Swarming Sovereignty

Lia sat down nervously in her living room, waiting for Rose and Amelia to get there. Her break was finally over, and it was time for them to discuss what her place in the army would be for the immediate future. Connie was already there, sitting next to Lia, but Rose and Amelia were finishing business at the front lines and were slated to be there any second.

“Didn’t keep you waiting too long, did we?” Amelia asked, appearing in the middle of the room with Rose at her side.

“I just sat down.” Lia replied. “Um…how are we going to go about this?”

Rose and Amelia sat down across from Lia and Connie. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I’ve consulted with Amelia and Connie about this,” She said, “and while our stance on you entering high-level combat hasn’t changed, I think we’ve all been neglecting something absolutely vital. You are far and away the best person in the swarm at converting things. It may not seem glamorous, but I feel that we’ve overlooked its importance as of late.

“So, our proposal is that you become head of experimental conversions. It may not be out in the thick of the action like you wanted. But it’s something that you’re genuinely better than anyone else at. If we play our cards right, you could be making superweapons that will change the course of the war, and even if you can’t make anything absolutely overwhelming, you can make unique things that are still more powerful than normal.”

Lia thought on that for a moment. “I’m not opposed to it.” She said. “But what about Alisha and all the benefits she gives me in combat? Wouldn’t we be letting those go to waste?”

Rose shook her head. “You’d only be staying out of combat until you’re ready. With my lessons and with Matthew and Willow training you every so often, I’m sure that day will come sooner than you think.”

“Will I just be…cooped up here, staring at cocoons all day?”

“Not at all!” Rose said emphatically. “At the very worst, we’ll have you setting up shop in different places. For instance, we’re still in the process of overhauling Aura and the Glens’ navies to better fit the swarm, and we’d have you at the coasts doing conversions there. Plus, you can get out on trips to source components yourself, provided it’s not something incredibly dangerous like heading into unexplored parts of the Spine alone.”

“Let’s go with that, then.” Lia said. “As long as I’m doing something productive, I’m happy.”

Rose gave her a relieved smile. “I know Lily has been salivating over the idea of living ships, so perhaps working on that could be your first goal?” She suggested.

“I can gather requests from everyone important.” Amelia volunteered. “We can compile a list of things people want, and you can work towards making them a reality. And, of course, I’m always open if you need me to make enchanted items or anything.”

“Um, I…have a present for you, but I didn’t make it yet because I wasn’t sure if you’d accept this position.” Connie said bashfully. “Come see me in the Dimension of Discounts an hour after we’re done here and I’ll give it to you.”

“Is that alright?” Lia asked worriedly. “I don’t want you to get in trouble on my behalf.”

Connie nodded. “I have things set up so that it works. It’s, uh, technically paid for with your Blood Money, so it’s not much of a present when it comes from your proverbial bank account, but I –”

“It’s fine, Connie.” Lia said, giving Connie a fond smile. “That’s Blood Money you could theoretically be using for other things, right? Then it’s just as much of a present as if I didn’t pay for it.”

“Well, yes, but I could just lower prices and –”

“Don’t.” Lia said firmly. “I really would prefer if you take a little extra like that, it makes me feel like I’m not imposing as much on your time. And that’s final, okay?”

“Okay. Just…” Connie paused as she looked at Lia’s face. “Alright. I can see you’re not going to budge.”

“Good.” Lia replied. “But, back on topic, uh…is that it? I’m…well, as satisfied as I can be in the situation.”

“I think so, unless either of you two have anything to add.” Rose said.

“I don’t.” Connie said. “I’m going to keep working on the politics side of things, so I’ll let you know if anything needs your attention, Lia. As far as the gods are concerned, you, and, to a lesser extent Rose, are the face of the swarm, the ones to go to if any sort of talks need to happen. Sorry, Amelia, but you’re just not…emotionally mature enough to be ready for that role yet in the eyes of most of the gods.”

“I understand.” Amelia said. “I’ll just have to work to get there, then.”

“That’s the spirit!” Connie replied encouragingly. “You’ll get there relatively soon, I promise. You’re a very smart woman, and you’ve made a lot of progress already.”

“Glad to hear it.” Amelia replied. “Anyway, why don’t we all go out together? It’s been some time since we just hung out.”

“That’s a great idea.” Connie said. “How does a walk sound?”

“A walk sounds great.” Lia agreed.

“A walk it is, then.” Rose said. “Let’s get going, shall we?”

---

An hour after they finished their walk, Lia met Connie in the Dimension of Discounts. “So, um, you…said you had a present?” Lia asked awkwardly.

“Yeah.” Connie replied bashfully, holding her hands behind her back and fidgeting a little. “I, uh, thought on it while I was looking over your status, and I figured that if you decided to go with this job, then this would help you out.”

Connie held her hands out in front of her, offering a slate of some sort to Lia. “This, um, is a tablet.” She said. “They’re pretty common on other planes, but I made this one with your needs in mind, so it’s going to be different than most. If you, um, put in a bit of Blood Money, like ten or so, it’ll bind itself to you and track a bunch of things you do with regards to swarm management and conversion.

