New Buds

Year 179

My sensors were glued to the skies, waiting for the moment. The forest was dark, and then momentarily, a flash of light. The darkness of the void momentarily twisted and swirled, and a ring of light appeared. Ten flashes of light shot out, like little meteors streaking through the dark night sky. Despite our  best efforts to observe the phenomenon of a hero summoning, the magical energies were extremely subtle.

[Ten heroes have been summoned].

Another 10 landed, and instantly I sounded the alarm. I wanted eyes on the ground to look for them, whether they are on the Central continent, or elsewhere.

“I didn’t see much...” Stella frowned, upset at how the path back to her original world eluded her. It was faint, and there was that strange ‘ring’ like thing. Something I’ve not seen before until I had this ‘astral sight’ ability. 

Still, while my forces kept watch for the heroes, we both tried to ‘follow’ that path back. Myself and Stella. A few of the other senior Valthorns, Kei and Lausanne all dropped by at times.

“What kind of people do you think we’ll get?” Stella asked, she tried to make conversation while we tweaked with the daemolite and attempted to retrace the path of the heroes. There was no path. It’s as if someone just airdropped the heroes. No, someone just drop-shipped the heroes. 

“Probably the same type. Young kids, 14 to 18 years old, too young to know how shitty the world truly is , and easily controlled by the gods.”

“That bad, huh?” Stella said. “Kei’s pretty alright, isn’t she?”

“She has this weird hang up about helping former earthlings.”

“Some people are helpful like that. I think too much skepticism and suspicion would just paralyse her. It’s good that she still cares, even after what she has seen and been through. I know I certainly don’t have that kind of mental strength.”

“You survived 40 years in other worlds, I think you deserve some credit.” Our experiments didn’t really seem to go anywhere. It’s frustrating that the gods have even more unique powers that even void mana can’t breach. 

“Heh, practicing magic for 40 years hardly counts as hardship.”

“Well, you did lose some body parts?” Which have all fully healed. 

“Shit happens. You know... bad mistakes when practicing magic. In fact, if it wasn’t for your familiar skill, I’d probably be dead. The healing abilities of your familiar saved my life a few times.”

Stella just shrugged when it didn’t work. “A part of me suspected this wasn’t going to work. The rules of our home world were too different. Our planets and galaxies don’t float on some kind of interstellar fog.”

“So that’s one data point for earth being an entire alternate universe and demonic worlds existing within our present same-universe. But, that raised the next question, why do the gods summon all of the heroes from these alternate universes?”

“My guess?”

“Yeah. Go for it?”

“We’re blank slates. Clean, untouched by mana ever. Maybe it’s just easier to control us that way.”

“Isn’t every soul a blank slate when they die?”

“Hmmm... that’s true. Then the next likely thing is that there’s something interfering with the gods’ ability to capture fresh, clean souls from this world. Maybe they just can’t see this world very well. Maybe our homeworlds are godless, so that makes it easy for them to pick and choose who they want.”

“Then why do they need administrators?”

“I don’t know?” Stella laughed. “Maybe it’s just specialisation, I guess?” 

“Ever wondered how they came to be? LIke... how did those reincarnation administrators, become reincarnation administrators?”

“My bet? The gods made them. They’re not ‘real’ individuals, just a system personified and anthropomorphized.”

“Huh.” 

“Wild, right? I mean, back home we have AI and machines that could mimic people, why wouldn’t the same thing be doable via magic” 

That’s really true. The gods could easily achieve self-aware and mostly autonomous operators. If I can create artificial souls, the gods surely can go further.

Within two weeks it was clear that the heroes did not spawn on the Central continent. It was also a good point that none of them died soon after summoning. 

“I want to spy on the heroes.” Kei said.

“Huh? Why?”“I want to see what kind of shit the temples throw at them at the start, whether it’s the same as us.”

Stella immediately rebuked her. “You do know that volunteering yourself to be a hero’s secret guide is a huge death flag, right?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Kei rolled her eyes.

