Creation: Book 3: Strandbinder Complete!

Walker's smile graced everyone who came running over. Today was a special day. In the history of his time in the protocol, events on Sonata had always been rather slow, but right now, big things were happening all at once. He could hardly contain himself.

"What have you done now?" Virgil said.

"I started the first territory of course!" Walker said in excitement as he ignored the notification blinking in his overlay, "This way we can look at what the updates are doing in real-time. Also, I needed the extra mana bump so we can really build some wild stuff here."

"Yayy!" Neus said, and by tradition, Cagna taught him how to do the high-five.

Virgil, though, was less impressed, "So, not only are you growing four overwhelming Mana Trees, but you have also placed your magical...bomb...into Sonata." He took a breath, "are you out of your mind!"

"Nope, but I have reasons for everything I'm doing, I just...." Walker was interrupted by the ground beneath him shaking roughly. Walker dreaded what was about to happen, but it was too late. His overlay updated.

Unknown changes occurring.

The Tree of the Gods is maturing!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Tree of the Gods has borne fruit.

"Son of a bitch...." He looked over at Athena and asked if she'd handle them.

The goddess of wisdom shrugged, "I will, but I have to warn you....it is Artemis and Apollo. They tend to be..."

"Rambunctious." Echidna supplied.

Athena nodded in the affirmative, "Yes. The twins will be hard to contain I'm afraid. Not to mention Hephaestus was just released."

Walker scratched his chin, "Fine, I'll talk to them in a minute. But I have things I'm doing and..."

"And you need to be quick, I understand Walker. We're all on board here." She said, and the others around him gave differing acts of encouragement. The blonde woman squared her shoulders and walked over to a very attractive man and woman wrestling on the ground, heedless of the dirt gathering onto their fine clothes. To the side of them, a man with a deep scar on his face looked around in curiosity. Walker noticed Aphrodite jump skipping toward him.

"Alright, whatever." He said with a blast of air out of his mouth, "As I was saying, we're going to be a Foundation Stone factory. Because of how much magic it takes to create new ones, I needed to exponentially increase the amount of magic permeating Sonata."

Virgil waved to get his attention, "Walker....go into your world editor right now please."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Walker nodded and stepped into the world editor. There were several things to note as he looked around. One, it had exponentially increased in size so that it was now almost equal to Symphony. Walker wasn't an astrophysicist, but he knew that couldn't be a good thing.

The second thing he noticed was that the steel shell had grown with the planet at each increase, probably something to do with the magic starting to reach it. But as he looked around the shell, he already found the Mana Tree's roots spreading down and touching them, as well as a few holes in the steel from being overstretched. The roots were already seeking each other out as well, and the Tree of the Gods roots, which had always been rather shallow, albeit widespread, were now stretching toward them as well.

"Oh what the fuck."

"Indeed. If you take us out of the time dilation right now, or advance Symphony to our speed, the two landmasses will begin to have a gravitational attraction to each other. Your small sea's tides will kickstart and have power unseen in your home world. The atmospheres may start to exchange conditions, wherein your massive amount of ambient magic on Sonata will sync with Symphony, and create a cascading magical revolution, completely changing how Symphony works and destroying your systems in the process. Everyone will likely die." He took a quick breath, "So I heavily suggest you do not do that." Virgil shrugged, "But that is only if you would like to continue on as the Creator of Symphony. This moonlet, which is quickly approaching the size of your Earth standard moon, is going to continue to grow." He pointed down to Symphony, "What would Chipper see if he looked up here when the dilation ends? The moon would shift from being relatively small to that world to suddenly ten times its former size." He held up a finger, "That's only problem number one."

"Don't gas me up man." Walker complained, but Virgil ignored him.

The large squirrel held up another finger, "Problem number two, which is also problem number three, is that the Tree of the Gods will connect with those Mana Trees. It is inevitable. The Mana Trees are currently being....juiced up....by your Foundation Stone explosion."

"You said that couldn't happen." Walker pointed out.

"Yes, but I also said sudden magical inundation can cause unknown repercussions with Spirit Trees."

"Mana Trees."

"Whatever. I did warn about this some time ago. Because of the magical saturation caused by your Foundation Stone, the Mana Trees modification was overridden and they have grown exponentially. I would estimate." He looked at his screens, "that they've already reached about 10 years in size, and that will continue to go up. When they connect to the Tree of the Gods, I do not know what will happen." He walked over and patted Walker's back once, "Congratulations Walker, you found a way to break our first successful project together. Well done." Virgil threw his hands up in the air and left, walking over to his now eight evolution chambers.

