"Please look at your prelim analysis Walker."

"Right, gotcha." Walker said, clicking on the pulsing box.

 

.....Analyzing.....

 

Walker watched as a small glow lit up the bottom of his planet. The golden glow soon covered the world, looking nothing less like a shell before disappearing.

 

Initial landmass creation named The Crater analyzed.

Size: Average.

Biodiversity: Not available in the preliminary creation system.

Versatility: Poor.

Age: 0 Years.

Alpha protocol assistance provided: High.

No extra marks earned.

Grade: D.

Rewards calculated.

 

Walker knew he had done a bad job with his first landmass, but he didn't think it was a D. He made a mental note to ask Virgil about what the extra marks are and how to get them next time. While he was thinking about this, the protocol analyzed the Slicer.

 

Initial entity creation named Slicer analyzed.

Size: Small.

Entity category: Animal.

Organism type: Alpha Predator.

Modification: Extreme.

Ability to evolve: Yes (High).

Age: 0 Years.

Alpha protocol assistance provided: None. Diet provided in preliminary creation system.

Extra marks earned for the first alpha predator in the 4AA alpha protocol: Grand reward earned.

Extra marks earned for the first extreme modification of an entity in the 4AA alpha protocol: Grand reward earned.

Extra marks earned for being the third creator to make an entity with high evolutionary capabilities in the 4AA alpha protocol: Moderate reward earned.

Grade: A+

Rewards calculated.

"Holy crap. But we didn't do that much? How is it we got such a high grade?"

"That is not the highest grade possible Walker, but it is close to it. It looks like you lost a few points with the Slicer's age. While on the surface it seems that you did not make major changes to the former Bobbit worm, I believe the fish currently populating your landmass would greatly disagree." Walker grimaced in sympathetic horror. "That is not a standard alpha predator. I highly suggest at your first chance, you isolate The Crater and keep it far away from the remainder of your world."

"Yeah, no, I fully agree with you."

"Indeed. Please look at your rewards Walker. I believe the alpha protocol is going to help you in moving forward."

Walker excitedly pulled up his overlay and clicked on the status update.

 

Rewards gained by Dante in conclusion of the preliminary creation system:

 

Basic reward for completion of a D grade landmass:

Congratulations Dante! You've unlocked the basic ability: Copy!

A requirement for any Creator. Gain the ability to copy any part of a landmass unto another.

 

Grand Reward for completion of an A+ Entity:

Congratulations Dante! You've unlocked the System Designer!

The creation of the alpha protocol was not just happenstance. It took many millennia for the first step to be created, and it's always moving forward. The alpha protocol is a system that is continually becoming more efficient and expanding beyond the scope of its original intent. While not as powerful, the system designer will allow the Creator to build their own systems, allowing their entities to grow and evolve in different ways.

 

Grand reward for being the first creator to make an entity with extreme modifications:

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

Its power is forming. Its voice, just a whisper. Continue to advance the Tree of the Gods for massive potential paths forward.

 

Grand reward for being the first creator to make the first alpha predator:

Congratulations Dante! You've unlocked the ecology subsystem!

The alpha protocol allows for a multitude of different ways to build and manage a world, but without careful management, everything will die. With this subsystem, a creator can manage elements like habitats, predator and prey dynamics, and dietary monitoring, as well as gain an overview of the health of the creator's entities in their world. This subsystem can be assigned directly to a Creator's assistant as long as they've already gained an advanced upgrade.

 

Moderate reward for being the third creator to make an entity with the possibility of evolution (high):

Congratulations Dante! You've gained an evolution chamber!

The evolution chamber is a wonder introduced in rendition 3EF. Created by one of the rendition winners, Bander Sotfam, the evolution chamber allows the creator to directly input evolutionary modifications into their entities. Further progress by the Creator in creating unique genetic entities may result in gaining more evolution chambers.

 

Basic reward for completion of the preliminary creation system:

Congratulations Dante! Your creation instrument has upgraded!

A creation instrument is not static, but constantly conforming to the needs of its Creator.

