Walker landed on Symphony a little off the ground for once, but his awakened legs took the drop just fine. Springing up faster than he was used to, he did a small hop into the air. Just to lean into it, he threw a fist with the leap, deciding to pretend like it was his intention all along.

"Yeah baby! I told you it would work."

"What did you dooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Virgili screamed out as he stared at his screen. "So much is happening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"What?" Walker asked in confusion.

"The Alpha Protocol Council has increased their time dilation to one hundred times ours so they can study what is happening in 4AB right now Walker. The amount of messages I am getting is insane!" He threw a private message at Walker for the first time.

 

He did it LAD47! We now have access to everything!: Councilmember 4

Everything!: Councilmember 4

Another combination!: Councilmember 6

This is terrible!: Councilmember 1

This is wonderful!: Councilmember 4

LAD47 do not let him die!: Councilmember 2

This is unabridged magic! What is that doing to the planet? That-that planet is alive!: Councilmember 1

Can it talk?: Councilmember 4

 

"Who is LAD47?" Walker had to ask.

"That would be me." The great brown squirrel replied with a large amount of stress on his face.

"Ughh, I prefer Virgil." Walker said with a face of disgust. "Nobody should have a number in their name. Way too impersonal."

"Yeah, says the guy who named a bunch of babies after characters from a poem about hell. Leave me alone Walker! Don't even ask about your damned rewards, trust me, they will come."

Walker held his hands up, "fine, fine."

As he started to walk away Virgil called out, "Your humans will be done in about an hour. Be ready!"

That pepped up his step, and he quickly walked over to check in on everyone. The primigenials were just fine, although all of them strangely kept their distance from him, refusing to come closer than ten feet. Athena was the exception as she carefully stepped forward.

"Are...are you okay, Walker?" She asked in a hesitant voice.

"Yep, I feel great. In fact, I feel better than great. Why do you ask?"

She leaned in closely before backing up again, "You...you feel...different. It's like...like standing in front of something that is beyond yourself. I do not know how to explain it."

Walker looked closely at her. She had a worried look on her face, but he didn't see anything else. "Well buttercup, I don't know what to tell you. I'm feeling just great. If you'll excuse me, I have to go work on the Territory system."

"Of..Of course. Please, do not let me hold you up." She said as she backed up while keeping her eyes on him.

Walker stepped away while whistling gailey, his steps quickly pulling him away from the strange conversation. He hopped into the Territory system after he got close to his Creation Instrument, and interrupted John speaking calmly to an angry Neus.

"No, small fellow."

"I'm bigger than you!"

"Listen. Walker does not want, ah. Creator. Did....is there something different about you?"

Walker sat down in his chair. Although his body felt lighter than ever, the chair started to make an odd protesting noise. "I don't think so, no. What were you guys talking about?'

"Mmmm, no there is definitely something different about you." The cardinal said with a suspicious gaze locked onto him.

Neus waved a hand, "Stop trying to distract from the conversation. Walker, please tell John that you want Sapients to constantly gain unimaginable power."

Walker couldn't help but laugh, "Nooooo, absolute power corrupts absolutely. It needs to be gained gradually and through effort, otherwise, it won't be appreciated the way it needs to be."

John nodded his head, "Precisely. Now, were you able to get the Donation system going?"

Walker shook his head, "I was not, but, we can continue forward as if it's already working. No worries."

"Excellent, okay, so here is what we have...."

They worked at tiering different items and making them relevant. Before Walker had run off, they'd already completed a barebones version of it. Adding on to that and deciding the monetary value for each tier only took a dozen or so minutes. John showed the big screen in the end.

 

 

The visual only made sense. Each time an item was created and named, the color would appear over the item after John had scanned it, identifying the level of mastery shown in its creation. Of course, that only worked if they donated the item. Not doing so wouldn't associate it with the interconnected Item system, or bring in John for the scanning. Lesser minds would think this system would only work on weapons or armor, but Walker wanted it used in everything from a piece of wheat to a painting. It was up to John, now with proper direction and understanding of what Walker wanted, to assign the correct value to each donation.

