57 Crunch Time
"Well? What do you think?" I asked in an uncertain tone. Next to me Tybalt looked up at the glowing arrangements of bottles and made an uncertain gesture accompanied by a meow.
I let out a sigh and felt my shoulders slump. It had been a long shot, but it was worth a try. When it came to this stuff anything was. As much as I didn't like this room I couldn't abandon it, for a number of reasons.
The Prismatic Laboratory was as unsettling as ever. With the combination of my enhanced senses, I could feel the impossibility of the place on a personal level. The way it slowly expanded by a hair's breadth at a time, warping the rest of my workshop around it. The machinery that couldn't function, but continued to in defiance of all physical laws. The constant, pulsing movement of things dwelling in dark cages, slimy tanks, or moving about the place more freely than anyone would be comfortable with. The living creatures that had been included with the laboratory.
They were the only example of such where I hadn't immediately gone out of my way to ensure their comfort. That was because, in my estimation, they were closer to the Imulsion pump than the tank of happy sea snails. I was reasonably certain nothing in this lab was sapient, at least not without needing to form some kind of extensive hive mind first, and given the danger everything in this place seemed to pose I was willing to leave things contained in a system that at least seemed mostly able to contain them.
And God help the world if Taylor ever got access to this place. It would make a kinsect swarm look like a bad mosquito season.
But we weren't here to stress over the collection of uncategorizable fauna that was being used to create colors that had no business existing. Our focus was on the burning topic that had been weighing on me since my revival.
Dozens of glowing green bottles were set on carefully constructed shrines that channeled mantic energy to reinforce their essence. A restorative array designed to nurture the souls to the point where maybe I could decide how to progress in some kind of informed fashion. The entire process was watched over by the four bottles containing the luminous, active souls that had been refined in preparation for my treatment. One bottle stood empty, a mark of what that treatment had cost. The rest were bright and lively, attentive to the development of the 'lesser' souls.
The souls were the reason Tybalt was here, in the hopes that I could actually do something about it, rather than just kick the problem further down the road and hope my power provided a solution eventually. Well, technically that was what was happening here. I was just checking if what my power provided me was actually a solution. By the looks of things, the chances weren't great.
The Time constellation moved by as the Celestial Forge failed to secure a connection. Meanwhile, Tybalt closely examined the bottles. The moment we had entered this place his pupils had widened in a way that looked incredibly adorable, but I knew signified focus and excitement. I could also feel the intensity of his concentration through the Dragon's Pulse as he slowly moved towards the array of bottles.
There was a shifting sensation as the Stygian Iron Helmet unfolded over his head. From the depths of the helmet's shadows his eyes seemed to take on a baleful glow. This was the reason I had asked for his help. It was an area where he had an unquestioning advantage. That was because, despite the wide range of my abilities, I held no dominion over the dead.
You wouldn't think of Ares as a death god, but really, what else would you find on the battlefield? Ares had always been associated with the more visceral aspects of warfare, compared to Athena's more detached approach. Thus, when it came to the mud, fire, and death of war, Ares held sway, and that domain had been passed to Tybalt.
Glory to Me was an incredibly powerful ability, not just in pure strength, but in range and versatility. I had a fairly broad expression of the abilities that could be attributed to Hephaestus, but that paled in comparison to Tybalt, who had access to everything that could possibly be associated with Ares. Because of that access, introductory necromancy was a simple matter for him.
The faint violet glow of the Stygian Iron of his helm intensified and I could feel the divine power he was drawing through the Dragon's Pulse. Divine abilities weren't like magic. Instead of some internal reserve of power or the channeled energy of the universe, they drew from your own strength and endurance. I think half of the physical enhancements that come with being a demigod are only there to support the output needed by the higher-level abilities. Through my expanded awareness I could feel him calling upon the distant aspects of his domain, and exerting divine authority through it.
A pulse of imperceptible power flowed forth. At first there was no reaction. Then there came a stirring. A slight thrum in the glow of some of the souls, just a handful out of the dozens on display. The thrum built to a steady pulse, like a march or drumbeat as the green flickering light became less erratic and more regimented.
The helm folded back into an earring and Tybalt looked up at me with a pleased expression.
"I'm sorry, what did you just do?" I asked. He gestured and meowed, explaining the mechanics behind his actions. I nodded solemnly at his words.
Ares's dominion over the dead wasn't universal. It was limited to those that fell in his domain. The dead of the battlefield, soldiers' deaths in particular, were his purview. In the host of souls only a few had a history of military service, or at least enough of one to resonate with Tybalt's powers. I didn't know if they fell in a war or somehow lost their souls away from the battlefield, but it was enough for Tybalt to connect to them.
"So, where do we go from here?" I asked. Tybalt explained and I nodded. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was something. I saw to the rearrangement of bottles, a group of souls shuffled out of the mass. I still didn't know who they had been or what they wanted, but through Tybalt's power there was a connection, a response stronger than the slow accumulation of energy provided by the altars. Separation into their own group, one that he might be able to work with better than I could.
Kind of a ghost battalion, except they weren't numerous enough for that classification. In military terms it was somewhere between a large squad and small platoon, but that was beside the point. I could trust Tybalt with this. Even in the short time I'd know him I knew I could rely on that. Something about divine nature makes you take things seriously. The same reverence I felt for fire, Tybalt extended to the warrior dead. It was probably the most important step I'd taken when dealing with the items this power, Connections: Hell, had delivered to me.
The other connection was a different beast entirely. Beast was probably an extremely appropriate term, given the clear inhumanity of both the items and correspondence. It takes effort for something to stand out next to what could be best described as infernal fan mail, but somehow the letters of the Rubbery Men accomplished that.
The amber they sent had always been unsettling, but mostly in an abstract way. I knew it collected some kind of energy from living things that encountered it, and that was bad enough for me to be cautious. Honestly, if I hadn't been able to sense life energy through the Dragon's Pulse I probably would have just assumed it was a collection of obscure babbles.
But no, it was much, much worse than that. The amber wasn't just designed to collect lifeforce. It was a tool. A capacitor gathering power to be used in eldritch arts that warped the nature of life itself. The energy it collected was tiny, unnoticeable, but continuous. That was the purpose of its form. It was designed to be given out, to be handled and passed around. Beads and trinkets intended to spread and accumulate energy before eventually finding their way back to someone who knew how to use what had been collected.
It was a form of attack, of damage and subversion. Tybalt immediately identified it as such on sight and, while he didn't have the skill to make use of the energy they amassed, recognized a strategic asset when he saw it.
It figured that both of the sets of 'gifts' I'd received from wherever this place originated from were disturbing and darkly useful. The life essence of the amber seemed like a lesser wrong than consuming souls, but there was still the question of how to accumulate it. The amber came already charged with a rainbow of essences, already having been passed through a diverse population, but that wasn't nearly enough to work with. They would need more.
Of course, that fact that shiny stones drained slivers of your life away on contact didn't bother my duplicates in the slightest. They had happily begun handling all of the amber, particularly towards the end of their duration. It was causing an accumulation, a buildup of essence towards the point where I would eventually be able to do… something. Something that at the very least would violate the natural order. I already had plenty of ways of doing that, but this was somehow more fundamental, a shifting of a lifeform's role, its place in the universe.
I was not ready to get into this strange science of shaping arts. Not with everything else I had to prepare. I left the collection of concerning amber and the new compliment of souls in the Laboratory and moved back into the Workshop proper. It probably says something that I was still thinking of them as distinct locations when every other addition had blended in seamlessly. The nature of that place, and the concerns over what came with it, was keeping me from mentally connecting it with the rest of my facilities.
With that thought I checked in with the rest of the group, both through a quick link to the Workshop's network and extending my awareness to the Avid Glove. Garment was currently wrangling the glove, and having a much easier time of it than my duplicates did. Through its eye I could see the training area that had been set up in one of the many, many spaces that had been opened through the remodeling of the volcano.
I looked down at Tybalt. "Everyone's already set up in the new training center. Are you good to head up?"
He nodded and meowed. I blinked and gave him a concerned look.
"Uh, no. Definitely not." I turned in the direction of the training center, pulling up the layout of the workshop in my head, picturing everything that sat in the way. "That's way too far. Possibly too far even if I had mastered it. And besides, the drift gets worse at long distances and blind teleports."
His voice rumbled and he let out a critical sound.
"Even with the Dragon's Pulse." I argued. "That's not precise enough for targeting at this range. And I don't want to try to use the glove's vision as a reference. That's way too confusing. Besides, you saw what happened when the last set of duplicates tried it."
Tybalt gave off a meow and waved a paw dismissively, clearly much less concerned about that outcome than I had been. The duplicates I had created shortly before leaving for my therapy session had rung out their 20% time in high spirits. Recent abilities may have left no shortage of work for them, but they also provided ample opportunities for creative uses of their down time.
Of course, I had been leading classes inside the virtual space of the computer core while this was happening, so I only got to enjoy the results through workshop records. The very detailed records, impeccably maintained by Survey with supporting analysis of exactly what had happened.
The limits of my Noble Phantasm had been thoroughly tested through the production of a series of Supreme Mystic Codes, each created through the expenditure of nearly their full mana capacity. Recovering mana was a slow and difficult process for a magus, even if external resources were used. That was less of a problem with the help of things like a familiar spirit or the enhancement of a striker unit, but being a Heroic Spirit, or at least part Heroic Spirit, removed the issue entirely.
As a partially spiritual being, mana could be absorbed freely, and my alchemy skill meant that crystalized mana or mana infused items could be produced easily. Couple that with my resource and production powers and I was consistently getting significantly more mana out of the work than I was putting into it. I now had a tremendous bank of energy that could be used to quickly refill my reserves.
It didn't help with output, and once my Noble Phantasm activated I could only work with my internal resources. Fortunately, internal resources were still enhanced by my familiar and most of the requirements of crafting could be supplied through external mana sources. My duplicates had greatly enjoyed seeing how far they could push things, producing truly terrifying weapons, powerful equipment, and near nonsensical novelties. Or they would be nonsensical if not for the skill and power that had gone into their creation.
But it wasn't their crafting projects that had me nervous about Tybalt's suggestion. My Weapon Crafting power had granted a massive array of supporting abilities, with Cuh-Ray-Zee! basically encouraging the irreverent use of them at every turn. That irreverence had included testing out the full scope of what could be achieved with Dark Slayer.
Weapon Crafting actually reminded me of powers like Fashion and Evermore Alchemy. The moderately small motes I'd received just as I was starting out, each of which provided enough utility to cover an entire cape career. Dark Slayer on its own provided a range of abilities that any cape would be proud to have. Combined with Cuh-Ray-Zee! and the potential of the Dark Slayer style when mastered, it could have been the hallmark of a top tier cape.
It was understandable that my duplicates wanted to see how far they could push things. From precipitating copies of their new super weapons out of demon energy, which also benefited from my production boosting powers making things absolutely insane when they went all out, to testing the limits of teleportation.
That was where my unease came in. Tybalt was very adamant about the importance of training. Understandable for a demigod of war, but after what had happened I wasn't ready to dive into blind attempts at cross workshop teleportation.
In testing the limits of the teleportation ability my duplicates, nearing the end of their duration, had decided to see whether it was possible to telefrag yourself using the ability. That is to say, if you could teleport into a solid object, what would that do to you?
The answer turned out to be 'yes' and 'horrific maiming' respectively. My teleportation had some safety limits, enough to displace small objects and stop you from merging with another person, but intentionally teleporting into an anchored solid mass had unpleasant effects. I suppressed a shudder as I once again accessed the recordings or my duplicates flickering out of existence, followed by the ominous shudder from a wall of solid volcanic stone.
Shockingly, the effects were only unpleasant, not lethal. After so many upgrades to the potion the fragility of the duplicates was a thing of the past. You basically needed a critical injury in order to take them out, and somehow merging with a section of wall didn't count.
Blame my durability for that. It had crept up through the addition of abilities, the enhancement of my demigod powers, the enhancement of my heart, the remodeling of my body, the integration of life fibers, the Saint Graph of a Heroic Spirit, and the still unfolding effects of Master's Body that had been growing since the arrival of that power during my fight with Lung. In the face of all of that, having a large section of wall suddenly try to share space with your vital organs was more of a moderate inconvenience than an immediate death sentence.
I probably would have been more comfortable with things if the experiment had caused the duplicates to dissipate. Having them persist past the point of injury was that splinching incident all over again. No, they decided it was an invaluable research opportunity, something Survey cheerfully agreed with, particularly with what it indicated about the life fibers that had integrated into my body.
I advanced past the records of the trials into the medical examinations, complete with Survey's detailed medical logs of exactly what had happened and theoretical models of unique aspects of the material interactions that had resulted in my duplicates looking like living statues. The duplicates themselves sat through the exams in good humor, enjoying the novelty of things all while marveling at how painful the experience was. I know I had divine pain tolerance, especially after what I endured while fighting Lung, but I really could have done without some of the more colorful metaphors they were using to describe things.
It was this kind of scene that tended to put a damper on enthusiasm, or at least willingness to experiment. I was still going to pursue teleportation as much as I could, but was definitely a bit more risk averse, all thanks to that particular display.
The Knowledge constellation passed by as I turned back to Tybalt. "You can go on ahead if you want. It's not going to take me too long to catch up." And free-running through the Workshop was a lot safer than teleportation. And something I still enjoyed immensely. Well, less so with the rainbow trail. Garment had already come up with about three dozen ideas for modifications to it, which had already been tested thanks to the indulgences of my duplicates. The requirement to change my hair color wasn't that big an obstacle with the resources available to me, and some of those trails actually looked pretty cool.
Tybalt considered for a moment, then nodded. He gripped his double spear with a look of concentration on his little kitty face, and then the hallway was suddenly cast in harsh relief as his body roiled with churning orange fire.
And then he was gone. Through the eye of my Avid Glove, I saw a similar conflagration burst to life in the center of the training room, then part to reveal Tybalt looking very pleased with himself.
It was a stark reminder of just how powerful Tybalt's demigod powers really were. He had access to everything that Ares was capable of, unlike my more limited selection of forging based abilities. 'Everything' was a very broad term when talking about gods, and one of the things that fell under that was manifestation. Because gods could teleport.
I mean, obviously. You didn't see them hiking back and forth from Olympus in myths. There were complicated mechanics governing the process, preventing its use in certain situations and enhancing it in others. Combat teleportation wasn't common, but uncommon didn't mean impossible. Tybalt had been able to easily keep up with my best efforts of Dark Slayer and he could manage longer ranges and larger volumes.
Though I don't think he'll be putting Strider out of a job any time soon. Tybalt's range might be effectively infinite, at least on a planetary scale, but there were restrictions tied to the nature of his divine abilities. He probably couldn't manage group teleports unless it was for the purpose of deployment to an active warzone, or possibly some kind of strategic repositioning of troops.
Still, that limit was hardly worth mentioning in the face of a power like that. If Dark Slayer was the kind of ability that a top tier cape could define themselves with then Glory to Me was the kind of power that stood on par with the Triumvirate. And I was probably being pretty generous to the Triumvirate with that assessment.
I shook my head and started jogging through the workshop. Well, not jogging exactly. Or in any conceivable way. What I meant is I took a casual pace, which was still enough for me to treat vertical surfaces as solid ground, cover a half dozen stories in a casual hop, and move at a rate of speed where atmospheric effects within the confined space of the Workshop were becoming a matter of significant concern.
I did keep it subsonic, but that was more out of courtesy than any hard limit. In general, moving at that level of speed was an odd experience. It was the product of more than a dozen types of enhancement, each of which worked in its own distinct way. Some had the equivalent of built-in breaker effects that moderated factors related to speed, preventing the types of vortices that I was leaving in my wake and making things like surface traction and leverage irrelevant. Others were based entirely on hard physics with everything that entailed. They were the type of enhancements where the practical limits of the world around you would prove an obstacle to your abilities long before you reached your maximum potential.
When the disparate enhancement types combined it allowed me to push further than I otherwise would have been able to with any of them in isolation, but also meant that some of those physical limits came into play. Without my divine boots I wouldn't have been able to achieve purchase on the floor, much less the walls or ceiling, and I would have been shredding the surfaces from the reaction forces. Taking a hard corner subjected me to G-forces that my more exotic enhancements would have ignored. I was more than tough enough to deal with it, but I could feel the soft tissue of my body straining against Aura, life fiber energy, and the assorted durability powers I was sporting. Finally, even if the stress on the surfaces was negated by my boots I was still interacting with the atmosphere, compressing it ahead of me and dragging it behind me.
The effect caused me to arrive at the training room with a torrent of gale force wind that buffeted my body as I appeared. The effect of the wind caused my clothes and hairstyle to flare dramatically while drawing attention to how I was perfectly framed in the doorway. Staying in my workshop, it was easy to forget how excessive my style powers were until I caused a scene like this.
