NOVEL WEB Chapter 101: Expansionist
Walker came to floating in light, a welcome change from the darkness that had enveloped his vision for however long he had been here.
He grabbed the back of his head, futilely trying to stop a headache from coming on as the pulsing of his own heart caused him pain, “How long was I out?”
“A little over two hours, which is quite long compared to your normal downtime.” Ulysses's voice boomed out, a tinge of concern evident within. Walker had no clue how he did that with space.
“I was not sure when you would awaken and have had to bifurcate my focus to ensure your well-being. We even had a visitor, but alas, you were…indisposedl.”
“Alas? Wait,” He tried to cover his privates, but as he moved his hands down, something stopped him, “What?”
A cloth-like material was covering him. Now that he was becoming more aware of things, he noticed a few key differences from when he’d blacked out. First, he had clothes on, and he had no memory of doing that, even if it was appreciated. Second, where the fuck was that light coming from?
Walker squinted his eyes toward the source, which due to its brightness was easier said than done. Just beyond the Cosmic Life Engine, something small sat, no bigger than his thumb. The radiance it exuded, however, covered the whole area in light.
“What the fuck?” Then he remembered why he’d panicked again, “Wait! Did they see me naked?”
“Oh my, yes. Xandar came by a few minutes after you became unconscious. They dropped off what he called a ministar, as a Welcome to the Omniverse gift.”
“Really? How nice,” Walker said with a gritty smile, his headache still pounding away.
“I thought so as well. It seems that Governer Xandar’s business is tied to the modification of celestial objects. I believe he also shared his contact information for you if you woke up. Ah, here it is.”
Walker’s overlay updated.
Xandar: Omniversal Regional Governer
Add to contacts?
Yes/No
Despite the drums beating in his skull, Walker smacked his own face. His first chance to meet the Regional Governer, and he was blacked out and naked, floating in space while covered in blood. There’s no way that was a good look for him.
He was afraid to ask but did so anyway: “What else happened?” he asked sullenly.
“Walker, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Apparently, this is common for newly integrated Strandbinders. The Governor arrived, took one look at you, and decided you needed some clothing. Personally, I believe it’s rather fetching.”
“Gravy.” He looked again at his new clothing. They were dark, almost pitch black, and had coned shoulder pads that seemed to extend a few inches off of his body. It was all one piece, the top and bottom interconnected, with a sheen to them that seemed to move anytime he shifted his eye.
“Well, it’s official; I’m in the Sith now.”
“Ha-ha,” Ulysses boomed out, “Identify them. You’ll see why I think they’re great.”
Name: Omniversal System Architect’s Uniform
Item Type: Full-Body Protective Clothing
Crafted by: Strandbinder Josh
Description: The standard uniform for an Omniversal System Architect.
Functionality: This uniform holds many adaptive qualities that allow it to be protected from the rigors of strandbinding.
Limitation: Protective qualities are directly connected to the amount of ambient Primordial energy.
“Josh?”
“Yes, I noticed that as well. Should you make something, I believe it would say, Crafted by Walker, the System Architect.”
“Or Dante, the Creator”
“Pardon the implication,” Ulysses replied, “But titles are like clothing, you wear what you need to.”
“Ha-Ha,” Walker said sarcastically in reply. “So he gave us some gifts and then took off?”
“Yes, but not before we spoke for a time. In particular, he found it interesting that there was a Universal Personality and that you had not used the Guide token yet. I believe he said the word, curious”
“That’s right!”
He clicked on his overlay a second time and pulled up the guide token. The options appeared again, and he already knew which one he was going to choose. But first, he needed to know what he’d gained from his newest Trinity strand.
Congratulations Architect Dante!
You’ve discovered the Spirit strand!
“Well…shit.” He said, realizing why it was already named. He was now connected to the Omniverse. Discovering the Spirit strand, as that’s apparently what it was called, was not something new here. It was probably something a Strandbinder found millions of years ago. Maybe even longer. That meant if the Council decided to start trying to make more of it, he wouldn’t get a piece.
Further thought was put on hold as more information was updated.
With your discovery of a new everlasting strand, the Omniverse has seen fit to reward you with three sets of options.
1:
A collection of strand resources to further assist you in your discoveries, including some you have not yet discovered
Warning: You will lose access to any rewards associated with discoveries pertaining to received strands
As well as:
Portal access to The Omniversal Strand Repository
Walker noted that the reward style was different. When he discovered things in the Evolver verse, it always gave him a few abilities, a few evolutions, and some resources. But in the Omniverse, the way they did things was different. Not bad, just different. Plus, he liked having options. Nodding his head, he re-read it a second time, ignoring the other options for now.
Repository meant a place where things were stored…so, it’s like a one-stop shop for all strands? What did that mean? Were strands currency in the Omniverse?
