V8: Chapter 3

…

Ayah arrived ahead of the others, just a day or so after I finished resting and recovering, and entered just about as I was about to go meet with the freshly-relocated goddess in our basement.

“Perfect, you’re right-on time.” I had a pocket watch, just like everyone else did once I fabricators became good enough to mass-manufacture them in bulk. Clockmakers were in short supply, and I needed their technical skill for larger projects, so I went ahead and produced them to get everyone on the same schedule. “Ready to meet a divine being?”

Ayah’s curtsied in reply, and I moved towards my private elevator, as the Ancient Administrator followed.

“Update me on the march back.”

“It will be back on time. As you suggested, the flying barge is being tested as a support craft. Results are promising.” While flying battleships are romantic, and I wanted them, I went with a more conservative approach to my flying ships. They were logistical vessels that could tank fire and support the frontline. A mobile command center with some light artillery, medical services, and that can hold food and provide supplies to soldiers. In battle, they hung over the battlefield and acted as support and a big target that can handle hits. Outside of battle, they’d land and support the army like a mobile town. At all times, they’d have a command and logistical staff in to manage the needs and goals of the army. “They are very effective in this role. I believe it would be best to have at least four for every army group.”

“Maybe just for our premier assault forces, since we’ll need replacements in case one needs repairs or maintenance.” I was going by naval fleet rules here. Boats aren’t easily replaced. Barring specific circumstances, such as being able to wage war without the enemy coming near the vast majority of your your industrial capacity, you go into war with the navy that you have and don’t get the chance to replace them. That’s why you overbuild, in case you lose one or need one fixed up, you have another on the wings while you’re churning out a replacement. “Twelve would be needed, then. At least one spare for every two. Then, we’ll focus on our strategic bombing plans. How does that fit our manufacturing schedule?”

Ayah’s lips pursed at my words and its gaze narrowed.

It finished the calculations soon enough.

“It does not. Five years will only be enough to build ten, and that is without building the necessary vehicles to disrupt the enemy.” That sounded about right. Massive military buildup had to be precluded by massive industrial build up, and that had to be preceded by a large, educated workforce. Everything was currently a work in progress. Even with Iterants propping us up, we had to be careful with their steady ‘migration’ into our lands from ‘elsewhere’ to keep their anonymity, our population wasn’t enough for shipyards that churned out flying castles. “We’ll refine the process. Make smaller versions that just provide food and supplies. We’ll make what we currently have the flagships, while the rest are focused on either backline or frontline support.”

“I will have the idea studied and drafts made today. The ability to simply place a support center with kitchens, food, and other infrastructure is simply too good to ignore.” Ayah finished with a nod, as the elevator finally stopped.

It took five or so minutes to reach the top to the bottom, where the hidden escape routes and the secret projects were. The doors opened and the walls seemingly came alive. Citadel Guardians formed from the walls and formed flanking guards in my presence. After a few minutes of walking, Iterants arrived from the guard stations and joined my entourage. These guys were the absolute last line of defense, and I hoped that they’d never have to do their jobs, because they’d be holding the line while I absconded with the control rings into self-imposed exile in the very first flying craft we managed to make of the Ancient’s models.

The underground base of the Citadel grew with it. A lot of the rooms were inaccessible, probably housing generators and other massive machines that allowed the upgraded Citadel to work properly. Maintained by the Citadel, while the maintained the Citadel, access to the machines was wholly unnecessary… and beyond our ability in the first place. However, besides those sealed rooms there were others for storage that we made use of.

I had any excess manufacturing capacity churn out ration bars and fill whole warehouses in perfectly sealed environments. Massive rooms were dedicated to just being filled with cans filled with distilled water good for drinking and for cleaning wounds. Medical supplies filled several rooms with everything from bandages to painkillers and surgical supplies. Lots of the rooms had stores of ammunition and weapons. Any excess manufacturing capacity was dedicated towards a cycle of rooms, food, medical supplies, and weapons in certain quantities, before cycling back.

By Ayah’s estimates, in our stores, we had enough surge capacity to outfit and provide food for… an army of ten thousand people for four months.

