Creation: Book 3: Strandbinder Complete!

Walker and Virgil watched through the monitor, shifting the view to below the soil and stone, as the roots grew across the fifty years he'd allocated to the temporal subsystem. When each set of roots connected, driven by an internal need to find each other, there was a flash of aqua upon first touch, before they melded together over time. As the trees grew, the empty atmosphere above Symphony began to change, taking on a light blue-green coloring rather than its usual dark and planet-filled sky. When the time finally stopped spinning forward, each tree stood over five stories tall. Walker moved the monitor over to the Muys and found far more than expected, practically filling the water. His overlay lit up.

.....Scanning.....

Task Updated!

- - -

Ecology task complete: Build a medium functioning ecosystem: Part 2

Medium functioning ecosystem built: 1

Reward given: Ecology subsystem upgrade.

....

New ecology task: Build a planetary functioning ecosystem: Part 3

The Creator's world is a spark, catching the flame of life and spreading it across the universe. Build a functioning planetary ecosystem that will maintain the balance of your entire world.

Planetary functioning ecosystem built: 0

Reward for completion: Landmass system upgrade

- - -

Reward for completing the second ecology task:

Congratulations Dante! Your ecology subsystem has upgraded!

It is difficult, even for Creators in the alpha protocol, to notice problems of a planetary scale. This upgrade comes with a series of new ecological abilities, including a warning system.

"Huh?" Walker said after reading everything. "How did we complete the second ecology task?"

Virgil moved his eyes across his overlay before looking at Walker and saying, "It recognizes the Mana Trees and their root system as a functioning ecosystem. In fact, if we place more land and plant them there as well, we should be able to satisfy the third task. You can, as they say, game the system."

As Virgil stopped speaking, a consistent and moderately loud beep started to go off. Walker looked around the tiny planet for a moment before noticing the Ecology tab blinking. He clicked it and saw just how out of control the Muys were. The subsystem showed they were overpopulated by over 400%, and needed to be reduced to restore ecological function.

"Overpopulated." Virgil said with a squirrel frown. "It seems I modified them too much or we just let too much time go by. I was afraid of this. There are far too many of them."

"I'm guessing the fix is to introduce a balancing organism."

"Indeed." Virgil responded with a nod. "Introducing a predator, A STANDARD PREDATOR, would solve that problem."

"That's fine, but first we need to use the System Designer."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to make a monster system of course!" Walker said, throwing his hands in the air like a child experiencing their first time seeing presents under the Christmas tree. "It's Monster system time! Plus, we're lucky enough that I now have an assistant to help me with just that."

"I don't know if we should start that just yet, Walker."

"Why! It's the perfect time. We have food for them, we have a magic generation system, and we can do this! Isn't that right little man?" Walker finished, pointing a finger at his newest assistant.

The Blue squirrel tilted its head at him and spoke in a light monotoned voice, "Whatever you wish, Creator."

"Now that's not going to work." Walker said, uncomfortable with the title being used instead of his name. "First you hit me with the sirs, Virgil, now I got this guy calling me Creator."

Virgil thought for a moment, "You cannot edit his personality Walker, as he is not an advanced model. I suggest you just try having a conversation with him, and give some idea of what has happened and who you are."

The tiny squirrel just continued to stare at them. Walker knew that he understood what they were saying, but it seemed he wouldn't speak again unless spoken to. Walker moved over in front of him and sat down cross-legged in the grass before saying, "How are you little man."

"I am adequate."

"Jeesh" Walker said. "That is the worst response to a question I've ever heard. What does adequate even mean, contextually?"

"I apologize. I do not understand." The squirrel replied.

"No, it's fine. Well, I don't want to keep calling you squirrel, so I think our first step is to give you a name. Do you have an idea of what you would like to be called?"

Its blue eyes locked onto Virgil who had begun to stare at his screens, before looking back at Walker again, "No, I do not."

"Virgil. Hey Virgil! Do you have any hints for this?"

"Huh-wha. Oh. A name? No, just give it something."

"Fuckin rude man. Alright, well my identity in the protocol is Dante and he's Virgil, so why don't we follow along with the story? Let's see, Lucifer feels somewhat blasphemous, even for my lapse-catholic ass. Beatrice would be weird as that was Dante's love. Butttt, Francesca da Rimini was from the second circle of hell, and you're my second assistant. Yes, Haha!" Walker said with exuberance. He wasn't celebrating that their names all fit a certain theme, but just that he didn't have to name something from scratch.

"I like that, Rimini." The squirrel said, showing its first sign of independent thought.

"Well actually, Francesca is the first or given name, whereas Rimini is the surname or family name."

"No, I like Rimini. Rimi." The squirrel said. It nodded to itself, having decided on a big moment it couldn't quite grasp the significance of.

