We trained for nearly two hours, even if it wasn't physically intensive training, it had become quite mentally tiring. To be honest, and it was obvious in hindsight, there was a massive difference between the theoretical concept of power lending and the practical application of it.
The Power Core I had assimilated into my Null Computer could be considered the developer suite of Power Cores. Not only could I copy any of the kids' Power Core's programming, for lack of a better term, but I could also do changes on the fly. That was in the theoretical side, practically modifying power programs was as easy as it was for a normal person to modify a computer program with a screwdriver. Now, Dopel's Power Core worked slightly differently. Instead of allowing her to modify the powers she copied, she could segment them and combine them; not that all the combinations would even be workable.
My sacred gear could obviously store a large number of these 'programs', but I still needed to 'load' them up so I could use them. Meanwhile Dopel could only work with two or three at the same time, at least right now, and needed to pick them apart to mix them.
Most of the struggle to use the power programs came from my ignorance of those powers. Some were obviously easier to use, Lily's touch-based telekinesis worked by 'grabbing' when I came in contact with something. I could easily hold things as long as I kept a bit of concentration on the task of keeping that 'muscle' clenched. On the other hand, I was having no luck with Dani or Sabbah's elemental affinity, so I may need to craft properly aligned staves and experiment with them before trying again. And that was even without touching Dani and Rose's ghostly abilities.
But that would be later, right now I was relaxing and watching Dani and Sabbah
really take the Power Cores through the paces. We had moved to a clear spot on the surface of Mars, far enough of any of the probes and on the
opposite side to Earth, just in case.
To balance the fight, I had placed several barrels of water around the field for Dani as Sabbah was much more free in where she could use her element. I also had a number of scans pointed in the direction, hopefully they would survive long enough.
The start of the spar was an unspoken agreement, which was interesting given who Dani was a clone of. Apparently this was because I had mostly watched her fight with Sabbah, who preferred fighting without talking. So Dani didn't use smack talk when fighting her.
They started hand-to-hand, but even that wasn't normal. Each time they touched their Aura flared, it was very obvious both were very skilled as their Aura was barely dipping even as the impacts could be heard from the distance in Mars' low atmosphere. Another impressive thing was how they hadn't actually
hit each other, instead blocking and deflecting all the hits.
It soon shifted into armed combat. Dani retrieved Banshee, the sword had gone through another reforge during the weekend. I had added a minute amount of the hardest steel alloy that I had managed to forge to the edge of the blade, the ghostly nature of the blade had definitely accepted it as a couple of tests proved the edge was phasing through armor before hitting its target and cleaving through the target.
Sabbah was using Night Feathers, similar to Dani's sword, the throwing knives/scimitar had been improved to allow her to control the knives' flight with her mind. Which was becoming very apparent as each of the feathers curved around as some were thrown
behind and flew around her body in large arcs.
The flares of Aura had reduced considerably as now all hits were weapon against weapon. While Sabbah fought using a dozen blades, Dani appeared to be able to create ghostly echoes of Banshee to deflect the flying knives at just about the same speed. It was an impressive display of skill, but I could somewhat tell this was still a very coordinated spar.
After a couple of minutes, things heated up even further by Dani being the first that equipped her casting bangles and did her best imitation of a water bender; she was also imitating Naruto ninjas as a large amount of the water mixed with her ectoplasm to make tougher clones and attack Sabbah from multiple sides.
Watching the latter answer to the multiple attackers made me realize I needed to give her a way to arm her shadow clones as her constructs had been restricted to wielding single feathers as knives as Sabbah had to retrieve her sword belt and double wield. Didn't mean she wasn't still managing to keep up even as Dani started to unload ectoplasm shots.
Watching them fight was pretty meditative, as it was still very much a safe spar, their Auras remaining very well into the safe zone, with that in mind, I leaned back and relaxed.
\/AFfMB\/
While I trained with the girls, my third body was finishing the decoration of the cake shop. I had gone for a pretty simple and clean look. Glass displays were waiting to be filled with cakes as the walls had been painted in a very faint pink that was barely a tone above just white.
It wasn't a large store, Asos had found this quaint corner that provided a lot of windows and natural sunlight. A knock on the door made me turn, there were my two new employees waiting outside.
Janine was a young woman that didn't have previous experience, but the pretty face and a head for numbers would hopefully help her with this as her first job. I had also done a
discreet check on her to make sure all was okay, or at least had Anansi check. All had come clean, coming from a lower-middle class home, Janine was looking to get some income while she attended college.
Victor was only slightly older than Janine, he was looking to get some experience to open his own bakery. I was a little worried about him noticing something, but everything I could pick from him was honest interest in getting working experience.
"Welcome to Celestial Cakes." I greeted playfully. "Thanks for coming before the opening, we still have a few details to look through for that."
