Once we're back in the apartment, I quickly got to start dinner. It was also the first time I was pushing the abilities of Benemiya, not just for the experience of cooking as I was already a deft hand at it, but also infusing every ingredient and cooking process with my mana aimed to improve the food.
I was pretty sure the whole process was actually an overspecialized version of the reinforcement spell, pouring magical particles to fill the 'empty spaces' in the food. Making them
more what they already were. But there was more to it, each knife's cut, each spoon's stir, the temperature of the flame, all was aimed to break down the
bad aspects of the ingredients and the food, burning them away, severing them from the actual meal and slowly replacing them with more magic without breaking the food into inedible trash.
Even after putting the food in the oven and leaving it there didn't stop the infusion process, instead the magic inside the meat kept working its
magic. The result was a meal that looked better than that of any ad and tasted like a little slice of heaven, plus it would improve our stamina recovery, mental strength and healing for the next ten to twenty hours.
As we ate, nearly in silence since we barely stopped chewing to breath, I wondered if this effect would synergize with Old Patient Magic in the case I used Benemiya to brew alcohol. Interestingly my Alchemy perk had provided me the knowledge necessary for some spirits that carried useful effects but could still be considered food, or well drinks. I could already tell that Artiste would help me improve the art of liquor making with time and experience.
Still, dinner was enjoyed along with a quick dessert of ice cream, and by quick I mean I cheated with magic to churn the mix into sinfully-smooth ice cream. Though the biggest cheat was that I only needed a can of peaches and a bottle of cream along with a bit of cinnamon to produce it.
"You know you'll have to make sure there's always ice cream this good in the freezer, no?" Dani pointed her spoon at me.
"I don't see a problem, just make me a list of your favorite flavors. And that goes for you too, Sabbah." I turned to the olive-skinned woman, who took a moment to get out of her special place enjoying the ice cream to nod.
I honestly didn't have a problem with keeping a store of ice cream. It took about five minutes to prepare a bucket, and that was before adding up the effect of perks. Though I could also see about putting together an ice cream making machine that used the spell, the result's quality may be slightly below what I could do, but it would be something I could even gift to my family.
A niggling bit of melancholy sneaked in on me at that moment, but quickly got squished down. It was definitely not the time to contact my family yet. From their point of view it had only been a couple of days since we saw each other, for me it had been nearly two months that had literally changed my life multiple times.
It was a moment of introspectiveness that lasted as we moved to the Temple to hang out in Sabbah's Secluded Cabin. Looking back I could see I had been running on an endorphin high over and over again, the hit each time I got a new perk, or managed to create something new, practically hunting the next high and a way to return home.
Not that I hadn't taken my time and rested accordingly. More than once I had done things that didn't have to do with either, like helping Jake and the magicals in New York was definitely different.
And just at that moment when I may have been stepping into an angsty train of thought, a soft, firmament-looking paw did its best to push my leg. I looked down, finding one of the cubs meowing at me without a mouth.
I chuckled and picked up the playful sphinx, holding them over my head before placing them down on my lap and stroking their back. A bone-rattling purr coming from the lion cub-sized beast.
"Rick, come over, we waited enough." Dani calls for me, I put the cub down as I walk over.
"What do you two want?" I ask as they pair had been conspiring on something.
"You already forgot? Sabbah's going to awaken your Aura." She explains as the olive-skinned woman nods.
"It would be my pleasure if you allowed me to do it, Rick."
"Then I'm ready." I smiled kindly, noticing Dani sporting a similar smile as Sabbah stood forward.
My body straightened when a solemn atmosphere fell onto the clearing, Sabbah stepped closer to me, a hand on her chest while the other reached for mine.
For is in Duty that we achieve Immortality
Through this we become a Paragon of Loyalty and Safety for those in the Dark
Infinite in Faithfulness and Unbound of Ruin, I release your soul
And by my shoulder, I support thee
In the corner of my eye I could see Dani muttering similar words, most likely her chant was different. Not that I could look much, the moment Sabbah reached the second verse my attention was fully taken by the sensation of her reaching deep into me.
It had been a while since I looked at that not-space that kept my Animas, usually just investing them into a specific use. I could see her Aura reaching past the small group of Anima wisps and sank deep into me before doing the next thing to a
flick.
