Spending My Retirement In A Game

"This town is called ’Prototype’?" Eisen asked, surprised, and swiftly, Constant nodded its head in response. "Yes, that is what the name of this town used to be. And the reason for that is quite simple. This was the first town that was established using a Town Core, while also being the place where you used to test numerous ideas out. And here, you also started working on the concepts of ’Ego-Items’, ’Magic Inscription’, and ’Artificial Evolution’. Your research into Ego-Items resulted in us Core Guardians. Those that are outside of the castle may also have been constructed similarly, but they are neither connected to a core themselves nor are they connected to the Guardian and became Helpers, as I did." Constant explained, slightly flinching every once in a while when Eisen started fixing the ’stumps’ that were its arm and leg, and the old man slowly nodded his head.

"Interesting. Is there any reason why I wanted to do that?" Eisen asked, but Constant shook its head. "Sorry, I do not know your reasons behind this, Master Eisen. All I know is that you were trying to create Artificial Life. And it did seem like you managed to do so, however, in a different form and situation than you had hoped."

"Artificial Life? Like a Homunculus?" The old man inquired curiously, but once more, Constant shook its head. "Similar, but no. As I have been given the task to watch over your workshop, I was here whenever you came to work on a project, but I can only explain what I understood. What you were attempting to create was a true, artificial being accepted by the gods, a person. And not just any person, but artificial ones that were of a specific race. Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and so on. But in the end, all you had managed to create were the Warforged." Constant explained, and immediately, Bree jumped over toward them, surprised.

"The Warforged?! Eisen created the Warforged?!" She asked with a shocked expression on her face, and the Helper nodded his head.

"Yes, Master Eisen did create them. They were supposed to be beings of beauty and honor but were then desecrated through War when the method to create them was stolen, and as such, became the Warforged. They are a mixture of the living and machines like us and became a mixture of People and Monsters, so they did not end up being what you hoped to create. The ’Failure’ is one of those Warforged. A Horrid being, traveling throughout the lands to get its hands on whatever of your creations it can to strengthen its body. And after Master Eisen left us, we were there for it to feed on. I am afraid to say that I do not remember if I encountered it as well, but I am sure that the Failure was who took the Blood from my fellow Guardians." Constant explained, and Eisen slowly nodded his head in response.

"I see..." The old man muttered to himself, and at that point, another figure appeared in the doorframe. It was Sigurd, with Fafnir standing directly behind it.

"Huh?" Sigurd asked, confused as it approached Eisen, Bree, and Constant, "Another core Guardian?" Sigurd asked, and Eisen swiftly shook his head.

"Yes, although it’s technically a ’Core Helper’ because it’s not connected to a core but the core Guardian. The Guardian is there on the floor." The old man explained, and with a frown, Sigurd crossed its arms annoyedly. "And why does it get to be so tall? At least the other one is my size, but the Core Guardian is annoyingly large..." Sigurd complained, and Eisen just chuckled in response, while Constant looked at Sigurd confused.

"A Core Guardian? But what type may you be?" Constant asked, so Sigurd raised its arm and let Fafnir approach and press his head against its hand. "I’m the Dungeon Guardian to this guy here!" Sigurd exclaimed, and Constant excitedly looked over toward Eisen.

"You have finally created a Living Dungeon, Master Eisen?" Constant asked, but Eisen just raised his eyebrows surprised.

"You know about it?" He inquired, and Constant immediately nodded. "Of course, I do! It was one of your steps of research when working toward Artificial Life! You had managed to create Cores that were capable of growing like Monsters artificially, but just through those Cores, you were not able to create life. Then you found their uses as Town, Dungeon, Country, or Guild cores. Following that, you changed the way that we Core Guardians function compared to the old generation outside the castle, and us new Generation became able to connect to cores or other Guardians. But then, after noticing the certain conditions and peculiarities of the requirements of leveling up, especially for Dungeon Cores that were able to only level and rank up for the first while after being established, you chose to create different Living Versions of those cores, but as far as I am aware you never ended up creating a Living Dungeon!" The Core Helper explained, while Eisen instead curiously listened, and then as he was starting to create replacement-parts, he had Constant continue his explanation.

"Hmm, I think you made a few Living Towns... One is still wandering through the deserts of the Fiery Continent to the south. Another is swimming through the oceans. And another dug itself down deep into the earth with its citizens. The Living Country evolved peculiarly and became the foundation for the easternmost continent. And the Living Guilds also evolved quite peculiarly, but they became quite humanoid and became the central pieces for large Guilds." Constant explained, and Eisen looked back at the Helper with a wry smile.

"I did have more of an impact on this world than I thought I had, huh..?" Eisen muttered to himself, and Constant immediately nodded its head excitedly. "Of course you did, Master Eisen! How could you not have?" It exclaimed proudly, while Eisen just started smiling wryly, feeling slightly overwhelmed at all of the things that this place’s version of him was supposed to have done.

