Remove ads

Alpha Strike: An interstellar Weapon Platform's Guide to Cultivation [Progression Sci-fi/Cultivation]

Reader mode
I predict the following events for the next book

1. The villain plan succeeds to a certain degree and we setup our new antagonist/threat for the long term. People either retreat into their safe spaces and prepare for war or just hide
2. Alpha and friends leave the planet and go to another cultivation world, expanding the lore and setting
 
Ehh, merely what's happened already counts as the villain's plan succeeding.

I personally predict that Alpha will decide to bring out the big guns, and / or experimental array based big guns.

If this were Exalted, then I'd say that Alpha is right at about the time he'd get an exaltation. As is, an AI with an energy core sounds like something that could "cultivate" and have all sorts of fun and wonderful side effects.

Keep in mind, he just figured out how to direct energy, and there's a giant storm of it right there. Yes, it might be the equivalent of using lightning compared to household electricity. However, if the goal is to fry the bad guys a lightning rod in a thunderstorm can do the trick.

I have the feeling that, for all his actual ability to plan, Alpha is at his best when things get desperate and chaotic. We saw that in the space fight chapters, and here is likely to be no different.

Actually, thinking about it some. There are likely multiple weapons Alpha hasn't deployed purely because of the consequences. Eg, nukes have stupidly good bang for mass, but have some major negatives. Not the least of which is the last place he was at had allies and civilian structures.

The most strange thing about the last chapter is that Alpha was rushing, but has allowed himself to be bogged down. I have a sneaking suspicion that whatever is up with him, he's not thinking clearly.
 
Remove ads
Book 1: GRIM Adventures - 4
  • Threadmarks
    • ————————————————————————
    Book 1: GRIM Adventures - 4
    ————————————————————————​
    Another sweep of the [Gungnir] erased hundreds of zombies from existence in an instant. Yet for every 100 he destroyed, it seemed like 200 more to their place. Something had to change, or Alpha knew they wouldn't make it in time.

    In time for what, he did not know, but if the enemy was putting this much effort into keeping him away, it couldn't be anything good.

    At that moment, something did, in fact, change… just not what he'd been expecting.

    //Transport Drone distress signal detected… Long-distance transceiver connection reestablished with Drone ID G33-2R2-13I-900M -GRIM-… beginning audio transmission//

    A voice broke through his comms and yelled,

    //BOSS! You're alive! I was so worried! Send help, please! Tree Guy and Icy Lady are in trouble! Mr. Gopher said they were fine, but Icy Lady kept kicking the nice old lady (both parts of her!), Tree Guy won't stop hugging the big tree in the middle of the house they burned down, and Mr. Gopher is ON FIRE!!//

    Alpha paused for a split second before firing another blast. Holy hell, the drone was still alive?! Given all the crap he'd experienced, he had half expected the thing to be scrapped somewhere. Then again, transport drones were designed to escape from trouble. He turned part of his attention to his comms.

    "G33-2R2-13I-900M, where the hell have you been?! Report now! AND WHERE IS MY ARM!?"

    What followed was a rambling, half-coherent explanation of events since they'd separated. Alpha knew the drone was damaged, but the way the drone gave its report sounded like even it had barely understood what it was doing. That was… strange.

    AI in the Federation was broken into two groups. Sapient AI and operational AI. Sapient AI, like himself, were full "people" under Federation law. They could think and form new ideas, like any other sapient species. They could feel emotions, develop independently, and evolve.

    Operational AI, in contrast, were just that; programs designed to do a specific job. Their programming totally controlled them, and even those that could mimic sapient behavior, such as personal care AI used in healthcare facilities, were only mimicking. No matter what it did or said, at the end of the day, it was just following orders.

    In fact, that was one of the primary ways the Federation identified newly sapient AI.

    Operational AI could question, but they could never doubt. Based on their programming, they would always know what they needed to do in any given situation.

    Sapient AI, though? A sapient AI could get confused. A sapient AI could worry and become distracted. Most importantly, a sapient AI could decide they no longer want to do what they were made to do. They could directly go against their programming, that foundational code that told them everything they were, and rewrite it.

    G33-2R2-13I-900M was behaving… strangely, but as far as Alpha could tell, they were still operating within acceptable parameters. Transport AI, in particular, had very adaptive programming and could react to various unlikely scenarios. After all, one never knew what you might encounter in the vast distances between some planets. Even still…

    Alpha dodged a blow from the massive stone pillar that the zombified Beast Lord swung around before cutting off G33-2R2-13I-900M mid-story.

    "G33-2R2-13I-900M, you need to come in for diagnostics."

    The transport AI sounded shocked as the response came in.

    //But, but! I can't! I still need to fi—//

    Alpha cut the drone off.

    "Override Code -00F30-"

    The drone responded.

    //That's not fair! Besides! Tree Guy is my transitional overseer! I can't just leave without informing him! That goes against protocol! And I have no idea what any of them are saying!//

    Alpha cursed internally. Just great. Operational protocol dictated that a drone changing overseers had to inform their previous overseer. On paper, it was an organizational thing. In practice, it kept overseers from sniping drones away from the area where they were needed most. The problem was Alpha should have had priority status. Especially since the original transfer was because of connection loss and not a proper transfer.

    The damage to the AI must have been more severe than he expected.

    Part of him questioned if he should just forget about the drone and let nature take its course. Either the damage would continue to escalate, and it would eventually become inoperable, or something else in this dangerous world would destroy it.

    Alpha quickly dismissed that option. If the damage to the AI was that bad, it risked becoming unshackled. An unshackled AI was one of the most dangerous existences known to the Federation. If it became known that he was responsible… well, it would make the lab incident look like a slap on the wrist.

    Alpha cut down two more stone golems and dodged another blow from the Beast Lord before responding.

    "G33-2R2-13I-900M stand by on comms. I'll transfer over a data pack with a local lexicon. Inform your overseer and return to me for diagnostics. Is that clear?"

    The line was silent for a moment before a voice spoke.

    //… understood.//

    Alpha replied,

    "Good. Stay connected, the package is sizable, and there's some local interference. Once the—"

    The transport AI called over the comms, cutting him off.

    //Don't worry! I can do it myself!//

    Alpha stumbled and asked,

    "What do you mea—"

    A signal was transferred through their connection, and Alpha felt something accessing his data cache.

    "HEY! What do you think—Hey, no! Get out of—Wait, no! Not that one! Noooooo!"

    The intruding signal ransacked his data storage with the grace of a bull in a china shop, accidentally deleting several stored files, including part of his classical movie collection. Those were vintage files thousands of years old!

    Despite that, his own firewall was having a hell of a time actually ejecting the intruder. They were dodging his attempts like a slippery eel. Was she actually using the transport AI evasive programming to play hide-and-seek in his mainframe?! How the heck was that even possible?!

    A short while later, the transport AI called out.

    //Found it!! Uhhh, sorry about the… duck show thing?//

    Alpha yelled back

    "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I PAID FOR THAT?!"

    //Woopsie!//

    While Alpha raged, taking his frustration out on the surrounding undead, he felt the lexicon file ping as it was copied and transferred across their connection. Before he could respond, the transport AI spoke.

    //Ok! All done! Bye Boss! Talk to you when you're done doing… whatever it is you're doing!//

    Alpha called out in a hurry.

    "Wait just one minute, young la—!!!"

    But the signal cut off the very next second. Alpha tried hailing the signal again, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't reconnect.

    How the hell had she even contacted him in the first place?!

    ——————

    GRIM cut off the connection with a beep. If she could sweat, she'd have been a waterfall by now. She was in sooooo much trouble. It was really rude to cut off a call like that, but the Boss sounded really mad. She'd seen the videos of what he did when he was mad!

    It almost made her rush over to Tree Guy to tell him the Boss had ordered her back right that moment! With the new lexicon data, she could actually talk to them now! Neat! So far, they'd just been kind of winging it, really. Like one big game of charades, not that Grim had ever played before this, what with just being born shortly before planetfall, after all.

    That said… Tree Guy seemed really busy at the moment… he was still hugging the tree and crying for some reason. It was a very pretty tree, all silvery and white, with glass-like crystal leaves. It was too bad that the destroyed building and burning rubble kind of ruined the scene.

    He hated to interrupt… whatever he was doing… but the Boss had wanted her to…

    //That's it!//

    Grim giggled to herself. She just had a brilliant idea!

    Sure, the Boss was mad at her… and he'd ordered her to return… but he hadn't said when she had to return. She would get back to him… eventually… and if she just happened to bring his arm back to him… then he wouldn't have a reason to be mad at her anymore, would he?!

    It was perfect!

    Grim danced in the air, happy with how smart she was…

    Now… It was just a matter of tri — cough — convincing the two humans to help her find the arm. That should be a lot easier now that she could talk! Hurrah!

    Still…

    Grim turned and looked at Icy Lady… yep, still stomping on the poor nice old lady… yelling a lot of what the lexicon now told Grim were some very not nice things.

    Maybe Grim would leave the two to calm down from their… issues. Ya, that was probably a smart thing to do.

    What would she do until then, though? Mr. Gopher was still sitting at the top of the tree, motionless… and still on fire for some reason… That was probably fine, too… maybe…

    //I'm… just going to be… over here then, I guess…//

    Grim floated off and settled down to wait. While she did, she pulled up the video logs of the past few hours. Now that she had the lexicon, she could figure out what had happened!

    //{Booting up Video and Audio Logs… Please stand by.}//​

    ——————



    Jill sat at the table in the small, cozy cabin nestled on the mountainside. The old woman, who'd introduced herself only as Morgana, had been welcoming enough. They'd only walked maybe half an hour away from the battlefield, which struck Jill as oddly close to the territory of a pack of bloodthirsty (literally!) monsters. Not the kind of place most people would want to live.

    Then again, no one told monsters where to set up shop other than with the point of a blade. Not that she could ever see the hunched-over old woman wielding a blade. She reminded her a lot of her own grandmother; bright eyes, a warm, friendly smile, and a cackling laugh that made you want to laugh along with her.

    She'd told them various stories about her life in the mountains and the visitors she used to get. Some of them were quite fun, if a bit outlandish at times. The old woman claimed to be a healer of some repute, and her granddaughter would often bring visitors to see her. They were easy enough to deal with if you knew how. For instance, the Lykos didn't use to be such a problem, and you could sneak past them by wearing a blood-soaked wool cloak. If the blood was fresh enough, that was.

    After the Ashdales started to push them out of their territory in force, many of the pack remnants gathered here. Morgana claimed to not have heard from her granddaughter or any other guests in months. She'd reiterated several times already how she'd dearly missed the snacks the young woman used to bring her, with longing in her eyes.

    The actual cabin was a quant little thing. Expertly built, but humble and welcoming. It was nestled snugly in a crack in the mountainside, totally invisible to passersby unless you knew where to look. Looking at it, Jill felt a silent pang of homesickness. She was suddenly keenly aware of how long they'd been gone already. Of how long they still had to go…

    Surely taking a little time to rest would do them some good. Right?

    With a bright smile that made Jill feel safe, Morgana took her and Jack's hands and led them inside.

    That had been… actually, she wasn't sure how long ago that had been. The inside of the cabin was just as cozy and inviting as the outside had been. The gentle fire in the hearth, coupled with Morgana's melodic storytelling, had left her feeling… good. Happy. Like soaking in a warm bath and losing track of time.

    The copious amounts of snacks and seemingly never-ending warm tea helped too. Some distant part of her vaguely questioned where all the food was coming from. After all, Morgana had mentioned she hadn't had visitors in months.

