Through the eyes of her single glasswing butterfly, Claire watched a dewdrop slowly bead, roll down a leaf and splash onto the moist ground below the leaf where her butterfly was sheltering. She had a lot to think about.
In her core room, Rick was bobbing up and down, his brow furrowed, also in deep thought. They hadn’t spotted any adventurers in the village, aside from Bastian’s band whom they were trying to avoid anyway. She did learn from snatches of conversation of a place called “High Plantation”. From the way it was spoken of, Claire extrapolated that it was a big city on the island, likely the capital.
As she combed through the knowledge she had gained, the sound of children’s laughter reached her through the butterfly’s perception. Peering out from under the leaf, she saw a group of children cavorting past. The oldest not much older than ten, and some younger ones following behind.
It has been a while since she’d seen children. In fact, the last time she interacted with kids was before her death. The day we were working on metaphors, Claire thought with an inward smile. The glasswing butterfly let go of the leaf, shook its wings, and fluttered off after the children as Claire kept watching.
“We need to up our skill share value,” she heard Rick mutter. “How do we do it? We need adventurers. Where are the adventurers? My classes never spoke of this. Adventurers are just supposed to come, and not to try and steal us… How do we up our skill share value…”
It was pretty much the refrain she had heard from him all through the evening and night once Layne left. He did have a point though. At 928/500 they were comfortably in excess of the dungeon investment requirement for levelling up. What was lacking was the life-force provision at -470/250 and the skill-share value at 33/250.
Rick had become fixated on raising the skill-share value, having seemingly given up on gaining the required life-force provision anytime soon.
Being at 28 percent of functional capacity, Claire supposed she couldn’t blame him. She needed to achieve a running excess of functional capacity, which at her current level was very far away. At least her glasswing butterfly and the blue mosses were already generating life-force. She’d accept these tiny improvements, having had to sequester herself back in her original core room with its limited exposure to life-force.
She took a deep breath, once more dampening the urge to create as many constructs as she could for life-force generation. She needed a well-constructed plan, that would increase the efficiency of each gain she made. Creating constructs willy-nilly would not serve her. Her growth has been slow, but she had the means to change it. She just had to persevere and make it work. And think. An action her reduced processing speed wasn’t helping much. But she would do it.
<>
Some time later Rick floated down in front of her core. Well, in front of one of the facets of her core, since she could “see” equally well in all directions.
“You’ve been quiet for a long time,” he said. “Do you want to tell me what you’re thinking about?”
“Uhm, not that much. I was mostly watching the children, while thinking about my numbers,” she admitted, waiting sheepishly for the nervous explosion sure to follow.
“Oh,” Rick replied, surprising her with how calm his voice was. “The children… Can I see?”
“Of course,” and Claire projected the image for him as well. At this point the kids had made it to a clearing on a mountain flank a small ways outside of the village. Calling it organised play would have been a misnomer, as they had mostly broken off into smaller groups, each doing their own thing. A raucous game of chase was in play on the one edge, some girls were sitting with dolls made from folded palm leaves under a tree, a group of the smaller ones were busy in the muddy banks of a stream and the clean, tidy one stood by himself by a boulder jutting out from the mountainside.
“It certainly looks like they are having fun,” Rick commented. “It reminds me of growing up. Our nursery cavern had lots of bubbling lava, and one of our favourite games was racing from one side to the other without getting splashed.”
“I can only imagine,” Claire laughed.
“Oh, wait, where did that weird one go?”
“What? Which weird one?”
“The boy that was standing by himself.”
Claire checked - indeed, the strangely tidy boy was missing.
“I don’t know, give me a moment and I’ll try to see,” she responded, steering the glasswing butterfly to where she had last seen him.
The spot by the boulder was empty. There were no hidden routes leading away from it, and the boy had certainly not joined any of the other childrens’ groups to play. “That’s very odd, I don’t see him.”
“But he can’t just have disappeared,” Rick said. “Or is that something some humans can do?” he added doubtfully.
“You tell me,” Claire responded. “I didn’t know humans could have any of the skills I’ve seen since coming to this island.”
“Then probably not. Advanced skills aren’t usually developed until after the teenage years, at the very least. Wait, back up a little bit to the left with the butterfly…”
Claire dutifully steered the butterfly in a little half circle, gaining a full view of the side of the rock.
“What is it, Rick? What do you see?”
“Focus down below between the boulder and the mountainside. Is that just a depression, or is it the beginning of a tunnel?”
“What?” Claire gasped backing up completely with her butterfly. “Do you mean there is another dungeon in there?”
