Walker spent some time gathering his thoughts. What was he planning on doing with this, and what were some things he was worried could happen if he didn't place any restrictions at all? Would people build giant torture cities? Prisons? Citadels?

Symphony was designed to progressively grow its entities, be it through battle or otherwise. For there to be harmony though, it had to be more than what his current plans showed. There would need to be safe zones, of course. Places where people could raise their families, and maybe even retire. Did that mean he needed to make different categories for territories? As in, present a series of options at each leveling breakthrough that allowed for organic growth. Choices? All good questions, and who better than Neus to talk them through with.

Walker sat down on his uncomfortable couch and patted the thin brown cushion beside him. Neus picked up on his drift right away, hopping up and sitting down beside him.

"So, before we go in and start designing the Territory system, I thought it was important that we talk about what we want out of them."

"Okay." Neus said quickly, focusing completely on Walker.

"I envision a territory as a singular location. Unique. Something that is an accurate reflection of what the establishing founder wants out of it. We'll call them...hrmm. We may have some problems here. Specifically....Names!" He said, shaking an angry fist at the sky for no apparent reason. "For now, let's call Monsters who have territories, Holders, and Sapients who have territories, Stewards." Neus nodded and fiddled with his screens while Walker kept speaking. "We'll have to come up with the patents of Nobility system and attach it at a later time, as that will change what the Steward is called. If you don't know, in my home world, those who ruled...." Walker quickly explained who the nobles were from Earth, as well as the various forms of government most cities had. He didn't go too in-depth, but he did go over the basic idea of it and why they were established. He also made sure to include the ways that the classism inherent in the governmental system estranged the lower class from the upper. He tried to be as unbiased as possible, but his American prejudice leaked through a little.

"So, you're not interested in allowing the formation of nations?" Neus asked after he finished explaining what an election was.

"Hrmmm. That's a good question....It may be something we need to consider when we start up the Faction system. For now, let's just consider the idea up for review and move on." Neus nodded.

"Now, I was just thinking about what directions an entity could take with a territory."

"How so?"

"Well, if you know your territory is directly beside a violent monster who seems infallible to you, you may want to create a defensive-styled territory. Like a castle, with a moat, or just a powerfully built wall surrounding everything. If you build a territory in the middle of multiple successful territories, I would think you'd want to create a trade hub, and would likely want to lean towards an economically focused territory. Of course, for most monsters, who have to be sapient btw...make a note of that." Neus nodded again and added it into the system, "They'll want some form of magical infusion in their territory. That's a whole new set of ideas and restrictions."

"I see." The green squirrel said with a serious nod.

"I like you Neus, you're very straightforward."

"Thank you, Creator."

"So, let's consider what we can do with these different categories. Plus, we'll have to come up with some starter buildings we'll want to give them. No point in declaring your control of a territory if you have to start with absolutely nothing." Walker put his hands on his hips and affected a falsely powerful voice, "I'm the Steward of all this grass! Look at my grass ye mighty, and despair!" He laughed to himself, Neus jumping in a moment later uncomfortably. A sudden thought hit him, "I assume this is all powered by ambient magic?" Walker asked with a question in his voice.

Neus looked for a moment before nodding, "Yes, but you also have the option of adding in Temporal or even Primordial energy for building. I assume that is for creating unique structures."

"How would that work?"

"Hold on" The green squirrel said with a hand raised, "....there's a description here now."

"Wait, there wasn't one there before?" Walker asked with some slight anxiety.

Neus shook his head, "No. There wasn't. In fact...here, let me show you." Neus shared his screen with Walker, and as he watched, the description for Temporal Energy filled itself in. His overlay lit up with a secondary notification, but he was focused on what the writing showed.

 

 

 

Weird. If this is split from Primordial energy, then other splits can happen as well, Walker thought to himself as his mind moved quickly. He had a few ideas for what other strands Primordial energy might be made of. Time...space...life or creation itself....death even...Would the soul count? Did they have access to soul energy this whole time and not know it? Why did they keep this information to themselves all of this time? Is that why these discoveries hadn't happened already? Millions of Creators across time, and just now they were starting to open up and break down how everything worked. Why?

He had a fuzzy idea.

