Chapter 440 : Generous Gifts

Before I left with my supplies courtesy of Keldenar's generous donation, I made sure to pop in and at least say hello to Sylvester and Sylthaeryn. Even though they were technically me, I was treating them for all intents and purposes as their own individuals. I had considered it was not only a stupid idea but a risky one considering the warnings placed in [Split Personality], yet I felt reassured by my authority as the prime core.

Besides, I figured that if I treated them well, then surely there wouldn't be any potential for rebellion. Maybe I was being silly, but I felt like I owed it to them for all the help they had given me, especially during the early stages of my journey. And, if the unthinkable ever happened and I was left all alone, well, then at least I'd have someone to talk to.

I shooed away those dark thoughts and focused on the happy present. Sylvester was working hard and happy as always, possibly still not knowing about his future workload increase. I secretly wished him good luck before leaving and checking in on my body double.

Or well, technically I'm supposed to be her body double. Is this what you'd call a double's double? Or a counterfeit decoy? Not sure… It's funny to think about though.

Sylthaeryn was effectively on vacation compared to Sylvester, although she was still keeping up with her regular training and tasks. She received a luxurious home in Keld, including its own personal archery range, which was actually a golem target that provided several features, such as a dodging target or a damage test.

Not only was she still training, but she was also involved in the political side of things thanks to me delegating it to her. This meant meetings between Keldenar himself as well as some of Keld's ministers. From that front, things seemed to be progressing relatively smoothly, and it seemed that the Feirelle were soon going to be the first elven customers when the trade agreement was finalized.

Honestly, I was starting to zone out during Sylthaeryn's debriefing, as even when I tried to be focused, it was hard when I just didn't have any interest in the matter. I did perk up during the discussion about the bait, and apparently they'd already caught one assassin, if you could even call him that.

"Someone from the Outeatus Kingdom tried to sneak in via a merchant's caravan. He wasn't trying very hard, though, so he might have just been a decoy to suss out Keld's intentions," Sylthaeryn explained.

"Huh… Well, let me know if you need any help. With [Exchange], I should be able to come to your side instantly."

Since I couldn't deposit my primary core, this would be the best way I could jump to another personas aid if the need arose. When I showed off the spell, I could almost feel the jealousy radiating from Sylthaeryn. Sure, my personas could force themselves to cast [Dimension Magic], but without the Class affinity and the actual skill levels to back it up, it was a poor imitation.

"Whatever happened to you trying to make a dimensional affinity imitation?" Sylthaeryn asked, not even bothering to hide her intent.

I could only chuckle awkwardly in response, poorly attempting to dodge the question. It was still on my list of tasks, but until I had [Dimensional Praxis] I didn't think I could do it, and to get there I still needed [Triangulate] and no doubt needed to use [Skill Deconstruct] on [Personal Rift].

With that, I prepared to go back home, but not before receiving another updated golem on the location of my final labyrinth, at least for now. There were more labyrinths if I ever wanted the challenge, but Keldenar had picked this one based on my request for a gray slime, although it came with a word of caution.

"Unlike the last one, this is a genuine labyrinth labyrinth. It even comes with minotaurs and traps, so be on guard. You can get lost in there, although I guess maybe I don't need to warn you about that since you seem to be able to teleport out regardless?"

Keldenar was clearly not sure, and I couldn't answer that until I was there myself. I had thought myself immune to such shenanigans, but the snow globe messing with coordinates had certainly humbled me. As for traps, I didn't care about them unless they were on the level of Vee's [Rift Thread], as they felt like something I could ignore.

And so I returned once again to Tanglebay after a few detours, returning to guard Vee's [Rift Door] while studying the new toys I'd been given. Keldenar had been extremely generous with his gifts, giving me literally every type of storage device imaginable, including some that were not reproducible by enchanters yet.

I had found that surprising, but now when I looked at the item I found out why. Rather than being a bag or chest, these were just random items: a ring, a necklace, and even a dagger, yet they all had spatial storage capability and were evidently dungeon rewards. Each came with minor perks, though, which made up for their lackluster storage space.

The ring could deposit almost anything while worn by simply placing your hand on the item; however, it could only store a single item, no matter how small. The necklace seemed to have [Equipment Swap] built into it, a neat trick but limited only to clothes. The necklace itself had no limit in what it could store, but the available space was only as big as a dresser.

The dagger could store liquids, and when withdrawn would leak from the blade. The usage was obviously for poisons, although that hadn't stopped Keldenar from apparently filling it with wine for some reason or other.

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Was he using it for party tricks? He really is an eccentric man…

I had permission to destroy these items if I needed to, as Keldenar was far more interested in somehow replicating the snow globe. The man was basically obsessed with the idea, which was probably why he had asked what the final reward was, hoping it would be another snow globe. I had mentioned it to Sylvester, and his answer made me understand why.