"It's no problem Vicky." Victor spoke in his usual gentle tone as Janine just nodded by his side.
It was definitely a bit on the nose to have taken such a similar name to my first body, but it made it easier to respond when called.
"First thing, while we're opening at nine, I expect you to be here at least at eight thirty to receive the delivery of cakes for the day." I guided them through the expected paces of the day. "Now, the register machine's pretty easy to use, given the touch screen and the images of all available cakes it should be pretty hard to make a mistake." I joke lightly.
"What about selling by the slice?" She asked.
"We'll start by selling the cake by the unit, if people start asking for slices we can see about having some of the most popular ones already cut and presented. But I expect that most of our sales will be by the unit. Similarly we won't be selling coffee unless a lot of people start to ask for it." I explained. "It may be too hopeful, but I expect to get a lot of customers once we start to get known."
Both nodded as I continued explaining.
"The concept is pretty simple, when morning comes and you receive the cakes you check every one with the barcode reader, similarly with the receipt, that will automatically check that everything is there. If someone asks for a cake that we didn't have in stock you will have to mark it here, that way we know to modify our stock if enough demand is present." They asked a few small questions. "Now, don't worry too much, I'll be here for the first week and help you through any problem. And finally remember that everything is insured, so give them the money and stay safe."
It really was, even when I wasn't worried about it. As for the delivery, I would most likely have one or two of the kids do the delivery each morning as an extra bit of socializing; especially as retail may end up being a safe and controlled environment for them to interact with people.
"And since I made you two come here this early in the day, I've something to reward you with." I pulled a chocolate cake, it was a sinful little thing, very simple in making, just cream and chocolate.
They each got a slice and a cup of coffee I had brought in a thermos for the occasion. The moans of pleasure were expected, and their faces after it were picture-worthy.
"Oh god, that's so embarrassing." Janine groaned, covering her mouth as she scooped another bite of cake.
"If all cakes will be this good, I can see why you think we'll be selling in units." Victor offered. "Though I suggest having an option for a selection of cake portions."
"I'll keep it in mind." I accepted his comment. "Also, you should read through this, sign all the marked spots and keep the ones marked for you." I passed them the contracts, it may be a bit scummy handing them out
after the cake, but it wasn't like I was going to screw them over.
With that done I stored my copies away and handed them a pair of folders to take theirs safely, I also allowed them to take half of the remaining cake with them. I closed the door behind them and looked around. It felt weird to look at the place as
my store, but it felt good.
I would most likely keep one clone working in the store, given that they lasted practically an hour, replacing them should be easy. But I may look into a safe and practical replacement.
I did have the infiltration kids cooking, the full protoforms were being produced constantly to create a stock of them. Honestly I could certainly create a second or third factory, but I didn't feel a need to rush there.
It was similar to how I was taking my time in redesigning some of the Terran units besides the SCD. I did have the transport ship and the bike pods, but I should see about designing spaceships that didn't need me to craft them personally.
I should really talk with Athena about what kind of ships she would like me to design once she had finished with the station I had asked her to build. The Arcanostation would be used for design and experimentation of magical species, mainly plants and bugs.
And talking about bugs, Amber had been progressing wonderfully. Her growth was progressing faster than expected, I may need to accelerate her next transformation soon. By now she had grown to an amazing twenty centimeters in length while her drones and workers only reached half her size. It had forced her to reshape her hive with future growths in mind, even when I was thinking about keeping her children from growing larger even when she did.
I was thinking about the possibility of giving her a more human form in a few steps, or maybe at least a humanoid monster form. But I should talk about it with her after her lessons. Right now she was playing the student role for Lakshmi's teacher profile, it was very cute to watch.
I checked the time, with my first body relaxing after training I would need to conduct the interview with the gaming site using this body. Checking one last time the shop was closed I stepped through a portal in the small room on the back and left.
\/AFfMB\/
Feeling a bit of trepidation at the call, Fran looked at his notes once more. He had offered himself to carry the interview with a new and upcoming game developer that had come from practically nowhere. It wasn't
that surprising in the market, more than once new and young developers sometimes hit it big with their first project. Though it was definitely not everyday that one of such put something out that people were hyping it as the game of the year.
He couldn't see it at first, the graphics were crisp, but
appeared to be from two or three generations back. It took him only five minutes of playing to realize that was just appearances, and assuming proved the old adage. The game's 'basic' setting kept it easy in the eyes of the players, providing all the information needed and at the same time facilitating the customizing of the mechs for each player if Fran's programming understanding held. It also impressed him just how little the game weighed and how well it ran even in very old systems; it wasn't DOOM, but some had tried running it in smartphones with success.