It wasn't even an ember, maybe a spark, or just a piece of ash hot enough.
But it was enough, that small touch that allowed me, for a fraction of an instant, to connect with Sabbah. And then my Aura flared, the glow quickly went from white to a light blue, I wondered if it was my life experience coming forth or something similarly allegorical.
I wanted to bask into it, but I had to reach forward to grab Sabbah as she nearly fell over.
"Sabbah!" Dani was by us a moment later.
"I'm sorry…" She mumbled after a bit, my Light mana running through her body to help her recover. "I had to spend a lot more than I thought to awaken Rick's Aura."
That made me blink. "But it looked…
felt tiny."
I'm pretty sure I blushed from embarrassment from the look the two gave me.
"Rick, your soul is…
abnormal. Not in a bad way, but it's definitely larger and harder than the average soul if I had to describe it in normal words." Sabbah shook her head as the three of us moved into the Secluded Cabin's building.
The large log house was more than prepared to house a full team of four expert hunters, even providing food and services for each one of us. We actually each had a personal room in the house, along with a walk-in wardrobe with all the clothes the extra perks had provided.
"I'll have to look into i-" I tried to speak but my girlfriend interrupted me.
"Ignore the dumbass, how're you feeling after that?" She asked as we all sat on the couch together.
"I'm okay, exhausted mostly. But I should be back to normal after a good sleep." The assassin leaned back, making me look away from how the clothes clung to her body.
"Well, it's pretty much time to sleep right now, so I don't think we'll have any problems if you decide to retire for the night." I gently rubbed her shoulder. "Maybe we should all call it a night."
"It's certainly been a day." Dani laughed softly.
With all in agreement, we headed our ways. It felt weird to sleep in my bed once more, partly because I would need to exchange the mattress for one made by me, mostly because I slept with someone in my arms.
\/AFfMB\/
I woke up suddenly, but not startled.
The ever-present clock in the edge of my vision marked the time as twenty minutes past three am, meaning I had slept nearly five hours since we had called it a night earlier than normal the night before.
The dream that had woken me up had been overwhelming, enigmatic and actually quite inspiring.
Something had definitely reached to me through the realm of dreams, I would bet it was most likely one of the system's backers, and most likely one behind one of the big perks I had acquired.
Given some of the insights I had gained from that dream, I was also pretty sure
which perk had been the focus.
I turned to look at Dani, who was still sleeping on the bed. Seeing that she had pretty much stolen all the blankets made me chuckle. And since I didn't feel tired at all I decided to do something about it, letting her keep sleeping. I stepped into the Temple's workshop.
"Good morning Rick." Asos' orb platform floated by my side.
"Morning Asos, any news?"
"Athena has finished digitizing the workshop's notes. Rose has submitted a revision of their chassis. I've exchanged a few messages with the van's seller, they are waiting for you this afternoon and have sent me a few images of the inside so you have a better idea of what you'll need to fix it." We walked and talked, or mostly Asos listed their findings on the world's networks.
It was interesting to hear the AI's observation as a decade had definitely made this world's internet network be much
larger than the one in Dani's Earth, but at the same time that one was more advanced in some places. It was most likely the existence of Mad Scientist and similar individuals, I would bet there were at least a few groups that worked to reverse engineer all that.
"… the list of possible targets are ready, along with a number of plots of land dubiously owned that we could 'liberate'." I chuckled as the AI shifted configurations to gain arms and gesture quotes.
"I'll look into that. But later, right now I've been hit with inspiration and I've got work to do." I replied.
I pulled two enchanted items I had finished along with the sustenance rings and understanding earring. The first was a pair of dexterity and handcraft gloves, aimed to reduce the effects of high speed multiplier accrued when using Rapid Construction, in other words, they made it easier to use my hands when rushing in my work. The other was definitely an influence of the Elder Scrolls game, the ring of Potion Duration extended the effect of potions by nearly four hundred percent, that was extra time on top of what it had already, meaning I had nearly half an hour of clone duration.
I wore both rings before downing the potion, three clones with identical grins to mine appeared around me.
"Okay, we all know pretty well what we have to do. So let's have a productive dawn." We were soon pushing four times on the acceleration as we rushed around the workshop.
