“So, how do I go into this factory thing?” Lua asked.

  “... that’s actually a good question. I just y down on a bed and think I want to go into there, but you aren’t me. But Laura and Mia should know.”

  After I revealed my past to Alice, Lua and Ria, we were going to test if Lua get into Different Dimension Factory. Acc to Laura and Mia, it should be possible, but it is better to test it now, while we are in the same room, than trying to do it when we are apart.

  (I’ll expin then. Please just take a fortable position, close your eyes, a me handle everything else.) I heard Mia’s voi my head.

  “... alright.” Lua said as she id down on one of the beds in the room.

  I guess it is worth mentioning that this room has a total of four beds, as it is desigo fit your average adventuring party.

  (Brian, y down on the bed o her.) Laura told me and I did as ordered.

  (We don’t o hold hands or something like that, right?) I firmed with Laura, taking a quice at Ria and Alice, whom were still in the room.

  (Mr. Brian, you go in first, we will follow.) Mia said.

  (Sure.) I resded in my head, before saying. “I’m going in now. I’ll e back soon.”

  I opened my eyes in the factory, on the trol ptform. But as this rivate area that only myself, Laura, Fantasia and Tahlia could enter, I walked doweps so I was by the circur table that Laura and Mia usually sat at when I woke up and came here in the m. Then I checked that I had my own clothes on, instead of some cospy, courtesy of Fantasia. But as I did, I just stood o the table and waited.

  After less than a minute, I saw an avatar realizing close by. The short crimson hair and turquoise eyes of Lucia came to be ihe factory.

  She wasn’t dressed in her usual adventuring gear, which sisted of dark colors, like her bck pants, dark navy shirt, a leather jacket over that, all covered by a dark cloak. Instead, she wore a purple dress, not too far from the one Mia’s avatar wears. Well, the one Mia wears is more … puffy? Lua’s was a lot closer ts and had a slit, revealing her beautiful pale legs. Seeing them like this reminded me of just how pale Lua’s skin really is. It's iing, as Ria is quite a bit darker than Lua. Well, she is also still pale, but not light pale. Perhaps it is just because Lua always keeps herself so well covered, whereas Ria actually shows some skin.

  Lua looked around, taking in her surroundings. As she spotted me, her eyes locked onto me and she took a few steps towards me.

  “Brian? Did I make it?”

  “Yes. Yes you did. How do you feel?”

  “... strange. My movement is all off. My vision is bad. And what is up with my clothes?”

  “Yeah. The vision problem is something Laura and Mia did warn me about. They simply ot trahe information fast enough at their current levels, so you ’t actually see perfectly. But the movement? What did you mean by that?”

  “It feels … slow. Like I try to move, but it takes a bit before I actually move.”

  “So it's ggy, huh.”

  “Laggy?”

  “It’s a term from my previous world. I’m not really going to expin it, but it is basically what you are experieng.”

  “ something be done about it?”

  “Don’t knoould have to ask Laura and Mia. Actually, why is Laura not here?”

  As I wohat, Laura realized o us.

  “Sorry. I was just making sure everything was w fine.” She said.

  “... is that Laura? Your system support?” Lua asked.

  “Yes. I am.” Laura answered. “It is a pleasure to officially meet you, Miss Lucia. My name is Laura and I am the System Support of Brian Wood.” Laura introduced herself in a very formal manner.

  “... how a system support have a body?”

  “This space is ahat is held withihe soul of my Master, so I am capable of doing things like this ihis space.” Laura answered. “Your system support do it as well, as we are linked.”

  “Mia ? Then why didn’t she?”

  “She , but not at the same time as when you are here.” Laura answered. “We simply ck the necessary puting power, so she has to focus entirely on that to keep you ihis space.”

  “puting?”

  “It refers to calg power.” I answered. “You could pare it to casting a spell. You need immense trol to do that, right? Now imagine an illusiohat makes everything you see around yourself at this moment, and then think about just how difficult that would be. Our two system supports are basically keeping that up all the time while you are here.”

  “... I think I get it. So it is difficult to get me here.”

  “Yes. It is quite challenging.” Laura answered.

  “Is it as difficult to get Mia into here?”

  “No, not quite. Maria is a System Support, so she move more freely through the system than you . Effectively, when she is here, she leaves your body temporarily and es here instead. It is actually quite simir to what I do when I realize myself here.”

  “So you actually leave my body when you are in the factory?” I asked.

