Quickman

Yeah, I know, I posted the same chapter as yesterday. Sorry about that. Here's the real chapter for today.

Mori sat at her own little desk in ATHENA’s dynamo room, drawing sigil designs and writing down ideas to add to her two main projects. She glanced up, annoyed at the lack of inspiration, to see Fara and VII hard at work with ATHENA. Mori watched as the three of them shaped a thousand chunks of metal into a mechanical hoplite. Greek style helmet, thick armor that actually took more influence from VII’s repertoire of knowledge than ancient Greek sensibilities, and a prototype mana beam rifle with a large bayonet on the end.

After a few moments, the two women nodded to each other, then turned to ATHENA, “Ath,” VII said, “How many of these can we make in a week?” she asked.

“The design is highly optimized for mechanical performance, but the parts are relatively simple to produce. There are few runes in the structure as well, which means that I can produce approximately two thousand per week with the dynamo’s power devoted fully to production. That is also to assume that the mana crystals required for proper assembly have been attuned and are in place, however, which is not the case. I will only be able to produce about three hundred Talonec Mk. 1 shells this week, but production will increase to the proper levels next week,” ATHENA explained, her orb-body moving around the shell to examine it as she spoke.

Mori nodded to herself. Though the part about ATHENA being able to produce mana gems was a bit odd, liches did the same thing by existing, so she was less surprised. What did surprise her was the fact that she would be able to have her undead army armed and ready within the month. That was surprising to her; she thought that making armies was supposed to take a long time, “Are you sure it will take so little time?” Mori asked

The three turned to her, VII smiling pleasantly while Fara grinned contentedly, “It is more than possible, Mori,” ATHENA replied “The dynamo my… previous incarnation was supplied with has a massively increased yield due to the numerous attuned materials incorporated within its design. Without the attuned materials, I estimate a one thousand one hundred and three percent decrease in efficiency,” she explained.

Mori nodded slowly, “...Okay, magic metals means better production of mana. Got it. So, because of the order of magnitude of difference in mana production, you can make the shells so quickly?” ATHENA’s body bobbed up and down in response, a sort of nod she began using after the three women used it enough, “But that would also mean you can’t do anything else,” Mori added. ATHENA gave another nod.

“Ah… that’s not good,” VII remarked, “We still need to get you moving. Hrm… mana dynamos were never my strong suit… Though, they were X41’s specialty,” she said, then pausing, “Hey… Mori… you’re good with souls, right?” she began with an innocent smile on her face.

Mori turned to VII, “...You want me to raise her as an undead, don’t you? Do you have any idea what could happen if I did that? What could happen to her soul?” Mori demanded.

“Um… No?”

“Well, neither do I,” Mori snapped, “I’m not raising your siblings as undead if there is even a chance for them to get affected mentally. End of discussion. Besides, isn’t ATHENA a diet Forgeheart? Why can’t she do it?”

“Well… Cysts don’t get any of the more complex schematics, designs, or protocols until they settle down. And besides that, I didn’t even technically build Ath into a forgeheart unit. She’s more of a central intelligence and strategic planner combined with a production facility without the data for the mana types.” Mori, Fara, and ATHENA all stared at VII for a long moment. She sighed, “It means that she can only produce what we give her. With the bots you still have, Mori, we could make a few thousand normal Clockwork units without too much output reduction. The problem just comes when I want her to make something I haven’t given her blueprints for. Like X41’s body.”

“Why can’t you just mode Four-One off of your own body and go from there?” Mori asked, “Is her body something too dissimilar from yours?”

VII chuckled, shaking her head, “Too different? Yes.. Absolutely. Mori, she’s an Arachne woman. You know? Spider lower half, human upper half? Besides, we don’t even have enough materials for her body.”

Mori hummed, “Okay, what do we need for her body?” she asked, “I can run some tests on my body and see if I can regrow any pieces I cut off.” She knew that some of the Traits she had asked Kel’rk’ath to remove were simply dissolved into their base components in terms of mana, giving her body similar abilities, so it was not a stretch to assume that the regrowth aspect of [Slinger Ape Bone Plates] carried over to her soul-- and thus body-- as well. Mori paused, then held her head in her hands, “Urg… I have to thank him when this is all over… why didn’t I think of something like that?”

“Are you alright, Mori?” Fara asked, leaning on the table still laden with the Talonec shell.

Mori nodded, sighing once more, “Well, I just realized that I was being very stupid. Kel’rk’ath didn’t just remove my Traits, he distilled the ones I didn’t want into their ‘base components,’ meaning that I might be able to cut off parts of my body and use them.”

