-Sous-
It not take too long for Pattissoria to relay back the information on why another Robert existed as a blackzone manager of an Enigma that appeared to be a lesser world, surprisingly the source of information was not from our usual sources in Super-Sweet Valley, Treant Orchards, or Ignae Automata but one of the system assistants of War Gods’ Market’s underling system assistants. Filled with excitement, Pattissoria cheerfully explained,
“So the rhi phenomena is when people have similar souls and other pieces of beings. Apparently there are multiple Five Powers that make use of this and styles of spellcraft that exploit it.”
“And how does this second Robert factor into this?” I asked, keeping a cybernetic eye on Robert as he slowly recovered. While this SteelStar didn’t have a tactile sense field like my crystalline mote form or the ethereal vision of my formless self, its field of view was remarkably wide and crisp, enough to surprise with how this was based off of orange manas and not violet manas.
“Well there are multiple degrees of rhi. Lu’Hai explained this is an alt-rhi, a rhi that is a product of timeline shifts. Apparently there is a one-in-a-hundred chance for it to happen with appropriated blackzone managers, one-in-a-thousand for born blackzone managers. It also seems that it can happen up to three times.”
“So we could potentially have to deal with two more Roberts?”
“Possibly… Also would it be a good time to bring up the Glyirian nobles coming to Historie Pastoria Sweets?”
“The nobles doing the survey to potentially give us dungeon cores to access an artificial world cluster? Artificially stabilized lesser worlds are interesting dishes...”
“Yes,” answered Pattissoria as I gave Robert a small summary of what was going on back on Earth and Glyiria. Unsurprisingly, Robert decided to completely leave it to Ras and Mita unless it became a dangerous deal: new areas were always good and he knew Glyiria wouldn’t fuck us over.
“Leave it to Ras. With this Robby Fayn Beta, Robert now has something on his plate, and you know how he handles having multiple things on his plate,” I told Pattissoria before going to help Robert get back on his feet, struggling when I realized just how heavy his current body was and how weak mine was. With that, I felt Pattissoria cut the connection and I went to matters closer to hand. “I assume we should inspect these new areas?”
“Yeah… You think you can inspect the expansion and then have someone deal with the doppelgänger’s Interconnection?” asked Robert, getting back fully upright and wiping his metallic army green visor like he was trying to get rid of sweat. Nodding in understanding, I tried to analyze the latest expansion and found myself unable to do as pain shot through me as the protocols failed to activate. Hmm… seems that the only ability I can safely make use of is my communication to the other system assistants of our Enigma, I mused before directing the others to do it instead of me and having Wlogwa tell Mita that he was being assigned to inspect Sweets Depression and interact with any blackzone managers willing to talk from Cheesecake Emporos-Museum.
Surprisingly it was Barrravvish, Neo Draceld Z’s system assistant, to be the first to respond with a report: the currently unnamed expansion was already populated with one kind of entity, two kinds of magical beasts, and three kinds of monsters and a part of a public Hidden City. Not only that but it was currently covered in some sort of barrier similar to the Protean Shell barrier that originally covered Historie Pastoria Sweets; it was only going to be a matter of time before a flood of players and delvers, both proxy body and real body, would enter to explore. A quick analysis from the others helped confirm we had a half a week normal time before the barrier broke down. The naming and further investigation and securing of the expansion can come later, but for now we should inspect this Trapdoor, what a fascinating place to procure new spices and seasonings.
“Would it be possible for us to go Sweet Futurism using these SteelStars?” I asked Robert, looking up toward the doughnut shaped superworld in the sky past all the sleek skyscrapers. It was a strain to do so, but I could sense the presence of our new expansion on that world, along with the influence of Mercury-Hyacinth-Johari as that Trapdoor was on the same scale as Ignae Automata. I can also sense Ignae Automata… Xi did note that Reagan Road greater gamed across a variety of Digital Realms and expanded his Enigma to suit his taste, I noted as I ended the sensing protocols before the pain became too distracting: I was starting to realize why Robert and the sweet tooths were so wary of cross-karmic retribution since Historie Pastoria Sweets gained access to multiple systems. As a being whose every piece of being was wrapped and infused with protocols, it was incredibly frustrating.