"That's cute. Rimi then. Okay Rimi, let me tell you a bit about what we're doing here." After saying that, Walker described his first moments on the tiny planet, the guide being a dick, not literally, and his staff; Walker's first introduction to magic and the bullshit that can come with it. He explained how it felt to land there, what he was told he was going to be doing, meeting Virgil, the first landmass and the first entity. He skipped over The Slicer's story a little bit, except to explain the dangers of high evolutionary potential in alpha predators. Then he told them about the battle, how Symphony exploded, what they had to do to fix it, and why they made the leylines the way they did. The smaller squirrel listened to it all with large eyes, never interrupting. When Walker finished, he told him about the pledge he'd made. That they were going to constantly aim to make themselves better than they currently are, and how their job after getting through the protocol was to caretake the world. Then Rimi asked a question that seemed simple but felt profound.

"What is my purpose." It asked in a higher pitched tone.

Virgil stopped what he was doing to listen in on Walker's plan.

"You're going to help me make, and manage, a monster system through the system designer. We have to build it from nothing, establish rules, and keep an eye on it. Your job, if that is how you want to think about it, is to focus entirely on the monster system, and find a way to keep it in balance with the world of Symphony. When you find problems, any at all, I want you to bring it up with me. As we further refine it and make it better, you will gain more and more control, until you only have to bring up major problems with me in the future. Is that confusing to you?" Walker asked, hoping he wasn't overwhelming the newborn. New made?

"I am to help my Creator make and manage the monster system through the system designer."

"Yes, and did you understand the rest of it? Oh, hold on one second." He said as he turned to Virgil, hearing a small voice say "holding" behind him. "Virgil, while we're working on this, can you focus on the weather system." Walker didn't know it, but this was the first time he had really started to take over their project with Symphony. In the past, Virgil had always directed Walker onto the right path, but it seemed that things were slowly going to change. Virgil thought about it, considered the change to be a positive one, and nodded.

"Absolutely, but it will be difficult to simulate what I believe you want. Symphony is not Earth. We do not have a sun, we do not have a moon. Currently, there technically isn't even light down there. What you see as light is simply enhanced vision by the alpha protocol through your eyes. It was part of the overlay update for all Creators."

Walker grimaced. He hadn't thought about that, even after all of this time. The alpha protocol seriously screws with people. But, then he had an idea, "Can't you tie in the magic being produced by the Mana Tree network to fake the weather."

"Fake the weather, Walker? That is a terrible way to say that."

"You know what I mean!"

Virgil hummed for a moment, "Perhaps. I will have to look and see." He started working with his screen immediately.

That should keep him busy for a while. Virgil loves magic.

Walker looked back at Rimi and before he could say anything, the squirrel said.

"Yes, but what does balance mean?"

Walker was thrown off a little bit, but then he remembered the tiny voice saying holding. He thought back to his question about if he, in fact, had an questions, and smiled.

"That's a good one to ask, great job." Walker said, slipping into teacher mode. "What do you think the purpose of creating monsters is?"

"Mmm, to win the next battle?" Rimi hypothesized.

"Yes, that is certainly true. We do need to win the next battle to continue. But what about Symphony as a whole? How do you think monsters will fit in there?"

"I do not know Creator."

"Please call me Walker."

"Okay."

"There will come a time in the near future when we will have logically thinking beings on Symphony, who are as smart or smarter than you and I. Maybe not Virgil, but certainly us." He heard a "hmmph" coming from Virgil in the background. "Some of them might even be human, and I am a firm believer that conflict and turmoil inspire the growth of character. It worked for me, my father, and my father's father. Whether that character is good or bad for Symphony, growth is still growth. To have conflict, we need something that will inspire them to act. Merchants and businesspeople want to see how much money they can make or what markets they move into, thus, we will create an item system." Walker held up a single finger. "For those who want to travel the world, they can turn to the quest system." Walker held up a second finger." For all cognitive free-thinking beings, we will make the class system." Walker held up a third finger. "But the monsters need their own system." A fourth finger appeared. "We have to build it in such a way, that they cannot take over the world. Just like we need to build a system of classes, or powers, for those sapients within Symphony, so that they both have a chance against each other. Essentially, we are building a perpetual war." He let that comment sit for a moment as he closed his fingers together, allowing Rimi to process the enormity of it, then continued.

"One balances out the other, because what we're trying to create, is a world of wonder and conflict. Initially, I thought that harmony, the wonder portion, was enough to get us by. That a peaceful world would work best for all of its citizens, and that they could live fruitful lives this way. But, there will always be Slicers, whether they are human or monster shaped. So we need to prepare people and give them the tools to protect themselves, and to establish those tools, they'll need to train. I am hoping, that we can create a scale of value wherein those who truly push themselves and show worth can succeed." He finished and placed his arms behind his back. Walker hoped it all made sense to the little guy as he had been planning it for some time.

"But why don't the monsters get classes?" Rimi asked with the innocence only the truly young and uninformed could have.

"Because I'm afraid if we gave them classes, on top of the monster system they will already have, they would then grow too powerful and destroy everything we've built."

"Then, why don't we make it so that only the good monsters can get powers? The ones who don't want to destroy everything."

