Hello all, unfortunately, this week has been quite busy for me so I won't be posting next week, but I will be publishing the week after, sorry for the delay, but I hope you enjoy the chapter no less. Also if you enjoy my work and would like to support me I appreciate one-time support and all my members on Buy Me A Coffee, members get access to my private discord as well as early art commissions and chapters.

Skye and Terra led the group around the village and between conversations everyone threw out ideas for things Agni might enjoy. After naming a couple, they paused to allow the drakelings the chance to explain things.

“We have several temporary and semi-permanent structures, such as the walls and the tents; we decided it would be best so that we could get your opinion on the layout and what you would like,” Skye said, walking backwards and addressing John. “We do have two permanent features, however: the first are the watchtowers which have been strategically placed by the dwarves, and the second is a road which leads to Queen Leilani’s forest.”

Terra mirrored Skye, turning to face them as they walked, and added, “The dwarves have assured us that the buildings they’ve erected for themselves are moveable and they don’t mind moving to a location you might prefer after you see Merl’s proposed layout. They only have four buildings right now and we’ll visit three of them because I don’t see a reason to go to the hunter-gatherer guild today. Merl is likely at the construction guild, and everyone else is out in the field.”

As they walked John looked at the sparsely placed canvas tents. Most were closed, but occasionally there would be an open one; some had beds, while others seemed to be used for storage. It was clear to John they were heading in a specific direction. The smell of wood, metal, coal and leather filled the air hinting at what the building might be, and the rhythmic ringing of hammer on anvil only confirmed John’s suspicions.

They arrived at a wooden-framed canopy, open on all sides but one, housing several crafting workstations and two stalls. Neither stall had stock on the shelves; instead, several pallets sat in front of them. One held metal hardware like nails and brackets, while the other had stacks of hewn wood, tanned leathers, and sheets of fine cloth. Hanging from each stall were pretty bells, but looking around, there was no one in sight.

The lack of people was odd, especially considering the sound of hammering was still there, louder now that they were under the canopy. The drakelings kept walking, leading them towards the small wattle and daub building. The base was lined with large, perfectly cut stone bricks, similar to the footings of the canopy.

The ringing became louder and louder the closer they got, and John couldn’t help but admire the large double doors which dominated the building’s front. One side was framed with carved stone, while the other was similarly carved but out of a dark tight grain wood, topped with a forged metal capstone in the middle. The right door was bright warm wood, while the left was a beautifully blue patinated metal, both adorned with different but complementary designs.

Skye opened the wooden door, and curiously the hammering suddenly dropped in volume. Standing in the centre of the workshop was a girl with white-silver hair which shimmered with pinks, yellows and blues like a soap bubble. Hearing the door open, she turned and smiled.

She wore armour reminiscent of a video game character, with her toned stomach, and parts of her arms and thighs all exposed. Shield-like tassets covered her hips, and a navy blue knee-length loincloth covered her inner thighs. John almost laughed seeing that her thigh-high armoured boots were lifted by stiletto heels.

As she turned, the large metal wood plane she held began to shift and transform into a heavy war pick. “Welcome. Give me one moment,” she said, turning to call out, “Mistress, I need your presence!”

“GG! How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Mistress?” a female voice replied from behind a door, accompanied by bumps and bangs.

“Well, you call me GG, so why can’t I call you my mistress?” GG retorted, puffing her cheeks and stomping her foot, causing the wood beneath to crack slightly.

“It’s completely different, and you know it! GG is a cute name of endearment. I’m your damn sister, and hearing you call me Mistress makes me feel like you see yourself as less than me, and I won’t bloody have it!” the voice argued.

The sound of stomping grew closer until a figure burst through the door and marched up to GG. Attempting to appear intimidating, she puffed up her chest. She might have seemed threatening if the grey-skinned dwarf wasn’t stomach-height compared to the other girl.

John’s eyes lingered on the dwarf, or specifically her chest which spilled out of the side of her apron. He was momentarily distracted, though, as her impressive muscular arms tensed and untensed.

“Damn, she might be short, but she looks like she could bench-press me. And look at them hips! I bet her thighs are thicc as fuck, I’d happily have them wrapped around my head,” Ellie whispered to John.

Violet leaned into his other ear. “Think those milk tanks are functional or just for fun? Cos I’d love to get my hands, face and lips on ‘em.”

John flinched as Violet’s voice tickled his ear and he tried to shrug her off, now trying hard not to stare. He was surprised that even Alison made a comment about the dwarf. “S-she has s-s-super pretty eyes, don’t you think, John? Th-th-they l-look like they’re on f-fire,” she muttered.

The grey-skinned dwarf finally glanced at John and his little group, then turned back to GG. “Customers? Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked.

GG smiled and gently ran her fingers through the dwarfette’s hair. “Dunno, I called for you when they came in. They’re with the head drakelings though and seem to be human,” she said, eyeing Violet and Agni. “Mostly…”

The female dwarf inspected John’s group before she fixated on John himself. “Huh, humans… and you’re a guy, can I assume that you’re the boss man?” she asked.

“Miss Shale, let me introduce you to our master. This is John,” Terra announced, gesturing to John. She then turned to look at John. “This is Miss Shale, our new resident clothier, leatherworker and carpenter, and her sister Garlena, who works as an assistant.”

“Excuse me, missy! My sister isn’t a mere assistant. She helps with precision work, hunts, gathers, chops, and mines materials, then she even refines them for us. Not only that, she is skilled in engineering as well as pioneering in experimental magics. Comparing her to a run-of-the-mill assistant is a grave insult, not only to her but also to me and our entire team.” Shale fumed, wagging her finger at Terra.

