Walker began exiting from the metaphysical plane, standing tall with his Morningstar leaning on a shoulder.

Only, he had forgotten that when he'd first entered the system training program days ago, he'd been in bed. Suffering a powerful moment of cognitive dissonance as he readjusted to being back on the normal plane of reality, he had to shake his head to get rid of the strange dysphoria. Of course, a massive black squirrel with his back to him somewhat took the idea of normalcy away from his mind.

"Normal is what you make of it." He said quietly with a smile, happy to be back on Sonata with the people he cared about. Virgil and Athena were speaking about the Founders in the background, but Walker was focused on something else at the moment.

Looking around, he couldn't spot the Morningstar he had just been holding, which confused him. He felt some warmth spring up in his chest, and the Book of Souls came out a moment later. It slowly turned over, and Walker spotted the symbol of a Morningstar covering the back. A moment later, it floated out of the back cover, stopping as it reached the crest of its height.

It looked less real than he remembered. A shimmer was applied to it that hadn't been apparent in the metaphysical plane, pulsing across it, reminding him of another item he'd once seen do that. His guide, Mr. Harrison, bastard that he was, had used a staff with a similar shimmer to it. Did that mean it was a soul construct as well? When he thought about it, he realized that it had some worrying applications.

After he didn't take it for a moment, it dropped back into the Book of Souls, which returned to its place in his chest without a sound.

"What was that?" Virgil's many-toned voice asked him. Walker hadn't noticed when they'd stopped speaking.

"Something new," Walker replied with a smile, "And there will be a lot of that going on for a while."

Virgil sighed while Athena moved around him, coming to kneel beside the bed, "Are you feeling okay? You had your eyes closed for several hours."

"Hours?"

"Indeed," The Supreme Assistant told him, "We were beginning to grow worried."

Walker tilted his head. That means the secondary distortion within the metaphysical plane was much weaker than the temporal one around Sonata.

Physically, he shrugged, "Well, I'm back, sorry about that."

"What were you doing?" Virgil asked, "I know you do not need to sleep anymore."

Walker gave him a smile and a thumbs up, "Administrator Training. Oh, that reminds me!"

"Reminds you of what?"

Walker knew that the Book of Souls had absorbed everything from the Metaphysical plane, so he simply requested it. It popped out and opened up for him. A shimmering vial floated up within it a moment later, a single drop of blood contained in its shallow depth. Walker gently palmed the precious item and delicately handed it to Virgil, who cradled it, not quite understanding what was happening.

"What is this?"

"Dragon blood!" Walker said, getting out of bed and moving over to the nearby closet for a change of clothes. There were still far too many robes in there.

"Dragon blood?" He repeated back, his voice sewed with confusion, "DRAGON BLOOD! What? How?"

Walker responded without looking at him, too engrossed in his lack of comfortable clothing that didn't make him seem ostentatious, "I had a little trip to the metaphysical plane. Mor-....Kwaya set some things up there for me, including a pretty shitty trap, and I had to do a hard thing. But, the gains from it are pretty outstanding." Picking out a similar outfit to what he was currently wearing, he quickly changed while Athena gave some ooh-la-las in the background.

When he finished, he turned around and found Virgil still staring at the shimmering vial in his hand. The large squirrel looked at him with what Walker would describe as a truly confused-looking face: "I still do not understand."

"Hah! I've said that here plenty of times. It's nice to be on the other side of it for once. Anyways, the system said it was an ancient soaring dragon."

"Soaring Dragon! As in, a Cloud Dragon!"

Walker nodded, "Yeah, kind of looked like those dragons from the old Chinese mythology and history books." He paused for a moment, "It was...uh....sad."

Virgil tilted his head, "Sad how?"

"I don't know. I think Kwaya had it trapped for a long time. The poor creature was just...super depressed."

"I see," Virgil paused for a moment, "They are social creatures. In particular, Cloud or Soaring dragons tend to breed large families. In many worlds across the protocol, soaring dragons are used as mounts and for travel. They are a highly prized and sought-after entity. However, you said this one was ancient?"

"Yep, thousands of years old by my guess," Walker confirmed.

"Then it being super depressed, as you said, makes a certain amount of sense. Similar to Wyverns, Soaring dragons mature over long periods. Eventually, its intelligence would be on the scale of your own."

"Not yours?" Walker asked with a smile.

Virgil snorted as his only response.

"Did you complete the training?" Athena asked.

"I did. I can make fully functional systems now, although the way to do so is pretty weird."

"Weird how?" Virgil asked with an excited voice.

Rather than answer, Walker covered his hands in a small amount of darkness and performed the sign for light. A bright light instantly appeared in front of him, which he directed with a sign to the corner of the room. Virgil looked at it in awe while Athena looked at it with a sickly expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"You'll have to speak to Zeus about it."

