Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 688: Spatial Compression Technology, Althea Is What?

Isaac nodded, and the group continued moving forward while carefully observing their surroundings. The place had been abandoned for who knew how long, but that did not mean it was safe, since it was entirely possible that some sort of defense mechanism was still active.

There was also the possibility that monsters had made this area their home, so they had no reason to lower their guard.

For that reason, they remained together as they advanced, making sure that no one moved too far ahead or wandered away from the group. Even Isaac was cautious despite the strength he had gained, because he constantly reminded himself that the wilderness was dangerous.

Even Ascenders could not move through unknown wilderness carelessly, and those who treated dangerous areas as if they were harmless would eventually end up paying for their mistakes.

As they crossed the uneven ground, Celia looked toward Althea and asked, "Can you tell us more about the Luminar species?"

"Yes. The Luminar species was actually one of the top-level kingdoms in our Sector in the past. Even now, on the first Floor of the Tower of Heaven and Hell, one of the main reasons Ascenders from our Sector are able to establish a foothold there is because of the automatons that were left behind by the Luminars. Their technology was far beyond what most of the other kingdoms possessed at the time," Althea replied.

The group continued moving as Althea explained more about the ancient kingdom and the technology it had once possessed. Emily also released several of her spirits, sending them ahead to scout the surrounding area and warn them if anything unusual appeared.

They had been moving for some time when they came across the enormous remains of a Sentinel. The machine was lying motionless on the ground, its huge body damaged and covered in signs of age, but Isaac could still recognize what it was.

Sentinels were giant automatons that Lords could create within their Cities, and although they could not compare to Overlords in terms of individual strength, they were still extremely valuable weapons.

A Sentinel at its weakest could reach the level of a max-level Champion, while stronger Sentinels could reach the level of Overlords from low-rank species. Because of that, they were not machines that could simply be ignored, especially when they could be produced and deployed by a Lord to defend a City.

Emily suddenly stopped, causing Isaac to look back at her.

"Emily?" he asked when he noticed her hesitation.

"Sir Ezekiel is asking to be let out. He saw the Sentinel and wants to examine it himself," Emily explained.

Isaac glanced toward the enormous machine before nodding, and Emily immediately released the Ancient Dwarf King.

Ezekiel appeared before the group and immediately walked toward the dead Sentinel without saying anything. His eyes were shining with excitement as he reached the machine, and he quickly began taking it apart, opening one section after another while carefully examining everything hidden inside.

The others watched as Ezekiel worked his way deeper into the Sentinel. He moved with remarkable speed, but there was nothing careless about his actions, and every component he removed seemed to receive his full attention before he continued. After more than a dozen minutes, he finally walked out from inside the machine while holding a strange metallic Core in his hands.

"Hahahah! This be incredible! This thing be far more interestin’ than I expected!" Ezekiel laughed, clearly unable to hide his excitement.

"Isn’t it just a Sentinel, Sir Ezekiel?" Althea asked. She had already been informed about Ezekiel’s true identity, so she spoke to him with considerable respect.

"Aye, an’ no. It be a Sentinel that the System provides ta a Lord, but this one’s been heavily modified. It be a remarkable piece o’ machinery, an’ I think ye should see what it can do," Ezekiel said as he examined the Core in his hand.

Several giant mechanical hands appeared behind Ezekiel, and Isaac immediately realized that the Ancient Dwarf King was activating some sort of skill. Ezekiel carefully placed the Core in the air before him, and the mechanical hands began moving around it.

"I be repairin’ this Sentinel Core an’ usin’ me skills ta temporarily make up fer the missin’ components. Once I be finished, ye’ll understand why I’m so interested in this child," Ezekiel said, his eyes shining with anticipation.

The Core floated into the air and began to rotate while a low mechanical hum spread through the surroundings. It continued spinning faster until it suddenly released a pulse of energy, and the dead Sentinel lying nearby began to move despite having been completely inactive only moments earlier.

Several damaged sections of the machine detached from its body and floated toward Ezekiel. The massive pieces rapidly shrank as they moved, becoming smaller components before fusing together with the Core, and in a matter of moments, the entire structure transformed into an exo-suit that wrapped itself around Ezekiel’s body.

Isaac stared at the result with genuine surprise. The armor looked like something that belonged in a futuristic battlefield rather than an ancient ruin inside the Sky City, and although its appearance was relatively sleek, Isaac could still sense the immense power contained within it. It was difficult to believe that such a complicated transformation had come from a damaged Sentinel.

To the side, Althea’s eyes widened as she stared at the armor.

"Spatial compression?" she muttered, apparently recognizing the technology despite only seeing it for a short time.

"Aye. The armor be usin’ spatial compression, so I reckon ye already understand how significant that be. More importantly, this ain’t even a special Core, an’ from what I can tell, it were most likely mass-produced," the Ancient Dwarf King explained.

Everyone fell silent after hearing those words. Spatial rings existed, but creating objects that could shrink and expand freely was already difficult, while creating something that could change its size, integrate itself into an armor, and retain its strength was considered extremely difficult with the technology currently available to them. The idea that such technology could be mass-produced made the discovery even more shocking.

"A Sentinel at its weakest is comparable to a max-level Champion, while average Sentinels should be around the level of Overlords from low-rank species. Even if transforming a Sentinel into an exo-suit reduces its overall power, it should still be capable of reaching the level of a max-level Master or perhaps even a Champion. A weapon that can potentially give someone that level of strength while being mass-produced is certainly something that cannot be ignored," Althea said after thinking about it for a moment.

