Chapter 287: Black Workshop (I)

Took these couple of days to adjust to a new time shift at work. I requested it a while back and it's now approved. Only a couple chapters this week.

As always, Giliath demands your power stones!

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Near the same time Naoto was convening with Tio through the Orbal Network...

Northwest Erebonia.

Somewhere located deep within endless roaming chasms buried inside the earth.

Exact location: Unknown.

"Oh. Ohohoho! How splendid!", A voice of an aged man called out, appearing to be in bliss. A face of an aged man grinning from ear to ear could currently be seen, observing something before him.

"Fascinating. Truly a fascinating little creature this one is. I see no Divergent Laws at play here. Just how did you come into existence?", The aged man continued.

This man appeared quite old, his blonde hair was currently in the process of having its color fade away, showing just how old he was. This age man presently wore a stylish white leather coat that hid away a purple undershirt and teal tie, securing it in place. Most of his hands were hidden away by a pair of white gloves.

As to where this man was currently located, it appeared to be a high-tech laboratory. Just as its name implied, most of the landscape was colored black. There were areas where it made use of its natural landscape of endless roaming chasms deep within the earth and was visible, but most of it was cloaked away within the heart of these mountains. This place was quite extensive, going on endlessly in multiple directions. Each section of this place was colored differently, which denoted the type of working being done. To say the least, it had many types of facilities available.

This place had one name to it.

The Black Workshop.

Home to the Gnomes, the rival clan to the witches of the Hexen Clan.

The Hexen Clan were renowned for their development of magic skills, while the Gnomes went in an opposite direction, they were known as expert craftsmen.

Little did most people know that most high-ranked weapons found in Jaeger corps and other organizations using uniquely-crafted weapons all originated from the Black Workshop. Rutger's buster glaive, the War Ogre's twin battle-axes, even Randy's Berserker came from here. Each one strong in their own right.

This place oozed fantasy. Naoto wouldn't even come close to trying to find a place like this one in his previous life.

These weapons were created in just one of many wings of the Black Workshop, aptly dubbed the Violet Wing.

Unfortunately, the aged man's attention was held elsewhere in an entirely different wing, where many different creatures and monsters received experiments one after another, the biological wing, aptly dubbed, the Blue Wing. This was the very same wing that the homunculus technology was currently being developed at.

The aged man could currently be seen standing in front of a large examination table, clearly observing something before him. This man was none other than the main supervisor of the Black Workshop. Despite it being ruled by the Gnomes, this man still watched over it. Adding to that, the Black Workshop was but just one of several workshops under a single organization. This organization rivaled that of Ouroboros, perhaps even being larger than it. It was a part of what was called the Thirteen Factories. While the Epstein Foundation was responsible for creating most of the common orbal gadgets and orbments the marketplace currently receives today, the Thirteen Factories were responsible for creating all of the out-of-this-world orbal tech and machinery. The largest manned airship known to exist, The Glorious, came from here. Many mechanoid dolls and automatons also originated from the Thirteen Factories, coming in several shapes and sizes.

The Thirteen Factories not only had bases in Erebonia and Crossbell City, but also throughout the entire land of Zemuria. Its network was that extensive. It covered much, much, more land than Ouroboros did.

To date, only two factories have been named. The Black Workshop, and the Rosenberg Studio, whose master craftsman can create dolls so human-like, that they appear at the highest-end auctions, going for thousands and thousands of mira, even millions of mira at times.

And this aged man inside what appeared to be a large laboratory room, was the main leader of the Thirteen Factories, it wasn't the Black Workshop. He supervised it all.

His eyes currently remained on what was before him. It was a little creature of sorts, calmly sitting on the examination table. It was wearing a small one piece dress, and they had medium-length green hair and light amber eyes. Coming from its back were a pair of translucent wings. Every so often, this little figure would distort and pixilate, almost as if it came out of a virtual reality game. The little creature just stared back at the aged man, blinking their eyes. It appeared to be a little girl, spanning no more than five to seven inches in height. The moment words started to escape from this girl's lips, the aged man's eyes lit up in excitement yet again.

"Isn't it impolite to ask someone's name before introducing themselves, Mister?", The little pixie-like figure asked, showing a confused look as she observed the aged man before her. She hadn't come across this man before, and wondered who he was.

"Oh! So you do have enough cognitive power to speak! Ahh, where are my manners? How very impolite of me.", The aged man said, trying to hide away the excitement in his eyes as he continued to observe the pixie before him. Raising his hand into a fist, he coughed, clearing his throat away.

"I do apologize for my lack of introduction my dear. You may call me Professor F. Novartis. I'm the leading supervisor of this factory you see.", The aged man said, introducing himself with a polite demeanor.

