Mori held up the last of the dynamos Fara, VII, and she planned to build. It was a large disk filled to the brim with runes, magical metal, and clocksteel, or mana-made steel according to ATHENA. The disk was close to Mori’s arm-length in diameter, with glass on the front and with a nozzle on the bottom, able to siphon mana-laden water from the complex mind-bending mechanism. Mori approached the wall, an indent forming perfectly sized for the dynamo. She placed the disk into the slot, waiting a moment for ATHENA to hold it in place, then pulled away.
She smiled as the disk held, along with the five others on the wall. A pipe connected the disk to a series of pipes that snaked up and down the walls. “Thank you, Mori. The dynamo is fully operational, working at 99.7% efficiency. Efficiency is increasing as well. The dynamo may reach post-optimal in an hour,” ATHENA said.
Mori nodded, “Not a problem,” she said, “So, what now?” she asked as she turned to VII and Fara, both standing around awkwardly. “Don’t tell me you don’t have some passion projects you could be doing right now…” They both looked to the side, refusing to meet her gaze. Mori sighed, “How about you two help me with the sisters’ upgrades?”
Fara and VII turned back to her with smiles, “Sure, we could help you!” Fara replied, “But what can we do? I mean, VII could help you with the magic, but what about me?”
Mori thought for a moment, “Do you know what Avar and Jran are doing?” she asked as she sat down at her desk.
“Probably in the tower workshop,” Fara replied, “Why?”
“Because you and they could have made some armor for the sisters. But… actually, Fara, I have a question,” Mori began, “What do you think about putting the Kharon onto ATHENA’s body?”
Fara narrowed her eyes in thought, raised her finger, scowled, lowered it, then raised it again, “If we do that, I want to design wherever it goes.”
“I am not adverse to the plan,” ATHENA added, “In fact, some design help would be greatly appreciated. I am having trouble designing fortifications and weapons platforms. It would be helpful if you were to help me, Fara.”
Fara’s face lit up at the thought, and she sprinted over to ATHENA’s core and they talked in hushed tones, bringing up a model and making changes at rapid speeds. Mori turned to VII with a chuckle, “Keep letting her do that and you’ll see your daughter married before her first birthday.”
VII rolled her eyes at that, “Birthdays and comings of ages are only important for organic life who needs to actually grow. We synthetics, clockwork units, or undead don’t have that limitation. Either way, we might as well get this started. So, what have you done so far?”
Mori smiled, turning the paper on her desk around for VII to see, “Basically, the plan is to give them a standard suite of enhancements. Strength, reflexes, toughness, perception, the whole shebang. I also wanted to increase the power of their souls, but that’s a work in progress.”
“Oh, I see it now. Not a bad design,” VII replied, looking at the cross-like sigil, “But I would have just distilled it all into a few potions so it can all happen at once. Of course, I don’t really know how to make potions, much less you, so this is the best option.”
Mori gave VII a confused look, “VII, I have only had experience with potions twice. The first time was when an old-- for me, anyway-- friend drank sense-heightening tea. The second had to do with some extra dimensional traveler rewarding me for saving her brother. Or sister. There were a lot of voices, so I couldn’t tell.”
VII stared at Mori for a moment, then sighed, “You met Soulsy, then?”
“Hold on, Soulsy?”
“Eh, not important. Anyway, yeah, those were potions. That liquid mana over there,” VII said, pointing to the mana-laden water flowing through the dynamos, “Are also potions. It’s basically enchanting a liquid. That’s it. Some prefer to attune the liquid first, like how the metal in the dynamos are attuned, but that’s just to make the potion more powerful. Anyway, that’s all stuff to learn later. What were you thinking about when it came to empowering their souls?”
Mori thought for a moment, brushing off the hint that VII would actually teach Mori about potion-making, “Well, I was thinking about using a strengthening mana type and directly injecting it into their souls, but that would just seem… wrong. And dangerous.”
“You’re not wrong on that.”
“The second idea was to give them a big dose of my S. energy. What do you think?”
VII thought for a second, then scowled, “That wouldn’t work. You would need to translate the Sentience energy into actual power. If it could be used as power just like that, then there would be an abundance of clueless powerhouses. Besides, if you injected your Sentience energy into them, they might develop the same… quirks your soul has. If it were me, just copy the battle-hungry sigils from the Talonecs, then put them onto the three. It might make them a bit similar to the Talonecs, but that’s fine. They can be commanders.”
Mori thought for a while, “The Furies commanding the soul of slain Talos,” she muttered, “Pretty metal, that. Alright, I’m sold. I had another idea I wanted to run by you, though.”
VII smiled, “I’m all ears.”
*=====*
Mae led Ally and Tisi through the constantly shifting hallways of ATHENA’s body, watching as the architecture slowly became more refined, “So, the mistress is ready for us,” she said to her two sisters.
“About time,” Ally muttered, “I want to help too, not just be a waste of space. Besides… I want another hug.”
Tisi lightly smiled, “We would all want hugs from the mistress,” she chuckled, “But she is a busy woman, not to mention lich. She cannot cater to us all the time.”
Ally whined, “But hugs…”
“We might be able to ask for hugs if we do something really amazing. Come on, we’re almost there,” Mae said to them, finally entering the dynamo room. In it, ATHENA and Fara were both engrossed in a model of ATHENA’s shell, increasing in complexity every second. Sitting at a desk with VII to her left was Mori, writing furiously on a piece of paper. Mae and the others approached their mistress, “We’re here, mistress. When can we start…?” she asked.
