-Umi-
Following pappa's advice, I made use of the Enigma to help create a simple system slots facsimile called a Nameless Expansion that only granted four system slots, no options for tempering or improving beyond what you could do with improving a system slot after forging a connection with it. I would have liked to make something more complex but pappa said that the generation protocols couldn’t handle anything that wasn’t a generic facsimile or a nameless, unlabelled, basic, or rudimentary variant facsimile without having to formally input into the Enigma’s protocols and have it take up space. Not that I cared, we already had mandalas in the drops and those single-use mandala scanning devices that mandala management companies farmed to sell for well over ten thousand a piece. Although I couldn’t deny he was right that there was only so much I could handle as a mid tier sentient, even if I was a spirit-monster hybrid: legacies, phantasma, and herit crests are all currently beyond my grasp, same with composite facsimiles and their subset of fluid-ownership facsimiles.
Although I didn’t wait around like pappa to forge connections with my four system slots, I already possessed connections to multiple systems and I wanted to experience them through what system slots could provide. Getting a connection to the Origin Lands through Alihi’a’Pounga was simple enough, although I only ended up with a primary spirit halo in the form of a demon child’s beginner fishing rod. With my new fishing rod in hand I realized how hard it would be to actually use it and my other system slots: unlike my spirit halos, I couldn’t really on Robert for mana and helping with processing spells cause he has to actually help and definitely didn’t have the proper skill set to do that to begin with.
But that didn’t stop me from working on filling out the rest of my free system slots. Getting Falha’s and Tala’s help, I got the two of them to direct me to the general vox guild that the Vox Phantasm operated out of in Neo Hollo Oceania. So with my second system slot, I forged a connection to the Vox System through the Refresco hub and got a relic called the spirit child’s daydreaming fishing rod instead of an aptitude or tarot. Was lucky enough to get some extra stuff from the Vox Phantasm though: a lesser spell specialty mandala inscription and an attunement quasi-mandala inscription.
The lesser spell specialty was Twin Fishermanship which toted mana source connections to wellspring dexterity and Hunter-Gatherer Tech and passively increased my ability to use two fishing rods at once: didn’t have to worry about cross-karmic retribution which was great. As for the attunement, it was Dual-System Fishing and did a similar thing both instead focused on the use of the Game and Vox Systems while using two fishing rods. Its mana source connections of Hunter-Gatherer Tech, Odd-Shape, and Vox Cast helped me realize that one of my theoretical class specialties was locked in as Hunter-Gatherer Tech. Kind of sucked that it ended up using one of my faux-system slots to connect to a Digital Realm called Grand Fantasia Gates, but I didn’t care too much, it was worth the attunement over using it to empower another system slot.
As for the Obscurus System through the Flasaporium hub, I had Ras and Minerva help me out. Originally I wasn’t going to have a proxy body for it but Minerva convinced me to try it out for at least one of my system slots, so I ended up with my first three gas glands being proxy body, rudimentary fishing rod, and twin two-handed fighting. Then with Ras’s help, I got him to give me a contracting gas gland for the communal spirit patron he used, Saintess Von Fraeu, since I couldn’t be my own spirit. Felt weird to have a patron, especially since it was a communal one so I couldn’t even summon her under normal circumstances.
“Now for the last one,” I muttered between licks of a lollipop as I entered the hidden area that held the faux-World Bridge between Historie Pastoria Sweets proper and System Assistant’s Caketopia.
“Already getting another system slot connection?” asked Beath with a yawn, trailing behind me.
“Yeah, I don’t want to have to rely on dad for everything.”
“You really are like Sous aren’t you?”
“Of course I take after pappa, it’s either that or take after dad’s stupidity.” And there is that synthesis attunement, Enigma’s Daughter’s Bond, that ties me to pappa. I can’t help it.
“Okay, I don’t really mind how smart Robert is. I just have to protect his phylactery and that’s it. Playing with you is fun though.”
“But tiring,” suddenly chimed in Tirel from his personal space, getting a quick laugh from Daisy and Draceld over our group connection.
“Oh shut up,” I shot back, not wanting to deal with the lazy chef of a psychopompic spirit right now.
“Don’t worry about them,” laughed Beath before stretching and continuing, “Well, I’m going to head back now. I’ll be keeping an eye on the penthouse with Sugar and Spice if you need me.” Nodding and waving goodbye, I watched as Beath slipped back into his personal space and disappear.
Looking backwards, I noticed that I still had Fake-Reginald and Fake-Nevil summoned. With how quiet they could be it was easy to forget, especially now that I knew how to passive maintain them. I wanted to try and get them Nameless Expansions also but they were maxed on facsimiles since outside of the four generic facsimiles of outer genomes, vitas vessel, mandalas, and system slots they had mutant facsimiles replacing all their other pieces of beings except for their Sea of Phenomena, connections, diminutive Lesser Trascendation, and a small handful of half-formed half-inscribed mandalas. Should probably pester pappa to help me find mind-system slot hybrid facsimiles for them, I thought to myself as I watched them silently wait for commands: you could honestly barely even call them sapient with their make ups, even if they were technically undead sentients. At least they had cool biochemistry cause their facsimiles had a decent bit of extra-periodic compounds.
Not that it mattered for where I was heading, especially if I was going to be using a system I didn’t have a connection to as a spirit. Giving the two of them a nod, I dispelled the two of them back to their tiny personal spaces within my tertiary spirit halos. Lets not get zapped by karma and cosmic for busy stupid like dad when it comes to the systems, I told myself with a nod before making my way through the faux-World Bridge.