Fara and VII shared a glance, then stared her down, “We’re not doing that,” Fara stated. There was no room for argument in her tone, “Mori, what do you think happens when a thing that is a part of your soul is cut off?”

Mori thought for a moment, then saw the problem, “Literally soul-searing pain… Gods dammit… Why don’t I see these things?” she asked. She never thought that she was so blind in those sorts of things. She had even scrambled to save one of her undead’s souls, so she wondered how she had such an obvious blind spot for the suffering she endured.

VII smiled, walking over to her desk and giving Mori a side-hug, “Mori, we can’t do it all. We have blind spots and can’t see things like that sometimes.” VII then looked down at Mori’s pitifully blank page, “Are you having trouble coming up with stuff?”

Mori looked down at the page, then up to VII, then to Fara, “I am… I have a bunch of ideas, but implementing them all is impossible. I have to give something up, but I don’t know what to give…”

They thought for a moment when Fara suddenly snapped her fingers, “Alright, so what are the features you want these undead to have? If we have everything, we can narrow it down from there.”

Mori thought for a moment, scratching her chin, “Well, the first one is the ability to travel through shadows-”

“A classic for the socially functional necromancers,” VII added.

“-The ability to travel through light, powerful soul shields, the ability to give off this aura of fire idea I had, the same thing but with any other element or basic mana-- like light or shadow or ice or water or whatever-- the ability to just make barriers, the ability to manipulate materials with intuitive commands, a sort of hivemind idea that I would have to test-”

“No! No no no no no! You’re not doing that one!” VII sternly said, nearly leaning over Mori, “I’ll tell you two about it later, but… no hiveminds. No.”

Mori raised her hands, “Alright, that one was a bit of a moral dilemma for me, anyway. After that, the only other idea was to look into ways of increasing their soul power automatically. Something that efficiently turns… something into power. I just… don’t know what.”

Fara thought for a moment, “Tell me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the general rule that a sacrifice will give you a, generally, equal reward?”

“Well, there are plenty of schemes that scam magic out of its reward,” VII remarked, “But that is generally the case. Why?”

Fara was about to answer, but suddenly grew a scowl, “I… umm… think it might be plagiarism…”

“Plagiarism is something that people who want others to think for themselves made up. But sometimes taking lessons from elsewhere is important,” VII said, “In this case, any ideas you have-- even if they aren’t your own-- are important. So, what did you have in mind?”

Fara thought for a moment, “What if we make it so that when an undead completes a difficult task, they become stronger?”

Mori’s eye-flames flared, “Fara, that’s the Sa’rk system in a nutshell… So that’s who you’re planning… Okay, that could work. If we had the actual mana types. Making them from scratch will be impossible, and I don’t think we have anyone with the system in their souls around here… unless… ATHENA, is Eva still here?”

“She is. She and Desire are watching as I make some foundational adjustments. Do you require their presence?” Mori nodded, turning back to the page and scribbling down new sigil designs, “Understood. They should be on their way.”

Mori nodded, barely looking up from her paper. “Mori, we didn’t talk about what powers we should give them,” Fara remarked. Mori’s pen halted in its tracks and she looked up with a surprised face, armor matching her, “Come on, how about this: you give them the two movement abilities and some soul shielding? That sound good?”

“That… does. Nothing too crazy, but a standard package… Got it.” she lowered her head once more, scribbling and writing with more energy than ever before.

VII and Fara were left standing there awkwardly as Mori worked, “So, what are we going to do about the dynamos?” VII asked Fara, “I mean, we don’t have the same rare materials as this dynamo, but…”

Fara thought for a moment, “We can make mana gems, right?” VII nodded. “Then we can remake the dynamo. With a lower efficiency rate, but still working nonetheless.”

VII slowly nodded, then grew a smile, “Oh, we could use those rare materials in the catacombs to boost them! Do you want to help me down there?” VII asked. Fara thought for a moment, then nodded happily, “Good. Come on, then!” she yelled as the two of them ran out of the room.

As they left, ATHENA turned between the door, then to Mori, then back to the door, then back to Mori, “I feel like I have been forgotten…”

“You haven’t. We are just passionate about our fields. If you could, can you divert a bit of mana to mana gems? They’ll need them once they crack the dynamo open and start making another one,” Mori said, head still a few inches from her paper.

“...I see. I will do that, then,” ATHENA replied, then hung silently for a few moments, “I need a hobby…”