Sure there were ways to game this system, but who cares? The idea was to create a system that allowed John to copy what different entities created, and keep the extras for themselves to hand out as rewards. Although, he did speak to them for some time about what would happen if someone donated thousands of tier 9 screws. That could be quite a problem. John said he would keep an eye on it and make sure that depreciating values were put into place if someone REALLY tried to take advantage of them.

Neus pointed out the low value of the items, but Walker stated it was fair. Notes would always be a premium currency on Symphony, and he envisioned that one day the value of a note would be ten, twenty, or even thirty times higher than the local currency. Because they technically worked everywhere, they needed to be handed out somewhat sparingly. He also explained that a sheet was a thousand notes, which seemed to mollify the green squirrel a small amount.

After that, they worked on the UI for Territories a little more, just so that Walker felt better about finalizing the basic version. It would upgrade and add more items as new functionality and options became available to each Holder or Steward. Walker looked at what the first version would look like.

 

 

It was still pretty basic, and didn't have a lot of tracking going on anywhere, but it would do for now. John said that since the Leveling system was directly built into the Territory system, he could also modify the trackers however he wanted to. That meant he could attach the trackers to each new category within the UI and have it seamlessly updated without him becoming overburdened by so many things happening at once. Good news in other words.

Walker suggested they start adding in tasks. Not only because it was important for completing the second Territory system task requirement that Walker himself held, but because it was helpful for Sapients to have clearly defined goals. The first task was easy to create.

 

First Task created for new Stewards:

[Place the Foundation Stone into the ground to begin your territory]

First Task created for new Holders:

[Attune with your Mana Tree to begin your territory]

 

The first Steward task would activate once they got their hands on a Foundation Stone, while the Holders would activate once they were within fifty feet of their Mana Tree. After the first task, and the easy second one, they continued to work. Once Walker felt like they had the basics started in the tasks, he had them make the fourth into a series, just like he had always received. He also finally came up with a name that would work for both Stewards and Holders as a group.

 

Second task created for Custodians:

[Select your territorial starter archetype]

 

Third task created for Custodians:

[Plant your Mana Sapling in a safe area]

 

Fourth task created for Custodians (Non-Magical Archetype):

Donate five original items to the Territory system: 0/5

Make sure all residents have housing: Residents with homes: 0/X

Have a plentiful amount of food for thirty days: No food shortage: 0/30 days

Have at least 50% of your citizens with jobs: 0/X Citizens

Have at least 500 Citizens in your territory: 0/500

 

Fourth task created for Custodians (Magical Archetype):

Connect with your Mana Sapling: Yes/No

 

They'd always have to make a separate version of each series of tasks for each type, but with Magical being focused entirely on those Holders who want nothing to do with civilization, they were forced to make separate tasks early. Walker looked it over from multiple angles until he nodded in satisfaction. John said he would add in any archetype specific tasks that needed to be done as well.

"This'll do. Great job gents."

They worked at it some more, but at this point Walker felt that Neus, with Johns's immediate help, could continue with what they'd started together. He did work with them to set up a form of an FAQ or frequently asked questions. Unlike Walker's forthcoming Class system and Profession system, he wanted Holders and Stewards to be able to ask about things regarding territories, so creating an FAQ built into the Territory system itself would be helpful for further mitigating the future load on John.

Just before Walker stepped out of the Territory system, he had a heart-to-heart with Neus about working with John, rather than against him. He explained that he knew that Neus felt like John had usurped his role, but he needed to think of the Advanced AI as a partner, rather than a competitor. The green squirrel said he would try.

Walker stepped out of the Territory system and received a barrage of notifications.

 

.....Scanning.....

.....

Private message from an Alpha Protocol Council Member detected.

....Retrieving....

Cancelled

 

.....

Private message from an Alpha Protocol Council Member detected.

....Retrieving....

Cancelled

 

.....

Private message from the Alpha Protocol Council detected.

....Retrieving....

 

Hello Creator....or should we say Walker.

Before you begin to think that we have violated the Assistance Accord, know that the entire event in Rendition 4ab was recorded and is still being recorded at this time.

The things we have seen there...truly magnificent.