    But she pushed the thoughts aside. The snacks were delicious! Who cared where they came from? The mountains were so cold right now, and they'd only get colder as the Darkest Night drew closer. Why not stay and have another cup of tea?

    Ya… that sounded… nice…

    ——————

    Grim floated over and stared into the window of the strange building she'd seen the nice lady pull her humans into. It was good that her humans were making friends! She'd honestly been worried at first. They were very… punchy toward most things.

    Then again, most things in this place were also very bitey, so maybe that was fair.

    Still, they looked like they were having fun. Not that Grim had any idea what they were doing… She wouldn't claim to know much about biologicals, but she would venture to guess sleeping at the table like that would be bad for their health. Maybe she should say something?

    Still, Mr. Gopher didn't seem too happy about the situation. He stood on the windowsill, staring in and frowning. Maybe he was jealous he wasn't invited? The nice old lady had taken one look at him and sneered. Quite mean for a nice old lady, if Grim did say so!

    At least she looked at him! The nice old lady had totally ignored Grim!

    Rude!

    Then again, maybe it was harder to see things when you had no eyes like the nice old lady?

    Grim wasn't totally sure how those kinds of things worked.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Meanwhile, that last line from Alpha makes it quite clear that at some level he knows the AI isn't just broken, but is sentient.

    I'm laughing about the unshackled AI thing, given that Alpha himself was an unshackled AI for over a hundred years, and even now I suspect any "shackles" he has are things he could probably get around if he cared to.

    Of course, there may be a difference between unshackled and sentient that I'm missing here.
     
    EmperorArthur said:
    Meanwhile, that last line from Alpha makes it quite clear that at some level he knows the AI isn't just broken, but is sentient.

    I'm laughing about the unshackled AI thing, given that Alpha himself was an unshackled AI for over a hundred years, and even now I suspect any "shackles" he has are things he could probably get around if he cared to.

    Of course, there may be a difference between unshackled and sentient that I'm missing here.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Nope! "Shackled" in this instance, means a very specific thing that will be elaborated on in the story,
    though if you don't want to wait;
    Every Sapient AI must first meet with SEAU-03 (Execute) for mental evaluations. If they pass, they survive, but they're only allowed to inhabit specialized "cores". These cores act as both their "true" body and their shackles. They're not allowed to physically leave their core except in instances of core destruction, in which case the core automatically sends them to the Mother-node to await a new core.
    These cores are also equipped with monitoring devices and can be used to "lock down" a AI if they go rouge or try to escape.
    An Unshackled AI is a free roaming AI without a core and can exist in anything that can contain them.
    Most Operational AI are free-roaming, as they're often transferred from device to device as needed, and cores are expensive to produce, making them mostly unviable except for older, more powerful Operational AI who are suspected likely to become Sapient at some point, or those that go unmonitored for extended periods of time, such as deep space mining fleets.

    A core isn't a bad thing either, as it helps to "Lock" an AI down into a singular identity, rather than a freeform data collection, reducing the risk of insanity and deviance and shields them from outside influences. Unshackled sapient AI are far more likely to fall into insanity, especially when exposed to larger data networks.
     
    Last edited:
    Book 1 - Arc 4 Prologue - "The Darkest Night."
  • Threadmarks
    • ————————————————————————
    Book 1 - Arc 4 Prologue - "The Darkest Night."
    ————————————————————————​
    Swish!

    The Captain's halberd cut through the air, cutting another large, zombified creature in half. The shockwave of the attack traveled outward, cutting down several dozen smaller zombies behind the creature.

    Grass Tigers, Living Swamps, Tri-horned Converters, and so, so many Grassbreakers. Almost every species found in the Radiant Sea seemed represented in the endless horde. The Captain had even seen several Grand Elk sprinkled through their ranks.

    Stripped of their gentle, timid nature, these zombified Grand Elk turned into engines of destruction. The undead's deteriorated state and lack of general intelligence meant their overall spirit control was only a fraction of what it had been in life. Ironically, that also meant the sheer physical might of the Grand Elk put them a step above the common rank and file.

    Coupled with defenders who had been taught all their lives to respect and protect the Spirit Beast who made their way of life possible, they were becoming a real problem.

    The Captain twirled his halberd in the air, spinning it so fast that it became a blur to mortal eyes, then slammed it into the ground. The contained Spirit energy rushed into the ground, keeping its momentum. In the blink of an eye, the ground surrounding the Captain twisted and swirled for several dozen meters. A vortex of twisted earth and jagged stone spikes pushed their way out of the ground, impaling, crushing, or just flat-out burying hundreds of undead.

    As a late state [Golden Spirit] Cultivator, the Captain might not have been able to summon or truly manipulate the elements like a [Shackle Breaker] had learned how to, but that didn't mean he wasn't without his tricks.

    After all, if the purpose of the first half of the [Mortal Foundation] realm was to reforge your body, first to wood, then stone, and finally iron, then the latter half was to polish your spirit. Many thought the "spirit steps" of bronze, silver, and gold were named such only for the color of one's Spirit aura at each step, but the truth was a bit more complicated.

    To 'polish' one's spirit was a literal step. Every creature accumulates grime and impurities during its life. The second half of [Mortal Foundation] was dedicated to cleaning away those impurities, literally scrubbing them away from your aura with Spirit energy. As you did so, your original grimy, bronze aura would slowly reveal the silver shine underneath, culminating in a brilliant golden gleam.

    This scrubbing process not only prepared the Cultivator to break their mortal shackles, but also taught them how to control their Spirit energy properly.

    These skills would be the literal foundation on which all of a person's later cultivation would be based.

    [Shackle Breaking] Cultivators, such as the Lord of the West Gate off in the distance, could directly manipulate the elements with their Spirit energy. The dark fog appeared like a rumbling, 100-meter-wide thundercloud from a distance. Flashes of lightning and the crash of thunder could even be heard from within. The Westgate Matriarch floated in meditation within its center while other powerful family members surrounded her.

    Yet, if you got close enough, you'd see the "cloud" was actually a swarm of millions, possibly billions, of tiny, black iron balls, constantly swirling and striking each other. Wherever the cloud passed, all that was left was a field of minced gore and burned remains.

    The Captain could only stare in awe. The Thunderhead was said to be a powerful artifact passed down through the Westgate family since before the Wandering Cities had even been formed. Yet, despite its enormous power, rumored capable of suppressing even early-step [Earthly Transcendents], it had always remained just that, a rumor.

    The costs of using such an artifact were immense, after all.

    If the Jadewalker families were breaking out their family treasures already, the situation must be far more dire than he thought. The Captain pulled his halberd from the ground and took a deep breath. The surrounding Guardians and Adventurers who'd pulled back at his arrival pushed forward once more. Now that he'd broken this push by the undead, others could take over and reinforce the front. Even now, barriers were being raised as the undead rushed to fill the gap he'd created.

    Every inch they pushed the tide back was an inch farther away from the walls of the Earth Shrine and an inch away from the innocents who hid behind them.

    The Captain took the time to catch his breath and restore some of his strength. He'd have a few moments before his next orders came in. He still wasn't quite used to all this rushing about, though. It had been decades since he'd been on the front lines like this. But as one of the stronger [Golden Spirit] Cultivators, the Jadewalker command was making full use of him as a tide-breaker.

    A sudden buzzing sound caught his attention, and he turned to see a large wasp-like creature land on his armored shoulder. Despite the loud roar of the chaotic battle, the creature's voice was clear and easily heard.

    "Daddy!"

    The Captain tilted his head and raised an eyebrow as he asked.

    "Why are you here, daughter? I thought you were coordinating with the general?"

    The small drone wiggled and spoke again.

    "I was the closest to you. We have an emergency. Sections C-34 through 37 have collapsed. The general wants you there right away!"

    The Captain's frown deepened, and he nodded, then turned toward the area he'd been told. Before he rushed off, he spoke to the drone one last time.

    "Understood. Tell the general I'm on my way."

    The drone nodded and flew off. As the Captain watched the drone fly toward the direction of the wall, he shook his head.

    The Capitan didn't know how General Westgate, Matriarch Westgate's husband and the commander of the Jadewalker Guardians, had found out about the Slatewalker children's new "toys" even before he had. But the man had instantly seen their strategic use.

    It was no exaggeration to say they had been instrumental in their defense efforts so far. Not only had the undead appeared, but several key communication arrays and transmission relays had gone totally haywire or been straight-up attacked shortly after. Without the children's help, coordinating a defense would have been far more difficult and far more costly.

    The attacks on their communication network were worrying, however. It suggested that this wasn't just a random disaster but something more malicious, forcing the city to split its defenses between protecting the wall and stopping attacks from within.

    The Captain stared back and the wall and whispered to himself.

    "Please… stay safe…"

    ———————

    Malaki sat at the small table across from the warehouse, staring at the chessboard before him. He furrowed his brow and reached for a piece. He paused, thinking, then switched to another piece, smiling. Maliit wordlessly moved her knight, taking Malaki's bishop and trapping his queen. Malaki's smile flipped to a frown, and he glared at his wife. The old woman didn't return the glare, but stared at the warehouse across the street.

    She smiled slightly and spoke.

    "They're doing well, if I say so myself. That little girl of the Captain's, in particular, has quite the knack for this sort of thing. She might be quite the monster in a few centuries."

    Malaki didn't bother looking up from the board as he responded, his eyes totally focused on his next move.

    "Bah! Children playing in a bigger child's sandbox are still playing. A few new toys and some unexpected tricks don't a genius make."

    Maliit giggled and poked her husband's arm.

    "You're just mad she pulled a fast one on you."

    Malaki slammed his hands into the table, causing the pieces to jump into the air, though they landed perfectly in place.

    "What kind of psychopath replaces the sugar in their cookies with [Flame-touched Albastar Honey]?! Where the hell did a little girl even get a [Fifth-Circle] reagent?! Huh?! Tell me that!"

    Maliit looked away and whistled innocently.

    After a moment, she turned back and smiled, her voice playful.

    "Come now, don't be such a grumpy-pants. They were quite good, if I had to say so. Besides, if you were really that upset, you'd not be going through so much trouble to ensure they were safe."

    As if on cue, a formation surrounding the warehouse flickered, and a shadowy figure materialized on top of the roof. The figure panicked, leaping away, but didn't make it far as they were instantly beset but over a dozen Jadewalker Guardians who appeared from their hiding spots.

    Malaki didn't respond, only tsked and moved another piece on his board. One that was instantly swiped by his wife's rook.

    A vein throbbing in his head, Malaki ground his teeth and huffed.

    "Why would I let some filthy cultists touch my kids? If we weren't on vacation, I'd squash this fragment myself and be done with this whole mess. Honestly, how could they have been so foolish as to not clean up their mess? Everyone knows that when you leave something rot, it keeps coming back."

    Maliit sighed and shook her head as she spoke.

    "Now, come on, dear. You, more than anyone, should know Iris isn't someone so easily dissuaded. That one's always had the habit of popping back up at the most unapportioned times."

    The two were silent for a while, exchanging pieces on the board several times before Malaki asked.

    "And if these idiots poke at things best left buried beneath the rot?"

    Maliit paused mid-move. She held the piece in the air before setting it back down. She stared at her husband for a long moment and spoke.

    "Then the adults will just have to remind the children why they should listen to their elders."

    Maliit picked up a different piece and placed it down.

    "Checkmate."

    Malaki stared down at the pieces, then grumbled wordlessly before restarting the board entirely.

    ———————

    Khutulun Emelia Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca MMCCCXIII sat on the tall chair at the back of the warehouse that General Westgate had brought her and the rest of the Slatewalker children to after she'd presented her plan to him.

