Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

[TooManyTabsOpen]

Honestly, Joe's production capabilities are so ridiculous at this point that he probably could independently cure every currently known disease and end world hunger simultaneously, it's just his seeming obsession with his creations being 'good enough' to his current tech base that's stopping him.

Also it stretches my sense of disbelief that Lisa could hack anything Joe has recently designed, but I guess I should be on the lookout for Brain noselling all of Joe's directed energy weapons and Dragon reverse engineering all of the wreckage he's left around and using the code structure to crack his main base, considering how shard powers have been escalating. Instead of Khepri, I'm seeing Amy at the mercies of Shard!March being the really big threat before Joe starts going at Scion. March should at least know that Amy's probably the only person who could actually fix her, right?

 

[Sakuya's Butler]

Is it bad of me to think that Tetra, while in zooanthrope mode, even though described as 'looking like a mink', actually comes across as the perfect hybrid combination of a Mew (Pokemon), 40k 'Nid Zooanthrope, and Venom's Carnage.

Then drawn by the Carbot Animation guys who did the Starcrafts video series.

Aka Adoriffying/Horrifable murder-cute.

 

[Graviator]

it's just his seeming obsession with his creations being 'good enough' to his current tech base that's stopping him.

Click to shrink...

As of this chapter, it's no longer stopping him!

The sword was great, and more importantly it was easy to create. No effort, no commitment. It's not going to persist, so there's no responsibility to ensure it represents my finest work.

Click to shrink...

 

[PrinceOfDoom]

Biggest worry is Coil doing something to Lisa and Joe being forced to intervene.

Because Coil IS going to be a dick. With her watch in safe mode... but then, it will still protect her.

God damn this is going to be a hell of a ride.

Hopefully Weld will tell Joe about Gully and wanting to meet. We NEED that too.

Damn wonderful chapter. Can't wait for more!

 

[Subrosian_Smithy]

this isn't exactly 'normal' wear, the world actively erodes magecraft so it's more equivalent to something being bathed in something caustic to it.

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The World doesn't actively erode anything. Ordinary projections only dissipate as a process of evaporation because they're inherently unstable existences to begin with.

 

[adoltin]

So I don't know if it's been brought up before, but I just had a thought. Joe is about to call and talk to Weld as a direct line of communication to the PRT in order to try to save his image a little bit. A lot of the danger Joe is in from them is not only the Calling Card ability, but also suspected wet tinkering because of Tetra. I can't think of anything Joe can do about the Calling Card. I do think he has a great way to lessen suspicions of Bio-Tinkering.

Weld already suspects Joe is a Case 53 that is using Tinker Tech to look human. Joe's animal transformation will only reinforce that idea. The PRT thinks Garment is a Case 53 as well. Some know they work together. Joe could easily explain Tetra away as not a Tinker Tech creation, but as a Case 53 Joe is working on helping Tetra like he helped Weld and Tetra herself is a Brute rating granting Trump, but needs close contact. A lot of people are also suspecting Apeiron is working with others and it would boost his reputation with other Case 53s as well.

I just have to wonder if Joe would think of that.

 

[Stratagemini]

Nice chapter! I'm amazed at how you managed to write 26K words And yet still make it feel like it ended way too soon!

I want more Weld!

 

[RogerDodger123]

So I don't know if it's been brought up before, but I just had a thought. Joe is about to call and talk to Weld as a direct line of communication to the PRT in order to try to save his image a little bit. A lot of the danger Joe is in from them is not only the Calling Card ability, but also suspected wet tinkering because of Tetra. I can't think of anything Joe can do about the Calling Card. I do think he has a great way to lessen suspicions of Bio-Tinkering.

Weld already suspects Joe is a Case 53 that is using Tinker Tech to look human. Joe's animal transformation will only reinforce that idea. The PRT thinks Garment is a Case 53 as well. Some know they work together. Joe could easily explain Tetra away as not a Tinker Tech creation, but as a Case 53 Joe is working on helping Tetra like he helped Weld and Tetra herself is a Brute rating granting Trump, but needs close contact. A lot of people are also suspecting Apeiron is working with others and it would boost his reputation with other Case 53s as well.

I just have to wonder if Joe would think of that.

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Wait, when did Weld suspect about Joe being a Case 53? I don't remember that and I couldn't find it while scrolling. It's possible I just missed it I guess.