 

"That was a lot to take in." Walker said as he looked over each reward. His overlay changed to allow for the system designer and ecology subystem. Without being asked, Virgil made the boxes changeable and Walker changed the names to Systems and Ecology. Once he accepted the changes, they minimized into his screen and would reappear as he moved his hand towards them in his vision. He quickly turned his head and found the Tree of the Gods. Walking toward it, he found the distance wasn't quite as far as it had been in the past, plus it had grown again and was now over 18 feet tall. The leaves fully fleshed out and it was a kaleidoscope of color. The bark's striations were less off lines moving up and down the trunk of the tree, and instead looked like writing, although his universal translater wasn't working when he tried to read them. One branch's leaves all looked to be a part of a set, with a lightning bolt, hammer, and an arrow. He looked at Virgil who shrugged.

"You think this has something to do with the mythology from my world?"

"That is an astute observation Walker. I believe it may have something to do with the origins of your world."

Walker didn't know what to say to that. The system said that he needed to advance the tree to get massive potential paths forward. Aside from a little growth at the start of everything, this time it had tripled in size. That meant, in order to advance it more quickly, he needed to get more grand rewards. He looked back at the squirrel.

"So I bet you're pretty happy that we got the ecology system huh Virgil."

"Indeed. It will make managing the ecosystem of the planet much easier. I even have options for altering the gas in the atmosphere. This will allow us to create a much more habitable world for any entities in the future."

"Sweet. So uhhh, did you want to take it over?"

Virgil's whiskers twitched. "Are you asking me to manage the ecology subsystem in its totality Walker?"

"Yes?"

His tail swished back and forth as he said, "That would be my pleasure, Walker. There is quite a bit of minutia to managing a world's ecology. I doubt you would have the time whilst creating."

"Yeah that was my thought as well. I'm also kind of a moron, but that's fine."

"You call yourself a moron, yet you received not one, but two grand rewards in the first creation of your entity, and with a moderate reward as well."

"That was luck."

"Actually, that was time. You still have over 16 hours remaining. Creating your landmass took the most time, your entity was relatively short, we spent quite a bit of time watching it swim in the water reaping fish, then you did not use any of your allocated 50 years. If you had taken more time to focus on any one thing, you would have finished later in the prelims and had a lower score as you would not be the first to create an alpha predator with extreme modifications, nor be the third to create an entity with high evolutionary capabilities. Your need for immediacy was an advantage in this instance, but I have to warn you, you need to take your time in the future."

"No, I understand. Speed running through this has now made us isolate a part of the world away from whatever else we make. If I'd really taken my time, I could have made a dog that can tapdance or a giraffe that actually has more to it than an unnaturally long neck."

"That's an idea."

Walker got excited, "Right! Think of The Crater filled with super jacked giraffes rippling their way back and forth along the beach." He could picture it now-

Wait wait no. I need to focus.

"Who would the giraffe be showing off for?"

"True athletes don't show off but I know plenty at the gym who do, ughhhhh I got sidetracked sorry."

"Not a problem Walker. Remember, the more creative you are, the greater the rewards. That is why I do not mind these non-sequiturs"

"Nice vocabulary."

"It is your vocabulary, Walker."

He tilted his head to the side, "I guess you're right. So what's this evolution chamber thing?"

"Let us go take a look, shall we?"

It looked like a large canister you would see in the old turtle movies, the ones that carried ooze. It had an elongated top and bottom portion with a beveled edge, arching back towards the center. The middle of the chamber was made of a glass-like substance that while transparent, seemed unnaturally thicker, like looking at bullet-proof glass. He'd seen glass like that in his schools.

"This is an evolution chamber, and with your evolutionary edge ability, is a boon that many creators would die for."

"What's the big deal?" Walker asked.

"You have the temporal subsystem. That is meant to allow evolution and growth to occur naturally. Most creators spend their years aging their world so that their entities can grow and become more powerful, wiser, or more brutal in many cases. It is standard in the alpha protocol for creators to build their world, drop their entities into their habitat, then allow them to fulfill the purpose of their creation, whatever that may be. With this chamber, you can now skip spending your allocated time and directly input how you want your entities to change after any modifications are present."

"That sounds extremely overpowered." Walker said as he looked closer through the glass. He didn't see any wires or connectors.

"Correct. The more creative you are with your evolution chamber, the higher your chances are of earning more. The alpha protocol rewards creativity with the ability to be even more creative."

