CHAPTER 359 – KNOW YOUR BUGS
The list concerned him.
“How am I going to produce these?” Tom asked.
Clare smiled. “We’ll buy the key parts. Harry has a solution for the ones that mimic humans. As I understand it, your component of that is just building the shell. The other two will need components sourced from the auction house. We’re looking on your behalf, but if you find anything let me know and I’ll get it for you.”
He nodded. It was not that making thirty or so golems over almost ten days was a problem. It was primarily the uncertainty. How could he create the best constructions possible if he didn’t know their intended uses. The human decoys and light and magic generating cannons were obvious enough, but the last point the crowd control was more problematic. “Are the stun golems for the wador? What range do they require?”
She leant back on her chair a thoughtful expression on her face. “They’re for the Insects and wador. As for distance, it probably depends on what we can source. I’d obviously prefer ones that worked over hundreds of metres, but I can use ones with only close combat capabilities as well”
“I’m not sure it needs to be that strong.”
She sighed. “I get what you’re saying, but your oracle answers disagreed. They very clearly told me these need to be Tier six and nothing weaker. Now shoo, we both have work to do.”
Chased away, he spent time exploring the auction house and designed first the performance schematics needed for the golems and then the materials to achieve them. Luckily, it looked like tier two components were all that was required.
With plans in place, he created the first shell but didn’t complete the final step. Before he invested the hour of mana channelling, he needed to get the crystal from Harry to ensure everything fitted together in practice, as well as they did in his theoretical model.
When he stepped away from his work, it was late and he switched rooms from his workshop to their allocated sleeping room. Everlyn, Clare and Keikain were already asleep, and he laid down on his mat.
The golems were a side project. It was when he was sleeping that he did his main job. A simple task: discover as much as possible about the enemy they were going to face. The first stage he had decided a day ago was to cycle through the ability sets of the enemies. Naturally, last night he had started with the dragon and now it was the insects’ turn. Then once he was satisfied with the intelligence on the innate abilities and strengths of the insects, he would confirm that there were no problematic items they owned and finally when they were closer to the challenging the dragon he would determine their current morale and positioning.
Right now, he wanted to learn about the insect champion’s levels, rank and abilities, and if he was lucky, the new capabilities of his hidden title would be activated.
Sleep took him, and a True Dream snatched him up into its grasp shortly after that.
His world changed. It was a distinctive feeling. He was in another person’s mind, but the senses were dulled. A static was between him and the information streams that he should have had unrestricted access to. For a moment he was confused and with a thrill of excitement he realised what was happening. Something was resisting him, which in turn boosted his power, and if it was an enemy… They would suffer.
Then, almost immediately after he registered the existence of the barrier it crumbled under the pressure that True Dreaming was throwing at it.
Information flooded through him as he simultaneously gained access to the mind of the person he was in and their bodily senses.
Insect, he decided instantly. This was the fourth or fifth time he had dreamt of them and they were very recognisable, and this particular mind was probably the champion? But only probably the champion, the mindset was very different to what he remembered. It was difficult to make the leap of logic that it was the same person that Tom had encountered previously. He would have rejected the possibility immediately if this wasn’t a directed True Dream. The mind he was sharing if you squinted could be the champion as bits of the arrogance were there, but if it was, it had changed a lot since he had last shared its thoughts.
Physically, the insect was looking up at a portal from where it was crouched on the ground.
He recognised the scene. It was definitely a portal from the final zone, and Tom could absolutely feel the boss to minion connection of this mind to the other insects.
Before he explored the unnecessary thought thread further, Tom assessed the body. He remembered the exploding eyeballs and with a skill now doing three times the damage he was excited by the possibilities. Tom searched for the telltale signs of hurt, but was immediately disappointed. With the exception of an abrupt cramp in one of its antenna physically, there was nothing wrong with it.
While the cramp was uncomfortable, it wasn’t what Tom would have described as painful or crippling. As an offensive weapon, True Dreaming had failed, but he guessed that was not its purpose and that barrier at the start had been ridiculously weak probably lasting under a second.
Tom focused on the mind he was in. The thoughts were sluggish and if he had to describe it, then he would have used the word despondent.
It was sad, dulled, and grieving all at the same time. With more than a small amount of pleasure, he indulged in its misery. This creature had killed Jingyi. Any and all suffering it went through was justified as far as he was concerned.
The thoughts from the mind kept coming. Currently, it bemoaned that the continual watching was wearisome.
Everything had gone wrong.
Prior to this trial it had been on the ascendancy. It had been destined to lead a hive if not to achieve even more. Now it was not really sure how things were going to play out.
It might survive, kill all its GODs targets and still lose. That was how poorly things were unfolding.
The first zone had been fun. It was a pity that it only caught one of the roat like creatures. It had been so delectable to eat. But it hadn’t been able to chase the others in the next layer where it would have definitely hunted them down successfully because its duty had forced it to come here in the centre.