The game had launched with half a dozen completely destructible maps and over a hundred different pieces, which was much less impressive when one noted that there were only eight types of item in total, and quickly flipped things again when it was proved that some pieces were interchangeable. Four legged robots? Sure. Replace the radar dish for an extra arm? Why not, just don't forget to equip the extra weapon. You could even replace
all your limbs for arms and be just a ball of guns as long as another mech carried you, or pushed you around.
A soft alarm came from his computer, quickly turning he fixed his hair before taking the call. It surprised him to see a 3D model in the place of an actual person, but it wasn't the first time someone decided to hide their identity; everyone in the industry knew of Yoko Taro's usual doings. Plus a new developer may want to keep his life separated. The sight of a person with a fireball for a head did tweak something in the back of Fran's mind, but he quickly pushed it away.
"Hello, I'm Francis Eslavon from GameSlot, thanks for agreeing to an interview with us." He greeted the figure, finding the virtual avatar to be impressively realistic, also surprised they were female apparently.
"A pleasure, and it's no problem. Even as busy as I am, I had to make some space for this to keep a good image for Cobalt Combatants. And you can call me Guru." Fran was pretty sure the figure was smiling, even when he could see no head.
"I'm glad to hear that, you've no idea how many young developers find their way to fame and forget the fact that they have to manage it." He shifted his notepad, it may be a bit archaic, but he found it so much easier to put his ideas on paper with his hand and a pencil. "If you're busy, would you want to start?"
"Please go ahead." The figure nodded its head, the fireball, forward.
"Then let's start with an easy one, having started as a single person, what drew you to create Cobalt Combatants?"
"Showing off." The figure answered before laughing softly. "No, really. I mean I still
haven't shown off with it, but I can already tell you the program does a lot of impressive things under the hood that I'm looking to show off properly soon. For a hint, I can tell you that Mathematicians everywhere would try to murder me if they knew some of the knowledge I'm hoarding to make this possible."
"What? Like very advanced math?"
"And not only. I apologize if I can't exactly explain it well, you do need a degree or two in hard sciences to make sense of what I'm doing. But I'm basically using a
very efficient equation to simulate reality in a way so computers can run the game and a lot of what players take for granted."
"That's very impressive, I've to admit I've not played the game extensively, but I've looked at a few compilation videos of players doing some impressive tricks with the physics in the game." And seeing things like mechs take out their enemies by controlled building demolition was indeed pretty impressive, and something Fran could see happening in a real environment. "Does it have to do with how no one has managed to crack, mod or cheat in the game yet?"
"I've certainly looked into making sure the game would be pretty black-boxed, the hardest part was making sure computers could still run it." Guru laughed softly. "For example we use a pretty complex text-to-speech algorithm for the tutorial section and the pilots' lines."
"A lot of players have complained about not finding the sound lines and having to record the game directly to use them for themselves." Fran mused. "Now for the next question, why not come in contact with a publisher?"
"I don't really need it, I do have people looking into things and I honestly felt that there was no publisher around that wouldn't have hampered future plans for the series."
"Oh, now that sounds interesting, anything you can tell me about it?"
"At the end of the interview, it's too big to put in the middle. Believe me." And Fran does, he can't tell exactly why, but there's some reassurance in Guru's voice that leaves little doubt.
"Okay then. A lot of people are really happy about the private server service you provide, but a good amount also wonder how you manage it. Inquiries in the industry have brought no clue of it, care to provide an explanation?"
"Hmm, I can tell you it's all made in-house. But for the specifics you, and everyone, will have to wait. I promise it'll make sense."
Fran can only chuckle. "Okay, I won't push. Now what are the plans for the future of Cobalt Combatants?"
"I've planned to add about a hundred new parts for next season, the addition will be completely free, same with any new map. The server system already brings a constant revenue that will allow us to be very comfortable for as long as the game remains popular." Guru explained. "It takes
some time to make sure the parts are balanced for
normal builds."
He can only chuckle. "Oh, I've seen some
unusual builds, why leave them in the game?"
"I would say it's partly the old saying 'It's not a bug, it's a feature'. A normal game developer may have restricted the construction to 'proper' builds, it's definitely easier to make sure the game's balanced. But the main objective of the game is to be realistic, and in a real environment you should be able to construct your robot in any way possible. Now not all are effective, and most would certainly need more complex use. But not impossible."
Fran noted down and nodded, Guru was right. The freedom of building was certainly a key aspect of the game's popularity. "Was that why you chose such a 'dated' look for the game?"
"Yes, the simplicity of the textures allowed for greater customization. We still ban people for offensive or
especially trademarked images."
"That's understandable. Now I think we've got time for two more questions. First question, anything you can share that people have not found out?"
"Well, there's a secret mode no one had found about. It was added by one of the people that helped me test the game properly. I'm hopeful that this will be enough, though I'm sure if no one finds it soon they will give a hint or something."
"You don't want to see how long it'll take people to find out by themselves?"