 

[DeusVult]

Wait, when did Weld suspect about Joe being a Case 53? I don't remember that and I couldn't find it while scrolling. It's possible I just missed it I guess.

Click to shrink...

It's mentioned in Dragon's Interlude.

Edit: And here's the evidence:

35.1 Interlude Dragon

It was a situation with more questions than answers. A human mind would no doubt jump to conclusions, as Weld had done. It was understandable, he was young and just had a major life changing experience. Of course he would be prone to projecting qualities upon his rescuer. Dragon was more conservative in her assumptions, willing to let the data come together before she engaged in any theories regarding rogue inhuman capes developing self-treatments for their condition.

Click to shrink...

 

[SearchEngine]

The mind reading protection is a godsend depending on how some powers work like th Simurgh or Jack Slash, the Eficiency perk is really going to make Armsmaster jelous and will probably help Joe control his "Flourish" related powers like his attack names.

I really liked the Mink form and the idea that he can just send Tetra as a really cute attack dog of doom against his enemies. I hope this pushes Survey to ask for some physical body apart from drones. If not I can already see Tetra roughhousing with a bunch of drones for fun and demonstrating her biological superiority.

The bit about spiral swords resonating with him was hilarious. If he ever shows projection off I can see all kinds of Empire family theories resurfacing, but they will probably settle on some kind of powe tinkering, which might be worse.

Would Efficiency help on controling the electrical impulses necessary for precise biotic use? I feel like it should. By the way, if he is going to be training CQC could he use the virtual environments to take advantage of the time dilation effect? That is of course after waking up and discovering all his computers and the Throne are now made of Cybertronium courtesy of the clones.

I hope Joe starts to take his wand with him from now on, for everyone else it's just a stick but for Joe it is emotional support, which is way more important to him right know than something else to blast people with. Could he make an Arcane focus for Hestia's flames?

 

[Utterly Depraved]

A thought occurs. March is like a tiny fraction of a Titan but how many times over more...More then Khepri does that make her?

 

[JamesRick29]

The mind reading protection is a godsend depending on how some powers work like th Simurgh or Jack Slash,

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Um but there's a issue with either, because Ziz is not actually a mind reader she can't read minds at all she just a Post- and Pre-cog that can pretend to be one, like tattletale tries to do every time and it wouldn't work with Jack because broadcast only works on shards, which again Joe doesn't have to worry about Jack being to pull he's usual thing because Joe isn't actually a Parahuman.

Edit: tho then again it may be useful against masters, not all of them but some.

 

[randomcringyjoke]

Azur lane stat line

Apeiron

Rarity	Ultra rare	Faction	Eagle union/???
Class	???	Classification	Battleship

Stats
LV 1

Health	1789	Armor	Heavy	Reload	65	Luck	50
Firepower	91	Torpedo	0	Evasion	9	Speed	40
Anti air	67	Aviation	0	Oil cost	10	Accuracy	23

0 Affection with no enhancement
LV 100

Health	8505	Armor	Heavy	Reload	153	Luck	50
Firepower	456	Torpedo	0	Evasion	25	Speed	40
Anti air	215	Aviation	0	Oil cost	20	Accuracy	61

100 Affection with Max enhancement
LV 120

Health	9203	Armor	Heavy	Reload	170	Luck	50
Firepower	514	Torpedo	0	Evasion	30	Speed	40
Anti air	267	Aviation	0	Oil cost	20	Accuracy	73

100 affection with Max enhancement

Gear

Slot​	Efficiency​	Equippable​	Max #​
1​	150% to 220%​	BB Gun​	4​
2​	250% to 250%​	DD/CL Gun​	4​
3​	150% to 150%​	Anti Air Gun​	1​

Limit break ranks

First​	Main gun efficiency + 20%/ Main gun mount + 1
Second​	Main gun efficiency +20%/ Secondary gun mount + 3
Third​	Main gun efficiency+30% / Main gun mount +2