“Oh, no. No. Not a dungeon I think, but there might be some caves? Do you think the boy went in there?”
“I don’t know,” Claire replied, once again having the butterfly approach to get a good look. There was definitely an opening. Hidden, yes, but once you knew to look for it, easy to spot.
“There is enough space for the boy to get in there, yes, but the butterfly can’t see what’s going on. I don’t think it has dark vision. Why are you interested in this?”
“Just thinking, if there is a cave system present, it might be an easy way to get you closer to the village without much resource expenditure. That is, if we can find a way to burrow into it from our present location.”
Claire paused, perking up.
“That would be amazing! Let’s find out...”
<>
It was still early morning when Lily again knocked on Widow Hari’s door. Since there was already laundry fluttering out on the line, she wasn’t worried about the widow sleeping in. Something told Lily that the widow probably never slept in anyway – sleeping in doesn’t sound like zealot behaviour.
The question of being a zealot still bothered her. Not the fact that the widow was one. That was easy enough to believe. But the question of what exactly being a zealot meant. And how that tied in to the ability to brew poison. Now there was a scary thought.
“Ah, blessed Lily!” Widow Hari called out happily as she opened the door. “I had a feeling I might see you again today.”
Yes, because most people in the village don’t want anything to do with me while I’m still “blessed”, Lily thought to herself. That wasn’t what she said, of course. What she replied was, “Of course Widow Hari, I am very grateful for your tutelage yesterday, and I thought the sooner I repaid you, the better.”
“Wonderful, just wonderful,” the widow beamed, her upbeat demeanour in stark contrast to the smell of another concoction wafting out the door around her.
“Did the Gods talk to you since yesterday?” the widow continued. “I mean, of course that’s personal and you can keep it private if you need to, but is there something you might be able to tell me?”
Almost immediately Lily got the distinct impression that it would be better if Widow Hari didn’t know what her mission was. She also saw the hope on the widow’s face, belying her casual request. Lily was going to have to lie. Will this add to my deception? She wondered. She worked to school her face into something resembling disappointment, hoping Widow Hari didn’t notice the lapse between her request and Lily’s expression.
“No, Widow Hari, unfortunately not. Although I still carry the favour of the Gods, they haven’t graced me with their presence.”
“Yet,” Widow Hari was quick to interject. “You still have a few hours left before the God’s blessing will fade. Who knows what may happen?”
“Who knows,” Lily murmured in what she hoped sounded like agreement.
“Anyway, Little Harry slipped out this morning and I don’t want him to miss his lunch. Can you please take a little food package out to him, and remind him to be back afore sundown? Then you may come back and help me clean up the work area.”
Lily couldn’t help her eyes wandering over to the “work area”, or what anyone else would refer to as a kitchen. She really hoped Little Harry’s food was made in an area clear of poison.
Widow Hari noticed the direction of her gaze. “Oh, don’t worry,” she said. “Little Harry really is his mother’s pride and joy. The food will do a growing boy like him well.”
“Yes, Widow Hari,” Lily replied, not sure what to make of that cryptic remark. “I’ll take the food out to him now.”
And then I’ll make sure I find something he can help my father with, she mentally added. Some truly fresh air, and food, might do a growing boy good.
<>
Knowing what must be done, and knowing how to get it done, are oftentimes two very different things, Claire reflected in her cave. There was a cave, deep in the island interior, that needed exploring. This was what had to be done. How to get it done though?
Having 125 biomass available would be plenty for most constructs she had access to. Once again, the problem came down to life-force, even though it was currently steadily ticking up through her gardening efforts in her tunnel entrance. Simultaneously, she was also absorbing as much as she could through her own exposure to the restricted life-force in her main cavern.
“So,” she said to Rick, “What we need is a construct with dark vision that can travel a long distance. It must also be fast, agile, and able to evade any predators it may encounter along the way.”
“Sounds about right.”
“I guess that eliminates all of my sea creatures, as we are talking about a land-based journey.”
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“Unfortunately, none of your land creatures seem very suitable either. A chameleon could probably explore the cave but would need a very long time to get there. The tree frog would get there faster but is not very suitable for cave habitats. This might be the time for you to explore bio-blueprint shaping.”
“Oh yes, that’s right. I remember you saying something about it back when you were explaining constructs to me.” Claire struggled through her foggy memory, trying to recall exactly what was said. It really was hard to think when her functional capacity, and her processing speed as a result, had fallen so low. “Uhm, that’s where I can shape creatures to favour certain traits, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Okay then, let’s see,” Claire replied, as she considered her options. The cockroach was fast, and had relatively good dark vision, but it was just too small for that distance. The glasswing butterfly could easily cover the distance, but it was very susceptible to predators and had no night vision for Claire to tweak. The chameleon was just too slow, although its ability to blend into its environment was nice. And the gliding tree frog, although nocturnal, would be at a disadvantage in a cave. Was there anything she could shape in that pool? Not the fishes though, they weren’t part of the pool. Except… Fins were kind of like wings, weren’t they?