Entering the conquest, I instantly felt a tug on my final free system slots; not wasting a moment, I allowed the connection to be forged. Here we go, I mentally laughed to myself as I felt my real body get whisked away to one of the towers that dad and pappa talked about and a simulated body took its place. Looking down at my new simulated body, I noted that my floral print dress was replaced with a flowery school uniform with white roses bursting out of my chest. I also looked like someone in their middle of teens if they were human instead of my usual early teens self; didn’t have my ebony horns either and my patterns of red and bronze were parser than normal.
“I could get used to this,” I said aloud to no one in particular as I twirled around to get a better feel of this simulated body. It definitely wasn’t as strong or fast as my real body, but it was taller and I felt like I could react faster in it somehow. I wonder how fast I can make my reaction times if I get access to connectivity materials for Mercury-Gardenia, although I’ll have to be careful about leaving the hill of fantasy, I thought to myself trying to plan what I could look into but remembering not all of Witch Synthia wasn’t influenced by the Flasaporium hub. I was still a spirit and that I would get tired wandering the artificial world cluster if I left the Enigma or this hill of fantasy and even sticking around dad wouldn’t help too much. “Now let’s see if I have anything cool for my conjuration.”
Pushing mana into the white roses sticking out of my chest, I activated the conjuration attached to my newly forged connection. With a flourishing flick, something shot out of my hand and landed on the ground in front of me before rapidly expanding. After a few seconds, it took its full form: a small bleach white skeleton. “A skeleton?! Seriously?”
“Interesting, a summon-type conjuration,” pappa suddenly commented, appearing in his crystalline mote form next to me.
“It’s not interesting pappa, it’s boring. And it’s not a fishing rod. I spent so much time getting fishing rods to mix and match and I got this.”
“The Hybrid System of Flowers allows for you to gain more than one conjurations.”
“Can you tell me how to do that?”
“In a second Umi, I am currently busy. With all the anti-Vraglixian activity going on, I’ve been stuck in my penthouse working on designing new types of cheesecake knight for Robert and the others to implement. Galactic Desserts Imports only has its nutrient pack cheesecake knight and needs a general variant for it. Not to mention Sweets Depression, Sweets Futurism, and my own conquest needs cheesecake knights to represent themselves.”
“So dad has been lazy again?” I asked with a frown, kicking a pebble before seeing how well I could telepathically control my skeleton of a conjuration.
“Robert has been lazy, but it has also been a hectic past month. With all the new areas and events going on, it’s only natural monster creation would be put on the back burner, especially with how sparse the kitchen gets in terms of dungeon-mana reserves. Which is why Louella and I are so busy making up for lost time,” replied pappa wearily as he drifted closer to the skeleton to observe it. I could feel how simple and weak the conjuration was, the only real upside was how flexible it was and how fast it could regenerate itself. After a few seconds of silence as I continued to show off my skeleton, pappa noted, “If you go to Sweets Futurism, you could ask Ras to help. He is currently working on creating a variant of cheesecake knights there and has been compiling reports on the Hybrid System for us.”
Not needing to be told twice, I nodded in understanding and hurrying off back through the Enigma proper to reach the Interconnection. Curious at what the Glyirian spellman decided to do with pappa’s ideas, I went to take a peek at the monster information being added to the monster generational protocols. The cheesecake knight variant were called lavender cheesecake knights and had affinities in the Game, Tower, and World Systems to create an extra artificial affinity in the Hybrid System of Flowers and were made to look like they were a combination between a knight’s leather armour and a school uniform.
Their general variant was the Herbal Trinity General and outside of being increased in size, their weapon of choice, a rapier, was upgraded to have two additional ones floating to use. As for their trick as dad would put it, the general could interact with the systems to dampen their influence, severely weakening system casts. So an inverse of the Tri-Coloured Treat General, fun, I mused as I entered Sweets Futurism.
“Umi, is that you?” asked Ras after I found him observing the Interconnection from the top of a high school.
“Yup, do you like?” I asked back with a smile, taking a lollipop out of my personal space with slight wince to prove a point: the systems were really picky about using racial magic but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from enjoying my candy.
“I do, I just didn’t expect you to follow Sous’s footsteps in getting a system slots facsimile.”
“Well of course I’m going to follow pappa. I’m not going to lounge around all day like my dad and make potions.”
“He really could benefit from cutting back on making potions and focusing on other forms of spellcraft… or managing our Enigma. Especially with all the stuff going on with Witch Synthia, Glyiria, Starport Cyber, and the Vraglixian Blossom Rebellion and their detractors,” commented Ras with a sigh, knowing full well how many reports were piling up on my dad’s desk to read.
“I’ll yell at him to get his act together later if you want. But I want your help on something first.”
“What is that?”
“I want another flower to use for conjurations, my white rose sucks,” I explained as I conjured up the skeleton to demonstrate.
“A skeleton? You got a necromancy-based conjuration? Nevermind that, if you want another flower you need to empower the connection by dedicating another system slot’s connection to it. You should also be able to access some of the account parts of the Hybrid System of Flowers when you do so.”
“Oh, it’s that easy?” Well that made things easy! I still had three free faux-system slots left and if I was right I would be the first person in the Enigma to gain access to an account with the Hybrid System of Flowers.