Skills

Celestial Forge LV1 to VL10​	Every 15 (5) seconds generate a floating charge around Apeiron that has a chance of doing multitude of things when firing​ Increases RLD by 30% for 20 seconds Increase damage by 15 % for 20 seconds Heal all ships for 30% of their health All ships 100% Evasion for 5 seconds All enemies frozen in place for 10 seconds Drags all enemies to the center of the center of the screen
Improvements LV1 to LV10​	When sortied as flagship: Increase all Firepower, Torpedo, Accuracy, Aviation, and Reload stats by 10% (30%). Changes Ammo types every 3 shots starting from HE (120 to 160/ 100 to 120/ 70 to 100) to AP (60 to 90/ 110 to 130/ 130 to 170) and vice versa NOTE: Damage buffing skills dependent on Ammo type will still work​
Unleashed armaments' of the Celestial forge LV1to LV10​	When taking damage or 20 seconds with a chance of 30% (100%) to launch a barrage LV1 (LV10) Only 2 of the barrages will activate Content of the barrage:​ Fire a screen of HE(150/110/60) and AP (50/100/180) Shells​ Launch a number of missiles dependent on Barrage LV (30 Missiles for LV1 and 150 for LV 10 ) Each missile has a modifier of 130/130/130 and will track enemies​ Fires a Laser dealing damage Dependent on FP stat at the highest health enemy​ Launches multiple(5) Drones(Acts like Dive bombers) Damage dependent of FP stat​

Auxiliary
key to the workshop

Stats
Min stats

Health	20
firepower	10

Max stats

Health	100
Firepower	30

Max enhanced

Health	130
Firepower	45

Notes: Apeiron equip Bonus: Start the battle with 3 extra starting Charges for the skill 'Celestial forge'

Spoiler

Finished this today
Well thoughts and opinions

Spoiler: Change log

6/18/21 Added Drones to 'Unleashed armaments' of the Celestial forge'

 

[PinkShadowReader]

I sighed. "I know. Updating the website with the information on the I-field's expected duration would probably be a good idea, and reasonably safe. If people know it's not forever it will probably settle things a bit more." I used my own implant to check the status of the site. "Are we still good for using that?"

"No problem." The second replied. "Simple Scientific Solution can cover basic web hosting. As long as things stay conventional to what you'd find online the tech we put in place can cover the site and keep our location completely untraceable. Same with web access and phone calls. As long as they stay within normal ranges of access we're fine. Won't help us in a hacking battle, but with that in place it's not likely to come to that."

"Though not for lack of trying on Dragon's part." The first added. "Three dozen separate attempts since the site went up. I almost feel bad for her, but, you know."

Click to shrink...

This is a thing I love. What can be used as SSS tech and such. How absolute it is when it works and then PRT gets headaches because of that bullshit. I remember that Facetime gushed over how good his website.

"I know, right?" The video of the other girl returned, and she started to gush over the technical concepts in play. "Just look at that coding. No bloat at all. It's like something from the dark ages when they had to budget for punch card holes, only scaled way up past anything we've got online today. There are tinkers with dedicated software specializations that aren't working at this level."

Click to shrink...

Unsure if his 'basic' website is SSS tech all the way or if its his original website programming code there too. That said, PRT already has a headache with what he has showed. With him now showing that he can manage a traceless website with all that implies. Dragon said he was good with computers but this is on another level again. With his website able to withstand Dragon's multiple attempts on it.

Regarding more gear to Undersiders and why he should or shouldn't explain himself. I just hope that its a decision he makes when he's fully rested and has ample time to stew on it.

 

[Asmodemus]

Pace remains nice in my opinion. Joe very much is a thinker and overthinker in cases. Pausing to consider things, carefully sorting things out in his head instead of just going with it. Very relatable I find.

More things flow in, more info, more consideration how to fit into things, understandable and reasonable. Might come the time soon he'll just entirely gloss over something instead of even pausing to consider it but we'll see, he's found use in many little things.

Also, I fucking lost it at the guy who transformed into a prehistoric doggo and got dog ears and a tail getting a brand for himself called Natural Puppy. I cannot wait for more on that front.

 

[Koraan]

But it isn't his responsibility

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Orphans should be responsibility of any adult. And Undersiders, basically, is a group of orphans.
Rachel - literally orphan. Alek - should be made an orhpan asap for the sake of him and society. Lisa - psychologically abusive parents, abusive "foster father" (Coil). Taylor - absent father and no mother figure at all.
Only one who have somewhat functional parental figure (one) is Brian.

until you could 1 punch Endbringers. Are you telling me you would risk dying before you reach that power level?

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Joe, actually, already can do so. He just don't know that, because he don't have our knowledge about how Endbringers works.
Well, that, and also most of options he have will "1 punch" Earth too, if he use it.

And, Taylor isn't even as important as his shard seems to think she is.

Click to shrink...

