Dwarven Centurion.

Rictus let out a sigh as he stared at the slow flowing river of lava. Slowly, he sipped his ice-cold milk and ate his sweet roll. Milk made sweet treats better in his mind. A disgruntled humming beside him made him chuckle.

"Okay okay...no need for that nonsense. You could just ask."

Pulling a golden pot from his storage, he tossed beside him. A content hum could be heard as his companion enjoyed the treat. The whole situation of sitting and watching a lava, or was it magma since it was underground? Regardless, watching the molten rock while waiting on Smith and Morrigan was not how he imagined this would go. Admittedly, he didn't have a true idea of what they would find, but it certainly wasn't this. At least things are interesting. He grabbed another sweet roll from his storage as he thought about what had just happened not long ago.

---

"I stand corrected…"

Calcelmo's words drifted off as everyone stared at the monstrosity of metal before them. It was larger than any other centurion any of them have ever seen or heard about before. Not only that, this one had some…modifications…which made it entirely unique.

First off, electricity sparked all over its body as if it was just struck by lightning. The gaps of its armor glowed red as if there was fire burning deep inside of it. Not only that, the joints had been reinforced with what looked like ebony armor. It didn't have the traditional weapons of a centurion either. Instead of the hammer, this thing had a freaking dragon skull fused to its arm as a weapon. One side hade the mouth of the dragon fused shut with dwemer metal while the other had its horns sticking out, making the whole thing some kind of spiked warhammer. Rictus couldn't help feeling a spike of jealousy at the sheer awesomeness of using a dragon skull as a weapon. Maybe he would have to get one of those…

The centurion's other arm was also decked out in a dragon bone weapon as well. Instead of a sword or ax like was common, it had a spiked dragon tail whip. To make it even better, destructive energies of fire, lightning and ice could be seen coursing around it. Rictus had a feeling that the whip could be manipulated much more finely than should be possible as well. To top off the bone theme, the centurion had a vast collection of decapitated Falmer heads and skulls along its waist like some kind of trophies. 'A bit excessive, but still effective. I would definitely be intimidated if I saw someone or thing wearing a belt of human heads.' Rictus also noted how much magical energies were coursing from the metal monstrosity. Its magical aura was extremely chaotic looking. The only person he had seen with a similar signature had been Faralda, and she was a master of destruction magics. Dread momentarily filled him as he couldn't shake a preposterous realization.

"Talos's saggy sack…it's a Skilled…"

Most others were too caught up in the things appearance to hear him, but Morrigan's eyes widened in fear as she was close enough to hear his whispered words. If this thing was a Skilled, their chances of victory was significantly reduced.

A loud whistling came from the giant centurion which shook them from their shock. Instead of attacking though, it stayed still as they heard the creaking of gears coming from somewhere else. Dwarven spiders started pouring out from various pipes and cracks of the stone as a platoon of dwarven spheres entered through two doors on either side of them. Being completely surrounded by such powerful foes, everyone was acting subdued as they were not sure of their survival at this point. Well, everyone except Rictus.

His lips had turned up in a predatory smile at the presence of such powerful foes. Scales started growing along his skin as talons emerged from his hands. The challenge of this fight had his blood pumping as his magical aura became almost tangible. Before he could act out though, a calming hand trailed down his arm.

"Calm down darling. Let me handle this."

Rictus reluctantly reigned in desire as he watched Moira stroll ahead like they were in a park instead of surrounded by killing machines, he stayed ready for an attack though. Moira approached the Skilled Centurion without flinching as magic started pooling at her fingers. The Centurion's whip flicked in expectation but didn't respond beyond that. Instead of an attack, Moira's hand disappeared into a magical portal. She had learned some tricks from Rictus after all.

Everyone looked on in confusion as she started placing centurion dynamo cores on the ground. After placing about 10 of them, she reached back in and pulled out two more unique looking cores. Instead of the normal red light, there was a light blue light coming from the center of these core. Rictus thought its coloring had a striking resemblance with the aetherium crest.