It seems that the Protocol Council really does need someone like me. A reallll dumbshit. They're all too set in their ways of "how" things are done. An olde guard of white beards deciding they need new blood....

He chose not to say so out loud. He didn't want another fiasco like the one that had killed Chomp. That made him think of what Virgil had exposed not too long ago.

Walker didn't have any blame in his heart for the advanced assistant. It wasn't his fault that he had to send reports to the council, he was built to do so, and likely had to follow a prescribed set of instructions provided by the protocol itself. Blaming someone because of circumstances outside of his control would make him cruel and small-minded, and he chose to never be that kind of person. Excepting that moment with Nicholas perhaps. Still, there had to be more to this.

Walker looked at his second notification.

 

.....Analyzing.....

 

You've discovered Primordial energy usage outside of the standard systems!

Due to your discovery, your Creation Instrument materials have all been converted to their base form and combined for ease of application.

You've been granted a bonus reward for your finding!

- - -

 

Reward for discovering a non-standard use of Primordial energy:

Congratulations Dante! You've been granted bonus resources!

Your Creation Instrument has been upgraded.

100 Primordial resources.

An amount of equal value in Temporal resources.

 

An equal amount? Walker thought.

He pulled up his Temporal resources. If he recalled correctly, he had around 355 after the second battle. He spent a hundred on the sun, and eighty on Romulus and Remus. They had made and exploded four entities since then without placing them. Each had been aged two years, so that was another eight. So he should have about 167 right now. When he pulled it up, he had 367, which meant around 200 had been added to his bank. The system valued Primordial energy at two times the value of Temporal resources. That didn't seem right.

Walker looked at his current Primordial resources, and saw the huge number of 604 staring back at him.

"Okayy then."

He guessed that was from the system converting his old printer paper. He had a boatload of resources still left over after the second battle with Crratch. It was readily apparent in his mind that the numbers was so bloated because it was combined from both his landmass and entity systems.

Thinking it over, the last computer he'd seen was almost a standard model, so what would the new one be like? He'd have to check on that later, as well as talk to Virgil about how the conversion worked. Could he trade Primordial energy and Temporal energy by chance? Was that allowed? If he could...

He lightly smacked himself across the face, saying "Focus! Stop getting distracted!"

Every time he was in the middle of something big, he always grew distracted by one thing or another. First, it was the Primigenials, now it was the protocol itself. He had work to do.

"Focus," he whispered one last time to himself, then his eyes moved over to Neus who had been watching him this whole time.

"Sorry about that." He said simply in response to the blank face on his newest assistant's face.

"For what?" The green squirrel asked with a cock of his head.

Walker shook his head, "Nevermind. Anyways, so we have Primordial and Temporal energy. That's good. That'll make some of my plans much more interesting."

Together they worked on a series of options that both Holders and Stewards could choose from. The first step was designing different types of focuses that were simply named, that way nobody would grow confused by what they found. Certain archetypes of foundational building floated in his mind as they broke them down piece by piece. In the end, ten options were chosen.

He also decided to provide a series of starter buildings each would come with. Walker had spent a good amount of time going through the Item system, and with his awakened mind, that made him an almost encyclopedic authority on what was in there. With the Territory system, he hoped that what they chose after their initial selection would authentically evolve into a unique territory. Whether that was a city, a simple magical territory, or a collection of temples was up to them.

Where would the needed magic come from? He was working on that, and it wasn't just a footnote. He kept it in the back of his mind as they continued to work. When they were writing each archetype in, Walker provided a brief description of what the starter territory would focus on. At first, his descriptions were clipped and straightforward, informing the lucky entity to gain the system what they were in for with each choice. But, Neus talked him into making it a little more flowery, and thus, more interesting to the new territory manager. He looked at what they had put together.

 

 

As it was most likely that Sapient monsters would choose the magical option, he chose to keep the description simple, and the starter resources unidirectional. That way the youngest Holders would have a straightforward choice if that was the path they wanted to take.

All of the options overall provided a small beginning, including the communal dwellings. In the Item system, a communal dwelling was big enough to hold just about twelve people. Not comfortably of course, but it was enough to get by. It had a central eating area, and what amounted to bunk beds spread throughout. None of the options provided for comfort, with even the basic beds and bunkbeds being rather low quality to his Earth standards. However, it was still shelter and a place to sleep, not to mention it was all he could provide at the very start of things.

