500th Time Reborn, A World Only Known By Women: The Karma System

Tallia left behind me, and I focused on what I was trying to do. I needed to put all thoughts of her and everything else out of my head right now.

I had the answers, but I needed to ask the right questions, and those were what I was in sore need of. I tried to ask myself what I did to defeat them, but that got me nothing.

The next question then was to find out what worked against them, and that was better, but it showed me things that I didn't have. Massive guns that spit out rounds bigger than my arms and tall mechanical warriors but nothing to do with magic.

The guns could be made, and so could the mechanical warriors, but for every exchange, that must be an equivalent offering. That was my problem right now; there were no large piles of metal anywhere, short of getting it from a mountain, which had to be mined.

"One thing after another," I muttered but then heard something from behind me.

I turned to see Breya carrying Listenia, who was armed to the teeth with weapons.

"Penny said that you might need some help!" Breya called as she flew down to land, nearly dropping Listenia.

"Watch what you are doing, woman!" Listenia growled as she almost stumbled into where I was sitting.

"Maybe put some of your heavy weapons in your bag before you ask me to carry you next time!" Breya retorted.

"I didn't know if I would need to fight right away, so I came prepared. Not everyone can just summon legendary class armor like an Angel," Listenia growled, but then went quiet when she looked up at the creature in the far-off distance. "What is that thing? The screams create voices in your head that whisper maddening thoughts, but I have never heard of such a thing."

"This one is weak right now, but in three days, there will be a real one that isn't Undead. That is Riftwalker and not of this world. They are a perversion of nature that feeds off Negative energy, and magic is useless against it, mostly," I explained as I tried to figure out where I could get metal.

"Magic doesn't work? What are you going to do about it if you can use the one thing that you are best at?!" Breya asked in shock.

"Magic is not the only thing I am good at; it's just what has been the easiest to use up until this point. I have some ideas on what might work, but I am short on materials. I need a large amount of steel, gun-powered, and sea salt, but it's not like that is just laying around," I explained, thumbing my chin.

"We can get you that, or I will go. This Angel is much slower than I had assumed, and you might need her here to defend. I will get Cherry to fly back whatever I can gather as soon as possible, but it will take at least thirty minutes," Listenia explained, and I turned to her and got up.

"If you can get that, I can at least build a cannon to deal with this one. That should be enough to take this one down, and then in the next three days, we are going to have to make more. Either that or I will try to make a Metal Warrior and fight using that," I explained, and Listenia nodded and gave me a fast but passionate kiss.

Once she broke the kiss, Listenia turned, ran, and jumped off the side of the wall. I smiled at that and then looked at Breya, who looked confused about something.

"What's wrong?"

"Metal Man? You mean like a Golem? They are magical beings and would fall apart if these things create an anti-magic field of sorts, but you already know that. So then, why did you suggest it?" Breya asked.

"Not all worlds have magic in the air like this one, and some don't even have magic at all. In its place, they replace it with something called technology. I am sure that there are some races that use things that are more advanced than others here, but what I mean is different. Imagine massive metal birds that fly without flapping their wings or metal-enclosed carts that move on their own. The ability to talk to someone on the other side of the world like they were beside you?" I asked, and Breya just stared at me.

"Without magic?! That sounds like magic!" Breya exclaimed, and I laughed, even with the impending doom ten miles away.

"Do you know what magic really is? It's something sufficiently advanced past your understanding. So, in a way, technology is magic until you understand how it works and the reasons for it. Magic that we use is not the same because it just breaks laws of conservation and thermodynamics, plus many others. Those words don't make sense to you because they don't apply to this world's laws," I explained, but Breya just looked confused and lost, like I was talking in another language.

*Otherworldly Screams*

Breya clutched her ears as the sound ripped through the air much louder than it had before. I could see that it was bothering her, so I walked over and wrapped my arms around her.

This sealed her off from the Madness with my overwhelming spiritual pressure, but it would be like having a heavy weight on her chest.

"Is that better?" I asked, and Breya nodded but winced.

"It's scary that you can stop those whispers just with your presence, but I can barely breathe this close to you," Breya said slowly as I turned my head to look back at the creature, my eyes zooming into its three burning blue eyes.

They were looking at me, and the summoning circle was now completely revealed. I was kicking myself for doing half the job with my attack, but now was not the time to think about it.

"Breya, what kind of shield spells can you use?" I asked quickly.

"All of them, which do you need?" Breya asked, letting out a breath as I dropped my pressure.

"All of them."