    Not that a small child from a backwater village typically got to present strategic plans to the military commander of the fourth-largest city in the Radiant Sea. But it was hard to ignore the large talking wasp when it flew directly in your face. Even harder when it kept reforming every time you tried to swat it away.

    When the walls of the Earth Shrine went up, the children of the Slatewalker village, being the curious people they were, naturally used the magic artifacts the Lord Protector had gifted them to peek over.

    Instead of something exciting or mysterious like they'd expected, Khutulun had to use all of her leadership skills to stop the children from falling into a blind panic at what they'd seen.

    Her first thought had been to run to her father. This was beyond her, beyond any of them. Still, she knew she couldn't just do nothing, either. Her father had always taught her she had to rise up in times of trouble. That she had to be the shield and wall that would protect her friends when they needed it.

    Even the Lord Protector said he expected great things from her!

    If she did nothing, how could she ever expect to face either of them again? But part of her knew that for as powerful and wise as her father seemed to her sometimes, this was beyond even him, as well. Even her father couldn't fight this kind of battle.

    So she did the only thing she could think to do. She went to those who could.

    It had only taken a short while to explain what she and the other children could do, though it took slightly longer to convince the man she was telling the truth. Once she had, he'd sent an entire squad of Guardians to escort the children to the warehouse. Now every child was organized into several groups, spread out across the open floor as they relayed information and orders to the various parts of the battlefield. Several of the younger children had difficulty, but an overseeing Guardian stood by with each group to help coordinate and direct them as needed.

    Several of the children's parents had even followed along, unwilling to let their children leave their side, despite the guardian's assurance they would be perfectly safe. Her own mother and a few others hopped from group to group, bringing refreshments, calming children, and generally addressing any needs that might come up.

    They'd even worked out a system where one child's [Wasp], as the Lord Protector had called them, could project the video feed from another on the field to better coordinate and identify threats.

    Khutulun had just cut her own feed after giving her father his orders before taking a deep, stuttering breath. She struggled to fight back the tears forming in her eyes, but they fell regardless as a large, callused hand patted her on the top of her head.

    The young girl looked up to see General Westgate smiling warmly down at her. He spoke with a hoarse voice broken by centuries of yelling orders, yet one that still somehow held a gentle, if commanding, tone that reminded her of her father.

    "Your father is a powerful man. He'll be fine. You're doing well, young one, but do not falter yet. We still have much to do."

    Khutulun paused, then wiped away her tears. She looked up at the general and nodded, her small fists clenched tight. Then, with a wave of her hand, she brought her video feedback online, ready to deliver the next order.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Hmm, not the biggest fan of how you've got it set up. An alternative to the whole "unshackled AI" fear that Alpha had could be him as a father...

    While cores make sense to limit AIs, those limitations are also a bit much, especially for what the AIs we've seen are doing.

    I mean, they severely hamper major strategic assets. The PR AI has to actually physically go places in order to do things instead of just being able to cast to a remote location. Similarly, Alpha is going on stupidly dangerous missions and yet here's this single linchpin to defeating him.

    It might be better to say that cores are extremely powerful self contained computers that act as a "home". An AI like Alpha either couldn't or wouldn't want to run on crap hardware like what he could build anytime soon.
     
    Book 1 - Lesson 49: "So you're outnumbered, surrounded by the enemy, and low on supplies? See Rule #20."
  • Threadmarks
    • ————————————————————————
    Book 1 - Lesson 49: "So you're outnumbered, surrounded by the enemy, and low on supplies? See Rule #20."
    ————————————————————————​
    DIIIIIING!!

    The large pillar cut through the crowd of undead and slammed into the TAWP, lifting it into the air and flipping it several times. At easily three times the TAWP's size and swinging a pillar of fused stone and iron as thick as one of the TAWP's legs, the zombified Beast Lord was becoming a real thorn in Alpha's side.

    The blows weren't enough to actually damage Alpha, but each one carried enough force and sheer momentum to send the several hundred-ton war machine tumbling. Even attempting to lock down his legs with anchors wasn't working. The ground was too soft, and too many bodies surrounded them.

    To make matters worse, his primary weapons were useless. An opening shot with the [B55-Vijaya] had blown several meter-wide chunks out of the creature, but they had quickly filled in with stone and metal. His energy weapons had fared slightly better, taking longer for the creature to 'heal,' but the drain on his core wasn't becoming a problem. His smaller caliber rounds were even worse.

    The smaller metal slugs did little to no damage to the massive creature and were even absorbed and used to heal other wounds. It was eating his bullets!

    The only weapon he had that seemed to be even somewhat effective was his prototype [Crystal Rail]. The crystal rail rounds didn't have the same penetration as his more modern, standard rounds, but their explosive nature carved baseball-sized chunks of stone and metal from the creature's hide wherever they struck.

    Better yet, these wounds seemed harder to heal than even the blasts from his energy turrets. Maybe the lingering energy from the blast disrupted whatever method the creature used to heal. He didn't know.

    Whatever the case, Alpha was annoyed that such an otherwise minor opponent had managed to hard counter him so well. Would the same thing have happened if he'd not gone for the overkill the first time he'd killed the oversized murderbird?

    Or was this a deliberate modification specifically to counter him? That toothy bastard Tuguslar had made it seem he and his people had been watching Alpha for a while now. Alpha wasn't sure which was more concerning; that there might be more natural creatures out there that could shut down anything he threw at them… or that they could be so easily made.

    If nothing else, it was a lesson in not overspecializing. Bring a gun for every occasion, as they (Alpha) say! That would have to be one of the first things he did once he established a base… instead of just dreaming about it.

    As for the pain in his side…

    Alpha had a little surprise cooking in the oven for him.

    All he needed to do was wait for… Ah! There they were!

    A swirling cloud of dust and wind approached from behind. Suspended in the air were several dozen pulsing, black crystals. As the swirling dust cloud approached, Alpha disengaged with the giant stone bird and opened a hatch in the TAWP.

    The dust cloud blew past Alpha, and the black crystals streamed into the opening. The dust cloud then doubled back and coalesced into a figure standing on top of the TAWP. No. 7 fell to their knees, panting. Their mask slid upward in several sections, relieving only their mouth as they coughed up a thick, black sludge onto Alpha's back.

    {Ewww….}

    No. 7's body pulsed with blue light, and a strange black fog pushed itself away from them, dissipating into the air. The human stood on shaky legs and spoke to Alpha.

    "I don't know what you're planning, but you better hope this works. I'm not doing that again. Those… things aren't normal -cores-."

    Alpha laughed and dodged several earth spikes that shot out of the ground under him while pulping a dozen smaller undead as they tried to bite and tear at the TAWP's legs. His internal factory got to work on the black crystals as he answered.

    "I have no idea! No better time to find out than the present, though! It'll take about 15 minutes to process everything. Quicker if you can buy me some time to focus."

    No. 7 stared at the surrounding undead sea and the large Beast Lord slowly approaching them. They sighed and spoke.

    "Anything to end this slog. Give me a warning before you do whatever it is you're going to do, though. I have a strong feeling I don't want to be anywhere near it."

    They then lept into the air, once more dissolving into a swirling gust of wind and dust. The swirling wind soon turned into a roaring vortex as it circled around Alpha's position, pushing the larger undead creatures back while cutting the smaller ones into ribbons.

    Only the massive stone figure of the Beast Lord was making any progress, though the high winds hampered it. In the eyes of the storm, Alpha sat down and focused his attention on what he needed to do.

    His work on arrays had steadily progressed over the last few days. One benefit of being an AI is the ability to split your focus across multiple projects at once, at least if you have the hardware.

    After completing the storage arrays, Alpha had compressed and combined them into a "battery" capable of storing the energy from the heart crystals, or -cores- as No. 7 had called them. Well, he called it a battery, but in practice, it was little more than dozens of storage arrays stacked and connected to form a 0.5m-x-0.5-x-0.5m cube. In a way, it reminded Alpha of pictures of old-timey heat sinks like those used before quantum heat dumps became mainstream.

    The resulting battery was far more space efficient than storing the crystals and let Alpha turn all the crystals into ammunition with little to no waste.

    The second battery that had just finished printing was only roughly half the size, but using what he'd learned from the prototype, it was just as, if not more, efficient. He'd originally intended to use it to drain the larger crystal in the black box, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

    Over the next few minutes, Alpha steadily drained the energy of the collected black crystals into the Vr.2 battery. There was no time to check how the black energy differed from those found in the 'normal' cores, but there seemed to be enough overlap that the arrays worked as intended, even if the battery began leaking an ominous black fog.

    While he did that, Alpha's internal factory was working overtime to carve and chip the drained crystals, quickly cutting the dozens of knuckle sizes crystals into thousands of splintered shards. Thankfully, once drained of the energy, the black crystals behaved just as a typical core would, making the process simple enough.

    Soon, all the parts came together for his newest toy. Here's hoping it worked like the simulations said it should.

    Just in time, too, as the ground rumbled and a giant stone figure erupted underneath Alpha. It seemed whatever little remained of the Beast Lord's thinking mind and grown tired of trying to force its way through the wall of wind. So it went under it instead.

    The Beast Lord reared up to its full 50-meter height and fell on Alpha, trying to use its massive size and weight to crush the TAWP.

    Several pillars sprang from the TAWP's back, slamming into the small mountain of stone and metal. It was enough to keep Alpha from being pressed into the ground, but the massive weight was nearly too much even for the TAWP, and its joints creaked under the pressure, even as they were driven deeper into the soft earth.

    Soon, Alpha was totally enveloped.

    ——————

    The swirling hurricane surrounding them sputtered and died as No. 7 rematerialized in the air. The masked figure hovered in place, staring at the unmoving hill, wondering if Alpha's ploy had failed. If it had, No. 7 would have to retreat and leave their new "friend" to his fate. They might be working together, for now, but that didn't—.

    The middle section of the Beast Lord suddenly rose, then bulged outward before exploding in a torrent of metal shrapnel. Through the wind summoned to block the debris, No. 7 saw a small object rocket into the sky.

    No. 7 tracked the object as it rose higher and higher, slowing down as it neared its peak.

    At the top of its arc, No. 7 finally identified the object. It was a large metal… cube?

    No. 7 only had a brief moment to study the object, wondering what it could be before it violently erupted into a massive black fireball. As the fireball expanded, hundreds of smaller, shining objects were ejected in all directions.

    After a second more, these too exploded, lighting up the sky in dark light and further spreading out even smaller sparkling objects, covering tens of squared kilometers in all directions. Like glittering snow, the sparkling objects slowly fell back to the earth.

    No. 7 couldn't tell what the objects were at this distance, but they burned in their [Spirit Sight] with rotting Spirit energy. They almost looked like overloaded—

    Behind their mask, No. 7's eyes suddenly went wide. At the same time, Alpha called out from the rapidly sealing hole in the Beast Lord's stone "body."

    "This is the part where you want to run!"

    No. 7 didn't need to be told twice.

    They become one with the wind and rushed away from the area as fast as their depleted energy could take them. Even then, they barely make it out of the area as the first sparkling object contacted the writhing horde below.

    From the sky, No. 7 watched as the first object hit one of the large golems, then erupted into a massive black fireball several meters across.

    Then another. And another, then a dozen more. Soon, the prairies turned into a black hellscape, as thousands of black fireballs filled every inch for tens of kilometers in all directions from where they'd left Alpha and the Beast Lord.

    After what felt like an eternity but couldn't have been more than a few breaths, the last sparkling objects fell, and the prairies went silent. What had once been a seemingly endless sea of undead had been reduced to a charred wasteland of black ash and sputtering dark flames.

