“While the Base is made with magical technology, the technology itself is run and powered by the Pals I capture, so I need to catch not just one of each, but a dozen or so? Am I correct so far?” I asked my Paldex, which is resting on my wrist while my hand sits on top of a workstation.

[Yes, that is the basic function of your Base.] The Paldex beeps out in a tired manner. [Capturing more Pals will also raise your sou-Power level, which will unlock better weapons and armor. New resources can also be processed within the Base depending on the Tec-] The Paldex started to bring up many screens with a ton of written information on them.

“Woah, slow down there.” I use my right arm to swipe away the screens. “First things first, I need to capture some more Pals.” I watch the timer on the workstation slowly counting down as my spheres are being made. “Can I capture the nocturnal ones?” If I was going to be hunting down a lot of Pals, why limit myself to just the ones out under the sun?

[Yes, the Pal Sphere is based on soul capt- Ancient Technology! Which you have found a piece of when you captured the Alpha Direhowl, would you like to unlock a New Tech for your Base?] The Paldex chimed out in a hurried manner as a new large window appeared.

“An egg incubator? What does that even-… Did you say soul captur-” I was slightly distracted by what the Paldex started to say.

[Congratulations! For unlocking your first piece of Ancient Technology, the first egg incubated will have its time reduced!] The Paldex chimed out in a panic as a fanfare went off on the screen. [The Huge Dark Egg you acquired on your trek before building this Base can be hatched within minutes instead of weeks due to this reward. Do you accept the reward?] The Paldex flashed a brilliant light as a hologram of this so-called new tech appeared next to the steps by my shelter.

“What the-” I stutter as I turn to witness the horde of Pals wandering around the base all rush to surround the hologram. Their paws and hands started to glow as their auras reached the hologram outline of an Egg Incubator. A large egg shaped crystal clear glass dome which could fit me comfortably inside took form. A metallic base filled with tubes and wires held the glass dome aloft. “It looks like a giant egg trophy. How does this even work?” I knock on the solidly hard crystalline dome. “Not glass…” I groaned in pain holding my hand.

[Choose an Egg to incubate and it will hatch over a certain period of time.] The Paldex showed me a short list of a few eggs.

“I collected more than one?” I looked at the few choices available to me. “So I’m guessing these eggs will only hatch Pals of a certain type?” While I was interested in the different types, I noticed that only the large egg I remember running into was labeled as a Huge Dark Egg next to a Dark Egg. “Does being a Huge Egg change anything?” I scratched my head trying to understand this.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

[There are currently only three sizes of Eggs in the database. Normal, Large, and Huge.] The Paldex showed a screen with the three sizes of eggs. [Most Pals are hatched from Normal and Large sized Eggs, while only the larger sized Pals or Alpha variants hatch from a Huge Egg.] The Paldex chimed out.

“So this could either be a giant Pal or an Alpha of a normally smaller Pal?” I tap the Huge Dark Egg for my selection without waiting for an answer. With a quiet suction-like popping noise, the Huge Dark Egg was magically hovering inside the incubator. “I was wondering how to fit something in there, neat.” I smile as a ding goes off on the workstation I’m at.

[Huge Dark Egg will be fully incubated in 30 minutes.] The Paldex voice beeped out from the Pal Egg Incubator. A large holographic timer popped upon the shell of the egg and began a countdown.

“While I wait for this, can I build Chillet’s saddle yet?” I ask my Paldex as I move over to the Pal Gear workstation. A screen popped up with only three options.

[It is not available to be unlocked yet, you do not meet the level requirements.] My Paldex blurted out with a negative noise. [The only mounts you can build a saddle for currently are the Rushoar and Direhowl. The saddles will automatically adjust if you happen to use an Alpha variant Pal.] Two options were presented before me.

“I really don’t want to ride a boar, I feel like I would be thrown off or get motion sickness. But the Direhowl one…” I glanced around the base area, I didn’t spot Chillet anywhere. “How long until my Pals are fully recovered?” I asked my Paldex, due to my forgetfulness, that I could have just glanced at the device to see the timers.

[The first one will be fully recovered in 12 minutes, with the last one at 23 minutes.] My Paldex flashed me their times above the workstation screens.

“Then let's build a saddle, and quickly.” I smashed the Direhowl saddle option and watched as an outline of the gear started to take form.

[Would you like to manually assist the crafting process for a chance to either increase or decrease the needed crafting time?] The Paldex inquired as a yes or no selection appeared before me.

“That was an option all along? Yes please!” I smash the yes button without pause. The hologram of the gear turns into a hazy wire mesh outline. Small pin pricks of light started to blink and pulsate somewhere on the mesh.

[Use your aura coated fingers to connect the aura points together in the correct order to decrease the needed crafting time.] The Paldex burst out in a colorful spray of firefly-like lights as the hologram before me lost its shape and the nodes of light started to change colors with different brightnesses.

“So which one is the starting dot?” I blink in confusion at the mess of colorful dots swirling around a bundle of thin threads of a wiry mass. “Ow!” I shout in shock as I try to touch one of the dots of light.

[There is a small feedback if you are incorrect.] The Paldex sounded almost giddy telling me I was in for a world of pain.