With a few experimental gestures, Mari sorted through the screens. First was the assistant, she was a bit hesitant as the Observer had used a splinter of her soul, and that honestly just sounded bad. But she was already feeling the encroaching sadness and worried how the isolation would affect her mind so she brushed aside her doubt and ignored her inner anxiety hermit who was terrified of communication and clicked Yes.
With a quiet pop, an egg appeared in the air and Mari watched in curious bafflement as it began to shake. She was reminded of the games she would play on her phone where she would hatch little pets just like this and wondered if that's where the Observer got its inspiration.
With a loud crack, the egg split open and a fluffy white fox jumped out and right into Mari's arms.
Congratulations! Your assistant has hatched.
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As a newborn they can't yet speak but as you grow and craft more floors so too will they. With every floor and accomplishment, your assistant will become better equipped to assist.
Please name your assistant to see their status screen.
Huh, Mari read the screen and considered her new assistant as she? -A quick check and yes, she- purred in her arms.
"A name huh," She hummed and gently petted the fox. Looking closer she could see a faint shimmer to the fur and could feel traces of the space and nature affinities Mari knew she was attuned to.
"Nuit," She decided. "After the Egyptian goddess of the sky, stars, and the cosmos. I remember reading a poem once about her and how she protects her husband the earth. I don't know much more but I think it fits." She told the fox who barked in reply.
"I hope that means you like it," Mari mused and turned to the rest of the screens, rereading them she prioritized choosing the environment first as it would be the base the rest of the floor would be built upon.
Choose the environment of your first floor!
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Owned:
Nature - create a beautiful thriving forest filled with potential.
Credit:
Ocean - create a seafloor spotted with mysterious islands, who knows what hides in the depths? 50% discount for ocean surroundings. 500c
Dessert - create a vast expanse of sand, heat, and danger, within the dunes lie treasures unknown. 800c
Volcano - create a fiery landscape and scatter exploding fire pits everywhere. 800c
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Storm - create a heavenly floor with cloud islands, filled with storms, nothing is certain here. 1000c
All the options sounded interesting and she could think of several different directions she could go in with each one, but in the end the fact that nature was free and she only had 1000 credits currently made the choice simple. She didn't know what else would come up that would need credits, it would be best to save them for as long as she could.
As soon as she chose nature the table changed and lit up again, this time it showed a holographic forest, vibrant green grass with a thriving forest of trees reaching various heights, flowers, and shrubs scattered across it.
Nuit pounced onto the table and swiped at the images and seemed confused when her paws went right through.
"Probably not the best idea," Mari laughed and picked her up before setting her on the floor. "Why don't you play down here for now."
"Let's see, what's the scale of this map?" She asked aloud and was no longer surprised when a tiny popup on the corner of the table told her 1 foot was equivalent to 1 mile.
Mari tilted her head and tried to judge how long the table was and noticed numbers along the side. A closer look showed they were measurements, the table was 6 feet long and 3 feet wide.
As she focused on the measurements another pop-up screen appeared.
Would you like to use your Space Affinity to expand the size of your floor?
Yes/No
Yes.
The table seemed to blur and after blinking rapidly Mari was able to focus again on the measurements. Even though she was sure the table hadn't grown and looking around it didn't seem to be taking up any more space, the numbers had changed it now said the table was 9 feet long and 6 feet wide.
I guess that's what a Space Affinity does, Mari thought in awe. A bit of mental math later she concluded that her first floor was 9 miles long and 6 miles wide.
With a confident nod, she turned to the next screen.
Unlock native creature blueprints!
+Basic Sea Creatures
+Basic Bird Creatures
+Basic Land Creatures
+Basic Bug Creatures
Staring at it Mari wasn't sure what to do, it didn't have any Yes/No buttons so she instead clicked on +Basic Land Creatures and was relieved to see another screen pop up with hundreds of different land animals.
The new screen had the Name of the animal, an image, and a brief description. She was curious why these were all free and clicked on the image of the wolf for a closer look.
Basic Wolf Creature.
As a Creature within your forge, this wolf will act like its wild numbers and mostly avoid humans. Without a monster core, it will be weak compared to any being with a core.
+Add Basic Wolf Creature
+Upgrade with a Monster Core 200c
That explained it then. Assuming that the average visitor she would get had a core, any of the basic creatures would be nothing more than annoyances for them, so there was no point making them cost credits.
Mari clicked the +Add button 5 times and watched as 5 tiny holographic wolves formed on a floating platform next to her. Curious she tried to touch one of the wolfs and found she could pick them up.
"Like a chess game," She whispered, Mari picked a wolf up and dropped it onto the table in a small clearing and was awed as it began to move around and explore. She quickly dropped the other wolves nearby and smiled as they found each other and ran into the forest.