Yet, Joe can't be sure about it.

it's just his seeming obsession with his creations being 'good enough' to his current tech base that's stopping him.

Click to shrink...

Also fear of Ziz that, as he believe, will target him when he will start solving problems on a large scale.

The bit about spiral swords resonating with him was hilarious.

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Really? With how he used projections so far, I'd say it will be actually good projectile weapon. At least way bettar than actual swords.

Classification Battleship

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Nonsence! His actual classification is "Transforming Modular Ship (can change size from corvette to floating city)".

 

[Chronocidal]

Joe could easily explain Tetra away as not a Tinker Tech creation, but as a Case 53 Joe is working on helping

Click to shrink...

Sveta would probably be very glad to conclude that at least she got to keep her face...

 

[PinkShadowReader]

Orphans should be responsibility of any adult. And Undersiders, basically, is a group of orphans.
Rachel - literally orphan. Alek - should be made an orhpan asap for the sake of him and society. Lisa - psychologically abusive parents, abusive "foster father" (Coil). Taylor - absent father and no mother figure at all.
Only one who have somewhat functional parental figure (one) is Brian.

Click to shrink...

This requires that Joe can take a firm stance against the Undersiders. He needs to be able to argue his position and not buckle over it. He has already started to resent his association with them. In his mind only Taylor is important among them because of End of the World and her status as professors Hebert's daughter.

Neil already thinks Khepri is taking territory. It shouldn't take long until the PRT also thinks that. Then if Khepri and Apeiron acts together then will the PRT probably think its his unofficial territory. Bam. He gets a treason felony along with Khepri if they think Undersiders & Apeiron is taking over BB.
Do you have a solution to how Joe won't get dragged into this especially if he decides to be the adult one and take charge of them?

 

[Frankite316]

If the projections displacing air is a problem, why doesn't he just reduce the air pressure first in the space that he is creating them in?

 

[JoshuaSweetvale]

So. Joe gets Lantern Ring-esque construct creation, dependant on comprehension and battery life- And he overpowers it so hard he gets a Blaster power as a free-action side effect.

The final boss of Sonic Battle for the GBA taught me at a young age that the 'hypersonic snap' is the representation of 'overpowered' in the classical sense; a killbot using too much strength to be practical.

This is that but- I'm gibbering - more ludicrous by a significant margin.


Having AI assistance using biotics sounds insane too, in Mass Effect only complex learning minds (read: organics) could spend the energy to 'tune' any given arrangement of Eezo nodules. A.I. can do it in theory, but it's inefficient compared to just spending the time and processing power making a few hundred killbots. Or a frigate. Agayek's "X-com second contact" story had man-sized biotic Geth platforms only ever deployed to counter and slow down X-com.


Of course the string candy gets a noodle animal for a were-form.

I actually didn't know the half-life of I-fields, so I'm glad that's spelled out.

Maybe grab some of that Shard computronium that's gotten embedded into the Docks.

 

[Slayer 10321]

Finished this today
Well thoughts and opinions

Click to shrink...

So is Joe a Shikkikan/Commander or an actual Kansen (just genderbent like the Strike Witches!alt-Joe)?

Either way, Joe would be channeling the power of anime more than usual.

Funny thought! Joe is the creator of the Sirens and while they act like perfect angels in front of him (daddy girls one and all), beyond his rather impressive sight they behave just like in canon while trying to reach his level since they want to make him proud and become equals or at least peers with their creator/father.

 

[CircleTheSkies]

Huh, it looks like there's paths to minimize or deal with a lot of the (current; there'll be more, no doubt) issues.

As @Savoled noted, Tetra can be a way to explain away the transformation. She just needs some way to communicate with others (perhaps an Apeiron-built translator device that goes from IR pulses to speech) and she can be a Case 53 (in fiber form) that can transform Apeiron through a kind of merging - after all, the one time the transformation was seen involved her being tangled up with him.

There wouldn't even need to be much if any lying on her part if ever asked about her origins - "Apeiron didn't make me - he found me and helped me" is fairly accurate, if a bit misleading. And her form is rather more extreme than but not *that* far off Garrote's. Like Garment, she'd fit the circumstances of a Case 53 fairly closely - and if Apeiron helps out a couple more Case 53s, then there's an easy enough pattern for someone to 'see'.