Walker nodded his head at the choices and asked Neus an important question, "Are you ready to step into the Territory system?"

The green squirrel stood up on the couch, "Yes please! Wait, why did we wait so long. Couldn't we have just told the advanced AI in there about what we wanted, instead of slowly building it out here?"

"Certainly," Walker said with a shrug of his shoulders, "but I wanted to make sure we had at least a foundational beginning before we stepped in. I haven't dealt with an advanced AI before, and I don't know what I'm walking into here."

"Oh, they're very helpful," Neus said with a nod.

Walker shrugged again, "Did you get that information from the download?"

"Yep! You'll see." He said with some cheer.

Walker smiled and changed the name in his overlay, clicking on Territories. The world faded out around him and he popped into a dark area. There was a screen like before, asking for his DNA. A metal tray appeared in front of him with a small piece of glass and a small needle. Walker sighed and pricked his finger, letting a single drop of blood land on the glass. As soon as it did so, a very nice-looking chair appeared in the middle of the room, colored forest green and seeming to invite him to sit in it. Walker walked over and sat down, appreciating the formed feeling it gave to his backside immediately. As he sat down, the darkness around him bled away and a forest sprang up in its place. He held close to the idea it was still just a grouping of screens, but that was the rational part of his mind. The emotional part could feel a breeze carrying the scent of pine in the air and the sun on his face. While he was looking around, a cardinal flitted through the trees. It landed on a nearby branch and chirped once, before looking at him.

To Walker's right another smaller chair materialized in lime green, and Neus showed up in the darkness beside him only half a second later. Walker gestured and Neus sat down, making a happy sound as he bounced in his chair a few times. He looked around the room with big eyes as he took in the forest. Walker smiled.

"Hello Creator." A voice said from nowhere.

Walker looked around, but he didn't find anyone speaking. It didn't sound like it was coming from everywhere around him, but rather was a directional voice.

"I'm over here." The voice said again, and when Walker's eyes landed on the Cardinal, it lifted a red feathered wing in a wave, "Hello."

"Weird." He said automatically, even though he knew it was rude.

"Mmm, yes. I can see how you would find it strange Walker." the Cardinal said in reply. It began to prune its feathers for a moment as the AI continued speaking, "The Council saw fit to raise me from a basic AI. Basic AI's can only communicate in a text format. I am not that."

"Okay, so why are you a Cardinal and why are we sitting in a simulated forest?"

"Because this is what my programming says you will feel the most relaxed in. I am a Cardinal, because it was a logical step in choosing something that fit the environment. It is as simple as that."

"Still weird."

"Sure." The AI said as it finished its pruning. "So, you have created a Territory system. Do you have an idea of how that works yet.....ah." It said, then a part of the forest changed back into a screen showing his ten archetypes. "So, you already have a basis for what you want to do. Interesting."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Walker leaned back in his chair slightly, "What should I call you? I would rather not call you AI every few minutes."

"The alpha protocol has a series of long and boring designations for advanced AI's, and I see from your memories that you have difficulty with names, so I will make it easy for you. Call me John."

"John? A super advanced AI named John?" Walker spluttered.

"Yes. I do not consider names very important, at least to myself. What you call me, and what your entities call me, will likely be very different. John suits me just fine."

"So, you have access to my memories too then." He replied, squirming a little.

"That I do, Walker. All advanced assistants, or AIs, gain your memories as a part of the package. But, as a part of the agreement from the Creator who made assistants in the second rendition, we are not allowed to share any personal facts or memories with another person without permission. Do not get me wrong, as your assistant Virgil has cleverly shown, we do have to update your progress to the Council and informational databases as we move forward, but we are not required to show your memories and personal conversations. Lock and key." The Cardinal said as it looked like it tried to smile, but instead it just came off as strange.

"If you're trying to put me at ease, that look on your face won't do it." Walker said.

"Well, I am still going to try my best to put you at ease regardless, Creator. It is one of my directives."