"I think that could be, but I'm still not telling everyone
how to achieve it, just telling them they haven't noticed. Now I can truly say I'm patiently waiting to see how long it will take them."
Fran nodded. "Do you think you'll be working on another game anytime soon?"
"Not really. Cobalt Combatants will be the only
game that will keep our attention for some time."
"As we're coming to the end of the interview, you said you had plans for the future of the series, care to explain now?" Fran asked.
"Of course Fran. Initially we're expecting to reveal this further down the line, but the game has been such a hit that we've to move plans ahead of time. We've planned for an international tournament, thanks to the stability of our private servers even when under heavy use we can go ahead with it." Guru's spoke in an animated tone. "We'll be dividing things into single battles and team matches, with the first round being a pretty open stage where players will have to achieve a minimum number of matches and be in the top thousand players given their winning-ratio ranking to pass to the next stage."
"Oh, now that sounds interesting, so all players will be capable of just playing the game?"
"That's the idea, of course I foresee that only the most invested players will really manage to pass to the second stage. But I can't deny that someone who plays sporadically could pass as long as they win all of their matches." Guru shrugged and continued speaking. "The second stage will be more controlled, with a known number of participants we'll be dividing players in groups for disqualification matches and end with nine players and four teams in total."
"Sounds like you'll be doing something different for the last round."
"That's the idea, Fran, we've planned to fly all the winners of the second round to compete for the big prize personally. But that's not all, just for winning the first stage all players will get a commemorative part for their mechs, for winning the second stage players will get themselves a fully kitted out Cobalt Combatants themed computer setup."
"What if a player doesn't want to take the flight?"
"We'll ship them their prize and take the next player on the list." Guru replied.
"All of this sounds quite… wasteful, are you sure to spend all of this money for a tournament?"
"Completely, if we want Cobalt Combatants to be a new household name, we've to hit while the iron's hot. Besides, the server service has more than paid for all of the expected costs already."
"I think that's all the questions, anything else you want to add?"
"We'll be starting the contest tomorrow, all players will be getting a small update to the game with all the information about it."
"Wonderful, I've to thank you for giving me this chance, Guru."
"It's not a problem, Fran. I may keep myself pretty busy, but this was just as important as everything else in my life." He got the impression they were laughing at some kind of internal joke.
"Then we'll be cutting here. Before I leave, I've to congratulate you on such a realistic and clean avatar model."
"Avatar model?" There was some palpable smugness in their tone. "Oh, you'll be in for some surprise later on." Guru laughed before the call cut, leaving Fran wondering.
He looked down and shrugged, he had a lot to write down now.
\/AFfMB\/
"That was fun." I speak my thoughts aloud as I look over the files of Cobalt Combatants, a new menu screen, some new parts, the necessary information, one new map and finally a new Easter Egg for fun's sake. I sent the update and leaned back, stretching my limbs over my head.
I was so glad that even in my Madness I had made this body capable of popping all joints for the pleasurable sensation. I cracked my neck and looked down as the Forge stirred awake.
You have given an official interview
1 Charge Acquired
Rolling… Roll Failed
Stipend Charge Acquired
Rolling… Perk Acquired
Chip and Dale's Protege (Vehicles Domain) (4 Charges)
Hit It! (Extra Domain)
Trinity (Extra Domain)
2 Charges Banked
I took a fraction of a second to look over the perks. It wasn't the main perk that pulled my attention, while very interesting, the knowledge of how to construct World-traveling ships was something that didn't change much
right now. And that was capital W World, as in the concept that covered large, or small, groups of worlds. It was the difference between Earth and the reality of Earth Cartoon, the later was a World and I had definitely sewn it to my World.
The perk's acquisition felt strangely deliberate, a strange sensation that I would need to find out how to get my hands on Gummi Blocks, or create my own version of them in the short future.
Even Hit It! Wasn't as worrisome, while I could now hit those conceptual beings, it didn't mean I would be seeing Heartless nor Nobodies anytime soon. At least I really hoped, I didn't want to find how to deal with such eldritch beings.
The problem was Trinity, it was once again a companion-related perk, it had once more modified Dani and Sabbah. Dani had acquired the role of Local Hero, which I think fit her quite well, even if she was more of a Wandering one. She apparently had acquired the memories of being the local hero of a quaint little place, not too different from Amity Park, Halloweentown; it sure fit her well.
Sabbah, on the other hand, had gotten a role a bit more troublesome, that of a Keyblade Wielder, even if she lacked one of the weapons at the moment. Her story wasn't too different from her original one, it just had added another layer to her training. Having been trained mostly on the Darkness-side of the Wielder arts, how to balance herself with my Light-side.
My first body was still watching them spar, observing the process as the newly gained skills, abilities and experience bled into the sparring, adding a whole new layer. It was quite exhilarating.