...

Do you even know what has happened? Assuredly not.

Understand that what you have done, seemingly on a whim based on the recording, will have ramifications for the entirety of every protocol.

We have spoken with number four and we now understand his intense...interest...in you.

We shall all now be watching together.

...

The rewards you have negotiated with Council Member Four have been approved retroactively by the full council.

Give us some time to begin relegating the new strands to your resources as we're currently learning how to mass produce them.

...

Although it does not do justice to your achievement, here is what you will receive as a reward:

A massive allocation of resources.

A choice of two abilities from our personal bank, curated by LAD47.

A genetic sampling from the creatures we have discovered thus far.

Your Creation Instrument has been maximally promoted as well.

...

We would say keep up the great work, but if you can take this rendition any further, we are not sure we can manage it with our resources.

Thank you very much for your work, Walker.

Good luck in the third battle.

We do not think you will need it.

...

One final note. Use of the Entropic resource may destroy your entire rendition.

We do not suggest it, but that decision is yours to make.

- - -

 

Alpha Protocol changes occurring.

...

.....Analyzing.....

...

All restrictions upon any assistants further into the protocol have been removed.

Your Subsystem Assistant Task is now completed at no cost.

All AIs further into the protocol will now be at least Advanced. Current basic AI's have also been promoted to Advanced.

...

.....Analyzing.....

 

The Alpha Protocol Council has chosen to grant you rewards!

 

15 Potential Energy Resources

45 Space Resources

22 Life Resources

23 Causality Resources

40 Consciousness Resources

15 Kinetic Resources

22 Death Resources

8 Essence Resources

11 Karmic Resources

2 Nullification Resources

45 Dimensional Resources

5k Temporal Resources

3k Primordial Resources

1 Entropic Resource

 

Access to the Dimensional Terror genera is provided.

Access to the Living Collosi genera is provided.

 

You have two pending ability choices.

Please seek out your Advanced Assistant (Virgil), for more information.

- - -

 

"What in the fuck?" Walker said after reading through everything. He clicked on his resources tab to get a better idea of how this would all work and found a new section titled Strands that was glowing. Clicking on it, his screen filled with a series of names and numbers he couldn't immediately associate.

 

 

Just below that, he found another new section.

 

"Walker! Do not touch the Entropic resource!" Virgil yelled out as he came running over.

"I know! Okay...I know." Walker said with his hands in the air, a little miffed that Virgil thought so little of him.

"Okay, I just....wait a second....are you taller?" Virgil said as he looked at him.

Walker sighed, "No...I'm not taller."

Virgil shook his head at him, "You look taller Walker, I would know. I'm constantly analyzing everything on Sonata. If I had to do a rough estimate," He said, eyeballing Walker up and down, "I'd say you are two inches taller right now."

"Haha funny guy."

But Virgil wasn't laughing. His face looked very serious as he said, "No, I mean it. Look at your shirt."

Walker looked down at his shirt and pulled at it a little to get a better view, but it wouldn't budge. It was so tight that all of the buttons were currently being stressed to the max, as if it'd never been tailored for his size.

"What the fuck?" Walker said with big eyes.

"Indeed. Did anything strange happen to you while you were within rendition 4AB?"

Walker scratched the side of his head, "I don't think so, no."

"Then I am unaware of what could be causing this. Please update me on any changes that you notice with your body."

"Weird, but okay." Walker replied. It was like talking to his dad during his first sprout-up of puberty. He really hoped he wasn't about to go through a second one.

"So, did you have a chance to look at the new strands?" Virgil asked with excitement.

"Yep, seems pretty weird."

"Yes, it is new to me as well, but that is amazing!" He said with his arms raised up. "Whole new fields are now being discovered Walker. For instance, did you know you can use Essence with any of the other strands?"

Walker scratched his forehead with his index finger, "...nope."

"Neither did I! It lets you bottle up the strands for later use. You can store it without having to go through the hundreds of extra steps we currently need to. It's amazing! Plus, plus, did you see Potential Energy? I'll give you a hint, its color is cyan."

Walker hazarded a guess, "Magic?"