Moreover, her presence 'with' Apeiron suggests that he has his own team, but with himself as the pointman - which could explain some of the differences in technology, or when it looks like he's got "too many" different abilities at play. Besuited (or disguised) duplicates using Alchemy or the like could also solidify that impression. And then there's Aisha (although nobody would remember her ) to fill it out. What seems impossible for one Tinker becomes a bit easier to swallow if that individual is the focus of a team's efforts.

Stirring up some heavy rain (I expect he can make *something* to do that, or use some form of magic to do so) could get rid of the I-particles in fairly short order. Even if some kind of Dust Attractor couldn't be made, and if it doesn't disappear in a couple days, Gully (and perhaps others) might be able to collect it up regardless.

And some deliberate showing off of Projection to (re-)make things he's actually built before could stir the pot a bit - if it's possible that what he's shown off might be things he's made rather than built, then at least some things become easier to swallow (for those who believe it, at least)... such as the Gundam similarity and the I-particles (the former only appeared for a short time before being destroyed, and the latter could perhaps dissipate quite quickly with some assistance). Just making it more ambiguous could perhaps help on the PR front.

The new Efficiency power will probably tone down the posing quite a bit - he'll still be communicating all the same things, but it'll probably be a lot more subtle (the least amount needed to accomplish the effect). Calling Card is still hard to resolve though.

 

[Vodkasheep]

This requires that Joe can take a firm stance against the Undersiders. He needs to be able to argue his position and not buckle over it. He has already started to resent his association with them. In his mind only Taylor is important among them because of End of the World and her status as professors Hebert's daughter.

Neil already thinks Khepri is taking territory. It shouldn't take long until the PRT also thinks that. Then if Khepri and Apeiron acts together then will the PRT probably think its his unofficial territory. Bam. He gets a treason felony along with Khepri if they think Undersiders & Apeiron is taking over BB.
Do you have a solution to how Joe won't get dragged into this especially if he decides to be the adult one and take charge of them?

Click to shrink...

I'm not a fan of that dude's insinuation that a 25 year old with too much shit on his plate is responsible for a bunch of near adults... because but Aperion comes off as an empathetic dude and we already know from his conversation with TT that he is both sympathetic to the various personal situations the undersiders are in and was in some way affected by the fact that TT was coerced by coil. So... Not very convinced by the argument that actually he only cares about taylor. Relationships are a bit more complicated than that, something I like in particular about lords work.

Furthermore While your justification is not without merit just looking at the litany of poor decisions they have made since he met them (literally robbing lung on day one), the hypothetical used is pretty weak. If that is the low standard with which they form a conclusion it's not worth reacting too since they would just find another fig leaf.

 

[Graviator]

Azur lane stat line

Click to shrink...

He has combat capable drones. Aviation should not be zero.

 

[Koraan]

This requires that Joe can take a firm stance against the Undersiders. He needs to be able to argue his position and not buckle over it.

Click to shrink...

Indeed. But to take any position he need to interact with them.

the PRT probably think its his unofficial territory. Bam. He gets a treason felony along with Khepri if they think Undersiders & Apeiron is taking over BB.

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Oh please, they didn't give a shit about Empire, or ABB, or any other villains who holds territory. That isn't even a BB thing - there's Accord's, Blasto's and Teeths's territories in Boston, for example. The key word here - unofficial. So long as they don't officially state in the media "that's our/my territory", PRT will pretend that nothing happened.
Unless they'll look for a cause to attack him, that is, and in that case they can find or even make something that have more weight in public eyes.

Do you have a solution to how Joe won't get dragged into this especially if he decides to be the adult one and take charge of them?

Click to shrink...

First of all, he needs to start interacting with the public, which he has already realized, and even takes the first uncertain steps in this direction.
He need to interact with the Undersiders too. He already associating with them. And it will much harder to prove to the public that he broke off all relations with them, than to lead them and direct to something productive.
He can even rebrand them, eventually: "That's my sidekicks and totally not minions, Totally-Not-Grue, Totally-Not-Reagent, Totally-Not-Bitch and Totally-Not-Tattletale. Also, let me introduce We-Both-Suck-At-Names-Khepri, who obwiously not the infamous villainess Lady Khepri. Not at all, I promise!". And with how powerful he is, everyone will nod and pretend to believe.

Stirring up some heavy rain (I expect he can make *something* to do that, or use some form of magic to do so)

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Even our modern science know how and able to do so. So yes - he definitely can do it without any effort.