  “Yes. There is a reason I ot hear your thoughts while I’m in here. My e with you is somewhat severed when I e here, as otherwise I would face simir difficulties as Miss Lucia is experieng right now. And that would just not be feasible.”

  “... alright. Well, if it works.”

  “Brian, what about my outfit?” Lua asked.

  “What about it? It looks great on you.”

  “Thank you. … Wait! No! That’s not what I mean! Why am I wearing a dress?”

  “No clue. I ge my clothing if I wish for it, so maybe try that.” I said as I ged my clothes from my usual jeans and t-shirt look to generic adventurer look, which I totally didn’t steal from Zayaan, to a three piece-suit, and then bay usual stuff.

  “... wow. Then did you do this?” She asked, referring to her dress.

  “No I didn’t. Laura? I bme you?”

  “Hey! This isn’t oher.” She pined. “It is most likely something Maria did.”

  “Mia? Would she have?”

  “Well, her avatar does also wear a dress, so I could see that being the case.” I ented.

  “Does she? What does she look like?”

  “Like your older sister.” That was the easiest way to describe Mia’s avatar.

  “My older sister? What would that be like?”

  “Laura, we show her the security footage from this m?”

  “Sure. Let me call Tahlia over.” Laura said as her avatar disappeared. She probably teleported into Tahlia’s room.

  While we waited for Laura to return, Lua asked if I would help her ge her clothes, as she failed to do so on her own. I did as she asked and she ended up with nice purple jeans, and a white t-shirt with a cute cat printed on it. I was thinking of printing a catgirl at first, but thought it would be better if it was just a normal cat. She did also have a hoodie avaible, but she decided to take it off.

  “Father, I heard you needed me.” I heard Tahlia say, so I turo look at her.

  Tahlia, whom I’ve never seen in anything but her pink onesie, was now wearing a formal looking dress. It had a dark blue base color, and it had gereen embroidery that looked like a circuit board.

  “Father? Brian, who is this girl?” Lua asked.

  “I guess I’ll have to introduce you. But first, Laura, you go pick up Fantasia as well? I think it will be better if I introduce both of them at the same time.”

  “Sure. Just give me a sed.” Laura said, as her avatar again disappeared, only to reappear a few seds ter with Fantasia.

  Fantasia was wearing another cospy again. I guess it is basically tradition for her at this point. Today, it was a cutesy nurse uniform. She also had rge white wings, most likely copied from Iion Fairy Lily.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]

  “Papa!” She called as she took rushed into me. Her wings fluttered like she was trying to take flight, but we both learhat just having wings wouldn’t let you fly the hard way st evening, so she was still just running.

  I kneeled down a bit and took her into my arms.

  “... so, what is all of this?” Lua asked after looking at my family lineup.

  “Lua, this is Tahlia. She is the avatar of my Iory skill. She is a bit special of a case in terms of being an Iory, as she was born from a card I installed into myself. Tahlia, this is Lucia. I think you know this already, but she saved my life when I almost died.”

  “It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lucia.” Tahlia greeted Lua.

  “Yes. A pleasure.” Lua said, seeming a bit nervous. “Please just call me Lua. No miss or anything.”

  “As you wish, Lua. Feel free to call me Tia as well.” Tahlia responded.

  Tia? Why didn’t I think of that? And if she is Tia, then Fantasia would be Fia. Fia and Tia.

  “And then there is Fantasia. Lua, this is Fantasia. She is the avatar of Different Dimension Factory, aka this space we are inside of. Fantasia, this is Lucia. Treat her well.”

  “Yes. Hi, Miss Lucia!” Fantasia greeted Lua.

  “Hi. It is good is great to meet you, Fantasia. You just call me Lua.”

  “Yes, aunty Lua!”

  ““Aunty?”” Both Lua and I asked at the same time.

  “When did I bee an aunt?”

  “How did she e up with that?”

  “... papa? What is wrong?”

  “Why did you call Lua aunty?” I just decided to ask her.

  “Is she not? Laura is mama, aunty Maria is mama’s sister and aunty Lua is aunty Maria’s sister. So Lua is also aunty.”

  “... okay then…” Yeah, the logic checks out. Except that Mia and Lua aren’t sisters. “But Mia and Lua aren’t actually sisters.”

  “... eh? So aunty Lua isn’t my aunt? Then what is she?”

  “I think cousin would be the most accurate.” Laura said. “sidering that Maria was inally based on Lua’s mother, and has now taken on the name of her grandmother, cousin would be the most accurate term.” She told Fantasia.