"Just so! Potential energy has been classified as magic all of this time, but really, it's just the potential for entities to reach brand-new ways of being. That's it, it's the pure energy of change itself! Truly, I do not know where we go from here...ughh, if only I were a research assistant." He said as his arms fell down by his sides.

"It's okay buddy," Walker said as he rested a hand on his shoulder, "You're my research assistant. Plus! You were there! No other assistant in the protocol was man, you're special."

Virgil pushed his hand off of his shoulder slowly, "Heavy hand you have there Walker. That does not account properly for my understanding of advanced physics. Another part of your Awakening?"

"I guess." Walker said with a shrug, feeling his energy cascade up and down his body for a moment. He had so much running through him he felt like going for a run, and he hated running.

Sadly, he didn't have enough time, there was still too much to do. He tried to keep any disappointment out of his voice, "So, the abilities?"

"Yes, I have isolated four I believe you should look at."

"From how many?" Walker couldn't help but ask.

"Four-hundred thousand, two hundred and fifty-one."

"Jeez, okay. No wonder they wanted me to talk to you about it. I could spend the rest of my time in the dilation just staring at and stressing about all of the abilities."

"Indeed. I'll send them over to you now."

 

 

 

 

"Fuck me." Walker said as he slapped both hands against his face, "So, I can teleport, fly, make bags of holding, or start a whole new race of creatures anytime I want."

"Hrmmm." Virgil mumbled with a hidden smile, "Yes. It is great to feel so conflicted about what truly matters to you, is it not?"

"How come in all the stories I read, there's always an obvious fucking choice. There's nothing obvious about these. Plus, why is it already stating that they'll use Primordial strands?"

"Good point, Walker. I added those descriptions in myself. Once you uncovered the strands of Primordial energy, they began being filtered into your resources continuously. I'll admit you're only getting a parcel of what the council is receiving, but as they're doing all of the work, I feel it is a fair tithe. When you first looked, you had two Nullification resources. How many do you have now?"

Walker looked specifically at that resource, "Four."

"Yes." Virgil said with a happy nod, "Once the protocol council makes an agreement, they MUST stick to it. If they do not, they can be replaced or even executed by the system itself depending on how egregiously they have violated the system's standards. Everyone has a boss."

"Who is mine?" Walker couldn't help but ask.

Virgil eyed his chest, "I would wager it is the oath you have made. Now, enough stalling. Please pick two as we still have a lot of work to complete."

"Hrmm...." Walker said as he tapped his chin, his face shifted into one of pure sadness,"Both of the movement abilities are a dream of mine...of every kids...." Walker said, lamenting the possibilities. "We all want to be Superman....but. I'm a Creator, and there are two choices that we need. I choose Life-Giver and Pocket Dimension."

"Are you certain? As you say, there are no take-backsies." Virgil said with a completely straight face.

"I'm certain, thank you." Walker replied with a resolute nod.

"Okay, done." Virgil said with no fanfare.

The obligatory rewards notification popped up, and Walker now had two new abilities. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, there was always too much to do, "Anyways, are the humans done yet?"

Virgil nodded, "They are indeed, as are the Eaterhives. Would you mind coming with me? We need to activate the bloodlines and begin placement."

"Sure, although one quick thing I need to do." Walker went into the system and assigned Virgil to the Landmass system.

In the blink of an eye and with no gradual buildup, Virgil grew to be ten feet tall as he downloaded the information. One moment Walker was looking down at him, and the next he was looking up. Even his fur changed, from a nutty brown to a deep and stark black as he grew.

"Holy shit."

 

.....Scanning.....

 

Congratulations Dante! Your Advanced Assistant has upgraded to a Supreme Assistant!

 

"From one system?" Walker asked with disbelief tinging his voice. He continued to look at the mega-squirrel for several minutes until he assumedly finished his download.

"Noo." Virgil said, picking up on what Walker had spoken out loud a few minutes ago. The sound of his voice though....it came through in an entirely new way. Rather than the typical professor-like quality he'd always held, it now sounded like a hundred smaller voices speaking together at the same time, layering over and under each other. "The Landmass system is the primary system for all others to work through in this rendition. The downloaded information I now hold is more than three times what I've held in the past. Behold!" He said, and flicked his hand out toward the sky.