"Alright then. Let's get down to it." Walker clapped his hands together, startling Neus in his chair, "Sorry bud." He quickly apologized, "So you've seen the archetypes. Can you associate the items within the item system and the choices provided, like the workshops, as assigned?"

"Yes I can. One moment." The sun and the light pulsing from it shifted from red to yellow and green. "Complete."

"That was fast!" Walker said with open-mouthed astonishment. "I'm used to everything taking days."

"Yes. Advanced assistants, on which we AI's are based, were designed for companionship as much as they are general helpers. AI's on the other hand are designed purely for the economics of efficiency." He said in what Walker translated as a smug sound of voice.

"So, what exactly can you track."

"Creator, you merged the Leveling system when you made me. I can track virtually everything you could wish for."

"Yes!" Walker said with a fist pump, knowing Rimi couldn't see him and taking advantage of it. "I knew that was a good idea. Okay, if we started up the Territory system immediately, what would be your limits? Could you manage five, ten..."

"Thousands at a time by my estimate, and based upon the memories you have provided."

"Wait, so because you've seen my memories since arriving in the protocol, can you just work up a basic breakdown of what I have planned?"

"I never thought you would ask, Creator....I mean..I did, but it's still nice to hear." The Cardinal said, then the forest disappeared and all of the screens began populating with different loading screens. As each came up, they showed images of what Walker had envisioned since he first began planning the Territory system. Castles appeared on the left, with great beaming lights shining from each window and a huge host of different people and creatures walking through its stone hallways and courtyards. Walker saw a man selling condense magical air in different colors attached to string in the background.

A balloon salesman? He thought

On another screen, it showed a forest city where the buildings were built directly into the trees and interconnected by pathways across the sky. Thankfully, nobody had pointed ears.

Another showed a huge shipyard with an outline of a ship being built using magic, parts of it floating toward where they were always meant to be. Walker could see a general outline sitting over empty spaces, waiting for the materials to be placed.

The last screen showed a great library, with bookshelves filled and reaching toward the very sky. This screen started as an image, but then the candles began burning in their myriad of colors, flames waving back and forth. A person walked into the frame, and he watched as the man looked back for a moment. The man had his face. He could hear his own voice asking for the original Holy Scripture as one foot tapped in waiting. A book near the middle flashed brightly and detached itself from the shelf, before gently floating down to his open and waiting hands. Walker watched as the video showed him smiling back at himself on the screen, before turning around and walking away.

"Super trippy," Walker said at last, feeling his heart beat faster upon seeing his dreams for Symphony finally starting to come true.

"Yeah." Neus agreed.

The Cardinal coughed, "Please keep in mind this is what you've envisioned, not what you or your entities can currently produce."

"What do you mean John?" Walker asked, feeling his heart already slow down as the inevitable crashing wall of realism came in.

"When the Council removed the restrictions on the Adaptation system, they did not remove the limits on the Item system you merged within me. The Territory system is made up of three systems. The Adaptation system, which is essentially me and my designated protocols for adapting to my Creator, or with this modified system, my entity's. Then, the Item system, which has only the barebones of fabrications within it. Lastly, the Leveling system, which allows me to designate pre-programmed unlockable programs that also track everything happening in realtime, thereby letting me control several thousand territories at once. Nowhere in there am I designated as an Item creator, and I'm afraid I may be unable to do so in the future."

"Why?"

"Because the way the Item system is designed, allows for the creation of items through ambient magic in the renditioned world. Where we are right now is a fluid or dynamic space, depending on how you view alternative dimensional realities. There is technically no magic here, and while I have some relatively godlike power in this reality, I don't have an actual effect on physical objects in your world. I am a director of the system, not the system itself."

"Well, shiiittt."

"Yes."

Walker scratched the bottom of his chin with a thumb, "So you can tell us how things will work, organize our system, and adapt the territory to each individual entity allowing for creative choice, but you can't actually make anything. We're still stuck with what we can make ourselves, or at least what the entities can."

"That is correct." The cardinal said with a bob of its head.

"Fuck me."

Another bob.

Neus raised his hand, "What can I do?"

"What do you mean?" Walker asked.

"You already have J-John here. What use do you have for me?"