If strands were currency, then was he very poor or very loaded? He had to assume he wasn’t the richest man out there, especially after his spending spree with the Communication system. Still, he needed to make more and there was one clear line to getting there. Discovering further strands, and activating the engine.
2:
One Cosmic Life Engine Upgrade: Upgrade your Cosmic Life Engine to receive multiple strands at a time, allowing for the increased speed of universal development
Warning: Use of the Universal system disallows for any Cosmic Life Engine upgrades
As well as:
A slight increase to your Primordial energy allotment at an increased rate of 20%
“Ask and ye shall be given.” He said with a chuckle. This was the second time he’d directly needed something from the Omniverse and it had appeared as an option. The first time was when, shortly after receiving the huge Bounty system manual, he’d gained the option for the Extract upgrade. He wasn’t sure if he was being Deus Ex Machina’d, or if the Omniverse was just trying to help him along his path.
Now he was extra happy he hadn’t activated the Universe system. It didn’t give access to what he assumed was some kind of giant Omniversal strand bank, but it had potential. The problem was, he didn’t get a lot of resources from his Omniversal allotment right now. In the grand scheme of things, it was quite minimal. But it wouldn’t always be that way.
As he understood things right now, the more life he seeded throughout the universe, the greater the income of Primordial energy. Having a permanent modifier that increased the allotment was powerful. Plus, what did adding other strands to the engine even do? He wasn’t sure, so he moved on to the last set of rewards on his screen.
3:
Receive The Architects Codex: A multi-volume compendium of advanced principles and common laws for managing a singular universe.
As well as:
Interface access to the Omniversal Chat system free of charge: Standard cost: 20,000 Primordial resources
“Ooof,” Escaped his mouth before he could help it.
Walker felt Ulysses focus in on him, “Something wrong, Walker?”
He shook his head, “No, but maybe you can help me out with this. What would you rather pick? A bunch of free strands that also lets you access some kind of strand bank, a permanent upgrade to the life engine, or help in better putting together the principles of running the universe?.”
“You mean, the principles of running me?”
Walker shrugged, “yeah, sure.”
“Hrmm,” Walker felt his heart skip a beat as Ulysses’s attention intensified, “Those are all good options, but I feel that you’re not giving me all of the information. Which has the greater long-term potential?”
“Well, probably not the first option, the strands. It seems to take away the potential for rewards too.”
“Why do you believe they included it as an option?”
“I think….I think maybe it’s for hereditary strandbinders. Like, the kind of kids who became Strandbinders because their parents are. It gives a bunch of free strands, but you lose out on the rewards, but still gain access to someplace that I’m assuming you can trade them at. I feel like it’s a “get rich quick” kind of thing, assuming that strands are traded and sold for prescribed values.”
“So, an option for spoiled children?”
Walker nodded slowly, “Yeah-yah. They’re not about the discoveries, they’re about making money, or as I’m now understanding, Primordial energy.”
“And the other two?”
“The second option lets us use different strands within the Cosmic Life Engine, and gives a twenty percent boost to all Primordial energy that comes in, which, if I’m being honest, isn’t a lot right now. If we picked this, it’d give us great long term value as we seed your…uh…body, but nothing right now. Nothing immediate.”
“Do you need immediacy?”
Walker twisted one hand left and right, “Not really I guess. There are some things that it would probably help with, but I feel like we’re doing okay for now. I mean, the last option is more about being an Architect and how to better manage your universe, which to me, has a lot of potential for the here and now. But, at the same time, that option may be better for people who don’t already have a universal personality.”
“A me,” Ulysses confirmed.
Walker shrugged, “Yeah. So, I know the first option is out, but having that third option could help us both out. I dunno, it’s a little tougher than the last set of choices we had.”
“You can guess how I feel about the options already, Walker.”
“Yeah, I know, the second just has too much potential. It just sucks that we don’t have a way to get our rewards in early. Oh well.”
Walker selected the second option. Before anything else could happen though, another series of notifications came in.
Congratulations Architect Dante!
You’ve upgraded the Cosmic Life Engine!
Please allow us a moment
…
Secondary rewards for your discovery of the Everlasting Spirit strand
5000 Spirit resources
10000 Temporal resources
10000 Dimensional resources
10000 Consciousness resources
Walker shared the notification with Ulysses, really enjoying the fact that he didn’t have to explain every little thing he saw anymore.
“The resources didn’t splash across all of the categories.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too. Maybe it's because we crossed over categories to make it? Or maybe it's just because it’s the Omniverse and not the Evolvers. I don’t know.”
Just then, another notification came in.
Cosmic Life Engine upgrade imminent
please wait…
With the light of his new gift, Walker watched as something shot through the small hole connecting the Cosmic Life Engine to the Omniverse. A rainbow-colored bolt of energy flew at a speed naked to even a standard human eye, let alone a primordial one. To Walker, it slowly arced over and, with a gentle splash, touched onto the engine.