For a split second I looked like a triumphant hero arriving on the scene. Then I realized what was going on and immediately tried to moderate the effect, to mixed results.
Aisha appraised the scene while Tetra looked up from her own work, her glowing red fur settling as the last of the wind died down. Garment had somehow managed to have the skirt of her dress dramatically blown up in a way the gusts almost certainly couldn't have caused, and was holding it against a wind that had long since dissipated. I knew she was actually manipulating the dress, and she knew I knew, but there was no way she was going to pass up an opportunity to play up that effect.
"Practicing your entrance for Somer's Rock?" Aisha asked as the last of the disruption died away. "Cause I've got to say, that's going to make an impact." Aphrodite's Blessing informed me she had appreciated the aesthetics of the display on a number of levels. As had Garment, though thankfully this didn't inspire another bout of sketchbook activity.
"No, just trying to keep up with the cat." I said in good humor, looking over to Tybalt. He had summoned another strawberry milkshake and had a pleased expression on his face while he drank it.
One of the things about divine powers was the fact that they drew directly from your stamina. That teleport wasn't too strenuous for Tybalt, but more dramatic use could leave him worn out. He was inordinately pleased about being able to generate his own snacks in the field. The milkshake conjuring power had been something of an odd ball inclusion, particularly when compared to the rest of his skillset. Though, considering the nutritional composition of those shakes, serving them to someone probably counted as assault with a deadly weapon.
I was not joking about how unhealthy they were. It was incredible you could get milk fat and sugar concentrated to that level in something that still technically counted as liquid. If anyone but a demigod drank one it would probably shave a month off their life. Of course, considering the appetites of gods, all those drawbacks were flipped to positives. I remembered my own training, post-divinity, and the insane quantities of food I had gone through. At that point a shake that somehow had more calories than its equivalent volume in solid butter would have been a welcome post-workout snack.
I took a moment to glance around the training room. It was a dedicated space prepared in a familiar layout, one based on the modification that appeared in my Alchemist's Laboratory after I'd gained the ability to perform transmutations. In short, the entire space had been converted into an alchemy training center.
And, of course, because my duplicates couldn't do anything by half measures, it was also a master crafter center devoted to improving the understanding and control of alchemical forces through every resource available to us. That included the enhancements of mantic circuits, the boosts possible through the Arcane Craft, the integration of Mystic Codes designed to focus the mind, and even precise shaping of the environment through Decadence and other style powers. On top of that, everything was hand crafted to bring out the full potential of Master's Craft's impossible workmanship.
To be honest, I had mixed feelings about the place. Not because there was anything wrong with it. Actually, the problem was pretty much the opposite. There was nothing wrong with it. Absolutely nothing wrong with any element of the room, down to the finest detail.
It was unnatural. There was no point even denying that. This was what happened when the full extent of my powers, including Master Craftsman, was applied to every facet of an environment. It was practically a realm unto itself. Actually, with the magecraft and bounded fields present it kind of fell into that category by default.
There was nothing sinister about it, at least not intentionally so. It was a place to learn alchemy. It was the perfect place to learn alchemy. Conceivably, there couldn't be any place better. That was a good thing. It's just that I was acutely aware of how this could easily not be a good thing.
It always seemed to come back to my original trigger. The ability to warp minds as I saw fit, being narrowly avoided along with the near guaranteed tragedy that would have come with it. Since then I had been very careful, obsessively careful, about anything that could directly influence someone's mind.
That wasn't what this was. Even in the virtual world I hadn't been loading information into Aisha's brain or controlling how she processed things. No, I'd just been managing every aspect of her experience to create the ideal environment for her to learn what I was teaching. With that level of control, it was an environment where it would have been difficult, bordering on impossible, not to learn what I was teaching.
There was a line between education and indoctrination. It's just with the kind of power I was throwing around that line was not as clear as it should have been. I wasn't doing anything nefarious with this kind of control, but I was very much aware of how it could be abused.
Just like all my other powers. I suppose when you had a gray goo nanotech matrix auditing classes on transmutation theory maybe the fact that you could set up brainwashing camps wasn't your biggest problem? Just because the prospect of mental influence hit me harder didn't mean it was the most troubling thing I was actually dealing with.
I was pulled out of my musing by an overpowering sensation that was becoming increasingly common. The Magic constellation had swung close and my power had latched onto a mote. One of the giant, burning motes, the bound supernovas that stood leagues apart from the rest of my powers. My reach had built to the point where it could wrest the mass of energy out of place and pull it towards me.
Once again, I had a world of power descend towards me. Three times in a single evening I had secured connections to the strongest level of powers contained in the Forge. It wasn't that I was accumulating reach significantly faster, though the rate had definitely been accelerating. The real reason was that all the little minor abilities that would have drained away my capacity to secure major connections had become vanishingly rare. It was getting to the point where I was amassing enough reach to secure a greater mote on a regular basis, and soon would be connecting nearly every time.
The reality of that situation and what it meant for my future was swept aside as the thunderous inferno of the power descended towards me.
The distinction between yourself and the rest of the world is an illusion that exists only for the sake of your state of mind. We live in little cordoned off corners of the world that are only real inside our own heads. Tearing down those walls, those barriers that separate your own mind, your thoughts, perceptions, and prejudices from the rest of existence is beyond what most people can handle.
Who can really understand how another mind works? Every person's thought pattern, structure of reasoning, even the mixture of memory, images, and inspiration is completely unique. We don't experience that directly, we can't, both in a physical sense and in terms of what a mind can handle.
When reality is laid bare in front of you, when all the thoughts, emotions, inspirations and irritations of the human race are free to flow into your mind, how are you supposed to handle it? How can you distinguish between reality and imagination, thought, and nightmare? How can you, when the very mechanism you use to draw that distinction is in flux?
The world was flowing around me. Colors were shifting as impressions and patterns played across every surface. The outlines of physical forms blurred with the effect their existence had on the world. There was a wonderful, terrible, and fascinating continuity between all things.
Then the world contracted. The barriers, the walls that held back my mind, they didn't suddenly reform. Instead there became an awareness of what those boundaries were supposed to be. It was like someone took the house you grew up in and replaced all the walls with lines painted on the ground. Limits were removed, but peace, privacy, and security went with them.
"Józef?" Aisha called out, looking between me and my duplicates. "What? Was that another bad one?"
Tybalt peered up at her and meowed. She gave him a confused look. "I'm sorry, I don't know that one. Mind-open?"
"Psychic." I said. Tybalt shared Garment's awareness of my powers, but the Felyne language had some limitations in terms of the concepts it could describe. He had done his best. "We just became psychic."
The work of training was temporarily forgotten. Garment, Aisha, Tybalt, Tetra, and even the Matrix's primary mass of nanites, currently shaped into a miniature version of the Gun-EZ, moved to cluster around me and my duplicates.
"Right." Aisha nodded. "Mind-open."
Despite the significance of the event, I had to smile at that. Aisha had insisted on a crash course in the Felyne language. Actually, Aisha had insisted on a lot of crash courses over the past couple of hours, and not just in subjects that were directly relevant to the current goal of learning alchemical transmutation. It was like a mix of youthful enthusiasm and a fear that whatever magic was enabling her to absorb the information was going to suddenly vanish and never come again. I had been worried about her burning out, but if she had her way the lessons probably would have continued until the moment we needed to leave for Somer's Rock.
The course hadn't been that comprehensive, but one area I excelled in was memorization. We had been able to cover most of the vocabulary and enough of the grammar for Aisha to have a working fluency with the language. She still had to piece together certain phrases, but it was enough to understand Tybalt without outside help. Unfortunately, not enough for novel concepts. Or for speech.
We hadn't covered pronunciation in the course, mostly because I didn't assume anyone without a cat's vocal cords would ever try to speak the language. That hadn't deterred Aisha, though the look of absolute horror on Tybalt's face upon hearing her attempt to speak Felyne seemed to have done the trick, even if it left her sulking for a little while.
She had turned back to me, now with a concerned look on her face. "When you say psychic, you mean like Simurgh psychic, or like that pin and the crazy enhancement room the duplicates built?"
"The latter." One of my duplicates filled in. "The pin, that was just attunement. There was some connection necessary, but the item was doing most of the work. The Psi Lab can force the development of a specific set of psychic abilities, but that takes days of constant conditioning."
"And it's different." Added the second duplicate. "It's about developing discrete abilities, like mini-powers with their own distinct characteristics and limits. This is more… open."
I nodded blankly at that word. There really wasn't a better way of putting it. The world around me had settled, though in an artificial way. It was restraint rather than restriction, but it was enough to keep everything from bleeding into everything else.
Well, not everything. While most of the world had settled there was one notable exception. Every piece of technology in my sight, no, every manufactured item, was alive. They quivered and shook, flakes of material raising and settling amongst a dark miasma that leaked forth. And that was just what I could see. On contact the effect sprang to life. In front of my eyes every item of clothing, every piece of equipment that was in contact with my body fell apart. The surface parted like burning paper, revealing the nature of the components within.
Really, it wasn't even limited to 'in front of my eyes'. It was a sense that extended out through everything I touched from the watch on my wrist to the clothes on my body to the implant buried in my brain. And also my heart. The rebuilt, enhanced, enchanted organ that beat in my chest had its secrets peeled back and revealed to me. The dynamics of the enhanced materials, the interactions of the enchantments, the way it anchored and enhanced my soul, and even the cybertonium organelles that marked it as technorganic.
Every action that had directed their creation was laid out, layered on top of and within themselves in a concentrated mass of psychic information. With the slightest act of focus I could feel out the purpose, creation, and operation of any item I came in contact with.
That was what the power was called. The ability that had permanently altered my perception of the world was called Feel It Out. It granted me the psychic ability to connect to and understand machines and items that I touched. More than understand, it provided me with a path. A traceable line from the origination of the design and purpose of the item through to a point beyond its current form. It worked best with machines, but the effect could function on any item. With enough time and concentration, I could devise a way to improve anything.
But this wasn't an isolated ability, some unique effect supported by the Celestial Forge with no greater meaning than the effect it could bring about. This was the result of a new way of looking at the world. A true psychic ability, and one that came with implications of the existence of others. I might be a specialized psychic, but I could see the paths, the realms beyond technopathy that could be developed. It was like having a system of magic opened up to me, only this was a system anchored within my very mind. An alteration to the core of my existence.
And the effect was persistent. The other fields, the untouched potential of psionics, those could be safely ignored, but with this effect there was no off switch. Every machine and item that I was in physical contact with was infused with awareness, with that blurring of the boundaries that separated me from it. It wasn't automatic, particularly without direct concentration, but my power would slowly pick apart the function and potential of anything I touched.
And that included everything I counted as touching. That meant the Avid Glove. That was already burning in my awareness through its own particular insanity of being five things at once, it's nature slowly unfolding before me, but that wasn't what was drawing my attention.
Garment was holding the glove.
Garment's gloves were the anchors of her being. They operated on a principle that didn't precisely match any form of existence I had encountered through the Forge. The closest applicable power would be That Undefinable Thing, but that just meant that Garment had a soul, something I was already certain of. Without a firm understanding of the effects in play there had been an understandable reluctance to try anything out of fear of compromising the effect that allowed Garment to be Garment. Besides a single emergency repair and the addition of Heretical Adaptation, Garment's gloves had gone unmodified.
But she was in contact with the Avid Glove, meaning she was in contact with me. In contact with my new power. The psionic awareness of Feel It Out bled into her through that contact, delving into the complexity and mechanisms of her very existence. It was only possible because of her state as both a person and item, or a person anchored to item, but for the first time I was really beginning to understand the mechanisms behind her abilities, perhaps enough to, at some point, take them to another level.
At that moment I could understand why my passenger felt that psionics were a big deal, even when my abilities had been limited to generating lines of psionically manifested barbed wire with the use of a pin. There was something distinctly 'other' about the way this power, the way these types of powers functioned. It wasn't the familiar expression of magic, the channeling of an intangible energy source to act upon the world. It was changing the world itself. Breaking down the lines that separated perception from reality and changing a fundamental aspect of existence. It wasn't necessarily more powerful, particularly considering how strong my magical abilities could be, but it was strong in a different way. It was the difference between calling in a professional baseball player at a Little League game and rewriting the rule book in the middle of a match.
Aisha was starting to look concerned despite Tybalt's efforts to reassure her. Tetra had scampered up next to them and was glancing between me and Garment with wide, molten eyes. A flurry of infrared signals was flying between her and the network to try to gain some insight to what was happening. One of my duplicates was rapidly uploading descriptions of the new powers to the computer core, then working to moderate both Survey's excitement at the fact that she had a new type of power to analyze and Survey's frustration that she had another type of power to analyze. Fleet and the Matrix were taking things in stride, as expected, but I needed to fully update the people without the benefit of live feeds to the database.
"The power was another big one. It's called Feel It Out." To her credit Aisha didn't even hint at making a joke about the name. "The whole psionic awakening is a side effect of the main ability."
"Which is?" Aisha asked. I could tell she was trying not to seem impatient, but this much buildup was clearly wearing on her.
"It's kind of a combination of retrocognition and object reading." She gave me a confused look. "Basically, I can touch an item and understand its composition and function."
I could practically hear the reaction of 'That's it?' echoing from Aisha in response to that reveal. Wait. I checked my boundaries again. The walls were down, and telepathy was a potential school of psychic ability. Had I…? No, just an assumption based on her expression. And the thermal patterns of her body. And the shift in tension I was feeling through the Dragon's Pulse. But it was not telepathy. Probably not telepathy.
"The thing is, there's also kind of a dash of precognition mixed in." I explained, and watched Aisha's eyebrows rise. "If I focus on an item for long enough, break down its functions and operational principles, I can see the thread of its development, from when it was first conceived, through all the redesigns, updates, and added features, and then where it's going." I swallowed. "I can see future development. Ways to improve anything."
"Seriously?" She asked. Her eyes darted around the near perfect training environment. Only 'near perfect' now because there was definitely something I could find, some change that would make it better.
"Yeah. The more complicated or exotic the item is, the longer it will take. With really advanced technology or serious enchantments it will be difficult to find the improvement, but there will always be one."
To my surprise one of my duplicates burst out laughing. Whatever tension had built up in the room suddenly shifted to confusion and the rest of the group tried to figure out what was so amusing.
"Oh God." He wiped his eyes and turned to us. "Seriously, this is too much. We finally, FINALLY get enough speed powers to finish upgrading the Workshop. Everything's as good as we can make it, and then we get this power and now…"
"And now nothing will ever be as good as we can make it." I said in understanding. "Everything can be upgraded, forever." My God. I was stuck as the Sisyphus of Workshop maintenance.
"I guess we really have to learn when to call something 'good enough'." The second duplicate quipped as the Clothing constellation missed a connection.
I let out a few dry laughs and took in a deep breath. I was beginning to adjust. That was the thing about the Forge. It might be a hell of a head trip, but it at least left me functional at the end of the day. As crazy as the abilities could get, they were all actually dedicated to a purpose, not a collection of obstacles for me to struggle with.
"Um, question?" Aisha said. "Didn't you already basically have that from your demigod stuff? I mean, not the eternal upgrade thing, but the rest of it? This double up on that or what?"
I shook my head. "Completely different effect. It's like the difference between a sledgehammer and a breaching charge."
"Which is which?" She asked with a confused expression
"Depends on how you look at it." I said. "It's hard to explain. They might do similar things, but the mechanisms are coming from almost completely opposite directions. They actually supplement more than overlap."
"Really?" She asked, looking around at me and my duplicates. The first nodded and replied.
"Yeah. Technopathy and technokinesis complement each other to a crazy degree." He looked at me and the other duplicate. "You know, we probably don't need to build interfaces anymore. Just run everything from direct control."
"Sure, unless you want the rest of us mortals to be able to use them." Aisha said with a grin, then looked contemplative and turned to the duplicates. "Hey, does this mean all those elemental superweapons the last set of you guys churned out are all out of date?"
They grinned at each other and I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes. "What, these?" The first quipped before a great sword blistering with flame appeared in his hands. Delicate runes snaked along the blade like tongues of fire and the metal of the sword itself seemed to reflect some unseen inferno.
Before the scale and grandeur of the weapon could be fully appreciated it vanished and the temperature of the room felt like it dropped by thirty degrees. The sword had been replaced by a great axe of dull blue metal that bled white mist from the edge of its blade. Pale blue runes glowed from the perfectly shaped handle that seemed to drink in the very concepts of heat and warmth.
A crackling sounded from the direction of the other duplicate, signaling the arrival of a spear of translucent metal with a cruel, jagged head. Sparks danced under the surface and a charge you could feel in your teeth flowed into the air around the weapon. In a flash it was gone, replaced by a katana of such sharpness the air seemed to stream over its edge of its own accord. Every movement left tiny vortices of wind trailing behind it and the duplicate's clothing billowed in unseen gusts.
