watch. The System is completely tearing his biology apart to rebuild him. But this brutal crucible is entirely necessary to forge a knight capable of standing against the Zenith Academy purebloods.’

His dark, matted fur began to rapidly shed off his body in clumps. It was immediately replaced by a thick, pristine coat of brilliant, glowing silver fur.

SPLRK! CRRRAAACK! SPLRK!

The bones in his face cracked and elongated violently. The horrific sound of popping joints and snapping cartilage echoed loudly in the silent, ancient room.

His claws extended, turning from dull bone into sharp, metallic silver razors.

When the blinding light of the evolution finally faded into the air, Rolf slowly stood up from the metal floorboards.

’The pain from Evolution just makes you even stronger. Pain sucks, but it is worth the pain, I guess.’

He was no longer just a beastman from the wild fringes. He was a peak C Grade Alpha General.

His sheer physical presence now radiated a heavy, incredibly commanding pressure.

The dense aura rolling off his silver fur actually caused the floating dust in the air to immediately settle to the ground.

I gave him a satisfied nod and turned my attention back to the central console.

The blindingly bright Origin Mana core hovered silently inside its reinforced glass casing, completely untouched by the centuries.

’This amount of pure, unfiltered magical energy is entirely priceless. Leaving it behind to rot in this dead dungeon would be a massive strategic failure. I can use this to power the entire Iron Estate back in the capital.’

I reached out with my heavy, brass Vanguard Arm. My mechanical fingers carefully gripped the edges of the reinforced glass casing.

With a sharp twist, I extracted the glowing orb from the pedestal, sliding it securely into the deep pocket of my military coat.

Next, I pulled the heavy brass map drive from the primary terminal. It was covered in glowing, preindustrial runes.

"Let me see that, Grik," Nyssa said. She stepped forward eagerly, her emerald eyes fixed on the ancient artifact.

She plugged the heavy brass drive directly into a specialized arcane port on the side of her enchanted leather satchel.

A massive, three dimensional holographic map immediately projected into the air between us, casting a soft blue glow on our faces.

’This preindustrial Gnome architecture is completely pristine. The mana circuits are woven directly into the brass without any degradation. If I can take this back to my laboratory and reverse engineer even a fraction of these designs, our Kingdom’s infrastructure will leap forward centuries.’

Nyssa’s emerald eyes sparkled with intense, undeniable academic greed. She reached out and traced a glowing blue line on the holographic projection with her slender finger.

"Look right here," Nyssa pointed, zooming the map in on a specific quadrant.

"This map shows a direct, hidden shortcut through the infrastructure. It is a sealed maintenance shaft that bypasses the shifting maze of the Shallows entirely. It leads straight down to the main industrial elevator for Strata 2, the Piston Grid."

"Then we take the shortcut," I commanded, adjusting the collar of my coat.

"We have wasted enough time on the first floor."

"Come on, boss! My evolution was not a waste of time, alright?" Rolf joked, breaking the heavy atmosphere in the room.

"Of course it is a waste of time," Kaelith retorted, crossing her arms.

"We came down here for a simple dungeon dive. Now we are wrapped up in the conspiracy of a destroyed ancient civilization that built a machine capable of destroying the continent. And that ghost just decided Grik is their destined savior."

She let out a frustrated sigh.

"Do you think your evolution is more important than saving the continent from that entity?"

"Whoa, Kaelith, I was just trying to lighten the mood. Chill out," Rolf replied, raising his massive silver hands defensively.

"She is right to be cautious, but relax," I interrupted, stepping between them.

"Our primary goal was to get stronger. This ghost just gave us the perfect training ground to do exactly that. We do not have to fight this continental threat today. We just need to pull the plug on it eventually."

"I understand, Grik. I am not trying to panic the pack," Kaelith said, her pitch black eyes entirely serious.

"But this is not a simple matter. What if the threat at the bottom is vastly stronger than we expected? What if we simply cannot defeat it? What do we do then?"