“It’s a story trope, come on! Mentor occupational hazard! Ever heard of it?” Stella repeated. “I say, don’t do it.”

“Why is it that you believe all these norms?” Kei responded.

“If anyone should go, it’s either Edna or Lumoof. Edna and Lumoof can get teleported away if they are ever in danger, and they are far stronger than you are.”

“Who won’t go, because their place is here.” Kei responded. “My place is to assist the heroes. I’m just going to spy on them.”

“You’re a golem, Kei. You’re not a [spymaster] or [ranger]. Is this really the best use of your time? Going with the heroes to play babysitter is not going to be a good idea. You’ll stunt their growth, too.”

“I won’t participate. I’m just going to watch from afar, and prevent deaths, if any.” Kei said. “Enough have died from this, and I don’t want any more foolish deaths.”

“There are a lot of foolish deaths.” Stella said. “The world’s full of it.”

“I know, but this is the one I choose to do something about.”

“Why, because heroes’ lives matter?”

“Uh... I guess?” Kei was young, and she wasn’t very politically aware. “I feel like I should contribute, even if it isn’t much.”

Stella just had a facepalm. “You know, back home, there’s so many people who died for whatever reason, starvation, sickness, lack of jobs, depression. It never occured to you that the world is usually a shittty place?”

“I guess?” Kei shrugged. “I just want to do this, so just let me, alright? I can’t save everyone, that’s the kind of thing maybe some like Aeon can do. I’m just going to help prevent some deaths. What’s the big fat problem about it?”

“I guess you’re just a little.. Hmmm... ungrateful, I guess?” 

“Look, when you see a doctor and the doctor saves your life, sure, you owe him, but do you reorient your entire life around the doctor’s whims? No, right? There’s a part where we draw the line and say, alright, that’s your life, and this is mine. No, in fact I feel this is my way of paying it forward.” 

Stella paused for a while, and then laughed. “I guess that’s why you’re a hero.”

“Eh, I actually don’t think that’s a criteria after all. Look at Alvin, he isn’t really that honorable or what.”

Kei left on some ships to the Southern Continent once news of their location came. The group of ten was essentially split in two. One group on the Eastern Continent, another group on the Southern Continent itself. 

I outfitted Hytreerion with multiple mana batteries and crystals to help it act like a mobile mana battery, and then, with the help of many blacksmiths, artisans and mages, built a massive magical cannon array on top of it. 

Alka named it the Mana Cannon Version One. This was essentially the first idea, to essentially convert Hytreerion to a massive cannon. Hytreerion as it is already has an energy blast, a power inherited from the demon-walker, and on its own, generated quite a bit of mana. 

It’s power still paled, when compared to the hero weapons, but at least it could regenerate on time. 

“This is a utility?” I wondered. 

“Not really.” Alka laughed. But the real utility is the battery.  Normal folk are unable to channel huge amounts of mana, unless they have specialised skills. So, the first real utility test is whether Hytreerion can act as a mobile teleportation gateway, together with Stella’s existing void powers. The idea was whether it’s possible for Hytreerion to act as a mobile-link on the other worlds. Of course, this is putting the cart before the horse, because we don’t even have a way of opening a portal or rift large enough to the other side. “But once we have the power source, we can figure out what to do with it.”

Another aspect of the utility was ‘terraforming’. 

Essentially, the other worlds, some of them are very hostile to life. The intense aridness of the demon worlds meant my forces would be fighting in an environment that is uncomfortable. It’s a penalty we didn’t need. So, in terms of beetles, and to a lesser extent, Hytrerion, we wanted to see whether we can have ‘environment generators’. 

Beetles that have little combat ability, but spend their mana or energy to ‘empower’ their surrounding beetles. This included a wide range of possible functions, from adding humidity to the world such that my beetles’ joints and limbs operate better, to stacking ‘auras’ such that they can overcome the negative environment on the other worlds. 

