Lilith was reading alone in her room when she was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Come in!” She said, looking up from her book. The door opened, and Kali stepped in, shutting and locking the door behind her.
Lilith felt a…pressure of sorts, much like she had when the Council was all together in her living room, only stronger.
Much stronger.
Kali let out a sigh of contentment. “It feels good to let my hair down every now and then.” She said, smiling brightly as she turned to Lilith. “Alright, so, time for me to spill the beans. I’m not really a member of the Council sent to keep an eye on you.”
Lilith felt a knot growing in her stomach. “Then…you’re with the Society? I can’t imagine someone capable enough to deceive the Council and obviously working with some agenda is just a free agent…”
Kali laughed. “Yes and no. Mostly no. But, kid, if you think those two are the only factions kicking around, you’ve got another thing coming.” She walked over to Lilith, sitting down on the bed next to her. She adopted a more serious expressions as she looked at Lilith’s increasingly alarmed face.
“Ah, my bad. I might have gone a little too far there. Calm down, I’m not here to hurt you in any way, I was just trying to mess with you a little by being vague. No, truth is, I’m something of…well, let’s call me the Administrator. I’m the one responsible for creation, maintenance, and expansion of this particular universe.”
She flicked a finger, and the two were suddenly standing in a completely different room, although it also appeared to be a bedroom of sorts. It was roughly 20 feet on each side, decorated liberally with all kinds of stuffed animals and cushions. To one side of the room there was a desk with a computer on it, next to a bookshelf filled with books. Directly across from the bed was an entertainment center filled with gaming consoles and games below a TV mounted on the wall. The pressure was nearly gone in this room; Lilith had to strain to even feel it. It was as if the room itself was absorbing the excess energy, or at least redirecting it away from Lilith.
“I’m afraid that, unfortunately, I can’t really give you any satisfactory proof that I am who I say I am. All this might well be an illusion I’ve somehow put on you, despite your resistances.” Kali said, flopping onto the bed. She’d changed into pajamas during the transition, and Lilith couldn’t help but feel like that was a strange thing to do, given the subject matter at hand.
“I just like being comfortable in my own home is all.” Kali said, not even attempting to hide the fact that she was reading Lilith’s mind. “Yeah, it’s rude, but right now it’s important I know how you’re feeling. Don’t wanna overload you.” She patted the bed next to her. “Come sit down, make yourself comfortable. Can’t have you standing on any sort of ceremony.”
“But…” Lilith said weakly. “Aren’t you…god?”
Kali shrugged. “You could say that. I wouldn't. I’m not omnipotent, and I’m certainly not omniscient, or we likely wouldn’t even be here. What’s important is that I’m the same person I’ve always been. I haven’t put up a front or even used a fake name while I’ve been down there, so nothing has actually changed.”
Hesitantly, Lilith sat down next to Kali.
“That’s better.” Kali said, beaming at her. “So, let’s continue with the bean spillage, shall we?” She took a breath before continuing. “So, you’re here because I need your help. No, don’t give me that look, it’s true. So, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the magic system is kind of a huge mess. You don’t even know you’ve gotten something new until you go through some sort of identification magic, conditions for unlocking things are unclear, even the exact benefits of any given thing are often vague. To be honest, it’s just an enormous pain to work with. The whole thing is dreadfully inefficient, from the user’s end, to the administrator’s end, to the energy consumption. I got all cocky when I was younger and tried to make something on my own and ended up with this."
“Unfortunately, I can’t just up and change the whole thing on a whim. Believe me, if I could I would have done that ages ago. The last time I tried to even incorporate something new into the system we got the eldritch, and, if my peers are to be believed, that’s one of the simpler things to put into any given world. The system I made just couldn’t handle the new information, and it ended up harming almost anyone who got those abilities. So, I made the whole thing off-limits and made some simple AIs to act as the Elder Gods in hopes of driving people away."
“As for where you come into this, let’s talk about Perfect Chimeras. As you know, Perfect Chimeras are tied more intimately to the system than just about anything else, including me. Think of it like this – if everyone had read access to the system, you would have read-write access, and I would be someone who could mess with the hardware, but not much of the software. So, I was hoping to be able to work together with you to be able to introduce the changes I want.”
Lilith nodded. “Alright, that makes sense…I think. Still, why me in particular? Aren’t there other Perfect Chimeras?”
Kali grimaced. “That is correct. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t really work for what I have in mind. They’re far too conservative after living this long and would probably never agree to something like this. And it’s not like Perfect Chimeras are a dime a dozen, either. I have to personally mark someone as a Perfect Chimera, which is pretty draining. So, rather than expend all that energy at once on a person who might not even get me my desired result, I decided to make an investment that I think paid off rather well."
“During that war, I decided that I would nudge things to go the way they did. When it was eventually over and that massive spell was attempted, I was the one who did all the heavy lifting. The spell itself was modified by yours truly to just siphon their mana to me so I would have the excess of power needed to temporarily block the inhabitants of Earth from using the system, mostly erase their memory of it, and create Haven for people to use."