After placing the two cores down, Moira bowed and walked backwards a few steps. The centurion's whip appendage snaked out and coiled around the aetherium cores as it pulled them closer. After studying it for a few moments, it let out another whistle. This time, the dwarven spiders started crawling back where they came from as the dwarven spheres also disappeared back through the doors they came from. A few of the spiders and spheres remained and loitered around the chamber. The second dwarven centurion moved forward and collected all the dynamo cores and made its way back towards the lava behind the forge.

"What the hell just happened?"

Smith's words caused everyone to look at Moira. She gave him a condescending smile as she pulled a rugged looking journal from her storage.

"Books are a unique type of magic which help you understand many things. They can give you an experience of someone's life in just a few hours. This someone just happened to be trying to impress this Unique Centurion here and found a peaceful way of interacting with it."

Rictus was a little impressed and shamed at her words. He really should have read some more of the journals of the pyromancers, but he hadn't really felt it was necessary. Thankfully, Moira had taken the time and found out a nonviolent solution for the automaton problem. Rictus's eyes were drawn back towards the Skilled Centurion as part of the chest armor peeled back revealing its own dynomo core. Quick as lightning, the old core was torn out and the new aetherium core was placed in. It shuddered for a moment before the light coming from the core intensified and its chest plate covered the core once again. It was slight, but Rictus was pretty sure the automaton had become even more powerful than before.

After its upgrade, the Centurion just stood there watching them. A few tense minutes later, Rictus shrugged his shoulders at its inaction and turned towards the rest of his party.

"Well, how about we investigate that forge right about now? Optimus over there isn't showing any signs of aggression, so we might as well get on with what we were planning on doing."

Calcelmo, Katria, and Moira looked a little confused as Morrigan and Smith chuckled at what he called the centurion, effectively destressing the situation. Rictus personally felt it fit the giant robot, but that may only be because Optimus was the only large robot name he could think of off the top of his head. Morrigan took a few tentative steps towards the forge as she kept an eye on the centurion. Noticing nothing happening she moved with more confidence. Seeing Smith hadn't moved, Rictus floated over the Aetherium crest in front of his face. Smith quickly grabbed it from the air and basically ran after Morrigan, not without casting some worried looks at the Centurion of course.

Katria wasn't far behind them as she rushed towards the object which kept her from passing on. Calcelmo was still acting a little shell shocked at all he had just observed, but that didn't last long. It wasn't long before he was rushing around the room muttering like a loon and jotting notes down in a journal. He was currently enraptured by the dwarven spheres as he kept following after them and trying to peek inside of them. Rictus thought he was just trying to build up some courage before approaching the centurion.

Taking some initiative, Rictus made his move towards the Skilled Centurion. It turned and studied him with its metal face as he stopped right before it. Rictus strained his neck looking up at the automaton which was over twice his size.

"So, Optimus…How about a drink?"

----

And that was how Rictus ended up sitting in a legendary ancient dwarven ruin watching lava (magma since he was underground, but he ain't no scientist) while sharing a drink with a heavily modified and a somewhat sentient dwarven centurion who happened to be the Skilled of Destruction magic. Rictus with his milk and sweet rolls, and Optimus with his dwarven oil, which Rictus just so happened to have a few pots of since he loved being prepared for any situation and not because he was a bit of a hoarder who would dump any and everything into his storage. Life truly was strange sometimes.

While they were sitting there, Morrigan and Smith had been hard at work figuring out the aetherium forge. Finally, the two came near where he was sitting. They didn't get too close though and he could see the sweat pouring off Smith already. Guess he didn't have the elemental resistance like him or Morrigan. Before they could speak, Rictus asked Morrigan a question.

"Would you give Smith something enchanted against the heat? Poor guy will die of dehydration if he keeps sweating like that."

Morrigan gave Smith a look over and realized how much he was really struggling as sweat poured off him like a waterfall. She pulled out a small ring from a pouch at her side and tossed it to him.

"Here you go. Not my best work, but I keep some spare rings like that on me in case of emergencies."

As soon as the ring was on his finger, Smith sagged in relief. He nodded gratefully at Morrigan.