"Why?"

She shook her head, "it is not my place to tell you. Please speak to my prime when you can."

"Okay....." Walker said slowly, "What were you guys talking about when I woke up? I didn't catch most of it"

"The Founders. After you awakened them, many are having trouble adjusting to their bodies after all of the changes they have been through," Virgil said in a flat voice.

Athena spoke up next, "Echidna is doing her best to work with them, everyone is. Even Hades is helping Dion, but there have been some accidents in the Arena and a few are currently recovering. We're worried about them getting hurt and..."

Walker slashed a flat palm through the air, "No. No more bouts in the Arena for now. How long until they're seeded onto the Conservatory?"

"I still require a day and a half," Virgil said with a shine to his eyes. Of course, he wasn't looking at Walker. Rather he was looking at the shimmering vial in his hand. Who knew what thoughts were going through that mind? "It should not take me much longer to make sure everything is set. Although, you will want to establish the Portals early."

Walker clapped his hands together, "Excellent. How are the other planets coming along?"

The huge black squirrel finally looked away from the blood. "They'll be ready within a few weeks, well within the timeline you originally set. You know," he held up the vial to bring Walker's focus to it, "We could seed one of the planets with some of the Cloud Dragons... for experimentation purposes, of course."

Walker planted his hands on his hips, "Why are you so excited for these?"

Virgil gave a slight shrug, "No reason at all, Creator. I am just curious as to how they would adapt to your monster evolution system. Nothing more and nothing less."

He gave Virgil a lopsided grin, "Okay weirdo." Looking around the room, he realized he had work to do, and standing here wasn't going to get it done. Waving a hand for them to follow him, he stepped out and did a quick jog toward the crater he'd made when re-landing after his quick trip to space. He remembered it well because it had a completely empty area surrounding it. As they approached, he asked Virgil, who was bounding beside him, "Did you guys have any plans for this area?"

"Not that I am aware of. Elder Athena?"

"I think Cagna talked about setting up a large relaxation station. She heard about it from Dionysus. I do have to warn you, he is still complaining about the lack of wine on Sonata."

Walker snorted, "I need to get him a job. My mom used to say idle hands are the devil's playground. Then again, I always thought she was being a prude."

They moved around a new building, waved at Heph who was talking to his animated chest Caddy rather quietly, and got a quick glare from some of the new Nordic gods he hadn't talked to yet.

Mentally shrugging, they continued along and soon arrived at their destination. Walker made a few signs with his hands, and a little bit of extra darkness was placed into them. A moment later the crater evened out, forming a smooth bowl. He turned around and made more signs, creating a series of steps into the depression in the ground. They were a bit uneven, according to Virgil, so after replacing the dirt, he focused on his emotional intent and visualized it as best as he could, then tried again. A set of very even steps replaced the old ones, each step having a musical note rising out of it.

Nodding his head, he turned around and then accessed the Portal system in his overlay.

Welcome to the Portal System Administrator Dante!

As this is your first attempt to use the portal system, you will be given two free portals.

Please select the location of the first portal.

Walker pulled up the monitor and clicked the area right in front of him.

First location selected.

Please select the power source from the following options:

Space Resources (1 resource for every 10 cubic feet)

Primordial Resources (1 resource for every 5 cubic feet)

Temporal Resources (1 resource for every 4 cubic feet)

Magical Energy (1 resource for every .5 cubic feet)

Kinetic Resources (1 resource for every.1 cubic feet)

Curious, he pulled up his resource tab and took a quick look. Even though they were still within the temporal bubble, he had an enormous amount of different resource strands. He could portal everyone on Sonata to the conservatory and back hundreds of times without slowing and still never run out. It made him think logistically that he wouldn't have any resource issues in the future as time sped back up. He also noted that he'd gained thousands more temporal resources, which wasn't something the council was required to give him.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"You sold the bags already, didn't you?"

Virgil nodded with a smile, "Indeed. They gave quite a hefty sum for the full allotment of goods. Additionally, I managed to negotiate with the council to establish connections with the other councils for future sales. I made it a requirement for the current purchase."

Walker gave him a halfhearted punch with a laugh, the squirrel giving him a confused look, then returned to the Portal system screen. He selected Space resources and confirmed.

Space resources selected.

Please step back from the location.

Walker pulled Athena and Virgil back and a moment later, a large box popped into view right in the center of the depression. As he looked at it, he realized it wasn't a box, but half of one, as if someone had cut two edges off of it. A good-sized blue platform was sitting in front of him, large enough to hold maybe twenty people without any discomfort, and the edges glowed just a little. Beyond the platform was a black square held up by two large poles on both sides. The pole on the left said Sonata, whereas the pole on the right was blank. Just below the right pole was a screen floating in front of it. Walker walked over to read what it said.

