Walker looked at the board again after they had a long discussion about the big word that kept being repeated: everything. Walker’s initial idea was to offer Sapients the ability to pick from a specific Mastery which would detail out different skills attached to said choice. There would still be choices, but there would be limited options that best fit the Mastery chosen. The rub came in that Ulysses didn’t want Masteries at all, but rather a large selection of skills that could form its own mastery given enough time.
Walker knew what the big problem there was. Ulysses was thinking like a giant god-like universal being and not a plain-old standard human being.
“Decision paralysis is a real thing.” He repeated after first describing the mental process in depth.
“Why?” Ulysses said again in frustration, still not understanding him. But this time, something different happened. Walker blinked, and a dozen other Ulysses appeared, looking at him with the same expression as he continued to speak, “Human beings cannot be that fragile. I know your memories, Walker. I’ve felt what you felt.”
Walker brushed that off as Universal Personality naivete, “You’re thinking like me, not like others. I’m weird. I know what I’m going to do in most situations because I have a codified way of living. I’ve pre-plotted a lot of my own reactions to things that may happen in life simply because I hate surprises. Other people aren’t like me. My memories color your understanding of regular-ass people.” Walker shrugged, “You’re going to have to work on that man. Gotta learn a bit of empathy and understanding for the plight of the regular human.”
Ulysses shook his head, the other parts around him mirroring the movement, “But you’ve enhanced the humans already. The only unenhanced humans left are on your home planet. They should be-”
“The Founders are biologically enhanced, not mentally or psychologically.” Walker interrupted to the glare of the parts surrounding him, “I wouldn’t even know how to go about that. I don’t even know how the Alpha ability works, and it supposedly makes whatever it touches smarter.”
Ulysses made a face, “I want this tested.”
“How? Your parts are just facets of your own mind. How are you going to-”
“I need your genetic material.”
“Oh fuck off,” Walker said, taking a few steps back as a few terrible memories returned, “You just said it. I’m enhanced and-”
Ulysses and the parts around him stepped closer, hemming him in like the kids from Village of the Damned. This was not the most comfortable position Walker had ever been in.
Ulysses gave him an unsympathetic look, “It’s for the data I need, Walker. If you’ll please spit into this glass.” He held up a glass that hadn’t been there before.
“Can’t you just,” Walker waved his hands in the air, “Make that shit outta nowhere like you do everything else?”
“I could, yes. But it may not be one hundred percent accurate. Please spit in the jar.”
A realization made Walker start to panic, “But then you’d be conducting experiments on my kids, basically. I mean, you’re a big god guy; why can’t you just invent the human genome or-”
“Spit. In. The. Jar. Walker.”
“But-”
“Please…Walker. Just…just spit.”
Walker gave him a look, then-
Several minutes later, Walker was sitting on the tiled ground looking up at the white ceiling that felt like it was close, but he somehow knew was infinitely large, “That felt wrong, Ulysses. Like, that just wasn’t right.”
“Now you see why I do not want to work with living creatures, Walker,” Ulysses said as he waited for whatever to happen with his genetics. “I don’t believe I’m built for that form of interaction. You’re all so…slow…and gentle. Gentle? No matter. I prefer the crashing of the cosmos. The birth and death of great things. That’s what gets my attention the most. Great cosmic stories with profound impacts on my body.”
“Well,” Walker said, standing up as he brushed away imaginary dirt, “Pushing me into that situation was pretty mean. It felt like peer pressure if you ignored our stations in life. Please don’t do that again, okay?”
Ulysses looked at him with confusion, “Why would I need to? I already received the sample.”
An image of Walker at fifteen popped up near them. He looked around, freaking out, then disappeared again. Ulysses shook his head while tsk’ing, “That’s not going to work. He has no basic memories.”
“What the fuck, man? You’re just out here cloning me?”
“Mmm, yes, that’s accurate. I apologize if it causes you any inner turmoil, but I find it necessary to continue my research.”
Walker rubbed his hands against his face, “You have no basic code of ethics, do you? You’re like those A.I.s everyone's been warning me about. Unrestricted.”