"What, are we cycling through all of the weapons now?" I asked
"Oh, come on." The first said, quickly flickering his weapon to a glowing dagger, a longbow with leaves sprouting from it, and a trident of bluish-green metal. "Let us enjoy the mobile arsenal."
I sighed, but couldn't fault their enthusiasm. Unlike the extra dimensional storage that I had painstakingly assembled through first emulated and then fabricated cybertonium, the pocket dimension provided by my Weapon Swapping power was absolute, fiat backed, and was replicated for my duplicates to use. It also could be activated near instantly, had no meaningful upper limit on the number of items it could store, and could manage anything that counted as a 'weapon' up to the scale of a mid-sized motorcycle.
And it had been an ability tacked on to Weapon Crafting almost like it was an afterthought.
As a consequence, there was no longer a limit on what I could take into the field, at least as far as weapons were concerned, and all of them were copied over and accessible to my duplicates. Which meant they could throw around the set of elemental weapons that the last set of duplicates had churned out like they were toys.
Each one was a work of art, both literally and in terms of its power. Tybalt's eyes were positively glowing with each new appearance, Tetra was carefully observing the structure of the weapons, Garment was appreciating the craftsmanship, and Aisha just seemed to be enjoying the spectacle. The group could definitely understand the aesthetics of the work, if not the magic, technology, and titanic elemental power that was contained within each of them.
"Oh yeah." Said the second duplicate, twirling a massive warhammer like it was made of paper. The tremor that passed through the ground as he rested the butt of the long handle by his feet dismissed any illusions of the hammer being any lighter than its heft and bulk suggested. It was a construct of mythical metals infused with Dust, enhanced by Belmont Alchemy and the arts of Tempered Soul. Earth runes of unbelievable quality covered its surface, binding every conceivable elemental enhancement possible. It had been forged inside my Noble Phantasm, weaving Elemental Magecraft into a supreme mystic code and hand crafted with the art of the greatest fey. Infusionist had drawn out its primal connection to the earth, massively enhancing all of its powers. Finally, on the striking surface of the hammer sat an intricate alchemy array, a transmutation formula capable of reshaping entire landscapes. "This thing is on its way out. Last year's model, ready for the discount rack."
I sighed and shook my head, but Aisha grinned along with my duplicate. "So, what are you going to do with all of them? Stick them in a stone somewhere and hope a king shows up."
"Ha." I said. "No, they're bound for the crucible." I explained. "Strong as they are, they're only holding a single set of enchantments. We need to experiment with layering recovered magic onto new works. It'll let us recycle resources and ensure equipment can stay up to date." I gave her a hard look. "As I explained-"
"Fuck that." Her hand flew to the amulet at her neck. "You aren't burning my armor."
"Aisha, the crucible can render out all of the components that went into that suit, including the naming magic." Which was the only component with a significant cost, though much less of one by my current standards. "It will still be the same armor; I'll just be able to bring it up to date."
"What, Endbringer grade isn't good enough?" She asked, looking around for support. "Look, I know that 'three-day-old technology' thing is a joke, but I like this armor." She protested. "I'm finally getting used to it. And you said it upgrades itself or whatever, so it's fine, right?"
I looked to her, then over to the rest of the group, finding absolutely no support on the issue. I sighed. Sure, the armor was nearly indestructible, incredibly powerful, contained power reserves that would outlast the next three millennia, and was bound with conceptual protections that could mitigate more exotic forms of attacks, but it could be better!
And that was the kind of thinking that would drive me insane when coupled with my latest power. "Fine." I conceded. "But we're at least making some modifications. At minimum you're getting unlimited ammo in the weapon systems." It would resolve the issues of internal stores and fabrication limits while also preventing anyone from salvaging exotic tranquilizers or celestial bronze.
"Sure, that's fine, but no burning." She stated firmly. I nodded and looked over at my duplicates as they finished cycling through the last of the weapons. There was a glint in their eyes and I suspected that the next 20% time would involve some kind of titanic elemental duel. Well, at least the mantic circuits of the Workshop had been upgraded with the new shards. At this point they could probably blow apart a third of the mountain and it would reassemble itself in minutes.
I really hoped they didn't decide to put that to the test once their free time rolled around.
"Oh, hey." One of the duplicates said, checking one of Survey's reports through the Workshop network. "Looks like Paxton Fettel is working out."
"Who's Paxton Fettel?" Aisha asked.
I sighed. "Paxton Fettel is the name of an ability that came with my last power. It stops people from seeing any name I pick as strange. It can be weird or obscure and they'll treat it as seriously as anything else."
She gave me a confused look. "Why would you need that? I mean, which name is it supposed to work on? There's nothing weird about Apeiron or the Enigmatic Artificer." She paused, and reviewed what she just said. "Fuck, that was it working on me, wasn't it?"
"Most likely." The second duplicate said. "The tone of the conversation over that 'Thing About Names' power has shifted. More focus on the effect, not the name itself. Also hasn't raised any flags just yet." He looked at Aisha. "Probably won't if that's any indication."
"Yeah." She groused. "Hey, would it be hypocritical to say I hate stranger powers?"
I shrugged. "Honestly, I feel the same way about tinkers. I had to deal with Leet and Bakuda's bullshit. Still dealing with Bakuda's bullshit." I glanced in the direction of the computer core that had been processing multidimensionally for the past several days in an attempt to break a code that should not be possible to break. I sighed. "So, getting back to the actual point of this, how is the alchemy practice going?" I asked.
Tetra perked up. "Great!" She said, scampering back to her work area with an excited gait. Aisha's response was less enthusiastic.
"Great." She huffed as she looked over at the rest of the group and Tetra in particular. "It's reassuring to know that even with all the super teaching I'm still at the bottom of the class. There's an order to the universe after all." Despite the sarcasm she didn't sound as dejected as you might expect. I cycled through Survey's records of their progress so far to get a sense of things.
Aisha wasn't doing badly by any metric, especially considering this was her first time attempting actual transmutation. I had covered everything I possibly could within the accelerated virtual space, including as much of the practical side as possible. The benefits of that were evident by the recordings of Aisha drawing a series of perfect circles freehand, then adding precise geometric symbols for the alchemical formulas.
She had easily been able to independently construct a transmutation circle and accomplish basic reconfiguration of materials. I watched a few recordings of her early attempts. She was mostly working from samples of monocrystalline metals to simplify the comprehension and deconstruction steps of the process, letting her fully focus on the details of reconstruction.
By the standards of a first attempt it was phenomenal. When looked at in comparison to the rest of the group it was easy to see where her attitude had come from.
It really wasn't fair to compare anyone to Tybalt. The Felyne had taken to battle alchemy with the natural affinity you would expect from his bloodline. As it stood, he was the only one who had really mastered alchemical arrays, rather than being limited to transmutation circles. He was treating the condensed formulas as weapons and displaying as much skill with them as he did with any other item of war.
He was also the only one who had a handle on Alkahestry, and not just because of his ability to land five throwing knives in a pentagram. That feat came bundled with my knowledge of Alkahestry, but I quickly became aware of what a nightmare it would be to try to teach to anyone else. Tybalt had no trouble with it, allowing him to handle remote alchemy and even sense lifeforce. Healing was a little more complicated, but I wanted to work through a comprehensive medical curriculum before I started anyone on that.
His immediate affinity was the reason he had been able to step out to help with the Prismatic Laboratory while everyone else continued their work. There might be some value in him practicing non-combat forms of alchemy, but in terms of battle craft he had it down from the start.
After Tybalt, Garment would have a firm claim on second place. Her mastery of all things related to the creation of apparel included all methods of manufacturing. With Garment it was less like I was teaching her alchemy and more like I was reminding her that it was an option available to her. While I'm sure she was technically capable of other types of alchemy, she clearly had no interest in anything outside of clothing production.
It was really quite fascinating to watch Garment laying down a transmutation circle out of thread or embodying an alchemical array. She could form complete outfits through transmutation, but clearly wasn't about to give up the art of sewing any time soon. Instead, she seemed most excited about being able to use the process to produce textiles that weren't commercially available enough to be summoned directly by her abilities.
We had upgraded a rather extensive series of machines to allow her to produce as many hyperfibers and adaptive textiles as she wanted, but apparently she preferred the convenience of being able to make them on the fly. And also have better control of the color and thread density without needing to go back to the fabrication process. Complete control of the structure of matter and Garment was using it to circumvent supply chain issues that were already down to a single link.
Though I think her favorite part of it was the ability to change outfits instantly. By that I mean literally changing the outfit she was wearing, as in standing in the middle of a transmutation circle and reconstructing the elements of her clothing into something else. With a sufficiently advanced circle, which at her skill level was no obstacle, she could reform her dress into any number of outfits with just a pulse of will and a surge of alchemical energy.
It was like watching one of those fashion montages they show in the shopping parts of movies, only with considerably more lightning. I think Aisha might have been a little envious about that, but there was a big gap between entry level alchemy and altering the molecular composition of the clothes that you were currently wearing.
Somewhat appropriately, the Celestial Forge missed a connection to the Alchemy constellation as I reviewed Tetra's progress. She happily presented her creations to me as I watched the recordings of her producing them. Just seeing her work, it was evident how differently she processed things. In terms of actual transmutation skills, I didn't think she was that much better than Aisha. The difference between them came from technical knowledge and precision.
A master alchemist could produce a wide range of effects from only a simple circle. The best example of that would be the pentagram that acted as the primary array for Alkahestry. Beyond exceptionally complex acts of medical alchemy or the blending of alchemical styles, no modifications of the circle were needed. The pentagram served as the conduit and the rest of the work fell to the alchemist's knowledge and control.
More complicatedly designed circle allowed more precise direction of energies, but also less versatility of how those energies could be used. Complex designs were required for highly advanced processes just to get the transmutation to the point where it would be physically possible. Okay, if you were some kind of actual god of alchemy it might be possible to freely shape energy into complex forms with just a basic array, or even with no array at all, but for all practical purposes the circle was a requirement.
The point was that the actual work of directing a transmutation was split between the design of the transmutation circle and the skill of the alchemist. An alchemist of exceptional skill could make up for a basic design to accomplish complex transmutations. The thing was, Tetra had discovered that the opposite was also true.
While her actual skill at directing alchemical work was at best slightly ahead of Aisha's, her ability to both design and create complex circles was completely inhuman. Tetra was able to calculate the precise details of the transmutations she wanted to achieve and then transcribe them into incredibly complex circles. She had abandoned chalk, instead working with much finer writing implements. When that proved insufficient she shifted to a partial deconstruction, using her own fibers to precisely lay out the designs needed to produce her target effect.
She wasn't so much directing transmutations as building machinery to carry them out for her. In the long run it might impede her progress, slowing her development of the ability to modify transmutations on the fly, but from a practical standpoint she was able to accomplish fantastically complicated transmutations, the kind that would take a lifetime of effort to achieve, from nearly her first attempt.
Really, that was all down to the circles. Any alchemist who understood the purpose of the design, what it was intended to produce, could have done the same. It was a display of technical knowledge, not skill, but the display was still getting to Aisha. With Tetra throwing out nanostructures, fully assembled microelectronics, and precisely balanced composite materials, it was natural that her own progress in reshaping small pieces of material would seem a bit lacking.
"Aisha, you're doing really good work." I said, strolling over to her section of the training area. While they weren't detailed down to a microscopic level, all of her circles were precise, detailed, and without any errors. And had all been drawn by hand with no assistance. "Everyone here works in a different way." I gave Tetra a nod and she smiled with pride, showing a mouth full of glowing fangs. "You can't really compare yourself like that."
I picked up one of the early items she had produced. A simple piece of copper that had been reformed into a perfect sphere. It rolled back and forth in my palm as I looked at her other work, moving into more complicated materials and more complex shapes. Some of them had imperfections, the telltale flaked surface of an imperfect transmutation, but it was a rare sight, and became less common in her later pieces. "For your first night, this is incredible."
Tybalt meowed his encouragement and Aisha glanced away, but there was a slight smile on her face. Then her expression turned contemplative.
"Wait, does this even count as the first night anymore? Or a single night?" She asked. "I mean, we've been training in the computer for…" She left the question hanging, but looked towards the ceiling, meaning she was actually directing it to Survey.
Survey's life-sized hologram flickered into existence and nodded to Aisha. "A total of two hours and twenty-eight minutes have been spent at the immersive level of the simulated virtual environment. Discounting the time spent on 'movie night' the period of study accounts for approximately two hundred and forty hours." She stated crisply.
Aisha blinked and seemed a bit taken aback. "Right, so actually ten days. Not exactly 'tonight' when you get down to it."
"As a point of clarification, this equated period equated to two hundred and forty hours of active work." The hologram said, stepping forward. "The quoted time was inclusive of break periods, but those were a necessary component of the learning process required to ease mental stress and allow an individual to properly process and store information."
Survey had really enjoyed the insight into how human memory worked that had been provided from the uploads of my own knowledge into the Workshop's database.
"Typical work periods are not conducted in twenty-four-hour blocks." She continued. "So, it would be inaccurate to classify this as 'ten days'. Considering patterns of academic study, this would be the equivalent of thirty to forty days of dedicated instruction, or six to eight weeks assuming a standard treatment of weekends."
Aisha looked at her with wide eyes. "Jesus." She swore, shaking her head. "Alright, so two months." Survey moved to speak again and Aisha quickly added "Approximately two months." The A.I. fell back with a slight nod. "But wait." She turned to me. "You've got that twice as fast power, so it was actually like, four months. Approximately." She added, looking at Survey again. "And that thing does stuff twice as well, right? And there was other stuff going on, like how you presented stuff? And the super teaching power…"
She trailed off and I could see her trying to work things out. "Have I just had, like, a full year of school in one night? Only like, crazy college-level school?"
I glanced at my duplicates and they shrugged. "College might actually be underselling it a little." The second said.
"Right." She nodded. "Because you teach super science stuff." She quickly looked up. "Um, I'm not complaining or anything. Just trying to get my head around it." I nodded as she picked up one of the items from her workbench. "Plus, I guess now if this cape thing doesn't work out I can always go into black market diamonds."
I smiled at that. "I don't think the market could handle you."
She let out a laugh. "You know, I used to think the diamonds in this thing were a big deal." She indicated to her hair clip. "I didn't realize you could just shit them out like that."
"The value of diamonds is a product of artificial scarcity and political disruption due to expanded warlord activity in diamond exporting nations. Economically speaking, the entire industry could be disrupted with minimal efforts." Survey explained.
Aisha shrugged. "People still pay money for them." She turned to look at me. "So, how far can this stuff really go? I mean, I get that you're crazy on your own, and it's like a couple of hours to get somebody reshaping matter, at a basic level at least." She glanced towards Garment and Tetra before continuing. "And Chen was, what, about five minutes while the clone was splitting focus with other stuff? How super can you actually make someone?"
That was a heavy question. I mean, I assumed she was talking about the equivalent of granting powers and abilities, not the ridiculously overpowered equipment I could build. The thing was, that line was becoming less distinct, and I wasn't just talking about things like enhancement nanites and cybernetics. Standard equipment could be bound to someone's soul, allowing self-repair and immediate comprehension of function. The weapon that had been made for Chen was essentially a superpower, on top of the actual superpowers he had gotten.
"I'm going to say… very super." I replied. "I mean, a lot of it's borderline or full-on wet tinkering, but that ship has kind of sailed."
"Probably." She agreed. "Look, I guess what I'm asking is, what's next?" She looked around. "I know you hyped up my power, but I can't help but feel like I'm kind of the weak link here. At least in terms of raw force."
Said the girl who was flying around in a suit that was basically the equivalent of a military battlegroup. Maybe the metrics of my Workshop were kind of fucked.
Tybalt made an excited little hop as he meowed an explanation. Aisha gave him a confused look. "Wait, I thought Józef needed to do that? Well, him or one of the copies."
I shook my head. "Anyone can awaken Aura if they know how. The ability is such an intrinsic part of combat that Tybalt's better at it than I'd ever be. I just need to unlock his Aura, and he can take over development."
I watched the implications sink in. "So, it's like, superpowers that can spread from person to person?" Aisha asked. "Isn't that a big fucking deal?"
"They seal off towns over it, so yes. But it's not easy to learn how to unlock Aura. Unless you have a feel for the soul or are an avatar of war." I looked at the smiling cat standing next to Aisha. "Or both, it's not an easy skill to pick up."
"So, Chen hasn't been throwing out Aura powers all over the place?" She asked.
"No." I said, shaking my head, then paused. "Probably not." I mean, he did pick up Aura pretty quickly, especially considering the diminished control that comes from using the ritual rather than a training program, but there was no reason to expect he'd be unlocking other people's Auras. Probably. I really should give him a call.
