Part 20: Episode 19: It is an Elementor Mysterium.

This will be a short update to kill some time before the next update.

Episode 19: It is an Elementor Mysterium.

I don't know why glowing bug guts was so important to Grumpos, but I hadn't seen his eyes light up like that since Sunder blew up. Before leaving the library to track down Sera, I couldn't help but notice the giant doors behind the library.



So that was the Enigma Chamber. I'd have to get in there when Brother Flammarion wasn't looking.

I left the library and went back to find Sera. Walking down the steps, I noticed Brother Gratune and Sister Blutt were still still whispering to eachother.

"Last night, we were so closer to our own Great Awakening," he said, stopping abruptly as I approached. "Oh! I mean, I was so close to understanding my own Great Awakening."
"Yes, alone in his quarters," Sister Blutt added.
"Very much by myself."

Sera wasn't where I left her in the monastery. I left to go looking back in the Entertainment District.

Back on the streets of the Entertainment District, I noticed a funny stone on the ground. It looked almost like the piece of MysTech that Grumpos had been obsessing over in the library.

Maybe he'd know what to do with it.


Three children were warming themselves in the glow of the MysTech. I was more interested in the flower growing nearby.



I eventually found Sera hanging around.


Together we went back to the library to meet up with Grumpos. He had that look in his eye that said he intended to talk for a long time.

"Okay, this is going to take a while to explain, so both of you be patient and keep an open mind. This sounds harder than it is. Alright, boys and girls. Cut the cackle and pay close attention. I want everyone to look at each other very closely. We are now the deadliest people in the galaxy. This latest breakthrough allows us to harness MysTech, modifying and configuring its functionality to create our own flexible designs."


"The key was these bugs… and this special host. Weren't you wondering what this was when you were poundin' on it, slick? I ran across it a few years ago on a Brebulan junk sale. Heh, they didn't evey realize it was MysTech. Bought it for a steal. Anyway, I've been sitting on this slag for years, not quite knowing how it fit into the puzzle. I'd almost given up…until this handsome idiot unlocked the mystery for me. You see, all pieces of MysTech are just frozen slags of Elementor MysTech hardwired with only one function. FireSlag burns, PoisonSpin poisons, so on and so forth. Some slags, however, serve as hosts that can be modified by the biological circuitry in these bugs, allowing you to create MysTech that burns in one configuration and poisons with another. The bugs must have been bred or engineered to serve as data input for the MysTech hosts. The information must be coded into their genetic structure. Let me show you how it works."

The slag of MysTech unrolled on the table.









"And one last thing…I have reason to believe you can 'feed' these bugs even when they're locked into position in the host. Look around places we've found MysTech for anything these bugs might be eating. I found one of 'em chewin' on a petal from one of those reblooming LifeFlowers, so let's try some of those first. After that, maybe they eat Bippy. I asked Fatima to keep track of our hosts. One of the perks of being a trailblazer is that we can name them whatever we want since we're the first to discover them. Okay?"

I put my hand up to my forehead. All I had gotten out of that rant was that I was handsome.

"What's your problem, ace? What part of my lecture didn't your small hand basket of neurons understand? Just put a bug on the bottom node. It will dictate the function of the device. Then put other bugs on some of the glowing nodes above it to complete the function. Then hope you have enough energy to use it! Don't worry about that other hoo-hah. Your brain's probably doin' sixty trying to tie your shoes in the morning. Okay, so are we all done here? So now that we've figured out the Elementor System… let's seek an audience with the Grand Mysterium, shall we?"

That sounded like a good idea, but we did have some loose ends to tie up back in town before going any further. As we left the library, I couldn't help but eavesdrop on Brother Gratune and Sister Blutt again.

"I would NEVER do that!" Sister Blutt shrieked.
"Oh!" Brother Gratune said as he noticed us (again), "I meant… in the rectory. Hello."
"Hi," Sister Blutt added.

The first time I had run through the MysTech Factory, I had done so hurriedly, not wanting to get into trouble while on my own. Now that the team was back together, there were a few parts of the Factory that I wanted to investigate (It's definitely not that the previous update was already so huge…nosiree).

The three of us descended deep into the factory.

A locked door! I knew there had to be something good back here. The lock came undone without issue.

The door opened into another section of the factory. From all of the furnaces, I could only guess that it was part of the refinement process. This section was operated by a single robot, Irradiatatus.

"Illumination. Of the mind. Of the soul. Here. In this furnace… where my awareness was forged. Inside the furnace, streams of MysTech waves buffet objects with sweet radiation and transform them… as I have been transformed. If a hero brings me a stone, and I will irradiate it."

I'm glad that PAL hadn't taken up poetry after becoming self-aware.

For whatever reason, even deeper in the factory…beyond the furnaces and everything, was the one and only office in the place, and just our luck, someone was getting fired!

"You're firing me?"
"Who told you that?"
"You did, just now, I heard you! I'm sitting right here, didn't you notice?"
"Not really. I'm sorry, can we start again?"
"No. Not if you're going to fire me."
"Oh, alright, I promise I won't fire you this time."
"I don't believe you."
"Come on, don't be like that. I swear on your job I'm not going to fire you."
"Well…okay then."
"Thanks, Lewis. I appreciate that. You're one of the good ones around here. I don't think I tell you that enough. Now get out before I call security."


We pinched the TACO inside the office.

When we entered the boss said, "Can you excuse us please? I'm trying to fire this cololssal brick."

We left the office and started heading back for the surface when…it struck again…that damned song.

Gotcha.

We couldn't find anything else of interest in the factory, so we left to pick up some supplies in the Entertainment District. Although Grumpos seemed intent on getting an interview with the Grand Mysterium, suddenly he craved a movie. The ticket office had other plans.

"Sir, no one can dissuade me. Children's matinee only. You cannot go in."

Oh man, now you've done it.





















We still didn't get into the movie, though.

And finally, I took Sera to meet the pleasant ex-mercenary nun in the poor districts.

"My poor child. Come here. In your eyes… I recognize the woman I was before I found peace. I know you're full of anger, but the world will never cease to be a painful place. You must find the calm at your center, and enjoy the pleasure of peace. Here's a little blade from the old days. Maybe it will help you find your center as it did for me."


And with that, we were ready to ask Abbot Babbit for the audience with the Grand Mysterium.

So how about that audience with the Grand Mysterium? / Backup

End: Mysterium Solved (for real now). Ok so now we have the ELEMENTOR system! Basically it just lets us make custom MysTech. Each elementor host has a function slot and 7 other slots above that. You put a bug in the function slot. The bug has a color and a level. The color determines the MysTech effect, and the level determines how many of the upper slots will light up. Put the proper color bugs into the slots that get lit up, and you get a functioning piece of MysTech.

This isn't terribly useful on its own, but when you get multi-function devices (like the two-function one that I got outside of Le Sommeil) it gets more interesting. You can have all of your elements covered at the same time. All in all, it makes the fighting a little bit cooler, but not much. If anyone really wants to see an in depth discussion of how it works, I could do that, though.

I've played through the whole Levant section, so I'll try to get that posted up when my tests are done this week.