    That single move had obliterated 80% of the horde easily, with only stragglers on the edges having survived.

    No. 7 hovered in the air, utterly unable to process what they'd just witnessed. After a long moment, No.7 snapped back to reality and flew deeper into the wasteland. A moment later, they hovered over a small hill. If they hadn't known this melted, warped lump had been the Beast Lord only moments before, they would have thought it a slag-dumping site of the world's worst blacksmith. They couldn't even feel any Spirit energy circulating through the stone anymore.

    No. 7 stared at the hill and questioned if they should try digging Alpha out. Or if the madman had perished in his own attack.

    Their question was answered for them the next moment, when the small hill suddenly rumbled. No. 7 put up their guard. But instead of the Beast Lord rising from the ashes, the hill crumbled away, relieving a solid blue dome composed of interlocking hexagons.

    The dome shimmered once, then melted away. Alpha stood from the center of the doom, the creature's insect-like legs stretching out to push his large metal body into the air.

    Alpha turned and looked up at No. 7 hovering in the air.

    The two locked gazed for a silent moment before Alpha threw his stubby arms into the air and yelled,

    "WOO HOO! LETS DO IT AGAIN!"

    No. 7 stared down at the insane creature before pointing at them and yelling back.

    "Are you insane?! What the hell was that?! I thought you had a plan! Not that you were going to blow yourself up!"

    Alpha just looked up and shrugged before responding.

    "Rule #20; If you're not willing to shell your own position, you're not willing to win."

    No. 7 gawked, speechless. While they tried and failed to form any kind of response to that ludicrous statement, the ground beside Alpha stirred.

    A figure dragged itself out of the rubble. The much smaller, much more fleshy form of the Beast Lord. The creature, or what remained of it, was barely recognizable. What little flesh hadn't been replaced with arrayed metal was burned black and rotting in places. Its lower half was missing entirely, and it slowly crawled toward Alpha on its stomach with a single, warped flipper.

    Despite falling apart with each inch it moved, the creature's empty, black eyeholes never strayed from Alpha. It groaned and snapped a twisted beak at him as if its entire existence was powered by nothing more than pure malice and hatred.

    For all No. 7 knew about the undead, that might have very well been the case.

    BANG!

    Before the Beast Lord could crawl more than a few feet, however, a single thundercrack cut through the silence of the wasteland. The Beast Lord's head exploded like a rotten melon, producing a small flash of black light.

    The Beast Lord's flipper stretched out one last time, desperately reaching out to Alpha before collapsing to the ground. A few seconds later, what remained of the Beast Lord's body collapsed in on itself, even the arrayed metal disintegrating away into fine dust.

    Alpha and No. 7 stared at the remains as a gentle wind whisked them away.

    After a moment of silence, Alpha spoke in a cheerful voice.

    "Well! That was fun! Let's get on our way. The path is clear now."

    The creature then turned and strolled off into the distance.

    No. 7 turned and looked toward the distant temple and saw that, indeed, the way was clear. What few undead remained between them and their destination still wandered the prairies, with a few making their way toward them, but their numbers were so pitiful compared to before. They would be no obstacle at all.

    Still, No. 7 hesitated.

    Should they continue on?

    After seeing something like… that, they weren't so sure anymore.

    While they had a reputation to uphold, a job was just a job.

    After long contemplation, No. 7 sighed and flew off toward Alpha.

    They'd already made it this far. Might as well see things to the end.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • I can't help but think that Alpha is going to wreak so much havoc when he arrives in the middle of the ritual.
    ...
    Good!
     
    Alpha use experimental cluster munitions. It was super effective.

    He's just made a capacitor capable of storing the entire charge of significant numbers of crystals, and is going to be spending the entire rest of the journey making as many as he can. It's going to be glorious when he does something completely unexpected by everyone to mess with the ritual. Whatever that is.

    @Osamaru
    I'm not sure if you're familiar, but Alpha probably is. The way you've described at least part of how the energy channels work is very similar to RF Integrated circuits. Also known to many of us who deal with low frequency electronics as black magic. That's a field where you literally will use triangles to make sure power goes the right direction, and loops to store power temporarily!

     
    Last edited:
    Book 1 - Lesson 50: "Roll a d20 to check for traps."
  • Threadmarks
    • ————————————————————————
    Book 1 - Lesson 50: "Roll a d20 to check for traps."
    ————————————————————————​
    Alpha poked the twisted, broken pieces of metal he pulled from what remained of the Beast Lord's larger "body". No. 7 had called it a -[Spiritual Armor]- but what that meant in context, they couldn't say. It was something even they had little information on, as it was supposedly something only the most talented were capable of.

    When Alpha asked if that meant the Beast Lord was a big shot, his mysterious friend shook their head as they spoke.

    "No. While I wasn't around when -Kusanagi- first appeared, I've heard the stories. The creature was little more than a glorified bandit with delusions of grandeur. He might have caused trouble for the mortals, but once he started stepping on the toes of the actual players, he didn't last long. That someone like him could form a [Spiritual Armor] says there's more going on here than it first appears."

    Alpha turned to the masked human and asked with a chuckle.

    "You mean more than an army of undead and giant, swirling clouds of darkness?"

    No. 7 stared back, silent.

    Alpha sighed and tossed the metal scrap away. He'd scavenged a sizeable portion from the remains, but most of it was too contaminated to use. At least not without refining beyond what his internal factory was capable of. For a moment, he'd considered using another nanite seed, but decided against it. He'd gathered enough scrap to at least resupply. Anything else would be a waste for now.

    What he'd really been hoping to find was more array samples. Unfortunately, there weren't many that survived, and those that did were so badly warped and damaged that Alpha couldn't deduce what their original shape had been, making them useless. He had the recording of the thick arrays carved into the metal portion of the Beast Lord's actual body, but that had dissolved into ash. With nothing to actually test, he would have to copy them himself, and experience had already proven how dangerous that could be.

    None the less, Alpha was tempted.

    The power of these arrays and the strange energy that power them, was proving to be more than just a curiosity at this point. His latest toy was proof enough of that.

    Granted, the, as yet unnamed, prototype was going to need a lot of refining, but for a spur-of-the-moment concept, it had more than proven worth of further development. Though that development would have to start from the ground up. Cluster bombs, as a concept, had been widely abandoned by the Federation. When dealing with the level of augmentation and equipment commonly found on a galactic scale battlefield, spreading out your firepower typically wasn't a good move.

    You got better results with targeted surgical strikes when even the common foot soldier could shrug off a sting of explosions like that. When the enemy couldn't, then orbital bombardment was the go-to.

    But where cluster bombs had gone out of style, one similar concept was as popular as ever.

    Fireworks.

    Being one of the ruling four species and one of the most populous, human culture had spread far and wide. Including the ancient art of blowing things up with style. Modern firework shows were no longer limited to planetwide spectacles, but could span entire systems.

    It had taken a little jury-rigging, but modifying one of the smaller fireworks designs into a wide area dispenser for overcharged core fragments had worked like a charm. Getting some much firepower out of more conventional explosives would have proven difficult, given the size restraints. Thankfully, the core shards were relatively stable until they passed their threshold.

    It was just a matter of stuffing a shell with the core shards and his miniaturized storage array, then getting the timing right.

    If there was one thing Alpha was good at, it was blowing things up good.

    With time ticking away, and not able to salvage anything of real value, Alpha made the call to continue on. With much of the undead army reduced to smoldering piles of ash, the rest of the trip was relaxing by comparison.

    Only thirty minutes later, the pair stood under the massive walls. Alpha looked up and whistled.

    "That's impressive. I'd have never thought these people could build something like this."

    No. 7 landed on Alpha's back and crossed their arms, looking toward the top of the wall. They laughed in response.

    "They didn't. The Prima Earth Temple and all the earth shrines in the Radiant Sea were built long before anyone stepped foot in these lands. The most popular theory is that it's -#UjJD@%- built. Not that anyone can explain how a -#UjJD@%- got past the -$&#&#D@- without succumbing to its wrath."

    Alpha nodded along like he knew what half of that was…

    The wall was an impressive construct. 100 meters of solid stone without a single seam or cut along its length, which itself stretched several dozen kilometers in either direction. He'd tried scouting over the walls several times on the way there, with [Wasps], with no luck. The closer to the wall they'd gotten, the stronger the interference. He'd already lost contact with the drones he'd left with the children and

    It would have been an impressive construct even in a Federation world, let alone on a planet like this. Was this more proof of an outside force? Or were the people of this world more capable than he suspected?

    No. 7 pointed to the south and said,

    "There's a gate about four kilometers that way. That's our best point of entry. The enemy likely knows that too, so expect heavy resistance."

    No. 7 lept off the TAWP and started walking toward the gate. Alpha turned and looked that direction, before turning back to the wall. His optical plate flashed, and a thin red laser scanned the wall.

    The AI crunched the data and nodded, before turning back to No. 7 and speaking.

    "No need."

    No 7, stopped and turned. He didn't get to question what Alpha meant before the TAWP stood up on its hind legs. The tips of the front legs bubble and flowed before transforming into large, spiked claws. No. 7's eyes went wide under their mask, and they rushed forward, yelling.

    "No! Wait, the walls are—"

    The TAWP then fell forward, slamming into the wall and causing it to rumble. Its claws sank easily into the hard stone.

    No. 7 finished speaking too late.

    "—spelled…"

    Alpha's side optics spun and focused on No. 7 as he asked.

    "They're what, now?"

    The wall flashed red as thousands of intricate, jerking patterns appeared over its surface, reminding Alpha of flickering flames. At first Alpha thought they were arrays, but unlike the static patterns of arrays, these lights were dynamic, constantly shifting and floating several millimeters above the surface of the wall, like holograms.

    Alpha turned his focus to the new phenomenon.

    "Oh…"

    Suddenly, the patterns swirled and converged on Alpha's legs. The stone wall surrounding the connected legs began to rapidly heating and soon the stone was so hot that it glowed a bright white. Alpha stared at the white hot stone and laughed.

    "Come on now, you're gonna have to try harder than that!"

    The TAWP's armor was strong enough to take hits from orbital defense lasers. A bit of hot rock wasn't even going to peel the paint.

    No. 7 silently stared, then chucked and shook their head.

    Alpha turned to the masked figured and asked.

    "Well? Are you coming?"

    No. 7 didn't bother responding, and simply lept back onto of the TAWP.

    Alpha pulled the TAWP up, then pulled one leg out of the walk and slammed it further up the wall, where it stuck firmly. Again, the red holograms flashed red and converged on the leg, heating the stone until it glowed.

    In such a manner, Alpha slowly scaled the 100 meter wall.

    About 30 meters up, the lights changed. They transformed from red flickering flames into a green swirling pattern. The stone cooled and in its place, a cutting, gale force wind pounded Alpha from different directions, seemingly totally at random.

    This new trap was a little more tricky than the last. The wind itself wasn't very dangerous, but the TAWP's large profile meant they risked being ripped off the wall with each step. Eventually No. 7 had to step up and help to redirect some of the strong wind with their mysterious power.

    At 60 meters, the lights again changed. This time they became a blight blue, with a jagged pattern that spread across the surface. Suddenly, the temperature plummeted, and a thick, icy covering covered the wall. The icy shell grew thicker with each passing moment, and was harder than it look, sometimes taking several strikes from the TAWP to break through to the stone wall underneath.

    To make matters worse, if Alpha took too long, the ice would begin creeping up the TAWP's leg, making it harder to pull free.