Walker remembered that his Creation Instrument had upgraded multiple times in the last few weeks, and at each upgrade, the size of the landmasses increased in direct correlation. When Virgil held his hand up, a landmass three times the size of the current Symphony floated in the air and began to pull itself together as he watched. Mountains sprang up, with a singular rising volcano behind them, lakes started, and then rivers formed through them, each interconnecting until they began to drip off the side of the land and into space. An entire miniature planet was now floating in the sky while Virgil directed it to form.

"What in the fuck man, why can't I do that?" Walker said in frustration.

"You can now Walker, this is the final form of your Creation Instrument. Direct control." Virgil said in his new voice. A huge glob of water formed into a sphere the size of a small city and floated over to Sonata, Virgil made sure Walker got a good eyeful of it before it disappeared back into the World Editor. "You now have the full power of Creation. What you do with it is up to you." He closed his open hand and the whole giant landmass disappeared. Walker got a notification that he'd just received a C for his landmass with a little note at the bottom saying all assistant-created landmasses could not receive a higher grade.

"Still they fuck me."

"Oh, Walker." Virgil said as he stooped over him, "You are never satisfied."

"That's called having ambition." Walker pointed out.

"Certainly. Another moment please."

Walker got a new notification, the kind he hadn't seen in a long time.

.....Scanning.....

 

- - -

As your entity is modified from its original form, please name it.

Before he had a chance to ask what was going on, it updated.

Entity: Eaterhive is named.

.....Analyzing.....

 

Entity named Eaterhive analyzed.

Size: Medium.

Entity category: System Monster.

Organism type: Animal.

Modification: Extreme.

Ability to evolve: Yes, system-bound. Restricted.

Age: 1 Year.

Grade: A

Extra marks earned for the first extreme use of the Combiner ability in the 4AA alpha protocol: Grand reward earned.

Rewards calculated.

- - -

 

Grand reward for being the first creator to make an entity with extreme use of the Combiner ability:

Congratulations Dante! You've advanced the Tree of the Gods!

No Description provided.

 

Major reward for completion of an A grade entity:

Congratulations Dante! You've gained an allocation of rare resources!

Life resources allocated. Rare plant allocated: Deathshroom.

 

Entity task: Create ten more unique entities: Part 2

Diversification allows for growth. The further down a genetic line that organisms move unchanged, the greater the loss of potential genetic resources. You have made three unique entities, now make ten more.

New unique entities: 8/10

Reward for completion: Diverse

- - -

 

"Fuck!" Walker yelled out as the ground below him began to rock and roll. Strangely, he never lost his footing, although he did get the pleasure of watching Virgil tip and fall over. It was like watching a building crash in a somewhat glitchy video game. A quick lean, and then they were suddenly on the ground.

 

Unknown changes occurring.

The Tree of the Gods is maturing!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Tree of the Gods has borne fruit.

 

"Okay, we'll deal...."

 

Unknown changes occurring.

The Tree of the Gods is maturing!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Tree of the Gods has borne fruit.

 

"Double fuck!" He yelled out again as the fully-sized moon finally stopped skirting around.

 

Unknown changes occurring.

The Greek Pantheon has fully descended.

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Norse Pantheon is ready!

 

"Fuck!" He yelled out for a third time, and a pulse of green threaded through with black shot out of him, bowling over everybody on the planet instantly and causing the Tree of the Gods to moan in the background.

When Walker looked up, he found the time dilation circle around the planet, always just out of sight if you looked directly at it, now had small cracks throughout. The cracks began to turn red as he watched, and not knowing what was going to happen if he didn't fix it quickly, he dove into his resources tab and clicked on Temporal.

He didn't know why, but he had an instinct to grab hold of the icon itself, and as he pulled away, his resources started to go down in numbers until he held a ball of spinning white in his hand. His protocol shield cracked and broke apart as he held it, but when it touched his skin, he didn't wither and die as expected. Nothing happened.