Portal Location: Sonata

No other portals discovered

Please create a second portal for the connection options to populate

Seeing the flashing icon in his overlay, he again clicked on the Portal system.

Congratulations Administrator Dante! You've created your first portal!

Please select a second location.

After speaking with Virgil for a few minutes, Walker moved the monitor over to Crescendo. Virgil already had the ideal first location set up for their initial landing and had placed an empty area specifically for the portal. Clicking through the options a second time in his overlay and choosing the space strand again, they watched as the portal popped up.

"That's quite remarkable," Athena said as she looked at the screen.

"What?" Walker asked as he looked at her.

"You can't lose your awe of things, Walker." She replied with a smile, still looking at the screen. You just created a linked portal that will take people and their things from one part of the solar system to another. They will be here one moment and, in the next, find themselves in a whole new world. That's magical, Walker. That's amazing."

He smiled in response, giving her a side hug and looking at Crescendo. Moving the monitor around with his free hand, he mentally noted that it wasn't EXACTLY the way he would have done things. But, he needed to delegate a lot of these tasks nowadays, and Virgil had done a fine job. Walker watched as deer leaped through the forest, meandering by a stream. Another shot showed him a series of duo wolves, as he called them, moving around and sniffing everything. That reminded him of his burning notifications, but he'd get to those momentarily. He had more to do and one person he still needed to speak with before he could move toward the next project.

The Portal system was blinking at him again.

Congratulations Administrator Dante! You've placed your second free portal.

Please use the console attached to the portal for all of your traveling needs.

Each cost will be calculated and automatically deducted from your total resources.

Future Portals currently cost twenty-five primordial resources.

"Why is it only twenty-five resources?" Virgil said as he looked at the notification himself. Walker forgot that he also got to see everything that hit his overlay.

He looked at his assistant, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Walker, that should cost fifty Primordial resources. It is a hefty sum for most if not all, Creators within the alpha protocol. And yet, yours only costs twenty-five? That is a fifty-percent reduction. Why?"

Walker scratched his chin, "Maybe it's a reduction because I'm a fully-fledged administrator now?"

"If it is, that is quite the discount, Walker. If this continues with the other interacting systems we are currently using, it may solve many of our problems."

Virgil advised him on the other locations that were already prepared, so Walker set up four more portals for the other Founder cohorts arriving within a month. Virgil told him there was no reason not to set them up early. They named the portals Crescendo 1-5 for ease of use, although he found that he could edit the names as needed since he had created them.

Athena left because she needed to work with the Founders now that she knew he was okay, and Virgil left because he needed to complete the final portions of the first planet in the Conservatory.

Walker called out to his assistant one more time before he got away, "Make sure you add the dragon's genetic code to the Entity subsystem."

Virgil didn't say anything; he only looked back, giving him an angry eyebrow raise that seemed a little menace behind it. Then he quickly walked in the direction of the evolution chambers.

"Touchy," Walker remarked to no one. That done, he had an idea he wanted to test out. Using the monitor, he zoomed over to the metal planet floating behind the sun and created a portal on the edge of the metal sphere. He named it Mac and changed the settings of use for himself only. He didn't want a random Founder to get curious and find themself floating in space. Walker activated the portal and then stepped up onto the platform. He figured if anyone were nigh indestructible on the planet, it'd be him.

The black screen in front of him changed from the nothingness it had shown all of this time to a brown metal curved edge with stars in the background. The pole on the right lit up, showing the word Mac, and then the platform under his feet slowly started to slide towards the screen. Just before he reached the edge, he took a big breath, then, as he passed through the portal itself, he felt a weird sensation in his stomach. Like someone had twisted all of his insides and thrown them against a wall. It only lasted for a moment, then he was in space floating just next to a gently spinning metal world.

Walker put a hand against it for a moment, noting it was extremely cold, then cast reveal.

Mac (True)

An entity created by System Administrator Dante, then merged with a large spatially expanded storage planet.

This entity is directly connected to the (unnamed) system.

"You made it!" he yelled out, hoping Mac could hear him. Then he re-read the last line, "Whoops." He clicked the filter on his notifications, found the one related to new systems, and quickly came up with an easy name. Of course, after he'd done that, it asked for a description for future Creators. However, since Walker was a System Administrator now with all the rights reserved, he found a way around that.

Congratulations Administrator Dante! You've created the Mac system!

Description not found.

Note: This system is restricted to Administrator Dante's use. It will not appear in any system lists for other Users and Creators.

Walker clicked on the Mac system and found thousands of pages written out. He clicked on the bottom of the chat and found the last few pages.