Skye stepped in, trying to defuse the tension. “And all of her skills are greatly appreciated especially because you’re so generously loaning those skills to us. Please excuse Terra; she obviously doesn’t understand the scope of Garlena’s work.”

The pink drakeling gave Terra a look, and after huffing Terra apologised. John further calmed the mood by speaking up, “So, what exactly do you do here? What do you make? Or is your work on a case-by-case basis?”

Shale proudly puffed up her chest, drawing John and his group’s eyes to her large breasts like magnets. “Day to day most work is commission work. Right now, though, we’re refining materials for the construction project. We’re also making tools and clothing. Our next plan is to produce furniture, though we’re waiting until ground has been broken for the first building.”

“Can I just interrupt and backtrack a minute,” Violet asked, then continued without waiting for a reply, “you said you were sisters. Does that mean one of you was adopted?”

Garlena chuckled as Shale looked irritated. “None of us were adopted. We’re triplets, can’t you see the family resemblance?” Garlena asked, pulling the dwarf in front of her and hugging her.

Shale sighed, making a token gesture of pushing Garlena away, though the taller sister only tangled herself even more around the dwarf. “You’re very observant,” Shale said, sarcastically. “Since ya have the trust of the Great Bearded One, I don’t see any harm in explaining the situation truthfully.

“What GG said was true,” Shale began. “We are two-thirds of a trifecta. Triplets, born only hours apart. GG was the last out and she hogged all the brains. She loves tinkering with anything she could get her hands on. Unfortunately, she worked without thinking, which led to her ****, and she fused with a golem she was playing with.”

“Wait, no! That’s not entirely correct,” GG complained. “We’ve been told you’re pretty new to the Abyss, so I’ll simplify. Golems are common, they’re obedient and can take relatively complex orders but that’s all, pretty interesting and ancient magic. A step up from that there are Artificial Spirits, they’re like golems but with advanced AI: personalities, the ability to learn, independent thought and their own feelings. But at the end of the day, they still have limitations compared to real life.

“My main goal was to break that barrier, give them the ability to naturally gain magic, to reproduce, to move on to an afterlife once they passed away. My initial experiments failed. Creating a soul from nothing wasn’t possible. I hypothesised using a potential spirit would be what I needed. I did everything right, but the spirit wasn’t enough to be a catalyst.” She paused and let out a heavy sigh. “I couldn’t stop the ritual, and it was becoming unstable. I was killed in the process and my spirit was sucked into the core, and now, this is me.

“It was a failure, but at least I’m still here and might I say the body I created is magnificent. I’m basically a T-one-thousand, but better because I have magic.” She paused and let out another sigh. “I abandoned the project after that, it was too dangerous. I couldn’t be sure what class of spirit I might need to actually create a soul embryo and attempting with a spirit that might gain sapience was just too unethical for my liking.”

Agni bounded towards Garlena, smiling brightly. “Agni and GG are the same!” she said, then her eyes unfocused. “Did Lia not listen? GG is like Lia and Agni… But… oh… okay? Fine!”

Pouting, Agni focused on Garlena again. “Agni and GG are similar. Lia said she wants to talk to GG sometime and compare notes, but it is Agni’s time to play now so Lia has to wait. Lia said to tell GG that Agni and Lia live in a golem body and that we both have natural living souls.”

Garlena separated from Shale, quickly circling Agni, inspecting her. “Wow, this is impressive. Hmm, there’s no golem core… Oh, I see. You have a slime pearl… Hmm, hmm, it looks like you have living wood and organic flesh? Were you experimenting and ended up in an accident too?”

Agni looked at the woman with a vacant expression, then her head twitched slightly and she looked up as if in thought. “Lia says she fused the bodies together to stop herself from dying.” Agni then looked shocked and a little upset. “Wait, Lia did not tell Agni that she was dying… you did? Oh, Agni is happy that Lia did not die… Yes, Agni loves Lia, Lia is like Shale, Lia is Agni’s big sister.”

While Agni conversed with herself, GG looked confused before John jumped in, “Agni and Lia share the same body and can talk to each other. Agni is the lava slime and she gained sapience while Lia was… uh, ****,” he explained.

Garlena’s opal eyes sparkled. “That’s absolutely fascinating! We should go to my study and talk more,” she suggested.

Agni snapped out of her conversation. “NO! It is Agni’s playtime, John said he is going to show Agni a good time,” she argued.

Ellie and Violet snickered, and John held his hands up. “Hey, wait, no! I said I’d help Agni learn interests and hobbies she’d enjoy because she hasn’t had the chance to experience things before,” he quickly corrected.

Shale and GG hummed and nodded. The iridescent-haired golem thought for a moment. “She’s a lava slime, right? Maybe she’d like blacksmithing? Come let's head into the smithy.”

“Huh, that makes sense, a lava golem liking heat-related things,” Ellie commented. “Maybe we could try cooking, hot springs, or wood burning?”

John scoff-laughed. “Where are we going to find a hot spring here? I don’t even think we have a hot spring in Springfield, never mind trying to find one on this side of the gate,” he muttered.

Ellie waved him off, and the group tried to brainstorm a few more heat-related interests as Shale led them to a door, which she opened.

“Are you serious!? Again!?” Shale yelled. As soon as they entered everyone froze, staring at the view in front of them.

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