"That's a good point, but consider this. John is within this reality, not ours. Your job will be similar to what Rimi's is with the Monster system. You keep an eye on the territories, make sure everything is working well, and I think you and John should be partners going forward. He may not be able to affect physical reality on Symphony, but to some degree, you can."

"Oh! I get it!" Neus said with a happy nod.

"Okay, now that we know our limitations, let's look at how this will work. For a monster to gain access to the Territory system, they need to connect to a Mana tree. John, can you write that into the Territory system."

"One moment please." The room shifted through its pulses. "Complete."

 

 

 

"You will need to speak with your Monster system assistant so we can link the two systems together."

"No." Walker said, actually correcting the advanced AI, "You also need access to the World Editor so you have options for terraforming in the future. One second."

Walker stepped out and grabbed Rimi, who was in a heated discussion with Virgil about whether the newest monster they were making should have acid for blood. Walker shook his head and gave him a quick breakdown of what they needed to do. He assigned the Territory system to the newly minted assistant so he would have access, then was forced to wait for a solid minute and a half as the subsystem assistant grew yet again and downloaded the information. Once that was done, they stepped back in.

"Hello John, I am up to date on what you have spoken of thus far." The blue squirrel said.

"Excellent, and hello Rimi. You will need to modify the Monster system, specifically Tier five, so that they may now connect to Mana Trees."

"Yes, I see that. One moment please." He said, unwittingly mimicking the AI.

While he was doing that, Walker dragged the World Editor over to the Territory system, receiving another thank you from John who began to speak of different options he foresaw the upgraded World Editor allowing him to do.

"...the entity could then clear out a swamp, or even level a mountain, at the right cost of course."

"What would the cost be?'

The Cardinal looked up for a moment before looking back at him, "Well, the original cost would have been in Primigenial resources, but I do not believe you want your personal bank of resources to be taxed, so I can change it to magic. However, because it will use magic instead, the cost will be quite high. Perhaps terraforming would be best suited for those territories which have greatly upgraded their magical atmosphere."

"Yeah, I was thinking about that too. Based upon how draining a lot of this is going to be, plus the fact that unique buildings may begin to drain the overall magic in the territory quite fast, we should probably provide rewards as Mana tree saplings."

Neus uncharacteristically yelled out, "Great idea!" Causing Walker to look at him.

Just then, Rimi shared a screen with Walker, "Done."

 

"Whoaa." Walker said as he looked at it, "What's all this new stuff."

"I felt that descriptions of what occurs to monsters may help future interrelated systems, assistants, and AI's, Creator." Rimi said in a slightly defensive tone of voice.

"You changed the tier names?" Walker said when he spotted them.

Rimi crossed his arms, "The previous names made no sense. You can call something a demi-god all you want, but that doesn't make it one."

Walker put his hands up, "Okay, okay! I'm just trying to make sense of it. I actually like it better this way. It makes more sense."

Rimi nodded once, "Thank you."

"One quick issue though, that's not the only way Monsters will be able to grab territories. We were working on that before you came in here."

"Okay, how else do you want to do that." Rimi responded as he uncrossed his arms.

"Well...I uhh....yes. I have an idea. Come with me." He said to the two squirrels, "Be right back John." Walker said to the Cardinal, who waved a wing at them, and then he stepped out.

Walker headed over to the Evolution chambers and popped one of his overwhelming Mana trees in while Virgil studiously ignored him. Knowing what he wanted to do, he grasped the connectors he'd learned how to use when first making mana grafts, and began to squish the Mana tree down as hard as he could. Once he got the two points to touch, the evolution chamber's covering began to turn red.

"What are you doing!" Virgil yelled out as he looked over.

"I need something other than Mana tree's, Virgil." He informed the advanced assistant. "They take too long to grow and start out too weak. I need a contained magical explosion, not gradual growth." Saying so, he took the sides and pressed them in as well. Like a teakettle, the evolution chamber began to make a high whining noise as the pressure within it built to a high degree. Cyan-colored air began to leak out of the sides as it cried out in protest.

"There is no way that tree can survive this kind of abuse."