\/AFfMB\/
Sabbah woke up from a very pleasant dream, but for the first time in forever, it didn't make her sad it ended. Because for the first time being awake meant being with the person that had saved her, who had offered a chance of being more than just a shadow in a forgotten corner.
She still remembered when she's still another nameless orphan in a similarly nameless part of the city she had lived, if that could have been called living. Just another
shadow begging for food, sneaking around and stealing to last another day. She was the smallest of their group
and female, it was only the fact she was slippier than the rest that kept her food from being stolen from her by the other, older, orphans.
And then it happened, during a moonless night she couldn't sleep. Sabbah had climbed onto one of buildings' roofs, looking for a safe place to spend the night. It was then when she saw it, someone moving through the empty streets of the neighborhood, a barely visible silhouette that made a shiver go down her spine.
Sometone, or something, that she could barely see made the cold night feel
frigid and dangerous. But it was even with that danger that she couldn't deny the curiosity to know who it was. She had some trouble keeping up with the being, not only were they larger and definitely healthier than her, but it appeared that they also didn't seem to have trouble moving unimpeded even while she moved through the empty roofs.
It had taken her nearly half an hour of skipping over roofs and more than a few very dangerous jumps that she finally got a better view of the shadow. It was when the light of a house shone out that she realized how
empty the streets had been, as if no one had wanted to be in the figure's way.
Garbed in a dark clock she couldn't see their face or body, it was only their hand that was exposed when it reached for the figure inside the house. She felt sick the moment she saw that hand, something in its color and shape just screamed sickness and death. Not that she could look away as the hand squeezed and a mute scream came from inside the house before the muted noise of a body falling echoed in the dead of the night.
Sabbah had held her breath and hugged the roof as much as she could, she didn't want the figure to know she was there. The fear of being the next victim helped keep her silent, but at the same time she wanted that power. Well, maybe not that ugly hand, but the power to end other people.
Things had changed for her after that, she knew if she asked the man right now to train her he would never do it. She had to prove herself first. She stole food to fill her belly, sneaked around to keep herself safe, even took an old knife to train with it.
It had strangely become the best time of her short life back then, she had a
dream, she had
hope, and she wanted to achieve it. She saw the figure again during her nightly training, and not just one, but many others as they were tall and short, female and male, usually dressing in the same set of cloak and mask. Usually during moonless nights, but she had seen them other nights too.
But her dream wasn't meant to be, it may have been a few months later or maybe a year, time at that age was difficult to pin down. She felt strong enough, skilled enough, maybe
ready enough, she had approached the figure after they had done their usual, grim job. And had gotten quickly rejected.
Too old apparently, too weak, too…
unskilled. She had been told she had no potential, it had destroyed her, the man hadn't even needed to use his weapon to do everything to kill her except actually end her life.
Time stopped making sense to her, if there was something left of that dream inside her pushing her day after day she would have long since become a body in a dark alley.
And then he had found her, accompanied by an older man she would later learn was one of his teachers. Maybe threatening them with her old, chipped knife and trying to mug them was a bad decision in hindsight, but she was practically dying of hunger and looking to an end for her life. Instead she had gotten a second chance, a loaf of bread and a friendly hand.
It had been a meeting that lasted just a few minutes, but it had been enough for her to swear herself to him. His teacher had seen enough potential in her for some reason, and just as soon as they all had left that nameless part of a city she was swept away by a wind of change.
A veritable storm of healing, learning and training. It was a whole new life, a rebirth for her as she stopped being a nameless little shadow and had chosen the name Sabbah Hassan; she had been given a few looks for it, but she shrugged at them.
Her time at the Academy shouldn't have been a lonelier time as she was trained to be part of a group and interact with her teammates. But it had been till she met Dani that she found true companionship. It was their sense of kinship in how alone they had felt before meeting each other.
And while the two of them graduated together and even went to multiple missions as professionals, their time together soon came to an end, both having to follow their own ways. Talk about a surprise when they met again soon after.
She's so happy to have Rick and Dani back in her life, and now it was for as long as she would live, or more like as long as he would. Her patron had arranged for a full-on stocked cabin inside her master's realm for the three of them to live comfortably along with other useful amenities.
