Creation: Book 3: Strandbinder Complete!

The two humans were sitting on the floor, blinking as they continued to look around without saying anything. So far, neither had said a word. Walker assumed that they were just trying to get their bearings, but after looking into their eyes...there was something else going on.

He looked at Virgil who towered over them all, "I can't get over how big you are now. You're like a mini-kaiju." He said with a shake of his head. "Hey..." He continued in a small whisper, "They're umm....how do I say this...."

"Walker." The massive squirrel said, "They are children. You advanced them twenty years, but that is purely in age, not experience or education. It is why they were always doomed to fail initially as they gained their bearings within Symphony. It will take time for them to understand what they are doing and learn to communicate with each other."

"Shiittt." He said, still speaking in a whisper.

"Shit." The girl said from the ground, picking up on his words.

"Her first word!" Rimi said in excitement. He had walked over when he noticed the two new inhabitants on Sonata.

"Ugghh." Walker mumbled, running a hand through his hair, "I guess that's fair for this situation. How many humans did you say we would need to seed for things to work out?"

"Ten thousand or just about." Virgil replied smoothly, still staring at the two humans.

"Ten thousand....okay. I think we'll need about fifty."

"Fifty what?" Rimi asked.

"Fifty pre-experienced humans to help get them started."

"Pre-experienced....are you meaning to train them Walker?" Virgil asked.

"Yep! Look at who we have here right now." He said, opening his arms out wide to encompass Sonata. "We've got a legendary blacksmith, a wise woman, a...messenger. That is Hermes right?"

"Yessss....." Virgil said while squinting at the man in the odd helmet. "Yes."

Walker shook it off, "We've got everything we need to start training them right here, right now. We start knocking out Primigenial quests, and hand out bloodlines just before we seed them onto Sonata."

"But...they're babies." Rimi pointed out.

"Ah-ah" Walker countered, waving a finger in the air, "They're babies right now. Give them the rest of the time dilation and I'm sure we'll have them up and moving. It'll be tough at first, but I figure they'll have a deep understanding of Symphony and its systems right when they begin their civilizations. We'll just have to make a rigorous schedule for them, and who better to teach them than the former Teacher-of-the-Month Walker Reed!"

"That was because you were thinking about quitting. They wanted you to feel good about yourself." Virgil countered.

"Whatever, I still won."

Virgil shook his head, "You will not have time for this."

"I'll....make time. They're...." He pushed a fake tear off of his face, "They're my children." Walker shrugged, "The first sapient civilizations need to have a good relationship with us, or it could breed some serious resentment once they figure out how this all came to be. The more work we do now, the less work we have to do later."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Like this," With a wink, Walker pulled more time out of his resources tab and smothered himself in them, taking on a slight silver sheen. While they looked at him, he didn't fade away. Instead, he just disappeared to the naked eye, as he began to move across Sonata in his own smaller form of time dilation. Everywhere he went, small notes were left with the person's name on the front. When that person opened up the folded paper, they found that Walker had written them a short message.

Zeus: Please do your best to keep an eye on the new Primigenials. I'll speak to them personally as soon as I can.

Virgil: Please work with Rimi to create more starter monsters. We'll need some that adapt well to mountains, others for water, others again for cold environments and so on. At least three levels for each zone. I'm thinking of mountains, water, cold, desert, jungle, grassland, swamp, underground, and some flying types. It'll take a while, but that's why we're here.

Athena: You have a cute butt....sorry. I just wanted to say that. You'll see me again soon.

Athena: Help Zeus when you can, maybe ignore that last note.

Athena: Do you think other Creators have it as hard as us? I've been wondering about that a lot lately....

Virgil: This may have been a mistake. I think I've been stuck like this for a week now? Hard to tell with time the way it is.

Virgil: You have a cute butt....I'm kidding!

Dionysus: You're not your father.

Apollo and Artemis: Stop fucking around. I'm going to need you soon and you better help out. Think about what you want your Primigenial tasks to be.

Hephaestus: Your tools look sweet man. Here's the material I figure you need to build a smithy.

Ares: No wars!

Hades: Isolation isn't always healthy, when I was young, my parents were rather strict.....

Triton: Do you have gills?

Aphrodite: Don't bang the new humans please.

The three-headed chick: What are you?

Zeus: Did it seriously release like 10 more Primigenials or am I counting wrong?

