Walker was still looking at the second Temporal task on his screen. There was an itch in his mind, and he knew he probably didn't have time for it yet, no pun intended. But still, it was there.

Temporal task: Create a static temporal zone: Part 2

You've built a localized temporal anomaly and grasped just the beginning of what the temporal subsystem can do. Now, create a temporal zone that constantly slows down time, or speeds it up, without heavily draining your resources.

Localized temporal zone built: 0

Resources allocated for completion: 100 years

Reward for completion: Temporal subsystem Upgrade

 

He knew there was a way to cheat it, but there was a problem. He needed the Milestone system to update and it wasn't fully completed yet. Then again, it likely would never be fully completed. As the years moved on and they continued to add new tiers and new achievements, it would be a constant and ongoing process. Walker looked over at Cagna, dutifully working on the system that would entwine everything together, and smiled. The pink squirrel was extremely happy in her work, her face constantly shifting from puzzlement, to surprise, to joy, and back to puzzlement as she added new milestones to her system.

For now, Walker was required to add new Milestones permanently, like the traveler series. But, he could see that by the end of their time dilation, Cagna would have full control over the system.

His eyes roamed over to Rimi, who was currently locked in a heated discussion with his newly minted mentor Virgil. Walker's ears listened in and picked up what they were talking about. The focus was naturally how much power to give human beings in the form of modifications. Virgil argued for less power, as they would eventually have a Class system that would allow for the codification of skills. Rimi, ever the champion of his monsters, argued surprisingly for more power, so they would be on the monster's power level at the start. The now slightly less tiny squirrel stated that it would allow each side to push the other toward more strength.

Walker knew he would have to step in there in a moment, but he let his mind wander. He needed to think about what they were going to do next. Civilizations were obviously the lynchpin of his world's future growth. It didn't necessarily have to be human beings. They could use the combiner to create amalgamations of animals and humans to form some kind of beastkin. Or, they could plant the Warclaws.....maybe not so much there. They may even plant a large grouping of Wyverns, although he would have to burn over a hundred years for them to reach sapience....no. Human beings were the way forward, and he wasn't just being sentimental for his own species.

Throughout history, human beings have shown a remarkable ability to adapt to their circumstances and overcome their weaknesses. That's where Walker was stuck right now. Their weaknesses. They'd arrive on the planet with no class system, milestones relatively bare, and only with a small number of human beings overall. He needed to change things, but while they were under the dome of time, it was difficult. He did have one idea, and he approached Rimi with it as it involved his system in particular.

"Hey Rimi." Walker said, interrupting their argument just as it seemed to become heated.

"Yes, Creator?" Rimi said with a question in his voice, all anger forgotten.

"How difficult would it be to limit some monsters to tiers? Like one set limited to tier 1, another to tier 2, and so on. I know we did it with the Guardians, sticking them in Tier 4, but how difficult is that to manage?"

"Hrmm" Rimi hummed to himself. "Let me take a look."

While he was going through his screens, Walker looked over at Virgil, "Not seeing eye to eye on things?"

Virgil harrumped like an old man, causing Walker to smile, "His ideas are juvenile."

"He is a juvenile" Walker countered.

"Yes, I know, but he wants to build a human race that is incredibly modified. It would force them onto a path of conflict the moment they are able to spread beyond our solar system. If a human child is born, grows at an accelerated rate without allowing for the development of standard physiological and psychological needs, then you may as well call them a Warclaw. Rimi wants to modify the human race to become a large faction of space-faring barbarian conquerors. Space pirates!" Virgil's face took on a sly cast to it, "I'm arguing against it as I know you best, of course, and know you would not want that."

Walker felt a small buzz from his chest, "No, no I do not. The idea is to create a world where everyone can choose their own path, not force people onto one that requires them to form conquering empires."

"Exactly!" Virgil crowed as he raised a fist to the sky. "Vinddiiiicattioon!"

Rimi looked out of his screens and glared at the larger squirrel, before going back to them.

"So that's settled. No, I don't want them to just have modifications out of the wazoo and never have to strive or work for anything. I asked for the disease resistance because A, I don't want plagues to wipe them out, and B, my mother died from a simple infection that ran amok. It's a sensitive subject for me."

Virgil nodded somberly, "Yes, I can see why. But you also approved a few of the other modifications when we spoke prior. They have already been applied and thus I believe humanity has a great chance of surviving upon first seeding. There are good..."