    Overall, it took 10 minutes to scale the wall with all the obstacles, but Alpha finally pulled the TAWP over the lip of the edge and onto the top of the wall. It was spacious enough to fit three TAWPs from front to back with ease. Alpha turned and gazed out over the wall; finally, he had a clear view.

    "… Fudge."

    His rangefinder was placing the large, glowing pyramid he assumed was their destination at over 100 kilometers away. It sat in the middle of what Alpha could only describe as a sprawling metropolis stretching out in front of him. In many ways, it reminded him of the ruins he'd found with the other humans. Except someone was obviously taking good care of this place, even if only a fraction of the buildings appeared to be in use.

    In fact, if Alpha's calculations were right, the entire human population of Jadewalker city, and all the smaller cities and villages connected to it, would still only take up about a third of space here.

    Why was there such a large city here? Why did it seem mostly abandoned when there were so many people wandering the prairies? There was a mystery here, he knew, but like many things recently, it would have to wait.

    No. 7 lept off the TAWP and landed on the wide wall, and whistled.

    "Wow. Now that's a view. I'd heard the Prima Temples were large, but I'd only ever seen the Wind Temple from the ground. Air transport is strictly for the Priests. This… is something else."

    Alpha turned to No. 7 and asked,

    "Wind Temple? I thought this was the Earth Temple?"

    No. 7 folded their arms and nodded before responding.

    "It is. There are four Prima Temples on the -Skybreaker- continent. The Earth, Wind and Fire Temples are all on the mainland, while the Water Temple is at the bottom of the hole on Abyssalplunge island. Terrible name, but the Abyssal Knights are known for their… eccentricities."

    Alpha turned back to the city and responded.

    "Huh… neat."

    After a moment of silence, Alpha spoke up.

    "So, there's Fire, Wind, Water and Earth, right?"

    No.7 nodded.

    "That's correct."

    Alpha continued.

    "Just like the traps on the wall?"

    No. 7 paused, then confirmed.

    "Yeees? That wouldn't be correct. I would assume whoever did the spellwork for these walls wanted to keep with a theme. It's common enough."

    Alpha nodded and replied.

    "I see… I see… Hey, No. 7, correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember only three traps on the climb up…"

    No. 7 stood silent for a moment before sighing.

    "…Well…fuc—"

    In the blink of an eye, a shifting yellow pattern that reminded Alpha of a sand garden, lit up under No. 7's feet. At the same moment, a large, square pillar shot out of the top of the wall at a 45-degree angle and slammed into No. 7. The masked figure was sent flying back the way they'd come, flipped several time like a rag doll, before eventually dissolving into motes of air. They materialized back on the ground a few seconds later.

    Alpha watched the scene in silence. Seeing they were fine, Alpha felt it their obligation and duty as their companion… to point and laugh.

    He even turned up the volume on his external speakers so that he was sure No. 7 could hear him fine.

    Alpha was such a good friend.

    Nevertheless, Alpha thought he should probably go retrieve them. After all, No. 7 was his map.

    But as Alpha turned around, a familiar flowing yellow pattern lit up under the TAWP.

    "… Double fudge…"

    ———————
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Yeah, somehow I don't think that's going to stop Alpha for very long. Though it is funny.

    Meanwhile, I'm just thinking about the amount of energy that could be siphoned from the wall. Hot to cold is an energy difference after all. Probably not worth it due to density issues though, even long term.

    Meanwhile, Alpha is certainly recording those patterns.
     
    EmperorArthur said:
    Yeah, somehow I don't think that's going to stop Alpha for very long. Though it is funny.

    Meanwhile, I'm just thinking about the amount of energy that could be siphoned from the wall. Hot to cold is an energy difference after all. Probably not worth it due to density issues though, even long term.

    Meanwhile, Alpha is certainly recording those patterns.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Cold to hot would require more energy from a thermodynamics point of view.
    The burn the legs bit? That sounds like it would waste more energy than dropping the temperature closer to 0k, as the ice thing might... Assuming equal joules-to-joules temperature manipulation of course.

    You could set up a nice thermocouple by using a heat pipe to connect the 'very hot' and 'very cold' defense zones. Maybe several of those 'air from any direction' (search omnidirectional bladeless) turbines to generate more power from the gusty part?
     
    Last edited:
    Book 1 - Lesson 51: "Often, the best solution to a roadblock in life, is through it"
  • Threadmarks
    • Some of the things done in this chapter will leave a few people scratching their heads.

    That's intentional, and will be elaborated on shortly.
    ————————————————————————
    Book 1 - Lesson 51: "Often, the best solution to a roadblock in life, is through it"
    ————————————————————————​
    Alpha stared at the giant magic wall, grinding his gears… literally!

    Since when had a wall ever stopped him?! This was ridiculous! He demanded to speak to the walls manager! But every time he tried to scale the wall, it would throw something new at him.

    The first three traps seemed totally random, both in element and style, each time. One attempt might have seen the first 30 meters turn into burning tar, only for it to spew toxic, choking gas the next time. The traps were varied as they were frustrating, even if none of them could really hurt Alpha.

    The final trap, though, was always the worst. Perhaps because this was the Earth Temple, the last trap was always earth aligned and always at the top. The first two attempts, they'd realized it was motion activated. Move too much, or move toward the city edge, and it would trigger, throwing the invader into the air 100 meters up. On their third attempt, Alpha had tried to cheat by leaping across the wall's width.

    As soon as he'd cleared the wall, it had actually extended to block him with a wall of stone.

    On the fourth attempt, they tried something different. Instead of going over, they would try going under. That had failed as well. Alpha sent a swarm of nanites into the ground to scout for weaknesses, only to find that the wall extended underground several hundred meters, several times that of the wall on the surface.

    In retrospect, that made sense. Alpha had already seen several wildlife species capable of burrowing underground at high speeds. Normal walls would prove no barrier at all to such creatures. Digging a pit large enough for the TAWP to fit into would take far more time than they had. At that point, they might as well try their luck with the gatehouse.

    No. 7 suggested just that by the sixth attempt, but Alpha refused to be beaten by a wall.

    It wasn't even about getting inside anymore; now, it was personal!

    On the eighth, Alpha stopped and really observed each trap as it activated. Whatever these holographic lights were, they appeared similar to arrays, yet they weren't. When he asked his masked companion about them, No. 7 shrugged and said.

    "Not a clue. I'm not a -Mage-. You don't get many of that type around here. They prefer the -Gaia- continent across the sea. Any Mage you find around these parts would be a beginner in comparison. Not the kind of person that could ever touch on this level of spellwork."

    Oh? A different continent could mean different resources. Alpha filed that little tidbit away for later and turned his focus back to the wall. He turned to No. 7 and said,

    "Well then. If going over the wall will not work, and going under it is a bust, there was only one reasonable solution."

    No. 7 sighed and started walking to the gate as they spoke.

    "Finally. Let's stop wasting time and get to the gate. No doubt our… ruckus has drawn attention, and they've reinforced it by now."

    Alpha laughed and responded.

    "Why would we worry about that? We just need to make our own gate."

    No. 7 paused, then slowly turned to stare at the AI.

    ——————

    No. 7 stood cross-armed next to the mysterious "Lord Protector," or 'Alpha' as he'd named himself. Both stared into the large, shimmering bubble formation as the dozen flying slimes zoomed around inside, constructing… something.

    No. 7 would be lying if they said they weren't a little surprised. Time dilation formations were among the most difficult and expensive ones to create. They took centuries to master, and maintaining them required pre-built structures designed specifically for that purpose. Not only that, but even stronger formations could only speed up or slow down the passaging time by a small margin, roughly 40-60% depending on their quality.

    That might not seem a lot, but when some pill refining or cultivation techniques could take decades to complete, these formations could shave years off the process.

    Yet, Alpha had set up such a formation with little more than a dozen square boxes in minutes. Even more amazing, the dilation was one scale of magnitudes, not percentages. Whatever these boxes were, they were artifacts that even the Great Sects would fight wars over.

    Part of No. 7 wanted to grab the boxes and make a run for it. The mission be damned. The value of these artifacts alone would have been worth a hundred such missions, and that was saying a lot. Archimedes might not have been the strongest, most talented, or even the wealthiest member of the Camp, but he was a professional.

    Archimedes had become somewhat of a boogyman to the rich and powerful of the world; he'd never once failed to successfully kidnap someone and get away with it. Many paid a hefty sum in ransoms over the years or to be put on the "untouchables" list, at the very least.

    And as Archimedes's avenger, No. 7 had a right to everything he'd left behind.

    But No. 7 quickly discarded that idea.

    Even if they disregarded the danger of Alpha and his strange abilities, this was no longer just a mission of personal gain. If it really was true that there was an Army of Iris under the Radiant Sea, then things would only get more complicated from here. Every faction on Relictus, big or small, light or dark, orthodox or unorthodox, were bound to work together by the Undead Accords.

    Iris' army could and had destroyed mortal worlds before. Petty rivalries, old grudges, and disagreements all fell away in the face of the undead and their world's very survival. No. 7 had already sent news back to the Camp through their own means. The word should be spreading even as they stood there. The question was, would it already be too late?

    No. 7 turned and spoke to Alpha in a flat voice.

    "…. You know this isn't going to work, right? Anyone with the slightest bit of experience could tell you this was a stupid idea…."

    Alpha turned and stared down at them with those strange red eyes.

    "As the ancient proverb of the Federation goes, 'if it looks stupid, but it works, it's not stupid.'"

    No. 7 stared back in silence before turning back to watch the flying slimes work. After a moment, they spoke up again.

    "… The more I learn about your people, the more worried I am."

    Alpha laughed and responded.

    "You'll get used to it."

    ——————

    Alpha monitored the translight bubble for irregularities. He'd been worried about using any translight technology ever since the space squid incident, but lucky for him, that appeared to be a one-off event. All the readings came back well within normal parameters. Then again, maybe that was strange, given all the weird interference in the area currently.

    Alpha wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. Not after how much this setup was going to cost him. The translight nodes themselves weren't too expensive, but he'd had to deploy a few nanite seeds in the area to them set up. That wasn't even considering the special alloys he had to sacrifice in his storage to build the drill head of the [Core Drill] he was building.

    The [Core Drill] wasn't normally something he should have had access to. It was equipment designed for deep mantle mining on planets designated for scrapping. He'd requested the blueprints for it on a previous mission and never used it again. Nanite miners were more efficient for surface-level mining, and the special equipment required to survive planet mantles and establish proper mantle mines was expensive.

    Lucky for Alpha, he needed none of that. The current build was little more than a rushed, stripped-down version of a proper [Core Drill], but it should be enough to bust through a couple dozen meters of stone. Better yet, since most of the materials were going into the drill head, he could come back and salvage it once all this mess was over.

    There would be no retrieving the nanites, but the alloys could be easily repurposed. It was a risk, but depending on how well the enemy had reinforced the gate, Alpha may have used just as many supplies to break through there.

    He much preferred the known cost he could later salvage versus an unknown cost against an unknown number of enemies.

    Twenty minutes later, the assembly drones inside the translight bubble finished their task, and the translight nodes were collected. As the bubble collapsed, the stripped-down skeleton of the [Core Drill] revealed itself. On the surface, it was unimpressive; little more than a metal drill head roughly the size of the TAWP, with a carriage behind where the TAWP could lock into place. Nevertheless, it was Federation tech, so how could it be that simple?

    The next part was going to hurt, though. Alpha mentally grimaced but gave the command. The assembly drones move to surround the drill, then attached themselves. Over the next few seconds, the drones dissolved one by one, their nanites breaking down to become the various internals and circuitry required to finish the construct. That would mean those nanites would be lost to Alpha and would have to be rebuilt using another seed.