Virgil: Sorry for this.

Virgil noticed that notes continued to appear for several minutes, and while Walker was still stuck in his own time, multiple events occurred simultaneously in the system as he finally went through his stockpile of standard notifications.

.....Scanning.....

Subsystem Assistant task complete: Train the assistant: Series 3

Subsystem assistant requirements:

Assistant is assigned to a subsystem: Yes

Assistant is autonomous: Yes

Assistant completes work continuously without calamity: 7/7 Days

Reward for completion: Gain unlimited subsystem assistants.

Territory task complete: Create your tasks: Part 2

Tasks created: 10/10

Reward for completion: Variable.

Secondary reward for completion: Decided by the Alpha Protocol Council

...

New Territory Task: Assign two system unlocks as a part of the Territory system: Part 3

Systems are an important part of the Alpha Protocol Dante, make sure they have more options moving forward or they may stagnate in their growth.

System unlocks assigned: 2/2

Reward for completion: Variable.

Secondary reward for completion: Decided by the Alpha Protocol Council

...

Territory Task complete: Assign two system unlocks as a part of the Territory system: Part 3

System unlocks assigned: 2/2

Reward for completion: Variable.

Secondary reward for completion: Decided by the Alpha Protocol Council

...

New Territory Task: Have at least three territories in your world: Part 4

Place them Walker, and watch as your creation blooms to life.

Territories already planted: 0/3

Reward for completion: Variable.

Secondary reward for completion: Decided by the Alpha Protocol Council

- - -

Reward for completing the second territory task:

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

No description provided

Secondary reward for completing the second territory task:

Congratulations Dante! You've gained a VIP card.

The Auction system isn't just a system, but a location. With your VIP designation, expect the treatment you receive to be quite pleasant.

Reward for completing the third territory task:

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

No description provided

Secondary reward for completing the third territory task:

Congratulations Dante! The Landmass system has upgraded!

Templates are known across the multiverse over for being useful in saving time and streamlining the creation process. With this upgrade, you can now save different landmasses as templates for future seedings.

Reward for completing the third subsystem assistant task:

Congratulations Dante! You've unlocked the ability to create unlimited subsystem assistants!

Subsystem assistants are the system designer's dream. Because of your dogmatic focus on building systems into your world, you've reached the final step in this series and obtained a rare boon.

Limit: You may gain one new subsystem assistant per day

Chaos began to happen all over Sonata. A city-sized ball of steel floated in the air before disappearing almost immediately after. The same thing happened with a large piece of glowing white metal only a second later. A large crashing sound occurred before everyone could hear Hephaeustus yelling in the background as Walker dropped a series of resources in front of him.

Cagna began screaming in her chair as she looked at the Milestone system.

The Territory Series: Full, Complete

Basic milestone- Level One: Establish a territory. 1 Point

Novice milestone- Citizenry: Establish an oath for your territory. 3 Points.

Apprentice milestone- Our place: Build enough residential areas for all citizens to live. 5 Points.

Apprentice milestone- It's Just a Number: Reach Tier two for your territory. 5 points.

Adept milestone- Expansion: Expand your territory independently three times. 7 Points.

Skilled milestone- A City: Reach Tier six for your territory. 10 Points.

Title unlocked: City Lord

Experienced milestone- Legion: Have over 100k Citizens in your territory. 15 Points.

Experienced milestone- Together We Rise: Complete all skilled to basic milestones in the Monster series. 15 points.

System unlocked: The Voting system

Advanced milestone- City-State: Reach Tier 10 for your territory. 20 Points.

Limited to those who have established their territory as a Custodian. Loss of attached territory removes milestone points at cost.

The Popular Vote Series: Limited, Complete

Basic milestone- The First Vote: Win the right to rule through a ballot holding your name. 1 point.

Apprentice milestone- It's My Opinion: Have five or more ballots initiated by you and approved by the public. 5 points.

Skilled milestone- Statueesque: Have at least one statue of yourself in your territory. 10 points.

Advanced milestone- Festive: Be honored by a festival thrown in your name. 25 points.

Epic milestone- Never-Ousted: Rule a city-state by popular vote for fifty years or more without losing. 50 points.

Reward: Obtain forty or more points in the Popular Vote series to unlock specialized residential structures.

Limited to territorial Custodians.