“There were a few benefits to this. First, I got to see what would happen if people were still generating magical energy but couldn’t use the system. The result were cryptids, by the way. Those mostly got cleaned up by the Council once they were seen, but it was rather fascinating to watch new life spontaneously generate. That aside, the second big benefit was instilling a spirit of technological advancement into people from Earth, which should help bump up the tech level significantly. The third benefit is preparing people for what’s to come. I planted the seeds of what I want into the media from Earth, which in turn filtered over to Haven. I’m hoping that this will ease the transition to the new system a bit more, so I’m not just dropping everyone in blind."
“Lastly, it gave me some wiggle room to work with in making you. I’ve been subtly altering Tunem’s divinations to lead him towards this specific outcome, specifically getting Vithi to you. I wanted that stored power to be in a form I could use, and I wanted there to be a lot of it. So, I got him to store her with some things that were leaking mana, guided him to you, and we ended up here. As for why you in particular, your temperament matched what I needed, and I thought you were cute. Nothing more to it, really.”
Lilith frowned. “If you thought I was cute, why change me into a girl? Actually, can’t you just change me back?”
Kali’s smile, which had returned to normal as she talked, cramped again. “Honestly, not my choice there. That was all on Darragh. I added the mental components of your change and chased that weasel away after he pulled that stunt, but the damage was done.” She quickly shook her head, holding her hands out in front of her. “Don’t get me wrong, though! I swing both ways, so I still thing you’re just as cute! Unfortunately, you’re in kind of a rough position for me to do much to. Remember, I’m not omnipotent. Even though my mind magic is the best there is, outside of that I’m only moderately skilled in other types of magic. To go back to the previous analogy, if I wanted to try and change you permanently, I’d have to do it by messing with the hardware of the system, which could lead to irreparable damage, and I’m frankly just not confident in doing it safely. I’m really hoping this new system will allow me to get to the level where I can interfere like that more, but it’s just not in place yet.”
“Alright, fair enough.” Lilith said, “But I still don’t get how I can help here.”
“Getting there, getting there. So, I was rather fortunate I made Perfect Chimeras the way I did. Well, at least in this specific situation. So, like just about everything else with this system, I royally messed up making Perfect Chimeras. I recently found that I unintentionally introduced a backdoor to the system with them; changes made to a Perfect Chimera’s internal system have the potential to alter the system as a whole if the changes come from outside the system. Once I found that I did my best to hotfix it, but I’ve intentionally left it open in your case, since I plan to exploit it to change the system more naturally this time. I tried it with Eldritch abilities as a proof of concept, and from what I can tell it’ll work great once I get the new system up and running."
“So, I basically just need you to be the first to get the new system. And then, after everything is officially implemented, I’m going to need you to help me smooth things over with everyone. You see, I’m planning to undo the thing keeping people from Earth using magic, and then link Earth and Haven more permanently. And, as you can guess, that’s going to cause some friction. The Society should pretty much fall apart into individuals who, well, a lot of the core group is probably going to find some excuse to stay together and search for power, but the group as a whole should be greatly diminished. No, the real problem’s going to be the Council.
“Thanks to Elenoa’s faction, they’re probably going to throw a hissy fit the moment things change. I’ve already prepped their information division to collapse when it happens, which should help blunt their fangs, but they’re probably still going to try and dominate the people from Earth even more than they already have. So, I’ll be needing you to be the muscle that prevents them from doing that.”
Seeing Lilith’s worried face, she laughs. “Don’t worry about it. I’m going to give you an enormous head start in the new system, as well as a few unique benefits for working so closely with me. They shouldn’t stand a chance against you until well after the danger period is past and the people from Earth can reasonably stand up for themselves.”
“Now, the catch is that while I’m getting the new system set up, I’ll be needing you to stay here with me, and that could take a few months. I’m going to disconnect you from Carmen, leave her behind, and mess with everyone’s memories, Carmen included, to make them remember her as the only active personality until you come back. Fortunately, I’ll be able to bring Siph here to act as company and a bodyguard, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”
She extended a hand to Lilith. “If you accept, I’ll let you in on the details of the changes, and we’ll begin immediately. If you don’t, I’ll return you to the academy, and you’ll forget this whole conversation. So, will you help me?”
Lilith hesitated for only a moment before grabbing the hand. “I’m in.”
Kali’s eyes lit up. “Awesome, I knew I could count on you! So, details!” She sucked in a large breath before continuing. “So, I want to transition the world to a system more like a video game’s system. Levels, stats, skills, that sort of a thing. The biggest reason for this is that it’ll apply some sort of rigid structure to the formless mess I’ve created, but I’ve got a couple of other hopes for it.”
“First off, I’m hoping that it’ll help the inhabitants of this world grow stronger. Right now, everyone’s too busy with either surviving or dealing with the enemies that no one is really getting any more powerful. By giving a tangible measurement of strength that grows in easily understood ways, I’m thinking people will be incentivized towards improving themselves. By and large, everyone is either on Earth and unable to do anything in this regard, or cooped up in one of the three cities on Haven, content to just sit there because venturing outside is too dangerous. This means that on the magical side of things, there’s next to no innovation occurring.”
