Titan: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 4) Jez Cajiao (top ten books of all time TXT) 📖

option. We can leave them working, but I can’t stay that long, and the Prax would have to be secure. I’m not powering you up and leaving you to be claimed by someone else and used against me. You say we can win against the SporeMothers; do you have any information on them or their number? What are you basing that off?”

“You defeated a fully grown, if weak and virtually senile one before…” she said, clasping her hands behind her back. “Therefore, immature offspring would logically be easier to defeat. There is a high likelihood of success, provided your retainers accept the risks and fight to the death.”

“Death?” My brow furrowed. “Wisp, clarify the losses you expect if we fight the SporeMothers.” I ordered, and she smiled faintly.

“There is no doubt that the Prax is a highly valuable and sought-after facility; therefore the losses will be worth accepting…” she began briskly, then trailed off as she saw my face. “I estimate that, based on the information provided by the Goddess Jenae, you will be facing seven SporeMothers of various states, some nigh-on fully grown, some little more than annoyances. Therefore, with the forces you have here, and if you summon your fleet back, you should be able to defeat the invaders with less than fifty percent casualties.” The wisp smiled as though that was brilliant news, and I glared at her.

“Fifty percent?” I snarled. “With the fleet included, meaning we’d lose at least four to five hundred souls?”

“Possibly more,” she agreed calmly.

“Fuck. No,” I ground out. “I won’t enter into a battle like that, even if this thing was operational, let alone, as it is now! This Prax has lain here abandoned for centuries; it can wait a few more years.” I shook my head, dismissing her bloody stupid suggestion.

“The Prax is an Imperial War Machine. It cannot be allowed to fall into rebel hands!” she replied, sounding shocked and horrified, as though it was inconceivable that I’d leave it.

“Nearly a thousand years ago, yeah, it probably was,” I retorted. “Now, it’s a fucking derelict. Can anyone else control the systems? If I order you to lock down this area and concentrate on getting the Golems up and running, can you make damn sure that the SporeMothers and anything else can’t get in?” I asked.

“I judge it unlikely, but it is possible that the area could be secured. However…”

“How many Golems are intact and could be reawakened?” I asked. “For that matter, if you could repair the goddamn place, why the hell didn’t you already? Why wait hundreds of years for me to turn up?”

“There is no way to verify the state of the Golems until I have returned power to those areas,” she said stiffly. “As to the repairs, I was required to return to the Vault and hold fast until ordered to start repairs. It was a countermeasure to prevent damage to my core.”

“And, what, you just sat there while the world went to shit?” I asked, shocked.

“No. I slumbered as I was ordered; then, when I was reawakened by a member of the nobility, I called to the revenants that my crew became, and I attempted to reach others of my kind. The member of the noble houses had come at great risk to himself, he said. He battled through the revenants and demanded access to my core to heal, but when I permitted it, he claimed books and Skill Memories, rather than allowing the activation of the emergency protocols. I was forced to use a significant amount of my remaining mana to expel him from the core when he stole several of my Artifacts, and again, I called for help. Since then, I have been in a state of slow decline, as the last of the mana in the Prax has been drained. I have been surviving on what little ambient mana makes it past the creatures that have taken up residence, for an exceptionally long time.”

“Wait, the Lich I fought; I think he was a noble, was that…”

“The interloper, yes. He claimed several books on the undead and their capabilities, then stole a Lich Phylactery that had been stored here for safe-keeping and investigation long ago. He tied his soul to it and was reborn, spending the next several dozen years attempting to break into my core again to reach the rest of my Artifacts.”

“Okay, what…” I was cut off by a creaking groan that tore along the length of the room, and the floor shifted suddenly, making me realize just how precarious the Prax’s current structure really was.

“Jax!” Yen called frantically, and I grunted, waving my acknowledgement.

“Fine; we don’t have time for this. You accept me as Scion of the Empire; therefore, I order you to open the Vault and allow me access to the core. I will save whatever we can, and we will return when we have enough forces to retake the Prax from the SporeMothers and attempt repairs. For now, you’re coming with me.” I said firmly.

“I cannot…” she started to protest, and I cut her off.

“That’s an order, wisp.”

“But…”

“Open the damn Vault!” I snapped at her, and she stiffened, scowling at me, but waved a hand, and the panel to her right shifted, sliding back and into to the right wall, opening a narrow path into the small building.

I stepped past her and eased inside, finding a single room with shelves that ringed the walls. There were more empty slots than full, but it still held another dozen books, four glowing memory cores, and three swords, two of which were short and wide-bladed, while the third was enormous. There was also a pair of vambraces and a helm that had a subtle silvery glow, and I resolved to examine them later. I grabbed them all, only to find that I didn’t have enough room, Frantically, I dumped some of the sections of the vehicles I’d grabbed and a handful of shitty weapons, before trying again. Fortunately, this time I had