The Tyrannical Series: Special, Limited, Complete

Basic milestone- Domination: Win the right to rule through violent means. 1 point.

Apprentice milestone- Marauder: Defeat another territory in a war. 5 points.

Skilled milestone- Statueesque: Have at least one statue of yourself in your territory. 10 points.

Advanced milestone- Bloodbound: Have at least three subordinates who have led a raid on another territory. 25 points.

Epic milestone- Iron Fist: Rule a city-state by martial strength for fifty years or more without losing. 50 points.

Godly milestone- Conqueror: Control five or more territories through the right of conquest. 100 points.

Unlocks the Conqueror series

Reward: Obtain forty or more points in the Tyrannical series to unlock specialized defensive structures.

Limited to territorial Custodians.

Go Beyond Series: Limited, Complete

Basic milestone- Challenger: Defeate an opponent at least one level or tier above you. 1 point.

Apprentice milestone- Underdog: Defeat an opponent at least three levels or 2 tiers above you. 5 points.

Skilled milestone- Unyielding: Defeat an opponent at least five levels or 3 tiers above you. 10 points.

Advanced milestone- Triumphant: Defeat an opponent at least 15 levels or five tiers above you. 25 points.

Epic milestone- Legendary: Defeat five or more opponents who are 25 levels or six tiers above you. 50 points.

Reward: Obtain forty or more points in the Go Beyond series to unlock the Fabled title.

Virgil tried not to be shocked by Walker's antics anymore, but this was a little much. As he watched and while still mid-complaint, Cagna froze in place and grew to twice her former size while a piece of paper floated down next to her.

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

Neus made the mistake of exiting the Territory system and was inundated with pieces of paper falling around him like flurries of snow. Virgil assumed it was instructions from Walker on what to do next. He began to feel something in the back of his throat and remembered what Walker had said just a moment ago.

.....Loading.....

.....

Expelling new subsystem assistant.

Forcing a light cough, he watched as a yellow hairball flew out and rolled in the grass before coming to a stop. It unrolled into a new subsystem assistant who blinked as they looked around, asking who their Creator was. Virgil ignored that for the moment. Walker's time must be running out at this point, as things began to slow down. His processors had continuously noted slight changes in the vibratory patterns across Sonata and there was certainly less happening now than there was just a few seconds ago. Since his upgrade to Supreme assistant, he'd gained over a hundred new mental processors, with some taking on leadership roles for those below them. At this point, it was safe to assume that Virgil was a walking logistical army. A flurry of notes fell beside him with his name on top. He stooped down to pick them up.

Harsh way to treat a new brother or sister man.

Hey, Virgil, I think my time is starting to run out since most of this silver stuff is almost gone. I don't know what's going to happen when it does, but here are some notes on what I want to have happen just in case.

I shouldn't die....I think.

Please speak with the Primigenials and get them to give me tasks that aren't stupid as fuck.

Here's the list of people we have who I think can help the humans get a foothold on Symphony once they land. Each will need to be trained in a myriad of different ways, and I'm relying on you to get them started. Some are required, and some are by choice. I left notes with each god and checked on them a week later (my time.) They've all agreed to the terms I have set for them. There will be fifty total humans and...

Virgil understandably raised an eyebrow at the number of people Walker had just said again, but when he looked up, fourty eight naked human beings were just starting to raise their heads and look around in confusion, while the original two were just finished getting dressed with the help of Echidna who had a note tucked into the top of her dress. "Of course he's going to leave this to me to start," Virgil said with a sigh before looking at the next note.

Aphrodite: Keep them away from her

Apollo: Art and Music

Ares: Sword and squad

Artemis: Hunting and Wildlife

Asclepius: Medicine

Athena: Life lessons and shields (Life lessons required. Basic wisdom)

Cagna: Milestone Study (required)

Demeter: Agriculture

Dionysus: Nothing.

Echidna: Soul and reproductive (required)

Hades: Survival training only, and only once a week (he agreed, also this is required)

Hephaestus: Crafting and Construction (one craft type required from each)

Hera: Leadership and Relationships (required)

Hermes: Athletics and travel (he agreed)

Minos: Unarmed combat and gardening (required)

Neus: Territorology (required)

Nike: Dueling (required)

Poseidon: Swimming and Navigation (required)

Rimi: Monsterology (required)

Triton: Spear

Zeus: Nothing. Just make sure he keeps an eye on the Primigenials

Virgil sighed again and looked back at the note he was reading before the list.