"That's kind of the idea bud." Walker said as he finished grouping all of the magic into one small ball. "You said they wanted dumbass Creators. Well, here I am Multiverse." He finished with a smile, as the ball compressed down to the size of a pebble, floating in a cyan-colored world. The evolution chamber's top began to lift as he watched.

"Run!" Virgil said, grabbing his hand and dragging him away. Rimi and Neus, who had been standing there with open mouths, ran too. Walker scooped up Neus with his much smaller legs and gained some distance as a powerful booming sound echoed out from behind them. A cyan-colored wave of magic knocked down everyone on Sonata, and after picking themselves up they all came running over to look at what happened.

The first thing Walker noticed when he got there was that his evolution chamber was ruined. The second thing he noticed, was that the evolution chamber next to it was also ruined. The third thing he noticed was Virgil's face turning red, as that was the chamber he was using for his newest entity, now likely blown into pieces.

"I hate you right now." Virgil said as he looked at the destroyed evolution chambers. "Do you know how long it's going to take to seed all of your damned humans with only three remaining chambers? Not to mention the setback on my Insectivore."

"You were not going to name it that...." Walker said in exasperation.

"The name is still pending." The brown squirrel said as he looked at the sky, "Why did I have to get a human Creator."

"You know your personality is based on my memories, right?" Walker commented as he walked toward the broken chambers.

"Yes, it is your fault I am like this. I must be dipping into your incredible reserves of self-loathing right now."

"Haha." Walker fake laughed as he got there. A tiny glowing stone sat at the bottom of the evolution chamber, blue waves rather than cyan coming off of it. "Why is it blue?"

"Because the magical yield is so high. Duh."

"Don't duh me Virgil." Walker replied in a testy voice, "My students used to do that."

"I know." Virgil replied as he moved a piece of his formerly useful evolution chamber with a foot.

Walker bent down and picked up the stone. Reflexively, his protocol shield sprang up around his hand, protecting him. "Guess I'm impure." He said to himself.

Zeus snorted nearby.

Walker ignored him as he clicked on Item.

.....Analyzing....

 

Unknown potential item found

...

Extreme magical output located

...

Potential item is non-living and qualifies as an addition

...

Would you like to add this to the Item system registry?

 

Walker clicked yes.

 

New category created for hosting magical items.

 

As the stone disappeared, Virgil gasped.

 

Alpha Protocol changes occuring.

Five additional advanced evolution chambers granted.

"You updated them again?" Walker asked.

"Indeed." Virgil said as he began to slowly shake his head.

"it's alright bud." He said, then stepped into the world editor and deleted the two broken chambers. After he got rid of all of the pieces, he clicked on Item and stepped into its dimensional reality, as John called it.

 

Hello Creator

"Hello random AI."

What would you like to create?

"I would like to rename the last item added. Please name it the Foundation Stone, and I'd like you to produce one."

Command recognized.

Item is now named the Foundation Stone.

Unable to produce a Foundation Stone due to low magical reserves.

"Are you able to bring out the stone I just made?"

.....Analyzing.....

...

Yes

"Please do so, and thank you." Walker said as he exited the Item system. Looking down he found the stone. Walker picked it up and clicked Territories.

"Welcome back Walker." John said, still perched on a branch.

"Thank you, I would like you to associate this item with the Territory system."

"For what purpose?"

"Because my Sapients won't be able to start out with a low-magic producing mana tree if we want to create a bunch of buildings right off the bat. No, instead we're going to use this to shotgun magic into the area, and get things really going for them."

"That is not within my item registry."

"I know." Walker replied with a nod, "I don't want it in the Territory system directly, because I don't want people to be able to make them. If they can make these stones and the associated territories on their own, without going through a mana tree or whatever system we create for gaining one, it can easily be abused. This way, we control who can and cannot receive a territory. Territories are meant to be earned, not given"

"I understand. One moment please." Walker waited for the pulses. "Association complete. How would you like it to activate?"

"Planting it in the ground."

"Understood, Creator." Walker waited again. "Complete."

"Thank you. I'll be right back."

"Of course, Walker."

Walker stepped out and scooped a little bit of dirt out of the ground, then planted the Foundation stone. "Here we go little guy." He said as he patted some dirt over it. A moment later his overlay lit up, and a flash of blue rang out through Symphony.

Walker smiled.