"Thanks a lot. I promise to give it back later. Maybe if I end up spending a lot of time here, I will make something in trade."

She just smiled and nodded at him. Rictus pulled them back on topic though.

"So, what did you two learn about the forge?"

Smith let out a slightly disgruntled sigh at the question.

"I don't know if I would call it real smithing, but it is definitely a forge."

This piqued Rictus's interest as he raised an eyebrow and waited for the man to continue.

"The forging process works more like a standard template forge. Basically, you put in the material and out pops the product. The good things about this kind of forge is their simplicity and how fast they work. There is a place where one can exchange the templates, but right now there are only 3 of them: staff, shield, and a crown. My guess is that the other templates are either scattered around somewhere else in this ruin, or these were the only ones which survived."

That wasn't too bad in Rictus's opinion. He thought the items would probably still benefit from a master smith using the forge, but it mean anyone could work the forge no matter their experience which was a major boon.

"Could you make more templates?"

Smith got a big shit eating grin on his face at the question.

"Of course. These templates here are quite complicated, but I could easily make other templates. The problem would be the enchanting part of it. I could probably make a decent template right now which used whatever materials you wanted, but it would not mean the object would come out enchanted like the ones already here. It would also be a bit worse than if a master purposely made it, but not by a large margin. Naturally, I wouldn't have that limitation, but someone else would."

This was actually a pretty big bonus. If he got Smith to make these templates, he could station some people here who could churn out good quality gear without needing a smith or corresponding skill. True, the smith could make a better product, but this forge could out produce the blacksmith greatly. Sometimes 10 good armors were better than one really good armor, especially with an organization as large as the Restored. Outfitting large amounts of warriors was always a problem.

"Morrigan, what are your thoughts on these enchantments?"

She scrunched up her brow as she thought it over.

"They are different from anything I have seen before. It is almost like the templates themselves are enchanted in a unique way which only becomes apparent with the introduction of aetherium. The aetherium acts like a catalyst on the materials, like a soul gem with an enchantment already on it. Quite fascinating really, and the implications could be quite far reaching. With some study, I think I could make some more enchanted templates if I worked with Smith. It will take some trial and error figuring out the exact way the aetherium enchants something though. Think of it like figuring out a different language. So, the enchanting we use is in Tamrielic, while this one is Dwemeris. Translating it into something we better understand may take some time. Once we do though, there will probably be unique enchantments we haven't seen before."

Rictus nodded at her explanation. It made sense to him that the dwarves would use a different way of enchanting. Heck, enchanting now was different than what it was back in the past. A master enchanter of a thousand of years ago would need time adjusting to the new system, and a modern enchanter would need time if the situation was reversed. With her Skill, Rictus didn't doubt Morrigan could figure it out though.

"This is a lot better than I feared. With some practice, I bet you could figure out the enchanting process without much trouble. Then, we could have customizable instant enchantments."

Morrigan held up a hand to stop him before he kept going.

"While that is true, we do have a problem."

"Oh? What is it?"

She gestured at the aetherium crest in her hands.

"We only have one crest, and from what I understand, it wasn't like these crests are just laying around nor do we know how to make them. While all this talking of forging and enchanting is fascinating, and I would love to work on it, we don't really have the materials for it. We only get one. It seems we will be restricted to only a single enchanted aetherium item."

Rictus looked at her in confusion for a moment, before he chuckled, which only seemed to annoy Morrigan.

"Who said we only have one?"

He reached into his storage as he pulled something out of it causing Morrigan's eyes to go wide. While it was slightly different than the original, he was holding another aetherium crest.

"I thought of the same limitations as you, so I figured I would see if I could transmute more of it. Turns out, I can. It isn't quite as pure as the original, but I do believe it would be close enough for our purposes."

Taking the crest from him, Morrigan compared the two of them.

"Hmm. I see what you mean. It is difficult to tell what exactly, but the new one isn't quite as good. Like how people grade a diamond's clarity. The original would be FL while yours is just VVS1."

Seeing their blank looks, she sighed at their ignorance before explaining further.