"He probably wants a portable golem workshop. While he can store his golems thanks to his skills, he still needs a suitable location to build them and assemble them. Imagine if he could bring his workshop with him? Keep it in his pocket and have it constantly churning out more golems for him."

Whether that was what Keldenar wanted or not, I wasn't sure, but it was very evident that Sylvester wanted one. We had our glorious [Core Storage], but he couldn't craft golems inside there unless they were completely made out of slime. Even with the additional levels I'd recently gotten, my [Core Storage] seemed to only permit slime crafting inside it, and I honestly doubted that would ever change.

As for the blueprints, chests, and bags I got, they were the cream of the crop. Included was even the supremely coveted food storage, something the Merchants Guild put the highest possible price tag on, which kept things as fresh as they were when they entered. My [Core Storage] came with that function from as early as I could remember, so perhaps I took such things for granted.

I spent time studying the blueprints and then taking apart the various items to study their engravings more closely. I used the half-completed [Rune Identify] that Sylvester made, while also making some minor improvements on it during the process. I had wanted to rant about Sylvester leaving it unfinished, only to realize I was effectively complaining about myself.

Is this what they mean when they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?

Days continued to pass by, and while there was still no sign of Vee's return, I was making good progress on my various tasks. I'd successfully learned all the blueprints provided to me and even mass-produced a bunch of the products for all our residents on the island. While some like Leon weren't too fussed about it, the goblins were ecstatic, some of them even breaking out into tears over receiving such a valuable gift.

"Only the chief gets storage, so this is unexpected," Yuzz explained.

If I'd known it would mean that much to them, I would've given it to them sooner. Even Glooz was over the moon with his new food storage pouch, able to keep all his ingredients fresh and ready for cooking.

Let's just hope he doesn't try to make gloop in it.

My study of the enchantments certainly helped, and I began trying to use my newfound findings to partially replicate my own compressed space. As weird as it might sound, it was arguably easier to make an enchantment version of it rather than an on-demand spell thanks to the aid of physical components. A spell construct was mystical and had its own rules, but enchantments could, in a way, be pieced together.

My goal was to make a small area of compressed space, and once that was done, I could reverse-engineer it into a spell, or maybe I'd even get an appropriate skill as a reward for the accomplishment. If not for [Metal Slime], I would've sunk hundreds of rare resources into this project, which I suspected others had probably done after witnessing the snow globe, even without the notes to help them.

I set up a small area and even talked Leon into helping out on occasion; that was until he found out this was related to spatial manipulation, and he had a sudden change of heart. Whether it was due to its "anti-science" aspect or his trauma from Vee, the crab stubbornly refused to help. Still, at least I got to keep the reinforced room he made for me.

[Triangulate] was also not forgotten about, and I would try to incorporate it into my workflow whenever I could. At this stage, I had a very simple version of it working, but it was so barebones that not even the system recognized it. At the very least, it could crunch basic coordinates for me, which helped when I was enchanting items to create my spatial room.

Eventually, after toiling away, I had my first glimpse of success. It was terrible to look at from the outside, but I'd managed to make a room that was permanently double its actual size. As soon as you entered, everything was immediately larger, and if you observed from the outside, things appeared to be halved.

It might have seemed underwhelming after all the effort I put into it, but I knew this would be the catalyst to completing it, and from here I could directly study it by being both inside and outside it at the same time. I had wanted to re-enter the snow globe numerous times, but it was still foggy, and the idea of forcing my way in still came with that ominous premonition.

The best part was now I could target my [Triangulate] spell to start working on these compressed coordinates. They were only halved, so it was relatively simple compared to the snow globe, which contained an entire castle and accompanying town, but it was the start I needed to get things underway.

In a way, I was sort of "teaching" the spell how to calculate the coordinates, paving the way for it to handle bigger and more complex calculations later on. If it worked on a simple application, then I could gradually scale it up till it reached my desired result. I started delegating the training to one of my [Sub-Cores] and started the process of my next compressed space.

Using my previous success, combined with slightly better ingredients and, more importantly, tighter, well-refined enchantments and spellcraft, I was working on a quadruple-compressed room. I had strong-armed Leon into crafting that at least, since he was one of the only ones capable of building with dungeon brick at this stage.

My first room had also been made out of recycled dungeon brick, as I could think of no sturdier material for a permanent fixture. As great as my slime was, it wasn't something that could stand the test of time, unless I wanted to leave a [Sub-Core] here permanently.

Actually no, that still wouldn't be enough. It would need to eat on occasion to replenish the daily slime loss… Well, at least until I take that Slime Queen evolution.

I'd been so lost in my combined work of studying my existing space and constructing the upgraded version that I almost didn't notice the sudden spatial change on the island as the [Rift Door] had begun to open itself. Not only that, but I felt the familiar bonded presence returning to me, and I rushed to the entrance, almost catastrophically abandoning my work-in-progress if not for a [Sub-Core] quickly jumping to hold it in place.

Time to finally see what the big secret was all about. I hope the world is ready for the sudden increase in verbal lashings…