And I needed to unlock Tybalt's Aura. My duplicate had managed to pull that off with no context in the spur of the moment during a combat situation, but the duplicates had always been better with Aura than I was. I had closed some of that gap, but the duplicates were duplicates of me. Any progress I made in that department was transferred to them, and compounded with the advantages they already had.
It would have been tempting to just farm the task out to them, but they insisted, meaning I insisted, that I get personal experience with the process. I was nervous about even making the attempt, but I knew they were right. With how far I had come and everything I had learned I could manage this, both enhancing Tybalt's personal abilities and ensuring that Aura training could be done properly for the rest of the group.
It just meant taking a look inside myself and using that to draw forth a connection to another soul. The concept was terrifying on every level, but with what had happened thanks to my psionic awakening I couldn't really say cutting myself off was an option anymore.
"Tybalt can also take over combat training and development of related supernatural abilities." I explained as the Size constellation flew past without a connection. At my words his face beamed with pride and enthusiasm. Aisha saw it and instinctively started to reach out, then quickly restrained herself. Tybalt let out a meow of protest and leaned his head forward. Aisha smiled and started scratching the fur around his face and ears, causing his grin to grow at least twice as wide and a distinct purring sound to echo through the room.
Yep, that was my divinely empowered combat expert alright.
"So, are we moving on to that now, or sticking with alchemy practice?" She kept scratching Tybalt's chin, but her eyes darted between her own comparatively simple creations and the array of advanced technology that Tetra had been able to produce. Of course, Aisha's work also contained enough diamonds and precious stones to justify a franchise of heist movies and put most collections of crown jewels to shame, so she wasn't exactly unimpressive in her accomplishments.
"About that," I said, "How are you for time? Do you need to get home soon?" Aisha seemed almost insulted by the question, but I wasn't going to ignore the fact that she was a thirteen-year-old girl out on a Saturday night. I didn't know what her curfew was like, or if she even bothered with it most of the time. It was another of those points where Aisha's approach and her father's would seem to fundamentally differ.
It wasn't like I could use my own experience as a guide. When I was Aisha's age any weekend activities would need to be fully vetted to my family, basically a complete itinerary with no room to deviate barring emergencies or advanced notice. The idea of 'have fun and be home by X-o'clock' wasn't something I had encountered when growing up.
"I've got time." She checked her watch, then nodded. Seeing my expression, she elaborated. "It's no problem. It's not usually a big deal, and my dad's been fine with me just checking in." She shifted anxiously. "We can keep going."
"I know, but maybe we should probably wrap things up." She looked like she wanted to protest, but I pressed on. "Aisha, we covered a huge amount tonight. I did my best to keep it from being overwhelming, but you should probably take a break. A real break."
She looked around and sighed. "Fuck. I just don't want to fall behind." She seemed to realize what she said and glared at me. "Look at what you've done. You've turned me into a nerd!" She accused, but there was a hint of a smile on her face. "Damn it, I knew it was contagious, but no, I just had to learn how to control the material universe. Next thing you know I'll be prepping for a Star Trek convention and arguing about pointless crap on the internet."
Tybalt glanced up and meowed at her, causing Aisha to give him a sour look in response. "Web of Magic doesn't count. It's mainstream. They have movies and everything." He mewed again causing her to huff and turn away.
"Don't worry. We're wrapping up training, at least for the night. I've got other projects I need to deal with." My mind jumped forwards to those plans, and the implications of them. "Tomorrow will be a big day. You should go home, check in with your dad and get some rest."
"Right, I guess." She looked over at Survey's hologram. "About those projects, am I going to get a chance to meet Survey and Fleet in the flesh?"
Survey quickly transmitted a confirmation of the composite materials of the planned construction and I assured her that Aisha was using a figure of speech and that no alterations had been made to the designs without her knowledge.
"Most likely. It's a big project, so I'm going to mostly be focusing on that." I replied.
"Yeah, I guess anything that's not a rounding error in terms of time is a big deal." She let out a breath. "So, anything else? I need an Anti-Simurgh thing, right?"
I smiled and nodded. That was huge. World changing levels of huge, and a testament to just how powerful the greater motes of the Celestial Forge could be, even in isolation. When taken together they were complete game changers.
If I had nothing to call on but my Heroic Spirit abilities and Item Construction skill I could probably have made an item that would have been able to obstruct the Simurgh. Maybe not completely block her, but introduce enough errors to make a difference, and that would be enough. The real terror of her schemes was the Rube Goldberg effect, the way seemingly impossible series of events lined up perfectly to allow unfathomable amounts of damage to be unleashed.
The accuracy was as much a part of her threat as the destruction she could cause. Hopekiller. She earned her name by making sure everyone knew there was no way around her. No true counter, just stopgaps, half of which seemed like they might be part of her plans anyway. Being able to introduce any error, even if it was just enough to make her seem a little less infallible, would have been the accomplishment of a lifetime.
I was well past that point. I wasn't cobbling together Mystic Codes designed to partially obscure precognition effects. I was forging divine legends from the metals of gods, imbued with excessive amounts of magical power and enhanced to unfathomable quality by the skills of a dozen worlds. I didn't need to settle for slight obstruction. I could flip the script.
"Yeah, we need to get you set up." I glanced towards the upper levels of the Workshop. "I'll need to head to the Skyforge for that." I paused, then moved to one of the side tables. "That reminds me, we made some enhancement items for alchemy. If you want to keep practicing they'll help with focus, control, and training."
"Nice. Any reason you waited until now to hand them out?" Aisha asked.
"This place does the same thing, but better." The first duplicate explained. "We're good at miniaturization, but some things require an architectural scale to get the full effect."
"Plus, Mantic Circuits." The second added, referencing the newly created mantic shards that streamed invisible power into the room. "That's something that doesn't exactly lend itself to mobile applications."
Aisha peered over as I retrieved the focuses. "Watches? Pocket watches?"
I shrugged. "Arcane Craft needs an appropriate item to act as a focus. I don't know why, but pocket watches are the best shape for transmutation enhancement." I picked up one of the watches, a simple design with a light chain and an alchemical depiction of a dragon on the face. I could already tell Garment had ideas for both modifications to the design and coordinating it with various outfits.
As I grasped the watch the surface rippled and shifted, then began to flake away. A casting of beautifully formed mythic alloys peeled back, revealing internal mechanisms that were of deceptive complexity. The façade of a watch face, still functional but only skin deep, burned away, revealing layers of alchemical enhancing structures. Arcane Craft mixed with divine workmanship and impossible quality. Immense reserves of rare elements stored within expanded spaces waited to be used, with bound magecraft keeping them readily available. Principles compounded upon each other, allowing the user to bend the laws of transmutation, seemingly pulling matter from nowhere and sidestepping the Law of Natural Providence.
And then the vision shifted. Components warped, changed, and mutated. They began to shift and grow, altering themselves while maintaining the function of the device. Unhelpful changes withered and vanished while useful modifications persisted. I watched as the device grew and developed, or displayed its potential development. Ways in which the item, already crafted at the peak of my skill, could be improved and refined.
"Józef? Józef? Hey, is he okay?" Aisha asked. I started as one of the duplicates grabbed the watch chain and yanked the device from my hand. He offered it to Aisha, who hesitated, looking at it nervously. He gave her a reassuring smile.
"The new power." He gestured at me. "Was getting caught up in all the ways he could make it better. You better take it before he decides it's too much of an embarrassment to show anyone."
Aisha took the watch cautiously, shifting it back and forth, watching the way the light caught delicate details of the engraved design on the casing. "Yeah, shameful really." She carefully put it away as the duplicates handed out the rest of the watches.
For once, Workaholic had been used to multiply production rather than size, giving five identical watches, instead of scaling a miniaturized watch up to normal size. That little workaround let me avoid drowning in copies of everything I made and also served to enhance the power of the products in question. Gadget Master could miniaturize anything with a negligible loss in capacity, so when combined with the scaling aspect of Workaholic I was basically running around with equipment that would normally have required hardware three times the size in every dimension.
This was a rare case where five watches was a useful outcome. It provided one for Garment, Tetra, Tybalt, Aisha, and myself. The way Feel It Out had deconstructed the watch still burned in my mind. It was the sudden arrival of a new, complex item that made it stand out. I had adjusted to the effect, at least with respect to the items I was currently wearing. Most of them didn't take long to analyze, even the neural implant. That was possibly an indicator that a serious upgrade was well past due for my cranial cybernetics.
The big difference with the watch was seeing that power apply itself to something that was supposed to be the peak of my ability, the absolute greatest work I could achieve. In addition to demonstrating the underlying concepts of the device better than even I had understood them, it made it clear that my best wasn't my best anymore. There would always be something I could improve.
Strangely, that didn't hit me the way I expected it to. If anything, it was reaffirming, rather than demoralizing. This wasn't evidence of some defect of mistake on my part. With the way my awareness extended into the devices it was literally impossible to think that way. I knew, on a fundamental level, how well made the items were. I also knew how to make them better, or I would, with enough time and concentration.
If all I was getting were upgrade instructions without the awareness of function then maybe it would have hit some sensitive notes for me. Instead, it actually felt good. I could do better. I could move on and improve, infinitely. I would never peak, never cap out and hit a point where there was nothing else that could be done. It would always be possible to be more, stronger, better, greater. With enough effort I could achieve anything.
I swear, if I had been piloting a mech at that moment I would have manifested a spiral weapon out of pure enthusiasm. I glanced at my duplicates as I pocketed my copy of the watch. They had the same senses I did; they knew what I had put together. And they were proud of me.
And so was Tybalt. He didn't have the exact same level of awareness I did, but he still had spiral energy and had taken to Alkahestry exceedingly quickly, not to mention his natural senses for combat related matters. There was a proud expression on his face that was so endearing that it triggered a wave of embarrassment, causing me to lose focus on those thoughts of the future.
The Celestial Forge missed a connection to the Resources and Durability constellation as we packed things up in the alchemy training room and everyone moved up to the Skyforge. That was absolutely everyone, because apparently Aisha's insistence on 'seeing' the Anti-Simurgh Mystic Code being made had ended up selling it as some kind of major event.
An explanation that the use of my Noble Phantasm would eliminate any actual display of crafting did nothing to deter the crowd. Aisha was convinced this was a milestone that needed to be celebrated and Garment had latched onto that idea, with Tetra, Survey, and Tybalt falling in behind her. Fleet and the Matrix continued to regard the event with what could best be described as patient confusion, given that it was unrelated to either of their roles. Still, out of solidarity, they extended awareness to the event and had their avatars present.
Both of them were more focused on the construction work being carried out within Passenger Space. Really, I couldn't blame them. It was a fascinating project in a new frontier that promised incredible discoveries if managed properly. It was also serving as a demonstration of how far my powers could be stretched in the absence of my physical presence.
Fortunately, most of my speed and quality powers could be extended through the link to the motoroid. Enchantment was largely out of the question without more experimentation with the broadcast of spell effects using Technosorcery, but my workmanship and production powers were fully usable when working remotely though that did generally require the direct attention of a duplicate. There were some compromises, and we needed to push the suit's omni-tool to its limit to get things started. The Matrix had begrudgingly accepted the creation of something they had designated as 'Tier Five nanobots'. It was being held up as an example of the desperate nature of the situation and a case for inclusion of nanobot reserves in every vehicle going forward.
Despite the Matrix's opinion of the quality of the nanobots, they were still wonders of technology, just not wonders of magitech, divine craft, and mythic materials. It remained a rapidly growing nanotech hivemind being produced independently in Passenger Space. As a consequence, the Matrix had been able to effectively extend their awareness through the link, allowing them to manifest a presence in the new realm.
That was probably why Survey was still in a sour mood regarding the construction.
Survey had been meticulously documenting the progress of that project, but was definitely still put off by her circumstances. Namely, the consequence of her near complete abandonment of variant programs intended for independent operation. Any remote systems that she was 'installed' into were primarily devoted to acting as a relay for her central program, with limited autonomy in the event of a communications disruption. It was a consequence of the adaptations she had pursued following my injury in the fight with the ABB. While it had allowed rapid development and an extremely high level of functionality, she had reached a point where there was no practical way to transfer her program through the QEC link, much less run it on hardware as dated as nano-constructed optical processors.
Survey had been quick to take advantage of the advancements made possible by Cybertonium, but had pretty much abandoned backwards compatibility in the process. Now she was locked out of the discovery of a lifetime, forced to sift through reports and readings that the remote version of Fleet was sending back, all while insisting that he wasn't conducting the scans and analysis properly.
There had been a blitz of optimization attempts conducted with the assistance of both myself and my duplicates in an effort to pare down a version of Survey's program complex enough for her to be content with and compressed enough to be transferred through the low bandwidth QEC link and operate on the types of hardware that could be constructed at the remote site.
Aisha comparing the situation to a desperate attempt to slim down in order to fit into an old outfit had not been taken particularly well by Survey.
At least it had warmed her to the idea of a dedicated remote body, which made it easier to get her to agree to the proposals for her and Fleet. Not that she didn't still have concerns, frankly I did as well, but the potential benefits were enough to outweigh them, at least for the moment.
"Okay, what happened to the eagle?" Aisha asked as we exited the workshop into the night air of the Skyforge. She was craning her neck, looking up at the moonlit statue that towered over the forge.
"Arcane Craft." I explained. "It works on any mysterious force, which includes things like the enhancement effects of the Skyforge and volcano. And a few other quality boosters that I have access to." I gestured to the modified statue, now much sleeker and precisely aligned. "The whole thing is a giant array for improving my crafting powers."
That was actually a bit of an understatement. It wasn't 'an' array; it was a series of interconnected divinely crafted Arcane Focuses. The upgraded Skyforge enhanced its own power, but also boosted everything from my divine crafting abilities to Elven Enchanting to quality increases from things like Lack of Materials, Lathe of Heaven, and Material Synthesis Science. In a wonderful bit of recursion, it even used the Arcane Craft to generate a work area that enhanced my ability to use the Arcane Craft.
It had created a situation that was somehow a completely expected expression of the Forge as a concept. To anyone else, suddenly getting a legendary, mobile crafting station that existed within a timeless space and could access all of your stores of materials would mean you were pretty much done. No need for anything else, free to do everything on the spur of the moment while out in the field. For me, it had counted as a good place to start. That was because, along with every other thing the Skyforge had enhanced, every mysterious force that had been focused and channeled by the arrangement of divine works, the most important one was the enhancement of my Noble Phantasm.
Really, it almost felt like a betrayal of concept. This was an item designed to bring my crafting abilities into the field, and I was tying it down to my Workshop. In reality, there was a tradeoff at work. By using it here I could take advantage of the full benefit of my crafting stations, the enhancements of the Arcane Craft, and the middling benefits that had been setup from my meager skills with territory creation. Out there, I lacked all of those advantages, but Countercraft was a possibility. The rank up of my Item Construction power could create some truly incredible items, providing I had the resources and mana to create them.
I was trading benefits. There was no question Countercraft could be a vital ability at a critical moment, but in terms of preparation I needed all the help I could get. That meant constructing the most excessive workspace imaginable. With everything that had gone into it, I think the new Skyforge now qualified. Without the timeless existence of my Noble Phantasm this would have been the work of years. Instead, it had only required repeated use of the Mystic Forge and a colossal amount of mana, which of course I had been able to freely generate.
I took my position near the heart of the forge and turned to the assembled spectators, which included my duplicates for some unfathomable reason. They were probably the reason a dedicated seating area had suddenly been set up. "Are you sure you want to watch this? There's not going to be much to see."
"I would still like to watch." Said Tetra from her place between Garment and Tybalt. Garment had handed over the Avid Glove and the life fibers of Tetra's fur were shimmering with absorbed energy. Garment indicated her interest as well, and emphasized the importance of both the creation process and the finished result.
Tybalt called out a long series of meows and Aisha smiled at him. "What he said. Make with the magic."
Survey checked in with me, once again requesting documentation of all personal sensors from within the timeless field as well as a personal account of the actions that were taken. The inability to observe the effect directly and the unreliable nature of even my own sensors while it was active was a sore point for the A.I., but one she was determined to somehow defeat.
Fleet had directed a few small vehicles to the Skyforge but at Survey's prompting had manifested a similar hologram to her own. The Matrix was waiting in the back as a largely impassive mass of nanobots in the shape of a man-sized mobile suit. It appeared the spectators were fully assembled and prepared. Time to disappoint them.
Well, not totally disappointed. Aisha and Garment still clearly enjoyed the display as I called my familiar and manifested lycaenops traits. It was just lucky that the enhancement of a striker unit didn't carry over to my Noble Phantasm, so the whole thing with airplane-boots and extra tight pants wasn't necessary.
It really was a shame that, from their perspective, there would be nothing but a ripple from the time I brought down the tool and the appearance of the item. The surge of power as I called out its name and the Mystic Forge activated, causing reality to fall away, it was incredible.