"Flawless verse very, very slightly included. Basically, the original is rated a 100 and yours is like a 90. Without the right tools or affinity, no one would be able to tell the difference, but there is still a difference. Still, this could work if you could make more of these. We could use them as we figure out things out. They may not be quite as powerful, but it probably won't be a big difference and could easily be overcome with Skill."

Hearing that made Rictus happy. Transmuting into aetherium was taxing and extremely costly, but doable. He had been practicing it and studying the material ever since Morrigan brought it up. Initially, it didn't seem like it would work, until he used a mana stone as a base. There seemed to be some compatibility between the two which finally allowed him to make a prototype. The one Morrigan was holding was after he had furthered refined the process. If he hadn't had the mana stones, there was absolutely no way he would have figured out such a complex material so quickly though. He still was a long way from perfecting it, but it was still an extremely good replication. Sometimes things just work out well.

"Well, why don't you two go give it a shot with the new one? Just pick which one you think is best, and we can go from there. I personally like the crown idea since I remember it being one of the more interesting items, although I don't remember the exact details. Something about standing stones or experience."

The two quickly took his transmuted crest and hurried back to the forge as they discussed some finer details about it. Rictus just watched them as he thought about how great a boon this forge would be for the Restored. Just imagining his people decked out in powerfully enchanted gear which could basically be massed produced gave him chills. They would truly be a force to be reckoned with at that point. Legions of soldiers in marching in formation as he watched over them from a magically crafted throne sounded pretty satisfying.

His thoughts of grandeur and legions of loyal soldiers marching at his orders were interrupted as two dynamo cores crashed down in front of him. In all the excitement, he had somehow completely forgotten about the giant dwarven centurion right beside him. How he forgot, was beyond him and frankly a little worrying. He would need to be more careful at when and where he lost himself in his daydreams.

"What is it big guy?"

The centurion pointed at the crest in his hands and then at the one Morrigan was carrying to the forge. It then motioned at the two dynamo cores, one was an aetherium core, while the other was the original type. Thinking he understood, Rictus decided he should double check.

"Are you wanting me to try and transmute a regular core into an aetherium core?"

It nodded in agreement at his question. Rictus took a moment to think about how the centurion even learned his language or understood him but ended up shrugging his shoulders. 'Either this thing is an original Skilled, which I highly doubt, or there has been some magical shenanigans which made it this way. No need to spend too much time worrying about it. Magic is weird like that.' The request was an interesting one though. Rictus had noticed the new core empowered the centurion after it switched it for the old one, but there was something more.

Its magical aura had become more …solid? Refined? He wasn't quite sure the best word explaining what he felt, but there was a qualitative difference between the centurion's aura which seemed to become slightly more pronounced as time went on. The difference was fairly striking once he focused more on it. Like the difference between an iron ore and iron ingot. One was rough and unrefined while the other had been reforged and enhanced. 'Could it be gaining a more solid soul?' What implications this meant for the centurion was unknown, but it was fascinating to think about.

"I suppose I could give it a shot. If I figure it out, I expect some kind of repayment though. We can always figure something out later after finding out if it can be done."

The centurion nodded its head, and Rictus could have sworn the metal face now had a slight smirk where there was none before. How it was possible, he had no idea. Not his problem though. He focused his full attention on the cores as he started analyzing them, promptly ignoring the giant robot looming over him in what some would recognize as eager anticipation.

Moira sat on a stone outcropping with her feet dangling below here as she observed the people around her. They were all a little obsessive in her mind, but it was definitely entertaining watching them rush around working on different stuff. She reached into her storage and pulled out a still fresh eyeball before popping it into her mouth. Sure, she had changed some of her eating habits for her Darling Rictus, but no way could she give up her favorite snack. Popping another into her mouth, she watched over all the people below her as they worked on their projects. She had a premonition that something big was about to happen soon and wanted to take advantage of the quite for she knew it would not last long. The winds of destiny were shifting, and she only hoped they were prepared.

----

[AN]: As promised, a slightly longer chapter making up for the shorter one last week. I struggled deciding on how the battle with the Centurion would go, until I realized there didn't need to be a battle at all. Bribing saves the day yet again it seems.