Walker scratched the back of his head. No spiraling.

He chose to be optimistic, "Well....yeah. Okay. One thing at a time." He noticed everyone looking at him, "Nothing to see here folks. Move along." He said with a wave of his hand.

A few of the Primigenials grumbled as they walked away, Zeus trying and failing to talk to Hades as the darkly dressed man just continued to walk at a sedate pace, keeping his distance from his older brother. Walker noticed as he watched them walk away, that the Tree of the Gods, now a good distance away, was hundreds of feet tall. Each branch bore fruit, although one branch had already shrunk by close to a third of its size if he remembered correctly.

That must be the Greek one, he thought to himself. He came to the logical conclusion that as the fruit, or the Primigenials in this case, dropped, the branch became more and more withered. Like the Tree was being drained. As he looked at it, he counted no less than twelve more branches with fruit growing from them.

That is a shitload of incoming gods.

He scanned his eyes over and saw Rimi running to join Virgil at the evolution chamber. They placed another anteater in it, then began looking at the other chambers for damage. Lucky for Walker, neither of the human's chambers had taken any damage aside from the superficial. He breathed a mental sigh at not angering the advanced assistant any further.

Neus disappeared, likely to head off to the Territory system, and Cagna moved over to her pink armchair to work on Milestones.

Walker sighed as he was suddenly alone again. A lot was happening nowadays. He still remembered when it was just him and Virgil on a small moonlet trying to figure out how to get magic into Symphony. He missed that a little bit. It was nice to have company on Sonata, but he also didn't necessarily like constantly being surrounded by people. He had always been an extroverted-introvert. Put a group of people around him and he was the star of the show, but it always felt incredibly draining afterward. Walker felt his chest pulse for a second before it went away. Right, he had work to do.

Walker clicked Item and stepped in.

Hello Creator

"Not to be rude, but you don't have to do that every time."

Command recognized.

What would you like to create?

"Am I able to make a series of items in some form of a que system?"

Yes, that is possible

"How long, at our current and improving Magical reserves, would it take to create a single Foundation stone?"

.....Analyzing.....

...

One day each

"Excellent. Please begin producing them each day. Also, am I able to say where I want them placed when they're done?"

Yes.

You may choose a location to place any items you create within fifty feet of your entry point to the system.

"Very good. Please place all future foundation stones near the Creation Instrument for the near future. Please also make sure they're separated enough so that they do not touch each other.

Command recognized.

Warning: You must continuously enter the system near the Creation Instrument for the que to produce results in your desired location.

"I understand, thank you." Walker said as he stepped out. He looked at the notification he'd ignored for the moment.

Territory task complete: Establish the first territory: Part 1

Territory established: Yes

Reward for completion: Variable.

Secondary reward for completion: Decided by the Alpha Protocol Council

Territory task given: Create your tasks: Part 2

No description provided

Tasks created: 0/10

Reward for completion: Variable.

Secondary reward for completion: Decided by the Alpha Protocol Council

- - -

Reward for completing the first territory task:

Congratulations Dante! You've gained two-hundred Primordial resources.

No description provided

Secondary reward for completing the first territory task:

Congratulations Dante! You've gained an assortment of rare resources.

For the Territory system to work as you see it Dante, you must have the tools to expand. Use this to help you continue to move forward. Enjoy.

"Hey Vir....nevermind." He said, rethinking calling Virgil over. He was busy and probably still pretty mad after he blew up his test entity.

Walker looked at the rewards again. The Primordial resources were nice, as were the rare resources, although he had no idea what any of them did. It was a little strange to see the Council writing targeted descriptions for him, but they were watching him rather closely right now. He went into his resources tab and clicked on the filter that let him see what was recently added. "What the shit are these?" He said, as he pulled up each new resource's description.

Ethereal Ore A rare ore that emits a soft and pervasive glow. This ore was found, rather than created, in the second rendition, and has the unique ability of making metal extremely lightweight without compromising its composition. Can be used in the creation of special alloys.

Dragon's Root A unique plant found in the first rendition. This plant tends to glow red, thus its name, and can be used in different alchemical productions to create fire-adjacent potions.