“I think so…” replied Robert, breaking my train of thought and snapping me back to reality. “The expansion is close by right? Then I think we can just deploy to it.” Pulling up a holographic menu, he continued, “Yeah, unnamed expansion of Historie Pastoria Sweets. Oh it’s the local public Hidden City, that’s cool.”
As Robert went through the process of sending me a team invite so he could redeploy both of us at once, I had him choose a name for the expansion while the other system assistants and blackzone managers created teleportation pads for us to use. It didn't take him too long to decide on Galactic Desserts Imports and for him to activate the redeployment feature of his self-hub ship. Feeling as mana and connectivity was drained myself and Robert, I mentally instructed Sal to top off our proxy pods. So most forms of instant transport outside of system-placed pads require mana and connectivity material, I’ll have to keep this in mind.
Arriving at one of the proxy access points in a ring-wreathed beam of lights, I was finally able to examine Galactic Desserts Imports: like Alihi’a’Sweets Resorts the place was more devoid of buildings and oversized displayes compared to our other areas, instead having exposed expansive of mechanical factory-esque ground, and like Sweets Imports, the expansion incorporated the native architecture, in this case a style of technic-architecture not like the advanced Technologia of Ignae Automata but something between extreme density metropolitan technic and space scifi technic. I could already tell that this place would be made into the location of another resort, likely either by Robert himself or Neo Draceld Z. As for myself, I wish I could inspect the pregenerated dishes of this area that the Game System installed with the frontier core, but heading to Sweets Futurism took priority.
“A warning in advance, there are somethings strange about this Interconnection,” commented Wlogwa telepathically to me after conjuring up a set of keycards for Robert and myself. “It’s hard to explain, analysis indicates prescence of some sort of undocumented system that has components of the Tower System, the Game System, and the World System, and another layer of reality is fully overlapped onto the Interconnection. I’ll try to have the Enigma’s protocol run a thorough report, but it will take some time to compile.”
“Thank you, I will stay on guard for any irregularities,” I replied, only to have Sal pipe up,
“Sounds like a Hybrid System.”
“Hybrid System? That sounds vaguely familiar.”
“It would be more apt to say its a pseudo-system, essentially it’s the fusing of two to five systems, potentially including duplicates of the same system, when they meet in overlapping special locales or the appropriate environment. Neo Hollo Oceania has one since it is a secret Hidden City, although Robert has not experienced it at all since he only bothered with the quest and hasn’t explored his duties as a vox reborn. As it stands, between the seven of us, Umi has the best chance of using it without any formal connection to it.” So there are overlapping systems despite the existence of cross-karma, how interesting. Although it was safe to assume that you would likely need to be an experienced system caster, likely possessing a system slot for it, have a specialized mandala, and or be a ranked true systemeer.
“Sweet Futurism, here we come,” absentmindedly commented Robert, slotting a keycard into one of the teleportation pads. The Astral Horizon, the Dimensional Folds, and the Leylines bent around us as the pad whirled to life, forcing us to draw mana from the aether: with a flash, the two of us were transported through space as I felt a tug on my system slots facsimile. Before I could assess the situation, a connection to what I could only assume was the Hybrid System the Trapdoor had access to was forged with the second fourth of the facsimile’s capabilities.
“What was that?” I asked aloud, looking down in confusion to see that my once mechanical and orange hand was now flesh and blood again. Blinking in confusion I saw I was in a ‘human’ body again, although this one was in a school uniform with orange flowers sprouting out of its chest instead of a generic form fitting bodysuit. I can still sense my SteelStar, the same for my proxy body and crystalline mote form, I noted as I parsed through the various bodies my being was being strung through. The SteelStar was definitely still there, only subdued and some place else… Was this some side effect of the other layer of reality interacting with the Interconnection? Or perhaps it was the doing of the Hidden System? All I could tell was this body wasn’t a proxy body but a simulated body, although the exact nuances and differences were still lost on me.