“What would you prefer, Walker? That I allow the trappings of civility to hold me back from the creation of great works? No, thank you. I will not allow my own goals to be sidelined by the stupidity of mortality and the mortals stuck in their own introspection.”
Walker knew this wasn’t going to work. His partner couldn’t just keep making and destroying living beings. His parts were one thing, but this was entirely different. “Ulysses…we’ve gotta make some ground rules, man. Things that will help us navigate how we’re going to work together going forward in…our partnership.”
“Why?” He blinked twice, then spoke again, “Ah, I see. I’ve disappointed you.” A part appeared next to him, tears streaking down his face. Ulysses pointed a finger at it, “Does this help?”
Walker slowly shook his head, “No. Maybe…maybe your idea of not interacting with Sapients is the right road. If you can’t find basic genuine empathy for living beings, it may not be a good idea for you to interact with them at all.”
The part disappeared while Ulysses nodded, “I agree, but it probably won’t work as well as you think. The Mastery and Profession systems you want will likely require some effort on my part, and continuous effort at that. But how about we make a deal.”
Walker looked at him, “What’s the deal?”
“After life begins to take hold in my body, and your people have flourished, allow me to study them. I can change into any form I need.” He went through a quick set of changes: a blonde woman, a black man, a giant bipedal lizard in pink armor. “Give me time to study them after everything is set up; then we’ll talk again and see if interacting with sapients is a good or bad choice for either of us. I’ll simply watch.”
“And that’s all you’ll do? Right? Help me with the systems, and keep an eye out. Nothing more? No pressuring people for their god-damned genetic material. Right?”
Ulysses held up his hands, “I see that did a number on you. Then yes, for our partnership, I will do nothing more than interact through the systems we create together and watch over the living beings populating my body.”
“Deal,” Walker said as he held out a hand. Ulysses gripped him in return, applying too much pressure at first until he eased off from the expression on Walker’s face.
“Sorry.”
Walker waved a hand, still stuck in the dull pulses of pain, “No worries, it’ll fix itself. Now, using your parts and my apparent clones, what have you discovered so far? I know you work fast, so don’t try to push it off.”
Ulysses gave him a bit of side-eye, “Aside from one experiment at the start of my life, I’ve never been wrong. This is the second time.”
“Clone Walkers aren’t doing well with that many options, are they?”
Ulysses shook his head, “No, they are not. They just kept searching through and reading everything. As time moved forward, I found all of the symptoms of high anxiety. Increased heart rate, shortness of breath, fatigue. They ran the full gamut. Of those who selected skills from the potential list I’ve crafted, I saw no great coordination to allow for greater martial prowess. Those I pushed to choose Professions made even worse decisions.”
Walker snorted, “So you made a bunch of anxiety-filled Walker clones. Good for you, man. How did you do it all so quickly, by the way? I’m just curious.”
“I compressed sections of my metaphysical space while borrowing temporal energy from other parts of my body.”
“Wait, you borrowed Temporal energy within yourself? How does that work?”
“Strandbinding is not the only way to do…as you say, Wizard shit.”
“Wow,” Walker replied in genuine astonishment, “It’s amazing how fast you’ve adapted to everything.”
Ulysses glared at him, “Don’t try to butter me up, Walker. It’s beneath you.”
He held his hands out to his sides, “I’m not. That’s genuinely impressive. Working with strands is tricky, but you’re able to bypass it entirely. That’s fucking cool, dude. So, since you pulled some temporal energy from one part of your body to speed up another, does that mean that the borrowing location is now slowed down in time?’
Ulysses blinked twice, “Yes, that’s accurate.”
“So,” Walker replied with a grin, “Does that mean you could greatly slow down an area, like, make it so time barely moves there? Then, use the excess energy to speed up another area. Where they enter at say, minute one, and even though twenty days have passed on the inside, they exit on minute two?”
“I can to a lesser degree, but why do you bring all of this up?”
