Matthias was in his office going over projections when the first hint that something was about to go wrong reared its head. A Dark Fairy floated into his office casually with a clipboard, a deep frown on her face. Looking up, Mathias became concerned. It took a lot to even remotely annoy one of the mischievous Fairies.
“Sammy, what’s wrong?” he asked. “With a frown that deep I thought maybe you had a joke go wrong or something.”
The Fairy shook her head, “Not wrong Mr. Mob, and not a joke. I was reviewing our finances, in particular our sales, and noticed something odd,” she said, looking up and watching him. Matthias gestured for her to continue, so she did. “Lizard-Kin sales are through the roof; they keep doubling almost every forty-eight hours. We will have a huge queue to fulfill after a while. And that’s going to hurt us in the long run, not being able to fulfill orders.”
“Can’t we just expand production? I can have the eggs the Queen lays stay here and spin up some more Assemblers for the eggs themselves,” Matthias asked, curious as to why this was a problem.
But Sammy shook her head, “No Mr. Mob, that’s a short-term solution that… isn’t really a solution. See, if you did that then after six months you would need about five hundred thousand printers to keep up with demand. If demand kept rising. Which I think it will,” she explained.
That number boggled his mind. To think that they were rising so fast in need and the scope of production would have to be expanded to that extent. That was pure insanity.
“Right. Limit sales then,” he said, thinking about the issue. “Fill current orders, but put up an out-of-stock notification when we hit our current limit. We can then create eggs and place them in stasis and open orders when we hit a certain threshold for numbers. Put out a notice to repeat customers as well as on our {BAZAAR} store of the new policy.”
Sammy nodded, jotting down notes and information. Then she flipped the page. Mathias nearly groaned.
“The finances were only part of that problem, Sir,” the Fairy said getting his attention. If there were multiple facets to this issue then it meant there was something else going on than just supply and demand. “It turns out there are several other small companies that are mimicking our business model. One is offering wholesale slimes for a variety of roles, the others are doing the same with something called clockwork minions, and a third is stocking creatures called bakeware soldiers.”
Mathias shrugged, “That was to be expected. I assume they aren’t impacting our sales too heavily?”
“No sire,” Sammy confirmed. “But they have lodged several complaints about market share issues with the System. Apparently, we have a significant portion of sales for our size. Too much of a portion, if the complaints are to be believed. They are accusing us of market manipulation and corporate espionage.”
Matthias laughed, “The System doesn’t care about that. It only cares about the integrity of the whole and balance… fuck.”
Sammy nodded, “Yes Sir, fuck indeed. If the System, with whatever standard it uses to ensure continuation and stability, finds that we have taken too large a part of the market it could shut us down to allow others to catch up.”
“If that happens we are screwed,” Matthias muttered as the Fairy nodded in agreement. “Limit sales immediately,” he ordered after a moment. “Fill current orders and ensure that our sales are reduced for the Lizard-Kin products. I want to diversify immediately into new product lines. I don’t want to give the System even a remotely conceptualized idea that we are attempting to unbalance the {BAZAAR} in any way.”
The Fairy nodded and took notes. He waited for her to finish before he continued, “I need you to get Alyssa and Mab in here. Let them know I need updates on the mineral deposits and the status of Project Village.”
Sammy nodded and zipped out of the office much faster than she had come in.
“That was interesting,” a voice from the corner of the office said.
Matthias turned to the Masterwork Golem, a curious look on his face. “It was indeed. Have you finished thinking about what you were contemplating?” he asked the advanced, and now apparently fully sentient, construct. It had followed him around closely ever since their last conversation. Observing him, helping with small things, and following instructions. But it hadn’t spoken since then.
Until now that was.
“I have. I have thought much about our last conversation. What it means. Life,” it said slowly. “I believe that my purpose for now is to learn. To protect you, my creator, and learn. When you were attacked, and hurt, I felt anger. Anger that anyone would harm you. I do not wish to feel that again. Until I find a different purpose, I wish that to be mine.”
It hesitated for a moment before finishing with, “I also wish for a name. Can you give me one?”
“Yeah. Of course, names are pretty important. Can’t just keep calling you Masterwork. That doesn’t … that doesn’t seem right. Not at all,” Matthias agreed.