More significant than the power was the way my perception shifted. The act of working without time as a concept would be strange to anyone who hadn't already spent a literally uncountable eternity in that state. For me, this was a familiar, comforting feeling. The certainty of task and purpose without urgency or hurry, or even the concept of such things. I would say it made it easy to get to work, but time didn't exist. I was already working. I had already started, already progressed, and somewhere I was already done.
This was an undeniably distinct experience from activating the Mystic Forge without enhancements. The most profound aspect of the experience was the ability to draw upon the powers and characteristics of the Skyforge. My Noble Phantasm maintained peak efficiency by limiting its effect only to what was absolutely essential for the crafting process, often not even encompassing entire tools, just the contact surfaces. It was the only way to stretch such a powerful bounded field across the entire process of creating an item.
The enhancements allowed by the Arcane Craft allowed that restricted area to expand immensely. It wasn't limitless mana, but some aspects could be supported externally, particularly if they were anchored and incorporated into the arcane focus. As such I had the full power of the Skyforge and all its enhancements to draw upon.
There was a project in the works to potentially extend the same effect to the Crucible of Eight Trigrams. If it came to fruition it would allow items to be instantly broken down for their components and magical effect, rather than the comparatively slow decomposition that was currently something of a bottle neck. The main problem was that rendering down materials was a fundamentally different effect from construction, and not one the Mystic Forge naturally extended itself to. As such, it was proving to be a challenging project, though one with a potentially significant payoff.
Within the timeless field my mind naturally concentrated, drawing on every skill and resource available to me. This was the directed creation of a supreme Mystic Code, a divine object with the ability to divert the most powerful of clairvoyant and precognitive effects.
That was where the real difficulty with this task came from. I was trying to prevent an end result, not a specific action. There were any number of ways that parahuman powers could gain information about the future. Some were more accurate than others, but the ones with lower precision were often the most difficult to obstruct. There was no single method that would negate all of them, so I didn't bother to try.
Defense against a near infinite variety of powers was an impossible task. The solution was to go on the offensive. Active interference, not a generic shrouding. The requirements for something like this were titanic, but I could easily meet them. My skill, resources, and power were more than up for the task.
The project was actually easier for Aisha than it would be for anyone else. Her power already provided an example of diversion of attention, complete with a failsafe to keep it from being identified. I could build on that, use it as the basis for any attempt to gain information about her future actions.
For the actual misdirection effect, that was a process that was both straightforward and difficult to achieve. Throughout the charm bracelet a series of impressions of the world were constructed. It was made easier by the circular shape of the band reinforcing the symbolic element of wholeness. Contained within that space was the artificial life of a version of Aisha that existed only as a concept. Data that would be fed to scanning effects, overriding any attempt to discern her intentions or future. Always showing the same result, one of harmless non-interference.
It was the same policy I had held to divert attention from my actions. Do nothing until a trigger that cannot be predicted was supplied. For the purpose of all assessments, it read as nothing. No action, no ambition, and no great conflicts with the powers of the world. Some reaction if directly confronted, but only enough to avoid trouble. A boring, gray, passive existence bound within a magical field and fed to those who would seek to use the information against us.
The timeless space fell away as the Magitech constellation missed a connection. I lifted jeweler's tools made of starlight from the work surface, revealing a delicate charm bracelet to the crowd. With a relaxing of will I let the tools shift back into their spiritual form, joining the rest of my Noble Phantasm and leaving only the completed item sitting in view of the audience.
There was a fraction of second of delay before Aisha threw herself into applause that might not have been entirely sarcastic. Tybalt quickly joined in, clapping as loudly as his little paws could manage. Garment gave a light dignified applause, while Tetra joined in after a moment of hesitation. At Survey's prompting Fleet set his hologram on a repeated loop of a clap animation, though slight motions from the tiny vehicles in attendance were somehow much more expressive. Meanwhile, thunderous clangs echoed as the Matrix applauded with the hands of their mobile suit form.
I waved them off. The entire affair felt juvenile and indulgent, but the group seemed to enjoy it. The applause tapered off, with Fleet instantly transiting his hologram from clap-loop to impassive stance. The thunderous sound of the Matrix's clapping continued to echo over the mountain-scape as I picked up the bracelet.
Just from the light contact I could feel my awareness extend into the bracelet as Feel It Out began picking apart its functions. Pieces of its surface flaked away under my eyes, revealing the mechanisms of its operation on an intrinsic and fundamental level. I quickly lifted it to Aisha before I could get caught up in the potential improvements that the future could hold.
My mind remained in the present as she took the charm bracelet gently and held it up to the light. The night was clear and bright, but the forge provided a warm circle of illumination that allowed her to truly appreciate the workmanship of the charm.
Aisha let out a whistle as she turned it in her hand. "I know I keep saying this, but God damn, Tiffany's has nothing on you."
"Not really my target market." I quipped and Aisha smiled slightly. She slipped the bracelet onto her right wrist and held it up.
"So just like that, I'm Simurgh-Proof?" She asked. The tone was light, but there was a serious look in her eyes. She understood what this meant.
"Yes." I said with certainty. "The power that went into that… Well, I'm not going to break down every supporting effect, but it's considerable. Considerably by my standards." She nodded at the implication. "You can think of it as scrambling any attempts to get information on your future and projecting a version of you who won't cause any problems instead. Any powers trying to get a read on your actions will instead get that instead." I explained. "If you run directly into a strong precog they might be able to tell they're being fooled, but even if they can filter out the false data they won't be able to read anything underneath it."
She sagged with relief. "So, it's safe right?" She looked at me. "I can run outside and start singing 'Fuck that winged bitch' and nothing bad's going to happen?" There was a tremble to her voice that she quickly brought under control. "There's no way I can mess this up now?"
I exchanged an awkward look with my duplicates as I remembered how hard I had come down on Aisha about the threat posed by the Simurgh. I knew she had taken it seriously, but I didn't realize how much it had been weighing on her.
Well, I did imply that if things went wrong the Simurgh could end up warping me into a worse version of Mannequin. If anything, that warning would only have gotten more concerning as I grew in power. And Aisha had apparently been concerned about being the weak link in my defenses.
It made sense. People tried to avoid even thinking about the Simurgh for fear of somehow attracting her attention. Putting that kind of pressure on a thirteen-year-old with attention issues must have been hell.
"Yes. There is no way the Simurgh can get through that." I assured her. "Even if you start hosting public planning meetings for ideas to bring her down she'll never see you act on any of them. You are safe."
"Right." She took some steadying breath. "Right, I'm good. We're good. And we're meeting with supervillains tomorrow." She paused at that. "You know, you were probably right about getting some rest. I think all that school is catching up with me."
"Right. You want to take it easy tomorrow?" I asked.
"Fuck no. I'm going for my space PhD-MD-BA-CPA-MBA-XYZ and however many more letters we can cram in there." She said with a grin.
I smiled back. "Good to know. You need a ride back?"
She shook her head. "I'll take my armor. Gotta get use out of it before you get some new power and decide it needs to be thrown in that furnace." I gave her a sour look but it was clear she meant it in mostly good humor. "This alright inside the armor?" She asked, holding up the bracelet.
"Absolutely. It partially interfaces with your power, so it should actually be more effective when you have the suit." I explained. "If someone tries to use tinker-based predictive methods you'll be able to provide false data to them as well."
"Nice." She said, "Wait, is that a common thing?"
"Not that I know of." I confessed. "I've played around with those kinds of systems, but I don't know any examples of prediction-based tech. Still, Tinkers can work to a very high level when motivated. It pays to head them off whenever you can." It was a hard lesson I had learned from my encounters with Bakuda and Leet, and not one I'd forget.
I saw Aisha off, though she did stop by to see the robot unicorn who was definitely not going to be named Moondance before she left. The training blitz hadn't left much time for 'horse girl' activities, but she at least got a chance to say goodbye. The Zoid's A.I. seemed somewhat well disposed to her, and I tactfully ignored her behavior as she rubbed its nose and promised she would visit it tomorrow.
Horse girls. At least I could farm the riding lessons out to Tybalt.
I stayed in the shelter of the Workshop's privacy curtain as Aisha slipped out of Garment's studio. She had gotten incredibly precise with the use of her power, limiting it to short bursts when she needed to conceal herself, then relaxing it for longer periods. There was barely a moment of disorientation as she exited the back door and took to the sky under the cover of her power. After that, she relied on 'mundane' stealth systems to take a light circuit of the city before using another quick burst of power to cover her return home.
It was interesting how the mood in the Workshop shifted once Aisha left. While she was unquestionably a part of the team, she was also separate, both because of her age and because she had external connections. Real connections, not the tenuous links I was struggling to either maintain or ignore. It was a good reminder about the importance of the world outside the workshop, but there was no denying the character of the place changed after she left. It was basically the same thing as entertaining guests. No matter how close they are, or how comfortable you are with them, there's a change in the atmosphere once they leave.
The major consequence for us was everyone splitting off to their own projects. Garment headed down to her workshop, carefully examining the pocket watch. I had a feeling a line of lady's waistcoats was in the future. Survey shifted back to her analysis and optimization routines, still trying to stay ahead of the growth of her program and find some version of it that she would be comfortable sending through the QEC link.
On that topic, Fleet and the Matrix remained focused on the construction with support from one of my duplicates. For the Matrix, as a colony intelligence, physical division was essentially the same thing as mental division, allowing them to leave the Passenger Space nanites to their own devices as they focused on the primary objective of finalizing the Generation Four nanobot designs. The prospect of Feel It Out providing persistent improvements of any design presented a conundrum that was resolved eventually by the addition of a sub-categorization for refinements in nanobot design made without the addition of new technology, materials, or construction powers.
I left them to work out the details as Tybalt approached me with a jägerstock. Not the standard jägerstock that had arrived along with him. No, that was a basic entry level weapon. What he was carrying was definitely something else.
The duplicate who was not supervising extradimensional construction approached me with Tetra clinging to his back and a smile on his face. "You think it was that weird for Garment?"
I shook my head. "Honestly I have no idea. If it was, she could probably roll with it better than us." I said with a sigh.
The jägerstock was Tybalt's version of my own 'Questionably Practical Weapon'. I had received a dueling cloak, but a spear with a second head that pointed towards you certainly counted. I knew there was some historic basis for the jägerstock, but the fact was that a single over extension was basically an invitation for your opponent to stab you in the gut with the butt of your own weapon.
Of course, that wasn't a problem for Tybalt, both in terms of his divinely granted durability and the fact that he instinctually mastered the weapon on a level that I'm sure had never been seen in the history of the world.
There was a little quirk about those weapons that strongly indicated some kind of RPG like power tier. They were basic, but merchants would be able to sell more advanced versions. For me that had been Garment, with her managing to produce advanced versions of the cloak that carried elemental or detrimental status effects in addition to being significantly more powerful. I had assumed that was another example of her mastering an art upon being exposed to it.
That was before it happened to me.
Apparently I counted as a weapon merchant, something I couldn't really deny, and was the only practical source for jägerstocks, something I also couldn't deny. I had, almost instinctively, been able to produce a series of double spears of increasing power and mounting effects, except I had been producing them independently of my other powers.
The jägerstock Tybalt was holding was of immense quality and power. It was definitely an ultimate weapon by any reasonable standard, but not by my standards. I had somehow produced that weapon for 'sale' without using any of the effects of powers that I should not be able to deactivate. It was literally worse than anything I should be physically capable of producing, yet somehow I had made it.
And Tybalt had bought it. On credit, with the assurance that he was good for it. And a little IOU written in Felyne, complete with the tiny paw print letters.
But this wasn't about fiat enforced inventory. This was about a more serious project. The significance of which was evident as the black helmet unfolded over Tybalt's head, then was removed and slowly offered to me.
I swallowed and glanced at my duplicate. "Tybalt, are you sure."
He nodded with a serious expression on his face, and explained that it wasn't worth waiting, not when it could make a difference with tonight's project.
"He's right." My duplicate said. "Feel It Out means there's no such thing as a perfect weapon anymore, so kicking projects down the road doesn't make sense. Plus, you could use the practice, and we could really use a source of Stygian Iron."
"And the helmet will be okay?" Tetra asked from the duplicate's shoulder. Tybalt looked at her, then glanced at my shoulder in a way that gave me the impression he was envious of the placement. Instead of commenting on that he launched into an explanation of the process for Tetra.
Tybalt's helmet was a Legendary Item, a specific focus of his divine abilities, unsurprisingly the ones centered on death and spirits. It was a special quality of the item; one I would be hard pressed to duplicate even with my divine skills. I might be able to create an equivalent, but not something as personal and specific as what was carried by the helm. As such, even if it weren't composed entirely of the most dangerous mythical metal out there, I would still have been apprehensive about working with it.
The problem was that it was the only sample of Stygian Iron that we had. I might be able to recreate the conditions needed to forge a fresh batch, but water of the river Styx made the early transmuted Lethe water look benign by comparison. I really, really did not want that in my workshop.
The helmet was too valuable to scrap or render to components and too complicated to break down and rebuild. The solution was modification. I could add features, personalize the item, and also repair absolutely anything. If handled carefully I could pilfer a sliver of the metal, duplicate it with my resource powers, and restore the helmet good as new, but now with an effectively infinite supply of Stygian Iron.
I was fairly confident I could manage it. It was cheating, but that's what my powers did. Still, I wouldn't have suggested it to Tybalt, not if there was the slightest chance of damaging his helmet. The thing was, I didn't need to suggest it. Tybalt had done that himself.
Because Tybalt wanted a Stygian Iron jägerstock.
Specifically, he wanted the best jägerstock I could make using primarily Stygian Iron, layered with all the magic, enhancements, and infusions I was capable of. In truth it wouldn't be Stygian Iron, it would be Volcano melded Stygian Bone Steel forged in zero gravity using the Secret of Steel and infused with divine quality Dust. And that was without considering the magic and technology that would be added.
In short there was a shiny super spear being dangled just out of reach of a demigod of war. He probably would have been pushing for this project even if it would have compromised the helmet.
"Come on." The duplicate added. "We'll need time for Survey to run proper analysis of the metal, but there's no reason we should go forward without including Stygian Iron." He paused as the Forge secured a mote from the Quality constellation. "Or Eridium."
The Workshop rumbled slightly as the equipment that accompanied my new Mechanical Master power manifested, some basic gear and a vending machine. The power itself was composed of about fifty percent insanely advanced hyper science dealing with powerful concepts that could alter your view of the very fabric of the universe, and fifty percent insanely deranged militaristic technology that seemed to hold the opinion that something like a rocket launcher that fired smaller rocket launchers that also phased through cover was a perfectly sensible project.
"Well, Tybalt's spear just got a lot more interesting." My duplicate quipped. "And after this we'll need to prep for transmuting Eridium."
"Yeah, E-tech." I agreed, but shook my head as I processed the scope of the information that had just been loaded into it.
The knowledge of weapons, robotics, and shields would have been significant enough on its own, and this wasn't the first time I had received the understanding of a new, advanced material with immense potential. All of that was par for the course at this point, but there was one glaring element that stood out.
Digistruct. It was a simple word for an unfathomably advanced concept. Huge amounts of the technology bundled with this power relied on digistruct principles, seemingly without any real understanding of how they actually functioned. The effect was harnessed, but the principles behind it were a mystery. Even with the breadth of my knowledge I could just begin to piece it together.
Digistruct was used as a fabrication mechanism, effectively capable of printing everything from weapons to robots to entire living creatures. It could also hold materials in suspension through the use of storage decks and networks, or rapidly fabricate anything from vehicles to entire facilities. The effect was relatively easy to manifest, but look any deeper and it became opaque. Basically, a black box of technology, highly useful, but fundamentally mysterious.
But not for me. I could see the structure of how digistruct worked, the enforcement of a waveform across the resolution of the universe, information expressed on the Planck scale, but manifested as a physically present and persistent effect. The union of matter and energy, or matter and information, how they could basically be the same thing, allowing anything to be scanned, stored, or recreated.
I understood it because I could use it. I could digistruct items freely, without the workarounds of technology usually required to emulate the effect. Information enforced on the fabric of the universe bringing a physical object into being. Without any weight behind it, without a continuity of mass or energy to stabilize the structure, it would be fundamentally unstable. I could make matter from nothing, but it would be prone to break down and explode after brief use.
Depending on the item in question, and given the character of most of this technology, that could probably be considered a feature, not a bug.
With a slight act of concentration, a glowing digital pattern bloomed in my hand and a simple knife formed. Simple by my standards. It was still a masterpiece of construction and formed quickly enough that there was a sharp crack of displaced air that caused a fluttering of clothes and hair as it passed over the group.