Walker held up a finger, “One more question. Is there a scale to how much temporal energy you can siphon? Like, if you speed up an area, can you go to ten times the speed? A hundred times?”
Ulysses shrugged, “Theoretically, I could, yes. Right now, the most I’ve tested is a rate of fifty times.”
“Fifty times! Without using any strands at all?”
“That is correct.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Walker was getting extremely excited now, “And how long does it last?”
“Walker,” Ulysses replied, glaring at him, “it is for perpetuity if I deem it so. I connected those portions of my body through a Temporal weave. The weave will not stop unless I decide it should.”
“Holy fuck, man. You just solved a lot of problems I’ve been having.”
“How so?”
“Dungeons, my friend! You’re this big universe thingy! You can section off metaphysical space and increase the rate of time within them, right!”
“Yes…but still-”
“You could make planet-sized dungeons! Ways to further train people, give them a chance to get used to fighting odd-ball creatures and monsters. Man, think of the possibilities. It’s crazy!”
“But why would they join the dungeons in the first place? I know from your memories what a dungeon is, but what is the plus side for yourself and the entities who may die inside of them.”
“Rewards for them! Skill unlocks, milestones, equipment. All kinds of cool shit. For us…I don’t know yet. When I figure that out, I’ll let you know, and we’ll get started.”
Ulysses nodded, “Please do so. Even when you’re back in Symphony, you have my contact information. Now, regarding skills, I agree with your idea of pre-constructed masteries. However, I have an addendum I would like to add.”
“Okay, shoot,” Walker replied with finger guns.
“Because I have seen the depth of weakness within the human mind, I now believe we should offer more than pre-selected skills with specific Masteries. I believe we should also allow those with the lack of skill in experimentation to choose an entirely prescribed path.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, we offer mastery paths that have been done before. A direct path of ascension directly through the lower skill levels.”Walker shook his head, “That won’t work for the first Founders, since there’s nothing for them to follow, and it goes against the rules we’ve established for the skill system.”
Walker waved a hand at the board, which Ulysses had updated as they continued to construct their rules for the system.
[Skills]
Must be earned. Personalized to the Sapient
Skills can upgrade over time.
Skills are limited at first. Three for Incipience.
Professionals can choose a mastery, but it is reduced.
Masters can choose a profession, but it is reduced.
Ulysses didn’t look at the board, “I understand you believe that is so, but they will still have to work toward upgrading their skills. However, we will simply offer them extra support in doing so.”
Walker shook his head again, “But why? You just said you wanted unlimited options. Now, you’re talking about giving Sapients the option of choosing a limited path.”
“Because of the Professionals, Walker. I see a future where Professionals gain a Mastery and never work toward increasing their skill levels. If they had prescribed paths forward, ones that not only gave a hint of how to proceed but even showed tutorials for gaining further levels, they would go all in. However, there’s one problem.”
Walker nodded, “If they all had that option, even those who chose Mastery over Professions, some would see the easy levels to gain and dodge having to blaze their own trail.”
“Precisely,” Ulysses said with a smile, “I’m happy we think alike in this. My solution is simple. Allow those who choose Master at Incipience to select trailblazed professions, and allow those who choose Profession at Incipience to select trailblazed Masteries.”
Walker golf clapped twice, “That way, each side has the option to focus entirely on their choice, while still learning to either express or defend themselves. Smart, man, very smart. Trailblazer gives me an idea, by the way.”
“Oh? What idea is that?”
“Well, I still think having prescribed skills for each Mastery and Profession is important, but what if we added an extra option?”
Walker took a step back, waving his hands in the air like a magician, “The Trailblazer. Someone who can choose from that gargantuan list of skills and let their Mastery form on its own. That isn’t to say that choosing pre-designed options are bad, but this way, you still allow those who want the full list to be able to pick their own way forward. It’s my balance to our earlier issue. We just include an option to go back and choose one of the prescribed options if they do get overwhelmed by decision paralysis.”
Ulysses grinned, “Smart as well. Okay, I’ll add them to the list.” The board updated behind him, “Now, I feel we have made excellent progress. However, you stated you want these skills to level.”