“You’ve thought of something, haven’t you?”
Claire looked at Rick in surprise, “How can you tell?”
“You’re becoming all twinkly, but in a lighter shade of pink. You seem to do that when you have an idea.”
“Oh, I never knew that about myself. Yes, I have an idea, but this one is quite a long shot.”
“Long shot?” Rick puzzled.
“I mean, the chances of it working might be very low.”
Rick considered her statement, then responded with a thoughtful, “I see. Long shot as in the odds of hitting the target aren’t very good. Well, that hasn’t stopped you yet.”
Claire laughed at the comment, “Yes, I guess that’s true!”
<>
Fins may be kind of like wings, but that doesn’t mean fish will fly. So, Claire spent some time considering the different aquatic species she had access to, while displaying her bio-blueprint menu for Rick to see as well.
Available bio-blueprints
Terrestrial
Oceanic
Plants
Mountain fern
Palm tree
Blue moss
Phytoplankton
Red algae
Coralline algae
Seagrass
Animals
Chameleon
Gliding treefrog
Crab
Coral polyp
Flute fish
Parrotfish
Sea turtle
Sea horse
Insects
Glasswing butterfly
Cockroach
-
She could eliminate crabs, coral polyps, and sea turtles immediately, as having no wings at all. This left her with flute and parrotfish, and sea horses. Thinking about how the shaping would work, Claire guessed that she would need to look for current characteristics that could either be amplified or minimised. So, it would be easier to work with something that already had a light body mass and was aerodynamically shaped. She mentally also crossed parrotfish and sea horses off the list, as having too much body mass and being oddly shaped, respectively. That left the flute fish, which she mentally selected.
Construct creation
Biomass blueprint selected: Flute fish
Features
Long, slender body and snout
Big eyes, capable of scotopic and photopic vision, and 360° vision
Delicate fins for movement and steering
Fast and agile
Maximum life force absorption rate: 17 LF per day.
Select creation option
Create as is
Initial cost: 45 BM & 20 LF
Customise features - Variable cost
Combine with other blueprint - Variable cost
Claire may have been a teacher, but not of biology. ‘Photopic’ was easy to deduce, but she had no idea about scotopic. Mentally frowning, she angled one of her facets in Rick’s direction.
“What on earth is ‘scotopic’? Do you know, Rick?”
“Oh yes, we learned about that in creature creation. It means having the ability to see in low-light conditions.”
“Nice!” Claire cheered. “I thought I was going to have to splice some cockroach in there to get dark vision.”
“No, it looks like those flute fish eyes are ready to be used. Although, you may still want to increase their ability, to be on the same level as true dark vision.”
“True, but I’m guessing this adaptation will already shave off some of the cost of the shaping. Also, I don’t want to go too far and have it completely blinded in daylight.”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that. Well, are you going to get started?”
“Sure,” Claire replied, selecting the flute fish’s customising features option. She winced as the initial cost drained, bringing her functional capacity down to 26%, further impeding her processing speed and structural integrity.
With that, the customising menu opened. It consisted of a 3D outline of the fish, clearly showing organs, musculature, skeleton, sinews, everything about the fish. She also got an impression of overall balance and that the easiest modifications would be ones that maintained an that balance. This sense was confirmed in the displayed price structure.
Customise features cost
Balanced change
Changes allow overall balance to be maintained.
1 Mental energy per modification degree
Unbalanced change
Changes that create slight to moderate imbalance
2 Mental energy per modification degree
1 Biomass per modification degree
Unnatural change
Changes that create large to grotesque imbalance
3 Mental energy per modification degree
2 Biomass per modification degree
1 Raw material per modification degree
“Well, at least none of the changes will drain my life force even further,” Claire sighed in relief, as she reviewed her resources.
Resources available
Biomass: 80
Mental energy: 20
Raw material: 251
It didn’t look too bad. The only constraint she had to worry about, was her mental energy. Seeing as it was also the primary and most expensive requirement for all the changes, made it easy for her to keep track of further.
“Yes,” Rick replied. “And as long as you ensure that you don’t spend more than 20 mental energy on your adaptations, you’ll be just fine.”