...total humans and I'm making a planet just for training them. It should be up and working at any moment. I'm burning quite a few resources to advance it so quickly, but it should do the job. It'll be a standalone planet with multiple different biomes and creatures, that way our humans have a chance to really experience things. Each of these people will lead their own civilization, so start planning out how you want to create the landmasses for them. I think we need to look at who fits into what biome best, and then design it for that purpose. I have to work on this new planet, but one last quick note for you.

Help the new guy with a name. I suggest Mea if they're leaning female, or Jude if male. Singing Hey Jude every day would be fun... anyway. This guy is going to be in charge of our new subsystem assistants, like a foreman. I can't take the time out of each expulsion to explain everything to them. Please help them get started on our goals and the oath I stated. Also, there's a new regional system I made that also has Levels. It's based on the growth system and will make sure that every region gains special resources based on the territorial levels within it. I'll explain when I stop which should be pretty soon for you.

Thanks for doing this, and sorry to dump it on you.

As Virgil finished reading the note, Walker faded in out of nowhere. His body had steam coming off of it and he had white highlights in his hair that weren't there before. He gave Virgil one quick and tired smile before collapsing on the ground.

"Great." Virgil said with a frown. He looked up to the sky and found a green planet not too far away. He looked over at the fifty humans who were still staring at Walker on the ground. "DO NOT TOUCH HIM." He said with great emphasis. Making sure they understood, he turned around.

"Well.... let us get started." He said, mimicking his Creator's favorite line as he walked away from the still-steaming man.

Everything...was new. She came from...something...nothing...and opened her eyes. The world felt...strange. Although her mind didn't accept what strange was, it was the closest interpretation to the feeling that she could find. Her thoughts moved slowly, like they had never had to operate before. The world was a symphony of strange feelings and sensations. The grass itched underneath her, the temperature was cold on her skin. She continued to hear strange sounds and see things that she intrinsically knew were important but didn't know what they were.

A massive man wearing scraps of clothing appeared from the middle of nowhere, causing her and those around her to shuffle back and cry out. He fell to the ground as waves of partially opaque smoke drifted off of him. Unlike the others, she didn't make a sound, instead choosing to stay quiet so she wouldn't attract attention. Attention could be bad here.

Then she noticed the monster standing near him. The great furred creature, with skin the color of the purest darkness, tried to pick him up. But even after straining for some time, found he was unable to do so. She wasn't sure if the monster was weak, or the man was simply that heavy....heavy....Everything continued to feel strange, and she found herself strangely bound by the figure on the ground. It felt like he was pulling her in. Each time she looked away to a new sight, her eyes found themselves going back to him. Like an anchor on her soul. As she looked around, she found others doing the same. They all watched as the last of the smoke faded off of his body, before a blue creature walked in front of them. He looked like a smaller version of the great black monster behind him, although this one had a different expression on his...face.....face.

It was saying something, but she couldn't understand it. A woman wearing yellow clothes with startling green eyes walked up next to him and also began to speak, but even though they were making sounds, she couldn't understand them. She felt a need, an urge, to say something back. To let them know she wasn't a threat. She chose to repeat one word she heard the woman say, although her throat felt dry, making it difficult to get out.

"Care."

The woman's face shifted just like the blue creatures did, and she took it to be a...good thing. As she continued to try to understand them, something appeared in her vision.

Good luck!

….

….

Overlay Starting.

...

...

A series of squiggles and boxes appeared in her vision, blocking some of her sight. Based upon the reactions of those around her, and the screaming that was currently blasting into her ears, they were experiencing something similar. A few tried to run, but a man in orange stopped them, gently, and put them back with the others. Another series of squiggles came after, and a moment later she understood.

...

Universal Translator active

"....as I was saying. Running will not get you anywhere. This is a small moon and we do not have a great amount of places to hide at the moment." The green-eyed woman said. "My name is Echidna. I'm in charge of making sure that you gain your bearings while the Creator...convalesces. I'll also be training you in the ways of the soul, as well as giving some brief...tips...on how more humans come to be."

She tried to speak, but another spoke up in her place, one of the ones wearing clothes.

"W...what. Wherre....where are we?"

The blue creature laughed, "You're on Symphony my friend. What a lucky guy you are!"