What? Walker thought as he paused, unintentionally mirroring The Slicer's first thought. "How would that work?"

"Well, you said you were looking to create a scale. So, why not have a counter, that picks up what they are doing, and tells the system whether they deserve to have a class or not."

"Okay, I see where you are going. Like a milestone. Save a village, and gain ten points. Like that?"

"Yes!" Rimi said with great enthusiasm, already beginning to sound a little like his Creator. "Or, only kill some humans, but not other humans, because they can be bad too."

"So a bounty system?"

"Yes again!" Rimi hopped up and down just like Virgil.

"So let's break this down. For this to work, we would need an item system, a quest system, a class system, a monster system, a milestone system, and a bounty system."

"That sounds like a lot" Rimi said, deflating while pointing his ears outwards. "I don't know if I can manage all of those at once."

"Well don't worry!" Walker said, gaining steam. "Once we get the monster system up, we can get you all kinds of siblings!" Walker heard Virgil shout "What was that!" in the background.

He pulled up his tasks and confirmed what it had said earlier. With each new system balanced out, he would gain a new subsystem assistant. They were designed to work hand in hand. It made him wonder how many other tasks were inter-related like that.

"Okay, the first step is to assign this. So, are you ready?" The Creator asked his newest assistant.

"Yes, daddy Walker."

"Just Walker is fine buddy."

He clicked on the System Designer and received a message.

Welcome to the System Designer!

Please name your first System.

.....

The Monster System is named!

Good luck Creator!

There were a lot of options within. Some said he could create a system that focused only on fire, wherein he could actively make his world attuned to it. One, giant, fire world. Another said he could make a system that only focused on his own tiny planet that allowed him to fully control it with the World Editor. And another showed that he could create a mini-alpha protocol that would let him have his entities found cities all over Symphony. Walker was particularly interested in that one, but he knew he needed to start with The Monster System first. He clicked on the evolution option, where it described Evolution as targeted and allowed him to pick and choose different paths, then found the area that lets him assign an assistant. Rimi was next to Virgil at the top of his overlay, the protocol already changing it after he named himself, and he dragged him into the slot on the designer. His picture appeared over it with a blue highlight.

Assigning The Monster System to subsystem assistant Rimi.

After a minute, Rimi said "Yayyyyy", with some hops once his overlay updated.

"Okay, the first step is, we need to link it to magic."

Rimi's tail swished back and forth as he nodded excitedly, while Walker asked Virgil to pause his work and come over. He wanted all hands on deck for this. It was time to talk Monsters, finally.

The Slicer that Walker knew was not a kind creature. That hadn’t changed, not even with logical reasoning. Creator Jolive was in a dire situation as she stared at the trapped monster. She was stuck with a massive cage made of multi-layered and folded metal right in the middle of her world, Dilania. A few hours ago, unknown to Jolive, The Slicer had evolved yet again and gained the ability to hear across great distances. He didn't know what she was saying, but she didn't sound happy, and that was fine with him as she was the one keeping him here.

Happiness was a new idea to the Slicer. He didn't like it.

He did, however, snicker internally as heard Jolive blow up on her assistant once more. The Slicer was surprised others around this detestable planet couldn't hear her, and were just going about their business, eating insects and hissing at each other. The former Bobbit worm hoped he wasn't stuck here for too long. It was too bright. There were lights everywhere and The Slicer was a creature accustomed to the darkness and water. It was also very dry, which didn't bother him nearly as much as it used to, but still made him uncomfortable. The feeling wasn’t terribly unlike being in space, and the constant pressure that came from existing within a vacuum.

No, he didn't like it here one bit. He tried to think over how he had evolved before. He hadn't been able to truly see his overlay until his thoughts had changed, and his mind grew sharper. It was as though a world of information came streaming into him at once, and he was still, to this moment, having trouble processing everything. Before that, it was mostly images and....hunger. Instinct. He remembered falling toward his original planet, the one that the purple buffoon was making, and thinking to himself that he needed more fire, more flame. He had then, somehow, pushed himself, and there it was exploding out of him. Enough fire to destroy the world and finally release him from his prison of pre-designed feedings. A prison of prescribed life. The Slicer was a predator, he wanted to hunt. Now, his frustration was even greater than before, when he had been forced to sit in the water and sporadically explode moronic fish.

But how did you get out of a powerful cage? The bars were impervious to his attacks, and no matter how much he bit into them, they didn't move or fall away as everything else had in the past. He had even injured himself and gained a new evolution, forced regeneration, but he didn't need that right now. What he needed, was power. Real power. He needed knowledge.

The Slicer forced that thought into his mind, pressing with all of his newly discovered willpower that he had gained and increased since finding himself wrapped in metal. Knowledge....KnowledgE....KnOWLEDGE......KNOWLEDGE.

Evolution Occurring.

The Slicer is evolving!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Slicer has gained the identify ability.

The Slicer laughed to himself again as he identified the metal surrounding him. Soon enough, he would escape, and his hunt would continue.