The two sat in silence while he thought it over. There were a lot of words that could be tweaked into being names. There were a lot of names that could be given to the construct as well. But nothing that Matthias thought would really fit. So he examined the Masterwork Golem itself and realized it was looking a bit rough.
With the new limbs in odd contrast to the old, charred parts from the combat with the titanic lizard on the surface to the blue glowing eyes. It was a mix and matchup of parts from a variety of materials, new and old, that had experienced the adversity and challenges of life and yelled back, ‘I AM HERE’, right into its face. And that idea gave Matthias, in a fit of inspiration, the perfect name for the Masterwork Golem. A name that he had seen inscribed on a hundred thousand orders he had processed during his time at Trion Incorporated. A name that had fought more battles than he had numbers to count.
“Bellator. Your name is Bellator,” he said, watching in a bit of surprise as the construct's eyes glowed a fierce and deep blue before returning to their normal tone and hue.
The newly christened Bellator nodded. “Bellator. Warrior. Fighter. Protector. That is a wonderful name. I will cherish it for the remainder of my existence,” it said in a slightly deeper voice. “Thank you Creator.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Matthias just nodded a bit sheepishly, “Don’t worry about it. I am glad that you like it. And enough with that Creator nonsense. You created your mind and soul just as much as I created your body. Call me either Matthias or something else that isn’t diminishing to your existence.”
“Very well. I will think on this,” Bellator said before returning to the corner he had been standing in, motionless and alert.
Shaking his head slightly at the randomness of his life recently, Matthias went to pull up his {BALANCE SHEET} and paused. There should be an easier way to check this rather than using his ability every time. Granted, it didn’t use any Power, but it was still annoying having to pull it up and scroll through it every time.
Standing up, he moved to the unadorned wall of his office. He had a large screen there that he had plans to utilize eventually, but for now was blank. He targeted it with {POWER OVERWHELMING} and focused his intent on what he wanted.
{MODIFY MANA DISPLAY DEVICE}
{POWER COSE – 10}
Matthias winced at the cost. It was rather high for what he wanted, but it was something that would give him a small amount of peace in his rather aggravating days. He accepted the cost and his eyes went wide as the moderately sized screen expanded to cover most of the wall. It stopped expanding roughly half a meter from the floor but was easily six meters long and nearly to the ceiling.
One side of the screen displayed his current {BALANCE SHEET} information, updating in real-time as the System pulled the information and displayed it for anyone to see.
{BALANCE SHEET}
REMAINING POWER – 250
NEX BALANCE – 966,101
DENOMINATIONS
10K GOLD NEX BAR– 0
1K GOLD NEX COINS – 30
500 SILVER NEX COINS – 327
“This is great!” he explained excitedly. What had been created was beyond what he had expected, and in all the good ways for a change.
He looked to the rest of the screen and saw nearly everything he could ever want to know about Mob Inc. at a glance. There was a sales section for current products, granted it only listed the Lizard-Kin eggs as his only export to date, but there was still a list. It had eggs sold, NEX generated, and the top ten purchasers. Matthias was happy to see that Ragvar was listed at number seven. He had had several interactions with the odd man, but none of them were negative. He was a friendly, if very loud, customer who enjoyed a good chat when he wasn’t killing something.
Moving down what he was rapidly coming to describe as a Company Status Board, he found lists of employees, expandable by name, open and filled executive positions, an itinerary for meetings and dates of events, and the last quarter of the board that was filled with the current world map. Matthias played with that for some time, realizing that it was updated in real-time as the known areas of the island were explored. There were even small icons denoting villages, and military squads of Saurians, and if he zoomed close enough he could even see everyone moving individually.
“Detailed company information, tracking of expansions, villages, and employees, a listing of executive members, a summary of resources, this has everything,” he muttered to himself.
“Now that is rather impressive, Mab said from behind him, making Matthias nearly jump out of his skin. He had been so focused on the new display that he hadn’t heard her even open the door. Turning to her, he saw that Alyssa was sitting on her shoulder and trying not to laugh.