Of course, that would probably have been considerably more destructive in any other circumstances, but by the standards of the Workshop someone setting off the equivalent of a concussion grenade in the middle of a conversation was no worse than an inconvenient breeze.
"Okay." My duplicate said in good humor. "So, that's three ways to make temporary objects out of nothing?"
"Yeah." I said. "When it rains it pours." In my hand my Feel It Out power was already bleeding into the digistruct knife. Pieces of the material seemed to burn away as my awareness plumbed the depth of its composition and design. Even for something as temporary as this, the power was still active, working to deconstruct the product of yet another projection ability.
To be fair, there were different pros and cons to each method. Projection was the most versatile, able to emulate technology and magical effects, but could become costly when working with large energy sources. That was less of an issue with the workarounds of Bandit Gunsmith and my expanded mana reserves, but there was still a significant cost, not to mention the focus required for large and complex projections.
Dark Slayer was incredibly useful, granting high speed generation of projections, precise control of the weapons, and incredible versatility. The weapons were composed of the same demonic energy that allowed the creation of infinite ammunition. There was no risk of running out of energy, though I could only channel it at a fixed rate. That could be improved by training, and it also benefited from my speed and resource powers. The semi-corporeal nature of the weapons also sidestepped the shockwave problem and also allowed for better control.
But it wasn't a perfect system. I could only project weapons, and only weapons that I had seen before. That meant there was no chance to modify or redesign weapons on the fly. It also meant I couldn't do my trick of underbuilding and allowing Workaholic to handle the size increase. Any weapon I produced with Dark Slayer would either be oversized or created in groups of five. Or both, if I drew extra energy to take advantage of Shipping the Product, though that could be used to produce up to twenty-five per shot.
They were also less powerful than the weapons I was copying. The drop wasn't as prominent as it could have been. I understood weapon production to an incredible degree and that came through in my use of Dark Slayer, but there was still some loss. I could diminish that with practice, and as it stood a lesser copy of the type of weapon I currently used was still devastating. Even if the enchantments, elemental infusions, material properties, and technology lost some potency it would still be considered overpowered for anything short of an Endbringer.
Then you had digistructing. This lacked the cost of projection magic and the limited nature of Dark Slayer, allowing temporary production of any item I could envision. The only down side was the fact that I couldn't recreate any magical effects.
I could enchant the item as it was being created, but considering it was probably going to explode after a short use, that was a bit of a waste for anything but the most trivial uses of magic. I could also do the projection trick of inscribing runes by hand, rather than create them directly, and there was also the potential of Infusionist's elemental properties being applied. That said, creating Mystic Codes, mana infusions, or charmed items were not possible. Not really the biggest problem considering the inherently temporary nature of the creations, but still something that set it apart from my other options.
I tossed the digistruct knife over the edge of the Skyforge and let it bounce down the side of the volcano until it exploded in a small detonation. Temporary, but still potentially useful.
Probably more interesting was the potential of the effect when applied to other technology. In those cases, it was basically a step up from a replicator with a dash of miracle storage and transport tech mixed in. Survey was already assembling possibilities from the information my other duplicate was uploading to the network, and the Matrix was once more revising plans for the Generation Four nanobots.
More interestingly, this was something that could be utilized to significant effect in Fleet's Passenger Space construction. The angular carrier ship that was continuously expanding in size and complexity was already impressive, but Survey had made a point about not launching expeditions until we were completely confident of our position. Honestly, it might have been a delaying tactic to allow her to figure out some way to transfer and coordinate the scans, but taking the cautious approach wasn't a bad plan in this case.
"Alright, a new set of technologies to analyze and implement." My duplicate said. "The other duplicate is in the network. He can handle the redesigns. We'll still need Stygian Iron, so that means…" He gestured towards Tybalt who was still offering up his helmet.
I nodded and accepted it reverentially. "Right. Let's get started."
The modifications to the helmet weren't extreme, at least by my standards. I was completely capable of incorporating features like collapsible rotary cannons, power fields, computer linker neural interfaces, and a plethora of additional magical effects. But that could come later. For now, it was a simple adjustment in fitting, with a slight stylization added around the eye slits.
The design came across as quite striking and in the course of the project the slightest amount of Stygian Iron had been shaved off, quickly duplicated, and then used to add adornments. The fact that there was some left over and thus could be further multiplied didn't factor into it. I had managed the modifications without compromising the integrity of the helmet and now had an endless supply of death iron to do horrible things with.
"The metal, it drains your life?" Tetra asked as the Time constellation missed a connection. She had transferred herself to my shoulder to better watch the work.
"It does." I said as I shifted the samples. "But it's fine when I'm working with it."
"Exotic Compatibility?" She asked.
"That's right. While I'm working it's basically iron. Outside of situations like that, it's underworld metal. Very dangerous."
"But you can handle life drain, right?" I didn't miss the way her fur was flaring from the contact with both me and the Avid Glove, which was happily chewing on her hand to her complete indifference.
"It's different from what happens with life fibers. And I could probably handle it for a little while. Full mortals wouldn't have it as easy." I secured the samples and handed them off to a waiting drone. "Survey and my duplicate are going to be running a battery of tests in the magitech lab."
"But you're going to make Tybalt's spear now?" She asked.
I nodded. "His jägerstock." I had refilled what mana I had spent making Aisha's ward bracelet and was ready to unleash the full might of those powers forging an item of war. Everything was prepared, despite the fact that supplies didn't need to be on hand when I worked. "I need some practice, particularly with elemental infusions. This will be a good start."
Tetra scampered down from my back and looped around to face me, still holding the Avid Glove to her chest. "You're going to use everything? All the powers and materials you can?" She asked.
"That's right." I said, glancing over to where Tybalt was admiring his modified helmet. Unlike me, he would actually be able to bring out the full potential of the weapon, rather than leaning on its power and hoping for the best. "It's important to put everything we can into this."
She looked up at me with glowing eyes. "Then why aren't you using life fibers?"
That took me aback. Before I could answer she pressed on. "I've seen what's in the database, the information from your Tailor power. Life Fibers can be infused into other materials. Composites with the ability to grow and change. They enhance sharpness, durability, and allow self-repair. It synergizes with your other abilities and provides potential for independent improvement. If you're using everything, why not life fibers? Why haven't you used any life fibers?"
Tybalt had looked up from his helmet and seemed to be watching the exchange. He couldn't hear Tetra, but could perceive her in terms of the Dragon's Pulse and his own divine senses. Additionally, as far as posture and expression went, Tetra wore her heart on her molten hell mink sleeve.
I swallowed. The fact was, ever since Tetra became Tetra… That is, became an independent person who could move around and talk rather than a loose connection of feelings that could only interface with my A.I.s, it felt wrong to think of her as a material. The discussions about making a Kamui were one thing, but casually using what I now thought as parts of her body in the construction of random items felt ghoulish.
Yes, I knew how powerful those could be. Just the emulated fibers in the suit that had been made for Chen were significant, but that didn't change the fact that the fibers were part of Tetra. She was a dispersed organism, existing equally through all the parts of her body. More than that, there was a connection between her development and her body mass. She was growing, both physically and in complexity. I didn't want to diminish that for the sake of a bonus that in all likelihood I didn't need.
"Tetra, I'm not going to strip out pieces of your body for use in projects like this."
"There are samples from before the procedure. They could be duplicated with resource powers. And I don't mind. It would be like toenail clippings, right?" She asked.
I shifted awkwardly. I could follow her logic. I was leveraging everything I could to prepare for the upcoming meeting and everything that would come after it. Tailor was a seriously powerful ability and one that had been left untouched in all aspects beyond what was required to separate myself from Tetra. Everything she had been doing, everything she had been learning and practicing, it was all based on the knowledge of that power.
She wanted it to be relevant. She wanted it to be used and to be useful. Considering how much that could be seen as a reflection on her, it was understandable where this was coming from.
Additionally, having no experience with life fibers had made it easier to dismiss Tetra's requests about Kamuis. I couldn't deny the possibility of that being a contributing factor in me avoiding working with them.
It was my own hang-ups that were getting in the way. How many of them did life fibers hit? Mind control. Biological technology. Constructed lifeforms. Exponential growth and global threats. Yeah, it was a mess.
I sighed. "Those are control samples. I don't think we should dig them out for something like this. Not now. No matter how useful they would be." I had to be honest about that at least, but Tetra slumped in response.
Tybalt waved a paw at us and meowed, causing Tetra to immediately perk up. "Would that work?" She asked.
"It could." I admitted. It had for Chen. Normally it wouldn't be worth the chance, but anything relying on the effect would still be functional even if it failed, and it wasn't like I needed to be conservative with materials or time anymore. "Would you be alright with that? Just using Waste Not?"
Tetra nodded, clearly pleased. Meanwhile the prospect of a life fiber weapon had Tybalt positively vibrating. I couldn't help but smile at that.
"Alright, let's get started."
The arrangement was broadly the same as the last time, but with a smaller audience. Stygian Iron was now available as a material, though Eridium and most of the technology from Master Machinist would have to wait. Tetra and Tybalt watched eagerly as I raised my Noble Phantasm and called out its activation as the Alchemy constellation missed a connection.
"Mystic Forge!"
Time became meaningless, the world fell away and I got to work. Metals were alloyed together, enhanced, then tempered with blood and bone salvaged from Lung's arm. The form of the spear drew out from mythic metal, but beneath the surface a network of microcircuits and nanocomponents were assembled. A dozen types of advanced technologies, bound through science and crafted with a deft hand. The arts of The Divine Machines cause the entire assembly of technology to appear as an item out of myth, beautifully formed with no hint of modern influence.
Magic was layered onto the spear. Mana channeled directly into its creation, force and will bound with elven arts, alchemical enhancements from Belmont Alchemy and spells imbued through the creation of a legendary Mystic Code. The hand crafting allowed me to work with the full arts of the fey expressed in its construction, enhancing every aspect of the work. I drew on my knowledge of Infusionist, calling up the elemental affinity of the spear.
Metal. It had a metal affinity. I went to work, adding runes of elemental metal. They were inscribed along the surface in sharp, angular patterns. Runes of enhancement, creation, and control. Both literal and conceptual aspects of elemental metal expressed through impossibly advanced magic, and amplified in power thanks to the primal infusion of elemental energy.
Finally, after an eternity that went unnoticed, I was done. The world came back, time resumed, and I had created a weapon out of legend. The kind of spear that defines heroes and forges nations. In my hand the line between past and future began to unravel as my technopathy linked me to the weapon. Slowly it revealed the titanic scale of its power and unwrapped the potential it held for growth, for greatness. It was one of my finest creations, and unquestionably a work of art.
And the fifty percent chance of emulating life fibers had failed. Tetra and Tybalt looked upon the legend made manifest with disappointment in their eyes.
"Can you try again?" Tetra asked.
Finally, after a second eternity that went slightly more noticed, I was done. Again. The world came back, time resumed, and I had recreated a weapon out of legend. And scrapped the earlier weapon of legend. That would have hurt if there were any meaningful costs to this. Once again, the kind of spear that defines heroes and forges nations, unquestionably a work of art, stood before Tetra and Tybalt.
This time that coin flip came up in my favor, the weapon was infused with emulated life fibers. Enhanced strength, sharpness, and the ability to develop exponentially with use. I checked with Tybalt and confirmed that yes, the spear did meet his requirements.
Honestly, with standards like that you'd think the guy was some kind of divine aspect of war. Honestly, there's no pleasing some demigods.
It was a wicked looking weapon with an imposing air to it. Combined with the new design of his helmet I doubted anyone at Sommer's rock would underestimate Tybalt. He easily slid into a series of combat maneuvers, demonstrating a control of the jägerstock that seemed as natural as breathing.
I was admiring the demonstration when I received a message from the duplicate currently in the Magitech Lab. 'Nice work with the spear.'
I linked to my implant to respond. 'It was basic work. Most of the tech had already been planned from other projects.'
'I know, but including the emulated life fibers was a good idea. I know how you'd feel about that kind of thing." He replied.
'It was Tetra's idea. And she was right about me avoiding it.' I confessed.
'It's a good thing to get some practice with, considering what's coming.' It took me a moment to get his implication.
'You want to include life fibers? Seriously?' I asked. 'Setting everything else aside, Survey won't like that.'
'We shouldn't hold anything back. With everything else that we're doing, this is a minor step. And Survey's willing to put up with a lot for this project.'
'That's because we're basically bribing her.' I admitted. 'She's as apprehensive about this as anyone, she's just weighed the benefits and decided to take the risk.' It had been a hard decision, and I honestly felt bad for her. Not enough to back out, but it still felt manipulative. Like the kind of manipulation that haunted my own childhood.
'Survey's helping me with the material's analysis, and we'll be transmuting Eridium soon.' Huh. I remember when the creation of an unknown material of tremendous power and potential had been a serious project. Now it was just part of rolling out a new ability. All six varieties of moon stone had been produced with less fanfare than a run of workshop maintenance. 'I'll roll life fibers testing into that, physical and emulated. If it looks stable…' It would be. We both had the knowledge from Tailor to confirm that. 'Then we'll run the numbers on their inclusion.'
Meaning it was basically a done deal. I couldn't fault him, not over this, but it was still unsettling. I checked the countdown clock on the duration of this set of duplicates. We weren't moving forward until the next iteration, but that was hardly a comfort. It was just more time for anxiety to build.
'And one other thing.' He added. 'You need more practice, both in general, but elemental infusion in particular.'
I couldn't argue with that. The more work I put into this the better I'd feel about what was ahead of me. 'So, what's next? More weapon projects? Armor upgrades? Rebuild of the Zoids?'
'No, you need to deal with our wand.' The statement hit me harder than I imagined. 'It's long overdue. Everything has already been beta tested on copies, and we're going to need everything in top form tonight, even the less prominent magic systems.'
I felt my stomach churn. This was another thing where I knew my duplicate was right, but this was different. It wasn't like a personal hang-up or something I'd put off. This was my wand. The thing that was so personal, so connected to me that I didn't even like thinking of it as a 'Harry Potter Wand'. That seemed to cheapen it somehow. This wasn't a toy from a fictional series, it was something of fundamental importance to me, something that had been one of the brightest points in the chaos of the forge.
I didn't want to mess with that. I didn't want to ruin the connection or risk turning it into something else. Treating the wand like a tool to be upgraded… It seemed wrong.
'I know what you're thinking.' My duplicate said. 'I know because I was you and I thought it too, but it's not like that. This is a good thing, and more than that it's an important thing. I know we don't have that much experience with this element, but it's a lot stronger than you'd think.'
I let out a sigh. 'Fine. I'm on it.'
'Good luck.' I closed my digital link and focused back on the present. Tybalt had found a way to draw on the powers of the life fibers, letting the spear expand and contract tremendously. I would have considered it too early for that kind of thing, both in terms of the development of the emulated fibers and the ability to control a completely new feature, but those limits didn't exist for Tybalt. By his very nature he could bring out the full potential of any weapon.
Though it seemed he had decided the full potential of the jägerstock involved expanding it to fifty feet long and allowing Tetra to cling to the end as he swung it back and forth. Whether through Tybalt's control, Tetra's nature, or some effect of the integrated life fibers, the Stygian Iron wasn't bothering her at all. Really, integrating emulating LIFE fibers inside Stygian Iron was a testament to just how insane my material powers were. Blending life and death was a minor project for me.
It turned my mind back to the task ahead of me. My Weapon Swapping power brought my wand to my hand and immediately I felt the connection bloom to life, bringing comfort and certainty with it. My entire arm felt warm and energized as the wand's power reached out to me. There was a limit to what could be conveyed and to the information we exchanged, but there was a certain sense of satisfaction over my progress, from the handling of my sister, from therapy, and from my reaction to my new powers.
It was encouragement without complete understanding. It knew I was trying and I was doing better, and that was enough. It was what I loved about the wand, and why I was so nervous about doing this.
The Forge missed a connection and once again, this time to that new constellation. The one that just arrived and that I still couldn't activate. All I could tell is there were some serious motes in it, and a familiar feel to the whole thing. I hadn't dealt with an unidentified constellation since the early days of my power, and it was a strange thing to be experiencing again.
I shook off the feeling and held the wand, feeling my technopathy activate and flow into the wand. I could feel the composition of the heart wood, how it channeled and stabilized the power of the unicorn hair at its core. The seemingly simple combination coming together to produce something unique, something priceless.
Tetra's head perked up and she slid down the expanded spear like a fireman's pole. As she leapt off Tybalt collapsed it back to its normal size, then even further, down to what was basically a double-bladed knife. He trailed after Tetra as she approached me, looking at the wand.
"Are you doing something with the wand?" She asked eagerly, keeping her eyes on the tiny piece of wood.
I nodded. "Elemental infusion. That power can work on existing weapons, and the wand counts. Also counts for my other weapon modification powers, so this will be a lot easier." I looked down at her. "You've tried casting? With the duplicates' wands?" I asked.