Starlight Crystal A rare crystal found in the second rendition. Creators have stated that looking at this crystal is like looking at the cosmos on a dark evening. It can be infused with magic for differing effects depending on the magic's attunement.

Mimicry Essence A unique substance once found in the body of an alpha mimic, this essence can be absorbed to grant transformative magic to different entities' attunements.

Harmonic Bud A special flower found in the third rendition. As it blooms, the bud will release calming effects on any entities nearby. It can also be used in alchemical productions for restorative potions.

Walker searched in his memories for the last time he'd gained rare resources from the protocol. He remembered gaining Faer metal for creating his first Guardian, Chipper. Virgil had said that anytime he gained a non-Earth resource, it was automatically added to his system for placement on Symphony. Now that he'd gained some from his reward, he could place them whenever he wanted. Also, with his rare ore upgrade Symphony had received long ago, Ethereal ore could now spawn randomly in different places. All in all, this was a pretty solid reward.

"That's actually helpful, thank you." He said to no-one in particular, assuming that Virgil's bat-like ears had heard him and would naturally update the council in his next transmission.

Nodding his head, Walker scanned through his overlay. He found a new tab that had appeared when he started the territory with the simple name "My Territory". Of course it was basic...and boring, because they hadn't worked on the Territory interface yet. Knowing what he needed to do, he clicked on Territory and waited for the alternate dimension to fade in. As his eyes adjusted, he said a quick "Hello John" to the Cardinal, and found Neus in his lime-green chair beside him. Walker sat down.

"So, what have you two been working on?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

"Oh oh!" Neus said with a raised hand, another throwback taught to him presumably by Cagna, He started talking at Walker's nod, "We've been working on the tracking and levels so far. Can I show you?"

"Sure!"

At Walker's approval, Neus had John pop up the system on the screens around them.

The Territory System: Levels and Tiers

Levels Tier Names

1-10 1 Hamlet

11-20 2 Village

21-30 3 Small Town

31-40 4 Town

41-50 5 Large Town

Walker looked it over and shook his head. Neus beside him seemed to deflate into the green padding.

"I told you Neus." John said, "It violates the principle of having an Adaptive system run by an advanced AI. I said he wouldn't like there being generic names for different levels. Each of the different options needs to have its own name, and unlocked choices as they move up in tiers.

"Yep. It's handy having you in my head John." Walker confirmed with a thumbs up.

"Thank you." The cardinal said with a winged bow. "Now, here are some changes I propose." He sat still on his branch as the screens went through a series of modifications. "I've increased the levels and tiers as that way there isn't a true limit to the system, and I've modified the names of the upgraded territories, but those are only placeholders."

"Because if they choose to focus on wine it's a Vineyard, but if they choose to focus on rice it's a farm?" Walker guessed.

The Cardinals image crowed in delight, "That's right! We can't get bogged down in what the names will be, but rather, we need to focus on what each tier will unlock across the board for the rising territory. The names of the tiers will change organically. I've included some placeholder names for what I think may work in the future, but I need you to consider what the unlocked structures and systems will involve."

Walker scratched his chin, "That's hard to do without having those systems already built. Not to mention we're scraping the bottom of the barrel in regards to items and structures right now."

John nodded, "True, but if you give me the spirit of the idea, I can work with Neus to see it come to fruition. Pun intended." Walker laughed, "I am not allowed to make changes to the Territory system myself, but I am allowed to modify what you've programmed for the system moving forward as long as it follows the spirit of what you've intended. It is a little dicey, but that is my purpose here as an advanced AI. To take your decisions, your orders, and modify them for each entity. Or, in this instance, territory." John tried to smile.

Walker and even Neus shifted back in their chairs a bit. It was disconcerting to see a bird try to twist their beak into what amounted to a human smile, "I really appreciate it John, but you don't have to do that. It's kind of terrifying."

"I understand." John said, stopping the action immediately.

"Okay, lets get to this." Walker said, then he began dictating and pacing simultaneously. Every so often Neus would speak up, and Walker would debate with him for a moment before they settled on a course of action. He was mindful of taking Neus's opinion seriously, so he didn't destroy what little confidence the green squirrel had built up since first coming to Sonata. Walker didn't want a repeat of the Cagna situation. John didn't quite have the same amount of input as the assigned subsystem assistant, but he did help them refine what they were trying to do. After a long period of debate and discussion, with John doing his best to update the system, they finished up and took a look at what they'd created.