  “... so cousin Lua?”

  “Yes. I be your cousin.” Lua answered. “... she is adorable …” I heard her mutter afterwards.

  We first spent some time speaking about things around the table. Tahlia used a tablet t up the security footage from this m, so she could show Lua what Mia looks like ihe factory. Lua was a bit taken back by how Mia was dressed, but otherwise seemed to find her good looking.

  I also asked Lua about her system mission, but it hadn’t rewarded her yet. As of now, only Rosemary, the elder of the vilge, and Ria had evolved their blood magito true blood magic.

  After that, I gave her a quick tour of the factory, mainly pointing out the pces she shoulder, like the trol ptform and the Different Dimension Treasury room. I don’t wao get beaten up by the goblin guards. And there is a force field of some kind so she ’t eveo the trol ptform.

  I made sure to show her the pces which would be the most useful to her. The vampire room, the Umi rooms, as well as The Sanctuary in the Sky room. Vampires for obvious reasons, the Umi rooms for water magic practid Sanctuary as most of my healer monsters were fairies, so they could be found in that room. And a lot of fairies were also light attribute, if she wao learn light magic.

  “Don’t worry Lua, if you get lost, I’ll show you around.” Fantasia offered. She had been holding Lua’s hand ever since we begaour, and it didn’t seem like Lua wao let go either.

  “What are they making?” Lua asked.

  We had goo the Vampire Kingdom room of the factory, as Lua wao see it. There, we had heard some sounds of hammering and decided to go take a closer look. We entered one of the buildings that had appeared oskirts of the hill after Different Dimension Treasury got to level 2.

  There, we spotted a team of four Iron Bcksmith Kotetsu hammering a piece of steel or iron, while a neire was using blood magic to add some blood into the metal.

  I say neire, as it is one I haven’t met yet. Dressed in bck armor, with gold ats and holding a giant nce. Even the horse that had been tied up outside beloo him.

  Vampire Red Baron. must have gotten him with Vampire's Domain at some point.

  Spoiler[colpse]After finishing the fold they were w on, the hammering stopped and the ingot was tossed bato the fire. Then the four bcksmiths joined bodies and became one.

  “Miss, we are making blood iron.” He then answered.

  “Blood iron? Really? You do that?”

  “Yes. You take a look at the samples over there on that table.” He answered, pointing at a pile of ingots. There seemed to be about 50 of them.

  Lua stepped over with Fantasia, and proceeded to look over the ingots. But I had something else I wao find out.

  “How did you bine like that?” I asked the smith.

  “We just did. I don’t know how to expin it aer than that.” He answered.

  “Father, if I may.” Tahlia offered.

  “Go for it.”

  “Your monsters, if they are the same monster from the same set, bihemselves like that. It allows them to share information from the times they are summoned easier, so your monsters often do that. That way, they also alternate whie of them you summoime you take out a monster of that kind, unless you specifically specify whie you want. But as Pack Opener’s colle doesn’t differentiate between two or more copies of the same card, if they are in the exact same state sidering install, sleeve and toploader status, and so on, it is impossible for you to call on a specifister, unless you have somehow differentiated it from the other copies of itself. Mainly, by installing a card into it.”

  “... okay. I think I got it. Maybe.”

  “It is quite simple really. But if you wao put it into words you better uand, just don’t worry about it, because it works.”

  “Yeah. That does sound like something I would say.”

  “Is this really blood iron? This feels different from the others.” Lua ented, holding one specifigot in her hands.

  “You have a good eye, miss. It is an attempt at making vampiric steel, but it is still just an unsuccessful prototype.” Vampire Red Baron expined.

  “Vampiric steel? That metal that the vampire’s of old used te their ons?”

  “I am not too familiar with the history of your world's vampires, but that might be the case. Vampiric steel is the stronger form of blood iron, requiring true blood magic to be used while it is being made. We are even using dragon blood to give us the highest ce of success, but evehat piece is the only thing eveely close to what we are trying to make.”

  So they stole some blood from one of my dragons? Well, I guess as long as they didn’t kill said dragon and said dragon gave permission, I have no issues with that.

  But vampiric steel, huh. That does sound iing. Perhaps I should make Ria stuff out of that metal, instead of blood iron.

  “Laura, how good is vampiric steel?”

  “It is sidered a greater metal, like mithril and hihi'iroka has some advantages over those two materials, but it also has its own disadvantages. Acc to the information I have access to, it is sidered the overall lowest rank of the three.”