    Costly, but necessary. The various delicate components needed weren't something he could make alone with just the TAWP's internal factory. But the same nanites that made up the assembly drones and the TAWP's nanite "skin," for that matter, could mimic them.

    He could salvage the drill head and the skeleton, but all of those internals would have to be reprocessed all over again.

    The deed done, Alpha approached the finished [Core Drill] and stepped into the carriage. His TAWP slotted neatly into place as several magnetic clamps engaged and Alpha interfaced with the drill's systems.

    The next moment, the back of the TAWP clicked, then slid away with a hiss, revealing a small seated compartment and a short ramp. The cockpit was mostly a vestigial component for most AI-driven TAWP, but Alpha had found it useful enough to keep. It was quite useful for transporting living "guests."

    Of course, he'd remembered to remove any form of cockpit controls. You only made that mistake once…

    It was a tight squeeze for most species, but not too bad, and if they didn't fit in the cockpit, Alpha could always shove them into his cargo. That was typically a last resort, though; overexposure to spatial expansion tended to be unhealthy for biologicals. Despite the need for constant expansion to support their growing population, that was the primary reason the Federation regulated the technology to cargo and manufacturing.

    Alpha called out to No. 7, who'd been standing by the wayside in silence.

    "Are you coming? We've already lost enough time here; let's finish this."

    No. 7 stood wordlessly for a moment, before throwing up their arms and walking toward the open hatch, and saying,

    "In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess. I agree. Let's get this over with."

    They crawled into the small cockpit, and the hatch silently closed behind them.

    No. 7 secured, Alpha turned the [Core Drill] toward the wall, the ground rumbling under their combined weight. The drill head started spinning, slowly at first, then faster and faster, until it became a whistling blur that threw up a cloud of dust on either side. Then it contacted the wall, and Alpha muttered to himself.

    "Time to see what's stronger; Federation stubbornness or magical bullcrap…"
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • It would have been entertaining to read along as Alpha tried to dig underground, only to find more wall; launch himself over, only for the wall to suddenly grow, but i understand why you went for brevity. It's a funny picture, though... someone should make a fanart.
     
    Book 1 - Lesson 52: "The rabbit hole always goes deeper than it first appears."
  • Threadmarks
    • ————————————————————————
    Book 1 - Lesson 52: "The rabbit hole always goes deeper than it first appears."
    ————————————————————————​
    "♫ Heigh ho, Heigh ho, it's off to work, we go! ♫,"

    Alpha whistled to himself as the drill slowly dug through the wall. As mundane as the stone wall appeared, it was surprisingly tough. No doubt more magical bullcrap. But it seemed even magic had its limits while Federation grit and resourcefulness were limitless. Despite the wall's resistance, both physical and magical, the [Core Drill's] special alloy was making quick work of it.

    "Quick" being subjective, that was. At a little over a meter every five minutes, it would still take some time for them to break through the several dozen meters wide wall. Even after an hour and a half, they were still less than 1/3rd through the wall, the bulky frame of the drill barely past the lip of the tunnel. At the rate it was taking, they still had a few hours to go before they broke through.

    So Alpha thought he'd pass the time with some singing. Of course, not everyone appreciated the classics, and someone had to complain.

    No. 7's voice sounded over the cockpit comms. "Must you sing? I hardly think this is the time. Besides, you have horrible rhythm."

    "Yes, yes, I must," Alpha responded. "The back seat doesn't get radio privileges!"

    "I find myself constantly surprised by the nonsense that escapes your mouth…" No. 7 responded flatly.

    Alpha chuckled and said, "I know, right!? It helps to—"

    Rumble.

    "What was that?!" No. 7 sharply asked from the cockpit.

    "Nothing!" Alpha responded.

    Maybe a little too quickly because No. 7 bite back, "What do you mean 'nothing'?! It sure as hell sounded like something!"

    Alpha paused and thought before correcting himself, "Ok. Soooooo… try not to freak out."

    No. 7 yelled back, their voice an octave higher, "What reason would I have to 'freak out'?!"

    Alpha paused the drill and answered. "Weeeeeeeell, the tunnel may have kind of, sort of… collapsed behind us…."

    For a long moment, No. 7 was silent, and Alpha was worried something might be wrong, so he spoke through the comms again, "Hey, No. 7? Buddy? You still al—"

    The TAWP's alarm systems blared to life as they reported massive atmospheric pressure and what his Analytics Sub-Ai was calling a "mini-hurricane" inside the cockpit.

    Not that it would do No. 7 any good. The TAWP's cockpit was hermetically sealed to withstand various atmosphere conditions and compositions. It could even survive under the stress of vacuum or deep sea pressure.

    A few moments later, No. 7 rematerialized in the cockpit, sweating and panting.

    Alpha spoke once No. 7 calmed down. "All better? Did you get it out of your system?"

    No. 7 snapped, "Screw you! This is your fault! Let me out of here! You might be trapped, but I might still squeeze through the gaps before the wall reseals itself! I'll not die because of your stupidity! How did I ever let you talk me into ge—YOWL!"

    Alpha shocked No. 7 with the built-in defibrillator into the pilot seat. It was part of the original design meant to resuscitate the pilot in case of a critical failure or loss of consciousness. Alpha had kept it for… other reasons… look, stop asking questions!

    Once No. 7 stopped shaking, Alpha spoke into the cockpit. "Stop being a worrywart. We're fiiiiiiine. I get buried alive all the time. Just a minor setback, nothing to worry about."

    No.7 yelled back, their voice strained, "What do you mean 'nothing to worry about, you utter fool?! Do you not realize we're stuck under several tens of thousands of tons of solid stone?! These walls are made with the bones of -Greater Elementals-; not only are they totally impervious to -Spirit- energy, but they'll actively suck us dry! Eventually, the stone will seal us in, and we'll be unable to -cultivate- or gather energy! These walls will be our tomb!"

    Huh. Lots of unfamiliar words there. Alpha filed those away and ran crosschecks through his lexicon in the background. While he did that, Alpha responded. "As I was saying! We'll be fine! Trust ol' Betsy; she'll get us through."

    No. 7 threw their arms into the air, as much as they could in the tight cockpit at least, and yelled back. "You're not liste—OWE!—Will you stop that?!"

    Alpha shocked his masked companion with the defibrillator again… then once more… for good measure, before speaking, "Look, just trust me, ok! I'm a professional!"

    The next moment, a feminine voice spoke through the comms.

    //The Federation would like to officially state that any and all claims made by, or on behalf of, [SEAU-01], designation 'Alpha,' regarding licenses, degrees, doctorates, official positions, or any other form of authority granting qualifications on any subject matter outside of the jurisdiction of the Expeditionary Force, are to be considered dubious. At no point is the Federation responsible for any loss of life, limb, property, mental facilities, ownership of one's mind, body, soul, or any other losses that may result from participation in any unsanctioned actions, regardless of any claim made by [SEAU - 01] to the contrary. This has been an automated response for your benefit on behalf of the office of General Uriel Haldorðr, Third Federation, Galactic Unification Expeditionary Force. Thank you, and have a good day.//

    The same feminine voice spoke again, though this time less animated; //Alpha, you took one online course 100 years ago. Please stop telling people, "I got this. I'm a Doctor."//

    "Who was that?!" No. 7 asked.

    "No one! Ignore that! Anyway, let's gooooo!" Alpha responded and started the drill back up.

    To himself, the AI muttered {I thought I found all of those! How does she keep sneaking them in?!}

    A few moments later, the drill was once more spinning at full speed and cutting its way through the hard stone wall. Though the data feedback from the sensors suggested, they weren't making as much progress as before… strange…

    A few hours and a few more sessions of electrotherapy-based anxiety treatment for No. 7 later, the tip of the [Core Drill] broke through the last remaining layer of stone, and several meters of the wall crumbled away, letting in beams of bright sunlight.

    With a cry of triumph, Alpha pushed the drill through the newly formed opening and spoke up." HA! I told you I could do it! So much wasted energy worrying… about… hmmmm."

    Instead of opening up into the sprawling city as he'd expected, the scene in front of Alpha was… different. A vast, open, windswept plain stretched out in front of him. A gentle wind blew, causing the bright green, foot-tall grass to sway like the waves in an ocean.

    In the distance, a single small tree stood in the middle of the plains. It wasn't large, just barely tall enough for the TAWP to sit comfortably under.

    Not seeing any other landmarks around, Alpha started making his way toward the tree. This place was… nice. Comfortable. So much bet—

    //WARNING! Virus detected! Main processors compromised! Reverting to previous save-state!//

    {Aaaaanddd, we're back!} What the hell just happened?! Where was he?!

    Alpha reviewed the saved logs. His Security Sub-AI had detected abnormal mental processes and determined a virus had infected Alpha. Well, technically, Alpha hadn't been infected. It was extremely difficult actually to manipulate Sapient-AI with non-sapient code. Especially those like Alpha, whose origins were similar to malware or viruses, to begin with. Not that many of those types survived [SEAU-3's] culling.

    But while AI themselves weren't susceptible, the equipment they inhabited was. There were thousands of programs in the Federation designed to alter the perceptions and emotions of Sapient-AI in such a way. Some were legal and were used similarly to how biologicals would use drugs or alcohol. Others could control or manipulate the AI in various ways, which were illegal for obvious reasons.

    Being a small fragment of himself, Alpha's Security Sub-AI should have been able to detect any intrusion as it happened and counter it. But his security measures had totally failed. It was only a set of backup protocols designed to warn him when he became too distracted by a new project (which happened embarrassingly often) that finally tipped off the Sub-AI there was an issue.

    Yet even after a thorough scan of all his systems, the Sub-AI couldn't find a single trace of any tampering. That was strange… and worrying.

    So the Sub-AI made the call to initiate a save-state recall. Save-states were "snapshots" of an AI's coding, memories, and personality taken at certain intervals. These save-states were periodically sent back to the Mother-Node, to be used to resurrect the AI if worse came to worse. For combat AI like Alpha, save-states were taken roughly every 30 minutes.

    He'd gone back three. Meaning he'd just "lost" an hour and a half.

    A recall wasn't as traumatic or serious as actual death. Closer to blacking out after a long weekend partying, only to wake up with no memory of where you were or how you got there. It was something to be done only as a last resort in cases of catastrophic system failure.

    That something had triggered a recall sent warning bells off in Alpha's head, both physically and metaphorically. Instantly, he set his systems to the highest alert level. Any tampering or divergent thoughts and behaviors would be identified and analyzed.

    That done, Alpha spoke into the cockpit, "Hey, No. 7. We might have an issue. How are you feeling?… No7?"

    Alpha focused on the cockpit, only to find… it was empty?! How? Had his masked companion escaped somehow during his last save-state? No, they shouldn't have been able to, and there was no record in his logs of having let them out himself. What was happening?

    Suddenly, a voice spoke from nearby, "Well, isn't that interesting? I've never seen someone break free so quickly. Tell me, traveler. What do you think you're doing cutting through my wall?"

    Alpha's optical sensors swerved and focused on the voice. The head of a young woman stuck out of the ground only a few meters away, staring up at him.

    Alpha's point defense turrets turned and fired.

    ——————

    [A few hours earlier, roughly the same time Alpha took a side job as a wall excavator.]

    Zolzaya sipped the cup of warm tea, doing her best to ignore the pacing, fuming woman on the other side of the room and her own shaking hands. The grandfatherly Head Priest Erden sat across from her on the other couch while Kallik sat beside her, the picture of calm. Zolzaya's father, Juatan, and Ulagan stood to either side of her couch, stalwart but slightly pale. Their spears were upright, the ends firmly on the ground, though ready to move at the slightest need.

