Inside the keep the emergency lights dim, red, and battery-operated flickered on. Casting long, blood-colored shadows against the black obsidian walls.
"They cut the line," Valerie announced. Storming into the War Room. She was covered in dust. Her tactical gear smeared with grease from helping settle the refugees. "The main power grid to this sector just flatlined. The water main has been shut off at the junction. They're trying to siege us out."
Sebastian sat at the head of the obsidian table. Cleaning the [Shadowfang] with a rag. He didn't look up.
"It's the standard playbook," he said. His voice calm. Echoing slightly in the stone chamber. "If you can't breach the fortress you starve the garrison. Colonel Vance is a textbook soldier. He knows he can't win a kinetic war so he's switching to attrition."
"We have MREs for maybe three days with this population," Valerie said. Her voice rising in panic. "But without water? Without power for the heating systems? The temperature drops to near freezing at night now. The refugees will freeze or die of thirst before the week is out."
"Then we don't use their grid," Sebastian stood up. He walked to the window. Looking out at the darkened courtyard where confusion was already starting to spread among the survivors.
"Our generator uses diesel," Valerie pointed out. "We have enough fuel for twenty-four hours of essential operations. After that we're dark."
"Diesel is a dead resource," Sebastian said dismissively. "We are in the Age of Magic. We don't burn dinosaurs anymore. We burn mana."
He walked over to his VR rig. Which was currently running off a dedicated battery backup.
"Maintain order," Sebastian commanded. "Tell them it's a system reboot. I'm going to fetch a new battery."
"From where? The hardware store?"
"From the Thunder Peaks."
[Login Confirmed: Player 'Zero'.]
Sebastian materialized on a jagged spire of rock. Thousands of feet in the air. Below him storm clouds churned like a boiling ocean of grey and violet. Lightning didn't just flash here. It lived. Arcs of electricity thick as tree trunks lashed between the peaks. Creating a deafening, constant roar of thunder that vibrated in the bone marrow.
[Zone: Thunder Peaks]
[Level: 45-50]
[Environmental Hazard: High Voltage. 200 Lightning Damage/sec without insulation.]
Sebastian's [Void Ocean] passive hummed. Creating a thin film of mana over his skin that grounded the ambient electricity. To a normal player this zone was a death trap. To Sebastian it was a resource mine.
He didn't need just any drop. He needed a heart.
He activated [Sky Walk]. Stepping off the spire and onto the air. He ran through the storm. His eyes glowing gold as he scanned the clouds. He ignored the Thunder Hawks screeching in the distance. He needed something denser.
"There."
In the center of a swirling cyclone a creature of living energy floated. It looked like a knight's armor composed entirely of solidified lightning. Wielding a spear made of pure plasma.
[Monster: Storm Elemental Lord]
[Level: 48 (Elite)]
[HP: 850,000 / 850,000]
"You'll do," Sebastian whispered.
He didn't bother with stealth. He dropped from the sky. Accelerating like a kinetic rod. He drew the [Greatsword of the Fallen] from his inventory. Physical iron was a bad conductor for some but perfect for a lightning rod.
The Elemental Lord sensed him. It roared a sound like a crack of doom and thrust its spear upward. A bolt of lightning meant to vaporize a dragon shot toward Sebastian.
Sebastian didn't dodge. He cast [Gravity Domain].
"Down."
The gravity around the Elemental increased hundredfold. The creature composed of energy and magnetic fields suddenly found its cohesion failing. The bolt of lightning curved. Dragged down by the sheer weight of the distorted space. Missing Sebastian by inches.
The Elemental crashed onto a plateau. Its form flickering.
Sebastian landed on its chest. He didn't hack or slash. He activated his [Engineering] interface. Overlaying it with his combat skills.
"Dismantle."
He plunged his hand into the creature's chest. The lightning burned his skin. Turning his HP bar red but he ignored the pain. He bypassed the armor. Bypassed the defense protocols. And grabbed the spinning, chaotic core of the monster.
[Skill: Forbidden Alchemy - Extraction.]
"Mine."
He ripped it out.
The Elemental screamed as its structural integrity collapsed. Without its core the lightning dissipated into harmless static.
[Ding! You have killed Storm Elemental Lord.]
[Item Acquired: Heart of the Storm (Unique Crafting Material).]
[Description: A perpetual motion engine of elemental lightning. Generates 50,000 Kilowatts of magical energy per hour.]
Sebastian looked at the pulsing blue sphere in his hand. It cracked and hissed. Dangerous and unstable.
"Logout."
Back in the real world the warehouse was pitch black. The refugees were huddled together for warmth. The murmurs of fear growing louder. Children were crying.
Suddenly the heavy iron door to the basement generator room slammed open.
Sebastian walked in. Holding the [Heart of the Storm]. In the darkness of the real world the item shone with a blinding, electric blue light. Illuminating the concrete walls with harsh shadows.
He walked to the dead diesel generator. He didn't try to refuel it. He ripped the intake manifold off with his bare hands. Tearing through the metal as if it were cardboard. With his [Engineering] skill bleeding into reality he saw the machine not as an engine but as a conduit.
He shoved the Heart into the engine block.
"Adapt," he ordered. Placing his hands on the metal. "Fuse."
He dumped his mana into the machine. The metal groaned. Shifting. Melting. And reforming. The copper wiring of the generator snaked out like vines. Wrapping around the floating blue crystal. The pistons seized then dissolved. Replaced by rune-inscribed containment coils.
HUMMMMM.
A low, powerful vibration shook the entire fortress.
Outside, in the military encampment five kilometers away, Colonel Vance was watching the dark silhouette of the fortress through night-vision binoculars.
"They're dark," Vance muttered. "Give it another six hours. The cold will break them."
SNAP.
A blinding pillar of blue light shot from the roof of the fortress. Piercing the clouds.
Then the lights came on.
Not just the emergency lights. Every floodlight. Every window. Every rune on the Obsidian walls flared to life with a brilliance that turned night into day. The intensity was dazzling. Mocking the darkness of the ruined city around it. The Mana Turrets on the walls spun up. Their barrels glowing with charged lethality.
The heaters kicked in. Blasting warm air into the refugee quarters. The pumps roared to life. Powered by magic. Pulling water from the deep earth. Bypassing the city's cut lines entirely.
In the generator room Sebastian watched the readouts. The Heart of the Storm was stable. Infinite energy. Clean. Eternal.
"Your move, Colonel," Sebastian whispered. His face illuminated by the blue glow of the new age.