"Hahaha! Exactly. Ye understand what I be lookin’ at. This be precisely the kind o’ thing I needed ta find, so ye should go ahead without me. I want ta examine this machine in much greater detail afore I leave," Ezekiel said, clearly pleased by her explanation.

The others nodded and continued forward, leaving Ezekiel behind with the remains of the Sentinel. He had already told Emily that one of his greatest ambitions was to create armor and weapons that could allow ordinary people, or at least low-level Awakeners, to fight against opponents far stronger than themselves. He had failed to accomplish that goal in his previous life, but the Ancient Dwarf King had never truly abandoned it.

Now, the technology contained within this Sentinel had given him a completely new direction to explore. At present, the Sentinel transformed exo-suit could probably only be used by Masters or Champions because the machine still required a powerful mana source to operate, but if Ezekiel could understand the technology and improve it enough, he might eventually be able to create Sentinels that could be worn by ordinary humans or low-level Awakeners.

If he succeeded, the technology could change the balance of power for countless people who had never possessed the strength to protect themselves.

Of course, creating such technology for others would be nearly impossible under normal circumstances. Even with the knowledge they had gained from the Sentinel, the process was complicated enough that most people would never be able to reproduce it, but someone like Ezekiel still had a non-zero chance of succeeding. If anyone could take the technology apart, understand its principles, and eventually improve it, Isaac believed the Ancient Dwarf King was one of the few people capable of doing so.

’We found spatial compression technology for items just ten minutes after entering this ruin. This place is a treasure-trove,’ Isaac thought with a smile as he glanced toward the direction where Ezekiel had remained behind. Their luck had been unexpectedly good, and considering how valuable the technology could become, Isaac was already thinking about how much it might be worth.

"We can buy the spatial compression technology from you, correct?" Althea asked as they continued walking.

"Buy? Not share?" Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at her.

"Charlotta and I would not have been able to recognize the technology with only the two of us. We would have treated it as nothing more than a ruined Sentinel, and it is not as if we could have taken the entire machine back to our kingdom. Someone from another City or a Monster Tribe would eventually have come here after discovering this Sky City, and we would have been forced to retreat," Althea explained with a wry smile.

She paused for a moment before continuing, "So while we cannot say that our contribution to discovering it was equal to yours, we still hope you will allow us to purchase the technology. We would rather establish a fair arrangement now than create problems between us later."

"How much?" Isaac asked, smiling as they walked.

"We will have to discuss the exact price with the Seventh Queen, but you can be assured that we will offer at least ten thousand Gold Coins, a Legendary weapon, and information about the locations of rare minerals or powerful Bosses. Honestly, I think the Seventh Queen would be willing to give you considerably more than that. She is also a technomancer, so spatial compression technology is something she would do almost anything to get her hands on," Althea replied.

Isaac was surprised by the price of ten thousand Gold Coins, but he remained calm outwardly.

"Should you really be telling me all of these things?" Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow. The way Althea was explaining everything almost made it sound as though she were deliberately helping him negotiate a better deal.

"Let’s say I am simply trying to get on Lord Isaac’s good side for our future relationship," Althea said with a chuckle.

Isaac shook his head but did not respond further. The conversation continued there as the group explored the abandoned Sky City, though the discovery of the Sentinel technology remained in the back of his mind. If Ezekiel really managed to reproduce it, the value of what they had found would be far greater than a few Gold Coins or even a Legendary weapon.

After some time, the group split into smaller teams of two, although none of them moved particularly far away from the others. They remained close enough that if something dangerous appeared, the other groups could reach them almost instantly, and considering the unknown dangers hidden within the Sky City, there was no reason to separate completely.

Isaac ended up moving with Althea and Charlotta’s group, which was the most sensible arrangement given their strength. The three of them carefully searched several buildings, checking rooms and storage areas while keeping an eye out for anything valuable or dangerous. Most of what they found had either deteriorated with time or was too damaged to be useful, but they continued searching without becoming careless.

Eventually, they entered a relatively ordinary house that seemed to have been left untouched for a very long time.

Isaac was looking around the room when Althea crouched down and picked something up from the floor. It was a small cube, and although it looked insignificant at first glance, Althea’s expression changed as soon as she recognized it.

Althea smiled as she turned the object over in her hand. Seeing Isaac’s gaze, she tapped its surface and poured a small amount of mana into it, causing several lines across the cube to light up. The simple reaction seemed to confirm that the device was still functioning despite the enormous amount of time that had passed.

"It is a toy for children, but it also doubles as a basic training device. I used to play with one like this quite often when I was young, so I did not expect something like this to exist this far back in history," she said, looking at the cube with a faint, reminiscent smile.

She placed it inside her spatial ring before standing up again and continuing to search the room with Isaac. The small discovery seemed to have brought back memories for her, and because they were alone, Althea appeared more willing to speak than she normally was when the others were around.

As they moved through the house, Althea occasionally mentioned small things that reminded her of her childhood. She did not describe those memories in great detail, but the simple conversation gradually became more personal, and eventually, it moved toward her family.

"I am not actually the daughter of the Emperor. Well, I am officially his daughter, but I am not his biological daughter," Althea said after a moment, her voice noticeably calmer than before.

Isaac’s feet stopped moving as he processed what he had just heard. He slowly turned his head toward her, his expression stiff as he looked at Althea, and for several seconds he simply stared at her because the revelation had caught him completely off guard.

Althea noticed his expression and chuckled.

"I thought Lord Isaac was very good at controlling his emotions." She teased.

"Anyone would have same reaction if you casually mentioned something like that," Isaac replied, still looking at her with surprise.