  “Ah. Alright.”

  “That might be.” Vampire Red Baron said. “But that is only for a human. For a vampire or even a dhampir, vampiric steel is better than adamantite.”

  I turned my gaze back to Laura, waiting for an expnation.

  “Adamantite is a part of the greatest metals, on level with orichalcum. It is extremely heavy and sturdy making ons made from it difficult to wield for a the people with extremely high strength. But it also holds an edge better than any other metal. The dragon sying sword of Buster Bder is made of adamantite.”

  “A me guess, the dungeon ake it.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So the staff of Dark Padin is also adamantite?”

  “irely. It only has an edge made of it. The rest is other materials, like orichalcum, star titanium and void uranium.”

  “... oh god. Why do I ask?”

  “I believe that means that you correctly identified both star titanium and void uranium being on the same level as orichalcum and adamantite.”

  “Yeah. Kind of figured that out.”

  “So, how that vampiric steel match up to the other metals?” I asked Red Baron.

  “Yes, that. Miss, would you hand that ingot over?” He asked Lua.

  “Ah. Sure.”

  “Now, please observe.” He said before as the ingot in his hand began to move.

  He tur from an ingot into a dagger, then a whip looking thing, then a gau, finally returning it bato an ingot.

  “Vampiric steel be trolled in this way with the use of blood magic. Of course with the quality of the ingot that one isn’t great for it, but if we make a perfee, I could do way more. And also, while it be doh just blood magic, makiain things like that whip would be more difficult, so it is only reended if you use true blood magic.”

  “Wow. So I could do something like that?” Lua looked on in wonder.

  “Yes. As long as you practiough and obtain some vampiric steel.”

  “Brian!” Lua turo me with her eyes shining. Literally. “May I buy some of this steel from you?”

  “... sure. But it isn’t ready yet, as you just heard. And the matter ihe factory isly real. I’ll have to have them make some in the real world, before I give it to you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. This pce, at the end of the day, is just a mental pne. My monsters learn things here and so on, but things made here ot be taken outside.” I expined. “Just think about your clothes. I could just ge them, without having you to strip or anything. You think of this as the same.”

  “Ah. I see. Then would you sell me some when you have some made?”

  “No. I think I’ll just give it to you as a gift instead. This isn’t something I really put a pri, so I don’t want to sell it.” I answered.

  “... thank you.” Lua took me into a deep hug.

  We returo the table at the bottom of the trol ptform and headed out of the factory. Even with the time dition of the LV.2 factory, we had still been in here for over one real world hour, so it was time for us to return.

  I closed my eyes in the factory, and opehem in the real world.

  “Wele back, Master.” o Queen was the first to notice me ing back. I wonder if my monsters instinctively feel me returning.

  “Brian? I wasn’t…” Alice panicked a bit as she let go of my hand, which she had been holding against her cheek. Ria was on my other side, doing the same.

  “Ria?”

  “Just a bit longer.” She said, holding oighter.

  “... so this is what you have been up to.”

  I let Ria keep a hold of my arm, as I sat up. I looked over at the bed where Lua id, but her eyes were still closed.

  (Laura? Did something g?) I firmed.

  (... It’s just the g. She will be there shortly.) Laura responded.

  [In the factory, just after Bria.]

  “Miss Lucia, you should head back as well.” Laura said to Lua.

  “I will, in just a sed. I wao ask you something first, while Brian ’t hear us. He ’t at the moment, right?”

  “Yes, he ot.” Laura firmed. She khat this would be recorded, but she could also ask Tahlia to alter or delete the rec if necessary.

  “You took on the body of his … girlfriend, right?”

  “Yes. And her void Master also named me after her.”

  “Then could you please speak with him. Not as his System Support, but as his girlfriend. You o give him permission to move on. Otherwise, he will never find someoo love.”

  “... I’ll try. But he be stubborn, so I ’t promise that just my words will do it. May I ask for you to also act towards that goal oher side?”

  “Yes. I will.”

  “Then we are in agreement. You o head back. Master is starting to worry because you haven't woken up yet.”

  “Yes. Thank you.” Lucia said before she disappeared from the factory.

  Laura then turo Tahlia and ordered. “Make sure you delete the rec of this versation.”

  “Yes, Mother.” The daughter that was always ready to follow orders responded. Luckily Fantasia had stayed in the Vampire Kingdom room, as she might not be able to stay quiet about this.

  nro_8