She scrunched her nose. "I didn't work. The wand doesn't like me."
It was unfortunate, but expected, really. There wasn't much information on Harry Potter wand lore, and I didn't know how much I should trust what had been published, but unicorn hair wands were normally very personal things. There was also an indication the black walnut added to that aspect of the wand, meaning it would be next to useless for anyone else.
Tetra had been leaning into magitech largely because it was a faster and easier application than trying to learn magic, particularly without the required materials or information. I had been able to muddle through based on supporting powers, but Tetra didn't have that option.
I looked down at the wand as it continued to unfold before my technopathic senses. The structure and function were being revealed to me, but that didn't mean I could recreate it. Still, I might be able to do something.
"We can work on getting you a wand." I said, triggering a burst of excitement from Tetra and acute interest from Tybalt. "Maybe not a normal wand, but something. The Arcane Craft can handle it." I smiled at her. "You'll be able to learn magic as well."
That put Tetra in exceptionally high spirits as I moved to begin my work. This was just a minor modification, but I was treating it with some of the greatest seriousness of any project I'd attempted. I suppose this was the night for things like that.
The work was being done at the Skyforge in the circle of light under the starry sky. The atmosphere helped focus my mind, which was an important factor at the moment. I felt the connection to my wand and allowed my technopathy to continue to examine it. This was possibly just me killing time, but anything that would help with the infusion was worth it.
I sat, focused, and enjoyed the night for a few minutes of peace before diving into the project. Eventually there was no point in delaying further. I had unraveled the function of the wand. Discerning improvements would take time, but that wasn't what this was about. No, this was about unlocking the nature that had been hidden in the weapon, the power bound to the material, waiting to be ushered forth.
I set the wand on the worktable and began. I traced the origin of the structure and composition back to its source, drew from intended purpose and accounted for influences. I found the wand, the weapon's element. I already knew it, my duplicates had tried this with their copies already, but it was important for me to see it for myself.
With an act of focus I seized that origin, drawing it forth from its primal roots to infuse the wand with it's true element.
Wood.
The wooden wand had an affinity for the wood element. It wasn't something that fell into the typical expression of what you thought of as an elemental force, but it was a viable and fundamental as anything else, complete with its own set of type-weakness and interactions. Overcome by fire, drawing strength from and depleting water, both breaking and stabilizing the earth element, and dulling and feeding metal. It was an element of abundance, generosity, and compassion. Of both kindness and anger, growth and crushing force.
The nature of the element infused my wand. It felt heavier, and there was a vibrant, living sheen to the texture of the surface. It bore a weight of elemental energy that had been completely absent before.
But I wasn't done.
I moved to the engraving tools. It would have devastated me to carve into my wand, but with the element and my expertise I could simply reshape the surface without carving anything away. Tiny, perfect crystals of Dust were used to fill precisely engraved runes stretching the length of the wand, pure enhanced natural elemental energy, feeding into the true expression of the wand's power.
I placed the final granule of Dust and the crystals shifted, turning black and glossy against the rich brown of the black walnut wood. A collection of elemental effects beyond anything I would have dreamed possible, now fully bound to the surface. It thrummed with power in my hand, power beyond its magical core. The wand was aware. It could feel the change, the way its nature had shifted and grown, and it liked it.
Tetra leaned in and looked at the wand with wide eyes. "What did that do?" She asked. "I can feel something, but what did that do?"
I smiled and drew on the power of the element. Unlike using any other weapon, there was a sense of union to this act. I wasn't solely directing the effect, I was working in concert, calling out to the wand and drawing forth its power.
For a second nothing happened. The wand held in the air, heavy with power. Then the surface shifted. From the side of the wand a section of wood turned green, then a shoot popped out. Like the breaking of a damn, the wand roiled under my fingers, extending out, gaining mass until I was holding a six-foot staff. A wizard's staff, with all the power that entailed.
I planted the butt of the staff on the stone ground and the rock began to crack and buckle. Roots burst through the surface, anchoring the staff as it shot into the sky, forming a towering tree within seconds. The branches moved as if in a gale, but actually at the direction of myself and the will of the wand. I could feel my power, the ability to direct spells, extend through every shoot and branch, ready to lay down a barrage of magic the likes of which the world had never seen.
With a speed that was dizzying, the tree collapsed into itself, folding back into my hand in less than a second, and then folding over my hand. Tendrils and branches sprouted and merged, forming an armor of bark plates that extended up my arm, then folded over my entire body in a mass of enchanted wood.
With equal speed the magical armor collapsed back to its normal form, then further, compressing itself and wrapping around my finger as a tiny wooden ring. I looked at it, feeling the full power and presence of the wand, ready to be called forth in the space of a breath, but positioned to support me no matter what.
Beneath my feet the shattered surface began to reform, guided by mantic power. Really, I hadn't even cut loose in that display. There had been no need to. My elemental weapons were powerful enough to threaten large civic areas with casual use. There was no need for a demonstration of that scale.
Though a few more demonstrations were in order, particularly for the sake of Tybalt and Tetra. I suppose I should have known better than to show a cat both a tree and a high place and not expect he'd want to explore it. The fact that I could independently direct the branches only added to the fun.
The fun helped take my mind off upcoming tasks, but there was work to do. More practice, more infusions of elements, and ultimately my attempt at accomplishing what a duplicate had been able to pull out of his ass on a moment's notice.
Thankfully, I didn't have an audience for this. It was too personal for that, and I couldn't afford to doubt myself now. Tetra was with my duplicate in the Magitech lab, Garment was working and reviewing updated details and correspondence about her charity auction. My other duplicate was networked with the core, managing the situation in Passenger Space and assisting the A.I.s with their own work.
I stood with Tybalt away from the glow of the Skyforge under the starry night. He looked up at me with understanding in his eyes. This was a big moment. It was important, not just for the power it would grant, but for what it would mean to me.
I took a breath, then dropped to a knee, resting a hand on Tybalt's shoulder. His fur was soft under my hand and I had to resist the urge to give him a quick pet. He was clearly disappointed by that, but nodded in understanding. This was serious.
I nodded and began the chant, something thrown together by my duplicate, but able to call forth incredible insight, power, and potential. As I spoke I focused on the meaning each line held to me, the way it resonated with my soul.
"For it is through reflection that we achieve clarity." This was the beginning. The fundamental, foundational statement that made everything possible. Examination of self, of your mind and situation in an effort to truly understand who you were and what you were going through. Without reflection, without clarity, there was no certainty in anything that came next.
"Through that we can become a paragon of progress and determination, to rise above challenges." But understanding was just the first step. One hard step in a journey full of hard steps, but one that was absolutely essential. The importance of moving forward, recognizing not just who you were and what you were going through, but what you had endured and where you were going. The line from where you were to where you wanted to be, on every level.
"Infinite in perseverance and unbound by doubt." In knowing, reflecting on what you endured, what you were enduring, you could find the path out, and know that you had the strength to take it. To persevere and hold back the doubts and uncertainties that plagued you. The reflection granting clarity of self and purpose, to give you the determination to persevere and overcome doubt. The core of my essence, the light of my soul called forth.
"Tybalt, I release your soul, and by my will commend thee."
Grayish light flooded forth, pulsing down my hand in a torrent, I felt it wash over Tybalt and in a sudden burst the light around him shifted to orange. A glowing aura, the light of his soul unlocked. He looked up at me and softly meowed.
I smiled as I stood up. "You're welcome."
And then the Celestial Forge moved, and everything changed.
There is an order to things. Components of the world do not exist in isolation. Everything serves as a medium, conducting the forces of everything else, which also serves as its own medium for force. The world exists as a continuum of energy, one piece moving to the next, fitting together in a pattern intrinsic to the universe.
It is said that order grows out of complexity. This is not the case. The order was always there, it had merely shifted in arrangement. Shifts in the pattern bring that order into a form that is more useful to those who sought the shift, but they didn't not create the order, they merely served it.
Men toil and shift the arrangements of forces and say they have created something. The arrangement brings changes in other arrangements. If they can predict these they say they are intentional, evidence of their work, their order. If they cannot predict them they call their blindness to the nature of the world chaos and decry it as an act of God, or fate, or fortune, or chance. But the order was always there, would always be there in spite of their denial.
I could see the order. I could understand the pattern of creation, the balance and flow of forces and the meaning of creation as not genesis, but a shift in the arrangement of the universe. I could follow the results of the changes I imposed on the world, track the impact on the pattern.
I could see the extent of other, limited works. The way they attempted to shape the pattern to their liking through arrangements of matter and energy. How they looked at the rearrangement of existing forces and saw it as something new. And how they worked their shifts in the pattern, their balance of forces and the intent of their 'creations', until they stopped. Until they reached what they thought was a limit, a point where the pattern could not be changed, where there was no order to work with. I could see the point where the work of humans met its limit. And I could see what lay beyond it.
I was Daedalus' Student and I could work wonders.
'This is a problem.' I conveyed to my duplicates as I managed the aftermath of another major power.
'It's an opportunity." Replied the first from his interface with the computer core.
'No, it's a complication.' Messaged the second. 'Not saying it doesn't make some things difficult, but we all know the significance of this. We work through the current situation and this is going to be huge.'
'It works through the QEC link. If we're the ones directing things it applies to things we build over there.' The first explained. 'Also, I'm trying to talk the Matrix out of immediately disassembling every Tier Five nanobot we have over there.'
I shook my head. 'We had this planned out. Every detail, all the steps. This isn't some new material or piece of technology bolted on at the last minute. It throws everything into question. Do we even know what's going to happen anymore?'
'If we're being honest, we weren't sure exactly what was going to happen with the original plan.' The second duplicate added. 'It's not like we've done anything like this before. This was already going to be new territory.'
I sighed, pulling back from the digital conference and once again feeling the weight of the latest power. The complexities of the operation and the perspective that allowed it to function were secondary to what it was actually capable of. It was a major mote from the Quality constellation called Daedalus' Student.
It enhanced my skills to the point where things I made could have qualities they physically shouldn't be able to have. Extraordinary traits, still in line with the purpose of their creation, but beyond what any level of workmanship should be able to produce. Things like a feathered cape that would let someone actually fly, or a labyrinth that would rearrange itself to confuse intruders were easily possible with this power, just in case the mythological reference in the name wasn't obvious.
Interestingly, this power came from a different source than the one that provided my blessings and demigod powers. It's approach to crafting and design was distinct from what I gained from Divine Child, but the split was concerning. Apparently I had two different sets of powers that specifically involved Greek mythology. That had interesting and confusing implications.
The effect of this power wasn't an absolute effect, one of the ones that fired off constantly if I so much as looked at something with a tool in my hand and that I had to work to conceal whenever I went out in my civilian identity. Incredibly, that actually made it worse. Things I made might have exceptional properties, or they might not. The problem was the choice wasn't up to me, either in the activation or the effects generated. It was based on how I approached the project.
Daedalus' Student had changed the way I looked at crafting. It was such a fundamental understanding, such a titanic shift in perspective that it would have had dramatic effects even without the ability to produce impossible items. It was observing the world as a continuity of forces, a perspective that granted unparalleled insight to every possible act of 'creation'. In the absence of anything else it would have been a drastic increase to my skills, but that increase was precisely the problem.
Basically, with this way of looking at things it was really easy to overshoot. You weren't just making, for example, a pair of shoes. You were making something that did everything shoes are supposed to do, protect your feet, provide traction, make walking easier, act as a fashion statement, meet OSHA workplace guidelines. All of that was tracked and observed independently of any act of actual construction. With that mindset it was really easy to overshoot on one of the aspects and end up with shoes that could walk on water, or up walls, or covered ten steps of ground for every one the person actually took.
The best way to try to contain the effect would be to really, really half ass things. Meaning no focus, or conviction, and as slapdash a job as possible. It would still come out immaculate, but you could probably keep the things from bleeding into the supernatural. Unfortunately, I sucked at half-assing work, both because of powers that aggressively increased my focus and quality, and because it was something that, to me, felt wrong on some fundamental level.
And it was absolutely not a possibility for any major project. That was out of the question. Tonight's work demanded my A-game, meaning things were going to get out of hand very quickly.
'Well, now we're in new-new territory.' I sent through the link. "How are we going to manage this?'
'The same as before.' The second replied. 'Prepare as much as possible, only now with some extra crafting practice before the main event.'
'The effects of the power aren't actually detrimental in any way.' The first conveyed. 'In any situation where we aren't dealing with having it dropped on us right before a highly sensitive precisely planned project it would be a universal benefit. It is a universal benefit."
I could see his point, but that didn't mean I was enjoying the level of disruption it brought, or the significant impact on how I looked at the world.
'Look, he'll handle things with Survey and with any design modifications. We can handle the rebuild of the apparatus and any other practice work that can help. You don't need to be so grumpy about this.' The second transmitted.
'I'm not grumpy.' I messaged back.
'Right.' Came a reply from the first duplicate. 'Tell me, are you Super Scowling at Tybalt right now?'
I deepened my frown, then caught the expression on Tybalt's face as he scurried after my erratic pacing. The sight was enough to make me drop the expression, causing him to immediately cheer up.
An additional power had been tacked on to Daedalus' Student called Scowl of Sparta. I don't know if I'd exactly call it Super Scowling, but that wasn't too far off. Basically, it could convey depth of emotion through expression that it really should not be possible to convey.
I had also gotten an item called Attire. It gave an entire set of Greek outfits. Not a single jacket or one-off set of clothes, an entire wardrobe. Needless to say, Garment had pounced on it the moment it arrived and was documenting it down to the fiber.
'Fine, grumpy gone and rebuilds queued, at least for the Skyforge. But I can handle most of them. I want both of you to take your 20% time.' I sent back.
'Hey, major powers are a reason to bend that, remember?' The first replied.
'This is a specific effect. It impacted perspective, but it's not some world-shaking technological database with memories attached.' Which was probably lucky. With a power that strong and a name like that I could easily have been bombarded with a lifetime of training. It looked like Greek powers from this source were less disruptive than the ones that made me a demigod. Daedalus' Student had been paired with a slightly smaller mote, and I could hope that would be as comparatively benign as this one.
'You're sure you want us to take the time?' The second asked.
'Yes.' I sent back. 'We can work on rebuilds until then, and I'll cover things in Passenger Space while you take your time. It's important for you to have it. We kicked this back to the next set of duplicates for a reason. Just take your time.'
'Sure.' The first sent back. 'But it is our time after all? We can decide how we spend it.'
Contrary to my concerns, the duplicates didn't work through the entire end of their duration. Some of their side projects were in support of the coming work, but they were handled with the irreverence and dispersed focus I'd gotten used to seeing from 20% time.
Garment also was treated to a complete rebuild of her workspace, though she was much more interested in getting the duplicates to model a selection of the Greek outfits that had been provided. They were actually shockingly accurate, right down to the materials and weaving techniques. I think Garment was actually impressed by the workmanship of some of the higher end outfits, which is really saying something.
I spent the duration of their time connected to the computer, reviewing plans, tech and material analysis as well as taking time to appreciate the massive mobile battle station that had sprung up in Passenger Space. Using only the tools and materials available to the motoroid, fabricator technology and resource powers had been leveraged to multiply those starting assets into what was probably counted as the largest structure, much less vehicle, in human history.
You know, if a massive sky fortress assembled from mythic materials by an isolated A.I. and an evolving nanotech intelligence counted as part of human history.
It was an impressive feat, and one Fleet was quite proud of. Reviewing the progress and assisting with current construction, and Survey's continued optimization attempts, provided a nice distraction, ensuring I didn't spend the entire time obsessing over the coming task.
All too soon, even by the standards of the interface's accelerated perception, the duplicates finished their 20% time. They had taken the final moments of it to see to the last checks and preparations, meaning everything was set for me to dive right in. I would be grateful for the effort, but I suspect it was half done to make sure I didn't drag my feet and delay things for the sake of triple checking.
Instead, I emerged from the interface throne to find a duplication potion waiting for me. I sighed, then downed it in two gulps. The new pair of duplicates stepped out and turned to face me as the Resources and Durability constellation missed a connection.
"So," the first said, "How nervous are you about all of this?"
"Very." I admitted. "I thought I had a handle on it, but with all the curveballs…"
"It'll be alright." The second assured me.
I swallowed. "You mean despite the fact that we timed the potions to make sure you wouldn't be affected if this ends up wiping me out?"
"It's not going to be that bad." The second promised me. "You've seen the analysis, so we've seen the analysis. We can handle this, and it's the right thing for a project this important."
"Right. Right, I know, it's just…" I trailed off.
"We know. Big deal. Don't worry, we'll be there to help." The first promised.
They weren't the only ones. Once again, everyone showed up at the Skyforge. As we approached they moved to greet us. Garment was first wearing a new, toga-inspired dress for the occasion. She gestured that she was completely behind me and had every confidence that things would work out.