One moment, the engine was still as could be, cold, lifeless, and inert. The next, small arms started to rise out of it, reaching above until they found a set height. When they stopped, a small bit of energy began to cascade off of each in different colors. For a moment, Walker didn’t know what the colors were. But then he looked again and realized they were colored to match the basic strands.
It was the second arm he looked at that told him what was happening. There was a slightly transparent whitish energy flowing off of it, and with how often he’d covered himself in temporal energy, it couldn’t be anything else.
He was about to kick off with kinetic energy when Ulysses said, “Allow me.”
Walker felt gravity assert itself underneath him for the first time in a few hours, only, there was nothing there. With a grin, he jumped and felt the weightlessness of space re-affirm its hold on him as he gently soared to the arm in question.
“You figured out gravity?”
“Only a small amount. Your strand has been very beneficial, as is the Kinetic storm blowing across my body. It seems to be a…twisting of order. An alteration to a dimensional rule.”
“That’s fucking cool, man.” Walker replied, the grin still sticking to his face even as his headache slowly lost its grip on him.
Walker reached the arm and touched it, causing his overlay to take over.
Congratulations Dante!
You can now add Temporal resources directly to the Cosmic Life Engine
Please select how many resources you would like to add.
Universal temporal increase of 10%: 1000 Temporal resources
Universal temporal increase of 50%: 4500 Temporal resources
Universal temporal increase of 100%: 8700 Temporal resources
“Fuckin discounts, man.”
“Look at this,” Ulysses said and sent over a share of his own.
You can now add Life resources directly to the Cosmic Life Engine
Please select how many resources you would like to add.
Universal organic growth increase of 10%: 500 Life resources
Universal organic growth increase of 50%: 450 Life resources
Universal organic growth increase of 100%: 870 Life resources
“How did you do that?” Walker asked, confused as to how Ulysses was using the engine himself.
“The Cosmic Life Engine is directly attached to me, Walker. I can use it as I see fit. I believe the Omniverse sees us as partners. A Personality to oversee the health of its body, an Architect to oversee the people and creatures who populate it. Bound together by common goals.”
“Huh, that could make one of my ideas work then.”
“What’s the idea?” Ulysses said as Walker felt some of its attention move away from him.
“I think I can straight give you some of my strand resources.” And just like that, the attention came back to Walker tenfold. It felt like he was on stage, naked, in front of a concert hall filled with people. Small droplets of sweat began to form on his head just from the pressure closing in on him.
“You would do that?”
“Bound by common goals, right?” Walker said nervously, “I mean. I’d have to keep a large amount of my resources to myself, of course, for you know…Symphony and my solar system in the Evolver verse. But I feel like if you had control over the resources, you could manage things here while I’m gone and really kickstart the process.”
“I see. What…kind of resources? Life, perhaps?”
“Oh, for sure, yeah,” Walker said with another nod, another drop of sweat beading down his back, “Temporal, some Consciousness, you know, the greatest hits. Maybe even some space.”
“Space?” He shared another update to Walker’s overlay.
You can now add Space resources directly to the Cosmic Life Engine
Please select how many resources you would like to add.
Universal expansion increase of 10%: 1000 Space resources
Universal expansion increase of 50%: 5000 Space resources
Universal expansion increase of 100%: 10000 Space resources
“Why do the costs change so much?”
“Rarity?” Ulysses hazarded as a guess, “It may be that life is harder to obtain, strand-wise, than space. I only showed you that because I believe it would further assist me in my work.”
“No,” Walker said with a shake of his head, a little nervous about disagreeing with him, “I think it has to do with the Divine Mandate it talked about earlier. The expansion of life. But you’d think that meant they’d want a universe to expand faster.”
“Perhaps not, as it would mean you plan on staying in that singular universe for longer.”
“Good point,” Walker scratched his chin and pulled up his resources. He found the Spirit strand just above Universal resources in the Trinity category. Universal still sat at zero, and he had no plans on changing that anytime soon. One universe was enough to manage at a time.
He still had over ten thousand life resources he hadn’t used, same with space. Time, on the other hand, sat at just shy of thirty-five thousand. Doing some quick math in the back of his mind, he figured out what he could spend for now.
Clicking over to trade, he found the option to trade with any known contacts and selected Ulysses. However, when he went to resources again, he found an option he didn’t know existed. Walker clicked through everything, making a few big decisions, and then accepted the trade. Ulysses spoke up a moment later,
“What is this?”
“I don’t know what things will be like during the Creator Wars, but I’m feeling less and less like I want Symphony to stay a part of the Evolvers when all is said and done. I’m thinking that we may need to move at some point, and what better place than here? This is my payment to you, to ensure that you have this place prepared for when we come over, and to make sure you’re happy with our arrangement..”