Walker snapped his fingers, "Increase the grafts."

Virgil stumbled on his words for a moment, but recovered from the interruption quickly, "Why?"

Walker just smiled mischievously, "I have my plans. I want mana grafts throughout the whole body, if possible. Not just the connectors from the mind kernel to the chest and stomach. Everywhere. Anywhere there is an artery. That way, they travel throughout the skin and bones as well."

Virgil looked at him strangely for a moment, then shrugged and turned to his screens. Walker couldn't do anything while he waited, so he just looked around Sonata. The Primigenials were playing rock paper scissors for some reason, while Dionysus had woken up and was yelling at the tree of all things. In his immediate proximity were just three squirrels of varying sizes and colors, all staring at space with different expressions on their faces. Virgil with frustration, Rimi with some intensity, and Cagna smiling in a way that reminded him of his students daydreaming during class. He pulled up the monitor and zoomed in on Phil at random. To his perspective, Phil was in place as he settled into the sand, his tail ever so slowly falling to lay beside him. At least Phil got to sleep.

Rimi came out of his screen first. "Yes, I can put tier limits on multiple genera at once, but it will cover them entirely due to how the kernels respond to the Monster system. If you restrict the seals here to Tier one, they will never be able to break out of it. That is the rank that they will forever hold, just like the Guardians. They would have to go through a traumatic event that fundamentally changes the nature of them as an entity, or gain an outside evolution straight from the Creator, being you, in order to break through the restriction and be classified differently than their fellows."

"What about the Alpha ability?" Walker asked.

Rimi dove into his screen again, then looked back at him, "I know why you asked. Chipper is no longer fully classified as a Guardian according to the Monster system. He is now an Alpha Guardian, which is considered unique and thus excluded from the restriction."

"Dang, go you Chipper. So, in the end, he did get a reward for everything he did for us."

Rimi nodded, "Yep. What were you thinking? Why did you ask about the restrictions?"

Pulling on his old gamer knowledge, he said "Because, I realized we need to make starter zones for our people."

"Starter zones? What are those?"

Walker began to pace back and forth, "Well, I wanted to plant the first sapients in the middle of Symphony, and have Chipper watch over them, but, I don't think that's going to work. The monsters have already grown too much, and there's always a chance a Manticore or a Scorpion could cross over and enter their territory. One Tier three manticore could wipe out hundreds of barely starting humans, if not more. I can't take that chance. We need to sectionalize the first seedings, and then let their adventurous or expansionist sides take over once they've gained some skill. It's not realistic to place them in the center of the world right now."

"I see. So you want to restrict the monsters so that Humans can grow their power in a relatively safe environment. That is smart, but there is a larger problem. You realize this goes directly against my focus with the Monster system, correct. You would be restricting their power permanently, which is a violation of your oath and what you explained to me when I first came here."

As Rimi spoke, Walker felt a pulse in his chest. This one felt different. Unlike the previous times, where it felt more like a guiding hand, this one warned of dire circumstances. The feeling he received was that his oath and scripture required him to change how he progressed with this line of thought. As he thought that, another pulse came out in agreement.

Walker thought it over for a moment, Rimi giving him time as he seemed deep in thought, and came to a happy middle ground. Should the monsters under restrictions perform great feats, he would make sure Cagna created a milestone series that unlocked their tiers and allowed them to continue growing in power. The vibration in his chest lessened but didn't go away. Walker assumed it wouldn't until he found a way to follow through on what he'd just stated. He spent some time explaining what he'd come up with to Rimi.

"That is not a perfect solution. But you are giving options to the monsters who fulfill your requirements....okay. We are agreed." He reached his small blue hand out, and Walker took it, giving a firm handshake in return. "Do you know what you want to restrict in tiers yet?"

Walker shook his head, "No, but I want their sizes to change based upon what we restrict. So, something small for tier one, slightly larger for tier two, and regular-sized for tier three. Nothing gigantified or anything like that. They should also have limited modifications as we want to introduce our sapients to the world of magic and monsters slowly and deliberately. You have to take great care in what you pick and how you modify them. Enough to fight, but not enough to absolutely destroy a town."