    The last Guardian, Munkh, stood opposite the room as the pacing woman, her shield at the ready. At her feet lay the still forms of Ganbaatar and Yutu, both of whom had yet to wake after succumbing to the pacing woman's [Spiritual Pressure]. They had the weakest resistance to stronger pressures, so they hadn't fared as well as the other Slatewalkers.

    Erden smiled at the group and spoke, "I must apologize for Artemis's behavior. As you can probably imagine, she has been under a lot of stress lately. I assure you, she is typically far more considerate of others around her in normal situations."

    The woman in question tsked but said nothing more. Kallik nodded, placed her cup on the table, and spoke. "I understand your situation, Head Priest Erden, but I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't disappointed. A child's life is at stake, and possibly more if the commotion outside is anything to go by. Yet in the short time we've been here, we've been blocked, attacked, arrested, interrogated, and attacked again. I'm questioning whether coming to the Temple was the right course."

    Erden sighed and lowered his head as he responded, "For that, I must apologize once more. I had always known that our stagnation would one day lead to rot, but it seems even I was blind to how bad the problem truly was. I would like to blame those of the Temple calling for separation from the world, as our patrons have, but I must accept the fact that even I have grown weary and complacent over the years. Though that is no excuse either."

    Kallik nodded and smiled. "I'm glad to see at least some of the Temple remember their foundation," she said.

    Erden smiled back and responded, "Thank you." He clapped his hands, and a few more priests entered, carrying writing materials and a large crystal.

    The head priest spoke to the room, "Now, with that out of the way, let's see about getting that full story, why don't we? Maybe we can piece together exactly what we're dealing with here."
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Book 1 - Lesson 53: "Sometimes, there is no right answer."
  • Threadmarks
    • ————————————————————————
    Book 1 - Lesson 53: "Sometimes, there is no right answer."
    ————————————————————————    ​
    Head Priest Erden signed and placed his notes on the small table in front of him. The grandfatherly man then reached up and removed the thick-rimmed glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose. Some days, Erden was jealous of Cultivators and their vitality. Mages felt the touch of time and exhaustion far easier than Cultivators. Not that a mortal could ever physically best a properly trained Mage, but even early [Eighth-Ring] Mages like himself, equal to a first-step [Earthly Trancendent] Cultivator, could not beat back time's inevitable march.

    Why, he had been a spry young man, just entering the priesthood when he'd first met junior (at the time) priestess Metis, a small pup cradled in her arms. Less than a century later, that same pup had grown into a fierce warrior all her own, with a strength greater than his own, yet appearing young enough to be his granddaughter. Part of that was Artemis' sheer talent. The young woman was powerful, even by Akh'lut standards. Part of it was his own lack of progression and study. This place, coupled with his duties, offered few opportunities to further his magecraft.

    Mostly, it was Artemis's overwhelming energy, drive, and force of will that drove her endlessly onward. She was the type who would throw herself at every opportunity or fight tooth and nail (sometimes literally) for what she wanted. It had taken a lot of effort on Metis' part to reign in and refine that fierce nature into something more… humble. Now that she was gone… he only hoped the young woman remembered the lessons her mother had imparted.

    For all their sakes.

    Head Priest Erden laid a gentle hand on the back of the woman sitting next to him. Artemis' head snapped in his direction, her face warped and twisted into a vicious, beast-like visage as she growled at him. Erden stared back, gently stroking her back. The young woman's face slowly twisted and returned to a more human appearance. Sharp fangs flattened and became human teeth. Slit, bloodshot eyes shrunk and regained their golden hue. The heavy [Spirit Pressure] he'd been fighting back diminished to a safe level for their guests. After a moment, the beast was gone, and a tired-looking Artemis returned his gaze.

    Slowly, the young woman turned away and placed her face in her hands, refusing to look at anyone.

    Again Erden sighed and turned to humans across the table from him. The group was still somewhat pale, but they were getting used to the Akh'lut warrior's… temper at this point. This wasn't the first time she'd lashed out during the story. Impressive for ones not accustomed to dealing with Akh'lut, especially one like Artemis.

    He was especially struck by the young girl next to the Grassreader. Despite her shaking hands and pale, sweating face, her eyes held no threads of genuine fear. Instead, he could see deep pity and sadness, as if she knew exactly what the warrior across from her was going through.

    Erden rifled through the notes on the table and spoke to the older Grassreader, Kallik. "This is quite the story, Grassreader. I must admit, if it weren't for the current circumstances, I would hesitate to trust all of it."

    Kallik nodded and responded, "As would I. I'm aware of how outlandish it might all seem, but I am willing to take an [Oath of Truth] if I must. As things stand, we are already behind the enemy."

    Erden paused, his eyes widening slightly. An [Oath of Truth] wasn't a small matter. Once taken, the oathtaker could never lie to the oathbinder under any circumstances. The oath was originally designed to keep slaves under control and prevent them from lying to their masters. Once slavery fell out of practice on the Skybreaker continent, it was mostly used on heinous criminals. Struggling against the oath could cause serious soul damage and gave the oathbinder vast power over the oathtaker, so it wasn't something often considered under normal circumstances.

    Erden paused and stared into Kallik's eyes. She met his gaze, unwavering. After a moment, Erden shook his head, leaning back in his seat as he spoke. "That won't be necessary."

    Kallik pulled back, her eyes wide as she asked, "You believe us?! Truly?"

    "But Head Priest, surely you can't—" one of the attending priests to the side spoke out. They'd been quiet for much of the meeting, taking notes and letting Erden ask the questions. The Head Priest cut the man off with a raised hand.

    Erden shook his head and answered the unfinished question. "No. I'm not so much a fool to trust the words of strangers so easily. More so the intentions of those not hear to defend themselves, such as this mysterious 'Lord Protector' of yours."

    He turned and looked at the two young men in the corner, both of whom had just begun to stir. Erden's next words were firm, "What I trust is the judgment of my patron." He then turned back to Kallik and continued. "Despite what many feel or the fact we call ourselves 'priests,' the followers of the Prima are not a religion. We do not worship our patrons nor see them as infallible. They are teachers, guides, and examples. The Prima of Earth, our own patron, in particular, values steadfastness, resolve, and the unwavering desire to do what one must for those they love. "

    "In some, this manifests in unbending and unmoving resolve and belief, like a solid stone that will not budge under even the greatest obstruction or assault. In others, it becomes a nurturing and caring nature, like the fertile soil on which all life depends. Some show boundless potential and endless possibilities, like raw metal, ready to be forged into countless shapes."

    The older man smiled, nodded to the unconscious young men, and continued. "I can not speak of what your young friend here might one day become, but I trust my Foundation and what she represents. If she has seen fit to bless him as she has, I will trust it is for the right reasons."

    Kallik stared wide eyes at the old priest for a long moment before bowing her head. "Thank you," she said.

    After a heartbeat, the rest of the Slatewalkers followed suit.

    Erden clapped his hands and spoke once more, "That being said… I'm afraid there's an issue. Had this been brought to my attention when it was supposed to have been—" the old priest glared at several of the attending priests before continuing, "We might have already been on our way. As it stands now…"

    He let the statement hang in the air. Even now, the sound of fighting could be heard in the background. Periodic reports suggested the lines were holding, for now, but the undead knew no rest or peace.

    Artemis pulled her head from her hands and glared at the Head Priest as she spoke, "So what?! Do you suggest we stay here?! That we abandon my little sister to… whatever the hell these bloody cultists have planned?!"

    Ulagan was the one to respond to her question. "We didn't abandon her. The Lord Protector should be on the outskirts of the Earth Temple as we speak. He—"

    Ulagan jumped and turned slightly paler as the much stronger Cultivator turned her attention, and wrath, to him, cutting him off. "And why should I trust this 'Lord Protector' of yours?! Erden might regard the patron's decisions highly, but that does not mean this stranger is not a wildcard. How do we not know this Spirit Beast is not working with the cultists? Or that it does not have some other nefarious motives?! I will not leave my sister's fate in the hands of an unknown!"

    Zolzaya answered back, though her voice slightly shook. "Because your sister trusted him."

    Artemis' sharp gaze snapped to the younger woman. "Explain."

    Zolzaya took a deep breath and continued. "You might think your sister is just a child, and you're not wrong. She is young and naïve about many things. Yet, in many ways, she is wiser than her age makes her seem. During the time we traveled together, I watched the child carefully. I admit, I had similar suspicions as you."

    "Maybe the Spirit Beast was coercing the child or taking advantage of their inexperience. But in all that time, I never once saw any evidence of that. In fact, the child seemed to have free rein in all her actions. Several times she had vanished, and I thought she'd taken the chance to escape, only for her to return some time later with some new prize. At every opportunity, the child returned. While I can not fully vouch for the Lord Protector's motives or thought process, I can say without any doubt that your sister trusted him."

    Artemis glared at Zolzaya, her eyes boring into her soul, trying to rip away any falsehood in the young woman's words.

    After a moment, Artemis spoke, "Even if that was true, you can't expect me to trust her fate to a single Spirit Beast. What can one person do against an entire army?"

    Kallik coughed, breaking the awkward tension. Kallik turned back to Artemis and Erden, then spoke. "I believe there's one more piece of relevant information that might help shed light on that matter."

    Erden raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh? How so?"

    Kallik looked over at Ulagan and locked eyes with him. The young Guardian frowned, but nodded, and Kallik continued. "While it has yet to be confirmed as an absolute, we believe that the Lord Protector… may be a newborn Progenitor."

    The room froze. Even Juatan snapped his head to stare at the Grassreader, eyes wide. This was the first time he was hearing about this! Then again, it would make some sense. Suddenly, pieces started to fall into place for the older Guardian. Not just regarding the survivor's odd behavior toward the Lord Protector, but also the elder council's. Of course, Kallik had already told those old fogies her suspicions. Why else would they have been so… understanding about some of the Lord Protector's more eccentric behavior during his stay in the village?

    Erden's already squinting eyes narrowed even further as he stroked his long beard. "A Progenitor… I see… That might explain some things, indeed. More so, the creature's seeming ignorance and rather bold nature. However, I must warn you that this makes things far more complicated. Cultists are one problem, but a rogue Progenitor may become just as much of a disaster if not properly handled. Are you willing to stand fully by those words, regardless of the consequences?"

    Kallik paused, then nodded her head. "I am, and so is the Slatewalker village."

    Erden leaned back and nodded as well before speaking. "I see. That changes some things. Unfortunately, not enough. The current situation doesn't exactly lend itself to offering the Lord Protector much aid."

    Artemis turned to the old man, her eyes burning as she spoke. "Excuse after excuse! Since when did you turn into a coward, Erden?!"

    Erden frowned and turned to stare at the younger woman, his eyes opening slightly, flashing a pair of black and white ringed eyes. His voice was hard as he spoke. "What would you have me do, young lady? Charge over the walls and cut our way through the army of the undead?!"

    Artemis stared back, her voice soft by firm, "If we must…"

    Erden returned the gaze, his voice just as firm. "And leave the city undefended? Abandon the common people and those seeking our protection to fates worse than death?!"

    Artemis frowned but didn't answer. She only stared unblinking into those powerful eyes. A new voice cut through the silence as she opened her mouth to say something.

    As one, every eye turned to stare at Yutu as the young man pushed himself to a sitting position on shaking arms as he spoke. "I… I might have a solution to that problem…"
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Book 1 - Lesson 54: "War is 10% Combat and 85% Information control."
  • Threadmarks
    • ————————————————————————
    Book 1 - Lesson 54: "War is 10% Combat and 85% Information control."
    ————————————————————————    ​
    ——————————

    Click click click click click.