“I am going to put bells on the two of you,” he threatened. “Keep sneaking up on me and my lifespan will do nothing but shrink. Who knows, maybe I will have a heart attack. Would serve you two right,” he ended with a grumble.
Alyssa burst out laughing, but Mab looked contemplative. Curious, she asked, “How long does your species live Matthias? I have done some research and have not encountered or seen any documentation on your species. You look kind of like a Goblin, but no species of Goblin I know of has horns or is as intelligent as you. And I mean that with all respect.”
“I am a half Shadow Goblin half Inferno Imp. As far as I know, I am the only one of my kind, at least I have never met another of my particular makeup,” he said, sitting back on the top of his desk. “I have nothing in common with Goblins, have never even met another Shadow Goblins, and detest Imps. They are… not right.”
Mab nodded. “Imps are rather distasteful creatures. Regardless, my question both stands and is partially answered. You have no idea how long you may live do you?”
“Not a clue,” he readily admitted. “Based on my Shadow Goblin designation, that could be anything. I’ve met Goblins that were more than a hundred years old. Imps, on the other hand, seemingly live until they are killed. Inferno Imps, however, I do know about. They are… Imp Kings I guess you could call them. Highly dangerous, competent, and incredibly skilled in their chosen area of expertise. They are also quite insane.”
“You don’t seem very crazy Boss,” Alyssa said with a thumbs up.
Mathias just sighed and then crossed his arms. “My racial makeup aside, we need to talk about the mineral deposits and Project Village. Alyssa,” he said, focusing on the Fairy, “Give me an update on the deposits. We need the metal more than anything now to continue our expansion.”
“Right Boss!” she said Excitedly, standing up on Mab’s shoulder. “We finally identified two of the deposits, one iron the other orichalcum. I know, I know. Orichalcum is rare and expensive, but it turns out it may be fairly common here.”
His eyes had gone wide and even Mab looked excited. The metal was rare, very rare, in a natural state. It could be synthesized, but it was expensive and energy-intensive. Orichalcum was used primarily for military purposes. It was light, extremely strong, conducted energy at near-perfect ratios, and could be imbued magically. It made excellent weapons and armor, or pieces of mechanical equipment requiring high tensile strength or energy transfer properties.
In other words, it was more valuable than gold.
“That’s amazing!” Mathias said excitedly, rubbing his hands together. “I can already see a few product lines for that metal. How is the mining going?”
Alyssa rubbed her neck, “The iron is going well. We should have the second shipment here sometime today. The orichalcum is… well it's not going well at all. The deposit is near the jungle, so we suffer constant raptor attacks. And by constant I mean we get overrun when we even get close to the site now. Those lizard brains are annoying, and the Golems can’t hold them off!”
Matthias nodded. He had expected as much. “I am fairly certain there is someone or something directing them. Remember the giant one we killed?” Alyssa nodded while Mab looked curious, but he waved her unspoken question away for later. “I don’t think that thing was a leader. In fact, I know it wasn’t a leader because the normal raptors didn’t support it at all. There is something in that jungle directing them all to act how they are. I want to get a group of Saurians printed up and march on that place. We will either kill everything in the biome or burn it to the ground somehow. Either way, the threat needs to end.”
Alyssa nodded as he continued, “Get as much iron as you can and bring it here as quickly as you can,” he directed. “We can use that to outfit the Saurians and get at least a few scout groups together to watch the borders, that brings us to Project Village.” Turning to Mab she preempted his question and began to outline what had been done so far.
“We have four villages right now, each with farms that produce more than enough food to feed all of us several times over. Food is no longer a factor in the equation,” the Fairy Queen outlined. “We have just enough Saurians to protect each village, along with walls that are now up with defensive towers. The raptors don’t even try anymore.”
Matthias thought that was a bit strange and just reinforced his idea that there was someone or something making command decisions for the aggressive reptiles. If they were wild, even should they be intelligent, they would continue to probe and test for weaknesses. As predators do. They wouldn’t just give up and refocus their attention elsewhere. It was too clean, and too organized.
“Let's get those Saurians set up and armed. I want to be in that jungle and begin clearing it out no later than the end of the week,” Matthias ordered. Something told him that if he waited any longer than that there would be serious issues.
He couldn’t afford those right now.