The mistress looked up and smiled, “As soon as I’m done explaining,” she said, “I’ll be quick about this. So, there are two parts to this upgrade. The first is to increase the effectiveness of your body, increasing strength, reflex, toughness, and everything else. The second part is to strengthen your souls. It’s something I should do for everyone, actually. Basically, fighting more means more strength. Ally, you’ll love it. Any questions before the next part?”
The three stood, glancing at each other, before Mae shook her head, “Nope,” she replied, smiling. The idea of having to fight more to strengthen their souls appealed to Ally, no doubt, but was only somewhat appealing to Mae and Tisi. Nonetheless, the mistress was obviously trying her best with their upgrades, so there was little to complain about.
The mistress nodded, “Okay, the next part is… something a parent really shouldn’t tell their children… Basically, what do you three think about getting some tattoos?”
Mae tilted her head, while she could see Ally become excited and Tisi blinked in surprise. At the same time, she noticed VII trying her best not to laugh off to the side. “Do we get to pick what they look like?” Ally asked, excited.
Mori scratched the back of her head, “Well… I was thinking more of runic tattoos. Spells you three could cast at a moment's notice. That sort of thing.” The mistress stood, beckoning them over to a table, “So, any objections?”
Before Mae could ask any reasonable questions, Ally stepped past her, “Do we get to have decorative tattoos?” she asked, eyes practically sparkling, “Because I really want to have something cool.”
The mistress scratched her head again, “I… could… But I’m no expert. Really, I shouldn’t even be asking you three if you want tattoos-- since I’m your mom and all-- but it’s a way to get more power. Or versatility. Whatever. If, and that’s a big if, if I make the tattoos look pretty, what do you want them to be?”
“A… um… actually, I don’t know what. Mistress, you mentioned that you named us after something. What did you name us after?” Ally asked. Mae could not fault Ally’s logic in asking the question. It was something Mae could only remember from vague, passing mentions.
The mistress thought for a moment, “I didn’t tell you, did I? Well, no time like the present. I named you three after the three furies, spirits who hunted down and tortured sinners. People who committed taboos and the like. Do you want tattoos based on them?” They all nodded, one more eager than the others, “Alrighty then. Hrm… I have an idea on how to make the tattoos. Okay, you three lie down and I’ll start.”
They complied immediately, lying down on the table provided, “Do we need to do anything, mistress?” Mae asked.
The mistress shook her head, “Just relax. Don’t fight it, and let the mana take hold. Okay, and here we go,” she said, bringing up three sigils across her arm and casting them. Mae felt her muscles slowly strengthen, becoming more powerful, but left her otherwise unhindered, “And here’s the second part.” Just as she spoke, a sudden pain shot through her head, feeling like her mind was being rewired. Darkness seeped into the corners of her sight, and she began to drift off into sleep. She did not hear what the mistress said as they fell asleep
*=====*
Mae shot up, blinking the confusion from her eyes. It was only the second or third time she had fallen asleep, which meant that she was not used to it, “One hour, thirty one minutes, and seven seconds, Mori,” a hollow voice said, “Faster than the reported times of your ascensions. As I was saying, there are three hundred and one Talonec Mk. I combat undead ready to deploy, though the Muses won’t be ready unitl another round of testing.”
“Thanks, ATHENA. Now then,” the mistress said, stepping towards Mae. She looked around, noticing that nothing much had changed from when she had fallen asleep, “How do you feel? Any more powerful? Oh, how about a desire to fight?”
Mae rubbed her eyes, “I…” she trailed off, clenching her fist with more power than she thought possible. Looking down at her arm, she saw something on her arm. It was an image of a winged human woman, carrying a whip. She looked inwards, and felt something new, something she had never felt before.
A hunger.
“I… kind of want to fight something,” Mae said, sheepish due to the foreign feeling. It was a feeling she had nothing comparable to, but she could only describe it as being driven to consume for oil, despite never drinking it before, “Mistress… I really feel weird. But… It’s not bad. Just different. And powerful.”
The mistress showed concern on her face, “Oh… I didn’t expect that. Is that hard to deal with?” she asked, nearly panicked, “Do you want to change it back?”
Mae shook her head, “No, I’m fine. It’s just… a drive, I guess. Don’t worry, mistress,” she said, standing.
The mistress looked conflicted for a moment, then nodded, “Then I’ll try not to. Let’s wait for your sisters to-”
“Ah! What happened!?” Ally suddenly shouted, shooting up, “Oh, yeah, now I remember.” She looked down at her arm, “Oh! This is so good! I love it!”
The mistress smiled as Tisi shot up as well, blinking in recognition and turning to the mistress without another word, “Are you all happy with your upgrades? It’s nothing close to the death dragons, but… well, they’re dragons. There isn’t much I can do for you there unless I become a goddess,” she asked. Mae did not hesitate to nod, a sentiment shared with Tisi and Ally, “Okay then. If that’s the case, I need you three to do something important for me.” ATHENA turned slightly towards them, as if to glance, and a large board of metal, attached to two pairs of wheels, rolled from the wall. On it was a map of… somewhere. It appeared to be a map of the Vast Dust, with two points marked, those being their location, and Aekan, “I need you three to reinforce Aekan. It’s been close to two weeks since we brought the Cyst over here, and I’m a bit worried. I’ll be sending three hundred of the Talonec Mk. I’s over with you to help, along with a lot of ammunition and a miniature crystal condenser. Do you guys mind doing this for me?” she asked, little nervous ticks like her tone and armor coiling shining through.
Mae, Ally, and Tisi shared a glance, “Mistress, we were born to follow you. You’re our mother and our mistress. We’ll do it,” Mae replied, standing with the other two. Mori smiled and rushed up to them, pulling them into hugs. They did not resist, simply letting the mistress know that they loved her as much as she loved them.