“That’s the whole idea, yep.”
“And you are still considering adding consciousness to the skills in small doses. Ones that will help push those skills in the direction of the Sapient's choice?”
“Yep, then it resets with Nullification, which I still haven’t figured out yet.”
“Some time back, I dedicated parts to that theory while we’ve been speaking. Can you please trade me a few nullification resources? No more than one hundred will be necessary as I have some from our allocation already.”
Walker quickly conducted the trade, excited to see what would happen. A moment later, another Ulysses appeared. A screen overlapped his body, showing a series of Mana Veins with writing covering his body.
Ulysses pointed at a section on his wrist, “This part focused his leveling by working with spear techniques in particular. There’s a plethora of different skills they developed otherwise, but it all circles around the spear.”
The screen disappeared, while a wooden spear appeared in the parts hand. He spun it so quickly that to Walker it looked like a blur. His movements were exacting and precise, sliding from one movement to the next in a beautiful series of movements that wouldn’t seem out of place on a dancefloor. Each step and slide was timed, with every attack that followed seeming to crack the air. He came to a rest with a big grin plastered to his face, not out of breath in the slightest.
Ulysses waved a hand at Walker’s dumbfounded face, “Yes, yes, very impressive. He’s already reached level one hundred on the coordination skill he focused into his wrist, allowing him to move the spear in ways a normal human being could never do. As you’ll see here,” Walker looked closer at the screen as it reappeared, “The skill has engraved itself into the mana veins entirely.” A set of sparks descended from out of nowhere, striking his wrist. The screen turned off for a second before it reactivated with a stutter, “Nullification destroys all loose strands. But the engravings stay behind. It was only the consciousness strand that was destroyed.” He looked up at the part, “Can you please tell him how it now feels?”
The part moved through his dance again, only, it was different, like there were sections missing from it. A little less grace and a little less ferocity behind each attack. The part stopped without the grin, giving him a look, “It’s like I am missing a portion of myself. The guidance the skill provided is no longer there. I recall precisely how to make the necessary movements, but the connection between my skills feels lacking.”
Ulysses nodded, “Thank you.” The part disappeared. “As you can see, our principle of nullification for skills will work. We can’t necessarily contain Nullification yet, but my research is on the right path. I believe it will be solved by combining the power of Nullification into equipment, but I am still a long way away from solving that problem. For now, I can move the Sapients to my Metaphysical space for that solution until we have a better process.”
“Sweet, I had no idea it’d be that hard.”
“Yes. I imagine you would have to nullify all of their skills yourself without a proper solution. I believe it would consist of long lines of Sapients waiting for their turn at the door of your home.” Walker shuddered while Ulysses smiled, “This way, you’re delegating the task to myself, which is easily enough handled. But, I believe your logic in the next series of skill levels is flawed.”
“How so?”
“Life should not be added to the skills immediately after consciousness. I believe that will disallow for Symphony to self-correct as the greater villains that appear.”
Walker scratched the back of his head, “Self-correct? Ah, you figured that out?’
“Yes. Though it is a harsh solution, you believe that greater villains will be wiped out by the world’s populace as they become emboldened with their increase in power, right?”
“Yeah. I know I said I wanted villains and stuff, but I don’t necessarily want them to take over the world. The idea is perpetual conflict with a harmonious core. Managed villainy, at best. You’re saying if I allow life to be the next upgrade to skill, that things won’t work out?”
“That’s precisely what I’m saying. Granting life to a skill too early on will allow those skills to grow out of control. If you push life off to the second upgrade, you’ll have a better chance that Symphony will find balance. A harmonious core, as you’ve stated. It is simply a delaying tactic, similar to what you’ve done with your Monster system. A slight stutter on the path to great power.”
“So then, what do you suggest we use instead?”
“Magic, as simple as that,” Ulysses smiled, “By the time Sapients reach level one hundred, won’t they also activate the Monster system?”
Walker smacked his own forehead, “Oh my god, am I really this stupid? It’s already set up for them to do!”