Where am I? Hello? Hello? Hello?.......

After passing a few hundred thousand hellos, he scrolled to the very bottom: "Calm down, Mac. I'm here."

But the hellos only continued to come. A moment later, he figured out the problem. Walker reached into his resources and grabbed the life strand. Pulling out several hundred, his memories of animating Caddy flying through his mind, he pressed them into the metal planet in front of him. The chat updated right away.

Whoa!

Welcome back, Walker!

This is super cool!

What's that weird thing on my back? Is that a wart?

Walker shook his head, "No, it's a portal. That way I can reach you. What do you see?"

I see everything! Whoaaaaaaaaaa! Is that huge fiery thing the sun?

This is amazing!

Walker smiled, "So, you're the first animated object who can actually talk. Can you tell me what you see and hear?"

Yes! I can see everything around me at once, it's super neat.

When we were in the metaphysical soul plane thingy, I couldn't really see anything. It was okay, because I could feel what you were saying. You gave me a feeling or vibe that could be understood. But now just like in my memories, I can hear!

Walker felt the planet move—not in a standard planetary rotation but actually moving its body in space. It wasn't fast, but it was noticeable. "Whoa buddy, are you doing that?"

Yes! I can move now!

Thank you Walker, thank you thank you thank you.

Walker smiled, "Happy to help man. After all, I'm certainly responsible for you."

Yeah! You're like my weird spongey dad.

"Spongey?"

Your body is all weird. Should go full metal. It's heavy, but it's great.

Walker shook his head, "Sure. So look, I'm running out of oxygen and have to return soon. I just wanted to come and make sure you're okay, plus there's one more thing we need to do."

"Oh? What's that?"

"I need to connect you to the other systems. You're going to hold all of the items we create....forever. Always. Is that okay with you?"

Yayyy! Free stuff!

Walker scratched the back of his head, "Not exactly. Every so often one of the systems is going to take it away. Think of it as a loan system. You're holding the items for a bit, then giving them back out to those who deserve them. Does that make sense?"

Ohhh, okay. Yeah, that sounds good. I'll do whatever you want Walker.

This is way better than sleeping!

Walker nodded, "Alright, this shouldn't hurt but you may see a bunch of strange things, okay?"

Okay!

Walker practiced the connection sign several times, ensuring he still had it down. Then, visualizing both the Territory System as well as the idea of systems to come, he covered his hands in darkness and shot it straight at Mac's opening in front of him. A moment later his overlay updated.

Mac system update confirmed.

The Mac system is now connected to the Territory system.

For what purpose is the connection made?

Walker typed in storage and sent it.

Storage confirmed.

This is outside the parameters of the intended purpose of the Territory system and the associated systems within it.

System Administrator Dante recognized.

Are you sure that this is what you would like to do?

Walker clicked yes.

Command recognized.

The Mac System is now connected to the Territory system.

Future connections to the Mac system through secondary systems are now available.

The Mac system is recognized as a living being.

Organics not found.

System Administrator Dante may now place items directly into the Mac system through donated space resources.

...

Error

...

Error

...

The Territory system is receiving an update.

"Shit..." Walker said with his limited oxygen.

Update complete.

Living objects may now be placed within the Mac system through donated Temporal resources.

Mac system resources:

Space 0/100, Temporal 0/100

Walker donated the required amount of resources, getting a confirmation back only a moment later that it was done. Who knew that a living planet could upgrade another system? That update worried him, however. Kwaya's warnings echoed in his mind.

He said a quick goodbye to Mac and then used the portal to leave before he fully ran out of oxygen. Mac continued to write to him, and he promised himself he'd try to look every so often. Hopefully, he hadn't made a mistake.

----------------------------------------

In the Alpha Protocol Council chambers, they were currently arguing over how to bypass the rebellious assistant's demand that they provide the contact information for the other councils.

"We shouldn't need to!" Councilmember Three yelled out, "He works for us, not that damned Creator! This is shit!"

"Calm yourself," Councilmember Five said with a placating hand. "We're still consistently getting new inventions from Creator Walker. It will all be fine."

"Sir!" One subsystem assistant suddenly spoke up. It was her job to monitor all current systems within the protocol, ensuring everything was running smoothly after the so-called Sentinel rebellion. "This is strange! There's an up-"

"That'll be quite enough," A Supreme Assistant told their junior, "Can't you see that their discussion is vital? Simply note it in your logs."

"But!"

"Subsystem assistant, is there a problem?"

"N-No. Of course." The subsystem assistant replied, writing a quick note next to Creator Dante's Territory System.

In the shape of a small green ring, the Supreme Assistant flew back to Councilmember Five, slipping over his finger.

The man smiled and looked at the other members. "Now, these bags are truly wondrous, don't you think?"