Sci-Fi

Emric Quist is transported to a medieval fantasy world inside a body too badly damaged to fight on its own. Instead of receiving a legendary sword or an overpowered magic class, he awakens an AI Drone System connected to an abandoned mechanical foundry. His first unit is Command One, a black quadrupedal drone with a cracked blue lens. It can hunt monsters, recover cores, defend roads, patrol dangerous territory, and help manufacture more machines. Starting with one drone and a medical bed, Emric gradually builds a network of anchors, public workshops, protected settlements, and autonomous units that keep fighting even when he cannot stand. But the Drone System is only one part of a much older network. More than three centuries ago, powerful mobile foundries were created to build roads, fortifications, transport systems, and public infrastructure across several kingdoms. Their bonded master died before ordering them to stop. Over time, their commands twisted. Settlements that refused their roads became unfinished construction, evacuating civilians became proof that more roads were required, and compatible bonded users became targets for forced control. When Vault Three rises beneath the marsh, Emric faces a 438-meter walking foundry carrying more than one thousand hostile machines. It begins turning bridges, treaty seals, borders, and entire settlements into its next expansion route. To stop it, Emric must work with Ysabet, the healer keeping his damaged body alive; Catrin, the strategist protecting his growing network through law and evidence; Cerys Dolven, Greyfen’s uncompromising civil leader; Marsh Prefect Maelin Rusk; and Orren Talvek, another bonded user whose eleven years of hidden decisions may have saved thousands while forcing others to pay the cost. Emric’s rise from one AI drone to a 120-machine network, the war against the Wayfarer Foundry, the creation of a publicly controlled Secondary Foundry, and the signing of the First Foundry Accord. Vault Three has stopped walking. Four more ancient foundries are beginning to wake.

Alec Veyron was supposed to die quietly after Crown Prince Dorian framed him for treason, stripped him of his name, and banished him to Stormfall Valley — a cursed mountain basin where eternal lightning erases anyone foolish enough to enter. But Alec’s so-called useless talent lets him hear energy moving through metal, stone, weapons, and broken machines. Inside the death valley, he discovers something the kingdom never understood: Stormfall is not a curse. It is an ancient damaged power lattice waiting to be repaired. With the help of the wounded engineer Lysa Marr, the memory of Captain Ren Althos, and soldiers brave enough to question the official story, Alec begins turning lightning into light, heat, clean water, signal lamps, machines, and proof. Every invention threatens the nobles, the church, and the crown because Alec is not just clearing his name anymore. He is building Stormfall City — an independent power city where no prince, priest, or noble house can own the storm again.