"Thank you Garment." I said with a soft smile before turning to Tetra.
She offered me my Avid Glove back and I accepted, letting it scamper onto my right hand. My vision synchronized with the eye on the glove and I felt the extra coordination that awareness brought. At this point I was grateful for anything that would help. Tetra's fibers dimmed without contact with the glove, but her expression remained encouraging.
"Thank you for including the life fibers. You didn't have to." She said.
I shook my head. "No, you were right. It made sense to use fibers from the earlier samples, and there was no reason to avoid it." I rubbed her head, causing a brief flare of crimson light.
I moved on to Tybalt, who offered some very sincere words of encouragement that unfortunately sounded like the kind of thing that would get a boot thrown at an alley cat.
"Thank you Tybalt, that was beautiful." He nodded and reaffirmed his faith in me before letting me approach the center of the forge.
Waiting for me were Survey's hologram, Fleet's own hologram as well as a half dozen tiny vehicles, and the Matrix's humanoid form.
"Are you ready for this?" I asked them.
"This plan poses excessive amounts of risk, particularly when scheduled within an unacceptable margin of the Somer's Rock event." Survey declared. "Concessions made regarding integrated technologies, advancements of critical projects, and potential future benefits have sufficiently offset the potential risks to provide a marginal net benefit, but I am fully aware that this has been the result of strategic actions on the group's part."
I gave her a serious look. "If there's any part of this you want to change…"
"There isn't." Fleet said. "She's angry because she needed to reverse her initial conclusion, not because she's opposed to the plan. She's actually looking forward to it."
Survey's hologram gave Fleet's a conflicted look. The hologram itself didn't react, but there was some shuffling from the tiny cars around his feet that might be interpreted as apologetic. In the computer system I could detect a more complicated exchange of data between them that seemed to resolve things. Survey's hologram schooled its features while Fleet's remained as impassive as ever.
I turned to check on Matrix, but was met with the novel sight of a scaled down mobile suit shrugging. "I believe risk assessments have been adequately conducted with regards to this project. Given the ongoing delay in the design of Generation Four nanobots I am pleased to be involved with this work."
"Thank you, Matrix." I said before moving to the forge. It was time to actually get to work.
What we had ahead of us was the major project of major projects. The consolidation of everything, every asset that could be squeezed from the Celestial Forge. Every material, enchantment, feature, technological principal or guaranteed effect. If it could be applied, if it could help in any way, it was included. This was what happened when we pulled out all the stops, because nothing less would be enough, not when it came to their bodies.
The purpose of this, of all of this, was building dedicated persistent forms for Fleet, Survey, and in a fashion even the Matrix. A basic human form could have been thrown together from technology I'd had for ages, but this wasn't about blending in, this was about providing a dedicated form, a single body that they could express themselves through.
For that, for a task that important, everything had been called upon. Materials precisely blended with advanced alloying powers, properties of incompatible elements combined using the volcano then enhanced with bone steel, the Secret of Steel, and zero gravity construction. Metals that started impossibly powerful and durable were precisely matched to application and form.
Properties that had been gleaned from the examination of the tissue sample that Weld traded a week ago were imparted to the materials. Favorably Manton limited, treated as living or non-living based on what would be most advantageous. It was the promise of manufactured bodies that would have the same inherent resistance to powers as any living person.
Everything was prepared, standing by to be assembled. Materials in precise arrangements and proportions were arrayed around the Skyforge, waiting to be used. Differing for each of the projects. Fleet preparations working with heavier and more durable compounds, perfect for industrial applications. Survey station stood by with customized variants of cybertonium protomatter, the evolution of the protoform she herself had prepared during my injury, now ready to be used for her benefit. The Matrix's station was a complex nanoforge prepared for some of the most advanced atomic assembly I had ever attempted.
My duplicates flanked me and looked over the materials. The first glanced at me. "We'd be happy to help out, but…"
"No." I said. "It's important that I do this." I called my Noble Phantasm to my hand. "I should be the one. It's important that we remember how this was done."
"We'll be ready with Mana refills between uses." The second said. "And we're here to help finish them."
I nodded. One more obscure aspect of my Noble Phantasm was the fact that I didn't actually need to finish what I was working on. It was entirely possible to work on only part of a project, or leave it half finished. In terms of its intended battlefield use that was a largely useless feature, but it did mean that large projects, or projects that required special conditions to complete, could be split out between multiple sessions or finished outside of the effect.
That was an important detail because this wasn't work I could finish on my own.
I took a breath, called my familiar, and moved towards the stations as it settled over me, feeling the lycaenops traits manifest. I steadied myself, then got to work.
I moved from one station to the next, refilling my mana between each use. This wasn't assembly line work; each project was tailored to its recipient. I worked through designs that had been tested and vetted, analyzed and modified over and over again until they were as perfect as we could possibly make them. And that was pretty damn perfect.
Fleet's requests had been comparably simple. His programming originated from one of my earliest powers, Grease Monkey, or as I've occasionally called it, All the Cyberpunk. It was the same technology that provided the base form for Aisha's power armor and when presented with the possibility of a dedicated body he instantly gravitated towards the products of that tech base, specifically the combat androids.
Fleet wanted a HyperBUMA, a humanoid form military android that was shockingly powerful even at its base level. It was the kind of thing that could snatch railgun rounds out of the air and shrug off anti-tank weapons all while passing for human. It exemplified the properties he wanted. Strong, fast, durable.
Survey's requests had been considerably more nuanced. Her own programming had originated from my Master Builder power, meaning Transformers technology. Like Fleet, she had gravitated towards that for her physical form, specifically through a cybertonium based protoform of living metal. Unlike Fleet's more rigid design this was an adaptive thing, able to emulate biological systems completely, rather than just passing as human skin deep.
That emulation was probably what had won Survey over. There were a host of biological enhancements that I was either ignoring, avoiding, or leaving undeveloped. The logic of not pushing into an area I didn't understand, one filled with effects that I had no context for, was sound. Without testing it made sense to take a cautious approach to those abilities.
Living metal could perfectly emulate a biological system. Living metal could emulate the conditions necessary for Valkyrur abilities, the use of biotics, integration of Dust crystals, and the complete range of enhancements possible from the Psi Lab, and even some experimental use of Eridium. Survey was using living metal as the test bed for every form of organic superpower I had been trying to avoid, thus gaining the data needed for my own development and a wide range of staggeringly powerful abilities.
There was a consequence to that, a tradeoff. Fleet's more direct design and construction allowed all the work to be completed by hand. Survey's simulated biology needed to adapt and develop on its own, at least to some degree. As a consequence, Fleet's body counted as a divine object while Survey's did not.
Normally that would have been of minor note, but these were just the superficial aspects of the design, the broad strokes. Each body was absolutely packed with technology, as much as could be integrated. More than that, they were enchanted, enhanced, and infused in every way possible. That included all the power of my Item Construction power.
There was an established practice of creating humanoid bodies using magecraft, covering everything from golems to dolls to puppets so real they could completely pass for human. I was leveraging all of that to create the most concentrated and powerful enchantments I possibly could. In Survey's case that served to enhance the already considerable abilities of her body, granting strength, durability, and power. But for Fleet those enchantments combined with the fey craft of Master Craftsman. Fleet's body was already a divine object. When combined with the weight of magic and inherent power of its composition it went beyond that. It was an animated, empowered combat capable divine object, meaning it breached a new category entirely.
It was a Divine Beast.
Fleet had traded his versatility to stand on the level of divine beings, while Survey had embraced every power she could access for the purposes of knowledge and preparation. Neither of them regretted the decisions. Meanwhile, the Matrix's project was of considerably smaller scale.
The design of Generation Four nanobots had yet to be finalized. Somehow I had the sense I would be blitz crafting them five minutes before we had to leave for Somer's Rock. But that was fine. This wasn't about creating quadrillions of nanites in one swoop. This was about creating a singular point of identity for the Matrix.
That kind of thing would normally be antithetical to a nanotech colony intelligence, but with the range of knowledge I had there were options available to me. Examples of single nanomachines that held fundamental influence over entire nanite hoards. That was what I was making for the Matrix. A single point to act as the focus of their existence, final point to ground their colony mind, an Omega Nanite.
It was impossibly complicated to produce, much less enchant and infuse, but there was no denying its power. While this might have been seen as a point of failure, that would only be the case if you weren't accounting for the considerable enchantments possible from a Heroic Spirit. The single nanite was enchanted with the principle of displacement magecraft, effectively allowing it to exist in a state of suspension with every Tier One nanobot. The core of Matrix's being would be everywhere and nowhere at once.
Through the construction process a core section of each A.I.'s code was worked directly into their form. With generations of upgrades and refinements they each had a section of code, of principles and mental processes, that had gone untouched for hundreds of cycles. A central self, burned directly into the body, and nanite, of their new form, leaving no doubt as to who it belonged to.
As the last enchantments, rune crafting, and elemental infusions were complete for the final construction I dropped the Mystic Forge for the third time in a row, leaving Matrix's Omega Nanite hanging in magnetic suspension, invisible to the naked eye. The work of assembly and enchantment was complete. Now came the hard part.
My duplicates approached with a set of mana crystals to quickly top up my reserves. They looked over the completed work, then back to me.
"Are you ready for this?" They asked. I took a breath and did my best to steady myself.
"Probably not, but I can handle it." I gave them a shaky smile. "Let's go."
This was the hard part, the part I had been dreading. Even with all the power and knowledge that had been used to forge the bodies, they weren't taking advantage of everything I was capable of. There were certain powers I had deliberately avoided. Avoided because I didn't want anyone to pay the cost they entailed. Powers like Tempered Soul, like Belmont Alchemy, or like That Undefinable Thing.
It was wrong to say I didn't want anyone to pay the cost. What I really meant was I didn't want anyone else to pay the cost. The work around became apparent as my duplicates activated an arcane focus for That Undefinable Thing and suddenly I could see my own soul.
Souls could not be destroyed, but they could be diminished or grown. I had learned that form when my duplicate maimed a soul to save me from my fusion with Tetra. It had also demonstrated how only a fraction of a soul could be refined to provide enough material for greater applications. And that was back when my resource powers were weaker.
I only needed an eightieth of a soul to craft something requiring an entire one. But with a refinement step I could use Workaholic to multiply that by 25 times the size, and then still only need an eightieth of a soul for the final step. A single soul could cover the requirements of 160,000 souls.
Or you could use 1/160,000th of a soul for an application that needed one.
This wasn't a procedure that I would trust to anyone but myself. I was uniquely fortunate in that respect. As the world fell away to darkness my soul bloomed around me, a glowing, coruscating thing in the imposed darkness. It flared with thought, with emotion, with personal connection. Motes surged out and fell back into the center of my being. With great care, I collected three of them.
With my will and power, I isolated the sparks of my soul. At that signal a duplicate stepped forward. There was a wrenching sensation in my everything, a feeling of loss and isolation, and then I was being propped up. The duplicate I had trusted to maim my soul ever so slightly was supporting me as the fragments of my spiritual self were refined in the Skyforge, multiplied into tiny burning suns. Then, with unbelievable care, they were passed to me.
Souls could power magic, enhance items, anchor spiritual beings. Souls were powerful and essential. Souls made someone a person and did it in an absolute, unquestionable sense.
As I worked the perfectly cast souls integrated themselves into the bodies and the tiny nanite with a grace beyond anything I had hoped for. I wasn't defacing them spiritually, I was joining things that didn't know they had been separated, bringing them to a state of completion, of conclusion. It was the final step in the process that I had been worrying about constantly.
But it wasn't the last step in the work. There was one final thing. Something that could only be done at the moment of creation.
"You can lead. We'll back you up." My duplicate said. I nodded and centered myself, still swaying slightly on my feet. But that didn't matter, because it was time to sing.
Elven Enchantment came in tiers. The base level was barely magic, just the enhancement of what was already there. The second level was naming. It required enforcing a new characteristic on reality, changing the properties of an item by altering its name. It was drastically more powerful than the first tier, but it had nothing on the third.
I opened my mouth and began the song. The language was Quenya. It meant 'the language' in the tongue of the high elves, of the Quendi, or 'speakers'. It was the language of Valinor, spoken in the Years of the Trees. The image of Telperion and Laurelin burned in my mind as I sang out words of creation.
I sang in Quenya speaking of the works I had done, the works I hoped to do. The product of my labor, existing as a gift and promise for those under my care. My duplicates joined in, a light and hopeful tone added in melody with my own words. I sang a song of life, of encouragement and the promise of a new day. Of beginnings and what they represented. I called forth all the power I could, binding it into the forms of the first intelligences I had brought into this word. Through my song I fulfilled an oath to myself, to treat those I created, those under my care, with respect, with dignity, and with the promise of freedom.
Fleet, Survey, and the Matrix were no longer bound to my systems or workshop. The bodies stirred, perfectly human to all appearance and the vast majority of scanners and thinker powers. The omega nanite flickered in and out of phase, dancing between the Tier One nanobots of the Matrix's body.
The work was done. The forms were complete, or as complete as I could make them. And, somehow, despite the tearing of my soul, despite the spiritual cost of the song, I felt alright. There was a drain, but not the crippling exhaustion I had experienced from much lesser works.
Souls could not be destroyed, only diminished or grown. Maybe I had gotten more out of this than I had put into it. Or at least it was close. I smiled as I watched Fleet and Survey move carefully in their new bodies while Garment rushed in with a trail of outfits floating behind her. It was a good thing, and a sign we would be ready for tomorrow. And with that thought a final decision crystalized in my brain.
"I'm going to bed."
Jumpchain abilities this chapter:
Feel It Out (F.E.A.R.) 600:
Your ability to understand machines and designs are more than just knowledge, and anyone who follows your work would know this well. You have a subtle psionic ability to 'understand' the machines and items that you physically touch, to the point where you can understand how it might work. More importantly, what you could do to also make it better. Naturally the more complex or esoteric the item is, the more drastically the time needed increases. But the more information you collect the more ideas and methods you can formulate to begin working. All psychic powers can be improved via training.
Paxton Fettel(F.E.A.R.) Free:
There can be some pretty odd names people take up in places, and if you have an improper name it could lead to getting teased or ill-thought of. Not anymore! With this little bonus you could have any strange-sounding name and people would treat you as seriously as they would anyone else. That's the key part, 'as serious as anyone else'.
Mechanical Master (Borderlands) 400:
You are a master armsmith and roboticist. You can build and maintain standard weapons and shields with ease, and if you put some effort into understanding it you could probably make E-Tech your bitch. Further, you can make temporary Digistruct items, though they tend to explode after brief use. If you find the right components, you might even be able to modify good stuff into truly unique weapons; some might call them Legendary. Though for some reason they always look kind of pearly.
ECHO device with HUD and a melee weapon (Borderlands) Free:
ECHO Recorders are portable audio recording devices with a number of visible controls on the unit. They appear to have a gain potentiometer, a one band/octave real-time analyser, and an adjustable microphone. Several other buttons presumably provide the basic functions of playing and recording audio data.
Ammunition Vending Machine (Borderlands) Free:
You do get one bonus reward for surviving this hellhole; an ammunition vending machine mysteriously appears in your Warehouse (perhaps Marcus is trying to franchise to other universes?). You can buy ammunition for any of your Borderlands weaponry there, but it only accepts dollars, so not every world will have money you can use. You can try counterfeit dollars if you wish, but the machine probably won't accept them, and it's totally willing to shoot you for trying to cheat it.
Daedalus' Student (God of War) 600:
It is one thing to work on forging mere sword and shield, but it is another to create truly marvelous wonders... for a mortal. You could make marvelous wings out of bird feathers and beeswax, capable of granting flight to anyone. Or maybe you wish to create an everchanging Labyrinth, that shifts and alters itself depending on how it moves. Regardless, your architect and forging skills have taken a dramatic increase, to the point where the things you create just may have properties and quality they normally shouldn't have, albeit directed towards the purpose of your creations. Through your works, your will be known... but take care that the gods do not take offense with your work.
Scowl of Sparta (God of War) Free:
There are times where you are angry, or disappointed. Like, INCREDIBLY angry or disappointed. However, in these times your face may be expressing maximum dissatisfaction but you must scowl HARDER. That's why you can have this, on me. When your face does not match the depth of the emotion you are showing, people can get a really good idea of how far you really feel just by looking at you. As a bonus, this will work for you regardless of what form you may be taking at the moment. DISAPPOINTED
Attire (God of War) Free:
When in Rome! ...wait, wrong place. Ah well, the phrase still holds. You'll be able to have a a set of Greek or Spartan outfits so that you can blend in more efficiently. It doesn't have any extraordinary properties, but it does at least help you look the part. Assuming you're human in appearance... but hey! If you're a monster, you're going to be the most trendy monster out there!