“Okay…but Walker, this is a lot. I have a general understanding of how many resources you had at the time of my making. Are you sure about this?”
“I am…” Walker replied, steeling himself for the repercussions he would receive from Virgil when he returned.
“Okay, than I accept.”
The trade went through a moment later.
Architect Dante has completed a trade with Universal Personality Ulysses
Resources trade to Universal Personality Ulysses:
10,000 Life resources
10,000 Space resources
15,000 Temporal resources
Architect Dante has created an allotment for Universal Personality Ulysses
25% of all incoming resources will be automatically diverted to Universal Personality Ulysses for the foreseeable future.
Architect Dante may rescind this allotment at anytime
Trade complete!
Walker felt a little weak for a moment there, his head feeling like it was swimming while his body stayed still. Immediately the Cosmic Life Engine began to churn and make noises, but not before another notification hit him.
The Symphony Universe has exchanged Space resources to increase its current expansion rate by 100%
The Symphony Universe has exchanged Life resources to increase its organic growth rate by 1100%
The Symphony Universe has exchanged Temporal resources to increase its current speed by 100%
Three shockwaves fired out of three different arms on top of the Cosmic Life engine: one in blue, one in transparent-seeming white, and one in a very thick halo of green.
Walker nodded his head, still feeling a little woozy, then moved over to the main screen apparatus he’d seen on the Cosmic Life Engine before. One he’d been putting off in the past just because he didn’t want to get distracted. After he touched it, a series of options appeared before him.
Now that their agreement had been reached, and Walker was sure that Ulysses would rely on him in the future, they spoke for a time about what to seed through the universe. For the first time, rather than treat him like an unknown and potentially dangerous entity, he treated the personality as a partner, similar to how he and Virgil worked together. Ulysses suggested Walker save the genera for last, and he did so without questioning him, showing a measure of trust to cement their new bond further.
Walker keyed in commands for what they wanted the engine to do, for how life and celestial objects would form. It took a good while, and even while he worked, multiple things happened.
He felt something deep inside when the Temporal energy reached the edges of Ulysses’s body. Temporal energy cascaded back from the edges to the engine in a great rush from everywhere at once. Instantly, it felt like his body was under more strain than normal, but nothing that would hurt him. Walker had Ulysses speak with the engine, who stated it wouldn’t harm non-primordial beings, but it would be disorienting initially for anything not originally born in the universe.
Space rebounded, causing a similar feeling, although it felt more like his body was moving while still standing still. He likened it to being in a speeding vehicle for hours only to stop suddenly. It, too, faded away as he adjusted to it.
It wasn’t until Walker was selecting the spawning genera that the Verdant wave hit. When it did, his options changed, upgraded. He found new options for evolution, cross-breeding, and naturally occurring magical worlds. Walker and Ulysses spoke about it, and Walker agreed to another change.
The engine gave out a new pulse. After seeing the options, Walker donated five thousand Potential Energy resources for another powerful addition to Ulysses's’ body, an odd ring of multi-colored energy exploding in a halo from the top of the engine.
You can now add Potential Energy resources directly to the Cosmic Life Engine
Please select how many resources you would like to add.
Universal ambient magic increase of 10%: 500 Potential Energy resources
Universal ambient magic increase of 50%: 2500 Potential Energy resources
Universal ambient magic increase of 100%: 5000 Potential Energy resources
The engine had told Ulysses that Potential Energy, or magic in layman’s terms, was fairly present within the Omniverse. They further stated it was only the dictatorial administrators and architects who kept their citizens from enjoying its benefits.
“Figures…” Walker said in answer. Just then, he finished up the last of the settings and confirmed with Ulysses that it was everything they had agreed to.
Walker clicked accept, and his notifications yet again took over his vision.
Universal Cosmic Life Engine settings created
Current model: Stable Expansionist
Celestial alignment: Random Accelerated Growth within safety parameters
Restrictions for celestial alignment: All Celestial objects must be outside of the center, with one exception
Exception found: The Conduction planet
Genura alignment: Random accelerated growth of all found within Architect Dante’s systems
Restrictions for genura alignment: None, with one exception
Exception found: Bobbit Worm
Environmental production: Varied
Walker looked it over with a keen eye. Within the menus, he’d already set up dozens of other settings, with this single notification informing him from the engine’s extrapolated data.
Dimensional stability, energy conversion, weather patterns, it all added up. The notification just told him what it became after the fact. And of course, he’d excluded the one species he didn’t want to see again.
“Fuck you, Slicer. I may forgive but I don’t forget.”
“What’s that?” Ulysses boomed out.
“Nothing, partner. Anyways,” Walker took a single resource of spirit, placing the gas-like strand in his right hand, “Are you ready to do this?”