He took his other hand and began to pull pieces off of the temporal ball, then began throwing them at the cracks, running across the planet as he moved. The more he ran, the faster he moved, until anyone looking would just see a blur sprinting across the planet, filling in cracks with small time-based putty it shot out like a cannon. After he filled in all of the cracks, he had a sudden instinctual need to see what would happen if he just kept speeding up. But as the last crack filled in from his time-putty, the sobering thought of Sonata exploding from the friction his feet caused kept him from making the attempt. He kept up his current speed, only slowing down when he came close to Virgil, who had already picked himself up off of the ground. The black squirrel looked at him.

"It appears I am not the only one who has upgraded."

"Yeahh...I don't know." Walker said as he scratched the back of his head.

Virgil tsked, "I've never seen that before. But, do not worry. I will not be telling the council about it."

"What?" Walker said in confusion, "But, I thought you had to tell them everything."

"Not anymore. My final mental processor acceded the moment you fixed what surely should've been an event that killed us all. My loyalty is to you and to you alone now, Walker."

"Yes!" Walker said, and accidentally jumped a dozen feet in the air with his exuberance. "Whooaaa....I'm going to need to figure this shit out."

"Certainly. Now, would you like to get started on the humans? I have already placed hundreds of Eaterhive's on Romulus and Remus."

"While you were knocked on the ground and trying to figure out how to fix the cracks in the sky?" Walker asked in confusion.

"Exactly that. There is a reason we are called Supreme Assistants." His strangely multifaceted voice said, still seeming to sound pretty smug.

Together they walked over and stood in front of the two human babies, "How old would you like them to be?" Virgil asked. "Keep in mind, we will be modifying their DNA minutely with each pass so there is little chance of any inbreeding. You also need to consider, because of your planet's history, if you are interested in segregating them by melatonin levels."

"What the fuck? That's racist Virgil." Walker said, planting his hands on his hips.

"Yes, but your planet..."

"My planet had that problem BECAUSE they were separated. There are certainly cultural differences between different places, but skin is skin. No, I want you to randomize the specific racial features. I don't care what they look like, I just need you to make sure that all races are given an even shake and not grouped together based purely on looks. I also want there to be an even split of men to women. No fucking eugenics."

"But Walker..."

"No! Now, how do I give them the blood...nevermind. It's in my overlay."

Walker clicked into his overlay and found the bloodlines he'd already acquired under genetic modifications.

 

 

"Did you look at these?" Walker asked as he viewed each bloodline's positives....and the negatives inherently built into them.

"Yes, it is a package deal. The good with the bad, the positives with the negatives. For instance, Zeus's Electricity modification. While it allows those with the bloodline to develop electrical abilities apart from evolutions, it also increases their sensitivity to electromagnetic waves, and thus can cause headaches and mental fatigue buildup."

"I didn't know about any of this." Walker said as he looked back at the two babies in the tubes.

"You have a lot of things going on at once Walker. I would not blame yourself."

"And you think this is fair? That the benefits outweigh the consequences?"

"Certainly. You must consider that the humans will be starting in a new environment with virtually nothing to hold on to but themselves."

That didn't sound right...it was wrong. He could do more...."I can change that...." Walker said quietly.

"What was that?" Virgil asked as he leaned forward.

"I said, I can change that." He clicked on the toughness modification and clicked on the baby boy in the tube, then advanced him by twenty years. He then did the same to the small girl with the Textile modification. Both young adult humans sat in their tubes, blissfully unaware of the outside world. That was about to change. Walker clicked into the seeding system and chose a foot away from himself and Virgil, then clicked accept.

"What are you doing!" Virgil said as he stumbled back.

"I'm going to give them a chance." Walker said as they faded in, both falling to their butts, naked as all can be. Walker produced two basic sets of clothes in the Item system and, after folding them, put them down next to the first two human beings, aside from his former self, to touch Sonata. Both began coughing and weakly opening their eyes.

---

 

The first sight they saw was a large and muscled man with a torn white shirt, smiling at them.

"Welcome my friends." He said in a deep and soft voice, his brown eyes seeming to light up from within. "Welcome to Symphony."