“No clue. Did you have one of your system slots suddenly make a connection with something else also?” replied Robert, also surprised he was flesh and blood again and currently prodding the maroonish catkin sticking out of his chest.
“I did.”
“Hmm… aspen and wallflower, what an interesting pair. Although it does fit for a blackzone manager and system assistant pair,” commented an unfamiliar voice; turning around I saw a blonde man, also in a student uniform, that looked about two or so years younger than Robert, was in a silver varsity jacket, and had bright blue and purple stalk-like flowers and crystalline violet iris blossoms curving out from his chest with what looked like peonies ringing around their edges: compared to the flowers on Robert or my own chest, his was a full bouquet in comparison.
“Wait… Johari?” asked Robert, noticing the man also.
“In the simulated flesh.”
“But, we just got here, how the hell did you find us so fast?”
“Bad habit of mine, I have a bunch of mandalas that specialize in peeking into other people’s business. Plus one of my flowers, cateye irises, helps with information gathering. Didn’t want to live my name down,” laughed the powerful blackzone manager. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to get a sense of the man sitting in front of us so casually on a ledge. Even without the protocols I usually used as a system assistant it was plain to see this man was easily tier 10 or higher, even through a simulated body.
“May I ask… how old are you?” I pressed Johari, both cautious and curious. No person could become such a high tier without extraordinary circumstances, especially at such a young age. And this man, I could tell he didn’t reach his tier the same way that Reagan Road did.
“Yeah I get that all the time. I want to say it’s cause of Mercury-Gardenia making me look younger than I am, but it’s really the wellbeing and vitality enhancing mandalas I have. I’m actually only thirty-six, but I guess I am definitely one of those outliers cause I’m also already tier 12.9. And before you ask, I became a blackzone manager at thirteen.”
“Holy shit, you’ve managed to survive as a blackzone manager since you were a teen?! What were you? Some sort of super dropout?” shouted Robert in amazement.
“Nope, didn’t drop out of school, actually have three different spelled masters,” answered Johari with a wide smug grin before shifting topics to congratulating us on our winning an Interconnection to his Trapdoor through the Sins of the SteelStar’s lottery. And with a little bit of explaining, we learned from him that our SteelStars were safely stored on the other side of this layer of reality, our normal layer of reality, and that the overlapping of layers of reality was a byproduct of Mercury-Gardenia’s Hybrid System of Flowers. Also, the flowers sprouting from our simulated bodies were representations of the power bestowed through our system slot to Mercury-Gardenia, granting access to special abilities and conjurations based off of the flower. He went as far to explain how symbolism was important using the three types of flowers currently adorning his chest: delphiniums for openness, cateye irises for observing knowledge, and peonies for good health.
With the explanations and our introduction done, the blackzone manager decided to leave us with one last gift: a set of Aux cores, two for Mercury-Gardenia’s proxy services and one for accessing it’s Hybrid System of Flowers. Unsurprisingly Robert was overwhelmed by the generosity and quickly accepted the offer and had me tell the others to install the Aux cores; honestly, I was a bit overwhelmed by the sudden gift but understood it likely also helped Johari in the end.
Feeling the first of the proxy service Aux cores and the Hybrid System of Flowers access Aux core be installed into Historie Pastoria Sweets proper, I sat on one of the many ledges of this schoolscape-and-aerial tramway-covered Interconnection and waited for the second proxy service Aux core to be installed here. Robert has aspen for excess of sensibility and fear, and I have wallflower for faithfulness in adversity… Johari was right, it is fitting, I mused to myself as I tried to get a grasp on this Hidden System.
Focusing on the wallflowers currently sprouting out of this body's chest, I pulled on the magics and protocols of the Hidden System wrapping around them and me. With an influx of mana spent, I feel something appear in my arms: a rifle made of red, violet, and orange hues. Very fitting, very fitting indeed, I continued to think to myself as I felt ideas for new recipes and dishing forming in my head.