Rimi nodded, "You will also want them to procreate at a rapid pace, correct. This way, even if they are killed, they will still have a healthy population which I am not forced to renew constantly." He finished speaking with a glare at Walker who laughed with his hands in the air, saying "of course, of course." The blue squirrel nodded again, "Excellent. The goat and seal are complete, so I will begin working on this right away with the modifications we already have in the system." Saying so, a goat and seal exploded in space, emptying two evolution chambers. Rimi hadn't even blinked. "Do you have an idea of what type of habitat I will be looking at?"

"Hrmm." Walker hummed with a hand to his chin, "I think it'll probably be somewhere with a lot of soil, water, trees, and should be surrounded by mountains. The idea is to create an enclosed area for our first seeding of Sapients, so they can progressively grow without dire threats constantly emerging. I know I want my people to have to fight for their growth, but they still need starting points to get a foundational understanding of how Symphony works."

"Thus the starter zones." Rimi supplied.

Walker snapped his fingers, "Exactly!"

"Okay, I will get started...maybe some kind of rabbit, with sharp teeth who can leap..." He said, mumbling to himself as he walked over to the evolution chambers. As the blue subsystem assistant began his work, Virgil replaced him.

"I have run my calculations, and believe it will take another thirty or so days before I can feel confident that we've fulfilled your request." He looked over at Rimi before turning back to Walker, "I see my mentee will be busy for some time, so add a day to my estimate. However, it is possible, and I just wanted to give a warning, that it may take longer than expected."

Walker nodded, "Understood. That's why we're in here after all. The moment it's done, I'll apply the bloodlines and we'll start mass-producing our sapients. I'm thinking of seeding several hundred at once."

Virgil's body stilled upon hearing that, freezing in place. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but was unable to get the words out. Walker watched him silently, trying to figure out a way around this, when he had an idea. "You know what, maybe a few hundred isn't enough, Maybe a thousand would work a lot better?" He watched Virgil closely, but the large brown squirrel still didn't move. "Five thousand?" Still nothing. "Ten thousand then."

Virgil started moving again, nodding his head, "That would be an excellent idea Walker."

Walker was so shocked that he ignored the fact that they'd finally found a way around the alpha protocol's information restrictions, "Ten fucking thousand!"

"Ah, you have come to that conclusion all on your own, now I can explain why you are correct." Walker blew a noise out of the side of his mouth. "Between genetic diversity, allowing for some deaths, and the mix and match of needed professions and "hands" to do the work required to start and run a civilization, ten thousand is a generally small number in the long scheme of things."

Walker threw his hands in the air, "Yeah, but that's a shitload of seeding, even with three of us. The time dilation is great, but it'll still take up way too much of our time."

"Indeed." Virgil nodded sagely. "It just means you need to attach Cagna to the entity subsystem, just like Rimi, and start your milestone system for more assistants in the near future. The more assistants you have, the more hands we bring to the task."

"More assistants?" Walker said quietly. "This moonlet isn't large enough to accommodate them, not to mention the Primigenials."

"Won't it be? The primigenials release as the tree matures. When the tree matures, the moonlet grows. Every time you take a major step forward, the tree grows in size, or have you not noticed? In the last maturing, you had just created Romulus and Remus. The time before that, you had just created a unique entity, the Battelfrogs, and received a special award from the protocol. Each time you take a major step, the tree grows, and primigenials come out. What do you think would happen if you began to seed ten thousand sapients, not to mention all of the new landmasses that would be required. What will happen when the Milestone system becomes fully activated?"

Walker nodded, "I see your point."

"Yes. Give me my thirty days, and get the milestone system activated. I..." Virgil paused for a long moment, long enough for Walker to grow impatient enough to tap his foot, before continuing with a smile, "I have great faith that this problem will be solved."

Walker found the pause and smile quite curious, but as always, he believed Virgil was looking out for him. "Okay." Was all he said as he walked over to Cagna.

The pink subsystem assistant stated she was trying to come up with a series for marriage of all things, but Walker had her put a hold on it so he could finally get the strangely uncomfortable buzzing out of his chest. They spoke together about what a standard series is in the Milestone system, before he had her create a special limited series of milestones. This series would be different from what they'd made with the Traveler series and would include the first milestone reward attached to points, forcing her to create a new classification protocol. They spent quite a bit of time talking about how the limited series would work, making a framework for future sets of series.

The limited series wouldn't be as complete as a full series, with only specific milestones being allowed, and the reward gained only after reaching a point cap for distribution to the entity involved. Cagna was quite excited by it and stated she wanted to do something like that with her marriage series, as she was having trouble figuring out how to involve the production of children. Her words of course made Walker feel quite awkward. Was it a sex milestone? Surely not....maybe.