Or, you know, an army of forty thousand people for a month.

Honestly, I hoped I’d never need to use it, but guns on walls were pretty good defenses.

But the storerooms had another function.

They acted as very isolated, very inaccessible vaults.

Making them great places to store powerful Artifacts, as well as the Nature Goddess that Riegert found in the Seed Vault.

The two massive doors hissed open into the sealed room… and despite being deep underground I looked upon a sparkling meadow with young sapling trees, blue jays, and young deer running around. The roof was blue and small clouds floated through the false sky, while flowers and blades of grass moved to a breeze that shouldn’t exist.

In her mere presence, while she slept, the nature goddess natural created her domain.

I felt awe coming off of Ayah and the Iterants.

And, I understood why.

This ‘divine’ individual was made by the Ancients at the height of their power. After creating their sources of magic, they spent centuries figuring how to miniaturize and create them rather than in another dimension. They did this by refining their abilities, limiting them to certain paths, and replacing the engines that give them immense power with faith that they can derive from populations. They could use great magics that would take decades for dedicated specialists of the time to make, and with time and a massive population backing them. Once a whole pantheon was assembled, each one fully grown and worshipped, the Ancient’s would’ve been eventually be able to alter the fabric of reality itself to whatever they desired.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

In other words, all the enemies of the Ancients sucker punched them and hit them with everything that they had, because the Ancients were going to win… at everything.

But that endgame was out of reach. We didn’t have the billions in population for them to ever get that powerful, and the Pantheon wasn’t complete. They needed a whole set of twelve and there was a max of three… and it was unlikely we’ll find the other ones. Once the protections wore off, the various Ancient facilities out there were going to go underground and take longer to recover via expeditions and by the end of midgame expeditions were just a way to waste armies.

Maybe, if we’re extremely lucky, we’ll find a decent Ancient Wonder before everything kicks off.

After that, expedition forces are better off quelling enemy incursions, while we make do with what we had.

That meant starting the event chain for the Nature Goddess right now.

I reached the center of the room, where the artificial divine being slept on her side.

I took a look at her… and blinked.

She… seemed… smaller than recalled in the official art?

Now, I’ve seen a lot of good art of this woman. The audience of the game is full of degenerates with deep pockets, after all. They commission a lot of stuff to the point that cosplayers who know nothing of the genre, let alone the game, buy cheap knockoff outfits to herd some of the cash their way. However, the original art of the game for the goddesses were already off-the-rails and out-of-pocket for a modern game. The nature goddess had a ridiculous hourglass figure, with plenty at the front and rear, and she also towered over mortals at ten feet tall. With wavy blonde hair, sensual features, and elven ears, posting pictures of her on a forum is a one-way guarantee to seeing pages being devoted to just spamming ‘mommy.’

The divine being I was looking at now looked somewhat like the powerful lore-figure I recalled, but… to be frank… the generous curves were around half what they should be.

Did some gossip rag manage to get the devs to nerf her after I died?

Nah.

They’re independents and from eastern Europe.

They don’t give a shit about that.

As long as they can afford rent, alcohol, and cigarettes, they don’t give a shit.

So, with that being impossible, I could only think that she didn’t have enough power and wasn’t at her full potential.

“Your majesty?” Ayah’s voice brought me from my musings, and I looked her way. “Are we awakening the divine engine?”

“…I have a gut feeling that we shouldn’t. In the texts, it was said that these individuals take power from faith. She is magnificent, but… divine?” I gestured at the sleeping blonde clad only in leaves and flowers. “Certainly not. From the power I sense from her, she can be defeated with a handful of Champions. Four maximum. Far from what she ought to be.”

“I see. Hm… my readings regarding her power output show the same results. You are correct. Powerful, yes, but within the realm of being outdone by several Archmagi.” Ayah frowned and looked upon the sleeping goddess. “What do you propose we do?”

The answer to that was simple.