“Good to know,” Claire replied, zooming in on the 3D image of the flute fish’s eyes. As she focused on each different part, she felt an instinctive flood of understanding of the basic physiology. Eat your heart out, Kelly, Claire thought smugly, briefly thinking of the debauched biology teacher in her previous life.
The instinctive knowledge made it easy to alter the flute fish to suit its new purpose. What was also helpful, was that a running cost count appeared above the 3D representation on the right-hand side once Claire started playing with modifications. The more extreme the modification, the higher the cost, and if she balanced her modification somewhere else in the fish’s physiology, the cost would also decrease again.
Claire started the process by multiplying and enhancing the scotopic rod cells in the fish’s eye and decreasing the amount and efficacy of the photopic cone cells for balance. This modification was indicated as having a cost of two mental energy.
Next, she focused on the pelvic fins, which were too far back on the fish to be optimal for flight. Claire slid them forward, closer to a pectoral position, and slightly towards the top of the fish’s body for a cost of two mental energy. Thus far the changes have been relatively affordable, but Claire took a deep breath as she knew the next ones would not be so cheap.
The third change was to increase the size of the new upper-positioned pectoral fins. She enlarged them until she got the sense that they were now large enough to create propulsion and lift. Claire was relieved to see that she was still able to somewhat offset this change by slightly decreasing the fish’s body weight, which also worked in her favour. The modification ended up costing only two mental energy and one biomass.
The final change was to strengthen and enlarge the muscles controlling the fin-wings. This change was the most consequential of all, totalling a cost of three mental energy, two biomass and one raw material.
Claire briefly considered adding some armour to the fish for protection, but just as quickly discarded that idea. This fish was never going to be a fighter – better to stick to what she has.
“Hey Rick, what do you think?”
Rick flew a slow circuit around the new representation, slowly evaluating it. Then he nodded.
“It looks good, Claire. Want to go ahead and construct?”
“Sure,” Claire agreed, and then stopped short. “Oh my, I can’t believe I almost forgot! It’s will need to breathe on land!”
Rick stopped short, and then smacked himself as well.
“You’re right! I can’t believe we almost missed that!”
“Well, no harm done,” Claire replied, and quickly made the additional adjustments at a cost of another two mental energy and one biomass. After that she mentally finalised and purchased her new construct. This brought on a new notification.
Adjusted bio-blueprint finalised.
Cost deducted
11 Mental Energy
4 Biomass
1 Raw Material
New bio-blueprint available: Air-flute scout
Features
Long, slender body and snout
Excellent 360° scotopic vision, minimal photopic vision
Fast and agile flight
Maximum life force absorption rate: 17 LF per day
Claire mentally sighed in satisfaction, as she watched the physical form of her new creation take shape. It was pretty. It had kept the silver-blue colouring and flute-like shape of the original fish and hovered easily above her core. Almost like a little hummingbird. Looking through its eyes, she could tell that it was going to have trouble seeing in daylight. That, however, would be easily remedied by sending out a glasswing butterfly with it as a companion – at least until it got to the caves the tidy boy was exploring. Or, she supposed, she could just wait until nighttime too. In fact, that might even be better.
She just knew this was the break she’d been looking for.
<><><>
Character sheet summary at the end of Chapter 18
Claire
Type: Life-Mind
Level: 1
Integrity: 52%
Processing speed: 32%
Functional capacity: 26%
Progress to next level
-470/250 LF Performance provision
928/500 Dungeon Investment, consisting of:
748/≥125 LF
180/≥125 ME
33/250 Skill Share Value
Core defence enabled
Cutting thorn barrier
5 LF to initiate
Continuous drain of 10 LF per day
Resources available
Biomass: 76
Mental energy: 9
Raw material: 250
<>
Lily Hunter
Primary class: Rogue Level 1
Secondary class: Herbalist Level 1
Status effect: The Gods’ favour for 24 hours
Active quests
Help Little Harry!
Progress to Rogue Milestone 1
1/250 EXP
Progress to Herbalist Milestone 1
0/250 EXP
First-tier skills
Deception 2/20
*Herbalism, basic 9/20
*Identify 5/20
Lock picking 5/20
*Nursing, basic 2/20
*Observation +1 → 12/20
Petty theft 1/20
Pick-pocketing 4/20
*Poisons, basic 5/20
*Poison resistance 1/20
Quick thinking 2/20
Sneaking 8/20
Sleight of hand 2/20
Second-tier skills
Spying 0/50
*Skills contributing to secondary class.
<>
Lily’s tab (Yes, Agnetha is counting.)
x1 donkey
x1 glowstone
10% of Lily’s profit
Three days assisting Widow Hari
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