The results of their first limited series were quite satisfying to look at.

 

 

Walker nodded as he looked at it, feeling his soul finally starting to relax and relieving the discomfort he'd held this whole time. He wasn't blind or dumb. He knew the new series would also work for the Guardians, allowing them to grow and move on from their trees as they performed deeds Walker considered positive for Symphony. However, it did restrict monsters who didn't make attempts to help others, so the odds of a monster completing the advancement series were quite small. But, he still felt that it was fair. Monsters could always go down a darker path after fulfilling the initial requirements, and it would allow future starter zone monsters the ability to find their own path if they chose to be altruistic in their endeavors. After all, it was even one of the named milestones.

His reasoning for only including positive milestones for the advancement series was simple. He didn't want monsters to go on rampages in burgeoning civilizations. This was only the first civilization they were starting, and he knew there would be many more. Walker eyed the Auction System in his tab for a moment, before shaking his head and looking at Cagna.

"Although we haven't added nearly enough to the system as I would prefer." He said, looking at his screen and scrolling through the dozen or so milestones they had agreed upon in the last several weeks. "It is still a good starting point. Now, I feel that with the finalization of our first series, limited or not, we need to start up the milestone system. What do you think?"

Cagna nodded excitedly without saying anything, so Walker smiled and clicked on the system, activating it. Then he slapped his forehead and clicked on Symphony, advancing it seven days so their time dilation would sync up.

"Welll, son of a bitch." He said to himself in realization, "We've gotta wait for a few days. Oh well, not too big a deal." Walker sighed and sat in the grass. Cagna began working on her limited marriage series, so Walker called Echidna over and worked on his soul. This was his fourth time now, and it still stung like hell. He strained with his invisible muscle, reaching the soul up and attaching it to just under each collarbone, his progress and hard work showing itself as he was able to grab both sides of his soul now to stretch it.

Once he had his soul in position, and confirmed such with Echidna, she yelled out, "Press down, hard! Push it directly into the area you've stretched it over!" Walker nodded and pushed on his soul, attempting to mesh it with the new area of his body. He knew he'd done it right when a ring of green soul-power shot out of him, covering Sonata and alerting everyone that he'd made a step toward empowering his soul.

Minos gave him a thumbs up, while Echidna sat up from being knocked down by the flare, giving him a beautiful smile. Zeus and Athena paused their conversation to give him a mysterious look, then went back to what they were doing. Dionysus stopped yelling at the tree, and just stared at him. Walker shrugged.

He reviewed his body, paying attention to any changes that may have occurred. It felt a little different now. His chest muscles felt stronger, more powerful, and his skin felt like it was stretched tighter across the muscles. It was a strange feeling. Echidna told him to take it easy, so he laid down and relaxed for a few moments, enjoying his time away from everyone for the moment. It didn't take long for Dionysus to begin yelling at the tree again, saying something was making him feel depressed, so Walker pulled up his monitor and zoomed around Symphony for a while. Now that things were in real-time and not offset by the temporal subsystem, he could see everyone moving normally. He watched his old friend Chomp for a bit, tearing into a manticore before going back to his one true love. The yellow flowers.

Honestly, he spent more time than just a little bit watching them, with Walker keeping an eye on the golden Battlefrog for over an hour. He considered using his avatar ability and dropping in to say hi, but his memories of the last time he'd spent time with the great dooter flashed through his mind and he thought better of it.

Walker was a little annoyed with himself. He hadn't really relaxed much since first landing here, as there wasn't a whole lot to do. No food, no sleep, and only his work as a Creator to keep him occupied. It was worrying as he had a long time to go before his next vacation.....like an eternity. He'd have to think about what to do about that.

Before too long, Cagna came over and wanted to share her marriage series. Walker wasn't too big of a fan of it initially, as it seemed strange to reward people for tying the knot, but he warmed up to the idea the longer she talked about it and what her plans were. In the end, he bowed to her enthusiasm and they worked on it together.

 

Sure, it would force him to create a Dynasty system, but with Virgil's ideas and Walker's faith in them, he was likely going to do that anyway. Plus, it was nice to reward families who wanted to expand and become something more. There certainly wouldn't be repercussions to creating a dynasty system. Certainly not.

Walker smiled, thinking of families starting up on Symphony.

Not too far away now he thought.