“I made it using some of the techniques I learned while making the SPS, and it’s…well, it’s basically a way to help record results of your experimentation and keep everything organized automatically. And, um, it has a few other features, too, like being able to take pictures and videos, and, um, I even hooked it up so it can communicate with my phone, in case you’re lonely while you’re away on business.”

Lia took the device, running a hand over its smooth surface before giving Connie a warm smile and injecting some Blood Money into it. “It’s perfect.” She said. “Thank you, Connie, this means a lot to me. Would you mind showing me how to use it?”

“Of course I don’t mind!” Connie said, giving Lia a relieved smile and walking over so she was shoulder to shoulder with Lia. “You see that little button on the side? If you press it, it’ll turn the screen on. And, like with the SPS, by default only you, Rose, Amelia, and myself can use it, so if someone else tries and it doesn’t work, that’s why. Oh, and I also added the teleport functionality of it too, so you don’t have to worry about losing it.”

Lia pressed the button, and the front of the tablet lit up, displaying a picture of two slime-like creatures floating in water, jellyfish, if she remembered her studies correctly. Though…they were probably monsters, not true jellyfish, judging by the way their bodies were lighting up in different colors. “What’s this picture?” Lia asked.

“It’s called a wallpaper, and it’s just a photo that displays so the background of the tablet isn’t blank while you’re switching between apps.” Connie explained. “You can change it to whatever picture you want, as long as the picture’s on the tablet.”

“Why’d you pick these…jellyfish, I think they’re called?”

Connie blushed and shyly held up her phone. It lit up, displaying the same picture along with the current time. “I took it a while back, liked how it turned out, and I’ve been using it for my lock screen ever since. I just figured…well, you needed something, and it was as good a picture as any. It’s just a placeholder, I’ll show you how to change it later.”

“You’re cute.” Lia said, giving Connie an affectionate peck on the cheek. “I’ll keep it for now, that way we’ll match. You’ll have to tell me the story of how you got this picture sometime, remind me when we’re not busy.”

“I-it’s not exciting.” Connie said. “I didn’t actually go diving, I was looking through the ocean with one of the tools I use and found them. I took a picture because I thought they were interesting.”

“Were they strong?” Lia asked. “If so, I might have to see if we can get some to experiment with later.”

“Strong?” Connie asked, frowning. Then, after a moment, she seemed to make a realization. “No, they’re not monsters, they’re just regular animals.”

“What?” Lia replied, stunned. “But those lights…”

“Entirely nonmagical, believe it or not. Your plane hasn’t really explored the ocean much, but there are some very interesting things down there. Anyway, they’re called comb jellyfish, I can show you more later if you’re interested.”

“Please do.” Lia replied. “And…even if they’re not monsters, they could be good for experimentation purposes, right?”

“That’s exactly the kind of mindset you should be having.” Connie replied, giving Lia an encouraging smile. “Give me a couple weeks and I’ll start stocking some interesting animals, they’re a little more difficult to store than inanimate objects, so I’ll have to do some renovations. And…well, depending on how extensive they end up being, I’ll probably need you to invest some Blood Money so we don’t run afoul of the rules of the gods.”

“That would be fantastic, thank you! And the money is no object, it’s well worth the investment. Just write up the bill and I’ll pay it as soon as I have enough.” Lia said.

Connie nodded distractedly. “Maybe I can roll it all into an aquarium-zoo combo facility…then it would double as a leisure facility and a convenient place to store product…there’ll be some maintenance to keep the animals fed and happy, but if I consult with Amelia and get some of those food dispensers…”

Lia smiled, then gave Connie a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll leave you to it, okay? I’m going to go look over our stock of materials and store away whatever excess interesting stuff I find.”

Connie blushed. “Ah, uh, yes, sorry. I’ll be making dinner in a few hours, so be back home before then.”

“I will.” Lia promised. “Love you.”

Connie blushed even more fiercely. “Love you too.”

---

Lia finished reading the list of desired conversions, and was immediately met with an odd feeling that she instinctually knew meant her tablet had something it wanted to tell her. In another situation she might have found that odd; the tablet was in her dimensional storage, and should have been completely frozen in time, but Lia knew better than that.

The tablet was the work of a god, and that alone would have satisfied her, but Connie had also said that she had hooked it into the system using the techniques she had learned while making the SPS. That meant that it directly interfaced with Lia’s swarm management Skills, and to some extent, interfaced with Lia directly.

So, she took the tablet out of her storage, nothing that, curiously, a small circle in the top left corner was flashing blue. Her curiosity piqued, she turned on the screen to find that a couple of bubbles with text in them had appeared on the lock screen. Raising an eyebrow, Lia began to read, starting with the topmost bubble.

Hey there, if you’re reading this, then you’ve received your first notification! It read. I thought you might be a little confused, since you’ve never used this sort of tech before, so I put in a little info notification to help teach you. Tap the notification to read more.