The Territory System: Levels and Tiers for Agricultural Territories

Levels Tier Names Unlocks, Requirements, and Rewards

1-10 1 Homestead

No Requirements.

Unlocks:

An Increased Citizenry count to 500

Territory-specific starter buildings

The interconnected Territorial item system

One mana sapling.

The Administration system.

11-20 2 Agrarian Settlement

Upgrade requirements: At least 100 citizens.

Unlocks: An Increased Citizenry count to 1,000

21-30 3 Agrarian Community

Upgrade requirements: At least 500 citizens.

Unlocks: An Increased Citizenry count to 5000

31-40 4 Agrarian town

Upgrade requirements: At least 1000 citizens.

Unlocks: An Increased Citizenry count to 20,000

41-50 5 Large Agrarian Town

Upgrade requirements: At least 5000 citizens.

Unlocks: An Increased Citizenry count to 50,000

51-60 6 Agri-City

Upgrade requirements: At least 20,000 citizens.

Unlocks: An Increased Citizenry count to 150,000

61-70 7 Medium Agri-City

Upgrade requirements: At least 50,000 citizens.

Unlocks: An Increased Citizenry count to 500,000

71-80 8 Large Agri-City

Upgrade requirements: At least 150,000 citizens.

Unlocks: An Increased Citizenry count to 1,000,000

81-90 9 Agricultural Capital

Upgrade requirements: At least 500,000 citizens.

Unlocks: An Increased Citizenry count to 5,000,000

91-100 10 City-State

Upgrade requirements: At least 1,000,0000 citizens.

Unlocks: An Increased Citizenry count to 25,000,000

They all agreed that at Rank ten every Territory should have a name that works for all. City-State was an obvious choice, and a direct tie-back to one of Walker's favorite video games growing up. The term itself implied that the territory held their own sovereignty, and Walker had very long-term plans for any Territory that reached this far-off marker. Any city that became a City-State would have to select a specialty that further refined the uniqueness of the territory. Underground levels...if they didn't have them already. Use the Mana tree(s) to help them fly? Dungeon focused? All were options he was hoping to build over-time.

The first one-hundred levels, as associated by his original Level system, would all be red. They set the visual to start at the Foundation Stone or Mana Tree, and to expand from there using ambient magic for fuel. This way, every city that leveled up would reveal such to its citizens as it expanded throughout the territory. Walker had a running bet with John that the first time a city saw orange-level notifications they would freak out. The cardinal bet against him. He liked John.

To get ahead of any issues, they set it so citizens would only be classified as either sapients or monsters that could at least sign their name. That way nobody could cheat by trying to plant one-million trees in their territory as they tried to game the system. Walker didn't mind smart moves that allowed his future people to work around his requirements, but there was a certain way of life he was trying to build into Symphony. He plugged up some holes and gaps he found here and there, but let others go through. If he didn't, he was worried people would grow to hate his systems as they would be too strict and unchanging. The smart would always find a way forward in his worlds.

The reward for first starting their territory, aside from the starter buildings and access to the interconnected Item system, was a Mana Sapling. It would take time to grow, and would likely greatly slow down many territories when they first got started. He made sure it was added into every territory's first unlockable. This way, those who are magically inclined can stack the magical inundation in their area with an already present Mana Tree.

For those who didn't have a mana tree, the magical empowerment from the Foundation Stone would be enough to at least jumpstart their ambient magic, and they had to plant it to get the Mana Sapling in the first place. That way nobody would be overriding the Mana Trees modifications at the start. He figured that anyone who picked the magical archetype would be in for some interesting Mana Tree variations, but he would deal with those as they came.

For this to work, Walker was forced to step out and link the Entity subsystem to both the Territory System and Neus, with a new update streaming into his overlay.

.....Scanning.....

Congratulations Dante! Your subsystem assistant has upgraded to a full assistant!

Error...

Subsystem assistant not found

"Really now?" Walker said quietly to himself as some interesting thoughts began to percolate in his mind. He slid them into the backseat and grabbed Neus, pulling him out and letting the update happen while Cagna loudly complained in the background. Once Neus grew his extra height and finished downloading the system, they popped back into John's dimension.

"Okay, let's figure this out." Walker said as he slapped his palms together.