Now, after being trapped here for almost two months it wasn’t sure if it would survive. The ally that GOD had promised had not been as reliable as they had hoped. Twenty-five had reached this zone. Now, through the dragon’s actions, that number had been reduced by two with a further three badly injured. Twenty percent of its fighting force gone at the hands of an ally. It made it furious.
When Tom switched his focus to a different set of senses, he could feel those twenty-two beings attached to him. It was easy to see that by focusing in the right way the champion could guide all those minds to come together to solve a complex problem. While those close connections remained the wider link that had existed when he had first shared this insect’s mind, the one which connected with the nearby hive and then above that to the greater hive and species was conspicuously missing.
The trial Tom knew was cutting it off, and he was glad that it had.
That lack of a connection was plaguing the champion.
It watched the portal, but it desired to move, even if listlessly. It would be wonderful to disobey and demonstrate some independence, but it didn’t because it was worried of drawing the attention of the dragon. It would do what it had to in order to survive and hopefully after this it would be able to rebuild its power because this trip had been a proven bust. Over two months of zero progress, without a connection to the hive had completely halted its development.
It only had a rank of forty-seven and was sure its peers would be well beyond that because unlike in this prison there had been so much food in Existentia. There was zero doubt in its mind that its peers would have been killing continuously and would now be significantly more powerful than it was. Unfortunately, its progress had completely stalled, and it was not like it had been that exceptional before coming here.
It only possessed the standard range of abilities of its kind. Innate air magic and decay and the monstrous power class that boosted its vitality and strength. Even its new skill to evade scrying and precognition abilities, which were deemed to be tier five, brought it no pleasure. That had been a recent gift, but it did not help him kill, so he did not get excited about it.
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Those meagre resources and, of course, its special trait. That was its only hope, that its trait would prove as effective against the coming enemies as it had been against the natives in Existentia.
That was its sole chance, because it couldn’t imagine the creatures that were facing them would be weaker than its pathetic rank.
The dream broke apart and Tom thought about what he had just learnt. He had got everything he required apart from the description of the special trait. That was the next thing he needed to learn.
The moment that thought entered his head another True Dream swirled upwards and grabbed hold of him.
While it was not unknown for undirected dreams to follow directed ones, the immediacy of this particular shift was noteworthy. Usually there was some normal sleep between these visions and the fact that hadn’t occurred made him extra wary.
Complete static greeted him, and his vague suspicion increased to outright alarm.
It was impossible to understand what was happening, and that concerned him. He very much hoped that the dream was not trying to break in to the gods council chambers again. While DEUS would probably welcome him, it worried him that there is another revelation from that source which was critical to his survival. The previous need had been obvious. It had gifted them with millions of credits and the critical facts about his exposure to the other GODs and that because of that, at least as a leader he was now a liability. That effort to break through had been immensely profitable.
He trembled inside at the thought of what might have happened to justify a second need to breach their sanctity. He was already known to the GODs would his title upgrade in the event that he became an even bigger burr in their coats. Would he survive? What could he possibly learn and how dangerous would that knowledge be.
Automatically he counted the seconds more to break the boredom than anything. He knew the count would reach two hundred and forty. He wondered if DEUS would notice on the first knock or not.
The static shattered as his count hit a hundred. Tom mentally braced himself to weather the expected event of GODs shouting near him. Then he realised his expectations were wrong. The warmth of his GODDESS. Her soothing voice was not there to greet him.
Instead, the senses he had access to felt mortal?
Weak even… the opposite of a GOD.
It took him a moment to orientate himself. The senses were that of an insect. The last dream he had was the only reason he was able to make the connections and realise that fact as quickly as he had. The way he couldn’t feel the majority of his skin, the strange vibration and smell landscape from the antenna and of course the compound broken images from the eyes.
He was in an insect.
Another revelation occurred to him, and he realised his mistake. His assumptions had all been wrong.
The champion had possessed a tier five defence, so it had triggered the extra abilities of True Dreaming. This vision, Tom realised to his chagrin was not undirected but rather the directed version. He had wanted to find out about its trait and this was presumably the method the skill had chosen to grab that information.
Then what was the static, Tom thought to himself, but he already knew the answer.
The insect was not on its home planet or in Existentia. It was in another place outside space and probably time.
It was almost certainly their species’ contribution room equivalent.
It was in a room, or maybe it was best to describe it as a hollowed-out space within a hive structure. There were no straight lines, but the mind he was in found the surroundings comfortable and soothing.
Currently, it was looking perplexed at its thorax, which from the splatter on the ground and pieces on the roof had exploded. It was wondering if this was part of some sort of test, but without the transmission of any pain the grievous wound vanished and the various bits were absorbed by the surface of the room.
It shrugged unconcerned. It was not up to someone like it to question how the framework of the GODs worked.
What was being offered to help it dominate the coming world hung in the air before it.
There were three options.
One was an upgrade of its air magic. It would make air attacks stronger and let it fly easier, but it was not drawn to it. As a concept, it was too pedestrian for someone with its ambitions. It would not set it apart from others, as it suspected many in the hive would seize the same advantage.