Having finished her reminiscence, she got up from her bed, stretched her limbs with a quick series of movements and took only a few minutes in the bathroom before heading out.
The cabin was placed in the clearing of a small group of trees, trees that appears to have been picked straight off some deep forest and transplanted onto one of the floating islands of the small realm. She found the two sphinxes napping on a large pile of sand, completely ignoring their presence in favor of sleeping more.
"Good morning Sabbah." Asos' voice made the olive-skinned woman tense, hands reaching for her knives for a moment before quickly relaxing.
"And morning to you, Asos." She internally berated herself for
reacting to a mere greeting. "Are the rest up yet?"
"Dani's waking up, Rick's been up for a few hours already. Apparently he got some kind of inspiration and decided to work on it. He should be finishing by now." The assistant's voice remained in the same neutral tone while talking.
"Can you show me where he is?" She asked and the AI agreed, guiding her out of the forested island, having her step onto a metal disc.
"Rick made them earlier as a way to get around the islands." Asos explained as she felt her feet stick to her feet as it floated around the main island.
What she found on the other side of the temple surprised her. Floating in the air was a building-sized metal cube, but it wasn't a solid cube, instead she could see each side of the cube were a large number of panels, each one gracefully carved with glowing lines.
"What's that?" She turned to Asos' floating orb.
"Hmm… I think Rick would be better to explain it." The AI guided her to the entrance of the cube, the door opened to let her enter.
"Morning Sabbah." Dani's presence surprised her, but in a better
way than Asos' greeting, maybe because she could feel her friend even before seeing her?
"Morning, Asos told me Rick was working here and came to check."
"Same thing, it surprised me when I woke up and he wasn't in bed." Dani's words made her feel a bit jealous, but she quickly pushed it off.
"Morning Dani, morning Sabbah." They both turned as Rick walked closer.
"And morning to you as well." She greeted him.
"Even if you were up way earlier than us." Dani joked.
\/AFfMB\/
"Sorry about that, I'm pretty sure I got one of those oracle dreams, or at least one of the backers tried to get me to do something." I joked as I handed them a mug of coffee each, I had made more than enough for myself already.
"Hmm… thanks." Dani sighed happily after taking a long sip from her mug. "And what's this then?"
"How to put it…" I thought about my latest creation, it was much more complex than a single
thing. "It does multiple things, the first is that it refines Energon." I started to explain as I guided them to that part of the building.
The inside of the building followed a pretty similar look to my first underground base, which was loosely based on the base aesthetics of Subnautica. I was quite the sucker for light gray metal and darker trimmings.
"Energon's a type of energy usually in liquid or solid form," I started to explain. "it's very dense, surpassing many other types of mundane
and supernatural fuels. It also has a lot of very interesting properties that lead to the next part of the factory."
"Wait, before that, are those pretty crystals Energon?" Dani asked, pointing at one of the observation windows.
"That's right, part of the refining process has the liquid Energon form into crystals. Not that it's needed for the next step, but they've many possible uses." I explained as we entered a long production line. "And here's the main part of the factory, the fully automated protoform creation."
I watched as the production line chugged along, there was enough customization in the process that I could cut down production time by having a smaller protoform be produced. So when the coffin it was contained slid out, the effects of Workaholic made it grow to three times in height, becoming a human-sized protoform. A full-sized one would require a few changes in the process as protoforms could vary wildly and be up to several dozen meters tall.
"What's a protoform?" Sabbah asked, as she stepped closer.
"Glad you ask." I chuckled as I felt pretty giddy since all was working wonderfully. "And I think it'll be easier to explain as it comes out." The ovoid-shaped coffin opened to show the nearly featureless body inside, it was practically a metallic mannequin.
With the first protoform finished, the production line was already starting on the next batch, these would go for human-sized straight away, with Workaholic aiming for multiple of them. This would make the production process take longer, but both Rose and Athena weren't in a rush.
"A protoform is basically a blank robot body, or well, a Cybertronian's blank body. It has an unlimited power source, a transformation cog and a very advanced processing center. It's definitely not an actual protoform but my version of it. There's still plenty for me to crack before I can make a proper one. But for all intents and purposes it works, even if it's an early beta version. And to show you how it works." I turned to Asos. "Your new configurations are already programmed, go ahead my friend."