"So... About that other thing you mentioned..." The old man started, somehow feeling like he wanted to change the topic, "Magic Inscription, was it?" He asked, and Constant once more swiftly nodded, although Eisen then promptly told Bree to keep its head steady so that it wouldn’t end up throwing some of the parts in its head out of it.

"Ah, yes... Magic Inscription was one of the Original Skills created in collaboration between Master Eisen and Miss Xenia." Constant explained, and immediately continued, "It is a truly amazing Skill, especially when watching you work using it. It combines different principles from different magic-related crafting skills. As far as my shallow understanding in this topic reaches, it works by expanding the Mana and World energy contained within a crystal and then... You shift things around!" The Helper pointed out, but Eisen just raised a brow confused. "I shift things around?" He asked, and the Helper once more just nodded.

"Yes? You explained it to me once, it is a far more complex manner of enchanting, letting you directly inscribe the energy that makes up different Crystals instead of only inscribing the physical layer. Of course, there is still an effect on the physical object, but it works in a very different way. I think." Constant added, so Eisen just turned his head over toward Bree.

"Do you know what the Magic Inscription Skill is?" Eisen asked her, and Bree slowly nodded her head. "I think so... But it’s a really rare skill, and I don’t know how to get it either..." Bree explained to Eisen, who just slowly nodded in reply.

"That’s fine. Maybe I can find some notes on it somewhere around it... But Constant, why was that skill important in the process of creating artificial life?" The old man asked next, but it seemed like not even Constant was aware of that part of it, and just tilted its head to the side. So, Eisen sighed slightly and placed some of the different pieces he already prepared so far to the side and was now working on the internal parts for Constant’s Replacement-Arm and -Leg.

"Anyway, Constant, is there coincidentally some extra storage for your guys’ blood somewhere here?" Eisen asked, and after a little bit of thinking, the Helper nodded its head. "I think so; it should be in the storage for regular materials under here..." Constant explained, and Eisen grunted in response and slammed his hand onto the table next to him annoyedly at the fact that the Helper didn’t tell him about that yet.

"B-But I’m the only one that knows where it is right now! So repairing me was a good idea after all, right..? Right..?" Constant asked with a wry smile, and Eisen slowly nodded his head.

"Mhm, right. I’ll finish your arm and leg up, and then we’re going down there to grab some of the blood. I already somewhat fixed another one of you in the Treasury, and it only needs some blood now as well." Eisen explained, so Constant looked at Eisen, surprised. "Jard’s blood was also stolen?" The Helper asked, and the old man just nodded his head in response.

"If ’Jard’ was the Core Helper taking care of the Treasury, then yes. It had the same hole in the back of its neck as the big guy here." The old man pointed out before Eisen thought of something else that he was kind of curious about.

"By the way, why don’t you find it weird that I don’t remember anything?" Eisen asked Constant, who just scratched its cheek, the one that was actually still there and shrugged. "It’s not my place to question what you tell me, Master Eisen. Even if you told me that you’re in reality a frog or a blade of grass, I would believe you without a second of hesitation. You have never lied to me before, so I don’t see why you would do so now, even after losing your memories."

"I see... Well, thanks for trusting in me that much then. And I’m sorry for letting all of this happen to you guys." The old man apologized as he finished all the different parts and brought them over toward Constant, slowly starting to attach them to its stumps.

"There is no need to apologize. I doubt you ever wished for this to happen, and you warned us that it might be our last time meeting you the way you were back then." Constant replied, slightly flinching in response to some of the rougher things that needed to be done to attach everything to its body correctly.

"Ah, and do you have any rough idea of how all the different monsters ended up living and overflooding the town?" Eisen asked, but Constant tilted its head to the side in response.

"There always were monsters living in town from the start. I think it was just that without proper leadership, they went slightly rogue." Constant pointed out, so Eisen, Bree, and Sigurd looked at him surprised. "Really? So there were always Kobolds, Ratmen, Goblins, and Lizardmen living in town?" Eisen asked, and swiftly, Constant nodded again.

"Yes, as far as I remember, at least. That was part of the Experiment connected to this town." Constant explained, and once more noticing that Eisen wasn’t sure what it was talking about, the Core Helper continued.

"Well, Towns can grow to the next rank by increasing their wealth or populace. You wanted to see if that would only count people, or also monsters that properly live in this town." The Helper pointed out, so Eisen began to grin. "Oh? Interesting, so do you know the resolution to that Experiment?" The old man asked, and Constant just scratched his cheek.

"As far as I know, monsters count just as much as people, as long as they aren’t directly tamed and properly live in the town under its laws."