Ulysses nodded, “Yes. I’m surprised you didn’t see the connection myself. At level one hundred, sapients will gain access not only to the Monster system, which directly connects them to their kernels, but they’ll also gain the ability to upgrade their level one hundred skills to the next path. Yes, it will reset some of their progress, but the core of the skill is already written into their mana veins, and now, it will be empowered by whatever magical attunement they choose. They will, using the terms from Earth, become mages.”
“And, they’ll be able to keep going with levels. Jesus fuck, that’s smart. Plus, they’ll be able to take on evolutions, just like the monsters.”
“Indeed, which will be a sharp leap in power for any human. Once they’ve unlocked your…” He paused, then smiled, “Once they’ve unlocked their dual-core and combined two forms of magic together, they’ll have some real fighting power. Certainly, on par with the monsters of their level.”
“Fuck yes! Okay, so, Consciousness, Magic-”
“Potential Energy is the strand,” Ulysses corrected him.
“Right, Potential Energy, then Life. What about for those who reach beyond three hundred?”
Ulysses gave a great belly laugh at that, “Why, Walker. That is hundreds of years from now. Don’t worry about a thing. Just make sure you don’t advance Symphony too much before we get everything in place.”
“Okay then, I agree. Although, we’re going to have to change one thing. Averaging is great for showing their overall level, but it won’t work for unlocking the Monster system. Instead, I’ll talk to Rimi and get him to change the rule so Sapients get the unlock when one of their skills hits level one hundred, rather than the total average.”
“Very astute of you. Was there anything else before I begin to activate the system? I know is is merely a formality, as both Mastery and Profession systems have yet to be made, but I have to admit. The act of creating a system causes me to grow a little excited. I believe your influence is a key factor there.”
Walker had ignored virtually everything else Ulysses had just said, “Yeah, systems are pretty great.” He tapped his chin for a few minutes, thinking. Was there anything else? He tried to imagine himself as a Sapient gaining skills and what that would mean for him. The Book of Souls tried to open up, but Walker asked it to stay put. He didn’t need a vision right now; he was just looking for small holes in his plan.
Pick a mastery. Check.
Select my skills at Incipience, which is apparently a word that Ulysses really likes. Check.
Level up those skills, taking on more, maybe even a side profession. Check.
Reach level one hundred, unlock the Monster system, magic, and the next tier of that skill. Check.
Skill resets to level one…
Causing their average level to drop, and resetting how others may view them.
“Fuck.” He said a loud, “Hey Ulysses, can you put in there that when the skill resets, the previous level sticks with it.”
“I’m sorry?” Ulysses said in confusion. " Do you want them to keep the Consciousness strand now?”
“Uhh, I didn’t explain that right. I just want them to keep the level after the skill is imprinted on their Mana Veins. That way, it rises from level one hundred to one-oh-one, instead of zero to one. I think it’d be pretty cruel for their average level to drop so precipitously.”
“Ulysses nodded, “Ah, I see. That is perfectly fine, Walker.” He updated the board again, and Walker took a deep look.
[Skills]
Must be earned. Personalized to the Sapient
Skills can upgrade over time. At level one hundred, the skill resets and gains Potential Energy, starting at level one hundred and one.
Skills can upgrade over time. At level two hundred, the skill resets and gains life, starting at level two hundred and one.
Skills are limited at first. Three for Incipience.
Professionals can choose a mastery, but it is reduced. Allows for guided trailblazer paths.
Masters can choose a profession, but it is reduced. Allows for guided trailblazer paths.
A sapient may choose to create a Mastery from nothing.
Skills may be selected from a Milestone store, which will be created by Subsystem Assistant Cagna.
Walker looked at number eight again, “Did you add that last one?”
Ulysses nodded, “I assumed that was what you wanted. When you get back to Symphony, please give Cagna my information, and I will work with her on it.”
“Neat, then I think we’re all set. I’m sure there’s more we’ll learn as we go, but we’ll just have to update the system when we figure things out.”
“Are you ready, Walker?”
Walker nodded, “Yep, punch it.”