What we discovered was that it's impossible for beetles to carry ‘aura’ functions. We needed ‘dedicated’ commander-beetles. Like Horns, but taken to the extreme. I also wondered whether it’s possible to have an [Aura] titan? Something that boosted the combat abilities of my allies, and the thought instantly triggered the system to award it.

[The Aura Turtle - Titan]

[A turtle with multiple crystals on its back, each crystal generated a different aura. Default Turtle generates healing aura, mana recovery aura, damage reduction aura and endurance/stamina aura. Additional Auras gained with level, consumption of magical artifacts and upgrades].

“Huh.” I had to think about this though, is this really a good idea? I only have two titans left. 

I finally recreated a Level 120 dungeon after tweaking with a few ley lines. I had to subtly guide four ley lines to meet somewhere deep underground, and so, a new dungeon for my Valthorns to power-level. This time, I tried to mess with the dungeon’s settings a little bit more, so that the energy is focused on just spawning high tier monsters, rather than just mobs. Essentially, I hoped for a dungeon full of mini-bosses. 

A town quickly sprung up outside the dungeon, to serve and support the Valthorns making the dive. 

“Which is better, hunting champions, or dungeon diving?” I asked the Valthorns one day. 

“Depends on what kind of dungeon, really? If it’s the trap-filled dungeons with all sorts of funny tricks, I prefer the Champion any day.” Roon laughed. He’s still at the Level 130ish level. It’s hard for them to level, strangely. Clearly the effects of the multiple hero fragments are more pronounced than I know. 

Kei sent word that she found one group of heroes. 4 of them. One of them had gone missing, but they couldn’t find him. The heroes are practicing on monsters and smaller demon swarms in the south. 

“Missing?” Edna wondered. She was based in the underground city, right outside the Level 120 dungeon. Just in case a monster escaped the dungeon. “Is he dead?”

“No. I didn’t get a notification.” I checked with Stella, just to be sure.

“How many fragments do you have, Stella?” 

“Uh... lemme count. I think 13? 10 from the bunch I was summoned with, and 3 from Kei’s batch. Why?”

“One of the heroes went missing, and I wanted to know whether he’s dead.”

“Huh. Strange. Heroes don’t go missing, normally? Not on some secret training mission or anything?”

“Kei isn’t sure. If he isn’t dead, that’s a good sign. We just need to wait and watch out.”

There was another group on the Eastern Continent. 5 of them. They too managed to survive their initial scare with regular monsters. Kei quickly relayed that this batch of heroes were ‘conventional’ heroes, as in two of them was a super-knight, and the other two was a super-mage. The missing hero was a super-mage too. 

Conventional heroes and conventional demons, eh? It felt like there’s a larger supercycle of demons and heroes. Are the gods just playing some kind of Magic the Gathering campaign throughout the expansions and blocks, and are just moving through the gimmicks of each block? 

Stella sat. Kei messaged to say she will continue to observe them. 

Back home, we continued on with our weapons program. Alka and his group of artificers and mages were very busy, with multiple concurrent projects running. He preferred it that way, the multiple projects seemed to allow him to gather magical inspiration from many places. They worked on many types of ideas for anti-demonic weapons, from suicidal golems, flying golems to ‘airdrop’ rigged crystal bombs, and just better crystal bombs and weapons all round. 

My woodsmiths and blacksmiths made thousands of anti-demonic spears, and enchanted them. The Central Continent had a thriving defense industry, linked by my network of carrier-beetles. Throughout the continent we built multiple weapons stockpiles.

It was overpreparing in a sense, but high quality weapons took time to make, and even master smiths and workers labored months on a special weapon, or a special knife, or a special rod. Some enchantments took just as long, especially those that required the threading of multiple different spells. 

We didn’t have the hero’s overpowered [Hero Forge] to shortcut a lot of that. If I needed superweapons, I needed to make them early. 10 years early. 

The Demon King continued its raid on the kingdoms, and the heroes rushed to gain levels. The Eastern group apparently started to sail to the South, to join their compatriots, the regular monsters of the Eastern Continent insufficient to feed their growth. I wonder whether they have an experience multiplier for killing demons. I suspect they do. .