My assistant AI nodded their current physical body before it deposited on my open hand. The coffin closed down as the blank body took in the form I had programmed for my companion.
"So now we wait?" Dani asked cheekily and Sabbah playfully swatted at her arm.
"It only takes a bit since I've already programmed the forms." I started to explain. "Protoforms are definitely the most complex and at the same time simple of the things I created. There's a lot going into their creation, but at the end they are blanks, meant to adapt to new things and grow with time and use."
And I meant it, the current protoform could be called version zero point five or maybe point seven, but there were already plenty of things that were developing differently from Primus' creations. While the living metal was infused with the refined Energon in a similar manner, I was pretty sure they didn't hold a practically endless source of power like the fusion reaction. In my case this source of power acted as the heart of the form and anchor for the AI's soul, and a few small modifications had also led to this power source being used for magic.
It had been mostly a stroke of creativity offered by one of the clones, and once more the thought of 'why not?' hit. Why not make my 'bots capable of using magic? I had the knowledge, the means and the ability to provide them with the ability. Now the actual magic may take time to properly develop. I may be able to use any kind of magic, but they may need their own schools. I would see what kind of spells I could create from technology, they would most likely excel at that kind of paradigm.
I felt the Forge stir, drawing my attention for a bit.
You have acquired Aura
1 Charge Acquired
Rolling… Perk Acquired
They're Like Legos (Size Domain) (2 Charges)
You have built a fully automated factory
2 Charges Acquired
Rolling… Roll Failed
Stipend Charge Acquired
Rolling… Perk Acquired
That Undefinable Thing (Magic Items Domain) (3 Charges)
Iconic Outfit (Extra Domain)
Questionable Practical Weapon (Extra Domain)
I hadn't managed to finish reading the screen when I felt the change, and it wasn't just me, Dani and Sabbah went stiff just the same, or maybe more as they weren't as used to the changes perk could bring. I could tell each had gotten a small pack of perks due to their companion status similar in size to those acquired from Chrono Trigger, we would have to discuss things more. But at the moment nothing looked to be on fire at least.
I ignored Dani's burning stare as I looked at the perk I had acquired. The first was useless by itself, but added a lot of versatility to what I could design. They're Like Legos gave me the ability to make any design modular. A whole new paradigm ready to be applied to any design I worked on. It allowed me to design in such a way I didn't lose functionality when adding the modularity concept.
The other perk was a completely different beast. That Undefinable Thing was all about souls, and how to study them, work with them, and use them as a power source. It had quickly shown me the error of my ways in how I had turned the fusion reactor in the protoform into a soul anchor, there were plenty of better, more efficient, safe and powerful methods to carry this process. I hoped Asos was okay with me reworking their protoform a bit. Hopefully the updating method I had built the original design onto accepted the changes. It also solved a lot of the problems that had stumped me on the works of the clone potion and how it worked with my soul.
The other part of the perk was…
complicated, and very, very troublesome. The knowledge of how to make Exspheres and Key Crests was deep into what my Alchemy knowledge marked as dark rituals, the use of souls to empower the user in a parasitic method was despicable. Both terms pinged something in my memory, but I wasn't sure where they came from exactly.
The extras were nothing too impressive, the Iconic Outfit was just another set of clothes to add to my growing wardrobe of Fiat backed clothing; it looked quite similar to my Business Suit. The weapon was interesting, no idea why I had received twin battle fans, or what said of me. Not that I was against the idea, I could feel ideas on how to improve them bubbling in my head.
The coffin started to open and I turned to look at my friend as they stepped out.
lanes are fine when they're going through the air and dealing with enemies. But leaving them to the elements and the outdoors when they're not in use? Well that just seems really crass. You need somewhere to store your vehicles and planes when you're not busy destroying anything that's not on your side, and that's what these establishments are for. It's not the most fancy thing in the world, but it'll serve its purpose and make sure your means for vehicular slaughter are in prime condition for their tasks. These hangar bays also come equipped with special clamps and harnesses to make refitting and refueling any planes, go much more quickly than they would if you were using them by hand. For sea-based bases, this also means you have docks for boats and submarines.