Walker tapped a finger to his bottom lip, "So I have to have a purpose in my creations. Teachers call it the "why" of doing things. You have to know your why before you start any major project otherwise you'll become lost when things become difficult. You've seen my memories, what do you think my why is?"

Virgil looked up at the planets in the sky before answering, "Look up Walker."

He did so and didn't notice anything special. "What am I looking at here?"

"There are a multitude of creators that will cease to be here by the end of the prelim time limit. But you have already done it. You completed the prelims. You told your guide, when all of this started, that you wanted to create a world of fantasy, of guts and glory. You want to make a world that is balanced and allows its people to enhance themselves and whatever path they may take in their lives. Can that not be your why? Also, while I can see your memories, I cannot access your thoughts at those moments. It is like watching a television show. You gain the view, but the impact is felt by the audience whom you cannot speak to"

Walker smiled at Virgil and turned around to think it over.

The why is important. I became a teacher because I wanted to help kids become better at expressing themselves, as it was something I myself had trouble with when I was younger. I joined the military because I felt a sense of duty or obligation, especially after 9/11. So why am I doing this here, and now. It's pretty amazing. I have the power to do almost anything I can put my mind to, as long as I can figure out the ins and outs of the alpha protocol. But that's not enough to carry me forward. I need to know my why.

Why

Why

"Virgil" Walker said. "How long am I likely to live if I complete the alpha protocol?"

"When you complete the alpha protocol" Virgil said with a squirrely smile. "You will have a choice when the protocol completes. Go back to your world, at the moment of your translocation, or stay with your creation and see it through."

"So I either can go home and get back to living my life, or become what? A manager on a planetary scale?"

"If that is what you wish, or you can sit back and watch what is happening. Historically, many creators take a hands-off approach after completion and are still out there. The original rendition creators are as old as billions of your earth-years and still have not stepped in to fix potential calamities. The choice, as ever, is yours Walker."

Hearing that, Walker knew what his why was.

"I'm not the type to sit back and let others do the work for me. If I do this, I'll be around to keep an eye on it and fix the problems that cannot be fixed otherwise."

"That can mean you will be doing it forever Walker." Virgil warned.

Walker nodded with resolution. "So be it. I've only ever quit one job and that was because my hands were tied in how to best help my students, my people. I'm not going to let things get out of control again. I going to make a world where wonder can happen. Where its people can be entranced by beauty and inspired by its own community members. Where just around the corner can be a new fantastical structure or story. A world that constantly changes and where heroes can be heroic, and no one person holds all the power. It is constantly said that mankind's truest calling is to explore, so I need to make a world where exploration never has an ending. My why is simple. I will create a world that always has another step you can take."

"And what will you call this world Walker? I don't believe The Crater inspires wonder."

"No, haha. You are definitely right about that. Utopia is cliche, paradise is wrong as you cannot be a hero without villains. We need something simple that is easily recognizable."

"The Tree of the Gods is a good starting point Walker. Why not take the language of one of its branches and work from there."

Walker snapped his fingers, "Great suggestion. What is balance in ancient Greek?"

"Isorropia."

"Too long and not interesting enough. What about wonder?"

"Thauma."

"That's not bad but doesn't have the punch that Earth has. While I'm not trying to create another earth it would be nice to not have a terribly named world."

"If that is your goal Walker, you could try Sympathos. It translates to compassionate and sympathetic."

"What about Symphony?"

"Do you mean in the sense of harmonious combination?"

"Exactly. It's not exactly what I'm going for, but I feel it is the closest we can get to."

"I believe that is a wonderful idea Walker."

"Thank you" Walker said, looking at his small planet. "This is really just the beginning."

"Yes, it is Walker. You have some time until your first battle and the protocol will not let you do anything until then. Why don't you take a rest."

Looking back at Virgil, Walker said "You said I don't need sleep anymore?"

"You do not, but I fear without a break every so often, your mental health will deteriorate. We need you at your best for what happens after the first battle."

"Okay, I'm just gonna lie down." Walker said, laying down in the grass and staring up at the planets.

"Please do Walker, I will spend this time familiarizing myself further with the subsystems and your newest rewards."

"Hey Virgil" Walker said as he lay with an arm under his head.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"You are very welcome Walker."