"Professor?", The pixie asked, tilting their head a bit to the side. After pondering for a moment a cute frown appeared over the pixie's lips. "You don't look like a teacher to me...", The pixie responded, frowning.

"Alas, I haven't done much professing as I would hope so lately, but a Professor nonetheless I am. You can even express your emotions well. Fascinating, might I add.", The man responded, who called himself Professor Novartis.

"Hehe, you like to use that word a lot. It means 'wonderful', doesn't it?", The pixie spoke back at Professor Novartis. "Oh, and it is nice to meet you, Professor! You can call me KeA.", The pixie continued to say, introducing herself to him. Apart from the wings coming out of her back, she looked just like a miniature KeA.

"It is the most appropriate word to address you. KeA, was it? Truly such a creature of wonder. Artificial intelligence, perhaps? A being unknown of our time, yet here you are, right before my very eyes. It is so very nice to meet your acquaintance.", Professor Novartis responded back with a nod of his head.

The pixie was, of course, AI KeA. It would seem she had worked her way here to the Black Workshop. Normally, Professor Novartis didn't supervise the Black Workshop directly like he did for the other factories, but he too was invited to this place, just like AI KeA was. After introducing themselves to each other, they turned their heads to the left, only to hear the sound of an automated door hissing open. Two tall and imposing figures walked in, and one of them spoke out to Professor Novartis.

"Might I need to remind you, Professor, that you are only a supervisor by name? Do not forget who it is exactly that runs the Black Workshop here.", An imposing voice suddenly called out to Professor Novartis, coming from a hallway to the side. A hissing of an automatic door echoed in the current lab room. Once the door closed, two figures came inside.

These two figures were both men. One was dressed in a long black leather coat with a couple of dress shirts underneath it. He appeared to have a professional demeanor about him. He had silver hair and red eyes. Not many had silver hair like he did, but it was starting to fade away, showing his age. He had the stature of an engineer. But this man was very special. He had the appearance of Franz Reinford, Alisa's supposedly late father.

Little did Alisa know that the body of her father was still strutting around places, despite being in disguise. The one thing that she didn't know was that Franz's body was currently being possessed by Black Alberich. Not too long ago, the Black Alberich, under another persona, clashed against one of the leading witches of the Hexen Clan. It wasn't Roselia herself, it was a witch who went by the name Isola Millstein. Isola was Emma's late mother. But a twist happened, and Naoto intervened at the end of that fight. He successfully used Roselia's forbidden spell to seal Isola's soul away, much like he did his own mother's soul when the Red Constellation raided his home.

Naoto was currently in the possession of two souls now, Kasia Osborne and Isola Millstein. Naoto was unsure if there would be a third time, but Naoto had Roselia prepare the forbidden spell to be casted again, should the chance ever arise. Naoto did have a current interest at-hand, whose death would happen in the coming year. Guy Bannings. But Guy played a crucial role for one of the main protagonists, Lloyd Bannings, so Naoto was currently unsure whether to take part in this or not.

"Ahh, yes. The current leader of the Gnomes. Your progress has been quite remarkable lately.", Professor Novartis said, welcoming the silver-haired man.

"Naturally.", The silver-haired man nodded. "And addressing me as Alberich is fine, Professor.", The Black Alberich continued.

What many didn't know was that the Black Alberich was but one of many beings, lost through time. He was literally a leech, capable of shifting his soul and conscience from one body to another. It's a good thing he has yet to encounter Naoto, but Naoto didn't have to worry about the Black Alberich, as he has the ability of preventing most things from infiltrating his mind. To say he was actually the leader of the Gnomes was an understatement. He possessed such technology to keep himself immortal, without having to worry about possessing an immortal body.

"How is the development of the Oz series going, by the way?", Professor Novartis decided to ask Black Alberich.

"On schedule. We are currently placing the final touches down. They should be the first of many naturally-created homunculi to come. We ran through quite a number of prototypes, but I am satisfied with the final results. Oz73 and Oz74 should be ready to set off in the coming year. Though if we increase our manpower, it is possible to shorten that time.", Black Alberich explained.

The second figure, who was also wearing a large and fancy dark purple and brown overcoat that stretched down to his legs, looked at Black Alberich. An equally imposing look in his eyes could be seen as he spoke out to him.

"If it's manpower you want, then manpower you shall have. Cut that time down to a month. Get them ready as soon as possible.", The man declared. Black Alberich raised his eyebrows.

"Is that for a particular reason, Master?", Black Alberich asked the brown-haired man.

"You don't need to know. Can it be done?", The brown-haired man responded back with a stern look in his eyes.

"It shall be done, Master.", Black Alberich responded, lightly bowing to the brown-haired man that he addressed as 'Master'.