“We’ll declare her existence and spread her faith before she awakens. We don’t have to hold back in terms of religion now, anyway.” Am I technically measuring this divine being’s power by the fact her tits weren’t the size of my head? Yeah. I am. She’s not lore-accurate yet, so I’m not going to wake her up. She’s already the most suboptimal divine being that I could’ve gotten, therefore I’m going to make sure that she’s not any weaker than she should be. “Contact the cultists of the Smiling Tyrant. We have need of their aid and we needn’t feign dismissiveness of them any longer.”

I technically ‘froze’ relations with the Smiling Tyrants officially by not sponsoring or helping them any further, once we began working with Khalai more closely. They were understanding, primarily because we just obfuscated our donations and support of them through shell companies. In fact, they approved of the trickery and deceit, especially as we got closer to the Wardens who were proud to proclaim that we were supporting their religion and not any other’s by cutting ties with the Smiling Tyrant cult.

It was a funny joke, all things considered, and they were all for having many more religions and gods.

Their divine jester, after all, is happier the more targets it has.

“Very good, your majesty. I’ll contact them today and reinstate formal ties, as well.” Ayah stated, and I turned away from the sleeping goddess. It was not yet time… and suddenly I felt a tingle on the back of my hand. A warmth bloomed on my left hand. A circle of vines with small leaves. I recognized the mark. It was the same that would be put on the banner of the country that held the Nature Goddess. People called it a bullseye, since you’d know go after that person asap and not let them build up. “It seems that the Ancient’s Divine Engine of Nature has some semblance of cognition even whilst she slumbers.”

“It appears so.” I looked upon the marking. In the events, the leader was meant to get this and showcase their rise as a prophet of sorts that led the budding religion. The first few CGs was just the symbol on the back of the hand slightly aglow while the leader shares the faith with the people. Eventually, it would lead to the emblem shining brightly on the back of a clenched fist as tens of thousands of feverish faithful did the same. I’d hoped to foist the position on someone else, but this made sense and it was always the role of the ‘leader’ of a faction to act as their divine entity’s prophet/messiah. “Gloves, please. It’ll be best to keep this hidden, until we are ready.”

A low hum permeated the lower floors, and soon enough a Guardian skittered towards me with gloves, which I put on for both hands.

Ayah’s stare on the back of my hands was palpable as I put them on, and as the glow faded I was vaguely aware that I was being watched by someone.

Probably the ‘divine being’ that instinctively marked the person addressed as ‘your majesty’ in its presence. In-game, the AI could get swept up in focusing on raising its divine entity and gearing itself up to solely empower their divine patron. If that happened, and the right events triggered and were chosen, then the divine being would replace their leader. A theocracy headed by a physical god would replace that faction, keeping most of that faction’s units and wonders and tech, but adding a few new units and techs in the process.

I guess, in this case, this was a warning for me.

Players could do the same, by choosing the right options, and generally did so to get those few advantages for one reason or another.

Because to them, the ‘leader’ of their controlled faction is just an animated avatar/portrait that pops up in diplomacy screens.

Here, though, being replaced wasn’t just a cosmetic change that came with some bonus units.

It would mean losing control on my end… and I’ve never seen the Divine factions win against all the Crises coming at once.

One?

Sure.

Two?

Maybe.

Anything at three or past that?

Yeah, they weren’t good enough to lead through that.

“Call our finest sorcerers and magic specialists. Those we can trust. This needs to be studied. I don’t want my mind controlled by this goddess.”

Despite Ayah’s awe at the nature goddess when it first saw her, the features of the Ancient Administrator grew steely at what I implied.

“It will be done, your majesty. May I also suggest placing destructive charges in this room, just in case?”

It wanted to keep me around more than it wanted to keep the Ancient Wonder around.

Good.

I could trust it a little.

“Do that. Now, let’s get moving. I want to talk to the Smiling Tyrants directly.”

We’ll see how these few seasons of upcoming peace go.

I hoped, at the very least, to have a population boom and elevate the other Citadel’s surroundings into cities.

If I could get a Nature Goddess as an ally while doing that? Great.

But if she was a risk to my mind…

It’d be better to blow her up.