Lia tapped the notification, and the bubble expanded, making the other notification bubble as well as the lock screen interface disappear.

This tablet is currently set to give you notifications whenever something you personally converted finishes its conversion, when it senses that it can integrate helpful information, when it encounters new information on a material, and a few other things. You can change the settings, as well as silence the notifications from the settings app.

Most notifications will appear in the lock screen and can be dismissed by holding your finger down on them and swiping left or right. If you accidentally go past the lock screen without reading one, just put your finger on the top of the screen and swipe downwards, and you’ll get a “quick menu” that has them there. If you dismiss one accidentally, there’s an app that has a log of notifications, so don’t panic.

After reading this notification, hold your finger down at the bottom middle of the screen and you’ll be taken back to the home screen. After you finish reading this, I suggest tapping on the app that says “tutorial”, it’ll teach you everything you need to know. Love, Connie.

Lia held her finger in the indicated area, and was surprised to feel a slight vibration, followed by the return of her home screen. She tapped the “tutorial app” Connie had talked about, and spent the next fifteen or so minutes familiarizing herself with the tablet before finally checking the other notification.

Relevant list of goals detected. Would you like to import this list to the tablet?

Lia tapped the yes button and was delighted to see the “goals” app pop up, already populated with the list she had been given. She could begin to see why these sorts of devices were so popular on other planes; even without the convenience that came with the device being tied to her swarm management Skills, just having everything in one place was highly useful.

She took a moment to look over the list again. She didn’t doubt its accuracy, but her thoughts on the matter had been interrupted by the notification and the time she spent learning how to use the tablet, so she wanted a refresher before thinking about it again.

First and foremost, both Rose and Lily wanted Lia to look into living ships. Lily, because she was interested in the ramifications such a thing would have on moving goods, and Rose because she was worried about the strength of their navy. Naval warfare wasn’t particularly common, not with how dangerous the oceans were, but most countries did keep a navy, and the Lord of Monsters would inevitably have aquatic monsters backing it.

Since two people were asking for it and the swarm had yet to procure any notable aquatic monsters for defense, Lia decided that would be her first priority. Rose had been very clear when she said she thought the swarm was in its most vulnerable state at the moment, and Lia didn’t want to leave the coasts as exposed as they were.

Furthermore, the sooner they were able to start converting fish and other aquatic monsters, the sooner their underwater presence would grow, and Rose was very excited by the prospect of some sort of below-water fighting force. Lia didn’t quite get the benefit of such a force as much as she would have liked, but Rose was really cute when she talked about stuff she was excited about, so Lia wanted to see how excited she would get when that below-water force was made into a reality.

Next, Amphi wanted more people who were good at communicating with monsters. As things stood, most monsters and animals were useless for anything more than determining the general layout of an area and finding any obvious landmarks or large forces that they saw. Monsters and animals, even the “intelligent” ones like goblins, didn’t have enough intelligence to give any good mental picture of an area to those who could read their minds.

And, according to Amphi, there were only a few people who could share the senses of any given member of the swarm, and aside from Lia they all had conditions attached. So, having more of those would help scout new areas and get more accurate intel on enemy movements. That was priority number two, as they had use both domestically and at war.

Third was a pair of requests from Rose, and they were more…categorical than anything. Rose wanted soldiers that could fly and soldiers that could burrow. As things stood, the number of soldiers they had that were capable of either was limited. Airborne and subterranean monsters were significantly less common than other types of monsters, and Rose was hoping Lia could find a way to replicate the effects of having one of those monsters in a cocoon without actually needing one. The value of airborne troops was obvious, but subterranean ones had needed a bit more of an explanation.

When Lia had pointed out that they had burrowers that could build tunnels for them, Rose had said they weren’t feasible in most combat situations. The biggest problem was that they were simply too slow for use in engagements like the one they had had a week prior. Getting behind enemy lines with them would take hours, and by the time they got there, their effect would be minimal. In something like a siege they could be useful, but they weren’t planning on having any sieges any time soon.

Furthermore, them being slow made them incredibly vulnerable if the enemy had any earth mages. It was common practice to leave at least one mage to scan the ground for signs of tunnels, as they were relatively easy to make with earth magic and they were devastating if done correctly. Burrowers were fragile and lacking in combat capability, and would quickly be discovered and slaughtered in most situations.

So, Rose wanted actual soldiers, ones to whom burrowing was a benefit but not their purpose. The tunnels didn’t need to be sturdy, they just needed to be made quickly and preferably as stealthily as possible. That sounded reasonable to Lia, so third on the list they became.

The rest Lia didn’t bother to rank on the priority list, she’d get to them when she got to them. They were things that were nice to have but ultimately not game-changing, such as creatures that were more efficient at turning inorganic material into modeling wax. So, with her priorities in order, she made her way to the work floor, seeking items that would help her meet any of her top three, as well as as much modeling wax as she could get.