Kei commented that the Southern group reached level 60 within a month. Level 60 is enough for a champion, at least, with their hero powers, but the demon king needed them at the level 100 range. If they were too weak, they’d die quickly. 

The missing hero was still missing. I wonder what would happen if the missing hero never appeared? Would the gods summon new heroes? Or the demons would destroy the world until they find that hero?

-

> Are they coming? < Reefy asked.

< No. > The demons are still on their continent.

> I have new spiky weapons I’d like to use on them. I don’t like this heat. But I gained skills now. I have [Perfect Waters]. <

What in the world does that do? 

> My environment is always perfect for reefs! < 

< Ah. That does sound useful for a reef. > 

> Of course. But can you get me some of the demons. I wonder whether my fishes will eat them. Are they food? <

< No, Reefy, they aren’t food. They’re just... enemies. > 

> Spiky corals then. Poison hurt them? <

< Some. > I don’t recall seeing a hero with a poison focus, or maybe I just can’t remember. Maybe it’s a bit dumb to have a poison focus when the demons aren’t even human, so the poisons just don’t hurt them. < Most likely not. >

> Ah. No poisonous corals then. Just really hard and pokey corals. <

< Yes. That would be optimal. >

I thought back about the Tainted Demon Core captured from the demon king. It remained a puzzle I am unable to crack, even as I levelled. Demonic mana remained key, at least, master of it. 

The Rottedlands on the Central Continent are extremely small now, a tenth of what it once was. This space was ‘preserved’, mainly to hold the ‘hybrid’ plants that I can control, and for my Valthorns to continue their combat practice. With the smaller size, the relative strength of the demonic hybrids that spawn naturally dwindled. 

This is a limited space for me to practice the mana these hybrid plants sometimes produce. 

“Perhaps an artificial mind fused with a hybrid may be the solution?” Patreeck proposed one day. I sometimes wonder why I can’t think of these solutions myself. Did I try it before?

Well.... it didn’t work. The artificial mind collapsed soon after exposure to the demonic mana, like trying to boot up a faulty computer. Or maybe, a computer with insufficient parts. Why? Or perhaps... like a computer, it’s not...

Wait. Is it a power source issue then? But artificial souls generate their own mana. Is that why there’s a conflict between a hybrid plant that passively generates tiny bits of demonic mana? It’s like a computer getting both AC and DC power simultaneously, so it fried the computer?

I suppose it’s time to revisit the fundamentals of this ‘artificial mind’. Like, what is an artificial mind, and what differentiates them from regular people. Why are they limited? 

“I suspect the issues maybe... about the creation of life.” Patreeck theorised. “That a full soul is essentially a life and a living being.”

“You don’t feel like you are a living being, Patreeck?”

“Well, no. I am always a part of you, even if I am capable of independent thought, master.” Huh. Perhaps it is that sense of self? Their soul, being incomplete, like a very good AI, but lacking that last spark that truly makes an AI more than just an AI.

But... What am I trying to achieve here? These are dangerous grounds. Do I want to ‘create’ life unwittingly? My goal is to achieve control over demonic mana, and thus, hopefully, gain another color for my soul forge. Already, one of the ideas I had was to use the huge stockpiled void mana and attempt to unlock a new soul forge color, but I suspect the system required me to generate my own void mana, not just rely on ‘stored’ mana. 

It was a deconstruction of the artificial souls. Artificial souls are pieced together from the remnants of the dead. To use a computer term, they are salvaged from the usable parts of many ‘dead’ computers, and pieced together into a whole. But, they lack the ‘core’ which differentiated a person from a ‘machine’. I’ve developed quite a significant understanding of these parts over the decades, through my analysis of hex. The hex is when these parts are combined in such a way that generates ‘toxic negative thoughts’. In other words, hex is pretty much weaponised negativity. 

Again, what else can the parts make? Can the parts be better made, than how I currently ‘know’ them? After all, I learned it by way of skills and levels. There should be better versions.