"What do you mean? We run away, of course," I said flatly, looking at each of them.

They blinked in surprise.

"We are not some righteous, suicidal fools who will blindly throw our lives away on a losing battle," I continued.

"If we cannot win today, we run. We survive for another day. Do we give up? No. We come back stronger. We come back better. If the lives of the whole continent are entrusted to us, we will fight. But we will only fight when we know we can win. Are you with me, squad?"

"YES!" they echoed in unison, the tension instantly bleeding out of the room.

We left the safety of the pristine control room, leaving the Architect’s hologram behind us in the dark.

Following Nyssa’s projected map, we slipped through a narrow, unmoving maintenance shaft built directly into the thick iron walls of the Labyrinth.

The air inside the shaft grew incredibly stale and heavy with the pungent smell of old machine oil and rust the further we walked. Our boots clanked softly against the metal grating.

Lysandra walked near the middle of the pack, her hands trembling slightly as she gripped the hilt of her iron dagger.

’I just got this power. I just learned how to hold this blade without looking like a complete fool. But what good is a small iron dagger against a literal mountain of solid, preindustrial iron plating? I am going to be entirely useless in this dungeon.’

Her glowing pink eyes flickered with a sudden, sharp spike of crippling doubt. The high from her first victory was wearing off, replaced by the crushing reality of the Great Iron Labyrinth.

We pushed open a heavily rusted grate at the end of the shaft and emerged onto a wide metal catwalk.

We were standing high up, overlooking a massive, cavernous subterranean room. The ceiling was lost in the shadows above, and the air was thick with rolling steam.

At the exact center of the cavern sat a heavy industrial elevator platform. It was easily large enough to hold a royal military carriage and a dozen horses.

But it was not unguarded.

Standing directly in front of the massive elevator platform was a Strata 1 Mini Boss.

CLANK. CLANK.

It was a massive, heavily rusted Warden Construct. The machine was bipedal and towering, built entirely from thick, impenetrable iron slabs and weeping hydraulic pistons.

Its right arm did not end in a hand. It ended in a massive, jagged circular saw that sparked violently against the stone floor every time the machine shifted its incredible weight.

ZZZZZZTTT!

The machine’s glowing, blood red optical sensor abruptly snapped upward, locking directly onto our position on the catwalk. It instantly registered our thermal life signs in the cold, dead cavern.

The heavy circular saw attached to its arm suddenly roared to life.

It filled the cavern with a deafening, high pitched whine that made my teeth ache.

The Warden Construct took a heavy, thudding step forward, the solid stone ground shaking violently beneath its metallic weight.

Kaelith immediately dropped into a low, predatory combat stance.

She drew her twin curved blades from her hips, her pitch black eyes narrowing at the mechanical monstrosity below.

Before she could leap from the catwalk, a large, silver hand firmly caught her shoulder.

"Stand back," Rolf growled.

His voice was completely different. It no longer sounded like the rough, eager tone of a brawler.

It vibrated with a deep, layered, and primal authority that forced immediate, instinctual obedience.

He stepped past Kaelith, his heavy boots echoing on the metal grating.

He walked to the very edge of the catwalk, staring down at the towering, saw wielding machine with absolute contempt.

’He wants to test his new blood. He wants to see exactly what his evolution gave him. Good. Let us see exactly what a General can do when let off the leash.’

Rolf planted his boots firmly into the metal grating. He took a massive, deep breath, his broad chest expanding heavily against his silver Vanguard armor.

His thick silver fur stood on end, crackling violently with pure, unadulterated peak C Grade mana.

The air around him began to distort and warp from the sheer pressure of his magical capacity.

He threw his head back to the dark, steam filled ceiling. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

He opened his jaws wide, revealing rows of razor sharp silver teeth, and unleashed his brand new class skill, the General’s Command.

"RROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRR!"