“Second, I’m hoping it’ll give me a little more leeway to interfere directly with people’s magic, so I’m not stuck as powerless as I am now. Which directly translates into my third objective, getting ready to expand my influence. I’ve only been able to grab planes that no one else wants because I don’t have the force to back up anything more. So, more planes, more resources, easier lives for everyone involved.”
“So, my plan right now is to use you as a way to ease the systems I want together. Last time I tried to just force them, we ended up with magic that made people insane by just knowing it. I’m going to mess around with the metaphorical hardware while you install the metaphorical software. Once I’m satisfied everything’s working as intended, we’ll roll out the new stuff to everyone. Let me know when you’re ready, and then I’m going to knock you out while I tinker with the magic system. Don’t want anything going wrong while that’s happening. Any questions?”
Lilith frowned. “A lot, but nothing that can’t wait. Go ahead, I guess.”
“Perfect! See you in a few hours!”
And everything went black.
So, Perfect Chimeras have every single Domain. And Domains are tied pretty heavily to the physical body. So, in order to prevent Perfect Chimeras from being torn apart just by existing, Kali introduced what will be called "Form Anchoring" to them, which renders their default form unchangeable by anything, especially the system. Darragh snuck in his work in the in-between time of Lucas transforming into Lilith and Form Anchoring being applied, and as soon as that happened Kali's hands were tied. So, she decided to make the best of it and make sure at the very least Lilith wouldn't be dealing with crippling dysphoria her entire life and gave her the mental effects as a mercy.
As has been seen, Perfect Chimeras can still transform into other things, and Lilith could eventually keep something like her dragon form up indefinitely, but any dispel effect would bring her back to base form.
This actually doesn't apply to appendages from Eldritch Abomination, as Kali rigged the system a little there. As far as it's concerned, all that extra mass is like hair or nails and is allowed to be there. It's currently all kept in a private demiplane Kali set up for this purpose, and has been given a moderate ward against dispel effects (well, moderate by Kali's standards. There are only a few people in her universe who could even notice them, let alone get around those wards by themselves, but in other universes it would be pretty doable). If someone was to successfully dispel this mass, it'd turn back into whatever it was when assimilated, and a failsafe would kick in sending that portion of mass back to the demiplane until it's properly warded again, which would probably take around five seconds to do.
I've been reading this until now, but this is slowly turning into a weird-looking mishmash of things. The previous are wasn't even finished properly, with Kali saying "Found you after three days or so!" A lot of the stuff the characters do seem to be just a tool for the plot and seem to have no motive behind it. I may have not read the story hard enough, but there are too many unneeded infodumps on stuff that we didn't really need to know, and having reasons why this or that happened, that is actually vital to the story is left in the author's notes which (I assume) nobody ever really reads it. Recent chapters have been beginning to have a disconnect between what the characters were doing and then they've suddenly skipped over the important parts. I feel the genie warmed up to the MC too quickly, as she was supposed to be 'wary' of new owners. Amidst other issues, I think the story could be refined to where the author's notes could be integrated into the story without having to leave it as some footnote. Sorry for my terrible writing, I'm doing this in the middle of the night and I don't know why.
Yeah, that's entirely fair and a large reason why I'm rewriting the story up to this point (and potentially further, depending on how I'm feeling once that's done). The beginning is a huge mess because it was written in bits and pieces over about 2 years and the direction changed a great deal between breaks, so that's really the only excuse.
Specific examples of necessary information in author's notes and the disconnect (I'm...not exactly sure what you mean by that, to be honest) would be a great help to me, as then I can be sure to give those special attention when I'm going back over that portion of the story, thanks!
Felt the Keeper vibe hard from that but it wasn't feeling like a rip off. Otherwise her Companion woulda been worse than the previous EFO about this mess. Still the current system kinda reminded me of the Sphere Grid from FFX but since it's causing you the author so much of a head ache a farewell to it isn't to hard to take. (Hated the Sphere Grid as a whole anyway.)
Good to know!
The Sphere Grid is an interesting comparison, but I can't say you're entirely incorrect. Honestly what was probably causing the most headache for me was there being no set acquisition criteria for anything, meaning it was just "When I feel like it", which meant I was never 100% sure when to give things, what to give, it was just a huge mess on my end and I only had like half an idea of what was going on behind the scenes which, to me, was a pretty big red flag for the whole thing. What I've got going on now is still a lot of work, but in a good way, since it's making me actually do things the way they should be done and, as such, I feel a lot more in control of the whole situation.
@Fighterman481 Aye, I can feel you there. Weird part is I kinda felt like I was seeing some pattern in a lot of it . Maybe just comes from reading these back to back like this.
@Syth_Dracous If you can find a coherent pattern I will be impressed enough to give you a cookie. It'll be an internet cookie unless you somehow track me down IRL, but it's better than no cookie :)
@Fighterman481 May just be Nyarl's influence. Don't really know.