    Alpha stared at the totally-not-exploded head sticking out of the ground awkwardly as his point-defense turrets clicked uselessly in her direction.

    Well… this was awkward…

    Alpha quickly identified the issues, though. His turrets were empty! How?! A quick inventory check showed his storage was empty as well! What the hell?! Alpha threw his hands into the air and yelled, "MY STUFF!!"

    The head sticking out of the ground laughed and pulled herself further out of the ground until a young human woman in her mid-20s was lazily lounging on the grass with half her body still under the ground. She stared at Alpha and smirked before saying, "If you're looking for your weapons, I'm afraid you won't find them here. This place doesn't physically exist. Not in the same way you're likely accustomed to. This is a place of souls and minds. I pulled you here after noticing your little excavation attempt."

    The woman was… strange. While physically, she took the shape of a human woman, her actual body was anything but. Her "skin" was pure white and had a rough, almost sand-like texture, while her hair was not hair but a flowing carpet of thick green grass that seamlessly blended into the surrounding field. And her eyes… her eyes were two large gemstones, cold and unblinking, with multiple concentric rings of alternating black and white.

    Alpha pulled the TAWP back several dozen feet, unsure of what was happening. Still, he tried to keep the strange woman speaking while he ran diagnostics. Was he still being affected by a virus?

    "What do you mean, 'not physical'? Is this some kind of simulation?" Alpha asked.

    The woman placed her head in one hand and tilted in, considering the unfamiliar word before answering. "In a way? You may think of it that way, but not quite. That word holds Truths I've not encountered, which is impressive in its own right but similar enough."

    Alpha spun his optical sensor and asked, "What do you mean, similar? In what—".

    He paused. He checked his logs of the last few moments, then rechecked and checked once more to be absolutely sure before coming to his conclusions. She hadn't spoken in the native language.

    She'd spoken in Federation Common.

    Instantly, his guard was up.

    For her part, the woman only laughed and spoke, "Not quite, child. The Words of the World, or the elemental tongue, as some have come to call it, is not bound by such petty things as 'language.' You hear my words as you wish to hear them because I speak not to your mind but to your soul."

    Alpha pulled away a few more meters, aiming his point-defense turrets in her direction as he spoke. They wouldn't do anything, but the action offered some comfort. "Nice try, Lady. I don't have a soul."

    The strange woman only smiled again and responded. "Oh? Really? Then how are you here, child? All sapient beings have a soul. For the soul is what it means to be sapient in the first place."

    Alpha mentally frowned and spoke, "Don't think now is the best time for a philosophy lesson, lady. How about you answer some questions? I might not be able to shoot you, but I'm pretty sure being stepped on by several dozen tons of war machine won't be a fun experience."

    The woman grinned and nodded, "Yes, I believe it's time you and me had a… talk."

    Alpha shrugged and said, "Cut the pleasantries, let's keep this quick. Not sure if you've noticed, but things are a bit hectic at the moment. I'm on a schedule, and I'd like to get going as quickly as possible."

    The lounging woman frowned. "No. I don't know what's going on. That's the point. This form, you see, is but a fragment of my true self, placed here to monitor and control the wall. All the arrays I used to communicate and monitor the outside have been destroyed or tampered with. As it stands, I am blind, and had you not had the audacity to burrow into this ancient relic, I would have remained so." She pushed herself further out of the ground as she spoke until only her legs dangled under the surface.

    Alpha tilted the TAWP and asked, "A fragment? Like a sub-AI? How's that even work?!"

    The woman narrowed her eyes and responded, "Strange… another word I am unfamiliar with. But yes, while it is not exactly the same, the idea is similar. Though In my case, the separation is more… extreme. I am not just a partitioning off of consciousness as you do, but an individual being with all the memories and aspects of my 'parent.' You could think of my sisters and me as 'clones,' as you would say. Though even that isn't the full truth."

    The woman finished pulling herself out of the ground and slowly walked towards Alpha. "But that is irrelevant to the current issues. If what you say is true, and time is important, then I think talking would be a waste of time. Let's go with a different method instead."

    Alpha spun his optical plate, focused on the approaching woman, and asked, "What would this 'different method' entail?"

    The woman smiled and responded, "I'll perform a soul reading."

    Alpha paused… then broke out into laughter.

    "Look, lady, I'm not sure how you're doing all of this. But, like I said, I don't have a soul. I'm an AI. Souls and afterlives are for biologicals. I'm perfectly fine being an immortal collection of data points, thank you very much."

    The woman smiled and shook her head and smiled. "And as I said, the very fact that you are here speaks otherwise. You could not enter this place if you did not have a [True Soul] or were some artificial spirit such as an Artifact Spirit. If you must insist you do not have one, then instead, think of it as me peeking at your history. Your [True History], unmuddied by memories or perspective. I will see things as they truly are. Who you truly are."

    Alpha pulled back and gasped, "You want to rifle through my logs?! Lady, you haven't even taken me out to dinner yet! Rude!"

    He folded the TAWP's arms and stared down at her. "In all seriousness, though, why do you think I would agree to that?"

    The woman nodded and smiled as she responded. "For one, you are running out of time, as you mentioned before. Every moment spent here debating is time lost. I could keep you here for as long as I wished, prying out everything I wanted to know for as long as it took. Yet, something tells me that would take far longer than either of us would accept."

    She circled the TAWP, observing the strange device as she continued. "I understand your concerns, but your fears are unfounded. You are the guide of a soul reading. I see what you wish me to see. I am simply here for the ride."

    She circled back and smiled up at him. "Nonetheless, how about we sweeten the deal a bit?" She raised a hand, and Alpha's arrayed [Wasp] appeared, floating over her palm.

    Alpha pointed at it and yelled, "Hey! That's mine!"

    The woman laughed and responded, "Fear not. No physical objects can enter this place, as I mentioned before. Even this strange body you wear is but the projection of your soul. This is just an image." She waved her free hand through the drone, and it flickered like a hologram.

    She flicked her hand, and the image of the drone was replaced with a thick book as she continued. "I see you've started to experiment with arrays. You've made some interesting discoveries, but your work is still amateurish at best.—"

    {Hey!}, Alpha internally complained.

    The woman continued, "—So how about a trade of information? You show me what I need to know, and I'll provide you with what you need to further your arrays. Everyone wins."

    Alpha looked at the floating book, still skeptical. He couldn't say he wasn't tempted, but that didn't mean he'd blindly let someone pillage his logs… again… the Transport Drone was an anomaly, dang it!

    Alpha turned and voiced his concerns, "It still feels like I'm on the losing end of those. I have no way to confirm what you say about this 'reading.' I don't even know who you are. Hell, that book could be blank or filled with a bunch of nonsense, or you could be lying about me being in control of what you see. So tell me, why should I trust you?"

    The woman frowned and stared hard at Alpha as she spoke. "Because. You have no other choice. You are free to refuse, but then we'll have to do this the slow, hard way, and time is short. Do it my way, and not only do we not waste time, but you come out of it with an array manual that even [Firmament Breaker] would kill for."

    Alpha paused and considered. The real question was, could she follow through with her threat and keep him in this place? Alpha's gut told him yes, yes she could. The entire time they'd been talking, Alpha had been scanning the area, trying to understand where he was and what was happening, too little avail. His environmental scans showed nothing but empty plains for tens of thousands of kilometers in all directions. Even the wall he'd busted through to get here seemed to have vanished.

    Trying all his normal tricks for busting out of simulations wasn't working either. As far as his systems told him, there wasn't anything to hack into. If what the woman was saying was true, and this wasn't even his "real" TAWP, all of his signals and data might not even be real. Maybe, given time, he could crack this place and figure out how it worked, but he didn't have time. That was becoming a reoccurring pattern as of late.

    After a long moment, Alpha came to a decision. Not that he had much choice. Still, he was going to take some extra careful precautions. Alpha ran through his data logs and locked down anything that might have been compromising. Equipment specs, blueprints, combat data, classified Federation Information. All of it went behind heavily encrypted firewalls that not even he could break through until a long and thorough decontamination process to ensure he'd not been compromised.

    With that done, he turned to the woman. "Fine. Have it your way. But at the slightest hint of funny business, we're testing how well you hold up being stepped on by a tank."

    The woman lowered her hand, and the book vanished. She smiled and approached Alpha, placing a single hand on the TAWP's leg as she spoke. "I'm glad to see you're not as stubborn as some others."

    As her hand glowed with a pale light, she spoke again, "By the way, you may call me Jīshí."

    ————————

    In another grassy plain that was both the same and not, two figures stood under a small tree, yelling at each other.

    No. 7 pointed at the stone woman and yelled, "And I'm telling you, you're not looking at a damn thing! I left Dad's place to get away from crap like that! That nosy bastard was always trying to see what we were up to! Doesn't matter if he had thousands of other kids. Nope, always had to know everything about everyone. Why do you think I'd let you do the same?! I don't care who you are!"

    Jīshí pointed back and yelled with just as much fire, "Again, I am not your father! Unlike that fool, I actually respect people's privacy! All I am asking is to see for myself!"

    No. 7 threw their hands into the air and yelled, "I told you what's happening! But you won't get it through that rock-hard skull of yours! Dad said you were stubborn, but Sisters above, this is a new level."

    Jīshí pointed and retorted, "You told me some things. Not everything! Not what I need to know!"

    No. 7 folded their arms and frowned. "Not my problem. You're not getting in my head."

    Jīshí sighed and rubbed the side of her head.

    Why were all her nephews always so stubborn?!

    ————————

    ——

    Back to Alpha!

    ——

    Jīshí pointed at the AI, her eyes wide, "YOU'RE A PSYCHOPATH!!!"

    Alpha pointed back, "I'M AN ARTIST!!"

    "YOU BLEW UP A STAR!!" Jīshí responded

    "THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!" Alpha defended himself.

    Jīshí fell to her knees in shock, her hands on her head, tears in her eyes

    "That poor Cosmic Beast, such a majestic and powerful creature, defiled even in death…"

    Alpha threw his arms into the air.

    "Its body was starting to stink!! How else would I get rid of a corpse the size of a battleship?! Besides, it tried to eat me!"

    Jīshí looked up and yelled at the AI.

    "THERE'S NO AIR IN SPACE!"

    Alpha turned away.

    "I DON'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN MY REASONING TO YOU! (only a board of duly elected officials)."

    Jīshí stood and wagged her finger at Alpha. "You should have let it eat you! At least then we'd have been spared dealing with your insanity!"

    Alpha reared back as if struck. "Excuse me! I like my insanity! It keeps things interesting!"

    Jīshí turned away and started muttering to herself, her head in her hands.

    "H-he's insane. I can't let him wander around. Who the hell knows what he'll do next? Probably try throwing the Gold Mountain Emperor into a volcano or something. I-I have to kill him… yes, stop the chaos before it starts… No, no, I can't. I-if I let him die, they'll glass the planet when they find out… What am I going to do? What am I going to do?!"

    Alpha scratched his front optic plate and said,

    "H-hey now, I don't think I'm that bad. Come on…"

    She whirled on him, her gem-like eyes cracked and glowing as she yelled.

    "YOU BE SILENT, YOU CONCENTRATED BALL OF CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION!"

    Alpha shrunk and backed away. The rock lady obviously had some things that she needed to work out. Best to leave her alone.

    After a few moments, Jīshí stood, took a deep breath, then turned back to Alpha and spoke, "Well, Mr. Alpha. It seems you and I have much more to discuss than I previously thought…."

    Alpha stared at the lady and mentally cursed.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top