The second option was one that increased it connection to the hive mind. It had an immense upside, but it was a long-term play and there was danger in being weak immediately in the hope of eventually receiving a payoff. Personal power was the smarter ploy. Take strength now and back yourself to snowball that advantage, which was why it liked the final choice.
Trait: Emotional Pain Generator.
This is a high tiered trait and merges three spells into a single whole that can be triggered once every five seconds.
* Effect 1 is a stun impact equivalent to the tier six Spell: Emotional Torment Stun. The target suffers a tsunami of traumatic memories to stop it from reacting to the real world.
* Effect 2 is the damage over time component of the tier four Spell: Emotional Vibrations. This ability converts strong emotions that the target is suffering into vibrations that physically tear apart blood vessels and persists for ten seconds and is stackable.
* Effect 3 is the tier four Spell: Absorb Emotional content, which allows the user to grab memories from those under severe emotional distress.
It didn’t recognise what the tiers referred to but that third effect is what drew it to the trait. They were going to a world with other intelligent species. Ones that apparently thought and acted and they seemingly had traumatic emotions. It would be good to understand what made them tick. While it was likely that this would be a very niche ability because very few true enemies would suffer this weakness he planned to take it to better comprehend those who did.
A specialised attack spell even if it only worked on a few species could still be a useful tool. The downside was that it would need to pick its killing grounds carefully, but it was confident it would be able to find spots to grind. This option would give it power straight away and that third ability to be better understand the enemy would let him grow into a respected voice in the hive at a later point of time. Knowing your opponents was important when you launched species on species wars. That was something they would absolutely do once they had a position of strength and the knowledge it gained from these traumatic emotions might help that happen faster.
That could only act to promote it faster in the hive.
The dream broke apart, and Tom mentally shook his head. He had known the insect had some sort of emotional pain skill, but it was stronger than he had expected. With the excitement done, normal dreams took over and when he awoke, he went through his new routine.
First, he briefed Clare, ate the food Bao brought him, and then returned to his crafting project.
Most of the modelling work had been completed the previous night and Harry dropped off a low quality mock up of the crystal that could simulate an aura.
He studied it and realised that he didn’t have all the information he needed. With a frown, he got up and walked back to Clare’s study. “I’ve got a question.”
“Hit me with it.” She said immediately.
“The golems that are to mimic humans well I’ve got a design for them. I want to confirm they’ll meet your expectations. There will be sufficient power in the spell form to sustain the aura for a little over a minute. They’ll have no offensive or defensive expertise and at most can travel at a quick jog.”
Clare considered that for a minute. “Can you give them flight?”
Tom thought about it. A couple of lesser air elementals in the right configuration might give them some leaping capabilities. “You know they’re stone golems, don’t you?”
“I do Tom. But aerial targets will be better decoys.”
“I’ll do my best. Is creating just three with some flight abilities acceptable.”
Clare appeared ready to argue but after a moment of thought she surprisingly nodded. “Yeah, that will be great.”
Tom went back to his workshop ready to craft. Clare had confirmed that he didn’t need to include a mana engine in any of them, which was a welcome drop in costs.
The vaguely humanoid shapes were an ugly job, but once the first design was created it was easy enough to mass produce them with the ones designed for aerial work being constructed of a more expensive but materially lighter stone.
As he pushed the finishing touch on the fifth walker, he yawned massively. It was time to sleep and when he settled down on his bed and considered what he needed he targeted a vision to help understand the strength of one of the lesser insects.
The True Dream grabbed him and thrust him into an alien mind.
Tom recognised the senses available. After multiple dreams yesterday, the insect’s anatomy and sensing kit was very distinctive. However, that was nowhere near as interesting as the completely different mindset between the champion and this drone.
The champion had been slightly depressed and despondent. This drone was almost dead inside.
It had been cut off from the wider hive for too long and been subjected to the dominating presence of the champion. What was left of its personality was fragmented and exhausted.
The world held no meaning to it. Without the connection to the champion, it would resort to doing nothing until it died. Instead, because of that driving, unyielding force, it watched the portal.
There was no possibility of it altering anything. If it was the leader, it would be different, but the champion held its position because it had the power to back it up. It was ranked forty seven and also possessed a powerful, unique talent that allowed it to defeat any non-person. The lesser did not know how it defeated most other things only that it did, but for some unknown reason it failed against their own species. It was most likely it was because their species was superior and it apparently exploited a weakness that only prey had. .
It apparently exploited a weakness that only prey had.
It had none of the advantages the champion had. If only it had found the courage to break away and then it could have ranked up beyond its current level of thirty-four. If instead of being stuck here, it had been leveling, it might have reached rank fifty or sixty, which in turn would have let it challenge for leadership.
The dream broke apart and Tom absorbed the ramifications of what he had learnt. The insects, despite the initial impressions, were not that powerful. The champion for sure remained as a problem, but all the others should be easy kills for the multiple humans with golem support at each portal.
He floated into normal dreams, and they were filled with the dragon dying to the giant’s spear and the insects all being slaughtered by the humans superior firepower.